Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo. This year, to celebrate, I ate at Taco Bell. I might be spending the next week recovering from that horrible choice.

New York Times – 6:41
Los Angeles Times – 7:44
New York Times
constructed by Gary J. Whitehead; edited by Will Shortz

I learned from reading Ryan’s post below that this puzzle is about Delaware. I had absolutely no idea. Somehow, I got through all the clues without ever coming across 70-Across (DOVER). I didn’t get the theme, and I didn’t get several of the answers for too long.

First of all: ETO. How on earth is it possible for me to remember a thousand different people’s phone numbers, but not to remember ETO? Maybe it’s because I have no idea what it is. I know it’s something to do with Eisenhower, but I need to look it up. Hold on a second… And although it’s all the same to you, I’m now back after a lengthy study of Eisenhower. Apparently, ETO is short for European Theater of Operations. Fortunately for me and my crossword solving prowess, Eisenhower was also in charge of several other acronyms that have little meaning to me. My one hope is that I’ve spent enough time here thinking about ETO that I will remember ETO, and I’ll be able to freely enter ETO into any other ETO-sized answer spaces when the ETO-based clue is something about DDE or Ike or WW2 or whatever leads up to E-to-the-T-to-the-O.

Like Ryan, I also fell for CIGAR instead of SUGAR (54D. Cuban export), but fixed it when I saw AESOP coming in at 53A. “The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” author. I continued to have trouble in the lower right, with no knowledge of UPSALA or ALES, and compounded this by thinking 46D. Britney Spears, for one was a POP IDOL instead of POP STAR. Another answer in this zone was 68A. “Rule, Britannia” composer, which for all I know, might be ETO. I can never remember this guy. Let me look him up… And I’m back. Apparently, Thomas ARNE was known for very little, but writing “Rule, Britannia” was enough to get him into crossword puzzles.

I found this puzzle sadly dissatisfying, and among my Tuesday-puzzle practicing, it snapped a streak of several consecutive sub-five-minute solves for me. How long does it take to get smarter? I’m a little smarter than I was before (and now after this blog — ETO and ARNE — a little smarter still), but I don’t know… Is this all futile?

Yes, probably.

Los Angeles Times
constructed by Donna S. Levin; edited by Rich Norris

This was a disaster. I could not find a groove. I could not get more than two answers side by side without having to skip several clues. Nothing seemed to fit. And having finished, I continue to wonder if I was just lucky last week with my speedy Los Angeles times (no pun intended), and only now wonder if I’m actually getting dumberer instead of smarterer.

Thematically, it was four meanings for “deck”:

• 17A. KNOCK TO THE FLOOR
• 27A. FIFTY-TWO CARDS
• 47A. ELEVATED PATIO
• 63A. CRUISE SHIP LEVEL

None of these came quickly, and that was due to a lot of wrong guesses in the other direction:

• 2D. Gossip first name : RONA – Who is Rona? I know nothing about gossip.
• 8D. Sharing a common culture : ETHNIC – Whether correct or not, “ethnic” always seems to be a term used to describe people or places that do not share common ground. Or rather, not sharing common ground with me. The “ethnic” communities are those that are different from my own social circle. The “ethnic” foods are those that are rooted in cultures other than my own. I found this clue rather misleading, although a fair definition of the word.
• 18D. “K-K-K-___”: 1918 song : KATY – This song was apparently popular during a time when it was cool to make fun of stutterers.
• 19D. Icelandic epic : EDDA – Are you kidding me?

Some other clues that baffle me:

• 59A. Random House co-founder Bennett : CERF – Not only do I not know whether “Cerf” is his first name or his last name, but this clue might just as well have read “Random Sequence of Four Letters.”
• 50D. Kvetch : PILL – I have always used “kvetch” as a verb, not a noun, so this had me going in the wrong direction completely.
• 54A. Telepathy term : PSI – Huh? I’m sure they don’t mean pounds per square inch, but what does “psi” even mean?
• 69A. One who probably knows Gregg : STENO – I have no earthly idea what this means. Who is Gregg?

This was just chock full of confusion for me, and served as a reminder that no matter how many puzzles I do, I’m still just the same old idiot.