Famous people??? The only one of which I'd ever heard was Pat Riley. Made it a quite difficult puzzle.

Art
Art Shapiro | 10.24.06 - 11:32 pm | #

Just finished the Times. Anyone have trouble with the app? I had about three delays during typing, where the app just sort of froze, until it decided to move again, with the timer suddenly jumping ahead to account for the delayed time. Not that it matters, of course, was just strange. All I could do was kinda sit there and watch the frozen timer until it reoriented itself about 5-10 seconds later. I think it's more a connection thing than an app issue, but was new to me.

I certainly don't jot down my times in a book, graph them out, or put up a PowerPoint presentation detailing the standard deviation of a particular week, but I know there was probably anywhere between 15-30 seconds of waiting around tonight during my little run through the grid. If it was experienced by others, maybe that didn't help matters. Or perhaps I should just find a good therapist for my computer and modem.

It was a tricky puzzle anyway, nice and chunky clues. Although I did like the quote more than most puzzles of this type.
Howard B | 10.24.06 - 11:40 pm | #

Very impressed, nonetheless. A crafty & original idea, with Grade-A fill.

Can Art - or anyone else - dredge up a few more "famous" Swiftie people?

That Jeffrey conjured five, and made three cross paths, is Fairley awesome.
DA | Homepage | 10.24.06 - 11:43 pm | #

No seasoned solver here, at least not in your league but "istle" crossing with "tvs" did me in; i had "IVs", and isile, having never heard of istle.
sixty-five | 10.25.06 - 1:29 am | #

The IVs/TVs trap was my problem, too, and it took way too long to find it, even after I determined that was the bad square. I know "sisal" and I vaguely knew there were similar spellings, but I don't recall running into "istle" before. I guess I should be thankful that my hospital-room experience is just about nonexistent. All I know about hospitals comes from ... um ... TV.
mnemonica | 10.25.06 - 6:58 am | #

"ISTLES" got me, too, although now that I have it I know I've seen it before. I had SOBAD instead of SOSAD as well as IVS instead of TVS...this is why I don't do the applet. With AcrossLite, since I do them before they're unscrambled, it says it's filled in and I can pretend it's right (atlhough I knew better today).

Jenni
Jenni | Homepage | 10.25.06 - 7:12 am | #

Not seasoned here, but I finished it in about 7:00 except for also having "isile".

I searched for typos, and tried nonsense like "ibile" instead. (yielding "so bad" for an everly brother's hit)

This was the first one in a long time I didn't legitimately finish, coming here to see what I might be missing.
baltimark | 10.25.06 - 7:13 am | #

Oh yeah, IVs had me stuck too. Not in the poking needly sense, just as far as that part of the grid. Forgot about that little trap.
Howard B | 10.25.06 - 7:19 am | #

I didn't find anything particularly knotty about the puzzle-- although I fell into the TV/IV trap, and I've never heard of TOAD Hall-- so there were a some pauses-for-thought here and there. Also, EVERT called to mind the bizarre mathematical fact that you can turn a sphere inside-out-- but, I digress.
Matt | 10.25.06 - 7:19 am | #

Anyone else hear of that famous Everly Brothers hit "SO SAF?"

I didn't think so...
Evad | 10.25.06 - 7:33 am | #

Evad, isn't that their song about the importance of proper condo use?

Matt, TOAD Hall comes from Grahame's Wind in the Willows and a play based on it.
Orange | Homepage | 10.25.06 - 9:17 am | #

About the AQP thing...I have heard that line used, probably by Bob Hope, somewhere down the line, it's a pretty good line for roasts. But you do have a point about AQPs, since I was nearly stonewalled by, of all things, the word THAT. Usually it's delivered as "The towels in my hotel..." so I had to think of something equivalent, and THAT never came to mind. I had to peck away to get it in that isolated corner with no other entree provided.

Criminy, my times for the Times have not been good this week, and in general they've bitten it large since after Sunday's success. It could mean good news for almost anyone else at Pleasantville on Friday.
Bob | Homepage | 10.25.06 - 9:37 am | #

I sometimes like the extra challenge of the quips, since if it's a witty quote or remark, you get that one nice laugh or 'aha' at the end of it all. It just makes the solver work a bit longer for the payoff. Although ideally, I hope that the fill words that make up the journey to that payoff are fresh and interesting.

But then again, I'm a sucker for one-liners and quips, having grown up on a steady diet of George Carlin and Steven Wright, among others.
Howard B | 10.25.06 - 10:14 am | #

I noted in the Times puzzle a crossing of ELBA and ABLE. Intentional palindrome minitheme?
Elbee | 10.25.06 - 10:36 am | #

showing my age again. ELGALLO was a gimme for me. The role was originated by Jerry Ohrbach one of my favorite Broadway musical actors well before his Law and Order days.
Barry A Weprin | 10.25.06 - 11:23 am | #

No quip fan here. I like that we independently groused about quippage. There's something admirable about the construction of a puzzle around a quip, but generally quips just don't, I don't know, DO it for me, somehow. Still some good stuff in this one.

Briefly slipped on the TV/IV thing, but not for long. And by "not for long" I probably mean "for about as long as it took most of you to solve the whole damned thing."

And as five-letter animal names go, TAPIR is hot. Right up there with my very favorite: OKAPI, which *I* have seen at a zoo, but sans erection, thank god.

Michael
Anonymous | 10.25.06 - 2:05 pm | #

Ugh. Horrid time on the Times (9:00 even) and I fell into the SOBAD/IVS trap. And I had "AT THAT" instead of "IN THAT" in the quip.

Add my vote to those who don't particularly care for quip puzzles, especially when you constrast today's NYT (60 squares, one so-so joke) with the Sun (54 squares, 5 amusing jokes).
Andrew Greene (Rhu/nmHz) | 10.25.06 - 3:44 pm | #

Interesting that none of the quip fans (and there are plenty) have popped up to defend the genre. Maybe they're busy today?
Orange | Homepage | 10.25.06 - 4:48 pm | #

Howard - The timer on the applet, and the applet itself, works on my computer even when it's offline. The only time it has flipped out was when I reset my computer clock while I was still solving. Perhaps the problem is in your machine?

I too am no fan of quips and got seriously hung up on ISTLE, IBO, IV/TV, and if you think a tapir is impressive, you should see a rhinoceros. Vilas Zoo, Madison WI, 1979, impressionable young college student...scarred for life.
Phoebe | 10.25.06 - 7:49 pm | #

I hoped it was something on my end, Phoebe. And as it turns out, it seems tonight our DSL company's been doing repairs in the area (according to their recorded message), so the connection's been spotty since yesterday, and has finally come back online completely within the past hour.

I won't touch the wildlife commentary with a 10-foot pole.
Howard B | 10.25.06 - 10:04 pm | #

The quip fans are busy trying to create more quip puzzles so they can feed their dogs.
Dave | Homepage | 10.25.06 - 10:31 pm | #

Anyone else hear of that famous Everly Brothers hit "SO SAF?"

It's actually, "SOSA? F---!" in reference to a {Diamond cutter?} clue... ;-)
Pete M | 10.27.06 - 11:33 am | #