I could go on and on about the "Pancake Don" and his infamous jail honor, but let's first talk about today's Tuesday, August 5 puzzle by shiftless joon and ms. caroline pahk (answers.) Longtime readers will know that joon is a former guest blogger here and a frequent caps-free commenter, not to mention all-around genius. Caroline we know less about but perhaps someone can fill us in.
This is a NYT debut for pahk & pahk, and although nobody will expect me to be objective, I have to say it's a very good one. Sure, the Freshness Factor takes a beating with IRE, ENE, and even worse, ELI again, but it all seems smooth and appropriately Tuesdayish. I had never heard of ELI STONE. They keep making new TV shows, apparently, despite the fact that nobody watches television any more.
Snorri Sturluson is a wonderful name. It sounds Icelandic so EDDA seemed to be the right answer for his work, and sure enough, it is. Checking Wikipedia, Snorri wrote the Prose EDDA. In 1232 he was elected lawspeaker of the Althing based almost entirely on his fame as a poet. This says something significant about Iceland, I think.
There were a couple of clues I particularly enjoyed. "Big movie fan's option" is cleverly deceptive. "Big" modifies movie, not fan, so the answer is IMAX. "End of an illness" isn't the end of the illness itself but rather the end of the descriptive term for it: ITIS.
I love anagrams. The title of this post is an anagram of "joon and caroline pahk." Most such name anagrams are invented after the fact like the ones in this 2006 puzzle by Ashish Vengsarkar. The three in today's puzzle are unusual in that they were all created by the subjects themselves. Autobiogranamatic or something. Anyway, it's a nice theme. It's also a mere P short of a pangram, so this pair has something to shoot for in their next effort. Congratulations on a fine debut, j & c. Now you have to rush out and buy a bunch of newspapers so you can give signed copies to your friends.
