tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post5543331075588932216..comments2024-03-29T07:11:36.386-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: SUNDAY, Dec. 6 2009 — 1930s heavyweight champ Ambling Alp / Headwear also known as jipijapas / Competitors Wahoos TarheelsRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger90125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-10152544872360008572010-01-18T20:15:22.132-05:002010-01-18T20:15:22.132-05:00I got bogged down right away with 1A 'Like mou...I got bogged down right away with 1A 'Like mountains & maps' I had FOLDED instead of SCALED.<br />Breezed through the rest of the puzzle nicely.<br /><br />...Mister EdAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-33144786033217870902009-12-13T22:08:51.415-05:002009-12-13T22:08:51.415-05:00Talk about happy coincidences! I have lately been ...Talk about happy coincidences! I have lately been re-reading my 1955 set of <a href="http://www.antiquemystique.com/images/6037_jpg.jpg" rel="nofollow"><i>Lands and Peoples</i></a>. In the chapter I read last night, they described the manufacture of <i>jipijapa</i> ("Panama") hats in Ecuador. Another two days and I might have forgotten that connection!<br /><br />BTW, I'm missing Volume V - Africa Australia and Southern Islands. If anyone has an extra copy. I suspect it might have been removed from my set because it had pictures of native boobies in it.BassManPDXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15675654080672254349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-29016927655731307032009-12-13T10:56:56.890-05:002009-12-13T10:56:56.890-05:00It's Dec 13 and I just finished this one!It's Dec 13 and I just finished this one!Doc Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12540112168511893896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-13266917879734687582009-12-07T15:56:43.427-05:002009-12-07T15:56:43.427-05:00@Glitch: Fair enough. My intent wasn't to say ...@Glitch: Fair enough. My intent wasn't to say that everyone should know Gehry and/or Frey. As I said, everyone has things they don't know that a lot of people do. So, apologies if the comment came across that way, instead of the intended point that over a broad base of people, I believe it doesn't fall into the Natick category (recognizing that for many people it obviously was a personal Natick).Steve Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15185067739452052656noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-23803496529142023342009-12-07T11:11:55.970-05:002009-12-07T11:11:55.970-05:00My trouble with RAHAB was I wasn't sure how it...My trouble with RAHAB was I wasn't sure how it would be spelled in English!<br /><br />I first learned of FREY's memoir when it was all over the bookstores in paperback, probably because of Oprah. I certainly remember the striking cover illustration, which was good enough to get me to read the first page or so.<br /><br />FREY did not admit to fictionalizing his story until he was outed by others. The scandal was everywhere, including the "Arts" section of the NYT, right next to the dead-tree edition of the crossword puzzle. Even <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/foxtrot/2006/01/23/" rel="nofollow">Foxtrot</a> had fun with it for a week.<br /><br />Heck, the FREY scandal made it in the news <i>again</i> this past month. Oprah announced she's ending her show, and bang! every newspaper gave a short obituary for the show. It seems her involvement with FREY was a major highlight.<br /><br />Moreover, about once a year now, a noted memoir is getting exposed as a fraud. Inevitably, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/sports/baseball/03book.html?sq=frey%20million&st=nyt&adxnnl=1&scp=8&adxnnlx=1260201777-qL1G1a5nVcMOrp4aF/K1pg" rel="nofollow">FREY gets mentioned</a>.<br /><br />I particularly remember being amused by the news article regarding the Hollywood studio that backed out of its movie deal for the memoir. It seems that when something is "based on true story", they want an exclusive on the fictionalizing process. How dare an author think the way they do!<br /><br />So while it's true I got his name off the crosses, and yes, I had to convince myself that I recognized both FREY and GEHRY, recognition did happen.william e embanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-61662903981442319692009-12-07T10:43:21.034-05:002009-12-07T10:43:21.034-05:00brucy: It's kind of sucky to tell people that ...brucy: It's kind of sucky to tell people that they are (or have done something) sucky.slypetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05537129206516720012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-14155225087715905572009-12-07T10:42:14.424-05:002009-12-07T10:42:14.424-05:00My objection is to being "told" that I s...My objection is to being "told" that I should "know" a particular fact simply because a lot of other people do.<br /><br />I do not use the term Natick without a "in my opinion" type disclaimer. I object to those that don't extend the same courtesy.<br /><br />@Foodie came closest to what I was trying to say [Thanks]<br /><br />.../GlitchGlitchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14940000404613329056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-18203482710637404152009-12-07T09:26:25.843-05:002009-12-07T09:26:25.843-05:00Elaine, slightly more people visit the museum in B...Elaine, slightly more people visit the <a href="http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/travel/23bilbao.html" rel="nofollow">museum</a> in Bilbao each year than, say, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18399859/" rel="nofollow">Stonehenge</a>. It is, in fact, a major tourist destination, and using just the fact that you're unfamiliar with it to accuse Patrick Berry of being unfamiliar with it is kinda sucky.brucynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-13322288518555582282009-12-07T07:11:38.997-05:002009-12-07T07:11:38.997-05:00@acme...yes, Glenn Frey, arguably in the same fami...@acme...yes, Glenn Frey, arguably in the same familiarity stratum as the author.Parshutrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01031361199056452340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-89906598331740530482009-12-07T07:05:39.932-05:002009-12-07T07:05:39.932-05:00And to some of us, NATICK is not "a Natick&qu...And to some of us, NATICK is not "a Natick"!Parshutrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01031361199056452340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-10873979603962015822009-12-07T06:37:59.627-05:002009-12-07T06:37:59.627-05:00If you google "gehri" the first hit is ....If you google "gehri" the first hit is ... Frank GEHRY.Rex Parkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-51216076797537904062009-12-07T03:50:40.530-05:002009-12-07T03:50:40.530-05:00@Robin
Here I am!
(I take Sundays off, save the ...@Robin<br />Here I am! <br />(I take Sundays off, save the tweets...but your message came to me thru Google alerts!)<br /><br />Need me for what?<br /><br />In 1997? was en route to the Gehry museum in Bilbao with Arcangelo, the love of my life, when we broke up... Remains one of the most painful periods of my life!<br />He coaxed me all the way to Europe, we were to go from his tiny town in Northern Italy to Spain to see the newly opened Gehry museum (which was a HUGE deal at the time...and the sculpture garden as Serra is his idol. <br />When I arrived in his village, he had a new idea for a piece and said he couldn't go AND it was a distraction for me to be there. Artists. :( <br /><br />As for Frey, never read the book, rarely watch Oprah, but certainly read about the whole thing while it was going down...<br />Isn't there an Eagle named Glenn Frey? Perhaps that would have been easier.acmenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-65086088474787138052009-12-07T02:59:52.378-05:002009-12-07T02:59:52.378-05:00Find it quite amazing that some people consider Ge...Find it quite amazing that some people consider Gehry to be an obscure name. His architecture is among the famous of the past 30 years. The Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles is a masterpiece. His Experience Music Project in Seattle and Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis are not as great, but still should be well known. Equating the name Gehry with the obscurity of a town of 19,000 outside Boston is absurd. Gehry is no Natick, not even close.Crackerjacknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-89044314901762629702009-12-07T01:49:16.072-05:002009-12-07T01:49:16.072-05:00I read about the "Million Little Pieces"...I read about the "Million Little Pieces" guy, checked the book out of the library, and then subsequently read about the scandal. Saw an excerpt of Oprah's grilling the guy. Had FRYE in the puzzle for quite some time. <br />I lived for some years with Frank Lloyd Wright's gruesome campus designs (Florida Southern in Lakeland) and except for Pei am ignorant of living architects. Totally relied on crosses for GEHRY (almost the last thing to go in.) One can read broadly, listen to NPR, and (cough) do the NYT puzzles, yet find the name completely unknown...without any D'OH feeling. I ever so slightly suspect P.Berry of finding this name via xword construction tool. I mean, a museum in Bilbao? Yes, quite the major tourist destination! (Not.)<br />Puzzle was nonetheless totally do-able and fun. Didn't even need my lucky earbobs!<br />(The Rule of Three expires at midnight!)Elainehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13195458656221202202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-45879024211939454702009-12-07T01:23:42.371-05:002009-12-07T01:23:42.371-05:00I just heard about a survey where people were aske...I just heard about a survey where people were asked to name a single living scientist, and most people could not. And those who said they could actually named dead ones (Einstein, Pasteur, etc..). My fellow scientists in the audience were shocked to hear this. But I imagine many of you would be shocked that I hadn't heard of OTT or ORR until I started doing the puzzle. <br /><br />I like it when people say: This was my personal Natick. It means that they're not passing a judgment about whether something is common knowledge. <br /><br />BTW, it's really hard to come up with objective criteria about what is common knowledge, or commonly accessible. Using Google is tempting, but of course is full of artifacts. Example:<br /><br />"Mel Ott": 72,400<br /><br />"Frank Gehry": 317,000<br /><br />"Natick, MA: 931,000<br /><br />May be one way to do it is comparing apples to apples-- So, contrast Natick to other cities, or Gehry to other architects:<br /><br />"Phoenix, Az": 18,600,000<br />"Robert Venturi"--Another famous architect and Pritzker Prize winner: 133,000<br /><br />Calling a Natick is not an exact science : )foodiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13052189131129098616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-56034183035810086712009-12-07T00:31:50.303-05:002009-12-07T00:31:50.303-05:00@Glitch: Not sure where myopia is coming into it. ...@Glitch: Not sure where myopia is coming into it. My only point was that both those figures are widely known by a good number of people that it doesn't, in my opinion, represent an unfair crossing (which is the spirit of the Natick principle). <br /><br />Everyone has areas that just don't click for them or fall in their areas of knowledge. I'm useless on most opera-related clues, for instance, but I recognize that many people know those, so I wouldn't consider an all-opera crossing to be unfair. Just not in my wheelhouse.<br /><br />Incidentally, I've never watched Oprah nor the offshoots. As @mac said, the Frey news was all over the place when that came out a few years back.Steve Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15185067739452052656noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-46844246303621072032009-12-06T23:55:16.722-05:002009-12-06T23:55:16.722-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Steve Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15185067739452052656noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-74913770852585814432009-12-06T23:47:43.927-05:002009-12-06T23:47:43.927-05:00retired-chemist: If I hadn't recovered Gehry f...retired-chemist: If I hadn't recovered Gehry from the wild cornucopia that is my memory, I would have considered Gehri as just as likely, perhaps even more so, since Frei seems more common than Frey.slypetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05537129206516720012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-31309936305100401642009-12-06T23:22:08.210-05:002009-12-06T23:22:08.210-05:00Was out all day...got to the puzzle late. Too late...Was out all day...got to the puzzle late. Too late now to say much, except I, too, liked it a lot. So for anyone who actually checks in after 10:20 Central Time...Hi! Hope you had a nice day!jeff in chicagohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10492964479021891094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-27915215686882412282009-12-06T22:33:36.497-05:002009-12-06T22:33:36.497-05:00@Glitch: I don't watch Oprah and the doctors e...@Glitch: I don't watch Oprah and the doctors either, I read about Frey in the New York Times.machttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06794371617847975218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-51926628750658602842009-12-06T22:27:56.976-05:002009-12-06T22:27:56.976-05:00Comments [posted above] such as "Completely a...Comments [posted above] such as "Completely agreed that GEHRY/FREY is not remotely a Natick. They're both quite widely known. (Gehry is arguably the most famous living architect)" simply indicate a myoptic assumption...<br /><br />Not up on architects (haven't completed Ulrich's course), avoid watching Oprah (and Drs Phil & Oz) so my only "missing letter" was the FRE_/GEHR_ crossing ...but then I've posted a similar comment before.<br /><br />.../GlitchGlitchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14940000404613329056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-36342732288692212242009-12-06T22:07:55.087-05:002009-12-06T22:07:55.087-05:00@PlantieBea: of course, the first thing I thought ...@PlantieBea: of course, the first thing I thought of when I saw the title of the book in the clue was Oprah and all the publicity about his lies. He will have to deal with this for the rest of his career, I guess.machttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06794371617847975218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-55443619995151931812009-12-06T20:51:26.077-05:002009-12-06T20:51:26.077-05:00James Frey's book "A Million Little Piece...James Frey's book "A Million Little Pieces" was selected by Oprah for her very popular book reading/discussion group. This book was on all kinds of best seller lists for months. It was plastered in windows of books stores with Oprah's label prominently displayed on a special version. In it Frey vividly detailed his struggle with alcoholism. After his period of Oprah fame, he admitted to cooking up some of the incidents in the book and took quite a tongue lashing from Oprah on a well publicized show. Didn't anybody else read this thing? The incident received so much publicity--even in southern papers!PlantieBeahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01960277851368508036noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-34788764602633813352009-12-06T20:51:15.872-05:002009-12-06T20:51:15.872-05:00Lotsa work, but got it done, for the most part. To...Lotsa work, but got it done, for the most part. Too many distractions today. <br /><br />Egrets are beautiful birds-- a few years ago on vacation, we saw a treeful of them in South Carolina in the evening, with the moon shining on them. Absolutely spectacular.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-20507244989040907132009-12-06T20:35:38.594-05:002009-12-06T20:35:38.594-05:00I knew Gehry...even know him. Met him in the 60...I knew Gehry...even know him. Met him in the 60's. But I have never heard of Freychefbeahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15195945085405126511noreply@blogger.com