I enjoyed solving the Thursday, August 28 puzzle by Sheldon Bernardo (answers.) I like the theme, it's clever, but for me today the thrill's in the fill. There are so many terrific clues; way more than average.
This is Mr. Bernardo's tenth puzzle, meaning he starts showing up on my constructor pages. (Sorry, Andrea!) It's his first since I started blogging but I have fond memories of solving his previous constructions.
I'm just going to go through my notes in order, and I won't even get to them all. "Hot strip" is a fine clue for GAZA. It is very hot there. "Washington has some big ones" was easy for me since I live in Washington. The west coast version, that is. It's got to be FIRS. You don't notice how massive they are here until you go somewhere else, anywhere else, and the trees are so tiny! Only this is an east coast Washington clue so it was a clever way to clue EGOS.
"Record holder" is SLEEVE. You'll have to explain that to the kids but it's important they understand the cultural significance of that ancient technology. An object of ridicule is a BUTT, not because you have a funny-looking one but because you're the butt of a joke. Nine out of sixteen clues for SALS now mention that cafeteria in Do the Right Thing. As that movie fades from our cultural memory, we'll have to come up with something else.
"Part of a pound" is a great clue. Are we talking ounces or pence here? Neither. The answer is CAGE. Ah, that kind of pound. SPONGEBOB Squarepants lives in Bikini Bottom. What a fabulous location name. Mr. POE gets a humorous quote: "I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity." Who else could it be?
My favorite clue of the puzzle is "cold-blooded killers." The literal answer is ASPS. Yum.
After all that, I was disappointed with one clue. I thought there would be some clever reason why there would be a "1940s-'50s film/TV star with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame." Maybe it was someone who played both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Maybe it would be Jane Russell because, uh, just because. It turns out to be DESI ARNAZ for the more mundane reason that one is for TV and the other is for movies. Oh well.
One of the photos here is today's constructor Mr. Bernardo. He's apparently a school principal in NYC who requires his staff to solve his puzzles without the use of a dictionary. Tough school.
Blast from the Past: A recent post by Amy on her blog reminded me of this Tuesday crossword from 1999. The notepad says, and I'm paraphrasing a little here to be somewhat more obscure, that a particular thing is wholly missing in this puzzle. Try it out or if you're lazy, jump to the answer here.
Enjoyed the theme, and found some clever and tricky cluing. I hope to learn SALS before it fades from memory, I still throw in MELS..maybe I should do the right thing and watch it. Couldn't come up with CRISPER. I like to cook but never had occasion to Crisp anything. Had Henry ROLLS at first, and couldn't determine if EI (or IE) would be the variation for KL--G light.
I got Night School Class right away, because I once I applied to an ESL class: my application was rejected. Not because English was my first language, which it is, but because French is my second language, and that would have made it English as a Third Language, which they didn't teach.
Posted by: KarmaSartre | August 27, 2008 at 08:56 PM
KarmaSartre, good point about ESL. It only works if you already know exactly one other language.
I found this one tough too but I see OREO and OLEO are tied again. What a horserace!
Posted by: CrossEyedBear | August 27, 2008 at 09:04 PM
my mom has taught that subject in high school for ... going on 30 years now. at her school, they call it ESOL: english for speakers of other languages.
Posted by: joon | August 27, 2008 at 10:18 PM
What is it with school administrators and crosswords? Sheldon Bernardo's a principal. Randy Ross--one of the ace constructors--is a principal. And when I fell into puzzling ways, I learned (way too late) that one of my school administrators at Stamford High School, Norton Rhoades, had been a crossword constructor in his spare time. Wish I'd been into xwords in high school, but I'm glad that my ole hometown was the longtime site of the ACPT.
Myles
Posted by: Myles Callum | August 27, 2008 at 11:21 PM
I didn't mind school when I was growing up. It was the principal of the thing. KS, I tried Mel's first as well and I tried Bonn for BERN. KLEIG/ OLEIN was one of the roughest crosses we have had on a Thursday and I can truly say they don't mix well. If I ever construct a puzzle, I can join the ranks of former school administrators playing with words.
Posted by: PhillySolver | August 28, 2008 at 03:27 AM
This was very clever, and I came close to acing it! I was thinking "easy on" for SOFT ON, but BUTT straightened that out. Also got held up with "spar" for SWAP, till I swapped two letters there. I had the KLEIG, then wondered for a second if it wanted a variant like "cleig", too crazy... SALS was my downfall.
Did anyone notice the 25A ANIGH echoing the theme AN EYE? Wow!
∑;)
Posted by: ArtLvr | August 28, 2008 at 04:01 AM
ArtLvr...good catch!
Posted by: PhillySolver | August 28, 2008 at 04:21 AM
A puzzle link again! Thanks. But although I could work the puzzle, I never would have figured out what was missing.
Posted by: Wendy Laubach | August 28, 2008 at 04:45 AM
jim, i enjoyed that blast from the past. georges perec would be proud. i noticed the grid soon after solving it. the clues i would never have noticed; that's impressive.
Posted by: joon | August 28, 2008 at 07:25 AM
p.s. Thanks, Philly -- and thanks to Jim for another link to a past puzzle -- it did seem familiar. I also think I recalled one without any E, years ago, or maybe it was S. Do you have either in your database?
Posted by: ArtLvr | August 28, 2008 at 01:58 PM
I "guessed" that the puzzle had no Es in it at the outset but I don't know where the information came from. For the life of me, I can't figure out how I came by the knowledge.
The puzzle, being a Tuesday, was a simple enough solve but I wish I remembered how I came by the information.
Posted by: Bill from NJ | August 28, 2008 at 08:17 PM
Wow, 42% of the puzzles have words from the day before? Thank you for that clear explanation...
but I'll bet if you factor in from 2 days before it jumps up to over 50%!
FOr example, NEAL was in THREE times this week, Mon, Tues AND Thurs!
What I find odd still (I refuse to have pure statistics ruin my feeling that it is magical/intentional!) is when it's NOT a common word (like OLEO/OREO which must bump the figure up considerably) but it's something like NITPICK
(which appeared in different forms in both the LA Times and NY Times puzzle on the same day this week.
As for your ten plus list, that's ok, that will all change Monday!
;)
Posted by: andrea carla michaels | August 29, 2008 at 09:34 AM