No CHE this week. The next one is on August 5, and then weekly puzzles resume on September 2.
Martin Ashwood-Smith and George Barany’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s write-up
NY Times crossword solution, 7 22 16, no 0722
Martin knows how to assemble stacks of 15s, and here there’s a lively quad-stack intersecting three 16s. AMASSED A FORTUNE, timely HURRICANE SEASON, AFRICAN ELEPHANT, and STICKS AND STONES are terrific, and their crossings are solid (I never like ECASH, but two partials and 12 good-to-great crossings, that’s about as good as you’re gonna get with a quad-stack). I really like GREAT BARRIER REEF and MAKING AN ENTRANCE. Not so sure about TEN THOUSAND YEARS (11d. [What “Banzai!” literally means]).
I’d have enjoyed a “wretch” reference in the INK-STAINED clue, a shout-out to journalists. Liked seeing LEE KRASNER, even though I totally spaced on her name when she was in a recent trivia quiz (photo with Jackson Pollock … I knew Marcia Gay Harden played her in the movie but couldn’t dredge up her name then). I like OSRIC the courtier from Hamlet, SEASICK, and SEINFELD. I needed to work the crossings for DANAIDES (36d. [Eternal water-pourers in Hades]), but I like mythological beings so I don’t resent the crossword struggle.
Less keen on crosswordese bits like ELENI, E.A. POE, and ESTE, but these were outweighed by the stuff I liked.
48a. [Dixieland sound] made you think of Dixieland jazz, didn’t it? Instead, it’s the Southern DRAWL. Good feint.
Four stars from me.
Jeffrey Wechsler’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’s write-up
LA Time
160722
It’s an add a letter theme, or actualy an add two letters – “HA”. The best answer is the central THEFRENCHALP(HA)S, with a clue referencing Bichon Frises; I guess that adds to the incongruity, whereas a Dogue de Bordeaux would have been less surprising. The other three are (HA)BITSANDPIECES, BILLYBUDD(HA) and SA(HA)RANWRAP. The revealer is ICOULDUSEALAUGH – a lot of real estate in a letter addition theme!
My favourite answer was THREEPUTT, even though it’s a little “green paint”… Not sure it’s always a disappointment, many duffers are long inured.
My favourite clue moment was the gratuitous [as of fan mail] in the AVALANCHE clue.
Today’s mystery answer was NABORS – I know Pyle from crosswords. I guess everybody needs good NABORS.
3 Stars
Gareth
Leaving you with NAS and Junior Gong, because he’s worth looking at as more than a crossword crutch:
Randall J. Hartman’s CrosSynergy/Washington Post crossword, “Undercover Boss” —Ade’s write-up
CrosSynergy/Washington Post crossword solution, 07.22.16: “Undercover Boss”
Hello everyone! Happy Friday! Can only put up the grid today, given other responsibilities I’ve had the past couple of days, including today. Here it is, with Mr. Randall J. Hartman bossing his grid around by sliding in “BOSS” into common phrases and/or nouns, creating the puns.
- TRAIL BOSS BLAZER (17A: [Sports jacket worn on a cattle drive?]) – Trailblazer.
- MOB BOSS RULE (25A: [Don Corleone’s admonishment “Never tell anybody outside the family what you’re thinking again”?]) – Mob rule. Man, that’s a long clue.
- PIT BOSS BULL (43A: [Hogwash from a casino bigwig?]) – Pit bull.
- PARTY BOSS ANIMAL (55A: [Elephant, for the head of the Republican National Committee?]) – Party animal.
Not too warm on the theme, as the theme answers seemed real forced. But, hey, it got done, and it was pretty quick work. Sorry once again, but I have to head out. Hope you have a good rest of your Friday! Will come with it much stronger for tomorrow’s blog!
Take care!
Ade/AOK
The quad stack was very easy for me, but the rest of the puzzle was tough. I did not know LEE KRASNER, ADAMA, DANAIDES and a couple of others. My biggest problem was in the SW where I inserted ALEE instead of AERO.
Excellent puzzle.
Steve
Wow! Really smooth and rewarding NYT. Kudos to the constructors…
Very rewarding NYT crossword. Beautiful!
There was no Che last week either. I am just happy they exist.
Why is there never a Friday WSJ solve?
Because it’s a contest puzzle, and we avoid spoiling contest puzzles before the deadline.
GOMER PYLE USMC was a TV show starring Jim Nabors.
Three Putt is not a green paint clue, it is a recognized statistic on all golf tours, though I agree it is fun fill.
So where are we drawing the line? ONEPUTT is common, TWOPUTT okay, THREEPUTT maybe, FOURPUTT? FIVEPUTT?
ONEPUTT, TWOPUTT, and THREEPUTT are all common golf terms. Greater than three, not so much. A couple of weeks ago the Sunday WaPo featured NINEPUTT and it worked just fine.
Jim Nabors started out on the Andy Griffith Show along with Don Knotts.
How can you have an extra HA in the LAT? Two thumbs down.
Out of curiosity, what does your comment mean?
Probably the HA contained with HARASS.
Thank you
If it is that’s harsh. If the puzzle was “add G to existing phrases” should they use no extra G’s?
Maybe Norm meant the extra HA in TheFrencHAlpHAs.
Amy: “Not so sure about TEN THOUSAND YEARS (11d. [What “Banzai!” literally means]).”
I’m not sure what you’re not sure about, but “Banzai” is like our “Long live the king”. The difference being the Japanese attach a specific and, I might very generous, time frame to their exultation of the divine ruler.
I’m not so sure about the English phrase really passing muster as crossword fill.