tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post731778539570387210..comments2024-03-28T07:18:31.705-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Italian P.M. nicknamed Divo Giulio / WED 10-17-12 / Larklike songbird / August meteor shower / Trademark of 1899 that's no longer protected / Floor model caveat / Asgard ruler / Chantey subjectRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger66125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-78713659361612588272012-11-22T00:17:58.052-05:002012-11-22T00:17:58.052-05:00@Susan McConnell: like your clue for FEAR SNOT. ...@Susan McConnell: like your clue for FEAR SNOT. When I was a kid I took riding lessons and once I went back to the stalls to feed my mount du jour a carrot, and he thanked me by sneezing -- covering me with snot. But I didn't fear it, I just ... well I don't remember ever making another trip backstage. <br /><br />For all my vaunted ignorance, I got the Mad Magazine reference immediately, the "USUAL Gang of Idiots." They parodied lots of great literature that I never read the originals of, e.g.,<br />I wandered lonely as a clod,<br />Through hillsides [meadows?] filled with rocks and bottles,<br />When with my [something] boots I trod<br />Upon a host of axolotls. <br /><br />Why do we never see "axolotls" in crossword puzzles? I believe they actually exist (perhaps nonexistence is a prerequisite. Erns, indeed! <br /><br />I had no trouble with EPPIE, because I have read at least four synopses of "Silas Marner" including the shrinklits (right! and I memorize Mad Magazine poems! Sigh... my parents had such hopes for me.). When a vivacious kitten showed up in my backyard, pouncing on sunbeams, I named her Eppie because she warmed my curmudgeonly heart. I adopted her even though I was so looking forward to the two old ones being my last cats, but no such luck. She has grown up to be a lovely young woman, and still makes me smile except when she pees in the heel cup of my Birkenstocks. Then not so much.<br /><br />Happy Thanksgiving to all. (I'm wearing different shoes!)Ellen Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00473445503706985149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-15524554403678768962012-11-21T19:58:43.392-05:002012-11-21T19:58:43.392-05:00Wishing a very happy Thanksgiving to all syndiland...Wishing a very happy Thanksgiving to all syndilanders south of the border. Hope you don't OD IN turkey and need to resort to ASPIRIN to clear DEFOG. (Incidentally, ASPIRIN actually remains a trademark of Bayer up here in the frozen north. You can buy all kinds of ASA brands made by the competition, but none bearing the name Aspirin.)<br /><br />Count me (and my spell-checker) among those who consider PSEUD a pseudo-word. And how about a clew bearing witness to star PGA golfer Jay HAAS instead of this Lukas guy.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> Waxy in Montrealhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04395751487137805245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-42734679715925472502012-11-21T18:53:11.937-05:002012-11-21T18:53:11.937-05:00I know it's midweek but weekend puzzle partner...I know it's midweek but weekend puzzle partner was still around to help calculate the SQUARE ROOTS today. Paradoxically, the circles were a big help in our solve as once we had a couple of letters she was able to see the root vegetable and that gave us a lot of bonus letters to work with. All the recipes in the comments have given me some ideas to add a little variety to tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner - I hope everybody has a happy one.<br /><br />@rain forest - seeing the PERSEIDS in the grid definitely got my attention, so thanks for mentioning it. We just had the Leonid meteor shower last weekend and pretty soon I'll let you know what to look for in the night sky for December.Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-71585549652228200692012-11-21T13:24:47.368-05:002012-11-21T13:24:47.368-05:00This was a fresh idea, for me anyway. I too was l...This was a fresh idea, for me anyway. I too was looking for SQUARE MEALS thinking that the two bottom squares of circles would have some sort of meat and maybe a dairy entry. But, SQUARE ROOTS is pretty cool. The only grating answer was PSEUD - otherwise, a nice effort.<br />Hey, a sort of shout-out to @Dirigonzo at 39D!rain forestnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-58364422269040337382012-11-21T12:07:22.859-05:002012-11-21T12:07:22.859-05:00No, BSR, but we all were commenting on the correct...No, BSR, but we all were commenting on the correct daily puzzle. You should try it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-26905813702275113922012-11-21T12:03:00.819-05:002012-11-21T12:03:00.819-05:00First I saw the circles (yuck), then the clue for ...First I saw the circles (yuck), then the clue for 1a: are we really going to kick off a circled puzzle with SRTAS? Gonna be a long morning. It wasn't made any shorter by stuff like LSTS, STR, ITES, INE and PSEUD (really? With no hyphen?). But as has been pointed out, theme restrictions will force some of that.<br /><br />Different is good, and it's definitely different to have the theme answers wrapped around squares, while the longer entries have nothing to do with it.<br /><br />A stroke of elegance--which I'm sure was not intended--was to have DEEPSPACE come in at 9-down. That reminds me: when are we going to see a shout-out to ODO in one of our grids? Seems like a crosswordy name...<br /><br />And now to tackle the capcha that some sadist wants to TOSSTO me. I SHALL reply PRUDISHLY: "This solver FEARSNOT!"Spacecraftnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-58890835127483969052012-10-18T19:44:22.474-04:002012-10-18T19:44:22.474-04:00sorry to C R A B (that one is ridiculous, no? How ...sorry to C R A B (that one is ridiculous, no? How many times have you ever said "OK, tell me what each of your crabs are...."? Beefs works, but I don't think C R A B S does. Diminish? I had A B A T E S, which works far better, I think. I've actually never heard of the correct answer before today. And, though too long, a far more common word for this action begins with D E (if you know what I mean). For "kind of licence," I looked, saw P to start and T to end, and almost immediately entered P E R M I T, which sort of ruined all my NE real estate for a long long time. Anyone else have trouble there?BlogSpotRemover (!) or (?)https://www.blogger.com/profile/02223208453641127129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-79469346992460649742012-10-18T18:58:40.317-04:002012-10-18T18:58:40.317-04:00A puzzle with XTC in it.....I couldn't possibl...A puzzle with XTC in it.....I couldn't possibly ask for anything more, except I got it. Looking up just who the heck JK the singer was, I learnt she went to my high school! Never heard of her til now.BlogSpotRemover (!) or (?)https://www.blogger.com/profile/02223208453641127129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-38792053137416421392012-10-18T15:17:44.757-04:002012-10-18T15:17:44.757-04:00PORTAL and TMI were the ones that rounded out the ...PORTAL and TMI were the ones that rounded out the subtheme of IMS, ISPS, LAN and MALWARE. Definitely not a puzzle of the Maleska-era!acmenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-91045957048059095982012-10-17T22:03:42.960-04:002012-10-17T22:03:42.960-04:00This 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 6:00, 6:47, 0.89, 6%, Easy<br />Tue 11:33, 8:58, 1.29, 98%, Challenging (5th highest median solve time of 173 Tuesdays)<br />Wed 12:14, 11:50, 1.03, 62%, Medium-Challenging<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Mon 3:40, 3:41, 1.00, 53%, Medium<br />Tue 5:33, 4:40, 1.19, 92%, Challenging<br />Wed 6:37, 5:57, 1.11, 81%, Challengingsanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-87655927164279857422012-10-17T21:09:23.276-04:002012-10-17T21:09:23.276-04:00It's funny. I didn't have much trouble wi...It's funny. I didn't have much trouble with the regular part of the puzzle. None of the clues stumped me.<br /><br />The usual gang of idiots is from my childhood. That was easy!<br /><br />But I had no idea what they meant by circled letters reading clockwise. I'm sort of embarrassed to admit this.Amelianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-75078255688326707002012-10-17T20:21:09.423-04:002012-10-17T20:21:09.423-04:00Cool puzzle andnice subtheme of the internet to br...Cool puzzle andnice subtheme of the internet to bring it SQUAREly into this century: IMS, MALWARE, ISPS, LAN i think there was one more...<br /><br />I too had SQUARE mealS at first...but SHALLOTS are hardly a meal, but I was excited to see if it was SQUARE Dance, meals, deals, or something SQUARE. So I needed everything, circles, ups, downs, everything.<br /><br />Too many abbrevs for my taste...SRTAS, ISPS, LSTS, etc but again, at least half formed a mini-theme.<br /><br />PRUDISHLY was fun and wild...and I took ANDREOTTI as a bleed over from Monday's ANDRE. Really glad you chose it as word of the day, I learned a lot. grazie.Andreotti Carla Malwaresnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-89507673088648858112012-10-17T19:30:49.847-04:002012-10-17T19:30:49.847-04:00Finished this early, but I slept in a little after...Finished this early, but I slept in a little after being out late last night so didn't have time to check in. I'm more than a little surprised that so many found this anything more than medium. I have nary a writeover, I paused here and there for a cross to clarify or verify, but it was pretty much a straight NW to SE solve for me. Granted, some of this was easy because of solving daily and coming here. I'm pretty sure PIPIT is something I learned here, as well as ab INITIO.<br /><br />Spent a few moments wondering how SHALLOTS and PARSNIPS would relate to a SQUARE meal, so the SQUARE ROOTS theme was neat to see. As is often the case, the fill didn't bother me because I didn't have time to go "ugh." So this was a nice solve for me.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16181544219511150272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-85259962612313906712012-10-17T18:48:53.872-04:002012-10-17T18:48:53.872-04:00Add me to the list of those who DNF because of Pip...Add me to the list of those who DNF because of Pipit (I had "ians" for "ites"). Otherwise fun puzzle for me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-79555610850114823932012-10-17T16:59:37.713-04:002012-10-17T16:59:37.713-04:00Nice profile of the constructor over at Wordplay.Nice profile of the constructor over at Wordplay.John Vhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10557037910799243636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-48447584482870206022012-10-17T16:21:06.361-04:002012-10-17T16:21:06.361-04:00And we get to see Kelly's boobies in
"Wi...And we get to see Kelly's boobies in <br />"Witness". Teehee.Teenage Boynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-8042487011754003622012-10-17T16:06:35.078-04:002012-10-17T16:06:35.078-04:00Midday 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):<br /><br />All solvers (median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)<br /><br />Wed 12:02, 11:49, 1.02, 59%, Medium<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Wed 6:59, 5:57, 1.17, 88%, Challengingsanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-82662431760006976772012-10-17T15:56:58.893-04:002012-10-17T15:56:58.893-04:00Lukas Haas played a cute young Amish kid in "...Lukas Haas played a cute young Amish kid in "Witness", a primo crime drama flick. Starred Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis. That one was a gimme for me, but perhaps not for most.M and A at the Moviesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-32675454694703259072012-10-17T15:55:26.515-04:002012-10-17T15:55:26.515-04:00So, who's running against Jesus? Is the race ...So, who's running <b><i>against</i></b> Jesus? Is the race tight?Inquiring Mindsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-31061634507790270622012-10-17T15:49:01.193-04:002012-10-17T15:49:01.193-04:00Sorry, @Susan McConnell. You get full FEAR SNOT c...Sorry, @Susan McConnell. You get full FEAR SNOT credit. <br /><br />@Sandy K - funny song! I guess all three of us think alike. Snort, snort.Loren Muse Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05308030011870397977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-71077130919670376602012-10-17T15:39:13.921-04:002012-10-17T15:39:13.921-04:00Nope, I should've looked it up.
Lucas HAAS po...Nope, I should've looked it up.<br /><br />Lucas HAAS portrayed a young Amish boy who is the sole witness to a murder- that's "Witness", with Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis.<br /><br />"The Client" has another young boy who is Susan Sarandon's witness.<br /><br />Have I thoroughly confused you?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-53965586574076701592012-10-17T15:26:07.962-04:002012-10-17T15:26:07.962-04:00@loren
Hi! Thanks for giving me credit for the par...@loren<br />Hi! Thanks for giving me credit for the parsing, but it was @Susan McConnell who was really the funny one...<br /><br />But I sure do remember that jingle!! lol<br /><br />We also made fun of the Johnny Mathis hit "It's not for me to say". Sandy Knoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-53391676569418371402012-10-17T15:10:42.973-04:002012-10-17T15:10:42.973-04:00Lucas HAAS not only portayed- he also portrayed. ...Lucas HAAS not only portayed- he also portrayed. (hate when that happens)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-87027996828296303652012-10-17T15:08:22.461-04:002012-10-17T15:08:22.461-04:00Pretty much @Bird’s take.
I can’t fathom, though,...Pretty much @Bird’s take.<br /><br />I can’t fathom, though, how hard it would be to construct something like this AND it’s a debut! How cool that there are four ROOTS that have eight letters in the plural! Was waiting to turn up turnips, but then I realized it wouldn’t fit. Since my first ROOT was RADISHES, I thought it might be some kind of red SQUARE.<br /><br />@wordie - same dnf: “ists” for ITES and “atrate” for AERATE. I was certain the latter was some kind of word I’d never heard of to add to LAN, ELKE, PIPIS, MALWARE, RUNLET, PSEUD, EPPIE, HAAS. . .<br /><br />@Carola – nice pairs.<br /><br />@Sandy K – funny! I don’t know how old you are, but when I was little, I was already noticing alternative parsing. There was this commercial jingle that I always sang, “If you think it’s butter, but it’s not. . .” Loren Muse Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05308030011870397977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-66335639680573592252012-10-17T15:08:05.477-04:002012-10-17T15:08:05.477-04:00@Rube
Too lazy to look it up too, but sorta rememb...@Rube<br />Too lazy to look it up too, but sorta remember that Lucas HAAS portayed a young "Witness" to a gangland crime, and Susan Sarandon was his lawyer.<br /><br />Obviously this guy has no clue about Rex and is new here, or else he'd know Rex's schtick with the wrong pics.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com