Ryan solves the NYT, Sun 11-8-9
Yay! The New York Times crossword is solvable again. Yesterday’s was one of the hardest puzzles I’ve ever seen in the paper and I didn’t come close to no-googling it. I learned from facebook that Dan Feyer, Winner of the C Division, Winner of the B Division almost didn’t finish it. That’s like saying our cats almost didn’t wake us up at 5am to be fed. Or Shane Victorino almost didn’t hack our blog and delete all our posts. In short, it was a difficult puzzle and I was glad to able to no-google Sunday’s offering.
It was constructed by Robert W. Harris and featured a COLONIZATION theme. In-the-language phrases with ANT added to them.
23A. “O say can you see” or “Thru the perilous fight”? (antHEM LINE). Hey, only 147 days until someone sings this at the first Dodger game of next season.
25A. Resident of a military installation? (BASE TENant).
40A. Tropical fruit seller? (PLantAIN DEALER). Can you eat a plantain like a banana? I think I’ve only had them dried or fried. Can you just peel one and go to town?
61A. Place to get drunk in the kitchen? (PantRY BAR).
67A. What overuse of a credit card might result in? (GIant BILL). We just got one of these from AT&T. But at least I have a phone that can double as a light saber.
84A. Gentleman’s intransigent reply? (MADAM IM ADAMant). I think this can be a lesson for everybody: Ants destroy palindromes.
105A. Where nitpickers walk on a street (PEDant XING). This one took me a while. I didn’t think a pedant was anything but “a person who makes an excessive or inappropriate display of learning”. Apparently, a pedant can also be “a person who overemphasizes rules or minor details”.
108A. Online beauty contest (WEB PAGEant).
Very nice theme.
Other highlights:
1A. Oriole, e.g. briefly (ALER). Seriously? This is how you start off a crossword puzzle? Did Shakespeare open Hamlet with a discussion of nail fungus? (Well, possibly, but it’s certainly not in the final version.) Ok, let’s all get to know John ALER. We’ve talked about him on the podcast. He’s a lyric tenor. He was born in Baltimore in 1949. He made his debut at Julliard in 1977. And he’s won 4 Grammys. C’mon people! Let’s get this entry reclued.
36A. Architect Saarinen (EERO). That’s pronounced AIR-O.
37A. Confronting boldly (BEARDING). Who knew BEARD had so many meanings?
- The hair on a man’s chin, cheeks, and throat.
- A hairy or hairlike growth such as that on or near the face of certain mammals.
- A tuft or group of hairs or bristles on certain plants, such as barley and wheat.
- One who serves to divert suspicion or attention from another.
- Printing The raised slope on a piece of type between the shoulder or counter and the face. Also called neck.
- To furnish with a beard.
- To confront boldly.
And then, of course, there’s this guy.
49A. Collectible disks (LPS). Ok, I know it doesn’t fit but who else thought of POGS first?
59A. Hair net (SNOOD). Learned from crosswords.
96A. &&&& (ANDS). Is there no other way to clue ANDS?
102A. Redheaded kid of old TV (OPIE). I’m normally not such a big fan of Ron Howard movies but I just watched the last hour and a half of Apollo 13. Turns out, it’s a really good movie.
117A. Handy ___ (ANDY). Is this an actual thing? Or is it just two words that rhyme?
37D. ___ Motel (BATES). I put ROACH here first. That screwed me up for a while.
43D. Bit of fluff (LINT). Did some laundry yesterday. Didn’t check the pockets of my pants. Washed 2 winning lottery tickets (worth $4) and two checks (worth $30). That’ll teach me to want clean clothes.
69D. Diner manager/waitress in “Garfield” (IRMA). So, some minor character from a comic strip everybody hates is ok. But Julliard trained lyric tenor John ALER is not?
88D. “Night of the Living Dead” director, 1968 (ROMERO). I watched this for the first time when I was way too young. The image of the little girl going after her mother with the spade became etched in my brain and prevented a good night’s sleep for at least 3 weeks.
Fun puzzle today.
Next stop, Monday.
