Sunday, August 20, 2017

Ruth Bloomfield Margolin’s New York Times crossword, “Found in Your Inbox”—Laura’s write-up

Phrases that begin with re have re re-moved, but then put back in via the clues, such that the phrase sounds like the subject line of an email.

NYT – Sun – 8.20.17 – Margolin – Solution

• [22a: Re: ___ (suitor’s subject line)]: QUEST FOR PROPOSAL
• [29a: Re: ___ (stingy date’s subject line)]: TREAT IS NOT AN OPTION
• [45a: Re: ___ (song lyricist’s subject line)]: VERSE COURSE
• [65a: Re: ___ (film director’s subject line)]: ACTION TIME
• [69a: Re: ___ (sales agent’s subject line … with an attachment)]: AD ONLY FILE
• [88a: Re: ___ (duster’s subject line)]: MOTE CONTROL
• [104a: Re: ___ (prison librarian’s subject line)]: WARD FOR INFORMATION
• [115a: Re: ___ (celebrity physician’s subject line)]: ACHES FOR THE STARS

These are pretty clever, though I have a bit of a personal/professional quibble with a prison librarian being considered a WARD FOR INFORMATION. Even in prisons, librarians work actively to connect users with information, not to guard or protect it.

Matisse, Woman with a Hat (1905)

This will be a short post since I’m blogging this puzzle in a bar in New York City, immediately after Lollapuzzoola, my very first tournament ever. I came in 6th in the Rookie division and had a fantastic time, meeting many crossword friends for the first time In Real Life. The awesome puzzles are available for the “play-at-home division” at the tourney’s site. Fill-wise, not much stood out, but there were a few weird abbreviations; couldn’t quite get [73a: Municipal regs.]: ORDS as an abbreviation for ordinances. Also, [120a: Eliminated by a ref’s decision]: TKOD? Should there be an apostrophe suggested there? And [20a: Seats by the orchestra pit, perhaps]: ROW A — took me (and the other tournament badasses at bar co-solving with me) a while to parse that. And we wanted [10a: XXX]: CHIS to be racy or blue (because that’s the way we think). Nice misdirection there. Also, [34a: Hairstyle rarely seen in the military]: AFRO. This seems a bit awkward, as most of the clues for AFRO over the past 25 years have been. It’s a hairstyle. What I Didn’t Know Before Solving This Puzzle: [1a: Matisse, e.g., stylistically]: FAUVE. I’d heard of the Fauvism movement, but didn’t know the word could be used singularly.

Evan Birnholz’s Washington Post crossword, “Wild World of Sports” – Erin’s writeup

WaPo 8/20/17 solution

Two-word phrases in which the second word is a sport, clued as if the phrase actually represents a sport:

• 23a. [German car designer’s sport?] VOLKSWAGEN GOLF
• 39a. [ENT’s sport?] TONSIL HOCKEY
• 57a. [Actor’s sport?] STAGE CREW
• 68a. [Atomic physicist’s sport?] NUCLEAR FOOTBALL
• 83a. [Senator Rubio’s sport?] MARCO POLO
• 98a. [Singer Donna’s sport?] SUMMER SQUASH
• 117a. [TV executive’s sport?] CHANNEL SURFING
• 16d. [Comedian’s sport?] LAUGH TRACK
• 74d. [Local reporter’s sport?] BEAT BOXING

Other things:

• 1a. [Black Lives Matter activist Mckesson] DERAY. He worked for Teach for America before serving several city public school systems, and devoted himself to activism after Michael Brown was shot and killed in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014.
• 72d. [Italian mountain that’s spelled in Vietnamese?] ETNA is found in “ViETNAmese.”
• 13a. [Things a benched player may work on during practice] SCALES. The bench in question is a piano bench.
• 55d. [One of many tiled designs at the Magic Gardens in Philadelphia] MOSAIC. The Magic Gardens is an indoor gallery and outdoor sculpture garden taking up about half a city block in Philly. Not sure why I have not been here yet, but it’s definitely on the list now.
  

Until next week.

Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon’s CRooked crossword, “Diamond Duos” — pannonica’s write-up

CRooked • 8/20/17 • “Diamond uos” • Cox, Rathvon • bg • solution

Finally had time for this one, just before the Monday NYT drops. Good thing it’s a theme I’m not too excited about. Baseball surnames thrown together in twos, with cross-references galore for the first names.

FOX HUNTER YOUNG FELLER LEMON GROVE STRAWBERRY CRISP TINKERBELL BLUE FINGERS SALE PRICE DARRYL CATFISH JOE COOL PAPA NELLIE ROLLIE DAVID BOB LEFTY CHRIS COCO VIDA. Sort ’em out, if you like.

Of baseball and twos: 61d [Slid into second, maybe] STOLE, 97d [t=Two-baggers (abbr.)] DBLS.

Gentle revisionism (I approve): 83a [Inventor Lamarr who also acted] HEDY, 101d [Hydrox copycat] OREO.

9a [Flintstonian cry, in part] DABBA. That’s … pretty awful. 7d [Be crawling with] TEEM IN seems weird too; not the usual postposition for that verb.

14a [Trifle] SKOSH, 62a [Smidgen] WHIT.

Apologies for a rather insubstantial write-up.