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Hi, everyone, it’s Clare back for the last Tuesday of December. (How is it already the end of December?!) Hope everyone is having a happy holiday season. I’ve always hated this weird in-between phase after Christmas and before the New Year that makes me feel like all I want to do is sit on the couch and watch sports and eat leftovers and just veg out. The stormy and dreary weather in California at the moment is also not giving me any inclination to get off the couch. Luckily, we have crosswords!
And now on to the puzzle!
Relative difficulty: Medium
Theme answers:
- LOG CABIN SYRUP (20A: Food topping used at Abe Lincoln’s birthday)
- COTTAGE CHEESE (28A: Dairy product used at the Seven Dwarfs' dwelling?)
- RANCH DRESSING (48A: Turkey stuffing used at the Ewings' Southfork?)
Habanera (also called Contradanza, contradanza criolla, danza, or danza criolla) is the Spanish and Spanish-American version of the contradanse, which was an internationally popular style of music and dance in the 18th century, derived from the English country dance and adopted at the court of France. Contradanza was brought to America and there took on folkloric forms that still exist in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Panama and Ecuador. In Cuba during the 19th century, it became an important genre, the first written music to be rhythmically based on an African rhythm pattern and the first Cuban dance to gain international popularity, the progenitor of danzón, mambo and cha-cha-cha, with a characteristic "habanera rhythm" and sung lyrics. (Wiki)
• • •
After solving the puzzle, I was left with a general feeling of: Meh. The construction was pretty tight, but I found the theme to be just sort of there. I was so focused on solving that I didn’t realize the beginnings were types of homes until I got to the revealer, and all the realization did was elicit a groan from me. Looking back at the theme answers, one of these things is not like the others… LOG CABIN SYRUP is the name of a brand — it’s not a type of food. COTTAGE CHEESE and RANCH DRESSING are both types of food and not brands. I also didn’t think the revealer tied the theme together all that well — the foods are just so random (and two of them are really toppings), and it all felt pretty bland to me. Even my post-Christmas leftovers feel more exciting than ranch dressing, syrup, and cottage cheese.
The best part of this puzzle was the six 8-letter downs scattered around the puzzle (STILETTO, HABANERA, CLUSTERS, MIND-MELD, CERAMIST, and TAILSPIN). They were nicely spread across the puzzle and served as almost support beams — like three columns with two rows of beams. I liked that construction a lot.
I did have trouble getting HABANERA (6D), as I’d never heard of this type of dance, and I messed myself up by putting a “v” in there instead of a “b” (because I tried to make it “Havana”) and by mistakenly putting “OSU” for 33A: Tulsa sch. instead of ORU. So I had some issues puzzling that one out. I also haven’t heard the word CERAMIST (38D: Pottery maker) used before, but that one at least wasn’t tough to figure out. Lastly, I’ve gotta say that the clue irked me for TAILSPIN — 40D: Bad situation for an airplane — because a TAILSPIN isn’t just a “bad” situation for an airplane; it’s a catastrophic situation from which there’s likely no coming back! The clue had me thinking in the realm of a delayed takeoff, not a plane crashing. Anywho, that was just a little nit.
There were a handful of three-letter words and some four-letter words that were crosswordese, but, for the most part, I thought this puzzle was fresh and tight. The clue and answer combos felt fairly interesting, and it felt like I haven’t seen a lot of these words used often in a puzzle.
The structure with the themers and long downs did create some oddity going across the puzzle. There were two rows of four three-letter words (starting at 23-Across: ALE, PAN, SOT, EMS and also starting at 51-Across: CHE, DAY, APP, LAS). I don’t have much to note about that other than it looks a tad strange and was weird to solve.
Misc:
Misc:
- Growing up in Northern California, I went on a field trip in elementary school during which we tried to PAN (25A) for gold — sadly, it was fruitless, and I didn’t become some multimillionaire from it. But it was still fun.
- KALE (47A) is slang for money?? I did not know! I think I’ve heard of “cabbage” as a vegetable that’s slang for money but never KALE.
- I know I ragged on the use of LOG CABIN SYRUP because it’s a brand name, but I do really love this syrup! For whatever weird reason, I’ve always preferred it to the real maple syrup.
- Seeing HYDRAS (49D: Mythical Greek monsters) in the puzzle makes me think of the bad guys in the Captain America movies because of their slogan of “Hail Hydra.” Saying that is really just an excuse to note that I saw “Spiderman: No Way Home” last weekend! Masked and vaxxed and boosted, I saw my first movie in a theater in years, and the movie was absolutely incredible.
- I get why a STILETTO (3D) is named after a dagger — those things are sharp and pointy (and hard to walk in).
And that's it! Happy almost 2022, everyone.
Signed, Clare Carroll, currently part of my couch
Morning! Like Clare, stumbled over ORU and had OSU. Otherwise, smooth Tuesday. Liked it a lot. Please get your N95s, friends!
ReplyDeleteHi Clare! (See I spelt it right this time; I've been called out in the past.)
ReplyDeletePer the theme: I worked for 15 years for a LOG HOME company so I am used to arguing: "They are not cabins, they are homes." Usually because they had 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, a cinema room, 4 car garage, etc, etc. But LOG CABIN is in the language more so than LOG HOME, so deal with it.
And yet more: when I grew up, the family vacation home, usually on a lake, was a CABIN, definitely not a COTTAGE. This seems to be a western thing vs an eastern thing, and there's just so dang many easterners, again COTTAGE seems to have the edge. Damn eastern elites!
As for RANCH, very western, but only rich folks like the Cartwrights or the Ewings own those.
[Spelling Bee: didn't do Sat or Sun cuz Christmas. Mon: pg -1, missing a 6.]
Here in the Maritimes we're east of the eastern elites. We just call them "camps".
DeleteI recall a, um, "Gentleman's Club" that displayed a giant neon sign in the shape of a STILLETO shoe outside and went by that name so it was with some interest to read that our guest blogger Clare describes them as "sharp and pointy and hard to walk in". Are you speaking from experience and, if so, more details please!
ReplyDeleteThis is gross. Seriously.
DeleteI hope he was drunk when he wrote this, and apologizes later.
DeleteI hope he was drunk when he wrote this, and apologizes later.
DeleteAnother easy, early week puzzle. One mark over again, like Clare OsU before ORU.
ReplyDeleteCute theme. Love SYRUP, love COTTAGE CHEESE, RANCH DRESSING not so much. HOME MADE MEALS, a must.
I have no idea why, but 39A made me laugh. Must have been something one of my old bosses used to say.
Nice write-up, Clare. I mostly agree with your assessments. Both of my kids also preferred LOGCABINSYRUP to the real thing, and I suspect it’s because you’re just pouring a boatload of liquidated refined sugar over your pancakes. Tastes great, but yikes!
ReplyDelete38D CERAMIST seems unfamiliar and maybe lazy. Like saying “obist “ instead of “oboist.” But M-W gives it a thumbs up, so here’s to learning something new (which is even better than learning something old).
Thanks, Kathy Weinberg, for a nice Tuesday puzzle.
Nice write up
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI think whoever decided to use KALE as slang for money was just trying to make money seem less appealing. Cooking tip: If you stir olive oil into your KALE, it's much easier to scrape it into the garbage.
The best way to eat kale is in a smoothie, along with a banana, some avocado, and a lot of rum.
DeleteOh, great find for a theme! Seems so obvious, yet no one has come up with it before. Never done. And it’s tight, it’s a paradigm of a tight theme, where other theme answers are difficult or impossible to come up with, and – HOLY crossword EDEN! -- because each of the theme answers have 13 letters, they can symmetrically fit into the grid.
ReplyDeleteNot only are the crossword gods smiling, but so am I. Kathy is a fellow Ashevillian and buddy, an HONOR to know, so, pardon my Yiddish, but I’m kvelling over this dwelling-based puzzle.
I liked the colorful STILETTO, HABANERA, TAILSPIN, not to mention those CLUSTERS of grapes, which are joined in the kitchen by ZEST, PAN, KALE, and ENTRÉE. I also like the X/Z Scrabbly corners.
Another excellent one, Kathy. Thank you so much for making me SIT UP and smile!
@Conrad -- Hah! Good one! I will disagree with you, however. I started out just tolerating KALE because "it was good for me". But over time, it has actually won me over. Now I find it to be most delicious. I actually seek it out, especially if it's steamed, then mixed with olive oil, and a touch of sea salt and lemon juice. But I'm guessing I'm in the minority here.
ReplyDeleteIf it’s Tulsa it’s ORU. How do I know this? Crosswords. OSU is in Stillwater. and Columbus. and Corvallis. I haven’t made the OsU mistake in years.
ReplyDeletePretty much what Clare said. Competent construction but the theme elicited a mehty shrug.
@okanaganer - When I think of a RANCH house, I think of the RANCH style HOME that was all the suburban rage post WWII through the 1970’s. I wonder if those architects realized how soon their “modernist” designs would feel dated.
@egsforbreakfast - I see CERAMicIST is given as the variant. I wish @LMS would drop in and explain why we like that extra syllable. Neither sounds lazy to me and I’d go with “high-falutin” or “pedantic” for either one. “Potter” does just fine. I suppose if you’re the type of CERAMIST doing toilets “potter” doesn’t quite work, but otherwise you just sound like you’re trying to impress someone.
As for maple SYRUP, you do realize that “liquidated refined sugar” is just as accurate a description for “authentic maple syrup” as it is for LOG CABIN SYRUP, don’t you?
“Liquified”, unless you’re selling the sugar off to pay debts.
DeleteHappy holidays, all. Been on a bit of an unanticipated break, but enjoying catching up. Thought this one had some ZEST, wasn't too ARTY, got me to SiTUP and take notice, and enjoyed the MINDMELD, so a fine Tuesday offering - especially for these post Christmas pre New Years doldrums.
ReplyDelete@okanager, not sure that's an east/west thing - this easterner definitely had a cabin, in Vermont. Also going to say, of course, that it's hard to imagine preferring Log Cabin to actual maple syrup, but ok.
NE was the last to drop. Had humPS before TRAPS and the acrosses wouldn't leap out at me. SERUM crossing SYRUP got a smile, when I first entered SyRUM.
Fun puzzle. Here's hoping 2022 is kinder to all of us.
I feel obligated to speak for @Rex today. First, scrabble letters, Z & X in the first and last squares of the grid are unforgivable. 2nd, you just can't have CHE in the puzzle, wrong, wrong, wrong. 3rd, SOT, you know how I feel.
ReplyDeleteThis was a fun Tuesday with some bite. In addition to the popular stumble at the ORU-HABANERA cross, confidently entering PinS for clothesline clue held me up in that spot. Apparently PEGS is UK. I like my KALE chopped, mixed with COTTAGE CHEESE, and smothered with RANCH DRESSING and SYRUP.
ReplyDeleteGood puzzle but agree that the them was a little off. Maybe the revealer would be better if clued “What 20-, 28- and 48-across may be part of”
ReplyDeleteFor only the second time I can remember, I finished the puzzle in 0:00. Take that all you speed solvers!
ReplyDeleteThat NYT website is just jinky sometimes.
I thought the theme was clever, but something about that revealer...
Is it saying the themers are HOMEMADEMEALS or that it's HOMEMADEMEALS that use the themers? Either way doesn't work for me, so I'm just gonna appreciate the cuteness and ignore the warts. Cuz I can.
Besides, any grid with MINDMELD in it gets an automatic grin from me.
The fill seemed to be a balance of the usual ese-y stuff and some nicer entries like HABANERA, CERAMIST, and even TAILSPIN...which in and of itself doesn't evoke a good-time feeling, but whatev - it's a crossword, not my future.
🧠
🎉🎉.5
There's one Hydra in Greek/Roman Mythology....
ReplyDeleteI see the issue of ALE KEG as a legitimate entry has popped up in Facebook!
The shoe STILETTO is actually named after Saint Iletto, the patron saint of fishmongers, jugglers, and cobblers.
ReplyDeleteGood theme. Very tight. Not sure what the valedictorian obsession is all about.
I think of dressing as different from stuffing, in that only the latter jammed into the turkey before you cook it. But close enough for crossword puzzles.
Hidden Diagonal Word (HDW) clue for today:
ReplyDeleteMade like a pigeon (5 letters, answer below)
Today was a LARK; no TRAPS; never went into a TAILSPIN. Enjoyed it.
Another slight weakness of the themers--LOG CABINs and COTTAGEs are structures, whereas RANCH (as clued--"Ewing's Southfork") describes the property, not the building. If I'm remembering it correctly, no realtor would describe J. R. Ewing's abode as a RANCH house!
Also, not exactly a showcase stack in the dead center of the grid, with ORU over ABC over EER.
Answer to the HDW clue:
COOED (begins at 51A/D and moves SE)
Have a problem with REMOVE for jettison. Jettison is something you do from within the craft. Remove is something you do from outside.
ReplyDeleteSome Tuesdays are just as breezy as a Monday, but this one definitely put up a fight. The non-theme (or loose theme, if you will in that it doesn’t really gel as a theme without the revealer) didn’t help, and I fell into the same OSU trap as many of the rest of us (that cross is definitely off to the point that it is giving off a foul odor).
ReplyDeleteIt’s probably a good thing that we have a guest blogger today, as poor old Rex probably would have blown a gasket going on and on about the theme. I would agree with him in this case. I can’t think of a SPREAD made from RANCH DRESSING that could be characterized as a HOMEMADE MEAL - however, that is pretty much exactly what the clue indicates - any proper chefs in the house ? Maybe a RANCH DRESSING and KALE salad would qualify as a light lunch - seems like a bit of a stretch. I don’t think anyone would classify LOG CABIN SYRUP as HOMEMADE - (so don’t feel bad Rex - I got your back and vented in a mini-rant in your honor).
Thx Kathy, for the HOMEMADE creation! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Clare, good to see you; thx for your views on the puz! :)
Easy+.
Breezed thru this one, and enjoyed every minute.
Had MarY before HOLY; wasn't sure of the vowel in Z_G, so left it blank for the time being.
Lived in a RANCH style house in the '70s.
Always good to see KALE in a puz.
According to the OED, SET/S has over 400 defs. Thx to @JC66 (8:19 PM yd) for the Dan Feyer vid showing his attempt to break the one min. barrier on a Mon. xword. Here's the equiv. in Rubik's cube speed solving: Yusheng Du SETS newest world record at 3.47 seconds. (51 seconds into the vid)
Liked this offering a lot! :)
@jae
Croce's 672 was a fun challenge; very tough, but fair crosses in all but the Reddit/Sony cross (to me anyway), lol. See you next Mon. :)
___
yd pg -1* (hi @okanaganer, also looking for a 6er)
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
aaaaarrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh!!!! Maple syrup in ANY form is like poison to me. My jaw is tingling just thinking about it. But the WORST is any of the fake maple syrups like Log Cabin and especially Mrs. Butterworth's.
ReplyDeleteMy day is ruined. I'll have to fast until my stomach stops lurching.
ZEST crossing ZAG did not lead to a flying start, but the rest of this was pretty smooth sailing, with a slight side eye to CERAMIST. which I was hoping would not be correct, but there it was. Another slight hesitation trying to think of a five-letter word for" writer" as an answer to the Booker Prize clue, but that became apparent.
ReplyDeleteI had the makings of a theme with LOGCABIN/COTTAGE/RANCH but I don't think I could have come up with the revealer, even given unlimited guesses, so a thud there, as has been noted by others.
Also, LOGCABINSYRUP is unseen here in NE, it is something up with which we will not put. Similarly, do we really need another use for KALE? I think not.
Nice enough Tuesdecito, KW. I didn't Know Where the themers were going, so there was that at least. Thanks for the fun.
In the New York State Adirondack mountains, there are CAMPS. Not cabins or cottages. Quote A.L. Donaldson, 1921, "Camp, in Adirondack parlance, has become a loose term applied indiscriminately to anything from a tent to a palace erected in the woods..."
ReplyDeleteSeemed like an average Tuesday. Never heard anyone use Kale for money. Never heard of clothes pins referred to as clothes pegs. Any one olde enough to remember the Log Cabin Syrup container shaped like a log cabin with a coin slit in the lid so that it could be used as a coin bank? Liked that it brought be back.
ReplyDeleteyd SB -6. One was a DOH! Two more I should've gotten. The other three? Never in a million. One of the three was a sixer. Wonder if it's the one bocamp and okanaganer are missing.
ReplyDeleteNice puzzle - I liked how focused the theme is - I can’t come up with any additional candidates. Fill seemed to be trivia laden - but straightforward at least. Doubling up on valedictorian was clunky - but neat how 51a moved on from Cuban revolutionary or similar.
ReplyDeleteSince I grew up in one built in ‘51 - I agree with @Z on RANCH.
@Lewis - count me as a KALE devotee. We eat it 3-4 days a week sautéed with garlic and hot pepper.
Enjoyable Tuesday solve.
56A clue- "Spreads using 20,28,and 48 across?" Since the answer is HOMEMADEMEALS, "Spreads" refers to meals in which the three themers can be used. The themers are also HOME references. And----the themers can all be spreads. What a neat multi-layer theme! I'm impressed.
ReplyDeleteClare, great impression of rex. You mimicked his "gotta find a flaw" crankiness well. Thank goodness for Lewis' consistent positivity.
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteBack from Florida. Back to work today. 😕 Har. 😁 Thankfully reporting had no cancellations or delays in flights! YAY ME! Surprised, really, as *stuff* (read:shit) usually seems to happen to me. This coming year, I'm actually going to make a sincere New Year's Resolution to be more patient when *stuff* happens, as I know it doesn't happen just to me (although, some days, it sure as hell seems so.) Got inspired by a guy at the airport yesterday to do that. He was rerouted twice, was told to go to our gate by the check in desk, had no idea the whereabouts of his luggage, and didn't even have a seat on our plane. He was a big guy, too. Biker looking, tough, long beard, tattooed. But, he remained calm, never raised his voice, told the desk lady his predicament, and quietly waited while they hashed out everything. I boarded the plane and saw him sitting in First Class. So, that was nice of the desk lady. Had he been aggressive and assholeish, she probably wouldn't have done anything to help him.
Anyway, the puz. Adaquate for a TuesPuz. "Homes" with "meals". Heck, close enough for me. When your Themers are 13's, nine times out of ten, you end up with those five-block chunks of Blockers in the middle of the grid. Mini jaws of themelessness. (Hi @M&A!) Puz had decent fill, some dreck, but nothing to write home (here) about.
Did do puz on phone when I was away, not the same experience as on the computer. SB was fun on the phone, liked when the screen flipped, as two bees showed up, one with a sad face, saying "Too much data, please flip screen", or something to that effect, and a loop line to a turned regular smiling Bee. It's the simple things!
TAILSPIN was a Disney offshoot cartoon show of DuckTales. In case you needed to know that. 😁
Hope everyone had a great Whatever You Celebrate Season. Here's hoping 2022 gets better.
yd -7, should'ves 5
No F's (NOES F's)
RooMonster
DarrinV
Also agree with you, Clare, that the theme left something to be desired. The rest was OK. Last to fall for me was PEGS. I've heard of clothesPINS but not PEGS. Am I missing something?
ReplyDeleteDamning with faint praise. "The theme is tight."
ReplyDeleteGood job, Clare. (I also prefer Log Cabin to real maple.)
I was surprised to see Ceramist without the extra syllable. One does work with ceramics, so that makes them a ceramicist. My dad taught a "not an easy A" pottery class at college.
ReplyDeleteClare, check out the Habanera aria from the opera Carmen, and you'll realize you know a HABANERA. While I have you, if I do, preferring Log Cabin Syrup over the real thing as an adult is unforgivable. If you need any help convincing, read the ingredients: hint - the latter only has one! OTOH, taste is what one is familiar with and I may be overcompensating trying to show props to my Canadian wife.
@57stratocaster: AMEN - Lewis does always remind me that there isn't only one way to view the world, and restores my balance.
Cute pun once I got there -- a play on words that I didn't see coming. Alas, the journey there was less than thrilling. Still, it's a smooth puzzle, the long Downs are nice, and some thinking is required. Therefore, here's a puzzle I'd give to a novice solver. Not too easy, not too hard -- a puzzle that might make you want to come back and do it again tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteTwo things... tailspin in flying is now archaic terminology, now refered to simply spin. Part of pilot training is to put the plane into a spin intentionally so as to learn how to get out of it. Dire if unintentional, but, not hard to deal with once trained how. Ibar as small and ibeam is big. So an ibar supporting a bridge is not the right match.
ReplyDeleteOK, quick refresher on how themes worked -- you reuse words in new contexts. I've never seen that TV show about the Ewings, but the clue doesn't ask us to describe the house, but to say what they would stuff a turkey with. THEN we use RANCH DRESSING in a different sense as part of our HOME-MADE MEALS. Note that we are "using" it, it's not the whole meal.
ReplyDelete@JonB3 -- they are camps in Maine, too.
One of the way slang evolvesis by analogy; you want to seem witty and original so you say KALE instead of cabbage. It's close enough that people can figure out what you mean, and here goes a new slang.
Ceramicists make ceramics, while CERAMISTS make cerams, right?
Here's Maria Callas singing the Habanera from Carmen.
That is too funny, @Conrad (5:22)!!! I think you perhaps were not on the Rexblog when I wrote this deathless ditty a couple of years ago -- to be sung to the tune of "I Hate Men" from Kiss Me Kate.
ReplyDeleteI HATE KALE
Oh, I hate kale,
And all attempts to cook with it will fail.
You put it in a salad and the salad you diminish.
You put it in a casserole -- your family won't finish.
And then you'll know what others know:
You shoulda cooked with spinash!!!
Oh, I hate kale!
Brilliant, thanks. But we love the stuff.
DeleteAre clothesline PEGS the kind that don’t use a spring, just slide over the line and fabric? I have a bunch of those that we got from my mother-in-law went she moved; I dig past them, rootling for the spring-action pins that actually keep the clothes on the line. I suppose pegs were what the maid was using when the blackbird pecked off her nose.
ReplyDeleteI must have read 10D's clue as “name” in many cathedral names because, like @bocamp, I threw in marY and was shaking my head about HOLY (what, is HOLY his first name and Spirit his last name for crosswords? was the tenor of my thoughts until I reread the clue, oops!)
@Conrad, loved your kale cooking tip. Unlike @Lewis, I haven’t inured myself to the annoying texture of that green. My only cooking venture with kale, I used it in a soup. I didn’t chop it finely enough and ended up pulling the soggy stuff out and re-chopping it; little to no improvement.
Thanks, Kathy Weinberg, I think your theme is very clever.
@ 57stratocaster 9:07 My thoughts exactly! Clare's intro was a spot-on imitation of rex's surly schtick.
ReplyDeletePlus, I never trust *anyone* who prefers Log Cabin syrup over the real thing. SMH. That's just wrong.
Loved the puz; loved the theme; didn't even mind the Star Trek reference, although looking back, there are four clues tied into TV references, which feels a bit much, and I'm not really a huge fan of TV.* But that's nit-picking.
I'm also not a fan of the jingoistic "USA, USA!!!" chant, but that's just me and my politics. I'm sure there are some folks here who love that sort of thing.
* That being said, PEN15 and BETTER THINGS have gotten me through the pandemic. TV worth watching.
For once I know my timing, exactly, though I solve on paper. I know it took me exactly 15 minutes, because I got my booster shot this morning, was handed a 15 minute timer, sat down and took out the puzzle and a pencil. as I was finishing it the timer said 4 seconds. I started to put my coat on and the beeper went off. And home I went. A previous vaccinatee had beeped, the tech had come in and asked her how she felt before he told her to go home. But I preempted his question by telling him about the puzzle, and apparently that told him enough. If I had been going into anaphylactic shock I probably would not have been able to do a Times puzzle in 15 minutes. You think?
ReplyDeleteOh, the phony maple syrup. I think it's flavored with fenugreek, a nice Indian herb that sprouts easily, the sprouts being very good in salads. If they just called it fenugreek syrup it would be fine, it's pretending it's made out of maple sap that repulses people.
ReplyDeleteWell...let's see. @Teedmn (hah) has me now humming Sing a Song of Sixpence. But why? you ask...because I kinda felt as though the blackbird pecked off my nose. And why would that be? you ask....Well, other than COTTAGE CHEESE, I turn up my nose to the likes of LOG CABIN SYRUP and any RANCH DRESSING. Speaking of which....who on god's green earth puts that in a turkey dressing. I feel sorry for the turkey.
ReplyDeleteSo on to KALE. I bet some of you pedantic souls probably stuff your turkey with that stuff as well. With apologies to @Lewis, that stuff is as vile as okra. No amount of vinegar and white wine. will make me like that stuff. I even tried making a pesto with the greens....nope!
I can't see HABANERA without thinking of Bizet. The dance itself, is no fandango tango.
I'm going on over and sitting with @Clare today. My mehisim was kicked in and I'm betting if I sat with @Clare and had a nice glass of Pinot in one hand, my pecked nose might return.
@Unknown 9:51. I read your post as saying penis has gotten you through the pandemic.You can not believe what went through my head.......
My CHEST CLUSTERS runneth over.
Tidy little puzzle. Hoping to get my daughter interested in the NYT crossword, I asked her to solve with me. @Nancy, it was tough for a novice Millennial solver. She'd never heard of things like Sot, ORU*, EMs**, I-Bar, Rin Tin Tin, EER, and Kale for Money but she did slam in Che quickly. Like Clair, we both wanted a V in Havana.
ReplyDeleteNever having solved in the NYT, the whole idea of a theme was news to the noob.
Loved that the puzzle opened up with Zest and Zag, a zingy start.
*Ditto for me, though I've heard of the university using its full name.
Sorry @Z 6:20, but I'm not understanding how "“liquidated refined sugar” is just as accurate a description for “authentic maple syrup” as it is for LOG CABIN SYRUP". LCS is made with refined corn syrup and refined sugar, colouring and chemicals.Then refined to try and imitate maple syrup. Maple syrup is natural sap from a maple tree, with water evaporated off. I really don't thing that is "refined" in the context used here, (or any context I am aware of). One of these thongs is not like the other.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, I don't know if I can take too many more HOMEMADE meals.
ReplyDelete@Z (6:20) -- I used derivative logic today to fight off the OsU temptation in favor of ORU. I'm on the OsU campus in Stillwater, OK this morning. ERGO not in Tulsa.
But derivative logic wasn't enough. I needed an empirical jolt to get the answer. In 2007, in Tulsa on another family visit, we parked on the campus of ORU, took a shuttle bus to the golf course and watched the PGA Championship.
My daughter was three then and prone to STORMy outbursts. We sat near a green where Vijay Singh took a long time to line up a long putt, and with each of his gliding paces back and forth between ball and hole, I felt an unpreventable tantrum begin to emerge from the bundle of joy in my charge. The "Hush" signs were everywhere. I spoke quietly to my daughter, talked of KALE and summers in RIGA, pancakes with high fructose corn syrup and just a dash of maple, until slowly the MIND MELD did its work. Talk about a high-pressure putt.
Ergo, ORU is in Tulsa, where we'll board an airplane home later today.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI was once a pretty fair seamstress and and sewed most of my own clothes. Then life happened and I stopped but years later decided to take it up again. I got some fabric and a pattern and worked all weekend cutting and stitching. Monday morning I went to work proudly modeling my original creation and thinking how amazing that I hadn’t lost my touch. Then the first person I saw said “That’s a cute dress. Did you make it yourself?” My EGO went into a TAILSPIN that DAY, much like my enthusiasm for this puzzle did when I got to the revealer. Kinda like, oh it’s HOME MADE? Okay well, that’s nice. Bless your heart.
Really wanted FANDANGO TANGO in HONOR of @GILL for 5D and it almost fit. Never knew a CERAMIST potted or that HABANERA was not a pepper, and I put in my laundry on the line with clothes PINS not PEGS. I liked Michelle Obama‘s CHICAGO birthplace crossing Abe Lincoln‘s. It occurred to me that the main flaw of a narcissist is not seeing a yuge EGO as a flaw.
Medium. Reasonably and solid with some fine long downs, but I agree with @Clare on the theme issues. Liked it.
ReplyDeleteJeff at Xwordinfo gave it POW.
@bocamp - re: Croce #672 - that was the last square I filled in with a somewhat educated (read lucky) guess.
Learned KALE as money from xwords. As for diet, I'm a KALE lover. I tear it and add it to my veggie mix, which I munch on during the day. For my evening veggie plate, I wad larger portions and dip into hummus. Aside from eggs, don't eat cooked food, but what @Lewis describes sounds yummy!
ReplyDelete___
td pg -1 (like yd, seeking another 6er today)
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
There's a TV show called "penis" ? WTF ? Oh, wait...Never mind.
ReplyDeleteFor some weird reason, I started feeling very protective toward this puzzle, expecting the standard Rex-rant regarding theme coherence taken to a ridiculous extreme. Then I see Clares' name and relax, only to find that she's doing a mini-Rex job on the poor thing. It's a Tuesday
and one of the better ones we have had, IMO.
@Frantic, after Rex going on about his solve time yesterday, I was tempted to write that I solved it left-handed or with my eyes closed, but your time today does the trick. LOL.
COTTAGE CHEESE topped with SYRUP and salad DRESSING is not an ENTREE I would ever want to eat, but I did like the puzzle and thought the revealer was right on.
ReplyDeleteVisited Abe Lincoln’s HOME in Springfield, Illinois, a few years ago. One of my strongest memories was the small mirror on the wall of his bedroom (he and Mary had separate rooms). It was the mirror he used to shave and it was so high up on the wall that it made me feel like a dwarf standing in front it. I also remember how short the bed was for a man so tall. His feet must have dangled over the end at night. Good thing he became president and got a house more his size.
@Joseph Michael (11:03) Believe it ot not, I have seen people eat COTTAGE CHEESE topped with SYRUP. Now I like some nice sweetened fruit like strawberries or peaches or pears with it but I nearly gagged when I saw that. It was in Wisconsin, maybe a regional thing? Never knew of it anyplace else, before or since.
ReplyDeleteOh Clare (or is it Eclair)! Prefering fakey sugar syrup to real maple syrup is just wrong. But I love Conrad's cooking tip for kale.
ReplyDeleteAn almost darn-near perfect TuesPuz, IM&AO.
ReplyDeleteOnly side-eye was upon CERAMIST. The Official M&A Help Desk Dictionary would only accept CERAMICIST. Google somewhat tolerates CERAMIST, tho -- sooo … ok.
staff weeject pick: RIN. Good doggie scrap. Better clue, tho: {Ringo, with one syllable that obeys commands??}.
There's no place like home. [Yo, and welcome home, @Roo.] And no chow like trailer grub.
Lotsa primo longball bonus fillins: STILETTO. HABANERA. MINDMELD. TAILSPIN. CHICAGO. HYDRAS. etc.
Thanx for the very cool writeup, Couchclare. Sofa so good, huh?
And thanx to Ms. Weinberg darlin, for the home-cooked goodies.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
**gruntz**
Log Cabin syrup ingredients:
ReplyDeleteIngredients Corn Syrup, Water, Sugar, Contains 2% or Less of: Salt Natural Flavor, Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Sodium Benzoate and Sorbic Acid (Preservatives), Caramel Color, Phosphoric Acid, Mono and Diglycerides.
Gee ... what's not to like? You can't get all that cool stuff just by sticking a tube in a tree!
I thought the theme was very clever, in giving "HOME"-MADE a new meaning, and with the bonus of transforming DRESSING from a topping into Thanksgiving's most essential gravy conveyance. And I thought the constructor brought a feeling of ZEST to the grid otherwise, too. I loved being able to write in SAT UP crosses-free, recalling learning in childhood that if a direly ill person "SAT UP and took notice" they were on the road to recovery. More fun with LARK and those fine 8-letter Downs.
ReplyDeleteFor KALE fans and those on the fence: For a delicious salad, soak your stemmed leaves for 10 minutes in ~115 water; spin dry; make a DRESSING with olive oil, lemon juice, grated garlic, mustard, soy sauce, and Parmesan; toss together and let stand 10-15 minutes. The soak takes away the bitterness and renders the leaves toothsome without wilting them. This converted me from eating KALE out of a sense of nutritional duty to being sorry that the bowl is empty.
Here in the artists’ town of Taos, NM, we have a lot of ceramicists (aka potters, aka CERAMISTS).
ReplyDeleteSalad topping or addition at the Ewing’s spread seems a more appropriate clue than turkey stuffing….
Is someone who teaches or writes about ethics an ethicicist?
ReplyDeleteThe dreaded early week POW rears its' ugly head.
Anyone else wonder why Clare thinks sitting on the couch, watching sports, eating leftovers and just vegging out is a bad thing?
My favorite comments this morning.
ReplyDeleteConrad (5:22)
Whatsername (10:51)
bigsteve (12:24)
@Phaedrus - Do you know what "syrup," any "syrup," is? Have you never made a "simple syrup" at home? Here are the first two paragraphs from Wikipedia:
ReplyDeleteIn cooking, a syrup (less commonly sirup) (from Arabic: شراب; sharāb, beverage, wine and Latin: sirupus)[1] is a condiment that is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars but showing little tendency to deposit crystals. Its consistency is similar to that of molasses. The viscosity arises from the multiple hydrogen bonds between the dissolved sugar, which has many hydroxyl (OH) groups.
Syrups can be made by dissolving sugar in water or by reducing naturally sweet juices such as cane juice, sorghum juice, maple sap or agave nectar. Corn syrup is made from corn starch using an enzymatic process that converts it to sugars.
All that is happening with the evaporation of water in maple sap is refining the maple sap into a syrup of the preferred viscousity. Maple sap is just diluted sugars made as the tree converted starch into sugar. The only difference between it and corn syrup is the plant source, so "liquidated refined sugar" is perfectly apt for both.
I really should charge for these mini-lessons.
@ Z You really can't stop yourself, can you?
ReplyDeleteI would like to revise my comment about COTTAGE vs CABIN. I think perhaps it's a central Canada vs Rest of Canada thing. Because our neighbors from Ontario insist on saying "cottage", yet my brother in law from New Brunswick has always said "cabin".
ReplyDeleteAlso a couple of people commented on "camp"... we actually have always used that to refer to our place, but more as a title. "Are you coming to Camp on Saturday?"
[Spelling Bee yd pg-1, missed this word which I don't recall ever seeing! Merriam Webster does not have a separate entry for it.]
Ouch - @Z slays the dragon yet again!
ReplyDelete@Phaedrus.
ReplyDelete"One of these thongs is not like the other". Could you provide photos?
@Z, I think that you are stretching the meaning of “refined” a bit with respect to how most of us think of refined sugar. Here is a copy and paste from My Fitness Pal:
ReplyDeleteHoney and maple syrup are considered natural sugars and they contain small amounts of nutrients the body can use, such as vitamins and antioxidants. While they are not refined sugars, honey and maple syrup can also be used to sweeten foods in the same way as refined sugars (as added sugar).
Refined sugar is sugar that has been processed from its natural form, such as sugar derived from sugar cane, sugar beets and corn. Examples of refined sugar are regular table sugar, brown sugar, high-fructose corn syrup and evaporated cane juice. These sugars are often used to sweeten things like soda, juice, baked goods and may even be added to other foods, like tomato sauce, condiments and some types of bread. Refined sugars typically do not contain other nutrients, like fiber, vitamins and minerals, and are digested rapidly. This leads to a quick spike in blood sugar and a lack of satiety, leaving you feeling sluggish and hungry again soon after eating.
I really wouldn’t have posted this if you hadn’t said you should charge for the mini-lessons.
And just to be legal, I thought this was a very serviceable Tuesday puzzle. I was in the camp of OSU to begin with but somehow found the error of my way when I didn’t get the thumbs up at “completion.”
The revealer clanked rather loudly on the floor, for me. "Spread" can be a synonym for RANCH, so using "spread" with a different meaning in the revealer clue, right after the RANCH answer, is inelegant and potentially confusing.
ReplyDelete@Z. If you were to read authoritative sources, rather than Wikipedia, you would understand that refining sugar from beets, corn or cane results in a complete filtration of enzymes, vitamins and fiber from the end product. It is not simply a way to adjust viscosity, and your assertion that it is, does not even appear to come from the tangentially related Wikipedia article.
ReplyDeleteThis is too complicated to continue to argue it on a crossword blog, and I would likely feel the need to charge you anyway for any further enlightenment.
@Whatsername, same thing happened to me long ago in the days of Quiana fabric. I pretty much gave up dressmaking.
ReplyDelete@okanoganer, I'm a reader most of my time (which is why I never know the answers to the TV clues), and that 6-letter word I knew from old-fashioned English lit. My missing word yesterday was the 5-letter one, probably of Hindu origin. And dammit, I've got it before!
yd -1.
Egsfor, Beezer, Unknown et al.,
ReplyDeleteYou're arguing with a troll. He's up to his old Motte and bailey fallacy tricks again. Don't take the bait.
If you want to read something worthwhile about mapke syrup and things like it, check out
this:
https://non-newtonian-fluids.weebly.com/
Thrixopothy is almost certainly unknown by he who shall remain nameless.
@Anoa Bob:
ReplyDeleteClare describes them as "sharp and pointy and hard to walk in". Are you speaking from experience and, if so, more details please!
just watch those Verizon adverts with Kate McKinnon. she always looks like she's about to fall over. I dunno? may be gay women only wear flats?
@8:22
my word!! don't ever live in Quebec, eh. they make and consume more of that stuff than any place else.
@Anonymous 3:37…thank you for adding to my knowledge with Motte and Bailey fallacy (I looked it up!). With that said, I do NOT think @Z is a troll and As I said I wouldn’t have even commented if he hadn’t added the last sentence (I think last sentence) of the last post. I generally enjoy Z’s posts.
ReplyDeleteThere is an OSU Tulsa - so the HABANEsA OsU cross is definitely a crummy natick for a Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, liked STILETTO, MINDMELD and TAILSPIN (as long as I'm not in one).
Beezer,
ReplyDeleteYou're quite welcome. I invite you dissect slecet posts with an eye bolsterd by your new knowledge. A certain soemone employs the B/M tecnique with great frequency, precisely because it's so effective.
Can someone explain ARAB - prized amount??
ReplyDeletePrized *mount* as in horse
Delete@egs & @Beezer - 🤣😂🤣 - Let me suggest that you reconsider how “refine” can be used. to free (something, such as metal, sugar, or oil) from impurities or unwanted material - “sugar” right in the definition and exactly as used in “refining” maple syrup, freeing of unwanted material, that is, water. And, @egs - I was discussing syrups, not sugars per se. Both processes are just starches transformed into sugars transformed into a syrup. If you are going to accuse LOG CABIN SYRUP of being “liquidated refined sugar” (not my phrase) you should acknowledge that maple syrup is also just “liquidated refined sugar.” Just because the tree is doing more of the process with maple syrup while people are more involved by using enzymes for the process of making corn syrup doesn’t mean the results are different. If LOG CABIN SYRUP is “liquidated refined sugar” (not my phrase) we should acknowledge that maple syrup is also just “liquidated refined sugar.”
ReplyDelete@beezer - re:my last sentence - Yeah - hopefully people realized that I was just pointing out my own pedantry, but it’s notoriously hard to see the tongue in cheek on the interwebs. We are arguing maple syrup here, so I feel like it should be obvious but…
@TJS - I resisted commenting on that typo. I don’t know if that makes me better or worse than you.
@Unknown 1:08 - I can. I choose not to. In case you haven’t noticed, words, the way we twist and contort them, and how we know what we know, are all of great interest to me. Likewise, how we feel about something as simple as syrup and how we feel about its authenticity is also wrapped up in the issue of words and how we use them.
@Anon - You’ll just have to explain which part of my post is the motte and which is the bailey and what the hell Thrixopothy is. My best guess is Thrixopothy is for kids.
@Dr. Bunsen - An ARAB horse is a prized mount. ARABian may be more familiar to you, but M-W does list the horse meaning as the second definition of ARAB.
ReplyDeletehaving grown up just south of the USofA's maple syrup capital (living just a tad farther south now), asserting that there's no difference between Log Cabin (or other darkened sugar concoctions) and Real Maple Syrup is blasphemy. also, in these Covid days, if you can't tell the difference on your tongue you'd best hop off to your PCP for a test; the ability to taste is the first thing to go. for myself, I prefer the low class really dark stuff. if you've had Black, you don't go back.
ReplyDelete@GILL, et al.
ReplyDeleteMy take was that the meaning changed. So the Ewings live on a RANCH, and if we accept that in parts of this country the stuff you (used to, before worrying about undercooking was a thing) put inside a turkey is called DRESSING (not stuffing, which is what we called it) the people in Texas would stuff their turkey with RANCH DRESSING.
It doesn't really work for the other themers because the meaning change isn't as strong. COTTAGE CHEESE is called that because of its backstory (I think it was a way for thrifty people - living in cottages? maybe in a Grimm's fairy tale? - to use leftover or spoiled milk, somethinglike that), and as has I think been pointed out, LOG CABIN SYRUP is just a brand name, although that one kinda works?[making face our older millennial makes when saying that] if you think that people who *don't* live in log cabins use, IDK, maple syrup?
And I took "spreads" to mean the whole prepared meal, what a spread! And home made referring to the dwellings, although not RANCH...
@whoever wrote about ST ILETTO 👏👏🤣😁
Covid in the house! Staying put for 5 days. Fun times! Reminds me of last year... or is it all just one looong year that won't quit?
@Smith:
ReplyDeleteNews you can use:
- 5 days is way less than last year
- omicron, via South African scientists, not only is displacing delta but adds another bit of immunity to delta
what could be better?
@all:
do Log Cabin Republicans use LOG CABIN SYRUP in ways God never intended?
@Z. I assume you are aware of the weakness of your argument, and are just smirking that you got someone to take the bait. Like many words, “refined” carries with it a number of nuanced possible meanings which can really only be differentiated by the context of the usage. So, for example, if one were to say “I eat only foods made from natural ingredients,” someone (like @Z) might say, “ Well that is universally true. After all, 100% of quarks occur naturally, and all foods are made from quarks.” This statement would not be, strictly speaking, incorrect. It simply demonstrates an inability to process the context of the word “natural.” Similarly, an experienced user of American English understands that “refined”, in the context of food-grade sugars means processed to the point of being without fiber, vitamins or enzymes. This is, in fact how it is used in the research and medical literature comparing the sugars in maple syrup to other sugars. However, one can make the quark-type argument and not be totally wrong, just out of step with the language.
ReplyDeleteEggs,
ReplyDeleteDon’t take the bait. He’s a troll.your post is proof enough.
I don't know why we're all still arguing. Syrup is syrup, as has been demonstrated, and they are all equal. In fact, on my pancakes tomorrow, I may have maple syrup, or corn syrup. Or I may have chocolate syrup. I may even have cough syrup. No difference.
ReplyDeleteThe theme answers were quite easy to get, but I, too, don't get the link with the revealer. The house parts of the themers are spreads, but the food items aren't, and none of them are a meals unto themselves.
ReplyDeleteI worked in R&D in the metals industry, where ceramics are used as thermal insulators and high temperature structural materials and our VP had a PhD in ceramics. He constantly reminded us that he was a CERAMIST, and not a ceramics engineer.
In some ways jocular tongue-in- cheek provocation resembles the malicious nasty persistent and often anonymous insults of a troll. I think few people here have any problem making the distinction. Your accusations are only making you look the fool and the troll. Yet you persist. Y?
ReplyDelete@Anon 8:48 – "Spread" in the reveal clue is being used to mean an array of food set out for consumption. The revealer is equating "spreads" with "meals" (which I don't —not exactly— but whatever).
ReplyDeleteThe spreads, or meals, include food items that use a type of house in their names: type-of-house syrup, type-of-house cheese, type-of-house dressing. Thus, the spread is a "home"-made meal.
Do you have a headache yet? All of which assumes that a house is the same thing as a home, which Dionne Warwick says isn't the case. So if a house is not really a home, then a ranch is not a spread, a syrup is not a cottage, grits ain't groceries, eggs ain't poultry, and Mona Lisa was a man.
That will be $5.00.
They chugged maple syrup in "Super Troopers".
ReplyDeleteRooMonster Broken Lizard Fan Guy
@JoeDipinto - A bit convoluted for a Tuesday (and still not sure that I get it). What gives? Lucy Van Pelt only charges a nickel for her advice :-).
ReplyDeleteOne of the better offerings in a while. I would have liked to see a fourth themer and a bit less xword glue: ORU, EER, ABC, EMS, RIN, SRO etc. Not ULTRA good - or bad.
ReplyDeleteHand up for the quibble with PEGS. They're clothespins, and nothing else. Since PEGS is easily enough clued, this one goes to the editor. Will, are you there? WILL?!?
ReplyDeleteNice, tight, workable theme. Please pass the LOGCABINSYRUP and the RANCHDRESSING (though not for the same dish, yikes!); hold the COTTAGECHEESE. Unless it's the ricotta that's in the lasagna that I just had last night. Mmm, makes me hungry for leftovers--which we're having again tonight! A tasty Tuesday tidbit with little to fuss over in the fill--but sadly, no DOD. Except maybe for the constructor herself. Birdie.
Ahem. I have found a worse cook than I am. A dish with the SYRUP in question, COTTAGECHEESE, and, of all things, RANCHDRESSING would make a hungry toddler wretch. My cats would turn up their little pert noses, not deigning to besmirch a whisker with that motley brew.
ReplyDeleteSome of my fondest childhood memories are of spending time with my grandmother doing daily tasks. (I think it's why I still go to the grocery store almost every day - or at least one of the reasons.) Anyhoo - I remember hanging laundry with her on the line. Actually, we hung laundry with clothes pins, not with my grandmother. No pegs were harmed, or even used, in the process. So I cast my vote with the "no to PEGS" crowd.
An odd Monday for sure.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
ENTREE SETS TREND - RANCHDRESSING!
ReplyDeleteULTRA ZESTy HOMEMADEMEALS
make such NOVEL TRAPS,
plus CHESTy with STILETTO heels,
what HONORs for us CHAPs!
--- ARTY KNOX
Easy-medium for the most part, and liked it, if not the mixed toppings. Theme and revealer served some disparate HOME MADE MEALS.
ReplyDeleteSome of the longer down ENTREEs helped add ZEST to the mix :
HABANERA, HYDRAS, TAILSPIN, CERAMIST and MINDMELD.
No REGRETS about this one.
Meant to write REPENTS, which I did, not REgreTS, into this post.
ReplyDelete