tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post4833180055814984704..comments2024-03-28T09:12:53.440-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Mingo player 1960s TV / FRI 10-29-10 / Longtime enemy Wonder Woman / Quaint humilator / Locale for Olivier Award winnerRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-90843839759272974872010-12-04T16:15:11.619-05:002010-12-04T16:15:11.619-05:00Didn't like this one... just an average lame ...Didn't like this one... just an average lame Friday...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-57779190778150020692010-12-03T18:01:12.425-05:002010-12-03T18:01:12.425-05:00To me, solider is like saying gooder. My favorite...To me, solider is like saying gooder. My favorite clue was April shower, because of course I was reading it with a "short o" sound instead of a "long o" sound. I also had H-bomb, instead of H-TEST which made bROUPE a WTF? I too wanted seduces or seduction (neither of which has the right number of letters) for "charms the pants off".Randy Chongnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-65899396356445752402010-12-03T17:32:30.975-05:002010-12-03T17:32:30.975-05:00I was a little disappointed when the continuing H...I was a little disappointed when the continuing Halloween theme I was anticipating didn't materialize, but I guess any time I can charm the pants off someone and get a look at her CCUPS my inner 12-year old is happy (sorry - that just slipped out.) Had all the difficulties discussed by everybody else plus a few of my own but still finished without help, so all in all I had a good time (in terms of enjoyment, not speed)with this puzzle.<br /><br />I'm lobbying the editor of my local paper, which does not publish on Saturday, to print the Saturday puzzle in its Friday edition but no success so far, so I'll be back on Monday. Have a nice weekend.Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-84040014597668151782010-12-03T13:53:26.272-05:002010-12-03T13:53:26.272-05:00SOLIDER. (?) Ugh. I considered the possibility a...SOLIDER. (?) Ugh. I considered the possibility and quickly said "No way. No self-respecting puzzle writer would do that!" I was wrong. <br /><br />I also had ELIXIR for "extract" which, with an empty lead where the "R" from SOLIDER was absent, sent me off-course with DETOURED for "responded to a crash." But that forced a conflict with EGO, and I feared that I had gone astray.<br /><br />The entire section between DREAR, RASPED, REBOOTED and (ugh) SOLIDER gave me fits. Had alternate possibilities based on the THEATER/THEATRE dilemma, and the "D" in TREAD/DREAR was the only thing I was certain I could pivot off of. <br /><br />Ed Ames is/was also a singer, having toured with his siblings as The Ames Brothers prior to and during his acting days. His Mingo was somewhat like a Daniel Boone version of Tonto, albeit with more autonomy. <br /><br />Oh, and did I mention how much I hate SOLIDER?Mark Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15060399303276942015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-72329970533972295632010-12-03T12:57:49.966-05:002010-12-03T12:57:49.966-05:00Syndicated paper solver.
NW fell pretty quickly, ...Syndicated paper solver.<br /><br />NW fell pretty quickly, despite the fact that the clue for 3D doesn't ELICIT SOLOACTS for me.<br /><br />Feel like there should be some xwords rule where abbreviations/acronyms/initializations etc. are not acceptable being clued as such if a perfectly good word for an answer (like 55D "Apnea diagnoser, briefly"=ENT) can be clued as a word instead.<br /><br />Spent what I thought was a THOROly appropriate amount of time trying to imagine lingerie that has no CCUPish component; all it produced was me failing the Stop-Being-Such-a-Twelve-Year-Old course worse and worse, first a C, then a D, then F. Go ahead and give me that DUNCECAP, guess I'm just going to have to wear it. Better yet, howsabout two? HEEHEEHEE.<br /><br />captcha: creono: reaction when you're Louisiana'd out for awhile but here comes another ZYDECO songNotalwaysrightBillnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-50492425067669819172010-10-29T23:17:57.937-04:002010-10-29T23:17:57.937-04:00This 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 7:31, 6:57, 1.08, 81%, Challenging<br />Tue 9:17, 8:56, 1.04, 63%, Medium-Challenging<br />Wed 12:45, 11:44, 1.09, 77%, Medium-Challenging<br />Thu 13:42, 18:57, 0.72, 7%, Easy<br />Fri 23:07, 26:17, 0.88, 30%, Easy-Medium<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Mon 3:42, 3:42, 1.00, 51%, Medium<br />Tue 4:41, 4:36, 1.02, 61%, Medium-Challenging<br />Wed 6:00, 5:46, 1.04, 68%, Medium-Challenging<br />Thu 6:29, 9:06, 0.71, 6%, Easy<br />Fri 10:36, 12:49, 0.83, 24%, Easy-Mediumsanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-41849171601466477162010-10-29T23:06:39.952-04:002010-10-29T23:06:39.952-04:00Forgot to comment on GESTAPO used as an adjective:...Forgot to comment on GESTAPO used as an adjective: In German, no. In English, yes, since basically every noun can be used as an adjective. BTW GESTAPO is an abbreviation--it means <i>GEheime STAatsPOlizei</i> (Secret State Police)Ulrichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02086202853174403008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-35835988196230078592010-10-29T22:08:22.529-04:002010-10-29T22:08:22.529-04:00Busy, busy day and evening, but I did do the puzzl...Busy, busy day and evening, but I did do the puzzle this morning, and liked it a lot! Also stumbled over "solider" but it wasn't a great distraction. Certainly liked a lot of the clues, and was helped by "bedazzle", "lalala", "open area" and "theatre" coming to me without crosses. A little help in most quadrants, and a great help to get exocet and zydeco. Best "aha" moment was gestapo, although I agree it doesn't fit smoothly with the clue.<br /><br />Just realized I put salt into the bean soup before the beans are done. Now it's going to take a long, long time.....<br /><br />Too good not to mention: diedawnmachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06794371617847975218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-21279104521366165222010-10-29T22:08:21.607-04:002010-10-29T22:08:21.607-04:00@Clark: The Town Musicians of Bremen is one of my ...@Clark: The Town Musicians of Bremen is one of my favorite Grimm tales--there's a sly humor permeating it (which may not come through in translation), and talking animals are always great in the tales. So, when I put down Bremen (the gimmie that got me started), I thought, couldn't they have used a less prosaic clue for the city/state? I mean, Lower Saxony is famous for having nothing famous going for it (if you don't count that it surrounds Bremen):-)Ulrichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02086202853174403008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-39959515893307539852010-10-29T20:46:26.445-04:002010-10-29T20:46:26.445-04:00HOBNOB was the toughest for me to extract. Stuck ...HOBNOB was the toughest for me to extract. Stuck on A- or N-TEST, and failed Crosswordese for the Shield border. That corner ruined what I thought was going to be an ace hunch solve. Colorful grid, with mostly good Clues. Like for Andrea, GESTAPO seemed adjectively misstated (among other things), so maybe our German speakers can tell us whether that dreaded unit can also function in a way besides the brutal noun?fergushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17056002311944010536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-82309150144520743882010-10-29T19:53:25.845-04:002010-10-29T19:53:25.845-04:00@Anon 6:44p
Actually, the two rallies were combin...@Anon 6:44p<br /><br />Actually, the two rallies were combined about 2 weeks ago on Stewart's show (admittedly, due to Colbert's permit turndown).<br /><br />It was renamed "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear".<br /><br />From a recent promo piece:<br /><br /><i>Are you sane and/or afraid? Do you wish there was a way to express your reasonableness and/or dread in a large public gathering of likeminded citizens? Well now there is and/or is. Join Jon Stewart and/or Stephen Colbert to call on America to take it down a notch and/or spread terror the likes of which the world has never seen before. It's the sane and/or truthy thing to do.</i><br /><br />P>G>Not Exactlynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-9491797870653894152010-10-29T19:03:13.841-04:002010-10-29T19:03:13.841-04:00Just did Rex's puzzle.
I was fascinated to se...Just did Rex's puzzle.<br /><br />I was fascinated to see if one of the best solvers in the world would also be one of the best constructors. <br /><br />Sorry to see that Rex landed the 10/3010 clues in the same week as the NY Times - but then again I'm a fan of both artists so not so bad!<br /><br />Interesting that 9% of the puzzle was abbreviations or elisions - wonder how that compares to the average constructor?<br /><br />Loved the duality of "Type of Pad" - great cluing.<br /><br />Didn't care fore the cluing at 57 across, somehow it crosses a word line for me.<br /><br />All the same, thank you Rex!!! I've been looking forward to this puzzle for weeks - congratulations and keep on constructin'!donkosnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-55570713269166692102010-10-29T19:01:46.248-04:002010-10-29T19:01:46.248-04:00Good grief! Solved it, but it was one of the most ...Good grief! Solved it, but it was one of the most challenging Friday's I've ever done. Don't understand why! Not hung over. Got enough sleep. Yeesh!!!! Won't even post my 36:40 time to show how long it took. Haha.<br /><br />Thank goodness for Cat v. PrinterShamikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11635283729322415150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-71389650502004817572010-10-29T18:54:42.474-04:002010-10-29T18:54:42.474-04:00I loved the cat vs. printer video.I loved the cat vs. printer video.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14825669443134444569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-76894232704151973662010-10-29T18:44:30.111-04:002010-10-29T18:44:30.111-04:00The Colbert march to keep fear alive has been canc...The Colbert march to keep fear alive has been cancelled due to permit difficulties so he will share the stage with Stewart in his rally to restore sanity. The prior NYT puzzle about tomorrow is now erroneous history and a collector's item. Is Rex's also? The fickled finger of fate has struck again....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-46021209690866350292010-10-29T18:42:05.656-04:002010-10-29T18:42:05.656-04:00mingo, mungo, and mongo. i guess i am the only one...mingo, mungo, and mongo. i guess i am the only one who confused mongo with mingo and put it karras for ed amesyour average blankhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06362703669092144957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-47293218650223886862010-10-29T18:09:17.867-04:002010-10-29T18:09:17.867-04:00@Foodie
The consensus of several sites on
The Ru...@Foodie<br /><br />The consensus of several sites on <br /><i>The Rules for using Comparative Adjectives</i>: <br /><br />"More" or "less" is used for adjectives that have 2 syllables, if the word doesn't end in -y. <br /><br />Adjectives that end in -y, change the -y to i and add -ed [sic] --- I assume they mean -er.<br /><br />It seems "solider" ain't good grammar ;)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.english-the-easy-way.com/Adjectives/Comparative_Adjectives.htm" rel="nofollow"> Click Here for more</a>Look Up Guynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-81493828304290910332010-10-29T17:06:59.449-04:002010-10-29T17:06:59.449-04:00Re "SOLIDER" which definitely gave me pa...Re "SOLIDER" which definitely gave me pause: Long, long ago, in a land far far away...the Irish nun who taught me English drilled into us some rules about when you add an ER at the end of an adjective and when it's not allowed. In general, I know that one syllable gets ER, three syllables hardly ever does, but I remain confused about 2 syllables. I mean I know it by ear, and I don't go around saying SOLIDER when I language :), but is there a rule for two syllables? I don't even know how to search it. Mr. Look Up Guy?<br /><br />The Terracotta Army in XIAN is the most amazing sight ever. At least on a par with the Pyramids and Petra. Stunning to me was the fact that we had no idea they existed until the mid 1970's. I saw them in the mid 1980's and had barely heard of them-- which made it a breathtaking experience. There are many reasons I'd love to go back to China, and seeing them again is way up there.foodiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13052189131129098616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-16500921429035210612010-10-29T17:06:57.685-04:002010-10-29T17:06:57.685-04:00BLT is not an abbreviation. It's an initialis...BLT is not an abbreviation. It's an initialism. I won't repeat my comment from yesterday on this subject but if you say it like you read it, it's not an abbreviation. "Fri." is an abbreviation (you say "Friday"). TGIF is not.<br /><br />Of course, you're free to disagree with the definitions of abbreviation, initialism and acronym (there is a lot of overlap and disagreement about the boundaries). But Will Shortz has stated this rule so there's not much use arguing with the clues that conform to it.Martinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-74533321502022896242010-10-29T17:00:00.323-04:002010-10-29T17:00:00.323-04:00Even on Friday, BLT should be clued as an abbrevia...Even on Friday, <b>BLT</b> should be clued as an abbreviation!Abbreviation Policenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-61764574077310900142010-10-29T16:34:51.749-04:002010-10-29T16:34:51.749-04:00@Anonymous 2:49,
"Constellation" can me...@Anonymous 2:49,<br /><br />"Constellation" can mean a lot of things. The astronomical definition is a named portion of the sky and all its contents. Think of it as a "country." All constellations contain uncounted billions of stars because if you look deep enough you will find galaxies that add hundreds of billions each to the count. <br /><br />Another measure might be the asterism, or imagined celestial picture that gives the constellation its name. Even here, I would expect a higher count of constituent stars than 9.<br /><br />Usually, we talk about the significant stars within the constellation's "real estate." By this measure there are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stars_in_Cygnus" rel="nofollow">hundreds</a> in Cygnus.Martinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-77460968852583962512010-10-29T16:17:20.947-04:002010-10-29T16:17:20.947-04:00@Clark - the "original" Mungo Jerry was ...@Clark - the "original" Mungo Jerry was actually "Mungojerrie" and was a character in T.S. Eliot's book that inspired the musical "Cats," and is himself a character in the musical!<br />Mungojerrie & Rumpleteazer.The Big Ehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00383322329027962325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-42131945170898513082010-10-29T16:14:18.703-04:002010-10-29T16:14:18.703-04:00The Town Musicians of Bremen. It's an importa...<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Bremen.band.500pix.jpg" rel="nofollow"> The Town Musicians of Bremen</a>. It's an important detail of this story that the animals set out for BREMEN because it was a free city.<br /><br />So that's who Mungo Jerry is. My oldest sister had a boy friend named Jerry back in the day, and his nickname was Mungo Jerry. Now I know.<br /><br />I figure that any one or two syllable adjective can be put into the comparative form with -er. You don't need a dictionary entry to confirm it. You would need to cite a source that explicitly disconfirms it.Clarknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-56827229439525912182010-10-29T15:36:30.949-04:002010-10-29T15:36:30.949-04:00Midday report of relative difficulty (see my 7/30/...Midday report of relative difficulty (see my 7/30/2009 post for an explanation of my method):<br /><br />All solvers (median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)<br /><br />Fri 22:32, 26:17, 0.86, 22%, Easy-Medium<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Fri 10:52, 12:49, 0.85, 24%, Easy-Mediumsanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-22581471855804956512010-10-29T15:03:22.892-04:002010-10-29T15:03:22.892-04:00@Chefbea - Why bother with Rex's puzzles, as w...@Chefbea - Why bother with Rex's puzzles, as we were just treated to a significant portion the solution to one?Spoilernoreply@blogger.com