tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post7633263748763482810..comments2024-03-28T18:52:07.432-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Cousin of a camel — WEDNESDAY, Jun 10 2009 — Locale of famous playing fields / Euro predecessor / Old Dead Sea kingdom / Obsessed marinerRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger99125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-22729418205665262552009-07-15T19:56:41.710-04:002009-07-15T19:56:41.710-04:00Many weeks later, and right after the All-Star gam...Many weeks later, and right after the All-Star game:<br /><br />In hono(u)r of the newly-identified synchronicity of 44, let this ancient (born 1944) chem grad officially recommend the renaming of RUTHENIUM as AARONIUM. (Of course, a problematic chemical symbol of AA might lead to several "one more" bar requests.)Waxy in Montrealhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04395751487137805245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-15556926798664073262009-06-11T14:09:57.127-04:002009-06-11T14:09:57.127-04:00ECU stands for European Currency Unit, a predecess...ECU stands for European Currency Unit, a predecessor of the Euro...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-264804465441806652009-06-11T12:14:25.740-04:002009-06-11T12:14:25.740-04:00Fergus, checking at XwordInfo, YTTERBIUM was used ...Fergus, checking at <a href="http://www.xwordinfo.com/Word.aspx" rel="nofollow">XwordInfo</a>, YTTERBIUM was used once in 2000, and clued as 'one of the rare earths'. My favorite, YTTRIUM, was used once in 1998, clued as element 39.Karennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-53916410059513316952009-06-11T10:06:42.430-04:002009-06-11T10:06:42.430-04:00@RC - Eddie Mathews and Warren Spahn actually debu...@RC - Eddie Mathews and Warren Spahn actually debuted with Boston Red Stockings - (Eddie Mathews is the only Braves player to actually play with Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta). I think Hank Aaron was in Boston's AAA farm system, but played his first major league game with the Milwaukee Braves. The only thing I think this says is these guys were largely career Braves - in a way that may have been common in the 50s and 60s, but certainly isn't as much so with the advent of free agency (Chipper Jones and a few others not withstanding).<br /><br />2nd paragraph guys are still in the game or have recently retired - or in the case of Glavine - were ignobly released, and is in limbo right now (been out in the wilderness the past few days so I think he's still in limbo). <br /><br />So the only distinction I was drawing was between guys in the Hall of Fame (whose careers predate 1966 when Braves moved to Atlanta) and guys I think will be one day....hazelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04627015904603641109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-25519173717927458272009-06-11T10:05:50.576-04:002009-06-11T10:05:50.576-04:00@ PuzzleGirl:
You wrote: “it would be interesting ...@ PuzzleGirl:<br />You wrote: “it would be interesting to to find out what is truly common knowledge. The only thing I've been able to come up with is Michael Jordan.”<br /><br />The interesting thing about this is that in the mid-90s my mother (American born and bred for generations) had no idea who he was. “Isn’t he a shortstop or something?”<br /><br /><br />@ andrea uno Michaels:<br />I also misspelled BARACK and put the H in there, so I’m glad to know it wasn’t just me. Which was particularly galling because I thought the blotter word had to be AKA but it just didn’t seem to fit. (I am doing these puzzles waaaay too late at night…)<br /><br /><br />Did nobody else have TORID instead of HUMID?<br /><br />I know the numbers of almost no athletes, but I figured that there are no other Atlanta Braves who have nine letters in their names and would be at all likely to appear in the NYT crossword puzzle. <br /><br />For what it’s worth, I’m female, but I know most of the baseball questions and am somewhat likelier to get the answers from other sports than most of the pop culture questions. Even some of the easy ones are way, way beyond me (I had no clue about the American Idol judge, for example). <br /><br /><br />@ChemProf:<br />Nice to see Bob Grubbs and olefin metathesis (I didn’t even make that connection, so thanks) appear in a discussion about the crossword puzzle! I wonder if he’ll even appear as a clue (there are plenty of obscure Nobelists who seem to pop up now and then).Retaknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-82695604054680652902009-06-11T01:36:17.108-04:002009-06-11T01:36:17.108-04:00did this puzzle yestrday in a piazza near my daugh...did this puzzle yestrday in a piazza near my daughter's place while having gelato. Couldnt finish the puzzle but did get all the theme answers.<br />very busy here. No cooking, just lots of eatingchefbeahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15195945085405126511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-1991971683259186072009-06-11T00:15:33.492-04:002009-06-11T00:15:33.492-04:00C'est presqu'un instant ou je n'sais r...C'est presqu'un instant ou je n'sais rien a dire. Parfois, on y danse.fergushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17056002311944010536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-84948077921388240792009-06-10T23:11:09.016-04:002009-06-10T23:11:09.016-04:00With the exception of Ruthenium (I had to look it ...With the exception of Ruthenium (I had to look it up: this ancient chem lab TA has no experience with the more obscure transition elements), I breezed through the rest of the puzzle. <br />As indicated by an anonymouse hours ago, I believe the 44 theme was not arbitrary, but was in honor of our host's ranking!Lisa in Kingstonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15793732995251623365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-29742668485941441102009-06-10T22:45:09.471-04:002009-06-10T22:45:09.471-04:00@ Hazel - all of your first paragraph players go b...@ Hazel - all of your first paragraph players go back to Milwaukee Braves days - none of your second paragraph players do. Dont know what to make of that but it's interesting.retired_chemisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13181126754941899228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-19673055956165018132009-06-10T22:08:37.155-04:002009-06-10T22:08:37.155-04:00Here are this weeks's numbers. The number in p...Here are this weeks's numbers. The number in parentheses is the number of solvers.<br /><br />Mon (all) 6:55 (856)<br />Mon (Top 100) 3:43<br /><br />Tue (all) 8:09 (878)<br />Tue (Top 100) 4:06<br /><br />Wed (all) 14:33 (626)<br />Wed (Top 100) 7:26<br /><br />This week's Wednesday solve times are quite a bit higher than last week's (median time < 1 hr this week = 13:50, last week = 9:51). The difficulty of this week's puzzle is also reflected in the much smaller number of solvers who completed it in less than an hour (585 this week vs 754 last week). As suggested by several folks out here, today's puzzle is closer to last Thursday's solve times than to last Wednesday's.sanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-82852702757025910272009-06-10T22:01:13.926-04:002009-06-10T22:01:13.926-04:00Awesome awesome puzzle. Shouting out to Hank Aaron...Awesome awesome puzzle. Shouting out to Hank Aaron, one of the humblest greatest men in baseball. As to other famous Braves - Hall of Famers include Eddie Mathews (41) one of the best 3rd basemen to ever play the game, Warren Spahn (21) who has won more games than any left-handed pitcher in history, and Phil Niekro (35), the winningest knuckleballer of all time, a pitcher who astonishlingly won more than 300 games on absolutely terrible Braves teams. <br /><br />Future certain Hall of Famers who were/are most famously Braves include Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine. And Chipper Jones. No doubt. <br /><br />GO BRAVES!hazelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04627015904603641109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-70729335914169432032009-06-10T21:55:54.129-04:002009-06-10T21:55:54.129-04:00Full disclosure: lurid and I didn't get Hank A...Full disclosure: lurid and I didn't get Hank Aaron from the AA; I got it from my husband. That opened up my main problem area, the NW. Tauro took a while, as well, with toreo and torea playing a nasty role. <br /><br />I like them tough, so I had a good time, although I seem to do better in the morning than the evening. <br />Bias? Sewing-related term, are we getting girly?<br /><br />@Andrea and Kevin (;-)): IWGA. Keep it coming!machttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06794371617847975218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-84088845063479965592009-06-10T21:52:09.777-04:002009-06-10T21:52:09.777-04:00In my previous post I inadvertently misspelled Eu...In my previous post I inadvertently misspelled Eugene Maleska's name. I should have checked before I published my comment.<br /><br />Sorry. 3 and out.edith bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12048817959846956992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-89364530121514576562009-06-10T21:46:27.949-04:002009-06-10T21:46:27.949-04:00No problem. The Schrock catalyst (actually a newe...No problem. The Schrock catalyst (actually a newer version co-developed with Amir Hoyveda at BC) is also still very useful. :) [and Schrock of course was another 1/3 of the Prize]<br /><br />We now return you to your regularly scheduled crossword discourse... ;)ChemProfnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-16224681426250146372009-06-10T21:42:12.466-04:002009-06-10T21:42:12.466-04:00@ ChemProf - very nice. I had kinda stopped follow...@ ChemProf - very nice. I had kinda stopped following most chemistry outside my own area, including metathesis, by the late nineties, so I had thought Dick Schrock's Mo chemistry was state of the art. Nice to hear of the progress.retired_chemisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13181126754941899228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-62751733392589806392009-06-10T21:33:09.697-04:002009-06-10T21:33:09.697-04:00First ever comment, though I've been reading t...First ever comment, though I've been reading the blog for a few months. <br /><br />Just FYI, a ruthenium-based catalyst developed by Bob Grubbs at Caltech earned him 1/3 of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. It catalyzes a process called olefin metathesis, and has had enormous impact on synthetic organic chemistry and materials chemistry. <br /><br />And no, I don't think that's enough to make it Wednesday-level. ;)ChemProfnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-75436279711428694652009-06-10T21:29:06.460-04:002009-06-10T21:29:06.460-04:00I have no idea why my 7:23 post is being repeated....I have no idea why my 7:23 post is being repeated. I tried to delete the duplicate at 9:25 and here is ti again at 9:27. Apologies.<br /><br />44 and out.retired_chemisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13181126754941899228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-66752804703666848082009-06-10T21:27:14.608-04:002009-06-10T21:27:14.608-04:00@ PIX - we should not assume it will lead nowhere....@ PIX - we should not assume it will lead nowhere. 20 years from now, we WILL have much better handles on alternative energy sources that are environmentally viable. Whether the Ru complexes lead to one, I cannot say. Nor can anyone else.retired_chemisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13181126754941899228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-71567686580187524622009-06-10T21:26:09.887-04:002009-06-10T21:26:09.887-04:00Never heard the word RAFT meaning alot. Didnt know...Never heard the word RAFT meaning alot. Didnt know Hank Aaron played for the Alanta Braves, Dont watch American Idol. The list goes on and on.Was aware of the Playing Fields of Eton. Hard for a mid week puzzle overall.Johnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-29527331364419640462009-06-10T21:25:12.882-04:002009-06-10T21:25:12.882-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.retired_chemisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13181126754941899228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-90068413832515208462009-06-10T21:12:25.579-04:002009-06-10T21:12:25.579-04:00...and in order to do something about the male bia......and in order to do something about the male bias in Xword puzzles, let me add that the incomparable Marta of Brazil's women's soccer team is a 10 (and Mia Hamm, I think, was one, too).Ulrichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02086202853174403008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-1536885801938113262009-06-10T21:01:39.477-04:002009-06-10T21:01:39.477-04:00I'm late--didn't get to the puzzle until I...I'm late--didn't get to the puzzle until I had my late afternoon cup of coffee, and was surprised that I actually liked it b/c normally, I'm not in sync with RS. My proudest moment: finally remembering the "playing fields" quote (albeit not the speaker) that enabled me to fill in 6A. <br /><br />Certain numbers have special significance (although the puzzle did not make the case for 44), and in soccer, 10 is the most prestigious number a player can wear (it's no accident that both Pele and Maradonna were 10's). Traditionally, the "10" is the play maker, the most-intelligent (i.t. of soccer intelligence) player of his/her team, with superb technical skills (ball control, passing) and a great sense of the flow of the game that enable him/her to distribute the ball at any moment to the player in the most promising position. If the game has primadonnas, they are the 10s. <br /><br />Nowadays, we see teams without a classical 10 more frequently, and there is a debate about the reasons--is it b/c players with the required skills no longer exist? Or is it b/c the game itself has changed and is no longer in need of this type of play maker? And then again, this may be a chicken-and-egg situation: As teams adjust to not having a 10, the need for one decreases. For aficionados, this is sad, b/c there is no greater pleasure than watching a superb 10 in action in soccer (I think Zidane of France was the last one with superstar status).Ulrichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02086202853174403008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-16435428817098578962009-06-10T20:55:51.290-04:002009-06-10T20:55:51.290-04:00Had lots of running around today so I must have pi...Had lots of running around today so I must have picked this up and put it down 44 times. <br /><br />I had to put on my dusty chemist cap while sitting and getting a haircut. I knew 44 was likely a transition metal and mentally scrolled through the transition metal trios until I got to lucky group 8 iron, RUTHENIUM, osmium for the bingo fit to the xxxxENIUM. <br /><br />What tripped me up for a long while was the STUFF like judge KARA, INDEX, and ROSEATE. Roseate spoonbills are beautiful--they look pink from below when they're flying. But didn't know roseate meant promising--just like rose colored glasses I suppose.PlantieBeahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01960277851368508036noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-69823372735580820572009-06-10T19:48:00.883-04:002009-06-10T19:48:00.883-04:00Very glad that so many others found this difficult...Very glad that so many others found this difficult for a Wednesday puzzle!Stanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02681342234536407419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-84077618309463302962009-06-10T19:23:45.460-04:002009-06-10T19:23:45.460-04:00@ PIX - we should not assume it will lead nowhere....@ PIX - we should not assume it will lead nowhere. 20 years from now, we WILL have much better handles on alternative energy sources that are environmentally viable. Whether the Ru complexes lead to one, I cannot say. Nor can anyone else.retired_chemisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13181126754941899228noreply@blogger.com