tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post3355287270885644282..comments2024-03-29T01:22:33.864-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Spy vs. Spy cartoonist Prohias / THU 4-7-11 / Clothing company since 1992 / Pousse multicolored drink / Rum-enhanced dessert / Painter SchieleRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger99125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-46845577196138679032020-04-09T18:18:24.648-04:002020-04-09T18:18:24.648-04:00Great puz!Great puz!BobLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02614228671316214824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-2389056385891470762011-05-12T15:35:02.926-04:002011-05-12T15:35:02.926-04:00I'm a syndi-solver and I always enjoy reading ...I'm a syndi-solver and I always enjoy reading what the prime-timers (oh, and Rex of course!) have to say about a puzzle as much as the puzzle itself. I have to say I don't recall ever seeing such a stark division between the lovers and the haters, and it appears to be about equally divided (I'm way too lazy to actually count.) So just in case I am the tie-breaker, I'm with @BEQ and his posse of lovers.Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-78050833350083562332011-05-12T12:10:49.466-04:002011-05-12T12:10:49.466-04:00I think this was a brilliant puzzle: somehow chall...I think this was a brilliant puzzle: somehow challenging yet very gettable. Never seen this theme before, loved the creativity of it, and was impressed with the non-theme fill. A+. Take a pill, Rex.rain forestnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-89206392999566951192011-04-08T15:56:23.510-04:002011-04-08T15:56:23.510-04:00any puzzle that mentions They Might Be Giants, Wei...any puzzle that mentions They Might Be Giants, Weird Al, AND Ruth's Chris Steakhouse cannot be anything less than totally badass.COIXT RECORDShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06471607923683058246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-44045328764226680052011-04-08T08:48:13.752-04:002011-04-08T08:48:13.752-04:00Loved the puzzle - Rex, you're a whiner!Loved the puzzle - Rex, you're a whiner!The Tonesternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-13603019107710353552011-04-08T06:32:54.820-04:002011-04-08T06:32:54.820-04:00ACME: I am totally against puzzles that constructo...ACME: I am totally against puzzles that constructors write to prove they are clever and solvers hate - I'm in the solver camp. I'm also not clever. I don't know from cheater squares or any of the stuff that constructors get excited about. I have nothing personal against the very clever Kevin Der, but when I see his name on a crossword, I just go do something else.<br /><br />I liked this puzzle a lot. I disagree with Rex's assessment that anyone could knock out the {the} and form 100 answers. He's right, but these are four strong answers.<br /><br />All four are iconic including one of my favorite movies.<br /><br />I think if you wanted to pick on inside jokes/circle jerks for constructors there were lots of easier targets, like Der's Chinese Calendar one.<br /><br />With respect.Jamienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-43175217010885652972011-04-08T03:11:08.689-04:002011-04-08T03:11:08.689-04:00@Miriam
Oops! Not TORTiNI/CARRYiNS!!!!
Glad I cam...@Miriam<br />Oops! Not TORTiNI/CARRYiNS!!!!<br />Glad I came back here...<br />for the @greene posting of Jerry Orbach (have forwarded it to Tony lest he miss that nice tribute to his dad)<br />and for the discussion of whether or not folks liked (the) (the)me.<br /><br />It is an excellent idea, the THEs were taken from different words, BUT somehow what was left in the puzzle would have been EVEN MORE elegant if they made sense.<br /><br />To look at LMA AND LOUISE to me is not aesthetically pleasing. Usually when you remove letters, the remaining ones should still sort of make sense...<br />so the theme was literally more outside the box, in that it was a play on the clues, not the theme answers, which is probably why vets like BEQ love it so much...<br />It's almost like an inside joke for constructors.<br /><br />OK, Carry on.andrea carry On michaelsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-66847727265961276642011-04-08T00:32:47.736-04:002011-04-08T00:32:47.736-04:00loved the puzzle. NO one has mentioned that each ...loved the puzzle. NO one has mentioned that each missing "the" was part of a different word; that's what made it fun, plus the fact that they all came form different areas. I got it on "ir fineset hour" thought it had to be our at first, but then remembereed quote,plus it was one of Churchill's own titles for one volume of his history of WWII, which Book of the Month Club sent me when I joined at age 12> Had the books in my room but never read them, still the title stays in memory. then enjoyed finding rest of theme. Sure, parts were not great, but liked plenty of answers. Knew the word pousse-cafe, but still am not sure what it is. Used to eat tortoni's after ordering them by mistake; hated the rum. <br />captcha: awsme awesome - e o perfect for today.I skip M-Wnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-14502913810017779332011-04-07T23:46:07.543-04:002011-04-07T23:46:07.543-04:00Why all the animosity toward H. Hook and his puzzl...Why all the animosity toward H. Hook and his puzzle? The Churchill subject is (should be) well-known, which reveals the theme, which yielded Thelma&Louise without a single cross. I could quibble here and there, but sheesh, too much hating. @Dude that hates sports: round thyself.Giulionoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-55370815171672914802011-04-07T23:39:01.065-04:002011-04-07T23:39:01.065-04:00IMHO,some BONBONs don't contain chocolate.
@a...IMHO,some BONBONs don't contain chocolate.<br /><br />@acme: It's CARRYON. I just remembered the story about the vulture who tried to board a plane lugging two dead wombats. He was told to leave one of them behind, as passengers were allowed only one carrion.miriam bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03506593846362044050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-5612581017112667692011-04-07T23:28:30.438-04:002011-04-07T23:28:30.438-04:00Well, I thought it was excellent. It's a good...Well, I thought it was excellent. It's a good thing I was too busy all day to do the puzzle until late evening, or I might have wasted the day here arguing the case for the defense. I found the theme elegant in its simplicity.Matthew G.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07957320012395569238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-49901774356578826772011-04-07T22:51:52.096-04:002011-04-07T22:51:52.096-04:00This week's relative difficulty ratings. See m...This week's relative difficulty ratings. See my 7/30/2009 post for an explanation. 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, 6:54, 0.88, 8%, Easy<br />Tue 10:46, 8:57, 1.20, 91%, Challenging<br />Wed 10:10, 11:44, 0.87, 22%, Easy-Medium<br />Thu 16:51, 19:05, 0.88, 31%, Easy-Medium<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Mon 3:27, 3:41, 0.94, 27%, Easy-Medium<br />Tue 5:33, 4:36, 1.21, 95%, Challenging<br />Wed 4:59, 5:46, 0.86, 18%, Easy<br />Thu 8:28, 9:12, 0.92, 44%, Mediumsanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-49720489963743309772011-04-07T21:23:06.251-04:002011-04-07T21:23:06.251-04:00When you have to repeat a gag three more times the...When you have to repeat a gag three more times the originality and freshness quickly wanes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-11773944046798291592011-04-07T20:35:38.799-04:002011-04-07T20:35:38.799-04:00Give me more Mad magazine from the 70's! Alon...Give me more Mad magazine from the 70's! Along with Prohias and Aragones, let's see Dave Berg, Mort Drucker, Al Jaffee, Jack(?) Davis, publisher William M. Gaines and 'the usual gang of idiots'. There are a lot I am forgetting, but this list is without Googling.Geometricushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12608136348402997098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-77152095305999695422011-04-07T19:53:04.794-04:002011-04-07T19:53:04.794-04:00@Gil.l.Polkas: Loved your rant...@Gil.l.Polkas: Loved your rant...JFenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-17897183298136899222011-04-07T18:52:13.607-04:002011-04-07T18:52:13.607-04:00I got 3 of the theme answers before realized there...I got 3 of the theme answers before realized there was even a theme connecting them all. Thought LMA AND LOUISE was just a "cute" way of saying exactly that. So along those lines I tried to make sense of the others and couldn't.<br /><br />Hardest part of this was the SW for me. No idea who these big band brothers are and had never heard of OLESTRA.<br /><br />Count me on the side of not having an enjoyable solving experience.Kendallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04176353196193935474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-87232687657551989852011-04-07T18:30:35.367-04:002011-04-07T18:30:35.367-04:00^Removed it from every theme answer, that is.^Removed it from every theme answer, that is.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-71299196950992276552011-04-07T18:23:50.419-04:002011-04-07T18:23:50.419-04:00Wow, he removed THE SINGLE MOST COMMON WORD IN THE...Wow, he removed THE SINGLE MOST COMMON WORD IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE from every clue! What a construction job! I hope to see this Hook fellow do more work in that field—we sure could use all the help we can get over here on 2nd Avenue!<br /><br />P.S. This wasn't even challenging, not that that would have excused this excuse for a theme.Williamnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-60335052617821380312011-04-07T18:12:48.163-04:002011-04-07T18:12:48.163-04:00This was difficult but doable which is all I ever ...This was difficult but doable which is all I ever ask. Took too long to see the theme which didn't really help me all that much. I worked on it off and on during the day and finished without errors or googling. I liked it.Annenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-31744552647526822532011-04-07T17:34:28.578-04:002011-04-07T17:34:28.578-04:00A little too much crosswordese for my liking, but ...A little too much crosswordese for my liking, but that's probably just because almost everything was out of my age range. I expected that when I saw the Hook byline though. This is why I find it funny when solvers complain about a single rap or pop culture reference in a clue. Every week us young solvers have to deal with puzzles like this! Overall, I definitely didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either.Mark Bnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-21224497700777512412011-04-07T17:01:18.897-04:002011-04-07T17:01:18.897-04:00@Lois, 3:22 PM - I will plead Guilty to a charge o...@Lois, 3:22 PM - I will plead Guilty to a charge of not-perfect writing, but Not Guilty to the charge of mis-understanding the rain puzzle. I wrote, "Sort of like if your (only) gimmick was having RAIN in circles four times in the same puzzle." I should have used the subjunctive: ". . . if your (only) gimmick were . . ." The (only) was intended to say that if the rain puzzle had had <i> only </i> that gimmick it would have been like today's. I actually like today's puzzle (and the rain puzzle, too), but you can't get around the fact that once you knew the trick, repetition didn't add much.<br /><br />(And completely irrelevant, but I feel a certain closeness to Henry Hook because he grew up in the town next to mine.)Bob Kerfufflehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02615811802419025933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-70379747710698793132011-04-07T16:51:19.462-04:002011-04-07T16:51:19.462-04:00Tried to tackle the puzzle this morning and got no...Tried to tackle the puzzle this morning and got no where. Then had to go to a NARFE meeting with my husband. Mentioned to one of the people there that I do NYT puzzles but today's made no sense. He immediately explained it to me.Came home and got most of it but DNFchefbeahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15195945085405126511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-58236054361857274722011-04-07T16:37:40.260-04:002011-04-07T16:37:40.260-04:00Rex nailed it: terrible puzzle, complete waste of ...Rex nailed it: terrible puzzle, complete waste of time. I do not understand the appeal of HH to crossword editors.Blue Staternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-55067323771308843792011-04-07T16:25:40.302-04:002011-04-07T16:25:40.302-04:00Worst puzzle--in concept and execution--in weeeeee...Worst puzzle--in concept and execution--in weeeeeeeeks.Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17857747515877769718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-62407259537431602342011-04-07T16:00:35.709-04:002011-04-07T16:00:35.709-04:00Oops, it's Mark RIEBLING. Nothing worse than m...Oops, it's Mark RIEBLING. Nothing worse than misspelling someone's name.<br />Riebling is a wonderful U.S. historian.<br />Amongst some of my favorite quotes from Churchill's "Finest Hour:"<br />"What then is the moral of Churchill's life? He was the twentieth century's great man, but we must sharply circumscribe his greatness. Because he drew the sword from the stone in 1940, what he did before and after seems admirable. Through his steadfast stance, Churchill rallied the English to die with honor - therefore, they deserved to win.<br />Whoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whoever shall lose his life shall preserve it (Luke 17:33). Yet were it not for this one courageous triumph, we might now say of him:never had one man done so little with so much.<br />Sorry for the rant....GILL I.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05605766053820226324noreply@blogger.com