Nickname of King Edward VII / MON 9-16-19 / June observance commemorating the Stonewall Riots / Nietzsche's ideal man / Quaff made with honey / Dish of thinly sliced raw meat
Constructor: Amanda Rafkin and Ross Trudeau
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (3:40) (I have had a drink, and the grid is 16-wide, but still, it felt a bit on the hard side for a Monday)
THEME: JUST FOR THE RECORD (58A: "To be totally clear" ... or why to bring in a 17-, 27- or 45-Across?) — themers do things related to records:
Theme answers:
GUINNESS OFFICIAL (17A: Adjudicator of an attempt at a physical feat, say)
STUDIO SINGER (27A: Vocalist who doesn't tour)
STENOGRAPHER (45A: One versed in shorthand)
Word of the Day: ANIL (50A: Deep blue dye) —
noun
a West Indian shrub, Indigofera suffruticosa, of the legume family, having elongated clusters of small, reddish-yellow flowers and yielding indigo.
indigo; deep blue.(dictionary.com)
• • •
The revealer shoulda been, simply, FOR THE RECORD... and then, you know, get a regular-sized grid and lose the stupid GUINNESS OFFICIAL (?) answer, what the hell? That is not a thing. Not enough of a thing to be first themer in a Monday puzzle. Yipes. STUDIO SINGER is a thing, but ... it doesn't google that well (I feel like the more common term is "session singer"), and how do you know they don't tour? You don't know. I'm sure some STUDIO SINGERs do tour sometimes. Just 'cause you sing in the studio doesn't mean you don't also tour sometimes. I get that you are trying to find a way to suggest "studio" in your clue, but that ain't it. Why are there cheater squares* in here? (above 16D, below 48D). Doesn't seem like a particularly demanding part of the grid. Weird. The fill in this one is OK, but there are some hard clunkers. ANIL and INURN should go out on their boat for a three-hour tour and never come back. INONE can go with them. How the hell am I supposed to know the [Nickname of King Edward VII]? What day is this? It's Monday, right? C'mon, spare me this olde-timey cutesy nicknames for monarchs, BAH. I liked PRIDE MONTH (11D: June observance commemorating the Stonewall Riots) and CARPACCIO (37D: Dish of thinly sliced raw meat). The clue on GAYER should've been (34D: More gleeful).
Slowed down by a. one fairly strong drink and b. (related to a.) hella typos. Not even sure where I put the "N"s and "S"s on my first pass at GUINNESS, but I know it wasn't in the right place. Had C'MON before "I'M IN" (23A: "Let's do it!"). No idea what L.A.'s NOHO Arts District is (again, doesn't seem like a Monday clue), so I probably had SOHO in there at first. Definitely had HOIST before HEAVE (51A: Throw, as an anchor). I guess HOIST is ... the opposite? Whatever, how are there *two* five-letter anchor-related verbs starting with "H"?! That's just cruel. Thank god there was some terrible fill ("ET TU"!?) to help me out of that mess. Looking for a tighter theme and cleaner fill tomorrow (and every day). Peace.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
*cheater squares = black squares that do not affect the word count; they are occasionally added to make grids easier to fill.
Medium.* Smooth and clever with some fine long downs, liked it.
*This would have been more on the easy side if I had not misread the clue for 32a. I saw Cosmopolitan people and put is EDS for Editors...haste makes....
John Oliver did a show last month on the President of Turkmenistan and Guinness World Records. GUINNESS OFFICIALS were definitely mentioned.
Great Monday ! Super easy and fun. Rex is a real buzzkill. BTW, vinyl records are on track to outsell compact discs for the first time in 33 years, according to CNBC.
Had no problem with this Monday’s puzzle except for 17A. The down clues helped. Was unfamiliar with the word adjudicator so I looked it up after I was finished. The first definition was “a person who adjudicates” Why, thank you very much, that was so helpful”. Not!
I like a Monday with a little bite. This one had it.
Me too - BUT King Edward VII was George VI's (King's Speech) grandfather!! I didn't know that one until a few downs filled in. Popular nickname among the royals ?
Anyone who watches as much Masterpiece Theatre on PBS as I have in my many years on the planet knows Bertie. And now with BritBox, the Anglophile in me can get a fix of all things British any time! Despite the few irksome answers (INURN being the most offensive to me) I quite enjoyed this breezy Monday. Found it easy as well. Threw in GUINNESS immediately but had to wait to see OFFICIAL. The rest of the theme answers were legit. STUDO SINGER is most assuredly a “thing,” by the way. We who have been STUDIO musicians would often, among groups of peers differentiate ourselves from those with an axe (an instrument) by saying “I’m a STUDIO SINGER, for the most part but I do some chorus work occasionally with touring companies when I can get the gigs.” So, just because an answer is not in one’s wheelhouse (OFL) doesn’t mean it isn’t a “thing” or in others’ common vernacular, like BERTIE). Liked this a lot. Had a skosh of resistance but still Monday time for me.
I try to learn more about puzzle construction just as an aside. Rex mentions 2 cheater squares. Is the square above 58D a cheater? Thanks to anyone who cares to comment.
***spoiler alert*** for today's MINI: NEO (liberal) was in it (26D in big puzzle) and a bowling clue.
No drink, no sweat. Nice to see my favorite brew mentioned. I tried to drink Ireland out of it in 1989 before quitting alcohol for good. Fun solve. The mini defeated me this morning.
Next town down the road just set a world record for people making bouquets at the same time, and there were indeed GUINNESSOFFICIALS in attendance, as was mentioned by the local paper. I am often surprised by things people do to set records, and more surprised that said officials come to watch and verify. There seem to be lots of world records for things I wouldn't have thought of in the first place.
I think a session singer would be a background voice, and had no problem with STUDIOSINGER as clued.
Also thought the theme was OK, as I try to guess where things are going and probably would have come up with the "record" connection if I had not been busy writing in answers.
Thanks for the Monday fun guys. A little on the crunchy side, which is fine with me.
@Rob Rushing and @Roberta: The royal family liked the name Albert (Victoria’s beloved husband who died young), and they used it a lot. The Bertie in The Crown and The King’s Speech was George VI. This fellow is Edward VII, his grandfather.
A smooth, grown-up puzzle with fill that was quite sophisticated for a Monday. I solved it as a themeless -- not a problem; I like themelesses -- and could come up with no theme idea that would tie all these seemingly disparate answers together. When I got to the revealer, I thought: "Oh, yes, that really works! How nice!" While the puzzle wasn't especially hard, it wasn't mindless either and I enjoyed it. Very pleasant Monday.
Interestingly, today's Tampa Bay Times had a local story about a (fairly inane) new record set locally. The article explicitly mentioned a Guinness Official... https://www.tampabay.com/arts-entertainment/2019/09/14/longest-acrylic-nails-tampas-odilon-ozare-sets-guinness-record/
Easy and fun. Thought the theme worked fine, got the reveal without a single down to work from (uh, from which to work). PRIDEMarcH before PRIDEMONTH was my only do-over today. Nice start to the week.
My five favorite clues from last week (In order of appearance):
1. Cat's opposite (6) 2. What a fork in the road might lead to (4)(4) 3. Here "here!" here (4)(4) 4. They help drivers get rid of their slices (5)(10) 5. Evidence of a past hanging (4)(4)
SQUARE FLAT TIRE ROLL CALL PIZZA DELIVERIES NAIL HOLE
Of the ways to describe/label people who sing in studios for a living, "STUDIOSINGER" is at the bottom of the list. Rex is right, "session singer" probably tops the list, then it's "person who sings in a studio for a living" a close second. And he's also right to say that those people do tour. Why wouldn't they?
@Tammy: I also suspect that LPs are outselling CDs because of Spotify and other streaming services that play what you ask for (unlike the early versions like Pandora that would play something similar to what you asked for and then play your request a few minutes later). When you can get really good fidelity music on-demand for just about every album there is on an app for your car or home, buying a CD is silly. People bought CDs because of the cleanliness of the sound, and now you have that at your fingertips.
The neo-LP buyer is more about the "warmth" and nostalgia for that sound of an LP...and that is on the rise.
So yeah, LPs are outselling CDs probably because the CD market is being replaced with Spotify the same way LPs were replaced by CDs. Spotify has also probably taken a huge chunk out of illegal downloads...FWIW.
@Valerie asks "What are cheater squares." If it makes you feel any better, Valerie, I've been participating on this blog for 5+ years, cheater squares have been *explained* here many times, and I still wouldn't recognize one if I fell over it.
I also was curious about “cheater” squares so I just looked it up. The blacked out parts of the grid separate the words. A cheater square is a blacked out square that didn’t need to be blacked out. But it makes two words one letter shorter, giving the puzzle constructed an easier fill in that spot
Hey All ! Yes, Rex, a GUINNESS OFFICIAL is a thing. A very real person. Go try to set a record without a GUINNESS OFFICIAL being there, and nothing will happen. It may be a record, but wouldn't get recognized. Hell, they even had a TV show a few years ago, with people trying to set Guinness World Records, and guess what? There were GUINNESS OFFICIALs there.
Anyway, did enjoy the puz. Agree it was a bit more chewy than normal, which is fine. Curious to see @M&A's Moo-Cow EZ clue, there's a couple that stand out to me. Noticed it was 16 wide. So the ole brain hasn't SNUBbed me yet.
Oh, another odd thing in Rex's write-up was him mentioning he would've liked GAYER as "More gleeful". That WAS the clue for that. Maybe that was a slip of the brain on gis part, and he meant something else.
@OffTheGrid Yes, that is. Rex also failed to mention the other two cheaters, after 22A, before 50A. A "cheater square" is when there is a black square that doesn't change the total word count. So if you removed all 4 of them, before 11A, after 20A, before 50A, after 64A, the total word count of the puz remains the same. Constructors use them as needed to get cleaner fill. They are kind of equivalent to @Anoa Bob's dreaded S's. As he says, when your word/phrase isn't long enough, just add an S!
It’s pretty sad that vulgar, racist, misogynistic rap artists are treated as a welcome component of the NYT crossword puzzle on almost a daily basis. Hit ‘Em Up!
Some brains and whimsy went into the making of this really good Monday puzzle. I'm nominating this the best Monday of the year. @Rex...when I have a drink (which is nightly with my cocktail pals and husband) I'm usually happy and love just about everything and everyone. I'm great company. Although I finished this sans booze, I enjoyed this contemporary and different. All the theme answers are very much in my vocabulary. A STUDIO SINGER may or may not tour but the clues implication is certainly viable. JUST FOR THE RECORD is better and said more often (me thinks) than your FOR THE RECORD. BERTIE is a known nickname....and ETC ETC ETC. I think NOHO means north of Hollywood. @Rob 12:44. Yup...I noticed...neat, except for 11D I had BRIDE MONTH thinking June and all those getting married. But then I know BBS isn't an airer. CARPACCIO is manna from heaven. Loved writing that one in. Juul is all over the news and wanted to stick VAPE instead of E CIG for the 3D. Soon to be outlawed because some have died. And (sigh) we still allow the sale of automatic weapons. Let's count how many are no longer are on this earth because of greed and stupidity..... My favorite crossings are GAYER with MANLY. Cool beans.
I’m generally not a fan of Monday puzzles, because they are too easy and the themes are usually transparent or trivial, or both. This was different. The themers were all different takes on the word “record,” which was cool. Any puzzle with UBERMENSCH, or any philosophical idea, is A-OK by me. This puzzle was also a bit more challenging for a Monday, but not unduly so, so that’s cool, too.
I didn’t mind this puzzle - thought it was pretty good/easy, even for a Monday; however, for “Bertie”, I personally would have preferred the clue be “nickname of George VI”, which seems more fair (certainly more recent) for today’s generations....not that anyone should care what I prefer. ;)
Regarding cheater squares and other frequently asked questions, let me recommend Rex’s FAQ page..
This seemed tough for a Monday, making me wonder if those saying it was easy are saying it is easy or easy for a Monday. Big difference. Nothing all that tough but a truly easy for a Monday puzzle probably doesn’t have LIESL, NOHO, ALCOA, BERTIE, CARPACCIO, or almost never seen outside a crossword ANIL.
I guess the PRIDE MONTH entry takes the other entries from tittering to homage. So much sexual innuendo, though, makes me feel that the puzzle is less than sophisticated.
Please burn and INURN Rex’s overly negative review. This was one of the best Mondays I’ve seen in a long time. Creative theme and mostly solid fill plus a surprisingly challenging solve for this early in the week. Especially liked UBER MENSCH and PRIDE MONTH.
As I filled in 11D, it occurred to me that June used to be Bride Month until it got GAYER. Had a tough time with LIESL which I would never have gotten without the crosses (those damn von Trapps are always causing trouble). Not a beef eater so CARPACCIO was about as foreign as it could be. Again I thank the crosses for helping me fill in the blanks and learn a new word.
BERTIE was lurking in the back of my mind; and although when I see NOHO I think of the one in Manhattan (NOrth of HOuston), these nicknames get copied from city to city, so I figured that was it (had the N from crosses). And, following Br'er Rabbit, I've always spelled the brambly word BRIaR.
I do object to MANLY as a synonym for macho, though. To me, the latter means "toxically masculine" or something like that, not manly at all! Little boy-ey, maybe.
As someone (@Gill?) pointed out, "just for the record" is more accurate than "for the record." These are all things that wouldn't be there if you weren't involved in making a record, so the "just" makes it clearer.
By the way, after all the complaints yesterday about a stupid made-up word where STENO was the obvious answer, it was nice to see the latter fully spelled out today!
Sassy kid calls corner drug store: “Do you have Prince AlBERT in a can?” Drug store Clerk: “Yes, we do.” Sassy kid: “Well, let him out, he can’t breathe!”
Average to fast Monday for me (5:22 -- is it taboo to post your time here?) No particular troubles that crossings couldn't fix, although I definitely didn't know "Kate and ALLIE."
As @the redanman alluded to, OREO is all over the puzzle these days. But I suppose that it will eventually go to crosswordese heaven along with Bambi's mother.
Nice one! I appreciated the neat and tidy and clever theme: three professions with three different kinds of records + an on-the-nose reveal. And I liked the cosmopolitan combination of UBERMENSCH and CARPACCIO.
I think this puzzle is a good example of how a mini-theme can out-perform the overt, ostensible theme.
MANLY BUTT OPERA crossing GAYER, PRIDEMONTH, and UBERMENSCH, with ERECT and PLUG and BOAS thrown in. True, with the exception of PRIDEMONTH, none of these answers is necessarily connected to things LGBT+, (not even GAYER), but taken together they resonate.
That's not just an impressive feat. It led me to think about how other answers might be seen through the same lens, leading me to discover that HUBERT Humphrey famously wrote that the Civil Rights act was not "relevant to the problems of homosexuals." Talk about SNUBS. BAH!
I want to thank this puzzle for making me remember Bertie Higgins, who sang that stupid song "Key Largo" -- We had it all / Just like Bogie and Bacall. Just what I needed on Monday.
Speaking of just what I needed, RIP Ric Ocasek. And Eddie Money.
@George - a little research will show you that ANIL can be either the plant or the color we get from it.
@Elizabeth - Nope, posting times is fine. Taking offense at posted times, though, most definitely is taboo.
@Joe Dipinto - One was big in Detroit and the other big in my wayward youth, so a tough week. Shaking like tremelo while wondering how Keith Richards is still with us.
A bit on the challenging side for a Monday. LIESL and CARPACCIO both needed the crosses to go in. I was slow getting BERTIE as I'm not that familiar with the who's who of royals.
BERTIE was easy to recognize when it started to take shape as I've seen "The King's Speech." Wrong royal but apparently the same middle name. The "Biographical Names" section of my Webster's tells me that Edward VII is the namesake of the Edwardian Era.
It was nice to get a little more than a Tuesday's worth of puzzling out of a Monday. Part of the reason was doing this one on my phone. That always slows me down but this puzzle would have taken some extra time even on paper. I appreciated the intellectual feel this one had so a nice start to the week.
Edward VII is the royal name. His given name was Albert Edward, hence "Bertie." It's actually a hypocorism, or pet name, rather than a nickname. Something like Honest Abe or Old Ironsides is a nickname.
Overall, a decent MonPuz. Theme maybe coulda used a little "more cowbell", somehow (yo, @ m.b. Z). Nice mix of easyish/hardish clues/answers, tho. Gave the puz a little bit of a nice tangy edge.
Knew BERTIE, somehow. However, if U turned it around and asked m&e which king was called BERTIE, I'da been pretty useless. Wasn't so ready to write, on LIESL, tho. Liked that there EGGS = {Early birds?} clue a lot. Humor/feist always welcome.
Lotsa potential moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue candidates, today (yo, @Roo; but, please -- no wagerin). Mosta them fillin-the-blankers were pretty friendly, so kinda hard to single one out. When in doubt, gotta go schlocky, sooo … award goes to: {Assistant to Dr. Frankenstein} = IGOR.
staff weeject pick: TCM. One of M&A's fave cable remote selections. (Now showin: "Sex and the Single Girl".)
Thanx for gangin up on us, Amanda & Ross. And, Congratz to Amanda darlin on her debut.
I'm glad the puzzle being 16 columns wide gives me an excuse for going a minute over my Monday average. But most of that extra time was eaten up by silly typos that I had to correct immediately after entering. INeRN, T.S. ELIOn, AaAB, MEeD. BRIaR, not so silly.
NOT me before NOT SO. And wondering why Yogi Bear was meditating (d'oh).
I circled the 20A Early birds? clue as cute. With the T in place, I wanted the Christmas purchase that's quickly thrown out to be Tape. I think this was a fine Monday puzzle, thanks Amanda and Ross. And congratulations, Amanda Rafkin, on your NYT debut!
@chefwen...If you didn't see my facebook post and you still want my recipe for the Mediterranean black olive bread, send me an email. I don't think I have yours..... Sorry for using this forum....but you know, we're all friend!
@teedmn actually yogi Berra was meditating but I see how it’s possible to misunderstand the missing understanding (apologies to memory of Yogi Berra, I’d never assume to match such quips as his)
Unlike OFL, and like the always intelligent Nancy, Gill I., and davidm, I liked much this puzzle, particularly for a Monday.
I wonder if our older European solvers of this puzzle did double-takes when they learned that "most" notebook paper was lined (63A). In my early years, doing research in Italian libraries, I knew to bring my note paper with me (this before the era of computers). Occasionally I would need a note pad, something like a standard 8 1/2 x 11 lined pad, which I would use not for taking manuscript notes but for other purposes. Italians had something close to the size: but finding something lined was really a challenge. One found blank pads or pads that were squared, with both horizontal and vertical lines. Italians loved these squared pads. As children, I learned, they wrote out their letters in precisely the same way in large squares. Each year, if I am not mistaken, the squares became smaller--thus everyone in Italy wrote the same way, in a neat precise hand.
Notebooks too, in the pre-computer days, were purchased at local stationers. For some reason the notebooks in Italy normally had odd cartoon-figures on their covers. In Italian libraries I would see distinguished-looking priests and monks taking notes on fifteenth-century manuscripts, copied onto notebooks covered by Donald Duck or Dylan Dog!
Hello ANIL my old friend, you've come to help me solve again...
To the critic, a black square that just takes up space without coming between two words is a "cheater square". To the constructor, it's a "helper square". I suspect that to the typical solver it's a "Huh? Who cares?" square.
Look at the lower left corner, for instance. That square to the left of 50A ANIL and above 58D JOB makes that section much easier to fill. Remove that black square and the fill is more challenging. You could change 50A ANIL to BANAL and change 48D from RITA to RATA. But then 58D would become a BJOB. Hmmmm. Some OFFICIAL somewhere might oBJect to that!
There are also a few cheater/helper squares in disguise in the grid. One is at the end of 4D and 41A (Hi @Roo). That final shared S could be change to a black square, the clues slightly tweaked, and nothing of significance would be lost. The grid would JUST show its true colors, so to speak, and have a higher black square count. (In general, the higher the black square count, the easier it is to fill the grid, and vice versa.)
There are two more of those in the grid. If you're working toward your POC merit badge, find those other two, write your answer on a six pack of LaBatt Blue Canadian Pilsener (I'm over 21!) and send it to Anoa Bob, General Delivery, TexMex Land, TXMX, 999666, for full credit.
Anyone else wondering if there are pewit-sized cowbells?
@M&A also reminded me that TCM was showing crossworld classic Ulee’s Gold as part of their Peter Fonda retrospect.
@JackYoung - Even if a taxonomist would argue that an ORCA is closer to a dolphin than a blue whale, I think we can all agree that a killer whale is a whale for cluing porpoises.
@Anoa Bob - On a puzzle I did recently I was wondering if there is such a thing as a gerund of convenience.
Just wondering...why did Rex choose ANIL as "Word of the Day" if he never wants to see it in a puzzle again? He also trashed its appearance in the 9/6 puzzle.
Patrick Berry didn't do tons of MonPuzs, but the last one he did (17 Oct 2011) had *six* cheater-squares. Sooo … cheater-squares seem to have more Patrick Berry Usage Immunity than snot. Just sayin.
@(magnificent beast)Z 3:57pm - Interestin question … makes m&e tend to wonder if there are cow/bull-dung-sized pewits, too boot.
The surprise-ingly good stuff far outweighs the expectedly mildly weak stuff here.
Studio musician is a thing and generally implies non-touring, so, to me, any complaint about STUDIO SINGER, strikes me as a wee weak-kneed nit. The theme holds together quite nicely. The sub-theme is superb. Add PLUG to the sub-theme if you pair it with BUTT? Maybe NOTSO if paired with MANLY, and you are playing to mistaken stereotype? I would think more people know that BERTIE has some royal family connection than would know what CARPACCIO is. So why like one and criticize the other?
LIESL? I wonder if she cleans toilet bowls. I better stop before I start thinking of IRON MANLYs.
I found it refreshing to have an entire STENOGRAPHER in a puzzle.
Fun fact: CARPACCIO was named for the 15c Venetian painter, contemporary of Bellini, who used a raw-beefy red, and both drink and dish were invented at Harry's Bar in Venice. We've got a few nice ones by both artists here in DC, and my students tend not to know either foodtuff or painter, but are happy when I bring them to the end-of-term themed potluck.
@Joe Dipinto 4:21 PM Perhaps, because ANIL is a total gimme for veteran crossworders although they’re quite likely never used the word in their lives? And, nonetheless, a newbie (those Rex might want to encourage into crosswords) would need all the crosses to get it? Did the puzzle in 3 Rexes, unhandicapped. ��
Sometimes OFL can’t see the forest for the TREEs. ‘JUST’FORTHERECORD is far more accurate as a revealer since that’s the *only* reason you’d use any of those themers. But I agree on INURN. BRIER seems incorrect, I had BRIaR. Didn’t write it in, BUTT most notebook paper that I see is *ruled* not LINED.
I am a member of the hole INONE club. About 25 years ago.
Back in the 1960s when MN was largely rural, HUBERT Humphrey was actually pro-gun ownership. Can’t be a lefty and say that these days. SHOOT no!
TUPAC was 4 beers short.
Multiple time yeah baby winners RITA and MIRA make encore appearances.
I'm always looking for the theme trick--the "McGuffin," per @M&A. Usually it splats me in the face; NOTSO today. What earthly reason was there for GUINNESSOFICIAL? Ah, perhaps the triple set of double letters? I kept my eye out.
Uh, no. Next one was STUDIOSINGER. Again, a strange phrase...maybe they were all simply "strange phrases?" Anyway, the revealer tied it all together and made sense, so that part of the deal was good. The fill was interesting enough to make one think a little, if one didn't know CARPACCIO or BERTIE--which I didn't, but correctly inferred. So yeah, maybe medium-challenging for the day. I do not time, of course, and my "ratings" are not contingent solely on number of minutes needed to finish.
DOD is Paul's charming daughter MIRA Sorvino. Hand up for the EGGS clue: love that stuff. INONE of those EGGS rests today's birdie.
A fine Monday puzzle with three seemingly unconnected themers tied together nicely by a perfect revealer. Two reasons why it's perfect: that phrase is heard more often in the wild than the one without JUST; it accurately answers the question posed in 58A. Bonus points - the theme is one of those clever inventions you rarely see anymore in crossword puzzles.
Aside from INURN which is starting to attain "oreo" status, the fill was pretty strong, in my opinion. The clue for EGGS is gold.
I don't like the term "cheater square". Instead of accepting such a square as a viable solving asset, it implies something illegal or against the rules, and who really cares about crossword rules?
@Vinyl Rewind – regarding “When you can get really good fidelity music on-demand for just about every album there is on an app for your car or home, buying a CD is silly.”
Bitrate has a direct impact on sound quality.
Popular streaming websites like Spotify and Pandora typically use a bitrate of 160 kbps, which is less than that of MP3s. If you spring for Spotify Premium, you’ll still only have access to 320 kbps tracks, which is equivalent to MP3s. When comparing bitrate, or the amount of data transferred per second, High-Resolution Audio’s bitrate (9,216 kbps) is nearly seven times higher than that of CDs (1,411 kbps) and almost 29 times higher than that of MP3s (320 kbps). And the higher the bitrate, the more accurately the signal is measured.
There’s no question that CDs sound much better than MP3s. And it’s not “warmth” for buying an LP. Analog kept trying to capture every detail, while digital tried to compress it. Buying an LP is trying to give you the real moment.
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Medium.* Smooth and clever with some fine long downs, liked it.
ReplyDelete*This would have been more on the easy side if I had not misread the clue for 32a. I saw Cosmopolitan people and put is EDS for Editors...haste makes....
John Oliver did a show last month on the President of Turkmenistan and Guinness World Records. GUINNESS OFFICIALS were definitely mentioned.
No comment on the mini theme (GAYER, PRIDE, MANLY, BUTT, BOAS, etc) on the East side? Also, weirdly I knew BERTIE from The Crown.
ReplyDeleteGreat Monday ! Super easy and fun. Rex is a real buzzkill. BTW, vinyl records are on track to outsell compact discs for the first time in 33 years, according to CNBC.
ReplyDeleteHad no problem with this Monday’s puzzle except for 17A. The down clues helped. Was unfamiliar with the word adjudicator so I looked it up after I was finished. The first definition was “a person who adjudicates” Why, thank you very much, that was so helpful”. Not!
ReplyDeleteI like a Monday with a little bite. This one had it.
When I saw "Green 'X'" in 16D's clue, my brain shouted, "Ham!"
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle was just...ugh. I agree with Rex on this one.
ReplyDeleteHoist Ho, @Rex.
ReplyDeleteGood Monday puzzle, some great clues, near-record easy Monday time. What’s not to like?
I remember "Bertie" from the King's Speech. Great movie and there is a conversation relating to his nickname.
ReplyDeleteMe too - BUT King Edward VII was George VI's (King's Speech) grandfather!! I didn't know that one until a few downs filled in. Popular nickname among the royals ?
DeleteAnyone who watches as much Masterpiece Theatre on PBS as I have in my many years on the planet knows Bertie. And now with BritBox, the Anglophile in me can get a fix of all things British any time! Despite the few irksome answers (INURN being the most offensive to me) I quite enjoyed this breezy Monday. Found it easy as well. Threw in GUINNESS immediately but had to wait to see OFFICIAL. The rest of the theme answers were legit. STUDO SINGER is most assuredly a “thing,” by the way. We who have been STUDIO musicians would often, among groups of peers differentiate ourselves from those with an axe (an instrument) by saying “I’m a STUDIO SINGER, for the most part but I do some chorus work occasionally with touring companies when I can get the gigs.” So, just because an answer is not in one’s wheelhouse (OFL) doesn’t mean it isn’t a “thing” or in others’ common vernacular, like BERTIE). Liked this a lot. Had a skosh of resistance but still Monday time for me.
ReplyDeleteI try to learn more about puzzle construction just as an aside. Rex mentions 2 cheater squares. Is the square above 58D a cheater? Thanks to anyone who cares to comment.
ReplyDelete***spoiler alert*** for today's MINI: NEO (liberal) was in it (26D in big puzzle) and a bowling clue.
Here's one of my favorite SNL bits
Way hard for a Monday; felt like a medium-hard Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteThe only BERTIE I want to see is WOOSTER.
Wanted 20A (Early birds?) to be some kind of dinosaur.
No drink, no sweat. Nice to see my favorite brew mentioned. I tried to drink Ireland out of it in 1989 before quitting alcohol for good. Fun solve. The mini defeated me this morning.
ReplyDeleteNext town down the road just set a world record for people making bouquets at the same time, and there were indeed GUINNESSOFFICIALS in attendance, as was mentioned by the local paper. I am often surprised by things people do to set records, and more surprised that said officials come to watch and verify. There seem to be lots of world records for things I wouldn't have thought of in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI think a session singer would be a background voice, and had no problem with STUDIOSINGER as clued.
Also thought the theme was OK, as I try to guess where things are going and probably would have come up with the "record" connection if I had not been busy writing in answers.
Thanks for the Monday fun guys. A little on the crunchy side, which is fine with me.
Great Monday, good fill, cute theme. But we didnt drink...
ReplyDelete@Rob Rushing and @Roberta: The royal family liked the name Albert (Victoria’s beloved husband who died young), and they used it a lot. The Bertie in The Crown and The King’s Speech was George VI. This fellow is Edward VII, his grandfather.
ReplyDeleteA smooth, grown-up puzzle with fill that was quite sophisticated for a Monday. I solved it as a themeless -- not a problem; I like themelesses -- and could come up with no theme idea that would tie all these seemingly disparate answers together. When I got to the revealer, I thought: "Oh, yes, that really works! How nice!" While the puzzle wasn't especially hard, it wasn't mindless either and I enjoyed it. Very pleasant Monday.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, today's Tampa Bay Times had a local story about a (fairly inane) new record set locally. The article explicitly mentioned a Guinness Official... https://www.tampabay.com/arts-entertainment/2019/09/14/longest-acrylic-nails-tampas-odilon-ozare-sets-guinness-record/
ReplyDeleteWhat are cheater squares ?
ReplyDeleteEasy and fun. Thought the theme worked fine, got the reveal without a single down to work from (uh, from which to work). PRIDEMarcH before PRIDEMONTH was my only do-over today. Nice start to the week.
ReplyDeleteMy five favorite clues from last week
ReplyDelete(In order of appearance):
1. Cat's opposite (6)
2. What a fork in the road might lead to (4)(4)
3. Here "here!" here (4)(4)
4. They help drivers get rid of their slices (5)(10)
5. Evidence of a past hanging (4)(4)
SQUARE
FLAT TIRE
ROLL CALL
PIZZA DELIVERIES
NAIL HOLE
Of the ways to describe/label people who sing in studios for a living, "STUDIOSINGER" is at the bottom of the list. Rex is right, "session singer" probably tops the list, then it's "person who sings in a studio for a living" a close second. And he's also right to say that those people do tour. Why wouldn't they?
ReplyDelete@Tammy: I also suspect that LPs are outselling CDs because of Spotify and other streaming services that play what you ask for (unlike the early versions like Pandora that would play something similar to what you asked for and then play your request a few minutes later). When you can get really good fidelity music on-demand for just about every album there is on an app for your car or home, buying a CD is silly. People bought CDs because of the cleanliness of the sound, and now you have that at your fingertips.
The neo-LP buyer is more about the "warmth" and nostalgia for that sound of an LP...and that is on the rise.
So yeah, LPs are outselling CDs probably because the CD market is being replaced with Spotify the same way LPs were replaced by CDs. Spotify has also probably taken a huge chunk out of illegal downloads...FWIW.
@Valerie asks "What are cheater squares." If it makes you feel any better, Valerie, I've been participating on this blog for 5+ years, cheater squares have been *explained* here many times, and I still wouldn't recognize one if I fell over it.
ReplyDeleteI also was curious about “cheater” squares so I just looked it up. The blacked out parts of the grid separate the words. A cheater square is a blacked out square that didn’t need to be blacked out. But it makes two words one letter shorter, giving the puzzle constructed an easier fill in that spot
DeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteYes, Rex, a GUINNESS OFFICIAL is a thing. A very real person. Go try to set a record without a GUINNESS OFFICIAL being there, and nothing will happen. It may be a record, but wouldn't get recognized. Hell, they even had a TV show a few years ago, with people trying to set Guinness World Records, and guess what? There were GUINNESS OFFICIALs there.
Anyway, did enjoy the puz. Agree it was a bit more chewy than normal, which is fine. Curious to see @M&A's Moo-Cow EZ clue, there's a couple that stand out to me. Noticed it was 16 wide. So the ole brain hasn't SNUBbed me yet.
Oh, another odd thing in Rex's write-up was him mentioning he would've liked GAYER as "More gleeful". That WAS the clue for that. Maybe that was a slip of the brain on gis part, and he meant something else.
@OffTheGrid
Yes, that is. Rex also failed to mention the other two cheaters, after 22A, before 50A. A "cheater square" is when there is a black square that doesn't change the total word count. So if you removed all 4 of them, before 11A, after 20A, before 50A, after 64A, the total word count of the puz remains the same. Constructors use them as needed to get cleaner fill. They are kind of equivalent to @Anoa Bob's dreaded S's. As he says, when your word/phrase isn't long enough, just add an S!
Now I'm gonna MOSEY my MANLY BUTT away.
TREE HEAVE
RooMonster
DarrinV
It’s pretty sad that vulgar, racist, misogynistic rap artists are treated as a welcome component of the NYT crossword puzzle on almost a daily basis. Hit ‘Em Up!
ReplyDeleteGUINNESSFFICIAL is a classic GREENPAINT type of entry. I.e. There is such a thing but it's not an idiomatic part of the language.
ReplyDeleteA socket is for light bulbs. An outlet is for plugs.
ReplyDeleteSome brains and whimsy went into the making of this really good Monday puzzle. I'm nominating this the best Monday of the year. @Rex...when I have a drink (which is nightly with my cocktail pals and husband) I'm usually happy and love just about everything and everyone. I'm great company. Although I finished this sans booze, I enjoyed this contemporary and different. All the theme answers are very much in my vocabulary. A STUDIO SINGER may or may not tour but the clues implication is certainly viable.
ReplyDeleteJUST FOR THE RECORD is better and said more often (me thinks) than your FOR THE RECORD. BERTIE is a known nickname....and ETC ETC ETC. I think NOHO means north of Hollywood.
@Rob 12:44. Yup...I noticed...neat, except for 11D I had BRIDE MONTH thinking June and all those getting married. But then I know BBS isn't an airer.
CARPACCIO is manna from heaven. Loved writing that one in. Juul is all over the news and wanted to stick VAPE instead of E CIG for the 3D. Soon to be outlawed because some have died. And (sigh) we still allow the sale of automatic weapons. Let's count how many are no longer are on this earth because of greed and stupidity.....
My favorite crossings are GAYER with MANLY. Cool beans.
ReplyDelete@Roo
I think @Rex wanted the clue for GAYER (34D) to be funnier than "More gleeful."
I’m generally not a fan of Monday puzzles, because they are too easy and the themes are usually transparent or trivial, or both. This was different. The themers were all different takes on the word “record,” which was cool. Any puzzle with UBERMENSCH, or any philosophical idea, is A-OK by me. This puzzle was also a bit more challenging for a Monday, but not unduly so, so that’s cool, too.
ReplyDeleteBut we had LEO!
DeleteLightning, but I don't time ... and I had had two drinks
ReplyDeleteNo OREO on a Monday, WHAAAAAAT? So depressing
I didn’t mind this puzzle - thought it was pretty good/easy, even for a Monday; however, for “Bertie”, I personally would have preferred the clue be “nickname of George VI”, which seems more fair (certainly more recent) for today’s generations....not that anyone should care what I prefer. ;)
ReplyDeleteNice debut, Amanda!
ReplyDelete@JC66
ReplyDeleteD'oh! Oh, now I see the clever turn of phrase he was going for. So much for the ole brain not SNUBbing me!
And in case anyone missed my last post, the last paragraph explaibs cheater squares. If it's not clear, I'll go into more detail.
RooMonster
Regarding cheater squares and other frequently asked questions, let me recommend Rex’s FAQ page..
ReplyDeleteThis seemed tough for a Monday, making me wonder if those saying it was easy are saying it is easy or easy for a Monday. Big difference. Nothing all that tough but a truly easy for a Monday puzzle probably doesn’t have LIESL, NOHO, ALCOA, BERTIE, CARPACCIO, or almost never seen outside a crossword ANIL.
I guess the PRIDE MONTH entry takes the other entries from tittering to homage. So much sexual innuendo, though, makes me feel that the puzzle is less than sophisticated.
@SouthsideJohnny - Here’s a balanced take on TUPAC.
Congrats, Amanda, on your NYT debut.
ReplyDeletePlease burn and INURN Rex’s overly negative review. This was one of the best Mondays I’ve seen in a long time. Creative theme and mostly solid fill plus a surprisingly challenging solve for this early in the week. Especially liked UBER MENSCH and PRIDE MONTH.
As I filled in 11D, it occurred to me that June used to be Bride Month until it got GAYER. Had a tough time with LIESL which I would never have gotten without the crosses (those damn von Trapps are always causing trouble). Not a beef eater so CARPACCIO was about as foreign as it could be. Again I thank the crosses for helping me fill in the blanks and learn a new word.
Reply Reply All Forward
@snowmaiden: Sorry, but plugs go into sockets. Don’t know if it ever made into a puzzle, but plugs can also go into jacks (usually in audio tech).
ReplyDeleteBERTIE was lurking in the back of my mind; and although when I see NOHO I think of the one in Manhattan (NOrth of HOuston), these nicknames get copied from city to city, so I figured that was it (had the N from crosses). And, following Br'er Rabbit, I've always spelled the brambly word BRIaR.
ReplyDeleteI do object to MANLY as a synonym for macho, though. To me, the latter means "toxically masculine" or something like that, not manly at all! Little boy-ey, maybe.
As someone (@Gill?) pointed out, "just for the record" is more accurate than "for the record." These are all things that wouldn't be there if you weren't involved in making a record, so the "just" makes it clearer.
By the way, after all the complaints yesterday about a stupid made-up word where STENO was the obvious answer, it was nice to see the latter fully spelled out today!
Sassy kid calls corner drug store: “Do you have Prince AlBERT in a can?”
ReplyDeleteDrug store Clerk: “Yes, we do.”
Sassy kid: “Well, let him out, he can’t breathe!”
Average to fast Monday for me (5:22 -- is it taboo to post your time here?) No particular troubles that crossings couldn't fix, although I definitely didn't know "Kate and ALLIE."
ReplyDeleteAs @the redanman alluded to, OREO is all over the puzzle these days. But I suppose that it will eventually go to crosswordese heaven along with Bambi's mother.
ReplyDeleteNice one! I appreciated the neat and tidy and clever theme: three professions with three different kinds of records + an on-the-nose reveal. And I liked the cosmopolitan combination of UBERMENSCH and CARPACCIO.
ReplyDelete@Tammy:
ReplyDeleteBTW, vinyl records are on track to outsell compact discs for the first time in 33 years, according to CNBC.
be careful in pridefulness. both are tanking in absolute terms; download, streaming, 'sharing' and other Kiddie stuff are winning.
Anil is not a deep blue dye. Anil is a plant from which we derive indigo, which IS a deep blue dye. Editor?
ReplyDeleteI think this puzzle is a good example of how a mini-theme can out-perform the overt, ostensible theme.
ReplyDeleteMANLY BUTT OPERA crossing GAYER, PRIDEMONTH, and UBERMENSCH, with ERECT and PLUG and BOAS thrown in. True, with the exception of PRIDEMONTH, none of these answers is necessarily connected to things LGBT+, (not even GAYER), but taken together they resonate.
That's not just an impressive feat. It led me to think about how other answers might be seen through the same lens, leading me to discover that HUBERT Humphrey famously wrote that the Civil Rights act was not "relevant to the problems of homosexuals." Talk about SNUBS. BAH!
I want to thank this puzzle for making me remember Bertie Higgins, who sang that stupid song "Key Largo" -- We had it all / Just like Bogie and Bacall. Just what I needed on Monday.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of just what I needed, RIP Ric Ocasek. And Eddie Money.
@Roo, Thanks for answering the cheater squares questions. You cited the square before 50A which I had asked about except I used 58D for ID.
ReplyDeleteOther: I liked the old timey MOSEY and the old use of GAY(er).
@Rob Rushing 12:44AM, I would add ERECT to your list.
HUBERT Horatio Humphrey, the "Happy warrior of politics".
@George - a little research will show you that ANIL can be either the plant or the color we get from it.
ReplyDelete@Elizabeth - Nope, posting times is fine. Taking offense at posted times, though, most definitely is taboo.
@Joe Dipinto - One was big in Detroit and the other big in my wayward youth, so a tough week. Shaking like tremelo while wondering how Keith Richards is still with us.
A bit on the challenging side for a Monday. LIESL and CARPACCIO both needed the crosses to go in. I was slow getting BERTIE as I'm not that familiar with the who's who of royals.
ReplyDeleteBERTIE was easy to recognize when it started to take shape as I've seen "The King's Speech." Wrong royal but apparently the same middle name. The "Biographical Names" section of my Webster's tells me that Edward VII is the namesake of the Edwardian Era.
It was nice to get a little more than a Tuesday's worth of puzzling out of a Monday. Part of the reason was doing this one on my phone. That always slows me down but this puzzle would have taken some extra time even on paper. I appreciated the intellectual feel this one had so a nice start to the week.
Edward VII is the royal name. His given name was Albert Edward, hence "Bertie." It's actually a hypocorism, or pet name, rather than a nickname. Something like Honest Abe or Old Ironsides is a nickname.
ReplyDeleteOverall, a decent MonPuz. Theme maybe coulda used a little "more cowbell", somehow (yo, @ m.b. Z). Nice mix of easyish/hardish clues/answers, tho. Gave the puz a little bit of a nice tangy edge.
ReplyDeleteKnew BERTIE, somehow. However, if U turned it around and asked m&e which king was called BERTIE, I'da been pretty useless. Wasn't so ready to write, on LIESL, tho.
Liked that there EGGS = {Early birds?} clue a lot. Humor/feist always welcome.
Lotsa potential moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue candidates, today (yo, @Roo; but, please -- no wagerin). Mosta them fillin-the-blankers were pretty friendly, so kinda hard to single one out. When in doubt, gotta go schlocky, sooo … award goes to: {Assistant to Dr. Frankenstein} = IGOR.
staff weeject pick: TCM. One of M&A's fave cable remote selections. (Now showin: "Sex and the Single Girl".)
Thanx for gangin up on us, Amanda & Ross. And, Congratz to Amanda darlin on her debut.
Masked & Anonymo6Us
**gruntz**
I'm glad the puzzle being 16 columns wide gives me an excuse for going a minute over my Monday average. But most of that extra time was eaten up by silly typos that I had to correct immediately after entering. INeRN, T.S. ELIOn, AaAB, MEeD. BRIaR, not so silly.
ReplyDeleteNOT me before NOT SO. And wondering why Yogi Bear was meditating (d'oh).
I circled the 20A Early birds? clue as cute. With the T in place, I wanted the Christmas purchase that's quickly thrown out to be Tape. I think this was a fine Monday puzzle, thanks Amanda and Ross. And congratulations, Amanda Rafkin, on your NYT debut!
Rupert was actually the first of the real Georg von Trapp's children, (followed by Agathe).
ReplyDelete@chefwen...If you didn't see my facebook post and you still want my recipe for the Mediterranean black olive bread, send me an email. I don't think I have yours.....
ReplyDeleteSorry for using this forum....but you know, we're all friend!
@teedmn
ReplyDeleteactually yogi Berra was meditating but I see how it’s possible to misunderstand the missing understanding
(apologies to memory of Yogi Berra, I’d never assume to match such quips as his)
An ORCA is not a whale. Bugged me no end.
ReplyDeleteUnlike OFL, and like the always intelligent Nancy, Gill I., and davidm, I liked much this puzzle, particularly for a Monday.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if our older European solvers of this puzzle did double-takes when they learned that "most" notebook paper was lined (63A). In my early years, doing research in Italian libraries, I knew to bring my note paper with me (this before the era of computers). Occasionally I would need a note pad, something like a standard 8 1/2 x 11 lined pad, which I would use not for taking manuscript notes but for other purposes. Italians had something close to the size: but finding something lined was really a challenge. One found blank pads or pads that were squared, with both horizontal and vertical lines. Italians loved these squared pads. As children, I learned, they wrote out their letters in precisely the same way in large squares. Each year, if I am not mistaken, the squares became smaller--thus everyone in Italy wrote the same way, in a neat precise hand.
Notebooks too, in the pre-computer days, were purchased at local stationers. For some reason the notebooks in Italy normally had odd cartoon-figures on their covers. In Italian libraries I would see distinguished-looking priests and monks taking notes on fifteenth-century manuscripts, copied onto notebooks covered by Donald Duck or Dylan Dog!
Anon. i.e. Poggius
Hello ANIL my old friend, you've come to help me solve again...
ReplyDeleteTo the critic, a black square that just takes up space without coming between two words is a "cheater square". To the constructor, it's a "helper square". I suspect that to the typical solver it's a "Huh? Who cares?" square.
Look at the lower left corner, for instance. That square to the left of 50A ANIL and above 58D JOB makes that section much easier to fill. Remove that black square and the fill is more challenging. You could change 50A ANIL to BANAL and change 48D from RITA to RATA. But then 58D would become a BJOB. Hmmmm. Some OFFICIAL somewhere might oBJect to that!
There are also a few cheater/helper squares in disguise in the grid. One is at the end of 4D and 41A (Hi @Roo). That final shared S could be change to a black square, the clues slightly tweaked, and nothing of significance would be lost. The grid would JUST show its true colors, so to speak, and have a higher black square count. (In general, the higher the black square count, the easier it is to fill the grid, and vice versa.)
There are two more of those in the grid. If you're working toward your POC merit badge, find those other two, write your answer on a six pack of LaBatt Blue Canadian Pilsener (I'm over 21!) and send it to Anoa Bob, General Delivery, TexMex Land, TXMX, 999666, for full credit.
Anyone else wondering if there are pewit-sized cowbells?
ReplyDelete@M&A also reminded me that TCM was showing crossworld classic Ulee’s Gold as part of their Peter Fonda retrospect.
@JackYoung - Even if a taxonomist would argue that an ORCA is closer to a dolphin than a blue whale, I think we can all agree that a killer whale is a whale for cluing porpoises.
@Anoa Bob - On a puzzle I did recently I was wondering if there is such a thing as a gerund of convenience.
Just wondering...why did Rex choose ANIL as "Word of the Day" if he never wants to see it in a puzzle again? He also trashed its appearance in the 9/6 puzzle.
ReplyDeletep.s.
ReplyDeletePatrick Berry didn't do tons of MonPuzs, but the last one he did (17 Oct 2011) had *six* cheater-squares. Sooo … cheater-squares seem to have more Patrick Berry Usage Immunity than snot. Just sayin.
@(magnificent beast)Z 3:57pm - Interestin question … makes m&e tend to wonder if there are cow/bull-dung-sized pewits, too boot.
M&Also
Loved this one. Lots of newish answers not often found in crosswords (at least in my limited experience).
ReplyDeleteANIL AGAIN O woe while woad withers.
ReplyDeleteThe surprise-ingly good stuff far outweighs the expectedly mildly weak stuff here.
Studio musician is a thing and generally implies non-touring, so, to me, any complaint about STUDIO SINGER, strikes me as a wee weak-kneed nit. The theme holds together quite nicely. The sub-theme is superb. Add PLUG to the sub-theme if you pair it with BUTT? Maybe NOTSO if paired with MANLY, and you are playing to mistaken stereotype?
I would think more people know that BERTIE has some royal family connection than would know what CARPACCIO is. So why like one and criticize the other?
LIESL? I wonder if she cleans toilet bowls.
I better stop before I start thinking of IRON MANLYs.
I found it refreshing to have an entire STENOGRAPHER in a puzzle.
Fun fact: CARPACCIO was named for the 15c Venetian painter, contemporary of Bellini, who used a raw-beefy red, and both drink and dish were invented at Harry's Bar in Venice. We've got a few nice ones by both artists here in DC, and my students tend not to know either foodtuff or painter, but are happy when I bring them to the end-of-term themed potluck.
ReplyDelete@Joe Dipinto 4:21 PM Perhaps, because ANIL is a total gimme for veteran crossworders although they’re quite likely never used the word in their lives? And, nonetheless, a newbie (those Rex might want to encourage into crosswords) would need all the crosses to get it? Did the puzzle in 3 Rexes, unhandicapped. ��
ReplyDeleteMANLY SAGE
ReplyDeleteI’ll CITE the SPECS for beer, SHOOT, my GAVEL’S judicial,
no MEAD on my JOB here, I’M a GUINNESSOFFICIAL.
--- HUBERT “BERTIE” ELIOT
Sometimes OFL can’t see the forest for the TREEs. ‘JUST’FORTHERECORD is far more accurate as a revealer since that’s the *only* reason you’d use any of those themers. But I agree on INURN. BRIER seems incorrect, I had BRIaR. Didn’t write it in, BUTT most notebook paper that I see is *ruled* not LINED.
ReplyDeleteI am a member of the hole INONE club. About 25 years ago.
Back in the 1960s when MN was largely rural, HUBERT Humphrey was actually pro-gun ownership. Can’t be a lefty and say that these days. SHOOT no!
TUPAC was 4 beers short.
Multiple time yeah baby winners RITA and MIRA make encore appearances.
NOTSO tough for mySELF, maybe for noobs.
I'm always looking for the theme trick--the "McGuffin," per @M&A. Usually it splats me in the face; NOTSO today. What earthly reason was there for GUINNESSOFICIAL? Ah, perhaps the triple set of double letters? I kept my eye out.
ReplyDeleteUh, no. Next one was STUDIOSINGER. Again, a strange phrase...maybe they were all simply "strange phrases?" Anyway, the revealer tied it all together and made sense, so that part of the deal was good. The fill was interesting enough to make one think a little, if one didn't know CARPACCIO or BERTIE--which I didn't, but correctly inferred. So yeah, maybe medium-challenging for the day. I do not time, of course, and my "ratings" are not contingent solely on number of minutes needed to finish.
DOD is Paul's charming daughter MIRA Sorvino. Hand up for the EGGS clue: love that stuff. INONE of those EGGS rests today's birdie.
A fine Monday puzzle with three seemingly unconnected themers tied together nicely by a perfect revealer. Two reasons why it's perfect: that phrase is heard more often in the wild than the one without JUST; it accurately answers the question posed in 58A. Bonus points - the theme is one of those clever inventions you rarely see anymore in crossword puzzles.
ReplyDeleteAside from INURN which is starting to attain "oreo" status, the fill was pretty strong, in my opinion. The clue for EGGS is gold.
I don't like the term "cheater square". Instead of accepting such a square as a viable solving asset, it implies something illegal or against the rules, and who really cares about crossword rules?
Nice start to the week.
JUSTFORTHERECORD, it was very easy until getting to that revealer, followed by a nice "aha!". UBERMENSCH helped.
ReplyDeleteRex sounds kind of out-of-it today. Hmm...I wonder why.
ReplyDelete@Vinyl Rewind – regarding “When you can get really good fidelity music on-demand for just about every album there is on an app for your car or home, buying a CD is silly.”
ReplyDeleteBitrate has a direct impact on sound quality.
Popular streaming websites like Spotify and Pandora typically use a bitrate of 160 kbps, which is less than that of MP3s. If you spring for Spotify Premium, you’ll still only have access to 320 kbps tracks, which is equivalent to MP3s. When comparing bitrate, or the amount of data transferred per second, High-Resolution Audio’s bitrate (9,216 kbps) is nearly seven times higher than that of CDs (1,411 kbps) and almost 29 times higher than that of MP3s (320 kbps). And the higher the bitrate, the more accurately the signal is measured.
There’s no question that CDs sound much better than MP3s.
And it’s not “warmth” for buying an LP. Analog kept trying to capture every detail, while digital tried to compress it. Buying an LP is trying to give you the real moment.
I see there was a theme. Must go back and look. Thought it had to do with the "book of records" and the "official."
ReplyDeleteJust so tired today, and it's early.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords