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Skilled judoist / SUN 4-7-19 / Something frequently found in pink lipstick / 1973 Beach Boys song / Ernie Pulitzer winning journalist of WW II / 1978 Dire Straits hit
Sunday, April 7, 2019
Constructor: Peter A. Collins
Relative difficulty: Easy (8:12)
Theme answers:
- START OUT SLOWLY (3D:: Not exactly hit the ground running)
- STRUTTED OUR STUFF (?!?!) (7D: Showed 'em what we've got)
- SNAKE OIL SALESMAN (41D: Slippery vendor)
- "SULTANS OF SWING" (56D: 1978 Dire Straits hit)
- SAME OLD STORY (24A: Tired tale)
- "SAIL ON, SAILOR" (1973 Beach Boys song)
The common snook (Centropomus undecimalis) is a species of marine fish in the familyCentropomidae of the order Perciformes. The common snook is also known as the sergeant fish or robalo. It was originally assigned to the sciaenid genus Sciaena; Sciaena undecimradiatus and Centropomus undecimradiatus are obsolete synonyms for the species. [...] Considered an excellent food fish, the common snook is fished commercially and foreign-caught fish are sold in the US. When cooking snook, the skin must be removed, because it imparts an unpleasant taste, described as soapy, to the fish.
Snook are also prized as game fish, being known for their great fighting capabilities. The IGFA All Tackle World Record for Common snook stands at 53lb 10oz (24.32kg) caught by Gilbert Ponzi near Parismina Ranch, Costa Rica. Previous world records were caught in Fort Myers, Florida and Gatun Spillway Canal Zone, Panama. (wikipedia)
• • •
This puzzle was very easy, so it had that going for it. I have never ever heard "SAIL ON, SAILOR." Wait, have I? Hang on [calls up Spotify...] Oof, no. Absolutely not. What in the world is this???
It peaked at No. 79 (!?) on the American singles chart. Very weak S.O.S. answer. I had this answer as "SAILOR, SAILOR"! and thus DAR for 106D: Skilled judoist (DAN), which seemed, and was, very wrong. I fixed it eventually. I know DAN only as a skill level? Like a belt, in karate?? Or that's what I thought, anyway. That whole SW corner was kind of a train wreck on many levels. It's got AVE crossing AVENUE, which, I see you trying to make AVE Latin there (117D: "___, Imperator!"), and nice try, but no. RSTLNE is pretty godawful as fill. If I'd heard of SNOOK before today, I forgot it. So yes, much roughness, of all kinds. But overall the puzzle was incredibly easy. My second fastest Sunday in the record-my-times era.
What else? I don't know. There are answers. Some good, some not. Nothing remarkable. MODISTE is a pretty odd word (52D: Dress seller). I would've thought that word meant something closer to "fashionista," not a mere dress vendor. I thought the best clue was 32A: Rock maybe (PUT TO SLEEP), though it's a bit on-the-nose for this puzzle, which might very well have put me to sleep had I not been in speed mode (I could tell I had a shot at a personal best, so I was pretty amped for most of the puzzle; I didn't even know the puzzle had a theme until I was finished). Going with the proper Greek plural on the robot spelling? Bold (20A: Robots => AUTOMATA). Domo AUTOMATA, Mr. Robota!
Hey, so, two things. The New Yorker expanded its crossword team to include Aimee Lucido and Erik Agard, and they're publishing two puzzles a week now: a Weekly and a Weekend. The first Weekend puzzle just came out on April 5, and it's by Erik. The puzzles at the New Yorker are always first rate. They have managed to secure an extraordinary pool of constructing talent. It's such a promising sign that they are expanding the crossword. I hope they keep building the puzzle and increasing its visibility. Now if they would just put the puzzle(s) in the damned paper magazine! Do the puzzles here, and be sure to watch this video of Anna Shechtman and Erik Agard talking about crosswords because they are brilliant, funny, and adorable (and young!).
Also, The Atlantic has a crossword now! It's called ... The Atlantic Crossword! (bold!). It's a daily mini puzzle that gets harder as the week goes on. The puzzles are made by Caleb Madison, and they are sweet little treats—very contemporary, packed with current, popular, colloquial, newsworthy stuff. Take a few minutes each weekday and solve them here!
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld (Twitter @rexparker / #NYTXW)
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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108 comments:
Posting as a xword solver who has been doing the NYT puzzle for decades I must say this: I do these puzzles for fun and a few minutes escape from the rest of the world. If a puzzle theme is repeated every eight or ten years, my enjoyment will be no way impacted.
When I completed the puzzle and noticed the "SOS" grid, it was a super "aha" moment, as the grid design had escaped my notice as I was solving. And I would have never remembered that this theme had been done before had Rex not reminded me. Who (other than crossword bloggers) really care?
Bottom line: I liked this much more than the typical Sunday offering.
Thought that two theme answers based on rock (??) songs would put me in "Dire Straits", and unsurprisingly I didn't know either of them, but this puzzle was pleasant and easy, so I have no complaints.
Should I love a puzzle just because it has SNOOK? I love that entry, I really do, for lots of reasons.
But, ugh, ugh. PUT TO SLEEP? To my ear, this is how an adult explains euthanasia (of a pet) to a child. A very sad, traumatic even, occasion. I'd take a thousand Trumps in my puzzle over those memories. Am I alone in this?
Otherwise as Rex notes, the theme was weak-ish and some of the fill.. ? MODISTE is dreck. AUTOMATA? I had Androids there for a while, which works a lot better IMO. "These aren't the droids you're looking for." I never hear EASTER WEEK, I hear "Holy Week". And to pick nits, is the "i" in "pink" really short? It's more of an "ee" sound, in contrast to the i's in "lip" and "stick".
The theme was a thing. It helped in spots but didn't wow me. I don't care that it'd been done before.
If you can't say something nice: Loved the clue on PASS RUSH. BALLASTS is a good word. As is RADICCHIO (but, "leafy"? It's a tight little ball.) Hooray for PARMESAN and LEEKS.
Can someone explain 99D rstlne?
Someone please explain 99 down RSTLNE
Wait. What? There was a theme?
I've never been able to understand this "Best Puzzle In The World" lament. I understand that the NYT Crossword is probably the most well-known crossword puzzle in the world, and presumably has the most subscribers, but BEST PUZZLE IN THE WORLD doesn't google very well; it brings me here, to Rex Parker, effectively an advertisement for the New York Times Crossword that produces original daily content, and which, astonishingly, is probably not financially supported by the chief beneficiary of this blog: the NYT crossword. I highly doubt Rex's loathing for Will is reciprocated.
I've spent upwards of $500 on the NYT Crossword over the past six years (that sounds like a lot of money; am I doing something wrong?), but I only continue to make that expenditure because I know that shortly after completing the puzzle, at 11PM central time--if I'm lucky--I can read Rex's review. Otherwise I might read the write-up at xwordinfo--which is reliably cringeworthy in style and lacking in substance--and read Rex's review on my phone from my bed in the morning. It's a treat that after this many years I haven't yet grown sick of, despite Rex's occasionally irrational contributions to the discourse of political correctness. I can't possibly be the only one. Whenever I meet someone who does the crossword on a daily basis (usually graduate students), the first question I either ask or receive is: "do you read Rex Parker?" And the answer is more often than not affirmative from the other party.
So The Atlantic and The New Yorker along with half a dozen other publications that Rex occasionally mentions are producing puzzles that are of higher quality than this Sunday slogfest? The NYT Crossword's claim to the title of The Best Puzzle In The World is being seriously challenged? We hear this refrain every week, but is anyone actually writing about these puzzles? If not, then a cheap advertisement at the end of a critical review of a NYT puzzle will not entice me to subscribe. But if by some miracle Rex decides to jump ship and write about something that he cares about and believes in, I'll move with him.
I know PUT TO SLEEP as a euphemism for the merciful euthanasia of a hopelessly ill pet, used often with children. Thus, I thought 32A: Rock maybe was more appropriately PUT TO BED... but of course that didn't fit.
PUT TO SLEEP could have been a sub title as this one was a bit of a snooze fest for me. I want a AHA moment and a little trickery on a Sunday, not today, just kept plodding along. SNOOK brought on some warm fuzzies as Mom used to call me SNOOKums when I was a wee bairn. I also liked SAIL ON SAILOR, one of my favorites. Heard The Beach Boys sing that in concert a long time ago, sounded a lot better when they were younger.
Oh well, off to a new week.
Groan. I finally figured out SHORTI in pink lipstick.
Isn't RSTLNE going too far? OK, all the across words are gettable, so it's not a Natick. But it's sort of like QWERTY, but for a third typewriter layout that is neither the conventional nor the Dvorak. Either you know it or you can't possibly figure it out.
DSHARP was clever though it did take me forever to get.
BALLASTS is overwhelming used as a noun. It could have been clued as such rather than as a verb without making the clue easier.
I had STARTOffSLOWLY, reinforced by POO, which seemed to be right, and didn't recover from that for a long time.
I understand what it is about REO (3 very common letters) that causes it to appear so often in puzzles. But why, oh why, is YSER quite so incredibly common, given that it's 4 letters and includes a Y?
Going back to Saturday (spoiler alert for anyone solving out of order),
I have definitely and far more than once heard of Filippo Lippi (and I'm not even heavily interested in art), with our without the title Fra. But never until I read yesterday's blog did I know he had the nickname of Lippo.
Yep, easy. TAUTENED...
I thought it was on the easy side, but, for me, an enjoyable solve. I didn’t really notice any theme other than the black boxes arranged to display “SOS”, which made me think that this had to be a real challenge to construct. And then to have the theme answers all be three words beginning with SOS (something that escaped my notice until I came here). Surely a construction worthy of at least some praise.
I am blown away yet again at the creativity of so many of these puzzles, both Sundays and weekdays. I also thought the fill was remarkably solid, given the limitations of the layout. Thank you, Mr. Collins, for an enjoyable time spent doing your fine puzzle.
Seeing the spooky SOS floating on the grid, which I didn't notice until I read @Rex, did much to redeem this otherwise pretty meh puzzle for me.
Just did weekend New Yorker puzzle for the first time. Not bad, but wouldn't rate it much above a typical recent NYT. Longest answer was clued with reference to "female entrepreneurs of color", which might help explain OFL's warmth toward it.
Will be brief, as we're about to visit the re-built synagogue in Úbeda, Andalusia, Spain. We've been doing the puzzle this week, but no time to post.
I understand @Rex's frustration over the repeat theme (a.k.a., SAME OLD STORY), but it was just the kind of puzzle that we enjoyed, as it was fast and very clean, in our opinion. We have several Beach Boys CDs, so SAIL ON SAILOR was a gimme. Sal MINEO is also a name that somehow got lodged in my tiny brain, so that was no problem either. And we used to fish for SNOOK off the Florida Keys when I was a lad.
Our only error was that I guessed DoN before DAN, but when checking saw that the cross should be BAT, so that correction gave us the happy pencil.
Our fastest Sunday solve ever, in fact -- would have been 32 minutes but for the error. Ended up nonetheless less than 40 minutes. I know that is only a personal best, not meriting STRUTTED OUR STUFF, but a nice WAY to start the day.
May check in later, YSERie.
I was grateful after the solve for the mental jog, then afterward, I noticed more touches that took this puzzle beyond ordinary. The SOS made up of black squares, for one. The care put into the cluing, with many clues a level beyond simply direct, and many using clever wordplay, such as the clues for PASS RUSH, PUT TO SLEEP, SHORT I, ADS, AUCTIONS, and AYE. Then there were answers that popped: RADICCHIO! MODISTE! SNOOK!
Thus, this offering was not only a Supplier of Satisfaction, but also a Specimen Of Skill.
This was really easy for a while then it was hard for a while, then the rest fell... all no thanks to the theme. I only saw the theme after I finished and thought, okay, that’s cute, but I like it when the theme is part of my solving experience, especially on a Sunday, and that didn’t happen here. Still, I enjoyed this, even though it played like a themeless with some weird long answers.
Maybe it’s been done before but it was fresh for me. Didn’t notice the SOS in the grid and that’s kinda cool.
What does OFL mean by “Scrabble-f***ing“ ? From context, I suspect it refers to using words (or perhaps letter combinations) that are technically acceptable, but have about zero relevance to anyone and/or are just archaic. Am I close ?
Can someone explain 99D? Is is short for something (RUST LINE, REST LINE)? I've never watched Wheel of Fortune.
" I have never ever heard "SAIL ON, SAILOR." Wait, have I? Hang on [calls up Spotify...] Oof, no. Absolutely not. What in the world is this???"
It's a great song with Brian Wilson's masterful chord composition, performed by Jimmy Buffet, Blondie Chaplin, but best rendition is Ray Charles (YouTube).
Fun, easy puzzle for Sunday. I didn't get SOS until I came here.
I feel like I solved this one in my sleep. Have no idea what a Pass Rush is. I tried Potato something first. Sail on Sailor made me think of Sail on Silver Girl. I agree with Rex. It was otherwise too easy. But well-executed. Glad to hear the New Yorker puzzle is expanding. Maybe Rex can do one for them. It amuses me to see Rex’s Debut puzzle in the NYT. (Thx for the link.) He admits it has flaws tho it looks solid to me. But seeing Ho Chi MINH and Sawed Off SHOTGUN and the misspelled OO LA LA surprised me.
What Rex thinks of as derivative, a more generous critic might see as a contribution to a common theme. The SOS in the grid elevates this and makes it fresh. So, thanks to Petet Collins
Neat having my first name right next to the clever wordsmith Jason Mraz. We have snook here in Florida, as Rex's note shows (& I have a friend with that as a last name.) While this was easy, the cluing is very good and there were no really icky areas for me. Also, Zesta!
Still, nice hearing the Temptations and remembering the old SOS box.
RSTLNE are the letters given to start a player off in the final Wheel of Fortune puzzle.
In the bonus round on Wheel of Fortune, the letters RSTLNE are automatically revealed in the puzzle, and the contestant chooses three more consonants and one more vowel.
For all of you requesting info re: 99D:
The winner of the nightly "Wheel of Fortune" game gets to play the "bonus round" with a shot at a minimum prize of $36,000. The contestant has ten seconds to solve a typical hangman-style puzzle and gets the letters RSTLNE as a head start.
Super easy. Didn’t notice or need the theme. A big Tuesdayish grid. In my morning haze after staying up way too late watching the Final Four, I needed something this simple.
EASTER WEEK is the week that starts with Easter Sunday. Standard terminology, even if not anywhere near as well known as Holy Week.
I knew SAILONSAILOR sounded right to me, but wrong. I had the music of Sail on Silver Girl on my mind, though I didn't remember that title.
I also was made uncomfortable by PUT TO SLEEP being applied to a child. It's an extremely common term in my experience for euthanizing a pet.
Perhaps the easiest Sunday puzzle ever for me. Saw the Dire Straits gimme immediately, which handed me SOS immmediately, which gave me the theme immediately. I don’t think that’s ever happened before — I knew the theme before I’d taken my first sip of coffee. Which made short work of most of the other long answers. Yes, Rex, Sail on Sailor was not a hit, but has become an important part of The Beach Boys catalogue, and is a no-brainer for lots and lots of people. Mostly simple fill, too, at least having most of the themers handed to us. I don’t mind that this theme was a repeat, but I do regret how impossibly simple the puzzle was.
Hey All !
Super One SunPuz.
Though, I had a couple of the "O's" different at first. START Off SLOWLY, STRUT ones STUFF and STRUTTED ones STUFF, til neither one fit. Did see the "S" blocks, but the middle "O" block was hidden at first, until I looked back after completion. Nice touch. With said SOS in blocks is why most themers are Downs, with an additional two Across. Very well done.
Had an A in RADaCCHIO/MODaSTE, and really wanted to change it to an I, but decided against it, as usually a first guess is the correct one. Drat. One letter DNF. Argh!
Couple writeovers, iRk-TRY, BALanceS-BALLASTS, Era-EON, TBd-TBA. But, found puz mostly easy. SCANNERS is a low budget older Sci-Fi movie. @M&A might've seen it, he likes schlocky movies. Weird clue for AN ART.
@Everybody
Time to PUT TO SLEEP the "Wheel" clue.
RSTLNE are the letters that are given to you AUTOMATically at the Final Puzzle in TV's Wheel of Fortune. You then pick three more consonants and one more vowel. So if puz is something like PICK UP STICKS, the the STS would already be revealed.
CRY ABOUT IN A WAY
RooMonster
DarrinV
Did not understand RSTLNE. Looked it up. Those are the 6 letters they give you in the answers to start the game. I rarely watched so never realized they were the same all the time. I kept trying to fit vowels or aeiouy in to no avail.
The obvious highlights of the puzzle were the clever CLUING, the grid design, and the reveal abutting the reveal in the grid. The "clever" clue that held me up the longest was for SHORTI. Never knew MODISTE but got the crosses. Some odd words in that area of the dictionary.
Easier than the average Sunday and fun enough for me.
For those who don't understand 99D: After the competitive part of the TV game Wheel of Fortune ends, the player with the highest score then plays the bonus round for some big prize that will require spending all the money already won on taxes. The player must guess a "secret" phrase using only a misleading (to me) category name and certain specific letters of the alphabet displayed. The player chooses which letters will be displayed. I've heard that the 6 specific letters are so common that they were chosen all the time by the contestant, so now they are just automatically displayed before the contestant chooses the remaining letters that are displayed.
I don't know if that is the correct reason why those letters are always displayed before the contestant selects his preferred letters, but, whatever the reason, that is the meaning of 99D. Pop trivia knowledge that any one who doesn't watch Wheel of Fortune (like myself) shouldn't know.
There is one thing I don't understand (I'm on to another topic). A puzzle is either good or bad based upon itself alone. It may be inappropriate to publish a puzzle because of theme replication (say some), but the puzzle's rating really should be based on itself and not a comparison with other puzzles. Comparing a mediocre puzzle with horrible puzzles might make the mediocre puzzle seem wonderful, but it just ain't so. Mr Sharp confuses the rating of a puzzle with the appropriateness of it's being accepted for publication. And since imitation os a sincere form of flattery, I am not so sure his assessment is accurate.
Personally, I found the puzzle to be easy and enjoyable enough. Because we've been celebrating our wedding anniversary this weekend, I had little time to stare at the grid, so I missed the SOS pattern i the grid. I kind of think the title assigned to the puzzle is cute. The puzzles of Mr. Collins ofter strike me as whimsical (not always in a good way) and, after seeing the pattern, I am inclined to judge this puzzle as a bit whimsical. Never (or at least rarely( the write-up.
Regarding RSTLNE, those are the letters displayed at the bottom of the screen during the final round on "Wheel of Fortune", when the winning contestant is given those letters as a head start in solving the final puzzle.
My fastest solve ever. For once, too easy for me, = less fun. Modiste??? Um, no. Also, as an atheist, hear Holy Week all the time from Catjolic friends, but not Easter Week. Also I was momentarily confused several times on long answers that were not themes. Esp. Put to Sleep, with the ending "s" word!
In Wheel of Fortune, when you get to the bonus round, the most common (and advised) six letters to guess are
R - S - T - L - N - E. I didnt get it from clue either, but recognized once I had crosses.
I often read Rex because I know he'll amusingly tear apart a puzzle that I found enjoyable as a novice. Is it safe to say that most of us would not notice repeated/recycled themes? Probably. I sometimes wonder why Rex complains about obscure answers. Isn't the challenge the point?
Speaking of, the Beach Boys clue may be obscure to casual fans, but for me, I just thought, "OK, so 1973 was the Holland album, and ...oh yeah, Sail on Sailor." It may not have roared up the charts, but it's been covered many times, and both the Beach Boys and solo Brian Wilson perform it in concert. As I fan, I'm happy to see their excellent early 70s material get referenced here. I did not know the Dire Straits song, but that's OK.
@Melrose and @anonymous RSTLNE are letters a contestant is given to help solve the bonus puzzle at the end of the show. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/01/05/how-to-win-wheel-of-fortune/?utm_term=.34f3b600e020
Pretty easy, but I'm just as glad after yesterday. It's not particularly funny or anything, but my favorite answer in the puzzle was RADICCHIO. Iceberg lettuce sucks! Make salads out of better greens.
Fastest Sunday ever! I didn’t pay attention to WS hint, was really unnecessary.
Extremely easy and a nice romp after doing the somewhat challenging WSJ Saturday puzzle. (I do them in chronological order ... My wife does the Times puzzle first out of some misguided deference. ) Randolph Ross's theme in the WSJ took me to the end to figure out A very clever construction.
This puzzule almost PUT me TO SLEEP, but the grid art reveal was fun.
As for PUTting children TO SLEEP, some parents in NYC pay tons of money for sleep consultants to listen to their very young babies (starting at 8 weeks of age) cry themselves to sleep. This type of sleep consultant base this practice on opinion based books that don’t take into account the actual research on how babies actually do sleep. We know from what happens in orphanages that babies give up crying when no one responds. They do not grow up to be emotionally healthy. Having been a parent myself I am empathetic to the fact that it’s exhausting and I think that it is viable to adjust baby sleep patterns within reason when they are old enough to sleep longer so that their parents don’t become drooling IMBECILEs. Very young babies, however, do not cry without need. We also know from solid research that very young infants need to eat frequently because of their small stomachs. If they sleep too long without eating they initially don’t grow well enough in both weight and length. If, however, they are eventually trained to overeat by pushing them to down supersized bottles they eventually will end up fatter than they should be and have a harder time regulating their appetite later in life. There is a defense nicely link between overfeeding with bottles and later obesity. I have to mop up after these consultants when they cause babies to fail to thrive in their growth (which does eventually get the attention of pediatricians) and their social development which doesn’t get anyone’s attention because they become placid “good” babies.
PASSRUSH,anyone?
Is it some kind of sports term?
What a grouch. I’m with the guy who doesn’t care if a theme is repeated every few years. Please don’t explain RSTLNE anymore LOL.
Har, with the delay of posts being posted, we get
Repeated
Sayings
Toward
Learning
New
Enigmas
"I'd like to but a U", then I'd give it to @M&A. :-)
RooMonster
What? Sail On Sailor is the greatest!
I agree with @OISK's early review: pleasant and easy. There was enough interesting cluing to hold my attention, my favorites being SHORT I at 76A (who could possibly come up with that without crosses?); D SHARP (9A); AYE (60D); and I HEAR (65D). The simplest fill -- clued in a way that makes thinking necessary. But at no point was I baffled.
In fact the most baffling thing for me in the entire puzzle was the Note in the paper edition: "When he can, Peter likes to incorporate some of the black squares into his puzzle themes, as he ingeniously does here." Huh???? Where???? I was looking for a devilish trick (sort of like my own "Black hat" trick with Will Nediger), but the puzzle was coming together in the most trick-less, straightforward way imaginable. Where was the trick???? Only afterwards did I see the SOS design fashioned from black squares. "Oh, that," I yawned. "Grid art. Nothing to do with me at all. Completely superfluous to my solving experience." Hardly worth a Note, as far as I'm concerned and certainly not a Note that produces disappointment. But a nice puzzle, nonetheless.
Didn’t know he Beach Boys song and never heard of DAN (sorry, Aketi), so I Naticked with SAILOr, SAILOR and DAr.
If I had noticed the theme, SAILOr SAILOR would not have made sense. But I didn’t. Not until several minutes post-solve. Was looking for themers in the acrosses. As one who has lobbied for more themers in the downs, I should have done better.
Hand up for thinking using a theme again nine years later is perfectly acceptable, especially given the extra twist of grid art.
@Quasi7:53 --
In American football, the quarterback can do several things after taking the hike of the football from the Center. One of then is to drop back for a pass, while his teammates block the defensive players who are trying to tackle him in the backfield for a yardage loss.
When they are successful in tackling him, the term for it is a SACK. The act of chasing him while he is attempting a pass is PASS.RUSH.
PS AUTOMATic is in my top three Go-Gos songs.
Not a great puzzle. The visual conceit isn't worth it.
For the record ... PARMESAN is *not* an Italian Cheese. (55A). It is the Americanized version of Parmegiano Reggiano which is an Italian cheese. This is not merely a distinction made by snobbish sticklers, but rather a formal categorization.
It's a Wheel of Fortune thing.
Those are the 6 letters provided in the final puzzle
I managed to finish the puzzle without having to figure anything out. I mean that the 'revealer' was entirely unnecessary to solving the puzzle; all it did was reveal a character of the puzzle that is otherwise unremarkable. Too bad for a Sunday puzzle. I agree Easter week is not as common as Holy Week. In Newfoundland, where I live, it is used, as Easter Week, whenever it falls, is the 'spring break' for the public schools. Might be the only political unit in NA where this happens.
ps captcha reasonable this week
Those are the given letters for every final puzzle
The "proper Greek plural" AUTOMATA googles about an order of magnitude better than 'automatons', and (per google ngrams) also appears much more frequently in (english language) books, so I disagree that there is anything bold about using it.
I thought the black squares spelling out SOS was pretty cool.
RSTLNE is at the end of wheel of fortune. Those are the free letters the contestant gets in the final answer and then the contestant picks a couple of more, hopefully filling in enough of the puzzle to get the answer and thus win the big prize.
As a Beach Boys fan, Sail on Sailor was easy. The refrain can throw the clue off(extremely hard because it just cites 1973) because it repeats Sail on.
Sail on, Sailor by Brian Wilson, Ray Kennedy, Tandyn Almer, Jack Rieley, and Van Dyke Parks:
I sailed an ocean, unsettled ocean
Through restful waters and deep commotion
Often frightened, unenlightened
Sail on, sail on sailor
I wrest the waters, fight Neptune's waters
Sail through the sorrows of life's marauders
Unrepenting, often empty
Sail on, sail on sailor
Caught like a sewer rat alone but I sail
Bought like a crust of bread, but oh do I wail
Seldom stumble, never crumble
Try to tumble, life's a rumble
Feel the stinging I've been given
Never ending, unrelenting
Heartbreak searing, always fearing
Never caring, persevering
Sail on, sail on, sailor
I work the seaways, the gale-swept seaways
Past shipwrecked daughters of wicked waters
Uninspired, drenched and tired
Wail on, wail on, sailor
Always needing, even bleeding
Never feeding all my feelings
Damn the thunder, must I blunder
There's no wonder all I'm under
Stop the crying and the lying
And the sighing and my dying
[Outro]
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
If a theme is repeated after almost ten years, I have no problem with it. Almost nobody will remember it, and it’s certainly not going to impact anyone’s solving time. This feels like a very Rex-specific complaint.
I will, however, complain about SHORT I. What a craptastic clue/answer.
"The Sultan of Swat" is the best baseball nickname ever, and Mark Knopfler, bless his heart, owes an enormous vocal debt to Bob Dylan. Oh and hello Levi Stubbs. That is all.
Thank you @Wm C, for the explication! I guess I was still out at the tailgate party whenever that happened. :)
I didn't read the note, and didn't notice the grid art until I read @Rex. It was a nice feature -- but I liked the puzzle before that. It got off on the right foot when I guessed 1A was about football and sacking the QB -- either PASS play or the better PASS RUSH, confirmed by PAS. After that it was all fun.
I would have DNFed with SAILOr SAILOR if not for the revealer -- but then I looked for the six longest answers, and that was one of them, causing a rethink.
I had Androids at first, thinking it wasn't quite right, since an android is a type of robot (one that looks like a human), not just any robot -- so I was happy when AUCTIONS led me to AUTOMATA. (On the other hand, it's not so good if you're bidding against an automaton in an online auction).
I was also happy to see that the NYT has reverted to the correct spelling for SNO CONE.
And thanks, everyone, for explaining RSTLNE! Are they always given in that order on Wheel of Fortune, or was that left for us to suss out?
@SouthsideJohnny, that term refers to using contorted cluing to fit extra high-Scrabble-value letters (Z, Q X, J, etc.) into the grid. Some of us admire successful attempts; not @Rex.
Glad to find a doable Sunday puzzle for this mid-level solver. Yes, the theme's been done before, years ago, but it still worked. Both songs were very knowable and still sound good. And the SOS visual with the black squares - pretty cool.
Even though I don’t know any Dire Straits music, I happened on the SOS answer too soon. That made the long answers much too easy and this a quick solve. It was just bad luck to be nosing around in the Far East at the start.
@Nancy, Interesting that there was a note about black squares in the paper edition but none in the app although there is space for one. We just got the title “Help” but I never open the constructor’s name and title until I’m done. I want to avoid any undue influence and it’s fun to see if I’ve guessed right.
I like this constructor’s puzzles and there is some fine clueing, but also what felt like endless three letter fill. I don’t remember seeing the theme before and couldn’t care less if I had. I’d still need to understand what theme was in play and then solve different clues to complete the puzzle. When this type of complaint starts by the man at the top of the blog, I put my metaphorical fingers in my ears and sing “la la la la”.
Don't listen to @Joe in Newfoundland, those Newfies are crazy! They even have their own special time zone!
(Har, all in good fun, @Joe!) :-)
@jberg
Yes, always that order. But don't ask me why.
Roo
I thought the puzzle itself was okay, but the embedded "SOS" deeply cool.
One wonders if, in teaching Shakespeare during his day job, OFL complains about the Bard mostly using recycled plots?
Am I the only one who got stuck at PYLE/EAT? I don't know PYLE so I had PLYo/oAT...
Did not finish due to PASSRUSH. Never heard of this. In a sack?
@John Hoffman. A pass rush in American football might end in a sack, i.e., the quarterback tackled.
i don't get why WIll Short basically gives away the cool grid SOS in the note at the top of the puzzle. there has to be a more subtle way to hint at it without basically saying, look at the black squares. trust your clientele a bit more ????
I still don't get 60D, AYE (Word said in passing?), though I got it easily enough from the crosses. But first I had BYE, which might be a word said by you or to you as you're dying (i.e., "passing").
Medium for me, and an enjoyable solve, thanks to some tricky clues and the fun of writing in STRUTTED OUR STUFF, RADICCHIO, PASS RUSH, AUTOMATA, SNAKE OIL SALESMAN.... I, too, needed the SOS reveal to correct SAILOr, SAILOR.
Solving in the magazine, I started out irked at Will Shortz for (I thought) giving away in the Note a crucial hint about the black squares as part of the theme and mad at myself for reading it. So, like @Nancy, I kept looking for the black-square trick, in vain. Only when I looked at the completed grid did I see the embedded Help! alert.
Do-overs: EASTERtide, DAr. oAT. No idea: SNOOK, RSTLNE.
Re: SAILOr, SAILOR - my thought was, "Gee, I didn't know the Beach Boys covered it." For those with time for a blast from the past - and were in high school in the 1960s doing slow dances at the weekend sock hops: Lolita's "Seeman" - wait for the second verse for the English-language "Sailor, sailor" voiceover.
@Canis Nebula, you're not the only one. But I am familiar wih Ernie PYLE so was able to make the change to EAT.
Pass rush is an American football term when the defensive team rushes four players, usually linemen. If the defense rushes more than four it is called a blitz. Good quarterbacks are savvy at reading both types of defenses and typically have a dump off pass option, often to a running back who should have blocked one of the extra rushers.
This was a “Goldilocks” type puzzle for me. Not too easy, not too hard, just right; at least in terms of plowing through on a Sunday. I did like the 1A clue but other than that, very little real cleverness. Maybe the ability to show sos in the black squares. As a daily solver for decades, like@ Joaquin, first up today, I do the NYT (and others) for enjoyment and this was enjoyable but not sparkling. The WOEs of the songs, use of BALLASTS as a noun and a few other “meh” spots slowed me a bit, but overall a usual Sunday time but a bit of a snoozer, sort of out me (back) TO SLEEP) this rainy sunday.
⚓️Sail on sailor!⚓️ 🏄🏽♂️Beach Boys! ⛵️⚓️⛵️
Easy 🧩
good 🔍
🛏 😴🛏 (little)
👌🏼 👍🏽👌🏼
@Anon 12:03 PM
When a legislator votes for a bill, s/he says AYE. When the bill PASSes, it's said "the AYEs have it."
here to be the sole defender of MODISTE, which was my favorite answer in the puzzle
Got the puzgrid design's SOS motif pronto, due to the helpful opening puznote. This in turn helped a bit with the solvequest. I also somehow recalled that @RP had done this theme before, once upon a time. Whispered a gasped "uhohhar", upon recallin that. That debut RPpuz also contained the epic HOGCALLS entry, suuuu ... hard for M&A to ever forget it.
This SunPuz didn't use any of the old @RPpuz themers, so I view this more as a sequel than a copy. Closest to an intersection: SAMEOLDSTORY [Collins dude] vs. SAMEOLDSONG [@RP dude].
Theme is a little dry on humor for a SunPuz, I'd grant. Not enough sos for that goose.
SNOOK sounds a little bit like the PEWIT of the sea, so it grabbed my attention. Also thoroughly enjoyed ANART and RSTLNE. Had some extra nanoseconds roll off at the RADICCHIO/MODISTE crossin. Otherwise, nuthin much caught my stinkeye. fave fillins: PUTTOSLEEP. UNFURL. KANSASSTATE. And go, Red Raiders.
staff weeject pick: Torn, between IES and POO. Nice selection of 48 of the lil pups, in this puz, btw. Honrable mention to SOS, of course.
@Roo: If I've seen that there "Scanners" flick, it didn't leave any lastin impression at all. That could be because it either wasn't good enough or bad enough to register, longterm. Last FriNite SchlockFest pairin is apt to leave some bad memory scars, tho: "Despiser" & "The Vesuvius Xperiment". woof. The "Captain Video" 1951 cliffhanger serial's chapters 1 & 2 were far much better.
Thanx for the Help!ing of crossword fUn, Mr. Collins dude. SNOOK: har
Masked & Anonymo11Us
unlikely to have been remotely done before, since no theme:
**gruntz**
I don't think of SNOOK as a Caribbean game fish (I haven't fished much in the Caribbean) but as a very popular quarry in Florida. One of the top tackle shops in the state is called The SNOOK Nook in jensen Beach. Though it's not regarded by many as a great eating fish, I've eaten at at least two restaurants that have the fish in their name: The SNOOK Bayside Restaurant in Key Largo: and The SNOOK Inn in Marco Island. There are others, probably numerous others.
Easy and a very meh theme
Your basic smelt-smooth Sunday, writing in most answers after I read the clue, and grokked the theme with SAMEOLDSTORY so fun looking for the other SOS answers. Big Dire Straits fan and will always crank up the car radio when SULTANSOFSWING comes on. If I could play solo rock guitar instead of three chord folk songs, I'd want to be Mark Knopfler. Way tasty but doesn't seem to be showing off.
I too am extremely unhappy with this theme repetition thing. Not only have we seen this theme before, I noticed that many of the answers have been used before--TRY, ADS, CLASS, NEW, ANTS, just to pick a few at random. Also, I've seen ALL of the letters in this puzzle, and some of them many times. Come on you constructors, let's be a little more inventive!
Ha ha just kidding. Very nice puzzle, a pleasant Sundecito. Thanks Mr. Collins.
Shouldn't 76A have a question mark? I thought at first that the constructor misspelled "shorty" (aka shawty). SHORTI. Quantity seems wrong too, since there are two short Is in lipstick. Seems really poorly clued unless I'm missing something.
Modiste and automata are both clues from the 19th century. What's wrong with that?
Check out Guitar George: he knows all the chords.
I thought the same thing as @Amy 11:15 -- why did WS have to elbow us in the ribs to notice the black SOS design? It would have been more fun to discover it without prompting. And what's with the cutesy constructor bios on Sundays now, anyway?
And @Tom Taylor 9:59 is correct about PARMESAN, though I guess this is one of those occasions where the technicality would be hard to express in the clue.
Hey, what's with the "frequently" in the pink lipstick clue? Isn't it ALWAYS a short i? When do we say lipestike?
Wait... PUT TO SLEEP is somehow offensive?
Will the myriad ways that crossword solvers are offended never stop? I feel like has become a satire.
@Anon 2:33
Maybe because the I in pink isn't a short I.
The i in PINK is short. So there are several (frequent I suppose) short i's in PINK LIPSTICK.
Easy for me today, 10 minutes faster than my usual random-solve Sunday average, and I found it fun. Knowing SULTANS OF SWING (I bought that Dire Straits cassette when it first came out) was nice. I didn't know I knew SAIL ON SAILOR but as soon as I heard the opening chords upon clicking on Rex's link, I immediately recognized it. Didn't know it was by the Beach Boys though, har.
I put in MODISTE with the MO and E in place but took it out again, not sure of myself. I liked the "House of cards" clue for CASINO. Some great words like IMBECILE, ENGORGED, TAUTENED, RADICCHIO.
Thanks, Peter Collins.
@Anon 4:10
Sorry, the SHORT I I sounds like the I in LIP or STICK, not like the I in PINK, which rhymes with eat.
Everyone who saw Scanners remembers the exploding heads. If you are not sure you saw it, you didn't.
@Nancy. We all remember your puzzle but thanks for the reminder.
@ALL. Please, Pretty Please, try googling stuff before coming here and wasting space and everone's time. RSTLNE was the second item when I googled.
Funny that so many didn't notice the "SOS" in the grid until after finishing... It's the first thing I saw after reading the puzzle's title.
Finally got the old man dressed and out the door to enjoy a lovely brunch on the river. It's been months since we finally had some lovely, balmy weather.
Started this last night and after the required bloody Mary's this early afternoon , the end product became a little fun group effort. I always try and get my friends interested in puzzles - especially the Sunday ones. We ended up with the last word ENGORGED and thought....yep, that's about right.
I had fun with this. Maybe I was in a good mood or maybe It's because I like Peter Collins' puzzle. I know @Rex will pick him apart - the same way he does Bruce Haight - I just try and figure out what will set his pants on fire.
@Tom T and @Joe D....Re PARMESAN. Several years ago I was in Parma, Italy and had a wonderful long delicious lunch with the owners of this charming BandB. Over our pasta, we got the saga about their cheese, the history and the blasphemous misconception of Parmigiano Reggiano. First, it is made from cows of the Parma, Reggio Emilia and some other provinces ( I forget which). The word PARMESAN (gasp) is the French word that was adopted into the English language. Man, do the Italians hate that word. Anyway, it's perfectly acceptable in the USofA although, as you properly pointed out, not correct for the Italiano's. But then, we call anything bubbly, Champagne, right? Off with their heads!
@Aketi...I always enjoy reading the info you share with us about baby rearing. I'm past that era but I love to pass on your thoughts of wisdom to the daughter of my grandchild....!!!!
Hey, today is International Beaver Day. Please be kind to a Beaver.
@JC66 (4:34) -- I'll agree that the "I" sound in, say, PIN, PICK and PINK all differ slightly. (Although unlike you, I don't pronounce "PINK" with the same vowel sound as "eat." I pronounce PINK with the same vowel sound as LINK, SINK or THINK and "eat" with the same sound as MEET/MEAT; FEET/FEAT; GREET; FLEET; SWEET.) But even if PINK has a slightly longer "I" sound than LIP or PIN; it would still be considered a SHORT I, if not the optimum example of a SHORT I. For it to be a LONG I, it would have to have an "eye" sound: PINE; PIKE; PILE; PYRE.
I checked in my dictionary. LIP, STICK and PINK all have the exact same pronunciation mark over the "I". Of course it's a very old dictionary, so maybe the pronunciation marks have become more sophisticated and refined over the years?
In Canada some bush planes are Beavers. Gotta love that!
@Nancy
Here's how I hear them:
SHORT I -> PIN LIP SHIN STICK
MEDIUM I -> SINK THINK PINK WINK
LONG I -> CLIMB I VINE WHINE
Also, this whole discussion started with someone taking exception to the use of "frequently" in the clue, so it seems to me that @Peter Collins and/or @WS hears a difference as well.
I don't think anyone said PUT TO SLEEP was offensive.
I said it made me uncomfortable. All my life I have heard "put to sleep" as a euphemism for "kill." I recognize that it can also be used literally and not as a euphemism.
Also, I don't hear the difference between the i in pin and in pink.
Re: PINK LIPSTICK, it seems to me it's the sound of the consonant or consonant combination following the "i" that causes the "i" to seem as if it's being pronounced differently. If you say LIP and PINK very slowly (li.......p; pi.......nk), you're making the same sound up until you begin to switch over to the consonant sound. Speaking at normal speed, it creates an illusion that the "i" sounds are different, but really they're not. They're both short i's.
Or, I could be the Queen Of England.
Enjoyable, for me.
Less than half average time, but I didn't fell like I was racing through it.
Think I'll listen to some Mark Knopfler now...
SHORT I - What Danny DeVito says?
(With or without pink lipstick on.)
Har.
Rebel Roo
Yes, it was fun. Count me in as one of the unseeing.
"Dan" is, in fact, nonsense here. You're quite right, it means rank or skill level in Japanese. Black belt ranks often go 1st Dan (Shodan), 2nd Dan (Nidan), etc. The word Yudansha is used to refer to black belts, meaning one who holds a dan-level rank. Noone would ever call a black belt a Dan. It would be like referring to a "heavyweight" as a "weight."
Eugene Maleska is rolling over in his grave at the ease of this puzzle.
Never noticed the black-square shape till OFC mentioned it; that adds a layer of cool. Ink mess in the NW thanks to Androids. Puzzle was easy enough thanks to long down gimmes, but snags occurred at the fill level because of atrocities like the RMK and the RP--!--(Random phonetic: "SHORTI"). I absolutely despise those. Of RSTLNE I can only say: I'd like to buy a trowel and cement over that line.
Cool long stuff; ragged shorts. One birdie-worthy, the other at least bogey. Works out to a par. OKAYSURE, if you need a DOD, I guess MILEY will do; or rather Sharon Stone, star of CASINO. Par.
CONMAN, INAWAY
STARTOUTSLOWLY, SON, IHEAR AMY's USEDTO CLASS,
ONE good PROPOSITION; ITT's ANART to make a PASS.
--- LES MALONE
This was SOS: So Obviously Simple. Record time for Sunday and not one write-over.
Not sure that yeah baby MILEY Cyrus and CLASS belong in corresponding locations. That's not how she's ACTED.
Back to The Masters and taxes for me. Happy EASTERWEEK.
2-letter dnf - too silly for words.
Gee - all those who think this too easy - I've been solving anthologies (not all the way back to Maleska ones) for a couple of years, and these are neither harder nor easier. Just depends on what you know that day.
Sheesh! All that work for a dnf. But later today, I still get the symphony.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
1. I didn't notice the grid art, and my syndicated version had no note about it. (The syndicated puzzles do sometimes have a note.) Grid art adds nothing to my enjoyment (or not) when solving, and I think it detracted this time -- would've been a better puzzle if Collins had skipped the grid art and let the blocks fall where they needed to -- the fill could have been better as a result.
2. PASS RUSH -- HUH???????
1-Across sets the tone for the solve, so it *really* needs to not be sports, which is often male constructors' and editors' big WE DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOU to women solvers. (Yes, some women like to watch sports, but a far lower percentage of women than men.) Answers related to sports, video games, and certain kinds of movies are much more male than female, and that's not the case for any other kind of fill. (In other words, some fill will be obscure to a chunk of solvers but not based on criterion like sex or skin color -- some people know more about opera than others, say, but that's not a male/female thing.)
I don't expect men to stop including sports -- never going to happen -- but FFS stop using so much of it, and don't put it in 1-Across.
3. If the theme had been revisited in an interesting way, then I wouldn't object to it being trotted out again -- but this was a dull puzzle. Nothing fun or shiny about the long theme answers, and it's surprising that Collins thought the theme was interesting enough to sustain a big Sunday puzzle (it wasn't).
[syndie solver, 5-19-19]
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