I’m thrilled with my time today – less than 2 MOOTs! (a MOOT is a unit meaning Multiples of Orange’s Time, fast becoming the de facto standard of crossword speed measurement (and invented by me)). In yet more format experimentation, I’m combining my hints with my commentary. All answers mentioned will be white-on-white, so highlight any blank space to see answers.
Sorry for the delay in getting today’s post out. Orange warned me when I was starting this that if I was even a little late in posting on a given day, I’d start hearing from my readership. She was right! But I’m not complaining – I’m just happy I have a readership at all.
Theme spoiler: John Farmer gives us a wonderful theme today – a rebus which translates to ACROSS when it’s in across answers, and DOWN when it’s in down answers. For example, 18A, “Spans, as a river” is STRETCHES(ACROSS), and 13D, “Hit the skids”, is GO(DOWN)HILL. The square with ACROSS and the square with DOWN are the same one. I was a bit confused through half the puzzle, when I was just getting the DOWN part – for a bunch of the across answers, using DOWN yielded an answer that sorta made sense. But then it eventually became clear.
Clues that gave me problems were:
- “Outdoor wingding”, BARBQ. I was expecting GALA or something, and used to BBQ, not BARBQ
- Secretary of state after Muskie, HAIG. Just didn’t know it.
- “____Scamander, pseudonym for J.K. Rowling”, NEWT. Who new’t?
- “Auto on the autobahn”, OPEL
- “Non____”, TANTO. A musical term I was unaware of.
- “Church vestibule”, NARTHEX
- “Doha dweller”, QATARI. Ok, but what’s a doha?
Clues I enjoyed:
- “”Coming to America” co-star”, ARSENIOHALL. He don’t get no respect.
- Kvetcher’s cry, OYVEY
- MDX maker, ACURA - I thought it was a Roman numeral thing, but no.
- “A Baldwin”, PIANO - wow a Baldwin clue that’s not a Baldwin brother! I had the P when I got to this clue and figured it out pretty quick.
Theme answers were: 1A: ONE(ACROSS), 4D: (DOWN)BEAT, 18A: STRETCHES(ACROSS), 13D: GO(DOWN)HILL, 35A: MOVE(ACROSS)TOWN, 26D: GET(DOWN)PAT, 58A: (ACROSS)THESTREET, 39D: LOOK(DOWN)ON, 68A: CUT(ACROSS), and 45D: UPDSIDE(DOWN).
6 responses so far ↓
Orange // May 29, 2008 at 7:00 pm |
I like MOOT because it reminds me of Jesse Jackson’s fake SNL game show from 1984, “The Question Is Moot.” (There’s a video of the sketch here.)
Howard B // May 29, 2008 at 10:44 pm |
Doha is the capital (and largest city) of Qatar.
Am I the only one who reads QATARI and sees it as Q-ATARI? Video game flashback…
JerryR // May 29, 2008 at 10:57 pm |
Orange: Ah, an actual good skit during the first era of great SNL suckitude.
Howard: I was thinking it was some kind of dwelling, but world capitals is not one of my strong suits. 1980’s video games is, however, but I nevertheless did not read it as Q-ATARI. But your comments did cause Qix and Q*Bert to spring to mind.
My favorite arcade games of all time were Joust, Tempest, and Robotron. Q*Bert was great for amusement value though, plus I could play it for a long time on one quarter.
Susan // May 30, 2008 at 8:54 am |
My head is still spinning from that Down,
Across thing. But thanks, you straightened
us out. I also looked up Doha.
Quatar?????? Somewhere near Saudi Arabia?
Howard B // May 30, 2008 at 8:53 pm |
Ah, Q*Bert. Right in my wheelhouse there. Especially fun if you played on a rare machine with a working mechanism in it; One one of these machines if you jumped poor Q*Bert off the pyramid, after a second delay you’d hear a mechanical Thunk! from the bottom of the cabinet. Clever stuff. They sure don’t make ‘em like that anymore.
My brain used to fry somewhere around Level 7, in that game, if memory serves me.
JerryR // May 30, 2008 at 9:34 pm |
Susan: yup, that’s right, but it’s Qatar (no U).
Howard: Oh yes, I remember that sound well. I think all the ones I played made that thunk noise. I think my favorite part was the incomprehensible cursing Q*Bert did when he fell off the grid.