THEME: TURKEY - The second word of theme answers mean "things that did poorly": bomb, turkey, flop, bust.
THEME ANSWERS:
LASER GUIDED BOMB (17A: Air Force smart weapon)
FOSBURY FLOP (25A: Pioneering high jump maneuver of the 1960s)
ROAST TURKEY (43A: Thanksgiving entree)
HOLLYWOOD OR BUST (55A: 1956 Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis comedy)
WORD OF THE DAY: STENO (27D: Shorthand writer)
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greekstenos (narrow) and graphein (to write). It has also been called brachygraphy, from Greek brachys (short) and tachygraphy, from Greek tachys (swift, speedy), depending on whether compression or speed of writing is the goal.
(Wikipedia)
This one was fun! And totally not just because it's the first puzzle I've found easy in a while, for whatever reason. I'm still tired of seeing JILT, always with approximately the same clue, and same goes for ALOE - and the nerd in me is kinda annoyed that SOLO wasn't clued with "Han's first name." (And, for that matter, the feminist in me kinda wishes RICH was clued with "Adrienne!") But those are just SNIT-picks. The fill was good - IONIA, ILSA, ORATES! Plus three whole comic book references. Who knew Superboy had a girlfriend?
The theme was solid for a Monday. I liked how it was accentuated by the showbiz clues like BROADWAY and TV IDOL. I guess if your show makes it to BROADWAY, it wasn't a FLOP?
BULLETS:
TWIN (15A: Minnesota baseballer) - Hey! Rex's BFFs (my mom and my aunt Jennifer) are TWINs! And it's the five-year anniversary of them sometimes guest blogging here! Without them Annabel Mondays probably wouldn't even be a thing. So yay for twins!!
RAND (10A: "Atlas Shrugged" author Rayn) - I was once in an English class where we had to read "Anthem." All I can say is "bleh." At least it was one of the shorter ones!!
AGED (23A: Like good Scotch) - I've been feeling like good Scotch lately, because of my internship at ThinkProgress! Seriously though, having a 9-5 internship at an office makes me feel so old? Anyway, this is a shameless plug, please go to their website and read all my stories because I really love working there so yeah.
ARLO (59A: With 41-Down, "Alice's Restaurant" singer) - I leave you with a morning tune. If you can call it a tune. 🎵 You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant... 🎵
THEME: body parts on high — theme answers are phrases that follow the pattern [body part IN THE welkin]
Word of the Day: ORAN (41A: Algerian port) —
Oran [...] is a major city on the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, and the second largest city of the country. It is closely associated with its neighboring city, Aïn Témouchent.
It is the capital of the Oran Province (wilaya). The city has a population of 759,645 (2008[1]), while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000,making it the second largest city in Algeria.[3] Oran is a major port, and since the 1960s has been the commercial, industrial, and educational centre of western Algeria. (wikipedia)
• • •
Not tough, but tougher than normal for Monday, largely do to fussiness and ambiguity. I think this theme is dead in the water. EYES IN THE SKY just doesn't work, for a couple of reasons. It's very much the odd man out. Plural EYES should've disqualified it immediately. Also, the other two phrases are metaphors that describe types of human beings. EYES IN THE SKY ... isn't. Not even close. Fill-wise, this was just fine, though I could do without crosswordesey geography like CAEN and ORAN. You gotta wonder if the awful partial IS TO over the not-great French place CAEN (64A: Battle of Normandy city) could've been avoided if the constructor hadn't been so compelled by getting KNUTE in there as well as ROCKNE (48D: With 9-Down, Notre Dame coaching legend). Oh, and ILSA's in there too. Strike three. Slowed down ... where? Let's see. Not sure which spelling (-ER or -OR) of CONNOR was in play (5D: Sarah ___, "The Terminator" heroine). Clue on RAT was crazy—I liked it, but it was Saturday-hard/complicated (13D: Singer who doesn't want a hit?). Fumbled HEAD IN THE CLOUDS when it looked like the phrase was going to be HEADING ... something. Couldn't process what was meant by "station house" in 34D: Took to the station house (RAN IN). No way I could get "I'M OKAY" from that clue without a bunch of crosses (44D: "No harm, no foul"). I'm not even sure that answer goes (well) with that clue. Lastly (and this has nothing to do with difficulty, just my own inept typing), I had to spend many seconds tracking down a typo—at bleeping CONNER! I remember thinking as I was solving, "oh, it's MOE, so CONNOR has an O not an E," but apparently my fingers did not follow through on the realization.
Theme answers:
20A: Overhead security devices (EYES IN THE SKY)
37A: Lack of contact with reality (HEAD IN THE CLOUDS)
52A: Sign of haughtiness (NOSE IN THE AIR)
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Read more...
THEME: KROOZ — theme answers all end with KROOZ homophones
Theme answers:
17A: City with a boardwalk on Monterey Bay (SANTA CRUZ)
27A: General Motors sedan (CHEVROLET CRUZE)
49A: Vacation on the Caribbean, maybe (CARNIVAL CRUISE)
65A: Chain gangs, e.g. (WORK CREWS)
Word of the Day: "Beau GESTE" (54A: "Beau ___") —
Beau Geste is a 1924 adventure novel by P. C. Wren. It has been adapted for the screen several times. (wikipedia)
• • •
Just back from a student-faculty potluck dinner, so I am chock full of an alarmingly random assortment of food. Surprisingly, I feel fine. It's weird to be in a place where most people still know me only as "that medievalist we hired a while back" (if they know me at all). Crosswords didn't come up once. The student who invited me was delightful and amongst all the adequate food I was able to score a quinoa & fall vegetables salad that was clearly made by someone who knew what she was doing. Delicious. Someone just bought a grocery store pumpkin pie and it was just sitting there on the dessert table, still in its plastic container. I was happy to see that it was still there, intact and untouched, two hours later. My daughter's ginger snaps, on the other hand, were mostly gone. The president of the university spoke briefly. Mostly platitudes, but that's sort of his job. The real hero of the night was Al Vos, faculty master of Hinman College, who is a hero and a saint. I've never met anyone who has such unfeigned enthusiasm for teaching and advising undergraduates. Humbling and inspiring—qualities I too rarely associate with academics.
Then I came home and there was a puzzle. I've often (or at least occasionally) wondered why CRUZE doesn't appear more frequently in the puzzle. I remember thinking, the first year Chevy started making that model, "well that's going to get some airplay." But you really don't see it that often. I think today's puzzle was the reason the CRUZE was invented—so someone could pull off this theme. Really wouldn't be the same with just the three, although you could do interesting things with the other theme answers if you made them all names: HARRY CREWS (author), VICTOR CRUZ (football player), PABLO CRUISE (70s recording artist) ... Anyway, this seems a fine theme. Really puts that "Z" in CRUZ to good use with the double-Z DAZZLE cross. Also, this puzzle has CLAPTRAP (10D: Mumbo-jumbo), which is never not a good answer. Much better than ROT or BOSH or NONSENSE or even PSHAW (a word my mom used to like to say, and we used to like to mock her for). My wife has never seen or heard the expression ALL WET before (50D: Completely wrong); I don't know how I know it except maybe from 50s-60s sitcoms (?). It's definitely a bygone idiomatic phrase. Puzzle's kind of heavy on the four-letter lady names today: IRMA *and* EDNA? (37A: Rombauer who wrote "Joy of Cooking" / 69A: Poet ___ St. Vincent Millay)You so rarely see them in the same room together. Throw in ENYA and LEDA and LENA and ELLA and ... well, that's six four-letter ladies. Plus Little EVA. And MR. T. Now I'm just listing names. I'll stop.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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We're baaack! In case you're new here, we are Liz and Jenny, aka Rex's BFF's. And today, we are grinning from ear-to-ear-to-ear-to-ear because we both received postcards from our bestie Rex, all the way from New Zealand! Where he is still living in the future, keeping busy by drinking lattes at Starbucks (and having the world's greatest adventure ever). Hey Rex, take your BFF's with you next time! We'll buy your Frappuccinos! Constructor:Randall J. Hartman
Relative difficulty:EASY. Which is the opposite of trying to figure out what the heck Rex meant when he described us as "Strangely Different." What does this mean? Should one of us be offended or flattered? And if so, which one? There's no EASY answer. If you correctly solve this puzzle, you'll win a trophy.
THEME: — AWARDS. Since we grew up back in the day where to get one you had to actually earn one, we only have a few, and now feel gypped.
Word of the Day:sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia
An ice-cream headache, also known as brain freeze, cold-stimulus headache,[1] or its given scientific name sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia (meaning "nerve pain of the sphenopalatine ganglion"), is a form of brief cranialpain or headache commonly associated with consumption (particularly quick consumption) of cold beverages or foods such as ice cream and ice pops. It is caused by having something cold touch the roof of the mouth (palate), and is believed to result from a nerve response causing rapid constriction and swelling of blood vessels[2] or a "referring" of pain from the roof of the mouth to the head.[3][4] The rate of intake for cold foods has been studied as a contributing factor.[5][6]
• • •
You all know us well enough by now to know that this word did not appear anywhere in the puzzle. It is the scientific term for "Ice Cream Headache," which we are suffering from as we write this blog (on Sunday evening) because Sunday was "National Ice Cream Day"! Liz had coconut chip in a pointy cone (we can never remember if that's the sugar kind or the cake kind). Jenny had mint-chocolate chip (not chocolate chip mint or chocolate mint chip) in the flat-kind of yellowish cone, which when you think about it, isn't coned-shaped, and really shouldn't be called a cone at all. Liz's dog Rosie even had a small bowl of vanilla with a doggie treat on top.
This was an easy, and kind of boring puzzle. I mean, two Huck Finn clues? Really? And so weird, because we're both reading a fantastic thriller called "Gone Girl," written by Gillian Flynn, which takes place in the Missouri hometown of Mark Twain. The protagonist, Nick, used to work at a Tom Sawyer historical site, and there are many many references to Tom and Huck in the book. Perhaps, the constructor is reading it too, and quickly whipped out this easy puzzle so he could get back to the book, because it is so good!! In fact, we were glad it was easy, and are whipping through this blog post as well, so we can get back to the book too!
Theme answers:
17A [Husband's status symbol, possibly] TROPHY WIFE
26A [General Mills baking product] GOLD MEDAL FLOUR
42A [Panel for a complex legal case] BLUE RIBBON JURY
57A [Popular Canadian Whiskey] CROWN ROYAL
No one's getting any awards for figuring out these easy theme answers. Except for 42A-never heard of it. But the crosses were simple enough to work it out in no time. Our favorite was 31D "Hurts So Good" Singer, 1982 [JOHN COUGAR]-pre Mellencamp.
Bullets:
10A Cracked open, as a door [AJAR] — hahahahahahahahah! We can't stop laughing at this one!!! (inside joke...you had to be there)
40D Quartet minus one [TRIO] — Just like we're a trio of besties
We'll be back next week for our final installment. Now, back to our books.
THEME: EVERY SINGLE CLUE / IN THIS PUZZLE HAS / THIRTEEN LETTERS
Word of the Day: Beau Brummell (29D: Beau Brummells = FOPS) —
n.
A dandy; a fop.
[After George Bryan ("Beau") Brummell.] (freedictionary.com)
Beau Brummell, born as George Bryan Brummell (7 June 1778 – 30 March 1840 (aged 61)), was the arbiter of men's fashion in Regency England and a friend of the Prince Regent, the future King George IV. He established the mode of men wearing understated, but fitted, tailored clothes including dark suits and full-length trousers, adorned with an elaborately knotted cravat. // Beau Brummell is credited with introducing and establishing as fashion the modern man's suit, worn with a tie. He claimed he took five hours to dress, and recommended that boots be polished with champagne. His style of dress is often referred to as dandyism. (wikipedia)
• • •
There is nothing to say about this puzzle. The theme "answer" says it all. I think this is a stupid gimmick that drains the puzzle of all joy. You are of course free to feel however you feel. Could've been done with FOURTEEN or EIGHTEEN or FORTY-TWO, so who cares? It's not as if the clues are that interesting. In fact, the clues only seemed *slightly* odd at times, which suggests that 13 is a pretty common letter count for puzzle clues. Didn't exactly strain the cluing. Overall, the puzzle was very easy, except for the theme "answer," which I never paid attention to after I realized the only way I was going to get it was from crosses. Lots and lots of crosses. Only issues—slow on the uptake with the meaning of "wolf" in 65A: Half a wolf's cry (HUBBA); couldn't remember what the hell Beau Brummells were (I was thinking shoes ... why??); a [Facebook entry] is a NAME? I'm on Facebook a lot, and I don't get that at all; cluing on RIMS absolutely baffled me. RIMS are [Canyon locales] the same way that states are [Country locales]. Which is to say—no. Lastly, I hate SINGLE. EVERY SINGLE CLUE? You mean EVERY CLUE. SINGLE does nothing. Nothing. It's redundant. Why not DAMNED? EVERY DAMNED CLUE ... yes, I like that much better.
The end.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Read more...
THEME: BBB (33D: Grp. that battles consumer fraud ... or a hint to some much-repeated letters in this puzzle) — puzzle has a lot of Bs in it. It sure does.
Word of the Day: Leon EDEL (16A: Biographer Leon) —
Very easy and somewhat entertaining because of a few of the longer answers (most notably BAN THE BOMB, BEER BARREL, and especially "BEING BOBBY BROWN"). Wish the theme had been tighter: BBB isn't a hint to anything, really. It's just 3 Bs. It's no more a hint to the puzzle's theme than B AND B (AND B AND B AND B etc.). Thought briefly, as I was solving (very quickly) that there were three Bs in every long answer, and possibly that every long answer was a three-B-word phrase (a lot to ask), but no. And no. Just Bs. All over the place. To the long answers' credit, all words in those answers begin with B, so that's something, consistency-wise, I guess. There are an unfortunate number of repeated letter strings: BARB and BARBARA; BOB and BOBBY; ABA and BABA and ABABA and BABAR; etc. I was going too fast to be bothered much by any of these repetitions. ARCA (15A: Medieval treasure chest) and EDEL are irksome crosswordese, but all in all, despite having kind of a non-theme, this one bounced enough to be moderately enjoyable.
Long answers:
17A: Relaxing soak (BUBBLE BATH)
23A: First lady who wrote "Millie's Book" (BARBARA BUSH)
38A: Onetime reality show with Whitney Houston ("BEING BOBBY BROWN")
47A: Louisville Slugger, e.g. (BASEBALL BAT)
10D: Brewery container (BEER BARREL)
29D: Anti-nuke slogan (BAN THE BOMB)
Hardly a hesitation today. The [Dumb cluck] clues could've been just about anything (lots of applicable 4-letter words), so I had to wait for crosses there, but otherwise I didn't blink, not even at EDEL(a gimme to me now, after being a !?!?! to me a couple years back) and BRYCE (no idea why I know this Canyon, but I do). Went so fast I didn't even see the clues for BENES or ALEPH (13D: Letter before Beth). The ampersandwich is really making a comeback of late—two RANDRs, a DANDD, and now a BANDB (47D: Hardly a chain hotel, informally). A welcome trend, I would say, were it not for the sizable uptick in desperate emails that I receive every time one of these answers shows up ("I don't understand"). See also any clue referencing a letter string via a telephone keypad (e.g. [6 letters]=>MNO). Man, those baffle people for some reason. Can you still "POKE" people on Facebook? I'm on Facebook every day, but have never POKED or been POKED (to my knowledge—so, if you've been poking me ... you're doing it wrong) (67A: Contacted on Facebook, in a way).
Bullets:
46A: 1997 Jennifer Lopez biopic ("SELENA") — Look, Jennifer Lopez is indeed "beautiful," but "Most Beautiful Woman in the World?" If she weren't on "Idol," would "People" really be saying that? Also, am I really spending 30 some-odd seconds typing these questions as if they are meaningful? (answer, sadly = yes)
24D: Dubai denizens (ARABS) — ARAB here crosses the ARAB in BARBARA BUSH. I know, I shouldn't notice these things, but I do.
37D: 1987 album later rereleased as "The Celts" ("ENYA") — "ENYA" as album title = nice entry into the "How the Hell Do I Clue ENYA This Time?" sweepstakes.
Good morning. Tuesdays and Thursdays are going to be tight from now through May, as the reality of my existence has come crashing back upon me, i.e. the new semester has started. Today, in fact. In under three hours, in fact. Somehow I ended up teaching at 8:30am this term. What the ...? I'm a morning person, but by "morning person" I mean someone who gets up early and putters around the house A Lot and is normally still in pajamas and watching DVR'd late-night TV at 8:30am and doesn't really get cracking until 10 or so. Those days are gone. Or at least they're gone Tuesdays and Thursdays. Anyway, I'll have to get to sleep pretty early and squeeze in a puzzle write-up first thing in the morning on those days. Just so you know.
I enjoyed today's puzzle. Felt very easy, but I ended up with a pretty normal time because my brain can process palindromes only so quickly (which is to say, "Slowly"). So I'd type the front end fast and then peck ... at ... the ... keyboard to get the rest. WARSAW NUN WAS RAW was the hardest because I had WARSAW and its mirror in place but no hint to the middle but "sister" and what the hell is "THE FAN?" I thought that was a Wesley Snipes movie? Robert DeNiro? Anyone? I missed the 1981 "THE FAN" (6D: Creepy 1981 Lauren Bacall film). Had "THE FA-" written in and didn't dare fill in that last letter on a guess. Thankfully, UMIAK was familiar to me (29D: Eskimo boat), and so NUN leapt forth. Everything else very easy, except RAVI, whom I can't remember ever seeing before. His parents and his namesake are, of course, very famous.
Theme answers:
17A: Spanish moray still exists (SEVILLE EEL LIVES)
26A: Polish sister showed her inexperience (WARSAW NUN WAS RAW)
43A: Silver State boogie band autopsy expert (RENO ROCK CORONER) — that clue makes no sense, and since this one's a phrase and not a sentence, it is By Far the weakest of the bunch. Further, "boogie band?" What year is it?
56A: Red Sox fans mourned tearlessly (BOSTON DID NOT SOB)
Bullets:
16A: "60 Minutes" correspondent Logan (LARA) — she's part of a rising crossword class. Get to know her.
36A: W.W. II pinup features (GAMS) — one of the all-time great slang words.
41A: "Pet" that's a plant (CHIA) — apparently CHIA is not just a brand name but a real plant. My mom says she eats CHIA seeds on her oatmeal every morning. They're supposed to be high in Omega-3s.
5D: Teen loiterer (MALLRAT) — I haven't heard this term since Kevin Smith's mid-90s movie "MALLRATS" starring Shannen Doherty, but I still got it quickly.
37A: Fleet members (SHIPS) — I initially had SNIT for 24D: Sassy sort (SNIP), so my first answer here was ... puzzling.
49D: Sacred bird of Egypt (IBIS) — "Sacred bird" or "bird" + "Egypt" in four letters is IBIS as sure as virtually any rapper in four letters on a Tuesday is ICE-T (2D: "Rhyme Pays" rapper).
THEME: S-A , T-U-R, D-A-Y … NIGHT! — First words of theme answers can come after "Saturday Night" in familiar phrases.
Word of the Day: BRUNEI (43D: Pacific sultanate) —
Brunei …, officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace …, is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia. Apart from its coastline with the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the state of Sarawak, Malaysia, and in fact it is separated into two parts by Limbang, which is part of Sarawak. It is the only sovereign state completely on the island of Borneo, with the remainder of the island belonging to Malaysia and Indonesia. …
Under Brunei's 1959 constitution, His Majesty Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah is the head of state with full executive authority, including emergency powers, since 1962. ...
The official language of the nation is Malay …, although an important minority speak Chinese. The local variety of Malay (Kedayan or Bukit Malay), spoken natively by two thirds of the population, is quite divergent from and unintelligible to Standard Malay. The most important aboriginal languages are Iban, and two languages called Tutong, each with about 20,000 speakers.
English is also widely spoken and there is a relatively large expatriate community with significant numbers of British and Australian citizens.
Hi, everyone. PuzzleGirl here with you for the last day of your long weekend. Rex's internet went out earlier this afternoon and he texted me to ask if I could fill in for him if necessary. I checked in with him again later and he said he had his internet back, but I noticed from his Facebook status that he had been working on perfecting the whisky sour, so I offered to give him the night off. You know what I always say: Don't Drink and Blog! (Actually, I never say that, but whatever.)
Cute little theme today. I finished the puzzle in a little under four minutes, which is right about average for me, so I rated it a medium. Let me run down the theme answers for you real quick and then I'll get to the part I'm dying to tell you.
Theme answers:
20A: Green Berets (SPECIAL FORCES)
33A: Frenzied state (FEVER PITCH)
40A: Out-of-studio TV broadcast (LIVE REMOTE)
47A: Popular date time … or a phrase that can precede the starts of 20-, 33- and 40-Across (SATURDAY NIGHT)
Okay, here's the thing. Some of you might know that I'm a huge University of Iowa wrestling fan. (Go Hawks!) In fact, I think it's fair to say that my two passions are crossword puzzles and college wrestling. I was pretty sure I was the only one in the world with that particular combination of interests. And then I find out that today's constructor, Randy Hartman, is an NCAA wrestling referee! The NYT blog posted a picture of him and I totally recognize him! I'm blown away. I guess I'm going to have to make a little room for him in the middle of my Venn diagram.
So how about this puzzle? SPECIAL FORCES and FEVER PITCH have a little zip to them. On the other hand, LIVE REMOTE just kinda sits there. I would describe the rest of the puzzle as solid and non-flashy as well. I did think PINKO (16A: Commie) was an awesome/interesting/unexpected entry. Raise your hand if it brought Archie Bunker to mind for you. I'm one of those solvers who likes people in her puzzles and today I enjoyed the thought of MIKE MYERS, JET LI, and CORA Dithers hanging out together (4D: Portrayer of Austin Powers, "international man of mystery" / 38D: Martial arts champion-turned-film star / 35A: Mrs. Dithers in "Blondie"). Yes, I know there are other people in the grid, but those are the ones I thought would make an interesting get-together. I just don't see 60A: "Project Runway" host HEIDI Klum and 58A: Jesus ALOU of the 1960s Giants adding much to the general atmosphere. If you want to invite them, you can go ahead and have your own little party. Remember: This is all make-believe anyway!
I did have some trouble down in the southwest corner. I entered BAH for HAH goes (53D: "When pigs fly!") and didn't even question that B. So when it looked like the 53A: Chinese province where Mao was born was BUNA* crossing 43D: Pacific sultanate BRU*EI, I guessed N and called it good. If I had thought for a moment about BUNAN, I probably would have realized it should be HUNAN and then I wouldn't have been stressing about that N, which was a total guess as I don't recall ever hearing of BRUNEI. I think the reason I didn't question that B, though, was because I was so busy stressing about the N. It was a Catch-22 is what I'm saying. On to the …
Bullets:
23A: Pest attracted to light (MOTH). — Is there a bug that's not attracted to light? I'm sitting at a big picture window with no blinds right now and the constant thunking of the bugs on the glass is amusing to me. Is that wrong?
25A: Words before serious, ready or listening (ARE YOU) — I see the makings of another theme here ….
38A: Revolutionary War hero John Paul ____ (JONES) — I actually think Quincy JONES would make a better addition to my fictional party.
46A: ____ monster (GILA) — If you have kids and you're moving to a different part of the country, I highly recommend the book Gila Monsters Meet You at the Airport. Good stuff.
25D: Hairstyles of Sly and the Family Stone (AFROS) — When people are mentioned in the clues for AFROS it's almost always Jimi Hendrix, Jesse Jackson, or the Jackson Five. I like that this clue mixed it up a little. You know who else has awesome afros? The Sylvers.
THEME: J CREW (36A: Retail clothing giant ... or a description of 17- and 54-Across and 10- and 24-Down) - four theme answers are names of people whose first and last names both begin with "J"
"OPEL" is also the name of an album by the very crosswordtastic SYD Barrett
My first full day back on the job and I get 11 "J"s thrown at me. Almost as good as confetti. Love the high-value Scrabble letters (see also the four K's), but I thought this puzzle was a bit of a mess, structurally. It's fine, of course, for HUNG JURY and FRIJOLES not to be theme answers even though they appear to be in theme positions, but because JURY starts with "J" and I'd already gotten JESSE JAMES, I got a little confused about the relation of the letter "J" to the theme. Then I picked it back up with some of the other theme answers, but then lost it again when I hit JELLY JAR (36D: Smucker's container), which felt like a theme answer. Its symmetrical counterpart, however - "YES, I KNOW" (9D: "So you've said") - was clearly not a theme answer. Only after I was finished did I see that the thing holding the theme answers together was not just their JJ-ness, but the fact that they were all names of people.
Also, "YES, I KNOW" is super sketchy.
Theme answers:
17A: Brother outlaw in the Wild West (Jesse James) - I assume the "brother" part is related to the fact that he had a brother, Frank, who was also an outlaw, and not to any religious position Jesse may have held
54A: White Sox outfielder nicknamed Shoeless (Joe Jackson) - also one of my favorite pop musicians
10D: "Me and Bobby McGee" singer (Janis Joplin) - uh ... you know MCGEE is in the puzzle, right? 33D? OK. Just checking. Here's Janis singing one of my favorite songs. She sounds amazing.
24D: Longtime New York senator for whom a center is named (Jacob Javits) - finished this puzzle in 3:14 ... but then noticed I'd spelled JAVITZ thusly. Maybe the kids in Iowa spell it AMEZ ("Whazzup, AMEZ!?"), but sadly, maps do not.
Hardest part of the puzzle involved the JAYS. I had no idea they cawed. None. We get JAYS in our back yard. Never heard the caw. I think I was also dubious about the idea of JAYS crossing JAYE (18D: "The Gong Show" panelist _____ P. Morgan). Speaking of JAYE, even without the theme answers, there are a boatload of names in this puzzle. Too many for me to want to add up at the moment. I love names, but they can be stumbling blocks - you know 'em or you don't. JAYE could get younger (or much older) folks. HARVEY (46A: Politico Milk of "Milk") should have been reasonably easy, given that Sean Penn just won an Oscar for playing him. FALA (49A: Bo : Obama :: _____ : Roosevelt) is perhaps the most famous presidential dog ever ... oh wait. Checkers. But Nixon wasn't president then. What about the dog that LBJ picked up by the ears? [it was a beagle named "Him"] Hmmm, I'm sure someone has done a Top Ten list somewhere. Loved the fresh clue on FALA, at any rate (super duper fresh - the Obamas must have picked their dog when I was out of the country, which means only last week). The best name in the puzzle, by far, however, is JOJO (1D: "_____ left his home in Tucson, Arizona" (Beatles lyric)). "Get back, JOJO!"
Finally, there are far too many partials in this puzzle, especially for a Monday. I know that lots of Scrabbly letters force concessions, but with the iffy "YES, I KNOW" already in the grid, ALL OR, ME NO, and ON MY started getting on my nerves.
Bullets:
15A: Feminine suffix (enne) - went with ETTE. Seemed the more likely Monday answer.
38A: L.B.J. son-in-law Charles (Robb) - Forgot this completely. Charles Spittal ROBB, former VA senator.
35A: Googly-eyed Muppet (Elmo) - is he any more "googly-eyed" than the others? Do the others' eyes really not google?
40A: Cabalists' plans (plots) - "Cabalists" makes me think simultaneously of Kabbalah, Cannibals, and writer Caleb Carr.
45A: 19th-century educator Horace (Mann) - not your typical Monday MANN. Would have thought something in a Thomas or Manfred might be more likely.
59A: Discover by chance (hit on) - hmmm. HAPPEN ON, yes. HIT ON? Doesn't scream "chance" to me, but I can see how it might be used that way.
13D: Bowlers that don't bowl (hats) - Watched the "Flintstones" live-action movie "Viva Rock Vegas," dubbed into Spanish, in our hotel room in San Jose, CR. The fact that I got to watch Fred do his "Twinkletoes" bowling routine, and the fact that everyone was speaking Spanish, almost made this movie tolerable. Almost.
56D: Spherical breakfast cereal (Kix) - almost wrote in OAT, despite OAT's manifest non-spherical quality.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
My write-up of today's LAT puzzle can be found here.
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THEME: TV SET (41A: Boob tube (and a hint to 17- and 65-Across and 11- and 30-Down)) - four theme answers are two-word phrases where the two words begin with "T" and "V," respectively
Word of the Day:Franz LEHÁR (30 April 1870 – 24 October 1948), known in Hungarian as Lehár Ferenc, was an Austriancomposer of Hungarian descent, mainly known for his operettas. (wikipedia)
Solving time (on paper): 4:15
Wow, typing out that theme description gave me the weirdest sense of déjà vu. This is likely because I déjà vued a theme identical to this one - yesterday. That shouldn't count against this puzzle. Scheduling issues are hardly the constructor's fault. But the TV phrases here don't do much for me. TRIAL VENUE and TRAVEL VISA are zzzzzzzzz. Never heard of "TWO VIRGINS" (that answer should have been in the irony puzzle last week). Actual album title appears to be "Unfinished Music No. 1: TWO VIRGINS." The clear winner, theme answer-wise, is TRADER VIC'S, if only for its immortalization in the Warren Zevon song "Werewolves of London."
These theme phrases are all 10 letters long, which makes them easy to compartmentalize so that no piece of fill has to intersect more than one theme answer; this, in turn, means the grid would have been (comparatively) very easy to fill, but it also makes the grid very heavy on 3- to 5-letter words, which is why there's not a lot of zing outside of TRADER VIC'S. I like REPEATER a lot, both because it's unusual in the grid (despite all those common letters) and because it's a word solvers and constructors sometimes use to describe words that appear A LOT in crosswords, i.e. crosswordese. Examples of crossword REPEATERs in this puzzle include ASHE, ECCE, AGEE, EGRET, ETS, LEAR, ABLE, OBIT, UAE, TSAR, REDO, AMI, ARTE, EIRE, OSHA, and, of course, ENGR.
So, in preparation for the tournament (where my best advice is not to worry about time), I have decided to start solving exclusively on paper and timing myself. It's very easy to feel the speed bumps when you are speeding (as it is while driving, I suppose). Slowdowns today included:
TWO VIRGINS - really sucks not to be able to throw that first theme answer across the grid easily, especially when you've got the front end done
TRIAL VENUE - had the VENUE part and made it LEGAL VENUE. Not seeing the theme at all is one of the many perils of speeding.
LEHÁR (47D: "The Merry Widow" composer) - I am certain I've filled his name into grids before, but I came up blank on him today. Had the -HÁR and thought "... BEHAR? That can't be right."
LATVIA (52D: Riga's land) - this one stings, as RIGA (as I've said many times) is my favorite European capital. Turns out I hadn't been paying close attention to What Country It's In! HA ha. I had -VIA, and no country fitting that description would pop into my head. I just looked up the reason I have trouble placing certain countries on the map. BALTIC ... BALKAN ... BALTIC ... BALKAN ... I don't think they've ever been sufficiently sorted out in my brain ... until now. Maybe.
Theme answers:
17A: 1968 album by John Lennon and Yoko Ono ("Two Virgins")
I tried (briefly) to come up with other "TV" phrases. TUNNEL VISION was the best of the lot.
Bullets:
19A: Land of the so-called "Troubles" (Eire) - sad to admit I had no idea what this clue meant. Thankfully, I filled in EIRE without ever seeing the clue. As you all probably already know, the "Troubles" is the name given to the conflict surrounding the political and religious status of Northern Ireland (mid-60s thru late-80s).
35A: Word before Jordan or Canada (Air) - "Canada?" Really? After "Jordan" you're going with "Canada?" OK. 53A: Luxury Toyota make (Lexus) - a bit deceptive, this clue. It's not called the "Toyota Lexus," after all. 56A: Coffee, slangily (java) - mmm, I can taste it now. First thing I'm gonna do when I finish this write-up is make a pot. 71A: Norman who created "All in the Family" (Lear) - I wonder if people born after 1980 have any idea who this guy is. Very common name for anyone who watched TV in the 70s (guilty). 6D: Silly Putty holder (egg) - I remember playing with this stuff when I was 5 or 6. We would stick it to the funny pages, and the image would transfer to create mirror image replicas. It got old very quickly. Even for a six-year-old. 28D: _____ Motel ("Psycho" setting) (Bates) - Mmm, I love this movie something awful. The conversation between Tony Perkins and Janet Leigh (you know, right before she dies) is one of the most brilliant, hilarious, uncomfortable, and memorable scenes I've ever seen on screen. Taxidermy!
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
PS Tyler Hinman has a great puzzle in Wired Magazine this month. It features exactly the kind of tricksiness you're likely to see in at least one ACPTournament puzzle (even if the theme of Tyler's puzzle is a bit too geek-specific for an actual tournament puzzle). The puzzle is called "Data Corruption" - check it out here.
Bonus section - The Westport Crossword Tournament, 2009
Here are some photos and a brief write-up of this past weekend's tournament (provided by "chefbea"):
We all met at the Westport library around 12:15. We Rexites congregated around chefbea wearing t-shirt with imdave's puzzle imprinted on it. We registered and were given a slip of paper with our number which we had to put on each puzzle. We did three puzzles and had 20 minutes to do each one. While the judges were grading the puzzles Will Shorts entertained us with fun xword puzzle facts and a few word games. The three winners then came forward and they did the final puzzle, where Joon was declared the champion.
[Rexites from left to right : Ulrich, Mac, Karen, IMSDave, and chefbea in front wearing t-shirt with Puzzle constructed by IMSDave]
[Will Shortz entertaining us while the xwords are being scored]
Then the real fun began. We went back to Mac's house (some people got lost as you have heard). Had coffee and Beet brownies - then cocktails and good danish cheeses. Then off to dinner in Westport for good food, good wine, good beet salad and good friends.
[Beet brownies]
[Beet salad at dinner]
Everyone is looking forward to Brooklyn
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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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