Brian: Monday, April 28
My cold is not better. I feel like crap. Over the past week, I managed to twenty-one Monday-level puzzles in a row in under five minutes. I was thrilled with this streak. This morning, I picked one up, and took seven minutes. Now I’m in a bad mood all day. This is not healthy.
And then I took a crack at today’s New York Times puzzle. Five minutes, forty-one seconds. I totally suck.
New York Times – 5:41
New York Sun – 3:40
Los Angeles Times – 3:50
CrosSynergy – gave up after ten minutes with only ten answers filled.
New York Times: 17- and 64-Across and 11- and 34-Down each conceals an article of clothing.
constructed by Gary Disch; edited by Will Shortz
The longest title in the history of the New York Times crossword puzzle. Thankfully, I didn’t see the title (Monday’s don’t usually have them), so I didn’t spend an extra hour or two trying to figure the theme out.
Instead, I was plenty moronic without cause, unable to find most of the lower left. On a Monday, 49D. À la mode (CHIC) really ought to be about pie. Never heard of PERGOLA (pictured at right), THRALL or LOIRE, so there was really no solving the corner without assistance. Assistance on a Monday. I should be taken out back and shot.
In the meantime, 34D. Daytona 500 enthusiast is not RACER FAN, RACING FAN, RACE CAR FAN… Grr. It’s NASCAR FAN, of course. But I had a bear of time making that come out. And crossing it — conundrums have PUNS in them (32A)? According to Merriam Webster, yes they do. According to me, that’s a couple laundry LOADS short of insane.
Fortunately, I didn’t try to do this puzzle IN PEN, as I was stuck in one too many a TANGLE, barely able to EKE out completion, let alone a decent time. I’d like RELAX about it, but PERGOLA PREVUE NEPALI CAPOS TEA. Yuck.
(On a side note, I just read Orange’s blog on this puzzle, and was relieved to see that she agrees on the Monday-ness of some of these words. Thank you, Orange!)
New York Sun: Punchy Language
constructed by Mark Feldman; edited by Peter Gordon
Who would have thought that the Sun would be my best time of the morning. No one, probably — but that’s because no one’s reading this, or cares much for how quickly I do anything.
Nonetheless, I’m typing away, typing away… Only after I’ve finished the puzzle do I see the theme. HOOKED ON PHONICS, JABBERWOCKY and CROSSWORD SOLVER. Each one contains a kind of punch. At least, I think “cross” is a kind of punch. I don’t know much about… well, I was going to say boxing, but “everything” is a fine end to that sentence, too.
Los Angeles Times
constructed by Dan Naddor; edited by Rich Norris
This was a reasonably fun puzzle (especially on the heels of my New York Times failure), although at a quick glance, I don’t get the theme: 40A. Dewar’s alternative, and this puzzle’s theme (J AND B). What is that? I suppose thematically, it’s that the letters J and B will be used in the grid. But what beverage is J and B? Jim Beam? I’m not very clear on this…
On with the grid, though, I’m still not sure how the theme applies. It seems that there’s much more evidence of high-scoring scrabble tiles, than of anything specific to the letters J and B. I mean — there are five Zs! Two Xs! In fact, it’s not until I finish the whole thing and look back that I realize all the long answers (i.e. the theme answers) are initialed with J and B. But the first two I got were JOY BUZZER (3D. Prankster’s handshake gismo — a tribute to the “var.” spelling, perhaps?) and JAZZ BAND (54A. Swing era ensemble) which gave me much more Z than anything else, and led me down the wrong thematic track. The other theme answers were JUST BECAUSE, JEWEL BOX, JINGLE BELLS and JUNK BOND.
CrosSynergy: “Finger Exercise”
constructed by Bob Klahn
Huh? Ten minutes, very little of this thing filled, and I gave up. I asked Across Lite to show me the answers, and I’m still stumped. What is a “finger exercise,” and how do PRINT JOURNALISM, TIP OF THE ICEBERG, PAINT THE TOWN RED and SANDWICH ISLANDS have that in common?
Full confusion on other clues and answers. 35A. Rice a.k.a. Rampling. What does that mean? ANNE Rice was once named Anne Rampling? 9A. Hot spot in Vermont when it’s cold. STOWE. The town of Stowe. How is Stowe hot when it’s cold? And don’t tell me because there’s a ski lodge there or something. There are ski lodges (and more to the point, indoors) in tons of places. What makes Stowe the specific answer here?
I realize that CrosSynergy doesn’t follow the Monday-Saturday difficulty pattern of the New York Times, but I had been told it was similar. Not so much today, Mr. CrosSynergy. Not so much today.
