Announcement #4 and 5

Announcement #4:
Due to infinite space-time continuum and the theory of relativity, I cannot do blog posting crosswords such as Brendan Emmett Quigley and Matt Gaffney Weekly Crossword Contest, etc. Because to do it all, it could take forever.

Announcement #5:
One of my readers told me that the crosswords are technically games, he told me if games are off the bookmark, then bookmarks should too. So I followed the rule and removed the crosswords for bookmarks. Now I have less than 30, the original list was 80 though.

Announcement #3

Announcement #3:
I will not do a crossword the same again. For example, I have done Universal Crosswords for a week in CANOE, then I will not do it again in Boston Globe. Because you know, we need to be efficient. And we don't need to taste the same dish twice. The two crosswords before this announcement will not be cancelled, they will rather be archived. Just like the Conquer Clubs.

MISFITS?

by Gary Cooper on August 15, 2012
Time: 14:50
Difficulty: 5 / 10
Quality: 8 / 10

Theme: MISFITS? - The theme answers are oxymorons. I think.
Theme answers:

• 16A: Not quite tops (SECOND BEST)
• 63A: Remake of an old standard (NEW CLASSIC)
• 10D: It may be gold to a tabloid (SOLID RUMOR)
• 28A: “I’ll be finished in a minute” (ALMOST DONE)

Word of the Puzzle: DRUPES (17D: Stone fruits)  
In botany, a drupe is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin; and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a shell (the pit, stone, or pyrene) of hardened endocarp with a seed (kernel) inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries. The definitive characteristic of a drupe is that the hard, lignified stone (or pit) is derived from the ovary wall of the flower. In an aggregate fruit composed of small, individual drupes, each individual is termed a drupelet.
Other fleshy fruits may have a stony enclosure that comes from the seed coat surrounding the seed, but such fruits are not drupes.
Some flowering plants that produce drupes are coffee, jujube, mango, olive, most palms (including date, coconut and oil palms), pistachio, white sapote, and all members of the genus Prunus, including the almond (in which the mesocarp is somewhat leathery), apricot, cherry, damson, nectarine, peach, and plum.
Corking is a nutritional disorder in stone fruit caused by a lack of boron and/or calcium.

2 crosswords in a day, impressive, huh? I’m not sure with the theme, but it seems like an oxymoron to me. Other oxymorons like jumbo shrimp, living dead, pretty ugly, etc. If you don’t know what an oxymoron is, let me tell you: An oxymoron is a phrase that is formed by two words, and are antonyms each other. Like pretty is the opposite of ugly, but the word pretty ugly, pretty means “fairly”. That’s how it works.

I’ve been messing this clue for like 3 minutes. I still cannot get what the fruit is until I smashed my head on the keyboard. I tried from DURIAN → GUAVAS → APPLES → GRAPES → PLUMES → DRUPES. I had to say THAT WAS HARD! That was the third hardest crossword clue/answer that I have ever encountered. The first was a crossword about bands and one of the theme clue was “Isolated like a boss” and the answer was THE LONELY ISLAND. The second one was a crossword about medieval times. And the clue was “Nerds in democratic France” and the answer was RENAISSANCE FAIR. The second was my favorite clue though.
 
I don’t want to complain, but words like OREO, ERA, DELI, ERE, EMIR and OBOE has appeared too many times. That’s why I hate crosswordese.

Bullets:

• 1A: Some turns (LEFTS) Do you know that I’m a leftie?
• 15A: Mammal whacked in an arcade game (MOLE) That’s the reason why I laughed in Austin Powers.
• 38A: Broadway’s “____ Yankees” (DAMN) Didn’t expect profanity on crosswords. Except for a PEN IS on a NYT. (That really happened before.)
• 30D: Made typo-free (EDITED) Do you know that tyops rarely happen to me?

JAIL TERM

by Raz Kelper on August 14, 2012
Time: 17:03
Difficulty: 4 / 10
Quality: 6 / 10
Theme: JAIL TERM - I don’t really know.
Theme answers:

• 17A: Like an inmate’s dislocated shoulder? (OUT OF JOINT)
• 58A: Con’s writing implement (FELT TIP PEN)
• 10D: Cartes du jour (BILLS OF FARE)
• 25D: Allowable (PERMISSIBLE)

Oops, no bullets today. Sorry guys, because I just deleted the page, and I have to play again to get the clues. And it’s very complicated. As the scores might change, I decided not to put bullets in this one. This crossword only.

I’m no mafia, and I don’t know these terms. Then I checked on Google Dictionary, and 2 of them are slang terms of prison. I didn’t know prisons have so many slangs. Last time, someone made a video about rapping 100 slangs of money, and they really are 100 slangs.

Out of joint seems scary, and I have never used a felt tip pen. What is that? Is that even close to a fluorescent pen? Well, I have to use it to know it. And shouldn’t cartes du jour be a menu? How should it be related to a prison? Well the only useless fact that I only know about prisons is that in the 1997 Canadian horror film “Cube”, every character is named after a prison. Alderson, Quentin, Kazan, etc. The movie was not that good, but at least better than its sequels.

We have no word of the day so just skip to the next section. This is the first time that I see a variation and the correct spelling in the same crossword. (In this case, it’s RANEE and RANI) I don’t know why does every crossword editor puts an Arabic word in it. But I think this is just a fit of a crosswordese. Talking about crosswordese, let’s talk about poetic terms. EER, OER, SAYST. They’re all from poems. Notably from Shakespeare. So remember kids, the less the crosswordese, the better the quality. (The quality of my crosswords: -1)

Announcement #1

Here's an announcement:
I will not do Conquer Club anymore. After hundreds of votes, I decide not to do Conquer Club any further, mainly because it's a game, which is not what I want.

P.S. The games before the announcement will not deleted, they will be archived in the blog.

Age of Realms 1: Might Map

Age of Realms 1: Might Map

Why is there Dub? Wub Wub Wub!



Map Pic

Profile

Game Commentary

Round 1 & 2

Round 3

Round 4

Map Pic

Profile

Game Type

Assassin

Initial Troops

Manual

Play Order

Freestyle

Spoils

Nuclear

Reinforcements

Chained

Special Gameplay

No

Round Limit

20 Rounds

Round Length

24 Hours

Game Commentary

Round 1 & 2

I get 4 games per day, problem? This is how I live. Well, not exactly. But mostly. The first thing that I noticed on the map is the names of the lands. Eon? Der? Taft? Bin? These are from crossword answers, not original researches! And I’m not surprised that there was a market or a bakery. But a Dub? Wub Wub Wub? Seriously, it’s pssting me off.

Round 3

I get 8 troops this round, 5 from the castle, 3 from the regions. Well I can understand the castle part. But seriously? 1 troop per region? That’s like a 80% off iPhone! Well, I followed the instructions and conquered the land of “Buhy”. The next spoil is “Ghyr”. Man, how could I suppose to get there? By plane? I need like 4 or 5 rounds to get there. And dat RedBaron0 had one port in his hands, that means he could attack me at anytime. Why does the world hate me so much?

Round 4

OK, I’ll just state a short description, then I’ll go to sleep. It’s very late right now. And this round sucks. I get 8 troops, put it on Por and send it to Voigth. A dangerous move, well done.

End Round

That’s why I hate assassin’s mode. Because I died. Immediately. Without warning. I had to say that was quick.

Quick Post 1

Because Conquer Club is a 24-hour game, I decided to activate another bookmark at the same time. To keep me from boredom.