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German physician who coined the term animal magnetism / THU 12-2-21 / Shoe with decorative patterns / Performance artist portraying male characters / Historic Bay Area neighborhood with a 600-square-foot rainbow flag / Representative Bowman first male member of the squad / Papal collection overseen by a bibliothecarius
Thursday, December 2, 2021
Constructor: Rebecca Goldstein
Relative difficulty: Medium
Theme answers:
- 17A: Circadian rhythm regulator (INTERNALCLOCK) / 5D: Australia, once (PENALCOLONY)
- 26A: H.S. course that might have a unit on the Harlem Renaissance (AMERICANLIT) / 11D: Papal collection overseen by a bibliothecarius (VATICANLIBRARY)
- 55A: Hawaii is famous for them (VOLCANOES) / 25D: Largest French-speaking city in North America (MONTREALCANADA)
A mezuzah (Hebrew: מְזוּזָה "doorpost"; plural: מְזוּזוֹת mezuzot) is a piece of parchment called a klaf contained in a decorative case and inscribed with specific Hebrew verses from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4–9 and 11:13–21). These verses consist of the Jewish prayer Shema Yisrael, beginning with the phrase: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord (is) our God, the Lord is One". In mainstream Rabbinic Judaism, a mezuzah is affixed to the doorpost of Jewish homes to fulfill the mitzvah (Biblical commandment) to "write the words of God on the gates and doorposts of your house" (Deuteronomy 6:9). Some interpret Jewish law to require a mezuzah in every doorway in the home except bathrooms (which are not a living space), laundry rooms and closets, if they are too small to qualify as rooms. The klaf parchment is prepared by a qualified scribe ("sofer stam") who has undergone training, both in studying the relevant religious laws, and in the more practical parts i.e. carving the quill and practising writing. The verses are written in black indelible ink with a special quill pen made either from a feather or, in what are now rare cases, a reed. The parchment is then rolled up and placed inside the case. (wikipedia)
• • •
The real star of the grid, however, is the fill, particularly THE CASTRO and DRAG KING—a powerful 1-2 queer qombination. I just watched Barbara Hammer's documentary "Audience" last night, in which she interviews actual audiences at screenings of her movies around the globe to get a sense of their expectations and reactions. The first part of the film takes place in San Francisco, so THE CASTRO was (at least tangentially) on my mind. By the way, the film later moves on to Montreal, which is in Canada.
No real difficulty today. I had no idea "The Squad" had expanded, or was an official thing, so JAMAAL was new to me. I wanted Mendelssohn to write maybe OPERETTAS (?)—I briefly thought that answer (which turned out to be OCTETS) might be part of the rebus. I've never seen MESMER clued in a way that didn't refer concretely to hypnotism (or "mesmerizing"), but I guess the "animal magnetism" concept is part of that—not knowing that, MESMER was weirdly hard for me. I wrote "I READ" (!?) before "NOTED" (69A: "Copy that"), and then, hilariously, I wrote TSAR (?) and BOAR (!?) before BEAR at 68A: Symbol of Russia. I know the term BROGUE but was clearly not clear on what they actually ... are, exactly. Luckily Jennifer EGAN's name is very familiar to me, so I didn't struggle with BROGUE for too long. I did, however, trip over the "how do I spell that sound?" conundrum at AAH (54D: Contented sigh). Also, earlier, I got hung up on and then stopped to document what I consider a paradigmatic kealoa*, which ironically involves not KEA v. LOA but:
 |
| ALOT v. ATON |
What else?
- Dollar is an alternative to AVIS in the rental car market (10A)
- The House is the counterpart (or "mate") of the SENATE in Congress
- L'ora della siesta = siesta time! (TRE = three)
- "Bestie" (24D: Bestie in Bordeaux) is slang for "best friend" and not, as my brain originally processed it, some kind of dog breed (like a Yorkie ... or a "Westie"!!! That's where my brain was glitching! Glad I figured it out).
 |
| West Highland Terrier, aka "Westie" |
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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112 comments:
Much less troublesome to me than a typical Thursday rebus. Two corrections: THE hAight before THE CASTRO at 4D and GOmER before GONER at 52D. Other than those, smooth Thursday sailing.
Rebecca, you had me at [Too, for one] for ADVERB, a brilliant and PUCKISH clue never used before. You clinched the deal with your clever theme, where, through a fair amount of the puzzle I was trying to remember what NACL was – something I knew deep down but it just wasn’t surfacing – and so came a fireworks “Aha!” when I uncovered SALT.
And here in a debut, you added such quality answers to the NYT canon of answers: AMERICAN LIT, DRAG KING, INTERNAL CLOCK, VATICAN LIBRARY, PENAL COLONY, and THE CASTRO. Most impressive. Also admirable, to my constructor’s eyes, is the skill it took to pull this grid off.
Two remarkable debut puzzles – yesterday’s and today’s – and the future of our glorious pastime looks all the rosier. Congratulations, Rebecca, on your debut. Thank you for the wow, and, selfishly, I hope to see more from you!
The hockey team is the Montreal Canadians, so Montreal, Canada seems like something that could go in a grid.
Does anybody track the frequency of debut puzzles? It seems to me that over the last 3 months, a third or so of the puzzles have been NYT debuts. I do not recall this blog commenting on debuts at a rate like this in the past.
As for the puzzle, my initial run through (late last night) was rebus-free, but there were things that did not completely make sense to me. I had AMERILIT (like britLIT) as a shortened version of AMERICAN LITerature, and could not make sense of the theme revealer since I was only missing 3 letters in the answer for VATICAN LIBRARY, and NACL obviously has 4 letters. Insert dope slap here.
The AAHa moment came when I had VOLOES, realized that the only word that could fit there was caNOES (doesn't Hawaii have out-rigger canoes?) but Hawaii is not famous for them, and I realized that CAN would give me both answers. (BTW, Rex, I have heard people refer to MONTREAL as MONTREAL, CANADA although I would agree that it is superfluous.
Best clue today was "Australia, once", as I had forgotten its history. Best answer today was DRAG KING, a new term for me.
Enjoyable puzzle. What caught my eye was that there were only 3 rebus answers, and I expected something in the ITSSOSAD-SALTSHAKER crossing area. Kinda shocked that Rex did not lose his Skittles over that. Must have had a good day yesterday.
Thx Rebecca, for this terrific Thurs. challenge! :)
Tough+. Another 2x avg. solve.
The only iffy spot was the JAMAAL / CASTRO cross.
Enjoyed every minute of this battle.
@Barbara S. 👍 for 0 yd
@Eniale (6:08 PM yd) 👍 for 0 Sun.
Good to have company in the land of 'ur', tho I'm guessing we'd be in the minority, at least on this side of the pond. lol
___
yd 0
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Liked the trickery - agree with Rex that it kept me intrigued until I got to the revealer. MONTREAL, CANADA said no one ever - I thought all of the themers and overall fill was pretty flat - and early week tough. VATICAN LIBRARY is rough as is PENAL COLONY.
Liked the clues for SENATE and CO-SIGN. My dad wore BROGUEs - I’ll pass. A lot of this was SO SAD.
Enjoyable Thursday theme - but left too much on the table.
VOLCANOES bothered me a mite, as all the other themers split the NACL letters across two words, and even did so consistently between the across and down answers.
Also, AhH is a contented sigh; AAH is what the doctor has you say.
Those nits aside, a nice job and learned something new in DRAG KING.
I found it a little too easy except for AMATI, MARE, IRONIC crossing, which stymied me.
It's actually the Canadiens
Really nice puzzle! Got messed up in the SW because I had Ike instead of ABE so that corner was a train wreck. Definitely a lot to like here!
Some are trying to boot Bowman from the squad because he voted for funding for the Iron Dome and he visited Israel. Put in JAMAAL with no crosses but if you’re not a political junkie a freshman Congressman with no legislative accomplishments seems unfair.
It is probably a reliable sign that you have a winning puzzle when the biggest controversy of the day (so far) is whether it is appropriate to include the country that a certain city is in. Wow, tough crowd !
I would have thought there would be more of a side-eye toward Hawaii being famous for VOLCANOES (and yes, I know that the view from Haleakalā is spectacular - especially the sunrise) - but it seems like Hawaii is famous for so much more (although VOLCANOES would probably be in the top ten [maybe the top five?] - so close enough for CrossWorld I guess).
MESMER seems like he is on loan from a Saturday and AMATI, while tough (for me at least) is a valid Thursday-appropriate bit of trivia. All-in-all seems like a tight, challenging Thursday rebus. Good effort Ms. Goldstein !
Yeah, it’s MONTREAL, Quebec, so not a huge fan of MONTREA(L CAN)ADA. I can’t wait to hear Frank Sinatra sing “New York United States.” Really rolls off the tongue.
But that’s my only nit and it is only a nit. This was a fine solve and the rebus felt easier than usual to suss out. I’ll be curious how it played out for new to rebus solvers.
Also, let’s be clear, this is only a NYTX debut, not an actual debut. Goldstein has published elsewhere. I don’t keep old puzzles around, but I saw the byline and my expectations rose, so clearly they have done puzzles good enough to at least register as a pretty good constructor.
Laughed at the appearance of MARE after yesterday’s Mayor debate (to recap, usually two syllables when said alone, but only one syllable when said in front of a name (like Mayor Pete)). @burtonkd - I can look at what Rex wrote and think, “oh - he must be hearing ‘ayer’ as a single syllable.” I would not have tried to convey that sound the way he did because I, too, would read that as two syllables. But upon reflection I have heard those four letters as a name pronounced just like “air.” @TJS - I was with you until I read what M-W had to say, tried it out myself, and said “Damn, they’re right. Who knew?” Although I also hear it as sort of 1.5 syllables, not a distinct two MAY-OR, but still a suggestion of a second syllable. I don’t know how to convey that succinctly in writing.
I did this on paper last night and it was a medium difficulty straight forward rebus puzzle. With my slight dyslexia that first rebus looks like something I would come up with if I were actually trying to write out the unscrambled symbol. When CANL appeared next I thought it represented some unknown different compound (not a STEM person either.) The revealer and the third one cleared that up easily.
I don't read our hosts' comments but I do glance at times (always note the difficulty rating.) This "kealoa" term caught my eye. Today's puzzle had at least 6 that I noticed. Of those only LATINX/LATINA, IKE/ABE and LOSER/GONER reached the write over level. Initially the SW corner looked to be tough but RUDE, BEAR and VOlcanOES dispelled the illusion.
yd -0
Yesterday morning I had a surgical repair of a supra-umbilical hernia. Besides from still recovering from my L knee revision, I now look like I have two belly buttons.
@anon 8:07 - JAMAL has some good options, JAMAAL not so much. I would normally inveigh against crossing two proper nouns at a vowel, but there is only one real option there. JAMeAL, JAMiAL, JAMoAL, and JAMuAL just don’t work. JAMmAL might, but a vowel is needed. Looking at the other crosses, a tough clue on JAMB, a foreign language word, crosswordese RIA, and two theme answers, so JAMAAL may be a real stickler for some solvers.
@mmorgan - Hand up for ike—>ABE, but I sussed out the tricky ADVERB clue and fixed it fairly quickly. I also went open ARea before open ARMS.
Caught the rebus right away, or at least the letters, and then went bouncing around and wound up in the SE, where SALTSHAKER was readily apparent, so went back looking for shaken NACL and yep, there it was. Wanted AFRICANLIT, uh, no, and the SW took forever thanks to IKE (hi @mmorgan). Very little acquaintance with fancy shoes and was pretty sure there was one that started with a K of which I was unaware. At least I've heard of BROGUES. Thanks ABE.
I didn't mind seeing MONTREALCANADA simply because it evoked many memories of visiting that delightful city. Baseball at the old Jarry Park, complete with the bilingual announcements, Old Montreal, the view from Mt. Royal, can't wait to get back. Makes me want a smoked meat sandwich.
Congrats on the NYT debut, RG. Some Righteous Goods here. Hope to see lots more from you, and thanks for the fun.
Technically TECHNICALLY... there are Montreals other than the one in Quebec. We have a couple in the US, in Missouri and Wisconsin, since we love to reuse place names. No one's likely to confuse which one is meant by the clue, but to be fair and truly accurate you would specify "Canada" or "Quebec" to make it explicit.
Great puzzle, I was close to figuring out the rebus but wasn't quiiiiite sure on it until the revealer. Very nice fill and good crosses for the trivia stuff!
BTW, Chicago,Illinois...Miami,Florida...Detroit, Michigan...etc,etc.
I didn't know the Morrissette song, so I thought it might be IRONICally and involved in the rebus; then I thought the collection might be the VATICAn books, with the rebus there. I did sort it all out, but was still frustrated that the rebused letters were in random orders. But then, the revealer! And everything was beautiful.
Ayanna Pressley is my Representative, and before that was my City Councillor, so I'm on many mailing lists for The Squad, and got many emails about JAMAAL Bowman before he was elected, which was a big help.
@Dave, me too for wanting canOES. I once spent a very pleasant evening in the bar at Duke's Canoe Club on the beach at Waikiki, read all about Duke Kamehameha on the menu, and so was willing to consider that. But that ADVERB sorted it all out.
Isn't there a lawsuit pending about whether KIX can dictate to parents which cereal they should approve?
Erm, @TJS, that comment is not amusing, helpful, or welcome. Please take it down.
Enthusiastic thumbs up for this puzzle. Glad Rex likes it, too. Agree with @Zy in that my first thought was Quebec, not Canada. Not an issue. Hope you keep on constructing NYT puzzles, Rececca.
Rest up and get well soon, @puzzlehoarder.
If you google David Lindley Down in the VATICAN LIBRARY you can find his listings of what is in the esteemed establishment. David doesn't allow much of his music on the internet. Spotify and the like has some. One version you might find in the google is on MYSPACE. A couple of verses are left out but there is some nice kazoo playing. If anyone can post a link to the version on Big Twang please do. It's a nice companion piece to Tom Lehrer's and Pat Sky's Vatican songs.
Wonderful division of shaken salt in the the answers. VOLCANOES is only one word but at least the salt covers 2 or 3 syllables. Hard to believe there isn't a MONTREAL somewhere else.
I was lucky enough to see Lindley in the opera house in Jim Thorpe PA, as if there is another Jim Thorpe. I saw the Drag Kings in Milton PA (which has a Shakespeare Avenue). They were part of a concert that was barely legal and would not have passed the breakfast test here, but it was fun and in the evening.
Dollar is a car rental company. Totally forgot and I think I rented from them once in Arizona. No idea why AVIS. That and MARE sure made SENATE a pain. CIO-RIA didn't exactly jump up at me either. CIA-RIO would seem better.
With Rex today. A worthy rebus Thursday. I am happy.
My solve was the opposite of Rex’s. I moved through the puzzle relatively easily, wondering, “Where’s the Thursday trickery?” Got the revealer before I got any rebi, before I even knew there were any. Realized that NACL must be involved, saw MONTREAL, CANADA and then found the other two quickly. I didn’t even get the “SHAKER” part of the clue until I came here. Wondered if there was any reason for scrambling letters. Duh. Seeing that made me appreciate the puzzle even more.
Regarding “kealoa,” another that always gets me is ACME/APEX, which was in both today’s and yesterday’s, one of each.
Anyone else think Strad before AMATI but reject it because there was no “for short” in the clue?
Lots to love in the puzzle, like THE CASTRO and DRAG KING and PENAL COLONY. I’d love to read more about what Australia was like when it was being colonized by penals. Was it just a den of white people robbing and killing each other while the horrified Aboriginals looked on and wondered “who ARE these people?” (Yes, I know they were the ones mostly being robbed and killed, and I’d like to know more about that, too.)
One thing I didn’t like was being reminded of Alanis Morissette’s god-awful IRONIC, in which not a single example she sings about is actually ironic. Rain on your wedding day … good advice you didn’t take … traffic jam when you’re already late. Just unfortunate, not ironic. Isn’t it ironic that a song called IRONIC has no irony in it?
Is it too early for a MINTy mojito?
Enjoyable. Never got too hung up. Minor snags with ROGER for NOTED (“Copy that”) based on the O and the E, MONS for MARE, and got worried about tutting two As together until I thought of JAMAAL as a name. And the BROGUE corner went in a little slow since I have never heard of them. But every time I would slow down, a piece of the clever clues would reveal itself to my brain and allow me to progress. Nice debut.
Market Street is the main street here in San Francisco. Castro intersects it near its west end. That intersection is where the immense gay flag is. It must be very light because it is almost always flying.
Nice coinage by Rex. Kealoa.
I guess that we say "Chicago, Illinois" because it's fun to say, not for identification.
Nancy is the only person here who loves rebuses as much as I do. My only criticism is that there are only three of those lovely squares today.
Very, very clever! Loved it! And I dread reading the comments of all of you who struggled with how to enter NACL in all its various twists and turns on a gadget.
Heck, I didn't even bother my pretty little head with how to enter the rebus manually, in ink. Once I figured out the trick -- I needed to go directly to the revealer and get the SHAKER of SALT SHAKER, blurting out "Aha!!!" before I even filled in SALT -- I decided any entry method that I understood would be just fine. So I have PECOLONY -- with a heavy black circle around the "C". In my head I know that's NACL in one of its incarnations. In fact, that heavily circled "C" is in all my rebuses, come to think of it. But it could just as well be a heavily circled "N" or "A" or "L".
Look, you don't expect spatially-challenged me to do all that complicated spinning of letters, do you?
I just learned that NISSAN makes a car called a Leaf. Imagine that. Strange name for a car.
Note to Rebecca: texting during a conversation is indeed RUDE. Very, very RUDE. Not just "to some". To all.
A very, very nice Thursday. A treat, in fact. As good as (though not better than) chocolate mousse. Only because nothing is better than chocolate mousse.
@puzzlehoarder (8:24 AM) 👍 for 0 yd
🙏 for a speedy recovery! :)
___
td pg -3 (timed out)
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
If this is the great Rebecca Goldstein, author of The Mind-Body Problem et. al., thank you for your incredible novels and this puzzle!
A heads-up for tomorrow: Will Nediger and I have a puzzle appearing tomorrow (Friday) in Universal Crosswords. That's the online puzzle edited by David Steinberg. It's open to everyone, so if you just go to Universal Crosswords, it'll come right up. Best of all, there's nothing to download. This particular venue has a headline for each puzzle, even for puzzles containing a revealer. If you can possibly avoid looking at the headline before you solve, you'll find the puzzle quite a bit harder and enjoy it more.
Nice 'n easy. I was prepared to accept INTERCLOCK until I reached the VATICAN LIBRARY and its perhaps unlikely fusion with AMERICAN LIT and then knew what to look for in the other rebus squares. Like @Rex, I enjoyed the surprise of the reveal - and the trip from the PENAL COLONY to THE CASTRO to MONTREAL to Hawaii's VOLCANOES.
Re: PENAL COLONY - I highly recommend Robert Hughes history of the founding of Australia The Fatal Shore.
Really struggled with this and appreciate it more in retrospect. I was just blind to the NaCl concept. Died in the NE corner.
See @Nancy, first sentence, and can someone please explain that again. Not using the phone app, just the link in the paper online.
So that held me back. But I'm especially disappointed because NaCl by the McGarrigle Sisters of Montreal, Quebec is one of my all time favorite songs. They have beautiful voices and wicked senses of humor. I highly recommend it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AePQM3rgBCk
A sampling of Nacl, a love song.
Just a little atom of chlorine
Valence minus one
Swimming through the sea, digging the scene
Just having fun
She's not worried about the shape or size
Of her outside shell
It's fun to ionize
Just a little atom of cl
With an unfilled shell
But somewhere in that sea lurks
Handsome sodium
(I won't spoil the end for you.)
Hey All !
Figured out the Revealer before getting any rebopodes, so that (thankfully!) aided in my solve. Then got the INTER(NALC)LOCK one, but had it in as NACL. Scratched the ole head, seeing that it wasn't working out correctly, then reread Revealer, and actually had an 'Aha' moment, chuckling while saying, "Ah, the NACLs are 'SHAKEn!'" Fixed it, and all was well.
Thought the SW one would be one square up from where it was, seeing as how that was the two Longs crossing. Did originally want VOLCANOES for that answer, but too long. Actually wanted alohaS there. Har. Hawaii Is famous for alohaS, no?
Never knew there were DRAG KINGs. Where's their TV show?
wAll for JAMB doing an awesome job of messing me up over there. Never heard a lunar plain called a MARE. If it's on the Dark Side of the Moon... (wait for it)... is it a NightMARE?
Cool Double-Y in SAYYES. Why does clue for AWAKE have a 'say' in it? Was thinking AWArE because of that. Which would've made DRAG rING, which could be a Den of DRAG KINGs. Dang, I'm on fire today! 🤣 (I amuse myself!)
An ACME sighting hopefully will bring an @ACME sighting. Now someone has to put LOREN in a grid to get a @LMS sighting. I can only do so much... 🤪
yd -3 should'ves 3 (Dang it)
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
Thanks @Carola -- you answered my question posted above about where to read more about the PENAL COLONY.
Great puzzle but do any other online solvers find rebuses annoying when trying to figure out the order of letters necessary to get the "happy music"?
What a perfectly awful year you're having, @puzzlehoarder, health and surgery-wise! Annus horribilis in the words of Queen Elizabth. I wish you a speedy and complete recovery from all of it and a coming year that will be pain-free.
This puzzle needs another drink. Waiter!
Hands up for ???CANOES
rOgEr for NOTED ("Copy that"). This led to LOg as a great PLACE to PARK it in a park.
It's been nice to have a little run of classical music lately with the fabulous Mendelssohn Octet after the Bach piece yesterday.
@Amy, 8:51. I didn't find Rex' "star of the grid" comment to be amusing or helpful either. Is that our new standard ? But you did say please, which I appreciate. Anyway, the mods must have read your comment before I got to it and acceded to your wishes.
I'm a little bored with the "It's queer, so it's great" Pavlovian response. Both are definitely solid answers, as are many others.
Oh, and the puzzle still sucked. Am I allowed to say that ?
@Schuly - Your Rebecca Goldstein is 70. Based on the picture at xwordinfo.com this Rebecca Goldstein is not.
Regarding IRONIC the song, Merriam-Webster has a nice little explanation of the technical meaning and how people like F. Scott Fitzgerald (in their example) and Alanis Morisette and the hoi polloi tend to use it. I, of course, was amused by the irony of citing Fitzgerald for the a situation that is strange or funny because things happen in a way that seems to be the opposite of what you expected meaning because I suspect irony purists are the sort who love Fitzgerald. (BTW - you need to scroll down to see their discussion)
Thanks for clarifying ;)
Great theme, but this one kicked my butt all over the grid. If I were more mature I probably would have put it down last night and solved more this morning, but neither the RIA/JAMAAL nor the MARE/AMATI crossing were ever gonna land for me. Add in my conviction that "copy that" was "Roger," and I walked away with my biggest DNF in ages.
Jamaal Bowman happens to be my House Rep, so it was an easy one for me.
Good fun puzzle with a nice rebus and great long down answers. Played about right for me as a Thursday.
I didn't like the clue for Internal Clock. My dad was actually a scientist who studied Circadian Rhythm and my brother won the Science Fair grand prize studying it. I was trying to put in HYPOTHALAMUS, but that obviously wasn't working. Looking through Wikipedia, there is an entry for Circadian Clock, but no mention of INTERNAL CLOCK.
I will also put a vote in favor of MONTREAL, Quebec. I guess MONTREAL, CANADA is a place, but I never hear it referred to that way. Same with Edmonton, Alberta.
@anon 10:01 - you can just put in the first letter in the app, and it will fill in the rest at Happy Music time.
@Zÿ Fitzgerald fan here. I tend to think that's Irony. If you work for a pay off of $5,500 and then realize that the profit was $1,500, then that's "a situation that is strange or funny because things happen in a way that seems to be the opposite of what you expected."
ABE vs. IKE was my "kealoa" today.
@Anonymous 10:01, I guess I don’t find getting the rebus letters in the right order anymore annoying than getting the regular saguaros right since that is part of the puzzle.
@Nancy, by “spatially challenged” I’m guessing you mean that because you do the puzzle by hand in the ACTUAL newspaper, you don’t want to cram itty-bitty letters into the rebus squares? If that’s the case I’m sure we are all spatially challenged!
I had a momentary D’OH hang up today where I stupidly ignored the singular/plural agreement and tried to put in BETRAY[AL??]. I just felt sure there was a fourth rebus I had missed. Thing is, I didn’t EVEN figure it out until I gave up and decided to put SALT in as a rebus and the puzzle flashed complete as soon as I plunked in the S. Good grief…what a dunce!
@Nancy (9:50 AM)
Thx, Nancy, looking forward to it! :)
@JD (9:58 AM)
Love the McGarrigle Sisters. Thx for the link; unfortunately, it led to a 'Video unavailable' announcement. Here's a link that worked for me: Kate and Anna McGarrigle perform Kate's song "NaCl" on TV Ontario's "Studio 2" (July 23, 1997). Performing with them are Michel Pépin (bass) and Joel Zifkin (violin).
___
td pg -2*
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Easy-medium. I got the NACL rebus pretty quickly and “shaker” theme shortly thereafter, so I knew what was going on before I hit the reveal. THE haight before CASTRO was my most costly misstep. Fun Thursday, liked it. A fine debut!
I may have damaged Nancy’s Wall beyond repair today but I’m hoping it’ll bounce back.
@Nancy (9:50) Thanks for the heads up about your Universal publication. I hope you’ll post another reminder tomorrow as I may not be AWAKE enough to remember by then.
@Z, I’m totally on board with everything you said about “irony” and I don’t get bent out of shape with “ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife.” I looked up examples of situational irony and I doubt there are few times any of us come upon it in its traditional sense…ie. A fire station burns down.
Yep. CANOES and ROGER... and tENAnt for SENATE. Never got to the rebuses (rebi?)... not enough crosses to even see them. My worst puzzle in months. Brutal. More than 50% wrong or blank.
Thanks Rebecca for a great rebus Thursday. Enjoyed everything about it except fighting the NYT software; paper solving would have been better. Barely got to BEAR like OFL. & whiffed on ikE before ABE, but DRAG KING saved me.
@DAVE:
except in Montreal they're the Canadiens.
not to mention: do the wiki thing, and you'll see a slew of MONTREALs. so there, OFL. initially, I just guessed that had to be true (just as there are lots of Springfields and Middlefields and so on here in the USofA). but I checked.
have I mentioned that rebus puzzles are lower than whale shit? in the Marianas Trench. takes a while to fall to the bottom; whales don't live at that depth, just some grotesque eyeless fish. no light, no eyes.
This was a great puzzle & I got the theme right away. I only wish I had been able to finish it.
Yes, a lot of debuts lately (Trey @ 6:59 am) so I'm not able to get into their heads (miss you Erik Agard & Robyn Weintraub!)
But I guess I'll get to know the newbies too. Welcome!
Fun challenging puzzle, though I thought it could have used a little more SALT. Kept expecting a fourth themer and was disappointed when it never showed up. Really liked the revealer, however, and the fact that each rebus was a different combination of the same letters.
4D was a gimme since I lived in THE CASTRO for a few years, but DRAG KING is a term I have never heard before. Does that mean there are also Drag Princes and Drag Princesses?
Because my lost cause was a LOSER and because I was searching for a specific performance artist name and because I didn’t know that a BROGUE could be a shoe as well as a way of speaking, I had a DNF in the SW. (IT’S SO SAD)
In my acting days, I played the title role in Chekhov’s hilarious comedy THE BEAR (Tolstoy called it the funniest play ever written) about an inept and frustrated landowner who keeps accidentally breaking the furniture and other things while trying to collect a debt from the mourning widow of a man who had owed him money. If you ever get the chance to see it (or Chekhov’s other hilarious comedy “The Marriage Proposal”) you won’t be disappointed.
Apt ThursPuz theme, since them rebus squares often seem to shake up yer solvequest, until U finally suss em out.
I was pretty sure when I had 5-D at PE+...? that it would be somehow referrin to Australia's penal colony past. That ended up bein what eventually gave up the theme mcguffin, at our house.
fave stuff: MINERAL [theme-o-rama extra]. SAYYES [cute double-Y]. DRAGKING [cool new-to-M&A drag royalty].
No idea on only a few items, namely: THECASTRO [tried THECASBAH, unknowinly]. JAMAAL [altho sounds slightly vaguely familiar]. EGAN. IRONIC, as a hit tune title. But, always nice to learn about some new stuff.
staff weeject pick: This puz had 4 weeject stacks. fave was KIXETAREM, goddess of kickin & tarrin.
Thanx to Rebecca Goldstein, for the salty ThursPuz. And congratz on a mighty fine debut.
Masked & Anonymo1U
**gruntz**
My favorite posts this morning.
Rex (first time)
TJS (8:28)
Nancy (9:39)
@puzzlehoarder (8:24)
A supraumbilical hernia
Caesar had on campaign in Hibernia
"My surgeon, he mauls.
He's much worse than the Gauls.
How I long to see my sweet Calpurnia."
@bocamp, Thanks for the help!
I really liked this puzzle. The rebinuses were a great idea that worked out superbly, and the fill was wonderful. An article in the New Yorker a few issues ago about human energy and mitochondria had a bit of info on MESMER and his notion of “Animal magnetism.”
Sort of cool that LOT and SALT met up again so many years after the problem with the wife. I also liked ACME crossing ARMS, as a sort of Wiley Coyote tribute.
@puzzlehoarder. Sorry for what you’ve been going through. I’m getting my right knee replaced tomorrow, so I may be out of action for a day or two.
Thanks for a great NYT debut, Rebecca Goldstein.
I admit to loving this puzzle. Now I have to consider if NaOh could be used in the same manner as the rebus square. But what would the revealer be?
Thought that the write was one of the best I've read till I got to the Montreal part. I agree with the general idea (I come from Yonkers NY not Yonkers USA according to the Post Office) but perhaps I felt the complaint went on and on for a bit too lng.
Trey: The NYT recently hired a bunch of people meant to help Shortz expand the world of the NYT crossword. This may account for the increased number of NYT debuts. (Hopefully I put that in a way that would satisfy Z.) And remember this. Not all comments pass muster. The moderators do censor some, as I personally know. There may have been some discussion of the number of reviews, but those comments (for whatever reason) may have gotten the banishment routine.
@JD (12:17 PM) yw :)
@egsforbreakfast (12:27 PM)
🙏 that all goes well with your surgery.
td pg -1* (a niner to go) 🤞
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Robert Hughes exhaustive but entertaining “The Fatal Shore” a good history of Botany Bay and environs.
The first NALC had me thinking SALT so I imagined the revealer might involve mixed SALT, which isn't really a thing. So the revealer was a pleasant surprise.
I join those with __LCANOES who wondered what three letter descriptive word for Polynesian CANOES we were looking for, har.
DNF at JAMAlL/RIl. :-(
I missed the mark a tad when my mezuzah was on the door instead of the JAMB but the Tori Amos MINT mojito rescued me.
Rebecca Goldstein, lovely puzzle. Congratulations on your NYTimes debut.
@Nancy, I'll have to make a note of your Universal puzzle. My local puzzle actually publishes those!
Hands up for the ABE/IKE issue . . . .
And for some reason I had Jennifer AGEE on the brain, not EGAN.
Note to newbies: when rex says it's "medium," that means it will skew hard for most of us mortals.
Fantastic! Clever, challenging enough, great AHA when the salt hint kicked in.
@egs -- So sorry you have to go through this! The very best of luck to you tomorrow and through your entire recovery and rehab.
@Trey -- The fact that so many of the debut puzzles have been so incredibly good -- this one being a prime example -- means that there must have been a lot of untapped talent out there for a very long time. There's been no compromise in quality as far as I'm concerned. (Yes, there have been PPP-riddled puzzles by new constructors that I didn't like, but that's also been true of plenty of the familiar constructors as well.) But the best of the debut puzzles have been really great.
@Unknown (1:23) -- Aren't you glad that there are only two such presidents?
As a science minded person, I found this theme very poorly executed. The symbol for table salt isn't N-A-C-L. It's one Na (sodium) atom and one Cl (chlorine) atom. No amount of "shaking" can separate the N from the a or the C from the l. The only chemically acceptable alteration would be ClNa.
It seems that this doesn't bother anyone else, but in my mind, this is a far more egregious flaw than, say, the recent complaints about the replacements for "air" sounds not following some sort of progression
Is this the same Rebecca Goldstein who wrote The :Mind Body Problem, one of my favorite novels ever? I saw her speak in San Francisco, and she was gorgeous in a 19th century. Wway. She was already much too envy-inducing, and now here she is with a lovely puzzle. How unfair is life? Oh, and she’s also a philosopher, Just saying.
For some reason, even though I solved it correctly it said I was wrong but i think that's the rebus issue. I hate rebuses. rebii? Anyway I hate them. Otherwise, good puzzle.
Did you know that our INTERNAL CLOCK has a natural circadian rhythm of around 25 hours? It's only by daily exposure to bright light that we get entrained to a 24 hour cycle. That's why jet lag is more intense and takes longer to recover from when traveling from west to east compared to traveling from east to west* and why the Spring Forward time change is more disruptive of our lives than the Fall Back change.
I was mesmerized by seeing MESMER in the grid. He was all the rage in the late 18th early 19th centuries with his theory of animal magnetism. He developed a kind of therapy where people sat in a large tub filled with water surrounded by powerful magnets. A quick net search shows magnets are still being pushed as therapeutic agents although I don't think there's much solid evidence for their effectiveness.
The Classical Latin rebus, by way of or with things, is already the plural ablative of res "thing" so there's no reason to compound the misuse of the term with the likes of rebusitodianodes, et al., not that Classical Latin carries much weight in crosswordworld.
*When I was living in Japan I would take week-long vacations back to the U.S. At first I could hardly keep my eyes open during the day and would be wide awake at night. I would just be getting adjusted to the local day-night cycle by the last day of the vacation. On returning to Japan, it would take four or five days to make that change.
@egsforbreakfast. I hope the surgery for your right knee goes well. (Make sure they don't replace the WRONG knee.)
@Nancy. I was shocked to read that you actually ADDED circles to your grid! I think a pig just flew by.
I'm also recovering from hernia surgery! Mine was hiatal and I had a nissen fundoplication, which basically rearranged my stomach. But since that whole alimentary tract is a tube and not part of me, I feel great! Not really but...have lost 11 pounds in a week on the liquid diet.
Anyway I thought the puzzle was hard. I'm not as experienced as most of you, but I did finally finish in about 85 minutes. I just keep on keeping on! I like when it's a work out!
Thanks for all of the responses on the number of debut puzzles. I have never really paid attention to the names of the constructors, or their respective styles, but I certainly get a lot out of this blog when others point out interesting facts like this to me. Maybe this is something that I can start to look for in the future.
I also like hearing when some of the posters have puzzles being published elsewhere (here's to you @Louis and @Nancy). The best part of the blog to me is reading what people do and do not like about the clues and answers in the puzzles. One of these days, I am going to try my hand at constructing, and will try to make a puzzle with zero crosswordese, POCs, PPP, Naticks or PWNs (or similar "dated" phrases). Or, I will make a puzzle that includes some or all of these ....
@M&A - typo on todays runt clue - A. E. Poe should be E. A. Poe.
I like “Kealoa.” Another one today was 19A, ATON as opposed to AlOt.
Actually: I realize now that ALOT was the exact Kealoa that Rex was commenting on. I was reading fast and thought he was talking about AHH/AAH, which also would qualify.
What you call a sworn promise to never wear anything except Vera Wang couture?
A Veravow.
@egsforbreakfast, thank you and good luck with your surgery.
@Barbara S., it only hurts when I cough, sneeze or laugh but your limerick was well worth it.Thanks.
@Nancy, thanks. I hope your weather is as nice as what we're having here in Chicago.
@bocamp, thanks for the wishes, I'm working on that 9 letter word too.
@amyyanni, thanks.
Ashamed of self for missing out on ADVERB and consequently assuming CANOES might suffice - VOLCANOES never occurred to me, though I did notice CAN appearing close to where the rebus belonged.
Oh well.
Hardest SB I've ever seen, I think. -4.
I got interrupted by real life when I posted earlier and didn't get a chance to wish @puzzlehoarder well in his recovery. And now there's also @egsforbreakfast to send good vibes to. I wish both of you speedy healing. I remember that @puzzlehoarder also had a knee replacement earlier this fall.
What's with the bum knees on this list?
They are wearing out hand over fist
Puzzlehoarder's were first
Egsforbreakfast's have burst
Shouldn't puz-solving injure the wrist?
OK, OK, I promise -- no more limericks. Also wanted to say this was a great puzzle. Enjoyed SHAKing the SALT. MONTREAL, CANADA sounds pretty ridiculous to a Canadian, but then you knew that.
@JD: Big McGarrigle fan here!
@Nancy: Looking forward to your puzzle tomorrow.
SB seems tough today but I've only just started.
This has nothing to do with the puzzle but I just realized today's date is a palindrome! My computer date shows 2021-1202.
Evidently in certain fonts, it's also an ambigram.
In other non-puzzle news, the weather weirdness continues. My town set another weather record yesterday (Dec 1):
Normal high temp: 3 C (37 F)
Previous record high temp: 11 C (52 F)
Yesterday high temp: 23 C (72 F)
It's evidently the highest temp ever recorded in Canada in December. Eerie!
[Spelling Bee: taking a vacation from it; got tired of it.]
Bucking the trend I didn't like this puzzle much. No problem with the salt, but never heard of "The Castro", Jamaal, or the acronym CIO, which I know only as a labor organization of old... Drag king??? Doesn't fit the clue for me.....
So I will remain one, lonely, negative voice....
@kitshef: Thanx. (day-um, I do that every telltale time, with Poe's initials!)
M&A Auto In-Correct Desk
@Gio (2:15 PM)
🙏 for a speedy recovery. :)
SB Stuff Alert:
@puzzlehoarder (6:01 PM) yw
Just got the niner; not a toughie, actually. I was totally overthinking it. lol
@Eniale (6:05 PM) 🤞 for your missing 4.
I'm guessing you know them all (well, one of them, maybe not).
___
td 0*
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
An enjoyable puzzle. I got my start sussing out the business between MONTREAL CANADA and VOLCANOES, and soon after, seeing the revealer SALT SHAKER, my orders were clear. Pace @kitshef, I actually think it takes less imagination to come up with two instances of -NAL + C and -CAN + L than it does coming up with LCAN straddling two answers differently. So despite all the kvetching over MONTREAL, CANADA, I see some merit in it.
I just don't see THE CASTRO and DRAG KING anything to be wildly celebratory about. They're fine. It seems that it's the queerness as such that gladdens Rex's heart. Somehow my criteria for crossword excellence are different.
MESMER, the eponym for "mesmerizing". Reading the Wikipedia article on him, I tell myself not to be too judgmental, but I'll allow that the word "dilettante" sprang to my mind.
@Nancy
The Nissan LEAF is their electricity-powered car, obviously named that way to connote eco-friendliness.
SB: yd I foundered on a 5-letter word I'd never heard, apparently of African provenance and passing through the French. Heavens to Murgatroyd. It's so galling being unable to solve such a short word.
td: 0.
Why is "make definite, informally" ICE?? Google can't even help me figure that out.
Challenging but interesting. Only hangups were the cross at AMATI and MARE, and THECASTRO and JAMAAL (I barely know the name of my own Rep)
I have to agree with an earlier post that Rex tends to laud puzzles with 'Woke' themes too much. Yes, it's a good puzzle for its fill and rebus, but just because a couple clues align with your political/social philosophy doesn't make the solving experience better, just as if an opposing opinion is used as an answer should it ruin your day as it seems to do with Rex. Could you imagine Rex's head exploding if the constructor would have crossed THECASTRO with a Republican rep.?!?!
Hey all, I’m pretty much a daily solver and reader of this blog. Occasional commenter. What happened to our Mr. & Mrs Americans in Paris? They were pretty frequent commenters. Just wondered if I missed something.
@TAB2AB -- As in ICE a deal. You weren't quite sure you had a deal, but the handshake just now makes it definite. You've ICED it.
I call foul on MONTREAL CANADA since it's really Montreal, QC. No one says Philadelphia, USA. Someone probably already mentioned that (was on a work call until a few min ago). Liked the shaken up NACL, seemed just right for a Thursday. Couple of min over avg time, figuring out how to stop Otto Correct from changing the various shakes in the rebus box to actual words, sigh.
@TAB2TAB (8:28 PM)
'ICEing' the victory/game/win is very familiar to me, but you're right, finding evidence of it on Google is hard to come by. Here's an example from YouTube: "Max with a QB sneak for 5 yards to ice the victory".
From M-W:
INFORMAL•NORTH AMERICAN
2. clinch (something such as a victory or deal).
@TTrimble 👍 for 0 td
___
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
@Barbara S. Don’t quit the limericks. I enjoy every erudite post of yours, and the others as well!
Thanks to well-wishers on the knee replacement tomorrow.
I spent quite a while staring at this trying to figure out what I had done wrong because I didn't get the congratulations message. But it turns out all I had to do was put in the extra letters with the dumb rebus button. I thought the missing CAN and NAL were implied.
People do say Paris, France (so people don't automatically assume Paris, Texas). Tokyo, Japan. Montreal, Canada does sound weird - maybe we're all too close.
I think I would be more likely to say "Montreal, Quebec" than "Montreal, Canada."
What the heck is so exciting, this bi woman asks, about queerness in any crossword puzzle? Maybe you gotta be a dude. I liked seeing The Castro as I lived in The City for awhile, and definitely knew drag king, but I didn't get, like, amped up. I don't know.
My newspaper has Will Nediger as the constructor not Rebecca Goldstein. Again, another novice constructor. Again a mediocre offering. Three weak theme elements that do nothing to enhance the solving experience. Where is the editor lately?
Never in my life heard of THECASTRO until filling it in on crosses this morning. No, there was no way I could "work my way down and let the revealer reveal;" things were making no sense whatever up top, so I had to hunt for the revealer location, try to solve the downs there, and come up with something that would, hopefully, open my eyes. That's what I did, and it did. It was one of those "Oh I see now" things. Once I had the mcguffin, it was actually easy for a Thursday. Made me use a few extra axons & dendrites, though, getting to it. That's what you want. Birdie.
HATE the rebi - all rebi. Death to the rebi.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
And @Spacey - I did already have THECASTRO - a well-known part of San Francisco, in the puzzle when I gave up to find out what kind of *** rebus was going on.
PENAL EXAM ANGERS, OAR SAY, "AAH"
IT'SSOSAD how IT goes,
she BETRAYS me for LESS,
IBET for him ALL THE 'NOES'
long AGO became 'YES'.
--- JAMAAL CASTRO
Distasteful, agenda infested, rebus filled mess.
One may have to go through SFO to get to The Castro to see a Drag King performance . . ..
Which does nothing for me as far as puzzle content.
Do not like rebi. Today included. Irritating.
This rebus puzzle is doable but not really well put together, IMO.
The SALT (NACL) idea works, but what about the SHAKER? It really doesn’t add anything to the revealer.
I find the puzzle here and elsewhere a bit perplexing.
@thefogman, as does my paper. Again.
Knowing I've resided in the largest French-speaking city in North America for 70+ years now, 25D certainly threw me for the proverbial loop at first. Once the reveal became clear, I was far LESS confused but am now considering changing my moniker to Waxy in Montreal, Canada to avoid confusion with Montreal, Wisconsin (pop. 807) and the 5 villages in France called Montreal. Taking solace that unlike our Australian commonwealth partners, we were never a PENALCOLONY.
Actually really enjoyed solving this puzzle especially sussing out the rebus entries. Thought 36A "Does dirty" might yield a SALTy answer keeping with the theme but was BETRAYed. Never heard of THECASTRO which complicated the NW. Wondering if a JAMAAL JAMB or even a JAMAAL JAMBalaya could become something edible. Probably TOO RICH.
Merde. Time to sweep the BEAR off the ICE here in the frozen tundra before my AMIE visits.
Okay, from a resident of the great state of hockey, no one who follows the NHL calls the Montreal hockey team Canadians. Its Le Habs, short for Les Habitants. Now I can sleep.
Also, while I realize that no one will ever read this, my definition of ironic: How do you make your God laugh? Make plans.
The puzzle was a good trial for this solver, the SW slayed me. Could not let go of canoes.
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