This Is My Grandfather's Oldsmobile
There is a rupture in the space-time continuum located precisely where the K-Mart stands in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. No matter what the calendar says, in that spot the year is always 1982. Anyone who enters is guaranteed to hear at least one song by Christopher Cross.
I have discovered another entry point into that time warp: today’s Times crossword, which featured these hits from an even earlier yesteryear (several yesteryears, in fact):
Parlor pieces = DIVANS
Citrus-y drink = TOM COLLINS
Nonconformists = BEATNIKS
Bunk = APPLESAUCE (a double whammy, as both clue AND answer are long extinct)
Emphatic negative = NOSIREEBOB
Awesome = RAD (a noble effort at keeping up with the youth oftoday 1982)
There's an important lesson to be learned here: maintaining a competitive edge in generational warfare requires more than just knowing what's new and hip (or, in the universe of this puzzle, hep). When it comes to crosswords, this war is fought on two fronts.
I have discovered another entry point into that time warp: today’s Times crossword, which featured these hits from an even earlier yesteryear (several yesteryears, in fact):
Parlor pieces = DIVANS
Citrus-y drink = TOM COLLINS
Nonconformists = BEATNIKS
Bunk = APPLESAUCE (a double whammy, as both clue AND answer are long extinct)
Emphatic negative = NOSIREEBOB
Awesome = RAD (a noble effort at keeping up with the youth of
There's an important lesson to be learned here: maintaining a competitive edge in generational warfare requires more than just knowing what's new and hip (or, in the universe of this puzzle, hep). When it comes to crosswords, this war is fought on two fronts.
posted by DO at 7:07 PM
4 Comments:
Thanks for the crossword answers...I was getting nowhere, and those are just right to open it up for me a bit.
I think it would be fun to try to write a something using all the words in the daily crossword. This one would be very Tom Wolfean.
Stretched out on the divans, the wannabe beatniks were holding forth.
"That's nothing but applesauce!" said one. She shook the ice in her Tom Collins.
"Nosirreebob! It's absolutely rad."
Erin, Peter Valentine actually does this at
http://www.hungrybutscared.com/todays_crossword/today.html
"RAD" is hilarious. Shouldn't it say "archaic" before its definition in the dictionary?
Someone actually took me to a Christopher Cross concert on a date, probably in '81 or '82. In hindsight it's not surprising that that relationship didn't work out.
I like the concept of "generational warfare" — is this a recurring topic I've missed, or did Bush declare war on the generations now?
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