Oct. 28, 2009

NYT crossword clue master Will Shortz might need a few more to figure out what exactly happened during the Sudoku championships in Philadelphia last weekend. The Philadelphia Inquirer, which sponsored the tournament, has been reporting that a mysterious contestant raised the eyebrows of fellow competitors before placing third. Now, the prizes have been frozen as officials investigate:

Day 1 story: http://tinyurl.com/yk8jkck

Day 2 story: http://bit.ly/RfbBk

Statement from Sudoku officials: http://tinyurl.com/yfdctka

New York Times, Oct. 25

I wish I may

I wish I might

To have the wish

I wish tonight

Namely, I wish that Will Shortz would discover my witty blog and start paying me to critique his crosswords. Sounds like a pipe dream but, hey, after today’s puzzle, you never know.

PETER KING (112 Across), a SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (94 Across) writer and NBC football analyst, apparently voiced a desire on 9/21/09 to be immortalized in an NYT crossword clue. Today, he got much more.

His six-part wish is spread throughout the grid: MY GOAL IN LIFE IS (23 Across) TO BE A CLUE (28 Across) IN THE NEW YORK TIMES (43 Across) CROSSWORD PUZZLE (57 Across). I’VE (71 Across) NEVER TOLD ANYONE (80 Across) THAT, BUT IT’S TRUE (119 Across). The clues were all minimal, e.g. “Wish, part 3.”

I have to say I’m impressed at the turnaround time in this puzzle, considering how far ahead Will must plan to run them; King only uttered this quote a month ago. But, while cute, the rest of the puzzle didn’t score high on the cleverness scale. The only other clue worth mentioning is 19 Across, “Violent behavior due to excessive use of banned athletic substances.” It’s a little wordy, but the answer — ‘ROID RAGE — is a strikingly modern term that I doubt will appear in the AP Stylebook for several years, if ever. (By the way, have you checked out @FakeAPStylebook on Twitter? It’s hilarious.)

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

New York Times, Oct. 18

Talk about name-dropping.

The world’s most famous artists are symbolically hung throughout this sly puzzle, whose architect was able to cleverly mimic the structure of one of New York’s most iconic buildings.

The spiral shape was key to figuring out this puzzle's theme.

THE SOLOMON R GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM (23- and 29-Across, “Holder of the works named in the italicized clues, celebrating its 50th anniversary on 10/21/09″) is known for its SPIRAL SHAPE (120 Across) — as is this puzzle, where the majority of black squares form a somewhat rigid but clearly identifiable swirl in the center. The italicized clues are pieces of artwork; the answers are their creators (e.g. 14 Down, “Seated Woman, Wiping Her Left Side” — DEGAS).

It wasn’t hard to figure the puzzle was all about the Guggenheim, though I have to admit I had no idea what the man’s first name was and needed the crossing answers to help me with the SOLOMON R part.

All in all, high marks for creativity. I also liked 8 Down, “Midori on ice” — ITO, for the figure skater — a much better clue than some O.J. reference to Judge Lance. And any puzzle that can fit FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT (43 Down and the museum’s architect), SISSY SPACEK (39 Down, “Player of one of the women in Robert Altman’s ’3 Women’”), NATALIE WOOD (110 Across, “‘Rebel Without a Cause’ actress”) and Amelia EARHART (106 Across, “Subject of the Joni Mitchell song ‘Amelia’”) into a puzzle with CHAGALL (68 Across, “Green Violinist”), SEURAT (103 Across, “Peasant With Hoe”) and PICASSO (51 Down “Mandolin and Guitar”) is pretty cool in my book.

Happy birthday, Guggenheim.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

New York Times, Oct. 11

Apologies for the late post. I’ve been sick and haven’t had the energy to do much but lie on the couch watching bad Adam Sandler movies on basic cable.

This puzzle was a fun one, though not too hard. Each theme answer combined the last names of two famous authors to form a clever phrase (via homonyms) or, in one case, another last name.

A few examples: 90 Across (“Oscar and Isaac’s profile of Little Richard?”) is WILDE SINGER (my first instinct was WILDE ASIMOV … um, no); 59 Across (“Caleb and Robert B.’s novel about valet service?”) is CARR PARKER; 37 Across (“Jonathan and Alice’s account of a pedestrian in a hurry?”) is SWIFT WALKER; 109 Across (“Dan and Virginia’s story of a dark-colored predator?” is BROWN WOOLF; and 111 Across (“Ezra and Irving’s memoir of a stand-up comic?”) is POUNDSTONE, for Paula. (I wonder if she’ll mention it the next time she’s on “Wait! Wait! Don’t Tell Me!”)

To the Times’ credit, the authors were a mixture of current (Caleb Carr, Dan Brown) and classic (Ezra Pound, Virginia Woolf). I’m sure there are enough combinations out there to do “Author! Author! Part Deux.”

Other clues of note: 14 Down, “For whom Safire wrote the words ‘nattering nabobs of negativism’” (AGNEW), because the language maven passed away recently; 103 Across, “Big newspaper company, informally” (SCRIPPS), because sadly there are no big newspaper companies anymore, certainly not like there used to be; and 107 Down, “Cleaning up a mess, maybe” (ON KP), for making me question the NKP combination I had filled in before I figured out I wasn’t crazy.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

New York Times, Oct. 4

Wow, Quentin Tarantino and Nia Vardalos — full names, and in the same puzzle, no less! You gotta be impressed.

The title of “Initial Offerings” didn’t make it hard to figure out that the initials of famous people would play a role in the theme answers. But I have to say the variety of celebrities in this grid is pretty cool.

The catch here is that the famous initials, when said aloud, give you a homonym that’s part of the answer. Thus an “Article written by an early American patriot?” (23 Across) is a SAMUEL ADAMS ESSAY, with the initals S.A. giving you the audible “ESSAY.” A “Dental problem for a boxing promoter?” is DON KING DECAY (39 Across); a “Tent used by a Latin musician?” is a TITO PUENTE TEPEE (88 Across); a “Television award given to a Surrealist?” is a MAX ERNST EMMY (94 Across); and a “Rodent named for a 20th-novelist is a KURT VONNEGUT CAVY (115 Across), though I have to admit being unfamiliar with that animal. Which is probably for the best.

But, as I said, the most remarkable to me were QUENTIN TARANTINO CUTIE (66 Across, “Adorable child of an edge filmmaker?”) and NIA VARDALOS ENVY (47 Across, “Desire to be more like an actress of Greek descent?” Getting Quentin Tarantino to fit in a grid is just head-shakingly awesome (I hope he’s impressed!); as for Nia Vardalos, she only ever got her first name in puzzles through clues like, “___ Vardalos, of ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding.’” (And that was only because no one has any idea who Nia Peeples is anymore — remember “Fame” and “North Shore”? Me neither. I had to look them up on IMDB.)

One more celeb that made it in to the grid, but not as part of the theme: PEPE LE PEW (16 Down, “Looney Toons lothario”). The last time I watched Pepe was probably also around the same time I last used the phrase NO DUH! (28 Down, “‘Ob-vi-ous-ly!’”)

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy