Tuesday, 5/3/11

 

 

 

 

3:56 (Neville)/2:55 (Amy)

Good news! If you’re one of the millions who missed out on the Crosswords LA tournament yesterday (congrats to winner Jordan Chodorow and runners-up Eric LeVasseur and Eric Maddy), you can still do the event’s puzzles. I test-solved them and liked the whole batch, especially Tyler Hinman’s über-tricky one. And you know what? You get five tournament crosswords and three bonus puzzles, all for the low, low price of $5, which goes to charity (Reading to Kids). Visit Alex Boisvert’s site for the PayPal link.

Kevan Choset’s New York Times crossword

I confess I didn’t see the theme-revealer clue while solving this puzzle and had no idea what the theme was. None! Ah, okay, I see now—71a: MAN can be affixed to the first part of each theme entry to make a superhero. Like so:

• 18a. SUPER BOWL XX gets you Superman. I know someone who’s not at all a comic book fan, and she’s terribly upset that Superman just relinquished his U.S. citizenship. Me, I’m more bothered that those dang Roman numerals are in there, as if I pay the slightest attention to which numbered Bowl is in which year.
• 24a. AQUAMARINE, a pretty stone, and Aquaman, a superhero of no import to me.
• 38a. Oddly struggled to get to BAT AROUND. Batman! Some of The Dark Knight was filmed in my neighborhood, so I’m partial to Batman, but only until the next episode is released. They’re not filming it here! Losers.
• 53a. Ya know, [Long-legged sea animal seen along the Atlantic Coast] didn’t scream SPIDER CRAB to me. Poor Spider-Man, now the butt of jokes over the Broadway travesty.
• 61a. The IRON CURTAIN gives you Iron Man. If that’s supposed to be one word or hyphenated, you know what? I don’t feel like spell-checking all these superheroes. Iron and Aqua are definitely in the second tier after the Super, Bat, and Spider-hyphen men.

Five highlights:

• 27a. [Vermont but not New Hampshire, e.g.?] clues IAMB. Boy, that IAMB-meets-BVD section slowed me down. Poetry and underwear? That reminds me of the dancing go-go boy in red underpants (50d: HEINIE!) whom I saw yesterday in a bar window. 6:15 on Sunday night! When I told my husband, he totally topped my story. He’d been passed by a bicyclist in drag, wearing a short miniskirt in the, uh, Scottish style. I think sumer is icumen in.
• 2d. Love the word BRUSQUE. It looks like it should mean something grander than [Short] or curt.
• 25d. MANANA, the [Procrastinator’s mantra]. “Later” and “tomorrow,” those work in any language. Maybe tomorrow I’ll do that editing assignment?
• 48d. Great clue for ROBESON: [Actor/singer/athlete/activist Paul]. Kind of a Renaissance man, which was not easy work for a black man in 20th-century America.
• 47d. The Canadians voted today. Possibly the election results will make it into the American media, but they do have other preoccupations at the moment. Canada has a national anthem known to NHL, MLB, and NBA fans, “O CANADA.” The title doubles as [Song words followed by “Terre de nos aieux”], the last word of which should absolutely be made legitimate in English-language Scrabble.

Four stars.

Jeff Chen’s Los Angeles Times crossword—Neville’s review

Look at this grid – now back to me – now back at the grid – now back to me. Doesn’t it look like something strange? Long vertical answers, 44(!) black squares, and circles all over the place? Something’s definitely up here. Look down – back up. Three of the circles in the puzzle I downloaded weren’t in the right spot – I’ve moved them in the picture to reflect their proper positions in 60-Down, not 59-Down. So, let’s see what madness Jeff Chen’s cooked up today:

• 34d. [Little one hopping across today’s puzzle] – ROO. I don’t know if this is a generic roo or A.A. Milne’s Roo, but either way, I cheated and put ROO in all of the circles immediately.
• 51d. [Sing like Bing] Crosby – CROON.
• 30d. [2007 Iraq War strategy] – TROOP SURGE. {Insert topical remark about Osama bin Laden here}
• 6d. [In whatever way possible] – BY HOOK OR BY CROOK. The etymology of this phrase is highly debated, so you can draw your own conclusion.
• 9d. [Stereotypical deal-making site] – SMOKE-FILLED ROOM. I wanted this to be Craigslist.
• 10d. [Was angry to the max] – HIT THE ROOF. Why is this past tense? Just to trick me into thinking there’s an -ED in there?
• 60d. [Cheer] – ROOT. Meh.

Well, there you go – seven ROO-filled entries. I like that there’s a definitive pattern in the grid and it’s carried out consistently. I don’t mind ROO in the middle, but the other short-entries aren’t as satisfying. Four great long theme entries + a visual is a winner in my book, though.

Some bullets, then it’s off to bed:

• 14a. [Hooters’ hangout] – OWLERY. This was by far the most disappointing entry for me, but the path it led me down still made me chuckle. Great way to make a fine word better via an evocative clue.
• 25a. [Donkey’s bray] – HEE-HAW. Rhymes with see-saw and mee-maw. There’s your next theme, Jeff!
• 51a. [Washington based warehouse club] – COSTCO, aka the one that fit.
• 67a. [“Check that out!”] – OH, LOOK! An OWLERY!
• I’m tired of these Cockney clues: 24d. [Aloe…] VERA! Who’s Vera, and why are we saying ‘aloe to her?
• ODIUM is a cool word from the Latin for [Hatred].
• You say “En garde!” at the start of repartee, and “TOUCHE” to signal [Acknowledgement of a witty rejoinder].
• YO HO HO! Pirates!

Arr, I’ll be seein’ ya Thursday, mateys!

Updated Tuesday morning:

Bob Klahn’s CrosSynergy/Washington Post Crossword, “Net Gains” – Sam Donaldson’s review

Klahn adds N-E-T to the end of one word in four two-word phrases to get wacky new phrases that are clued accordingly:

• 17-Across: To [Pitch a popular red?] is to TOSS THE CABERNET, from the Highland Games tradition of “caber tossing,” in which participants compete to see who can heave a 20-foot, 175-pound wooden pole the farthest (furthest? ferthest?). I’ll let the picture below say it all.
• 27-Across: Sergeant [Friday in the funnies?] would be a DRAGNET STRIP (from “drag strip”). Sergeant Joe Friday was the character played by Jack Webb on the “Dragnet” TV series. For those not old enough to remember, here’s an excerpt (sort of).
• 48-Across: [Amusing the Muses?] is NONET KIDDING (from “no kidding”). The Muses were an acrobatic act from the early 1930s famous for working with no net. They only messed up once, in their final performance.
• 63-Across: The [14-liner from a pain in the neck?] is SONNET OF DRACULA (from “Son of Dracula”). That’s gold, Jerry. Gold! Our crack Crossword Fiend research staff has uncovered a real sonnet about Dracula, entitled, appropriately, “My Dracula Sonnet.” As for whether it’s any good, you make the call. If you’re not up for clicking the link, here’s an excerpt: “With your fangs as sharp as thorns, you strike out, / Your cloak billowing like a bat’s black wings, / Fear grips my heart and I let loose a shout, / I scream in shock, ‘What are these painful things?!'” (Um, they’re called sonnets.)

The other theme entries are solid, but the first one strikes me as the weak link here. It’s the only one that has the N-E-T at the end of the last word instead of the end of the first word. And “toss the caber” doesn’t feel like a very familiar phrase.

There’s some superb cluing in this crossword. It’s like this Klahn fellow knows what he’s doing when it comes to clues:

• I like how [Beat around the bush] almost has a double meaning for the answer, HEDGE.
• I fell for the [Jam or pickle] trap. Yes, I was thinking food, when I should have been thinking of problematic situations, like a jam, a pickle, or a SCRAPE.
• [It’s dull, it’s said] is a clue that’s almost as good as the answer, DISHWATER.
• The clue [Score about 75] is fine, but the answer is terrific: GET A C.
• For some reason, I wanted TV SHOW for [“Yesterday,” “Today,” or “Tomorrow”], but the answer was SONG. I know “Yesterday” from The Beatles, and “Tomorrow” from the musical, “Annie.” But “Today?” Wikipedia says that there’s a song by that name from Gary Allan, Jefferson Airplane, Melanie B, Poe, and The Smashing Pumpkins. I’m guessing no two of them are the same.

My slow time is entirely a function of my ignorance, best demonstrated by [Four-time Hugo winner Frederik] POHL, EPPES as the [“Numb3rs” family name], [“The Fugitive” portrayer David] JANSSEN, and [“Journey Into Fear” author Eric] AMBLER. I’m used to slower times on Klahn puzzles, but this one felt like it went more slowly than it should have. Anyone else have a “slower than usual for a Klahn” solving time today?

Amy adds: Not me, Sam. About 4:05, which is not bad for a Klahn. That EPPES name is frightfully unfamiliar, though.

Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ crossword, “Have a Nice Solve”

Every so often, Matt kicks it freestyle with a themeless Jonesin’ puzzle. He skews goofball this time, making a smiley-face grid and keeping the clues at a smiley-face level. A themeless that’s easier than Matt’s standard mid-range difficulty for themed puzzles? Oy! I like a meaty challenge in a themeless, not a Tuesday/Wednesdayish stroll. I did enjoy the sparkling fill that rings the entire grid, though.

Craziest answers:

• 12a. SEA GOOSEBERRY?? [It sounds like a fruit, but it’s really a jellyfish]?? Say what? Here are some photos.
• 2d. ROG is clued as [Krivoy ___ (Ukrainian city)]. How would you spell the shortened nickname for a guy named Roger? Is that “Rog”?
• 41d. [Multiplayer card game with elements of solitaire] is NERTZ. Never heard of it.

Highlights:

• 53a. STREET-LEGAL means [Allowed on public roads, unlike most ATVs].
• 54a. [It uses a rake and sand] clues a ZEN GARDEN. Well, technically, the garden just sits there, and it is the gardener who uses the rake and sand to craft a soothing setting.
• 6d. [Teen movie franchise whose box set is titled “The Full Reveal”] is AMERICAN PIE.
• 11d. CRACKER BARREL is a [Restaurant chain of “Old Country Stores”]. I don’t go there.
• 12d. [Patricia Arquette, to Courteney Cox] was her SISTER-IN-LAW. Does the title stick after a divorce?
• 13d. [He don’t like rackin’ frackin’ varmints] clues YOSEMITE SAM. Now I’m thinking of keeping the vocal rhythm of “Yosemite” but finding an “Antisemite Sam.” (Not Donaldson!)

Four stars.