tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post5888533887270440944..comments2024-03-28T06:19:05.812-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: 1998 De Niro crime thriller / TUE 9-10-13 / Former Israeli P.M. Ehud / Some B&N wares / Major swag / Nutrient-rich cabbages / Root used in energy drinks / Sleuth in slang / Villain in 2009 Star Trek filmRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-4728065360176244432013-10-15T20:54:04.567-04:002013-10-15T20:54:04.567-04:00Felt tough for a Tuesday, yet only had 2 write-ove...Felt tough for a Tuesday, yet only had 2 write-overs, (cUMQUAT & HaUNDAI), so, guess not so much. This is a word lovers dream, and as has been said, no BOREDOM here. <br /><br />Also like to mention, today's posts are especially sparkling.<br /><br />Thanks CC and thanks to all the Rexites. Gingernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-48010774024869390042013-10-15T19:53:16.868-04:002013-10-15T19:53:16.868-04:00@DMG, totally ate our KUMQUATs off the tree. Yes, ...@DMG, totally ate our KUMQUATs off the tree. Yes, the skin had a slightly citrus bitter taste, but the overall experience was sweet/sour tangy. Also, if you've not eaten a loquat, you need to. Off the tree, our loquats tasted like a cross between a pear and a tangerine. Delicious.<br /><br />All of our canning energy went into grape jam from our concord grape arbor.Solving in Seattlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04249420848844874936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-79387298054813791732013-10-15T18:28:31.396-04:002013-10-15T18:28:31.396-04:00FYI, when we were in Indonesia about 15 years ago,...FYI, when we were in Indonesia about 15 years ago, we were often served Kecap (pron. k'CHOP), a soy-based sauce with our meals. There are sweet, medium sweet and salty versions. Not surprised to learn that it comes from the Chinese, though. They've been around a mighty long time.Cary in Bouldernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-60538551385107988982013-10-15T15:13:25.557-04:002013-10-15T15:13:25.557-04:00No problems with this one, though I was surprised ...No problems with this one, though I was surprised to,learn KETCHUP comes from the Chinese. I always thought it was of Indonesian extraction. Loved the old music memories!<br /><br />@SIS: You might want to check your tree memory. All the kumquats I have known, including those from my tree, have extremely bitter skins. I don't know anyone who can eat them in their natural state. The fruit makes good marmalade, but it is best enjoyed boiled in a sugar syrup, cooled and stuffed with cream cheese ( pineapple if you can get it). Then those little fruits are the food of the gods!DMGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-84796757193911225432013-10-15T14:28:38.477-04:002013-10-15T14:28:38.477-04:00The answer to my question can be found here.The answer to my question can be found <a href="http://www.diffen.com/difference/Catsup_vs_Ketchup" rel="nofollow">here</a>.Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-51542668673161821242013-10-15T14:23:28.908-04:002013-10-15T14:23:28.908-04:00I see @Waxy decided to pick up the gauntlet thrown...I see @Waxy decided to pick up the gauntlet thrown down by @ACME on the re-telling of ancient (somewhat sexist)jokes; were it a duel to the death I suspect they both would have been shot (by the bystanders if not by each other).<br /><br />Anyway, ATEaway in the NW, rolex in the NE and (inexplicably) ALi baba in the SE, plus a few strategically placed misspellings all made for a complicated, but still fun, solve.<br /><br />If KETCHUP is from Chinese (thank you @spacecraft for the further explanation of the origin) where did catsup come from? Just wondering.Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-26633084040482266742013-10-15T13:55:59.357-04:002013-10-15T13:55:59.357-04:00Three of my granddaughters are currently learning ...Three of my granddaughters are currently learning a few phrases in Chinese to be able to greet a group of exchange students from China who will be studying at their school later this year - I'll be sure to pass along my newly-acquired Chinese vocabulary from this puzzle to them especially KETCHUP, often the grandkiddies' fav food.<br /><br />CUMQUAT/CALES seemed fine to me but apparently KALES can't be spelled with a C (KUMQUAT can). Otherwise, pretty routine Tuesday effort. ELKO was new to me but GOB ruled out any variant.<br /><br />Ancient (somewhat sexist) joke - Q: What's the difference between an enzyme and a HORMONE? A: You can't hear an enzyme.Waxy in Montrealhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04395751487137805245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-7666557567245803332013-10-15T13:53:24.379-04:002013-10-15T13:53:24.379-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Waxy in Montrealhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04395751487137805245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-25766172404029029852013-10-15T13:51:44.757-04:002013-10-15T13:51:44.757-04:00Gung ho (at Dictionary.com)
also gung-ho, gung...Gung ho (at Dictionary.com)<br /> also gung-ho, gungho, 1942, slang motto of Carlson's Raiders (2nd Marine Raider Battalion, under Lt. Col. Evans Carlson, 1896-1947), U.S. guerrilla unit operating in the Pacific in World War II, from Chinese kung ho "work together, cooperate." Widely adopted in American English c.1959.<br />Borrowing an idea from China, Carlson frequently has what he calls 'kung-hou' meetings .... Problems are threshed out and orders explained. ["New York Times Magazine," Nov. 8, 1942]<br /><br />Love STEAMED/ARTICHOKE at the heart of the puzzle. I'm the DCCCth blogger to notice that.<br /><br />Threw down KALES and got KUMQUAT on the "K." Then a TYPHOON of childhood memories were evoked. As a young boy I lived on a 3 acre rural lot where we grew, among other things, a loquat tree and a KUMQUAT tree. I would pick a bunch of these delicious, cherry-sized citrus fruit morsels, rinse them off with the hose, and EATINTO them like peanuts. Yummy CHOW.<br /><br />Now off to KOWTOW to the UTERI.Solving in Seattlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04249420848844874936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-28907706265500966282013-10-15T11:14:09.362-04:002013-10-15T11:14:09.362-04:00KETCHUP maybe should have been the WOD, when we wo...KETCHUP maybe should have been the WOD, when we would've learned that it comes from the Amoy "koetsiap" meaning seafood sauce. Interesting that it seems to have been developed for use on fish.<br /><br />I agree, though, that the theme evokes a "So what?" I guess the scrabbliness of most of the entries is supposed to count, and it does--but not at the expense of all that yucky fill. My fellow "Z"-bra has already thrown the Romanumeral flag, and most of the short fill isn't much better. It's all been listed.<br /><br />Mildly surprised to find a "medium" tag on this one; nothing in it gave me any trouble except maybe the spelling of BARAK. I'm left with the feeling that it could've been reworked. That's easy for me to say; if you then ask "How?" I'd have to give you the old Col. Nicholson: "I haven't the foggiest."spacecraftnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-86824688434884466762013-09-12T15:20:09.432-04:002013-09-12T15:20:09.432-04:00In @Melodious Funk's 11:39 comment, Noah's...In @Melodious Funk's 11:39 comment, Noah's Ark was somehow transformed into an ARC, which caused it to draw attention to itself, which was quite a bleed-over and give-away to this past Sunday's radio challenge from Will Shortz: Think of a famous name, wherein moving the first letter to the end yields a phrase meaning the opposite of a curve. Due to translational differences in rendering the name, it has been suggested that a better clue would have been "yields a phrase meaning not such a big boat." Answer below, after the spoiler space. (Contest entries are due at 3 PM EST, so this can now be published.)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Marc Antony => arc antonym<br /><br />or<br /><br />Mark Antony => ark antonymMysteriosonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-25287964322860854912013-09-11T01:28:04.308-04:002013-09-11T01:28:04.308-04:00@dbgeezer
I think it would be a lot of fun to do a...@dbgeezer<br />I think it would be a lot of fun to do a puzzle with Hindi words...go to it!acmenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-77456685980097798912013-09-10T22:09:12.299-04:002013-09-10T22:09:12.299-04:00Pigeon, as most of you will know, is pidgin for pi...Pigeon, as most of you will know, is pidgin for pidgin.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17651966816566252991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-29429056146800646522013-09-10T21:50:41.658-04:002013-09-10T21:50:41.658-04:00Did someone say pidgin?Did someone say pidgin?Walter Pidgeonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-1852225050080071152013-09-10T20:40:17.740-04:002013-09-10T20:40:17.740-04:00@ peter - Pigeons?@ peter - Pigeons?retired_chemisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13181126754941899228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-25191418180030455712013-09-10T20:31:34.025-04:002013-09-10T20:31:34.025-04:00"Y'know, I'm just not going to say an..."Y'know, I'm just not going to say anything at all"<br /><br />If only . . .Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-28860738765197682542013-09-10T19:00:09.581-04:002013-09-10T19:00:09.581-04:00Daring for me, as someone with the given name Pete...Daring for me, as someone with the given name Peter, to question the Chinese bona fides of someone named Zhouqin, but....<br /><br />I loved the puzzle, but to call the unifying theme a "language" when it traveled across a whole bunch of dialects and pigeons just seems somewhat off and a little like trying to pass off Chinese food sold in pre-1975 restaurants in America as Chinese food. <br /><br />Most of the words are familiar to Americans from Cantonese, some like silk, traveled a long way (along the Silk Road and through Mongolian)to get near to their English equivalent, and ketchup, while a gift from the Chinese migration to Malaya, I think, owes much more to that language.<br /><br /> Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17651966816566252991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-16705511461063055522013-09-10T16:37:57.933-04:002013-09-10T16:37:57.933-04:00@ acme
Thanks for the explanation of OHOH. Actual...@ acme<br />Thanks for the explanation of OHOH. Actually, I'm in the right demographic for MARCONI.<br /><br />LaneBLaneBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-52039187563676229482013-09-10T16:16:20.101-04:002013-09-10T16:16:20.101-04:00In the matter of whether one scrapes the meat from...In the matter of whether one scrapes the meat from an ARTICHOKE with the uppers or the lowers, I am happily "ambiscrapeous".<br /><br />I am always amazed at the intelligence and cleverness of C.C."s puzzles and this one intensifies my appreciation of her work.<br /><br />Thank you, C.C. jackjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02699305265544975575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-80564011998649401422013-09-10T16:04:01.187-04:002013-09-10T16:04:01.187-04:00Wow, I'm having trouble getting to the puzzle ...Wow, I'm having trouble getting to the puzzle this week. Couldn't even look at it until 2 p.m. It seemed easy, yet a little crunchy. I had TUb before TUN which made CHINESE kind of invisible till I got more crosses. I know KALE, but think of it more as big leafy greens than cabbage. KUMQUAT is fun to write. quilter1https://www.blogger.com/profile/09569747169212018177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-81258301235103924622013-09-10T15:53:42.663-04:002013-09-10T15:53:42.663-04:00As all sorts of body parts raced thru my head befo...As all sorts of body parts raced thru my head before settling on UTERI (took me a while as it had been banned in one of my Monday puzzles...and this corner today was blank, so I had to get from the bottom up, so to speak)<br /> it reminded me of the joke about the little girl who comes home from kindergarten crying bec the boys had teased her about not having what they had.<br /><br />Next day she returns to school laughing and when the boys try to make her cry again, she said, "My mom said with what I have, I can get as many of those as I want!<br /><br />(No artichokes were hurt in the retelling of this story)acmenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-27779662971914545982013-09-10T15:38:04.067-04:002013-09-10T15:38:04.067-04:00A couple people asked why not include other langua...A couple people asked why not include other languages. Of necessity, you have to put a pretty small box around a theme like this, since English grabs words from so many languages. I'm reminded of one of my favorite linguistic quotes: "We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."Steve Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15185067739452052656noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-73207020203415257382013-09-10T15:17:37.320-04:002013-09-10T15:17:37.320-04:00strangeness ^3 (cubed)
Reading a lot about Oona l...strangeness ^3 (cubed)<br /><br />Reading a lot about Oona lately. Apparently she broke JD Salinger's heart. He later went for Joyce Maynard, Oona for Charlie Chaplin. She may have dated some other people in between.<br /><br />At Labor Day BBQ, someone recited the joke (I'd heard before): <br />Lady hires a hit man to kill husband who works at a grocery store. <br />The hit man's name is Arthur. He says he'll strangle him in the produce section, where the husband works. But since he hates the guy also he'll only charge a dollar. Two others get in the way. <br />He has to take them out also. Headline in the newpaper the next day "Artie chokes Three For a Dollar". My wife says this everytime we enjoy artichokes.<br /><br />BTW, true story. One of my sister's collegue's wife was arrested for putting out a hit on him. She offered to pay in rare stamps. Look it up.<br /><br />And this morning I went to watch them put in America's Cup boat. Really neat to see them put on wing (not a sail!). The Prada boat was putting packed up for shipment. They lost to Kiwis.<br /><br />I rival ACMe for connections to a crossword.BigSteveSFnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-27610816434867219112013-09-10T14:40:40.941-04:002013-09-10T14:40:40.941-04:00Midday report of relative difficulty (see my 8/1/2...Midday report of relative difficulty (see my 8/1/2009 post for an explanation of my method and my 10/15/2012 post for an explanation of a tweak to my method):<br /><br />All solvers (median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)<br /><br />Tue 8:14, 8:14, 1.00, 52%, Medium<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Tue 5:19, 5:01, 1.06, 66%, Medium-Challengingsanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-53057210265333735332013-09-10T14:06:09.045-04:002013-09-10T14:06:09.045-04:00Actually, I used to say, "Ooh-ooh-ooooh!"...Actually, I used to say, "Ooh-ooh-ooooh!" because I was trying to imitate Joe E. Ross's phrase from <b>Car 54, Where Are You?</b>.Arnold Horshacknoreply@blogger.com