NYT 3:08 (pannonica)
LAT 3:30 (pannonica)
CS 14:15 (Ade)
BEQ 10:30 (Amy)
Joe DiPietro’s New York Times crossword
NYT • 5/11/15 • Mon • DiPietro • no 0511 • solution
Briefly, now: X of Y, where X ends in –ALL and both words are four letters in length.
- 16a. [Shooter video game franchise] CALL OF DUTY.
- 29a. [Very lively sort] BALL OF FIRE.
- 45a. [Cooperstown or Canton destination] HALL OF FAME.
- 61a. [Empire collapse of A.D. 476] FALL OF ROME.
Seems minimal to me. The first letters of X do not spell anything acrostically nor do they constitute a progression, the relationship in each themer between the first letters of X and Y is uncorrelated, and there is no other discernible relationship among the four. Rhyming is more or less incidental, and possibly moot, depending on region; to me—and I expect for most—they all rhyme with each other. Curious to know if there are those who pronounce any of those four words differently from the others.
- Pair of cross-references. TYSON and KOS, INCA and LLAMAS. Double-duty clue [Beat decisively] for DRUB and TROUNCE.
- One of the long non-theme answers, 28d SMALL WORLD, superficially veers too close to the theme, in my opinion. The intersecting 49-across, WALL-E, not so much.
- 10a [Internet image file, familiarly] GIF. Specifically, most of those that we see these days are animated, while JP[E]Gs and PNGs predominate.
- 47d [One with XX chromosomes] FEMALE. Despite the demonstrably simplistic,
anthropocentric,and erroneous biological misinformation here, it would be nice to think that the NYT crossword would at least be cognizant of, and conciliatory toward, significant social and cultural attitudinal change. This sort of cluing has been called out before in these virtual pages. - 39d [Tightwad] CHEAPO. I generally consider tightwad a noun and CHEAPO an adjective, but recognize this may not be the general consensus.
- Fairly low CAP Quotient™ (crosswordese, abbrevs., partials). You know, the way most early-week offerings tend to be,
C.C. Burnikel’s Los Angeles Times crossword — pannonica’s write-up
LAT • 5/11/15 • Mon • Burnikel • solution
Well-turned theme. 61-across is TIME FRAMES, clued revealingly as [Durations … and what this puzzle’s circled letters literally represent]. Each of the four other theme answers are phrases bracketed (i.e., framed) by such entities.
- 18a. [Place for legislative debate] HOUSE FLOOR. Hour.
- 24a. [Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance baseball event] DOUBLE PLAY. Day.
- 40a. [Faeries and pixies, e.g.] WEE FOLK. Week.
- 51a. [Work on casually, as an engine] MONKEY WITH. Month.
The natural progression of said TIME FRAMES adds logic and cohesion to the theme.
- The long verticals are SNAPDRAGON and NOT A CHANCE. Not thrilled with the latter’s repetition of one of the key elements (i.e., Chance) of the clue for themer 24-across. Completely unnecessary, as the clue could easily have been changed. In contrast, it would have been acceptable (though a bit confusing, creating a perceived imbalance) had the clue for 51a used the word ‘tinker’.
- As comments below have already touched on, there’s some controversy about 46d [“Downton Abbey” servers] for BUTLERS. Not having watched the show, I was unaware that it takes pains to discriminate among the duties of various household employees. Not being steeped in domestic culture among the landed élite, I can’t speak from authority or experience. But it seems to me that ‘servant’ is not necessarily synonymous with ‘server’.
The ballast fill is relatively clean and varied, with a modicum of spice. Solid Monday.
Brendan Quigley’s blog crossword, “Themeless Monday”
BEQ crossword answers, 5 11 15 “Themeless Monday”
Solved the puzzle 5 hours ago but a phone call ate up my blogging time this morning, and now the puzzle’s not fresh in my mind. Took me a good 25% to 50% longer than usual. Just me?
Misfires:
- 7a. [Without reference to a previous practice], ZERO BASE. Completely unfamiliar with this term.
- 16a. [2008 French Open winner], IVANOVIC. Tried DJOKOVIC.
- 17a. [Early psychoanalyst Coriat], ISADOR. What? You got a more famous ISADOR to share with the class? Bleh.
- 20a. [Them’s fighting words], BATTLE PLANS. Clue doesn’t seem to match up with the answer.
- 22a. [Actor Mikkelsen of “House of Cards”], LARS. Who? Dude’s been on four episodes and is much, much less famous than his brother Mads, who I filled in here.
- 42a. [Pieces of sanctions, briefly], WMDS. Those are things that may be subject to sanctions, but they aren’t “pieces of sanctions,” I don’t think.
- 48a. [Starch sold in the form of pearls], SAGO. Tried SEGO first, which is the lily. SAGO is even more harshly in the crosswordese class.
- 63a. [Outer limits], EXCESS. No, EXCESS is what is beyond the limits.
- 10d. [Peeling potatoes, likely], ON KP. This answer is decades outdated, isn’t it? And military kitchen work is done by civilian contractors? The “likeliness” that any given person peeling potatoes is on KP is vanishingly small. (Okay, so I didn’t have a mental misfire here. Just a nit to pick.)
- 13d. [___-Spezialuhren watches], SINN. Never heard of it.
- 29d. [Some red dwarfs], M-STARS. Hate the letter-STARs in my crossword. Crossing should have had an easier clue—[Kellogg earnings, briefly] means the MBAS earned at the Kellogg School of Business and not corporate earnings from the cereal seller.
- 37d. [Pullman sch.], WSU. Washington State? Wyoming State? Western Something? Never, ever heard that Washington State’s main campus was in Pullman. Not such a famous college town, I don’t think.
- 55d. [Thing with lenses, colloquially], SPEX. Spectacles, or spex: plural noun. Clue should say “things.”
I like I CAN RELATE but ZIP-TIE HANDCUFFS depresses me. There is (or was) a typo in the 27a clue, too. 2.75 stars for this one. Did not enjoy it.
Jeff Chen’s CrosSynergy/Washington Post crossword, “Rows of Tulips”—Ade’s write-up
CrosSynergy/Washington Post crossword solution, 05.11.15: “Rows of Tulips”
Good afternoon, and welcome to a new week of crosswords. Today’s crossword, brought to us by Mr. Jeff Chen, was definitely more of a challenge, though that’s to expected with his great puzzles. In today’s edition, there are three pairs of entries that share not only the same line, but also have the word “lip” embedded in the entry. Pretty slick. It’s possible that, while scanning the grid again, I might miss a pair or two.
- TIE CLIP (20A: [Haberdashery accessory]) and ELLIPSE (22A: [Figure with two foci])
- PAY SLIP (37A: [Stub reflecting compensation]) and CALIPHS (39A: [Islamic titles])
- EGG FLIP (52A: [Soda jerk’s creating]) and HELIPAD (54A: [Chopper’s landing spot])
All I could really concentrate on after solving the grid was the awesomeness of some of the land down answers, with probably my favorite being WHY I OUGHTA (28D: [Stooge’s threatening phrase]). Along with that, seeing MOE as well was a nice touch to connect the Three Stooges mini theme…either that, or Jeff is a big fan of the Three Stooges, which isn’t a bad thing at all (43D: [Stooge with a bowl haircut]). Didn’t know that HYPERSPACE was also a term used in mathematics, so got to learn something as well (29D: [Term common to science fiction and math]). Here’s a free “sports…smarter” tidbit (although all of them are free): LAKE PLACID is known for hosting the 1980 Winter Olympics, but it also hosted the 1932 Winter Olympics, which was the first Winter Olympics held in the United States (8D: [Setting for the “Miracle on Ice”]). I know that by heart because I had to answer that on a sports trivia tryout 14 years ago, and that was one of the answers I got right which helped me get on a televised trivia show. Can’t forget something like that!!
“Sports will make you smarter” moment of the day: VIII (64A: [Shakespeare’s Henry ___]) – After the Miami Dolphins completed their perfect 17-0 season in 1972 with a Super Bowl VII win over Washington, they repeated as champions by defeating the Minnesota Vikings 24-7 in Super Bowl VIII at Rice Stadium in Houston. Though there was a franchise in the city of Houston at the time (Oilers), this was the first Super Bowl in which the stadium that it was played in did not host an NFL franchise, as the Oilers were playing their games at the Houston Astrodome.
See you all tomorrow, and have a good rest of your Monday!
Take care!
Ade
Respectfully disagree, this is kind of a perfect Monday in my book.
NYT had a lame theme, but the fill was smooth. That makes for a net positive in my view–I don’t expect a great theme on a Monday.
I wonder if FLUFFY really is a common cat name. I have known a number of cats over the years and none of them have been called ‘Fluffy.’ Maybe the Census Bureau ought to ask about this. And now that I think about it, has there ever been a real dog called ‘Fido’?
Yes, Abe Lincoln had a dog named Fido, along with many other pets.
Yeah, we had a dog named Fido. We had him for seventeen years. Great mutt.
Years ago, in California, we sought the owners of a dog found in a specific schoolyard. We got a call from someone looking for a lost dog called “Fluffy” and we knew without a doubt that it was not the dog we had, the unfluffiest wonderful Rottweiler mix we finally kept and called Sarah. Wished them luck finding “Fluffy.”
I have seen a dog called Fido just this week, but it’s a very dated name, much like how there used to be more ladies called Ethel and Agnes than there are now! Fluffy is among the more common cat names I see, but I see even more canine Fluffy’s… Usually your standard unimaginative name for a Maltese Poodle. In fact, I euthanased two in a row this morning – both brought in by the same inspector!
Don’t ask me ask me how I know this, but wasn’t the cat in the Brady Bunch called Fluffy?
According to cuteness.com, Fluffy ranks 86th in popularity of cat’s names.
Thanks, Papa J! Isn’t it great that this information exists?
Eighty-sixth perhaps, but not by the cats’ reckoning. Effanineffableness!
Anyone else annoyed at the incorrect answer to “‘Downtown Abbey’ servers” in the LA Times puzzle? It might have been less annoying without the reference to “Downton Abbey”, which goes out of its way to point out the differences between the various types of male servants.
I have to vote on the side of those who found the NYT quite fine for a Monday and appropriate for an introduction to solving crosswords. I do think it would have been better to not have SMALL or WALL in the non-theme fill. What more do you want in a Monday theme intended for the novice solver? The idea of having the first letter of the words in the theme spell something else is a sophisticated concept that I would consider inappropriate for a Monday. After all we could have had ALL used in a rebus and have a Monday to remember.
Are we really concerned because the other beings in the universe are slighted by the inherent assumption that the puzzle is referencing humans? Was anyone misled by the absence of the word HUMAN after FEMALE? What am I supposed to be ‘cognizant of, and conciliatory toward, significant social and cultural attitudinal change?’
This is a game not a biology primer, and it is a Monday which is intended to bring new solvers to the universe of crosswords. I had fun.
I believe the issue is that not all people who have two X chromosomes self-identify as female.
And some people with XY (or other less common variants, such as XXY) identify as female.
I believe for the clue to be incorrect, no XX-carrying people would actually identify as female. Clues don’t usually imply exclusivity. I don’t see anyone noting that the “Place for legislative debate”clue is wrong because the answer precludes the Senate.
I don’t see any problem with the BUTLERS clue. The butler always serves the wine. The butlers of several homes have appeared on the show. “Downton” is spelled correctly in the clue. Am I missing a subtlety?
Simplistic? I suppose the clue did choose a rather simple way to define “female.” I thought this to its credit, it being a Monday puzzle and all. Anthropomorphic? Last I checked, humans were the main audience for the NYT puzzle. I hope Dr. Fill will forgive us this slight. Erroneous? Precisely how? One’s biological sex is indeed genetically fixed, regardless of the mental or physical rigmarole undertaken thereafter, or the “cultural attitudinal change,” however significant, that wishes it were not so.
If only the answer had been clued “One with XX chromosomes — Note: this definition not intended to exclude, among others: those with Y chromosomes who nonetheless identify as women; non-human animals whose chromosomal groupings (although in some ways different) are no less valid or empowering; or any other creature or object, sentient or not, whose journey has led him, her, hym, them, xhi, thon, hu, or co to the place encompassed by this answer.”
There are karyotype and genotype variations, you realize. For instance, people with Klinefelter’s syndrome have two X chromosomes plus a Y, they are considered male. Those with la Chapelle’s syndrome have two X chromosomes and are phenotypically male. These, of course, are very rare instances.
Biology isn’t as simple as you apparently believe it to be. ‘XX’ indeed.
I realize the irony that it was just the other day when I said crossword clues shouldn’t have to rely on convoluted, talmudic argument. But as I wrote above, it would be nice to think that the NYT crossword reflected a more enlightened position. This isn’t the first time, as I’ve also indicated.
You say you desire a “more enlightened position,” yet all you argue for here is a more pedantic one. The presence of mutations, disorders, or variations every millionth birth or so does nothing to defeat the fact that, in the vast, vast majority of cases, a biologically female human possesses two X chromosomes. As an earlier commenter noted, what you’re criticizing is a Monday NYT crossword puzzle, not a final exam in Genetics & Molecular Biology.
You’re missing your own big point. The one I was really addressing.
Also, for such purposes as accuracy and editorial tone, this is not a criticism solely of a Monday NYT crossword puzzle, but of the New York Times’ puzzle department as an entity. And by rather tenuous association, the New York Times itself, as the puzzles fall under its aegis, while retaining a certain autonomy.
I’m missing it because you’re not defending it. If, as I suspect, you believe that the clue was not appropriately inclusive of, or deferential to, those whose biological sex differs from their subjective understanding of self (as seems likely from your reference to “cultural attitudinal change”), then I don’t know what clue would have sated your desire that the Times pay triumphant tribute to this cultural shift. Perhaps “What Bruce Jenner is now, dammit”?
No, don’t be silly.
I posited arguments for both. That the clue is factually wrong biologically, and also that it’s blind to cultural zeitgeist. The NYT should be better than that.
I’m not nearly as rabid as you seem to be. Let’s not allow this to devolve into some sort of flame war. I like to think Amy’s crossword blog is better than that.
When the rest of the Times regularly has content about transgender people—today, an article on a CIA agent who transitioned to female while employed by the agency; last week, a feature with a bunch of autobiographical bits from transgender men and women; fairly regular mentions of Chelsea Manning; Laverne Cox from OITNB, “Transparent,” and other TV shows featuring transgender real people and/or fictional characters—
Will Shortz has often said that the puzzle’s content should be reflective of the rest of the newspaper. It would be quite a simple thing to stop using XX and XY chromosomes in clues for FEMALE and MALE, and be more sensitive to those solvers who are transgender or are close to someone who’s trans. The rest of the newspaper takes pains to practice language usage that respects transgender people.
At the risk of frightening anyone by continuing this “rabid” “flame war,” I must ask, Amy, what precisely is insensitive or disrespectful about the Times defining “female” biologically, by reference to chromosomes? The existence of individuals who do not meet the biological definition of female, yet self-identify as such, affects the accuracy of the clue not one whit. As Martin noted, a clue need not be exclusive. How is it reasonable to take offense at a definition proved by 99.9999% — or more — of cases?
There’s a lot of sensitivity around gender identity in particular. I doubt if anyone would raise an eyebrow if TEN were clued as “Finger count” in an early-week puzzle (actually happened in 2011 according to CRUCIVERB!) even though plenty of people do not have ten fingers due to genetic mutations or injury. Looking back at the clues for FEMALE the vast, vast majority are things like “Ewe, e.g.” or “Doe, e.g.” because human sexuality is just too complicated.
Pannonica says:
There are karyotype and genotype variations, you realize. For instance, people with Klinefelter’s syndrome have two X chromosomes plus a Y, they are considered male. Those with la Chapelle’s syndrome have two X chromosomes and are phenotypically male. These, of course, are very rare instances.
What does that that have to do with a Monday crossword puzzle?
It primarily has to do with XX’s comment.
which had to do, entirely, with your comically overblown criticism of the clue for “female.”
Sorry, but I agree with XX — the basic science is that two of the X chromosome, chromosome 21, normally produce a female. An extra one, or trisomy 21, tends to produce Down Syndrome – one of the most common birth defects — usually with mental retardation and other developmental problems. 95% of DS patients have the trisomy, but 5% are found to have a translocation of most of the X chromosome to another chromosome, with the smaller part lost… However, if the smaller fragment is present, you can have two anomalies which cancel each other out! Meanwhile, a person’s social orientation after birth has little to do with the basic science. See: http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/trisomy-21-causes-down-syndrome-318
BTW
I believe a butler is a servant and serves.
So, the XX clue for FEMALE is not 100% statistically correct (though it must be a huge correlation – I’d be surprised if fewer than 99% of XX humans are unambiguously female), and these days it’s less than 99% politically correct, but how is it anthropocentric? In most (all?) organisms that have X/Y chromosomes in the first place, XX and XY are overwhelmingly correlated with female and male respectively.
NDE
You’re correct. I was thinking of alternative sex-determining chromosomal systems and got my clue-answer relationship muddled. Post edited.
I got lost in this XX-rated discussion.
How does this become a cultural issue? Despite the variation in chromosomal number and type, or any particular self-identification, doesn’t the genetic makeup of X and Y determine sex (female/male) and any social or cultural identification is gender? It’s the ol’ sex verses gender argument, no? Certainly in my Biology 101 class (c. 1968). XX = female.
Is this discussion about the absolute correctness of the clue or more about the political correctness of it?
I frankly admit to being mostly ignorant of LGBT issues, so I’m seeking enlightenment here.
I think it’s mostly about the political correctness, with biological substantiation.
For one thing, there’s steadily mounting evidence for measurable brain structure consistent with the ‘opposite’ phenotypic and chromosomal sex being present in transsexual people.
Am I wrong, or is there desire here to outlaw the words “female” and “male” in crosswords? There have been complaints previously here, I believe, about associating the words with any particular characteristics or qualities, and now a seemingly straightforward, non-connotational clue has been attacked in the same way.
How about an old movie for “Female”?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024008/
And I found that there was once a famous soccer player named George Male:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Male