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Long straight-sided smoke / TUE 2-16-21 / Popular video game console released in 2013
Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Constructor: Johanna Fenimore
Relative difficulty: Medium (normal Tuesday)
THEME: "BEER ME!" (62A: "I'll have a cold one, please" ... or a hint to 17-, 26-, 43- and 57-Across) — words on the front or back ends (alternating) of longer answers are brands of BEER:
Theme answers:
- NIP IN THE BUD (17A: Do something)
- STELLA MCCARTNEY (26A: British fashion designer who's the daughter of Linda and Sir Paul)
- ONCE IN A BLUE MOON (43A: Very rarely)
- CORONA CIGAR (57A: Long, straight-sided smoke)
The Xbox One is a line of home video game consoles developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Australia, and South America in November 2013, and in Japan, China, and other European countries in September 2014. It is the first Xbox game console to be released in China, specifically in the Shanghai Free-Trade Zone. Microsoft marketed the device as an "all-in-one entertainment system", hence the name 'Xbox One'. An eighth-generation console, it mainly competed against Sony's PlayStation 4 and Nintendo's Wii U and later the Switch. [...] The system was succeeded by the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles, which launched on November 10, 2020. (wikipedia)
• • •
I liked both "AW, C'MON" (11D: "Pretty, pretty please") and COME BY (65A: Acquire) even though that *almost* feels like a dupe (i.e. duplicate, i.e. "come" is (sorta) in both answers). I'm not sure there's any "please" implied in "AW, C'MON." Speaking of which, I *know* there's not any "please" implied in "BEER ME!" so I have no idea why they've appended "please" to "I'll have a cold one" in that clue. I know ARES very well but do not think of him as a "symbol," so that clue was bizarrely hard for me (51D: Symbol of militarism). I seriously wanted APES in there at one point. I forgot the XBOX ONE existed. I wanted XBOX NOW, which is probably a conflation of XBOX LIVE and some other product name. I shave my head so the BRUSHES clue was not intuitive for me (25D: Items often used in front of mirrors). Didn't know EMILIA (14A: "Game of Thrones" actress Clarke) or RORY (49A: ___ Storm and the Hurricanes (Ringo's band before the Beatles)), but didn't even see the clue for the former (got the whole NW corner from Downs), and the latter came easily with crosses. I think I thought OARMEN had an "S" in it ... so, "oarsmen." I'm never 100% sure about the final vowel in AUGUR (33A: Foretell), possibly because AUGER ("a tool with a helical bit for boring holes in wood") also exists. But outside the ARES next to XBOX ONE section, this one went pretty smoothly. Really hit the Tuesday spot. That does not often happen. So, ok then, good. Moving on ...
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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145 comments:
“SOLI” really bothered me. In music terminology, a soli is an entire section playing a passage together and definitely not a descriptor of most arias.
Liked this one - wondered if there was going to be a designer or Beatles theme after "Stella McCartney". Nothing wrong with the word 'NIP' - has many other meanings and uses besides an ethnic slur!
A question, not a nit. When XBOX ONE came out was it called XBOX ONE or just XBOX?
My favorite JoHo tackles the feckless Tuesday reputation and comes out shining like a fifth avenue diamond ...only this time it's BEER.
What's not to like? Nothing. You start me with BADASS and I'm smiling like a Cheshire Cat. You throw in some DIPS and BROTH a little Firehouse SUB and I'm ready for a NOONER romp.
I'm not a BEER drinker but I know all of these suds. I actually like BLUE MOON with a light Mexican lunch. You know...enchiladas, burritos, a side of frijoles and nachos with 6 pounds of cheese.
Loved this, Johanna...and lookee...so does @Rex.
Good puzzle; happy Tuesday. Don't know GoT characters or actors, but once I had _MILI_, EMILIe fell right into place. D'oh! Corrected when I realized that SAT was better than SeT for "plopped down".
Only nit is that the clue for 50D (Place to see a Kandinsky or Calder) should have indicated "abbr."
This one had a few interesting speed bumps which pushed it into the more challenging side of a Tuesday for me. I didn’t know what an atelier is, so that one came from crosses. I believe SOLI made an appearance not too long ago - it still looks like one of those weird “faux plurals” that pop up now and then like wac-a-moles.
BEER ME sounds off - does anyone really say that ? Maybe it is a regional thing ? The real gem of an entry in this one has got to be TSE (which I’m guessing is the Eliot dude). So let me get this right - if you’re really stuck, just throw three random letters together and clue it as someone initials? Really? We may have a new category as we award the first made-up non-word of the day prize to TSE (I don’t feel that because DDE, JFK and even YSL are in bounds that any three letters drawn out of a hat are acceptable as well - obviously others may disagree).
Fun theme boltered by a fun side cast of answers (AWCMON, BADASS, ZEST, NOONER), a touch of class (CAPOTE, MOMA, bĂȘte NOIRE, ARES, EROS), THE PX pairing with BASE, and even an echo of yesterday’s canine theme (ALPO).
Topping this all off, what stands out most to me, is how smoothly this puzzle goes down, like a perfect porter or pale ale. No ugly junk, just a sweet coast through the grid, like a spring day in which everything flows without a hitch and you go to bed happy to be alive.
That’s what you did Joho, that’s what you do in your puzzles, and the wit to pull this off – well, many of us here know about your wit, which used to regularly sparkle these comments. Thank you for starting my day with this feel-good creation!
Really good puzzle... but CUR crossing AUGUR was difficult as I've never heard either word! Even at C_R I had no idea what the correct vowel would be.
It was the XBOX ONE. The XBOX is a completely
different console from almost 20 years ago. And yes, the stupidity of this naming was not lost on video game fans.
Very normal Tuesday. Alternating acrosses and downs with a smooth flow. I stopped drinking in 1985, before BEERME was a thing, but I knew all of the beers, partly through my kids.
Is STELLA MCCARTNEY that famous? I mean, NYT-on-a-Tuesday-as-a-themer famous? I’d have guessed not, but then again I’m not known for attention to fashion. But the theme was definitely a big help there.
I cannot imagine any possible way that BADASS could correspond to “supremely cool person”. A BADASS is basically a big jerk. Someone ready to pick a fight for no reason.
EMILIE or EMILIA? More importantly, Why Are You Making Me Guess?!?!?! by cluing 6D in a way that could be SET or SAT?
I breezed through this one and, in my haste, entered AUGeR at 33A. This entry, of course, does not relate to the “Fortell” clue but instead is the name for a “boring tool” (which, coincidentally, is how many folks refer to me).
Soli is as you say, but it also is the plural of "solo" which is why it works here also.
Thx, @Johanna, for this crunchy Tues. puz; enjoyed the "tour"! :)
Med. solve.
Slight holdup parsing 42A "oh okay" due to having "Reo" in lieu of "RKO" at 37D (all the discussion of cars lately) LOL, and not being familiar with "age out".
Remember getting a "Slushie" machine at our MiniMart in '68. Quite the novelty, and an instant success.
"America" ~ The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
"America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)" is an American patriotic song, the lyrics of which were written by Samuel Francis Smith.[2] The melody used is the same as that of the national anthem of the United Kingdom, "God Save the Queen". The song served as one of the de facto national anthems of the United States (along with songs like "Hail, Columbia") before the adoption of "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the official U.S. national anthem in 1931. ~ Wikipedia
@WestBay 10:46 AM from Sunday re: "Ondine"
It's as you indicated: a "wonderful … feel good movie". Thx, again! đ
___
yd 0 / and, thx to all the acrostic encouragers; success yd at 2:30 a.m. đŽ
Peace ~ Empathy ~ Kindness to all đ
Not sure how lemon twist = zest. Isn’t a twist part of the rind? Minor nit...
Not sure how lemon twist = zest. Isn’t a twist part of the rind? Minor nit...
A smooth solve in contrast to the mishmash I made of yesterday’s puzzle. I don’t drink beer but that wasn’t an impediment. I loved ONCE IN A BLUE MOON, a common expression and a beautiful image. I liked LOBO and CUR close together with ALPO: more canine content. And BADASS was a terrific way to kick off the grid. COME BY is an interesting way to say acquire. “Wow, how did you COME BY that black eye?” Do people really say NOONER? I guess I’ve led a sheltered life. I didn’t like OARMEN much, although Lexico says it’s OK. MW, on the other hand, goes straight to OARsMEN. ART ROOM to me suggests a classroom in which art is taught. Atelier seems quite different – an artist’s studio or even a small gallery. LAIN is a word that often confuses me. I guess you could say:
“I had lain on the sand for an hour before I realized I was getting a sunburn.”
which would be equivalent to
“I had reclined on the sand for an hour before I realized I was getting a sunburn.”
Today’s quotation is a public service, an attempt to help those among us who are fed up with the seemingly endless season in which we find ourselves. It is taken from the writings of Van Wyck Brooks, born Feb. 16, 1886.
“All praise to winter, then, was Henry's feeling. Let others have their sultry luxuries. How full of creative genius was the air in which these snow-crystals were generated. He could hardly have marveled more if real stars had fallen and lodged on his coat. What a world to live in, where myriads of these little discs, so beautiful to the most prying eye, were whirled down on every traveler's coat, on the restless squirrel's fur and on the far-stretching fields and forests, the wooded dells and mountain-tops --these glorious spangles, the sweepings of heaven's floor.”
(From “The Flowering of New England, 1815-1865”)
I was bothered by the implication that there are arias that are *not* solo pieces. Is "Sempre libera" suddenly a duet because of Alfredo's 2-3 bars offstage?
Yes, agree that Ares as a symbol was odd cluing Caused me to spend time trying to make AXES work—thinking of Mussolini’s party symbol
Three Pilsners and a Witbier. Three brands owned by InBev and one by MillerCoors. One of these beers is not like the others. One of these beers just doesn’t belong.*
Good to see @Joho who never visits anymore. A fun puzzle, but I don’t think this is what the kids mean by “thirst trap.” Nevertheless, she has me wondering if it is too early for a Two-Hearted.
BAD ASS EMILIA is, I believe, a succinct description of GoT seasons 1-7. Then they didn’t know how to end the story and had the character become totally corrupted by power without full explanation for the transformation. Too much time and money spent on spectacle and they forgot about making sure the story made sense. Oops.
Is Ringo Starr’s pre-Beatles band really the best RORY clue? Gilmore Girls or the golfer are both more current and generally better known.
đđœđđœ
*Experience teaches that someones out there will think that’s a serious plaint. Sing with me, pre-schoolers...
You are correct, Rex, OARSMEN has an "S" in it.
@Z (8:11) asks, "Is Ringo Starr’s pre-Beatles band really the best RORY clue?" I answer an emphatic "Yes!"
Yes, the Gilmore Girls and the golfer are more well-known. But "Rory Storm and the Hurricanes" is one of those interesting factoids we learn from crosswords, are of very little use, but just fun to know. It's what my 7th grade science teacher called a "red motorcycle fact" (something to know in case someone on a red motorcycle pulls up and asks you something weird, like the name of Ringo's pre-Beatles band).
A lemon twist is made from lemon peel. If a bartender handed me my martini with little shreds of lemon ZEST scattered across the top I would ask to talk to the manager.
Thoroughly enjoyed this one! If only Johanna could have figured out a way to include Rolling Rock. Excellent puzzle and fun to solve.
I'm with @kitshef. A BADASS is not at all a "cool person" to me. He sounds like the type of person who would say BEER ME -- a phrase I find obnoxious and that no one I know has ever said.
But at least BADASS is colorful fill. After that, the rest of the puzzle was all downhill for me.
I see I'm an outlier today. Most of you seemed to really like this puzzle, though I'm hard-pressed to see why. I found the theme crashingly uninteresting and the cluing much too on-the-nose. Although I'm almost always on the same page as @Lewis, he praises AW C'MON and I thought it was junky fill. Right along with OH, OKAY.
And it was so completely lacking in challenge. The only two questions in the puzzle for me were whether it would be SLUSHIE or SLURPEE and whether it would be DOLT, DOPE or DODO. Hardly enough to keep the little gray cells engaged.
When Uncle Google asks you about your spelling and the top hits are crossword cheater sites there’s an issue. Still, scrolling down, OARMEN can be found in various publications with, I presume, high copy editing standards, even the NYT Other usages that I presume have copy-editing standards include The Taos News, Slate, and The Crimson. Still, there are as many gamer sites and wikis and. American Heritage and Merriam-Webster say it is OARsMEN.
@Guilherme Gama - These Arias are not SOLI đđ€Łđđ€Łđ
The Great ZEST Controversy
You’ve been tricked. Definition 1a not 1c. The lemon twist adds ZEST. Zest also adds ZEST.
Hey All !
Dang, and just Yesterday I was commenting how the ole brain was working well... Well, here's a stupid moment for ya...
I got down to the last square, CO_ONACIGAR/A_ES, and just stared blankly at it, saying "How the hell am I supposed to know this cigar?!" The ole brain decided Not to notice that that answer was part of the theme. Thanks, brain. So ran the alphabet, and still couldn't come up with anything meaning "war" except maybe an X for AxES. "A COxONA CIGAR? Sure, why not? I've seen other weird things in puzs before" my brain said. "Go ahead, write in that X!" (Side note: Is that talking to your brain, or talking to yourself?) (Or, can you actually get in a fight with your brain, as technically your brain is you?) (Speaking of brains, now mine hurts after that!) So, put in the X, no Happy Music. Took out the X, looked again at the almost complete answer, and the penny dropped. "Duh! It's CORONA, you DOLT! You know, BEER theme. Hello, anybody home?" (I'm not crazy, really...)
So a long way to say I had probably my dumbest one-letter DNF to date. Dang, I had a good streak going, too.
Self bashing aside, this was a pretty good puz. Is this another debut? Or just a name I don't recognize? There is closed off NW and SE corners, but not that terrible. Getting a little risque with NOONER. Missed Valentines Day by a couple of days! Har. THE PX, while technically correct, just looks weird. Who had pie before ABC? *Raises hand*
Submitted quite a few years ago a MOON themed puz. One of the themers was, of course, ONCE IN A BLUE MOON. I'll have to find it and see what it was about. I can't remember the whole thing. There goes my brain taunting me again!
Nice TuesPuz. *Tune in tomorrow to find out who wins the battle of with twixt Roo and his brain*
Har.
No F's (How about a BEEF ME! theme?)
RooMonster
DarrinV
Had a problem with that last clue: "Acquire" implies more deliberate action than "come by"
I just started but already I love it - you have to love a puzzle that starts with BADASS! Plus, I got the pesky NW corner for a change!
Happy Fat Tuesday!
This one just did not spark joy in me, which is unusual. I think the expectations raised by BADASS went unrequited. Some things just sounded off to me (and some others)--OHOKAY, which I think I usually hear as a resigned, oh, all right, ARTROOM, uh, no, OARMEN, SAYS no one, and AGE OUT, which I'm trying to avoid.
Also, BEERME just strikes me as frat house rude, and rude always bothers me. Plus I like beer, and none of these are beers I like. Just not in my happy zone today, which surprises me, as my happy zone is pretty big.
Thanks anyway, JH. Liked finding out about Ringo's first band.
There was definitely a pandemic/quarantine feel to this solve. Other than BEERME being something one generally says at a bar (or, maybe not, maybe it's more what one person says to another when that person is going to the kitchen), I would be willing to say that beer consumption itself has gone up in the last year. I've noticed the lack of CORONA/COVID related clues overall, which I think must be conscious, so CORONA gets snuck in here in a back door. I'd also would venture to say the frequency of NOONERS, as both halves of couples may be working from home all year, has increased? STELLAMCCARTNEY crossing TRASHY, as WFH people have transitioned from work clothes to sweats, was a possible deliberate cross (or maybe that's a stretch).
@RĂŒ - We have all been there.As for the brain debate, it’s Just Another Night.*
The Great BAD ASS Controversy
Just like “bad” is slang for “good,” “BAD ASS” as slang similar to “boss” or “supremely cool” is pretty common. A traditional BAD ASS is your run of the mill ogre. Prototypical BAD ASSes as clued are AOC or Whitmer or (controversially) Phoebe Bridgers. Specifically, as clued it has to be applied to someone who doesn’t look like a BAD ASS. So butterfly tattoos are okay but skull or mom tattoos not so much.
*I imagine maybe three people will laugh at this. That I’m one of the three is just something I’ll have to live with.
Nice puzzle, but I think I really really really dislike the phrase “Beer me.”
@SouthsideJohnny: TSE and RLS are both in the club.
@Wundrin: see word of the day
@kitschef: I would say she is not Tuesday xword famous, but the clue gives us the last name and the theme the first, so pretty clever way to work that in fairly.
@ Guilherme: or Mi Chiamano Mimi because of the "si" from Rudolpho? :)
I debated which was less worse: OARmen or OARers. OARMEN for the win. At least the clue let us know something was going to be atilt like ruby lips.
_WCM_N just had to be wrong, but turned into a fun answer.
I was waiting to hear a rant about how lame a theme it is to come up with the name of 4 beers. "That's it? The premiere xword?" Rex is sometimes full of surprises.
@Barbara: you've done it again! Went for a blissful hike in the snow yesterday, and that selection summed it up:)
@Nancy yesterday, I wasn't meaning to tease you for not knowing something. I scrolled through BONSAI for that clue, but not long enough to get the image of a huge Buddha under the tiny tree like Nero with grapes. A's idea of a bonsai over a little figurine would be lovely!
@ Z 8:11 Re: Is Ringo Starr’s pre-Beatles band really the best RORY clue? Gilmore Girls or the golfer are both more current and generally better known.
Without meaning to interrupt your morning round of mansplaining, I actually liked this clue, since I never knew this trivia, and it was easily inferrable. I'm guessing I'm not alone. Also liked the mini Beatles connection w/ Stella McCartney.
Yesterday we had Barney Fife, today "Nip in the bud".
Artroom,oarmen,ustour,the PX, and not a peep out of OFL. But "badass" and "STELLA !!!" to the rescue.
My Monday and Tuesday standard has fallen to "Fill in all the boxes".
Slow start in the NW, but the theme clues came easily and ended up very close to record Tuesday time. had COHIBA for CORONA, the noticed the theme and easy fix.
I hear badass used more often as a compliment. As in Harley makes a badass motorcycle.
I've also heard it as a snide remark like "Ooh, look at Pete trying to be Bobby Badass on his Harley."
@Mill City Architect. Good for you, Karen! Get that man or woman who works for tips fired over parsing the language. Hell hath no fury like a white person minorly inconvenienced.
Doh! Didn't look closely enough and thought the theme answer for "Nip in the Bud" was PINT.
@Odd sock 9:34 - it does strike me that badass as an adjective has a different (more positive) flavor than to badass as a noun.
The answer “niP IN The bud” also contains the word “pint”.
@Barbara S, Love your quote contributions and todays' was one of your best. Of course it's going to be around 85 and sunny here today. I can see where others might have a hard time feeling rapturous over the falling snow today. All my kids are still living around Chicago. I think I'll send them your quote and see what responses I get.
Every year, my two BADASS daughters—women with exciting, demanding jobs that require brains and management skills and lots of education—and I pack up my van and head to northern Minnesota. There we set up camp and then they run 15-20 miles of the Lake Superior Trail each day. When I'm not shuttling them back and forth from trailheads, I hike with my dog, explore tiny towns, test coffee shops. Evenings involve early dinners and then BEERME time around the campfire. We've used the term BADASS for a few years now and it fits perfectly.
I loved this puzzle! Here in the rural, red part of Illinois, some of these old dude bars don't carry designer beers; that's when BLUE MOON or Fat Tire become my BEERME option. Or, honest to god, Schlitz!! The old farmer farts, in their carhart overalls and John Deere hats, aren't much into IPAs. And before you jump on me, these are the guys who have hauled my car out of ditches, call me ma'am, and grow our corn and beans. Despite Trump signs, these are good men; just not BADASSES.
Lots of snow here today. Seriously thinking of hitching up my dogs to the sled and going for a spin. Neither dog has ever had a harness on, let alone been asked to pull anything as a team. Could be hilarious. Or dangerous. I'll report back, if I'm able.
Har, todays constructor is non other than our used-to-comment-here Joho. Should've read All the comments before posting. đ I still don't recognize her full name, only ever saw her as Joho, so my original statement of not seeing her name before is valid. How's that for circular reasoning?
I'm in the BADASS as a cool, risk taking, all-around do anything, someone whose friend you want to be, group. Or an awesome thing. "That Metallic concert was BADASS!"
RooMonster Not Quite (or close) A BADASS Guy đ
A CUR is to a loving, lovable pet dog what DJT is to a real human being.
@Rex, same issue w/"augur" vs "auger"; finally decided to do something about it. Being a fan of mnemonics (but somewhat lazy coming up with them), I gave this one some thought (about 5 seconds worth LOL). Seems like a lot of tools end with "er". Don't see any ending in "ur", tho. Pretty sure this will solve my issue. Time will tell. đ€
@RooMonster 9:02 AM
The brain constantly argues with itself; I get to choose which argument to go with. Not always the right choice, tho. LOL
And, yes, for "pie", tho spidey sense (or brain argument) said watch out for "abc", so later erasure. đ€
Peace ~ Empathy ~ Kindness to all đ
OH OKAY Johanna. It’s a rare day when I find Rex and @Lewis equally as happy with the puzzle as am I! But just when I’m ready to join the campfire to sing Kum ba ya, @Nancy & @kitchef douse the flames. Interesting đ§ that ultimately a puzzles worth depends as much on our perspective as on the absence of dupes. Gosh, I’m glad to have any puzzle to delay firing up the snowblower, so today I guess I’m another BADASS DOLT who see his BEER ME glass as half full, but ready for a top up .
Mediumish. Not knowing how to spell MCCARTNEY murdered a few nanoseconds. PLUS I had pie before ABC and RORY was a WOE (the golfer, the Gilmore, or the actor I would have known).
Delightful, fun, reasonably smooth, and refreshing, liked it a bunch! Nice one Joho!
Easy breezy and fun. I liked that Monday’s who doesn’t love dogs was followed by a Tuesday who doesn’t love BEER. Right now there are a few cold BUDs in my refrigerator and quite a few more in my garage which are even colder since it’s 7 below outside. A CORONA with a ZEST of lime hits the spot ONCE in a while, but the other two I’ve never tried sinceI live in a part of he county where designer suds aren’t big sellers.
Truman CAPOTE was a BADASS author, but if you’ve never read his In Cold Blood, don’t. It’s a true story based on factual events that will truly make your blood run cold and give you nightmares for a month.
THIS IS FOR YOU @TJS
So many people are embracing snow today that I wonder if all their respective arms are going to fall off from frostbite. First comes @Barbara S's Writer of the Day. "All praise to winter", indeed! Bah! Humbug!
Next comes @burtonkd's "blissful hike" in the snow. One man's bliss. @burton...
And now @Malsdemare has ventured to, off all places, Northern Minnesota to go dog sledding in the frigid temps with her untrained team. Is everyone crazy but me?
I've been hibernating for, like, forever. Not figuratively. Literally. I don't hate all winters, I sort of work around them, but THIS winter has been an absolute nightmare. And more snow is on its way...
Oh, and @burtonkd -- If it's done with affection and humor, I never mind being teased. I actually enjoy it, to tell the truth. So no worries about BONSAI -- and I also learned something.
I agree with Nancy that it wasn't hard but, like Lewis, I found it lively and entertaining.
I often have an early lunch with a Modelo Negra, currently my favorite beer. Heinekin is great too. Also Dos Equis and Peroni on tap. All lagers. Of the four theme beers, two are from Belgium.
I gather that the constructor used to comment as Joho. Was it before I started coming? The tag doesn't ring a bell.
I suppose "Beer me!" comes from "King me" in checkers. It's been in the puzzle before. Bar people must say it somewhere.
Someone said the other day that life under Covid restrictions is like being in Groundhog Day. Yes, it is.
If a “Brit” is a person from Britain, why isn’t a “Nip” a person from Nippon? Just wondering.
ARRRGGGHHH!
Was there seriously ANYONE besides "ultra woke" rex that thought of NIP as a racial slur?? It's so important to find the next cause to rally around that he takes a simple English word and makes it taboo. SMH
When I Googled "nip" it gave ne two definitions- "pinch, squeeze or bite sharply" and "(informal) steal or snatch".
So now it's "East Asian in the bud"? "East Asian and tuck"? That dog "East Asianed" at my leg?
I think I am going to have a few "East Asians" of bourbon and call it a day.
HOMER SIMPSON likes 62A
Oh, and as a die-hard Beatles fan, the Rory clue was great. So now EVERY clue has to be current? Throw us old-timers a bone now and again.
Oarsmen yes, Oarmen no
I guess I was right. the on-line dictionary says OARsMEN. just didn't feel right without the S.
This one left me flat.
Never once have I said BEERME and would not respond particularly well to someone saying it to me.
I'm with @Conrad in thinking MOMA needs an abbreviation clue.
I did like BADASS at 1A. To me, it's someone who pushes boundaries and takes no prisoners, but mostly in a good way. Think Wonder Woman. Or Chuck Yeager.
Easy for us!
since the MoMA calls itself that (www.moma.org), abbr. isn't called for. in any case, I'd say it's an acronym/(initialism for AR types) if not the actual name.
Happy Snow Day!
I know it's not a big deal for most of you, but this ice/snow single digit weather down here in Miss'ippi is making people happy. Unless they have somewhere to be. I really can't tell who's having more fun, the kids or the adults. One of the neighbors was pulling kids in a little plastic sled behind his ATV. I might offer the services of our malamute, though she's never been a sled dog. @Malsdemare, go for it, and take video!
Rex’s list of themers had the clue for 11a instead of 17a. Not that anyone cares.
This one was cute but over way too soon. Also I was seriously disappointed not to see Arrogant Bastard (Ale) - primed with 15 letters even! Could tie in with BADASS and BEERME. Liked seeing Paul and Ringo. BAlm before BASE.
Agree with Rex about the ’s’ in OARMEN. But then it showed up later so we didn’t have the lonely OAT that is so often abused with tortured clues. OATS, super simply clued as ‘feedbag fill’ gave such a warm and comfortable feeling, like a big bowl of OATSmeal with pecans and maple syrup. No raisins.
Thanks, Ms. Fenimore!
wow, a Vulcan Mind Meld with a @Princeton Mom. I feel smarter already.
This puppy gave m&e deeP BRain stimulation.
Definitely kinda feisty, for a TuesPuz. @Sanfranman: Startin to be convinced -- these puzs are gettin a bit harder than they used to be.
yep. ESS ME, OARMEN. Official M&A Help Desk Dictionary has OARSMEN. But not OARMEN.
Had TAWDRY, ahead of TRASHY. PIE ahead of ABC. Lost precious nanoseconds.
Atelier? … bĂȘtes me.
Hadn't ever met this nice MCCARTNEY gal. Or STELLA beer.
Got no prob with either BADASS or BEERME. Perfectly acceptable trashy talk, at our house.
More of a whyno than a beerme dude, but do enjoy me a Blue Moon or Coors, now and then. Gotta go vodka with the cinnamon rolls, tho.
Overall, liked this here beer hops theme, even tho I had a tough solvequest. Thanx for that, Johanna Fenimore darlin. Bring it, Shortzmeister. [snort]
Masked & Anonymo6Us
**gruntz**
I had a couple of minutes of staring at the puzzle until I switched UkTOUR to USTOUR - took the Eur component the wrong way and I’m used to missing initials so didn’t automatically go with TSEliot. Otherwise very pleasant.
BEATS ME sums up my attempt to figure out the theme after the first 3 answers. Like @Unknown 9:58 and Artie 10:00, I spotted the PINT in the first one and then spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to get a quART out of MCCARTNEY before giving up the "fun with measurements" idea. I like it when a puzzle keeps me guessing and I look forward to the whisking away of the veil when all is revealed - but today I'm with those who somehow find BEER ME off-putting. That didn't stop me from going back and admiring how nicely the puzzle was constructed.
@RooMonster 9:02 - I almost matched your COxONA with my COROdA (from LAId), but at the last second, the BEER positioned below saved me.
Agree, well said Lewis!
@Conrad 6:41. I’m OK with no abbreviation in the clue for MOMA. I don’t know of anyone who refers to the museum with its full name. It is almost always referred to as MOMA.
Ironically, l was drinking a BLUE MOON while doing the puzzle. Sitting in the fridge were a CORONA Extra and a STELLA!!! What are the odds?
What a great day: RORY in the crossword and also in Letter Boxed. My son's name. Best name ever - very badass - but only for boys, imho (Gillmore Girls gave us a few years of angst in elementary school). Was thankful when Rory McElroy came on the scene - and won. Mine was a so-called elite hockey player (played in the International PeeWee Hockey Tournament in Quebec - several of his teammates are now popular players in the NHL), until he shifted gears and pursued other interests. Good call. He's finishing up his PhD in Biology/Genetics and starting his first big job (not as a TA or as a research assistant in the lab at school) in March as a senior researcher for a small company that researches and makes drugs for orphan genetic diseases. Sorry, folks, but with covid there aren't many people in the non-virtual world to connect with and tell! đ
https://youtu.be/lROruo8G7Yo
@Barbara (7:59) This morning those myriads of little discs are all over the hills and woods around me. But I must admit that as I watched the sun begin to sparkle off their collective surface in the -10° air, I couldn’t help but feel awed by the wonders of the “sweepings of Heaven’s floor.” Thanks. That one is going to stay with me, OH, probably forever.
@Malsdemere (10:14) Those guys who haul our cars out of ditches, call us ma'am, and grow our corn and beans - they are truly BAD ASS. I wouldn’t trade them for all the city boys with their BENZes anywhere.
@A (11:12) Good to know some folks are actually enjoying the arctic blast. It started at my house about five days ago and the novelty has definitely worn off.
OKAY. One more time regarding NIP. It’s a word with numerous perfectly innocuous definitions. Please, stop with the faux outrage and just have a good laugh over one of them.
Along with @Joaquin and @unknown 9:31, I loved the Ringo clue. There’s enough in the way of gimmees on a Tuesday, so why not spice it up? Nice puzzle. My biggest stall - Easy as pie.
Pitchers and catchers tomorrow and Thursday! Big PLUS to my week.
@mathgent Blue Moon is a Belgian style beer, but definitely not from Belgium. It was originally brewed by Coors.
"He could hardly have marveled more if real stars had fallen and lodged on his coat." Those of us who've had that feeling are truly fortunate - and can probably also still hear the musical sound of the bell from The Polar Express. Good one, Barbara!
Rory Calhoun - Wikipedia
Rory Calhoun (born Francis Timothy McCown, August 8, 1922 – April 28, 1999) was an American film and television actor, screenwriter and producer. He starred in numerous Westerns in the 1950s and 1960s, and appeared in supporting roles in films such as How to Marry a Millionaire (1953).
Born: Francis Timothy McCown; August 8, 1922; ...
Years active: 1941–1993
Died: April 28, 1999 (aged 76);
So the clue to 26A gave me the last part of the answer, and I kinda thought her first name was STELLA -- but I felt I'd better check the crosses. Got the initial S, but wanted one more, and what do I see? "Literary monogram!" I mean, C'MON, that can be any three letters at all! Luckily, I was pretty sure the designer's first name didn't start with Sr, so I held off on Mr Stevenson, and waited for some more crosses.
Well that was a nice challenge, so fair enough. But I'm bothered about the revealer. It's certainly something people say -- and those of you complaining that YOU would never say it, so what? You might never go on a US TOUR either, but it's still a good clue. Only I thought in the ideal revealer, the whole word or phrase fit the theme -- and where does the ME work? If you interpret it as the whole phrase, meaning "give me a beer," that would work well IF the rest of each theme answer was a stand-alone phrase. But as it is, the ME seems redundant.
Yeah, I don't care what your random dictionary says, it's OARSMEN -- and they are on a crew, not a crew team. And while we're out there on the water, in my limited knowledge of ships (based entirely on movies), the captain of a ship stands on the bridge, or paces back and forth, giving orders to the helmsman, who is actually at the HELM stirring the vessel.
Those are all pretty minor, though, there is lot of good stuff in here--including the so far unmentioned, I think, NOONER, definitely the star entry of the puzzle. The NYT is getting pretty racy!
Karl Grouch - I found Rory Gallagher, too, on Wikipedia, but not the video - thanks. Unknown to me before this. I'm left pondering what his "rare blood type" was.
Yo, JoHo, badass puzz! I considered beer at BUD, had forgotten about it by STELLA, saw BLUE MOON and went back to beer. This had the added PLUS of saving me from an error at ARES and XBOXONE because CORONA fit the theme. Whenever I see (can't say if I've heard it) BEER ME, it brings up the PBR ME ASAP slogan.
@Barbara S, what a lovely ode to winter you offer us today. Yet somehow I doubt the people in all of those photos trying to push their cars out of it were singing similar paeans to the stuff!
@Off The Grid,
Thanks. I'm not good at finding those clips, but as soon as Barney appeared yesterday, I was cracking myself up with that memory, and here it is today. Serindipity. (sp.?) And now we have "STELLA !!!"
To one of the Anonymice, The use of "OK Karen" says more about the user than it does about the intended target.
Thanks for that. Brightened my day.
My 23-year old son uses BADASS in exactly the way the puzzle does, so I'd vouch for it.
mathgent, I was the one who suggested you change your name from mathguy to "gent!" It was quite a while ago.
Agree, SOLI is not one of the fake Latin plurals but a real plural.
Hi,everybody! I know I don't comment here anymore but this was the first blog I ever participated in and I consider so many of you as my friend. It's nice to see that I'm gone but not forgotten. Thank you!
Medium-Challenging NYT Tuesday ... 7% above my 6-month median solve time
This reminded me of yesterday's puzzle in that it was a little crunchy for it's publication day of the week and, once again, I welcomed the crunchiness. When I can't just zoom through a Monday or Tuesday, it sometimes exasperates me, but it occasionally leads to more appreciation for the constructor's work. This was one of the latter.
None of the cluing seemed unfair and it was playful in spots. Casually conversational clue/answer combinations like AW C'MON {11D: "Pretty, pretty please"} and OH OKAY {62A: "Um, I guess so"} sometimes don't land well with me, but for whatever reason, they did today. Plus, I'm predisposed to like any puzzle with references to The Beatles and we get two of them here. Better yet, one of them was a learning opportunity for me (RORY {49A: ___ Storm and the Hurricanes (Ringo's band before the Beatles)}). While that seems pretty obscure for a Tuesday puzzle, it's fairly crossed (unless you don't know the idiomatic NOONER {44D: Lunchtime tryst}).
I didn't pick up on the theme until I got to the the revealer and had 'ONCE IN A lifEtime' at first instead of ONCE IN A BLUE MOON {43A: Very rarely}. It's strange to see SLUSHIE {23D: Drink that can cause brain freeze} in today's grid three days after I mistakenly tried to use it instead of SLURPEE in Saturday's puzzle. Two thumbs up here with one demerit for having a product-placement theme and four other commercial references and one demerit for OARMEN {24D: Some crew team members}. I had OARers for the latter since I only know this word as OARsMEN and my go-to online dictionary, M-W.com, agrees.
Anonymous 12:30 pm - After reading about the life of Rory Calhoun, I'd say he was kind of a badass!
I remember @Joho on this blog!! And I also remember the day someone suggested that @mathguy become @mathgent. I even remember why: MATH and GENT were in the same Across row, separated by only a couple of black squares.
But I certainly couldn't have connected @Joho with her @mathgent post. And that's because, as the late Nora Ephron said, I Remember Nothing.
So, knowing that @Joho has created previous puzzles that I didn't remember either, I Googled xword.info to see what they were. And discovered that it was @Joho who created the wonderful NO BRA DAY puzzle. I remember that one now that I reread it. There was such a lovely "Aha Moment" and the revealer was such a hoot. It was a Thursday, btw.
Please do more late week puzzles in the future, @Joho. Will you? You have wit and sparkle that I didn't feel were really shown off to their best effect today.
It seems as though Rex’s outrage only applies to certain words. Would he object to a clue such “He has a menorah on his table” (Jew) or “He plays the sitar” (Indian)? Those are words that have some incredibly offensive usages. Sometimes when he objects to a word, I have to go back and rethink: Oh yeah, “nip” can be pejorative. He seems to be programmed to see the pejorative FIRST, despite a perfectly legitimate use. It’s his blog and I’m grateful for it. And I appreciate his recognition of the offensive ways our language has been perverted. But jeez, NIP??? As in NIP IN THE BUD, a very in-the-language phrase? Take a breath, Rex.
AGE OUT was pretty cool. ART ROOM for studio? Uh, ok I guess. CORONA is average length for a CIGAR; edit flub on that clue.
BADASS at 1 Across reminded me of the Finnish standup comedian Ismo who did a riff on ASS as being the most complicated word in the English language. If you have six minutes to spare, here's a YouTube video of his routine. It's hilarious and an interesting insight into one of the vagaries of our language. (It was on Conan O'Brien's Late Night show, so it's relatively safe for most situations and ages.)
OMG. Joho is my blog Godmother and I didn't remember. What a dunce I am. How sweet of her to remember.
@Joho - Good to hear from U again. It's been a while. Stay spunky.
@kitshef: An answer below about a recent runtpuz question U had:
*** "Caught In The Middle" slight spoiler alert ***
re: 1-D clue: {It ain't a whole lot, but it's a beginning?} = AUTO. Think items found in a parking lot.
M&A Help Desk
Coronas are not particularly long as the clue indicates. At 5 ½ to 6 inches, they are shorter than Churchills (7 inches) and double Coronas (as long as 8 ½). The rare A size is as long as 9 ¼.
Jack Bettridge
Cigar Aficionado
I just remembered. The puzzle that had "math" and "gent" side by side prompting Joho to suggest that I change my blog handle was by Patrick Berry. So Joho is my blog Godmother and PB is my blog Godfather. What a lucky fellow am I.
Someone said “hold my beer” after seeing Shortz allow beaner in a puzzle. Most interesting to me are some of the comments in defense of the mistake. The seem too familiar.
@R Duke & @ mathgent - Since BLUE MOON is the only BEER of the set not owned by InBev it is arguably the least Belgium of the BEERS. No witbier in the fridge, but I do have a nice Mango Oberon American Wheat Ale smiling at me from the fridge.
@Joaquin, @Unknown9:31, & @Chip Hilton - I guess. Maybe, too, if the constructor is really into the Beatles (certainly a possibility as I see @Joho’s first puzzles we’re co-constructed with a noted Beatle lover). But to me it crosses from trivia into trivial trivia. Also, I think we tend to overestimate how well known the Beatles are to younger solvers.
Interesting clue connections today. Some might be considered pluse some not.
AW C'M ON, COME BY
BEATS ME, BEER ME
BRUSHES by the ARTROOM
BENZ a true echo of yesterday,
pie a false echo of yesterday.
An ACT of WAR and ARES and a SUB with a captain at the HELM. Does a SUB have one? Well, it probably has a BASE with THE PX.
OMEN AUGER
AUGER OGRE
TRASHY BADASS
OATS TAO
A backward BUS on a US TOUR.
More palindromic humor, self-pairing:
ERGO OGRE
SORE EROS
RAW WAR
Those last two seem to be a pair of their own.
To end in peace
The TAO of LAMB.
EAST and West united.
@Anoa Bob 4:17 PM
Unfortunately, the vid from your link isn't available in my country. Here's a "new & extended version" that I was able to view. As good as advertised! đ
___
pg -5
Peace ~ Empathy ~ Kindness to all đ
@Masked and Anonymous 4:38 - thank you. Even after seeing the explanation I still needed ten minutes for it to click,
@ Z 4:57 If I have to learn the name of every minor Harry Potter and Star Wars character, then a 20-something-year-old can certainly learn the names of the four Beatles. (No need to respond.)
@Z
There are many common phrases that include NIP that are not slurs. Nip in the bud, nip in the air, nip at ones heels. to name a few.
I can only think of one for BEANER, and it's not that common; most people would say bean ball.
BTW, NIP was a slur over 75 years ago (WWII) and, IMHO has lost much, if not all of it's hurtfulness, especially when used in phrases
like the above.
Not including NIP (unless clued as WWII enemy, e.g.) in a crossword puzzle seems like overkill to me.
@Puzzleman
"If a “Brit” is a person from Britain, why isn’t a “Nip” a person from Nippon? Just wondering."
(Note: Normally I'd write out the words, but I'll refrain mostly here.)
Quite simply, because it is used or was used historically in a way to insult and demean. Just like the 3-letter-shortening of "Japan(ese.)"
Its etymology doesn't matter. I'm Polish. The word in Polish for a Pole is "Polak." Well, it's a perfectly normal, inoffensive word in Polish, so it should be in English, right? Well, no. It's been used pejoratively, and there's a perfectly good English word for a Polish person - Pole.
How about Pakistani? Take the first four letters and you have a demeaning word equal in power in the UK to our n-word here.
Why? Because that's how the word's been used, and the people it was aimed at found it insulting. "Brit" (which actually does sound a bit curt and rude to my ears) doesn't have the same baggage as the words above. (You can made a more in-depth argument about majority groups vs minority groups, imperialism, prejudice, etc., but let's keep things simple.)
Language isn't math. Language isn't logic. Don't look for a formula of well, if I do this to this word here and it's not insulting, then I can do this to this other here and it won't be insulting either. Not necessarily. Words live and how they grow up isn't predictable.
@Barbara S. - Another fine passage, thanks! Fits right in with my feelings about the snow (from the point of view of someone who isn’t in immediate danger of freezing!)
More complaints today about clues not properly reflecting the exact scientific, musical, mixological, (insert area of expertise of choice here) usage. I usually will give a pass to a loose interpretation or to the use of a lesser known definition. Makes things interesting. In the case of SOLI, I do have a problem, but not because the term SOLI has a specific musical meaning other than the one in the clue - that gets the pass. What doesn’t get the pass is using the word SOLI for multiple solo arias. “The coloratura soprano performed several solos” and “my kid played two solos with the band” are examples of accepted usage. “The coloratura soprano performed several soli” and “my kid played two soli with the band” are, in the words of my college music theory professor, “just wrong.”
Bottom line: Those arias are SOLos. If you want SOLI, clue ‘Most ariae’. But please don’t. And only on a Saturday, OHO KAY?
If we were doing word associations and you said RORY I would say McElroy, but seeing it in the grid made me think of 19th century England and horses (maybe it was the OATS). On a hunch I looked up Black Beauty and was reminded RORY was one of Beauty’s equine compatriots. (Imagine that little nugget lurking in a dark corner of my brain for 50 years waiting for just this moment!) Learned that the book wasn’t originally intended for children. The author, Anna Sewell, had been dependent on horses for transportation since a childhood injury. She was disturbed by the mistreatment of working horses, and wrote the book to call attention to it and persuade people to change. It was the first book in English to be written from the point of view of a non-human animal. Whoa.
Speaking of brains (Hi, @Roo!) I just now went back to look at the SYN clue (Listing in Roget, e.g.). I totally woofed on Roget, thinking it was a place in France or maybe Switzerland, so filled that in from the crosses. Briefly wondered what real estate listing was abbreviated SYN. OH OKAY DOLT.
I wonder if this was purposely run on Mardi Gras.
Beer today, ashes tomorrow?
Oarmen was troubling but Badass and Beer Me made up for it--my age group is represented!
@JC66 - I think it was related to an earlier discussion here where I read a first hand account that NIP is still used pejoratively. I’m personally much more familiar with pejoratives hurled at Muslim-Americans and Latin Americans and was really only familiar with NIP in this sense from WWII movies. Still, when somebody says “that word causes me pain” my response is to use the old gray matter thesaurus. Maybe in 20 years the offensive usage truly will have disappeared, but I believe those who say it hasn’t, yet.
@Peter P - đđœđđœđđœđđœđđœ
@Unknown5:56 - Why so angry? And since you apparently missed it, my take on PPP of any ilk is that less is better, it should be varied both in subject and era, and trivial trivia is the worst (that would include minor Harry Potter and Star Wars characters, and even some major ones). Our biggest point of disagreement seems to be that knowing Ringo’s pre-Beatle band is worth knowing by anyone. Are we even sure Ringo remembers it?
Sort of funny how everyone who mentioned More-Famous-Rory-The-Golfer either avoided including his last name or spelled it wrong.
@Z
If someone sees "nip in the bud, nip in the air, nip at ones heels, etc" often enough, it might not take 20 years for her to learn NIP is no longer offensive.
@Joe Dipinto - Or avoided spelling the name altogether đ - But I assume if they used the golfer to clue RORY that Shortz would have gotten the last name correct. Just watch, now we’re going to get McIlroy in the grid this Friday or Saturday.
@JC66 - I think you got your cause and effect out of whack. It is going to take generations, not just years, of people not using the pejorative before using the word innocently won’t make people wonder.But that’s not the world we live in.
Maybe it's because he's from St. Louis, but I thought TSE was obvious. But I'll argue that TSE isn't three random letters thrown together. It could be clued "when doubled, parasite carrying pest" and then you might have liked it.
@Z
Posting a link to an article about stupid people reacting/responding to Trump calling the Corona Virus the "Chinese Flu" doesn't prove anything.
On the other hand, I highly doubt that, today, anyone finds NIP IN THE BUD offensive.
Yes, there will always be discrimination and racism. But eliminating innocuous phrases from crossword puzzles, IMHO isn't a cure.
@Joe Dipinto Guilty as charged! I'm not a golf fan but only listen to my spouse talk about it. So I spelled it the way the fabulous trumpet player (Big)John McElroy spells it. Apologies to Rory 'not the horse from Black Beauty' McIlroy. PS. Pretty sure Rory the horse from Black Beauty didn't have a last name, so I'm safe there.
In this case, SOLI is an Italian plural.
Adding Rory-the-horse-from-Black-Beauty to my list. And apologies to Rory McIlroy - I knew it but my brain automatically reverted to what I've more commonly seen. Won't happen again but he should probably change the spelling of his name - it just doesn't look right when typed! LOL.
Pleased to meet you and your puzzle, Joho. Thanks! It was great!đ
Wednesday and no Rex yet? Power outage? Hope he's ok. Everyone else here, too.
Any problem with NIPinthebud (and it's not a problem for me), I thiunk is overcome by the inclusion of PINT in niPINThebud.
What about the inconsistency of the themers? The first two are essentially nicknames (for Budweiser and Stella Artois), but the last two are full names. If you are going to complain about inconsistency sometimes, then you have to complain about it all the time, right?
@newbie 8:02 AM
Thx, you too! đ
Stay warm and safe everyone! đ
Peace ~ Empathy ~ Kindness to all đ
I submitted a puzzle like this once..not a xword, different style, but... And in the rejection note was 'an ape is not a monkey'
He appears to be fine. Has 2 posts already on Twitter. WTF?
Oh no! Rex has no Wednesday puzzle up! IM COOL but I hope he hasn’t slipped on a BANANA PEEL or anything!
Medium to easy
Is there a Mod in the house - anyone know what's up with OFL ?
I have no idea.
He probably forgot to hit send.
I don't understand the Wednesday glitch either if he's posted twice on Twitter as @Frantic says. But maybe Twitter involves a different technology than putting up the blog does? Anyway -- why don't we just discuss today's (Wed) puzzle here?
My comment is short: APES? That's it?
Re 56D: This song is sung in "The Sound of Music" in defiance of a bunch of Nazis sitting in the audience as the Von Trapp family performs while plotting their escape from Austria. For my money it's the best and most important song in the show. Many people have come to think it's the Austrian national anthem, but it's not. It was written by Oscar Hammerstein -- and it's the last song he wrote before his tragic and untimely death. For anyone who hasn't heard it, you should watch the clip.
Not on Twitter myself, but could someone who is contact Rex that way since he is known to be on this morning? Apologies if that is nonsense - I now nothing about Twitter.
@Nancy 9:15 AM
Thank you! One of my favorites, too. :)
Peace ~ Empathy ~ Kindness to all đ
what is the correct answer to 2 Down?
Thanks, bo! đ đ
Nancy - beautiful song - didn't know it was written by Hammerstein. đź
Could this be our punishment for dissing Rex? We're sorry we said you were too nip-picky. Please come back - we neeeed you!
He's up!!!
Ed - EPHEMERA.
Hurray! đ
I didn't know "NWA" because I don't know rap but it worked itself out. Fun puzzle for a Wednesday.
Good to see you Rex!
BEERME the gimmick worked well for 26A but not so much for the rest.
A fun solve. Drinkin' BEER and havin' a NOONER? A well-spent day. I'll throw my hand up for S-ing the OARMEN, and for PIE before ABC, but those are about the only glitches. Love that RORY was clued without modern golf or old westerns. PLUS, learned a factoid about the Beatles I never knew.
Speaking of PLUS, I experienced a bit of synchronicity with the clue. On the same page as the puzzle, there are three comic strips, one of which is a rather new one called "Wallace the Brave." In today's panels, a girl is upset at getting an A- on a paper. Wallace produces a red pen and with one vertical slash turns the A- into an A+. "Witchcraft!"
Anyway, I liked it, welcome another distaff contributor, and issue an eagle. Least I can do for the presence of DOD EMILIA Clarke.
BADASS OATS (SIN SYN.)
Does my BUD STELLAMCCARTNEY
like TRASHY women OARMEN?
OH, she'll COMEBY and BEERME
for a ZESTy NOONER again.
--- EMILIA "MEL" LAMB
AWCMON. A few of the commentariat need to take a chill pill. To be so easily offended where there is nothing there - ridiculous and tiresome. OHOKAY. How about if we just use it as short for NIPple? Yesterday WHITE was in the puz, surely someone is offended by that.
A fully spelled STELLAMCCARNTNEY wins the day.
BEER puz? Also a winner.
Much of the puzzle rides in on the back of a winning theme. Really enjoyed it. So step up folks, the BEER’s on ME.
Oh did I agonize over the LAIN/LAID conundrum. Guessed wrong. Still think I was "right."
tata for now
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Wednesday's puzzle
PS - Nobody will read this but here goes anyway. I would have kept STELLAMCCARTNEY and replaced the other themers with BUDSELIG, GLENNMILLER and ALECGUINESS.
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