Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

It’s late, and I should be asleep. So should you, for that matter. But instead, here we are, writing and reading (reading and having written?) a blog. Tra la. We write this paragraph in order to not give away answers via Facebook. I think this is enough of a buffer, isn’t it?

Today’s puzzle is by Gary Cee, who we’ve seen a handful of times over the past several months, if memory serves. I’m not sure I’ve seen enough of a sample size to commit to a solid opinion on Mr. Cee, but today’s puzzle certainly fits the Tuesday mold pretty darn well. The theme:

• 17A. View from the Oval Office : ROSE GARDEN
• 25A. Premium Scotch whiskey : CHIVAS REGAL
• 37A. Event featuring sports stars of yesteryear : OLD-TIMERS’ GAME
• 52A. Pastry sold at pizzerias : SAUSAGE ROLL
• and it all becomes clear with 61A. Make an abrupt change … and a hint to this puzzle’s theme : SHIFT GEARS

See how the letters in GEARS appear in each of the other answers, but scrambled differently? Clever. It also made me think back on that gearshift Sunday puzzle a few months ago. Did you do that one? I don’t have the authority to share unsolved puzzles, but I can show you the solution.

I know it’s not really like me, but I actually have nothing negative to say about this puzzle. Sorry, Amanda, but I actually liked this just fine. Part of that might be due to the fact that it’s late and I should be asleep and this puzzle was super easy, but part of it might just be because it was good. If I were to complain, it might be that the fill was a little on the generic side (EDNA, ESAU, SIRS, ARLO, OREL, ARM, AIR, AREA, STYE, AERO, RIO – all kinda standard stuff), but there were still a few surprises (CLASS A, NODOZ, NAAN, VINEGAR). There may have been a few too many partials and/or multi-word entries (AM TOO, A BITE, IT’S A DEAL, A PAR, LT. GEN, USA! USA!, ASST. DA, STOP AT), but since I still don’t truly know the difference between a partial and a multi-word entry, this may not be a fair complaint.

[Insert unnecessary acknowledgment of the certain incoming comment from Joon Pahk, in which he tells me the difference between a partial and a multi-word entry.]

If you haven’t listened to the latest episode of Fill Me In, you should. It’s available. Also, if you’re scared to jump into our podcast without having listened to anything else yet, go read our info page — and then come back and listen.

See you Wednesday!

Well, it looks like our search for a house has been completely derailed.  We found a really nice one in our price range and within a reasonable commuting distance from the city and we were all set to make an offer but we didn’t take into account the commuting costs.  Good lord.  The 2 of us to getting in and out of the city would cost $780 a month!  And that’s not including the cost of the car we’d have to buy.  This disappointing news plus the complete drubbing the Dodgers just experienced in Game 3 has made for a very frustrating night in the Hecht household (or should I say, apartmenthold).

On the upside I completed Lynn Lempel’s crossword in 4:34 which is not a bad time for me.  The theme was OOH AND AAH and the answers to each starred clue contained both those sounds.

16A. *Backwoods locale (BOONDOCKS).  Is this funny?  I think I’ve lost my ability to tell.

27A. *Particle with no electric charge (NEUTRON).  Ok, is this funny?

49A. *Stew made with paprika (GOULASH).  This is kinda funny.

3D. *Apollo 11, 12 or 13, e.g. (MOON SHOT).  I’m guessing this wasn’t funny.

10D. *Commotion (HOOPLA).  Umm…funny?

39D. *Teased hairdo (BOUFFANT).  Pretty funny.

48D. *Home of the University of Arizona (TUCSON).  After much searching I found absolutely nothing even remotely funny about Tucson.

Next stop, Tuesday.

There seemed to be quite a few people yesterday who were somewhat chagrined that I had never heard of a snow fence.  Well, I hadn’t.  But now I have.  My wife and I live in an apartment and after a snowfall, the walk to the front door is magically cleared by elves (either that, or our super) and we’ve never had a need for a fence.  However, we are currently in the market for a house so I suspect we will soon be confronted with the actual downsides of snow.  At least it won’t be snew.

Today’s puzzle was constructed by Elizabeth C. Gorski making what I believe is her New York Times debut.  Hold on, let me check…oh, sorry this is actually her 171st NYT puzzle.  I’ve got to start paying attention.  The theme was AHEAD OF THE CURVE and the whole puzzle was great fun.

What might at first look like a big @ symbol (in fact, it contains the clue 67A. Symbols like @ (ATS) which I thought was a nice touch) turned out to be a tribute to the 50th Anniversary of THE SOLOMON R GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM.

I thought this puzzle was great.  Not only is it in the shape of the museum but Ms. Gorski also fit in the entries:

SPIRAL SHAPE

FINAL MAJOR WORK OF FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

NONTRADITIONAL

Plus, there are nine artists clued only by one of their works.  I think I knew just enough about art to be able to successfully solve this puzzle.  MANET, CHAGALL, KANDINSKY, SEURAT, DEGAS, MONDRIAN, PICASSO, ERNST and ARP.

Why did I think that Kandinsky was a classical music composer?  Is it because I know next to nothing about art or classical music?  While you guys are mulling that over take a look at the Kandy Man’s Composition 8.

The rest of the grid was also filled with great stuff:

27A. California wind (SANTA ANA).  I feel like there’s a possible theme idea here.  Add an extra a to SANTANA and you get SANTA ANA.  Does that work for any other names?

39A. 2000s TV family (SOPRANOS).  As far as hour long dramas go, I think this is my favorite.  I watched the whole series on DVD in about a month and a half.

41A. Many a school fund-raiser (RAFFLE).  Never in my life have I ever won anything in a raffle.  Never.  The whole thing is rigged.

72A. Like a bond you can buy with security? (AAA).  Do financial people think this is hilarious?  Because I don’t get it.

79A. Lo-___ (RES).  My favorite is the House Special Lo-res.  Shrimp, pork and chicken.  A little blurry but absolutely delicious.

85A. Like some YouTube videos (VIRAL).  This is one of my favorites.

64D. Words from Charlie Brown (UGHS).  This one is weird.  I don’t remember Charlie Brown saying UGH a lot.  I remember GOOD GRIEF and AAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHH but not UGH.

Really great puzzle today.

Next stop, Monday.

Ok, I am in a much better mood today.  The Dodgers squeaked out a win (take that, Barry C. Silk, Friend and Confidante to Doug Peterson, Crossword Gentleman and Man About Town!) and now go to Philadelphia with the series tied at one game apiece.  So far, both games have been very close and very nerve wracking.  Only 3 wins away from the World Series.

Today’s puzzle was constructed by Chuck Deodene and I had to google to get the final letter in place.  It was the B that crossed BRNO and BREL.  With _RNO I was sure that the missing letter was a vowel and when none of them worked I scoured the rest of the grid for a possible error and didn’t come up with anything.  I turned to google and quickly realized I needed a B.  That’s frustrating especially because I’ve heard of both of the terms.  BRNO from crosswords and Jacques Brel from that musical, To Jacques Brel and Thanks for All the Fish (or something like that).

I did figure out the rest of ,what I would call, a harder than average Saturday puzzle.

After my first pass through the clues I knew exactly one thing, IVAN Drago.  I’ve never actually seen Rocky IV but “I must break you” became a very popular phrase between my friends and I in junior high school.  It popped up quite frequently when we played D&D.  (Reason #379 why my school years were a social disaster.)

With IVAN solidly ensconced in the grid I spent the next hour or so staring at a lot of empty squares.  I don’t remember exactly how I finally broke through but I know POTABLE (34A. Unlike seawater) was a big part of my success.  I guess it makes more sense than UNSALTY.

Brian and I were chatting on the phone while solving the puzzle (being careful not to give any answers away to each other) and we both doubted the wordliness of BENTHIC.  I have since looked it up and it does indeed mean something related to the bottom of the sea.  Also, if you say it out loud enough times you can convince yourself that you have a lisp.

Brian was convinced 29D. Literally, “my master” was referring to a Disney character.  Either BAMBI, DUMBO or SIMBA.  I don’t think they’ve made a Disney movie centering around a RABBI but I think it’s high time they did.

My first thought for 21A. Track speedster beginning in 2000 was USAIN Bolt.  Turns out it was ACELA which actually isn’t much faster than the regular train but it sure is more expensive.

I liked 14A. Sputnik launch time (SOVIET ERA) but I can’t be the only person to enter in SPACE RACE, can I?

61A. Guard against drifting (SNOW FENCE).  Is this really a thing?  I mean, are there fences specifically made for snow?

2D. Hip-hop top (HOODIE).  Hey, I wear a hoodie almost everyday.  Does that mean I am in with the hip hop?

Good puzzle today.

Next stop, Sunday.

Ryan is curled up in the fetal position at the moment (on the bathroom floor at his office) due to a certain shortage of scoring on the part of a certain west coast collection of athletes. It’s a sad day in Ryan’s head.

But let’s make it worse, shall we? Let’s… uh… have a blog by Brian! Yes, that’s how to do it! Today’s puzzle is from one of my many puzzle nemeses, Karen M. Tracey. I think all of my nemeses are people I haven’t actually met. Karen M. Tracey is one. And we know Patrick Berry is one. There are probably others.

I had to Google three squares in this puzzle to get it right. One of those three is maybe my fault. The other two are icky, and to this uneducated dope, unfair. Let’s take a look at those Gaping Chasms of Ignorance:

• 6D. More than merely meet (GET TO KNOW) and 15A. “Beloved” heroine (SETHE). The crossing is at the first E in Sethe. My initial entry was an O. I realize that the clue for 6D is in the present tense, but I might argue that you have to make some kind of commitment to go beyond being someone’s passing acquaintance (i.e., merely meeting them), and that such a commitment requires time. If this time is to pass, one will not have done “more than merely meet” until the end of said time – at which point they can say that they got to know that someone. Look, I’m sure Joon or someone will chime in here and tell me about verbs and tenses, and it probably involves being transitive (which continues to mean zilch to me), and I should have known better and I should have entered GET to know instead of GOT to know, but the truth here is that neither Sethe or Sothe is actually a name that anyone has, so while I might admit that this one could be my fault, I will only take partial responsibility for my lack of success. [NOTE: After writing this, I found the image above to add to this post. I now see that the author of this book has one of the most wonderful first names in all the world, and I should really pay more attention to her work. My apologies.]
• 25D. Sonny (BUB) and 32A. 1930s bomber (B-TEN). I see no reason in the entire world why this is any more acceptable than BUD/D-TEN. And don’t tell me it’s because there was no such plane as a D-10. BUB and BUD are interchangeable, and there’s no real way to guess which random initial letter goes with the name of an airplane from 80 years ago.
• 36D. Largest of the Canary Islands (TENERIFE) and 58A. Male protagonist in William Inge’s “Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff” (RAFE). This is exactly the kind of crossing that annoys me. It’s two proper names, neither of which is normal. Back when we were preparing for Lollapuzzoola 2, I was doing a lot of work on the puzzles and talking with constructors about one thing or another. Doug Peterson’s puzzle, when I first did it, had plenty of trivia I didn’t know. But the thing that made the puzzle a joyous solve for me was that there were no trivia vs. trivia crossings. Every place that there was some obscure name of a horse or a Nepalese emperor or a planet from another solar system, it always crossed with normal, definable words – words which, even if I didn’t know them, I could work out the options based on standard rules of English. But here, when it’s a crossing of TPNNOWIN (two proper names, neither of which is normal), I will suggest that the crossing square could have reasonably been B, C, D, F, K, L, M, N, S, T, V or Z. Maybe MAYBE I will admit that “Rafe” has existed elsewhere in the world as a name. However, the only places I have ever heard it are where “Ralph” is pronounced as “Rafe” — in H.M.S. Pinafore (the male ingenue is named Ralph Rackstraw) and with the actor Ralph Fiennes.

These crossings aside, there was a ton of stuff I didn’t know (and will likely not remember, I’m sorry to say), but stuff I was still able to get, or at least guess correctly.

• 9D. Toy developed in China : PEKINESE. Developed? Hmm.
• 11D. Emperor’s relative : ADELIE. Is this like Nero’s little sister? Random name, fortunately crossing with mostly normal things (EIDERS [27A. Coastal island colonists] being the possibly exception), so it gets a pass.
• 14A. Writer of the history “Ab Urbe Condita” : LIVY. Wiklqpedia says that the title of this work is “Ab Urbe Condita Libri.” As if that makes a difference.
• 17A. London broil, often : FLANK STEAK. When is London Broil not flank steak? I’ve never eaten London Broil, so I have no idea. In fact, the only thing I know about London Broil is that during Act Two of “The Odd Couple,” Felix is preparing London Broil for the Pigeon sisters, and since Oscar isn’t concerned with the timing of dinner, the broil is ruined, and Felix is furious. Ryan and I want to do a reading of “The Odd Couple” at some point. We will be looking to cast the rest of the characters from crossword people we know. About the only request I have is that Andrea Carla Michaels be one of the Pigeon sisters.
• 23A. “Where people go to dance the night away,” in song : TUXEDO JUNCTION. I don’t know this song. Once I got the junction part, all I could think of was “Conjunction Junction” from Schoolhouse Rock.
• 30A. Lusatian ___ (German/Polish border river) : NEISSE. Regular readers know how I feel about too much obscure foreign words.
• 33D. Draining aid : COLANDER. I had –LANDER for a long time, and was totally stumped. Now I feel stupid.
• 33A. Brush : COPSE. I apparently don’t know the word copse, because this doesn’t make sense to me.
• 38A. What you probably have a head for : SHOWER. Something about the wording of this doesn’t land for me. I get it, and I get that it’s being cutesy, but something is amiss. (Speaking of “amiss,” we have another A-word to join the two from yesterday. 5A. Stunned : AGASP)
• 47A. Chateaubriand accompaniment, often : BEARNAISE SAUCE. I think this might be another steak dish I’ve never had. Isn’t chateaubriand a steak dish? I’ve also never had bearnaise sauce. Is it good? (And by the way – how is this dish different from London Broil, other than the vegetables on the side?)
• 55D. Familial title : SIS. Title? No. And why does “Sonny” return the answer BUB, but SIS gets a family-related clue? Isn’t “sonny” family related as well? Bleah.

Karen M. Tracey, you have won again. Perhaps for the next podcast, I will rehash a group of Karen’s puzzles, and spend a few minutes exploring whether she will always kick my ass, or if I will ever have a chance.

See you Saturday!

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Today’s puzzle comes to us from Vic “The Gavel” Fleming, our judicial friend from Arkansas. Or is he from Hawaii? One might wonder, in that 43D. Theme of this puzzle is, in fact, HAWAII.

Now it’s the theme, but only in a sort of encyclopedic way, as far as I can tell. I mean, there’s no real theme here, except that a bunch of the fill has something to do with our westernmost, southernmost, islandmost state. Here’s what we’ve got:

• 17A. Entertainer born 12/1/45 in 25-Across : BETTE MIDLER
• 25A. Capital whose name means “sheltered bay” : HONOLULU
• 34A/36A. Only official residence of a reigning monarch now in the United States : IOLANI PALACE. I don’t understand the clue. Do they mean that the U.S. insists that all reigning monarchs who are sick of their own castles come live at Iolani Palace? Or does it mean that there’s one reigning monarch in particular who lives there? Or that there’s one monarch somewhere else who has a second home? Someone clarify this for me.
• 44A. Measured base to peak, the world’s tallest mountain : MAUNA KEA
• 54A. Politician born 8/4/61 in 25-Across : BARACK OBAMA. Duh.

But what’s the point? I turned to our friend Jim Horne over at the New York Times to find out.

…

…

And… I’m back. And Jim Horne doesn’t tell us anything. Which leads me to believe that my first instinct is right, and the “theme” here is little more than a few random bits of trivia.

So with that in mind, I have to ask – why? And maybe even more specifically, why have trivia about other states in a puzzle that alleges to be about Hawaii? We’ve got IOWA CITY (34D. It’s west of Davenport), we’ve got OCALA (26D. Seat of Marion County, Fla.), we’ve got LA BREA (46A. Los Angeles fossil site), we’ve got PIPELINE (12D. Oil conduit) – okay, that’s not specific, but it sure makes me think of Alaska.

I have to say, theme-wise, this puzzle leaves me more than empty. (Less than empty?) I’m so nonplussed, I’m subtracted. This isn’t a theme, it’s an easy themeless Thursday. But I’ll pick a couple bones, a few things that I didn’t love (because that’s what I do – if you want love, you need to read Ryan’s posts).

• 8D. More than budding and 39A. Every seven days : ABLOOM and AWEEK. Officially, these are not cheater squares, because they have the letter A in them. But I will call them half-cheaters. Those words are aphony.
• 22D. Dabble in : PLAY AT. I don’t know that I find these two terms agreeable with one another. I dabble in crossword construction, but I don’t think I play at it. I think I do it sincerely and with intention for proper use. “Play at” suggests I don’t really do it, or it doesn’t really matter, whereas I see dabbling as a sideline of significant interest, not just a whimsical hobby.
• 31D. Priscilla and John and 37A. Actress Locke of “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter” : ALDENS and SONDRA. The crossing of two trivia questions. Meh. I had it all but the D, but I’ve never heard of any of these people, and had to just guess the D. I didn’t know if Priscilla and John were maybe ALLENS or ALIENS or ALEENS…
• 38D. Start of a letter to Landers : DEAR ANN. Really? I know her sister was Dear Abby, but did the reader’s requests really begin with “Dear Ann”?
• 41D. Five-time Kentucky Derby winner and 41A. Common pollutant : ARCARO and ASH. This had me stumped for a while, in that I figured it was either MR. CARO or DR. CARO who had won the Derby five times (I didn’t realize horses wouldn’t run it five times) – and I figured MSH or DSH was an acronym for something I’d never heard of. Oops. Silly me.

This puzzle has a fair share of three-letter junk fill: NAM, HAR, CPA, HIC, EPH, XLI, AMO and KOD are the ones that jump out to me. But then there was plenty of other fill that was thoroughly enjoyable: NAMATH, ARABIA, AMELIA, CHERUBIC, ONE-UPPED, PARKA, ACHTUNG.

Foreign language alert of the day: PRET, AMO and ACTE.

See you Friday.

Long time readers will know a continuing theme on our site is that Brian and I have no idea how to work this blog.  In an effort to breathe new life into that storyline we have completely screwed up our commenting system.  In order to fix that we had to reinstate the Intense Debate commenting system.  We know people have had trouble with Intense Debate (which is why we deactivated it some months ago) but we’re giving it another go.  If you have any problems at all (such as, your comments aren’t showing up) please email us at rbxblog [at] gmail [dot] com and we’ll try our darnedest to figure out how to fix it.

Today’s puzzle by Richard Silvestri features an extremely clever theme.

36A. What this puzzle’s four missing clues spell, in order (PUBLIC EDUCATION).  I figured out the answers through crosses but I was still stumped as to what it might mean.  I got it into my brain that somehow the answers spelled out public education which made no sense to me.  Finally, it clicked and fell into place.  The four clues are PUB, LICE, DUCAT and ION.

BRITISH ALE HOUSE

COOTIES

OLD COIN

CHARGED PARTICLE

Very cool.  I enjoyed the twist of figuring out the clues from the entries.

Other highlights:

9A. Perle who inspired “Call Me Madam” (MESTA).  I only know this from crosswords and, even so, I needed a bunch of crossings before I remembered the correct name.  MESTA doesn’t sound like a real name to me.  It reminds me of Mulva from Seinfeld.

15A. Stand buy (ADE).  Clever clue but does anybody really call it ADE?  You don’t go up to a stand and ask what kind of ades they have, do you?

26D. Piece of music (OPUS).  Speaking of Opus, did you see they released the Bloom County Complete Library Volume 1?  That’s going on my wish list.  My three favorite comic strips are: Bloom County, Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side.  I think Berkeley Breathed, Bill Watterson and Gary Larson get together for tea and laugh about the dreck that remains in the comics page.  Just look at this.  Here’s a sample of a crappy comic strip called Daddy’s Home:

Ok, I’ll wait…no, I know you’re all in hysterics now from this incredibly funny comic strip so I’ll give you some time to collect yourself…ok, all good?  You see, this child with the raised arms can’t believe his parents won’t let him go.  Go where, you may ask.  Authors Tony Rubino and Gary Markstein (yes, it took two people to write this comic) don’t like to get caught up in details that may add depth to their story.  It’s up to the reader provide these details and judging from the wide-eyed panic on the child’s face and the drops of sweat shooting off the top of his hair I’m going to guess his parents are refusing to let him go to the local brothel.  The parents then exchange a few panels worth of witty banter with the father coming to the conclusion that by the time their son understands the reasoning behind their refusal it will already be too late.  The mother then expresses her dismay that her husband, whom she thought she know, doesn’t recognize the point at which his banter crosses the line into hurtful jabs at her poor parenting.  You can also tell by the proximity of each parent to the other that any passion that once existed has long since evaporated from their loveless marriage.

Not exactly the type of material conducive for an early morning chuckle, is it?  In contrast, here’s a Calvin and Hobbes:

[sigh]  The comics page sucks now.

55D. Sondheim’s “___ the Woods” (INTO).  I never pass up an opportunity to mention that this is just about my favorite musical of all time.  It also contains my favorite lyrics:

Only three more tries and we’ll have our prize.
When the end’s in sight,
You’ll realize:
If the end is right,
It justifies
The beans!

Really clever puzzle today.

Next stop, Thursday.

NOTE: Comments are on the rebound. We’ve re-instated the IntenseDebate software, because it was the only way we could get this blog to rebuild the comment logs. If you have problems posting, please email us at [rbxblog at gmail dot com]. Thanks!

Why does it feel like it’s been years since the last episode? Our new motto: “Our fun makes time fly so fast, you don’t even realize you’re dying while you listen.”

Today on the show, we are providing the following forms of audio entertainment:

• One new podcast, fresh out of the hard drive
• Parts Two and Three of the latest Fiction With Thomas Heilman
• Four winners to last week’s contest
• Five puzzles by Patrick Berry
• Six answers from the Oracle
• And (seven plus eight plus nine) additional minutes of nonsense.

We’ve got Greeks, Romans, and the song stylings of a lyric tenor we’d never heard of before. Tune in — you don’t want to miss this one.

 

 Fill Me In #075: [They may go up in a plane.] [35:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Zambezi and oat.

Oy, very fast post today.  I slept in a bit too long.  It is now 9:28AM, I need to leave at 10:30AM and I won’t be back home until 7AM tomorrow.  Don’t ask.  Sometimes my life is ridiculous.

First off, the League Championship Series are set.

NLERS

• Ryan Hecht vs. Barry C. Silk, Friend and Confidante to Doug Peterson, Crossword Gentleman and Man About Town (rematch!)

ALERS

• Doug Peterson, Crossword Gentleman and Man About Town vs. The Ottawa Angels of Brazil

Good luck to everybody except Barry.

Today’s puzzle is by Sharon Delorme and features a very funny theme.

ROYAL FLUSH

All the theme answers ended with a euphemism for a toilet.

LITTLE JOHN

LETTER HEAD

HEIR TO THE THRONE

SARDINE CAN

I’m not sure how this theme got past the Sunday Breakfast Test but I’m glad it did.

I got pretty stuck up in the top left corner.  I eventually figured it out but:

SALADA?????

Now, I’m not a tea drinker but I’ve heard of the major brands of tea.  Or at least I thought I had.  I’ve never, ever come into contact in any form with SALADA tea.  Is this really a well known brand?  What is it doing in my Tuesday puzzle?

Ok, unfortunately, that’s all I have time for today.  Fun puzzle.  Fun theme.  Good times.

Next stop, Wednesday.

Things that are not fair:

1. That Jonathan Papelbon, closer for the Boston Red Sox, gave up three runs in the ninth inning, which ultimately led to the Anaheim Angels of Anaheim sweeping their way into the American League Championship Series.
2. That I have a splitting headache.
3. That I finally got the Java applet working on my computer, and I was all set to be one of the first ten people to finish the puzzle, except it was wicked hard, and I ended up being eleventh.
4. That I have to blog. We’ve been through this before – Ryan is better, Ryan is more fun, everyone hates Brian – I understand that this is the way of the world, but it’s Still Not Fair.

So somehow, we have a Monday theme hidden within a Wednesday puzzle (complete with Friday fill in a couple spots), and as of this writing, Amy Reynaldo is the only one who finished it in normal Monday time. But whatever – she thought Saturday was normal for Saturday, and I finished it in under 20 minutes (which is way not normal for me for Saturday). Anyway…

The theme is conceptually one we’ve seen a thousand times. Five entries that play with the five vowels. I don’t recall if this is one of the Ten Deadly Themes of Brendan Emmett Quigley’s, but it’s not one that does much to thrill me.

• 18A. Likely result of pollution along a beach : SWIMMING BAN
• 23A. Title bear of 1960s TV : GENTLE BEN
• 41A. Receptacle for some donations : USED CLOTHING BIN
• 54A. “It’s so good” in Paris : C’EST SI BON
• 62A. Lenten treat : HOT CROSS BUN

To all of it, I say blah, bleh, blih, bloh, bluh.

Blah. I didn’t even get the theme until after I was the eleventh person to finish the puzzle on the applet, and went back to look at it. I guess GENTLE BEN and HOT CROSS BUN are actual things, things that are terms and definable and recognizable. But the other three seem like rather arbitrary terms used just to incorporate the rest of the theme. I would rather see actual things that require the theme portions to be what they are. Ban deodorant – you have to call it that, or it’s not accurate. Jonathan Papelbon. That’s his name, and he’s a horrible, horrible person. See, those would be more specific, more important entries. C’est si bon? Please.

Bleh. By the way – either I’m getting less and less tolerant of all the French and Spanish and whatnot, or there’s more and more of it. Does anyone out there solve non-English crosswords? And when you do, is there a random amount of English thrown in? It just seems weird to me, that there’s a certain amount of stuff that goes into crosswords that’s not English – when this is an English word game. I know the rules aren’t the same, but in Scrabble, there’s no playing random French words, even if they’re commonly known. And what makes it weirder (to me) in crosswords is that there can be a few, but not too many. Why any at all?

I continue to not wholly love this puzzle today, so let me gripe about a few other things:"

• 8A. Make equal, as the score : EVEN UP
• 45A. Make equal, as the score : TIE

Blih. It’s cute when two clues in a row are the same (but obviously calling for different answers). But when they’re miles away from each other, all this does is confuse the hell out of me. I already had the 8-Across clue in my head (not yet filled in because EVEN UP is a little arbitrary to me, and it didn’t come quickly to mind), and when I got to 45-Across, I wondered if I was experiencing deja vu.

[Side note: Is there a non-French way to say “deja vu” so I can not be hypocritical?]

• 38D. Mel who was #4 at the Polo Grounds : OTT
• 63D. Bobby who was #4 at Boston Garden : ORR

Bloh. Again, the two similar clues are way far apart in the grid, and I’m unenthused with both the repetitive cluing and the fact that OTT and ORR are so similar to each other and that they’re generic crosswordiness.

By the way – lots of threes in this puzzle. 78 words overall. Is that a lot for a Monday? Seems like it’s the high end for this sort of puzzle.

Bluh. All the random stuff that seems kinda obscure for Mondays:

• 7D. “___ at ‘em!” : LEMME. Seems pretty random, like a lot of this puzzle.
• 17A. ___-o’-shanter : TAM
• 20A. “You ___ wrong!” : ARE SO. What is this? This is as random as it gets. It’s just the middle of a sentence, it’s not a phrase. To be a phrase, it has to be something we all say or hear or think. I think I’ll clue something as “I ___ dishes.” I’ll put the answer at the end of this post for you.
• 27D. Emperor after Nero : GALBA
• 31A. “Le Coq ___” : D’OR. Apparently, “The Golden Cock.”
• 35D. Has left the office : IS OUT. Bluh indeed.
• 44A. 1910s-20s flivver : MODEL T. In this case, it’s the clue that is weird.

Just for comparison – 61A. Milan’s home is ITALY. Duh. That’s Monday.

Oh, and my pet peeve clue of the day : 58D. Citi Field player, for short (N.Y. MET). For short for whom? Who calls them “the N.Y. Mets”? We either say “the New York Mets” or “the Mets.” So for whom, I ask, is this short? Nonsense is what it is. Nonsense.

See you Tuesday.

* answer to my random clue: DID THE