Brian: Thursday, 3-27-08
New York Times 14:41 (I am no longer an idiot, at least, not today)
New York Times
by Joe Krozel, edited by Will Shortz
First of all, thank you Ellen Ripstein for linking to us on her blog. People know we’re here! I’m not just writing into the void!
I set myself a new personal low for a Thursday with this one in 14:41. Had this been a contest, I would have hastily finished in under fourteen minutes by not spending an extra minute on that last square (the crossing between 10A. Dumpsite pollutants, for short [PCBS] and 11D. Hard to take? [CAMERA SHY]). I kept thinking that down clue somehow was either one word, or a two word phrase with the second word ASHY. Or possibly -ASHY, and my 23A. Certain prayer starter was somehow something other than OUR.
I had also guessed in two other spots: 18A. Federally guaranteed security is apparently GINNIE MAE, and while I’ve previously encountered Fannie Mae and Sallie Mae, I did not know about the final member of the triumverate (and thus guessed at both the first I and the M). The other spot was the crossing between 30A. Arabian Peninsula port (ADEN) and 31D. Celebrated Sigmund Freud patient (DORA, pictured with her brother). Once again, I am stumped by a four-letter geographical place that isn’t within 50 miles of me. Also, I have never celebrated any psychiatric patients, and certainly not pseudonyms of such. Perhaps I can track down Ida “Dora” Bauer’s birthday and campaign for it to become a federal holiday. Then we all get the day off.
I liked that there were three baseball clues — Boston and Oakland started the regular season early this year with a pair of games in Tokyo this week. 25A. Diamond setting (BALL PARK), 40A. It’s often played before playing (ANTHEM, not specifically baseball, but in my brain, always) and 37D. Perfect-game pitcher Don (LARSEN, and I wholly disagree with the use of the hyphen in the clue; not only is the answer non-hyphenated, but the term “perfect game” is not hyphenated either). Of course, I’m in the midst of playing a hell of a lot of piano for some theater auditions this week (someone recently told me, “Crosswords? Pianist? You’re just like Jon Delfin!”), and “Anthem” is a popular tune for loud tenors. And I don’t particularly like it. So sadly, it’s also often played, and perhaps before playing… something better.
The theme of the puzzle was okay once I finished with 49D. Word defined by 20-, 36- and 51-Across, of course. It took a little time to complete that, in that I incorrectly chose RISKS as the answer to 63A. Skates on thin ice (should be DARES) and I managed to totally blank on everything else in the quadrant… Once it fell into place — CRANE — it was easy to see the three long answers:
- 20A. STRETCH ONE’S NECK
- 36A. NOVELIST STEPHEN
- 51A. LARGE WADING BIRD
But like yesterday’s inconsistent and mildly arbitrary answers to theme clues, I found these three an unsatisfying trio. The first one was good, an active definition of CRANE. The second one was not so much a definition as it was an example. Perhaps Stephen Crane can be defined as a novelist, but I don’t agree that “novelist Stephen” is defined as a Crane. And the third one, while true, just seemed rather bland. Maybe on the grid layout, I would have tolerated it more if 20A and 51A had their places swapped — let the first of the three be the most boring, and end with the more interesting.
It’s Thursday, and I’m in auditions all day today. I won’t be doing any of the other dailies, so off you go. And if you come in and sing for me today, don’t sing “Anthem.” Please.
[EDIT: End of the day, and I'm awaiting the Friday puzzle release. And in other news, someone sang "Anthem" today, and it annoyed the hello out of me.]
