1980s Pakistani president / TUE 4-25-17 / Wind tile in mah-jongg / WW II era British gun

Constructor: Gary J. Whitehead

Relative difficulty: Probably normal ... don't know. I stopped to take a screenshot mid-solve, so my time tells me nothing ...

THEME: HOME (71A: There's no place like it ... or a word that can precede either half of the answer to each starred clue) — just what it says...

Theme answers:

• BODYGUARD (17A: *V.I.P.'s security agent)
• GAMEBOY (22A: *Nintendo hand-held)
• COMPUTER PORT (27A: *Place to plug in a USB cable)— ouch. I think the answer you're looking for here is "USB PORT"
• MOVIE THEATER (48A: *Multiplex, e.g.) 
• ICELAND (56A: *NATO's smallest member, populationwise) — I had IRELAND briefly :(
• FRONT PAGE (63A: *Where a newspaper's biggest stories go)

Word of the Day: ZIA (41D: 1980s Pakistani president) —

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (Urdu: محمد ضياء الحق‎; 12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a four-star rank general who served as the 6th President of Pakistan from 1978 until his death in 1988, after declaring martial law in 1977. He was Pakistan's longest-serving head of state. (wikipedia)

• • •

This is the second time in recent memory where I would've stopped solving if I hadn't had to write about the puzzle. And in this case, I would've stopped almost immediately. Wrote in 1A: IRAQ, then went straight to "Q" for the cross ... QTY? First thought: "Dude, that "Q" was not worth it." Went on to next answer: 14A: Suffix with refresh or replace. And right there, I was out. Done. I'm three answers in and the fill is already a war crime.

This is a small corner. There is noooooo reason for -MENT to be in your small corner unless your small corner is Very compromised by the theme *or* you don't know what you're doing. You can look at that corner and see that it didn't get better. REORG URI and EGESTS? Disaster. By the time I made my way to the center, with its improbable (and ultimately self-referential) ZZZ string, I figured the theme was some weird thing with "Q"s and "Z"s because why else would they be in this grid when the fill is so terrible. There must be a reason .... there was no reason. The theme type was one of the oldest in the book, one that provides all the pleasure of re-reading the theme answers while inserting "HOME" before each part. Which is to say, no pleasure whatsoever. On the day that the NYT takes it mini puzzle into the land of Snapchat (something called Snapchat Discover), it continues to take its *real* puzzle into the grave and heap dirt upon it. We're in an astonishing run of non-inventive puzzles, non-current, running-on-fumes-of-the-1990s puzzles. But hey, you can get the mini crossword in Snapchat now, so everything's fine, I guess.


Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. I love this article about the NYT's move into Snapchat Discover because it contains this sentence: "It even includes a mini-crossword puzzle for its younger readers."

P.P.S. the Philadelphia Inquirer has changed its crossword to the "Universal Crossword," which would not be notable at all except that Universal = notorious crossword plagiarist, whom you may remember from this story at fivethirtyeight.com last year. He's still widely syndicated. Even merriam-webster runs his puzzle (on their website, I just found out). There's no law against his continuing to be published, just as there's no law against my occasionally reminding you that "unrepentant crossword plagiarist" is a concept that exists in the world. (Thanks to Evan Birnholz for calling this to my attention)

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Read more...

Actor Martin of 1960s-'70s TV / THU 10-17-13 / Capital whose main street is Nezavisimosti / Dada pioneer / Noted Ohio conservatory / Locale of 1956 fight for independence / Hindu life lesson / Onetime NFL star nicknamed Joe Willie

Constructor: Gary J. Whitehead

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: APPENDAGE — see, you "append" AGE to regular phrases, and then those phrases are wacky, and trust me it's awesome.


Theme answers:

• 17A: Distance at St. Andrews golf course (SCOTLAND YARDAGE)
• 23A: Base figs. (NEW YORK POSTAGE)
• 49A: First-aid supply for Springsteen (E STREET BANDAGE)
• 56A: Top-secret proverb (CLASSIFIED ADAGE)

Word of the Day: Jake GARN (37D: Only U.S. senator with a unit of measure named after him) —

Edwin Jacob "Jake" Garn (born October 12, 1932) is an American politician, a member of the Republican Party, and served as a U.S. Senator representing Utah from 1974 to 1993. Garn became the first sitting member of the United States Congress to fly in space when he flew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery as a Payload Specialist during NASA missionSTS-51-D (April 12–19, 1985). (wikipedia)

• • •

MY K-STARS this was easy. And super-basic. Like ... a remedial Thursday puzzle. The gimmick is transparent—doesn't take a genius to crack "APPENDAGE"—and then uncovering the theme answers was child's play. I mean, you could simply go ahead and write -AGE at the end of every theme answers without even looking at the clue. And then, looking at the clues, you could pretty much guess the theme answers straight away. Puzzle tries to make up for this staggering straightforwardness with a host of weird names (GARN, MILNER, ISIDRO, and, let's say, ANSA), but they provide about as much resistance as a cloud does a plane. The only hang-ups I had involved absurd little answers like THO (29A: "___ Nature, red in tooth and claw ...": Tennyson) and BSA (20A: Org. of which 18 U.S. presidents have been members) and TRY TO (8D: "___ Remember"), which I had as DAY TO.


I'm having trouble understanding the inclusion of ANSA ... I mean ... wow (64A: Vase handle). You could just make OCTA into ACT I and then make ANSA into INST. That way ORT goes to ART (win), OCTA goes to ACT I (win), ANSA goes to INST. (win) and SEA goes to SET (push). That took me no seconds to come up with. I'm sure there are better options. But screw fill, right? Yes, right. Apparently. Too much of a hassle, I guess.

In independent puzzle news—Matt Gaffney has a great new website, "Gaffney on Crosswords," that covers the world of crosswords from lots of different angles (this is in addition to his longstanding Crossword Contest website). Very much worth bookmarking and checking regularly. Also, Caleb Madison's crossword collaboration with actor/comedian Patton Oswalt is out now from American Values Crossword Club (get it here). And if you still crave more crossword puzzle action, I highly recommend this informative video ... enjoy:

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Read more...

Trombonist Winding / SAT 4-28-12 / Hall of Fame jockey Earle / Poem comprised of quotations / Old-time actresses Allgood Haden / Common language of Niger / Round dance officials

Constructor: Gary J. Whitehead

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: none

Word of the Day: Earle SANDE (48D: Hall-of-Fame jockey Earle) —

Earl H. Sande (November 13, 1898 – August 19, 1968) was an American Hall of Fame jockey andthoroughbred horse trainer.

Born in Groton, South Dakota, Earl Sande started out as a bronco buster in the early 1900s but then became a successful American quarter horse rider before switching to thoroughbred horse racing in 1918. Sande joinedCal Shilling and Johnny Loftus as a contract rider for Commander J. K. L. Ross. In 1919, he tied an American record with six wins on a single racecard at Havre de Grace Racetrack. He went on to ride for noted owners such as Harry F. Sinclair, and Samuel D. Riddle and was the leading money-winning jockey in the United States in 1921, 1923, and again in 1927. He won both the Belmont Stakes five times and the Jockey Club Gold Cup on four occasions, the Kentucky Derby three times and the Preakness Stakes once. In 1923 he won 39 stakes races for Harry F. Sinclair's Rancocas Stable, ten of which were on ultimate Horse of the Year winnerZev, including the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, and a match race against England's Epsom Derby winnerPapyrus. Sande's most famous wins came aboard Gallant Fox in 1930 when he won the U.S. Triple Crown.

Sande's fame was such that he was immortalized in a number of poems by Damon Runyon. Following his retirement in 1932, Earl Sande remained in the industry as a trainer. In 1938 he was the United States leading trainer and by the mid 1940s owned and operated his own racing stable. (wikipedia)

• • •

An usual triple-stack-laden puzzle, in that it played harder-, not easier-than-average for me. Usually, I can put a few Downs through those stacks and make them roll over pretty readily, but those Downs were a bit of a mess today (up top and below), and so I had issues. You can add triple-stacks (and quad stacks) to the list of alleged construction accomplishments I don't care for (see also pangrams). The problem is two-fold. A: the 15s are often hit-and-miss, at best, because phrases with friendly letters don't necessarily make for interesting phrases. Today, the lower stack was the only one I really cared for. The others are pretty dull. And this is a problem because in a stack-heavy puzzle, your stacks are virtually all you've got. Because B: the Downs you will need to make the stacks stick together are too often junky. Lots of short, awkward stuff. CENTO & HAUSA (our opening 1D and 2D punch) are about as ugly a pair of side-by-side answers as I've seen in any NYT puzzle, ever (1D: Poem comprised of quotations + 2D: Common language of Niger). Those are the kind of answers that would've reigned in the Maleska era, the kind that give crosswords a bad name ("I don't like crosswords because you have to know bygone Italian sausages and the Sasquatchian word for 'raccoon,' etc."). Mostly, though, it's the ordinary short stuff that clogs the bulk of the grid—that's what wears you down. This puzzle is by no means bad, as an example of its type. Its fairly typical. But it's a stale type. Most of my favorite themeless constructors will focus on making an exciting grid filled with new and/or vivid phrases and names and words. That's what I love. This was certainly a decent challenge, but the excitement just wasn't there.

I absolutely guessed NURSE CLINICIANS (17A: They may perform minor surgeries)— well, the NURSE part — since A: I don't really know what NURSE CLINICIANS are (are they like NURSE PRACTITIONERS, which is a thing I've heard of?), and B: CENTO and HAUSA were Martian as far as I was concerned. Had a slightly worse time in the CUERS (47D: Round dance officials) & SANDE portion of the grid. Looking at C-ERS, S-NDE, and --E (for 55A: Trucial States, today: Abbr.), I honestly thought I was dead. Started reconsidering EPICS (since I'd wanted TIKKA and not TIKKI to begin with (37D: McAloo ___ (burger at McDonald's in India)) ... but then EPICS was the only thing that made sense at 46A: Big pictures, so I left it). Eventually ran the alphabet at C-ERS and hit my mark, then stared at U-E ... and finally got it. Rest of the grid just wasn't that tough. Slow, steady progress took care of it.


Bullets:

• 26A: Old-time actresses Allgood and Haden (SARAS) — another thing about this grid that made it unappealing—it was Ruthlessly "old-time." From SARAS to SANDE to KAI (62D: Trombonist Winding), there is nothing in this grid that you couldn't have found in a grid 40 years ago. Maybe the ALE (a clue I really liked; 57A: Buzzsaw Brown, e.g.). "Old-time" stuff is fine, but it's nice when puzzles bear at least some small mark indicating that they were constructed in this millennium.
• 51A: Sycosis source, informally (STAPH) — not to be confused with the southern musicians' disease "zydecosis."
• 7D: Literary lion (ASLAN) — took me a while, which is especially ironic given that my wife fell asleep in bed next to me, not five minutes before I started this puzzle, reading (that is, rerererererererererere-reading) The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
• 8D: 1955 sci-fi-film that was one of the first to use Technicolor ("THIS ISLAND EARTH") — the very best thing about this puzzle, both because it amazingly cuts through *all* the stacks and, at the same time, is better than every single one of the answers it crosses. I know this film mainly from the background of the comic Watchmen.
• 11D: Killers that may go through hoops (ORCAS) — those must be big hoops. I tend to avoid animal parks of all kinds, so I wouldn't know.
• 12D: City near Oneida Lake (UTICA) — I was bracing for something much more obscure. I've never been there, but know it well from a. "The Simpsons" (a single joke about hamburgers and Albany and Utica that I have never forgotten) and b. the fact that a friend of mine used to commute there to teach.
• 25D: Luis in the Red Sox Hall of Fame (TIANT) — I always get him confused with Dock Ellis (they pitched in the same era). Ellis was most famous, probably, for pitching a no-hitter while high on LSD.

• 33D: Ticket, informally (DUCAT) — I ... don't know what this means. Is it old-timey? I know DUCAT as a very old-timey coin.
• 35D: Color-streaked playing marble (IMMIE) — another triple-stack fill casualty. Not great.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Read more...

Dreaded mosquito / TUE 1-18-11 / Dream Lohengrin aria / Simpleton in Archie comics / Public diplomacy broadcast org until 1999 / Ophthalmic swelling

Constructor: Gary J. Whitehead

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: "AMEN to THAT!" — Word ladder going from AMEN to THAT, a literal representation of the colloquial phase "AMEN to THAT," which is referred to in the central answers: "I HEAR YA!" (36A: "1-Across [AMEN] to 63-Across [THAT]")


Word of the Day: AEDES (33D: Dreaded mosquito) —

Aedes is a genus of mosquito originally found in tropical and subtropical zones, but has spread by human activity to all continents excluding Antarctica. Several of the species transmit important human diseases and one species, Aedes albopictus, is the most invasive mosquito in the world. The name comes from the Ancient Greek aēdēs, meaning "unpleasant" or "odious", so called because of the diseases this type of mosquito transmits, including dengue fever and yellow fever. In Polynesia, the species Aedes polynesiensis is responsible for the transmission of human lymphatic filariasis including species of Brugia as well as others. Some species of Aedes (e.g. the Asian tiger mosquito) have only recently been introduced to the US. (wikipedia)

• • •

This is a good example of a cute idea gone horribly awry. Constructors notice colloquial phrases all the time—pay attention to the language as people use it, and new and interesting crossword themes will reveal themselves to you. It's true. So today we start with the phrase "AMEN to THAT!" — sassy, fresh, *and* (if you look hard enough) kind of daring you to turn it into a word ladder. The question is: should you? The answer: maybe. Maybe not.

So a word ladder is a chain of words where each successive word has one letter changed until the original word arrives at a completely different, but somehow related, word. I've seen "From SOUP to NUTS" illustrated this way in a word ladder puzzle. Today, we go AMEN to THAT (with the nice tie-it-all-together answer in the middle). The problem ... well, the first, minor problem is my own—I think word ladders are dull, and kind of played out. Old hat. As theme answers, the individual steps on the ladder are hard to get excited about ("Oh look ... DEES! That's ... something!"). So, though there are many steps on this ladder, and the concept of the ladder is interesting, we start off in dullsville, at least for me.

The much bigger problem for me, today, is how patently subpar the fill is. As my wife can tell you, I was audibly groaning from the outset. From the variant APPAL at 1D (1D: Horrify: Var.) to nearby ELSA'S (crosswordese of a very high order) (3D: "___ Dream" ("Lohengrin" aria)) to the quintessential crosswordese ERSE (7D: Gaelic tongue) — all within two inches of each other — the grid is just rough. Rough. Awkward plurals right next to each other (ENES, NONS), a crosswordese convention in the western section, and then ... whatever is happening in the east (train wreck). SODDY? Come on. And crossing AEDES!?!? What the hell? No idea what USIA is (60A: Public diplomacy broadcast org. until 1999) (looking up ... United States Information Agency). Then there's just the general dullness of stuff like ASSESS and ENROLLEE and PAYER. No idea who says SOCKEROO, but at least that answer is kind of lively. POSTSEASON and ULTRASOUND (56A: Ob/gyn's image) are admirably solid (and POSTSEASON is timely, footballwise). But overall, the pervasive weakness of the fill made the experience much less than enjoyable.


The Ladder:

• AMEN
• OMEN
• OVEN
• EVEN
• EVES
• EYES
• DYES (41A: Does some batiking)
  
• DEES
• TEES
• TEAS
• TEAT
• THAT

Bullets:

• 49D: Ephesus' region (IONIA) — very crossword common because of its voweliness.
  
• 52D: "Our Gang" pooch (PETE) — I thought it was PETEY—and it was; just not formally, I guess.
  
• 2D: Simpleton in "Archie" comics (MOOSE) — ashamed I didn't get this straight off. Daughter reads nearly every "Archie" comic there is. And yet with the "M" in place, I could think only of MIDGE (MOOSE's girlfriend).
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Read more...

Minnesota city where part of "Fargo" was filmed / THU 8-5-10 / "The Palindrome Symphony" composer / "Rich Man, Poor Man" Emmy winner

Constructor: Gary J. Whitehead

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium


THEME: The Midwest — Circled two-letter postal abbreviations make a map of the American MIDWEST (66a: What the circled parts of this puzzle comprise) with the MISSISSIPPI (18d: It runs through the middle of 66-Across) running down the center.

Word of the Day: AUREOLE (65a: Halo) —

au·re·ole also au·re·o·la n.

1. A circle of light or radiance surrounding the head or body of a representation of a deity or holy person; a halo.


2. Astronomy See corona.

(thefreedictionary.com)

• • •

This is the kind of theme I would expect to see with YESTERDAY'S byline. Pretty lofty concept, and the theme is very accurate and well-executed. I just held up the grid like this:


and was surprised how geographically accurate it really was. So the theme I like. The fill however ... had some not so nice stuff in it. NTHS (3d: Unspecified degrees), ERI (5d: Verdi's "___ tu"), NOT A (7d: "___ chance!"), TISHA (9d: ___ b'av, Jewish day of fasting), AURI- (13d: Hearing: Prefix), STELLAS (8a: Painters Frank and Joseph), OR I (52a: "Either you ___ ..."), IN SO (60d: "___ doing ..."), OP'NIN' (52d:"Another ___, Another Show" ("Kiss Me Kate" song)), and A RUN (54d: Make ___ for it) are all cringey for me. Maybe that's just my pet peeve: fill in the blanks. Lot of stuff to like, but lots of ... other stuff too.

Theme answers:

• (1a: Denounce) CONDEMN
• (16a: Nasty Fall) WIPEOUT



• (21a: Year of the swine flu epidemic) MMIX — At first I really hated this, because I thought only older, more classical dates should ever be in Roman numerals, but then I realized that this clue actually was a Roman numeral clue that I could GET! Does that make it better than a Year in Pope John Paul George Ringo XVII's reign? I think so.
• (26a: Botch) MISDO
• (30a: Canon competitor) RICOH
• (37a: Kind of code) BINARY



• (39a: Noxious) MIASMAL — My favorite state-containing answer. MIASMA is a great word in itself, but making in at adjective? I put in MIASMIC originally... which I like better.
• (42a: Temper, as metal) ANNEAL — My least favorite state-container. And I've been known to temper some metal when I'm feeling up to it, or need a harpoon.
• (44a: Place for a pot) SILL
• (53a: Bergdorf competitor) SAKS
• (56a: Finish cleaning, say) MOP UP
• (66a: What the circled parts of this puzzle comprise) MIDWEST
• (18d: It runs through the middle of 66-Across) MISSISSIPPI

So, all in all, well-executed, cool theme, with some less-than-cool sacrifices to the ambitiousness of said theme.

Bullets:

• 12d: Hang over (LOOM) — I guess this is the follow-up to yesterday's "wham bam thank you ma'am." It also gives me an excuse to post this:
  
  
  and on the subject of Zach Galifianakis (one of the funniest comedians out there):
  
  
  I wish I could post more. His parody-talk show "Between Two Ferns" is hilarious.
• 14d: Milton called it "The flood of deadly hate" (STYX) — I tried NATAN LAST but it didn't fit. I actually sat staring at STY_, trying to convince myself that Milton was never an optometrist, and E wasn't a Roman numeral. Great use of the Styx (the band) song "Come Sail Away" here:



• 28d: One of the Corleones (SONNY) — FREDO would have fit too. I love this clue because it makes me think of this scene ... which I can't find on Youtube. The one where Marlon Brando says "Look how they massacred my boy!" So you'll have to settle for this:



• 43d: "Rich Man, Poor Man" Emmy winner (ED ASNER) — This would be another excuse to post clip from "Up"... but that might get redundant. The more crosswords I do, the more I learn about Ed Asner (although I think I knew this).
• 63d: G (SOL) — OK, I think I'm going to call foul on this answer. I'm pretty sure what the clue is going for is SOL (on the solfege scale) is the note G ... but that's only when you're on a C Major scale. I'm pretty sure sol is still sol no matter what scale you use; it represents the fifth of the scale, not G specifically. Am I being too nitpicky?
• 41a: Slapstick prop (PIE) — There could be a lot of really good answers for this clue. Like "GIANT FRUIT"



• 22a: Last name in ice cream (EDY) — Pretty much the only option. Ice cream. Three letters. Unless Ben and/or Jerry have short last names. Or Häagen-Dasz is a dude.
• 58a: Branch of Islam (SHIA) — Has this even been clue via Shia LaBeouf? Not in the Times. Twice in the WSJ. He's in the new "Wall Street" movie, or "34a: Wall St. happening (IPO)" which doesn't look bad. I could watch Michael Douglas do just about anything. Did anyone see that movie "Solitary Man"?

A lot of links, I know, but I like all three versions too much to choose.

Finally, for all you following the Natan-Caleb feud ... just take a look at THIS uncanny resemblance:



Signed, Caleb Madison, Serf of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Read more...