Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

Well, I’m on California time today so the blog is also.  A word of caution, I’m on my mother’s dreaded macbook so I don’t know what any of the buttons do and I can’t right click anything so this post may lack my usual brilliance.  Joon Pahk, Squirrel of Discord, why do you like these Macs so much?

On to today’s Matt Ginsberg puzzle.  I enjoyed it and found it easier than yesterday’s 8-hour slog through ignorance.  I finished this up in about an hour although I had three blank squares that I needed to use Brian’s xwordinfo trick to figure out.  They were:

The W in WOLD (48A. Chain of treeless rolling hills) and SWAGE (44D. Metalworking tool).  Two words of which I’ve never heard.  Please use them in a sentence.  In fact, please use them in the same sentence.

The O in GIRO (54D. Big name in cycling helmets) and DODGED (63A. Hemmed and hawed).  Ok, this was my fault.  I had ZED (59D. Lack of organisation) wrong.  I put ZEE so I had D_EGED for 63A and was completely stumped.  My wife does a lot of cycling (in fact, she’ll be in Tahoe next weekend doing a century ride with Team in Training) but I’ve never heard of GIRO.

The T in POMATUM (25D. Fragrant hair dressing) and PETARD (40A. Gate-breaching bomb).  I had a mistake here also with RAP (33D. Criticize).  I had RAG instead which gave me GE_ARD and thought it might be a failed GE product.  PETARD I only know from bizarre saying “Hoisted on his own petard” which for some reason always makes me thing of ballet dancers.  Maybe because PETARD kind of rhymes with LEOTARD.  Is that possible?  I’ve also never heard of POMATUM which is odd since I’m obsessed with my hair (or lack of it).

I got everything else without too much trouble.

16A. “Water that moves you” sloganeer (JACUZZI).  This one took me a while.  Once I had the ACU I tried to fit GLACEAU in there.  Don’t they make Vitamin Water?  It was a nice Aha Moment once I figured it out.

17A. Spanish pork sausage (CHORIZO).  I think the first time I ever heard the word CHORIZO was in the movie Midnight Run.  Charles Grodin wanted it for breakfast.  If I was on a real computer I’d post a picture here of that fantastic movie but since I have no clue how to do that on this mystery box you’ll have to imagine it instead.

21A. Sucker, quickly (VAC).  The wife and I just purchased a Dyson Ball Vacuum.  Awesome.  Our last vacuum just kind of moved the cat hair around.  The Dyson actually sucks it up.  I’m a believer.

24A. Cause of some food recalls (ECOLI).  This reminded me of a recent Onion article.

61A. Ancient Roman writer of comedies (TERENCE).  I’m sure everybody already knows this bit by heart but it’s too funny not to post one more time.

SA. Numquam uidi iniquius certationem comparatam, quam quae hodie inter nos fuit: ego uapulando, ille uerberando, usque ambo defessisumus.

SY. Tua culpa.

SA. Quid facerem?

SY. Adulescenti morem gestum oportuit.

SA. Qui potui melius, qui hodie usque os praebui?

SY. Age, scis quid loquar? pecuniam in loco neclegere maxumum interdumst lucrum.

SA. Hui!

Neclegere maxumum interdumst lucrum!  Never gets old.

4D. Day “Cheers” was on: Abbr. (THU).  Total gimmie.  This was the Must See TV night I grew up on.  Cosby, Family Ties, Cheers and Night Court.  What a powerhouse lineup.  Looking back, only Cheers has held up over time but, man, that was a great night of TV.

Ok, that’s it for today.  You’ll have to wait till I get back to a PC on Tuesday to hear the continuation of Superman’s Crossword Puzzle Mystery.

Great puzzle, Matt.

Next stop, Sunday.