Ryan solves the NYT, Tues, 4-29-8
Maybe it was because I was very tired but I had a lot of trouble with this puzzle by Will Nediger. My plan was to bang it out beat my best Tuesday time. But I ended up up 20 minutes later, curled up in a fetal position and weeping over a google search page. I couldn’t even figure out the theme. I found out what it was from Brian’s post: a number of words that begin with A and end with Z mimicking what we in the business call the alphabet.
- 17A. Semiautobiographical Bob Fosse film (ALLTHATJAZZ). Totally bizarre as Brian, Toni and I were talking about this movie earlier in the day. I got it confused with the Neil Diamond version of The Jazz Singer.
- 12D. Namesake of a branch of Judaism (ASHKENAZ). I know embarrassingly little about my own religion.
- 38A. A.L. M.V.P. in 2003, 2005 and 2007 (ALEXRODRIGUEZ). How can Yankee fans ever complain about this guy. He may be the best player in history. Not that it’s going to affect my life one way or another but I really, really, really hope AROD has never taken steroids. Not that there’s been any speculation that he has but it’s hard not to think of juicing when you see someone that talented. Thank you, Canseco, Bonds and Clemens for destroying my innocent childlike outlook on baseball.
- 60A. 1970s joint U.S./Soviet space project (APOLLOSOYUZ). I had to look this up. I simply had never heard of this. And I had never heard of 46D. Alignment of the sun, earth and moon, e.g. (SYZYGY).
I also need help with the crossing of:
- 43A. New Jersey’s ___ Air Force Base (MCGUIRE)
and
- 35D. Blood fluids (SERUMS). I put SERINS here. Turns out a serin is a type of finch. If you ever find a finch in your blood stream I’d advise you to make an appointment with your family Ornithocardiologist.
I got the rest of it but, wow, that’s a lot of trouble for a Tuesday. I thought I was supposed to be getting better at these.
Hope everybody is enjoying the podcast.
