Think of two terms that mean, "to divulge information." Write them one after the other with no spaces between words. The result is a nine-letter word for a card that you might hold in a card game. What card is it?
is SINGLETON. SING & LET ON are the two phrases. Not too hard, although I didn't get it immediately. See original post for my iron-clad excuse for that lapse in concentration.
I should have known it a lot faster. Singletons are very important in bridge. I sort of play bridge. Well, okay, I don't play bridge. I play bridge-qua-solitaire. I go to Bridge Base Online, our preferred bridge online site, and I set up a table with three robot players, and me. These days, I maybe play a half-dozen hands before getting bored. It's not nearly enough to keep up my skills, but it's better than not playing at all.
I like to play bridge with humans, but the two options available to me -- play with humans on Bridge Base, or play with humans in proper duplicate conditions -- don't appeal to me as much as I thought they would. I grew up playing family bridge, which allows for chatter and friendly humor. Typing while playing (thus using the IM feature to "chat" with your fellow players online) doesn't feel the same. And there's no chit-chat while playing proper duplicate, for fractions of International Match Points. (I think we're up to 3.78 IMPs, still shy of the 5 IMPS we need to be Junior Masters.)
So for now, I'll play with robots as much and as often as I like, which isn't very much. And I'll neither sing nor let on when I have a singleton.
Time for the value-added puzzle answers. Will's on-air puzzle was based on "cow" -- two-word phrases where the first word starts with CO and the second word starts with W. Ours will be based on a cat: Two-word phrases with the first word starting CA, and the second word starting with a T. So if the clue were Source of chocolate, the answer would be Cacao Tree.
Injury to the wrist CARPAL TUNNEL
Bovine rustler CATTLE THIEF
Small breed of dog CAIRN TERRIER
Alternative to a satellite dish CABLE TELEVISION (or TV)
Herbal beverage CHAMOMILE TEA
Precursor to the iPod CASSETTE TAPE
Chemo or radiation CANCER TREATMENT (or THERAPY)
Photographer's support CAMERA TRIPOD
Proposed approach to reduce global warming CARBON TAX
Flooring option CARPET TILE(S)
Chemical solvent CARBON TET(RACHLORIDE)
Funny NPR program CAR TALK
Kitchen implement used in making fudge, for example CANDY THERMOMETER
Example of what not to do? CAUTIONARY TALE
Bridge support? CARD TABLE (on which to play a singleton...!)
I loved this Friday New York Times crossword: it was certainly a real pain to solve, with the NW corner proving the most trouble-some, but I didn't suffer from heart failure and ended up far from broken-hearted.
I credit the constructor with Creve Coeur as a thematic answer, but the more I look at the long answers, the more they seem to be tied in with the theme (particularly True Confessions and maybe cruel and unusual). The grid doesn't seem to have been constructed around them as a tight set, but the theme may have inspired their selection over random alternatives.
Solving time: 41 mins (solo, no solving aids) Clue of the puzz: 7d cabals {Intriguing bands}
Theme
The grid represents a broken heart, which ties in with 7a Creve, 9a Coeur {Missouri city whose name means "broken heart"}.
13a Dolores {1941 #1 hit for Tommy Dorsey}. The song debuted in the now little-remembered movie Las Vegas Nights.
17a GTO {The Monkeemobile, e.g.}. I know I saw the Monkees on British TV as a kid, but ... it's been a while. The Monkeemobile is indeed a modified Pontiac GTO. Two were made for the filming, one of which sold for $360,000 in January 2008:
50a Swenson {Housekeeper player on "Benson"}. Inga Swenson starred in Benson (as a German cook) ... it has a certain poetry to it.
19d Haiti {It has departments named Nord, Sud and Ouest}. Tried Paris here, but wasn't too surprised to have to change it. Haiti was of course a French colony until 1804 and is still French-speaking.
45d one-, 41d -a-cat {With 41-Down, quaint sandlot game}. I gather one-a-cat is another name for tip-cat, which involves flipping a piece of wood in the air with a bat and then hitting it as far as you can ... well they didn't have television in the old days.
Noteworthy
20a slathers {Puts (on) thickly}. This clue presented just one of several traps I fell into: anyone else have plasters to start with? That cost me a few minutes.
23a snood {W.W. II factory wear}. I'd heard hairnets called snoods before, but thought they went out in the Victorian era. No, that term was still used for the hairnets worn by women factory workers in World War II - presumably vital in an era when hair was worn long.
36a Imus {Radio figure who co-wrote "Two Guys Four Corners"}. If I hadn't come across Don Imus before in a puzzle last month, I'd have been in real trouble in the SW corner. Two Guys Four Corners is a book of photographs of the American Southwest, that Don compiled with his brother Fred Imus.
44a True Confessions {Story-filled magazine since 1922}. A magazine I've heard of, but never read. That's because its stories are aimed at young women - its circulation peaked at two million in the 1930s. Since the stories in True Confessions must often concern broken hearts, this almost qualifies as a thematic answer.
1d cruel and unusual {Torturous, perhaps}. If you think you've heard this idiom before, then you'd be right. The words originate in English law, and later appear in the Eight Amendment to the United States Constitution; this implies that inhuman or degrading punishments should not be inflicted, however severe a crime may be.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. Amendment VIII to the United States Constitution
3d overshoe {Rubber}. I know to be careful over using the word rubber in this country. But rubbers have an innocent enough meaning as a name for galoshes.
4d mols. {Compound fractions: Abbr.}. Moles (abbr. mols. - why bother?) became intensely familiar at the time Chemistry was the center of my life. But since university, I've found that you can get by without knowing that a solution has a certain number of moles in it and I'm glad for that. If you want to know what moles are, check the Wikipedia article on the subj.
5d REO {Old bus maker}. Chances are any reference to old automobiles is going to be to REO. So I guessed the answer right, without being sure about the buses (in any event, "bus" was an old slang word for car, in the UK at least). However, it seems REO did make buses, such as the one in the picture.
7d cabals {Intriguing bands}. An awesome clue that deceived me for a loooooong time: these bands aren't so much fascinating as conniving, secretive, scheming and plotting.
13d doe {Fawning type}. I had dog here to start with, as they tend to be pretty fawning. However, only a doe can produce a fawn: we were lucky to see a newly-born fawn the other day, still wobbly on its legs as it tried to keep up with the fawner.
31d Antonio {The merchant of Venice}. This was mean: how can you not put in Shylock here? I suppose that lower case M might have been a hint, if I'd thought about it.
43d esse {Forum infinitive}. The Latin for "to be", dressed up for an end-of-week puzzle.
46d sow {Broadcast}. Anyone else have air to start with? Broadcasting literally means sending out, scattering ... and in earlier times, applied to seeds, not sound and pictures.
The Rest
1a CFO {Fiscal exec}; 4a Mrs {Form check box option}; 11a laurels {Composition of some old crowns}; 15a aberrations {They're irregular}; 18a Palestine {Former British mandate}; 19a heil {Greeting with a salute}; 21a staple {Mainstay}; 24a rehire {Bring back on board}; 25a due {Bill word}; 26a prone to {Frequently exhibiting, by nature}; 28a shut {Block}; 30a premarital {Like some relations}; 33a pun {It may not have been intended}; 34a relate {Connect}; 35a -ene {Chemical ending}; 38a ovine {Like bellwethers}; 39a acta {Records}; 40a Tosca {Floria ___, Puccini title role}; 42a EEC {Intl. trade letters}; 43a estop {Bar}; 47a emanant {Flowing forth}; 48a Rosario {Argentine port on the Paraná}; 49a deletes {Strikes}.
2d ferret out {Dig up}; 6d surge protectors {They may avert computer damage}; 8d elated {High}; 9d con {Side opposite 30-Down}; 10d retile {Fix, as a shower stall}; 11d laps {Pool regimen}; 12d stir {Kindle}; 14d sole {Print maker}; 16d ins {Connections}; 21d senate {A house divided?}; 22d there! {"All done!"}; 24d romancers {Beaus}; 26d prevents {Checks}; 27d relief {What some maps show}; 28d spitted {Stuck at a roast}; 29d humor me {"C'mon, at least consider it!"}; 30d pro {Side opposite 9-Down}; 32d leaps on {Seizes, as an opportunity}; 37d scene {Happening spot}; 39d Asian {___ Games (quadrennial event)}.
Dealing with the theme of this Thursday New York Times crossword was second nature to someone brought up on cryptics. I realized anagramming was required after four minutes or so and hence had trot, heart, first, stage and shoe immediately; but it in some cases it took a lot of work to see what word would need to follow these.
Perhaps to offset the fairly easy theme, some of the other cluing was really tough and I found the center of the grid a particular challenge. It was nice to discover a subsidiary theme of colds, with sneeze (cold response?), red nose (cold shower?) and then the outrageous cashew (Snack item whose name suggests a sneeze)!
Solving time: 18 mins (solo, no solving aids) Clue of the puzz: 22d toast {Clink preceder}
Theme
A "reverse" theme, in which the answer suggests the word in the clue (in each case via anagramming):
6a Paget {Debra of "The Ten Commandments"}. Debra Paget plays the water girl Lilia in The Ten Commandments (1956) - the last film that Cecil DeMille directed and a classic epic movie of the period. Here's an epic of a trailer for it:
39a Rican {San Juan native, slangily}. Easy enough to guess, but I really wasn't sure if this referred to Puerto Ricans or Costa Ricans, or perhaps both. The former must be what was intended, since San Juan is Puerto Rico's capital.
8d Garn {First senator in space}. No gimme for me - I had to ferret this answer out from crossings. Jake Garn is a former Republican senator for Utah who flew in a space shuttle in April 1985.
20d ela {She, in Brasília}. OMG - it looks like we need to learn Portuguese now!
53d a pop {Each}; 55d a pip {"You're ___, ya know that?": Archie Bunker}. Is a pop and a pip within two clues of each other a bug or a feature? It didn't bother me - just set me wondering whether you could crown it with a pup somewhere.
Noteworthy
1a camps {Taps may be heard in them}. A nice clue, though I saw the required sense of Taps immediately. Here's a fascinating clip on the origins of the bugle call:
11a LAPD {Joe Friday's employer, for short}. The ambiguity of Friday is a magnet for clue writers, so I learned about Jack Webb (1920–1982) and Dragnet very soon after starting to solve American crosswords.
24a oof {Gut reaction?}. Traditionally the sound you make when you're hit in the stomach.
31a May {"Rough winds do shake the darling buds of ___": Shak.}. A line that famously (in the UK at least) inspired an H.E.Bates novel. It comes from sonnet XVIII, short enough to quote in full:
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd, And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd: But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st, So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
60a Isaac {Stern, for one}. This neat concealment of a proper name had me fooled for a long time. Strange considering how many Isaac Stern (1920–2001) recordings I own. Here he is playing the Introduction and Rondo capriccioso of 48d Saens {Composer Camille Saint-___}.
22d toast {Clink preceder}. I love this: clink made me think of prisons and what might come before a jail term, but the real answer has much nicer associations.
30d tennis pros {Racket makers?}. They might show you how to use one, but do tennis pros really make rackets?? I'm skeptical, but not an expert on this subj.
44d Mai Tai {Drink at Trader Vic's}. We did get Trader Vic's back in February and I'll never forget my first taste of Mai Tais on a business trip to the West Coast in the late 80s. So I was able to put two and two together, which is more than can be said for my abilities after a couple of Mai Tais!
The Rest
15a adiós {"See you later, alligator"}; 16a Alamo {National alternative}; 17a osos {Bogotá bears}; 18a shrug {[I don't care]}; 23a ergs {Bursts of energy?}; 25a oaters {Westerns}; 27a wee {Teensy}; 28a Bal {___ Harbour, Fla.}; 29a ctr. {N.F.L. position: Abbr.}; 32a no-score {Love all, say}; 34a on air {Broadcasting}; 40a red-nose {Cold shower?}; 41a ENE {Sioux Falls-to-St. Paul dir.}; 42a SSN {1040 ID}; 43a ink {Tattoo, in slang}; 44a Mam {Mother, in British dialect}; 47a Nissan {Z producer}; 50a FSU {Tallahassee sch.}; 51a sale {Tent event}; 57a paths {Walks}; 58a CERN {World's largest particle physics lab}; 61a isms {Beliefs}; 62a épées {Some blades}; 63a phish {Attempt some Internet fraud}.
1d cashew {Snack item whose name suggests a 42-Down?}; 2d adhere {Stick}; 3d mirage {Las Vegas attraction, with "The"}; 4d pours {Serves, say}; 5d SSgt {Army NCO}; 6d patrol cars {Cruisers}; 7d a loaf {"Half ___ is better ..."}; 9d EMTs {CPR experts}; 10d torpor {Lethargy}; 11d lo-fat {Lite}; 12d as one man {In unison}; 13d portrait {Many a White House artwork}; 14d DSM {Mil. honor}; 26d Syr. {Neighbor of Turk.}; 28d bos'n {Cap'n's underling}; 29d cred {Street ___}; 33d omen {Augury}; 34d Omsk {Stop on the Trans-Siberian Railway}; 35d née {Originally}; 36d finishes {Paint and shellac, for example}; 37d ice storm {Power outage cause}; 38d donut {Coffee mate?}; 39d Ren {Rapper MC ___}; 42d sneeze {Cold response?}; 45d alohas {Hello and goodbye}; 46d mensch {Good guy}; 49d Agr. {U.S.D.A. part: Abbr.}; 50d faire {Renaissance ___}; 51d stash {Store that's hard to find}; 54d dare {Truth alternative}; 56d sci. {58-Across subj.}.
