Yiddish laments / MON 12-21-15 / Raised hairstyles / Arachnid's snare / Woman's name that means eat backward / Locale for bears thieves / Debtor's opposite
Constructor:Bruce Haight
Relative difficulty:Medium (maybe a bit tougher because of the non-clues...)
THEME: Unnamed object — all theme answers are clued as [Unnamed object #[1-7]], and all are words used to refer to unnamed objects...
Theme answers:
CONTRAPTION
DOODAD
DINGUS
WHATCHAMACALLIT
WIDGET
GADGET
THINGAMAJIG
Word of the Day:DINGUS —
n.Informal
1. Somethingwhosename is unknown or forgotten.
2. A personregarded as stupid.
3. VulgarSlangThepenis. (thefreedictionary.com)
[from The Long Goodbye, Raymond Chandler, 1953]
• • •
A Christmas miracle—this was pretty good. I can't say I *enjoyed* it, exactly, and the whole [...] style of cluing is always a little irksome, particularly on a Monday. But as I look the puzzle over, I see it has a theme density and consistency that's solidly acceptable, *and* (huzzah) the fill is not a train wreck. I'd probably give it only three OYS on a scale of 1-10 OYS. The NE and SW corners are actually kind of interesting. I finished in under 3, but only barely. I got slowed down by the elliptical theme cluing, and by several wrong answers, starting right away, at 1A: Raised hairstyles (UPDOS). I wrote in AFROS, though as I was doing it, that little voice in the back of my head was like "Dude, it's UPDOS ... dude ... dude!" I went straight to the crosses, and sure enough, little voice was right.The fixing of that mistake ate up many seconds. I had to think for a bit about ENID, having EN- in place (8D: Woman's name that means "eat" backward). That clue is oddly phrased. I think it should say "when *spelled* backward. Because ... there's also backward pronunciation, and also ... if you say the clue aloud to yourself, it sounds like maybe her name means "eat backward," which is an odd phenomenon that probably doesn't have a name.
With -IC in place at 42A: Language of Egypt (ARABIC), I wrote in COPTIC (?!). Is that even ... what is that? I know it's a kind of Egyptian Christian. Is it also a language? Yes! Yes, it is. OK, I am going to pat myself on the back for a rather learned wrong answer. Another wrong answer that fit was MANIAC for 49D: Lunatic (MADMAN). Considering all the pitfalls and the ambiguous theme cluing, I'm feeling pretty good about my sub-3 time now. Anything else? Oh, I spent a painfully long five seconds or so trying to remember 39D: New York's ___ Island, even though like half of my students are from there. That is all. Gonna go destroy the pecan pie I made earlier today (completely from scratch). Little whipped cream (for the pie). Little bourbon (for me). Merry Christmas Week!
There's been this wall for me of 6:00. I thought that was going to be my fastest and that's just the way it is. I popped in the SouthEasternMost T and the clock stopped at 5:26. 30+ seconds better than my fastest ever. I'd say Easy. Not a whole lot to talk about, nothing tricked me, if I didn't fill it in off the clue (looking at you MADMAN) I got all the crosses easily. I barely noticed the fill since most of the 5, 6, and 7 letter answers fell quickly. Looking at the grid post solve, it is pretty clean given the theme density. Still, setting a personal best on this may skew my objectivity.
New personal best for a Monday, which made my day (night). I don't know why it took me so long to realize that, on the computer, I can be reading the next clue while I'm typing in the previous answer. That has to save a significant number of seconds, right? Still have to work on the whole "not making stupid typos" part, though...
I had Shot instead of STAB, which I'm realizing now is a silly guess, but with that and some of the other letters, the across TERESA became hERES_ and I thought that was kind of funny as I almost reflexively put down 'y'.
I don't know why, but I don't think I'm ever going to get tired of EELS as fill, even though it is definitely beyond worn out. There's always something new and weird to think about when thinking about eels, from there simple being (just picture an eel in your mind right now and tell me you don't feel something), to the electric variety, to 'sniggling', and on and on.
Really enjoyed this puzzle. Solved it in 6:14 which is my personal best for a Monday. Appreciated the clue for "Enid". Initially was discouraged by the theme clues as I wasn't able to solve any of them while solving across the first go around. After solving down they were all very simple.
Tried to comment but was informed that my server wasn't responding, hope this doesn't show up twice.
Thought the puzzle was insanely easy and a whole lotta fun. I had a great time finding all the different do-hickeys. I wanted to put in Afros at 1A but Mr. Sports Authority set me straight when I checked with him for 1D USC. Also made the MAniAc mistake with 49D which was quickly corrected withTHING A MAJIG at 59A, that was my only write over.
Had a great time with this one, every Monday should be this much fun.
I read Rex every day and love it, except when I come here feeling great about my 4:16 time (personal best!) and see that Rex feels "OK" about his 3 and a half. Oops.
I see I'm early, which is OK since I haven't looked at today's puzzle yet. Anyway ...
@Noreen from yesterday, to whom I responded, explaining why a (tennis) "LET" makes "DO-OVER" the fill.
It later occurred to me that this clue was incorrect. A LET leads to a DO-OVER, and is a DO-OVER itself only if it is the second or subsequent LET. The correct clue would have been "LET FOLLOWER," or some such. Of course, that would have had me going down a trail like "...sleeping dogs lie."
I know, I know ... more than all y'all wanted to know. ;-)
This doohickey is easy, even on the easy side of easy. I only momentarily paused at DINGUS and thought DINGle...neither is a favorite of mine. It is a rare day (read never) do I find a puzzle easier than Rex does, so look out for flying pigs.
It has a cute theme that I haven't seen before so I enjoyed that despite the difficulty level. Did I mention it was a bit too easy?
Wow, this was pointless. Month after August? Christmas month? Matches before finals? I know it's a Monday but FFS. Minor quibble, but the PLO isn't really in Gaza, that's Hamas. Is this general dumbing down of the NYT crossword an attempt to broaden it's appeal or is it just on the wane?
I like DONALD touching MADMAN, and somehow MASS DINGUS over there in the sixth row (with DONALD crossing) seems like a good description of Mr. Trump.
I loved this fun and silly theme. Silly is good in crossword puzzles. The grid is clean. UPDOS is appropriately on top, and we have the AGES/ACES beginning of a word ladder leading to who knows where. There's even a non-Monday clue for ENID (which, Rex, I didn't find ambiguous at all) and my three favorite answers were D-words: DEADEYE, DRUMUP, and DINGUS, to which I add my summary: Delightful!
Timely tribute to Mother TERESA, who just moved a step nearer to sainthood as her second miracle was certified. Also nice crossing her with DONALD Trump. Not much more to say -- I saw CONTRAPTION from crosses, which gave me the theme, and the only subsequent problem was putting GADGET where I should have put WIDGET.
I had a nicer vision of how to DINE backward -- straddling one's chair, back to the table, groping behind one's back for the food.
@Isaac, actually if @Rex found it medium but you found it easy, you should feel good about that. The absolute times are more a measure of typing speed than solving ability.
Too easy. Not really fun. Wrote ALan instead of ALDA (because "Hawkeye" is a first name; the clue should have been "Pierce"). Looked at ...GET and needed a cross to choose between WIDGET and GADGET. The rest the clues gave no satisfaction at all. I hated this puzzle and felt that I'd wasted the little time it took.
Hey All ! Fun, quick MonPuz, with a funky grid. Funnily (word?) I thought 17A was Contraception! Then when I got WHATCHAMACALLIT and GADGET and DOODAD, looked back and saw it was CONTRAPTION. Ah, I said, now that makes sense! Good stuff.
Enjoyed this one, flew through with a couple of writeovers: afrOS ( like 95% of us it seems), MAniAC (again, like most.) At least the misdirects were consistent.
Very good. I'd give it more OYS than Rex did. At least six.
My only problem with the cluing and correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't Alan Alda's character "Hawkeye Pierce" therefore the correct answer should be Alan?
Cute puzzle. Speaking of DINGUS, I always thought of it as number # 3 on @Rex's list. Raised just a bit of an EYEbrow. Speaking of eyebrows, did you know that the MONA LISA doesn't have any? She may have had them once, but over age, they've been plucked plum clean. Hmmmm, pecan pie.
No pauses, write-overs or slow downs. Just filled her in and it was over too soon. I believe it was common for women to go without eyebrows in Mona's time.
Damn it. Had this puzzle been a wee bit more challenging, I might have beat my best time. As it was, it was so easy that I blew through with no hesitations at all. Trouble is, going that fast I am more prone (turns out) to typos. So, I blew through it in easily my best time ever, and then NO JINGLE. But, even after scanning the puzzle and correcting two such blunders, I still managed to be just 2 seconds over my previous best time. Had I not stumbled over the keys, I would have gone below 5 minutes for the first time. Ever.
Not that it matters...I don't really like speed solving...and I still don't solve like a speed solver (today I did all the downs and then back to all the acrosses)...but it's kinda fun on Mondays and sometimes Tuesdays to see just how fast I can go. Evidently, too fast...cuz, you know, sloppy.
The other drawback to speed solving is that I didn't really see a theme apart from the GADGET references. I didn't even see the number clues. Whatever. The theme wasn't all that exciting anyway.
DINGUS was the only outlier for me. I think I've either called someone a dingus or I've been called a dingus...but I don't think I've called a thing a dingus. Maybe a dinglehopper? As in, "Hand me that dinglehopper, dingus."
INRED and ONRYE along with maybe NAGAT seem oddly incomplete to me.
And is it me or have there been a plethora of "Aha" types of clues/answers lately? References to sudden understanding seem to be the new rap musician name trend.
Is there an inventory of erroneous nyt puzzle clues anywhere? Not to detract from the fun of puzzling, but 2D is technically incorrect. PLO is in the West Bank. Gaza is ruled by Hamas which has done a fairly effective job of routing the PLO from the Strip.
I would argue that the clue works fine because the character is most readily referred to as Hawkeye and the actor most readily as ALDA. Character's first name is Benjamin, technically. Fun, clean Monday.
Man, I thought I revered Raymond Chandler (think I've read everything he's penned) - but pulling DINGUS from deep within "The Long Goodbye"? Impressive @Rex.
Well lots of fun for a Monday morning. Nearly identical Rex-like start with afros, except we took a second to peek at USC before putting pen to paper. And yes, at 8 down we spent a few seconds wondering about a woman's name beginning with "E" that meant begin with dessert.
@Gill I. - The opposite DINGUS surprise here, we learned meaning number 3 just this morning.
Only three DONALD rips so far? Expected much more. Bet they're coming (wonder what's the over/under on that?).
@Rex - Many thanks for the tip on Patrick Berry's book yesterday. I've read the intro and the first few pages - it is exactly what I've been looking for for years. Plus 75 PB puzzles for Lady Mohair! Great Christmas present - I can return that expensive ring.
Never heard of DINGUS before it filled itself in. After reading Rex' word of the day vulgar definition, I haven't stopped laughing that it crosses the DONALD. Worth the price of admission!
TWO days in a row that Mr. and Mrs. ALDA GET a shoutout from WS. Very nice.
This was my personal record for NYTimes! 11:17.....I'm new to crosswords, but was really excited last night nonetheless. Interesting to see Rex rate it a "Medium" as I thought this was one of the easiest Monday's I've done. Woohoo!
The word "dingus" came about through the popular movie, "The Maltese Falcon" where the star, Humphrey Bogart, refers to the Maltese falcon as "The Dingus". So, the definition of the word "dingus" is a way of referring to any noun (including people) in an offhand manner.
@ Rex: "eat backward," which is an odd phenomenon that probably doesn't have a name.
With no real thought about it I said to myself, "IDAgree." Then I read this:
Anonymous 2:18 AM There is a word for eating backward: vomiting.
Sure WISHES I HAD given it some thought in the first place and figured that out. It would have saved having to clean up the coffee I spewed. Too funny!
Is vomiting some sort of UPDO?
Who is that guy who I WHISHES OPTED to GET his UPDOS under a HAT? You know, whojamacallit?....oh yeah, the DONALD.
@ Lewis 6:02 AM Indeed, I think that a good description of Mr. Trump (and more coffee to clean up!). That means his supporters are of a mind to RUN MASS DIGUS. (I think I wisely WISHES to eschew somehow using UPDOS, DRUM UP, and LONG in furtherance of this thought.) I think it interesting the range of humanity spanned in the juxtaposed DONALD : DIANA as well as the DONALD : TERESA cross.
Solving wasn't a LONG JOG and I loved the theme as I often hear and use those "words." I'm a [insert the list of theme answers; too much to type] junkie being an "inventor" and/or user of all sorts of doohickeys [-ies?] (word credit to @Hartley) that others call such things.
For example, a direct box (gee, what kind of thingy is that you might ask?) that I had a built was sitting on the kitchen table. I was asked to put it somewhere else thusly: "Can you put that THINGAMAJIG somewhere else?" Welcome to my world :>)
Hmmmm...EMU ON RYE?
HEY YOU! I SEE IDA!
ALOE-ha (using a word from the Western-most state here in the Eastern-most...if one ignores Alaska)
Very easy, very cute. I was writing in answers without even looking at the crosses, so I put in THINGAMAbob before THINGAMAJIG. But that would have meant that Boise is in Oregon, and even I, geographically challenged as I am, know it isn't there. So I corrected straightaway. Diverting, if not much of a challenge.
GILL's was the last post up as I write this, and I was interested to learn that the MONA LISA has no eyebrows. I never noticed. Maybe that's why I've never found her as fetching as other people do. In fact, she has my vote as the most overrated painting of all time.
I weep for @Hays and others of his ilk, as he explains how he's learning to write in one answer as he reads the next, in order to save precious seconds, but how it's hard to avoid typos when you do that. Oh, Hays, I find myself short of breath and mildly anxious as I read that. To take a relaxing, pleasurable activity and turn it into a tense and nervous-making one...and for what? No one is looking at their watch while you solve -- except you. Slow down and enjoy the solving experience, for heaven's sake. This is a crossword puzzle, not a swimming meet. That's my advice. I'll send my bill in the mail.
Easy to the point of absurdity. This is not a negative remark. I really liked this puzzle as I flew through it. I usually read both clues at once since the app highlights them. This keeps my times up a bit. By the time I got down to the south, I stopped bothering so there were answers I didn't see in the downs until I was done.
I'm surprised y'all went with "Afro" for 1A. I thought the clue was very specific for UPDO. The only stumbling block for me was not getting AUDI straight off since Opel is also a possibility. I also considered that MAniAc was a better answer more in keeping with the rest of the puzzle. Not sure what made me feel that but it seems I'm not the only one.
Haighters gonna Haight. I thought this was a wonderful goofy breath of fresh hair.
Afterthought. Bruce suggests to any of you constructors who submit and are wanting to keep the clues you like, submit more than one. Just put a / (slash) between them. He says he submitted alternate clues for about half of these and his success rate was higher than for the ones which only had one clue.
One of those rare puzzles that I solved mostly on the Downs -- because of course I had no clue about CONTRAPTION. Once I had that, the other themers were easy. I either had an excellent time of 6 minutes or a Good time or 10, depending on whether I started at 8:03 or 8:07. Probably 10 minutes because I pretty much looked at all the clues, Across and Down.
Just missed a Monday record, but still got in under 10, so happy with that. Fun puzzle. AFROS occurred to me first as well - and I immediately thought 'bet that triggers something on Rex's blog' - but I delayed completing it so the downs took care of that. My usage of DINGUS is Definition #2, so that took some time to fill (and I'm still wondering what that rod is Marlowe was wetting in order to make coffee). CONY before LONG. oNTIME before INTIME, but could see WODGET didn't work, similar problem with having JOHN before SIRS...But all in all a fun start to the day.
One of the early answers stopped me dead unt il I could remember the connection. Then it came to me! Spade to Gutmam: "so you think the dingus is worth a million, huh?".
I always thought DINGUS was an unnamed person, not an object, but i'm not going to spend anytime really worrying about it. Very easy for me, didn't need to look at the theme clues.
Sign me up for a personal Monday best as well. Stumbled on the exact same pitfalls Rex mentioned and still beat my best time by 30 seconds. Enjoyable and breezy, a solid Monday offering.
Wow, a new personal record for me, time-wise, at 5:26, and a Bruce Haight puzzle that got positive reviews! Way to go, BH. A couple more gizmos and you'll be all whiz-bang.
I like this puzzle, and I only had one writeover - trying to emulate @Rex and anticipate answers, I put in LeGOS before reading the clue at 26A. Also, I hesitated a moment at 24D because it might have been Owie rather than OUCH but 27A stopped that error in its tracks. NES might have caused havoc but I didn't need the 50A clue due to crosses filling in, and before calling it finished, I had to look at the clue for 69A because NAGAT DOOKed me into thinking it was some new desert or variation of NouGAT but the clue let the answer stand.
Now if I can only turn this into a streak so I can erase my dismal showing from last week...
This whatchawhosit was lots of fun. Nice density of doohickies, contraptions, thingydoodles, gizmos and framises, and clean fill to boot. What more can one wish?
I hope you didn't think I was too UPDOS. The OYS are piling up of late, but the VEYS are vay behind. I demand equal treatment! Make my omelet with TWO EGG please. I almost entered ILS for slithery fishes.
Tomorrow is the shortest day of 2015, so make the most of it: sleep late and go to bed early.
Here is a beautiful Advent Song by Zoltán Kodály, based on the Latin hymn "Veni, veni Emmanuel."
I liked it. Fill went smoothly, and not too irksome. I enjoyed the experience of grokking WHATCHAMACALLIT from just a few crosses in the middle. Likewise THINGAMAJIG. Kinda whimsical.
Easy and fun. Never heard of "dingus" as a whatchamacallit. But crosses made everything easy. Only write over was bug before web. I didn't time myself today but if I had I think it would have been my fastest time yet.
I just add an extra 0 after Rex's time in minutes and if I beat That time I feel good. Actually, the multiplication factor was much lower than 10 today even though I never have broken the 10 minute mark.
All I could think about after doing this puzzle was the Wafels and DINGeS carts which you can often find in Central Park. @ M&E I'm sure you would prefer the carts spelled it with the U.
51 Comments so far and 50 of them are Personal Records (Okay Okay, only 49). Rex is usually pretty good with the rating but I think he missed it by an order of magnitude today. I can not recall ever having this many people setting a time record on a puzzle, ergo I'm revising my rating from Easy to Maybe the Easiest Monday Ever.
@Anon9:03 and @Nancy - Heck, my preferred solving method is pen and paper with a cup of coffee. But this month is all online and the App gives me my time. One can hardly help but notice. If this be "obsession" so be it.
@Anon9:04/2:56 - The clue doesn't suggest that the PLO controls the West Bank. If I included "US Group" in a clue for the NRA I wouldn't be saying they were running the place. They might be, but that doesn't follow from "group" (or "grp."). So, unless Hamas has managed to wipe out all PLO activity on the West Bank, the clue is just fine. Also, have you met @David Krost?
I only try to speed solve the early week ones because they've ceased being much of a challenge (which, I think if you do enough of them, would be true for most). Without trying they end up being over quickly, so why not see how quick I can go? Just adds a little more interest for me. Later in the week, I take my time and enjoy, especially the wordplay and, on Thursdays mostly, the twists that may arise. Thank you for your concern, though. Always a good reminder to slow down and take a breath :)
Did you do Today's Buzzfeed puzzle? You should. It's called Use the Forks, Luke, so if you managed to miss those 7 movies this might not be for you. Everyone else have fun.
@Z I stand corrected. There is one house in Gaza that now belongs to the PLO. But I still wager there is not one man publicly belonging to PLO/Fatah in Gaza, unless you count the PLO members in unmarked graves and Hamas jail cells. It is not clever; it is a clue written by the clueless. PLO appears often which explains why everyone got it. But the clue is erroneous.
@Anon10:27 née 9:04 - Hmm, I'm guessing most of your knowledge of the Middle East comes from Fox or maybe CNN. Or maybe you were trying to be funny...? Either way, not so much.
Z, I like the Anon 10:27 nee 9:04 reference! But themz fighting words...the accusation that a halfway intelligent person* would rely on CNN or perish the thought Fox.
I won't try to argue this. See if you can find a functioning PLO office or address anywhere in Gaza today. If so I stand corrected. Anon
* so called halfway intelligent because I can't do the Fri/Sat/Sun puzzles... :-)
ATEAM from MENLO Park OBSESS on a thing’s plan, and RACE to create it INTIME, like a MADMAN. It’s a CONTRAPTION, a THINGAMAJIG, OHNO, maybe a WIDGET, or a WHATCHAMACALLIT DOODAD. Now let’s TEST that GADGET.
Who would have thought? FL says "medium, maybe a little tougher..." etc. and I did it as fast as I could write. Super-easy. There wasn't a single bump. I figured the "unnamed objects" were what they were, words that you use when you don't know what the thing is called. Off the north central was -PTION, hence CONTRAPTION. All those theme words are fine examples, though WIDGET in my experience is used as the end-product of a hypothetical company, and for not much else.
BTW, there are an awful lot of "GETs" here: WIDGET, GADGET and...GET. If there's a defect in this offering, that's it. Fill is OK. B.
Wow, a personal record for Monday – 1:45. That’s an hour and forty-five minutes because I had more pressing things to do in between the start and finish. Seems like I’ve seen something like this puz before.
Two INs crossing at INRED and INTIME seems like an OHNO. And ONRYE not far away makes for a bunch of partials down in that area.
DIANA without her title is the yeah baby of the day for the second time in a week or so.
This was OK for a Mon-puz, THO I can’t DRUMUP the love for it that so many others have.
How I ended up in a puzzle with a saintly soul and HIM who WISHES to DRUMUP our votes will NAGAT me all day.
Hand up for being in the crowd that doesn't give a rodent's WHATCHAMACALLIT about puzzle-solving time. I've played the SFGate puzzle online, and honestly, being timed just slowed me down because it was annoying.
Easy, as others have noted. On a roll - two finishes in a row.
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new monday record for me. thought it was super easy but liked it a lot
ReplyDeleteThere's been this wall for me of 6:00. I thought that was going to be my fastest and that's just the way it is. I popped in the SouthEasternMost T and the clock stopped at 5:26. 30+ seconds better than my fastest ever. I'd say Easy. Not a whole lot to talk about, nothing tricked me, if I didn't fill it in off the clue (looking at you MADMAN) I got all the crosses easily. I barely noticed the fill since most of the 5, 6, and 7 letter answers fell quickly. Looking at the grid post solve, it is pretty clean given the theme density. Still, setting a personal best on this may skew my objectivity.
ReplyDeleteNew personal best for a Monday, which made my day (night). I don't know why it took me so long to realize that, on the computer, I can be reading the next clue while I'm typing in the previous answer. That has to save a significant number of seconds, right? Still have to work on the whole "not making stupid typos" part, though...
ReplyDeleteI had Shot instead of STAB, which I'm realizing now is a silly guess, but with that and some of the other letters, the across TERESA became hERES_ and I thought that was kind of funny as I almost reflexively put down 'y'.
I don't know why, but I don't think I'm ever going to get tired of EELS as fill, even though it is definitely beyond worn out. There's always something new and weird to think about when thinking about eels, from there simple being (just picture an eel in your mind right now and tell me you don't feel something), to the electric variety, to 'sniggling', and on and on.
Easy for me. Delightful Mon. @Rex afros before UPDOS was my only erasure.
ReplyDeleteFun theme, light on the dreck, liked it a lot
Really enjoyed this puzzle. Solved it in 6:14 which is my personal best for a Monday. Appreciated the clue for "Enid". Initially was discouraged by the theme clues as I wasn't able to solve any of them while solving across the first go around. After solving down they were all very simple.
ReplyDeleteThere is a word for eating backward: vomiting
ReplyDeleteTried to comment but was informed that my server wasn't responding, hope this doesn't show up twice.
ReplyDeleteThought the puzzle was insanely easy and a whole lotta fun. I had a great time finding all the different do-hickeys. I wanted to put in Afros at 1A but Mr. Sports Authority set me straight when I checked with him for 1D USC. Also made the MAniAc mistake with 49D which was quickly corrected withTHING A MAJIG at 59A, that was my only write over.
Had a great time with this one, every Monday should be this much fun.
I read Rex every day and love it, except when I come here feeling great about my 4:16 time (personal best!) and see that Rex feels "OK" about his 3 and a half. Oops.
ReplyDeleteCame here all excited to brag about my 4:16 time, a new personal best. Then saw that Rex thinks his 3 and a half time is "just ok". I'll shut up now.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI see I'm early, which is OK since I haven't looked at today's puzzle yet. Anyway ...
@Noreen from yesterday, to whom I responded, explaining why a (tennis) "LET" makes "DO-OVER" the fill.
It later occurred to me that this clue was incorrect. A LET leads to a DO-OVER, and is a DO-OVER itself only if it is the second or subsequent LET. The correct clue would have been "LET FOLLOWER," or some such. Of course, that would have had me going down a trail like "...sleeping dogs lie."
I know, I know ... more than all y'all wanted to know. ;-)
This doohickey is easy, even on the easy side of easy. I only momentarily paused at DINGUS and thought DINGle...neither is a favorite of mine. It is a rare day (read never) do I find a puzzle easier than Rex does, so look out for flying pigs.
ReplyDeleteIt has a cute theme that I haven't seen before so I enjoyed that despite the difficulty level. Did I mention it was a bit too easy?
Wow, this was pointless. Month after August? Christmas month? Matches before finals? I know it's a Monday but FFS. Minor quibble, but the PLO isn't really in Gaza, that's Hamas. Is this general dumbing down of the NYT crossword an attempt to broaden it's appeal or is it just on the wane?
ReplyDeleteWe've seen these answers before. Does anyone remember when? I don't remember seeing clues like this but maybe someone else has.
ReplyDeleteI definitely liked the puzzle. Harder than a usual Monday, for sure.
Thoughts?
Outraged by SERENA but ok with the DONALD? I could hardly go on when I came to that clue. Oy oy oy!
ReplyDeleteI like DONALD touching MADMAN, and somehow MASS DINGUS over there in the sixth row (with DONALD crossing) seems like a good description of Mr. Trump.
ReplyDeleteI loved this fun and silly theme. Silly is good in crossword puzzles. The grid is clean. UPDOS is appropriately on top, and we have the AGES/ACES beginning of a word ladder leading to who knows where. There's even a non-Monday clue for ENID (which, Rex, I didn't find ambiguous at all) and my three favorite answers were D-words: DEADEYE, DRUMUP, and DINGUS, to which I add my summary: Delightful!
Timely tribute to Mother TERESA, who just moved a step nearer to sainthood as her second miracle was certified. Also nice crossing her with DONALD Trump. Not much more to say -- I saw CONTRAPTION from crosses, which gave me the theme, and the only subsequent problem was putting GADGET where I should have put WIDGET.
ReplyDeleteI had a nicer vision of how to DINE backward -- straddling one's chair, back to the table, groping behind one's back for the food.
@Isaac, actually if @Rex found it medium but you found it easy, you should feel good about that. The absolute times are more a measure of typing speed than solving ability.
Too easy. Not really fun. Wrote ALan instead of ALDA (because "Hawkeye" is a first name; the clue should have been "Pierce"). Looked at ...GET and needed a cross to choose between WIDGET and GADGET. The rest the clues gave no satisfaction at all. I hated this puzzle and felt that I'd wasted the little time it took.
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteFun, quick MonPuz, with a funky grid. Funnily (word?) I thought 17A was Contraception! Then when I got WHATCHAMACALLIT and GADGET and DOODAD, looked back and saw it was CONTRAPTION. Ah, I said, now that makes sense! Good stuff.
Enjoyed this one, flew through with a couple of writeovers: afrOS ( like 95% of us it seems), MAniAC (again, like most.) At least the misdirects were consistent.
Very good. I'd give it more OYS than Rex did. At least six.
DEADEYE DINGUS
RooMonster
DarrinV
My only problem with the cluing and correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't Alan Alda's character "Hawkeye Pierce"
ReplyDeletetherefore the correct answer should be Alan?
Cute puzzle. Speaking of DINGUS, I always thought of it as number # 3 on @Rex's list. Raised just a bit of an EYEbrow. Speaking of eyebrows, did you know that the MONA LISA doesn't have any? She may have had them once, but over age, they've been plucked plum clean.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm, pecan pie.
Even I was fast today. I enjoyed it also.
ReplyDeleteNo pauses, write-overs or slow downs. Just filled her in and it was over too soon. I believe it was common for women to go without eyebrows in Mona's time.
ReplyDeleteThere was a woman named Ralph on Green Acres, which would qualify as a woman's name meaning to eat backwards.
ReplyDeleteNot a fan of DEC and SEP in the same puzzle, but for the most part a pleasant, albeit brief, Monday solve.
Damn it. Had this puzzle been a wee bit more challenging, I might have beat my best time. As it was, it was so easy that I blew through with no hesitations at all. Trouble is, going that fast I am more prone (turns out) to typos. So, I blew through it in easily my best time ever, and then NO JINGLE. But, even after scanning the puzzle and correcting two such blunders, I still managed to be just 2 seconds over my previous best time. Had I not stumbled over the keys, I would have gone below 5 minutes for the first time. Ever.
ReplyDeleteNot that it matters...I don't really like speed solving...and I still don't solve like a speed solver (today I did all the downs and then back to all the acrosses)...but it's kinda fun on Mondays and sometimes Tuesdays to see just how fast I can go. Evidently, too fast...cuz, you know, sloppy.
The other drawback to speed solving is that I didn't really see a theme apart from the GADGET references. I didn't even see the number clues. Whatever. The theme wasn't all that exciting anyway.
DINGUS was the only outlier for me. I think I've either called someone a dingus or I've been called a dingus...but I don't think I've called a thing a dingus. Maybe a dinglehopper? As in, "Hand me that dinglehopper, dingus."
INRED and ONRYE along with maybe NAGAT seem oddly incomplete to me.
And is it me or have there been a plethora of "Aha" types of clues/answers lately? References to sudden understanding seem to be the new rap musician name trend.
I don't share the obsession with fast...I enjoy a slow run. Am I the only one?
ReplyDeleteIs there an inventory of erroneous nyt puzzle clues anywhere? Not to detract from the fun of puzzling, but 2D is technically incorrect. PLO is in the West Bank. Gaza is ruled by Hamas which has done a fairly effective job of routing the PLO from the Strip.
ReplyDeleteFun easy Monday puzzle. Hand up for afros at first. Love all the themeers!!!
ReplyDeleteI would argue that the clue works fine because the character is most readily referred to as Hawkeye and the actor most readily as ALDA. Character's first name is Benjamin, technically. Fun, clean Monday.
ReplyDeleteMan, I thought I revered Raymond Chandler (think I've read everything he's penned) - but pulling DINGUS from deep within "The Long Goodbye"? Impressive @Rex.
ReplyDeleteWell lots of fun for a Monday morning. Nearly identical Rex-like start with afros, except we took a second to peek at USC before putting pen to paper. And yes, at 8 down we spent a few seconds wondering about a woman's name beginning with "E" that meant begin with dessert.
@Gill I. - The opposite DINGUS surprise here, we learned meaning number 3 just this morning.
Only three DONALD rips so far? Expected much more. Bet they're coming (wonder what's the over/under on that?).
@Rex - Many thanks for the tip on Patrick Berry's book yesterday. I've read the intro and the first few pages - it is exactly what I've been looking for for years. Plus 75 PB puzzles for Lady Mohair! Great Christmas present - I can return that expensive ring.
Never heard of DINGUS before it filled itself in. After reading Rex' word of the day vulgar definition, I haven't stopped laughing that it crosses the DONALD. Worth the price of admission!
ReplyDeleteTWO days in a row that Mr. and Mrs. ALDA GET a shoutout from WS. Very nice.
This was my personal record for NYTimes! 11:17.....I'm new to crosswords, but was really excited last night nonetheless. Interesting to see Rex rate it a "Medium" as I thought this was one of the easiest Monday's I've done. Woohoo!
ReplyDeleteThe word "dingus" came about through the popular movie, "The Maltese Falcon" where the star, Humphrey Bogart, refers to the Maltese falcon as "The Dingus". So, the definition of the word "dingus" is a way of referring to any noun (including people) in an offhand manner.
ReplyDeleteNice Monday offering, or whatever you want to call it.
ReplyDeleteMay I be forgiven for having thought (but not entered) 59 A would turn out to be THINGAMABOB?
@ Rex: "eat backward," which is an odd phenomenon that probably doesn't have a name.
ReplyDeleteWith no real thought about it I said to myself, "IDAgree." Then I read this:
Anonymous 2:18 AM
There is a word for eating backward: vomiting.
Sure WISHES I HAD given it some thought in the first place and figured that out. It would have saved having to clean up the coffee I spewed. Too funny!
Is vomiting some sort of UPDO?
Who is that guy who I WHISHES OPTED to GET his UPDOS under a HAT? You know, whojamacallit?....oh yeah, the DONALD.
@ Lewis 6:02 AM
Indeed, I think that a good description of Mr. Trump (and more coffee to clean up!). That means his supporters are of a mind to RUN MASS DIGUS. (I think I wisely WISHES to eschew somehow using UPDOS, DRUM UP, and LONG in furtherance of this thought.) I think it interesting the range of humanity spanned in the juxtaposed DONALD : DIANA as well as the DONALD : TERESA cross.
Solving wasn't a LONG JOG and I loved the theme as I often hear and use those "words." I'm a [insert the list of theme answers; too much to type] junkie being an "inventor" and/or user of all sorts of doohickeys [-ies?] (word credit to @Hartley) that others call such things.
For example, a direct box (gee, what kind of thingy is that you might ask?) that I had a built was sitting on the kitchen table. I was asked to put it somewhere else thusly: "Can you put that THINGAMAJIG somewhere else?" Welcome to my world :>)
Hmmmm...EMU ON RYE?
HEY YOU! I SEE IDA!
ALOE-ha (using a word from the Western-most state here in the Eastern-most...if one ignores Alaska)
Holiday Week Cheers
Very easy, very cute. I was writing in answers without even looking at the crosses, so I put in THINGAMAbob before THINGAMAJIG. But that would have meant that Boise is in Oregon, and even I, geographically challenged as I am, know it isn't there. So I corrected straightaway. Diverting, if not much of a challenge.
ReplyDeleteGILL's was the last post up as I write this, and I was interested to learn that the MONA LISA has no eyebrows. I never noticed. Maybe that's why I've never found her as fetching as other people do. In fact, she has my vote as the most overrated painting of all time.
I weep for @Hays and others of his ilk, as he explains how he's learning to write in one answer as he reads the next, in order to save precious seconds, but how it's hard to avoid typos when you do that. Oh, Hays, I find myself short of breath and mildly anxious as I read that. To take a relaxing, pleasurable activity and turn it into a tense and nervous-making one...and for what? No one is looking at their watch while you solve -- except you. Slow down and enjoy the solving experience, for heaven's sake. This is a crossword puzzle, not a swimming meet. That's my advice. I'll send my bill in the mail.
Character's name was Benjamin Franklin Pierce. "Hawkeye" was a nickname.
ReplyDeleteEasy to the point of absurdity. This is not a negative remark. I really liked this puzzle as I flew through it. I usually read both clues at once since the app highlights them. This keeps my times up a bit. By the time I got down to the south, I stopped bothering so there were answers I didn't see in the downs until I was done.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised y'all went with "Afro" for 1A. I thought the clue was very specific for UPDO. The only stumbling block for me was not getting AUDI straight off since Opel is also a possibility. I also considered that MAniAc was a better answer more in keeping with the rest of the puzzle. Not sure what made me feel that but it seems I'm not the only one.
Haighters gonna Haight. I thought this was a wonderful goofy breath of fresh hair.
Afterthought. Bruce suggests to any of you constructors who submit and are wanting to keep the clues you like, submit more than one. Just put a / (slash) between them. He says he submitted alternate clues for about half of these and his success rate was higher than for the ones which only had one clue.
One of those rare puzzles that I solved mostly on the Downs -- because of course I had no clue about CONTRAPTION. Once I had that, the other themers were easy. I either had an excellent time of 6 minutes or a Good time or 10, depending on whether I started at 8:03 or 8:07. Probably 10 minutes because I pretty much looked at all the clues, Across and Down.
ReplyDeleteExcellent Monday romp, Mr. Haight!
Easy and cute. One stumble at the finish line, when my THINGAMA ended in a "bob" instead of a JIG.
ReplyDeleteEMU ON RYE, anyone?
Just missed a Monday record, but still got in under 10, so happy with that. Fun puzzle. AFROS occurred to me first as well - and I immediately thought 'bet that triggers something on Rex's blog' - but I delayed completing it so the downs took care of that. My usage of DINGUS is Definition #2, so that took some time to fill (and I'm still wondering what that rod is Marlowe was wetting in order to make coffee). CONY before LONG. oNTIME before INTIME, but could see WODGET didn't work, similar problem with having JOHN before SIRS...But all in all a fun start to the day.
ReplyDeleteOne of the early answers stopped me dead unt il I could remember the connection. Then it came to me! Spade to Gutmam: "so you think the dingus is worth a million, huh?".
ReplyDeleteI always thought DINGUS was an unnamed person, not an object, but i'm not going to spend anytime really worrying about it. Very easy for me, didn't need to look at the theme clues.
ReplyDeleteSign me up for a personal Monday best as well. Stumbled on the exact same pitfalls Rex mentioned and still beat my best time by 30 seconds. Enjoyable and breezy, a solid Monday offering.
ReplyDeleteEasily the easiest Monday ever and not full of trivial rote or garbage fill. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteWow, a new personal record for me, time-wise, at 5:26, and a Bruce Haight puzzle that got positive reviews! Way to go, BH. A couple more gizmos and you'll be all whiz-bang.
ReplyDeleteI like this puzzle, and I only had one writeover - trying to emulate @Rex and anticipate answers, I put in LeGOS before reading the clue at 26A. Also, I hesitated a moment at 24D because it might have been Owie rather than OUCH but 27A stopped that error in its tracks. NES might have caused havoc but I didn't need the 50A clue due to crosses filling in, and before calling it finished, I had to look at the clue for 69A because NAGAT DOOKed me into thinking it was some new desert or variation of NouGAT but the clue let the answer stand.
Now if I can only turn this into a streak so I can erase my dismal showing from last week...
re:8D - I dated a Lao woman named Nwodog for quite a while. She had a horrible personality, her hygene was less than exemplary, but damn, was she fun.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThis whatchawhosit was lots of fun. Nice density of doohickies, contraptions, thingydoodles, gizmos and framises, and clean fill to boot. What more can one wish?
I hope you didn't think I was too UPDOS.
The OYS are piling up of late, but the VEYS are vay behind. I demand equal treatment!
Make my omelet with TWO EGG please.
I almost entered ILS for slithery fishes.
Tomorrow is the shortest day of 2015, so make the most of it: sleep late and go to bed early.
Here is a beautiful Advent Song by Zoltán Kodály, based on the Latin hymn "Veni, veni Emmanuel."
Happy Monday all.
For 2 down: The PLO controls the West Bank. Gaza is controlled by Hamas.
ReplyDeleteI liked it. Fill went smoothly, and not too irksome. I enjoyed the experience of grokking WHATCHAMACALLIT from just a few crosses in the middle. Likewise THINGAMAJIG. Kinda whimsical.
ReplyDeleteEasy and fun. Never heard of "dingus" as a whatchamacallit. But crosses made everything easy. Only write over was bug before web. I didn't time myself today but if I had I think it would have been my fastest time yet.
ReplyDeleteI just add an extra 0 after Rex's time in minutes and if I beat That time I feel good. Actually, the multiplication factor was much lower than 10 today even though I never have broken the 10 minute mark.
ReplyDeleteAll I could think about after doing this puzzle was the Wafels and DINGeS carts which you can often find in Central Park.
@ M&E I'm sure you would prefer the carts spelled it with the U.
http://www.wafelsanddinges.com/mobile/
Liked theme .
ReplyDeleteWrite over: MADMAN for MAniAc.
Did not like two,month abbreviations.
Liked clue for DEADEYE.
Thanks BH.
what's going on. Have been checking all day for new comments. It's been 10 hours
ReplyDeleteI could not for the life of me think of LONG Island without the crosses, Ellis, City, etc.
ReplyDelete51 Comments so far and 50 of them are Personal Records (Okay Okay, only 49). Rex is usually pretty good with the rating but I think he missed it by an order of magnitude today. I can not recall ever having this many people setting a time record on a puzzle, ergo I'm revising my rating from Easy to Maybe the Easiest Monday Ever.
ReplyDelete@Anon9:03 and @Nancy - Heck, my preferred solving method is pen and paper with a cup of coffee. But this month is all online and the App gives me my time. One can hardly help but notice. If this be "obsession" so be it.
@Anon9:04/2:56 - The clue doesn't suggest that the PLO controls the West Bank. If I included "US Group" in a clue for the NRA I wouldn't be saying they were running the place. They might be, but that doesn't follow from "group" (or "grp."). So, unless Hamas has managed to wipe out all PLO activity on the West Bank, the clue is just fine. Also, have you met @David Krost?
@Nancy
ReplyDeleteI only try to speed solve the early week ones because they've ceased being much of a challenge (which, I think if you do enough of them, would be true for most). Without trying they end up being over quickly, so why not see how quick I can go? Just adds a little more interest for me. Later in the week, I take my time and enjoy, especially the wordplay and, on Thursdays mostly, the twists that may arise. Thank you for your concern, though. Always a good reminder to slow down and take a breath :)
Did you do Today's Buzzfeed puzzle? You should. It's called Use the Forks, Luke, so if you managed to miss those 7 movies this might not be for you. Everyone else have fun.
ReplyDelete@Z
ReplyDeleteI stand corrected. There is one house in Gaza that now belongs to the PLO. But I still wager there is not one man publicly belonging to PLO/Fatah in Gaza, unless you count the PLO members in unmarked graves and Hamas jail cells. It is not clever; it is a clue written by the clueless. PLO appears often which explains why everyone got it. But the clue is erroneous.
http://www.albawaba.com/editorchoice/goodwill-gesture-hamas-returns-yasser-arafats-gaza-home-plo-767372
Anon 9:04
@Anon10:27 née 9:04 - Hmm, I'm guessing most of your knowledge of the Middle East comes from Fox or maybe CNN. Or maybe you were trying to be funny...? Either way, not so much.
ReplyDeleteZ, I like the Anon 10:27 nee 9:04 reference!
ReplyDeleteBut themz fighting words...the accusation that a halfway intelligent person* would rely on CNN or perish the thought Fox.
I won't try to argue this. See if you can find a functioning PLO office or address anywhere in Gaza today. If so I stand corrected.
Anon
* so called halfway intelligent because I can't do the Fri/Sat/Sun puzzles...
:-)
DINGUS LOGOS
ReplyDeleteATEAM from MENLO Park OBSESS on a thing’s plan,
and RACE to create it INTIME, like a MADMAN.
It’s a CONTRAPTION, a THINGAMAJIG, OHNO, maybe a WIDGET,
or a WHATCHAMACALLIT DOODAD. Now let’s TEST that GADGET.
--- IDA NAGAT
Who would have thought? FL says "medium, maybe a little tougher..." etc. and I did it as fast as I could write. Super-easy. There wasn't a single bump. I figured the "unnamed objects" were what they were, words that you use when you don't know what the thing is called. Off the north central was -PTION, hence CONTRAPTION. All those theme words are fine examples, though WIDGET in my experience is used as the end-product of a hypothetical company, and for not much else.
ReplyDeleteBTW, there are an awful lot of "GETs" here: WIDGET, GADGET and...GET. If there's a defect in this offering, that's it. Fill is OK. B.
Wow, a personal record for Monday – 1:45. That’s an hour and forty-five minutes because I had more pressing things to do in between the start and finish. Seems like I’ve seen something like this puz before.
ReplyDeleteTwo INs crossing at INRED and INTIME seems like an OHNO. And ONRYE not far away makes for a bunch of partials down in that area.
DIANA without her title is the yeah baby of the day for the second time in a week or so.
This was OK for a Mon-puz, THO I can’t DRUMUP the love for it that so many others have.
Nice puzzle for cleaning out Monday morning cobWEBs. Had to brush away two: oNTIME before INTIME, MAniAc before MADMAN.
ReplyDeleteAlso got a few smiles out of the I-forget-the-names-of-the-things.
Thanks for the wake-up call; I would have overslept otherwise.
How I ended up in a puzzle with a saintly soul and HIM who WISHES to DRUMUP our votes will NAGAT me all day.
ReplyDeleteHand up for being in the crowd that doesn't give a rodent's WHATCHAMACALLIT about puzzle-solving time. I've played the SFGate puzzle online, and honestly, being timed just slowed me down because it was annoying.
Easy, as others have noted. On a roll - two finishes in a row.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords