tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post8268817525519108885..comments2024-03-28T14:37:12.109-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Game similar to hide-and-seek / TUE 7-1-14 / Mass of crystallized magma / Reproach from Buckinghams, 1967 / Plea from Human League, 1982 / Reassurance from Beach Boys, 1964 / Encouragement from Journey, 1981Rex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger117125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-8438411505407666762023-02-12T07:47:51.302-05:002023-02-12T07:47:51.302-05:00If it’s taking you 18 minutes on a Tuesday, then y...If it’s taking you 18 minutes on a Tuesday, then you can’t call it easyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-41342321075027711912014-08-05T18:26:19.861-04:002014-08-05T18:26:19.861-04:00Must have a deprived childhood since we never play...Must have a deprived childhood since we never played RINGALEVIO in my neck of the woods. Oh well, at least it easily available from its crosses as was PLUTON, another newbie for me.<br /><br />Loved the theme entries which as per @DMG allowed the puzzle to basically solve itself. And thanks @rain for the Bobby Curtola flashback - at least in Canada for a while he ranked right up there with those other Bobby teen idols, Vee and Vinton.<br /><br />897 - DONTYOUCARE?<br />Waxy in Montrealhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04395751487137805245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-41996467761653614332014-08-05T17:12:27.545-04:002014-08-05T17:12:27.545-04:00A theme base on classic rock 'n' roll oldi...A theme base on classic rock 'n' roll oldies - can you say "wheelhouse"? Loved the extra themers LES Paul, Bob Marley's ONE Love, Elvis' middle name (ARON) and the doo-wop OLDIES. I could have done without being reminded of MY LAI - calling it a "Vietnam War locale" seems to be glossing over the reality of what happened there (and elsewhere). I guessed right on the PLUTON/HANA cross, so I'm a happy solver.<br /><br />Clear as day 201 - talk about your losers!Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-36330331875728519942014-08-05T15:26:41.816-04:002014-08-05T15:26:41.816-04:00I grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, the son o...I grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, the son of a navy man in a community of navy men, and we played RINGALEVIO, not knowing it originated in NYC. Here in BC, it has evolved into *man hunt* played by 10 and 11 year old kids. It's really a cross between tag and kick the can, if memory serves.<br /><br />So I knew that one, but not PLUTON. What's the difference between a PLUTON and a geode? Anyway, I finished this one pretty quickly, and thought it was a good one for Tuesday. Actually knew 4 of the theme songs. Missed Bobby Curtola's "Don't you 'sweetheart' me". Only Canadians would have got that one.<br /><br />120 doinkrain forestnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-75844248282608799832014-08-05T14:30:37.504-04:002014-08-05T14:30:37.504-04:00Once I caught on to each theme answer starting wit...Once I caught on to each theme answer starting with DONT, this puzzle basically solved itself. But, like @Z, I have a newspaper that doesn't "ding" for a correct solution, so I had to come here to find out that both PLUTON and RING..... were correct. Also feel they were as fair as all the song titles I had to get from the crosses! <br /><br />Thanks to @Barry and Judy. Seen and appreciated Half Dome many times, but would never have guessed it was a "mass of crystallized magma". Now I'll try to remember batholith!<br /><br />Alas, back in Photo Sphere country, whatever that is.DMGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-62423038948424488412014-08-05T11:41:21.405-04:002014-08-05T11:41:21.405-04:00If you like Yosemite National Park, you definitely...If you like Yosemite National Park, you definitely like plutons, even if you don't know that you do. Half Dome and El Capitan (and all the other domes in YNP) are plutons. A line of plutons is called a batholith, which might show up some Friday or Saturday.Barry and Judyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14023415696736401761noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-74100548660351209892014-08-05T11:13:09.836-04:002014-08-05T11:13:09.836-04:00Constructors beware: DON'T put anything in you...Constructors beware: DON'T put anything in your grid that Our Fearless Leader Has Never Heard Of. You're not allowed to remind him that such things exist.<br /><br />In our neck of Penn's Woods it was called relevio. Full of secret plots and alliances, I'm sure the seeds of "Survivor!" and "Big Brother" germinated here.<br /><br />PLUTON was for me the Tuesday outlier. Geology is chock-full of weird words, esker and moraine and scree and so on. No matter; the crosses took care of it. The word made me think of FUTON, which might make PLUTON...wait for it...bedrock?<br /><br />This was a spacecraft-friendly puzzle from the get-go. I love the OLDIEs and Mr. Cee didn't disappoint. I have a special soft spot for DONTWORRYBABY. If ever there was a time in American history when we needed that, it was then. Still stung by what happened in Dallas, and unsure about Vietnam, we were comforted by the Boys' lullaby. I'm sure many moms of the period actually used it as such. Don't worry baby, everything's gonna be all right.<br /><br />@OISK missed hearing one of the great voices in any musical genre if he never heard the golden pipes of Steve Perry.<br /><br />Theme not only to my personal liking, but fairly dense and well-executed, and if the fill doesn't get any worse than APPTS, TLC and THO, that's pretty good too. A-.<br /><br />Great, After two solid gray bars, I see 580, a loser. I wonder what winners I couldn't see?<br /><br />spacecraftnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-17626276961719869352014-07-02T01:41:06.743-04:002014-07-02T01:41:06.743-04:00Midday 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 (this week's median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)<br /><br />Mon 5:59, 6:02, 0.99, 45%, Medium<br />Tue 7:33, 8:33, 0.88, 17%, Easy<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Mon 4:23, 3:55, 1.12, 88%, Challenging<br />Tue 5:00, 5:21, 0.93, 24%, Easy-Mediumsanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-14319435803310004302014-07-01T23:35:43.237-04:002014-07-01T23:35:43.237-04:00Ringalevio was at the very edge of my brain; pluto...Ringalevio was at the very edge of my brain; pluton was news to me. Neither belong in the Tuesday puzzle (and in my opinion any other puzzle). Still, the crosses were easy enough that I was able to finish the puzzle quickly anyhow.michaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-89397309536880365062014-07-01T23:34:38.702-04:002014-07-01T23:34:38.702-04:00Ha! @Zeke--I thought the same thing. I bet the w...Ha! @Zeke--I thought the same thing. I bet the whole diagram can fit into a bigger circle--old white people.Benkonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-33349071840334650572014-07-01T22:40:29.481-04:002014-07-01T22:40:29.481-04:00sorry, @Lewiasorry, @LewiaNuminoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01263999193499725814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-35033005380068501342014-07-01T22:38:52.899-04:002014-07-01T22:38:52.899-04:00to be honest,@leiws, almost nothing Australian is ...to be honest,@leiws, almost nothing Australian is widely known.<br /><br />Here, mate, have a Tim Tam or a Jaffa.Numinoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01263999193499725814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-42271981876946599052014-07-01T21:35:09.132-04:002014-07-01T21:35:09.132-04:00@wreck -- You are right and those are good answer ...@wreck -- You are right and those are good answer IF we had "solar bike", but what Ralph found was SOLARBIKE, the brand name of a bicycle made in Australia. I don't think Will would allow it in a puzzle, though -- it's just not widely known, I believe.Lewishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09709142959535977331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-51144626052656711562014-07-01T19:38:28.500-04:002014-07-01T19:38:28.500-04:00Ann C
I was raised in the Bronx and I remember pla...Ann C<br />I was raised in the Bronx and I remember playing Ringalevio in the street. Those were the best times!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-31589090341669418092014-07-01T18:28:50.700-04:002014-07-01T18:28:50.700-04:00Nice puzzle. Vaguely had heard of RINGALEVIO but n...<br />Nice puzzle. Vaguely had heard of RINGALEVIO but not PLUTON. Fair theme, decent fill. <br /><br />Won't make my memory book for the year but a nice <i>divertissement</i>.retired_chemisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13181126754941899228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-8022057845496009002014-07-01T17:38:17.736-04:002014-07-01T17:38:17.736-04:00I would say that Troublemaker is the little man (a...I would say that Troublemaker is the little man (assuming gender) with numerous issues. Why would someone who doesn't like a website continue to read the website? Here's an idea: stop reading this blog.carolnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-1422342326415462762014-07-01T17:27:54.754-04:002014-07-01T17:27:54.754-04:00I wonder what the Venn Diagram of the two sets:
a)...I wonder what the Venn Diagram of the two sets:<br />a) People who are sniping at Rex for complaining about RINGALEVIO <br />b) People who complain about rappers with funky-ass names.<br />looks like.<br /><br />I'm betting the overlap is pretty significant.Zekenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-3659622604637396672014-07-01T17:18:41.992-04:002014-07-01T17:18:41.992-04:00Caution: Spoilers [sorta] Ahead!!
@r.alph, nicely...Caution: Spoilers [sorta] Ahead!!<br /><br />@r.alph, nicely cryptic, good that you didn't have any slow vacs and only a suggestion of slow veenes.<br /><br />Didn't mix up that MIT grad quite enough at first, and thought that 'hOppy hour' would call for an O in the answer.<br /><br />Thought 5A could be indecision or greed as well as flexibility, but 2D gets the Iron Cross on all counts; a fine self-referential. <br /><br />Like The Man says, I had a DAY-um time with the SE square, ie, thought a DAY is more of an occurrence than t'other. But both corners looked good filled in, even tho the establishment was only accepting cash and credit cards.<br /><br />Tout sweet.Magma-nimousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-13076688249469766522014-07-01T16:55:12.006-04:002014-07-01T16:55:12.006-04:00Midday 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 7:33, 8:33, 0.88, 17%, Easy<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Tue 5:09, 5:21, 0.96, 36%, Easy-Mediumsanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-40795753291155687762014-07-01T16:16:01.234-04:002014-07-01T16:16:01.234-04:00@BobK: Mea Culpa, dude.
M&A really shoulda ch...@BobK: Mea Culpa, dude. <br />M&A really shoulda checked his clues better, for that last offering.<br />If it's any consolation, there is only one "daring experiment" runtpuz left to go, in this epic, universally questionable series. <br />Then back to "normalish" (after another upcomin road trip).<br /><br />U-S-A. U-S-A.<br /><br />M&ALast Silver Plutonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-75712540812387587022014-07-01T15:59:36.648-04:002014-07-01T15:59:36.648-04:00.....or Senior Nurse.....or Senior Nursewreckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08797908615185213756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-67632479662085140112014-07-01T15:52:20.267-04:002014-07-01T15:52:20.267-04:00If you have Solar Bike - you should allow Wasp Ten...If you have Solar Bike - you should allow Wasp Tent!wreckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08797908615185213756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-72646255308631185402014-07-01T15:46:17.523-04:002014-07-01T15:46:17.523-04:00@M&A - Very prudent of you to have blamed r.al...@M&A - Very prudent of you to have blamed r.alph in advance!<br /><br />Once you have abandoned all rules (clue for 9 A, g. e.), I'm afraid I can no longer follow.<br /><br />I believe my brain is trying to tell me to take the summer off!Bob Kerfufflehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02615811802419025933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-50917375917741479502014-07-01T15:29:13.666-04:002014-07-01T15:29:13.666-04:00@MA&PA
Hah! Came up empty till 13D, 14D fille...@MA&PA<br /><br />Hah! Came up empty till 13D, 14D filled in, then clambered my way back up to the top, was fairly enthused.<br /><br />You sure had the heartbeat of that elf, but the palette on 11A gave me some lipLeapfingerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14243620614139990887noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-21254521123371720312014-07-01T15:25:06.949-04:002014-07-01T15:25:06.949-04:00Medium. I think everyone here enjoys learning new...Medium. I think everyone here enjoys learning new words from crosswords, but if you're racing against the clock on a Monday or a Tuesday, you don't want to see RINGALEVIO or PLUTON. I thought for sure I had multiple errors, which forced me to spend an extra 20-30 seconds checking all the crosses. The rest of the puzzle was great; it was a very smooth solve, until it wasn't. Never heard of Margaret DUMONT.jdvnoreply@blogger.com