Ryan and Brian do Crosswords

This Allan E. Parrish puzzle was quite a struggle for me.  I had a hard time finding the theme and the whole thing took me almost an hour to finish.  That being said, it was a fun puzzle with an enjoyable, if somewhat random, theme.  It seemed random to me because I couldn’t glean a pattern for the way the circles X’s were placed in the grid.  Was there one?

In today’s puzzle we learned three meanings for XXX:

TIC TAC TOE WINNER (see Wargames)

POISON WARNING (see Looney Tunes cartoons)

THIRTY IN OLD ROME (see Cicero)

I’d add pictures and whatnot here but I’m at work and searching for XXX would probably get me fired.

Other highlights:

6D. National alternative (HERTZ).  A rare instance where I actually demonstrated applied knowledge.  I knew this one right off.  I only had to choose between ALAMO and HERTZ.

11D. Gum choice (CINNAMON).  When did gum become a health food?  It’s all sugar free, good for your teeth, freshen your breath crap.  When I was growing up we had Bubbalicious and Hubba Bubba and Bubble Yum.  It seems like the whole industry has been taken over by the dental lobby.  Anybody ever eat a Froze Toes?  It was a big pink popsicle shaped like a foot with a bubblegum ball for a big toenail.  That’s what I’m talking about.

31A. Virginia local where the C.I.A. is headquartered (MCLEAN).  MCLEAN?  Where the hell is that?  Every spy movie I’ve ever seen puts the CIA in Langley…Ok, I just did a little research on wikipedia and encountered a sentence that simultaneously solves this mystery and makes no sense: Langley is an unincorporated community in the census-designated place of McLean in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States.

56A. “Time ___” (bygone sci-fi series) (TRAX).  Anybody seen this?  Cop from the future going back in time to hunt down criminals hiding out in the past?  Anybody?  I’m going to guess this was terrible.  I mean, just look at this guy:

22A. McKellen who played Gandalf (IAN).  I leave you today with Ian’s guest bit on Extras.  Too funny.

Next stop, Friday.

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Fun, toe-tapping puzzle by Allan E. Parrish.  Took me a little while to figure out what was going on with the theme.

38A. Activity exemplified in the ’60s by the ends of 17-, 28-, 48- and 64-Across (DANCING).

60s dancing styles is just one of the many topics of which I’m completely ignorant.  Wikipedia has detailed descriptions of each dance.  I was going to copy them here but they are rather long and in the interest of space I will only copy what I feel to be the essence of the dance.

17A. Dickens lad (OLIVER TWIST).  The Twist:  The torso may be squared.

28A. Small equine (SHETLAND PONY).  The Pony: Couples do not touch.

48A. Weightlifer’s lift (CLEAN AND JERK).  The Jerk: Check out the dance in a mirror.

64A. Rum/vodka cocktail (BRASS MONKEY).  The Monkey: Straighten to original position.

Other highlights:

26A. Red dye (EOSIN).  Wasn’t he from the Lord of the Rings?  Maybe a nobleman from the House of Eorl?

52A. Oscar winner Marisa (TOMEI).  My Cousin Vinny is just one of those movies.  The whole thing is quotable and the people who love it (myself included) have it memorized to critically irritiating levels.  I always hoped there would be a sequel but it’s probably for the best as it certainly would have sucked.

Jim Horne is back.  The official New York Times Crossword Blog is live.  Looks like it will be a lot of fun.

Next stop, Wednesday.

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I enjoyed today’s Allan Parrish puzzle even though the answers came in fits and starts.  Well, honestly, the answers always come in fits and starts for me but today they seemed more fitsy and startsy than usual.  And I got completely stuck on one cross.

24A. Saturn model of 2003-07 (ION).  I had the _ON, tried and A and an E and decided I had something else wrong.  Nothing else was wrong so my futile search ate up a bit of time.  I’m not sure why I didn’t just try the rest of the vowels.  There aren’t that many of them.  Around 7, right?  I don’t understand why my brain makes the decisions it does.  For instance, on the first day of college, I wore a blue vest and yellow jeans.  Makes no sense.

And the cross was no help.

21D. Abbott and Costello movie based on a Ziegfeld musical (RIORITA).  I had R_ORITA and was sure it somehow had to be SENORITA even though that’s too many letters.  Somehow I’ve never seen or heard of this movie.  And I’m a big Abbott and Costello fan.  As those of you at Brian’s wedding know, I can do the “Who’s on First?” routine in Spanish.

I eventually just cycled through the alphabet and stumbled across the right answer.

I enjoyed the theme of “Things Found in a Diner”.  I would love to know how Mr. Parrish came up with it.  Table, Booth and Counter are not items that would appear to make up a good theme.  But they do and Mr. Parrish did a nice job with them.

20A. Particle-detecting device (GEIGERCOUNTER)

36A. “Sic semper tyrannis!” crier (JOHNWILKESBOOTH).  I was kinda hoping this would be Crazy Joe Davola.  Not enough letters.  I just saw a History Channel show about Booth.  I don’t like these reenactments that the History Channel does.  They’re so cheesy.  I’d much rather they go with the Ken Burns route of pictures, photos and interviews.

54A. Chemistry class poster, perhaps (PERIODICTABLE)

Other highlights:

16A. Baseball exec Minaya (OMAR).  I don’t normally have sympathy for the Mets or Mets fans but getting knocked out by the Marlins on the last day of the season at home for the second year in a row has got to suck.

1D. Early Commodore computers (AMIGAS).  I had an Amiga.  I didn’t do too much computing on it.  I think I had some lousy word processor that I could never quite get to print properly.  Mostly, I played games.  And most of those games were made by Cinemaware which had graphics that were absolutely mind boggling at the time.  I remember The Three Stooges, Rocket Ranger and TV Sports: Football most vividly.  For anyone who cares, it looks like you can go to their site and download an Amiga emulator and the ROMs for the old games.  I’ll have to try that out.

26D. “There’ll be ___ time …” (AHOT).  Does anybody know the rest of this quote?

31D. Like Knights Templars (MASONIC).  Looks like they’re making the prequel of The DaVinci Code into a movie.  I hope they can capture the sheer magical boredom of the first film.  If Tom Hanks cannot save a movie then that movie cannot be saved.

36D. Computer image file format (JPEG).  I just did a google image search for JPEG in an attempt to make the internet implode.  That did not happen but here’s the first image that came up.

The latest episode of Fill Me In: A Crossword Podcast is out.  One of our best episodes featuring a great interview with Jim Horne of xwordinfo and the upcoming official New York Times crossword blog.

Next stop, Wednesday.

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Turns out I do know jack.  And this Allan E. Parrish puzzle proves it.

55D. Word that can define 17- and 59-Across and 11-, 28- and 29-Down (JACK)

17A. See 55-Down (LIFTINGTOOL)

59A. See 55-Down (PLAYINGCARD)

11D. See 55-Down (MALEDONKEY)

28D. See 55-Down (PLUGINSERT)

29D. See 55-Down (MONEY)

Other answers we would have accepted: CHEESE I LIKE ON MY NACHOS, TITLE CHARACTER FROM THE MOVIE JACK and ONE WHO RIPPED IN VICTORIAN ENGLAND.

Other clues that caught my eye:

11A. “Next” network (MTV).  I’ve never heard of this show.  A bit of internet research tells me it combines dating, humiliation and reality television.  Sound like my high school experience.  Well, except for the dating.

15A. Inlay material (NACRE).  How come after all the jokes and parodies of Vanilla Ice nobody ever came up with the line, “Word to your Mother-of-pearl.”?

52A. Talented Zero (MOSTEL).  As a kid I knew Zero Mostel from one thing, The Sesame Street Book of Opposites.

8D. Writer Umberto (ECO).  I tried to read The Name of the Rose once.  About 10 pages in I was totally lost, felt like an idiot and gave up.  Anybody else have a similar experience?  Or do people love this book?

24D. Part of T.W.I.M.C. (WHOM).  To whom it may concern, I’ve never encountered this acronym before.

56D. Modern ice cream flavor (OREO).  This is a weird clue.  Oreos have been around since 1912.  What’s modern about that?  Can’t wait for the 100th anniversary though.  2012 should be one crazy, Oreo-filled year.

3 days till Lollapuzzoola 2008.  Space still available.

Next stop, Thursday.

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Yowza, this Allan E. Parrish puzzle was tough one. I eventually solved the whole thing but I did some hair tearing in the process. And I don’t have much hair to spare.

First off, the theme was music-centric and, as we all know, I am a music ignoramus. However, once I figured out what linked the three theme answers together I completed that part pretty quickly.

19A. 1979 Bee Gees chart-topper (TOOMUCHHEAVEN)

34A. Band with the 1970 hit “Get Ready” (RAREEARTH)

50A. 1979 AC/DC seven-time platinum album (HIGHWAYTOHELL)

I figured out Highway to Hell first and jumped to the fortunately correct conclusion that the theme answers would be Heaven at the top, Earth in the middle and Hell at the bottom. Very clever.

Other clues that caught my eye:

8A. Tex-Mex treats (TAMALES). Considering my love for Tex-Mex cuisine, I had an inordinate amount of trouble with this clue. Mainly because I had an error with 13D. Accord (ENTENTE). I put DETENTE there which suggested that the 8A ended in a D. I don’t believe you can order anything in a Tex-Mex restaurant that doesn’t end in a vowel. I love going to Texas to visit my wife’s family. So many restaurants, so little time. There used to be one good Tex-Mex place here in New York. I think it was called Johnny Tejano’s. We went there for many festive occasions and one day we showed up and it was closed forever. We sat on the curb thinking of their queso and we knew New York would never be the same.

21A. Civvies (MUFTI). Wha? I’ll have to ask my friend Max who’s in the Navy if he’s ever heard of this.

30A. Professor Lupin in Harry Potter books, e.g. (WEREWOLF). Seriously, is there some sort of cheat sheet on the internet for these books? Although doesn’t lupus mean wolf in Latin? Maybe I could have figured this out more quickly.

33A. Creator of the Bennet family (AUSTEN). All I could think of was sitcoms. That totally sounds like a sitcom family name. Totally. Turns out it’s from Pride and Prejudice.

36A. One of the four evangelists, briefly (STMARK). I did not know this. I do not know the significance of the four evangelists. But I get my hair cut near St. Mark’s here in NY so, in a sense, the answer was right on top of my head. (Wait, that’s not a saying. Right on top of my head? No, that’s not a saying. What am I thinking of? On the tip of my tongue? Maybe.)

48A. Devil (SCAMP). I really thought I had figured this out. I put in STUMP as in to be deviled or stumped by something.

60A. Where the buoys are? (CHANNEL). What’s the deal with the question mark? Aren’t buoys in channels?

62A. Takes over (ANNEXES). I had ASSUMES here as in “He assumed the role of the Vicar of Maltby”.

4D. Tear out (SCOOT). I’m not 100% convinced I like this clue. Although tearing out and scooting both involve leaving someplace quickly they still seem like slightly different things to me. Scooting seems more happy and fun to me. Perhaps I’m over thinking this.

12D. Michael ___, Bush secretary of health and human services (LEAVITT). Is there anybody in this administration that doesn’t have a “controversy” section on their wikipedia page?

22D. Multipurpose truck (UTE). Ok, I have no idea what this is.

28D. Half-and-half, maybe (MUTT). I wanted to put MILK here but my highly honed solving instincts told me that would be wrong.

36D. Lingerie drawer items (SACHETS). Sachets are simply not the first things that come to mind when I think of a lingerie drawer.

40D. Military wing (PHALANX). This was the answer that helped me finish off the bottom right corner. Once I pulled this out of my pahtootie the rest fell into place.

44D. Football Hall-of-Famer Gale (SAYERS). Wasn’t this guy in a Bounty Paper Towels commercial?

48D. Q45 or Grand Marquis (SEDAN). Tricky.

52D. Judicial directive (WRIT). You know what you won’t need a writ to do? Attend Lollapuzzoola 2008. August 23rd, Jackson Heights, 12pm. Don’t be left out.

Next stop, Friday.

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