THEME: CROSS / ROADS (29D: With 36-Down, intersection ... as suggested by the circled letters in the middle of this puzzle?) — circled letters represent the songs "HIGHWAY to HELL" and "STAIRWAY to HEAVEN," with "highway" descending and "stairway" ascending; thus "highway" and "stairway" are (metaphorically) ROADS that (literally) CROSS in the middle of the grid:
Theme answers:
HEAVEN (23A: Classic Led Zeppelin song represented by the ascending circled letters and this answer)
HELL (61A: Classic AC/DC song represented by the falling circled letters and this answer)
Word of the Day: BAI (43D: Antioxidant juice brand) —
Bai Brands is a beverage company founded in 2009 in Princeton, New Jersey, by entrepreneur Ben Weiss. Weiss started Bai after he learned about the coffeefruit – the fruit that surrounds the outside of the coffee bean — and decided to use it to create a new brand of beverages. The company offers a line of low-calorie soft drinks (including sodas, bottled water, iced tea, and non-carbonated fruit-flavored drinks) sweetened with erythritol and rebaudioside A (stevia leaf extract), ascorbic acid, and extract from coffea fruit harvested in Indonesia; its flavors typically are identified by the name of an exotic locale along with the natural fruit flavor used. Its flagship product is Bai Antioxidant Infusions. In 2015, it launched a brand of bottled water called Bai Antiwater.
By 2015, Bai was named one of “America’s Most Promising Companies” by Forbes. In 2016, entertainer Justin Timberlake invested in Bai and became the brand’s “chief flavor officer.” On November 22, 2016, it was announced that Dr Pepper Snapple Bottling Group had made a cash purchase of Bai Brands for $1.7 billion. On February 5, 2017, Bai aired their first national commercial during Super Bowl LI due to the success that they had with the regional commercial shown in the previous year's Super Bowl. They spent an estimated $5 million on the ad that also featured Timberlake and Christopher Walken. (wikipedia)
• • •
There's a lot happening here, but "a lot" is not necessarily "more," which is to say it doesn't necessarily improve things. The theme is somewhat off in several ways, so the offs get compounded. No part of the theme feels stick-the-landing perfect in its execution. Let's start with the fact that the theme—all of it except the CROSS / ROADS part, was instantly gettable once you took one look at the clue on HEAVEN, which just hands you the song title, which basically hands you the concept and the remaining circled squares. "Stairway to Heaven" is the obvious, first-to-mind "classic Led Zeppelin song," and once you see that only HEAVEN fits there, the whole STAIRWAY part becomes obvious, and then the remaining circled bits ... I don't even think I looked at the clue for HELL. Just filled in every circle on the board immediately. Theme: basically over:
Only it's *not* over because there is more theme material to uncover. I run into CROSS and get the ROADS part easily enough, but this phrase doesn't add much. Or, it adds the "crossing" part (so it expresses the fact that the ascending and descending circled parts "cross"), but while a "highway" is in fact a "road," a "stairway" is not. There's just the one road. Further, the very idea of a highway crossing a stairway is a little absurd. Further, now our attention is *really* called to the asymmetry of the "roads," a thing that was making chalkboard-scratchy noises in my head from the moment I opened the puzzle ("what is that a picture of ... scissors? ... ew, no, why is one part longer than the other? etc."). And then there's the fact that the roads don't actually reach their destinations. "And she's buy-uy-ing a stairway to a square two spaces down from HEAVEN!" Catchy. Not as catchy as "I'm on the hiiiighway to NYE," but catchy nonetheless. Anyway, everything feels alop (to borrow a rarely-actually-used word from crosswords I have solved). Too easy to figure out *and* not on-the-nose enough.
Also, there's BAI. Forget that I've never heard of it (though I'm sure I've seen it on shelves there w/ all the other artificially-colored "healthy" waters in scamville). It had a Super Bowl ad, so it's famous enough for crosswords. But it's still bad. Just because it's *new* doesn't make it good. A random product name, esp. one not universally known, is not inherently good. BAI is old-school three-letter fill* dressing up like it's fancy and new, but really HAI or JAI would serve you better here. They are stalwarts. They can do the job in a way that doesn't call much attention to themselves (since obviously you don't want anyone lingering on your short fill here—you wanna keep people focused on the theme spectacle). So aside from my standing antipathy to virtually any prepackaged product touting its "antioxidant" content :( there's the misguided consumerist cruciverbial idea of "all-brands-are-good-fill" that's bugging me too. If you need BAI, I guess go ahead. But you didn't. So [___ alai] is like "come on, man" and [Yokohama "yes"] is like "uh ... no." Let crosswordese do its (limited) magic. Stop trying to sell me brightly-colored, allegedly healthy, "All New!" snake-oil crosswordese. I'll take my crosswordese like I take my water: straight up. BAI schmai.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
*Before today, BAI was typically clued via actress BAI Ling
Amusing Tuesday. Juxtaposition of the two songs made me smile. And I slept really well last night. Isn't it fantastic when that happens? Always nice to see a SEAHORSE drifting by in a puzzle. Happy Summer, everyone!
Oh heck yes. This theme was absolutely worth the compromises necessary to pull it off, which include the high word count (as @rex points out) as well as the 29 three-letter answers (@mathgent may need a bit of reviving). Why were the compromises necessary? Diagonal answers are muy constraining and crossing diagonals all the more.
So the theme better shine big, and these classic superb song titles, with the HEAVEN up and the HELL down, sure did to me; they totally blinded me to whatever quibbles I might have had on a grid with a less stellar theme.
Yes, I was Blinded By The Light, and Matt, you can Do That To Me One More Time – or more! Thank you, sir, and WTG on your debut puzzle!
Boy Rex, I couldn’t disagree with you more. I really liked this puzzle, thought it was clever and well executed with plenty of theme material that all meshed nicely. The juxtaposition of the song titles’ last words and their locations in the puzzle added to the cleverness. Easy? Sure, but it’s Tuesday.
Boy, I really struggled with this one. In part I took longer to get the theme than I should've because I didn't read the clue properly and thus didn't realise the circled clues were part of the answer for a while (despite looking at it and thinking 'surely this must be something to do with Stairway to Heaven?'). There were also a few that I outright did not know (the US sports-related clues and whatever the hell Schick is... just no chance. I have seen some of your massive spaghetti junctions so I inferred OVERPASSES from the general roady context of the theme but as far as I'm aware there is no other meaning to a cloverleaf here than a leaf of clover so I spent a long time mulling botanical answers to this). But some of the clues I also thought were a little esoteric for a Tuesday, or at the very least I was not on this setter's wavelength as more than once I had the 'oh... really?' feeling on getting an answer, in that my sense of the meaning of the word(s) didn't quite match the clue.
But, I did learn that a SEAHORSE is a fish. I don't know what I thought they were, but somehow fish feels wrong. I also quite enjoyed SCARAB. A pleasing word.
I read Rex’s comments about the theme - and I’m completely neutral on that level of detailed deconstruction - the technical aspects of the construction of the theme don’t have to be picture perfect for me to enjoy it. I’ll leave marveling at the feat of construction (or lamenting the lack thereof) to those who dabble in such endeavors.
The puzzle content however, is another matter. I just don’t understand why the editor would even consider clues like “largest county in Nevada”. In my opinion, it is just a stupid clue - only one out maybe 10,000 people will know the answer. It adds nothing to the puzzle. It’s a Tuesday - just clue it as the science guy and move on. Seriously folks, it’s not rocket-surgery. Rex addressed BAI, which is another self-inflicted wound. Similarly, over in the east you have a movie director (TORO) sitting on top of a foreign city (SANA) - contained in basically a 4x5 self-contained subsection of the grid ! ! !
It seems to me that Tuesday and Wednesday would be a day to attempt to motivate less experienced solvers to come back for more - sorry, but “largest county in Nevada” could not be further from the mark on that score, IMHO. Ok, rant over - I now yield the floor.
Wow, take the fun out of everything, Rex. Maybe the CROSS shudda crossed the ROADS. The songs parallel on opposite sides. And did he mention they shudda been one-way streets too? Does Rex feel that a stairway to heaven and a highway to hell might not have the same characteristics as a regular road and highway in our own world? Especially as represented in a crossword puzzle? Is he at all concerned that there is a secret PATH coming down to heaven? How does that fit in? Gods backdoorway to heaven? Rex missed some important questions here.
Me? I was wondering why a SCARAB LOLITA is in the heavenly realm. And what kind of heavenly dish LOLITA ALA OBOE is. And whether the rebellious angels were sent packing on that very HIGHWAY or did they just get tossed down the STAIRs?
I would have enjoyed this theme more if there hadn't been a popular meme floating around the interwebs recently illustrating the exact same idea in cartoon form. Two hippie-looking guys, one wearing a Led Zep t-shirt and one an AC/DC t-shirt, are standing at the CROSS ROADS of the STAIRWAY to HEAVEN and the HIGHWAY to HELL, and one says to the other, "It looks like this is where we part ways." I though it was pretty funny the first couple hundred times I saw it, but it's an old and stale joke now to me.
CROSSROADS... as in, the legendary place where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for guitar chops, from Johnson's "Crossroad Blues". Referenced in many classic blues and rock songs, most notably Cream's "Crossroads" (Eric Clapton's great guitar and and vocal). It's nicely apt for the intersection represented in the puzzle!
Pretty nifty execution of a very clever theme. Monday-Tuesday you can’t really generate much interest with the cluing, so it’s all about the theme, and this was tiptop.
Nevada’s largest county and German/Polish border river so seem a little out there for a Tuesday puzzle. And the clue for DAISES seems about three cuts above the norm for Tuesday.
ON the downside we have the completely unnecessary BAI. I'm no constructor, but even I can see how to easily get rid of that (JAI/JOWLS). And I'd probably spike YRS in favor of YDS, while I was at it.
Liked it mostly. So many words for an early week puzzle - that and all the circles made for a little clunky solve. Liked the longs downs RADIO NOISE and ABOVE BOARD. Assuming Cream’s CROSS ROADS was an intentional inclusion. Throw BOSTON and RAVEL in there and we have a music fest.
I thought this theme was clever and probably a bear to construct.
But...those threes! Even I was a little annoyed and I hardly ever notice them. (Did I count 26??) Well, it is the Tuesdee and this is a NYTXW debut so I guess a little slack will be cut.
Are ESL courses usually taught at the Y?? I thought they used actual classrooms, but maybe that's just because my points of reference are TV and movies. I'm a right scholar, dontcha know.
I think we've hit a new low with 40D "Animal that sounds a lot like you?" (EWE) Question: For true, who in that zoo blew the you EWE clue? Boo! I'll sue!
Appearing nightly @Z's Placebo and Tentacle Pub: The SLIM CROSS BRAD Band, where music meets hangry. They prefer payment in snacks, washed down with a SEAHORSE ADE alcopop.
Clearly the wheels have fallen off this thing, so I'm out!
Answer: Apparently not, since there’s barely any water there (Death Valley is nearby). Wikipedia says it is larger in area than Maryland, with a population of less than 50,000. Prostitution is legal, because what else are you going to do?
Same as you, got Croce's Freestyle #623 in two sessions yesterday. Upper left quad was the toughest, but eventually everything fell into place. No real guesses, which is kinda unusual. See you next Mon. :) ___
After I solved this last night, I played both songs at full volume on my tablet. My husband, who was puttering around sleepily doing bedtime chores, stuck his head in the door with goggling eyes and said, What are you doing?? And why?? I assured him quiet would be restored momentarily. Poor chap – I should at least have warned him before disturbing his pre-bed rhythm. Well, I liked the puzzle! I thought Rex’s plaints were minor and overly nitpicky. I can pick nits with the best of them, but man, just go with the tunes and the great big X.
Here’s a great couple of lines in “Stairway to Heaven” for crossworders: “There’s a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure ‘Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.”
And speaking of that, I found out that RAVEL is a contronym, which can mean either “disentangle” or “entangle,” depending on context. It’s a word I don’t use, I think because I’ve never been quite sure of its definition. And I always thought that PARED meant “cut up” rather than “peeled,” although its metaphorical usage, “PARED down to the essential” does suggest removing material from the outside to get to the juicy center. Lots of SEAs: ASEA, SEAHORSE, SEALANTS.
Today’s quotation comes from ERICH MARIA REMARQUE, born June 22, 1898.
“But now, for the first time, I see you are a man like me. I thought of your hand-grenades, of your bayonet, of your rifle; now I see your wife and your face and our fellowship. Forgive me, comrade. We always see it too late. Why do they never tell us that you are poor devils like us, that your mothers are just as anxious as ours, and that we have the same fear of death, and the same dying and the same agony--Forgive me, comrade; how could you be my enemy?” (From All Quiet on the Western Front)
I don't think I'm the most geographically literate person on this site, but I had no issues at all with NYE County, and guessed it right away. And I'm from the East Coast. I'm also not a fan of puzzles with a lot of 3-word answers, but I too will cut the constructor a lot of slack given the massive constraints on the grid.
And while rex is of course correct that a STAIRWAY is not a ROAD, boy, talk about being a killjoy. He should go back to his Friends marathon . . . . . .
Sorry, Rex. Your car-centric bias is limiting your capacity to appreciate the stairway as road conceit. At a minimum, a stairway is a public right-of-way.
>>>>>>>>>
Step street From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A step street is practical way of providing access up and down a slope that is too steep for motorized vehicles. These thoroughfares consist of a staircase of stone or concrete steps, often with a handrail on posts down the center, and sometimes lined with trees. Examples can be found in hilly urban areas. Step streets fell out of popularity with urban designers as the use of the automobile increased in cities. In the early 2010s, efforts were made to restore some of these open-air staircases in New York City.[1][2]
So the STAIRWAY goes to HEAVEN and the HIGHWAY goes to HELL. Just like the songs say. But did this obviously difficult-to-pull-off grid design have a single thing to do with my solving experience? Not in the least.
This sort of puzzle, which probably makes a constructor's chest swell with pride, does absolutely nothing for me. OTOH, the fill was pretty good -- especially considering the constraints. Some nice long answers and no out-and-out junk. So a bit of admiration if no actual joy.
Most interesting answer for me was TAFT. He was the only 4-letter US President (I think), so I thought of him immediately, but why is he buried at Arlington? He was a Supreme Court justice, but I didn't know he was a war hero. Washington and Grant and Eisenhower and JFK and Bush 41 all qualify -- but I didn't know TAFT. Did any of you?
Well, I rather enjoyed this HEAVEN and HELL. Why, you ask? Well....for starters, you give me a little SEA trifecta and the CROSS ROADS of my mind begin to wander. Where did it start, you may wonder? Why with the SEA HORSE, of course. Did you know that the male is the one who gets pregnant and carries little babies in his pouch till he has to push hard to expel all 6 million of them out? See...there is a God after all. How do you know it's the male? If you look closely, you can see his little penis. Take that you LOLITA NERDS. What else did I like? I don't pick any nits because they make me itch. Matt did a nice job with his art work. I bet he had fun and I'm also betting it wasn't easy. When I die, I want to take a little road trip on a HIGHWAY up to the pearly gates and beg Lucifer to let me in.
I'm by no means a constructor, but my first thought about this was of someone sitting down with a blank grid and putting in the song titles and then CROSS and ROADS and then coming up with enough stuff to fill in the rest of it. That said, I found it pretty neat and the slight asymmetry bothered me not at at all, so a success, IMHO.
Agree with @FraSlo about the EWE clue. No M&A for a while, so I'll give it the moo-cow easy award.
Was going to say something about RAVEL and @Barbara S said most of it. I'm always amused that RAVEL and unravel are synonyms.
Agree with the BAI and NYE objections but did learn SANA, which will no doubt come in handy again at some point.
Hello to BOSTON and your old ballyard, which is quirky and unique and still a great place to see a game. Pro tip--take the T from out of town and don't try to park anywhere near Fenway. Also, with a little wandering around, you can find decent beer. Also these days, lobstah rolls and chowdah.
Congrats on a fine debut, MF. Mucha Felicidad for me.
Thank you @Barbara S (8:32) for that absolutely marvelous Maya Angelou clip. What a warm, funny and absolutely brilliant force of nature she was! And the EAR of this puzzle at 66A, placed right next to RISE, is so appropriate, because Angelou had one of the best ears of any poet in the modern era. That poem is so sonorous -- and delivered by her with such wit and style and sassiness. Don't miss it, everyone.
And, Barbara, I also loved the Remarque quote -- as I love everything about that novel. I've always thought that it's the greatest antiwar book ever written. And, for those who never saw it, the film is superb as well.
Huh. I shouldn't be at all surprised at this point, but I really didn't expect Rex to hate on this so much. I actually liked the theme and how it played out; I thought it was cute. Maybe the pleasure that spun out was aided by the fact that I didn't know the Princeton TIGERS, and guessed BADdie before BAD EGG, so there was a little element of discovery left to me. (I'm actually having trouble believing Rex wasn't timing himself, after going on at some length about his time yesterday, and on other recent days after his strong juleps and tipperarys, etc., etc.)
And boy howdy did he go on at length over BAI. I mean, I've certainly seen it in stores; I don't think it's that obscure. Furthermore, I'm not convinced he wouldn't have complained about Hai or Jai, which here he calls "stalwarts", but it's too easy to imagine he would have characterized them, within a litany of others, as tired old fill that hails from 30 years ago.
There's some nice stuff in there (look on the bright side, O Greatest Crossword Solver in the Universe!). I'd almost forgotten SHARI Lewis. Nice cluing for DAISES (Places for toasters). Nice little factoid for OBOE. I agree with another commenter that SCARAB is a nice way to open a puzzle. Some nice long downs at 11, 12, 30, 31, breathing in the open air. Just look at all this niceness! Nicety-nice!
So buck up, Rex! Really sorry your time was not to your liking* ;-), but tomorrow it'll be better, I'm sure.
Nobody needed to know NYE County. I read the clue, didn't know, moved on and it filled itself in. I never had to go back to the clue. In retrospect it was nice to see NYE clued as other than Bill___.
In my high school orchestra we tuned to the A string of the principal violinist. I was never that person, though playing in the orchestra was a wonderful experience. I was not a jock so music was a great way to be on a "team". Good times and good memories.
Ever hear anyone refer to Cro-Magnon Wo(Man)? No wonder they went extinct. There's your answer.
What's not to love about a transportation focused puzzle with a trick? Path, Overpass, Highway, Crossroads. But how can you do that without including a concrete segmental box girder bridge? I mean, c'mon. It was over too fast and the fun was in looking at the completed thing, but I think that's very impressive for a Tuesday themed puzzle.
@Z, because what else are you going to do? Bowling? Did you know polls taken in Nye have shown that even residents there don't know what the county is called? Half just answered County? Ask @Roo.
@Mill City Architect, There's a street step in San Francisco. Never knew the thing was of a type.
@amyyanni, Congrats on a good night's sleep. I fully understand what a treat that is.
Re "Snake Oil" - Free radicals are a natural and healthy part of your body. They help control blood pressure, metabolism, and many other processes in your body. They also cause damage in your body. So, too much of the wrong kind = bad, not enough of the right kind = bad. Just right = good. So, pumping your body full of artificial anti-oxidants isn't a very wise thing to do. Just do what your Mamma taught you, eat your fruits and veggies, exercise a little, drink water. Don't buy BAI, just have a glass of water and send the $4.00 to your nearest food bank.
@Z - "...with a population of less than 50,000. Prostitution is legal, because what else are you going to do?" Seriously? Do we need to have a talk?
Quite a nice feat of construction today. I don’t usually notice such things, but wow! Pretty easy per usual Tuesday, but some interesting cluing kept it interesting.
@Nancy ... Polk is also a 4-letter president. I tried him and, when that didn't work, I moved on to Taft. Subsequently learned via Wikipedia that Arlington National Cemetery was established in 1864, while Polk died in 1849. Enough learning for one day!
@Nancy 8:58 - all presidents of the US are eligible for burial at Arlington by virtue of being Commander in Chief. But most prefer to be buried close to home.
If I remember correctly, the only places besides Arlington to have two President's remains are the United First Parish Church and Hollywood Cemetery.
Filled the circles , smiled at Maya’s RISE in the stairwell and wondered at whose biography will be titled RAP PATH to HEAVEN. Tossed the iPad & gave it up. Thanks for the effort Matt, but this puzzle like the Edsel proves that all ideas need not be executed—just shot?
Well, I like to look for diagonal words, so that was entertaining. Just too obvious, and with a SLEW of meaningless fill: EYE EWE ESE ESO ERS EAR HEAR ASEA TEEN LESS NES NYE (Wanted rYE, but what are SEAL ArTS?)
Hey All ! Yes, good old NYE County, they have legal brothels there. There is a small mountain range/ridge twixt Las Vegas and the closest town in NYE county, Pahrump (pa-rump), so naturally we say, "Over the hump to Pahrump". They have a winery out there, too, plus a nice Racetrack where you can zip around in Corvettes. Oh, crest of the hill is a neat bar whose name escapes me at the moment.
Liked this puz, Bosh on Rex's asymmetry nit. It's still neat. I take the block in-between to be the missing "To" in the songs. STAIRWAY (BLOCK)(TO) HEAVEN. So then it works. Do agree JOWLS would've been better, as that's just a cool word. "You flapping yer jowls at me?" seems like something Yosemite Sam would say to Bugs Bunny.
Felt the presence of OOXTEPLERNON on a couple of the rows. Fellow Gods CROLGAEYEBAR and SOPTISNYEDDS. Godopdes?
Some writeovers, happens on a TuesPuz occasionally, sped-TORE, tnut-BRAD, ERRata-ERRORS (har, ironic that one), espy-HEAR. (Brain decided to see Catch sight of instead of Catch wind of.)
OVERPASSES could've been - Bad quarterback throws? ☺️
Classic song BY CREAM???? seriously?? Those who . . doomed to repeat it. Robert Johnson. Instant massive head start from the theme, fastest Tuesday ever in over 10 years of streak. And no, I will not report my time, in either minutes or multiples of a REX.
The very best thing about this puzzle was the SEA HORSE and the SEA LANTS dangling there in the water side by side. I liked the theme, too, even though I have to memory of the AC/DC song (I grew up when Buddy Holly was big), and failed to notice that there was a second diagonal of circles.
My usual method for ignoring extraneous details, e.g. "3-letter county in NV starting with NY" didn't work, as I couldn't rule out NYm, NYa, etc. Fortunately, there were crosses.
Brookline MA, the next town over from me, has a lot of public ways that consist of flights of concrete steps, but they call them "paths." Close enough, though.
@TTrimble -- what, you've been in stores?? What are they like? I haven't seen one since the end of March 2020. Delivery services are so nice! My wife kept saying how much she missed going to the store and inspecting the produce, but it took 3 weeks after it was OK before she could bring herself to do it.
Mediumish. It would have been easyish if I hadn’t ignored the theme clues until after I had it filled in. Ambitious grid that mostly works for me. Interesting Tuesday, liked it, nice debut!
@kitshef (9:53) -- So Hollywood Cemetery is in Richmond VA! How perspicacious of you to know that and also to know that Monroe and Tyler are buried there. When you said two US Presidents were buried in Hollywood Cemetery, I was going to ask you: Reagan and who else?
I'm quite glad I didn't:)
I did forget POLK, Glenn and Glen. How silly of me.
@Mill City Architect - you stole my thunder, but 214th street in my neighborhood is a stairway. I was wondering if that was a google maps error, or if it used to be a road, but your post clarified this for me!
This really is kinduva mess. Aside from pushing the absurd notion that a STAIRWAY is a road, there's unthemed rock group BOSTON at the bottom of the stairs, and another transportation answer in OVERpasses, which is situated symmetrically to ABOVEboard – OVER and ABOVE? Okay, then where are UNDER and BELOW to complete the up/down-ness? Yeesh.
The Wiki entry for BAI says that Justin Timberlake is the company's Chief Flavor Officer.
On the Stairway to Eye Or the Highway to Nye: She's Leaving Home— Bai-Bai.
@Rex and I really part ways at the like-dislike CROSSROADS, as to whether "a lot" means "more.". My thought was, wow, lots going on here! in the best way - I thought the multiple theme layers were terrific, plus the constructor managed all of those stellar Downs. A Super Tuesday for me. Pleasing detail: HEAR at the crossing of the two song titles and next to RAVEL.
@Southside Johnny 6:53 - I had a similar thought about NYE, imagining a newer solver having the discouraging thought, "I need to know Nevada counties in order to do these puzzles?"
I live in a rural county of perhaps 50,000. My own town is about 2,000. Maybe 100 cows. I've never felt the urge to resort to prostitution. Stop projecting.
One of the best puzzles I've completed yet. Very fun theme, and I love how they fit in a second theme too with the CROSS/ROADS. And even then kept adding more relevant fill like OVERPASS.
SW corner was my longest to figure out since I thought a porterhouse was a stout.. Fixed it to STEAK at the very end. Duh. Also kept trying to fit in bolt instead of BRAD.
Also, when I was in orchestra it was the clarinet which tuned the band. I'm now starting to suspect our oboe section in high school wasn't very good, because they indeed are the ones who typically tune the rest.
Oh, I loved the DAISES clue as well. Maybe too hard for a Tuesday, but it was very clever.
Odd that two people have chimed in with the less-known four-letter POLK, but no one has mentioned three presidents many of us can actually remember: FORD, BUSH and BUSH.
I hate circles. So I mever look at them until OFL points them out for me.
That said, I admit the concept was clever, and well-executed, though I agree the puzzle as a whole had a lot of flaws, that @Rex points out.
I was delighted to see NYE County. Did you know its county seat is Tonopah? I've been to Tonopah, you probably have too if you ever drove between Reno and Las Vegas. I've been to Tehachapi too, a very pleasant place to stop over between Northern California and the Southland. Never driven between Tehachapi and Tonopah, but if you give me weed, whites, and wine (and maybe a designated driver) I'd be Willin',
As I child I was fascinated by the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, and I'm sorry I never got to ride it. In the old days, you could actually take a through sleeping car to Tonopah, from Oakland, and I suppose from LA too.
@Pete That's <50,000 spread over an area bigger than Maryland. It's amazing they even find each other, hence the Giant Neon Arrows flashing "Find Your Pros Here" BTW - 36,000 of the 50,000 live in Pahrump, so not even enough for a bowling league anywhere else. I am still disappointed that there's no marina.
I thought this was a great Tuesday, but then anything related to Fenway Park gets a win. Theme was fun, fill was fun, songs were fun, roads were fun. NYE seems like Aroostook County in many ways - big, sparsely populated, and just known as The County. Never used RAVEL as the opposite of unravel, but ok. Didn't want ALA for my Lobster Newberg. Turns out it was originally Lobster a la Wenberg, then a dispute between Chef Wenberg and restauranteer Delmonico rendered it Lobster a la Newberg and now it's just Lobster Newberg. Who knew? Not me, and that too made this one a winner.
I really enjoyed this puzzle - crossing diagonals, heaven above hell, cross roads - good bands, decent music - what’s not to like?
But Nye County, NV, that’s a place dear to me in an interesting way. It’s the home of Mercury, Frenchman Flats, Yucca Flats (waded there after a bit of rain), Gravel Gerties, Apple Houses, and the Sedan Crater among many other interesting features. In case you don’t know it’s the home of what is now called the Nevada National Security Site, formerly known as the Nevada Test Site and Nevada Proving ground - the place where the US detonated a large number of nuclear devices both above and below ground.
US 95 from Las Vegas to Mercury through Indian Springs and Cactus Springs is about a 90-mile drive on a beautiful divided highway. Right after the Mercury exit it drops to one lane each way. Lots of folk lore about why that is related to the hard driving days of nuclear testing. If you follow 95 a little beyond Mercury and take a left on to NV 160 (if I remember right) and then a right on to Crystal Rd which becomes Ranch Rd you’ll find the Short Branch Saloon in the Amargosa Valley - a heart watering hole. It was right next to Mabel’s House of Ill Repute in the mid 2000’s - I don’t know if Mabel’s is still there, but the Saloon is thriving. Used to have great steak dinners there on Thursdays after a long day at the Test Site. Spent a couple of years commuting from NM to the NTS when I was responsible for the activities of one National Laboratory at the site. Complex and expensive one-shot experiments.
What I liked the most was the old warehouse that had spares of just about all of he vacuum tubes ever used for early oscilloscopes and other diagnostic devices in the 50’s and 60’s. Also, the goggles used to observe the flash of an above-ground detonation. I have a pair. You’d think they would be great looking at eclipses but they are too dark. You can barely make out the noon day sun.
One of the most interesting assignments of my checkered physicist/management career.
So thanks to the puzzle for bringing back those memories - Sweden is very different from the desert of the NTS.
Thanks @bocamp (@jae) for the suggestion to give the Croce grid a go. It’s a perfect alternative to NYT Tuesday that’s usually a drag. Almost always skip Monday in favor of New Yorker’s Monday workout that justifies the subscription fee for an Idaho spud (well, there’s always the cartoons). An a second hat tip for the Vivaldi link that now plays in the background 🙏🏾
@linac800 12:24....I really enjoyed your NYE County stories.....Nevada was part of my territory when I was a sales manager for Mexicana. I used to have to go to Nevada at least 4 times a year and didn't really like it. I hated Vegas (sorry @Roo) but some of the desert towns were fascinating. The only thing I remember about Nye was seeing an atomic bank vault that survived a nuclear bomb. The other was stopping in to visit Sheri's Ranch brothel in Pahrump. The Nevadans are quite the people......and proud of it.
@jberg 10:29 Yes, it's safe to go out! Has been safe for quite some time. A lot of places don't even require masks anymore. Had tons of people coming into Las Vegas starting in March of this year. Had a bunch of people actually go back to work in June of 2020.
All credit goes to @jae for introducing me to Tim Croce's Freestyles; they are definitely a complimentary change of pace to the NYT, and really provide an extra spark to my Mon. (and sometimes, Tues.) solving enjoyment. :)
Thx for the 'hat tip'; I too, have had an extended listen to the Vivaldi vid. Glad you enjoyed it. 🎶
Btw, 'unhat' is an SB (Spelling Bee) accepted word. :) ___
pg -4 (tough one pour moi) (finally got all the SB list defs done)
Enjoyable puzzle. Agree that adding a direct reference to Robert Johnson would have added to it. Although Clapton made 'CROSS ROADS' popular to those of us listening to music in the late 60s, Johnson created the song.
Loved the comment from @Albatross Shell: 'way to take the fun out of it'. Lighten up, Rex!
The first concert I ever went to was Led Zeppelin in 1977, and I was a kid. My mom drove me there. I also saw AC/DC in 1979, with Bon Scott. Both shows were at the venerable old Capital Centre in Landover Maryland, a state that is apparently smaller than NYE County Nevada.
Speaking of NYE, let's not forget comedian Louis NYE, who was in about a thousand TV shows from Steve Allen's Tonight Show to Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm. I once got drunk with Louis Nye and Buddy Hackett at a Chinese restaurant in Santa Monica. Boy you can't do that anymore.
What is it with that Bill NYE guy? He just puts me off. He's one of those people whose causes I support and believe in yet if he preaches in favor of those causes he makes me hate them. He makes me hate NASA when he speaks about NASA. I guess it's that holier-than-thou thing he's got. There are a couple of other people I could name who have this magical anti-charisma quality.
Rickover says: "FOREWARNED is forearmed." Rickover also says: "Heaven is blessed with perfect rest. The blessing of Earth is toil." That's certainly an uplifting thing to read on a plaque in a classroom when you're 19 years old. That's some real science too.
Hey there was no RexRant™ about Nabokov's Lolita today, which is an annual favorite. I feel cheated.
When COVID caused a steep decline in advertising revenue for our local rock and roll radio station, they laid off all the DJs except one and began playing only oldies. So for the last umpteen months I've been hearing a lot of rock and roll classics, including today's duo. I've probably heard both of them within the last few days or so.
Hence I was also able to fill in all the other circles after 23A HEAVEN showed up. With most of the theme going in pretty much on auto-fill, there wasn't a whole lot left to do to finish the puzzle. It was over too soon.
Another possible clue for NYE, maybe for later in the week, would be American comedic actor Luis NYE (1913-2005). He gained early fame as a regular in the "Man on the Street"* segments on "The Steve Allen Show" of the late 50s, early 60s. He went on to appear in many TV shows over the years. He could make me laugh with just his facial expressions. Very funny man.
*Another comedic actor who got his start in the "Man on the Street" episodes and went on to have a successful career in TV and movies was Don Knotts (1924-2006). His best known role was as Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife on the "Andy Griffith Show".
Pahrump (send Trump to Pahrump with no AC. I hope not DC) has boating. Perfect place for Z's marina overlooking franchise, since half this blog knows Nye County and the other half is complaining about not knowing it. Of course they could know SEALANT YOU PER instead. The L was a bit tricky and there was DOOK potential. Which brings to @ROO the fan of jOWLS and jAI. I agree. Would of made a shorter read today, for sure. Maybe ROO needs to expand his horizon and double his workload. Become the F&J man. He might have a conflict with injectxjob and infectxfob and the like, but it would be rare. I have an NL team and an AL team and they never were in the World Series together. Are both "an's" correct?
@Nancy Can Jowls rhyme with bowels?
I filled in BADboy and was disappointed by BADEGG. Carole King and Gerry Goffin wrote a Badboy song in 1963. Released on a 45 a few years later. It only had a couple verses. Peter Stampfel covered it, changed it some and added some verses. Here are his lyrics:
Mommy doesn't like him Because he's got long hair Daddy doesn't like him He says he heard him swear He's a bad boy But I don't care He knows illegal people He does illegal things He doesn't seem illegal When he plays guitar and sings He's a bad boy But I don't care
Doesn't it kind of break your heart? Doesn't it make you sad? When the boy you love so dear Turns out to be so bad He's a bad boy But I don't care
Don't ever let a bad boy Steal your heart away He'll never give it back again Till your dyin' day He's a bad boy But I don't care He'll sell your heart on St. Mark's Place In glassine envelopes He'll cut it with a pig's heart And burn the chumps and dopes He's a bad boy But I don't care
Doesn't it kind of break your heart? Doesn't it make you sad? When the boy you love so dear Turns out to be so bad He's a bad boy But I don't care
He's awfulness incarnate He's wickedness on wheels He'll ruin my reputation How wonderful it feels He's a bad boy But I don't care
He's Sodom and Gomorrah And Cairo, Illinois He makes it seem boring Going out with other boys He's a bad boy But I don't care
Doesn't it kind of break your heart? Doesn't it make you sad? When the boy you love so dear Turns out to be so bad He's a bad boy But I don't care
My life is so exciting Since I'm goin' out with him Romance is more romantic When you know that it's a sin He's a bad boy But I don't care
Doesn't it kind of break your heart? Doesn't it make you sad? When the boy you love so dear Turns out to be so bad He's a bad boy But I don't care No, no, I don't care No, no, I don't care No, no, I don't care No, no
Both versions can be found on the net.
JC66: Resend me your bluelink cheat sheet. My dog ate it. Otherwise I would not have taken this space. I would just bluelink both versions and the lyrics. Sorry folks. Oops I will email you. My email isn't on my profile.
@JohnX, Interesting fact about Buddy Hackett, he played a bad guy in an episode of the Rifleman. Real dramatic chops.
**Totally Unrelated Rifleman Alert*
Chuck Connors killed 245 bad guys over 5 seasons. After over 30 episodes, I'v just seen the first one where he didn't blow away 2 or 3 people (the bad guy only had a bullwhip). It was directed by Sam Peckinpah (apparently before he learned to love violence). Connors was one of only 12 athletes ever to play in both the NBA and MLB.
Bill Nye is a douche. He’s an engineer. Not a scientist. And, if anyone gives a fig, fundamentally understand what science is. Don’t believe me? Google his Twitter exchange wit Steakum. Yeah, Steakum, the faux cheesesteak. Chipped, formed, frozen, etc. ersatz cheesesteak meat. Their social media took him to the woodshed recently. Not hard, even a 20-something could take Nye down while stroking out. But it’s eye opening for the Public television/ NPR/ vegan crowd.
The Rifleman was Leonid Brezhnev's favorite TV show and thus the only American program allowed to be broadcast in the Soviet Union, where it was very popular. Chuck Connors was Brezhnev's favorite actor and when he visited the U.S. he wanted to meet him, and did.
Will someone, anyone spike these endless off-topic 'Rifleman', Bill Nye, and (though I was raised in the MA that's closer to NY than the Harbah) 'lobstah rolls and chowdah'. The Mods from yesterday promised us 'no more freakin off-topic comments will survive the spike'.
@ROO FAI? First Article Inspection? French- Federation Aeronautical International? Italian- Federation of Anarchists Italiana? Federal A-hole Inspection? (Selective Service system physical?) Forget about it!
@The Talking Heads - When you capitalize “The” you are indicating that “The” is part of the band’s name. Since the name of the band is Talking Heads your attempt at humor failed. And, of course, Shortz et al. know this which is why the clue you’re obsessing over wasn’t wrong.
@Pete - A round of applause seems a wee bit much, doesn’t it. 🤣😂🤣😂🤣
@thefenn - Newberg and Wenberg had me expecting Oldberg would show up with Abbot and Costello in tow to explain who’s on first.
@10:18 - There’s “off-topic” and there’s “tangential.” The first is a bug, the second is a feature. Besides, the moderator last night didn’t promise us anything.
I'm "obsessing" over the April 28 cluing error (yeah, I just did it, 7 weeks late) because you were so incredibly RUDE to the people who pointed out the error. Especially in your 6:43 post to @Shandra.
All of these folks gave simple explanations as to why the clue was wrong:
Contact Cyberexpositors at gmail dot com for any tech related job… He’s the best out there. I contacted him when I had the idea that my WIFE was cheating on me, I had contacted other tech related experts on this but couldn’t get to nail her until Cyberexpositors at gmail dot com came through for me. I was able to see everything she does with her phone, who she was texting, exchanging pics with, bank statements and other info needed. He’s the Best out there. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need any help.
Spellcasters! I thought you were gone! There's an idea: GET gone. Hit the, um, HIGHWAY, will ya?
It didn't take me long to climb the you-know-what, that's an all-time classic. The other one? Never heard of it, but not surprising, since after hearing AC/DC for ten seconds I turned off the shrieking and never turned it back on. To lump them in with Led Zep is to cast swine before pearls, as it were.
But it was still a fun solve, riding a SEAHORSE right through everything. For a Tuesday the grid looked surprisingly open at the corners, but it was pulled off rather neatly, I thought. SHARI Lewis, a recent honorable mention, takes DOD today, with the h.m. going to Sue Lyon as LOLITA. Birdie.
Pretty good. I wish there was a reference to Hotel California: I was thinking to myself this could be HEAVEN or this could be HELL. Not bad. I give it ASEA plus.
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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100 comments:
I hope @Nancy will be OK today. That's a tsunami of circles. Anyway, I really liked this one.
And Crossroads was a classic song by Cream of the same genre.
Amusing Tuesday. Juxtaposition of the two songs made me smile. And I slept really well last night. Isn't it fantastic when that happens? Always nice to see a SEAHORSE drifting by in a puzzle. Happy Summer, everyone!
Oh heck yes. This theme was absolutely worth the compromises necessary to pull it off, which include the high word count (as @rex points out) as well as the 29 three-letter answers (@mathgent may need a bit of reviving). Why were the compromises necessary? Diagonal answers are muy constraining and crossing diagonals all the more.
So the theme better shine big, and these classic superb song titles, with the HEAVEN up and the HELL down, sure did to me; they totally blinded me to whatever quibbles I might have had on a grid with a less stellar theme.
Yes, I was Blinded By The Light, and Matt, you can Do That To Me One More Time – or more! Thank you, sir, and WTG on your debut puzzle!
Boy Rex, I couldn’t disagree with you more. I really liked this puzzle, thought it was clever and well executed with plenty of theme material that all meshed nicely. The juxtaposition of the song titles’ last words and their locations in the puzzle added to the cleverness. Easy? Sure, but it’s Tuesday.
Boy, I really struggled with this one. In part I took longer to get the theme than I should've because I didn't read the clue properly and thus didn't realise the circled clues were part of the answer for a while (despite looking at it and thinking 'surely this must be something to do with Stairway to Heaven?'). There were also a few that I outright did not know (the US sports-related clues and whatever the hell Schick is... just no chance. I have seen some of your massive spaghetti junctions so I inferred OVERPASSES from the general roady context of the theme but as far as I'm aware there is no other meaning to a cloverleaf here than a leaf of clover so I spent a long time mulling botanical answers to this). But some of the clues I also thought were a little esoteric for a Tuesday, or at the very least I was not on this setter's wavelength as more than once I had the 'oh... really?' feeling on getting an answer, in that my sense of the meaning of the word(s) didn't quite match the clue.
But, I did learn that a SEAHORSE is a fish. I don't know what I thought they were, but somehow fish feels wrong. I also quite enjoyed SCARAB. A pleasing word.
I read Rex’s comments about the theme - and I’m completely neutral on that level of detailed deconstruction - the technical aspects of the construction of the theme don’t have to be picture perfect for me to enjoy it. I’ll leave marveling at the feat of construction (or lamenting the lack thereof) to those who dabble in such endeavors.
The puzzle content however, is another matter. I just don’t understand why the editor would even consider clues like “largest county in Nevada”. In my opinion, it is just a stupid clue - only one out maybe 10,000 people will know the answer. It adds nothing to the puzzle. It’s a Tuesday - just clue it as the science guy and move on. Seriously folks, it’s not rocket-surgery. Rex addressed BAI, which is another self-inflicted wound. Similarly, over in the east you have a movie director (TORO) sitting on top of a foreign city (SANA) - contained in basically a 4x5 self-contained subsection of the grid ! ! !
It seems to me that Tuesday and Wednesday would be a day to attempt to motivate less experienced solvers to come back for more - sorry, but “largest county in Nevada” could not be further from the mark on that score, IMHO. Ok, rant over - I now yield the floor.
Wow, take the fun out of everything, Rex. Maybe the CROSS shudda crossed the ROADS. The songs parallel on opposite sides. And did he mention they shudda been one-way streets too? Does Rex feel that a stairway to heaven and a highway to hell might not have the same characteristics as a regular road and highway in our own world? Especially as represented in a crossword puzzle? Is he at all concerned that there is a secret PATH coming down to heaven? How does that fit in? Gods backdoorway to heaven? Rex missed some important questions here.
Me? I was wondering why a SCARAB LOLITA is in the heavenly realm. And what kind of heavenly dish LOLITA ALA OBOE is. And whether the rebellious angels were sent packing on that very HIGHWAY or did they just get tossed down the STAIRs?
If you're going to construct a puzzle with an American music theme, where "crossroads" is featured, a Robert Johnson clue/answer seems necessary.
I would have enjoyed this theme more if there hadn't been a popular meme floating around the interwebs recently illustrating the exact same idea in cartoon form. Two hippie-looking guys, one wearing a Led Zep t-shirt and one an AC/DC t-shirt, are standing at the CROSS ROADS of the STAIRWAY to HEAVEN and the HIGHWAY to HELL, and one says to the other, "It looks like this is where we part ways." I though it was pretty funny the first couple hundred times I saw it, but it's an old and stale joke now to me.
CROSSROADS... as in, the legendary place where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for guitar chops, from Johnson's "Crossroad Blues". Referenced in many classic blues and rock songs, most notably Cream's "Crossroads" (Eric Clapton's great guitar and and vocal). It's nicely apt for the intersection represented in the puzzle!
Is it DIASOPODES DIAPODES or DIASI? Or are all 3 acceptable?
Brad?
Pretty nifty execution of a very clever theme. Monday-Tuesday you can’t really generate much interest with the cluing, so it’s all about the theme, and this was tiptop.
Nevada’s largest county and German/Polish border river so seem a little out there for a Tuesday puzzle. And the clue for DAISES seems about three cuts above the norm for Tuesday.
ON the downside we have the completely unnecessary BAI. I'm no constructor, but even I can see how to easily get rid of that (JAI/JOWLS). And I'd probably spike YRS in favor of YDS, while I was at it.
Liked it mostly. So many words for an early week puzzle - that and all the circles made for a little clunky solve. Liked the longs downs RADIO NOISE and ABOVE BOARD. Assuming Cream’s CROSS ROADS was an intentional inclusion. Throw BOSTON and RAVEL in there and we have a music fest.
SEA HORSEs are cool - ZIT not so much.
Enjoyable Tuesday solve.
I thought this theme was clever and probably a bear to construct.
But...those threes! Even I was a little annoyed and I hardly ever notice them. (Did I count 26??)
Well, it is the Tuesdee and this is a NYTXW debut so I guess a little slack will be cut.
Are ESL courses usually taught at the Y?? I thought they used actual classrooms, but maybe that's just because my points of reference are TV and movies. I'm a right scholar, dontcha know.
I think we've hit a new low with 40D "Animal that sounds a lot like you?" (EWE) Question: For true, who in that zoo blew the you EWE clue? Boo! I'll sue!
Appearing nightly @Z's Placebo and Tentacle Pub:
The SLIM CROSS BRAD Band, where music meets hangry. They prefer payment in snacks, washed down with a SEAHORSE ADE alcopop.
Clearly the wheels have fallen off this thing, so I'm out!
🧠
🎉🎉
I am not a fan of Led Zeppelin or AC/DC (more of a Beatles and Bobby Darin guy), but I thought this puzzle was terrific. Kudos to the constructor!
Only real side-eye: NYE County, Nevada. Really? And on a Tuesday!
I have just one question: Are there any marinas in NYE County?
@Barboy - Dammit Janet.
@Albatross shell - Well, octopus —> octopodes ergo DIAS —> DIAPODES.
Answer: Apparently not, since there’s barely any water there (Death Valley is nearby). Wikipedia says it is larger in area than Maryland, with a population of less than 50,000. Prostitution is legal, because what else are you going to do?
A brad is a very slim nail with almost no nailhead.
Easy and fun. Didn’t get NYE county. LOVE that Shari Lewis is in there!
Thx Matt, an entertaining Tues. puz! I'll take the STAIRWAY, thank you very much. 🙏
Easy/med solve.
Went from HEAVEN to HELL and ended up in limbo at BAI / BOWLS; but, what else could it be but a 'B'.
Pretty much on my wavelength all the way, except for the juice brand.
Good puz, enjoyed it a lot! :)
Vivaldi: Complete Oboe Concertos (feat. Pier Luigi Fabretti, L'Arte dell'Arco & Federico Guglielmo)
@pabloinnh (6:03 PM yd) 👍
@jae
Same as you, got Croce's Freestyle #623 in two sessions yesterday. Upper left quad was the toughest, but eventually everything fell into place. No real guesses, which is kinda unusual. See you next Mon. :)
___
yd 0
Peace ~ Empathy ~ Health ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Totally agree with your points yet apart from the word "Bai," I found the puzzle enjoyable.
After I solved this last night, I played both songs at full volume on my tablet. My husband, who was puttering around sleepily doing bedtime chores, stuck his head in the door with goggling eyes and said, What are you doing?? And why?? I assured him quiet would be restored momentarily. Poor chap – I should at least have warned him before disturbing his pre-bed rhythm. Well, I liked the puzzle! I thought Rex’s plaints were minor and overly nitpicky. I can pick nits with the best of them, but man, just go with the tunes and the great big X.
Here’s a great couple of lines in “Stairway to Heaven” for crossworders:
“There’s a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
‘Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.”
And speaking of that, I found out that RAVEL is a contronym, which can mean either “disentangle” or “entangle,” depending on context. It’s a word I don’t use, I think because I’ve never been quite sure of its definition. And I always thought that PARED meant “cut up” rather than “peeled,” although its metaphorical usage, “PARED down to the essential” does suggest removing material from the outside to get to the juicy center. Lots of SEAs: ASEA, SEAHORSE, SEALANTS.
Here’s Maya Angelou with “And Still I Rise”. The world’s just a little bit sadder now that she’s no longer in it.
Today’s quotation comes from ERICH MARIA REMARQUE, born June 22, 1898.
“But now, for the first time, I see you are a man like me. I thought of your hand-grenades, of your bayonet, of your rifle; now I see your wife and your face and our fellowship. Forgive me, comrade. We always see it too late. Why do they never tell us that you are poor devils like us, that your mothers are just as anxious as ours, and that we have the same fear of death, and the same dying and the same agony--Forgive me, comrade; how could you be my enemy?”
(From All Quiet on the Western Front)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtLhPeLB9bA
I don't think I'm the most geographically literate person on this site, but I had no issues at all with NYE County, and guessed it right away. And I'm from the East Coast. I'm also not a fan of puzzles with a lot of 3-word answers, but I too will cut the constructor a lot of slack given the massive constraints on the grid.
And while rex is of course correct that a STAIRWAY is not a ROAD, boy, talk about being a killjoy. He should go back to his Friends marathon . . . . . .
Sorry, Rex. Your car-centric bias is limiting your capacity to appreciate the stairway as road conceit. At a minimum, a stairway is a public right-of-way.
>>>>>>>>>
Step street
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A step street is practical way of providing access up and down a slope that is too steep for motorized vehicles. These thoroughfares consist of a staircase of stone or concrete steps, often with a handrail on posts down the center, and sometimes lined with trees. Examples can be found in hilly urban areas. Step streets fell out of popularity with urban designers as the use of the automobile increased in cities. In the early 2010s, efforts were made to restore some of these open-air staircases in New York City.[1][2]
So the STAIRWAY goes to HEAVEN and the HIGHWAY goes to HELL. Just like the songs say. But did this obviously difficult-to-pull-off grid design have a single thing to do with my solving experience? Not in the least.
This sort of puzzle, which probably makes a constructor's chest swell with pride, does absolutely nothing for me. OTOH, the fill was pretty good -- especially considering the constraints. Some nice long answers and no out-and-out junk. So a bit of admiration if no actual joy.
Most interesting answer for me was TAFT. He was the only 4-letter US President (I think), so I thought of him immediately, but why is he buried at Arlington? He was a Supreme Court justice, but I didn't know he was a war hero. Washington and Grant and Eisenhower and JFK and Bush 41 all qualify -- but I didn't know TAFT. Did any of you?
As mentioned before. . .Perfect opportunity to tie in to Eric Clapton "Crossroads" iconic album!
Well, I rather enjoyed this HEAVEN and HELL. Why, you ask? Well....for starters, you give me a little SEA trifecta and the CROSS ROADS of my mind begin to wander. Where did it start, you may wonder? Why with the SEA HORSE, of course. Did you know that the male is the one who gets pregnant and carries little babies in his pouch till he has to push hard to expel all 6 million of them out? See...there is a God after all. How do you know it's the male? If you look closely, you can see his little penis. Take that you LOLITA NERDS.
What else did I like? I don't pick any nits because they make me itch. Matt did a nice job with his art work. I bet he had fun and I'm also betting it wasn't easy. When I die, I want to take a little road trip on a HIGHWAY up to the pearly gates and beg Lucifer to let me in.
I'm by no means a constructor, but my first thought about this was of someone sitting down with a blank grid and putting in the song titles and then CROSS and ROADS and then coming up with enough stuff to fill in the rest of it. That said, I found it pretty neat and the slight asymmetry bothered me not at at all, so a success, IMHO.
Agree with @FraSlo about the EWE clue. No M&A for a while, so I'll give it the moo-cow easy award.
Was going to say something about RAVEL and @Barbara S said most of it. I'm always amused that RAVEL and unravel are synonyms.
Agree with the BAI and NYE objections but did learn SANA, which will no doubt come in handy again at some point.
Hello to BOSTON and your old ballyard, which is quirky and unique and still a great place to see a game. Pro tip--take the T from out of town and don't try to park anywhere near Fenway. Also, with a little wandering around, you can find decent beer. Also these days, lobstah rolls and chowdah.
Congrats on a fine debut, MF. Mucha Felicidad for me.
Thank you @Barbara S (8:32) for that absolutely marvelous Maya Angelou clip. What a warm, funny and absolutely brilliant force of nature she was! And the EAR of this puzzle at 66A, placed right next to RISE, is so appropriate, because Angelou had one of the best ears of any poet in the modern era. That poem is so sonorous -- and delivered by her with such wit and style and sassiness. Don't miss it, everyone.
And, Barbara, I also loved the Remarque quote -- as I love everything about that novel. I've always thought that it's the greatest antiwar book ever written. And, for those who never saw it, the film is superb as well.
Huh. I shouldn't be at all surprised at this point, but I really didn't expect Rex to hate on this so much. I actually liked the theme and how it played out; I thought it was cute. Maybe the pleasure that spun out was aided by the fact that I didn't know the Princeton TIGERS, and guessed BADdie before BAD EGG, so there was a little element of discovery left to me. (I'm actually having trouble believing Rex wasn't timing himself, after going on at some length about his time yesterday, and on other recent days after his strong juleps and tipperarys, etc., etc.)
And boy howdy did he go on at length over BAI. I mean, I've certainly seen it in stores; I don't think it's that obscure. Furthermore, I'm not convinced he wouldn't have complained about Hai or Jai, which here he calls "stalwarts", but it's too easy to imagine he would have characterized them, within a litany of others, as tired old fill that hails from 30 years ago.
There's some nice stuff in there (look on the bright side, O Greatest Crossword Solver in the Universe!). I'd almost forgotten SHARI Lewis. Nice cluing for DAISES (Places for toasters). Nice little factoid for OBOE. I agree with another commenter that SCARAB is a nice way to open a puzzle. Some nice long downs at 11, 12, 30, 31, breathing in the open air. Just look at all this niceness! Nicety-nice!
So buck up, Rex! Really sorry your time was not to your liking* ;-), but tomorrow it'll be better, I'm sure.
* Oh, I kid the King.
Nobody needed to know NYE County. I read the clue, didn't know, moved on and it filled itself in. I never had to go back to the clue. In retrospect it was nice to see NYE clued as other than Bill___.
In my high school orchestra we tuned to the A string of the principal violinist. I was never that person, though playing in the orchestra was a wonderful experience. I was not a jock so music was a great way to be on a "team". Good times and good memories.
Ever hear anyone refer to Cro-Magnon Wo(Man)? No wonder they went extinct. There's your answer.
What's not to love about a transportation focused puzzle with a trick? Path, Overpass, Highway, Crossroads. But how can you do that without including a concrete segmental box girder bridge? I mean, c'mon.
It was over too fast and the fun was in looking at the completed thing, but I think that's very impressive for a Tuesday themed puzzle.
@Z, because what else are you going to do? Bowling? Did you know polls taken in Nye have shown that even residents there don't know what the county is called? Half just answered County? Ask @Roo.
@Mill City Architect, There's a street step in San Francisco. Never knew the thing was of a type.
@amyyanni, Congrats on a good night's sleep. I fully understand what a treat that is.
Re "Snake Oil" - Free radicals are a natural and healthy part of your body. They help control blood pressure, metabolism, and many other processes in your body. They also cause damage in your body. So, too much of the wrong kind = bad, not enough of the right kind = bad. Just right = good. So, pumping your body full of artificial anti-oxidants isn't a very wise thing to do. Just do what your Mamma taught you, eat your fruits and veggies, exercise a little, drink water. Don't buy BAI, just have a glass of water and send the $4.00 to your nearest food bank.
@Z - "...with a population of less than 50,000. Prostitution is legal, because what else are you going to do?" Seriously? Do we need to have a talk?
Regarding anti war movies, “Paths of Glory” , directed by Kubrick, is one of the greatest, in my opinion.
Quite a nice feat of construction today. I don’t usually notice such things, but wow! Pretty easy per usual Tuesday, but some interesting cluing kept it interesting.
@Nancy ... Polk is also a 4-letter president. I tried him and, when that didn't work, I moved on to Taft. Subsequently learned via Wikipedia that Arlington National Cemetery was established in 1864, while Polk died in 1849. Enough learning for one day!
@Nancy 8:58 - all presidents of the US are eligible for burial at Arlington by virtue of being Commander in Chief. But most prefer to be buried close to home.
If I remember correctly, the only places besides Arlington to have two President's remains are the United First Parish Church and Hollywood Cemetery.
I liked the CROSSROADS, but what a price to pay. 29 Terrible Threes (thanks for the smelling salts, Lewis). No sparkle, nothing learned.
@Gill, I looked it up. He was enlisted in Connecticut Home Guard for WW I and was a major general in Red Cross.
@TTrimble, If the puzzle used Hai or Jai he would've said it was time to retire them.
@Frantic, Oh ewe kid!
@Barbara, As it happens the sign they're referring to in Stairway to Heaven said Ravel but they were referring to the composer.
Bah on BAI
What Rex said
Filled the circles , smiled at Maya’s RISE in the stairwell and wondered at whose biography will be titled RAP PATH to HEAVEN. Tossed the iPad & gave it up. Thanks for the effort Matt, but this puzzle like the Edsel proves that all ideas need not be executed—just shot?
Well, I like to look for diagonal words, so that was entertaining. Just too obvious, and with a SLEW of meaningless fill: EYE EWE ESE ESO ERS EAR HEAR ASEA TEEN LESS NES NYE (Wanted rYE, but what are SEAL ArTS?)
Nice pairings:
EYE (of the) TIGERS
ENTERS HELL
TIS NYE
HEAVEN ABOVE
Nice shout out to Maya Angelou.
Is CROSSROADS channeling Robert Johnson? That story always makes me think of Stravinsky’s “A Soldier’s Tale.”
Was the puzzle trying to push up DAISiES from HELL?
Best of all:
BOSTON on the RISE hitching a ride on Led Zeppelin’s STAIRWAY. That’s not RADIO NOISE.
So, a musical puzzle with a cute trick and a few ABOVE average moments, but ALAS, I’m still left longing for paradise.
Polk
I really liked today's puzzle. A fun Tuesday!
Hey All !
Yes, good old NYE County, they have legal brothels there. There is a small mountain range/ridge twixt Las Vegas and the closest town in NYE county, Pahrump (pa-rump), so naturally we say, "Over the hump to Pahrump". They have a winery out there, too, plus a nice Racetrack where you can zip around in Corvettes. Oh, crest of the hill is a neat bar whose name escapes me at the moment.
Liked this puz, Bosh on Rex's asymmetry nit. It's still neat. I take the block in-between to be the missing "To" in the songs. STAIRWAY (BLOCK)(TO) HEAVEN. So then it works. Do agree JOWLS would've been better, as that's just a cool word. "You flapping yer jowls at me?" seems like something Yosemite Sam would say to Bugs Bunny.
Felt the presence of OOXTEPLERNON on a couple of the rows. Fellow Gods CROLGAEYEBAR and SOPTISNYEDDS. Godopdes?
Some writeovers, happens on a TuesPuz occasionally, sped-TORE, tnut-BRAD, ERRata-ERRORS (har, ironic that one), espy-HEAR. (Brain decided to see Catch sight of instead of Catch wind of.)
OVERPASSES could've been - Bad quarterback throws? ☺️
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
Classic song BY CREAM???? seriously?? Those who . . doomed to repeat it. Robert Johnson.
Instant massive head start from the theme, fastest Tuesday ever in over 10 years of streak.
And no, I will not report my time, in either minutes or multiples of a REX.
Good catch—Cream’s tribute to the blues man Robert Johnson, who wrote the tune back in 1936.
The very best thing about this puzzle was the SEA HORSE and the SEA LANTS dangling there in the water side by side. I liked the theme, too, even though I have to memory of the AC/DC song (I grew up when Buddy Holly was big), and failed to notice that there was a second diagonal of circles.
My usual method for ignoring extraneous details, e.g. "3-letter county in NV starting with NY" didn't work, as I couldn't rule out NYm, NYa, etc. Fortunately, there were crosses.
Brookline MA, the next town over from me, has a lot of public ways that consist of flights of concrete steps, but they call them "paths." Close enough, though.
@TTrimble -- what, you've been in stores?? What are they like? I haven't seen one since the end of March 2020. Delivery services are so nice! My wife kept saying how much she missed going to the store and inspecting the produce, but it took 3 weeks after it was OK before she could bring herself to do it.
@Barbara, yeah, I kept thinking of "sleep that knits up the raveled sleeve of care," and hesitated to put it in, as I wasn't sure it was a contranym.
Mediumish. It would have been easyish if I hadn’t ignored the theme clues until after I had it filled in. Ambitious grid that mostly works for me. Interesting Tuesday, liked it, nice debut!
“to error “ does not exist. An orchestra is not tuned by an oboe. This puzzle was a labored production.
@7:09
'American music'???? None of them is American: Brits and Aussies.
@kitshef (9:53) -- So Hollywood Cemetery is in Richmond VA! How perspicacious of you to know that and also to know that Monroe and Tyler are buried there. When you said two US Presidents were buried in Hollywood Cemetery, I was going to ask you: Reagan and who else?
I'm quite glad I didn't:)
I did forget POLK, Glenn and Glen. How silly of me.
And if Clapton hadn't recorded a version, only a handful of ethno-musicologists would know of Johnson.
@Mill City Architect - you stole my thunder, but 214th street in my neighborhood is a stairway. I was wondering if that was a google maps error, or if it used to be a road, but your post clarified this for me!
This really is kinduva mess. Aside from pushing the absurd notion that a STAIRWAY is a road, there's unthemed rock group BOSTON at the bottom of the stairs, and another transportation answer in OVERpasses, which is situated symmetrically to ABOVEboard – OVER and ABOVE? Okay, then where are UNDER and BELOW to complete the up/down-ness? Yeesh.
The Wiki entry for BAI says that Justin Timberlake is the company's Chief Flavor Officer.
On the Stairway to Eye
Or the Highway to Nye:
She's Leaving Home—
Bai-Bai.
@Rex and I really part ways at the like-dislike CROSSROADS, as to whether "a lot" means "more.". My thought was, wow, lots going on here! in the best way - I thought the multiple theme layers were terrific, plus the constructor managed all of those stellar Downs. A Super Tuesday for me. Pleasing detail: HEAR at the crossing of the two song titles and next to RAVEL.
@Southside Johnny 6:53 - I had a similar thought about NYE, imagining a newer solver having the discouraging thought, "I need to know Nevada counties in order to do these puzzles?"
Nye - never heard of it. Why not the Science Guy instead?
@ Z
I live in a rural county of perhaps 50,000.
My own town is about 2,000. Maybe 100 cows.
I've never felt the urge to resort to prostitution.
Stop projecting.
27D (SEALANTS) should have been clued “Result of crossing a bug with a salt water mammal.”
On the HIGHWAY to HELL
Ms. Jean Kerr YELLED
Please don’t eat the DAISES.
I liked this puzzle. Thanks a nd congrats to Matt Frederick.
One of the best puzzles I've completed yet. Very fun theme, and I love how they fit in a second theme too with the CROSS/ROADS. And even then kept adding more relevant fill like OVERPASS.
SW corner was my longest to figure out since I thought a porterhouse was a stout.. Fixed it to STEAK at the very end. Duh. Also kept trying to fit in bolt instead of BRAD.
Also, when I was in orchestra it was the clarinet which tuned the band. I'm now starting to suspect our oboe section in high school wasn't very good, because they indeed are the ones who typically tune the rest.
Oh, I loved the DAISES clue as well. Maybe too hard for a Tuesday, but it was very clever.
Odd that two people have chimed in with the less-known four-letter POLK, but no one has mentioned three presidents many of us can actually remember: FORD, BUSH and BUSH.
Bush. Twice!!
I hate circles. So I mever look at them until OFL points them out for me.
That said, I admit the concept was clever, and well-executed, though I agree the puzzle as a whole had a lot of flaws, that @Rex points out.
I was delighted to see NYE County. Did you know its county seat is Tonopah? I've been to Tonopah, you probably have too if you ever drove between Reno and Las Vegas. I've been to Tehachapi too, a very pleasant place to stop over between Northern California and the Southland. Never driven between Tehachapi and Tonopah, but if you give me weed, whites, and wine (and maybe a designated driver) I'd be Willin',
As I child I was fascinated by the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, and I'm sorry I never got to ride it. In the old days, you could actually take a through sleeping car to Tonopah, from Oakland, and I suppose from LA too.
@Pete That's <50,000 spread over an area bigger than Maryland. It's amazing they even find each other, hence the Giant Neon Arrows flashing "Find Your Pros Here"
BTW - 36,000 of the 50,000 live in Pahrump, so not even enough for a bowling league anywhere else.
I am still disappointed that there's no marina.
I thought this was a great Tuesday, but then anything related to Fenway Park gets a win. Theme was fun, fill was fun, songs were fun, roads were fun. NYE seems like Aroostook County in many ways - big, sparsely populated, and just known as The County. Never used RAVEL as the opposite of unravel, but ok. Didn't want ALA for my Lobster Newberg. Turns out it was originally Lobster a la Wenberg, then a dispute between Chef Wenberg and restauranteer Delmonico rendered it Lobster a la Newberg and now it's just Lobster Newberg. Who knew? Not me, and that too made this one a winner.
I really enjoyed this puzzle - crossing diagonals, heaven above hell, cross roads - good bands, decent music - what’s not to like?
But Nye County, NV, that’s a place dear to me in an interesting way. It’s the home of Mercury, Frenchman Flats, Yucca Flats (waded there after a bit of rain), Gravel Gerties, Apple Houses, and the Sedan Crater among many other interesting features. In case you don’t know it’s the home of what is now called the Nevada National Security Site, formerly known as the Nevada Test Site and Nevada Proving ground - the place where the US detonated a large number of nuclear devices both above and below ground.
US 95 from Las Vegas to Mercury through Indian Springs and Cactus Springs is about a 90-mile drive on a beautiful divided highway. Right after the Mercury exit it drops to one lane each way. Lots of folk lore about why that is related to the hard driving days of nuclear testing. If you follow 95 a little beyond Mercury and take a left on to NV 160 (if I remember right) and then a right on to Crystal Rd which becomes Ranch Rd you’ll find the Short Branch Saloon in the Amargosa Valley - a heart watering hole. It was right next to Mabel’s House of Ill Repute in the mid 2000’s - I don’t know if Mabel’s is still there, but the Saloon is thriving. Used to have great steak dinners there on Thursdays after a long day at the Test Site. Spent a couple of years commuting from NM to the NTS when I was responsible for the activities of one National Laboratory at the site. Complex and expensive one-shot experiments.
What I liked the most was the old warehouse that had spares of just about all of he vacuum tubes ever used for early oscilloscopes and other diagnostic devices in the 50’s and 60’s. Also, the goggles used to observe the flash of an above-ground detonation. I have a pair. You’d think they would be great looking at eclipses but they are too dark. You can barely make out the noon day sun.
One of the most interesting assignments of my checkered physicist/management career.
So thanks to the puzzle for bringing back those memories - Sweden is very different from the desert of the NTS.
@Z As Lao-Tse said, a man who meets his own needs is a man in charge of his own destiny. And, may I add, without the clap
Neither Led Zeppelin or AC/DC are American
A Robert Johnson cameo would have been sweet, albeit most difficult.
I'm surprised @Z didn't correct the clues:
Should be "Classic THE Led Zeppelin song..."
and "Classic THE AC/DC song..."
@old timer 11:52a - comforting to see someone else here thought of Lowell George as part of the NYE County discussion.
Thanks @bocamp (@jae) for the suggestion to give the Croce grid a go. It’s a perfect alternative to NYT Tuesday that’s usually a drag. Almost always skip Monday in favor of New Yorker’s Monday workout that justifies the subscription fee for an Idaho spud (well, there’s always the cartoons). An a second hat tip for the Vivaldi link that now plays in the background 🙏🏾
@linac800 12:24....I really enjoyed your NYE County stories.....Nevada was part of my territory when I was a sales manager for Mexicana. I used to have to go to Nevada at least 4 times a year and didn't really like it. I hated Vegas (sorry @Roo) but some of the desert towns were fascinating. The only thing I remember about Nye was seeing an atomic bank vault that survived a nuclear bomb. The other was stopping in to visit Sheri's Ranch brothel in Pahrump. The Nevadans are quite the people......and proud of it.
@jberg 10:29
Yes, it's safe to go out! Has been safe for quite some time. A lot of places don't even require masks anymore. Had tons of people coming into Las Vegas starting in March of this year. Had a bunch of people actually go back to work in June of 2020.
Get back out there! 😁 Shop, eat, have fun!
RooMonster Out There Guy
@Newboy (2:43 PM) yw 😊
All credit goes to @jae for introducing me to Tim Croce's Freestyles; they are definitely a complimentary change of pace to the NYT, and really provide an extra spark to my Mon. (and sometimes, Tues.) solving enjoyment. :)
Thx for the 'hat tip'; I too, have had an extended listen to the Vivaldi vid. Glad you enjoyed it. 🎶
Btw, 'unhat' is an SB (Spelling Bee) accepted word. :)
___
pg -4 (tough one pour moi) (finally got all the SB list defs done)
Peace ~ Empathy ~ Health ~ Kindness to all 🕊
[Clears throat] "Ravel" is not a thing.
Enjoyable puzzle. Agree that adding a direct reference to Robert Johnson would have added to it. Although Clapton made 'CROSS ROADS' popular to those of us listening to music in the late 60s, Johnson created the song.
Loved the comment from @Albatross Shell: 'way to take the fun out of it'. Lighten up, Rex!
Now this was a fun cool Tuesday puzzle! Me like!
The first concert I ever went to was Led Zeppelin in 1977, and I was a kid. My mom drove me there. I also saw AC/DC in 1979, with Bon Scott. Both shows were at the venerable old Capital Centre in Landover Maryland, a state that is apparently smaller than NYE County Nevada.
Speaking of NYE, let's not forget comedian Louis NYE, who was in about a thousand TV shows from Steve Allen's Tonight Show to Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm. I once got drunk with Louis Nye and Buddy Hackett at a Chinese restaurant in Santa Monica. Boy you can't do that anymore.
What is it with that Bill NYE guy? He just puts me off. He's one of those people whose causes I support and believe in yet if he preaches in favor of those causes he makes me hate them. He makes me hate NASA when he speaks about NASA. I guess it's that holier-than-thou thing he's got. There are a couple of other people I could name who have this magical anti-charisma quality.
Rickover says: "FOREWARNED is forearmed." Rickover also says: "Heaven is blessed with perfect rest. The blessing of Earth is toil." That's certainly an uplifting thing to read on a plaque in a classroom when you're 19 years old. That's some real science too.
Hey there was no RexRant™ about Nabokov's Lolita today, which is an annual favorite. I feel cheated.
When COVID caused a steep decline in advertising revenue for our local rock and roll radio station, they laid off all the DJs except one and began playing only oldies. So for the last umpteen months I've been hearing a lot of rock and roll classics, including today's duo. I've probably heard both of them within the last few days or so.
Hence I was also able to fill in all the other circles after 23A HEAVEN showed up. With most of the theme going in pretty much on auto-fill, there wasn't a whole lot left to do to finish the puzzle. It was over too soon.
Another possible clue for NYE, maybe for later in the week, would be American comedic actor Luis NYE (1913-2005). He gained early fame as a regular in the "Man on the Street"* segments on "The Steve Allen Show" of the late 50s, early 60s. He went on to appear in many TV shows over the years. He could make me laugh with just his facial expressions. Very funny man.
*Another comedic actor who got his start in the "Man on the Street" episodes and went on to have a successful career in TV and movies was Don Knotts (1924-2006). His best known role was as Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife on the "Andy Griffith Show".
If you see a SEAHORSE, you're probably ASEA.
Pahrump (send Trump to Pahrump with no AC. I hope not DC) has boating. Perfect place for Z's
marina overlooking franchise, since half this blog knows Nye County and the other half is complaining about not knowing it. Of course they could know SEALANT YOU PER instead. The L was a bit tricky and there was DOOK potential. Which brings to @ROO the fan of jOWLS and jAI. I agree.
Would of made a shorter read today, for sure. Maybe ROO needs to expand his horizon and double his workload. Become the F&J man. He might have a conflict with injectxjob and infectxfob and the like, but it would be rare. I have an NL team and an AL team and they never were in the World Series together. Are both "an's" correct?
@Nancy
Can Jowls rhyme with bowels?
I filled in BADboy and was disappointed by BADEGG. Carole King and Gerry Goffin wrote a Badboy song in 1963. Released on a 45 a few years later. It only had a couple verses. Peter Stampfel covered it, changed it some and added some verses. Here are his lyrics:
Mommy doesn't like him
Because he's got long hair
Daddy doesn't like him
He says he heard him swear
He's a bad boy
But I don't care
He knows illegal people
He does illegal things
He doesn't seem illegal
When he plays guitar and sings
He's a bad boy
But I don't care
Doesn't it kind of break your heart?
Doesn't it make you sad?
When the boy you love so dear
Turns out to be so bad
He's a bad boy
But I don't care
Don't ever let a bad boy
Steal your heart away
He'll never give it back again
Till your dyin' day
He's a bad boy
But I don't care
He'll sell your heart on St. Mark's Place
In glassine envelopes
He'll cut it with a pig's heart
And burn the chumps and dopes
He's a bad boy
But I don't care
Doesn't it kind of break your heart?
Doesn't it make you sad?
When the boy you love so dear
Turns out to be so bad
He's a bad boy
But I don't care
He's awfulness incarnate
He's wickedness on wheels
He'll ruin my reputation
How wonderful it feels
He's a bad boy
But I don't care
He's Sodom and Gomorrah
And Cairo, Illinois
He makes it seem boring
Going out with other boys
He's a bad boy
But I don't care
Doesn't it kind of break your heart?
Doesn't it make you sad?
When the boy you love so dear
Turns out to be so bad
He's a bad boy
But I don't care
My life is so exciting
Since I'm goin' out with him
Romance is more romantic
When you know that it's a sin
He's a bad boy
But I don't care
Doesn't it kind of break your heart?
Doesn't it make you sad?
When the boy you love so dear
Turns out to be so bad
He's a bad boy
But I don't care
No, no, I don't care
No, no, I don't care
No, no, I don't care
No, no
Both versions can be found on the net.
JC66: Resend me your bluelink cheat sheet. My dog ate it. Otherwise I would not have taken this space. I would just bluelink both versions and the lyrics. Sorry folks. Oops I will email you. My email isn't on my profile.
@albatross
Taking under advisement. ☺️
Roo
(Hey, @albatross, now that you mention it, could've been fOWLS and fAI. I will actually sacrifice an F just to keep JOWLS. 😁)
@JohnX, Interesting fact about Buddy Hackett, he played a bad guy in an episode of the Rifleman. Real dramatic chops.
**Totally Unrelated Rifleman Alert*
Chuck Connors killed 245 bad guys over 5 seasons. After over 30 episodes, I'v just seen the first one where he didn't blow away 2 or 3 people (the bad guy only had a bullwhip). It was directed by Sam Peckinpah (apparently before he learned to love violence). Connors was one of only 12 athletes ever to play in both the NBA and MLB.
Bill Nye is a douche. He’s an engineer. Not a scientist.
And, if anyone gives a fig, fundamentally understand what science is.
Don’t believe me? Google his Twitter exchange wit Steakum. Yeah, Steakum, the faux cheesesteak. Chipped, formed, frozen, etc. ersatz cheesesteak meat.
Their social media took him to the woodshed recently. Not hard, even a 20-something could take Nye down while stroking out. But it’s eye opening for the Public television/ NPR/ vegan crowd.
**More Totally Unrelated Rifleman Facts**
The Rifleman was Leonid Brezhnev's favorite TV show and thus the only American program allowed to be broadcast in the Soviet Union, where it was very popular. Chuck Connors was Brezhnev's favorite actor and when he visited the U.S. he wanted to meet him, and did.
@Johnx, The picture is complete.
Will someone, anyone spike these endless off-topic 'Rifleman', Bill Nye, and (though I was raised in the MA that's closer to NY than the Harbah) 'lobstah rolls and chowdah'. The Mods from yesterday promised us 'no more freakin off-topic comments will survive the spike'.
@ROO
FAI?
First Article Inspection?
French- Federation Aeronautical International?
Italian- Federation of Anarchists Italiana?
Federal A-hole Inspection? (Selective Service system physical?)
Forget about it!
@Anon7:34 - You mean Neil Degrasse Tyson and he pretty much ignored the click-seeking intern except for the Sequoia sized shade thrown here.
@The Talking Heads - When you capitalize “The” you are indicating that “The” is part of the band’s name. Since the name of the band is Talking Heads your attempt at humor failed. And, of course, Shortz et al. know this which is why the clue you’re obsessing over wasn’t wrong.
@Pete - A round of applause seems a wee bit much, doesn’t it. 🤣😂🤣😂🤣
@thefenn - Newberg and Wenberg had me expecting Oldberg would show up with Abbot and Costello in tow to explain who’s on first.
@10:18 - There’s “off-topic” and there’s “tangential.” The first is a bug, the second is a feature. Besides, the moderator last night didn’t promise us anything.
@Z: Can't you just admit you might be wrong?
I'm "obsessing" over the April 28 cluing error (yeah, I just did it, 7 weeks late) because you were so incredibly RUDE to the people who pointed out the error. Especially in your 6:43 post to @Shandra.
All of these folks gave simple explanations as to why the clue was wrong:
@Shandra 9:41, 12:43, 4:43, 1:45
@Sharon 6:51
@Kenny 8:48
@Chip 9:20
@The Arbiter 10:21
@Joe Dipinto 10:28
@Wooody 3:21
I understand that there will be disagreement here, but you were borderline abusive.
OK, done "obsessing".
Concerning "The" in band names:
@Z missed the point. He was saying that "the" can be used in front of bands' name as long as it isn't capitalized.
Example: He thinks "Bonham of the Led Zeppelin" is OK, but "Bonham of The Led Zeppelin" isn't.
Everyone else was arguing that there should be no "the" at all.
Lesson learned: Don't argue with @Z. He will never back down.
Contact Cyberexpositors at gmail dot com for any tech related job… He’s the best out there. I contacted him when I had the idea that my WIFE was cheating on me, I had contacted other tech related experts on this but couldn’t get to nail her until Cyberexpositors at gmail dot com came through for me. I was able to see everything she does with her phone, who she was texting, exchanging pics with, bank statements and other info needed. He’s the Best out there. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need any help.
Spellcasters! I thought you were gone! There's an idea: GET gone. Hit the, um, HIGHWAY, will ya?
It didn't take me long to climb the you-know-what, that's an all-time classic. The other one? Never heard of it, but not surprising, since after hearing AC/DC for ten seconds I turned off the shrieking and never turned it back on. To lump them in with Led Zep is to cast swine before pearls, as it were.
But it was still a fun solve, riding a SEAHORSE right through everything. For a Tuesday the grid looked surprisingly open at the corners, but it was pulled off rather neatly, I thought. SHARI Lewis, a recent honorable mention, takes DOD today, with the h.m. going to Sue Lyon as LOLITA. Birdie.
ODD ROADS CROSS
A HIGHWAY to HEAVEN is in ERROR,
SIRS, be FOREWARNED as well,
ALAS, a PATH for the BADEGGs is fairer,
‘TIS the STAIRWAY to HELL.
--- LOLITA TAFT
Pretty good. I wish there was a reference to Hotel California: I was thinking to myself this could be HEAVEN or this could be HELL. Not bad. I give it ASEA plus.
Clever in its own WAY, but it’s also clear in this case that LESS is “more, as the saying goes”. Just a bit too cluttered up, I think.
Otherwise an unusually easy puzzle with no write-overs required.
The puzzle brought me back to when I first heard the L.Z. song - my that was a while ago.
Then I came here, and considered @Spacey's photo of casting swine before pearls. Shall think about what the pearls would do for a while.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords, and yes I did get it
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