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Author Archives: carolyn

The Faerie Queene.

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One of the problems with doing a comp lit degree in three non-English languages + Shakespeare is that you see a clue like today’s: “The Faerie Queene” woman

And first think – oh, is this the Midsummer Night’s Dream queen… Titania? No, that’s more than five letters.

And then you get 4 of the five letters — IR_NA — and instinctively drop in I because that’s how I spell Irina. And look, the Wikipedia article doesn’t even mention any Irena!

The Faerie Queene frontispiece.jpg
“The poem was a clear effort to gain court favour, and as a reward Elizabeth granted Spenser a pension for life amounting to £50 a year, though there is no further evidence that Elizabeth I ever read any of the poem.”

But then you can’t make out what E_UDIPARFUM is. Although I’m pretty sure it’s ADONAI for the Hebrew god. Although still have no idea why ONEA is fit for military service.

Ok, so here’s who “Irena” is:


Irena, also spelled Eirena, is a ruler whose kingdom is besieged by Grantorto in Book 5. Artegall restores her rule.
Hmm, dubious at best.

Anyway, a sad performance for a Monday at 11:03, but my excuse is that it’s the 4 day Easter weekend here and although I finished Friday’s puzzle early Saturday morning, I barely got Saturday’s puzzle started, and didn’t even open Sunday’s. But hey, that’s 126 Mondays in a row!

OH, HI!

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I pretty much agree with the Rexnerd about this puzzle, except for one thing: I loved it!

Even though it was about 5 minutes over my Tuesday average at 18:55, I was pleased with myself for doing this in one shot. I saw that Tyler Perry clue though and hesitated… no, no, not again! And since I had wrongly guessed CHART (not alone on this), and then went CAL (also a fail), I felt confident… but ARG, YEA, it was indeed…

Still, not enough to annoy me at all, and even though, sure, the clues are sort of opposite land to the answers, it was overall an enjoyable solve. I kind of like lots of short fill if it’s not too janky, and this one was fine with nice clear clues and few cutes ones such as 43D. Not tooooo tricky, other than the theme – which totally gives way to an easy solve once you see it. A good way to end this year in hell. And now, I’m OFF!

Evil Elves

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5:37 – record time for my current 106 day streak, and 13 seconds over my fastest Monday. Also, my 500th puzzle solved!

for the last 10 years, this is what I think of when I hear “elf” https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/15/elf-on-the-shelf-is-a-fun-and-festive-way-to-teach-your-child-to-submit-to-the-surveillance-state

I love a nice and breezy easy Monday solve. I got up extraordinarily early to embark on a work trek to the mountains, only to find it was canceled due to weather just as I was about to walk out of the elevator at my apartment.

So, instead of packing, like I should have, I went back to sleep, dealt with some annoying Erbil Apartment issues, and dashed this off. Proud of myself for getting the first themer right off the bat, and over half the puzzle on the first across pass. I still don’t really know who Tyler Perry is, so will never remember MADEA, but lots of other little nuggets that I was able to fish out of my pre-holiday mind…

Friday Frustration

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25:22 – which is actually faster than yesterday’s and 4 minutes under my average for my current 103 day streak. It felt much longer, as I started with little more than BANFF and BOSC after the first pass. Even after having MUESLI for breakfast. Well, I also had “hourglass” and “benefatto” (which is what my Fitbit tells me when I hit 250 steps in an hour), but those were ULTRA not VERY NICE. Other missed FIRSTSTEPs: TETE, ADD, PORK… and HARP in the wrong place…

I got ETHEL and ARAL and the BEAV easily enough, but that corner was otherwise a mystery for a good minute. I was mystified that SMORES didn’t fit (can you make just one?) and VWBUS didn’t seem to fit until I realized “yogurt” (which I also had for breakfast) was wrong, too.

Ok, yeah DYLAN of course was a first pass, too. And REBA only took a couple seconds of thought.

As a themeless Friday goes, it was pretty blah. RASHGUARD was one of the last entries I figured out, although FIRSTSTEP came pretty early on. POLARBEARPLUNGE was cute, I’ll give it that, although they’re called Walruses in Russia.

Over it

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ALAS, that’s the feeling of today’s puzzle. Thursdays are a love/hate day. I expect fuckery in the puzzle, but since it’s the last day of the work week I know I have to get it done early or else I risk being too incapacitated later. I love it when I get the gimmick and admire the cleverness. I hate it when I get the gimmick and it’s half-assed. Like today’s. I mean, either do a rebus, or don’t. Use the circles to make a point, or don’t. Make a pun clue, or don’t. Not this wishy washy crap… two of the themers could have had really good clues. The other two definitely needed some work. And there’s a lot to blame here with the weird cluing. An urn at brunch? Morbid. Unix is old? Not as old as Multics 🙂 And I can imagine a lot that’s lurid!

And then this “shtick” bullshit.

25:20 … It was like bad sex… you know, when you’re just waiting for it be over.

Dealing with it

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Back in college, I had a mild fascination with Tarot cards. I even bought a deck, wrapped it in golden raw silk, and wrapped that in a purple silk scarf. And put them in a wooden box. I never really “read” them … but I liked to play with them. They felt nice.

Today’s puzzle took me back to those days, as many things lately do. I got the revealer after filling in almost all of the puzzle, and then went back and finished the themers. I liked The Tower of Babel and The Devil You Know, but only vaguely know The Sun Also Rises. And then I realized it isn’t a Tarot card dealer, but a Tarot card “reader”… Oops!

Other than the stumper at 1A (I lived in a dorm for only the first quarter of my freshman year and hated it), the rest of it was very easy. Finished in 8:35, 10 seconds slower than my fastest Tuesday. Mini time 0:40 because I don’t know… I just can’t type that fast with my thumbs?

Sunday, 24 Nov 2019

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Pretty damn challenging 57:38

Had to look up lots of weird stuff on this one… Fortunately I did know Utah’s original name (ex-mormon for the win!). Annoyed that 83A was one of the last clues I got (so much for that Comp Lit major…) Still don’t know what a Chinese Nanny is and Google was of no help there. The only long answer I got from the blog was 102A, and that’s because I have no idea what these rare and valuable instruments are! Well, and I had FACEDUP for the 75D Reached Maturity. So that didn’t help.

Today’s Spelling Bee also was a bit of a let down – tough letters and the pangram was very unobvious. Is it bad that I guessed Cholo? So far, I have 23 words and 73 points.

Mini Time 0.38