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Classic British rock group/FRI 11-27-20/Pioneering Reggae artist whose name is an exclamation/1000 in the military/Spot removers/Discoveries of Michael Faraday/
Friday, November 27, 2020
Constructor: Robyn Weintraub
Relative difficulty: medium
THEME: nope
Word of the Day: EEK A MOUSE (19A: Pioneering Reggae artist whose name is an exclamation) —
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Eek-A-Mouse began his music career when he was in college, releasing two roots reggae singles under his own name, which were produced by his mathematics tutor, Mr. Dehaney. These early works were influenced by the music of Pablo Moses. He then went on to work for various sound systems over the next few years and also released a few more singles. He adopted the stage name "Eek-A-Mouse" in 1979, taking the name of a racehorse he always bet on; it was a nickname his friends had used for some time. (wikipedia)
• • •
There’s been plenty to criticize in recent NYT crosswords, so I was fired up to start some shit on Rex’s blog while he snoozed away his Thanksgiving feast. But as soon as I saw that it was a Robyn Weintraub puzzle I was pretty certain that I’d be gushing instead. I was not wrong. Robyn is one of my favorite constructors and today’s puzzle is a perfectly enjoyable themeless Friday. If you like this puzzle, be sure to check out The New Yorker’s crosswords. They are a blast to solve and Robyn contributes about once a month. I really, really love those puzzles and wish that they had an app similar to the NYT one. Are you listening, The New Yorker folks? I would pay good money for that subscription!
So, yeah. This puzzle is great. Very little predictable fill with a lot of clever cluing that felt fresh and interesting.
Notable:
- 11D: Common character in The Far Side (ALIEN) was a nice, smart comic strip pairing with 53A: “Bloom County” character whose vocabulary consists mostly of “Thbbft!” and “Ack!” (BILL THE CAT)
- 28D Echo responder (ALEXA). I’m personally sick of all of the Apple references in crosswords this year (IMAC, IPOD, NANO, SIRI, etc), so was happy to see a different FANG product get a little facetime (hehe).
- 5D: 1984 comedy horror film that contributed to the creation of the PG-13 rating (GREMLINS). I did not know this and will gladly drop this fact sometime in the near future.
- 30A: Thanksgiving Preference (LEG) was a bit forced, but I will give it a pass because, well, it IS Thanksgiving.
I had a little bit of trouble with the northeast, with the vague-ish SURE WHY NOT and not-certain-why-it was-so-hard THROWN. Maybe the massive amounts of Thanksgiving carbs and wine had something to do with it. I was not on my game. It reminded me a little of the time a few years ago when I was super jetlagged and fell asleep on my iPad. I woke up to this:
MmmmK. Anyway, on this Thanksgiving the world continues to be upside down, and I am thankful that there will be a more decent human in the White House in less than two months. With any luck, we’ll get this virus under control by spring. Please wear a mask and keep social distancing, and understand that these small sacrifices are at least as much about protecting others as about protecting yourself.
I’m also thankful for the small daily ritual of the NYT crossword and this community.
Thank you Rex for being a voice so many of us love to read (nearly) every day.
Signed, Amy Seidenwurm, Undersecretary of CrossWorld
[Follow me on Twitter and Instagram]
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100 comments:
Loved this puzzle. CARRIES A TORCH, GO-GETTER, and AD BLOCKER are all wonderful answers. What a breath of fresh air!
I liked this one a lot. One of those rare times I enter the last letter and get the happy tune. I usually have to hunt down that one wrong letter. Way under my average time so “easy” rating for me.
Did you know “The Beatles” has the same number of letters as STONEHENGE? My favorite clue/answer. I suppose if you hang around Stonehenge long enough, you might say EEKEAMOUSE!
During the pandemic, I’ve been binge reading Bloom County comics on GoComics.com so BILLTHECAT was a gimme. I fell for the mis-direct of spot removers. I considered “dog catcher” for a while but that didn’t fit since the clue is plural. Also rejected because I'm a dog lover. See the last comment.
I don’t know anything about Michelin travel guides, so I was happy that RADIALTIRE fit and was right. And next door, I learned that a RINGBEARER considered a page – I looked it up. Our page/ringbearer was my two-year-old nephew. The ring was a Woolworth’s special and stitched to a pillow just in case he got sidetracked. The real ring was in my pocket. He’s grown – 55 now, 6 foot 3 and 200 lbs. Also a new grandpa (Hi @Lewis). My how time flies.
Lastly, the latest Smithsonian Magazine has an article about a movement to bring back the native Hawaiian language and the HULASKIRT is part of the article. For us dog lovers, there’s also an interesting cover article about research into a dog’s cognitive abilities. Lots of days, our Sheltie is more cognitive than the humans in the house.
Amy, did you mean Once a Virgin for the Eek a Mouse song?
Blissfullly ignorant of EEK A MOUSE and BANANAS FOSTER until now.
I really have to wonder about the clueing. For FOOL, we end up with "Onetime court figure?" And ENEMY needs to be clued as a partial phrase?
For 39 across, for "Heavenly halo", had --RO-A which just had to be AURORA. One of my favorite words, let alone heavenly phenomena, whether it be borealis or australis.
This was a very fast solve for me. Nice throwback to Bill the Cat. Ack!
Easy. Smooth, solid with a bit of retro sparkle...BILL THE CAT, EEK A MOUSE...both of which were in my wheelhouse. Liked it, or what @Amy said.
***Blatant Fangirling Alert***
And here we have Thanksgiving, Day 2!
The tryptophanning into oblivion had begun when I noticed the byline, and...
Instant BRIO!
Besides, how can you go wrong with The Far Side, BILLTHECAT, and BANANASFOSTER all right there?
I have the vocabulary of a ham sandwich, so all available superlatives have been exhausted trying to describe how much I love Robyn Weintraub Fridays.
But, if a crossword were a sale, RW Fridays could see some trampling going on.
I don't even know what that means, but there - I said it.
It's the SUREWHYNOT approach to writing that is basically my M.O., so it's every man, woman, and child for themselves to attempt interpretation.
Good day and good luck.
🧠🧠🧠
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Love this .
RW is fast becoming a PB (IMHO).
Two writeovers—
MOTE for iOTa and BRIO for elan.
Once they were in
place the solve turned easy.
Loved clue for STONEHENGE while EEK A MOUSE just reeks of possibilities—“ fear of computer accessories”.
Thanks for the AS review and to RW.
Why is bleep a response to an air offensive?
A well-crafted puzzle. CARRIES A TORCH, BANANAS FOSTER: nice and fresh. I liked all the long answers, and I'm hard-pressed to find any fault. I guess we know we're in good hands with Robyn Weintraub.
Time was about average. I didn't know ULTA. I had to mine my mind to extract BILL THE CAT.
Learned that curious fact about harpist's home key which is C FLAT. Music amateur that I am, I'd have to think why that isn't called B (natural). I mean, I can see why C-flat would be part of the key signature of G-flat major (the key opposite to C major in the circle of fifths, which would take 6 flats), but as a name of a key itself... guess I'd better wait for Joe Dipinto or someone of comparable knowledge to clue me in. Something to do specifically with a harp and its tuning?
@TTrimble there is an exhaustive explanation on xwordinfo.com
Yesterday’s puzzle focused on doubles and there’s an echo today, with OK OK, HINT HINT, BRR and SNOW, two contractions/not contractions, two recurring cartoon characters, plus POKER and a backwards IRON. Also, as usual, Robyn doubled my pleasure with a genuine LOL (clue for STONEHENGE) and a throwback that made me smile (BILL THE CAT).
If you’re not familiar with the latter, please Google him. How can you not love a character that looks like that?
DORAL sounds like an exotic name, but it’s actually based on the first names of the original owners, DORA and AL Kaskel.
Robyn made five terrific additions to the NYT answer canon with debuts AD BLOCKERS, BANANAS FOSTER, BILL THE CAT, CARRIES A TORCH, and EEK A MOUSE.
I actually pumped my fist with joy at seeing her name at the top of my empty puzzle (Hi, @frantic!), and it rewarded me with her signature verve and that twinkle in her eye; my Friday is complete practically before it has started. A post-Thanksgiving thank you, Robyn, for this and for bringing light eight times to a year that needed it!
@charles flaster -- Like PB, Robyn focuses on answers/clues over scrabbliness.
When I saw DORAL as an answer, I feared this might be some sort of Trump tribute. Seeing CORONA worried me some more. But the third one confirmed it: This was a Trump tribute. The final proof is 14A.
Third day in a row with under half of average time. Maybe I’m getting faster or maybe the puzzles were easier, which is far more likely. Some interesting wordplay.
Re my question about C FLAT: while I would still enjoy hearing from Joe D., I seem to have gotten some enlightenment from this article, which states, "The pedals work by restraining the top of the string, thus sharpening it. They cannot create flats. Instead, the harp is originally tuned into C-flat major, then every string is sharpened."
So it seems this does have quite a lot to do with the exigencies of the harp itself. Wikipedia observes, "This use of C-flat major in harp parts when the rest of the orchestra is playing in B major is not exceptional: it is standard practice in orchestral music written in B major for harp parts to be notated in C-flat major." But the other article seems to go some distance in explaining why that's so.
I’m reminded of a comment I saw on Twitter that went something like “I get really angry when someone says ‘20 years ago’ and I realize they are talking about 2000 and not 1980 “
A lot to love in this puzzle but I feel like Weintraub sent it to the NYTX because of the strong 80’s/90’s vibe. 80’s performers NENA and EEK-A-MOUSE, GREMLINS, a comic that stopped in 1989, a comic that stopped in 1996, even using a 90’s First Lady to clue NÉE because being “Hillary Rodham Clinton” was a thing that caused some people consternation. This being Weintraub, there’s a lot of modern freshness, too, but this struck me as a more typically NYTX puzzle than a New Yorker puzzle.
My writeovers were iOTa before MOTE, tALc before CALM (mineral hardness or wind - I can never remember which scale is for which) and BANANAfosters before BANANAS FOSTER. I’m undecided about the two “contraction” clues, but since my iPad is constantly trying to “fix” both that was easy. I’m mildly embarrassed that AD BLOCKERS took me so long because I know I’ve seen that clue before. I’m also mildly pleased that RING BEARER didn’t get a Tolkien clue.
Quickie PPP
I’m a little torn on one answer, so the PPP is either 22 or 23 out of 72, either 31% or 32%. Specifically, is the Beaufort Scale PPP? All these various scales are named for people but are they actually “Proper Nouns?” Mohs, Celsius, Richter, et cetera et cetera. I suppose knowing the person would have prevented my tALc mistake... but I wouldn’t normally count other scale related things (kilogram, inches) as PPP. Anyway, highish bordering on excessive.
If you say offensive words on air, they may be BLEEPed in response.
Had APSE/MOTE/Okay/NENA/GREMLINS in place, and could not figure out why the long acrosses were all wonky … STANE____ and especially EEYAM_____. It was not until the entire rest of the grid was filled in that I finally fixed OKAY to OKOK.
Lots of really good stuff today. STONEHENGE, BILL THE CAT, BANANAS FOSTER, GREMLINS, EEK A MOUSE, HULA SKIRT, AD BLOCKERS, RINGBEARER, RADIAL TIRE … this is one of Robyn’s best.
Today’s WoEs: ULTA, IGA, EEK A MOUSE (as clued), OMAR. Crossing that ULTA with MTA was a mite cruel. Initialisms like MTA are wildly unpredictable, If you don’t live in NYC, good luck. BEE/ENTS/ETA seems like a more fair way to resolve that area. Or ULNA/ANNS.
Thank you for adding extraneous political commentary! We all came here to get your personal opinions.
For a minute there I thought the NYT was going to recognize the STONE ROSES. “Not sure I’d put them up there with the Kinks, the Who, the Stones, and the Beatles — but glad that someone else does,” I thought.
Who is PB? Don't assume readers are at your level of constructor knowledge.
Not as excited with this one as others seem to be. Last time I saw BANANAS FOSTER was at my cousins wedding in the 80s - they brought it and the cherries jubilee out aflame with much fanfare. Odd to see it in the puzzle. Liked STONEHENGE, AD BLOCKER and CARRIES A TORCH. Those are all great entries. I don’t read the comics so that slant here fell flat. RADIAL TIRE and TOOL SHED eh. Robyn’s overall cluing is so consistently clean and smooth from puzzle to puzzle.
I spend a lot of time at the beach surfing - in fact I’ll be heading down there soon as it’s going to be sunny and 60 today. There’s an old island dude who i like to talk to who has Eek on his playlist - think Ranking Roger as a more mainstream example of what he does. I’m not sure he was pioneering and definitely questionable whether he is front and center crossword worthy.
Enjoyable Friday solve for the most part - but not one of her best.
It's a bad clue. Trying too hard. One BLEEPs an offensive word in a broadcast (airing).
I'm a big RW fan and today was further evidence of why. Wordplay, thy name is Robyn. New to me was EEKAMOUSE, but how can you not like that? I wonder if people are putting CARRIESATORCH into the "fresh" column. Maybe it's fresh fill, but I haven't heard anyone say it in a very long time. Forgot about the ANTS in Dali paintings, but once I filled them in, well, of course. And if you don't like references to The Far Side and Bloom County, what are you gonna like?
Also somewhat jarring to see RINGBEARER with no mention of Frodo (not forgetting you, Sam).
And someday I'll get ULTA into my easily available crossword vocabulary, but for now I never get it until I finish filling it in and saying--hey, you were going to remember that one! (See also NENA.)
Thanks for an inordinate amount of fun, RW. A Fridazo fer sure.
@anon7:35 -- I am sorry. PB is Patrick Berry, constructor extraordinaire.
Agree with everything you wrote, Amy. Maybe it's an Amy thing.
Also known as the Blue Monster, the full name of the golf course referenced is Trump National Doral Miami. I suppose Shortz chose not to include this lest he trigger the likes of Rex and Amy. Pretty funny.
Liked:
CARRIESATORCH vs OVER-54A, Having moved on from
STONEHENGE, I was FOOLed for too long.
CORONA, good to have a reminder of other meanings
Didn't like:
Make a splash/PLOP. This has come up before. Not really equivalent terms.
35D, Poor clue for HINTHINT
Confused/THROWN, Not great but maybe OK, kinda wonky
Over all a good serviceable Friday with some cleverness and some Ho Hum fill. Much of the praise today seems based on the constructor's identity, a "sin" with which Rex is often charged.
Thank you, Robyn. A gem, as usual. I would have been happy with just the Bill the Cat reference, but as usual, you pored it on. @Z, I had all your initial mistakes. Laptop solving makes me less circumspect about entering iffy answers than if I was the pen and paper guy of yesteryear. Last area to fill for me was the start in the NW. I was worrying that my definition of "classic rock" might not be what many people think of today, but the clue led me into a nice mental review of groups I hadn't thought of for years. I think I'll fire up the ole Spottify later today. Enjoy the weekend, amigos. And nice job, Amy.
@Lewis & @Veteran Commentariat - Somewhat related to my first comment, despite 227 puzzles and debuting 1,842 words and doing the most sublime critique of the pangram, it has now been over two years since the inestimable Patrick Berry has had a NYTX puzzle. Likewise, PB2 (aka Patrick Blindauer) hasn’t been around in over a year. It may feel like PB1 is still around since we see him regularly over at the New Yorker and he contributes to the Sunday Magazine bonus puzzles, but it has been quite awhile.
Want to be amazed those of you who don’t know Patrick Berry? Go to the archive and pull out the 05/19/2012 puzzle and solve it. When you’re done ponder what you see. If you don’t quite see it that’s okay, somebody had to point it out to Rex. So if you don’t quite see it after you’re done go read the Rex blog for that day. Note, too, that Rex also added a comment. Anyway, that puzzle alone puts PB on the Mount Rushmore of Constructors, and yet in many ways it is just typical Berry.
Enjoyed this a lot. I always like references to Star Wars
anonymous 8:36- Partly correct. 59A asked for famed Miami resort. The name of the resort is Trump National Doral Miami and is familiarly known as Doral. The Blue Monster is its signature course.
@Z -- Something I don't hear about Berry, but I believe he is one of the best cluers ever. Whenever I'm researching clues for an answer, his are so often the best of the bunch.
Hey All !
Lots of brain twisty clues today. Dang, had me accessing parts of my ole brain that were like, "Hey, whaddya think your doing? We're sleeping here!" Had to tilt my head to get the thoughts over to where they needed to be. :-P
Have heard of EEKAMOUSE, but forgot about him whilst filling. For a brief moment, had HeyAMOoSE in!! Canadian rapper? That was thanks to OKay, which I couldn't seem to get away from. And deciding twixt APSE and Arch not helping. Nice brain twisty clue on STONEHENGE, which garnered a chuckle once I got it.
IPA for ALE throwing things awry also. Finally decided to change it, and BAM!, puz done.
Sneaky 1000 military clue. I kept thinking, "1000 (one thousand) is 1000, no? I don't remember calling it something else." Aha, 10Hundred hours. Nice.
Happy Day After Eating Too Much Day. Remember, don't feed your GREMLIN after midnight, and don't get it wet! (Cause then you'll be like, "EEK!")
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
@Robyn, many thx for another great Fri. puz.! :)
Had very little luck in the NW / Great Lakes, but got 9D "ad blockers" in NE and made steady progress off the crosses, moving down south and ending up back in the NW. Except for the early mistakes, this was in my wheelhouse and well under av. time, in spite of not knowing three of the long acrosses.
Write-overs: 1D "dome"; 2D "iota"; 4D "Nene"; 9A "anon".
New: "Eek-A-Mouse"; "Bananas Foster"; "Bill the Cat"; "ants" (as clued); "apse" (as clued); "Ulta"; "c flat" (as clued); "Rama" (as clued).
Fav clues/answers: "Stonehenge"; "bleep"; "Magi"; "ale"; "go getter"; "ad blockers"; "sure why not"; "ring bearer"; "tool shed"; "stove"; "snow".
WOTD: "Eak-A-Mouse"
LOTD: "Hindi"
FOTD: "Bananas Foster"
SOTD: Nena - 99 Luftballons (Live 1983)
A bit of humor: Far Side "aliens"
Have eight "Echo" Dots; use four different prompts to activate certain ones ("Alexa", Echo, Amazon, Computer). Inevitably, when FaceTiming, we'll set off one or more of the devices during the chat (good for laughs). Sync music on all eight by using the "everywhere group" function. Hoping Apple will someday provide more options in addition to Siri.
Peace शांति Frieden שָׁלוֹם 🕊
Count me in among the Robyn Weintraub fans! This was a fun, fun puzzle. Despite crafty clues (STONEHENGE hilarious!) and some unfamiliar answers (EEKAMOUSE), I finished in near record Friday time. Somehow time flies when you are having that much fun.
And to satify my debauched side, I enjoyed some blond ALE, a hit of LSD, and capped it off with rum-soaked BANANAS FOSTER.
@ Z 7:13 "but this struck me as a more typically NYTX puzzle than a New Yorker puzzle." Well, yes, it *is* a NYT puz . . . . Not sure what you're getting at, unless it is a subtle putdown of the NYT, HINTHINT.
Among a few certain folks on this blog, rex obviously included, there is a very regular putdown of this puzzle in comparison to the New Yorker, which makes me wonder why they don't just start their own New Yorker blog? Which is when I remind myself that it's rex's blog & he can certainly complain about whatever he wants. It obviously doesn't turn off his acolytes.
I always like RW's puzzles, and STONEHENGE alone was worth the price of admission, but since Star Wars and cartoons are so out of my wheelhouse, this was a bit of a slog for me.
And just curious how many folks had ever heard of EEKAMOUSE prior to today?
@Frantic mmmmm Ham Sandwich.
I had a Belch as response to an air offensive. Good, right?
And I was sure there was a kilt in there, not a skirt. Stuck forever in the SSE, not knowing about the little creatures in the Dali paintings.
Also loved this puzzle because, Golf!
It was about 1/2 my usual Friday time, and I actually timed myself. 39 long minutes and no cheats. Even got up early to try to be able to concentrate, drank 2 cups of coffee and read some Facebook, canceled my Hulu subscription and my Amazon Music subscription to get me primed. I'm on day 40 of my streak and have 60 more days to go, so I will need to focus. Why overpay for those services, when here is free entertainment at all hours!
@Nancy check the Bette Midler monologue in the HBO show, "Coastal Elites.". She says, "Reading the New York Times online is like having sex with a Robot. I mean, it's cleaner and it's faster, but you can tell the difference."
As you know, I try to expose myself every day IRL to something from the puzzle which I never saw or read or used. It's a toss-up today between the Dali paintings and the Ulta makeup.
Did you know Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and Rex share a birthday? Coincidence?
Okay, who's the joker who kidnapped Robyn Weintraub and is holding her captive in the basement while he constructs this proper name, pop culture-riddled puzzle in her name? Surely this can't be Robyn's work -- Robyn, the constructor I very recently called "perhaps my favorite constructor of all".
Robyn's puzzles are always completely free of pop culture and, rather, based on delicious vocabulary and phrases. While this puzzle has some of that to be sure, it also has, in no particular order:
A rock group. A reggae artist. A Star Wars figure. A singer. A character who says "Thbbft!" and "Ack!". Another singer. A comedy horror film. A character in a cartoon. Supermarket initials. A cosmetics chain. Even the BANANA desert is based on an eponym.
So, to the constructor of this puzzle, I say: "Free Robyn ASAP!!!!" You thought you could FOOL us but you can't. As far as this puzzle goes: It was very hard, but not for the right reasons, and I'm amazed I finished it without a single cheat. And meanwhile, the names singers and bands choose for themselves grow ditsier by the day. EEK A MOUSE really takes the cake, with or without an ICER.
Thank you. I went to the archive, found it, solved it, and figured it out. Glad I did.
Just a perfect Friday puzzle. Modern, clever, cool. Even Rex couldn’t hate this one.
I knew EEKAMOUSE prior to today — but only because I worked in a record store way back when.
Very good puzzle. Smart, crisp cluing. Fourteen long entries. Few Terrible Threes. It could have used more sparkle, though.
I think that PB is now concentrating on variety puzzles rather than crosswords. WSJ publishes one of his about once a month on Saturdays. They are truly works of art. His favorite format is Rows Garden, where six-letter words encircle squares forming little flowers. I think that non-subscribers can download them for free.
I'm getting the feeling that STONEHENGE has something to do with This Is Spinal Tap, which I haven't seen. True?
OMG, it's the very misleading clue!!! It's the real STONEHENGE, not a rock group at all!!! At least not the usual kind of rock group!!! (I just found this out on the Wordplay Blog).
And to think: I thought there was a rock group called STONEHENGE. (Well, it makes a lot more sense as a stage moniker than EEK A MOUSE.)
You got me good, Robyn. While there's still too much pop culture for my taste in this puzzle, it takes up a lot less real estate, now that I discover STONEHENGE isn't part of it. STONEHENGE goes in the blink of an eye from annoying me muchly to being one of the very best clues I've ever seen. Mea culpa.
@Nancy, I had the same smack-in-the-forehead reaction about the STONEHENGE clue when I read the write-up by Rex's substitute blogger, Amy. Nice one, whoever wrote that clue.
Just last night, I emailed @Diana, LIW, from Syndiland, telling her about the pumpkin pudding we had for dessert on Thanksgiving. I called it a pumpkin version of BANANAS FOSTER. So that was a gimme with just the BA in place. (And the dessert was delicious, from the NYTimes cooking app.)
OKay at 3D, giving me EEyA at 19A and STaNE at 16A, was one of my fixable errors. Also sENDS at 34A but all is CALM on the Beaufort scale so no harm, no foul. My only nailbiter entry was ULTA crossing MTA. But the A seemed most likely so I did OKOK there.
Thanks Robyn, another nice Friday under your belt.
I very much support those who fell PPP was excessive. And in many cases a bit dated. Perhaps a good example of a puzzle most will either love or hate.
I see the New Yorker crossword extolled here a lot. I do them and frankly find them to be a mixed bag. They’re good grids, no question. But they’re definitely easier than the NYT, with much more straightforward clueing — almost always, the clues mean what they appear to mean — but also more proper nouns, including a few Naticks. The New Yorker labels them “lightly challenging,” “moderately challenging” and “challenging,” but they’re all generally easy, subject to those nouns that sometimes force you to run the alphabet in your head. The hardest ones for me are by Natan Last, who goes heavier than most on proper names and makes a point of being inclusive.
@TTrimble – I knew all the harp strings of the same letter note had to be tuned the same way, but I don't think I knew you could only shift the tuning in one direction, or that C Flat was considered the "home key". So Jim Horne's explanation was informative for me too. Now I'm curious what Harpo Marx did if he didn't use the standard tuning.
(As an aside, "C-Flat" always reminds me of an occasion from many years ago when I used to prepare lead sheets for extra pocket change. A colleague asked me to do one for a song he'd written, which he provided a tape of. The song started in B-Flat Major (key signature of 2 flats) and then modulated up a half step for the last verse. So I inserted a key change there to B Major (5 sharps). When I gave the finished sheet to him, he said he'd wanted the last verse to appear in C Flat Major. I argued that no one writes anything in C Flat Major, which would have 7 flats, i.e. every tone is flatted. But he was adamant. So I had to redo it. I guess the result was ideal if ever a harpist was going to play it!)
Wonderful puzzle at last thanks Robyn and highly recommend New Yorker puzzles too
Very easy. Among my fastest solves ever - - certainly top 20%. Fairly enjoyable but not that much harder than a Wednesday.
Knew the 'Rex' commentary would be praiseful, since the crossword was submitted by....... a woman. Ho hum. But it was worse than I expected because Rex's stand-in is also...... a woman, so the superlatives flowed from her and also from the Rex faithful here in the comments. Very predictable and also very tiresome. A puzzle is a puzzle, not another campaign in Woke War III.
@Nancy: ++
I saw Gremlins (5-Down) when it came out in 1984. I was 15 years old. However, the first PG-13 movie I ever saw was in 1982: Poltergeist. I specifically remember it being rated PG-13 because a) I'd never heard of that rating before and b) more germane, I'd just turned 13 and was feeling very smug that my friends who were still 12 couldn't get into the theater but I could. The internet says the original (1982) Poltergeist was rated PG and the 2014 remake was rated PG-13. The internet is wrong, as is today's puzzle for suggesting Gremlins "contributed to the creation of the PG-13 rating." Nothing like being there....
@Nancy (9:48, 10:19) -- My error-filled solve was parallel to yours, especially in the South. Foolish lAMA led to some sort of KIlT as traditional dancing attire, and I don't know my kilts, or cosmetic companies for that matter. And in the north: spelling out OKay for OKOK gave me STaNEHENGE and EEyMOUSE, and I of a mindset oddly willing to believe both for far too long. I didn't understand the really good STONEHENGE clue until reading your post. It's one of those puzzles where you just look at it and say, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.
I blame it on smoke inhalation from yesterday. Oak and apple logs in the smoker starting at 6:15 and BAM, seven hours later you have a fully cooked turkey. Then a big, pine-driven bonfire last night. Various family came and went, some got take out meals with all the trimmings then came back for the bonfire, others ate at the table on our unheated screen porch, and I sat down to mine in the kitchen at 9:15 when the last had left. For the weirdness of it, it was a great Thanksgiving.
Have to agree with @Nancy that this did not seem like the usual from Robyn W, but that doesn’t change the fact it was still an excellent Friday and one I enjoyed.
I’m a huge fan of The Far Side, but that “character” clue stumped me for a long time. I was thinking mad scientist, goofy looking kid, goofy looking dog, evil cat, talking animals, etc. Had ITS before ILL as a maybe/maybe not contraction and really messed up that whole AREA with AURORA/AFLAT at 39A/D. I’m musically challenged and don’t know a home key from a first-base key but I could listen to a harpist play all day. To me, there are few things more soothing than Clair de Lune on the harp.
@Nancy, I was wondering when someone else would mention the PPP, some of it crossing Natickwise. That being said, there were some fun ones to remember.
For the Harp, calling CFLAT the home key is a little misleading, if technically correct:
The pedal harp has a string for each note in the musical alphabet, and they repeat every eight strings. The C and F strings are colored blue and red as reference points.
Now comes the interesting part: the combined strings for each letter have a pedal with 3 positions each a half step apart. The middle setting puts you in CMAJOR or all naturals and the 3nd position puts you in the sharp position, so C Sharp Major. The top position puts you in CFLAT Major.
It is designed to have the majority of keys easy to get to from the middle C Major position.
I felt like @Nancy with that classic British rock group crossing some singer of a song that I guess is in German. I thought maybe that there was a group called the STONE Pilots, but that was too long (plus they are actually the Stone Temple Pilots, even longer, and from San Diego); so I just went on, and suddenly, looking back up at it, it came to me. Wow! That was a really great clue.
I also appreciated having NORI clued as something other than a wrapper for sushi; and, yeah, BILL THE CAT.
I'm not sure I've ever heard anything by EEK A MOUSE, but his name got into the papers back when Reggae was becoming popular in the US; and the thing about that name is that once you've heard it, you're not going to forget it!
Truly excellent puzzl -- AND I learned something about harp playing!
@Z846am Thanks for the PB puzzle! I got about halfway through just now and remembered! Never forgot how amazed I was at the time.
@Sami 947am Not sure it will help to advance your cause, but I enthusiastically endorse the brilliance of Bette Midler in "Coastal Elites". I actually really liked the whole show, but can see how it might not be everyone's cuppa. Some people just can't get past the "preachiness" fare from the food-for-thought table. (I, myself, enjoy being forced to think because it rarely happens extemporaneously.)
@Nancy 948am Your comment makes me wonder how many of those PPP entries were actually clued by the editorial staff.
And your 1019am Regarding STONEHENGE: I believe it's the "real" STONEHENGE by way of "This is Spinal Tap", the movie. So...still kinda clued like PPP.
Just my unsolicited blather.
Patrick Berry
It crushed me at STONEHENGE and swallowed me at LSD. Great puzzle
Excellent Fri puzz. Robyn is my hands down favorite. Court FOOL reminds of LMS’ recent avatar of level-headed Rudy; Brit rock group, air offensive response, torch toting, moved on from, de-spots, lane and shed outstanding cluing.
I forgot to say thanks Amy for a nice writeup today. I too am thankful for this blog community and for the great crosswords provided to me by talented constructors like Robyn, et al.
@Sami (9:47) ULTA is a cosmetic brand but really more of a beauty supply chain. The local store here offers makeup, skin care and hair care products, accessories, perfumes, etc. in a wide selection of brand-names.
@Joaquin (7:04) Good job catching the drift toward a Trump theme. I couldn’t help think the same thought when I saw 59A. I’d say we could also add BANANAS, BLEEP, TOOL and sooooo OVER to the list.
multi cites here on the innterTubes all agree that PG-13 came to be in 1984 (cute co-incidence, what?). first was GP then PG then further sliced up with PG-13.
@Anon 1048am Not that you asked, but what I find tiresome is someone reducing the well-deserved admiration and respect for Robyn W to the theory that it's because she's...a woman. Oh, and look! You noticed that Rex had...a woman substituting for him today. OHTHEHUGEMANATEE!
I understand that this all must be hair-raisingly vexing to you, but...women do exist and are part of crossworld, whether you like it or not. Deal.
***5/19/2012 Spoiler Alert***
@Z Scrabble celibacy?
Nice pairin of EEKAMOUSE & BILLTHECAT. Also ANTS & HOG. Pop animal culture sub-theme. Like.
staff weeject pick: LEG. Clue sported this week's NYTPUz Thanksgiving acknowledgment. Feel the powerful blast of tryptophan.
Agree with @Nancy part 2: Great STONEHENGE clue.
Solvequest went pretty smoooth, at our house. ULTA was a moment of mystery -- had OLAY there, until HULASKIRT cross-smacked M&A into erasin OLAY pronto.
Thanx for the CAT & MOUSE puzgame, Ms. Weintraub darlin.
Masked & Anonymo3Us
leftovers:
**gruntz**
**gruntz**
***5/19/2012 Spoiler Alert***
@Z & @Frantic
My memory isn't as bad as @Nancy's, but I still had to read @Rex to get it.
Really exceptional.
@Frantic, I'm onto the preachy part of the show - and appreciating the forcing us to laugh at ourselves part of the commentary on liberal elitism. Definitely edgy fare, I'm just enjoying the ride.
@Whatsername two questions. 1) Do you think Ulta beauty pays for the NYTXW advert? 2) Do I seem like the kind of person who has no friends and needs makeup /beauty explained to them? I have Emma Chamberlain, after all, but yes. You more or less have me pegged.
My in-laws spent about 3 Xmas gift go-rounds gifting me Sephora gift cards from their local grocer. And while I do appreciate the HINTHINT thought, I finally had to rudely say OKOK and explain that I can't tolerate the scents of beauty products - nothing in the whole online catalogue is unscented. They just opened an Ulta Beauty store in our town, and I will not be able to go in - the chemical scents affect my hormones.
Which is what I think is happening to Emma Chamberlain, as she complains of terrible period cramps to all who will listen -- after using every scented product that will give her a kickback. Someone higher-up the Youtube chain than I really needs to alert her.
@Joe Dipinto
Thanks for weighing in, and for your story about your colleague and the 7 flats. I'd take B major with its 5 sharps any day over that.
The only instrument I gained familiarity with was the piano, and even that I never tuned myself, so the whole subject of tuning instruments is to me mostly alien territory. So I wouldn't know for instance whether there's some sort of subtle distinction, on say a guitar, between F-sharp major and G-flat major. (I'd suppose there are notational guidelines for picking between them, depending on things like modulation throughout the piece. Or, I guess, one might prefer to go with G-flat in an orchestral setting, based on tuning needs of different instruments.) I think there may have been one time that I played something in one of those keys, but I don't remember what.
Agreed!
Agreed. Gives us lots of room to learn.
The clue for STONEHENGE may be the best clue I've ever seen. And now I'm wondering why there never was a British rock group called Stonehenge.
@Z - Thx for the PB puz link. Will have a go at it now. :)
@Tim Aurthur 1:43 PM - Agreed!
___
Robyn, Jim, Jeff comments at "X-Word Info": here.
Amy Reynaldo comments at "Diary of a Crossword Fiend: here.
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Peace शांति Frieden שָׁלוֹם 🕊
I've struggled in the past with RW puzzles, but this one didn't seem particularly difficult. Usually, PPP bothers me, but in this case I knew most of it, so I wasn't too upset. Maybe that's why I liked this one.
One notable misdirect - a football "BLITZ" instead of "BLEEP". I got suckered in by the leading "BL".
One possible nit: "Ad blocker" refers to software used by people reading online. I've only ever heard "spot" in the context of broadcast ads - e.g. "15 second spot", "McDonald's spot", etc. Does anyone call an online ad a "spot"? "Space", yes, but "spot"?
Bananas Foster is an old timey dessert that use to be prepared table side at fancy restaurants and could be served flaming.
I’m a sailor & put in talc...DOH!
Yes, an “ad” is a “spot” in the business. I fist had Bananas Foster the first time I was in New Orleans. Out of this world. STONEHENGE was great.
Funny!
Well, that was fun! Thanks Robyn!
Agree with others that the clue for Stonehenge was terrific.
Lots of little aha moments, like bleep and adblocker when I finally got it.
Since BANANAS FOSTER is flambéd table side when you order it at Brennan’s in NOLA, you could say the server CARRIES A TORCH to prepare it…
(Sorry, I’ll show myself out…)
@Sami (1:06) Answers to your questions: (1) No don’t think ULTA paid for an ad. (2) No, you don’t seem like a person who has no friends and needs makeup/beauty explained to them. But you did say in your original post at 9:47 that Ulta makeup was something from the puzzle which you “never saw or read or used.” From that statement, I inferred that you are somewhat unfamiliar with it, and the sole purpose of my comment was to simply remark on the general nature of the business. Nothing more, nothing less. I do share your aversion to chemical scents which at times in my past have triggered horrendous migraines, and I certainly empathize with you there.
close: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge_(Richie_Havens_album)
Fun puzzle, featuring one of my favorite desserts, one of my favorite comics characters and one of my favorite groups of rocks. Had "aurora" in place of "corona" for far too long which messed me up plenty, and figured the Michelin clue had something to do with ratings, which did the same, but all eventually fell into place.
I was being subtle?
@Mr. Benson - “...more proper nouns.” It is most definitely not the quantity of proper nouns in New Yorker that is different. The PPP range is equivalent. Never lower than 20%, usually in the high 20’s, occasionally over 30%. I will note that the amount of PPP totally alien to this particular 60 year old white guy is higher in the New Yorker.
@Photomatte - 😂😂😂
@Frantic Sloth - I’m fine with a little scrabble foreplay. No need to go to the extreme.
Also @Frantic Sloth - I hope you realize that Rex only loved that 2012 puzzle because PB is a woman. 🤷🏽♂️
@TTrimble- The only instrument I tune (frequently) is my guitar, which I do with a little gadget that clamps on the headstock and has a needle that indicates when you have exactly the pitch you want. Easy enough. As far as Gflat vs. Fsharp, if these keys are needed in a piece, then it quickly becomes a piece I do not play. In fact, there are not many pieces I play involving any Xsharp or Xflat chords. I'm just an old folk singer. But I would say that if I'm playing piano, which I still do sometimes, I find flats easier to read and play than sharps, and so does my fabulous choral director/pianist, and that's plenty good enough for me.
@Z Thanks for the PB link, and the printing help from yesterday. Loved the puzzle, which was like a Saturday Stumper with way better clues, but missed the trick, which was very cool. I have seen puzzles that did the opposite of this, if you know what I mean, and they're cool too.
@Joaquin 7:04 am. Well spotted!
Z 5:42 - PB is a woman????
Fun, fun, FUN! Just right for the post-feast Friday. My happiness quotient roses any time I see Ms. W’s byline. Perfect way to slide on into the holidays.
I had a bit of trouble with the Thanksgiving dinner preference clue and, as is my family’s won’t for holiday feasts, dropped on biG. And since the H was correct, that little gaffe stayed there for a bit too long. However, when I sussed out LEG, I got a good chuckle and actually think my answer is better.
Hope you all enjoyed the day despite the need to modify. I certainly did. Lots of “zooming”
@BobL- I think it was a joke that missed.
@BobL- Z was smugly implying that people who criticize Rex for his obvious biases don’t believe that he can praise a white guy. Kinda pathetic but there you have it,
I enjoyed this puzzle!
There is now a daily dose, along with some new material, of The Far Side now available online for us diehard fans.
My first impression of the grid was that it looked more like a theme puzzle than a non theme one. It has a theme-puzzle typical 36 black squares, including those four-block long runs in the fifth and eleventh rows. That (and the four cheater squares before 6 Across IGA and 43 Across SELECT and after 22 Across THROWN and 58 Across MTA) results in a large number of three and four letter entries. No matter how much effort is expended to bring a little BRIO to those shorts, inevitably the overall takeaway will be they were DULL.
There were a few nice longer entries but not enough to balance out all those threes and fours, so I have to join the minority and say this wasn't for me.
I did see an unusual two-for-one POC. There are two traditional two-for-one POCs with the S at the end of GREMLIN/LEND and SILL/ANT. But the one that caught my eye was the S at the end of 14D FEUDS. Looks like an ordinary POC at first glance but that same S is also part of CARRIES A TORCH. And that qualifies as a POC, one where the Y of CARRy has been dropped and the IES has been added.
So I'm thinking that makes it another two-for-one POC, albeit a disguised or camouflaged one in this case. It's the first one of this type I recall seeing, so that was a bonus, of sorts.
To all the musicians making comments about sharps and flats today: I can't speak about the harp, but I did take piano lessons. I know there was a key called F-sharp. Wouldn't that be the same key, located in the same spot, as a key for G-flat? I don't remember a G-flat key, actually. I remember A-flat, B-flat and E-flat keys. (I always liked playing in the key of E-flat best of all, though I'm damned if I can say why.)
When you add my total mediocrity at the piano to my lousy memory, it's not surprising that I'm not really sure of what notes were on the piano. But I don't know where you would fit both a G-flat and an F-sharp. They would be congruent. Are they the same key and you call them different names depending on what key the song is being played in? Or are other instruments different from the piano in that they can make fine distinctions that the piano can't? I'll look for your answers tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I'll be headed to bed -- soothed and feeling mellow by just having listened to Clair de Lune on the harp. Thanks, @Whatsername, for the link. Oh, and I agree with you about cosmetics with a smell. I don't have migraines, thankfully, but the only worse thing than smelling perfumes on someone else (you can always walk away and I sometimes do) is smelling them on yourself. I have thrown away more cold creams, suntan lotions and shampoos because of their revolting scents than you can imagine. And lipsticks that you can taste. What a horrible creation. If I want something with taste, I prefer food, thank you very much.
@Nancy – F-sharp/G-flat are the same key on the piano. Each of the black keys goes by two names: C-sharp/D-flat; D-sharp/E-flat; F-sharp/G-flat; G-sharp/A-flat; A-sharp/B-flat. Which one you call it, and how you notate it, can depend on the key you are in, but there may be other factors as well. And that's all I'll say at the moment since it's hard to get into without giving lengthy examples.
The only thing funnier than the stonehenge scene was the "Four Seasons" press conference. Rob Reiner could not have done a better job.
It is the most delicious dessert I have ever eaten, and I am not a huge banana fan.
You're kidding me. There REALLY IS a performer whose name is actually "EEKAMOUSE??" {looks it up} Yeah, there is: SUREWHYNOT? I guess. OKOK, I'll buy it. Not part of a "British rock group," though, I bet. Fantastic clue.
Would you pick anyone other than ARIANA Grande for DOD? NORI, as she was my way in. Besides, this solver CARRIESATORCH for her.
Thus the SW went down fast, and BANANASFOSTER was a superhighway eastward. Just a bit of a delay in the NW, till I had enough for GREMLINS, thus AMONG "others." Was fixated on "do unto" for a while, and wondered if we had a Friday rebus to deal with. Also had OKay instead of the better clue fit OKOK; my lone writeover. Cleaned up in the NE. Never a DULL moment.
This would have been an eagle but for the RMK at 39d. Though not as hard as most Fridays, it's clearly a solid birdie.
Happy New Year, syndicats! Or it will be in twenty days.
Thanks, Robin, for a doable Friday. Altho I did take a break to let my mind regroup.
BANANASFOSTER was a fav ice cream flavor - now I know where it comes from.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords in the New Year
SKIRT ASAP (RAMA RAMA BAM BAM)
OK,OK, so you're BANANAS OVER ARIANA -
you know, she CARRIESATORCH if you let HER -
(HINTHINT) you might BLEEP HER should she wanna,
so SUREWHYNOT you FOOL? GOGETTER!
--- ALEXA FOSTER
Like any football fan, response to an air offense is, of course, BLITZ. Tenam is not one thousand in the military - it's "ten hundred hours".
Otherwise, an enjoyable puzzle by a top creator. Good one!
I guess Robyn has become the Friday puz-meister. Lotsa good stuff today. Only write-over was iOTa before MOTE.
At least they shoved Ilhan OMAR into the more generic Midwest instead of from my STATE. Not sure how much she and AOC are really colleagues. OMAR can't carry AOC's water.
The last softball league I played in had a team named Bloom County, as in today's micro-theme.
I'm no FOOL. ARIANA LENDS HER name to the yeah baby list.
Thumbs up? SUREWHYNOT.
I kid you not. I just about to say exactly the same thing Amy said at the top of her review. But she said it first and now I don’t need to re-STATE it all OVER again. But is a Bravo in order? SUREWHYNOT. Robyn, you are AMONG a SELECT few who are consistently great and this one was no exception. 2020 is OVER. Nice way to start 2021. May it be CALM and DULL. Have a happy one fellow Syndies. TTYL...
What can I say to add to the praise of this one? Nothing. It’s a gem.
Had some help from spouse with BANANASFOSTER and ADBLOCKERS. But was foiled by elan instead of BRIO, and by well>>hell>>>SURE, WHY NOT?, staying with hell.
Did I forget to say this is a gem?
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