tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post4283676690818217223..comments2024-03-19T08:17:34.199-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Winston's tormenter in 1984 / THU 8-11-16 / Capital south of Lake Volta / Longtime resident of New York's Dakota apartments / Font akin to Helvetica / No-holds-barred Q&A / Biogradable neckwear / Parts of Santa Claus balloonRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger126125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-66728553467950517332016-10-05T16:47:05.371-04:002016-10-05T16:47:05.371-04:00That irritated me, too. A NUN is a person, not a c...That irritated me, too. A NUN is a person, not a creature.<br /><br />Hated SPYFI, merely despised IZZATSO (I thought of it, and discarded it as unworthy before plugging it in), and disagree with TENET. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-80175631729172402712016-09-22T15:36:31.889-04:002016-09-22T15:36:31.889-04:00Ohhhhh, ok, Thank you George and wcutlerOhhhhh, ok, Thank you George and wcutlerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-72365637272326714932016-09-21T19:46:58.327-04:002016-09-21T19:46:58.327-04:00@Anonymous at 5:04, an el is an L, the first lette...@Anonymous at 5:04, an el is an L, the first letter (start to (of)) the word late.wcutlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08615799228069705972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-64980949002894440432016-09-21T17:37:53.485-04:002016-09-21T17:37:53.485-04:00@Anonymous at 5:04 pm. The word "late" ...@Anonymous at 5:04 pm. The word "late" starts with the letter "l" = ELL. It's a Thursday clue.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06704257485630281528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-42797495229070029092016-09-21T17:04:16.452-04:002016-09-21T17:04:16.452-04:00How is late start? an ell??How is late start? an ell??Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-5125398109965691082016-09-16T19:19:14.919-04:002016-09-16T19:19:14.919-04:00@George Barany, thank you for the elephant trunks!...@George Barany, thank you for the elephant trunks! Of course, now that you say so. I was never going to think of that.wcutlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08615799228069705972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-86332345278398916962016-09-16T15:41:35.072-04:002016-09-16T15:41:35.072-04:00This is the type of cluing that makes a crossword ...This is the type of cluing that makes a crossword torture. Intentionally vague and worse yet, intentionally peripheral. It is not tough but fair cluing - it is tough and unfair. The constructor was intent on making this puzzle tough, so he selected clues that were peripherally synonymous rather than actually synonymous, or otherwise misleading.<br /><br />Good golly, where do I start?<br /><br />NIMROD and SCHMO for "Jerk." Just no. Neither NIMROD nor SCHMO is a synonym for "Jerk". In the universe I live in, a jerk is someone who is *intentionally* irksome while a nimrod or a schmo are unintentionally irksome dimwits. If there were no better synonym to use, use of a peripheral synonym like this might be tolerable, but there are *dozens* of wonderful alternatives that are not unfair: dimwit, dolt, lamebrain, pinhead, nincompoop, etc.<br /><br />FRAT for "Band of brothers?". What does "band" have to do with this clue. Nothing, that's what. The constructor knew that "Brothers" (without a question mark) would have been perfectly acceptable ("Bros" would be even better since it would suggest the shortening of fraternity to frat). But he was intent on being clever and cute, so he added the "band of" to the beginning to call to mind the highly thought of HBO mini-series (from a decade and a half ago now, so that is not exactly fresh). Once he did that, however, he knew the added "band of" gave the clue a bit of a sheen of being a misdirection. "Hmmmm, how to fix that? Oh, I know - I'll just add a question mark!" No no no no no no no - the clue is still a literal synonym for the answer. The misdirection comes not from figurative or atypical use of a word or phrase - it comes from unnecessary baggage in the clue. That is not fixed by adding an unnecessary question mark that further murks up the clue.<br /><br />TENET for "'It is better to give than receive,' e.g." Rex already discussed this - that is not a tenet. An axiom, adage, maxim, sure, but a tenet? No, not really. (And one could certainly argue that in reality, it is much better to receive than to give.)<br /><br />CAROL for "Air when it's cold outside?" The word "air" just does not work here, either as a noun or a verb. As a noun, physical air is not a carol. As a verb, singers themselves do not "air" a song; a radio station might "air" a carol in the winter, but that does not mean the radio station is in the act of "caroling". The clue simply does not work.<br /><br />TITAN for "Captain of industry." Captain of industry is a phrase that describes a certain type of businessperson. Titan of industry is another phrase that describes that same type of businessperson. But there is a reason in both cases "of industry" is added - without those words, the phrases describe something else altogether. So a titan (sans "of industry") is no more a captain of industry than a captain (sans "of industry") is a titan of industry. This is just imprecise cluing kept imprecise solely for the purpose of making the puzzle difficult.<br /><br />Combine the above with other minor cluing imprecision (e.g., for WHETS, I prefer "Excites, in a way" as more accurate than merely "Excites"), and this puzzle was a slog.<br /><br />P.S. As opposed to many here, I have no problem at all with IZZATSO or SPYFI. The idea that entries have to be common words, phrases or expressions is way overblown among the crossword cognoscenti on this blog. As long as an entry is inferable by using your brain -- i.e., to work out the puzzle of what the entry is -- they are fine. Both those entries easy qualify (and in fact, SPYFI is quite clever).Bananafishnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-46619449994394616362016-09-16T14:54:46.245-04:002016-09-16T14:54:46.245-04:00@WCutler in syndicationland. It's been a long ...@WCutler in syndicationland. It's been a long long time since I looked at the puzzle, but could it be that "Trunks, of a sort" might refer to elephants?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06704257485630281528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-79493672124036892902016-09-16T14:52:10.118-04:002016-09-16T14:52:10.118-04:00I don't usually mind if I can't finish a p...I don't usually mind if I can't finish a puzzle, but I didn't even get half the clues. OK, so it was hard for me. But with so many names I didn't know as clues or answers (never even heard of Qdoba), and then all those long clues with no clues (since I only had one pair of circled letters and wasn't very confident of ARGOT), there was way too little to work with. It was sort of like doing an unclued puzzle. I got the top left, 5x7. I like the air when it's cold clue, though I didn't get it when I was doing it. <br /><br />I don't understand NOSES for "trunks, of a sort". I kept this for an extra day to see if I fill any more in, and it's the syndicated one, so I hope someone is still reading these to reply. wcutlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08615799228069705972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-23900189309789738462016-09-16T00:05:13.893-04:002016-09-16T00:05:13.893-04:00Hand up for loving IZZATSO! I don't get why t...Hand up for loving IZZATSO! I don't get why this great word caused such outrage. I thought the puzzle was fiendishly clever, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.<br /><br />I did think it suffered from some imprecise clues, however. 40 A is an adage, not a TENET. Shooting stars do not ARC except in Disney cartoons; they flash in a <a href="https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/tywbh7jnrlew78kfszde.jpg" rel="nofollow">straight line</a> across the sky. Stephen Colbert is a comedian, which is a very different thng than a wit, in my book (and regardless of what Wikipedia says).<br /><br />So: I would have enjoyed this puzzle even more if the clues had been consistently of high quality. But I enjoyed it plenty even so.Sailorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05185068601066087185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-2710988523351579882016-09-15T22:32:34.924-04:002016-09-15T22:32:34.924-04:00Figures. For me, IZZATSO was the highlight of the...Figures. For me, IZZATSO was the highlight of the entire puzzle.rain forestnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-1867533250897634522016-09-15T22:12:10.281-04:002016-09-15T22:12:10.281-04:00@rainy - impressed with your 3 birds. I had 3 pars...@rainy - impressed with your 3 birds. I had 3 pars on a champiionship course over the weekend and was delighted to have those 3 pars, even though that one bird atttempt sat on the rim of the cup. So much appreciate your puz comments. Rained out tonight after 3 holes. So it was just a TT.rondonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-61428298771801745492016-09-15T21:46:55.803-04:002016-09-15T21:46:55.803-04:00I had a wonderful day on the links with three frie...I had a wonderful day on the links with three friends, and burgers and beer after the round, so I didn't get to the puzzle until this evening.<br /><br />I haven't read any comments, but I found this to be delightfully challenging. Sometimes a puzzle is so difficult that you just want to give up, but this one had so many places where I had to work, and when a couple of crosses or adjacent answers worked out, I just felt like I had to persevere. It took a long time before seeing the theme, I had to get LIFE OF RILEY, then looked back at CONFISCATE before I saw what was going on. Even then, it was still a struggle, but a very enjoyable one. Maybe it was because I had 3 birdies in my round (which made me forget the outlandish slices on other holes), but I had a blast with this puzzle.<br /><br />Mucho fun. Now let's go see what Mr. Curmudgeon had to say.rain forestnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-68048955300925614592016-09-15T17:01:20.243-04:002016-09-15T17:01:20.243-04:00
Enjoyability rating on this puzzle: 0. (only beca...<br />Enjoyability rating on this puzzle: 0. (only because the systems does not use negative numbers.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-3297150048626674442016-09-15T15:21:53.094-04:002016-09-15T15:21:53.094-04:00After a first RUNTHROUGH with meager results, got ...After a first RUNTHROUGH with meager results, got through about half of it before caving.<br /><br />Did get the double letters, but didn't connect them to a theme, and cleverness and elusiveness of clues left me without recourse but to cheat.<br /><br />GOODGOLLY is not strong enough to express my reaction to this one.<br /><br /> leftcoastTAMnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-47437142589057815252016-09-15T14:59:55.848-04:002016-09-15T14:59:55.848-04:00Managed to get 3 of the "circled" answer...Managed to get 3 of the "circled" answers with crosses but took a while to get that DOH moment. Otherwise was was a "medium" puzzle. Didn't hate it as much as others. eastsacgirlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-64117396846039508302016-09-15T14:13:41.828-04:002016-09-15T14:13:41.828-04:00Haven't read the comments yet...
When the fir...Haven't read the comments yet...<br /><br />When the first few clues I laid my eyes on were "You've got to be kidding" woes, I knew cheating land wasn't far off. This puzzle threw me overboard and then refused to throw out a lifesaver. Is it really Saturday already?<br /><br />Loved the word play, did as much of that as I could before looking up some obscure (to me) answers. Never got the theme, but I did get the themers. I do remember a theme like this before - must keep it in mind. For when it shows up in 10 years - har. <br /><br />Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for EEsDiana,LIWnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-74989362203642563442016-09-15T12:30:44.792-04:002016-09-15T12:30:44.792-04:00Not much to show for the first pass through the cl...Not much to show for the first pass through the clues. RErun was a gimme the first time through, changing it to REAIR made all the difference in the whole puz as things finally fell together. Made a mess in the SW for reasons too dumb to mention. Had all the themers filled except SCRUTINIZES without figuring the trick, then aha and it’s done.<br /><br />One bit of a nit: a PULLEY doesn’t do any of the actual lifting of a weight, it facilitates a mechanical advantage to the rope or cable that does the actual lifting. Unless it is a Howard PULLEY, which is an AAU summer basketball league here in the Twin Cities.<br /><br />Lotsa Os in the SE with DINO NONO ONO ENERO and elsewhere for starters OVINE OLY OKEEFE OBRIEN.<br /><br />I s’pose everybody’s heard about the guy who married a NUN? <br />NUN in the morning, NUN in the afternoon, and NUN at night.<br /><br />Given the chance I would FLIRTWITH SIREN EDIE Brickell, yeah baby. Nothing to SNEEZE at there.<br /><br />Speaking of SIREN, I played golf at SIREN National in SIREN, WI last weekend. When a SCHMO like me GETSTO play a course like that . . . GOODGOLLY.<br /><br />Tough and different Thurs-puz which was no RUNTHROUGH the meadow. But no complaints from this NIMROD.<br />rondonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-6903167189190007772016-09-15T11:04:30.000-04:002016-09-15T11:04:30.000-04:00Wow, from the ridiculous to the sublime! But too e...Wow, from the ridiculous to the sublime! But too early; this is Saturday fare. On my first RUNTHROUGH the clues, I thought: I don't know ANY of this! And the theme clues weren't going to be much help, either. I mean, "[see circled letters]" is not much to go on. I nearly quit before I started.<br /><br />But...let's go with RErun, and...no. But then DOD EDIE Brickell came to me, and who was that Burton character, the Big Brother guy? The brain shook off the rust: OBRIEN! So there was a start.<br /><br />Somewhat later, as I was (incredibly!) looking at the completed northern half, I tried to figure out what was going on with the themers. Stared and stared. and then the lights came on. A real honest-to-goodness epiphany, that one. How immensely clever!<br /><br />No problem with "tease" being FLIRTWITH. Teasing doesn't ALWAYS mean withholding at the end... Nor do I mind IZZATSO or SPYFI. MI was one of my all-time TV highlights. There were no scheduling conflicts, ever. When it was on, I was THERE. I'm still waiting for the director of many of those episodes, Reza BADIYI, to make a xword appearance. Constructors?<br /><br />Mr. Polin has knocked it out of the park. Ooh, wrong sport! EAGLE! TOUCHDOWN! Or, in Newspeak: doubleplusgood!spacecraftnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-48118161436567342122016-09-15T10:00:35.190-04:002016-09-15T10:00:35.190-04:00ONO! NONO! SIREN AMOK (HOWS HOS?)
GOODGOLLY, if C...ONO! NONO! SIREN AMOK (HOWS HOS?)<br /><br />GOODGOLLY, if CAROL would IDLY SLIPON her TEDDY<br />and RUNTHROGH ANY FRAT house, the COTs would be ready.<br />She’d FLIRTHWITH each NIMROD while wearing no BREECHes<br />as she SCRUTINIZES who GETSTO play with her REGAL peaches.<br /><br />EDMOND OBRIEN & SCOT OKEEFE<br />Burma Shavenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-41316537172291746052016-08-15T23:00:14.020-04:002016-08-15T23:00:14.020-04:00Just now finished this horror, after four days. I ...Just now finished this horror, after four days. I never got the stupid theme, even though I figured out the double letters early on. Edac2dayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05406242564285237476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-76554897443673828842016-08-15T18:48:08.431-04:002016-08-15T18:48:08.431-04:00*ever*everelevenissnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-72390103228607959572016-08-15T18:47:14.440-04:002016-08-15T18:47:14.440-04:00AMA = Ask Me Anything on blogs and apparently, AMA...AMA = Ask Me Anything on blogs and apparently, AMA can be clued as "fitness group", too, as per the Sunday August 14th puzzle, neither of which I had never thought of until now. Learned two new clues for the ubiquitous AMA ;]elevenissnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-76839823020891653552016-08-12T23:04:08.030-04:002016-08-12T23:04:08.030-04:00Say the letters, get a word? Holy crap. I never sa...Say the letters, get a word? Holy crap. I never saw this in a puzzle before and had no idea that this is what was going on until I came here and read Rex's post. Found the puzzle confusing and hard. I guess I'll know for next time.<br />Sherylhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03541441427243883835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-34649388545941563382016-08-12T14:27:48.034-04:002016-08-12T14:27:48.034-04:00I like Rex's comment: "Tough, but ultimat...I like Rex's comment: "Tough, but ultimately fair. Solid, acceptable work, even if I was irked more than I was scintillated." Because as a crossword puzzle fan, especially of the NYT, I like puzzles to be tough and that often means the puzzle-maker has to use misdirection and vague clueing to keep me away from a quick solve. So I'll take IZZATSO and SPYFI, even though, the solve "argot" for CANT, I can't. Rozhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00957353325290496132noreply@blogger.com