No strong feelings here. Found the corners easy and boring / common. The center had a lot of interest, but it also had answers I found off-putting, like the brutality of KNEE-CAPPING and the brutality of Philip Morris (ALTRIA), the name of whose parent company is some bland corporate attempt-at-rebranding bullshit that I deliberately try not to remember. I recognize HIPSTER CRED as a phrase, vaguely, but I don't really get it, in that nobody calls themselves "hipster"—it's mainly used as a pejorative—so why would anyone want the CRED? Is HIPSTER CRED something you facetiously ascribe to others. "Fellow cool people." No cool person ever used that phrase. I have no idea how many levels of irony I'm dealing with here. Maybe that's a hipster thing? Dunno. No one asks "CAN'T I?" Wait, are we in a Dickens novel? Then maybe. Otherwise "Pretty please?" = "CAN I?" or (in this case), "CAN WE?" The one thing that really messed me up in the middle of this puzzle was a stupid, simple error, one I should've notice far earlier: I had SEALY instead of SERTA (30D: Alternative to Tempur-Pedic). Looks like SEALY and Tempur-Pedic are one thing now (?), or rather they have the same parent company (Tempur Sealy). More corporate names. How delightful :/
["I'm going to buy myself a PIERCE-ARROW / And wave to all my fans in the streets"]
SEALY led me to write in LESSON for 39A: Post on a wall, say (TAPE UP) and then having BETA VERSION instead of BETA RELEASE (16D: Early distribution of a piece of software) led me write in BOOS for 48A: Poor reception? (HISS). Later on, I had DISS before HISS. It seems at least moderately plausible that people could think DISS / DOGS (48D: Selfish sorts) was correct.
[31D: Snoop ___]
The corners were just placeholders, full of tired crossword stuff like OREOOS and AYESIR and EMOPOP and "SO RARE," etc. The SW was probably the hardest of the four with it's weird HEW TO (43D: Uphold) and weird "W"-containing SNO(W)-CONE and weird A-LINER (37D: Camper manufacturer) and weird "S"-less YIPE. But it wasn't that hard. What else? Oh, hey, look, they figured out a way to clue PEN today that didn't involve celebrating an anti-immigrant fascist (28A: Clink). Cool. Extraordinary work, fellas.
Fairly nice puzzle. A few WoEs (OPAH, ALTRIA, OKEEFE, ALINER), and one of those crosses SO RARE, which was a real reach but it was tucked into some corner of my brain. So ... challenge enjoyed. Felt very PPP-heavy, but that may be just the specific brands/names involved, rather than sheer volume.
I absolutely recognize the excellence of TESSA Virtue and Scott Moir, but I never enjoyed their programs as much as I did the fire of Davis and White.
With @Rex on difficulty distribution -- Tuesday corners + Friday center average out to a relatively smooth, if themeless, Thursday. A scrambled NEST EGG of days to greet the weekend.
Just slogged it out. I’m resting today with a 10K race tomorrow, so I had plenty of time to go over and over and over the grid until I was done. Getting a Friday or Saturday makes me feel good however slow.
Great Friday. This felt like a Saturday which is a good thing. The center is of course the highlight of this puzzle but I had a special fondness for the NW corner. OKEEFE, AKEELAH and TESSA were all unknowns for me. Having three entries like that in one small section forces me to work with the guessable clues which makes for an entertaining solve.
I like words like IRRUPT popping up in puzzles. As the constructor mentioned in his notes it's the kind of word that needs more "love."
I haven't commented since Sunday as I haven't even looked at the Mon-Thu puzzles. Sunday my "brief" room remodeling job turned into the kind of project that eats your life. I'm just taking a break but it was nice to come back to a puzzle like this.
I did that thing where I read the clue “early 20th century...” but the ol’ brain decides to process it as “21st century.” Tesla was not the answer. Otherwise no major hang-ups. I had the same response as Rex to the Singular YIPE and SNO CONES with the W crossing HEW TO. Still, a puzzle with full rotational symmetry* as opposed to the usual 180° symmetry is almost bound to have a forced answer or three. Also, OREO-OS feels far less esey than “oreo,” I thought it was a nice little change-up, especially at the bottom of the grid.
@shalom - Hogan’s Heroes reruns are on a couple of cable channels that focus on shows from that era. Cringe-worthy on so many levels. One show with a lot fewer cringes is Barney Miller.
@Hungry Mother - Good Luck. Here’s hoping you set a P.R.
@puzzlehoarder - let me humbly suggest that you do yesterday’s puzzle.
Writing from beautiful Gadsden Alabama. On my way to NOLA for a little flying disc chasing. My team includes players from NC, OH, MI, IN, IL, and Vancouver. Tried borrowing @LMS’ Peacock pulled Chariot, but she’s so selfish. Probably just as well, peacocks strong and fast enough to pull a chariot are probably on steroids.
*You can turn the empty grid 90° and have the same grid. Most puzzles are only symmetrical if you turn the puzzle upside down, 180° turn.
This one fought me at a medium level mostly, except for the SW, which battled me hard, due to not knowing ALINER, OREOOS, and HEWTO. Look at that splat of letters in the middle! That is so hard to do in any case, and even harder to do well, as Ryan did here, with notalotta junk.
I like the little backward thing going on in the NW, with a backward TIPS neighboring TIP, and a backward STAG meeting STAG. It's an asset (backward TESSA) to that corner.
It's a beatiful grid design, looks like a propeller, and this puzzle took me for a lovely spin. Thank you, Ryan!
Aside from the very talented actor Michael OKEEFE (he was in Mass Appeal on Broadway and in that Pat Conroy movie with Robert Duvall— The Great Santini) was put off by the plethora of corporate names, products (Oreo cereal? YIPE) and pseudo hipster CRUD. Is EMO POP really a thing outside of crosswords? Most young people I know listen to something called “surf rock” whatever that is. Or some kind of synth techno beats. I still listen mostly to opera and “classical” music, sometimes conducted by Otto Klemperer who was the father of the fella who played Colonel Klink.
Easy in parts -- GO STAG at 1D will get everyone off to the races quickly -- and hard in other parts, with some dull clues and some fabulous clues. I loved NEST EGG (54A); HISS (48A); TRIAL JUDGES (34A); and NOTARY (41D). All in all, an interesting if not a thrilling solving experience.
My biggest problem was BETA RELEASE, because what I had was BEwARE-----. And that's because I had CAN WE instead of CAN'T I at 21A. It took the "I" from RAGIN CAJUNS to straighten it all out. I didn't know that was the nickname of the U of Louisiana team; the only RAGIN CAJUN I ever heard of is James Carville.
I got KNEECAPPING from just the first "N". Sigh. Such a wonderfully pleasant world we live in. And OK THEN, OK THEN is b-a-a-a-ck as a synonym for "that was weird." Didn't like it the first time I saw it, which may have been less than a week ago. But I won't HISS and I won't YIPE about it. All in all, a quite decent Friday.
I always thought the Nilsson song "Me And My Arrow" was about a Pierce-Arrow
Me and my arrow Taking the high road Wherever we go, everyone knows It's me and my arrow
but apparently it wasn't.
I can't tell you how utterly beside myself with joy I am that PEN was clued acceptably today. I've been telling everyone I know about it all morning. It was the only bright spot in a kind of lackluster Friday puzzle, imo. Though IRRUPT is new to me. It seems like a slurring of "interrupt".
Now I think I'll go play with my cat toys to boost my hipster cred.
So instead of an anti-immigrant fascist, they went with a shorthand version of penitentiary. Nice.
Had BETAtesting first. Couldn't remember if SERTA started with an S or C. Had pilot before ALPHA, SAn before SAO, and "it's a" before LETS.
So yeah, I won't be on the leaderboard today.
SORARE...is that Italian? Sounds like the song Bobby Rydell once sang...
And SENORA = a title for Eva Peron? Of the literally (probably) billions of people who share that "title," you clued it randomly with Eva Peron?? Any married woman in any Spanish speaking country has that title. And you went with Eva Peron. SMDH
FInally, "OPAH" is what my Greek friend says when he's excited. Didn't know it was a fish. Weirdly it would be like English speakers, whenever we got excited would just blurt out "trout!"
I got irrupt from birding, though there it’s used as an adjective not a verb. An irruptive species is one that’s not usually seen in a location but is from time to time usually as a result of an unusual event somewhere else.
Mostly easy: I did this about 5 minutes faster than Thursday's. I got RAGIN CAJUN off the R but needed quite a few crosses to get KNEECAPPING. IRRUPT is new to me.. in what context would anyone ever actually use this word? Other than crosswords?
That SW corner though just about did me in. I join Rex in objecting to SNOW CONE with a W and YIPE with no S. Never heard of OREOOS or ALINER. I managed to muddle through.
I had the first three letters (RAG) of the Louisiana at Lafayette team and, seeing that the length of my first thought was right, confidently filled it in. How fun, I thought, that there was a college team called the Louisiana Ragamuffins.
So when I look at the puzzle and my starting point bestows me with the likes of unheard of OKEEFE AKEELAH TESSA all in one little area, I frown. I wonder if I will get out of that hole and enjoy the rest. I hate being put in a bad mood at the get-go. I left sourpussville and went on to rather enjoy the rest. First big mistake is I HAD A FIT instead of the correct RAN AMOK. I also had PUBS instead of KEGS. Had to leave that headache behind as well. The middle became my easy part. Little by little I remembered PIERCE ARROW and TRIAL JUDGE provided the GRIN. Amazing how the long answers open up the upstairs mistakes. Never ever heard of RAGIN CAUNS but I had the J there from the JUDGES and I knew it had to be something CAJUNS. Back to working it bit by bit. Managed that 4th little crossword section down in the southwest and the finale was trying to figure out the northeastern section. I know lots about Eva Peron. She was so mind boggling back in the day when women in Argentina didn't say squat about anything political. She was incredibly bright and knew how to manipulate her husband and the poor masses. Then I read somewhere that she had been compared to CHE and I wanted to cry....Don't cry for me.....Anyway, I fiercely wanted her title to at least be Duarte or maybe Evitas or something other than the blah SENORA. I mean I'm a señora but I wasn't the First Lady of Argentina. I am a champion of women's suffrage, though, so I guess that counts for something. Didn't like that clue. Did anyone else have YELP for the website with gadget reviews? Why did I know that the clue for PEN would be a "I told you so?"
Sheesh - You saw those backward answers?? No wonder yesterday's puzzle was so amazing.
I got Pierce-Arrow right away. The Northeast Classic Car Museum is in Norwich, NY. If you're a car buff, or even if you're not, and you are in the neighborhood, go. It's amazing. (The Pierce-Arrow was made in, I think, Buffalo.) It's as much a museum of history as it is cars. I Don't have any stake in it; I'm just a fan.
Got off to a rough start thinking stag was an exclusively masculine term so I went solo. Once I got that straight things moved along pretty well though the SW corner proved to be difficult at the end.
The Guy your cousin knows. You know, that guy who does the thing.
9:46 AM
There's just so much tone deaf stupidity in the puzzle it amazes me. Street cred is a thing, a real life thing, where as HIPSTERCRED isn't. Anyone with street cred would kneecap someone who claimed HIPSTER CRED, just for fun actually.. Further, hit men don't kneecap people, they shoot them in the head. Goons who work for bookies kneecap people, and those goons don't kill people. You kneecap someone to prove exactly how serious you are, but you want them alive, not dead. You can shoot them in the knee, hit them in the knee with a baseball bat or whatever, but the point is to leave them alive. Trust me, I know, because I work for a bookie.
Things are tough these days, working for bookies, what with legal internet gambling and all. But since we're talking NESTEGGS here, there's something I want all of you to do this weekend. I want you and your partner to take 1G out of your NESTEGG, and drive to a state other than NV with a legal sports book. All these new internet gambling companies will match your bet for up to $500 for first time customers. So, you and your partner each open an account, fund it with $500, and make complimentary $1000 (your $500, their matching $500) bets on game 1 of the Final Four, say one of you take Virginia, the other Auburn, so that one is guaranteed to lose, one guaranteed to win. After the game, one of you has $0, one has $1800 (their vig is 10%). You're up $800 (per sports book, so do this for all of them), guaranteed, and if enough of you do that you'll put those leaches out of business, and me back in.
I guess what i find funny is that under the obama era consumer protection laws and regulations which Trump is now reversing pension funds and retirement funds mostly for public workers were required to pick much more conservative investments than real estate deals. Folks like Elizabeth Warren with her Harvard investment fund is heavily invested in oil and gas development, as well as cigarette sales and so forth. Rex may hate sin, as do many liberals, but the mirth comes from the fact that the sin industries provide the wealth that allow them to be self righteous. Nothing wrong with Altria. Everyone in America owns it and everyone benefits from it but no one wants to admit it. Ever look at what's in your IRA or 401K portfolio, Rex?
Never heard of OREOOS. Thought maybe chocos or cocaos. But when I had a couple crosses I remembered rule1: If OREO fits the space and could be the answer, it is the answer.
Any way that's an interesting breakfast in the SW: a NESTEGG over an OREO topped by a SNOWCONE. Maybe find it deep fried and wrapped in bacon at the county fair.
HIPSTERCRED- carrying Bukowski's Post Office
I enjoyed the multi-layered ironies in clue and question. No hipster would want to admit desiring cred, but every group needs something to identify it from the non-group.
Christian cred, intellectual cred, techie cred, deplorable cred, crossword cred, tolerance cred. Ingroup humor is fun. You can talk in shorthand, almost code.
Nice triple stack in the middle. Liked the JUDGE clue with or without the unnecessary question mark. I RANAMOK. Sometimes it's quite pleasant to do so. Good release. Better than a hairshirt.
Got RAJUN CAJUNS with just the R. Total guess but felt too good to be wrong. Wonder if they Run AMOK also.
Didn't know SICARIO at all read up on it at IMDB. The bad reviews felt right but beautifully filmed apparently. IMDB did go way downhill. Message boards had some very good people writing. Did not realize it was Amazon's fault. OK THEN.
Finished it 100%, though I guessed at the OREOOS/ALINER cross. AYESIR is half a response from a mate. AYEAYESIR is correct. It's OK to hate Corporate America, but there's nothing wrong with using a company's name in a crossword puzzle. I also had METTLE instead of SETTLE at first, because METTLE is a synonym for (one's) resolve.
Easy on the right side, tough-tough-tough on the left, mainly because I had trouble with the names. Not to be a BAD SPORT, but ALTRIA? Do-overs: Go sLoW (no defense) before GAG LAW, KEyS getting tapped before KEGS, AYE aye. Interesting contrast between the courtroom atmosphere of the TRIAL JUDGES, GAG LAW, SWORE, SETTLE, and NOTARY and the mayhem of RAN AMOK, KNEE-CAPPING, GATS, KAPOW, and the RAGIN CAJUNS.
I've never been to Lafayette, but someone who lived there once explained to me that it was the Cajun capital, and the A worked with BAD SPORT so I wrote them both in. Otherwise I don't think I'd have found a foothold until GATS. But once I found said foothold, it all went in pretty smoothly. (Fortunately, I held off on my first choice of dance JUDGES at 34A).
I used to listen to Edgar Bergen with his two puppets, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer SNERD, on the radio. But looking back it seems very weird -- I mean, the whole point of ventriloquism is to make it seem as if one's voice is coming from the dummy, and on radio that's no trick at all. I guess it was funny enough that my childish self didn't care.
I finished with the E in TESSA/AKEELAH; I didn't know either one, but at least TESSA is a name.
Anyone else notice that OREOOS backwards is SOOERO?
I was a DNF today because of the dISS dOGS crossing. Searched for my error for almost a minute and finally just had to give up.
I'm finding it funny that a lot of people were unsure about what went with BETA. I dropped BETARELEASE in very confidently with no crosses as my 3rd or 4th word in the puzzle. Now thinking about the other options, I'm really happy I didn't get it wrong!
Working on the international NYT paper version;#52 reads Board sappointee, for short. I thought it was a clever play on something arboreal (board, sap) but think it must just be a misprint.
When did the inclusion of someone's name somehow become an implicit endorsement of their deeds and ideas? Rex, it's not good for your pearl necklace to be clutched so frequently!
Meanwhile, violently kneecapping before murdering isn't exactly breakfast table to conversation. I say that because it's a barometer I use for how far I let my mind go when thinking about possible answers.
Four jaws of themelessness in the puzgrid design … nice. Like @RP, we started in the easyisher corner areas, thenafter tentatively penetratin the formidable central puz-atrium with BETAVERSION, which wasn't quite right. Nanoseconds spewed off in all directions from that false nucleus, like pecu wads.
HIPSTERCRED and AKEELAH and ALTRIA and IRRUPT did not help the M&A household's solvequest cause, as they were all new, good things to learn today. OKEEFE and TESSA and SICARIO were kinda vaguely familiar-soundin, but hard for the M&A to get ahold on. Everything else was pretty smoooth sailin. Overall, a pleasant tho feisty hour of crossin lotsa long words.
--"Irrupt means to enter suddenly or forcibly, to burst in, to break in. Irrupt also describes an animal or plant population suddenly increasing in numbers in a particular region. Related words are irrupts, irrupted, irrupting, irruption. The word irrupt is derived from the Latin word irrumpere, which means to break into. In everyday usage, the word irrupt is rarely seen. Remember, erupt describes something that bursts out, irrupt describes something that bursts in."
Like the word "hipster," yes, "HIPSTER CRED" is usually either used somewhat facetiously or slightly disparagingly. It's a perfectly cromulent phrase that I hear used and have used myself in English often enough that it made me smile to see it in today's crossword.
Re: 27 down, IRRUPT. Birders use the term irruption. It's characterized by a distinct shift in the birds' typical winter range, with many birds appearing well outside the normal boundaries of their winter homes. They have to travel farther south, usually due to food scarcities in their normal wintering grounds.
Har, I had an inadvertent DNF today - I first entered "SET out" at 15A, for "Resolve". I later decided it must be SETTLE but failed to change the last letter to an E. This left me wondering what weird meaning of "Scottish boys" was WEt LADS. WEE LADS, oui!
I couldn't come up with AKEELAH without a lot of crosses - I had in my head the movie "The Secret Life of Bees" and couldn't resolve my conflicts with the grid. I'm very grateful that Ryan McCarty left two ways into the corners or I would have had more than my one error.
I considered "SO-WISE" for 7A but that should have a LIKE in front of it so LIKE SO made a much better answer. Huh, my original thought doesn't even Google. I guess I'm not SO-WISE.
IRRUPT looks like an onomatopoeic burp or frog noise.
And I got DOOKed like some here with the 11D "sounds like Volare".
Bookmark, Disruption of food and food sources was once the chief reason birders cited for irruptions. But I don't belie that's the case any longer. The snowy owl irruption in the Mid Atlantic a few winters back was initially ascribed to a crash in the lemming population. Turns out, that wasn't the case at all. As always, reasons for natural phenomena are tricky and likely a lot more nuanced than we generally like to digest.
Hey All ! Not sure what happened to my Blogger-posting pic, I was kicked out of Blogger for a bit, my pic went the way of the Dodo.
Anyway, nice FriPuz. Found it easy after the first run-through. I'm into cars, so got PIERCE ARROW off the P and E. Opened the Center up quite nicely. Was chuckling about the car, thinking of @Nancy. I can imagine her saying, "Another &#$@! Car!?"
Potential Natick at the C of CNET/ECLAT, luckily I knew both from other crosswords. Toughest section was SW corner. Wanted SAnfor SAO, so OPPOSE was hidden. Plus HEW TO was a WOE, and couldn't get StreamLiner out of the ole brain for ALINER.
Had lion for DOGG first. What does he go by now? Pick a species! Har. At least I didn't SWORE at the puz today. *GRIN*
Anybody ever get PANTSed? That's when someone runs up behind you and rips said PANTS to your knees. Fun times. Thankfully, I never did.
The name of the Colonel in Hogan's Heroes was Klink, not clink.
The hit version of Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu) was by Domenico Modugno, in 1958. He also is the co-songwriter. The Bobby Rydell version was in 1960. There are many, many other versions, including ones by Dean Martin, Luciano Pavarotti and...yes, David Bowie (!). More than you wanted to know, I'm sure.
If nothing else, this puzzle taught me that I have been remembering the name of "AKEELAH and the Bee" wrong for more than a decade. (Where did I get "Aleekah" from?)
Thought this was way too easy for a Friday. 18 minutes could be a p.r. for me but Idont keep track.It did include time for starting the bacon and the run for a second cup. Must be the noted wheelhouse effect.On another note, @Lewis, your comments really reveal why you were able to create such a great puzzle yesterday.How you notice all these interesting word relationships between puzzle answers is amazing. I have been solving for 60 years and never go back to look for additional ways to get enjoyment from a completed puzzle. I'm gonna start from now on.Thanks.
Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare) by Domenico Modugno -- my earliest theme song. I was all of 3 years old when it was on the radio. At the time I thought that every family had its last name in a song title.
More of a pinwheel. It has 4-fold radial symmetry as @Z pointed out. Shame that pretty much any pattern with this property has been ruined by the Nazis.
@foxaroni - "conjures up" provides more than enough wiggle room for clink to Klink musings.
@RooMonster - You should be able to reload your profile pic from your profile page (just click on your name). If you don't have access to the pic anymore you might be able to snag it from a previous post of yours.
@Dorothy Biggs - you probably know this but for newer solvers I'll point this out anyway; The Eva Peron clue for something so easily otherwise clued is a form of misdirection. It specifically ups the difficulty by getting us all searching for something specific to Peron when really the clue is just "title for a Spanish woman." Of course, sometimes, the answer is something more specific to the person in the clue so you write in SENORA when the required answer is Evita.
@Z. Pfffft. I'm sure @Dorothy B is well aware of misdirects. This "gotcha" fell squarely in the groan arena. I, and I'm sure others, prefer a little chuckle. Instead, for me, it got a "pero que pendejo." (in the nicest sense, of course).
Generally, I’m with the “tale of two puzzles.” However, I did learn a new word today, IRRUPT. For quite a while I fell into exactly the trap the constructor hoped would snare me...this is a rebus puzzle...interrupt! Not. Loved homage to Mortimer SNERD. I adored seeing Edgar. Regent with Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer on the Ed Sullivan Show (or shows of similar ilk through the 60s and 70s.
On the other hand, I have formed the opinion that YIPE (or YIPEs) is a regionalism. Any takers? I grew up in Ohio and I have never heard anything other than yiKe or yiKes. In fact before we could get away with less appropriate exploitive a, YIKES was a playground/sandlot staple.
Loved seeing the old Mortimer SNERD. Edgar Bergen was a genius. His “dummies” Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer SNERD appeared frequently on Ed Sullivan, a Sunday “must” at my home.
All around enjoyable, HIPSTER CRED made me laugh. Ever heard the term (hence some Hangup in the center for me! Although I felt “sloggish” I actually finished 6 faster than average!
That’s the trick of the clue. You rack your brain for something eva peron specific and then it turns out to be generic. It could be also a choice to include her because she was referenced in a CHE related clue recently.
The eastern corners were pretty easy, if you forgive LIKESO/SORARE for the double SO's. Not SO the west. I had to get PIERCEARROW for the P in order to see GETSATIP, which begat GAGLAW and the NW. But the SW? YIPE!! Never heard of OREOOS. That stuff'll kill ya anyway.
Hand up for the introduction to IRRUPT. That bad boy went in on crosses. Nor have I ever heard of ALTRIA. But the toughest place was sq. 48. Naturally (for me) I had mISS for "Poor reception?". The logic worked. But what were mOGS? I had to run the alphabet on that one--twice, finally hitting the H--and done.
OKTHEN makes a reprise--and, weirdly, with the exact same clue. The in-grid DOD is TESSA Virtue; with the in-clues title going to Emily Blunt. Can't say it was easy; call it medium for a Friday. Some really nice biggies within the "jaws of themelessness." Birdie.
Good puzzle,even with things I didn't know: ALTRIA, SICARIO, OREOOS, AKEELAH, and ALINER. The crosses were crucial to those answers, which was tough in the SW because two of them crossed. Anyway, I eschew any breakfast cereal that has chocolate in it.
A huge YES for TESSA Virtue (and Scott Moir), natch.
Fun to get PIERCE ARROW, IRRUPT, and RAGIN CAJUNS, all of which I knew from somewhere. Those CAJUNS must have made a run in some NCAA tournament.
The corners were pretty easy, except the SW, and the centre section was no more than medium for me, but the overall sense was that this was a good Friday puzzle.
Easy enough to have no write-overs. Tough enough to do it east to west. And a non-controversial PEN.
The Louisiana Lafayette RAGINCAJUNS are the type of team that often shows up on the U of MN’s schedule before Big 10 play. Gotta get those wins somewhere.
I have tested a coupla BETARELEASE software programs, one for highway design, another for pavement design (no tar involved). I guess after me they went ALPHA? Or would it be another Greek letter?
A long time ago, I was solving this puzzle and got stuck at an unguessable (to me) crossing: N. C. WYETH crossing NATICK at the "N"—I knew WYETH but forgot his initials, and NATICK ... is a suburb of Boston that I had no hope of knowing. It was clued as someplace the Boston Marathon runs through (???). Anyway, NATICK— the more obscure name in that crossing—became shorthand for an unguessable cross, esp. where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known. NATICK took hold as crossword slang, and the term can now be both noun ("I had a NATICK in the SW corner...") or verb ("I got NATICKED by 50A / 34D!")
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77 comments:
Fairly nice puzzle. A few WoEs (OPAH, ALTRIA, OKEEFE, ALINER), and one of those crosses SO RARE, which was a real reach but it was tucked into some corner of my brain. So ... challenge enjoyed. Felt very PPP-heavy, but that may be just the specific brands/names involved, rather than sheer volume.
I absolutely recognize the excellence of TESSA Virtue and Scott Moir, but I never enjoyed their programs as much as I did the fire of Davis and White.
Clink conjures up the colonel, a funny Nazi in Hogan's Heroes, and there's nothing funnier than Nazis, am I right?
SNERD DOGG. TAPEUP GRIN. ALPHA YIPE.
With @Rex on difficulty distribution -- Tuesday corners + Friday center average out to a relatively smooth, if themeless, Thursday. A scrambled NEST EGG of days to greet the weekend.
34A would have been a very good clue/answer but was ruined by the "?"
(Ones going through the motions-TRIAL JUDGES)
Just slogged it out. I’m resting today with a 10K race tomorrow, so I had plenty of time to go over and over and over the grid until I was done. Getting a Friday or Saturday makes me feel good however slow.
Great Friday. This felt like a Saturday which is a good thing. The center is of course the highlight of this puzzle but I had a special fondness for the NW corner. OKEEFE, AKEELAH and TESSA were all unknowns for me. Having three entries like that in one small section forces me to work with the guessable clues which makes for an entertaining solve.
I like words like IRRUPT popping up in puzzles. As the constructor mentioned in his notes it's the kind of word that needs more "love."
I haven't commented since Sunday as I haven't even looked at the Mon-Thu puzzles. Sunday my "brief" room remodeling job turned into the kind of project that eats your life. I'm just taking a break but it was nice to come back to a puzzle like this.
Jeez, what a whiner. Sorry Will Shortz has to put up with this pain every day.
This was a fine Friday puzzle. Had almost exactly the same issues as @Rex, except my error was "beta testing".
I did that thing where I read the clue “early 20th century...” but the ol’ brain decides to process it as “21st century.” Tesla was not the answer. Otherwise no major hang-ups. I had the same response as Rex to the Singular YIPE and SNO CONES with the W crossing HEW TO. Still, a puzzle with full rotational symmetry* as opposed to the usual 180° symmetry is almost bound to have a forced answer or three. Also, OREO-OS feels far less esey than “oreo,” I thought it was a nice little change-up, especially at the bottom of the grid.
@shalom - Hogan’s Heroes reruns are on a couple of cable channels that focus on shows from that era. Cringe-worthy on so many levels. One show with a lot fewer cringes is Barney Miller.
@Hungry Mother - Good Luck. Here’s hoping you set a P.R.
@puzzlehoarder - let me humbly suggest that you do yesterday’s puzzle.
Writing from beautiful Gadsden Alabama. On my way to NOLA for a little flying disc chasing. My team includes players from NC, OH, MI, IN, IL, and Vancouver. Tried borrowing @LMS’ Peacock pulled Chariot, but she’s so selfish. Probably just as well, peacocks strong and fast enough to pull a chariot are probably on steroids.
*You can turn the empty grid 90° and have the same grid. Most puzzles are only symmetrical if you turn the puzzle upside down, 180° turn.
I am probably reading too much into this, but the grid is a sort of swastika.
This one fought me at a medium level mostly, except for the SW, which battled me hard, due to not knowing ALINER, OREOOS, and HEWTO. Look at that splat of letters in the middle! That is so hard to do in any case, and even harder to do well, as Ryan did here, with notalotta junk.
I like the little backward thing going on in the NW, with a backward TIPS neighboring TIP, and a backward STAG meeting STAG. It's an asset (backward TESSA) to that corner.
It's a beatiful grid design, looks like a propeller, and this puzzle took me for a lovely spin. Thank you, Ryan!
Pretty easy, but I liked it a lot. Tons of open space in that gorgeous "central park".
Felt a little dependent on proper nouns, but I haven't counted, so no idea if it's out of the ordinary.
Favorite answer by a mile: RAGINCAJUNS.
Never heard of IRRUPT, but always nice to learn something.
KNEECAPPING made me wince, not because it's not cross-worthy, but because it's such a horrible act. Evokes the IRA for me.
TESSA Virtue and Scott Moir are a beautiful pair, but no one has ever come close to Torvill and Dean.
Aside from the very talented actor Michael OKEEFE (he was in Mass Appeal on Broadway and in that Pat Conroy movie with Robert Duvall— The Great Santini) was put off by the plethora of corporate names, products (Oreo cereal? YIPE) and pseudo hipster CRUD. Is EMO POP really a thing outside of crosswords? Most young people I know listen to something called “surf rock” whatever that is. Or some kind of synth techno beats. I still listen mostly to opera and “classical” music, sometimes conducted by Otto Klemperer who was the father of the fella who played Colonel Klink.
@Mike C - Not seeing it. Maybe a backwards swastika that’s been smushed, but you’re probably right about reading too much into it.
Nice puzzle.
Re: HIPSTERCRED
"I used to be with it. Then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems weird and scary to me."
Easy in parts -- GO STAG at 1D will get everyone off to the races quickly -- and hard in other parts, with some dull clues and some fabulous clues. I loved NEST EGG (54A); HISS (48A); TRIAL JUDGES (34A); and NOTARY (41D). All in all, an interesting if not a thrilling solving experience.
My biggest problem was BETA RELEASE, because what I had was BEwARE-----. And that's because I had CAN WE instead of CAN'T I at 21A. It took the "I" from RAGIN CAJUNS to straighten it all out. I didn't know that was the nickname of the U of Louisiana team; the only RAGIN CAJUN I ever heard of is James Carville.
I got KNEECAPPING from just the first "N". Sigh. Such a wonderfully pleasant world we live in. And OK THEN, OK THEN is b-a-a-a-ck as a synonym for "that was weird." Didn't like it the first time I saw it, which may have been less than a week ago. But I won't HISS and I won't YIPE about it. All in all, a quite decent Friday.
I always thought the Nilsson song "Me And My Arrow" was about a Pierce-Arrow
Me and my arrow
Taking the high road
Wherever we go, everyone knows
It's me and my arrow
but apparently it wasn't.
I can't tell you how utterly beside myself with joy I am that PEN was clued acceptably today. I've been telling everyone I know about it all morning. It was the only bright spot in a kind of lackluster Friday puzzle, imo. Though IRRUPT is new to me. It seems like a slurring of "interrupt".
Now I think I'll go play with my cat toys to boost my hipster cred.
So instead of an anti-immigrant fascist, they went with a shorthand version of penitentiary. Nice.
Had BETAtesting first. Couldn't remember if SERTA started with an S or C. Had pilot before ALPHA, SAn before SAO, and "it's a" before LETS.
So yeah, I won't be on the leaderboard today.
SORARE...is that Italian? Sounds like the song Bobby Rydell once sang...
And SENORA = a title for Eva Peron? Of the literally (probably) billions of people who share that "title," you clued it randomly with Eva Peron?? Any married woman in any Spanish speaking country has that title. And you went with Eva Peron. SMDH
FInally, "OPAH" is what my Greek friend says when he's excited. Didn't know it was a fish. Weirdly it would be like English speakers, whenever we got excited would just blurt out "trout!"
I got irrupt from birding, though there it’s used as an adjective not a verb. An irruptive species is one that’s not usually seen in a location but is from time to time usually as a result of an unusual event somewhere else.
Good fun for me, what with the answer TESSA, who is my granddaughter, with whom I share a birthday, which is coming right up, so big smile there.
I now have done enough crosswords to recognize a BETA something in hiding, a RELEASE as today or a version or just some prototype. Old dog, new trick.
Speaking of old dogs, how did I get to be this old without ever seeing IRRUPT? A poor day indeed when you can't learn something.
A good Fridayish Friday. Thanks Mr. McCarty.
I'm like I've heard of "Volare," but what is "Sorare?"
@Dorothy Biggs - we don't blurt out "trout", but we do say "holy mackerel".
Mostly easy: I did this about 5 minutes faster than Thursday's. I got RAGIN CAJUN off the R but needed quite a few crosses to get KNEECAPPING. IRRUPT is new to me.. in what context would anyone ever actually use this word? Other than crosswords?
That SW corner though just about did me in. I join Rex in objecting to SNOW CONE with a W and YIPE with no S. Never heard of OREOOS or ALINER. I managed to muddle through.
I had the first three letters (RAG) of the Louisiana at Lafayette team and, seeing that the length of my first thought was right, confidently filled it in. How fun, I thought, that there was a college team called the Louisiana Ragamuffins.
So when I look at the puzzle and my starting point bestows me with the likes of unheard of OKEEFE AKEELAH TESSA all in one little area, I frown. I wonder if I will get out of that hole and enjoy the rest. I hate being put in a bad mood at the get-go. I left sourpussville and went on to rather enjoy the rest.
First big mistake is I HAD A FIT instead of the correct RAN AMOK. I also had PUBS instead of KEGS. Had to leave that headache behind as well. The middle became my easy part. Little by little I remembered PIERCE ARROW and TRIAL JUDGE provided the GRIN. Amazing how the long answers open up the upstairs mistakes.
Never ever heard of RAGIN CAUNS but I had the J there from the JUDGES and I knew it had to be something CAJUNS. Back to working it bit by bit.
Managed that 4th little crossword section down in the southwest and the finale was trying to figure out the northeastern section.
I know lots about Eva Peron. She was so mind boggling back in the day when women in Argentina didn't say squat about anything political. She was incredibly bright and knew how to manipulate her husband and the poor masses. Then I read somewhere that she had been compared to CHE and I wanted to cry....Don't cry for me.....Anyway, I fiercely wanted her title to at least be Duarte or maybe Evitas or something other than the blah SENORA. I mean I'm a señora but I wasn't the First Lady of Argentina. I am a champion of women's suffrage, though, so I guess that counts for something. Didn't like that clue.
Did anyone else have YELP for the website with gadget reviews?
Why did I know that the clue for PEN would be a "I told you so?"
@Lewis
Sheesh - You saw those backward answers?? No wonder yesterday's puzzle was so amazing.
I got Pierce-Arrow right away. The Northeast Classic Car Museum is in Norwich, NY. If you're a car buff, or even if you're not, and you are in the neighborhood, go. It's amazing. (The Pierce-Arrow was made in, I think, Buffalo.) It's as much a museum of history as it is cars. I Don't have any stake in it; I'm just a fan.
Got off to a rough start thinking stag was an exclusively masculine term so I went solo. Once I got that straight things moved along pretty well though the SW corner proved to be difficult at the end.
There's just so much tone deaf stupidity in the puzzle it amazes me. Street cred is a thing, a real life thing, where as HIPSTERCRED isn't. Anyone with street cred would kneecap someone who claimed HIPSTER CRED, just for fun actually.. Further, hit men don't kneecap people, they shoot them in the head. Goons who work for bookies kneecap people, and those goons don't kill people. You kneecap someone to prove exactly how serious you are, but you want them alive, not dead. You can shoot them in the knee, hit them in the knee with a baseball bat or whatever, but the point is to leave them alive. Trust me, I know, because I work for a bookie.
Things are tough these days, working for bookies, what with legal internet gambling and all. But since we're talking NESTEGGS here, there's something I want all of you to do this weekend. I want you and your partner to take 1G out of your NESTEGG, and drive to a state other than NV with a legal sports book. All these new internet gambling companies will match your bet for up to $500 for first time customers. So, you and your partner each open an account, fund it with $500, and make complimentary $1000 (your $500, their matching $500) bets on game 1 of the Final Four, say one of you take Virginia, the other Auburn, so that one is guaranteed to lose, one guaranteed to win. After the game, one of you has $0, one has $1800 (their vig is 10%). You're up $800 (per sports book, so do this for all of them), guaranteed, and if enough of you do that you'll put those leaches out of business, and me back in.
I guess what i find funny is that under the obama era consumer protection laws and regulations which Trump is now reversing pension funds and retirement funds mostly for public workers were required to pick much more conservative investments than real estate deals. Folks like Elizabeth Warren with her Harvard investment fund is heavily invested in oil and gas development, as well as cigarette sales and so forth. Rex may hate sin, as do many liberals, but the mirth comes from the fact that the sin industries provide the wealth that allow them to be self righteous. Nothing wrong with Altria. Everyone in America owns it and everyone benefits from it but no one wants to admit it. Ever look at what's in your IRA or 401K portfolio, Rex?
Never heard of OREOOS. Thought maybe chocos or cocaos. But when I had a couple crosses I remembered rule1: If OREO fits the space and could be the answer, it is the answer.
Any way that's an interesting breakfast in the SW: a NESTEGG over an OREO topped by a SNOWCONE. Maybe find it deep fried and wrapped in bacon at the county fair.
HIPSTERCRED- carrying Bukowski's Post Office
I enjoyed the multi-layered ironies in clue and question. No hipster would want to admit desiring cred, but every group needs something to identify it from the non-group.
Christian cred, intellectual cred, techie cred, deplorable cred, crossword cred, tolerance cred. Ingroup humor is fun. You can talk in shorthand, almost code.
Nice triple stack in the middle. Liked the JUDGE clue with or without the unnecessary question mark. I RANAMOK. Sometimes it's quite pleasant to do so. Good release. Better than a hairshirt.
Got RAJUN CAJUNS with just the R. Total guess but felt too good to be wrong. Wonder if they Run AMOK also.
Didn't know SICARIO at all read up on it at IMDB. The bad reviews felt right but beautifully filmed apparently. IMDB did go way downhill. Message boards had some very good people writing. Did not realize it was Amazon's fault. OK THEN.
Finished it 100%, though I guessed at the OREOOS/ALINER cross. AYESIR is half a response from a mate. AYEAYESIR is correct. It's OK to hate Corporate America, but there's nothing wrong with using a company's name in a crossword puzzle. I also had METTLE instead of SETTLE at first, because METTLE is a synonym for (one's) resolve.
Easy on the right side, tough-tough-tough on the left, mainly because I had trouble with the names. Not to be a BAD SPORT, but ALTRIA?
Do-overs: Go sLoW (no defense) before GAG LAW, KEyS getting tapped before KEGS, AYE aye.
Interesting contrast between the courtroom atmosphere of the TRIAL JUDGES, GAG LAW, SWORE, SETTLE, and NOTARY and the mayhem of RAN AMOK, KNEE-CAPPING, GATS, KAPOW, and the RAGIN CAJUNS.
I've never been to Lafayette, but someone who lived there once explained to me that it was the Cajun capital, and the A worked with BAD SPORT so I wrote them both in. Otherwise I don't think I'd have found a foothold until GATS. But once I found said foothold, it all went in pretty smoothly. (Fortunately, I held off on my first choice of dance JUDGES at 34A).
I used to listen to Edgar Bergen with his two puppets, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer SNERD, on the radio. But looking back it seems very weird -- I mean, the whole point of ventriloquism is to make it seem as if one's voice is coming from the dummy, and on radio that's no trick at all. I guess it was funny enough that my childish self didn't care.
I finished with the E in TESSA/AKEELAH; I didn't know either one, but at least TESSA is a name.
Anyone else notice that OREOOS backwards is SOOERO?
I was a DNF today because of the dISS dOGS crossing. Searched for my error for almost a minute and finally just had to give up.
I'm finding it funny that a lot of people were unsure about what went with BETA. I dropped BETARELEASE in very confidently with no crosses as my 3rd or 4th word in the puzzle. Now thinking about the other options, I'm really happy I didn't get it wrong!
Other than that, solid puzzle.
Not “Sorare” but “ So Rare”. Popular in the late Fifties
The Jimmy Dorsey song is “SO RARE”, and it apparently was so big it bumped Elvis out of #1hit spot. Listen here:
https://youtu.be/ojA1X4QruZk
@Bill Weinstein - You're mistaken, Sorare is on the B-Side of Volare.
Working on the international NYT paper version;#52 reads Board sappointee, for short. I thought it was a clever play on something arboreal (board, sap) but think it must just be a misprint.
When did the inclusion of someone's name somehow become an implicit endorsement of their deeds and ideas? Rex, it's not good for your pearl necklace to be clutched so frequently!
Meanwhile, violently kneecapping before murdering isn't exactly breakfast table to conversation. I say that because it's a barometer I use for how far I let my mind go when thinking about possible answers.
Four jaws of themelessness in the puzgrid design … nice. Like @RP, we started in the easyisher corner areas, thenafter tentatively penetratin the formidable central puz-atrium with BETAVERSION, which wasn't quite right. Nanoseconds spewed off in all directions from that false nucleus, like pecu wads.
HIPSTERCRED and AKEELAH and ALTRIA and IRRUPT did not help the M&A household's solvequest cause, as they were all new, good things to learn today. OKEEFE and TESSA and SICARIO were kinda vaguely familiar-soundin, but hard for the M&A to get ahold on. Everything else was pretty smoooth sailin. Overall, a pleasant tho feisty hour of crossin lotsa long words.
faves: RAGINCAJUNS. PIERCEARROW. TRIALJUDGES [with cool clue]. Primo spot'o'desperation slaker: GETSATIP.
staff weeject pick: INS. Better clue: {Versatile ending for stuff like raging and lean??}. Honrable mentions to WEE & PEN, of course.
Thanx for Ryan amok on us, Mr. McCarty. … And OREOOS was a neat-lookin answer, no matter what @RP honks at it about.
Masked & AnonymoUUs
totally inspired by @Lewis, thanx:
**gruntz**
Should have been faster for me due to a couple of incorrect guesses with the fluffy phrase stuff. (ODD HUH for OK THEN, etc.)
Didn't know ALTRIA but crossed it into existence.
Guess I need to bone up on my evil corporations.
IRRUPT is a good word, and one that was not in my working vocabulary
Copypasta from Grammarist :
--"Irrupt means to enter suddenly or forcibly, to burst in, to break in. Irrupt also describes an animal or plant population suddenly increasing in numbers in a particular region. Related words are irrupts, irrupted, irrupting, irruption. The word irrupt is derived from the Latin word irrumpere, which means to break into. In everyday usage, the word irrupt is rarely seen. Remember, erupt describes something that bursts out, irrupt describes something that bursts in."
Like the word "hipster," yes, "HIPSTER CRED" is usually either used somewhat facetiously or slightly disparagingly. It's a perfectly cromulent phrase that I hear used and have used myself in English often enough that it made me smile to see it in today's crossword.
I second @Marty. I've long suspected Rex has worn a pearl necklace or two in his day.
Re: 27 down, IRRUPT. Birders use the term irruption. It's characterized by a distinct shift in the birds' typical winter range, with many birds appearing well outside the normal boundaries of their winter homes. They have to travel farther south, usually due to food scarcities in their normal wintering grounds.
Har, I had an inadvertent DNF today - I first entered "SET out" at 15A, for "Resolve". I later decided it must be SETTLE but failed to change the last letter to an E. This left me wondering what weird meaning of "Scottish boys" was WEt LADS. WEE LADS, oui!
I couldn't come up with AKEELAH without a lot of crosses - I had in my head the movie "The Secret Life of Bees" and couldn't resolve my conflicts with the grid. I'm very grateful that Ryan McCarty left two ways into the corners or I would have had more than my one error.
I considered "SO-WISE" for 7A but that should have a LIKE in front of it so LIKE SO made a much better answer. Huh, my original thought doesn't even Google. I guess I'm not SO-WISE.
IRRUPT looks like an onomatopoeic burp or frog noise.
And I got DOOKed like some here with the 11D "sounds like Volare".
Thanks, RM, for a fun Friday.
Bookmark,
Disruption of food and food sources was once the chief reason birders cited for irruptions. But I don't belie that's the case any longer. The snowy owl irruption in the Mid Atlantic a few winters back was initially ascribed to a crash in the lemming population. Turns out, that wasn't the case at all. As always, reasons for natural phenomena are tricky and likely a lot more nuanced than we generally like to digest.
Hey All !
Not sure what happened to my Blogger-posting pic, I was kicked out of Blogger for a bit, my pic went the way of the Dodo.
Anyway, nice FriPuz. Found it easy after the first run-through. I'm into cars, so got PIERCE ARROW off the P and E. Opened the Center up quite nicely. Was chuckling about the car, thinking of @Nancy. I can imagine her saying, "Another &#$@! Car!?"
Potential Natick at the C of CNET/ECLAT, luckily I knew both from other crosswords. Toughest section was SW corner. Wanted SAnfor SAO, so OPPOSE was hidden. Plus HEW TO was a WOE, and couldn't get StreamLiner out of the ole brain for ALINER.
Had lion for DOGG first. What does he go by now? Pick a species! Har. At least I didn't SWORE at the puz today. *GRIN*
Anybody ever get PANTSed? That's when someone runs up behind you and rips said PANTS to your knees. Fun times. Thankfully, I never did.
CANT I SEE YA
RooMonster
DarrinV
The name of the Colonel in Hogan's Heroes was Klink, not clink.
The hit version of Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu) was by Domenico Modugno, in 1958. He also is the co-songwriter. The Bobby Rydell version was in 1960. There are many, many other versions, including ones by Dean Martin, Luciano Pavarotti and...yes, David Bowie (!). More than you wanted to know, I'm sure.
Had Hew To, but didn't know why until I looked it up. Happy just to finish it before getting kneecapped
If nothing else, this puzzle taught me that I have been remembering the name of "AKEELAH and the Bee" wrong for more than a decade. (Where did I get "Aleekah" from?)
Thought this was way too easy for a Friday. 18 minutes could be a p.r. for me but Idont keep track.It did include time for starting the bacon and the run for a second cup. Must be the noted wheelhouse effect.On another note, @Lewis, your comments really reveal why you were able to create such a great puzzle yesterday.How you notice all these interesting word relationships between puzzle answers is amazing. I have been solving for 60 years and never go back to look for additional ways to get enjoyment from a completed puzzle. I'm gonna start from now on.Thanks.
@M&A -- Wow! That was one gorgeous beast of a runt! It is brilliant how you made it work all around. Bravo, sir. Wuu-huu!
Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare) by Domenico Modugno -- my earliest theme song. I was all of 3 years old when it was on the radio. At the time I thought that every family had its last name in a song title.
More of a pinwheel. It has 4-fold radial symmetry as @Z pointed out. Shame that pretty much any pattern with this property has been ruined by the Nazis.
Agreed, SW was the only place I got really hung up.
Is it "Oreo-ohs," or "ore-ee-oohs?"
Not that there would be anything wrong with that, mind you...
@foxaroni - "conjures up" provides more than enough wiggle room for clink to Klink musings.
@RooMonster - You should be able to reload your profile pic from your profile page (just click on your name). If you don't have access to the pic anymore you might be able to snag it from a previous post of yours.
@Dorothy Biggs - you probably know this but for newer solvers I'll point this out anyway; The Eva Peron clue for something so easily otherwise clued is a form of misdirection. It specifically ups the difficulty by getting us all searching for something specific to Peron when really the clue is just "title for a Spanish woman." Of course, sometimes, the answer is something more specific to the person in the clue so you write in SENORA when the required answer is Evita.
@wood - OREO-O'S
@wood
I think @Z meant these OREO-O'S
@Z. Pfffft. I'm sure @Dorothy B is well aware of misdirects. This "gotcha" fell squarely in the groan arena. I, and I'm sure others, prefer a little chuckle. Instead, for me, it got a "pero que pendejo." (in the nicest sense, of course).
Generally, I’m with the “tale of two puzzles.” However, I did learn a new word today, IRRUPT. For quite a while I fell into exactly the trap the constructor hoped would snare me...this is a rebus puzzle...interrupt! Not. Loved homage to Mortimer SNERD. I adored seeing Edgar. Regent with Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer on the Ed Sullivan Show (or shows of similar ilk through the 60s and 70s.
On the other hand, I have formed the opinion that YIPE (or YIPEs) is a regionalism. Any takers? I grew up in Ohio and I have never heard anything other than yiKe or yiKes. In fact before we could get away with less appropriate exploitive a, YIKES was a playground/sandlot staple.
Loved seeing the old Mortimer SNERD. Edgar Bergen was a genius. His “dummies” Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer SNERD appeared frequently on Ed Sullivan, a Sunday “must” at my home.
All around enjoyable, HIPSTER CRED made me laugh. Ever heard the term (hence some Hangup in the center for me! Although I felt “sloggish” I actually finished 6 faster than average!
Mostly medium.
I’m with those who found the west side tougher than the east.
Toughest corner was SW where ALPHA and HEWTO required some staring. Plus, I too always thought it was SNO CONE.
Fun center, liked it.
Preferred yesterday’s clue for pen. Best to keep current. Cheers y’all.
That’s the trick of the clue. You rack your brain for something eva peron specific and then it turns out to be generic. It could be also a choice to include her because she was referenced in a CHE related clue recently.
The important thing was that I had an onion tied to my belt, which was the style at the time.
TIL that the name of the song is two words -- "SO RARE" -- as opposed to SORARE which for years I have been imagining was some exotic foreign word.
The eastern corners were pretty easy, if you forgive LIKESO/SORARE for the double SO's. Not SO the west. I had to get PIERCEARROW for the P in order to see GETSATIP, which begat GAGLAW and the NW. But the SW? YIPE!! Never heard of OREOOS. That stuff'll kill ya anyway.
Hand up for the introduction to IRRUPT. That bad boy went in on crosses. Nor have I ever heard of ALTRIA. But the toughest place was sq. 48. Naturally (for me) I had mISS for "Poor reception?". The logic worked. But what were mOGS? I had to run the alphabet on that one--twice, finally hitting the H--and done.
OKTHEN makes a reprise--and, weirdly, with the exact same clue. The in-grid DOD is TESSA Virtue; with the in-clues title going to Emily Blunt. Can't say it was easy; call it medium for a Friday. Some really nice biggies within the "jaws of themelessness." Birdie.
ALPHA DOGG
The RAGIN’CAJUNS RANAMOK,
they SWORE and SPIT and carried GATS,
“OKTHEN, LET’S find that AFLAC duck,
and steal his NESTEGG, LADS.”
--- SENORA TESSA SICARIO
B-side of "So Rare" is "Sophisticated Swing".
Good puzzle,even with things I didn't know: ALTRIA, SICARIO, OREOOS, AKEELAH, and ALINER. The crosses were crucial to those answers, which was tough in the SW because two of them crossed. Anyway, I eschew any breakfast cereal that has chocolate in it.
A huge YES for TESSA Virtue (and Scott Moir), natch.
Fun to get PIERCE ARROW, IRRUPT, and RAGIN CAJUNS, all of which I knew from somewhere. Those CAJUNS must have made a run in some NCAA tournament.
The corners were pretty easy, except the SW, and the centre section was no more than medium for me, but the overall sense was that this was a good Friday puzzle.
Easy enough to have no write-overs. Tough enough to do it east to west. And a non-controversial PEN.
The Louisiana Lafayette RAGINCAJUNS are the type of team that often shows up on the U of MN’s schedule before Big 10 play. Gotta get those wins somewhere.
I have tested a coupla BETARELEASE software programs, one for highway design, another for pavement design (no tar involved). I guess after me they went ALPHA? Or would it be another Greek letter?
One circle for yeah baby TESSA Virtue. YIPE!
It was OKTHEN. SEEYA.
Started, had to take a long break, returned to finish it off.
Liked the three-stack acrosses in the center, bisected by RAGINCAJUNS. Elsewhere were outliers AKEELAH, ALINER, and SICARIO.
Taking a break is often a good thing to do, especially at the end of the week.
So Rare, with that in-your-face quality of 1950s big-ish bands music (which I don't much care for), in case you were curious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojA1X4QruZk
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