tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post9119744236665322917..comments2024-03-28T18:52:07.432-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Lady Liberty garb / SAT 9-18-10 / Relaciones Espirituales writer / Bygone medical ventilator / Defunct ministry initials / Board game grande dameRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger66125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-63239888498654628842010-11-05T00:36:43.148-04:002010-11-05T00:36:43.148-04:00I had misplaced this puzzle, so even later than us...I had misplaced this puzzle, so even later than usual syndication date solve for me. There's a lot of talent demonstrated here in grid and clues alike. however, I must take issue with the graphic LAPDANCES. I'm no prude, I don't mind seeing the euphemistic GOGODANCERS (not graphic) or NAKED,eg. LAPDANCES, however, involve through-the-clothing sexual contact, which seems beneath NYT standards. I don't think a pass should be given because "It's Brown week." or "I really want to run this one." What next, DOGGIESTYLE or FELTHERUP? <br /> Ironic to see STTERESA in the same grid. Thanks @Ulrich for the image. <br /><br /> -Kevin in TexasAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-16069416006853692582010-09-19T16:37:35.640-04:002010-09-19T16:37:35.640-04:007:07 = by far the fastest Saturday of my life
FLA...7:07 = by far the fastest Saturday of my life<br /><br />FLAVORFLAV, IAMAMERICA, SPICEGIRLS, BADROMANCE, FISTBUMP... these college kids!<br /><br />Nice one, Natan.Benhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04754156636762779545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-18261642225955630772010-09-19T00:07:16.995-04:002010-09-19T00:07:16.995-04:00@Rex -- Thanks for the lesson on how IT clues work...@Rex -- Thanks for the lesson on how IT clues work.Clarknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-9849183104066349462010-09-18T20:11:16.348-04:002010-09-18T20:11:16.348-04:00SENSE-DATA could have been a good answer for 34D, ...SENSE-DATA could have been a good answer for 34D, I thought initially. Bertrand Russell would have been pleased.fergushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17056002311944010536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-32844515333068718082010-09-18T20:10:40.906-04:002010-09-18T20:10:40.906-04:00Hey, Bill from NJ and edith b ... so good to see y...Hey, Bill from NJ and edith b ... so good to see you!johohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12708487230515532492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-34390667812250184032010-09-18T20:08:37.756-04:002010-09-18T20:08:37.756-04:00A quick fill of the grid, but I left in such a how...A quick fill of the grid, but I left in such a howler: SENESENCE, which is not only spelled incorrectly, but is hardly a Topic in artificial intelligence. Worked well with column neighbor, though! <br /><br />Raising the topic: has there ever been a puzzle where ENTRIES form the Clues for other ENTRIES?fergushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17056002311944010536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-83836633754374449482010-09-18T19:17:20.149-04:002010-09-18T19:17:20.149-04:00I am a fan of any puzzle that has FLAVORFLAV and I...I am a fan of any puzzle that has FLAVORFLAV and IRONLUNG in it. As a retired school teacher and having a 13 year old granddaughter,I was exposed to a lot of Pop Culture so this puzzle was right up my alley.<br /><br />I enjoyed this puzzle a great deal, a sort of anti-Maleska endeavor by Natan Last.edith bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12048817959846956992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-23674202024382003022010-09-18T18:45:38.104-04:002010-09-18T18:45:38.104-04:00This week's relative difficulty ratings. See m...This week's relative difficulty ratings. See my 7/30/2009 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 6:04, 6:57, 0.87, 6%, Easy<br />Tue 8:38, 8:53, 0.97, 49%, Medium<br />Wed 11:15, 11:41, 0.96, 43%, Medium<br />Thu 17:03, 19:13, 0.89, 35%, Easy-Medium<br />Fri 21:41, 26:33, 0.82, 15%, Easy<br />Sat 24:51, 30:54, 0.80, 8%, Easy<br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Mon 3:22, 3:42, 0.91, 11%, Easy<br />Tue 4:37, 4:35, 1.01, 60%, Medium<br />Wed 6:06, 5:46, 1.06, 75%, Medium-Challenging<br />Thu 7:43, 9:13, 0.84, 30%, Easy-Medium<br />Fri 10:03, 12:56, 0.78, 17%, Easy<br />Sat 13:18, 17:41, 0.75, 9%, Easy<br /><br />This ended up with the 5th fastest median solve time for both groups of the 59 Saturday puzzles in my spreadsheet. Since I'm able solve less than half of Saturday puzzles without cheating, I knew this one would be in the Easy range.sanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-42652932712999692542010-09-18T17:54:54.518-04:002010-09-18T17:54:54.518-04:00What a let down. I was tearing through the puzzle...What a let down. I was tearing through the puzzle today and couldn't figure out why. I usually pick it up the paper at some point on Saturday (I'm a Saturday only guy) and work on it in dribs and drabs, sometimes working on it a little in the evening and then even into the next morning. So I'm not a crossword hero by any stretch. But I finish, and I've often learned quite a bit by the end. However, this was so easy as to be ridiculous.<br /><br />In the middle of the puzzle, I couldn't figure it out. I was just writing stuff down without really thinking. Every answer was exactly as I thought it should be. Little misdirection, lots of easy pop culture and literature. Then I looked at the solver. <br /><br />You know that line in the Princess Bride when Inigo Montoya realizes that the Man in Black, too, is not left-handed? I felt like the Dread Pirate Roberts/Man in Black/Welsey at that moment. Just feeling kind of bad for Inigo because he tried so hard, but it was just too easy.<br /><br />That's why I feel so bad about the experience. One minute, I'm schooling this puzzle (talking smack to it "oh, you think you so bad!", showing my sufferin' wife how much @ss I was kicking, really doing some heavy self-back patting) then the next, I have my ego shattered as I realize that I was essentially in a UFC match with a child.<br /><br />Now I know where the term "like taking candy from a baby" comes from. I just feel dirty now.FoodFixershttp://foodfixers.blgospot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-10439666909427917302010-09-18T17:21:38.782-04:002010-09-18T17:21:38.782-04:00I found this medium rather than easy, but I'm ...I found this medium rather than easy, but I'm not in what seems to be the target age range. But all gettable -- even "opah" which was new to me And I knew "I am America" and "Spice Girls" but had to figure out "flavor flav."<br /><br />This has nothing to do with age, but I was slowed by difficulty getting "sweet deal" trying (as did another commenter) "what a deal" and "such a deal" before finally seeing "slow motion."michael Chibniknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-46588758656351636022010-09-18T17:11:21.970-04:002010-09-18T17:11:21.970-04:00Happy birthday, Nanpilla and DocJohn!
@Ulrich and...Happy birthday, Nanpilla and DocJohn!<br /><br />@Ulrich and Dashiell, I figured vacas via vaches, also.machttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06794371617847975218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-17123612188843524632010-09-18T16:44:45.488-04:002010-09-18T16:44:45.488-04:00I got VACAS the same way. Big fan of the Mort Aux ...I got VACAS the same way. Big fan of the Mort Aux Vaches music series so the cognate is one of the few words in both my very limited French and Spanish repertoireDashiellnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-46346393032019886152010-09-18T16:27:58.931-04:002010-09-18T16:27:58.931-04:00I spent as much time completing the small NW recta...I spent as much time completing the small NW rectangle (with sweet deal and slow motion in place, no less!!) as with the rest of the puzzle--sometimes I just hate myself for being so slow. Proud, tho, for having deduced the Spanish cow from French "vache" and the no. of letters required.<br /><br />Here again is Bernini's <a href="http://www.actlab.utexas.edu/~chelsea/images/berniniTeresa1.jpg" rel="nofollow"> St. Teresa of Avila</a> for those who need a memory aid.<br /><br />@anonymous at 12:25: The trick is to set up a google account and profile (if you wish to also have an avatar). Then log in and post under this account. This will display your chosen name in blue, your avatar, and allow you to delete your comments.Ulrichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02086202853174403008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-34108890567560860272010-09-18T16:09:44.830-04:002010-09-18T16:09:44.830-04:00Liked this one a lot, despite the unnecessary prep...Liked this one a lot, despite the unnecessary preponderance of pop culture (even though that helped me finish to can't really complain). By far the easiest Saturday I've seen in a long while, maybe ever. I would have finished in personal record time if it hadn't been for 29D throwing me off for ages. Weirdly, I thought of Clue early on but for some reason thought it was miss peacock instead of MRS. At the end, I had the 45A, 61A, and 66A crosses blank and beat my head against the wall for a while before realizing my mistake. Other than that, pretty much a breeze. 5A, 16A, 18A, 48A, 56A, 59A, 63A, 65A, and 6D, 11D, 37D, 39D (i.e. most of the longest clues) were gimmes either immediately or after only one or two quick crosses were determined. <br /><br />I wanted "what a deal" instead of SWEET_DEAL and was thinking of milkshake like beverages for a while for 5D but realized my mistakes quickly enough. I also had to guess (correctly, luckily) for the last letter of 51A/first of 51D. Never heard of either of those. Felt a little lame for how long it took me to get 64A since it seems really obvious in retrospect, ditto for 25A.<br /><br />Overall I thought this was really well constructed though. Some of the clues (36A, 33A, 41A for ex) felt like they belonged in the first half of the week, definitely not Saturday material. Others though (in particular 4D, 30D) were really great. Maybe I had so much fun with this one b/c, with the one aforementioned exception, it was easy and made me feel smart for getting through a Saturday so quickly. Either way, a pleasure.Dashiellnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-56589481587035848252010-09-18T15:58:04.483-04:002010-09-18T15:58:04.483-04:00My only writeover was the one that got many others...My only writeover was the one that got many others. It STOLe my puzzle perfection from me.<br /><br />Unlike Rex, I was embarrassed when I realized I did NOT know the Spanish word for cows. Which is all the more astonishing because, at 51, there's very little reason for me to have somehow known FALORFLAV and SPICE GIRLS, but they popped right out of my brain. <br /><br />Biggest slowdown was wanting STOny at 41A and being unable to make any of the little downs in that area make any sense. This Jerusalem haddock was of no help in that area either. When I finally started thinking of other ways to finish STO__ is when the Aha Moment came. But the last letter in the grid was the H in HALAS, and it was a total effing guess. NAOH also was obtained entirely through crosses as neither the clue nor the answer is in my lexicon. <br /><br />Like yesterday's, I thought this one was fun to do and just snarly enough in a few places to give it that late-week cred that we all love to hate.<br /><br />Can't hardly wait to see what Sunday brings!<br /><br />Stindges! (She and TERESe used to hang out together at the bar and cook up miracles.) -- jesserjesserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13303862935098945757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-44499768449678951092010-09-18T15:53:59.105-04:002010-09-18T15:53:59.105-04:00GREATDEAL - SMARTDEAL - SUCHADEAL - WHATADEAL - AN...GREATDEAL - SMARTDEAL - SUCHADEAL - WHATADEAL - ANEWDEAL, AFAIRDEAL, ANEWFRONTIER - whatever, TAGP is the most annoying commercial ever made (Don Draper made me say that)....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-32994248217864322202010-09-18T15:37:16.764-04:002010-09-18T15:37:16.764-04:00Count me (born 1975) with those who found this unu...Count me (born 1975) with those who found this unusually fast for a Saturday. <br /><br />I try to read only clues that intersect an answer I've already filled in (though I usually have to give up at some point, late in the week), and I started this one by choking at 1A, putting in FLAVORFLAV and then filling in 5-14 down inclusive without needing to read another Across clue. (As it turned out, I did have one error in LAPDANCEr.) I never did anything like that on Saturday before. So I found this enjoyable, but also a bit of a letdown difficulty-wise. I'll be interested to see what sanfranman discovers about solvers as a whole.Jennynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-20757711665587358902010-09-18T14:40:36.334-04:002010-09-18T14:40:36.334-04:00The crosses in northeast were easy enough to justi...The crosses in northeast were easy enough to justify the popscurity. Didn't anyone else make the wet bar SAND and the (blue) chips fall down DOW?Alanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11883088018327082889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-63572557086789721692010-09-18T14:17:09.719-04:002010-09-18T14:17:09.719-04:00Easy for a Sat. but still DNF.
Glad you are back ...Easy for a Sat. but still DNF.<br /><br />Glad you are back Bill and I too miss foodiechefbeahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15195945085405126511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-18118548448772752602010-09-18T14:02:45.637-04:002010-09-18T14:02:45.637-04:00@doc john - happy bday to us! Good luck with that...@doc john - happy bday to us! Good luck with that jump - a 5 mile hike in the mountains was good enough for me this morning up at Mohonk.<br />We all have to GET OLDER, but we don't have to act it....<br /><br />Also thought this was a great puzzle, but had ST TERESE too.<br /><br />@Bill from NJ - so good to have you back!nanpillahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05548473809500612699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-67492389726066003782010-09-18T13:58:51.653-04:002010-09-18T13:58:51.653-04:00Hi @Jersey Bill!!
Great puzzle. Not a lot of fla...Hi @Jersey Bill!! <br /><br />Great puzzle. Not a lot of flat out gimmes for me, but pleasantly sussable. Very pleasantly [sussable]. Great clues all around. <br /><br />My kayak is named the Pequod, but I'd forgotten old Peleg.hazelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04627015904603641109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-15378353887910570802010-09-18T13:50:10.638-04:002010-09-18T13:50:10.638-04:00Great puzzle! Had to get quite a few answers from ...Great puzzle! Had to get quite a few answers from all the crosses (FlavorFlam), but my only real problem was 43 across, because I had put in a "lapdancer". When I see Chicago and sports in one sentence I automatically think "Ditka", but when I had ?alas I wondered if it would be Lalas, the soccer player. Especially liked stepsister, late lunch and their clues. Smooth solve for me.<br /><br />Good work from Brown this week!<br /><br />@Deer Tick: LOL<br /><br />Hi, Bill!machttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06794371617847975218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-72875064254447524632010-09-18T13:49:36.526-04:002010-09-18T13:49:36.526-04:00My fastest Saturday by around 3 minutes, except, l...My fastest Saturday by around 3 minutes, except, like others, STOLE/STTERESE....dlsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-16425937083351070892010-09-18T13:49:18.544-04:002010-09-18T13:49:18.544-04:00Easy for me too as the NE was pretty much a gimmie...Easy for me too as the NE was pretty much a gimmie. I too had TRES at first as well as LATEGUEST and GETALONG for age. Delightful puzzle! My only regret was changing the A in TERESA to an E. Rats!!jaehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03385568014046336373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-7524639748750337382010-09-18T13:47:41.846-04:002010-09-18T13:47:41.846-04:00Even though I'm definitely on the wrong side o...Even though I'm definitely on the wrong side of any generational gap, I find it refreshing to see answers that are in current history rather than those that were around in the twenties when the crossword came into vogue.<br /><br />Even at 76, I know some answers only from my parents' conversations.<br /><br />It is fun to see Lucia and Georgie pouring over the xword at home in Tilling in the '20's-'30's EF Benson novels!Dick Swartnoreply@blogger.com