tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post2287371303301081626..comments2024-03-28T13:00:19.785-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: 1968 swimming gold medalist Debbie / FRI 5-1-20 / 1898 chemistry discovery / Strategy game with disks / Chess maneuver with French name / Eponym in candy store / 16th century pope who owned pet elephant / Red-cased import / Hindu festival of colorsRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger151125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-49488817638202603082020-06-05T16:42:19.301-04:002020-06-05T16:42:19.301-04:00Likable, gettable Friday puzzle.
Good long downs ...Likable, gettable Friday puzzle.<br /><br />Good long downs in the NE, with its helpful cluster of Z's, and in the NICELY DONE SW. Some good acrosses in the SE, with special mention for OENOLOGY and its "Study for the bar" clue.<br /><br />Last came the stubborn NW, mostly a blank. GOBI/GINSLING were not gettable for me...cheated to get them. Then finished off the rest of that section. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />leftcoasternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-69259369409702157802020-06-05T14:55:15.606-04:002020-06-05T14:55:15.606-04:00Got it all, with a teensy bit of help on one lone ...Got it all, with a teensy bit of help on one lone error. "saysno" was my original LOWERS. Created quite a NW mess. But my first go-round was drawing many, many blanks - so I'm pleased in the end. Not a ZZZ inducing solve.<br /><br />Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for CrosswordsDiana, LIWnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-74458452949622571352020-06-05T14:39:29.784-04:002020-06-05T14:39:29.784-04:00Today's very enjoyable puzzle continues a soli...Today's very enjoyable puzzle continues a solid week where I liked all of them.<br /><br />My first entries were the French terms: EN PASSANT (first put in PASSeNt) and JUS. Thus, the SW came in relatively quickly followed smoothly by the entire South where had -IOUS which gave GOLDEN DELICIOUS, an apple I don't much like, but it did give up some sort of SLING. Before I got into Scotch and wines I used to drink things like Mai Tais, Daiquiris, and GIN SLINGS. Now, eww.<br /><br />I kind of liked the zed-fest in the NE, signaled by Mario PUZO, and in fact I thought, even with Pope LEOX, the puzzle was a treat. Good puzzle; good week.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />rainforestnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-47992783480305106352020-06-05T14:21:15.145-04:002020-06-05T14:21:15.145-04:00Days like today make me wonder if the NYT Crosswor...Days like today make me wonder if the NYT Crossword even has an editor. The River Styx never goes to hell because it's part of the Greek Underworld. Dante made it his Fifth Circle but then it's not "going" anywhere, it's just in the middle of Hell. You might as well say "it always goes to yomi" or "it always goes to naraka" if words just aren't going to mean anything anymore. <br /><br />Similarly, Fuzzy Wuzzy--not a nursery rhyme. 1944 novelty song turned tongue twister but it's as much a fairy tale or fable as it is a nursery rhyme. Which is to say, not at all unless your crossword constructor has no respect for the meanings of words. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-14426386252383306242020-06-05T12:55:09.843-04:002020-06-05T12:55:09.843-04:00Come on - gin sling? GIN SLING? Hmmpf. Also the ve...Come on - gin sling? GIN SLING? Hmmpf. Also the very best apple for pie is the Haralson. Don't have them in your area? Tooooo bad.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-43049499080916146812020-06-05T12:15:07.145-04:002020-06-05T12:15:07.145-04:00OOZE INAWE
INFUSEd with GINSLINGS? It won’t BODEW...OOZE INAWE<br /><br />INFUSEd with GINSLINGS? It won’t BODEWELL,<br />Down the RIVERSTYX, DAMNed to HOLI hell.<br /><br />--- LOU MEYER<br />Burma Shavenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-82079973993197291422020-06-05T11:15:34.157-04:002020-06-05T11:15:34.157-04:00I had ideas of throwing in the towel but kept plug...I had ideas of throwing in the towel but kept plugging away with guesses, not all of which were correct as evidenced by little inkfests all over like hAiFa before JAFFA, jimI before RAVI, defERS before LOWERS, Ann before ADA, etc. If not for the toehold in the easy-ish SE, I might have been totally sunk.<br /><br />This puzzle not only has RAGE, so do the corners, along with my GEAR.<br /><br />I didn’t think this was a ‘guy’ puz at all, and rather NICELYDONE.<br />rondonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-111959420952784442020-06-05T11:14:20.378-04:002020-06-05T11:14:20.378-04:00Yes, ZZZ is acceptable in Scrabble--defined as a &...Yes, ZZZ is acceptable in Scrabble--defined as a "sound to indicate snoring--" but why on Earth would anyone ever make that play? It's a total waste of two blanks! Absurd, but it validates the clue. This was my way in, and so my first thought was: showoff! OK, Trenton, you win the total Scrabble count first prize of all time. With that and $5 you can get a cup of coffee. Or, during happy hour, maybe a GINSLING, of which I've never heard. That's all right; I don't expect to know most drinking stuff. I may have the occasional Mich Ultra, and that's about it. I'd flunk OENOLOGY.<br /><br />This was Thursday-tough, just about medium. It did have an honest-to-God Natick at #9. Of course, like 99% of us all, I had hAiFA for the city; not up on Israeli geography enough to know whether or not it's a port. But 11-down disabused me of that. The religion was completely unknown, so was it HAFFA? Or...ran the alphabet. J looked interesting, and was in keeping with the big-Scrabble theme of the corner, so I went with that: yay!<br /><br />Fill letter add-ons were distressing: the RRNP and RCCOLA--but the latter takes me back to Berrigan's Subs and the pinball machines...but that's another story.<br /><br />A weird gridspanner that doesn't have anything to do with any other part of the puzzle but just happened to be 15 long bothered me a little, but overall I say NICELYDONE. REESE Witherspoon does very nicely as DOD; birdie. <br /><br /> spacecrafthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09125304293611865503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-3501291294522765262020-06-05T10:20:51.222-04:002020-06-05T10:20:51.222-04:00It was challenging to Rex, therefore it is a lousy...It was challenging to Rex, therefore it is a lousy puzzle. I thought it was tough but very enjoyable. <br />Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11441241221931517048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-61007049024013542812020-05-02T13:02:23.569-04:002020-05-02T13:02:23.569-04:00Assuming ukes and precalc are male pursuits is wha...Assuming ukes and precalc are male pursuits is what's sexist. sf27shirleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05711820921781179418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-7939149840721479972020-05-02T08:04:09.369-04:002020-05-02T08:04:09.369-04:00First clue I got was Lou Henry Hoover, who was not...First clue I got was Lou Henry Hoover, who was not merely the wife of one of our only two presidents who were engineers but his co-translator of Agricola's De Re Metallica (Regarding Metals, published in 1556), a massive Latin treatise on 16th century metal mining in the Bohemian mountains. It opens my Epidemiology lecture on the "Birth of occupational lung cancer." The Hartz Mountain silver mines were permeated with radon gas. Lung cancer was not described as a distinct disease until the 19th century, but radiation-induced "Bergkrankheit" as it was known then was a common cause of death of miners. Agricola/Hoover says, "If the dust has corrosive qualities, it eats away the lungs and implants consumption in the body; hence in the Carpathian Mountains women are found who have married seven husbands, all of whom this terrible consumption has carried off to a premature death." (PS I give extra points to students who can identify the other engineer president.)Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12929689124837027798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-5303405864420931282020-05-01T22:17:40.019-04:002020-05-01T22:17:40.019-04:00Just loved it. Tough, took forever, but finished t...Just loved it. Tough, took forever, but finished triumphant. Best was "zzz"!barryevanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08187561522682315564noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-71910783024707327102020-05-01T22:09:13.859-04:002020-05-01T22:09:13.859-04:00Actually just double checked. Haifa is the port. ח...Actually just double checked. Haifa is the port. חיפה. Yafo is part of Tel Aviv these days. Transliteration being what it is Jaffa could signify either, but generally refers to Yafo. I would call this cluing wrong. You could use something about Israeli oranges. Richardf8https://www.blogger.com/profile/17529101042863259910noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-3070976475575698122020-05-01T21:59:19.182-04:002020-05-01T21:59:19.182-04:00Neither Haifa nor Jaffa, but יפו. Transliteration ...Neither Haifa nor Jaffa, but יפו. Transliteration is a horrorshow. Yafo would be how it would look given contemporary english phonology. Richardf8https://www.blogger.com/profile/17529101042863259910noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-52862972658410983282020-05-01T21:34:33.712-04:002020-05-01T21:34:33.712-04:00@Pablo – everyone there had their geekiness niche,...@Pablo – everyone there had their geekiness niche, more or less. I started in classical, then later moved to jazz (while still pinch-hitting in classical). And mostly everybody knew the pop stuff. Those were fun times.<br /><br />I remember we "scooped" Maria Callas's death. We set up a memorial Callas section that morning. Most customers were unaware when they came in and screeched at us, "She's not dead!" We just deadpanned, "Oh yes. She is."<br /><br />I was also working there when Elvis died. Now that was a nightmare.<br /><br />There was a Buffy Sainte-Marie song called "Until It's Time For You To Go" that got covered by a lot of artists, including Neil Diamond. That's the song of hers I remember most. Joe Dipintohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07922691457886440325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-46289990172416355372020-05-01T21:30:12.988-04:002020-05-01T21:30:12.988-04:00The puzzle was hard for me. Had to use da Google n...The puzzle was hard for me. Had to use da Google numerous times, mostly to check my answers.<br /><br />@pablo I think of Buffy, too, when I think of “Universal Soldier,” and it was she who wrote the song. BTW, years ago I had a stereo-salesman friend who said she was the only singer whose voice had built-in wow and flutter.<br /><br />If you think ukuleles aren’t cool, then you haven’t heard Jake Shimabukuro. There’s a fine documentary about him, “Life on Four Strings.”I think we found it on Amazon Prime.<br /><br />I wish someone had sent me to a PRECALC class. I was in high school and taking an advanced college prep curriculum when they threw calculus at me in our senior year. There were a few of us, fairly brainy types all, who got lost within the first few weeks and never recovered. We all got passing D’s because we were otherwise good students and college bound. But I was traumatized enough that the next year I made sure to choose a major that had NO math requirement. CaryinBoulderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05822903701279366708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-8751180042614330532020-05-01T20:54:07.321-04:002020-05-01T20:54:07.321-04:00Amen to your Scrabble rant.It was well and fairly ...Amen to your Scrabble rant.It was well and fairly stated.Andrew Heinegghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18101651673327984167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-73884563203855681952020-05-01T20:41:16.344-04:002020-05-01T20:41:16.344-04:00I was surprised that with all the Zs in the NE tha...I was surprised that with all the Zs in the NE that the words in the NW were NADA and NIL rather than ZERO and ZIP.<br /><br />But I liked it.Dennis Doubledayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05720658526488419391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-75438941723990889992020-05-01T19:55:29.464-04:002020-05-01T19:55:29.464-04:00Esso stations are on the ALCAN Hwy --no esso in ...Esso stations are on the ALCAN Hwy --no esso in alaska<br />the styx is the boundary to hell, not 'leads to' .. Jmorgiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15336323255198144091noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-42501573808640462232020-05-01T19:13:41.144-04:002020-05-01T19:13:41.144-04:00@JoeD- I'd bet a lot that you were The Guy in ...@JoeD- I'd bet a lot that you were The Guy in the Record Store Who Knows Where Everything Is. I mean this with all possible respect, as those people were/are invaluable.<br /><br />Anyway, you inspired me to find out more about Buffy SM, who has had a long and fascinating career. I was pretty sure she wrote Universal Soldier (she did). And I also thought of her as a Native American (she is). I found her voice to have a memorable vibrato, and once uses to play and sing "Time to Go", which is a very nice song. Lots more info on the Wiki, of course.<br /><br />Really cool story. Thanks for sharing.pabloinnhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04967477079504866917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-34303052928145871282020-05-01T18:56:58.497-04:002020-05-01T18:56:58.497-04:00@Frantic (2:00) I did not know there was a movie ...@Frantic (2:00) I did not know there was a movie based on Radium Girls and thanks so much for posting the link. I will be sure and watch for the opportunity to see that. I thought the book was excellent, reads more like a novel if you know what I mean.Whatsernamehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15450876821189472213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-26415580597230382752020-05-01T18:20:34.741-04:002020-05-01T18:20:34.741-04:00In other puzzle related news, I saw a scarlet tana...In other puzzle related news, I saw a scarlet tanager while walking in the woods with one of my dogs today. Ever the clown, he said "that's a lot on one's plate". After today's puzzle, I might welcome a quad stack from MAS.Petenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-20145671371397247232020-05-01T18:07:52.553-04:002020-05-01T18:07:52.553-04:00I would think that assuming the person solving you...I would think that assuming the person solving your crossword puzzle is into other puzzles and games would be one of the safer assumptions to make. Furthermore, I thought the fact that being into puzzles and games wasn’t inherently gendered was at the root of the whole constructor gender disparity issue. In other words, if women enjoy crossword puzzles as much as men (which is obviously true), why are the editors and published constructors (and test solvers, apparently) so overwhelmingly male? The only justifiable reason would be if so dramatically fewer puzzles were submitted by women, but it seems to be more complicated than that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-52309201480844791032020-05-01T18:07:13.022-04:002020-05-01T18:07:13.022-04:00Do you even like crossword puzzles, Rex? Do you even like crossword puzzles, Rex? JeffEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01620999316684829616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-6543694659544320222020-05-01T18:00:43.137-04:002020-05-01T18:00:43.137-04:00one of the conundrums of early childhood, grade sc...one of the conundrums of early childhood, grade school and middle school education is that girls demonstrate equal or greater aptitude arithmetic and math until late middle school, i.e. puberty. so far as I know, no one has figured out why girls go from good at it to also ran.<br /><br />"This report builds on a previous analysis from Cantlon and her team, which looked at test performance data of 500 boys and girls. The 2018 paper found no difference in their early quantitative or mathematical ability, suggesting that boys and girls are equally equipped to reason about mathematics during early childhood.<br /><br />All of this info makes Cantlon think that naysayers and crappy cultural messaging are to blame for the huge gender divide in STEM fields later in life."<br /><br />here (one of hundreds): https://nypost.com/2019/11/08/boys-being-better-at-math-than-girls-is-a-myth-study/<br /><br />note for the record: NY Post isn't that Snowflake Washington Post, by any measure. Lebesgue or otherwise.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com