Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

I solved this Robert H. Wolfe puzzle with my friend Max who’s in town this weekend. Between the two of us, it took around 2 hours. And a similar thing happened in this puzzle that happened to me in Friday’s puzzle. We had the whole grid filled up but the applet wouldn’t accept it, we googled a few clues to verify and then found the error in an answer that we hadn’t googled.

The error was in 19A. Seat (KEISTER). I spelled it KEYSTER. I don’t think I’ve ever written the word KEISTER before so I had no life experience to help me out here. The cross was 3D. 1956 Olympic skiing sensation ___ Sailer (TONI). I put in TONY. After everything else checked out I finally spotted where we had gone wrong. I hope Brian got this one right as someone very near and dear to him uses this spelling.

This was a great puzzle. Common phrases, obscure trivia and few shockingly easy clues just to throw us off. We got the bottom right first.

61A. “Sure looks that way” (SOITSEEMS). This was the first big answer we entered. These type of clues are my favorite parts of Friday and Saturday puzzles. These everyday phrases they throw in there. 15A. “Whatever” (IDONTCARE) was also a good one.

56D. Oscar show airer? (PBS). Pretty sneaky. I love the Muppets. Like most people I grew up watching Sesame Street and I don’t think I’d be able to read, write or count if I hadn’t.

51D. “The washday miracle” sloganeer, once (TIDE). Total guess. It was the first four letter detergent that came to mind.

56A. Not too much of a stretch (PLAUSIBLE). Another everyday phrase with a perfect answer.

As for the shockingly easy answers:

43A. Text messaging command (SEND). I knew this was SEND and Max knew this was SEND. We both got it right away which convinced us it had to be something else.

58A. Jenny Craig testimonial starter (ILOST). This was a case of “What else could this possibly be?”

And now for the obscure trivia:

37A. Tennis star Petrova (NADIA). Ok, maybe this isn’t so obscure but I don’t know anything about tennis.

60A. Heavenly discovery of 1801 (CERES). Whenever we leave the city and stay in a place like Yosemite, one of the most wonderful sights to me is the night sky. Absolutely amazing. I wish I could see it every night.

12D. Tool for sewing canvas (SAILNEEDLE). I suppose this makes sense. Sails are made out of canvas. They tear. They need to be mended. What else would you use?

22D. Day when courts are not in session (DIESNON). I convinced myself this had something to do with tennis. Didn’t really help or hurt me here as I’ve never heard of this phrase.

23D. “Amarantine” Grammy winner (ENYA). Oh Enya, will they ever stop coming up with new ways to get you in the puzzle?

25D. After the Pentateuchal period (POSTMOSAIC).  Besides “the” there is no portion of this clue or answer I understand.

42D. Chichewa and English are its two official languages (MALAWI).  Ku Maryland ku libe mikango. Ku VA ku
libenso mikango.  In Chichewa that means, “In Maryland there are no lions. In Virginia
there are also no lions.”  Useful phrase.

Favorite clues I haven’t mentioned yet:

7D. Top arrangement? : HAIRDO.  Awesome.

45A. Lyric stand-in, perhaps (NANANA).  I tried LALALA here first. 

38A. Like some adult hippos (THREETON).  This one is slightly awkward but I love hippos so I’ll give it a pass.

40A. Product with a rotating ball (ROLLON).  Max came up with this one.  No wonder he smells so nice.

1A. Porky (FATASAHOG).  Slightly rude, but enjoyable.

14D. Tick source (SECONDHAND).  I’m so glad this had nothing to do with the arachnid.  Disgusting, horrible creatures.  Second hands are great though.

6D. Spread statistic (ACREAGE).  We really thought they were going for something to do with sports betting (which we don’t anything about).

30D. It’s 8 for O (ATNO).  With all the puzzles I’ve been doing, this is the type of clue I should be getting right away.  It seems so obvious now but we got it totally with crosses.

And, finally, a clue that was embarrassingly hard:

36D. Sportsman of the Year co-winner of 1998 (SOSA).  I followed this (now tainted) story giddily throughout that summer.  It never occurred to me for a second that something fishy might be going on.  Bleh.

Ok, great Saturday puzzle.  Next stop, Sunday.

Ok, I sort of no-googled this Natan Last puzzle. And, then again, I sort of didn’t. I had all the boxes filled with all the right letters except for one. When the applet wouldn’t accept my solution I knew I had made a mistake somewhere but I couldn’t find it. I googled a couple of answers just to verify if I had them correct. It was only after that, that I found my mistake. I did come up with all the answers by myself but I also did use google to help me pinpoint my error so I guess I can’t count this as a No Google Friday. Oh well.

Here’s where I made my mistake:

8D. Invented things (LIED). I read this clue as “Things that are invented” and entered in LIES. It crossed with 19A. “The Wandering Heir” novelist, 1872 (READE) which I didn’t know, so REASE made just as much sense to me.

As for the rest of the puzzle, I thought it was great. Especially the bottom right.

55A. Old comedian known for his unique piano-playing style (CHICOMARX). I love the Marx Brothers. Duck Soup and Animal Crackers are my two favorites. There was a time when I was a kid that I put myself into training to be the next Harpo. I walked around the house in a top hat and carried a horn. Didn’t work out though. Anyway, here’s Chico and Groucho doing their thing.

[video removed]

60A. “My parents are gonna kill me!” (IAMSODEAD). This is great. Perfect clue and answer.

Other clues I enjoyed:

10D. Follower of Sha Na Na at Woodstock (JIMIHENDRIX). After I figured out the answer because of the “X” in ORYX it soon became apparent that I had no idea how to spell his first name. On a side note, I’m not really sure what Sha Na Na is but I remember watching their show as a kid and wanting to be like Bowser. I can’t remember if this was before or after my Harpo phase.

59A. Disclosure on eHarmony (TYPE). Up-to-the-minute culture reference. Lots of fun.

36A. Call in the game Battleship (DTEN). This is a pretty lame game that provided me with hours of entertainment. Did you ever get Electronic Battleship? That rocked the Casbah.

50D. Jets used to be seen there (SHEA). Going here tonight to see my beloved Dodgers play.

51A. Org. that can’t be lax about LAX? (FAA). Obvious answer, but still a great clue.

I had the most trouble with the top left. I got ILER and ROBE right away but the rest was like pulling teeth.

1A. Elaborate procedure (RIGMAROLE). Somehow this just came to me.

7D. Sealab inhabitants (OCEANAUTS). I had AQUANAUTS here for a long time. I still think it’s the better answer. Here’s one from Mattel.

Great puzzle with lots of fun fill. Good job, Natan.

Next stop, Saturday.

67A. Kvetcher’s cry (OYVEY). That perfectly sums up my experience with this John Farmer puzzle. I struggled from beginning to end, couldn’t even get google to give me an answer and finally went to xwordinfo.com to get the last letters I needed. Oh, I also had trouble with the applet.

I liked a good deal of this puzzle. The theme was very, very clever. It was a rebus with either “down” or “across” hidden in one box, depending on your perspective. For instance:

1A. First clue (ONEacross). “Across” was all in one box and turned into “down” when looking at the down clue which was 4D. Jazz/blues monthly (downBEAT). I don’t know if I’ve described that correctly but it was pretty cool. The other theme answers were:

18A. Spans, as a river (STRETCHESacross) crossing with 13D. Hit the skids (GOdownHILL).

35A. Relocate from one side to the other (MOVEacrossTOWN) crossing with 26D. Master (GETdownPAT).

58A. Facing one’s house from a short distance away, say (acrossTHESTREET) crossing with 39D. Scorn (LOOKdownON).

68A. Transect (CUTacross) crossing with 45D. Inverted (UPSIDEdown).

Difficult theme to catch onto. The fact that I did but still failed to finish the puzzle without help has given me a frowny face. But I reserve the biggest frowny face of all for perhaps my least favorite clue in the history of the New York Times crossword:

5A. Outdoor wingding (BARBQ). Bleh! What is this? Is a wingding a party? In my experience wingdings is a font set consisting of crazy symbols. So I was trying to think of some sort of outdoor structure that looked like a curlycue or shaded diamond or something of that nature. Why wingding? BARBQ is already difficult enough as there are numerous ways to spell it. The crosses were no help as I didn’t know 9D. Doha dweller (QATARI) or 7D. Sci-fi debut of 1921 (RUR). I don’t know. The puzzle already had a theme that was difficult to wrap your head around. I think we deserve a somewhat more straightforward clue here. How about Outdoor get together? Would that have been so horrible?

My other problem spot was caused totally by my ignorance.

64A. Non ___ (not so much, in music) (TANTO). I’m sure Brian got this quickly. For me, I had TAN_O. The cross was 61D. Printemps follower (ETE). I can only assume Printemps means Spring in French. I have a new name for crosses like these: Ignorance Vortexes of Massive Proportions which Point Out Gaping Holes in my Knowledge of the World (or NAMBLA).

1D. Faux fat (OLESTRA). I’m a fan of Olestra. So far, I’ve never had the side effects of which people speak.

24A. “You’re the One ___ Want” (”Grease” song) (THATI). I list this clue solely for the opportunity to post a picture of Olivia Newton-John.

29A. “Coming to America” co-star (ARSENIOHALL). Favorite scene in Coming to America? Eddie Murphy as “Jackson Height’s own, Mr. Randy Watson” singing The Greatest Love of All with his band, Sexual Chocolate. They play so fine, don’t you agree? On a side note, what the heck happened to Arsenio Hall? He was huge. I mean, Chunky A huge. And now, nothing.

21D. A Baldwin (PIANO). Pretty sneaky, sis. I had BILLY here first.

35D. MTV’s “Date My ___” (MOM). Seriously? This is a show?

And, finally, was I the only one who had trouble with the applet?  I put DOWN in all the theme boxes using the +++ technique but the applet wouldn’t accept it.  It wasn’t until I erased all that and put in “A” that I got the “thanks for playing” message.  Curious.

Next stop, Friday.

I had a tough time with this C.W. Stewart puzzle. I eventually finished it without help but it wasn’t easy. Brian has already detailed the Ball theme so I’ll leap right into the trouble spots.

In the top right I had 8D. “Hey, over here!” (PSST) and 16D. Hide-covered abode (TEPEE) and 31A. Chef Boy-Ar-___ (DEE). But the rest was a mystery until I was somehow able to come up with BUTTERCUP and 12D. Nail down (SECURE).

In the bottom right I, too, got super stuck on SOFTSOAP. According to the freedictionary this means flattery designed to gain favor. I feel like I’ve heard this somewhere before but I cannot think in what context it could possibly have been. The three that really threw me were:

50A. Completely behind (ALLFOR). I have just this moment figured out what this means. I’ve been thinking “behind” as in “last”. But it’s really “behind” as in “supporting”. And ALLFOR is parsed as ALL FOR. This may be painfully obvious to anyone reading this but did not make one bit of sense to me while I was solving.

60A. Goes for (COSTS). Another case of a phrase with more than one meaning. Much like Brian, I was thinking “goes for” as in “goes for the brass ring”. As frustrating as these types of clues are, I like them. When you figure it out you get a nice “aha” moment.

51D. Aqualung, e.g., in the 1971 Jethro Tull album (LECHER). I understand that 1971 is referring to a year in the Gregorian Calendar but, other than that, you could have replaced the words with abstract representations of the lesser Smurfs and this clue would have made exactly as much sense to me. Now, doing a little bit of research, I see that Aqualung is a character featured in a album by Jethro Tull, which is a rock band. I am assuming that this, also, was obvious to everyone but me. I had ZEPHER here for a while, thinking that was a type of instrument. It’s actually a misspelling of a blimp-like craft. So, in short, I was close.

Somehow I figured all that out well enough to finish the puzzle.

52A. Play broadly (EMOTE). I don’t think I’ll ever understand this negative connotation of EMOTE. Don’t you want actors to show emotion?

43A. Fancy dancer (STEPPER). I don’t get this one either. What type of dancer isn’t a STEPPER?

53D. Either President Bush (TEXAN). This is not the first adjective that came to mind.

Hey, we were mentioned on another site. Visual Thesaurus put a link to us in their Blog du Jour feature. Thank you very much.

Next stop, Thursday.

We attempted to do a podcast long distance via Skype.  The results are mixed.  The content is brilliant as always but the sound quality has reached a new low.  We have a team working to improve on this for next week.  Any suggestions would be welcome.

 

 Episode #012 [35:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Zambezi and oat.

It has been a very long day. It’s now 11:09pm as I write this, and I’m just sitting down to dinner. Ridiculous.  But before I made dinner (salmon with buttery peas — quite good), I dispatched the Wednesday puzzle in just a few seconds over my average Wednesday time (9:22 as opposed to my 9:15 average). I needed help in one spot, but the rest was smooth sailing.

The theme today was basically “kinds of balls.” And before you think there’s anything dirty going on, we’re dealing with 38A. Word that can follow the starts of 17-, 21-, 58- and 64-Across and 3- and 40-Down (BALLS).

• 17A. Fund-raiser wear, perhaps : BLACK TIE — The last fundraiser I attended found me wearing a normal necktie. In fact, it was the necktie I had worn at my wedding. Not a black tie, but a diamond-ish criss-cross pattern, varying in shades of brown and orange.
• 21A. Yellow flower : BUTTER CUP — I got this first and “black tie” second, of the themed answers. Still couldn’t figure what word followed them…
• 58A. Artist’s smudge remover : GUM ERASER — A somewhat clumsy clue, but I got it easily enough.
• 64A. 1952 Gary Cooper western : HIGH NOON — I have never seen this movie. Although I have a DVD of it (still in shrinkwrap) in my office. I think I purchased it by mistake and never did anything about it.
• 3D. “All In The Family” nickname : MEATHEAD — Apparently, this was a popular television show. I have never seen it. (And of course I’ve heard of it; I’m being a little sarcastic here.) It came and went before I was allowed to watch television (circa 1987).
• 40D. Cajole : SOFT SOAP — What? I have absolutely no idea what this means. And it was the crossings between this and 60A. Goes for (COSTS) for which I needed help. As for 60-Across, I was thinking about going for a victory or some sort of accomplishment, as in vying or attempting. But really — soft soap? What on earth does that mean? Is it a verb? Or is “cajole” a noun I don’t know?

I’m exhausted, so that’s going to be all for my post here… I’m going to try and get the podcast up before the week gets too old… We’ll see what happens.N

Ok, first off, the podcast.  Episode #12 is recorded, needs a little bit of editing and will be up sometime today.  It was our first attempt at long distance podcasting through Skype.  And the result was ok.  I sound a little bit like I’m in a submarine but we will try to improve on that for the next show.

Secondly, the Dodgers.  They were referenced in Monday’s puzzle and lost to the Cubs on Monday.  They are now 1-1 when mentioned in the puzzle (since I’ve been keeping track which really hasn’t been all that long).  Continue to follow this developing story right here all summer long.

Thirdly, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  I finally got to see it yesterday.  And, I have to say, I was disappointed.  I think Lucas had way too much influence and input on where the story went and therefore it was overly convoluted and a little ridiculous.  I won’t go into a whole review here.   I did enjoy it and I’ll probably see it again.  It was great to see Indy back but IJATKOFTCK has just made me even more nostalgic for the first three.

On to the puzzle.  I had to use google on this Adam G. Perl puzzle.  Yes, google on a Tuesday.  Made even more embarrassing by the fact that the answer I couldn’t come up with was staring at me right from the applet.

Ok, it came down to two empty boxes.  One at the crossing of 29D. Save for a rainy day (SALTAWAY) and 29A. Thrills (SENDS).  I had _ALTAWAY and _ENDS.  I ultimately guessed this correctly.  I have never heard of SALT AWAY.  Am I parsing that correctly?  But once I thought of SENDS as in “You send me” I figured that was right.

The other empty box was down in the bottom right at the crossing of 55D. Disney’s “___ and the Detectives” (EMIL) and 65A. 1995 Physics Nobelist Martin L. ___ (PERL).  I didn’t have the “L”.  This is what Brian has begun to refer to as a trivia box.  I didn’t know the answer to either of the clues and there was no way for me to figure it out without guessing.  My job was made more difficult by an error in 62A. Et ___ (ALII).  I  had ALIA.  So for EMIL, I had EMA_ which meant nothing to me and ultimately I had to google it.  Of course PERL is also the puzzle constructors last name and was sitting right there in the applet.  So just very lame all the way around for me.

I enjoyed the theme.

52A. Reason to be barred from a bar … or the theme of this puzzle (NOID)

17A. E.S.L. class, perhaps? (SCENEOFANACCENT)

36A. Seedy hangout across the Atlantic? (CONTINENTALDIVE)

56A. Hip-hop critics? (RAPRESPONSETEAM)

I thought all that was clever and fun.

1A. “Fall” guy (ADAM).  Even thought it wasn’t the answer, any clue that makes me think of Lee Majors is a good clue.

10A. Saks sack, say (TOTE).  Is this about Saks Fifth Avenue or Gene Saks, the theater director?

12D. TV control (TINT).  I had DIAL here which really screwed up that whole area.

38D. Ja’s opposite (NEIN).  I put NYET here.  If I ever go to Germany remind not to speak Russian to everybody.

A pretty straightforward puzzle that I can’t believe I needed to google.  This next picture has nothing to do with the puzzle but as word people you all might enjoy it.

Next stop, Wednesday.

A lot of my recent Amazon shopping has been through their “Marketplace” used-book dealers. The price is right (usually pennies for the book plus $3.99 for shipping) and, with limited exceptions, the books have arrived in good shape and without any of the puzzles already solved. I’ve been able to pick up some out-of-print titles that way, and saved a few bucks on books that are on the shelves at Barnes & Noble.

My latest order from “Hippo Books” arrived yesterday. In the package was:

• Stanley Newman’s Cranium Crackers — a collection of 100 Newsday Saturday Stumpers, in a little book that will be perfect for subway solving.
• Random House Ultrahard Crosswords, Volume 3 — from a mid-’90s series that’s mostly Saturday Stumpers, plus reprints from something called Tough Puzzles magazine.
• Echoes of Issel: Book Two of the Saga Of The Unified Worlds, by Diane Thornley — yeah, not what I ordered. I wonder how they got this confused with Martin Ashwood-Smith’s 10-Minute Crosswords.

So today I’ll run down the hardest books in my library (excluding the two above, which are pretty self-explanatory, and I haven’t looked at them anway). And when you think “hard puzzles”, whose name comes to mind? Frank Longo.
(more…)

The theme for this Mark Sherwood puzzle is all about dentistry. I have been avoiding going to the dentist for far too long and now I’m at the point where I’m afraid the dentist will yell at me. By the way, I think a general anesthetic should become standard for teeth cleaning. I think it would make it much more pleasant.

I completed this puzzle in a time that will impress only the very slow and very addled so I won’t even bother revealing what it was. But you can rest assured it was slower than your time. The theme was revealed in:

• 29A. Experts with the ends of 17- and 55-Across and 10- and 24-Down (DENTISTS) and rest of the theme answers were:
• 17A. Strap-on leg supports (KNEEBRACES). This is absolutely not the first thing that came to mind. I mean it really, really wasn’t.
  
• 55A. Mincemeat, e.g. (PIEFILLING)
• 10D. It sets things off (BLASTINGCAP)
• 24D. Feat for Secretariat (TRIPLECROWN)

Other clues of note:

• 14A. Old Big Apple restaurateur (SARDI). If this turned out to be Toots Shor again I’m not sure what I would have done with myself.
• 35A. Biblical flood survivor (NOAH). I actually put in LEAH here. I think the things I am learning about the bible are pushing out what I had known before.
• 39A. Fox’s “American ___” (IDOL). Never, ever seen it. Reality TV has got to have mommy-swapping to generate any interest for me.
• 47A. Football refs (ZEBRAS). They’re really called Zebras? Man, I don’t know anything about football.
• 4D. Poem often titled “To a …” (ODE). I read this clue wrong. I thought it was “To a ___”. Hence ODE made no sense to me and the clue took me way too long.
• 13D. Baseball’s Hershiser (OREL). Dodgers play the Cubs today. They are currently 1-0 when mentioned in the puzzle. Well, 1-0 since I’ve been keeping track.
• 41A. Cancel, at Cape Canaveral (SCRUB). I put in ABORT which totally screwed up the left middle section.
• 57D. Debt-incurring Wall St. deal (LBO). Somebody’s going to have to explain this one to me.

Ok, in 5 minutes Brian and I are going to attempt to podcast long distance with Skype. If all goes well Episode #12 will be up by midday.

I foolishly launched the applet before telling it to “enlarge the grid.” I’m not exactly sure why the applet isn’t designed to automatically enlarge the grid for Sunday… Or maybe it is, and I’ve never dared try? Regardless, by the time the enlarged grid showed up, I was already in at 0:41. So I’m calling my no-Google time at 17:50, and enjoying my work.

One of the problems with solving some Sunday puzzles in the applet is that there’s no good way to quick-glance the clue list for an explanation. In this puzzle, there were seven circled letters (another delay for me was trying to figure out how to read “the notepad” from the applet… Had to launch a separate window with Across Lite to find that info). According to the notepad:

When this puzzle is done, the seven circles will contain the letters from A to G. Starting with A, connect them alphabetically with one continuous line, and you’ll get an image of a 39-Across.

Clearly that wasn’t going to happen on the applet either. And the long answers were clued only with years and stars, so I was a little lost at the outset. Now, I’m no Howard Barkin (knower of all things), but I think I might have come in under fifteen minutes if I hadn’t wasted time enlarging the grid, trying to find the notepad, trying to launch Across Lite, or been unable to scan the clue list… Next week — no applet for Sunday. Bah, applet!

Not bah, at all, this puzzle by Elizabeth C. Gorski. What a marvelous puzzle, what lovely construction. Nice work, Ms. Gorski. Thank you! Despite the applet, I enjoyed this little gem, the theme of which is clued at 72D. Bond common to the answers to the six starred clues (JAMES). The theme, apparently, Special Agent 007. Those starred clues were years and ranges of years… Once the first one became apparent, the rest were easy:

• 3D. 1962-67; 1971 : SEAN CONNERY — What happened to 1983’s Never Say Never Again? Connery is the definitive James Bond, in my opinion, despite his Bondian career existing almost exclusively before I was born. I also love Connery’s voice, and try (from time to time) to do an imitation of it, saying ridiculous things. I know I’m not alone in that game, but I’m also not a television or radio star, so no one has heard it. Perhaps on the next blog… But only if Ryan improves his Jack Nicholson efforts.
• 23A. 1969 : GEORGE LAZENBY — Never saw any of his movies, Bond or otherwise. I have only heard that he was a poor choice.
• 48A. 1973-1985 : ROGER MOORE — Moore seemed to fit his time (the 1970s and early 1980s), if not the character of the movies themselves. I don’t really think much of the efforts toward “dashing” or “suave” or anything like that from the 1970s. Such big hair, such strange fashion — the free love years certainly made Bond’s life easier, but in retrospect, I think those movies may have hurt his reputation.
• 68A. 1987-1989 : TIMOTHY DALTON – This was the 1980s effort at getting away from the aging Roger Moore image. Didn’t really work, as far as I could see. Dalton was about as suave as an uncooked side of bacon.
• 115A. 1995-2002 : PIERCE BROSNAN – Finally, the franchise got a reliable new face, and the first lady-killer of the bunch since Connery. Brosnan was born to be James Bond, despite his earlier successes on television and in film. Even his real name, “Pierce Brosnan” sounds like it could be a secret British agent. Hmm… I wonder if he is…
• 71D. 2006- : DANIEL CRAIG — I saw Casino Royale recently, and nearly fell asleep. I like Daniel Craig, but he needs to stop smirking and clenching his teeth together and actually do something. Pretty eyes, I’m sure, but I need more before I can get excited for the next movie.

And the two other related clues:

• 39A. [See instructions in notepad] : MARTINI – No references in the grid to how Bond liked to take his drink, unless you go with 19D. Shakes up (AGITATED) as a stretch. I never bothered to figure out the A-B-C-D-E-F-G thing, although now that I look at it, of course it connects-the-dots its way to the shape of a martini glass.
• 90A. Writer born May 28, 1908 : IAN FLEMING – That he also wrote “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” astounds me.

The rest of the grid had fairly general fill, but no need to get splashy with the eight theme answers (nine, if you count JAMES) — and the theme answers were more or less in chronological order within the grid (the possible exception being Daniel Craig, whose name only ends after Pierce Brosnan’s).

I still don’t know if Ryan and I are going to try and podcast long-distance tomorrow or Monday. We’ll certainly tell all four of you that read this blog, and then we’ll see what happens next.