tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post8106643339318634420..comments2024-03-28T12:23:36.637-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: WEDNESDAY, Nov. 25 2009 — Crooner canned on live TV in 1953 / Boy soprano in Menotti opera / Gernreich of fashion / North Carolina griddersRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-38874168913138553002009-12-31T08:50:45.322-05:002009-12-31T08:50:45.322-05:00I always like an OTR reference. Lum and Abner is ...I always like an OTR reference. Lum and Abner is a great show! <a href="http://www.otr.net/?p=lmab" rel="nofollow">Listen to it here.</a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-89882460100193777352009-12-30T14:19:36.722-05:002009-12-30T14:19:36.722-05:00ROKs was commonly used to refer to Rep of Korea so...ROKs was commonly used to refer to Rep of Korea soldiers (regulars)--never in my experience to refer to civilians. Katusas (Korean Adjunct To the US Army) were specially assigned ROKs to US Army units--these might have come after the Korean War, and therefore after M. A. S. H. The use of "gook" arose during the Korean War but does not refer to enemy Koreans, but to Koreans because, in the Korean language "gook" means country. Korea is Hangook (or Hanguk) and America is Migook (or Miguk) which sounds like "me gook". It is possible when Koreans referred to themselves as Han-gook or Americans as Mi-gook, the word was formed in the pidgin language used among the mixed troops. It quickly became a low term for Asian nationals and was later taken to the Philippines and Vietnam. Other pidgin words in the Korean-American pidgin lexicon: Numba ten (very bad--opposite of che-il, or number one, the best), slicky boy (thief), to cajo-wa (to steal): "Hey, Katusa, you numba ten slicky boy cajo-wa'd my camera?"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-63558354884036628212009-12-30T13:25:31.864-05:002009-12-30T13:25:31.864-05:00@acme In 1962, wintering in a kibbutz, a sabra w...@acme In 1962, wintering in a kibbutz, a sabra who spoke broken English struggled to explain to me that he was an anti-semite because he hated arabs.TimeTravellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-86652498027720186322009-11-26T11:04:40.916-05:002009-11-26T11:04:40.916-05:00Wow--now we have people from the Great Beyond blog...Wow--now we have people from the Great Beyond blogging--heaven must be going high-tech. I guess they had to wait until bandwidth on Earth caught up with them...Ulrichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02086202853174403008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-58480722245150459982009-11-26T10:02:18.404-05:002009-11-26T10:02:18.404-05:00@acme: You've uncovered my true identity -- ja...@acme: You've uncovered my true identity -- jazz great Stan Getz! But please don't tell anyone.Stanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02681342234536407419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-54661258169586573922009-11-26T09:11:51.602-05:002009-11-26T09:11:51.602-05:00@andrea: I thought it was spelled shegetz and refe...@andrea: I thought it was spelled shegetz and referred to a female member of the Getz clan...Ulrichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02086202853174403008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-44110051778710673022009-11-26T04:00:16.765-05:002009-11-26T04:00:16.765-05:00@Stan
Would a total shaygetz actually know the wor...@Stan<br />Would a total shaygetz actually know the word Shaygetz???!!! <br />Stan Getz, yes, but Shaygetz? I didn't even know how to SPELL it till I saw your post!<br />(You're not Stan Getz by any chance, are you?)<br />;)andrea how do you spell shiksa michaelsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-35381240391935486492009-11-26T00:22:31.517-05:002009-11-26T00:22:31.517-05:00@andrea-catt
I'm a total shaygetz, but have ...@andrea-catt <br /><br />I'm a total shaygetz, but have enough NYC cultural experience to agree with you about the Yenta clue. Yes, matchmaker, maybe busybody or gossip, but in a completely benign way.<br /><br />Where is my copy of "The Joys of Yiddish"? One of the best (and funniest) reference books ever published.Stanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02681342234536407419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-85153586742600023902009-11-25T23:59:31.623-05:002009-11-25T23:59:31.623-05:00This week's relative difficulty ratings. See m...This week's relative difficulty ratings. See my <a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=35115061&postID=3588389571383499624&isPopup=true" rel="nofollow">7/30/2009 post</a> 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 7:13, 6:55, 1.04, 63%, Medium-Challenging<br />Tue 9:49, 8:40, 1.13, 81%, Challenging<br />Wed 9:44, 11:41, 0.83, 12%, Easy<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Mon 3:49, 3:41, 1.04, 68%, Medium-Challenging<br />Tue 5:07, 4:27, 1.15, 85%, Challenging<br />Wed 5:03, 5:45, 0.88, 16%, Easysanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-22222681214552579202009-11-25T23:06:22.419-05:002009-11-25T23:06:22.419-05:00Will print the Christina puzzle tomorrow morning, ...Will print the Christina puzzle tomorrow morning, so I can do it when the bird is roasting. <br /><br />Son baked a big apple pie, with whiskey and honey! Never heard of this before, but it smells good.machttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06794371617847975218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-34433477249040252572009-11-25T21:04:14.512-05:002009-11-25T21:04:14.512-05:00I did this last night and am finally sitting down ...I did this last night and am finally sitting down to RP. Funny comment, joho! I found the theme, but considered briefly that this could be a rare themeless Wednesday. <br /><br />@Stephen: I tried OBJECT for APPLET. I also first entered TOLD for my rat's GNAW. <br /><br />As Parshtur said, the tarheel name dates back to the old naval stores industry in the South; long leaf pines were tapped for their resin which can be distilled to form turpentine. We still find old pines with the characteristic "cat face" scars from this era. Much of the longleaf pine is now gone. <br /><br />Just used my church key combo opener to open condensed milk for a pumkin pie. Back to cooking.<br /><br />Happy Thanksgiving to all.PlantieBeahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01960277851368508036noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-36102311123518369632009-11-25T20:02:35.394-05:002009-11-25T20:02:35.394-05:00just printed out the puzzle. will do it tonightjust printed out the puzzle. will do it tonightchefbeahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15195945085405126511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-31946565504956178942009-11-25T19:23:04.349-05:002009-11-25T19:23:04.349-05:00I wish everybody a very happy Thanksgiving Day!I wish everybody a very happy Thanksgiving Day!johohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12708487230515532492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-28634108870559286062009-11-25T18:33:30.767-05:002009-11-25T18:33:30.767-05:00When I grew up everyone said church key. I grew u...When I grew up everyone said church key. I grew up in the New York area. Everyone said church key where my wife grew up, in eastern Washington state. <br /><br />The last time I used the phrase "church key": yesterday. I have one reserved in my tool box for paint cans and my wife swiped it.<br /><br />My guess is it's generational. If you came of age post-pop-top you are less likely to know the term, regardless of where you grew up or prayed or didn't.Martinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-80104404373952196032009-11-25T17:40:54.872-05:002009-11-25T17:40:54.872-05:00When I was a teen ager - in the pre twist off days...When I was a teen ager - in the pre twist off days - one always needed a bottle opener. I lived in a middle class neighborhood in the DC suburbs and I remember church key being used as a synonym for bottle opener so I'm not sure of the regional aspects of it.<br /><br />I was the only Jewish kid in my circle of friends so I'm not sure of the Jewish angle, either.Bill from NJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10103923612595508277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-10547494507054851052009-11-25T15:57:53.447-05:002009-11-25T15:57:53.447-05:00Didn't get the theme at all...wrote out all th...Didn't get the theme at all...wrote out all the words I could find and still didn't get it, so I'm loving @Joho!!!!<br />(And @Clark's! dueling themes!) MUCH more creative than the puzzle itself, to me...<br />I'm intrigued by @Stephen's comment that themes are not to be hard to find, but to help solving!!!!!!!!<br />I never even thought of it that way, but I agree! I thought themes were to just show off the constructor's cleverness and have the puzzle hang together in a beautiful way vs those random Fri/Sat ones...<br />(Kidding, those, I suppose, show off grid construction cleverness...) ;)<br /><br />@Two Ponies<br />I'm like, three years too late to have been a hippie, but I remember having a big clunky metal ANKH ring, which I always felt a bit uncomfortable about bec it did look like a cross.<br /><br />@emba<br />Hmmm, what to think about the Jewishness angle. My folks are Jews from Brooklyn and the Bronx and I have never heard the expression "church key" either.<br />My favorite keys are the ones that open sardine cans and you curl things open....<br /><br />Speaking of which, the puzzle felt very Jewish to me...in a weird way.<br />It is always odd that SEMITE is for BOTH Arabs and Jews, yet anti-semitic only refers to the Jews...and then you had ARAB in this puzzle (I put in HADJ at first, so lots of untangling there). <br />Plus I always think of a YENTA as a matchmaker, and maybe nosy...but for a good cause...so I was surprised at the negativity of the gossip/dirt angle, which I suppose is legitimate, but felt off, as I always think of the clues for Jewish things, as I like to tease Will about being the least Jewish person I know, if there can be such a thing!<br /><br />I guess I'm also too young to know about ROKs, bec I worried for a moment if it was an un-pc thing like gook.<br /><br />Come to think about it, I wasn't crazy about this whole solving experience, but I couldn't feel why and now I think it did have to do with not getting the theme and then once reading what the theme was, feeling irritated.<br /><br />Arthur Godfrey, what a prick! And making an unaware LAROSA sing first...ick. Total power trip in the grossest way possible...Like making the orchestra play at a concentration camp.<br /><br />Wow...I may need to get out for a walk.<br /><br />Positive note: I didn't know CATT. And I liked the trivia they dug up on EVEREST.andrea catt michaelsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-75817440880634167192009-11-25T15:03:05.856-05:002009-11-25T15:03:05.856-05:00LUM in reference to the Lum & Abner oldtime ra...LUM in reference to the Lum & Abner oldtime radio program showed up in the puzzle not too long ago and has appeared periodically over the years. My quirky memory - how I started doing crossword puzzles in the first place - brought it to the surface as a neon as LAROSA surfaced as well also not long ago as Rex pointed out.<br /><br />My father was in Korea during that Conflict and I read his letters over the years that he had written to my mother. They were full of references to ROKs.<br /><br />I didn't get the theme till I came here but it was a simple puzzle to solve nonetheless.edith bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12048817959846956992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-83591778882766823632009-11-25T14:43:50.660-05:002009-11-25T14:43:50.660-05:00Midday report of relative difficulty (see my 7/30/...Midday report of relative difficulty (see my <a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=35115061&postID=3588389571383499624&isPopup=true" rel="nofollow">7/30/2009 post</a> for an explanation of my method):<br /><br />All solvers (median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)<br /><br />Wed 9:43, 11:41, 0.83, 12%, Easy<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Wed 5:21, 5:46, 0.93, 32%, Easy-Mediumsanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-69720929654422935932009-11-25T14:29:50.148-05:002009-11-25T14:29:50.148-05:00@Charles Bogle, it was Arthur Godfrey, not Jack Pa...@Charles Bogle, it was Arthur Godfrey, not Jack Paar, FWIW.Ruthnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-70152598622254684332009-11-25T14:19:58.650-05:002009-11-25T14:19:58.650-05:00@Rex, you missed the more obvious 'anticipatin...@Rex, you missed the more obvious 'anticipating Thanksgiving' theme. Beginning the preparations for this and that yummy DISH for tomorrow. Looking forward to HOMEY holiday fare, gravy without LUMps, yams made with that sweet TREESAP. Planning to get up with the SUN to start the bread (that contains bits of romano, parmesan and gruyere) in time for dinner. Looking ahead to a good GNAW on a turkey legg, a light CRESS salad, avoiding those pies with crusts like ASBESTOS, hearing the COOS over the pies with flaky crusts, JARS of pickles and olives, cats playing with their new CATNIP mice, clipping the NYT recipe for turkey leftovers ala INDIA. MAN's best friend snoring away under the piano. Crazy people getting ready to start their NOEL shopping day after tomorrow.<br /><br />I was on the constructors frequency today. Except for ANKH/ROK. Had to google that. Oh well.Clarknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-29661609321162405822009-11-25T14:16:24.402-05:002009-11-25T14:16:24.402-05:00I use the pointy end of the church key all the tim...I use the pointy end of the church key all the time....<br />to break the vacuum seal of most jarschefbeahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15195945085405126511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-44814855749746225602009-11-25T14:16:06.098-05:002009-11-25T14:16:06.098-05:00I'm a hippie geezer too, but I died on AMAHL, ...I'm a hippie geezer too, but I died on AMAHL, LUM, LAROSA, AMAH, ANKH, ROK, LON, NANA. <br /><br />When you have to work that hard for a theme, it ain't worth calling it that. Themes are s'posed to be gettable and useful while you're still solving!<br /><br />I had OBJECT in for the Java bit, but knew it couldn't be common enough for crosswords. Is APPLET any more so?<br /><br />yes to CRESS.<br /><br />Let me echo Smitty: what Bluebeard flew is a JOLLY ROGER and when I had to take it out and replace it with the VERY clunky PIRATE FLAG, I almost felt like quitting.<br /><br />Loved PREFIX and church keys. Thanks for the SEMITE clue.Stephenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16911901473993027184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-55647982105468819752009-11-25T14:15:31.920-05:002009-11-25T14:15:31.920-05:00A church key is not on your rotary can opener. It ...A church key is not on your rotary can opener. It is a metal tool with a triangular loop on one end to pry open a bottle top. It somewhat resembles a skeleton key thus the name. Big ornate skeleton keys were associated with church doors. You still get a very simple version of one when you buy a gallon of paint. One end has a small pry bar for opening the lid of the can. I guess the bottle opener is for when the job is complete.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-88148120216617721772009-11-25T14:12:07.168-05:002009-11-25T14:12:07.168-05:00"Nowhere Man" has given way to "Chu..."Nowhere Man" has given way to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLtXuXhXNns" rel="nofollow">"Church Key"</a>The iPod in my brainnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-19441455635823528512009-11-25T13:45:31.066-05:002009-11-25T13:45:31.066-05:00@william e emba: My Bronx-born Jewish parents say ...@william e emba: My Bronx-born Jewish parents say "church key" so maybe it's regional rather than cultural. The only thing I can remember using the pointy end of mine for in many years is pineapple juice.Saranoreply@blogger.com