The New York Times Crossword in Gothic: 10.28.11

A painting of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla,

Jalisco Governmental Palace,

Guadalajara by Hidalgo de José Clemente Orozco

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Friday, October 28, 2011

Puzzle by Tim Croce / Edited by Will Shortz

Uh oh!, time to check in with the The Club:

Interesting looking grid, isn’t it? ~ Deb Amblin, New York Times employee.

Lots of cool long answers in this one, plus a few clunkers. ~ Amy Reynaldo, Diary of a Crossword Fiend, New York Times advance solver.

I just like the way this grid looks—like some kind of angry monster from a "Space Invaders"-era video game. ~ Michael Sharp, Rex Parker Does The New York Times Crossword Puzzle, New York Times test solver.

The fact of the matter is that this clunky Friday crossword has some extremely alienating clues, some of them so far-fetched that it’s ludicrous. I don’t give a tinker's damn what a grid looks like, just make some sense with the blinkin’ clues for the love of heaven! That’s all that I have to say (well, not really, I‘m being nice! and I don’t work for The New York Times, nor am I a test solver!), just a day-to-day... day-to-day!

Across: 1. Theory related to eugenics, SOCIAL DARWINISM; 16. What good competitors may give one, A RUN FOR THE MONEY; 17. Part of Many confessions, FORGIVE ME FATHER; 18. Old Testament book before Neh., EZR; 19. Some services, TEA SETS; 20. Composer of “1/1,” “1/2,” “2/1” and 2/2”, ENO; 21. Some HDTVs, RCAS; 23. Noodle, BEAN; 24. Guidebook listings for the budget-conscious, ONE-STAR HOTELS; 32. Gossips, TALE BEARERS; 33. Winter cry in New York, GO RANGERS, this is the most ridiculous clue of all this crossword‘s clues!, “winter cry in New York!”, give me a …; 34. Riddle, BRAIN TEASER; 36. Like some cross-dressers, TRANSGENDERED; 38. Stoker who wrote “Dracula”, BRAM; 39. “Hooked on Classics” company, K-TEL; 41. “That’s the spot”, AAH; 42. Pacific, perhaps, ANTI-GUN; 49. Here, in Juarez, ACA; 50. Fictional maker of earthquake pills and elephant bullets, ACME CORPORATION; 53. Feature of the ideal path, LEAST RESISTANCE; 54. Some I.T. experts, SYSTEMS ANALYSTS.

Down: 1. More prudent, say, SAFER; 2. “The People and Its Leaders” muralist, OROZCO; 3. Tangy pie fruit, currant; 4. Amsterdam-based financial giant, ING; 5. Pitch A FIT; 6. It means nothing, LOVE; 7. De Matteo of “The Sopranos”, DREA; 8. Note passers?, ATMS; 9. Korean War leader, RHEE; 10. Filling yarn, WEFT; 11. “Look at me, I’M AS helpless …” (first words of “Misty”); 12. What may come before so much, NOT; 13. How Ginger Rogers danced, IN HEELS; 14. Taken for, SEEN AS; 15. “Discobolus” sculptor, MYRON; 22. New York’s SEAGRAM Building, designed by Mies van der Rohe; 23. Crazy way to go?, BERSERK; 25. Jerry in the Basketball Hall of Fame, SLOAN; 26. Polo and others, TERIS; 27. Go out with A BANG; 28. Some Parisian income, RENTE; 29. Walter HAGEN, two-time winner of golf’s U.S. Open; 30. Echo, e.g., OREAD; 31. Short, TERSE; 34. Some rodeo bulls, BRAHMAS; 3. Doesn’t lay off, RETAINS; 36. Actress Ullman, TRACEY; 37. Boil down, DECOCT; 38. Some idols, BAALS; 40. Heat divisions, LANES; 42. Part of a Molière work, ACTE; 43. Abram of “This Old House”, NORM; 44. Oh so, TRES; 45. Res IPSA loquitur; 46. ”How’s it GOIN?”; 47. URSA Minor; 48. Like some monuments: Abbr., NATL; 51. Wilfred Owen poem “Dulce et Decorum EST”; 52. Scotland’s longest river, TAY.

Now, now there!, we're o.k.!—humor them!, The Club has a raging need—a mad quest for cruciverbal "superiority"—why indeed, who of us can hold a candle to their panting and snorting, their maddening speed, their cold and cruel critique coupled with charming and enlightening personal experiences (Example: "Thank goodness I spent a summer in Uzbekistan!") that assists in their desperate prattling about the solution of the most recent crossword puzzle of The New York Times—cool it, relax, calm down, really ... it‘s only a crossword puzzle!

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