NYT Crossword 04/30/17 (Sunday)

Cruciverbalist: Alan Arbesfeld

Editor: Will Shortz

Solving time: 42:34

Theme Title: New England Chatter

Take "ar" sounding words and make them "ah" sounding. ("Spark" into "Spock")

Words I didn't know:

RACEME - "Flower arrangement"
EUTERPE - "Sister of Erato"
MOHEL - "Bris official"
KEL - "Kenan's former Nickelodeon pal"
THEA - "Mother of Helios" (I thought it was "Rhea")

Trivia I didn’t know:

ULM - "Where Einstein was born"

ADIA - "1998 Sarah McLachlan hit"

COOLIO - "'Gangsta Paradise' rapper"

MAU - "Egyptian ___ (spotted cat breed)"

UTAH - "Where I-15 meets I-70"

NEPAL - "Where 'ho' and 'hoina' mean 'yes' and 'no'"

SUMO - "Activity in a dohyo"

Junk answers:

INE - "Serpent's tail?"
STR - "Narrow passage"
NIK - "Suffix with beat"
NOU - ""___-turn"
CCL - "A quarter of M"
STAC - "Quick and detached, musically" Abbr."

Clever clues:

HALOES - "Head bands?"
TABS - "Things hat allow for jumping ahead in line?"

NYT Crossword 04/29/17 (Saturday)

Cruciverbalist: Martin Ashwood-Smith
Editor: Will Shortz

Solving time: 23:08

Puzzle uniqueness: N/A

Words I hadn't known until now:

TIRANA - "Capital for King Zog" (Assume it's a monetary thing for some country)
EAUDEVIE - "Clear brandy"

Trivia I didn't know: 0

Junk Answers:

EHS - "Comments that lead people to repeat themselves"
ITSA - "____ joke"
BELG - "Like M. Poirot"
SDS - "New Left org."

Clever clues:

ASH -  "Result of a firing"
BBC - "English channel"
THEATEAM - "Hannibal's men"
CORE - "Middle Earth?"
ACNE - "Certain eruption"
EMOTED - "Made a big scene?"

"Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me."

I went to the theater and saw The Graduate Wednesday. Excellent film. Still holds up for me 50 years later.

The one exception could be that Benjamin's going after Elaine might be construed as stalking in this day and age.

One of the best times in film going is entering a theater and not having a clue as to what the movie is about, and then experiencing the unexpected greatness of it. Such is the case for me and The Graduate. I was 17 the year the movie came out. I received a screening invitation to this film starring someone named Dustin Hoffman. I remember thinking, "What a strange name...Dustin." On top of that, the title of the film didn't float my boat either. I had heard of Anne Bancroft. As I had nothing else to do, I attended the screening.

What a great surprise! It was an outstanding experience seeing this great film for the first time, not knowing anything about it as the plot unfolded. I mean, was Mrs. Robinson really trying to seduce him? I had no idea at that moment, just like our protagonist.

As I was watching the movie two days ago, it hit on me that the first time I saw it, Mrs. Robinson was 20-25 years older than me, and I, like many other young men, were lusting after this sexually experienced woman who could teach us the mysterious ways of sex. Now I'm 20-25 years older than the character. She looks way younger than me! I feel weird (and old!) about that. Time does fly...

I can now appreciate much more the character of Mrs. Robinson, and how she gave up her dreams and "settled" for the comfort and security of wealth and prestige.

I hadn't realized that Richard Dreyfuss had a small role in the film. He pokes his head out, looks through an open door and says something like, "Should I call the police? I'll call the police!"

If you haven't seen the film in a long time, I recommend that you check it out again. One thing I like to do is head over to the Internet Movie Database and check out the trivia page of a movie I'm about to see. It gives you a heads up on things to look for. The trivia link is about half-way down the page of the film's information, underneath the cast list.

I hope you enjoy seeing it again as much as I did!

Next week at the theater...Men in Black! I can hardly wait!

NYT Crossword 04/28/17 (Friday)

Cruciverbalist: David Steinberg
Editor: Will Shortz

Solving time: 27:51

Puzzle uniqueness: N/A

Words I hadn't known until now:

TIC - "Part of XXX" (Don't have a clue what that means)
SUTRA - "Hindu aphorisms" (Didn't know "sutra" meant this)
FENDI - "Prada competitor"
CAIMAN - "Relative of an alligator"

Trivia I didn't know:

ZAK - "Drummer Starkey"
SEXYANDIKNOWIT - "2012 #1 hit by LMFAO" (I am horrible at current or recent pop culture)
AMARYLLIS - "Producer of red-and-white blooms"
SARTRE - "'The Flies' playwright"

Junk Answers:

BRR - "Sound that might be made while rubbing the arms"
ENTR - "Intermission starter?"
SSN - "Application fig."

Clever clues:

LET - "Court ruling"
PALATE - Oenophile's pride"
CODER - "Bug exterminator?"
HULL - "Bottom of the sea?"

NYT Crossword 04/27/17 (Thursday)

Cruciverbalist: Todd Gross
Editor: Will Shortz

Solving time: 24:11

Puzzle uniqueness:

Treats center squares as Sudoku puzzle. I hate Sudoku! Nuff sed...

Words I hadn't known until now:

DIANE - "Steak _____" (Didn't know this type of steak)

Trivia I didn't know:

FANTASIA - "First commercial film with stereophonic sound, 1940"
RIC - "Wrestler Flair"

Junk Answers:

ATYA - "'Right back ____'"
PSSST - "'Hey, buddy!'" (Just how many S's are acceptable? one, two, three, more?)
COPA - "Legendary N.Y.C. club, with 'the'" (Only because it's the 3rd straight day with a friggin' NY clue)
EDU - "Lead-in to -tainment"
REQ - "Necessary: Abbr."
LDS - "Church inits."
EMS - "CPR offerer"

Clever clues:

ORCHARD - "Orange place"
MARSH - "Reed section?"
HAIRCUTS - "Tops off?"

NYT Crossword 04/26/17 (Wednesday)

Cruciverbalist: Trenton Charlson
Editor: Will Shortz

Solving time: 11:04

Puzzle uniqueness:

"XX" anwers with "DOSEQUIS" being the hint (Dos Equis is a Spanish beer meaning two X's)

Words I hadn't known until now:

AGGRO - "Hostility, in British slang"
AMARNA - "Cuneiform discovery site"
NOHO - "Manhattan neighborhood next to the East Village" (Another New York answer? WTF?)

Trivia I didn't know:

FRESNO - "California city, whose name is Spanish for 'ash tree'"

Junk Answers:

AGGRO - (See above)
ORU - "Sch. in Tulsa"

Clever clues:

YESSIR - "General reply?"

NYT Crossword 04/25/17 (Tuesday)

Cruciverbalist: Gary J. Whitehead
Editor: Will Shortz

Solving time: 17:03 (Way over my normal time due to two answers I did not know and a typo)

Puzzle uniqueness:

Six long, two-word answers in which the final answer (HOME) can be put in front of each of the words: HOMEBODY. GAMEBOY, COMPUTERPORT, ICELAND, MOVIETHEATER, FRONTPAGE.

Words I hadn't known until now:

CBGBS - "Legendary music club in Lower Manhattan, informally" (This is so bogus)
IBIZA - "Resort island near Majorca"

Trivia I didn't know:

SIENA - "Tuscan city"
ICELAND - "NATO's smallest member, populationwise" (Though makes sense)

Junk Answers: Many...the price you pay for so many theme answers (6)

CBGBS - Still bogus
MENT - "Suffix with refresh or replace
SEZ - "Utters, informally"
ZZZ - "Snoring sound" (Gee, how many Z's can be accepted?)
LII - "52, in old Rome"
REORG - "Corporate shuffle, for short"

Clever clues: 0

NYT Crossword 04/24/17 (Monday)

Cruciverbalist: Gary Cee
Editor: Will Shortz

Solving time: 7:30 (Usually in 6-7 min. range, but a section held me up for some reason)

Puzzle uniqueness:

Four long answers form a meal (salad, burger, potatoes, and pie) with the last of two words.

Words I hadn't known until now: 0

Trivia I didn't know: 0

Junk Answers:

ALP - "Swiss peak" (Rarely used in the singular)
TWOAM - "Time in Manhattan when it's midnight in Montana"
MED - "Club ___"

Clever clues: 0

"Bosch" drops at Amazon

I binged on Bosch this weekend. Great series. The third season dropped on Friday at Amazon.

I've read all the books (written by Michael Connelly), and I think they are great as well. The TV series takes two or three of the books and creates a hard-nosed, gritty 10-episode season out of them.

It did take me a while in season one to accept Titus Welliver as our hero Hieronymus Bosch, L.A. detective, but now I think he's great. The rest of the cast is solid as well.

I love that they go to various locations in Los Angeles for scenes. I lived in L.A. for over two decades back in the 60s, 70s and 80s, and it's nice (and nostalgic) to see some of the old stomping grounds.

All in all, a fine series to get yourself into, if you're into police procedurals that is.

NYT Crossword 04/23/17 (Sunday)

Cruciverbalist: Olivia Mitra Framke

Editor: Will Shortz

Solving time: 37:26

Theme Title: A Century Of Song

A tribute to Ella Fitzgerald (One of my favorite singers!) born on April 25, 1817.

Words I hadn’t known until now:

ACETAL -  "Perfumer's liquid"
MOTETS - "Sacred choral works"
SATAY - "Skewered Asian dish"
CHAR - "Arctic food fish"

Trivia I didn’t know:

AMALFI - "______ Coast, scenic area near Capri"
SHEREE - "'Dallas' actress ______ J. Wilson" (If the clue was "North," I would've nailed it)
CABERNET - "Popular pairing with steak au poivre" (Not a gourmet)
ETSEQ - "And the following: Abbr."
SIC - "'___ parvis magna' ('Greatness from small beginnings"' Lat.)"
SPITZ - "Dog whose tail curls over the back"
ORSER - "Skating champ Brian"
RIEN - "Edith Piaf's 'Non, Je Ne Regrette ____'"
SIA - "One-named signer with the 2016 #1 hit 'Cheap Thrills'"
GOSPELS -  "Biblical quartet" (There are four of them?)
NENA - "Singer with the 1984 hit '99 Luftballoons'"
ZTILES -  "Tough draws in the game Bananagrams" (Never played the game)

Junk answers:

FFF - "Extremely loud in music"
ISH - "Suffix with sleep or hawk"
SRS - "H.S. big shots"
BFFS - "Close buds"

Clever clues:

HEIR - "One in line?"
OTOOLE - "Good name for an Irish carpenter?"

From sesquipedalian to hootamaganzy

Before the ubiquity of computers, I bet 90% of households had a dictionary. I may be optimistic on the percentage, but a goodly number of families had them. Think about the times you looked up a word. You grabbed the dictionary, found the definition and moved on. I know in my case, I never thought about all the work that went in to the precise wording of the definition, or how many people pored over the word before finally signing off on it.

Well, I just finished a new book that explores lexicography. "Word By Word" by Kory Stamper, a lexicographer at Merriam-Webster in Massachusetts, allows us to enter the world of definitions and the lexicographers who attend to such matters.

Along the way she discusses various interesting words and how the were finally defined, such as "irregardless" (she's a bit begrudging about that one),  "posh" (No, it's not Port Out., Starboard Home), "it's" vs. "its," etc.

One of the issues she brings up is the use of "however" at the beginning of a sentence. Apparently, in some circles, that's a Bozo no-no. I never knew that it was a problem. I've been starting sentences with "however" my entire life!

Here's a little tidbit:  The word "pumpernickel" comes from an earlier word meaning "fart goblin." How about that!

Another subject she addresses is that we all have favorite words. One of hers is in the title of this post, "hootamaganzy." It means "A hooded merganser." "Sesquipedalian" has been a favorite of mine my whole life. It means, "Having many syllables" (There's something meta about that) or "Given to or characterized by the use of long words." Ms. Stamper even mentions the word in her book! Somehow my life is complete. What's one of your favorite words?

One thing I learned that I will never forget is when the word is broken up with the dots, it's not the separating of the word by syllable, but the points where a word can be broken with a hyphen at the end of a line. I really had never thought about it.  The dashes you see in the word elsewhere are the syllable breaks.

The folks at Merriam-Webster will respond to the public's questions regarding words. They will answer if it's within their purview, and let you know if it's not.

I found the book to be very entertaining and full of interesting details about the world of lexicography. This is a must read for logophiles of all ages.

NYT Crossword 04/22/17 (Saturday)

Cruciverbalist: Adam Fromm
Editor: Will Shortz

Solving time: 20:58

Puzzle uniqueness:

A themeless. Looked tough at the start, but after I got a few short answers, three of the four fifteen-letter answers were in my wheelhouse, which broke it open.

Words I hadn't known until now:

AXILLA - "Armpit, to a doctor"
PAPIER - "Le Monde material" (As I've said before, Spanish is more my thing than Fr. or It.)
ATALANTA - "Only woman aboard the Argo, it's said"

Trivia I didn't know:

HEBRIDES - "Skye, the Small Isles, etc.

Junk Answers:

AWS - "Sounds of pity"
ECCLES - "Book after Proverbs: Abbr."
TRAD - "Like many folk songs: Abbr."

Clever clues:

TAN - "Change one's tone?"
RODEO - "What may involve the calf muscles?"

NYT Crossword 04/21/17 (Friday)

Cruciverbalist: Damon Gulczynski
Editor: Will Shortz

Solving time: 27:47

Puzzle uniqueness:

A themeless. I will make the comment that the Friday and Saturday puzzles are really something. A lot of them (for me) look impossible to solve at first blush. I go around slowly picking at the short answers trying to get a foothold. Then one answer here, another there, and it slowly starts to come together. When I finally solve it, it feels like I've climbed Mt. Everest! Really cool!

Words I hadn't known until now:

HAG - "Beldam" (I know the word, it's the clue I didn't know)
CREMA - "Thin layer of foam at the top of an espresso"
TOTUP - "Add, British-style"
AFROPOP - "Genre for Miriam Makeba and Ladysmith Black Mambazo"
ANNEE - "Year abroad"
ASIAGO - "Pungent cheese"
LINTEL - "Doorframe part"

Trivia I didn't know:

APSES - "Areas where clerics are seated"
OFT - "'Our remedies ___ in ourselves do lie': Shak."
HELLOKITTY - "Toon who wears a red hair bow"
EMU - "Producer of a deep drumming call"
ETHAN - "'_____ Brand' (Nathaniel Hawthorne tale)"

Junk Answers:

No real horrible ones

Clever clues:

PIECHARTS - "Business circles?"
LIDS - "They're open in the morning"
GRAMMARNAZI - "Type for who this clue will be annoying?"
USER - "One who might need an ID"
TOTALBASES - "A batter receives four for a grand slam" (So wanted this to be "runs batted in")

"As if..."

I love movies. Always have. I remember being enthralled with them as a kid. I can watch the old films any time.

I'm lucky in that Fathom Events and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) have teamed up to screen classic films in theaters. They come in six-film cycles.

Which brings me to my attending a screening of Clueless yesterday. Of course, being retired and all, this wasn't exactly my kind of film. However, I do believe that I should attend the screenings as much as possible in order to try to keep the program viable. Hopefully, there is enough of a turnout that TPTB will keep continuing the program.

I have to at admit this film won me over. It's a very cute high school movie with a winning cast. I'm somewhat jaded when it comes to comedies, but I have to admit there were some very funny lines.

The plot is based on Jane Austen's book, Emma, if any one cares. I've never read an Austen book. Apparently, it sticks pretty close to the novel's plot.

I was perusing the trivia page for the movie on IMDb and learned something interesting. This movie is considered one of the "1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die," which is edited by Steven Schneider. Hmmm...not sure about that.

When I was checking out the bios of the actors, I was dismayed to find out about the tragic death of Brittany Murphy, who played Tai, in 2009. Very disturbing, I hope the truth will out.

All-in-all, I think this is worth one's time to see.

NYT Crossword 04/20/17 (Thursday)

Cruciverbalist: Jeffrey Wechsler
Editor: Will Shortz

Solving time: 17:59

Puzzle uniqueness:

Trick Thursday: Takes one syllable words in phrases, treats them as two syllable words and has a screwy clue with a question mark. The last one is a bit shaky as it's a plural.

FORHEAVENSSAKE - "Why Japanese tipplers anticipate the afterlife?"
WHACKAMOLE - "Pound on some Mexican food?"
LAMEEXCUSE - "'I didn't know you disliked shiny fabrics,' e.g.,?"
RUNFORTHEROSES - "Quick trip to pick up white zinfandel and blush?"

Words I hadn't known until now:

YESHIVAS - "Places to study the Talmud"
TOPE - "Emulate a 2-Down (WINO)"

Trivia I didn't know:

ARS -  "___ longa, vita brevis"
FATAL - "'Travel is _____ to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness': Twain

Junk Answers:

ARS -  (See above)
RECTO - "Page 1, 3 or 5, usually"

Clever clues: 0

NYT Crossword 04/19/17 (Wednesday)

Cruciverbalist: Emanuel Ax and Brad Wilbur
Editor: Will Shortz

Solving time: 11:00

Puzzle uniqueness:

The Times crossword is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, and they are having celebrities collaborate with constructors. Emanuel Ax is a classical pianist so, of course, there is a musical theme to it. The center black squares form a musical note, plus the 52-Down answer NOTE can follow the ends of the long answers:

MONSTERMASH
SAWEDINHALF
WHISKEYSOUR
RUNNERSHIGH

Words I hadn't known until now:

MANGIA - "Trattoria order?" (Don't have a clue what this means)
QUAKERGUN - "Log painted deceptively to look like a cannon" (Never heard of it!)

Trivia I didn't know:

EREI - "'Fly ___ spurn thee ..." : Shelley
KERRI - "Olympic gymnast Strug"
SITKA - "Early capital of Alaska"
PLAYAREA - "What the keys are to a pianist" (Another answer with a musical bent)
RONS - "Hamilton biographer Chernow and others"
BARR - "Mystery writer Nevada ____" (Come on!)
LOKI - "Shape-shifter of Norse mythology" (Didn't know it, but easily deduced)
NORMARAE - "Best Picture loser to 'Kramer vs. Kramer'" (Didn't know it right off)
MALAWI - "Nyasaland, today"

Junk Answers:

ENE - "Suffix with acetyl"
PREV - "Earlier: Abbr."
SRS - "Some SAT takers: Abbr."
UVRAY - "Tanning element, informally" (Singular?? Normal speech it's UV rays)
NCAR - "Nascar Hall of Fame locale: Abbr."
ASTI - "Italian wine town"

Clever clues:

KOI - "Gold in a pond?"

NYT Crossword World Overview

Since I'm posting recaps of my solving the New York Times crossword puzzles, I thought I'd give an overview of the how the puzzle works.

The puzzles are posted each day online at 10pm Eastern (7pm Pacific), the day before the puzzle dates. On Saturday and Sunday the puzzles are posted at 6pm for the Sunday and Monday puzzles.

The Monday through Saturday puzzles are usually 15x15 grids. They get progressively harder each day. I've found that Monday and Tuesday are about the same (and very easy), along with Wednesday and Thursday being equally difficult. The Thursday puzzle (and on occasion Wednesday and Sunday) will have some kind of trick to it. It might be a rebus puzzle for example. A rebus is two or more letters in the same square. Another example is using a black square to represent the word "black." I'm not really a fan of trick puzzles, and if I don't get the trick quickly, I bail on the puzzle.

The Friday and Saturday puzzles are generally the toughest of the week. Many times the Monday through Thursday puzzles will have themes. Basically, they have three or more answers that are common in some way. The Friday and Saturday puzzles rarely have themes (called "Themeless"). Solving veterans prefer there not being themes within those puzzles.

Sunday's puzzle is usually a 21x21 grid. It always has a theme, and a title of the puzzle is included to give a hint to the theme. As I understand it, the Sunday puzzle difficulty is about the same as a Wednesday.

I consider myself decent solver. I am by no means an expert. For example, I can solve the Monday puzzles between six and seven minutes on average. Sometimes I dip below six minutes, but not often. There are those out there who can solve it in two minutes. I kid you not. I solve on an iPad, so I don't know if my time would improve if I solved on paper.

My patience on solving runs about 50 minutes. If I haven't finished by then, I will usually give up and get the answers. Sometimes it takes just one cheat, and I can blast through the rest of the puzzle. I will be honest, and when I can't solve the puzzle I will put a big, fat DNF (Did Not Finish) next to the solving time.

If you're interested, there are two sites I frequent for comments on the daily puzzles. The first is xwordinfo. They have an in with the NYT, because they publish the answers along with the grid and a detailed breakdown of the puzzle as soon as the puzzle is posted online. They have a huge database of all the words used in the puzzles dating back decades. Worth a look.

The other site I frequent is Rex Parker Does the NYT Puzzle. He solves the puzzle, then posts it. If he solves it near posting, he posts his results and comments at midnight Eastern. If he solves it in the morning, well, it will be early but no set time. He can be very critical of the puzzles.

You need a subscription to access the puzzles. It's $6.95 a month or $39.95 annually.

I live on the fringe of the crossword puzzle world, so if anyone reads this and finds fault with something I've written, please, be sure to let me know so I can fix it.

NYT Crossword 04/18/17 (Tuesday)

Cruciverbalist: Bruce Haight
Editor: Will Shortz

Solving time: 9:51

Puzzle uniqueness:

The entire puzzle consisted of  seven letters - A, E, I, L, R, S, T. In  addition, there were four anagrams of the letters within the puzzle. Again, for the trivia minded, I'll let them figure it out.

Words I hadn't known until now:

ASSAI - "Very, in music" (Really?)

Trivia I didn't know:

ARIA - "Mozart's 'Se vuol ballare,' for one" (Though with four letters easily deduced)
ALTAIR - "Brightest 1-Down (STAR) in Aquila" (Knew the star, didn't know it was there!)
STEER - "Animals rounded up in a roundup" (Never knew this was plural! Silly me!)
ELEA - "Zeno's home" (Huh?!?)
REES - "Roger who played a part on 'Cheers'" (This seems a bit too obscure, IMO)

Junk Answers:

LAT - "One of  a pair of map coordinates: Abbr." (Please!)
ELLS - "The black square chunk in front of 55-, 60, and 63-Across, and others" (Whew!)
STER - "Suffix with prank or poll" (Really?)
SSTS - "Concord, for short" (This answer and its singular need to be retired!)
TAS - "See 6-Down," which is "Things graded by 7-Down (TESTS)"
IRAS - "Nest egg for the golden years" (Only because "IRA" was in yesterday's puzzle)

Clever clues:

None that floated my boat...

"The Fate of the Furious" a Fun Film

Went to see The Fate of the Furious today. I really enjoyed it. It's quite a ride. I've mentioned before that I'm an action/adventure movie guy, and this certainly fills the bill.

Of course, as in all the other Furious films, the laws of physics (and gravity, if that's not a redundancy) are thrown out the window.

Charlize Theron plays the big bad; however, she really didn't get to do all that much. Most of her screen time is in an airplane with an earpiece on barking out orders. One gets the impression she showed up for a week or two, shot all her scenes, collected her millions and went home. I also think that her master plan is a bit muddied.   

There are a few plot holes as well, but with all the action, those can be forgiven. The one beef I have are the fight scenes. They are well choreographed, but for me, the camera is way too close to the action, and the quick (I mean, superfast) edits are disconcerting. I have to admit that this seems to be the modus operandi for most action sequences in Hollywood, and it has been for a while now.

The opening action set piece located in Cuba was exciting. Also, according to the IMDb trivia page (take that for what you will), the producers reportedly set off the biggest explosion ever to occur in Iceland for the film.

A final note: This movie had the greatest weekend opening worldwide ever ($532 million), squeaking by previous champ Stars Wars: The Force Awakens by about $3 million.

I know that if the reader liked the previous Furious movies, you will enjoy this one as well. I recommend it to be seen in the IMAX format, if possible. One thing I love is when the IMAX intro (the countdown) is themed with the movie. I remember the fuse burning through the numbers counted down in the last Mission: Impossible movie as the MI theme music pounded. Quite thrilling...if you're an action fan, that is! 😉

NYT Crossword 04/17/17 (Monday)

Cruciverbalist: Peter Gordon
Editor: Will Shortz

Solving time: 5:53

Words I hadn't known until now:

APBIO - "H.S. class for a future doctor, maybe" (This seems a bit shaky as an answer.)
LULULEMON - "Big name in athletic wear" (Not a shoe person)
PUPUPLATTER - "Assortment of appetizers at a Polynesian or Chinese restaurant"
BABA - "____ ghanouj" (Still don't know what it is, I'll look it up later)

Trivia I didn't know:

EDD -  "TV announcer Hall whose credits include 'The Tonight Show'""

Junk Answers:

WDS - "Dict. Entries"
APBIO - (See above)
ETDS - "Flight deck guesses about takeoff, for short"

Clever clues:

IRA - "Good name for a tax advisor?"

NYT Crossword 04/16/17 (Sunday)

Cruciverbalist: Timothy Polin

Editor: Will Shortz

Solving time: 31:56

Theme Title: Saddle Up!

Circled squares within answer are names of horses ridden by famous characters (on top of circled
squares). For those of a trivial bent, I’ll just name the rider answers:
ZORRO
CISCOKID
LONERANGER
ROYROGERS
SCOUT
DALEEVANS

Words I hadn’t known until now:

FRETSAW – “Woodworking tool” (I know a few saws…this is not one of them.)
LOCOMOTED – “Moved, jocularly” (This is a new one for me. Will start using it!)

Trivia I didn’t know:

THEHUMANTORNADO – “1976 blaxploitation film that was a sequel to ‘Dolemite’”
RIODIABLO – “Made-for-TV western co-starring Travis Tritt”
HUTU – “Native Rwandan”
ANNO – “365 giorni” (More of a Spanish guy)
EDNA - “’Hairspray’ matriarch”
ALOIS – “Arnold Schwarzenegger’s middle name”
DOLCE – “Sweetly, on a score”
STU – “’Rugrats’ father” (Never seen the series)

Junk answers:

PAH – “’Poppycock!’” (Really?)
ALA – “___ King”
AXHEAD – “Something getting stuck in a trunk?”
OMS – “Meditation syllables”

Clever clues:

EGGO – “They might pop up in the morning”
BSIDES – “Cuts on the back?”
PEALS – “Wedding rings?”
PATOIS – “Vernacular” (Not clever, just love the answer, not used enough)
LONGI – “Repeated part of a five-mile hike?” (A clue trick used occasionally by TPTB)

Movies, Movies, Movies!

I gotta say that my favorite movie this year is Get Out. Excellent film. Really, nothing has come close to it. It has a great, original perspective on racism. Jordan Peele, the director, has done well with his first effort. I recommend it highly.

Last year, my favorite film was Hell or High Water, with Arrival a very close second. I did see Moonlight and La La Land, but while they were both very good, they were not my cup of tea.

I’m sure other great films will be coming down the pike, but I really hope that Get Out gets some Academy Nomination love, especially the screenplay. Very well crafted.

I admit that as I’ve gotten older, I have gravitated strongly toward action/adventure films. For whatever reason, films strong on character and/or character development, or explore the human condition don’t really appeal to me anymore. I will go see those kinds of films that get great reviews or are very popular (hence, Moonlight and La La Land), but that’s about it for those genres.

I’m into the good ol’ fashioned shoot ‘em ups and chase movies. Some of the movies I’ve seen this year include XXX: Return of Xander Cage, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, John Wick 2, The Wall, Logan, Kong: Skull Island and Life. Of those, I give the nod to Logan with John Wick 2 a close second. Uh, I just noticed, when did the colon become de rigueur in movie titles?

I’ve retired recently, thus I’ve had the opportunity to see lots of films, which is one of my passions. I’m within walking distance of two theaters, which is very nice. Another advantage is that the theaters have discount matinees on particular days. One theater I can see a current movie for $5, and the other has a $4 admission fee for seniors (with a free card).

If the reader is a movie buff you might check out your local theater for classic movies. Where I live, one screens great films on Sundays and Wednesdays. So far, I’ve had the opportunity to see North by Northwest and Clue this year. In the coming weeks, there will be screenings of Clueless, The Graduate and Casablanca to name a few.

NYT Crossword 04/15/17 (Saturday)

Cruciverbalist: Peter Wentz

Editor: Will Shortz

Solving time: 29:15

Words I hadn’t known until now: 0

Trivia I didn’t know:

• JAGR – “Hockey legend Jaromir”
• STPETER – “Metaphorical rock of Matthew 16:18
• ATEMPO – “Getting back to speed, musically”
• GRE – “Inits. on a master’s application”
• IAN - “Swimmer Thorpe with five Olympic gold medals”
• ESAISON – “1988 N.F.L. M.V.P. from the Cincinnati Bengals
• FAT – “Epithet for Louis VI, with ‘the’”

Junk answers:

• THORO – “Sweeping, for short”
• ATAD – “Slightly”
• YAYME – ”Man, I did good!”

Clever clues:

• THEJONESES – “Object of envious comparison”
• SPUD – “Chips, initially”
• PONYTAIL – “Women’s World Cup sight”
• DOTEDU – “School closing?”