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Country singer with cityish name / SAT 4-13-19 / Sparks can be seen at its edge / Piece of equipment in game cornhole
Saturday, April 13, 2019
Constructor: Debbie Ellerin
Relative difficulty: Easy (5:11)
Word of the Day: UZO Aduba (22A: Actress Aduba of "Orange Is the New Black") —
Uzoamaka Nwanneka "Uzo" Aduba (/ˈuːzoʊəˈduːbə/; born February 10, 1981) is a Nigerian-American actress. She is known for her role as Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren on the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black (2013–present), for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2014, an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2015, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series in 2014 and 2015. She is one of only two actors to win an Emmy Award in both the comedy and drama categories for the same role, the other being Ed Asner for the character Lou Grant. (wikipedia)
• • •
Now I will walk through all the parts of this grid that gave me trouble. Minimal trouble in every case, but still, trouble. I had the "A" and wrote in AMNIO at 2D: Kind of test for a baby (APGAR). I learned APGAR from crosswords, and let's be honest about "learned," because even today, when I "remembered" it, I couldn't actually remember it. Needed "APG-" before I "remembered." I did get BADGE right away, though, so that's something! (1A: Evidence of merit). Not sure why I wrote in DRAB at first for 33D: Minute amount (DRIB), but I did. "Dribs and drabs" is a phrase, right? Anyway, easy to fix because the [Fairy tale villain] at 40A obviously had to be EVIL something. But this led to my next problem: EVIL what??? What fairy tale? I was looking for something generic. I feel like EVIL QUEEN is very specific, though now that I think about it, I guess there have been a number, though not all in "fairy tales." Anyway, not having QUEEN halted my progress, and also meant that I wrote in PHOTO IDS instead of QUORUMS for 41D: Requirements for voting. I know, I know, you don't need PHOTO IDS for voting (not in NY anyway). I was mad as I was writing the answer in, like "how dare you!?" But as we now know, it was wrong. Last hold-up came with RANTO, which I just couldn't parse as a past-tense verb phrase for a while (49D: Totaled). I also was thinking of the wrong kind of "totaled." Finished up in the name-heavy NE—not sure why you turn URBAN into a name there, when you've already crammed the corner with names, but no biggie (for me, anyway). Knocked out that corner no problem and ta da, finished. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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86 comments:
Very easy, maybe a medium Wed. Plus, @Rex not quite as much fun as yesterday’s.
That said, it helped that I’ve seen Aduba UZO (Crazy Eyes) in a puzzle recently, although Tariq AZIZ seemed vaguely familiar. I assume AZIZ Ansari has been overtaken by events?
Reasonably smooth and solid, just not a Sat. Liked it.
Sometimes you have to laugh at yourself for foolishly expecting any sort of consistency from our fair blogger. So often I roll my eyes at him, wondering how he could be quite so pedantic about the wording of some clue. And then, just when I think, “I know who will have something to say about that ridiculously poor, nonsensically contrived clue for TRANSYLVANIA!” I come here and find that no criticisms are to be found, because apparently all good will flows from having finished a Saturday puzzle quickly. Which I guess is actually consistent, in its own way...
On my way to Natck City with Aziz and Uzo.
This played easy, even with things like APGAR and BUSHWA. I liked answers like MOBIUS, GONZO, and NOTORIOUS RBG. Good Saturday fare.
How do you forget a name like UZO? I don't know but I completely did. That little mix-up put me off the NE for awhile in spite of BEAU and AZIZ being first guess material. The same thing happened in the NW when I tried to support BADGE with AMNIO at 2D. Once SATEEN went in the NW snapped together and the rest of the puzzle became a fun and easy solve. I did get off to a slow start though.
Saturday enough for me. Some pretty obvious stuff, was elusive: BADGE clued as Evidence of merit, for example. The solve just took some time, but fortunately not more than I had to give. I could have done without 65A clued anyway, and pluralized, to boot. Wanna come up to my flat and see my ERTES? Irresistible. Strolling around the U, one might encounter a gaggle of PROFS lamenting having to teach their sixth class of the week. I'm done.
For many years I've visited Truckee, so I'm very familiar with the RENO/Tahoe area. Brilliant misdirect at 55A, but too tough for most solvers?
Music is a big part of my life and I have seen a lot of theater, so OPERA seemed like something I might enjoy. I bought a ticket to a production of Lucia di Lammermoor, did a little homework, and showed up. Kinda blew my mind, sitting by myself in the balcony and feeling the tragedy unfold. I became a subscriber for a few seasons and saw many productions. Some were transcendent, but many seemed tedious and irrelevant, barely worth the musical talent and production skills expended. Thank goodness for super-titles.
Woo Hoo, a Friday and Saturday sans Uncle Google, life is good.
Never heard of a cocktail with vodka, cranberry juice and grapefruit juice, sounds disgusting, but with the name SEA BREEZE I just might have to try one. Will report back.
Started guessing at so many answers I kept thinking this was going to come back and bite me, but they all turned up correct, yeah me!
Loved it.
[@Fred Wollam, @Dorothy Bigg, @M&A – I left y’all a note at the end of yesterday’s thread.]
Today! Yes! A great offering with lots of colorful stuff. I especially liked the GREEN GOBLIN/EVIL QUEEN cross. And the DREAM TEAM of RENO and RBG.
I have a DREAM TEAM in second period – three kids who cannot stay awake. And I mean cannot. I jump around, I use startling words, I stop by their desk and ask if they’re sick. Ask if they wanna take a quick walk to the water fountain, slip a peppermint on their desk. . . I’m told I should just start writing them up, but that feels wrong. I’ve had private conversations with them. I’ve gotten one mom’s permission to give him tea. Nothing. Is. Working. But I can’t punish them.
@Larry – I was delighted with the clue/entry for 65A. Besides, with that S, cluing it to mean bratty kids actually saves us from considering different specimens of… ok never mind. I don’t know why, but it made me think of this.
I guess the HERB-gardener joke is an old one. We named our daughter Sage. And our son is Gardiner. Hah. Maybe we shoulda gone with Basil.
Speaking of Sage (eye-roll here she goes just scroll past this but it’s a force bigger than me) - GOBLIN is in the grid. She’s in vet school and is taking parasitology this semester. I’m pleading with her, when they cover the blood-borne pathogens, to raise her hand and deadpan So I guess we could call these hemogoblins. But alas she’s not the cut-up I am and is patently refusing.
“Vin” before PSI. Defensible.
We have APGAR and A STAR IS BORN. Wonder if someone should go back and verify Lori Loughlin’s kids’ APGAR scores. Just sayin’. And yes I’m being mean at her expense because that whole scandal enrages me since Sage didn’t get into UNC undergrad and was wait-listed at NC State vet school and yet she graduated summa cum laude from Pitt (molecular biology major, chemistry minor) and Colorado State vet school accepted her *and* offered a scholarship and she is currently in the top ten so if some kid took her NC spot because of some fat cat shenanigans… well. Crap. End of rant. I need to let this go.
I liked the pair MEASURE UP and BADGE. I was girl scout for three years and earned four badges. Four. Jan S and Irene S had so many badges, they were running up the back side of their sashes, impressive displays of industriousness; my sash was a weekly public shaming of feckless laziness.
Debbie – terrific way to start the day. Nice work.
Rex again with the out of context gender statistics? Stick to literary criticism because, beyond counting, math just aint your thing.
Here's the question you should be asking:
Is the New York Times rejecting the puzzles women submit at a greater rate than those of their male counterparts?
If the answer is yes then you've got a legitimate gripe that needs be immediately addressed.
If the answer is no, then the issue is one of attracting more female constructors rather than a gender bias.
The fact is you're not researching the gender issue beyond merely counting. That's superficial and lazy. Given your obvious passion for the issue you owe it more than that.
Up early for a 5K event and raced through this one in almost a PR time. No chance of that happening in the 5K however.
Not sure you know what "out of context" means.
An amnio is a test for a fetus, not a baby.
[U people] -- M&A, for one!
Unusual for Saturday, for me, nothing stayed white for very long. The puzzle has a bright, breezy feel, IMO, a lovely way to introduce the weekend.
The cross of A STAR IS BORN and THE NOTORIOUS RBG fits my concept of the world. This puzzle has a mini-theme of double E's (5), a fresh clue for OGLES, AIR neighboring BREEZE, the slimy trio of LARVA, ROE, and GOO, and a shiny trio of BADGE, SATEEN, and GLOSS.
My favorite clue was that for RENO [Sparks can be seen at its edge] -- wish I had thought of that! I was misdirected by the clue for BIZET [Georges of the Romantic era], wondering what surname went with more than one George.
Nothing to IRK, much to BLESS -- Thank you very much, Debbie!
Agree that this was a fun, easy Saturday--less than a minute over my time from yesterday, despite getting hung up in the SW because of a typo. Also agree that it is good to see a woman constructor, especially on Saturday. Do not agree that the relative rarity of such suggests some sort of maleficence or conspiracy on the part of anyone. @marty is exactly right IMO.
Surprised that @Rex seemed unfamiliar with APGAR scores. This has been extremely basic knowledge in the healthcare field for decades. I would have assumed that any reasonably well-educated parent would get it from at most of couple of crosses. BTW, while often assumed to be an acronym, the test is named for its developer, Dr. Virginia Apgar, an anesthesiologist who was the first woman to become a full professor at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons.
There are only five ARIAs in La Boheme?
Did anyone else have "hOO" (H2O) for "GOO"? I like that answer better.
Also, @marty, counting the number of women constructors shines a light on a problem that Will Shortz should be aware of. It's then incumbent upon him to ask what it is that he's doing to discourage submissions by women (or what he can do to encourage them). Also, without submission statistics (which I'm guessing are kept close to Mr. Shortz's vest), this is the best Rex can do.
Look, they found Tuesday!
Wanted SNOBS for U People. Otherwise a SEA BREEZE. I wonder if Lady Gaga bought those million copies of A Star is Born or maybe her press agent.
This was too easy for a Saturday but still a fun diversion to start the weekend.
Sea Breeze reminded me of Just Shoot Me because that was David Spade's character's favorite drink.
I was unaware of the Supreme Court nickname so when I had every letter but the B it was a bit of an alphabet run that included asking what Justice had such a bad toupee that his nickname was
Notorious Rug!?
Nice puz. One of my solving maxims is that there are no difficult entries, just difficult clues. I adjust as the week goes on, so on a Saturday I'm on alert for difficult clues. The clue for RENO was a classic Saturday, a nice misdirect aided by the capitalized Sparks.
Cute and fun.
What the blazing flip was that? Blew through 90% of this like it was a Tuesday. SW corner was tougher, and AZIZ/UZO cross was a lucky guess. If this had run on a Tuesday I would have thought it was just right. I think the first clue I read and did not immediately fill in was 38A.
The fill is excellent (ignoring LEOIV), but the cluing is insultingly literal and lacking in wit.
Everyone raves about New Zealand’s scenery. Which is gorgeous, certainly. But the most beautiful I have seen is in the Fagaras Mountains in TRANSYLVANIA.
I found this quite easy for a Saturday and I also liked it a lot. (Those two things are not necessarily related.)
I learned APGAR (and never forgot it) when my 36 year old daughter appeared two months early. That was a shock!
Seeing A STAR IS BORN clued this way made me sad. Okay, Lady Gaga was quite good but nothing will ever equal the Judy Garland version.
Some may complain about what they see as Rex’s “bean counting,” but I also wonder how many puzzles are published in the NYT by constructors of color.
For 1A I immediately wrote in "award." Then found 3D and knew "award" was wrong, I needed a D in that third spot for DELTA. So, yeah. meDal! Nope. Then after dismissing "rabbit" as a test for infants (you know, "rabbit test"...where they kill a rabbit somehow to find out if you're preggars), I remembered APGAR from my days of very early motherhood (the beginning of motherhood, actually). Then, meDal was out...BADGE was in! Oh yeah, a "merit BADGE." I get it now.
I don't think a Yin/Yang symbol is a good idea for an airline. It signifies the flow of life...it comes and it goes...there's good and there's bad, there's some good in the bad and bad in the good, etc. So what it's saying is, "Meh. If we crash, oh well, that's life! Thanks for flying KOREANAIR! Hope to see you back again...that is, if your plane makes it to your destination without crashing..."
BUSHWA = nonsense at many levels. Also, lol at DEVÖ. Also lol at "God BLESS" and SNOTS in the same line. Somehow they go together.
@webwinger - Sorry, I'm new here and unfamiliar with the commenting etiquette. Thanks for the heads-up about the username!
"hOO" would be a pun on "H with two O's". Not perfect, and I know it's wrong, but I found it amusing for a moment.
My point was that there may be hard-to-see biases in the submission process that we can't be aware of on our end, but that Will Shortz might have more insight into. All we have to go by is the numbers, which are dispiriting. Not sure how an increased focus on gender equality leads to Trumpism-- Trump doesn't seem overly concerned with giving women voices in his administration.
I'm with the got-it-done-and-had-to-check-the-calendar crowd. I was having all this fun and then bang it was over.
@webwinger-I guess I could defend HOO as H2O's, but I hesitate to speak for any anonymice. Also, thanks for the info on APGAR scores. I thought every parent was aware of these. Guess not.
I've been reading some Mencken lately and thought "nonsense" could continue his presence in the puzzle so put in BUNCOM off the B, wrong, and I spelled it wrong too. "A little learning" and all that.
Thanks for a fine Saturday, Ms. Ellerin. Well done you.
Saturday? Ok, I'll take it. Fairly easy and rather enjoyable.
Liked a lot of this. Had a few questions because I don't know my GREEN enemies. I had HORNET before GOBLIN but I kept thinking Hornet was a good guy, no? HERB to the rescue. I miss HERB Caen.
I like @Suzie Q's RUG mistake better than my BIG. I think NOTORIOUS Big was a rapper or something. BIZET to the rescue.
TRANSYLVANIA is primo. I had TRANS and I kept thinking do transexuals go out to get a bite? Well, yeah, we all do so what makes them special? BEAN BAG to the rescue. I won't tell you what I always thought a cornhole was.
@OldActor from yesterday. Yikes - but glad you're ok now. Blind for even one second has to be scary. I remember trying out for the part of Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker. This was in high school but I remember it all. Our teacher made me wear a blind-fold for half a day just to get a sense of the feeling. I didn't get the part.
@Loren....I can't imagine NOT getting angry. That stupid B still doesn't think her actions were illegal. Her stardom is over and she'll probably go to the pokey (one can only pray) but her attitude will never change. At least Huffman admitted her guilt and was dutifully remorse.
I like BUSHWA sitting on DREAM TEAM.
The GOO and SNOTS were a bit UGLI.
The MEASUREment of APGAR scores had a profound impact on obstetrical practice in terms of saving “blue” babies that used to be declared stillborn that merely needed a bit of oxygen and warming up.
@LMS, speaking of fat cat shenanigans, a child of a friend of mine has recently been admitted into several graduate programs. The response that her child sent back after receiving a rejection letter from one of the programs clearly burned a bridge, but I thought it was priceless.
“Thank you for getting back to me about your admissions decision. It is unfortunate that you cannot offer me admission to the xxxx program. However, my dream of attending Stanford has not been dashed yet! I hear there are some recent openings on the sailing team, and that you don’t actually have to know how to sail! This is great news for me, as boats were never my thing. Daddy has very deep pockets, so I am looking forward to being Stanford’s newest sailing recruit! Go Cardinals! See you in the fall.”
The Stanford team nickname is “Cardinal” without the S.
@Larry (2:06) -- I was in the dark on "Sparks" in the 55A RENO clue until just now, consulting the old atlas. There it is in big enough letters to justify a mid-sized-city-suburb clue for a Saturday puzzle. BUSHWA? NA.
The MOBIUS strip is nice visual of where my understanding stops and begins to melt. You cut a strip of paper, twist it, and tape the ends together to form a loop. Then draw a line lengthwise along the center of the loop. When the line gets back to the starting point, you've covered both sides of the loop without ever lifting the pen[!]. Then take a scissors and cut along the center line to make two rings. The rings interlock, even though you've cut along the center and they should go their separate ways[!].
I think Ray Bradbury had a story where the universe was a MOBIUS strip, finite/infinite in the same structure ALL ... ALONG.
Hey All !
To me, this is what a sparkly themeless should be. Cool words all over the place! ENNUI crossing UGLI! BUSHWA! GONZO! QUORUMS/MOBIUS! TRANSYLVANIA! GREEN GOBLIN! Nice stuff everywhere.
Heck, even an appearance by LEO IV can't cast a pall on this.
Seemed a bunch of B's as I solved. Final tally is 8, which is a lot for B. Did manage to sneak an F in. Again, Z's outnumber F's. But that's just my personal demon nit! :-)
Is this a debut? Haven't read y'all yet, but I don't recognize her name. I'll go to xwordinfo if I don't see it here.
So a fun time ALL ALONG this puz.
Oh, almost forgot, for 42A, U people, really wanted to write in M AND A. Ha! Plus, it's also got his SNOTS. Just to ADD ON some more.
GONZO OGLES
RooMonster
DarrinV
Saw the RDP* clue at 7D, already had the five in place, so plopped in LEO IV with just the quietest of groaned “NOOOooooo.”Just waiting for the RDP oversized Sunday Puzzle.
Would anyone in the universe be surprised to discover that BUSHWA and hooha were synonyms? I’m not saying they are, but we all know they will be.
Another weird thing to discover when moving south is that the local DELI MEATS don’t MEASURE UP. I always thought the claims about the quality of Eastern Market DELI MEATS was your typical local braggadocio. Nope. New York, Chicago, and Detroit might argue amongst themselves, but trust me, those DELI MEATS sneer at anything made in the south.
I used the APGAR test in a professional development on assessment. It is the first test a baby takes, and it is a model for what good assessment should be. If your business ever goes to S.M.A.R.T. criteria it is a perfect example (that’s Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound).
@LMS - Just spitting here, but my guess is they are sleeping because they’re tired. My suggestion would be to involve the school social worker (if you have one). If the Assistant Principal is the closest thing you have to a Social Worker you might try speaking with them. But I’m with you, writing them up isn’t likely to have any positive results.
@mmorgan - I can think of two, they are both top notch, and only occasionally submit puzzles to the NYTX, having other outlets for their work.
*Random Dead Pope
Easy today but not in a swift way. I skipped past BADGE because only APGAR seemed likely as a cross and I kept going down until NOTORIOUS RBG fit in at 46A. Just one more reason for RBG to be one of my personal HEROs.
Of course I chose the wrong one of AMo, AMAS, AMAt. So U people were PR__t? (Could it be PRovost with some weird rebus on a Saturday? No, no, no, rethink this.)
Lucky guess at the AZIZ-UZO cross and I made the 20D-26A cross harder than it should have been. NY_, media, hmmm. NY[System}? NY[Broadcasting]? Big eye roll at myself when I got the T, sheesh.
And I've been far too immersed in Game of Thrones (hi @Gill I!) - I saw the _____ Drago at 21A and without reading the rest of the clue, splatzed in Khal. And then said, "Rocky? Rocky?" Never mind... (and besides, it's Khal Drogo.)
Rex can kid, but I do have a set of ten ERTES, prints my Dad gave me, so there's that.
Thanks, Ms. Ellerin, this was fun.
yeah fun puzzle. I liked TRANSYLVANIA underneath a guy named Drago (Yeah, I know it really means dragon, but still), and RBG letting someone out ON BAIL. Not so easy for me as some, because I kept reading the clue numbers wrong. I didn't know UZO A. anyway, but at first I thought her name had to fit where TRANSYLVANIA went.
@marly, the blog has discussed this many times, so I'll be brief. If your favorite baseball team had a catcher who couldn't catch a fastball, would you accept, "But he was the best one that applied!" as an excuse?
Great puzzle today - almost my personal best!
I was all set to write a comment about Rex's "issue" regarding women constructors but Marty beat me to it, and much more eloquently than i would have. Rex seems to be trying to create an issue where there's no evidence that one actually exists.
Maybe it's as simple as women don't submit many puzzles? Show me submission #'s and then maybe there would be a valid critique.
First DNF in a while due to Natick at that second z in the northeast. All in all a fun solve with some gonzo clueing; loved Transylvania’s bite once I gave up on Pennsylvania, sigh.
Oh, forgot, it’s either MÖBIUS or MOeBIUS. All diacritics matter. Did you know MÖBIUS Strips are homeomorphic? Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
And hand up for wanting M and A before PROFS.
Penn? Cornell?
Names, names, names. Ugh. The very worst kind of puzzle.
Helpful hints for novice solvers:
*All comic book heroes and villains are GREEN something-or-others.
*All NBA players are named O'NEAL.
*Every fairy-tale character is a QUEEN, a witch, or a princess.
From the You-Must-Be-Kidding Dept: "La Boheme" has only five ARIAs? What kind of OPERA is that?
This felt like a real trivia-fest while I was solving it, but now that I look back at the grid, it wasn't as bad as I thought. I kept thinking I would Natick, but I managed not to. So I guess it was fairer than it seemed while solving. But despite the wonderful NOTORIOUS RBG answer and the lovely Mencken quote (14A), it was too pop-culture-y for me to find it especially enjoyable.
An Apgar is a score, not a test.
2 in Act 1 - Mimi’s+ Rodolfo’s
1 in Act 2- Musetta’s
1 in Act 3 - Mimi’s...and
1 in Act 4 - Colline’s. .
What a great blog today!
@Suzie Q (7:56) -- Your NOTORIOUS RUG -- and, even more, how you wanted to explain it -- is hilarious.
@Dorothy Biggs (8:38) -- I never would have thought of that!! Yin and yang. Bet you I won't be flying KOREAN AIR anytime soon!
@Aketi (8:48) -- Your friend's child is a very clever satirist and a nifty writer. I expect to see (her/him?) in the not-too-distant future either on the SNL stage or on the Op-Ed page of the NYT.
Really look forward to tough battles on Fridays and Saturdays. Thanks for nothin.
To marty: No adult would believe that Will and the NYT are consciously, or even unconsciously, conspiring against women constructors. I now appreciate that the Rex persona is a Colbert Report-style spoof... he's trolling his own blog readers and, maybe, his own students. Mocking the over-the-top millennial woke culture on campus is his last refuge as a grown-up. I get the joke, "Rex"... and thank-you. You bring sunshine to my day.
RBG’s nickname crossing Gaga’s film score made this an easy start. The solve moved quickly but the puzzle was always interesting. I got stuck on wanting plummet not PLUNGES. BUSHWA is new to me. I don’t know IVAN and I wanted KhAl Drogo. This would have been the perfect day for a G of T shoutout.
My two favorites today were TRANSYLVANIA which I got faster than my number one, RENO.
@Nancy, don’t forget the handsome prince or the more popular ogre. We don’t want to have to start counting the men in Hans Christian Anderson.
Like several others, I find OFL's harping on NYTXW gender statistics thoroughly inane. To me it's quite apparent that WS's objective MUST be to select the highest-QUALITY puzzles submitted, by whatever metric he believes will attract and retain the most subscribers for the puzzle and the newspaper. And of course the editorial staff and ownership would be on him if they felt he was adding in other metrics, whether it be gender, race, age, or whatever. OFL's wits dulled again by his left-leaning University persona, IMO.
@Borrego12:59 --- btw, Natick ID a town, not a city, though rather a large one, with something like 60,000 residents including my daughter and grandkids and Doug Flutie. ;-)
Operas also have beautiful duets, of which la boheme is a good example, and trios, and quartets. And delicious choral numbers. Lots of good stuff that will leave you tapping your toes on the way home and developing permanent ear worms.
What is “IMDB” a film site? Has nobody a comment on this?
As a mom, this one was a gimme. I'm always a little tickled by female slanted clues like that. Almost makes up for all the f*kin sports stuff in every other crossword ever. (I kid, but I'm kidding on the square)
Never EVER heard of Bushwa and I am not a young lad 😧
The KOREAN AIR symbol is a stylized version of the yin-yang image, called the teagukgi, that is part of the South Korean flag.
I stopped eating DELI MEATS many years ago when I began to see reports that processed MEATS could be carcinogenic. In 2015 the World Health Organization declared eating processed MEATS as "carcinogenic to humans" and eating red MEATS as "probably carcinogenic to humans". Here's a summary of that report.
Anon 11:30, not sure what your question is.
Go to imdb.com.
Probably the best known webSITE on the subject of film. Go back here a few days also to learn that amazon took it over and eliminated years worth of useful comments
Easy for me for a Saturday- record time (estimated) about 10 minutes. Either my brain has miraculously rejuvenated or the puzzle was really easy. I think the latter. Will test next Saturday.
A perfect themeless puzzle. Not a trivial pursuit which requires, well, knowledge of trivia, but rather clues that plumb the depths of the mind. For example, BUSHWA. If somebody would have asked me what it means, I would have denied knowledge of such a word. But the clue stirred neuronal activity from the depths. Somewhere, somehow, in all the stuff in my brain after 82 years, some neurons connected, aroused from a deep slumber, helped in part by the clue. Nonsense? Bushwa. It just sounds right, kind of like BS, but more like a nonsense word. It just reeks of dismissiveness.
Yes. Internet Movie Database. Pretty much the go-to site/app for any movie-related query you may have.
Finished without the happy pencil, then changed UZa to UZO (NERO, duh) and all was well.
I think SPARKS is a super-fun name for a suburb and somehow very Nevadan.
Solved in close to my average Wednesday time. Saturdays are getting easier...
I always look first to see who the constructor is, and I was happy to see a woman's name up there on a Saturday. Agree with those who found this one easy and lots of fun. Apart from the word itself, very little ENNUI to be found here. TRANSYLVANIA!
@Salty and @Nancy, re: ARIA - I know! I resisted it and started writing in Acte, until I had to yield to the crosses.
@mmorgan - APGAR is seared into my memory as well, as my daughter came close to flunking round 1 of the test. (Now 44 and doing fine.)
@QuasiMojo - She may have bought 999,999, but I bought one.
I LOVE Robyn's puzzles on any day- now I'll look for Debbie's :)
Thought this was an easy, fun Saturday puzzle. That said, I've been doing Sunday puzzles from the archives (for more practce!) and just a couple of days ago did one with the very same clues for 28 and 29 down (HERO / WAIF). So far that's the only time I've come across such exact instances of repeat clues.
@Anon10:32 - Huh? I just can’t figure out where that score comes from? I guess the RN just looks at the newborn and flips over a card like an American Idol judge (do they flip cards?). Shockingly, not every “test” involves coloring bubbles on a Scantron sheet and most tests in life have nothing to do with GPAs. Trying not to be excessively pedantic here, but just to make sure you get the point, think of your IQ score. That score comes from an IQ test.
@anon10:30 - “Site” means “website” more often than “real world location” in CrossWorld.
@ghostofelectricity - Two quibbles, The RBG Cult is not of her own making nor is she obligated to chastise her fans for being fans. Second, Merrick Garland.
@Rex is wrong about the sexism - Please read @jberg’s last paragraph. If you don’t realize that every Inkubator puzzles has been better than a whole host of white guys’ puzzles pawned off on us you just aren’t paying attention. And, since most of you have missed this point, nobody much cares about why the puzzle is a safe space for white male egos, what people find galling is the “it’s not my job to fix it” attitude espoused by Shortz and, by tacit acceptance, the NYT.
@ghostoflectricity. You should know that Mitch McConnell prevented a vote on Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland for SCOTUS for the entire 11 months remaining in Obama's term. There were only 8 justices for almost a year. So how do you figure that if RBG had retired, Obama would have been able to replace her. Your rant is BUSHWA.
@Deejay. The first word of all clues is capitalized.
@Moana re: APGAR. Sexist much?
Sally...yes, only 5 arias in La Boheme, because an aria is a solo song. All the other pieces in LB are for 2 or more singers.
@Carola lol 👌🏻
M&A was just plain delighted to learn that there is some game called "cornhole". [M&A leads such a sheltered life, hidin out from creditors.] The rest of this rodeo was all gravy … and there was lotsa extra tasty gravy to be had...
PuzBullets:
* TRANSYLVANIA. Scores big on the schlockometer, with m&e. Vampire clue, too boot. Immediately called to mind last night's Schlockfest lineup, where our first flick was the superb "Let the Right One In". Totally highly recommended. Luved it.
* NOTORIOUSRBG. Strongly prefer, over ILIKEBEERGUY.
* UZO. Staff weeject pick of the runty litter of 11 choices. Better clue, but no offense intended to Aduba darlin: {Preceded by a runt-roll from above: Inept suitor??}. This may take some time for non-runtpuz-regulars to absorb. Sorta good trainin, tho...
* MOBIUS. Anything unorientable in shape is A-1 by M&A. Has anyone made a Mobius Strip crossword theme yet? No!? Get busy, U pro constructioneers, before the runtz get their jaws into it.
* PROFS. Best clue ever, for anything, ever. End of discUssion, all U folks.
* BUSHWA. Had plenty of initial ideas, off the {Nonsense} = BU + etc. start.
BUt … none of my faves would fit worth a wad of 65-Across.
* URANIUM. Part of the 9-U mining bonanza that was this here gorgeous SatPuz.
Thanx and well done, Debbie Ellerin darlin. Wasn't as easy for M&A as most of them Comment Gallery smarties, but I did finish in under 3.5 cinnamon rolls. Suuuu … about medium baked, at our house.
Masked & Anonymo9Us
**gruntz**
Hah -- of all things to natick on, it didn't occur to me that the last letter of the Big Apple media answer was "T". Otherwise, an easy Saturday.
Aren't we supposed to be counting the women that are *in* the puzzle too? Because this one just has RBG and the generic EVIL QUEEN and the even more generic SIS. Whereas males are represented by LEO IV, NERO, URBAN, REN, AZIZ, IVAN, GREEN GOBLIN, O'NEAL, DEVO, MÖBIUS, ERTÉ, BIZET, and HERB (facetiously). Tsk-tsk, as the puzzle often says.
Name the song:
The only exception I know is the case
When I'm out on a quiet spree
Fighting vainly the old ENNUI
And I suddenly turn to see your fabulous face
Bonus point if you know the musical it's from, and another bonus point if you know the name of the character who sings it (it's in today's puzzle).
@M&A, I hope you watched both the US version and the Swedish, sub-titled version. I think the latter is creepier but they both are good.
And nice runt-roll 11D-22A find!
@ghostofelectricity, 10:24. Don’t blame Ruth for that moniker or her cult of celebrity. It was started on a blog in 2013 by a female law student at NYU Law School in response to several dissents, particularly Shelby County v Holder, and went viral. Her reputation is bigger than her size or her ego.
p.s.
@Teedmn: Only had time to watch one version of that flick. It was mostly in English, except for subtitles for the written notes and newspaper headlines and such. Had to move on to the cliffhanger serial and then feature #2 ["Mars Attacks". Hadn't realized before how much the Martian laughing reminds one of Minions, btw.]
And thanx, for yer approval, on BEAUZO.
M&Also
Not much life left in this horse, but before just agreeing to disagree (with OFL, @jberg, @Z and others), I want to add a couple more comments: If female and minority constructors are choosing to submit top quality work to other outlets, that does not necessarily indicate gender or ethnic bias at the NYT. @Rex frequently bemoans the fact that some of his fave top male constructors are sending their best efforts elsewhere, with resulting negative impact on the “world’s greatest puzzle”. He also complains that WS seems to favor “regulars”, among whom a woman, C.C. Burquinel (sorry if I mangled that spelling), is one of the most often represented.
Some other outlets clearly favor female constructors, which may be appropriate for their missions and may inspire women to send their best work there, but to castigate the Times because it does not is hard to defend IMO. To do so convincingly would require arguing that the average quality of constructing by women is superior to that of men, or that women deserve favoritism because of past discrimination in this realm, or that the NYT needs to boost its “progressive” bona fides for some reason. None of these seems compelling to me in the least. The quality of the puzzle’s current curation is certainly open to criticism, but I really think there are other issues of much greater significance.
BTW, @LMS, @Nancy, and @M&A were in unusually fine form today!
BUSHWA? Really? The only clue I really liked hee was for TRANSYLVANIA. That was funny. But this went pretty quickly; didn't really feel like a Saturday. Unlike Rex, I actually like it when I get stumped and have to struggle and maybe not even get the right answer. If there's any consistency I've noted in the blog, it's that he likes the ones he does quickly. (I'm sure others have commented on this before.) Me? I like a little challenge. Today's was not especially challenging. Although for awhile I had URIAH [?] I think that's a small city in California. Finally, I don't care the gender of the constructor. Just give me a fun puzzle.
@Loren We never called kids SNOTS, but we did have other colorful terms to describe a troubled youth. My friend Gus spoke of a student as a "Real Richard," and we all understood. We had a phase where a student might be a "DRUT," coded by its being backward. Around other teachers talking shop in a public place, we learned to not include students' last names.
New Saturday record for me.
Ooh, nice job, Sarah
@Joe Dipinto (1:28) -- Whew! I know the answer -- well most of the answer -- but I'm getting back to the blog so late that I was sure someone would have beaten me to it. But it seems no one has. The song is "I Get A Kick Out of You" and it's from "Anything Goes." The singer was Ethel Merman, but I don't remember the name of the character she played. However, when you say it's in the puzzle today (and I know the character's name wasn't APGAR or DELTA or GITA or O'NEAL or HERB), there is one name that rings the faintest of bells. RENO. Am I right, Joe?
BTW, I saw a production of "Anything Goes" with Merman. Don't remember what decade. It was a revival, not the original, and for all I know the old gal hadn't played it for 20 years. But her pipes were as powerful as ever, and she was terrific.
p.p.s.s.
Just realized … for us huge schlock flick fans, a far far superior 12-D clue today would hafta be:
{ "___! Light!" (Early line from "The Fifth Element") } = AZIZ.
Just sayin. That clue woulda made it a gimme, for m&e. Luv that flick.
M&Again
@Nancy -- I knew you'd know this. Yep, Reno Sweeney it was!
Interestingly, "I Get A Kick Out You" is one of the few songs that was in the original 1934 production and all the later incarnations ("You're The Top" was another). In college we staged a production that used the 1962 revival score, which may have been the only version you could get the rights to at that point.
REEL HERO?
ALL ALONG we OGLE the EVILQUEEN of porn,
from URBAN WAIF to mogul; ASK if ASTARISBORN.
--- NERO “GONZO” MOBIUS
I have not seen this name before. Debut? If so, a deep bow to Ms. Ellerin for this fine piece. If not...the deep bow remains. While I'm getting better at these late-week offerings ALL ALONG, I still am apparently behind the solving curve of the gang here: I'd never call this one easy. Last square filled in was 54; K seemed necessary for IRK, but how in Tophet is KALE a "Household name?"? Somebody needs to 'splain that one to me. I mean, is lettuce a household name? How about tomato, or ham and eggs? I'm getting hungry.
I get curious mental blocks now and then, like trying to think of a nickname for the ENTIRE Supreme Court rather than for just one member. That's what the clue said, literally: "Supreme Court nickname, with 'the'." I was looking for "the [something] nine." Only after filling in via crosses did I get the Ginsburg reference. Ha, good one, I thought.
People are saying the clues weren't hard enough for a Saturday. Are they kidding? REN is not Stimpy's buddy, or even Star Wars' Kylo… no, he's some *^%%* rapper. ONEAL not Shaq (well that one's TOO easy for today) or actors Ryan or Tatum, but a much lesser-known NBA guy. I think this clue set will MEASUREUP to weekend standards.
For me it was about medium strength for the day; in other words hard but doable without a ton of angst. DOD is a fresh name: UZO Aduba, sure to meet @m&a's approval--as do the 9 U's here. Birdie, and we're talking a lipped-out eagle. That REN clue: tsk!
Monday called and wants its puzzle back. BLESS the NYT for publishing a woman constructor, but does this MEASUREUP to Saturday expectations? Not even a thought of a write-over in less than 3 Rexes. “Bland trivia” for ASTARISBORN? Maybe, but what other answer could it possibly be?
UP top both DELTA and KOREANAIR help get you to TRANSYLVANIA.
Down south we get the ‘other’ NBA STAR ONEAL.
Default yeah baby UZO will be joining the world of Yma, Uma, and Uta, I’m afraid.
So, so easy, but that was OK for me today. At least it wasn’t UGLI.
May have been relatively easy, but it always feels good to make a Saturday breakthrough.
Near give-aways were TRANSYLVANIA, NOTORIOUS RBG (favorite), DREAM TEAM, and A STAR IS BORN (a good remake).
Main challenges in the NW, with APGAR (unknown) OPERA (obscure witticism), OGLES (misdirection), and in the NE, with the AZIZ/UZO cross.
Good guesses and friendly crosses were additional BOOSTS.
@spacecraft -- 54D KALE, 58D SIS
Easy for a Saturday, I had no writeovers which is unusual. Loved the clue for RENO, with the singular Sparks.
37 got me wondering: If someone is called HERB, do Americans pronounce his name, "erb"?
What about "Basil"?
@marty @webwinger @impjb @Anonymous 11:01 AM
Instead of jumping to a frankly stupid conclusion about the dearth of female constructors -- and accusing RP of seeing an issue where none exists -- you could instead either think about this very real issue or do a little research.
From a 2016 Slate article, which you should read: "The community of crossword creators was dominated by women in the early 20th century, and some have estimated that even in the 1960s and ’70s about half of all Times constructors were women." So what has happened to make those numbers drop over time, and drop so much during the Shortz era?
One big answer is that as more and more of the NYT puzzles use fill and clues that annoy or offend women, women drop out of the solving pool -- and a smaller solving pool means a smaller breeding ground for female constructors.
What offends us? Seldom seeing ourselves in puzzles -- and when we do, we're only models (TYRA, EMME), mothers/wives (MRS. = some mothers), brides, babysitters, and bitches. Seeing C-CUP and D-CUP now in fill sucks (no man has to deal with having some part of his body objectified to such a degree that he gets surgery -- SURGERY -- in an effort to please some woman who can promote/fire him, or is too shallow to love him as he is). Seeing TIA, but never TIO, clued as "sometime babysitter". Seeing NIECE consistently clued as "flower girl". Seeing feminism mocked and twisted with MEN clued as "Exasperated comment from a feminist." And much more.
Of *course* Shortz has unconscious biases! Everyone does, to varying degrees. The problem with Shortz is that he's unwilling to examine them -- the paragraph above is a pretty good example of what some of them are -- so they remain unconscious, so he keeps publishing puzzles that alienate a lot of people -- as he did with BEANER and GOOK, among other terms. He's an old white guy who grew up in Indiana, and all too often that shows.
Shortz has done some great things for puzzles -- he brought a level of freshness and playfulness to the NYT puzzles. But he's not infallible, and like most people with unchallenged power, he's being a jerk and not taking crucial advice from people who have identified his shortzcomings and want him to do better, for the good of the puzzles.
Some of your friends here in Maryland had to look up "leaf peeper," assuming it was some kind of insect.
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