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Solar deity / TUES 11-27-18 / Kindergarten instruction / 2018's "A Star Is Born," e.g. / Oscar hopeful
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Hello! It's Clare, back for another Tuesday. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I had my first "friendsgiving" this year, because I didn't get enough time off law school in DC to head home to California. The weather has been getting gloomy over the past few days, but maybe that's me projecting, because I've got a lot of finals coming up... Anywho, on to the puzzle.
Constructor: Erik Agard
Relative difficulty: Fairly easy
THEME: GOTTA RUN (59A: Parting words from 18-, 23-, 36-, and 54-Across?) — The theme answers are all things that "run."
Theme answers:
- FRIED EGG (18A: It might accompany bacon and toast)
- CANDIDATE (23A: Political hopeful)
- COMPUTER PROGRAM (36A: You might learn a new language to write one)
- EDITORIAL (54A: Opinion piece)
Womanism is a social theory based on the history and everyday experiences of women of color. It seeks, according to womanist scholar Layli Maparyan (Phillips), to "restore the balance between people and the environment/nature and reconcile human life with the spiritual dimension." The writer Alice Walker coined the term womanist in a short story, "Coming ----Apart." Womanist theory, while diverse, holds at its core that both femininity and culture are equally important to the woman's existence. In this conception one's femininity cannot be stripped from the culture within which it exists. (Wikipedia)
• • •
I'd never heard of womanism before, but I like the idea! Alice Walker was famously quoted as saying about it, "Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender."Overall, I quite enjoyed this puzzle! The puzzle had a lot of nice words in it; even the fairly standard answers were clued differently (adding a little spice and variety); and there weren't many crossword-y words. The whole thing just felt really smooth (especially for a Tuesday). The only real nit I had is about the theme. It felt a bit meh. I got the theme revealer (GOTTA RUN) very early in solving, but it didn't help me at all with the theme answers. I knew they had something to do with things that "run," but there are so many possibilities (fridge, dryer, people, etc...) that the revealer wasn't all that helpful. Also, I felt like COMPUTER PROGRAM was kind of bland for being the puzzle's marquee answer.
I got confused in some places, but that was mostly my own doing. When I saw cl-o, my mind immediately jumped to cleo (like Cleopatra), and I had that for a while instead of CLIO (8D: Muse of history), so I was very confused about what a freed egg might be at 18A. I also took a while to figure out that 37D: Rodent companion wasn't asking for a companion for a rodent and was instead referring to someone owning a pet.
I thought ORE (2D: Asset in the game The Settlers of Catan) and ETA (42A: Sixth letter after alpha) were especially refreshing in the puzzle. Those two words are always clued in some way having to do with mining and arrival time. It was nice to see them clued differently. There was some repetition in the puzzle clues that may have been a little heavy-handed but that, I thought, flowed nicely, like: 22A: Oscar hopeful and 23A: Political hopeful; 21D Fashion sense and 23D: Fashion-forward. The only repetition I didn't like was 42A as ETA and then 44A as ERA (along with 16A: Before, to poets as ERE).
A few other nits: I've never heard of using AUNTIE (47D) as a sign of respect for someone. Maybe we just don't use that where I'm from. OATY (32A: Like Cheerios) is, I guess, pretty standard but is still a very weird word. I always use the spelling "dialogue" and not DIALOG for a conversation (I'd argue that "dialogue" is the correct way...), so it took me a little bit longer to realize what the answer was. 34A: Homophone of "row" as RHO wasn't necessarily a gimme (I initially tried to put "roe"), but it still seems kind of weird to me to ask for a homophone in a crossword puzzle. And, HOTEL (50A: Hilton or Marriott) and SHOE (28A: Nike product) felt like answers that were just kind of there and served no real purpose.
Overall, though, I loved so many of the words in the puzzle, like: CROCUS, HEIST, GHOULS, SOLEIL, RETINUE, PUPIL, etc... I also loved DUKE IT OUT and HOT HOT HOT, even though I've never heard of that song or singer before. Side note: It's a very fun song and reminds me of summer (and the music video includes a cameo from Bill Murray).
Misc.:
- A Star Is Born is in the puzzle! I just saw that movie the other day and thought it was absolutely beautiful, even if I didn't love the ending. (I'm definitely on board the train to get Lady Gaga an Oscar — and Bradley Cooper is amazing, too.) There are lots of movies coming out soon that I want to see, too. Guess that's what I'll be doing over Christmas break...
- 56A: Unfamous sorts are NONAMES. Apparently I'm a no-name. That's too bad.
- My college motto was in LATIN — Lux et Veritas (light and truth); that's what it says on my diploma.
- I realized I had no idea how to spell SOLEIL, as I was trying to write what I knew the answer should be.
- VCR. What's that? (Just kidding! Even this millennial used VCRs a lot. It was especially sad because all of our Disney movies were on VCR and were then rendered obsolete).
- My sister, who works in Berkeley and takes Bay AREA Rapid Transit has had to train me not to say "the BART" and instead to just say "BART."
- For 41A: Segway cop's workplace, maybe as MALL — I've never even seen the movie, but I can't see Segways without immediately thinking of the movie Paul Blart: Mall Cop.
- NTH: Please don't make me think about my calculus days again.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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97 comments:
Easy. Actually faster than my time yesterday (to be fair alcohol may have been involved yesterday). Clever with out much ese, liked it.
@Clare - Me too for looking for a buddy for a rodent.
My big holdup was the WHOOPI/UHURA cross. I should pay more attention to names, but I don't know Star Trek from Star Wars.
I’ve usually heard Auntie used as a term of respect from my friends who aren’t white. I can think of friends who are Indian-American, Filipino, and Black and who have many Aunties who aren’t related by blood, but they use that term to show both respect and affection. I am white and we don’t use the title that way in my own family.
I really liked this puzzle. I find I’m often on a wavelength with this constructor. And it felt just the right difficulty for a Tuesday, without being too easy.
Very little to add to what was a thorough and imo spot-on review. I thought this was just about a perfect early week puzzle with lots of colorful fill and clever clueing until I got to GOTTA RUN, which left me flat for I guess no reason other than it just did not pop, as they say on HGTV. I would have been happier if it was just an easy themeless which in retrospect is probably dumb on my part. Eric Agard has really become a first class constructor.
Oh, yeah the theme showed up. Certainly didn't help the solve, because I seemed hellbent on screwing up the NW by insisting on DVR which led to violets as a spring bloom and I should know better. Back in the day, I read all of Alice Walker's books and still floundered.
Stuff that has GOTTA RUN, and we get a grid spanner as part of the program? Well done, sir! My friend is also my Tuesday night restaurant chef, so sometimes my pasta shows up topped by a runny FRIED EGG. Lucky me!
Speaking of things culinary, my 25D neck gland was THYmous and I made a note to ask about what happened to sweet breads appearing on fine menus? Sadly, we had to get all medical with THYROID.
Wow! That nail polish thing had never come across my desk, so OPI had nothing to do with Mayberry, I'm assuming. AUNTIE Bea does not sound right.
Right off the bat, I admire Erik. I have seen him in action at ACPT even before he won the whole thing, and he is impressive. Clare is obviously a smart cookie and has learned how to deal with the mob that is this comment section. Save the red meat tossing to OFL. Allow me to be ageist by commending some smart kids!
Had a little trouble spelling UHURA and NO NAMES wasn’t coming to me right away, AUNTIE, which is very much a term of respect in this part of the world helped me out in that SW corner.
Not too fond of runny eggs, it the white isn’t set, don’t even think of serving it to me. GAK! The yolk can be soft but not runny. I know, a little fussy.
Cute theme, liked it except for that nasty runny egg.
Buster Poindexter was sort of a strange case. He had a brief bout of popularity with a manufactured retro style that was reminiscent of Ratpack-era lounge singers. A decade earlier, he led The New York Dolls, an early punk-before-there-was-punk band, under his real name David Johansen. They were a bit before my time, but they were influential on both The Smiths and The Ramones, two bands that I loved. Ultimately, his popularity in both of his avatars was short-lived, but hey, he got to enjoy success as essentially two different people. How many people can say that?
AUNTIE, in Hawaii, is a very common term of respect for any adult woman, even if she is not close kin. Children learn it from a very early age as a way to politely address any female (not necessarily old) adult, even is she is entirely unknown to them. For that reason it might be alarming for a woman who is not from here to be addressed that way. Then. It. Is. Wonderful. It’s a local thing. And, for me, it is pretty much what aloha is all about. Oh, also adult men are addressed as “uncle.”
Loved today - so many fun words and a nice theme. Agree with you on 2D. Just started playing Settlers of Catan again (I'm sure everyone has played it - but if not, it's seriously awesome!), so twas nice to run into this clue so early.
My other note would've been relating to 31A - IRS. Anybody heard of the recent "#ThotAudit"? Would've been a funny - altho perhaps controversial - way to clue it.
@Larry – hand up for “dvr” first.
Clare – I had a “freed egg” at first, too. Briefly pictured what I call hippy eggs I get for my husband and daughter – the ones that are about 6 dollars a dozen and come from happy, self-actualized hens who are never subjected to watching Moonstruck, Leaving Las Vegas, or ConAir.
And I agree with Clare that there a plethora of things that run: movies, cowards, air-conditioning, panty hose, faulty toilets… But erik chose a different connotation of RUN for each themer. Nice.
CANDIDATE – someone who runs for office
CANDID DATE
CANDID CANDIDATE DEBATE
Add me to those wondering what kind of companion you’d get for your rodent. When PET RAT fell, I was reminded of Lucille, a 5th-grade classroom pet rat who won my heart the first day I subbed in there. She had a little hammock she reclined on and had this ‘40s movie star vibe going on. When the kids went to lunch, I stood at her cage to commune with her as I ate my caramel corn. She got off her hammock and came over to ask for a piece. At first I thought it’d be bad for her – ya know – not rat food. But sheesh – rats’ll eat anything, right? So I gave her a piece. She took it so politely and gratefully that I was overcome with affection. But then driving home, I was convinced that I had made her sick by giving her non rat food. The next day, still subbing for that teacher, I was weak with relief to find her alive and well. The caramel corn commune session was repeated, and this time I gave her a ton more. She received each piece and disappeared into her tony little rodent chalet with it. I figured she just didn’t want me to watch her eat. I. Loved. Her. But when the kids got back, someone yelled, Lucille has a huge pile of Cracker Jacks in her house! All the kids ran over to investigate, and I felt so guilty and stupid.
"Lux et Veritas (light and truth); that's what it says on my diploma."
Aren't we modest?
@clare -- Your reviews are rich with insight and intelligence, and a pleasure to read.
I've learned that a clean grid is a given with Erik, so no surprise that this puzzle is pristine, plus it seems just right for someone with a touch of solving experience, which is what Tuesday should be. It also has answers that strike my fancy -- GHOULS, HEIST, DUKE IT OUT, RETINUES, PET RAT and NO NAMES. Just 10 days ago, Erik (with Doug Peterson) did a Saturday offering. This guy has range, and if you look at the 29 puzzles he has published in the NYT, they're all over the week.
And thank you Erik, my brain has now found a mantra for the next two years: URGENT, DUKE IT OUT, OUST, WHOOPI!
@Loren, love your avatar. Here you are surely the Muse of history.
I went pretty steadily from top to bottom on this one and was thinking, "nice themeless Tues". Why not? We had a themeless Sunday recently. When I hit 59A the theme answers became highlighted and I saw there was a theme afterall. (I solve on E-subscription version) So I figured that out and finished up. I had also just finished a breakfast of over easy eggs with runny yolks, toast, OJ and turkey Smoky Links. Yum. And coffee of course. NYT xword and breakfast always start my day. Thank you, constructors, RP, and commenters.
As to AUNTIE: In the Jim Crow South, whites would never call address a black person as Mr. or Mrs. If they wanted to show respect for an older black person, he would be uncle and she would be aunt. Hence, Uncle Ben’s rice, Aunt Jemima’s syrup. Yes, I realize that “respect” is a complicated word in this context. I don’t know if whites ever used AUNTIE in that way.
All-inclusive summary, with the addition of chefwen's egg observation. [When I lived in the midwest and had clients from several Indian Tribes, I heard auntie used as it's clued today.]
It would have taken me about 17,576 guesses to come up with OPI. Fortunately the crosses were fair.
Anyway, post solve I looked at the constructor’s name and got a bit of a surprise. Such an ordinary puzzle with its OPI and OATY and AERO-AREA and the ETA ERA ERE ORE word ladder.
Eggs over easy please. If the yolk's aren't runny, it's a little gross.
First thought for rodent companion was MINNIE, but I refused to actually write it in.
I grew up in the Bay AREA, so that one was a gimme. Overthought getting to SUNGOD, but crosses brought me back. Still don’t know the theme, but was done before I needed to know.
I never had a PETRAT, but I had a retired lab mouse as a pet once. I called him Andamo, named after Mr. Lucky’s sidekick of old TV. I kept Andamo in a hamster cage in my office at the university. When the cleaning lady first spotted him, she refused to enter my office for a week or so. Within the year, she was taking Andamo home with her when I was out of town. She used to open his cage and let him run free in her house. Finally, Andamo’s past caught up with him and he develped a tumor on his hip. I took him our to a corn field and bid him adieu, trying not to think about all of the red tailed hawks in the vicinity. Aside from fish, he was my only pet.
Good Tuesday, which is what we expect from EA, and what we get.
Around here "auntie" is reserved for blood relatives, so I learned something today. The real battle is between those who say "ant" (me) and those who say "ahnt" (my wife). This is a function of where we grew up and not at all the case of one of us being ignorant and the other putting on airs.
Time to go warm up the snow blower, here we go again.
Womanism LOL.
Just a Few Reasons to love Eric Agard: That glorious halo of hair; gracious and chill Jeopardy Champion; his easy way with recreating the paradigm a la WOMANIST (and attendant ALICE WALKER), AUNTIE (Maxine, for one), UHURA, and WHOOPI—a contemporary Black Woman Heroes Hall of Fame—and that’s just one small wing.
I had ROE for 34A and changed it just in time to RHO to get HOTHOTHOT for 35D and with that, the blessed noble eternally sought-after Happy Pencil. Yah!
I am offended by the definition of womanism. Is my life not full of history and experiences as well? To deny me such validity is the definition of another -ism that many love to toss around.
i finally figured out why people think Rex is "negative" all the time. It's because he is a critic, a puzzle constructor himself who comments on puzzles as a fellow constructor, and as an expert himself with a very strong sense of what good, well-constructed puzzle ought to look like. You may disagree with what he comes up with, (and there are other constructors who post here who are ridiculously positive), but the fact remains, Rex's critique of the puzzles are more than just random opinions about them. They are qualified opinions. His take on the puzzles is more informed than 90% of the posters here.
Contrast that with the people who have subbed for him and you'll see the problem. Most of them are just solvers like most of us whose opinion on the puzzle is no more qualified than any of ours. While that is entertaining in some ways, and maybe a bit more charming, what Rex is communicating by enlisting their help, is that an "opinion" about a puzzle is in the same category as an intelligent critique.
It would be like you and your friend going to MOMA and commenting on the artwork. Unless your friend is highly educated in modern art and who maybe even does art themself, you and your friend are just two people with limited understanding of the process and so have only a limited surfacey understanding of the piece of art. You and your friend may even be right in saying that certain works are terrible...but unlike an expert, you won't really know why it's for real terrible...unless you have been studying that art and reading critiques of that art and have learned why some things are good/bad but someone who wasn't afraid to say it.
If you would rather walk through MOMA with someone who is an expert (and even a little grumpy occasionally at the schlock that exists that is still called "art"), then you probably like Rex. If you don't want to walk through MOMA with a person who is going to yuck your yum, then you're probably reading the wrong blog...until, of course, you come upon some of the sub bloggers who are no more insightful than you might be but are positive and palatable.
We all have opinions, but some opinions ARE more qualified than others. Between a giddy, positive non-expert person and a straight forward and sometimes funny snarky expert, I'll take the latter every single time.
It wasn't tough to get OPI today because it was in Sunday's puzzle too!
The reason RHO is clued with the slightly unusual homophone clue is to stop there being two clues that refer to Greek letters in the same puzzle (the other being ETA).
This particular guest blogger never ceases to amaze me.
Nice puzzle but it would have worked just as well, if not better, without the theme.
So many things run that the revealer is no help. Why those particular things? Why not, I guess.
Loved "duke it out" and learned "soca" after I looked it up.
I used to like Whoopi but not now.
I got a smile from Aren't you special. Kinda snarky but in a cute way.
@I choose Rex...ah ha ha hah ha ha hah ha! Made my day!
I choose Rex: To be a critic, you have to have broad tastes. If you want to be a music critic, you have to like the composers you here. If you don't like Mozart, how can you criticize a performance of a Mozart composition? If you read some or Hanslick's reviews (he's a classical music critic from the late 19th century who hated programmatic classical music) you can begin to understand the problem.
While Mr. Sharp is extremely knowledgable, so if Mr. Chen. Mr. Chen does pick apart many of the puzzles, but differently than Mr. Sharp. I wonder if those who complain about Mr. Sharp have more problems with his style than what he says. Sometimes I wonder if his aggressive writing style compensates for (by his admission) his more passive personality. Regardless, when opinions seem aggressive and imperial, pushback often occurs.
And it's perfectly fine to have a broad sense of what you like.
About today's puzzle. I tend to react to Eric's puzzles schizophrenically. I hate his (in my opinion) overuse of PPP. But the rest of the entries tend to endear themselves to my tastes. So it was with today's puzzle. The NW corner in particular turned me off. But for the most part I enjoyed the rest of the puzzle. As usual, I find him a talented but frustrating constructor. Too bad he won't make it to the Jeopardy Tournament of Champions.
I've never seen an EGG run. I've seen them runny and all kinds of ways but I've never seen it RUN.
There are some nice things in this and they've all been pointed out. My meh is that long COMPUTER PROGRAM right dab in the middle. I did the "So What" thing. Can't we zip it up a bit?
BART. I was around SFO when it opened in the mid 70's. When we moved to the East Bay I'd take BART from Concord to Market every day. When I was humongously pregnant I would hang on to that handle grip thing for ages and look miserably at all the MBA's with they noses in the WSJ and hope someone would take pity on me and give up their seat. Inevitably it was the WOMANISt types who would offer me a place to park my very heavy body. No menanist around.
I do like HOT HOT HOT crossing LATIN and SUN GOD sharing WHOOPY.
It's raining and I'm happy that I can finally breath some fresh air here in our little sugar bowl of Sacramento.
I could say a lot of snarky things today but I’m holding my tongue. One, I’ve learned it adds nothing to the world and is motivated only by wanting to appear not to be a No Name nobody, and two, it can be construed as tactless and insulting. As for “auntie” it’s hardly a term of respect in the pre-gay liberation world where it was derogatory slang for homosexual and is now itself gay slang for “queen.” Epithets can be like homophones, sounding the same but having different meanings and connotations depending on your background or social demographic. And then of course there’s “Auntie Mame” who became an icon of charming insolence by commanding respect with sheer audacity. “Life’s a banquet, but most poor suckers (originally ‘bastards’) are starving to death.” Damn right!
That SW corner stopped me in my tracks. UHURA (didn't know),OPI (didn't know), SWAT (a bad punned clue), and AUNTIE (huh?) required me to put the puzzle down for some time before I was able to come back and finish. The rest of the puzzle was Monday easy but enjoyable. Just hated that SW corner.
As you may have noted, I think PPP is less than word play. What irks me most is sneaking in PPP through the cluing. On a Tuesday using clues like “Nike product,” “Like Cheerios,” or “Hilton or Marriott” is relatively harmless. But it strikes me as a little bit lazy, too. Even with these backdoor PPP clues the puzzle is relatively clean (21 of 74), but I count 11 answers that could be clued in non-PPP ways, bringing the total down to just 10 of 74. Maybe it is just me, but I think that would have been an improvement.
What @Maxine Nerdström said about AUNTIE. Which reminds me, @Woman of Pallor - Not everything is about you. Shocking, I know.
After our discussion yesterday of dead white guy philosophers I found WOMANISM refreshing.
@tb - jealous much? I just checked, my diploma says In Vino Veritas.
@pabloinnh - “not at all the case...” got a chuckle from me.
@Walk Away Renee - Given some criticism of the NYTX being a too insular white guys’s club, I thought this puzzle was especially subversive.
@I choose Rex - I agree with 90% of what you wrote except for this, while the expert is better equipped to describe when something is crap, it doesn’t actually take lots of expertise to recognize quality versus crap. For example, one doesn’t actually need to know about Malt profiles, hop varieties, IBUs, etc etc etc, to know if a beer is too bitter for one’s liking or if the aroma adds or diminishes from one’s enjoyment. In fact, if you’re in the brewing business to make money the non-expert reaction might be more valuable than the reactions of a bunch of us beer snobs.
@ Z, You could say the same to Alice Walker.
Most enjoyable Tuesday in a long time. An adorable, playful theme; more resistance than I expected, especially in the SW; and best of all (and most unexpected from Erik Agard) almost NO NAMES!!!! Yay!!!! Some thoughts:
I, too, misinterpreted 37D and was asking myself: What idiot wants to be friends with a rodent?
Didn't remember that it's WHOOPI, not WHOOPIE. But when I finally wrote WHOOPI in, it looked right.
I'm an older woman and if you call me AUNTIE, I'll get really TESTY. I might even challenge you to DUKE IT OUT.
I always look for the most mindless and obvious titles for pop songs. So that when I had HOT------, I was thinking HOT FOR YOU. But it turned out to be even more mindless than that, as in HOT HOT HOT.
There are no surprises from a scrambled EGG -- my daily EGG of choice. It's never going to tell you that it's GOTTA RUN. I don't make or order FRIED EGGs, because the yolk either ends up completely uncooked or unpleasantly hard.
Really good puzzle, Erik. More like this, please.
Oh, one other thing... Themes don’t exist to help solve the puzzle. Themes sometimes help with solving, but that’s not their raison d’être (Har, thought I’d throw in a little French to look smart and all and auto-correct tried to fix it to “raisin.” That’ll learn me). No, themes are there to tickle our pattern seeking itch. What is that “Aha Moment” we so often talk about? It is that moment where we recognize the pattern. Personally, I almost never use the theme to try and help with the solve and there is something mildly disappointing about getting the revealer before seeing the pattern for myself. This is also why I am against titles for puzzles, who wants a spoiler before they even start a puzzle?
Oprah would have been a good themer!
Re 26A, on a *saint* as a metaphor.
Since the NY Times puzzle and this site tries to avoid being offensive to most religious opinions, I wondered about referring to a “saint” as a metaphor. If a saint were only a holy person in the afterlife, then the term for a person who behaved “saintly” would be a good metaphor. But those Christian sects which place less emphasis on the transformative power of heaven on the person refer to *saints* in this world as well as the next. The Calvinist traditions regularly referred to saints in this world–I think that is the way the notions appears in Milton, for instance. To be sure, if a Calvinist pronounced someone a “saint” because he or she acted “saintly,” then it would be a metaphor (he or she acted as one would imagine a saint to act)–since one could not be sure the behavior was based on faith or on works-righteousness (the damnable attempt to become holy through works). One could guess, but, even so, one knew there were saints on this earth (one was hesitant to say with certitude who they were), and these saints have some realization of that.
Other sects too have saints on this earth–as, I imagine, the Latter Day Saints and perhaps others which have “saints” in their names, but they handle the details differently (and I don’t really know what precisely they believe).
Thus, I think, referring to a “saint” as a metaphor should be offensive to many–not to me, since I don’t care, at least in a religious way.
Anon. i.e. Poggius
My wife's family is from India, and when we get together with them any elderly woman is "auntie" (including my mother-in-law). It's quite nice -- you never have to worry about remembering people's name!
A critic who doesn’t like Mozart should know why it is they don’t like Mozart, and the only requirement for their critique is that they love music.
They may be wrong, and even Rex can be wrong, but the difference in qualified opinions v. those on the street is the ability to pinpoint WHY a thing is art or not.
Beer snobs are different than beer experts. Experts have information, snobs have attitude.
And you’re right about the value of information from the common person, if a brewery is to make adjustments, they’re going to need an expert.
We didn’t even call our aunts AUNTIE, but people do that here in New England. As has been demonstrated in the comments, it’s tricky to use, and may sometimes offend.
Claire, thanks for the great write-up! Despite one previous remark, I thought you made an incisive and insightful critique. And I appreciated the Kavenaugh hearing send-up!
I got snarled in the SW corner, so this ended up taking about twice the normal Tuesday time for me. I've never watched Star Trek, so I wasn't getting any traction with UHURA. For solar deity, I had "apollo" in there for the longest time, before realizing it wasn't going to work. Surprisingly OPI helped me out, and the only reason is that I just saw it in the last two days in either the WSJ or LA TImes puzzle. And, honestly, I didn't remember for certain whether it was OPI or OLI, just that it was O-I. It was getting WHOOPI that finally unraveled that corner, but my brain froze and I had to smack myself in the head when I finally realized it. I thought it was going to be some Goldberg I had never heard of, but, no, it was the most obvious one. My brain could somehow not scare it up, though, perhaps because I was thinking more music with the Grammy award, rather than a spoken comedy record.
And, yeah, that rodent companion clue; I just had no idea what it was fishing for.
Other than that SW corner, I thought I was heading for a new record. Most of the cluing was almost oddly straightforward, like the "homophone of 'row' " clue. I'm not sure I ever remember a clue being so direct and giving you the answer off the bat, you just have to figure out whether it's "roe" or "rho."
As for the theme, I found it OK. Not great, not terrible, just a bit there-for-the-sake-of-being-there, I guess.
If you have pet rat, you have to have: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBzorc7teaY
Agree with Nancy (9:42) re: testy & auntie => dukeitout
Food for Thought Q re: pronunciation Ant vs AHnt and historical usage of Uncle & Aunt in the Jim Crow South (RavTom 7:15)
Most of my African-American friends say AHnt when referring to their relatives. I wonder if that might have come from avoiding allusion to Ant, as in Aunt Jemima.
I'm always happy to see your name Erik - love your puzzles!
can anyone tell me the difference in solving in pencil or ink with the NYT app?
Now that I've seen Opi twice in one week (and also twice in my life) I'm going to have to commit it to memory. This one seems in keeping with Erik's style. Now that he's a Jeopardy celebrity I wonder how he'll indulge himself.
@pallor Womanism per above:
holds at its core that both femininity and culture are equally important to the woman's existence. In this conception one's femininity cannot be stripped from the culture within which it exists.
I don't see this as excluding anyone, unless you have no culture. Moreover it implies that masculinity is culturally rooted as well.
Instead of feeling excluded think of it as an invitation to add depth to the idea of feminism and make it more inclusive.
💻
Excellent Tuesday fare.
To be truly accurate however, the central themer would have to be EVERYCOLOREDSHIRTIVEEVERPUTINTHEWASHER.
Nice one, @Sir Hillary.
UHURA was right? Didn't look right. OK, good.
This puzzle was fine but leaned a little on the 'meh' side for me. Nike product = SHOE? That's about as weak as it gets.
@Anonymous 9:55am:
You're way, way overthinking SAINT. The word has secular meaning as well as religious. Relax.
I think she is referring to the first sentence of the definition in the OTD.
@woman of pallor, my first thought after completing this puzzle was "Nuthin to be offended by in there for anybody." And yet...
@ I choose Rex:
The "big three" NYT crossword bloggers are Rex, Jeff, and Deb. All are constructors and immersed in the world of crosswords and I believe would fit your definition of "qualified" to comment on puzzles. All post criticisms of puzzles when they feel prompted to do so. Yet there aren't cries of Jeff and Deb being negative all the time, as you say there are about Rex. Maybe these cries are prompted by the manner of Rex's critiques, apart from the fact that he is qualified to make them.
I do read a fair amount of criticism of Rex in these comments, but I don't recall that criticism ever having anything to do with his qualifications to critique puzzles. Given that your argument is mainly about how people should listen to experts rather than laymen, it doesn't seem to greatly apply to what is happening here in Rexworld.
Re: TomAz at 11:29.
You may be right. It was the term *metaphor* that seemed to me peculiar, not that the term *saint* can be both sacred and secular. If 26A had been defined "term for a really good person," I don't see how anyone could object.
But maybe I am overthinking the meaning of *metaphor*.
Anon. i.e. Poggius
Hey Clare,
Anothing California thing your sister can confirm: People in Northern California refer to freeways by just the number. "Take 101 south, and then get on 880 north...." Miscreants in Southern California add "the" to the number: "I took the 405 over the hill, then got on the 101 toward Ventura..."
Nice puzzle. Enjoyable. Quite easy. Thanks to the constructor.
@I choose Rex, @Lewis, and others. Re: Professionals in a field are allowed to say what's "good" and why, whereas non-professionals aren't.
Just wondering: How many times has some noted and respected critic waxed rhapsodic about, say, a modernist painting that you think is godawful? (I'm choosing art in this case, because it's a field that I haven't studied and about which I know very, very little.)
Well, I do know enough to zip my lip, since absolutely no one wants to hear my opinion about the painting -- nor should they. But I can't turn off my eyes, my brain and my viscera as easily as I can clamp my mouth shut. And what I'm thinking is: The emperor has no clothes. This painting is a complete joke! That critic is needs to have his head examined! And do I feel in my gut that my opinion is just as valid as his? Actually I do, I feel it quite deeply -- even though, in the case of art, I'll hold my tongue. In fields I know something about, I will venture an opinion, even though I may choose to soften it a bit.
Hard to beat a TuesPuz that gives U the runs. M&A could even add a coupla local restaurants to the themers list.
Agard is gettin even more puz-prolific than C.C. This puppy was a great grid with a things than run.
But, but … Does an EDITORIAL run, or get run? Sorta like: does a SHOE run or get run with?
Anyhoo -- Some primo fills, with faves: HOTHOTHOT. Runny-ish DRIP. UHURA. WOMANISM [learned somethin new, here]. DUKEITOUT (or "run!"). THYROID.
staff weeject [run-t word] picks: OPI & RHO. Recent Re-Runs! honorable mention to VCR, which either runs or is too worn out to be run.
Ow de Speration NOMINEEs: OATY. PETRAT. Nuthin too outrageous, on this smooth puzrun.
Thanx for the eazy-E-except-for-the-SW fun, Mr, Agard.
Masked & Anonym8Us
Love Erik Agard puzzles, especially since seeing him DUKEITOUT on Jeopardy. Hopefully his winnings there will keep him in his lowly paid profession for a while.
@Preferred Customer and @Pallor - I think we are all jumping into a DIALOG having missed it’s beginning. As is oft the case, a good place to start is the Wikipedia article, source of much more than just the WOTD quote posted. Here you go with a little more that might prove illuminating (do I really need to emphasize this is a starting point? Probably):
In discussing womanist theory, one must acknowledge the racism that was perceived by black women in the feminist movement. This perception fuels two different conceptions of womanism's relationship with feminism. Some womanists believe that the experience of Black women will not be validated by feminists to be equal to the experience of White women because of the problematic way in which some feminists treated blackness throughout history.[5] As such, they do not see womanism as an extension of feminism, but rather as a theoretical framework which exists independent of feminist theory. This is a move from the thought of Black feminists who have carved their own space in feminism through academia and activism.[6]
However, not all womanists hold this view of feminism. The chronological first conception of womanism can be captured through Alice Walker's quotation "womanism is to feminism as purple is to lavender".[7] Under this description, the theories are intimately tied, with womanism as the broad umbrella under which feminism falls.
I find the lens metaphor especially useful. Understanding various members of the commentariat is oft helped by understanding a little bit the lenses they use to view the world.
PETINUES -- Favored advisory groups
RATINUES -- Disfavored advisory groups
Do you hear that, ladies? Z is going to explain feminism and womanism to you because, as a white male feminist, he obviously understands it better than you ever could, bless your tiny little heads.
I suppose a FReED EGG would run as fast as it could. I, on the other hand, do NOT like runny eggs so when comparing the revealer and the first theme answer, I didn't get it. Only as I went down the grid, did it sink in.
Easier for me than most Agard oeuvres, as I came in under my Tuesday average. I liked the plethora of bonus words as Clare has pointed out. RETINUES took all of the crosses to fill in as I thought a RETINUE was more of an entourage - ah, I see that's one of the synonyms, hmm. The clue made it sound more businesslike than I associate with entourage (hangers-on is "entourage" to me). I was mentally trying to fit in RETainer as I solved, with obvious plural issues for that answer (also not a good fit with the clue but oh well.)
Thanks, Erik, for a non-SILTy Tuesday.
And I have to credit @M&A for some serious ESP - this is lifted from his comment from yesterday: "staff weeject picks: ROE & ROW. They rocked M&A's rho-boat. Ain't on the fence, on the row vs. dwade issue, tho ..."
Oh, and my husband and I have honorary Uncle and Aunt status with our friends' daughters who were adopted from Ukraine, so a non-American thing?
Hey All !
NE corner, DNF. Had huMANIST and didn't want to let it go. I know, that makes me a Sexist for not seeing WOMANIST. Also, that CROCUS flower thingy was a mystery. Not up on my Blooms. And didn't want to not have dvD, even though I had a sneaky suspicion that 1A was VOWED. So the puz and I DUKE IT OUT, and the puz won. WHOOPI!
Things That Run, Har. FRIED EGG being my favorite. I had the same confusion as Clare on that PET RAT clue. TUB clue funny.
Liked overall, TuesPuzs usually get no respect, like my F's and @M&A's U's. (Speaking of F's, 1 today.) This was a pretty good offering.
HOT! HOT! HOT! GOTTA RUN!
RooMonster
DarrinV
@poggius keep on over thinking I always enjoy it.
PC
@z perhaps I was being too subtle for you. PC
I agree that nowadays it’s mainly in nonwhite communities that I hear non-family members called Auntie. When I was a little (white) girl in the 1960s in northern Florida, though, my siblings and I called my mother’s best friends Aunt Lois, Aunt Charlotte, and so on. The coolest auntie was the mother of my best friend, who told me to call her Cris when I was four or five. I loved her instantly for allowing me this level of familiarity; she must have known that it would not diminish my respect for her. I thought I was so cool, calling her Cris while the other kids called her Mrs. H.
Why does this blog have to become the Z Show every afternoon? These debates get awfully tedious. Stick to the puzzle.
@Anonymous 10:56 a.m. re: solving pencil vs ink in app
As far as I know, there's no difference. It's just there as a visual cue to you to distinguish answers you're confident in vs ones you are not confident about. For example, when I do puzzles on paper, I always use pen, but I only very, very lightly feather in answers I am unsure about vs one that I am highly confident of. Everybody has their own way of doing things, but that's how I do it, and the app provides similar functionality. If there is any reason for pen vs pencil in the app, I am unaware of it.
You see, according to the quote in the write-up, womanism is for women of color. That is the first sentence of the Wiki quote. How many sub-groups must there be? Simply being a woman isn't enough? Everyone seems to be trying for their own little niche to be able to claim how down-trodden they are.
@Preferred - Entirely possible but I don’t think so. Seemed to me we got from “Women of color” to “masculinity is culturally rooted” while glossing over about, oh, 231 intermediate steps. That’s what I was trying to get at by the entering the middle of conversation comment. If I’m understanding you correctly we pretty much agree.
While I zipped through this, I did not understand the theme until I read the blog! I was trying to “unscramble” GOTTA RUN from within the theme answers or find foreign words meaning “good bye” (or something like it). Sheesh-how dense con one be? Knocked out the PET RAT answer because I was recently reading a Harry Potter to a neighbor’s son and Scabbers is PJ’s favorite - he begs his mom for a PET RAT regularly! Not happening.
The discussion of AUNTIE and its possible roots in the South or non-white communities (or inner city Columbus Ohio where I was raised and where my Black friends used the term with non-family adult women) reminded me that in only three short weeks I will be seeing Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of “To Kill a Mockingbird” on Broadway. As relevant today as Harper Lee’s theme was in 1960, I am excited to revisit it from a different point of view (Atticus Finch) and am hopeful that in the retelling, art will work its magic and touch the hearts of folks who have difficulty seeing human beings as human beings.
Maxine your answer was on point. Although Anonymous, as a white woman I, as a child was asked to call mymom’ Friend “Aunt Charlotte” she and my mom we’re from the south
Pity Eli and Whippenpoofs weren’t clued.
@Lewis: commenters here absolutely question Rex's qualifications, not just his delivery. When he talks about fill, or not understanding a word, or knowing a word, or that he doesn't like certain themes...all kinds of comments call into question his knowledge or ability to discern his preferences from his expertise...which, calls into question his expertise.
and honestly, my post isn't about listening solely to experts over laypeople...it is to say that when Rex intentionally chooses laypeople, it sort of undermines his goal in this blog. I'd much rather read a review (however positive) of an expert than just another opinion you'd find in this comments section.
@Nancy: while your eyes may indeed work and you look at modern art and cringe, an expert may be able to look past the aesthetic that many people use to judge art and see a deeper context from which the artist was working...which adds depth to the understanding.
Take John Cage's 4'33". If you are sitting in the audience to hear music being played, you will not hear any, conventionally speaking. But, if you stop listening for something that isn't there, and listen to the sounds from the audience and the hall that exists in that 4'33", then you'll hear the "music" that Cage was after. You may turn up your nose at the thought that anyone would "compose" a silent piece and pawn it off as "music," but the context is everything, without it, you are missing the forest for the trees.
That isn't to say that our uneducated judgments are without merit or are not valid...it is just to say that an expert should be able to describe why some things are within the margin of error as "good," and other things, not so much.
All of that to say, Rex's style may indeed be offensive to those who continually comment about it...but for him to counter his own style by having guest bloggers who just have opinions that are "ordinary," is to undermine his own blog.
Just my opinion.
@I choose Rex: I’ve read this blog for a long time and I’ve never read anyone question Rex’s qualifications. I have read criticisms of his penchant for advocating the banning of people and groups he doesn’t like from the puzzle. I’m a liberal. I would argue that prominent Republicans and, gasp, even Trump family members and Trump administration officials should be included in the puzzle. Apparently Rex disagrees, as is his prerogative. Just don’t pretend that anyone is questioning his qualifications as a critic.
@ I choose Rex --
I fall on the side of @Left of Center. Yes, I've heard many criticize him for being too PC, and I've heard many express surprise that he hadn't heard of this or that word, but -- and here is where I respectfully disagree with you -- I see these criticisms of Rex as pointing out character flaws, but not of questioning that he has the chops and experience to expertly analyze, criticize, and praise puzzles and parts of puzzles.
I do think the issue of whether having non-experts as guest bloggers is a good or bad thing is very interesting, and I appreciate your take on it. As I think about it, I go back and forth. Rex has also had experts as guest hosts as well, maybe more than non-experts, actually, but having non-experts doesn't seem to bother him, nor do I remember seeing many complaints about it from commenters. So maybe, in Rexworld anyway, it's not so egregious. I'm glad you brought it up though, as it is good food for thought, and I thank you for that.
Left of Center and Lewis ~ Bravo for the spot on rebuttal to the pompous and ponderous pronouncements of I choose Rex. And so what if every guest blogger is not an expert? It's a puzzle, damn it, a puzzle!
Hey anon at 10:21PM:
::wave::
@ I Choose Rex (6:23) -- OMG, such wonderful news! I've always wished I could be a composer and now I can be!!!!!! John Cage wrote a "piece" that is comprised of complete silence and calls it music???? And respected critics accept it and call it music, too???? I can do that!!!! I know I can write silence too -- just watch me!!!! It's too late tonight to get started, but first thing tomorrow I shall pull out a notepad (I won't really need musical staff sheets, will I?) and get cracking on my soundless music. Look for my name in lights on the Carnegie Hall marquee very soon, everyone. Or, who knows, maybe the Met.
We had a PETRAT when we were little. White, named Herman and he bit Teddi on the thumb.
Guess he was a rat of pallor.
Boy, I had a great time last week in Boston. I went to a concert that had no music, the one the critics raved about.
Then I had dinner in that fabulous restaurant, you know the one. It’s that restaurant the critics love, where you can choose between the “blank menu” meal, which consists of 12 courses of nothing, and the “daily special” where the chef prepares the special,and the waiters eat the meal and then tell you how good it was. Too bad it’s so expensive.
And, oh yeah, I finally read that best-seller that consists of blank pages, the one the critics loved. It seemed to go so fast.
On our next trip we’re going to see the Red Sox when they’re not playing. I hope it’s not a sell-out.
"Criticism should be a casual conversation." --W.H. Auden
I'm a newbie at this. So however ignorant I am of the nuances, I come here with fresh eyes. I see Rex's persona here (not the real man--who knows what he's like?) as a guy who in no way keeps it casual. The format might appear so...but a thin line of uneven meanness runs through his recaps, which to me takes all the POW out of his very learned critiques. I can't trust this Rex, in other words. His PC bias makes it even worse.
I am working my way backwards, so if you see a comment from me on a future post, I wrote that before I saw this page's cluster of comments.
Finally, I appreciate Rex's generosity in letting his readers express themselves here. I think we all believe learning never ceases, so perhaps in future I'll feel differently about this Rex persona. And perhaps "Rex: will evolve, too, which I always find exciting to witness in a public personality.
@this strange day's discussion:
Rex's best quality is not giving a hoot about what who writes about the puzzle when he's off. There is very clearly no interference on his part about his guest commentators.
His second best quality is that he allows most critical comments about him to appear here in the comments...and yet the moderators quash comments that are ad hominem to _other_ posters.
I have nothing else positive to say about Rex. I met a former student of his who gushed with enthusiasm, and have to assume there is a human being inside there somewhere, a teacher beloved of his students. It never shows in his column. But it shows in this comment stream, and it shows when he has a sub.
Does he like crossword puzzles? Most days' posts would lead you to think "no." Does he like crossword puzzle blogging? Definitely yes.
treeapple
I was ATAD surprised to see the Agard byline on a Tuesday (Happy New Year, everybody!). I was NOT surprised to see the number of REAL WORDS and the comparative dearth of PPPs, acronyms, et al (that's LATIN, folks). See, constructors? You CAN do it, if you work at it a little.
It's possible, I guess, to have a PETRAT, but the neighbors are bound to think you're weird. And TEENIE, well, that's just some necessary "ow de speration," per @M&A--whose favorite Enterprise crew member is, of course, UHURA. While Nichelle has been DOD in the past and undoubtedly will be again, today's winner is WHOOPI. I love her personality, and I love her WOMANISM. And as Guinan, she too has Star Trek propers.
The theme was fine, though the thought of a "running" 18-across is unappetizing. A super-solid birdie to kick off 2019. GOTTARUN!
URGENT: LETS ROLE
The CANDIDATE was an E.R.A. NOMINEE with scruples,
who would DUKEITOUT for his RETINUE'S club.
It SEEMS he VOWED this to his WOMANISM PUPILs
through a SLY DIALOG in the HOTEL's HOT TUB.
--- WHOOPI "CROCUS" SOLEIL
Whipped through this very quickly except the SW corner. WHOOPI has a Grammy? AUNTIE SEEMS ATAD more *familiar* than *respectful*. Seemed more like a themeless as GOTTARUN came in last and wasn't connecting to the themers very solidly, IMO. Hope my FRIEDEGGs GOTTARUN to them when brunch is ready.
Hadst thou some Prep-H for THYROID?
Giggled at first at TEENIE-weenie
During morning coffee breaks we sometimes guess the ages of celebrities having birthdays. One-time yeah baby and portrayer of UHURA, HOTHOTHOT Nichelle Nichols just had a birthday this week. 86 if you're counting @spacey.
LET'S all have a Happy New Year!
A touch easier tan Monday's offering.
Happy New Year! Let's make it a good one. Have you VOWED it already?
Soon we'll see that first CROCUS, or ORIOLE. For now, it's not HOTHOTHOT, as the SUNGOD still naps most of the day.
GOTTARUN - bye bye to all you Identifiers at the bottom of a blog post.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
Clare is tactful and gentle. Nice review. Rex may have done some real damage here, although the brilliant Erik Agard likely has some immunity.
GOTTA RUN refers to things that RUN? Is that it? "Parting words from 18-, etc."? Please.
Thought we might be dealing with anagrams, but soon had to give up on that.
Correctly solved, but didn't make sense of the theme.
GOTTA RUN.
OPI alone should have rejected this puzzle.
Not the greatest offering by Erik Agard. I'd love to chat about it, but I've GOTTARUN!
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