Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Title: That's Unreal!
Author: Peter A. Collins
Theme: Imaginary numbers (in math)

• 25a: See 73-Across (THE SQUARE ROOT).


• 53a: See 73-Across (OF NEGATIVE ONE).


• 71a: Hurricane centers (EYES). "i" homophone.


• 73a: What to do to all the letters in this puzzle's grid hinted at by 71-Across to create the symbol described by 25- and 53-Across (SHADE).

Here's a puzzle for the math geeks. In math, an integer is any non-fraction (i.e., ..., -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, ... ). A rational number is any number that can be represented as the simple quotient of two integers (i.e., a/b, where a and b are integers). Then you have irrational numbers, like "e" and pi, that cannot be so simplified. Combine the rationals and irrationals to get the set of "real" numbers. But that's not enough to solve all the equations that need solving. That's why we need "imaginary" numbers, defined as a product of a real number and "i" -- defined, as noted in this puzzle -- as the square root of -1 (so, i x i = -1). Armed with this new definition, we can define "complex" numbers, which have both a real and non-real component (e.g., 3 + 2i). Suffice it to say that this opens up new doors in mathematical analysis.

As a former math major, this puzzle tickled my fancy. But I can't help wondering how accessible this phenomenon is to the average crossword-solving crowd. Still, it's a nice execution, with the shaded "i"s forming another "i" in the grid.

Sundries:

• 1a: Aria man, maybe (BASSO). Did you try TENOR first? Who could blame you?


• 15a: Gabonese president Bongo (OMAR). See? Epps and Sharif aren't the only Omars out there if you look. And we know Peter Gordon looks.


• 17a: Obfuscate (CLOUD). Obfuscate is a great word. It generally implied intentional clouding, to make something more difficult to understand for someone else. Why would one want to that, you ask. Well, I first became aware of it when programming in Java some years back. It was a relatively straightforward procedure to "decompile" someone's program, thus gaining access to the original source code and logic therein -- something that might want to be protected by the author to avoid pirating. Obfuscation was a routine that garbled the source code so that it was difficult to read by humans, but would still compile to function in the same way as the original.



• 22a: Thing that can be very sticky? (DAM). Sticky, as in made of sticks. Ugh.


• 24a: With 28-Across, 1935 nominee for Best Picture (TOP/HAT). With Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.


• 35a: Blowhard (GASBAG). Is this one word or two? I'm not sure.


• 41a: Morse morsel? (DAH). Morse code is refered to as dots and dashes when written, but dits and dahs when heard. So, a morse code morsel in three letters could easily be DIT, DOT, or DAH. Put in the D and wait for the crossings.



• 43a: Denis of "The Ref" (LEARY). I love Denis Leary. This was a pretty silly film, but has its amusing moments for sure.


• 49a: Led (RAN). It took me a while to find the synonym here. Ran, as in ran a company, say.


• 52a: Former Manhattan punk music club, familiarly (CBS). Some might find that CBGBs is enough of a stretch without resorting to a "familiar" shortcut. I got it easily enough, but there are better clues for CBS.


• 58a: Where monkeys go bar-hopping? (ZOO). Ugh.


• 60a: Signs up (ENROLLS). I'm more used to seeing this with one L, but both are legitimate.


• 67a: Deuce follower, sometimes (AD OUT). Tennis scoring.


• 68a: 2008 All-Star center fielder McLouth (NATE). Must be an NLer, as I've never heard of him.


• 69a: Son of Solomon Levy in an Anne Nichols play (ABIE).



• 70a: Word on Pooh's pot (HUNNY).


• 72a: "___ on Entebbe" (1977 TV movie) (RAID). I remember this like it was yesterday. I was in my teens, a formative period.


• 3d: Cargo measures (SHORT TONS).


• 4d: Part of NSW (SOUTH). New South Wales, Australia.


• 5d: Gobs (OODLES).


• 6d: 1999 Claire Danes film, with "The" (MOD SQUAD). Could have easily been used to clue OMAR Epps, above.


• 12d: Easy-to-play instrument (KAZOO).


• 26d: Pope during the Great Schism (URBAN VI). I'm not crazy about Pope clues, but they're not usually that hard to figure out.


• 29d: "The African Queen" co-screenwriter (AGEE). I think I must have seen this a few times in puzzles, because it came to me much quicker than I would have thought it might.


• 38d: Court buildings? (GYMS). Basketball courts, particularly.


• 42d: Did some work as a char (HOOVERED). I didn't know fish did housework. Apparently, there's another meaning of char I was not familiar with.



• 56d: Olympic skiing gold medalist Alberto (TOMBA). Some athletes have personae that last well beyond their limited Olympics exposures. Tomba is one of these unforgettables.


• 57d: "Well, obviously!" (NO DUH).


• 61d: Bergman's "Casablanca" role (Ilsa LUND).

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Title: Puzzle of the Week
Author: Ogden Porter (Peter Gordon)
Theme: Real and fictional people named for days of the week

• 17a: Author of "My Secret Garden" (NANCY FRIDAY).


• 23a: Identical twin character in "There Will Be Blood" (PAUL SUNDAY).


• 30a: Protagonist of several Jasper Fforde novels (THURSDAY NEXT).


• 39a: Christina Ricci film role (WEDNESDAY ADDAMS).


• 47a: All-Pro center for the Indianapolis Colts (JEFF SATURDAY).


• 55a: Cubs player who prevented two protesters from igniting an American flag on the outfield grass during a 1976 game at Dodger Stadium (RICK MONDAY).


• 67a: "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" actress (TUESDAY WELD).

where to begin? first of all, this was a cool theme, very simple but well-done. seven long theme answers is a lot for a 15x15 puzzle... which is why peter had to super-size the puzzle to 17x15 to fit them in. (yes, most people in puzzles would call it 15x17, but i've decided i've got to be my own man, so i'm going to call it rows x columns, which is what everybody else in the world does anyway.) i can honestly say i've never done a 17x15 puzzle, so it was a new experience, but not an unpleasant one. the theme would have been even cooler if the entries had been in logical order, but the lengths didn't match up well enough for that despite the convenience of wednesday as the only 15.

second: i have never heard of most of these people. the two pro athletes, yes, although they are bordering on non-famous. saturday is an all-pro, but he's also an offensive lineman, and most offensive linemen are totally anonymous to all but the most hard-core NFL fans. monday is a player whose name i know, but he's definitely from before my time, and while he was a good player, he wasn't a great one. and i know who wednesday is, even though i've never watched the addams family TV show or movie(s?).

but the other four... yikes. i'd never heard of tuesday until WELD showed up in the december 24 NYT puzzle with the clue [Tuesday in Hollywood]. friday—no idea who that is, although i have heard of dragnet's sgt friday. and sunday... well, didn't see that movie. and thursday? that's a totally improbable name for a person. i didn't even know who jasper fforde was until KMT made him the marquee entry in a NYT themeless in november.

Sunny Spots:

• 43d: Harvard Yard building (DORM). right down the street. the building in the picture is thayer, where i lived as a freshman.

Sundries:

• 7a: Scratch the surface of, maybe (ETCH). nice clue, with the literal sense not being the first to come to mind.


• 14a: Nonprincipled (AMORAL). immoral = evil, as an act; AMORAL = lacking morals, as a person; nonmoral = not related to morality, as an issue. however, i don't know the difference between unprincipled (the word i would have used for this clue) and nonprincipled, which my dictionary doesn't recognize.


• 19a: With 35-Across, musical inability (TIN/EAR). i've seen this in crosswords surprisingly often, but the most memorable was in a jonesin' theme with COPPERHEAD, NICKELBACK, LEAD FOOT, IRON LUNG, GOLD TEETH, and BRASS BALLS.


• 25a: ___ Alex (2005 Preakness and Belmont winner) (AFLEET). why do i remember this? i have zero interest in racing. i guess it's just such an unusual name.


• 46a: Seth of "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" (ROGEN). he's an okay actor, but i like the movies he's written. the clue also goes nicely with 64d: Pornographic (BLUE).


• 51a: Evil demon (GHOUL). as opposed to all those good demons.


• 60a: Hard-to-make point in craps (FOUR). i'll take your word for it, i guess.


• 74a: Sweats might be worn during it (PHYS ED). this clue struck me as odd. usually, when a clue refers to the answer with a pronoun, it's a tricky clue involving some sort of attempt to conceal the category of the answer. this clue, however, is pretty straightforward. why not [Class in which you might wear sweats?]


• 11d: Like "Wall-E" (RATED G). they say that the oscars were yesterday (two days ago, by the time anyone reads this). it turns out that wall-e was one of two movies i saw in 2008. (the other one, indiana jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull, was not nominated for any oscars.) it was pretty good, and definitely better than crystal skull, so i'll give it the joon for best picture of 2008.


• 12d: Alec's "Star Wars" role (OBI WAN). genuine class.


• 13d: Restaurant with Moons Over My Hammy (DENNY'S). i used to eat there pretty often when i lived in palo alto and there was nothing else open after 11 pm. it was sad. i don't actually like their food, but anything is better than nothing.


• 36d: Sister of Zsa Zsa (MAGDA). definitely the third-best gabor sister in crossworld.


• 47d: ___ joint (place to eat, drink, and dance) (JUKE). is tihs 1950s slang, or does it just feel that old?


• 62d: "When the cat's ___ ..." (AWAY). when i took french 1 back in 8th grade, i made a point of memorizing lots of french proverbs, just for fun. one of them was, "quand le chat est parti, les souris dansent." there was another one about cats, too: "nous avons beaucoup de chats à fouetter" (we have a lot of cats to whip). what is the deal with cats and gruesome adages? i guess after we whip our cats we can think of more than one way to skin them.


• 65d: Did too many lines of blow, say (ODED). drug reference.

Suns of Bitches:

• 54a: Photographer William who's known for his pictures of Weimaraners (WEGMAN). until i googled this, i assumed he took pictures of people from weimar, like goethe and schiller. apparently, weimaraners are dogs.


• 18d: "Giant" ranch (REATA). what does this even mean? i know what a REATA is. it's not a ranch of any size.


• 25d: Iraqi politician Chalabi (AHMED). never heard of this guy, but it's a common arabic name.


• 38d: "Teach Your Children" group, for short (CSNY). this must be some new york thing that i'm not in on. i know "CSI: NY," but not CSNY.


• 57d: Extremely (NO END). this wasn't hard, of course, but i just wanted to put it here because i'm feeling ornery. NO END has no right to be an adverb, does it?

i guess that's all for me. i'll miss the sun puzzles dearly. here's hoping the sun will rise again some day. in the meantime, thanks to peter for his tireless efforts over the last 7-8 years, even though i've only been around to enjoy the fruits of those efforts for the last 12 months.

joon

Monday, February 23, 2009

Title: Pinstripers in the Hall
Author: Michael T. Williams
Theme: Nicknames of Hall-of-Fame Yankees players

• 18a: Bronx Bomber in Cooperstown (JOLTIN' JOE). Joe DiMaggio.


• 24a: Bronx Bomber in Cooperstown (OLD PROFESSOR). Casey Stengel.


• 38a: Bronx Bomber in Cooperstown (THE SULTAN OF SWAT). Babe Ruth.


• 52a: Bronx Bomber in Cooperstown (THE IRON HORSE). Lou Gehrig.


• 62a: Bronx Bomber in Cooperstown (MR. OCTOBER). Reggie Jackson.

Okay, first things first. It's no secret that I'm a die-hard Red Sox fan, so there's only so much love I can give to a Yankees puzzle. But it's a cool theme, and I knew all but the Casey Stengel one (which I know I've heard, but I couldn't place without looking it up). Minor quibble that two start with THE, which is kind of undesirable in a crossword, but not a huge flaw.

Sundries:

• 17a: Sound of a wet impact (SPLAT). Which might leave a 28a: Irregularly shaped stain (SPLOTCH). I've always been a fan of the onomatopoetic words.


• 37a: 50th state greeting (ALOHA). This is the gimme that corrected my one false step at 10d, where I had CONTAINS for 10d: Holds in check (CONTROLS).


• 45a: Holy Frenchwoman: Abbr. (STE).


• 46a: London cathedral (ST PAULS). Unusual to have two "saint" clues, especially so close together.


• 66a: Arctic coat (PARKA). RIME, my first instinct, didn't fit.



• 1d: Pasta sauce (PESTO). I love PESTO. The only thing we grow consistently in our pitiful garden is basil, so summertime is pesto time. Man, you can almost smell that picture, can't you?


• 5d: Straight (HETERO).


• 8d: Word left behind by the Lorax (UNLESS). I need to go back and read this again, as it seems to get more puzzle action than most Seuss stories.


• 9d: Actor Mahershalalhashbaz ___ of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (ALI). This is oddly guessable. I still haven't seen the film. I think I'll wait for it to show up on Netflix.


• 11d: Ramada alternative, informally (HOJO).


• 21d: Factotum (DO ALL). I never heard of a factotum, which is a servant hired to do a wide variety of jobs. I think I need one.


• 26d: Norwegian saint (OLAF). I never know whether this is going to be OLAF or OLAV. I've seen it both ways, and I'm not sure there's a pattern.


• 34d: University of Maryland player, for short (TERP). The Terps get more crossword ink than most college mascots, that's for sure. Although the Georgetown Hoyas get their due as well.


• 39d: Full of electrical interference (STATICKY). Wow, that just looks wrong, doesn't it?



• 41d: Animated clownfish voiced by Alexander Gould (NEMO). You had me at animated fish.


• 48d: One-named comedian in "Jingle All the Way" (SINBAD).


• 59d: David Copperfield's first wife (DORA). Didn't know this, but never saw the clue. This is usually clued via "Dora the Explorer".

Countdown to ACPT. Can't wait! If you're one of the three people who have followed this blog, be sure to introduce yourself and say hello. I'll probably be in the bar. :)

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.