Monday, January 1, 2018

BEQ untimed (Laura) 

 


LAT untimed (pannonica) 

 


NYT untimed (pannonica)  

 

No WSJ puzzle today. Happy New Year!


Matthew Sewell’s New York Times crossword — pannonica’s write-up

NYT • 1/1/18 • Mon • Sewell • № 0101 • solution

It’s a Torch Song Trilo— er, a Torch Song Pentalogy.

  • 17a. [Jon Bon Jovi torch song?] BLAZE OF GLORY.
  • 29a. [Elvis Presley torch song?] BURNING LOVE.
  • 36a. [Bangles torch song?] ETERNAL FLAME.
  • 45a. [The Doors torch song?] LIGHT MY FIRE.
  • 59a. [The Trammps torch song?] DISCO INFERNO.

It’s also a 16×15 grid. Anyway, good job on the theme. A cohesive set, and the symmetry works. One observation: four nouns, one adjective.

New Year and all that.


Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Themeless Monday crossword — Laura’s Writeup

BEQ - 1.1.18 - Solution

BEQ – 1.1.18 – Solution

Short post because it’s New Year’s Day and I need to get back to the Twilight Zone marathon on SyFy. Three things:

  • [1d: Noted 2017 hijab wearer]: BARBIE. From the “Shero” line, she’s modeled on American Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad.
  • [15d: Video game with a World War III theme]: MISSILE COMMAND. You can play on an emulator of the 1980s Atari version here (warning: it uses Flash).
  • [35a: Took a stab at]: ATTEMPTED and [37d: Squeeze hit]: TEMPTED. That’s a seven-letter duplicated string, and yes, they’re related etymologically, per Wiktionary: “Late 14th century, from Old French atempter, from Latin attemptō (I try, solicit), from ad (to) + temptare, more correctly tentare (to try); see tempt. The noun is from the 1530s, the sense “an assault on somebody’s life, assassination attempt” (French attentat) is from 1580.” (Thus, the metaphorical “took a stab at” for ATTEMPTED has a source in language history.) As for the song, since you’ve heard the original a zillion times already (and you always sing along when it comes on the radio in the car [and by “you” I mean me]), here’s a more recent acoustic version:

“A foot without a sock…”

Ross Trudeau’s Los Angeles Times crossword — pannonica’s write-up

LAT • 1/1/18 • Mon • Trudeau • solution

Typical Monday-type theme, various permutations of a letter string.

  • 61a. [Political organization founded in 1995 by 35-Down … and a literal hint to each set of circled letters] REFORM PARTY.
    35d. [’90s presidential candidate] ROSS PEROT. Can’t help noticing that he’s a near-rhyme for the constructor’s own name, and then wondering if that played a role in the puzzle’s genesis.
  • 17a. [2006 best-selling Elizabeth Gilbert spiritual memoir] EAT, PRAY, LOVE.
  • 24a. [Place to go blond] BEAUTY PARLOR. See also 21a [Salon goop] GEL and 59d [Hair-coloring agents] DYES.
  • 39a. [Breakfast-in-bed surface] LAP TRAY.
  • 51a. [Carnivorous plant] VENUS FLY TRAP.

It all works.

  • [Edible epitomes of redness] seems a gratuitously hifalutin clue to open a crossword, a week, a year. (1a BEETS)
  • As commenter P Ulrich notes below, the clue for 42a is problemmatic.
  • 6a [Insurance giant with a spokesduck] AFLAC. I would prefer never to see the word ‘spokesduck’ ever again, thank you. Ditto ‘spokeslizard’, et al.
  • 55a [Like environments where you can walk on air?] ZERO G. Definitely needs that question mark.
  • 60a [Means justifier] END. Yes, I would like a qualifier, please.
  • 1d [Hive denizens] BEES. Did you see the story from last week about the apiary vandalism? The hell?
  • 54d [Mongolian tents] YURTS. But the word comes from Turkish via Russian.

Solid Monday offering.

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4 Responses to Monday, January 1, 2018

  1. P. Ulrich says:

    LA Times: I have a problem with 42 across, “Lowest Scrabble tile value”. If it had said “Lowest number on a Scrabble tile”, then ONE would have been okay. But the blank tile has zero value.

  2. Lise says:

    Eating BEETS , however, is a great way to start the new year. As are black-eyed peas.

    Happy New Year to Team Fiend and everyone in the forum!

  3. lemonade714 says:

    Hispanics go with grapes LINK >

Comments are closed.