tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post6201364156936444447..comments2024-03-28T07:24:00.582-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Catchphrase of announcer Harry Caray / WED 4-25-12 / Football club that plays at San Siro / Baggy pants popularizer in 1980s / Bygone sports org for which Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura was TV analyst / Locale in 1964 Stan Getz hitRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger96125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-52025132054272648082012-06-13T16:43:56.151-04:002012-06-13T16:43:56.151-04:00Hate Tyson as he supports Al Gores carbon mytholog...Hate Tyson as he supports Al Gores carbon mythology.<br />Any scientist who supports Al Gore is a non scientist in my opinion.John Edward Voelkernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-50597115384474852612012-06-02T00:54:58.659-04:002012-06-02T00:54:58.659-04:00HOLY COW! I'd like to point out (to nobody, p...HOLY COW! I'd like to point out (to nobody, probably, at this late date) that the wink at 1-A with the misdirecting clue points us to the team that wears a C on their caps. Wentz has <i>gotta</i> be a die hard Cubs fan to craft a puzzle like this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-26538878330485539092012-05-31T14:37:38.807-04:002012-05-31T14:37:38.807-04:00@Dirigonzo...thanks for the heads-up!!
NASA will ...@Dirigonzo...thanks for the heads-up!!<br /><br />NASA will have a live web cam<br />http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/venus_transit.html, handy in case the weather doesn't cooperate.<br /><br />(There is an app for that too, of course.)<br /><br />Hey - did anyone in New England see a huge meteorite in the east at about 10:30 pm on May 10?Titahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16368251255494687496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-77137587494600949052012-05-31T05:28:18.257-04:002012-05-31T05:28:18.257-04:00@Sharon AK - Until I read your comment I did not r...@Sharon AK - Until I read your comment I did not realize that you are in Alaska, "the land of the midnight sun". So you will be able to enjoy the whole event, with plenty of time to spare (you'll need a properly filtered telescope though - Venus is pretty small). The full moon should be worth seeing, too. Enjoy!Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-42625816002878096262012-05-31T02:22:36.568-04:002012-05-31T02:22:36.568-04:00I was so glad to see the ratings. I found it much...I was so glad to see the ratings. I found it mucho hard for a Wednesday. But I didn't mind the "problems" some found with the theme. Thought it quite fun including the reveal.<br />@Dirigonzo. thanks for the Venus tip. I'll 10try to remember 2) hope for clear skies.<br />Think the tiing will be quite dif up here tho. The sun does not set until way past 8.Sharon AKnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-54841347393081849872012-05-30T21:13:21.033-04:002012-05-30T21:13:21.033-04:00It occurs to me that the prominence of Dr. Tyson i...It occurs to me that the prominence of Dr. Tyson in the discussion provides a nice seque from the puzzle to the astronomical update for June (I know some here watch the night sky), so here it is: <br /><br />June always marks the beginning of summer for us in the Northern Hemisphere. That will happen at 7:09 p.m. Wednesday, June 20. The sun reaches its highest and northernmost point on the celestial sphere at that moment. That is also known as the summer solstice and will give us the longest day and shortest night of the year.<br /><br />However, this June, a much more rare and dramatic event than the solstice will happen. That will be a transit of Venus across the sun on June 5. More than half the Earth will be able to see at least part of this great event, and for a change the northeastern U.S. will actually be able to see some of it.<br /> <br />The most exciting parts of this six-hour event are the beginning and the ending. <br /> <br />This time, first contact will happen at 6:05 p.m. It will take 18 minutes until the other side of Venus also completely enters the surface of the sun. <br /><br />After all this excitement is over, just enjoy watching the planet progress across the sun for about two more hours until the sun sets just after 8 p.m. The whole event takes about 6½ hours. You would need to be at the West Coast to see the whole event and to catch Venus emerging from the sun again.<br /><br />On June 4, full moon is at 7:13 a.m.. This is also called the rose or strawberry moon.<br /><br />There you go - now get out there and enjoy the wonders of the night sky!Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-4654643667192064452012-05-30T20:44:01.439-04:002012-05-30T20:44:01.439-04:00I have never met Dr. Tyson, my bad luck, but from ...I have never met Dr. Tyson, my bad luck, but from watching many TV science shows I can easily tell that he is on a mission to make science more accessible to the people. Hence (my inference), he likes people; hence: as I was reading @Rex's story I was confident the outcome would be successful, well before I got to the end. Kudos to Tyson, Michio Kiko and all who participate in this great effort.<br /><br />And now to today's effort. A scan of the clue bank pointed me to 61a, so I started in the SE. Okay, no foothold there, so I went up to good old ALAIN Delon (my, hasn't he been busy lately, xwordwise?) and the NE. Almost sprained my COCCYX writing that marvelous word in, and so arrived at my first themer, RCCOLAS (takes me back to the 60's, when that was the soda of choice at Berrigan's Subs: yum!)<br /><br />Working on down I knew JAVA--which led me to JCPENNEY. Aha: a pattern. Now believing I had enough to work out 61a, I tried to concentrate on the nearby themer at 56a. Somebody-C-something. Hmm, figure in a creche...MAGI, maybe? MC...aha! HAMMER (never enjoyable for me to remember). Filled in MSEC and MEDO, so I'm looking at SE_____. So with C's in second position as theme initials, I naturally thought: SECONDC. But what's the "punny answer?" Abbr. for Second City?? So I left it blank. Good thing. That meant that my only writeover was the YL over RESTorE.<br /><br />Loved the WCFIELDS quote, and the two best entries in the whole grid: the long downs. WELCOMEMAT and FACEOFEVIL: it just doesn't get any better than that. Wasn't too happy seeing the third EASYA this semester. One should be the limit.<br /><br />Medium seems about right. Very good puzzle. Most...enjoyable.Spacecraftnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-21309893917902698312012-05-30T15:54:56.585-04:002012-05-30T15:54:56.585-04:00@DMGrandma, I thought the theme answers were fun, ...@DMGrandma, I thought the theme answers were fun, too - although I didn't really notice them until I read the reveal clue and went back to circle the starred clues and saw what was up. And yes, May 30 is real Memorial Day.<br /><br />@Waxy - shout out to your part of Canada at 8a! And ACADIA National Park, located in downeast Maine is definitely not a mythical place, although it is a magical place. @Rex is on vacation as I write - maybe that's where is is.<br /><br />My creche figure was the babY before it was MARY. And for a while I thought G3, G4 and G5 were Audis - don't they have model names like that?Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-61906037584279550092012-05-30T15:42:05.226-04:002012-05-30T15:42:05.226-04:00@Z, quit screwing with my mind.@Z, quit screwing with my mind.Solving in Seattlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04249420848844874936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-71787721365614181532012-05-30T15:21:49.816-04:002012-05-30T15:21:49.816-04:00@SiS - Synchronicity with the RT folk today. I gue...@SiS - Synchronicity with the RT folk today. I guess you'll have to wait five weeks to find out how.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16181544219511150272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-22521719187590016472012-05-30T15:07:13.689-04:002012-05-30T15:07:13.689-04:00Agree this puzzle was all over the place, but gett...Agree this puzzle was all over the place, but gettable once I replaced FETID with ACRID. Ended up thinking I had an error because ACMILAN didn't, and still doesn't make sense to me. On the other hand, maybe it helped that I had no idea who Harry Carry was-thought he was a movie star-so waited for 1A to fill itself! and, I guess I'm the only one who thought the 7 C answers were fun<br />Have a good real Memorial Day!DMGrandmanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-72562615918320701282012-05-30T14:05:48.119-04:002012-05-30T14:05:48.119-04:00I thought of @Loren, the Scrabbler, when I laid do...I thought of @Loren, the Scrabbler, when I laid down COCCYX.<br /><br />@ERS/@Z, go Mariners! It seems the only team they own is Detroit.<br /><br />@Rex, nice story about your daughter, although, like @Garreth Bain, I wouldn't know Mr. (Dr.?) Tyson if he bit me in the ass. Likewise, the only reason I know Sherman Alexi is because he spoke at my kids' school and I was the driver. This said from a guy who loves Jack Reacher.<br /><br />Isn't CUBSWIN an oxymoron?<br /><br />Caught on to the SEVENCS theme about halftime but didn't go in to the "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" analysis as did Rex and the RTers. (Kinda sounds like a fifties Motown group. "Next up on American Bandstand are Rex and the RTers!)<br /><br />Couldn't spell JCPENNEY, never heard of LUNES or ANENT, and just believed in my crosses. ACCADIAN popped out of my head, which probably means I'm spending too much time doing CWs. Learned another new word, totally on crosses, DACTYL.<br /><br />W.C. Fields: "Who put grapefruit juice in my grapefruit juice?" and my favorite: "Once...in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were forced to live on nothing but food and water for days."<br /><br />Capcha: odereff descendants. My smelly kids?Solving in Seattlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04249420848844874936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-11776901596617032192012-05-30T13:51:37.929-04:002012-05-30T13:51:37.929-04:00Foolishly, I put in "pewet" for the litt...Foolishly, I put in "pewet" for the little bird (thinking that it really should be pewit), and so ended up with tasya for the GPA booster (thinking THAT was some US thing). Totally overlooked the crosswordese "easy A". Agh. I liked the puzzle, and wasn't put off by the seven C's reveal. Made sense to me. Aeromagnetic is a new term for me, but I left it in since nothing else would work.rain forestnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-20084054468581899782012-04-26T05:06:06.396-04:002012-04-26T05:06:06.396-04:00Neil Tyson is rapidly becoming the new Carl Sagan,...Neil Tyson is rapidly becoming the new Carl Sagan, the unofficial American ambassador of science for the masses. Catch him on Bill Maher and the Colbert Report. A passionate promoter of scientific thinking in the new dark ages we're living in.nebraska dougnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-37689513435236247152012-04-25T23:14:29.306-04:002012-04-25T23:14:29.306-04:00@Rex
Dr.Tyson just made a cameo appearance on Dai...@Rex<br /><br />Dr.Tyson just made a cameo appearance on Daily Show with Jon Stewart!<br />You should check it out...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-6259370030952840872012-04-25T22:37:34.675-04:002012-04-25T22:37:34.675-04:00This week's relative difficulty ratings. See m...This week's relative difficulty ratings. See my 8/1/2009 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 8:17, 6:50, 1.21, 98%, Challenging (4th highest median solve time of 148 Mondays)<br />Tue 10:12, 8:53, 1.15, 87%, Challenging<br />Wed 13:58, 11:49, 1.18, 88%, Challenging<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Mon 4:31, 3:40, 1.23, 99%, Challenging (2nd highest median solve time of 148 Mondays)<br />Tue 5:09, 4:35, 1.12, 85%, Challenging<br />Wed 7:21, 5:53, 1.25, 92%, Challenging<br /><br />It seems to be Challenging week here in NYT CrossWorld.sanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-35650997058120912042012-04-25T22:26:48.412-04:002012-04-25T22:26:48.412-04:00@Andrea, I really like hearing that interest in sc...@Andrea, I really like hearing that interest in science is alive and well in the good ole US of A! I think the idea of exploring the unknown and wanting to discover and do more with that knowledge are all defining traits of this country. It makes me happy to see them continue unabated-- in Rex's daughter, @Bird's son and all the wonderful kids out there who get excited as they learn. (@Bird, I would definitely show up-- though of course no star power :)<br /><br />BTW, I lOVE that tie that NDT is wearing. If anyone knows where I can get one, I would be eternally grateful!foodiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13052189131129098616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-88546674288885786842012-04-25T20:35:40.173-04:002012-04-25T20:35:40.173-04:00Wasn't there a whole discussion on Holy Cow, H...Wasn't there a whole discussion on Holy Cow, Harry Caray and Phil Rizzuto a week ago? Or am I having a major deja vu? <br /><br />Caught two initials fairly quickly; WCFIELDS, RCCOLA. So AhHa at 61A helped. The other ACs did give me a pause. <br /><br />Great story @Rex. Had me gripping my seat and then so pleased at the end. What a happy smile. <br /><br />Good friend @ACME.Sparkyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11149915526159432838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-27606214919444504182012-04-25T20:12:40.696-04:002012-04-25T20:12:40.696-04:00He Hate Me said...
I currently work as a school c...He Hate Me said...<br /><br />I currently work as a school counselor (and volunteer football coach) at a high school in Charlotte, NC. I spent 4 seasons in the NFL, and one in Canada... I have done a bit of acting...and my hair is MUCH shorter than it was when I was in the XFL.Rod Smart - reallynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-17704477291603713172012-04-25T19:33:23.682-04:002012-04-25T19:33:23.682-04:00Husband gave me 1A HOLY COW. When I told him that...Husband gave me 1A HOLY COW. When I told him that was not working out he just looked at me with a blank expression and said "Then the puzzle is wrong".<br /><br />Not crazy about the puzzle but managed to finish.<br /><br />Was crazy about your story and the photo of a beaming child Rex. Very touching.chefwenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03999206352243329280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-57823553558699271562012-04-25T19:11:36.750-04:002012-04-25T19:11:36.750-04:00Had to laugh about confusing Jane Eyre with Wuther...Had to laugh about confusing Jane Eyre with Wuthering Heights, and I was an English major. Oops. Your daughter looks so dear. Great photo. Glad it all worked out. Thanks for keeping this blog so cool.Anne Mariehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16498032047256493478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-77770936529813888882012-04-25T18:20:08.663-04:002012-04-25T18:20:08.663-04:00In Praise of Folly -- ERASMUS
A book to be read a...In Praise of Folly -- ERASMUS<br /><br />A book to be read at all ages.fergushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17056002311944010536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-72131883780178338042012-04-25T18:00:48.944-04:002012-04-25T18:00:48.944-04:00http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGxV1T5iglAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGxV1T5iglAcubs winnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-66367305291786843792012-04-25T17:28:56.604-04:002012-04-25T17:28:56.604-04:001A is SO important! Sets the tone for the whole e...1A is SO important! Sets the tone for the whole experience!<br />still loved the theme tho!<br />Simple yet bouncy. <br />but not great 1A and not-spot-on reveal.<br />If this were a sandwich, I'd throw out the bread, grab a knife and fork and just dig in.<br />Less fattening that way, too!acmenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-74413596653589488622012-04-25T17:27:41.819-04:002012-04-25T17:27:41.819-04:00@jberg - threw down ERASMUS with nary a head scrat...@jberg - threw down ERASMUS with nary a head scratch. DACTYL and AERO-magnetic were new to me, the rest I had no problem with. However, on the scales between knowledge and word play, this one weighed too heavily on the knowledge side. No crossbirds, RRNs, or Olaf/Olavs, so we've definitely have seen worse. Yet, that list I compiled is 18%of the answers, toss in IPANEMA and NCSTATE and you're over 20%, ruining the gestalt of the puzzle for me.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16181544219511150272noreply@blogger.com