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Person who will do anything for you, in modern slang / SAT 6-19-21 / Letter between Oscar and Quebec / Hoppin' in modern lingo / Nintendo offering with more than 10 installments / Dish that might come with a flavor packet
Saturday, June 19, 2021
Constructor: Sophia Maymudes
Relative difficulty: Easy
Word of the Day: LASSI (53D: Indian drink made from yogurt) —
Lassi (pronounced [ləsːi]) is a popular traditional dahi (yogurt)-based drink that originated in the Punjab region. Lassi is a blend of yogurt, water, spices and sometimes fruit. Namkeen (salty) lassi is similar to doogh, while sweet and mango lassis are like milkshakes. Lassi may be infused with cannabis in the form of bhang. Chaas is a similar drink of a thinner consistency. (wikipedia) (my emph.)
• • •
(top google hit for ["I wanna see"] ... if nothing else, I learned who
Jack Harlow is)
This is about as fine a NW corner as you're ever gonna see. I thought it was going to be way way too easy to crack open. TRIX to XANADU was instant, bam bam. Then I got a little boost from some very helpful crosswordese (thank you, OOXTEPLERNON, God of Bad Short Fill™!), i.e. ADEN, and ICED LATTE came soon after, but my first couple passes at the top two Acrosses didn't yield anything. Then I got the short Downs at the end there (ADT LIT KEEPS) and saw TRASH TALK. "Ooh, good one," I thought (I had previously thought that [Take pregame shots?] was gonna have something to do with drinking). But then the beat really dropped when the last thing that came into focus up there was RIDE-OR-DIE. That's when I said, "oh, wow." TRASH TALK + RIDE-OR-DIE + ICED LATTE—that isn't just a mood, that's a music video. That's a damn rock opera. I would've been happy to stop right there. Perfect corner that unspooled perfectly.
But turns out there was more ADRENALINE to be felt, right alongside ADRENALINE, in fact. When I dropped SEEMS LEGIT in there, as with RIDE-OR-DIE, I thought "this is the crossword change I want to see in the world!" I also love that ADRENALINE falls down the side of the grid and its clue is *about* falling, i.e. sky-diving (14D: Something released while skydiving). The third and final exclamatory high point came after I puzzled over LAS- at 40D: Team game played in the dark; I had to struggle to move forward because I didn't really know NOEL (I had NEIL there for a bit) (52A: Name derived from the Latin for "to be born"), and WOOLEN was a struggle as well (probably the toughest clue in the puzzle for me) (47D: Warm, in a way). But somehow I got ORATES and then it was down to "MEAN GIRLS" and then I looked back at the LAS- answer, and with the terminal "G" in place finally realized I was dealing with LASER TAG, which was another aha, which makes three true AHAS in this puzzle, which actually makes me less mad than I would normally be at a weird plural like AHAS (21D: Mental sparks). Thought I might be in for a rougher time of things in the SW, since I had to back into it (from the rear ends of the Acrosses) but -OP got me ALCOPOP and that first "O" got me OTTO and the whole corner came tumbling down despite my having never heard of MARIO PARTY (which was hugely inferable—I guessed the MARIO part even before realizing the clue was cross-referenced to LUIGI). Started with TRIX, finished with MIC, which is appropriate, since this puzzle was very colorful (like TRIX), and overall, it is something of a MIC drop. Good luck, future Saturdayers! More of this vibe, please.
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129 comments:
This was oodles of fun. I hesitated on Seems Legit because that’s a term I generally only hear in reference to things you can argue with. Loved Ride or Die.
Found this one hard and not very enjoyable at all. I don’t like the current trend of having lots of ‘in modern lingo’ type clues in the grid, most US slang doesn’t cross the pond so several of these I had to get purely on crosses and are otherwise uninferable.
When you follow a tried and true recipe, you come out with a marvelous dish, and when you add a bit of personality to it – some ingredient that people can’t quite put their finger on – it’s even more special.
Just what Sophia cooked up today. The recipe for a prime Saturday puzzle:
• Answers that pop (SEEMS LEGiT, SAVE A SEAT, TRASH TALK, MEAN GIRLS, ADRENALINE, the first two being NYT debuts, certainly enriching the oeuvre).
• Witty clues: (for TRIX, MINISERIES, TIER, TRASH TALK, and my two favorites, [Something released while skydiving] for ADRENALINE, and [Not close] for HOLD OPEN.
• Clean grid, and this one is well polished.
• Grit to earn your way through, and it was sufficient for me today.
To which she added that je ne sais quoi, in which her personality came through, and I can’t specify how she did it, but yes indeed, it did shine through. And man, I did love that Angela Davis quote. I’m keeping that one in my pocket for a long time.
Thank you, Sophia. This was a truly delicious offering!
I haven't commented in a while as I've been busy. The late week puzzles are still worth doing and this was a fun one. The NW stack initially put me off. I could see ADEN but I confused Ria with Rondo and SEDAN and seemed wrong.
The NE came through. MINISERIES and ANGELA we're gimmes supported by SSN and GOUT. That was all the leverage I needed to get started and the rest went smoothly.
I still do the SB regularly but haven't had time for the puzzles until recently. I did last Friday and Saturday but too late to comment.
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MINI SPOILER ALERT:
Shout out to Joel F in the mini for his clue – [Play checkers?] – for
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REFS
Started our very slowly and then fell into place, which I enjoy, but RIDEORDIE threw me - I’ve never heard that phrase used as a noun before. Wanted RoDEOsomethung and didn’t know RICA and had a hard time seeing TRAUMA.
Loved ADRENALINE and HOLDOPEN. Didn’t appreciate WOOLEN
Some good stuff here - just not a lot of pushback so didn’t have Saturday feel. Rex liked NW - but the NE SEEMS LEGIT to me. Some odd trivia that I had to back into - although knowing MARIO PARTY helped. Didn’t like the I WANNA LOOK x Y KNOW cross. Yes - ADULT SITEs are firewall targets but so are most every public sites so a little side eye there.
When I was riding in the 70s and had a legit ANGELA Davis style afro - RIDE OR DIE was still a biker term. Some years later I overheard one of my kids friends use it in its current meaning - true evolution.
Enjoyable solve - but I’ll take Anna Stiga’s stumper.
Terrible.
Generally hate any clue with "modern lingo" and today was no exception. RIDEORDIE? How can you possibly cross that with RICA? You can’t, unless you are cluing RICA with Costa. Not sure how well known ADT is but crossing RIDEORDIE with an initialism is also a terrible idea.
New to me: MARIO PARTY.
I loved having MEAN GIRLS in the puzzle, but of course it came at the very end, long after the puzzle had irritated me beyond all reason with I WANNA LOOK crossing YKNOW, all the Nintendo junk (cross-referenced, to add to the yuck), somebody named ANGELA, and a hall of shame clue for OREL 1) nobody … NOBODY should be expected to know where Turgenev was born 2) I’ve only ever heard it called Oryol.
SHO SSN MIC ORA STE IMS RICA ADEN OREL ADT DAE UVA AHAS A LOT ET AL ... this gets a rave review out of Rex??
A killer red herring on the skydiving clue if you get the "line" before anything else (what do they they call that thing you pull to release the chute?). Hmmm, whatever it's really called, they should rename it the Adrena Line! Never heard of ride-or-die, got it strictly on crosses. Rex's "easy" rating seems inappropriate. Is alcopop really a thing? Never heard it before. Great puzzle all around.
Rex’s posts are more enjoyable when he spares us the social commentary and confines his comments to the nature and construction of the puzzle itself - today his review seemed very straightforward and balanced - of course, he fell into his old habit of letting his personal preference color his conclusion (the focus on whether the phrase contains LOOK or SEE, for example) - but that is a quibble in the broader scheme of things.
I actually thought the puzzle in its entirety was a pretty fair test - it being a Saturday so of course there was plenty of trivia to get one into trouble - but enough of it was straightforward and inferable from crosses which at least allowed me to make some progress throughout the grid - definitely still needed some help with the PPP though - SAMSA, OREL, DAE, LASSI (agree, that last one is not PPP! - I’m using my REX, which is like a Mulligan in golf - I get one “I never heard of it, so it’s not legitimate” answer each puzzle).
Anyone else mildly amused by the fact that ALCOPOP is apparently a real thing ?
SAMSA with his ICED LATTE, MEAN GIRLS drinking ALCOPOP, all of them playing MARIO PARTY, I feel like this is the kind of Saturday that the offspring could enjoy.
First things in the grid were the P in PAPA (although I had no idea what word would come between Oscar and Quebec), to AARON to Rita ORA. From that very slow start I was suddenly in zoom mode, zipping through the SE and then the SW. I’d forgotten all about MARIO PARTY (the boys played one of the early iterations) but the MARIO part was easy and PAD gave me all I needed to shake free the early naughts memory. I think MARIO KART was more popular in our house.
Nothing really got me into the NW so I rebooted by finally looking at the downs and TRIX and ADEN and SEDAN and ADT made me doubt my “just read the across clues until I find something” strategy, as those gave me more than enough to see two of the three acrosses. I’m not young enough or cool enough to have ever have heard of RIDE OR DIE enough for it to stick, so that one took a little extra work.
Finally I tackled the NE. For whatever reason Godot was waiting in my brain, making sure I wouldn’t remember SAMSA (damn brain, sometimes it has a mind of its own), so I had to piece that corner together. That clue for OREL was a real “F-U, it is Saturday so we aren’t going with the baseball player we’re going with the Russian writer birthplace Bwah hah hah” middle finger. Granted, the OREL cluing options aren’t exactly extensive, but going with Turgenev’s birthplace seemed especially “good luck sucker, you know it’s a letter” cluing to me. Anyway, finished at the E in PASTIME, finally resolving the “which kind of Bridge are we talking about here” with “Oh, the card game that no longer has a regular column in the NYT Arts section.”
@TJS - I’d give this one my POW even if I risk damning it with faint praise by doing so.
I think the cluing for PAD was meant to be intentionally “menstruation is no big deal, let’s normalize talking about menstrruation”. As a woman I’m glad and fine with that but the clue is Monday easy for me and probably for all the women who did this puzzle. Maybe easy for a lot of men too.
I'm an American and also dislike all the lingo in a crossword. Along with too many pop culture references.
Kitshef: "....this gets a rave review out of Rex??"
Sure, the constructor is a woman.
"Ride or die" is a person ? I'll be back but I had to get that in.
This one was in and out of my wheelhouse and on and off my wavelength all willy-nilly.
I bet I looked like a zombie while solving it. All slow and drooly and mindless until I found a brain to munch and, as if by magic, I had an elusive answer!
This went on for quite some time. Yet I finished right around my average time for the Saturdee. Go figure.
Some thoughts:
Here's Y'KNOW again. Is it for good now? W'knows?
It obviously SEEMSLEGIT to the constructors and editorial staff and I use it often so I'll allow it.
Is "keynotes" another example of verbing nouns or has it always been thus? That's the only way I figure ORATES works.
What is wrong with me that I've never had an ALCOPOP? Sounds stupid and yummy all at once - just how's I like 'em!
Anyone else want NeaL or NeiL beforE NOEL?
Keep your ADRENALINE. I wanted "parachutes" for 14D (something released while skydiving) because I don't wanna die - extra energetically or not.
Really liked the clue/answer for 1A and what an inspired way to open the grid! It screams "come on in! There's some weird shit ahead, so strap in and RIDEORDIE!"
And I did. And there was. And Jesus wept.
🧠🧠🧠
🎉🎉🎉🎉
Most US slang is not understandable to US natives, either.
I concur: a frustrating and totally unenjoyable puzzle.
TIL Ride or Die, and it's not even 9 on a Saturday. Had more difficulty in the NW than Rex. Had the bottom half quickly, but had to work the top. Love ADRENALINE, now that I got it. Remembered Gregor, but blanked on SAMSA for too long.
A worthy and sparkly Saturday. Hope yours is the same.
I couldn’t make headway in the NW and had to give it up and reveal the grid. My worst effort in quite a while.
OK, fair enough, we just had MANFROMUNCLE doe my generation, so now we get a person named ORA and a middle name DAE and ALCOPOP, which at least I've heard of. What does it say about me that SAMSA is more familiar to me than RIDEORDIE or MARIOPARTY? It says I'm not getting younger. Also, the expression is "LIVEFREEORDIE". It ways so fight on our license plates.
What a tussle. SOUNDLOGIC fits exactly where SEEMSLEGIT wanted to be, not helpful. I still have some trouble with the clue for WOOLEN, even The Sound of Music had to clarify that with "warm woolen mittens". I've never had an ICEDLATTE and they could be anything from brown to black, but apparently are caramel-colored. Now I know.
My one serious nit with this one is using RIPSAW as a "toolshed tool". Outdoor tools belong in a toolshed. A RIPSAW belongs in a workshop, and that's that. He dicho.
A worthy struggle and an unaided finish, which is what I want on a Saturday, so thanks for that, SM. For a while there I felt Sorely Mystified but eventually Solved Mightily, so good for me.
Thanks @kitshef, for saving me the trouble of listing all the crap fill in this dreck. "Sass and bounce", Rex ? Lay off the alcopops.
Some interesting fill, but so much aggravation.
@Z, you may as well give this a POW, in a "kingdom of the blind" kind of way.
Thx Sophia; this was a jewel of a Sat. puz! :)
Tough solve.
Never thot I'd get this one right, but I did. Wow, what a trip!
Got off to what I thot was a great start with TRASH TALK, TRIX, ADEN, SEDAN, TRAUMA, NOME, PAPA, ANGELA and it was all downhill from there.
Last to fall was RIDE OR DIE.
Just way out of my zone; plus, clever-tough clueing pushed me to the brink. Bottom line: I loved every minute of this battle!
Keep 'em coming, Sophia! :)
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yd 0
Peace ~ Empathy ~ Health ~ Kindness to all 🕊
This was hard! I battled through to a kind of completion, but dang – found I’d made two errors. I had A TO z for ATOM – didn’t know what kind of dish RAzEN was (that might come with a flavor packet), but I’m not particularly good on non-Western cuisines. And oK, NOW? instead of Y’KNOW? for “See what I’m sayin’?” Both options are vaguely chatty in a similar way. That left me with MARIO PARTo which, I admit, looked pretty odd, but oh well, video games. (I did get LUIGI, though, so a round of applause for the remaining brain cells.) I liked the rest of the puzzle quite well and was happy about all the stuff I did get. Next time we meet, Sophia, I’ll be ready!
I finished off in the NW where I was at a significant disadvantage not knowing RIDE-OR-DIE. For a long time I had only three downs filled in, ADEN, SEDAN and KEEPS, which provided a flimsy framework on which to hang the as yet unknown acrosses. I think what finally gave me a push was getting XANADU off the NA. The X gave me TRIX and then the dominoes started to fall.
It’s important not to get your Kafka mixed up with your Ovid. And speaking of literature, doesn’t ILIED look like a misspelled ILIAD? (Sorry, Homer.) TONER makes me think Xerox machine not make-up and, good grief, is there really such a thing as ALCOPOP? It’s no different, I guess, from Bailey’s Irish Cream, which you might be tempted to call ALCOMILK. (Back in the day I had plebeian tastes when it came to liquor and loved my Bailey’s!) OK, I’ve descended into serious rambling, so stop already.
@Sloth
Or is ORATES nouning a verb?
Today’s quotation is from PAULINE KAEL, born June 19, 1919. (Please note the tenuous tie-in with 9D when you read the source of the excerpt.)
“A good movie can take you out of your dull funk and the hopelessness that so often goes with slipping into a theatre; a good movie can make you feel alive again, in contact, not just lost in another city. Good movies make you care, make you believe in possibilities again. If somewhere in the Hollywood-entertainment world someone has managed to break through with something that speaks to you, then it isn’t all corruption. The movie doesn’t have to be great; it can be stupid and empty and you can still have the joy of a good performance, or the joy in just a good line. An actor’s scowl, a small subversive gesture, a dirty remark that someone tosses off with a mock-innocent face, and the world makes a little bit of sense. Sitting there alone or painfully alone because those with you do not react as you do, you know there must be others perhaps in this very theatre or in this city, surely in other theatres in other cities, now, in the past or future, who react as you do. And because movies are the most total and encompassing art form we have, these reactions can seem the most personal and, maybe the most important, imaginable. The romance of movies is not just in those stories and those people on the screen but in the adolescent dream of meeting others who feel as you do about what you’ve seen. You do meet them, of course, and you know each other at once because you talk less about good movies than about what you love in bad movies.”
(From For Keeps: 30 Years at the Movies)
@TJS - Yes, it is the person.
@Frantic Sloth - Verbification Lives!
@amyyanni - So my brain actually wanted Gregor, but spit out Godot because five letters. This explains so much (no it doesn’t).
I’m sure there were other things before I was a teenager, but I seem to recall Boones Farm being the original ALCOPOP (before the term had even been coined) and then we got Bartles and James and then Zima and then Mike’s Hard Lemonade and now we have everything from hard seltzer to hard apple cider (huh, I wonder if hard cider was the original ALCOPOP) to stuff like Smirnoff Ice. I notice that one of the local craft brewers has a Peanut Butter and Jelly Ale. No word on whether it goes well with a glass of milk. I’m mildly surprised Hard Kool-Aid hasn’t hit the market yet.
@ Southside Johnny Exactly.
I thought the pregame was going to relate to tailgating, and I loved the misdirection for ADRENALINE. I'll even take ODEN since it allowed for the three long downs in the NE corner.
This was the perfect crunchy Saturday. I eventually sussed out RIDEORDIE, even though grammatically it didn't seem to line up w/ the cluing. And MEANGIRLS ! ! ! Back when Lindsey Lohan was a fresh faced adorable actress.
Finally PAD - - - to Anonymous, Yes, it was Monday level easy, but so what? When I got to that clue, I had to confirm that the constructor was female. That being said, even for a male it was obvious and yeah, sort of cool. As a culture we are so afraid of bodily functions . . . . .
Agree. Alcopop? Seems legit? I wanna look? If these are actual terms that people use, then it's time to ship me to the glue factory.
I thought I was accidentally doing the puzzle from Teen Vogue. PAD is probably the defining clue/answer here.
For me, this one was more enjoyable for the tricky cluing than for the actual entries; like others, I'd give the grand prize to the one for ADRENALINE (@Megafrim 7:29 - me, too, for first getting the misleading -LINE...and trying our various Aers and Airs).
TRAUMA over AMMO: right, and no further comment.
I liked the parallel I WANNA LOOK with the post-look SEEMS LEGIT.
Help from previous puzzles: LIT, ORA, LUIGI, ALCOPOP. Do-overs: Nate before NOEL; and before CARS I had CAtS being prohibited in Central Park, with a "How in the world do they keep them out?" No idea: RiDE OR DIE, RICA.
Not being a gamer, had “Mario Part I” crossing “I Know” and had to come here to see why no happy music. Otherwise a nice Saturday; was especially fond of the parachute clue.
Everything @kitshef said. From Rex's "Easy"-cum-rave to some of you early posters' highly favorable comments, I thought I was losing my ever-loving mind. But then I hit @kitshef's 7:18 post and felt vindicated. This was truly awful for me and I got tired of cheating. And, anyway, the cheating didn't do me all that much good. And a lot of the puzzle was cheat-proof.
But from the what-on-earth RIDEORDIE (I had RODEOR?IE) to the vaguer than vague PASTIME to that character in the unknown 26D (I Googled "MARIO PARTY Wiki" to get LUIGI) to all those damned initials -- the puzzle took the heart right out of me. If I hadn't had OMSK instead of OREN for the Turgenev birthplace, I might have seen the very clever ADENALINE, but my 14D had an AKIN in it -- and I wanted some kind of MAKING or TAKING.
My NE corner is whiter-than-white. I stopped when I realized I had spent too much time cheating on LUIGI and still wasn't anywhere near finishing.
Forgot to mention the absurdity of my "thought" process with TRIX.
First, TRIX was my immediate reaction, but quickly followed by "silly rabbit, TRIX are for kids!" This got me thinking, "how does a magician figure in with that - is it the rabbit because it's pulled out of a hat?? Nah. That's dumb. I'll come back to it." Never even came close to hearing it until much, much later. Honestly. How am I even alive?
This puzzle had, for me, what was the word Rex used? "gruelingness". Like wading through molasses. I did finish, though, in a time that's not a total embarrassment for me.
I did not know RIDE OR DIE, but looking this up on the internet, it seems that we're supposed to know it. Clicking on the first hit for me, the opening sentence says 'Most of us are familiar with the term “ride or die,”...'. Hmmph. Thank god for Urban Dictionary. I feel like a student in the Geico ad, where the instructor is teaching how not to turn into your own parents, and where the students are tasked to do things like pronounce "Quinoa" (Joaquin?) and open a pdf file.
Like a dummy, I struggled to cough up SAMSA -- I feel that should've been a gimme. I don't know the Old Testament well enough to just know AARON. But the center (starting with AMMO and ATOM) followed by the SW (starting with PAD) were the first parts to gel. My feeling about I WANNA LOOK were similar to Rex's. I have a memory that ALCOPOP has been in the NYTXW before.
Scanning the completed puzzle, it doesn't seem outrageous or anything. In fact, I think it's nice, and provided some satisfying crunch. But, I would not agree, "sass and bounce". For me, the gruelingness (hello there OREL) kinda undermined the zing. A little.
I got stuck in NE because I had “sound logic” for “seems legit.” They both fit the clue. You can’t argue with sound logic, right? I mean, people do all the time, but you know. And there are enough overlapping letters to make “sound logic” feel right.
Concur. Disliked this, couldn’t get a good start, was a DNF.
I agree with prior commenters that the cluing here seems looser than I normally expect from the NYT, which usually has very tight cluing. But an ADULT SITE is not really the target of a firewall; a firewall is not for parental control or something like that. The "SEEMS" in SEEMS LEGIT seems to counter the idea that you can't argue against it. I think SEEMS LEGIT is more like "sounds like it would be true." And I don't know if most RIP SAWs are being stored in the toolshed. None of these are major crimes, but they are not as on-the-nose as most NYT clues are.
YKNOW, on the other hand, is a major crime and shouldn't be enshrined anywhere.
Dumb quote. You can still accept what you cannot change while changing what you cannot accept.
I'm surprised Rex liked this one so much. I thought the NE section was poorly constructed/clued: Metamorphosis protagonist - Samsa/ Quote from Davis - Angela - and especially Birthplace of Ivan Turgenev???!!!
That Natick caused dnf for me.
Damn, I love it when Rex actually enjoys the puzzle and everyone else falls all over themselves in the comments to show off how old and cranky they are.
Loved it! But did anybody else get off on the wrong foot with TALK SMACK for TRASH TALK?
Hey All !
PAPA clue probably tough for those not in the military-letter knowledge base. That was my first entry! 👍
Stuck in the NE, really wanted endorphINE for 14D, couldn't get crossers to play nice. Had ALOT for 11D, pondering if it would be LOTS, so erased everything to try to start anew. Couldn't decide twixt AHAS or oHoS. Finally had to break down and Google for SAMSA, cause I read that story in 9th or 10th Grade, and since I can barely remember if I changed my underwear yesterday, how am I expected to remember the name of Mr. Bug? Also, PASTIME will forever be wrong to me. Where is the other T? But, after the lookup/cheat, was able to mop things up. MINISERIES, dang, wanted (something)stoRIES.
Rest of puz actually went quite quick. Add me to the odd definition of RIDE OR DIE. To me, it means "do anything with you", not "do anything for you". Difference.
Overall a nice themeless. Brava Sophia. 🙂
No F's (Boo, Sophia 😂)
RooMonster
DarrinV
Pretty easy for a Saturday. I've not seen Adrenaline spelled with an E on the end (also, skydiving isn't all that exciting: there's absolutely zero "ground rush" when you're jumping from such a height. Not when I did it, anyway. You want adrenalin? Try bungee jumping!)
Didn’t play all these video games and didn’t get the pop references what a drag
Very hard for me. I had to Google "most popular breakfast cereals" to come up with TRIX. And then I stared at X????? for a long time before XANADU popped into my head. Terrific word. I saw a play with that title a few years ago.
Technically excellent. And it feels good to do a hard one with only one minor cheat. But it was more work than play. Also, I didn't learn anything worth remembering, i.e. RIDEORDIE, MARIOPARTY.
Our movie theaters are opening up and we saw In the Heights a couple of days ago. This was in a brand-new theater, in a mall, replacing a Macy's. The reclining seats are fitted with airplane-like tables. They're going to sell food and alcoholic drinks. The musical numbers were wonderful.
Y Know, this puzzle wasn't for me. Y know how I know? Y Know. And Y Know how else? Because of I Wanna Look and I Lied and Seems Legit. One per puzzle is bad enough, but three? Trauma. There were other things. Guess.
That's just me though and I know that the many generations I can no longer keep track of had a ball. And seeing Laser Tag and Mario Party and IM reminds me of people I love who will enjoy this puzzle and that makes me happy.
Alcopop, the Juul of the spirits industry to lure the young. I think the word started out as a pejorative and may still be that. Franklin had Gout? TMI. Just like Turgenev's birthplace.
@Nancy from last night, I love, love, love imagining the small Nancy's ear for the language and subsequent disgust. Had it been me I would've secretly skipped that part for the next 12 years and just moved my lips to Not Saying.
@Anon from last night about the Constitution or the Founders. Correct.
@Frantic 9:31, That's the kind of deep conversation we could have if we ever got together.
@Albie 852am 🤣 Don't make my brain hurt. It's already been down the TRIX rabbit hole.
@Z 901am Wait a minute...ALCOPOP isn't an alcohol popsicle?? It's "pop" as in "soda pop"?? That's just dumb. Now I don't want one. Please don't serve them at Z's Placebo and Tentacle Pub either.
Regardless of how one may feel about the very controversial Angela Davis, her quote is worth the price of admission to this puzzle.
Ii enjoyed all the things Rex did, but unlike him I found it really hard. I got starte with SAMSA/ALOT, but had so many crosses I couldn't figure out I actually questioned it. Me too for never having heard RIDE OR DIE. I'll have to ask my son, he won't be 50 until October and is much more AWARE than I.
Somehow the SW section came together, as there were many answers I could be sure of--MIC, INNS, ONE ARM, PAD. I didn't know what Smirnoff Ice was, but have certainly heard of ALCOPOPS. They've come under a lot of criticism, as they seemed to be aimed at the teenage market, but they go right on making them.
Hardest part for me was the center short-answer stack. I wanted my elementary to be the Abcs, and for some reason wanted the name to be Rene (with an accent); only after I got it in did I realize that it meant reborn, but having those letters there semi-blocked me from seeing alternatives. LASSI helped (I love mango lassi; I once tried the salty orange. Never again.) I finally had to cheat, looking up Rita ORA.
But the puzzle was easier for me than it might have been. No idea where Turgenev was born, but figured it had to be in or close to Russia -- so once I had the O I thought "Orem? No. Oslo? Probably not. Must be OREL." If I had thought of Omsk, I'd probably still be trying to solve this lovely, challenging puzzle.
@Albatross and @Frantic, I looked them up. Keynote and Orate, both verbs. W'knew! That means Who Knew. I just invented it.
@Frantic Sloth - Damn Science ruining all our fun. The best we can probably do and have it not cause physical damage when we try to consume it is probably a wine or beer slushee. Of course, a frozen margarita is probably easier and would taste better.
@Jyqm - 👍🏽 - Strong GetOffaMyLawn vibe this morning.
@staili - Clearly you never worked in a K-12 school systems where the firewall was very much in place to block ADULT SITEs. Off course, the result was usually that the staff ended up being blocked from using useful sites while the kids managed to find porn anyway. I believe lots of corporate networks also have firewalls designed to block porn. I don’t know of any research that actually demonstrates that mid-day masturbation lowers productivity, but we assume it does, apparently. Imagine the grant proposal for that research project. 🧐
@Lewis6:59 -- where does one find the Mini on Sat? It's not in the paper. Online? If so, why there and not in the paper? -- John
Fun puzzle but the Central Park clue is incorrect. There are several roads through the park that cars and buses drive through all day long.
But given how good the rest of the grid is, I'll let it slide!
TALK about POP in a puzzle! This one sure had it and I WANNA do more like it. A sparkling Saturday which IMHO deserves POW honors. Thank you Sophia. You certainly succeeded in your goal to bring joy and happiness to the solve.
ALCOPOP was new and RIDE OR DIE as a noun. Yesterday we had a 1960s TV series and a 1940s film actress, so really I can’t complain about “modern” fill today. Besides, every time there’s a new slang term it KEEPS me from getting stale-er. And makes me SEEM so much more LEGIT. I think.
Showing my age, went directly to DONKEY KONG, the original appearance of LUIGI, and couldn’t read RIDEORDIE even when completed, kept trying to make sense of it as a single word. How the West was lost.
@JD 1011 &1032am Ha! I'd love to be a fly on the wall...too. Hang on while I imagine that for a sec...oof! my brain is getting water-boarded today!
And hate to burst your bubble, but w'knows/w'knew is already taken (827am), but let's call it a tie, because it really is. 😊
@Jyqm 956am & @Z 1035am 🤣 Well, we're nothing if not codger-commenty.
@Z 1035am Ugh! Let somebody else do the science - I just want my popsicle! Figure it out, people!
Not easy, but still fun. Thanks for Sophia & all you commentariat—all my reactions good & bad have been addressed so good ORATES y’all 😉
@JohnS -- I do the puzzles online, and there's always a Saturday mini there. I don't know the story with the hard copy.
Agree entirely!
Yknow ylike yself cuz ywere born a lion, Noel Leon.
I enjoyed this fiesty struggle while sitting in my PAD drinking an ALCOPOP or two. Maybe TMI.
Thanks for a wonderful Saturday puzzle, Sophia Maymudes.
Appreciate how “ride or die” is helping some of the older folks understand know how it feels for us younger folks when the constructors decide to include 19th century jargon and names of actors and actresses from silent films in the puzzle. Welcome to 2021!
I drove straight through Central Park just a few weeks ago, along with many other CARS. I wasn't on my way to a MARIOPARTY or drinking an ALCOPOP, and my RIDE didn't DIE. Why? Because neither I nor Gregor SAMSA -- nor probably Tina Fey -- ever heard of them.
The fact that EPCOT/AARON/RAMEN provided the fill is no excuse for an ignorant, poorly-edited, clue.
Easy. Fun Sat. Plenty of sparkle, liked it a bunch!
Well, all three of the twenty-somethings within earshot knew RIDE-OR-DIE and could use it in a sentence whereas I said it aloud several times with increasing skepticism when it finally filled in. Kids these days.
This played hard for me because of the NW. My interpreting 1A as having to do with tail gating along with entering ADp (leading me to think a caramel colored concoction would end in applE just held everything up. The rest of the grid filled in nicely.
Thanks, Sophia!
I loved this puzzle. Fresh, sassy and funny.
Well, it's over. The week, I mean. I always considered Sunday the last day of the week since I started school on a Monday, But the NYT puzzle archive ends the week on Saturday, so I'll go with it. I only bring this up because I seriously believe this was the Worst Week Ever. Once again Thank God for the archive. Started in on the Fri. and Sat, of Sept, 2006 when Rex started the blog. Just finished a Rex review. Number of comments : One.
No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get into this constructor's head so I didn't finish.
**SB spoiler, not a spoiler**
Pangram today is MICHIGAN, which of course doesn't count.
@Andrew S- As old as many folks may be who solve the Times Crossword I’m pretty sure none were alive in the the nineteenth century or during the silent film era, They just know their history better than you know yours apparently.
16 across: "You caught me" does not mean "I lied."
Jygm @ 9:56 - I'm glad you enjoyed the puzzle! .....
But you didn't have to insult the majority of us who didn't
@Z - As someone who has worked for small business MSPs and has configured/managed many a firewall, the phrashing is odd and confusing. I don't think the clue is entirely unfair. This just isn't what most networking techs would think. The syntax is weird. A firewall is analagous to a physical barrier. Think of it like this:
You live inside a castle in the Middle Ages. If you want to get something from outside, a "website," you send a courier out to get that for you. The wall around your castle, your "firewall," has a manned gate that determines who can come in and out. A firewall configuration is basically a list of rules for the guard to follow.
Let's say, someone inside that castle wanted to go to an adults-only store! That's a no-no. You don't even care what they want to get from it, but they cannot go to that store. You would add a rule for your gatekeeper that says "this is a list of stores, couriers are not allowed to go here!"
Keep in mind a gatekeeper's primary goal (as with firewalls) is to keep strangers out. In a typical network, they primarily only allow the castle's own couriers to get back in after they've returned with something. If random strangers want to get in, they have to match some very (hopefully) specific instructions. It generally limits where they can come from, where they can go inside the castle, and what their task is.
So... in this scenario, the question becomes, is an adult store a "target" of your wall, gatekeeper included, stores with adult content in the outside world? It just seems off. Your firewall has no ability, whatsoever, to "do" anything to adult sites. Being "targeted" generally implies that. Nitpicky, sure, but just explaining my POV and why I found the clue immediately confusing.
It wasn't easy, but it was fun. In other words, great Saturday fare. These days it seems I'm enjoying the younger and women constructors more than the usual crowd.
I do find all the complaints about modern jargon funny. I'm middle aged and also struggled a bit with RIDEORDIE, but that's fine with me.
Crosswords exploded in the 20s - also the most prolific era of modern jargon in American history.
@Frantic: I listen to KC Royals games on the radio (MLB app), so I have heard that at Kauffman Stadium, they offer alcoholic popsicles. Limoncello sounds particularly good to me.
@puzzlehoarder (6:44) Good to have you back.
@Southside Johnny (7:41) My “Rex” on Saturday is if I never heard of it I’m allowed to look it up.
@pablo (8:41) I agree about not finding a RIPSAW in a tool shed. That clue made me think more in terms of rake, spade, edger. etc.
@JD (10:11) If you and @Frantic ever do get together for that conversation, please let me know. I’d fit right in.
Have to go now and call my BFF to tell her I just found out she’s also my RIDE OR DIE. We’ll be so LIT. I think.
Well...I had the "Really?" jitters. I didn't wince, but I lost my fandango tango with a few SHO nuff, I don't know this thing....
YOU mean a BUNGEE CORD isn't released while skydiving? Who dat SAMSA? Holy tamales....Franklin had GOUT? MARIO had a PARTY and I wasn't invited? Did he and LUIGI walk into a bar? SAVE A SEAT for the MEAN GIRLS. How come hysterectomy doesn't fit at 49A? And the ALCOPO goes on.
I'll finish up by saying that CANNED CORN and that Green Giant can stick it in their RAMEN noodles.
Central Park as of 2018
@Andrew S, Most of us here don't construct them, we just do them. Have you tried the New Yorker?
Today’s must be one of the most enthusiastic reviews ever from OFL, and I could not disagree more. Pretty much the same gripes mentioned by previous commenters. This puzzle was a joyless slog for me.
I can’t help but think that @RP was biased by knowledge that the constructor was a woman, a relative rarity on Saturday in the NYTXW, but as with other days, it seems to be increasingly common.
I had never heard the expression RIDE OR DIE before, but after googling I have to say I am more put off by it than by most of the terms that can be interpreted as slurs which regularly set @Rex off on a rant. Maybe because this phrase arises relatively frequently in the world of rap OFL just can’t see around his ideological blinders.
Came out of the pandemic quite a bit more of a curmudgeon than I went in…
But still, have a joyous Juneteenth everyone!
@Jared 10:55 – the Transverse Roads that cross Central Park at 65th, 79th, 86th and 96th Sts. are always open to car traffic, but I don't think they're considered to be park roads. Their function is to facilitate getting across town without having to make a major detour. They don't connect to the other roads inside the park.
I really enjoyed this puzzle and learned some new jargon but for some reason I could not let go of RIDEBUDDY as a possible alternative because it seems like it also carries the RIDEORDIE aspect. I am ashamed of myself for staring at SEEMSLOGIC and wondering if there was one crazy “AL” rebus square in the puzzle. I got no help by cheating there because the Wikipedia entry said Turgenev was born in Oryol so I ditched the Y and left Orol in place. A very pleasant DNF for me!
Total DNF here. Never heard of TRIX cereal. Have heard of TwIX, the candy bar and sometimes used to have one. And WIDE OR DIE struck me as a great term for someone willing to go the extra mile for a friend, or a team.
I like my cocktails and love my wine, but have never consumed an ALCOPOP and neveer plan to. Well, back in the hippie days I must have had a swallow of Boone's Farm, but it was unhip even then. Unlike gallon bottles of Mountain Rad wine, that fueled many a party.
I also did not get WOOLEN, until the very end. The clue goes a little too far to be fair. Nor had I heard of MARIO PARTY, and would have rejected YKNOW out of hand. It is "Ya know?" in ordinary slang, or maybe "y' knaa" up in Northumberland.
Glad to see NOME. Made me think of that great Johnny Horton song (and pretty good movie) North to Alaska.
@Frantic - yes for NeiL before NOEL and also staticLINE before ADRENALINE.
@Creamy T - Ah, so your issue is with “target.” Let me call your attention to definition 2A. To apply that definition to today’s clue, access to an ADULT SITE is affected by a firewall. Or, to use your guard analogy, their rules target which strangers to deny access.
@Go Royals - Well, that’s a neat trick since alcohol freezes at such a low temperature. I couldn’t find anything specifically about what they’re selling at Kauffman Stadium, but there are lots of “boozy” popsicle recipes online. Here’s the thing, in order to get the thing to freeze they dilute the alcohol so the popsicles will actually freeze. A typical cocktail will be somewhere around 4 parts mixer to one part alcohol. In the “boozy popsicle” recipes I found that ratio is closer to 32 to 1, so you’d have to eat roughly 8 of these popsicles to get as much alcohol as your typical cocktail. Another trick is to soak fruit in your favorite booze, then put the fruit into the popsicles. I suspect this method would up the kick.
@x - It’s a clue, not a definition. A teenager might say either, “You caught me, Dad” or “Sorry, I LIED.” The quote marks in the clue indicate that we are looking for a substitute phrase.
@L. Gish 1202pm 🤣👍👏
@Go Royals 1223pm Looks like I need to become a Royals fan! I agree - limoncello sounds divine!
@Whatsername 1228pm You're on! In fact, all who can stand it are welcome! 😉
@jae 143pm If I'm not mistaken, looks like Rex, you, and I are about it. Apologies if I missed anyone else.
FWIW, I'm no expert, but I believe that doohickey string on a parachute that skydivers pull so as not to plummet to earth at Mach II is called a ripcord.
Not that anyone asked me, but I always thought of a firewall as a defense against invasion. They also moonlight as censors (that prevent access to "dangerous" sites) for a little extra pocket change. This means they are susceptible to bribery. So I've heard.
Seriously, why do you keep returning if you dislike the guy so much?
Did anyone think the clue for TONER was inane?
My wife did!
@Old Timer I'm surprised you never heard of Trix. They were running commercials back in the 60s with the Trix are for Kids rabbit. He liked the sugary chemical laced cereal better than carrots!
Me too!
Yes, the TONER clue was inane. And HANDCUFF can be a verb but Houdini certainly would have referred to this prop in the plural. Otherwise, a fun puzzle.
Hey, @Frantic Sloth -- HAPPY BIRTHDAY! (Am I right?)
We also couldn't read RIDEORDIE even with all the downs, and we thought RaDEORDIE, ReDEORDIE, RoDEORDIE, or RuDEORDIE looked just as plausible...
@Frantic 3:14…Yes, parachuteAND ripcord came to mind for me too, but I suspect that you, like me, liked the ADRENALINE angle. Actually I first thought ENDORPHIN thought…wait…endorphins are relaxing. I also think of a firewall as preventing invasion. Geez. I always wondered why I haven’t gotten X-rated “hits” on my searches for years. I DO remember Years ago I had searched Connie Selicca (sic?) in relationship to a tv show (I think it was Flamingo Road) because she had not been in anything else. Wowza, I got a lot of porn sites! This is NOT to say it was true. As a female in my late 30s at the time I privately said “EEK” and ran away!
This solved like four smaller puzzles. The impacted center area, especially with the cheater squares just after 8D LIT and 54A ALCOPOP, helped give it the four-in one LOOK.
RIDE OR DIE LOOKS like one of those made-up words or phrases bordering on the non-sensical that only insiders are in on, but pretty soon the newness wears off and even they tire of using it. I'd bet RIDE OR DIE will have a short shelf life.
I had no clue what 36D "Dish that might come with a flavor packet" would be. I was surprised when RAMEN filled in from crosses. I ate many bowels of RAMEN when I was in Japan in the 80s. Seemed like every train station had a food kiosk selling RAMEN and they didn't need a flavor packet. They were always delicious plus you could eat one quickly---slurping not only allowed but encouraged!---before your next train rolled in.
AHAS. I bet the clue is referring to those super market packaged dried noodles that are going to need more than a flavor packet to bring them up to respectable RAMEN level. I'd much rather have some CANNED CORN with a TORTA than those processed, high-sodium gut bombs.
😂🤣😂🤣😂 Maymudes has been reading the comments and I don’t know what I like better, the beautiful shade or that she blacked out @John X’s “last name.”
Not for me. If this Saturday is to be the template for late week puzzles to come it may be time to hang up the spurs. I skip Mon-Thur just to evade the ever encroaching PPP trivia slogs - are they now to be enshrined in Fri-Sat as well?
At least there were no repeated clues. So there was that.
@Barbara S 423pm Why, you ol' Sneaky Pete! You are correct and thank you - twice: 1st for the birthday wishes, 2nd for waiting until now when most people will miss them. 😘 (I'm awfully shy)
@Not a troll (honest) 425pm You are correct about me liking the ADRENALINE answer (as I did the puzzle as a whole), but I'm not sure why you would think that I might think that you might be a troll...I don't. Now, that whole Connie Sellecca thing was a bit TMI, but no judgement. 😉🤣
@Z 526pm That is too freakin' funny! Thanks for your reconnaissance report. 😊
Time for the Sundee! Toodles.
Agree about the excessive pop references in this and ither recent puzzles. Made it not much fun and a chore to get through.
Agree
There seems to be a clue mistake in tomorrow's puzzle. I'm not done solving it yet but something sure looks wrong. (Or maybe I should say it doesn't.)
@Z how can you tell from that? That she's reading the comments?
Happy Happy Slothy!
Another year in the books.
Here's to many more!
RooMonster Raising An Alcopop To You Guy
The pop culture criticism is not a young solvers vs. old solvers. It's a matter of the dumbing down of our culture. If someone in their 20s whines about clues for 19th century literature or historical battles, surely they don't think some older solvers get the references because they were alive then. But once upon a time it was not shameful to know basic Latin, the characters in Silas Marne, and philosophers of ancient Greece. Apparently now you're an idiot if you don't know video games, who owns a bar in The Simpsons, and the name of a pop star's perfume sponsor.
Disagree. Sass is everything.
@ Anoa Bob I think they were referring to the Americanized ramen packets with the little MSG-laden flavor pouch. *Not* related to the real thing which you were eating in Japan.
@ Kitshef The fact that you apparently have never heard of Angela Davis sadly says more about you than it does about the puzzle constructor.
In general, it seems like a lot of you get upset when a Saturday puzzle has words or names that you've never heard of. Instead of just taking it as an opportunity to learn something new. Now, I get it when a crazy name comes up on a Tuesday, but that's b/c we've been trained to think that Tuesdays are supposed to be easy. But Saturdays are supposed to stretch our brains . . . . .
Most fun I've had on Saturday in months. The MEANGIRLS behind this puzzle were artfully clever.
@FraSlo--Feliz cumpleanos!, which is Spanish for congratulation on completing your anos, which is a little off-putting, but I don't have a tilde, so it's the best I can do. Always enjoy your take on things, in the same way that I used to find the more original types in my classes to be the most interesting.
As my good old best friend always tells me on my birthday some of us are glad you were born.
IT'S @FRANTIC'S BIRTHDAY?????? Well I'll be a monkey's uncle....and not the man from uncle.....
Happy, Happy, happy, hippy hurrah and eat tacos!
xoxoxo
Great great puz but like some others I thought a firewall was something to keep the bad guys from getting into your computer, not what is implied here. No matter, whatever, terrific puzzle!!!
@Bella - What you should find when you click on the link is her tweet and two screenshots. The second screenshot is of @John X’s comment.
@sf27shirley - Not an idiot, just cloistered. And you do know that Silas Marner was considered a lesser work until relatively recently, don’t you? Oh, and that it tackled many of the same issues as The Simpsons tackles. Personally, I wouldn’t go around calling the Simpsons lightweight for fear of being looked upon as having missed a whole lot by later generations.
@Frantic Sloth - Congratulations on completing another Solar Circuit. Your next meal at Z’s Placebo and Tentacle will be on the house. The roof deck has beautiful views of the marina.
Couldn’t get the SE corner…Laser Tag, Mean Girls, Lassi etc. Just gave in finally.
Happy Birthday, F-Slo!
For your present, here's a gift card to the Ride-Or-Die Spa in Orel, where you'll receive the renowned Samsa's signature Canned Corn Intensive Facial. After all, as the great James Baldwin once said:
"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until you get a facial."
Or something like that. Enjoy!
@sf27shirley (7:16) --What you say is so true, and you say it so eloquently. I wish every solver here of every generation would read it, absorb it, and take it to heart. And, btw, @sf27shirley, I went to your blog profile and there was nothing at all there. Why not let us know who you are by giving us at least a little information?
@Roo, @pabloinnh, @GILL, @Z
Oh! You guuuuuys! Thank you for all the kind words and wishes and accompanying laughs! I'm touched - and not in the usual way. 😘❤️
This puzzle lost me from the get-go. The clue for 1A is flat out wrong. TRASH TALKing doesn't happen pre-game, it happens during a game.
I didn’t insult people who didn’t enjoy the puzzle. I myself didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as Rex did. But I’m always happy to insult folks who insist on bragging about how ignorant they are because of their age, as though that is some badge of honor.
RIDE OR DIE made me think, WTF!
Omg me toooooo
Chex before Trix threw me off in NW corner. I always start these puzzles at the end anyway, so no big deal. I liked this one. Just tough enough so I don't zip through.
I find speedsolving the Sundays fun. I'm still nowhere near as fast as Rex, probably due to needing extra time for EIDER and NEBS.
Clue/answer I never even read: 14D ESS
Clues I misread (and therefore haste made waste) 19A was Dream *interpreter* instead of interrupter and 87D was low *brow* instead of bow. Not that the latter would have helped as I don't know that usage of SALAAM.
Definitely corny theme. Definitely would like to see better from NYT. Let's call it a C Tier puzzle.
This was a terrible puzzle, so many garbage answers. I’m assuming the over the top gushing review is because of the woman constructor. You can’t complain about the lack of them and then trash the puzzles they produce.
Kept wondering what kind of LINE was released at 14D until it clicked. Not easy by any means especially that NW corner. Never heard the word ALCOPOP. YKNOW is a bit iffy and there were a few other blemishes (DAE, UVA, SHO ETAL) but overall, pretty good.
DNF, badly. Oh boy, am I old!! A foreigner in my own country! RIDEORDIE?????? What in the WORLD could that possibly even MEAN?? "If you don't let me on this bus, I'm gonna kill myself!" No? How about "The posse is gainin' on us, Zeke. RIDEORDIE." Whatever. As to what the clue says, all I can do is go "HUH??????" Somewhere, somehow, there's an explanation for this, but I guarantee you, that explanation will have to make more turns than a driver at the Indy 500 to make any sense to me. If this is English, then I speak Swahili.
Let's be honest about this puzzle. It was over the moon with trendy B.S. terms, foreign words, and even the mention of a violent leftist thug. Distasteful.
Little by little this revealed itself. I love that. I start, believing I will get naught. Then - really crazy TRASHTALK shows up. And yes, the "LINE" @Foggy refers to was a true gem.
toot suite
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
EDIT: Especially the NE corner…
Lost my compass. Not my moral compass - the other one.
SHO NEWS
Y'KNOW ROSA does ALOT of TRASHTALKING, right?
And ANGELA just ORATES such pearls.
So SAVEASEAT at that ADULTSITE,
IWANNALOOK at those MEANGIRLS.
--- "PAPA" LUIGI LASSI
“How do I miss thee? Let me count the ways....” Well, I did miss quite a bit of it, but got a good share of it too.
But today, I’m better at spotting the misses:
The RIDE in RIDE OR DIE.
Kafka for “Metamorphosis protagonist” instead of SAMSA.
Mental sparks are “AHAS”? Didn’t see or feel the sparks.
An ATOM is “elementary”? Okay, but not these days in quantum physics.
Had Omsk instead of OREL. Meh.
Thought Nate would be a better than NOEL as Latin name for “to be born”.
To top it off, didn’t know that an ADULT SITE was a FIREWALL target!
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