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Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
THEME: none
Word of the Day: SOLES (45A: Currency units in Peru) —
The sol (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈsol]; plural: soles; currency sign: S/) is the currency of Peru; it is subdivided into 100 céntimos ("cents"). The ISO 4217 currency code is PEN.
The sol replaced the Peruvian inti in 1991 and the name is a return to that of Peru's historic currency, as the previous incarnation of sol was in use from 1863 to 1985. Although sol in this usage is derived from the Latin solidus (English: solid), the word also means "sun" in Spanish. There is thus a continuity with the old Peruvian inti, which was named after Inti, the Sun God of the Incas.
At its introduction in 1991, the currency was officially called nuevo sol ("new sol"), but on November 13, 2015, the Peruvian Congress voted to rename the currency simply sol.(wikipedia)
• • •
Couple of nice answers in here. Otherwise, it's just OK. Those highly segmented corners (esp. the NW / SE) really interrupt the flow and create real get-stuck opportunities. I especially had trouble with the SW, where I wasn't entirely sure about the YEAH in "YEAH, ABOUT THAT..." (probably the best answer in the puzzle, in the end), and couldn't get POSSE or HUCKS (?) from their last letters, so that corner was nearly empty, with nothing certain to build off of. Kinda wanted ASK for 34D: "___ away!" but that also didn't feel rock solid. "Fire away!" or "Shoot!" feel more on the nose. So yeah, that corner was rough. Put in LODE instead of SEAM (49D: Underground band), which briefly made things worse (49D: Underground band). Was tempted to write in PAIR at 48A: What Twix bars are sold in (TWOS). Eventually stumbled on a couple of gimmes. Well, IKEA was a gimme (55A: What Shøp on "The Simpsons" is a parody of). SAO was close to a gimme (44A: ___, Miguel Island, largest of the Azores), but some part of me feared it was actually SAN, so I left the last letter blank to start. Downs were clued pretty hard down there, the calculus clue seemed like it might be lots of things. I think I finally unlocked it all by getting TWOS, which gave me the "ST" and "I" in PHSTRIP (36D: Alternative to litmus paper). Then POSSE went down, and I was finally able to swarm the corner with enough letters to bring it to submission. I don't remember much of the rest of the solving experience, but as I say, "YEAH, ABOUT THAT..." was nice.
Speed round:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
- 16A: Golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, for two (AFRIKANERS) — some trouble here with the double-A that never arrived. Language is double-A "Afrikaans," people are single-A Afrikaners. Got it (for now). Also, TWOS is in the grid, so having "two" in the clue here *and* in the clue for E-SCOOTER (33D: Two-wheeler at a charging station) ... those repeats are something you might've cleaned up if you were being extra-attentive.
- 26A: Recipe direction (BEAT) — had "B," wrote in BAKE. Then, just after I changed it to BEAT, BAKES just jumped right out at me like "Surprise!" (5D: Gets the batter out, say)
- 23D: Ones making insulting offers (LOWBALLERS) — the -ER is bad and the -S is a cringey cherry on top. I like LOWBALL as an adjective and I like it as a verb, but as an awkwardly -ER'd and pluralized noun, I like it far less.
- 29D: "Black" follower ("-ISH") — referring specifically to the TV show, "Black-ish." The quotation marks around "Black" are supposed to indicate the title-ness of the context.
- 38A: Throws, informally (HUCKS) — "chucks" I know. "Chucks" means "throws, informally." HUCKS rings the vaguest of bells, but it feels weirdly archaic, like kids said it, possibly in the '50s and '60s. I have probably heard HUCKS, but not for a long time. Somehow I'm picturing kids throwing rocks at seagulls, which is just cruel, stop it, kids.
- 28A: The British royal family has one called the Cambridge Lover's Knot (TIARA) — cool, now give all your wealth back to the people and places you extracted it from, you ghoulish relics. Ahem. Annnnyway, I thought this was maybe TOWER? Shrug.
- 15A: Something that gets passed around a lot (MEME) — got the answer down to M-ME, and then confidently wrote in MIME, since, yeah, I would definitely give a MIME wide berth if I had to pass around him.
Wishing you a merry, mime-free Christmas,
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Thx Evan, for the challenge! :)
ReplyDeleteVery hard. (approx. 6 x my Fri. avg.)
First pass resulted in nada. Don't recall that ever happening before.
Little by little it started to come together, until I had all but the SW, which was a woe.
After well over an hr. into this adventure, I went to bed, hoping to have better luck in the morning. Couldn't sleep, so got up and after the better part of 2 hrs the SW finally fell. Ironically, it was YOU AWAKE that was the key. 😴
There've been times when I've sailed thru a puz, only to find that others struggled. This one may be payback. lol
As always, the challenge was most welcome, and being able to finish successfully was a rush, indeed! :)
___
yd pg -2 (tabbed) / td pg -4
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
So, here's a candidate, IMO, for Clue of the Year for any crossword of any venue (it was in the latest New Yorker, and it's by Kameron Austin Collins). I'm not going to give the answer here, so as not to be a spoiler, but if you're not going to do the puzzle and you want the answer, just Google the clue. And here's that clue:
ReplyDelete[Bottom point of a dive?] (eight letters)
Please don't post the answer!
ReplyDeleteTore through most of the puzzle in sub-Medium time before hitting the SW. Most of the same experience as @Rex, only slower. Held up by some egregious mistakes: area instead of RATE at 52A and abbA instead of IKEA at 55A. And then SaAb for the underground band at 49D because what else could it be with four letters starting with SaA? This almost made me lose my (admittedly modest) streak.
Overtypes outside of the SW were minimal: stir before BEAT for the recipe direction at 26A; rObE before COWL for the monkwear at 30A; and I was very disappointed that the answer I wanted for the courage gainer at 53A was one letter too short.
This was slow going for me. All this crossword intuition I’ve been mentioning lately was severely tested. This was an inch-by-inch solve, a character builder. It sure got me into the zone, where the rest of the world disappears and all that exists is me and the puzzle. To riff on one of the puzzle clues, this one grew hair on my ears.
ReplyDeleteBut I did get through it. I had to think so hard through this that I finished not with a EUREKA but with a “whew” … and a smile. My two favorite answers were NYT puzzle debuts: YEAH ABOUT THAT and GREW A SPINE. And I positively adored [Question that cannot be answered if its answer is “no”].
Now I’m going to relax. Maybe run a few SOIL TESTS. Oh, this was a beautifully constructed grid, and the cluing was top notch. Getting through the toughness was deeply satisfying. Thank you so much for making this, Evan! You are a pro.
Rex is so out of date. We know the elves are cranking out the most sophisticated of electronics, so the workshop is a high tech operation. Santa must be maintaining his database on Excel, and it follows that he would sort his input into separate “naughty” and “nice” lists.
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping everyone made the NICE LIST. Happy Holidays!
ReplyDeleteNaval Academy Glee Club Tribute to Pearl Harbor. "Eternal Father", The NAVY Hymn.
___
td 0
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
HUCKS was a long time coming, which is sort of embarrassing because it is very much “in the language” if the language you speak is Ultimate Frisbee (meaning to make a long pass), but I don’t think I ever hear it anywhere else. Post solve I immediately went to Merriam-Webster and they say:
ReplyDeleteFirst Known Use of huck
Verb
1982, in the meaning defined at sense 1
which is contemporaneous with Ultimate’s initial big growth spurt. And I see Rex doesn’t know it (despite earlier this week his current school beating where he got his PhD at College Nationals, a mild upset), so I pose the same question as I did yesterday, are you non-frisbee folk familiar with the term. I would say Rex’s “cHUCKS” is more common everywhere else, but I really can’t tell. Also, absolutely no idea what a “HUCKleberry” is, but that’s where the HUCK in HUCK Finn comes from, so not related.
I am really upset with the RATE clue. “Calculus calculation” has been used six times before to clue “area.” This is the first time in the history of the NYTX that this clue has been used to clue RATE. And so the era of the AREA/RATE kealoa has begun. AAAAAaaaarggghhhh.
Between having no idea what came before ABOUT THAT and having “area” firmly wedged down there keeping the door shut, that SW corner took me as long to suss out as an entire Saturday puzzle normally would. Also, isn’t a PH STRIP what you use in a litmus test? Or maybe the clue means “alternative term for a litmus test.” Is my science knowledge bad or my clue reading bad? Whichever it is, I was stuck inside with the lights out for an eternity.
A link to that KAC puzzle @Lewis mentioned. I do The New Yorker puzzles when they appear online so it’s been nearly two weeks since I did this puzzle. It took me a few to remember the answer to that clue. I agree with @Lewis about the clue being excellent.
I struggled with the IKEA clue because I did not have my glasses on and read the clue as saying "Shep", as in a person. Correctly read, an easy clue. I will have to search for one of those episodes. I can only begin to imagine what they have done with that concept.
ReplyDeleteI happen to have liked LOWBALLERS in the grid. I liked the clue and had the answer off of the "L" alone. TRACK SUITS was seasonally appropriate as they made a huge appearance on Disney's "Hawkeye" which wrapped up this week.
The pinwheel layout left room for long-ISH stacks in all 4 corners. Yes, it led to segmentation, but stacks help give a late-week feel as the footholds are harder to come by. Each gave a good challenge - AFRIKANERS was easy to guess for me (as a golfer), but I too was trying to figure out how to make the extra "A" fit. (Thanks @Rex for the explanation in the write-up). I liked NEURAL NET in the same corner, but couldn't figure out an end that was not NETwork until I had the TRACKSUITS. In the SE, I so much wanted GREWApair. First, it wouldn't fit, and second, this is NYT. However, I keep thinking about answers earlier this year that I would also not have associated with the crossword in the past. Maybe next year.
Only 8 3-letter answers, and only one (TDS) is an abbreviation. Bravo on the construction for that. I really liked "ISH" as clued, but that is really a wheelhouse thing since that show is on network TV and doesn't get nearly the same level of hype as other shows, actors, singers etc. that several people regularly complain about. You will either know this or you will not - it will be hard to infer otherwise, and with that sitting at the entry point to a challenging section, that could be a big issue.
One nit - Twix are not sold in TWOS - they are usually sold in TWOS, but can sometimes be packaged individually for Halloween, etc, and labelled as the "left Twix" and "right Twix", although once you remove the packaging, they are essentially identical.
Just when I’m thinking I’m getting pretty good at solving, along comes Evan Kalish to kick my butt. I struggled with most of this puzzle but the SW corner totally HUCKed me for a loss.
ReplyDeleteDepartment of Bet I’m Not Alone: For 53A [Gained some courage] I had GREW A and made an assumption that did not fit (pair/SPINE).
@Z 7:18 - thanks for the link. That puzzle has a grid eerily similar to today's
ReplyDeleteStarted laughing soon as I saw "SOILTESTS" again. Knew that would be a nix nix for King Rex. Thanks for not disappointing.
ReplyDeleteThe segmented grid does glom things here thru the center but I liked the puzzle more than Rex. GREW A SPINE was solid as was the spanning KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON crossing YEAH ABOUT THAT.
ReplyDeleteE SCOOTERS and bikes are a safety hazard for peds in the city - they need to be controlled. Second time we’ve seen NEURAL NET recently but no associated SIRI today. Liked cluing on TOSCA and YOU AWAKE.
@Z 7:18a - I’ve never heard HUCKS thanks for the reference. In terms of calculus - it’s really the study of change over small time intervals and the results of those changes. The use of “calculation” in the clue is clunky and open ended. Litmus paper provides a general result of acid or base - a pH STRIP returns the actual pH value. Again - I think the clue is a little obtuse.
@Pablo from yesterday - you weren’t kidding about the SB.
We have a pleasant coating of snow this morning and this was an enjoyable Friday solve. Merry Christmas everyone!
I enjoyed Rex giving us the inside dope on Santa’s logic and tactics - it’s almost like he did an internship there before he graduated to comic books. I thought the SE was tough as TOSC, TASSEL (as clued), ASSISI, REY, SOLES (as clued, from Peru) and even GREW A SPINE was not a gimmie today.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a pretty fair test, with lots of Friday-level difficulty like COWLS, BOCK, HUCKS, and the SAO, SOLES, TOSCA line was pretty tough as well. Some of those could fit into a Thursday as well, so that seems like a good balance on the difficulty front.
I often say jokingly around Christmas time to my daughter “oh, you won’t be on Santa’s nice list!” It’s a joke, relax, she knows it is and she is 12 so by Santa, she knows I mean, ME. But anyhoo, it is a thing. People say it all the time. You can’t decide what is and what is not a Santa thing since he doesn’t exist. It’s just what people say.
ReplyDeleteSW corner ruined what was shaping up as a nice challenging Friday.That "Yeah"/"You" cross combined with "escooter/hucks" is just brutal. I like misdirection as much as the next guy but a cold wave results in a "perm" ? And "hucks" just sucks. You don't go for difficulty by just making up a word.
ReplyDeleteFridays seem to be pretty consistently harder than Saturdays lately. (And I know we have not seen Saturday yet, but this was harder than 80% of Saturdays).
ReplyDeleteSometimes segmented grids can still flow, but this did not for me. Basically had the NE and the middle done early, then had to work the other three sections independently.
I’ve certainly heard “naughty list” used as a standalone phrase, so it's reasonable there would be a NICE LIST to go with that.
Love that TASSEL clue! Hate that BAKES clue.
Santa should up his game and make three lists: Naughty, Nice, and Pedants.
ReplyDeleteThis was an exceptionally difficult Friday. It took me 56 minutes to get a clean grid. I think half my time was spent cracking that SW corner. In retrospect I can't believe that having CHESS in place didn't make YEAH pop right up but it didn't. I was so stuck that I even took CHESS out and tried making wellABOUTTHAT work. SAN over TWOS finally gave me YOUAWAKE. CHESS went back in and the dam finally broke. Even then I had to change SAN to SAO to smoke out ESCOOTER. HUCKS is just bizarre but the crosses were solid. That SW was good to the last square. You can't ASK for more.
ReplyDeleteyd pg-2
Yeah, kitshef. I don’t understand the BAKES clue. Huh?
ReplyDeleteGo. Leave. Go on without me. Save yourselves!
ReplyDeleteEureka!《sorry,just love that exclamation》
ReplyDeleteYes, @Z, had area instead of RATE. And the SW was the toughest, with the difficulty oozing over to the SOLES, REY crosses with ORG down. May need a second cuppa.
Got around to watching the PBS White House Chistmas show with Pentatonix, Billy Porter, Andrea Bocelli (who sang O Holy Night with his son, Matteo: show stopping) and others (2 Jonas brothers in red suits, 1 in his jammies, not sure why). Great tour of the decorated White House. 🎶 Happy Friday, everyone.
“Hucking a lung-y (sp?)” anyone? In my youth, that mean coughing up and spitting out phlegm. Definitely pre-dates 1982.
ReplyDeleteYou are thinking of “hock a loogie.” Huck? Never heard it before this puzzle.
DeleteGot a start in the NE corner (although I was wishing the Democratic Leader would be Dem just to ignite a Rexrant). Then almost nothing until the SE Corner.
ReplyDeleteNW was tough. Sequencing Locale intimidated me. Trying to dredge up sophomore lit class Richard Wright stressed me. Wanted Golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen to be From Kansas. Friends who I see regularly and have known for almost 40 years are Afrikaners, but one couple speaks Afrikaans and the other Brit-accent English. The Brit accent couple always refer to the other couple as Afrikaans.
Had to do a check to get through it but this was a very satisfying, strenuous workout. Took a long time though. Long.
And now to clutter your mental attic, from Corny News Network (Google it):
"The tassel represents the male flower on a corn plant, while the ear shoots represent the female flowers." Oh.
I want to but can't stop myself, Hucks Bock & Cowls, representing Ultimate Frisbee players, beer companies and monks (these things are somehow related).
Liked it. Had more trouble with the NW than the SW. "Posse" gave me good foothold there, but "sucks..."no.
ReplyDelete@Z, never played (or watched) ultimate frisbee, so it's good to know that this is a real word.
My dim memory of HS chem/bio classes is that pH strips are made of litmus paper, easier to use in a test tube than a sheet of litmus paper. Bad clue.
But about Huckleberry, that is a truly wonderful old term that should be brought back.It means the perfect person for the moment, usually in a positive sense. Huck Finn's full name is Huckleberry, Tom's best friend. Moon River is the singer's huckleberry friend. In the movie "Tombstone" Doc Holliday responds to a challenge to the Earps with "I'm your huckleberry."
@Trey. Thank you for two things. 1ST, your comment about GREW apair. In that context I had to notice that LOWBALLERS was a cross. Is being LOWBALLed a medical condition? Anyway, 2nd, I knew the TWIX clue would be contested. HAR!
ReplyDeleteOther: The NW was pretty easy. The SW, as noted by others, was not. The rest felt Friday normal. Some of the cluing was a little off but WTH. I'm going to guess that not more than 3 people on this blog are proficient in calculus. Area appears often but after that, no idea. I just have to wait. The partner of 32D, Question that cannot be answered if its answer is "no"/YOUAWAKE, is, Question that cannot be answered if its answer is "yes". You asleep?. This an old childhood double riddle. Good to see it.
Two very short but very clever traps were set in this puzzle and I fell into both. For "Wolf's home", deN went in immediately and it was confirmed by AFRIKANERS -- which I, who watch golf, knew and perhaps you didn't. But how, how, how to get the "C" I needed where I had DREW BAdK? Oh, yes, CNN!
ReplyDeleteIs there a tree called a black aSH? I assumed there was and wrote in ASH where ISH needed to go. I do think, Evan, that it should have been clued "Black-___." With a dash to show it's one word. Fairer, yes?
What percentage of the population uses HUCKS to mean "throws"? Eight percent? Two percent? This was the one answer -- the only answer actually that I objected to. You needed HUCKS for the grid, sure -- and here's how I would have clued it: "A couple of Finns, briefly?" Everyone would have had an equal shot at the answer -- not just the two percent who say HUCKS when they mean "throws".
But that's a small nit in what was a crunchy, well-clued and very enjoyable puzzle to solve. It definitely goes on my NICE LIST.
YOU AWAKE? KEEP A CLOSE EYE on the NEURAL NET -- OMAN, the METADATA. It's ASTIR.
ReplyDelete(ASIDE) GASP. YEAH, ABOUT THAT ... we didn't figure they'd have SOLES, so obvious in hindsight.
EUREKA and ALAS: They GREW A SPINE, developed SCENTS, even their own IKEA.
We DREW BACK to ASSISI, GOSPEL, COWLS, and saw that it was good.
This puzzle was excellent. 32A, 53A and 23D were all fun stuff.
ReplyDelete"Just OK" ?
Ok
Ah! Sweet rescue!
ReplyDeleteIsn't that always the way? The moment I give up, it all falls together.
Geez Louise - sleep really is a miracle worker.
Hit the wall in the SW corner, but that's just where I ended up - it really could have been anywhere.
SOILTESTS? At least this time it went right in.
As did weird-ass entries like DNALAB, AFRIKANERS, IMOVERIT, and...COWLS? Yep.
Also LOWBALLERS, PALEST (nice clue, BTW), and...PHSTRIP?
I'm no scientist, but apparently one got in via one of my ears last night, ran through my head and dropped some papers before flying out the opposite ear.
An excruciatingly strange solve. Now, if you'll excuse me...medic!
🧠🧠🧠🧠.5
🎉🚑⛑🏥🩺💉⚰️*
*Party favor, waaambulance, EMT, hospital, stethoscope, syringe/hypodermic needles, coffin. It tells a little story.
King of crosswords complaining about tiara with a virtue signal
ReplyDeleteNice
Soil test is so much in the language!
ReplyDeleteNice list is so much in the language.
@JD - 🤣😂🤣 - More apt than you realize. Lots of teams really buy into that band of brothers/sisters stuff and the best old man’s team for pretty much the past two decades is literally named for a Minnesota craft brewery (Surly) - the sponsorship money helps. So HUCKS, BOCK, & COWL most definitely would be our preferred law firm.
ReplyDelete@Mothra - I’ve only heard it as “hack up a lung” or “cough up a lung.” Merriam-Webster hasn’t seen your version, but they are very hit and miss on slang terms, so that doesn’t rule out your phrase being a thing. Also, doesn’t really fit the clue, does it?
Re: Rex’s NICE LIST Rant - Anyone else chuckle because he was clearly being hyperbolic and funny? I mean, he’s literally* correct about the song, Santa is making a list and checking it twice, so there is literally* only one list but we all know how that gets used colloquially. He’s just pointing out that the colloquialism is literally* wrong.
@Megafrim - 😂🤣😂
@kitshef & @RJPinVA - My SW corner travails out eyebrow arched the eyebrow arch at the BAKES clue. I get they went for the baseball pun, but “gets…out” suggests the batter went somewhere instead of being transformed into cake. The batter is still there, it’s just not batter anymore.
*Using “literal” to mean “literal” and not “figurative” about something that is figurative has me wondering if I am causing some sort of rift in the Santa-Time Continuum.
I liked this a lot but the SW corner was hell on earth for me.
ReplyDeleteI wasn’t going to say anything but since you brought it up… YEAH ABOUT THAT crossword … one of the hardest Saturdays I’ve ever done. Needed every ounce of intelligence I had in my NEURAL NET of a brain and then some. We’ll actually, LETS just face it, this puzzle kicked my BOCK. But HUCK it (GASP!) said I in a theater stage ASIDE, I’M so OVER IT now.
ReplyDeleteFrom my very SOLES, I wish you a pleasant Christmas Eve. LETS hope we all make the NICE LIST this YEAR.
Is there such a thing as a NICE LIST? My former classmates in the BMI Musical Theater Workshop, Gerald Stockstill and Kenneth Jones, seem to think so. Here's a link to their website. (I couldn't access the songs myself because I don't have the right hardware? software? apps? computer savvy? to get the songs to play. But maybe you can.)
ReplyDeleteNAUGHTY/NICE musical
Had a hard time w 9A. Does OMIT really mean drop? Omit to me means not included from the start, there is nothing to “drop”. I know I’m overthinking but this bugged me.
ReplyDeleteOh @Frantic, you've outdone yourself. My heart is aflutter. Did you know that an Imoverit is a personality type that can take people or leave 'em? It's true. Like cats.
ReplyDelete@Z, BTW, Huckleberry is a hound done in third rate animation. You may be too young for that.
Rex's bit on SOILTESTS is hilarious.
ReplyDelete@Lewis 636am How am I supposed to get that without any crosses? LOL!
@Z 718am HUCKS was a WTHuck. And weren't they all named after the hound? I'd answer your question about PHSTRIP, but Elvis (the scientist) has left the building. I did that puzzle - why don't I remember it? Plus, your link wants a subscription (and I can't link mine).
@Mothra 914am 🤣🤣🤣 That was lovely - thank you.
@JD 917am I don't care what corn does behind closed doors, but c'mon! Love HUCKS, BOCK, and COWLS. "Someone here" might want to seek their services.
@pmdm from yesterday - loved your cat post!
Will someone kindly explain “Ear hair”/TASSEL, please? It is not computing for me. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThink “ear of corn.” The hair on the corn is the tassel.
DeleteThink “ear of corn.” The hair on the corn is its tassel.
DeleteThanks, @Z, for explaining HUCKS, a word I'd never heard of seen with that meaning. Dictionary.com defined HUCK only as a type of cotton fabric, and didn't list the plural (or singular, since it's a verb) at all. I actually rebused a CH into that square, and only then realized that PH STRIP was a thing. (I had one semester of chemistry, in 1962, so it's not really in my wheelhouse.)
ReplyDeleteAside from that, a nice puzzle, with lots of challenges. And I loved the little fashion fair in the center, with COWLS crossing both BOA and TRACK SUIT, and the latter crossing LACES.
Huckleberries are very like blueberries. According to Euell Gibbons, they are hard to distinguish -- there are people who say they know the difference, but those people do not agree on what that difference is. I think it's probably a regional usage. But if memory serves, Thoreau concludes his essay "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" by saying that after he was released from jail, he went off to meet a group of people who were waiting for him to lead them on a huckleberry-picking expedition.
I was going to question LIEGES, but according to M-W it is one of those words that can mean opposite things: the person to whom allegiance is owed, and the person who owes it. Learn something new every day.
@Z 940am It's gratifying to see that my suspicions were correct - thanks!
ReplyDelete@Whatsername 954am (and everyone) Warmest wishes for you and yours, as well. Doubt I'll make that LIST though. 🤷♀️
@JD 1002am 🤣🤣Now why did I just know you were familiar with that hound? Also, did you know that I knew because I am that personality type? 😘
I feel bad that, living in Iowa and surrounded by corn, I didn't understand why TASSEL is Ear hair, even after I had the word filled in.
ReplyDeleteMostly easy (AFRIKANERS went in with no crosses) except for the SW which took longer the the rest of it combined. I had the same problems that @Rex and many of you did...SAn before SAO (I should have waited), HUCKS was a WOE, POSSE took a while, as did YEAH and CHESS, and it’s been decades since I thought about calculus....so tough corner.
ReplyDeleteFun Friday, liked it a bunch!
@Lewis and @Z -- I am now the proud and happy recipient of a year's subscription to The New Yorker* -- so I know that fiendish KAC puzzle you're referring to. I can't solve it, I'm not close to solving it, and it almost broke my wall in half -- The New Yorker being much heavier than the NYT. What an impossible puzzle! Not fun for me and I heartily congratulate anyone who managed to finish it.
ReplyDeleteI almost always agree with Lewis on clues -- but I just looked up the answer to the clue he cites and I don't like it one little bit. I'm going to email him now and tell him how my mind was working on that clue. Sort of in the right direction, but, alas, not entirely. I'll also let him know (unless I'm missing something) why I think that answer doesn't work.
*Hartley70 gave me this subscription as a surprise Christmas present. (So much of a surprise that I initially didn't thank her because I had no idea whatsoever it was from her.) It's incredibly generous and thoughtful of her -- and it's very much appreciated!
Forget my last comment. The KAC clue is great. It's just that Lewis has mis-stated on the blog what the clue actually is.
ReplyDeleteI went to look at my copy of The New Yorker. The clue is not "Bottom of a dive". The clue is "Bottom point of a dive." That works!!! That makes it quite a terrific clue, actually. So apologies to KAC and The New Yorker.
Should I go back and see if I can solve the puzzle now with that one big cheat? Bet I still can't.
Minor panic this morning when no inroads to the grid were found. I finally slapped in SAn at 44A and thought 32D might be YOU AlivE? Didn’t put it in and AWAKE would let 48A be TWOS so that is where I made my start. Self pat on the back for getting YEAH ABOUT THAT from just the YEAH. HUCKS sounds like (breakfast test warning) what the cat is doing with a hairball.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rex, for explaining my hesitation at AFRIKANERS - where is that extra A, I ASKed away.
I mistook BOCK for BOCh which meant I was going nowhere fast with the top half of 14D.
Briefly had pIEcES at 19A, making a mini-CHESS theme, but Richard WRIcHT helped me clear that up.
Evan, thank you for the challenging Friday.
As @Megafrim 7:14 said, Santa is probably using Excel and he can merge the two lists when creating his delivery route plan. But separate lists makes it easier for the elves. Sheesh.
@egsforbreakfast, your 12:35 comment yesterday had me whimpering with mirth for your corollaries for pizza pie.
Actually, it would probably be simpler to keep the list in a single Excel table, tag each entry with Naughty or Nice, and then use a column filter to separate Naughty from Nice. That way if little Jimmy fills the sugar bowl with ants at the last minute you can just change the tag instead of having to remove him from one list and add him to another.
DeleteSanta's all about efficiency and measurable production metrics these days.
Got through about half of the puzzle before giving up the phost. Simply don't have the time right now ('tis the season) and don't really care. Not the goal of one making the puzzle, but maybe the constructor doesn't care either.
ReplyDeleteWhich reminds me of a recent comment that was posted. The Brain Tickler has a widely inconsistant difficulty level and reflects a sometimes odd sense of humor. Some tickler are amazingly simple if you get the answer right away, and if not become impossible. Do they reflect what the NYT is all about? If the goal is to garner more subscriptions, I would call them successful. To each one's own.
Now to see if any feral cats are in my back yard.
"Nice list!" is often exclaimed by tourists in Pisa upon seeing the tower.
ReplyDeleteSomeone should tell Will that there is more than one manufacturer of smartphones on the market. I get that using "iJunk" makes filling a grid easier, but the clues don't have to be iJunked too.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite spots in Mexico is San Miguel de Allende so I confidently dropped in SAn Miguel for the Azores island. I also know that the Azores are Portuguese so the correct SAO should have been a gimme. I blame it on solving after a poker game that went into the wee hours this morning.
ReplyDeleteI was not as enamored with the 36 black square grid layout (I double checked at xwordinfo.com) as some of yous. After I solved the NW corner it seemed like I was starting all over again when I got to the next section, et sequitur.
@albatross from last night, my PH STRIP test for a plural of convenience (POC) is asking if the pluralized entry is there by design or was it clued afterwards to justify its existence in the grid. So did the constructor have soccer tournaments in mind before EUROS went into the grid or was that just another convenience after the fact on top of the POC? I still think it was the latter but I appreciate your thoughtful analysis of the POC-or-not question. By the way, I think their might be an upcoming opening on the POC committee if you would be interested. Pays well with lots on benefits. It's seven days a week though.
Speaking of which, it's especially noticeable to me when some of the marquee longs don't fit their slots and need a POC letter count boost as happens with AFRIKANER, TRACK SUIT, LOW BALLER, and even the much-loved SOIL TEST.
I nominate OFL's "ghoulish relics" for British royalty as one of his top ten witticisms of the year. Made me briefly forget some of the shitty luck I had last night at the poker table!
A rave review from Rex: “It’s just OK.”
ReplyDeleteThought this puzzle was SUPER OK with lots of great clues and answers. Especially loved the riddle for YOU AWAKE?, the definition of CHESS, and the reminder that there’s a NICE LIST out there somewhere.
Meanwhile, with only seven more days to go, SOIL TESTS makes a last-minute attempt to become Answer of the Year and be crowned with the Cambridge Lover’s Knot.
I had POE instead of REY for a while since BB-8 was his droid. Think they could've clued that better.
ReplyDeleteThat damn SW corner took so long that I forgot my most major of nits. “Noted basilica town” is the Italian equivalent of “city with a marina” so the only right answer has to be “segale.”*
ReplyDelete@Katzzz - I have heard of “hock a loogie.”
HUCKleberry according to Wikipedia.
HUCKleberry as slang. Note that the way Doc Holliday used it is quite contrary to how Johnny Mercer used. Also note that the interwebs has lots of answers to the question of what a HUCKleberry means, but the two most common sources are Doc Holliday and Moon River.
@JD - I have watched HUCKleberry Hound. I was too young when they first aired, but he and Yogi Bear and other Hanna-Barbera cartons popped up now and again.
@SaraJ - It’s been explained a couple of times now but I think a little buried in other comments each time - A TASSEL is also the term for that stringy stuff on an ear of corn, the ear of corn’s “hair.”
<a href="https://sciencing.com/function-litmus-paper-5072700.html>An article discussing the difference between a PH STRIP and litmus paper<a> since at least one person claimed they were the same and one claimed they were different.
*That is, “rye.”
@Z, I put in AREA, then remembered you don't need calculus for that, simple geometry will do, so opted for RATE
ReplyDeleteWatched the new holiday classic "Elf", and definitely a major moment when Buddy realizes that dad is on the naughty list.
LOL - SOILTESTS, and loved Rex's show him out the back, give him a cap:)
Definitely challenging in my book!
I don't fully understand cold wave producing a PERM.
Hands up for den before CNN
BEAT/STIR - a look at 1D to see if it is plural is a quick hint that it probably isn't STIR.
Anyone who has ever read a Craigslist ad has seen "No lowballers, please". So, in the language, not bad, not cringey.
Had SAn Miguel Island, then remembered with a dopeslap that it is Portugese.
@Lewis - I was proud to get the clue immediately, then followed the link to see the already filled in puzzle I must have solved the last time someone linked to it, lol.
ReplyDeleteHand up joining commentariat who found Rex’s rating too lax. My goodness Evan, you really gave us a workout! From TOSCA to AFRIKANERS this grid took A TON of effort….from ucla to nova to NAVY was a journey to equal Santa’s itinerary.
ReplyDeleteAlso I enjoyed @Lewis’s nomination for clue of the year for that answer that shall not be named. If you can’t afford the New Yorker subscription, drop a dime into your local library copy machine for the Monday grid—sure to delight if early week NYT seems a trivial pursuit. Like @Nancy, I often wonder if a Monday New Yorker grid is impossible, but patience in Crossworld is its own reward; success ensues, but not quickly. That’s a Stark GOSPEL.
I grew up in the 50's and 60's. Never once heard anyone say "hucks".
ReplyDeleteDear Evan, Happy Holidays to you, thanks for a TERRIFIC puzzle, especially because of SOIL TESTS!!! : ).
ReplyDelete26 minutes for my son and me, that's pretty good for us for a friday!
thanks for the fun. Liked GREWASPINE and AFRIKANERS as interesting answers. Thanks. --Rick
Stoping in briefly to wish everyone a A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS OR WHATEVER YOU MIGHT CELEBRATE I'll see you next week.
ReplyDeletePS HUCKS can kiss my bartenders fondillo.
@Mothra 9:14 - the phrase is "hocking a loogie"
ReplyDelete@z -- you are right about the New Yorker puzzle being a couple of weeks old. We get it hard copy, got two in the mail yesterday, and I mistook the older one for the newer one.
ReplyDelete@Frantic -- Very tough to get it, I would think, without crosses, but still worth looking up!
@Nancy --Methinks you missed a word in my post.
AFRIKANERS?? and OFL didn't trigger?? how is this not, historically, TWO (or less?) steps from Nazi? or Confederate slave-holder?? or... I mean, the history is pretty awful, right?
ReplyDelete@OfftheGrid 9:25 - LOWBALLed is a medical condition - it is the opposite of undescended testes, which is a relatively common condition in newborn males.
ReplyDeleteI tried, forever, to remember the name of those teeny, tiny hairs that are on/near the eardrum that allow it to work. never did. let's go see... "This peach fuzz-like layer is called vellus hair" https://www.healthline.com/health/ear-hair
ReplyDeleteThot HUCKS early on, but didn't look like any of the crosses would work, so gave up on it until finally getting ASK and ESCOOTER. Don't know if HUCKS is old-timey, but it's quite familiar to me.
ReplyDeleteTASSEL has already been explained by some of the commentariat; here's a bit more from Corny News Network:
"Seems like every year some fellow walks into the Chat 'n Chew Cafe carrying an odd-looking tassel that is part tassel and part ear to show off to the guys over at the corner table. Much discussion always ensues over the causes of tassel ears, but the usual consensus is that it falls into the general category of corny oddities and is rarely a yield-influencing factor."
"A "tassel ear" is an odd-looking affair and is found almost exclusively on tillers or "suckers" of a corn plant along the edges of a field or in otherwise thinly populated areas of a field. It is very uncommon to find tassel ears on the main stalk of a corn plant." (Twitter: @PurdueCornGuy)
___
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
nope. not those. these: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/cochlear-hair-cell
ReplyDeletePlenty of good stuff but it was overwhelmed by the ughs. Like YEAHABOUTTHAT, one of the all-time-worst clue/entries. And 5D, 23D, and 47D. I like hard puzzles but there was no joy in this one. Rather than feeling good about solving it, I feel resentful toward Mr. Kalish.
ReplyDeleteI also first put in AREA for "Calculus calculation" because it's been in the puzzle often these days. But RATE is equally valid. The two fundamental operations of calculus are finding the derivative and finding the integral of a function. The integral can be used to find the AREA under a curve. The derivative gives the RATE of change of a function. How fast it is increasing or decreasing at any point.
I liked METADATA. Just as a meta puzzle is a puzzle about a puzzle, METADATA is data about some data.
I'm going to name all of my TIARAs.
I always thought it was "hawk up a loogie"
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile CHECK THIS OUT
Too hard or me but once I cheated, I loved 32 down YOU AWAKE?
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think clueing is needlessly obscure and SO not clever. Or is that related to mood? (Probably both.)
ReplyDeleteEither way happy holidays!
🤩🎉🤩
Tough to get into, and tough to get out of - like others, I ended up with a struggle in the SW, with every square to the left of CHESS its own field of battle. I finally filled it (aided by a very helpful guess at POSSE), but still ended up with a dopey DNF at SeLES x eRG: my sister-in-law is a champ master rower who spends hours on eRG workouts, surely recorded in a chart, I thought. Also like others, I give a tip of the hat to Wolf's home and Ear hair. Enjoyable Friday brain-racking.
ReplyDeleteThe Cambridge Lover's Knot tiara was a favorite of Princess Diana.
Kinda surprised so many people haven’t heard this usage of HUCKS. It was pretty common where I lived circa 1978-1982 when I was of an age to do a lot of hucking and also encourage others to huck (8 to 12).
ReplyDeleteAlthough I guess it’s pretty telling that autocorrect keeps wanting to change it to “hack.”
You're right, I did, Lewis! Now where in the blog did I see it without the word "point"? Anyway, sorry.
ReplyDeleteI did put in “pair” for the Twix clue, and my first reaction when I got GREW A… was, wait you can’t reuse “pair”! Of course, it didn’t fit anyway, and it was wrong in the Twix clue. Just to keep this cringey post going, I’ll note the LOWBALLERS hanging right through the GREW A… answer. OK, I’ll stop.
ReplyDeleteLOWBALLERS was one of the things I liked about the puzzle, which was just the right level of challenging for me. Like almost everyone, I really struggled in the SW, in part because of sticking with “pair” too long and in part because of sticking with “well, ABOUT THAT” too long. Because of the latter, I had “class” instead of CHESS for the “gymnasium of the mind.” It seemed plausible but weak. That clue and answer was another highlight, along with clues for TASSEL, TDS and CNN. (Wolf Blitzer emcees my non-profit’s awards event every year -virtually for the past two - and he is a prince.)
NICE LIST reminded me of David Sedaris’ “Santaland Diaries,” which I listened to again on NPR yesterday. One of many high points is when a mom asks Sedaris’ Crumpet the Mall Elf to tell her son that Santa will give him coal if he doesn’t behave. Sedaris tells the kid that, actually, Santa has eliminated coal for those on the naughty LIST - now he steals everything from your house instead All your toys, every bit of furniture, your car… The mom is appalled.
Loved this puzzle, perfect amount of crunch for us. We always appreciate (and do better) when it is a crossWORD puzzle and not a crossNAME puzzle. Thanks Evan!
ReplyDeleteWhy not make this a little more fun for those of us who don't want to look up The New Yorker puzzle? We'll try to get the answer from the clue without any grid context. (No posting of guesses though, promise.)
ReplyDeleteTell us one letter and and its location in the word (1st, 3rd, 8th etc.). No vowels, must be a consonant.
Agreed about Santa keeping a single list in Excel.
ReplyDeleteHe can then use the COUNTIF function to keep a running total of how many kids are naughty and how many are nice, and the SUMIF function to determine how much of his budget is going to each group.
Villager
U kinda hadta plug away at this puppy for a spell. Many precious nanoseconds got plugged, in the process.
ReplyDeleteHad some nice Christmas touches in it, along the way.
Cute clues:
YOUAWAKE & NICELIST ones.
Weird-ass stuff: HUCKS. Better clue: {Finn, and others?}
Also, ESCOOTER seemed at least slightly desperate-ish. M&A luvs slightly desperate-ish.
staff weeject pick: ISH. As in desperate-ish.
puzgrid sparklers included: KEEPACLOSEEYEON. YEAHABOUTHAT [Had WELLABOUTTHAT for way tooo looong]. LOWBALLERS. EUREKA.
Thanx for the theme-free fun, Mr. Kalish dude. Primo be-fanged Jaws of Themelessnesses. They was like the Jaws with tinsel on em.
Masked & Anonymo3Us
Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! Peace On Earth Good Will To Runts:
**gruntz**
Oh dear, I can't believe how many people actually managed a clean grid on this awful puz. Glad you guys had fun. I gave up, and that's even after AFRIKANERS and TOSCA were gimmes for me.
ReplyDeleteSOLES? HUCKS??
And of course i'm never there when it's a TV-related clue.
Similarly, congrats to all those who got to 0 on yesterday's SB. I'm supposed to know a fair bit about poetry but I never heard about that five-line stanza and when I looked at it this am in the Answers I could only produce a four-letter word.
pg and so far -10
@mathgent, The tiaras, too funny.
ReplyDelete@bocamp:
ReplyDeleteI've watched "Good Eats" religiously from the beginning, and one of the 'corn episodes' recently re-ran. Something on the order of 1% of USofA corn is human's eating sweet corn. Most of the rest is silage corn, either dent or flint; although some dent does end up, eventually, in some corn meal. I've never seen an ear in my local megamart that wasn't tasselled, so I'll assume that your source is talking about silage/field corns.
Of course, Alton Brown is a Georgian via California and NECI, so what does he know about the great corn fields of the midwest?
@M&A:
ReplyDeleteor, may haps, the line from one of the Wyatt Earp/OK Corral oaters, wherein Val Kilmer/Doc Holliday (in makeup one step removed from The Tin Woodman) says to Ringo (just before shooting him) "I'm your huckleberry."
I am a bit confused by the comments on BAKES. To me it's a baseball misdirect. Are you suggesting it ia a batter retired by a scorching fast ball? Or some such? Time to bake those Christmas cookies. Better get the batter out.
ReplyDelete@trey
I appreciate you sharing your Twix expertise. The Halloween bags have left and right labels? I'm so unobservant. But the clue is still accurate without even checking if they are bars or minibars in those bags. So not even a nit. Opinions may differ.
@Anoa
I am honored. Good benefits, I trust. But like Bartleby I prefer not to. Sounds like work. Brian and his children to those who were curious. And i am no mindreader and would prefer an objective standard. I realize any loophole would be big enough to drive the OED through. But if I originally thought of the ENOS as biblical but clued as Brian and his children, what are you going to do? Shoot me? Oops. I think I know the answer.
Saw what looked like trident in the NAVY clue, so went there right away. Translates to: From knowledge, seapower.
I almost quit in the SE, but muddled through. Surrendered in zhe SW. Didn't think sleep would help. Completed the rest and quite pleased with that accomplishment. Good puz.
One from Frazz.
Clue: Roof edge with decorative lights. (5 letters)
Answer: TODAY
Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas Eave.
@Smith
Especially thinking of you.
Late to the party as I spent the morning playing Santa, which in these parts involves a lot of driving.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, just when I thought all the bears were hibernating, here comes today's xword to go with yesterdays SB. Yikes. I went from the NW due S and had less trouble with the SW than most of us, I think, but ran out of gas in the NE. OMIT was not obvious, even with what turned out to be my correct OMAN guess. FORGETIT seemed logical and while I was hoping an FBI director did not have a FOREVER term, that fit nicely. Eventually got everything straightened out, but what a struggle.
Have heatd HUCKS, but not in a long time, and I'm with @OfftheGrid on "hawks up a loogie" although people around here may be saying "hock" with a NE accent, as they also tell time with a "clawk".
Agree with the majority that this was a worthwhile struggle from Mr. EK, Keeper of the Eclectic Knowledge. Thanks for all the fun.
And to all who contribute here, thanks to you too for all the fun. Happy holidays to you, and may your friends be merry and bright.
Happy to have finished, but didn't know Org -rey was right until I checked. Why clue rey that way? Star Wars droid?? That's my only complaint, though. Nice puzzle!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comments this morning.
ReplyDeleteConrad (6:31)
JD (1:43)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTough puzzle. Had to use "check" to finish.
ReplyDeletere: HUCKleberry, Phil Rizzuto, when he was the NY Yankee's TV color commentator, used it frequently as a disparaging moniker for someone who did something wrong/foolish.
I had “IMOVEdon” forever instead of “IMOVERIT”. Very tough to get away from that, with 5/8 being correct.
ReplyDelete@The Swedish Chef (1:44 PM)
ReplyDeleteThx for that. :)
Personally, an ear of corn is an ear of corn. The only TASSEL I knew was on my grad cap, lol. So, I'm learning a lot about corn today. 🌽🎓
For anyone who's interested in the ear shoots/TASSEL distinction, here's more from the 'PurdueCornGuy':
"The male and female reproductive organs of a corn plant are contained in physically separate unisexual flowers (a flowering habit called "monoecious" for you trivia fans.) The tassel represents the male flower on a corn plant, while the ear shoots represent the female flowers. Interestingly, both reproductive structures initiate as perfect (bisexual) flowers, containing both male and female reproductive structures. Soon after each each reproductive structure has initiated, the female components (gynoecia) of the tassel and the male components (stamens) of the ear shoots abort, resulting in the unisexual flowers (tassels and ears) we come to expect.
Once in a while, some or many of the female flower parts survive and develop on the tassel, resulting in individual kernels or partial ears of corn in place of part or all of the tassel. The physiological basis for the survival of the female floral parts on the tassel is likely hormonally-driven, but the environmental "trigger" that alters the hormonal balance is not known. There are also known genetic mutations that alter normal tassel development by allowing the female flower components to survive."
___
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
HUCK is bro-speak for throw. “. The dude grabs a massive rock and hucks it through his old lady’s window.”
ReplyDeleteIntegral calculus is about area. Differential calculus is about RATE (of change).
What did the fir sapling do while being raised by ponderosas? GREW AS PINE
What did St. Francis say after publicly making a fool of himself? ASS IS I
I liked this puzzle about as much as I’m going to like a themeless. Clues were spot on. Thanks for a great Friday, Evan Kalish.
re JC66's observation (2:13) -- For a sweet linkage in the puzzle, we can note that Rizzuto's nickname was SCOOTER (sans the e-). He was very very funny, may he rest in peace. Bill White once asked him what "WW" meant on his scoresheet and Rizzuto explained it meant "wasn't watching." Yogi gets all the attention (deservedly so), but Scooter was hysterical too.
ReplyDelete@Lewis 6:36 and @Z, @Nancy, @Newboy - Thank you for mentioning the Kameron Austin Collins puzzle from the December 13th New Yorker. I'm so behind on puzzles except for the daily NYT that I hadn't seen it. Definitely challenging, and rewarding to figure out. I enjoyed locking horns with the tricky clues.
ReplyDeleteI was a child in the '50s and '60s, and we definitely did not use the work HUCK as a synonym for throw. Definitely an obscure word, which contributed to the difficulty of this puzzle. For people my age, maybe the clue should have referenced Huckleberry Hound, although I don't remember him being referred to as Huck - maybe the clue should have referenced the Mark Twain novel.
ReplyDeleteThis went very fast for me, under 14 minutes. Steady progress with only a few backtracks, eg KEEP CLOSE TABS ON and OKAY, ABOUT THAT slowed me up for a while.
ReplyDeleteHUCKS was definitely a word we used back in elementary and high schools. "So, he hucks the ball onto the roof..."
[Spelling Bee:
yd pg-2; I'm sure many of us missed these words.
td 0.]
So I don't mean to be a pest, but does the New Yorker answer by any chance go:
ReplyDeleteConsonant, consonant, vowel, consonant, consonant, vowel, vowel, consonant
?
It might be a good idea to not include clues from other crosswords as discussion points in this blog.
ReplyDelete@Joe D
ReplyDeleteCVCCCVVC
@Joe Dipinto:
ReplyDeleteAlmost! Consonant VOWEL CONSONANT etc.....
@JCC – Thanks. Interesting. One switchup.
ReplyDelete@Joe Dipinto - Check your email
ReplyDeleteOh that was you! Tx
ReplyDelete"Somehow I'm picturing kids throwing rocks and seagulls, which is just cruel, stop it, kids." ... wait ... Kids are throwing seagulls these days? Still more evidence that I'm losing touch with pop culture?
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteTravelling today, although I did do the puz earlier. Toughie for me, and like others, got my butt kicked in the SW.
I'm on East Coast time right now, instead of the 3 hour earlier West Coast Time. Neat to post at the actual time!
GREW A SPINE was a letdown. Har. Can't remember too much about puz, as jeez, it was 10 hours ago I did it! My memory on s like @Nancy's, sieveish.
yd -8, should'ves 1 (some wacky words in that one.)
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
I thought Rex's rant on SOILTESTS was very well done. However I thought he actually meant it which makes little sense to me because it is quite a common thing for farmers or gardners to have done. The EPA does it regularly as well, testing at possible hazardous waste sites. I also assume Will might have published it just before this one because people would appreciate a bit of help on this one. Maybe Rex thinks it is to greenpaintish. Maybe it was tongue in cheek. I know Rex is not much of a gardner.
ReplyDelete***Alert***
Possible spoiler for recent puz.
Speaking of spine reminded me of spline and definitions that were mentioned. I was familiar with the word but not from any of those usages. Couldn't think what it was. Went searching in my basement for a missing drill and found half used package of rubber tubing for holding screens in place in aluminum frames. Spline for screen windows.
Vowels O EE?
ReplyDelete@sanfranman59 is in da house! Get this par-tay started!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas & Happy Holidays to all Rexaholics! Couldn't miss this one this year!
I had EKG instead or ORG (as in an EKG chart), and since the crosses involved were foreign currency and something from the Star Wars franchise, that was a DNF for me.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise,a very nice,challenging puz.
Took me all day (off and on) to wrestle with this one, but pleased to get it done.
ReplyDeleteOne notable 5 letter Hidden Diagonal Word, that could be clued a) "Absolutely," slangily or b) Breath or candy mints?
Answer: CERTS
Tough for me as well. Only a couple I didn't know (REY, WRIGHT) but some tricky clues, and a couple open-ended clues (Last __, __ Away) really slowed me down, and it took a couple lookups to jump start NE and SW (guessed LEFTHANDED for the golfers at first, and FELLBACK for retreated)
ReplyDeleteAlternative to litmus paper = PHSTRIP?? I though litmus paper WAS a PHSTRIP, so wouldn't it be a synonym, not an alternative?
And the ever present KeaLoa - ATON. SOILTEST came to me quickly as it was just used. Infrequent words often repeat in close timing, it seems.
Merry Christmas!!
Too much stuff I didn't know, and even after looking up, didn't recognize. Out of my wheelhouse.
ReplyDeleteDiana, LIW
DNF. Strangely enough, I did the NW! Then...nothing.
ReplyDeleteDATA LIST ASIDE . . .
ReplyDeleteYEAH,ABOUTTHAT TENYEAR RATE
THAT the LOWBALLERS ASK to REFINE,
LET’S KEEPACLOSEEYEON their STATE,
if IT SEAMs THAT they GREWASPINE.
--- DEE DEE REY WRIGHT
My biggest problem was the the word with the diacritical mark in it did not come out anywhere near right in the St. Paul paper (they never do), so I had to check the Mpls. fishwrap to see what it was (seems they get those right). ASIDE from that, things just fell together enough to fill the rest out. GOSPEL truth
ReplyDeleteI remember Robin WRIGHT's appearance in Hef's mag, YEAHABOUTTHAT.
This puz is on the NICELIST.
A few too many cutesy and misdirecty clues for my liking. Seems like TENYEARs since we had a really good NYT xword puzzle.
ReplyDelete"... now give all your wealth back to the people and places you extracted it from, you ghoulish relics."
ReplyDeleteRight away, Rex. Straight after the American people return the entirety of the United States to the First Nations.