Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: October 14, 2018

My time: 20:08.

--

Ross Trudeau rolled the dice that this puzzle, titled "Game Hunting," would hit the spot, but it's a mixed bag.  He takes a few standard phrases that happen to have game titles in them and clue them as if that word was actually the game name.

For example, "we can't play that game --- I can't reach it on our shelf!"  That's THE RISK IS TOO HIGH.  Funny!  That's a good one.  I also like SORRY, NOT SORRY ("that game is off the table").

So why is the execution of the theme as a whole a mixed bag?  For one thing, the title; no one is hunting for games here.  They're picking one.  I get the pun, but it doesn't apply.  Second, some of the clues and answers are very clunkily worded.  "I'm begging you, let's not play that game!" is PLEASE DON'T GO.  Go here is the name of a game.  No one would say, "please don't chess!"  That's stupid.   Similarly, I HAVEN'T A CLUE.  People don't generally put the indefinite article in front of game names.  Also, "I finally decided!  I'm..." is ASKING FOR TROUBLE.  That's a poor clue that doesn't fit the rest of the theme.  It should be "Please, let's play that game."

Anyway, the rest...

Birthright Israel is a non-profit educational organization that sponsors free ten-day heritage trips to Israel for young adults of Jewish heritage, aged 18–32, so their trips usually rely on EL AL.

I know the noun plural togs but am not familiar with TOG as a verb, to dress up.

For "turning point in history" I put *ONE A.D. but it's, somewhat bafflingly, ONE B.C.

"What's plucked in 'she loves me, she loves me not'" is COROLLA.  I know what that is, but I disagree.  Petals are plucked, one by one.  This clue could read "what's removed after a completed round of 'she loves me...'"

A SADDLE JOINT is a synovial joint (one surrounded by a membrane) where one of the bones forming the joint is shaped like a saddle with the other bone resting on it like a rider on a horse.  An example is the thumb.

"Praise for a picador" is OLES.  I didn't expect the plural.  See also the stupid UNISONS later on.

We all know Georgia O'Keeffe, but we aren't familiar with her 1926 work, Black IRIS III.

The Seven Sisters was a name given to seven liberal arts colleges in the Northeastern United States that are historically women's colleges. Five of the seven institutions continue to offer all-female undergraduate programs: Barnard College, Bryn Mawr College, Mount Holyoke College, the largest member (with a whopping 2500 students) SMITH College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and Wellesley College. Of the other two, Vassar College has been co-educational since 1969, and Radcliffe College was involved with Harvard and then dissolved in 1999.

I had no idea that the IBIS was, according to legend, one of the first birds released by Noah after the flood.  I knew about the dove.  I find almost no information about this online, but this article states: According to local legend in the Birecik region of Şanlıurfa, the Northern Bald Ibis was one of the first birds that Noah released from the Ark and is for this reason seen as a symbol of fertility.

"Penalties for illegal bowls in cricket" is NO BALLS, which could have been clued in so many interesting ways!  I don't know rule one about cricket.  A no-ball results in one run scored for the batting team.

"Supervillain in DC comics" is ULTRAMAN.  Being a comics reader of many decades, I know exactly who this is, unlike a certain pompous crossworld solver online who actually "teaches comics" but hadn't heard of Iceman.  Still, it's extremely abstruse for the New York Times.

Apparently, in the world of Scotch, more smoky means PEATIER.

And a brand new concept to me: CO-MAKER, a guarantor of a loan.  My lawyer wife had heard of it though!

For "blandishment" is confidently put *FLATTERY which messed me up because it's CAJOLERY.  Also, for "actor's honor, informally" I put *NOD (as in Oscar nod) but it's NOM.

We learned that UNIX was developed at Bell Labs on February 1.

ETHANE was also clued as "natural gas component" on May 27.

An INT (interception) might result in a defensive TD, as shown on April 25.

The largest active Antarctic volcano, Mt. EREBUS, was the basis for an entire theme back on October 26, 2017.

Old vacuum tube TRIODE came to light on August 5.

Clever clues: "Bead source" is PORE. "Kind of number not seen much nowadays" is FAX.  "Things needed in passing?" is YEAS.  "Suspect statements?" is ALIBIS.

In summary, this puzzle had good bits and bad bits, mostly the theme itself.  I enjoyed GENDER FLUIDITY, MERE MORTALS, MONOMANIA, and NEED A RIDE.  It could definitely have used an editor, but LIFE'S TOO SHORT to complain.

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: October 13, 2018

My time: 15:10, ten minutes faster than average.

--

Kevin G. Der is responsible for this themeless Saturday.  It has a lot of interesting fill, a variety of letters, and solid cluing.  I give it an A+, would solve again.

I think I saw Rogue One (although frankly all the Star Wars movies are kind of blurring together for me now), but had no guesses as to the "film whose climax is on the planet Scarif."  Scarif is a tropical planet that was created for the film.  The heroes try to find the Death Star plans hidden in a vault on the planet.

Soccer star ALI Krieger is a right back who played with the US National team as well as lots of league teams.  And she's a great role model!

I saw The Big Sick, a clever and cute film, but I needed crossfill help to write out the lead actress' name, ZOE KAZAN.

Composer Arcangelo CORELLI was a 17th century Italian violinist.  He is best known for his concerti grossi.  Here he is clued as having "inspired a set of Rachmaninoff variations."  This refers to Variations on a Theme of Corelli, based on "La Folia," which was not in fact composed by Corelli, but was used by him in 1700 as the basis for 23 variations in his Sonata for violin and continuo.

I had a hard time remembering the word ISOPOD, an order in which the pill bug and wood louse belong.  The largest one is the Bathynomus.

The Nissan MURANO is a crossover SUV.  It is named after Murano, a lagoon city near Venice, famous for its glass making.

Did you know that a volleyball team is six people?  A SEXTET, if you will?

"Title for Princess Anne beginning in 1982" is AUNT.  The children of Queen Elizabeth II are Anne, Charles, Andrew, and Edward.  In 1982, Prince William was born to Charles and Lady Di, making Anne and AUNT for the first time.  Elizabeth's first two grandchildren were born to Anne herself, making all the other uncles first.

"Big Four workers, for short" is CPAS.  I thought the Big Four were the giant American car companies, but it turns out they're accounting firms: Ernst & Young, Deloitte & Touche, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

I forgot that OMEGA in the lowercase resembles a w.

PIMAS are members of a Native American tribe originally active around Arizona and Sonora.  The Pima tribe were a friendly, peaceful people who were organized into two social groups called the Red Ants and the White Ants. The Pimas were highly competent farmers who used using irrigation methods to cultivate crops of corn, squash, pumpkins, kidney beans, tobacco, and cotton. Unlike in other Native Indian tribes, the men did the farming and wove cotton on looms.

"Global currency market with a portmanteau name" is FOREX.  A blend of foreign and exchange, it is the market in which currencies are traded. The forex market is the largest, most liquid market in the world, with average traded values that can be trillions of dollars per day. It includes all of the currencies in the world.

Remember ENOS, Adam's grandson, from September 17, 2018?  Here he's clued as "ancestor of Methuselah."

Clever clues: "They might be made to reconcile" is AMENDS.  "Means of drawing up solutions" is PIPETS, though I would have preferred the more common spelling.  "Not quite blow" is SEETHE.  "leaning column?" is OP-ED PIECE.  "Leaves work?" is TEA TASTER.  "Cartoonist's indicator of nodding" is ZEES.  "Diet in the Mideast" is KNESSET, which a bilingual pun!

Great puzzle!  I didn't solve it ALL AT ONCE, but handled everything it DISHED OUT.

Friday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: October 12, 2018

My time: 21:34, which is three minutes slower than the average

--

Ugh, this was super hard for me.  A combination of some very long fill, tough clues, at least one ridiculous neologism, and three sections of self-contained squares combined to make this a real challenge.  Erik Agard and Bruce Haight probably thought they were inspired with this one, but I say, WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA trying to make it hard for me like that?

Anyway, the black squares suggest a LIGHT BULB, which is spelled out at the base.  It's really a charming and fun theme, but I didn't enjoy trying to suss out the rest.

For "bathroom or beach supply" I confidently put *TOWELS but it's LOTION, which is better.  For "___ milk" naturally I put *SOY, but it's OAT --- what?  For "takes off" I put *REDUCES but it's DEDUCTS, which slowed me down.  And finally, I was sure "___" time was *TEA but it's actually TEE.  Golfing, not a nice cuppa!

I didn't know Roger EBERT wrote a book called Awake in the Dark, but it's a clever title once you realize why it fits.

Not in my wheelhouse: Enid BAGNOLD, who wrote National Velvet, the story of a little girl who rides her horse in a steeplechase.

JUBA is the capital of the newest addition to our global family, South Sudan.

The British county ESSEX was in the puzzle on March 27 as the home of Southend-on-Sea.  Today it's Hertfordshire neighbor.

Isn't ESPN Deportes a rather unfortunate name for our LATINO friends, given the current political climate?

ECHO BOOMERS.  Millennials who espouse Boomer values like buying things, but also are unlike their forebears in various other ways given the shrinking world that technology and a high standard of life bring??

"Hope" and "Friendship" are STATE MOTTOS.  "Friendship" I knew; "Hope" is Rhode Island's.  The seal of RI depicts an anchor; the seal's words and emblems were likely inspired by the biblical phrase "hope we have as an anchor of the soul," found in Hebrews, Verse 6:18-19.

We've all heard of MEGADETH, but we aren't connoisseurs of their discography.  Countdown to Extinction is their fifth album, released in 1992.

"Group running together" is SLATE.  What does that mean?

I've never heard of TED Baker, a British clothing retailer.

AVA DuVernay is a director who is in the puzzle almost as much as Nas.

Here comes the word GAM again, as explained on September 15, 2017.

Jean RHYS and her novel were explored on August 28.

Clever clues: "Provider of a traveler's check" is TSA.  "Tender" is very vague cluing for BID.  "Italian cardinal" is UNO.

Was this puzzle AS EASY AS ABC?  No, it wasn't.  THAT IS TO SAY, I had a hard time with it.

Thursday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: October 11, 2018

My time: 10:59.

--

Johanna Fenimore and Jeff Chen support breast cancer awareness with this puzzle by celebrating NO BRA DAY (which is October 13, as we learned on September 6 of this year, so this puzzle is a little early).

Six answers contain the letter string B-R-A, which must be mentally removed in order to make sense of the clue. For example we have BRAIDING, which is clued as "picking out of a lineup, e.g."  Or BRAVERY, which is clued as "extremely."  The clue that finally made the theme clear to me was, pretty much in conjunction with the capper, LAB RATS for "upper body muscles, for short."

The IONIAN Sea lies between Greece and Sicily.

I had forgotten that "Lamb of literature" (Charles Lamb) used the pen name ELIA.

ETTA James sings "At last, my love has come along" in her song "At Last."

"I'm Down" is SIDE B of the Beatles single "Help!"  I'm not sure if I've ever heard that song.

"Letters for college applicants" is ETS.  This is an independent testing service that administers the SAT, AP exams, and other programs.

Console Wars is a 2014 book that follows a new CEO of video game company SEGA of America, and details the history of the fierce business competition between Sega and Nintendo throughout the 1990s as well as the internal conflicts that took place between Sega of America and Sega of Japan.

Know those state flowers!  VIOLETS are the state flowers of Rhode Island, Illinois, and New Jersey.
Wisconsin's is the wood violet.

Author James AGEE and his autobiographical novel A Death in the Family came up on November 13, 2017.

The Camaro IROC has appeared a few times, but on September 7, 2017, I noted that it is named after the International Race of Champions. 

Clever cues: "Ones making passing judgments, for short?" is QBS.  "Home pages?" is LEASE.  "Result of imperfect service" is LET.  "Application for Mr. Universe contest?" is OIL.

Well, CREDIT where it's due: this was a fine puzzle, with an amusing and well-executed theme, if not very timely.

Wednesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: October 10, 2018

My time: 12:56, nearly three minutes slower than this day's average.

--

Alex Eaton-Salners must have been humming when he made this puzzle.  I did not find it as easy as A-B-C, but it focuses on the ALPHABET song.  Four themed phrases start with words that correspond to scale notes, which happen to be the first notes of the sung song (which is also "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," by the way).

DODO BIRD ("onetime resident of Mauritius," a rather oblique clue for this answer), SO-SO REVIEWS, LA-LA LAND (the movie that was incorrectly announced as Best Picture winner in 2017, until it was revealed that Moonlight was the actual winner), and SO HELP ME GOD ("swear words?") are the four important answers here.  SO you we get do do, so so, la la so.  A B, C D, E F G.  Ta-da!

I correctly guessed BRAE for "highlands hillside" early on, but I don't think I could have told you what it means without any other context.

I never knew RIHANNA's first name is Robyn!  He last name is Fenty. Her middle name is Arabic and means "sweet basil."

Senator Daniel INOUYE has a name that is hard to spell just right.

We've all heard of EDSELS, but I didn't know that they manufactured a make called Corsair.  It had a short-lived existence, from 1958-59.

Bob GRIESE was a quarterback who played for the Dolphins and won two Superbowls, in 1972 and '73.

Everyone is talking about JODIE Whittaker, the new Dr. Who, but I kept thinking her name was Sophie or *SOFIE or something.

HILLEL is an international Jewish campus group.  Their mission is to enrich the lives of Jewish students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world.

"Volcanic discharge" is ASH PLUME, which is apparently something volcanologists say.

I am not a video gamer so I had to guess at KOOPA Troopa, which it turns out is not a specific Mario foe but rather the entire "race"(?) of little turtles he is always thumping and kicking around.

"Diamond VIPs" is GMS, which means General Managers.  I'm so removed from sports lore and concern that this never occured to me as an answer.

"Some stoves" is so brief and laconic that I had a very hard time figuring out it was a brand that was wanted.  It's AMANAS, which has come up so often that I really ought to know it by now.

Hall of Fame inventor Elisha OTIS rose to prominence on September 11 of this year.

Clever clues: "Podded plants" is OKRAS.  "Canal zone?" is EAR.  "How you can count up to five" is ON ONE HAND.

I'm not sure why this took me so long.  Yes, it was troublesome IN SPOTS, but there wasn't too much new information.  It also had some words that I know but are outside my usual go-to wheelhouse, like DAYBED and IMAGINEER.  But in the end, I just wasn't running at 100% brainpower, I guess.  Like, I stewed over "alternative to paper" for too long, not realizing it was a simple reference to "PLASTIC or paper?"  I kept thinking, what do you write on besides paper?  Papyrus?  A tablet??

Tuesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: October 9, 2018

My time: 6:25.

--

It took the team of Natan Last, Andy Kravis and the JASA Crossword Class to construct this puzzle.  The depth, breadth, and length of their construction acumen is admirable.  In this one, the 2016 Best Picture nominee HIDDEN FIGURES is celebrated.  How?  By hiding "figures," or three-dimensional shapes, inside themed phrases.

"Coined phrase?" (ha, ha) is E PLURIBUS UNUM, in which you can find prism.  Linus' SECURITY BLANKET, which covers up a cube.  And NO SURPRISE THERE contains a sphere.

Mahershala ALI was the 2016 Best Supporting Actor for his role as Juan in Moonlight, but I know him best as Cottonmouth in "Luke Cage."

Another actor whose name I don't know is SKYLAR Astin, yet another in a long line of celebrities with potentially interchangeable first and last names.  He was in Pitch Perfect and Wreck-It Ralph.

For "island east of Lanai" I guessed *OAHU because I don't know anything about geography.  It's MAUI.  Oahu is to the northwest.  MAUI is directly east.  It goes Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molkokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Maui, Hawaii. 

Warren SPAHN was a Cy Young award-winning pitcher, mostly with the (Boston, then Milwaukee) Braves.

Yankee Years memoirist and longtime Yankee manager Joe TORRE came up on January 26, and I remembered!

"Tennis do-over" LET was clued as "court do-over" on September 9 of this year, and as when the ball hits the net on November 29, 2017.

Clever clues: "Website with a lot of home pages?' is AIR BNB.  "It can be greased" is PALM (I put *POLE).  "Remote location?" is TV ROOM.  "It may wind up at the side of a house" is HOSE.

This didn't take too much time.  It was clever and fun.  That's the DEALIO.  Uh, hep cat daddy-o.  Well, CHEERIO.

Monday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: October 8, 2018

My time: 4:13, near the record!

--

Today's puzzle comes to us courtesy of Jacob Stulberg, whose hands must have positively flown across the drawing board as he constructed the grid.  The theme centers on the AIRPORT, or rather where to find your flight.  Four themed answers narrow down where you might be found if you have a ticket: BATTERY TERMINAL, GOLDEN GATE, CANNERY ROW ("Steinbeck novel set in Monterrey"), and TAKING A BACK SEAT.  There!  Now stow your luggage in the overhead bin, relax, recline back a quarter of an inch, and try to believe in the Bernoulli principle.

I filled the grid before I'd really digested the theme, but the capper in the middle is a help for those who might have been more stuck than I was this time.

Speaking of terminals, remember the handy mnemonic for anodes and cathodes.

"Land for O'Connor or O'Casey" is ERIN.  O'Connor could be Sinead, but who's O'Casey?  Maybe this socialist playwright?

Did you know ADELE had a song called "Water Under the Bridge"?  I didn't!  It's from her album 25.

OVID wrote Ars Amatoria, or "The Art of Love."  Not a Roman Kama Sutra, It teaches basic gentlemanly male and female relationship skills and techniques.  The first two books, aimed at men, contain sections which cover such topics as "not forgetting her birthday," "letting her miss you --- but not for long" and "not asking about her age'. The third gives similar advice to women, sample themes include: "making up, but in private," "being wary of false lovers' and "trying young and older lovers'. Hot stuff!

I've heard a time or two that John TYLER, that horny old lecher, was known as His Accidency.  This is because he was the first to assume the office of the presidency after the death of his predecessor (William Henry Harrison, the "One-Monther").

In the Bible, Jacob's first wife was LEAH, before he married Rachel.  He was tricked, after working for their father for seven years, into marrying the older girl, whom he didn't want (she squinted).  But he "fulfilled her week" (made sure she doesn't feel rejected?) and then put in another seven years to get the girl he wanted.

Everyone's heard of LIMP BIZKIT, but do they know that they have a seven-time platinum album called Significant Other?  No, and they don't care.  Break stuff!

The Fightin' ILLINI ("Urbana-Champaign students") sure come up a lot.

Fashion maven Geoffrey BEENE last appeared on July 8.

Clever clues: "Something up one's sleeve?" is ELBOW.  "Make a scene?" is ACT.

This was a TIPTOP puzzle.  And I came so close to the record!  RATS.  This one was a WEE bit obscure for a Monday, in my book.  Ovid?  The Bible?  American history trivia?  That's more Wednesday stuff, isn't it?