Thursday, February 21, 2008

Friday, February 22 - Mike Nothnagel and David Quarfoot

My all-time favorite constructor, Mike Nothnagel, has teamed up with David Quarfoot for this Friday's killer puzzle. I was so exhausted after solving it that I needed a power nap before I could tackle the blog.

I would never have finished this without a lot of help from Dogpile...for answers such as:

45A: Boulogne-sur-__, France (Mer). That looks like French for bologna of the sea...

4D: Poet who won a Pulitzer for "The Dust Which Is God" (Benét).

8D: Kinkajou's kin: Var. (racoons). Variation or not, that just looks wrong. But is that not the sweetest little face?

9D: 1883 Maupassant novel (Une Vie)..."A Woman's Life."

32D: "Underboss" author Peter (Maas).

33D: Smythe of hockey (Conn).

47D: Papa Bear of the N.F.L. (Halas).

With only a handful of gimmes, I was definitely not on the combined wavelength tonight.

41A: Some are manicured (lawns).

46A: Response of feigned innocence (who me).

55A: __-Mints (Rolands rival) (Alka).

56A: Singer of the 1967 hit "California Nights" (Lesley Gore). She was best known for "It's My Party," but "You Don't Own Me" was my favorite of her songs. My sister's senior portrait looked a lot like this shot of Lesley Gore...it was probably the flip more than anything else. [Update: This is too eerie. Before she had even downloaded this puzzle, Wendy blogged about Lesley Gore AND "You Don't Own Me." Have you ever thought that Wendy and Mike Nothnagel might be same person? And that Linda G is another alter ego?]

3D: Where I-25 and I-70 meet (Denver). If I hadn't made that trip at least 100 times, I wouldn't have known it.

6D: Shortening in the kitchen? (tbsp)...although I thought about lard briefly.

37D: It's out for a pout (lower lip)...not exactly a gimme, but I got it with only the W in place from lawns.

There were some exceptionally good multiword answers...not Google-able but fairly easy to flesh out.

1A: Awfully accurate? (sad but true).

15A: Salade niçoise ingredients (green beans). I could only think of potatoes and tuna, so that one took a little longer to fall into place.

17A: Providers of exceptional service? (tennis aces).

34A: Where to find pop art? (soda can).

38A: Start of some how-to titles (The Art). All I could think of were all of the books for dummies...but those share the same ending.

40A: Childish comeback (are so). We haven't had a playground retort in a while, so I didn't mind seeing one tonight.

59A: Subject of the 2004 book "Dancing Revelations" (Alvin Ailey).

61A: Outdoor toy that attaches to a garden hose (Slip N Slide).

7D: Level (tear down).

12D: Bit of kitchen wear (oven mitt). My hand won't work in one of those...maybe it's just too small. It's two potholders for me.

13D: Execute exactly (do to a tee).

14D: Over, with "of" (in excess). It took me forever to understand the clue, then even longer to get the answer. The cross at 21A: Presidential middle name (Knox) made good use of the X. I'll bet someone out there can tell us which President.

34D: Cause of colonial unrest (Stamp Act).

35D: "You don't say!" (oh really).

As tough as this puzzle was, there were so many things I loved about it. In addition to the plethora of multiword answers, there was an abundance of some of my favorite letters...K, V and X.

And I just noticed that it's almost 11:30, so I'd better call it a night. Here's the grid...



...and I'll see you tomorrow.

Linda G

24 comments:

SethG said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
SethG said...

(Sorry, that was me...spelt something rong...)

Two things I, well, hate is such a strong word, we'll say vehemently dislike.

The first is Childish comeback[s], playground retorts, the like. IAMSO done with AMNOT, ISTOO, ARESO, the whole lot of you.

And second is Lesley Gore. We felt so bad for her when Judy brought Johnny to her birthday party, but then she set feminism back 20 years when she took him back. She gloated over her victory! Lesley, what Judy did was wrong, but it's not about her. Johnny's an idiot. Don't give him another chance!

Ach, what do I know, I'm just a guy whose mom was on the playground retorting _with_ Lesley when all that went down,

sg

DONALD said...

What a great pout picture!

Howard B said...

James KNOX Polk. Now you know - and knowing's half the battle.
I'm up at 5:30 right now looking outside at all the snow, knowing that I have a long drive through it to get to work. My LOWER LIP is out as I pout.
Upper-left of this puzzle took me almost as long as the rest. Nasty stuff today :).

Anonymous said...

A hard but doable Friday puzzle with a lot of help from Google...there were a nuber of clues I did not like but Mr. Shortz is the editor not me...can someone explain 39A one who brings bad luck = JONAH...I get the biblical reference and the nice cross with NOAH but it stops there for me

Anonymous said...

A hard but doable Friday puzzle with a lot of help from Google...there were a nuber of clues I did not like but Mr. Shortz is the editor not me...can someone explain 39A one who brings bad luck = JONAH...I get the biblical reference and the nice cross with NOAH but it stops there for me

Anonymous said...

Sorry I have no idea why it appeared twice

Anonymous said...

Bob,

Jonah, def. 3 according to Webster's: Any person or thing regarded as bringing bad luck.

Norman

Anonymous said...

Thanks Norman...I had never heard it used in that context before

Linda G said...

Thanks, Howard and Norman, for the KNOX and JONAH info. Hadn't heard that definition of JONAH before, but forgot to mention that. Elaine and I started chatting mid-post...when I returned to it, all I could do was wrap it up.

Donald, I usually spend too much time finding pictures. Last night was no exception, but it was worth it.

Seth, I'll go check out your link. When I tried that yesterday in the middle of my comment, I lost everything I'd written. I hate that...she said vehemently.

wendy said...

You said: She was best known for "It's My Party," but "You Don't Own Me" was my favorite of her songs.

Then you will be amazed to go to my blog and see what I posted exactly one half hour before I downloaded the puzzle. What are the odds????

Lovely puzzle, MN and DQ! Fave answers: SAD BUT TRUE, MEOWS, WHO ME, ALVIN AILEY, STAMP ACT, LOWER LIP, and of course, my girl LESLEY GORE!!!

wendy said...

sethg - I too loathe the 'playground retorts'. I actually cringe when I see them in the puzzle. I wonder what puzzle was the first ever to use this device. Anyone know?

Linda G said...

Wendy...too strange. I updated the blog to reflect your post ; )

wendy said...

You've found me out! ;)

Anonymous said...

"Bologna of the sea"? You crack me up, Linda! Great post.

SethG said...

Found what I was originally looking for:

If you've got 5 minutes, (and you want to spend them this way,) here's the full Lesley scene.

Apparently, my role in crossworld will be to link to semi-obscure, semi-applicable references on other people's blogs. Constructors, if you're listening, my specialties are math, 80's movies and sitcoms, and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Thanks,
sg

Anonymous said...

Hi all.

Just to set the record straight: I constructed all the good parts of this puzzle and DQ put in all the stuff you didn't like. (OK, not really.)

Actually, we each ended up constructing almost exactly half of this grid: DQ the upper half and I the lower. We each gave the other a seed word (SADBUTTRUE, SLIPNSLIDE) and joined our halves in the middle.

Let it snow...
MN

Unknown said...

Had to google 9a-1883 Maupassant novel.I used google to check spelling, but I don't consider this cheating.Otherwise a hard but entertaning Friday puzzle.

Unknown said...

Had to google 9a-1883 Maupassant novel.I used google to check spelling, but I don't consider this cheating.Otherwise a hard but entertaning Friday puzzle.

Unknown said...

Had to google 9a-1883 Maupassant novel.I used google to check spelling, but I don't consider this cheating.Otherwise a hard but entertaning Friday puzzle.

Unknown said...

Had to google 9a-1883 Maupassant novel.I used google to check spelling, but I don't consider this cheating.Otherwise a hard but entertaning Friday puzzle.

Unknown said...

Had to google 9a-1883 Maupassant novel.I used google to check spelling, but I don't consider this cheating.Otherwise a hard but entertaning Friday puzzle.

Unknown said...

Had to google 9a-1883 Maupassant novel.I used google to check spelling, but I don't consider this cheating.Otherwise a hard but entertaning Friday puzzle.

cornbread hell said...

woo doggies! this was a toughie. i loved it. did too!

(why don't people like the playground retorts??? i don't get it.)