Age of War, a war strategy type flash game from Max Games, is a unique mix between a defense game and a real time strategy game. Your goal in this game is to build turrets and train units to defend your base, and send your army to destroy your enemies. This war strategy game has a fun twist that allows you to evolve through ages as you progress in the game. In this game, you start at the cavern men’s age, then evolve through a total of 5 ages, each with its units and turrets. If you like war strategy type game, you will most likely enjoy this one and its sequel Age of War 2 game as well! Click here to play Age of War game online for free.
13 Mayıs 2012 Pazar
Age of War
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Age of War, a war strategy type flash game from Max Games, is a unique mix between a defense game and a real time strategy game. Your goal in this game is to build turrets and train units to defend your base, and send your army to destroy your enemies. This war strategy game has a fun twist that allows you to evolve through ages as you progress in the game. In this game, you start at the cavern men’s age, then evolve through a total of 5 ages, each with its units and turrets. If you like war strategy type game, you will most likely enjoy this one and its sequel Age of War 2 game as well! Click here to play Age of War game online for free.
Age of War, a war strategy type flash game from Max Games, is a unique mix between a defense game and a real time strategy game. Your goal in this game is to build turrets and train units to defend your base, and send your army to destroy your enemies. This war strategy game has a fun twist that allows you to evolve through ages as you progress in the game. In this game, you start at the cavern men’s age, then evolve through a total of 5 ages, each with its units and turrets. If you like war strategy type game, you will most likely enjoy this one and its sequel Age of War 2 game as well! Click here to play Age of War game online for free.
Clear Vision
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Clear Vision is a stickman sniper shooting game from AddictingGames. It is a well designed stick flash game with a very good looking sniper gameplay and a nice story and sniping action. Just like many other sniper games, your task in Clear Vision game is to shoot the assigned targets to complete your sniper missions. If you like sniper shooting type games, you will most likely enjoy this one as well. But be cautious since this game contains violent and bloody gameplay and is not recommended for kids. Clear Vision has been very popular since its launch in 2007, and now there several sequels in the series: Clear Vision 2 game: the sequel to Clear Vision game with more sniper actions; Clear Vision Elite game: the elite version of this sniper shooting flash game; Clear Vision 4 game: the forth installment in this sniper game series. Click here to play Clear Vision game online for free.
Clear Vision is a stickman sniper shooting game from AddictingGames. It is a well designed stick flash game with a very good looking sniper gameplay and a nice story and sniping action. Just like many other sniper games, your task in Clear Vision game is to shoot the assigned targets to complete your sniper missions. If you like sniper shooting type games, you will most likely enjoy this one as well. But be cautious since this game contains violent and bloody gameplay and is not recommended for kids. Clear Vision has been very popular since its launch in 2007, and now there several sequels in the series: Clear Vision 2 game: the sequel to Clear Vision game with more sniper actions; Clear Vision Elite game: the elite version of this sniper shooting flash game; Clear Vision 4 game: the forth installment in this sniper game series. Click here to play Clear Vision game online for free.
Crush the Castle
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Crush the Castle is a physics based action shooting game by Armor Games which, like many other games from Armor Games, has a medieval theme and very polished graphics and well-designed game play. In this game you take the role of the siege master of the king and King has ordered you to crush all resistance in order for his kingdom to survive. So you have to use a powerful Trebuchet and an arsenal of 8 different projectiles to crush enemy castles and wipe out all of their inhabitants. Although the game is not really that challenging, it is quite entertaining. If you like physics based flash game, you will mostly like this one and its sequels: Crush the Castle Players Pack, a fan made level pack of the Crush the Castle game, and Crush the Castle 2 game, which has been highly rated by players since its release at Armor Games. Click here to play Crush the Castle game online for free.
Crush the Castle is a physics based action shooting game by Armor Games which, like many other games from Armor Games, has a medieval theme and very polished graphics and well-designed game play. In this game you take the role of the siege master of the king and King has ordered you to crush all resistance in order for his kingdom to survive. So you have to use a powerful Trebuchet and an arsenal of 8 different projectiles to crush enemy castles and wipe out all of their inhabitants. Although the game is not really that challenging, it is quite entertaining. If you like physics based flash game, you will mostly like this one and its sequels: Crush the Castle Players Pack, a fan made level pack of the Crush the Castle game, and Crush the Castle 2 game, which has been highly rated by players since its release at Armor Games. Click here to play Crush the Castle game online for free.
Penguin Diner
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In many flash games you have to play with penguins, and some of these penguin games are very fun and addictive, Maybe it is because the characters in these games are cute and fun. Penguin Diner from 2DPlay is another fun and addictive flash game where you have to play with penguins. Penguin Diner is a food serving type time management game which has a very interesting storyline. In Penguin Diner the main character Penny the Penguin goes off track and ends up lost and penniless on top of an icy hill while on an Antarctic trek. To make enough money to get back home to her family Penny has to work at a local diner. And it is your task in this game to help Penny serve customers quickly, making them happy and keep them coming back for more. In Penguin Diner 2, the sequel to Penguin Diner, Penny has returned home and decides to open her own dinner in Antarctica, and it is your task to help Penny achieve her dream of running the best diner in Antarctica. Penguin Diner and its sequel Penguin Diner 2 have been popular since their releases at 2DPlay and they are very fun, very cute, and very enjoyable. Click here to play Penguin Diner game online for free.
In many flash games you have to play with penguins, and some of these penguin games are very fun and addictive, Maybe it is because the characters in these games are cute and fun. Penguin Diner from 2DPlay is another fun and addictive flash game where you have to play with penguins. Penguin Diner is a food serving type time management game which has a very interesting storyline. In Penguin Diner the main character Penny the Penguin goes off track and ends up lost and penniless on top of an icy hill while on an Antarctic trek. To make enough money to get back home to her family Penny has to work at a local diner. And it is your task in this game to help Penny serve customers quickly, making them happy and keep them coming back for more. In Penguin Diner 2, the sequel to Penguin Diner, Penny has returned home and decides to open her own dinner in Antarctica, and it is your task to help Penny achieve her dream of running the best diner in Antarctica. Penguin Diner and its sequel Penguin Diner 2 have been popular since their releases at 2DPlay and they are very fun, very cute, and very enjoyable. Click here to play Penguin Diner game online for free.
Battle Gear
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Battle Gear is a real time strategy game sponsored by Bubble Box. This is a massive strategy war game that will test your tactical skills. In this game you take the role of the military commander of one of the super powers in the world and your mission is to defeat your opponents and conquer the world. In this game you can train many military units types such as soldiers, tanks, vehicles, ships, and planes, and you can wage wars in many ways, such as by land, by air, or by sea. If you like real time strategy type games, you will most likely enjoy this game and its sequel Battle Gear 2 game as well. Click here to play Battle Gear game free online.
Battle Gear is a real time strategy game sponsored by Bubble Box. This is a massive strategy war game that will test your tactical skills. In this game you take the role of the military commander of one of the super powers in the world and your mission is to defeat your opponents and conquer the world. In this game you can train many military units types such as soldiers, tanks, vehicles, ships, and planes, and you can wage wars in many ways, such as by land, by air, or by sea. If you like real time strategy type games, you will most likely enjoy this game and its sequel Battle Gear 2 game as well. Click here to play Battle Gear game free online.
King of Fighters Wing 1.7 Igniz skill list move list
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King of Fighters Wing 1.7 is the 1.7 version of King of Fighters Wing game with new character Igniz added to the gameplay. King of Fighters Wing is a very nice flash remake of the classic arcade fighting game King of Fighters or KOF. King of Fighters Wing 1.7 is in Chinese, so if you do not know Chinese and you are not an experienced player of King of Fighters Wing game, it is recoomeded that you play the King of Fighters Wing 1.0 Demo, which has English option, first to get famililar with the game controls.
The special move key combinations for character Igniz are shown in the following chat. In this chart, K means strong kick, K_l means light kick, P means strong punch, P_l light punch. and S1 means power burst. If you choose mormal key mode in the game menu, you use the mormal key mode combinations. If you choose simple key mode in the game menu, you use the simple key mode combinations.
Normal Key Mode
skill 1: ↓→＋K skill 2: ↓←＋K skill 3: ↓→＋P skill 4: ↓←＋P skill 5: →↓→＋P
Super Skill 1: ↓→↓→＋P Super Skill 2: ↓→↓→＋K Super Skill 3: ↓→←＋P_l
Potential Super Skill 1: ↓→＋S1 Potential Super Skill 2: ↓←＋S1
Simple Key Mode
skill 1: →＋K skill 2: ←＋K skill 3: →＋P skill 4: ←＋P skill 5: ↓→＋P
Super Skill 1: P_l Super Skill 2: K_l Super Skill 3: ↓＋P_l
Potential Super Skill 1: S1 Potential Super Skill 2: ←＋S1
King of Fighters Wing 1.7 is the 1.7 version of King of Fighters Wing game with new character Igniz added to the gameplay. King of Fighters Wing is a very nice flash remake of the classic arcade fighting game King of Fighters or KOF. King of Fighters Wing 1.7 is in Chinese, so if you do not know Chinese and you are not an experienced player of King of Fighters Wing game, it is recoomeded that you play the King of Fighters Wing 1.0 Demo, which has English option, first to get famililar with the game controls.The special move key combinations for character Igniz are shown in the following chat. In this chart, K means strong kick, K_l means light kick, P means strong punch, P_l light punch. and S1 means power burst. If you choose mormal key mode in the game menu, you use the mormal key mode combinations. If you choose simple key mode in the game menu, you use the simple key mode combinations.
Normal Key Mode
skill 1: ↓→＋K skill 2: ↓←＋K skill 3: ↓→＋P skill 4: ↓←＋P skill 5: →↓→＋P
Super Skill 1: ↓→↓→＋P Super Skill 2: ↓→↓→＋K Super Skill 3: ↓→←＋P_l
Potential Super Skill 1: ↓→＋S1 Potential Super Skill 2: ↓←＋S1
Simple Key Mode
skill 1: →＋K skill 2: ←＋K skill 3: →＋P skill 4: ←＋P skill 5: ↓→＋P
Super Skill 1: P_l Super Skill 2: K_l Super Skill 3: ↓＋P_l
Potential Super Skill 1: S1 Potential Super Skill 2: ←＋S1
Thank you in Swahili / THU 4-18-12 / Trevelyan villain in Goldeneye / Actress Steppat On Her Majesty's / Dwarf planet beyond Pluto / Old Shaker leader / Montgomery of Jazz
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Constructor: Sean Dobbin
Relative difficulty: Challenging
THEME: OUTSIDERS (35A: Nonmembers ... or what 4-, 7- and 10-Down lack?) — three theme answers have "R"s that are outside the grid (i.e. you have to imagine the initial and terminal Rs in those answers)
Word of the Day: ILSE Steppat (19A: Actress Steppat of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service") —
Talk about your crossword coincidences. An ILSE who played an IRMA!? Wow.
Not sure why, but this puzzle took me Forever to get into, and even after I got the theme figured out, I still struggled. Nothing up top was a gimme except EST'D and IS IT I ... maybe GETS. It's possible that if I'd abandoned the N much earlier and headed south (where I might've seen the gimme GWENS, for instance; 65A: Music's Stefani and others), I could've got rolling sooner. ERIS would've helped. I don't know. Between ridiculous stuff like ILSE (who?), ALEC (who?), ASANTE (we're supposed to know Swahili now? why is this valid?), and EGON (22A: Certain Ghostbuster) (I recently rewatched "Ghostbusters" and still needed virtually every cross), and then forced-tough cluing — SELECTS as a noun (!?!?! ouch.) (11D: Superior things); EDITION as a [Dictionary specification]!? — I just floundered. But mostly I just failed to come up with stuff I should've come up with. %&^*ing CASSAVA (1D: Tapioca source). I wanted IPOD at 1A: It can change one's tune and so both CASSAVA and CAPO (and, indeed, the whole NW corner) stayed hidden for a long time. Not LA PAZ or SUCRE or LHASA but SANA'A! Brutal (20A: World capital at 7,200+ feet).
Concept seems fine. Cute. None of the long phrases feels like a bullseye, though. All accurate enough, but just a bit ... off-center. Apt-ish. Defensible, but odd. RESIGNATION LETTER is probably closest to spot-on. Anyway, not thrilling, but just fine. Wish the bizarre proper noun onslaught had been less onslaughty, but there's nothing really beyond the pale. Not much else to say.
Theme answers:
Bullets:
Relative difficulty: Challenging
THEME: OUTSIDERS (35A: Nonmembers ... or what 4-, 7- and 10-Down lack?) — three theme answers have "R"s that are outside the grid (i.e. you have to imagine the initial and terminal Rs in those answers)
Word of the Day: ILSE Steppat (19A: Actress Steppat of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service") —
• • •Ilse Paula Steppat (November 11, 1917 in Wuppertal – December 21, 1969 in West Berlin) was a German actress. Her husband was noted actor and director Max Nosseck. // She began her cinematic career at the age of 15 playing Joan of Arc. Steppat appeared regularly on the German stage, and starred in more than forty movies. In the 1960s, she appeared frequently in crime movies based on the work of author Edgar Wallace, such as Die Gruft mit dem Rätselschloss, Der unheimliche Mönch and Die blaue Hand, which brought her great fame in Germany. // In her only English language role, Steppat played Blofeld's assistant and henchwoman Irma Bunt in the James Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service. In the first English language conversation between Steppat and the movie's producer, Albert R. Broccoli, she confused the word verlobt (engaged) with engagiert. Despite this, however, she was awarded the role of Irma Bunt. Steppat was unable to capitalise on her new fame outside of Germany, as she died of a heart attack only four days after the movie's international release. She is buried in the Waldfriedhof Dahlem in Berlin. (wikipedia)
Talk about your crossword coincidences. An ILSE who played an IRMA!? Wow.
Not sure why, but this puzzle took me Forever to get into, and even after I got the theme figured out, I still struggled. Nothing up top was a gimme except EST'D and IS IT I ... maybe GETS. It's possible that if I'd abandoned the N much earlier and headed south (where I might've seen the gimme GWENS, for instance; 65A: Music's Stefani and others), I could've got rolling sooner. ERIS would've helped. I don't know. Between ridiculous stuff like ILSE (who?), ALEC (who?), ASANTE (we're supposed to know Swahili now? why is this valid?), and EGON (22A: Certain Ghostbuster) (I recently rewatched "Ghostbusters" and still needed virtually every cross), and then forced-tough cluing — SELECTS as a noun (!?!?! ouch.) (11D: Superior things); EDITION as a [Dictionary specification]!? — I just floundered. But mostly I just failed to come up with stuff I should've come up with. %&^*ing CASSAVA (1D: Tapioca source). I wanted IPOD at 1A: It can change one's tune and so both CASSAVA and CAPO (and, indeed, the whole NW corner) stayed hidden for a long time. Not LA PAZ or SUCRE or LHASA but SANA'A! Brutal (20A: World capital at 7,200+ feet).Concept seems fine. Cute. None of the long phrases feels like a bullseye, though. All accurate enough, but just a bit ... off-center. Apt-ish. Defensible, but odd. RESIGNATION LETTER is probably closest to spot-on. Anyway, not thrilling, but just fine. Wish the bizarre proper noun onslaught had been less onslaughty, but there's nothing really beyond the pale. Not much else to say.
Theme answers:
- 4D: Checker or Domino (OCK AND ROLL SINGE)
- 7D: It may include two weeks' notice (ESIGNATION LETTE)
- 10D: John Calvin, e.g. (ELIGIOUS REFORME)
Bullets:
- 16A: Wolf whistle accompanier, maybe (LEER) — I was looking for something more vocal. Hubba hubba or yowza or the like.
- 46A: Old Shaker leader (ANN LEE) — super-important name to know for crosswords. Her full name shows up a lot (as do ANN and LEE, obviously)
- 66A: Recording artist made famous by the BBC series "The Celts" (ENYA) — never heard of that series. She was made famous by "Orinoco Flow," as far as I remember.
- 52A: He once wrote "Last but not least, avoid clichés like the plague" (SAFIRE) — that's a twofer. Nice.
- 8D: 10th-century Holy Roman emperor (OTTO I) — among the dreckiest, crosswordiest answers. And it helped me a Lot today. I also managed to remember the much less crosswordesey WES (59D: Montgomery of jazz), though like OTTO I, he's known to me only through crosswords.
- 2D: Ellery Queen and others (ALIASES) — wanted PEN NAMES or PSEUDONYMS from the second I saw the clue. Criminals have ALIASES.
- 25D: Floride, par exemple (ÉTAT) — fooled by this one at first. Not sure my brain even registered the Frenchness of "par exemple."
- 49D: ___ Neuchâtel (LAC) — no idea what this is. At all. I mean, I assume it's a lake, but ... yeah, for me this is up there with ASANTE and ALEC and ILSE as far as familiarity goes.
Breezing Up Fair Wind artist 1876 / FRI 4-20-12 / Part of intro to piece of Champagne Music / Old game co that made D&D / Advertiser with computer-generated mascot / Passage to Marseille actor 1944
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Constructor: Mike Nothnagel
Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: none
Word of the Day: Winslow HOMER (50D: "Breezing Up (A Fair Wind)" artist, 1876) —
Tore this one apart in just over half the time it took me to do yesterday's puzzle. There's only one word in the puzzle that I can imagine not being common knowledge to a regular solver—SLOANE (9D: ___ Crosley, author of the 2008 best seller "I Was Told There'd Be Cake"). Luckily, I knew the name, not because I've read her, but because I remember being in Barnes & Noble and picking up her book and thinking "who is this writer I've never heard of who has these good blurbs" and "huh, SLOANE is a cool name for a girl." I know *of* books more than I know books, sadly. Kind of embarrassing for someone with a Ph.D. in English, but I'm working on it. Anyway, everything else in the grid is common / famous. This didn't have the overall sizzle that I've come to expect from Nothnagel puzzles, but it did have LIKE HERDING CATS (36A: Frustratingly difficult), which (given the otherwise clean grid) is enough for me. Got started with Fred's iconic ASCOT and mostly roared forward from there.
Had two minor hangups, one at the beginning and one at the end. First, I tried to make OMELET work at 19A: Light breakfast (ONE EGG). Then I remembered the last OMELET I had and thought "... light?" Was able to fix it when I realized that short people were probably not very well assisted by LOAMS (2D: Assistance for short people? = LOANS). If you say SLOANE's LOANS over and over you get this crazy infinite LOANS loop. Where was I? Oh, right, second hangup. Happened at the end, in the NE corner, where I Could Not get either BLEED (16A: Run) or COPAY (18A: Figure in a doctor's office) (esp. the latter) until I had all four of the first letters for each, and even then I had to think a bit. What, exactly, makes a cross-country trip an ODYSSEY? I mean, what's the magic ingredient that separates an ODYSSEY from a mere cross-country trip? Getting lost in rural Wisconsin? Getting caught in an epic, God's-Vengeance thunderstorm in Montana? (I've done both). Just curious.
Bullets:
Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: none
Word of the Day: Winslow HOMER (50D: "Breezing Up (A Fair Wind)" artist, 1876) —
• • •
Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter andprintmaker, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th century America and a preeminent figure in American art.Largely self-taught, Homer began his career working as a commercial illustrator.[1] He subsequently took up oil painting and produced major studio works characterized by the weight and density he exploited from the medium. He also worked extensively in watercolor, creating a fluid and prolific oeuvre, primarily chronicling his working vacations. (wikipedia)
Tore this one apart in just over half the time it took me to do yesterday's puzzle. There's only one word in the puzzle that I can imagine not being common knowledge to a regular solver—SLOANE (9D: ___ Crosley, author of the 2008 best seller "I Was Told There'd Be Cake"). Luckily, I knew the name, not because I've read her, but because I remember being in Barnes & Noble and picking up her book and thinking "who is this writer I've never heard of who has these good blurbs" and "huh, SLOANE is a cool name for a girl." I know *of* books more than I know books, sadly. Kind of embarrassing for someone with a Ph.D. in English, but I'm working on it. Anyway, everything else in the grid is common / famous. This didn't have the overall sizzle that I've come to expect from Nothnagel puzzles, but it did have LIKE HERDING CATS (36A: Frustratingly difficult), which (given the otherwise clean grid) is enough for me. Got started with Fred's iconic ASCOT and mostly roared forward from there.Had two minor hangups, one at the beginning and one at the end. First, I tried to make OMELET work at 19A: Light breakfast (ONE EGG). Then I remembered the last OMELET I had and thought "... light?" Was able to fix it when I realized that short people were probably not very well assisted by LOAMS (2D: Assistance for short people? = LOANS). If you say SLOANE's LOANS over and over you get this crazy infinite LOANS loop. Where was I? Oh, right, second hangup. Happened at the end, in the NE corner, where I Could Not get either BLEED (16A: Run) or COPAY (18A: Figure in a doctor's office) (esp. the latter) until I had all four of the first letters for each, and even then I had to think a bit. What, exactly, makes a cross-country trip an ODYSSEY? I mean, what's the magic ingredient that separates an ODYSSEY from a mere cross-country trip? Getting lost in rural Wisconsin? Getting caught in an epic, God's-Vengeance thunderstorm in Montana? (I've done both). Just curious.Bullets:
- 23A: Old game co. that made D&D (TSR) — one of those crosswordy answers that I never quite feel I have a grasp on. "T ... something?" Today, I guessed and got it right on the first try.
- 24A: Tree with catkins (ALDER) — off the "A." I don't think I even knew that an ALDER *was* a kind of tree until I started doing crosswords.
- 46A: Part of the intro to a piece of "Champagne Music" (A-TWO) — proudest solving moment of the night. Got it off the "W." Something about the cluing just shouted out "Lawrence Welk! "A-One and A-TWO and ..."; I've watched a complete episode of "The Lawrence Welk Show" exactly never. It Still Airs On My Local PBS Station, in all its creepily soulless glory.
- 47A: Area in front of a basketball net, informally (PAINT) — first thought: CREASE (wrong sport).
- 61A: Advertiser with a computer-generated mascot (GEICO) — way to ruin the illusion, Mike!
- 63A: Thomas Cromwell's earldom (ESSEX) — through a path too circuitous to retrace, I learned just now that "The role of Anne of Cleves was played by actress and singer Joss Stone in the Showtime cable television series The Tudors." (wikipedia)
- 7D: Intl. soccer powerhouse (ARG.) — I went with ENG. at first. That's not ... laughably wrong, is it?
- 8D: Original airer of "The Jetsons" (ABC) — had the "A" so ... yeah.
- 15D: N.F.L. All-Pro player Chris (SNEE) — Played alongside Mike Snick. Quite a team, those two.
- 25D: "Passage to Marseille" actor, 1944 (LORRE) — Had "L---E" and struggled to come up with the name LOREN only to realize that's ridiculous for many reasons. LORNE Greene? Also ridiculous. Then hit on Peter LORRE. Of course.
- 60D: "___ Yu" (collection also known as "The Analects of Confucius") (LUN) — OK, so there's not *no* junk in this puzzle. Just very little. (side note: my Tigers are currently getting whipped by *Yu* Darvish—who will visit your puzzle one day, trust me—and the rest of the currently indestructible Texas Rangers)
Statistic method for checking means / SUN 4-22-12 / Adams with 1991 hit Get Here / Faddish 1970s footwear / Conditional construct in programming / Actor Paul of American Graffiti / Ali trainer Dundee / Chile de hot pepper / Frontiersman Boone informally
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Constructor: Paula Gamache and Ed Stein
Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: "Letting Go Of" — shockingly, these are familiar phrases missing their "of"s. Hilarity ensues?
Word of the Day: T TEST (33D: Statistics method for checking means) —
Weak theme, weak fill, no fun. Always hate junk like LEMAT (36A: Actor Paul of "American Graffiti") and really resent it when it runs into more obscure junk like T TEST (33D: Statistics method for checking means). And ARBOL as your 1-Down!? (1D: Chile de ___ (hot pepper)) Is there really no way you couldn't have drastically cleaned up that entire NW?? It's very rare that I see a grid with Nothing that I like, but this has Nothing that I like. I might like EARTH SHOES (39D: Faddish 1970s footwear) if I knew what they were. At least they're interesting-sounding, unlike the rest of the olden dreck in this grid.
Theme answers:
Some of these theme answers were mildly tough to get (BOOK THE DEAD), others I filled in without even looking at the clue (ORDER THE GARTER). There's really not much to say here. I was annoyed at ESKIMO DOGS ("They're called SLED DOGS," I thought) until I realized that an Eskimo dog is a *breed* of dog—a breed sometimes used as sled dogs, I guess (44D: They're mushed). Well, the Canadian Eskimo dog (or "Qimmiq"!!!) is. American Eskimo dog looks far more ... domestic.
Bullets:
P.S. It's possible that I'll be on the CBS News tonight during 6pm broadcast, UNLESS golf goes long, in which case, who knows? [UPDATE: just got official word—the piece is, in fact, airing tonight] [UPDATE: just got MORE official word that it is not, in fact, airing tonight] [I give up—just know that some Sunday in the near or distant future, CBS News will air a story about crosswords, featuring me. Maybe by Christmas?]
Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: "Letting Go Of" — shockingly, these are familiar phrases missing their "of"s. Hilarity ensues?
Word of the Day: T TEST (33D: Statistics method for checking means) —
A t-test is any statistical hypothesis test in which the test statistic follows a Student's t distribution if the null hypothesis is supported. It is most commonly applied when the test statistic would follow a normal distribution if the value of a scaling term in the test statistic were known. When the scaling term is unknown and is replaced by an estimate based on the data, the test statistic (under certain conditions) follows a Student's t distribution. (wikipedia)• • •
Weak theme, weak fill, no fun. Always hate junk like LEMAT (36A: Actor Paul of "American Graffiti") and really resent it when it runs into more obscure junk like T TEST (33D: Statistics method for checking means). And ARBOL as your 1-Down!? (1D: Chile de ___ (hot pepper)) Is there really no way you couldn't have drastically cleaned up that entire NW?? It's very rare that I see a grid with Nothing that I like, but this has Nothing that I like. I might like EARTH SHOES (39D: Faddish 1970s footwear) if I knew what they were. At least they're interesting-sounding, unlike the rest of the olden dreck in this grid.Theme answers:
- 23A: Diet? (BATTLE THE BULGE)
- 31A: Be very successful at fishing? (LAND PLENTY)
- 37A: Do a clerk's work at a morgue? (BOOK THE DEAD) — I'd've gone with something like [Arrange for Jerry's band to play at your party?] or the like.
- 50A: Throw large bank notes around? (CAST THOUSANDS)
- 67A: Take advantage of Good Samaritans? (MILK HUMAN KINDNESS)
- 86A: Forge some personal notes? (DOCTOR LETTERS) — ugh, lame base phrase
- 94A: Outdo one's buddies? (BEST FRIENDS) — UGH, THIS IS A NORMAL PHRASE!!! "Battle the bulge" might, conceivably, make someone, somewhere, laugh, or at least smile; BEST FRIENDS, on the other hand, will not.
- 103A: Be a sadistic masseuse? (POUND FLESH)
- 118A: Send for a special bridal accessory? (ORDER THE GARTER)
Some of these theme answers were mildly tough to get (BOOK THE DEAD), others I filled in without even looking at the clue (ORDER THE GARTER). There's really not much to say here. I was annoyed at ESKIMO DOGS ("They're called SLED DOGS," I thought) until I realized that an Eskimo dog is a *breed* of dog—a breed sometimes used as sled dogs, I guess (44D: They're mushed). Well, the Canadian Eskimo dog (or "Qimmiq"!!!) is. American Eskimo dog looks far more ... domestic.Bullets:
- 64D: Adams with the 1991 hit "Get Here" (OLETA) — if there weren't so many ughy names, I wouldn't bother with her; but throw in PEREC (103D: Georges who wrote "Life: A User's Manual") and DAN'L (71D: Frontiersman Boone, informally) and LEMAT and come on.
- 22A: Wife of Alexander the Great (ROXANA) — with one N? Sure, if you say so. Why not? She's fame...ish.
- 82D: Veg-O-Matic maker (RONCO) — kind of odd / cool how this intersects BRONC (81A: It may be broken on a ranch). If you put them together, you have an actual word (and car model, and professional football player).
P.S. It's possible that I'll be on the CBS News tonight during 6pm broadcast, UNLESS golf goes long, in which case, who knows? [UPDATE: just got official word—the piece is, in fact, airing tonight] [UPDATE: just got MORE official word that it is not, in fact, airing tonight] [I give up—just know that some Sunday in the near or distant future, CBS News will air a story about crosswords, featuring me. Maybe by Christmas?]
Ruler after diet / MON 4-23-12 / Ruler in vegetable garden / Cone-shaped shelter / Folded Mexican dish / Ruler with custard desserts
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Constructor: Michael David
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
THEME: Rulers — words ending in "KING" are reimagined (in the clues) as phrases related to KINGs
Word of the Day: CLOY (57D: Fill to excess) —
LOO KING, but no PEE KING?
Despite the abundance of KINGs (i.e. tons of squares that are easily filled in once you catch on to the theme), this one played harder-than-normal for a Monday, for several reasons. First, there's 1A: Late, as a library book (PAST DUE). Tens of thousands of people will either think or (as I did) write in OVERDUE, as that is the more commonly used phrase. The phrase in the grid is totally valid, just not the one that is likely to leap to mind first (if, like my wife, you are smart and check the crosses before writing anything in, then this answer won't affect you much, if at all). Then there's the fact that it's not obvious where the theme answers are in this grid, so when you first encounter a "?" clue, it's not going to be clear that it's theme material. Could just be any old "?" clue. This was true for me at 4D: Ruler after a diet? (THIN KING). I was sure that the pun was on "diet" and that (because of "ruler") I was supposed to think of "diet" in the sense of "legislative assembly" (e.g. Diet of Worms) (wife, strangely, had same thought). Then there was the fact that the SUMMON (32D: Order to come) / FUME (40A: Be furious) nexus was just tough. Those clues were hard (I thought "to come" meant "in the future" and assumed [Be furious] was RAGE). Both wife and I got hung up there. Then there's the meaning of CLOY that I was not familiar with (57D: Fill to excess). I knew "be sickeningly sweet," but not "overfill." At four letters, of course I wanted SATE there (also wanted EEK at 56A: Comic strip cry, since I was going off the K—if clue had said ["Cathy" cry], I wouldn't have made that error). Then there's PULE (53D: Whine). It's a word. Just not that common a word. I've seen it only in crosswords. Wife claims never to have seen it.
So this played more Tuesday than Monday. Quality-wise, it has pluses and minuses. The theme is actually cute and kind of funny, and though having So Many (a cloying number of) KINGs in the grid feels excessive, the amusement offered by the clues as well as the relative difficulty of the rest of the grid mostly made up for what could have been an annoying repetitive feature. The fill undoubtedly could've been stronger in more expert hands. There's a Lot of crosswordese (and whatever TING is). But overall, I think this is a decent effort. Maybe I'm biased because my (real) first name is Michael and my middle name is David and so it looks like 2/3 of me constructed this puzzle. But I doubt it.
Thanks to (crossword constructor) Alex Boisvert for recently tweeting about the ROYGBIV mnemonic (66A: Rainbow mnemonic). I'm sure I would've gotten it easily anyway, but Alex's tweet ensured that the answer was right at the top of my brain.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
THEME: Rulers — words ending in "KING" are reimagined (in the clues) as phrases related to KINGs
- 4D: Ruler after a diet? (THIN KING)
- 20A: Ruler on a golf course? (PAR KING)
- 10D: Ruler on a beach? (TAN KING)
- 20D: Ruler in a Utah city? (PROVO KING)
- 40D: Ruler with custard desserts? (FLANKING)
- 42D: Ruler in a W.C.? (LOO KING)
- 53A: Ruler in a vegetable garden? (PEA KING)
Word of the Day: CLOY (57D: Fill to excess) —
v., cloyed, cloy·ing, cloys.• • •
v.tr.
To cause distaste or disgust by supplying with too much of something originally pleasant, especially something rich or sweet; surfeit.
v.intr.
To be too filling, rich, or sweet.
[Short for obsolete accloy, to clog, from Middle English acloien, from Old French encloer, to drive a nail into, from Medieval Latin inclāvāre : Latin in-, in; see in-2 + Latin clāvāre, to nail (from clāvus, nail).]
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/cloy#ixzz1sourhDlt
LOO KING, but no PEE KING?
Despite the abundance of KINGs (i.e. tons of squares that are easily filled in once you catch on to the theme), this one played harder-than-normal for a Monday, for several reasons. First, there's 1A: Late, as a library book (PAST DUE). Tens of thousands of people will either think or (as I did) write in OVERDUE, as that is the more commonly used phrase. The phrase in the grid is totally valid, just not the one that is likely to leap to mind first (if, like my wife, you are smart and check the crosses before writing anything in, then this answer won't affect you much, if at all). Then there's the fact that it's not obvious where the theme answers are in this grid, so when you first encounter a "?" clue, it's not going to be clear that it's theme material. Could just be any old "?" clue. This was true for me at 4D: Ruler after a diet? (THIN KING). I was sure that the pun was on "diet" and that (because of "ruler") I was supposed to think of "diet" in the sense of "legislative assembly" (e.g. Diet of Worms) (wife, strangely, had same thought). Then there was the fact that the SUMMON (32D: Order to come) / FUME (40A: Be furious) nexus was just tough. Those clues were hard (I thought "to come" meant "in the future" and assumed [Be furious] was RAGE). Both wife and I got hung up there. Then there's the meaning of CLOY that I was not familiar with (57D: Fill to excess). I knew "be sickeningly sweet," but not "overfill." At four letters, of course I wanted SATE there (also wanted EEK at 56A: Comic strip cry, since I was going off the K—if clue had said ["Cathy" cry], I wouldn't have made that error). Then there's PULE (53D: Whine). It's a word. Just not that common a word. I've seen it only in crosswords. Wife claims never to have seen it.So this played more Tuesday than Monday. Quality-wise, it has pluses and minuses. The theme is actually cute and kind of funny, and though having So Many (a cloying number of) KINGs in the grid feels excessive, the amusement offered by the clues as well as the relative difficulty of the rest of the grid mostly made up for what could have been an annoying repetitive feature. The fill undoubtedly could've been stronger in more expert hands. There's a Lot of crosswordese (and whatever TING is). But overall, I think this is a decent effort. Maybe I'm biased because my (real) first name is Michael and my middle name is David and so it looks like 2/3 of me constructed this puzzle. But I doubt it.Thanks to (crossword constructor) Alex Boisvert for recently tweeting about the ROYGBIV mnemonic (66A: Rainbow mnemonic). I'm sure I would've gotten it easily anyway, but Alex's tweet ensured that the answer was right at the top of my brain.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
1906 Massenet opera based on Greek myth / TUE 4-24-12 / TV doctor Sanjay / 1940s Bikini blasts / Public place in Athens / Number of Los Lonely Boys
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Constructor: Adam G. Perl
Relative difficulty: Challenging
THEME: "The GIRL WITH The Dragon Tattoo" (1A: With 10-Across and the circled letters, a best-selling novel, with "The") — puzzle also contains the "heroine" (LISBETH SALANDER) and "hero" (MIKAEL BLOMKVIST) of the novel
Word of the Day: "ARIANE" (43D: 1906 Massenet opera based on Greek myth) —
There is only one reason this puzzle exists—because the constructor noticed that the two heroes of the "Dragon Tattoo" have 15-letter names. I know "everyone" has read these books, but I haven't, and filling in random Swedish names does absolutely nothing for me. I'm guessing the circles have some relation to the book—maybe the dragon tattoo is in a shape roughly approximating the stripe on Charlie Brown's shirt?—but if so, I don't know what that relation is. I got the title easily, actually, and filled in all the circles very quickly. I also vaguely remembered LISBETH SALANDER because Rooney Mara was nominated for an Oscar for playing her, so her name must have crossed my path a few times this year. But MIKAEL BLOMKVIST!? Forget about it. I thought that SW corner was going to stop me completely, and in fact if my (real) name weren't "Michael," it might have taken me even longer than it did for me to come up with that "A" at MIKAEL / "ARIANE" (43D: 1906 Massenet opera based on Greek myth).
Speaking of "ARIANE," !?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Wow. Now, come on, I know "obscurity" is relative, but *that* is obscure. I actually wanted ARIADNE there, but, obviously, it didn't fit. Between the "hero"'s name, "ARIANE," and the insane clue on GLIDE (40D: Dance movement—really? With that clue, I was looking for something like GLISSÉ or ... I don't know, something not ordinary), and the other not-totally-obvious stuff down there, I was in trouble. Was over my normal Tuesday time by a full minute. Times at the NYT site are quite high for a Tuesday. As with yesterday, this puzzle feels misplaced by a day. I found it mostly annoying, but my opinion is that of someone who hasn't read the book. Maybe "Dragon Tattoo" lovers will love it. Who knows?
Strangest moment of the solve came right away, when I got "GIRL" and thought "GIRL ... Interrupted?," then figured out the actual answer, and *then* ran into WINONA Ryder (10D: Actress Ryder), who was, of course, in the movie version of "Girl, Interrupted." Freaky. Stunned to see G-SPOT make such a quick return (34D: "The ___ and Other Recent Discoveries About Human Sexuality" (1982 best seller)). I'm sure there's a joke in there about G-SPOT coming multiple times, but I'm too tired. The non-theme, non-SW-corner parts of the grid all seem normal. Not exceptional, not terrible. Onward and upward.
Bullets:
Relative difficulty: Challenging
THEME: "The GIRL WITH The Dragon Tattoo" (1A: With 10-Across and the circled letters, a best-selling novel, with "The") — puzzle also contains the "heroine" (LISBETH SALANDER) and "hero" (MIKAEL BLOMKVIST) of the novel
Word of the Day: "ARIANE" (43D: 1906 Massenet opera based on Greek myth) —
Ariane is an opera in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Catulle Mendès after Greek mythology (the tale of Ariadne). It was first performed at the Palais Garnier in Paris on October 31, 1906, with Lucienne Bréval in the title role. (wikipedia)• • •
There is only one reason this puzzle exists—because the constructor noticed that the two heroes of the "Dragon Tattoo" have 15-letter names. I know "everyone" has read these books, but I haven't, and filling in random Swedish names does absolutely nothing for me. I'm guessing the circles have some relation to the book—maybe the dragon tattoo is in a shape roughly approximating the stripe on Charlie Brown's shirt?—but if so, I don't know what that relation is. I got the title easily, actually, and filled in all the circles very quickly. I also vaguely remembered LISBETH SALANDER because Rooney Mara was nominated for an Oscar for playing her, so her name must have crossed my path a few times this year. But MIKAEL BLOMKVIST!? Forget about it. I thought that SW corner was going to stop me completely, and in fact if my (real) name weren't "Michael," it might have taken me even longer than it did for me to come up with that "A" at MIKAEL / "ARIANE" (43D: 1906 Massenet opera based on Greek myth).Speaking of "ARIANE," !?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Wow. Now, come on, I know "obscurity" is relative, but *that* is obscure. I actually wanted ARIADNE there, but, obviously, it didn't fit. Between the "hero"'s name, "ARIANE," and the insane clue on GLIDE (40D: Dance movement—really? With that clue, I was looking for something like GLISSÉ or ... I don't know, something not ordinary), and the other not-totally-obvious stuff down there, I was in trouble. Was over my normal Tuesday time by a full minute. Times at the NYT site are quite high for a Tuesday. As with yesterday, this puzzle feels misplaced by a day. I found it mostly annoying, but my opinion is that of someone who hasn't read the book. Maybe "Dragon Tattoo" lovers will love it. Who knows?
Strangest moment of the solve came right away, when I got "GIRL" and thought "GIRL ... Interrupted?," then figured out the actual answer, and *then* ran into WINONA Ryder (10D: Actress Ryder), who was, of course, in the movie version of "Girl, Interrupted." Freaky. Stunned to see G-SPOT make such a quick return (34D: "The ___ and Other Recent Discoveries About Human Sexuality" (1982 best seller)). I'm sure there's a joke in there about G-SPOT coming multiple times, but I'm too tired. The non-theme, non-SW-corner parts of the grid all seem normal. Not exceptional, not terrible. Onward and upward.Bullets:
- 29A: Zero personality? (OPERATOR) — great clue, but Hard clue. Another answer that added to the later-in-the-week feel, difficulty-wise.
- 42A: Silicon Valley city (LOS ALTOS) — familiar to me, but I'm from California. This seems like it might be tough for some.
- 40A: TV doctor Sanjay (GUPTA) — was wondering when I'd see him in a grid. Maybe I already have and am forgetting.
Catchphrase of announcer Harry Caray / WED 4-25-12 / Football club that plays at San Siro / Baggy pants popularizer in 1980s / Bygone sports org for which Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura was TV analyst / Locale in 1964 Stan Getz hit
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Constructor: Peter Wentz
Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: SEVEN Cs (61A: Punny title for this puzzle that's a hint to the answers to the starred clues) — DESCRIPTION
Word of the Day: COLETTE (68A: "Gigi" novelist) —
OK, I'm gonna tell you why this theme doesn't quite work. Don't freak out, OK? OK.
The revealer is SEVEN CS. This is true about no aspect of this puzzle. There are more than 7 Cs in the grid. The perfect puzzle would've had Just Seven. But, let's give some leeway and say "look, you know what it means ... it's referring to the *theme*." Well, OK. It's just that ... there are more than 7 Cs in the theme answers too. See RC COLAS and DC COMICS. That takes you to 10 Cs, by my count, and I might have missed one—I'm really not paying that close attention. "But ... come on, you're nitpicking. You knooooow what SEVEN CS is getting at — it's those "C"s in the second position, the ones that you actually pronounce as "SEA"—those!" At that point, I guess, I would say, "you got me." I can't argue with that. I can say, however, that the (at least) three different answers beginning "AC" that are *not* theme answers are a distraction, esp. as two of them are Acrosses exactly the same length as other theme answers. "Can't you just let things go!?" Clearly, I can't. I actually enjoyed parts of this puzzle. I made a whole puzzle about MC HAMMER a couple weeks back for his 50th birthday. It is always enjoyable to remember MC HAMMER. FACE OF EVIL (32D: Villainy personified) was hard and a little off-the-beaten path, but once I got it, I kind of liked it. DACTYL (also hard) (45D: "Innocent," but not "guilty") was cleverly clued. AC MILAN brought a nice Euroflair. I didn't know "CUBS WIN!" was a "catchphrase" (sounds more like a simple declaration of fact) (1A: Catchphrase of announcer harry Caray), but I love it at 1-Across. But the theme has issues. And if, as So Many Insist, the theme is everything, then the theme oughta be air tight. Fill here is decent. Sadly, I finished up in the very worst part of the grid (the ATLAS / LUNES / ANENT part) (35A: Space launch vehicle / 36D: Crescent shapes / 37D: Regarding), so I was left with a bad taste in my mouth, but looking back, I think the state of the fill is not bad overall.
Theme answers:
So earlier today I was having a busy, cruddy day—too many encounters with too many pathetic, dishonest, or otherwise insufferable people (both in real life and online)—but once work was over, I had yoga (always good), and then, right after, I had "An Evening With Neil DeGrasse Tyson" awaiting me (and my family) at the university. So: yay. Only ... when I got to the Tyson talk, as I'm waiting in line to get in, a young woman from the BU Student Association pulls me aside and says "so... they were expecting you backstage." I just stared at her. Then said: "What? WHAT?" Now, I should back up a bit here: a friend of mine (you may have heard of her ... xword constructor ... initials ACM) is friends with Dr. Tyson and I knew she had asked him about any possibility of my daughter being able to meet him during his visit here ... but that was weeks and weeks ago and I never heard anything definitive back, so I figured it was a no-go. So to hear that I was expected (!) and missed it (!!!!) was exceedingly deflating. How was I expected, but no one told me!? So, I felt slightly sick. But then the young woman said, she'd go back and ask if maybe we could still get back and see him; this is about 20 min. before start time. So we're like "cool!" But then she Never comes back, so we figure she's forgotten about us, or it just wasn't possible, or whatever. THEN, right before start time, she comes up to us and says "I'll take you to see him after the talk. I know where you're sitting. I'll come get you."
So we're like "Yay, game back on!" (keep in mind there is an 11-yr-old Tyson fan next to me clutching her copy of Dr. Tyson's "The Pluto Files" this whole time). Then the talk (brilliant, 2.25 hrs) ends, and ... the young woman never comes back. Place empties out and we're just ... standing there. We wander out ... nothing. Just people milling, buying books, etc. Then it's announced that there won't be a signing. So—hopes dashed. We linger a while, but no sign of my Student Association contact. So we start to exit the building by the back way, and there are three kids lingering in a hallway, and I'm half wondering what they're doing just standing there, and then I can hear what sounds like a small party on the other side of a nearby door, and I recognize Tyson's voice very clearly among all the other voices. As I approach the door, the kids all say "the door's locked." Aargh. So close ... yet so far. So I'm thinking about maybe knocking, but then I see that my wife has moved down an adjacent hallway and is standing in front of an *open* door and motioning me over. I come over and bam, there he is, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, surrounded by Adoring students who are handing him all manner of things to sign. (He did not, however, want to sign a blank piece of paper this one kid gave him: "A blank piece of paper? I can't ... this is just too sad ... do you guys have a leftover program or something ... I mean, a blank piece of paper!? We gotta do better than this." I said "Maybe you can sign his boob," but I don't think anyone heard). When we first come in the room, one official-looking Student Assoc. person looks at me like he's wondering "who the hell are you?" but then I see the young lady from earlier, as well as a former student of mine, and I'm in. And, more importantly, my daughter is in.
I have never seen her starstruck before, but she literally lost her ability to speak and answer questions like a human being. It was pretty adorable. He was gracious and generous and warm to everyone, and he signed my daughter's book with an elaborate drawing and dedication. I told him I was ACM's friend and he said "oh, *you're* the guy we've been expecting." Yes. Yes I am. And I was *that* close to missing the experience entirely. So thanks ACM. And Dr. Tyson, of course.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. if you have time / inclination, you really should check out the epic thread about "bad fill" at Tyler Hinman's blog (with contributions by many constructors and bloggers, as well as a certain xword editor whose name you may know). Very interesting debate, though kind of insidery. Maybe you can bring some perspective.
Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: SEVEN Cs (61A: Punny title for this puzzle that's a hint to the answers to the starred clues) — DESCRIPTION
Word of the Day: COLETTE (68A: "Gigi" novelist) —
Colette (pronounced: [kɔ.lɛt]) was the surname of the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette(28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954). She is best known for her novel Gigi, upon which Lerner and Loewe based the stage and film musical comedies of the same title. (wikipedia)• • •
OK, I'm gonna tell you why this theme doesn't quite work. Don't freak out, OK? OK.
The revealer is SEVEN CS. This is true about no aspect of this puzzle. There are more than 7 Cs in the grid. The perfect puzzle would've had Just Seven. But, let's give some leeway and say "look, you know what it means ... it's referring to the *theme*." Well, OK. It's just that ... there are more than 7 Cs in the theme answers too. See RC COLAS and DC COMICS. That takes you to 10 Cs, by my count, and I might have missed one—I'm really not paying that close attention. "But ... come on, you're nitpicking. You knooooow what SEVEN CS is getting at — it's those "C"s in the second position, the ones that you actually pronounce as "SEA"—those!" At that point, I guess, I would say, "you got me." I can't argue with that. I can say, however, that the (at least) three different answers beginning "AC" that are *not* theme answers are a distraction, esp. as two of them are Acrosses exactly the same length as other theme answers. "Can't you just let things go!?" Clearly, I can't. I actually enjoyed parts of this puzzle. I made a whole puzzle about MC HAMMER a couple weeks back for his 50th birthday. It is always enjoyable to remember MC HAMMER. FACE OF EVIL (32D: Villainy personified) was hard and a little off-the-beaten path, but once I got it, I kind of liked it. DACTYL (also hard) (45D: "Innocent," but not "guilty") was cleverly clued. AC MILAN brought a nice Euroflair. I didn't know "CUBS WIN!" was a "catchphrase" (sounds more like a simple declaration of fact) (1A: Catchphrase of announcer harry Caray), but I love it at 1-Across. But the theme has issues. And if, as So Many Insist, the theme is everything, then the theme oughta be air tight. Fill here is decent. Sadly, I finished up in the very worst part of the grid (the ATLAS / LUNES / ANENT part) (35A: Space launch vehicle / 36D: Crescent shapes / 37D: Regarding), so I was left with a bad taste in my mouth, but looking back, I think the state of the fill is not bad overall.Theme answers:
- 17A: *Football club that plays at San Siro (AC MILAN)
- 18A: *First soft drinks sold in cans (RC COLAS)
- 19A: *Green Lantern company (DC COMICS)
- 33A: *He said "Start every day off with a smile and get it over with (W.C. FIELDS)
- 43A: *Big clothing retailer (JC PENNEY)
- 56A: *Baggy pants popularizer in the 1980s (MC HAMMER)
- 59A: *The Wolfpack, informally (N.C. STATE)
- 8A: Early French settler (ACADIAN) — or A.C. ADIAN, I'm not sure. I always think of ACADIA as a mythical place.
- 15A: Locale in a 1964 Stan Getz hit (IPANEMA) — Off the "IP" it was easy. I don't think I associate the song with Getz, though that is, in fact, who made it famous. I was thinking Herb Alpert for some reason.
- 31A: Bygone sports org. for which Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura was a TV analyst (XFL) — Had the "X," so ... easy. I miss that (insane) league. Mainly I miss He Hate Me.
- 56D: Figure in a crèche (MARY) — really, really thought this would be a French word. The whole RESTYLE / DACTYL / MARY nexus gave me (small) fits.
- 48D: "Jane Eyre" locale (MANOR) — I wrote in MOORS. I think I confused it with "Wuthering Heights." I can't be the first.
So earlier today I was having a busy, cruddy day—too many encounters with too many pathetic, dishonest, or otherwise insufferable people (both in real life and online)—but once work was over, I had yoga (always good), and then, right after, I had "An Evening With Neil DeGrasse Tyson" awaiting me (and my family) at the university. So: yay. Only ... when I got to the Tyson talk, as I'm waiting in line to get in, a young woman from the BU Student Association pulls me aside and says "so... they were expecting you backstage." I just stared at her. Then said: "What? WHAT?" Now, I should back up a bit here: a friend of mine (you may have heard of her ... xword constructor ... initials ACM) is friends with Dr. Tyson and I knew she had asked him about any possibility of my daughter being able to meet him during his visit here ... but that was weeks and weeks ago and I never heard anything definitive back, so I figured it was a no-go. So to hear that I was expected (!) and missed it (!!!!) was exceedingly deflating. How was I expected, but no one told me!? So, I felt slightly sick. But then the young woman said, she'd go back and ask if maybe we could still get back and see him; this is about 20 min. before start time. So we're like "cool!" But then she Never comes back, so we figure she's forgotten about us, or it just wasn't possible, or whatever. THEN, right before start time, she comes up to us and says "I'll take you to see him after the talk. I know where you're sitting. I'll come get you."
So we're like "Yay, game back on!" (keep in mind there is an 11-yr-old Tyson fan next to me clutching her copy of Dr. Tyson's "The Pluto Files" this whole time). Then the talk (brilliant, 2.25 hrs) ends, and ... the young woman never comes back. Place empties out and we're just ... standing there. We wander out ... nothing. Just people milling, buying books, etc. Then it's announced that there won't be a signing. So—hopes dashed. We linger a while, but no sign of my Student Association contact. So we start to exit the building by the back way, and there are three kids lingering in a hallway, and I'm half wondering what they're doing just standing there, and then I can hear what sounds like a small party on the other side of a nearby door, and I recognize Tyson's voice very clearly among all the other voices. As I approach the door, the kids all say "the door's locked." Aargh. So close ... yet so far. So I'm thinking about maybe knocking, but then I see that my wife has moved down an adjacent hallway and is standing in front of an *open* door and motioning me over. I come over and bam, there he is, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, surrounded by Adoring students who are handing him all manner of things to sign. (He did not, however, want to sign a blank piece of paper this one kid gave him: "A blank piece of paper? I can't ... this is just too sad ... do you guys have a leftover program or something ... I mean, a blank piece of paper!? We gotta do better than this." I said "Maybe you can sign his boob," but I don't think anyone heard). When we first come in the room, one official-looking Student Assoc. person looks at me like he's wondering "who the hell are you?" but then I see the young lady from earlier, as well as a former student of mine, and I'm in. And, more importantly, my daughter is in.I have never seen her starstruck before, but she literally lost her ability to speak and answer questions like a human being. It was pretty adorable. He was gracious and generous and warm to everyone, and he signed my daughter's book with an elaborate drawing and dedication. I told him I was ACM's friend and he said "oh, *you're* the guy we've been expecting." Yes. Yes I am. And I was *that* close to missing the experience entirely. So thanks ACM. And Dr. Tyson, of course.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. if you have time / inclination, you really should check out the epic thread about "bad fill" at Tyler Hinman's blog (with contributions by many constructors and bloggers, as well as a certain xword editor whose name you may know). Very interesting debate, though kind of insidery. Maybe you can bring some perspective.
Capital city on Daugava River / THU 4-26-12 / Oto neighbors / Hebdomodally / Doggie old cartoon pooch / 1970 Hugo Award-winning novel by Larry Niven / Indian sauce with coriander cumin / Group making billion-dollar loans /
To contact us Click HERE
Constructor: Julian Lim
Relative difficulty: Challenging
THEME: "IT'S / A SMALL [WORLD] AFTER ALL" (1A: With 40-Across, a chorus line ... or a hint to this puzzle's theme) — a [WORLD] rebus, with 5 [WORLD] squares
Word of the Day: "RING[WORLD]" (50D: 1970 Hugo Award-winning novel by Larry Niven) —
Over the past six weeks, my Tuesdays are a minute slower than Mondays, Wednesdays a minute slower than Tuesdays, Thursdays *three minutes* slower than Wednesdays, and Fridays just 13 seconds slower than Thursdays, and Saturdays just six seconds slower than Fridays. This means that there is hardly any difference between my average Thursday and Saturday solving times of late: 19 seconds. Zero difficulty gradation. I don't think I like this. And yet, I do like challenging puzzles. It just seems like Saturdays should be appreciably harder than Thursdays, and they just haven't been, of late. Today, I had a rebus in a grid that didn't look like a rebus grid (i.e. it has a bunch of longish Acrosses that looked like typical theme answers). There was the initial difficulty of turning up the theme, and then the added difficulty of Fri/Sat-style cluing, all over the place. By far the toughest parts were the NE and SW. I say this having taken my first stab at the NE w/o knowing the theme. After I figured that out, that corner got easier. But I knew the theme when solving the SW, and it didn't help as much as it should have. Or, that is, it did, eventually. Who knows where the damned [WORLD]s are gonna be? I had to remind myself of the theme in order to pick up (finally) OLD [WORLD]. Never heard of "RING[WORLD]". Did not know THIRD had anything to do with yellow ribbons (49D: Place for a yellow ribbon), which I associate with oak trees.
I think the revealer is a winner. Otherwise, it's just a rebus, like any other. Well, better/tougher, in that the [WORLD]s are not symmetrical, but there was an utter haphazardness about the [WORLD] placement here that was actually a little annoying. Three of the five long Acrosses have them, but their symmetrical counterparts don't. The fill is pretty strained in many places. I would've gutted the whole grid from NROTC (29A: Campus org. for ensigns-in-training) all the way east (theme matter excepted). That Down sequence of CRT / RAITA (37D: Indian sauce with coriander and cumin) / OL' MAN / PLEUT is particularly unlovely. One or two of those answers, fine; jammed together like that, suffocating. ROOT CROP made me wince (35A: Turnips, e.g.), as ROOT VEGETABLE is the far more common phrase—but it's validish, so no big problem. But having TOSS DOWN instead of TOSS BACK was a huge letdown. It always sucks when an answer is defensible, OK, but not really the mot (or phrase) juste. It's like soy cheese. Maybe passable, but just ... not right.
UNHINGE is a fantastic word (55A: Drive mad). HAB ... isn't (60D: Old Testament book before Zephaniah: Abbr.).
Theme answers:
Bullets:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Relative difficulty: Challenging
THEME: "IT'S / A SMALL [WORLD] AFTER ALL" (1A: With 40-Across, a chorus line ... or a hint to this puzzle's theme) — a [WORLD] rebus, with 5 [WORLD] squares
Word of the Day: "RING[WORLD]" (50D: 1970 Hugo Award-winning novel by Larry Niven) —
Ringworld is a 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe and considered a classic of science fiction literature. It is followed by three sequels, and preceded by four prequels, and ties into numerous other books set in Known Space. Ringworld won the Hugo Award in 1970,[1] as well as both the Nebula Award and Locus Award in 1971. (wikipedia)• • •
Over the past six weeks, my Tuesdays are a minute slower than Mondays, Wednesdays a minute slower than Tuesdays, Thursdays *three minutes* slower than Wednesdays, and Fridays just 13 seconds slower than Thursdays, and Saturdays just six seconds slower than Fridays. This means that there is hardly any difference between my average Thursday and Saturday solving times of late: 19 seconds. Zero difficulty gradation. I don't think I like this. And yet, I do like challenging puzzles. It just seems like Saturdays should be appreciably harder than Thursdays, and they just haven't been, of late. Today, I had a rebus in a grid that didn't look like a rebus grid (i.e. it has a bunch of longish Acrosses that looked like typical theme answers). There was the initial difficulty of turning up the theme, and then the added difficulty of Fri/Sat-style cluing, all over the place. By far the toughest parts were the NE and SW. I say this having taken my first stab at the NE w/o knowing the theme. After I figured that out, that corner got easier. But I knew the theme when solving the SW, and it didn't help as much as it should have. Or, that is, it did, eventually. Who knows where the damned [WORLD]s are gonna be? I had to remind myself of the theme in order to pick up (finally) OLD [WORLD]. Never heard of "RING[WORLD]". Did not know THIRD had anything to do with yellow ribbons (49D: Place for a yellow ribbon), which I associate with oak trees.I think the revealer is a winner. Otherwise, it's just a rebus, like any other. Well, better/tougher, in that the [WORLD]s are not symmetrical, but there was an utter haphazardness about the [WORLD] placement here that was actually a little annoying. Three of the five long Acrosses have them, but their symmetrical counterparts don't. The fill is pretty strained in many places. I would've gutted the whole grid from NROTC (29A: Campus org. for ensigns-in-training) all the way east (theme matter excepted). That Down sequence of CRT / RAITA (37D: Indian sauce with coriander and cumin) / OL' MAN / PLEUT is particularly unlovely. One or two of those answers, fine; jammed together like that, suffocating. ROOT CROP made me wince (35A: Turnips, e.g.), as ROOT VEGETABLE is the far more common phrase—but it's validish, so no big problem. But having TOSS DOWN instead of TOSS BACK was a huge letdown. It always sucks when an answer is defensible, OK, but not really the mot (or phrase) juste. It's like soy cheese. Maybe passable, but just ... not right.UNHINGE is a fantastic word (55A: Drive mad). HAB ... isn't (60D: Old Testament book before Zephaniah: Abbr.).
Theme answers:
- SEA [WORLD] / [WORLD] BANK
- "REAL [WORLD]" / FIRST [WORLD] WAR
- "IT'S A SMALL [WORLD] AFTER ALL" / [WORLD] WIDE WEB
- "A WHOLE NEW [WORLD]" / [WORLD]LY
- OLD [WORLD] / "RING[WORLD]"
Bullets:
- 19A: Capital city on the Daugava River (RIGA) — total lucky guess. Four-letter capitals FTW!
- 27A: Hebdomadally (A WEEK) — kind of an ostentatious clue for not-so-great fill. Still, that is a good (insane) word.
- 7D: Result of rampant inflation? (POP) — cute
- 12D: ___ Doggie (old cartoon pooch) (AUGIE) — just not happening today. No idea where this name disappeared to, but I had a lot of trouble getting it back. Deputy Dawg, sure, but AUGIE Doggie was nowhere to be found.
- 22D: Arizona and Arizona State joined it in '78 (PAC-TEN) — a most welcome gimme.
- 34D: Plum look-alike (SLOE) — this helped me change TOSS BACK to TOSS DOWN (an answer I had to choke down ... while I choked back tears ... not really, but it's interesting that "back" and "down" can (it seems) follow both "toss" and "choke")
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Koran memorizer / FRI 4-27-12 / Finnish architect Aalto / Pick-up sticks piece / Warp drive repairman on original Star Trek / North Pole author 1910 / Tom Detective 1896 novel
To contact us Click HERE
Constructor: Patrick Berry
Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: none
Word of the Day: MARTA (35A: Commuting option in Georgia's capital) —
I am getting worse and worse at puzzles. This is by far my slowest, clunkiest week in the past six weeks, and today, I can't even blame the puzzle's thorniness. I just ... don't know. I get bogged down somewhere and bump my head against a wall instead of moving on, putting answers in, taking them out. This puzzle's pretty dang normal, now that I look at it; I just got hung up on stupid things. Like ... oh, I don't know, insisting to myself that 48A: Some ruminants (DEER) must end in an "S" and therefore Not putting in SAWYER (36D: "Tom ___, Detective" (1896 novel)), which is the only answer my brain wanted (and the correct one, it turns out). Wanted "TELL ME ... something" instead of "TALK TO ME" (great answer, btw) (31D: "I want the lowdown!"), and just the wanting of TELL over TALK kept me from seeing the *easy* PACED (34A: Expended some nervous energy) for an absurd amount of time. Wanted SPINE (?) instead of SHIRT at 5A: Back cover? Could not retrieve ALVAR to save my life (11D: Finnish architect Aalto). Here is the one place I think the puzzle itself (and not just me) is actually weak: over-reliance on odd names. This is especially true in the southern half of the puzzle, which is crammed with proper nouns, many of them totally unknown to me (MARTA? KURTIS? EWELL? — I read "To Kill a Mockingbird" just last summer, and that name clearly didn't stick At All). Never would've gotten YNEZ (50A: Santa ___ Valley (winegrowing region)) if not for OYEZ (43D: Courtroom cry). Other parts of this grid, I cut right through. But a slow start and a ridiculous amount of fussing in the region in and around (esp just SW of) JACKSTRAW (26D: Pick-up sticks piece) put me over my normal time by a good margin. BEAT for DEAD (41D: Utterly exhausted) was kind of a backbreaker too. Weak, weak work on my part. Embarrassing. I don't even know what a JACKSTRAW is. Maybe that would've helped.
Love the long answers here. "THREE TIMES A LADY!" (20A: First #1 hit for the Commodores) Not my favorite Commodores song, but good. And 15! They mostly make up for the not-great name-i-ness of the grid.
[The best Commodores song]
I think I resent KURTIS (40A: Former "CBS Morning News" co-anchor Bill) (seriously, who?) so much because a. you already forced me to remember ALVAR (!), and b. the clue wasn't this guy (the world's greatest KURTIS):
Bullets:
Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: none
Word of the Day: MARTA (35A: Commuting option in Georgia's capital) —
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority or MARTA (• • •/ˈmɑrtə/) is the principal rapid-transitsystem in the Atlanta metropolitan area and the ninth-largest in the United States. Formed in 1971 as strictly a bus system, MARTA operates a network of bus routes linked to a rapid transit system consisting of 48 miles (77 km) of rail track with 38 train stations. MARTA operates almost exclusively in Fulton andDeKalb counties, with bus service to two destinations in Cobb county (Six Flags Over Georgia and theCumberland Transfer Center next to the Cumberland Mall) and a single rail station in Clayton County atHartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. MARTA also operates a separate paratransit service for disabled customers. As of 2009, the average total daily ridership for the system (bus and rail) was 482,500 passengers. (wikipedia)
I am getting worse and worse at puzzles. This is by far my slowest, clunkiest week in the past six weeks, and today, I can't even blame the puzzle's thorniness. I just ... don't know. I get bogged down somewhere and bump my head against a wall instead of moving on, putting answers in, taking them out. This puzzle's pretty dang normal, now that I look at it; I just got hung up on stupid things. Like ... oh, I don't know, insisting to myself that 48A: Some ruminants (DEER) must end in an "S" and therefore Not putting in SAWYER (36D: "Tom ___, Detective" (1896 novel)), which is the only answer my brain wanted (and the correct one, it turns out). Wanted "TELL ME ... something" instead of "TALK TO ME" (great answer, btw) (31D: "I want the lowdown!"), and just the wanting of TELL over TALK kept me from seeing the *easy* PACED (34A: Expended some nervous energy) for an absurd amount of time. Wanted SPINE (?) instead of SHIRT at 5A: Back cover? Could not retrieve ALVAR to save my life (11D: Finnish architect Aalto). Here is the one place I think the puzzle itself (and not just me) is actually weak: over-reliance on odd names. This is especially true in the southern half of the puzzle, which is crammed with proper nouns, many of them totally unknown to me (MARTA? KURTIS? EWELL? — I read "To Kill a Mockingbird" just last summer, and that name clearly didn't stick At All). Never would've gotten YNEZ (50A: Santa ___ Valley (winegrowing region)) if not for OYEZ (43D: Courtroom cry). Other parts of this grid, I cut right through. But a slow start and a ridiculous amount of fussing in the region in and around (esp just SW of) JACKSTRAW (26D: Pick-up sticks piece) put me over my normal time by a good margin. BEAT for DEAD (41D: Utterly exhausted) was kind of a backbreaker too. Weak, weak work on my part. Embarrassing. I don't even know what a JACKSTRAW is. Maybe that would've helped.Love the long answers here. "THREE TIMES A LADY!" (20A: First #1 hit for the Commodores) Not my favorite Commodores song, but good. And 15! They mostly make up for the not-great name-i-ness of the grid.
[The best Commodores song]
I think I resent KURTIS (40A: Former "CBS Morning News" co-anchor Bill) (seriously, who?) so much because a. you already forced me to remember ALVAR (!), and b. the clue wasn't this guy (the world's greatest KURTIS):
Bullets:
- 8D: Like a town that used to be a ghost town (REPEOPLED) — because of SPINE (ugh), I had this starting "NEW-" for a while.
- 5D: Warp drive repairman on the original "Star Trek" (SCOTTY) — one of the few things I had in the grid early on. Sadly, also the answer (along with IMAM ([Koran reciter])) that convinced me that SPINE was right at 5A.
- 6D: Koran memorizer (HAFIZ) — youch. Neverheardofit. Probably should've been my WOTD. According to wikipedia, this is "a term used by modern Muslims for someone who has completely memorized the Qur'an."
- 18D: "The North Pole" author, 1910 (PEARY) — Admiral, I presume. I didn't know if it was PERRY or PEARY, so I just waited (for ERSATZ—one of the language's greatest words).
- 9D: Schooner features (TOPSAILS) — any time the clue goes nautical, I'm pretty much doomed. I was also thinking maybe "schooner" was a kind of beer glass. Hey, look, something I'm not wrong about. For once.
- 27D: English physician James who gave his name to a disease (PARKINSON) — So the disease is his 4D.
- 42D: Literary governess's surname (EYRE) — this and MARLA and MERKEL were my flat-out gimmes in the South. If I'd moved out of the SW and found them earlier, this thing would've been wrapped up much more quickly.
Trombonist Winding / SAT 4-28-12 / Hall of Fame jockey Earle / Poem comprised of quotations / Old-time actresses Allgood Haden / Common language of Niger / Round dance officials
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Constructor: Gary J. Whitehead
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
THEME: none
Word of the Day: Earle SANDE (48D: Hall-of-Fame jockey Earle) —
An usual triple-stack-laden puzzle, in that it played harder-, not easier-than-average for me. Usually, I can put a few Downs through those stacks and make them roll over pretty readily, but those Downs were a bit of a mess today (up top and below), and so I had issues. You can add triple-stacks (and quad stacks) to the list of alleged construction accomplishments I don't care for (see also pangrams). The problem is two-fold. A: the 15s are often hit-and-miss, at best, because phrases with friendly letters don't necessarily make for interesting phrases. Today, the lower stack was the only one I really cared for. The others are pretty dull. And this is a problem because in a stack-heavy puzzle, your stacks are virtually all you've got. Because B: the Downs you will need to make the stacks stick together are too often junky. Lots of short, awkward stuff. CENTO & HAUSA (our opening 1D and 2D punch) are about as ugly a pair of side-by-side answers as I've seen in any NYT puzzle, ever (1D: Poem comprised of quotations + 2D: Common language of Niger). Those are the kind of answers that would've reigned in the Maleska era, the kind that give crosswords a bad name ("I don't like crosswords because you have to know bygone Italian sausages and the Sasquatchian word for 'raccoon,' etc."). Mostly, though, it's the ordinary short stuff that clogs the bulk of the grid—that's what wears you down. This puzzle is by no means bad, as an example of its type. Its fairly typical. But it's a stale type. Most of my favorite themeless constructors will focus on making an exciting grid filled with new and/or vivid phrases and names and words. That's what I love. This was certainly a decent challenge, but the excitement just wasn't there.
I absolutely guessed NURSE CLINICIANS (17A: They may perform minor surgeries)— well, the NURSE part — since A: I don't really know what NURSE CLINICIANS are (are they like NURSE PRACTITIONERS, which is a thing I've heard of?), and B: CENTO and HAUSA were Martian as far as I was concerned. Had a slightly worse time in the CUERS (47D: Round dance officials) & SANDE portion of the grid. Looking at C-ERS, S-NDE, and --E (for 55A: Trucial States, today: Abbr.), I honestly thought I was dead. Started reconsidering EPICS (since I'd wanted TIKKA and not TIKKI to begin with (37D: McAloo ___ (burger at McDonald's in India)) ... but then EPICS was the only thing that made sense at 46A: Big pictures, so I left it). Eventually ran the alphabet at C-ERS and hit my mark, then stared at U-E ... and finally got it. Rest of the grid just wasn't that tough. Slow, steady progress took care of it.
Bullets:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
THEME: none
Word of the Day: Earle SANDE (48D: Hall-of-Fame jockey Earle) —
• • •
Earl H. Sande (November 13, 1898 – August 19, 1968) was an American Hall of Fame jockey andthoroughbred horse trainer.Born in Groton, South Dakota, Earl Sande started out as a bronco buster in the early 1900s but then became a successful American quarter horse rider before switching to thoroughbred horse racing in 1918. Sande joinedCal Shilling and Johnny Loftus as a contract rider for Commander J. K. L. Ross. In 1919, he tied an American record with six wins on a single racecard at Havre de Grace Racetrack. He went on to ride for noted owners such as Harry F. Sinclair, and Samuel D. Riddle and was the leading money-winning jockey in the United States in 1921, 1923, and again in 1927. He won both the Belmont Stakes five times and the Jockey Club Gold Cup on four occasions, the Kentucky Derby three times and the Preakness Stakes once. In 1923 he won 39 stakes races for Harry F. Sinclair's Rancocas Stable, ten of which were on ultimate Horse of the Year winnerZev, including the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, and a match race against England's Epsom Derby winnerPapyrus. Sande's most famous wins came aboard Gallant Fox in 1930 when he won the U.S. Triple Crown.Sande's fame was such that he was immortalized in a number of poems by Damon Runyon. Following his retirement in 1932, Earl Sande remained in the industry as a trainer. In 1938 he was the United States leading trainer and by the mid 1940s owned and operated his own racing stable. (wikipedia)
An usual triple-stack-laden puzzle, in that it played harder-, not easier-than-average for me. Usually, I can put a few Downs through those stacks and make them roll over pretty readily, but those Downs were a bit of a mess today (up top and below), and so I had issues. You can add triple-stacks (and quad stacks) to the list of alleged construction accomplishments I don't care for (see also pangrams). The problem is two-fold. A: the 15s are often hit-and-miss, at best, because phrases with friendly letters don't necessarily make for interesting phrases. Today, the lower stack was the only one I really cared for. The others are pretty dull. And this is a problem because in a stack-heavy puzzle, your stacks are virtually all you've got. Because B: the Downs you will need to make the stacks stick together are too often junky. Lots of short, awkward stuff. CENTO & HAUSA (our opening 1D and 2D punch) are about as ugly a pair of side-by-side answers as I've seen in any NYT puzzle, ever (1D: Poem comprised of quotations + 2D: Common language of Niger). Those are the kind of answers that would've reigned in the Maleska era, the kind that give crosswords a bad name ("I don't like crosswords because you have to know bygone Italian sausages and the Sasquatchian word for 'raccoon,' etc."). Mostly, though, it's the ordinary short stuff that clogs the bulk of the grid—that's what wears you down. This puzzle is by no means bad, as an example of its type. Its fairly typical. But it's a stale type. Most of my favorite themeless constructors will focus on making an exciting grid filled with new and/or vivid phrases and names and words. That's what I love. This was certainly a decent challenge, but the excitement just wasn't there.I absolutely guessed NURSE CLINICIANS (17A: They may perform minor surgeries)— well, the NURSE part — since A: I don't really know what NURSE CLINICIANS are (are they like NURSE PRACTITIONERS, which is a thing I've heard of?), and B: CENTO and HAUSA were Martian as far as I was concerned. Had a slightly worse time in the CUERS (47D: Round dance officials) & SANDE portion of the grid. Looking at C-ERS, S-NDE, and --E (for 55A: Trucial States, today: Abbr.), I honestly thought I was dead. Started reconsidering EPICS (since I'd wanted TIKKA and not TIKKI to begin with (37D: McAloo ___ (burger at McDonald's in India)) ... but then EPICS was the only thing that made sense at 46A: Big pictures, so I left it). Eventually ran the alphabet at C-ERS and hit my mark, then stared at U-E ... and finally got it. Rest of the grid just wasn't that tough. Slow, steady progress took care of it.
Bullets:
- 26A: Old-time actresses Allgood and Haden (SARAS) — another thing about this grid that made it unappealing—it was Ruthlessly "old-time." From SARAS to SANDE to KAI (62D: Trombonist Winding), there is nothing in this grid that you couldn't have found in a grid 40 years ago. Maybe the ALE (a clue I really liked; 57A: Buzzsaw Brown, e.g.). "Old-time" stuff is fine, but it's nice when puzzles bear at least some small mark indicating that they were constructed in this millennium.
- 51A: Sycosis source, informally (STAPH) — not to be confused with the southern musicians' disease "zydecosis."
- 7D: Literary lion (ASLAN) — took me a while, which is especially ironic given that my wife fell asleep in bed next to me, not five minutes before I started this puzzle, reading (that is, rerererererererererere-reading) The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
- 8D: 1955 sci-fi-film that was one of the first to use Technicolor ("THIS ISLAND EARTH") — the very best thing about this puzzle, both because it amazingly cuts through *all* the stacks and, at the same time, is better than every single one of the answers it crosses. I know this film mainly from the background of the comic Watchmen.
- 11D: Killers that may go through hoops (ORCAS) — those must be big hoops. I tend to avoid animal parks of all kinds, so I wouldn't know.
- 12D: City near Oneida Lake (UTICA) — I was bracing for something much more obscure. I've never been there, but know it well from a. "The Simpsons" (a single joke about hamburgers and Albany and Utica that I have never forgotten) and b. the fact that a friend of mine used to commute there to teach.
- 25D: Luis in the Red Sox Hall of Fame (TIANT) — I always get him confused with Dock Ellis (they pitched in the same era). Ellis was most famous, probably, for pitching a no-hitter while high on LSD.
- 33D: Ticket, informally (DUCAT) — I ... don't know what this means. Is it old-timey? I know DUCAT as a very old-timey coin.
- 35D: Color-streaked playing marble (IMMIE) — another triple-stack fill casualty. Not great.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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