Newsday 15:00
NYT 5:54
LAT 4:44 (Andy)
CS 5:26 (Dave)
Martin Ashwood-Smith’s New York Times crossword
New York Times crossword solution – 07/06/13
Hey, look at that. A quad-stack (15×16) puzzle with a bunch of lively fill and no short fill that angers the Scowl-o-Meter. The highlights:
- 20a. [Sharks’ place], SAN JOSE. The hockey team.
- 38a. [1978 punk classic], I WANNA BE SEDATED.
- 39a. [Transcript, e.g.], PERMANENT RECORD. Puts me in mind of the Violent Femmes’ “Kiss Off.”
- 57a. [Acid Queen player in “Tommy”], TINA TURNER. One of three full names in the grid.
- 60a. [“Two Tickets to Paradise” singer], EDDIE MONEY. Full name #2.
- 43a/5d. JOLT COLA.
- 7d. [Dog star], BENJI. Was mentioned in There’s Something About Mary, which I watched this morning. I prefer BENJI to ASTRO.
- 20d. [Parting word], SAYONARA.
- 29d. [1970s], ME DECADE.
- 35d. [“Chloe” director, 2009], ATOM EGOYAN. Full name #3.
- 48d. [Fixin’ to], GONNA. I like that GONNA and WANNA are both in the puzzle. Still waiting for FINNA to make an appearance.
- 52d. [What a yo-yo lacks], SENSE. Yo-yo, a foolish person, not yo-yo, the spinning toy.
The one entry I absolutely did not know: 25d. [Dressage half-turn], CARACOLE. You know who knows this word? I bet Ann Romney does. I am even less up on my dressage terminology than my nautical terminology (the MAINMAST is the [Mizzen neighbor], of course; your BO’S’NS who are [Rigging pros] would know that).
I’d also never heard of 8d. [Composer Arensky], ANTON, but ANTON is a familiar enough first name.
Not sure if IN AN ASYLUM (27d. [Put away, maybe]) feels natural or contrived. Voters, what say you? I’m leaning towards liking it.
There are touches of sort-of-crosswordese material—plural ETES, AIT, the EXE River, OBE, LENE, ASTI—but none of these should be unknown to seasoned Saturday solvers.
Four stars.
Bill Thompson’s Los Angeles Times crossword—Andy’s review
LAT Puzzle 07.06.13 by Bill Thompson
SCHLOCKUMENTARY is new to me, but it’s a very nice 15-letter entry to build a grid around. This is Bill Thompson’s first published crossword of 2013 (or, at least, if there’s another one we haven’t blogged it here at Fiend), but lest we forget, he was nominated for an Orca last year for Best Easy Crossword.
This one put up more of a fight, but not too much more of one. What ate up most of my time was that I really wanted 5d, [Support] to be BEAm, not BEAR. That led me to plunk down maDDOGS for 20a, REDDOGS [Blitzes, in old football lingo]. Once I noticed OMNaS lurking in the NW, I fixed the mistake, but if you’re not a big football fan, Latin/Shakespeare buff, or crosswordese expert, that could have been a tricky spot for you.
I love when the constructor provides the trivia tidbits for you!
- 15a, O SOLE MIO [Song played at the 1920 Olympics when music for the Italian national anthem could not be found]. To be honest, if in 2014 they started playing “Party in the U.S.A.” instead of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” I probably wouldn’t mind. There was a lot of Olympic pride in this puzzle: see also 2d, USA! USA! [1992 Dream Team chant] and 22a, ZIM [RSA neighbor, in the Olympics].
- 49a, TUTUS [Skirts that come in bell and pancake styles]. It’s nice when something’s named intuitively for a change.
- 3d, LON NOL [Cambodian leader ousted by the Khmer Rouge]. Nice to see his full name in the grid. Or, at least, as nice as it can ever be to see LON NOL.
There was plenty of good stuff in this grid:
- 8d, LOADED QUESTIONS [Biased interview features]. I thought they were questions with cheese, sour cream, bacon and chives.
- 63a, SPOILERS [Premature plot giveaways, e.g.]. I’m not sure the “e.g.” is necessary here. Agree/disagree?
- 1a, HULA BOWL [Onetime college All-Star football game]. In 2004, one Wes Welker was named co-MVP of the Hula Bowl. Subsequently, he wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine, and he wasn’t drafted. Now that he’s a five-time Pro Bowler, those appear to have been mistakes.
Other things that made me smile: HUSH UP, SETI, QUEASIER, GELATO, BANDANNA, HOBNOB, MAN UP, the cluing of ARTISTS as [Pros].
Things that made me frown: I’m torn about 58, OH YES I DO! [“Absolutely!”]. I do love an 8-letter entry with four words in it. But with the “oh” in front, (a) it echoes O SOLE MIO, and (b) it doesn’t quite feel in the language to me. I’m willing to be persuaded either way. And for all the play it gets in crosswords, I’ve never heard someone say AMAZONIA–just “the Amazon rainforest”–though I have seen it in print. “Amazonia” sounds like it could be a cheap knockoff of the Rainforest Cafe, or a Rainforest Cafe-themed adult establishment. KRAUT tries its best not to be offensive, clued as [Brat topper]. ECU is never my favorite entry, but I think it might not be my least favorite entry, thanks to SUL, TID, and STYRO.
But overall, this one was a PLEASURE to solve! 3.8 stars from me. Until next week!
Lynn Lempel’s CrosSynergy/Washington Post crossword, “May the Force Be with You” – Dave Sullivan’s review
Smooth grid from veteran constructor Lynn Lempel that takes a classic line from the Star Wars series featuring four theme phrases that end with a word that can precede “force”:
CrosSynergy / Washington Post crossword solution – 07/06/13
- The clue [Undecided] gives us UP IN THE AIR – “Air Force”
- Very timely entry given the renewed popularity of George Orwell‘s 1984 after the Snowden leaks, [Orwellian pursuers of dissident types] or THOUGHT POLICE – “police force”
- [Charges from an auto shop] clues PARTS AND LABOR – “labor force”
- To [Reprimand] is to TAKE TO TASK – “task force”
Nice mix of base phrases, all feeling very contemporary. Last time I reviewed one of this constructor’s puzzles, I missed the fact that the middle entry was also part of the theme, so let me take another look….checking….[Title herb of a Simon & Garfunkel album] wasn’t 
parsley, sage or rosemary, but THYME. I’ve never heard of a “thyme force,” so I think I’m good, but certainly let me know if I missed it again.
My FAVE entries were the pairing of [Caiman’s kin] for GATOR crossing [Salmon’s cousin] for TROUT at the common R. I think humorist David Sedaris would enjoy thinking about these animals’ extended families. A “caiman,” by the way, is an “alligatorid crocodylian,” coming to us from the Carib language and has lent its name to the Caribbean island chain. I also enjoyed the five-letter phrases of TRY ON, SAY SO and TIE UP that march their way across the center of the grid. My sole UNFAVE was NARCO for [Drug buster], since I think “narc” is the more common term for these officers.
Stan Newman’s Newsday crossword, “Saturday Stumper” (by S.N.)
Newsday crossword solution, 7 6 13 “Saturday Stumper” by S.N.
Dang! I wasn’t expecting two killer Stumpers in a row. Last week’s puzzle was a bitterly fought battle and so was this one. The northwest corner was the hardest to penetrate. The southwest sure as heck wasn’t easy, but it was the first section I was able to fill in. Then came the northeast, then the southeast. Oof! Made it through with no Googles, although I did check a thesaurus for “hate” (2d. [Opposite of ”love”], ABOMINATE) when I had only the N and E in place.
The clues that stumped me the most were these:
- 1a. [Literally, ”covering”], CANAPE. Oh! The word must be related to “canopy.” The canapé dictionary entry does indeed reference canopy; the canopy etymology derives from the Greek for a couch with mosquito curtains.
- 22a. [Radiator parts], FINS. I don’t know if this refers to steam heat or car radiators.
- 29a. [He merged with Pepsi in ’65], LAY. Here’s your corporate history. The clue is misleading in that H.W. Lay’s company had already merged to become Frito-Lay a few years before the Pepsi merger. *grumble*
- 35a. [__ Aquariids (annual meteor shower)], ETA.
- 37a. [Collision by-product], BAM. Since when is a sound considered a “by-product”? *grumble*
- 55a, 57a. [Second-shot option] clues both a golf NINE-IRON and a photography RETAKE.
- 60a. [Blue in the face?], SLOE-EYED. Dictionary says “having attractive dark, typpically almond-shaped eyes]. How in the hell does that translate to “blue in the face?”? I could see SAD-EYED working here, but the fruit called sloe being blue-black doesn’t mean SLOE-EYED is the same as blue-eyed. Dark eyes are generally in the brown color family, not blue. *grumble*
- 3d. [“Throwing Heat” autobiographer], NOLAN RYAN. Knew it would be a baseball pitcher, but had only the R and final N for a long time, and figured it might follow the same sort of letter pattern as DON MARTIN. Nope.
- 23d. [Goodyear Blimp promotional products], ERASERS. How on earth would I know this? Who exactly is getting these erasers?
- 28d. [Brown-coat owner], CAMEL. I think of the color “camel” as being a golden tan and “brown” as being a good bit darker.
- 32d. [Predictive quantity, in statistics], COVARIATE. Never took stats.
- 40d. [Luger, for example], ATHLETE. This one confounded me; I wanted HANDGUN but the crossings weren’t there. I just checked Wikipedia to see who this famous jock named Luger was. Ha! “A participant in the sport of luge.” Tricky.
So many really difficult clues! And yet it all fits together and the fill is all reasonable. No bogus abbreviations or obscure names—Stan indeed has ferociously high standards for fill.
Favorite clue: 8d. [Slotted for payment], COIN-OP.
Most intriguing clue: 27d. [Its ”final test” is ridicule, per Mencken], TRUTH.
Most whimsical answer: 43a. [Dubious creature of rhyme], THREE-L LLLAMA. From the Ogden Nash poem, “The Llama.”
Four mentally exhausted stars.
Here’s a bit of Atom Egoyan trivia:
He’s from my city (Victoria)… and my parents knew his parents, although I never remember meeting him back in the day.
That aside, he’s an excellent director, and all of his films are worth seeking out, IMO.
-Martin Ashwood-Smith
The NYT puzzle is a real gem. Difficult and rewarding, and an asthetic high point in quad stack construction. Bravo!
My only quibble is CANVASTARP, a descriptivism that feels much less in-the-language than INANASYLUM (which I like).
LAT: AMAZONIA is definitely a legitimate biogeographical term.
Howz about Portlandia?
When I filled in PERMANENTRECORD, I thought “I hope Amy links to ‘Kiss Off’.” Glad to see I can rely on you! ATOMEGOYAN I didn’t know, and couldn’t parse, but I’m not conceited enough to assume she (he?) isn’t worthy of a puzzle… Tough clues for RYAN (although in hindsight it wasn’t so hard),RFK and KNEE made that section the toughest by far!
The OSOLEMIO clue in the LAT was my favourite of the week! Lovely bit of trivia!
*he
NYT: KMB but I greatly admired it. I could not get a toehold last night and had a few scattered short entries here and there, most of them probably wrong. I had to cheat with EDDIE MONEY and ATOM AGOYAN, but then the puzzle unfurled right before my eyes.
The NE was easiest for me, in fact right down my alley— NEUROchemistry and LENTIL SOUP– that’s yours truly. I make several kinds (of lentil soup), some smoky and aromatic, some lemony and light, some with whole lentils and some with red lentils, so that corner transformed my mood and somehow made me smarter.
I found out only 10 years ago that my grandmother had been depressed after the birth of one of her children and was put IN AN ASYLUM for months until her depression abated. My father recalled how scary it was for him and his siblings, especially that people were saying she would remain there for the rest of her life, and were encouraging his father to take another wife. Thanks to NEUROchemistry, we can do a bit better than that nowadays.
Congratulations MAS, it was terrific!
Nice puzzle, Martin! Especially liked the Ramones reference, as well as Tina Turner on top of Eddie Money. My wife’s dad was friends with Eddie Money–said he was a really nice guy. Sad to see him on those Geico commercials, although I bet he gets paid plenty.
did the puzzle on a houseboat in Amsterdam with boat after boat going by. A really nice day by this town’s standards.
Also–I have been wondering what CARACOLE meant since I tried La CARACOLE brewery’s wonderful Belgium beers, with their great packaging. Definitely had no idea it came from dressage, or is that not the original meaning?
oh yeah…forgot that CARACOLE is French for snail. Sorry for so many posts.
MAS, what evidence do you have for the 22A clue? Unlike 99.9% of the people on the NYT XWP Blogs, I listen to Rush and have never heard him say that other than on a couple of occasions when he was poking fun at certain Democrats for saying it is speeches by mistake. Just to be sure, I Googled it and could find no attribution to Limbaugh (or anyone else for matter). That’s not to say he hasn’t called the President other things. Kind of an odd clue for Osama?
http://mediamatters.org/video/2005/07/12/criticizing-sen-obama-limbaugh-called-him-obama/133484
Thanks. That confirms my recollection. I listened to that program and could not disagree more with the reporter’s interpretation. Rush has a sense of humor his detractors do not appreciate. He was poking fun at Ted Kennedy, though he is no fan of the President or his policies in general. Rush did not adopt the expression and doesn’t use it, even if he continued using it to mock the Democrats on occasion. However, that cite supports the clue, albeit poorly. More interestingly, the use of that clue during the current situation in Egypt is somewhat ironic, if not in poor taste..
What on earth does Egypt have to do with Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden?
Amy, I think you meant to ask: What on earth does the current situation in Egypt have to do with “Osama Obama”? I never referred to Al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden. I was referring to the epithet. Regardless of your political point of view, “Osama Obama” implies (fairly or unfairly) that The President (then Senator in that clip eight years ago) is sympathetic to Moslems (and tilts toward the Arabs in the creation of a Palestinian state). The Administration had backed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood (who are pro Palestinian) after the Egyptian elections. The Egyptian military overthrew Morsi and arrested leaders in the Muslim Brotherhood, leading to a chaotic and uncertain situation and a dilemma for the Obama Administration. Hence the irony in the timing for the clue. I’m sure the puzzle was set for publication long before the military coup.
Boy, I’m so glad I consider crossword puzzles to be no more than a game.
Part the tradition of crosswords, howver, is accuracy. So, which it is– Osama Obama (NYT) or Obama Osama (Limbaugh link)?
I did not know whether it was ATO MEGOYAN, ATOME GOYAN or the correct ATOM EGOYAN. I probably would have guessed ATO because I at least know one person with that first name (the sprinter from Trinidad, ATO BOLDON).
This was a very hard, superb puzzle.
I do have one humorous knowledge base. I am constantly trying to memorize all the terms that apply in a certain area, sometimes with success, at others with instant forgetfulness. I once knew all the forms of Muslim attire, but quickly forgot most of them. Sports terms are easier for me to remember. I remember watching a dressage event in the Olympics and saw the incredibly silly (to me) PIAFFE–the horse equivalent of a runner running in place at a traffic light. I proceeded to memorize as many terms as I could, then played announcer for my children, explaining each movement with as much portentous seriousness as I could.
Almost all dressage terms are former military terms that had meaning at one point. CARACOLES were half turns that allowed the cavalrymen to maneuver to discharge their pistols. I checked Wikipedia and it apparently became obsolete after a counter was successfully used in a battle in 1574.
Excellent weekend so far.
Steve
It’s an interesting interpretation by some, that the President is pro Moslem brotherhood. Had he backed the Egyptian opposition he would have been pro- military or anti-democracy. There was no way to win that one…where Middle Eastern politics is concerned the best stance is a wait and see attitude.
Stumper: Man, that “Luger, for example” had me, er, stumped for the longest time.
HANDGUN, SIDEARM, FIREARM, and PISTOLE all fit.
The soft G didn’t come to me until I had 5 crosses.
Wow. Hats off to Stanley for that one.
Could someone explain KRAUT as an entry for “Brat topper”? I don’t see any relation to the real meaning or the one Amy hinted at in the LAT.
Zulema: Sauerkraut on a bratwurst. (That was Andy’s review of the LAT, not mine.)
Couldn’t get to the Stinker (er – Stumper) until this evening. It was not fun – especially since 43A, the dubious creature of rhyme, really, really should have been Lewis Carroll’s BANDERSNATCH. I wanted that one badly and wasted way too much time trying to find supporting crossing words, to no avail. Bah! In Ogden Nash’s little ditty about the 1, 2, and 3-L llamas, I think he spelled it “three -l llama” in which case there was one “L” too many in the answer. Why in hell, I ask, couldn’t Stan have picked a more respectable word, like “Bandersnatch”???