a fine translucent cotton or silk fabric that is usually stiffened and used for women's clothing.
Origin
early 19th century: from French organdi, of unknown origin. (google)
• • •
These are just president names. So apparently we're just giving up on having actual themes now? I can't think of a lazier Presidents Day-themed puzzle than this one. "Oooh, symmetrical presidents!" Is that the reaction you're supposed to have? Or is it just "Oh, what a curious bit of trivia!" I don't understand the kind of person who is delighted by learning some meaningless and forgettable "Only president to scale the Matterhorn"-type fact. Or, rather, I can see finding that sort of trivia delightful, but I can't see anyone's thinking "oh my, yes, this is a totally sufficient basis for a crossword puzzle." The puzzle is in a really terrible rut of mediocrity right now. They've been dull or ripped-off or just bad for days and days now. I feel like I'm just sitting here waiting for another Patrick Berry or Lynn Lempel or other competent loyalist to show up in the byline; everything else, I'm mostly just enduring.
Obviously the fill here is subpar. When you end on the sterling combo of LTD and LLCS (....?) in the Downs and ADDN (...) SMEW (!) in the Acrosses, well, you know things are dire. Only trouble today involved more fabric nonsense and some casino owner. I wrote in (Eugene?) ORMANDY at one point for the fabric, before Catherine of ARAMON showed up and I was like "Uh, I don't know you." As for [Vegas casino developer Steve] WYNN, well, I wouldn't know he existed if it weren't for crosswords (I didn't remember him today, but I think I've probably seen his name a handful of times over the years). Other than those two answers, only a brief ERRORS-for-ERRATA error slowed me down at all. Oh, and some minor hesitation over TRALEE (a very crosswordesey 6-letter answer). I can't believe JUNO is in this puzzle and AENEID is in this puzzle and there's no cross-reference. She's the primary antagonist! Gonna go have some whiskey and try to forget this puzzle happened.
Weak theme, weak fill, no fun. Always hate junk like LEMAT (36A: Actor Paul of "American Graffiti") and really resent it when it runs into more obscure junk like T TEST (33D: Statistics method for checking means). And ARBOL as your 1-Down!? (1D: Chile de ___ (hot pepper)) Is there really no way you couldn't have drastically cleaned up that entire NW?? It's very rare that I see a grid with Nothing that I like, but this has Nothing that I like. I might like EARTH SHOES (39D: Faddish 1970s footwear) if I knew what they were. At least they're interesting-sounding, unlike the rest of the olden dreck in this grid.
Theme answers:
23A: Diet? (BATTLE THE BULGE)
31A: Be very successful at fishing? (LAND PLENTY)
37A: Do a clerk's work at a morgue? (BOOK THE DEAD) — I'd've gone with something like [Arrange for Jerry's band to play at your party?] or the like.
50A: Throw large bank notes around? (CAST THOUSANDS)
67A: Take advantage of Good Samaritans? (MILK HUMAN KINDNESS)
86A: Forge some personal notes? (DOCTOR LETTERS) — ugh, lame base phrase
94A: Outdo one's buddies? (BEST FRIENDS) — UGH, THIS IS A NORMAL PHRASE!!! "Battle the bulge" might, conceivably, make someone, somewhere, laugh, or at least smile; BEST FRIENDS, on the other hand, will not.
103A: Be a sadistic masseuse? (POUND FLESH)
118A: Send for a special bridal accessory? (ORDER THE GARTER)
Some of these theme answers were mildly tough to get (BOOK THE DEAD), others I filled in without even looking at the clue (ORDER THE GARTER). There's really not much to say here. I was annoyed at ESKIMO DOGS ("They're called SLED DOGS," I thought) until I realized that an Eskimo dog is a *breed* of dog—a breed sometimes used as sled dogs, I guess (44D: They're mushed). Well, the Canadian Eskimo dog (or "Qimmiq"!!!) is. American Eskimo dog looks far more ... domestic.
Bullets:
64D: Adams with the 1991 hit "Get Here" (OLETA) — if there weren't so many ughy names, I wouldn't bother with her; but throw in PEREC (103D: Georges who wrote "Life: A User's Manual") and DAN'L (71D: Frontiersman Boone, informally) and LEMAT and come on.
22A: Wife of Alexander the Great (ROXANA) — with one N? Sure, if you say so. Why not? She's fame...ish.
82D: Veg-O-Matic maker (RONCO) — kind of odd / cool how this intersects BRONC (81A: It may be broken on a ranch). If you put them together, you have an actual word (and car model, and professional football player).
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. It's possible that I'll be on the CBS News tonight during 6pm broadcast, UNLESS golf goes long, in which case, who knows? [UPDATE: just got official word—the piece is, in fact, airing tonight] [UPDATE: just got MORE official word that it is not, in fact, airing tonight][I give up—just know that some Sunday in the near or distant future, CBS News will air a story about crosswords, featuring me. Maybe by Christmas?]Read more...
THEME: Crossing Twins* — words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently intersect at five different points in the grid*
*unless I'm wrong, pronunciation is not at issue, and they're really just words that are spelled the same but mean different things — central crossing is the big question mark
*now I'm told it's just noun/verb pairs, with pronunciation being a non-issue. That seems correct. Not exciting, or interesting, but correct.
Word of the Day: VIGGO Mortensen (51D: "The Road" star Mortensen) —
I am simply assuming that the golf meaning of ADDRESS is pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable. I don't play, and can't imagine someone's saying the word. [first reply from a friend re: the two ADDRESSes: "No, they're pronounced the same. Addressing the ball is like addressing the audience. Stress on the second syllable." I hope s/he is wrong, because if this is so, the theme is *&^ed] The other crosses all feature different pronunciations, so I assume that central one does too. Can't say I cared for this one much. Like it more once I caught on to the different pronunciation angle, but still — once you get the gimmick (right away, likely), that's a lot of real estate you can fill in with very little effort. The easiness was offset for me today by a couple of missteps — DROPS for DRAMS (40D: Small amounts) and VEEGO for VIGGO (51D: "The Road" star Mortensen). But still, the only interest here is the theme — the rest is dull to dreadful. Look at the north. I have never seen so many abbrev. crammed in such a tiny section. ESTH., PFCS, TLC, and HOSP. That's a train wreck. The rest of the grid—except NCAAS (48A: Big tournaments for university teams, informally), yuck—is OK, if loaded with a lot of short and overly familiar fill. Hard to generate much sizzle when your longest entry is seven letters (and five of your answers are simply duplicated).
Theme answers:
EXPLOIT (20A: Bit of derring-do + 4D: Take advantage of)
ADDRESS (25D: Prepare to drive, as a golf ball + 39A: Lincoln's famous one was just 272 words)
PRESENT (10D: Show, in a show-and-tell + 22A: Here and now)
INCENSE (56A: Aromatic sticks + 44D: Make boiling mad)
CONSOLE (47D: Say "There, there" to, say + 58A: Home entertainment centerpiece)
Write-ups might get a little shorter, especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as school starts up for me again this week. Luckily, I don't have much else to say today, except that ODETTE (26A: "Swan Lake" swan) seems an oddly esoteric word for a Tuesday—but I've seen it in puzzles enough that it didn't present a problem at all.
THEME: Hidden crosswordese entries – four entries with old standby fill entries in the middle of other entries: (EDS, ADO, RYA and ZEAL).
Word of the day: ARIL – n. an exterior covering or appendage of some seeds (as of the yew) that develops after fertilization as an outgrowth from the ovule stalk
[probably from New Latin arillus]
I blew through this one fast, but once again, I did it on paper and forgot to time myself. If it wasn't for the fact I was also helping my wife out do some preliminary work on her W-2 while I was solving this, I probably would have broke the 4:30 mark. Seemed especially easy considering that many of the clues were older-than-dirt riddles that I've heard time and time again. 47A: From what animals do we get catgut? is a perfect example. Everybody and their brother knows the answer is SHEEP, duh. I mean, are they trying to be cute here? Probably a few too many of those types of clues in this puzzle, now that I'm thinking about it. Nice to see The "L.A. Crossword Confidential" uber-blogger Amy Reynaldo, a.k.a. ORANGE (3D: What color is the black box in a commercial jet?) make a cameo. And Lord knows anybody who's seen my March Madness brackets knows I know enough NCAA trivia to tell you that there's ELEVEN (49D: How many colleges are in the Big Ten?) Big Ten teams. I suspect Ed, Paula and Will were trying out some new kind of cluing, but the jury's still out on this, um, “innovation.”
Theme answers:
18A: Where was the Battle of Bunker Hill fought? (breEDShill) – I have a “I fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill and all I got was this lousy t-shirt” t-shirt
37A: In what country are Panama hats made? (ecuADOr) – Never been
41A: What is George Eliot's given name? (maRYAnn) – who?
59A: From what country do Chinese gooseberries come? (newZEALand) – never been there either, but speaking of China, check out this outrageous Chinese dating game show.
Broke in immediately with ALL SIZES (40D: Nobody too big or too small, on a sign). As they say, there's a fat kid in every group and if you don't know who he is, it's because it's you. Seeing as I was the fat kid, this one was a gimme. I worked my way over to the SE corner saying hi to old friends Ogden NASH (57D: He wrote “If called by a panther, / don't anther”) and EMILIO (46D: Actor Estevez). I would have preferred it to be former to be former two-time NBA MVP Steve NASH, maybe had the Suns won a title things would be different. Had SIDE B for a while instead of SIDE A (65A: Deejay's interest, typically). Most of my DJ friends wouldn't touch the A-side and would definitely prefer the eski/grime/dubstep/what-you-call-it remix that would be on the flip side. Typical to what? Wedding receptions? So that slowed me down a bit. I even did talk myself into RDBS for a while instead of RDAS (58D: Nutritional amounts). Recommended Daily Breads? Butters? Burritos?
But one section that didn't slow me down at all was the SE. Aside from the aforementioned ELEVEN, TILDE (55A: Part of Sao Paulo) offered little resistance, as I'm sure most solvers will put down the old standby TIETE river. I also didn't fall for the HIDEHI (48D: Cab Calloway phrase) trap versus the more common entry HIDEHO, but I was having a Vulcan mind meld with Ed, Paula and Will on this one. Nothing was going to stop me.
Almost everything at the top seemed pretty-much by the numbers. I AM NOT (2D: “You are so!” preceder), CHEAPO (8D: For next to nothing, in slang), and MAHOGANY (10D: Reddish brown) were all gimmes, and when you're writing down all those letters in the long entries, the rest fell quick. Even Hieronymous BOSCH (5A: “Ship of Fools” painter) didn't pose much of a challenge. Then again, I did take a Renaissance Painters art appreciation class, but I got docked a couple of grades for pronouncing Titian with the second T hard. Titty-an. Oh man. What a class. Anyway, here's World Party singing “Ship of Fools":
Bullets:
12A: Slate, e.g (emag) Great timely entry. I can't wait till I stop calling this a blog and start calling it an e-mag. Can I tweet that? Have you followed me on Twitter yet?
43A: Queens's ___ Stadium (ashe) Is this where the Mets are moving to?
6D: Bruins' retired 4 (orr) I really wanted Joe CRONIN. I had the right retired number and the right city, but mixed my Boston sports teams up.
9D: Brick carriers (hods) We just bought an 18” hod at Home Depot. It'll be great for when we're building the outdoors kiln this summer.
11D: Clay, today (ali) This one still makes me laugh, even after the millionth time of running that clue. You see, his name was Cassius Clay. Get it? I think L. L. Cool J even referenced that in “Mama Said Knock You Out.” Brilliant.
19D: ___ Na Na (sha) that SHA WASHO crossing was a bit on the brutal side (22A: California Indian tribe: Var.).
26D: “M*A*S*H” star (alda) Never heard of him or the show. Apparently his first name is Allen.
41D: Fraction of a tick: Abbr. (msec) Had PSEC for an m-sec (hah) then I realized my mistake. Course the "psec" is short for psectarilaneriam, which we all know is the dorsal part of the bloodsucking insect. Which is why this is a great clue. I was thinking entomology, but instead, it's about time. Anybody know what the “M” in m-sec stands for anyway?
36D: 1974 Mecedades hit (eres tu) There's this cool software that allows you to change MP3s into ringtones so whenever I get around to figuring that one out, this is going to be my first ringtone.
P.S. Festive LA Times puzzle today - Rex's write-up here. PPS NYT puzzle featured on "Jeopardy" tonight. Do not watch unless you want your Thursday puzzle spoiled. Maybe you can TiVo / TiFaux / DVR it
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This puzzle-solving experience was HORRIBLE (for me). I mean, the puzzle was great at its core - loved the theme - but I spent about EIGHT MINUTES of my solving time staring at a mostly blank NW corner (which I'll call "Seattle"). Turns out I am not familiar with FOUR of the terms, which is quite humiliating in a Tuesday puzzle. "Seattle" was not Tuesday material, I contend. I ended up filling in jibberish and then looking up the answers. Failure. Abject failure. O well. Let's look at the problem:
1A: Blast maker, informally (H-bomb)
Fitting opening, as it became a metaphor for my puzzle-solving experience. The clue is fair enough, though solving it took me too long because the clue sounded too informal to be a nuclear bomb reference. "Maker" somehow had this ring of do-it-yourself, like a blast I might make. So I'm thinking TNT (my personal "blast maker" of choice) or ammo or some kind of gun or something. Wrong. 14A: Interstate interchange establishment (motel)
Well, this is obvious when you see it, but I could not for the life of me imagine what this was for a good long while. I was thinking of answers in the commerce field, for some reason. Interstate banking, the word "change" ... it all made me think finance. Once I just settled into a literal reading, I got it, eventually. My struggle is especially odd as I love all things motel, and have a mini collection of postcards and ashtrays from motels (only the ones with the old-timey phone numbers, e.g. KL5-0296).
17A: Former Portuguese territory in China (Macau)
OK, here is where the wheels come off - both my misfilled squares occurred in this one word. First, I did not know that that is how you spell "Portuguese" (2 u's?)!!! Then, I had no idea the Iberians had any real history in Asia. Macau turns out to be the oldest European colony in Asia, dating back to the 16th century. Ignorance, thy name is Rex Parker! I know what a "macaw" is ... but "Macau" is just a name I've heard before, somewhere in the back of my head, with no particular meaning. Also, I just learned, "Macau" and "Macao" are different spellings of the same place, and that place looks like this (see picture of Seattle, above): 3D: Like some stocks, briefly (OTC)
I know about OPP and ODB, but OTC is new to me. Means "over-the-counter," which you likely know if you have any financial savvy.
Portmanteau words tend to be ugly (26A: Bad economic situation (stagflation) and 48A: Seat-of-the-pants figure (guesstimate), for instance, are both answers that make my skin crawl), but the theme itself (portmanteau word), at 38A, runs coast-to-coast across the dead center of the puzzle - and I like that. I like theme puzzles to have structural elegance, symmetry ... some significance in the physical placement of the words.
66A: Big, tough cat (liger)
Really? I thought a "liger" was a nearly mythical animal, almost imaginary, and I had no idea that the liger had a reputation for toughness. For the record: male lion + female tiger = Liger.Female lion + male tiger = Tigon (which sounds like a laundry detergent, poor kitty). Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
PS this has nothing to do with the puzzle at all, but it needs to be seen. This combination makes "ligers" and "tigons" seem quite natural:
A long time ago, I was solving this puzzle and got stuck at an unguessable (to me) crossing: N. C. WYETH crossing NATICK at the "N"—I knew WYETH but forgot his initials, and NATICK ... is a suburb of Boston that I had no hope of knowing. It was clued as someplace the Boston Marathon runs through (???). Anyway, NATICK— the more obscure name in that crossing—became shorthand for an unguessable cross, esp. where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known. NATICK took hold as crossword slang, and the term can now be both noun ("I had a NATICK in the SW corner...") or verb ("I got NATICKED by 50A / 34D!")
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