Sixes and Sevens (and Twelves) - December 2015

The Theme!

Seena thisa typa puzz before. Best practice is to solve the numbered clues then solve the twelvers and figure out how to lattice them in. But if you're working the numbereds and the twelves and they're just not coming, then you might do what we do, which is to solve a stack of the sixes and sevens and then just blindly enter them into the grid, making it work until it doesn't work. This is not the most obviously methodically logical approach, but sometimes it's important to boost morale in order to see progress. Alternatively, sometimes just seeing letters in the grid can unlock insights to previously opaque clues.

Highlights!

• 11A) I feel pain in back and hips (4)
  I ((feel pain + AIL) back = LIA) = ILIA

Our friend Jen in high school had a zine called ILIA as a reference to “hip” as in “cool” but the logo was a voluptuous hyper‑feminine pair of hips. Nice. Speaking of, we should start a zine! This blog is like a zine, we recognize. But maaaaan, handing out those little paper stacks to friends. Xeroxing them in the library. So cool! Being a teen is so cool!

Below: Neolithic art from Cucuteni, Romania (they were super into hips):

Image courtesy Wikimedia

• 28A) Leaning over, it's said to end two letters earlier (4)
  (SAID end (i.e. “D”) two letters earlier (i.e. B) = SAIB) * over = BIAS

What a tricky trick! We liked this wordplay very much, though generally we're biased against repeated use of BIAS.

• 29A) Manages without a male presence, but gets on (4)
  MANAGES without a (male presence = MAN) = AGES

Haha YES she does manage without a male presence! Current new favorite Tweetr account: @ManWhoHasItAll:

• 7D) A trick that goes in an unexpected direction? Cool! (5)
  A ((trick = FOOL) goes in an unexpected direction = LOOF) = ALOOF

Yas! We've long meditated on the difference, if any, between “aloof” and “cool.” Rebel without a Cause is instructive. James Dean is super emotional throughout. No doubt, also the epitome of cool. Thus we believe the real cool is to maintain kindness and perspective in all things. Chillness. Thoughtfulness. Perspective. Kindness.

• 24D) It's back: German dynamo (5)
  (IT back = TI) + (German = GER) = TIGER

Thissun nice. Eye of the tigah!

• 26D) Organization with space for working, like one upwardly mobile (4)
  (like one = AS AN) upwardly mobile = NASA

Shout out to my brothers and sisters at the NASA! Came across the following the other night about the space pen:

A common urban legend states that NASA spent a large amount of money to develop a pen that would write in space (the result purportedly being the Fisher Space Pen), while the Soviets just used pencils.[2][3] There is a grain of truth: NASA began to develop a space pen, but when development costs skyrocketed the project was abandoned and astronauts went back to using pencils, along with the Soviets.[2][3] However, the claim that NASA spent millions on the Space Pen is incorrect, as the Fisher pen was developed using private capital, not government funding. NASA - and the Soviets[3][4][5] - eventually began purchasing such pens.

NASA programs previously used pencils[6] (for example a 1965 order of mechanical pencils[7]) but because of the substantial dangers that broken pencil tips and graphite dust pose to electronics in zero gravity, the flammable nature of wood present in pencils,[7] and the inadequate quality documentation produced by non-permanent or smeared recordkeeping, a better solution was needed.

Source: Wikipdya

We've long repeated the punchline, “the Soviets just used a pencil haha stupid Americans!!” Woops. Ugh! Nothing more irritating than recognizing one's own shallow smugness! And a reminder to check citations.

• 6a) Knock back in one dire display
  back in (onE DIRE Display) = DERIDE

A daring word‑spanner!

• 6d) Homeopathy drastically limits problems that won't go away
  HomeopatHY DRAStically = HYDRAS

Fun! Appreciate the support for non‑Western medicine. Brief rant: Western medicine. Sometimes amazing. Sometimes ugh, right? They have their tests, they run their tests, but if what you have doesn't show up on the tests, then they shrug and tell you that you must not have a problem. It's very frustrating.

• 6e) In front of a gym, Georgia airport for Hollywood stars
  (Georgia = GA) (airport for Hollywood = LAX) in front of (a gym = Y) = GALAXY

Space! Science! Altho points off for “gym” = “Y” which is starting to chafe us, right in the Village People.

• 6f) Tevya's good fortune tossed in ash can
  ASH CAN * anagram = NACHAS

Foreshadowed in September by Dear Reader EL??

• 6k) Wages war with no instigation, a sly catastrophe for the environment
  ((WAR with no instigation = AR) A SLY) * anagram = SALARY

Mwa! Delicious narrative! Delightful anagrama!

• 6l) Sticks guys in harness together on left side, initially
  (harness together = YOKE) + (left side initially = LS) = YOKELS

Guys from the sticks! Re'appearance of frequent puzzlese “yokel/s” forgiven for the fun narrative. We recently watched Magic Mike and Magic Mike XXL for the first time. The original was directed by Soderbergh, which we did not know before watching. Interesting to thus view Magic Mike as a companion to Sex, Lies & Videotape. Similar emphases on heterosexual male responsibility to serve female pleasure. Similar dissonant anhedonia in the heart of sultry pleasure country.

• 7a) Revolutionary tsarist writers, painters, and composers
  TSARIST * anagram = ARTISTS

“Revolutionary tsarist” an impossibility, non? At least in how we understand the Russian Revolution, which is “not very well.” Delightful narrative! Artists of the Revolution!

Here's Daniel Radcliffe Dmitri Shostakovich, who risked imprisonment in the gulag for writing violent and brooding music instead of bright patriotic symphonies:

Image courtesy Wikimedia

• 7b) I screen for working in earnest
  I SCREEN * anagram = SINCERE

There we go! A sincerely nicer anagram!

• 7c) Wheels gone, I'm totally seedy!
  (Wheels = CAR) + (gone = AWAY) = CARAWAY

Reminds us of Nick Carraway from The Great Gatsby. Some trivia that came up in our Jeopardy! study recently: that Zelda Fitzgerald was from Montgomery, Alabama, which is where she and F Scott met. We assumed they were both from like West Egg, Long Island.

• 7g) Ah, piano pieces that reveal dumbness?
  AH PIANO * anagram = APHONIA

Lovely! Thinking now of Beethoven. Dear Readers, another admission in this blog's cavalcade of admissions: sometimes clickbait bades us click, and we click, and we read the list of, like, Celebrities You'll Never Believe Hate Melon. And so one time we clicked a clickbait list of Celebrities You'll Never Believe Were Black. The list relied pretty heavily on gross notions of “one drop of black blood blah blah blah” but we were genuinely interested in and surprised by: Betty Boop's vocal style was inspired by Helen Kane who stole it from Baby Esther aka Esther Jones:

Image courtesy Wikimedya

Anyway also claimed in this clickbait list of historical figures we'd never‑believe‑were‑black was Beethoven, the piano grandmaster who was deaf but not dumb.

The Wikipedia talk page on the subject cites quotes from Beethoven's contemporaries about his dark complexion and possibly Moorish phenotype, altho such citations come from the perhaps dubious “J.A. Roger's work 100 AMAZING FACTS ABOUT THE NEGRO WITH COMPLETE PROOF, written in 1957,” which reads to us as a first order clickbait title, yea a generation before clickbait existed.

In conclusion: Beethoven was a dark lord of clavicord who was so strong in the Force that he didn't need hearing to write or conduct music. Was he black? Moor evidence requested.

• 7j) It's a lie: money with no sign of excellence anywhere produces a splitting headache!
  A (LIE MONEY with no sign of excellent = LI MONY) = ALIMONY

Nice symmetry between clue and answer :)

If you ain't no punk
holla want want pre‑nupt
We Want Pre‑Nupt!
Yeah!

Aynd nyow we arrive at the twelvers. Much nicer!

• 12a) This blows my cool: strict person living high on the hog!
  MY COOL STRICT = MOTORCYCLIST

So wonderful! Related: we're newly obsessed with Eastbound and Down, one of the greatest television shows we've ever seen.

• 12b) Rare accident that can get you canned?
  RARE ACCIDENT * anagram = INCARCERATED

Glorious! “canned” to mean imprisoned, not fired, thank Cron at last!

• 12c) A twerp thrashing around, covered up, protected when swimming
  (A TWERP * anagram) + (covered up = ROOFED) = WATERPROOFED

Lovely!

• 12d) Develop loquacity (including, separately, nine Latin elements), as any mad romantic would
  LOQUACITY (nine Latin = IX) (elements = E) * anagram = QUIXOTICALLY

Gorgeous.

Here's hoping one day Mr Gilliam gets to finish “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote”!

Lowlights!

• 2D) Music box? First stock sale died (4)
  (First stock sale = IPO) + (died = D) = IPOD

Buh. First tried working OX and/or OXEN in, which irritatingly yielded nothing. Then figured out that it was a reference to the stock exchange/start‑ups, further irritating us.

The answer key's logic specifies IPOD, but the answer grid shows IPOP. Brothers! Are you in need of some assistance from your sister‑wife at Tacky Harper's Cryptic Clues? Our schedule is very free.

• 9D) Day he got shot, mowed down (5)
  DAY HE * anagram = HAYED

What a nasty, violent little clue.

• 23D) Nomad, resettled entity (5)
  NOMAD * anagram = MONAD

Marking this a Lowlight only cuz it's too boner of an anagram. NOMAD => MONAD
Meh.

• 6b) Critic's reassessment of a lemon?
  CRITIC * anagram = CITRIC

Meh. CRITIC => CITRIC does not much to excite. Thankfully tweren't LEMON => MELON

• 6c) Relied on rearranging songs
  RELIED * anagram = LIEDER

Another of these sad anagrams. Und vas izza lieder? Like ze hosen?

lied
noun, plural lieder [lee-der; German lee-duh r]
1. a typically 19th-century German art song characterized by the setting of a poetic text in either strophic or through-composed style and the treatment of the piano and voice in equal artistic partnership

Source: Dictionary

• 7f) Where some Washingtonians land employment, finally, is ultimately boring
  (Where some Washingtonians land = DULLES) + (employment finally = T) = DULLEST

Yes, DULLEST. Like this clue.

• 7i) Teacher fired, i.e., for nonconforming
  FIRED IE * anagram = EDIFIER

Putting this in Lowlights for use of a filler ‑er word, altho this clue is quite nice otherwise. Thinking now of frustrating lists of banned books. Argh. As if certain ideas are like toxic chemicals or radiation. As if authority must thus limit public exposure to certain ideas. As if humans cannot be trusted their own minds. Boo.

The Tacky

• 6i) Goners: possibly Gina from porn!
  GONERS * anagram = GERSON

Was this meant to be a reference to Gina Gershon? And thus did this clue mean to classify Showgirls, and possibly also Bound, as pornography? Cuz neither are porn proper, tho both are certainly sexually‑charged adult films.

Or, as Dear Reader Jeremy wondered, is Gena Gerson a reference to a barely‑known but apparently actual porn star, Gina Gerson?

If this clue was in error, such error was unremarked upon in the answer key. Unlike May 2015's heinous Ruth Bader Ginsburg misspelling which at least got a mention and whispered apology in 8‑point font.

Why are we even being quizzed on our fluency with porn stars. Why is that even.

All the coolest boys and girls leave comments :)

4 Across - August 2014

This bad boy nearly did us in, Dear Readers! Been bragging about one- and two-sitting solves and then whammo! August 2014. Finished in time for our solution to arrive at the Harper's office by contest deadline date of August 8th. But only barely. Eep.

excuse: been busy working a fulltime corporate marketing gig which is UGH very lucrative and BLUH very very stupid. The gig is: coding spam for banks and credit cards and stuff. Sometimes Flash ads. The trash of the Internet. Not proud. Don't even want to assign some soothing narrative to it like, “this too shall pass”or “we all gotta make a living” or ”be grateful for a job in this economy.” Don't want to tell self something just to feel better. Prefer to leave it unreconciled.

The Theme

Blues unclued, each four letters across, yielded a WORD CHAIN (51A) that's also A FULL MEAL (4A). See cuz the chain goes:

• SOUP
• COUP
• COMP
• CAMP
• CAMS
• CATS
• CUTS
• NUTS

So get it, “soup” to “nuts” OK COOL. Had “AFU------” for a while in 4A and thought maybe it was “A FUN -----” like “A FUN THYME” or similar.

Theme was aight but not sure what its relationship to the puzzle title (“4 Across”) is. Four food groups, four courses ... four letters and can't come up with anything better?

Maltby calls out to the back stairs
“Minion! Minion! Come here lad! Help us name the puzzle!”

Minion looks up from an intimidating stack of mailed puzzle solutions
“How about '4 Across'.”

“Hmmm ... inTRIGuing! Yes, but why, my dear boy. Why??”

“Because I don't care,” whispers minion.

Highlights!

A lot to like this month :)

• 15A) They reveal the full spectrum in reverse sexism. Sir, please! (6)
  sexisM SIR Please * reverse = PRISM

Dahh!! LOVELY!

• 17A) River was mispronounced? (4)
  WAS * homophone = OISE

Not too unusual a puzzle usual, but took a long time to get this one. Kept forcing URAL. Nyet! Nyet Ural. Nyet this time.

Didn't realize this river is located in Belgium and France. Thought it oise somewhere else, haha ha ... ...

Listen, we can't turn this off people! [points to head].

Ice on the Oise River - Gustave Loiseau, 1914

• 20A) Staggers, heading off swimmers (6)
  (Staggers = TOTTERS) - heading = OTTERS

Yah! Puzzle spidey sense was right on about this one: that a syn for “staggers” minus the first letter would yield an aquatic animal. But took some crosses to get TOTTERS to OTTERS.

Otters! Here you go: a video of napping otters holding hands. You are welcome!

• 21A) That man tails black cars (7)
  (That man = HE) + (tails = ARSES) = HEARSES

Yussssss delightful! Arses!

Claire's hearse in 'Six Feet Under'

• 27A) May emerald, e.g., be rings exchanged in troths? (10)
  BE IN TROTHS * anagram = BIRTHSTONE

Mwa! Big beautiful anagram. Nice congruency with “rings exchanged” and “troths.”

• 45A) Making a doctor walk back from a steroid manufacturer (7)
  A + (doctor = DR) + ((walk = LANE) * rev.) = ADRENAL

Nice psych-out with “manufacturer”! First instinct was like Eli Lilly or another pharmacorp. Nay nay. All the drugs you need right here [points to head].

• 49A) Sure, a pig has no gravity as a wild animal (5)
  (Sure = OK) + A + (PIG - (gravity = G) = PI) = OKAPI

Usual wild animal of puzzle fame OKAPI forgiven for this delightful narrative. Mmm!


related: this exchange with Amazon customer service a while back:

• 50A) Forbidding a woman like you to provide fashionable clothing (8)
  (a woman like you = SISTER) + (fashionable = IN) = SINISTER

A woman like you!! The woman like you is inside your family. The woman like you ... is you. Strong. Here's a swap-gender Mr Sinister (Ms Sinister!!)

• 10D) Emphatically said “Farewell,” joining Resistance with communist (7)
  (Farewell = AVE) + (Resistance = R) + (communist = RED) = AVERRED

Like it! Even though it stacks up neatly, and there's the giveaway capital-R “Resistance” and the usual “communist” = “red”. Somethin bout the fresh use of AVE. Felt real crisp, real nice.

• 13D) Sounding sick, aid a cycling participant (6)
  SICK AID A * homophone = CICADA

YUS!! Can I get a wut wut for biology?? Had the terminal A from 26A) ETA, and was hung up for some time that it was a play on GIARDIA. Sometimes one's puzzle instincts stink.

• 17D) Sex appeal leads to love, love on speed (5)
  (love, love = OO) + (speed = MPH) = OOMPH

DeLIGHTful! Favorite clue of the puzzle! Narratively striking! Love gone awry on a chemical flume.

Unsafe at any speed.

• 18D) Whoopee! Latin lawyers fight. You might take one to a bed, when working out! (11)
  (Whoopee! = WHEE) + (Latin + L) + (lawyers = BAR) + (fight = ROW) = WHEELBARROW

Yah the cakewalkiness of this one is mitigated by the fun of the cluing! Take the Latin laywers to bed! To bed, for whoopee!

• 23D) Really funny thing, church spirits—not very good (6)
  (Really funny thing = HOOT) + (church = CH) = HOOTCH

Nice. Hootch! Not very good. Never a good sign when that's whatcher drinking.

• 29D) They help addicts rebel as, after rehab, small number gets taken in (8)
  (REBEL AS + (small number = N)) * anagram = ENABLERS

Nice congruency with addicts and rehab.

Lowlights!

• 23A) Cat's word for piece of the pie (3)
  tHE Pie = HEP

Nope! Nope nope. “Cat” as in like a really cool cat man, this is a real happening joint, dig?

• 26A) Letter with information about your flight (3)
  information about your flight = letter = ETA

In a shocking twist, ETA, which would normally just be a composite part of a bigger, better answer, this time, is the answer. Moo. Snooze times. Would prefer not to see one iota of eta for the rest of this era.

• 38A) Ace tax forms, chance to win big (6)
  ACE TAX * anagram = EXACTA

ex•act•a
n.
A method of betting, as on a horserace, in which the bettor must correctly pick those finishing in the first and second places in precisely that sequence. Also called perfecta.

Source: The Free Dictionary

This wierdo held up most of our progress in the southeast until the frustrated, bitter end. “Exacta”? Never hearda? Exactly.

• 43A) Dieter's suffering black out again? (2-4)
  DIETER * anagram = RE-EDIT

Re-edit and weep.

If you cut your hair, do you talk about re-growing your hair afterward? If you take off your clothes, do you say, “hold on, I gotta re-robe” later? What's the meaningful difference between editing and re-editing? Is it that an editing session might be any session 1 through n, but re-edit is session 2 through n?
OK GOT IT
COOL AND MEANINGFUL DIFFERENCE

• 3D) Professional writer and outlaw (9)
  (Professional = PRO) + (writer = SCRIBE) = PROSCRIBE

This clue is where imagination has come to die.

• 7D) No end to what's inside comic, silliest man in France (9)
  (SILLIEST + (man in France = M)) * anagram = LIMITLESS

The “France” part was a real « quoi? » for us. As in like M. for monsieur but mmmmmmmmmm really necessary? Really? Mmmmno. Coulda gotten away with just “man” wethinks.

Q. Who is the silliest man in France?
A. Every man in France.

FYI that we are headed to France in September with our mommazon! She's been talking about visiting Provence for 20 years. This year we said, “Mommazon! Provence 2014. Let's do it.” So we're doing it! Very excited. Been sending her a daily jpeg from Pinchrest. This place! We'll be here!

• 8D) Primary character changes in crustacean's hood (7)
  (crustacean = LOBSTER) * primary character changes = MOBSTER

Appreciate that “hood” in this instance is not cultural code for “thug” aka “gangbanger” aka “young black man.” Pretty silly tho.


Do they say “gangbanger” where you live? Chicago is the only place we've lived where they say it. In every other city “gangbanger” means “someone who participated in a sexual gangbang.”

You know what else they say in Chicago? And also they put it on the official municipal roadsigns? SPEED HUMP.

• 11D) Endures sole formats (5)
  LASTS (double syn.)

Annnnnnndummmmm ... we don't quite get it. SOLE as in LAST like “The Last Unicorn”? Ummmmmmaaaaaaaybe. Maybe.

Ah so per Brother Eric yea but there is another meaning of last: these things. Shoe trees. We award this clue last place.

update: per Notorious Marcel, lasts are more like patterns for shoes than “shoe trees.” Annnnnd that makes more sense. COOL

• 33D) A TV set taken back—help, it's heaven on earth 
  A + (TV set = RCA) + ((help = AID) * rev. = DIA) = ARCADIA

From Wokapeetya:

In European Renaissance arts, Arcadia was celebrated as an unspoiled, harmonious wilderness.

Source: right here (1st ¶)

Ok COOL but that TV = RCA equivalence is a leetle shaky here in 2014:

RCA stood for Radio Corporation of America, a company which later became RCA Corporation which was taken over by General Electric in 1986 and then split up.

Source: yuh here (1st ¶)

• 48D) Good name for a ragout chef, say! (3)
  ragout = STEW, homophone for STU

The chef's last name is Pid.

The Tacky!

Once again, we rail at USA imperialism. The losing battle (lost battle) that we still fight.

• 9D) Part of series One of America's Greats (4)
  sERIEs = ERIE

The Great Lakes! Love them! Buttttttttt (repeat after we):

“America” is a continental group, not a country.

Commit it to memory, correct other people obnoxiously. Say “US” instead of “America” when referring to the US. Feel goofy doing it and still do it.

Ok but then as for “American” noun as in ”we were the young Americans,” or “American” adjective as in “the existence of Fridgehenge makes me feel very very American, and proud to be so, as does every person who appears in The Blues Brothers, including the Canadian Dan Aykroyd (especially the Canadian Dan Aykroyd)”

wellllllllll those use cases ring less imperialist to our ear. Use your judgment.

If even one Dear Reader is more thoughtful in his or her language as a result of this blog: that would be amazing. That would amaze us.

Ok and then basically the same thing for da'other:

• 44D) America in, interminably, the back seat (4)
  (America = US) in (THE * interminably = TH) = TUSH

MmmmMMmm that's right even Yiddish slang for butt cannot save this clue from our ire! UGH it feels rancid and rong to even type out that equivalency (“America = US”). Argh! See above!!

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