Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Volcano on Kyushu / WED 10-16-13 / Telephone system hacker / First to stab Caesar / Indy racer Luyendyk / Creator of Fearless Fosdick / Ranchero's hand

Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle A Crossword Blog

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Volcano on Kyushu / WED 10-16-13 / Telephone system hacker / First to stab Caesar / Indy racer Luyendyk / Creator of Fearless Fosdick / Ranchero's hand Oct 16th 2013, 04:00, by Rex Parker Constructor: Samuel A. Donaldson Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging THEME: THROW IN THE TOWEL (35A: Call it quits ... with a hint to 17-, 23-, 48- and 56-Across) — theme answers are common phrases that have had HIS or HERS added to them, creating wacky phrases, clued "?"-style. Theme answers: 17A: Blow away singer Johnny? (FLOOR MATHIS) 23A: Boars? (BACON FATHERS) 48A: Sala? (HISPANIC ROOM) 56A: Toddler raIsed on chocolate? (HERSHEY BABY) Word of the Day: NIDI (38D: Spiders' nests) — NIDUS—n., pl., -dus·es, or -di (-dī). A nest, especially one for the eggs of insects, spiders, or small animals. A cavity where spores develop. Pathology. A central point or focus of bacterial growth in a living organism. A point or place at which something originates, accumulates, or develops, as the center around which salts of calcium, uric acid, or bile acid form calculi. [Latin nīdus.] Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/nidus#ixzz2hqbZloLh • • • One of those puzzle where I never could figure out what was going on with the theme, possibly because after moving through most of the first three theme answers, there was no discernible pattern emerging. Only when I was done was I able to see the whole picture. I really like the concept, though the connection between the central "hint" answer and what's happening with the theme answers is pretty tenuous. One might find HIS or HERS on towels, yes, but technically you're "throwing in" the embroidery on the towels, not the towels themselves. But close enough for horseshoes etc. This one definitely played hard, mostly because of the theme toughness, but partly(for me) because of NIDI, a gruesome word not seen in the NYT in nearly a decade. Significantly pre-Rex Parker. And every prior occurrence of the word appears to have come in a Thursday or later puzzle, which makes sense becuase that word's slightly nuts—a Latin plural of a name for a spider's nest that I am quite certain very few people know. It's desperation fill, and it's especially rough crossing HSIA. If you aren't certain of your Chinese dynasties, you could easily blow that cross. Other rough stuff included perennial and perennially forgettable stuff like ASO (4D: Volcano on Kyushu) and ARIE (25D: Indy racer Luyendyk), plus multiple LEONAS, an awkward quatrain form, and SYL. Never seen PHREAK before (5D: Telephone system hacker)—I doubt the majority of solvers will have any idea what that's about, but it's certainly phresh, so I can't hate on it too much. I CHOKED / I RAISE pairing is nice. Long Downs are solid but not scintillating. I had a few self-inflicted wounds today, like misreading 49D: First to stab Caesar as [First stab, to Caesar], and writing in OR TEA (!?) for 7D: End of a lame pickup line (you have to admit, it's pretty lame). Tough and entertaining overall. Thumbs up. Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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