Temple of Artemis city / FRI 8-5-16 / Colorful swallow / Ottoman honorific / Compost heap bit / Resembling a heavy curtain / Eponym of annual Golden Globe award for lifetime achievement

Friday, August 5, 2016

Constructor: Brendan Emmett Quigley

Relative difficulty: Challenging


THEME: none 

Word of the Day: EPHESUS (65A: Temple of Artemis city) —
Ephesus (/ˈɛfəsəs/; Greek: Ἔφεσος Ephesos; Turkish: Efes; ultimately from Hittite Apasa) was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, three kilometres southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of the former Arzawan capital by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists. During the Classical Greek era it was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League. The city flourished after it came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC. According to estimates, Ephesus had a population of 33,600 to 56,000 people in the Roman period, making it the third largest city of Roman Asia Minor after Sardis and Alexandria Troas. // The city was famed for the Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. In 268 AD, the Temple was destroyed or damaged in a raid by the Goths. It may have been rebuilt or repaired but this is uncertain, as its later history is not clear. Emperor Constantine the Great rebuilt much of the city and erected new public baths. Following the Edict of Thessalonica from Emperor Theodosius I, what remained of the temple was destroyed in 401 AD by a mob led by St. John Chrysostom. The town was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 614 AD. The city's importance as a commercial center declined as the harbor was slowly silted up by the Küçükmenderes River. (wikipedia)
• • •

If I just look at the grid, things look OK, but the experience as a whole was more frustrating and annoying than entertaining. First, this should've been a Saturday. Second, the cluing was TTH (trying too hard) a lot of the time, with attempts at cleverness and cutesiness sometimes landing, but sometimes not. "TEEN JEOPARDY" is an "event" (OK, I guess) "informally" (??)? Those two clue words made getting that answer incredibly hard, and without the "J," JELLO SHOT was well nigh impossible to see (great clue—20D: Colorful swallow?—but Saturday clue), and without JELLO SHOT, JIGGLED (43D: Moved like a 20-Down) ... no hope. Without JIGGLED, GAH is impossible (50A: Frustrated cry) ... so there was this domino effect that meant that not only was the puzzle hard, but it was annoyingly hard, not AHAingly hard. "TEEN JEOPARDY" and JELLO SHOT are both good answers—probably the puzzle's marquee answers—but whatever joy I might've gotten from them had evaporated by the time I actually solved them (very very late—that cross was one of the last things to fall).


FLAGRANT FOUL was the only excellent answer that was excellently clued (55A: Real hack?). It was also very helpful in making me realize neither OCCUR nor ENSUE was right at 51D: Come about (ARISE), and NUNCHUCKS was not a correct spelling (not here, anyway). And about that: NUNCHUCKS *is*, in fact, a legit spelling of that weapon (look it up), while NUNCHAKU appears to be plural all on its own (i.e. no final "S" needed). I'm just going from wikipedia, so maybe there is some specialized and / or variant usage; that's entirely possible. I just know that the spelling of NUNCHAKUS is a nightmare, even if you know (as I did) the weapon in question. And it's *especially* nightmarish dropping through EPHESUS (you could be forgiven for not knowing that last vowel) and the ridiculous RUGLIKE (60A: Resembling a heavy curtain, say). RUGLIKE is this puzzle's nadir. "Your curtains are RUGLIKE..." Who says that? STENOS? AIRACES, after coming home from HOT WARS? And if you don't know LUPE Fiasco (and I'm guessing many of you don't), then, man, things could get really rough down there. That SW corner is unlovely.


Things were just hard all over. [Italian dictators] are DUCES (I only know the term in the singular, applied exclusively to Mussolini) and not DOGES. [Put away] was neither EAT nor ATE but HID (?), we don't even get Eric HEIDEN's first name to help us with that clue (32D: U.S. athlete who won more gold medals at the 1980 Winter Olympics than all but two non-U.S. countries) (side note: weird to have "U.S." in the clue twice when the answer lies right next to USA, USA!). [Injured: Fr.] is not BLESSÉ, so .... no clue there (LÈSE). Despite a few glitzy answers, solving this was a bit of a drag. Wonky cluing + too much overfamiliar stuff (ARE TOO, SOLI, CAHN, OOH, ANI, ATAD, RIA, CTA, AGHA...). Misplaced on Friday, and just not edited with the style and personality and precision that I'm used to from BEQ's puzzles on his own site (new puzzles 2x/week—you should be on that).

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

96 comments:

jae 12:26 AM  

Unlike @Rex I found this easy except for the SW where EPHESeS gave me a DNF because the alternative spelling of NUNCHUCKS was a WOE. (@Rex, thanks for forgiving me for not knowing that last vowel). Plus, LUPE was somewhere between a guess and a vague memory and RUG LIKE was A TAD strange. Thank goodness I'm a Portlandia fan. So, the guy who created the original Natick crammed a bunch of tough crosses in that corner.

Interesting to see LESE so close to TREASON.

Lots of good stuff here, liked it, but the SW corner was just mean.

Pete 12:26 AM  

So, Brendan's reject pile = Will's inbox?

AliasZ 12:50 AM  


There was so much to love in this BEQ puzzle: JUDO MAT, XANADU, TEEN JEOPARDY, WRITHES, DOJO, NUNCHAKUS, EPHESUS, the JELLO SHOT that JIGGLED, AIR ACE (after yesterday's dogfight aces), USA! USA! (how appropriate: Go, Team USA!), and a few others.

Sadly, it was marred by some sub-optimal, almost made-up-sounding fill:
-- CTA, RIA, ANI, OOH, AGHA, GAH -- ugh. I almost consider it a FLAGRANT FOUL.
-- ARE TOO is one of at least 26 possible playground retorts -- roll your own.
-- RAP CDS: I didn't want to believe this one was correct. What next, BAROQUE LPS?
-- RUGLIKE: Sounds more like a toupée than a curtain.
-- DEADEST: How many degrees of dead are there? "Look at those three rats down there. One of them is dead. The other one is even deader, although I think the third one is the deadest."

The SW corner was my last area to fill because I didn't know who FRED and LUPE were. Another trip-up: DOGES for DUCES since I have never seen "Il Duce" in plural before. This wanted to be DEUCES, I am sure of it.

But despite these misgivings, I enjoyed the challenge.

Jehan Alain (1911–1940) was a French composer and organist killed in WWII, in a heroic one-man gunfight against a group of German soldiers. He was buried by the Germans with full military honors, and was posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre for his bravery. One of his most popular compositions is the organ work titled LITANIES, performed here by Marie-Claire Alain (1926–2013), his youngest sister.

Enjoy your Friday!

Mike in Mountain View 3:05 AM  

@Rex: I'm one of the many (I'm sure) who couldn't remember the final vowel in EPHESUS and didn't know the NUNCHAKUS spelling. And I also kept thinking BLESSÉ.

But I enjoyed the puzzle.

tkr 4:29 AM  

Why is INORBIT clued as tongue in cheek? In Orbit literally means gong around the world?

Reflective of the overall unevenness of the puzzle.

Unknown 4:59 AM  

I'm rather pleased to have gotten about >90% of @BEQ's puzzle before needing to hit "reveal" on a few squares, and that included the H at the end of GAH which finally triggered the on-line solving chime for successful completion. So yeah, maybe "Natick" should be updated to "Nunchaku"? Or maybe "Ephesus"??

It does make me feel better to see that even @Rex considered the puzzle challenging. RAPCDS and "Hip-hop's Fiasco" in the same puzzle? Martial arts and JUDO_MAT and DOJO all together? All I know about JELLOSHOTs I learned from crosswords, but at least JIGGLED was infer-ABLE. I did recall Eric HEIDEN, who was a Winter Olympics superstar 36 years ago, and that reminded me of his sister Beth who was also a world-class athlete in multiple sports. USA, USA!

As already noted by @Rex and the early commentariat, numerous relatively common words (e.g., OAHU, LESE, PERSON, ARCED, to pick a few examples) were clued in demanding (opposite of EASY) ways. It was nice to be reminded of "Mad Men" in the STENOS clue, and TREASON as clued made me laugh given recent headline. Clues for DOWJONES and the SCRAWL provided further delights. But enough of my LITANIES ...

Loren Muse Smith 7:07 AM  

Rex – I never can remember all the different steps of my solve, but I got TEEN JEOPARDY fairly early with few crosses in place. I didn't have a problem there. And I'm pretty sure I would've gotten JELLO SHOT without that J. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. What a huge disappointment *those* sexy little jiggly things were. Sheesh. Add JELLO SHOT to the list of things whose appeal I just don't get. (Jane Austen, Twix bars, The Three Stooges, running, maraschino cherries…)

I had two very serious errors – one I fixed: "ivied" for ARCED 26A. Before I fixed it, I was panicked thinking that playground retort would be, "I've too." Nooooo, Brennnddaannn. Say it ain't soooooo! SCRAWL 23D (terrific clue) set me straight and all was right with my BEQ world again.

The other error ended up being my dnfblow™ - "nunchucks." Hi, @jae. Put that baby in right after JUDO MAT, DOJO, marveling at BEQ's prowess, never questioning the spelling. And here I am Little Miss Prisspot who can spell harakiri, kamikaze, karaoke… and feel quietly superior when someone says "saki" instead of "sake." This just after said person implies that "sushi" is raw fish. Sigh.

Anyway, that error rendered the southwest impenetrable.

Doesn't matter. I still loved this. JIGGLED, JELLO SHOT, LITANIES, WRITHES, JUDO MAT, SCRAWL… all great. And I disagree with Rex on the clues.

Disclosure here – I'm a full-on, unabashed, gushing BEQ fan, and a lot of that is because of his cluing. Every Monday, I keep checking his site for the next themeless to come up, eager to have at it. I swear, the way he clues things, especially spoken stuff like OH WELL or STOP IT is deftly brilliant. I wish I could give an example. He has that gift of capturing some little emotional je ne sais quoi that goes with a phrase and nailing it with the clue. (It's occurred to me before that he must listen and study informal exchanges the way Kristen Wiig studies gestures and intonations. Bet he carries around a nifty little notebook.) I tell you, if you like themelesses and aren't doing this one, this free one, on Mondays, you're missing out. But do the right thing – send a tip his way. I don't want him to pack up and go home. He barely knows me and has not endorsed this ad.

Thanks, Brendan. Yoku dekita. But I'm off to lick my Japanese spelling wounds. Sai no onara, folks.

kitshef 7:31 AM  

I thought it was a hoot, although my page (paper and ink solver, here) is a disaster area. Possibly a record for over-writes, my favorite being thinking that the Golden Globe lifetime award might be named for esteLLE Getty.

Yet despite the complete mess made, I could make steady progress and never felt like I might get stuck. Both TEENJEOPARDY and EPHESUS were close to gimmes - the former off of the AR_Y and the latter off of ESke. That made the SW gettable, as it made me change NUNCHuckS and step (for NEST)and I would have had zero chance of getting FRED or LUPE without every single cross.

Some day I'll have to find out what a TED talk is - I keep seeing it mentioned but don't really know anything about them. I originally had podcast - which seemed reasonable but had to come out when I wanted leaf (for RIND) and exciseTAX.

Robso 7:32 AM  

I put in NUMCHUCKS for NUNCHAKUS. I have never heard of them referred to as NUNCHAKUS, and I am a Kodokan 10th dan. Well, not really, but it was still annoying.

crabsofsteel 7:56 AM  

DNF, cluing too obscure. I knew NUNCHUCKS, never NUNCHAKUS

mathgent 8:00 AM  

Too many flaws for me to give this one a thumbs up. Rex mentions most of them. I especially hate GAH since I needed the H to get NUNCHAKUS, a word I had never seen.

Bill Butler, who does an excellent daily blog on the puzzle as WEB, gave up on the SW. He almost never does that.

Finishing without a cheat gave me a little ego boost, but otherwise ...


Anonymous 8:05 AM  

The cluing in this puzzle is dreadful. Ruglike, Rapcds, Gah and Artsale (I had Auction in there) plus the alternate spelling of Nunchucks were awful.

Old Lady 8:10 AM  

I give Rex's write-up an A+, but for the same reasons I give it a C. A little bit too much "Look at how I can frustrate and misdirect!" That attitude puts off many would-be solvers. Save it for Saturday.

Glimmerglass 8:17 AM  

I found this very hard, and ultimately failed to see SCRAWL (I had SCRolL, with the errors that went with that). I wish I'd thought of DOW JONES, which would have saved me. Yes, this probably should have been a Saturday, but why do you find that annoying? Is somebody (other than yourself) keeping track of your Friday times? I solve these puzzles to challenge myself, not meet some time standard. Nobody gives me gold stars when I have a low clock time. Even in a solving contest (I've been in only two), one can't gripe about hard clues -- they're the same for everybody. I can safely say that the problems are always with me, not the constructor/editors. In hard puzzles, like this one, I feel great when I get stuff right and tip my cap to the constructor when s/he beats me.

r.alphbunker 8:36 AM  

My finish:
NUNCHAINS-->NUNCHAKES-->NUNCHAKIS-->NUNCHAKES-->NUNCHAKUS-->NUNCHAKIS-->NUNCHAKAS-->NUNCHAKUS

HEIDER-->HEIDEN

@LMS Ran the alphabet on JELLOSHO_ eliminating JELLOSHOE, JELLOSHOP, JELLOSHOW.

Details here

Danny 8:50 AM  

I remember when I first started solving puzzles: Thursday through Sunday were always challenging and nearly never entertaining. But, as time went on, I increased in skill and knowledge, and the entertainment value was finally experienced.

All the gripers out there about this puzzle being hard and unenjoyable just need to take a chill pill (or four). All puzzles aren't going to please you or be easy for you. Move on.

Dorothy Biggs 8:50 AM  

This was challenging for all the reasons already mentioned: the SW...ugh. NUmCHUckS being the chief culprit down there. "Temple of Artemis city" had me completely turned around. I was reading it as though the clue was asking for the temple in Artemis City. ISEENOW that the C is small so that the clue was asking for the "Temple of Artemis" city. Ah, so.

JUDOMAT. JUDOMAT? Is that like a wrestling mat used for judo? Or does a judo mat have some other definitng characteristic?

I almost always like BEQ's puzzles and I occasionally go to his site and do them there. He's very current, clever, and the personality of his puzzles is light-hearted and free-wheeling. But this one...I agree with Rex that the clues were too too. The TEENJEOPARDY answer came quickly once I got the J in there, but the way the clue was written, it was way too precious. This was true of 42A Average producer, 18A Parts of abdomens, 16A Mortal, and several others that, by themselves weren't bad, but cumulatively were brutal.

Playground retorts should be banned from xword puzzles. ARETOO, "am not," "are so," etc. all bad.

AIRACE is okay for the puzzle, but how do you pronounce it? Do you re-articulate the Ace part. Two glottals in a row...awkward.

My favorite clue (and sort of a typical BEQ type clue) was 21A "Hardly deliberate." Does that mean accidental, i.e., hardly on purpose: "oops?" Not really thought out, i.e., RASH? Or to concentrate on something intensely: "pore?" I had them all in there at some point.

My favorite answer was GAH. I put that in right away and hoped it would stay...

Z 8:51 AM  
This comment has been removed by the author.
Z 8:56 AM  

"Events where kids ask lots of questions" would have been a great clue. Add "informally" and it just screams PARtY. Seeing RIND in the rear view mirror seems obvious, now. But a RINt could be a thing in a compost heap. I mean, who really knows what is crawling and decomposing in that pile?

For 20D I really really wanted yELLOw tit, after wondering if a yELLOw pewiT might rebus in there. Of course, I was also hoping that a scarlet tanager might make an appearance. Colorful crossbirds are the best crossbirds. But no, just a cheap, vodka-laced, jiggling JELLO-SHOT. GAH!

Anyone else screw up their face as they wrote in ARCED? I'm sure it's correct but in my head a portico has a transom with no curve to it.

@Pete - It sure seems like it.

Better slogan: UBER - Finding new ways to screw the middle class and have them thank us for it.

Anonymous 8:58 AM  

I appreciate BEQ for providing two free puzzles on his site every week, but like many others here, I don't understand the "informally" clue for TEENJEOPARDY and NUNCHAKUS crossing EPHESUS brought me to a dead stop. Finally solved the puzzle with a reasonable time but it didn't leave a good impression.

Nancy 9:18 AM  

Never, since coming to this site, have I so agreed with absolutely everything in Rex's critique. So much so, that he beat me to everything I was going to say. Most of all, about RUGLIKE. No, sorry, BEQ -- a heavy curtain isn't RUGLIKE. It's CURTAINLIKE. Or maybe DRAPELIKE. But not RUGLIKE. That answer, crossing with the completely unknown to me NUNCHAKUS (wha???) and also crossing the ridiculous GAH, gave me two incompleted squares. I was furious about the two side-by-side proper names at 55 & 56D, but somehow got them. But everything in this puzzle was hard for me -- even the good clues and answers: TREASON (wonderful clue); DOW JONES; TEEN JEOPARDY. Thank heaven for good ol' Sammy CAHN which had least helped me find JELLO SHOT. Otherwise I would have written down JELLY BEAN. I wanted YOGA MAT before JUDO MAT, but, thanks to @Aketi, I did know DOJO, and thus avoided writing it in. How does a JUDO MAT differ from a YOGA MAT, btw? Isn't a MAT a MAT?

I thought this puzzle was aimed right between @Aketi's eyebrows, what with JUDO MAT; DOJO; and NUNCHAKUS, whatever it, they are. Haven't read the blog yet; I'll go back to see if you aced this, Aketi.

Anonymous 9:26 AM  

I agree with the detractors here. Cluing was vague and annoying, the experience tedious, even after the solve. I don't know what hell "gah" is but I'll say it now. Gah.

Maruchka 9:30 AM  

GAH. Slog-fest here. Can't really justify most complaints, in retrospect. Cluing wasn't helping, tho. PPP!

Yellow Hat/JELLO SHOT and 'Teeny bop ardy' really cooked my EWE. Francophiles - can LESE for 'injured' stand alone, or does it require a subject?

Please, someone explain why FLAGRANT FOUL is 'real hack'. Is this a sports thing?

Fav of the day - HEIDEN. Speed skaters glide so beautifully. Forward to the Summer Games of the XXXI Olympiad!

Nancy 9:32 AM  

@lms (7:07) -- Finally, finally, someone has said it! I'm afraid to say it anymore, because every time I have done so in the past, someone has looked at me askance, as if to say: I thought you were an educated, literate person. How can you even think such a thing, much less say it? But you have opened the floodgates, Loren, and I will screw up my nerve and say it too: I don't get Jane Austen's cachet either. Not at all. Never did.

BTW, I also loved the clue for SCRAWL. Unlike TREASON, I got it right off the bat.

Anonymous 9:32 AM  

Liked DOJO crossing JUDOMAT and NUNCHAKUS. How is FLAGRANTFOUL a "hack"? Let's stop blaming the puzzle for things we don't know (especially spelling like EPHESUS).

Leapfinger 9:39 AM  

Much like @AliasZ.

Except I had vicious troubles with:
*Innards in place of SPLEENS while cowanting 'leaf' for RIND.[You'll notice the mutual exclusivity there.]
*LucILLE/TenILLE/DemILLE
*utopia/XANADU; Bei mir bist XANADU schoen
*'Colorful swallow' clue had me thinking 20D would start with YELLOW; took f'rever for that to gel
*Wanting LITurgIES in place of LITANIES; isn't that a more better fit for the clue?

Probably had an advantage over some solvers with an EPHESUS Church Road on the outskirts of Chapel Hill; I see the signs every time I back&forth on 15-501.

Vey is unz:
RUGLIKE? RUGLach!!
I spose 'cold_WAR' implies 'HOT_WAR', but it didn't strike me as having much in the way of phrasial thingness. Chawk it up to being A TAD overdone on the subject.
DUCES was a surprise; related perhaps to the DUCES of Malfi?

Pleasantries:
NUNCHAKUS. A few years ago, I was watching the National Spelling Bee competition, which (as we all know) is infamous for words imported from other languages. This one kid, a little 11/12 yo boy with chubby cheeks and dimples, was given the word NUMCHUcks, and couldn't stop his giggles; he finally admitted he'd heard it as 'numbnuts'. I don't remember how he spelled it, but it sure wasn't N-U-N-C-H-A-K-U-S.

Love that we came close to having my favoured variant FRAGRANT FOUL and almost had an AAH OOH GAH. Klaxon, klaxoff. BEQause of you, there's a song in my heart.

Reminding self to thank @AliasZ for the return of the Alain SIBS. Tragic that we lost him so young.

Enjoy your FRiEDays, y'all.

Lewis 9:42 AM  

A good crossword is a big puzzle consisting of little puzzles, with each small solve bringing an ah, or if lucky, an aha, and there will be some GAHs usually along with the OOHs. My solve went like this, filing in the entire puzzle until I hit the SW, when confronted with two names I didn't know plus the other elements already mentioned by others. There my brain reached its DEADEST point, where it is kind of like gravy or even RUGLIKE (unresponsive and opaque), a big mass with nothing coming out of it, and I thought FLAGRANT_FOUL! Or was it "uncle!"? In any case, I finally looked something up, and finished.

Oh I liked it, though, with some excellent clues (SCRAWL, DOW_JONES, NEST) and answers (XANADU, JIGGLED, WRITHES), and that backward AIR joining the AIRACE. There were so many ahs and ahas preceding that impenetrable SW vortex, so many terrific I_SEE_NOW moments, that it totally won me over.

Carola 9:50 AM  

When I saw BEQ's name at the top, I wasn't sure whether I should think "Yay!" or "Yikes!" The "yay" feeling started with WRITHES, continued through TREASON, LITANIES and XANADU but then switched to YIKES in the SW. Yeah, those NUNCHuckS, along with Somebody Armisen and Somebody Fiasco (ha ha)....NO FAIR. Finally erased the suspect -uck-, saw FLAGRANT FOUL, and finished. I thought DEADEST was appropriate for ending that corner, as I almost was, as a doornail.
Other do-overs: HaD, TiM, Auction before ART SALE.
Liked the combination of RILED and SPLEEN.
The warming house at our neighborhood skating rink is the HEIDEN House, named after from-here Eric and his sister, Beth.

In defense of RUGLIKE, how about an arras, like the one Polonious hides behind?

Alfonso 9:51 AM  

So much license is given to puzzle constructors when it comes to using foreign words as answers. It's usually grudgingly accepted as crossword convention,("ano" does not mean "year" in Spanish).

There should be a line drawn in the sand when the foreign word license "rules", such as they are, are applied with complete inconsistency to the SAME language, in the same puzzle.

To wit:
solo: soli (pl. Italian), solos (pl. English)
duce: duces (pl. English), duci (pl. Italian)

Made me want to stir our morning cappuccini with a zucchino.

Wm. C. 9:52 AM  


Sorry, but there was to ouch here that I've never heard of. I expect late-week puzzles to be challenging, maybe with one or two things I've never heard of, but this was just too much.

Ephesus, Lupe, Fred, JelloShot (and ergo jiggled), Cahn ...

Plus others I've heard of, but tough (though ok for Friday ....

Gah!

Anonymous 9:54 AM  

Doges were elected magistrates therefore not dictators.

Hartley70 9:57 AM  

Haha! @Nancy, I'm a fan of Jane Austin, looking askance at you now, but I'm with @Loren on the Twix. I'd have to eat 10 of them before I felt like I'd eaten anything.

I too was frustrated with today's solve. I got about 3/4 through cleanly before the answer/clue relationship began to make no sense. FLAGRANTFOUL was a huh? GAH was a wha? RUGLIKE was a blech! And why not ask for a word in English and then expect that the answer will be in Japanese? Because it's NOFAIR! That's why, NUNCHAKUS!

I like a tough solve and this was it, but something just didn't sit right with me, so I'm playing on @Rex's team today.

Alex 9:59 AM  

Fellow sufferers - er, solvers - will someone please explain this struggler the nose nose - ANI clue? I had an easier time with JELLOSHOT than some of you, which may highlight my misspent youth. Once I had corrected cow to DOE. Not an easy time, mind you, but most of you are much better crossword puzzlers than I am. So relatively easier, I suppose.
Anyway, please explain!

Leapfinger 10:05 AM  

Addend:

Agree with the plethora of playground retorts. There're myriad possibilities, but it sure cuts down on the myriad to have 6-spacers. I could only think of ARETOO, AREnot and canTOO.

Besides the JIGGLED JELLOSHOTS and martial artistry, there's another grid tie-in: Eric HEIDER became a doctor, ergo SCRAWL.

Lèse majesté, more simplicity

JD 10:05 AM  

Ate for hid because put away doesn't mean hid; understood that 16A was referring to exurban but never heard it used as a noun (where do you live? In exurbia, or further out in the middle east - exurbistan); have no idea why there's a ? for going around the world because that's exactly what in orbit means; except for one long cold war all of the wars have been hot wars, no?;"I" wouldn't be thrown on a judo mat because "I" (to whom I assume the clue is referring by using "you") don't practice judo. I see it now. With a grid of sorta words (soli) that lacks wit or style, you make the clues ridiculously misleading instead of thought provoking and that makes it a Friday. I didn't think it could get worse than yesterday.

Oscar Madison 10:07 AM  

NUNCHAKUS? FUCHAKU!

Anonymous 10:11 AM  

If this puzzle were on BEQ's site, RUGLIKE would have been clued "The Donald's hair" and thus not have been absurd.

Nancy 10:12 AM  

@Carola (9:50)-- Very nice RUGLIKE riposte, rejoinder, response and example. Touche!

@Hartley -- I didn't comment on Loren's Twix critique because I've never even seen one, much less eaten one. But judging by your beagle's reaction, they must be truly delicious.

Anonymous 10:13 AM  

@Alex you add an 'i' (ANI) to nose to make it no[i]se.

Z 10:17 AM  

@Alex - you mistyped the clue. To fix your typo you need AN I.

Katzzz 10:21 AM  

Challenging indeed. Started out thinking I would never finish this -- my only toeholds were "Cahn," "Lupe" and "nunchucks," which was a mixed blessing since my spelling was pretty far off from what turned out to be the answer. So I was pretty darn pleased with myself when I finally got this puppy done.

More Whit 10:28 AM  

Sped through the entire eastern half of the puzzle, then got hit with a flagrant foul in the SW corner. Even after solving the flagrant piece, the rest was...GAH?! When I get frustrated I don't cry out GAH or anything like it, so bah to gah. Ruglike? Please. Maybe that makes light rugs sheet curtains, who knows? Liked the Jell-O shot clue. In fact, after doing this puzzle I'm going to make and take a few. Adios and have a great weekend everyone.

JD 10:31 AM  

@Danny, not complaining about the puzzle being hard. There are puzzles that I consider to be hard that I don't finish but the good ones are still head slappers, like "Oy! What a dum bass! I should've gotten that." That's actually a joyful sort of experience. Not as much fun as finishing, but still an aha moment and I can appreciate anything well done for that tiny shot of adrenalin.

Charles Flaster 10:39 AM  

Tough and DNF at EPHESUS naticking LUPE naticking NUNCHUKAS.
Remember--thou shalt not Google.
Lots of CrosswordEASE-- CAHN, RIA, and EWE.
Some really creative cluing--NULL SET, TREASON, NO FAIR, and TEEN JEOPARDY.
RUGLIKE is poorly clued. How about "Like a poor toupee"?
Thanks BEQ

Mike Rees 10:42 AM  

I had to research a couple of answers (Wikipedia searches to dig up answers) to even get a foothold in the one. I knew next to none of the PPP answers, as they're either old (HEIDEN, DEMILLE, CAHN), obscure (EPHESUS), or outside my sphere of give-a-damn (LUPE).

I know some French, but LESE is not in my personal lexicon; I wouldn't know an Italian dictator if he ran me over in a Ferrari.

Finally, hand up for eliminating all "schoolyard retorts," and while we're at it can we soften up on the daily use of one of thousands of school name abbreviations?

Got it finished, despite my personal asterisk, but this one was more work than joy. And I typically find this constructor makes me work at it but I usually feel pretty good when it's done.

jberg 11:09 AM  

DNF. I was feeling bad about it until I came here and saw NUNCHAKUS and RUG-LIKE. To spell it out -- the essence of curtains is that you can open them because they bunch up. You can't do that with a rug. Not even a Kilim. As for the other -- maybe, maybe, if there was some hint, e.g. a Japanese word in the clue. But no. Otherwise, it could be numbchuks, numchuks, numchucks, etc. Once GAH set the H in place, I figured it had to be NUNCHUCKS. That worked well with 'not lace' for the heavy curtains, but trying to find a Greek or Roman city that ended in KS was even theoretically impossible.

Needless to say, I had no idea about the actor or the rapper; and while I put AGHA in right away, I took it out again because of the lace thing, not to mention sadDEST.

I knew how to spell EPHESUS -- it's in the Bible - but no idea that was what was wanted without getting those first two letters.

The rest of the puzzle was great!

Several have asked, so -- in basketball, if you chop the arm (or for that matter the body) of on opposing player with your hand, that's hacking, a FLAGRANT FOUL.

@Loren, your random list of things you don't like is the funniest thing I've seen today! Not because I disagree with some of your tastes, but just because of the sheer randomness. Truly great!

Mohair Sam 11:24 AM  

We were having a ball with this BEQ working top to bottom and battling all the way until we got to the SW where we got PPP'd with NUNCHuckS and our lack of knowledge of Hip Hop, Portlandia, and an optional spelling of a certain city.

Never heard them called NUNCHAKU and trying to work out a spelling we got ferdorkled when we realized that GAH could just as easily have been GAr depending on the constructor's mood. So we threw our arms up, declared a DNF and came unhappily here. It is rare that a DNF leaves us this grumpy. I think it's the GAH/GAr thing along with the RUG or RaGLIKE on my heavy curtains (who has ever said either?) crossing the random letters in a Hip Hop artist's name - it's annoying when you can't even guess.

Very much agree with @Nancy that Rex's review is spot on today, word for word. Do not agree with Nancy nor @LMS about Jane Austen however - and I particularly disagree with lms in her put down of Twix bars. Two years ago my doctor took me off chocolate, booze, and caffeine (no, I'm not Tom Brady) - the only things I miss are martinis and Twix bars.

JELLybean before JELLYSHOT and shootingFOUL before FLAGRANTFOUL. Anyone else?

@Maruchka - When I last looked nobody had answered you - a "Hack" is a FOUL in basketball parlance. If a Hack is done "real" hard it is considered FLAGRANT FOUL and the offending team is additionally penalized.

Leapfinger 11:24 AM  

@Alex, I can relate to your suffering. Why would anyone want an eye in the middle of their nose? You're smelling a rose and find a bee staring you in the eye? You sneeze and suddenly go all weepy? You wink and someone thinks you're being snotty? It's just a world of problems... Like you, I'm all for maintaining separation betwix our distinct senses. If you want to vent your spleen, get a splenotomy.

Writhe and shine.

Joseph Michael 11:45 AM  

Enjoyed this puzzle until I got to the SW. GAH and NO FAIR pretty much sum up my response to NUMCHAKUS and its annoying neighbors. I thought puzzles were supposed to be fun.

Anoa Bob 11:47 AM  

@Alfonso, yep, grid fill expediency & convenience seems to trump accuracy when it comes to the use foreign language in the NYT puzzle. I've been pointing out that there's a difference between AÑO and ANO (different spelling, different pronunciation, & different meaning) for some time. At least it's occasionally good for a laugh. My favorite was from a couple months ago when the clue read "Julio is in the middle of it" and the answer was ANO. Still chuckle over that one!

Kimberly 11:57 AM  

I feel like the stupidest person in the world. Struggle struggle struggle...it was like when I first became determined to be a daily solver, but without the comfort of being able to tell myself "it's ok, you're just new to this."

mathgent 12:05 PM  

@ Mike Rees: Got a chuckle out of your clever comment.

Aketi 12:15 PM  
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Aketi 12:25 PM  
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Aketi 12:31 PM  

@Leapginger,, your spelling bee variant of NUNCHuckS caused my coffee to go up my nose and out my tear ducts.

@Rex, your Weird Al vid perfectly sums up my solving experience today.

@Nancy, Had I downed a dozen JELLOSHOTS I probably could not have done any worse today despite the Martial Artistry.
@Oscar Madison's "FUCHAKU" sums up how I felt about the alternate spelling.

@NFC President, I never specifically trained in judo, but the JUDO before the MAT did seem a bit green paintish to me. At my DOJO, everyone just calls it a MAT. I recently discovered that not all MATs are the same.. I just started Sunday open MAT rolling in another DOJO. The MATS are not smooth, nor RUG-LIKE; they are more like sandpaper. A perfect an chemical-free, non toxic, nail polish remover. One of the guys that I rolled with concluded that the wear pattern reminded him of PIKACHU and the others ran to get their iPhones to see if they could catch him.

@Alfonso, A zuccino sounds like some horrible mix that might result from a merger between a green juice bar and Starbucks

Mike Rees 12:32 PM  

Thanks! I'm always looking for nunchuckles. :)

QuasiMojo 12:32 PM  

Ruglike? Like that thing on the Donald's head? Agree with OFL on almost every point. This puzzle tried too hard to be difficult. I think a B-plus is being kind. Teen Jeopardy was a gimme considering the spelling but I really don't think of teens as "kids." Come to think of it, maybe they should start having goats on Jeopardy! That might make it more amusing. Talk about dumbing down! That show has gone to the dogs. Have a great weekend everyone.

J Austen 12:36 PM  

@LMS- You don't get me? Don't get me, or don't get why people adore me? In either case the answer's the same - I created the genre "I hate the cool kids, they're so shallow and vain and have never done anything of individual worth in their lives - I just hate them. Why don't they like me? Why don't they embrace when I'm so much better than they?? Why?"

What's not to like? Seriously?

Da Bears 12:49 PM  

I don't know if there is ever that much difference between Friday and Saturday but otherwise I agree with Rex's reaction to the puzzle.

Andrew Heinegg 12:56 PM  

Mr. Quigley is a very capable composer especially of hard to finish puzzles but, this one had some fill that was just yucky to me.Jello shot and ruglike are not real words or things and in orbit is poorly clued with the ?. Ephesus is a real place but, unless you had somehow heard of it before, you would be lost without the crosses.

Memo to constructors: if the answer to the clue is a word you would not expect to find anywhere else besides a crossword, try something else.

I solved but do not like hot war. A war always involves combat absent a modifier in front of it such as 'cold' or after it like 'of words'. I know OFL liked teen Jeopardy but, as an 'event' it strikes me as a bit off base. But, that is my sense of the word event.

I got Heiden but that is only because I am of an age that saw him perform (and he was truly great) but, Rex is probably right that you ought to clue someone from 36 years ago with a first name. Carping aside, I thought it was a Friday appropriate puzzle and enjoyable as a whole.

Andrew Heinegg 12:58 PM  
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Unknown 1:00 PM  

I appear to be backwards from everyone else today. The SW gave me my entry into the grid.

Had NUNCHUCKS before NUNCHAKUS only because NUNCHAKU (without the plural S) didn't fit. FRED Armison and LUPE Fiasco were gimmes (for me) and the EP made EPHESUS an easy get. I'm most surprised at people's difficulties with EPHESUS. It's not an obscure classical city: besides hosting one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, it also is prominent in the Bible (i.e. Paul's epistle to the EPHESIANS).

I did put NiLL_SET for NULL_SET, had no idea on Eric HEIDEN, so finding the crossing DUCES was a struggle.

The clue and answer for "Some mixtapes" and RAP_CDS feel reversed to me, largely because RAP_CDS seems green paintish. "Some rap cds" = MIXTAPES feels stronger. By the way, I don't know the whole history and etymology, but the use of "mixtape" here uses a definition that doesn't seem to have made it into the dictionaries yet. In rap, there is a definition of mixtape which is divorced from the cassette format. A mixtape, as opposed to an album, is released for free, largely because of copyright issues: in mixtapes, rappers can use samples that have not been approved.

I loved all the J's, especially JELLO_SHOT and its brilliant clue (Colorful swallow?). Count me among those who wanted yELLOw something-or-another as the answer. The Coleridge fan in me is always happy to see XANADU in a puzzle.

@Loren Muse Smith and @Nancy - I've long been surprised at how divisive Jane Austen is. I'm a fan. (Her novels may not be wide in scope but they are deep. Her writing style is plainly brilliant). But I've had to argue her case to people on numerous occasions. What I'm trying to say is that you are not alone in your apathy towards Austen.

@Anonymous (10:11am) - Ha!

Masked and Anonymous 1:12 PM  

I am a ginormous BEQ fan. He knows a lot more band names than m&e, tho. yo, @BEQ: U ever heard of Hiatus Kaiyote?
And agree with @RP, @muse, etc… His puzsite is lotsa fun.

This here BEQ puz has yer 9 U's. thUmbsUp, BEQ. QEB.

fave stuffins:

* ANI. {What makes nose noise?}. Primo stuff. It's almost like the runtpuzs have a (better) twin, snatched from the litter at birth.
* RUGLIKE. Surely the original BEQclue referenced the Trumpmeister's pointy head camouflage. BEQ would not let that opportunity slip by.
* Funky clues, like the ANI one. BEQ is the king of inventin these. All- time fave BEQ clue: {"This shit always happens to me"}. … Answer below* ...
* NUNCHAKUS/EPHESUS. Primo nat-tick. BEQ pioneered the nat-tick, gridhistory fans.
* Desperation. Of the good kind, tho. Simply learn to embrace RAPCDS and ARETOO and AIRRACE and ANI and LUPE, in service of the greater gridgood. U get some harlarious clues in return, and learn a lot about musicians. [Of which BEQ is one, btw.]
* DEADEST. Luv this one, from a philosophical standpoint.
* GAH. Surely the original BEQ clue gave us a specific (funny) frustrated cry. That'd be more his style. Example: "This sudoku sucks!"

Thanx, Quigleymeister. Nice U count. It's the lil darlins, that count.


* TYPICAL.

Mohair Sam 1:16 PM  

@J Austen - Awesome definition of your genre. You might want to shorten the title ATAD for public consumption, but I think you nailed it. Still love your work however.

@Mike Rees - reread your post on @mathgent's recommendation - Good stuff!

old timer 1:23 PM  

OFL got it right today. This was Saturday level difficult. But then, I almost always find Friday puzzles the hardest of the week. I did finish, with some help from Dr Google to get FRED and LUPE which made me put in FLAGRANT FOUL though I have no idea what that has to do with a "hack". That made me change "test" to NEST. I figured, "test flight, flight test, AHA!"

For the longest time I thought the swallow was some sort of "yellow" bird. The horribly clued RAPCDS made me put in DOWJONES, which forced JELLOSHOT and therefore TEENJEOPARDY, which was my Final Answer.

My Larousse indeed confirms that "leser" means to do harm, to produce a lesion, hence the clue is fair.

I'm just fine with RUGLIKE. Think not of what is on your window at home, but of those heavy curtains you see in theaters. Some even look like rugs. Fine with NUNCHAKUS too, though liker many I had confidently written in "nunchucks" which are illegal to possess in California.

I have never seen EXURBIA before, though it seems like a logical word. And as I recall, EXPORT TAXes are banned by the Constitution.

Teedmn 1:29 PM  

I was tooling along quite nicely, thinking my twice weekly BEQ solves were helping me suss out the crazier clues. JELLO SHOT went in off just the E (I hate them also, @LMS). So 43D was going to be JIGGLED or wIGGLED. I had the NW and entire East side with only a writeover at imPORT TAX. Almost had it wrestled to the JUDO MAT.

Then,in the West, with PERSON crossing NUmCH, I ground to a halt. Average producer = _ O _ J/W OmES? Does that end with sOmes instead of my J/W? Argh. I finally went off to grab lunch because my time was already at 19 minutes and wasn't going to get better.

Walked back to my desk and _ _ _ G_ _ _TFOUL suddenly because FLAGRANT FOUL which let me clean that area up. I took ARE TOO out and stared at the inky West Central void. Hit myself over my head with the NUm dumbness at 35D and when it changed to NUN, I got DOW JONES. That JIGGLED all sorts of things loose, like SCRAWL and I SCRAWLed over the finish line. And in a mere 23 minutes.

Thanks, BEQ!

Teedmn 1:32 PM  

GAH, third paragraph above, "because" should become "became". Rats.

Undomiel 1:40 PM  

That wonder of the world happens to be the temple of Artemis referenced in the clue, too, so it really wasn't as obscure a clue as all that. Granted, you usually see it called the temple of Diana because we're used to lists coming via the Romans, but they're pretty much the same goddess and Ephesus was a Greek colony, so it really was dedicated to Artemis.

Undomiel 1:57 PM  

What bothers me is that there's no reason ever to add an s-plural to a Japanese spelling like NUNCHAKU when there's already an Americanized version that does take an "s". Japanese doesn't distinguish between singulars and plurals for nouns and loan words from it in English typically don't either unless we've mucked with the spelling, so it looks/sounds wrong as well as being obscure.

Malsdemare 2:06 PM  

Didn't have a clueabout NUNCHUKAS and the names in the SW could have been anyone. It took forever to get JELLYSHOTS, which I loved, but EPHESUS just floated into my brain and onto the page once I had the E I needed help, as I often do with end-of-the-week puzzzles, but felt pretty good about the stuff I got. Tanks, BEQ.

@Z @ Mohair Sam. I appreciate the thoughtful replies to yesterday's post about raising the gas tax. I'm with you both as long as we respect the very dire reality of the working poor. I drive a Prius so you know what group I'm in; my housekeeper drives my son's old Sunfire, which she bought because a) it ran and b) she could afford it. When we talk about the economy, she's how I operationalize cicumstances for those barely making it.

Joe Bleaux 2:16 PM  

The four -- the VERY FOUR -- I logged on specifically to bitch about (though more emphatically on GAH)! So, ditto, bud. And yeah, since I'm here, NUNCHUCKS, too.

Joe Bleaux 2:26 PM  

Stick the letter "i" in the middle of the word "nose" -- adding AN I makes it "noise." (Gah, right?)

Stanley Hunter 2:29 PM  

Mad respect for BEQ but RUGLIKE is an absurdity.

Masked and Anonymous 2:30 PM  

p.s.
Aug 7th, 1996 marks the Quigleymeister's 20th anniversary in the puz biz. [Source: his comment at xwordinfo.com]. I'm sure someone in the Comment Gallery here has already brought that up, but want to lay out my personal Congratz to him, anyhoo.

That 1996 puz was a pretty fun&feisty NYT WedPuz, btw. Check it out, Quigfans and dojofans. Also, see NATICK debut, in 6 July 2008 NYTPuz, called "What the H?"

DUCES. har. Those lil dudes lose every time to air ACES, U know.

M&A Help & Hero Worship Desk.


Hiatus Kaiyote info
**gruntz**

Daniel 2:43 PM  

That darn U in EPHESUS/ NUNCHAKUS! Had to run the vowels to get it. Otherwise, enjoyed the challenge and delight of almost finishing this puzzle.

If you've ever been in the restaurant business, you know that when it's the slowest (least hopping) it's the DEADEST...bad for the pocketbook...

Don't you know? RINDS aren't particularly great for the compost pile, but not terrible either.

Didn't like AIR ACE...who says that?

USA USA USA USA

ANON B 2:48 PM  

I wish there were a way that I
could criticize this puzzle and
still have my criticisms accepted,
but there isn't,so I won't.
Suffice it to say that there were
many answers that I have never
heard of and probably won't remember.

ANON B 3:02 PM  

P.S.
If I ever meet Brendan Emmett Quigley
he had better hope that I am not carrying
a nunchaku.

Manybadhabits 5:14 PM  

@Mohair Sam (11:24) -- To be missed as much as a martini! I bet that's the highest compliment anyone has ever paid to a Twix bar. Your doc is a killjoy, btw.

Alysia 7:36 PM  

Don't know that anyone will get down this far (holy comments, Batman!), and it's possible that by this point, the misunderstanding has been cleared (haven't yet read through all of today's posts) but for what it's worth:

The "formal" name/title is Jeopardy! Teen Tournament. Because it's easier and quicker to say "Teen Jeopary," most do. That makes it, however, an informal little sobriquet.

Z 8:19 PM  

@Alysia - Thanks. Explains why it is there. I wonder, though, if anyone would have complained about the absence of "informally" if it had been omitted. Wait! What am I asking? Of course someone would have picked that nit.

@Joe Bleuax 2:16 - What are you talking about?

@Martin Abresch - If, like me, you wrote in NUNCHUCkS first, that "K" is going to block EPHESUS even after you yank it out. I also arched an eyebrow at RAP CDS, but for the "get off of my lawn" reason that mix tapes are only ever on cassettes (I know. I know. Doesn't mean I have to like it).

Unknown 8:27 PM  

thank for share

It's easy to care for dogs

Anonymous 9:08 PM  

I expected Rex to rate it EASY, with a *rough* SW corner. I'm not a pro solver but moved quickly until stalling out in that ill-fated corner. While it doesn't make a whole lot of sense I wanted DRAGBUNTFOUL (baseball lingo) instead of the correct answer, which held NUNCHUCKS in place setting the stage for a 11th hour DNF.

Also, Nunchaku is Japanese spelling - the clue should have indicted foreign spelling no? And Nunchakus appears to be incorrect Japanese at that...

Anonymous 3:32 AM  

I've been on a roll lately but I only solved maybe half of this puzzle. In general thought this week has been a nice change of pace from how easy the past few weeks have been.

spacecraft 11:58 AM  

Despite not being a barfly and thus never having heard of JELLOSHOTS (man, that just HAS to be weird!), I actually finished this. Oh yeah, it took a complete guess at the hip-hop guy and the ancient city crossing--you know how I love hip-hop (and how many RAPCDS I own=0). Could just as easily have been, say, a T in there. Went with P because...well, because it comes before T in the alphabet.

I'm not even sure how I did it. For one thing, my Christie's event was--of course--an Auction. Sure, yours was, too. The page looks like a dog's breakfast, with the traditional anglicized spelling of NUmCHukS and all. I agree about the trying-too-hard cluing; you can get from "Mortal" to PERSON, but it's a convoluted path. Not NOFAIR, just twisty. You might say the clue WRITHES.

Speedy Eric HEIDEN helped me out in the east; there just aren't that many multi-gold WINTER Olympians. OOH, but we believed in miracles, didn't we, Al, as the arena thundered "USAUSA!" What a time!

The triumph factor outweighs everything else on this one. No DOD except @rondo's ANI from yesterday taking a RUGLIKE curtain call. As the golf season draws to a close and football takes center stage, I should change my grading system accordingly. But having received a compliment just yesterday on the golf method, I'll stick with it ATAD longer. Birdie.

rain forest 1:34 PM  

Yes, a challenging puzzle, BUT having IN ORBIT, EXURBIA, LECTURE, and ABLE as gimmes, and owning a EPHESUS tee-shirt, as well as having downed the odd JELLO SHOT (against my will. Also, I didn't inhale.), I was able to finish cleanly, except for NUNCHuckS. Knowing the U had to be there though, helped. I suppose RUGLIKE sort of works, but that Fiasco guy was a total unknown. So, again yes, the SW was the toughest to work out.

The rest came via a workmanlike effort on my part. I have to say I wince whenever I type in USA USA. I wonder whether that was chanted regarding the trashed washroom and fantasy alibi.

Funny how REPTILE, HORSE, and PERSON were even a little vexing. I have to say that, overall, this put up a fight, but the excellent clues and fair crosses, except for LUPE, made this a fair fight.

I now wonder, though, if you could have a clue "what makes an ear tear?" Add T.

Burma Shave 2:11 PM  

FLAGRANTFOUL, NOFAIR

ISEENOW that JELLOSHOTs ARETOO EASY,
so I won’t LECTURE ONE PERSON who tries
and is ABLE to answer TEENJEOPARDY
while getting JIGGLED and HEIDEN ARISE.

--- AGHA OOH GAH CAHN

this stream of unconsciousness brought to you by EPHESUS, the DEADEST REPTILE in XANADU

rondo 4:10 PM  

Mea CULPA, two w/o squares: the multi-tense “put” as in 1d Put away HaD me for a while and TiM for TOM gave me a funny looking aNiRBIT until fixing. Of course before HaD, I was thinking eat or ate.

Last time I had JELLOSHOTs was at a sports bar in Milwaukee while watching a Packer game, HAHA (Clinton-Dix)! They JIGGLED as they were handed out, as did the waitress. The (green, of course) JELLOSHOTs were given out at random and some other concoction was served up in free SHOTs to every PERSON in the bar each time the Packers were ABLE to score.

With all due respect to ANI, as recently as yesterday, I think LENA is better clued as yeah baby Olin, or does that skew too old? LENA also appears in many Ole and Sven jokes, we’ve been missing Ole for a while.

I agree with the challenging rating, but part of it was finishing it in two sittings due to other commitments. ISEENOW that was not the EASY way to do it. What makes a moth month? ANN.

leftcoastTAM 4:49 PM  

Started out well in the North and the East, but then struggled in the Southwest.

Thought I was home free after getting NUNCHAKUS and its JUDOMAT, GAH, and EPHESUS crosses. But no.

Learned something from my mistake: A JELLOSHOT is JIGGLED not JoGGLED. Not sure it was worth the lesson.

Diana,LIW 5:06 PM  

I'm in the "happy to get 90%" camp today. Loved SCRAWLs clue.

Didn't feel like BEQ to me - too RUGLIKE.

Diana, Lady-in-
Waiting for Crosswords

Sailor 5:09 PM  

SOLI is pluralized with an Italian "i" but DUCES and NUNCHAKUS take an English "s"?? GAH!

BS2 5:56 PM  

RILED SPLEENS

The DEADEST REPTILE in XANADU, let’s call him EPHESUS,
WRITHES in a DOJO on his RUGLIKE JUDOMAT for good reason -
Cecil DEMILLE spews LITANIES of DOWJONES and Jesus
and how EXPORTTAX on RAPCDS ought to be TREASON.

--- LUPE LESE NUNCHAKUS

leftcoastTAM 6:23 PM  

Oh, I should have added the head slap for SOLo instead of SOLI, which would have provided the JIGGLE instead of the JoGGLE.

GAH.

Diana,LIW 8:22 PM  

BS2 - Where did that come from? A LECTURE??? Just too splendid! Your mind is like a PERSON who has escaped EXURBIA by going INORBIT to XANADU via EPHESUS. ISEENOW you are greater than the DOWJONES average of CAHN-like poets, though not the DEADEST of SPLEENS calling a FLAGRANTFOUL. NOFAIR. I would LENA HORSE or an ARTSALE on your NEST of poetic SCRAWLs against the NULLSET of ARETOOdeetoos. EWE AIM to EASY LITANIES, but I say, my CULPA.

D,LIW

BS3 9:36 PM  

@D,LIW - some days it's more INORBIT than others. Most years I have a Dali calendar hung for inspiration, or amusement. If that's not it, perhaps the lingering or flashback effects of controlled substances in the 1970s . . . or the 2010s. One day at a time. If my math is correct, October 1 will be 600 consecutive days and a total of +/- 640 verses. Looks like you can string NYTXWP words together pretty well yourself.
Lambo should be impressed.

Diana,LIW 10:44 PM  

BS3 et al

Mr. W has a print of Hallucinogenic Toreador in two places, and we've been to three of Dali's art museum collections. I think it's those little bugs that create inspirations.

Lambo is never impressed - he just takes greatness for granted.

D,LIW

Tondeleo 7:53 PM  

In Italian "duce" means simply "leader" or head cheese. Like saying the Pied Piper and Jimmmy Carter were dictators.

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