SNAFU is, of course, an acronym. A wonderful definition from the OED notes that it is military slang "conveying the common soldier's laconic acceptance of the disorder of war and the ineptitude of his superiors." There's a lot of poetry like that in the OED.
The Tuesday, June 17 puzzle by Steven Ginzberg (answers) is not a muddle at all, although I got, uh, "fouled" up by the perennial teenager, assuming she was filled with ennui. It turns out ANGST was her bigger problem. The theme answers all mesh nicely together. This seems like a good puzzle to give to friends just learning the sport of crosswords. It's easy enough and there are no iffy clues. I liked "It keeps going and going..." for EON. It's the 77th most popular answer word in my database and you can bet it will keep going and going and going...
We've had a lot of puzzles from computer geeks lately and Mr. Ginzberg carries on the tradition. He's a software architect for Green Hills Software in California and PhillySolver found his Linked In profile. It's interesting to see the correlations between constructors and math, and constructors and music.
I'm collecting Reader Mail Questions and I'll batch them all together in another post but one I've been asked recently is if I read the other crossword blogs. Sure I do. It's fun to see where we agree and where we differ, and I often get new insights. Since I can sometimes be a bit of a geek myself, I created a software tool to help me stay on top of what's happening in the blogosphere and I recently added it as a public page on my stats site. Click here for an overview from several different blogs. I display the latest entries plus any others posted in the past 24 hours. It sometimes takes a few moments to load.
Thanks for the blogomtic link.
I gave a lecture once on the Christmas Story with historical markers to separate the myths from the written word. One of the common errors is believing their were three wise men(MAGI) Matthew doesn't say and early Christian art shows as many as twelve. The number three was introduced as part of Renaissance art to create the required 'perfect pyramid' in portrait painting. What they were actually doing and why is another great story, but it is not what you think.
I agree the puzzle is artfully done and seems TIMEly and not a bit DATEd.
Posted by: PhillySolver | June 16, 2008 at 08:43 PM
Hi Jim -- So glad to find you in the wee hours! This often fits my schedule, (or sometines lack of one), and I have yet to explore all your links. You and Philly are veritable fonts (founts?) of wisdom.
Is the quotation below just a tease/joke, Philly, or is there more? Loved the bit about the Ideal Three stemming from Renaissance esthetic: if I knew that, I'd forgotten! Thanks, both of you....
∑;)
"What they were actually doing and why is another great story, but it is not what you think." C'mon, give!
Posted by: ArtLvr | June 16, 2008 at 11:56 PM
Yeah, PS, you can't just leave us guessing!
Posted by: JimH | June 17, 2008 at 12:14 AM
Ahhh, Jim, you don't have a 17-year-old girl in your household. Otherwise "angst" would have popped into your head immediately. (Along with a few other less charitable epithets.)
Posted by: Mark Waldstein | June 17, 2008 at 12:25 AM
The Magi were astrologist. The Christmas Story speaks of a star and yet no one other than the wise men see it. Read the New Testament (only in Matthew) and it should seem strange that the Magi, who do, travel West to see a star that appears in the East. What they are doing is noting the appearance of an alignment of the planets in about 4 AD. The Ancient Zodiac divided the stars into the twelve kingdoms so that the heavenly events predicted what was happening in them. When Jupiter (the planet that spoke of Kings) aligned with the appearance of the sign for a great teacher and a prophet, they decided to travel to that kingdom (Judah) and met with the King (Herod), who had no idea. Knowing the approximate date of the birth (months earlier) they offered Gold (a gift for a King), Frankincense (a gift for a Prophet) and Myrrh (a gift for a religious leader). The later is often confused as predicting death, but while Myrrh was used to anoint the dead, its use was overseen by a Rabbi. There is a great deal more to the story in terms of which planets, the numerology and the historical evidence and what retrograde movement has to do with the story. There is some evidence that the sky in question had another event and it appears to have been in April. There really is a whole lot more, but I hope that helps.
Posted by: PhillySolver | June 17, 2008 at 05:32 AM
whew! I'm glad I asked, Philly, but now I'm really confused... Your audiences in those kinds of lectures must have been thrilled, though! Mystery within enigma within conundrum, whatever that quotation...
Thanks very much!
∑;)
Posted by: ArtLvr | June 17, 2008 at 06:09 AM
i thought the number three had more to do with matching up the magi with their gifts than with any kind of renaissance painting aesthetic. i'm pretty sure the names caspar, balthasar and melchior have been around since before 1000 AD, so they must have decided by then how many there were.
Posted by: joon | June 17, 2008 at 07:46 AM
Good puzzle. I did want NOSEDove instead of DIVED, just because. And Major Muddle sounds like a name in an early, abandoned, Joseph Heller draft.
Speaking of astrology, where is the constuctor/sign database? I once asked a young man for a recommendation for a recording Beethoven's Fifth, and he gave me a run-down of the conductors/signs: "If you like bombastic, go with the Von Karajan, he's an Aries."
Posted by: KarmaSartre | June 17, 2008 at 10:47 AM
I am constantly amazed at the pyrotechnical wizardry of your blog -- I believe that it has to be the center of the crossworld with its information, links, puzzle history, and your commentary -- I am stunned by your programming of facts and figures, and now you've added "overview" which enables your readers to make only one visit for crosswords... here!
Of course, we'll miss our ratings, but you're the best!
Posted by: Donald | June 17, 2008 at 10:49 AM
@ Donald, not sure what you mean by missing your ratings. If you’re referring to your stats, I expect your hit count will go up. Your site will be credited with a page hit to your syndication feed every time my blogosphere page needs to refresh. Readers still have to click through to the original blog to read comments and that's where a lot of the interesting action is.
Posted by: JimH | June 17, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Jim
My comment is pure compliment to your entire site, nothing less -- beautiful work in all respects!
Posted by: Donald | June 17, 2008 at 04:37 PM
joon
Drop me an email (I can't find a link on your ID) and I'll tell you a bit more about the Renaissance painting aspect of the Magi story.
Posted by: PhillySolver | June 17, 2008 at 05:59 PM