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Turkish inn / MON 9-23-13 / Short-legged hound / African land whose name consists of three state postal abbreviations / John who succeeded William Henry Harrison
Monday, September 23, 2013
Constructor: Susan Gelfand
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
THEME: "IT'S TIME TO ROLL" (34A: "Let's go!" ... or a hint for the ends of 20-, 28-, 41- and 52-Across) — last word in theme answer is something you might roll
Theme answers:
- 20A: Food preparation cutting technique (SLICE AND DICE)
- 28A: School basics (THE THREE R'S)
- 41A: Look of infatuation (GOOGOO EYES)
- 52A: Fancy dress affairs (COSTUME BALLS)
[I didn't think the central theme answer was a real phrase that a human being might actually use, but then I found this video. If any human being is real, it's Dale Peterson.]
Word of the Day: IMARET (44D: Turkish inn) —
An imaret is one of a few names used to identify the public soup kitchens built throughout the Ottoman Empire from the 14th to the 19th centuries.These public kitchens were often part of a larger complex known as a Waqf, which could include hospices, mosques, caravanserais and colleges. The imarets gave out food that was free of charge to specific types of people and fortunate individuals. Imarets were not invented by the Ottomans but developed under them as highly structured groups of buildings. Nonetheless, imarets indicate an appreciation of Muslim religious teachings aboutcharity found in the Qur'an. (wikipedia)
• • •
The theme is OK, but not great. You want to change the meaning of those end words in the theme answer, and three of them are changed (i.e. the DICE and Rs and BALLS in the theme answers are not the kind you "roll"), but EYES is not. You make GOOGOO EYES with your actual EYES, which are also the ones you "roll." It's a minor flaw, but it's an easy Monday theme, and it should be tight. Also, the grid is weirdly made (big white corners, totally choppy middle), so there's a Lot of short junk. On the plus side, though, the puzzle did inadvertently create a really terrible but (to me) hilarious pejorative phrase—next time you're really angry with someone, try calling her (or him, I guess) the bottom two Acrosses in the SE corner. Then let me know how it goes. My money's on "not well."
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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69 comments:
Medium Mon. for me. Did not have the problems Rex had.
Minor nit: I think it would have been better to clue PSY with Gangnam Style...I was a PSYCH major not a PSY major.
That said, pretty zippy theme answers plus some interesting fill, liked it.
I haven't laughed so hard at anything crossword-related as Rex's suggested pejorative. That makes this puzzle worthwhile, regardless of its inherent merits.
Didn't get the theme as I was solving, and didn't even get it when I first read the writeup. Finally got it as "stuff you roll" (although, for whatever strange reason, rolling balls didn't make sense to me, but then I realized there's bowling).
To add another variation on 41A, I had GOOGLY EYES. The only GOO-GOO I immediately know goes along with "dolls" (please, no one ever make a theme focused on crappy '90s bands).
Struggled a bit because of GOOGLY EYES, and was also tripped up a bit in the SE, particularly with IMARET. Definitely north of my normal Monday time.
Still can't stop laughing at the 61A/64A combo. I really wish I knew people in my immediate social circle who read this blog, as I so want to bust that out in everyday conversation. Thanks, Rex, for the tremendous laugh.
I really do not think TITS should be in the puzzle. I had no idea what IMARE_ was, and I refused to believe that TITS was the answer for "Small songbirds." I tried to find any other possible letter. Just doesn't seem like a word that can avoid insulting a significant portion of solvers. Call it a titmouse.
I don't like seeing TITS in the NYT because it will always have a lame clue and deserves better. BEQ! He's the TITS!
There's something very Courtney Love about this puzzle.
This was a welcomed relief after my embarrassing Sat. and Sun. performance.
Like @Steve J. - I had GOOGly before GOO GOO. Also had Shape before SOLID at 8A. That was about it for write-overs. Very familiar with ROLLING EYES, I see them often when I ask Jon to explain something about my mew computer, they are accompanied by deep sighs. I'm really good at SLICING AND DICING, so beware Mr. A.
Challenging by Monday standards, I thought. RIALTO, IMARET, MEWL, OISE, CRAWS and OESTE. Imaret isn't even in the iPad spellchecker. The Wikipedia article on imarets is substantial and interesting. Thumbs up for learning something new on Monday!
Great clue for MALAWI. I liked IMARET next to ALLWET. Wanted ado for DIN and Wayne for ELWAY. No clue what the theme was until coming here.
I'm surprised at the objections to "tits". To me these objections recall small boys tittering at the use of "ass" in the bible.
"Tits bird" (without the quotes) gets over 39 million Google hits.
But, yes, hard for a Monday.
Challenging here at nearly 13 minutes. Yikes.
I'm up on Mackinac Island where the cable network is called "Lighthouse," there are more christian radio stations than rock radio stations, and I just woke up to explanation of Rand Paul's strategy. Dale Peterson fits right in.
IMAM/IMARET/MALAWI/CRAWS is an interesting combo crossing. CRAWS is familiar enough after the fact, but I considered ClAWS for a little bit and then ChAWS for a little bit longer before settling on CRAWS.
Hand up for GOOGly EYES which gave me the crossriver "yser" which totally mucked up that area for a good bit.
@Steve J - re:bad 90's bands - Had dinner at a Sports bar on Saturday. I was treated to the back to back to back aural feast of Daft Punk, Justin TImberlake, and Nicki Minaj. I answered my iPhone, it was the 70's. They wanted disco back. Give me crappy 90's band any day over neo-disco.
Monday easy for me. I had none of Rex's problems (except briefly GOOGLY). I've done enough xwords that IMARET is a gimme.
Brendan McNamara (12:33am): "Call it a titmouse."
Because it's so much better to reference a completely different bird genus—not to mention break up a single word into an unholy partial—for the sake of eschewing a word that could only be conflated with a mild epithet by the most immature and unsophisticated solvers?
I noticed Rex first had thought of the Oder as the French River.
As I'm sure he knows, the Oder is in Central Europe; it is 854 km long. It rises in the Czech Republic and flows through western Poland, later forming 187 kilometers of the border between Poland and Germany, part of the Oder-Neisse line. Wikipedia
Three of the best known cities on the river are: Frankfurt an der Oder, the "other" and much smaller Frankfurt in Germany, Wrocław (Breslau, in German), Szczecin (Stettin, in German); historically, the latter two cities have, at times, been part of Germany; they have been part of Poland since the end of the Second World War.
Here in the USA, where we call a male chicken a rooster instead of something else, we also call our little black-capped bird a chickadee. So the objections to 64A don's surprise me.
What does surprise me is that no one seems to have heard of making "goo goo eyes." A gimme for me; further proof that I am getting too old.
I didn't mind it, but aren't the Rs actual Rs, as well?
Challenging Mon. for me. Fine early week theme. I initially had GOOGly EYES too. POTATO EYES would have worked to change the meaning of that theme answer.
I'd much rather see TITS than a PEWIT, but that's just me.
@Steve J "I so want to bust that out in everyday conversation" Funny funny. You can't sneak that by us.
This was definitely on the hard side for me for a Monday. That IMAM eating the TAMALE near the MALAWI IMARET's SEWER – tough stough! Also – I kept considering MENS ROOM and VICE VERSA as themers on top of the fact that with my first look at the reveal's clue, I came away with the idea that the word phonetic was there. . .Took me a while to sort that all out.
@Steve J – and you roll snowballs, too. And in basketball at the end of the game when it's tight, the team mysteriously inbounds the ball with a slow roll, which I have *never* understood.
I'll take the high road and say I liked the ALL WET/SEWER cross. And BRAD Pitt crossing RIALTO is good.
Just fyi - this is TITS' eighth appearance in a NYT grid. The other seven are Wednesday and later. Here are the two most recent, and they both have serendipitous crosses:
TITS
TITS
Susan – did you consider PIZZA JOINT as one of your 10's? M & A dude wants to know.
Interesting that it starts with BRAD and ends with TITS, considering Angelina's recent news.
Thanks, Susan. Nice romp to start the week.
This seems like a perfect Monday theme to me ... loved how four very different things all ROLL.
SOLID over OBESE is nice with some HAM and a TAMALE thrown in.
I also liked the IMAM/IMARET crossing.
And ,thanks, @Rex, today I learned that "Small songbirds" live in the SEWER! :)
I solve my puzzle on my iPhone early evenings in my local watering-hole, a place called Frank's. To say it's a blue-collar joint would be to insult blue-collar workers. In fact, the local rehab has only one question on their intake evaluation - Have you ever been to Frank's twice? If so, you have a drinking problem, and you're admitted.
So, I finished my puzzle around 10:15 then nursed a few. A little after midnight the swing-shift regulars came in. Some obese guy in a greasy tee-shirt sat at the next stool, reeking of old fry-grease and sweating the place up. After the third time he elbowed me in the ribs, I took Rex's advice and said Hey SEWER TITS, give me some room.
I would have posted this last night, but the wait at the local emergency room is absolutely horrendous when the Steelers loose.
What's so hilarious about sewer tits? How old are you people?
Pretty easy Monday puzzle. Thought it was going to be all about food preparation when I got slice and dice!!
Thanks Rex. I gotta remember that one for my next DUI.
This bothered me a lot more than it bothered @Rex. Allow me to list my issues:
1. Not sure about -BALLS. Not all BALLS are rolled as a matter of their basic function. It seems to me that if I want to act like a ball is inherantly rollable, I need to specify the type (i.e., 'bowling ball,' 'bocce ball,' etc.)
2. ITSTIMETOROLL seems *very* forced to me. LETSROLL would have been much more in the language, imo. Could have run across the middle (with a black square between both words). ITSTIMETOROLL gets more hits than LETSROLL, but I get the feeling that's because it shows up arbitrarily in other phrases a lot, but not as a stand-alone.
3. The southeast could be better. I'm not offended by TITS, but I'm offended by MESSRS and IMARET.
4. Things feel awfully plural-y today.
Stashu I have been to Franks. Great choice for a watering hole... bad idea on the use of SEWER TITS.
Unremarkable but solid Monday excepts for our new term of endearment. Can not wait to see Andrea again and work it into the conversation once I have completed the GOOGOOEYES phase. I expect I will be dead soon so see you all on the other side were every crossword is a perfect Friday.
🌟🌟🌟 (3 Stars) Thank you Susan (ST) Gelfand.
See what the real Dale Peterson gets up to:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/28/dale-peterson-gun-alabama-shoplifting_n_2968471.html
Yup, Rex's creation made this puzzle for me, and I am proudly immature enough to giggle at it all morning.
@LMS - The clock doesn't start on an inbound play until the player picks up the ball.
Loved GOOGOOEYES. IMARET appeared a lot in the Maleska days. Don't object to TITS in this context. You might as well object to the Grand Tetons as an answer. And as for rolling BALLS, has no one ever sat on the floor rolling a BALL back and forth with a toddler. Endless fun--for the toddler. Easy Monday for me and I enjoyed the freshness.
Haven't been able to read Rex as much as I'd like - its been a busy September so far!
Agreed this was a tough Monday. Top I flew through, bottom was tricky.
Was away from computer printer all weekend, so still need to start the Sunday puzzle!
@Loren: Here's the thinking on the play you mentioned in basketball: When you inbound the ball, the clock doesn't start until a player touches the ball. Also, the 10-second window a team has to cross the half-court line doesn't start until a player has touched the ball. The slow roll allows the ballhandler to get the ball further up the court, but more importantly, gives the player throwing the inbound pass time to get up the court before the clock starts, enabling the team to have its full complement of players ready to begin the play, instead of a couple seconds of someone trailing the play. Since, in a late-game situation you're more likely to run a specific play, it theoretically buys the team a couple seconds and allows them to run the play with everyone.
@Anon 9:18: What's funny about it is the inherent absurdity of it. As for how old. I'm 43, and I hope I'm never so old that I can't indulge my goofy and immature side at the right time and place.
I thought this was a really good Monday puzzle - SOLID theme, interesting words (RIALTO, IMARET, BANDIT...). I wrote in GOO GOO EYES right away but otherwise seem to lead a sheltered existence as for me 61A + 64A = ???
@quilter 1 - Same thought on rolling a ball back and forth with a toddler.
@jberg - on the R's...I think they're different: readin', 'ritin', and 'rithmatic v. rolling the consonant.
Tough Monday! The three Rs and ABCs in one puzzle is nice. I had some trouble at 22A, did not immediately think of the double etc. Also stared at mens' roots for a moment....
Costume balls sounds off to me. Costume party or masked ball?
Hand up for googly eyes. Yes, this was tough for a Monday.
Will those whose knickers are in a twist over TITS not also join me in my shock over BALLS? I mean, really. Such impertinence in this under-edited monstrosity of a puzzle.
Perhaps we will soon be seeing a long-overdue return to the mores of the Victorians, who couldn't bear to mention the [warning--shocking language coming, er, arriving] *legs* of a piano and thus called them "limbs" and even hid the offending extremities under furniture skirts.
Thought I just had two write-overs: Silly one at 7D, BADDIE before BANDIT; perhaps more understandable at 44A, EMIR before IMAM. But then I see I messed up41 A, finished with GOOGOL EYES. I had wondered about 42 D -- the LISE was a river I never heard of, but then there are always strange rivers popping up in puzzles!
Analysis: I need more sleep!
@Steve J - What's so absurd about a condition derived from excessive darning? It is, after all, much worse than the more common, but still misunderstood, Knitter Tits.
@Michael Hanko - Just wait until the planetary themed puzzle tomorrow! I hear the fill will include roosters, spheres, small birds, and the central theme will be Neptune's neighbor. Or not.
@anon9:18 - Smile! you'll live longer.
As it can and does happen, I am enjoying the comments today more than the puzzle.
Yes like the rest of you my tamales are in an uproar. I am surprised that no one mentioned there was a mensroom that was so disgusting a mop was needed.
As far as sewer tits is concerned, I know certain pipes have nipples, I guess this one is just larger.
@lms: PIZZA JOINT?! Falsely accused, I say. Just try and find that stash, girl.
Wanted BACH OVER BEETHOVEN, tho.
M&A dude
Thought a fancy dress affair would be a Couture Ball (not a Costume Ball), and obviously don't know my rivers well enough, so my river was the Oiue (?) and my cat was a Rand (I'm a dog person, what can I say.) I've got to remember Bellum/Pax for the future. But really liked the puzzle anyway!
Yeah, I was sure that the SE, with BALLS, TITS, and ALLWET (and maybe ITSTIMETOROLL, MENSROOMS, and ORAL elsewhere) was going to bring Evil back, but oh well...
More grid gruel than I'd like -- ASA, ENS, PAX, DES, PSY, ISM, ELO, IMARET, ABCS, OISE, SOG, THOS, CAL.
A bit crunchy for Monday, but still within the range of a Monday puzzle, imo. The theme didn't do anything for me (while it impressed others, like Jeff Chen), but the puzzle was fun to solve, a lot more fun than yesterday. That is, I liked it!
East was hard, with ELWAY, MEWL, PSY. Near Natick.
Dontcha also roll TAMALEs? ching ching... 6 themers, 3 U-ers. Precarious imbalance. Real fun solve, tho.
fave weeject: ETCETC. Daily double. THOS woulda been a contender, if clued as a plural.
ALLWET TITS is definitely yer capital-rolled-R Rodeo. SEWER TITS does coproduce a nice little closing flourish, I gotta admit. Tackin on their symmetric companions gets you BRAD-AIDED SEWER TITS. For what it's worth. BRAD AIDED SEWER PITS would been more logical then, tho. (Hey! Multiple thoS!)
Puz has TITS and TOTS. Has there ever been a TATS-thru-TUTS puztheme? har. The primo original puz ideas continue to egest unabated...
I have submitted my official SunPuz contest entry dealy. But not to fret, @4-Oh: 24 prizes are still available. Still time to roll.
M&A
Agree that this was tough for a Monday, particularly the IMARET/ TITS cross. It would have been easier if the more common Clue for A64 had been used. I'm not up on my Turkish accomodations. Or my small song birds either.
Hey Rex - I love 61A/64A. I'll try it tonight at the bar on the first chick I see.
Finished this ugly, too-challenging-for-a-Monday puzzle with one error as I was Naticked in the SE - didn't know IMARET and thought 58A was ClAWS.
I have to admit that 61A-64A does sounds funny, but I'm sure Andrew Dice Clay would make a bad joke with it.
@Mitzie - what kind of balls do not roll?
Cats have been on a roll recently - Balinese on Friday, Bengal on Saturday and MANX today. Sunday doesn’t count because we can’t talk about it. I’ll be looking for a Calico or a Stevens tomorrow.
@M&A – The Young Turks could get your theme into ‘sometimes’ territory.
@Just Curious:
Of course all balls *can* roll. So can basically any solid object, if I choose to roll it.
There is one type of 'eye,' and one of its standard functions is to be rolled. There is one type of 'R' (in our language, at least), and one of its standard functions is to be rolled. There is one type of 'dice' and one of its standard functions is to be rolled.
But there are many types of balls, and only *some* balls are specifically made to roll. Rolling, for example, is not a standard function of a football, basketball, baseball, ping-pong ball, etc. Yeah, they *can* roll -- but I felt this distinction somewhere deep inside my soul.
I don't care if this makes sense to anyone else. I've still written four paragraphs about BALLS today, and that makes it all worth it.
What did the Dale Peterson video have to do with anything?
The sound on my computer isn't the greatest. I must have missed
something.
Also, why is a bunch of
"sophisticated" people making
such a fuss over tits?
Never mind. I just got it
@Anon B - Your tits question or the Dale Peterson question? 'Cause I can explain the tits issue for you if you need.
Beavis:
I don't need an answer to the
tits question. It was a question
I know the answer to.They just think they're cute.
I got stuck on 11D, as I had ISt instead of ISM for a long time, giving me MENSROOtS for 18A. Hmph!
TITS as little birds doesn't bother me, even though I'd probably call them chickadees.
I never knew there was such a vibrant crossword puzzle community! Hello! *waves*
I never knew that a chickadee and a tit were the same. I love the chickadee, an all-winter bird that seems social and friendly. Maybe tit will disappear like other awkward appelations.
Western Canadians grew up with fields of gold rape seed. That name has faded away for the more acceptable canola. It's quite beautiful on a sunlit day.
Can someone please explain to me Thos Jefferson? I'm not from the US.
what i mean is, why isn't it Thom???
Because that is the way he abbreviated his name: Thos. Jefferson.
Thank you Bob!
Actually, I must offer my sincere apology. The form "THOS" is an accepted though less-common abbreviation of Thomas, which is apparently used in historical and literary references, and even for some high school team names (or in newspaper reference thereto), but I cannot find in the first several pages of Googling any instance in which Jefferson himself used it. His signature on most documents seems to be "Th Jefferson."
Well, I might as well weigh in on 64a: I didn't "pair" it with any words in that corner, but with BRAD. I'm sure HE'd agree!
This one was just a bit chunky with OISE and IMARET. Hand up for those "searching" orbs, GOOGleEYES. Cool seizing of the opportunity to use "School basics" for two clues, though I'm not enamored of either of the letter-oriented answers. Also cool is the factoid about MALAWI, another Monday chunk, though I wonder how many other words might do that...
CANDOR, FLORID, RICOLA!
ETCETC. Not sure I like STOODOVER for "Watched protectively." I see a test monitor watching preventively more so than protectively. But it's a small stretch, just not Monday-spot-on, like for example "___Moines, Iowa." Surely the state did not need to be named.
All minor stuff. In syndiland, we can appreciate the sub-theme of SORCERERS and COSTUMEBALLS so close to Halloween. And now I must go to the 18a.
Clean and tuff for a Monday, Susan. I wonder if you have a nice set of small songbirds. Just wondering. (MENSROOM_ humor.)
Learned IMARET. Never been to Turkey.
@Z, I just got to say the end to the Lions/Cowboys game yesterday was one for the football ages. Looooved it! And your phone call was a hoot.
Go Hawks!
Capcha: otocrat. Someone who will listen to anyone and everyone?
@SiS - I was out playing disc, so missed Dez's escapades. Based on the coverage today, the game was all about him.
@SiS - I was out playing disc, so missed Dez's escapades. Based on the coverage today, the game was all about him.
Not much to say about this puzzle which provided so much grist for a lot of schoolboy humor. Some days are like that. I liked @spacecraft's Halloween subtheme, tho that clearly couldn't have been appreciated out there in real time. And i like that it seems to be just "us" today-no visitors from????
Kind of a different Monday in that aome seldom used words appeared. I knew IMARET but don't think I'd seen it in a NYT puzzle before. Of course I've seen TITS, but not those of the SEWER variety.
Learned about PAX and Bellum, too, on a Monday. Can't be bad.
I don't think anyone has mentioned VICEVERSA, which first has as backwards and then inrEVERSe thereby making a total mess of an otherwise pretty clean grid.
I always knew there was a reason for the Black-capped Chickadee being named the Maine state bird and now at last I know what it is - those who chose it were...oh never mind, I can't bring myself to say it.
Again, the blog is more fun than the puzzle.
The central ITSTIMETOROLL seems rather contrived. I was appalled at the Peterson video, and what it represents.
Is there a minaret on the IMARET?
GO HAWKS!
In the fly over states of syndi land, "it's time to roll" was often heard when the National Guard convoys were leaving for training operations and by truckers. Please tell me that I am not the only one scarred for life by classmates' repeated playing of the song "Convoy" by C. W. McCall in the late '70s.....
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