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Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (for a Monday) (because of the center) (3:24)
THEME: LPS (62D: Old records ... or a hint for this puzzle's seven longest answers) — two-word phrases, first word starts with "L," second word starts with "P":
Theme answers:
- LATIN PERCUSSION (17A: Tito Puente's specialty)
- LEOPARD PRINT (23A: Material that's spotted at a fashion show?)
- LOW POST (41A: Area of a basketball court near the basket)
- LAUNCHING PAD (51A: Rocket's takeoff point)
- LEGAL PROCEEDING (61A: Court case, e.g.)
- LOTTO PRIZE (3D: Mega Millions jackpot)
- LATEX PAINT (31D: Wall covering that's washable with soap and water)
A term referring to the area on a basketball court at the bottom of the key, typically on either side of the basket. The key is the rectangular area that encompasses the middle of the floor underneath the basket. It is often shaded and always has a semi-circle attached on the short side opposite the basket. The low post is named in contrast/opposition to the high post, which is at the top of the rectangle away from the basket. (sportingcharts.com)
• • •
The more I look at the fill, the worse this one gets. I guess we're supposed to look at All Those Themers and just ignore the rest. All the stale, short rest. Aside from DOWN NET (!), I didn't have any initial errors except for LAP AT instead of LAP UP (23D: Drink, like a cat or dog). I blanked on GADOT at first, and couldn't think of a word that could follow LOTTO (which tells you something about the word that follows LOTTO). I'm just looking at the whole north section (PESO PAP ERE) and thinking how easy it would be to make it better. MISO MAP IRE is better. ALSO APP LIE is much better. PAP and ERE just rub me the wrong way. Seems like most corners of this grid could be improved with a tiny bit of elbow grease. You can't do better than ONEA over TTOP? ALGA and AGAR in the same small corner? ANNO x/w ITSO in the NE? AER over TRA? The self-styled Best Puzzle in the World should be cleaner than this.
Congrats to Dan Feyer on winning his record 8th (!!!) American Crossword Puzzle Tournament championship yesterday.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. 149 people know what's up:
Here's what I liked about this puzzle (and it didn't even get a nod or shake from Rex): 47D EL PASO. Struck me as a cool play on words (or letters).
ReplyDeleteMedium. Theme density took its toll on this one, plus the theme is kinda MEH...@ Rex makes some good points.
ReplyDeleteNit that I disliked this as much as Rex (although it was close), but LAUNCHINGPAD? Really? WTF, really? Saw that and thought, "Oh damn, the designer is stretching for phrases no one actually uses." Which is to say… fail.
ReplyDeleteAlmost finished this in a decent time but spent close to a minute tracking down one bad letter. Upped my solving time by a significant fraction, but that's a Monday for you.
Oh, I give up, the "I am not a robot" on the comments has been a complete PITA. Hasta la vista folks. I am out of here.
I guess I’m not normal, I have always heard it as a LAUNCHING PAD.
ReplyDeleteLOW POST was new to me, not unusual as I never watch basketball. The day I quit smoking I decided going to see The Milwaukee Bucks would be a good idea because there was no smoking in the arena. Longest day of my life, boring game and I would have sold my soul for a cigarette, dug my heels in and never had another cigarette or watched a basketball game. A win win situation in my book.
Good Monday puzzle Andrea and Kevin.
I agree with @Rex and @jae about the theme, although I did like LEOPARD PRINT with the "am I seeing double?" PAR in just below.
ReplyDeleteAlso liked LUNA with her EBB and NEAP tides and the shrug of MEH followed by the MAA bleat.
Do-overs: Yikes before YOWZA, ooh before TRA.
LOW POST: well into old age, my mom became a RABID NBA fan (Orlando Magic, in the Shaq days), so on visits I had many an opportunity to pick up the lingo.
Medium for me as well. As usual, I think Rex’s review is unduly harsh. He makes some good points, but his tendency to over-criticize overshadows the better parts of the puzzle, such as 17A LATIN PERCUSSON, 61A LEGAL PROCEEDING, and several others.
ReplyDeleteRex, just as you criticize the puzzles in the Times for (in your view) not living up to their reputation, your blog suffers from your acerbic reviews. I do think that if you were to be more gentle in your criticism and more free in your praise (parsimonious as it is), your blog would be the gold standard of review blogs.
Just sayin...
You know, don’t you, that Rex has gone on record as saying he never reads the comments on his blog. He will “occasionally” respond to a tweet.
DeleteYes, a theme like this would be too old hat and simple for a W-Su puzzle, but for someone fairly new to solving, for whom a Monday puzzle is targeted, it is a good intro to the concept of theme, and can provide a nice feeling of success.
ReplyDeleteTaste is not an objective thing, Rex. I actually find PESO/PAP/ERE to be less clean, perhaps, but more interesting than ALSO/APP/LIE. You often present your opinion as fact, which it is not.
I liked the Spanish undercurrent: PESO / LATIN PERCUSSION / EL PASO / POR, even a backward PASA. There are so many LP phrases that I think going for seven theme answers is worth trying, and, IMO, Acme and Kevin succeeded. I'll have a better idea later, when my wife, a M-W solver at the moment, attacks it. I listen closely to her praises and criticisms of puzzles because she qualifies her reactions as opinion, and because the puzzle is targeted toward solvers like her.
I think the preferred word is neurotypicals but I'm no longer sure.
ReplyDeleteVery fast and fun grid. Lots of downs to keep the flow going. Loved the different tides, one of my specialties as an avid kayaker.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of basketball, anyone watch the Duke-UCF game yesterday? Wow. The puzzle was a nice start to Monday. And Rex, the constructors could have clued 23d: "CA dog" and gotten an 8th themer.
ReplyDeleteRe Blue Devils: never a doubt....(!)
DeleteLiked the bonus Spanglish “LA PUP” at 23D, and the LPs in ELPASO and ALP. Every L in the puzzle is either part of a themer, or followed immediately by a P, or both.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely flew through this, with almost all my first guesses paying off, including the unlikely YOWZA. and LAUNCHING PAD went in with nary a cross, so someone has heard it.
I think a theme like this is just fine for a Monday, targeted toward novice solvers. I agree that the fill leaves something to be desired, though there were some high points.
ReplyDeleteSo do i. Good Monday puzzle
DeleteThe fill on this puzzle was perfectly fine. It's put there by the constructors for you to solve, not for your enjoyment or self-validation.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the P.P.S. Tweet is truly a piece of work. You sound like Scarlett O'Hara's father giving a senile lecture about "cluing [that answer]," and you have absolutely no self-awareness of this.
If the crosswords aren't meant to be enjoyed, why would people solve them?
DeleteAnd there's nothing wrong with pointing out the clue is referring to the musical since it's easy to think it's being a bit racist otherwise. Especially if you aren't used to crossword conventions, like many Monday solvers.
Oh, and PAR is not what golfers aim for. The aim to be below PAR, and the more so the better. (Except in my case, where I aim for 50 over par.)
ReplyDeletePerfect Monday.
ReplyDeleteThis blog was your launching pad to fame, Rex.
ReplyDeleteMeh for me.
ReplyDeleteDo all two-letter combinations qualify as themes?
Give me a DJ with a musical theme and I say yes.
Give me a BC with a religious theme, anytime.
A GP with a medical theme, sure.
...
The list is very long and can be meaningfully put in practice.
An LP theme without any connection what so ever between the answers?
Ich dont sink zo..
@chefwen, if you liked bball now would be the time to watch the Bucks, Giannis is a phenom and the team on its way to the Finals.
@amy yanni, wow indeed!
@kitshef, with you on the "par" clue, should be phrased "minimum goal" or something.
LPs are not two random letters, they’re a real thing. I have lots and lots of them.
ReplyDeleteI saw the LP theme, but I never noticed the revealer at 62D and I thought it was interesting but strange there was no revealer. Ah, there it is!
Thanks ACME and Kevin — another lovely Monday.
@Small Town Blogger
ReplyDeleteRex absolutely reads the comments here, despite what he claims. He also ocassionally comments under a separate avatar.
Found two LP's right away and said aha!, and LP theme and sure enough, there it was. Answers were OK with me, the owner of boxes of LP's and what am I going to do with them? I'm trying to think of anything that annoys me as much as some puzzles seem to annoy OFL, so far without success.
ReplyDeleteActual question--does the NYT call it The Best Puzzle in the World, or is that just RP's continual sarcasm?
Hey @chefwen--good on ya for quitting smoking. I quit 35 years ago and still have the occasional nightmare where I'm lighting up. Powerful drug, that nicotine.
Oh yeah, Duke/UCF. Wow.
“Yeah, the ‘Hair’ in {“Hair dos”} is the musical ‘Hair,’ not ironic scare quotes ‘Hair.” Verrrrrry important distinction, esp when you’re cluing [ that answer] “. Thanks buddy. That is one of the funniest things I’ve ever read.
ReplyDeleteLAUNCHING PAD sounds perfectly OK to my ear. As does its shorter near-twin LAUNCH PAD. weird.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what Rex wants from a Monday theme. "Two random letters" strikes me as very much PAR for the course. He complains about RAMON as clued, but that doesn't bother me nearly as much as GADOT. MEH, indeed.
Talc, peso, enron, Igor, Tse, Alp, as do i, til, upi, onea, yowza, itso meh.
ReplyDeleteI could be wrong, but I don't think that p.s. was there when I made my first comment. And I should have backed up my comment about PESO/PAP/ERE being more interesting than ALSO/APP/LIE a little more. On W-Su, when you can get more creative in the cluing, I think ALSO/APP/LIE may very well be the better choice, clean as it is -- with interesting cluing. But on Monday, when the cluing is simple and direct, where's the interest in ALSO/APP/LIE? No thinking involved there, IMO, while a little more brain activity may be called for with PESO/PAP/ERE. That's just my take, and I certainly respect Rex's.
ReplyDeleteWhen the "O" from ON SITE (10D) meant that the YIKES or YIPES answer I initially wanted at 9A wouldn't work, I made a mental note to myself: Thinking Required.
ReplyDeleteLikewise, when I had U-- for "Diamond head" and couldn't come up with the answer right off the bat. That was a pretty tricky Monday clue for UMP, actually.
That was pretty much the extent of my having to think in the course of solving this mostly very Mondayish and clued-on-the-nose puzzle. It wasn't nearly enough thinking to make me happy.
I need to stop by the grocery store and go to the AGAR aisle and get some AGAR to thicken my foods.
ReplyDeleteOne of the easiest Monday puzzles I can remember. Didn't even have to read many of the clues. I solve on paper so I don't time myself, but I'm guessing 5-6 minutes, which is very fast for me. LOW POST is a gimme if you watch basketball.
ReplyDelete@Carola...I always enjoy reading your posts. Today I said to myself I bet she'll say something about that LUNA EBB and NEAP before I do! I like how you connect the words...
ReplyDeleteAnd @Lewis, as usual, sees the positive and creativity in puzzles. I thought today was a perfect example of a Monday that is pretty clever and perfect for the novice. I can hear the AHA...LPS.
The ELPASO down next to LPS had to be Andrea's idea. She's pretty good at those little sneaks.
I wouldn't change a thing.
@chefwen...I'm not sure why, but your post made me laugh out loud - the one about LOW POST - basketball game - and quitting the smokes. My first (of many) attempt was when I was dating a full of himself, very athletic (and overly handsome) man who got me to quit and start running with him. I did. The problem: He was so booooooring and couldn't stop talking about how great he was. He wasn't. I was, though. Good way to give up two bad habits.
Waiting for GADOT?
Good post, @Gill I.!
DeleteNice to see ERIK Satie in the clues. Love his music and the movie Diva too.
ReplyDeleteHad no trouble with the middle.
Cheers!
I enjoyed this until Rex explained from on high why I shouldn't.
ReplyDeleteActually, he did not spoil my fun. On Mondays I try to keep in mind how I felt long ago when I was new to the NYT puzzle.
@ Lewis, I always appreciate your point of view. Such a gentleman.
Andrea continues to reign on Mondays.
I also hesitated at lap at or lap up. Waves lap at the shore. Dogs lap up their water so no problem.
Hey All !
ReplyDeleteLoved LPs growing up. Had lots of space on the album covers and jackets for lyrics, artwork, etc., especially for the groovy Yes albums I liked. They were also just neater to me than cassettes. (Or 8 tracks, which were just a touch before my time of buying/listening to music)(although I've had some cars with 8 track players, and have had 8 tracks).
As you may know, I like lots of theme. This fit the bill, and although there are quite the preponderance of three's (27), the dreck is light.
Had a writeover, metOo-ASDOI. Misread the AFROS clue as Hair "dos" instead of "Hair" dos. Weird how the ole brain switches things around like that. That answer worked either way. And contained the only F in the puz. One F, the NERVE! Har.
So a nice MonPuz that didn't deserve a LOW POST RexSmackDown. A puz with PEZ and YOWZA is a winner in my book.
UNSHOD MAMMAS
RooMonster
DarrinV
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the bland cluing for TALC. All of the top google hits make mention of recent concerns re cancer and talc products. Whether valid or not, it seems, well, clueless to ignore this in a contemporary puzzle. Maybe "After-bath powder now under a cloud"? I suspect there are very few NYT solvers who still use talc with abandon...
ReplyDeleteAlways rooted against Duke until this season. That’s because as a frustrated NY basketball fan I keep seeing Zion in. a Knicks uniform. Oh yeah, and the fact that I picked Duke to win it all in my Brackets.
ReplyDeleteI have the best way to do puzzles. It eliminates that nasty chore of reading clues, gives me a great solve time, and saves me much frustration. It also makes reading the blog pointless, so more time saved. I open the puzzle, hit "Reveal Puzzle" and that's that. I am so smart!
ReplyDeleteACME usually has a great time playing with words, so I found this a little disappointing. These answers were about as interesting as a LEGAL PROCEEDING. It was like going to a Tiger game the day Miggy is 0 for 5 with two strikeouts. It happens. This is a perfectly okay puzzle for novitiates, but ACME usually does better than “okay.”
ReplyDelete@Lewis - I agree with Rex more often than just about anyone here, and I never take anything he writes as “fact.” Strongly stated, with little doubt that his opinion is the most accurate, but always just his opinion.
@chefwen - Your story reminded me of my HS choir teacher. He related one day that as he was changing the channel he happened upon a basketball game where the player did a perfect pirouette. He was impressed. He then continued on changing the station. I’m pretty sure that was the full extent of basketball the man ever watched.
@Gerald - “It's put there by the constructors for you to solve, not for your enjoyment or self-validation,” has to be in my Top Ten Stupidest Things Anyone has Written Here.
@Anonymous 8:23 - It’s not a competition.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy five favorite clues from last week:
ReplyDelete1. Letters at a filling station? (3)
2. Ten-year-old business, say (13)
3. What a recovering hospital patient may move to (9)
4. Ones supposedly eligible for, but never yet seen in, the Miss Universe pageant (6)
5. Falls for someone who's already married? (7)
DDS
LEMONADE STAND
SOLID FOOD
ALIENS
NIAGARA
Highly recommend today's New Yorker xword.
ReplyDelete@Z 10:18, Paragraph 4: "Here"?
ReplyDeleteSuper easy for me--new Monday record by a fair bit. No problem with LAUNCHINGPAD. And the rant that LP is just a random pair of letters is just stupid.
ReplyDelete@Lewis: love your list. I read four of the five to my wife, which is my test for a fun clue.
Oh, and I hope Duke paid those refs well--calls and non-calls in that last 30 second were a gift.
Limited partner, last place, lead pipe, Labour Party, Lil' Pump, lesson plan, lemon pie, living proof... these all seem like livelier phrases than some of the themers. And they illustrate the extremely low degree of difficulty in coming up with this theme.
ReplyDeletefirst time in a while that I was almost able to write in straight through. needed a cross for GADOT and YOWZA.
ReplyDeleteLAUNCHING PAD is oft times used to mean the start of something BIG, rather than the launch of a rocket from Cape Canaveral or such; like a movie career.
@specificity - As much as I complain about some anonymous posters, there are worse. So, yes.
ReplyDeleteThat still shot of the Louis Prima video Rex posted looks like
ReplyDeletePeeWee Herman!
Little help ? What are scare quotes and how do they relate to Rex' pps? And is leopard print a material ? Or a possible design on any number of materials ?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete@anon12:36 - Scare Quotes
ReplyDeleteAnd @Anon12:03’s explanation is what I thought.
@Z thanks for the link.
ReplyDeleteFWIW San Ramon is not a suburb of San Francisco - it's a separate city 34 miles away in the East Bay.
ReplyDeletePeople! You are sounding desperate in your attempts to find fault with this puzzle. Take a day off.
ReplyDelete@Gill I. - Thank you! and same to you :)
ReplyDelete@Joaquin and @kitshef - Thanks for pointing out the bonus LP flourishes.
@Lewis - It's funny what the eye catches and what it doesn't: I'd also noticed the Spanish flavor, but in my tally I overlooked EL PASO while including RAMON.
LongPlayS on a Monday. Weeject 4-stacks! Count m&e in.
ReplyDeleteNot a real humorous theme -- but, offset by its sheer sassy multitudinosity. With some of the themers crossin each other [near them weeject 4-stacks], too boot. Quite a constructioneerin feat, duly celebrated by sprinklin in a few extra shady squares.
fave longball fillins: whoops. Ain't got none, longer than 6, exceptin themers. Well, hey -- EL PASO is kinda sneaky theme-teasinly-cute. Also ... UNSHOD has a U, and is on a run, havin appeared just a coupla days ago in another NYTPuz, as I recall.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Slippery fishes} = EELS. Or {Bird's home} = NEST. Coin flip.
Honrable mention to MOOch, as a herd sympathizer.
fave stampede the whole day-um moo-cow herd with yer non-MonPuz clue: {Diamond head?} = UMP. [M&A approves, highly]
Moment of M&A confusion: I thought YOWZA was more of an agreement/approval word, than a show of "Holy moly" surprise word. Wrong again, M&A breath?? Anyhoo … neat word.
Thanx for the nice LP hits session, Kevin & ACME. That LATINPERCUSSION themer had M&A thinkin all-music LPS, but ain't real sure there's very many of those. Suuuu … ok.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
**gruntz**
Presumably only 143 people know what’s up
ReplyDeleteAnon 11:52,
ReplyDeleteIt does!!!! how did I not see that? Thanks?
This is stupid and not puzzle related, but I used to live at the top of the Italian market in Philadelphia. There was a hole in the wall bar, literally in a basement below another store, where I used to bend my elbow. Anyway, this was a genuine neighborhood joint. A rogue's gallery of locals. From poor sots, to almost local legends and everything in between. The juke box had the usual standards for a South Philly bar--Vic Damone, Frank Sinatra, and Louis Prima. I was just a kid from the suburbs, and Louis Prima was a revelation. I loved him from the first note. Just a few years later, the movie Big Night came out, and didn't I think I was all that for knowing all about Louis Prima. My date wasn't impressed.
Thanks for letting me reminisce.
Long should there was a commenter who would praise a puzzle for having two down themes each crossing two across themes—and here she is, co-constructing such a puzzle herself. I admired it and enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI found this easy (and I can never make it beyond Wednesday) except that I had no idea of the common letter for GADO_ and _TOP.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that rather unMondayish, to have two really obscure unguessables crossing in a Natick?
Oh and I agree, captcha is being really annoying lately.
How about a rework of the bottom right corner? I mean, if we're refilling for better fill.
ReplyDeleteInstead of GADOT/MAA/ONEA/TTOP/NEO/GAP, let's do GOD IS/MOA/INCA/STOP/NCO/GAP
Choirs don't sing hymns (54D); congregations do.
ReplyDelete- A slightly perturbed choir director
May not be the most inspired theme ever, but I agree with @Lewis that it’s kind of nice one for novice solvers to ease into.
ReplyDeleteI really flew through this puzzle, though having a to make a few assumptions here and there (most notably PAP and LOW POST). I finished way faster than my previous record for a Monday, except... I had made a mistake somewhere (I solve in the NYT app) and spent more than 7 minutes finding it :C
Can’t believe I didn’t see what was wrong LATEX PrINT, even though MAr did register as probably wrong for “Sound from a goat”. Meh. Otherwise fairly enjoyable.
Great puzzle. Great day for America. No one in the Trump administration was found to collude with Russia. I’m happy to have been wrong. Yesterday’s news but I was away.
ReplyDeleteI live in the Bay Area -- East Bay, no less -- and I barely know where San Ramon is. It's like, south of Danville, right?
ReplyDeleteI've started trying to do Mondays and Tuesdays looking only at the Down clues. For those looking for more of a challenge early in the week, I recommend it!
I enjoyed the clue for "vise" (what you use to get a grip...) Coming right after "grasp" (get a grip).
ReplyDeleteI cannot think about YOWZA without thinking of the late Gig Young's performance as the emcee in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" But his YOWZA was a corruption of "Yessir!" and was in no way meant to express surprise. This clue is off.
ReplyDeleteOther problems, outlined by OFC, mar this Monday offering, but it does have one big saving grace: the word CRISP--without that useless -Y. This has long been a pet peeve of mine: the -Y adds absolutely NOTHING to the meaning of CRISP, yet ads use it all the time. So applause to you co-constructors for getting it right.
Oh, make that two saving graces: DOD Gal GADOT. The puzzle tries to prompt a PAR out of me; so be it. That's the golf goal for hackers like me; surely on the PGA tour the "goal" would be birdie--or even eagle on a shorter par-5.
POR MAA MEH (ART’S ONME)
ReplyDeleteThose LEOPARDPRINT MAMMAS will quip,
though not LEGAL,PROCEEDING to STRIP
gives them NERVE to be SEEN sans restraint
as RAMON DRAWS on them with LATEXPAINT.
--- ERIK OSCAR GADOT
Serviceable Monday puzzle. Straightforward theme; reasonable fill; couple of devious clues. I think it fills the Monday bill.
ReplyDeleteI just got back from a golf weekend (the 36th annual Spring Tour, started by yours truly) where PAR was more of a theory than a "goal". Where I once used a 6-iron on an approach, I now use a 5-wood...unsuccessfully. Galling.
Agree with @Spacey that I've only heard YOWZA said by Gig Young in that movie. Didn't he win an Oscar that year?
Just an observation: there are more T-TOPs in the NYTX than in real life. Nevertheless. I liked the puzzle.
Simple theme and straightforward revealer. Not-so-simple execution.
ReplyDeleteThe "seven longest" were not simple; they are good, required some thought, and they were interesting.
Had to pause at RAMON/LOW POST cross, and wrote in yikes! before YOWZA!
Gal GADOT makes me smile.
I did finally complete yesterday's (Sunday) puzzle this morning. That's all I have to say about that.
ReplyDeleteBack to Monday with a YOWZA and a higher than PAR puzzle. Which seemed Tuesdayish to me. 'TwaZn't all that hard, but hard for a, well, you know.
If this is Monday, beyond here there be dragons!
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting behind the moat
Knew what the revealer was ERE I got there. Wish I still had all of my old LPS, and most of what’s left suffered water damage.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to @spacey and @rainy, PAR is indeed a goal for me, at least hole by hole (best regulation 9 ever was 4 over PAR 40). For the guys on my team who are more than a little better than me, they’re hunting birdies.
There used to be a bar in the suburban Twin Cities called the LAUNCHINGPAD, just down Highway 10 from yesterday’s Mermaid (still there). The LAUNCHINGPAD had a mock-up rocket outside, so you couldn’t miss it. Both places used to specialize in weekday ‘lingerie shows’. The Mermaid went legit with music, food, and bowling and is still in business. The LAUNCHINGPAD was razed and has been a car lot 30 years. But that’s the term – LAUNCHINGPAD.
Who DRAWS your favorite comic STRIP?
AER always a cunning clue.
One circle today for Gal GADOT. Yeah baby.
Not ONEA with about 25 threes, but, y’know, Monday.
@Diana, LWi
ReplyDeleteInre: Sunday's puzzle -- Like virtually all Sunday puzzles, it was little more than just another slog, IMO. I will spend (or waste) time on them only when I have nothing else more satisfying to do, which isn't often.