Burrowing arthropods / SUN 5-29-11 / Involuntary extension troop tours / Italian appetizer little toasts / Hilton Westin welcomer / Chair toted poles

Constructor: Jeremy Newton and Tony Orbach

Relative difficulty: Medium


THEME: "You'll Get Through This" — Puzzle note: "The grid represents a maze. Enter the room at the upper left and exit at the lower right, following a path that will become apparent as you solve the crossword. When the puzzle is done, read the circled letters in the order in which the rooms are visited to spell a quote by 153-Across." The "path" is a series of DOORways, where DOOR is represented in certain answers by a black square separating one section of the answer from the next. Circles spell out, "EVERY WALL IS A DOOR," an enigmatic quotation from Ralph Waldo EMERSON.

[I cannot find a source for the quotation. There are a billion quotations sites out there that attribute the quotation to him. Google Books turns up many instances of Camus (and others) *saying* that Emerson said it. At one point I found someone who wrote that Emerson "reputedly" said it. But the big drag of the internet is that I cannot quickly find the actual source of the quotation; instead, I'm drowning in a flood of quote sites and self-help and "leadership" books, all of which quote him without clear attribution. Help me out, please]

[UPDATE: Big thanks to E. Hamori for finding an attribution for the quotation at this site (The Ralph Waldo Emerson Society site, not surprisingly): "(Journal, 15 October 1844)"]

Word of the Day: Emilio PUCCI (19D: Emilio of fashion) —

Emilio Pucci [...], Marchese di Barsento, (20 November 1914 – 29 November 1992) was a Florentine Italian fashion designer and politician. He and his eponymous company are synonymous with geometric prints in a kaleidoscope of colours. (wikipedia)

• • •

This is a wonderful architectural feat and a lot of fun to solve despite the fact that I didn't need to (or bother to) actually complete the maze before (or during) solving the puzzle. I did a little post-solve drawing to see how it all worked out. The quotation seems banal and self-helpy, something you'd find on a motivational poster, which is why I went in (fruitless) search of its source. Admittedly, I didn't search long, so I remain reasonably confident a valid source is out there somewhere. But back to the grid—it's very cool-looking, with all the little white-square islands. At first I thought I was dealing with some kind of board game. Clue, perhaps. But the grid wasn't quite right so I just plowed ahead, with the understanding that DOORs were somehow involved. Once you pick up the DOOR thing, the puzzle's not that hard, except for the SE, which I found rough—partly because of the basically unclued nature of EMERSON, partly because of the difficult-to-see HARD HIT (149A: Walloped), and partly because I just blanked completely on the Alfa Romeo model (142A: Classic Alfa Romeo roadsters=>SPIDERS). Oh, and I'd never call Ireland EIRE (133D: Home to the sport of hurling). That was a crazy guess based solely on the initial "E."

DOOR answers:

• 25A: Done for, finito, kaput (DEAD AS A * NAIL)
  
• 8A: Go canvassing, say (RING * BELLS)
  
• 27A: Auto security feature (POWER * LOCK)
  
• 18D: UPS drop-off site, often (FRONT * STEP)
  
• 53D: Seinfeld vis-a-vis Kramer (NEXT * NEIGHBOR)
  
• 86A: Show a bit of courtesy (for) (HOLD THE * OPEN)
  
• 39D: Hush-hush powwow (CLOSED * MEETING)
  
• 57A: Some fun in the sun (OUT * GAMES)
  
• 75A: Teaser on party fliers (WIN A * PRIZE)
  
• 34D: All-weather resort amenity (HEATED IN * POOL)
  
• 89D: Involuntary extension of troop tours (BACK * DRAFT) — never heard of this phrase before. I have heard of the Ron Howard movie "BACKDRAFT," though...
  
• 146A: Chrysler 300, e.g. (FOUR * SEDAN)
  
• 96D: Colosseum entrance, e.g. (ARCHED * WAY)
  
• 115A: Hilton or Westin welcomer (HOTEL * MAN)
• 141A: Burrowing arthropods (TRAP * SPIDERS)

There were a number of little things I liked about this puzzle. Like the clues on AHS (110A: Pre-sneeze sounds) and (especially) CLOSED * MEETING (39D: Hush-hush powwows), or the answers CROSTINI (33D: Italian appetizer, literally "little toasts"), RED STAR (44D: Macy's logo feature), and NYC TAXI (45D: One in a line at J.F.K. or La Guardia). MARTHA Stewart is just *on TV* in my head, so I had no idea there was anything particularly new going on in her TV life as of 2005 (116D: Daily talk show beginning in 2005). I did, however, know that Seiji OZAWA was a turtleneck-wearer (seen him clued that way before) (136A: Conductor in a white turtleneck). Speaking of AMYS (54D: Author Tan and others), I picked up Amy Chua's "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" today at the public library. One thing I love about it, and the thing that got completely drowned out by the din of outrage, is that it's really well written and really funny. I mean, so far. I'm like 10 pages in. Anyway, I saw her on Colbert and liked her and saw the book sitting there and thought "why not?" Also got something called "The Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade," which looks super-awesome and which had me at "gay pulp fiction" (p. 1!).

Bullets:

• 17A: Cop squad in "Monk": Abbr. (SFPD) — Had SFGD at first because of an understandable (I think) GUCCI-for-PUCCI error. The former mayor of my city is named BUCCI. He is also the new principal at the local Catholic high school. He's *got* to be an improvement over the interim principal, who (according to ... sources) told the student body that sex was not necessary in marriage (yes, that's "in," not "before") because "Jesus wants to be your passionate lover." The principal before that guy was a shoplifter. Sometimes I love this city.

• 73A: Shrub used in dyeing (ANIL) — a crossword word if ever there was one. I have to be careful not to confuse it with another crossword dye (AZO) or a seed casing (ARIL).
  
• 147A: Chair toted on poles (SEDAN) — Weird that this piece of transportation gives its name to my Honda Accord.
  
• 12D: Repeating heart monitor sound (BIP) — Really?! I wanted PIT. Or PAT.
  
• 70D: Gossipy Smith (LIZ) — a very familiar name and face from my youth, but I have no idea from where, since I'm not a native New Yorker. I assume she was on national TV somehow. Or maybe I'm confusing her with Dr. Joyce Brothers (they live next to each other in my brain; don't ask).
  
• 93D: Bygone missile with a tribal name (NAVAHO) — I grew up with the "J," spelling, but the puzzle likes this variant.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitterd and Tumblr]

Ressource à Marrakech #1

Ma mère et moi sommes arrivées hier en fin d'après-midi à Marrakech.

Direction, la maison de famille.

Pour tout vous dire, nous sommes allées rendre visite à ma grand-mère qui n'est pas en grande forme.

Autour d'un thé à la menthe et petits gâteaux, j'en ai profité pour donner une multitude de vêtements que je ne porte plus et revoir mon oncle, ma tante et mes petits cousins que je n'avais pas revu depuis un an.

Nous avons élu domicile au Domaine des Remparts, tenu par des amis de ma mère.

Une sorte de belle villa comme on en trouve au Maroc.

Valises posées, douche express, nous voilà reparties de l'autre côté de la ville pour dîner avec mon cousin, Fayçal.

Rendez-vous pris dans un lieu où j'adore la déco qui allie design et touches orientales... L'Hôtel Bab.

Pas trop le moral, fatiguée, je n'ai pas suivi mon cousin et suis rentrée dormir direct.

Réveil assez tôt, au plus mal.

J'étais partie de Paris avec un simple mal de gorge, je me suis réveillée avec l'impression qu'on m'avais mis du piment dans toute la trachée. Une horreur.

Grosse session pharmacie avant d'aller chez ma grand-mère. Entre temps je n'étais tellement pas éveillée et de mauvaise humeur, que je me suis foulée la cheville et vautrée dans un caniveau.

Autant vous dire que la journée commençait bien.

Heureusement, au Maroc nous ne sommes jamais à l'abri de scènes comiques.

Comme avec ce Monsieur qui transportait ses oies en vélo...

Une partie de l'après-midi passée avec ma grand-mère, nous sommes retournées déjeuner assez tard au Domaine des Remparts pour y finir la journée.

Et comme j'ai la crève, je n'ai pas pris le risque de mettre un pied dans l'eau, les boules...

Vous l'avez compris, ce ne sera pas du Grand Marrakech, mais du Marrakech cosy et en famille sur ce coup-là.

A lundi !

1973 Jim Croce album / SAT 5-28-11 / C ration replacer / Counterpart of Selene / Issuer of 1986 report on pornography / Funicular alternative

Constructor: David Quarfoot

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: none


Word of the Day: CHARRO (7D: Cousin of a vaquero) —

Charro is a term referring to a traditional horseman from Mexico, originating in the central-western regions primarily in the state of Jalisco including: Zacatecas, Durango, Guanajuato, Morelos, Puebla. The terms Vaquero and Ranchero (Cowboy and Rancher) are similar to the Charro but different in culture, etiquette, mannerism, clothing, tradition and social status. // The traditional Mexican charro is known for colorful clothing and participating in coleadero y charreada, a specific type of Mexican rodeo. The charreada, or corrida, is the national sport in Mexico, and is regulated by the Federación Mexicana de Charrería. (wikipedia)

• • •

What a strange week. This puzzle was easier than yesterday's, which was way easier than Thursday's. My times are not supposed to get *better* as the week goes on. It's true that I have always had a bit of a wavelength thing going on with David Quarfoot (who seems to be back in regular rotation after a way-too-long-hiatus), but still, under 7 is pretty ridiculous for me on a Saturday. Might be my fastest Saturday ever. It's certainly close. It's not the sexiest DQ puzzle I've ever done, but it's definitely solid, with a batch of fresh, contemporary answers (GUITAR HERO, RED BULL, LASER MOUSE) (15A: Hit video game series featuring "hammer-ons"; 8D: Drink containing taurine; 61A: Optical tool for a computer user) and only a stray EDE (40A: Central Dutch city) or ORALES (45D: Mass attire) here and there to bring things down (FYI: I zoned on EDE, but managed to get ORALES off the "O").

I experienced no significant hold-ups. Plugged "I" into the beginning of 1A: "Shhhh!" follower, figuring it would be some variant on "I'm workin' here!" or "I'm trying to sleep!" I was wrong, but that "I" immediately got me "I GOT A NAME" (1D: 1973 Jim Croce album => tip of the hat to my dad on that one), and that gave me a Lot of first letters in the crosses. Struggled a teeny bit with LE HAVRE (27D: City on the Seine), but followed ED MEESE (42D: Issuer of a 1986 report on pornography) easily into that SE corner and then back up around to the NW, which was the toughest part of the grid for me. Thought 18A: "The Eighth Wonder of the World," informally was K-TWO. Then I thought it was K-ONE (there's a K-ONE, right?), which is *very* close to KONG. So I had -NEER at 14D: Inflame and thought "SNEER? That's terrible." Indeed. Tried LUNA at 11A: Counterpart of Selene (correct), and got ANEER. Bah. Not right. Finally pulled the "E" in K-ONE and there was ANGER, and that was that, except for the little SW corner, which I somehow drove right past on my first lap around the grid. UTTER for ULTRA (49D: Extremely) slowed me down a bit, but not much.


Found a couple parts of the puzzle, er, puzzling. Shouldn't the clue for ABE LINCOLN in some way signal that you're going for the familiar, abbreviated form of his name? (58A: Political leader who patented a system to alter the buoyancy of steamboats). All the crosses said "LINCOLN," but I hesitated for a bit because of this cluing issue. I was going to ask what a SIT-BESIDE was (!?), but then I realized that "neighbor" in the clue 3D: Neighbor in the bleachers, say was being used as a verb. Glad that's sorted out.

Bullets:

• 20A: Dwellers in the Southern Carpathians (SERBS) — did my typical "Slavs or SERBS?" teetering before making the right choice.
  
• 25A: Longtime Disney name (EISNER) — might have proven tough if I hadn't had the first three letters in place before I saw the clue.
  
• 50A: C ration replacer (MR. E) — people think the phrase is "mystery meat." They are mistaken.

• 25D: Home to a famous geodesic sphere (EPCOT) — crossing EISNER, nice.
  
• 54D: Funicular alternative (T-BAR) — seems I have no idea what a "funicular" is. I thought it was something to do with interior decoration, like a newel post or curtain rod or something. But no. It's a sort of inclined railway.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Meiji prime minister / FRI 5-27-11 / Player stoic crew member / Currency dropped during French Revolution / Trump jack e.g. / Bygone European capital

Constructor: Ashton Anderson

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none


Word of the Day: Carlo PONTI (14A: "Doctor Zhivago" producer) —

Carlo Ponti (11 December 1912 – 10 January 2007) was an Italian film producer with over 140 production credits, and the husband of Italian movie star Sophia Loren. [...] Ponti accepted an offer from Lux Film in Rome in 1941, where he produced a series of commercially successful films featuring the comedian Totò. In 1954 he had his greatest artistic success with the production of Federico Fellini's La strada. However, Fellini denied Ponti's role in its success and said that "La Strada was made in spite of Ponti and De Laurentiis". He produced Visconti's Boccaccio '70 in 1962, Marriage Italian Style in 1964, and Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow in 1965. He produced his most popular and financially successful film, David Lean's Doctor Zhivago in 1965. He subsequently produced three notable films with Michelangelo Antonioni, Blowup in 1966, Zabriskie Point in 1970 and The Passenger in 1974. (wikipedia)

• • •

Very fast solve today, well under what it took me to complete yesterday's puzzle. I have nothing particularly bad or particularly good to say about this one. It's a bit "plain vanilla" (a phrase I saw in the NYT today and wondered about ... felt redundant). I don't really understand what the inspiration for this grid was. In a themeless puzzle, I expect to see at least a few "wow" answers, ones that the grid was clearly built around. I don't know what those are today. QUICK STUDY (27D: Fast learner) crossing AL QAEDA (25A: Fundamentalist group) is about the only part that stands out. I like SPOONERISM OK, but I'm not sure I like it as a marquee answer. The fill is reasonable, and nothing stands out as glaringly bad or even mildly annoying. But better to have greatness and badness side-by-side than to settle for mediocrity. Bonus points for interesting grid shape. In the end, though, mostly forgettable.

Got off to a quick start with 1D: Religious recession? (APSE), which was fooling no one. Flat-out gimme. One of the least tricky "?" clues I've ever seen. Slower up there than I'd like to have been because I didn't know PONTI (before my time), but I got ENDLESS easily (20A: Never wrapping up), and that made the whole NW fall rather quickly. "-AE-A" pattern clued me in pretty quickly to AL QAEDA, and the Q gave me QUICK STUDY almost instantly. Puzzled over SOUS v. ECUS for a bit (54A: Currency dropped during the French Revolution), but otherwise that corner wasn't too tough. Rode TATTLE TALE (55A: Scorned kid brother, maybe) across and then encountered my greatest challenge of the day, moving back up the east side of the grid from there. Damn Curious George people were the DEYS? BEYS? Urgh! (53D: Curious George's creators=>REYS). Between that issue and having EMINENT for EXIGENT (42D: Pressing), I couldn't see REGULAR for a while (50A: Bar fixture—nice clue). But after some stumbling I finally got up out of there. Thought "malapropism" before SPOONERISM, but that mistake didn't last (11D: Trump the jack, e.g.). Last real challenge was getting RSVP, which I had (reasonably, I thought) as ASAP at first (10A: Decision-prompting request). Calvin PEETE was a gimme (13D: Most successful U.S. black golfer before Woods), which made finishing up the puzzle a snap.

Bullets:

• 34A: Meiji prime minister (ITO) — did not know this. Guessed ETO, which I think I got to by going Japan—WWII—ETO (nevermind that the "E" in ETO stands for "European"). I might also have been thinking of EDO, the ancient name for Tokyo.
  
• 59A: Player of a stoic crew member (NIMOY) — Mr. Spock!
  
• 2D: Bygone European capital (BONN) — you never know which direction the clue's going in with a clue word like "capital." Guessed BONN off the final "N," though I did have to consider and rule out BERN first (I always got those two confused in 7th grade Geography).
  
• 18D: Obiter dictum (ASIDE) — soooo annoyed to have "learned" this word in a recent crossword and then promptly forgotten it. Boo, me.
  
• 25D: Hostile to, in the hills (AGIN) — Ha ha, "the hills." Not just any hills; just them that are teemin' with billies. AGIN' is also a nice way of describin' Baby Boomers (or any livin' thing, I guess).

• 36D: Instrument for Cannonball Adderley (ALTO SAX) — completely blanked on who this guy was. Not til I go the "X" did I piece the instrument together. Speaking of instruments, tonight was my daughter's spring concert and in jazz band she got to do the first solo (flute). Improvised solo! You have not lived til you've heard fifth-graders improvise! It's pure awesome. Always the best part of these concerts (which can be kind of staid and tepid at times). Anyway, daughter did great. The ALTO SAX kid (an adorable giant) was pretty great too.

• 37D: Opposite of spring, tidewise (NEAP) — before today, I did not know "tidewise" could be a word.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

المغرب

J'aime ses odeurs, j'aime ses couleurs, j'aime son peuple généreux, j'aime son peuple heureux, j'aime ses paysages, j'aime son bordel, j'aime sa cuisine, j'aime son architecture, j'aime son histoire...

Demain matin, je m'envole pour Marrakech avec ma mère.

Nous allons rendre visite à ma famille et nous ressourcer sous le soleil (très, trop ? Chaud) quelques jours.

J'essayerais de poster de là-bas. Rien de sûr...

Et si vous êtes dans le coin, faites moi signe !

Bon week-end à tous !

Conrad of old films / THU 5-26-11 / Looped vase handles / Newsmakers of 1903 / Seaquake sequel / SARS monitor / Williams paint partner

Constructor: Ashish Vengsarkar

Relative difficulty: Challenging

THEME: XY AND XX (i.e. HIS AND HERS) (38A: Matching towel set ... with a hint to this puzzle's theme) — four theme answers either begin or end with letter string "HIS" or "HERS" ("HIS" up top, "HERS" on the bottom, as god intended); these letter strings are represented in the grid by the letters XY and XX, respectively, in accordance with the chromosomes of the sex associated with each possessive pronoun


Word of the Day: Conrad NAGEL (43A: Conrad of old films) —

Conrad Nagel (March 16, 1897(1897-03-16) – February 24, 1970(1970-02-24)) was an American screen actor and matinee idol of the silent film era and beyond. He was also a well-known television actor and radio performer. [...] In 1927, Nagel starred alongside Lon Chaney, Sr., Marceline Day, Henry B. Walthall and Polly Moran in the now lost Tod Browning directed horror classic, London After Midnight. The film is quite possibly the most famous and talked about lost film ever. // Unlike so many silent films stars of the Roaring Twenties, Conrad Nagel had little difficulty transitioning to talkies and spent the next several decades being very well received in high profile films as a character actor. He was also frequently heard on radio and made many notable appearances on television. From 1937 to 1947 he hosted and directed the radio program Silver Theater. Later on, from 1949 to 1952 he hosted the popular TV game show, Celebrity Time. (wikipedia)

• • •

Well that was an adventure. I was going to put this at "Medium-Challenging" because, while 9:27 is definitely high for me, for a Thursday, it isn't *outrageous*. But then I checked the NYT puzzle site and saw that my time would've placed me third on the leader board, which is ridiculously high for me. The times are pretty abysmal, generally, so this one must really be tough. Strange, because after some initial floundering (of the fairly typical variety), I caught onto the theme (mostly), which actually made solving the bottom half of the grid easier: knowing there are going to be Xs, and generally where they're going to be located, tends to help one along. But even knowing the theme, I found the puzzle slow-going. Middle gave me fits, as UHRY is one of those nightmare names that I see every six months or so but can never remember (despite its looking Nuts) (22D: Alfred who wrote "Driving Miss Daisy"), and Conrad NAGEL means nothing ("nada" + "bagel" = NAGEL) to me.

Most of my solving time must have been spent up top, early on, as I was struggling to figure out the exact nature of the theme. I should say that I really liked the theme, but I have three minor quibbles. First, I saw the central clue, referring to the matching towel set, before I had any theme answers in place, and knew instantly that the puzzle would be dealing with HIS and HER. Note HER, not HERS. I "knew" this because I already had the HER in place in the first theme answer—the first part of HERITAGE. So theme answers would be two-word phrases where first word starts HIS- and second starts HER- (I rationalized this by deciding that the central answer was probably HIS 'N' HER, though to my credit, I decided to hold off on writing that in). I would say HIS AND HER towels, or HIS AND HER anything, though of course the towels would have "HERS" not "HER" written on them. Anyway, that false "HER" in HERITAGE irked me. Next, there's the fact that chromosomes don't exactly suggest possessive pronouns. The equivalence feels tenuous. Close enough, but not spot on. Lastly, and here I'm really nitpicking, I didn't like that there was an XX in a theme answer with KISSES, since normally / conventionally / epistolarily, the KISSES are what should be represented by Xs, not the letter string "HERS." So the whole structure had a wobbly feel to me. But it held up, and with that many Xs, the grid was far from boring (though the "AX" sound probably shows up one too many times), and remarkably crap-free.



Theme answers:

• 17A: It's celebrated for 30 days each year beginning September 15 (XYPANIC HERITAGE)
  
• 21A: "Take my word for it" ("TRUST ME ON TXY")
  
• 48A: Foiled bites? (XXHEY'S KISSES)
  
• 58A: Newsmakers of 1903 (THE WRIGHT BROTXX)
  

Got a little out of my depth at the AMINO / AMIDOL crossing but pieced it together (9D: part of PABA / 16A: Developing agent in photography). Loved the inclusion of the reasonably recent and controversial phrase "WISE / LATINA" (28A: With 8-Across, Sonia Sotomayor, self-professedly). Only just now realized that the seaquake in 24D: Seaquake sequel was not a movie, but an actual earthquake centered in the ocean. Seems entirely reasonable to me that there would have been disaster films called "Seaquake!" and "TSUNAMI!" I didn't know SHERWIN-Williams was named after actual people, let alone partners (42D: Williams's paint partner). I did, however, know that Thom's last name was YORKE (49D: Radiohead frontman Thom). He sings on one of my favorite albums: PJ Harvey's "Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea[quake]."


Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

P.S. a message from the future (6/30/11)

P.S. Thanks to everyone who visited the new Facebook page for this website yesterday. I did not expect all the nice comments posted there. Much appreciated. I'll have a "Like" button up on the website soon (or, rather, PuzzleGirl will help me put one up ... she laughs at me when I try to do tech stuff on my own. Literally, laughs). Til then, you can check out the page here. It's a nice place to interact with readers and distribute information and generally goof around.