NYT 8:25 (Amy)
LAT 7:00 (Gareth)
CS 11:21 (Ade)
CHE 7:06 (pannonica)
WSJ (Friday) 18:16 (Sam)
Joe Krozel’s New York Times crossword
NY Times crossword solution, 4 24 15, no 0424
I had a hard time focusing on the puzzle, so don’t take my “wow, tough Saturday” solving time as a reliable indicator of the puzzle’s difficulty.
The grid features four pairs of 15s framing the puzzle. There is a ONE’Sie! Yes, STUCK TO ONE’S RIBS, good entry. Did not know 17a. [“The three words that best describe” the Grinch, in song], STINK, STANK, STUNK. Disagree with the pluralization in 13d. [What may hold the mayo], CONDIMENTS AISLE; if there’s a bread aisle and a soup aisle, there’s a condiment aisle. Furthermore, mayo is kinda gross.
Top fill: OPEN TO CRITICISM, AUTOMATIC WEAPON, COMERICA, CATALPA.
Did not know:
- 9d. [Gershwin musical whose name sounds like an approval], OH, KAY. Never heard of it.
- 36a. [“I Only Have Eyes for You” movie musical], DAMES. Never heard of this one, either. That D was my last letter in the grid. 36d. [Twisted, e.g.] works for DANCED but when your crossing gives you a blank in *ANCED, it’s a bit mysterious.
- 30a. [Disinfect, in a way, as a wound], IODATE. That’s iodating? Iodating is a thing??
Hints of crosswordese and dullness: plural ERMAS (I wanted my Franklin et al to be KIRKS) and EDELS and possessive ANNE’S, VETOER‘s -ER, plural abbrevs RELS/PSAS/LSATS/PDS (I’ll allow CDS and AWOLS), OARLOCK, OASTS, LEKS, PACAS, plural SESAMES.
Too much baseball! NAT, LAU, and KINER? Pfft.
Can LENTS (26d. [Periods of forbearance]) properly be pluralized? Can I get a ruling from a devout Catholic language maven?
This 64-worder is facilitated by lots of plurals or other -S endings—I count a bit over 20, which feels like a lot.
3.4 stars from me.
Michael Torch’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Golly Gee!”–Sam Donaldson’s review
“Golly Gee!” Solution (WSJ, April 24, 2015)
Hi, I’m Sam Donaldson. You might remember me from such crossword reviews as I’m Partial to Partials and The X Things I Hate About Roman Numerals. I’m filling in for pannonica on today’s Wall Street Journal crossword coverage. Erudition has left the building!
This week’s puzzle has a simple gimmick: add a G to the front of words in (more or less) common expressions to get wacky new ones, then watch hilarity ensue. It’s not an ambitious theme, but we can all appreciate a simple theme when it’s executed well. It’s like cooking an egg–most everyone can do it, but only the best cooks can do it perfectly and you can definitely taste the difference. (Yes, I had eggs for breakfast this morning. And no, the cook did not distinguish him/herself.)
This puzzle has seven theme entries ranging from 11 to 21 letters in length, which is about average for theme density in a 21×21 grid. Increasingly, I see people refer to theme entries as “themers.” That always sounds awkward to me, but I suppose I can give it a shot here: Let’s look at the themers theme entries (ugh, I couldn’t do it):
- The [Policy of a hotel that bans honeymooners?] is NO GROOM AT THE INN. Under a strict interpretation of the policy, lesbian honeymooners would still be welcome unless one (or both) of them self-identifies as the groom.
- The [Site to see subterranean Shakespeare?] is THEATRE IN THE GROUND. I came at this answer from the back, so I had only -GROUND in place and confidently plunked down UNDER- in the five squares before -GROUND, figuring the add-the-G part would come somewhere up front. Boy did that make for a messy solve!
- [Ovary?] is a nice clue for NO MAN’S GLAND. Part of me wonders if this was the seed entry for the puzzle.
- An [Error-prone fielder’s situation?] might be described as a GLOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP. That’s a nice central entry. Karma smiles when good theme entries have 21 letters (or 15 letters in a daily puzzle).
- One who [Goes on about Bessemer and Carnegie] GABS OF STEEL. That was easily my favorite theme entry. The base phrase itself is interesting, and the added G provides a very nice twist.
- The answer to [What the alchemist was accused of being?] is UP TO ONE’S GOLD TRICKS. Hmm. Okay, so we need an 18-letter entry to balance THEATRE IN THE GROUND, and there are plenty of phrases that contain the word “old.” One would think there are some options–is this the best one? Maybe I would have liked it more if it was UP TO YOUR GOLD TRICKS, clued along the lines of [“I see what’s going on, Mr. Alchemist!”]. This is one instance where the common crossword substitution of ONE’S for YOUR makes the base phrase too jarring.
- There’s a happy ending, however, with GIN THE BEGINNING, clued as [First book in a series about juniper berries?]. Given the base phrase, though, it may have been a little more elegant to lead off with this one and end with NO GROOM AT THE INN. But that’s just a personal preference.
The word count is fairly low–136 answers (the norm is 140 or 142). That allows for some interesting longer fill like SPEC OPS, PRE-SELL, OH YOU, CARTOONISH, STAY INSIDE, TOO COOL, HEAD TABLE, and WATER PUMP. But the grid does show signs of stress and strain. Consider OTO, ESIST, A TO, R IS, ANS, and ENOL. If you’re allergic to partials, there were even more that I didn’t include in that recitation. In fairness, only ENOL and ESIST made me wince while solving, so the wince factor was a mere 1.47%.
In my weekly reviews of Merl Reagle’s crosswords I like to list the five trickiest answers in the puzzle. I don’t want the gimmick to get (more) tiresome, so I’ll just talk about a few of my errors that slowed me down. I had no idea about the crossing MOTT ST ([Center of NYC’s Chinatown]) and MAUD ([1855 Tennyson poem]). As you can see from the screenshot, I played Guess-a-Letter until finally trying the M in the bottom row of the keyboard and getting Mr. Happy Pencil to appear. Elsewhere, I had BOOS for BAHS as the [Cries of contempt], CACTUS instead of DAHLIA for the [National flower of Mexico] (don’t judge me), TEST instead of LAST for [Final], LOAN instead of LIST for the [Organizational aid], GLEN instead of GARN for the [Senator in space, in 1985] (of that I am most embarrassed, and on many levels), and PEN instead of BUN for the [Dog holder]. Yeesh! ‘Tis a miracle I even finished the puzzle!
Favorite entry = LEGAL LIMIT, clued as [One should drive under it]. Favorite clue = [It’ll blow your mine] for TNT. I’m a sucker for fresh clues attached to common crossword entries.
Finn Vigeland’s Chronicle of Higher Education crossword, “Above Average Careers” — pannonica’s write-up
CHE • 4/24/15 • “Above Average Careers” • Vigeland • solution
This one’s rather elegantly realized. Take the name of a profession, prefix it with the letter B—alter spelling if necessary—clue new version appropriately.
- 20a. [Expert on San Francisco’s public transportation?] BART HISTORIAN (B + art historian). That’s the acronym for Bay Area Rapid Transit. I’m having trouble resisting seeing the first part as (John) BARTH.
- 26a. [Forward-thinking type at a Jim Beam distillery?] BOURBON PLANNER (B + urban planner). Me, I’m picturing a calendar schedule with tastings mapped out.
- 43a. [Obstetrician?] BIRTH SCIENTIST (B + earth scientist).
The revealer, not unexpectedly at this point (especially considering the venue), is 51a [What 20, 26, and 43 Across might have been in college?] B-PLUS STUDENTS. Damn, that’s good.
The grid looks a bit choppy with those short-entry corners in the northwest and southeast as well as the five-square blocks in the center, yet it manages not to be fragmented or feel inadequately integrated. Has to be said, however, that entries such as STOA, A TO Z, U OF A, GET A, and HBO GO don’t do anything to help the corners feel more substantial.
- 23a [He climbed the walls in 1951’s “Royal Wedding”] ASTAIRE. Of course he only appeared to. 36a [One of many mastered by 23 Across] STEP.
- 13d [They might be rolled up before red-carpet events] SPANX, but I wanted LIMOS.
- Another sly misdirection: 27a [George who wrote “W, or the Memory of Childhood”] PEREC. As much as I like it, there’s an unfortunate flaw, as Monsieur Perec’s first name is Georges, not George. Supplémentaires Français: 11d [“L’__ du Nord” (Minnesota motto] ÉTOILE, 49a [Eau Pour __ (Armani cologne)] HOMME.
- 64a [John le Carré antagonists, maybe] MOLÉS. Gotta watch out for those sinister comidas.
- Longdowns: the obsolescent BOOB TUBE, librettist Arthur LAURENTS (not LYRICist (56d) LORENZ Hart), FORMULAS, TAILSPIN.
- 55a [Ethiopian export] OPAL. Take that, Australia!
- 29d [Big heart?] ACE.
- 53d [Toy company that introduced Tickle Me Elmo] TYCO; 1a [Hollywood restaurateur for whom a salad is named] Robert Howard COBB. nb: Teddy Ruxpin and Furby were created and marketed by other companies, so the blame must be spread.
- Colloquial exclamatory fill: 61a [“It’s all too much!”] I CAN’T, 12d [But you said I could have a turn!”] NO FAIR, 6d [“Well, THAT was weird”] OK THEN, and even 34d [“Don’t make me laugh!”] HAH.
“Above Average” (as I am wont to say) puzzle. OK, then.
Harold Hornung’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’s review
-
LA Times 150424
- LA Times
150423
>
I’m sure this wasn’t a theme that was hard for anyone to grok. FOR is added to the beginnings of the first words of the four long across answers: FORGETTHESACK, FORGOBANANAS, FORGIVEAHOOT, FORSWEARWORDS. They all work and provide strong, entertaining images – even if they’re not laugh out loud funny, but then when are wacky answers EVER laugh out loud funny?.
You get nine free letters once you get the first themer, but the rest of the clueing felt a little tougher to accommodate this. [Hogwarts co-founder Hufflepuff], HELGA is not a HELGA I know. [Gun designer ___ Gal] is the presumably eponymous UZI. How many prepositions did you go through for [Gawking, perhaps] – I had LOOKINGAT then IN… I also battled to see [Source of extra spending money], TAXREFUND because I saw TA?RE FUND, which just doesn’t go anywhere! Another big red herring was [Old sitcom redhead], OPIE. If you came across this without crossings, you’d immediately leap to LUCY, wouldn’t you? I know I would!
Other remarks:
- I’ve seen it enough now not to freak out, but do people ever call orang-utans ORANGs??? It feels like the [Rue Morgue killer] needs a “with ‘utan'”.
- [Big fight], MELEE. I’m told there’s a big fight happening, but it’s not a melee.
- [Balancing aid], EAR. Specifically, the vestibular apparatus. I damaged my left vestibulo-cochlear nerve as a preteen in an accident. The vestibular branch returned to function, but not the cochlear side of things…
- [Indian state known for its beaches], GOA. It is? It’s known to me as being on the coast, so I guess that means by definition it has beaches, but it is it really in the Cancun, Phuket, Gold Coast axis as a beach destination?
- [Russell’s “Tombstone” role], EARP. Virgil? Or Wyatt?
3.75 Stars
Gareth
Martin Ashwood-Smith’s CrosSynergy/Washington Post crossword, “Stop Ins”—Ade’s write-up
CrosSynergy/Washington Post crossword solution, 04.24.15: “Stop Ins”
Happy Friday, everyone! Sorry for the late post, but am currently at Madison Square Garden watching the Rangers and Penguins Game 5 right now. As a lot of you might have already known, a newer version of this puzzle, brought to us by Mr. Martin Ashwood-Smith, had been emailed to you late last night. In today’s puzzle, each of the three theme answers has the letters “STOP” spanning two words in the entries.
- ESTO PERPETUA (20A: [The Gem State’s Motto]) – We all knew off the bat that The Gem State was Idaho, right? For some reason, I probably know about between 40 and 45 of the 50 state nicknames off the top of my head.
- AUGUSTO PINOCHET (36A: [Ex-Chilean dictator]) – I actually was reading about him, and other dictators, last night. You can question my choice of reading material on a later date!
- FAST OPERATOR (50A: [Swindler])
The intersection of JUTE (34A: [Gunnysack fiber]) and JOVE was a slight problem, but jove hit me soon enough and the crossings weren’t so difficult (34D: [“By ____, I think she’s got it!”]). We’ve had a lot of poets in grids, but not sure I’ve seen AUDEN before (33D: [“The Age of Anxiety” poet]). Always like seeing the long non-theme entries, and my favorite was COAT HANGERS (3D: [Apparel holders]). I was so tempted to put SCHEMATIC as the “sports…smarter” clue of the day, and that’s because of the words spoken by erstwhile Notre Dame football head coach Charlie Weis when he took the job in December of 2004 (35D: [Techie’s drawing]). During his introductory press conference, he mentioned that, because of his extensive coaching experience in the National Football League, that his teams at Notre Dame would have a “decided schematic advantage” against their opponents in college. In five seasons at Notre Dame, he went only 35-27 and was fired after the 2009 season. So much for that “decided schematic advantage.” But today’s “sports moment” deals with more Gem State goodness…
“Sports will make you smarter” moment of the day: IDAHO POTATO (25D: [Russet Burbank, e.g.]) – True or false: one of the college football bowl games during the end of the college football season is called the Famous IDAHO POTATO Bowl. Well, if it’s in this space, then it has to be true. Founded in 1997 as the Humanitarian Bowl, this postseason bowl games is played at Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho in the middle of December. If you like your college football bowl games with a blue-hued football field, this is the place to go!
And now, we’re headed to overtime in MSG! Have a great rest if your Friday, and I’ll see you tomorrow…and much earlier this time!
Take care!
Ade
I was hoping you’d comment on 8a, “POLY SCI.” I always thought that as it’s short for “political science” that it should rightly be “POLI SCI” – what am I missing?
“Poly sci” is a common variant spelling. It’s logical since the vowel sound of the first “i” in “political” is not a long-e, as “poli” in poli sci is pronounced. Since “poly” as in “polygon” is the appropriate pronunciation, it’s not surprising that some people prefer the spelling.
In any case, it’s not a coinage of this puzzle.
Since when is “poly” an abbreviation for “politcial”? Never seen “poly sci.”
Will Shortz’s final arbiter is the Random House Unabridged, which has an entry for “poly sci.” As I said before, it’s a more accurate aural abbreviation. This entry has appeared before. Furthermore SCI has appeared three times with “poly” in the clue.
I’ve got three objections to “polysci”
1. “Poly Sci” primarily refers to “polymer science.” There were about 632,000 hits for the Google search [polymer science “poly sci” :domain *.edu]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymer_science
2. “poli” and “poly” are derived from different root words.
The derivation of “political” in my Webster’s is from the Greek “politikos”, “of a citizen.” The derivation of “poly-” is again Greek, from polys, “much, many.”
3. Scarcity of use of “poly sci” compared with “poli sci” when combined with the words “political” and “science.” Search results:
a. political science “poli sci” About 122,000 results
b. political science “poly sci” About 21,800 results
Also, for “b.,” Google asked, Did you mean: political science “poli sci”?
If I had a puzzle where only “polysci” would do, I would consider changing the clue to refer to “polymer science,” though the clue might be very long and the answer obscure.
Is there a flat-out mistake in the CS? 20A, “Gem State’s Motto”, comes out as ESTO PERTETUA. Has some subtlety gone right over my proverbial head?
Art
I get “Esto Perpetua,” with the second “P” crossing 7D Warp [Twist out of shape] Hitting the solve puzzle puzzle icon shows the same thing.
On the JPZ file that I received by Email, 7D is “Simpson brat” – BART. The weird Latin phrase I cited results in an allegedly-correct solve. What’s going on?!
Art
The error was corrected and a second file distributed.
Too late for the Washington Post. I guess they’ll print a correction tomorrow. It also changes the 5 across clue.
Clue for 7D in Washington Post is “Simpson brat”=Bart; which gives Perpetua
Clue for 7D in Washington Post is “Simpson brat”=Bart; which gives Pertetua
The last error I remember of this magnitude that made it into print was spelling the German “NEIN” as “NIEN”. This was like ten years ago. Maybe a Tribune Media puzzle? And I don’t think they ever corrected it. As I remember it would have been impossible to fix without ripping out the guts of the puzzle.
This being the New York Times crossword, there is a demographic to whom Ralph KINER will be an absolute gimme. His spectacular career on the field, cut short by injury but still with sufficient accomplishments to merit enshrinement in the Hall of Fame, was followed by an even more legendary half-century as the broadcast voice of the New York Mets. Besides, he once dated Elizabeth Taylor!
The sports clues were all gimmes for me today even though I did not know that Charlie LAU caught Warren Spahn’s no-hitter. As soon as I saw three letters starting with L, I knew it had to be LAU.
I wonder how many of you are aware of LAU’s real contribution to and basis for fame in baseball. He was a very mediocre player, but is generally considered to be the ultimate guru of the art of hitting. He was a coach for the Kansas City Royals when the were good in the ’70s featuring George Brett and Willie Wilson among others.
Steve
Lau also was the hitting coach for the White Sox, with one of his players being Harold Baines, who is one of my favorite players and who had a very sweet swing (Yes, I am a White Sox fan, and, as a left-hander, am partial to left-handed hitters and pitchers, including Warren Spahn, as I also lived in Wisconsin.).
LAU taught a stance that pre-shifted weight onto the back leg I believe.
“Turn the Heat On”, to me, means make the place warmer. “Turn Up the Heat On” someone means to put them under pressure. Yes? No? Maybe so?
I admired the 4 sets of 15mers framing the puzzle. But I did not know a lot of the stuff that Amy pointed to… Still, it felt quite doable.
I pulled out my long forgotten trusty old crockpot today, and made something hearty that sticks to one’s ribs. Crockpots seem to be all the rage nowadays.
I’ve always heard “turn up the heat on” or “turn the heat up on” so good point in my book and another mark against this puzzle. lol
“Top fill: …. COMERICA, CATALPA.” Proper nouns are top fill?
TRINITROTOLUENE/CATALPA and LEKS and LAU: worst cross/es ever? How many people were naticked at least once here and probably several times? I enjoyed a lot of the puzzle but this and POLYSCI marred it.
CATALPA is not a proper noun. True, nomenclaturally speaking a genus name is always capitalized but oftentimes the genus is the same as the common name, and the vast majority of appearances of, say, catalpa are in the vernacular.
Re the NY Times:
Amy thought “mayo” (part of the clue for 13D) was gross, which reminded me that Bill Rodgers, the winner of four Boston Marathons and four NY City Marathons, used to eat mayo straight from the bottle, and used to put it on his pizza. He ran as much as 180 miles per week, according to this archive of old Bill Rodgers running log books:
http://www.bunnhill.com/bobhodge/rodgers/traininglogs/br75traininglog.htm
Just as confused as Amy on “iodating,” but my dictionary says it is legit.
I didn’t care for this one. I know POLYSCI has appeared before as an abbrev for political science, and I know some dictionaries cite it as an alternative to polisci, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
TURNEDTHEHEATON — Huda is exactly right.
CDS — I just checked Fidelity’s website, and on a cursory glance they don’t offer CDs.
OASTS — I’ve objected before to cluing as brewery equipment, so I’ll leave it at that.
HARKED — in “Hark, the herald angels sing,” ‘Hark’ is an imperative, meaning ‘listen up.’ After you’ve listened to or heeded the singing, you don’t say that you ‘harked’ it.
Oh well. Gimme one of them bagels with some SESAMES on it and maybe I’ll feel better.
If the angels are singing softly, or are far away, you might have to listen carefully to hear them.
Webster’s New College Dictionary, 3rd ed., for “hark:”
“to listen carefully, usually in the imperative, with the effect of an exclamation”
Sounds as though the definition is straight from “Hark, the herald angels sing…”
There is an old golf saying applying to putting short putts: “hit and hark.” It means to putt the ball and to keep your head still afterwards. You are supposed to stay totally still after hitting the ball and just listen for the sound of the ball going in the cup, not moving your head (and perhaps moving it too early and fouling up the putt.)
Yeah folks that was a flat-out mistake in my CS Washington post crossword today… sorry about that. We corrected it in the later additions. If you’re wondering, the original grid was correct but the error was made during some subsequent editing by myself mainly. So it’s pretty much my fault… no scratch that: totally my fault. Considering the fact that I’m one of the CS editors I really don’t have much excuse… aside from blaming Microsoft’s Windows 7 installed on my PC. Yeah that sounds good; it was all Microsoft’s fault !
I’m in agreement about the slightly-off “TURNED THE HEAT ON”; “Turned up the heat” seems a more apt 15 for the clue. However, POLY SCI is a common, colloquial usage for a political science course of (usually collegiate) study. I have seen (and hear) this many times past and present, so like it or not for purism and accuracy, it’s in the language.
Test: write “POLY SCI”, and poll a general sampling of people as to what it stands for; compare % of “political science” (and slight variations) to other possible valid responses i.e. “polymer science”. I do assume that answers like “Study of parrots” et al. do not win.
The more interesting test, IMO, is in the comments section here, where most folks are turned off by “polysci.”
In the argument that “polysci” has appeared before, I see Murphy’s All-Purpose Excuse for Lazy Workers at work. “But that’s the way we’ve always done it!”
Here‘s the (fairly damning) Google ngram.
And Google ngrams probably understates how bad POLY SCI is in this context: I bet at least some of the POLY SCI hits arise from the fact that there are some polymer science journals whose names abbreviate to “Poly. Sci.” in citations.
I felt that was implicit.
I’ve given up complaining for the last 14 consecutive LENTS.
HTH.
What’s the complaint with, “Of the sixty-plus Lents I have observed, this year’s was the first that went easily”?
I don’t know what the complaint is, but I and everyone I know would say “Of the sixty-plus times I’ve observed Lent, this time …”, if only to avoid LENTS
Phil, you don’t comment too often, but I sure do appreciate it when you do. Had the exact same thought about recasting that sentence to avoid “Lents.”
The only reason I didn’t complain about POLY SCI’s ugliness is that I have complained about it before, and look where that got me: nowhere. I prefer NEAP and OAST to POLY SCI.
Sounds like we’re making progress.
I may be the only one who was happy with the puzzle and the cluing, so came here to tell you. Wasn’t naticked by anything, thought of CATALPA right away, thought of HARKED as soon as I had the K in ON KEY. It all came together beautifully last night. Never heard of DAMES, never heard of OH KAY. It didn’t matter. I’ll probably get my comeuppance in Saturday’s puzzle. POLYSCI is definitely ok with me.
“Wasn’t naticked by anything, thought of CATALPA right away…” I love comments like these: “I knew it so how could it be bad?”
” I love comments like these: ‘I knew it so how could it be bad?'”
I love comments like these: “Let me put words in the mouth of a commenter who didn’t complain about things I thought were complaint-worthy, and then complain about those words I put in her/his mouth.”
“I may be the only one who was happy with the puzzle and the cluing, so came here to tell you….” to me translates into “I knew it so how could it be bad?” This is nothing unique; in fact, it’s commonplace. Welcome to the human condition.
Avg Solvr, nobody comes here to take potshots at our Zulema! Where are your manners?
My apologies to Zulema, but my comment was meant to be a general one which I tried to point out. We all have the tendency to look at things with an uneven eye.
Some rending of garments the other day when I spotted spelling error in CHE. Finn is totally in the clear; he had it right and the bad truncation made it through quite a few pairs of eyes. I have years and years of formal French language and lit. study under my belt so … glum.
CHE: I don’t see anything wrong with HBO GO, it’s a great entry that I’ve been trying to incorporate into my puzzles for a while.
I liked it too, per se, but was emphasizing the short, disjunct quality of the fill inhabiting those areas. Despite its admirable rhyming mellifluousness, it’s still a three-letter abbreviation plus a short word.
…just how many Martins are there?
At least three. Sometimes, too (just kidding).
Enjoyed CHE, LAT, WSJ and their themes, some quite funny.
Gareth
I am so glad you commented on a word I do not like. ORANG. As a professional your words carry weight
I do feel foolish that I put OPIE in and never thought of Lucy
That’s supposed to be “editions” not “additions” in my earlier mea culpa comment.
This one I can blame on my iPhone auto correct… or should that be “auto-rewrite”? If you’re not careful it’ll “helpfully” change your entire posting.
-MAS
LAT grid is of Thursday’s puzzle and not Friday’s
Poly sci is not correct! not even “non-standard!”