Saturday December 8th 2018, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 22:52
Saturday Average: 38:42
Best Saturday: 10:34

More and more often I seem to be opting for the Saturday solve from bed and I have to say that it's a good and not at all OUTRE way to start the day. If only I could drink coffee on an empty stomach, then I would add some caffeine to the equation in order to achieve that perfect morning. As I've said a few times, I'm always afraid that a Saturday puzzle will break me, but what do we say to the God of Crossword Death? Not today!

I'm making that Game of Thrones reference because I was unexpectedly flummoxed by a GoT clue, which is always a bit humbling. In my defense, I'm more of a book reader, so I'm not so strong on the actors, necessarily.  But OONA CHAPLIN, "Talisa Maegyr's portrayer," is pretty great and I particularly enjoyed her Black Mirror episode as well. So I'll happily try to remember the actress' name. I'd also like to point out that both her character (essentially) and the line I referenced above are show-only and are both additions/changes of which I approve.

Can I get MEAN GIRLS from just "2004 movie featuring a clique called the Plastics?" You bet I can!

I just glanced at the puzzle for a second and asked myself, "Wait, what's a SKIP ASS?" Oh, SKI PASS. Right.

Sometimes the NY Times clues are altogether too bland. I would say that COMIC SANS is a bit more than an "Informal font." Maybe an "Informal font, which that one co-worker really needs to stop using." "Sarcastic political meme started in 2009" for THANKS OBAMA is just a bit frustrating, although I guess it's a question of how many levels of irony you're employing on that one.

I didn't know that STEEL BLUE is the "Color achieved during tempering," but I suppose that was intuitive enough.

The final cross for me was the almost unreadable THEEU, which is to say The E.U., crossing "Vietnam's Dien Bien" PHU. If you didn't know that one, which I certainly didn't, Điện Biên Phủ is a city in northwestern Vietnam, most famous for a major battle of the First Indochina War in 1954 that led to the termination of French involvement in Indochina and the Signing of the Geneva Conference.

See, there's so much to learn from crosswords, including that the RUBLE is the "Second-oldest national currency." 

Comments

  1. ArraDecember 10, 2018 at 5:29 PM

    I like to print an empty grid after 10 pm the night before, and then solve on paper in bed before nodding off. However, Saturdays often do not get solved until morning.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. QuillDecember 11, 2018 at 6:00 AM

      Probably the main disadvantage of app solving since I try to put my phone away by 9pm because it messes with my sleep. Your way sounds perfect, but I might be too vain about my streak on the app at this point to ever switch to paper. I do print out the New Yorker crosswords, which are amazing (and probably Saturday difficulty) if you haven't checked those out yet.

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