tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post8401757806003808362..comments2024-03-28T13:17:40.062-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Hellhound of Norse mythology / SUN 5-26-13 / Stoutly built Dickens villain / Baroque French dance / NBC newsman Holt / I Never Played Game memoirist / Santiago's milieu in Hemingway novel / Nikkei unitRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger80125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-74437803376551377662022-04-11T00:16:48.435-04:002022-04-11T00:16:48.435-04:00There is really no excuse for a factually wrong cl...There is really no excuse for a factually wrong clue / answer pair in a puzzle, especially when the fact is stable and easily checked. To wit, tax returns do not go to Washington -- not the state, not the District of Columbia. Individual and business returns go to their respective regional processing centers, such as Charlotte NC and Ogden UT. None of these go to Washington, not even for people living in DC.<br /><br />That and the Natick at ICC-CAIRENE disqualified an otherwise acceptable puzzle for me. The theme doesn't hang together. The awkwardly constructed titles do not flow well: they're simply concatenated titles with a tortured explanation in the clue.Prunehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00224476641730508311noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-51194985841634142112013-06-03T16:00:15.503-04:002013-06-03T16:00:15.503-04:00A very late start Sunday evening (and possibly too...A very late start Sunday evening (and possibly too much bourbon) kept me from finishing the puz until this AM and even then, it took a while. The Prince Valiant strip that appeared in the same paper as the puzzle featured his wife Aleta and twin daughters Karen and Valeta (serious), so no problem there. The theme answers mostly came easily enough but some of the fill gave me fits - GOSOFT started out as easeup then mutated to letoff before I finally got the two Os from crosses and saw the right answer. Finished with an error at MIa/CRaESUS.<br /><br />I just realized that for cruciverbalists, TGIF could stand for "Thank God I Finished!" There are some puzzles that leave me feeling that way.Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-17137499966550219442013-06-02T12:54:47.011-04:002013-06-02T12:54:47.011-04:00I love the Simon song, but GAVOTTE still makes me ...I love the Simon song, but GAVOTTE still makes me think of My Fair Lady:<br /><br />Ev'ry dyuke and lord and peah is heah<br />Ev'ryone who should be heah is heah<br />What a grrripping, absolutely rrripping moment at the Ascot Op'ning Day!<br /><br />Gotta love the Ascot Gavotte!<br /><br />This one was cute. I liked it despite the usual forced dreck in a 21x21, already touched upon. In particular, the two long downs make a wryly humorous tandem: TAX RETURNS: TALK DIRTY. Need more be said?<br /><br />Interesting juncture: UPSTART/GOSOFT.<br /><br />For "Parliament constituent," having the NI in place, I went for NIghtowl (you know, a parliament of owls), thinking my pinup guy's features could be his legs. And my "Boxer" could have been a Dog! But after switching the E and R of MITer, I got everything in the SE straightened out.<br /><br />Stumbled at the start trying to put the film TAXI Driver in 23a before I realized the TAXI part referred to TV, not a movie.<br /><br />Agree that the SW needed to be reworked. I'M not MOVED by what was there. AMEN, U!Spacecraftnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-72796024967273709892013-05-28T20:10:59.869-04:002013-05-28T20:10:59.869-04:00Seriously could not figure DEM out. That clue was ...Seriously could not figure DEM out. That clue was entirely insufficient. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-63649147732608207132013-05-27T13:46:51.186-04:002013-05-27T13:46:51.186-04:00We knew the movie-It did not make the phrase SAY A...We knew the movie-It did not make the phrase SAY ANYTHING MONK mean anything.Hand Soap is a thing out house is a thing SAY MONK is notsyndyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16814698406887041710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-862874766834828292013-05-27T10:09:37.152-04:002013-05-27T10:09:37.152-04:00It sounds as though many of the bloggers didn'...It sounds as though many of the bloggers didn't know of the 1989 John Cusack movie "Say Anything".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-12715455202648167882013-05-27T08:16:43.391-04:002013-05-27T08:16:43.391-04:00@ACME 2:36 a.m. - A clean grid and a fun solve. I ...@ACME 2:36 a.m. - A clean grid and a fun solve. I must have still been primarily a lurker back then since I remember the puzzle but see I didn't comment. <br /><br />What's changed? You're still a great constructor whose work we don't see enough of. Rex is still a wonderfully snarky task master holding everyone's toes to the fire in search of the perfect puzzle. And you clued OBI as a sash, not as the more famous (in Holland, Mi.) Ottawa Beach Inn. Now to see if I can get the Monday puzzle to work on my iPad. Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16181544219511150272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-28566890639487961932013-05-27T07:36:42.835-04:002013-05-27T07:36:42.835-04:00@JC66 - there's nothing "wrong" wit...@JC66 - there's nothing "wrong" with TUTUS as an answer, but TORUS/TUTUS is not symmetrical with ELUDE/EVADE on the upper left side of the puzzle. I was suggesting just one alternative that would make the two symmetrical.Jdipintonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-59996697052230580752013-05-27T02:41:50.637-04:002013-05-27T02:41:50.637-04:00This week's relative difficulty ratings. See m...This week's relative difficulty ratings. See my 8/1/2009 post for an explanation and my 10/15/2012 post for an explanation of a tweak I've made to my method. 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 7:18, 6:14, 1.17, 96%, Challenging (8th highest ratio of 179 Mondays)<br />Tue 9:09, 8:09, 1.12, 77%, Medium-Challenging<br />Wed 8:47, 10:00, 0.88, 24%, Easy-Medium<br />Thu 13:26, 16:53, 0.80, 15%, Easy<br />Fri 16:05, 21:35, 0.75, 12%, Easy<br />Sat 23:58, 25:19, 0.95, 39%, Easy-Medium<br />Sun 27:21, 28:59, 0.94, 43%, Medium<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Mon 4:21, 3:46, 1.16, 94%, Challenging<br />Tue 5:23, 4:49, 1.12, 77%, Medium-Challenging<br />Wed 5:10, 5:45, 0.90, 25%, Easy-Medium<br />Thu 7:58, 9:49, 0.81, 15%, Easy<br />Fri 9:50, 12:19, 0.80, 18%, Easy<br />Sat 14:48, 15:08, 0.98, 45%, Medium<br />Sun 18:46, 19:51, 0.95, 38%, Easy-Mediumsanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-36599657762204733672013-05-27T02:36:31.796-04:002013-05-27T02:36:31.796-04:00waited all day and no one remembered nor mentioned...waited all day and no one remembered nor mentioned it, so I guess I will. Patrick Blindauer and I had this same Sunday theme (and title!) back in August 2009... just want to quote part of Rex to show how much has changed in 3 and a half years!<br /><br />SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 2009<br />Constructors: Patrick Blindauer and Andrea Carla Michaels <br /><br />Relative difficulty: Easy <br /><br />THEME: "Made For TV-Movies" — 5 grid-spanning answers are wacky, hypothetical shows; each answer is made up of an existing TV show and an existing movie linked together by a shared word<br /><br />A very clever and very easy puzzle from two of my favorite constructors. Theme answers were few, but enormous, and easy to get with only a handful of crosses in place. When you can throw 21-letter answers across the grid with relative ease, the rest of the puzzle is sure to follow. <br /><br />Theme answers:<br /><br />22A: Dirt-dishing lass who's been cut off? (Gossip Girl, Interrupted)<br />44A: Dad is familiar with top Broadway star? (Father Knows Best in Show)<br />66A: Actor Joel's crime scene analysis? (Grey's Anatomy of a Murder)<br />90A: One-quarter of a mourning lacrosse team? (Two and a Half Men in Black)<br />113A: Hollywood hanky-panky? (Sex and the City of Angels)<br />acmenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-70265196711869919162013-05-26T22:40:54.866-04:002013-05-26T22:40:54.866-04:00Monk was a favourite show of mine. I've loved ...Monk was a favourite show of mine. I've loved Tony Shalhoub ever since "Wings". I loved him in the short-lived TV show "Stark Raving Mad" where Neil Patrick Harris played the Monklike character. <br /><br />Gavotte was a gimme as well. Just sayin' - different strokes.nurturinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02035395856164817422noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-75645564179176447892013-05-26T22:39:50.953-04:002013-05-26T22:39:50.953-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.nurturinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02035395856164817422noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-6943795819796528352013-05-26T21:10:35.286-04:002013-05-26T21:10:35.286-04:00When I saw 23A began with TAXI... I was so sure th...When I saw 23A began with TAXI... I was so sure the movie in question was TAXI DRIVER. <br />TAXI BUS DRIVER?... TAXI DRIVER MAN?<br /><br />I agree that SAY ANYTHING MONK is inconsistent; I really wanted it to be SAY ANYTHING GOES. I've never heard of a TV show called GOES, but until I read this blog I'd never heard of MONK either.okanaganerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03082227619755246335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-70871179675174731002013-05-26T20:26:24.815-04:002013-05-26T20:26:24.815-04:00All you people complaining about CROESUS, take it ...All you people complaining about CROESUS, take it from me -- you will hear or read the phrase "rich as Croesus" three times in the next month. Trust me on this. It's one of those things that you just never noticed before.<br /><br />It was all gettable, even to a guy like me who has not watched TV in 10 years and had no idea that there was a show called MONK. However, it was a tedious slog, even with clever (but offensive) answers like OUTHOUSE OF AFRICA.<br /><br />I live in Massachusetts, but had no idea the ELM TREE is our state symbol. Actually we have several, incuding a state muffin (the corn muffin) and a state insect (the ladybug). A friend of mine is currently campaigning to make "Road Runner" the official rock song of Massachusetts - the bill has been introduced, but there's considerable controversy.<br /><br />A MENU was awfully clued - but "boxer, e.g., in brief" more than made up for it.jberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02169065390875378077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-43504863150024937222013-05-26T20:06:09.219-04:002013-05-26T20:06:09.219-04:00@fralex - You say Yasir, I say Yasser. It's A...@fralex - You say Yasir, I say Yasser. It's Arabic. Different sources render the same name differently in English.<br /><br /> Yasir Arafat<br /><br />Arafat, Yasir or Yasser (yäsērˈ ärˈäfät; –sər) [key], 1929–2004, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the coordinating body for Palestinian organizations, and head of Al Fatah, the largest group in the PLO. He was born in Cairo, but . . . <br /><br />Read more: Arafat, Yasir | Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/people/arafat-yasir.html#ixzz2URlMm6le<br />Transliteration's a batch . . . of funnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-3546139712717184482013-05-26T19:57:50.834-04:002013-05-26T19:57:50.834-04:00I found the puzzle tough, but enjoyable. It seems...I found the puzzle tough, but enjoyable. It seems to have been fair. There were a lot of words I didn't know. I couldn't solve either the ICC-CAIRENE or the GAVOTTE-TSU crossing, but I see that CAIRENE was gettable and that GAVOTTE was known to the more erudite among us.Paul Kellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-83435802179132851082013-05-26T19:42:15.063-04:002013-05-26T19:42:15.063-04:00Lots of light fun, considering I was doing this la...Lots of light fun, considering I was doing this late in the day. Enjoyed the theme answers. Got snagged in the SW corner with Cairene. <br /><br />Not sure the Lester Holt comment made aways back was entirely nice or necessary.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04551716499829677518noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-83675663393700992062013-05-26T19:02:53.816-04:002013-05-26T19:02:53.816-04:00Noticed a mistake in this puzzle. Yasir Arafat is...Noticed a mistake in this puzzle. Yasir Arafat is a cricket player born in Pakistan. Yasser Arafat was the PLO leader born in Cairo.<br />fralexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10954569495953378159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-82556433804149016492013-05-26T18:34:23.725-04:002013-05-26T18:34:23.725-04:00@jae - Hey, Don't forget me -
AQK Abdul Qadee...@jae - Hey, Don't forget me -<br /><br />AQK Abdul Qadeer Khan <br /><br />My abbreviated name is well known in some circles, though based on what I have read, maybe not at this blog.Abdul Qadeer Khannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-11456383599092008402013-05-26T18:28:45.474-04:002013-05-26T18:28:45.474-04:00"Rich as Croesus" is something my mother..."Rich as Croesus" is something my mother (b. 1919) used to say.<br /><br />Agree with all the criticism of the theme answers; they were hammered together in unfunny and inconsistent ways.<br /><br />Also, "I'm not kidding" cannot be a clue for "serious."<br /><br />Seriously!<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-67759659594745091702013-05-26T18:26:19.181-04:002013-05-26T18:26:19.181-04:00very easy, except for my very last letter tty-/-e...very easy, except for my very last letter tty-/-ester<br /><br />I guessed "l" and was right. Probably should have known ttyl, but I didn't.michaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-56491780037919201462013-05-26T18:05:03.701-04:002013-05-26T18:05:03.701-04:00Yeah sorry, but rich as CROESUS is just not a phra...Yeah sorry, but rich as CROESUS is just not a phrase I've ever heard. Not sure if its regional or generational, but it's always interesting to see those types of things be gimmes for some and utter blanks for others. <br /><br />I think the rich references I remember involved either Rockefeller or the Sultan of Brunei. Milfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04923019988243284636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-11484413066120389552013-05-26T17:52:49.515-04:002013-05-26T17:52:49.515-04:00Apparently OFL has read Alexie but not Dickens or ...Apparently OFL has read Alexie but not Dickens or Brontë. Hmmm, let's be dismayed that he hasn't read "the canon" as determined in 1965. I am wringing my hands! How could anyone let him teach college courses? Mrs. Pigglywiggly will be used in a crude double entendre before we know it. Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16181544219511150272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-81161708089874943792013-05-26T17:45:31.436-04:002013-05-26T17:45:31.436-04:00Folks please reread my post. I was talking about t...Folks please reread my post. I was talking about three letter words or abbreviations beginning with A. Can't think of a three letter AQ...oops, just thought of AQI air quality index.jaehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03385568014046336373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-63953893769808581102013-05-26T17:14:19.997-04:002013-05-26T17:14:19.997-04:00@jae- QOM- city in Iran
QVC-shopping network...@jae- QOM- city in Iran<br /> QVC-shopping network<br /> QUO-vadisAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com