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Climber's belaying device / TUE 12-14-21 / Outed maliciously online / Military helicopters colloquially / Flag symbol seen twice in this puzzle's grid / Virtual citizen in popular video game franchise
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
Constructor: Tao Platt
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Theme answers:
- SWEDEN (25D: Its flag has a yellow 61-Across)
- NORWAY (32D: Its flag has a blue-and-white 61-Across)
- FINLAND (30A: Its flag has a blue 61-Across)
- DENMARK (48A: Its flag has a white 61-Across)
A GRIGRI (often styled as GriGri) is an assisted braking belay device manufactured by Petzldesigned to help secure rock-climbing, rappelling, and rope-acrobatic activities. Its main characteristic is a clutch that assists in braking under a shock load. The success of this device has led to grigri becoming a common name for devices of this type. [...] The GRIGRI works by pinching the rope when it is moving quickly (like in a fall), making it an assisted braking belay device. This function distinguishes it from traditional belay devices such as a Sticht plate or an ATC, whose braking mechanisms depend entirely on the user controlling the rope in a specific manner to increase or decrease friction. Inside the GRIGRI, the rope runs along a cam; the cam allows the rope to pass if moving slowly but rotates when the rope moves more quickly, blocking further movement by pinching the rope against the inside of the device. (wikipedia)
• • •
A lot of labor goes into producing this blog every day (Every. Day.) and the hours are, let's say, less than ideal (I'm either solving and writing at night, after 10pm, or in the morning, before 6am). Most days, I really do love the writing, but it is work, and once a year (right now!) I acknowledge that fact. As I've said before, I have no interest in "monetizing" the blog beyond a simple, direct contribution request once a year. No ads, no gimmicks. Just here for you, every day, rain or shine, whether you like it or, perhaps, on occasion, not :) It's just me and my laptop and some free blogging software and, you know, a lot of rage, but hopefully there's illumination and levity along the way. I do genuinely love this gig, and whether you're an everyday reader or a Sunday-only reader or a flat-out hatereader, I appreciate you more than you'll ever know.
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I'll throw my Venmo handle in here too, just in case that's your preferred way of moving money around; it's @MichaelDavidSharp (the last four digits of my phone are 4878, in case Venmo asks you, which I guess it does sometimes, when it's not trying to push crypto on you, what the hell?!)
We went back and forth on whether she should add more black squares to make the grid look more plausibly fillable (that's a Lot of white space), but in the end we decided not to crowd the jumping (or hanging?) Olive with more black squares, and instead just to leave the card as is, with the idea that the cats are exploring a grid that is ... under construction. Anyway, this card is personally meaningful to me, and also, I believe, objectively lovely. I can't wait to share it with snail-mailers (and oh, what the hell, if you are a PayPal / Venmo donor and you want one too, just say so in the message). Please note: I don't keep a "mailing list" and don't share my contributor info with anyone. And if you give by snail mail and (for some reason) don't want a thank-you card, just indicate "NO CARD." Again, as ever, I'm so grateful for your readership and support. Now on to today's puzzle...
• • •
Alarm bells went off early when I hit ERSE before even getting out of the (tiny, easy-to fill) NW corner:
That is the kind of crosswordese you absolutely banish from your grid if at all possible, and here it is in a simple corner, crammed in with somewhat less egregious crosswordese ORC and NSA. This is not an opening gambit to inspire confidence. And this time the alarm bells were not a false alarm. There's inexplicable AMIE in one tiny corner, inexplicable ORA in another. I know I'm starting with the small stuff, but it's the NYTXW, they should be sweating the small stuff. The small stuff is part of the puzzle, treat it with respect. Polish it, craft it, care for it. Don't just go "well, worked for 1996, works for me." It's depressing. As for the theme, those tiny black-square formations don't evoke much of anything. I guess that is what the crosses on those flags look like, but they look like ordinary black-square formations such as you'd find in any puzzle, so weird to build a whole puzzle concept around them. I did not know NORDIC CROSS was a term. Is NORDIC ... some NORDIC language for "tipped over"? I know of the Maltese Cross and the Southern Cross, but this one is new to me. Not hard to get, just new. The arrangement of country names is oddly asymmetrical, but since they're interlocking, I guess that's how it had to be. FINLAND is not always considered part of SCANDINAVIA, but sometimes it's included in a broad definition with ICELAND and the FAROE ISLANDS, and since the theme is really the cross on the flag, not the region, it's fine. Lots of places in the region feature the NORDIC CROSS on their flags, including the aforementioned ICELAND and FAROE ISLANDS, but the countries in the grid are the four largest, so you couldn't call the grouping arbitrary. Overall, the theme is a bit of a shrug, but it's not bad, and the cross symbols do add a layer of visual interest (however faint) and cleverness. It's really the fill where things go (ironically) south.
Honestly, there were only two things about this puzzle that left an impression when I was done, and neither of them was theme-related. The first was GRIGRI, which, LOL, what? It's Tuesday, where in the world is this term coming from? It was just a bunch of random letters to me. The last time GRIGRI was seen in the puzzle was twenty-five years ago, about two months before that famous CLINTON/BOBDOLE puzzle, and then it was clued as [African amulet]. This is truly not a Tuesday answer. But it's a colorful new (to me) word, so while I don't think it's Tuesday-appropriate, it's not a major offense. What is a major offense is the second thing about this puzzle that left an impression on me, and that is head-shaking, "what the hell?"-eliciting repetition of LOW. You've got LOWNESS on one line and then GO LOW ... on the very next line? How, why, what are you doing? I had LOWNESS (27A: Feeling of dejection) in place when I got to 37A: Play dirty, so when that answer started GO my thought was, "huh, well, it can't be GO LOW, because LOWNESS is already in the grid, so what could it be?" But ... It Was LOW. Just ... repeated. Baffling. Two LOWs in a grid shouldn't just set off alarm bells, it should shut down the production line. You can't do that. Your ERSE AMIE ORA stuff, that's just ugly. But LOWNESS / GO LOW is unprofessional. Genuinely, flagrantly bad form.
DOXED is an ugly concept, and, more importantly, it's spelled with two "X"s, not one so DOXED manages to be both off-putting and in error. Fun. (18D: Outed maliciously online)
British ENTHRAL is just absurd, but not hard to get. Otherwise, there's not much more that's noteworthy about the fill. I gotta write two exams today, and while that might partly explain my mildly irascible mood, it doesn't explain all of it. That LOW dupe was a real LOW point. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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100 comments:
Yeah. GRIGRI. Who hasn't heard of that?
Well with a PPP-based theme you're gonna have a high percentage, so why have so much of it in the fill?
I found it a little gristly for the Tuesdee, at least some sections. Overall, it was serviceable with no extremes to speak of. More's the pity.
This comment brought to you by LIL Geisel's GREENE EGGIEST HAMM - it's STY-STEWED! Serve it with a Pinot GRIGRIo to CURIE what ails ya. Available now at Z's P&T.
Enough of this nonsense.
🧠🧠
🎉🎉
I use REVEAL when I don't know a cross square and can't make a reasonable guess. Three of those today. Japanese beef crossing some damn online slang, actor Jon H__M crossing a video game character and a foreign word. Kinda rough for a Tues. but otherwise liked the puzzle.
DETER repeat
MIA HAMM
EGGIEST??
GRIGRI?
ergo~OGRE
Thank you, debut constructor Tao, for bringing me to the subject of the Nordic cross, which I don’t believe I’ve ever thought about before. You whetted my appetite to know more, so I took a mini plunge into the topic, and what I learned feels worthwhile, something I’ll remember. There was even some lovely trivia, such as:
• Greenland is the only Nordic country without a Nordic cross.
• Vexilology is the study of flags, and one may be a vexilologist.
• The flags of Little Rock and Portland (OR) feature Nordic crosses.
Because the Nordic cross was out of my wheelhouse, even after I had NORDIC filled in the reveal, I wasn’t sure what would follow it. Now I can cross that knowledge gap out!
I liked GORE crossing its anagram OGRE, and it hit me that WONK backwards, appropriately, is “know”. I also learned GRIGRI, which I think I’ll remember because it’s so playful sounding.
Thank you for the brain-awakening experience, Tao, and WTG on your debut!
The last time I was rock climbing, I threaded the rope improperly in my belaying device and I injured my GRIGRI. Fortunately, my KENKENs were not hurt.
Really nice debut! Never realized all those countries' flags were so similar.
Rex, you gotta learn to relax!
Oops. Yeah, big ditto on Rex's Two-LOWs-Too-LOW rant. How did that not even register with me??
Never mind - don't answer that. 🙄
Not similarly mifed on DOXED, but now I can't unsee/unhear the long O .
Oh, for cryin' out loud! Here I've been wondering why I've never heard of KOBE beer, just KOBE beef and then I read @Anonymoose 620am.
Blind and Dumb - my attorneys (Hi, @JD!), representing my life. 🙄
(A) kealoa of eye rolling so far...not a terribly auspicious start to the day.
Too many PPP answers for my taste but I did love WONK
Easy for me. Set a PR, and felt like it could have been faster. Had Sweeet before SO DOPE. Paused at ETH__ - ETHIC or ETHos? Another kealoa. I learned that the NORDIC CROSS is nearly ubiquitous in flags from that region, and had never appreciated that when seeing the flags individually or mixed with those of other non-Scandinavian countries (like at the Olympics). I liked how two of the countries crossed on each side of the puzzle. It would have been more interesting if all 4 could have crossed, but that would have severely increased the complexity of constructing the puzzle, and would have taken the mild asymmetry to complete asymmetry.
@Lewis 6:38 - maybe Rex is a "Vex-ologist"?
@Frantic 6:15 - Seems we were on the same wavelength in a way - My first thought on GRIGRI was that it had to be some sort of slang for a white wine. Loved your take on Dr. Seuss in the puzzle.
I agree with @Rex on a few significant points - DOXED should be DOXxED. GRIGRI is not Tuesday material. I am not sure that KENKEN is either. I like these puzzles, but when I talk to co-workers, almost none of them have ever heard of them, even though almost all have heard of sudoku.
There are a number of different ways people use the term SCANDINAVIA, none of which includes the exact set of answers used in the puzzle.
Then you’ve got GO LOW and LOWNESS both in the grid, and in consecutive rows no less.
And NORDIC and NORWAY both in the grid, and both part of the theme no less.
And a proper name crossing not one but two bits of terrible slang (ESSEX/DOXED/SO DOPE).
Oh, and an Italian word crossing a proper noun that one person in fifty will know.
Themer asymmetry, with NORWAY’s counterpart being SO DOPE, and SWEDEN’s being AL GORE.
In short, this thing is a mess. Should have been rejected for GRIGRI alone.
I know what you mean by questioning whether Finland is part of Scandinavia, but what's at issue isn't Scandinavia per se, but the Nordic countries. The two are not the same: Scandinavia is a geographical region, but the Nordic countries are a cultural phenomenon. So Iceland, for example, is not Scandinavian, but it is Nordic. Trust me on this: I kept slipping up on terminology when I lived in Sweden, and they were politely insistent on setting me straight.
R.A.
Cute early week theme - fill fell a little flat. Some oddball adjacencies - ELOPED/SO DOPE, SIM/SAM, GRI GRI/RIG etc. Some new trivia for me but easily gotten. Liked the center stack of DETER/COMET/CURIE.
Didn’t love seeing the great GREENE near Warren clued as a writer.
Enjoyable enough Tuesday solve.
THIS "BIG BANG THEORY" CLIP IS FUN
My favorite clue today was "was in a state of suppressed agitation" for STEWED. Those poor little potatoes and carrots swirling in the pot and just suppressing all their upsetting thoughts.
Happy Tuesday!
GRIGRI and DOXED are the obvious outliers today, I just filled in the crosses and hoped for the best.
The cool thing about today’s effort is we may be witnessing the Times embracing the concept of a Shortz Shorts section (a mini-section of the puzzle crammed with PPP, foreign and/or made-up words). Today it is in the far SE - a tiny 4x4 homage containing ORA, SIM, SAM and HAMM. I had no clue on the actor or the video game, and didn’t feel like entering in random letters, so I had a subset of a technical DNF (i.e. a “Trivial DNF”) - ah, to be done in by a trivial cross on a Tuesday - Tis the Season !
If MIA had been clued as "retired soccer great Hamm," could you still have actor Jon HAMM there in the last across?
Flag fun on a Tuesday is a welcome offering. Actually used the theme for some of the answers, which is satisfying. Also liked the crosses in the grid.
Climber here - I knew grigri right away but hesitated to put it in because it is so obscure for a Tuesday puzzle.
I actually knew GRIGRI as the African talisman. Imagine that.
@Joaquin. Ouch. I hate when that happens.
Gotta hit the road.
Nice piece of construction, TP. Some people are just Too Picky. Thanks for the fun.
You know what the world needed? No no, not another TGGCQC. A vexillology based theme! Who hasn’t wondered why Kylo Ren’s light saber became the universal flag symbol of SCANDINAVIA. Yes, it’s true, the Skywalker clan are indeed the historical ancestors of vikings.
I’m so relieved that we have a new definition for GRIGRI. The repetition of “African amulet” every 25 years was getting tiresome.
The constructor is from South Africa. Maybe they spell things differently there? Still, DOXED did not ENTHRAL me.
@Troubled by DETER’s clue yesterday - The clue today implies the same “same root as ‘terror’” sort of meaning.
@Anon/R.A. - Reminds me of the Great Midwest Debate (if your state is entirely west of the Mississippi you are not a midwesterner). Which makes me wonder why SCANDINAVIAns don’t want to be associated with other NORDIC people. Probably a light saber thing.
@Kitshef. Please note that the puzzle does not conflate NORDIC with SCANDINAVIA. The only use of NORDIC refers to the CROSS. The puzzle avoids (evades eludes) saying that the 4 countries are one or the other.
DOXED and DOXED are both acceptable spellings.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dox
Thx Tao; very nice Tues. creation! :)
Med+.
Moved smoothly from WONK to HAMM, altho had to come back up to guess at the CHANG / GRIGRI cross.
New to me: WONK, CHANG, ROBERT, GRIGRI, PERSIST, NORDIC CROSS, GREENE, HAMM, SO DOPE, SIM. Fair crosses once again come to the rescue, even tho the 'G' at 9D was a guess: nothing else seemed right.
Lots of crunch in this one; enjoyed it a lot! :)
@jae
Got totally wiped out in the Cali section of Croce's 667. Overall, this was a very hard puz, esp the NW and SW. Still, enjoyed the battle and look forward to bouncing back next Mon. See you then. :)
@albatross shell
🙏 for a speedy and full recovery! :)
___
yd pg -1* (hi @Eniale)
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
“Mildly” irascible? If you say so, Rex. Like you, I look forward to having those exams behind me.
In the Jewish version, the Nordic cross is replaced by the Nordic mezuzah. And there's no grigri -- You shouldn't be up there! You'll give your mother a stroke!
So "Nordic" is the latest word/term Rex had never heard of? Or was it just "Nordic cross"? (These are not things you necessarily want to announce proudly.)
Then again, I had never heard of Grisgris. Got it from the crosses.
It looks like 'dox' can be spelled with one or 2 'X's.
So THAT'S why yesterday's puzzle got POW.
Wow. Two crossing kealoas today: ETHic/ETHos and HURRAh/HURRAY. I waited on both to fill them in. (I really love this new coinage, Rex!)
We do not, so far as I know, have a P.F CHANGS in NYC. We have instead a very famous P.J. Clarke's. So this, crossed with the unknown names NEVE and ROBERT, plus the absolutely mysterious device called a GRIGRI, made this section of the puzzle both difficult and annoying for me. But I prevailed.
When you're feeling sad, you might say you're feeling low. But are you suffering from the odd malady of LOWNESS? Me neither. I wrote in SADNESS and I bet you did too.
A well-constructed symmetrical theme in a well-constructed symmetrical puzzle. The theme interested me not at all, but it didn't bother me either. It was just...there. GRIGRI on the other hand...
It isn't the eggs that make an omelet rich, it's the butter and cream. Bacon perhaps.
Well I feel like I’ve had my geography class for the day. Also my biology lesson as I learned that an EMU is only outranked by its cousin the ostrich. I also learned GRIGRI and KENKEN, neither of which I’ll be using anywhere in the foreseeable future but what a lovely parallel PAIR they made. Also new was DOXED/doxxed which sounds like the epitome of LOWNESS to GO that LOW.
TREE PINE seemed weird …. Still the fact that I’m much smarter for having done this crossword is SO DOPE! Thanks for the education Tao Platt, and congrats on your first NYT publication. Truly a debut nice.
Off now to get a shot in the arm. Why? you might ASK. Because it may help DETER this obscene virus which continues to PERSIST in perpetuity.
A lot to laugh about today. But not the solve. I would encourage new constructors even when I don't like their work. Without any positive feedback, they could just say good-bye, which would be unfortunate.
So spare me the belaying device but keep on plugging. You will hone your skill and your puzzles will get better.
One thing that encouraged me: the country names were not esoteric (my reaction), so I would say my basic response to the puzzle was a happy one. Hopefully the the NYP's performance of The Messiah at Riverside Church today will bring a smile to my face. Too much of this holiday season bums me out.
@Joaquin (6:46) 😂 Try ice for your GRIGRI and don’t DWELL on your mistake. Thank goodness you had your KENKENs well in hand. [How ‘bout those Chiefs!!]
@Diane Joan (7:38) I had the same thought but then realized the similarities between the veggies and the process of STEWING about something. I kind of understand how they feel. 😄
@Anon8:28 & @jbh - @Frantic Sloth nailed the issue with but now I can't unsee/unhear the long O . Since the word is a slangified shortening of “documented,” thus pronounced like “doc” (and “dock”), spelling “conventions” suggest a doubled consonant when made into the past tense version. For example, “coned” v “conned.” Being slang it’s hard to argue that any particular spelling is incorrect, and besides English,* but going with DOXED suggests a writer a) has never heard the word, b) doesn’t know that it’s derived from “documented,” c) is unfamiliar with American spelling conventions, and/or d) loves chaos.
*That is, pick just about any spelling convention in English and there are as many exceptions as examples that follow the convention.
Hey All !
I've actually heard of (and amazingly remembered) GRIGRI. Seriously. I know the word. I think I might've put it in a puz I made once. It's a fun word that's easily rememberable.
Saw the Blocker "crosses" right away, even going as far as saying to myself, "Huh, funky crosses in the middle." But then the ole brain decided to go back to idiocy, after reading the Revealer, saying, "Wait, there's 4 countries in here, not 2." The Brain works in mysterious ways. (Especially mine.)
Kind of odd that SWEDEN and NORWAY aren't symmetrical. Was wanting ALGORE to be a country. Har. Accent on the E. Al-GOR-A. But that would also make SODOPE a country, also accent on the E. See my silly mind?
Solution for Rex's agita about NW corner:
AMOK
DIVE
SCAN
Boom! 2D drop. 😁
IVE gotta GO (LOW)(NESS)
yd -5 should'ves 3
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
@Whatsername (9:19) - Re: The Jefes.
I like to say, "It's only a game." But it's so much more fun when they win; and it's way more fun when they kick the snot out of the Raiders.
Ah yes, PJ Clarkes. We used to call it "home of the 10 dollar burger", but that was in the 70's, so God only knows what they are getting for one now.
Agreed : going with "doxed" and "enthral" just means neither the creator or the editor gave a damn.
POW for the Monday effort ??? OMG ! Are we heading for new depths ?
I guess "enough of this nonsense" doesn't mean what I thought it did.
and/or d)...@Z is that one a them emoji things ?
Well....I'm afraid this wasn't meant to be liked by me. I would never give an "F" to anyone cause, well, I don't believe in FAILURE but...this got the dastardly "D" for "dang, this WONK of a puzzle needed some CURIE on the EGGIEST soufflé's I've ever eaten."
But did you like anything? you ask. Well...I like FRERE. Why? you ask. Because my AMIE, @Leapfinger AKA "Jete" popped in yesterday and I miss her tons.
Anything else? you ask.....Not really. Too many names... and when I look at GRIGRI all I can think of are STEWED GRITS sitting on a PINE TREE with AL GORE.
Like most of you, I found GRIGRI a bit bizarre for a Tuesday.
Otherwise, only seconds off my Tuesday record, so pretty easy overall. .
I've never heard of SODOPE
I've heard THATSDOPE. Or THATSSODOPE.
DOXED and DOXXeD are both accepted in the Spelling Bee.
LOWNESS and GO LOW not an issue for me. Don't usually notice these so-called faux pas, and when I do, I'm reminded how 'rules' are in a constant state of flux.
Possible spoiler below from yd's puz for those who solve after the publication date:
Re: BRIE LARSON
Thx to all for the 'Room' movie rec. Will watch on Gem (Canada) after listening to the audiobook (hi @okanaganer (12:36 AM yd). Thx to @Eniale (7:43 PM yd) for the book rec. :)
___
td 0 / yd pg -l and tabbed for later today. Still working on the missing 6er from last Wednes.
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Hey, it's DETER week here in the crossworld. If the Ukraine-Russia tension continues we may need to revive that concept in global politics.
Anyway, I'm Norwegian (at least, if you think of it patrilineally), and I've never heard of the NORDIC CROSS either. I'll have to ask my sister, belongs to the Sons of Norway. But I did know that all those flags featured the same cross in different colors, so that was an easy guess. And while FINLAND is neither located on the Scandinavian Peninsula (but neither is Denmark) nor ethnically NORDIC (it's Finno-Ugric, not even Indo-European), the clues are just about the crosses, not the countries themselves. So I accepted it in the end.
@Nancy, I had the same feeling about LOWNESS. I had already ELOPED by the time I got to it, so I didn't put in anything else, but I still waited for all the crosses.
"Rapper ___ [pick some name]" is a wonderfully variable clue. I haven't decided if that's good or bad.
Personal POW to this puzz for the hilarity it's brought out in the commentariat.
@Frantic's, GREENE EGGIEST HAMM (Geisel's treatise on harassment). Thank you my little GriGri, MWAH!
@Liveprof, "You shouldn't be up there!" (Oh, please go blue with that name and post often)
@OffTheGrid, I never really understood what was funny about The Big Bang Theory but I do now.😂
To paraphrase @Gill, you ask why I DNF. Because two weeks into retirement I remembered the American Bar Association (a phrase I've typed over and over again on two different websites) as the American Lawyers Association (the deterioration begins) And guess what, it's not even a real "bar association." It's just an association lawyers pay to join. So to review, there's no Roaert Pattison.
I enjoyed this Wednesdayish puzzle. But I would like to hear @chefwen comment on eggs adding richness to a souffle. Isn't their job to add volume?
Hats off to the constructor his creativity in turning an unpromising (to my mind, at least) idea - national flags - into an engaging theme. Like @jberg 10:11, I'm "from there" and knew the flags all had the same CROSS but not that it was called NORDIC. Nice to learn. And a nice touch of grid art with the two extra crosses.
Help from previous puzzles: ESSEX. No idea: GRIGRI, ROBERT.
Are you experiencing lowness because you got doxed again? Try a hamm sandwich with a side of greene grigri and a cup of hot kenken. It’s an old Scandinavian curie-all that will lift that nordic cross right off your back.
Loved the Nordic cross map! Fun idea for a puzzle where we get to learn something on a Tuesdecito.
GRIGRI perilously close to Grogu, PPP coming to a puzzle near you soon, if not already. I suspect this is the same technology employed in seatbelts that grab if you pull them quickly.
Today is one of those days where Rex sets that bar at "no complaint too insignificant" and we get a SAM PPP complaint when clued with Uncle___. KENKEN has been featured regularly in the NYTimes games section online where you find, say, the crossword; also, the same page in the print edition.
I was happy to remember DOXED, although apparently not the correct spelling.
The countries CROSS each other. DENMARK/SWEDEN and FINLAND/NORWAY. So those are also NORDIC CROSSES. This is a nice added detail to the theme that appears to have been unnoticed by most.
@ Z, @Anon8:28 & @jbh - @Frantic Sloth
I don’t understand your difficulty with “DOXED”, since the 1-x and 2-x spellings are accepted in the numerous dictionaries I consulted. As to the “spelling conventions” and “pronunciations”: how do you pronounce “boxed”, “coxed”, “(out-)foxed”? No long-o’s to be found. Those long-o sounds are appropriate in “coped”, “doped”, “moped”, etc. because the present tenses all end in the final -e, which regularly occurs in English.
The fact that yesterday's weak puzzle was Jeff's POW doesn't necessarily mean that the rest of this week's puzzles will be crappy. Solving enjoyability isn't a big part of his award.
I'm trying to remember how I came to sing FRERE Jacques so much as a kid. I still remember the lyrics in both languages. Are you sleeping, are you sleeping, brother John, brother John? Morning bells are ringing, morning bells are ringing, ding dong ding, ding dong, ding.
Ho, hum. Very little sparkle and 21 threes.
GRIGRI certainly seems egregious, but on the other hand I didn't really notice it until this write up as I got it all on the crosses. EGGIEST and LOWNESS and one-L ENTHRAL are not my favorites. I did like the theme, though.
Tuesday personal best for me on this one. It's long been engrained in me to understand that Finland is not included in the Scandinavian countries (and it is quite separate from the others -- the language is completely different and related to Estonian and Hungarian as a Finno-Ugrig language, plus all the Scandis I knew have reminded me Finland is not Scandinavian, but included with the Nordic countries), so that irked me a little bit. Norwegian, Swedish, and Denmark are all related languages with some mutual intelligibility among them. Wikipedia tells me that Finland is included in a broader definition in English usage, so I guess the answer is cool. That's okay, as it didn't slow me down a bit, as I was plopping down answers before even fully processing the clues. That said, while it is true the clue for SCANDINAVIA does not explicitly tie the countries listed in the crossword spots with it, its position on the grid in a thematic spot does indirectly tie them together, IMHO.
I agree that DOXED is an oddball spelling for "doxxed." I've only seen the latter in print (and, yes, I've seen it used many times.) On the other hand, the past tense of "box" is "boxed," and "outfox" is "outfoxed," so why isn't it "doxed"? Seems like it should be.
@JD - Egg whites add volume to a souffle. Egg yolks add richness. That holds true with pastries and noodles, too. If I want to make extra rich spaetzle, for example, I add more egg yolks to the whole eggs I already add. So perhaps "eggiest" is not necessarily the most precise answer.
@mathgent, Maybe I remember Frere Jacques (and things like Anorak from the Eskimo Song) as being in our big songbooks throughout elementary school. I'd forgotten about how much I enjoyed the days when the music teacher came into the room, blew into the little pitch pipe and taught us those little ditties and seasonal songs. Another thing my children didn't have that was such a nice part of a simpler, more innocent childhood.
@Mary McCarty - You're right, of course. And from your list of examples it really looks to me like spellers do not like to double up the X when creating a past tense. I'd hazard to offer a "spelling rule" to that effect, but then somebody would probably jump in with eleventy-seven exceptions to the offered rule. Or maybe it's an old versus new thing because the newish term "anti-vaxxer" gets the doubled X. Man, do I love spelling!!!!
@TJS - Are you implying that my offering was purely an attempt to cause chaos? Because before I hit "publish" I did wonder if a certain somemous would immediately leap in to "correct" me even though I didn't actually assert anything was "wrong."
Hey, I’m always glad to add a little volume to your soufflé.
I’m not feeling a ton of highNESS over this puzzle, but it was certainly better than some have given it credit for. Especially once you see that the NORDIC countries clued do actually CROSS.
From my 68 year old vantage point, it seems like rock climbing has slipped in under the radar and that a large proportion of those under 40 are practitioners. I have definitely heard of GRIGRI just by osmosis from kids conversations.
How do you get to Grand Central Station? EXIT the Terminal and GOLOW.
Thanks for a nice debut, Tao Platt.
Cool country crosses and flag theme, built into one rodeo.
Like @RP, I thought the fillins coulda maybe have been improved on slightly. But I had fun solvin it, anyhow.
Some stuff that I didn't know, and chewed up some precious nanoseconds: GRIGRI. DOXED. SODOPE.
… No biggie, if they misspelt somethin (like DOXED) I didn't know, tho.
Some stuff I didn't know, but kinda guessed right: ROBERT. ESSEX.
Weeject stacks in all four corners. Staff weeject stack pick: ORA-SIM-SAM. Like I was sayin, this could maybe be improved on a dash -- this here stack, with: ORE-SLY-SOS. Or somesuch.
That LOW-LOW repeater was also noticed during the M&A solvequest. Did not alarm m&e, but knew it would probably alarm a certain someone. har
M&A has been to Denmark, Sweden and Norway, in our many travels of yore. Luvly countries. Great salmon meals in Oslo. Superb little inn to stay at in Jyllinge, Denmark, also. Tough car navigation challenges, in Stockholm.
Thanks for the nice flag day, Mr. Platt dude. And congratz on yer debut.
Masked & AnonymoUUs
weird but xmas-ish:
**gruntz**
LOW twice in the same puzzle?
Medium. I learned something about flags. Liked it a tad more than @Rex did.
My favorite comments this morning.
Anonymous (7:22)
Liveprof (8:50)
Peter P (11:31)
@Z, nope. Just whenever I see an end parenthesis these days, I figure it's involved in an emoji. Feel free to ignore.
Sometimes, I just can't be bothered to engage in the typical penny ante discussions that evolve here - despite their often hilarious results. (See @JD's TGGCQC from yesterday, which I'm sorry I missed!)
Then there are times when I'm chomping at the bit to get involved.
And then there are the in-between times, like today, where I'm happy just sitting on the fence with my binoculars...until I'm baited into re-entry...
So, you can all thank @TJS 952am, ironically enough, for my return.
Because, if you want to get more nonsense, calling me out on a false promise to demur will work every time. 😛
Sure, poke the bear at your peril.
As for the DOXED/DOXxED controversy, let me reiterate that I said I was "not similarly mifed" (a joke on "miffed") about it, just stuck on the long "O". But, hey -- you know what? I'll get over it.
Please refrain from invoking my name as anti-DOXED when addressing this false issue.
I thank you.
Your friend,
Frantic
Mary McCarty,
You win the internet today. You came as close as any person ever has to getting Z to admit error. I don't know how you did it. Maybe its your moxie.
Signed,
your biggest fan
Nordic cross it might be referred to as the symbol on the nordic flags but my Swedish friend, Catharina, (who lives in Sweden with her American husband) told me that the SWEDEN flag does not symbolize a Christian cross but a sword. Given the Viking heritage, I believe her before Wikipedia. Also, she explained the difference between Scandinavian and Nordic countries is that Scandinavia does not include Finland but Nordic countries do, along with Iceland. I see SCANDINAVIA's Wiki explanation qualifies it's inclusion of Finland as an "expanded" definition but purists will object. I'm going with the native Swedish definition.
But I did enjoy the grid "art" because it does represent the included countries' flags.
GRIGRI definitely not in my vocabulary. I blame it for my higher than average solve time today. Now GRIsGRIs, the voodoo amulet, I know from reading Barbara Hambly's Benjamin January series.
Congrats on the debut, Tao Platt.
Likewise, @Nancy, about having to write-over Sadness for LOWNESS.
I thought this was going to be quickest Tuesday ever (I usually go south to north) till I got all hung up over GRIGRI; I guess I don't have any youngish climbers in my acquaintance. Eventually finished with crosses.
And for me it was easily the easiest SB ever. -0 today, hey @Bocamp.
I think it helps to consider why we do double most other letters. To a first approximation, there are three major historical reasons for this:
In Old English, double letters like /ss/ actually represented extra-long consonant sounds. (We no longer have such consonant sounds normally, but they can still happen at word boundaries: if you carefully enunciate "in nations" or "but tides", you'll notice that the "n n" and "t t" sound longer than the "nn" in "innate" or the "t" in "betide".) The doubled letters have survived even though the extra-long sounds did not.
The extra-long consonant sounds tended to correspond to certain other pronunciation differences, some of which still exist (or at least, have evolved in such a way that they're still different). Most relevantly for your example of fixing, Old English had a tendency to use short vowels in a syllable that ended with a consonant and long vowels in a syllable that ended with the vowel; so hop and hopping (pronounced hop and hop- + -ping) would have a short o whereas hope and hoping (pronounced ho- + -pə and ho- + -ping) would have a long o. So the double letters have stuck around, and even been used in many newer words, because they help indicate a pronunciation difference that isn't otherwise indicated.
Additionally, English has borrowed many words from other languages that used double letters to represent extra-long consonants (or that used double letters where there had once been extra-long consonants), and these have tended to reinforce the pattern.
None of these reasons has ever really applied to ; it's always been inherently extra-long, since it's pronounced /ks/ or /gz/, and it's always triggered the same sorts of tendencies as double letters. (For example, it's almost never preceded by a long vowel, though there are exceptions such as hoax and coax.) So while we could certainly imagine a parallel universe where the letter-doubling pattern got extended to just by analogy, it's not too surprising that that hasn't happened in ours . . . yet.
That said, I've noticed that people who oppose vaccinations are often called anti-vaxxers for short. Doxxers too. But these are very recent coinages and made by people who are, frankly, ignorant of English conventions and the reasons they exist. It may yet happen that becomes a normal part of English spelling, at which point perhaps people will start to write fixxing and sexxy and boxxed, and maybe even maxximum and buxxom.
@Z: I'd never heard that states wholly west of the Mississippi River could not be considered part of the midwest. If that's so, my former hometown of Kansas City is not midwestern? Same goes for Omaha and all of Nebraska. And Iowa, as midwestern as they come?
Maybe it's Michigan and Ohio that are not part of the midwest. In the south, those states are considered 'rust belt'.
I'd say they're all midwestern.
CHANGS went right in. Classic mall restaurant, though I don't think it lasted long in our big mall, if it was there at all. Finland is historically a SCANDINAVIAn country, part of Sweden until the Russians took it over in the fight with Napoleon. Even so, it ranked as a Grand Duchy, and not part of Russia proper. It is true that Finnish is not similar to the other SCANDINAVIAn languages, and is closer to Hungarian. But there have always been strong ties to Sweden, and Swedish is recognized as a minority language.
I liked the theme construction, including the NORDIC CROSSes.
FRERE Jacques is a song a lot of us teach our children and grandchildren. You want to start early to create a desire in them to visit France, and the French tend to like children far more than they like adults, when it comes to tourists.
@Eniale, That explains why I got my first QB ever. I thought it was the Cross Gof's way of making up for a Tuesday DNF.
@Peter P, Wish ya hadn't mention spaetzle. The nearest German restaurant serving it is 40 miles away and it's cold outside. I'm trapped with a craving.
I went to the pet store this morning and said, "I want a dog, but not just any dog. I'm looking for a dog with lowness. And I mean maxximum lowness. Do you have any doxxhunds?" "I'm afraid we only have doxhunds," said the proprietor. "Well then, may I ask how low you can go on the price for one of your doxhunds?" I queried. "A doxhund costs three Denmarx and a Nordix crucifixx." "I have a Nordix crucifix," I said, "but no crucifixxes. I can throw in a fin though. Or a Finn. Whichever you prefer."
The proprietor agreed to the Finn, so I paid for and got my doxhund, which I decided to name Essexx, and headed for the exxit. But Essexx said that since he's a low dog, he wanted an anagram of low to play with. "You mean an owl?" I ventured. "That would be so dope," said Essexx. So I got an owl which we named Grix-Grix. Grix-Grix and Essexx are now the bestest pals.
"Doxed" is simply unacceptable. As Rex said, it's "Doxxed." Always has been. If you want to (var.) it, fine. But you didn't, so it's just wrong. Wrong. Rong. Ronng.
@J-Dip 200pm Xxcellent! LOL!
@joe 2:00 -- Hah! Great post!
Didn't know ERSE (Gaelic language) or KENKEN (Logic puzzle ...) so had to vowel-stab there to finish the puzzle. Thought the crosses would eventually fill it for me but that E (crossing ERSE and KENKEN) was not a gimme.
Grigri reminds me of all the time I spent in the woods of Idaho, in the largest roadless area in the Lower 48, rappelling in and out of trees as a bunch of us set up a blockade (errr, hypothetically) to prevent an illegal logging operation while a lawsuit dragged out in court (the logging company knew their actions were illegal but they also knew if they could get their work done before the case was heard, the suit would be moot. We stepped in to stop that :-). Anyway, none of us had such fancy belay equipment; we simply corkscrewed the climbing rope around and between our legs and used that friction to rappel down, using Prusik loops to inchworm our way up. Good times! Nothing like being perched in a tree in central Idaho while a logger is below you, ignoring your cries to stop, that he'll kill you if he continues, and his reply of "they don't pay me to look up" 👀
@Joe D
Good one!
@Joe Dip...Your doxxhunds runneth over. Get one! The Gix-Grix will thank you.
Mods,
Anon-a-Troll 2:47 PM should be permanently banned. His constant bickering, insults, personal animosity and vendetta against one of our more respected and productive fellow posters has worn out its welcome and his largely argumentative posts on a daily basis have no place on this fine forum.
@Joe, THAT was excellent. Maybe a little Steven Wright influence?
@Frantic, Oh yeah ? Well I hate your double "EE" days of the week. That ought to put a stop to that nonsense.
@Jeff B - Ever been to St. Louis? Ever see that big arch thingy? What do people call it? That’s right, not “Gateway to the Midwest.” Iowa? Nebraska? Great Plains states. Missouri? You have more in common with Arkansas than Minnesota or Michigan. No, the midwest is historically and properly only ever the area that was once the Northwest Territory. Anyone else claiming inclusion is just a wannabe.*
@TJS - Ah. Got it. I usually go with emojis rather than emoticons.
@Joe Dipinto 2:00 - 🤣😂🤣
Watching a little Premier League and I’ve noticed the announcers using the term “shambolic.” Just a great term and I plan to use it. You’ve been warned anonymice.
*For anyone taking this seriously, please recognize it is basically a meaningless and arbitrary term with numerous “legitimate” definitions that do not agree with each other. Just how useful is a term that says Sault Ste. Marie, Fargo, Kansas City, and Akron are in the same region?
Another nit to pick: comets don't fly.
@TJS 315pm Yeah! And lucky for you - and only for you and all the other haters - ee's not going away any time soon. As I've said before, I was going to stop, but...well, whaddya know? You, et.al. have forced my ugly hand.
So, buckle up, Buttercup. Nonsense a go-go coming to a commentariat near you. 😁
Oh this is a very, very good blog day.
Per the Cambridge Dictionary:
fly verb (MOVE QUICKLY)
[ 1 ] to move or go quickly:
I never realized that comets are stationary objects. You learn something new everyday.
DOXXED as in foxxed out, boxxed in, fixxed up and forever hexxed. Sexxy and orthodoxxy too.
Of course if you start with the verb DOXX you get a different result.
@bocamp
Thanks. All is doing even better than the first eye which wasn't bad at all. I can see pretty well with just a slight blur in the last eye done. Eyes tire fast and the low winter sun is a bitch even with sunglasses. Also when the print is unclear I have this habit of lowering my reading material or tilting my head back a tad and finding it doesn't help. Wonder how long that will take to unlearn. Can't wait to find how much my ping-pong game will improve.
Thanks to all for the GRIGRI KENKEN NORDIC and SCANDINAVIAN CROSS humor. I was hoping for a SOREN instead of an Immanuel KANT in NOR WAY or the other.
Ok that didn't work but I like it.
Too easy. And I'm not really a hater. Happee Tuesdee to all.
@JD - Spaetzle are absurdly easy to make, as long as you have the equipment. You just need a spaetle maker of some sort (there are two kinds: a "hopper" type that looks like a potato ricer and a "cheese grater" type.) That said, you can also improvise using a flat, coarse grater with holes about the diameter of a pencil, or you can use a method using a cutting board that you can look up on Youtube. I have a grater-style spaetle maker, or a "galuskaszaggató" (the Hungarian name for spaetzle is galuska or nokedli) that I've kept from twenty years ago back when I lived in Budapest. The grater style makers make a teardrop-shaped spaetzle (which I prefer) and the ricer version makes a more noodle-y style spaetzle. You essentially just make a pancake-like batter and push it through into boiling water. Super easy to make, and everyone loves 'em (a favorite dish of my 7- and 5-year-old daughters.) I typically serve them with paprikash or some type of stew.
Is there a Grand Central Station in the Midwest?
Also, why isn't there a mideast......oh yeah, that name was taken.
it's called the midwest just because it's mid to the west. west of the Mississlopy are the (Great) Plains states. in olden times, what is now Ohio was the Western Reserve of Connecticut. I know, hard to believe. there's the Northern Plains, which I guess starts with either Kansas or Nebraska and goes to Canada; what's left is the Southern Plains which goes to Mexico and its Gulf. then there's the Mountain West which goes from the western border of the Plains states to the eastern border of the west coast states.
of course, the Mississlopy headwater is in Minnesota, which is a Plains state. to further complicate matters, the Missouri river, named for that state which is either midwest or South (it was/is slave, after all), has headwater in far west Idaho; Indian Territory back then. they don't have much authority there now.
thus endeth the geography lesson.
@Jeff B - part of Missouri is east of the Mississippi. See here: https://www.semissourian.com/blogs/pavementends/entry/36305
You don't specify whether you are from Kansas City, Kansas or Kansas City, Missouri. If it's the latter, you can legitimately claim midwestern status.
The govmint (census and such) defines Midwest as 12 states:
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
That is of course an official technical definition.
If you just mean central part of the country (mid-west) you might go for any state west of the Mississippi River or Ohio-Missippi River or touching the Mississippi River to the states that are Mountain States. You might exclude Texas and Louisiana on a historical or climate basis. For clarity, sticking with official makes sense. But depending on mood make it whatever is useful for your porpoise or dolphin.
Peter P, I quit cooking after the kids left home. Now I improvised. But I sure wish you lived nearby.
So ... Many ... Names!! To be fair, I knew a few and could get many from the crosses., but didn't know ORA or HAMM in the southeast and had MII instead of SIM initially so that made that corner sticky. Also didn't know WONK or ORK but could infer the answer. GRIGRI came easy from the crosses despite not knowing that term, either.
Amiga, @Frantic. @TJS likes to yank the EEEE chains and he's especially good at pulling a few tendons from @Z. @Z likes a good challenge because his friend is Wiki and we all know Wiki is the godfather of all that is the Gof that is true. Besides, he never gets rattled even though his maracas get played daily.
If you ever give up your EEEEEEE's, I just may move west of the Mississippi (which is in the Gulf of Mexico and Canada in case you didn't know) and eat Spaetzle made with pork and rice.
A Bing search tells me that today has been 2500 days since Feb 9, 2015. That's the first day Burma Shave published a verse on this blog (syndi time for the Jan 5 puzzle). Except for a few times during the beginning of moderation and one day last month, Burma Shave has had at least one verse per day published. But the verse has been *posted* every day. All have been archived.
That's 5 times the number OGDEN Nash had published. And his words were not limited to featuring NYT Xword answers. The BS quality does suffer from that.
Still no word on the book deal,
Hey, @Gilly-fleur 0952,look who just woke up! Hope you won't be soeur for the late response. Shall just cher what Her Lowness was thinking of for ROBERT ESSEX who was [iirc] Master of the Horse when he wasn't riding the ENTHRALing Queen of EngLAND, which bears its own share of flagging CROSSes.
So this LI'L STY-minded solver decided to GO LOW and wonder whether -- like Brangelina or Bennifer -- that SINful PAIR was itemized as BESSEX?
I ASK you.
[mwah]
@jberg, once a ponce de leon long time ago, I did an Agard puzzle themed to all the hiphops and rappers who were LI'L this and LI'L that. It was way above my pay grade at the time, but has oft stood me in good stead since then.
PS: I come in on the Ugric side of the Finno-Ugric PAIR, and have read that there is really no commonality, just a lumping of two isolated orphan. Can't opine, as all that's beyond my KENKEN
Anonymous 3:42 PM said, "I never realized that comets are stationary objects. You learn something new everyday."
Nice snark. Do you believe the Earth, the Moon, the Sun, etc. are properly described as "fliers" since they are not stationary objects?
Loved the theme. But as Rex so aptly pointed out, there way were too many deficiencies in the fill. Outright no-nos. The editor needs to up his game.
PAIR PERSIST (KAN'T CRIB)
In SWEDEN we ELOPE,
in FINLAND it's a SIN,
for DENMARK I'VE got no DOPE
NORWAY to get INN.
--- ROBERT "AL" GREENE
This one has to win the PPP prize. You can't turn a corner without running into...more than one. This is a point of LOWNESS (?!?) for me. "I say, mate, could you LOWNESS a fiver til payday? We'd be ENTHRALed."
Even some non-PPPs were "huh?" GRIGRI, of course filled in on CROSSes--some of them NORDIC--appeared in my Scrabble dictionary as "a fetish or amulet." Nothing to do with climbing. Turns out, via a post-solve Google, that the belaying device LOOKS LIKE a voodoo mask. Go figure. The who;le thing should be DOXED.
And all of this on a TUESDAY!! IT IS Tuesday, right? *Checks calendar* Yeah. And we're calling this easy-medium? You have got to be kidding. I'm thinking how tough it would've been if I didn't just happen to pass by a PFCHANGS on my way to somewhere else recently. It was my way in: certainly not WONK, which was IMO very poorly defined.
Way, WAY too many obscurities and PPPs for my taste, though it did yield the full name of DOD MIA HAMM--each PAIRed with a different identity. Maybe a few points for the theme plus all those countries with the same design on their flags, but I nearly drowned in the surrounding detritus. Anyway, I would outright flunk any quiz on flags. Right up there with rivers. Eye glaze.
Mr. Platt, keep that day job. Double-bogey.
BTW, I saw one of the most electrifying golf shots ever on the 72nd hole of the SONY Open. Trailing Henley by one stroke, Hideki Matsuyama laced a 3-wood some 280 yards to within gimme range for an eagle while his opponent was struggling to make par. (He didn't.) Congrats to the Masters champ!
Having been a SCANDINAVIAn Area Studies minor at one time, this was a cakewalk.
The Mpls. fishwrap had a story recently of a visit by Jon HAMM and what he did when killing time before and afte a football game or some such. And some wonder why we are considered fly-over territory. BTW, HAMM's beer used to be pretty good, when it was made in St. Paul.
HURRAH NEVE.
This NORDIC guy is not CROSS.
Well I very much enjoyed the puzzle, being a Finn and all.
However, my fave part of today's venture was @Spacey's comment, "could you LOWNESS a fiver til payday?" Making the best of a low situation.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
The SCANDINAVIAn theme and its NORDIC CROSS worked well enough, but it was part of the EGGIEST mess of clues, answers, and fill that I’ve seen in some time.
Still, it ended up as a pretty good soufflé.
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