Theme: "RE + ___ING = A Whole New word + ING " (update later: I think I kind of like the constructor's clever theme idea, I just hate the ING Tsunami).
17A: Matching up twosomes again?: REPAIRING
21A: Following up a fault? RESERVING
33A: Handing down old bike?: RECYCLING
46A: Follow-up ram? REBUTTING
59A: Second phone-in?: RECALLING
66A: Double checking a grade: REMARKING
A few things first:
1) I've just learned that our crossword editor, Wayne Robert Williams (ask as Josiah Breward or Willy A. Wiseman) actually does spend his oh-so-precious time editing the original puzzles submitted by various constructors. I received an email yesterday from a constructor who explained to me why my admonishment of his certain cluing was not his fault.
I was always under the impression that only Will Shortz (NY Times) & Peter Gordon (NY Sun) and a few other well known crossword editors change heavily (as much as 50%) the original clues to reach their desired difficulty level. This Williams guy seems to juggle so much projects on his hands (Daily Crossword, Daily Commuter, Daily Jumbo) every day that I thought he just foisted upon us any crossword he got from others. Frankly, his "Chicago Local Poet" puzzle on March 20 Thursday was crying for editing.
2) I've also learned from Orange that that it's actually an accepted practice in the cruciverbalist (crossword constructors) world for editors to edit their own constructions. Rich Norris of LA Times, Stan Newman of Newsday (the most responsive editor in my view) and other editors all publish their own puzzles under different pseudonyms. So my criticism of Mr. Williams' editing his own work was not on solid ground. However, he has never deigned to reply to me or addressed any of my questions, so I will continue to vent my displeasure over certain clues, fair or not.
OK, back to the puzzle. This is, without a doubt, the worst TMS puzzle I've ever solved. Had I known this was the puzzle waiting for me on the newspaper this morning, I would've stayed in bed. What a hideous construction! This Mr. Wolfe needs to turn off his obsession with ING and let go of his "Idée fix" with France. He simply let his admiration for Peter Mayle go overboard.
It's relatively an easy battle for me, esp with the annoyingly ubiquitous INGs, which rendered a few otherwise tough-to-get entries easily inferable. "The Count of Monte Cristo" happens to be one of my favorite books, and I just blogged about ARAN a few days ago, so I swept through the upper right corner with no effort.
But I did get snared on the lower right corner, esp the intersection of 63A & 58D. I never knew that "RENT" could be a noun meaning small fissure, always thought that "RENT" is the past particle of the verb "REND". So my 58D was LEGID for a long time, I thought LEGID might be a variant of LEGIT, or "On the level" has another meaning that I was not aware of. So I spent a long time sulking at the clues. I had to google ODEA and CELT. I forgot the former and I did not know the latter (BRETON).
Grid: Total words 78, total blank square: 38.
Across entries:
1A: Hawaiian port: HILO
5A: Machu Picchu honcho: INCA
9A: "The Count of Monte Cristo": DUMAS. The 2002 remake with James Caviezel as Edmond Dantes was pretty good. I still think that Tim Robbins & Morgan Freeman's The Shawshank Redemption is the best. Is there a special genre name for these kind of prison-break style movies?
14A: Slaughter of baseball: ENOS
16A: Madagascar primate: INDRI. It's a short tailed LEMUR, which was clued on March 13 puzzle.
19A: Hebrew month: SIVAN (the 9th month)
20A: Least desirable portion: DREGS. Yep, this puzzle is pockmarked with dregs.
23A: Unbroken stretch: STREAK
25A: Town near Caen: ST. LO
28A: Support pieces: I BEAMS
40A: Concert halls: ODEA. Saw it before, then I promptly forgot. The singular form is Odeum.
41A: Like pigeons' walk: TOE IN. The clue is asking for an adjective, is "Toe In" an adjective?
44A: Exploits to the nth degree: MILKS. I actually do not feel so bad for Paul McCartney. Heather Mill did not milk him dry.
48A: Watch the boxer?: PET SIT
50A: Greek letter: ETA
51A: Travel on Pegasus?: RIDE. I got it from the down clues. But really, I had no idea what was "Pegasus". And at this point of my solving, my mild displeasure with the question mark had been elevated to medium disgust (later upgraded to total scorn). Pegasu is "a winged horse, created from the blood of Medusa, that opened the spring of Hippocrene with a stroke of its hoof, and that carried Bellerophon in his attack on the Chimera."
54A: Helix: SPIRAL
68A: Gage book: ELENI. Did not know the author, did not know the book. Pure guess.
69A: Actor Morales: ESAI. Ah, Tony Rodriguez of NYPD Blue. Of the bunch, Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smits) is probably my favorite.
71A: Car type: SEDAN
73A: Tear: RENT. Noun.
Down clues:
1D: Goat groups: HERDS. Don't get it. Herd is already a group of goat, how can you add an extra S?
2D: Like some gases: INERT
3D: Long strider: LOPER
4D: Type of orange: OSAGE. Never heard of this orange. Osage is alway an Indian tribe name to me.
5D: Leb. neighbor: ISR
6D: Black in Paris: NOIR. Or Bete _.
7D: Pine pieces: CONES
8D: Feeling of dread: ANGST
9D: Take off, in a way: DISROBE
10D: Letters for 1506: MDVI (just for mkat :-))
12D: Islands off Galway: ARAN. Appeared on Sunday March 23 puzzle, clued as Islands off Ireland.
13D: Warble: SING. Finally an innocent ING.
18D: Babel or Stern: ISAAC. Knew Stern, did not know Babel, who died ages and ages ago. What's wrong with Issac Asimov?
24D: Tartan wrap: KILT
27D: Christian of fashion: DIOR
30D: To you, in Toulouse: A TOI
32D: Smelting waste: SLAG. Scum, dross, all junk.
33D: Caper: ROMP
34D: Singer Brickell: EDIE
35D: Breton, eg.: CELT. Did not know the meaning of Breton.
36D: Chatters: YAKS. Yak is also the Tibetan ox.
38D: Barbed remark: GIBE
45D: Steak order: SIRLOIN
47D: Rhino relative: TAPIR. It looks like this.
52D: More critical: DIRER. Not when you are in fault-finding mood obviously. Dire situation.
53D: January in Juarez: ENERO
55D: Stamp pad: INKER
57D: Kofi of the U.N. : ANNAN. Well, he is not with the U. N. any more. Ban Ki-Moon has been the new Sheriff for over a year.
58D: On the level: LEGIT
59D: Eurasian deer: ROES
60D: Perry's creator: ERLE
61D: For both sexes: COED
62D: Dancer Pavlova: ANNA. She is famous for her portrayal of a swan in The Dying Swan and Swan Lake. Wikipedia says that she is the first ballerina to travel around the world. She once said "Happiness is like a butterfly which appears and delights us for one brief moment, but soon flits away." So true!!
63D: Car loan lender: GMAC (General Motors Acceptance Corporation). Didn't GM sold it to some private investment firm? Target is also trying to divest its once profitable Credit Card Unit I think.
C.C.
17A: Matching up twosomes again?: REPAIRING
21A: Following up a fault? RESERVING
33A: Handing down old bike?: RECYCLING
46A: Follow-up ram? REBUTTING
59A: Second phone-in?: RECALLING
66A: Double checking a grade: REMARKING
A few things first:
1) I've just learned that our crossword editor, Wayne Robert Williams (ask as Josiah Breward or Willy A. Wiseman) actually does spend his oh-so-precious time editing the original puzzles submitted by various constructors. I received an email yesterday from a constructor who explained to me why my admonishment of his certain cluing was not his fault.
I was always under the impression that only Will Shortz (NY Times) & Peter Gordon (NY Sun) and a few other well known crossword editors change heavily (as much as 50%) the original clues to reach their desired difficulty level. This Williams guy seems to juggle so much projects on his hands (Daily Crossword, Daily Commuter, Daily Jumbo) every day that I thought he just foisted upon us any crossword he got from others. Frankly, his "Chicago Local Poet" puzzle on March 20 Thursday was crying for editing.
2) I've also learned from Orange that that it's actually an accepted practice in the cruciverbalist (crossword constructors) world for editors to edit their own constructions. Rich Norris of LA Times, Stan Newman of Newsday (the most responsive editor in my view) and other editors all publish their own puzzles under different pseudonyms. So my criticism of Mr. Williams' editing his own work was not on solid ground. However, he has never deigned to reply to me or addressed any of my questions, so I will continue to vent my displeasure over certain clues, fair or not.
OK, back to the puzzle. This is, without a doubt, the worst TMS puzzle I've ever solved. Had I known this was the puzzle waiting for me on the newspaper this morning, I would've stayed in bed. What a hideous construction! This Mr. Wolfe needs to turn off his obsession with ING and let go of his "Idée fix" with France. He simply let his admiration for Peter Mayle go overboard.
It's relatively an easy battle for me, esp with the annoyingly ubiquitous INGs, which rendered a few otherwise tough-to-get entries easily inferable. "The Count of Monte Cristo" happens to be one of my favorite books, and I just blogged about ARAN a few days ago, so I swept through the upper right corner with no effort.
But I did get snared on the lower right corner, esp the intersection of 63A & 58D. I never knew that "RENT" could be a noun meaning small fissure, always thought that "RENT" is the past particle of the verb "REND". So my 58D was LEGID for a long time, I thought LEGID might be a variant of LEGIT, or "On the level" has another meaning that I was not aware of. So I spent a long time sulking at the clues. I had to google ODEA and CELT. I forgot the former and I did not know the latter (BRETON).
Grid: Total words 78, total blank square: 38.
Across entries:
1A: Hawaiian port: HILO
5A: Machu Picchu honcho: INCA
9A: "The Count of Monte Cristo": DUMAS. The 2002 remake with James Caviezel as Edmond Dantes was pretty good. I still think that Tim Robbins & Morgan Freeman's The Shawshank Redemption is the best. Is there a special genre name for these kind of prison-break style movies?
14A: Slaughter of baseball: ENOS
16A: Madagascar primate: INDRI. It's a short tailed LEMUR, which was clued on March 13 puzzle.
19A: Hebrew month: SIVAN (the 9th month)
20A: Least desirable portion: DREGS. Yep, this puzzle is pockmarked with dregs.
23A: Unbroken stretch: STREAK
25A: Town near Caen: ST. LO
28A: Support pieces: I BEAMS
40A: Concert halls: ODEA. Saw it before, then I promptly forgot. The singular form is Odeum.
41A: Like pigeons' walk: TOE IN. The clue is asking for an adjective, is "Toe In" an adjective?
44A: Exploits to the nth degree: MILKS. I actually do not feel so bad for Paul McCartney. Heather Mill did not milk him dry.
48A: Watch the boxer?: PET SIT
50A: Greek letter: ETA
51A: Travel on Pegasus?: RIDE. I got it from the down clues. But really, I had no idea what was "Pegasus". And at this point of my solving, my mild displeasure with the question mark had been elevated to medium disgust (later upgraded to total scorn). Pegasu is "a winged horse, created from the blood of Medusa, that opened the spring of Hippocrene with a stroke of its hoof, and that carried Bellerophon in his attack on the Chimera."
54A: Helix: SPIRAL
68A: Gage book: ELENI. Did not know the author, did not know the book. Pure guess.
69A: Actor Morales: ESAI. Ah, Tony Rodriguez of NYPD Blue. Of the bunch, Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smits) is probably my favorite.
71A: Car type: SEDAN
73A: Tear: RENT. Noun.
Down clues:
1D: Goat groups: HERDS. Don't get it. Herd is already a group of goat, how can you add an extra S?
2D: Like some gases: INERT
3D: Long strider: LOPER
4D: Type of orange: OSAGE. Never heard of this orange. Osage is alway an Indian tribe name to me.
5D: Leb. neighbor: ISR
6D: Black in Paris: NOIR. Or Bete _.
7D: Pine pieces: CONES
8D: Feeling of dread: ANGST
9D: Take off, in a way: DISROBE
10D: Letters for 1506: MDVI (just for mkat :-))
12D: Islands off Galway: ARAN. Appeared on Sunday March 23 puzzle, clued as Islands off Ireland.
13D: Warble: SING. Finally an innocent ING.
18D: Babel or Stern: ISAAC. Knew Stern, did not know Babel, who died ages and ages ago. What's wrong with Issac Asimov?
24D: Tartan wrap: KILT
27D: Christian of fashion: DIOR
30D: To you, in Toulouse: A TOI
32D: Smelting waste: SLAG. Scum, dross, all junk.
33D: Caper: ROMP
34D: Singer Brickell: EDIE
35D: Breton, eg.: CELT. Did not know the meaning of Breton.
36D: Chatters: YAKS. Yak is also the Tibetan ox.
38D: Barbed remark: GIBE
45D: Steak order: SIRLOIN
47D: Rhino relative: TAPIR. It looks like this.
52D: More critical: DIRER. Not when you are in fault-finding mood obviously. Dire situation.
53D: January in Juarez: ENERO
55D: Stamp pad: INKER
57D: Kofi of the U.N. : ANNAN. Well, he is not with the U. N. any more. Ban Ki-Moon has been the new Sheriff for over a year.
58D: On the level: LEGIT
59D: Eurasian deer: ROES
60D: Perry's creator: ERLE
61D: For both sexes: COED
62D: Dancer Pavlova: ANNA. She is famous for her portrayal of a swan in The Dying Swan and Swan Lake. Wikipedia says that she is the first ballerina to travel around the world. She once said "Happiness is like a butterfly which appears and delights us for one brief moment, but soon flits away." So true!!
63D: Car loan lender: GMAC (General Motors Acceptance Corporation). Didn't GM sold it to some private investment firm? Target is also trying to divest its once profitable Credit Card Unit I think.
C.C.
