Ryan and Brian do Crosswords

In the comments for Karen Tracey’s puzzle yesterday, two people mentioned their appreciation for her work. This is not uncommon — her puzzles are delightful. And furthermore, the serious solvers out there actually can recognize the differences in style from one constructor to another.

I cannot. At least, not yet. But five months ago, I couldn’t solve a Monday puzzle in less than twenty minutes, so I’m clearly not so old a dog that I can’t learn a trick or two. Lately, I’ve been practicing puzzles by going more or less chronologically through much of the Will Shortz era of puzzles (courtesy of the New York Times archive, which goes back to 1996), but now I wonder if I should try certain constructors, and see if I can’t learn more about techniques and what personalizes a puzzle. I can do this with music — I  can identify certain choices in composition and associate them with certain composers; I’m sure the same can be done with puzzles, right?

I say all this only because I recognized the name of Sunday’s constructor, Brendan Emmett Quigley, and recalled not only enjoying his “Truthiness” puzzle of a few weeks ago, but that at the time, I read (somewhere) that Mr. Quigley had certain elements to his work that stood out against the general masses.

A note to our readers: Send me an email or a comment about this. I’d love to know what some of you think about specific constructors — not whether you like or dislike them, but about certain characteristics that you can identify with any particular constructor. The phone lines are open. Comment here, or email me at rbxblog@gmail.com.

Anyway — onto Mr. Quigley’s puzzle. The title, What The H?, tells me… well, very little. I assume it has something to do with the letter H, but I don’t know what. And unfortunately for me, my first theme fill taught me the wrong trick. 77A. Iceland? turns out to be ISLE OF WHITE. I incorrectly remembered that the correct spelling was Isle of Wite, and here I figured, oh, we’re going to add an H and then make it mean something new. (HINT: It’s “Isle of Wight,” so my theory, while a fine one in it’s own right, was off the mark.) Instead, we’re using homonyms — Wight becomes White — and the meaning thus shifts. Other theme entries:

• 22A. V.I.P. in a limo? : WHEELED AUTHORITY (wield)
• 36A. Stories about halting horses? : TALES OF WHOA (woe)
• 58A. Causes of meteorological phenomena? : WEATHER WHYS (wise) — I’m not sure of this one. The original (non-homonymed) entry would be “weather-wise,” right? I’m a little foggy on how this makes sense (hee, hee, foggy).
• 98A. Barrier Ahab stands behind? : WHALING WALL (wailing) — I was an idiot here, as my brain decided to tell the rest of me that this clue was about some guy named “Barrier Ahab.” Like that was his super-hero name or something. Not, as it should have been, “We are looking for the name of a barrier, one which Captain Ahab would stand behind.”
• 115A. Cry after writing a particularly fun column? : THE EDITORIAL WHEE! (we) — This was my favorite of the bunch. Just delightful.
• 16D. 45, e.g.? : WHIRLED RECORD (world)
• 57D. Where ax murderers’ weapons are on display? : WHACKS MUSEUMS (wax)

Did I leave any out? Seems like that’s the list.

I’ve got no more detail to detail today, as I must get back to work. Hope you’re having a great long weekend. See you Monday!

But isn’t almost no-Googling a puzzle sort of like being almost pregnant? It’s binary — it either is, or it isn’t. I either no-Googled the puzzle or I didn’t. Simple as that.

I didn’t.

On the map of the proposed metro lines in Delhi (courtesy of Maps of India), my trouble occurred around Mangolpuri, with the clue 19A. Serbian provincial capital on the Danube. It would be nice to think that any of the four characteristics used in this clue would be at all helpful. But they’re not I have heard of Serbia, yes. I know what both “provincial” and “capital” mean, yes. And I’m aware that the Danube is a river. I first became aware of it courtesy of the song “The Blue Danube,” the music of which was featured in some video game I had for my Commodore 64 a thousand years ago. (Howard Barkin? You claim to not know all things, but you also claim expertise [or at least significant interest] in ancient video games — any idea where, in the wide world of the Commodore 64, I would have heard “The Blue Danube”?)

Oh yes. The answer was NOVISAD, a city so popular, it doesn’t have its own Wikipedia entry. Oh wait, yes it does. Apparently, it’s NOVI SAD, not NOVISAD. It’s the capital of Vojvodina. It’s about halfway between Timisoara and Tuzla. I have no idea what I’m saying.

My other trouble spot (which I fixed by checking answers at JimH’s site, the greatest New York Times crossword website in the universe) was down near Palam Farms, extending all the way to just south of Vasant Kunj. The clue, 57A. Less than upstanding left me befuddled. I couldn’t get my head away from upstanding in terms of being morally strong, ethically noble. All the things I pretend I am. Instead, they really just meant “standing.” Less than standing. SEMI-ERECT. I had a wrong answer for 55D. Prefix with tour (ECO, not ENO — neither makes much sense to me) and 47D. 1970s Big Apple mayor (Abraham BEAME) was way before my New York years (yeah, right, as if that would have made a difference to this politically indifferent idiot).

On a brighter note, I had very quick fills on some of the longer answers:

• [from Vikas Puri to the Pusa Institute] 24A. 1999 comedy featuring aliens called Thermians : GALAXY QUEST – What a great movie. I was so reluctant to see this film, because I was stupid. I had in my head that “Galaxy Quest” actually used to be a television show, and that this movie was a pathetic attempt to revitalize a dead franchise with a dumb movie (see “Lost In Space” or anything else like it). When I finally saw it (my sister had a “Galaxy Quest” party), I was floored. What fun. Brilliant script. Terrific performances across the board. It’s one of my wife’s favorite films. If you haven’t seen it, you must. Immediately.“Let’s get out of here before one of those things kills Guy!”
• [from Connaugal Place down to the Welcome Sheraton] 26D. One who asks a lot : QUIZ MASTER – Although I had QUESTIONER here at first, I decided almost immediately (and without any crossings to encourage me) that QUESTIONER was a lame word, and that QUIZ MASTER was much more cleverer. Last night, I saw bits of my favorite episode of “Friends,” which was the one where Chandler and Joey win a bet against Monica and Rachel, and they all switch apartments. The bet was won via a quiz show (designed and narrated by Ross) in which they all have to answer questions about each other.
• [along Wazhabad Rd.] 18A. Supposed tools of the Devil : IDLE HANDS – A terrible movie not based on a television show.
• [Humayun’s tomb] 37D. Invasive Japanese import : KUDZU – Why did I know this?
• [north of Rontak Rd.] 17A. Lemony Snicket’s count and one of Snoopy’s brothers : OLAFS – I knew OLAF, and couldn’t figure out how it was five letters. That’s how much it’s after two in the morning. Incidentally, if you’ve listened to Fill Me In #18, you’ve heard the actual singing voice of Lemony Snicket. No joke.

Okay, it’s late and I’m hungry again, which means it’s past my bedtime. More tomorrow, perhaps. Have a good one. See you Sunday!

Happy Independence Day! What did you do to celebrate your independence? I went to Yankee Stadium to watch the Boston Red Sox win their second in a row against the Bronx Bombers. The game suffered an 88-minute rain delay, but my BoSox came through, winning 6-4. A couple fluky plays occurred, highlighted by a bizarre Kevin Youkilis triple courtesy of Johnny Damon not quite catching a fly ball to left. He sno-coned the ball into his glove, but it bounced out — and sat on the edge of the wall for a few seconds before slowly rolling back onto the field. By the time anyone knew what had happened, Youk drove in two with the triple.

In other (more pertinent?) news, John Underwood designed a very Wednesday-ish puzzle for July 4th. It had a theme, some easy answers, and I did it in record Friday time (8:49). I shouldn’t really count it as a Friday, as it is now a record that I will never break, but what can you do. Today is Friday, and voila.

28A. Subject of this puzzle was America’s favorite composer, JOHN PHILIP SOUSA. He was known as THE MARCH KING (55A. Soubriquet for 28-Across), and composed AMERICA FIRST (20A. 1916 work by 28-Across) and STARS AND STRIPES (48A. Title subject of a 28-Across work). An obvious choice for today’s holiday, but no matter, I still enjoyed it. We also had an unusual present in the puzzle, which was a single answer repeated three times in the grid: 13D. Start of a patriotic cheer, 40A. Middle of a patriotic cheer and 61D. End of a patriotic cheer collectively became USA! USA! USA! Very cute.

There was a puzzle once that I saw that may have also been a July 4th idea, where USA all fit in single squares scattered throughout the grid. I think that was the first multiple-letters-in-a-single-square kind of puzzle I ever saw. (Remember, I only started doing crosswords in February.) If someone like Doug Peterson or JimH happens to know when that puzzle was published (you people are so freakin’ smart, I am scared to reference you by name!), I’ll link to it here.

I have obviously foregone my standard color scheme in favor of a more patriotic motif. For those of you squirming uncomfortably in your seats, fret not. I will return to the soothing shades of orange and brown tomorrow. Or Sunday. Or whenever I post again.

Our latest podcast is up, and the post there contains links to the first crossword puzzle created by the team of experts (i.e.: Brian) here at Ryan and Brian do Crosswords. Enjoy!

See you Saturday… Or perhaps next week sometime.

Episode 18 comes to you early, courtesy of both Ryan’s vacation schedule and Brian’s work responsibilities, the combination of which makes it impossible to do another episode for at least, say, seven years.

Despite only four puzzles’ worth of material, we continue to defy all laws of physics by still filling nearly forty minutes without saying much of anything. Between Ryan being awake for over twenty hours and Brian being awake for just under twenty minutes, the episode serves as a meeting of the sleep-deprived. We offer:

• Tentative date set for Lolla-Puzzoolla 2008!
• Viewers call in during the show, but hang up before we can talk to them!
• Absolutely no mention of Dan Feyer, Winner of the C Division! (we think.)
• Plus: lots of food mention, shout-outs to Brian’s parents, a special musical treat, and more exclamation marks than we deserve!

Last and possibly least, we offer the very first crossword constructed by our very own think tank here at Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords. It’s not very gimmicky, but there is a theme of sorts running throughout. It’s available here (in .PUZ format for Across Lite users) and here (in .PDF format for those who just want to print it out). This puzzle was created in honor of Amanda, Unparalleled Parallel Verse Engineer, who named our show. She is, however, not mentioned anywhere in the puzzle. C’est la sômèthiñg.

Thanks for tuning in to this week’s episode of Fill Me In. Enjoy!

 

 Fill Me In #018 [36:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Opening music courtesy of The New Group, Wesleyan University, 1992 (no copyright [maybe?], and therefore no infringement [we hope]). Music and lyrics (possibly) by Daniel Handler. Performers (listed in the order they were sitting for the photo in the cassette jacket): Max Zener, Krysten Morganti, Adam Hirsch, Jeff Kwan, Karen Caplan, Kate Gordon, Michael King, Emy Johnson, Carrie Fischer, Marit Alanen, Daniel Handler, Ginger McManus, Jason Zolov, Brian Cimmet

According to http://www.xwordinfo.com (our favorite source for New York Times crossword information), today’s puzzle was Keith Talon’s New York Times debut. And what a great debut it was! I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle. The theme was mistakes, it seems, and three themed answers had one each:

• 20A. What this answer could use? : PROOFREADINNG
• 37A. Like this answer’s error : TYPOGRPAHICAL
• 53A. This answer contains one : MISPELLED WORD

I wonder about the clues, though — why did 20A merit a question mark? I’m trying to learn more about clue construction, and this one baffles me. It’s not like 20A is more of an actual question, is it? I’m a little mystified.

But the truth is that very little mystified me here. It was a gradual solve with no real dead spots for me. I’m no Dan Feyer or Howard Barkin, but my 7:31 time is quite respectable. The only trouble I really had was in the Pay-By-Space Parking Lot off of Meldrum Street (on a map of the Colorado State University campus), where I thought I was reading about 9D when actually I read the clue 4D. One of the “Cosby Show” kids. I was trying to remember all their names — Denise, Theo, Vanessa, Rudy — and none of them had five letters! But wait — there was the oldest one, the one who really looked like she must have had a different father, she was so almost-a-white-girl, the one who only lasted about two episodes before she went off “to college” or something. SONIA!

Needless to say, I had the wrong clue in mind for that spot. 9D was Pasta choice (PENNE), which is hardly SONIA. As a matter of fact, upon further research, the oldest Huxtable girl was SONDRA anyway. No five-letter kids in that family. (The correct answer to 4D was THEO, by the way). And believe it or not, Sabrina Le Beauf (who played Sondra) turned fifty this year.

There seemed to be an inordinately large number of fill-in-the-blank clues today. Experts — was this true? Or am I crazy? We had:

• 1A. “___ Si Bon” (1950s Eartha Kitt hit) : C’EST
• 15A. ___ bar : TIKI
• 44A. “Sweet ___” : DREAMS
• 51A. “Years ___…” : AGO – These last two, why in quotes? Is “sweet dreams” more commonly known as a quote and not just a phrase? And whence cometh the great statement, “Years ago…”? Both phrases are awfully generic, and the quotes only misled me. I know, I know, it’s a Thursday, but still. Quotes?
• 52A. ___ Jemison, first black woman in space : MAE – I never heard of her. But she was the only real astronaut ever to appear on Star Trek.
• 64A. “___ Eyes” (1969 hit) : THESE – Thank god for the 1969 clue. Because I’ve still never heard of the song, and if I had, I probably wouldn’t need to know what year it came from.
• 6D. Long-___ : LIVED
• 13D. ___-Julie, Que. : STE
• 31D. “Was it ___ I saw?” (classic palindrome) : A RAT – Here, I’m grateful for the extra info. I was able to plug in A-AT immediately.
• 51D. “Hawaii ___” (island song) : ALOHA – But here, however, the extra info is useless. The quotes should be enough to tell me that it’s a title of something or at least an oft-spoken phrase (according to the standards set at 44A and 51A). I only guessed ALOHA because it’s one of the two Hawaiian words I know (”poi” is the other).
• 58D. ___-di-dah : LAH

Down near Pitkin Street and part of Summit Hall was one of my favorite foods of all-time: 61A. Hanukkah staple (LATKE). My father makes the best latkes. Also, when I was in college, I learned (and performed) a song called “I’m A Little Latke” in which I had a solo line, “eating all the latkes up.” Maybe I’ll teach it to Ryan, and he can sing it on the next podcast. Especially considering my ability to post pictures of me eating crossword food seems to be a failed project. (Doesn’t that picture look delicious?)

Now, right in the Hartshorn Health Center was an answer I could guess, but certainly have never heard before in this context: 30D. It “hits the spot” per an old jingle. Can you guess it? PEPSI. Who knew? On a search for that radio ad, I came across this print ad, which I like even better.

On the subject of soda artwork, I implore all of you to help me find an image of an old Fresca can, circa late 1970s. I have a vague memory of it, but a memory that fades every time I find an image that isn’t what I’m looking for. Can you help? I think it was yellow and green, or maybe green and white, and the name fresca was in all lower-case letters, maybe Helvetica. I was very young, and my knowledge of fonts was limited.

Ryan and I may be doing a surprise mid-week podcast sometime today since this weekend looks rather impossible for us to fit a studio session into our schedules. To all of you who have been tuning in — thank you! We enjoy filling your heads with random noise once a week. Stay with us! We promise to be at least one-third as funny next week as we were last week. Or your money back.

See you Friday!

Hey all, Ryan here. This will be my last post until after the weekend. The Wife and I are celebrating 10 years together and will be spending the holiday up in Martha’s Vineyard where I’m hoping it won’t rain the whole time. 10 years! Unbelievable. I’ll have no computer access so I’m not sure I’ll get to even do the puzzles much less blog about them. Does anybody know if the Times up there has the first run puzzles? But I’ll be back blogging in time for Tuesday’s puzzle.

I, too, enjoyed this puzzle. Definitely my favorite one of the week so far. I’m a big fan of the self-referential clues. But I’m also stumped by that question mark on the first theme answer. The puzzle took me a while but I eventually got it without additional help. Lots of stuff in here I didn’t know but overall a perfect difficulty for a Thursday.

17A. 1958 World Cup hero (PELE). People really like soccer. I don’t know anything about it. I’ve been trying to think of other soccer players I’m aware of. I’ve come up with Mia Hamm (married to a Dodger), Alexi Lalas (not really sure who he is) and David Beckham (one of the most famous people in the universe). That’s about it. I honestly don’t think I could name another professional soccer player if my life depended on it.  Are there any others?

28A. Alaska vacation destination (DENALI).  Because I’m kind of an idiot, I thought Denali was somewhere in Africa.  Not the case.  I’ll tell you what it is though, it’s Alaskan and it’s spectacular.

7D. Company founded by Ingvar Kamprad (IKEA).  There are two types of products at Ikea.  The stuff you use forever and can’t believe how cheap you got it for.  And the stuff that you want to burn 5 minutes after putting it together but you’ve bought it, you don’t want to drive all the way back to return it so you deal with it until you can afford something that doesn’t make your houseguests wonder if you and your wife have lost your minds.  We have examples of both in our apartment.

26D. Dudley Do-Right’s girlfriend (NELL).  Did anybody see the Dudley Do-Right movie?  I’m guessing it was horrible.

54D. “The Dukes of Hazzard” spinoff (ENOS).  I actually remember watching the first episode of this show.  Some scene where he’s either getting off a plane or getting on a plane.  I can’t imagine why they thought Enos was a character interesting enough to have his own show.  The only thing I remember about him was he lusted after Daisy Duke.  Find out all the latest Enos news at: http://www.sonnyshroyer.com/

So Brian and I are indeed doing a mid-week podcast later today since I’ll be gone all weekend and Brian leaves town on Monday.  And we’ve received some great responses and suggestion regarding our puzzling get together, dubbed LollaPuzzoola 2008 by Amanda, the Unparalleled Verse Engineer.  I’m hoping to nail down the actual date on the podcast.  It will probably be a Saturday in August.  And when I get back from the Vineyard I’ll get into the nuts and bolts of getting it together.

Next stop, sometime next week. 

After yesterday’s “Tuesday” puzzle, I was scared to venture into Wednesday’s fare. However, it seems that Mr. Shortz may have mixed up his days, as I solved Wednesday’s grid in about 25 seconds less than it took Dan Feyer (winner of the C Division) to complete Tuesday’s. Go figure.

Our theme answers today begin at a very unusual spot, 17-Across. </sarcasm>

• 17A. *1986 Newman/Cruise film : THE COLOR OF MONEY
• 26A. *Ritzy delicacy : BELUGA CAVIAR
• 44A. *Showboating type : GRANDSTANDER
• 57A. Dr. Seuss book… or a description of the answers to the three starred clues : GREEN EGGS AND HAM

Cute. Very Tuesday-ish, in my wholly uneducated opinion, but still plenty fun. I got most of the theme answers right off, without much crossing help (GRANDSTANDER needed a few hints), and the rest of the fill was suitably fine.

…Okay, I’ll admit something here. I accidentally navigated away from the puzzle (on the applet). I don’t feel like solving it a second time (Grand Theft Auto IV is calling my name from the other room — yes, I’m a loser), so I’m going to sign off here without listing any other clues or answers. Perhaps Ryan will contribute to the rest of the post later on? Ryan, here’s your font of the day, should you choose to add anything.

See you Thursday…

This has nothing to do with crossword puzzles but I want everybody to have sympathy for me. I went to the dentist earlier today. Everything looked relatively good but my teeth are very close together at certain points which is conducive to a lot of tartar buildup. Hence the cleaning was basically 30 minutes of white hot, searing pain. Immediately afterwards I soaked my mouth in a Wendy’s Frosty which made everything feel better but probably won’t stop the nightmares.

The Dodgers appeared in Tuesday’s puzzle. They are currently tied in the top of the 10th 6-6. They were leading 6-1 at one point but there you go.

Aw, nuts, I just got a big job at work. I’ll be out of crossword commission for the next few hours. Stay tuned for more on Wednesday’s puzzle…

And, we’re back. Dodgers ended up winning 7-6 in the 11th. So since May 19th they are 3-1 when appearing in the puzzle. Not bad.

As for Wednesday’s puzzle, I enjoyed it but I had what amounted to a typo. I spelled CAVIAR with an E which made it CAVIER. Not sure how that happened. That gave me MALEY for 19D. Language of Kuala Lumpur (MALAY). I feel I should have caught it there as well. But I didn’t. I finally had to look on xwordinfo.com to figure out where I went wrong. So now I’ve needed help on Tuesday and Wednesday. Not good. I can’t afford to get any less smarter.

My big struggle was in the left center (if you’re looking at the area of Phoenix, Arizona bordered by W. Greenway Rd, N. Dysart Rd, W. Waddell Rd and N. Litchfield Rd. it would be right where W. Lisbon Lane curves northward and turns into N. 138th Lane). I put LYRE for 28D. Renaissance instrument (LUTE) which gave me all kinds of trouble. Plus I could not figure out what 36A. Symbols of industry (ANTS) was going to be until I filled it in with crosses. Good clue and makes perfect sense.

And in that same area I put LAO CHE for 40A. China’s Lao-___ (TSE). Now, there is a subtle distinction between these two figures. Lao Tse was a philosopher of ancient China and a central figure in Taoism while Lao Che was a fictional character in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.  You’ve got to feel good for Temple of Doom now.  For 24 years it’s been known as the worst Indy movie.  No longer.  And all it took was a ridiculous script, lots of bad CGI, a tin ear for dialogue and a crystal skull that apparently belonged to some aliens leftover from Close Encounters. Good for you, ToD.  Stay strong.

51D. Gelatin substitute (AGAR).  Perhaps we will see a picture of Brian slurping down some agar in the next few days.

14A. Parrot (ECHO).  Ok, so we have parrot and ape.  Any other animal names that mean copy or imitate?

All in all, a good puzzle but so far this week has not been nearly as enjoyable as last week.

Next stop, Thursday. 

Lots of books to talk about today! I’m currently spending three months in a tiny town with no cellphone service (but plenty of WiFi, thank god) — so I won’t be reviewing my nonfiction crossword books, which are still in New York. Suffice it to say that Matt Gaffney’s Gridlock is an absolute must-read.

So back to the puzzle books. Let’s start with one that doesn’t really fit into the “constructor” category…
Read the rest of this entry →

I just got home from a long day of hospitals, rehearsing, performing, and two unsatisfying sandwiches only to find that the New York Times has published a rather Wednesday-esque puzzle on Tuesday. My time on the applet is deceiving — I needed help to find my errors, since all one of them occurred in a place I’d have never been able to discern on my own.

This Ken Bessette puzzle features a Take-A-Letter-Away theme, and in this case it reduces a double letter appearance (in an “in-the-language” phrase) to a single letter, thus changing its meaning:

• 17A. Retired general? : ARRESTING OFFICER
• 37A. Late nobleman? : ACCOUNT PAST DUE
• 59A. Carillon call? : APPEAL TO THE CROWD – I have no idea what a “carillon” is. Merriam Webster does not like the word either, since 1.5 of its two definitions are self-referential:

1. a set of fixed chromatically tuned bells sounded by hammers controlled from a keyboard; an electronic instrument imitating a carillon

2. a composition for the carillon

Thank you, Merriam-Webster.

On the map of Greenwich Cove, a small neighborhood in Rhode Island, my problems happened at about the intersection of Division St. and Marlborough St., with the crossing of 1A. Kansas City University formerly known as College of Saint Teresa (AVILA) and 2D. Objets d’art (VIRTU). That V could have been just about any consonant, and it would have made as much sense. Apparently, VIRTU is Italian. To that, I say — really? On a Tuesday, you just opened up your Italian dictionary to a random page and then crossed it not only with a theme answer but with some college in Kansas that has a student body of fewer than 2,000 people? Wow. Wait — you’re going to tell me that if I knew where St. Teresa was born, I’d get this answer. Ah, but then you’re assuming that I know anything. Who do I look like, the Great Howard Barkin? Not so much…

Complicating things further, a few houses eastward on Division St. features the L in AVILA, an L which began 4D. Cobblers’ forms. A cobbler is a shoe-maker, right? A form is… a document? A model for something? A shape? Apparently, it’s like a mannequin foot on which shoes are repaired. In the Will Shortz era, LAST was used twice (one Wednesday and one Sunday).

All in all, a clever theme, but I was disappointed in my inability to even find my mistake, let alone correct it. Oh well. Better luck Wednesday.

Last week, Dan Feyer (winner of the C Division) told us that Episode 16 was full of everything he liked… witty banter, lively debate, cutting edge terminology. Episode 17 promises to bring at least none of those things back!

Instead, we offer these fine elements to this week’s program:

• Brian turns out actually to be a musician!
• Ryan can’t form coherent thoughts!
• For the first time ever, we detail what a “flipnop” is.
• Plus: viewer mail, eight puzzles (Sunday to shining Sunday), and… well, it’s forty minutes long. There must be something else.

All that and more in an extended episode of Fill Me In. Enjoy!

 

 Fill Me In #017: Longer than it needs to be. (That's what she said.) [39:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Zambezi and oat.

Solid Monday puzzle by Lynn Lempel.  The theme was:

61A. Unexpected wallet fattener … and what the circled words are (FOUNDMONEY)

The circled words were found in:

17A. British pop group with a repetitive name (DUrandURAN).  RAND.

25A. Kurdistan city on the Tigris (MOSUliraQ).  LIRA.

35A. On-ramp (HIGHWAyenTRANCE).  YEN.

51A. Welch’s soft drink (GRApesoDA).  PESO.

Well done theme.  I especially like the two meanings for “found money”.  The in-the-language meaning and the actual finding of money words in the puzzle.

1A. Like students in the Head Start program (PREK).  This one confused me for a good, long while.  I finally parsed it correctly once I was done.

16A. Double Stuf cookie (OREO).  Definitely need some pictures of Brian eating the official crossword cookie.

43A. Nipper the dog’s company (RCA).  Interesting story behind this famous advertisement.  The first Nipper lived in the 189os.

59A. Spanish artist Joan (MIRO).  I know of her completely from crosswords.

68A. Tale (STORY).  Speaking of stories, I want you all to hear this from me before you hear it on the street.  Brian and I saw Wall-E yesterday and it looks like I’m the only one in the universe who doesn’t like it.  I’m a big Pixar fan but this one didn’t do it for me.  I thought it was boring, over-complicated, and relied too much on the audience thinking this robot was the cutest character in the history of cinema.   For those of you who do like it (which I’m assuming is everybody) please write in to let me know why.  I’m very curious.

22D. In worse health (ILLER).  I’ve only heard this term when it refers to a rapper or someone who thinks they’re a rapper.

34D. Rebounds or assists (STAT).  A bit of misdirection here with the plurals in the clue and the non-plural answer.

50D. Mexican state bordering Arizona (SONORA).  I had an error here which took me a while to catch.  I put in SENORA as if the clue was referring to a Mexican woman standing next to Arizona.

Good puzzle to start the week.  And for you podcast fans, episode #17 of Fill Me In: The Podcast has been recorded and should be up by Tuesday morning.

Next stop, Tuesday.