Thursday January 31st 2019, NY Times Crossword

-
Time: 19:01
Thursday Average: 25:30
Best Thursday: 10:18

I managed to misspell EGRET yet again and I also didn't understand the "Old plume source" clue, which led me down a fun wiki wormhole. I wasn't really familiar with the notion of plume hunting, apparently the practice of hunting wild birds for their feathers, many of which were used for women's hats. Apparently, this was a major industry and was leading to near extinction of some species of exotic birds, causing an early environmentalist movement in the late 19th century. As far as the egret goes, "osprey" plumes were actually egret plumes and were part of British army uniforms until they were discontinued in 1889.

I didn't know Elton John's song NIKITA and I now feel greatly enriched by this music video, which I recommend to you.


As far as the theme goes, it's a 212 theme, tricky in that it's rare to put numbers in a crossword puzzle and it took me too long to consider that possibility. 212 is indeed NEW YORK'S AREA CODE, 2/12 is LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY, and 212° is H2O'S BOILING POINT.

I got I DID very quickly after blanking on I DID NOT for so long yesterday.

There were a couple tough names for me with soccer player BRANDI Chastain and game show host HOWIE MANDEL. Those were basically crosses only for me although Howie sounded just vaguely familiar enough.

I'm ZEROING IN on another long trip to Asia next week and am hoping to keep up my crossword blogging streak. Don't PANIC. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wednesday May 1st 2019, NY Times Crossword

-
Image
Time: 8:16 Wednesday Average: 16:37 Best Wednesday: 6:52 Today's theme is STATE CAPITALS that are, as the clue points out to us, in anagram form. MUST I ? OK, let me see if I can figure this out even though it's past my bedtime. I'll get the easy ones first with Salem ( MALES ) and Dover ( ROVED ). After that, we have Austin ( ANTIUS ), Lansing ( IN SLANG ), and Raleigh ( HAIR GEL ). Finally, there's Madison ( DOMAINS ) and the tricky St. Paul ( UP LAST ) There's an exercise I wouldn't have bothered with if I wasn't writing this blog. I know the phrase well, especially since it seems so popular lately, but I never knew the spelling for "Bury the LEDE ." I always assumed it was "lead." I love slang that comes from typesetting. OK, those anagrams thoroughly wore me out. My final observation is that I don't love the way THE EU looks right above S AND P. Both just look deeply wrong.
Read more

Tuesday October 23rd 2018, NY Times Crossword

-
Image
Time: 8:43 Tuesday Average: 13:49 Best Tuesday: 6:10 It's another long day in Beijing and I'm enjoying a night cap in the lounge contemplating my early morning flight to Ulan Baator tomorrow night and feeling a bit like  FLAT  STANLEY . Fortunately, I continue to  RAKE IN the hotel points and the status that goes with it, so I've snagged a couple free beers before they shut down happy hour. Today's theme was  ATHLETIC CUP , which eluded me for a bit since I've only ever referred to it as a cup. Other than the aforementioned NHL championship, we have  GEENA  DAVIS ,  WINONA  RYDER , and  SMALL WORLD  as our theme answers.  Was anyone else hearing TJ from Gilmore Girls yelling, "I'm in  ESCROW !" Sure, it shows up in my mortgage-related dealings, but that's all I'll ever hear. I had no idea that  GALENA is the natural form of lead sulfide and instead I just know the Bulgarian chalga singer by that name. I...
Read more

Monday April 15th 2019, NY Times Crossword

-
Image
Time: 7:03 Monday Average: 8:15 Best Monday: 4:10 Nothing's more fun than an IRS -themed crossword for Tax Day! I'd actually forgotten that this day was so imminent until talking to several of my international students who were understandably baffled by how our tax system works. As you can see, the long answers have the IRS letters mixed up and circled with DOLLA R SI GNS , of course, being the most appropriate. I'm surprised that the "Genuine class" anagram for ALEC Guinness, which we know from the Simpsons, doesn't show up as a clue more often. Next time, maybe. AGASSI was always my favorite player back in the big Sampras rivalry days and I'm happy enough to see him crossing TENNIS RACKET . Sometimes those answers just work out, I imagine. 
Read more