Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

I’d like to open this post with two thoughts.

One is: Thank you, Ellen Ripstein! You came to see the show I’m working on (I’m a pianist for “Tin Pan Alley Rag,” now playing Off-Broadway). How cool is that? I’m sorry I wasn’t able to socialize after the show, but as we’re still previewing, I attend the post-show production meetings every night. To anyone else who might come see the show — please let me know that you’re coming. If I’m not stuck in a meeting, I’ll try to pop out and say hello!

Two is: Why do I have an easier time with Saturday puzzles than with Friday puzzles? I don’t get it. This seems to be more than a fluke. Every single weekend, I find myself solving a Saturday in relatively normal time, whereas the Fridays confound the hell out of me.

Today’s puzzle by Trip Payne (pictured at right — picture stolen from Facebook) was really no problem at all, save for one Trivia Box. Some of the longer entries were total gimmes, which was a quick start for me:

• 1A. Rock samples : DEMO TAPES. I knew it was about rocks. It was a question of DEMO TAPES vs. DEMO REELS, but either way, piece of cake.
• 21D. It begins with an E (in two ways) : EYE CHART. Awesome clue and answer.
• 35A. Start of a confession : BLESS ME FATHER. I’m not religious, and even when I was, I was Jewish (emphasis on the -ish). Why do I know this answer? Movies, I assume. But it was a gimme.
• 43A. Influential 1996 video game : TOMB RAIDER. I’ve never played this game. Never. Not once. Not even a little bit.
• 46A. Yellow squares, often : POST-ITS. The picture at right is a Post-It mosaic (see 37D) of Ray Charles, as put together by Dave Alvarez. This kind of thing, like the Rubik’s Cube art Ryan posted a few days ago — these just amaze me. That people can come up with the idea AND execute it. Amazing.
• 58A. Contents of a certain household box : CAT LITTER. We have two cats. One is sweet and wonderful and cozy and delightful and named Jack. The other is evil and rotten and vindictive and hates Jack and is named Blueberry. We just got a new cat tree (multi-level perch with a scratching post up the middle and carpeted shelves for feline reclination). There’s four levels for the cats to sit on. Jack will find a spot and get comfy, and next thing you know, Blueberry is biting her and clawing her and making poor Jack miserable. Jack might hate us because we haven’t gotten rid of Blueberry yet. Does anyone want an evil, vindictive cat who hates other cats?

A few spots that were trickier, but still barely Friday-tricky:

• 19A. Author of “Time’s Arrow,” 1991, a novel written in reverse chronological order : AMIS. Never heard of it. Is it better than “Benjamin Button”?
• 36D. Milky : LACTEAL
• 37D. Multipart art : MOSAICS. Good one.
• 41D. Agent of change : REVISER. I’m not a big fan of crossword entries that are start with RE-. Nor am I a fan of crossword entries that end with -ER. This entry also crossed into the Zone of Awkward Non-Words with UVA (47A. Sch. founded by a president) and MCIV (Year that Acre fell in the First Crusade). Reviser is also a board game. This is a picture from one of the many steps required to make a move. It looks like it might be a bit trickier than Reversi (which seems similar, and is also an anagram).

Awesome entry:

• 32D. Is in Athens? : IOTAS. That first word isn’t “is” — it’s the plural form of the letter I.

My Trivia Box was the M between MCIV and METZ (50D. Birthplace of poet Paul Verlaine). By laws of Roman numerals, it’s either M, D or C. And my guess was Metz, even though I’d never heard of it and DETZ could be a place, too.

It’s been a long week, and I’m pooped. So this is it for now. See you Sunday!