The New York Times Crossword in Gothic

07.15.07 -- IN

The Creation of Man (detail) Michaelangelo

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Sunday, July 15, 2007

IN THE BEGINNING

Puzzle by Patrick Berry, edited by Will Shortz

Eight entries related by the addition of "in" to a common phrase to comprise an uncommon phrase are the main feature of this Sunday crossword:

INVOICEOFDOOM (23A Dire proof-of-purchase slip?)

INSTILLLIFE (28A What Dr. Frankenstein tried to do?)

INDIFFERENTSTROKES (36A Bored kayaker's movements?)

INCOMETOTHERESCUE (56A Much-needed windfall?)

INCREASERESISTANT (74A Like workers' salaries under a miserly boss?)

INVOCATIONALSCHOOL (91A Hogwarts?)

INTENTPOLES (102A Sharply focused Warsaw residents?)

INTUITIONFEES (112A Clairvoyants' charges?)

That's it -- no more than that. The end pay-off is pleasant and the "in" entry can be of assistance in the solve.

This is a good old-fashioned New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle -- well-constructed and very friendly!

People in the Puzzle:

Ancient Greece’s Seven SAGES (1A); ELINOR (20A “Sense and Sensibility“ sister); ARI (34A Jackie‘s second); EDISON (44A Founder of General Electric); SALMA (90A Actress Hayek); RON (107A “Hellboy” star Perlman); STU (108A Erwin of 1950s TV); ELECTRA (117A She plotted to kill Clytemnestra); ADRIAN (122A Rocky‘s girl); SID (8D Grauman of Grauman‘s Chinese Theater); DENIRO (12D “The Good Shepherd“ director, 2006); MEYER (17D Gangster Lansky); I am the EGGMAN (Beatles lyric)(58D); EMERITI (60D Retired professors); INCAS (65D Athualpa’s people); BAROJA (66D Basque novelist Pio); TINA (78D “S.N.L. alum Fey); DAHL (86D “The Witches” author); TV STARS (87D Potential Emmy nominees); LORI (94D “Tank Girl” actress Petty); AIMEE (96D Singer Mann)”I’m Not LISA,” 1975 #1 country hit by Jessi Colter; ENID (106D Geraint’s wife in Arthurian legend) and others.

Interesting stuff:

ORPHAN (92D Book printer’s no-no); NAMEDAY (25A Annual celebration for a Catholic); CRIMSON (63A Showing deep embarrassment); DUMPS (123A Writes a Dear John letter); SCARF (19D Wolf [down]); ALF (7D Puppet show?); BEDIM (32D Shroud); SPOOR (95D Something that helps you follow the game?); COLOSSEUM (79D Structure finished during Titus’ reign).

All in all, AOK (100A Just fine)!

The New York Times Crossword Puzzle solution above is by the author of this blog and does not guarantee accuracy. If you find errors or omissions, you are more than welcome to make note of same in the Comments section of this post -- any corrections found necessary will be executed promptly upon verification.

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games

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07.14.07 -- "Hey!?"

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Puzzle by Victor Fleming, edited by Will Shortz

WHATSTHEBIGIDEA (8D "Hey!?") is the center full-length vertical entry which seemingly questions the intersecting horizontal entry HORSELESS (35A Kind of carriage) in a puzzle peppered with references to the automobile which FORD (51A Focus provider?) made popular with the Model T and the opposite with a lemon called the PACER (9D Edsel model). Those references along with RPMS (48A High ones may produce a roar), AVENUES (3D Ways of access), SLOGANS (41D Advertisers' output), etc., screw this crossword together with a TNUT (23A Threaded holder) and constitute the solver's ENTRANCE (61A Ingress) into puzzle constructor Victor Fleming's quite MAGIC (49A Cape wearer's field) and DEVILISH (15A Infernal) creation.

For an excellent assessment of today's masterpiece, read ORANGE.

For a gallery of the horseless carriage, go to The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated.

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games

07.13.07 -- Friday the 13th

Lightning in the SONORAN (12D Southwest Arizona's..........Desert)

Friday, July 13, 2007

Puzzle by Manny Nosowsky, edited by Will Shortz

Across:

1. "On the other hand..." 8. Quaint cry from a caught crook, with "The"

15. Between here and there.

16. Hot

17. Go for, as a ball

18. Film director's discovery

19. Powwow place

20. Wrong

22. Town outside Harrisburg

23. Topless?

24. "Le Bon Bock" artist

26. Times on the History Channel?

27. Cusp

28. Sony debut of 1979

30. Swallowed the bait?

31. Spandex and Lurex

33. Hurt

35. Works with

36. "What's the ____?"

37. Seashell hues

40. 1940s fashion

44. Smart figures?

45. 1`938 Daphne du Maurier novel

47. Layer

48. Neighbor of Mex.

50. Ohio city whose name means "hospitality" in Greek

51. Dog

52. High country

54. Popular ISP

55. Slog

56. Wrong

58. Natural gas components

60. "______ Place"

61. Be at rest

62. One who tries

63. Bawls out

Down:

1. Favorite

2. Backtrack on, as a rug

3. Certain multiscreen cinema

4. Quieted (down)

5. Overwhelming

6. Viscosity symbol, in physics

7. Figure on which royalties are based

8. What to do if you can't beat the suckers

9. Night spot

10. Thomas ____, last royal governor of Massachusetts

11. 1919 Broadway musical that set a record for most performances up to that time

12. Southwest Arizona's _____ Desert

13. Howl

14. Content

21. Puts one's John Hancock on

24. What X + Y signifies

25. Cassava product

28. Having learned a lesson

29. Mex. is in it

32. Port pusher

34. Hypotheticals

36. How most farm animals behave

37. Very much

38. Zebras, e.g.

39 "_______ Daughter," 2003 Judi Hendricks novel

40. Greek philosopher who founded Stoicism

41. High-elevation areas

42. 1983 Randy Newman song

43. Ready to be proofed

46. Carrier

49. Earth, in sci-fi

51. Grain threshing tool

53. Legendary siege site

55. Author Silverstein

57. Saccharide suffix

59. 7-up, e.g.

Comments:

If a crossword puzzle could assume the guise of a human being, this one would definitely be antisocial. Divided into four little puzzles, up left, up right, down left, and down right, with two entrances each into a central meeting hall that constitutes a fifth. Nothing much in any one of the five mini-puzzles gives help to solving another, so it’s very much akin to working five short puzzles. Every letter in the alphabet is used at least once, as follows:

Manny’s ABC’s:

ATE -- just fill, I mean puzzle-wise

BEARER -- a near rhyme of its clue

C - See REBECCA -- do two C’s, make up for no C-starter ?

DIFF -- no one’s going to like this reference

ENOLA -- Backwards, ALONE (in a small town in Pennsylvania)

FLOP and FLAIL -- dog and thresh?

GAGE -- used earlier in the week, different clue

HUGE -- Overwhelming? Subjective.

IQS and INERROR -- They go together.

JOINEM and JIGISUP -- so do these

K - See WALKMAN -- the lone K

LIEIDLE -- when the Yankees fortunes turned -- sp. LIDLE

MALESEX -- as opposed to? and with who?

NAFTA -- no more NAFTA, please

ONAROLL -- clued as hot, could be a sandwich or tissue

PAINED -- this puzzle did

Q - See IQS -- smart figures?

REBECCA -- great Hitchcock film, please use that reference next time

SIN and SLAVE -- ooooh, now these do fit

TRIPLEX and TERRA with a bent TERROR -- little tangled mess, could be TRIPLE X, and then down left with TERRA, take a right turn on the first R, you’ll get TERROR

UNWEAVE -- no one will like this either

V - See UNWEAVE -- and this as a consequence

WALKMAN -- only for the W and the K

XENIA -- “hospitality” in Greek, but in America?!

YELLSAT -- just walk away!

ZENO and ZOOTSUIT -- Zeno in Xenia in a zoot suit, zounds!

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games

07.12.07 -- Brain Damage

From the film "Donovan's Brain", 1953

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Thursday, July 12, 2007

Click here for LARGE PRINT.

Puzzle by Michael Shteyman, edited by Will Shortz

Here's another one of those first-word-combined-with-this-word-means-something-else crossword puzzles.

BRAIN (65A Word that can precede the starts of 17-, 35- and 54- and 16-Down) combined with the you-know-what of POWERSTEERING (17A It might help you take a turn for the better), WASHCYCLE (35A Ten minutes in a laundry, maybe), TRUSTMEONTHIS (54A "You'll have to take my word for it!"), and STORMCENTER (16D Low pressure area) equals a you-guessed-it result.

The May 14th NYT Puzzle featured as one of its entries NOBRAINER (Super-easy decision), and body-part entries which included bone, muscle, fat and skin, with one of those entries being BONEHEADED (Really, really dumb) -- well, that's what I felt like with this one. It probably didn't help that my temporal and frontal lobes were overheated, as I had decided to solve it in the sauna!

Sweat and strike-overs, futile attempts at turning an S into an X or a D into a J -- all scrawled crudely through fallen beads of moisture! Crumpled and soiled, wrinkled and unintelligible! I'm certain I would have been better off in a frozen meat locker!

BROOMS (6A They clear the way) couldn't sweep away my FAUXPAS (14A Wearing white after Labor Day, e.g.) (can anyone tell me why that's a mistake), no REPOSE (15A Rest), REPLAN (12A Think over, in a way), or REDRESS (39D Remedy) could wipe away the DISCORD (62A Strife) or EASE (5D Minimal effort) my sweat -- this is a JUICY (49D Titillating) IHATEIT (38A "Ugh!") puzzle -- FIE (14D Cry of disgust)!...but CREDIT (60A Attribution) the constructor for opening up my pores, because in my OPINION (9D Perspective), a puzzle should puzzle!

Dies Bild des Malers und Bildhauers Max Ernst (1891 – 1976) hängt in der Kunsthalle Mannheim

Witnessing such a meager scattering of the arts with MAXERNST (32A Early Surrealist), ROSSINI (42D Composer of the opera "Tancredi"), and ITSYOU (64A Song from "The Music Man" with the lyric "What words could be saner or truer or plainer"), I did not want to hear those childhood retorts LIAR (25D Word repeated in a child's taunt) and ISTOO (50D Kindergarten comeback) much less MEEITHER (59A Informal words of concurrence).

Banking, with SANDL (23A Place to get a C.D.) and EXCH (28D Kind of rate in a bank: Abbr.), stole out of its boundaries with ONCD (52D How most computer software is sold), while miscellaneous initials and abbreviations were rampant -- SSE, ISO, VSOP, IST, MED, MDI, ARR, TRIB, THRU, HMO, HST (53A First U.S. pres. to travel in a submarine), along with other half-blurted one-syllable words -- SAY, FIE, LET, NERD, ASH, SUE, and the criss-crossed TAO and YAO. Yet another by-gone ruler OTTOIV (30A Emperor under Pope Innocent III), an obscure building AIRDROME (37A Hangar site), an undesirable cooking method DEEPFAT (2D Frying medium), that odd little ECHIDNA (41D Egg-laying mammal), and an anatomical reference, HUMERI (40A Upper armbones), all somehow left me to wonder if an OXLIP (8D Yellow spring flower) was related to a cowslip, and who in the world names flowers after animal orifices? LOCOS (47A Nutcases)! Last, but not least, one of my favorite NYT's writers makes a cameo -- DOWD (24D Columnist Maureen).
Well, I'm all dried off now -- ready for the WASHCYCLE!

Nancy Davis stands by husband Lew Ayres (left) while partner Gene Evans looks on in a scene from Curt Siodmak's "Donovan's Brain."
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For today's cartoons, go to The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games

07.11.07 -- Run on in in on over!

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Click here for LARGE PRINT.

Puzzle by Patrick Merrell, edited by Will Shortz

Will Shortz is shuffling the deck this week it seems; however, The New York Times set the rules about the day-of-the-week appearance of any particular puzzle, and has a perfect right to mix it up whenever we solvers get too smug! I think that’s a good thing -- too often, those not in charge of publishing the puzzle insist that the puzzle is supposed to be this, that, and the other thing on such-and-such a day with certain nameable traits, and with a particular degree of ease or difficulty, etc. So, expect the unexpected, at least this week -- hell, it’s a lot more fun!

ASLAN (42A The lion in “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”) shares this crossword with fish, fowl and fellow mammal -- ORCAS (1A SeaWorld attractions), QUAIL (34A California’s state bird), DUN (63A Horse color), TETRA (21A Neon ____[fish]), INOIL (30D How sardines are often packed), and EEYORE (45D Pooh’s mopey pal).

People in the puzzle include RAP (6A 50 Cent piece), IKE (15A Voters liked him twice), OLLIE (16A Stan’s partner in old films), PRADA (Gucci competitor), THEMOB (46A Organized crime), WIELDER (22a Ax user, e.g.), OHARA (59A Fictional Scarlett), PENN (8D William for whom a colony was named), ELI (10D Inventor Whitney), Dr. EVIL of “Austin Powers” films (26D), KOOLAIDMAN (31D Pitcher who says “Oh, yeaahh!”), ABIE (42D Irish Rose’s beau), HATER (61A Fan’s opposite), DAKOTA (43D Some Plains Indians), and BAH (56D Cry from Scrooge).

Many activities WEAVE (9A Constantly change lanes) throughout, related/unrelated, including RIVERRAFTS (6D They run rapids), TABLETENNIS (20A Sport played on the first word of its name), ARENAFOOTBALL (35A Sport played in the first word of its name), ELBOW (17A Poke, in a way), FIELDHOCKEY (51A Sport played on the first word of its name), SOWED (5D Scattered over the earth), (note the “run“ “on” “in” “in” “on” “over“), QBS (34D Some hikers’ targets, for short), POT (39A Poker payoff), CABBED (3D Took a taxi, with “it”), and SCRAP (50D Consign to the junkyard).

VINERIPEN (18A Mature before being picked) and BUBBLEGUM (54A It may get stuck in a movie theater), NEATO (14A “Peachy!”) EDAM (37D Noted cheese town), and INOIL are the oral group, while PSHAW (62A "Shucks!"), BAH, IFEVER, LULU (53D Corker), NEATO, EGAD (52D "Yikes!"), WEAVE, EEN, UHS, BOP, ITSSAFE and ONETWO (1D Boxing combo) GIVE (32A Say "uncle") curt reticence and exclamation, so I won’t even mention TRIKE (29A Tot’s wheels), DRANO (33A Popular clog-buster), RELAID, TILES, WORSE (9D Not as good) RATE (38D Appraise) and DIE (43A Go out, as embers).

Aslan returns to life

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Please give a moment for the passing of my dog CAESAR
July 13, 1992 - July 10, 2007

His photograph is published in today's The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated.

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games

07.10.07 -- Bridge

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Click here for LARGE PRINT.

Puzzle by Pete Muller, edited by Will Shortz

Five inter-related entries, SONGBYPAULSIMON (59A The starts to 17-, 30-, 38- and 47-Across, collectively), BRIDGEFINANCING (17A Loan to a company before it goes public, say), OVERTHEEDGE (30A Spilling out), TROUBLEDTIMES (38A Periods of unrest), and WATERFILTER (47A Remover of impurities) combine to render "Bridge Over Troubled Water", song by Paul Simon.
A crossword puzzle can be a good way to escape one’s surroundings -- waiting rooms, subway rides, bus stops, someone’s late or you’re early -- magazine or newspaper nearby, pick it up, look for the crossword -- perchance you’ll find it blank, but more often it is evidence of a concentrated struggle prior to being yanked away upon one’s awaited appointment arriving suddenly. Crossovers, scratches and scrawls, wrong answers and side notes -- unfinished business. Yes, that’s right, a crossword can be a bridge over troubled water -- there, it’s said.

Now if that tune is too melodramatic, today’s crossword offers a choice of three others: “ANNIES Song” (John Denver tune) (50A); “OER the land of the free…” (2D); and (4D) Broadway musical with the song “The Gods Love Nubia”.

The lyrics of the Paul Simon song propose stemming alone-ness -- to this effect, today's puzzle has a group and many pairs. The group? The I’s -- IDAHO (9A Twin Falls’s home); ITASCA (26A Lake that is a source of the Mississippi); IGNITE (9D Set off); INGLE (51D Fireplace) and IDI Amin (41D).

Pairs? CASTE (70A Social level) and PASTE (20A Computer command after cut); DICTA (10D Formal rulings) and DACHA (35A Russian country house); RHOS (31D Greek R’s) and TAU (32D Greek T); LEGS and LENS; ELL and ELS; RAW and ROW; LEI and LAT; OOF and OTT and ORG and OWE -- maybe even EFFETE (6D Lacking vigor) and BRASSY (39D Harsh and metallic); EMPTY (67A Pour out from) and TOTAL (1A Completely wreck); ERAS (37A History chapters) and BIOS (42A Life stories); BPOE and LDS; with KOALA (65a Arboreal Aussie) and GINZA (56A Place to shop in Tokyo) qualifying as an odd couple.

TRIPLECROWN (3D Racing feat) and STREETLAMPS (27D Lights on posts, perhaps) are the long down entries left and right. In between RENEWED (25D Extended, as a membership) bisects TROUBLEDTIMES, like unwanted woes returned.

Two loners persist -- EMIL (37D Expressionist Nolde) (making his second appearance in a week) and TOD (34A Director Browning) -- who could be a perfect couple with their analogous oeuvres.

If your time is up now, and you must lay this puzzle down -- fear not: "I'll take your part…like a bridge over troubled water, I will ease your mind…I'm sailing right behind"!

Illustration: Troubled water over bridge
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For today's cartoon, go to The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated.

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games

07.09.07 -- Up in Arms

Monday, July 9, 2007

Click here for LARGE PRINT.

Puzzle by Peter A. Collins, edited by Will Shortz

It's a good thing I located the crayons the kids left behind on the fourth of July for Patrick Blindauer's HAPPYBIRTHDAY USA special, because this Monday's puzzle made finding them twice worthwhile -- this time I used the "sea green" to color in the circles (which don't show up too well in print) for this post. If this goes on, I'll have to register for kindergarten this fall!

OCTOPUS (36A Creature suggested by this puzzle's circled letters) and ABDOMEN (24D Body's midsection) cross at their centers in the center of the grid with the aforementioned circled letters spelling ARM eight times (colored "sea green" below) radiating outward (or should I say out-word?) to form a virtual verbal octopus!

I am always grateful for a puzzle that leads me to discover something new, and the Wikipedia reference on OCTOPUS was quite an enlightenment. I had no idea that octopi were so intelligent -- for instance they’ve been known to “open the covers of their aquariums and survive for a time in the air in order to get to a nearby feeder tank and gorge themselves on the fish there.” They have a very short life span, made even shorter upon engaging in reproduction, and they've also been known to catch and kill some species of sharks. The Wikipedia article is worth a read. Actually, I was searching as to whether an octopus has an ABDOMEN (24D Body’s midsection) to determine if I should color in that word as part of the “puzzle-octopus” -- well, I did, because it does! It makes perfect sense as ARMs are connected to the ABDOMEN of the OCTOPUS!
It's a nice surprise for a Monday, but I am sure the Puzzle Police will have a thing or two about where it's parked -- lucky if it doesn't get a ticket! That's right, except for the intelligible clues and lack of really obscure entries, this is the sort of crossword puzzle one encounters later in the week. Who's complaining? This is a real gem any day of the week!

MAMMAL (1A Warm-blooded animal), YESMAAM (7A Polite concurrence), MARMOTS (61A Coarse-haired burrowers), and IAMSAM (62A 2001 Sean Penn film) are the entries providing the M in the ARMs. ERITREA (14A Neighbor of Sudan), ARREARS (16A Behind on payments, after “in”), PRAIRIE (59A Kansas expanse), and ARRIERE (60A Back: Fr.) are the R’s -- that last one is obscure. SEASTAR (17A Five-pointed ocean denizen), CATNAPS (18A Short sleeps), ROADTAX (52A Driver’s levy), and BARTABS (55A Drinkers may run them up) supply the A’s.

Also (hopefully I’m not sounding over-enthusiastic), I liked the symmetrical placement of the rhyming GROWDIM (40D Fade) and TINYTIM (42D “Tip-Toe Thru’ the Tulips” singer); PIT (29D Cherry seed) and POD (37D Pea’s home) adjacent to ABDOMEN up left and down right; and the necessary happenstance fill ARE, AAA, ARP, AAR, ARS, and AES, along with MES, MSS, MIA -- and in other locations in the grid, ETC, ENE, SOO, MOP, TIN, JED, AID, ditto.

Our octopus gets a little company with the SEASTAR, and, with a stretch, ROE (sometimes clued as having to do with fish eggs), and perhaps with passing YACHTS (7D Regatta boats) filled with LOONIES (22D Cuckoos) and captained by a COLONEL (27D Rank below brigadier general) speeding along with music blaring ALLEGRO (23A Fast, in music) headed to old TERRA firma (43A) to the tune of The Beatle‘s “Octopus‘s Garden“.
Unforunately, an octopus has only arms, because the constructor has provided a TOERING (26D Jewelry for a sandal wearer) -- but not to NIGGLE (39A Criticize in a petty way), this is a puzzle that will PLEASE (31D “The Magic Word”) one and all -- “under the sea, in an octopus' garden”!
Like MTSINAI (4D Where Moses got the Ten Commandments), a gift from Heaven -- puzzlemaster Peter A. Collins and, ergo, his solvers are blessed with this little Monday monster!

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For today's cartoons, go to The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated.

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games

07.15.07 -- IN

07.14.07 -- "Hey!?"

07.13.07 -- Friday the 13th

07.12.07 -- Brain Damage

07.11.07 -- Run on in in on over!

07.10.07 -- Bridge

07.09.07 -- Up in Arms

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