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She in Lisbon / WED 6-8-16 / Former Israeli PM Barak / Proselytizer's handout / Metallurgist's sample
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Constructor: Sean Dobbin
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
THEME: wacky celebrity "-ing" pun phrases
Theme answers:
- HOLDEN TANK (17A: Military vehicle for actor William?)
- BACON POWDER (24A: Makeup for actor Kevin?)
- DANSON SHOES (36A: Footwear for actor Ted?)
- WALKEN STICK (47A: Cudgel for actor Christopher?)
- LANDON GEAR (57A: Equipment for actor Michael?)
Omsk stretches along the banks of the north-flowing Irtysh at its confluence with the smaller Om River. The city has an elevation of 87 meters (285 ft) above mean sea level at its highest point. // Omsk is an important railroad hub, and is the junction point for the northern and southern branches of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The city also serves as a major hub for the regional highway network. River-port facilities handle both passengers and freight, giving the city access to navigating the extensive waterways of the Irtysh and Ob River. The waterways connect Omsk with the coal and mineral-mining towns further up the river in Kazakhstan, as well as with the oil, natural gas and lumber operations of northern Siberia. Omsk is served by the Tsentralny Airport, which offers access to domestic and international (primarily, German and Kazakh) destinations, making the city an important aviation hub for Siberia and the Russian Far East. (wikipedia)
• • •
["... last year, on that stupid 'Dame EDNA' special.."]
Took a while to put together HOLDEN TANK, but after that, things whipped right along. I wrote DUB in at 29A: Burj Khalifa's home: Abbr. which was simultaneously smart and dumb (it *is* in Dubai, but DUB ... is not an abbr. ... for that ... place). Had trouble getting LL BEAN from 44D: Competitor of The North Face since I think of LL BEAN as a store and a catalogue and The North Face as just a brand. So NW and SE gave me a little trouble, but the rest was very simple. Here are some late-night puzzle thoughts from some of my Twitter followers:
And here's Indie 500 Crossword Tournament Best Handwriting winner Brian Cimmet not-so-quietly judging me for my Worst Handwriting medal. I would show you our handwritings side by side (as tourney organizers did when they posted them on the wall at the back of the ballroom), but I don't want to spoil the puzzles for people who are solving at home...
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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69 comments:
Liked it more than Rex.
Clever cluing for PASSÉ, NURSE, and ALERTS.
I sort of detected a "sports" theme in the nouns of the themers .
TANK top
foot POWDER
running/athletic SHOES
STICK a tackle; STICK a trey( three)
catcher's GEAR; GEAR shift
CrosswordEASE-- EHUD, PASHA, and TONTO.
Write over --STEER for STEak.
Thought KODAK clue needed the word "formerly".
Also did not know BUCKO meant young but rather any fellow. Learned something -- from Google.
Thanks SD.
I thought the puns were fun, and enjoyed the puzzle until I realized I had finished it, and now what am I going to do? Humph. Give the dog his pain meds and go to bed, I guess.
Easy-medium for me too. Got to go with what @Rex and the twieeters said, a tad meh.
Ha, @Rex, I see what you did with (paraphrasing slightly) "worst handwriting ... on the wall." Thanks for your review. @Sean Dobbin is a cyberfriend but we've never actually met. This is his fifth New York Times byline overall since 2012, and second of this calendar year. Not too shabby!
As I may have mentioned in yesterday's post, I'm currently in California. We went to the beach, and rather than work on my TAN, I was definitely feeling the BERN. Missed opportunity to tie the clues for LOL and GAG.
Rookie Rossi deals with another kind of competition ... somewhat relevant, and hopefully a bonus solve to @Rex-ites looking for additional challenges today.
BERN fell long after I had to erase "trump" (and then "asset" snort) for FORTE. Rex – I didn't notice the BERN/CRATERS cross; I did see the BERN/PASSE cross.
Rex – me, too, for thinking "Dub" first, but not because I'm smart; the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills traveled there and went up in the Burj Khalifa. Dubai sure seems like a fancy schmancy place. Heck – their hotel rooms looked straight into big shark tanks. Can you imagine?
I can't be the only one who was parsing SOLACE as some kind of "SO Ll _ _ _" phrase? Comforting words to someone who's just had her guy stolen by another woman? She's so lame? I was getting desperate there.
B SHARP/c natural… here we go with the arguments. I can't complain since I run my mouth here about whether something is a particle or a preposition, a topic massively more boring.
But that's the appeal of this place. You learn all kinds of handy tidbits. It was here that I learned that FORTE (last 4 paragraphs) if used out in the wild and not in music, is pronounced like "fort." Now there's a poser. What do you do when you know the correct form of something, but if you say it that way, everyone thinks you're dumb? I swear, I don't think I could say, "Interpretive dance is not my fort." I was sending an email once to someone, and when I got to the part that said, "Just let me know when you can come and meet with Chef and me…" I stopped. This woman was gonna think I was stupid. Uneducated. She would judge me because I didn't say, "with Chef and I." I think I reworded the whole thing.
Playing around with NAMEs is always fun for me, and I got a kick out of figuring out the other ones after BACON POWDER. As @jae says, liked it.
Yes, let's make sure we have ethnically diverse answers in the CROSSWORD PUZZLE. That will surely change the world.
Funny how Rex complains when clues and answers are out of his wheelhouse, but complains that there aren't more entries in the puzzle that will no doubt flummox the large majority of the NYT puzzle solving demographic. Make up your mind. I for one vote to quit making a sociological issue out of a trivial and ultimately meaningless pastime. No historian or sociologist 100 years from now is going to be researching cultural trends in early 21st century USA and use the NYT crossword puzzle as a metric.
Easy for me today too. And by "easy," I mean just doing the fill. Getting past the lame puns was the difficult part.
I didn't know that BUCKO was a young fellow. I thought it was just a name from the wild west. Growing up, bucko was used as a slight...see also "pal," and "chief." Like when you have lost your patience with someone you'd say, "Now wait just a minute there, bucko..." Maybe "buckaroo" is more youngish?
I also didn't know they still made KEDS. I figured Converse finally overtook them in the canvas shoe world. I remember wearing Keds' Red Ball Jets as a kid. Looks like you can only get them used on Ebay now.
I really didn't like the clue for NAME (16A Arnold, Ronald, or Roland).
Finally, I'm going to try to use "erst" in a sentence today.
What OFL said re KODAK and LLBEAN, my exact reactions. Overall, I thought content PASSE, with William HOLDEN, Michael LANDON, TONTO, and BUCKO. I thought birthday cake ALAMODE odd; I hear of pie a la mode, but cake with ice cream.
DANSONSHOES did make me smile, though, at the memory of his character in Body Heat, the ballroom dancing ADA.
Annette
Very meh, I thought, if the word meh can be qualified. Is this just as bad as saying "very unique"? At any rate, I've seen these sorts of puns before and the cluing was also quite flat. I did appreciate the lack of PPP, though. I should point out that I don't get the HANES clue. To me, HANES will always be the hosiery company.
Who was it yesterday who said Will or Joel dropped this week's puzzles on the floor? Really easy Wednesday. It was ok, not stellar.
Liked UMPTEEN. Didn't like DIALTONE...I mean, in a few more years, that will be a PASSÉ thing... future-erst..
Let's just banish it now.
Agree on LLBEAN.
Yes, let's make sure we have ethnically diverse answers in the CROSSWORD PUZZLE. That will surely change the world.
I liked it, mostly for the punny themers. DANSONSHOES in particular made me happy.
@Loren Muse Smith - I routinely use the 'fort' pronunciation "in the wild", and I don't think people judge me for it.
There are a pair of fabulous books, now slightly dated, by Charles Harrington, that focus on correct pronunciation of oft-mispronounced words: 'There is No Zoo in Zoology' and 'Is there a Cow in Moscow?' are the names.
Too easy for a Wed. But enjoyed the theme. Happy humpday everybody!
Hey All !
Thought it was a catchy little theme today, much easier than YesterPuz. Methinks Will mixed up his days again. Had two writeovers today, roAR-TEAR, WALKENShoes before STICK, then got DANSONSHOES so knew it wasn't right. I did want either OSS or SSS for the NBA clue. Sneaky misdirect there.
I'm a Converse Chuck Taylor man myself. No KEDS, no Vans. Have about 30 pair of Chucks. :-) High Tops, none of those low ones.
BERN new one on me, as I avoid the crazy political-ness like the plague. I do know the main two now, but don't know (and don't care) how it all came to be.
OMSK always fun to see. Some good fill, light on dreck. Like the NE's Hey, BUCKO, STEER clear of the HOLDEN TANK.
Plus, Random Nonsense! (Insert clapping here)
Get hurt in the finale? END OW
Have a nothing bal.? AMT OO
Fake lyre? BS HARP
Young strike caller? UMP TEEN
Old mans joke? PAS HA
"My shoe is untied." "SO LACE it!"
NEATO
RooMonster
DarrinV
This was a TP (transition puzzle) for me, keeping the synapses well oiled as we move from the easy to the harder end of the week. No strong highs or lows. I did like the clues for SOLACE, NURSE, ENDOW, and RIB, as well as the answers DIALTONE, SOLACE, UMPTEEN and FORTE. Solid, good quality, did its job.
As for BERN-ites, my heart goes out to you. The revolution may have stumbled a bit, but it has not "Pillow material for late night host Jimmy?".
@LMS4:49 --
Re: "...with Chef and me..."
What's wrong with that?
"me" is the object in the prepositional phrase, isn't it? (I hope I'm right here...)
;-)
The NYT very often feels like it's being intentionally hostile to younger solvers. Who the heck are William Holden or Michael Landon? DIALTONE and KODAK right next to each other?
I was undone by the smallest "bit" which I had crossing wit. Had drafting org as N W U (national Writers Union).
Could not get SE.
I thought DANSON SHOES was the most NEATO of the bunch, as "dancin' SHOES" sounds more natural to me than any of the other dropped-g phrases. I wondered if BACON POWDER might actually be a thing, and it is: render the fat, mix with tapioca maltodextrin, press through a sieve, sprinkle at will.
I noted that all of the them answers were men. Then I did some research, and
a) Noted that >25% of 2016 movies don't even pass the Bechdel Test, so how the hell was the constructor supposed to come up with a woman's name to fit the criteria when women aren't even visible in movies, and
b) In the one list (Top 100 Actresses)I had the patience to go through, only Uma Thurmon had the ...[A,O,E,U]N terminus to match, but THURMING isn't a word.
Still, I would put Dolly Parton's acting chops up there with Danson or Landon.
@David Krost - Yes, in fact it will change the world, if only by giving the lie to the basic assumption that white men = all.
Tough puzzle. I too had trouble with the south east. ..Loved all the puns...of course!!
Speaking of keeping clues in the present, Edina is the 2016 Minnesota HS Ultimate Champs in the Boys Division (the score hasn't posted as I write this, but my Twitter feed had the final score as 13-7).
HEY SMART PHONE COMMENTERS - you know that "reply" feature? It only works on smart phones. Everywhere else your comment posts in chronological order. This means that the conversational writing style makes your comments look like non sequitars or down right weird. You think you're complimenting @LMS for her witty story but it looks like you really like my HS Ultimate sports update.
PPP Analysis
25 of 76 clues are Pop Culture, Product Names, or other Proper Nouns. So yeah, kind of crunchy if these are not in your wheelhouse. Of course, 5 of the 25 are the theme answers, so that moves the needle upward.
Speaking of the themers, William HOLDEN, Kevin BACON, Ted DANSON, Christopher WALKEN, Michael LANDON? Two of them are dead (25 and 35 years), one with his first IMDb entry in 1953, one with a first entry in 1970 and biggest role in the 80's, and one whose first entry is 1978's Animal House. Yes, the puzzle skews to the BERN's generation.
OK, semi-cute puzzle that felt oldish and a tad tired. I mean HOLDEN and LANDON aren't even with us any more and DANSON and WALKEN belong in the Metro GEO parking lot selling some KODAK film to a PASHA or two. Oh, and NAIR...! Don't try it...just don't. Your bikini "area" will look like you sat on a bidet and turned on scalding water with the jets full blast.
Had lunch with @Ellen S and @Deb from SAC yesterday. We ate at Aioli Bodega in mid-town Sacramento. Good Spanish food with some tasty garlic SALSA. Here I was speaking to the waiter in my best Castillian accent and he didn't understand much of what I said because he kept answering me in English...He was very generous with the vino so I didn't care...
Cute enough puzzle. I had fun while solving.
@Rex - I love how you are having fun with the Worst Handwriting thing. Your facial expression in that picture should be in the dictionary next to the word "droll".
By contrast...the first Twitter poster has offended me with his name, as it is insensitive to the many people and other living creatures who have been affected by the wildfires that frequently flare up in Texas. Sigh...so predictable.
Seemed a little PASSE to me, but I've got no real complaints. I wasn't aware of the erst Kodak-Rochester connection, so the fact that the clue was dated didn't faze me. I also didn't know that BUCKO implied youth; I thought it was more or less equivalent to "Bud," "Mac," "Pal," etc. But I'm pretty sure that although UMPTEEN means "many," it doesn't imply as many as "zillions."
35 Across seems to be the subliminal theme for this puzzle. Not sure how EDNA managed to sneak in there.
The slow and steady death of Kodak in Rochester over the past three decades has been the story of the city. Hey Will Shortz, you there in Manhattan, I'm reminded of that famous "New Yorker" cover "View of the World From Ninth Avenue".
Generally liked this one, but had a couple of nits like the one above and LLBEAN (agree with Rex there too). We're with @lms on the forte/fort thing, just so hard to say fort sometimes. We've had it before, but I will never remember EHUD Barak's first name, never. And I'm with NCA Pres on BUCKO - didn't know it was for the young only. Speaking of young, this one did skew old, luckily I saw HOLDEN in "Bridge on the River Kwai" the other night or I would have forgotten him.
Looks like old Will Shortz has stumbled into political incorrectness once again. Maybe he should grow an AFRO.
@Rex is correct that Kodak is no longer in Rochester's top ten due to collapse of it's film business - in the article he cited, it is #13 with 2300 employees (2014).
Per Kodak's web site & Wiki, emerging from bankruptcy a couple of years ago and transitioning to digital technology & services, it now has over 3600 employees and some $211 MM in revenue (2015).
Why wouldn't this make it [still] "A big employer in Rochester, NY"?
.../Glitch
Yes I was going to say that. But I am taller than he is correct
Two of nine? ENS
Can't place this one
Good puzzle. Took me forever to see SOLACE. Kept expecting either 2 words, or 1 word ending in S (plural).
After I got HOLDEN TANK I debated whether to bother finishing the puzz. LANDON GEAR? Oh please.
@Anu Gardiner - Two of the letters in the word "nine" are n's (ENS).
@GILL I, there's not a Castilian in a carload at any California restaurant with Latino service staff. Since they are all of Mexican or Centrail American (or sometimes Andean) heritage, they will look at you funny if you ask directions to the platha.
I thought the puzzle was Easy for a Wednesday, very easy. But that was in large part because by the time I got to that SE corner I knew exactly how the theme worked, so I got LANDONGEAR even though the actor is one I ne'er heard tell of.
I wonder sometimes what the NYT pays Shortz and his assistant for, if they don't bother to actually edit outdated clues like the one for KODAK. But I happen to be a regular mail-order customer of LLBEAN, and with all the outdoor clothing in their catalog, I immediately recognized them as a competitor for The North Face. (P.S., Bean is great but I think for clothing the Vermont Country Store is even better).
@kitshef – until recently if I had heard you say "fort," I would've felt embarrassed for you, I swear. And I would have been completely wrong.
@Billy C – right – "with chef and me" is correct, but I bet the recipient would've thought, like a bajillion people, that it should actually be "with chef and I," and she would've been embarrassed for me.
I'll tell @Anu Gardiner that two of nine's four letters are ENS. This answer will maybe come in at #8 of 40 responses to his question. Sigh.
MMMM... BACON POWDER.
SARANDON TERRITORY?
FALLON ROCK?
BOLTON HORSE?
PARTON SHOTS? (yo, @Pete)
AMBLEN CREEK? (yo, @Deb at Wordplay blog)
OBERON OUT? (yeah, didn't hardly think so)
LOREN STANDARDS? (ditto, and self-fulfillin themer, also.)
BURSTYN SEAMS? (better)
MIRREN IMAGES? (nope)
JOHANSSON M&A (Well hey -- A dude can dream, can't he?)
Thanx, Mr. Dobbin. Nice hat.
DOBBIN LINIMENT? Fun stuff.
Masked & Anonymo3Us
**gruntz**
p.s.
@Anu: There are 2 N's in the word "nine". They try to get yah all the time, with that kinda stuff.
M&A Help Desk
p.p.s.s.
Actually, should be:
AMLEN CREEK. (yo & sorry for the misfire, @Deb)
Still sounds pretty day-um decent, tho…
M&Also
I was born in the 80s and I could still pick Holden and Landon out of lineups. Their movies and series are still shown regularly! Dead doesn't mean forgotten.
@LMS --
Re: "... with Chef and me ..."
Oops, my bad, not reading your original post in full context. So-o-or-r-ry!
@lms and @kitshef -- I, too, have felt the pain of the FORTE pronunciation dilemma. Just about everyone in the world seems to pronounce it FOR-TAY. So I always thought that was how it was pronounced. Until one day I heard someone say FORT. At which point I looked it up. And FORT it is. While I was probably happier in my blissful ignorance, once I knew that FOR-TAY was wrong, I could not bring myself to continue to say it. And so, "in the wild" as you say, I'm with @kitshef and pronounce it correctly.
@Gill I, I find HAIR DYES to be exceedingly fun as long as no bleach is involved. On the other hand, you just explained why I am terrified of depilatories like NAIR,
@Rex, hahaha, when I read your comment about LLBEAN, I thought "Wait, you mean the catalogue for stogey, but sturdy, outdoor clothing actually has a brick and mortar store?" No lie, I googled it to check to see if you were kidding, only to find out that while there is no physical LLBEAN store in the city that some residents consider to be the center of the universe, there are stores in its perimeter. My first encounter with a North Face store was in Seattle in 1979 when I was finishing my undergrad degree at the U DUB. I ogled all the cute outdoor gear that I couldn't afford and went to REI to buy less cute, but far more affordable, alternatives. Currently, thereis North Face store in Manhattan.
Easy for me. My time was a personal best! The theme was cute, but predicable. I cracked it open with WALKEN STICK and DANSON SHOES, which really paved the way. B SHARP didn't hurt in the NW either. Actually, that was the clincher. There were no hang ups and the fill just simply filled. It was almost like a Monday with respect to the time. Easy Wednesday for me.
Tough Wednesday. Took me close to an hour but didn't cheat and wrestled it to the ground.
@old timer...HAH! When I arrived in Spain, I still had my Cuban accent. No person worth the price of a syllable should be made to listen to an excited Cuban drop the friendly S, or a G here, and a D there.....I learned Cuban from the natives, so it was pretty difficult to understand my very bastardized espanol . The Spaniards, especially the Madrilenos, are SNOBS. You probably know that! All the cab drivers and shop keepers wanted to know what planet I came from...I learned very quickly that platha and manthana were the only way to go. My every day guttural emanations were my pride and joy. I even lost about 2 octaves from my voice chords.
Then I went to work for a Mexican airline for 20 years. They are a lot more forgiving but I did drop the platha and added "andale, pues" to my vocabulary.
@Z - Thanks. I've been seeing strange comments lately (your example was perfect) - you've just answered the why.
"OK". I have no idea of difficulty as I did WSJ before and strained my brain for Sinatra songs. That! was a super puzzle
@nancy - yes, that's exactly it. Once you know what's right, you can't go back to wrong.
@Pete - Let's not confuse the issue with facts! ;)
@Mohair Sam - yep. I wish Blogger would provide that feature on all platforms. Seems unlikely, though.
@Nancy and others - Oxford actually gives three "correct" pronunciations for FORTE. Who knew?
@z, thanks for the links to the variants of FORTE which was reassuring since I now won't have to change a lifetime of prnouncing FORTE and FOYER such that they rhyme. I was astonished when I moved to New York and everyone uses the FOI YER variant.
@Brian's Thong (9:13 a.m.) Oh, Brian, how can anyone not know William Holden? He was such a huge, huge movie star. You don't have to have been alive when he was alive, you can be 14 years old, for all I care, but don't you ever watch the great old films? I can only think of Norma Desmond's response in SUNSET BOULEVARD to the person who said: "You used to be big." And she said: "I AM big. It's the pictures that got small." Google William Holden right now, Brian. Order his best-known films from Netflix. Begin with THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, one of the greatest anti-war films of all time. (Although it's more Alec Guinness's film than Holden's.) Order NETWORK. Oh, and he's in SUNSET BOULEVARD too, btw. I'm just shocked that you don't know him, Brian. Shocked, shocked. (That's from CASABLANCA, but surely you do know that.)
@loren muse smith - forte is Italian for strong point and is pronounced forteh - although we English say fortay - not fort
Nailed it
Um, the fact you assume you are representative of the majority is part of the problem. Signed black female NYT crossword solver.
MENS LAW
I said UMPTEEN times to whatsiz NAME, “BSHARP and look GOOD.”,
when ONE’s down to his HANES and only his WALKENSTICK’s wood.
--- NURSE EDNA SOLACE
NEATO, BUCKO!? Not so. The former has appeared numerous times in NYT grids but hasn't been uttered by humans since the '50s. The latter, at least, is a little more original, but those two right out of the gate, along with the RMK (random musical key), fostered an "O, no!"
Things did improve, thanks be. Themers were corny but okay-funny. That first twitter is telling: yep, white dude x 5. Especially now, in these emotionally-charged times, ONE wants more diversity.
Robin with a sash? MISSGIVENS.
It's definitely a MENS grid, not a DOD in sight. (I'll pass on EDNA Krabappel, if you don't mind.) Oh well, my wife is a NURSE, so she is my personal DOD--and M, and Y, and C...par.
Got this puz in half the time of yesterday and knew it would get skewered for skewing old and white. It must have been in Will’s ATTIC or closet since he started. Two of the actors are long dead as are the careers of the other three. PASSE?
Dated a gal NAMEd BERN(adette) for a year or more back in the ‘70s. Allowed myself to be cougared for that period, before cougar was a term for it. UTOPIA.Yeah baby. MENS fantasies come true, every BIT. She ended up married to a friend’s much older brother, who was (and is still) younger than her. UMPTEEN years (40) later BERN is still uncomfortable about it at social gatherings. I cannot say I AMTOO.
Enough about me, Monday called and wants its easy puz back. YET in that, ONE is ABLE to take SOLACE.
Funny and punny but maybe cuz I'm certainly no longer a BUCKO (old enough to remember the "Wipe NAIR on...Wipe hair off" commercials) seemed like one of the easiest Wednesday puzzles in a long time.
Apparently the Tuesday and Wednesday puzzles got switched this week.
All themers revealed themselves pretty quickly, but maybe DANSONSHOES made the pun gimmick clear a bit before the others.
What kind of equipment is LANDING GEAR?
Was anyone else disappointed that the answer to "Chalupa go-with" was not BATMAN? Perhaps that is too obscure a reference, but an utterly hilarious one for those in the know.
@lefty - airplane wheels.
I dub this puzzle a pleasant plaything - Monday level solve.
Agree with the BUCKO comments - not a kid in my wheelhouse.
Count me in the "for-tay" crowd. Most dictionaries, including OED, allow it. My high school music director was Nick Forte - it always amazed me how he was able to get a stronger performance out of the orchestra than his assistant director.
Always wanted a pair of KEDS when I was a kid. Advertising works!
@Kathy - glad to see you back yesterday!
Now, on to last Sat's puz, as the newspaper has finally dried enough to write on it.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
Okay, I got it from my trusty M-W Dictionary:
that part of a float plane or space craft that touches the water first when landing.
@spacecraft - may I suggest INDIA Arie?
@rondo:
Thanks, yes, and I also misstated my M-W dictionary definition. Land and water, and whatever plane or space craft.
@kitshef, I had thought of that for a moment, as a stretch, but didn't recall for sure if her first name had an e in it or not. Good call.
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