What? I thought it was Walk Like an Egyptian Day (tomorrow). Or Crawl on Your Belly Like a Reptile Day. Or Lie Like a Politician Day. Is the Pirate thing regional? Never heard of it. Enjoyed the puzzle.
karmasartre | 09.18.08 - 11:07 pm | #

I admired the fill and I am not surprised to read about many people finding their solve time below average for a Friday puzzle. The puzzle itself seems of the highest quality, but it wasn't hard even for me and I have never heard of talk like a pirate day. I slipped in a few places like o'brian, vitro and adhere, but no complaints at all.

KarmaSartre, I see one of your novels made it into the puzzle, so I have to ask, Is Heaven being by yourself?
PhillySolver | 09.18.08 - 11:33 pm | #

This one was weird. I was going nowhere until I remembered reading about the day on some blog or another and got the long across. SW and NE fell fast, but the others took a bit more. Didn't feel easy, but checking the time, I guess it was. I'm still puzzled by "In a pet" and "shakes" for d.t., though.
Aaron Bergman | 09.19.08 - 12:39 am | #

Amy,

A trip to the Welland Canal is part of the grade school experience for everyone in Niagara Falls. When I was a young lawyer, I had to do some reseach on a proposed All American Canal. It never did get built.


Steve
Steve Manion | 09.19.08 - 1:00 am | #

This is how I felt about today's puzzle: aarrgggh.
Linda
Linda Murray | 09.19.08 - 6:53 am | #

I had to go back and find that IMOUTtaHERE didn't work with the crossings, and I do agree that IMOUTOFHERE isn't the more common way to say it. Even with that, I think it was a personal best for a Friday NYT.

The Sun was a lot harder, and the bottom half especially so.
Jan (danjan) | 09.19.08 - 7:05 am | #

I feel asleep thinking what kind of leaf and what sticks. Thus for me it is talk like Homer Simpson Day: DOH.
dk | 09.19.08 - 7:41 am | #

definitely one of my best fridays -- so i enjoyed the nyt on that level -- but also enjoyed this because of the "smile factor." wasn't expecting a mini-theme -- and then had to laugh when i saw what it was. too silly.

here's some info on the etymology of shiver me timbers. coincidentally, there's mention of another use of/meaning for "shakes."

;-)

janie
jlsnyc | 09.19.08 - 8:16 am | #

avast, ye land-lubbers. be not ye dissing talk like a pirate day! arr.

personal best for me, too, although i had some common slip-ups like OUTTA and ADHERE. just not for very long. loved the mini-theme, loved OKBYME, PANDORASBOX, and interconnectedness of the long across in the SE. you use the welland canal so that you don't have to go over niagara in a barrel, and then that barrel can be used to sell $100 worth of crude oil to be refined and sold at gas stations.

the NYS was a treat as well. i was very surprised when CHIMBORAZO wouldn't fit, and even more surprised to realize that i actually knew the names of multiple ecuadorean volcanoes. EDICTS on top of NANTES was fun, as was [Bad] on top of [Good]. LEFTJAB only came to me because i saw a picture of tyler standing in front of it on a big white board. i think also at 1-down, no?

trip doing these puzzles using downs only is absolutely sick. can we keel-haul him?
joon | 09.19.08 - 8:48 am | #

I do not generally concerm myself with construction, but AMRITA got me wondering. Is it more commonly known than I think? If not, how does the constructor end up with it, assuming the top three phrases came first? Does he go with those first three letters and scour the unabridged dictionary?

And finished the Weekend Warrior and couldn't for the life of me parse TEASERAD for quite a while.
Zulema | 09.19.08 - 2:52 pm | #

Wow, I can't believe the times on that NYT! I think I am completely incapable of making a hard crossword. It doesn't bother me because I like my crosswords easy. (You'll notice I passed on an obvious sexist joke)

Zulema -- I work from a standard word list and AMRITA is the only word that fit AMR???. I didn't love it but I figured the crossings were easy enough that it was gettable. Plus, there's got to be some hard words in a Friday puzzle, right?

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. I've gone into crossword hibernation so you might not see my byline again for a while.
Alex | Homepage | 09.19.08 - 4:28 pm | #

okay -- how many times do you see GHURKA and NEPALESE twice in the same day?

from my wenn on imdb -- a guilty pleasure gossip "news" site.

;-)

j.

p.s. you'll be missed, alex, and/but do come back!
jlsnyc | 09.19.08 - 5:28 pm | #

Alex, that was a lovely puzzle and the SE gave me fits. Have to say though that my favorite puzzle today was "52 of a Kind" by Merle Baker @ newsday -- brilliant! Check it out
Norm | 09.19.08 - 7:04 pm | #

I agree that the clue for POLLUTE STRINGS in the WSJ puzzle ia a bit tortured. Maybe [Fill an orchestra section with smog?] would've been a good one.
Tuning Spork | Homepage | 09.19.08 - 9:15 pm | #

Alex,

Thank you so much for responding and seconding my guess though it's a database rather than a dictionary scouting. And the puzzle was not that easy but it certainly was on the elegant side.
Zulema | 09.19.08 - 10:24 pm | #

I would've thought I was fairly up on cartoon lingo (since they form a fairly decent part of my Peter Pan complex) but IRIS OUT was a new one on me.

And when crossed with an obscure Ecuadorean volcano...sheesh! This may be the only time I was actually glad to be using the applet, because it told me I had thrown a "Hail Mary" with the right vowel.
JBeck | 09.19.08 - 11:03 pm | #

norm, i did that newsday puzzle and was duly impressed. nice piece of work, that. i won't spoil the theme, but i can honestly say i've never seen anything like it. but i still like alex's puzzle the best out of today's group. although really, they were all delightful. TGIF! the CHE puzzle was also notable for its excellent fill, characteristically interesting clues, and fun theme. it is very good to have the CHE back.

orange, i found today's WSJ harder than other recent WSJs, even though i got the theme right away from POLLEDZEPPELIN. maybe it's just that it's late and i'm tired. i just kept thinking the wrong thing. i tried ADVERBS for ALLOVER (clued as [High and low]). SCALIA for SOUTER. DAB for CUP. as for "why the mounties"--well, what other police force has horses that need to be broken?
joon | 09.19.08 - 11:11 pm | #

Joon, the Chicago police department has a mounted unit, as do 80-some other U.S. localities. Being a city-dweller, I forgot about the thousands of localities that don't have horsey cops.

Norm and Joon, the "52 of a Kind" Newsday puzzle is impressive. That beats the NYT record of 35. (For other NYT records, see Barry Haldiman's page. The most for a consonant is 55, so Merle Baker's 52 is sky-high.)
Orange | Homepage | 09.19.08 - 11:55 pm | #