tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post1998357285381211008..comments2024-03-28T07:22:58.337-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Soap opera creator Phillips / SUN 3-27-11 / Bally enthusiasts / make.believe sloganeer / Pixar robot female voice / Citrusy cocktail mixerRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger98125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-32093644101935115032011-04-21T05:28:56.450-04:002011-04-21T05:28:56.450-04:00@Chick in Easton (Maine?) - "The Times" ...@Chick in Easton (Maine?) - "The Times" does not contain the letter Z, but within the pages of The Times you will find all of the letters of the alphabet used, including "z". I think that's what the clue means. I hope that helps.Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-17227408567256344782011-04-21T03:03:29.144-04:002011-04-21T03:03:29.144-04:00The greatest problem I had with this puzzle was me...The greatest problem I had with this puzzle was mentioned by Anonymous 11:14 just above. Zardoz tried but failed to answer.<br /><br />The 147A answer is "zed," which we all know is "Z" in London. But this clue references "The Times" of London. "The Times" does not contain the letter "Z." So what gives?Chick in Eastonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-14844621910763422942011-04-14T09:00:46.757-04:002011-04-14T09:00:46.757-04:00I just hated it.
Really. A lot of the clues were p...I just hated it.<br />Really. A lot of the clues were poorly phrased, the framework didn't work. <br />I did not enjoy it at all.joebrown42https://www.blogger.com/profile/12742938285471843913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-47320254667038516822011-04-09T17:53:32.379-04:002011-04-09T17:53:32.379-04:00According to the norsk authority Snorre, "dig...According to the norsk authority Snorre, "digre" means "stocky, possibly thickset but most likely in this connection "proud, haughty or full of self-esteem." Fat was not a good translation.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-37953342973072632652011-04-05T12:40:02.637-04:002011-04-05T12:40:02.637-04:00With so many PINS and a few BALLS up top, I enjoye...With so many PINS and a few BALLS up top, I enjoyed filling from the bottom up! The 76 Cat clue got me into the theme, and the TTERs along the side had me thinking pinball and golf. I had the aha moment the next morning, looking at the whole. Still, my PINS were straight ones, rather than bowling. Nicely done, if not too esoteric.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-40230342483020163272011-04-05T11:25:02.100-04:002011-04-05T11:25:02.100-04:00Anonymous, 11:14 AM - This is just one of those cr...Anonymous, 11:14 AM - This is just one of those crosswordese conventions, where you are instructed by the reference to the Times of London to think British, hence ZED rather than ZEE in the alphabet.Zardoznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-19357161389641489282011-04-05T11:14:10.639-04:002011-04-05T11:14:10.639-04:00Syndication here too...and since I don't see m...Syndication here too...and since I don't see my question posted, I'll volunteer to be the biggest dummie. 147A clue is "letter in 145 across", and 145A is The Times (London Daily). Isn't Zed the letter Z? Where is that in The Times? Or is it some kind of 'letter to the editor thing' that I am unaware of?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-86868950598100935642011-04-04T12:11:58.383-04:002011-04-04T12:11:58.383-04:00This was the worst New York Times Puzzle I have do...This was the worst New York Times Puzzle I have done in 30 years. Format in Seattle Times made the squares too small to put the extra letters & squares were so small was difficult to read. Answers were not consistent at all. Shame on the editors of this puzzle for accepting & using it at all.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-30055353517833720622011-04-03T22:56:56.779-04:002011-04-03T22:56:56.779-04:00@Dirigonzo:
You mean complete 1 to 81 so the numbe...@Dirigonzo:<br />You mean complete 1 to 81 so the numbers follow a horizontal or vertical path-no diagonals?<br />Hell No..GILL I.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05605766053820226324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-87627657512894377482011-04-03T22:20:32.757-04:002011-04-03T22:20:32.757-04:00@Pascotimes: Prolly we were all surprised to see t...@Pascotimes: Prolly we were <i>all</i> surprised to see the 17 x 29 format. As for myself, I was <i>pleasantly</i> surprised; and I always love taking a new route to work, too.Stephenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16911901473993027184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-54672310858485909582011-04-03T22:02:38.268-04:002011-04-03T22:02:38.268-04:00@G.I.P. Nice to hear from you - I was beginning to...@G.I.P. Nice to hear from you - I was beginning to think you had abandoned us in syndicationland, so it's nice to have you back. Chuckled at your earlier comment - pass the hot sauce, indeed! Did you try the Numbrix puzzle in Parade? It exercises a whole different set of brain muscles than the x-word puzzle does.<br /><br />Still cold in Maine but "climate change" is bound to kick in any day now. Thanks for asking.Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-36573479777951146522011-04-03T21:41:13.699-04:002011-04-03T21:41:13.699-04:00P.S. Hi @Dirigonzo. How's Maine?P.S. Hi @Dirigonzo. How's Maine?GILL I.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05605766053820226324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-67478121875123411592011-04-03T21:03:21.127-04:002011-04-03T21:03:21.127-04:00Yes, the format messed up our paper so much that t...Yes, the format messed up our paper so much that the clues from 139 down and on are missing! Makes solving it more challenging, I guess...Mark Kayenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-24338167566200345822011-04-03T19:18:41.123-04:002011-04-03T19:18:41.123-04:00Syndication here.
Did no one else balk at this puz...Syndication here.<br />Did no one else balk at this puzzle's unusual rectangular construction? I've been solving the Sunday NYT for years, and I have never seen that style grid before; I thought my local paper had made some kind of printing error. I don't make a hobby of solving other xwords regularly; is the 17 X 29 format common enough elsewhere that no one else was surprised to see it?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12856167031117251925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-22589757736722806852011-04-03T16:38:34.359-04:002011-04-03T16:38:34.359-04:00Syndication here.
My husband and I often go to bru...Syndication here.<br />My husband and I often go to brunch on Sunday. He reads the paper from start to finish and I do the crossword. Half way through this one I asked him to give me the comics and Parade.<br />ASAHI...NEOGENE...CREAMWARE... really?<br />Pass me the hot sauce for my eggs.GILL I.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05605766053820226324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-49845844672766255832011-04-03T14:01:07.978-04:002011-04-03T14:01:07.978-04:00Here in syndication-land it is often, for me at le...Here in syndication-land it is often, for me at least, better to be lucky than to be smart. And so it was today as I approached the finish line (or I guess in keeping with the theme, the last frame) and was faced with the same dilemma as @jae: clomp, stomp and tromp all seemed to be totally reasonable choices (I even considered chomp for a while) so my correct guess had nothing to do with being smart and everything to do with being lucky.<br /><br />@Stephen - I've seen the "some NFL'ers" clue enough times to know I'm going to have to wait for some crosses to produce the answer, but it's usually going to be (L)eft or (R)ight (T)ackle or (G)uard, so at least it's not totally random.Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-56301104270136305552011-04-03T10:52:19.238-04:002011-04-03T10:52:19.238-04:00I can just imagine the football announcer narratin...I can just imagine the football announcer narrating an exciting play... The LHB has been sacked by the RT and the QB is looking desperately for his RFB! <br /><br />Come now. Given the number of sports positions, quark names, planetary configurations and truck parts, one could invent several two-word noun phrases from any field and append an S for a plural; the resulting clue would have no suggestive content at all. The better clue for RTS would be "3 letters that cannot be guessed from the clue, and cannot be verified after you get all the crosses, and therefore is of no help whatsoever". At least that way I would not rack my brain believing "some NFL'ers" was inferable.<br /><br />The only thing that gives me pause in this excoriation is the fact that no one else complained about it. So let's do a little survey: Who among us inferred either the R or the T from this clue? The S is guessable from the plural, but I'll eat my hat if anyone says either of the other letters was obvious.Stephenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16911901473993027184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-31902185923217479612011-04-03T05:39:39.123-04:002011-04-03T05:39:39.123-04:00Stephen, it took me a while to fill that in. It is...Stephen, it took me a while to fill that in. It is of course "century" as in 100 as in two senators per each of the fifty states.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-30990875425034493712011-04-01T08:53:03.378-04:002011-04-01T08:53:03.378-04:00@Stephen: RTS = right tackles@Stephen: RTS = right tacklesJenCThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18290169184354765840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-90550677655081154552011-03-31T21:31:22.825-04:002011-03-31T21:31:22.825-04:00I liked the sPIN on the BALL that curved it away f...I liked the sPIN on the BALL that curved it away from the gutter. <br /><br />It took me forever to understand what a 1-ball was.<br />And I have yet to be able to psych out or google out why RTS are some NFL'ers. Anyone?<br /><br />Deflection is, of course, the name of this game. But I did not enjoy "century of US politics"; that seemed entirely too constructed. Has the USSENATE ever been even vaguely associated with that name??Stephenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16911901473993027184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-50527001389354748322011-03-30T22:10:24.788-04:002011-03-30T22:10:24.788-04:00Blegh.
A collection of obscure and dull knowledge...Blegh.<br /><br />A collection of obscure and dull knowledge with precarious clues. I like to learn something relevant from crosswords, not be dragged through outdated and arcane tidbits. Not big nor clever.domaddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10494879150997326306noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-15628487822523401432011-03-30T21:27:49.414-04:002011-03-30T21:27:49.414-04:00Thought I was very clever in knowing that 134D &qu...Thought I was very clever in knowing that 134D "W. or Bam" had to be TILE - as in Mahjong... <br /><br />When I found GUTTER, then beat myself up trying to find as word for a mahjong tile that would fit...<br /><br />Mahjong has TILES representing the four winds - E, W, N, S, and others representing <br />bamboo, called BAMS. Alas, this knowledge only kept that corner unfinishable (esp since I thought oPINes were letters in The Times! How the Brits refer to Letters to the Ed???)<br /><br />Yup - Cat BALLou was my tipoff to the theme...though I had trouble with this one...<br />Thought that SPLIT DECISION meant all hte BALLs were on the right hand side, all PINs on the left of that clue...so I never got PINBALLers or stePINto....<br /><br />Liked the puzzle overall...Titahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16368251255494687496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-9134054686776847302011-03-29T21:41:02.514-04:002011-03-29T21:41:02.514-04:00Hated it. So many stupid answers!!!1Hated it. So many stupid answers!!!1Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-27174424423292188402011-03-28T17:52:09.570-04:002011-03-28T17:52:09.570-04:00I'm late on this, and everyone has said everyt...I'm late on this, and everyone has said everything I would - except that a) the grid really looked like a pinball game to me, with flippers along the sides (multiple ones) and lots of bumpers in the middle; and b) I'm pretty sure that Bally is all one company - pinball machines, bowling equipment, and casinos. I think they got into the casinos through making slot machines, not that different from pinball.jberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02169065390875378077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-3357199296062896312011-03-28T09:32:13.744-04:002011-03-28T09:32:13.744-04:00Help! I can't get the Crossynergy puzzle at Cr...Help! I can't get the Crossynergy puzzle at Cruciverb.com anymore. Anyone know why, or where I can go now (and how much it would cost?)? Crossword Butler seems to be out of commission. Any advice would be appreciated.JaxInL.A.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13792405579998093081noreply@blogger.com