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SATURDAY, Jun. 7, 2008 - Karen M. Tracey (1929 GLOBE CIRCUMNAVIGATOR)
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: none
Welcome to Germania! Also known as "Zeds Aplenty." A very nice Karen Tracey puzzle today, but I have to ask: What happened to my reliably Pop Cultural Karen? Are you taking the anti-pop culture criticism of your puzzles to heart? I mean, yes, you threw me a bone with Tabitha SOREN (8D: Tabitha formerly of MTV News), but otherwise, nothing insanely contemporary and colloquial. I can't complain too much, since the puzzle is so good otherwise, but still, I miss the hip KT. Your ELOI (43D: Repeated word in Mark 15:34 that means "my God") was denuded of its fictional raciness and made boringly biblical (actually, it was kind of cool to find out that ELOI had a non-"Time Machine" meaning). Your KATZENJAMMER (22A: Hangover) did not involve Kids. And so on. Yet there's ONE O' cat and "Mourning Becomes Electra" and "The Fountainhead" and OLD YELLER and some guy named AL Ritz ... what year is it?
Had problems with both long sciencey words today, especially ISOMERISM (31A: Quality of glucose and fructose), which I had as ISOMERITY (it's like TEMERITY, only ... equal?). The SW of the puzzle was the last and hardest part for me, and it didn't help that I had no idea what followed WAVE in the answer to 30D: Any one of concentric circles in a ripple, in physics. I put EVENT in there for a while, but the magical key to unlocking he SW turned out to be rethinking "menu" in the clue 53A: Menu choice (undo). I had - fairly confidently - SIDE. Had vowel trouble where KATZENJAMMER met SPINELS (7D: Red gemstones) and again where REM met EZRA (25D: Poisoned husband in "Mourning Becomes Electra"). I guess the guy's name couldn't very well have been AZRA, but I've never heard of REM as a 24A: Radiation unit. It's a sleep cycle, it's a band ... it's a radiation unit? OK.
Didn't we have AMORE in this same place, clued almost this same way, not very long ago (1A: Subject for a Venetian boat song)? I think so. I feel like SSSS (6A: Deflation indication) - a total crutch answer - and LORRAINE, clued via Nancy (20A: Nancy's home), have also made recent appearances. One thing I didn't know - what the hell "Uitlander" is. Four letters ending in "R" meant the 60A: Uitlander foe was clearly BOER, but ... wow. You don't see the UI- opening much. The UINTA Mountains. That's about all I got. LA TOSCA (37A: 1887 play on which a 1900 opera is based) and LAKE TITICACA (21D: High water?), which intersect at the "T", are both weird in their inclusion of the first words in each phrase, which you rarely see. If the answer had been TITICACA, no one would have blinked, so the LAKE part is an odd added bonus. I don't think of the LA in LA TOSCA as a bonus. Seems a fairly desperate answer. If you're going to go off-book, make it interesting. At least it was easy to guess. Heavy on the classical music today, with a pair of Tanglewood clues:
- 14A: Tanglewood Music Festival town (Lenox) - didn't know
- 29A: Tanglewood concert hall dedicatee (Ozawa) - didn't know, though I know OZAWA, so guessed it
All in all, the puzzle seemed solid, tough, but weirdly old-fashioned. A sop for the folks who like the cultural center of their puzzles to be Lincoln Center circa 1950. Did people used to ENPLANE (39D: Go into a cabin) back then? Because that's not a word I've heard anyone use. Though my guess was actually worse: ENTRAIN.
Confab:
- 15A: Coast Guard noncoms (CPOs) - was there a movie called "CPO Sharkey?" Whoops, no. It was a short-lived late-70s sitcom starring Don Rickles. HA ha.
- 38A: Solicited (canvassed) - right off the bat I got this. No idea why.
- 45A: 1929 globe circumnavigator (Graf Zeppelin) - so badly wanted LEAD ... even though I know full well how the band spells its name.
- 49A: "Jazz in Silhouette" composer (Sun Ra) - wow. Did not see that coming. The name of the composition does not seem to go with the name of the composer. Totally different feel.
- 56A: Eight-state coast-to-coast rte. (I Ten) - got it instantly. Wonder if anyone tripped on it. Odd to write out the "10," but you sort of have to for crosswords, don't you?
- 1D: Zany comic Ritz and others (Als) - No Idea
- 4D: Cooper's role in "The Fountainhead," 1949 (Roark) - haven't thought about this book for 20 years, but ROARK came back to me quickly. I wanted GAULT, but really I wanted GALT, who is the hero of the other Rand opus, "Atlas Shrugged."
- 9D: Former boomer (SST) - seen the clue before. Boom here = sonic boom.
- 11D: Some opinion offerers (columnists) - they are busy this election cycle.
- 12D: Part of a Crookes tube (anode) - uh ... no. Guess.
- 18D: Coll. entrance hurdle, once (SAT I) - those who complained the last time this answer showed up, without reference to its erstwhileness, are hereby vindicated.
- 23D: Drs.' reading since 1883 (JAMA) - Journal of the ... you know the rest.
- 32D: 1957 film with the 1963 sequel "Savage Sam" ("Old Yeller") - this puzzle is like a time machine. "Old Yeller" and "Bambi" in a double feature (55D: Disney deer => ENA).
- 36D: Ab _____ (absent) (esse) - Latin!
- 45D: Attire for a trip around the world (G-suit) - good one. Almost doesn't need the question mark.
- 48D: Child tenders (Nanas) - Not as crispy as the Chicken Tenders, but tasty nonetheless.
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61 comments:
If solving time is any indication, this puzzle was much more challenging for me than yesterday's. It sucked me in with Amore - then nothing. Pulled Lake Titicaca out of my --- and finally got some traction. The NE and the SW took forever. Also wanted a side from the menu, but knew that run to was needed. Had the Zeppelin figured out, Graf came to me from another xword name "Graf Spee". . Who knew there was a sequel to Old Yeller? He died, end of story, no? Didn't know Al, but I've heard of the Ritz Brothers. Guess their names aren't as well known as those zany Marx's. Last fill for me was isomerism/maws. I agree, we were in a time warp today Really solid puzzle - just lots of odd/unknown fill from too many parts of my brain.
Normally I'm big on KMT's puzzles, but my first four answers in the puzzle were, SOREN, SST, SSSS, and CPOS in that order and it kind of sullied my experience. Maybe if I had gotten the wonderful Katzenjammer (one of my all time favorite words) earlier it would've helped.
Still a great puzzle tho.
Old Yeller died?
S-l-o-w but steady progress, with a coupla spurts of activity. Yes, we have just had AMORE and LORRAINE, you'd think those have been instant gimmes... Somehow came up with LENOX even though I was thinking Tanglewood was in Colorado.
Had trouble getting rid of a few things that didn't really fit in the first place, like NCAA and RTEI/SKIRT. Hardest to get rid of was ISOMERITY, which totally did--that was my final area.
I'm sure Orange will be by later to snicker at TITICACA, especially coming so closely on the heels of ESPOO. Watch out for BABY RUTH tomorrow!
I didn't think I'd finish this without a google, but managed it! Then I did a PPG to see if SUNRA was for real. One lucky break: living near Tanglewood!
With so many places to wander off in a wrong direction, it was something of a rollercoaster ride trying to hang on to the letters that had to be right. SCHIZOIDS started out tentatively as paranoics. And I have no inkling how "headache" came out as KATZENJAMMER, except I had the ...jammer.
It even took a while to remember it wasn't a flower needed for "bluebonnet", but SCOT! (Lots of those running back in the family tree). With the NW ironed out, I mustered to courage to persevere -- and in the end can say yes, medium rating after all.
Thanks to all for your raves on the Furminator! My cat's delighted with the new routine -- happy camper.
∑;)
LA TOSCA is the play, TOSCA is the opera. Had RAD for a while and then changed it to REM (if it isn't one it's the other). Didn't understand MINER (one in a rush?) and never heard of ELON so I was stuck there. The rest was tough but doable (uitlander obviously means foreigner in some Germanic language, so BOER wasn't too hard). Not being from the US, I have no idea what ONEO means.
@Patrick - Think "gold rush" and miner makes sense. I kept trying to fit a Greek letter in there, wanting the rush to refer to a fraternity or sorority.
All,
I have had multiple people explain the difference between TOSCA and LA TOSCA to me this morning, so obviously I did not make myself clear. My apologies.
I know which is the opera and which is the play. I'm saying the answer LA TOSCA is "desperate" not because it's wrong, but because it seems an answer that a constructor would include only out of desperation (i.e. nothing else would fit without destroying the surrounding parts of the grid). LA adds nothing to TOSCA. It's fine. It's not wrong. It's not horrible.
rp
@jannieb: thanks, I get it now :-) I actually had MOSES for a few moments (he was found in a basket made of rushes as I recall) but the moment passed ...
I'm a Sun Ra fan, but I didn't connect him with "Jazz in Silhouette" until "gsuit" etc made him inevitable. It's surprising that a guy from Saturn would call what he played "jazz."
The puzzle was a bit of a wrestling match, but gratifying - partly because "katzenjammer" turned up so unexpectedly - who knew it meant "hangover." And I was expecting the name of Nancy Drew's home-town instead of "Lorraine." What was it, Bayport? Or is that the Hardy Boys's?
But Rex, wouldn't Tosca be "wrong,"since the name of the play is "La Tosca"?
Couldn't get far with this one ... just about everything I tried turned out to be wrong: I had hiss, paranoids, icecoffee, ncaa (for march group), lafrance (for nancy's home), hairdryer. Ouch.
--Steve
Hard puzzle, but, yes, Rex, the SAT I answer made me smile.
So many ways to go wrong in this puzzle, and I probably hit most of them. Got going in the deep SE with ENA but then chose EPSON for the "HP competitor" which gave me SOUPS for "Child [think Julia] tender [offer]" and JUICE as the tail end of "summer cooler" -- but, no. Dead end, but the JEA ending I had temporarily for "high water" somehow made me think of a high altitude LAKE and I was finally off and running. (Okay, stumbling.)
@wade, I don't see an issue with Googling. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, and certainly I prefer to finish a puzzle with doing so, even if (like today) it takes me an eternity. But, if I'm totally stuck, I have no problem looking for, say, one answer that may break the puzzle open for me or get me started again. And, if that doesn't do the trick, I'll try another one and so forth. Sometimes my knowledge set just does not match what the puzzle calls for. I figure, why deny myself the fun of working through it -- and learning stuff that will help the next time. Just one person's opinion. Have a nice weekend everyone. Euro 2008 is on!
@wade --
What do you think about Googling?
56A:ITEN *could* be spelled out I-I-O, though it would be weird to see the same symbol used once for I and once for 1 in the same entry... I think it's even been a while since we've seen things like IOOINIGHTS, which used to be a somewhat common dodge.
"Uitlander" makes sense, as in "outlander" -- Wikipedia says it's "foreigner" in Afirkaans, and Afrikaans started out as Dutch, where "uit" is probably about as common a word as our "out".
NDE
i think this is the best i've ever done on a saturday. this puzzle didn't feel objectively easy, but so much of it was in my wheelhouse that i blazed through it in what feels like a thursday time. two tanglewood clues? two physics clues (well, three if you count crookes tube, but i've never heard of it)? aramaic word from the bible? eugene o'neill reference? 1990s basketball player? i'm all over it. the only things that tripped me up today were SPINELS (??) and SUNRA (never heard of him, but reading about him on wikipedia, he sounds totally wild).
lots of music today. i know KMT usually includes some, but in addition to the two tanglewood clues and SUNRA, we had VIOL, LATOSCA (okay, technically literature, but who would have ever heard of this play if not for puccini?), and brahms' piano trio #1. i guess there could have been more--CANON, for instance.
the start of a beautiful weekend. like norm, i'm off to watch euro 2008, and very much looking forward to rafa v. roger tomorrow.
It's no body's business how you or anybody solves the puzzle, in my view all is fair, the point is to solve it and in so doing get better at it. Getting better leads to more independence, better skills, more enjoyment, and ultimately more pleasure, which, should be the point of solving.
I was never here today. None of this ever happened.
"A sop for the folks who like the cultural center of their puzzles to be Lincoln Center circa 1950."
"a sop"? "a sop"?!! ;-)
and truly -- i don't think it has nuthin' to do with where folks like their "cultural center" to be. the puzzles make every time period fair game. i take it your point is that this one doesn't have enuf balancing references for your own comfort zone, but tomorrow *is* another day...
while ground was broken for lincoln center in the late '50s, btw, the buildings only started appearing in the early '60s. i had a music professor in college (late '60s) who was outraged that the complex had been built in such a "safe" area [genuinely in need of urban renewal, yes], and not, say, in harlem -- which certainly would have benefited from this kind of urban renewal/attention back then... interesting idea to contemplate anyway.
cheers, all!
janie
This puzzle kicked my butt. TONI, SOREN and ITEN were my only opening gimmes, then I fell into the same trap as Rex with SIDE but at least the "D" was right, because my stab with MAINLANDER turned out to be correct. I also filled in ELON right away, but I drew blanks with all the down answers in the NE and ended up erasing it for several minutes. I made some slow progress from there, but after 30 minutes I found myself googling "Tanglewood" and "Jazz In Silhouette." (hangs head in shame) So, I finished, but it wasn't the pure solving experience I strive for. At least it happened on Saturday.
I needed this puzzle - had to take a break from the myriad preparations for our forthcoming trip. It did the trick.
Wonderful - an international feast, with words from the Italian, German, Russian, Afrikaans, just off the top of my head. Don't forget LAUDE and ASYLA (Latin) and TORT (Legalese via Old French). Thanks too for the gimmes for the scientifically inclined (ISOMERISM, WAVEFRONT, REM, ANODE); and the music lovers (VIOL, LENOX, OZAWA).
Would an ITALIANICE help ease a KATZENJAMMER (literally caterwaul)?
My sticky place here developed when I tried to put Camille where LATOSCA should be. Then I remembered that the play was La Dame Aux Camellias (I think).
.Boy, do I love Karen Tracey! When I see her byline on a puzzle, my energy level seems to go up.
Even though I no longer time myself, I find that I zip through one of hers because I am on her wavelength in a big way. For instance, we had AMORE clued the same way in the same spot about a month ago and LORRAINE was clued the same way (I think) also about a month ago. The ROARK/LENOX crossing was a gimme for me and this produced my first Karen Tracey Moment:
EXTRAVAGANZA/KATZENJAMMER
I did not know what the clue Hangover meant but JAMA at 23D confirmed this answer. This broke open the North/Midlands of the puzzle and helped produce the long pilllar LAKETITICACA which got me into Louisiana.
I had a sense of deja-vu about this puzzle. I have seen several of these clues before, most notably UNDO RUNTO ENA. These helped produce the second Karen Tracey Moment: GRAFZEPPELIN and the puzzle fell in relatively short order.
I am not sure why but all my guesses seemed inspired. I guessed with confidence, I suppose, and I think it's all about the wavelength thing.
Wade, I'm sorry about your existential problem with the puzzles and Googling and I hope you're able to clear it up soon. For what its worth, my relationship to Googling is not that different from yours. I don't like to Google for answers but I do Google after the fact to both confirm answers and expand my knowledge set.
Rex, your joke about Child tenders was better than the one Orange did in her blog.
Update
Wade-
I just noticed you deleted all your comments so I guess it was all existential so . . .
Never mind
Picked my way through this one today but still had an easier time with it than yesterday's. I'm finding that Friday puzzles seem to vex me more than Saturday ones for some reason.
Four Ss in a row for a hissing noise? How many or how few is fair game? Could you see a puzzle with a 15-letter S for something like "big leak"?
Not much else to add to the discussion other than that I had "hula dancer" for a while.
@ Rex: I was thinking that "CPO Sharkey" was a movie with Steve Martin but that was "Sgt Bilko".
Also (and you probably know this), the band purportedly got their name because Keith Moon said, "Yeah, that concept will fly like a lead zeppelin."
Fave answer: EXTRAVAGANZA. Just because.
Tough puzzle for me! NW was deceptively easy but the rest was a bear as there was much I didn't know. My primary concern was being able to bluff/guess my way through it without googling. I made it but I was sure something(s?) were wrong and I was not disappointed. PPG confirmed I guessed REM/EZRA/OZAWA right but blew TONI/ELON/MINER. I also tried NCAA and had RUMMAGED briefly for TRIAGED.
Enjoyable puzzle and a good work out, plus I learned a bunch of new stuff, (GRAFZEPPELIN who knew?) thanks Karen!
Sorry I logged on to late to see Wade's take on googling. Probably similar to mine. I'm always trying for an error free week and if I have to google it counts as an error for me. Your rules may differ.
@ miriam b: Have a great trip! If you still have time, I think you -- and other food-lovers -- will enjoy today's LA Times puzzle. It even has a hidden bit of pasta ... (not really a spoiler).
∑;)
miriam b: on the right track. la dame aux camelias was a novel by dumas (fils), which became an opera... but not CAMILLE. it was adapted by verdi into la traviata. i think the years in the clue are a little too late for that anyway.
ah, wikipedia informs me that the novel was adapted into a play (known as CAMILLE in the english-seaking world) which has been widely performed. so you were even closer than i thought.
It was unfortunate for me today that LOLLAPALOOZA and EXTRAVAGANZA both have 12 letters and share that Z in the second last space. I had finished the whole right hand side of the puzzle and had the Z from ZEPPELIN, and when I came up with lollapalooza off of just that lone Z, I simply couldn't believe the level of my genius! Needless to say I left it in for a very long time and it made for difficult progress.
Phantom Wade is cool with me ... like the echo of the Big Bang.
Trouble spots today were in acting like a baby. WAIL, then BAWL before recalling As You Like It. ASYLA? I sketched in ABRIS -- who is this ENA character, anyway? New Age foreshadower? Any chemist ever use the term ISOMERISM? Sure, the Kyoto ECOL thing works but it felt a bit discordant. Thought I was on to something with FALSE START for the Track cover-up, as if you'd gotten away with it.
Glad to learn what a KATZENJAMMER actually is. I remember some style consciousness from the early 70s featuring CPO jackets, and the related adolescent irony of wearing army fatigues back then. Took a while to recall that OZAWA moved on to Boston after San Francisco. A bit tentative about associating Solicited and CANVASSED so closely, but realized there's ample shared space. Dropping in EXTRAVAGANZA on just a T and an A made this puzzle sing.
You guys are good. 1-Down in my previous NYT puzzle was AMORE, clued also in relation to Venice and boats. Neither of my submitted clues referenced either, though, so you have W.S. to thank for that bit of continuity/deja-vu.
I was pretty neutral on La Tosca, didn't really consider it a desperation entry. The real desperation entry is SSSS. The original NW of this puzzle had to be redone to get rid of Carl Zeiss (more German!), Hasek, and Acis. I wanted to keep both KATZENJAMMER and EXTRAVAGANZA so resorted to both a cheater square pair and SSSS. I consoled myself that at least I hadn't put it at the bottom or right side of the puzzle, it's at least a little more unusual to see it at the top.
Rex, I don't believe I'm moving away from pop cult, sometimes it just works out that way. I do take into account feedback, though (particularly from editors), so am trying to avoid confluences of either-you-know-it-or-don't names, etc. Sometimes that means I trade a name-packed corner for blander but more gettable fill. I honestly don't recall if I did any of that (other than the above 3-name pileup) with this puzzle though.
me, too-club: "camille" being my first entry where "latosca" appeared -- eventho i knew that puccini followed verdi chronologically. but i couldn't get "thegirlofthegoldenwest" to fit...
"camille" worked so well with "oleo" (bluebonnet), too -- 'cause "everything's better with bluebonnet on it," right?
;-)
janie
I didn't find this too hard, mostly because I got a lucky start with two answers -- Lenox (I spend parts of summers there) and Lorraine (I have some ancestors from Nancy). I had "lead zeppelin for a while" and was surprised when "katzenjammer" turned out to be the answer for hangover (where are the kids?). For a while I had us10 instead of iten...
Isomerism seems like a weird word to me. What's next? Isotopism?
I had "lake superior" for a while, which would have been a good answer, I think.
Tough puzzle for me today. Didn't get to it til this afternoon. Was busy tag-sailing this morning. I bought 6 Simpson's comic books in perfect condition.
Rex if you'd like I could send you one.
@artlvr - think I'll try the LA times puzzle now
Phantom Solver here...long day of meetings today and just wanted to check in and say MelloCat, you are great. Thanks for the puzzle.
@artLvr: The LA Times puzzle was delicious. Another needed break from all the devilish details of vacation prep. I was happily going about all those petty little chores when one of my daughters asked me to help her take 40 lb. of manure out of her car. That destroyed the rhythm I'd developed.
We're not actually leaving till 5 AM Tuesday, but meanwhile we have to eat stuff that won't keep for 2 weeks: fruit, herring, milk, and wonderful asparagus from my garden. I'm thinking asparagus frittata for tonight.
@miriam b that asparagus fritata sounds great. Where are you going on vacation. Just realized I didnt get my paper delivered this morning so I dont have the LA times. Don't like doing it on line
@chefbea: Going to CA to visit 2 daughters and their families. The other 2 daughters live here on LI, and my son and his family are in Westchester. We're all going and will all be together for varying periods during those 2 weeks: me, my five kids and eight grandkids.
So now I'll sign off and collect debris generated during a last-minute sewing project. Then there's the cat hair. And the recyclable stuff. Etc.
@miriam b Have a great trip!! e-mail me, I have a question for you
And speaking of Led Zeppelin-
"Led Zeppelin- The Ride" (plus 4 other coasters) recently opened at the brand new Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, SC. It's a big multi-looping coaster with a great Zep soundtrack.
On-ride videos can already be found on YouTube.
great saturday. the familiar clues for AMORE and LORRAINE, plus the ONE O' gimme made the NW supremely easy. growing up in massachusetts made LENOX and OZAWA gimmes as well. however, the entire eastern part of the puzzle was tough for me. it didn't help that i didn't know what KATZENJAMMER meant and was only half certain that it existed. favorite clue: "many a hawaiian tourist" - suggests a really exotic answer, but in fact...
Thanks for the puzzling extravaganza, mellocat.
Additional kudos for trying to avoid those nasty name crossings ("No, I don't know the author of 'The Spam Cookbook' or the president of Botswana. It's Google time."). If it avoids that sort of dilemma, I'll take 'SSSS' any day :).
For 45D, "attire for a trip around the world," I really wanted GIRDLE. Putting REDO instead of UNDO almost made it happen, but I couldn't force 6 letters into 5 squares.
... and I'm still baffled by what a G SUIT is?
@fergus -- GSUIT = Gravity Suit which is what astronauts wear as they orbit.
I have to admit I thought it was something akin to a G string. Like maybe you'd be packing very lightly on such a long trip?
@howard b spam is great. once did a whole radio show on spam. lots of good recipes. we can have spam treats at our next meeting
This was a real tough puzzle for me. I got Extravaganza and Italian Ice right away. I thought it would be easy after that - but I was wrong!!!I got Zeppelin but couldn't remember Graf - duh!! I had Eton before I realized it was Elon and got nothing in the SW. It took about an hour for me to get this puzzle excpt for the SW, which I never got. Mainlander, Wavefront & Gsuit - very cool.
Lincoln Center built from about 1959 to 1966. There was no there there in 1950.
Anonymous is only 10 hours late to the party--Janie explained that this morning.
Woooohooooo!!!! 100% correct...all on my own. Wooohooooo!!!!!
I had no chance against this puzzle. It was a ten-googler for me.
@megan p: I was thinking Nancy Drew as well. She lived in River Heights, by the way. I know because I wrote my honors thesis on her ("The New Nancy Drew: But Can She Still Tap-Dance in Morse Code?"). No Ph.D. here, buddy! Just a bachelor's in English from a mediocre party school. I'll never have to worry about whether people should call me doctor or not. Whew!
... and I ain't never gonna be called no Doctor neither, since I's not buyin' the truth that way, if it ever was.
Politics Philosophy & Economics, the undergraduate entree to so many swank Oxbridge City careers, has a better foundation than so many MBA paths.
There's still a chance that financiers will display a conscience.
I like my child tenders with sweet and sour, but barbeque is a close runner up.
I loved this puzzle, although I misspelled esra/osawa (like that). I had no idea what a g-suit is either Fergus. I did, however, pull Sun Ra out of...somewhere.
I was exactly on the Rex train for this one--Soren was a gimme; rethinking side was the dam break in the SW, etc. You know a puzzle's good when it gives you trouble but then gives you a deep satisfaction when you finish it ('cept for the z/s misstep, which shall hereby only count as a half-error, because those letters are related by marriage.
Good night.
The little plaza a block or two above the BofA building commemorates SunRa or someone with a similar name. A good place for free lessons in Tai Chi nevertheless.
(St. Mary's or the brick church across the street.)
I so wanted MOSES for one in a rush that after I erased it I put it back in, it was so good. Then I had MILER, feeling a little grumpy about it, and never would've guessed MINER. Maybe with a cap R for Rush...
I wanted KICKAPOO JUICE for 'high water' except it wouldn't fit without dropping the c. Ha! So I did, thinking alt. spelling, because it worked with CANON, until I ground to a halt and had to erase it too.
I still don't know what a "oneo cat" is, and I wouldn't know Tabitha Soren from Tabitha Stevens. This puzzle wasn't medium hard, it was medium impossible! Friday's was a breeze by comparison. Mileage varies, I guess.
Still, I'd rather have a hard one. They last longer.
sorry to get here so late. "ab ESSE" does not work for 'absent' because 'abesse' means 'to be absent', not simply 'absent'. 'absent' would be some declined form (as in the famous boy's reply when roll was being called 'absum' 'I am absent', abest, absunt, etc, or gerundivally 'abens'.
So much for maturation into taking a stab a a long answer with no crosses. 5D "Big production" was ELEPHANT CALF instead of EXTRAVAGANZA and 54A "Summer cooler" was ICED COFFEE instead of ITALIAN ICE for a while, the former for far too long. Each cost me time.
Oh well, perhaps I will eventually get there.
Pop culture is over-rated. This is the most enjoyable solve I've had in many months. It was barely accessible, with plenty of distinctive words appearing, and clues that rendered a great deal of satisfaction as I solved them. Even the 3-letter answers that are canonically landfill, had innovative presentation. Sure, a few words are commonly found, but the clues are hardly standard fare.
Kudos to Ms. Tracey and Mr. Shortz on this one.
Yes, REM is a standard unit of radiation; those of us who grew up during the arms race know this one quite well.
Hi this is The Fogman speaking to you on June 25, 2020. This one was VERY challenging even for a Saturday. I like doing the old NYT puzzles from the archives and then checking in here once I’m done. All I can say is this puzzle was sponsored by Bic Wite-Out correction tape...
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