Ryan solves the NYT, Wed 4-22-9 with some help from his friends
So, something goofy is going on the NYT online. The applet isn’t working nor is the across lite download. Orange sent us a pdf of the puzzle which had from the Marbles Crossword Tournament and Jim Horne sent us a link to an Across Lite version. Since I’m at work and don’t have Across Lite here I worked on the PDF version so I have no idea if I’m 100% correct. Since some people may be coming here without having had the opportunity to solve the puzzle so I will place my write up on the other side of the handy “Read the rest of this entry” link.
Very clever puzzle by Daniel A. Finan. Took me a while to figure out what the heck was going on but very satisfying once complete.
The puzzle starts out with this note: When this puzzle is done, the nine circles will contain the letters A through I. Connect them with a line, in alphabetical order, and you will form an illustration of the puzzle’s theme.
The illustration turns out to be a sailboat. But that’s not all. There are a number of clues that refer to parts of the illustration and you have to come up with the names for different parts of the sailboat.
17A. With 59-Across, A-B-C-A in the illustration (MAIN) and 59A. See 17-Across (SAIL). If you connect A to B to C and back to A you get the just the sail portion of the drawing.
F-G is the KEEL, C-D is the MAST, A-B is the BOOM and E-F-G-H-E is the HULL. Really cool idea and very well done.
There was one point I thought there might also be a rebus involved because I thought 14A. “Climb ___ Mountain” (EVRY) was EVERY and 46D. “Mississippi ___” (1992 film) (MASALA) was BURNING.
Other highlights (keep in mind I haven’t been able to check my answers so one or more of these may be wrong):
5A. Penultimate fairy tale word (EVER). I like the word penultimate. Is there a word that means third to last?
16A. Break point (AD OUT). What’s up with tennis and all its goofy scoring terms?
34A. Pirating (TAKING). Is this right? I had TAPING first which seemed to make more sense but that gave me KIPI DEE instead the more correct KIKI DEE. TAKING? Alright. Kind of a boring answer to an exciting clue especially considering the nautical theme.
39A. Does some electrical work on (REWIRES). I once did some electrical work. I replaced our old ceiling fan/light with a new ceiling fan/light. It actually went quite well, I got all the wires in the right places and all the bulbs turned on. There was just a little thing that needed adjusting so I loosened this doohickey just a touch and…the whole thing came crashing down to the ground. The wife was right there so I couldn’t blame it on anything else. I salvaged it and put it back up but the bulbs are not straight and kind of hang down like cow udders. Needless to say, I’ve retired as an electrician.
63A. Stethoscope users, at times (YEGGS). Hey, look at that, a word that exists only in crosswords. Oh, it’s also the name of something called Yegg the Chump.
5D. Incorporate, as a YouTube video into a Web site (EMBED). If you insist.
30D. Writer Rita ___ Brown (MAE). This was a guess. I was thinking of Oda Mae Brown from Ghost. I’m stunned it was right.
Really cool theme. I like to draw.
Next stop, Thursday.
