Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

This week’s motto: “We will never again be what we have already been.” (We don’t understand this one.)

Somehow, it feels like it’s been months since our last episode. Is that true? We’re not sure. If you have an opinion on this, you should write a review about us on iTunes, and also email us with your thoughts. We can be reached at rbxblog at gmail dot com.

This week’s episode does not include:

• a proper introduction
• Ryan saying the name of our theme song
• anyone playing that damn green pickle turd
• a satisfactory abbreviation for players in the American League
• a running time of less than 38 minutes

Without these features, how could you possibly enjoy this episode? That, dear viewers, is our challenge to you.

 

 Fill Me In #080: This one night, Charlize Theron tickled my stomach. [38:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Zambezi and oat.

We have risen from the e-ashes! We may have been hacked a week ago, but that won’t stop us. Of course, none of you noticed, but we were destroyed! and emotionally scarred! and now we’re back!

This is the seventy-ninth of an ongoing weekly series where your hosts, Brian Cimmet and Ryan Hecht, talk about crosswords, crossword solvers, crossword constructors, and a whole bunch of whatever else they just happen to think of.

Today’s episode includes:

• Answers we got right and wrong (including Peter Maas, Isaac Asimov and Amy Tan)
• People who both write to us and don’t (including Daniel Rosen and Jonah Kagan)
• Contests that may or may not earn you prizes (such as cookies or puzzle books in Italian — they are on the way!)
• Also a ton of bumping the microphones. We’re not sure why. We think it’s Brian’s fault.

We feel fairly confident that if you liked at least 30% of the past seventy-eight episodes, you have a 30% chance of liking this one. Besides, it includes a reference to this video:

But now, the podcast:

 

 Fill Me In #079: Go to Connecticut, take a right, and just keep going. [35:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

If you have a chance, rate us on iTunes. We’re trying to reach double figures in the category of “number of reviews.”

Zambezi and oat.

NOTE: This is an attempt to restore the blog version of Episode 77 after The Great RBX Hack of 2009. If you encounter any weirdness with this post or this episode (or anything, really), please let us know.

Today’s podcast title comes from the results of a poll conducted right here on this very blog.nbsp; You cannot argue with the data.

Here’s what’s coming up on today’s show:

• Woodwinds
• A visitation
• The C chord makes a triumphant return
• Ryan sees something on the horizon
• The father of a boy named Sue
• Two Pasadenas for the price of one

We are still looking for audio of fictional lyric soprano Rosanna Nler. If anybody knows where we can find some clips please let us know.

 

 Fill Me In #077: The Phillies super cream cheese monkey a*s suck. [37:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Zambezi and oat.

Imagine for a moment that you’ve never heard of this podcast, but you’re here listening for the first time. You should probably read our informational page. New listeners — we welcome you, and because we don’t want to lose you, we think you might want to learn more about the show before you feel completely disoriented.

(Loyal viewers, we hope that you have gotten accustomed to your general sense of disorientation while listening to this show.)

Here’s what’s in store within Episode The Seventy-Sixth:

• Gina Gershon’s lips
• A musical tripod
• Reverend Spooner, and whether he existed
• Summer camp, and whether Ryan went
• All the other typical stuff: Viewer Mail, Fiction with Thomas Heilman, The Thunder Round, and all the nonsense we can fit into 37 minutes.

Share and enjoy!

 

 Fill Me In #076: The dictionary is the enemy of the podcast. [36:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Zambezi and oat.

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!

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!

Anyone having trouble with Intense Debate yet? We haven’t heard anything, but if your comments don’t seem to show up, or your browser is not compliant with our site, please let use know. You can send an email to us: rbxblog at gmail dot com. Except replace the at with @ and the dot with . and don’t use any spaces. You know how it works.

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.

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.

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

Once again, it’s not the most exciting episode, but whatever — it’s the only crossword podcast out there, so until someone gives us reason to improve, we’ll continue to present you with a little more than a half hour of mediocrity every Tuesday morning.

This time, it’s Episode 74. Here’s a little taste of what’s inside:

• Brief references to a few of Justin Long’s movies
• Another lunch option besides a cheeseburger and fries
• Another 34.8 minutes worth of show, but as I write this blurb, I can’t remember a single thing we didn’t edit out

Seriously — we’re going to try and make Episode 75 worth listening to. Just be patient.

 

 Fill Me In #074: And if you also went to Vassar, we'll say your name next week. [36:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Zambezi and oat