tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post2521145828515475187..comments2024-03-28T11:17:22.917-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Colony in ancient Magna Graecia / FRI 9-19-14 / Alcopop relative / South American cowboy / One living in urban poverty pejoratively / Toon toned down for 1930s Hays code / Divine showbiz persona / Nickname for Oliver CromwellRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger96125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-55365368520979731622014-10-31T01:19:28.018-04:002014-10-31T01:19:28.018-04:00Sunday Morning
Complacencies of the peignoir, and...Sunday Morning<br /><br />Complacencies of the peignoir, and late<br />Coffee and oranges in a sunny chair,<br />And the green freedom of a cockatoo<br />Upon a rug mingle to dissipate<br />The holy hush of ancient sacrifice.<br />She dreams a little, and she feels the dark<br />Encroachment of that old catastrophe,<br />As a calm darkens among water-lights.<br />The pungent oranges and bright, green wings<br />Seem things in some procession of the dead,<br />Winding across wide water, without sound.<br />The day is like wide water, without sound,<br />Stilled for the passing of her dreaming feet<br />Over the seas, to silent Palestine,<br />Dominion of the blood and sepulchre.<br />Wallace Stevensnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-81538071285015701552014-10-25T05:01:24.008-04:002014-10-25T05:01:24.008-04:00Seriously! Nobody thought there should be a quest...Seriously! Nobody thought there should be a question mark after the 16 across clue? <br /><br />The llanero / relleno cross was terrible. Natick! <br /><br />Make public=unearth? That's quite a tough clue/usage of the word,in my opinion, when Lena Durham & humblebrag make that corner tough enough already!<br /><br />The French word cross in the SE corner was poor. I took Spanish in High School and German in college. Your paper is obsessed with French!<br /><br />While I completed the puzzle correctly with no aids, I didn't think it was easy. And I don't think puzzles like this should be published in a daily newspaper. I think they are too "cliqueish" and should be saved for specialty puzzle books for the masochists that enjoy such torture.Get Real!noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-84539752071144588102014-10-24T16:10:48.461-04:002014-10-24T16:10:48.461-04:00If you don't know HUMBLEBRAG, lENADUNHAM, or N...If you don't know HUMBLEBRAG, lENADUNHAM, or NEO-soul, this is tough, as it was for me. Also didn't know that admirals have stars-thought they had various numbers of stripes. Anyway, like @Spacey, I persevered on all the little crosses, made three guesses, and ended up with a correct solution.<br /><br />What's wrong with SLUMDOGS unless it gives one a guilty conscience, which one (percent) can do something about if they cared to? <br /><br />ORLANDO held me up more than the two biggies in the NW, actually.<br /><br />Can't read the captcha. Second try - 8324, raise. rain forestnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-78449712575817176912014-10-24T15:45:57.535-04:002014-10-24T15:45:57.535-04:00I came through this relatively unscathed with only...I came through this relatively unscathed with only a couple of wrong turns in the SE where cityrat had to come out in favor of SLUMDOG and my resort options were spaS before they were INS. Otherwise the crosswords worked their magic and produced the words I didn't know so fair enough. Seeing both Bette Midler (The "Divine" MISS M) and Betty BOOP in the grid made my heart go pitty-pat. Well done Mr. Vigeland - I hope you shouted ET VOILA! when you produced this one.<br /><br />1209 - yeah, that's about my NORM for the week.Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-2852666857458137182014-10-24T15:16:48.908-04:002014-10-24T15:16:48.908-04:00Too late, Rondo. It's already done. Over and...Too late, Rondo. It's already done. Over and out.<br /><br />Ron Diego<br /><br />P.S. I use the Rondo tag for one of my other sites, You Copycat !!<br /><br />Ron Diego0Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-76920813458375987642014-10-24T14:41:21.262-04:002014-10-24T14:41:21.262-04:00FYI the Orlando Sentinel is their newspaper. Rathe...FYI the Orlando Sentinel is their newspaper. Rather be in a sandwich with @eastsacgirl!<br /><br />1100 - INADEQUATErondonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-57387915029952042232014-10-24T14:35:21.233-04:002014-10-24T14:35:21.233-04:00This one didn't play "easy" for me. ...This one didn't play "easy" for me. Did the East half, got stuck in the SW "forever", untilI I realized Sentinels must refer to a sports team and not those nifty looking guys out side Buckingham Palace. But the NW!! Just couldn't get a enough crosses to solve the slang and unknown actress, and would never have guessed PHENOM! Isn't that more "modern lingo"? Off for another cup of tea while I lick my wounds!<br /><br />345 Well, at least it looks nice!DMGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-20667220671021757232014-10-24T13:56:26.868-04:002014-10-24T13:56:26.868-04:00Here we are, Rondo: Spacecraft above and me below....Here we are, Rondo: Spacecraft above and me below. (A Crossword Sandwich).<br />This one not very easy for me but with the help of Wiki I did finish. Hey, when you're 150 yrs old like me you just don't know words like Humblebrag. And I had to look up Lena D.<br /><br />I have to ditto Spacecraft on this one. More like Med/Challenge<br /><br />Ron DiegoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-86387301396249300232014-10-24T13:31:59.595-04:002014-10-24T13:31:59.595-04:00Where's @Spacecraft today? Hope to see him alo...Where's @Spacecraft today? Hope to see him along with @eastsacgirl and Ron Diego.<br />Same as so many before re: HUMBLEBRAG and LENADUNHAM: and I really don't know a thing about Twilight esp not the actors. So this wasn't a slam dunk for me, kinda hard in those places. Do they still make WINECOOLERs? Not my cuppa.In these parts a shore lunch is not SEAFOOD, it's beer-battered walleye.<br /><br />315 - PHENOMenalroondonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-52064228243930002242014-10-24T13:31:36.598-04:002014-10-24T13:31:36.598-04:00"Easy?" Hardly. Lots of never-heard-ofs,..."Easy?" Hardly. Lots of never-heard-ofs, including the apparently well-known LENADUNHAM. Not Jeff's wife, is she? Also n.h.o. HUMBLEBRAG, though it's made up of two words that sensibly fit the clue. This forced me to write over onASLANT with the correct ATASLANT.<br /><br />Started with ARA and IRISH, the former a very overworked xword name and the latter a bleedover from IRISHCOFFEE. The SE came down fairly quickly for a Friday, and after seeing that "fire" didn't mean pink-slip, so did the SW. Once I UNEARTHed 2d, the NW was done.<br /><br />Then there was the NE. Yeesh! I guessed at nearly half of those letters, throwing down an "L" wherever I needed one in the Hispanic entries--and it worked! By sheer luck I finished with no errors, despite n.h.o. ELEA, LLANERO, RELLENO or NEO-soul. It took forever for TELE to light me up: "What marketers might follow." I say again, Yeesh!<br /><br />Who knew Oliver Cromwell originally played the wheelchair-bound police chief later played by Raymond Burr?<br /><br />SEXPERT? That's another n.h.o., but it makes a sort of compressed sense. I guess. I'll go ONRECORD as liking this one--except for that NE. B.<br /><br />282: Yeesh!spacecraftnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-56464914278920866452014-09-22T15:43:04.523-04:002014-09-22T15:43:04.523-04:00This one was difficult DNF for me... just not in m...This one was difficult DNF for me... just not in my wheelhouse I guess. ?UMBLE???? = WOE, but I sure do like HUMBLEBRAG as a word now that I've seen it. I had LENA, but no idea about DUNHAM until I broke down and googled Girls. That also took care of the RAHM problem (another WOE). No problem here for Taylor LAUTNER or ORLANDO Sentinel. LLANERO on the other hand was a word I knew I'd seen before in xwordland, but I just couldn't dredge up out of the gray matter.<br /><br />I struggled with 56A. I felt it had to be Betty BOOP, but for the life of me couldn't bring myself to believe it would be BOOP without the Betty.<br />Hand up for not thinking bathes = STEEPS<br />Hand up for falling into the onASLANT rabbithole.<br />Hand up for Pasta before PILAF. Yes, both risotto and PILAF are rice dishes, but I was focusing on texture & they are not the same in that respect.<br />Loved seeing ONEPOTATO, SOCIALLIFE, FRESHSTART, PHENOM, SEXPERT, PEIGNOIR in the grid. Although I struggled with this puzzle, there were a some ahas for ma along the way.<br /><br />Thanks, Finn.LHS 888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-7057378268763349822014-09-21T14:01:31.166-04:002014-09-21T14:01:31.166-04:00Never heard the word "humblebrag" which ...Never heard the word "humblebrag" which sounds like it will be forgotten forever in a year or two. Never heard of Lean Dunham, Taylor Lautner, the director Coen or his movie "True Grit" (I thought it was talking about the John Wayne movie). What kind of message is the Times trying to send by publishing stuff like this? You're basically telling anyone over 40 -- you don't matter, please just go die!!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-65516263156284362522014-09-20T09:41:15.537-04:002014-09-20T09:41:15.537-04:00Did anyone else let the POLLSTER cross trick them ...Did anyone else let the POLLSTER cross trick them into "On guard" for 38D Sentinel's place?<br /><br />I also had MISSy and NORy at first, but the latter just didn't fit, so I resorted to alphabetical enumeration. Even then I was left wondering what the heck "No R.M." meant, until I came here.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-38238377288629080252014-09-20T03:09:52.436-04:002014-09-20T03:09:52.436-04:00This week's relative difficulty ratings. See m...This week's relative difficulty ratings. See my 8/1/2009 post for an explanation and my 10/15/2012 post for an explanation of a tweak I've made to my method. In a nutshell, the higher the ratio, the higher this week's median solve time is relative to the average for the corresponding day of the week.<br /><br />All solvers (this week's median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)<br /><br />Mon 6:03, 6:03, 1.00, 49%, Medium<br />Tue 7:06, 7:50, 0.91, 22%, Easy-Medium<br />Wed 8:54, 9:30, 0.94, 35%, Easy-Medium<br />Thu 14:54, 16:57, 0.88, 26%, Easy-Medium<br />Fri 17:00, 19:38, 0.87, 26%, Easy-Medium<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Mon 3:48, 3:57, 0.96, 24%, Easy-Medium<br />Tue 4:50, 5:21, 0.90, 15%, Easy<br />Wed 6:01, 6:08, 0.98, 43%, Medium<br />Thu 9:31, 10:29, 0.92, 31%, Easy-Medium<br />Fri 10:49, 12:34, 0.86, 26%, Easy-Mediumsanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-83184468167399082992014-09-19T21:31:28.897-04:002014-09-19T21:31:28.897-04:00@Z -- that HUMBLEBRAG link was hilarious! Thanks ...@Z -- that HUMBLEBRAG link was hilarious! Thanks for posting it.Lewishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09709142959535977331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-66550585530212974492014-09-19T21:11:17.963-04:002014-09-19T21:11:17.963-04:00HUMBLEBRAG was a gimme, as was LENA DUNHAM. I wat...HUMBLEBRAG was a gimme, as was LENA DUNHAM. I watch Girls, but prefer the other cast members (as I did with SITC).<br /><br />Slowed in the SW, but it fell into place. Only bust was AbC / bELLENO before ARC / RELLENO. Couldn't find it on my own and had to rely on Rex. Sooo close to an easy Friday solve.<br /><br />This one was in my wheelhouse.Naticknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-87006721024997202532014-09-19T21:11:03.092-04:002014-09-19T21:11:03.092-04:00Humblebrag, Lena Dunham, Lautner, were completely ...Humblebrag, Lena Dunham, Lautner, were completely unfamiliar, but gettable. Like others, I guessed blindly at the Relleno Elea cross. Got it right, but just lucky. Certainly not easy for me, more like an average Friday, but not the kind of challenge I particularly enjoy. OISKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16808675378318214461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-15218470446572546452014-09-19T20:36:30.046-04:002014-09-19T20:36:30.046-04:00@sanfranman, here's what I found about HUMBLEB...@sanfranman, here's what I found about HUMBLEBRAG:<br /><br /> In 2010, comedian and Parks& Rec writer Harris Wittels jokingly made a Twitter handle dedicated to calling out “humblebraggers,” or, people who publicly downplay an impressive accomplishment in order to get attention. <br /><br />from a site called HelloGiggles [really], an article on new dictionary words, 8.16.14LeapFnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-70759301324426959712014-09-19T20:34:00.181-04:002014-09-19T20:34:00.181-04:00Wow. The comments today are amazing to me. I'm...Wow. The comments today are amazing to me. I'm 56 and slammed in HUMBLEBRAG and LENADUNHAM without thinking twice (although had to wrestle a little with the Twilight clue.) Rex's "it's" gaffe is the big news of the day, IMO.Chrisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-7527004966693708462014-09-19T19:10:26.193-04:002014-09-19T19:10:26.193-04:00Aw come on, @FredRoma, you left out the Cross of S...Aw come on, @FredRoma, you left out the Cross of St. Patrick! What will the IRISH say?The Old Commonwealthernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-56687132460882477862014-09-19T18:31:54.240-04:002014-09-19T18:31:54.240-04:00If you have ever been confronted with the "Wh...If you have ever been confronted with the "What is your greatest weakness?" interview question you have likely used a HUMBLE BRAG. <a href="http://grantland.com/features/the-humblebrag-power-list/" rel="nofollow">Here</a> are some fine examples compiled from Twitter. Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16181544219511150272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-48455262130878612782014-09-19T18:28:27.505-04:002014-09-19T18:28:27.505-04:00Played brutal for us. Took us well over two hours...Played brutal for us. Took us well over two hours, but we still almost loved it - how can you not like a puzz with the wonderfully clued ONEPOTATO smack in the middle? And Betty BOOP no less? And Bette Midler? And the cluing was lots of fun.<br /><br />But here's what we didn't know: HUMBLEBRAG, LENADUNHAM, LAUTNER, RELLENO, LLANERO, PIEGNOIR. That's a lot of letters to fill. But we got it.<br /><br />Why "almost" loved it? A "Twilight" clue stops any remote possibility of love for a puzzle. The NYT puzzle has gotten me to read two of the Potter books, one of the "Hunger Games" series, and I'm three books thru "Game of Thrones" (which I actually like). But I've seen minutes of "Twilight" here and there and will never, never give in. I'll push for banishing of "Twilight" clues instead.<br /><br />Mohair Samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16502840715719161565noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-32315263729012614902014-09-19T17:49:57.206-04:002014-09-19T17:49:57.206-04:00I was sure 1a was going to have "to a fault&q...I was sure 1a was going to have "to a fault" somewhere in it. Like, "I'm very analytic, almost to a fault." One of my least favorite HUMBLE BRAGs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-75466322597338971352014-09-19T17:17:50.999-04:002014-09-19T17:17:50.999-04:00Finn may consider himself a nerd. Aren't we al...Finn may consider himself a nerd. Aren't we all?<br />machttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06794371617847975218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-8251826234632024622014-09-19T17:16:42.271-04:002014-09-19T17:16:42.271-04:00Loved this puzzle, a lot of fun to solve. Easy-med...Loved this puzzle, a lot of fun to solve. Easy-medium for me.<br /><br />A couple of write-overs: humble crow for -brag (hadn't heard it before but it's a great word), reinforced by candle (light measure?). Inadequate fixed that.<br /><br />I also tried to be much too specific with the shore dinner. Salt cod almost fit.<br /><br />Nice words and terms and excellent clues (had a problem with "ate in" also).machttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06794371617847975218noreply@blogger.com