Ryan and Brian do Crosswords

I’ll admit it — I cheated at about half of this puzzle. It would have been left almost entirely empty, if I hadn’t bothered to look at someone else’s solution and copy about ten entries.

Oh my god, Frank Longo, why are you torturing me? You alone scare the living something out of me when I see your name in a byline. This has been the case in Games Magazine, this has been the case with your 25-foot-long puzzle (that still remains about 53% finished in a box on a shelf in my office).

And I got mad mad mad when I saw that Dan Feyer (who I know is a million times smarter than I’ll ever be) did it in 3:41. THREE FORTY-ONE? I had about six answers in place at 6:41, and after looking some up, realized that four of them were wrong. How on earth do you know everything?

I knew 62A. Killer of Greedo in a sci-fi film (HAN SOLO). And yes, he shot first.

So here’s my list of things I don’t understand:

17A. Payback factor : ACCRUED INTEREST. I don’t understand. I see that the clue is about paying a debt, and the answer seems related, but I don’t get it.

29A. Between green and black, say : RIPE. This is a major stretch, and I’m torn between thinking it’s incredibly clever and completely horrible. I *do* understand this one, though, so no need to smack me in the face with a green banana.

40A. Fort Worth’s ___ Carter Museum : AMON. Sometimes, when the grid is just full of random letters, I guess one can just Google an entry and then later figure out if there’s a clue to go with it. This idiot blogger has no clue about this museum.

42A. Jack : LONG GREEN. Is this about golf?

52A. Pulsar, e.g. : RADIO SOURCE. Is Pulsar a brand name? Or is this something in outer space? Or both?

59A. Explosive measure : KILOTON. As in “a kiloton of explosive stuff.” But then, couldn’t BAGGIEFUL also be an explosive measure?

2D. Crackpots : LOCOS. Aren’t crackpots people who are experts at things? For example: “Dan Feyer is a crackpot at crosswords.”

13D. Certain twin : SIS. Who’s twin is this? It’s apparently someone certain.

18D. Nigerian native : IBO. That’s a word?

28D. Hokey jokes : CORN. Right.

30D. Like correctional facilities : PENAL. Yes, when I’m trying to describe one of the other million things that are penal, I usually struggle to find the word, and say, “Well, it’s like… it’s… it’s like a correctional facility.”

31D. ___ Bowl : ALAMO. Might as well have been “Five-letter word” for the clue. Super Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Aloha Bowl… Really? There’s an Alamo Bowl? I challenge anyone reading this to tell me anyone who has ever played in the Alamo Bowl without looking it up.

34D. Year in which Middle English began, by tradition : MCL. It could be anything. And “by tradition”? Isn’t a tradition something that we do year after year? Like we all tease my father for using an electric knife on the frozen meringue-sorbet cake. That’s a tradition. What year a dead language may or may not have started is not a tradition.

44D. 1990s President of the Philippines : RAMOS. President + Philippines = Imelda Marcos’ shoe collection. That’s all I have.

46D. German magazine article : EIN. Why “magazine”? And for what it’s worth, the list of six German articles I know does not include this one (das, der, die, sie, ich, ach — and I’m sure at least one of those isn’t actually an article).

53D. Marsh bird : SORA. Sora, Amon, corn… these could be rivers I haven’t yet learned.

55D. Boot attachment : SKI. I always thought we attached the boots to the skis, not the other way around. Or is “attachment” a mutual experience?

56D. 1961 hit song for the Angels : TIL. In 1961, the Angels were a brand new expansion team in the American League. Their best player was leftfielder Leon Wagner, who hit 28 homers and batted .280. They went 70-91 and finished in eighth place. I know a lot about baseball, but I had no idea that the Angels ever released an album.

57D. Each, in scores : ALL. What scores use this? Is this supposed to be like “all the violins play here” as in “each and every violin”? Every score I’ve read, when they want all the instruments to play, use TUTTI.

Ryan, I am pleading with you. Don’t ever make me do a Saturday puzzle again.

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And I did it with the CAPS LOCK button pressed the whole time. Who knew?

Before I forget, here’s a link to our latest podcast. The weekly interview was with constructors Dave McLeod and Barbara Olson. Take a listen.

As to today’s puzzle, this had just the right kind of theme for a Wednesday — something that didn’t make sense at first, continued to not make sense, and actually required me reading one of the entries out loud before I knew what the hello was going on. Granted, Ryan reminded me at 2am that I had to live up to my half of the title billing on this blog, so I was a bit bleary. Forgive any typos that stray into this post.

We remember constructor Michael Blake most recently from his last puzzle collaboration with our podcast friend, Andrea Carla Michaels. Mr. Blake previously appeared only one other time on a solo effort, but if he constructs puzzles like this one, he should be back again soon.

The theme appeared in these entries:

• 17A. Elegance in road construction? : PAVING GRACE
• 23A. Desirable guy to rent from? : PLUM LANDLORD
• 40A. Hit “snooze” with force? : POUNDED THE ALARM
• 50A. Council of Guinness drinkers? : PUB COMMITTEE

And everything was explained with:

• 63A. Feature of some intersections … or a five-word hint to 17-, 23-, 40- and 50-Across : FOUR-WAY STOP, or FOUR-WAY S TO P

It wasn’t until I said the last part out loud that I saw what was going on. This is awfully clever, and the sort of theme that makes me wonder if I actually have any brains in my head at all. How does he come up with this? (In case, in my bleary state, I’m not being clear — he has taken a normal phrase, like “saving grace” and made the S into a P [S-to-P], thus resulting in “paving grace.”)

Pia Zadora appears for the 44th time overall — 41 times for her first name (although not always clued in reference to her), but this is only the third ZADORA sighting in the Will Shortz era. Another DORA is here as well at 26D. TV explorer. I’m surprised that made it through the censors. I thought that sort of repetitive answer thing was a no-no. But what do I know-know?

President-elect Barack OBAMA makes his seventh appearance in the puzzle, this time as 8D. Winner of 2008. If I can take a mild political stance here, I’d like to believe that the whole country is a winner in 2008 thanks to this election. Even if Mr. Obama does not make the world 100% perfect by the time his term(s) is/are finished, he’s an awfully smart guy with a whole lot of positive, progressive passion about the world. That’s a good recipe, and I hope we all begin to feel like winners soon.

I’d like to end this post with a wish of good health to my friend Adam, who’s under the weather. Adam is another awfully smart guy with a whole lot of passion. Perhaps my belief in the good future ahead under the leadership of Mr. Obama is a result of seeing such good things come from people closer to me, people like Adam. So let’s wish him well, wish him a speedy recovery.

See you Thursday!

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Dame Billie Truitt has designed a lovely Monday puzzle for us, and one which takes a slight step away from the standard Monday theme structures. Sure, it’s five entries. Sure they all go together. But they don’t obviously go together, and there’s no reference in any of the clues anywhere what the gimmick is. The theme entries:

• 17A. Gardener’s gift : GREEN THUMB
• 24A. Measure of national economic health : MISERY INDEX
• 39A. Come to a compromise : MEET IN THE MIDDLE – Not to be confused with “Malcolm in the Middle,” which is only a compromise if the two initial offers are “torture me with terrible television” and “make me never want to have children.”
• 51A. “Call sometime” : GIVE ME A RING – After this answer made its way into the grid, I was sure I was on the wrong track because all I had in my head was my wife singing that Beyonce song over and over, the one with “if you like it, you better put a ring on it…” (forgive any inaccuracies in my lyrical recollection).
• 64A. Rhyming word game : HINKY PINKY – As if. There is no such rhyming word game.

The theme, now, is of course Five Things That Seem To Mean Nothing. But secretly, it’s the five fingers. Ha! Very clever! Wonderful work, Ms. Truitt!

Delightful and clever for a Monday, a little trickier (to this pathetic solver) than usual. Thanks for a great puzzle.

See you Tuesday!

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Oh my god.  I loaded this puzzle up 12 and a half hours ago and I almost have part of a corner.  I’m taking it to rehearsal to see if I can get any more done and I’ll do a write up tonight.

One thing I did get:

56A. Sticks you need to break (POOL CUES).

I can’t believe I got that much.

More later…

Hello there — Brian here. I managed to find some time over lunch to work on this demanding Byron Walden grid. I needed a little help here and there, but I eventually managed to find my way. That people like Dan and Amy just happen to know absolutely everything in the entire universe in five minutes is beyond me. It would take me five millennia to learn everything in the universe, and even then, I forget most of what I learn about five minutes after learning it. Truly amazing how different “five minutes” can be to different people.

The scariest commitment I made to this grid was deciding that TECH SAVVY was going to be right for 14D. Like computer programmers. Aside from my recent comment on the frequency of double-V words, this word was placed in a last column position — meaning that there were going to be two across entries ending in V! Insane! Unheard of! Those across entires turned out to be:

• 34A. Predecessor of Gregory XI : URBAN V
• 36A. Feeding tube? : CLOSED CIRCUIT TV

In all honesty, I don’t understand that last one. I know that the signal to the television is called the feed and that the television itself is called the tube, but who is the closed-circuit television feeding?

Good ol’ Urban wasn’t our only numerically designated entry, as we also had EDWARD II (59A. Christopher Marlowe play). I only know three people personally who have Roman numerals after their names. One is a II and two are IIIs. Did the fashion of last names lead to the demise of the IVs, VIIIs and XIIIs of the world?

A handful of very Saturdayish clues with normal answers:

• 1A. Saw in the dark? : DREAMT OF
• 54A. Relative of a chuckwalla : IGUANA
• 56A. Sticks you need to break : POOL CUES
• 1D. Soap, for example : DRAMA
• 7D. Standards, e.g. : OLD MUSIC
• 9D. Presenter of bills : ATM
• 48D. Spring break? : OASIS

But also a collection of words that don’t actually exist, words that Byron Walden, Orange and Dan Feyer all collectively made up just to make people like me have no earthly idea what to do:

• 5D. Like a cob : MALE

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Today’s puzzle is by good friend of the blog, Doug Peterson, Crossword Gentleman and Man About Town.

Great puzzle and I think may have broke some sort of personal record for spotting a rebus.  I spotted it even before I saw:

52A. Mischief-makers (you’ll find seven of them in the answer grid) (LITTLEDEVILS).

I figured out the rebus on:

66A. Spontaneous skits (impROV).

And there were 6 additional IMPs hidden throughout the grid.  Some came easily:

2D. Curious George, for one (CHimp).

37A. TV series that’s now a film franchise (MISSIONimpOSSIBLE).  I think I’ve ranted about these movies before.  Yes, I totally have but here’s an update.  I just rented and watched the Brian DePalma-directed The Untouchables and it’s just not a very good movie.  It’s got some good moments but, on the whole, it doesn’t do it for me.  Are there any DePalma movies that people really love?  I’ll tell you what though, that Untouchables’ score by Ennio Morricone is amazing.  The score makes the movie seem much, much better than it actually is.

45A. Call into question (impEACH).  This can still be done to presidents, right?

46D. See for a second (GLimpSE).

And others were a struggle:

15D. Sights at many football games (BLimpS).  This whole corner took me a long time. 12D. Deliver a stemwinder (ORATE).  I thought a stemwinder was a type of snake which made me think there was some special word for a snake giving birth.  However, snakes do not give birth, they lay eggs.  I remembered this later on.  I enjoy when my ignorance has depth and texture. 18A. Constellation with a music-related name (LYRA).  Yes, LYRA is a constellation.  LYRA is also a Turkish bowed instrument.  Never heard of either one.

22A. Be stingy with (SKimpON).  I had SCRIMPS and was positive it was correct.

Other highlights:

36D. Green and Rogen of comedies (SETHS).  Seth Green created Robot Chicken. 46A. Sought-after object (GRAIL).  King Arthur went after the Holy Grail.  Put them together and you get:

43A. Peak performance? (YODEL).  Here is a video of Taylor Ware who, apparently, is America’s yodeling sweetheart.

You may have noticed The Hoff looking somewhat incredulous.  I think anybody who once appeared in public like this

gives up all future rights to incredulity.

33D. Seafood cocktail ingredient (TIGERSHRimp).  Tiger Shrimp are quite large.  I wonder how many Brian could eat in one sitting.

All around great puzzle by Doug.  I like a Thursday challenge.  Keeps me from getting too cocky.  And Thursdays are usually my cockiest days.  So much so that I’ve taken to calling it Cockursday.

Next stop, Fricockyday.

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Yes! Finally! For the first time I broke the 5 minute mark on a New York Times Crossword. Hey, Tyler, you hear me knocking?

My time on this Sharon E. Peterson puzzle was 4:29. My record time being the result of a pretty easy puzzle, my dashing good looks and, somehow, going 4 minutes and 29 seconds without making a bonehead mistake. That last one has got to be some sort of record for my day to day life as well.

The theme here was “Two Word Phrases Where the Second Word is Immediately Preceded by the First Word. With the Aforementioned First Word Having an Additional Meaning Than That Which is Used in the Two Word Phrase. With the Aforementioned Additional Meaning Pertaining to a Masculine Four-Legged Beast.”

17A. Completely nude (BUCKNAKED). Also, George Costanza’s porn star name.

66A. All-male gathering (STAGPARTY)

11D. Bygone Dodge S.U.V. (RAMCHARGER)

30D. “Buy buy buy” time on Wall Street (BULLMARKET)

Other highlights:

39A. “Les Misérables” fugitive (VALJEAN). With all apologies to musical-hating Brian, here’s “Who Am I?” from the 10th Anniversary of Les Miz.

47A. Cauliflower ___ (EAR). Bleh.

64A. Catawampus (ASKEW). A quick google search of catawampus turns up a theory of the word’s origin, a future etail site, a band’s myspace page and an audition notice for an upcoming film.

12D. Alps-to-Arles river (RHONE). This must be a typo. Rivers can’t have names longer than 4 letters.

All in all, a fine Monday puzzle. If you were going to put a Monday puzzle in a time capsule to show the people of future what we solved every 7th day this would be a good one to choose. NEE, ARES, ALBA, OPAL, ELL, TARA, UMA, LOCO and on and on.

In other, completely unrelated news I finally saw Tropic Thunder last night. Hilarious. “I don’t read the script. Script reads me.” Good stuff.

Next stop, Tuesday.

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