Comments on: Friday, 1/1/10

By: joe burke

joe burke — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:43:50 +0000

I found the NYT to be incredibly tough today. Was anyone else thinking “Defiant” for two down?

By: Sam Donaldson

Sam Donaldson — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:35:35 +0000

@John Haber: Ali Baba is famous for uttering “Open Sesame” as a password to access a cave sealed by magic.

By: John Haber

John Haber — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:12:17 +0000

Killer for me, too, including the temptation of SLENDER and the weirdness of “time” for a year. Can someone explain the ALI BABA clue?

By: Sam Donaldson

Sam Donaldson — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:30:05 +0000

Nothing like starting the new year by springing practically every trap set in the NYT. Like others, I tried NOON for the swearing-in, but I also managed OUT LATE as the “sure to be grounded,” JUPITER as the home of the Great Dark Spot (hey, red is a dark-ish color), VOODOO for hoodoo, and, early on, PUBLIC PROPERTY as the home of City Hall. As long as I’m in confessional, I even tried LDS instead of MIT.

Loved the clue for ALI BABA, by the way. Best NYT clue of 2010! (So far.)

By: Karen

Karen — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:12:06 +0000

I thought it was pretty much a Friday, but if I hadn’t remembered the movie Steel Magnolias (with Dolly Parton!) I might have had a different solving experience.

Don’t forget that Sir Arthur C. Clarke also wrote 2010, where the alien monoliths multiplied, fell into Jupiter, and set off a nuclear reaction to form a second small sun in our solar system. If that doesn’t happen I’ll count this as a successful year.

By: Tuning Spork

Tuning Spork — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:47:24 +0000

Well, a year is a length of time, and we use the word for even longer periods (“in the Civil War time”, “in the time of Christ”, etc).

It doesn’t feel satisfying, though. We don’t think of the current year as a “time” the way we do a historical period.
It’s not like when you read a certain clue assuming a word is a verb and then finally realize it’s a adjective. You get that little “ah-ha! I get it! yay!” thrill. This was more like an “ah-huh? that’s just wrong” feeling.

By: Gareth

Gareth — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:29:04 +0000

The internet monster seems to have eaten my post this morning, if it does reappear, sorry…

One mistake – last letter put in ALRITT/FRANT – a Z-tile you say? >SHRUG<.

Was not aware you could describe a person as ANGULAR, and I can't say I care for 58D as a clue either… Apart from that I found it a great puzzle, setting the bar pretty high for 2010! Especially loved: the double-clue general/specific miracle-recipients and the clue for ALIBABA.

Any one else try: 2D INDUTCH, 3D THERENT, while trying to build off WITHERS?

Thank-yous: Merl Reagle for FUN and Joon Pahk for MIT…