South American tuber / THU 6-20-13 / Wolf in Kipling's Jungle Book / Enya's homeland / Rapper with 2002 hit Hot in Herre / Home of Cocoa Beach / Home to Andrew Wyeth's Christina's World informally / Scottish port on Firth of Tay

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Constructor: Elizabeth C. Gorski

Relative difficulty: Easy



THEME: Rags to RICHes — eight part word ladder going from POOR (1A: Start of a word ladder whose first and last words are suggested by 36-Across) to RICH. Tying the whole thing together is the central clue/answer: 36A: Lucky lotto participant (INSTANT WINNER)

Word of the Day: Via SACRA (22A: Via ___ (main street in ancient Rome)) —
The Via Sacra (LatinVia Sacra) (Sacred Road) was the main street of ancientRome, leading from the top of the Capitoline Hill, through some of the most importantreligious sites of the Forum (where it is the widest street), to the Colosseum.
The road was part of the traditional route of the Roman Triumph that began on the outskirts of the city and proceeded through the Roman Forum.
In the 5th century BC, the road was supported by a substructure to protect it from the rain. Later it was paved and during the reign of Nero it was lined with colonnades.
The road provided the setting for many deeds and misdeeds of Rome's history, the solemn religious festivals, the magnificent triumphs of victorious generals, and the daily throng assembling in the Basilicas to chat, throw dice, engage in business, or secure justice. Many prostitutes lined the street as well, looking for potential customers. (wikipedia)
• • •

Cute word ladder with an interesting revealer. The fact that it was a word ladder made the puzzle easier than it might have been—it certainly helped me get out of the one place I got (very) stuck in this puzzle.  See, I fell into this hole that was to holes what so-called "perfect storms" are to storms. Started with the fact that I had *no* idea that INFINITI was a "make" of Nissan (36D: Nissan make) ... or had anything to do with Nissan. Had I known that—no hole falling. So I went into the SW somewhat blind and ended up writing in the most amazing wrong answer for 52D: 8 on the Beaufort scale (GALE). I wrote in ... TALC. Yes, I completely mixed up my scales, confusing Beaufort (wind) and Mohs (mineral hardness). Yes, TALC is a 1 on the Mohs scale, not an 8 (an 8 is topaz, by the way). But that's neither here nor there. The point is that TALC is a perfect wrong answer for two reasons. First, it's got two of the right letters (-AL-), and second, it puts a "T" in that first position, giving me --TAT for 51A: Bother persistently. So, yeah, EAT AT worked very well. So at this point I am so deep in a hole I can't see daylight. Only by working the word ladder backward do I get RILE, which finally allows me to see INFINITI, and thus change EAT AT to NAG AT and (finally) TALC to GALE.


The rest of the puzzle—I don't know. Just fine, I think. I don't really remember it. Fill gets icky in places (lots of short stuff that seems suboptimal, esp, in the N / NW), but the theme is reasonably demanding, and much of the fill is rather colorful ("I, FOR ONE," YALE MAN, NOT DONE, OKEY DOKE, etc.), so I have no strong complaints. Never heard of the Via SACRA or Verdi's "CARO nome," but no one ever accused me of being kultured, or of being an Italophile, so that's not too surprising. The only Italian guy I knew was OVID, and he was wrong (it's OMAR6D: "While you live, / Drink!"). Thought a [Good baseball hit] was an RBI (nope: DBL). No idea what Cocoa Beach is, but I had the "FL-" no FLORIDA was a cinch (21D: Home of Cocoa Beach). Got NELLY easily, but am somewhat stunned to see the way that "Here" is spelled in the title of the song (38D: Rapper with the 2002 #1 hit "Hot in Herre"). Also surprised some insane enterprising young constructor hasn't tried to sneak HERRE into a grid somewhere along the line.

This is my last post for a couple weeks. Tomorrow one of my own puzzles comes out (probably my last for the NYT), so someone else is blogging that, and then I'm off to Oregon on Saturday. Guest bloggers are all lined up. All pros. You'll love them. I'll check in when I have the time / inclination.

Take care,
    Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

    88 comments:

    jackj 12:06 AM  

    That’s a clever and confident constructor who can tell the solver to “go for it” by providing major hints for the word ladder’s beginning and ending words and the reveal that ties them together, all in the first clue. But it’s Liz and Liz knows innovation and the only surprise is that she didn’t include a picture of a scratch ticket.

    Must be a lucrative payout (or a mendicant winner) to go from POOR to RICH based on an INSTANT WINNER, but why question such a clever theme.

    With 8 ladder entries and a 13 letter reveal, there is bound to be some less than desirable fill and sho’nuff we quickly are introduced to CARO, FREYA and SACRA; NELLY, LLBS, DBL and YALEMAN, (shades of Rudy Vallee), but the one for which Liz offers no apology is certainly OCA, that Maleskan carry-over for the Andean wood sorrel that La Liz has proudly used on four occasions in her Times puzzles.

    But there were interesting entries as well, especially with the proper nouns for people, places and things. People like PELOSI, ORBACH and NAMATH; places like FLORIDA, DUNDEE and MOMA; while things are nicely represented by OILCAN, INFINITI and KIX.

    I FOR ONE, looked for a cross-reference tying the “Still in the oven” clue to the NEONATAL answer but ‘twas not to be, though there was still cleverness galore with INHIBIT, INAKNOT, OKEYDOKE, bene’s NOTA and the answer, ONEWAY, that was majorly distinguished by its clever clue.

    A fun Thursday from Liz Gorski, the consummate constructor.

    jae 12:10 AM  

    Medium for me,  but this would have been easier if jackpot WINNER didn't fit so smoothly. 

     WOEs:  FREYA, CARO, SACRA, CRIT

    Nice to see Jerry ORBACH.   IMO L & O jumped the shark not long after he departed. 

    In spite some minor fill issues this was a fun Thurs.  Liked it.

    And, if the Stand Alone app hangs up on your iPad delete and reinstall.  You will have to reselect your puzzle providers.

    Evan 12:19 AM  

    "All pros. You'll love them." Uh oh. Wait till he sees what the blog is like when he comes back.

    My biggest mess-up was JACKPOT WINNER before INSTANT WINNER. I also had EAT AT before NAG AT -- weird seeing BIT AT right beneath it.

    AKELA above FREYA was a little odd jumble -- felt only 70% comfortable with it but all the crosses worked out. I did not feel comfortable at all with the CARO/PIMA crossing but got it right anyway because CARO was at least a little familiar from knowing Puccini's famous aria "O mio babbino CARO." I'm sure in some puzzle universe I've seem PIMA before but I never committed it to memory.

    A couple other interesting notes about this puzzle: First, MIDORI makes its debut as an answer, and it's about time, considering how often we see ITO. There are also no clues with question marks. On a Thursday I thought I'd see at least one of them.

    Looking forward to your grid, Rex. Enjoy your vacay (note: some insane enterprising young constructor needs to debut VACAY as an answer too).

    Ladder Day Saint 12:44 AM  

    Wow. Is that where all them ex-NYTPuz constructors have gone? ... Or re-gone?! I'da figured they maybe were all living in the Shortzmeister's basement, as part of the puzmaker's retirement program. (10 published NYTPuzs, minimum, to qualify on that.)

    Well, heck... enjoy the trip, 4-Oh. Y'all drivin' it? Be safe. Lookin forward to seein what you can do with a FriPuz, with no stinkin theme to get in yer way.

    M&A

    Steve J 1:02 AM  

    This may be the first time I've found a word ladder interesting, thanks to the nice long theme answer in the middle. Although, I cursed that theme answer for a while, since, like Evan, I had JACKPOTWINNER.

    I stumbled all over the place on this one, caused in no small part by JACKPOT. I also tripped up on INFINITI. I know Infiniti is Nissan's luxury brand, but I kept thinking model, not make. Either way, none of their vehicles is an 8-letter word beginning with J.

    Took me forever to get CARO/CABOT, in no small part because I couldn't think of any explorers whose surname ended in K (that damn JACKPOT misdirection again). Don't recall what finally broke the logjam and got me to erase JACKPOT, but things finally happened from there.

    Somebody used to have spring training at Cocoa Beach. (Looking it up, it was the Astros, from 1964-84.)

    okanaganer 1:03 AM  

    By coincidence, last night I was for some reason looking up the origin of days of the week. Guess where we get Friday from: FREYA!

    Looking forward to tomorrow, Rex.

    Acetic Cabot Midori 1:29 AM  

    wow, I wouldn't rate this easy considering all my trip ups with ends of words and abbreviations that had to fill themselves out...
    LLB, DBL, CARo or CARa, SACRa or SACRo, INFINITy or INFINITi, KiX or KyX, OKeYDOKE or OKaYsomething, rObIn or COKIE Roberts, FREdA or FREyA, AKirA or AKELA...and on and on.
    Wouldn't put in the second AT as I had NAGAT, so didn't believe BITAT would be right below...

    THrow in rot/MAR, leiS/UKES and it was sloooooow going for me.
    Didn't notice INSTANTWINNER tied in the POOR to RICH ladder...

    Thrilled to see ORBACH as his son Tony is one of my favorite people in this world.
    And the KNEE followed by KNEADED is very cool.

    COCOA BEACH, FL was gimme bec of "I Dream of Jeannie" which I'm sure has been discussed here before.

    Trivia: MIDORI means "green" in Japanese

    chefwen 1:33 AM  

    NOTA huge fan of word ladders, but this one was O.K.

    14 & 15A sounds like something a 33A would say to a Narc. Made me laugh!

    I bet @Rube makes an appearance with 11D. We've missed you.

    Anonymous 1:44 AM  

    I'd say that although this was on par with the typically entertaining Liz Gorski's output, the 5 Down/20 Across cross borders on a natick for most casual solvers.

    OTOH, Cocoa Beach (FLORIDA) was a gimme for anyone who grew up watching the exquisitely navel-covered Barbara Eden in TV's "I Dream Of Jeannie."

    -Brennan

    Eejit 2:00 AM  

    Luckily I drive an Infiniti so I got that one easily enough. Pretty easy overall, although I struggled with Pima, sacra, caro, Omar. So why is it your last puzzle for the NYT?

    Anonymous 2:22 AM  

    Could some explain how that word ladder works?

    Thanks

    TW

    Anonymous 2:26 AM  

    Never mind. I just looked-up what word ladders are.

    Thanks

    TW

    Davis 2:40 AM  

    If, like me, you don't know ORBACH then that NW is a killer. Had LLmS for LLBS (a function of my law school experience, where 99% of the LLM students were foreign lawyers wanting to be able to practice in the US). Had never seen OCA, though that was almost the only reasonable option when you've got OC? and you know it's South American. And despite my many years of junior high and high school Latin, I did not know the Via SACRA.

    Put that all together, and I was looking at ORmA?H. There's no way to fix that, if you don't already know it.

    Casimir 4:27 AM  

    Thursdays in general and word ladders in particular are too tricked up to be enjoyable for me. Not hard, just too proud of themselves to be fun. However, there's actually a Cabot College or University in Trastevere in Rome, so I got that right off.

    Cocoa Beach, Jerry Orbach, and Midori all very cool compared to the comic book and Simpsons references so beloved by our fearless leader (no insult at all intended -- we all have our comfort zones). Pretty easy for a Thursday. I think Shortz is right, different strokes for different folks.

    Loren Muse Smith 6:22 AM  

    Safe travels, Rex. I know we’ll all miss you. Thanks to all the subs who are stepping up. Why is your puzzle tomorrow probably your last one?

    Have you ever tried to do a word ladder? I did once. I forgot what words. Maybe PELOSI morphing to NAMATH. Anyway, I, uh, KNEADED it for a few minutes, stared out of the window at a squirrel engaging in some illicit action at our birdfeeder, and then, to steal from David Sedaris, went to the bathroom to see what my hair looks like parted on the other side. I FOR ONE find the gimmick really hard; the “simplicity” is very deceiving. Liz is a word ladder bigwig; I distinctly remember her War and Peace Hawk Dove Masterpiece Word Ladder.

    I smiled at ORBACH, feeling all smart and smug that the ORBACH I’m most familiar with is Tony. I had no idea he was Jerry’s son! Sorry, Jerry, love your work (you were the *perfect* dad for Baby), but your son is the true star in my world!

    “Finishing” this one was no problem, but I had Freea/Akila/okie doke, admittedly with misgivings, so heck.

    OKEY DOKE – I’ll announce it here – I’M A Cotton sheet snob. Love PIMA.

    Anyone try “leis” before UKES?

    Got a KIX out of the three quiet little K’s: KNEE, KNEADED, KNOT.

    A bit of a skirmish due south with “ebola” crossing “burb,” insisting on that goof for way too long.

    I guess there will be some criticism for NAG AT over BIT AT, but that small nitpick doesn’t diminish my admiration for this one. There’s something about Liz’ puzzles that is always inspiring me to mimic her. Right. NOT A chance in this life!

    Highlights for me were, ridiculously, INFINITI and INHIBIT. I kept going back and examining those words, fascinated that the only vowel was i. And then adding lit CRIT to the mix. And wishing Cocoa Beach had been in Mississippi. There has to be only a sprinkling of words with only i as the vowel, right? ;-)

    MetaRex 6:41 AM  

    Good puzz...had v. nice personal buzz for me because I'm reading Martin Amis' latest about an English lotto lout who goes from low-end career criminal to national sensation overnight.

    Had a new experience in dumbness this morning...got incorrect signal and just could not figure out at all where my problem was. One definition of losing it: You don't have any idea on how to cheat other than by Googling every clue...

    After five minutes or so of scrabbling I wandered over here and saw I had OKAYDOKE instead of OKEYDOKE. Well, okey...I locked in on OKAY very early on, saw DOKE later, and never corrected to OKEY. Have seen AKELA before, so I can't claim outrage at never having been exposed to this particular steaming piece of lupine ESE. Ah, the joys of human stupidity.

    Glimmerglass 7:13 AM  

    Got beaten in the NW. Didn't know ORBACH; guessed LLdS. The word ladder made most of this puzzle easy. I had a small hold with OKEY DOKE. I know the phrase as okey dokey.

    Z 7:17 AM  

    No INSTANT WINNER here. Finished with ComO/PIMo/OMAm, otherwise worked it all out. A fun solve, but it felt like Friday to me for awhile. My Tinman needed a heart, my luau strings were leis, my camera was a canon, I voted in November so I Xed my ballot, FREYA started out as FRidA then FREdA, my salon worker was a tINtER at first (my natural red tints have all gone gray, now), and my ants made Trails. I KNEADED a lot mor time than usual to sort it (almost) all out.

    A little meta commentary, so feel free to skip.

    Calling commenters "trolls" is not useful. Ignore them if you wish, but to call anyone a troll is to be a troll. Please, don't. And, as @Gill I.P. pointed out yesterday, we're all big people here perfectly capable of advocating, or not, for ourselves. If Beatrice and Benedick want to squabble, let them. I will continue to enjoy their wit and charm, even if it gets a little acerbic at times. I truly enjoy all the comments here except for calling people things like "troll."

    GILL I. 7:40 AM  

    I didn't know what a word ladder was until I got an E-mail with one that had a bajillion words and a note that said if I broke the chain I would die a horrible death and probably lose all my money.
    This was just fine though. I just might go out and buy a scratcher.
    I always seem to be on Liz's wavelength cause I just zipped through this like a batoutofhell.
    I like to say OKEY DOKEy. It was one of those American type words that I first learned to say. That and "see ya later alligator."
    Fun puzzle - thanks Ms Gorski.
    @Rex - have a fun vacation. Bring a sweater cause it's a bit chilly on the coast.

    Milford 7:44 AM  

    Nice, easyish Thursday. Didn't fall into the jackpot trap, but did have Via appia before SACRA (if it helps, Latin matches genders with nouns and adjectives, generally), and yam before OCA (??), but dear Jerry ORBACH cleared all that up.

    Agree with @Rex that the word ladder actually helped with solve.

    Loved KNEE, KNEADED, IN A KNOT, and the 6-letter names were such a dinner party mix: PELOSI talking to NAMATH, MIDORI talking to ORBACH.

    Cocoa Beach, FLORIDA is also home of Ron Jons surf shop.

    Thanks @okanaganer, about the Friday derivation from FREYA - I suspected that was true.

    @Gill I.P. - (from yesterday) I've got you slightly beat with size 11 shoes, used to be a 10.5 (3 babies ago). Lived in Madrid for a few months in college and had a difficult time finding any cute shoes at the many, many shoe stores there. Finally found boots up near Cuatro Caminos. Those Madrileños do have some teeny feet!

    Happy travels, @Rex!

    Carola 8:17 AM  

    Neat puzzle. I found it on the easy side - except for two things. First, I didn't really know what a word ladder was. At first I thought it meant that the words were connected, like a step quote. But no. Then I thought all the words in the ladder would begin with P, so I wrote all of those in. Also no. Second, I DNF because I wrote in OKieDOKE, corrected the e to Y for FREYA but never went back and looked at OKiY x AKiLA. Must learn that wolf.

    I thought it was nifty that all the ladder words in the top half started with P and in the bottom half with R.

    Besides NAG AT being ON TOP of BIT AT, I noticed that OMAR hovers over MAR, the O getting lost while passing through the TUNNEL, I guess.

    DBlock 8:30 AM  

    Long before Jerry Orbach was on Law and Order he was one of the greats of Broadway--I had the joy, as a mere child of course, of seeing him in 42nd Street. And for those of us who grew up pre-Nick at Nite, Cocoa Beach was where Major Nelson, of I Dream of Jeannie, was stationed.

    The ladder first hurt today as I had the bright idea of filling it in first but need to change it to fit the actual clues.

    We'll miss you Rex--but am looking forward to your puzzle.

    Unknown 8:39 AM  

    Loved this! Fun word ladder (it got me out of a few snags too, Rex!), appropriate challenge level for a Thursday, some clever fill. Yay, Liz!

    joho 9:06 AM  

    Talk about a tease! @Rex, what do you mean tomorrow's will be your last NYT puzzle? We'll all ponder that while you're off on vacation ... hope you have a great time!

    Speaking of which, I had a great time with this puzzle.

    I, too, had eatAT before NAGAT and ONeuP before ONTOP but other than that not a lot of real trouble spots.

    Loved that the ladder had a payoff in INSTANTWINNER. That's the extra ooomph we expect from Liz and today, as usual, she didn't disappoint.

    John V 9:08 AM  

    Yep, easy, save for south. Fun, as usual, from Liz.

    Congrats on a Friday puzzle,@Rex and enjoy the time away. Listen to Rigoletto on the trip to hear Caro Nome, which is exquisite. Verdi is your friend, is what I'm sayin.

    Wayne 9:23 AM  

    Naticks throughout the grid and one stupid mistake ruined this puzzle for me.

    Never heard of RES, so fES and POOf were just as good. The are lots of good clues for CARO, but today's was (imho) inappropriate for a Thursday puzzle, especially when crossed with CABOT, PIMA and OMAR, all Naticks. I put in SACRe for 22a, so CABOT was a double Natick, leaving me with _eBOT.

    In the SE, I stupidly thought Broadway Joe was DiMaggio and wrote DIMAGE thinking that that was an awful answer, but by that point I was frustrated enough to believe it was the intended answer. LEICA was another Double Natick for me with MIDORI and CRIT. Again, two words that could've had more accessible clues on Thursday.

    So by the time I got to the bottom of the ladder (POOf,POOL,POLL,POLE,ROLE,RILE,RICE,RaCe), I figured POOF suggests INSTANT; so RACE suggests WINNER. Not very satisfying. And, of course, not at all what Ms. Gorski had in mind. But I didn't get lost solely on the basis of my own incompetence.

    chefbea 9:29 AM  

    Fun easy puzzle!! Knew Orbach and of course Cocoa Beach from I Dream of Genie.

    Look forward to tomorow's puzzle even though I rarely finish on Friday. Have a great trip Rex!!

    dk 9:31 AM  

    Trolls! Just who is trip trapping over my bridge -- see Billy Goats Gruff for obscure reference.

    Victor B, Andrea and I were discussing scales last night. My reference was a triple beam balance used frequently in my youth -- theirs were scholarly.

    Always come away from any gathering of constructors with a heartfelt appreciation for their work and courage - every submission is like a message in a bottle -- full of hope with little expectation for publication and acceptance by solvers.

    Reading The Four Agreements to steel myself for a possible collaborative effort. As you know it is publish or perish in puzzle world .

    The puzzle. Not fond of word ladders or tricks of any kind (my context - not a judgement) but I do own a Lecia, a few Nikons and a Rollie. So ladder and the fact that ACME is not in the grid aside: Nice work Ms. Gorski.

    🌟🌟🌟 (3 Stars) If you are in Minneapolis and are able to see Nice Fish at the Guthrie -- you will get a great Freya story. She rides through the havens in a cart pulled by cats dontcha know.

    @Rex: Stumptown Coffee Roasters

    retired_chemist 9:36 AM  

    Good puzzle. Via Appia was my Roman road. Big Jerry Orbach fan. Never saw him on B'way but he was outstanding in Dirty Dancing.

    Thanks, Ms. Gorski.

    retired_chemist 9:47 AM  

    Finished with a careless error. Put CARAT in and figured POLa was Pola Negri. Too sleepy to go check the word ladder, which would have straightened me out.

    Interesting that, by the time the ladder has reached POLE, the halfway point, exactly none of the letters in RICH are in place. Also interesting that the ladder words are placed symmetrically.

    The more I think about it the more I like this puzzle.

    dk 9:51 AM  

    Bleed overs from yesterday:

    Ellen and Alfredo,

    Ellen if you are trying to get medium format film developed at Walgreens… the photo police are at your door right about now. Send film to West Photo for processing and they sell it as well. Go for color saturated film and you will be happy with the results.

    Alfredo, in my dotage I have become a slacker of sorts and generally leave the printing to others. That said I am saving up so i can print on canvas and wood. I am assembling objects and want photo result to look like the actual assembled object. Yes, yes I know why on earth would you build a wooden box and then try to take pictures and make a print to look like the box you just built.

    Ask Andrea who I took to see my brother's work.

    @Evil duck (tee hee) surprisingly your book and Andrea"s may be a similar read.

    Greetings from the Shire -- off to rescue Hostas and princess Tiger Lily

    dk

    lawprof 10:13 AM  

    Filled in the NW quickly from the downs, so had the first word of the ladder immediately, which suggested the last word, RICH. Then I was able to work out the in-between words, which gave me lots of traction in the middle.

    But, ALAS, I can never remember the differences between carat, karat, karet, caret and any other permutation thereof...and I have no intention of trying, so ended up with kARET (15D) and kOKIE (15A). (Query: why would she spell her name with a "C" anyway? Maybe to distinguish herself from the gorilla? Oh, that's KOKO. Never mind.)

    To make matters worse, I had OKieDOKE at 10D, which made New England a total disaster.

    Nevertheless, lots of fun for a Thursday. Just got beat fair and square.

    Notsofast 10:18 AM  

    Pretty easy for a Thursday, but saved by being so much fun!

    Dave 10:18 AM  

    Rex: Please add Patrick Berry's "A-Frame Games" website to the independent puzzles section of your blog. I just purchased "The Crypt" from that site. They are highly entertaining cryptic crossword puzzles.

    DBGeezer 10:28 AM  
    This comment has been removed by the author.
    DBGeezer 10:36 AM  

    This was the easiest Thursday for this gross amateur. It all depends on your background, I guess. The word ladder was a tremendous help. CARO was a gimme for this opera lover, and as soon as I saw the S in 1D, I knew 22 had to be SACRA. WINNER was easily inferable, and INSTANT came from the crosses.
    Not sure what is meant by troll, but home my bragging about an easy Thursday is not trollish.
    :-)

    DBGeezer 10:38 AM  

    Typo: hope not home

    Bob Kerfuffle 10:50 AM  

    One write-over: 15 D, working off only the "C", for "Addition mark", had CROSS before correcting to CARET. Of course, I was thinking of +, and after reading the blog and all comments, I had to Google CARET to remind me that ^ can be used to show the point of insertion or addition of a word or letter in proofreading a text.

    And no one else made the same mistake!?!

    Mr. Benson 11:01 AM  

    INFINITI was a gimme since I drive an I-30, which I've known all along is just a glorified Nissan Maxima with a nicer interior and a little more horsepower.

    Aptly, one of my captcha words is "CAR."

    John V 11:18 AM  

    @bobk. Was unsure if it was CARAT or CARET. Had to reference the word ladder to see the E.

    Bill C 11:29 AM  

    Crosswords are so personal. I instantly wrote in 1-3 Down so the NW was a snap. But I found 3 of the four letters of CARO impossible, leaving me with the lesser known explorer DeBot. DUNDEE/LEICA continued the Naticking, but I was less bothered there.

    Am I the only one who finds an 8-rung ladder a poor example of instant?

    Ulrich 11:35 AM  

    Once I had gotten to POLE and knew the end, I filled in the connecting steps incorrectly (as far as the puzzle goes): PILE-RILE-RICE. Moral: Don't try to be too smart for your own good!

    Ever since I got horribly beaten up during my first ACPT by a puzzle that assumed you knew what a word ladder was (I didn't), I've been obsessed with them. So, when I see one in a puzzle, I always try to find out if the one shown has the fewest possible steps, or if the constructor did some padding to keep us on the ladder longer. Now, for the present one, we know what the theoretical minimal length is: 4 bec. each letter in the starting word must be replaced. But I could not find any way (short of resorting to proper names) to get from POOR to RICH in 4 steps (except, of course, by winning the lottery). After several trials, I've come to the conclusion that the 7 steps of the ladder in the puzzle is actually the minimum. Has anyone found a shorter ladder? Or has anyone even tried?

    Pete 11:54 AM  

    POOR POOH POCH PICH RICH

    POCH and PICH are real words. Not ones that anyone knows, but real words.

    Sean Dobbin 11:55 AM  

    "probably my last for the NYT"

    @Rex is, if nothing else, honest with how he feels about things. That's what makes this the *best* crossword blog out there.

    I'm not saying you're the greatest constructor ever, but losing you is a big deal. We've lost other big deals, too (often to their own puzzle empires, which is great, but still).

    So...I for one would like a classic Rex-style diatribe regarding WHY you're not going to send any more puzzles to the Times.

    Then I'd like to see discussion about how we can fix the problem.

    Or is losing the business of some of the best constructors not a big deal to the Grey Lady?

    Didn't a trend like this emerge about 30 years ago...?

    Masked and Anonymo2Us 12:13 PM  

    Nice ladder. Only thing better than a poor pool poll, is a rich rice rile. Or a pole role. Also, IFORONE NOTDONE.

    Can't hardly feature 4-Oh hangin it up, after 7 puzs. He'll be only one day (Sat.) short of hittin for the cycle. Plus, if he gets to 10 puzs, he qualifies for the puzmaker's retirement home. Still, ...

    TOP REASONS FOR REX TO QUIT DOING NYT PUZS AFTER TOMORROW:
    1. Tomorrow's puz.
    2. Wants to devote self to dancing Gangnam Style.
    3. Must travel to Oregon via covered wagon.
    4. Those Rex Parker blog reviews are killing him.
    5. Fears achieving the dreaded "Cumulative Pangram".
    6. No hope of catching Peter Collins.
    7. Shortzmeister reject notes have been getting kinda personal.
    8. Hard to top HOGCALLS and SPAMBOTS.
    9. Patrick Berry appeared to him in a dream.
    10. Demon rum has eaten too much brain.
    11. No longer able to keep U counts up.
    12. Dog ate his puz portfolio.

    3.

    Joe The Juggler 12:29 PM  

    I made it a lot harder than it should have been by confidently putting in a number of wrong answers. The hardest damage to undo was NW (which prevented me from seeing "POOR" and getting the first/last theme, even though I had RICH fairly early).

    The worst was that I had AHEART instead of OILCAN and kept it for the longest time.

    Rob C 12:38 PM  

    Really enjoy word ladder puzzles in general and this one didn't disappoint. Well done, a lot of zippy fill, and a nice reveal too.

    Medium difficulty for me except for the SW which I managed to bungle in a different way than Rex, but still ended up with eAt AT. Also initially spelled INFINITI with a Y which didn't help.

    Did anyone mention/notice NAG AT and BIT AT right next to each other?

    YALE MAN clued as Eli: I like when a bit of crosswordese is used as the clue for a zippy answer that would normally be the clue for the crosswordese. Look for those, it's fun!

    Ulrich 12:41 PM  
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    mac 12:48 PM  

    Nice but pretty easy Thursday, although I also used the ladder to figure out a couple of answers.

    The NW was tough to get into, with "a heart" in place. Eire and Oca gave me Pelosi and the rest fell.

    For 52 I started out with "hard", thought of the mineral scale as well.

    Lit crit is new to me, and ebola and ecoli are hard to keep apart.

    Looking forward to tomorrow's puzzle, and have a wonderful time in beautiful Oregon, Rex!

    Ulrich 12:53 PM  

    @Pete: I had rejected POOH bec. I thought it was a proper name, attached to a certain bear, while the other form was spelled w/o the "h", but now I stand corrected--thx for setting me straight!

    syndy 12:56 PM  

    Yeah the world ladder was a big help as I Y-turned my way around this baby. Eboli? Rame?A Heart! All tremendous fun! I wonder if Rex has signed an exclusive elsewhere? and @ MITSIE primo sucking up!

    PamJo 12:58 PM  

    Yay! My hometown (Los Gatos) finally gets a shout-out in the puzzle. I'm wondering if Liz Gorski gave good ol' LG the nod over other worthy Los ___ candidates for self-referential reasons. I also liked the puzzle because I was able to piece together the NW despite not knowing Orbach or Sacra and being 80% sure that 16A was LLMS instead of LLBS because the clue said foreign attorneys (suggesting they already had the equivalent of a JD).

    MikeM 1:01 PM  

    Misread 1D. I thought they were looking for a first name. I confidently put down dEnnis which crossed nicely with EIRE. That messed up things severely for me. It is hard to unbake a cake.

    Last Silver Bullets 1:09 PM  

    p.s. I am bein told that that extra "3" jobber at the end of my list was a so-called Gorski Instant Winner pick. Whatever. A bit premature, perhaps, due to...
    ...13. Tired of being thrown into a higher tax bracket.
    14. Hard to top weejects IAT and OIE.
    15. Pencil got real short, after last construction gig.
    16. Dude! Netflix binge-watching!
    17. Never able to quite finish Natick-based magnum opus.

    M&A

    syndy 1:22 PM  

    By the BY A "TROLL" is someone who post deliberately provocative posts trying to get a "rise" out of people.It is NOT making personal attacks to say it is best not to respond to such provocation.Some of my favorite people can be trolls but I try not to bite!or even Quack up.

    Evan 1:26 PM  

    @Mitzie:

    I can't speak for Rex and have no idea why he might choose not to submit any more puzzles to the NYT, but for what it's worth I know that he has expressed frustration about the (very) long wait time between acceptance and publication.

    Bird 2:03 PM  

    A medium puzzle turned challenging because I wrote JACKPOT WINNER at 36A. I didn’t have much in the grid the first time through as I thought I had the correct answers for a few crossers of 36A, but my refusal to see INSTANT prevented me from filling them in. That in turn didn’t give me much to work with when I didn’t know the answers right away.

    Not too sure about KNEE next to KNEADED and I don’t like NON-USER, but I do like OKEY DOKE next to LIL ABNER. First thought for 31A was PREGNANT, but it doesn’t fit so I put in COOKING before eventually correcting it. Also had RBI before DBL and AH ME before ALAS.

    Though I do like word ladders, I like Rebus puzzles better. Just sayin’ that it’s been a while.

    @Rex – Have a safe and enjoyable trip. Will tomorrow’s offering be a themed puzzle explaining why it may be your last? What about your blog – will you, and guest bloggers, keep it going? Inquiring minds want to know.

    Z 2:52 PM  

    More meta commentary to commence. You've been warned.

    @syndy - @casimir took offense at one of my comments and we had an argument. No harm, no foul. No one was called a "troll." If I think someone is actually trolling, I just ignore. My fear is that saying things like "don't feed the troll" ends discussion rather than fosters dialogue. I love posts by M&A and LMS and ACME and the like. But I also get a certain epicurean delight out of a good, eloquent rant. Like Bud Light and India Pale Ale, I want to leave room for both.

    oldbizmark 2:53 PM  

    far from an easy for me. the whole week has been easy and i think that may have stunted my abilities on this medium puzzle. took a while to get started (as always, or so it seems, i got started in the SE corner with NAMATH). the NW was the last to get filled. did not know ORBACH or SACRA or CABOT or CARO so ended with a DNF for the "A" in CABOT/SACRA cross and the "C" in CARO. Thought it was a good puzzle and definitely did not think the ladder helped as much as Rex, though it definitely helped. Still, a fun puzzle, even if there were too many proper names in the NW corner for my taste.

    retired_chemist 3:12 PM  

    @ Z - room for Bud Light? Nawww....

    When my son-in-law visits I get Coors Light. If he doesn't drink it all I leave it separate from the trash bin for the trash guys. Funny, it always gets picked up....

    IPA would definitely stay and be imbibed.

    Bird 3:30 PM  

    @Z - I don't always drink beer. But when I do, I prefer Blue Moon. Sometimes I enjoy Hoegaarden.

    LaneB 3:48 PM  

    Slow and steady may not win the race but it lets you finish it. I am like the turtle trying to solve amongst all the hares out there. I ground it out with only one write-over [INFINITy] until it became obvious that RyLE couldn't be right. Since I didn't know FREEYA or AKELA and OKEYDOKEDOKE might have been spelled OKie, i shut my eyes and made the correct guess. But I still don't know what a word ladder is and will have to look it up. It didn't matter, but I might have finished a nanosecond earlier. I did see the POOR and RICH in the corners and quickly filled INSTANTWIONNER [because we have them in California] but, honestly didn't make the connection.
    Always lots of fun [and time--which I seem to have plenty of.]

    Anonymous 3:59 PM  

    An explanation of a word ladder for the uninitiated would have been appreciated sir.

    Z 4:13 PM  

    @anonymous 3:59

    POOR

    POOL

    POLL

    POLE

    ROLE

    RILE

    RICE

    RICH

    TaDa - the word ladder has gone from POOR to RICH by changing one letter at a time.

    John in Philly 4:20 PM  

    I love Liz Gorski puzzles - always doable and still interesting. Thanks for another great Puz.

    Sfingi 4:50 PM  

    I, also, had tALc before GALE!

    Did not need Google on Thurs. Does this mean I'm finally getting smarter and getting off a long-lasting plateau? Only thing new to me was LLB.

    Yes, doable.

    Unknown 5:30 PM  

    @Bird - so are you the most interesting man in the world?

    sanfranman59 5:35 PM  

    Midday report of relative difficulty (see my 8/1/2009 post for an explanation of my method and my 10/15/2012 post for an explanation of a tweak to my method):

    All solvers (median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)

    Thu 14:08, 17:11, 0.82, 18%, Easy

    Top 100 solvers

    Thu 8:56, 9:49, 0.91, 29%, Easy-Medium

    mac 6:21 PM  

    Today is Bill in New Jersey's birthday. Hope you are reading this! Congratulations!

    Thoracic 7:57 PM  

    OMG!! Just saw the YouTube of Rex solving a puzzle. Good tips, but Rex Parker isn't your real name? I'm crushed and betrayed.
    Oh yeah, my name isn't Thoracic either. Neat video though.

    Rube 8:45 PM  

    Didn't get started on this one until late today, and you're right @chefwen, I couldn't resist putting in an appearance. I didn't know that my avatar was on the cover of Life. 'Course my 4th grade reading skills at the time precluded reading that mag... more likely "My Weekly Reader".

    Course I didn't know LLBS, Via Sacra, Orbach, COKIE or NELLY either. However, all gettable from crosses.

    Without looking it up, I'd bet that CARO nome has appeared at least a dozen times in the NYT puzzles over the years.

    Interesting that MIDORI means green -- Thx ACME.

    Disliking eat AT, I refused to put it in and waited for GALE to give me NAGAT.

    Questinia 8:56 PM  
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    Questinia 8:58 PM  

    Since coming to this site I am noticing a growing discernment of puzzle construction etc... in me.
    Before, I would "just do the puz". Now I have developed a "puzzle consciousness" including argot like natick and crunchy and a few other words that I would be able to identify given a multiple choice. Thank you all (I think!)

    sanfranman59 10:06 PM  

    This week's relative difficulty ratings. See my 8/1/2009 post for an explanation and my 10/15/2012 post for an explanation of a tweak I've made to my method. In a nutshell, the higher the ratio, the higher this week's median solve time is relative to the average for the corresponding day of the week.

    All solvers (this week's median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)

    Mon 6:07, 6:12, 0.99, 43%, Medium
    Tue 8:12, 8:16, 0.99, 48%, Medium
    Wed 8:43, 9:44, 0.90, 28%, Easy-Medium
    Thu 14:01, 17:11, 0.82, 18%, Easy

    Top 100 solvers

    Mon 3:42, 3:49, 0.97, 28%, Easy-Medium
    Tue 4:59, 4:55, 1.02, 55%, Medium
    Wed 5:37, 5:38, 1.00, 48%, Medium
    Thu 8:39, 9:49, 0.88, 25%, Easy-Medium

    Anonymous 4:43 AM  
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    Anonymous 4:44 AM  
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    Anonymous 4:45 AM  
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    Dirigonzo 3:26 PM  

    As I write it is Wednesday, July 23 (I checked my syndiland calendar to be sure) and I thought the puzzle which I just completed was of about average difficulty for mid-week and the word-ladder seemed like a nice twist. Nothing struck me as particularly unusual until I came here and discovered that I had completed the Thursday puzzle which obviously had appeared in my paper in error. I wouldn't mind the mix-up too much except last time this happened the same puzzle appeared the next day so I got cheated out of a puzzle and I'll bet that happens again. I certainly they get their act together by Friday - I certainly wouldn't want to miss Rex/Michael's (last?) NYT puzzle.

    Write-overs today - or tomorrow, as the case may be - included ahead/ONTOP, leiS/UKE, and EbOLa/ECOLI.

    Now to wait and see if @spacecraft gets his BVDs INAKNOT over XIN.

    See you tomorrow, or maybe yesterday or possibly the day-after tomorrow (this is why I sometimes refer to SynCity as the TWI-light zone - the space-time continuum seems to have a little wrinkle from time to time.

    Dirigonzo 3:32 PM  

    Of course I meant Wednesday, July 24 - now you can see how thoroughly confused I am.

    J.aussiegirl 10:21 AM  

    @Dirigonzo 3:32 pm Same publishing dates here, although luckily we had the correct puz.

    Fun puzzle and I liked it. No real problems completing which may be because I do not watch the time. Only one writeover,at cara/caro nome - I guess depends on who is singing/being sung to. Fixed when ON TOP became apparent.

    Looking forward to tomorrow's puzzle.

    spacecraft 11:00 AM  

    @Diri: consider my BVDs KNOTted. The problem with XIN is that any number of other letters would do in #47: KID/DIN, KIF/FIN, KIN/NIN, KIP/PIN, KIT/TIN. If it wasn't so easily fixable it'd be different.

    No, that's just a minor gripe. My diatribe today is, once again, about these inane ramblings about spellcasters that have somehow wedged their way in here. Why can't we stop this? It's AWFUL!

    This one didn't FEEL easy, though I finished it fairly quickly. I can depend on EG to crunch up the fill, and she did again. Yes, the ladder did help with the solve, especially in the north--which I also noted has all P-words vis-a-vis the south's Rs. The whole south, except maybe a couple of spots in the SW (hand up for the frown at NAGAT/BITAT), just sort of dropped in.

    It gets a little name-y, with PELOSI/ORBACH and MIDORI/NAMATH, but if we want crunch we must expect this. Loved OKEYDOKE next to one who might well say that, LILABNER. DBL might better be clued as a bridge bid, since it's only in that context that I've seen that abbr. In baseballese it's simply 2B.

    My WOTD: "Lit CRIT." Never heard that one, saved by crosses. Despite XIN (isn't that some Chinese dynasty?), IFORONE liked it.

    Captcha: flatisha...Beyonce's less-endowed sister?

    Cary in Boulder 1:44 PM  

    I liked it, as I often do when I can make steady progress, especially on a Thursday. As a pen and paper solver, didn't realize till I got here that I'd messed up one answer. Never having heard of AKELA, I had a LEY-AKELY crossing.

    After one of yesterday's clues equating WOMB and OVEN, I half-expected to see the W-word in the answer to 31A.

    CaliTina 2:14 PM  

    I loved today's puzzle. I love word ladders; I use them with my students. Started out with leiS for UKES, and a heart for "Tin Man's need" 2d.
    @spacecraft - for me XIN was a gimme: you mark a paper ballot with a X, and the cereal is KIX. That was one of the few cereals I let my kids eat when they were little as it didn't have a ton of sugar.
    @Rex - hope you have/had a great trip. I'm looking forward to your puzzle tomorrow.

    DMGrandma 2:38 PM  

    Rex so exactly, word for word, described my struggles in the NW it was almost scary. But get there we did, although weeks apart. The SW also caused me pause. With Xed and eAtaT, I had no chance of getting the Nissan make. Then I solved the word ladder for RILE and that somehow made it all work out. Alas, after all that I ended with a one square DNF. I've never hard the term Lit CRIT, and by that time was too befuddled to see the obvious NCR. So it goes...

    Someone needs to tell me again what these insane Captchas are suppose to guard against!

    VooDoo Fan 3:47 PM  

    I for one LOVE the comments from the Spell Casters.

    rain forest 5:02 PM  

    That was fun. My experience was the diametric opposite of @Spacecraft's. I thought the puzzle was easy, but it took me a long time. I had no trouble in the NW or the SW, but there were two squares where I was so absolutely stupid for too long a time. I thought 20A HAD to be CARA, and I kept trying to figure out how ONTAP meant leading. I had entered EBOLI for the breakout, and the commuter's destination was completely ungettable. Only after I had finished everything did I ponder those two squares for a loooong time, and D'OH, it hit me. So obtuse sometimes.

    The word ladder was of some help in a couple of places, especially making the assumption that the same letter would not be changed in two consecutive words.

    I didn't like XIN mainly because one doesn't say "X-in the ballot square". Perhaps the clue could have been a partial, such as "put your___the ballot square". As always, doesn't matter.

    Loved MANDA's (note: @Spacecraft)reasons for Rex bowing out after tomorrow.

    Waxy in Montreal 6:22 PM  

    @DMG. point well taken about the captchas. Perhaps spells may be cast to make them inoperative?

    A pleasant climb down the word ladder using the easily-revealed reveal for support. But the rest of the puzzle - IFORONE didn't enjoy it nearly as much. PIMA/CARO, really? nagAT, bitAT, orATe and ATale all lumped together? And was there a special on mostly obscure words ending in A? (AKELA, OCA, FREYA, SACRA, LEICA, MOMA, NOTA, PIMA, LEA, FLORIDA)

    Can't wait for what OFL has billed as probably his final NYT puzzle tomorrow! Hopefully, something with special KIX.

    spacecraft 8:13 PM  

    @jack j: One certainly can go from POOR to RICH with an INSTANT WINNER--at least in my native state of PA, where that figure can be $1 million. Mayhap one measly million might not make YOU feel wealthy, but it'll do for openers!

    @CaliTina: XIN didn't bother me because of difficulty--it was a gimme for me as well--just that I don't like seeing "X" used in that way. XED, XES, XIN, XOUT seem to be using the letter as a verb. If you want to stretch a point, I guess it's not really WRONG; after all, "mark" really means to make a mark, just as "to X" really means to mark with an X. But it's just more deterioration of the language, X my words.

    @rain forest: I went up and down the bloglist for "MANDA" till I finally had the aha! moment: hilarious! Good for you! Reminds me of a local law firm, Peters and Associates. Their logo is, of course, a big, cute PANDA. Methinks I better join 'em if I can't beat 'em.

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