The Reading Odyssey hiatus

This blog is starting to look like a crossword blog, and that is not my intention. I've been pretty busy reading for my classes lately (good stuff, too: Oedipus the King, Plato's Apology, and Antigone, as well as Josephine Tey's novel, The Daughter of Time.) But I want to get back to Mesopotamia... and soon! Look for a new post anon.

NYT Crossword, 0921

This was a hard puzzle, made so in part because of a few quirks of the puzzle. It seemed that there was an inordinate amount of proper names in this puzzle and some really tricky, as in 'trick', clues. I'm also just not a fan of 'common phrasal' answers of which there were several (like 'on a tear', 'end it', 'cash in', 'CD rates', 'true to' etc. OK, I didn't even get close to finishing this on my own.

The thematic answers are particularly educational this time, so I'll got through them. The theme was 'It's a Mystery', and 109-Across provided a helpful clue: Ones in charge of a case . . . or a literal hint to the eight other longest answers in this puzzle = LEAD DETECTIVES:

• School in Madison, NJ = DREW UNIVERSITY (reference = Nancy Drew. Family inside joke: "...A horrible Gorilla face!")
• "The Divine Comedy." for Dante = MAGNUM OPUS (reference = Magnum PI. We used to watch this pretty faithfully when I was a kid.)
• Don't believe it = FISH STORY (reference = Detective Phil Fish. From Barney Miller, played by Abe Vigoda. Got his own spin-off show for a while.)
  
• Track-and-field event = HAMMER THROW (reference = Mike Hammer. Crime novels by Mickey Spillane - I think I saw a TV version once, with Stacey Keach.)
• Dropped off = FELL ASLEEP (reference = Dr. Gideon Fell. Crime novels by John Dickson Carr. The name 'Dr. Fell' sounds familiar, but it's not ringing any concrete bells.)
• Pantry array = MASON JARS (reference = Perry Mason. This may have started out as novels, but I'm sure what most people remember is the TV show. Raymond Burry goodness.)
• Beloved figure in England = QUEEN MOTHER (reference = Ellery Queen. Eveyone who likes mystery stories has heard of him, but have they read him?)
• Card game played to 61 = SPADE CASINO (reference = Sam Spade. I'm sure everyone who reads or hears this name thinks Humphrey Bogart, not Dashiell Hammett.)

Other goodies in the puzzle:

• Poet whose last words were "Of course [God] will forgive me; that's his business." = HEINE
• ____ rancheros = HUEVOS (I know Latin and French, but not Spanish. And I don't eat breakfast at Mexican restaurants.)
• Classic theater name = RIALTO (I'm assuming it is referring to the one in L.A. But there is also one in Tucson.)
• Turned right = GEED (Say what? I noticed that the dictionary says this is of uncertain origin. Comforting.)
• "On Language" columnist = SAFIRE (How appropriate for the NYT crossword. This looks pretty interesting. Maybe I'll have to start reading this column.)
• City with the world's first telehone directory (1878) = NEW HAVEN (Useful to know for trivia games I guess.)
• The shakes = DTS (Now I know why I didn't know this.)
• Novelist who wrote "The Gravedigger's Daughter" = OATES
• Italy's Reggia di ___ (royal palace) = CASERTA (Ok, my Italian's not so good either. And I kept wanting something like 'palacio'. But in the end was rather historical, so I should have known it.)
• Quaint letter opener = TOSIR (Get it? 'To Sir.' I didn't. What kind of idiot opens a letter this way? I was looking for something akin to a pen knife.)
• Extremely pleasing, in slang = FABU (Who actually says this? That is just dumb!)
• Yemeni money = RIAL (I suppose every country has to have theirs. And dollar or pound was already used. Of course, this is just a version of the old Spanish real, I believe. And it is also used in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Brazil, and Cambodia. The Brazil I can understand.)
• Loose overcoat = RAGLAN (The coat is described by the particular style of its sleeve. I found some pictures.)
• Letters on a brandy bottle = VSO (Means 'very superior old')
• Stewpots = OLLAS

Lastly, there is a fine line between clever and stupid. I'll let you be the judge (I have my own opinion about each - some clever, some stupid). Are these clever clues or stupid? Can you guess which one(s) I found stupid?

• Had work looming? = WOVE
• French subjects? = TENSES
• Cover many subjects? = REIGN

And a P.S. nod to:

The Mormons, initially = LDS

NYT Crossword, 0914

This was the hardest puzzle I've done in some time, but I was excited to finally figure out the puzzle theme all on my own - it was one of those 'put multiple letters in one square' things (in this case it was month abbreviations). I missed four squares, though. But halfway through I thought I would never finish it.


Native tongue of R&B singer Rihanna = BAJAN (I had to guess 'Fijan' - I know, dumb, but I had no clue. You can probably guess how much I like R&B, and based on the photos in Wikipedia, she dresses like a slut. So, double whammy for her! And one for me on the crossword puzzle :( Oh, and Bajan is short for Barbadian Creole).

Ear part = COB (OK, duh, after seeing it. I had 'ceb' because I got the down wrong, and I just wasn't thinking corn here.)

Prefix with sphere = ATMO (Again, the bad down gave me ATTO. I figured it was some funky geometry or metric term. I remain unconvinced that atmo- is really a 'prefix'. It is really just the first half of a compound word comprised of one Greek word (atmos = vapor) and one Latin word (sphere = well, sphere).)

Proust title character = SWANN (I'm just not very enamoured of modern literature. Still, I should probably know the titles of modern literary works at least. I have heard of his most famous work, translated either as In Search of Lost Time or Remembrance of Things Past.)

Sioux tribe member = OTO (How convenient, you can spell it with an -e or not. Crossworders have to love that! And they're related to the Winnebago - that's gotta be good for a clue sometime.)

State capital on the Colorado River = AUSTIN (Lame!!! I grew up in Arizona. I know where the Colorado River is. These Texans need to get their own name for a river that never even leaves Texas, and leave the name for the one which actually travels through Colorado. Sheesh! There are, in fact, Colorado Rivers in Colorado, Texas, Argentina, Costa Rica, and Chile.)

Langston Hughes poem = ITOO (As you can probably imagine, based on many of my other comments, I'm not into Langston Hughes poetry. I'm not really into any poetry besides Homer, but the older the poem, the more interested I may become. So, ol' Lanny H. here has a bit of time before getting on my interest list.)

___ Taylor, co-host of "Make Me a Supermodel" = NIKI (If I did watch TV, it certainly wouldn't be this kind of drivel! I actually guessed her name - how many names are there for your basic run-of-the-mill TV slut?)

Boils down = DECOCTS (You learn a new word everyday.)

Symptom of catarrh = HACK (OK, you learn a couple of new words every day.)

Samuel L. Jackson's character in "Pulp Fiction" = JULES (Clearly, this puzzle-maker and I have vastly different interests and tastes. No wonder it was so hard. I guess you can't always play a cool character like Mace Windu. Here's a tasty little titbit, though: 'According to the Guiness Book of World Records 2009 (released on 17th September 2008) he is the world's highest grossing actor, having earned $7.42 billion in 68 films.')

Wig = PERUKE (Boy, the new words just keep rolling in... and I'm only at the end of the acrosses.)

Basic travel path = ATOB (I kept asking, what the heck is a 'tob' or an 'atob'. Doh! A to B!! I often get stumped on the similar ABC in answer to a clue like 'Epitome of simplicity' or some such.)

First name in gossip = RONA (I'm not even interested in making a snide comment on this one. Moving on...)

Small African antelope = ORIBI (I don't think this guy is even in my National Geographic mammal books. But it's in Wikipedia!)

Polite disclaimer = NODEAR (How is this a 'disclaimer'? It's a stretch for the secondary definition on Webster's.)

White wine from Verona = SOAVE (I know where Verona is, does that count for anything?)

Design feature of many a viaduct = ARCH (I am happy to see that this word 'viaduct' is a modern derivation from the old 'aqueduct'. If they had just said 'aqueduct', I would have gotten it much more quickly.)

NYT, 0907

Once again, I messed up three squares, and two of them I really should have gotten.

The unknown:

Bass _____ = ALE (Not being a drinker myself....)

Indians play it = RAGA (Not an instrument, but to certain kinds of melodies. The clue seems meant to be overly obscure.)

Pollster Roper = ELMO (Apparently, annoying fuzzy puppets aren't the only place you'll find this name.)

Analyze = ASSAY (I always think of this word in terms of definitions 5 & 6, but there it is, def. #1)

"Who _____?" (song from Les Miz) = AMI (Wasn't that hard to figure out, since this is a common enough answer in crosswords, but what kind of idiot abbreviates Les Miserables to "Les Miz" - ugh! I thought it was some dumb band out there making a play on the name.)

Commentator Myers = DEEDEE (I thought DEEDEL didn't look right)

____ Thomas, the Soul Queen of New Orleans = IRMA (Catchy title, but soul music is definitely not my thing!)

Michael of "Caddyshack" = OKEEFE (I can just tell that this movie must be dumb, so I have never seen fit to waste the time to see it - watching paint dry might prove more worthwhile, frankly.)

Control surface on a plane's wing = ELEVON (Now there I feel like I have learned something useful.)

Lady of Brazil = SENHORA (I guess the Portuguese can't be the same as Spanish.)

Michigan College = ALMA (At least it's not the University of Michigan.)

Actor Jason of the Harry Potter films = ISAACS (Not having the slightest interst in seeing these... apparently he plays Lucius Malfoy)

"All _____" (Tomlin film) = OFME (80s comedy - enough said)

Musical matchmaker = YENTE (From Fiddler on the Roof - Great musical, but I couldn't remember her name.)


The questionable:

All: Prefix = OMN (Although technically the root of the Latin word omnis is 'omn', in English we use omni-, as in omnidirectional, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, omnibus, etc. So, 'omn' is not a prefix to anything.)

You might not be able to stand this = PAT (From the common phrase 'stand pat'. Sorry - you lose! This is just a bad clue.)

Isolate = ENISLE (Ok, it is a word (I had my doubts), but it is a dumb word!)

Tube lineup = SKED (Short for Schedule? No. The short form would be 'sched.' You can't just make stuff up in crosswords!!!)

NYT Crossword, 0831

I got close again - missed three squares:

Colonial John = ALDEN (I figured it was Alden or Arden, and I guessed wrong!) crossed with
Stopping Place in a Carlo Levi title = EBOLI (Never even heard of Carlo Levi)

"_____ Mucho" (1944 #1 hit) = BESAME and
Maximum extent = HILT (a little misleading, since this is always a phrase: to the hilt) crossed with
Oscar winner Jannings and others = EMILS (First Oscar winner)

Other things I didn't know:

• Jobs for some underwriters, for short = IPOS (= initial public offerings - I'm not a big stock market fan)
• Humorist Sedaris = AMY (I have heard of her brother, David).
• Blasts from the past, briefly = NTESTS (Add this to A-Test or H-Test - why didn't they just come up with one standard designation?)
• "This Boy's Life" author Wolff = TOBIAS (Cool name.)
• "Pagliacci" clown = TONIO (Opera - it gets me every time.)
• Toastmaster General of old comedy = JESSEL (George Jessel did indeed declare himself Toastmaster General of the United States.)
• Hungarian playwright known for "Liliom" = MOLNAR (Ferenc Molnar wrote this basis for the muscial Carousel)
• Like a line, briefly = ONED (As in one dimensional - whose going to get that?)

One minor issue:
Home of the world's northernmost capital: abbr. = ICEL (Hokey. Is Icel. really an abbreviation for Iceland? I thought IS was the standard. You can't just abbreviate something wherever you want, especially crossing syllables. Although I guess people do that with Engl., but I still think that should be Eng.)

Review: Dumbing Us Down

John Taylor Gatto, Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. New Society Publishers, 1992.

John Gatto is an award-winning schoolteacher who has spoken and written extensively on what he perceives to be some of the major ills of our public schools. Of course, many people think there are a few small problems that should be fixed with their schools, but for some reason, most people seem satisfied enough with the system. Gatto believes that the system cannot be reformed and that the only solution is to scrap it and start over, and he offers some advice for how to do that too. Of course, we all know that he is fighting a losing battle. All the people who benefit, particularly financially, from the public school system will make sure that no serious reform ever happens. Look at No Child Left Behind. Sure no one seems to like it now, and many won’t admit that they liked it when it first came out, but everyone figured we needed something to fix our problems. But the problem, according to Gatto’s views in this book, is that that ‘reform’ simply further entrenched the teacher certification programs (reiterating that only people certifiably educated in a specific field should be teaching children regardless of their actual ability), imposed more rigid standards upon students, and never got to the heart of the problem, which is that schools have been created to supply us with networks that serve as false communities, letting us know that we are pseudo-members of something, but true members of nothing. For Gatto, the solution lies in families.

Now I was probably pre-disposed to appreciate and agree with Gatto’s views, especially since he praises homeschooling as a positive alternative to subjecting your child to the “system”. In reading the book, however, anyone should be able to get a sense of how his views have been shaped, not by some innate hatred of the system or by his own bad experiences in the system, but by his genuine love for his students. He sees, day after day, the harm that is done to the intellectual potential of many a young child. He recognizes the powerful forces (school and TV) which shape our children more than their home and family life.

My favorite essay is the “The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher”, wherein he reveals what his real job as a public school teacher is: to create confusion in students minds, to instill an ever greater sense of class position in all, to sow the seeds of indifference in every student’s young mind, to make students emotionally and intellectually dependent upon others (their superiors) so that they come to feel that their own worth can only be determined by others (again, their superiors), and finally to constantly remind students that they cannot hide or find any time for themselves outside of society as a whole. In other words, he works everyday to train the perfect Wal-Mart associate, all at the tax-payer’s expense, instead of Wal-Mart’s.

I obviously think everyone should read this book, especially those who send their kids to public school, but I know that most people are either willfully ignorant of the problems of schools (since they look at themselves and say, “Hey, public school worked great for me and most importantly I’m perfectly normal and not a weirdo like those homeschoolers” – yeah, hooked onn foniks werked fer mee!) or prefer to let the “experts” – and peer pressure – make the most important decisions about their child’s intellectual, emotional and social well-being. Either that or they just need the free daycare while they go to work at Wal-Mart – and someday their kid will be just like them! I plan to use a lot of Gatto’s stuff when people challenge me on the home school issue. Hey, if you can logically refute Gatto, then I’ll be happy to listen to you – but good luck on that - I teach the results of this system everyday!

Review: Eastern Philosophy for Beginners

Jim Powell. Eastern Philosophy for Beginners (A Writers and Readers Documentary Comic Book). Illustrated by Joe Lee. Writers and Readers Publishing, 2000.

I needed a primer to help me better understand Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism for my world civilizations course. I had hoped that this "comic book" approach would be right at the level of myself and my students - since all I needed was the basics. I can honestly say that I learned quite a bit from this book, but I was also disappointed in how disjointed that new knowledge feels. This book could really benefit from a more systematic approach to teaching the concepts and principles of eastern philosophy. Having said that, I realize that this is just not the series for such an approach. The idea here was to present these 'foreign' ideas through a conversation that a neophyte like myself might have with one who knows, and with the major thinkers and writers from this tradition. The problem was that I couldn't halt the conversation to get further clarification on principles that the writer assumed I now understood based on what was provided. Sometimes these concepts suffered from the age-old problem of how one who has explored the deeper meanings of the ideas teaches the novice at a level that doesn't distort, but doesn't insist upon every nuance either. This is the same principle that explains why I have more trouble teaching the Early Middle Ages than the Roman Republic - I just know too much about the complexities of certain issues to be satisfied with a simplified explanation for my students. And then I only succeed in confusing. But admittedly, what I think it really reveals is a knowledge that is deep, but not quite deep enough - I know enough to understand the complexities, but not well enough to fully explicate those complexities simply. That may be the problem in this book too.

Other criticisms of the book are in the actual content. I might debate the real value of introducing in a page or so the many varieties that have developed within Hinduism, Buddhism, or Confucianism, but I can accept that as an author's choice when he wants to offer a wide survey within a limited space and do some justice to the complexities of his subject. My major gripe is the presence of a certain bias apparent within some of the political commentaries that accompany (Chinese in particular) certain modern philosophies. Whether you agree or disagree with the Chinese occupation of Tibet, this beginners book is hardly the place to discuss its inherent brutalities, especially since the intended audience is unlikely to know much about it, and thus the author is simply taking advantage of ignorance to brainwash, or perhaps predispose to your position would be a less harsh phrasing of this idea, the reader into your point of view.

The other problem I had with the book was the inclusion of sexually explicit discussion and images of some aspects of certain of these philosophies. References to sex are probably unavoidable in a proper discussion of these philosophies, but I don't think they need to be discussed in such graphic detail, especially this aspect is usually just one amongst many of the concepts associated with the philosophy. So, at the very least if you choose to, and I'm not necessarily trying to dissuade you from reading this book since it has some merit, be aware that just because it has a "comic book" style does not mean it is appropriate for children.

Review: Monk's Hood

I recently finished Book 3 of the Cadfael series. I don't think it was as good as the first two two books in the series, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Part of this may be due to the lack of any real action in the book. The murder happens, so Cadfael investigates, overcomes some minor obstacles, and solves the case. I have to say also, that my first inclination of who the murderer was right, and I only wavered from that conviction for a short while during the book. What does 'happen' in this book is that we learn quite a bit more about Cadfael's past, since he encounters someone from that past. Character development is rarely very exciting, but it does make the series as a whole richer, so I'm not complaining.

The one thing to talk about this book, and I'm trying not to give too much of the book away as I do it, is Cadfael's intervention in justice. In the second book, Cadfael had taken a bit of the law into his own hands, but in the end, the workings of medieval justice were played out. In this book, Cadfael judges the murder, not necessarily excusable, but understandable, and the murderer to be undeserving of the penalty of the law (which would have been death, particularly given the premeditated nature of the murder). So, Cadfael essentially imposes his own punishment (or perhaps 'penance' would be a better word) on the murderer and lets him go. It's one thing to hide a suspect that you are convinced is innocent, and maybe even help him escape, as has happened in all the books thus far, but it is different when you are dealing with the proven guilty. The reader is supposed to feel good about this resolution because the murderer is indeed sincere in his repentance, and the good he can do will probably outweigh his evil deed, but we must conveniently forget that a man was murdered - perhaps not the best of men, but definitely far from the worst of men either.

This strikes me as the author imposing something of her own modern views of justice upon the story, rather than being true to her setting and characters. The author already has this problem with Cadfael the character anyway, as he always come off as a bit less than medieval, and a little too modern in his tolerant and unjudgemental attitude. One of the hallmarks of this series is its authentic medieval setting, but sometimes it feels as if we are following the story of a sympathetic detective from Scotland Yard who has been tossed through a time machine, rather than a former crusader and current monk. Peters is careful to keep him completely dedicated to his monatic vows, which I applaud as being wholly in keeping with the character as I understand him, and his experiences in the East certainly could have given anyone greater perspective on their world (although most who went on crusade, especially the first one, would hardly have changed their views about the world, but rather would have reinforced many of them from the experience). I'll be interested to see whether this trend continues in future books.

NYT Crossword, 0824

This was a pretty doable puzzle, although in the end I did miss one square (the M):

24A Teensy bit = ATOM
19D Subgenre of punk rock = EMO

I think the across is a little iffy, and although I have listend to some punk rock in my day, I have never heard of emo, so I apparently never experienced the 'emotive hardcore' scene of punk rock (a 90s thing, whereas my punk exposure is more 80s).

Most of the puzzle was pretty straightforward, but there were a few other questionable clues, along with the regular stuff I have never heard of.

• Agent Gold of "Entourage" = ARI (HBO show. The guy playing this part was Cupid from the old, and odd, TV show of the same name. I saw a few episodes of that, but I've never even heard of this show - just as well from what I can tell from the YouTube clips.)
• _____ in cat" = CAS (You know, the old 'C as in Cat'. This is just plain dumb. The blank is too misleading in my opinion. Maybe if the blank encompassed the 'in', or better: 'C ____ cat' = ASIN. That I could agree with.)
• Sequoyah, for one = CHEROKEE (I kept trying to make this into a Redwood tree, but I guess that would be sequoia.)
• "____ et manus" (M.I.T.'s motto) = MENS (I knew this one, I just wanted to highlight it because it is so appropriate for that engineering school (you don't always see that in school mottos): 'mind and hand'. There were a couple of Latin clues in this puzzle, which I appreciated.)
• Some corner stores = BODEGAS (Ah, that's what you call those little Mexican shops you see. I think this is a bad clue, though. Unless you live in some area where these are prominent, how are you going to know this? Maybe if they added something to indicate the Hispanic origins of the word.)
• Author mentioned in the Beatles' "I am the Walrus" = POE (Common crossword answer, but I've never seen this clued this way. I am only vaguely familiar with this song, so I had no idea that it referenced Poe. After reading the lyrics and a little about the background to the song, I can surely say that I won't be becoming any more familiar with this tripe - once you're famous musicians you sure can get away with a lot of crap in your lyrics.)
• Trillionth: prefix = PICO (I can just never keep these small SI prefixes straight. This one lies between nano- and femto-)
• "Death in Venice" and "Of Mice and Men" = NOVELLAS (My wife got this one. I didn't realize that "Of Mice and Men" was a novella and not just a plain novel. Of course, I'm not a big fan of Steinbeck anyway.)
• Experimented too much? = ODED (You mean the clue for this wasn't 'Just wrote a poem'? The problem with crosswords sometimes is their lack of punctuation or capitalization. I didn't even realize this was the shortened form of 'overdosed' until I looked up ODed in the dictionary. It was there, so I guess this clue was legit.)
• Court figure = TRIER (Say what? I guess I would be more miffed if the clue was "one who attempts", but better would have been 'German name for Treves'. Still, his definition was in the dictionary.)
• "Broom-___" = HILDA (This is a comic strip with an obvious play on the name Brunhilde.)
• Commerce treaty starting in 1947 = GATT (I had heard of this before, and got it in the puzzle, but I wanted to read a little more about it. It stands for General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.)
• "Oh, pooh!" = TISH (This puzzle had a bunch of these lame expression words (AHH, PUHLEASE, ERS, etc.). I think a better cue would have been something about the Hasidic celebration. Not that I would have gotten that either.)
• "Stupidest thing I ever heard!" = PUHLEASE (see previous note).
• Ottoman bigshot = AGA (This one is a regular crossword word, but I can never seem to remember it. What I never see is this used as the acronym for American Gas Association, American Gastroenterological Association, Association of Government Accountants, American Go Association, Arizona Golf Association, etc. (those two A's can make any American ___ Association, or even any Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas or Arizona Assocation). But instead we always get the Turkish title clue.)
• Bygone TV control: Abbr. = HOR (As opposed to VERT. Don't new fangled TVs have this adjustment?)
• "A Little Princess" heroine and others = SARAS (Never read this one.)
• "____ Wedding," Alan Alda film = BETSYS (You know, that guy never did anything good outside of MASH - one hit wonder kind of actor. Maybe Hawkeye was just like him, so it was easy. Or maybe he just had better writers on that show. Ever seen Sweet Liberty? Horrible! But he's still going...)
• "___ cried" (1962 hit) = SHE (Who the heck are Jay and the Americans? This was a 'hit'???)
• Black-eyed legume = COWPEA (No comment.)
• Comic Charles Nelson ____ = REILLY (It probably says it all that the clue had to provide 2 of his 3 names for us to get it. This guy must not have been that funny, since I've never heard of him :) )
• Bide-____ = AWEE (OK, after some Internet searching, I still don't really know what this is referring to. Is it the pet adoption people? Is it the Curtis Strange designed municipal golf course? Is it the California motel? Who knows (who cares?)?)
• Many-armed Hindu goddess = KALI (There are so many, how to keep track of them? My favorite is the elephant-head one. Isn't this the same cult as in the Beatles HELP!?) )
• Old actresses Claire and Balin = INAS (Now there's a name no one uses any more. Maybe it will make a comeback, once we're done with all these McKenzies, Madisons, and Brittanies.)