someone who should know better, sounds like (from crossword fiend):
today's puzzle is, i believe, a debut for this constructor. i think i remember reading that this puzzle was used at the recent brown crossword tournament, and that the constructor is a student there. in any event, congratulations to joey weissbrot on at least his NYT debut.
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Wednesday, 8 April 2009 18:05 (fifteen years ago) link
I guess it still could've been Shortz's clue.
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Wednesday, 8 April 2009 18:07 (fifteen years ago) link
also--origami commonly depicts a crane, not a swan, right?
― rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Wednesday, 8 April 2009 18:10 (fifteen years ago) link
yeah, the swan initially made me think of ice sculptures for some reason
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Wednesday, 8 April 2009 18:14 (fifteen years ago) link
OK, after doing the NYT puzzle for a few weeks after a multi-year hiatus, I now notice the following clues and answers popping up regularly
1) Emmy Winner Ward = SELA2) Parent's (or Sitter's) Scourge = IMP (or some synonym)3) Argument Refrain = "AM SO" or "IS NOT" or variant thereof4) Former Boomer = SST. This is a holdover answer from the Eugene T. Maleska days. Haven't seen ORT or TERN in a while. AERIE still pops up though.
― moe greene dolphin street (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 10 April 2009 01:41 (fifteen years ago) link
To everythingtern, tern, ternThere is a seasontern, tern, tern
― Veteran of the Psychic Wars (Abbott), Friday, 10 April 2009 02:39 (fifteen years ago) link
Haven't seen ORT or TERN in a while.
According to xwordinfo.com, ORTS was last used on 3/12 and TERN on 3/20.
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Friday, 10 April 2009 04:43 (fifteen years ago) link
Ha, I definitely did both those puzzles, guess I didn't notice/remember these classic answers. That site is pretty useful, thanks for the link. I see that ASTA is still going strong in the Will Shortz era and that ATTU hung around for a while, but died out in 2006.
― moe greene dolphin street (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 10 April 2009 05:34 (fifteen years ago) link
My pal Ben did a write-up of the first Chicago amateur crossword tournament. Out of the 25 competitors, I was 6th on the Monday puzzle, 9th on the Tuesday (though I had one dumb error, so I would've been disqualified even if I'd finished 1st), and abysmal on the Wednesday, due to one corner that just wouldn't fall into place. Pretty fun afternoon, though.
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Tuesday, 21 April 2009 23:05 (fifteen years ago) link
i liked todays nyt theme even if the rest of the puzzle was boring
― rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Tuesday, 21 April 2009 23:08 (fifteen years ago) link
I might've done a little better at the tournament if I'd realized from the get-go that the Cubs players were going to be given in order. I knew who they were, I just held off on filling them in until I could confirm how they were going to appear.
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Tuesday, 21 April 2009 23:12 (fifteen years ago) link
Kind of cool that they're perfect 15-letter fills, though.
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Tuesday, 21 April 2009 23:13 (fifteen years ago) link
i had never heard of the players so that didn't help me at all. at the end i had the rest of the puzzle filled in except for those names.
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Tuesday, 21 April 2009 23:25 (fifteen years ago) link
That was maybe a tribute to old school Maleska-style crosswords, where those three guys appeared regularly.
― moe greene dolphin street (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 00:06 (fifteen years ago) link
yeah--one of those puzzles thats really easy if youre familiar with the rhyme and probably a big pain in the ass if youre not
― rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 00:14 (fifteen years ago) link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball's_Sad_Lexicon
― moe greene dolphin street (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 01:08 (fifteen years ago) link
Was there one extraneous circle today?
― moe greene dolphin street (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 12:42 (fifteen years ago) link
Yes, as far as I know.
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 13:02 (fifteen years ago) link
Thanks for the confirmation. It was the last in the sequence but didn't really figure into the special clues or the bigger picture.
― moe greene dolphin street (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 13:42 (fifteen years ago) link
OK, I guess you kind of need that last circle for the big picture.
― moe greene dolphin street (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 15:30 (fifteen years ago) link
lol, was going to say, its a weird boat with the "i"
― rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 15:42 (fifteen years ago) link
i mean, WITHOUT the i
Oh, I didn't even think about connecting the dots A to B, B to C, etc. I was drawing the lines in the patterns that the clues dictated, and after doing 49-Across ("E-F-G-H-E"), the "I" seemed superfluous.
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 15:49 (fifteen years ago) link
ditto
― moe greene dolphin street (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 15:58 (fifteen years ago) link
ah, see, the way i was working i realized it was a sailboat before i had filled in those clues, so i had basically drawn the whole thing already
― rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 16:01 (fifteen years ago) link
Or maybe I should have said "dotto"(xp)
― moe greene dolphin street (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 17:32 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah, I'm embarrassed to say that I was the one of the people who got 1-Across wrong, because I didn't bother checking 2-Down. (I was too busy tearing my hair out over the bottom-left, since I'd never heard of YEGGS before. I originally had YOGIS.)
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 17:41 (fifteen years ago) link
yeggs annoyed the shit out of me
― rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 17:42 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeggs is old school xwordese too. See also "Pete". Often clued by "Second story man."
― moe greene dolphin street (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 17:44 (fifteen years ago) link
http://www.google.com/search?q=yegg+pete+second-story&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
― moe greene dolphin street (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 17:45 (fifteen years ago) link
Haha, me too -- it seemed uncharitably un-Tuesday-like to cross baseball names with a college athletic conference, a Biblical location, and a boating term, cause I had no chance on those.
― nabisco, Wednesday, 22 April 2009 21:20 (fifteen years ago) link
i connected on today's puzzle pretty well but didn't get the drawing until i looked it up online after finishing it. maybe if i had done it on paper instead of in across lite i would have been more apt to draw a big ol' boat on it.
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 22:07 (fifteen years ago) link
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/97/257848457_24bcb4bcec.jpg
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 22:08 (fifteen years ago) link
I was scared going in after reading jaymc's friend's blog, but today's wasn't so bad.
― moe greene dolphin street (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 23 April 2009 15:12 (fifteen years ago) link
But today's I could not finish.
― moe greene dolphin street (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 2 May 2009 01:06 (fifteen years ago) link
By which I mean I got nowhere on the SE and next to nowhere on the NW.
― moe greene dolphin street (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 2 May 2009 01:28 (fifteen years ago) link
But Saturday's was a lot better.
― moe greene dolphin street (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 3 May 2009 15:52 (fifteen years ago) link
Constructed a pretty solid grid yesterday with one exception that I can't seem to get out of: OHER.
Here's hoping that Michael Oher becomes a huge NFL star and/or The Blind Side becomes a buzzed-about box-office hit. I might just have to wait a few months to find out.
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Wednesday, 6 May 2009 19:54 (fifteen years ago) link
uh, something about an Ohio emergency room?
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Wednesday, 6 May 2009 19:57 (fifteen years ago) link
i dunno if "Subject of Michael Lewis's 'The Blind Side'" is a terrible clue so long as its not crossed w/ anything else as obscure
― rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Wednesday, 6 May 2009 19:58 (fifteen years ago) link
I kinda wish we could all see that corner and try to do something with it
― nabisco, Wednesday, 6 May 2009 20:00 (fifteen years ago) link
I'll e-mail the .puz file if anyone wants to see it.
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Wednesday, 6 May 2009 20:01 (fifteen years ago) link
Wait, I've got it:
66. Response you might make after someone spends ten minutes going "oh c'mon, you know, that one show, it was really popular, on Thursday, like a drama, you know that one guy was on it, that guy that was in those Las Vegas movies, and for a while there was that one woman ..."
― nabisco, Wednesday, 6 May 2009 20:02 (fifteen years ago) link
^^ haha actually you'd have to remove the "oh" from the beginning of that clue
― nabisco, Wednesday, 6 May 2009 20:03 (fifteen years ago) link
max OTM--referencing the Michael Lewis dude doesn't seem that obscure or tough
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 6 May 2009 20:03 (fifteen years ago) link
Chicago airport changes from a rabbit to a woman
― nabisco, Wednesday, 6 May 2009 20:06 (fifteen years ago) link
haha "rapper Nelly's favorite Chicago airport"
wouldnt that be oherr
― rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Wednesday, 6 May 2009 20:07 (fifteen years ago) link
xxp No? OK. I read the excerpt of the book that was in the NYT Magazine in 2006, but I couldn't tell how well-known he was. He might end up being a boon to crossword constructors.
I know some constructors got excited when this movie came out:http://sachem.suffolk.lib.ny.us/Reel_Rebels/images/post_iousa_crop.png
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Wednesday, 6 May 2009 20:08 (fifteen years ago) link
In fairness, though, I think it would be Midway, because he can get a good deal on Southwest coming from St. Louis.
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Wednesday, 6 May 2009 20:10 (fifteen years ago) link