Sunday, April 3, 2016

Check out the ACPT rankings! Steely Dan Feyer has a 4-minute (!) lead over Joon Pahk, Howard Barkin, and David Plotkin. This means that this trio will be scrambling to edge one another out on puzzle 7 Sunday morning, trying not to be left out of the finals. And if any of them have an error and drop 150 points, there’s room for a fast Al Sanders, Francis Heaney, Anne Ellison, or Stella Zawistowski to climb up with a fast 7. Some people pay attention to which teams have to win or lose in which division in order for whoever to make the playoffs—the ACPT is my statistics-and-probability sport.

Fiendster Andy is in 12th, Doug’s in 14th, Derek’s in 59th, and Sam’s in 78th. Sportscaster Ade is skipping the NCAA basketball tournament to compete at ACPT this weekend. (Priorities!) Neville, Angela/PuzzleGirl, Jeffrey/Crosscan, Erin, and Ben are also competing, and Janie is judging.

I’m doing the online version from home. Why, it’s so relaxing! No travel hassles, no sleep deprivation, no ballroom full of noises and your neighbor’s vigorous erasing jostling your table. I’m in first after puzzle 6, but could easily see Jeffrey Harris (the MGWCC meta-walloping legend) swooping in 3+ minutes faster than me on puzzle 7. He has tremendous solving speed.

Natan Last’s New York Times crossword, “Jumping To Conclusions”—Amy’s write-up

NY Times crossword solution, 4 3 16 “Jumping to Conclusions”

Fun theme! 23a. [With 113-Across, heard but disregarded … or a hint to interpreting the Across answers with circled letters] clues IN ONE EAR AND / OUT THE OTHER. There are six long Acrosses each with a single circled square, and those squares contain the rebus EAR. Not only that, but you need to “jump” (as the title suggests) from ONE EAR to anOTHER in order to reach the “conclusions” of those theme answers. The six jumping/swapping themers are in pairs (1/2, 3/4, 5/6).

• 31a. [Common query from one about to leave the house], WHER{E AR}IGHT TO KNOW / 46a. [Indignant reply when someone withholds information], I HAV{E A R}E MY KEYS. Jump at the EAR rebus squares, and you get “Where are my keys?” and “I have a right to know.”
• 55a. [“Come on … be daring”], TAK{E A R}IVER / 77a. [“Oh, boo-hoo!”], CRY M{E A R}ISK. “Take a risk” (which feels a little bit contrived to me), “Cry me a river.”
• 86a. [“Would you consider this suggestion?”], CAN I MAK{E A R}OUND / 100a. [Comment to the not-yet-convinced], YOU’LL COM{E AR}EQUEST. “Can I make a request?” and “You’ll come around.”

So all six are spoken phrases, and the EAR rebus is split across two or three words in each theme phrase. And every EAR rebus is part of a longer word in the Down crossings—never does it actually mean an ear. Elegant consistency. Also cool: This interpretation of the phrase “jumping to conclusions.” Perfect title for the puzzle. I wonder if the title concept came first, or the EAR action.

Highlights in the fill include ALONE TIME, “IT’S COOL,” “WASN’T ME,” the ORANGEMEN of yore (more for the ORANGE part than the MEN), TIRE SWING, “HANG TIGHT,” the song “I’M ON A BOAT,”  VLADIMIR with a Godot clue rather than a Putin one, “HEY YA,” BENT ON clued as [Unlikely to be talked out of] (fresher than anyone named Benton), LATKES, a SUMMER HIT, and INBOX ZERO. I kinda like the CAMINO/CIMINO duo, too.

I always hate SDAK in a puzzle, but overall the fill was smooth (plus, all those highlights!). And I dug the theme. 4.5 stars from me.

Evan Birnholz’s Washington Post crossword, “Crossing State Lines” – Jenni’s write-up

Well, my time is ominous. I attribute that to a mid-puzzle crisis involving a schoolmate of Emma’s and a dress code violation. Also to general poutiness from missing ACPT. Hope all of you are having fun!

Washington Post Sunday crossword solution, 4 3 16

Here at home, Evan has given us another silky-smooth Sunday solve. We’re “Crossing State Lines” with a group of people who have states for names.

• Swordmaster in the Dune series – DUNCAN IDAHO. Never read Dune (yes, you notice a theme among things I’ve never read. I don’t do fantasy or sci-fi, with one exception*.)
• Fast Eddie’s rival in “The Hustler” – MINNESOTA FATS. This one gave me the theme. I didn’t need the name of the movie. [buffs fingernails on lapel]
• Oscar nominee for “Sideways” – VIRGINIA MADSEN.
• “Pelvis With the Distance” painter – GEORGIA O’KEEFFE. I always, always spell her last name wrong. If you’re ever in Santa Fe, check out the O’Keeffe museum. Maybe you’ll get lucky and go on a day when Karen Ralston is giving tours!
• Brendan Fraser’s role in “The Scout” – STEVEN NEBRASKA. Never heard of this movie.
• Vicki Lester’s love in “A Star is Born” – NORMAN MAINE. Heard of that one. And I’ve seen both the Judy Garland version and the Barbra Streisand version.

In addition to the full-name Across answers, we have a series of Downs:

• Fictional idol Hannah MONTANA
• “Orpheus Descending writer TENNESSEE Williams
• “Point of Know Return” band KANSAS. I know the song. Children of the ’70s, represent! I have to say, though, that I never knew it was KNOW return. I always thought it was NO return. Go figure.
• FLORIDA Evans (Esther Rolle’s role on “Good Times”). Also her role on “Maude”, from which “Good Times” was spun off, “Maude” having itself been spun off from “All in the Family”, which also begat “The Jeffersons”.

Nice, solid theme that seems fresh to me (which doesn’t mean it’s new; I have a terrible memory for these things.) The full names give us four fictional characters and two real people; both of the real people are women and all of the fictional characters are men. The single-name answers give us one group, two fictional characters (both women this time) and one real-life man. None of that matters. I just felt like counting.

There are several answers in this puzzle that I’ve seen in other puzzles today. Since I’ve been doing the ACPT puzzles online and I can’t remember if that’s where I saw them, I’ll keep mum about that for now. It’s always amusing when I see a word in a puzzle for the first time in months and then see it again a few hours later.

A few other things:

• We have OOH LA LA and va VOOM in the same puzzle, although OOH LA LA is clued as “Wow, that’s fancy!” rather than its more sexual meaning.
• If RICK BARRY hit 90% of his free throws underhand, why doesn’t everyone do that? This is actually part of the current plotline in the comic strip “Gil Thorp”. Seriously.
• Jordan SPIETH shows up with GOLFS also in the grid. Thanks, Evan, for not cross-referencing those clues. I liked “Does course work?” for GOLFS.
• I also like the clue for COIN, which is a perfectly ordinary word, and is also “What Two-Face flips.”
• 127A asks us for a “record feature”, and of course the answer is GROOVE. The medical student currently working with me had not heard of records or phonographs, despite the current vinyl revival. I am old, I am old…and then she said “but what did you do the day after if you stayed up all night on call?” and I felt even older.
• “Rice products?” at 46A are not “cakes”, but rather BOOKS. Anne, not grain.

Yawn. It’s 10:40. If I were at Stamford, I’d be drinking and/or playing games in the bar. Since I’m not, I’m going to bed. Thanks to Evan for another nice puzzle, and sweet dreams to all.

Bruce Venzke’s CrosSynergy/Washington Post crossword, “Sunday Challenge” —Dave Sullivan’s write-up

CrosSynergy Sunday Challenge – 4/3/16

Good morning, everyone! Dave Sullivan here pinch hitting for Ade, who is in his own sports competition this weekend, the sport of crossword solving! Some nice longer entries in today’s “Sunday Challenge” from constructor Mr. Bruce Venzke:

• “IMAGINE THAT!” (4D: [“Well, I’m really surprised!”])
• ACE REPORTER (25D: [Certain Pulitzer Prize winner, possibly])
• UP THE GUT (40A: [Running right through midfield, in football slang])
• SET A LIMIT (3D: Specify the maximum or minimum allowed])

On the other side of the fence, I was less happy to see the [Prohibition-supporting org.] of WCTU (I see here, it stands for the Women’s Chrisitan Temperance Union, and is surprisingly still apparently active), ET AL., TREELET (I’d call this a sapling) LAH, DEE, S. SGT., BSS, NENE, OR BE, ERES and UP A. USER’S FEE seems a bit off as well, as I’m more familiar with the non-possessive version of the term. I did learn that [Electropositive elements] tend to be found on the left side of the periodic table with their tendency to donate electrons in chemical reactions. “Tightrope” singer Janelle MONÁE looks a bit familiar to me, but was not someone that sprang to mind when solving:

“Sports will make you smarter” moment of the day: I can’t help but comment on Villanova’s shellacking of Oklahoma last night, a game I’m sure Ade watched with great interest amidst his ACPT-ing. The Wildcats’ ROMP over fellow number 2 seed Sooners will go down in history books as one of the most lopsided victories in the Final Four as well as one with a team with the highest shooting percentage. (I believe the only higher percentage was another Villanova team from the ’80s.)

Take care!

Dave/Evad

Gail Grabowski’s LA Times crossword, “Thin Is In” – Gareth’s write-up

Andy Kravis is MIA as he is taking on the rest of the word nerd herd at the ACPT. He came an impressive 11th. Congratulations to Howard, Dan, David and all of the other competitors, especially the many who blog with me or who leave their remarks down below…

This puzzle has a great title: “Thin Is In”. It took a while to parse this . “Thin Is In” because it loses a “th”. All the other theme answers follow that pattern, though they are not consistent in where they lose their “th” in the word or in which word loses the “th”. The goal here is density rather than strict consistency.

So we have the following: [Bud who’s been fired?], CANNEDBRO(TH); Ok, I know that soup can come in cans, but I didn’t know those words together were a “thing”. [Search online about auditory issues?], GOOGLEEAR(TH); I think that would be an inefficient way to do that. [GEICO gecko’s financial counterpart?], CREDITCARD(TH)EFT; crossword-ese alert! An eft is quite from taxonomically from a gecko, as one is a reptile and one is a juvenile amphibian. [One fastidious about table manners?], (TH)EATERCRITIC. [Editor’s marks in the margin?], LATERAL(TH)INKING. [Displeased reaction to election turnout?], VOTINGBOO(TH). [Streams stocked with elongated fish?], GAR(TH)BROOKS. I like the way this repurposes a name… [Consequence of a heist injury?], (TH)ROBBINGPAIN. [Part of a project to recycle golf accessories?], TEE(TH)GRINDING.

As usual for a Sunday, it is daunting to discuss individual answers. [Radio-active sort?], CBER (active on the radio). [Land on the sea?], REELIN – as in landing a fish. [Parties, to pirates], ANAGRAM – classic anagram clue.

Gareth

Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon’s CRooked crossword, “Lovers” – Jenni’s write-up

Sorry this is so late. We were in NYC today to see “1776” (which is one of the reasons I wasn’t at Stamford) and we just got home.

On the heels of our ageusia discussion earlier this week, Hex offer us a cornucopia of names for people who love…all sorts of things. Many of them are better known as the PHOBE rather than the PHILE. You’ll see what I mean.

• Xenophiles love FOREIGNERS
• Astrophiles love OUTER SPACE
• Oenophiles love WINE TASTING. Also wine drinking. Also just wine. Good wine, anyway.
• Glossophiles love LANGUAGES (literally “tongues” – “glossus” is Latin for “tongue”).
• Herpetophiles love REPTILES.
• Audiophiles love HIGH FIDELITY. They don’t let their children touch the knobs, though. Ask me how I know.
• Amaxophiles love RIDING IN CARS. We’re getting into words Emily and Henry could have made up, for all I know.
• Teratophiles love MONSTERS. This one I can verify, because I know about teratomas, which are tumors of embryonal tissue that sometimes contain hair and teeth.
• Sesquipedalophiles love LONG WORDS. If loving words is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
• Chasmophiles love SMALL PLACES. This one didn’t quite work for me. Wouldn’t claustrophiles love small places and chasmophiles love deep places?
• Arctophiles love TEDDY BEARS. Am I the only one who put in “polar” instead of “teddy”?
• Pantophiles love EVERYTHING.

I am a Hexophile. I love their crosswords and their acrostics and I’d probably love their cryptics if I could do cryptics. This is not my favorite of their puzzles; it’s still pretty dang good.

A few more things before David pulls the computer away from me so we can eat dinner:

• “Sum kind of snake?” is an ADDER. Cute.
• “Opposite of ‘blanche’ ” had me briefly confused until I noticed the “e” on the end and realized the answer was NOIRE.
• “Unit of two” is a DUAD, not the more common and familiar DYAD.

Something I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: I’m going with AMAXOPHILE.