Redd's Roster of Crosswordese: Do not read if you hate DRNO

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ALOHA actually exists outside of crossword puzzles, though; I presume it's still in regular use in Hawaii and by Hawaiians. I'm also inclined to give OREO a pass because people really do buy and eat them, in this century.

Not so OTT, ERNE, ALOU, OLEO, SST, ASTA. It's not just that they're dated references; they're largely mid-20th-century references, and rooted mostly in U.S. Eastern Seaboard culture to boot. To me, the world of crosswordese has its lexical center in the Manhattan of maybe 1959.

Also. Unless you are a meteorologist or are extremely interested in reenacting historical methods of maritime navigation, you have no need for NNE, SSE, NNW, etc. If I understand correctly, a serious mariner nowadays would prefer the precision of using the numerical compass bearing. Like, you're more likely to say "202 degrees" than "South-Southwest." Happy to be corrected if that's wrong.

we slept on the banks on the leaves of a banyan tree (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 3 August 2020 17:39 (three years ago) link

I see a fair amount of NORAS - the fact that ATTABOY is still showing up seems more inexcusable.

Andrew Farrell, Monday, 3 August 2020 17:43 (three years ago) link

OTT has a newfound importance to me because of my Duolingo Hungarian, but yeah.

Time Will Show Leo Weiser (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 3 August 2020 17:46 (three years ago) link

7 ATTABOYs in the WSE, including one by the XWORD JESUS himself!

Time Will Show Leo Weiser (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 3 August 2020 17:49 (three years ago) link

oh man i didn't even think about 'sleepless in seattle writer' or what have you, duh. you could also go with 'neither a borrower ___ lender be' i suppose. i guess i missed them.

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Monday, 3 August 2020 17:54 (three years ago) link

There are tons of different clues, the most common being a variation on "Author Roberts."

Time Will Show Leo Weiser (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 3 August 2020 18:01 (three years ago) link

I will stan for ALOU, not just because I was a Giants fan, but because it's also a multi-generational baseball family from the Dominican Republic that helps balance out all the times that OTT appears. Furthermore, at least one member was active in baseball through 2008.

Garry Shambling (Leee), Monday, 3 August 2020 18:10 (three years ago) link

the current manager of the mets is actually an alou

mookieproof, Monday, 3 August 2020 18:21 (three years ago) link

puffins that hate erns, typical

Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Monday, 3 August 2020 18:30 (three years ago) link

I am sick of all variations on MST/CDT/DST, mostly because I can never remember which is standard time and which is daylight savings

Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Monday, 3 August 2020 18:32 (three years ago) link

Don’t forget EDT!

Time Will Show Leo Weiser (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 3 August 2020 18:46 (three years ago) link

or GMT/GST - just had the latter in the NYT Sunday

Lavator Shemmelpennick, Monday, 3 August 2020 18:50 (three years ago) link

EKEBY? really? that's... not a thing, is it?

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 5 August 2020 21:24 (three years ago) link

it absolutely is not

mookieproof, Wednesday, 5 August 2020 21:28 (three years ago) link

i mean....... to use language that will shortz might understand but never god forbid use..... GTFO

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 5 August 2020 21:29 (three years ago) link

and like... when was the last ipod nano sold??? that’s the clue? christ

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 5 August 2020 21:31 (three years ago) link

Last ipod nano was 2017.

Last SST was 2003, but it's still a popular crossword answer.

chasing rimbauds (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 5 August 2020 21:47 (three years ago) link

*barely audible muttering*

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 5 August 2020 22:12 (three years ago) link

EKE's pretty perennial for good or ill.

Andrew Farrell, Wednesday, 5 August 2020 22:18 (three years ago) link

EKE is overused for sure, but ‘eke out’ is at least a thing. ‘eke by’ is not

mookieproof, Wednesday, 5 August 2020 22:35 (three years ago) link

I look forward to the day when SST will be clued by "Punk label" or somesuch.

Garry Shambling (Leee), Wednesday, 5 August 2020 23:40 (three years ago) link

"I had trouble but i managed to eke by" sounds fine to my canadian ear.

wasdnous (abanana), Thursday, 6 August 2020 00:36 (three years ago) link

take by, hoser

mookieproof, Thursday, 6 August 2020 00:59 (three years ago) link

I finished today’s none the wiser how the gimmick was supposed to have worked

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 9 August 2020 14:21 (three years ago) link

Me too, but I did it online so there was a cute reveal at the end.

Do you (a) care, and (b) want to know?

vitreous humorist (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 9 August 2020 16:27 (three years ago) link

a) not really b) 10000% yes

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 9 August 2020 16:29 (three years ago) link

SPOILAGE

SPOILAGE

SPOILAGE

The revealer is "shipshape," and if you connect the circled squares it makes a stylized sailboat. But that's not all - the theme answers each have a shape word: LOVETRIANGLE, STORYARC, SECURITYLINE, and TOWNSQUARE. The boat shape is made up of a triangle, an arc, a line, and a square.

vitreous humorist (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 9 August 2020 17:44 (three years ago) link

like so

also ETS, AMI, ATEIN, PTA

mookieproof, Sunday, 9 August 2020 18:28 (three years ago) link

Yeah. In hindsight it looks like I erred by omitting SKISLOPE from the theme answers

vitreous humorist (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 9 August 2020 18:47 (three years ago) link

i thought it was something like that. i didn’t think to actually do a connect-the-dots. usually “getting” the gimmick is an aid to solving and it wasn’t this time.

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 9 August 2020 20:32 (three years ago) link

one month passes...

ACAI

A Short Film About Scampoes (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 9 September 2020 23:58 (three years ago) link

GOJI

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 10 September 2020 08:11 (three years ago) link

ALOE

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 10 September 2020 08:11 (three years ago) link

UGLI

wasdnous (abanana), Thursday, 10 September 2020 10:12 (three years ago) link

ELOI

Andrew Farrell, Thursday, 10 September 2020 10:55 (three years ago) link

EPEE

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, 10 September 2020 13:25 (three years ago) link

a few days ago FBPOSTS was, i thought, a step too far

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 10 September 2020 13:33 (three years ago) link

ILE

Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Thursday, 10 September 2020 15:25 (three years ago) link

before i forget i just want to give a shout-out to last friday's nyt. most pleasurable one i've done in a long time. was really much more about the funny/lateral cluing than the words themselves, if that makes sense.

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 17 September 2020 13:25 (three years ago) link

i got a DRNO in the wild on my phone app last night!

how do i shot moon? (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 17 September 2020 13:58 (three years ago) link

ALEE

Lavator Shemmelpennick, Thursday, 17 September 2020 15:10 (three years ago) link

ACK ICK OCH UCK OCH
all these suck as "exclamation of disgust/surprise"

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, 17 September 2020 15:20 (three years ago) link

DRNO was in matt gaffney's xwordcontest.com puzzle this week. not meta related.

wasdnous (abanana), Thursday, 17 September 2020 18:02 (three years ago) link

Feel like an interesting thing to do would be to go through the week to see how the clues change for one of these

ABBA O RLY? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 17 September 2020 23:04 (three years ago) link

like this?
https://crossword-solver.io/crossword-clues/drno/

wasdnous (abanana), Friday, 18 September 2020 03:48 (three years ago) link

Never saw that particular search engine, nice. Assume clues that mention Bond are Mon-Wed, whereas Joseph Wiseman/Crab Key are Friday-Saturday, Bond & Julius an easy Thursday, just Julius a hard Thursday.

ABBA O RLY? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 18 September 2020 04:01 (three years ago) link

two months pass...

disappointed that we have yet to see FAUCI

mookieproof, Friday, 20 November 2020 07:21 (three years ago) link

seriously!

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Friday, 20 November 2020 07:43 (three years ago) link

In the Mini, last Saturday.

Andrew Farrell, Friday, 20 November 2020 07:49 (three years ago) link

i don’t do the mini - it’s not in the newspaper

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Friday, 20 November 2020 09:27 (three years ago) link


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