tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post2933123152130149210..comments2024-03-28T18:12:10.683-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Anchovy sand eel / SAT 1-14-17 / Topper for Chaplin's Tramp / Obviously Catholic person in snarky rhetorical question / Bond seen in Wayne's World / Tools descended from alpenstocks / Game with official called stickman / Mock wedding setting in ShakespeareRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger95125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-89757299326150879132017-02-18T21:24:18.897-05:002017-02-18T21:24:18.897-05:00Odds BAHT KIN!Odds BAHT KIN!BS3noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-19568090773040198822017-02-18T16:02:52.009-05:002017-02-18T16:02:52.009-05:00Count me in the staring at the NW lamebrained crow...Count me in the staring at the NW lamebrained crowdLongbeachleehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10945278798020339134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-26288241886598569512017-02-18T15:25:37.126-05:002017-02-18T15:25:37.126-05:00Working from the bottom up, thought this was fairl...Working from the bottom up, thought this was fairly easy for a Saturday. Finally, the NW.<br /><br />RETROCHIC, unfamiliar to me, was put out of reach by clever, elusive clue "Back in". And SPRAT was a total unknown. The oddly termed "official...stickman" (especially the "official" part) for CRAPS iced the dnf.<br /><br />End of story.leftcoastTAMnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-68548551272512156742017-02-18T15:17:42.461-05:002017-02-18T15:17:42.461-05:00I wouldn't say easy, but doable. And I had do...I wouldn't say easy, but doable. And I had done it. All of it. Except for one letter. You probably know which one. Hint - I guessed based on a famous rhyme about a slender man and his curvaceous wife.<br /><br />Imagine my joy when I came here and saw that Jack SPRAT had truly saved the day. Yes!<br /><br />Imagine my desolation when I saw the X factor was not an arithmetical "set," but the SEX factor. No! Nae! Nyet! <br /><br />Other than that, all I can say is too bad Roseanne didn't become president. Hey - she tells it like it is, and is a domestic engineer to boot. "Mother of the wind gods," that would be AROAR.!<br /><br />Peace, out.<br /><br />Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for CrosswordsDiana,LIWnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-77389845452887826812017-02-18T14:46:49.780-05:002017-02-18T14:46:49.780-05:00Well, I had written a wonderful, humourous and ins...Well, I had written a wonderful, humourous and insightful comment but apparently I did something wrong in trying to post, and it disappeared. So, the wonder, humour and insight has evaporated. You can't recapture those magical moments, and thus:<br /><br />At first seemingly difficult, once I got a GRIP, this puzzle just sort of laid down for me, like I wish GEENA would. Going clockwise from top right, I just wrote in the answers. Smooth and competent puzzle, with only AROAR causing a wince.<br /><br />Yes, easy, but very enjoyable.rain forestnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-70503841558411413862017-02-18T14:39:31.347-05:002017-02-18T14:39:31.347-05:00When I was a child, all the kids on the block woul...When I was a child, all the kids on the block would go to the store Saturday morning to get ice cream cones. My favorite flavor was chocolate. My sister's was peach. Every week one of our friends, Foofer, would jam his ice cream in his mouth in a race to see how fast he could eat it. We laughed and laughed. 5wksltrnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-54999881288100716602017-02-18T14:13:17.509-05:002017-02-18T14:13:17.509-05:00Very easy sections, and then the pisser infestatio...Very easy sections, and then the pisser infestation. Couldn't make sense of some of them, even with the answers, and never heard of some others.<br /><br />Rejected.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-33253431977018460462017-02-18T12:44:22.482-05:002017-02-18T12:44:22.482-05:00I had almost exactly the same solving experience a...I had almost exactly the same solving experience as @anon 1:18 above. Got a good GRIP in the NE, and the entire east was filled in short order. The SW resisted a bit, but once I reasoned out BIOGAS that corner said "IMEASY."<br /><br />Then (again! Why does this happen so often with me?) came the NW. As I look out my window right now I see a chilly rain: NW weather! Remind me never to move there. None of the fill that I'd seen so far--unlike OFL--was objectionable, until AROAR. That's one of those words that elicit a groan from me. Yeah, it's a real word, but nobody talks like that. At first I thought 1-down must be RedMEAT--but then what would a 3-letter color be if not RED? "Back in" must be RETRACE...something?? The Georges thing threw me. The border control was DEED...something. No wait--DEEP WATER! But what color ends in P? The key that unlocked everything was suddenly seeing ALIENRACE (duh!). Got it all straightened out, but oh! those NWs!<br /><br />So, easy except for you-know-where: overall easy-medium. Very clean fill save AROAR, and the fact that a truly NOCARB diet cannot sustain life--even if it were possible. I myself am on a low-carb diet, and have lost 30 pounds so far. Carbs = fuel. No fuel: the car (body) dies.<br /><br />DOD competition today is TORRID! Whom to choose between the sizzling DEMI and GEENA, surely the comeliest archer ever, whose arrow hit me square in the heart when I first saw her? Yet note the word just atop (!) DEMI. Ach! What to do? well, they've awarded duplicate Oscars for a TIESCORE; why not this? Congrats, ladies, you both win.<br /><br />I like "the two REDs, with and without a HAT:" har! Birdie. spacecraftnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-91523416541535155272017-02-18T12:21:31.143-05:002017-02-18T12:21:31.143-05:00I NEEDED just over 20 minutes to finish this, whic...I NEEDED just over 20 minutes to finish this, which is much faster than USUAL for a Sat-puz, for me. Solved clockwise from the GRASSSTAINS in the NE and have to admit knowing STAN Van Gundy and the crossing hats (sounds like a band name?) saved it down there. And of course, ultra yeah baby GEENA Davis.<br /><br />As long as we got THEPOPE, it's too bad we couldn't work in something about a bear.<br /><br />In the mid north there's SEX on top of yeah baby DEMI crossing a MAN. SAD AT not being in on it. IMEASY.<br /><br />No SLED RIDE today. +/- 60 degrees is melting the SNOW. I'm going to get things done outdoors, but I probably won't fire up the WEEDEATER. rondonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-31938842951131369382017-02-18T11:38:41.572-05:002017-02-18T11:38:41.572-05:00NOCARB WEEKENDER
As an ALIENRACE, we BLUE FRIARS ...NOCARB WEEKENDER<br /><br />As an ALIENRACE, we BLUE FRIARS have RITUALs,<br />we INHALE RAWMEAT and PEELED SPRATs as victuals.<br />But GEENA said, "NOTALKING, IMEASY and neater."<br />So with TORRID SEX as NEEDED, we decided WEEDEATER.<br /><br />--- BAHT KIN OPCITBS2noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-81315750246964707182017-02-18T11:02:08.099-05:002017-02-18T11:02:08.099-05:00SEMI DEMI
RAWMEAT is RED, ELECTRONs are BLUE,
ONE...SEMI DEMI<br /><br />RAWMEAT is RED, ELECTRONs are BLUE,<br />ONE'S good for a RIDE in bed,the other an AMPERE or two.<br /><br />STAN ARDENBurma Shavenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-86835236755858689222017-01-15T00:19:54.797-05:002017-01-15T00:19:54.797-05:00So here I am on the west coast in syndiland, but w...So here I am on the west coast in syndiland, but wanted to respond to one of the above comments about great anagrams. Here is one of the best:<br /><br />"To be or not to be: that is the question, whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." <br /><br />Anagram: "In one of the Bard's best-thought-of tragedies, our insistent hero, Hamlet, queries on two fronts about how life turns rotten."<br /><br />I have more, if anyone is interested. Hopefully LMS and Acme will see this since they really get it!connienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-47354462664829526882017-01-14T23:05:45.591-05:002017-01-14T23:05:45.591-05:00Hi @Nancy - A ha, that explains it! and yes, Nicol...Hi @Nancy - A ha, that explains it! and yes, Nicole was married to Tom who went on to marry Katie Holmes. She and their daughter Suri show up in crosswords from time to time. Her ex ASHTON is currently married to Mila Kunis who also inhabits crosswords on occasion. And that's probably much more than you really wanted to know : ) .jaehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03385568014046336373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-36759286024235617152017-01-14T22:56:33.473-05:002017-01-14T22:56:33.473-05:00Hunh.
I thought it was RETROCHee, so I tried to [...Hunh.<br /><br />I thought it was RETROCHee, so I tried to [easier to do than re-dactyl, anyway]:<br /><br />Prithee, why so pale, fond solver?<br />Prithee, why so pale?<br />Will, when solving fast don't happen,<br />Solving slow prevail?<br /><i>Well, I gesso...</i><br /><br />Seems I misanticipated the linguistic topic <i>du jour</i> would involve the STANK and STUNK AXES. Can't always swing that harbinger thing, nor the harbringer, geez...<br /><br />EXtra bonus in the comments, with such A-rated reading among the general BIOGAS.<br /><br />Point of interest: there's a Tioga in New York State, and another smaller Tioga in North Dakota. So two Tiogas at least, with likely untapped potential South of the border.<br /><br />Had one comment evanesce; this is what I remember.<br /><br />Andrew K, hope to REFIND you soon.<br /><br />Leapfingerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14243620614139990887noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-92206485029633240282017-01-14T21:45:34.111-05:002017-01-14T21:45:34.111-05:00@jae -- Not. I went back and re-read your comment...@jae -- Not. I went back and re-read your comment, and I know why it didn't register. It's because I have no idea who Ashton is. I do know who DEMI is, but I don't know anything about her love life. I used to be much better at this sort of thing -- I assiduously followed Liz and Mike, Debbie and Eddie, Liz and Eddie, Liz and Richard back in the day. But now I really don't care. Which reminds me: I watched Nicole Kidman on Times Talks yesterday promoting her new movie. She seems like a terrific person. Is she the one who used to be married to Tom Cruise, poor thing? Or am I confusing her with someone else?Nancyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16737377749030219974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-50861034526179161512017-01-14T20:42:39.993-05:002017-01-14T20:42:39.993-05:00@Nancy - you know, if you had read my comment from...@Nancy - you know, if you had read my comment from late yesterday you might have gotten DEMI...or maybe not?jaehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03385568014046336373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-31331000103306805672017-01-14T18:17:49.247-05:002017-01-14T18:17:49.247-05:00Re: Tomorrow's (Sunday) puzzle -- Don't wo...Re: Tomorrow's (Sunday) puzzle -- <i>Don't worry, no spoilers</i>: Although I always get the Sunday puzzle on Saturday, via NYT Home Delivery, I always save it for the next day. After all, why should I eat all my cake today (Sat and Sun puzzles) and have nothing to look forward to tomorrow? But then the snow started to fall, circa 2:30 p.m., and there was the Times Magazine on the floor next to me, and I thought, well, I'll just take a teensy look, and then maybe do a tiny portion of the puzzle, and what do you know? I couldn't put it down. I found it very entertaining and pleasurable -- in a way that those of you who know me will understand. Have fun tomorrow, everyone. I think you will. I'll discuss this more on Sunday.Nancyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16737377749030219974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-14357214393762861522017-01-14T18:03:13.239-05:002017-01-14T18:03:13.239-05:00@aliasz -- Great post! Had me laughing.@aliasz -- Great post! Had me laughing.Lewishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09709142959535977331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-59752977105557786552017-01-14T17:47:24.004-05:002017-01-14T17:47:24.004-05:00While you smarty pants are at it...can you clue me...While you smarty pants are at it...can you clue me in as well?<br />Here I thought I was the cats MEOW today...GILL I.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05605766053820226324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-77850732120659217772017-01-14T17:29:33.706-05:002017-01-14T17:29:33.706-05:00So based on strong recommendations, I did the WSJ ...So based on strong recommendations, I did the WSJ PB puzzle AND I DON'T GET IT!!! Could someone either give me a hint or pm me? I ma always so clueless when things get obscure. Malsdemarehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05375476737540476148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-29190429844340471212017-01-14T17:22:17.258-05:002017-01-14T17:22:17.258-05:00@Z - Never. That was it for me. And I agree - it...@Z - Never. That was it for me. And I agree - it wasn't the rule itself, it was the (unnecessary) public mortification.Carolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15971759975067250908noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-44923451550874884702017-01-14T16:25:36.415-05:002017-01-14T16:25:36.415-05:00Smooth week for me. I had trouble with "Geor...Smooth week for me. I had trouble with "Georges" as well - good clue. This was easy for a Saturday, but very pleasant, with no reliance on acronyms ( op-cit is pretty fair, I think) hip-hop slang, and the other entries I have too often complained about. It is just a good, old-fashioned crossword puzzle. Perfect. Retrochic, in fact! OISKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16808675378318214461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-3358574777080001252017-01-14T16:25:26.375-05:002017-01-14T16:25:26.375-05:00@AndrewGoodridge and @Tom - If you don't typic...@AndrewGoodridge and @Tom - If you don't typically finish a Saturday puzzle than "medium" is a DNF and any finish will be, by definition, an "easy" puzzle. That is how this scale works. Have no fear, though, the day will come when you finish and you come here to find a "medium" rating and then even a "challenging" rating. Even amongst the commentariat there is a wide range of normal.<br /><br />@Carola - I hope you never went back. I don't mind the "no talking" rule, I would mind the public chastisement. That's not very yogic.<br /><br />@Anon12:33 - <a href="https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/sprat" rel="nofollow">How about the Oxford English Dictionary?</a> I think you will be a lot happier with crossword clues if you reverse your mental construction: Don't look for only scientific or taxonomic uses in crossword clues and answers. Crossword clues often stretch the language (until, of course, you assume the clue is stretching the language and it really wants a narrow taxonomic answer).<br /><br />@Anon12:00 - <a href="https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/fix" rel="nofollow">Check out definition 5</a>. That is the usage being referenced in the ETCH clue, I believe.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16181544219511150272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-11503741891804211312017-01-14T15:01:17.501-05:002017-01-14T15:01:17.501-05:00Yay! My second Saturday ever! OF course the self...Yay! My second Saturday ever! OF course the self congratulations faded a bit with finding out (as I suspected), it was the easiest Saturday ever, but I don't care. I'm not looking this particular gift horse in the mouth.Tomnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-84215768717903335292017-01-14T14:50:32.339-05:002017-01-14T14:50:32.339-05:00@Andrew Helnegg 11:36
Thanks for that! 1) Was thin...@Andrew Helnegg 11:36<br />Thanks for that! 1) Was thinking of a male BARR. (Shame on me for being SEXist.) 2) I USUALly don't proofread my posts, and end up with many typos. Bading indeed...<br /><br />@Anony 12:00<br />Ha! I'm sure that's what was meant by the clue. Shows ya where my ole brain goes first.<br /><br />Random Nonsense for ya -<br />What the knot is? TIES CORE<br />Mr. Pauls campaign slogan? ELECT RON<br />Certain Womans club headwear? HAT RED<br />Words starting with the 16th letter? PEE LED<br />Australian asking for a guitar accessory? AMP ERE<br />And a WEE KENDER and a WEE DEATER.<br /><br />Roo<br />RooMonsterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14103892151115549684noreply@blogger.com