Fatty tuna part at sushi restaurant / THU 9-1-16 / Tuscan city famous for horse races / Old channel with country music videos / Having variable identity as suggested by four squares in this puzzle

Constructor: Ben Tausig

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: GENDER-FLUID (37A: Having a variable identity, as suggested by four squares in this puzzle) — four squares can be either an "F" or an "M"

Theme answers:

• ROOM / MAKE — ROOF / FAKE (1A: Part of a house / 4D: Fabricate)
• MUSTY / MESS UP — FUSTY / FESS UP (5A: Old-seeming / 5D: Reveal a secret, maybe)
• MATE / PREMIX — FATE / PREFIX (61A: Topic to ask a fortuneteller about / 45D: It's combined at the beginning)
• MIRE / SAME — FIRE / SAFE (67A: Tough stuff to walk through / 60D: Word that can precede sex) 

Word of the Day: Willie SUTTON (47D: Bank robber Willie who co-wrote "Where the Money Was") —

William Francis "Willie" Sutton, Jr. (June 30, 1901 – November 2, 1980) was an American bank robber. During his forty-year criminal career he stole an estimated $2 million, and he eventually spent more than half of his adult life in prison and escaped three times. For his talent at executing robberies in disguises, he gained two nicknames, "Willie the Actor" and "Slick Willie". Sutton is also known as the namesake of Sutton's law, although he denied originating it. (wikipedia)

• • •

In ascending square number order, I had MFFF. I wonder what others had. The question is probably at least partially tainted for many people, who will have realized before finishing what the gimmick was. Still, I'm curious what people's, uh, tendencies were. This puzzle got a *lot* of hype. The house blog tweeted:

And I got interviewed by Slate about it (article here). I don't understand the hype, and I think the fact that there *is* hype shows you how behind-the-times and stale the NYT has been of late. This is a "Schrödinger"-type puzzle (where two different letters work for the same square—the 1996 election-day CLINTON / BOBDOLE crossword is probably the most famous iteration of this theme)—this is cool but not new. It's really only the revealer, the central answer, that makes the puzzle particularly contemporary and noteworthy. There's the added bonus of having QUEER be clued in reference to sexuality (as opposed to "oddness") (55D: Part of L.G.B.T.Q.), but none of this feels terribly boundary-pushing. Don't get me wrong, I really like the concept, but it plays like an easy themeless with good, not great, fill. I solved the puzzle early, with Ben's original (i.e. the pre-edited) clues, and I liked those better than the NYT's version, but that's hardly surprising, since I like the puzzle Ben edits (American Values Club Crossword) much better than the NYT, on average.


If this is true:

... it's astonishing. How is that even possible? What year is it? Again, the puzzle is clever, but the NYT doesn't get points for coming around to the acknowledgment of queerness / gender fluidity so belatedly. Indie puzzles have acknowledged and played around with and built entire puzzles around LGBTQ topics for years. I'm glad the NYT is warming up to the concept of inclusivity, but tick tock. Further, to get technical for a sec, having squares that toggle to one of two options (i.e. between binary elements) is not very "fluid." Also, that damned "F" in the revealer is bugging the hell out of me. Why won't it toggle!? C'mon, SURF. Change! Make SURM Great Again (for the first time)! GENDER-MLUID people, unite!


The only trouble I had with this puzzle was SUTTON (both Ben's and the NYT's clues referred to people I'd never heard of) (47D: Bank robber Willie who co-wrote "Where the Money Was") (Ben had [Percy of civil rights activism]). And then the clue on TORO was baffling to me (16A: Fatty tuna part, at a sushi restaurant), and LOW ART was slow to come (11D: Kitsch, e.g.) (in Ben's version, the clue referred to porn). This was a clever, enjoyable puzzle, but not as controversial as some seem to think it is, and certainly not worthy of any aren't-we-progressive self-congratulation on the Times' part.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. apparently the gimmick eluded many people, with some expecting the "X" squares to ... do something.

P.P.S. in an awesomely unintentionally sexist turn of events, AcrossLite (my solving software) only recognized the grid as "correct" if you filled in an "M" (or an "MF").

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Read more...

Spider-Man's surrogate father / THU 12-31-15 / Onetime gig for Wiig / Sickly looking overlord / Terminus of Qingzang railway / Modern civil rights initialism / 1971 documentary about Ravi Shankar

Constructor: Ben Tausig

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: MONOPOLY (65A: Game patented December 31, 1935) — answers that require you to PASS GO (i.e. skip over the letter string "GO") when you read them, if you want the wacky clues to make sense (62A: Round a corner in MONOPOLY ... or what you must do to answer the clues for 20-, 34-, 43- and 56-Across) . With "GO," the phrases are simply common words / things; without "GO," they are wacky answers to wacky "?" clues:

Theme answers:

• GOOGLE DOCS (20A: Enjoy the swimsuit edition of The New England Journal of Medicine?)
• CARGO SHORTS (34A: Brief entries in an auto film festival?)
• WAGON MASTER (43A: Sickly-looking overlord?)
• EGOMANIACS (56A: People obsessed with being online?)

Word of the Day: SNIP (50D: Insignificant person) —

(google)

• • •

If you think this is weird ... it gets weirder. Let's start with what we have before us: a pretty good, very current / contemporary MONOPOLY-related puzzle with a play-on-words theme (involving the phrase PASS GO). The fact of the game's being patented on December 31, 1935 is the presumptive reason for running this puzzle today. God I love that the actual New Year's Eve-themed puzzle got bumped to non-New Year's Eve for *this*, which is about as obliquely, tenuously, flimsily related to New Year's Eve as a theme can be. You want generic end-of-year holiday crap, go back in time, man. Tonight, we MONOPOLY.


I think the theme holds up pretty well as a tricky Thursday. I don't really know what a WAGON MASTER is, but I assume he masters wagons, or at least drives them. It's strange: when I got GOOGLE DOCS, I just assumed GOOGLE was another word for "stare at" (like OGLE ... or maybe GOGGLE), and so I thought the answer was funny but had no idea the "GO" needed to be passed. So when I got to WAGON MASTER, I was baffled. "How are wagons ... sickly-looking?" Only after the revealer did it become clear (which, I guess, is where "revealer" gets its name—its role in "revealing" or "making clear" the tbeme). I loved all the current references—including the clues on GRETA (27A: Actress Gerwig of "Mistress America"), IFC (71A: Cable channel that airs "Portlandia"), PEELE (12D: Key's longtime partner in sketch comedy), and STEVEN (66A: Psychologist Pinker who wrote "How the Mind Works"). Lots and lots of "?" clues made this one playful and toughish. I did not know SNIP and really doubted it. But there it is, in the dictionary. I will never like RPS (... per second?) or USH, dictionaries be damned. My favorite clues were [Spanish nuts] for LOCO and [Swiftly built home?] for NEST. I also like that Ben got both his own name (UNCLE BEN) and (aurally) the editor's (CARGO SHORTS) into the grid. I am also in the grid, as I had a MIXED DRINK earlier in the evening (Manhattan w/ Knob Creek rye) and I'm currently wearing EYEGLASSES. So there.


So I started this write-up by saying "it gets weirder." To see just how weird, you're going to have to do three more puzzles today: Buzzfeed, American Values Crossword Club, and Brendan Emmett Quigley (AVXC is normally subscription, but *today's* puzzle is FREE). I am telling you this as if *I* know exactly what's going to happen, and I don't. I just know that the four puzzles are all ... related. In a certain way. For certain reasons. Each puzzle stands completely on its own merits, so there's no need to do the other puzzles. In fact, I'm pretty sure the NYT didn't even know it was going to be just one part of a linked set of puzzles that all come out today. That little bit of information—the whole guerrilla crosswording angle—makes me infinitely happy. Anyway ... yeah. Something to look forward to. Happy New Year's Eve, for real.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Read more...

Big maker of smoothies energy bars / SUN 5-13-12 / Forerunner of euchre / Where to conform per expression / Dead Sea Scrolls writer / Grammy-winning Radiohead album of 2000 / Dallas pro baller / World leader beginning December 2011

Constructor: Ben Tausig

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: "Indies" — add "D" sound for wackiness!

Word of the Day: ODWALLA (90D: Big maker of smoothies and energy bars) —

Odwalla Inc. ( /oʊˈdwɔːlə/) is an American food product company that sells fruit juice, smoothiesand food bars. It was founded in Santa Cruz, California in 1980 and is headquartered in Half Moon Bay, California.

The company experienced strong growth after its incorporation in 1985, expanding its distribution network from California to most of North America, and went public in 1993. A period of decline occurred as a result of a fatal outbreak of H7 in 1996 that was caused by using bruised fruit that had been contaminated. Odwalla originally sold unpasteurized juices, claiming that the process of pasteurization altered the flavor of the juice. Following the E. coli outbreak, Odwalla adopted flash pasteurization and other sanitization procedures. Odwalla recalled its juices and experienced a ninety-percent reduction in sales following the event. The company gradually recovered, and, after a few years, was making a profit again. (wikipedia)

• • •

See, a little sound-change puzzle can be kind of fun. Always nice to lead with one of your stronger entries, and WEED SHALL OVERCOME certainly qualifies. Also always good to close with one of your stronger entries, and WHOLE NUDE BALLGAME definitely qualifies. Ben edits the Onion A/V crossword and has his own weekly syndicated crossword as well—I have the latest book collection of these puzzles, "Crosswords from the Underground," and the puzzles are uniformly entertaining, moderately challenging, and very, very current. Plus he has a great puzzle book for kids called "Mad Tausig vs. the Interplanetary Puzzling Peace Patrol." Which is all to say he's an old pro who knows his stuff. Younger than me, but still an old pro.

Theme answers:

• 23A: Slogan for medical marijuana activists? (WEED SHALL OVERCOME)
• 36A: Persians who protect their feet? (THE SHOD OF IRAN)
• 50A: Entitlement to cross the stream first? (RIGHT OF WADE) — my least favorite
• 69A: "If you can't behave on this tour, I swear you'll be sorry!"? ("NO MORE MISTER NICE GUIDE!")
• 88A: Big part of the dairy business? (CHEESE TRADE)
• 104A: Lost subject of a hit Beatles song? (WANDERING JUDE)
• 115A: Clothing-free version of the national pastime? (WHOLE NUDE BALLGAME)

I had two significant hang-ups today. The first was that I couldn't remember KIM JONG-UN's name (31D: World leader beginning December 2011). I had KIM IL-SUNG and KIM JONG-IL in my head, and I knew the new guy ended with an "UN(G)" sound, but I forgot that the JONG remains the same (come on ... come on ... nothing? ... OK, moving on). This North Korean dictator spelling problem was compounded by my not having *any* idea what the clue 49A: Big twit? meant. I had -EER and still couldn't do anything with it. If you "twit" someone, do you JEER them? Maybe? That's how I'm explaining it to myself, anyway. Thank god I knew Bruce Springsteen's "NEBRaska" (78A: State for which a Springsteen album is named: Abbr.). That tiny abbrev. helped me settle both KIM JONG-UN and REDBUD, which had previously been RED OAK (which is the name of a local diner and, I assume, also the name of a tree) (61D: Oklahoma state tree). So, first hang-up, Korean dictator. Second hang-up, the DRAM IN ROME. Mixologists really measure things in DRAMs (63A: Mixologist's measure)? I've read a lot of drink recipes and have Not seen that measurement. Not saying it's not real, just saying DROP or DASH seemed more likely. And IN ROME, yikes (51D: Where to conform, per an expression). Very apt clue, very hard to get (for me). I'm just grateful I've heard of OMBRE (75A: Forerunner of euchre)—otherwise I'd've been like "EMBRE ... I guess so ... must be something I've never heard of." RADNOR (50D: Josh of "How I Met Your Mother") I got but misspelled. The way to remember how to spell him—just remember: he's funny, but he's no Gilda RADNER. (I kid: he's a handsome, talented guy, and Will was on his show once; show creator Carter Bays is a big crossword fan)






[I used to think Kurt was singing "Kim Il-Sung, Kim Il-SUNG ... Mary! ... Mary!"]

I think I know C.W. POST as a cereal magnate, not as a school name (82A: Largest campus of Long Island Univ.). I had JARGON at first instead of PIDGIN (125A: Simplified language form). Not much else in the way of problems for me. Oh, except, -EUSE, which I am ready to declare the single worst piece of crossword fill I've ever seen anywhere ever (123A: Feminine suffix). Ever. Please recall my earlier declaration about [Feminine suffix] clues and how I hate them because a. they're suffixes, so already not great, and b. they can be ENNE *or* ETTE. Or, now, apparently, -EUSE. EUSE! It's as lovely as it sounds.

Bullets:

• 1A: One waiting in France (GARÇON) — I've really got to get a better print-out system on Sundays. This clue *still* looks like [One wailing in France] to me.
• 28A: More than a quarter of academic circles? (CEES) — not great fill, but fantastic cluing.
• 90A: Like much of Pindar's work (ODIC) — I know I'm not supposed to like this word, but somehow I can't bring myself to hate it. It's like ODIN and ODIE had a baby and someone wrote  a poem about it.
• 10D: Dallas pro baller (MAV) — wow, NYT is working "Baller" hard this week. Almost as hard as ELWES (105D: Cary of "Robin Hood: Men in Tights").

• 41D: Obama's birthplace (HAWAII) — Me: "KENYA!" D'oh! That's his dad. Stupid brain.
• 52D: Jason who's a five-time baseball All-Star (GIAMBI) — non-baseball-fans might have trouble here, esp. as this crosses OMBRE. I assume most people still remember Paul REISER (79A: Hunt's co-star on "Mad About You")
• 100D: Grammy-winning Radiohead album of 2000 (KID A) — I think Ben's studying ethnomusicology at NYU. His puzzles tend to be music-heavy, which I enjoy. 
• 103D: Dead Sea Scrolls writer (ESSENE) — One Of Those Words. All common letters. Useful to know. You'll see it again (and again).

Since I plugged Ben's books earlier in the write-up, I feel compelled to plug the newest Winston Breen novel from crossword constructor Eric Berlin, called "The Puzzler's Mansion" (just came out May 10). This is the third book in his puzzle-based novel series—it's "juvenile" fiction (I think that's what they call it)—for ages 8 and up. The books are big hits with kids (esp. kids of inveterate crossword solvers—I know my kid and fellow blogger Amy Reynaldo's kid are both fans).

I should probably also mention that I was on national television last night—CBS Evening News finally ran the segment on me that they interviewed me for back in February. All the wintery parts are edited out and there are blog visuals from just yesterday. Contains very rare footage of me in the wild (i.e. teaching). I don't know if I can embed the video, but I can certainly link to it. You can also watch it at my Facebook page.

[PuzzleGirl sent me this photo of her TV screen, somewhere in sunny Southern California (where she was participating in the Crossword LA tournament). Made me laugh.]

Enjoy!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Read more...

SUNDAY, October 28, 2007 - Ben Tausig

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: "Talking Heads" - theme answers are puns on the names of radio/tv talk show hosts (DONAHUE does radio now, right?)

[updated 1:00pm]

I can't write this up now - got a non-virtual life to lead this a.m. (friends, pancakes, children). So I'll get back to this around, oh, noon maybe.

I will say that I liked this puzzle. Mostly liked it. And I generally dislike puns, so that's saying something. Good to see a Tausig byline in the Times. It's been a while. Ben edits The Onion's puzzle, which you should definitely be doing if you're not already - you can get to it from "Puzzle Pointers" (see sidebar).

off to eat -- and now I'm back

Theme answers:

• 25A: Al's impressions? (Franken sense)
• 27A: "What did Bill do to earn this check, anyway?"? ("Why pay Maher?")
• 48A: Bill's biography? ("Life of O'Reilly")
• 64A: "And tonight's guest is ... Ann!"? ("You're getting Coulter!") - the best answer in the bunch. Glad it's sitting center stage. I imagine someone's saying this to an audience that has misbehaved in some way and is being punished.
• 77A: Dance like Rush? (do the Limbaugh) - gross
• 104A: Phoning Phil and hanging up immediately? (Donahue dare) - "Don't you dare!!"? This is bad, in that DONAHUE does not really sound like "Don't you," and in every other theme answer the pun is on the most interesting / colorful word in the original phrase, and here ... it's not.
• 106A: Don's parting words (Imus be off now) - this phrase sounds off to me. I wanted "I MUST BE GOING" (perhaps because of the Phil Collins' album "Hello, I Must Be Going"), which, by the way, gets 18 times the hits, as a phrase, that [I must be off now] gets. I'm just sayin'. If you can handle the disturbing racial / imperial imagery of the opening part, this Groucho Marx clip is mildly entertaining]
• 84D: What the puzzlemaker did to the name in each of this puzzle's theme answers (punned it) - this may be my favorite puzzle pun of all time. It must have been the inspiration for the entire puzzle. Brilliant.

Had two significant problems in the puzzle. The first occurred near the upper midwest, where several interlocking answers were unknown or hazy. 33D: Triple-header (razor) was mystifying me for a very long time (I love the answer, by the way), and that "Z" was the final letter in METZ (43A: Capital of Lorraine) - which I had to run through the entire alphabet to get (a long way from A . . .). Further, the last "R" in RAZOR was the first letter in RAGAS (55A: Carnatic pieces) - not knowing what "carnatic" meant, I wrote in SAGAS for a while. Yikes. I couldn't stop thinking of Carnac. And then, THEN, off that first "A" in RAGAS comes the very difficult FASCES (49D: Roman symbol of power). I've studied Rome a bit and if I've seen this word, it's been a while. Tough rough tough. Lastly, the second "S" in FASCES was an uncomfortable fit for me, as ITS seemed a supremely lame answer for 75A: "_____ time." But there it is. I liked the PETE Rose clue (32D: Red Rose) - please check out yesterday's blog, specifically, the link to the 1970s-era Aqua Velva commercial, for more entertaining PETE.

Took me an embarrassingly long time to piece together OBAMA (8A: Presidential candidate born in Hawaii), who is slowly challenging Eric BANA for the role of the 21st century's Crossword "It Boy." And I totally tanked the nearby crossing of FUJIS (21A: Japanese apples named for a mountain) and BURR (9D: Power-driven shop tool) by mysteriously writing in FIJIS / BIRR. Otherwise, mistakes and real challenges were few, which was a great relief after a couple of brutal puzzles on Friday / Saturday.

Question marks / mistakes:

• 108D: PBS supporter (NEA) - had CPB at first (Corporation for Public Broadcasting)
• 13D: High _____ (jinks) - why did I think this was one word?
• 45D: Ex-Yankee Hideki (Irabu) - OK, I knew this, but omigosh this has gotta be rough for people who don't follow baseball closely. Check out his career MLB stats. Not exactly ... memorable. (I stole this from Wiki)

Hideki Irabu
Starting Pitcher
Born: May 15, 1969 (1969-05-15) (age 38)
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
July 10, 1997 for the New York Yankees
Final game
July 12, 2002 for the Texas Rangers
Career statistics
Win-Loss	34-35
Strikeouts	405
ERA	5.15
Teams
New York Yankees (1997-1999) Montreal Expos (2000-2001) Texas Rangers (2002)
Career highlights and awards
None

That's right, NONE. I guess his Yankee-ness makes him fair game for a NY puzzle.

• 47D: "The Galloping Gourmet" host Graham (Kerr) - no idea. Did he ever cook with ...
• 59D: Mushroom with an umbrella cap (agaric) ? - this fungus is new to me.
• 90D: With 89-Down, historic part of NW Europe (Norman / Empire) - this is not a phrase I've seen used. I teach about the Norman Invasion a lot (important moment in history of the English language), but not about the NORMAN EMPIRE. Was it really an EMPIRE?
• 92D: Rabbi's instrument (shofar) - don't get rabbinical with me. You know how ignorant I am. Ugh.
• 57D: Pedicab alternative (cyclo) - eeks! ygrek! zed! WTF!?
  

Good stuff:

• 68A: Old English bard (scop) - grad school comes in handy, for once!
• 93A: Hawaiian staple vegetables (taros) - This word looks weird pluralized. Why? I miss Hawaii.
• 6D: Clooney or Rooney (film star) - I shouldn't like this. Why do I like this?
• 60D: Wrestler Flair famous for the figure four leglock (Ric) - I love this clue so much for not stopping at "Flair."
• 82D: Arizona state flowers (saguaros) - such a great coincidence - Sahra is learning about deserts in school and is way enthralled by the saguaro, which can "grow up to fifty feet high!" I think she's exaggerating a bit, but not by much:

• 87D: Position in a rhythm band (maracas) - got this with remarkably little help. Seemed far-fetched when I wrote it in, but it was right. Always love taking a risk and having it pay off.
• 91D: Some seal hunters (Aleuts) - as with MARACAS, I just wrote it in instinctively, and it ended up being right. Could have been INUITS, I suppose.
• 107D: Black pride cut, informally ('fro) - love it.
• 103D: Set before V (RSTU) - so bad it's good.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Read more...