Ryan solves the NYT, Thu 5-29-8
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.
