Dutch chess grandmaster Max / SAT 2-4-12 / Fratricide victim of myth / Billet-doux recipients / 1980s-90s hip hop show co-hosted by Fab 5 Freddy

Constructor: Brendan Emmett Quigley and Caleb Madison

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

 THEME: none 

Word of the Day: Max EUWE (2D: Dutch chess grandmaster Max) —

Machgielis (Max) Euwe (last name is pronounced [ˈøːwə]) (May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981) was a Dutch chess Grandmaster, mathematician, and author. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion (1935–37). Euwe also served as President of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, from 1970 to 1978. (wikipedia)

• • •

Fell asleep before the puzzle came out last night and only just finished (7:30am EST), so this will have to be quick.

Of course I love this. It's a *little* heavy on proper nouns, which bothers me not at all (I tend to have significant culural-frame-of-reference overlap with these guys), but which can be a problem for the general population, especially when you put two longish contemporary actors' names on top of each other (AMY ADAMS, SETH ROGEN) and cross them with another actor (ASNER), or put two artists on top of each other (ERNST, DEGAS ... actually, those guys are puzzle standards, so not as big an issue there) (60A: "Pietà or Revolution by Night" artist + 63A: "L'Amateur d'estampes" painter). Clues were tough and clever, answers were fresh and lively, grid was mostly LUSCIOUS (except the far west—what's going on there with all the grunting: UHUH AHAS AHH?).



I need to hand in my English teacher credentials because I dropped in CASE at 1D: Subjunctive, e.g. (MOOD). Between that and the mysterious chess guy, the NW took me longer than I would've liked, but after I got it under control, I then tore through a large chunk of the grid unimpeded. Paused at -NISIA because I could not think of any place that ended like that (25A: "Patton" setting = TUNISIA). My mind was in the Pacific, for some reason, with INDONESIA and MICRONESIA. -ISIA just looked wrong. NE would've proved very difficult had it not been for the big phat gimme of "YO! MTV RAPS" (18A: 1980s-'90s hip-hop show co-hosted by Fab 5 Freddy). That answer made that corner go instantly from rough to easy. SW was pretty easy despite a terrible ONION-for-BACON error (46A: Salad bar offering) that left me wondering where my French went (couldn't think of potential [Billet-doux recipients] starting with "N") (AMIES). Finished in the SE, which I found very hard until yet another '90s pop culture clue saved my life. I watched "When We Were Kings" many years back and remember very well that it concerned the "Rumble in the Jungle" (in ZAIRE) (58A: Setting for the 1996 documentary "When We Were Kings"). That "Z" led instantly to GLAZED and RAGWEED, and then I was done.



Thought [Navajo terrain] would be somewhere specific, not a general landform (MESAS). Very briefly contemplated whether PINTO meant "pounded" (24A: Food whose name means "pounded" = PESTO). Not a big Marx Bros. fan, so didn't get HARPO til I had that -RPO ending (40A: Noted entertainer with a whistle). Got LISTERINE off just the -TE-, not sure why (56A: "Bad for bacteria" brand), as I've never used it in my life and can't remember last time I saw an ad for it. STEVE NASH is like the Delaware of the NBA, in that when the time comes to name the 50 greatest NBA players of all time, he will be the last one remaining and the one I can't turn up, despite the fact that I know very well that he exists (3D: First N.B.A. player to light the Olympic cauldron). I just taught the Aeneid this week, which means talking about the foundation of Rome, so you'd think REMUS would've jumped into my head faster (8D: Fratricide victim of myth). But no. Couldn't get Cain/Abel out of my head. I don't know why THUNDER rolls across "fields" any more than it rolls across anything, but that's an interesting clue. LAWN CARE seems like a *type* of business rather than a business (38D: Business that's always cutting back?). I can't explain why, but the distinction seems important. It's more a filed. You wouldn't use the phrase w/o "business" if you were describing your business. I run a LAWN CARE ... something! As opposed to I run a barber shop or a smeltery or what not. I haven't thought of the name AMIGA in forever and had no idea they had anything to do with CD-ROMs (49D: Computer that pioneered in CD-ROMs). Nice "King" motif with the clue for ZAIRE as well as the clue for REV. (27D: King, e.g.: Abbr.) and the answer ROI (20D: Échecs piece).

The End.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Komm und hilf mir Fliegen, leih mir deine flügel, ich tausch sie gegen die Welt.

Hilf mir fliegen - Tokio Hotel.


« Whatever happens, believe in you, believe in life, 

believe in tomorrow, believe in everything you do, anytime. » 

                                                 

                                                                                                   - Bill Kaulitz.

   

           Je crois que personne ici (ou presque) n'ignore ma passion pour Tokio Hotel, depuis 5 ans maintenant. J'en ai peut-être parler deux ou trois fois par ici, pas plus, mais aujourd'hui j'avais envie de faire un article sur Bill Kaulitz, parce que personne n'ignore non plus mon "obsession" pour lui (si ?). Je ne compte pas vous faire un gros pavé sur le pourquoi du comment je suis fan de ce groupe & à quel point ils sont géniaux, & à quel point ils ont changé ma vie, & à quel point je ne supporte pas toutes ces personnes qui se basent sur les on-dit & critiquent sans cesse ce groupe "à adolescentes", blablabla. Je souhaitais juste vous montrer quelques photos de Bill (& du coup de Tom qui n'est jamais loin, ahah), qui ont été prises pour des magazines. Parce que Bill a ce truc en plus, ce charisme de fou, ce qui fait la différence. & En plus, je vous met quelques lives que j'adore, histoire de peut-être faire "découvrir" le groupe à quelques uns ! & Parce que c'est mon blog, & que j'avais envie, voilà x).

COPY & PASTE my text HERE for an approximative english translation.

Automatic, acoustic @Rolling Stones(song starts at 0:53).

Dogs unleashed, live @MTV.

World behind my world, live @MTV.

Hey you, live - Humanoid city tour.

Phantomrider, live - Humanoid city tour (song starts at 1:48)

Shadow, live - Humanoid City tour (song starts at 1:03).

Zoom into me, live - Humanoid City tour.

Stern, 2010.

Italian Vogue, 2011.

Audi photoshoot, 2010.

Tokyo, 2011.

Peau d'Ane

Un total look Guy Laroche, quelques conseils beauté, et deux morceaux qui vont me suivre un peu partout prochainement...

Ouvrez grand vos yeux !

Photos : Asna Diani pour L'Insolent Magazine

Deux perles sorties aujourd'hui !

Ps : C'est demain !

Fort's steep slope / FRI 2-3-12 / Curling rink line seven yards from tee / Oedipe opera composer 1936 / 2008 demolition target / Where ayuh is affirmative

Constructor: Joel Kaplow

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: ELATER (45A: Click beetle) —

The family Elateridae is commonly called click beetles (or "typical click beetles" to distinguish them from the related Cerophytidae and Eucnemidae), elaters, snapping beetles, spring beetles or "skipjacks". They are a cosmopolitan beetle family characterized by the unusual click mechanism they possess. There are a few closely related families in which a few members have the same mechanism, but all elaterids can click. A spine on the prosternum can be snapped into a corresponding notch on the mesosternum, producing a violent "click" which can bounce the beetle into the air. Clicking is mainly used to avoid predation, although it is also useful when the beetle is on its back and needs to right itself. There are about 9300 known species worldwide, and 965 valid species in North America. (wikipedia)

• • •

Six interlacing 15s, none of them very grabby. SINGING TELEGRAM (17A: Special delivery of a sort) is somewhat interesting, but the rest are just blah, as is most of the fill. It's actually somewhat glutted with crosswordese (for a Friday—SMEE and SNEE make for some ugly bookends). Overall, it was a piece of cake except for a. HOG SCORE (or is it HOG'S CORE??? Nope, it's HOG SCORE), an answer that wants to be quaint and adorable but is just annoying for being both highly technical and completely forgettable (10D: Curling rink line seven yards from tee), and b. the whole ELATER area. Actually, it was EINS (28D: Fifth of fünf) that screwed me up. I had EINE. I'm not Germanically versed enough to know the difference, apparently, so my [Oxford attachment?] was an E-HIRE for, like, ever. Other minor slips included ALAN for ALEC, RTE for AVE (9D: GPS screen abbr.), and ON A BREAK for IN A SLUMP (38D: Experiencing down time). I did learn that Eolith or neolith is a tool. I thought they were eras, but now that I think of it, I'm probably thinking EOCENE.

I'd almost like ESCARP (43A: Fort's steep slope) / ELATER better if it were one word: The ESCARPELATER!



Bullets:

• 1A: Title matchmaker of early 19th-century literature (EMMA) — Only needed the first two words of that clue. Cinch.
• 15A: Britain's Douglas-Home (ALEC) — I have no idea who this person is. In fact, at first, I wasn't sure it was a person. Maybe, I don't know, a home ... of some kind. Oh look, he was Prime Minister, very briefly, six years before I was born. How interesting.
• 25A: "Oedipe" opera composer, 1936 (ENESCO) — a composer that appears in grids from time to time, often under a different spelling (ENESCU!)
• 36A: N.F.L. QB Kyle (ORTON) — former Bronco, who led the KC Chiefs to victory over the Tebow-led Broncos in a late-season game that made me very happy.

• 2D: Where "ayuh" is an affirmative (MAINE) — I can't even imagine how this works.
• 61A: "Live at Red Rocks" pianist (TESH) — a poor man's ENESCO.
• 6D: Pasternak mistress Ivinskaya (OLGA) — ??? [Some Russian woman's name] would've worked just as well. Got it off the "O."
• 24D: 2008 demolition target (SHEA) — I forgot about that. Somehow I imagine it still sitting there, unused, sad. Like Tiger Stadium. (Whoops, apparently that was also a 2008 demolition target—I haven't been to Detroit since '06)
• 33D: Dutch Golden Age painter (HALS) — I like his name. It means "neck" in Middle English.
• 39D: Home of Sistan and Baluchestan (IRAN) — I'm enjoying imagining that these are fat twins, like Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

29 heures à Reims

La semaine dernière, Lorraine et moi avions seulement envie de partir (pas très loin de Paris), une demie-journée, uniquement toutes les deux.

Le temps d'une soirée en fait.

Plus jeunes, nous partions chaque année quelques jours à Londres.

Je me souviens de nos mères qui s’appelaient et s'angoissaient, pour discuter des conditions dans lesquelles nous quitterions le nid familial.

Nous avions seize ans et à l'époque, juste envie de faire comme les grandes...!

Je garde de très bons souvenirs de ces années là. Et c'est avec le recul que je réalise qu'il n'y a rien de plus agréable que le sentiment de se croire invincible.

Environ dix ans plus tard, le plaisir est le même, avec en plus la tête sur les épaules, et plus de responsabilités.

Direction Reims, à 1h30 de la Capitale pour un peu de tourisme et un bisou à mon cousin, Lionel, qui étudie là-bas.

Pagliacci clown / THU 2-2-12 / NHL's Laperriere / Oscar Wilde poem By the * / Cinematographer Nykvist / When doubled Miss Piggy's white poodle / L * du jeu 1939 Renoir film

Constructor: Stu Ockman

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: Confucian aphorism — REAL KNOWLEDGE IS / TO KNOW THE EXTENT / OF ONE'S IGNORANCE

Word of the Day: Howell RAINES (42A: Journalist Howell) —

Howell Hiram Raines (born February 5, 1943 in Birmingham, Alabama) was Executive Editor of The New York Times from 2001 until he left in 2003 in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal. He is the father of Jeff Raines, one of the founding members of the rock band Galactic. He is currently a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio, writing the magazine's media column. (wikipedia)

• • •

This is my Thursday? An incredibly banal quotation? No thanks.

The grid is weird. I do like those looooong Downs (a lot), but the rest, not so much. TACHOIALITHEAIS! Is that corner for real? For real? And was ALET really unavoidable? That section does not look that hard to fill.

Honestly, this is just a dull quotation puzzle with an inexpertly filled grid. While I'm teaching, if Thursday puzzles aren't damn good, I can't spend a lot of time with them. I just can't.


Also: Journalist Howell? Really? Somewhere eventual Hall-of-Famer Tim RAINES is weeping for your silly New York provincialism.

Also: [More] = OTHER = painful.

[I'm hearing from sources (literally, just this second, via email) that this is a debut, so I feel slightly bad, but my feelings are my feelings. If nothing else, this never should've run on a Thursday]

Bullets:

• 14A: Oscar Wilde poem "By the ___" (ARNO) — nuts. The problem with making your clues for short fill really obscure is that there's no payoff. Just a "... huh. OK." At best.
• 15A: Ingredient in traditional medicine (ALOE) — I have no idea how "traditional" is being used in this clue. My doctor has never prescribed ALOE.
• 20A: Man's name that's Latin for "honey" (MEL) — again, nuts. French helped me here.
• 35A: TV network that broadcast live from Opryland USA (TNN) — the one area that gave me trouble, first because of [More] / OTHER, and then because I'd transcribed the quotation wrong and put a "T" where the "H" was supposed to go (had [More] = OFTER for a bit). 

• 5D: Not being such a daredevil, say (SANER) — boooooooooo. SAFER is so much more appropriate here. Not clever, just annoying for its trying-too-hardness.
• 54A: Together, in Toulon (UNIE) — French helped me here, too, though less so. "États-Unis" led me to the wrong spelling here.
• 10D: "La ___ du jeu" (1939 Renoir film) (RÈGLE) — French helped me here, too. This is pretty tough, as French words in U.S. puzzles go. I knew most of the other proper nouns, like ED ASNER (19D: "Elf" co-star, 2003) and IRENE (26D: Memorable 2011 hurricane) and even TONIO (learned from crosswords) (33D: "Pagliacci" clown). Would've guessed Miss Piggy's poodle was Fifi, but it's not such a long way from there to FOO Foo, I guess. The only Lap... oh, it's not "Lapierre," it's "Laperriere" (!?!?!?! who????). I was going to say "the only 'Lapierre' I know is Wayne."

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. Happy birthday, dad.

Columnist Hentoff / WED 2-1-12 / Queen Wheat City of Oklahoma / Prefix with mom in 2009 news / Olympic skating champion Lysacek / Ranch in Giant / Soda brand since 1905 / Brand of movable collectibles / Tommie of Miracle Mets

Constructor: Elizabeth C. Gorski

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: "WAR AND PEACE" (39A: Classic novel of 1,000+ pages ... or a hint to the word ladder formed by the answers to the starred clues) — word ladder goes from HAWK to DOVE. There's also a note: "When this puzzle is completed, the 10 circled letters, reazd from top to bottom, will spell a name associated with 39-Across"—that name: LEO TOLSTOY

Word of the Day: EVAN Lysacek (30D: Olympic skating champion Lysacek) —

Evan Frank Lysacek (... born June 4, 1985) is an American figure skater. He is the 2010 Olympic champion, the 2009 World champion, the 2005 & 2007 Four Continents champion, the 2007 & 2008 U.S. national champion, and the 2009/2010 Grand Prix Final champion. (wikipedia)

• • •

One of the most interesting and clever word ladder puzzles I've ever done. Has a real sense of purpose, illustrates the central answer perfectly. The circles are ridiculous and unnecessary, but that does nothing to alter the basic integrity of the puzzle.  Here is a 78-worder that actually has lots of interesting fill throughout. This is likely because there are no lengthy theme answers (besides the one), and though the word ladder is certainly a restriction, there is still the freedom to make the longer answers anything at all. Though there's still a lot of short stuff, there's *not* a lot of tired, dreadful short stuff. The longer answers are bouncy and the shorter stuff is solid. The only drawback (and that word may be too strong) was that the puzzle was so easy that I didn't even notice the word ladder existed. I read [Classic novel...] and, based on existing letters, knew exactly what I was dealing with. Had the whole thing done in roughly 3 and a half minutes with absolutely no idea of how WAR AND PEACE related to the circles (which I assumed were integral). Turns out it was the asterisked clues that were the important thing, and the circles a superficial afterthought (not very hard to find LEO TOLSTOY in your grid; you can find those letters, in order, top to bottom, in yesterday's puzzle, for instance). The note also seems entirely unnecessary, in that I don't need the circles to finish the puzzle, and while I'm no Encyclopedia Brown, I can sleuth hard enough to figure out that the circles, when taken in order, contain a name. And what's with the note's description of LEO TOLSTOY? "A name associated with ['War and Peace']"?! That implies the connection is much more tenuous than it actually is. "It's funny, I always associate LEO TOLSTOY with 'WAR AND PEACE'." "Huh. Interesting. Maybe that's because HE WROTE IT." What harm could there possibly be in just saying he's the "author of 39-Across"?

Ladder:

• HAWK / HARK / HARE (22A: *Storied also-ran) / CARE / CORE / COVE / LOVE / DOVE

You can, of course, get to DOVE at least two steps faster—HAWK / HARK / HARE / DARE / DAVE / DOVE. Or can you not use names? Well, at any rate, LOVE is patently unnecessary (which was, coincidentally, the title of the Beatles' darker, never-released follow-up to "All You Need Is LOVE").

Bullets:

• 5A: Prefix with "mom" in 2009 news (OCTO-) — easy, though wife was visibly stunned that this "story" was already this old. 

• 14A: Tommie of the Miracle Mets (AGEE) — needed every cross. Just couldn't remember his name. Much harder AGEE than that author guy (whom I don't really know except by crossword reflex).
• 37A: Article in rap titles (THA) — wanted "DA" but that's absurd, obviously. I love that THA is now totally normal crossword fill.
• 42A: Columnist Hentoff (NAT) — I know the name very well, but not as a "columnist." The weird thing is, even looking at his wikipedia page, I have no idea *how* I know his name so well. I must've had to read some of his writing in college or grad school, but I don't know what.
• 52A: Brown in the funnies (CHARLIE) — mentioned him in my Comics class yesterday (first day of classes) while discussing the fact that the Sunday funnies are essentially a graveyard. When most of your comics are *at least* three decades old, and the author of your front-page, above-the-fold, lead comic has been dead for over a decade, you know you've got a nostalgia problem. [For a genuinely funny contemporary comic that should be in newspapers but isn't, see Kate Beaton's "Hark a Vagrant" (now in book form) which at least 66% of you will Love. Brontë soul with a punk attitude—specially designed for liberal arts grads and anyone who likes awesome]
• 59A: "Give me an example!" ("NAME ONE!") — I love this.
• 4D: New Zealand parrots (KEAS) — very close to my heart. Here's my nephew Rob (age 6, 2003) with a kea, in the Southern Alps. 

And here's my nephew Ben—who is going to be an extra in "The Hobbit"—sitting smack in the middle of Hobbit country (age 8) (2003)

• 24D: Item in a thole (OAR) — I only ever see THOLE in the grid itself and part of me always thought it was really T-HOLE. Don't laugh. Are you laughing at me? Man, you're such a T-HOLE.
• 45D: Brand of movable collectibles (PEZ) — they do ... move ... I guess!
• 46D: Soda brand since 1905 (RC COLA) — that double-C is always an adventure. Makes me think soda will be Irish.
• 53D: Ranch in "Giant" (REATA) — do puzzles long enough, and you'll learn more about RI(E)ATAs than you ever wanted to know.
• 61D: Queen Wheat City of Oklahoma (ENID) — I have been singing "Queen Wheat City" to the tune of "Detroit Rock City" ever since I laid eyes on this clue.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld