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Relative difficulty: Easy if you figured out those center squares faster than I did; spent 5 min. on everything but the center, then another 90 seconds+ trying to work out the center (~6:30)
- (EYES)ORE (39D: Blot on a landscape)
- PIA(NO SE)ATS (25D: Perches for some musicians)
- PLY(MOUTH) (26D: ___ Rock)
noun
GEOLOGY
• • •
But then there are those center squares ... on the one hand, they're the only interesting thing about this theme. On the other, they occupy such a teensy (not EENSY, no one says that) portion of the grid that they hardly seem worth it. Oh and also they make things very messy. PIANO SEATS???? Benches or stools, OK. But SEATS feels forced. And EYESORE doesn't effectively bury the EYE. That is, it's got EYE in it, as a body part, so that feels like cheating. Note that the MOUTH in PLYMOUTH does not refer to the body part, nor the NOSE in PIANOSEATS. But the EYES in EYESORE are definitely the body part in question. So more boos! This just feels like a desperate HEAVE—lots of elements, but conceptually messy and awkwardly executed. Also, man did I want black squares to be involved somehow. I mean, how are black squares *not* involved in a puzzle about EMOTICONS!? If ever there was a theme begging to have black square design involved, this is it. Oh, and another thing—very bad editing to allow EMO in the same grid as EMOTICONS. You could've at least tried to deny the affiliation by cluing EMO the old-fashioned way: via [Comedian Philips]. But no. It's the [Indie rock genre], where the EMO refers to EMOTION just as it does in EMOTICONS.
As I look around the grid, I'm seeing that the fill is pretty weak overall, but with this much theme material, I'm not that surprised. EX-JETS? No one refers to Mickey Mantle as an EX-YANKEE. Curtis Granderson is an EX-YANKEE, but that's because he's still playing baseball ... for another team (currently, the Marlins). Do you mean "EX-" in that they are now retired football players, in which case they are EX-all the teams they played for. Needless to say, I had NYJETS here at first. I sincerely thought NOICE was one word—an affected way of saying "nice" (i.e. ["Neat"]). My struggles in the center were hampered considerably by a. writing in SNEERS at first for 46A: Shows derision, in a way (SNORTS), and b. not having any idea what a HORST is (44D: Raised block of the earth's crust, to a geologist). What do I look like, a geologist? I know, I know, a HORST is a HORST, of courst, of courst ... BAH!
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
“Parentheses” means both punctuation marks. “Parenthesis” is the word for one of those marks. Either one. No need to specify. So, is our present situation in this nation one of “crises” or is it “open” crisis or “closed” crisis?
ReplyDeleteMostly easy, except (@Rex) it took me way too long to see the rebus. Cute, clever, liked it quite a bit more than Rex did.
ReplyDeleteAll this one is missing is EMU for the trifecta of EM___ crosswordese.
I blame Will Shortz. He's been setting us up for years by not giving us rebus puzzles. In the old days I would have been expecting a rebus on a Thursday. But now they are so few and far between I didn't even think about the possibility while I struggled with the middle. Then I noticed that 39 Across was the center of the puzzle — and the light went off.
ReplyDeleteOk, Mister Shortz, you've had your fun. More rebus puzzles from now on please. :-)
It was NOICE puzzle. You always complain.
ReplyDeleteThis might be a record for the most criticisms that most people could not care less about. And happy face is a very common phrase associated with the emoticon. Not that I can imagine Rex putting one on very often.
ReplyDeleteI really don't care if this is published--it's actually kind of a compliment not to meet your standards.
Kinda forgot it was a Thursday puzzle, since I’m solving it at 2145 Wednesday night. The only rebus-ish-ness is happening in the center, so I was a couple minutes figuring that out.
ReplyDeleteGood puzzle clues and answers, though. Anytime you can HYPHENate your COLON must be magical!
RHETT went to the VIP ROOM, got treated like a LEPER. Said BAH, put on a BRAVE HAPPY FACE and asked for UMAMI. With an ICY stare, he swept the FLOOR and left.
How can you do SNORTS at stuff like EMOTICONS DRAWN in your puzzle? ERICA ADORES this thing.
Lots o’ stuff to like. Dreck RATIO nonexistent. None. Liked it!!!
EMO OCD ADORES OBAMA
Mark, in Mickey’s North 40
Besides the area with the rebus squares, this seemed incredibly easily clued for a Thursday. Even getting slowed down a bit around the rebuses I managed to set a record. A big part of my slow down was that I had Wait for WHOA and SNeers for SNORTS. I entered the words as rebuses then the app turned them to :-). Having emoticon instead of emoji seems dated, but so does having :-) instead of :)
ReplyDeleteHard, too hard for me. Had to look up PALMAS EMORY KAPPA to get all but the center 4 or 5 blanks. Gave up. I appreciated the concept. Agree with Rex somewhat on the execution. PARENTHESES doesn't quite cut it.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed clues for JAPAN RATIO OBAMA LEPER VIPROOM DRAWN.
Even not solving the center ( and SEATS is a bit off) I was impressed by the use of EYES NOSE MOUTH. Good stuff.
Wow! I enjoyed this tough solve, and I enjoyed it even more when it came together. Full disclosure, I ran into some nice folks at the bar tonight, so there's that. Some floundering occurred during an extended solve. One nit: I know of only one long-time friend who uses the exclamation, NOICE! We go so far back, it inspired pleasant thoughts of him, not the quality of the fill. I'm moving on.
ReplyDeleteStuff I liked: EXJETS clued that way? C'mon OFL! BRAVE clued that way and in the solver's face? We only sing the first torturous verse before tip off, so I'm calling genius. And, we get a shout out to punctuation marks in the thematic stuff? Good puzzle, even if the constructor is a guy.
Years ago, I was young and happily married. We both had careers and busy lives, but many nights found us at home having dinner and watching the day's recorded episode of "All My Children." Guilty pleasure. I hear Susan Lucci had a bit of angioplasty lately, like that could slow her down! She and Mick Jagger are probably sharing a beta-blocker as I type.
Thanks for the plug for the always relevant comedian, Emo Philips! I ask myself too, every time that word is in a puzzle, why the clue doesn’t refer to him. And, not that it should matter, but he still performs (he autographed something for me after a show writing “thanks for not being Godzilla!” Can you tell I love his unique humor much more than Emo music?!
ReplyDeleteMost of the time, ESSEN is clued as an industrial or steel city. Today's puzzle mentioned the Krupp family who (per wikipedia):
ReplyDelete- Alfred Krupp proclaimed he wished to have "a man come and start a counter-revolution" against Jews, socialists and liberals.
- Krupp (company) used slave labor, both POWs and civilians from occupied countries, and Krupp representatives were sent to concentration camps to select laborers.
- Treatment of Slavic and Jewish slaves was particularly harsh, since they were considered sub-human in Nazi Germany, and Jews were targeted for "extermination through labor".
Failed the Breakfast Test for me, big time.
Glad you cleared up NOICE. I also understood that to be the affected way of saying NICE. I liked the puzzle
ReplyDeleteFoiled by those three little squares in the middle and am angry with myself for giving up. BAH and SNORTS! Had I persevered and gotten it I would have been whooping and patting myself on the back for being so clever. Alas, that didn’t happen. Next time I’ll be on the lookout.
ReplyDeleteThank you @Clark.
Good to see that OFL is in fine fettle as he again vents his anger and disgust at this effort of Mr. Olsen. I had always thought that Rex’s avocation (or hobby) was The NY Times crossword. It suddenly occurred to me as I read his latest diatribe that his hobby is, in fact, venting at the New York Times crossword, not doing it. Now that I understand that I will try to be more generous in my view of his daily outrages. Besides, it’s kind of fun to see if I can guess what element(s) of the current puzzle will get his attention.
ReplyDeleteI initially had “Adams” for 15A, which slowed me down quite a bit. I thought at first the clue meant that father and son were both President. When I finally let go of “Adams” I got some traction. Then it took me a while to figure out the rebus squares, but when I sussed them out the puzzle began to fall. Finally.
Really enjoyed the solve. Thank you, Mr. Olsen.
“Aha moment” has the same number of letters as HAPPY FACE. Almost penciled that in and went off on a hunt for stuff like sea hawk, panama hat, Virginia ham. Oops.
ReplyDeleteI had virtually no trouble getting the three rebus squares in the center. I guess the MOUTH one had been in the back of my mind the whole time. I agree that the EYE in EYE SORE isn’t removed enough, but I’m ok with the EYES part just being separated. No hissy fit snit over it here. I do agree that PIANO SEAT feels weird, but, again, it didn’t ruin my morning.
As regards the singular PARENTHESIS rant – seriously? It’s those kinds of things that make me believe Rex is seriously winding us up just to watch the mess. (Speaking of thesis/theses-type plurals, I’ve looked into it, and testis and penes are words that I found in Merriam Webster. Was devastated not to find fecis.)
Until I read Rex this morning, I hadn’t realized that it was supposed to be “smiley” face. I think I use HAPPY and “smiley” interchangeably, so interesting to learn I’m talking wrong.
If you squint, you can see LEPER COLONY at the top. I once saw some really funny texts or posts or whatever by girls who thought they were spelling cologne but unfortunately spelled it COLON. Go ahead – think of a sentence with smell and cologne and then replace the cologne with COLON. That sh##’ll flat wake you up.
Look. I’m not a tight-wad and have worked for tips a ton. But when I worked for tips, my regular pay was like $1.82 an hour – the “waiter’s minimum wage” since everyone knows they make their money on tips. So what do Starbuck’s baristas make an hour? I hate myself that I resent the crap out of that TIP JAR, that I’m certain that everyone in line, everyone behind the counter is judging me over the amount I put in. If it’s a dollar for a small coffee, do they think, Whoa, cool. If it’s just the 38 cents from the change while the four ones go back into my wallet ‘cause I have to save them to pay for two kids’ Friday half-day movie are they like, Bitch.
TITHE crosses TIP JAR. They feel like cousins, right? Maybe I’m too cynical.
I never thought much about EMOTICON or emoji. Never realized that the EMOTICON is the one you draw with punctuation and the emoji is the animated picture that some posters here can get to appear in their comment that makes me wildly jealous. And I have to argue that EMOTICONS isn’t so dated for me – I use’em with my trusty little pen when marking papers. A happy face if a kid writes the correct too or they’re, a frowny face if someone writes a lot as one word. An enraged I’ma-kill-you face if someone uses an apostrophe to mark a plural. (I’m not a true pedant, but I play a damn good one when grading formal writing.)
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Love your posts. Bout dropped a fecis laughing.
DeleteFound a new use for the semicolon? :-)
DeleteI definitely thought it was NOICE, one word, and heard Jake Perralta saying it.
ReplyDeleteFor once I agree with Rex's grumpy assessment. High marks to the creator for technically executing such a tricky center, but the phrase "dead horse" comes to mind. And the cluing lately (not just here) has run from overly easy to arcane to sloppy. Why the qualifier "in a way" for showing derision, when snorting is exactly showing derision? And misdirection is good, but unfairly misleading is, well, unfair, as in the quotation marks around *neat*. I'm still pondering whether there could be a difference in meaning between *neat* = *no ice* and "neat" = "no ice", but I don't think so. (In fact the correct equivalent for *neat* requires a preposition: *with no ice* or *without ice*.) Closing my parens now to ride off into the sunset.
ReplyDeleteA better clue for NOICE would’ve been “Neat, please.” That’s imho ;-)
DeleteNo-one else has mentioned yet that instead of the rebuses or rebi you can successfully enter : and . and ) thus actually drawing the happy face
ReplyDeleteall the short words, especially up top, make me feel claustrophobic.
ReplyDeleteI had the same gripes as Rex while solving this. I've never typed a smiley (not happy) in my life but if I ever would I choose the one without the nose.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought for 3D was happy FEET.
Loren's tip jar thoughts reminded me of the Seinfeld episode with George and his reaction to not being seen putting money in the jar.
I love a good rebus but this did not satisfy me at all.
My only amusement was realizing the obvious connection between silver
and the name Argentina. I was shocked that I had never noticed that before even though I know the argent/silver connection.
It certainly has been an easy week in Crossworld.
Krupp reference made me cringe. Nice puz, I had GLAM rock for a bit...
ReplyDeleteA “technical” DNF for me today as the iPad app had the first rebus apparently being just the letter E (not EYE) in order for me to get the chime. Found the northern half of the puzzle really clunky whereas the south was much smoother.
ReplyDeleteAs some other comments hear have noticed, a little surprised @Rex didn’t take on the Krupp reference....maybe just trying to keep his blood pressure down
Somebody woke up grumpy.
ReplyDeleteErika Kane has a K, right? No ice. . . .
ReplyDeleteSusan Lucci's Wiki page says Erica
DeleteLiked this a lot, as the trick eluded me almost to the bitter end. Only nit is as Rex says, it has to be a right PARENTHESIS for a happy face. A left paren just give you :-(
ReplyDeleteSure wanted UnAgI for 41D, but that’s this.
@Loren - Speaking as the relative of an ex-barista, the rate for a Starbucks barista is $10 per hour. If you are just ordering a coffee, change from a dollar is fine. If you are ordering a triple-foam half-caf mocha-latto with coconut milk and anise, you should tip $2 and apologize to everyone in line. [Note: that may not be a real drink description; I don't coffee.]
Ended up being a normal Wednesday timewise for me after a long wait for the NW to fill-in. Loved that middle. This one reminded me of the Wednesday puzzles back when I skipped Thursday through Saturday - right at the edge of my ability.
ReplyDelete@Pete Smith - no, it is ERICA.
ReplyDelete@John Alexander - not sure if you have a typo in your comment, but the first rebus is EYES, which the iPad app should accept, not EYE.
I really liked the puzzle. A lot. Very clever.
ReplyDeleteI had WAIT and SNEERS for 43 Across and 46 Across. Correcting both took a lot of effort.
ReplyDeleteAs for HORST, I never heard the geologist's term. The only HORST I know is HORST WESSEL. Look him up, and you'll find something that disgusted me as much as KRUPP disgusted Rex.
:-(
To borrow a line from Spencer Tracy in "Pat and Mike": "Not much meat on her, but what's there is cherce." A delightful rebus -- even though it's just a single rebus answer. I loved it.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't a hard puzzle at all, though [EYES]ORE and PIA[NOSE]ATS were wonderfully well disguised. It was PLY[MOUTH] that gave the show away. If not for that, the puzzle might have been much more challenging. But COLON HYPHEN/PARENTHESIS/EMOTICONS would have provided the needed assist anyway. A clever idea, extremely well-executed, and with no junk fill. Kudos.
Rereading Rex's post, I notice that it wasn't Rex who was disgusted by the KRUPP reference, but Yaakov Bendavid. Mea Culpa. :-(
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI though there would be a lot of comments alleging that Mr. Sharp's unhappiness with the puzzle derives from how long it took for him to solve it. I'm impressed that I am disappointed.
ReplyDeleteI liked the puzzle, and not because I figured out the theme fairly early on. As a debut puzzle, it is a puzzle Mr.Olsen should be quite proud of. Bring on more, please.
Mankinis were ever popular?? Borat or whoever that is might have popularized the term. But I haven’t seen too many men actually wearing them on the beach except in spoofs and unwatchable internet videos where better manscaping seems to be required. I have to agree with most of what Rex said today. Puzzle felt out-of-step with the times, although perhaps not the Times.
ReplyDeleteI almost had a DNF because I put in EMOJICONS. Luckily I came here before going back and fixing it. :-)
Good puzzle. Funny write-up!
ReplyDelete"When you're a JET, you're a Jet all the way." —Sondheim
ReplyDeleteA left-handed person’s happy face emoticon is (-: so Rex’s gripe about “close parenthesis” is not only nonsense, it’s also prejudiced.
ReplyDeleteDNF for me. Totally missed the rebuses, also had WAIT and SNEERS instead of WHOA and SNORTS. What the heck is a NAT?
ReplyDeleteThis was fun. Period.
ReplyDeleteIt's SMILEYFACE, not HAPPYFACE. I didn't like this puzzle. Ambitious theme, not well executed imho
ReplyDeleteWhy is "nat" the answer for "expo, today"?
ReplyDelete@Deke, think baseball which I almost never do.
DeleteWhy not answer directly? The Montreal Expos baseball team became the Washington Nationals, or Nats for short. Expo, then Nat.
DeleteFilled in noice but had to read the comments to finally get it. My belief is people only drink whiskey neat to impress their dates or because they think they’ll get a bigger pour. I mean, c’mon, it’s so much better cold. Oh, and Rex, couldn’t you just try to be a bit less of a pill?
ReplyDeleteIn a hurry, hope to read the comments later. I would have liked it a lot better if the theme answers hadn't given away the trick. As soon as you know that the first two blocks in 39A contain :=, you've pretty much got it. And PIANOSEATS was worse than @Rex said. Absolutely a non-thing, at least as clued. I mean, if your grand piano has a little seat on top for a singer to use, OK -- but it doesn't.
ReplyDeleteAside from the theme, the hardest part was PSAT; I guess they do that, but I bet a lot more people take their LSAT course.
The best thing was NOICE; my reaction was the same as @Rex's, and probably many others, so it was fun to suddenly notice what was actually going on.
Also, on a Thursday 63D should be clued "Gain alternative," to make it harder to see that it's a brand name.
@JustMarci the Expos became the Nationals, which baseball fans in DC shortened to “Nats”. I actually WORK for the Nats and it took me a while to figure out the answer.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea the Star Spangled Banner had more than one verse. Looked up the lyrics on Wikipedia and boy, what doggerel.
ReplyDeleten my world a HAPPY FACE is DRAWN, not typed, and is a circle with two dots for eyes and an arc for the mouth. The EMOTICON is :) with the atypical variation being :-) mostly because the variation requires not using the shift key for the middle character. Smiley FACE needs that E so I never wrote it in, but the NW corner was a tussle because a HAPPY FACE is not represented at 39A. Perhaps the two terms are used interchangeably, I mean there are actually people in the word who will defend pronouncing GIF like the peanut butter, but I prefer a more orderly world with clear distinctions between non-traditional uses of characters. What next? Random use of the / to mean anything the typist wants even when the typist doesn't really know what they mean?*
ReplyDeleteOther than that, I sussed out the rebus pretty early and the puzzle was pretty easy. Wait before WHOA was my only other slowdown.
@Cynthia and @LMS - With parentheses and quote marks whether or not you are referencing the open or close version is usually irrelevant. But I'm with Rex today, for EMOTICONS specificity is required if you are writing out a description. There is a big difference between :-( and :-)
*I fear that if you are not conversant on the commentariat's personal nits those last couple of sentences will not amuse you as much as they amuse me. Oh Well. Whatevs.
Anon 9:30
ReplyDeleteI know you absolutely can't comment, BUT, so far Bryce Harper is doing everything, and I mean everything right in terms of, let's call it broadly, community relations.
He wears Phillie Phanatic cleats, he throws the ball into the stands after warming up each inning, he plugs Tastycakes. I mean he's been a dream. Save for Arietta's recent toss under the bus, he's been acknowledge as the perfect teammate. (and I don;t think much of big mouth Arietta). Anyway, sorry not sorry for your loss. Been a long time since the Phils took a plunge like this in free agency and it's nice to have a hammer for a change.
Anon 9:42 you’re right I can’t comment, but oh I wish I could.....
ReplyDeleteThe Montreal EXPOs moved to Washington D.C. and became the NATionals.
ReplyDeleteFinal Symbol,hmm
ReplyDeleteMaybe “Closing symbol” would be better. Both kindof mean the same here but may have been unintantional.
Anon 9:30, 9:32.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet :-) I hate to admit this, but I always disliked Harper. Just kinda seemed entitled or smug. And he may be. But so far, he's been unbelievably savvy. And I've been wrong before.
I'm not in MLB but I too work for a prominent sports outfit normally referred to by three letters so I assure you I get it.
Anyway, tell your marketing folks the daily emails, kinda work. I'm intrigued by the Bud promo (among others).
Hope your season goes well.
A crossword puzzle "rebus" is a CHEAT! Not only do we have two-letter answers here, but four and five? Please. One letter per square is the rule, and I will not dispute it with anyone. I know Thursday is the day for "tricks," but this one really frosts me. I also agree that the overall fill was pretty weak. Another poor outing for this week's puzzle. (And this is not the first definition of a "rebus"; I always understood that to be a riddle formed out of letters, math symbols and pictures.) Please make it stop.
ReplyDeleteYuck. Left a bad taste in my mouth. I just didn't like it. I didn't even realize it was a rebus until I came here.
ReplyDeleteThe G in GIF is for Graphics. It is a hard G and I’m going to go on pronouncing it that way.
ReplyDeleteForget about EMO, what about no respect for HORST Buchholz? How often do you get the chance for a clue like “German James Dean _ Buchholz” or “‘Magnificent’ gunslinger _ Buchholz”??
ReplyDeleteI had this one finished except for the center themer and was about to be disappointed because another Thursday and no rebus. But then those images hit me right between the EYES and A SNORT left my NOSE as my MOUTH dropped open. Then I put on my HAPPY FACE and all was right in my world.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which, I get Rex’s point about the parenthesis. A “right” one makes a happy/smiley face and a “left” one a frowny face. Even so, the clue still works as is because it’s obvious which one is used. Overall, a nice puzzle with a fun little twist.
As far as I’m concerned Joe Namath was, is, and always will be a NYJET, not an ex. At one point in the mid-1970s I went to a game in Kansas City when the Chiefs were playing the Jets. Spent the entire four quarters watching Broadway Joe through my binoculars no matter whether he was on the field or on the sidelines. He was quite the heart throb back in his glory days. I wonder if he’s still single. (Asking for a friend. Close parenthesis.
Why is "nat" the answer for "expo, today"?
ReplyDeleteWhat a great finish! Most of the solve was unremarkable for a Thursday puzzle. But it was just setting me up to be unexpectedly challenged by the rebus. I wanted to give up but when I saw it was PLY[MOUTH] rock I felt about as much joy as a crossword puzzle could give me. Well done! (both me and the constructor :-) )
ReplyDeleteDetails are here here
What puzzles me is when Rex (or other commenters) complains when a CLUE/answer is accurate. Does he not read the clue? Clue is "IMAGES ..." (i.e. plural). Answer is "emoticons" (i.e. plural). Clue refers to 3D which is singular but that is not relevent to the answer. Rex could complain about plural of convenience if he really needed to complain. Also, "emo" and "emoticon" do not seem all that closely related whereas "no ice" and "icy" seem pretty darn close.
ReplyDeleteRe: EXJETS. Testaverde and Namath both played for other teams after the Jets, so they were quite definitely EX-JETS at that point. Mantle played only for the Yankees, so he never became an Ex-Yankee. Harper is an EX-NAT, even though he has played only a couple of dozen games elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteBlazed through this until the middle three. After a couple of minutes of irritated stupefaction I ended up CHEATING. Better a cheated puzzle than even a single square left unfilled, but I need to learn patience.
ReplyDeleteTotal failure=time taken infinity.
I guess it was an OK puzzle but I will never be able to fully appreciate it. Oh well, life goes on until it doesn't.
I hope Saint Peter will take this public confession as a mitigating factor when deciding which basement level of crossword hell I most deserve.
Of course the reason it couldn't be a singular EMOTICON, nor a SMILEY FACE, is the fetish for grid symmetry. Drop that pointless constraint and you can make much tighter themes. But I still enjoyed this one.
ReplyDeleteThe "mouth" in "Plymouth" (unlike the one in "vermouth") did originally mean "mouth" -- of the river Plym (assuming it's named for the British port town). Of course that just makes it 1+2 vs. 2+1 because the NOSE in "pia[nose]at" (nice discovery) is not a nose. Not that a solver would normally care, but we know already that Rex is not a normal solver . . .
Yes, I too read 53D:NO_ICE as a single word "noice!". Thanks for the neat explanation.
N:-DE
Most of @RP's puzbahs didn't occur to m&e, during the solvequest. Maybe felt a real subtle twinge, on PIA-NOSE-ATS. But like @muse darlin, didn't turn over any of the furniture over it.
ReplyDeleteGreat little theme idea, with a central [staff weeject pick] :-) doin the heavy fun liftin. I just regarded EMO as an extra themer Easter egg. thUmbsUp debut ThursPuz. Good job, Mr. Olsen.
Nice weeject stacks, in the NW & SE.
Learned somethin new, on HORST and PALMAS; part of why I do the NYTPuz.
Primo HEAVE clue.
fave fillins: SNORTS. VIPROOM. TIPJAR/EXJETS. UMAMI/SUMAC. COCOA.
fave Ow de Speration: AHAND.
Thanx, JO. More please. Also … more (_) please … just emotin.
Masked & Anonymo(_)s
**gruntz**
A better, and less directly horrendous, clue (Thursday division) for ESSEN would be 'Big Bertha's birth place'. If there's room for it, naturally.
ReplyDeleteVery cute. And easy: once I had COLON HYPHEN filled in, I drew :- in the margin, had my "aha," and went to take care of the other non-EMOTICON theme answers. I loved the sort-of triple-play central rebus, making a HAPPY FACE on its own, while across-wise echoing 18A and 61A but down-wise needing to be turned into letters. On the SNORTS to ADORES scale, I'm firmly on the right.
ReplyDelete@nyc_lo - Same thought about HORST. Don't forget "Fanny." Seeing it as a fifteen year old, I wasn't sure what hit me.
@anon-9:30
ReplyDeleteWere you the guy who got the uniforms with 'NATINALS'?
The heart of this puzzle was simply horrible.
ReplyDeleteBest write-up of the year, @Rex. Really laughed out loud at your HORST is a HORST. Yeah, funny because I had my only Googs because of him.
ReplyDeleteThis was one of those puzzles that I had to finish before I got a HAPPY FACE. The last to go in was the EYE and NOSE. Nothing was computing. I did not want to give up PIANO bars. I had everybody else's sneer and just could not see nor remember the HORST. Had to sit back for a while and then it finally came to me.
I think a bit of a clean-up as @Rex suggested might've made this more interesting. So agree that a happy face grid would have made this magnifico. Even so, and if this was a debut, I thought it different and imaginable. Good for you, Jon.
@Suzie Q....I only learned of the SILVER reference to Argentina because of Mar De Plata (sea of silver). Lovely place to visit and if you luck out you might see a mankini or two. @Quasi...The sling swimsuit? The speedon't? Have you (by mistake, of course) every watched "The Only Way Is Essex"...or TOWIE show? It's not held in Las PALMAS but they do shoot some of the men in Mallorca. And they do need to be shot. TIP JAR is so intimidating to me. I hate that owners of these places don't pay decent wages. They are everywhere and I always throw in a dollar and it makes me mad. I have no problems tipping a server but when I have to wait 20 minutes for my latte, I want to tip the tip jar over.
NOICE is adorbs.
The place is “Mar del Plata” because it refers to the sea of the “Rio” de la Plata; silver came down the river.
DeleteUsing HEAVE as an opposite to a fling could have caused someone to gag or pull a hawser.
NOICE is not nice, and it could have been a neat bevvie or tequila shot.
I studied geology and never heard of HORST; the only __RST I knew was karst (limestone up-crops), which made me doubt WHOA.
Cheers,
JimG
On PARENTHESIS -- cluing a specific by a general is common. Gas giant = SATURN, German car = OPEL; so since a right (or close) parenthesis is a parenthesis, that's OK.
ReplyDelete@Noam -- I thought that too, about MOUTH; but on further thought, your mouth is where things come IN to your body, whereas the mouth of a river is where things go out, a different part of the body altogether.
Fun fact: according to Wikipedia, at least, emoji is a Japanese word meaning picture, with no etymological link to emotion or emoticon (which in crosswordese would mean "a cue to overact.") Of course, the similarity in sounds probably helped the word get adopted into English.
@Loren, you've stumped me again.
And while EYE appears as itself in EYESORE, the rebus is actually EYES, which does not.
@Z from yesterday -- that comment was adorbs.
ReplyDeleteEGBDF represents lines on the staff, not NOTES. You can put notes on them.
ReplyDeleteI just went back to watch Rex's Emo Philips clip. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed his dark silly humor. If you've never seen him you might want to give it a try.
ReplyDeleteI got everything but the rebus so I gave up. Please - if it's a rebus, make it a rebus, ok?
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty much with Rex on this one. Little joy for me, except I accepted "happy face" even though everyone I know says "smiley face"-but that gave me the punctuation answers.
ReplyDeleteAlso had Adams before Obama
68A was horrible for me. Had STAFF first, but then saw serene so I confidently plopped in G CLEF. Nope. He wants NOTES. Well yes, they are notes, but that's not what the mnemonic represents. Specifically, when you sit down on your piano BENCH (or, if you're old-fashioned, your piano STOOL), and look at the STAFF for the right hand, which usually has a G CLEF, it's that very specific thing the mnemonic is representing. Doesn't work in the left hand's bass (or F) clef; doesn't work for any of the C clefs, only works with the G clefs.The note names represent the staff in that clef. It also won't work with transposing instruments which use G clefs (with the exception of octave transpositions). French Horn could be All Cats Everywhere Go Bowling or something, so it's even more specific.
I know, I'm too literal. Have I mentioned before that I've been an editor of orchestral music for over 30 years?
Looked at the comments. After struggling with the "rebus/rebi" in the middle of the puzzle, I've decided that although it was clever, it wasn't worth my struggle. A rebus is a rebus.
ReplyDeletePlease explain why Era is Alternative to Gain.
ReplyDelete@Unknown
ReplyDeleteThey're both laundry detergents.
Ah, good one.
ReplyDeleteThe theme answers, other than the rebopodes, seemed rather workaday, but I found the fill in this puzzle to be just fine (two OAs in COCOA and WHOA, noice!)
ReplyDeleteAt COLON_____, I was thinking EM DASH or EN DASH but no crosses worked. As _YP__EN filled in, I was still scratching my head. Ah, HYPHEN. When I started to write this comment, I wanted to see how many others had considered DASH in 18A so I hit CTRL-F and got one match. For the life of me, I could not see where the hit was hiding. Ha, way, way up at the top, near my sign-in name, is the word Dashboard. So I'm unique in wanting the DASH in the grid, at least for now.
@kitshef, fun comment on Starbucks. I only do black coffee when I make a rare appearance at one of those establishments, usually on vacation with coffeeing friends.
Thank you, those who answered the "why is Expo = NAT?" question. My search, Expo = Nat resulted in Google asking "Did you mean: exponat" and the first hit appearing to be a German RATIO, expo:nat. The internet seems surreal sometimes.
Jon Olsen, congrats on your NYT debut and POW over at xwordinfo.com!
Just back from That Sceptered Isle, where it is summer in Somerset, and I luck into a rebus puzzle with just the right amount of aha! ha ha. And Rex in high dudgeon.
ReplyDeleteGod's in his heaven, all's right with the world.
I know an old lady who swallowed a horst....
ReplyDeleteI think 15A was stupid. What about Adams? (John and John Quincy) Just sayin....
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rex on this one. Didn't like this puzzle all the way through, for many of the reasons he didn't. Especially that it's not a HAPPYFACE. It's just not. It's a Smiley Face or just a Smiley.
ReplyDeleteI started looking for a rebus pretty early on since I inferred PIANO______ off the KAPPA cross. Thought it was going to be PIANObench, but still. Also was convinced 20A would be greenROOM, so if anything I was a bit confused when I had other corners completed and no other rebus squares in sight.
My biggest mistake was 47D "audits" for SITSIN. I was pretty confident in it, so banged my head for a bit in the south. Also parsed NOICE as one word....my BF has just started watching Brooklyn 99 so I heard it in Andy Sandberg's voice.
I ended up DNFing, not uncommon for me on a Thurs. Two errors: the NW corner square and the SE corner square. My brain assumed the 1D clue meant phrase instead of verse. I sang the whole durned thing in my head a few times and couldn't figure out what the phrase ends have in common. Ended up with gRAVE, thinking it was a phonetics thing related to the french accent grave.
In the SE it was a double brain fart. Forgot what the Burj Khalifa was, and didn't jump to the country of Georgia, so 163 FLOOds and SSd seemed perfectly plausible.
Even as a big single malt drinker, I also failed to see NOICE as anything other than a bro way of saying “nice” until seeing Rex’s comments. I didn’t mind this puzzle. Sure, emoticons are 5-10 years dated, but this puzzle was nowhere near as musty as that horror from yesterday that people were tricked into liking because it was easy.
ReplyDeleteI have a buddy who delights in making snarky comments on Facebook, but he goes all sweetness and light during Lent. He’s back to his normal form now and today made me wonder if he’s actually Rex. I mean, really. It was easy, except for the down middles. It was cute. It had quite decent fill. What’s not to enjoy?
ReplyDeleteI thought the nose was a period, which has the same number of letters as HYPHEN, so 18A. slowed me a bit. But, the cross had to be STYX so easily correctable.
Thanks, Jon Olsen. Nice job!
My posts over the past couple of days have simply disappeared into the ether. Have I, for some reason, been banned from this site? I guess I’m just floating this to test whether that is the case.
ReplyDeleteI thought response to solving the puzzle would be shrug, so I was looking for the punctuation that makes that adorable complicated shrug. Overthinking the qiuz.
ReplyDeleteShould have been piano bench.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of a piano seat.
@GHarris - I saw today's comment, but I don't recall seeing anything lately from you.
ReplyDelete@Tom R ... The clue says "President with the same first and last name as his father", not "The only president with ...". It was definitely a misdirect, but a fair one, imho.
ReplyDeleteIn case anyone's interested, here's the list of presidents with the same first and last names as their father:
John Adams
James Madison
John Quincy Adams
Andrew Jackson
John Tyler
James Buchanan
Rutherford Hayes
William McKinley
Theodore Roosevelt
Calvin Coolidge (John Calvin Coolidge Sr. and Jr.)
Jimmy Carter
George W. Bush
Barack Obama
@GHarris
ReplyDeleteSometimes when I hit publish this comment, the page blinks and some comment about moderation appears. I wonder if it has gone through and if I hit it again will it double post. I have found it will not post unless I hit it again. When it does go through, the page goes back to comment number one. I do not know if this is true from all ways or
means of commenting.
I am not typically a user of HAPPY smiley FACE EMOTICONS. I did however feel slightly deprived that It didn’t emerge in the grid art.
ReplyDeleteTIP JARS are becoming obsolete at the cafes in Manhattan. They have mini iPads that have chip readers and give the option to choose the percent tip of your choice. I upped my percent for the barista who is making me lavender lattes and creates animal art with the foam. She does make me put on a HAPPY FACE when I see her creations every morning after BJJ.
Absolutely hated this--no smiley face, no happy face. And it's called a piano bench. The piano seat is part of my body.
ReplyDeleteI got the rebus after I finished the top half. Put in HAPPY FACE from some of the crosses. ADAMS before OBAMA; I misread the clue as needing to be two presidents with the same first and last name. MOCHA before COCOA. FAXES? In 2019?
ReplyDeleteI liked the clues for NEO (Con opener?) and HEAVE (its more than a fling). My son attends EMORY; I have to bring this puzzle to his attention
As a proud Emory alum, I have a small soft spot for the puzzle (also, it's been a top 25 school in the admittedly-dubious US News rankings for over thirty years, so I'm surprised it's not clued more). That said, while I didn't hate the puzzle (even though I also used "NYJETS), I didn't love it.
ReplyDeleteNo such thing as a piano seat. At Juilliard it is a bench and frequently needs to be wide enough for two pianists to play four-hand pieces.
ReplyDeleteWHOA SILVER!
ReplyDeleteThe FAXES he SITSIN the BAH,
and SNORTS, “NOICE in my COCOA!”
He STYX no TITHE in the TIPJAR,
‘cuz ICY drinks make HEM LOCO.
--- HORST “EMO” EMORY
Strange, not a whisper from OFC about the Krupp/ESSEN thing. I would've thought he'd jump all over that. Too busy being a Debbie Downer, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI liked it. Someone mentioned easy clues?? We didn't do the same puzzle, man, that's for sure. I found this very hard to get started; somewhat easier after getting the trick: now THERE's a real rebus! It had to be hard to incorporate face parts into the downs, so the EYES thing didn't bother me, nor did SEAT for "bench," which is what that piece of (non-overturned, hi @M&A) furniture is called.
For a change, DOD Yma SUMAC gets to see her surname in print. Mayhap the HAPPYFACE refers to the app's response when the puz is correctly finished. I wouldn't know; I do it in the paper. Birdie.
I had a little trouble circling in on those HAPPYFACE parts, the popular adAMs before OBAMA not helping. Themers to the rescue.
ReplyDeleteMy dad was a big fan of PLYMOUTHs. He must have put nearly a million miles on those 318 engines. I know at one point there were 3 PLYMOUTH Furies in the driveway. My brother’s first two cars out of high school were PLYMOUTHs, a Barracuda and a RoadRunner. Mine were a PLYMOUTH Belvedere (faux RoadRunner) and a Fury. I spent a lot of time in PLYMOUTHs. When Dad retired he wanted a pick-up, so he got a 1986 Dodge short box, still had the 318 engine in it. I’ve still got it.
I remember the days when I wanted yeah baby ERICA Kane to have all my children.
Definitely a rebus. If you’re gonna do it, go big. Give Mr. Olsen AHAND.
Very worth :-( ever. IMVHO.
ReplyDeleteVery :-(
Diana, Lady in waiting for CROSSWORDS, not this dopey thing!!!!
While he/she is playing, is a pianist SEATed or benched? Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteWhere I come from, it's called a HAPPY FACE. I don't think I've heard the term "smiley face". Maybe I come from the wrong place. I don't care, anyway. The rebus was a cute centre-piece for this puzzle: eyes, nose, mouth. I also don't care if it is a "close PARENTHESIS, right PARENTHESIS, or third base. It worked, as did this theme.
I appreciated the different approach to a rebus; much more than a regular rebus, and I thought the fill was generally good. Nice theme, good fill and construction, and effective cluing. What more could we want?
Puzzle fine - center a stinking pile.
ReplyDeleteS.O.S.PAD PITY
ReplyDeleteSHEATHE your SAUSAGE,DOG, ORR maybe
some HARDASS GAL may scoff,
“ERE I give you ICEICEBABY,
ITBURNS when I SHAKEITOFF.”
--- “ABEL” AMY VEGA
Teedmn, I know you probably won't see this, but just in case:
ReplyDeleteHyphens, en dashes, and em dashes have different functions*, and they're created via different keystrokes. When people make the "extended" version of the smiley emoticon, they use a hyphen, which has its own key.
:-)
*
-- Hyphens are used to separate components in a compound, such as "bad-ass, crosswords-savvy blogger Rex Parker."
-- En dashes are used when the compound contains open compounds, such as "a New York[en]San Francisco flight." They're longer than hyphens and shorter than em dashes.
-- Em dashes are used in at least three ways:
(1) to emphasize a pause between related clauses: "Welcome to [this] rundown of the previous night’s highlights, which lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy."
(2) to show that the clause that follows amplifies or explains an idea in the clause that precedes: "But there was little evidence of a major slowdown — only a few soft data points here and there."
(3) in pairs, to set off useful info: "The Trump administration’s recent efforts to ignore a fact-based, scientific approach — rejecting, for instance, the use of computer projections to assess how a warming world might look after 2040 — leads me to worry that ... "