Brian: Monday, May 5
I’ve had a difficult time tearing myself away from a new XBox 360 game this weekend, so my blogs are coming about a little late… What can you do.
New York Times – 3:21
Los Angeles Times – 4:09
CrosSynergy – 3:24
New York Sun – 6:50
New York Times
constructed by Stella Daily and Bruce Venzke; edited by Will Shortz
I was very pleased with myself here, only coming in a scant thirteen seconds longer than crossword genius, Orange. I got the things that rhymed with -ACKET fairly fast, and I find that when I can whiz through the theme answers right away, I save myself a good thirty seconds (or more) on my time.
Since Ryan has detailed the answers below, I’ll use this space to point out that I have never heard the song for which SAL is famous. What is this song? I will have to get it from the iTunes Store. Speaking of the iTunes Store, you can access our podcast there. It’s quite funny, even if the latest episode has lousy sound quality. We’re still learning.
Los Angeles Times
constructed by Gail Grabowski; edited by Rich Norris
After joyously racing through most of last week’s L.A. Times puzzles at record paces, I found myself floundering somewhat here. Apparently, 60-Across was supposed to clue me into the puzzle’s theme. The answer there is PASTA SHAPES, which four theme answers start with:
- 17A. Like some notebooks : SPIRAL BOUND
- 38A. Sailor’s knot : BOWLINE
- 11D. Athletic hosiery : TUBE SOCKS
- 31D. Sleight-of-hand scam : SHELL GAME
I struggled with 11-Down, because I was sure that 11A. Huck’s raftmate was JIM, not TOM. I couldn’t make any sense of the JUBESO___ I had at 11-Down for the longest time… Grr. Also, I wonder if TUBE is a bit of a cop-out for pasta shapes… Maybe not, but there are so many tubes (penne, ziti, rigatoni, etc.) and only one bowtie (farfalle). I don’t know… Maybe that’s just my four-minute frustration talking.
34A. Yr.-end consultant troubled me, as the answer was CPA – a consultant I don’t ever consider until at least April 12th each year. Maybe I’m late on the game, but what normal people (i.e. Monday-style-clue people) think of anything outside of tax season when it comes to CPAs? And I wonder if I’ll ever retain the differences between NITRO and NITRE, between OCHER and OCHRE, etc. And never ever ever can I recall what D.D.E.’s something-or-other in the war was. It didn’t appear in this puzzle, but I just read it in the New York Times puzzle and have already forgotten it. I am way not smarter enough.
CrosSynergy: End Zone
constructed by Martin Ashwood-Smith
Someday, I’ll also retain the information about what puzzles have what difficulty levels on what days… I really am so clueless about so much.
This puzzle had three long answers that covered the theme of the puzzle — “ending” words:
- 17A. Lawyer’s conclusion : CLOSING ARGUMENT
- 39A. Flying disc sport : ULTIMATE FRISBEE
- 61A. Bruce Willis movie of 1996 : LAST MAN STANDING
The fill was generally fun, although three tricky answers packed together in the center, with 27D. I.D. TAG, 28D. THERM and 29D. SOFT C – not a normal word in the bunch. Plus, they crossed with the center theme answer, a two-word phrase (RED HOT) and an acronym (GMC), so no smooth sailing in that zone.
New York Sun: Fish Sandwich
constructed by Alan Arbesfeld; edited by Peter Gordon
Late in the day, brains running out… Too many wrong choices that I forgot I had made left me useless… Spent three minutes just looking for my errant squares. The theme was hidden fish, which is not a fun game to play in your own kitchen, by the way.
- 20A. The Senate, e.g. : UPPER CHAMBER (perch)
- 28A. Scoop shop option : SWISS ALMONDS (salmon) — Seriously? Swiss almonds? I can’t remember ever seeing any almonds in an ice cream parlor, let alone some specific kind.
- 35A. Panzer battler : SHERMAN TANK (manta)
- 42A. One doing the hustle : DISCO DANCER (cod)
- 53A. Xenon, for example, in the atmosphere : TRACE ELEMENT (eel)
Cute. Got too stuck too often, so am still not smarter. Time for bed.
