Today's Tuesday puzzle by Will Nediger (answers) tilted towards the back end of the alphabet with two Xs, six Ys, and seven Zs. If you're into random statistics this is quite unusual. Its Scrabble total of 401 is the third highest in my database and its average scrabble tile value of 2.10 ranks sixth. Very cool, Mr. Nediger. It made for an especially fun puzzle. I had an advantage on the A to Z theme. Check out the Finder page on my stats site. One of the examples I give on how to use the finder uses A*Z as a way to see all the words that start with A and end with Z. If you type that phrase now you'll see all of today's theme clues.
Much of the Scrabbleosity came from "alignment of the sun, earth, and moon, e.g." which, I happened to learn in astrophysics, is SYZYGY. Surprisingly, this famous noun adored by word lovers makes its NYT debut today. Try to use it in a sentence this week.
The high score is even more impressive because it's accomplished at a Tuesday level. Well, mostly, anyway. I didn't know SFC was a certain NCO, and since I was a model child I never faced the terror of the dreaded "punishing rod" known to miscreants everywhere as a FERULE.
Speaking of which, Mr. Alex Rodriguez used to play shortstop here in Seattle. He left to join the Texas Rangers and for years when he returned to play the Mariners the local fans would enjoy punishing Rod with a rain of boos. His unforgivable sin? He left Seattle to sign a Texas-sized contract worth a quarter of a billion dollars. My mind is easily boggled, but that one outboggles most. What would the world be like if the top crossword constructors made that much money, I wonder.
"No stranger to the ski slopes" is a SKI BUM. We had that answer just last year but it's a great one. LAGRANGE could have been another astrophysics clue but instead it was "Georgia city or college." Drag queen RuPaul was delicately clued as "Drag performer with a wax likeness in New York's Madame Tussauds."
Did I mention that I particularly liked this puzzle?
I went looking for Will Nediger puzzles in your data base, but my first stop yielded no results. I assume he has less than ten published puzzles. Is there another way to find him? I did find his April 7, 2007 puzzle, which also uses the end of the alphabet.
As to his scrabble tendencies, I sought him out on Google and found he is a Champion Speller a Scrabble expert and a crossword constructor. He works out of his Canadian dorm room and wants to be a shortstop for the Mariners when he graduates. (or some academic job maybe)
Posted by: PhillySolver | April 29, 2008 at 07:50 AM
Who are we supposed to believe, JimH? A better blogger than you said "I have not hated a puzzle like I hated this one in a good, long while. It was like it was giving me the finger the whole time I was doing it."
You must feel like an idiot for not seeing how bad this puzzle is. I expect a full retraction now that you know how wrong you are!
Posted by: CrossEyedBear | April 29, 2008 at 11:17 AM
The puzzle was especially good for a Tuesday. Will and WIll were thinking outside the crate. Thanks, Jim, for the XYZ angle(s).
@Philly, the phrase "Canadian dorm room" makes me wonder. A campus at Scrabble University? A Mariners' minor league team? A Canadian term for "bedroom"?
Posted by: KarmaSartre | April 29, 2008 at 11:36 AM
I always think it is fun to see different points of view. There’d be no point in having more than one blog otherwise, right? It’s funny how often Rex and JimH are polar opposites. My theory is the JimH reads Rex first and then purposefully contradicts. Btw I loved the puzzle mostly because I’ve loved the word syzygy for years.
Posted by: LaurenB | April 29, 2008 at 12:03 PM
@KarmaSatre
You Existentialist slay me! Actually, Will seems to be attending a Canadian University in London, Ontario. He actually professes no baseball talent, but if Jim can make up stuff on his site, he should be prepared to receive as good as gives. I see this is his third NYT puzzle and had to may have been in Elementary school when he published his first one. All three are clearly products of a Scrabble player's mind, if that is what you call it. So, if he is at SU (Scrabble University), he is a full Professor.
Posted by: PhillySolver | April 29, 2008 at 12:09 PM
@Philly -- Odd combo calling out the Existentialists and omitting the R in Sartre....who's Satre? Satyr?
@LaurenB -- I agree re. different points of view, but your theory may need some revision given that the JimH blog entry appears about nine hours earlier than Rex's most days.
Posted by: KarmaSartre | April 29, 2008 at 01:03 PM
Sorry, KarmaSartre...I wasn't kidding when I wrote I struggle with spelling. I considered referring to The Four Reminders, but I saw No Exit. All in all, I hope no offense was taken, because I find your contributions entertaining.
Posted by: PhillySolver | April 29, 2008 at 02:41 PM
Breaking news about Will Nediger-
As a freshman at the University of Western Ontario along with other first-year students Peter Burton, and Will Pazner, his team finished second place in NAQT's Division II Invitational Championship Tournament (Canadian Quiz Knowledge Bowl) on April 11 — 12, 2008.
Maybe that is why he is yet to have many published crossword puzzles. He has been busy!
It seems as if crossword constructors are getting younger and younger...Scary.
Patricia
Posted by: Patricia | April 29, 2008 at 10:02 PM
whoa, NAQT. i remember them. i've always wondered how much overlap there is between crossworders and quizbowlers.
Posted by: joon | April 30, 2008 at 09:47 AM
Just ran across this site while looking up a clue for today's NYT Xword. The same one in today's Sacramento Bee that you are referring to (which supplied the answers SFC and FERULE). And ASHKENAZ.
Thank you!
Posted by: Alan | June 10, 2008 at 07:20 AM