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Relative difficulty: Medium (10:07)
THEME: "Report Card" — I don't even know what is happening ... looks like familiar phrases are clued via imagined report card grades:
Theme answers:
- MOTHER SUPERIOR (23A: Parenting: A+)
- BREAKING BAD (35A: Taming wild horses: D-)
- PARKING FINE (49A: Valet skills: B+)
- SCARBOROUGH FAIR (62A: Hosting a morning news show: C+)
- BUCK PASSING (81A: Stuffing tip jars: D)
- WORKING POOR (91A: Employee efficiency: D+)
- BATTING AVERAGE (109A: Baseball skill: C)
- TASTE GREAT (69D: Fashion sense: A)
- SOUNDS GOOD (16D: Stereo quality: B)
Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson, CBE (29 September 1904 – 6 April 1996), was a British-American actress popular during the Second World War, being listed by the Motion Picture Herald as one of America's top-ten box office draws from 1942 to 1946.A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the 1940s, Garson received seven Oscarnominations, including a record-tying five consecutive nominations for acting and all in the Best Actress category (1941–1945), winning the award for Mrs. Miniver (1942). (wikipedia)
• • •
Five things:
- 48D: Luxury car pioneer Henry (ROYCE) — had the "RO-," wrote in ROLLS :/
- 76D: Solomonlike (JUST) — ugh. He's wise. That's his thing. "Wise as Solomon." It's a saying. Here it is, under "Idioms" at thefreedictionary.com. Four letters. Wise. This answer JUST blows.
- 100A: Growing room (ACRE) — still not getting this. Is an ACRE a "room" (as in "space") for growing ... crops? At all. This puzzle's idea of cleverness or wordplay or whatever, oof, you can have it
- 31D: Actress Samantha (EGGAR) — she has no iconic roles. Very much a real actress, but also very much crosswordese. Also, I get her confused with ... what was the name of the "Charles in Charge" / "Baywatch" actress? ... ahhhh, Nicole EGGERT. You all are *welcome* for this public service.
- 103A: 16501-16511 (ERIE, PA) — my nominee for absolute worst clue/answer combo of the year. Like, the Jordan/Pippin, Shaq/Kobe of awful clue/answers. Completely inscrutable numbers that literally no one outside of NW Pennsylvania will recognize (the clue = zip codes, in case that wasn't clear), and then the answer: classic stale city/state abbr. pairing. You never ever see, say, ENIDOK or RENONV or WACOTX, but omg ERIEPA ... The worst. Worst. Worst of the worst. Museum-quality junk.
P.S. 27A: Number of people in an office? (DENTIST) ... "Number" = "One who numbs"; such fun
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I knew Rex would hate this; didn't expect him to HATE it. Me? I kinda liked it as it was more of a challenge than the usual Sunday slog we have gotten of late.
ReplyDeleteUh, wellll...I liked "Porgy and bass". And the clue for DENTIST.
ReplyDeleteHowever...
The theme answers don't conform to a consistent pattern, so even though I got them all I was left scratching my head. You're grading some activities and some characteristics and then... buck? Chuck Scarborough? What is that?
It's late. Time to go lie in my bed and hopefully get some sleep. But first, a selection from Wes Montgomery & his brothers would sound good.
Not Chuck Scarborough, Joe Scarborough - Morning Joe
DeleteThis one should never have been published!!!!!!!
DeleteI’m sorry to say that I have to agree with everything Rex had to say about this Sunday offering. While solving I mentioned to puzzle partner more than once, “Rex’s head is exploding with this one, he is going to rip it from stem to stern.”
ReplyDeleteI look forward to a fun, filled Sunday puzzle that I can dive into and have some fun with, this didn’t quite cut it, for me.
Thanks for explanation on 27A - dentist - which has an abysmal clue. I will be numb from this stupidity for quite awhile.
ReplyDeleteAgree on "number" (27 A) Horrid clue.
DeleteJust noticed the theme clue (while mediocre at best) ending with a grade (A+, D- etc.) directly relevant to the 2nd word in the theme answer.
Ex. A+ = SUPERIOR (23 A), B = GOOD (16 D)
Or am I way off base?
Agree on "number" (27 A). Horrid clue.
DeleteHad an epiphany about the theme clues.
The grade is directly related to the 2nd word in the answer.
e.g (23 A) A+ = SUPERIOR
(16 D) B = GOOD.
Or am I off base?
Not at all, that is exactly what was happening here. I thought that was, well certainly not obvious, but not too tricky. Still, poor cluing and kind of senseless, but there you go.
DeletePerhaps if you had seen The Collector (1965) with Terrence Stamp and Samantha Eggar you would consider her quite memorable.
ReplyDeleteWas it racy?
DeleteTHE BROOD... so good...
DeleteEasy-medium. Some of this worked, some of it not so much. Liked it slightly more than Rex did.
ReplyDeleteAn irrational number. An infinite number. An odd number... Some puzzle somewhere will numb us with all the possibilities here.
ReplyDelete@Joe Dipinto-not Chuck Scarborough, but Joe Scarborough, of "Morning Joe" fame.
ReplyDeleteThoroughly hated every bit of this puzzle. It was neither challenging nor fun---I want at least one, preferably both, on Sunday!
I would not have figured out the DENTIST clue EVER if Rex had not explained it.
ReplyDeleteBut the really unforgivable part was ERIEPA (completely ridiculous clue and answer) crossing a latin phrase (sorry, I don't speak latin), which crosses an obscure bibliographical abbreviation. Making that bottom corner impossible to complete.
Can we use actual English words in our crosswords, please?
With you on DENTIST, but loved ERIEPA. Clue "Nueva York, e.g." should have been "Nueva York, p.e." imho. Got misled a few times, but finished in under 2 hours, so I'm happy.
DeleteJoe Scarborough from Morning Joe on MSNBC not Chuck. I didn't get the Dentist clue at all till Rex explained it. But overall the puzzle was pretty easy.
ReplyDeleteWas about to add that I didn't understand SCARBOROUGH FAIR at all, but MommaJ explained it - thanks. So I will add that I don't live in America, and even if I did, I wouldn't watch morning news shows. Didn't realize that those two things are requirements for doing the NYT crossword. Plus knowing a TV channel that shows old B&W films. Plus all the damn names (are names words? as in crossWORD).
ReplyDeleteOn the plus side, no clues involving The Simpsons.
Delete27 across
ReplyDeleteHow is dentist correct
Rex explained it ... Dentists "numb" their patients, so they're "numbers." Groan.
DeleteLoved “Porgy and bass” and “Number of people...” I also thought the theme had some promise but wasn’t polished. Wasn’t a struggle or a breeze but a normal (yet pretty unremarkable) Sunday for me.
ReplyDeleteI thought the theme concept was very clever, or in RexSpeak "It's not so much that the concept is bad." I've never seen it done before and it was fun to try to figure out theme answers with few letters in. It made me try to come up with more: [Contractor's creation: A], [Coffee bit: B], [Reality bit: A].
ReplyDeleteThe theme was the star of this puzzle, IMO, and it was delivered [Hurler's product: A+].
BUILDING SUPER
GROUND SWELL
ATOM SMASHING
PITCH PERFECT
I was super excited to almost see my name in a crossword puzzle, as I never have before, though I remembered that Canavan spells it with an i not a y. But there were two clues I could not figure out how to make sense of. I'm glad DENTIST was explained here but what is a LATETAG (I'm assuming that's Late Tag and not Latet AG or LA Tetag) and how does it "make srealing pay off"?
ReplyDeleteOh wait. Literally as I'm typing this the thought is dawning .... this is a baseball thing isn't it?
Should have been thinking of sports and not, I don't know, library books or something.
I promised myself never to do a NYT Sunday puzzle again, but there it was, empty. I quit upon completing the north. Ugh! Shame on me for being lured in yet again.
ReplyDeleteKind of sloggish, but I liked it. The theme was fun enough to keep my interest throughout my first non-alcoholic brewski. The last entry was MASSE, which I dimly remembered.
ReplyDeleteI beg to differ with Rex on this one. I found the puzzle so refreshing and the clues so clever that I scrolled up to see who did the puzzle (Randolph Ross) so I could look forward to seeing his name again. Great job, Randolph! Pay no attention to the man behind the blog!
ReplyDeleteI've been laid up in a London hotel the last couple of days with gastroenteritis (thanks, Switzerland, for the food poisoning). So I've been very tired. I was falling asleep while doing this puzzle, so my time was abysmal, but I don't recall having to work especially hard on any parts of it. There was always forward progress.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I think the gastroenteritis was more fun than this puzzle. The cluing was very stale or just off in general. RELEE left a bad taste in my mouth, especially as clued. A clue like, "Traitorous pro-slavery white dude, weirdly initialized" would be much more honest.
Joe Scarborough can also take his supply side economics and get out of my puzzle, but his main crime is being a moron. So can Deepak Chopra for that matter.
Oh, c'mon - RELEE was the perfect solve for "U.S. Grant adversary", considering punctuation conventions. Be thankful it wasn't "WILLIAMTECUMSEHSHERMAN", but that would have required "Hiram Ulysses Grant" for the clue, which would really have pissed ME off.
DeleteI’m with Lewis. They are all types of grades-so I’m not annoyed. I’m impressed that Lewis can come up with 4 themers at 6 am!
ReplyDeleteNice little aha moment with DENTIST and ALTAR.
I also can’t imagine that any of us who read the blog would be irritated by the race, or sex, of the constructor. I wish I had the gene that allows these people to create more than 20 crosswords that would be accepted by the NYT.
Unfun.
ReplyDeleteYes, if the tag by the (baseball) fielder is late, you have successfully stolen a base. To me, that was actually one of the few clever clues in the whole thing. At least it made me groan when I got it.
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I mulled over DENTIST for ages and couldn't figure it out.
Way too much green paint here. We finished but were bored much of the time. About the only fun answers were the theme answers. I particularly liked BREAKING BAD, SCARBOROUGHFAIR, AND BATTINGAVERAGE.
An acre is a piece of land on which crops have room to grow. Just explaining, not saying it's good.
TREAD made me groan, because I kept trying to think of a synonym of Rogaine.
Well, I found it clever and fun. "Dentist" clue outstanding.
ReplyDelete@MommaJ and Todd – oops, thanks, it was late when I posted. Either way it makes no sense to me.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit this demonstrates why I value this blog. Rex's CRIT is spot-on today and I never would have understood some of the answers without coming here. Number? Ugh. That clue belongs in the Ether.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of Morning Joe. But like our Joe I thought it was Chuck. He was the Robert Redford of news anchors. Speaking of Roberts. I put in Rob Reiner for the Lear guy. But Bea Arthur finally appeared. She was another oldie name in this grid. I love Greer Garson (Pride and Prejudice) even if it always looked like she had just taken off her glasses when she acted. And as for EGGAR she did have one "iconic" role, in The Collector. Creepy flick. (I am double-checking that in case it was Elke Sommer.)
Lots of other older stuff: corset, fobs, jocund, Erte, tootin', Eubie, Blass, Cruella, Etc. DINO just about sums it up. I have nothing against trivia but it just seemed that UBERS wasnt enough to bring us into the 21st Century.
If I had to grade this one: Middling.
Once again I feel like I did a different puzzle than Rex and nearly everyone else so far.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was light and breezy with a sense of humor. I had fun with this and feel sorry for all the sourpusses out there.
Quite surprised that more people did not get the dentist answer. The number clue is a very old crossword trick. The answer usually is ether but it has been used for ages.
As an avid TCM watcher both 1D and Greer Garson were gimmes. I recently saw her in Random Harvest and if you are in the mood for a lovely tear-jerker I recommend it.
OK, mostly meh...
ReplyDeleteBut I LOVED 103A: 16501-16511. I was like, huh? -10? When I finally saw it in the grid I really had to smile.
Found this OK once I caught on, but the cluing was a little tortured and the answers grammatically inconsistent, as has been pointed out.
ReplyDeleteHey JoeD.-Really? No bells ringing for "Are You Going to SF? That was actually one of my favorites, along with BATTINGAVERAGE. Baseball and music, there you go.
OK Sunday, some work still needed, IMHO.
Dentist lost me.... number?
ReplyDeleteI finally got it, but ...
From my grandson’s riddle book for kids?
Or a dad joke?
I liked it more than Rex. I believe that’s the textbook illustration of “damning with faint praise.”
ReplyDeleteIt’s “Charles Joseph SCARBOROUGH” so you are actually okay @Joe Dipinto. What is it with “family value” Republicans and their three wives and sleeping with married co-workers? Although, technically, he isn’t a Republican anymore and we don’t know if they were sleeping together while she was still married...
Is EROTI, CA. a place? JOCU, ND? SEAL, IN? AI, DE? CRUEL, LA? DEEP, AK? ATRA, IN? (guessing they make razor blades there) Seems like a potential Sunday theme to me. Yeah, we’ve seen ERIEPA before and it was bad the first time it ever appeared. Don’t give in to the darkside, constructors.
Thanks for explaining DENTIST. Seemed to fit but couldn't figure it out what it had to do with a #. I'll give the clue writer credit there. But yeah, the fill...
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle zipped along for me, quick and easy, unlike yesterday’s endless struggle. I had DENTIST and ERIEPA without the faintest clue why they were correct so I appreciate Rex’s explanations. There is nothing I like less than the dentist, but I think “Number” is pretty clever. Memorizing the US Zip Code locales is even more miserable than the lists of two, three and four letter Scrabble words. I refuse to do either. Wait, I think New England begins with zero...
ReplyDelete@pablo – I consider it beneath me to provide a link for the marquee entry. That's what we hired Rex to do.
ReplyDelete♪If you're going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear sea powers in your hair♪
I suspected that Rex would have both six guns blaring and he did not disappoint (that’s a figure of speech, not a plug for the NRA).
ReplyDeleteIsn’t INCUBI a little racy for early morning fare ?
The thing that spoiled it for me today was the abhorrent number of Proper Nouns:
ERTE ASHE DEEPAK TRUDI (all side-by-side, a quadruple Natick - or perhaps a Boston since they are not crossing) along with GREER ARIE ROYCE RELEE EGGAR GREG BEA ARTHUR CRUELLA AGEE EUBIE BLASS
Give me a break, Please ! I didn’t even count Joe SCARBOROUGH or ERIE PA and I probably missed some as well.
I did appreciate yesterday’s offering, which was antithetical to today’s trivia-laden gunky slog. Sad how quickly they have reverted back to the mean. NYT readers deserve better (at least as good as the WSJ, no ?).
First time I've ever agreed do completely with Rex. If themes have no theme they're not themers, are they!
ReplyDeleteDentist indeed left me scratching my head. And zip codes!! Just, no.
I liked Porgy and bass. That was all.
How is this clever? Please explain it to me. Here, let me demonstrate how easy it is to come up with these things:
ReplyDeleteGRAVITYWELL
MOUNTAINPASS
BELLYFLOP
HALLPASS
STANDARDANDPOOR
STATEFAIR
TACOSUPREME
NEUTRONBOMB
OVERMEDIUM
FOOLSGOLD
FLYINGACE (although I'm not sure of the origins of the word ace in this context, so maybe this one isn't valid)
And my favorite: BULLCRAP
(I was going to stop at ten, but it was so easy I threw in a couple extras, and it's easy to come up with ones that are the other way around too like OKAYCORALL, PERFECTFOURTH, ACESHIGH, GREATSPHINX, etc.)
I also take exception to BATTINGAVERAGE since, sure, it's a thing, but you could put any kind of average in there, and it's not really changing the meaning of the word. So the theme isn't really consistent.
Although I will point out that one of Lewis' themers (PITCH PERFECT) is incorrect since PERFECT doesn't change meaning between the two. In every themer (except BATTINGAVERAGE, which is trying to convince us is changing meaning but doesn't), the last word for the grade has to be used in a different context in the theme. So while I don't think it's very hard to come up with new themers, Lewis didn't quite get there. with that one.
A few errors today - one in the NW where I left in an I, thinking 2D would be bilK. Once I got the surrounding answers filled in, I never reread the clue for CiRSET, oops.
ReplyDeleteThe others are just as ridiculous. 30A was ADIos. I don't know Samantha EGGAR from Adam, so oGlAR was just as good. And I fell into @Nancy-think on 32D. How would I know what letters were assigned to some new model of car - sBgRS worked fine (I had the kitchen appliances as lgS, not GES.)
What I'm surprised at is that I didn't have an error in the east-southeast section. I wanted basErun at 71A but realized 73D had to be viDeO or AUDIO. No idea on ARIE Luyendyk or ____ Garson, though suddenly I was pretty sure it was GREER Garson. Must have had a crosswordese flashback. Still I had to pick away at that section for a bit.
I thought the theme here stood up as clever and entertaining but the fill was [BATTING]AVERAGE. 1A was one of a few clever clue-answer pairs, directing me to look for some sort of vitamin deficiency, and 49D's PEER pressure. I hated the zip code range clue for ERIE, PA and BOCK is not necessarily strong. I drink Shiner BOCK beer regularly - it is on the sweet side and seems to have less alcohol than heavy Budweiser. So I balked at that answer.
One highlight - I knew TRUDI Canavan due to my proclivity of reading science fiction-fantasy, so that made me happy.
Randolph Ross, good job on finding phrases that are real and can be used to "grade" a performance. My favorite was BUCK PASSING - what would constitute SUPERIOR tip jar stuffing? A cartwheel and bow? Greg Louganis could probably pull it off.
I can't find anything wrong with this puzzle. The theme was original and capably executed. There were areas that gave me some trouble and made me work. So why did it seem to go on forever? Why was I so aware that I wasn't Having Fun? Dunno -- I just wasn't.
ReplyDeleteSome pitfalls for me but maybe not for you: LOTtA before LOTSA; ADIos before ADIEU and AguES before ACHES. These I wrote in. I wanted WISE for Solomon, but none of the letters worked, so I didn't write anything in. I got JUST eventually through crosses.
The hardest clue/answer for me was 103A. Those are ERIE PA's zip codes, maybe? If so, that's a lot of zip codes for one city. Maybe it's something else? Must go back, read, and find out.
I guess what I missed in this puzzle was humor. The wordplay is workmanlike -- admirable, even -- but it provides absolutely no chuckles. C+.
URBS! so many URBS! How many does that make in the last week? See also CRIT. I thought I read somewhere that WS tries to keep the overlapping of words too close together from happening...URBS and CRIT stands out far more than typical xwordese (See also ORE...which has been in a lot of puzzles lately). So D- there for our Mr. Shortz.
ReplyDeleteIn defense of ERIEPA...I think that's actually a name for it, whereas those other places Rex mentioned are not "common" names. Come to think of it, PA seems to be a thing added to names of cities there that doesn't happen with any other state. Philadelphia, PA, Pittsburgh, PA...I've heard both referred to with that Pee-Ay at the end of it. So there's that.
The puzzle was too easy to call "challenging," and along with many of the things that Rex pointed out, this puzzle added up to a D-level effort overall for me. It "passed" in that I finished it without quitting in a huff, but barely. It neither pushed or pulled.
Dentist. Awful.
ReplyDeleteWell BREAKING BAD is a little current. I keep staring at CORSET and wondering why it's an old foundation. More like torture chamber.
ReplyDeleteSCARBOROUGH FAIR and BUCK PASSING did not make me JOCUND instead it gave me AGITA. Solomon is WISE and I suppose he was also JUST. He was before my time. Just in case you want to know, he was also a magician.
I liked this just a bit more that OFL but jeez louise, the cluing and answers felt older than dirt. Even that LIE IN IT bed quote has to be circa DINO. Oh, and OCTILE?
Great clue for DENTIST, and a great idea for a theme. Alas, the execution was lacking as about half of the themers did not work for me as clued.
ReplyDeleteI’ve mentioned this before in a different context but the first known written use of AGITA is less than fifty years ago.
Others have mentioned The Collector for Samantha EGGAR (she got an Oscar nomination for that), so I'll throw in Dr. Dolittle - the Rex Harrison original version.
Well, the only good thing about this is that it's over. Honestly I hated every minute. Atleast Rex listed everything that was wrong, so we are all saved some time.
ReplyDeleteI cant agree with calling everyone associated with the Confederacy a "traitor". When approximately half the population of a country is on either side of an issue, with legitimate states rights issues involved, is one side guilty of treason ? Seems like an over-simplification to me.
PS My sister lives in ERIEPA, and I still had no idea until the crosses came in,
ReplyDeleteI was born in ERIEPA and grew up just outside it - zip code 16441. I didn't get it until I had nearly all the crosses either.
DeleteMaybe that's just telling on myself for not being clever but I never dreamed that ZIP codes would be a clue.
I’m a newcomer to puzzle mania. Don’t spoil my fun because some of you “old puz timers” have seen a clue or word used before.
ReplyDeleteI might have gotten DENTIST if I paid attention to the (?). I’m too new at this to notice.the hint.
Xwords Can be fun.... really.
@Teedmn (9:39) refers to BUCK PASSING and asks "What would qualify as SUPERIOR tip jar stuffing?" I think the answer would be along the lines of G-NOTE PASSING -- not that that's a phrase of course.
ReplyDeleteHearty congrats to @GILL and @Quasi for managing to find witty and sparkling things to say about a puzzle that was dreary. Your comments were the high points of my morning so far.
I figured all along that Rex would hate it. But then again, he seems to hate them all.
ReplyDeleteI’m surprised he didn’t go off on a rant about “dartgun.”
@TJS - “ the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance or to kill or personally injure the sovereign or the sovereign's family.” So, yes, every member of the confederacy was a traitor. Trying to explain away treason as a simple disagreement over “states rights” (and let us be clear, the right being fought over was the right to enslave human beings) is an odd bit of historical revisionism.
ReplyDeleteSo the grades are qualifiers in familiar (?) phrases. Mother Superior — the superior part is the A+. Breaking Bad-D- is the bad “ grade”. Got it Rex? Took me until almost completing it to get it. I thought it was clever.
ReplyDeleteThe majority of the blogs are absurd.Randolph Ross has always been an excellent constructor, still is . The high pitched complaints about the number and zip code entries are very childish at best. Its a crossword! its supposed to be full of tricks and misdirects.How anyone can get so worked up about answers that don't come to them right away is beyond me.
ReplyDeleteEasy. Fast solve.
ReplyDeleteI loved this puzzle, clever clueing, fun theme and plenty of wordplay. Decent amount of tussle yet only a couple of Naticks for me in the end. I was stunned that it would incite such a venomous rant from Rex. Cue JOHN X...
ReplyDeleteSure, I expected there might be a comment about Samantha Eggar being so last century, but his overall reaction seemed way out of proportion. @anonymous, loved The Collector too, thanks for the long ago memory! I’m sure my date was watching Samatha the whole time because all the guys thought she was hot.
I got a kick out of the zip code clue, I figured they were zips so I just waited for the nearby fill to clue me in. I’m a newbie, I never lived near Erie, PA, so it seems perfectly fair.
Speaking of fair, that’s what I had before WISE.
DENTIST: also didn’t get this until I saw the blog, Touché! I give it a grade of A
THOROfare: never saw this spelling before
Tremendous variety in today’s reactions, but that’s what makes for a lively blog.
Rex needs some serious anger management sessions. So the puzzle was too easy but also clever. DENTIST is a classic misdirection, much preferable to trivial pursuit stuff. Ok I got it only with the crosswords but it still gave me an aha moment.
ReplyDeleteI still chuckle over Past due? TRE, Italian for fhree, due is two.
Can anyone explain the "alternative to a Maxwell" as REO to me? Old automobiles?
ReplyDeleteYup. Now that you're done with the puzzle, you can Google it.
DeleteWhen I was in Junior High I wrote to many movie stars asking for an autographed picture. I wrote to Greer Garson and told her I wanted to be an actor and asked for advice.
ReplyDeleteI received a picture (no advice) of her lying, half naked, on a white fur rug. It blew my young mind. Didn't expect that from "Mrs. Miniver".
@Z - As a resident of Workingpo, OR (it's a suburb of Mothersuperi, OR) I must say I enjoyed your take/puzzle idea. Good one!
ReplyDeleteWhy does putting a BUCK in a tip jar rate only a “D”? Every time I see a tip jar it’s mostly full of coins and not bills so it seems that many people just tip the loose change they get from the cashier. I always tip at least a dollar depending on the price of the item I’m buying; however, I’m not tipping more than that for a cup o’ joe that cost only $3.95. I certainly hope that doesn’t make me cheap.
ReplyDelete@ Gill I: Ladies’ undergarments that had an effect on the woman’s figure were called (and may be still are) foundation garments.
I thought this puzzle was super easy as I was able to fill in answers (e.g. SCARBOROUGH FAIR and DENTIST) because I recognized the words and without having any idea why the answers were correct. After a while, I didn’t care why the answers were correct.
The clue says the "grade" for stuffing tip jars is D. So the person being graded is passing [on], ie, forgoing, on putting a buck in the tip jar. I liked it!
DeleteIf the northern states had kept the southern states from selling their cotton to England, for example, that would have been a pretty outrageous violation of states rights.
ReplyDeleteBut putting up ever so slight obstacles to the enslaving of human beings (like not allowing the Fugitive Slave Act to be enforced - it's not as though the north was trying to end slavery, much as that would have been a decent goal), that doesn't really qualify as a states rights defense.
And the North didn't even start military action until the South took over a legitimately established federal institution, Fort Sumter. It's not as though the North was stationing 100,000 soldiers there.
The South started the war because they feared what Lincoln might do, ignoring that they had enough Senators to prevent any adverse constitutional amendment. It would be like the blue states starting a civil war in early 2017 because they feared Trump.
Rex - “room to grow” as in space to grow. Hence, acreage. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteOK, so this comment is sans reading the existing, but...
ReplyDeleteOFL can be too, too jejune by half. the theme/clue relation is dirt simple: the first word of the clue corresponds to the first word of the answer, and ditto the second. the bi-word answer is a common phrase. that's it. period. GAD!!!
I had to read the blog to get an explanation for ERIEPA.
ReplyDeleteAre you friggin’ kidding me? This is easily the worst clue/answer combo ever. Easily. It reminds me of the time they gave Total Recall (the original) the Oscar for best special effects ahead of time because it was pointless to pretend it wasn’t going to win.
Hated the puzzle. Loved "Porgy and Bass."
ReplyDelete@David:
ReplyDeleteOld automobiles?
YES
For all those debating what the Civil War was all about, just read up Bleeding Kansas. tldr; the Civil War started in 1854, in reality. Just few are willing to admit it.
Good morning, dear. Do you always wake up this happy? Absolutely sputtered my coffee over your technical difficulties tirade. I get a kick out of you treating the NYTX as if it were the Magna Carta? Christ, Rex, its a fucking puzzle. No one is going to die (except for a few blown-up heads). Love ya to pieces, though,
ReplyDeletePeace/Out
Man you are harsh on these puzzles. I have seen worse clues in the last few weeks so I will take this one; I am just happy that I can get through some of the recent Sunday puzzles in less than an hour.
ReplyDeleteI liked this puzzle. ERIE, PA is the reason why.
ReplyDeleteStart with the clue: those numbers are probably a zip codes. But the only zip codes that define us as Americans begin with 10- (NYC) and 20- (Washington, DC). The rest of the country is just sort of out there for no real reason, and their zip codes underscore the fact. ERGO, these 16-er zips are a Saturday-level misdirect, still partying come Sunday morning when the good and wide-eyed congregate in the fellowship of their choice. Here, a crossword puzzle.
When a still-going-Saturday (such as the 103A clue) shows up on Sunday morning, I was taught at an early age to ignore the incongruity, pity what brought them to this point, give them your cloak, etc. So it was a mere application of deeply held muscle memory to let the zip codes be what they are and concentrate instead on the not-too-tough crosses. And of course it worked right away, in all of its shaggy-dog radiance: ERIE, PA.
Welcome ERIE, PA -- you ever-returning punching-bag of a place name, you symbol of crosswordese scorned and ridiculed though no fault of your own. You didn't ask for this. You just wanted someplace warm, and this puzzle seemed as good as any. Welcome -- take your place here among the "good" answers. I quietly but sincerely say that you are more worthy than they of the coffee and donuts later, which I must now tend to.
Also, the themers executed their humble tasks just fine.
I think that this is a failure Sunday. Too much weird stuff here. SCARBOROUGH, BUCKPASSING. BOCK, ROOK, MCAN. So many others. How is an uncivil greeting a BOO? Is BOO a greeting?
ReplyDelete@Nancy, aw, you made me blush a bit. And smile, which reminds me that I wonder if "jocond" was a sly nod to that most infamous smiley face, Mona Lisa, aka "la Joconde"? Tie in with the new da Vinci show at the Louvre honoring the 500th anniversary of his death, perhaps?
ReplyDeleteRex really nailed this one... the PPP quotient seems to get higher by the week... ugh!
ReplyDeleteCan someone explain the DENTIST answer? We reverse solved that but no idea how it matches the clue. Thanks
ReplyDeleteSunPuz satisfactory. Theme cool. Fill fairenough. U-count primo.
ReplyDeletestaff weeject pick: VID. Random wrong Roman numeral.
fave clue: DENTIST one. Had some serious bite to it. Was like pullin teeth, to figure it out.
fave Ow de Speration: URBS. ONEAS. ERIEPA.
fave entry: LIEINIT. [Shouldn't it be LAYINIT? -- Where's @Muse darlin?]
Almost everything long is a themer, until U whittle stuff down to them two 8-longers ADAPTSTO & FIRETRAP. And yet, only a 134-word puzgrid. Verrry interestin. Downright puzzlin.
Thanx ... and congratz on yer SunPuz #50, Mr. Ross. Has the grades.
Masked & Anonymo13Us
illustrated runt - DownHome solvin option recommended:
**gruntz**
Just one big face-palm of a puzzle. Yecch. Although as a TCM fan, I was happy to see two of the screen’s loveliest actresses included. Samantha EGGAR forever has a place in my heart for her role in “Doctor Dolittle” (the good 1967 version with Rex Harrison). And I get misty just thinking about GREER Garson in “Mrs. Miniver.” But even those two couldn’t redeem this one for me.
ReplyDelete‘
"But remember crossword puzzles are entertainment, not to be taken that seriously, just a diversion from the real problems we all face living in a sometimes unfair and irrational world." -- Words of wisdom from today's constructor Randolph Ross.
ReplyDeleteDarn TOOTIN I liked this puzzle much more than Rex--maybe because it wasn't overwhelmed by sports clues--though, of course, a few caused me to GRIEVE. But then I have TUDE about sports in general because my BATTING AVERAGE for naming players and coaches and teams is about zero. Oh well, on that END NOTE, I say ADIEU.
ReplyDeleteRe my 10:13 comment: I meant C NOTE, of course :)
ReplyDeletePut me in the camp of those few who actually enjoyed this puzzle. It’s no surprise to me that Rex hated it, as he hates about 96 or 97% of all NY Times puzzles. What surprised me was his level of vitriol. He states twice in his review “...don’t get me started on...“ and then goes ahead and gets started on (the topic). I can’t help but wonder what other things in his life spur him to this same level of apoplexy if something so innocuous as a crossword puzzle manages to do it pretty much every day. Perhaps he should read some of Annabel’s criticisms, which get her point across while maintaining a reasonable level of civilized discourse..
ReplyDeleteI thought the theme was lightly clever, reasonably good entertainment for a Sunday. Yes, there were misdirects. What a surprise. Yes, some of the themers were inconsistent with each other. So what? I thought the clue for ERIEPA was a little unfair. So what? It was a nice effort by a veteran constructor, and there wasn’t really anything wrong with this puzzle.
Finally, OFL has an internal rule, often referenced in his reviews, about not using certain words and names because he deems them somehow offensive. Thus I find it somewhat hypocritical of him to indirectly imply a veiled accusation of racism in the crossword acceptance and payment scheme of The NY Times.
Thank you for explaining "dentist" - my head was about to explode. I agree with you about the clues, although they didn't anger me. For some unknown reason, I figured out most of them, which always makes me happy!
ReplyDeleteOh yes - I got most of the themers, so I liked those a lot.
ReplyDeleteA pretty typical Sunday, part dad humor part crosswordese fest. I don't mind the latter. There's little point in knowing this stuff if you can't put it in a puzzle.
ReplyDeleteFrom the comments today it really looks like this one got under our host's skin. Excellent.
Hi M&A-Since LMS is in hiding, I'll say that LIEINIT is the one you want if you're going to bed, and LAYINIT is what you would do if you were a chicken with an egg.
ReplyDeleteJOED.-Right you are, of course. Should have known. I sang "If You're Going to San Francisco" once at an assisted living place, because I like the melody and it fits my range, and got no reaction at all. First and last time for that one.
Even when the crosses gave me the answer I could not fathom the why of it.
ReplyDeleteThis is the other David. The one who knows his Reos from his Maxwells.
ReplyDeleteI also like seeing Greer Garson and Bea Arthur here, and have no problem with Latin or the languages which stem from it making an appearance now and again.
There is a bit too much dreck today, but the silly theme worked okay for me. Is "urbs" used anywhere outside of crossword puzzles?
Hand up for wise before just, I also had "Tastes fine" before "Taste great," which seems to be missing an ess. Also didn't get "Late tag" for a while and never got "Dentist" until I came here.
I have a friend who used to have a seafood store in Pittsburgh, PA called Porgy and Bass. It's pretty much a groaner, but fun. And now we know Erie has 10 postal delivery areas.
I'm with Susie Q. The 'number' misdirect is one of the oldest tricks in the book and I'm stunned by the number of people perplexed by this.
ReplyDeleteIt’s a bad puzzle when the first stuff you get is all the crosswordese because it’s crosswordese. As for the theme, let’s just call it bad puns on grade names and have done with it. And for some reason I thnk this grid should have “less filling” in it. Can’t imagine why.
ReplyDeleteI have been playing the NYT xword puzzle for five years. This is the worst Sunday puzzle that I have encountered.
ReplyDeleteRex is deliberately obtuse about the theme. I bet almost every solver understood it easily.
ReplyDeleteHank you for explaing dentist.
ReplyDeleteDENTIST - brilliant! Sometimes the curveballs break sharp, be ready for them. Just because you couldn't figure it out doesnt mean its a bad clue. at all.
ReplyDeleteWell, my head didn’t explode like Rex’s, but I did have a kitten here and there. I also had ROLLS and WISE and had to slog around the other clues surrounding DENTIST (??? - I needed the explanation for that one) and ERIEPA (WTUtterF??)
ReplyDeleteThe theme was relatively easy to follow despite being inconsistent and just plain sloppy. Blech. Disappointing to say the least.
TASTE GREAT?
ReplyDeleteThe puzzle had its moments. I liked discovering MOTHERSUPERIOR & BREAKINGBAD), and loved the DENTIST and FISH clues (though it seems "Porgy and bass" has been in the Times twice before and other puzzles at least a half dozen other times). But disappointing that the theme answers belong to no coherent set. (The first two had me geared up for all pop culture titles, but it was not to be.)
Surprised no one has commented on TASTE GREAT. Whaaa? I know "TASTEs GREAT" (particularly as the the group who _might_ say NOTUS about the "LESS FILLING" crowd) but what is "taste great"?
Is it singular verb + adverb as in "It's tough finding gluten-free cakes that taste great?"
Or noun + (attributive) noun as in "Alexander McQueen was a taste great?"
taste great...taste great...what is that?
I'm going with verb + Proper noun = "If you lick Jay Gatsby, you'll taste Great."
What am I missing?
Rex is sometimes stupid. I believe he did not get the theme at all. That said, there was much to criticize about it. When I got BREAKINGBAD I said to myself, "Oh Goody! All the answers will be about movies, as well as the obvious theme. Which is, "common two-word phrases where the second word is an assessment corresponding to the letter grade given."
ReplyDeleteThe failure to have a movie subtheme, or anything like it, is what makes this puzzle a bit of a failure. That and the excess of Crosswordese, such as ERTE. Can Mr ERTE just go off to a well-earned retirement now, Will?
Plus the puzzle was, for me at least, a total slog. Most Sundays are but last week and I think the week before we got something brilliant.
Raising my hand for not getting the NUMBING Dad joke until coming here.
@Joe Dipinto
ReplyDeleteThanks for the LOL!
I bet Scott McKenzie is spinning with laughter.
DENTIST best clue in a while.
ReplyDeleteThe rest: awful.
Hey All !
ReplyDeleteNo one has grokked what the theme did. Well, one of you did.
@Dragoncat 10:23.
The answers corresponded to the letter grades, ala
SUPERIOR had the A+, because that's a SUPERIOR grade,
BAD got the D-, because that's a bad grade.
FINE got B+, because that's a fine grade.
See it yet? That's what the theme was going for, which is why some answers are wonky to the clues. The answers had to incorporate the specific grade it was assigned.
FAIR got a C+,
PASSING got a D,
POOR got a D+,
AVERAGE got a C,
GOOD got a B,
GREAT got an A.
Got it?
ON IT, ON UP, LIE IN IT. Har.
GES, GTE.
RECOUP the comments :-)
RooMonster
DarrinV
The whole puzzle is drek. A slog for me.
ReplyDeleteI missed the whole southeast despite getting the theme.
ReplyDeleteThe pay scale policies of the New York Times does not interest me.
I’m not SOLOMAN so I try never to judge people based on race or politics.
Thank you for explaining 'number.'
I had forgotten about Thom Mcan shoes.
Boy, you could sure sense that a teacher constructed this.
Lost me at Eriepa. It eventually filled in, but until reading your post, I didn’t understand it. Erie ... zip codes ... yuck!
ReplyDeleteLIEINIT is correct.
ReplyDelete@anon/3:15
ReplyDeleteThe clue says the "grade" for stuffing tip jars is D.
No,it doesn't. The clue says:
BUCK PASSING (81A: Stuffing tip jars: D)
Stuffing tip jars == a BUCK
D == just barely PASSING grade
And all other clues are the same. Some kvetch that all the answer are not of the same genre; I find that diversity a good thing.
@Dorothy Biggs, As a lifetime PA resident (born in Reading, PA, and that’s how we say it), you’re right, we were using “Pa.” before the post office gave us PA. Some people wrote Penna. on envelopes, but I never liked that. I worked for the “Phone company” in the 70’s-80’s when it was Bell of Pennyslvania and some called it the Italian company: Bella P-A. It hadn’t really occurred to me that most other states don’t do this. So your comment made me smile.
ReplyDelete@John Hoffman, I read “BOO” as a greeting for a baseball player (for example) that the crowd doesn’t like. Again, being a Phillies fan, where it’s said that we booed Santa Claus. Which is true.
@GILL – Yes, TASTE GREAT but then SOUNDS GOOD. I read both as verb-adverb combinations. But those two answers really should have agreed in number. More inconsistency.
ReplyDelete@RooMonster – I'm pretty sure everyone got that the letter grade was supposed to correspond to the second word in each answer. That wasn't the issue.
Just for the record, ENIDOK, RENONV and WACOTX are all in the Cruciverb database as answers. ERIEPA has been in 12 puzzles in 16 years of Will Shortz-edited puzzles. I didn't like the clue in this case and I'm not real fond of the answer either, but it's not like ERIEPA is a regular occurrence.
ReplyDelete"I don't even know what's happening?" Really, Rex? Come on. You're the self-proclaimed "Greatest Crossword Solver in the Universe (when I co-solve with my wife)". This theme wasn't rocket science and it's a crossword puzzle. Surely, you can allow a little artistic license. I wouldn't nominate this one for Puzzle of the Year either, but it was totally solvable and relative easy at that. This is a pastime, not a Pulitzer/Nobel Prize nomination.
The BUCK PASSING finally made sense to me when I thought of stuffing in the clue as a noun, not a verb. As in pillow stuffing. The stuff a tip jar can be stuffed with might be BUCKs.
ReplyDeleteMaybe everyone else already got this, but it took me reading the blog and all the comments for it to percolate through.
Another thanks to Rex for explaining the DENTIST clue. I was proud to figure out the ERIE, PA clue all by myself (after getting the answer from crosses) since I've always lived out here where zip codes start with 8 or 9.
Glad Rex was restrained in responding to what many agree was a rather meh solve. I agree mostly that “ GTE LIEINIT ETSEQ crossing ESQ ONUP ONEAS” doesn’t have much potential for that AHA!! That we all seek. DENTIST at least got a groan as did LATE TAG. I can’t get too excited over ERIE PA when I’ve written down NOLA innumerable times. Agree as usual with @Nancy’s post....I hope that means that B+ minds think alike. I do aspire to Lewis’s Zen master, A-level response to a flawed puzzle/universe, but alas that may require reincarnation. Sunday remains a slog, but good, bad or ugly, any puzzle is better than no puzzle. Thanks to @RooMonster for a clear theme interpretation; I had GROKKED the general idea, but not in “fullness” as his post clearly delineated.
ReplyDeleteRooMonster @ 3:11:
ReplyDeleteYeah, we know all what the theme did. That's plainly obvious to all. We just aren't that impressed by it. Rex was complaining about the fact that the themers don't relate to the clues in any consistent way. E.g. MOTHERSUPERIOR is Parenting: A+, but mother is a person and parenting is an act. Whereas Taming wild horses: D- gives us BREAKINGBAD where the clue and the answer are parallel. If the clues and answers were consistent, you'd expect it to be MOTHERingSUPERIOR.
@Joe Dipinto
ReplyDeleteI still liked it. :-)
I was also originally from PA, if anyone cares.
RooMonster Passing Through Guy
Sorry, Rex— with the exception of the deep southeast, I liked it! Although I did feel dumber after finally figuring out number!
ReplyDeleteI like this one a lot. See TELVO 7:16, LEWIS 6:17, SUZIEQ 8:24 and BROOKBOY 12:35 for my comments (all very positive). All the "problems" were resolved by crosses and resulted in aha moments for the most part. I'll admit being 75 helped in several places.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I don't get: Some folks complain about clues being too easy and more misdirect/cleverness is needed. Then complain when they don't understand the misdirects. As someone said, "It's a puzzle for chrissakes" and is supposed to be puzzling.
And I thought it was easy not medium. A record time Sunday for me (and close to record entertainment as well).
Well i personally really like clever clues and just don't get why short words with common letters are so bad. So i liked it a lot. Just didn't relate to the review.
ReplyDeleteThe continuing discussion about the theme clue/answer is simple. In logic/math the ':' is used to denote analogies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colon_(punctuation)#Mathematics_and_logic
ReplyDeleteThis form is also used in tests of logic where the question of "Dog is to Puppy as Cat is to _____?" can be expressed as "Dog:Puppy::Cat:_____".
I figured they were zip codes but seriously?
ReplyDeleteTHE. WORST.
Just finished the Sun. LATimes. Tougher and better.
ReplyDeleteThe worst puzzle ever! Ugh. Not terribly difficult, just plain numb, err, dumb.
ReplyDeleteMuch easier than the average Sunday. THEME answers were fun to get. All of them consistent except maybe the 's' on the first word. Liked the clues for NEST DENTIST ERIE, the last cause any relatively new rare or hard to get clue for an answer containing ERIE is good. How could Rex not see the obvious answers? The themes, that is. Average applied to a skill, is not the same as an average derived from a math computation. One might be 400. The other is never 400 hundred. That rant was worse than OFL's. Dislike it for being too easy, too many names, skewing too old if you want. Seems silly to me.
ReplyDeleteDo you not know Greer Eggers etc. Were the crosses unfair? You do not know QED? Used all the time. Less of a slog than the average Sunday. More humor too.
OK, rant over. Got carried away on a rant too late to be read. Did not solve earlier due to a queasy reaction to my second shingles shot. Love what you love, hate what you hate, but most of what you are complaining about is in 75% of the puzzles here, especially on Sundays, IMO.
Mostly agreed with Rex. The themes were destroyed by BUCK PASSING and TASTE GREAT.
ReplyDeleteNever ever heard URBS. Never heard of ARIE or TRUDI or MAGUS and wtf is BOCK? Dentist was cringeworthy. Thought ERIEPA was a new girls name. Did get a kick from SCARBOROUGH FAIR although that was a more than kind rating for him.
Have a nice week Rex!
I am a dentist, and didn't see the pun with anesthetic delivery. Went with dentist cuz it fit.
ReplyDeleteMy grade for this puzzle......
ReplyDeleteWordsfail.
I TORE through this like RELEE's adversary through Richmond. Not much to say, it was, let's say, "WORKINGPOOR." GREER Garson doubles as WOD and DOD. I'm still in a good mood, so give it a par.
ReplyDeleteLate comer....DNF forgot to correct 60d crossed with 76 a....otherwise a fun puzzle Dec 1. Blizzard has started....travel already precarious
ReplyDeleteNORISK IDEA?
ReplyDeleteTo the WORKINGPOOR IN the MIDST of the 'hood
BREAKINGBAD ORE PASSINGBUCKS SOUNDSGOOD.
--- ROYCE EGGAR-BLASS
Her eyes were green, her hair was auburn, and her dress was vivid red - yeah baby Samantha EGGAR used to shill for RCA ColorTrak TVs. So did Cicely Tyson, so RCA was not using nobodies.
ReplyDeleteI figured Solomonlike was 'wise' until some JOCUND EROTICA helped out JUST in time.
Compared to LOTSA Sundays, I thought this MOTHERSUPERIOR.
Don't know how a coupla you guys are posting, but your non-sequiturs are hard for the rest of us to follow.
ReplyDeletebest Sunday in recent memory, for me.
ReplyDeleteI agree with @Rondo on the "wise" answer at first. And that some posters should realize that these posts don't necessarily go in the order you respond to them.
rain, rain, rain - well, it could be ice and snow.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
This was a garbage puzzle with ridiculous clues. Got all the long ones except 62A . and Erie PA ? wow I could not get that corner plus almost the dead middle of the grid. 60A etc. I am so glad Rex, that you hated it too. The fun house mirror effect was awful.
ReplyDeleteAnyway greetings from upstate NY- and a foot of new snow this morning. Live near Utica. The snow belt.