Giovanni "Gio" Ponti (18 November 1891 – 16 September 1979) was an Italian architect, industrial designer, furniture designer, artist, teacher, writer and publisher.
During his career, which spanned six decades, Ponti built more than a hundred buildings in Italy and in the rest of the world. He designed a considerable number of decorative art and design objects as well as furniture. Thanks to the magazine Domus, which he founded in 1928 and directed almost all his life, and thanks to his active participation in exhibitions such as the Milan Triennial, he was also an enthusiastic advocate of an Italian-style art of living and a major player in the renewal of Italian design after the Second World War. From 1936 to 1961, he taught at the Milan Polytechnic School and trained several generations of designers. Ponti also contributed to the creation in 1954 of one of the most important design awards: the Compasso d'Oro prize. Ponti died on 16 September 1979.
His most famous works are the Pirelli Tower, built from 1956 to 1960 in Milan in collaboration with the engineer Pier Luigi Nervi, the Villa Planchart in Caracas and the Superleggera chair, produced by Cassina in 1957. (wikipedia)
• • •
Hello! It's time for my monthly Zoom-solve with my friend and fellow central New Yorker, crossword constructor Rachel Fabi. Normally we'd do it on the 23rd, but ... you know, circumstances, so here we are, solving a Friday puzzle on the 26th.
Our overall take was: very nice central stack, decent long Downs, rough everywhere else. Which seemed upside-down, as pulling off a clean 15 stack seems like it would be more challenging than simply filling a relatively small and highly sequestered corner, but, yeah, none of the corners was very good, and one (the NE) was just baffling. You can watch the video and see us solve it in real time, but if you're not so inclined, I can tell you there is a good chunk of time where I just keep changing IMPASTO (!?!?!) to IMPASSE over and over and over again. The IMPASTO / TAW (!?!?!?!?!) cross is extremely likely to cause some subset of solvers to just stare at the grid in befuddlement. I don't think IMPASTO or TAW is particularly good on its own, but I *know* they're awful when they team up to cross at that "T." It's been 60 years since anyone could tell you the different marble types—since anyone played marbles at all, honestly—so what in the hell is that clue even doing? IMPASSE / SAW / ERS ... why did the puzzle not go this direction? I'm all for the road less traveled, but sometimes you don't travel down a road because it's full of potholes or leads off a cliff. It's true that TO SEE is already in the grid, and maybe you don't want SAW and SEE in the same grid, but. you can clue SAW as a noun, a bunch of ways, so that ... really shouldn't be a problem. Honestly, on every level, IMPASTO / TAW is such a terrible choice. To make things worse, someone's gone and parked a GREEN CAR up in that corner as well. I've only just begun to accept ECOCAR, so there is no way I'm accepting GREEN CAR ... unless the car is actually painted GREEN or belongs to singer Al GREEN. The other corners are merely mediocre and mildly tiresome, but that NE corner has me just shaking my head.
But the middle part, as I say, is wonderful, with PUT A FACE TO A NAME occupying its rightful place of glory at center stage (38A: Meet somebody you've heard lots about). This puzzle played hard for me, with a bunch of names I just didn't know (GIO, SVEN??) and cluing I couldn't make sense of very readily. There are many more little details in the video. Enjoy! Or don't! See you tomorrow!
After finishing today’s puzzle I looked and saw nothing too outlandish. So why did it simply kick my ass? Really struggled here.
A couple of nits:
No one says CALI. One might say “Cal” when referring to the great university in Berkeley but otherwise something more specific is said (e.g. - SoCal, the Bay Area, the Valley, etc.).
And, TESLA does make GREENCARs but they are not, as the clue suggests, “High-m.p.g. vehicle(s)”. They’re electric so they don’t get any “miles-per-gallon” (unless you’re referring to blinker fluid).
I found the puzzle challenging. The greencar really slowed me. I wanted a specific Tesla model and found one: Roadster, but of course it was wrong and took a long time to fix it. It was a good Friday for me - struggled a lot but eventually finished.
Ole and Sven definitely a thing in the upper midwest (great plains?). Anyway, Ole and Sven jokes a very much told in ND and MN. This may extend into WI and SD, but I’m not sure. Highly regional. Also, HATED 7A/12d. Oof. Rest was average, but goddamn. Had EVEHICLE (?) for a while in the place of green car, and that honestly makes more sense.
I had never heard of "pipet", but apparently it does EXIST and s different from a "pipette". I still hate that answer, along with GIO, ENNIO and IMPASTO.
"LIFE is what happens while you're busy making other plans" was nnt just said, but said by John Lennon. (the history of the saying is a bit murky, as explored her: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/05/06/other-plans/)
After Mauna Kea as the last few answers, they threw a screwball with LOA.
Really liked it, but is was tough. We did wrap it up without a cheat, which makes me happy on a Fridee (where Is @Frantic?). We miss you. I saw @GILL I’s smiling on Facebook so I know she is A OK.
In Laws were Yuppers, so OLE and SVEN was an easy one. I usually don’t care for Grid spanners, I’m beginning to change my mind. Loved PUT A FACE TO A NAME and CRY FOR ATTENTION.
The IMPASTO/TAW crossing was the final solve for moi. Only seemed reasonable because my guess at marble names with IMPASTO/GAW and IMPASDO/DAW were not working out.
But before that final problem, I coughed up some sick on GREENCAR and TESLA. Just badly clued, and frankly non-knowledgable that electric cars have their own environmental issues.
Rex and Rachel are correct about the horrible intersection of IMPASTO and TAW. When I was about 10 years old, in 1970, marbles (at recess) were a huge thing, and I can only remember a big marble as being a GOB. Never heard of TAW.
When I think of ENNIO Morricone I will always hear the awesome score from the graveyard scene in the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Ecstasy of Gold.
Pretty spot-on with your review of today's puzzle. That T in the IMPASTO/TAW crossing was the final square for me, and when -- like here -- I am utterly perplexed at the final square and relatively-sure I have the rest of the grid correct, I just start going through the alphabet until the "congratulations" screen with the gold star appears. (Is that cheating in some manner? I honestly don't know...)
The rest of the puzzle played easy for me, largely because all three of the 15 stack entries fell very quickly for some reason.
Overall, I thought it was a solid Friday puzzle, despite that absurd T in the NE :)
Okay, what is memorable and most impressive about this puzzle for me was that the triple stack in the middle PLUS the three long down answers – 1) how they seamlessly cross, 2) that they are all engaging, and 3) every single one of these six long answers are NYT debuts! That is simply triple-wow in my book, and props to you, Chuck, for making that happen.
I enjoyed dragging KENDO, LIFE (as clued), and SHETLAND out of hibernation, not to mention flashing on those Grand Canyon PANORAMAS, and conquered enough stumbles to leave this grid feeling mighty fine.
This puzzle was as fresh as a just-picked apple, and I’m so glad you made it, Chuck. Thank you!
I must have been on the constructors’ wavelength, because I found this puzzle easy. I was shocked when I saw the rating. The TAW/IMPASTO crossing was bad. Fortunately, TAW is something I picked up from many years of doing xwords.
As long as we're beating up on that NE corner, I want to file a complaint against ORS as clued. Sure, I see how the word "or" is a "choice word," but it's one word: "or." I'm struggling to imagine a context in which one could meaningfully use the plural ORS in a sentence. Might an editor make a note that, say, "There are too many ors in this paragraph"? But what editor would say that? Wouldn't you say something like "The word 'or' appears too many times in this paragraph"?
No more CALI please! The Golden State deserves better. Using sound incorrectly, I guessed dAW first, but TAW fit the cross better. Much easier than the average Friday and a fun challenge. Lots of McCarthys: Kevin, Joe, Eugene, Charlie; more than one a blockhead.
Plunked down ARTISTIC LICENSE with no crosses and was enjoying the spoils of my early success, convinced this would go down quick for me, but the NE brought progress to a screeching halt. IMPASTO/TAW victim, right here. I've never cursed so much at so few squares.
I agree with Rex's assessment without reservation (i.e. the equator was great, the corners not so much).
Side note: I had never heard of GIO Ponti and was really hoping our Italian architect would be female. Crosses gave me GI-, so I optimistically entered an A. I felt predictable, Rex-like disappointment when I realized it had to be a dude.
Pretty much the same take as Rex. Oddly - the longs in this one were easier for me than the shorter fill. Loved the center stack - and both long downs. Some of the short fill was clunky - SOI, ONE G, RAH and BAH were rough. Liked the COMBS clue and Robinhood is in the current events category.
My brother cruised the North Sea and one of their ports was Shetland. Don’t think I’ll ever get there but it sounds amazing.
I drive a GREEN CAR, I have an all electric Chevy Bolt, and I can tell you that no one who owns one has ever used that term, we just call them EVs. I had no trouble with IMPASTO and never saw TAW at all. The NW was the last to fall for me. Overall not a bad puzzle.
@chefwen. I am a Michigander troll (I live below the bridge). The SVEN Ole phenomenon never took hold in the lower peninsula. The U P seems more culturally in sync with WI and MN. The western section is even on central time.
RE: CALI. It's an SAOC*
*State Abbreviation of Convenience
@TT and other mathephiles. Do you observe Feb. 7? Are you IN ON E(e) DAY?
Dear Californians, This is your regular reminder that people outside California do occasionally use Cali to refer to your state. Even if it sounds like nails on the chalk board to you, we really don't care. I know you like to think that you can dictate what the rest of the country does, but you really can't. The only real power you have over us is setting our fuel emission standards and everything internet related. Until we all start solving the L.A. Times' crossword, you can just stuff it with the Cali talk. Sincerely, An easterner P.S. Same goes for Frisco.
Eat your hearts out, y'all--TAW got me IMPASTO, and it went right in.
GREENCAR seemed like green paint, see also SPACETELESCOPES and possibly INONEDAY.
This had the feel of a big Italian party to me. Over there you've got the guys--ENNIO, GIO, CARGO, ANO, IMPASTO, AGO, and KENDO. On the girls' side, ERRATA, YODA, IRA, TESLA and LOA. I'm unsure about ANI, CALI, SOI, and ACAI, but to welcome them all, good old TONY.
(OK, I know IRA and TESLA are males, I'm just going for possible first names here.)
Really liked this Friday, CD. Long answers are my idea of crossword fun, and these are aces with me.
I hear no one from California says CALI. Well, Will Shortz, LL Cool J, and I aren’t from there and neither, apparently, is Chuck Deodene. The answer works.
Oh, so I'm not alone. Definitely went over my Friday historical average, although not hugely so, but it felt like it took longer still.
I'd vaguely -- vaguely -- heard of TAW, so that went in shakily, but I'd not heard of the painting technique IMPASTO, and didn't know what team had the mascots. METS or nETS? (Surely not jETS.) So it was M that was at the intersection in beautiful downtown Natick where I got stalled.
Rex and his GREEN CAR were pretty funny. I agree with him.
Another puzzling area was around KENDO and DONNE. I'd heard of Bo sticks used in martial arts (made from Bo tree timber? you tell me), so I tried fitting in that Bo somewhere, and wondered whether that poet would be Byron, for example. Eventually that corner sorted itself out.
The SE took me a while as well. I didn't cough up ELUDE for some time; instead I was waffling between "evaDE" and "avoid", but that V there wasn't working. No idea what Robinhood was, so ETRADE went in painfully slowly. I guess it must have been BEAM UP which finally settled that corner.
Don't get me wrong: I liked the puzzle, quite a lot in fact. Those nice 15-long downs and acrosses strafing through -- I really admire the skill it must take to pull that off well. And there was some devilishly clever cluing: ERRATA for example ("Good as gold, and others?"), and COMBS ("Makers of parts").
I still feel newish to being a concerted XW solver as opposed to being an occasional solver (day 427 of my streak), so the name Chuck Deodene was unknown to me. (Which, oh yeah, reminds me: I had dEO before CEO -- you know, there's the Latin Deus meaning "God" who I guess meets with angels, which I was declining goofily and confusedly at 1:30 in the morning -- I don't get that clue even this morning, come to think of it.)
Anyway, I'll remember that constructor's name now. Well done, Mr. Deodene!
@ss (7:48) - No one really cares if you use the term CALI (it's not a nails on the chalkboard thing, at least not to this third-generation Californian). It's just that no one really says that. And even though we'd know what you meant if you said, "Bernie Sanders from Verm," or "I love Kent bluegrass," nobody actually says those things either.
Lovely, lovely long answers that seem new and fresh -- especially the quite wonderful PUT A FACE TO A NAME. What's so great about this clue/answer is that while the clue is both very accurate and very fair, no one will come up with the answer without some crosses. It's just not something that will pop into anyone's mind out of thin air. Am I right?
And I also loved CRY FOR ATTENTION and ARTISTIC LICENSE. All I could think of for a while was POETIC LICENSE, so this answer was driving me crazy. Interesting clues for IN ONE DAY, ODD, AGO and AN I. The "Friday" clue fooled me at first; I had AN F. But DFN to start my answer at 62A didn't cut it.
I'm not entirely OK with the clue for GLOBAL ECONOMY -- which is comprised of a lot more than simply "the capital of every country." But I do think Chuck should be granted some ARTISTIC LICENSE here.
I know I must be missing something. My big, big, big question today is why "Good as gold and others" is ERRATA. I used the F3 function both on Rex's review and on the comments so far, and no one seems to have questioned it. Perhaps, ere the day is over, someone will tell me? Anyway, I loved this colorful and engrossing puzzle.
A really enjoyable Friday. Tough to break into, lots of cautious feeling my way, then a nice glide path to the bottom. What a great collection of long answers! First in: IMPASTO (from an almost-art history major) x METS; last in: CALI x PIPET. I smiled at SVEN, but in these parts, OLE is more often paired with his wife Lena. @okanaganer 3:33 and @bocamp 8:03 - ENNIO Morricone won me over with the theme from The Sicilian Clan.
IMPASTO is a word you use when you’re 23 and trying to impress people with your knowledge of Art with a capital A then hopefully realize you sound like an egotistical ass and stop using and then gets filed deep deep deep in the old gray matter memory hole. Not that I know this from personal experience or anything.
Good as gold -> ERRATA? I’m sure I’ll do the D’Oh slap once this is explained but I’m just not seeing it.
People say CALI all the time. CALI deniers need to deal with it.
@Nodak Dave’s “(great plains?)” made me smile. The “midwest” ends at the Mississippi River. Anyone claiming otherwise is a CALI using poseur.
Too much trivia of the most trivial sort today, bamboo swords, large marbles, already dated video chat applications, spaghetti westerns, cluing one stock market e-broker by another e-broker, a random IRA clue (is it Eli, Ari, or IRA), 16th century poetry, a Mauna coin flip, and somehow sneaking in both ANO and ANI. That the long answers were pretty good but fairly easily gotten was totally lost by the time I decided sAW was wrong.
Hah! My father was so wrong when he said an Art History degree wouldn’t get me anywhere. IMPASTO was a gimme and went in first. I didn’t know the marble type but it was solvable with crosses. But I found three answers to be oddly generic when I was expecting something more specific: GREEN CAR, LATE NEWS (directly below it) and MAIN ROOM down in the SW.
The three central spanners went in easily: I got ARTISTIC LICENSE off the R and the other two didn’t contain very many letters when they were plunked in. [Dreamy tangent: I love looking at the sky through my husband’s TELESCOPE (land- not SPACE-based!) I think I fell in love with him when he showed me the Moon – in such astonishing detail that I felt I was *there*, walking around on that dazzlingly silver, exquisitely sculpted landscape. I thought, my god, this man has just given me another world!]
One short-lived but funny error: I thought "one who might meet with angels" was a DOA (well, if the newly deceased had been a good person...).
Yeah, today’s puzzle was close to a snap for me. It must have been a wavelength thing and I rode Chuck Deodene’s mental surf like an ace.
Today I give you three unrelated quotations by VICTOR HUGO, born Feb. 26, 1802.
“What is Love? I have met in the streets a very poor young man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat worn, the water passed through his shoes and the stars through his soul.”
“Laughter is sunshine, it chases winter from the human face.”
“To err is human. To loaf is Parisian.” (All from Les Misérables)
I'm surprised by the challenging ratings today. This was a very routine solve for myself. One reason could be that I was an art major years ago. This made IMPASTO a gimme and TAW is one of those crosswordese terms that 30years of solving has beaten into my head.
Due to the "High-m.p.g." misdirect I considered GASMISER for 15A but the crosses ruled it out.
It's ironic that the 15 stack in the middle and the 3 long downs that cross them are all so fresh. It made the fill that supports them seem all the more stale by comparison. This is a classic example of a theme less that plays more like a themed puzzle.
@Nancy and @Z re: ERRATA. ERRATA in the crossword's clue context means errors, or in this case a typo. If one typed "good" when he meant to type "gold" that would be erratum (singular) and part of a group of ERRATA.
Hey All ! Yep, the "bad" intersection of the NE T got me my one-letter DNF. I would've sworn on the Bible in a court of law that the main/Large marble was a mAW. Even though IMPASmO didn't look like anything resembling a word, couldn't get to that T. Hindsight, should've got it, as IMPASTO is a word used in a silly joke about fake pasta, or somesuch.
But, thought puz was good. The triple 15 stack, crossed by two Down 15's, a Down 13, and two Down 8's surrounding the 13 is a tough ask. Came out of it quite cleanly, so bravo Chuck.
ONE G or O NEG? Wonder how constructors decide between which clue to use? ANO again as a year in Spanish, har. Just clue it in Portuguese so we don't have the asshole comments. (Har, catch the double meaning there? 😁) Or is it clues in Portuguese? O Sol. Hmm, maybe I'm the asshole! SPANK fun to see, either as clues, or another definition. 😆 SOI could've been clued "___says, who wouldn't?" Isn't the the NY accented way? Closed off NW/SAe corners, but they don't seem that way. ODD. Going Back to CALI LL Cool J circa 1988. Just sayin. ☺️.
An overall neat themeless. Didn't have much first pass-through, but ended up getting puz fairly quickly. No SPANKing involved, either way.
Seems apt that a puzzle that insists on referencing Dr. Biden contains GREENCAR and TESLA even if the latter company is moving its HQ out of CALI which honestly can’t fall off a cliff soon enough.
Anonymous 8:50 You've got it wrong, because you're starting at the wrong place. Hasbro's decision to retain Mr. and Mrs. potato head isn't caving, it's standing up to the mob and against the lunacy of gender politics. Hasbro caved when they said they'd be removing Mr. and Mrs. from the toy. Sequencing is important when telling a story.
An angel investor (also known as a private investor, seed investor or angel funder) is a high-net-worth individual who provides financial backing for small startups or entrepreneurs, typically in exchange for ownership equity in the company. Often, angel investors are found among an entrepreneur's family and friends. The funds that angel investors provide may be a one-time investment to help the business get off the ground or an ongoing injection to support and carry the company through its difficult early stages.
A 30 minute solve, about 15 of which was spent staring at the NW corner."Bid" for attention got me nowhere, and I could not come up with "skype" even tho I had it installed on this laptop years ago. Thinking "largo" or "mongo", and having a senior moment coming up with "Arkin" even with the -in. "cargo" finally made an appearence, so "tactic", "cry" and Bob's your Uncle. "Taw" used to be a staple of puzzles back in the Dark Ages" (50s) when I started doing these things. We even played the game. Then spinning tops beacame the rage, believe it or not.
A few nits, but over-all a Friday worthy challenge in my book. Didn't Jeff Chen call some other piece of dreck the POW ?
@A (from 11:09 last night) -- That Michael Shermer guy you quote is one terrific explainer. The trick of a really good teacher is to figure out why the answer to a given problem isn't readily understood, then figure out exactly what the listener needs in order to understand it, and then to home in on that with no extraneous or confusing additional details. His "here's why" paragraph made the reason for switching doors clear even to me when none of the other explanations did. It's a simple and elegant explanation -- the first one that seemed logical as well as mathematical to me. Thanks for both finding it and citing it.
I don't think anyone has responded to Jim's question posted at 8:42 AM yet.
I started solving the NYT crossword puzzle "many years ago". (I hope that answers your question.) Back in the Maleska era. At that time, triple stacks spanning across the grid were quite common on Fridays (if memory serves me right). I am happy the stacks returned today. Yes, the puzzle may suffer a few weak spots. But in general, I enjoyed the solve.
What a great, misleading clue, hiding in plain sight!!!! Typing "good" when you meant to type "gold". It got me good (not gold). I get it now!!! Thanks, @Joaquin (8:58). You, too, @prandolph (9:00).
Joaquin (8:33) No, the Cali usage is nothing at all like using Vem for Vermont. For one thing, you've misunderstood the word Vermont. The phonetic breaking isn't between the m and the o , that is, it isn't Verm-ont, it's Ver-mont. Ver meaning green and mont meaning mountain. Hence Vermont's nickname as the Green mountain State.
California does break phonetically at the i.
But beyond that, Cali is used by people. And though many Californians dislike it, it is nevertheless common enough to be included in the Wiki page under other named for the state. There's no such citation for Verm. And frankly, I can't find such a usage anywhere else either.
LOL, A's cut and paste explanation of the Monty Hall problem is wrong (11:09 PM). This is too rich. No A, in no way is the goat a 2/3 probability after the player makes his initial choice. it is 1/3. Same as the car. It is true that the goat IS part of the 2/3 set which is non car. ( and I'll concede that is the most important point) BUT the explanation you provide is quite, quite wrong. Dunno the mathematician you cadged iut from but I'm guessing you balled it up in transcription or understanding. Not him.
re-reading A's post from last night I've discerned the error. And it's this: In his game the are two goats. However the classical Monty Hall problem is three doors: Being ONE is a goat, ONE is a car And ONE has nothing at all.
The math is fine for A's explanation if you play with two goats. But much like Erdos, you'll be utterly mystified by A's answer if you haven't set the 2 goat parameter. A's explanation, does not.
Really enjoyed this excellent Friday. Loved the long downs and triple stacked center but it still gave me fits in both the NE and SE corners where I just couldn’t seem to get anything to break open. Couldn’t think of the marble, PEEVE wasn’t even remotely on the radar, and IMPASTO was impossible to guess. Then in the south, ELUDE wouldn’t come to me even though I knew exactly what the answer was. No idea who/what a one-word Robinhood is/was, plus had TAB KEY in place of SET.
Would someone explain CEO as one who might meet with angels? Please and thank you. I only skimmed comments so apologies if that’s already been mentioned.
Okay, @Frantic has been MIA all week. She’s got some splainin to do.
First DNF in months. I was waylaid by the IMPASTO / TAW crossing as was everyone else.
Which doubly frustrated me because I raced through the entire lower grid — thinking I’d have a record Friday — then got stuck with big white spaces in the NW and NE for waaaaay too long. Had McCarthy-ISM for about 15 minutes, until I just guessed on GIO (it’s an Italian name, right?) then that opened CARGO and finally gave me the O I needed for GLOBALECONOMY. The NW filled itself in almost immediately.
Never did finish that dreaded T for TAW, had to come here to see what I was missing.
Ah well, nothing like a stumper to put me in my place!
While you were freezing to death and voting for Donald Trump, I wasn’t! You live in a terrible place.
Did you know that Los Angeles County has a population larger than 41 of the 50 U.S. States? It’s true! You should be thankful that we don’t have an idiotic system like Canada or else Los Angeles County would dominate the U.S. Parliament. However, there never would have been a Prime Minister Trump either. You morons did that.
I watched the video and saw the ERRATA explanation. The worst part of my D’Ohpidity is that I’ve seen that style of clue before, probably most often for “typo.” It’s also scary how close my solving reactions are to Rex’s. Some anon once spent some time alleging that I’m Rex and I can see why. The whole zoomER/maZda bit was me. (BTW - thanks for the ERRATA explanations everyone)
The TESLA thing raises a question about cross reference clues generally that I see people misapprehend. GREEN CAR is the answer to “High m.p.g. vehicle.” TESLA is the answer to “Producer of 15-Acrosses.” The solver should replace “15-Acrosses” with GREEN CAR, not with “High m.p.g. vehicles,” so the clue should be understood as “Producer of GREEN CARs.” Usually this doesn’t matter, but this is not the first time where I have seen the answer work but not the clue for the cross reference. I don’t recall ever seeing an example where the clue works but not the answer in the cross-referencing clue.
@CALI deniers - Get over it. Seriously, every frigging time? Watch that traveling TV chef from CALI for a few episodes and he will call it CALI repeatedly. What next, obsessing over Rye, NY and its roller coaster?
Ah, the anonymice are arguing over the gender of a plastic potato. What a wonderful world. I find that initially one had to provide their own potato far more interesting than the business decisions of a toy company.
@Bill Evans late yesterday - If you don’t want to or can’t post from a google account (go blue) another option is selecting the “Name/Url” option so that your posts are identifiable as your posts. It is perhaps unfair, but typo laden posts on a single subject are going to result in you being thought of as an “anonymouse.” It is also unfair, but I think it is generally true that posts associated with a nom de blog are afforded more typo grace than anonymous posts. A big part of this is that anonymous posts are the refuge of trolls, so even non-trolls are presumed to be trolling.
It's probably wrong to cite clues as the basis for a point of view but the clue for TESLA, Producer of 15-accrosses, makes no mention of mpg, nor does the answer GREENCAR. The clue for GREENCAR, High-mpg vehicle, makes no mention of TESLA. These are separate. But think of GREENCAR being in the "intersect" of a Venn diagram where TESLA and High-mpg vehicle are the other elements of 2 sets.
had to Google a few, which I allow myself on a Friday/Saturday. IMPASTA/TAW was tough and I had EvaDE instead of ELUDE for a bit. ARTISTICLICENSE and PUTAFACETOANAME both came with very little crosses. Liked RAH and BAH in succession. INONEDAY??? that was a weird one... but, then again we’re taking Amish.
Golly gee...I missed you guys; I missed this blog and I felt like I certainly left some brain cells behind somewhere. Hell on wheels, this was hard...let me count the ways? I always start in the attic. Always. I go up there looking for some dusty musty things and want to clear the cobwebs. Damn....I was an art major and IMPASTO never cleared the ceiling. I kept thinking mixture? Pointilism? I had to get a LIFE and move on down to at the least the third landing. SVEN and Ole? I had STAN but his partner was Ollie, no? Leave that part of the house and lookie...I got RAH BAH CEO. They are my favorite law firm. Although my doctor told me no booze for a couple of days, I did my usual "up your nose with a rubber hose" and poured myself a lovely Pinot my husband saved for me. Drank a glass and came back to see if I could do better. I did...somewhat. When I get the long answers, I put on a little Tito Puente and dance a salsa with an imaginary friend. I knew ENNIO Morricone because I always thought he had an unfortunate last name. Don't ask me his ERRATA sounding name in Spanish. So I finished my Pinot and went to bed. Man...did I sleep. Best night's uninterrupted snooze in a while. Made some Peet's in my French press and dug in the morning. Did I have to cheat? You bet your sweet bippy. It all happened in the attic. I had to go back up there and see if anything made sense. I took IMBECILE to a higher plane and called my friend Google. I still did another salsa because this was a damn good puzzle even though I never say CALI and my PIPET has two Pees. @chefwen...You should've seen the AFTER photo....I looked like a TAT TAW YODA. By the way. Do you really SPANK when you defeat soundly?
My apologies, @TTrimble, for missing your answer to me earlier. Explanation: after posting my first comment, and as additional comments are posted, I usually scroll up from the bottom to see the new comments. I got as far as @Joaquin, but not as far as you, evidently. Sorry.
Decent puzzle, slow-ish solve time. My only real major nitpick: Tesla cars don't have "high mpg" because, guess what--they don't run on gas! (Related, as Rex pointed out: "green car" is definitely not a thing.)
Often puzzles which are difficult to construct are not fun to solve, but not this one. I admire the triple stack intersected by two grid spanners and a third long, but I didn't even notice that artistry while engrossed in the solve. Crunchy! Sparkly! And I learned that Van Gogh, my favorite painter, used IMPASTO
The only person who pronounced the beginning of California CALI was our ex-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.. We say kal-a-FOR-nyah, fast and all scrunched together.
When I was in grade school in the forties we had seasons at school. Yoyo season, baseball card season, marble season. Baseball card season was the best because you could gamble with them. Flip-and-match was one game. Knocking down cards set up along a wall was another. Knocking marbles out of a circle wasn't very popular.
I actually watched the Rex/Rachel solve (well I did skip a bit). They took their time but it was mostly steady going - until they had the middle section of GLOBAL ECONOMY and there came a dead silence. I wondered about that clue as well. The best part is near the end when he takes off his hat and says, “they’ll see my wound…I had something removed” and she says, “Like a lobotomy?”
@Lewis, all the 15’s are debuts? Wow, that is over the top. SEEMS legit to point out that they also share a visual aspect. ARTISTIC LICENSE requires a little.
@Barbara, loved your romantic moon story, and the Victor Hugo!
Shooting marbles was a passion of mine back in the '50s. I entered the tournament at the local level in Eugene in the mid '50s; got knocked out in the semis. Gave my grandkids some of my old "taws", and we enjoyed a game or two. :)
Recall winning an agate shooter once; mom made me give it back. Bless her good heart.
I will say, tho, that I don't recall hearing or using the term, "taw"; learned it from xwords, so that was a major advantage in the NE corner for me. LOL
Been using Skype for phone calls (North America) since getting my first iPod touch in '07.
So happy to find that both @A and @Nancy came away with an understanding of the rationale behind the Monty Hall Problem. @TTrimble's and @A's final posts were superb!
IT IS SO WONDERFUL TO SEE YOU BACK, @GILL!!!!! Yippee!!!!
A nice [disobedient] shot of Pinot as a *chaser* to a not-so-nice shot of anesthesia? Of course you slept really, really well! As who among us would not?
And if the apres-anesthesia Pinot actually helped your solve, well, you must have the wooden-est leg on the entire West Coast.
Obviously the surgery didn't get you down. You're in rare form today, girlfriend.
for anyone wondering about ENNIO Morricone, try this: Walk into a room and whistle GCGCG---- and the whole room while make a nasal trombone sound on F G D
Top 5 all time film composer, and up at the top of that in my book. Was given a lifetime achievement award at Oscars a few years ago and passed away recently.
Dug TAW out of my remembrance of xwords past.
Strangely, had pretty fast time for a Friday for me.
@A....thank you. I missed you, too!. So now I learn our amiga, @Frantic is AWOL? I need her to give me my morning cheer-up.....Do we need to put out an APB? I still don't understand why TROMP doesn't out-fight SPANK.
You may have missed the simplest explanation fot the Monty Hall problem. In the beginning, there are more goats than cars. So most likely the initial choice is a goat. So most likely swiching wins.
Now this is what M&A calls a great FriPuz. If you're gonna go themeless, splatz in as many long answers as the crossword gods will allow. And have em all brazenly cross each other, too boot. Like.
Knew both IMPASTO & TAW, so my nanoseconds walked away from that NE area in good shape. And have heard tell of CALI somewhere before … probably in another puzgrid.
staff weeject pick: ITE. Tough clue, altho I get it. Also, agree with @kitshef that AGO's clue has a certain runty polish to it. har
An eDay story: I excelled in Calculus in my first year at Villanova and earned a 100 average in both semesters. Two years, and no mathematics later, I started a 3 year hitch in the US Army, only doing some simple Algebra while serving. Then, back to Villanova for two more years of mathematics. I eked my way through Advanced Calculus, but still didn’t remember the foundations from too far back. I found myself enamored with Algebra and Topology. When I got to grad school, I took a remedial Analysis course, but I was still missing some basics. When I took my qualifying exams for my PhD, the Analysis exam was a bear. One of the simpler problems was to find the value of the infinite series 1/n!. I didn’t remember, so I started cranking out partial sums: 1, 2, 2.5, 2.6666667, and a couple more, all longhand, and I saw the value of e emerging. Bingo! A thesis later, I received my Ph.D.
Oye amiguita-Glad you're back home, always a good thing. I know what you mean by Sr. Ennio and his last name--have the same kind of thoughts when I'm walking along a malecon.
Let's see if Blogger behaves this time (Not likely!!)
So, TAW was a gimme. Like, it was one of the first words into the grid for me - I was incredibly grateful for it's inclusion as it gave me a foothold to start with, which has to put me in one heck of a minority!
This 26 year old Brit has never played marbles in his life, but I've been stunned today by how many people seem to think it's fill from the 1950s (maybe marbles just lasted longer here? I didn't feel it was dated - and I'm aware that I'm very prone to calling out stuff as dated).
Puzzle was good overall, 15s and the 13 were all solid, and to me each cross was gettable.
Fridays are fun! And Chuck did an excellent job with the six long debuts. I spent too long working to embed the link to Shetland referenced just previously by @bocamp, but if you run out of things to do do check it out. It as well as the Vera series based on Ann Cleeves' mystery novels are very well done.
Is a fake Van Gogh an impasto impostor? I didn't know about Cedilla liqueur, made from puréed spaçe telescopes. I mean, made from açai. Clever name-branding there. I hate Ben & Jerry's flavor names. It's like they hired Will Shortz to come up with them.
The top-right was very tough. I had LIVENEWS in the top-right (which makes a lot more sense for the clue). I know nothing about sports, so I had ARI next to CAVS.
Besides all this difficulty, I really enjoyed most of the puzzle!
@JC66 - nice service you've got going with the Embedding Cheat Sheet. I keep it at the top of my inbox and have even used it elsewhere! I wonder if it could go in the FAQ section of this blog?
@GILL: Great to have you back! Now if we just could find @Frantic. She seems to have flown the coop without a clearance. Hoping all is well. Oh and BTW, I emailed you a couple days ago with a new book recommendation ... “Come Fly The World” about Pan Am flight attendants back in the glory days.
@Unknown (8:24) I lived in southern Wisconsin, Madison area, and heard both. Lena was Ole’s wife; SVEN was his sidekick. Which ever one was mentioned depended on the tackiness of the joke.
A rare Friday finish for me in 1:03:29. KENDO and ENNIO (check out okanaganer (3:33)) went straight in which helped. Like everyone else I was a bit PEEVEd by the TESLA-GREENCAR implications but that has already been discussed. Needed one "check puzzle" for SW and NE. Purists might disagree with calling that a clear but so be it. I was stuck on BY ONE GUY for the Amish barn, having convinced myself that the Friday clue was FYI - that is, the "y" Spanish for "and," F y I being the unique letters of Friday.
Lose some, win some. Yesterday, SAvES cost me a perfect puzzle, but today, my pure guess of IMPAS T O paid off. I’m a fan of 15 stacks, so this one was a pleasure and, I thought, a legit challenge for the day with no I. Thanks, Chuck.
14A ERRATA. Back in the old days, and still sometimes today, when something was more or less "finished" for publication, the author would find typos or other small errors, often when indexing. Since the text was "set," some publishers would correct these with what are called "paste-ups." Often today, with computers, the changes are simply inserted, often by the author (I've had bad experiences with this). In the old days, and sometimes today, a printed page would be added at the end labeled "errata" ("errors," i.e. typos or little oversights). Sometimes the page would be labeled "errata corrigenda" ("errors to be corrected") or sometimes simply "corrigenda" ("things to be corrected").
In the old days, with dissertations, a typed copy would be submitted and defended. It was expensive for the author, since usually he or she had to pay a professional typist, who knew how to adhere to the university's format and calculate the length of space for footnotes. Since the thesis had been defended, and for cost reasons, one didn't like to retype things, and one would add a page at the end entitled "ERRATA" or "CORRIGENDA," listing errors found by the author or his or her readers. At the Warburg Institute in London, known mainly as a library but also a branch of the University of London, offering advanced degrees, there is a dissertation on file which has a final page labeled "CARRIGENDA"!
When I saw that this one had six grid-spanning entries, I expected it would compromise some of the quality of the peripheral fill. I think this was especially so in the lower left hand corner. I can't see much redeeming value in that dreary DINED AT MAIN ROOM IN ONE DAY pile-up.
Fitting six grid-spanners in a 15X15 puzzle is definitely an impressive feat, but some of that brilliance is dulled a bit for me by having two of those six not quite up to the task. Both SCENIC PANORAMA and SPACE TELESCOPE need a letter-count boost to fill their slots. Plural of convenience POC to the rescue! How easy is that? (And hardly anyone will even notice!)
@Poggius Of course journals these days still publish ERRATA if authors learn of mistakes in their articles. (Not typos, but more substantive errors.) Many authors maintain web pages for ERRATA found in their books, for things big and small.
Donald Knuth used to mail a check for $2.56 = 2^8 cents to anyone who found an erratum in his The Art of Computer Programming series. Not sure if he still does.
Everyone...Your welcome back's are heartwarming. I sincerely love this blog - because of the people posting here and, well, because you make my day... @Nancy.....Pinot and after affects of anesthesia are the elixir of LIFE. I kid you not. It whoops my brain cells into action. :) @pablito...OK, so here's a Cubanito...Oyeme, ahi va el maricon pescando en el malecón. Not my phrase but I cleave to that orange whatchamacallit shitgibbon. @Whatsername. I haven't checked my emails yet but "Come Fly The World" sound like a real bobby-dazzler.... particular if it has to do with a Mad-Men era of Pan Am Flight attendants. My step-mom was a PanAm flight attendant and told stories that could pop the socks off of you. I will definitely order it on Amazon. Thanks for the recommendation.....
Whoo-hoo---I got an appointment for my first COVID shot. I just may live to tell some more stories!
My biggest problem today is the one Rex expounds upon, perhaps to excess, which is IMPASTO crossing TAW. My first instinct was dAW (which is a black bird, I know) but IMPASdO didn't look very ARTISTIC. Ran the alphabet and T stuck so no harm, no foul.
McCarthyIsm, Anis vs. ACAI, and OuT of this Swirled were all other stumbling blocks but they got fixed. This came in at approx. the same amount of time as the last few Fridays so I consider it easy-medium.
A certain Syndilander is going to be overjoyed with 21A because usually only OLE gets in the grid (as an expression of support.)
@Dogfish caused a lower brain stem memory to burp: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_and_World_Marbles_Championship
Back in the olden days of typewriters, one pushed a lever(s) on the carriage to SET the TABS as you wanted them. There was a key, called TAB, which you hit to move to the next TAB you've SET. Current word processors do the same, but not likely? by that term.
I read the Starry Night clue and immediately wrote impasto. Never hesitated. I think it is silly that people carry on when it is unfamiliar to them. Appreciate learning a new term and don’t gripe. Had VVG lived before oil paint, we wouldn’t have those incredible paintings. Can’t do it with tempera.
The Dude, You seem to have confused a normal crossword discussion with some kind of imaginary jealousy. California is nice but maybe you don't realize that millions of people in the other 49 states are perfectly happy they don't live there. Even the smart ones who didn't vote for Trump. And just so you know, it's not common practice on this site to attack others based on a one-line blog post or to call them GD morons - ever. Y'all have yourself a real nice CALI day now, ya hear.
I had SIMILE for good as gold and that wasn't a great way to start. Thanks for those who explained errata. That was head-scratcher. I like the grid spanners, always helpful to solving and fun.
@Gill I - congratulations on being alive and on getting lined up for COVID shot 1. In Va. we've been in "phase 1b" seemingly forever. And for what it's worth, the folks I know who have had the shots say the side effects are not bad.
Canadian here, we say and know Cali. Dunno why we all have to have this conversation every time it appears in the grid... Would you prefer it clued as "Golden State nickname, to out-of-towners"?
Well, I've got good news and bad news: I'm baaaacck! This just in: Me! From my weekday-long sabbatical at the slothastery where I meditated mightily for the full recovery of our @GILL. And see? It worked!
So, what'd I miss?😉
As for this puzzle, I mostly agree with Rachel and Rex. Well, Rachel anyway. PUTAFACETOANAME is definitely the star and I have no complaints about any of the grid-spanners; however...
GIO who? SVEN who? Couldn't get SVENGIOlly out of my head.
And the corners as a whole tasted of pablum and head cheese (I imagine) causing my eyebrows to Groucho Marx all over the place.
Overall though, a pleasant enough solve.
@GILL I'm so happy everything went well! 🥰 This doesn't absolve you of the need to explain Morricone, though. You can't just splatz something like that in the big, fat middle of the commentunity and run, missy!
No time right now to read everybody (I hate that!), but I hope to return later to address any hanging chads.
Easy-Medium NYT Friday ... 10% under my Friday 6-month median solve time
Here's a constructor we haven't seen in a while. Chuck Deodene's last puzzle was 10/1/2018 and his first NYT Friday since 11/16/2007. He was once a regular NYT constructor, but hasn't really been in the rotation since about 2009.
I'm a little surprised that none of the grid-spanners have been used in NYT puzzles before. The clues for PUT A FACE TO A NAME {38A: Meet somebody you've heard lots about} and ARTISTIC LICENSE {39A: Creator's leeway} feel a little too spot-on to me for a Friday puzzle. In fact, the whole puzzle was pretty straight-forward for a NYT Friday. The only real tough spots for me were IMPASTO {7A: Painting technique used in van Gogh's "The Starry Night"}, GIO {19A: Painting technique used in van Gogh's "The Starry Night"}, 'ScoTLAND' before SHETLAND {24D: Northernmost part of the U.K.} and 'mOI' before SOI {35D: Amour de ___ (self-love: Fr.)}. M-W.com agrees with me that PIPET {50D: Lab tube} should be clued as a variant spelling.
One thumb up. That SW corner could have used some more attention.
This whole week has been awfully easy so far. I wonder if Will has something up his sleeve for us with the weekend puzzles? Are Bob Klahn and Bob Peoples coming out of NYT retirement?
Still more evidence of the Great Crossword Constructor's Conspiracy: ENNIO {46A: Film composer Morricone} also appears in today's Newsday puzzle (identically clued). For my solve time's sake, I was kinda glad of that.
p.s. I know I'm free to ignore them and I don't usually like to complain about this type of thing on a message board, but are we really going to have yet another day of long, boring (my opinion, I know) posts about the Monty Hall problem?
@Frantic: Oh so glad you’re back! There’s nothing like a few days at the Slothastery to get one’s Slothliness renewed. Or so I’ve heard. Thanks for taking time to check in.
Never have shortened California afaik, except when the U of O plays Cal. I respect folks who call it "Cali", and have no problem with getting it when clued in a xword. I'd say "never say never", but I just noticed I started this paragraph with it. So, "never say never" when it comes to xword clues and answers. There are always exceptions. Respect the diversity and grow some tolerance. 😉
It would be nice if the blog allowed for replying to a specific comment, with a thread that could be easily read, replied to, or ignored. A simple Like button would save a lot of time, too, but I guess I'm spoiled. 🤓
Of the 5 Monty Hall comments today, three were short belated posts, and your's and mine are the other two (well, I guess this one makes three). Doesn't seem to me to be a plethora. 😉
@newbie 3:09 PM
I like your idea, but I don't think it can be done with Blogger. @Z explained why. Maybe he'd repost his original comments on the subject. It sure would make things simpler, but for now, I think his admonition to use the @ convention is the best outcome. It would be nice if those posting from cell phones would use the @, along with name and/or timestamp, so we'd know who the reply is intended for. 🤞
Lived in Minnesota 20 years It’s Ole and Lena. My husband got a talking-to by the CentraCare medical director in St Cloud when a patient didn’t get the humor in the Ole and Lena joke he told. Also lived in California 20 years Never heard Cali! I agree with Tesla electric vehicles (and I sorely want one!) do not have mph since there is no gas tank. I liked “cry for attention “ and “beam up.”
thought this was really hard for a long time, until i realized i had committed a rather unusual amount of self sabotage. that's what i get for doing the crossword while also watching a popshop live on my phone lol. lesson learned, multitasking WRT crosswords = not my strength XD still, what an absolute mess i made of this puzzle even though i did finish on my own. never had so many wrong answers/re-writes before, wow.
the top half of the puzzle was my biggest issue and the most egregious error i made was mis-grokking the car clue(s) somehow, to where i kept trying to think of types of SUVs and other "gas guzzlers" and their makers instead of the opposite. D'OH. it didn't help that i also had ZOOMER for SKYPER since i thought it was a topical clue. additionally i way overthought the revolution around the sun clue, trying to think of a spanish word for orbit or some other space word, when it was just a year all along. three letter spanish answer, should have known better! never heard of TAB SET and had TAB KEY, SCOTLAND instead of SHETLAND for awhile...
MAIN ROOM was unsatisfying, i really wanted to be something about velvet ropes or VIPs or the champagne room but...no, it was just a simple boring answer. liked the long fills though, those were satisfying. but many short bits were guesses or crosses that just appeared that i didn't know - GIO, TAW, ENNIO, DONNE, SVEN, shrug to all of those.
honestly, i don't know what to make of this puzzle lol. i really was all over the place and wish i could go back in time and give it my full attention to see if it would have been more fun. i was pleased and very surprised i finished but what of the actual clues? i guess i'll never know haha! oh well, have a lovely weekend all!
yup, as i understand it, "cali" is known and said by people who don't live there, and it makes "real" californians cringe. (i'm going, going, back, back to cali cali...)
must be how i feel every time somebody says "beantown."
A surprisingly quick Friday for me, with the oft-mentioned T in the IMPASTO/TAW intersection the only major slowdown.
I have driven the electric Nissan Leaf for the last 10 years--great car. And I can report that the agency that rates vehicles for mileage effectiveness does put an "estimated" mpg' rating on the sticker information of the Leaf. The Leaf is generally rated as "over 100 mpg." It's an awkward, "apples to oranges" proposition, but it helps a buyer compare the electric vehicle to gas vehicles. Most of us can't meaningfully relate to a "miles per kilowatt" rating.
@GILL 107pm ¡Ay Caramba! Now I remember! Thought it looked/sounded familiar and you were right to shimmy 'round it. Yeeks!
Let that be a lesson to everyone: Never, ever, ever listen to me! Of course, the problem is you have to listen to me to not listen to me and if you don't listen to me it probably means you listened to me telling you not to listen to me. 🙄
Guess I should be grateful that I, too, recalled the perfectly useless TAW from back in the old crossword days when I no doubt said "TAW? What the hell is that? Such a stupid word. I'll have to remember it." And for once, it worked.
@bocamp 803am Cinema Paradiso is one of my all-time favorites (turns me into a blubbering mass of jelly every time I watch it!) and ENNIO Morricone's breathtakingly moving score is a large part of that. Thanks for the link!
And warm thanks to everyone who wondered and welcomed - missed youz guyz! 😍
@newbie you can read the comments/replies in threaded fashion if you view the mobile version of the site, which you can do on desktop. https://rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com/2021/02/robinhood-competitor-fri-2-26-21.html?m=1
it's obviously not ideal, but, it's an option and what i use. agree *actual* threaded comments on any platform as well as likes would be a great update to usability & readability.
@Gill, welcome back, and keep on recovering! you'll love the vaccine -- I got my second dose Monday, and feel generally happier with life. My wife had some moderately bad side effects a couple days, but she's better now.
I'm kinda embarrassed by this, but -- IMPASTO was my first entry. What else could it be? IMPASse? I get Rex's saying it might be better, but given the clue, how would it make sense? Personally, I think it's nice to have a new word in there every once in a while -- and if you call up a mental image of the painting, there are those globs of paint. But I guess if you never read art criticism, it's kind of mysterious.
I grew up in Door County, WI; the northern half of the county is Scandinavian, the southern half mostly Belgian, so I know both sets of ethnic jokes. I wanted LENA, but the METS ruled that out, and then I remembered SVEN.
SHETLANDs spund better to my ear, but Wiki says it's also used in the singular for the whole archipelago. so that's OK. Actually, a lot of answers that seem off at first turn out to be ok when you think about them more -- eg SPACE TELESCOPES which sounds green-paintish until you remember the Hubbell.
I grew up playing marbles, but never used the word TAW; but I think it appears in Tom Sawyer, so I knew it from that.
Fun fact: ZoomER would fit at 15A -- stopped from writing it in at the last possible nanosecond, when I realized it could be SKYPER, then got TESLA to confirm.
Me too for wantinf ANf at 56D, but I waited for the cross there, too.
I think of anngels in the context of theater, but I guess it has become more general.
Anyway, I really liked this puzzle. Plus, it gives us all a chance to argue about CALI! I was going to say something triumphant about CALIstoga, but I looked it up, and apparently it meant "Cal-Is-Toga" in the intention of the founder. (He was trying to promote the hot springs as a tourist attraction).
Yay....Ms Slothastery is back from a spa renewal, no doubt, and she's fit as a fiddle. All is good in @Rexertown and we can go back to being Frantic two-toed docile sloths.... @Frantic...In Spanish, Maricon is the word used to call someone a homosexual. Depending on where you live in Spanis speaking countries, it's usually pejorative. Spanish insults seem to always be of a sexual nature, however....in some countries, the word "maricon" can be used in a friendly manner. It really depends on your audience. So now you know more than you probably wanted to. Well my COVID shot when smooth as Irish butter on an English muffin. I got it at my CVS pharmacy and I was in and out in no time. I'm wondering if I now have to cancel the other 2 and a half billion wait lists I put myself on. No side-effects; just a little prick...Hah!
@bocamp & @newbie 3:09 - Blogger was cutting edge(ish) back in 2006 when Rex started Rex, but it is still basically 2006 software with the barest of updates in the interim. The mobile version came after the web version and has threaded replies, but Google didn’t bother to add the function to the web version when it created the mobile version. Pull out your smart phone and go to Rex Parker and you will find a whole different experience. In total I think the web version is better, but the lack of threaded replies is annoyingness out done by the annoying fact that some people are wondering about the non sequiturs and others are wondering why people don’t just “reply.” Rex has no control over this short of migrating to a different blogging application/host. Given the roughly 5,000 posts that would be a significant task.
@Thane of 13th - You are right. They are wrong.
Question - Are the people who don’t know the various indent styles the same people who don’t know about TAB SETs? And are you the people who hit the space key repeatedly and then can’t figure out why your columns don’t quite line up?
@Frantic Sloth - Well, it is about time. Everyone, and I do mean EVERY SINGLE ONE, has been waiting for you to explain the Monte Hall* problem.
*Too subtle? I always enjoy making a mountain out of a game show host. For the record, it was a typo that I decided was an improvement.
We drove to Cali, and got drunk on the beach Got a motel and, built a fort out of sheets I finally found you, my missing puzzle piece I'm complete Let's go all The way tonight No regrets Just love We can dance Until we die You and I Will be young forever
Cross Reference Clues {I said this earlier but there has been more ERRATA}
When a clue cross-references to another clue it is referencing the answer, not the clue.
So
Producer of 15-Acrosses is properly understood to mean
Producer of GREEN CARS.
What is throwing people is the mistake of thinking the clue is understood as Producer of High-m.p.g. vehicles
Most of the time this doesn’t matter, but there have been other instances where the answer but not the clue can be substituted into the cross-referencing clue. I have never noted an instance where the reverse is true.
@Z 4:45 pm - I was on blogger back then but just to blog. Thank you - I wasn't really expecting a solution! I'll check out the smartphone version. I'm trying not to add apps because it gets cluttered but I can certainly go to the website. I've gotten used to reading websites on a kindle fire and, more recently, an apple pro air - both a lot easier to read than the phone - so I'm switching around a lot already. Some things are easier to do on one or the other - Crossword on apple, Vertex on kindle, for example. ��
@stephanie 4:36 pm - omg! I think this might do it! I've bookmarked it for now and I'll explore downloading the mobile version. Thank you so much! ��
You guys are great!
For anyone still wondering about TAB SET - it was a typewriter key similar to CAP LOCK but for tabs instead of upper case.
In other news (I just realized while typing this why LATE NEWS sounded "off" to me - it's usually "late-breaking news"):
The best thing about the CALI argument is that it seems to have gotten us off the Full Monte! ��
I love it when there’s real dumb arguments on this site!
I live in SoCal and I don’t care what you call it. I do notice that “CALI” is a term generally used by outsiders, though. There are no rules but that’s an observation.
Call it what you like but don’t come near my house.
@GILL, I - Welcome back. I didn't read for a few days, so didn't know what you went away for, but it seems like a successful procedure:) BTW, my symptoms knocked me out for 2 days on both COVID shots (shivering in bed under heavy blankets) and didn't really kick in for a half day. But good luck.
So the waterfront in San Francisco could be the Maricon Malecon?
@GILL 445pm I actually appreciate the detailed explanation - like many things in life, the answer when in doubt is "it depends." 😉
@Z 445pm Once again you leave me stranded on top of the wooden rollercoaster with nothing in view but that satanic marina. Too subtle? Only completely. Remember who you're dealing with.
As to the CALI controversy: So...Californians don't use the term and blame its existence on everyone east of the Sierra Nevadas, except for the Californians who say it's used all the time and totally legit. Do I have that right?
@GILL I, frantic sloth Glad you are back and feisty as ever. I don't always miss (as notice) you when you are gone but never miss (as always read and appreciate) you when you are here.
I do like Fridays with long stacks. Especially when the solving is based on getting a couple long ones before the short ones. Got ARTISTICLICENSE off one cross and guess what? I got almost nothing off it. Wondered if it could be wrong. I had to get IMBECILE and TELESCOPES to really get moving.
CARGO COMBS ERRATA. What a triad of crossing clues. One wonderful misdirect. One almost indecipherable red-herring clue. One misleading by being honest and direct. A master class of cluedom.
I guess nobody got anything from my Monte explanations. I guess introducing god into the equation was a mistake. Or maybe it was my fuzzy english. And I was trying to be so helpful.
@gill - no worries about the covid shot - at least not Pfizer #1. Didn't notice a thing except my arm got less sore the next day than with the flu shot. They say the second one can be worse - I'm scheduled for that one on Tuesday, so we'll see. Whatever - it's better than the disease. In any event, I'll baby myself for a few days. ��
A quibble about "Good as gold" being errata -- I see this as an erratum, not the plural errata. I'm sure I wouldn't have had to come to this blog for an explanation but for that confusion.
I liked this one a lot (because I finished it with few trips to Uncle G)
We lived in Minnesota for a couple years and I had LENA before SVEN.
Also I had a head slap for 24D. We've had Shelties since 1972 and still put in ScoTLAND. In case you haven't met one, Shelties are miniature Shepards (Collies), bred small in the Shetlands because the sheep are small as are the horses.
@albatross shell, I am very sorry not to have paid enough attention to your Monty explanations. I had a feeling there was something important there, but I am not a multi tasker, and I knew your insights would take me some time to comprehend. Your efforts are very much appreciated and I will attempt to catch up to your thinking.
@Frantic - Someone had the temerity to correct my Monte spelling yesterday. Hence my footnote. 😇 Oh - BTW, I discovered that that wooden roller coaster has a name. The CALI.
@newbie - I don’t know that I’d call what I wrote a “solution.” If Google ever updates the web version to allow threaded replies then we’d have an actual solution. Most of the formatting is gone in the mobile version, but it does allow you to toggle to the web version.
@Tree Lover – it's the "and others" in the clue that makes the answer ERRATA (plural). I think it's an awful clue anyway: and "other" what? Other errata?
@burtonkd – I just realized you have an erratum in your 11:19 post – the nasal trombone sounds should be Eflat-F-C, no?
@Vera Similitude - I am not understanding your question. Amish barns are raised IN ONE DAY, because the whole community comes out to raise the barn. I hope that helps.
Had the same reaction to GREENCAR. IMPASTO is fair game though; it was actually a gimme for me (full disclosure: I'm an Art teacher). ANO ("Revolution around o sol") was also in my domain; nice to see a Portuguese clue that's not " ___ Paulo". I knew SHETLAND, but... first time seeing it without "Islands" following. I had a couple of errors: TYPE for TAPE & IKE for ITE. Overall enjoyed it.
@Jim (8:37am) ... I'll take the bait and try one more time to explain the TESLA/GREEN CAR thing in Friday's puzzle ... TESLA is not clued as "high MPG car". It's clued as "Producer of 15-Acrosses". Since 15-Across is GREEN CAR, the clue for TESLA is "Producer of GREEN CARs". TESLA does make GREEN CARs, ergo there's nothing wrong with that clue or the answer. GREEN CAR is clued as "High-m.p.g. car". There's nothing wrong with that clue/answer combination either since some GREEN CARs (e.g., hybrid electric/gas vehicles) are "high m.p.g.", even if not all of them are (e.g., all-electric vehicles like TESLAs).
Making a battery for a GREEN CARs has nowhere near the same carbon footprint over the lifetime of the vehicle as vehicles that burn fossil-fuels throughout their lifetimes.
@Liz Slater - If you use the “find” function to look for “angel” you will discover that @offthegrid gave a complete answer at 9:07. There are probably some more explanations that are shorter, too.
Amish barns are often raised in the course of one day. The whole community participates. So the answer is “in one day”. I only know this from the movie “Witness”.
As someone who has been doing the NYT crossword for 25 years, I’m very happy when I get half the answers on a Friday, especially a few of the extra long ones. I bought a collection of Friday puzzles as “homework”, and I think it’s helping :)
I once actually saw a barn raised INONEDAY. Remarkable. I did this puzzle in less than that, but not less than an hour. Trying to work in from the corners was, I see now, a mistake. I should've attacked at the center...but then those NW and SE corners were still problems. Strangely, I didn't have issues with the NE.
The most trouble? Finding COMBS as makers of "parts" (groan!). A good Friday (no pun intended) puzzle, with no DOD (rats!) but plenty of triumph points. Learned about IMPASTO. Birdie.
Yes! Nice TOSEE Ole in the clue and SVEN in the puz. Maybe someone read the pleas. Or the joke books. He does EXIST! I had McCarthy Ism before ITE, so a little splash of ink there. TAW from Maleska era.
I tot I TAW a puddy TAT. I did, I did TAW a puddy TAT!
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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207 comments:
After finishing today’s puzzle I looked and saw nothing too outlandish. So why did it simply kick my ass? Really struggled here.
A couple of nits:
No one says CALI. One might say “Cal” when referring to the great university in Berkeley but otherwise something more specific is said (e.g. - SoCal, the Bay Area, the Valley, etc.).
And, TESLA does make GREENCARs but they are not, as the clue suggests, “High-m.p.g. vehicle(s)”. They’re electric so they don’t get any “miles-per-gallon” (unless you’re referring to blinker fluid).
I found the puzzle challenging. The greencar really slowed me. I wanted a specific Tesla model and found one: Roadster, but of course it was wrong and took a long time to fix it. It was a good Friday for me - struggled a lot but eventually finished.
Ole and Sven definitely a thing in the upper midwest (great plains?). Anyway, Ole and Sven jokes a very much told in ND and MN. This may extend into WI and SD, but I’m not sure. Highly regional. Also, HATED 7A/12d. Oof. Rest was average, but goddamn. Had EVEHICLE (?) for a while in the place of green car, and that honestly makes more sense.
Tough. Nice to have a real challenge on a Friday. Great three stack with some fine long downs. Liked it a bunch.
Knew SVEN did not know IMPASTO, SOI, or GIO.
I had never heard of "pipet", but apparently it does EXIST and s different from a "pipette". I still hate that answer, along with GIO, ENNIO and IMPASTO.
"LIFE is what happens while you're busy making other plans" was nnt just said, but said by John Lennon. (the history of the saying is a bit murky, as explored her: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/05/06/other-plans/)
After Mauna Kea as the last few answers, they threw a screwball with LOA.
I had SCOTLAND for the longesyt time!
Really liked it, but is was tough. We did wrap it up without a cheat, which makes me happy on a Fridee (where Is @Frantic?). We miss you.
I saw @GILL I’s smiling on Facebook so I know she is A OK.
In Laws were Yuppers, so OLE and SVEN was an easy one. I usually don’t care for Grid spanners, I’m beginning to change my mind. Loved PUT A FACE TO A NAME and CRY FOR ATTENTION.
Good one.
The IMPASTO/TAW crossing was the final solve for moi. Only seemed reasonable because my guess at marble names with IMPASTO/GAW and IMPASDO/DAW were not working out.
But before that final problem, I coughed up some sick on GREENCAR and TESLA. Just badly clued, and frankly non-knowledgable that electric cars have their own environmental issues.
But that stack in the middle. Ooooh. On a Friday!
O.K. I lied, I didn’t see GILL I’s smiling face as she had a mask on, but she did give us two thumbs up, I’m taking that as a positive sign.
Rex and Rachel are correct about the horrible intersection of IMPASTO and TAW. When I was about 10 years old, in 1970, marbles (at recess) were a huge thing, and I can only remember a big marble as being a GOB. Never heard of TAW.
When I think of ENNIO Morricone I will always hear the awesome score from the graveyard scene in the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Ecstasy of Gold.
I had to resort to Google to confirm whether Tesla had ever built a hybrid.
Cranky with relating TESLA to HIgh-MPG cars. Yes, they *are* all GREENCARS so it’s correct. Still cranky.
GREEN CARs as a set has a subset of TESLA electric cars, and another subset of “High m-p-g” cars, presumably hybrid gasoline-electric.
Therefore, the whole GREEN CAR thing in the puzzle is correct.
Pretty spot-on with your review of today's puzzle. That T in the IMPASTO/TAW crossing was the final square for me, and when -- like here -- I am utterly perplexed at the final square and relatively-sure I have the rest of the grid correct, I just start going through the alphabet until the "congratulations" screen with the gold star appears. (Is that cheating in some manner? I honestly don't know...)
The rest of the puzzle played easy for me, largely because all three of the 15 stack entries fell very quickly for some reason.
Overall, I thought it was a solid Friday puzzle, despite that absurd T in the NE :)
Okay, what is memorable and most impressive about this puzzle for me was that the triple stack in the middle PLUS the three long down answers – 1) how they seamlessly cross, 2) that they are all engaging, and 3) every single one of these six long answers are NYT debuts! That is simply triple-wow in my book, and props to you, Chuck, for making that happen.
I enjoyed dragging KENDO, LIFE (as clued), and SHETLAND out of hibernation, not to mention flashing on those Grand Canyon PANORAMAS, and conquered enough stumbles to leave this grid feeling mighty fine.
This puzzle was as fresh as a just-picked apple, and I’m so glad you made it, Chuck. Thank you!
I must have been on the constructors’ wavelength, because I found this puzzle easy. I was shocked when I saw the rating. The TAW/IMPASTO crossing was bad. Fortunately, TAW is something I picked up from many years of doing xwords.
As long as we're beating up on that NE corner, I want to file a complaint against ORS as clued. Sure, I see how the word "or" is a "choice word," but it's one word: "or." I'm struggling to imagine a context in which one could meaningfully use the plural ORS in a sentence. Might an editor make a note that, say, "There are too many ors in this paragraph"? But what editor would say that? Wouldn't you say something like "The word 'or' appears too many times in this paragraph"?
Really enjoyed the runt-style clue for AGO, but alas not much else. GIO and ENNIO? MAIN ROOM and IN ONE DAY crossing ON RED? TO SEE? CALI?
Okay, RAH BAH was nice, too.
@chefwen - thanks for the update.
As a Brazilian, it was nice to see some Portuguese in the puzzle (ANO, considering how it was clued) that's not "açaí".
I guessed the T in IMPASTO based on what sounded the most Italian and a bit of luck.
Never heard of TONY as a synonym for "stylish". Another addition to my vocabulary.
No more CALI please! The Golden State deserves better. Using sound incorrectly, I guessed dAW first, but TAW fit the cross better. Much easier than the average Friday and a fun challenge. Lots of McCarthys: Kevin, Joe, Eugene, Charlie; more than one a blockhead.
Also, I was a bit PEEVEd by the (albeit indirect) implication that a TESLA is a "high-m.p.g. vehicle". Gallons of what, exactly?
I'd actually guessed TESLA pretty early on but deferred writing it down because of this association.
Plunked down ARTISTIC LICENSE with no crosses and was enjoying the spoils of my early success, convinced this would go down quick for me, but the NE brought progress to a screeching halt. IMPASTO/TAW victim, right here. I've never cursed so much at so few squares.
I agree with Rex's assessment without reservation (i.e. the equator was great, the corners not so much).
Side note: I had never heard of GIO Ponti and was really hoping our Italian architect would be female. Crosses gave me GI-, so I optimistically entered an A. I felt predictable, Rex-like disappointment when I realized it had to be a dude.
Pretty much the same take as Rex. Oddly - the longs in this one were easier for me than the shorter fill. Loved the center stack - and both long downs. Some of the short fill was clunky - SOI, ONE G, RAH and BAH were rough. Liked the COMBS clue and Robinhood is in the current events category.
My brother cruised the North Sea and one of their ports was Shetland. Don’t think I’ll ever get there but it sounds amazing.
Enjoyable Friday solve.
I drive a GREEN CAR, I have an all electric Chevy Bolt, and I can tell you that no one who owns one has ever used that term, we just call them EVs. I had no trouble with IMPASTO and never saw TAW at all. The NW was the last to fall for me. Overall not a bad puzzle.
@chefwen. I am a Michigander troll (I live below the bridge). The SVEN Ole phenomenon never took hold in the lower peninsula. The U P seems more culturally in sync with WI and MN. The western section is even on central time.
RE: CALI. It's an SAOC*
*State Abbreviation of Convenience
@TT and other mathephiles. Do you observe Feb. 7? Are you IN ON E(e) DAY?
Dear Californians,
This is your regular reminder that people outside California do occasionally use Cali to refer to your state. Even if it sounds like nails on the chalk board to you, we really don't care. I know you like to think that you can dictate what the rest of the country does, but you really can't. The only real power you have over us is setting our fuel emission standards and everything internet related. Until we all start solving the L.A. Times' crossword, you can just stuff it with the Cali talk.
Sincerely,
An easterner
P.S. Same goes for Frisco.
SEEMS legit? Are you kidding me?
Have to disagree about 54A. I have friends born and raised in California who unironically refer to themselves as CALI girls.
Thank you, @Chuck; enjoyed this one. Very smooth and easy going. :)
Med solve.
Great start in the NW; steady progress from start to finish.
Mom's family came from Minnesota, so I'm quite sure "Sven" and Ole would have been known to them.
Another fave movie: "Ennio" Morricone ~ Cinema Paradiso.
___
yd pg -1
Peace ~ Empathy ~ Kindness to all 🕊
I was thinking green paint too, though it had nothing to with High-m.p.g. vehicle but rather with How many Amish barns are raised.
Thats true nobody ever says Cali.
Eat your hearts out, y'all--TAW got me IMPASTO, and it went right in.
GREENCAR seemed like green paint, see also SPACETELESCOPES and possibly INONEDAY.
This had the feel of a big Italian party to me. Over there you've got the guys--ENNIO, GIO, CARGO, ANO, IMPASTO, AGO, and KENDO. On the girls' side, ERRATA, YODA, IRA, TESLA and LOA.
I'm unsure about ANI, CALI, SOI, and ACAI, but to welcome them all, good old TONY.
(OK, I know IRA and TESLA are males, I'm just going for possible first names here.)
Really liked this Friday, CD. Long answers are my idea of crossword fun, and these are aces with me.
Was very bummed out that instead of Lena and Ole they put in Sven, who I had never heard of in the joke form. Anything to keep women out of the grid.
Would someone explain 42 across. Thank you. Jim
I've definitely heard Cali, mainly from people who live far away from the actual state.
I hear no one from California says CALI. Well, Will Shortz, LL Cool J, and I aren’t from there and neither, apparently, is Chuck Deodene. The answer works.
Oh, so I'm not alone. Definitely went over my Friday historical average, although not hugely so, but it felt like it took longer still.
I'd vaguely -- vaguely -- heard of TAW, so that went in shakily, but I'd not heard of the painting technique IMPASTO, and didn't know what team had the mascots. METS or nETS? (Surely not jETS.) So it was M that was at the intersection in beautiful downtown Natick where I got stalled.
Rex and his GREEN CAR were pretty funny. I agree with him.
Another puzzling area was around KENDO and DONNE. I'd heard of Bo sticks used in martial arts (made from Bo tree timber? you tell me), so I tried fitting in that Bo somewhere, and wondered whether that poet would be Byron, for example. Eventually that corner sorted itself out.
The SE took me a while as well. I didn't cough up ELUDE for some time; instead I was waffling between "evaDE" and "avoid", but that V there wasn't working. No idea what Robinhood was, so ETRADE went in painfully slowly. I guess it must have been BEAM UP which finally settled that corner.
Don't get me wrong: I liked the puzzle, quite a lot in fact. Those nice 15-long downs and acrosses strafing through -- I really admire the skill it must take to pull that off well. And there was some devilishly clever cluing: ERRATA for example ("Good as gold, and others?"), and COMBS ("Makers of parts").
I still feel newish to being a concerted XW solver as opposed to being an occasional solver (day 427 of my streak), so the name Chuck Deodene was unknown to me. (Which, oh yeah, reminds me: I had dEO before CEO -- you know, there's the Latin Deus meaning "God" who I guess meets with angels, which I was declining goofily and confusedly at 1:30 in the morning -- I don't get that clue even this morning, come to think of it.)
Anyway, I'll remember that constructor's name now. Well done, Mr. Deodene!
@ss (7:48) - No one really cares if you use the term CALI (it's not a nails on the chalkboard thing, at least not to this third-generation Californian). It's just that no one really says that. And even though we'd know what you meant if you said, "Bernie Sanders from Verm," or "I love Kent bluegrass," nobody actually says those things either.
SVEN and Ole -- Ole's wife is Lena, in case you wondered, and they have many jokes of their own.
RAH: This is the sort of puzzle I like most -- twice an average (challenging) Friday solve, including a couple of visits to Wikipedia and the dictionary. We navigate the potholes (©@Rex) to find SCENIC PANORAMAS -- SPACE TELESCOPES and "Starry Night." The nicely clued ERRATA. And straight up SHETLAND, an honest anchor to the triple stack.
IMPASTO doesn't even appear in the Wikipedia entry for "Starry Night" (I should know): Bravo.
@OffTheGrid 7:37 AM
Ha ha, yes, equal time for e-day! And 2pi or tau day (June 28). I'm afraid e-day passed by without my notice this year.
Lovely, lovely long answers that seem new and fresh -- especially the quite wonderful PUT A FACE TO A NAME. What's so great about this clue/answer is that while the clue is both very accurate and very fair, no one will come up with the answer without some crosses. It's just not something that will pop into anyone's mind out of thin air. Am I right?
And I also loved CRY FOR ATTENTION and ARTISTIC LICENSE. All I could think of for a while was POETIC LICENSE, so this answer was driving me crazy. Interesting clues for IN ONE DAY, ODD, AGO and AN I. The "Friday" clue fooled me at first; I had AN F. But DFN to start my answer at 62A didn't cut it.
I'm not entirely OK with the clue for GLOBAL ECONOMY -- which is comprised of a lot more than simply "the capital of every country." But I do think Chuck should be granted some ARTISTIC LICENSE here.
I know I must be missing something. My big, big, big question today is why "Good as gold and others" is ERRATA. I used the F3 function both on Rex's review and on the comments so far, and no one seems to have questioned it. Perhaps, ere the day is over, someone will tell me? Anyway, I loved this colorful and engrossing puzzle.
A really enjoyable Friday. Tough to break into, lots of cautious feeling my way, then a nice glide path to the bottom. What a great collection of long answers!
First in: IMPASTO (from an almost-art history major) x METS; last in: CALI x PIPET.
I smiled at SVEN, but in these parts, OLE is more often paired with his wife Lena.
@okanaganer 3:33 and @bocamp 8:03 - ENNIO Morricone won me over with the theme from The Sicilian Clan.
IMPASTO is a word you use when you’re 23 and trying to impress people with your knowledge of Art with a capital A then hopefully realize you sound like an egotistical ass and stop using and then gets filed deep deep deep in the old gray matter memory hole. Not that I know this from personal experience or anything.
Good as gold -> ERRATA? I’m sure I’ll do the D’Oh slap once this is explained but I’m just not seeing it.
People say CALI all the time. CALI deniers need to deal with it.
@Nodak Dave’s “(great plains?)” made me smile. The “midwest” ends at the Mississippi River. Anyone claiming otherwise is a CALI using poseur.
Too much trivia of the most trivial sort today, bamboo swords, large marbles, already dated video chat applications, spaghetti westerns, cluing one stock market e-broker by another e-broker, a random IRA clue (is it Eli, Ari, or IRA), 16th century poetry, a Mauna coin flip, and somehow sneaking in both ANO and ANI. That the long answers were pretty good but fairly easily gotten was totally lost by the time I decided sAW was wrong.
Never knew there was a Mrs. Met. On a related note it seems Hasbro has caved and Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head have received a stay of execution.
Hah! My father was so wrong when he said an Art History degree wouldn’t get me anywhere. IMPASTO was a gimme and went in first. I didn’t know the marble type but it was solvable with crosses. But I found three answers to be oddly generic when I was expecting something more specific: GREEN CAR, LATE NEWS (directly below it) and MAIN ROOM down in the SW.
The three central spanners went in easily: I got ARTISTIC LICENSE off the R and the other two didn’t contain very many letters when they were plunked in. [Dreamy tangent: I love looking at the sky through my husband’s TELESCOPE (land- not SPACE-based!) I think I fell in love with him when he showed me the Moon – in such astonishing detail that I felt I was *there*, walking around on that dazzlingly silver, exquisitely sculpted landscape. I thought, my god, this man has just given me another world!]
One short-lived but funny error: I thought "one who might meet with angels" was a DOA (well, if the newly deceased had been a good person...).
Yeah, today’s puzzle was close to a snap for me. It must have been a wavelength thing and I rode Chuck Deodene’s mental surf like an ace.
Today I give you three unrelated quotations by VICTOR HUGO, born Feb. 26, 1802.
“What is Love? I have met in the streets a very poor young man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat worn, the water passed through his shoes and the stars through his soul.”
“Laughter is sunshine, it chases winter from the human face.”
“To err is human. To loaf is Parisian.”
(All from Les Misérables)
Mistyping GOLD for GOOD (I think...)
@Nancy
Hey, there. If you type "gold" but meant to type "good", then that's an ERRATum. I thought this clue was terribly clever.
Maybe one good turn deserves another: can you explain 31A to me?
Spelling. GOoD instead of GOLD. Hence errata.
@Z: Good as gold explanation: The good/gold pair are potential typographical errors.
Adding my votes:
* Yay for the long answers - really liked them!
* Nay for "Cali" (as a Berkeley grad)
* BAH for "Impasto/Taw"
* ERRATA???
Mostly a good example of an interesting Friday but not perfect
Have a good weekend!
I'm surprised by the challenging ratings today. This was a very routine solve for myself. One reason could be that I was an art major years ago. This made IMPASTO a gimme and TAW is one of those crosswordese terms that 30years of solving has beaten into my head.
Due to the "High-m.p.g." misdirect I considered GASMISER for 15A but the crosses ruled it out.
It's ironic that the 15 stack in the middle and the 3 long downs that cross them are all so fresh. It made the fill that supports them seem all the more stale by comparison. This is a classic example of a theme less that plays more like a themed puzzle.
@Nancy and @Z re: ERRATA. ERRATA in the crossword's clue context means errors, or in this case a typo. If one typed "good" when he meant to type "gold" that would be erratum (singular) and part of a group of ERRATA.
Hey All !
Yep, the "bad" intersection of the NE T got me my one-letter DNF. I would've sworn on the Bible in a court of law that the main/Large marble was a mAW. Even though IMPASmO didn't look like anything resembling a word, couldn't get to that T. Hindsight, should've got it, as IMPASTO is a word used in a silly joke about fake pasta, or somesuch.
But, thought puz was good. The triple 15 stack, crossed by two Down 15's, a Down 13, and two Down 8's surrounding the 13 is a tough ask. Came out of it quite cleanly, so bravo Chuck.
ONE G or O NEG? Wonder how constructors decide between which clue to use? ANO again as a year in Spanish, har. Just clue it in Portuguese so we don't have the asshole comments. (Har, catch the double meaning there? 😁) Or is it clues in Portuguese? O Sol. Hmm, maybe I'm the asshole! SPANK fun to see, either as clues, or another definition. 😆 SOI could've been clued "___says, who wouldn't?" Isn't the the NY accented way? Closed off NW/SAe corners, but they don't seem that way. ODD. Going Back to CALI LL Cool J circa 1988. Just sayin. ☺️.
An overall neat themeless. Didn't have much first pass-through, but ended up getting puz fairly quickly. No SPANKing involved, either way.
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
“good as gold” is errata because gold was misspelled with the l instead of an o.
Anonymous 8:24. You might say "After many years ago"
A good struggle but that last T at the IMPAST/TAW cross was the last thing I got and I had to cheat to get it.
Seems apt that a puzzle that insists on referencing Dr. Biden contains GREENCAR and TESLA even if the latter company is moving its HQ out of CALI which honestly can’t fall off a cliff soon enough.
Anonymous 8:50
You've got it wrong, because you're starting at the wrong place. Hasbro's decision to retain Mr. and Mrs. potato head isn't caving, it's standing up to the mob and against the lunacy of gender politics. Hasbro caved when they said they'd be removing Mr. and Mrs. from the toy. Sequencing is important when telling a story.
I found this re: 31A.
What Is an Angel Investor?
An angel investor (also known as a private investor, seed investor or angel funder) is a high-net-worth individual who provides financial backing for small startups or entrepreneurs, typically in exchange for ownership equity in the company. Often, angel investors are found among an entrepreneur's family and friends. The funds that angel investors provide may be a one-time investment to help the business get off the ground or an ongoing injection to support and carry the company through its difficult early stages.
A 30 minute solve, about 15 of which was spent staring at the NW corner."Bid" for attention got me nowhere, and I could not come up with "skype" even tho I had it installed on this laptop years ago. Thinking "largo" or "mongo", and having a senior moment coming up with "Arkin" even with the -in. "cargo" finally made an appearence, so "tactic", "cry" and Bob's your Uncle. "Taw" used to be a staple of puzzles back in the Dark Ages" (50s) when I started doing these things. We even played the game. Then spinning tops beacame the rage, believe it or not.
A few nits, but over-all a Friday worthy challenge in my book. Didn't Jeff Chen call some other piece of dreck the POW ?
If Einstein was an alien, so was John Donne.
@A (from 11:09 last night) -- That Michael Shermer guy you quote is one terrific explainer. The trick of a really good teacher is to figure out why the answer to a given problem isn't readily understood, then figure out exactly what the listener needs in order to understand it, and then to home in on that with no extraneous or confusing additional details. His "here's why" paragraph made the reason for switching doors clear even to me when none of the other explanations did. It's a simple and elegant explanation -- the first one that seemed logical as well as mathematical to me. Thanks for both finding it and citing it.
Aren't all Tesla's electric? There are no "gallons" involved in a Tesla.
I don't think anyone has responded to Jim's question posted at 8:42 AM yet.
I started solving the NYT crossword puzzle "many years ago". (I hope that answers your question.) Back in the Maleska era. At that time, triple stacks spanning across the grid were quite common on Fridays (if memory serves me right). I am happy the stacks returned today. Yes, the puzzle may suffer a few weak spots. But in general, I enjoyed the solve.
Thought it was difficult while solving, but knocked a third off average time...
What a great, misleading clue, hiding in plain sight!!!! Typing "good" when you meant to type "gold". It got me good (not gold). I get it now!!! Thanks, @Joaquin (8:58). You, too, @prandolph (9:00).
Never knew Dr. Jill Biden’s birth surname. Her first married named was Mrs. Jill Stevenson.
I think the clue on Tesla referred to the answer GREEN CAR, which it is.
Angels are potential investors, so CEOs might meet with them.
Joaquin (8:33)
No, the Cali usage is nothing at all like using Vem for Vermont.
For one thing, you've misunderstood the word Vermont. The phonetic breaking isn't between the m and the o , that is, it isn't Verm-ont, it's Ver-mont. Ver meaning green and mont meaning mountain. Hence Vermont's nickname as the Green mountain State.
California does break phonetically at the i.
But beyond that, Cali is used by people. And though many Californians dislike it, it is nevertheless common enough to be included in the Wiki page under other named for the state. There's no such citation for Verm. And frankly, I can't find such a usage anywhere else either.
Patrick Berry references John Lennon in a slightly different version of 18A in today’s New Yorker puzzle.
LOL,
A's cut and paste explanation of the Monty Hall problem is wrong (11:09 PM). This is too rich.
No A, in no way is the goat a 2/3 probability after the player makes his initial choice. it is 1/3. Same as the car. It is true that the goat IS part of the 2/3 set which is non car. ( and I'll concede that is the most important point) BUT the explanation you provide is quite, quite wrong. Dunno the mathematician you cadged iut from but I'm guessing you balled it up in transcription or understanding. Not him.
Good luck with your cat
Aha,
re-reading A's post from last night I've discerned the error. And it's this: In his game the are two goats. However the classical Monty Hall problem is three doors: Being ONE is a goat, ONE is a car And ONE has nothing at all.
The math is fine for A's explanation if you play with two goats. But much like Erdos, you'll be utterly mystified by A's answer if you haven't set the 2 goat parameter. A's explanation, does not.
@Nancy
I replied to you as well. (8:52 AM) Meanwhile, my question to you was answered by @OffTheGrid 9:07 AM (thanks OTG!).
Really enjoyed this excellent Friday. Loved the long downs and triple stacked center but it still gave me fits in both the NE and SE corners where I just couldn’t seem to get anything to break open. Couldn’t think of the marble, PEEVE wasn’t even remotely on the radar, and IMPASTO was impossible to guess. Then in the south, ELUDE wouldn’t come to me even though I knew exactly what the answer was. No idea who/what a one-word Robinhood is/was, plus had TAB KEY in place of SET.
Would someone explain CEO as one who might meet with angels? Please and thank you. I only skimmed comments so apologies if that’s already been mentioned.
Okay, @Frantic has been MIA all week. She’s got some splainin to do.
Too bad Dr. Jill wasn't part of the PARADOX puzzle.
First DNF in months. I was waylaid by the IMPASTO / TAW crossing as was everyone else.
Which doubly frustrated me because I raced through the entire lower grid — thinking I’d have a record Friday — then got stuck with big white spaces in the NW and NE for waaaaay too long. Had McCarthy-ISM for about 15 minutes, until I just guessed on GIO (it’s an Italian name, right?) then that opened CARGO and finally gave me the O I needed for GLOBALECONOMY. The NW filled itself in almost immediately.
Never did finish that dreaded T for TAW, had to come here to see what I was missing.
Ah well, nothing like a stumper to put me in my place!
Wow, a lot of “CALI” jealousy out there!
While you were freezing to death and voting for Donald Trump, I wasn’t! You live in a terrible place.
Did you know that Los Angeles County has a population larger than 41 of the 50 U.S. States? It’s true! You should be thankful that we don’t have an idiotic system like Canada or else Los Angeles County would dominate the U.S. Parliament. However, there never would have been a Prime Minister Trump either. You morons did that.
Let’s all get high!
I watched the video and saw the ERRATA explanation. The worst part of my D’Ohpidity is that I’ve seen that style of clue before, probably most often for “typo.” It’s also scary how close my solving reactions are to Rex’s. Some anon once spent some time alleging that I’m Rex and I can see why. The whole zoomER/maZda bit was me. (BTW - thanks for the ERRATA explanations everyone)
The TESLA thing raises a question about cross reference clues generally that I see people misapprehend. GREEN CAR is the answer to “High m.p.g. vehicle.” TESLA is the answer to “Producer of 15-Acrosses.” The solver should replace “15-Acrosses” with GREEN CAR, not with “High m.p.g. vehicles,” so the clue should be understood as “Producer of GREEN CARs.” Usually this doesn’t matter, but this is not the first time where I have seen the answer work but not the clue for the cross reference. I don’t recall ever seeing an example where the clue works but not the answer in the cross-referencing clue.
@CALI deniers - Get over it. Seriously, every frigging time? Watch that traveling TV chef from CALI for a few episodes and he will call it CALI repeatedly. What next, obsessing over Rye, NY and its roller coaster?
Ah, the anonymice are arguing over the gender of a plastic potato. What a wonderful world. I find that initially one had to provide their own potato far more interesting than the business decisions of a toy company.
@Bill Evans late yesterday - If you don’t want to or can’t post from a google account (go blue) another option is selecting the “Name/Url” option so that your posts are identifiable as your posts. It is perhaps unfair, but typo laden posts on a single subject are going to result in you being thought of as an “anonymouse.” It is also unfair, but I think it is generally true that posts associated with a nom de blog are afforded more typo grace than anonymous posts. A big part of this is that anonymous posts are the refuge of trolls, so even non-trolls are presumed to be trolling.
It's probably wrong to cite clues as the basis for a point of view but the clue for TESLA, Producer of 15-accrosses, makes no mention of mpg, nor does the answer GREENCAR. The clue for GREENCAR, High-mpg vehicle, makes no mention of TESLA. These are separate. But think of GREENCAR being in the "intersect" of a Venn diagram where TESLA and High-mpg vehicle are the other elements of 2 sets.
Coincidence-I once visited Verm, ONT, a tiny village a few miles north of Toronto.
Cali and Frisco — no no and no! 😂
Good, difficult one with some fill that worked but were wrong, ie LENA and Ole.
🤗🧩🤗
@ Perfesser Z 9:53 AM
If you look, the GREEN CAR answer was already explained very succinctly up around 5:00 AM in these here comments.
Also, only hillbillies say CALI.
@dude 9:51- I, too, live in a high tax blue state. It’s nothing to brag about,
@Z:
Ah, the anonymice are arguing over the gender of a plastic potato.
Well, their heads exploded when they 'realized' the purple TeleTubby (sp?) was gay.
@The Dude - you tell 'em!
How many tried to conjure up Dr. Biden's 3 letter original maiden name? I sure did. Too clever by half.
had to Google a few, which I allow myself on a Friday/Saturday. IMPASTA/TAW was tough and I had EvaDE instead of ELUDE for a bit. ARTISTICLICENSE and PUTAFACETOANAME both came with very little crosses. Liked RAH and BAH in succession. INONEDAY??? that was a weird one... but, then again we’re taking Amish.
Golly gee...I missed you guys; I missed this blog and I felt like I certainly left some brain cells behind somewhere. Hell on wheels, this was hard...let me count the ways?
I always start in the attic. Always. I go up there looking for some dusty musty things and want to clear the cobwebs. Damn....I was an art major and IMPASTO never cleared the ceiling. I kept thinking mixture? Pointilism? I had to get a LIFE and move on down to at the least the third landing. SVEN and Ole? I had STAN but his partner was Ollie, no? Leave that part of the house and lookie...I got RAH BAH CEO. They are my favorite law firm.
Although my doctor told me no booze for a couple of days, I did my usual "up your nose with a rubber hose" and poured myself a lovely Pinot my husband saved for me. Drank a glass and came back to see if I could do better. I did...somewhat.
When I get the long answers, I put on a little Tito Puente and dance a salsa with an imaginary friend. I knew ENNIO Morricone because I always thought he had an unfortunate last name. Don't ask me his ERRATA sounding name in Spanish.
So I finished my Pinot and went to bed. Man...did I sleep. Best night's uninterrupted snooze in a while. Made some Peet's in my French press and dug in the morning. Did I have to cheat? You bet your sweet bippy. It all happened in the attic. I had to go back up there and see if anything made sense. I took IMBECILE to a higher plane and called my friend Google. I still did another salsa because this was a damn good puzzle even though I never say CALI and my PIPET has two Pees.
@chefwen...You should've seen the AFTER photo....I looked like a TAT TAW YODA. By the way. Do you really SPANK when you defeat soundly?
My apologies, @TTrimble, for missing your answer to me earlier. Explanation: after posting my first comment, and as additional comments are posted, I usually scroll up from the bottom to see the new comments. I got as far as @Joaquin, but not as far as you, evidently. Sorry.
@ Walter 10:11 AM
Clearly where you live is nothing to brag about. You sound Republican.
Walter, I love you, but sooner or later you're going to have to face the fact you're a go**amn moron.
Decent puzzle, slow-ish solve time. My only real major nitpick: Tesla cars don't have "high mpg" because, guess what--they don't run on gas! (Related, as Rex pointed out: "green car" is definitely not a thing.)
Best part of the morning for me was learning that Michigan Yoopers living "Under the bridge" are (self)-called "trolls". Hilarious.
First time watching Rex and Ms. Fabi solving. Confirms everything I ever thought about Rex. Jeezuz.
Often puzzles which are difficult to construct are not fun to solve, but not this one. I admire the triple stack intersected by two grid spanners and a third long, but I didn't even notice that artistry while engrossed in the solve. Crunchy! Sparkly! And I learned that Van Gogh, my favorite painter, used IMPASTO
The only person who pronounced the beginning of California CALI was our ex-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.. We say kal-a-FOR-nyah, fast and all scrunched together.
When I was in grade school in the forties we had seasons at school. Yoyo season, baseball card season, marble season. Baseball card season was the best because you could gamble with them. Flip-and-match was one game. Knocking down cards set up along a wall was another. Knocking marbles out of a circle wasn't very popular.
Z,
Yeah. I know.
Bill Evans
I actually watched the Rex/Rachel solve (well I did skip a bit). They took their time but it was mostly steady going - until they had the middle section of GLOBAL ECONOMY and there came a dead silence. I wondered about that clue as well. The best part is near the end when he takes off his hat and says, “they’ll see my wound…I had something removed” and she says, “Like a lobotomy?”
@Lewis, all the 15’s are debuts? Wow, that is over the top. SEEMS legit to point out that they also share a visual aspect. ARTISTIC LICENSE requires a little.
@Barbara, loved your romantic moon story, and the Victor Hugo!
@Welcome back, @GILL I. - we missed you too!
Wow, I just looked this up based on comments here:
Los Angeles County has 18 Congresspersons in the U.S. House of Representatives.
That’s the same number as Pennsylvania and Illinois, and more than Ohio (16) and Michigan (14).
I had no idea about that.
Put it in quotes, "many years ago"
Many years ago
“Good as gold” is a misspelling of either good or gold
@Rex re: marbles
Looks like some kids still shoot marbles: 93rd Annual National Marbles Tournament Underway In Wildwood, NJ.
Shooting marbles was a passion of mine back in the '50s. I entered the tournament at the local level in Eugene in the mid '50s; got knocked out in the semis. Gave my grandkids some of my old "taws", and we enjoyed a game or two. :)
Recall winning an agate shooter once; mom made me give it back. Bless her good heart.
I will say, tho, that I don't recall hearing or using the term, "taw"; learned it from xwords, so that was a major advantage in the NE corner for me. LOL
Been using Skype for phone calls (North America) since getting my first iPod touch in '07.
Outstanding procedural series: Shetland.
So happy to find that both @A and @Nancy came away with an understanding of the rationale behind the Monty Hall Problem. @TTrimble's and @A's final posts were superb!
@Carola 8:39 AM
Thx for the vid. :)
@GILL I. 10:22 AM 😊
___
Peace ~ Empathy ~ Kindness to all 🕊
@GILL I
Sounds like you're fine.
Welcome back.
IT IS SO WONDERFUL TO SEE YOU BACK, @GILL!!!!! Yippee!!!!
A nice [disobedient] shot of Pinot as a *chaser* to a not-so-nice shot of anesthesia? Of course you slept really, really well! As who among us would not?
And if the apres-anesthesia Pinot actually helped your solve, well, you must have the wooden-est leg on the entire West Coast.
Obviously the surgery didn't get you down. You're in rare form today, girlfriend.
for anyone wondering about ENNIO Morricone, try this:
Walk into a room and whistle GCGCG---- and the whole room while make a nasal trombone sound on F G D
Top 5 all time film composer, and up at the top of that in my book. Was given a lifetime achievement award at Oscars a few years ago and passed away recently.
Dug TAW out of my remembrance of xwords past.
Strangely, had pretty fast time for a Friday for me.
@A....thank you. I missed you, too!.
So now I learn our amiga, @Frantic is AWOL? I need her to give me my morning cheer-up.....Do we need to put out an APB?
I still don't understand why TROMP doesn't out-fight SPANK.
You may have missed the simplest explanation fot the Monty Hall problem.
In the beginning, there are more goats than cars. So most likely the initial choice is a goat. So most likely swiching wins.
Now this is what M&A calls a great FriPuz. If you're gonna go themeless, splatz in as many long answers as the crossword gods will allow. And have em all brazenly cross each other, too boot. Like.
Knew both IMPASTO & TAW, so my nanoseconds walked away from that NE area in good shape. And have heard tell of CALI somewhere before … probably in another puzgrid.
staff weeject pick: ITE. Tough clue, altho I get it. Also, agree with @kitshef that AGO's clue has a certain runty polish to it. har
fave clue: {Boatload} = CARGO. Terse. Feisty. So straightforward, it's sneaky.
fave sparklers: GLOBALECONOMY. BEAMUP. SKYPER. PUTAFACETOANAME.
Thanx for the extended fun, Mr. Deodene dude. M&A admires the sufferin that musta went into constructin this puppy. Nice Span-o-ramas.
Masked & AnonymoUUs
**gruntz**
Please...NEVER Cali.
Please! Never allow “Cali” again. Unless it’s the city in Columbia.
An eDay story: I excelled in Calculus in my first year at Villanova and earned a 100 average in both semesters. Two years, and no mathematics later, I started a 3 year hitch in the US Army, only doing some simple Algebra while serving. Then, back to Villanova for two more years of mathematics. I eked my way through Advanced Calculus, but still didn’t remember the foundations from too far back. I found myself enamored with Algebra and Topology. When I got to grad school, I took a remedial Analysis course, but I was still missing some basics. When I took my qualifying exams for my PhD, the Analysis exam was a bear. One of the simpler problems was to find the value of the infinite series 1/n!. I didn’t remember, so I started cranking out partial sums: 1, 2, 2.5, 2.6666667, and a couple more, all longhand, and I saw the value of e emerging. Bingo! A thesis later, I received my Ph.D.
p.s.
And another thing …
Welcome back, Gill I. !
M&A
Oye amiguita-Glad you're back home, always a good thing. I know what you mean by Sr. Ennio and his last name--have the same kind of thoughts when I'm walking along a malecon.
Let's see if Blogger behaves this time (Not likely!!)
So, TAW was a gimme. Like, it was one of the first words into the grid for me - I was incredibly grateful for it's inclusion as it gave me a foothold to start with, which has to put me in one heck of a minority!
This 26 year old Brit has never played marbles in his life, but I've been stunned today by how many people seem to think it's fill from the 1950s (maybe marbles just lasted longer here? I didn't feel it was dated - and I'm aware that I'm very prone to calling out stuff as dated).
Puzzle was good overall, 15s and the 13 were all solid, and to me each cross was gettable.
Fridays are fun! And Chuck did an excellent job with the six long debuts. I spent too long working to embed the link to Shetland referenced just previously by @bocamp, but if you run out of things to do do check it out. It as well as the Vera series based on Ann Cleeves' mystery novels are very well done.
@Newboy
I just emailed you my Embedding Cheat Sheet.
Hope it helps.
"Lovely TO SEE You" by the Moody Blues? Come now, we can do better than that.
Is a fake Van Gogh an impasto impostor? I didn't know about Cedilla liqueur, made from puréed spaçe telescopes. I mean, made from açai. Clever name-branding there. I hate Ben & Jerry's flavor names. It's like they hired Will Shortz to come up with them.
Since burtonkd mentioned it...
Oh, and good to see you, GILL!
What on god's green earth is TABSET? Here are two Google searches that yield no relevant results:
???
?????
TONY/KENDO/DONNE was a total Natick mess.
"Force on earth" is an annoying clue for ONEG.
The top-right was very tough. I had LIVENEWS in the top-right (which makes a lot more sense for the clue). I know nothing about sports, so I had ARI next to CAVS.
Besides all this difficulty, I really enjoyed most of the puzzle!
@JC66 - nice service you've got going with the Embedding Cheat Sheet. I keep it at the top of my inbox and have even used it elsewhere! I wonder if it could go in the FAQ section of this blog?
@GILL: Great to have you back! Now if we just could find @Frantic. She seems to have flown the coop without a clearance. Hoping all is well. Oh and BTW, I emailed you a couple days ago with a new book recommendation ... “Come Fly The World” about Pan Am flight attendants back in the glory days.
@Unknown (8:24) I lived in southern Wisconsin, Madison area, and heard both. Lena was Ole’s wife; SVEN was his sidekick. Which ever one was mentioned depended on the tackiness of the joke.
A rare Friday finish for me in 1:03:29. KENDO and ENNIO (check out okanaganer (3:33)) went straight in which helped. Like everyone else I was a bit PEEVEd by the TESLA-GREENCAR implications but that has already been discussed. Needed one "check puzzle" for SW and NE. Purists might disagree with calling that a clear but so be it. I was stuck on BY ONE GUY for the Amish barn, having convinced myself that the Friday clue was FYI - that is, the "y" Spanish for "and," F y I being the unique letters of Friday.
Lose some, win some. Yesterday, SAvES cost me a perfect puzzle, but today, my pure guess of IMPAS T O paid off. I’m a fan of 15 stacks, so this one was a pleasure and, I thought, a legit challenge for the day with no I. Thanks, Chuck.
14A ERRATA. Back in the old days, and still sometimes today, when something was more or less "finished" for publication, the author would find typos or other small errors, often when indexing. Since the text was "set," some publishers would correct these with what are called "paste-ups." Often today, with computers, the changes are simply inserted, often by the author (I've had bad experiences with this). In the old days, and sometimes today, a printed page would be added at the end labeled "errata" ("errors," i.e. typos or little oversights). Sometimes the page would be labeled "errata corrigenda" ("errors to be corrected") or sometimes simply "corrigenda" ("things to be corrected").
In the old days, with dissertations, a typed copy would be submitted and defended. It was expensive for the author, since usually he or she had to pay a professional typist, who knew how to adhere to the university's format and calculate the length of space for footnotes. Since the thesis had been defended, and for cost reasons, one didn't like to retype things, and one would add a page at the end entitled "ERRATA" or "CORRIGENDA," listing errors found by the author or his or her readers. At the Warburg Institute in London, known mainly as a library but also a branch of the University of London, offering advanced degrees, there is a dissertation on file which has a final page labeled "CARRIGENDA"!
Anon. i.e. Poggius
20 minutes to complete. That’s a fast Friday in my book. Fun puzzle too, especially the middle three acrosses!
I am the only one who doesn't get 14 across. Can someone explain, as if to an idiot, why the answer is "errata"
Thanks for the explanation. I was stumped as well, on that “Good/gold” clue and answer.
When I saw that this one had six grid-spanning entries, I expected it would compromise some of the quality of the peripheral fill. I think this was especially so in the lower left hand corner. I can't see much redeeming value in that dreary DINED AT MAIN ROOM IN ONE DAY pile-up.
Fitting six grid-spanners in a 15X15 puzzle is definitely an impressive feat, but some of that brilliance is dulled a bit for me by having two of those six not quite up to the task. Both SCENIC PANORAMA and SPACE TELESCOPE need a letter-count boost to fill their slots. Plural of convenience POC to the rescue! How easy is that? (And hardly anyone will even notice!)
Definitely, GREENCAR was lousy. No one says that, and MPG is irrelevant for an electric car.
Those who thought TAW was tough crossed with IMPASTO, well, well. Now you know how some of us feel about sports coaches crossed with sitcom actors!
@Poggius
Of course journals these days still publish ERRATA if authors learn of mistakes in their articles. (Not typos, but more substantive errors.) Many authors maintain web pages for ERRATA found in their books, for things big and small.
Donald Knuth used to mail a check for $2.56 = 2^8 cents to anyone who found an erratum in his The Art of Computer Programming series. Not sure if he still does.
@Gill I.
Nice to have you back!
@barnaby_d - asked and answer. If you use your find function for ERRATA you will find multiple explanations.
“Going back to Cali...” song lyric
Everyone...Your welcome back's are heartwarming. I sincerely love this blog - because of the people posting here and, well, because you make my day...
@Nancy.....Pinot and after affects of anesthesia are the elixir of LIFE. I kid you not. It whoops my brain cells into action. :)
@pablito...OK, so here's a Cubanito...Oyeme, ahi va el maricon pescando en el malecón. Not my phrase but I cleave to that orange whatchamacallit shitgibbon.
@Whatsername. I haven't checked my emails yet but "Come Fly The World" sound like a real bobby-dazzler.... particular if it has to do with a Mad-Men era of Pan Am Flight attendants. My step-mom was a PanAm flight attendant and told stories that could pop the socks off of you. I will definitely order it on Amazon. Thanks for the recommendation.....
Whoo-hoo---I got an appointment for my first COVID shot. I just may live to tell some more stories!
My biggest problem today is the one Rex expounds upon, perhaps to excess, which is IMPASTO crossing TAW. My first instinct was dAW (which is a black bird, I know) but IMPASdO didn't look very ARTISTIC. Ran the alphabet and T stuck so no harm, no foul.
McCarthyIsm, Anis vs. ACAI, and OuT of this Swirled were all other stumbling blocks but they got fixed. This came in at approx. the same amount of time as the last few Fridays so I consider it easy-medium.
A certain Syndilander is going to be overjoyed with 21A because usually only OLE gets in the grid (as an expression of support.)
Chuck Deodene, this was fun, thanks!
Welcome back, @Gill I. I missed your humor!
Thank you. I was baffled.
@Seth 12:23 PM
Search TAB SET without the quotes, and Bob's your uncle. :)
@burtonkd 12:24 PM
Good idea! 👍
___
pg -1
Peace ~ Empathy ~ Kindness to all 🕊
@Dogfish caused a lower brain stem memory to burp: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_and_World_Marbles_Championship
Back in the olden days of typewriters, one pushed a lever(s) on the carriage to SET the TABS as you wanted them. There was a key, called TAB, which you hit to move to the next TAB you've SET. Current word processors do the same, but not likely? by that term.
I read the Starry Night clue and immediately wrote impasto. Never hesitated. I think it is silly that people carry on when it is unfamiliar to them. Appreciate learning a new term and don’t gripe. Had VVG lived before oil paint, we wouldn’t have those incredible paintings. Can’t do it with tempera.
The Dude,
You seem to have confused a normal crossword discussion with some kind of imaginary jealousy. California is nice but maybe you don't realize that millions of people in the other 49 states are perfectly happy they don't live there. Even the smart ones who didn't vote for Trump. And just so you know, it's not common practice on this site to attack others based on a one-line blog post or to call them GD morons - ever. Y'all have yourself a real nice CALI day now, ya hear.
@gill -- Welcome back -- this group was short a spark plug while you were away!
I had SIMILE for good as gold and that wasn't a great way to start. Thanks for those who explained errata. That was head-scratcher. I like the grid spanners, always helpful to solving and fun.
Cali, Colombia, not Columbia. 😊
@Gill I.
So glad to have you back where you belong!
@Gill I - congratulations on being alive and on getting lined up for COVID shot 1. In Va. we've been in "phase 1b" seemingly forever. And for what it's worth, the folks I know who have had the shots say the side effects are not bad.
Yes, except that's an erratum. Errata is plural and thus an incorrect answer.
@Unknown 2:21
Reread the clue...Good as gold, and others?
Canadian here, we say and know Cali. Dunno why we all have to have this conversation every time it appears in the grid... Would you prefer it clued as "Golden State nickname, to out-of-towners"?
"..whilst chatting" and knitting a pair of argyles, no doubt! Give me a break!
Well, I've got good news and bad news: I'm baaaacck! This just in: Me! From my weekday-long sabbatical at the slothastery where I meditated mightily for the full recovery of our @GILL. And see? It worked!
So, what'd I miss?😉
As for this puzzle, I mostly agree with Rachel and Rex. Well, Rachel anyway. PUTAFACETOANAME is definitely the star and I have no complaints about any of the grid-spanners; however...
GIO who? SVEN who? Couldn't get SVENGIOlly out of my head.
And the corners as a whole tasted of pablum and head cheese (I imagine) causing my eyebrows to Groucho Marx all over the place.
Overall though, a pleasant enough solve.
@GILL I'm so happy everything went well! 🥰 This doesn't absolve you of the need to explain Morricone, though. You can't just splatz something like that in the big, fat middle of the commentunity and run, missy!
No time right now to read everybody (I hate that!), but I hope to return later to address any hanging chads.
Cheers!
🧠🧠🧠
🎉🎉🎉
Easy-Medium NYT Friday ... 10% under my Friday 6-month median solve time
Here's a constructor we haven't seen in a while. Chuck Deodene's last puzzle was 10/1/2018 and his first NYT Friday since 11/16/2007. He was once a regular NYT constructor, but hasn't really been in the rotation since about 2009.
I'm a little surprised that none of the grid-spanners have been used in NYT puzzles before. The clues for PUT A FACE TO A NAME {38A: Meet somebody you've heard lots about} and ARTISTIC LICENSE {39A: Creator's leeway} feel a little too spot-on to me for a Friday puzzle. In fact, the whole puzzle was pretty straight-forward for a NYT Friday. The only real tough spots for me were IMPASTO {7A: Painting technique used in van Gogh's "The Starry Night"}, GIO {19A: Painting technique used in van Gogh's "The Starry Night"}, 'ScoTLAND' before SHETLAND {24D: Northernmost part of the U.K.} and 'mOI' before SOI {35D: Amour de ___ (self-love: Fr.)}. M-W.com agrees with me that PIPET {50D: Lab tube} should be clued as a variant spelling.
One thumb up. That SW corner could have used some more attention.
This whole week has been awfully easy so far. I wonder if Will has something up his sleeve for us with the weekend puzzles? Are Bob Klahn and Bob Peoples coming out of NYT retirement?
Still more evidence of the Great Crossword Constructor's Conspiracy: ENNIO {46A: Film composer Morricone} also appears in today's Newsday puzzle (identically clued). For my solve time's sake, I was kinda glad of that.
p.s. I know I'm free to ignore them and I don't usually like to complain about this type of thing on a message board, but are we really going to have yet another day of long, boring (my opinion, I know) posts about the Monty Hall problem?
Very good Fri puz. Liked all the longs...and SVEN.
@Frantic: Oh so glad you’re back! There’s nothing like a few days at the Slothastery to get one’s Slothliness renewed. Or so I’ve heard. Thanks for taking time to check in.
Just lost a long comment to the ether when my screen hung, so I'll just say - great puzzle.
And add my welcome back, @gill - we missed you! 🌞
Never have shortened California afaik, except when the U of O plays Cal. I respect folks who call it "Cali", and have no problem with getting it when clued in a xword. I'd say "never say never", but I just noticed I started this paragraph with it. So, "never say never" when it comes to xword clues and answers. There are always exceptions. Respect the diversity and grow some tolerance. 😉
@Frantic Sloth 2:33 PM 😊
___
pg -1
Peace ~ Empathy ~ Kindness to all 🕊
It would be nice if the blog allowed for replying to a specific comment, with a thread that could be easily read, replied to, or ignored. A simple Like button would save a lot of time, too, but I guess I'm spoiled. 🤓
And @frantic, too! 🌝
Minnesotans, Iowans and Missourians would beg to differ that the Midwest ends at the Mississippi.
@sanfranman59 2:37 PM
Of the 5 Monty Hall comments today, three were short belated posts, and your's and mine are the other two (well, I guess this one makes three). Doesn't seem to me to be a plethora. 😉
@newbie 3:09 PM
I like your idea, but I don't think it can be done with Blogger. @Z explained why. Maybe he'd repost his original comments on the subject. It sure would make things simpler, but for now, I think his admonition to use the @ convention is the best outcome. It would be nice if those posting from cell phones would use the @, along with name and/or timestamp, so we'd know who the reply is intended for. 🤞
Peace ~ Empathy ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Lived in Minnesota 20 years It’s Ole and Lena. My husband got a talking-to by the CentraCare medical director in St Cloud when a patient didn’t get the humor in the Ole and Lena joke he told.
Also lived in California 20 years Never heard Cali!
I agree with Tesla electric vehicles (and I sorely want one!) do not have mph since there is no gas tank.
I liked “cry for attention “ and “beam up.”
thought this was really hard for a long time, until i realized i had committed a rather unusual amount of self sabotage. that's what i get for doing the crossword while also watching a popshop live on my phone lol. lesson learned, multitasking WRT crosswords = not my strength XD still, what an absolute mess i made of this puzzle even though i did finish on my own. never had so many wrong answers/re-writes before, wow.
the top half of the puzzle was my biggest issue and the most egregious error i made was mis-grokking the car clue(s) somehow, to where i kept trying to think of types of SUVs and other "gas guzzlers" and their makers instead of the opposite. D'OH. it didn't help that i also had ZOOMER for SKYPER since i thought it was a topical clue. additionally i way overthought the revolution around the sun clue, trying to think of a spanish word for orbit or some other space word, when it was just a year all along. three letter spanish answer, should have known better! never heard of TAB SET and had TAB KEY, SCOTLAND instead of SHETLAND for awhile...
MAIN ROOM was unsatisfying, i really wanted to be something about velvet ropes or VIPs or the champagne room but...no, it was just a simple boring answer. liked the long fills though, those were satisfying. but many short bits were guesses or crosses that just appeared that i didn't know - GIO, TAW, ENNIO, DONNE, SVEN, shrug to all of those.
honestly, i don't know what to make of this puzzle lol. i really was all over the place and wish i could go back in time and give it my full attention to see if it would have been more fun. i was pleased and very surprised i finished but what of the actual clues? i guess i'll never know haha! oh well, have a lovely weekend all!
yup, as i understand it, "cali" is known and said by people who don't live there, and it makes "real" californians cringe. (i'm going, going, back, back to cali cali...)
must be how i feel every time somebody says "beantown."
A surprisingly quick Friday for me, with the oft-mentioned T in the IMPASTO/TAW intersection the only major slowdown.
I have driven the electric Nissan Leaf for the last 10 years--great car. And I can report that the agency that rates vehicles for mileage effectiveness does put an "estimated" mpg' rating on the sticker information of the Leaf. The Leaf is generally rated as "over 100 mpg." It's an awkward, "apples to oranges" proposition, but it helps a buyer compare the electric vehicle to gas vehicles. Most of us can't meaningfully relate to a "miles per kilowatt" rating.
@unknown 2:21PM except the clue was "and others" thus the plural and errata as a correct answer :)
(also thanks to all who explained this answer!)
@GILL 107pm ¡Ay Caramba! Now I remember! Thought it looked/sounded familiar and you were right to shimmy 'round it. Yeeks!
Let that be a lesson to everyone: Never, ever, ever listen to me! Of course, the problem is you have to listen to me to not listen to me and if you don't listen to me it probably means you listened to me telling you not to listen to me. 🙄
Guess I should be grateful that I, too, recalled the perfectly useless TAW from back in the old crossword days when I no doubt said "TAW? What the hell is that? Such a stupid word. I'll have to remember it." And for once, it worked.
@bocamp 803am Cinema Paradiso is one of my all-time favorites (turns me into a blubbering mass of jelly every time I watch it!) and ENNIO Morricone's breathtakingly moving score is a large part of that. Thanks for the link!
And warm thanks to everyone who wondered and welcomed - missed youz guyz! 😍
@newbie you can read the comments/replies in threaded fashion if you view the mobile version of the site, which you can do on desktop.
https://rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com/2021/02/robinhood-competitor-fri-2-26-21.html?m=1
it's obviously not ideal, but, it's an option and what i use. agree *actual* threaded comments on any platform as well as likes would be a great update to usability & readability.
@Gill, welcome back, and keep on recovering! you'll love the vaccine -- I got my second dose Monday, and feel generally happier with life. My wife had some moderately bad side effects a couple days, but she's better now.
I'm kinda embarrassed by this, but -- IMPASTO was my first entry. What else could it be? IMPASse? I get Rex's saying it might be better, but given the clue, how would it make sense? Personally, I think it's nice to have a new word in there every once in a while -- and if you call up a mental image of the painting, there are those globs of paint. But I guess if you never read art criticism, it's kind of mysterious.
I grew up in Door County, WI; the northern half of the county is Scandinavian, the southern half mostly Belgian, so I know both sets of ethnic jokes. I wanted LENA, but the METS ruled that out, and then I remembered SVEN.
SHETLANDs spund better to my ear, but Wiki says it's also used in the singular for the whole archipelago. so that's OK. Actually, a lot of answers that seem off at first turn out to be ok when you think about them more -- eg SPACE TELESCOPES which sounds green-paintish until you remember the Hubbell.
I grew up playing marbles, but never used the word TAW; but I think it appears in Tom Sawyer, so I knew it from that.
Fun fact: ZoomER would fit at 15A -- stopped from writing it in at the last possible nanosecond, when I realized it could be SKYPER, then got TESLA to confirm.
Me too for wantinf ANf at 56D, but I waited for the cross there, too.
I think of anngels in the context of theater, but I guess it has become more general.
Anyway, I really liked this puzzle. Plus, it gives us all a chance to argue about CALI! I was going to say something triumphant about CALIstoga, but I looked it up, and apparently it meant "Cal-Is-Toga" in the intention of the founder. (He was trying to promote the hot springs as a tourist attraction).
Yay....Ms Slothastery is back from a spa renewal, no doubt, and she's fit as a fiddle. All is good in @Rexertown and we can go back to being Frantic two-toed docile sloths....
@Frantic...In Spanish, Maricon is the word used to call someone a homosexual. Depending on where you live in Spanis speaking countries, it's usually pejorative. Spanish insults seem to always be of a sexual nature, however....in some countries, the word "maricon" can be used in a friendly manner. It really depends on your audience.
So now you know more than you probably wanted to.
Well my COVID shot when smooth as Irish butter on an English muffin. I got it at my CVS pharmacy and I was in and out in no time. I'm wondering if I now have to cancel the other 2 and a half billion wait lists I put myself on. No side-effects; just a little prick...Hah!
@bocamp & @newbie 3:09 - Blogger was cutting edge(ish) back in 2006 when Rex started Rex, but it is still basically 2006 software with the barest of updates in the interim. The mobile version came after the web version and has threaded replies, but Google didn’t bother to add the function to the web version when it created the mobile version. Pull out your smart phone and go to Rex Parker and you will find a whole different experience. In total I think the web version is better, but the lack of threaded replies is annoyingness out done by the annoying fact that some people are wondering about the non sequiturs and others are wondering why people don’t just “reply.” Rex has no control over this short of migrating to a different blogging application/host. Given the roughly 5,000 posts that would be a significant task.
@Thane of 13th - You are right. They are wrong.
Question - Are the people who don’t know the various indent styles the same people who don’t know about TAB SETs? And are you the people who hit the space key repeatedly and then can’t figure out why your columns don’t quite line up?
@Frantic Sloth - Well, it is about time. Everyone, and I do mean EVERY SINGLE ONE, has been waiting for you to explain the Monte Hall* problem.
*Too subtle? I always enjoy making a mountain out of a game show host. For the record, it was a typo that I decided was an improvement.
We drove to Cali, and got drunk on the beach
Got a motel and, built a fort out of sheets
I finally found you, my missing puzzle piece
I'm complete
Let's go all
The way tonight
No regrets
Just love
We can dance
Until we die
You and I
Will be young forever
— Katy Perry, who famously a California Girl
ctdawg
Cross Reference Clues
{I said this earlier but there has been more ERRATA}
When a clue cross-references to another clue it is referencing the answer, not the clue.
So
Producer of 15-Acrosses
is properly understood to mean
Producer of GREEN CARS.
What is throwing people is the mistake of thinking the clue is understood as
Producer of High-m.p.g. vehicles
Most of the time this doesn’t matter, but there have been other instances where the answer but not the clue can be substituted into the cross-referencing clue. I have never noted an instance where the reverse is true.
Is it evidence for the use of CALI by non-Californians that there is a place called MexiCALI?
Before googling it today, I had never known that the Shetland Islands can be called SHETLAND. But it was guessable because ScoTLAND just didn't work.
@GILL I, I thought that was the after picture.
@Z 4:45 pm - I was on blogger back then but just to blog. Thank you - I wasn't really expecting a solution! I'll check out the smartphone version. I'm trying not to add apps because it gets cluttered but I can certainly go to the website. I've gotten used to reading websites on a kindle fire and, more recently, an apple pro air - both a lot easier to read than the phone - so I'm switching around a lot already. Some things are easier to do on one or the other - Crossword on apple, Vertex on kindle, for example. ��
@stephanie 4:36 pm - omg! I think this might do it! I've bookmarked it for now and I'll explore downloading the mobile version. Thank you so much! ��
You guys are great!
For anyone still wondering about TAB SET - it was a typewriter key similar to CAP LOCK but for tabs instead of upper case.
In other news (I just realized while typing this why LATE NEWS sounded "off" to me - it's usually "late-breaking news"):
The best thing about the CALI argument is that it seems to have gotten us off the Full Monte! ��
@Joaquin Real Cali here to say that plenty of real Californians use the term. I think that most objections to the term come from wannabe Californians.
I love it when there’s real dumb arguments on this site!
I live in SoCal and I don’t care what you call it. I do notice that “CALI” is a term generally used by outsiders, though. There are no rules but that’s an observation.
Call it what you like but don’t come near my house.
@GILL, I - Welcome back. I didn't read for a few days, so didn't know what you went away for, but it seems like a successful procedure:) BTW, my symptoms knocked me out for 2 days on both COVID shots (shivering in bed under heavy blankets) and didn't really kick in for a half day. But good luck.
So the waterfront in San Francisco could be the Maricon Malecon?
@GILL 445pm I actually appreciate the detailed explanation - like many things in life, the answer when in doubt is "it depends." 😉
@Z 445pm Once again you leave me stranded on top of the wooden rollercoaster with nothing in view but that satanic marina. Too subtle? Only completely. Remember who you're dealing with.
As to the CALI controversy: So...Californians don't use the term and blame its existence on everyone east of the Sierra Nevadas, except for the Californians who say it's used all the time and totally legit.
Do I have that right?
Thank the dogs we cleared that up.
My friends daughter, born and raised in California refers to herself as CALI wild child and named her cat CALI.
@GILL I, frantic sloth
Glad you are back and feisty as ever.
I don't always miss (as notice) you when you are gone but never miss (as always read and appreciate) you when you are here.
I do like Fridays with long stacks. Especially when the solving is based on getting a couple long ones before the short ones. Got ARTISTICLICENSE off one cross and guess what? I got almost nothing off it. Wondered if it could be wrong. I had to get IMBECILE and TELESCOPES to really get moving.
CARGO COMBS ERRATA. What a triad of crossing clues. One wonderful misdirect. One almost indecipherable red-herring clue. One misleading by being honest and direct. A master class of cluedom.
I guess nobody got anything from my Monte explanations. I guess introducing god into the equation was a mistake. Or maybe it was my fuzzy english. And I was trying to be so helpful.
I hate CALIflower.
The TAB key sets the tab. Bad fill.
@gill - no worries about the covid shot - at least not Pfizer #1. Didn't notice a thing except my arm got less sore the next day than with the flu shot. They say the second one can be worse - I'm scheduled for that one on Tuesday, so we'll see. Whatever - it's better than the disease. In any event, I'll baby myself for a few days. ��
@albatross shell (7:36 PM)
Ok, I'll bite; as soon as I'm done with my CALIflower veggie plate, I'll reread and pay closer attention this time. 😊
@JC66 (8:09 PM)
As I mentioned to @albatross shell 7:36 PM, I really do love my CALIflower. 😋
___
pg -1 Just can't seem to pick the last one out of the crowd; maybe it's camouflaged in my CALIflower.
Peace ~ Empathy ~ Kindness to all 🕊
A quibble about "Good as gold" being errata -- I see this as an erratum, not the plural errata. I'm sure I wouldn't have had to come to this blog for an explanation but for that confusion.
I liked this one a lot (because I finished it with few trips to Uncle G)
We lived in Minnesota for a couple years and I had LENA before SVEN.
Also I had a head slap for 24D. We've had Shelties since 1972 and still put in ScoTLAND. In case you haven't met one, Shelties are miniature Shepards (Collies), bred small in the Shetlands because the sheep are small as are the horses.
@albatross 7:36 pm - nothing wrong with your explanation - pearls strewn before swine and all that ; )
@albatross shell, I am very sorry not to have paid enough attention to your Monty explanations. I had a feeling there was something important there, but I am not a multi tasker, and I knew your insights would take me some time to comprehend. Your efforts are very much appreciated and I will attempt to catch up to your thinking.
@Joe D
I have a feeling that you'll really enjoy this week's Acrostic.
@Frantic - Someone had the temerity to correct my Monte spelling yesterday. Hence my footnote. 😇
Oh - BTW, I discovered that that wooden roller coaster has a name. The CALI.
@newbie - I don’t know that I’d call what I wrote a “solution.” If Google ever updates the web version to allow threaded replies then we’d have an actual solution. Most of the formatting is gone in the mobile version, but it does allow you to toggle to the web version.
My son is a real Californian. He says “Cali”.
Can someone explain the Amish barn to aiding clue and answer?
If you can buy a t-shirt in Venice Beach that says Cali, then there is such a thing as Cali. Q.E.D.
@JC66 – Oh goody. Well I have to wait till my print edition arrives tomorrow morning. Or this morning, as I'm posting this.
@Tree Lover – it's the "and others" in the clue that makes the answer ERRATA (plural). I think it's an awful clue anyway: and "other" what? Other errata?
@burtonkd – I just realized you have an erratum in your 11:19 post – the nasal trombone sounds should be Eflat-F-C, no?
@Vera Similitude - I am not understanding your question. Amish barns are raised IN ONE DAY, because the whole community comes out to raise the barn. I hope that helps.
Tesla make electric cars.
MPG is miles per gallon.
Ergo Tesla do not make “high MPG cars”.
And considering the awful carbon footprint of battery factories, they aren’t very green, either.
Had the same reaction to GREENCAR. IMPASTO is fair game though; it was actually a gimme for me (full disclosure: I'm an Art teacher). ANO ("Revolution around o sol") was also in my domain; nice to see a Portuguese clue that's not " ___ Paulo". I knew SHETLAND, but... first time seeing it without "Islands" following. I had a couple of errors: TYPE for TAPE & IKE for ITE. Overall enjoyed it.
@Jim (8:37am) ... I'll take the bait and try one more time to explain the TESLA/GREEN CAR thing in Friday's puzzle ... TESLA is not clued as "high MPG car". It's clued as "Producer of 15-Acrosses". Since 15-Across is GREEN CAR, the clue for TESLA is "Producer of GREEN CARs". TESLA does make GREEN CARs, ergo there's nothing wrong with that clue or the answer. GREEN CAR is clued as "High-m.p.g. car". There's nothing wrong with that clue/answer combination either since some GREEN CARs (e.g., hybrid electric/gas vehicles) are "high m.p.g.", even if not all of them are (e.g., all-electric vehicles like TESLAs).
Making a battery for a GREEN CARs has nowhere near the same carbon footprint over the lifetime of the vehicle as vehicles that burn fossil-fuels throughout their lifetimes.
Why is CEO one who might meet with angels?
@Liz Slater - If you use the “find” function to look for “angel” you will discover that @offthegrid gave a complete answer at 9:07. There are probably some more explanations that are shorter, too.
Amish barns are often raised in the course of one day. The whole community participates. So the answer is “in one day”. I only know this from the movie “Witness”.
As someone who has been doing the NYT crossword for 25 years, I’m very happy when I get half the answers on a Friday, especially a few of the extra long ones. I bought a collection of Friday puzzles as “homework”, and I think it’s helping :)
Having just come back from a weekend near Grand Marais, Minnesota, it was nice to be reminded of Sven & Ole’s Pizza. https://www.svenandoles.com/
“Angel investors” are ones who invest very early on in a company’s life, so that company’s CEO would need to meet with those “angels.”
@rondo: At last! Ole's buddy SVEN gets a turn!
I once actually saw a barn raised INONEDAY. Remarkable. I did this puzzle in less than that, but not less than an hour. Trying to work in from the corners was, I see now, a mistake. I should've attacked at the center...but then those NW and SE corners were still problems. Strangely, I didn't have issues with the NE.
The most trouble? Finding COMBS as makers of "parts" (groan!). A good Friday (no pun intended) puzzle, with no DOD (rats!) but plenty of triumph points. Learned about IMPASTO. Birdie.
Yes! Nice TOSEE Ole in the clue and SVEN in the puz. Maybe someone read the pleas. Or the joke books. He does EXIST!
I had McCarthy Ism before ITE, so a little splash of ink there. TAW from Maleska era.
I tot I TAW a puddy TAT. I did, I did TAW a puddy TAT!
TESLAs are high mpg? Electric I thought.
Nice puz.
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