Saturday February 2nd 2019, NY Times Crossword

-
Time: 42:50
Saturday Average: 37:32
Best Saturday: 10:34

Clearly, I would not be considered ERUDITE as far as Italian alcohol goes. SAMBUCA sounded familiar enough that I could get it when only the U remained and MOSCATA, well, it's close to Muscat, which is a type of wine grape my mom likes. That crossing with OERSTED, which is the unit of the auxiliary magnetic field H, apparently, was the killer for me and probably others.

Google tells me that MOC is short for Moccasin and I do not trust this information at all. And I'm drinking coffee and sitting in my dining room wearing "mocs," so I'm not NEW AT this.

It's Saturday, so as soon as I finish this blog entry, I can grab a COLD ONE, right?

I've always been amused by Hugh Laurie's DR. HOUSE role, which I'll admit I've only seen in episode previews. But it seems that all he does in the role is grimace because he's so much smarter than everyone else and that is a marked contrast with his Black Adder roles of George and The Prince Regent, in which he he has completely mastered the blank face of a complete lack of comprehension. I'm confident I'd rather re-watch those episodes instead of House.

I'm proud of my limited yoga pose knowledge in that I immediately wrote in Cow POSE for "It's done on hands and knees" and then quickly realized that CAT POSE also fits that description.

Probably the main challenge of today's puzzle was its segmentation as I essentially had to start afresh in each of the four corners. This meant that I got that great sensation of finding that critical answer and rolling through a section four times today. It was a tough one, but maybe one of my favorite themeless Saturdays in a while.




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