Relative difficulty: Challenging (high 3s ... it is oversized, but still)
THEME: HANDY-DANDY (64A: *Very convenient ... or, when read in six parts, a hit to the answers to the starred clues) — all themers are two-part answers, where first part starts H, ends Y, and thens second part starts D, ends Y, so ... H *and* Y, D *and* Y ...
Theme answers:
HOWDY DOODY (18A: *Classic TV show starring a cowboy puppet)
HUMPTY DUMPTY (40A: *Nursery rhyme character seen in Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass")
HEAVY DUTY (11D: *Industrial-strength)
HUNKY DORY (35D: *Peachy-keen)
Word of the Day: PEDWAY (33A: Path between buildings) —
Pedways are elevated or underground walkways, often connecting urban high-rises to each other, other buildings, or the street. They provide quick and comfortable movement from building to building, away from traffic and inclement weather. Two of the largest networks of underground walkways are located in Canada. RÉSO in Montreal and PATH in Toronto each consist of approximately 30 km of underground walkways in the heart of their respective city centres. (wikipedia)
• • •
Well I guess I should just be happy the puzzle did not try to get cute with some election-themed nonsense. But this felt off to me, in a bunch of ways. First, "read in six parts" ... first, that's a big ask, and second, it doesn't really explain what's happening here. The main problem is that "AND" does not work. AND doesn't tell indicate H (or D) at the *front* and Y at the *back*... it's just AND. The word "hyena" has an H AND a Y, but it wouldn't work as a word in a theme phrase because what is going on (the relationships between the letters) Is Much More Specific Than Mere "And" Indicates. There's also (ironically?) an "and" (or some kind of connecting thought) missing between H AND Y and (!) D AND Y. In short, I can piece it all together, I see what you are trying to do, but that revealer phrase simply fails to express the exact nature of the theme. It's off. It misses. Clank. And a 16-wide clank at that. The other main issue I had was that it didn't feel like a Tuesday, fill-wise, in the sense that it's exceedingly rare that I won't have heard of three (3) answers in a Tuesday puzzle, but PORKIE MONOGYNY and PEDWAY, all new to me. All inferrable, ultimately, but they all slowed me down like crazy. Is PEDWAY a Canadian term? I know skyways (from Minneapolis, and (related) the Replacements song), and I've been in underground pedestrian tunnels in NYC, and I guess those are technically PEDWAYs, but seriously this is not a word I can remember ever seeing or hearing. MONOGYNY seems like a fine word, I just couldn't piece together root words fast enough to get it without crosses. Lastly, "Designer dog" is a grotesque concept. Please never use that phrase again. It's a dog. Also, why name the Pomeranian in the clue but *not* the Yorkie????????? (45A: Designer dog that crosses a Pomeranian and terrier). That clue is just f'd up in too many ways.
Had LOO instead of LAV, which crossed PEDWAY, so that was awful (28D: Washroom, in Worcester). Nothing much else to say, except I've never, literally never, never ever, seen a TEAR in an emoticon (71A: The apostrophe in :'-() Not once. Not a solitary time. Legit thought it was a nose. Like ... Nose 2, I guess. No idea. Awful clue.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. I see we're still doing Morse Code ... DIT ... [deep sigh] ... please stop (65D: E, in Morse code)
If PEDWAY is a Canadianism it’s a regional one at that. I’m from western Canada and I’ve never heard of it. In Winnipeg we called them skywalks and maybe walkways for the underground portions. We had lots of them and I’ve never so much as heard the word before.
I did ok, except that I spelled Geico with a k and couldn’t figure out what I had wrong for a long time at the end. Geiko looked right while porkie and monogyny and pedway didn’t
Puzzle was fine, but especially loved that it caused Rex to post "Skyway" which I hadn't listened to in forever but which brought me back to my first year of living out in the world after college and listened to that album incessantly. All the feels. Thanks.
We were one of the first on the block to get a TV and I remember waving goodbye to my Dad as he left for work, thumb firmly implanted in my mouth, four fingers waving as I watched Howdy Doody. I can still sing that silly song.
This brought back so many fun memories with its whimsical answers, I just had to love it. Thank you Amanda and Karl.
Wow a lot of Ys tonight. I object to 5 down, it should be SIDLED UP TO.
Just want to send a big wish from Canada, to our American friends, best luck tomorrow. Sincerely, there is nothing much at stake here, except for western democracy. In my lifetime the USA has, for better or worse, been its best hope. It is now hanging by a thread. Good luck to you all!
I rarely disagree with Rex this much. First, the revealer didn’t clank as hard for me. H AND Y, D AND Y. That implied comma does all the work of Rex’s missing “and.” And, sure, some smart ass might point out that “hyena” works, but why so literal? To me, that’s a nit not a clank.
I sorta kinda agree with Rex about “designer dog,” but I insist on using it ironically for creatures like my Zeke and Lu.
Huh? My top hit when I enter PEDWAY into the google machine is for Chicago’s famous PEDWAY. What? If it’s so famous why have I never heard of it? I’ve been in Toronto’s and Cincinnati’s (now dismantled? Why?), but can’t recall either of them being called a PEDWAY. Cincinnati’s was the Skywalk. So familiar with the concept but not the term. Hence needing all the crosses.
Anyway - Liked the puzzle quite a bit for a Tuesday. Felt pretty average Tuesday difficulty wise. Not overly fond of starting with an esey POC nor am I fond of the POC STLYI. Nothing else caused my nose to wrinkle, though. And HUNKY DORY reminds me of the timely Changes: I watch the ripples change their size But never leave the stream of warm impermanence and So the days float through my eyes But still the days seem the same And these children that you spit on As they try to change their worlds Are immune to your consultations They're quite aware of what they're going through
Off for my ~14 hour shift as a poll worker. My county has already exceeded the 2016 turnout, so not expecting big numbers. Be well. Be safe. Be kind to one another. Vote.
Have to agree it's "Take it down a notch" or "Tone it down". Take, tamp, tune, finally TONE. Also tripped up trying to see what was going on with that extra D in Handy Andy.
And yes, what @Z said. Would just add 'Get your flu shot'. Very much hoping that today brings out the best in all of us in the US.
Although this puzzle had a lot of bad cluing and a stupid theme, the emoji clue alone was adequate to earn this mess 2 thumbs down. I think I'll do the LAT CW to get the taste out of my brain.
@Z, question. I saw that 64% of Americans are registered to vote. Is that 64% of eligible? Or of all? And is turnout expressed as % of registered, % of eligible? Was just wondering if that number meant that the top possible turnout is 64%.
I thought this puzzle was fun, the emoticon recognizably popular, and the theme must have revealed itself to the constructors as a big Hey Look! It was a cute Aha for me.
Liked this more than Rex - I thought it was pretty straightforward and a smooth solve. Thought at first there was some homophone thing going on with DOODY and DUTY - but HUMPTY DUMPTY cleared that up. Didn’t like the additional D in HANDY - but the revealer worked.
I know alternate spellings and all but I’ve only ever seen CHANTEY spelled shanty - either way I liked it. PEDWAYs are common in upstate NY and Canada - surprised Rex was not familiar with with them. Most are workmanlike tunnels between buildings that offer passage during the winter - no real architectural feats. SUNY Buffalo has them - I would think Binghamton does also. The Brooklyn Bridge also has a much filmed ped walkway.
Learned that the BISON is our national mammal and ISRAEL uses kosher stamp glue.
Nice start to a cold Tuesday. Good luck @Z - hopefully all goes well today.
I actually really liked this one. The only issue for me was the PORKIE. I know about pedways (we have them here in Chicago), I have seen emoticons with tears. I'm familiar with monogyny (and the word parts pretty much give it away, anyway). I only got the Proust title character SWANN from crosses, but those were not bad. And I actually LIKED the revealer - I thought it was pretty clever.
Overall, an enjoyable, medium Tuesday. Now I just hope the rest of the day doesn't go to hell...
Whizzed through this one. Saw the theme unfolding, but didn’t really need it. I was an Intermediate Speed Radio Operator in the Army, but I was schooled on huge radios and didn’t know Morse code. I still passed a proficiency exam and had extra pay each month.
Got a couple of themers early and was pretty sure the revealer was going to be something to do with "In HD", but the actual one was way more clever than that and did not cause me exceeding distress, as it seems to have for OFL. There'll be more than enough stress to go around today without adding crossword answers to the mix.
Liked this just fine, learned some new terms (see OFL) and some fun stuff. "Designer dogs" makes me think of Martin Mull and his description of them as "those little SOB's that wear a sweater". I have heard CHANTEY pronounced with an initial SH sound or a CH sound and I'm never sure which one is right.
Nice Tuesdecito with a little crunch, so thanks for that AC and KN. Now to spend the day watching returns and chewing fingernails.
Seoul, South Korea has a vast PEDWAY, though I wouldn't have called it that.
HARRISON as clued is easily my favorite answer. William Henry H. of "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" fame died in office, so the "Tyler too" part turned out true. Benjamin H. defeated Grover Cleveland's bid for re-election, then lost to Cleveland when he tried for a second term.
This was ok, but felt like the "NotNow"'s poor relative. Mr Shortz should have left more time between these two.
As for today's second main event, I would like to pay tribute to an enlightened presidential candidate who once explained his vision for this country:
"I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that's the America millions of Americans believe in. That's the America I love."
I was thinking this morning how OFL has been on a good roll for a while now. On the negative side, but at least fair or consistent and pointing out interesting things in the puzzle. Then today's blog, where every complaint is about something he didn't know or slowed him down, or the ridiculously narrow definition of H and Y that the phrase has to let you know exactly where they are in the words. One is at the beginning and the other at the end, how much more explicit do you need? I agree it didn't need the whole 6 part clue, just hint that it is the revealer and let us figure it out.
I enjoyed the forest of Y's today, perhaps YEWS guys did too. (Still a dad)
Mini recent theme of designer dogs and clues that require you to break into several parts. "Designer dog" is not my favorite phrase, but it is a little precious to object that much at this point. All dogs as we know them have been "designed" by humans and don't exist or survive in the wild without human interaction unless they are still wolves. That CAT is out of the bag.
On this topic, Freakonomics episode 436 has a fascinating interview with dog cognitive scientist Alexandra Horowitz, author of "Inside of a Dog".
I don't get why rex had so much trouble deciphering the "Read in six parts" clue for the theme; that seemed pretty straightforward & made sense. There's a certain irony that BISON is our national mammal, given that we essentially wiped them off the face of the earth. Thumbs up to CHANTEY. Thumbs down to EMO (does/did anyone really listen to it?); OGRE; IDO. But I get it.
Fingers crossed for a happy tomorrow. Turnout is high; Biden is more likeable than Hilary; and folks see what four years of Trump look like. On paper this should be a no-brainer. And yet . . . . I feel nervous. Like many of you. So kudos to the constructors for taking my mind briefly off of the rest of the world.
Just a quick shout out for The Replacements and “Skyway”, one of my favorite songs of theirs. I also love “Answering Machine” (a what now?) and “Nevermind” (before Nirvana could play instruments).
Fun theme. Rex, you are really nitpicking this one. Should the revealer be exactly precise? it might as well say "two-word phrases where the first word begins with H and ends with Y and the second word begins with D and ends with Y." No. H AND Y D AND Y works perfectly well.
I've also never seen a tear in an emoji, but I like it!
@chuckD SUNY Albany also has a huge system of underground tunnels, but we just called them the underground tunnels. During my time in the freezing cold at SUNY Binghamton,no one mentioned any tunnels between buildings. I needed those as everything is very spread out. A memory I have of those days is that at SUNY Binghamton is the only time in my life that it was so cold that the snot inside my nose froze up.
burtonkd: On Mondays and Tuesdays new solvers pretty much have to be hand fed. (That's not a criticism, just expressing awareness that early week puzzles have to be fairly simple and encouraging for new solvers.) That concept somewhat undermines what you say about the revealer. I would like to see two sets of clues: one for the new solvers and one for the "experts." That's been done before, even in the NYT. Hopefully that would keep everybody happy. At least about the clues.
At the end of the write there's the request "please stop." I suppose one can point that request back at Mr. Sharp but I would point it at so many things in this country right now. Is this election going to result in any change in attitude? Certainly not about the NYT crossword puzzle.
Very impressive to have such density of theme and with the answers running both Across and Down. And it's a very clean, junk-free puzzle as well. Nicely done.
As with NOT NOW, I failed to parse the revealer and didn't see the embedded "AND"s until I came here. And so I was wondering why any particular H/D answer was any more of a revealer than any of the others. I am SO unobservant!
Like others, I've never heard of a PEDWAY. In NYC, we have sidewalks -- often between buildings if they look sidewalk-y enough. If they don't, we might call them "paths".
This seems to be the week for doggie portmanteaus. Yesterday it was...oh, right, no spoilers! -- but you can read the blog and my poem if you missed it. Today, it's PORKIE, which is not a [you-know-what]. But why would anyone cross a Pomeranian and a Yorkie? The result sounds really, really yappy. A dog you wouldn't want in the apartment next door. I'll stick with yesterday's delightful breed.
I'm an eastern Canadian and PEDWAY is a term unknown to me, but I don't live in either Montréal or Toronto. I learned something new with CHANTEY. I always thought it was sea shanty, and apparently chanty is also an acceptable variation.
I'm looking south today. My wish for you and the world -- a White House guided by integrity and its synonyms: honesty, honor, probity.
Reminded me of my mom, who worked as an election judge for many years! She often used the phrase TONE it down a notch (4 kids, what else could she say) and she had a Mazda, not a MIATA, but still ahead of her time. So, fun memories...
Crossing two non-English languages (Latin and Yiddish) seems unfair for a Tuesday, especially since they’re both tied into religions. Thought it was YENTA but I also thought it was DAI, so I was flip-flopping between an A and an E. At least I learned something for next time.
Have to disagree with Rex on two things: 1. I wouldn’t rate this puzzle as “Challenging”. 2. It was a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle. Thank you Amanda and Karl.
At Humpty Dumpty I thought of a prediction . From there Howdy Doody Porkie Meanie Ego Idiotic Radon 🤡😜🤡 Humpty Dumpty sat on a WALL Humpty Dumpty had a great fall All the KINGs horses and all the kings men/capos couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again. 🙏🏽✌🏼🙏🏽 ✌🏼❤️✌🏼
@Nancy - when you look up you’ll occasionally see skyways between buildings - those are technically PEDWAYs. Beautiful examples at Columbia, Hunter and a bunch downtown. One of the oldest and my favorite is the old Gimbel’s skyway on W32nd.
It's HOWDY DOODY time With uncle Frankenstein.....
What do you get when you cross a pig and a Christmas tree? A PORKIE-pine.
Don't get me started on HUMPTY DUMPTY
Do you think our HANDY DANDY leader might come back as a devout practicer of MONOGYNY? I think they die trying.
Did anyone else have GLOOMY instead of GRAYER? I did but I didn't care. This was fun I think this was swell for Tuesday and I learned some new words. I'm not clever poetically like our @Nancy is but there's some good stuff here. I like that you can re-lick a stamp from Israel and feel kosher about it. That IMP does a u-turn to SIMP and that PEDWAY does a u-turn to PEDWAY and that BISON also does a u-turn to SON. Cool beans.
It was very nice to have this (as @chefwen said) whimsical theme to bring smiles this morning - an inspired array of phrases and reveal. Do-overs: TakE, GUineA; no icea: PORKIE; moment of shame: HAm...before HARRISON; cross to ponder: ALIMONY x MONOGYNY.
@burtonkd (8:41)-- I just spent an interesting and engaging 45 minutes listening to the "Inside of a Dog" podcast. Thanks for the tip.
@Chuck D. (9:54) -- Oh, so that's what a NYC PEDWAY is! I've walked under the one at Hunter College often -- usually en route to Bloomingdale's or to Cinemas 1,2,3. Going to my dentist -- also on 60th, but on Madison Avenue -- I usually opt to walk through Central Park, even though it's a bit out of the way.
@Giovanni: A memory I have of those days is that at SUNY Binghamton is the only time in my life that it was so cold that the snot inside my nose froze up.
yeah, well, if you'd had real gonads you'd have gone to school in Potsdam. nuthin but sidewalks, when I was there, and the Clarkson dorms were on the other side of the river from the school buildings. I got a ride to a diner up in Messina (or someplace) on a December night. for some reason very bumpy???? turned out the tires had contracted from the cold and flat-spotted. that's cold.
I don't live in NYC, but have spent time there over the decades. many of the cross-line stations aren't all that cross, so have long-ish 'tunnels' betwixt the platforms. in the olden days, we just called them public urinals. :)
I saw Challenging and thought, “Hmmm . . . Trump and Biden both have five letters. You don't suppose it’s a reprise of a classic?” Alas, no. I didn’t find it challenging, Everything flowed for me, non-stop. Unlike Rex, I thought the revealer clue was right on the money. I also looked at the emoticon and immediately knew it was a TEAR. What else?
@CDilly52 - Ah, yes, the Peanut Gallery. I won a coloring contest (Silver Cup bread was the sponsor, if memory serves) and got to shake hands with the great Buffalo Bob at a show in my hometown! Clarabell, Princess SSWF - yup, the whole gang. I noticed some resentment from the other kids - they probably didn’t like losing to a 19 year old. (Rim shot. I was 4-ish.)
God bless America. May today lead to the result that our Nation needs so badly.
Nice hippy-dippy TuesPuz. Had a word of mystery (at our house) in each quadrant of the grid: CHANTEY. PEDWAY. PORKIE. MONOGYNY. All endin with that somehow-familiar "ee" sound. They kept the solvequest interestin -- but since they were widely separated, they didn't pigout on all the nanoseconds.
Thought the puztheme's H AND Y, D AND Y revealer was just fine. Could be that M&A is slightly easier to please than @RP is, tho.
staff weeject picks: The ECO EGO EMO triO. No weeject stacks today, but some mighty attractive weeject "designer" nooks, at least.
When does a dog cross-breed officially cross over into MUTTedness? Can U have AKC-legit 3-way crosses? PORKIEWIENERDOG? M&A wants that.
Thanx for gangin up on us, Amanda darlin & Karl dude. I'd give it 3.5 ClaraBell honks.
I've been misspelling chantey for ever apparently, google has the sh spelling as shack. For chantey lovers I recommend Fisherman's Friend on netflix. It's Doc Martin with music.
Nice Tuesday which I did not find at all challenging. The revealer was confusing and not helpful but really not needed for the solve either. I thought the theme answers were cute and evoked some fond memories for those of a certain age. ;-)
How appropriate to feature past Presidents on election day, ten of whom shared the same last name with another. Currently the count stands at two HARRISON, two Adams, two Roosevelt, two Johnson, two Bush. And one IDIOTIC.
So under the rules of MONOGYNY the male only gets one mate but the females can shop around? All in all, not a bad system.
May not have noticed the "YD" part of the themers without the reveal. No prob sussing the reveal; used syllable clapping to get the six parts. Five parts could have worked, as well, e.g., "H and YD and Y". Perspective, again. :)
@chefwen 1:30 AM
Pretty much the same here. I'd stare at the "test pattern" before the show. Good memories! :)
@Ellen C 8:06 AM - I assume you're talking to me 🤔 If not, no harm, no foul. 😊
Presidents mnemonic - I've adapted it by changing the words, and using groups of 10, 10, and 12. My first 10 are: "George And Jeff Made Money And Jack Vanished Harry's Tie". I have no problem remembering the final 13 without help.
@jberg 9:56 AM
Fond memories of Groucho and bros. What a wit! I'll vote for dogs and books, too. 😉
♪ That clinking, clanking, clunking sound It makes the Times's puzzle go 'round... ♪
Clank. @Rex is correct, clank is what the revealer does. OWD, OOD, UMPT, UNK, OR, EAV and UT are to be perceived as substitutes for AND? That's your "theme"?
I loved the revealer today. I wish I had a brain that worked like that seeing weird stuff in words. My brain tends to see patterns in numbers instead. My gym locker combination is all prime numbers! Maybe I'll remember it even though I haven't used it since the first week of March.
Having gotten answers with “doody,” “duty,” and “dumpty” as my first three, I was worried that the puzzle would have a scatological theme. I was relieved (so to speak; “relieve” was also in the puzzle) that it did not.
p.s. Well ok, I reckon not all 4 of my words of mystery actually end with an "ee" sound. But if they don't, the rest of em at least have that -y finale letter.
Heard tell on the news that Trump has suddenly sorta full-filled his "build the wall" 2016 campaign promise. They now have a new big, non-scalable wall built all around the White House. They no doubt are forwardin the bill for payment on to Mexico, later today.
Thelr 400-person White House election party tonight *was*, evidently, scalable, tho. It is currently scaled down to 250 -- further reductions are anticipated, due to some older guests not maybe bein able to BYOL (bring yer own ladder).
Funny how HYATT is included in the grid, given the theme.
Overall, I found it pretty easy, but the revealer seems too similar to last Thursday's, albeit in service of a different type of theme.
With 13 Ys -- ten theme-related (none overlapping) and three others, one might imagine the fill would suffer, but it doesn't. Only SONYS got the side-EYE from me, and MONOGYNY is fantastic.
SWANN for me can only ever be the sublime Lynn, but that's old-time sports-guy stuff, so I get why it's clued as it is.
I chuckled at the ISRAEL clue.
Overall, good work from the constructors -- I just wish Will had run it farther away from last Thursday.
@Nancy - we must think alike. I spend most of my time downtown but go out of my way every chance I get to walk thru the park. I’ve traipsed around it for years now and still amazed every time at the scope and magnitude of it - my current favorite being the view entering thru Engineers Gate.
Kind of surprised that no one has commented on the strange synergy today between the Crossword and Spelling Bee. (Unless I missed a comment.)
I also thought Rex was picking nits today on the theme. At first I thought Handy Dandy was basically just another themer disguised as a revealer, but when I saw the H AND Y D AND Y, I thought it was extremely clever. No clank at all for me, more like a pleasant chime.
I have a stack of printed WaPo Sunday puzzles for tonight. I will have the TV on but need a distraction from focusing on every possible clue that our four-year nightmare is coming to an end. Or God forbid, the opposite.
I kind of tried to parse the revealer as H AN[D] DY D AN[D]DY but that only worked for HOWDY DOODY and HANDY DANDY. Guess I'll have to go along with H and Y D and Y, which is still a great find with the revealer fitting the theme also. Cool.
PED WAY is the only Rex complaint I could have gone along with, as an unknown (see "skyway" in Minneapolis - I can play the Replacements song on the guitar).
Amand and Karl, thanks again for an entertaining puzzle.
I'm off to vote now, in person. My husband says there was no waiting at our precinct polling place.
I just need to say I was so relieved when I got the rest of the themers because the first two I got were HOWDYDOODY and HEAVYDUTY and I thought, "No, WS. Don't you dare do this trite, toilet humor nonsense to us again." Was very relieved when that didn't come true.
Wow. I would not have called this challenging. Maybe easy-medium, but not challenging to me for a Tuesday. I'm surprised that Rex is rating it as challenging. On the other hand, I paid no attention to the theme and just worked through the puzzle. Maybe had I been trying to piece together the the theme I would have been more frustrated.
Chip Hilton: One has to assume you are looking for change, which would mean you are looking for an administration change. Problem is, if tens of millions vote to sustain what is current, what does that say about racism, misogynism etc. in this country. While who controls the administration is important, equally important to me is the attitude of those who vote. I must admit to not having a positive attitude with that in mind. Would it be that you could convince me otherwise.
Don't pay much attention (unless aiding the solve) to the themes until post solve analysis. Imo, it's like watching a movie and then the dvd extras. The movie was enjoyable with or without the extras, but the extras usually add some extra sparkle to the overall experience.
Those who are still working on today's SB may want to avoid the comment below in response to @Wanderlust 12:46 PM - BTW, the reason SB ALERTS are very seldom seen any longer is that most SBers are heeding the call of the commentariat to back off and/or "tone it down a notch" (or two). :)
@Wanderlust 12:46 PM
The lack of comments re: today's SB, may be due to potential "spoilage" 🤔 😉
Got a chuckle over the phrase “designer dog” because I owned one. A friend of mine breeds Rottweilers for law enforcement work and also occasionally takes in police dogs that need some remedial training. One year (1987) he had a pure German shepherd boarding who accidentally found himself in sufficient proximity to a young female Rottie in heat and nature took its course. Bill found himself the less than proud “papa” of six pups of mixed breed all of which were cute as they could be, but as mixed breed were not going to be able to be registered and wouldn’t do anything for Bill’s business.
Dear friend Bill however has always been a complete sucker for animals and everyone knew he would would do all he could to make certain the pups had good homes. But boy oh boy were they going to be big dogs.
We got suckered. My daughter was just 8 at the time and had been out to see Bill’s dogs many times. Kate was over the moon with the pups (as Bill knew she would be), and she and Bill’s daughter were in charge of caring for the pups. They doted on all of them and helped folks choose which to take home when they were finally old enough to be weaned.
The runt had health problems and was finally the only one left. And she had absolutely bonded to Kate, who kept her wrapped in a towel and on her lap a great deal of the time she was at the farm.
One afternoon, Kate bounded in the door waving a piece of paper and Shouting “She’s well enough! She’s well enough!” The paper was a note from Bill and the vet. “The last pup is healthy and ready for adoption. We dare you to say no to that sweet girl.”
So we found a box, and Kate and her dad loaded back into car and went to pick up the beast. When they came in the house, I swear Kate was walking on air and had happy rainbows, unicorns and flowers shooting out of her head.
Dad got them to settle down so we could talk about rules and training and feeding and toilet training and whose responsibility accidents were going to be. Nothing dampened Kate’s spirits.
Dad says “what shall we name her!” Kate looks at him like he is speaking a foreign tongue. Dad repeats himself. “She needs a name.“ Kate finally gives one of those kid-stares that says “For the people who are supposed to know things, you sure are dumb,” and says “She has a name, it’s Wellenough. She’s Wellenough!” We changed the spelling to Welinuf and called her Wellie.
One day late in 4th grade Kate wanted to take Wellie for Show and Tell. She had a friend who bred Golden Doodles and Kate was jealous of her friend’s very valuable dogs, and of the breed’s popularity.
Kate and Wellie had a very impressive scrapbook that showed Wellie from birth on and chronicled all their crazy activities and antics - and costumes. It made a wonderful display for school.
Show and tell went very well, and Kate returned from school that day absolutely triumphant. She told her Dad that she would have an important announcement at dinner. And so she did.
After supper, she went to her room and came back with a school pocket folder with a picture of Wellie on the front. Inside? A homemade “Certificate of Registration” complete with a big gold star sticker on the bottom with some curly ribbon hanging off the edge. She said that Wellie now had “papers” and she was going to advertise to sell her new dogs. She had a draft newspaper ad and announced that her breed would be way better than Becky’s Doodles. She proudly read her ad:
For sale soon. First ever ROTTMAN SHEPWEILER puppies, $1,000 each.
She was crushed to learn that Wellie couldn’t have pups, having been spayed long before she came to us. But we told everyone from that day forward that we had the ultimate designer breed, the Rottman Shepweiler. A couple years later Kate had started studying Latin and one day commented that she had “discovered Wellie’s breed defined in a veterinary dog book as “shepweilus accidentus.” And now you can see with clarity what a wacky, story-loving, wordy family I have.
I thought it was pretty tough for a Tuesday, but maybe that's because I put in "hideaways" before HIDEAWAY. Also had to scratch my brain for MONOGYNY, a term I easily would have put in 60 years ago.
CHANTEYS are, I always think, shanties sung by lumbermen, probably dating to the birth of the timber industry in Canada -- the French for "sing" is chantez, easily changed to chantey. But that is a debate that hundreds have taken part in. A sea shanty (same origin no doubt) is what sailors sing. The short ones were sung while working on deck, turning capstans or hauling sails. The longer, more storytelling ones were sung by sailors in their off time (barring an emergency, sailors worked 12 hour shifts, switching over at 4:00. They "went below" to sleep in their hammocks, but of course had 4 hours or so to eat, sing, and sometimes dance.
What a delightful story, @CDilly52, and how wonderfully you tell it. I'm absolutely bowled over by your daughter's sparkling imagination, initiative, humor (Wellenough is so funny!) and an intelligence that seems to go well beyond her years. I predict she'll be wildly successful at anything she decides to do, whether it's as a veterinarian or as President of the United States. You must be very proud of her.
@hack mechanic I watched the movie Fishermans Friends 2 days ago. The closed captions were spelling it as SHANTEE so that is what I confidentially wrote in, thrilled that I'd just seen the word! It is filmed in the same town as Doc Martin and is a lovely film if anyone needs something light and pleasant to calm nerves. It's on Netflix. And it's a true story!
I grew up in Montreal and have never ever heard of a PEDWAY! Nor would there even be an Anglo term in a Francophone city. I’ve also lived in Toronto and used the subways and tunnels in both cities extensively (they are amazingly interconnected, excellent for winter travel), and never heard the term there either despite its Anglo tendencies. So... perhaps not a great Tuesday entry, especially when crossing LAV instead of LOO!
Okay puzzle. Not a GEM but not so bad as our resident MEANIE says it is. The theme lacked WOW and I’ve CNET before but it was fine.OH HEY Only 42 days left for TrUMPTY DUMPTY. I won’t shed a TEAR...
More designer dogs, just what the world needs. At least EKE didn't show up again. But OHHEY? Trust me, if I bump into somebody, I'm NOT gonna say "OHHEY." That is just plain terrible.
Nor is the theme any great shakes. The whole thing sounds like baby talk. Maybe something you'd say to your "PORKIE." With a name like that, he'd better watch out; he might become MUSHU. I'll take SANDRA for DOD (Bullock, though). Bogey.
I liked this puzzle so much that it made me more sad than usual that Rex unjustifiably dumped on it so. The themers were fun to say, for one thing, and the reveal was another version of a parsed-phrase reveal that was up just a short time ago. The bit about not giving the specific name of the second dog in the cross - clearly that would have given away the answer too easily. I thought a lot of the answers were young and cute, but even I (well beyond young and cute) say "OHHEY" when I realize I've been looking at someone I didn't at first recognize (lately, because of the mask).
A long time ago, I was solving this puzzle and got stuck at an unguessable (to me) crossing: N. C. WYETH crossing NATICK at the "N"—I knew WYETH but forgot his initials, and NATICK ... is a suburb of Boston that I had no hope of knowing. It was clued as someplace the Boston Marathon runs through (???). Anyway, NATICK— the more obscure name in that crossing—became shorthand for an unguessable cross, esp. where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known. NATICK took hold as crossword slang, and the term can now be both noun ("I had a NATICK in the SW corner...") or verb ("I got NATICKED by 50A / 34D!")
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110 comments:
When I began this puzzle I was ‘Happily Daffy’; by the time I finished I was ‘Halfway Dreary’.
Oh well. With any luck, by tomorrow at this time the USA will be on the road to once again being a ‘Healthy Democracy’.
Medium. Sparkly theme answers with a fun/clever reveal. Liked it.
Thank you, @Amanda & @Karl; a delightful romp through "Wonderland". What a creative undertaking! Most appreciated :)
East Coast was slower than the West and Central; overall, an ave. solve time.
New to me: "pedway"; "Swann"; "porkie"; "monogyny".
Seeing a U.S. president in the puzzle always prompts me to review my mnemonic for the complete list.
"Tree houses" and "blanket forts" were always fun. My youngest granddaughter recently sent selfies from her "blanket hideaway".
Peace שָׁלוֹם Pax 平和 Paix 和平 Salam שלום Woof 🕊
If PEDWAY is a Canadianism it’s a regional one at that. I’m from western Canada and I’ve never heard of it. In Winnipeg we called them skywalks and maybe walkways for the underground portions. We had lots of them and I’ve never so much as heard the word before.
I did ok, except that I spelled Geico with a k and couldn’t figure out what I had wrong for a long time at the end. Geiko looked right while porkie and monogyny and pedway didn’t
Puzzle was fine, but especially loved that it caused Rex to post "Skyway" which I hadn't listened to in forever but which brought me back to my first year of living out in the world after college and listened to that album incessantly. All the feels. Thanks.
We were one of the first on the block to get a TV and I remember waving goodbye to my Dad as he left for work, thumb firmly implanted in my mouth, four fingers waving as I watched Howdy Doody. I can still sing that silly song.
This brought back so many fun memories with its whimsical answers, I just had to love it. Thank you Amanda and Karl.
To give a zoomer perspective, I definitely have seen/used :,( as a crying face, although I would personaly lean toward ;_; instead
Wow a lot of Ys tonight. I object to 5 down, it should be SIDLED UP TO.
Just want to send a big wish from Canada, to our American friends, best luck tomorrow. Sincerely, there is nothing much at stake here, except for western democracy. In my lifetime the USA has, for better or worse, been its best hope. It is now hanging by a thread. Good luck to you all!
You had me singing at breakfast! Loved Princess Summer Fall Winter Spring and Clarabell too! I even got to sit in the Peanut Gallery once!
TONE it down
TAKE it down a notch
I rarely disagree with Rex this much. First, the revealer didn’t clank as hard for me. H AND Y, D AND Y. That implied comma does all the work of Rex’s missing “and.” And, sure, some smart ass might point out that “hyena” works, but why so literal? To me, that’s a nit not a clank.
I sorta kinda agree with Rex about “designer dog,” but I insist on using it ironically for creatures like my Zeke and Lu.
Huh? My top hit when I enter PEDWAY into the google machine is for Chicago’s famous PEDWAY. What? If it’s so famous why have I never heard of it? I’ve been in Toronto’s and Cincinnati’s (now dismantled? Why?), but can’t recall either of them being called a PEDWAY. Cincinnati’s was the Skywalk. So familiar with the concept but not the term. Hence needing all the crosses.
Anyway - Liked the puzzle quite a bit for a Tuesday. Felt pretty average Tuesday difficulty wise. Not overly fond of starting with an esey POC nor am I fond of the POC STLYI. Nothing else caused my nose to wrinkle, though. And HUNKY DORY reminds me of the timely Changes:
I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream of warm impermanence and
So the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're going through
Off for my ~14 hour shift as a poll worker. My county has already exceeded the 2016 turnout, so not expecting big numbers. Be well. Be safe. Be kind to one another. Vote.
Well, there IS a tear in a very common laughing-hard emoticon.
Have to agree it's "Take it down a notch" or "Tone it down". Take, tamp, tune, finally TONE. Also tripped up trying to see what was going on with that extra D in Handy Andy.
And yes, what @Z said. Would just add 'Get your flu shot'. Very much hoping that today brings out the best in all of us in the US.
Although this puzzle had a lot of bad cluing and a stupid theme, the emoji clue alone was adequate to earn this mess 2 thumbs down. I think I'll do the LAT CW to get the taste out of my brain.
@Z, question. I saw that 64% of Americans are registered to vote. Is that 64% of eligible? Or of all? And is turnout expressed as % of registered, % of eligible? Was just wondering if that number meant that the top possible turnout is 64%.
I thought this puzzle was fun, the emoticon recognizably popular, and the theme must have revealed itself to the constructors as a big Hey Look! It was a cute Aha for me.
Liked this more than Rex - I thought it was pretty straightforward and a smooth solve. Thought at first there was some homophone thing going on with DOODY and DUTY - but HUMPTY DUMPTY cleared that up. Didn’t like the additional D in HANDY - but the revealer worked.
I know alternate spellings and all but I’ve only ever seen CHANTEY spelled shanty - either way I liked it. PEDWAYs are common in upstate NY and Canada - surprised Rex was not familiar with with them. Most are workmanlike tunnels between buildings that offer passage during the winter - no real architectural feats. SUNY Buffalo has them - I would think Binghamton does also. The Brooklyn Bridge also has a much filmed ped walkway.
Learned that the BISON is our national mammal and ISRAEL uses kosher stamp glue.
Nice start to a cold Tuesday. Good luck @Z - hopefully all goes well today.
I actually really liked this one. The only issue for me was the PORKIE. I know about pedways (we have them here in Chicago), I have seen emoticons with tears. I'm familiar with monogyny (and the word parts pretty much give it away, anyway). I only got the Proust title character SWANN from crosses, but those were not bad. And I actually LIKED the revealer - I thought it was pretty clever.
Overall, an enjoyable, medium Tuesday. Now I just hope the rest of the day doesn't go to hell...
This would have been better with the revealer just being a themer; it works as a themer, but not as a revealer.
2nd day in a row almost undone by a dog mix I’ve never heard of.
Two earworms from today: Song for Bob Dylan from the Bowie album HUNKY DORY, and HEAVY DUTY by Spinal Tap.
Two consecutive days of crossbred designer dogs is two days more than the world should stomach.
Whizzed through this one. Saw the theme unfolding, but didn’t really need it. I was an Intermediate Speed Radio Operator in the Army, but I was schooled on huge radios and didn’t know Morse code. I still passed a proficiency exam and had extra pay each month.
Got a couple of themers early and was pretty sure the revealer was going to be something to do with "In HD", but the actual one was way more clever than that and did not cause me exceeding distress, as it seems to have for OFL. There'll be more than enough stress to go around today without adding crossword answers to the mix.
Liked this just fine, learned some new terms (see OFL) and some fun stuff. "Designer dogs" makes me think of Martin Mull and his description of them as "those little SOB's that wear a sweater". I have heard CHANTEY pronounced with an initial SH sound or a CH sound and I'm never sure which one is right.
Nice Tuesdecito with a little crunch, so thanks for that AC and KN. Now to spend the day watching returns and chewing fingernails.
I thought the teardrop in the emoticon was a prison tat that meant you had killed someone.
Nicely played
Pls share your mnenomic
Cute theme. HANDYDANDY broken up like NOTNOW was broken up a few days ago.
Sparkly, smart cluing, learned some things.
At my favorite Chinese restaurant, MOOSHU pork is in a wrap with plum sauce. Wonderful appetizer. But no eggs.
Seoul, South Korea has a vast PEDWAY, though I wouldn't have called it that.
HARRISON as clued is easily my favorite answer. William Henry H. of "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" fame died in office, so the "Tyler too" part turned out true. Benjamin H. defeated Grover Cleveland's bid for re-election, then lost to Cleveland when he tried for a second term.
This was ok, but felt like the "NotNow"'s poor relative.
Mr Shortz should have left more time between these two.
As for today's second main event, I would like to pay tribute to an enlightened presidential candidate who once explained his vision for this country:
"I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that's the America millions of Americans believe in. That's the America I love."
Me too,man and God bless..
Tah rah rah boom dee ay
I was thinking this morning how OFL has been on a good roll for a while now. On the negative side, but at least fair or consistent and pointing out interesting things in the puzzle. Then today's blog, where every complaint is about something he didn't know or slowed him down, or the ridiculously narrow definition of H and Y that the phrase has to let you know exactly where they are in the words. One is at the beginning and the other at the end, how much more explicit do you need? I agree it didn't need the whole 6 part clue, just hint that it is the revealer and let us figure it out.
I enjoyed the forest of Y's today, perhaps YEWS guys did too. (Still a dad)
Mini recent theme of designer dogs and clues that require you to break into several parts.
"Designer dog" is not my favorite phrase, but it is a little precious to object that much at this point. All dogs as we know them have been "designed" by humans and don't exist or survive in the wild without human interaction unless they are still wolves. That CAT is out of the bag.
On this topic, Freakonomics episode 436 has a fascinating interview with dog cognitive scientist Alexandra Horowitz, author of "Inside of a Dog".
TOOK it down a notch
Exactly.
I don't get why rex had so much trouble deciphering the "Read in six parts" clue for the theme; that seemed pretty straightforward & made sense.
There's a certain irony that BISON is our national mammal, given that we essentially wiped them off the face of the earth.
Thumbs up to CHANTEY.
Thumbs down to EMO (does/did anyone really listen to it?); OGRE; IDO. But I get it.
Fingers crossed for a happy tomorrow. Turnout is high; Biden is more likeable than Hilary; and folks see what four years of Trump look like. On paper this should be a no-brainer. And yet . . . . I feel nervous. Like many of you. So kudos to the constructors for taking my mind briefly off of the rest of the world.
Just a quick shout out for The Replacements and “Skyway”, one of my favorite songs of theirs. I also love “Answering Machine” (a what now?) and “Nevermind” (before Nirvana could play instruments).
Fun theme. Rex, you are really nitpicking this one. Should the revealer be exactly precise? it might as well say "two-word phrases where the first word begins with H and ends with Y and the second word begins with D and ends with Y." No. H AND Y D AND Y works perfectly well.
I've also never seen a tear in an emoji, but I like it!
I thought this was pretty cute. The "Mini" was voting themed btw.
Also wanted to add a big thanks to @Z for being a poll worker -- an essential job if ever there was one.
Happy Tuesday.
--CS
The puzzle editor seems to think that matching clues with answers is like horseshoes and hand grenades. Lazy.
@chuckD SUNY Albany also has a huge system of underground tunnels, but we just called them the underground tunnels. During my time in the freezing cold at SUNY Binghamton,no one mentioned any tunnels between buildings. I needed those as everything is very spread out. A memory I have of those days is that at SUNY Binghamton is the only time in my life that it was so cold that the snot inside my nose froze up.
burtonkd: On Mondays and Tuesdays new solvers pretty much have to be hand fed. (That's not a criticism, just expressing awareness that early week puzzles have to be fairly simple and encouraging for new solvers.) That concept somewhat undermines what you say about the revealer. I would like to see two sets of clues: one for the new solvers and one for the "experts." That's been done before, even in the NYT. Hopefully that would keep everybody happy. At least about the clues.
At the end of the write there's the request "please stop." I suppose one can point that request back at Mr. Sharp but I would point it at so many things in this country right now. Is this election going to result in any change in attitude? Certainly not about the NYT crossword puzzle.
Very impressive to have such density of theme and with the answers running both Across and Down. And it's a very clean, junk-free puzzle as well. Nicely done.
As with NOT NOW, I failed to parse the revealer and didn't see the embedded "AND"s until I came here. And so I was wondering why any particular H/D answer was any more of a revealer than any of the others. I am SO unobservant!
Like others, I've never heard of a PEDWAY. In NYC, we have sidewalks -- often between buildings if they look sidewalk-y enough. If they don't, we might call them "paths".
This seems to be the week for doggie portmanteaus. Yesterday it was...oh, right, no spoilers! -- but you can read the blog and my poem if you missed it. Today, it's PORKIE, which is not a [you-know-what]. But why would anyone cross a Pomeranian and a Yorkie? The result sounds really, really yappy. A dog you wouldn't want in the apartment next door. I'll stick with yesterday's delightful breed.
I'm an eastern Canadian and PEDWAY is a term unknown to me, but I don't live in either Montréal or Toronto. I learned something new with CHANTEY. I always thought it was sea shanty, and apparently chanty is also an acceptable variation.
I'm looking south today. My wish for you and the world -- a White House guided by integrity and its synonyms: honesty, honor, probity.
Reminded me of my mom, who worked as an election judge for many years! She often used the phrase TONE it down a notch (4 kids, what else could she say) and she had a Mazda, not a MIATA, but still ahead of her time. So, fun memories...
DEAR REX: DAH DIT p DAH DAH DAH pp DAH DIT DAH DAH p DAH DAH DAH p DIT DIT DAH pp DIT DIT DIT p DAH p DAH DAH DAH p DIT DAH DAH DIT !
Maybe Hungry Mother will help out....
Crossing two non-English languages (Latin and Yiddish) seems unfair for a Tuesday, especially since they’re both tied into religions. Thought it was YENTA but I also thought it was DAI, so I was flip-flopping between an A and an E. At least I learned something for next time.
Have to disagree with Rex on two things:
1. I wouldn’t rate this puzzle as “Challenging”.
2. It was a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle.
Thank you Amanda and Karl.
Oh my goodness, what a trip down memory lane singing 🎶 It’s HOWDY DOODY Time 🎶 Count me among those in Buffalo Bob’s Peanut Gallery every day!
🧩👍🏽🤩👍🏽 🧩
Seeing election biases haha in this puzz 😂‼️🔚🔜‼️😂
At Humpty Dumpty I thought of a prediction . From there
Howdy Doody
Porkie
Meanie
Ego
Idiotic
Radon
🤡😜🤡
Humpty Dumpty sat on a WALL
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the KINGs horses and all the kings men/capos
couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again.
🙏🏽✌🏼🙏🏽
✌🏼❤️✌🏼
@Nancy - when you look up you’ll occasionally see skyways between buildings - those are technically PEDWAYs. Beautiful examples at Columbia, Hunter and a bunch downtown. One of the oldest and my favorite is the old Gimbel’s skyway on W32nd.
@burtonkd— You remind me of Groucho Marx’s statement: “Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark too read.”
It's HOWDY DOODY time
With uncle Frankenstein.....
What do you get when you cross a pig and a Christmas tree?
A PORKIE-pine.
Don't get me started on HUMPTY DUMPTY
Do you think our HANDY DANDY leader might come back as a devout practicer of MONOGYNY? I think they die trying.
Did anyone else have GLOOMY instead of GRAYER? I did but I didn't care. This was fun
I think this was swell for Tuesday and I learned some new words. I'm not clever poetically like our @Nancy is but there's some good stuff here. I like that you can re-lick a stamp from Israel and feel kosher about it. That IMP does a u-turn to SIMP and that PEDWAY does a u-turn to PEDWAY and that BISON also does a u-turn to SON. Cool beans.
Dorky puzzle
@pmdm - good catch, I almost put in a caveat about it being Tuesday.
Hey All !
So, PEDWAY clanks to me, but after reading y'all, apparently Any walking way/path is a PEDWAY, just usually not called that. Settled. 😋
Failed to six-part-grok the theme. *Whah Whah* And even more sad is we had this same concept just a few days ago! Stupid brain.
Did see the 16 wide grid right away, so there's that.
Not the Greatest puz, not the Worst puz, firmly planted in the TuesPuz slot.
Now back to my HIDEAWAY.
No F's (AWRY)
RooMonster
DarrinV
@jberg: :-) no '
It was very nice to have this (as @chefwen said) whimsical theme to bring smiles this morning - an inspired array of phrases and reveal.
Do-overs: TakE, GUineA; no icea: PORKIE; moment of shame: HAm...before HARRISON; cross to ponder: ALIMONY x MONOGYNY.
@burtonkd (8:41)-- I just spent an interesting and engaging 45 minutes listening to the "Inside of a Dog" podcast. Thanks for the tip.
@Chuck D. (9:54) -- Oh, so that's what a NYC PEDWAY is! I've walked under the one at Hunter College often -- usually en route to Bloomingdale's or to Cinemas 1,2,3. Going to my dentist -- also on 60th, but on Madison Avenue -- I usually opt to walk through Central Park, even though it's a bit out of the way.
I thought it was ok. Don’t know how anyone under 60 would know Howdy Doody. Designer dogs makes me puke.
@Giovanni:
A memory I have of those days is that at SUNY Binghamton is the only time in my life that it was so cold that the snot inside my nose froze up.
yeah, well, if you'd had real gonads you'd have gone to school in Potsdam. nuthin but sidewalks, when I was there, and the Clarkson dorms were on the other side of the river from the school buildings. I got a ride to a diner up in Messina (or someplace) on a December night. for some reason very bumpy???? turned out the tires had contracted from the cold and flat-spotted. that's cold.
I don't live in NYC, but have spent time there over the decades. many of the cross-line stations aren't all that cross, so have long-ish 'tunnels' betwixt the platforms. in the olden days, we just called them public urinals. :)
Just in case - are you open?
I saw Challenging and thought, “Hmmm . . . Trump and Biden both have five letters. You don't suppose it’s a reprise of a classic?” Alas, no. I didn’t find it challenging, Everything flowed for me, non-stop. Unlike Rex, I thought the revealer clue was right on the money. I also looked at the emoticon and immediately knew it was a TEAR. What else?
@CDilly52 - Ah, yes, the Peanut Gallery. I won a coloring contest (Silver Cup bread was the sponsor, if memory serves) and got to shake hands with the great Buffalo Bob at a show in my hometown! Clarabell, Princess SSWF - yup, the whole gang. I noticed some resentment from the other kids - they probably didn’t like losing to a 19 year old. (Rim shot. I was 4-ish.)
God bless America. May today lead to the result that our Nation needs so badly.
Nice hippy-dippy TuesPuz. Had a word of mystery (at our house) in each quadrant of the grid: CHANTEY. PEDWAY. PORKIE. MONOGYNY. All endin with that somehow-familiar "ee" sound. They kept the solvequest interestin -- but since they were widely separated, they didn't pigout on all the nanoseconds.
Thought the puztheme's H AND Y, D AND Y revealer was just fine. Could be that M&A is slightly easier to please than @RP is, tho.
staff weeject picks: The ECO EGO EMO triO. No weeject stacks today, but some mighty attractive weeject "designer" nooks, at least.
When does a dog cross-breed officially cross over into MUTTedness? Can U have AKC-legit 3-way crosses? PORKIEWIENERDOG? M&A wants that.
Thanx for gangin up on us, Amanda darlin & Karl dude. I'd give it 3.5 ClaraBell honks.
Masked & Anonymo8Us
**gruntz**
I've been misspelling chantey for ever apparently, google has the sh spelling as shack.
For chantey lovers I recommend Fisherman's Friend on netflix.
It's Doc Martin with music.
Nice Tuesday which I did not find at all challenging. The revealer was confusing and not helpful but really not needed for the solve either. I thought the theme answers were cute and evoked some fond memories for those of a certain age. ;-)
How appropriate to feature past Presidents on election day, ten of whom shared the same last name with another. Currently the count stands at two HARRISON, two Adams, two Roosevelt, two Johnson, two Bush. And one IDIOTIC.
So under the rules of MONOGYNY the male only gets one mate but the females can shop around? All in all, not a bad system.
@GILL: PORKIE Pine made me :-D
Licking stamps, even kosher ones is about as hygienic as spitting.
Liked the "teardrop" emoticon.
Shanty before chantey; no biggie either way. A ditty is a ditty :)
May not have noticed the "YD" part of the themers without the reveal. No prob sussing the reveal; used syllable clapping to get the six parts. Five parts could have worked, as well, e.g., "H and YD and Y". Perspective, again. :)
@chefwen 1:30 AM
Pretty much the same here. I'd stare at the "test pattern" before the show. Good memories! :)
@Ellen C 8:06 AM - I assume you're talking to me 🤔 If not, no harm, no foul. 😊
Presidents mnemonic - I've adapted it by changing the words, and using groups of 10, 10, and 12. My first 10 are: "George And Jeff Made Money And Jack Vanished Harry's Tie". I have no problem remembering the final 13 without help.
@jberg 9:56 AM
Fond memories of Groucho and bros. What a wit! I'll vote for dogs and books, too. 😉
Peace שָׁלוֹם Pax 平和 Paix 和平 Salam שלום Woof 🕊
♪ That clinking, clanking, clunking sound
It makes the Times's puzzle go 'round... ♪
Clank. @Rex is correct, clank is what the revealer does. OWD, OOD, UMPT, UNK, OR, EAV and UT are to be perceived as substitutes for AND? That's your "theme"?
Choose one.
I loved the revealer today. I wish I had a brain that worked like that seeing weird stuff in words. My brain tends to see patterns in numbers instead. My gym locker combination is all prime numbers! Maybe I'll remember it even though I haven't used it since the first week of March.
Having gotten answers with “doody,” “duty,” and “dumpty” as my first three, I was worried that the puzzle would have a scatological theme. I was relieved (so to speak; “relieve” was also in the puzzle) that it did not.
If you’re interested, here is a touching opinion piece from CNN on what Election Day means to America.
@Z: Again, thank you for giving of your time to make this entire process work.
The opposite of Monday; a puzzle that would have been far better without the revealer.
p.s.
Well ok, I reckon not all 4 of my words of mystery actually end with an "ee" sound. But if they don't, the rest of em at least have that -y finale letter.
Heard tell on the news that Trump has suddenly sorta full-filled his "build the wall" 2016 campaign promise. They now have a new big, non-scalable wall built all around the White House. They no doubt are forwardin the bill for payment on to Mexico, later today.
Thelr 400-person White House election party tonight *was*, evidently, scalable, tho. It is currently scaled down to 250 -- further reductions are anticipated, due to some older guests not maybe bein able to BYOL (bring yer own ladder).
M&A News Desk
p.p.s.s.
VOTE.
Thanx.
[Honk. Honk. Honk. Ho.]
Funny how HYATT is included in the grid, given the theme.
Overall, I found it pretty easy, but the revealer seems too similar to last Thursday's, albeit in service of a different type of theme.
With 13 Ys -- ten theme-related (none overlapping) and three others, one might imagine the fill would suffer, but it doesn't. Only SONYS got the side-EYE from me, and MONOGYNY is fantastic.
SWANN for me can only ever be the sublime Lynn, but that's old-time sports-guy stuff, so I get why it's clued as it is.
I chuckled at the ISRAEL clue.
Overall, good work from the constructors -- I just wish Will had run it farther away from last Thursday.
The HD show princess was SummerFallWinterSpring. SSWF was a play or something.
@Whatserhame:
So under the rules of MONOGYNY the male only gets one mate but the females can shop around? All in all, not a bad system.
in the human world, it's called polyandry. which is why it took a while.
@Nancy - we must think alike. I spend most of my time downtown but go out of my way every chance I get to walk thru the park. I’ve traipsed around it for years now and still amazed every time at the scope and magnitude of it - my current favorite being the view entering thru Engineers Gate.
Kind of surprised that no one has commented on the strange synergy today between the Crossword and Spelling Bee. (Unless I missed a comment.)
I also thought Rex was picking nits today on the theme. At first I thought Handy Dandy was basically just another themer disguised as a revealer, but when I saw the H AND Y D AND Y, I thought it was extremely clever. No clank at all for me, more like a pleasant chime.
I have a stack of printed WaPo Sunday puzzles for tonight. I will have the TV on but need a distraction from focusing on every possible clue that our four-year nightmare is coming to an end. Or God forbid, the opposite.
As a Millennial, very much agree to both. Wish more people used ;_; Reminds me of No Face from Spirited Away or something.
I kind of tried to parse the revealer as H AN[D] DY D AN[D]DY but that only worked for HOWDY DOODY and HANDY DANDY. Guess I'll have to go along with H and Y D and Y, which is still a great find with the revealer fitting the theme also. Cool.
PED WAY is the only Rex complaint I could have gone along with, as an unknown (see "skyway" in Minneapolis - I can play the Replacements song on the guitar).
Amand and Karl, thanks again for an entertaining puzzle.
I'm off to vote now, in person. My husband says there was no waiting at our precinct polling place.
I just need to say I was so relieved when I got the rest of the themers because the first two I got were HOWDYDOODY and HEAVYDUTY and I thought, "No, WS. Don't you dare do this trite, toilet humor nonsense to us again." Was very relieved when that didn't come true.
Wow. I would not have called this challenging. Maybe easy-medium, but not challenging to me for a Tuesday. I'm surprised that Rex is rating it as challenging. On the other hand, I paid no attention to the theme and just worked through the puzzle. Maybe had I been trying to piece together the the theme I would have been more frustrated.
@bier_ist_gut (12:51) "Was very relieved" that there was no toilet humor. Hmmmm ...
Chip Hilton: One has to assume you are looking for change, which would mean you are looking for an administration change. Problem is, if tens of millions vote to sustain what is current, what does that say about racism, misogynism etc. in this country. While who controls the administration is important, equally important to me is the attitude of those who vote. I must admit to not having a positive attitude with that in mind. Would it be that you could convince me otherwise.
Don't pay much attention (unless aiding the solve) to the themes until post solve analysis. Imo, it's like watching a movie and then the dvd extras. The movie was enjoyable with or without the extras, but the extras usually add some extra sparkle to the overall experience.
Unforgettable - Natalie & Nat King Cole
**** SB ALERT ****
Those who are still working on today's SB may want to avoid the comment below in response to @Wanderlust 12:46 PM - BTW, the reason SB ALERTS are very seldom seen any longer is that most SBers are heeding the call of the commentariat to back off and/or "tone it down a notch" (or two). :)
@Wanderlust 12:46 PM
The lack of comments re: today's SB, may be due to potential "spoilage" 🤔 😉
Peace שָׁלוֹם Pax 平和 Paix 和平 Salam שלום Woof 🕊
Thoroughly enjoyed this.
Got a chuckle over the phrase “designer dog” because I owned one. A friend of mine breeds Rottweilers for law enforcement work and also occasionally takes in police dogs that need some remedial training. One year (1987) he had a pure German shepherd boarding who accidentally found himself in sufficient proximity to a young female Rottie in heat and nature took its course. Bill found himself the less than proud “papa” of six pups of mixed breed all of which were cute as they could be, but as mixed breed were not going to be able to be registered and wouldn’t do anything for Bill’s business.
Dear friend Bill however has always been a complete sucker for animals and everyone knew he would would do all he could to make certain the pups had good homes. But boy oh boy were they going to be big dogs.
We got suckered. My daughter was just 8 at the time and had been out to see Bill’s dogs many times. Kate was over the moon with the pups (as
Bill knew she would be), and she and Bill’s daughter were in charge of caring for the pups. They doted on all of them and helped folks choose which to take home when they were finally old enough to be weaned.
The runt had health problems and was finally the only one left. And she had absolutely bonded to Kate, who kept her wrapped in a towel and on her lap a great deal of the time she was at the farm.
One afternoon, Kate bounded in the door waving a piece of paper and Shouting “She’s well enough! She’s well enough!” The paper was a note from Bill and the vet. “The last pup is healthy and ready for adoption. We dare you to say no to that sweet girl.”
So we found a box, and Kate and her dad loaded back into car and went to pick up the beast. When they came in the house, I swear Kate was walking on air and had happy rainbows, unicorns and flowers shooting out of her head.
Dad got them to settle down so we could talk about rules and training and feeding and toilet training and whose responsibility accidents were going to be. Nothing dampened Kate’s spirits.
Dad says “what shall we name her!” Kate looks at him like he is speaking a foreign tongue. Dad repeats himself. “She needs a name.“ Kate finally gives one of those kid-stares that says “For the people who are supposed to know things, you sure are dumb,” and says “She has a name, it’s Wellenough. She’s Wellenough!” We changed the spelling to Welinuf and called her Wellie.
One day late in 4th grade Kate wanted to take Wellie for Show and Tell. She had a friend who bred Golden Doodles and Kate was jealous of her friend’s very valuable dogs, and of the breed’s popularity.
Kate and Wellie had a very impressive scrapbook that showed Wellie from birth on and chronicled all their crazy activities and antics - and costumes. It made a wonderful display for school.
Show and tell went very well, and Kate returned from school that day absolutely triumphant. She told her Dad that she would have an important announcement at dinner. And so she did.
After supper, she went to her room and came back with a school pocket folder with a picture of Wellie on the front. Inside? A homemade “Certificate of Registration” complete with a big gold star sticker on the bottom with some curly ribbon hanging off the edge. She said that Wellie now had “papers” and she was going to advertise to sell her new dogs. She had a draft newspaper ad and announced that her breed would be way better than Becky’s Doodles. She proudly read her ad:
For sale soon. First ever ROTTMAN SHEPWEILER puppies, $1,000 each.
She was crushed to learn that Wellie couldn’t have pups, having been spayed long before she came to us. But we told everyone from that day forward that we had the ultimate designer breed, the Rottman Shepweiler. A couple years later Kate had started studying Latin and one day commented that she had “discovered Wellie’s breed defined in a veterinary dog book as “shepweilus accidentus.” And now you can see with clarity what a wacky, story-loving, wordy family I have.
@Wanderlust - I was just about to comment on the Spelling Bee! I see at least three answers, including a pangram solution.
I guess it's likely to happen when two of the Spelling Bee letters (including the central letter) form the basis of the crossword theme.
Perhaps I have Election Day mojo but this one was easy for me!
I thought it was pretty tough for a Tuesday, but maybe that's because I put in "hideaways" before HIDEAWAY. Also had to scratch my brain for MONOGYNY, a term I easily would have put in 60 years ago.
CHANTEYS are, I always think, shanties sung by lumbermen, probably dating to the birth of the timber industry in Canada -- the French for "sing" is chantez, easily changed to chantey. But that is a debate that hundreds have taken part in. A sea shanty (same origin no doubt) is what sailors sing. The short ones were sung while working on deck, turning capstans or hauling sails. The longer, more storytelling ones were sung by sailors in their off time (barring an emergency, sailors worked 12 hour shifts, switching over at 4:00. They "went below" to sleep in their hammocks, but of course had 4 hours or so to eat, sing, and sometimes dance.
@Joaquin and @bier ist gut – You guys are on a, uh, roll.
@CDilly52 1:22 PM
Lovely anecdote; thx for sharing :)
Reminded me of one of my favorites: A Dog Named Christmas (full movie)
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Peace שָׁלוֹם Pax 平和 Paix 和平 Salam שלום Woof 🕊
I'm with Rex on the three words I had never seen. Plus Loo for Lav. Also - I thought the apostrophe was a SCAR, not TEAR
What is the connection between "Absolutely delights" and SENDS? I don't get it. Please help!
@Anon 3:30
Maybe this will help.
I moved from NYC to Binghamton to Minneapolis/Saint Paul. You get used to the frozen snot.
What a delightful story, @CDilly52, and how wonderfully you tell it. I'm absolutely bowled over by your daughter's sparkling imagination, initiative, humor (Wellenough is so funny!) and an intelligence that seems to go well beyond her years. I predict she'll be wildly successful at anything she decides to do, whether it's as a veterinarian or as President of the United States. You must be very proud of her.
Very nice Tuesday puzzle for a long awaited Super Tuesday. May the best man win.
@anon 10:53 ha ha! Potsdam sounds like a dream!
From my youth:
It’s Howdy Dooty Time
It isn’t worth a dime
So turn to channel nine
And watch Frankenstein
@hack mechanic I watched the movie Fishermans Friends 2 days ago. The closed captions were spelling it as SHANTEE so that is what I confidentially wrote in, thrilled that I'd just seen the word!
It is filmed in the same town as Doc Martin and is a lovely film if anyone needs something light and pleasant to calm nerves. It's on Netflix. And it's a true story!
13 names, 2 foreign words....
I grew up in Montreal and have never ever heard of a PEDWAY! Nor would there even be an Anglo term in a Francophone city. I’ve also lived in Toronto and used the subways and tunnels in both cities extensively (they are amazingly interconnected, excellent for winter travel), and never heard the term there either despite its Anglo tendencies. So... perhaps not a great Tuesday entry, especially when crossing LAV instead of LOO!
@JC66 3:49 PM 👍
@Giovanni 4:58 PM
Thx, got it cued up; Loved Doc Martin, btw :)
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Peace שָׁלוֹם Pax 平和 Paix 和平 Salam שלום Woof 🕊
9 names, 2 foreign words....
Okay puzzle. Not a GEM but not so bad as our resident MEANIE says it is. The theme lacked WOW and I’ve CNET before but it was fine.OH HEY Only 42 days left for TrUMPTY DUMPTY. I won’t shed a TEAR...
More designer dogs, just what the world needs. At least EKE didn't show up again. But OHHEY? Trust me, if I bump into somebody, I'm NOT gonna say "OHHEY." That is just plain terrible.
Nor is the theme any great shakes. The whole thing sounds like baby talk. Maybe something you'd say to your "PORKIE." With a name like that, he'd better watch out; he might become MUSHU. I'll take SANDRA for DOD (Bullock, though). Bogey.
DANDY ETHICS
SO,IHEAR it’s IDIOTIC to believe
where those DUDES did all their DOODY.
On YON YALE dean’s PEDWAY they did RELIEVE,
and OH,HEY, it was HEAVYDUTY.
--- PORKIE HARRISON
Themers and revealer are good on their own, but the H-Y, D-Y gimmick is less than a GEM.
Interesting additions are non-theme words like MONOGYNY, PEDWAY, and the awkwardly named PORKIE.
This is a good Tuesday puzzle, though not dazzling.
Tuesday fare, but not so pretty witty.
Lady Di
PS - I remember Howdy Doody - I met Clarabelle at the mall when I was four or five, and he scared the patoot outta me!
A double ampersandwich as the revealer. Dagwood would be proud. George Carlin's hippie dippy weatherman almost makes it.
I got a RYES out of the corners.
I hold Buffalo Bob responsible.
I liked this puzzle so much that it made me more sad than usual that Rex unjustifiably dumped on it so. The themers were fun to say, for one thing, and the reveal was another version of a parsed-phrase reveal that was up just a short time ago. The bit about not giving the specific name of the second dog in the cross - clearly that would have given away the answer too easily. I thought a lot of the answers were young and cute, but even I (well beyond young and cute) say "OHHEY" when I realize I've been looking at someone I didn't at first recognize (lately, because of the mask).
@CDilly52 1:22 PM, I enjoyed your story.
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