NYT Crosswords, a new book, and a sketchy goodbye demo
Rex Parker, you sassy bitch, some pre-order news and, remembering Phil Donahue!
**Also, arbitrary Latin plurals bug the hell out of me ("arbitrary" in the sense that yes, that is how you pluralize the word in Latin, but we're not speaking Latin, are we? So stop). I'm looking at you, TOGAE, lol what a dumb-looking word.
-Rex Parker, 8/29/2024
Like many, mornings for me often include the NYT Crossword.
I like to think I’m pretty good at it- I may not always make it all the way through a Friday or a Saturday, but in general, I think I’m at least above average. There was a time when I dared consider myself an ‘expert’, but that was before I met some REAL crossword enthusiasts. Case in point, my good friend, Illustrator Sam Viviano.
Sam’s been doing these things religiously for decades, and has a carved-in-stone morning puzzle routine that involves a physical copy of The Times, a shlep down the block for a coffee & English muffin, and the ritualistic opening up of the paper up to the crossword page, followed by the literal tearing out the printed grid, tossing it away, leaving just the clues to solve the puzzle with on a hand drawn grid of his own making, on a regular ol' napkin. Sam sat me down and explained this wizardry in detail to me one day, actually making sense of it all (which was fascinating). Figuring out where to put the black squares in the grid, using symmetry in solving, etc etc, really let me know that, at most, I could be considered an ‘enthusiast’, not an ‘expert’. I’m fine with that.
That said, learning from Sam and others over the years (not to mention the fantastic documentary Wordplay from 2006), I developed an itch to actually start to create a daily puzzles for submission to the NYT.
It’s a daily feature, and somebody has to write these things… they’re edited, why not?? If I do, and in the unlikely event something I submitted gets used and printed, I’d then be subject to the soul crushingly scrupulous criticism of… Rex Parker!
If you don’t know who Rex Parker is and you’re a fan of NYTCrosswords, I’m a little hesitant to send you his way, for fear of ensuring you lose a little bit more of your morning productivity with more humorous reading to keep you from work. But I’m doing it.
Rex solves each crossword apparently immediately, and spends what looks to be the entire morning meticulously blogging about that day’s puzzle, breaking it down almost clue by clue, throwing a critical eye on everything and everything about that day’s puzzle. Clues that are a little iffy, answers that are a stretch, gimmicks that maybe aren’t as clever as he thinks the author/editor thinks they are, all in a snarky tone that is more often then not annoyingly smug yet delightfully hilarious.
When I’m done with a usually tricky puzzle, sometimes I’ll go and read his lengthy thoughts for that day. And there will be thoughts. One way or another he’ll be overly disgusted/offended at the audacity of the author to pull this [too easy/overly difficult/pedestrian/doctorate required] gag, spun through a tapestry of wordplay (get it?) that rarely doesn’t give me at least a little bit of satisfaction that I in no way deserve, since the reason I’m there is because I got overly frustrated with that day’s crossword!
**52D: Senators’ garments, once. Rex had thoughts about the Latin spelling of Togas. Don’t we all?
Shamless Plug Dept…
Coming 11/12/2024:
Written by the famed inventor’s granddaughter herself and world renowned RG machine builder Zach Umperovitch, for builders of all ages, this is the only official guide to building 25 kid-friendly Rube Goldberg Machines at home!
Featuring something like 500+ drawings by me. This one was a real killer. I’m super excited to see it in print!
To build a Rube Goldberg Machine, all you need is a pile of junk and a great imagination. Rube Goldberg’s granddaughter, Jennifer George, has teamed up with world-renowned Rube Goldberg machine builder Zach Umperovitch to show us just how true that is in this comprehensive guide to building Rube Goldberg Machines at home. Written in partnership with Rube Goldberg’s granddaughter herself, Jennifer George, this book breaks down how to build a variety of machines that solve simple problems in complex ways. Progressing in difficulty with each chapter, kids (and builders of all ages) will learn how to construct super simple machines that fit on a tabletop, to hard ones that take up entire rooms or yards! Learn how to start chain reactions that refill your popcorn automatically on movie night, open umbrellas, and even pack a picnic, one step at a time. Filled with jokes, fun facts, and tips and tricks to make building as successful as possible, this book is sure to satisfy every family’s most curious and inventive minds!
Remembering Phil Donahue
In other news, Phil Donahue was still alive!
Donahue was one of those shows we’d watch when there was no school- either home sick, or whatever reason we’d be watching TV in the middle of a weekday.
I’m in the middle of one page job for Mad, and I’m pretty rusty with ink, so I needed some warm up time- thought I’d knock out a quick demo drawing here to work out the cobwebs…