SPOILER WARNING: Don't read any further until you've done today's New York Sun Crossword Puzzle. New York Sun puzzles are every bit as fun and challenging as the more well-known New York Times, and they're indisputably better in one way -- they're free. You can download this puzzle and join in on the fun here.
"You and I Must Intervene" means that that we, or at least the letters W and E are inserted somewhere amongst the themed answers. Hilarity ensues. (I'm serious, I love this stuff.)
What am I talking about?
17A: One who has roasts without hosts? (MC ESCHEWER) M.C. Escher, of course, was the artist who did those beautiful, beguiling but bizarre-perspectived paintings like this one:
An MC eschewer, on the other hand, is someone who foregoes a master of ceremonies. Great clue, great artist, great answer. (I'm gushing, I know, but I told you I love this stuff.)
27A: Result of a fire at a candy shop? (SWEETS ABLAZE) nee "sets ablaze." I guess after the candy store caught fire they had a big sale on Red Hots.
44A: Lunch order for a spider family? (COBWEB SALAD) The Cobb salad originated at the Brown Derby Restaurant in Hollywood. It contained lettuce, tomato, b
acon, avocado, chicken breast, hardboiled eggs, roquefort cheese and chives. Nothing in there would be particularly appealing to an arachnid family.60A: Pooch with a second wife? (REWED ROVER) The thought of doggy divorcees taking another trip down the aisle made me laugh out loud. (By the way, unless I am very much mistaken, I think you would be amazed if you knew how many pictures of doggy brides and grooms there are on the internet.)
Other entries of interest:
12D: "Wild Child" singer (ENYA) So what did crossword constructors do before new age music? make ANYA Seton work somehow?
35A: They're unarmed, but dangerous (EELS) a much cleverer way to clue than "sushi offerings"
26A: Place for falsies (BRA) Yes, the Sun is (relatively) racy at times.
7D: Turn left (HAW) Anybody know an easy mnemonic to remember which direction is "gee" and "haw"?
38D: Department of Labor Program (JOB CORPS) which provides education and vocational training to low-income young people. It was started in 1964 as part of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty. Like other wars on concepts -- drugs, terror -- this one is proving difficult, if not impossible, to win. But Job Corps is still in there fighting the good fight, along with its idealistic international brother the Peace Corps.
43A: Venomous snake (I'm going to save the answer for my punch line). I once knew a college mathematics professor, a very serious man. In all the time I knew him I only heard him tell one joke, and this is it: A long long time ago one of the angels came to God and said, "There's a problem with the snakes, they refuse to obey your order." So God summoned the snakes before him and asked them what was the problem. The snakes said, "We can't what you told us to do; we can't go forth and multiply."
"Why not?" asked God.
"Because we're adders," answered the snakes.
Now, that may not be the funniest joke you've ever heard, but I think I injured some internal organs laughing at it. Maybe you had to have been there, or maybe you just had to have waited years for him to say anything jocular.
9D: Like a hokey joke (CORNBALL) In case you haven't already figured it out, this could have been clued "Like the Green Genius's sense of humor." And to prove it, here is something else that amused me, that same M.C. Escher picture as above, but this time in the medium of Legos:
Have a great Wednesday!
4 comments:
The Legos version of Escher's drawing was very cool.
The title convinced me that I would be adding U and I to common phrases. Oh well...
Our older daughter just returned from Job Corps two weeks ago. Nice to see it in the puzzle.
Great -- you covered all the bases! Nice to see Escher in a puzzle -- he was so far ahead of his time in his pictoral concepts, I remember my first encounter with his work at MOMA. There is a beer commercial now where a drop of the beer hits the counter, the reflecton from it dissolves into a pastoral setting with geese in flight through the "hole" (drop of beer) in the bar with the camera following them from the bar interior to the open countryside -- pure Escher rip-off! As an ad for a product, it doesn't work because I can't remember the name of the beer -- but the commercial is well done!
Loved the lego version of Relatvity!
And just a minor quibble, Escher did very few paintings, he was mainly a print artist. He used woodcuts and lithographs, mostly.
And I have to say I just recently discovered this site and I've started doing the Sun as well. Thanks!
Thanks for the clarification, Austin. Good to have you aboard.
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