Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

Although this is Randy Sowell’s 18th puzzle in the New York Times, W.S.E. (Will Shortz Era), it’s his first P.B. (Post-Brian). It’s a fine Monday of a puzzle, and the theme appears to simply be “Do This To A That.” We have four entries that fit such a mold:

• 10D. Participate on Election Day : CAST A VOTE
• 20A. Fix part of dinner with lettuce, carrots, peppers, etc. : TOSS A SALAD
• 36D. Show childish anger : THROW A FIT
• 58A. Prepare to camp : PITCH A TENT

Oh, I get it. It’s not just “do this” to a that, it’s “hold a that, and then forcefully fling your arm outward whilst releasing said that into the air.” Cast, toss, throw, pitch. I can now heave a sigh of relief that there was more to the theme than simply “do this to a that.”

Despite Monday, there were a few things I didn’t know, but only on reviewing my completed grid (I must have gotten these from the crossings, because I don’t even remember the clues):

• 6D. Petty : PICAYUNE. I learned this word about fifteen years ago, when my friend Adam made me aware of a newspaper from his hometown called the Picayune. Oh, here’s a good opportunity to tell a story that has absolutely nothing to do with the puzzle. See — back a long time ago, Adam and I had a ridiculous routine. One of us would burp loudly, and the other would exclaim “Amphenol.” It was a word we learned from a building on the side of the highway. Amphenol. We didn’t know what it was. But it was a funny word. And burping is funny. Anyway, we had this running joke. Flash forward a few years, and *poof* the internet is getting cool. People are doing their own websites. It’s 1995. Whoo-hoo. So this super-popular thing to do was to make a web page that was a series of links to your favorite other sites and news stories. There were templates to make something like your own newspaper, and then all the “articles” would be links to other headlines from CNN and such. Adam’s newspaper was called “Adam’s Picayune” or something like that. My newspaper was called “The Amphenol Rag.” Well, I had that up for about two weeks when I got an email — from the Amphenol company. They emailed me with a cease and desist letter, claiming that I was infringing on their copyright by calling my web page “The Amphenol Rag.” If they only knew how small an audience I would have fifteen years later when I was actually trying to get people to read my pages… Anyway, they sent me that email, and because I was (am) a cocky bastard, I decided not to take my site down. Instead, I changed the heading to “the web page formerly known as The Amphenol Rag.” And then I put a little note and a link to amphenol.com (just as I have here). I wonder if they’ll email me again. What a fun reunion that would be. Amphenol, if you’re out there, drop me a line.
• 25D. Fed. auditing agcy. : GAO. Seriously, I thought the people who audited you were the IRS. I am clearly not prepared for an audit when I don’t even know who to expect.
• 44D. Psychologist/writer LeShan : EDA

That’s a dud way to end this post, I think. Eda. It’s like ending posts with something like “zambezi and oat.” I mean, what the hell is that? Oh, speaking of that — Season Two is on the way. Ryan is editing furiously, and we expect the Season Two premiere to be out within the… day? Okay, we’ll aim for that.

See you Tuesday!

P.S. Ryan solved this Monday puzzle in under four minutes. On the applet. My computer took 1:32 just to open the damn page.