Brian solves Monday’s New York Times puzzle, 12-29-08
I had to go to two other blogs before I was able to locate the theme to this Monday puzzle. What on earth do a RUMMY HAND (18A. It might include a 10, jack, queen and king of hearts), a BASEBALL GAME (26A. Yankees/Red Sox matchup, e.g.), a BROADWAY PLAY (42A. Candidate for a Tony) and PANTY HOSE (51A. L’eggs product) have in common?
Apparently, there’s a clue at 54D. Something 18-, 26-, 42- and 51-Across might have which I never saw. The answer is, of course, a RUN.
I was pleased to see that my score of 3:20 (applet clock be damned) was only marginally higher than that of the Amazing Amy Reynaldo. If only there were a junior version of the ACPT where they only did Monday puzzles! And if such a thing existed, I’d have to make sure that Amy Reynaldo and Dan Feyer (winner of the C Division) were banned for steroids or something like that.
It’s funny that Ryan should have mentioned UHURA yesterday, as she appears here at 48A. “Star Trek” lieutenant. Do we need a picture? Sure. I saw a trailer for the new Star Trek movie, and wow does it look terrible. It occurred to me that there is absolutely no need to re-create the original Star Trek series — especially not with a weird combination of updated technology and outdated fashion. And if you need pre-existing characters as a vehicle for your sci-fi story, then your sci-fi story simply isn’t interesting enough.
This puzzle went very quickly for me, in spite of having no clue on the theme. I’m behind on the week though, having not even glanced at Saturday’s. Apparently it’s very difficult (says Ryan). Since even the easiest of Saturdays confound the hell out of me lately, I think I’ll skip it.
Coming tomorrow, Fill Me In #36. Who knows what those 30 minutes have in store? Or even if it’ll be 30? Maybe 32… 37… 49…? You’ll just have to tune in and see.
