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Ulta competitor / FRI 10-29-21 / Rhyming ice cream treat / Shield adorned with Medusa's head / NBA team coached in the '70s by Bill Russell / Virtuosa's display
Friday, October 29, 2021
Constructor: Aimee Lucido
Relative difficulty: Easy
Word of the Day: "DOUBLE DARE" (51A: Nickelodeon's longest-running game show) —
Double Dare is an American television game show in which two teams compete to win cash and prizes by answering trivia questions and completing messy stunts known as physical challenges. It originally ran from 1986 to 1993. A revival ran in 2000, and the most recent revival ran from 2018 to 2019.Hosted by Marc Summers, the program originally premiered on Nickelodeon on October 6, 1986, as its first game show. The series saw many adjustments in scheduling and titling throughout its run. Almost immediately after its debut, Double Dare had more than tripled viewership for Nickelodeon's afternoon lineup, becoming the most-watched original daily program on cable television. The program was a major success for Nickelodeon, helping to establish the network as a major player in cable television and to revitalize the genre of game shows for children. Double Dare remains Nickelodeon's longest-running game show. In January 2001, TV Guide ranked the show number 29 on its list of 50 Greatest Game Shows. [...]
As Double Dare grew messier, a green slime substance became more commonly used in physical challenges and obstacles. Slime was originally introduced on another Nickelodeon program, You Can't Do That on Television. Double Dare's high viewership led to greater visibility for Nickelodeon's association with slime and saw it featured in promotions for the network in the late 1980s. The substance proliferated further, including annual slimings on the Kids' Choice Awards, a slime geyser at Nickelodeon Studios, and slime-based segments on other game shows including Wild & Crazy Kids and Figure It Out. The relationship between Nickelodeon and slime still lasts on the network. (wikipedia)
• • •
Had to wait on my vowel at the end of OTR_, but ONE G gave the "O" to me pretty quickly. I don't think DIPPY can ever be truly "endearing," but if you say so (18A: Foolish in an endearing way). I honestly don't know why bachelorette party-goers would be wearing SASHES (21A: Bachelorette party accessories), which tells you how many such parties I have been two (actually, maybe a couple—my friends, historically not Big on gender exclusivity). I just accept that SASHES is correct for some subsection of the population and move on. The stacks in the SE and esp. the NW are really really good. None of the longer answers are wasted in this one, and even a bunch of the sevens in the NE and SW are doing much more than just taking up space (SEPHORA and SNUGGIE both made me nod appreciatively). I found BRAVURA hardish, which is funny because I wrote it in immediately, off the BR-, but then I couldn't get the short cross VENA (56A: Certain blood vessel, to a physician) from the "V" so I pulled BRAVURA and wrote in BRAVADO (!?), which not only didn't work but didn't even change the "V," so I just went elsewhere and came back to this part, eventually discovering that BRAVURA was right all along (42D: Virtuosa's display). For VENA, I thought the "certain" in "certain blood vessel" referred to "vein" (as opposed to "artery"), but maybe VENA is being clued as doc slang for "VENA cava" specifically (it's the only VENA I've ever heard of). So maybe "certain" means a very specific blood vessel, as opposed to a more general category of blood vessel? That seems plausible. I just googled VENA and learned from the first search result that "Vena transforms Microsoft Excel into your ultimate financial planning and analysis software" so I have to go take a shower now. Remember: Google doesn't want you to find what you're looking for. It wants to generate money from ad sales. That is its sole purpose. The internet is warped. Ask ALEXA. Actually, don't. But do have a nice day.
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135 comments:
I am reminded, by 24A, of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, an annual event named in honor of the English writer Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, author of the frequently used line, "It was a dark and stormy night".
Google the contest for many years worth of winners - they are all one line and most are fantastic. One of my favorites (from many years ago):
“Seeing how the victim's body, or what remained of it, was wedged between the grill of the Peterbilt 389 and the bumper of the 2008 Cadillac Escalade EXT, officer "Dirk" Dirksen wondered why reporters always used the phrase "sandwiched" to describe such a scene since there was nothing appetizing about it, but still, he thought, they might have a point because some of this would probably end up on the front of his shirt.”
It hurts me to say this but ... I agree with @Rex. Just about every detail of OFL's writeup exactly echoed my experience -- SANSA/SASS, BRAVado/BRAVURA (I actually tried BRAVadA at one point), SASHES and VENA, all tripped me up to one degree or another. But the puzzle was still easy-ish for a Friday and very enjoyable.
I love SASHES in a puzzle with a big ol’ sash running down the middle. I was impressed with Aimee’s seven NYT answer debuts, my favorites being CAR GAME, HELL TO PAY, I RECKON SO, and SCARY STORY, all terrific adds to the canon. I was pleased with the A-Train: ALEXA / VENA / BRAVURA / ANKA / SEPHORA / SANSA. And speaking of the latter, I got a CHUCKLE out of SANSA crossing a backward PANSA.
Puzzle-inspired aside: Lewis Carroll never referred to his character as the MAD HATTER in the book, simply “the Hatter”.
This was neither a stumble-through nor a blaze-through, rather, it was, for me, a steady mood elevator, a lovely lift into the day. A well-crafted jewel to admire and enjoy. Thank you, Aimee!
A few seconds longer than my record Friday solve time. So there’s my complaint: this was too easy for a Friday. This was “hard-ish themeless Wednesday” easy for me. In fact I’ve done Wednesdays that were harder than this puzzle.
I really hate, hate, hated MDSE. I guess it didn’t give me any resistance (because the crosses were A SNAP), but I’ve never encountered it before today. However: now that I google it, I see that this abbreviation for “merchandise” is (supposedly) common in receipts and bank statements. So I’ll stop my complaining, and keep my eyes out to see if I ever, ever encounter this string of letters in the wild. But I warn you! If I go a year without ever seeing it in natural usage, I’m going to start complaining when it mars the grid in the puzzles I solve.
We call it the cava, not the vena! Too quick for a Friday for me - I like it a little more difficult.
Medium for me and fun to solve, with my favorite grid pairing being CAROUSE and HELL TO PAY. I also liked learning about the image on the AEGIS: my association with the word is "Athena's shield," but I had no idea that Medusa figured in it.
Do-overs: OneTIME; ScooPS before SYRUPS; and me, too, for BRAVado, yesterday's "adroit = facile" apparently having induced an "It's not really right but whatever" mindset. Help from previous puzzles: LPGA going right in, because of the clue. No idea: DOUBLE DARE, SANSA.
Great puzzle. Probably would have been a record Friday time for me if I had not put in OneTIME and CHeeP. Both those errors slowed me down.
As for SANSA, that was just as fair as DOUBLE DARE to me. If you do not watch Nickelodeon (or have kids in the house that watch it), you would not likely know the latter just as you would not likely know SANSA if you did not watch GOT. However, any letter of DOUBLE DARE is likely more inferable from crosses than any letter of SANSA since DD is a common phrase on its own. Agree that the clue on SASS was a little too opaque for a niche name like SANSA
Some puzzles go overboard on trivia and esoterica, but this puzzle had basically none for me. I mean I learned almost nothing from this puzzle except the medical term VENA and the name of a Paul Anka song that I've already forgotten. Maybe it was just totally in my wheelhouse (or weirdhouse, which I started to type out - that should be a word), but with such little bite this was a bit underwhelming for a Friday.
Rex often complains about how stale the puzzles here are, so it’s pretty rich that he considers Paul Anka to be firmly “in the mainstream consciousness” but flips out when there’s a Game of Thrones reference.
Typical frat-bro puzzle. No woman would clue UNDERWIRE in that flippantly sexist fashion. Throw in all the sportsball stuff (CLE, BASES, SONICS, LPGA). Sophomoric inclusion of ‘ASS’ in 10D and ‘TIT' in 31D and ‘LAID’ at 35D. And don’t get me started on RON Burgundy. This is precisely why we need more female constructors.
Rhymes are always a bad idea in xword clues. Case in point: I’ve always heard the first vowel in CHOCO pronounced like the ‘o’ in con and the first vowel in TACO like the a in ‘Caan’.
"VENA"?? No, just…no. No physician has ever uttered that word (at least, not since Sextus Placitus). We call it the Cava or SVC or IVC but never VENA. If I ever had a medical student refer to the vena cava as VENA, I’d recommend they drop out of medical school and make bad crossword puzzles for a living!
Other than that, this was a pretty good puzzle.
The grid forces a bunch of short and mid-length fill - most of it is fine but there are some ugly spots. The more expansive NW and SE corners were fun - liked HELL TO PAY and I RECKON SO. MDSE, ERN, RTE etc really bring the other corners down. No problem with SANSA. My kids grew up on Nickelodeon but had no idea on DOUBLE DARE.
Enjoyable Friday solve.
Had pASS for SASS.(someone who is going to take a pass on, or skip, something being offered to them, might ask "Why should I?"), and _ANSA could have been almost anything.
Found this one to be a bit of a slog. upFRONT for INFRONT, and CHeeP for CHIRP and not being familiar with BRAVURA did not help.
Was anyone else offended by clue for 17 across?
A new fastest time for me on a Friday, and a great day for my diagonal word obsession, including the first "hidden diagonal word" I've encountered with more than four letters (see clue below).
For those who love foreign word based clues (both of you?), I offer two clues for my favorite diagonal words in today's grid:
1. Word for word, in Greek (5 letters)
2. U. S. senora, perhaps (3 letters)
Answers/locations:
1. LOGOS (SW corner, the S is in the 64A block--could have also been clued as business IDs)
2. MRS (the R is in the 25D block)
There's also a nifty run of 4 consecutive diagonal O's in the SE: OOOOh so nice!
A fun but easy romp for me. This is the second time this week I’ve set a new personal best time - today it was just by 11 seconds, whereas Wednesday it was by almost a minute. Easy puzzles, or did I somehow get much better at crosswords last weekend?
@Joaquin - love the Bullwer-Lytton contest! My favorite from years past has always been, “Just beyond the narrows, the river widens.” Its absurdity and simplicity appeal to me.
Well, it's fun when your first reaction to a clue is exactly right. This happened to me on CHUCKLE, SOMME, MADHATTER, and even AEGIS, which I knew from somewhere. OTOH, SEPHORA and SNUGGIE showed up to harsh my mellow a little. DOUBLEDARE sounded right, but it's on the long list of Nickleodeon programs with which I am unfamiliar.
Had the P from EXPERTS and went with LOOPY. I still find LOOPY people more endearing than DIPPY people.
And totally agree with OFL on the SANSA/SASS crossing. One unknown, one improperly clued.
Finally, hello ERN! Long time no see. Was afraid the sea eagle was becoming endangered.
Silky smooth Friday AL. Absolutely Loaded with good stuff. Thanks for the fun.
I agree with @Lewis... A well crafted jewel! First Friday puzzle for me in a long time with no Googles and nothing wrong when I finished. Loved the mad hatter and SCARYSTORY. THANKS Aimee!
Peppy Friday Puzzle, a good thing, but over too soon. SW section toughest for me: TIL AEGIS. So that's fun. Had to force Serape out of my brain as once I got the S in SNUGGIE, it was the only word that brain wanted. And it was too short. (If you want to see some adorableness, Google serape puppies. You can buy little serape to keep your furry friends warm in winter, or if they need costumes.)
Happy Friday!
I tore through this thing as quickly as any RW puzzle. However it did not generate the disrespect I usually feel for easy puzzles. Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for big white corners but even I couldn't hate on a puzzle that goes out of it's way to entertain as much as this one did.
The 7s in the SE corner are all bland and the puzzle had its share of glue but the colorful material outshone all of that.
I dnfed today and even that didn't bother me. This was a rather amusing one.I misspelled HUMUNGOUS thanks to that vague vowel sound in the middle. I always rely on the crosses to correct these things. When the unlikely ENUCH showed up my brilliant response was to wonder why there was a biblical character who's name looked so much like EuNUCH.
Sometimes I think my reason for doing puzzles is to suppress my inner moron. Never goes away.
@Joaquin, I loved the end of that sentence you quoted.
yd -0
That was fun. Kinda too easy for the Fridee for my money, but I have no other gripes.
Gotta say though...not really up on my Nickelodeon game shows. Is anyone?
Some people say that KRIS Jenner is a SCARYSTORY, but my attention has better things to...hey! What's that over there?
Exclamation heard from within a group beset by a massive pestilence: There's a HUMONGOUS fungus among us!
And now it's bidding adieu.
🧠
🎉🎉🎉
It was constructed by a woman.
@Emily 7:40. I do not like the Boob tube clue but not really offended. I hate the B word, however. It is so ubiquitous in TV shows it does bother me. It's just ugly slang. Hmm.... maybe I am offended.
@kitshef 7:20. See response to Emily above. Beyond that I think you are looking too hard for objectionable puzzle content. LAID? This is simply the past and past participle of lay and was clued appropriately. And TITHE? Are we to ban all words with segments that might be suggestive? In this case it's not even the same vowel sound. BADASS is out there but I don't think it's sexual or misogynistic. I'm not familiar with the Ron Burgundy character(not a Ferrell fan). I will say this. You are finding what you're looking for.
@Emily: Because it's factually incorrect, or...?
@Kitshef: I presume you're being cheeky, but this puzzle was constructed by Aimee Lucido, a woman.
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I loved the cluing in this puzzle despite not loving MDSE ERN. SANSA wasn't a problem for me.
Agree with Rex on DIPPY. I went immediately to DERPY but that's a little too much of a neologism still for the NYT.
Yes
If Choco Taco is a rhyme, then perhaps the famous lyric should be pronounced, “Sam enchanted evening.”
I say this as a feminist myself -- wow, you really need to lighten up.
When my chimes wouldn't ring at the end I had to google Sophie Turner, as I was sure pASS was fine for "Why should I?" but had no idea if pANSA Stark was some role in some show. So that's a sad DNF having loved the rest of this one.
Happily went with witch before ALEXA, so maybe Halloween week has sunk in a little too far. VEin quickly gave way to VENA with ANKA, but also because I call it a VEIN and am not close to being a physician. CHeeP was harder to let go of, largely because I think CHEEPing is closer to "feed me" and chirping is closer to "I'm here", but that's OK.
@kitshef, I don't disagree, but thought your 7:20 was very funny. Some HELLTOPAY for sure, with @Emily offended as well.
Fun Friday. And fun week. LOL @Joe R, I'm opting for having gotten better at crosswords this week. Am sure I'll crash and burn on one soon though. Saturday lurks...
HELL TO PAY, BAD ASS, and “Boob tube?” - Look at the old gray lady being all colloquial and fresh and not afraid of Victorian mores.
Agree that Rex whiffed on SANSA. Easily more widely known in 2021 than a 1960 teen idol. Well, maybe not in Crossworld where a four letter name with usefully place vowels will be forever famous, but elsewhere.
I also think SASS was clued with the most prototypical example of teenage SASS imaginable. It is so prototypical as to be almost cliché at this point. Rex’s “just a question” seems wildly off. I cannot imagine a situation where “Why should I?” isn’t SASS. “Honey, can you pick up some milk on the way home?” Why Should I? … or… “Please finish the design by Friday.” Why should I? …or… “Hey bartender, can you make me a Tequila Sunrise? Why should I? …or… “You need to reimagine the clue just slightly differently for the answer to make sense.” Why should I?
Hey everybody commenting on VENA - The puzzle never says anything about VENA cava, that was Rex. VENA is just a Latiny way to say “vein,” which works fine for the clue. The “inferior vena cava” is a specific VENA, so of course it wouldn’t be helpful to refer to it as the VENA because there are others.
@kitshef - What exactly do you think “rhyme” means? The -CO and the -CO are what matter, n’est-ce pas?*
*Hey Z, why don’t you stick to nice American English phrases?
Why should I?
This may be a regional issue - rhymes perfectly the way I say it.
Agreed!
I live in a town where weddings and therefore bachelorette parties are popular. So it is common to see posses of young women and always at the lead is one with a sash and/or a tiara. And anyone who saw 5 minutes of Game of Thrones knows the name Sansa, even if the show was too rapey for Rex. And an estimated 50 million people watched it. I honestly don't see how obscure rappers who names are virtually a random combination of letters are okay and a lead character in one of the most popular shows of all times isn't
Such good commentary here today.
@Oceanjeremy that's mighty fine writing on MDSE. Here are a couple receipt abbreviations that may assuage your future bitterness if you can recall them. Officer Husband was career army. One day my commissary receipt included Peanut Butt and Muffins Ass (peanut butter and assorted muffins from the instore bakery). It's a family heirloom.
@Tom T, I like your diagonal game.
@Emily, I was offended by the Tube part. That's a stretch for bra.
Like @pabloinnh, OTOH, Sephora and Snuggie. Along with Boise that's where my hold up was too.
Chortle before Chuckle. Enoch was a toughie. Hendrix, an answer one day, days later a clue for his hair.
Fridays are getting easier and Saturdays are getting harder.
Anyone remember the time when Google billed itself as the pure search engine, promising the most accurate results with ads only in a separate column, clearly distinct and segregated from the search results? You know, back in the day when they tried to convince us that they really subscribed to their motto "Don't be evil,"
17A, I confidently wrote in SPORTSBRA which is typically much more tube-shaped than an UNDERWIRE. I got the pun right away, had a better answer, but still had it wrong. Oh well. Interesting to see how easy everyone found this, I had a rather longer-than-average time (some but not all of it due to "MDSE")
Go home Rex, you’re drunk. SANSA is a lead character on probably the most popular television show of all time. She is 1000% fair game, whether you watched it or not. I’d hazard that for solvers under 30, she’s more well known that Jimi HENDRIX, and thus more fair in the grid. I’d follow up by saying that she’s certainly more well know by solvers under 50 than Paul ANKA, who I’ve never heard any song of, ever. He exists only in cross world, but otherwise might as well be a third-tier minstrel from 1732 for all I know. Total garbage fill there.
@kitshef 7:20 - Apparently too wry by half. 😂🤣😂🤣😂
Personally, I’ve always liked boobs and there’s something about the way the word looks that’s just so apt. Sort of a side view and a frontal view combined into a word. Sort of the visual equivalent of onomatopoeia.
Seriously, I called them “Victorian mores” for a reason. Maybe we should zombiefy George Carlin so he can update his list for crosswords. (I couldn’t help but notice the appearance of “cornhole” late in this clip)
Excellent point. Conttivancrs like SANSA, SASS,ASNAP,SNUGGIE, DIPPY,ALEXA, made for annoying solve for me, .....but ANKA was easy peasy for me.
How about _____ Belt as a clue for 33D
Yes, the SANSA/SASS cross was irksome to me for the same reasons cited by Rex, et.al, and you can throw in SASH, too. Although I have some vague recollection of goofy-jokey SASH(es) being worn at some bridal showers, back when I attended such atrocities. Ick.
@Joaquin 601am Haven't though about the B-L contest in too long a time - thanks for the reminder! Now I want a sandwich. Hold the human.
@Joe R 746am 😂👍
@ss 705am Love "weirdhouse" - thanks for the shout-out to my hometown.
@kitshef 720am With you on the UNDERWIRE "joke" which smells like editorial re-write to me.
@Emily 740am Yes. Not clever, not funny, not appreciated; however, I refuse to draw any more attention to it. Well, starting now.
@Robert 854am I say this as feminist, too - wow, you really need to not claim to be a feminist.
@pabloinnh 747am Went the LooPY before DIPPY route, too. Wish I'd thought of "harsh my mellow", though. 🤣
Geez. Guess I did have a few nits after all...
I’m a bit puzzled by all the offense at “boob tube”. Serious questions: is it the word “boob” that is particularly offensive? And, if so, would “breast rest” be a less offensive clue?
Yes, yes, and yes!
Nice thread! Thanks!
Hey All !
Boob can also be a stupid person. Was used on the Nickelodeon show "Drake and Josh" by their younger sister. She would call them "boobs" all the time.
But I still like boobs as boobs. 😁 It's a guy thing.
Moving on, apparently it was an easy puz, as my time says just about 16 minutes. Seemed tougher as I solved. The SE corner was the toughest spot for me. CHeeP led to LieD, which had Ti_ as the "Neighbor of CapsLock. So I cheated, and looked at my keyboard. Ah, says I, TAB. Slight head scratch, then said, "Ah, if I change LieD to LAID, CHeeP can be CHIRP, and... BRAVURA!" Which let me change HUMuNGOUS to HUMONGOUS. Ensuing Happy Music. Felt a pang of guilt changing the U to an O. Guilty vicariously through @M&A. Har.
CAROUSE is s neat word. Raise your hand if you had she first for HIM.
DIPPY Roo signing off. GOT to GOA.
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
Re 33D: Such a worthy, memorable, and (perhaps you might say) noble surname combined with such a peculiar, forgettable first name. If I didn't know SANSA -- and I didn't -- I'd venture to say that absolutely no one else will know her either.
What an amusing clue for ALEXA (16A). She really says that? I don't have an ALEXA in my life and now I'm thinking that I'm really not missing much. Except, maybe, the rare opportunity to (for once) feel smarter than a robot.
I learned that bachelorette parties have SASHES (do they all think they're Miss America??); that there's such a thing as a CHOCO TACO (sort of sounds good, doesn't it?) and that BOISE is near the Oregon Trail. For the longest time I wanted BOonE. I think there perhaps may be such a city -- though it's probably not a capital -- and didn't Daniel Boone explore the Oregon Trail? Or was it the Chisolm.
A sophisticated, painless, grown-up puzzle that I thoroughly enjoyed.
@Z 9:01 - that's a question that I will leave to the professionals. Can a word (or a syllable) rhyme with itself? Does 'quack' rhyme with 'quack'? Does 'puddle' rhyme with 'fiddle' because of the ' Əl' sound at the end?
Thx Aimee, for a fine Fri. puz! :)
Easy-med. Top to bottom solve with minimal resistance.
Had Guthrie before HENDRIX.
The SASHES, DIPPY, SEPHORA area was a bit SCARY.
Have a couple of polar fleece blankets (not SNUGGIEs), but very comfy on cold mornings, to go with my toque (chef's hat). lol
Recently dnfed on KRIS Jenner and CHOCO TACO, so it was nice to recall them both.
Just asked ALEXA; she verified that I'm indeed a sandwich. Google assistant says, "poof, you're a sandwich', and Siri says, "that may be beyond my abilities at the moment. lol
Very enjoyable trip. :)
@Eniale (6:53 PM yd)
Glad it wasn't as bad as it could have been. My heart goes out to those in NorCal and other areas enduring severe weather conditions. It was blustery in Vancouver, BC, but we're far enough inland that we didn't get the worst of the rain and wind.
@okanaganer (7:26 PM yd) / @puzzlehoarder (8:10 AM) 👍 for 0's yd
___
yd 0 (updated SB List (Numbers) / PDF
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
@Todd 907am I'm sorry, but your "I live in a town where weddings and therefore bachelorette parties are popular" just struck me as one of the funniest lines I've ever read here. Can't explain why, but there it is. 🤷♀️
@JD 908am 😂😂 "Family heirloom" undermines its ageless value.
Dear Gof, keep me silent on the G.O.T. arguments.
@Z 925am (BTW, nice try, almost tempted, but still not playing, and typing out this aside is annoyingly ironic) "Visual onomatopoeia" is classic. I still don't like the clue/answer combo. Just call me Vicky Sloth, but don't.
Still drawing attention...🙄
I'm off on a walk in 5 minutes, so I'll come back later for the comments. This is just to say that I wrote in "sports bra" at 17A for my first entry; UNDERWIRE was almost as good, I guess (never having worn either, I can't say which is more tubular).
The hardest part was the D in LAID, which could have been LAIn, crossing a completely unknown-to-me TV show. I got to the point where it was going to be DOUBLE DARE or DOUBLE nARc, and the former seemed more plausible.
I'll be back!
Any puzzle that starts out with a CHOCO TACO and a CHUCKLE is okay by me. I used to love getting those things at Taco Bell (Yes, I actually eat there.) but they’re long gone along with my other favorite, Mexican Pizza. And I’ll weigh in on the does it or doesn’t rhyme debate by saying yes - 100% - both syllables when I say it. This wasn’t exactly A SNAP but it was easy enough to make it fun witch is always GOOD on a Friday.
@Emily (7:40) I don’t think “offended” is the right term in my case so much as it was just discomfiting. “Chagrined” is more apropos for my reaction, especially that it’s the product of a female constructor. Cringeworthy in any case.
@Joaquin -- Thanks for pointing our attention to the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest which I plan to Google and read for laughs. I also plan to enter it at the first opportunity -- (assuming I remember to, which is far from a sure thing.) I don't expect to win it, mind you, since I'm not a ficton writer and don't have an especially fanciful imagination, but I've never once met a contest I didn't want to enter.
As far as someone who might win it, may I suggest that @Joe Dipinto and @JOHN X both give it a whirl. Each has been blessed with Blarney and the Gift of Made-Up Stuff and I bet their attempts would be prize-worthy indeed.
I'm happy to see words in the grid I don't know. I can generally get them from the crosses and I learn something. Today I learned SANSA, DOUBLEDARE, and ENOCH. I also learned the precise meaning of BRAVURA, even though I have heard the phrase "bravura performance" many times.
Not easy for me. Good crunch. Also good sparkle and only a handful of threes. Very good puzzle.
Last night I asked ALEXA to make me a sandwich and she actually did say that. I may ask her to do other things for me later today.
I remember Kyra Sedgewick in The Closer. It was on from 2005 to 2012. She was fun to watch.
I think maybe some folks here aren’t aware that “boob tube” is a silly old fashioned phrase for TV that doesn’t have anything to do with “boobs” (etymology here: https://www.merriam-webster.com/news-trend-watch/boob-tube-2016-01-12)
Do y’all think that the puzzle shouldn’t refer to women’s anatomy or just that they shouldn’t use slang to do so? Just referring to something isn’t the same thing as sexualizing or objectifying it. As a person with boobs herself, I found it to be a kind of clever turn of phrase and totally inoffensive. And people of my generation are way more likely to use that word than the dreaded “breast” and not necessarily in a puerile way just an everyday way.
So Maybe this is a generational thing.
My only beef with this one is that tube —> wire is a bit of a stretch but I got there Pretty quick !
Lol, isn't it just the UNDERWIRE that's the boob tube?
@Joaquin, thanks for pointing us to the Bulwer-Lytton contest. Fun reading.
Say “chocolate”
That said: I understand that if one is primed to know how the Choco is supposed to be pronounced for the purpose of the product, it then works. Which is fine. I’m an old marketing dinosaur, so I get it.
But standing alone, and as chocolate is pronounced out in the real world…
Anyway, as long as it tastes good…
Re: sashes at bachelorette parties...
My son is an ordained Cantor and has a pulpit in NJ, so you know he can sing well.
Ten years ago my son and eight of his friends went to Ocean City for "senior week". Maryland high school seniors head to the beach after their graduation and spend their time soaking up the sun and liquor. One night they were walking the boardwalk and a group of six young women approach them, all part of a bachelorette party; most wearing sashes, all somewhat drunk. They are on a scavenger hunt and need one more thing---to find someone to serenade them. One of my son's friends said, "you girls have no idea, just wait."
So, after some coaxing my son stood on the boardwalk and sang "Ain't No Sunshine When You're Gone", in his deep bass voice. The women were shocked. A crowd gathered and people started tossing my son dollar bills.
My son's best friend told me this story when they got home. My son said, "I had no idea women get so 'sh-- face', and what's with the sashes?"
I still laugh about this every time I hear the song on the radio.
Easy. Me too for SANSA as a WOE. Quite a bit of sparkle, liked it a bunch.
@kitshef - Hmmmm… MW mentions “terminal sounds.” Your excellent fiddle puddle (nowhere near as tasty as Fiddle Faddle) does suggest that where exactly the terminal sound begins matters. But then what about today’s controversial “boob tube?” Is that a rhyme or a near rhyme? Where I come from the vowel sounds are close but not the same (what did @LMS say? Five letters (sometimes 6) to represent 27 vowels?) but are still so close that to me that’s still a “rhyme.” As for the two first syllables in CHOCO TACO, they are as close as the vowels in “boob tube” to me, but that is irrelevant to the “rhyme” discussion because the terminal sounds are, well, the terminal sounds “-CO.”
Et tu @Vicky Sloth? FWIW, I’ve been amused and bemused by the discomfiture evoked by women’s breasts ever since I read about the breast struggles associated with the original Star Trek. The top of the breast and cleavage were okay to show, but no showing of the underside of the breast (or something like that - I might have the specifics wrong). I was something like 18 when I read that and the absurdity just hit my funny bone (at 18 any part of the breast evoked the same reaction here). Equally absurd to me is that a little T&A will get a movie an R Rating, but violent blood and gore may only merit a PG-13. My personal list of what’s offensive - Boobs, not at all; violence that is key to the plot, not much; gratuitous violence done as social commentary, a little; gratuitous violence, no; rape and torture, deeply offensive. So, on my scale, GoT is mostly just offensive to deeply offensive while trying to disguise itself as art. Of course, offensiveness sells. And generates myriad think pieces (There’s a whole cottage industry discussing how GoT is actually “feminist”). But not because we see everyone’s boobs.
I generally respond positively to consistently. So I would say, for example, consistently panning puzzles with tons of PPP should trump praising such a puzzle whose PPP is in your wheelhouse. So too with "edgy" entries, which this puzzle had more than its share of. I don't mind edgy answers any more than I don't mind ADOLPH or IDI. So this puzzle worked fine with me. (I consistently tend to draw the line with slang.) I'm not sure I would rate everyone who comments on this site (as well as Sharp) as 100% consistent. But who cares? If the puzzle is good enough for the test solvers, it's good enough for me.
@Airymom - 🤣😂🤣 Great story.
CHUCKLE! It’s one chuckle short of another classic clown name. I actually wanted CHortLE first because it’s such fun to say.
For the boob clue I really wanted UdDer-something, but when the WIRE poked through I was forced to give up that bit of amusement. @kitschef, hilarious rant - way to stir the pot!
Rex liked this more than I did. Too many boring clues or slightly ‘off’ answers. It’s a sad state of affairs when “Boob tube” and “High rollers’ rollers” are your best clues. And what is with the paragraph-long clue for the SONICS?
Like yesterday, I finished with one letter in dispute - pANSA/pASS. I suppose there is no defending pANSA but I wouldn’t know pANSA from SANSA, and pASS works as well or better with the clue. Plus it makes for that swell pANSA/ASNAP cross - Hi, @Lewis!
Even if the clues didn’t thrill, there were some great entries. Can’t wait to see what SCARY STORY @GILL invents with CAROUSE HELL TO PAY I RECKON SO HUMONGOUS MAD CHOCO-TACO HATTER DOUBLE DARE. Maybe it’ll qualify for the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest.
Russian/Italian/American composer Daniele Amfiteatrov was born October 29, 1901 in St. Petersburg. He studied in Rome, and came to the US and became a prolific movie composer: Major Dundee, The Naked Jungle, The Desert Fox, Boom Town. He was nominated for the Academy Award for best original score, both for Guest Wife [1945] and Song of the South [1946]. Take your pick of these examples. The second one is for the boob admirers.
Lassie Come Home
Dance of the Seven Veils from Salome
Hi Rex, I glanced at my comment from 10:38 and am embarrassed at the errors I made. I guess I din't have enough caffeine this morning.
Could you correct them?:
a group of six young women approached them. I left out the ed in approached
the song title is "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone", not "You're"
finally, it's sh-- faced, not face.
Thanks a lot. Toni
\
Love you, Rex, but I agree with Todd, and I would also suggest that you try reading A Game of Thrones, a marvelous book which includes all those Stark characters. No HBO subscription required.
If you want Game Of Thrones gone, the Harry Potter has to go also
I've never heard of Double Dare and the puzzle frequently expects me to know the names of dozens of rap artists (I know about three), but one of the main characters in a hugely popular book and TV series is too obscure? (I do agree that SASS should have been better clued, though.)
Probably would have had a record time if I hadn't gotten stuck in that same middle section. SANSA was a gimme, but I had USGA at first and that took some unwinding as did upFRONT. Overall, though, a pleasant solve with lots of enjoyable clue/answer combos.
I liked this puzzle and yeah, it may have been on the easy side, but it wasn’t a pushover. Subliminal Halloween content? HELL TO PAY, SCARY STORY, DOUBLE DARE (the trick part of trick-or-treat).
Gotta tell you about DIPPY, the cat we got when I was 8 (and in grade 3). His full name was Pheidippides. My sister was studying Greek history in high school and they were just at the part where Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Athens to announce victory over the Persians, and then dropped dead from his exertions. Our tiny kitten would run around chasing everything and nothing and then drop to the floor in a deep sleep wherever he was – she found the resemblance uncanny. DIPPY was a classic black and white tuxedo cat, and he grew into quite a character: neighborhood tough, marble-player extraordinaire, and one of the snuggliest felines I’ve ever known when in the mood. And he had us all jumping to his tune – when he wanted out, he’d casually claw the upholstery of the chair nearest the door, knowing that someone would jump up to stop him and then, while they were up, follow him into the front hall and open the door for him. To get back in, he’d jump up on the outdoor ledge beneath the picture window and bang on the glass with his paw. It made quite a noise and guests were often startled out of their skin. DIPPY lived for 18 years, which took me through public school, high school, undergraduate degree at university, and first two jobs. We were all stricken when he left us. But what a cat!
Right, the puzzle. I thought “Boob tube?” was something more specific than most people’s interpretations would suggest: the tube of fabric through which the wire runs. SASS seems OK for “Why should I?” because of the “say” in the clue. It’s not the SASSiest of SASS, but it’s on the spectrum. Hey, I voted by MAIL for the first time in Canada’s federal election last month. I was out of my riding because of all the repair work going on in my house, so it was very convenient. Interesting that they used “virtuosa” in the clue for BRAVURA, implying that the latter is a feminine adjective. I don’t think there’s any such thing as BRAVURo. I figured out ENOCH fairly quickly. I had too many U’s in HUMuNGOUS to start with, but I thought ENuCH looked so silly that I changed it. No problem with SANSA sitting pretty above GOT. I was a Game of Thrones watcher and reader (until George R.R. Martin stopped writing – or at least publishing – the series). I had an odd experience with SEPHORA. I looked at the clue, “Ulta competitor,” and realized I had no idea what Ulta was. But somehow _E__ORA suggested the word SEPHORA and I filled it in purely on instinct. I couldn’t and can’t explain where it came from or why I thought it might be right. Knowledge from the unconscious.
yd 0 (last to fall was a 4-letter word completely out of my wheelhouse but remembered at the last moment from previous SBs)
td 0 (it’s happily do-able)
@Nancy (10:11) I second those two nominations and would add you, @Joaquin and @Loren to the list of strong contenders.
chawk-o, chock-o, tock-o, taw-co
Yikes!
@Barbara S. (11:39 AM) 👍 for 0's yd & td
Loved your DIPPY anecdote! :)
I missed that '4' last year, but have nailed it thereafter. :)
___
td 0
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Yes. Creepy. Aimee, you may call 'em boobs with your friends but in public it feels demeaning.
@kitshef, I think @Z really meant "too rye by half." You almost had me, but then I looked more closely at some of your examples.
@Pablo, I tooo was happy to welcome back the sea-eagle -- but what happened to its terminal E? Neither Dictionary.com or M-W accepts ERN as even a variant. But still, with that clue it's a gimme.
I lied before. The hardest thing for me was getting SEPHORA, because I had (and have) absolutely no idea what "Ulta" is. I finally got enough crosses to see that SEPHORA would fit, and it's a company I have heard of (as opposed to a board game, a football team, or any of the other things Ulta might have been), so I went with it.
I also have very little idea of what a CHOCOTACO is, but I guess there's ice cream in it.
As for whether it rhymes, I'll just point out that Keats (see yesterday) rhyme "cold pastoral" with "that is all."
While there’s been plenty of commentary on the mini-theme of sex and misogyny (UNDERWIRE is over the top), the music mini-theme is far more prevalent with:
HENDRIX
ANKA
TOWNS (Van Zandt. Excuse the misspelling of the first name)
KRIS (Kristofferson)
TAB (Hunter. Better known as a teen movie idol, but did have a #1 hit with Young Love)
RON (Rosalino Cellamare known professionally as simply Ron)
All of thes people could make some serious NOISE, but I DRONEON.
I see that like @Zÿgötïqüë, Facebook has opted to rename itself in order to escape problems of its own making. I never META social media site I liked.
Like other commenters, I miraculously have become a better solver this week. Very nice puzzle, Aimee Lucido.
Can't believe that some people didn't pick up on the fact that @kitshef's comment -- in light of the fact that today's puzzle was by a woman -- was a wry, witty, and somewhat withering critique of wokeness. He did it very well, I thought, and he chose the perfect occasion to do it on.
Of course it's always possible that @Frantic is right and that the NYT rewrote Aimee's UNDERWIRE clue. I hope they didn't, because if they did, it's a huge error in judgment. Don't have your locker-room humor come out under someone else's name. I don't think the Times would be that insensitive to the constructor's reputation and image, but who knows? A while back they changed my "Ella" clue for SCAT to a most unappetizing one -- one that failed my own Breakfast Test.
OTOH, if the clue was Aimee's, all I have to say is: Nice SASS, BADASS girl.
Easy parcheesi, lima beans cheesy. Not all 50A... A SNAP... but close enough to call it a cigar.
If Aimee likes a drink or two, I'd CAROUSE with her in a fun barhopping fandango tango. I love her HUMONGOUS SASS.
My CHUCKLE CAR GAME was singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall and driving my parents up the wall of despair. I learned that song when they sent me off to "Circle F Dude Ranch Camp For Boys and Girls" somewhere in the swamps of Florida. I figured it was pay back time.
Don't you just love her clues? Why all the fuss about the Boob tube? No UNDERWIRE in this household...Nosireeboob. I believe in the BOISE effect.
Ay, dios mio, @Rex. You don't/didn't like GoT? I love dragons. They had dragons and they also had the yumilicious Jason Momoa.
I have to run to the store and buy some CHOCO TACO so I'll be back to read everybody because all of you make me blow some DIPPY SONICS.
I read the clue for 33D as referring to Sophie TUCKER, and had absolutely no idea of what she might have received an Emmy nomination for - if there were even Emmys back then. Only excuse? Old eyes, old brain.
Wait, what day is it? Finished this under my average Tuesday time, which is half my average Friday time. Didn’t think twice on a single entry.
Thanks, Barbara S., for explaining the “tube” part of “boob tube”: underwire bras are uncomfortable enough, but imagine if the wire was not encased in a fabric tube! I guess a lot of commenters have never seen one, no less worn one.
And @Z, I love the “visual onomatopoeia” of the word boob: much more preferable than various types of fruits and vegetables, IMHO.
Thanks for the compliment, @Whatsernname (11:39). Would you believe that I already wrote something and sent it in to the contest. This year's entries are due by June 30th (I think they said), but they'll accept anything submitted on any date at all prior to that. Because I was sure that if I didn't act right away, I'd completely forget, I took care of it now. It was much fun to do and I'm pleased with the result. I suggest everyone here who loves to write should have a go at it.
Attention:
LAID could not have been LAIn!
Well, hey -- SCARYSTORY was at least a Halloweenish tidbit taste.
Never tasted a CHOCOTACO, or worn anything with an UNDERWIRE (UNDERWEAR =yes, tho). Learned new stuff there. Also no idea on SANSA, as we never had access to HBO durin its heyday. All those shook out pretty easy from crosses, tho.
Likes: MADHATTER. SCARYSTORY. HENDRIX/EXEMPT. DOUBLEDARE. HUMONGOUS.
(See that? Used "Likes" today, in honor of Mark Zuckerberg's recent name change to Meta Zuckerberg. Hopin he is more comfortable in his new sexual identity, or somesuch.)
staff weeject pick: GOA is pretty neat, Ow de Speration-wise.
Thanx for the themeless slightly-scary chocotaco, Ms. Lucido darlin. Good job.
Masked & Anonymo5Us
**gruntz**
I might be wrong, but I seem to remember the Bulwer-Lytton Contest only includes lines from actual, published books. Could you imagine the avalanche of submissions otherwise? Too bad, because I would dearly love to see some from certain people who comment here...
@Z 1049am Et me. To a point. It's really not the word "boob" or the various good (albeit subjective) jokes that bounce around. It was/is the flippant way some tend to dismiss how it makes many people (mostly women, but not always) feel that I find objectionable. You say people should be sensitive to racist words (nip, anyone?) because they are known to offend people and it shouldn't matter that you don't find it so, but why doesn't that logic extend to sexist remarks? I'm not saying these jokes are inherently sexist, but much of their foundation is. Worse, though, infinitely worse is that they are rarely that funny. For example, "boobs" as "visual onomatopoeia" is 🤌💋🖐 mwah! to me, but again - subjective. And I'm fully aware of all the punnery in this diatribe, but that's just a happy accident.
And I just didn't want to engage in a whole big "thing" because it really isn't that big of a deal to me as deals go. Only here, UNDERWIRE is the least funny thing I can imagine - scratch that - know. Done and done.
P.S. Wholly with you on what constitutes PG13/R ratings and WTF does nudity have to do with it besides the fact that we are a weirdly puritanical society at our core.
For the record, after the second sentence, it did become apparent to me that @kitshef 720am was being wry.
I just chose to ignore it. 🤷♀️ No reason. No excuse. Just me doing me.
Forgot to mention
@airymom 1038am Loved your story, but your son's reaction even more. LOL!
I’d rather go ask Alice than ALEXA
Could a CHOCO TACO be stuffed into a PIECAKEN?
And could a VENA Cava be a conduit for Spanish sparkling wine?
Dang it! Also forgot to thank @Barbara S 1139am for introducing us to the redoubtable DIPPY. Love him! ❤️
My favorite posts this morning.
kitshef (7:20)
pabloinnh (7:47)
El_is_Puzzled (10:25)
k
That's not true, Frantic (12:38, first paragraph). In fact, it couldn't possibly be true. No one would have written deliberately bad prose in a book that they then actually succeeded in getting published. (It's hard enough to get published when you're trying to write good prose, trust me on that.) Moreover, in the contest instructions, they specifically ask for an "original" sentence. So anyone here who thinks they can write a perfectly awful opening sentence, go ahead and have at it. It really is fun.
Also a lead character in one of the most popular book series of all time. (For all those HBO non-havers.)
The consensus seems to be EASY, TOO EASY. I agree.
As a physician I have never uttered or heard the word VENA uttered as a stand-alone in any medical context. Vena Cava - yes. Vena - no.
You wouldn’t believe what is to follow!
It was a record-breaking Friday for me at 8:41, fresh off the heels of a record-breaking 5:33 Wednesday. I’m on track for my first perfect gold-star month touch wood.
Because of a certain joke I've heard, I was thinking 16A would be the name of a witch and I thought, "There's our Halloween tie-in for the day" (along with SCARY STORY). With the L and A in place, it was too short for Glinda; the X of EXPERTS popped that bubble.
And for the rather non-pc joke:
Man: "A beautiful witch was hitch-hiking...
so I stopped and picked her up"
Friend: "How do you know she was a witch?"
Man: "Well she got in my car, put her hand on my leg and I turned into a motel"
Rex's anti-SANSA rant made me laugh. Not because I expect everyone to know who SANSA is (yes, @Nancy, lovely surname!) but because he listed DOUBLE DARE as something known to everyone. While SANSA was a gimme, DOUBLE DARE was a WOE that I had to find through crosses. I don't think I've seen any Nickelodean shows, let alone DOUBLE DARE, which sounds cringe-y.
Aimee, thanks for the Wednesday-fast solve on a Friday. Usually I find your puzzles rather challenging.
Oh @Nancy (12:07) you are so META today & spot on as well. Really appreciate being able to leap over that central barrier today though certainly not in a single bound. Nice way to control me Aimee—just when I was getting SASSy; it worked.
My woe was confidently writing in Salem instead of BOISE
The rest was OK but not easy. Gotta say if you want crazy bachelorette parties go to Northern England on a Friday night. Both Newcastle and Durham were real eye openers.
To those who responded to my comment about being offended at "boob" tube. Does anyone remember in the documentary WordPlay, they interviewed a crossword creator (I believe the interview took place in Tom's restaurant on Broadway near Columbia), and the creator said that there are words you can't use, and used the example of "urine." I thought that was funny at the time, and a bit prudish. Urine is a perfectly decent word. But boob (for breast) is to me derogatory and offensive. I wonder if urine is now allowed.
@Nancy 1255pm Of course that makes more sense. I'm happy to be wrong. :) There's just no telling where I get my "facts". LOL!
BTW, I know there are people here who could write a better line than this year's winner.
@How is DOUBLE DARE ok while SANSA is niche?!?!?!?! Rex is such an idiot folk.
Well, double dare is an actual English phrase, which would seem to translate readily to a game show name. A game show on basic cable, on a channel which has served as a baby sitter for almost every kid for past 30 years. Too busy to watch your kid, tell him they can watch Nickelodeon. SANSA is a made up name in a phantasy book or premium cable with dragons and god knows what else. You get half the letters of DOUBLEDARE and you fill in the rest, you get half the letters of SANSA and you still have no clue.
In honor of the trousers Ed McMahon used to flog, would have loved to have seen the clue for SANSA be “______ belt”.
@Anonyous
Please. Only 3 Anonymous posts per day.
There is seldom a day when Andy Borowitz isn’t the funniest thing I read. Thought you might like today’s:
MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA (The Borowitz Report)—Mark Zuckerberg has legally changed his name to Mother Teresa, Mother Teresa confirmed today.
In an official statement, Mother Teresa said that he had changed his name to better reflect his mission of charity and kindness.
“The name ‘Mark Zuckerberg’ did not accurately describe my function: to be a force for good, spreading love and kindness throughout the metaverse,” he said.
@Anony 1:58....Go stick your finger in your ear...even if it's too fat to fit.
@Anonymous
Speak for yourself. Better yet, don't.
I also had record breaking Wednesday and Friday this week.
Agreed. Sexist. As I sit here with my breasts in an underwire bra, I'd like to know if there's a part of a man's anatomy I could clue in a puzzle that's comparable? (You know what word I'm thinking of. It's what I would call you if you referred to my breasts that way.)
p.s.
@eggsforbreakfast: Well, shoot. Now I am all completely confused, about the Zuckerbergermeister's name change story…
M&A Meta-News Desk
Happy tricks & (maybe) treats, y'all:
**gruntz**
This was my all-time personal best for a Friday at 10:36 so I'm gonna go ahead and suggest that this was not a Friday difficulty puzzle :)
This was one of the fastest, smoothest Fridays ever. My usual procedure is, on the first pass to read each clue and only enter the answer if I'm very confident in it. Then go back and take some guesses where I'm stuck. Repeat until done. This worked so well here, I hardly even paused and had maybe 2 write overs, which is probably also some kind of record.
Yes I am getting old: I would clue KRIS as Kristofferson, of course.
In other news, if you hold the word "boob" (in lowercase) below a mirror you get "poop".
@joaquin: thanks for Bulwer-Lytton. It sprang to mind when I read the clue but could not remember the name.
@Airymom 10:38am: I love stories like yours; it's fun to envision being there.
[SB yd 0; @Barbara S: I think my last word was the same... 7th alphabetically?]
I see @Kitshef is causing trouble again.
@F-Slo – The contest is named after Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who used the phrase that inspired it to open the first sentence of his 1830 novel "Paul Clifford":
It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.
*That* perfectly awful sentence *was* published. The contest entries are knockoffs.
@Lyn 2:55: SCHWEDDY BALLS?
The line you quote, @Joe D., the one that actually got published, doesn't seem half bad to me. OTOH, the sentences that people send in for the contest are truly awful. Here's my favorite from last year's winners:
Winner: Purple Prose
Rain -- violent torrents of it, rain like fetid water from a God-sized pot of pasta strained through a sky-wide colander, rain as Noah knew it, flaying the shuddering trees, whipping the whitecapped waters, violating the sodden firmament, purging purity and filth alike from the land, rain without mercy, without surcease, incontinent rain, turning to intermittent showers overnight with partial clearing Tuesday.
-- David Hirsch, Seattle
@Frantic (12:38)! “It was/is the flippant way some tend to dismiss how it makes many people feel….” Well said!
@egs (2:11) Love it! Thanks for reminding me of Andy B. Had not read him in a while.
@Lyn (2:55) 👏👏👏 Oh yeah! Maybe tomorrow we’ll get mammogram humor.
@Barbara S - I had exactly the same experience with SEPHORA; had a letter or two here and there and it suddenly wrote itself in.
And I loved the Dippy descriptions too; sadly, I became too allergic to replace my beloved cats when they were gone.
SB - doable? Only by the cognoscenti. -3
@okanaganer (4:00 PM)
Yup!
@Eniale (5:21 PM)
That's spooky about SEPHORA. My husband was looking over my shoulder as I was finishing up in that corner and he couldn't believe that I wrote in SEPHORA without being able to explain either what it was or how I came up with it.
RE: SB. Dang. But that's close, and a) some days are simply not your day and b) practice makes perfect, or at least able (on good days) to get to 0.
@Lyn-2:55
Well, yes there is/are. Kind of like a hairband. Purpose is about the same: maintain symmetry and keep the boys from being squeezed by the legs. Also, a bit up front and not personal. Great while wearing yoga pants. And while doing yoga for the above reasons.
Choco taco rhymes for about half the country.
For me con and Caan are the same also!
@J-Dip 414pm Thank you! I must have conflated the book with the contest. D'oh.
@Eniale, re SB: as Barbara S said, practice makes (well some days) perfect. I have greatly improved in the last month. Up til recently I would only get QB maybe 3 or 4 times a month. Now it's more like 3 or 4 times a week, and I recently had 11 QBs in a row!
[SB td: 0. Last word was the first alphabetically, which is odd because it's fairly common.]
I hope I am in the real world and it rhymes for me. Looks like Trey agrees.
Add another to the list for a record Friday time today.
I would challenge Rex that more people under 40 (or even 50) working the puzzle know SANSA than ANKA. At 55 SANSA came easier to me since 1960 was 6 years before I was born but GOT was in the last 10 years, and in my lifetime 'Puppy Love' was more popular by Donny Osmond (which still dates me)
@Nancy 12:07. Partly right, but really I was just poking light fun at Rex who as gone on similar rants about puzzles with less alleged masculine content than we got today.
But I'm not opposed to wokeness, which as I understand it is being aware of and sensitive to prejudice and discrimination, something we all should shoot for. The media, as it does with everything, has circulated endlessly examples where that sensitivity was by many people's standards overdone. But I don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. I wish I were more aware than I am.
And sorry this reply come so late - power outage.
@DGD - well, that's sort of my point. Pronunciation varies regionally so don't use it in your cluing.
anyone can have a bachelorette, just like anyone can be the bride or groom, or neither. i just don't understand rex's weird virtue signaling with that or with the distaste for GOT when just a few days ago he was singing the praises of sixteen candles. sashes are popular with any kind of party - we got one for my gramma on her 90th birthday, along with a tiara! :) (she turned 91 last month and we brought it out again.) my friends had one that said "that girl" which got brought out at parties (and was definitely not ~gender exclusive~) - whether it was a good or bad thing to be crowned "that girl" for the evening, well, that's up for debate ;)
didn't know ANKA and had to google that to see I RECKON SO, but otherwise finished swiftly for me on a friday. the only reason i've ever even heard of paul anka is because of gilmore girls, but i don't know any more than he was a singer. couldn't even say if he was still alive or name one of his songs.
used to love DOUBLE DARE and all those types of shows on nickelodeon growing up - wild and crazy kids was a favorite, as were guts and legends of the hidden temple. ah, the good ol' days for a 90s kid :) actually sat for a taping of DD when my parents took me to disney when i was 8. we got to taste slime beforehand - it was a green applesauce concoction, not bad!
kind of a weird clue for KRIS as aside from taking the name, she was definitely never part of the jenner family. SIXES before LIMOS and ONE before GO A. is WIRE a tube? not really, but it inside one, so i'll let it slide. after an easy thursday i was ready to be tripped up by & unprepared for a friday but it seems like we're getting the week off. (famous last words, i'm sure.)
@THE FIVE LAKES HERON & others - born & raised in RI and living in boston for the past 20 years and it rhymes out here. CHOCK-O TOCK-O would be the phonetic translation :)
Lately I can almost perfectly predict Rex’s reaction as it will be the opposite of my own. I thought this puzzle was just blah. No sparkle, little wit, just mostly straightforward clues. And among those that weren’t, UNDERWIRE for “boob tube” was just sophomoric. Heh, heh, let’s make a funny about women’s underwear. It doesn’t even make any sense since an underwire bra isn’t a tube and the fabric tube encasing the actual wire isn’t what anyone refers to as an underwire. Bad cluing just to misdirect from television. Bleh.
@Z perfect explanation of "why should i" - i thought the same thing. maybe rex should try it on someone who asks him to do something and find out for himself ;)
ps, GHOST STORY before SCARY STORY. no? just me? ok :)
pps, whenever i hear a CHUCKLE, i can only think of this: https://youtu.be/bkijphlNSxA
must be nice to avoid a TV show you deem, personally, too “rape-y” because it makes you uncomfy, while the rest of us live it 🙃 oh well, sansa’s fine with the rest of us
Not bad. Aimee is a regular on the New Yorker Magazine’s crosswords where she puts out great stuff. I love to do the New Yorker puzzles (even more than the NYT). They have a stable of really excellent regular veteran constructors including Patrick Berry and Robyn Weintraub. Always themeless. They run three times a week - Monday, Wednesday and Friday - with Monday being the hardest and then getting easier on Wednesday and easiest on Friday. You can check them out for free and then there’s a paywall after about four times in a month.
https://www.newyorker.com/puzzles-and-games-dept/crossword
Ha! Single-letter DNF. Had pASS, which fits the clue well enough; as to the name going down, I had no idea. PANSA looked at least as good as SANSA.
Still, a few remarks, if not a score. Not sure "Absolved" = EXEMPT; that one wrinkled the OLD nose. DOD can NOT be KRIS. How about Kyra Sedgwick, "The CLOSER?" Or...almost any member of the LPGA.
The solve was Friday-easy except for that one miscue. Some BADASS entries.
BADASS SASS
KRIS SAYS she needed DOUBLE UNDERWIRE,
instead of ASNAP up INFRONT,
[HELL, KRIS is A HUMONGOUSly BAD liar,
IRECKON she’s A real (SASSy ONE)].
--- RON ANKA
I remember back in the ‘70s when you could get some really ‘fashionable’ polyester SANSAbelt golf trousers with that phony belt fastened INFRONT. Now that was a look.
Liking 58a RON.
@spacey’s onto something with any or all of the LPGA.
Finished this one in ASNAP.
Yes - 'twas ASNAP here, too. And thanks for that SANSAbelt memory, @Rondo. The world is always waiting for the next bad look. Anyone for a $300 pair of Nordstrom ripped jeans with your Christmas sweater this year?
Must. Look. Up. CHOCOTACO.....really? Just sounds like a bad combo of two good things.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for fashion trends
A good Friday puzzle.
Not easy-peasy or ASNAP, but a medium Friday, except in the more challenging SE : Had PRiMED and ViNA instead of PREMED and VENA, and reached out and GOT SANSA.
It's ONE G of course, not O NEG, but liked parsing it that way anyway.
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