NYT 6:00
Newsday 5:08
LAT 4:50
CS 9:59 (Sam)
WSJ (Saturday) >30 min, <∞
David Quarfoot’s New York Times crossword
NY Times crossword solution, 10 1 11 1001
Ah, yes. A DQ Saturday puzzle is just what we needed. Sure, 72 words is the maximum for an NYT themeless puzzle. Doesn’t make the puzzle inferior to one with a lower word count, not when DQ’s fill is so brazen. XWord Info conveniently highlights the new-to-the-NYT-crossword entries in red:
- The internet brings us two of the fresh answers. 1a: PAGE RANK and 26d: ZYNGA (which makes the addictive games I shun on Facebook, the games a slew of people spend actual money on).
- Surprised to see that RED STATE hasn’t been used; I suspect it’s been in other crossword venues. The clue—[Right part of a map]—totally tricked me into thinking of the east. Actually, that’s a lie. It made me think of the west, since I have this weird right-left dyslexia.
- Besides ZYNGA, we get more trade names with JUMBOTRON and the AMEX CARD. The SOY LATTE is generic but gets a brand-name clue.
- GOD’S ARMY is vivid, as is BOOB JOB.
- DAVY JONES‘ locker, LATE NITE, ENTERS IN (blah), and “JUST GO” are a bit less zippy.
Favorite clues:
- 39d. [Where some write checks] is the TO-DO LIST with check marks. I bought myself a lovely, made-in-Italy tooled leather to-do list notebook in Toronto, with the orange Bloom cover. I am no more productive but now it’s a delight to add something to my to-do list. Boy, I could’ve spent all day in that Essence du Papier shop.
- 18a. SKORTS are [Portmanteau wear], a blend between shorts and skirts.
4.5 stars. Keep the crazy puzzles comin’, David! They’re always smart and entertaining, peppered with your trademark surprise entries.
Barry Silk’s Los Angeles Times crossword
LA Times crossword solution, 10 1 11
You have to feel a little sorry for any themeless that follows a Quarfoot. I did Barry Silk’s puzzle a half hour after the DQ, and it’s good, yes, but this 70-worder is a leetle bit lower on the Spangly New Answers Quotient. These were my favorite parts:
- 19a. GALOSHES you wear on a rainy day are [Solutions for unfair situations?].
- 1d. [Shows nerve] clues HAS GUTS. Gotta have guts, right?
- 5d. I do not wish to eat a KOSHER PICKLE but am happy to see that [Carnegie Deli offering] in a crossword where I don’t have to smell it.
- 20d. I’m no real hockey fan, but EMPTY-NET GOAL seems like the sort of thing I might have a shot at making. If the goalie’s in the way, forget it. I’m sunk. ([Hockey game clincher]? If you say so.)
- 35d. [Wedding arranger?] is a nice clue for FLORIST.
I did find myself with one wrong square when I finished filling the grid. Apparently MGT. is just as legit as mgmt. as an abbreviation for “management,” but I had gone with MGS. Yes, I recognize that SELL and [Give away] aren’t quite the same business model, but MGT just wasn’t coming to me so TELL wasn’t, either. The disgruntled solver in me thinks that MGS (those adorable little old British convertibles) and SELL would have made for a better pairing than MGT/TELL, but those of you who got MGT without any trouble may disagree.
Crikey, I’m getting sleepy now. So I’ll lop this off here and award 3.5 stars.
Bob Klahn’s CrosSynergy/Washington Post crossword, “Front Money” – Sam Donaldson’s review
CrosSynergy / Washington Post crossword solution October 1
Happy October, one and all! Halloween month gets off to a spooky start with a Bob Klahn byline on today’s puzzle. Truth be told, most of the puzzle wasn’t so scary. It’s just that I spent the last three minutes of my solving time grappling with the mid-section, and the little “Congratulations!” box kept dodging me.
The simple theme helped me navigate through large swaths of the puzzle fairly smoothly. The three theme entries are all three-word expression where the first word is a synonym for cash:
- 20-Across: BREAD AND BUTTER is [Pertaining to basic needs], or the thing that’s one’s basic source of income. As in “teaching is my bread and butter.”
- 35-Across: The [Babyland General Hospital “delivery”] is a CABBAGE PATCH KID, one of the big toy fads that pre-dates Tickle Me Elmo but post-dates the pet rock and the invisible dog. Can’t say I ever heard of Babyland General Hospital, but Wikipedia says that “Xavier Roberts converted an old clinic into a facility from which to sell his dolls, originally called ‘Little People.’ The facility is presented as a birthing, nursery, and adoption center for premium Cabbage Patch Kids. Although the fad surrounding the dolls has largely died down, Babyland General is still heavily trafficked by diehard fans and curiosity seekers.” So there you go.
- 54-Across: One who [Refuses to follow management’s rules] is said to be one who BUCKS THE SYSTEM. Reminds me of the old joke of the guy who explained his unwillingness to donate to charity thus: “I don’t give a buck.”
As usual, there are plenty of entries and clues that merit comment. I had forgotten that AUDREY II was the [“Little Shop of Horrors” man-eater] plant. All I could think of was “Feed me, Seymour!” But I didn’t forget WINE-DARK, clued as [Like Homer’s deep-red Aegean]—because it was completely new to me. I’m also unfamiliar with SOCK IN, clued here as to [Ground because of fog, e.g.].
As mentioned, the midsection was my Waterloo. TAMARI, the [Rich, naturally fermented soy sauce], was a mystery, and I HIT A SNAG, so to speak, with the [Punjabi pastry], SAMOSA. I should try it some time; any pastry that starts with SAM can’t be that bad. In tussling with these two entries, it didn’t help that I kept resisting NEPAL as the [Mountainous monarchy]. It occurred to me that NEPAL could be the answer, but I read the clue as wanting a royal name, like TUDOR. And I’m not exactly proficient with high-altitude monarchs. Oh, and because I had FLAMED as the answer to [Burned brightly] instead of BLAZED, you can guess how long it took to find ZETA as the [Bit of a snore in Greece?] (as in one of the many zees in “zzzzz”).
As usual, though, I blame me and not the puzzle for my ignorance and errors. I love the related clues for 9- and 10-Down. 9-Down’s clue is [Pole position?] and 10-Down’s clue is [Post position?] (the answers are NORTH and EDITOR, respectively). And [Caan job], an allusion to actor James Caan, is a great clue for ROLE at 1-Across. But my favorite clue was [Dreaded chapter] for ELEVEN, as in filing for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code.
Stan Newman’s Newsday crossword, “Saturday Stumper” (nom de grid, Anna Stiga)
Newsday crossword solution, 10 1 11 "Saturday Stumper" Stiga
Usually a themeless that maxes out at 7-letter answers leaves me cold but there are some zippy entries in this one. To wit, PLOP ART. Say what? As I often do when I encounter an entirely unfamiliar term in a crossword, I Googled this after finishing the puzzle. Here is PLOP ART in the wild, in an NYT article about Anish Kapoor’s “Cloud Gate” (aka “the Bean”) in Chicago and the Jeff Koons “Puppy.” Wikipedia defines PLOP ART as a type of large-scale public sculpture: “The term connotes that the work is unattractive or inappropriate to its surroundings – that is, it has been thoughtlessly ‘plopped’ where it lies.” Now, the Bean is not plopped. It is meticulously sited to offer reflections of the Michigan Avenue skyline and the sky above. (I was terrified that the term referred to giant fake turds.)
Favorite bits:
- 17a. SILLY ME, [“I should’ve known better]. Muy bien!
- 41a. The PIT BOSS is a casino [Dealer’s superior].
- 62a. RUN LAPS is utterly in the language. Good thing we don’t have to say [Go around in ovals].
- 64a. Love some good T-STORMS ([Weather-map notation]).
- 2d. Did you know that ERITREA, that [Land on the Red Sea] beside Ethiopia, boasts a ridiculously muggy average dew point? True story. If you think it’s humid with a dew point in the 70s, imagine what 84 feels like. Do you think the Eritrean families at my kid’s school enjoy Midwestern summers that never quite reach Red Sea levels?
- 7d. SEE ‘N SAY!
- 25d. The Spanish MUY BIEN is clued as [Colombian compliment].
I’d review more of the puzzle, but it’s time to head out to m. henry for a delectable breakfast.
Patrick Berry’s Wall Street Journal Saturday Puzzle, “Rows Garden”
Oof! This one was tough. The top of the puzzle worked out okay for me, but the bottom, oh, seven rows put up a fight. Eventually I turned to Google for a leg up—I can’t say I’ve heard of FERNANDO REY of French Connection, and it really doesn’t help that GENE HACKMAN also has 11 letters. (Hackman’s the only name I could think of that’s connected to the movie.) Didn’t remember that it was THAYER who wrote the “Casey at the Bat” poem. And even though I perused the dog breeds article in the World Book encyclopedia as a kid, I couldn’t have told you that WELSH TERRIER was a thing. I also never heard of the NIXON DOCTRINE, but at least the 1969 in the clue pointed me towards it.
The CAESAR SALAD clue was a gimme because I just learned that trivia in the Orijinz word origins game.
Favorite clue: [Full of spirits?] for POSSESSED.
Favorite entries: GIVE ME FIVE (though that sounds a tad formal, when “gimme five” works fine), HARD SCIENCE, STOPS SHORT, LESS IS MORE, and “THERE YOU ARE.”
Eventually (with the aid of Google), this grid was finished. But oof! I’m going to call FERNANDO REY a blight on the grid. Usually, Patrick Berry doesn’t resort to unfamiliar names to fill a Rows Garden puzzle. Others may grouse about the old comic-strip character SKEEZIX (but I knew that one).
Four stars.
When the clock was on 25 minutes (which doesn’t necessarily mean 25 minutes, that clock lies!) my browser froze! This is why Internet Explorer sucks. I was using it because I thought the uni admin had stuffed up their firewall to block Firefox again, they hadn’t… The puzzle, after I’d retyped in AL still took another 20 minutes! The right side fell in normal Saturday time, but the left, although I fingers everywhere would not fall! I could not, would not give up dAtabANK for PAGERANK! I typed and erased UNES/SCROD/DEER/DRS more times than I can count. And yet the only words I can say I don’t know at all are MXS/ETS and JUMBOTRON??? (The last letter where it crossed MORAL) and UNCOLA. So great puzzle, but it broke me!!
Well, gosh. I’m pleased to say that I actually did finish it– despite, e.g., ANIONS/ASSETS for 14D, DRACO/DENEB for 34A (who knew?), LUGANO/NAGANO for 49D, not knowing ZYNGA + a pat on the back for me for resisting the urge to look it up, et cetera. I guess the bottom line is that the puzzle is doable, but only just. When I recover, I’ll probably even decide that I really liked it, but not just yet.
I generally love David’s puzzles, but am I the only one who thought this one was really strange? To me it did not even feel like a WS-edited puzzle. It felt more like one of Trip’s Wacky Warriors, (which I like, but which I regard as a different genre (as does he.) So, I somehow managed to finished the left side, but by the time I struggled through the NE, I felt like I was constructing my own puzzle rather than solving someone else’s, and further that I was making it up as I went along. I guess Page Rank means something to someone. Is “God’s Army” a recognized bible thumping phrase, or an ad hoc coinage? I was wishing it had been clued {Bachmann, Perry, Santorum et. al.?} But I guess that was too much to hope for. What is MXS? What is Zynga? Does 2d need an abbreviation signal? Or does “bit” do the trick? Are the red states a “part” of a map? It was a clever clue, though. Is “tare” an *adjustment* for the weight of the package or the weight itself. Perhaps it’s both. Deneb is a star, so I guess the summer triangle is something astronomical. 48d is accurate–It is particularly the wines from the Pomerol region which feature the Merlot grape. I’ll leave it to someone else to comment on 11d. Growing concern indeed. Funny, though.
This is not a rant, even though it sounds like one. I did enjoy struggling through the puzzle, and I thought the entire right side was great. “Strange” or “odd,” at least in my demotic, does not mean “bad” or “unenjoyable.”
Bruce
Bruce, I am not sure if it was different so much as very hard. I solved the SW first and the bottom quickly, but had great difficulty with the entire top, especially the NW. I knew the company began with a Z, but I put in ZENGA, causing me to not see DAVY JONES and thinking that it miht be an actor rather than a character. Other one letter errors followed.
I liked it despite its difficulty.
Steve
Ditto, NYT was easier in the lower two-thirds, but much trouble at 1A PAGERANK, where I wasn’t even close. The LAT was a happier solve, with the cross of musical virtuosi FLATT and PAGANINI lurking near a mechanical RETUNE. I also liked the crossed cities of JERICHO and BERNE — couldn’t remember if Berne was a walled citadel but Geneva still has remnants of its medieval ramparts… Then we had the crossing of STATESMAN and TITO, except the latter wasn’t the leader of ill repute. Favorite clue was Woman in a tree? for GREAT-AUNT, favorite answer was the KOSHER PICKLE – very timely!
I liked the brazenness of the Times puzzle, but could not parse GOD’S ARMY as the final answer for a long time. I still have never heard that reference or phrase before. Oh well, I guess I’m in deep trouble come end times.
Hardest Rows Garden ever. Big time DNF
One of my rare Saturday solves, but I persisted because of DQ’s name-recognition. PAGERANK, ZYNGA, SOYLATTE, AMEXCARD and JUMBOTRON came quickly and helped complete the puzzle. Interesting how one person’s gimmes are another’s wtf’s!
another DNF on the rows garden. never heard of B1 or the second light bloom it crossed. every other freaking thing in the grid was hard, too. took me most of an hour to get all but that one (unguessable) letter.
Tamari is the most historically authentic soy sauce of Japan. Whereas most soy sauce used in Japan is made from a mixture of half soy and half wheat, tamari is made with soy only. It takes longer to brew and has a richer taste and more viscosity.
The earliest soy sauces were the byproduct that oozed out of vats of fermenting soy paste — miso. Current production methods using wheat are faster and came centuries later.
In Japan tamari is appreciated for its rich flavor. In the US it’s popular as a gluten-free alternative and is often found in health stores.
I loved the Quarfoot! Even added it on my list of memorable puzzles, considering the high number of snappy entries to crap ratio. I aspire to be able to create themeless puzzles with this level of quality.
Jeff
I needed a lot of guesses and even cheating. Tons of the facts, terms, trade names, and pop culture were off my radar. I’ll go further than Bruce and rant, having hated every minute, but I’m happy if others liked it. Some things obviously aren’t written for me.
The “literary” clue, ALBEE, was a gimme for me but didn’t in fact lead me to a single crossing, and the NW/N center was my undoing. (GOD’S ARMY had me scratching my head, too, and I guess I’ll surf now to see what MXS is. But I guessed MR MOTO only from other crosswords, didn’t know RITA and recognize Altiplano or Flying Dutchman, thought confectionaries are candy and EDY is ice cream, didn’t think of STYRO(foam), say, as a trade name, and .. oh, well forget it.) But every corner had something from another language for me (like in the NE BOOB JOB and SKORTS, and I’d swear the year on “Take the A Train” is wrong, but I do now recognize that ANKA was Canadian from other crosswords, not that I like crosswordese).
My one foothold that worked for a while was TIS leading into the SE.
Thanks for the culinary lesson, Martin. I sort of knew the taste and tactile differences, but not the one of manufacture. Have had both. Often the chef will recommend the proper sauce: soy, tamari, ponzu, special, or none.
The ultimate plop art is San Jose’s own Quetzalcoatl sculpture. In addition to being plopped down in a central location, it appears to have been plopped during a flyover by Quetzy himself.