I placed 79 out of 600 at this past weekend’s crossword tournament — not too shabby. Indeed, it was my best showing ever. On top of that, at the ACPT, I possess some small degree of fame: I’m not one of the A-listers, but I’m still a recognizable name. People will stop me to say they enjoyed some old puzzle of mine, or that they had read the Winston books with their kids. (I had ample opportunity to show off the hot-off-the-presses copy of the new book, which my editor had sent to the hotel.) It’s very flattering, although it reached an unusual apex when a fellow I’d been sitting next to on Saturday apologized the next day for not recognizing me. “I mean, you’re a celebrity!” he said — which may be the first time that word has ever been applied to me. The surreal part: The fellow in question is a Broadway producer.
So! I came back from the tournament feeling both smart and ego-massaged. And on Monday morning, the Learned League put a fast end to that.
1. What heavy metal legend replaced Ozzy Osbourne as lead singer of Black Sabbath after Ozzy’s departure from the band in April of 1979?
I thought I might be able to get this, given due time — the man, after all, is a heavy metal legend, which means awareness of his existence may have seeped through the borders of the heavy metal world. But as the minutes ticked by, I became aware that I couldn’t think of a possibility, much less the assuredly right answer. Finally I gave up and said Nigel Tufnel. I’ll bet I won’t be the only one. Actual answer: Ronnie James Dio. I never had a prayer.
2. Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise, two song cycles based on the poems of German lyricist Wilhelm Müller, are the works of what Austrian composer of the Romantic era?
With more hopefulness than outright knowledge, I went with Strauss. (I am vaguely aware there is more than one composer named Strauss, so I didn’t get more specific than that.) Correct answer: Schubert. Bah.
3. The Greek Acropolitan temple known as the Parthenon was completed in 438 BC as a dedication to what mythological deity?
ARRRGH, I CONSIDERED ATHENA!! I really did. I typed it in the blank and everything. And then I took it out and replaced it with Hera. I would explain to you my rationale for doing this, but I didn’t technically have one. This one is going to sting for a while.
4. This island, the world’s fourth-largest, is the largest to be (with some tiny peripheral islands) its own independent nation.
Left it blank — I think geography has demoralized me to the point that I give up too soon. If I had just brainstormed a few islands, I surely would have named Madagascar, and maybe there is even a chance I would have tried it as an answer. Next time I’ll put in some effort.
5. A New England prep school, where students confront adolescent jealousy, rivalry, self-identity, death, and the looming presence of WWII, is the setting for what American novel, the author’s debut, first published in the U.S. in 1960?
And we conclude, blessedly, with a pair of gimmes, starting with a book I first read in high school and keep meaning to pick up again: A Separate Peace.
6. This is a screenshot from what film?
I had to think about the previous question for a moment — it still qualifies as a gimme, but there was that initial hesitation while I double-checked with my brain to make sure there weren’t any other possible answers. This one, however, was a gimme and a half, with no thought whatsoever required: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
A four-answer win:
1) No idea at all. Guessed Dee Snyder just to say something.
2) German song cycles = Schubert to me. My opponent graciously gave me 3 for this, though my Classical Music rating is fairly high.
3) Athena; I happened to know this, but it might also be guessable from the Parthenon being in Athens.
4) Came up with this after some thought, and having looked at a bunch of big island nations for a puzzle a couple of years ago. I was a little confused by the question’s wording; isn’t Australia the world’s largest island / independent nation?
5) I’d never heard of this one.
6) The bling makes the number “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend”, which I knew was from “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, though I’ve never seen it.
Went for five. I never had a chance on Schubert, but I the other five were in my wheelhouse and were gimmes (what an old wheelhouse that is). I was really excited about a real good showing, but my opponent forfeited. I’ll take the win of course with 8 points, but I wanted to actually compete. Ah well, if I can just break even for the rest of the time, I think I’ll make it to C division.
Congrats to all you guys for the great scores at ACPT. I’m lucky if I can break 200 so all these high scores I’m seeing are very impressive.
This was a good day for me. I was up against friend and fellow NPLer Adam Cohen (19th place at ACPT). For once the board was stacked in my favour with somewhat challenging Film and Pop Music questions (both of which are Adam’s weakness).
1. I must have heard this factoid about Ronnie James Dio at some point since I’m not a fan of either Black Sabbath or Dio (solo). Scored this 3, pretty sure that Adam wouldn’t know it.
2. As per my ususal I had almost no chance at this. I was pleased to see that Haydn (my guess) was at least an Austrian composer. Partial credit? Scored it 2, knew it would be my 3.
3. I also considered Athena before switching my vote to Apollo, never having considered Athens as a clue. Scored it a 1 and expected to be scored 2 but Adam had correctly identified this as a gimme question and gave me 0. He couldn’t have known that I’d completely blow it.
4. This seemed pretty straightforward. Australia is generally considered a Continental Land Mass and not an island but if it were an island it would be #1 so I could ignore this. The only other consideration is Greenland which has some autonomy but is still part of Denmark. That only really leaves Madagascar. Scored it a 0 and Adam gave me 2.
5. I remember skimming A Separate Peace in high school and being unmoved by it. Many years later there was an awesome smackdown on the Simpsons where Lisa and her grandmother bond of their mutual disgust over the work of John Knowles. Scored it 1
6. I was pretty sure it was Gentlemen Prefer Blondes since Seven Year Itch had the iconic blowing grate scene. Scored it 2.
Ended up winning 6(4)-2(3).
I had a very unexpected six-pack at 12:30am last night. Everything’s coming up Feyer this week, apparently. My next five LL opponents are currently below me in the standings (though today’s shouldn’t be)…
1 – I used to know a lot about rock ‘n’ roll in high school… after remembering that the excellently spelled Mr. Iommi is a guitarist, I finally pulled up Dio. Here’s a guide to the legend’s place in pop culture.
2 – Schubert was the only gimme. And even then, I almost convinced myself it was Schumann with all the lieder.
3 – Athena seemed too obvious — like, that famous Greek temple isn’t hers, she’s got a different one.
4 – This one kept me from submitting earlier in the day. Finally took a mental world tour, hit Africa, and figured Madagascar was a great guess.
5 – I know I read and loved the book in school, but couldn’t tell you a single detail besides what I (re-)learned from the question.
6 – Recognized the scene as a pop-culture touchstone. I love stage musicals, but generally can’t stand film musicals…
Thought this was particularly hard to defend – to me, all the questions were fairly equal in difficulty.
1. yet another one to file under “everything i know about pop culture i learned from crosswords”, although in this case, you had to be doing the right crosswords. DIO has been clued as the metal guy a few times in onion puzzles, and a couple years ago BEQ put RONNIE JAMES DIO and BLACK/SABBATH (split across two entries) into a “themeless” puzzle as a dio tribute.
2. winterreise = schubert. gimme. but i suspected this would be the hardest question of the day.
3. i knew this anyway, but it seemed to me that the question wording was trying pretty hard not to mention the word “athens”, so that seemed like an even bigger giveaway.
4. australia is generally considered a continent, not an island. i thought of cuba first and then madagascar. it turns out that cuba was close, in a way, and far in another sense: it’s only the 17th-biggest island, but it is the 2nd-biggest island that’s a country unto itself.
5. gimme.
6. i can’t quite figure out why i knew this, but i did. is that marilyn monroe in the picture? must be, right? but i thought i knew what she looked like, and i’m not too sure about the photo. anyway, the bling bling tipped me off, and from there it was a matter of diamonds -> blondes.
my first 9(6)-9(6) tie, against the great NissleyT. i had to hope he’d miss schubert, since his classical stats are merely so-so, but i figured he was going to get at least the other 5, and yeah, he got ‘em all. this is the 2nd time i’ve played him and he’s yet to miss one against me.
Dio is also famous as the (alleged) inventor of the heavy metal “horns up” hand signal.
Won this one 6(5)-4(3), also going for Strauss. In 18 matches (15-3), I have no ties–and only three games that were decided by a single point. (I lost two of those.) This underscores either defense’s importance or its unimportance.
1. Guessed Alice Cooper. Unsurprisingly incorrect.
2. I don’t remember what I guessed here, but it was wrong.
3. Gimme.
4. I know Madagascar is huge for an island, so it seemed like a good guess.
5. Took me some time to remember it, since I haven’t thought about it since high school, but it came to me eventually.
6. Guessed the wrong Monroe movie- all I’ve seen is The Seven Year Itch.
1: I kept hoping this would bubble up in my brain, but it never did.
2: Put down Wagner, feeling 99% sure it was wrong. (I am not the 1%.)
3: I’ve known this forever, including wondering as a youth why it wasn’t called the Athenon.
4: I was so sure of this one that I had to make myself stop and scan the rest of the world for island nations, just to be sure.
5: I had no freaking clue, so I’m extremely pleased to have been published as a Best Wrong Answer for “Saved by the Bellum”.
6: Also very sure of this one.
I lost 3(3)-4(4), but I’m back in second place on Defense%, and I got a BWA, so I can’t feel too down.
Dio was the gimme-est of gimmes for me. I’ve got a “Holy Diver” ringtone on my phone, and my ACPT roomie John Beck must have heard it at least 10 times over the weekend. He said he laughed out loud when he read the question on Monday.
Congrats on the nice finish, Eric!
1. Most of my friends are either musicians or scientists, which often leads me to assign completely inappropriate point values to questions in those fields. I figured the get rate on this one would be above 70%. At least I didn’t give it the zero.
2. Took me a while with all those excess Strausses (10 points if you get the reference) floating around, but I knew I knew who composed Winterreise, and I knew it wasn’t a Strauss. Let it sit for a while and eventually Schubert popped into my head.
3. Been there, done that, bought a really strange t-shirt.
4. I have the five largest islands committed to memory. They could have stopped at “fourth-largest island.”
5. I might have been able to identify Knowles as the author of “A Separate Peace” but I knew next to nothing about the book itself. Doesn’t seem like my kind of book (but I said the same thing about Angle of Repose and ended up loving it so who knows). The only thing I could come up with was The Catcher in the Rye, even though I was pretty sure that Holden Caulfield’s school isn’t in New England (it isn’t), that it takes place later than WWII (it does), and that it was published before 1960 (it was). Oh well.
6. Knew it immediately, second-guessed myself, chastised myself for second-guessing myself, got it.
My opponent this game has good stats and a history of finishing within shouting distance of promotion in Pacific B, so I was glad I spent the extra time trying to come up with Schubert. Ended up winning 7(5)-3(3).
Managed a six-pack though not without som struggles.
1. I knew it was RJD immediately, then began to question myself and almost scratched it, but didn’t. I couldn’t come up with an answer I liked better.
2. I have a fairly extensive classical music collection, including the Schubert pieces in question. Gimme.
3. I knew it was Athena. Athens was the kicker.
4. I once created a visual puzzle regarding a 600 foot stairway in Antananarivo called tsiafakantitra, or “old folks can’t make it” – and somehow I remember how to spell these things years later. Madagascar was an immediate get.
5. Read this in college. Some people loved it but I was not one of them.
6. Had to think about this for a good while. I knew that I had not seen it. I also knew that I knew the title. Finally, it managed to worm its way out of the recesses of my brain and into a usable format.
I picked off a 9(6)-4(4) win, playing a rare bit of perfect defense.
Never having actually seen any Marilyn Monroe movies, I guessed (unofficially) that the image was from the recent film “My Week With Marilyn.” Guess I put too much faith in the movie’s makeup artists.
By the way, the leader in A West, who beat me last week, inexplicably forfeited, dropping to 4th place and moving me to 1st. Last time I managed to hit the top I lasted there for exactly one day before dropping back. Who knows what’ll happen this time.
I managed to recover a bit from my previous day, which was my worst day since I came to this league (though I lucked into a win despite). AND I managed a BWA; I won’t tell you which and leave you to guess.
1. I always wonder how much it is wise to reveal in this sort of post about my subject predilections. My record is still short enough it’s not an open book, and might even be deceptive in a couple of instances. Nevertheless: I will say I am a child of the sixties, and all music between the rise of disco and the rise of punk is crap. I abandoned rock during those years for bluegrass mostly; don’t give me AC/DC, don’t give me Doobies, don’t give me Kiss (gag). Michael McDonald’s voice gives me the creeps, the Allman Brothers without Duane is just Lynyrd Skynyrd with more hands on the drums (and even more than Def Leppard). Rock slept for nearly fifteen years until punk and then new wave woke it back up. Post-Led Zeppelin metal was all derivative to me. Hair metal, good god, why are they singing so high? And I still don’t get rap. So anyway, I didn’t get this. Spent a lot of time turning it over, and I never could think of ANYBODY I could consider legend that was associated with metal.
2. Educated guess, nothing more. Only moderately sure, a relief when it was right.
3. I have known this for a while, too long to know where it came from.
4. Knew this right away; spent more time trying to think what island was third after Greenland and New Guinea. It’s Borneo, I think.
5. Read this in junior high, I think. Memorable enough to carry.
6. Bit of a guess, but still, I was fairly sure I remembered this number from GPB.
Alaric is right about last season’s RPac group. Currently, our alumni are 2nd in EPac, 1,2,and 3 in DPac, 1,2,and 3 in CPac, 1,2 in BPac and 1 in AWest. Not sure any of us do crosswords competitively, though.
And SuessE, if you really want to play with Alaric and me again, you’re going to have to put it in neutral for a bit…