Friday

saturday, october 13, 2007
barry c. silk / will shortz

















difficulty factor: not without it's moments; tough, but fair.


theme: none

my very first thought was: "danger, will robinson! danger, danger!"

unlike my typical solving pattern, i rambled all over the puzzle many, many, many times. when the smoke cleared a wee bit less than an hour later... i was exhausted. it's been a long and emotional day for me.

after i 39A SCANNED the whole puzzle i decided to start with 28A BUTTE (montana) - and i have no idea how i knew this! that got me 28D BRR, and i was off to the races. of course, i was lugging around an enormous shell, so to speak, against world class rabbits, but i persevered.

okay... raise your hands... how many of you overly avid sports freaks got 1A T-FORMATION with less than two letters?! how about three letters? four? five? six? seven? who needed eight? me! and i wanna clear this up once and for all. i really like most sports - except basketball - but i only like them for, at most, a few weeks at a time... at the end of the season. (however, i do tend to watch a lot of golf in the winter just to see things all sunny and green!) i don't know many 11A PROS names, arenas, statistics, or anything else it takes repeated watching to know. and i won't read a single thing in the whole sports section, even if i "missed" a game i might otherwise have watched, because the point is, i didn't miss it at all - i was doing something else... i was livng! and i'm not even a little bit ashamed to admit that. i think my wife, nancy, watches more baseball than i do, and i know she at least looks through the sports section every day! can a brother get an 17A AMEN TO THAT?! what? 37D NO TAKERS? i can live with that.

oh, and i've heard 9D O CANADA prior to hundreds of hockey games... at least i would 38A GUESS SO.

my 15A REPUGNANCE for 52A UNHAT deserves no further explanation.

conductor, composer, and pianist andré 34A PREVIN (born andreas ludwig priwin), model, actress, and spooky vocalist 42A NICO (born christa päffgen) lloyd price's definitive version of 26D STAGGER LEE, and marvin 49A GAYE bemused the musician in me.

the reference to the impetus for the boston tea party 32A TEA ACT made me chuckle. i really liked 36D ICED OVER, and for reasons i'm not exactly sure 61A ODOR EATERS hit my funny bone as well.

here's hopin' your 20A STINT with the puzzle is/was a good time, and 40D SAY HI TO someone you haven't in a while... today... right now... it'll do ya both a lotta good!


keep on keepin' on...

dann

4 comments:

cornbread hell said...

unhat is beyond REPUGNANT to my ear. i'm pretty sure ODOR EATERS are in order and it certainly doesn't warrant capitalizing.

guess what my almost last answer was? T-FORMATION. yes, that's right, brother.

my 1st 2 answers were BRR/BUTTE, in that order.

as for your reference to the 6 weeks past, i regularly comment on linda g's old posts.
it's kinda like talking to myself, only much less rewarding.

dann walsh said...

cornbread,

i think we are twin sons of different mothers... we prob'ly went to different schools... together!

dann

Anonymous said...

UNHAT? What hat? Wha that!

Found your blog through your comment on Orange's blog, which I just recently noticed has a pointer to the syndicated puzz (Rex also recently, but Linda months back.) So now I get to nag you. Where you explain the time lag, please add a little "Click HERE" to take chronically-challenged readers back to the past.

Your explanation of the puzzle number is clear; is there a way to use that number to find that puzzle?

Thank you for what you do. (I guess: started with Rex, added Amy, then Linda, now you -- certainly does fill up my morning!)

cornbread hell said...

timetraveler,
i think dann's in a postprandial turkey stuffed stupor. or maybe he's just a turkey. keep nagging him. if that doesn't work, offer him a beer.

(hiya dann)