tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post97728839082397920..comments2024-03-28T09:03:26.219-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Simba sobriquet / SAT 7-16-16 / Trendy pseudocereal / Zipcar alternative / 2005-07 sitcom about Gold family / Ninth-century pope who was married with daughter / 1983 hit for Rufus Chaka Khan / Ingredient in Baltimore bracer / Auto option patented by 3M / Wake up on bright side sloganeer / School for Rory Gilmore / Slavering toonRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-41568472240968225212017-10-22T13:04:09.678-04:002017-10-22T13:04:09.678-04:00With Car Rental 8 you can discover the cheapest ca...With <b><a href="http://car-rental.syntaxlinks.com/r/CarRental8" rel="nofollow">Car Rental 8</a></b> you can discover the cheapest car hires from over <b>50,000 locations across the globe</b>.Bloggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07287821785570247118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-8648178771954781012017-05-29T10:56:03.809-04:002017-05-29T10:56:03.809-04:00excellent post Foshan Dabbl Sanitary Ware is offe...excellent post Foshan Dabbl Sanitary Ware is offering top class products for shower enclosures, neo angle shower doors, frameless sliding glass doors, sliding glass shower doors, custom glass shower doors, shower cubicles, shower door, corner shower enclosures, quadrant shower enclosures , Shower Cabins, Shower Stalls, Walk in Shower Enclosures, shower cubicles kindly visit to the website<a href="http://www.dabbl.de/" rel="nofollow"> quadrant shower enclosures, custom, frameless sliding glass shower doors , shower cubicles </a> call us +86-18928507693 email now export2@dabbl.deFoshan Dabbl Sanitary Ware Cohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02622098957799322089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-63029173682729850592016-08-20T18:26:34.758-04:002016-08-20T18:26:34.758-04:00@Chaos, way above, real time, gives one of the bes...@Chaos, way above, real time, gives one of the best, if not THE best, blow-by-blow accounts of solving a tough puzzle that I have read. They can be tedious and boring, but not this one. Give it a look if you haven't.leftcoasterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05033341194718217353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-168490149064911112016-08-20T15:59:57.083-04:002016-08-20T15:59:57.083-04:00Oh yeah, challenging here, but easified by a flat ...Oh yeah, challenging here, but easified by a flat out guess of ADRIAN (had that a few days ago), and getting LION KING of the bat. EEG came and I had to leave that for later. The SW was not too bad, and the bottom three entries in the SE (thought Ruth for awhile, but MULE meant it had to be AROD, but a number of areas were tough. Excellent clues abounded and, hard as I found it, it was fun to finish.<br /><br />Good puzzle, if not quite gushable.rain forestnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-80840396698541860182016-08-20T14:46:41.881-04:002016-08-20T14:46:41.881-04:00Couldn't get close to a toehold, let alone a f...Couldn't get close to a toehold, let alone a foothold, after a first and second pass through. It continued like that until I threw in the towel pretty early and decided to cheat my way to a finish to see what and why I missed. Lots to contend with here. Glad that Rex was so pleased.<br /><br />@rondo: Thanks for the background. It's been many years since living in the state, but I visit family there from time to time. Garrison Keillor (sp?) has done a lot to keep the Minnesota "nice" mystique alive, and it's likely always been much more myth than reality in any case. leftcoastTAMnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-60232089946049287422016-08-20T14:15:19.765-04:002016-08-20T14:15:19.765-04:00Having never seen Gilmore Girls I put in ucLa inst...Having never seen Gilmore Girls I put in ucLa instead of YALE and that was today’s only w/o, but in such a critical spot. So the NW came last, as well as the rest of the N. The bottom 3 answers in the SE were my building blocks, without them I had very little going. <br /><br />Learned the popularity of MARIAELENA in an American Studies class at the U of M. Since @spacey has used the first half, I’ll go with ELENA Delle Donne from the Olympic basketball team, and also from the ESPN Body issue, yeah baby. <br /><br />Most any TVWIFE, especially The Good one, could also be a yeah baby. Roseanne not so much.<br /><br />Working from the bottom up, I had __VIOLATION and actually counted out the squares to see if Mann Act would fit; crossing state borders with a woman, you know. Living in a border town, I technically could have been in VIOLATION of that federal law, before they changed it in the ‘70s. AINTNOBODY getting into trouble for consensual interstate hanky-panky anymore. I suppose being on PAROLE is another story.<br /><br />@lefty – the past 17 years working and, for 10 of those years half-time living in the midst of an urban, high-crime location has worn off some of the “MN nice”. I SEE LIFE differently now.<br /><br />Is a small ode an ODETTE?<br /><br />This puz took about an hour, and that’s OK since it’s a gloomy day here. I bought both Twin City papers, so more puzzles to SLAY.<br />rondonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-84445540542163205102016-08-20T12:11:34.595-04:002016-08-20T12:11:34.595-04:00URN AROD (STOPMOTION)
MEL TRAINS to SEABATTLE wit...URN AROD (STOPMOTION)<br /><br />MEL TRAINS to SEABATTLE with his TVWIFE,<br />then for ANY WARATHOME, he’ll give schisms no FIG.<br />There AINTNOBODY to be FIXERS in his LIFE,<br />you SEE, PAL, he’ll die of .38 SATURNISM by SIG.<br /><br />--- ODIE QUINOA<br />Burma Shavenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-75870966783587932212016-08-20T11:53:31.977-04:002016-08-20T11:53:31.977-04:00I agree with @kitshef and @anon 9:54. No, no, no. ...I agree with @kitshef and @anon 9:54. No, no, no. The EEG IS the test. This is the greenest paint ever, and nearly caused a DNF.<br /><br />Of course, I was within a whisker of DNF after the first half hour of staring at a blank grid and a clueless clue bank. And then to come here and see "easy-medium." Aaaaaugh! The urge to SLAY--or AXE! Why does he DO that? Every row, every column, was a challenge. There came a point, I'm sure, where so much was filled in that the rest felt sort of easyish, but that's like a tough Sudoku. Once you get so many squares, the rest just falls in. But that does NOT make it "easy!"<br /><br />Eventually got under way with LATIN, and waiting to see if the mag was going to be LIFE or Look. Many clues were tough, but a few were really off-putting. "Confessed statements" to me is a LONG way from CREEDS. The true obscurity is AMIDE. When's the last time YOU even thought about AMIDE? Hand up for questioning ARTSALON.<br /><br />But despite these glitches and the Pope+RRN, this is good stuff. Mr. Walden did MAKEASALE here--the triumph factor alone is off the charts. There are some DOD candidates lurking about: Chaka Kahn, Talia Shire as "YO ADRIAN!" But I'll opt for half of an entry: MARIA from West Side Story, the way too soon late Natalie Wood. Eagle.spacecraftnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-50098103786022631082016-07-18T09:54:58.459-04:002016-07-18T09:54:58.459-04:00EEG Test sounded terrible to me as well. Sounds li...EEG Test sounded terrible to me as well. Sounds like you're testing the patient for EEG... redundant a little methinksAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-81287767056441255722016-07-17T19:13:08.969-04:002016-07-17T19:13:08.969-04:00Fully expected @Rex to hate it, and to focus his i...Fully expected @Rex to hate it, and to focus his ire very specifically on EEGTEST, which is terrible. No one calls it that, ever. It's like saying aspirin pill.<br /><br />Extremely challenging, but ultimately a win, and very enjoyable. What I like is when you can look at a clue - "Item that became trilingual..." and have NO CLUE what it could be. Then a half hour later, after a few crosses make their way in, you can get it. I had that experience a dozen times or more working on this. <br /><br />Got nothing going at all until I skipped to the bottom right (which I do when desperate), and AROD and MULE got me started. USPASSPORT wasn't last in but wasn't too far off. The FI_ERS/A_E cross was last.kitshefnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-16044070543035104412016-07-17T18:59:05.044-04:002016-07-17T18:59:05.044-04:00Jumping i here to suggest to last weeks commenters...Jumping i here to suggest to last weeks commenters who have loved Hiaasen's books that they try his young adult book "Hoot". It's just as funny, but much lighter than his adult books (that I've read). He did some more kids books with similar themes/plots, but they were Not as good as HOOT><br />SharonAKnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-30145934248478978172016-07-17T11:38:32.392-04:002016-07-17T11:38:32.392-04:00Thank you so much to @Z, @Carola, @No BS, @Teedmn,...Thank you so much to @Z, @Carola, @No BS, @Teedmn, @Joe Bleaux, @Nancy, and two Anonymous posters for your extremely generous and very helpful advice and encouragement. I read it all and saved it all.<br /><br />@Z, your last comment was funny.<br /><br />You all gave me many helpful tips, but the most important is to not get discouraged and give up too soon. I think that's why I haven't been improving. I get psyched out and intimidated, and don't stay with it. The puzzle looks so impossible that I give up immediately and look at the answers, but then the answers don't stick in my mind like they would if I'd struggled with the clues. My brain doesn't get trained. <br /><br />It's encouraging to me that many of you say you couldn't do Friday and Saturday puzzles at one point, and then over time you could. Somehow I imagined that you were all born being able to do them.<br /><br />Thanks again so much. What a wonderful community this is! <3<br /><br />I'm posting this on Sunday morning because I only check the blog once a day. I hope you all see my thanks - I'm so very grateful. I haven't finished the Sunday puzzle yet so I haven't commented there yet and don't want to look at the post.<br />Sherylhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03541441427243883835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-28666347774902274232016-07-17T01:21:39.769-04:002016-07-17T01:21:39.769-04:0033A "No ___!" Should be "¡No ___!&q...33A "No ___!" Should be "¡No ___!" Since it is in Spanish. Error in puzzle?Brianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06063334745698094480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-42101334773397851492016-07-16T23:31:20.736-04:002016-07-16T23:31:20.736-04:00This was a perfect Saturday for me. I sat down wi...This was a perfect Saturday for me. I sat down with it and saw almost nothing. Never watched Gilmore Girls, nor heard of Rufus Khan. I CAN sing Maria Elena though. I slowly broke through, though, and happily solved it, and felt I had accomplished something. Disappointed that Rex considered it Easy-Medium.<br />Enjoyed the amide, as I did yesterday's unionized. <br /><br />OISKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16808675378318214461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-36490675913976069812016-07-16T22:15:00.977-04:002016-07-16T22:15:00.977-04:00Count me in with the "This was great?" c...Count me in with the "This was great?" crowd. Not that it was't good . . . but any puzzle that has both NENE and clues a 1941 hit is hard for me to grade an A+.Robsohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18261624922232372391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-83625661016782971282016-07-16T20:17:49.198-04:002016-07-16T20:17:49.198-04:00@lg - I suggest you re-read yesterday's post a...@lg - I suggest you re-read yesterday's post and try to figure out why you think Rex "hated" it. "... cute little bit." "...it's fine." "And that is also fine." "This grid is fairly smooth...." "The SW corner is nice." Yep, a review just dripping with hate is not what we got yesterday. Now look at what Rex called out today and maybe you (and others) can start to see the difference between a competent puzzle that lacks ambition and a good puzzle that sparkles in cluing while not forcing the issue. At time it feels like people think there are only two reactions to a puzzle, Adoration or Hate, while most puzzles are somewhere in between. <br /><br /><i>Amazing!</i> Popped <b>EEG TEST</b> into a search engine and got pages of hits. <a href="http://consultantsinneurology.com/eeg_test_88.html" rel="nofollow">Here's a neurologist</a> with a page header of EEG TEST for example. If I were really pedantic I might argue that the EEG doesn't exist until after the EEG TEST occurs, but I'm not so I won't. <br /><br />@Wm. C. - I was on Twitter last night keeping caught up on Turkey and saw Rex's tweet about lovinng the puzzle. It's him unless it's announced that it is someone else. Also, no sou issue here, mostly because I had the F before I really thought about the clue.<br /><br />@Sheryl - And most importantly, when you get contradictory advice do both.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16181544219511150272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-62043090732661866082016-07-16T18:33:28.556-04:002016-07-16T18:33:28.556-04:00saturdays are not for newcomerssaturdays are not for newcomersAustinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00544909289143764466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-85865676789029329692016-07-16T18:29:43.709-04:002016-07-16T18:29:43.709-04:00Loved this puzzle and it cut 1/3 off my usual Satu...Loved this puzzle and it cut 1/3 off my usual Saturday time. Could this explain my devoted affection? Not entirely, but perhaps a smidge. There were just so many terrific surprises. USPASSPORT, PAROLEVIOLATION, BATHINGCAP were all so well clued. The answers were not at all obscure. except for MARIAELENA, but tickled me none the less. Thanks for a fun Saturday, Byron!Hartley70https://www.blogger.com/profile/00557118655188472450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-13711437439210922302016-07-16T17:07:15.219-04:002016-07-16T17:07:15.219-04:00Thought it much tougher than did OFL, but agree th...Thought it much tougher than did OFL, but agree that this was beautifully constructed.Stanley Hudsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-74903333914748365932016-07-16T15:51:54.050-04:002016-07-16T15:51:54.050-04:00Hi, @Sheryl (11:07 a.m.) -- What I've learned ...Hi, @Sheryl (11:07 a.m.) -- What I've learned from this blog is that there are as many ways to solve as there are solvers. There are the people who jump around, looking for the Things They Know -- often proper names. If memory serves, @Loren is one of them, and I know for a fact that @Hartley 70 is. Someone like me, on the other hand, starts at 1A and tries to do whatever I can in that section first. Only when I'm starting to tear my hair out do I move to another section -- preferably one that intertwines in some way with the NW that is torturing me. (Either method is perfectly fine.)<br /><br />The biggest piece of advice I can give you is that you'll never solve a Friday or Saturday if you give up at the first sign of resistance. You have to soldier on -- even when you think you can't possibly be successful. Many times, perhaps MOST times, you won't succeed. Until the wonderful and amazing time that you DO succeed. I came very, very close to giving up today. It was a real bear for me -- with just about nothing in my wheelhouse. But I stubbornly kept going. And (one small cheat notwithstanding, but let's not focus too much on that), I finished.<br /><br />The second biggest piece of advice I can give you. Unless you're 110% sure of an answer, DON'T write it in until you've checked at least one crossing letter. Just about any letter will give you confidence that you're right. An unusual letter is even better. Writing down an incorrect answer is much, much worse than writing down nothing at all. And the fiendish constructors who ply their trade at the end of the week often set traps of "obvious" answers that are wrong.<br /> <br />If you persevere, you're going to get better. Everyone of us on this blog are better today than we were when we started. Mostly a LOT better! Good luck, Sheryl.Nancyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16737377749030219974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-72417842792070751482016-07-16T15:30:22.759-04:002016-07-16T15:30:22.759-04:00Hi, Sheryl -- On the old 1 to 10 scale, most of th...Hi, Sheryl -- On the old 1 to 10 scale, most of the regular posters here are are 8's or higher compared to my 4, maybe a 6 on a good day. But as a solver who usually finishes on Fridays and Saturdays nonetheless, I recommend first scanning ALL the clues for gimmes (you can almost always find one or two), and filling them in for toe-holds, then branching out as best you can. Perhaps the best advice I could offer is that you CAREFULLY study the later-weekday clues. A clever and artful constructor such as Byron Walden will enable even solvers at my level to suss out answers if we have a couple of letters to work with. Consider, for example, 22A ("Pitch successfully" = MAKE A SALE, or 31A ("Leaves out in the open" = FOLIAGE). As you know, many words work as different parts of speech, and in multiple contexts. Read carefully, think hard, and, of course, practice. You'll get there!Joe Bleauxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13161776968606180476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-78408923599101116552016-07-16T15:27:08.869-04:002016-07-16T15:27:08.869-04:00@Larry Gilstrap, welcome to real time. You're ...@Larry Gilstrap, welcome to real time. You're getting that lovely 5 week double dose of NYTimes crosswords that I enjoyed nearly two years ago when I made the leap from Syndiland. But Syndiland has its own rewards (the commenters on this blog) and they tolerate me joining their exclusive group on occasion, so don't forget to go visit them!<br /><br />@Sheryl, my solving technique on a Saturday is to run through the clues and note things I think might work without entering anything unless it's a complete gimme (the only ones today were NAE and maybe ANY at 46A). My point of entry was in the SW. I thought CHASMS would fit in 38D. Looking at the acrosses, I saw 48A might start with STOP. If it was STOP, then 49D would start with P, hey PIE fits the clue for 49D... So I put in CHASMS, STOP and PIE and then MOP at 50D. This made MARIO CUOMO visible (sorry @Nancy :-) and I got everything below METEOR and MAS filled in. <br /><br />The top was harder. Totally stymied, I finally said OLATION out loud several times and PAROLE VIOLATION popped out. But if you read my earlier comment, I cheated finally to get AINT NOBODY (I'm quite sure I would have gotten that if I hadn't had AMInE, yeah, sure!)<br /><br />Teedmnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12832353448839187816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-5599872942101827442016-07-16T15:25:30.105-04:002016-07-16T15:25:30.105-04:00I agree with your feelings on this puzzle. It star...I agree with your feelings on this puzzle. It started well, the entire nw quadrant was fun, and then it turned into a slog. Sometimes (rarely) almost everyone is enthusiastic about the same puzzle, even Rex, and those seem to be cleverly clued, with a level of difficulty that makes you feel like you flexed your smarts, and no directions from one city to another, eyepits, adman, fro, pope,early first century year, obscure specialty jargon, popular songs from before the mid 20th century, rappers from the 90s, or cutesy clues for boring common words. Although if some did one with all of those it could be really fun. Theme: Bad Puzzle. JDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17281717752118151421noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-32325154188746440282016-07-16T15:10:15.581-04:002016-07-16T15:10:15.581-04:00Cheryl,
I'm what they call a patient slogger...Cheryl, <br /><br />I'm what they call a patient slogger. A puzzle like today's seems impossible for a few minutes, but, following Mohair Sam's approach, I can usually get them in an hour or two. I think for solvers like Rex, easy-medium for Sat. Is under 10 min. <br /><br />When I was starting out, say ten years ago, I would work til stuck, then Google the obscure pop stars, TV actors and such one at a time and rework based on what they revealed. (Today I would have started with the TV show about the Golds which I never heard of.) One thing is that very often the clues are a lot harder than the answers, like Aeschylus play vs. sea battle today, so that's how things reveal themselves from crosses. <br /><br />The other thing to rely on is your subconscious mind. It'll surprise you with suggestions based on little or nothing. Today I saw Mario Cuomo out of io and uo. And the word passport came into my mind long before I had any way to recognize it (with several wrong downs in place). Many have commented that if you come back to an impossible puzzle after a few hours you will have several answers in mind as if by magic.<br /><br />Don't worry about the speed solvers, many of them do several puzzles every day and go to tournaments, and many are crossword writers as well as solvers.<br /><br />To me that's all part of the fun. <br /><br />Hope this helps.<br /><br />This was one of the best puzzles of the year so far, IMHO.No BShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05729670790149748115noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-6911455661777574212016-07-16T15:09:10.664-04:002016-07-16T15:09:10.664-04:00I say it's broccoli and I say to Hell with it....I say it's broccoli and I say to Hell with it.Chuck Chagrinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14210004990919515924noreply@blogger.com