Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

Continuing its recent trend of Obama-less puzzles, the New York Times brings us this fun Gary J. Whitehead offering.

37A. Primitive trophies … or a hint to this puzzle’s theme (SHRUNKEN HEADS).

And there were a number of HEADs shrunken (or rebusized) throughout the grid.  I’d like to give you the specific number of HEADs but I’ve tried counting them and I keep losing my place.  The last thing I want to do on this blog is give out misinformation.

I figured out the rebus pretty quickly.  I knew what 1D. Macrocephalic was supposed to be but couldn’t fit BIG HEADED into the available space.  That was the first hint.  My suspicisons were confirmed by 9D. Egoist and the lack of space for SWELL HEAD.  (I’m realizing now there’s probably some joke involving a BIG HEAD or SWELL HEAD being too large but I’m simply not bright enough to figure out what it is.)

I found the rest of the puzzle to be fairly easy for a Thursday.  The middle left section gave me the most trouble.  Never heard of a Karmann GHIA.

That’s a snappy little car.

I also didn’t know a horse could have a EWE NECK.  Apparently that is no fun for the horse.  I bet the ewe is not thrilled either.

Something else that confused me:

7D. “Pick me! I know the answer!” (OHOH).  The clue made me think of Horschack.  But he went OOH OOH.  I guess OH OH works but not for a Sweathog.  Interestingly, Brian and I were just discussing Welcome Back Kotter and Brian’s inability to distinguish between Gabe Kaplan of Kotter and Hal Linden of Barney Miller.  I think the fact that both are mustachioed confuses him.  In order to clear this common problem up, here is Gabe Kaplan:

And here is Hal Linden:

Everybody clear?

Something that happened to me once:

8D. Angry diner’s decision (NO TIP).  Back in another life time I waited tables at the Brooklyn Diner.  I was the worst waiter ever.  I couldn’t remember anybody’s order, I had no idea how to properly open a bottle of wine and I spent my shifts completely flustered.  Anyhoo, one guy left me no tip and wrote on his bill, “No tip because of bad service.”  I wish I had kept it.

And now for my million dollar idea:

51D. ___ Mart (KWIK E).  A Simpson’s wiki called kwikepedia.  That’s brilliant, right?

Next stop, Friday.

Today’s puzzle is a bizarre break from recent events in that Barack Obama makes no appearance in the puzzle. Instead, Fred Piscop has given us a rather normal puzzle theme. This one is a trio of long answers in which a normal word is altered to become rather canine, and in a non-purebred way. To wit:

• 20A. Genghis Khan’s non-pedigree domain? : MONGREL EMPIRE
• 38A. Non-pedigree essential courses? : CUR CURRICULUM
• 57A. Casey’s non-pedigree team? : MUTTVILLE NINE

So… there it is. For whatever reason, this puzzle doesn’t do a whole lot to light my fire. It’s absolutely fine, and typically challenging for a Wednesday. I guess there doesn’t have to be much motivation behind any given theme, but I suppose this one is okay. The three answers don’t change in the same way linguistically, but they change somewhat to use the three basic words describing genetically unidentifiable dogs.

The puzzle included in a clue one of Ryan’s least favorite words, and it’s a little tricky: 62A. N.L.’er since 2005 is not any particular player, but rather NAT, which is short for any member of the Washington Nationals. It’s a little misleading, since in general, the Washington Nationals individuals were pretty much N.L.’ers before that when the team was known as the Montreal Expos. This was also one of several baseball-related things in the grid. The others: 25A. Narrowest winning margin in baseball (ONE RUN) and 70A. Bullpen stats (ERAS), not to mention the third of the theme answers. Perhaps now that Obama has been sworn in, the next exciting thing ahead for America is the start of spring training, just a few mere weeks away.

There was really just one answer that completely mystified me, so I leave it to you, gentle viewers, to explain it to me. 11D. Words from Alphonse or Gaston : AFTER YOU. What? Alphonse and Gaston are clearly foreign names, yet the answer is English. And why “after you?” Are these famously polite men? Are they known for courtesy and chivalry? I have no idea. Someone shed some light.

Since there’s a chance different people read this blog every day, I’m going to repeat myself several times for the next few weeks, and let you all know that Ryan and I are appearing on a panel of bloggists at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in February, held in Brooklyn, NY. If you’re thinking about coming to the ACPT, stop thinking about it and just register. And come on Friday night to hear what Ryan and I have to say alongside other bloggists Amy Reynaldo, Rex Parker and Jim Horne, as well as the single most famous person in the history of crosswords, Will Shortz.

We’ll also be blogging and podcasting live from the tournament, and to make matters even more exciting, my mother will be on hand. Remember when David Letterman had his mom as a correspondent from the Lillehammer Olympics? It’s sort of like that, except I’m not as funny as David Letterman and my mother isn’t in Lillehammer.

I think that’s about it now… I suppose we’ll see you on Thursday.

Did you know…?

• OBAMA has appeared as an answer in the New York Times puzzle seven times. PRESIDENT OBAMA once (today), and STATES WON BY BARACK OBAMA once. And this doesn’t count Sunday’s puzzle in which the letters O-B-A-M-A were hidden in theme answers.
• BUSH has appeared twice. Once in reference to George I, once in shared reference to I & II. THE BUSHES showed up once, GEORGE BUSH once (clued in 2000 as “A runner”), and JEB BUSH once, just a few months ago.

I’d just to clarify this — at the time of this writing, Mr. Obama has spent zero days in office, and has been recognized by the New York Times crossword puzzle nine times (not counting this past Sunday). Two different George Bushes spent a combined twelve years in office, and have a combined four appearances in the puzzle.

This makes me happy.

I don’t know if it’s the New York Times, if it’s the types of people who construct puzzles, if it’s Will Shortz, if it’s the fact that “OBAMA” is a more fun word than “BUSH” — I don’t care. I love it. I am so pleased for the changes taking place in America today that my standard cynicism has been replaced, at least for the day. Thank you, New York Times.

Now, to the puzzle. Tim Wescott has crafted a fine puzzle in which everything references 52A. Oath of office taker on 1/20/09 (PRESIDENT OBAMA). Other theme entries:

• 20A. Book by 52-Across, with “the” : AUDACITY OF HOPE
• 3D. 52-Across, starting 1/20/09 : LEADER OF AMERICA
• 11D. 52-Across had one with John McCain : CAMPAIGN RIVALRY
• 29D & 36A. 52-Across’s number two : JOE / BIDEN
• 37D. Home state of 52-Across : ILL.

The rest of the fill was nothing to write home about — except that amidst all of this, a series of boxes in the grid were circled. And reading from the top and going clockwise, the circled letters spelled Y-E-S-W-E-C-A-N. I wonder how many times we’ll hear that today.

If I wasn’t similarly thrilled at the fact that today is both the last day of one thing and the first day of another, I would be rolling my eyes and shouting, “Enough with the cruciverbalist Obama praise!” — but I’m not shouting that. Instead, I’m excited and scared and looking forward to good things to come.

In non-Obama news, Fill Me In #38 has appeared in two segments. Part One is almost entirely an interview with two esteemed constructors (one of whom doubles as an esteemed solver); Part Two is almost entirely viewer mail and our being exhausted by the late hour. Also, if you haven’t yet signed up to attend the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, you should do it. And that’s enough from me about that. For now.

Enjoy the inauguration, everyone. And see you Wednesday, in a new administration.

Welcome back! This is the long-awaited conclusion to Episode 38 (Part 1), launched yesterday. We hope to have left you with suspense and drama, although most of that may have been of the Why Are They Still Doing This Show? variety. It doesn’t matter. If you’re here, we like you.

Included within:

• Zero interviews
• Viewer mail
• More viewer mail!
• So much viewer mail, we consider shaking a stick at it!
• Predictions for the future
• Ryan’s big countdown begins!

Thank you for joining us for the exciting conclusion to Episode 38.

 

 Fill Me In #038 (Part 2): Beating a dead horse. [35:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Zambezi and oat.

My troubles from last week bled somewhat into today’s Tracey Snyder puzzle.  My time on this Monday puzzle was 22:38.  Why so long?  I put RACE car instead of PACE car for 39A. Kind of car seen at Indy and it took me forever to figure out what I had done wrong.

It meant nothing to me that I had some imaginary author named ROE as the writer of “The Fall of the House of Usher”.  I assumed 42D. Fixed parts of motors (STATORS) was wrong since I’ve never heard of a STATOR.  Where I grew up we had Stater Bros. grocery stores but not only is that spelled differently it has very little to do with motors.  But even though I thought STATORS was wrong, all of its crosses seemed very, very right.  So I was stumped for a good while.  How I finally thought to change the offending R to a P is a mystery to me but I’m very glad I did.  I didn’t want to start this fresh week with a googled Monday.

The theme was:

52D. Word that can follow the ends of 17-, 27-, 43- and 57-Across (CHIP).

17A. “Splendor in the Grass” actress (NATALIE WOOD).  I’m afraid I only know NATALIE WOOD from West Side Story.

27A. Telecommuter’s need (HOME COMPUTER).

43A. Drink with a marshmallow (HOT CHOCOLATE).

57A. Common remote control holder (COUCH POTATO).  I enjoy the wording of this clue.  Sounds like something from National Geographic.

Very nice Monday puzzle although I am worried.  Is this slow start a sign of another rough crossword week to come?  I don’t know how much more my shaken confidence can take.

Next stop, Tuesday.

Welcome to Episode 38 — or at least, part of it. We ran so long with this week’s show that we had no choice but to split it up into two parts. (Well, we actually could have opted to either edit it, or just do less — plenty of choices, but we chose to not choose.)

In Part One:

• One interview — two guests!
• Tantalizing news of what is to come in Part Two!

If you like interviews with puzzle solvers and constructors, then this is the show for you. If you like two nerds talking about nonsense — this is also the show for you! (By the way, Ryan and Brian are the nerds, not our lovely guests.)

Also included here: a puzzle as designed by one of our interviewees, in honor of the champions of the World Series (in PDF format).

Tune in tomorrow for Part Two!

 

 Fill Me In #038 (Part 1): Too much to squeeze in there. [46:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Zambezi and oat (yeah, we liked it too).

So, let’s sum up.  Monday and Tuesday were fine.  Wednesday I had to google.  Thursday I had to google.  Friday I had to google and I completely misunderstood a straightforward answer.  Saturday I still haven’t been able to finish.  And, as for today’s Randolph Ross puzzle, I finished it quite quickly (a little over 30 minutes which is a lightning fast Sunday time for me) but I had absolutely no idea what the theme was.  I mean, I really didn’t even begin to have a clue.  I finally had to go over to Orange’s site and have her tell me.  So here it is: All the theme answers have the letters O-B-A-M-A in consecutive order.  And the center clue was GOD BLESS AMERICA.  Very cool but how on Earth did anybody just notice that?

This week has not made me feel more smarter.  If anything, it has made me feel much more less smarter than I normally don’t feel.  On the upside, there is now a button on the applet that reveals the fabled, gossamer-like notepad.  That means there’s someone at the NYT working on the applet.  I think both of us, Brian especially, would like his name and number.  We have some suggestions.  (Was there supposed to be some hint on the notepad today?  All I see is a blank white rectangle.)

The rest of the puzzle was fun although I don’t understand 18A. Pile (REACTOR).  And if you really want to irritate Brian or his father please pronounce the answer to 47D. Cold dessert (SHERBET) incorrectly.  Just stick that extra R in there and watch the fun begin.

And, in a related note, only two days until the inauguration.  Everybody here at the R&B do Xwords is very excited.

Next stop, Monday.

Clearly, it’s going to take me quite a long time to finish up today’s Brad Wilber puzzle.  I have maybe 17% of the puzzle filled in with.  I would say 87% of what I’ve filled in has a 48% chance of being correct.  So, I can’t talk too much about the puzzle.  The few I’m relatively sure about include:

55A. Player in a docking station (IPOD).  This seems remarkably easy for a Saturday.

41D. What to flash when you need a lift? (SKIPASS).  Great clue.

16A. His tribute to Marilyn was remade for Diana (ELTON).  Another pretty easy clue.  I’ve never been one to be all that interested in the Royals but I was glued to the TV during that whole week.

31D. Buzz generator on Wall Street (HOT TIP).

And that’s about it.  I do enjoy the two Nixon clues.  I have no idea what the answers are but the clues are great.

Now, I must talk about yesterday’s puzzle and my related post.  Apparently, TWO D stands for TWO DIMENSIONAL which is a perfectly fine answer to “Flat”.  I went on and on about how TWOD isn’t a word and talked about how I put TKO’D which I thought was correct and I detailed Brian’s hypothesis that TWO D was an apartment (or flat) number.  How did neither of us understand this answer?  Between solving the puzzle, blogging the puzzle, talking about the puzzle, how did this go so far over our heads?  I’ve used the phrase TWO D many times in my life but yesterday it only looked like TWOD to me.  I was even thinking about getting a shirt made up for the ACPT with TWOD emblazoned on the chest.

This is all to say I believe our blog reached the peak of it’s idiocy yesterday.  I don’t think either of us could become more less smarterer.  And it can only go up from here.  (Or down, depending on how you look at it.)  I, for one, am looking forward to our bright future.

Next stop, Sunday.

This has been the week of the Google for me.  I had to google on Wednesday, Thursday and now on Mike Nothnagel’s Friday.  After 4 hours of working on the puzzle I had the whole thing filled in but with some error somewhere.  I tried everything but couldn’t get the applet to accept.  I finally had to look on Orange’s site for the answer.  I had one letter wrong.  For 24D. Flat I had TKOD which makes absolute perfect sense to me.  Some who has experienced a TKO is flat.  The “correct” answer is TWOD.  TWOD?  What the hell is TWOD?  Brian has brought up the possibility that TWO D could be an apartment (or flat) number.  That just doesn’t cut it for me.  The cross was about some PBS station.  Do I look like someone who watches PBS?  I didn’t think so.  KNET looked right to me.  But, seriously, TWOD?

The rest of puzzle consisted of much of what we’ve come to expect out of Mike Nothnagel, Penpal Extraordinaire and Constructor of the Friday Puzzle.  Fun fill and clever clues.  I particularly enjoyed some crosswordese showing up with clues I’ve never seen before.

16A. Novel about its author’s experiences in Tahiti (OMOO).

4D. Birds with “meat cleaver“ bills (ERNS).

23D. Brand named after the pronunciation of its parent company’s initials (ESSO).

Other highlights:

14A. A raise may raise it (HOURLY RATE).  I put TAX BRACKET here and almost called my mom to tell her she raised a genius.  Good thing I didn’t as she would have been sorely disappointed.

17A. When many shots are taken (OPEN SEASON).  Here’s another one I thought I had early on.  I confidently typed in PICTURE DAY and was quite confused when no crosses worked.

22A. Regatta setting (HENLEY).  I don’t know anything about HENLEY.  I thought it was a type of shirt.  But the important thing to remember here is any mention of regatta always makes me think of the great John Candy movie, Summer Rental.  It’s been a while since I saw the movie so I can’t quite remember how Candy goes from renting a house by the beach to beating the evil Richard Crenna in a boat race.  It made sense at the time though.

53A. Arnold Schwarzenegger, four times (MR UNIVERSE).  This one took a bit of thinking as it’s certainly worded to make one think of movie roles.  Arnold has done surprisingly few sequels.  There was Conan the Destroyer and the two Terminator sequels.  He was also in Batman & Robin which technically was a sequel but because light cannot escape its gravitational pull NASA has recently classified it as a black hole.

6D. Run on (PRATE).  PRATE: Empty, foolish, or trivial talk; idle chatter.  Sounds like a podcast I know.

Did I enjoy this puzzle?  Yes.  Was I frustrated becuase my no-google was felled by a made-up combination of 4 unrelated letters?  Yes.  Color me perturbed.

Next stop, Saturday.

It’s always a joy to see a familiar name on a puzzle, and one of my favorites lately is Patrick Blindauer. He challenges the form in surprising ways, and for him, a theme is never just a collection of words or some sort of associative similarity. Today’s offering is no different.

• 38A. Burglary … or a hint to 17/18-, 26/29-, 47/51- and 62/63-Across : BREAK IN

And then we have the four theme answers, each a 14-letter fill in which the central IN is split by a black box:

• 17/18A. “J’ai Deux Amours” singer : JOSEPHINE BAKER
• 26/29A. Tangerine : MANDARIN ORANGE
• 47/51A. Wet-day wish : RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY
• 62/63A. Temporary setback : STUMBLING BLOCK

I don’t know about “wet-day” as a term I’ve ever heard before, especially with the hyphen. But everything is so clever that I can’t complain.

Because of the odd form of the puzzle, we do have a lot of 3- and 4-letter fill, which leads to some words, phrases, acronyms, etc. that can be tricky. 8A. Part of some resort names : Abbr. is SPR, perhaps for “Springs”? Before discovering the theme, I was confused by 63D. Code crackers’ org. and 64D. Bazooka, e.g., which I was sure were NSA and either GUN or GUM – but what could start with NG? Of course, that’s the NG in the middle of STUMBLING BLOCK. So clever!

I certainly have never heard of 37A. U.S. N. clerk: Abbr. (YEO), but maybe it’s a yeoman? I don’t know what U.S.N. is. United States Navy? Hard to say. And perhaps 9D. Fake (PSEUDO) could have had “Prefix” as part of its clue. Is “pseudo” a word unto itself? I particularly liked 36A. Rice pad (DORM) — nothing more to say about it, but it was cute.

Random observation of the day: Look at the grid, and imagine that the black squares make up wall segments. Now imagine that, from the lower right to the upper left, the white spaces within the walls make up a hallway. This is the the shape of the hallway of the apartment building I lived in for my junior and senior years of college. Rumor had it that that building had been designed by an architect who designed prisons, and that the crooked hallways were common in prisons to make it more difficult for potentially escaping prisoners to flee. I find this somewhat unbelievable, and yet appropriate to this puzzle, considering the theme.

Patrick has designed many wonderful puzzles for many wonderful publications. We’ve talked about his work here, as well as had him on the podcast as a guest a couple months ago. In case you missed it, here’s that episode of Fill Me In. Also on that page are links to several of Patrick’s books of puzzles. You should definitely add them to your Amazon wish list.

Thanks, as always, Patrick. I am looking forward to the next one!