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Big outdoor gear retailer / MON 4-15-19 / Evergreens with fragrant wood / Tax org undergoing some reform in this puzzle's circled squares / Where heads of Pacific are found
Monday, April 15, 2019
Constructor: Patrick Blindauer and Samuel A. Donaldson
Relative difficulty: Easy (2:43) (one second off personal record)
Theme answers:
- GANGES RIVER (18A: It flows from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal)
- TENNIS RACKET (20A: Piece of sports equipment with strings)
- "AS I RECALL..." (36A: "If memory serves...")
- EASTER ISLAND (55A: Where heads of the Pacific are found?)
- DOLLAR SIGNS (60A: $ $ $)
The Cumberland Gap is a pass through the long ridge of the Cumberland Mountains, within the Appalachian Mountains, near the junction of the U.S. states of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee.Famous in American colonial history for its role as a key passageway through the lower central Appalachians, it was an important part of the Wilderness Road and is now part of the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.Long used by Native Americans, the Cumberland Gap was brought to the attention of settlers in 1750 by Thomas Walker, a Virginia physician and explorer. The path was used by a team of frontiersmen led by Daniel Boone, making it accessible to pioneers who used it to journey into the western frontiers of Kentucky and Tennessee. (wikipedia)
• • •
Came straight down the west coast on this one and didn't have a second's hesitation until ... well, actually, I don't know when. I can never remember which is EINE and which is EINS, so I left that last letter blank at first (54A: German article). I balked at "AS I RECALL..." and LAPEL at first pass. I hesitated slightly at MIDDLEC because I had the back end of it first (-LEC) and it just looked weird. Oh, and of course the "?" on EASTER ISLAND. 95% of this puzzle's difficulty (such as it was) lay in that one "?" clue (55A: Where heads of the Pacific are found?). One of the good things about this puzzle's being so easy was I actually never saw that NRA was in the puzzle. I missed it. Completely. Ignorance is bliss! But now I'm not ignorant, only angry that constructors are still using this answer when they don't have to, and the editor keeps on letting them. Boo, hiss, etc. Why shill for that murderous org. if you don't have to? Cut it out.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. re: 63A: PBS-funding org. (NEA)—the CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting) funds PBS. From the CPB's FAQ: "PBS is a private, nonprofit media enterprise owned by its member public television stations. PBS distributes programming to nearly 350 locally owned and operated public television stations across the country and is funded principally by these member stations and by CPB" (emph. mine)
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83 comments:
This was pretty easy...I've never timed my solve but the site tells me it was 6 minutes and change.
Nothing particularly noteworthy. It's Monday. Fun puzzle, but nothing jumped out at me and said "Damn this is fun!!!"
On to Tuesday.
As far as PBS goes, please note that it is a violation of Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution, which specifically defines how to promote the progress of science and the useful arts.
Congress shall have power "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;"
These exclusive rights to their respective writings and discoveries are known as patents and copyrights. Nothing else. The $500M in tax funding allocated to PBS violates this. End of story. You cannot refute it.
"Levi Stubbs' Tears" or "Help Save the Youth of America" would have been a better choice, Rex.
I didn't give two hoots about the "theme", it was a themeless to me. It played easy, even for a Monday. Very fast. It's a Monday. Who cares?
Rex picks nits but he doesn't pick the one nit I had: EYELET and LET, both?
I hardly ever have anything good to say about a Monday anymore, but that's just the nature of Monday puzzles. I'm not complaining.
Sometimes it feels like Rex's nonstop raging about banning things like NRA from the puzzle is just hamfisted Stalinism Lite; instead of erasing people from history, let's erase them from the crossword. It's dumb, it's ineffective, and ultimately it fails. I admire your passion Rex, and I am on your side intellectually, but your tactics doom you. Do you want to be pure, or do you want to persuade?
I'm usually the last guy to cast shade on a puzzle in this forum, but an abundance of three letter fill does not inspire joy. And if the theme is sorta fashioned around IRS, perhaps that is the eventual result.
Anyway, much of the long across fill made up for the choppiness. For example: I saw Pacific and heads and EASTER ISLAND fell right in. Ancient cultures did some stuff we have yet to fully comprehend. I'm certain that might have a hard time getting their heads around what we have done with their planet.
I'm old enough to remember when school began in SEP and not in AUG.
Monday easy, no gripes.
I would like to thank DELTA Airlines for getting me to quit smoking. In the early 1990’s I was faced with a couple of flights to Europe, I knew. I couldn’t smoke on the domestic flights, which was fine, then DELTA announced they were banning smoking on all flights including international, holy shit, there is not enough nicotine gum on this earth to get me across the ocean. O.K. You win, I’ll quit! I even sent DELTA a thank you note.
The puzzle was just fine, but I too have a bone to pick with having solvers think NEA is a giant finder of PBS. It is not. We have to fight the state legislature every year tooth and nail to continue finding public television and radio in the education-funding-challenged state of despair, A/K/A Oklahoma. If you value factual news and wonderful programs for everyone but especially wonderful preschool programming for kids, please support, continue to support and tell your friends and policy makers to support public broadcasting.
And yes it is tax day. The theme was no surprise.
That IRS REFORM “isn’t a thing” never occurred to me at all. So now that I know, it just soured the whole experience retroactively. Sheesh. It felt fine as I wrote it in. I’m disgusted.
Hah. I admit that 21, 200 google hits is pretty low, but seriously, I didn’t even blink at it.
I do agree with Rex that a “?” clue for one themer is confusing.
In AS I RECALL, each letter is in a different word. Otherwise, the anagrams bridge two words. I much prefer anagram hijinks to span words. No idea why; anagrams aren’t my thing. Actually, now that I think about it, letting them span words probably opens up a ton more possibilities. I just messed around with single words containing the SIR anagrams, and it’s pretty wide open: CRISIS! HIRSUTE SIREN DISRUPTS BUSRIDERS’ FIRST EXCURSION!” It’s all fun and games until the hirsute siren shows up.
AGASSI crossing TENNIS – neato.
The two things I really liked this morning were that they stacked the crap out of four of the themers and that I was exposed to the word “leadery.” Seriously. That’s what I had for 7A until I fixed the mistake. What a great word, though, right? John and Marge moved to Canada because they were disgusted with our current leadery. Hah. Then I started thinking about the suffix ery. A celery could be the room where all the old cartoon thingies are stored. Whiskery is a collection owned by a serious saucier. A buttery could be any group of seventh-graders.
Anyway… all that musing from a mistake and way to take a break from Macbeth-cramming-Tim-McGee-YouTube bingeing.
Patrick, Sam – my Anagrams? Meh-ness notwithstanding, I loved that you stacked themers and included every single combination in your well-chosen phrases . (And that you spared us stuff like SAINT XAVIER, VORTEX ATOMS, INDEX TABLES, MORTAL KOMBAT X… to do a “tax reform” one. For that, I’m eternally grateful.)
@Runs with Scissors: Nothing in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 bars the federal government from funding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The enumerated powers in Article I must be read in light of the Necessary and Proper Clause and the Taxing and Spending clause. Please read McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. 316 (1819) (holding that the federal government could create a bank, even though the Constitution contains no enumerated power to create a bank). A federal government that has the Article I power "To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States" surely has the power to spend on public broadcasting. (Emphasis added.) You may not deem PBS to contribute to the general welfare, but the courts would defer to Congress on that point.
As a tax lawyer, I agree with @Rex that tax reform is a thing (whether it's actually reform is in the eye of the beholder), but IRS reform is much less of a thing.
Well, here I finished this delightful and harmless Monday puzzle relatively quickly, for me, anyway, and I then scooted over to Rex’s blog to see what the outrage of the day is, and I wasn’t disappointed. So much vitriol. How DARE they use that awful, terrible acronym “NRA”! You know, the one that stands for National Recovery Administration (and maybe one or two other things). I had no idea that crosswords were actually used as tools to “shill”.
I did take the time to read the comment by Jeff Chen, and while I get his pique about being bumped, so to speak, I didn’t see any evidence of “editorial incompetence”. In fact, Mr. Chen admits that it all made sense if he looked at it from Mr. Shortz’s perspective. Mr. Chen’s comments also shed some light on the topic of the inventory of puzzles that are available for publication. He noted that the Sunday puzzle inventory was “shockingly low”.
I have thought for some time that in many ways Mr. Shortz has a thankless job (although I do think his job can be rewarding in many ways as well). For one thing, he is not the constructor, and he only publishes submissions from others. Yes, he does have both the right and the responsibility to mandate changes in clueing and word usage, but the overall construction isn’t his. I would also think that he does look over each puzzle in some detail to prevent the constructor from slyly slipping in words and phrases that may be offensive. But what I'm saying is that he can only publish what’s been submitted.
I also think Mr. Shortz’s job is like the Mayor’s in some ways. Everyone has an opinion on everything you do, and a lot of people don’t mind telling you why you are terrible at your job. And, like the Mayor’s job, it looks easy until you actually get the job yourself, only to discover that is a lot more complex than it looked from afar and why your predecessors did it the way they did.
Easter Island statues could have been markers for fresh water.
TSAR, TAR, PAR, GAR
ARREARS, ADHERES, KINNEAR(s).
PDA, NEA, NRA, IRA
ZIP, ZAP, SEP, GAP
OOH
Close to a PR here as well. Line em up: NRA, IRS, KKK, KGB. This left-handed vet happy to hear from Mayor Pete yesterday.
Mondays are supposed to be easy. But not this easy.
There is some nice fill, but much more rotten fill (MAG crossing MAGI, IRS and ERS and DRS, NRA and NEA, ZIP crossing ZAP), and the cluing is too on the nose.
Is it just me, or does LEO look naked without a random Roman numeral following?
Was surprised to learn that RACKET predates racquet and is preferred and far more common. Conversely, you never see racketball, only racquetball.
PBS is a distribution company. It does not produce television programs. It is not a content producer. Rather, It distributes programs produced by member stations and other outside producers under contract to the member stations. There have been oodles of NEA grants given in the past decades to the producers of these programs (i.e., the members stations), which are then distributed by PBS. So, no, NEA is generally not a funder of PBS, but it is a significant funder of the programs distributed by PBS, and a significant funder of the member stations who comprise PBS.
It's true that "IRS reform" is not a "thing."
But I think that's the *whole point* of the puzzle.
IRS is a thing. A part of the Federal Government.
"IRS" is a character string. A name. It can be arranged in
exactly six ways, only one of which is the correct one.
The correct one is at the end, right where it belongs.Lands solidly.
Maybe that's a deliberate statement:
Tax "reforms" are just pointless re-arrangements.
Nothing substantive changes.
I twigged on to the theme early enough to let it
speed up my solution. But I wondered about the lack of meaningful progression.
I was hoping for something like a word-ladder, but no such luck.
I'm writing this before looking up the "Behind the scenes" comment.
BTW,I agree with Rex on the misleading ? It only adds confusion.
I looked at the "behind the scenes" hint and found it referred to *yesterday's* puzzle.
Nothing to do with Tax Day.
So maybe my "interpretation" of the scrambled versions of "IRS" was
pure fabrication on my part. It's a human tendency to "find" patterns where none exist.
Maybe I just read my own opinion of "tax reform" into the puzzle.
Thank you for this explanation.
Hi Rex!
Long time reader, long time IRS employee. (Seriously, I started doing the puzzle in 2008 and I found you while googling for help on my IRS computer.) Tax reform is definitely bigger news, but IRS reform is definitely also a thing. The IRS has had several major reforms, including what we refer to internally as RRA 98, which took place in...1998. They’re currently working on another round of reform. Tax reform has more hits because it directly affects everyone in the country. But IRS reform is very real.
And thanks for being here for me all these years.
No Thinking Required.
Congress didn’t have explicit power to buy the Louisiana Territory in 1803, or indeed to do most of what it’s done since then if you use a crabbed interpretation of the “necessary and proper” clause. But we haven’t done that in 200 years, and we shouldn’t start now.
I found this puzzle super easy, finishing in a new personal best time of 4:42. I never paused for more than a fraction of a second. I guess if I want to reach Rex-like personal best times, I need to learn to type in my answers faster? I can’t imagine how I would shave off two minutes from my time today.
Howdy all. Mrs. 'mericans and I are in Malaga airport now, awaiting a return flight back to Paris. We did complete all of the NYT puzzles over the last 10 days, and MEANT TO post here, but we've been rather busy with tourism ... and tasting well-AGEd Andalucían wines, which are at least as good as those of CHIANTI. ("AARP! Excuse me.")
We both (separately) completed today's puzzle quickly, as themeless. That IRS reform is a less familiar thing than tax reform didn't bother us. Most organisations undergo reforms (using the term loosely) periodically. It seems to those of us observing the IRS from the outside that the "reform" that the IRS has been subject to of late has been to severely weaken its ability to detect and punish serious tax cheats. Why did it take the Mueller investigation to finally get the goods on Paul Manafort, for example?
On the other hand, the IRS seems very adept at monitoring law-abiding taxable U.S. citizens working overseas.
I wish that presidential campaigns were equally as internationally savvy. I've been following Pete Buttigieg since he first started talking about running, and am very glad to see him getting more attention. But his campaign, like those of every other candidate, seems clueless when it comes to creating forms that recognize that some 3 million voters -- as many as the State of Oregon -- live outside the USA. I continue to get notifications from other candidates asking me to organise fund-raising parties or other events in Irvine, Texas, which shares the same ZiP code as the postal code of the arrondissement in which we live in Paris. So, if you happen to run into Mayor Pete, @Hungry Mother, will you please ask him to adjust his forms to accommodate the interests of foreign-resident voters.
Nice to see HARE -- the only mammal that is bigger in Europe than its counterparts in North America.
Too many names. I’m sending in my taxes today marked To SIR with Love.
@mericans - Eurasian lynx is bigger than either the Canada lynx or the bobcat.
@Quasi (8:36) -- I consider your witticism to be the high point of this exceedingly boring puzzle day.
i went through this puzzle too fast to notice 80% of the grid. The IRS theme was totally lost on me until I was done. Rex's word of the day was a surprise to me because I didn't see GAP when I was solving...nor the NRA. It was, to me, one of the easiest Mondays in recent months.
Also, with Rex's link to the explanation of yesterday's puzzle, I'm going to ask this question again because it is so obvious and yet no one, including the constructor, has made mention of it: the grid looks like an Easter egg and there's a cross at the bottom. Yesterday was the beginning of Holy Week (or Hell Week if you are church musician). Did no one notice this? Or did everyone and it was so obvious no one mentioned it?
There's nothing in the copyright clause limiting Congress from pursuing other ways to promote the arts, etc. That's just the rationale for copyright.
I worked for OSHA almost 30 years. During that time, the agency changed course a number of times (in terms of enforcement) and changed its hiring policy several times. Due to executive orders, it altered its labor-management policy a number of times. While saying the agency changed is perfectly OK, saying these changes were reforms is also very much true. Some of the comments do not even descend into nit-picking. They just reflect an attempt to force one's very limited definition of a word upon the general population. Crossword puzzles allow for even fairly rare use of a specific definition. More so as the week progresses.
After reading the write-up, I kind of laughed, thinking to myself "Gosh Mike, you get confused real easy." More seriously, I am confused over how anybody who completes the puzzles in such impressive times can wind up being confused by (to me) such simple things. I guess minds work differently.
I completed the top three theme entries without reading them or their associated clues. Everything got filled in by filling in the downs, a solving method I use only on Mondays. Except that I entered AGGASI instead of AGASSI. No wonder I hate PPP. At least I like the puzzle, even with the fill which is somewhat bothersome.
And by the way. I would think Mr. Chin is very happy. He gets paid twice for the same puzzle, once (partially) by NYT and once by WSJ.
I thought Rex would enjoy seeing NRA crossed with Iran-Contra
@kitscher -- Thanks for the correction. Good to know! I must confess I'm not sure about the wisent, or European wood bison, compared with the American bison or buffalo. I guess they're approximately the same size.
Two things (of many) that I dislike: A ton of three letter words and the IRS. Call it tax reform or IRS reform, I don't care, I hate them every single year. I suppose if I had another baby I'd get a refund.
It took two veteran crossword puzzle constructors that I like and they come up with the meh of Mondays. I'm like @Larry G in that I don't like to disparage anyone who can actually construct, but man, this was a suCKy.
I always go around looking for something that will bring on a smile...ZIP. I'm glad DELTA made @chefwen give up the smokes. Mine was dating the most boooooring man in the history of running that did it for me. DELTA use to be such a fine airline - it's on my list of the worst. Add American.
Not to be out-done, we have the most polluted river in the world staring at us: GANGES RIVER. Thank you human waste. Then we get to EASTER ISLAND - filled with plastic and fallen prey to deforestation. "Great Pacific Garbage Patch."
DOLLAR SIGNS reminds me of Frump.....and so my Monday goes.
I hope heads don't explode on dreaded Tuesday.
I actually found this somewhat un-Mondayishly challenging (more than typical inclusion of proper names, clever clueing) though my time was slightly less than average. (If a goal on Monday is to appeal to newbies without intimidation, it seems to me that being easy for an experienced solver is not really the proper measure of success.) I nevertheless enjoyed the puzzle. Agree with @Rex about the lone ? clue, not about whether IRS is actually reformable. The clue specifically refers to “reform” in the puzzle, not in real life, and tax reform is close enough to make it work.
Had a weird experience on this one: Finished having filled in the entire SE corner from downs only (just happened, not intentional), and did not notice the revealer clue. Was thinking there must be one, looked again, and still failed to see it, until I came here! Must have been unconscious aversion to the day being what it is.
Regarding the xwordinfo link: I agree with @Brookboy above, and with JC’s ultimate acceptance of WS’s offer. In the real world it’s often necessary to choose the best option among unappealing alternatives. OFL seems consistently not to get this, probably reflecting his ivory tower environment.
While visiting xwordinfo I couldn’t help but notice the comments from Will Nediger. I was incredulous at his remark about regretting the appearance of OBESE (clued in a very neutral way) in his puzzle. I am OBESE. My medical record includes it as a diagnosis. I don’t like it. But in no way can I take offense! I have to say, I’ve become grateful to Will Shortz for standing up to the ever growing demands for ideological purity from the people he works among.
Hi rex,
Glad to hear IRS reform isn't a thing.
I'll just ooze on back to my office like nothing ever happened.
Many school districts start in AUG (21a) not SEP - an abbreviation I seldom see, almost always SEPT.
AARP is not a party or a social group, it is an ASSN (56d)
My five favorite clues from last week;
1. Barely communicate? (4)
2. Sparks can be seen at its edge (4)
3. Where one might go out to get a bite? (12)
4. Father figure? (6)
5. Artless nickname? (3)
SEXT
RENO
TRANSYLVANIA
DADBOD
STU
Personally, I’m hoping for both some IRS reform and some tax reform in the very near future. First the IRS can release the damn taxes and then the Senate can stop punishing the coastal blues by reinstating the state and local tax deduction. And just for fun stop taxing my social security payments please. In case you can’t tell, we got nailed this year. Made less; Owe more. TMI, I know, but any other theme would have been more welcome this year on tax day.
The puzzle was a breeze, although I’ve never heard of an LBO and the spelling of RACKET confused me. When I first saw it I thought we might be dealing with a
noise theme. I liked ROBERTA, ALEC and KINNEAR because they’re not obvious celebs. I’m with Rex on GAP. There are so many worse ways to clue it.
@Gill, a bad boy boyfriend started me smoking. What is it with dating?
Dear @An IRS Employee,
Your post is so pleasant you’re giving the IRS a good name. They need to make you head of PR.
What with AGASSI crossing TENNIS RACKET coming out of the gate, I thought that would be the theme. Would that it were.
My first impression upon looking at the grid was that there were a lot of black squares, 40 of them it turns out, and a ton of three-letter entries, 31 of those. With 78 words in the grid, that means that right at 40% of the grid consists of the dreaded triplets. That will put a HEX on just about any puzzle. More ZAP than ZIP.
As I saw the pattern in the circles, I thought the revealer was going to be SIR mix-a-lot.
Since no one else is willing to put it in writing, I'll say that I did not find this puzzle taxing. Done and done.
Hello to my friends in the "I quit" crew. I quit when my son turned three and I realized I would at some point have to explain to him what I was doing and wouldn't be able to. At least sometimes, kids can bring out the best in us.
The idea of "IRS reform" not being what everyone is saying all the time did not bother me. Fine Monday, and thanks guys.
@Lois Lerner - Sorry for what happened to you, but you've got to admit that given your inability to say "Hey - If a groups adopts the name of a political movement for their 'charity', we're going to check to be sure they are, in fact, a legitimate charity and not a political movement pretending they're a charity. They have to provide 2 pages of extra info. We do this when they name their 'Charity' "Tea Party for Justice" or "Socialist Democrats for Change' and claim they clothe the poor. We made them prove they spent money on clothing the poor rather than on political efforts. What problem do you all have with that?" it really wasn't appropriate that you don't keep that job.
Ridiculously easy - and 32 triples? Patrick Berry suggests no more than 20 and for good reason. And two constructors couldn’t do better? Shortz must have had a stroke.
Talk about getting triggered - mention "reforming" anything is enough to start a slow boil. Stir in a bunch of ignorant Pols and screaming, red in the face, fist pounding the table rants are sure to follow. "Reform" is almost always, 999 times out of 1,000, solutions in search of problems. AAARRRRGGGGGHHHH. Do. Not. Get. Me. Started...
On a different note, I detest peas. Those small round slime balls are disgusting. I hate them so much that I will separate them out from any dish they appear. If the restaurant is fancy enough I just might flick some across the table at an off-spring (not so much anymore since the off-spring are scattered across these United States). I would very much prefer that peas never appear in any dish I am ever served. I guess this makes me a Stalinist Lite.
@Lois Lerner, I was going to make that point, but you did so much more cleverly. Thanks!
I found myself actually enjoying the little blocks of 3-letter words, giving us the ZIP/ZAP crossing and the ERS IRS sequence in the bottom row and REI crossing RAE, and ECO/LEO. And, of course, the stacked themers pointed out by @Loren. But on another day, maybe I would hate all of the former.
With the ISR in TENNIS RACKET the first to go in, I thought we were going to have a geography-related theme. But then, next door, instead of the neighboring Syr I'd expected, the GANGES RIVER yielded SRI. Hmmm. I didn't understand the reason for the letter shuffle until the reveal - a sort of second round of "April Fool" for me. Bonus theme answer for our household: ARREARS - we got caught in that withholding adjustment deal that's been in the papers recently and had to pay a penalty.
@Hartley70, to your "coastal blues" you can add a coastal purple: those of us on the western shore of Lake Michigan also took a big hit because of the loss of that deduction. When I wrote in DOLLAR SIGNS, I could only think "Tell me about it!"
Hey All !
Not the IRS! *Cue scary music*
This being Tax Day (an Un-ME DAY) the theme is apropos. AS I RECALL many DOLLAR SIGNS flying out the window to the IRS, I didn't get much back. At least I didn't have to pay more.
Nice themers. In the ether phrases, no made up ones. To great constructors teaming up for a nice puz. Too bad April 15 wasn't a Wednesday, seems the clues might've been nicer if toughened up a tad.
@Anoa Bob
You missed two. There are 33 3's. And you missed commenting on the Buffalo/Bison size of a few posts ago. You being all Anoa, and such. :-)
PB2 & SAD. Raising a RACKET. GRAPHIC, eh? Har.
ZIP ZAP -ERS
RooMonster
DarrinV
@not a rap fan - I like Big Refunds and I cannot Lie.
@Z - You eat stuff that has had peas in them? Get serious dude. If I order fettucini carbonara I always order with no peas, and if I get it with peas I send it back. The peas ruin the sauce. I can't eat it if I know it has had peas in it. I'm thinking of getting two tattoos on my forehead:
* ER Staff: I don't care if I die, no one who doesn't accept my insurance can work on me, and
* Wait Staff: If it has peas in it, don't bring it.
Circles … anagrams … taxes … weeject stacks … weeject nests … weeject wads … wobbly revealers … NEEDA [har] …
Liked the EASTERISLAND clue just fine. Showed some 'tude. And humor. Good stuff to have in any puz.
staff weeject pick: IRS. Too bad hardly anybody approved of its clue. How'bout: {Org. that has five new forms for you to fill out in this puz's circled squares} … ?!
Definitely used more pages of forms than usual at our house this year, to do our re-formed taxes. Took extra postage to mail the bigger than snot wad all off. Ended up owin more money, too boot. snort
Clear IRSPuz automatic deduction in value: No U's at all. ZIP. Very taxin, for the M&A.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Serve that nicks the net} = LET. Goes well with the whole AGASSI/TENNISRACKET dealy, up top.
Thanx for gangin up on us, PB2 & S.A.D. Did U know that M&A had NRA ESP on yer puz, in yesterday's comment? Kinda middle-C spooky, at least.
Masked & AnonymZIPUs
As a tax lawyer I will say IRS reform is very much a thing, and in fact there was a bill that recently passed the House that would reorganize the IRS in many ways, including updating its electronic systems and expanding e-filing (though not as much as many would like). There was a more expansive IRS reform in the late 1990s. Judging thing-ness by the number of Google hits is just lazy.
I should also point out that today's co-constructor Sam Donaldson is a tax lawyer, and he would know whether or not IRS reform is a thing. He says it is.
@Nancy and some ❤️ to you too!
To the American chap in Paris, Texas. The European Badger also outclasses the American Badger as a larger mammal. Let's not forget the mole though strictly speaking it is more Eurasian. With wolves we are on equal footing. Not all things are bigger in Texas!
I set no records today - this was a purely average Monday solve, time-wise. I blame CEDARS. For some reason, I decided BALSAMs had fragrant wood, but given that the clue was plural, I put down BALSAS. Silliness ensued.
After cleaning up balsas, Greg KeNNEAR had me asking what the ____HeC a fully illustrated novel was.
58D's clue and answer of TSAR made me wonder why a Mexican title would be a star; I figured that one out before making a grid mess.
My initial theme answer was 20A and the circled ISR sent me off into abbreviated Middle Eastern countries territory. The SRI of 18A got me back to "tax day".
Nice job, PB2 and SAD.
Easy-medium. A tad meh.
I think I'm going to skip Monday puzzles from now on.
I filled in a mere three answers before my pen ran out of ink, so for the second time in less than a week I had to solve the puzzle in my head.
This one was très easy. Nice to see Patrick Blindauer's byline again; it's been awhile. I like Roberta Flack but "Killing Me Softly..." is a profoundly stupid song; why it was such a huge hit is something I've never been able to fathom. The lyrics are some of the worst ever written.
Anyway, this was a perfectly respectable Monday puzz, nothing more, nothing less.
Jeff Chen has sucked all the enjoyment out of his upcoming WJS puzzle.
@ ‘mericans in Paris. So sorry and sad for what you are returning to. Sad for all of us.
I assumed it'd be called "mixed returns".
Seeing the photos of Notre Dame keeps me from caring about anything else today. Pardon me while I go throw up. I truly am ill so see this happening.
Let's all celebrate Red States Take the Cake and Blue States Get the Shaft Day. That's more true than anything else. And, while we're at it, let's track down the oranges of the dossier.
You are on the wrong blog.
Re to your comment on "editorial incompetence:" No, that's not incompetence, that's far worse. It's a dishonorable way to do business, and any writer who's worth anything will agree. I'm pretty sure that constructors work on speculation; i.e. they are not "assigned" puzzles by The Times. But after one is accepted, that is an obligation to pay the full amount -- $750 and not a kill fee of $300. It doesn't matter how long it sits in inventory. If it gets too old to use, then the publication eats the fee. It's that simple. Both constructors should have been paid. And if Shortz had any class at all he would have given him the rights back to the puzzle that was killed so it might be used at some much later time in another publication.
@Doug Garr, I read Jeff Chen's comments differently. Will absolutely returned the rights to him, given that Jeff said it was accepted at a different venue already. So Jeff got a kill fee plus the right to sell it elsewhere for whatever he could get for it. Doesn't seem atrocious to me.
@SuzieQ, I hear you on that. The only thing cheering me up on this sad day is that we filed our IRS forms months ago thanks to the deadlines for having to finish them early to file our financial aid application forms for our son in college.
@Z and @Pete, I hate peas too. It’s really the only food besides palm grubs that I refuse to eat.
You pea communists.....I suppose the ones you eat are those that come out of a can and are the size of little marbles. You need to buy them fresh, shuck them, then boil them gently for about 3 minutes in water and olive oil. Then you put them in a sauté pan with more olive oil, thinly sliced garlic and a sprig or two of fresh thyme. Swish them around for just seconds. Now I'm really going to freak you out. I eat them with a dab of freshly made mayonnaise.
Gods little acre of green heaven.....I'll make you some and you'll change your mind.....or maybe not the Neaderthals.
@Gill I, I’m a Neanderthal even when it comes to the fresh ones. I can eat soup made from dried split peas and pea shoots, but not fresh peas, frozen peas or canned peas.
Anon 3:54 Hey, fake news! He clearly said "oringes". :)
Susie Q,
Amen. Im a wreck. During Holy Week no less. I cant look at the video or news anymore.
Im hoping reports of rescue of relics and art are true.
@Gill I - They come in cans? OMG Why? Will the cruelty never end? That recipe sounds pretty tasty. Probably be really good with Brussels Sprouts. But peas? You might as well put lipstick on a pig and call it Mr. President. Pea Haters Unite against the Capitalist Oppressors (PHUCO).
@Doug Garr - I’m with @Anon5:50 on this one. I can find fault with having 30-50 weeks worth of acceptances for other days of the week, but having Sunday’s only a month out is problematic. It’s not a wonderful thing to do to someone, but it is defensible given this set of facts. I do wonder, though, how far out WaPo is, given they have a single individual doing almost all their Sunday puzzles. Seems like the NYTX should be able to get enough submissions to have at least three or four months of Sundays in the queue.
@Mark late yesterday - Uh, I drink what you’re saying but anyone who uses “grok” in relation to a theme is using it exactly the way Heinlein intended. Likewise with most “?” clues, where one needs to work through multiple meanings and possible meanings of words to finally appreciate the clue/answer pair. No, “grok” is the perfect word for what a solver does with a good puzzle, which is so much more than just “getting” an answer.
@GILL (6:34)-- Re peas. You make me feel truly deprived. As someone who doesn't cook -- and even if I did, it wouldn't be anything like the way YOU cook! -- I've made do my whole life with what's thought to be the "best" of the pre-cooked brands: Bird's Eye Frozen Baby Peas and LeSueur Canned Baby Peas. But what you describe sounds like the manna of the gods. My mouth is watering. I'm no Neanderthal, I promise. Could you send me a Care Package? :)
@Z
I'm not sure it matters, but @Jeff Chen's puzzle wasn't a Sunday (21X21).
"Back in 2016, I built a 15x15 puzzle using the exact same L/R idea, except with better pairs. Will (Shortz) quickly accepted it in early 2017.
I think Will Shortz is a great editor. I hope he continues to edit the puzzle for years to come. For those who disagree, there are plenty of other crosswords. There’s no need to do or comment on the the Times’s puzzle. Viva Shortz.
Fresh peas are delicious. That is all.
@JC66 - Yah. Which is why Chen got paid for killing it and could submit it elsewhere. Shortz needed the 21x21 more than a 15x15. Given the shortage of Sunday puzzles and plethora of 15x15 (the set of facts I thought I was referencing), what Shortz did is defensible even if it’s not great. So I disagree with @Garr and Rex on this. This does the beg the question (both usages) as to why Sundays are so bad. Having Berry doing the other puzzles in the Sunday mag can’t help, as well as losing Birnholz to WaPo, a bunch of strong constructors submitting great work to other venues, and failing to recruit more women and PoC. There’s plenty to criticize Shortz for, but returning the puzzle to Chen isn’t one of them.
@Joe Dipinto - We have re-education camps for victims of capitalist pea propaganda.
@Gill I, thanks for going to bat for peas. While I'll admit that the peas that appear in the average TV dinner aren't good for anything more than being used in a pea shooter, the two packaged types @Nancy references are definitely edible. (I grew up in pea growing country and my two summer stints working at Del Monte included a pea pack. The pea picking machines are ginormous so when it rained, you were more likely to get a night off during pea pack than in corn pack. Yay for a night off! And Le Sueur (the origin of the baby pea name) is in MN, and is the original home of the Mayo brothers who established the Mayo Clinic).
Anyhoo, we plant peas every year in the garden but we have yet to make a meal of them because we eat them all raw right out of the pod. So I totally don’t get the pea hate. Sorry, @Z and @Aketi. You can scrape those peas onto my plate.
NRA should be clued as "1933 New Deal Agency".
@Pete: If you're going to a restaurant that puts peas in spaghetti/fettucine carbonara, find a new restaurant! Carbonara is made of the pasta, eggs, bacon, grated parmesan or Romano, salt, and black pepper. And that's it. Who knows what other horrors that restaurant is foisting off on unsuspecting diners? Get out of there now!
Easy easy easy puzzle, even for a Monday. The NEA/CPB/PBS thing bugged me slightly too, but on the whole, not bad.
CONTRA RYE PLAY (AGE GAP)
You MEANTTO HIRE her ASIRECALL,
but ROBERTA TACKed on a HEX,
ORE she LET her HARE down after ALL,
you SEE, ARREARS upon your DESK.
--- REV. ARTEMIS AGASSI
You're kidding me. It took TWO (!) EXPERIENCED (!!) constructors (?) to come up with this crap? Gimme a break. I won't waste time listing ALL the ERRATA in this one; just note a good DOD in ROBERTA Flack and give out a double bogey (Ms. Flack saves it from an "other").
Just when I think I’m making headway they go and toss TAR back into the pavement. And then they put, by my count, 33 three letter answers in there, plus 5 more if you count theme answers; where’s the limit?
I don’t care that much, but NRA is getting too much PLAY lately.
Hands down ROBERTS Flack yeah baby.
Paid o attention to the circled squares and finished with EASE.
Neat and clean Monday routine.
SSR and rondo's TAR.
One is obsolete, the other not for the street.
Special mention to EASTER ISLAND and its Pacific heads.
Mind boggling that Jeff Chen posted such nastiness:
"I built a 15x15 ... with better pairs" ... "I was irate" ... "So I figured it'd be better to let it drop" [only you didn't, because you're complaining about it here, very publicly, in a blog THAT WASN'T CREATED BY YOU AND THAT ISN'T HERE TO BE YOUR MOUTHPIECE] ... "today's bitter pill" ... and a mention of how he insisted on his pairs having mirror-theming, which Nediger's didn't, so there's another way that Chen's puzzle was better.
He really thinks that his mean-spiritedness is going to make Shortz want to continue to publish his puzzle? (Of course Shortz will, but in any professional freelancing market, that would be professional suicide.)
And it didn't occur to Chen to ask someone else to blog the Nediger puzzle, or to not blog it but write "I couldn't post anything about this because I have a conflict of interest" ?
He is one angry dude, and it is amazing that he doesn't see it, own it, get help, and stop using that blog to criticize, in a super-passive-aggressive way, the guts out of every puzzle because he is too insecure to live with the fact that some constructors are better than he is. Yes, he's good and he's better than many, but he's not the best. That's life -- live with it, don't take it out on everyone else.
Yeesh. I've stopped reading that site because his innards are so ugly and they seep out into, and poison, every entry he posts.
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