Friday, September 29, 2017

My time: 16:57, close but no cigar.

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I enjoyed this themeless by Damon Gulczynski.  I got the long fills --- PABLO NERUDA, GENDER BINARY, GIVE ME A RING, and JOLLY RANCHER, OVER THE HUMP, etc. --- pretty easily.

Is a zinger really a MOT?  Doesn't it have to be a bon mot?

SET SHOT is not a term I'm familiar with.

I also learned that POI (mashed taro root) can be eaten fresh or after it has fermented a bit.

RELO ("type of property, in real-estate lingo") is a term of art that no one else needs.

It's clever to note that TRES is a French word and also a different Spanish word.

I eat a lot of sushi, but I don't drink beer, so ASAHI (a beer company) is not something I know about.

Judith HOAG, yet another actress I don't know from a TV series I don't watch.

Raqqa is a city in SYRIA that has been devastated by civil war and airstrikes from the USA and other countries.

Clever clues: "Puny arms?" is BB GUNS; "appropriate game" is POACH (as a teacher, I kept thinking of a game appropriate for kids); "mushroom producers" is not *SPORES but A-BOMBS.

Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 5, 2018

My time: 24:18.

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Alison Ohringer and Erik Agard teamed up to create this puzzle, titled "Ghosted."  Throughout the puzzle are circled letters, which spell out phantoms when the grid is filled.

69 Across notes that "this puzzle's circled letters vis-à-vis their Across answers" get LOST IN THE SHUFFLE, and I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean.

I've never heard of "certain vacuum tube" TRIODE.  It's a vacuum tube with three electrodes: a filament, a grid, and a plate.

ACER has appeared in the puzzle in the past, but today it's clued as "Taiwan-based electronics giant."

I thought Morticia Addams was Fester's *SISTER (and thus he was Uncle Fester to the kids, Pugsley and Wednesday), but she's his NIECE --- he's her uncle.

CARMEN MCRAE was a jazz singer who also played Lila in "Roots: The Next Generations."  She also played Richard Pryor's grandmother in Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling.

The oldest iron oxide mineral on earth, hematite is colored black to red and is widely mined as IRON ORE.

GRANITA is a sorbet-like dessert (but usually with a coarser texture) originating in Sicily.

Apparently, the nearest country to Cape Verde is SENEGAL.

Here's a sports term that, surprise surprise, I don't know: BOX OUT.  This means to block a player form getting close to the basket.  And remember, if you're playing a low position (closer to the basket) try to find someone near to you in the paint.  Sage advice.

I've also never heard of comedian APARNA Nancheria.  Follow her on Twitter!

"Washington team, familiarly" is CAPS, as in the Washington Capitals, of the NHL.

Yet more sports: a feat in tennis is a SERENA SLAM, in which a player is reigning champion of all the major tournaments at the same time, but not all the tournaments have occurred in the same tennis season. This is opposed to the more traditional grand slam, in which the titles have to have been won in the same year.

"Viscount's superior" is EARL.  Remember the mnemonic!

"Fermented root" dish POI has appeared a few times in the puzzle.

I don't watch a lot of "Will & Grace," but Gracer ADLER's last name appeared way back on December 14, 2017, when I claimed to vaguely remember it.

Clever clues: "Expecting help?" is LAMAZE.  "Beat generation figure?" is HEART RATE (it generates beats).  Similarly, "wrist watch?" is PULSE.  "Oral examination?" is TASTE TEST.

Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 1, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 20:02, five minutes faster than average.

Theme: "West-Southwest," a title which subtly nods to the fact that the W of several common phrases has been replaced with SW and clued accordingly.  So, for example, "hogs, after being scrubbed clean?" is SPARKLING SWINE.  "What a beekeeper receives at work?" is a SWARM RECEPTION.

The only one that doesn't begin with S is the lengthy middle themed answer, which also happens to erase the sound of the W in adding the S.  That's FOR WANT OF A BETTER SWORD ("why the knight went shopping?").  It's clever enough, but it kind of sticks out like a sore thumb amid the other, more similar clues.

There was more new stuff in this puzzle than there has been in a while.  I'm exhausted just thinking about it.  I have to LIE STILL and prepare for guided meditation.

I've vaguely heard of ONSTAR, but didn't know it's an online service found in GM cars.

"ODE To My Family" is a very easy blank to fill in, even if you have never heard the Cranberries. 

POI has appeared an awful lot in the puzzle, but not (until today) as "dish cooked in an underground oven."  The word for this oven is imu.

"What the Constitution Means To Me," a one-woman play by Heidi Schreck, won the 2019 OBIE.  It was also nominated for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

I have never heard of CELIA Cruz, a Cuban singer and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century. Cruz rose to fame in Cuba during the 1950s as a singer of guarachas, earning the nickname "La Guarachera de Cuba". In the following decades, she became known internationally as the "Queen of Salsa" or "The Queen of Latin Music" due to her contributions to Latin music in the United States.  One of her best-known songs is "Guantanamera."

A SAND REEF is a low ridge of sand that borders the shore, is built up by waves and currents, and in many places encloses a lagoon.

Paul DANO co-starred as the son in There Will Be Blood, but I didn't know his name. 

I had no idea that people put ROSIN on ballet shoes.  Dancers apply ROSIN dust to their shoes (and sometimes their feet) to keep from slipping on a slick floor.

Canadian figure skating champ Brian ORSER won the silver medals in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics.  But what would Brian Boitano do?

ANN Martin is the pen behind the hugely popular Baby-Sitters' Club books.  Those things are a license to print money!

"Conclude (with)" is END OFF.  That sounds weird to me.  

NORITE is a mafic igneous rock, also known as gabbro.  The name is derived from Norway.

"Farm-to-table program" is CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture.

Several more French-themed clues again today.  I bet non-Francophoes don't care a SOU for all this reliance on French.

"Sky fall?" is POWER DIVE.  I wasn't aware that this was an actual term.  It means an airplane's dive accelerated by engine power.

The APA, or American Psychological Association, is clearly a group that would publish a journal called "Emotion."

Endless parade of sports guys I have never heard of, part 5,821.  RUDY Gobert, 7'1" French phenom who has a 7'9" wingspan and plays for the Utah Jazz.  His nicknames include the Stifle Tower, The French Rejection, The Gobert Report, and Gobzilla. 

Never heard of JOIE Lee, screenwriter sister of Spike.  She also co-wrote and co-produced his film Crooklyn.  

And SHA cha beef is a beef dish made with SHA cha (or shacha) sauce, a savory and a slightly spicy sauce, widely used in Fujian, Teochew, and Taiwanese cuisine.

The hell fastener T-STRAP appeared on January 30, 2019.

Small part actress LILI Taylor appeared on May 17, 2018.

SEA DOVE appeared in the puzzle, also clued as "little auk," on August 2.

Japanese audio brand AIWA appeared on May 21, 2018.

The rap song "Hate Me Now" is by NAS, because that's the only rapper that ever appears in the NYT puzzle, ever. 

Choral composition MOTET appeared on August 7, 2017.

Clever clues: "Down at the bar?" is CHUG. "Bottom lines?" is X-AXES.  "Holds on to one's 'Essence,' say?" is RENEWS.  "Digital sounds?" is SNAPS.  "Suite meet?" is TRYST.  "De-bug?" is SWAT

Boo clue: "Upfront?" is SHORT U.  That doesn't make sense, even if (as implied) you should read it as "up," [at the] front?  "Up" still isn't a SHORT U.  It has one.  That makes a difference.  UGH!

Whew, that was tiring!  So much information.  I'm totally swiped out ('tired of dating, maybe?').

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

My time: 8:02.

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Today's puzzle, by Herre Schouwerwou (!!! --- gotta love those crossword creator names), gives us ANIMAL CRACKERS.  That is, circus animal names are broken up, or "cracked," between two clues, with a black space between.  So we have MCGREGOR / I'LL ASK, PERSIMMON / KEYED, IN A DAZE / BRANAGH, etc.  What a tasty theme!

More nutritious, however, is SAVOY cabbage, a brassica named after the Savoy region of France.

I didn't know Japan's national fruit was the PERSIMMON.  The name comes from a Powhatan word meaning "a dry fruit."  What a dry etymology.

Let's not forget that the English horn, like the Saxophone, is a woodwind instrument requiring a REED.

Another actress I don't know is STACEY Dash of Clueless.  She played Dionne "Dee" Davenport.

SMAZE (portmanteau of smog and haze)?  OH, COME ON.

Did you know KRAFT merged with Heinz in 2015?  Me neither.

For "Canadian $2 coin, informally" I confidently put *LOONIE.  It turns out I was misremembering; that's the one-dollar coin.  The real answer is TOONIE.

POI ("Polynesian finger food") makes its appearance again.

So does LARA Logan, CBS news anchor, last seen October 11.

The D-Day vessels called LSTS stand for Landing Ship, comma, Tank.  They had flat keels and could deposit troops and tanks right onto the beach without having to dock.

Clever clue: "Southern side" is PONE.  "Connection between banks?" is BOAT.

And that's all; not too bad for a Wednesday.  Time to STELE myself for Thursday's toughie.

Monday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: July 2, 2018

My time: 4:16.

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Evan Kalish tells us, "Let's just keep this between us" because IT'S A SECRET.  Five themed answers each hide a word that goes with the word secret.  PASTA SHELL has a secret stash.  PEASANT ARMY ("militia of farmers") surrounds secret Santa.  WHAT A GENTLEMAN may also be a secret agent.  MARKUP LANGUAGE ("it may allow a text document to be displayed on a web page" --- such as HTML) displays a secret plan.  And PRIME NUMBER hides a secret menu.

For "sir's counterpart" I wanted to put *LADY or *DAME but it's MA'AM.

I've heard of Comcast's Xfinity, but not Verizon Fios; they are both ISPs.

Speaking of technology, I'm old enough to remember using computer connection protocol TELNET; are you?

Poi has appeared a couple of times.  On September 29, 2017, we learned it is mashed TARO root.  On November 1, 2017, it was called a Polynesian finger food.

"Today" co-host HODA Kotb last appeared on May 8.

This one was an easy, short and sweet Monday.  I almost did it INN record time.  What a NERD.