Ryan solves the NYT, Wed 1-28-9
Oy, I’m miserable. Still sick and at work. Every half hour or so I have to get up from my desk so I can go somewhere and have a violent sneezing fit. One of these fits happened while I was solving today’s Michael Langwald puzzle which extended my solve time but did not keep me from logging my 10th no-google in a row.
I found this puzzle to be much like Mary Poppins in that it was tough but fun. Nothing came easy for me with this one. Certainly not the theme.
60A. Bearers of a phrase suggested by saying the starts of 17-, 24-, 38- and 49-Across (CHILDS TOYS)
17A. Robin Hood’s love (MAID MARIAN). Why do so many theme answers start at 17A?
24A. One at the front desk, perhaps (INN KEEPER). I really thought this was going to be BANK something.
38A. Nail-biter, perhaps (TIE GAME). 16 days, 10 hours and 18 minutes until Spring Training starts.
49A. Leader deposed in 1955 (JUAN PERON). Here’s a sentence I found intriguing from wikipedia: Perón and his second wife, Eva, were immensely popular amongst many of the Argentine people, and to this day they are still considered icons by the Peronist Party. Well, yeah. It’s the Peronist party. Who’s going to be their icons besides Juan and Eva Peron? Dan Ackroyd?
The starts of the theme answers spell out: MAID INN TIE JUAN or MADE IN TAIWAN. Fun theme.
Other highlights:
9A. “Natch!” (SURE). When would one use NATCH? I’ve never heard this in everyday conversation. Never heard NERTS either.
13A. Puzzlemaker Rubik (ERNO). Dear god, why can’t I remember this?
16A. Played for a cat’s-paw (USED). How did I solve this puzzle? I’ve never heard of any of these things. Cat’s-paw?
9D. Any character in Clue (SUSPECT). Loved this one. Made me smile (in between sneezing my brains out). I hope somebody brings Clue to the ACPT. It’d be fun to get a game going.
38D. “The Sound of Music” family name (TRAPP). Do you know I’ve never seen the Sound of Music? It’s true.
I better wrap this up. I feel another sneezing fit coming on. I do want to take a moment to back up my partner, Brian. I distinctly remember something in Wordplay about how writing in lower case letters speeds solving time. I’ll pop the DVD in when I get home and see if I can find that part. It’s entirely possible that I’ve made the whole thing up though.
So much mucus, so little time.
Next stop, Thursday.
