Brian: Friday, May 2
My big, sad news of the week has nothing to do with crosswords. It also has nothing to do with me, truthfully. My wife has been diagnosed with a torn ACL. Not only does this totally suck, but it also sucks. In addition, it sucks. Its suckiness knows no end, as far as we can tell. And when this situation isn’t busy sucking, it take some time to suck suck suck. My wife is being a real trooper about this, researching treatments, surgical procedures, other people’s blogs and stories. I’m the one who is truly scared shitless.As for the puzzle world — I mostly did a Friday. I didn’t Google it, but I did check some of my answers as I went along… I’m still not comfortable enough making bold choices without some confirmation that I’m going in the right direction. More news after the jump…
New York Times – 20:06
Wall Street Journal – 22:41
New York Times
constructed by Barry C. Silk; edited by Will Shortz
The lower left filled very quickly for me. 47A. Famous finger-pointer’s declaration screamed I WANT YOU, and after that. 33D. Paper parts was SECTIONS, 28D. Kraft brand is CHEEZ WHIZ and 29D. Great Seal image is a BALD EAGLE went in smoothly. I had a bunch of names I didn’t know down here, but crossings were enough to convince me that 40A. TZE and 55A. SZELL were correct. I was on the wrong track with 33A. Couple seen in a restaurant, as I went with SHARERS (my wife and I often order two appetizers and one meal for our split dinner), when the answer they wanted was the salt and pepper SHAKERS. This errant K was the last square I had to correct.
I moved there to the lower right, and got the three long answers here rather quickly as well:
- 51A. Declare “I will go no further than this.” : DRAW A LINE
- 54A. Became a participant : ENTERED IN
- 56A. Unrevivable : STONE DEAD — I don’t know this term. I know “stone cold,” which I tried at first. Apparently, I don’t work enough hours at the morgue anymore.
I was reluctant to enter ERODES in for 39D. Undermines because I already thought I had EROSE at 22A. Jagged. Without doing research on it, my brain decided that these two words were awfully similar, and shouldn’t appear in the same puzzle. Brains, smarter, now, you know the drill.
I hit some rough territory in the upper right, as I tried QUERYIST for 14D. “What’s my line?” participant. Rather that point out its own error, it instead led me to doubt my correct efforts at 12D. “Sheesh!,” south of the border (AY, CARAMBA!) and 13D. One whose efforts may be catchy (SLOGANEER), and thus a lot of making up random 5-letter across options, none of which made any sense. In lieu of Googling, I checked an internet source for a solved puzzle grid to confirm my thoughts on 24A. 1960s Elvis-style singer ___ Donner (RAL – I wrongly thought it was RAY), and my eye inadvertently spied a P in the top left corner. This set me straight, replacing QUERYIST with PANELIST, and suddenly the corder made sense.
Finally, the top left came together, although I couldn’t find SPACE RACE (1A. Contest with many missions) for an eternity. A contest? Weird. My confusion also was due in part to 2D. One of a lot of workers?, which is apparently PAVER. I tried HIVER, thinking it was worker bees perhaps. Referring to NASA’s work as a “contest” doesn’t earn a question mark, but someone who does road construction is somehow a punny answer? I’m not clear on how 2-Down merits a question mark, but neither 1-Across nor 33-Across do.
I completed the grid with minimal outside help in just over twenty minutes, a major improvement over most of my Friday efforts. I will likely be ignoring the Saturday puzzle once again, as it only makes me feel like I’m just about the dumbest person ever to pick up a pencil.
See you Sunday!
