THEME: Turn turn turn — three theme answers begin with a synonym of "turning"
Theme answers:
REVOLVING DOOR (20A: Job position in which no one lasts long)
WHIRLING DERVISH (37A: Seemingly mad Muslim monk)
SPINNING WHEEL (49A: Yarn-making device)
Word of the Day: LABAN (38D: Jacob's father-in-law, in the Bible) —
Laban (Hebrew: לָבָן, ModernLavanTiberianLāḇān ; "White") is the son of Bethuel, brother of Rebekah as described in the Book of Genesis. As such he is brother-in-law to Isaac and both father-in-law and uncle to Jacob. Laban and his family were described as dwelling in Paddan Aram, in Mesopotamia. Though the biblical text itself does not attest to this, Rabbinic sources also identify him as the father of Bilhah and Zilpah, the two concubines with whom Jacob also has children (Midrash Raba, Genesis 74:13 and elsewhere). (wikipedia)
• • •
Wow. 2:15. That's how long this took me to solve. That shatters my previous NYT record (of 2:36, I think), and I did it on Three Wines! Three Glasses To The Wind! Either a sober me would've broken 2 minutes, or 3 (wines) is the magic number (of wines). Hard to talk about a puzzle that I barely saw, but I'll try. The puzzle isn't bad so much as not really there. Theme seems very, very thin, not just in terms of real estate covered, but in terms of concept. Not much there. Fill is industry standard. Out of some textbook. Clue on REVOLVING DOOR is perhaps the most interesting thing about the puzzle, but I never saw it (seriously—I was on fire; what the hell is in this wine?). I did light up briefly upon hitting VONNEGUT (a very nice bit of fill) (39D: "Slaughterhouse-Five" novelist), but otherwise this puzzle just ... disappeared.
Here's what I remember: I got "hung up" at LABAN, largely because of spelling failure (I went with LEBAN, an error that ATTLEE (41A: British P.M. after Churchill) helped me easily clean up), and again at ZERO IN (10D: Take close aim), mainly because I had only the "IN" and thought it could be "HOME"—but ZACH took care of that problem (though ZACH had his own problem—K or H?: I guessed correctly). Today I encountered Adam Arkin in a puzzle (full name). He is Alan ARKIN's son. I think. Let me check. Yes. He was clued as an Emmy-nominated "Chicago Hope" actor. So [Actor Arkin] in four letters could be two people—just remember that; it'll probably be useful someday, some way.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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THEME: SIT (53D: Use the start of 17- or 50-Across or 11- or 25-Down?) — fronts of theme answers are objects on which one might SIT
Word of the Day: SMAZE (34D: Some air pollution) —
noun
A thick, heavy atmospheric condition offering reduced visibility because of the presence of suspended particles: brume, fog, haze, mist, murk. Seeclear/unclear. (answers.com)
• • •
Lousy Smarch weather! It snowed here yesterday. Snow. On Mother's Day. In Binghamton, NY. Freaky. No SMAZE, though. What The Hell?! I lived in southern California for years and I've never, ever heard of SMAZE. That is the looniest Monday word of the year, possibly of my entire blogging career. I kept googling SMAZE to see if I could find a real website where someone used it, in a sentence, unironically (band names and typos don't count). No luck. Isn't HAZE a good enough, vague enough word. Who thought, "here's a word we need... SMAZE!" In other answers I'd never heard of: George MEANY! No idea (6D: George who was the first president of the A.F.L. - C.I.O.). Got him from crosses OK, and unlike SMAZE, he appears to be real.
This theme is a sleeper, and not the good kid (like the Woody Allen movie of the same name, or the little movie that could, like "Breaking Away" or "Saw V"). I mean the 'zzzzz' kind. You can, indeed, SIT on those items. But two of the SITting places are literal — a BENCH WARMER actually sits on the bench, a COUCH POTATO actually sits (or lies) on the couch. But the STOOL PIGEON does not sit on the stool, and while a CHAIRPERSON may sit to chair a meeting, the CHAIR is metaphorical. This makes the latter two theme answers much, much better than the first two. Places to SIT used in non-SITting contexts. Mainly, though, the theme is just boring. The rest of the fill is pretty solid, though. No real complaints other than the big one you heard up front.
Theme answers:
17A: Second- or third-string player (BENCH WARMER)
11D: Boob tube lover (COUCH POTATO)
25D: Police informant (STOOL PIGEON)
50A: Presider at a meeting (CHAIRPERSON)
Here are the parts that made me hesitate at least a little (after SMAZE and MEANY). TIE .... what? CLIP? TAC(K)? I'm out of ideas. Got CLASP from crosses (9D: Man's jewelry item). Wrote in AEONS for MOONS (24D: Time periods lasting about 29 1/2 days). Clearly didn't read the clue too well on that one. Then there was NET, with a clue so awkwardly cross-referenced that I didn't even bother trying to piece it together — again, all from crosses (55D: What 51-Down connects to, with "the").
Bullets:
15A: Suffer ignominious defeat, in slang (EAT IT) — also a great parody song by Weird Al Yankovic
41A: One-horse town (PODUNK) — never get tired of this word. Seen it several times lately, always makes me happy.
54D: Suffix with schozz (-OLA) — this sounds like something somebody on "Happy Days" would have said, probably when talking about Al.
THEME: "Screw Edinburgh" — Theme answers are people whose last names are European capitals, except ELLEN GLASGOW, whose last name is just a big city
Word of the Day: ELLEN GLASGOW (33A: Virginia-born Pulitzer Prize novelist of 1942) —
Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow (April 22, 1873-November 21, 1945) was a Pulitzer Prize winning American novelist. Born in Richmond, VA, she published her first novel, The Descendant, in 1897, when she was 24 years old. With this novel, Glasgow began a literary career encompassing four and a half decades that comprised 20 novels, a collection of poems, short stories, and a book of literary criticism. Her autobiography, A Woman Within, appeared posthumously in 1954. (wikipedia)
• • •
This felt way harder than the average Monday puzzle, but my final time suggests it was only slightly harder (3:37). Any time you've *never heard of* half the theme answers and still get in and out in anywhere close to your average time, you should consider yourself lucky, I guess. HAROLD ROME has a vague ring of familiarity to it, but ELLEN GLASGOW? No way. I got nothing. Picked up her last name because I saw the theme (this *rarely* happens on Mondays — using the theme to solve the puzzle ... usually just going too fast). She's out of place here, not just in terms of contemporary fame (I'm guessing ROME has some fame among Broadway aficionados), but in terms of her name not being like the others. Not a capital. This puzzle feels old-fashioned, not just in terms of its content (all people whose fame was achieved over 60 years ago), but in terms of its theme type. Last names are all cities ... yawn. This theme *has* to have been done before, somewhere, by someone, possibly (probably) in the days before databases started being kept. Fill is OK. I will remember the name ELLEN GLASGOW, so I guess that's something. Coincidence: I did this puzzle immediately after reading a review of the new biography of Muriel Spark (an actual famous writer). She was born in ... Edinburgh.
Theme answers:
17A: Broadway lyricist/composer who wrote "I Can Get It for You Wholesale" (HAROLD ROME)
33A: Virginia-born Pulitzer Prize novelist of 1942 (ELLEN GLASGOW)
42A: "God Bless America" composer (IRVING BERLIN)
61A: "The Call of the Wild" author (JACK LONDON)
You hear an ECHO when you say "Anybody home?" How big is your damned house? I don't mind a couple of partials in a 15x15 grid, but I wish they didn't both have "ON" in them (see ON OR, ON A). Oh, but I guess there are Many more partials, technically (A CASE, A LA, A TO, yeesh). I think of WOLFMAN (5D: One who changes for during a full moon) as a specific character (owned by Universal) — the general term is, of course, WEREWOLF. [Dweebs] => TWERPS doesn't quite compute for me. I'm not quite up on my bandleaders of the '20s-'30s, so "NOLA" was all from crosses (24D: Theme song of bandleader Vincent Lopez). There were also many times when I just misfired: FDIC for GMAC (10D: Auto financing inits.), MISTER for SISTER (55A: "You said it, ___!"), MYNAH for MACAW (1A: Noisy bird), and, most pathetically, ADAZE for WOOZY (7D: Mentally unclear).
Bullets:
29A: Gas log fuel (PROPANE) — I looked at this clue and couldn't make anything of it. It was like three random words were having a tea party. Didn't get that "gas log" was one unit.
50A: Japanese site of the 1972 Winter Olympics (SAPPORO) — Saw only the "Japanese" part of the clue and filled it in (had a few crosses in place). Thought clue might have read [Japanese beer], which is how I know SAPPORO. Oh, I also know it because of the common OBI clue [SAPPORO sash].
35D: Is low around the waist, as pants (SAGS) — didn't like this because a. the phrasing on the clue is just awkward ("Is low...?"), and b. it's not really true — "low" pants aren't even close to the waist. They're down the hips or (on some young men) even lower.
THEME: Like a Dimwit — theme answers are all two-word phrases in which the first word can be a synonym for "unintelligent"
Word of the Day: HOOSEGOW (37D: Lockup) — n.Slang.
A jail.
[Spanish juzgado, tribunal, courtroom, from past participle of juzgar, to judge, from Latin iūdicāre, from iūdex, iūdic-, judge. See judge.]
A very tight theme with excellent, interesting theme answers. The non-theme fill, however, is kind of not great. It's almost all 4- and 5-letter words, so admittedly it's not going to be easy to make it all exciting, but this puzzle is just drenched in tired fill. The word, I think, is LAZY (10A: Indolent). Take that LAZY corner (the NE). Two proper nouns, both of which are not-very-famous people whose noteworthy achievements are long past, plus the suffix -AROO, all equals yuck. Too much crutchy stuff. I think ARIE is what really tips it to bad up there. YOST (13D: Dennis _____ and the Classics IV (1960s-'70s group))and AROO (16A: Suffix with buck) put that corner at its compromise-fill limit. Actually, YOST might be just fine on its own, but the inclusion of ARIE makes the corner just too weird-namey. Plus, that ARIE clue reeks of mothballs (11D: 1997 Indy 500 winner _____ Luyendyk). There's a talented and reasonably popular singer named India.ARIE — using her wouldn't have fixed things completely, but it would have made that corner slightly more palatable.
Without much effort, I redid the NE a couple times:
LEWD ALOE BIKE REST and
LUTZ ALOE BEGS REST
... neither of them great (who wants to see ULEE again? Answer: no one), but both of them better (IMHO). A quick trip around the grid shows more ETNA-ORE-AXLE-type stuff, everywhere. Some would say "who cares? Mondays are about good themes and this one's good." And that's fine. I disagree. Easy puzzles are harder to make (well!) than most solvers think, and the best constructors take the time to minimize the crosswordese and make sure the fill is smooooooth throughout.
Theme answers:
3D: Crockpot (SLOW cooker)
21A: Thick growth of trees (DENSE forest)
29D: Tray transporter (DUMB waiter)
49A: It's more than 90 degrees (OBTUSE angle) — I (obtusely) tripped over this one; had the "angle" part at the end and wrote in ... TRIANGLE.
Two more criticisms, a minor and a major. The minor — I admired the pick-up of the BARA / SILENT connection in 44D: Like 33-Down's films, just as I admired the NW intersection of the words in the phrase TASTE / TEST (1D: With 1-Across, Coke vs. Pepsi competition, e.g.). But is there a limit on the number of cross-references you can do? Because dear god you crossed (literally) DELLA (18A: Perry Mason's secretary _____ Street) with her creator (ERLE Stanley Gardner) and didn't mention the connection. Weird. That's not really a criticism, I guess, since a failure to cross-reference doesn't diminish the puzzle in any way. It's just a missed opportunity. So here's the criticism: the worst answer in the puzzle, for me, was "N.A.S." (45A: 1980s TV's "Emerald Point _____"). I don't know where to begin. How about the fact that I live and breathe 80s TV and have never heard of this. How about the fact that it ran exactly one season, and thus was on television for less than 6 months, from Sep. 1983 to Mar. 1984. How about the fact that (rightly, wisely) the NYT hasn't touched this clue for NAS in a decade. There is a super famous rapper named NAS, and he has largely taken over NAS duties. When the puzzle wants something a little less familiar, it will go for the "Naval Air Station" abbr., but only late-week, and never via this less-famous-than-"HEC Ramsey" TV show. Why not go with the rapper NAS here? If that's too much rap for one puzzle, then just reclue NATE Dogg (who is far, far less well known than NAS) to NATE the Great or NATE Archibald or something. Ugh. But if you find none of the above objections to "Emerald Point N.A.S." compelling, perhaps this one will stick — the "S" in "N.A.S." stands for "STATION" and in this puzzle, N.A.S. crosses ... STAS, the abbreviation for "STATIONS."
On the up side, HOOSEGOW is a phenomenal answer.
Bullets:
2D: Montreal baseballers, 1969-2004 (Expos) — bound to make at least one north-of-the-border reader I know defend this puzzle to the death
23A: Former Ford compacts (Escorts) — more obtuseness on my part, as I had the ESC- part and wrote in ESCAPES. Ford makes an ESCAPE. It is the Opposite of a "compact."
21D: Beat badly (drub) – this is what I would call "Good 4-Letter Fill"; I like WREST too, as shorter fill goes; lively, active, vivid, real words.
22D: German-made car since 1899 (Opel) — OPEL : OPAL :: OREL : ORAL
57D: "Do Ya" group, for short (ELO) — let's round things off with a "Do Ya" / "Hey Ya" double feature:
THEME: Chuck it - all theme answers all have a [verb meaning 'throw'] + A + [noun] structure
Word of the Day: PICAYUNE (6D: Petty) - adj.
of little value: PALTRY, MEASLY
concerned with trifling matters; petty, narrow, or small-minded in point of view
As a noun, PICAYUNE refers to a Spanish half real piece formerly current in Louisiana and other southern states; also, something very small or of the least value (Webster's 3rd Intl)
A very easy puzzle with a forgettable theme but some great, great fill, especially for a Monday. LOOK MA (38A: Words cried before "No hands!"), it's PICAYUNE. PICAYUNE is dazzling stuff - why can't more early-week puzzles rock crazy-looking (and yet reasonably familiar) fill like that? I mean ... this puzzle is a @#$ing pangram! On a Monday? And it was still a Monday-level puzzle in terms of difficulty (I finished in a fast-for-me 3:06). The Scrabbly stuff didn't feel forced, it just felt entertaining. I'm really, really impressed. Wish the theme did more for me, but on a Monday, I guess I really don't care. I just want the grid to shine, and this one did.
Theme answers:
20A: Fix part of dinner with lettuce, carrots, peppers, etc. (toss a salad) - the phrase "tossed salad" is forever ... tainted, for me, by a Chris Rock routine wherein he explains what it means to "toss someone's salad" in prison. Lettuce is not involved.
10D: Participate on Election Day (cast a vote)
36D: Show childish anger (throw a fit)
58A: Prepare to camp (pitch a tent)
Back to the interesting fill: CHISOX is a great baseball word (48D: Longtime Comiskey Park team, informally). I like it much more than BOSOX, despite my great love for the Red Sox as a team. CHISOX is sassy and out-of-the-ordinary, grid-wise, without being made-up or overly old-timey. LOOFAH is another cool word, and one I knew instantly but had trouble spelling (38D: Sponge used in a 39-Across). LU, LOU, LOOFAS, no, it's not plural you idiot, etc. Strangely, my only detectable slow-downs occurred there and at 1A, where nothing but nothing would come to me for 1A: Point the finger at (blame) except ACCUSE. I didn't pick it up until the third cross fell into place. Ugh. Otherwise, this thing went down fast. Two things that helped speed me up considerably. First, somehow AZORES just came to me (43A: Islands west of Portugal). I know it's not exactly a hard clue, but usually with islands and rivers I haven't actually visited, I need at least a cross or two. AZORES I got off just the "S." Second, there was EDA (44D: Psychologist/writer LeShan), whom I, and many others, know only because of crosswords. Her name is custom-made for the grid. She is first tier, prime choice, grade A crosswordese.
Bullets:
40A: Retail giant selling dog food, birdcages and such (Petco) - where we buy our pet stuff. I don't like their logo, which I have feelings about only because I found myself staring at it for a long time two days ago as the dogs and I waited in the car for my wife to get the dog food. It's mainly the dog's right ear that bothers me - half lame umbrella, half cat-brain probe. See for yourself:
21A: Bacon units (strips) - This clue makes me laugh. I don't eat bacon anymore, but I think you all should replace "strips" with "units." Does bacon come in "slabs?" I considered "slabs." I feel like there's another "S" word for bacon units, but I can't think of it.
56D: Astronaut Shepard or Bean (Alan) - Bean? I know Orson Bean and Mr. Bean, but not this astronaut. When did he do his astronauting? Hey, he walked on the moon the same month I was born. Cool.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
New blog dedicated to the LA Times puzzle starts today: "L.A. Crossword Confidential." Rotating authors (I'm one of them). Aimed particularly at novice and casual solvers. We'll see what comes of it.
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Solving time: 5:32 THEME: BOWLS (39A) - four theme entries are all two-word phrases, the first word of which is also the title of a College Football Bowl Game: ROSE GARDEN (3D), ORANGE CRUSH (53A), COTTON CANDY (21A), and SUGAR SHACK (30D)
I just spent an hour tearing up my house trying to find a stupid little piece of paper - I was unsuccessful. So I feel like I am losing my mind, which is always a good way to start the New Year. In order to mellow out, I decided I'd do the puzzle (somehow it always surprises me when Monday's puzzle appears so early on Sunday evening - you'd think I'd be used to it by now). And I can't say doing the puzzle relaxed me (I'm never happy if I'm over 5 minutes), but it sure took my mind off my early-onset dementia. The piece of paper itself is totally replaceable - it's just the idea that I would lose something that drives me Crazy. There are few things I hate more than losing things. I thought Crosswords were supposed to Sharpen your mental faculties. Where is the payoff!?
1A: Mrs. Dithers of the comics (Cora)
Man, not knowing 1A on a Monday is just a horrible feeling. And I'm supposed to Know Something about comics. Ugh. Um, this woman is Dagwood Bumstead's boss's wife, which I deem obscure, thereby eliminating my state of self-loathing for blanking on this answer. For future reference, [Red Sox infielder] will do the job for CORA. Or did they trade him? Nope, he's signed through 2008, despite his crappy batting statistics.
9A: County, in Britain (shire)
Why didn't I know this right off the bat? Probably because I try to put all Hobbit / LOTR-related things far, far out of my mind whenever possible. Again, a better clue (for my sensibilities) would be [Actress Talia].
25A: "It's not easy _____ green" (bein')
No "g," eh? OK. I nearly went past this one, thinking "BEING is five letters," but then the thought of clipping the word, hick-style, occurred to me, and I decided, rightly, to risk it. The greenness here is synesthetically echoed in the SW by 59A: Cape _____ Islands (Verde). I like that VERDE is sitting just under the ORANGE in ORANGE CRUSH, as ORANGE is my favorite color, while VERDE is my wife's.
33D: President before Taylor (Polk)
Everything I know about James K. Polk can be found right here.
53D: "Metamorphoses" poet (Ovid)
I don't have anything particular to say about Ovid (whom I love, as you know), but since he's here, I thought, why not add a little light to your lives, and this new year, by giving you a little taste of his genius. One of the great things about "Metamorphoses" is the opening Creation story, which has many many Biblical parallels, including God (Jove) going all Wrath and Vengeance on the stupid, wicked human beings. Like Lycaon (whom Jove has just turned into a wolf, the poem's first metamorphosis), humankind is greedy and self-worshiping and needs to be taken down. Or out. So like the Hebrew God, Jove, after toying with the idea of fire, brings down a world-destroying flood. "So now Jove set his mind to the deletion / Of these living generations" The translation is from Ted Hughes, and I love Hughes's modern phrasing, as well as his wickedly effective capacity for understatement. "Deletion," like Jove is going to wipe out humanity with his keyboard. His rendering of the final lives of Ovid's flood story are (like all good poetry) truly horrifying:
Birds grow tired of the air. The ocean, with nowhere else to go, Makes its bed in the hills, Pulling its coverlet over bare summits.
While starvation picks off the survivors.
Drowned mankind, imploring limbs outspread, Floats like a plague of dead frogs.
5D: Like many evangelicals (reborn)
Hmmm, I guess this is right. "Born again" is the more common phrase, but the gist of the meaning is the same. According to Wikipedia, there are Lots of different meanings for REBORN. Here is my favorite.
14A: Breakfast chain (IHOP) 2D: "Gone With the Wind" surname (O'Hara)
IHOP wants into the Pantheon. What a coincidence - I want into IHOP, nearly every day of my life. I'm not sure why I didn't kick off the New Year this morning by eating my way under the table at IHOP. Maybe this weekend. I like that my favorite restaurant chain intersects with one of my very favorite authors - two of my favorite authors, actually. I know it's clued to GWTW, but O'HARA to me means John (novelist) and Frank (poet), unrelated except in their greatness. John wrote novel after novel about the habits, mores, and rituals of Eastern Pennsylvanians - I know that doesn't sound hot, but the guy has the sharpest eye for detail and the sharpest ear for dialogue and I could open nearly any one of his novels at random and start reading, with pleasure. Frank O'HARA was a major mid-century poet who was very very involved in the modern art scene in Manhattan (friends with De Kooning, among others). He died in a freak dune buggy accident on Fire Island. It's true. Like you'd want that on your obit. Anyway, his poems are gorgeous, if often hard to make sense of. Best of all, he was obsessed with and wrote many poems about the color ORANGE:
Frank O'Hara, "Having A Coke With You" (1960)
is even more fun than going to San Sebastian, Irún, Hendaye, Biarritz, Bayonne or being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Gracia in Barcelona partly because in your orange shirt you look like a better happier St. Sebastian partly because of my love for you, partly because of your love for yoghurt partly because of the fluoresent orange tulips around the birches partly because of the secrecy our smiles take on before people and statuary it is hard to believe when I'm with you that there can be anything as still as solemn as unpleasantly definitive as statuary when right in front of it in the warm New York 4 o'clock light we are drifting back and forth between each other like a tree breathing through its spectacles
and the portrait show seems to have no faces in it at all, just paint you suddenly wonder why in the world anyone ever did them
I look
at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world except possibly for the Polish Rider occasionally and anyway it's in the Frick which thank heavens you haven't gone to yet so we can go together the first time and the fact that you move so beautifully more or less takes care of Futurism just as at home I never think of the Nude Descending a Staircase or at a rehearsal a single drawing of Leonardo or Michelangelo that used to wow me and what good does all the research of the Impressionists do them when they never got the right person to stand near the tree when the sun sank or for that matter Marino Marini when he didn't pick the rider as carefully as the horse
it seems they were all cheated of some marvellous experience
which is not going to go wasted on me which is why I am telling you about it
Happy 2007, everyone.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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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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