Sic et non theologian / SAT 4-3-10 / 1957 Tony winner Adams / Christian apologist who wrote Four Loves / Chief Powhatan's son-in-law

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Constructor: Peter A. Collins and Joe Krozel

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none


Word of the Day: "LOST IN SPACE" (24D: Show featuring the scheming Dr. Zachary Smith) —

Lost in Space is a science fiction television program created and produced by Irwin Allen, produced by 20th Century Fox Television, and broadcast on CBS. The show ran for three seasons, with 83 episodes airing between September 15, 1965 and March 6, 1968. The first season was shot with black and white film, the rest in color. In 1998, a film based on the series was released. The show focused primarily on Jonathan Harris as Dr. Zachary Smith, originally an utterly evil would-be killer who as the first season progressed became a sympathetic anti-hero, providing comic relief to the show (and causing most of the problems). (wikipedia)



• • •

An enjoyable 70-word themeless that took me a while to get into, but then went down quickly. Things would have gone much faster if I simply could have tuned the radio in my head properly. 17A: When "you're gonna want me for your girl," in a 1963 hit had "gimme" written all over it — I know that lyric; I spent most of my junior and senior years of high school ignoring (most) contemporary popular music and listening almost exclusively to Motown, classic rock, and "oldies" stations. This should have proved a boon, but the problem with having so many Motown, classic rock, and "oldies" songs in your head is that they can start to blend together. Today, the song running interference on what turned out to be "ONE FINE DAY" was a minor hit by the O'Jays called "She Used to Be My Girl."


[This song is awesome and can run interference in my brain any time it wants]

So I spent way more time than I would have liked just sitting there trying to push the O'Jays out of my head. And failing. Then I tried AQUINAS at 3D: "Sic et Non" theologian (ABELARD). Part of my "why not guess a "Q"" strategy for Fri/Sat puzzles. Didn't work here (though it did work in the SW at 39A: Putting to rest (QUIETING)). Erased AQUINAS when I thought 27A: Bat mitzvah, e.g. (GIRL) must be RITE. Then, off that "E," I wrote in EWER at 28D: One with a long neck and a rounded body (LUTE). Changed *that* when (finally) I hit an answer I knew definitively: 36A: "Mr. Hulot's Holiday" Oscar nominee (TATI). This is the foothold I used to (finally!) get into the puzzle — went TATI to IND (37D: Poll abbr.) to END RUN (48A: Attempt to bypass opposition) to ULTIMO (49D: Last, to Luigi). With another gimme, 'ENRY (58D: Eliza's mentor, to Eliza) sitting down there in the SE, I had enough to finally make serious headway.

At this point, the whole puzzle tipped and began feeling more like a Thursday or Friday. At one point I hit a slow patch (I forget where) and revisited the NW briefly, where, all of a sudden, the answer to 1A: Apparently floored came to me instantly: SLACK-JAWED. It fit!


And I got JAN (of JAN & Dean) off the "J" to confirm it (earlier, I'd had SAM, of SAM & Dave, there) (6D: Half of a popular 1960s singing duo).



Eventually got the DAY in "ONE FINE DAY" and between that and SLACK-JAWED was able to close out the NW. The smallish and secluded NE and SW corners almost felt like different puzzles. SW went down *fast*, but only because AHMET is a former "Word of the Day" (52D: Record producer Ertegun in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame). Didn't know the HAMM brothers (Paul and Morgan, it turns out), but it didn't matter. Got them quickly from crosses (61A: Last name of twin gymnasts in the 2004 Olympics). Finished up in the NE, where another name I didn't know was lurking (DIAN18A: Longtime "The Price Is Right" model Parkinson), but again, as with HAMM, I handled it easily.

Bullets:
  • 19A: Chief Powhatan's son-in-law (ROLFE) — my first guess, but I held off writing it in, as my knowledge of this ROLFE guy comes almost exclusively from crosswords, so I don't really trust it.
  • 29A: Nut's offspring (OSIRIS) — One of those "WTF?" clues that eventually becomes at least semi-clear with crosses. Here, "Nut" is an Egyptian goddess and mother of OSIRIS.
  • 38A: Plaza-to-plaza stretch: Abbr. (TPKE) — as with SLACK-JAWED, I had to think a few seconds, but then the answer leapt forth.
  • 53A: Bit of rootless flora (ALGA) — I knew it was something green that grew on the sides of stuff. Considered MOSS, but the "bit" part seemed wrong. Also, maybe MOSS has "roots" in some sense I don't know about.
  • 59A: Christian apologist who wrote "The Four Loves" (LEWIS) — Easy enough. I wanted A-LINE at 54D: Coat cut, and this answer's "L" helped me confirm it.
  • 64A: 1957 Tony winner Adams (EDIE) — Ugh, Tonys. Good news — this woman stuck in my head from some earlier puzzle (though I couldn't decided between EDIE and EVIE at first).
  • 4D: Copper bracelet? (CUFF) — annoyed I didn't get this sooner, since I guessed the "police" meaning of "copper" in the clue straight off.
  • 13D: Bistro seen in "Manhattan" (ELAINE'S) — one of my favorite movies. Possibly my favorite movie. I know about ELAINE'S only from Woody Allen.


  • 26D: Japanese for "large hill" (OSAKA) — Had no idea. TPKE's "K" helped a lot.
  • 35D: NASA's Falcon and Intrepid (LEMS) — important crosswordese. As is NASA itself. LEMS isn't great fill, but it's redeemed slightly by being part of a mini NASA theme in the SE, along with ORBITER (45D: NASA vehicle).
  • 42D: Family member (GRANNIE) — I object to the slangy, weirdly dated-sounding quality of the answer. Nothing in the clue suggests you're going to be getting something so nicknamey. I had GRANDPA / MA in mind. I guess those are somewhat slangy too, but they're common. Do people really call their grandmas "GRANNIE"? Outside of 100-yr-old novels?

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

54 comments:

r.alphbunker 8:17 AM  

Does anybody know how much Collins contributed to this puzzle and how much Krozol did?

Anonymous 8:23 AM  

Good writeup. 99 times out of 100 when I don't like a puzzle it's because it's too hard but in this case I thought this was too easy for a Saturday. It really did feel like a Thursday. I never really got stuck and had just 3 writeovers: IKE for JAN, RITE for GIRL and MASC for NEUT.

I thought WADEDIN wasn't a great match for the clue ... it seems like if you WADE IN to something (like writing a term paper) you're not afraid of what you're getting into but you're not necessarily that excited about it.

VaBeach puzzler 8:42 AM  

Enjoyed this puzzle -- it sretched my brain, especially the midwest, where I nearly got stuck. Had QUITTING instead of QUIETING. Never heard of ENDUES. Also got bogged down on the "nut" clue, where I tried to squeeze in OAKTREE before I yielded to OSIRIS. Thx for explaining the genealogy, Rex.

joho 8:44 AM  

I wonder how many of us had, just like @Rex, rite before GIRL and ewer before LUTE? I also wrote in GRANd waiting for the ma or pa.

I agree with the rating but regardless of this being a tad too easy for a Saturday, I really enjoyed the solve. Loved SLACKJAWED, DAYTRIPPING, ANNIHILATE and LOSTINSPACE.

Is NUT pronounced noot?

Thanks, Peter & Joe!

Anonymous 8:48 AM  

Is "endues" a real word? I've never seen it before.

HudsonHawk 8:59 AM  

I hesitated on 41D, since both ISRAELI and IDI AMIN seemed fitting and shared two crosses.

LUTE was my last fill, as I also had QUITTING before QUIETING, but otherwise a nice, smooth Saturday. ELAINE'S was a gimme--it's just up the street from here...

nanpilla 9:05 AM  

Sometimes you feel like a nut....

My only problem was in the GIRL/ ENDUES area. Never heard of endues. Reading a book about a LUTE player (The Name of the Wind -thanks, Karen from the Cape), but put in ewer first anyway.

Another beautiful day to go out riding - see you all later!

DataGeek 9:09 AM  

Fun, albeit difficult, Saturday outing for me with a few write-overs and a few total misses. Wanted loon instead of LUTE, off the L in GIRL; had Stowage/Wolfe for STORAGE/ROLFE, endows for ENDUES; TATI was a total mystery, only got from Googling. Off to enjoy a predicted record-breakingly (word??) warm day.

Elaine 9:10 AM  

Moss has roots.

In our family, 'Grandma' was my dad's mother, a remote and not especially loving relative. Our GRANNY, on the other hand, was the one who let me help plant the pansies, who read aloud to us until we all fell asleep, and who worked crossword puzzles sitting on 'the davenport' and smoking furiously. The IE ending was a small variant. See? we were in the puzzle together. :0) Messing with with people's kinship names is possibly (fill in the blank.) Would you make fun of 'Nana' or 'Bubbe?'

Elaine 9:16 AM  

Forgot to say-- ENDOWS before ENDUES, LIEUT before CADET, TATI was new to me, never saw LOST IN SPACE (but PIGS in SPACE, now I knew that!) But I finished with a silly error. Guessed AHMED from AHM__ and would not give up _ED. Put SEND for 66A, even though it meant QUASHES was the wrong tense.
The 1:30 Club chalks up a defeat. Maybe next time I'll recall AHMET Ertegun; I'm sure we've seen it before.

jesser 9:19 AM  

Hands up for never having heard of ENDUES or ABELARD, and the last letter in the latter was the last to fall, and I got it wrong. I guessed an s. Fiddlesticks.

For 62A, I really wanted something romantic. If a grievously broken heart qualifies, I guess ANNIHILATE fills the bill.

Freakin' LOVED 43A, where both the clue and answer were just spot-on perfect.

For 28D, I wrote in the margin kiwi, ewer, LUTE, and eventually ended up with the latter.

Really wanted ASwANS at 51A for reasons unknown to me. It took the ugly and despotic IDI AMIN to disabuse me of that answer.

I was proud to have gotten CUFF right away. I blame this on my ex, who was a lot of fun. You don;t need to know any more than that. Anyway, I believe it was my first entry into the grid, but I could be wrong, because LOST IN SPACE was a gimmee, and I don't remember which one I threw down first.

This was good puzzle, in my book.

Speaking of gimmees (ok, it's a stretch), I leave here now to go play in the Good Friday Invitational Golf Tournament, whose motto is "27 years of tradition unimpeded by progress." We get shirts. This tournament is always held the Saturday after Good Friday, weather notwithstanding (but today should be gorgeous). Teams are chosen by lot, unless you cheat. You cannot tee off until you have consumed two bloody Marys. They are strong. You must drink throughout the tournament. Ten years ago, paid designated drivers were hired for getting the players home afterward. Cheating is allowed. Encouraged, actually. I make it a point of placing other players' balls behind trees whenever possible. The winner is decided in the clubhouse after the last foursome staggers in. The way it is determined? You take the number of players, and you write down the numbers 1 through X, and you drop those numbers in a hat. Mary Beth Brill draws a number. If she draws 27 and you came in 27th by score, you win. You get cheap shit, and you must buy the house a round. I love the Good Friday more than I love The Master's. Especially this year.

Sesch (as in "sesch who?", which is frequently heard when accusing a competitor of exercising golf etiquette at the Good Friday) -- jesser (FORE!)

mac 9:19 AM  

I usually enjoy Joe Krozel's work, and maybe Peter Collins even improved it! Good time at breakfast in sunny Connecticut.

Had a few stops: I did want to stick some tree into 29A, had nouveau for New Age and almost got black eyed into 1A.

I got the answer to 4D off the cuff, though!

No grannies in this family. Opas and omas only.

Bob Kerfuffle 9:22 AM  

All's been said: Solid puzzle, but maybe too easy for Saturday.

Only scribble-over at the end of GRAN_ _ _, as noted by Rex et al.

When I first looked at the blank grid, thought I saw an "S" in the pattern of black squares; didn't pan out.

Ben 9:32 AM  

Pleasant puzzle but too easy for a Saturday. Even the weird stuff like ENDUES was gettable from crosses.

Agreed re GRANNIE. Had GRAND_A at first.

Now I want to go find a harder puzzle to get closure on the week. Do I remember hearing at the ACPT that the Saturday Stumper in Newsday is nice and tough?

dk 9:43 AM  

@Joho and Rex, Rite with you. I also had beat as something pounded out until crossword's greatest despot IDIAMIN saved the day.

@Rex, my teen years were spent listening to Motown. The O'jays and Sam and Dave clips were a great start to the day.

@jesser, we would sometimes play (play at) golf when I was in grad school. We employed the use of a cart driver who was also the mixologist. It was bad, very bad.

UNSHADE was my only groaner. Beverly Hillbillies had a GRANNIE so that is good enough for me.

*** (3 Stars)

secret word: telypst - a telepathic steno

ArtLvr 9:47 AM  

I thoroughly enjoyed this one! It went smoothly after I changed Rite to GIRL, down to my last corner in the SW. There I resisted the temptation to google and finally got unstuck, but slowly!

LOL, so GLAD to find out the connection of Nut to OSIRIS.

∑;)

pete1123 10:06 AM  

@r.alphbunker: The puzzle started with me. I really liked the KJ in SLACKJAWED, so that's where it began. I filled in top half and the SW corner, but got stuck filling in the bottom right. I didn't want to give up on LOST IN SPACE, so after beating me head against the bottom for a while, I called in Joe. It's been so long I can't recall exactly what went in when, but I think Joe improved some other areas, too. I really liked his I AM NOW, NEW WAVE, and WEASELS.

This is our 8th collaboration, and first themeless collaboration. In almost every case (as I mentioned in another blog on another date), our collaborations start with my crazy ideas that eventually trap me in a corner. I call Joe in to rescue me. The thing with Joe is, that when he gets a crazy idea (and Lord knows he gets plenty), he's able to carry them through by himself.

Michigan Pete

Anonymous 10:12 AM  

Hand up for rite and ewer. Also agree an easier Saturday puzzle.

Beautiful day here in Wilmington. Off to Southport for easter festivities. Might go to the beach tomorrow morning for sunrise services.

chefbea

Anonymous 10:22 AM  

This puzzle just seemed to finish easily for me, with a few write-overs and a little bit of thinking- along with some guesswork.

My hand is up for rite. Wanted Enos before ESAU and and an o running in 8D for a long time. The clue led me to think it ended with on, instead of in. That kept me from getting OSIRIS for awhile.

My hand's also up for never hearing of endues before.

SethG 10:26 AM  

Very Saturday easy.

You confirmed A-LINE with LEWIS, I needed 5 crosses for LEWIS. I didn't help myself by having ALGE/ELINE for a bit, or OTARU for the Japanese, which at least turns out to actually be a Japanese city. Didn't remember Ertegun's names, but when I stopped thinking about him and just thought "Turkish" it came right away.

Started with COED, ended with LxTE and ran the vowels. Oh, yeah.

Beadola 10:49 AM  

Wrote in "blank slate" for 15 across without any crosses :) Turned out to be both right and wrong.
Fun and easy for a Saturday.

Stan 11:11 AM  

I found this the most enjoyable of the past 3 days' puzzles.

Wrote in the Chiffons' ONE FINE DAY without crosses, and took it from there. Really liked QUASHED, CUFF, ANNIHILATE, NEW WAVE, and everyone's favorite I AM NOW.

Thanks, Pete, for the comments!

So, I am guessing that a Bar/Bat Mitzvah is not only a ceremony, but the honoree?

JF 11:30 AM  

When I was in high school in the early 80s, my sister insisted that I was born 40 years too late. That's because, like Rex, I mostly listened to older music. The difference is that, as a stage musician for the last 20 years, I have had the blessing (or more likely curse) of having every single lyric STILL stuck in my head. So hooray for ONEFINEDAY---any gimme on a Saturday makes me feel like I haven't forgotten everything I ever learned.

Of course, there was a plethora of gimmes today---ENRY, LEWIS, ROTINI, LOSTINSPACE, ENDRUN, SERE, ROLFE, UND, GLAD, ESAU, ULTIMO. I usually only find two or three footholds on a Saturday, so I wondered if I had downloaded the wrong day. I briefly found myself far too stuck on UNBLIND and ENDOWS and DALAIS (for ASIANS), never heard of TATI or AHMET.

Nevertheless, a fun puzzle; kudos to the constructors.

I like the idea of finding a tough one to finish off the week. I think I'll go dig through the archives.

Captcha is WOOMY. I guess that's how a fetus finds things before he begins to outgrow his living space.

Anonymous 11:33 AM  

I am Granny (Grannie) to all my grandchildren. I asked to be called this because I was in the Solomon Islands when the first was born, where both grandmothers and grandfathers were called Grannie.

fikink 11:35 AM  

What a smart, solid, thoroughly enjoyable puzzle!

Thanks from me, too, Pete for your backstory.

And REX, you sly WEASEL ! Only you would post the penultimate scene from Manhattan!!!

CoolPapaD 11:51 AM  

Lots of fun, and only one peek at Rex's grid needed to finish. Did not anyone else have CRIMEAN SEA for 65A?? I thought this was a GREAT clue / answer combo, despite no question mark, and it totally killed me, as I could not budge from this - finally had to see what Rex said, and then the few that remained in the SE fell.

@Beadola - hand up for BLANK SLATE!

@jesser - just curious - where is your...? - oh, never mind.

The D in ENDUES / ABELARD was a PN (personal Natick) for me.

Overall a fun, ULTOMO-ately doable puzzle. Thanks, Pete123 (for weighing in) and Joe.

Two Ponies 11:52 AM  

Thanks for the back story Michigan Pete. Really fun and easy Saturday full of interesting words.
I liked the symmetry of slackjawed with eye openers.
When your great-great grandmother is from Kentucky she's definitely your grannie! Everyone called her daughter Mommy.
Tabula rasa came surprisingly easy and somehow I remembered Abelard. I wasn't sure about the E though because the song could have been "On a fine day" but decided "One fine day" had to be right.
Nice to learn about Osiris. What a nut!
@ jesser, I also loved "I am now." That one made me laugh.
Your golf tournament sounds like a great bit of Daytripping!

Tinbeni 12:01 PM  

ROLFE & ESAU were my gimmies.
The GIRL got me the LUTE that corrected quitting to QUIETING.

HAMM and ANNIHILATE go together on Easter.

Now I have to learn about this NUT the Egyptian goddess.

I AM NOW done with puzzles until Monday.

hazel 12:23 PM  

V. enjoyable puzzle. The ones I had to stew over were very stewable. I certainly didn't have all the names on the tip of my tongue, but they were somewhere in my brain waiting to be called into action. And except for ENDUES, everything made good sense.

I had GOBSMACKED for SLACKJAWED for awhile. But CUFF was so obvious I knew I was going to have to change it, but I sure did like gobsmack. I think its a word.

There are lots of grannies here in the south and the clue "family members" does not do them justice. I like "recipe sources."

A very balanced puzzle that was fun to solve.

lit.doc 12:55 PM  

Hand up for RITE before GIRL, ENDOWS before ENDUES, and--full disclosure--LOTE before LUTE.

Actually, I was OK with LOTE (vb., with n. form TRANSLOTION, as when you put on too much handcream and have to do squirmy hands with your partner).

But WATEN? As in "WATEN hell is this word?" Actually, that wasn't much worse than UNSHADE, now that I think about it.

Lon 1:02 PM  

LOST IN SPACE was a great gimme for me. I remember when the show came out, for some reason, friends with something I didn't understand called "cable" could get the show, and we couldn't. So I'd watch at a friend's house. L-i-S was just as monumental for me as Star Trek, probably because it was written more for kids than adults.

JayWalker 1:27 PM  

I really liked this puzzle! It made me work hard for my "reward." I finished with no errors - which for me is a GREAT Saturday puzzle, but I don't agree that it was too easy. I felt I worked very hard to get the proper responses and I too had many erasures and fixes. Rex: without your explanation for "Osiris" I would have NEVER figured it out!! You ARE 44th - Nay! - I'll go so far as to say 42nd - best crossword puzzler in the world!! And I don't care who knows it!! Whatever the heck that means.

Phil 1:33 PM  

This is going to be difficult, but I'll try: This was a fine puzzle from Michigan Pete. Yup, about as difficult as I thought.
I cringed at the clue to CS Lewis until I looked up exactly what a Christian Apologist was. Don't understand the concept, but at least it accurately described Lewis. I can't name contents the medly which prevented ONEFINEDAY from coming to mind there were so many. My list of known theologians is way too short to include the guy listed in the puzzle. He I will not Google.

Clark 1:58 PM  

Granny was my mom's mom; Grandma, my dad's. Those two were so different, and for me it carries over into the words. They were actually friends their whole lives. We were setting up a new email/internet account for my mom who was not around at the time. One of the security questions got us asking my dad When did you first meet your spouse? His answer: The day she was born. That can happen when your Granny and your Grandma are best friends.

Pete -- Thanks for hanging onto LOST IN SPACE. It was my anchor in this puzzle. When I was learning greek I could not for the life of me get 'ho kindunos' [danger] to stick in my memory. I ended up memorizing it by walking around waving my arms yelling "Ho kindunos, Will Robinson, ho Kindunos!"

Martin 2:46 PM  

Sorry, Elaine, but moss don't have roots. It wasn't a bad guess instead of ALGA.

Mosses have rootlike rhizoids, but the operative suffix is -oid. Roots are complex organs, with xylem, phloem, cambium and supportive tissues. They also have root hairs, extensions of single cells within the root. Moss rhizoids are very much like root hairs. They have no internal structure and manage all the duties of water and nutrient absorbtion and anchoring. Vascular plants evolved the true root and relegated the root hair (technically the "trichome") to a more limited role.

Anonymous 3:00 PM  

@Stan said...

...

So, I am guessing that a Bar/Bat Mitzvah is not only a ceremony, but the honoree?

---

A Bar/Bat Mitzvah is specifically the honoree -- one becomes one simply by reaching the right age. Calling Bar/Bat Mitzvah the rite is wrong -- but most people do it anyhow.

Basketball season finally ends on Monday (pros don't count). So only five more months for this lurking Golden Bear to estivate through baseball season until Cal football starts again.

In context, I can't resist posting my captcha: "trefskyn" -- what those footballs are made from.

joho 3:13 PM  

@Michigan Pete ... thanks for stopping by!

And to everybody here who celebrates Easter, I wish you all a wonderful one.

Van55 3:33 PM  

Doable with a few Google assists for me. Good Saturday.

fergus 3:36 PM  

Found this too much of a breeze, and then a chill wind set in from the SW. Literally I mean. Sitting outside, getting too chilled, though I really wanted to put this baby to rest in short order. But the crossword SW wouldn't oblige. Made a mess because of my clever QUELLED, SHIA ISRAELI trying to make a DEAL. Duh; you hammer out a deal, you don't pound it. And definitely in the skeptical camp about WADED IN meaning Attacked energetically.

jae 3:46 PM  

Very enjoyable but a bit on the easy side for a Sat. Me too for RITE/EWER but the rest went very smoothly. Thanks for the back story Mich. Pete.

syndy 4:09 PM  

Abelard fell for Heloise and lost his nut.i had my butt kicked by the synd.puzz;did better here(ewer-rite-endow)but got tab rasa right off

foodie 4:55 PM  

I was about to say that this puzzle was a patchwork for me. I was totally in sync for entire swaths, and struggled in other places. Then I read what Michigan Pete wrote and I realized that I pretty much got his part perfectly but had trouble with JK's part... It must be the Michigan vibe.

Weirdly, I did great yesterday, got it all with no trouble. So, my ratings are dissonant with you all's.

sanfranman59 6:14 PM  

This week's relative difficulty ratings. See my 7/30/2009 post for an explanation. In a nutshell, the higher the ratio, the higher this week's median solve time is relative to the average for the corresponding day of the week.

All solvers (this week's median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)

Mon 7:38, 6:54, 1.11, 77%, Medium-Challenging
Tue 9:11, 8:53, 1.03, 64%, Medium-Challenging
Wed 11:33, 11:50, 0.98, 49%, Medium
Thu 24:49, 19:35, 1.27, 95%, Challenging
Fri 25:12, 26:16, 0.96, 42%, Medium
Sat 21:41, 30:34, 0.71, 4%, Easy

Top 100 solvers

Mon 4:02, 3:40, 1.10, 79%, Medium-Challenging
Tue 4:47, 4:32, 1.06, 72%, Medium-Challenging
Wed 5:37, 5:47, 0.97, 47%, Medium
Thu 12:33, 9:24, 1.33, 95%, Challenging
Fri 12:11, 12:41, 0.96, 44%, Medium
Sat 11:56, 17:23, 0.69, 2%, Easy

Will got his late-week puzzles mixed up this week (although I understand why he chose the one he did for April Fool's Day on Thursday). For the Top 100 solvers, today's median solve time was second lowest Saturday of 36 puzzles I've tracked since last June and it was the fifth easiest (relative to the day of the week) of 243 puzzles overall. Similarly, it was the third fastest Saturday median solve time for all online solvers and the tenth easiest of 245 puzzles overall. I guess this explains why I was able to complete it while only needing to Google several times to confirm answers (ABELARD, ROLFE, OSIRIS, AHMET). Rex described my solving experience in the NW almost to a T. I too had rite, ewer and Sam at first.

Stan 6:19 PM  

@foodie: But 'different" isn't 'dissonant' -- I hope. Basically, if we all had the same response to every puzzle, this blog would be completely boring.

michael 7:22 PM  

Nice to come here and see that others had rite and had never heard of endue. But an easy Saturday for me, which was ok

I kept trying clean slate instead of tabula ras, which along with girl and endues made the nw the last corner to finish.

edith b 7:56 PM  

I came of age when John ROLFE was substituted for John Smith who was willing to give up his life for that Sainted Indian Princess in what was the Mythological Age of American History, which included the George "I cut down that cherry tree" Washington and Abe "I cannot tell a lie" Lincoln which was presented to gullible school children until the mid 50s as Gospel. Of course, new myths were created in the 70s to cover Vietnam so we did not gain much.

I made steady progess digonally from SLACKJAWED through CS LEWIS in the SE and the only problem area was a slight hiccup in the SW as I, like a lot of others, had QUITTING and a WTF at 28A as I couldn't accept GIRL as a synonym for Bat Mitzvah but I finally had to as, the nickel dropped (Thanks, Elaine!) and the LUTE/ENDUES cross presented itself as I was dimly aware of ENDUES from previous puzzles.

jesser 9:06 PM  

For anyone who cares, I did not place. 24th was first place, 9th was second and 17th was third. I came in 21st. Thank God for the designated drivers. I am home safe, sAnd it was quiet a party. Love is in the air, and golfballs are scattered to hell and gone. -- jesser

Di Hunter 9:20 PM  

Elaine's is familiar from books as well as 'Manhattan'.In Stuart Woods series with lawyer Stone Barrington, every book begins the same way: 'Elaines, late." Sometimes seems like half the books take place there.

edith b 10:11 PM  

OOPS - I meant diagonally.

sumchel 10:17 PM  

First time commenter has a GRANNIE over here, and we're in the under-40 crowd. Although we usually use GRANNY for the spelling.

andrea bat michaels 2:05 AM  

@michigan pete
I loved SLACKJAWED and also joeK's IAMNOW.
Your collaboration story reminds me of how I work with one particular collaborator...
He can flesh out my crazy ideas, but his crazy ones he can do himself!
Anyway, the gestalt on this one was fun...

@LurkerO
Altho I knew Bat Mitzvah was GIRL I am sort of shocked to learn that is not the name of the ceremony as well! After all these years. Then what IS the ceremony called?
And hasn't it become the name of the ceremony, just in terms of usage, if not original origin?
(Is that too redundant?)

Had a wonderful West Coast constructor lunch with Manny Nosowsky, Byron Walden, Tyler Hinman, Jeremy Horwitz and Michael Blake with his lovely wife Barbara.
(I'll send pictures if anyone wants! We realized that all our puzzles combined times ten years, will still never equal Manny's output!!!!!!! 248?!!!!!!!!)

We all repaired (?) to Michael's place afterwords to watch Nancy Shack's DVD of the ACPT... It was great reliving Merl's stand-up, Amy Yesnowitz and Brian Cimmet's amazingly cool song ("I have a Way with Words")...
And Tyler was ever the good sport while we watched the A Finals...still insisting that he would have made the L/GIMP error.

During Parnell Hall's (the guy who writes the murder mysteries that Manny makes the puzzles for)wonderfully witty performance, I leaned over to Tyler and exclaimed,
"Isn't it fabulous to have been immortalized in song?" and he shrugged and mumbled, "It ain't the first time..."
so I said, "Yes, but maybe the last!"
and "I" got booed!
;)

Anonymous 1:21 PM  

@andrea bat michaels 2:05 AM

...

@LurkerO
Altho I knew Bat Mitzvah was GIRL I am sort of shocked to learn that is not the name of the ceremony as well! After all these years. Then what IS the ceremony called?
And hasn't it become the name of the ceremony, just in terms of usage, if not original origin?
(Is that too redundant?)

---

Andrea, your questions address the basic dictionary problem of proscription (what is "right") vs. description (what is).

The rather thorough wiki is explicit in the opening sentence and then gets sloppy in the second sentence:

According to Jewish law, when Jewish children reach the 13 years for boys and 12 for girls they become responsible for their actions, and "become a Bar or Bat Mitzvah" (English: Son (Bar) or Daughter (Bat) of the commandments). In many Conservative and Reform synagogues, girls celebrate their Bat Mitzvahs at age 13[citation needed], along with boys.

...

Sometimes (but not in this case) "what is" is simply wrong. My favorite example:

kudos:

...

In Standard British English, as it is in Greek, Kudos is a singular noun: Much kudos to you for pulling it off. However, some have been known to use it as a plural: She received many kudos ['ku:doÊŠz] for her work. This technically incorrect usage has led to a back formation singular 'kudo.'

...

So please accept a kudo from me for your questions.

Yeccch!

Lurking Larry

Puffin 9:50 AM  

Coming in late, I know, but surely you also know Elaine's from Billy Joel's "Big Shot." "They were all impressed with your Halston dress and the people you knew at Elaine's"

(Man, I wish I could do one of your patented YouTube embeds here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEea624OBzM)

Anonymous 12:07 PM  

UNSHADE? UNEARTH was so much better. As was IMBUES rather than ENDUES. Pete & Joe - noy yer best.

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