Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

For those who didn’t hear, we got hacked yesterday.  The site was down yesterday for a few hours and it looked for a little while like all of our posts were gone for good.  Luckily, everything had been backed up on October 22nd and we were able to restore our site to that point.  We have the posts after that date saved offline and we will be restoring them over the weekend.  Until we do, the commenting system may be a little screwy (well, screwier than normal).  All of our comments from the missing posts are still in the system and they appear to be latching on to random entries.  So if this post has a bunch of comments about last Thursday’s puzzle please do not be alarmed.

Why would somebody hack our site?  There’s certainly no money to be gained.  Is it possible that people sit around and write programs simply because they enjoy destroying other people’s work?  Really?  I do not like these people.  These people are bastard people.

Narrowing down a list of possible suspects I’ve come to the conclusion that the person who did this is none other than Philadelphia Phillie centerfielder Shane Victorino.  Mr. Victorino has done everything in his power to make my life miserable for the past 2 years and I find it very suspicious that on the first day he has some free time our site gets hacked.  Mr. Victorino, why do you hate me?

Today’s puzzle?  Ah yes, today’s puzzle was constructed by one of our all-time favorites, Doug Peterson, Crossword Gentleman and Man About Town.  This has got to be one of Doug’s best weeks.  First, his team wins the World Series and now his puzzle holds the coveted Friday slot.

Given Doug’s bad taste in baseball teams the center of the grid sports an unsurprising entry.

31D. Baseball nickname that’s a portmanteau (AROD).  Yankee fans are finally happy with Arod.  Isn’t that just dandy.

The puzzle is great.  Full of fun fill and fun clues.

10A. Page with convictions (OPED).  I couldn’t wrap my head around this one.  I kept thinking it was a person’s name (like Ellen Page) or a verb (as in, call someone’s name over the PA system with convictions).

14A. Dull type (IGNORAMUS).  Ignoramus is great word.

15A. Campus V.I.P. (PREXY).  Doug is so full of beans because the Yankees won that he feels he can just make up words.

17A. Clearly riveted (AGAPE).  I put IN AWE here first.

36A. Subject of the 2005 biography “iCon” (STEVE JOBS).  Have I mentioned that we love our iPhones?

37A. Spotted (LENT).  Oh my, this was tough.  I was sure it was SEEN.  Then I had _ENT and I wrote down all the words it could possibly be.  And about 10 minutes later I figured it out.

56A. Best in shows (EDNA).  Never heard of her.

5D. A tall Roman column is named after him (TRAJAN).  Here I am lost in Rome.  If only I knew the name of that huge column behind me.

8D. “The English Patient” Oscar winner (JULIETTE BINOCHE).  I remember this because everyone thought Lauren Bacall would win.  Hey, remember how The English Patient was 15 hours long?

9D. Comment when following someone (I SEE).  This is my favorite clue in the puzzle.  Very clever.

10D. Source of ballpark pitches (ORGAN).  Well, I knew it wasn’t going to have anything to do with throwing a baseball.  I thought it might be referring to advertising so I had ___ AD for a while.  On a side note, the last two vestiges of the Dodgers’ time as the most stable franchise in baseball are Vin Scully behind the mic for 60 years and Nancy Bea Hefley on the Dodger Stadium organ for 22 years.

35D. Sight-seers at the Prado? (OJOS).  I got this one pretty quickly but really enjoyed it.

Great puzzle today.  Great week for Doug.  And, Shane Victorino, we’ve got our ojos on you.

Next stop, Saturday.

We got super monkey hacked.  Some jerks went in and destroyed everything after Oct. 22nd (which was our last backup).  So, things are a little wonky here.  We are currently working on restoring the posts and the podcasts.  Unfortunately, I think the comments on the destroyed posts are gone forever.

If you’re experiencing any weirdness with the podcast (particularly episodes 77 and 78) or the blog please let us know.

Neither of us really know what we’re doing but we’ll try to get over this hump as smoothly as possible.

Thanks.

[Somehow comments from last week's Friday puzzle have attached themselves to this post.  I haven't asked Brian yet but I'm going to guess neither of us know how that happened.]

NOTE: This is an attempt to restore the blog version of Episode 78 after The Great RBX Hack of 2009. If you encounter any weirdness with this post or this episode (or anything, really), please let us know.

This week’s motto: “Next week’s title will be funnier.”

Below, please find the web-based version of “Fill Me In, a crossword podcast.” You can also get this show on iTunes by clicking the appropriate iTunes button to the right.

In a sadly unsurprising move, this episode contains frighteningly little about crossword puzzles. However, we have learned that our viewers are not dead set on puzzle talk — in fact, several enjoy the banter more than the analysis, the guest stars more than the hosts and in particular, the voices of those other than the people who actually show up at the studio. As a result, here’s what you get this week:

• Pickle tips with Amanda’s voice
• Email from a vacuum cleaner
• A not-really-legitimate use of ARRR
• Brian’s sister

Also — check out these pictures.

The guys on the left is the actor Jack Shea from “Nightmare on Elm Street.” On the right is our dear friend Mike Nothnagel, Pen Pal Extraordinaire and Constructor of the Friday Puzzle and the Oracle. (The photo of Mike was taken during his Serious Era, specifically, while serving as a judge at Lollapuzzoola 2.) Separated at birth? You decide!

That’s what we’ve got to show for it. What have you done lately?

 

 Fill Me In #078: A random sort of thing. [37:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Zambezi and oat.

NOTE: This is an attempt to restore the blog version of Episode 77 after The Great RBX Hack of 2009. If you encounter any weirdness with this post or this episode (or anything, really), please let us know.

Today’s podcast title comes from the results of a poll conducted right here on this very blog.nbsp; You cannot argue with the data.

Here’s what’s coming up on today’s show:

• Woodwinds
• A visitation
• The C chord makes a triumphant return
• Ryan sees something on the horizon
• The father of a boy named Sue
• Two Pasadenas for the price of one

We are still looking for audio of fictional lyric soprano Rosanna Nler. If anybody knows where we can find some clips please let us know.

 

 Fill Me In #077: The Phillies super cream cheese monkey a*s suck. [37:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Zambezi and oat.

I found some odd grammar in our neighborhood yesterday.  Our local Salvation Army (which does not take donations of any kind) has a number of signs posted which state “No Trespassing or You Will Be Arrested”.  They don’t say “Don’t Trespass…” or “If Caught Trespassing You…”.  It seems like they’ve set up a choice for the neighborhood.  Either we have the rule “No Trespassing” or we’ll have to arrest you.  Am I explaining this correctly?  Does this seem odd to anybody else?  Brian said it seemed like the sign had two titles like “HMS Pinafore or The Lass that Loved a Sailor”.

Today’s puzzle is by Paula Gamache and is very nice.  So nice, in fact, that I couldn’t bear to finish it.  And by “couldn’t bear to finish it” I, of course, mean “couldn’t finish it”.  I tried but, in the end, the bottom right absolutely stumped me.

Here’s what I had:

47D. Like new ones (CRISP).  New dollar bills are totally overrated.  Incredibly difficult to count.

41D. Nonhuman baby sitter? (TEEVEE).  The length of this entry stumped me for a while but with a few crossing I got it.

39D. Alternator driver (FAN BELT).  Ok, sure.  I got this with a bunch of crossings.  I pretty much know how to add gas to a car but that’s about it.

37D. Stand where you lie (BED TABLE).  The puzzle was full of “the other meaning of the word”.  No, not the one you’re thinking of.  The other one.

57D. It has a ball (EYE).  Isn’t the eye and the eyeball the same thing.  I mean, what beside the eyeball makes up the eye?

56A. Dupe’s exclamation (IVE BEEN HAD).

Ok, here’s what I had wrong:

53D. Lee side (REBS).  This is probably the most clever clue in the puzzle.  I put REAR thinking of the sea and a boat.  Not once did the Civil War cross my mind.

49D. Chrissie of the Pretenders (HYNDE).  Lot’s of music-related clues.  I got close on this one.  I had HYNES.

48A. Her alter ego is Princess Andora (SHERA).  I feel I should get points for this one.  I had SHIRA.  That’s really close.  I mean, I knew what the answer was I just spelled it wrong.  I would have been right on Jeopardy.

Here’s what I couldn’t figure out:

59A. Time to pull a product (SELL BY DATE).  This was frustrating.  I had two wrong letters and just couldn’t figure it out.  I had SELLAYE___.  The best thing I could come up with was SELL-A-YEAR I, thinking it was maybe some yearly sales event.

61A. “Turn! Turn! Turn!” songwriter (PETE SEEGER).  More music clues.  Yes, I knew the song.  No, I didn’t know who wrote it.

42D. Ugly Dungeons & Dragons figure (SEA HAG).  This clue I’m not in love with.  I played a lot of D&D in my day and I certainly don’t associate sea hags with the game.  Plus the word “figure” seems unnecessarily misleading.  There’s lots of numbers and figures in D&D, the whole fighting system being based in math.  I don’t know.  Boo, on this clue.  Why not reference Popeye?

43D. Busy (ORNATE).  Again, not what you’re thinking it is.

44D. Irish (DANDER).  I was completely lost on this.  I understand it now.  Irish, as in getting your Irish up.  The best I could come up with was PADDIE.  Somebody explain my thinking there.

The rest of the puzzle was also full of great clues.  I especially enjoyed It begins where a person hails from for TAXI RIDE and Routine delivery for ONE LINER.

I had a very odd moment when I was trying to figure out 17A. “Baby Hold On” hitmaker, 1978 (EDDIE MONEY).  Again, I know next to nothing about music.  The only crossing I had was the N.  After staring for a bit I thought, hey, TINA TURNER fits here.  Later on, when the entry directly above EDDIE MONEY did, indeed, turn out to be TINA TURNER I was quite surprised and I only hope I can harness this power to do good.

Great puzzle today.

Next stop, Sunday.

We here at the BeMoreSmarter headquarters officially don’t like the Philadelphia Phillies, even if we here in Brian’s head don’t actually care. It’s solidarity, and if Ryan hates the Phillies, then so do I.

Sadly, do you know what goes along with hating the Phillies? Hating fans of the Phillies. And today, that specifically means Barry C. Silk, Friend and Confidante of Doug Peterson, Crossword Gentleman and Man About Town. Barry has chosen a Friday on which to provide us with a Saturday Stumper, even though that’s Newsday’s thing and this is the New York Times. Clearly, there has been a mix-up. Did you get stuck with an unsolvable puzzle like we did? Let’s look.

Gaping Chasms of Ignorance:

• 10D. ___ Heights (GOLAN) and 21A. Mythical Hun king (ATLI). I don’t think Joon Pahk can get on my case for this one. Maybe he’ll argue that I should know ATLI, but I will argue back that he forgets I have a music degree. As for the crossing, we’ve got two proper names, neither of which actually exists. [NOTE: Upon further examination, it seems that Atli is a variant on Attila. We thought Attila the Hun was real. Someone – Joon – please explain.]
• 15D. 2001-05 Pontiac made in Mexico (AZTEK) and 28A. Converted from coal via distillation (COKED). What the hell? All I could tell was that it wasn’t AZTEC, because I had C—ED, and C-CED didn’t make any sense any which way. The crossing here is the K, but we’ve never heard of coking. Coke is for drinking (if you’re Ryan). Coke Zero is also for drinking (if you’re Brian).
• 34D. They help with dating (TREE RINGS), 31A. 1980s El Salvadoran president (DUARTE) and 48A. Sacrifice site, in Siena (ARA). I broke through this southeast corner with great pride when I came up with this entry for 34D: GREETINGS. Absolutely, when you’re beginning to date someone, the beginning of each date is crucial – the way you say hello, be it with flowers, a kiss, a wave from the hired limo, whatever. GREETINGS are pretty important. And since ATA seemed as likely a place in Siena as ARA… and DUARGE might as well be someone from El Salvador… why not?

[NOTE: Here’s why not – 54D. Representation of 34-Down: Abbr. is YRS, which doesn’t make any sense with GREETINGS. Although now that I read it, “Representation of tree rings: Abbr.” sure seems clunky…]

Entries Which I Don’t Know (Or Think Need To Be Challenged):

• 16A. Spendthrift’s antithesis : STINTER. My favorite online definition of STINTER is “an economizer who stints someone with something.” Thank you, Free Online Dictionary.
• 23A. National park with the Pink Cliffs : BRYCE CANYON
• 25D. Fancy to a fault : ADULATE. I don’t understand. “To praise excessively.” What is faulty about this?
• 37A. They won’t cover your back : HALTERS. Stupid me, I had HATTERS in here for a while, and kept thinking it was pretty random.
• 38A. Hand over : RENDER. I had TENDER in here for a very long time, making 1D a complete mystery to me.
• 39D. Below C level? : POOR. What does this mean?
• 41D. 18 or 21, typically : OF AGE. This seems weird. I understand that “He is of age” and “He is 18” means it passes the substitution test. But it still seems weird.
• 52A. Acronym for a kind of PC video screen display : WYSIWYG. This stands for What You See Is What You Get. I have never ever heard this used in reference to a “PC video screen display.” In my experience, it refers to the reliability of a printed product to resemble its on-screen counterpart. This clue suggests that the acronym refers to the screen, not the image on the screen. Very misleading. [NOTE: I got this one anyway.]
• 59A. They don’t move quickly : LARGOS. I don’t like the use of “largo” as a noun.

Gimmes, the Few and Far Between:

• 3D. TIgers’ place : PRINCETON. My first guess was AL CENTRAL, but this was second.
• 29A. Tibia neighbors : PATELLAS. Other than “does it end with an S or an E?” this was easy. I may know nothing about mythology, but bones are a specialty.
• 30D. Fine with the Stooges : LARRY. The effort to play on the word Fine did not do anything to trick me.
• 33D. Take another good look at : RE-EXAMINE
• 37D. Hobby with call signs : HAM RADIO
• 43A. Washington locale : VALLEY FORGE. I don’t know why I knew this, but I did.

So there it was. Barry C. Silk has double-trumped us here with the Phillies and the Friday. Good luck in the World Series, Barry. I have put a hex on Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. What you see is not what you get. Muahahahaha!

Baseball season is officially over here at Be More Smarter Industries.  For the second year in a row, the Dodgers won the National League West, swept a heavily favored midwest team in the first round, devastatingly blew a late lead in Game 4 of the NLCS against the Phillies and depressingly ended their season in Game 5.  Baseball season will resume on Monday, April 5th 2010 in Pittsburgh.

Speaking of baseball, we’re going to start a Be More Smarter fantasy baseball league next season.  We’ve already got a few people involved but we’re looking for more.  If you’re interested leave us a comment or send us an email.

Today’s puzzle is by Joel Fagliano, a 17-year old making his NYT debut.  Joel, of course, hails from Philadelphia.  I will try to overlook that fact in my discussion of his puzzle.

The theme was a lot of fun.

A SHOT IN THE DARK

All of the answers to the starred clues are missing the word SHOT.  [The following observation came to me from Orange's blog via a Doug Peterson, Crossword Gentleman and Man About Town liason.]  Where the word SHOT should be is instead a black square.  The black squares are dark so you can think of the word SHOT being in the dark.  Very clever.

And here’s the opening sequence from the classic movie.

5A. *Jigger (GLASS).

17A. *”That’s way off” (NOT BY A LONG).

38A. *Photo (SNAP).

39A. *Colorful party drink (JELLO).

40A. *Rejected (DOWN).

62A. *Quick hitch-up (GUN WEDDING).

71A. *Y-shaped item (SLING).

10D. *What “fore” may precede (TEE).

61D. *Track-and-field event (PUT).

Other highlights:

I had a lot of trouble with the crossing of ECRU (1A. It’s similar to cream) and EAN (1D. Suffix with Euclid).  I thought the word was Euclidian not Euclidean.  And it took me forever to think of cream as a color and not something you feed to cartoon cats.  Speaking of that, does anybody give their real cats cream or milk to drink?  I’ve heard it’s not good for their digestive system but any time we give them a little sip they LOVE it.

35A. “For real!” (I MEAN IT).  Anybody want a peanut?

44A. Pack rat (HOARDER).  Fascinating show.

58A. Solo in science fiction (HAN).  I don’t think the Wookie likes being leaned on.

8D. Nick name? (SANTA).  Good one.  I had NOLTE here first.

Fun puzzle, today.

Next stop, Friday.

On Monday night I (Ryan, not Brian) experienced the most crushing defeat of my long career as a Dodger fan.  It was miserable.  An electronic component was destroyed, a wife was woken up, a fetal position was curled into.  Why on earth did that have to happen?  I do hope they recover.  I hope they’re doing a better job of recovering than I am.  I hope they win tonight.  I hope the season doesn’t end like last year: me, at work, watching game 5 against the Phillies and wondering what the hell happened.  I really hope I’m at home on Friday night watching game 6.

Ok, on to today’s puzzle by Peter A. Collins, a very nice puzzle with a very nice theme.

65A. Genre for 1- & 22-Across, 22- & 26 Across, 26- & 46-Across and 46- & 49-Across (POP).  And when you put those pairs of entries together you get:

BOY GEORGE

GEORGE MICHAEL

MICHAEL JACKSON

JACKSON BROWNE

I guess it’s a popstar name ladder.  Is this the first popstar name ladder to appear in the New York Times?  Is this the first popstar name ladder to appear anywhere?  Jim Horne, answers please.

Long time readers of the blog will remember I know next to nothing about music but, in this instance, I can name at least one song from the first three popstars.  On the other hand, I wouldn’t know a Jackson Browne song if it bit me on the ass.  I’m looking on wikipedia and none of the songs they list ring a bell or any other musical instrument.

I just went to youtube with the intention of posting a Jackson Browne song but then I figured that’s what you all would be expecting me to do.  So, instead, here’s a guy with the last name of Brown solving a Rubik’s cube while on a pogo stick.

Can we keep this popstar name ladder going?  Are there any popstars with Browne as their first name?

Other highlights:

I had trouble with the crossing of OVO (35A. Ab ___ (from the start) and OVOLO (31D. Convex molding).  Is that a fair crossing?  If POP was crossed with POPCORN would people take that sitting down?  I guess the example isn’t really the same since I’ve actually heard of both POP and POPCORN while I remain in serious doubt about the actual existence of an OVO and an OVOLO.  Also, I wouldn’t know a convex molding if it bit Jackson Browne on the ass.

20A. Flying A competitor (ESSO).  I’ve been called a Flying A more than a number of times.  I had no idea I was being compared to a gas company.  I guess that makes me feel a little better.

38A. Barrio quaffs (VINOS).  I don’t understand this one.

18D. “Oh, ___!” (Pooh expression) (BOTHER).  Hey, why does my food taste funny?

22D. Dharma’s sitcom spouse (GREG).  I somehow missed this entire show.  Is it still on?

55D. Where the traitorous Vidkun Quisling lived (OSLO).  What is this?  Is this from Harry Potter?

Fun puzzle, today.

Next stop, Thursday.

Imagine for a moment that you’ve never heard of this podcast, but you’re here listening for the first time. You should probably read our informational page. New listeners — we welcome you, and because we don’t want to lose you, we think you might want to learn more about the show before you feel completely disoriented.

(Loyal viewers, we hope that you have gotten accustomed to your general sense of disorientation while listening to this show.)

Here’s what’s in store within Episode The Seventy-Sixth:

• Gina Gershon’s lips
• A musical tripod
• Reverend Spooner, and whether he existed
• Summer camp, and whether Ryan went
• All the other typical stuff: Viewer Mail, Fiction with Thomas Heilman, The Thunder Round, and all the nonsense we can fit into 37 minutes.

Share and enjoy!

 

 Fill Me In #076: The dictionary is the enemy of the podcast. [36:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Zambezi and oat.

It’s late, and I should be asleep. So should you, for that matter. But instead, here we are, writing and reading (reading and having written?) a blog. Tra la. We write this paragraph in order to not give away answers via Facebook. I think this is enough of a buffer, isn’t it?

Today’s puzzle is by Gary Cee, who we’ve seen a handful of times over the past several months, if memory serves. I’m not sure I’ve seen enough of a sample size to commit to a solid opinion on Mr. Cee, but today’s puzzle certainly fits the Tuesday mold pretty darn well. The theme:

• 17A. View from the Oval Office : ROSE GARDEN
• 25A. Premium Scotch whiskey : CHIVAS REGAL
• 37A. Event featuring sports stars of yesteryear : OLD-TIMERS’ GAME
• 52A. Pastry sold at pizzerias : SAUSAGE ROLL
• and it all becomes clear with 61A. Make an abrupt change … and a hint to this puzzle’s theme : SHIFT GEARS

See how the letters in GEARS appear in each of the other answers, but scrambled differently? Clever. It also made me think back on that gearshift Sunday puzzle a few months ago. Did you do that one? I don’t have the authority to share unsolved puzzles, but I can show you the solution.

I know it’s not really like me, but I actually have nothing negative to say about this puzzle. Sorry, Amanda, but I actually liked this just fine. Part of that might be due to the fact that it’s late and I should be asleep and this puzzle was super easy, but part of it might just be because it was good. If I were to complain, it might be that the fill was a little on the generic side (EDNA, ESAU, SIRS, ARLO, OREL, ARM, AIR, AREA, STYE, AERO, RIO – all kinda standard stuff), but there were still a few surprises (CLASS A, NODOZ, NAAN, VINEGAR). There may have been a few too many partials and/or multi-word entries (AM TOO, A BITE, IT’S A DEAL, A PAR, LT. GEN, USA! USA!, ASST. DA, STOP AT), but since I still don’t truly know the difference between a partial and a multi-word entry, this may not be a fair complaint.

[Insert unnecessary acknowledgment of the certain incoming comment from Joon Pahk, in which he tells me the difference between a partial and a multi-word entry.]

If you haven’t listened to the latest episode of Fill Me In, you should. It’s available. Also, if you’re scared to jump into our podcast without having listened to anything else yet, go read our info page — and then come back and listen.

See you Wednesday!