Friday, January 31, 2020

John Guzzetta & Michael Hawkins’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s write-up

NY Times crossword solution, 1 31 20, no. 0131

Editors, you gotta read further down in Wikipedia articles or else you look foolish. 26a. [George ___, original cast member of “S.N.L.”], COE, for real? I’ve watched the show off and on since I was a kid in that first season, and this name wasn’t at all familiar to me. Wiki says: “He was only credited as a cast member for the first show, October 11, 1975. Coe was used in several other episodes of SNL, but was never again credited.” You cannot clue a not-famous person by, basically, a single TV episode from 45 years ago. It’s ridiculous.

Speaking of silly things in the puzzle that irritated me: DOOR KEYS. You mean … keys? That’s what we call ’em, generally. Dictionaries know what I’m talking about.

22a. [Know-it-alls] are SWAMIS? Who is using the word this way?

I do like GRYFFINDOR, WILD PITCH, SHELLS OUT, “MIND BLOWN,” SRIRACHA, BOLD MOVE, and “ANY NEWS?” My mind was blown today by learning that some (most?) people actually “hear” their own voice in their head in their internal monologue, their thoughts. I think things all day long, but not in my voice. Others had their minds blown by discovering that some people are like me and don’t hear that voice. Here’s the blog post that flipped my skull open.

Favorite clue: 35a. [Inventors of the compass and movable type], CHINESE. THE CHINESE might flow better, but hey, it’s still cool info.

Five more things:

• 47a. [Ruler amts.], CMS. Constructors who use word lists, please remove these S-plural metric abbreviations from your word list (see also: KMS, KGS, MMS). They’re pretty much bullshit, even worse than the typical plural abbreviation. (And non-metric, too. The plural “ounces” and “pounds” are the same as singular, oz and lb.)
• I wasn’t okay with partial I MY crossing I’M OKAY.
• 41d. [Famous last word of film], ROSEBUD. Huge missed opportunity to give a shout-out to the delightful sitcom Schitt’s Creek. The show takes place in what’s eventually (spoiler alert!) called the Rosebud Motel. I’m weeks behind on the show, but it’s the final season and I want it to last longer. If you’ve never watched it, you can see the first five seasons on Netflix. Stick with it even if you don’t dig it in the first few episodes—it adds so much depth and heart and I love it.
• 42a. [Some jungle greenery], FERNS. We would also have accepted [Some greenery a couple doors down from Amy’s place, very much not in the jungle].
• Did not know: 45d. [1980 Peace Nobelist ___ Pérez Esquivel], ADOLFO. Here’s his brief bio at the Nobel site.

3.5 stars from me.

Patrick Berry’s New Yorker puzzle – Rachel’s writeup

What a beauty! I’m reviewing this puzzle from an airport between flights, so I don’t have a ton of time to devote to listing all of the things I love about this clean, gorgeous, chock-full-o-goodness puzzle, so I’ll stick to the top highlights.

The New Yorker crossword solution • Patrick Berry • Friday, January 31, 2020

The main highlight: those corners! The wide open NE and SW, and only slightly smaller NW and SE corners, are just fabulous. I won’t list out the stacks, but some of my favorite entries in the corners are: NEAR BEER, LORD BYRON, SHADIEST, CLOCHES, DIONNE (Warwick), EL CAMINO. So good!!

Other highlights: can fill be a highlight? There is literally no bad fill in this puzzle. Just *chef’s kiss*.

A few other things:

• Favorite clues:
  • Seedy frying medium for CANOLA right next to Greasy frying medium for LARD. Elegant and funny.
  • Joint coverage? for KNEEPAD
  • They’re often rolling in the aisles for SHOPPING CARTS down the middle
• Names I didn’t know: NOONAN, Robert E. Howard, and that’s it!

This puzzle feels qualitatively different from most other New Yorker puzzles in that it elevates the fill and cluing rather than currency, trivia, and freshness, which is fine by me! I like that the New Yorker mixes things up a bit and keeps their solvers on their toes. This was also easily my fastest New Yorker solve on record, fwiw.

All the stars from me!

Ned White’s Chronicle of Higher Education crossword, “Feeling the Burn” — pannonica’s write-up

CHE • 1/31/20 • “Feeling the Burn” • White • solution • 20200131

Revealer right off the bat in this one.

• 1a/69a^R [ … committed exerciser evoked by the last words of the answers to starred clues] GYM | RAT.
• 25a. [*Gutenberg invention] LETTERPRESS.
• 49a. [*A month in solitary, say] HARD STRETCH.
• 6d. [*Feat that might partially hide a surfer from beach spectators] SHOOTING THE CURL. Uhm, I’d never heard of the Honeys.
• 10d. [*”Help! My car’s in the shop!”] GIMME A LIFT. Seems more demanding than desperate to me.
• 30d. [*Cereal mascot with facial hair] CAP’N CRUNCH.

Represent? Anyway, it’s a theme.

Quibble for 25-across, which I’ve rendered properly as a compound word despite the directive of the revealer (“last words …”).

• 24a [“Women hold up half the sky” attribution] MAO. I feel that I should have known this, but am happy to have learned it (possibly again).
• 35a [Spiral-horned African antelopes] NYALAS. In the genus Tragelaphus, which comes from the Greek tragelaph, a part-goat and part-deer creature.
• 28d [Bois de Boulogne, par example] PARC.
  
  (“the ’80s called …”)
• 45a [Crowning glory protected by the Crown Act] AFRO. The lazy way to have clued this would’ve been cross-referencing 41a, above: [One-fifth of the Jackson 5] TITO. Instead we get the timely ‘Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair’ law in California. Seems however that the clue should have put CROWN in all caps.
• 46a [Driver of a bus.?] CEO. Question mark and the necessary period to indicate abbreviated ‘business’.
• 63a [Spanish river to the Mediterranean] EBRO. Periodically I mention that Iberia is derived etymologically from EBRO.
• 32a [Narrow coastal inlet] RIA, from Spanish ría meaning estuary. Not sure if it shares an etymology with ‘river’ …
• … and ditto the name RIPA which maybe shares history with Latin-derived riparian (ripa = ‘shore’). 38a [Kelly of morning TV]
• … but RIATA is unrelated. 27a [Gauchos’ loops]
• 12d [Extinct Southern Hemisphere flock] DODOS. Tried fruitlessly to find out of they were gregarious or solitary, but it doesn’t matter because the clue could be using ‘flock’ idiomatically for the species.
• 35d [Campus org. for ensigns-in-training] NROTC. Hm, the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps has an unfortunate initialism, as it practically begs to be pronounced ‘neurotic’.
• 49d [“Hi!”] HELLO, 50d [“Bye!”] ADIOS. 4d [“__wiedersehen!”] AUF.

“See you later.”

David Poole’s LA Times crossword – Jenni’s write-up

I was confused about this theme until I filled in about a third of the puzzle. It was a satisfying “aha” moment, and the revealer made me grin.

Each theme answer is missing something.

Los Angeles Times, January 31, 2020, David Poole, solution grid

• 21a [Cornerstone phrase] is ANNO DO. Clearly that’s supposed to to be ANNO DOMINI. It didn’t make sense as a rebus since the 19d only uses the O. Hmm.
• 29a [In a humiliating way] is IGNO. Huh? Oh. 30a is [-], meaning that it continues on, and that’s OUSLY. IGNO{MINI}OUSLY. And there are four black squares in between – and four black squares after DO in 21a. Aha!
• 57a, [Little versions], is preceded by four black squares, and is ATURES, for {MINI}ATURES.

The revealer is in the middle: 40a [Hotel room amenity … or one of the configurations that resolve four puzzle answers], MINI–BAR.

Fun and original!

A few other things:

• The long downs are mathematical: ALGORITHIMIC and ISOMORPHISM. The latter is clued as [Type of mathematical equivalence]. Good thing there were crossings.
• 10a [Software product with a cup-and-saucer logo] is JAVA, and 10d, [10-Across] is JOE. We also have 53d, [10-Down sweetener] for SUGAR
• We have MME and SRA clued as Fr. and Span. titles, respectively.
• 54a [Unwitting tool] is a CAT‘S PAW.
• 59a [Smoothie seed] could be ACAI but this time is CHIA.

What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: that the XBOX was introduced in 2001 and that the OAS was founded in 1948.

Janie Smulyan’s Inkubator crossword, “She’s Not There”—Jenni’s review

I’m delighted to see Janie’s byline back! Janie is an erstwhile member of Team Fiend, a stalwart judge and volunteer at ACPT and Lolla and an all-round great person who I am proud to count as a friend. Today’s Inkubator is all about the ladies. Literally.

• 17a [Tell ’em “The witches made me do it!”, perhaps] is a MACBETH STRATEGY. At first I thought we had to drop the woman’s name and I was trying to figure out what MAC STRATEGY was.
• 23a. [Clueless] is IN THE DARK.
• 37a [Is deeply (and audibly) dispirited] is SINGS THE BLUES.
• 54a [Citrus-imbued toast topper] is MARMALADE.

And the revealer: 60a [1938 Hitchcock thriller, and a hint to this puzzle’s theme]” THE LADY VANISHES. Add “lady” to each theme answer and they make more sense: LADY MACBETH STRATEGY, LADY IN THE DARK, LADY SINGS THE BLUES, and LADY MARMALADE. I was not familiar with the first one. Google tells me that it’s “a merger strategy in which a company betrays a target company by first appearing as a friendly alternative to an unfriendly acquirer and then later joining forces with the unfriendly acquirer.” OK, then. I am familiar with LADY IN THE DARK, a 1940s musical about psychoanalysis with music by Kurt Weill and book and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It’s the sort of entry I expect from theater aficionado Janie! All in all a challenging, interesting, and solidly constructed theme.

A few other things:

• 5a [Perennial jumbotron message] is HI MOM. I presume this refers to the Jumbotron showing pictures of people holding up HI MOM signs.
• Nice touch crossing ARLO with TRAINS and cluing the latter as [Subjects of Ellington’s “Daybreak Express” and Guthrie’s “City of New Orleans”]. We sang “City of New Orleans” to Emma every night when she was a baby, and so we had a two-year-old who would sing “Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle” at random times.
• 18d [Beneficiaries of some cucumber slices] are EYE BAGS. That’s a little roll-your-own, although the meaning is clear.
• I married into a family of birdwatchers and I have never heard “goshawk” abbreviated as GOS. It’s clued as [Breed of Mabel the “support raptor” in Helen Macdonald’s “H is for Hawk,” informally] and I haven’t read the book, so maybe that’s how Mabel is referred to.
• Another nice theater reference at 41d [Henry Higgins : Eliza Doolittle :: Pygmalion : ___]. It’s GALATEA.

What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: see above re LADY MACBETH STRATEGY.