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Fake name given by Odysseus to the Cyclops / MON 1-31-22 / Unleavened flatbread in Indian cuisine / Makeup of some bunnies
Monday, January 31, 2022
Constructor: Eric Bornstein
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (***for a Monday***) (3:10)
Theme answers:
- ADIOS straddles RADIO / STATION (20A: With 21-Across, broadcast unit that may operate with 50,000, watts)
- TATA straddles DATA / TABLE (27A: With 30-Across, numbers displayed in rows and columns)
- LATER straddles SLATE / ROOF (49A: With 51-Across, long-lasting cover for a house)
1a: a mixture (as for plastering) composed chiefly of moistened clayb: a coarse molding sand used in founding (see FOUNDentry 5)
• • •
 |
| a better ERNST |
[a better ERNST]
Always unpleasant to see PALIN but especially unpleasant to see her crossed with fellow Tr*mpist Joni ERNST. There's absolutely no reason to clue ERNST that way. Even if we leave her disgusting politics out of it, you don't cross two answers from such narrow subject realms if you have other options, and with ERNST you definitely have other options. At a minimum, you've got famed surrealist Max ERNST and famed movie director ERNST Lubitsch. Mix it up. I don't know what this puzzle was trying to get at with the PALIN / ERNST cross, or with the GUANTANAMO / OBAMA cross either, but it's making me a little queasy. Speaking of making me queasy, that shouty CNBC hedge-fund guy ... his name ... I spelled it like the "Seinfeld" guy's name, i.e. with a "K," so that set me back (46A: "Mad Money" host Jim). I also had trouble coming up with DUST for 60D: Makeup of some "bunnies" because I was looking for a plural. Further, my eyes read "basketball" instead of "baseball" at 29D: Impressive feat in baseball, which made TRIPLE PLAY hard to come up with. I kept wondering why TRIPLE-DOUBLE wouldn't fit! Oh, and I wrote in MEDICARE before MEDICAID. The clue would seem to fit both (4D: Federal program for health care coverage). After all, MEDICARE is a "national health insurance program," so ... hard to know which one I was supposed to go for there. But that's why god invented crosses. Anyway, with all the cross-referencing in the themers and a handful of ambiguous non-theme clues to boot, this one definitely came in on the slow side for a Monday, for me. Not tremendously slow. But slowish. Hoping for a tighter, snappier, funner theme tomorrow. See you then.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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99 comments:
Tough. MEDICAre was definitely a speed bump and the cross referencing didn’t help. A TAD bland but solid and very smooth, liked it more than @Rex did.
@bocamp - after a rough couple of weeks Croce’s Freestyle #680 is more of a medium Croce which is to say approximately 4x a Saturday NYT. Good luck!!!
As is my Monday habit I tried to solve this by looking at only the down clues. I almost made it!... but ended up having to look at 2 of the across clues, 9 and 27. In both cases, this was because a down answer was the dreaded: name of someone I don't know. It is almost impossible to get those without crosses. (And they just had to clue 10 down, which is a simple word that could be clued a million different ways, with a pretty obscure "fake name". Oh, well.)
Fortunately the theme helped a bit, as it was pretty easy to guess it from ADIOS and TATA! And ironically, it also helped me get the revealer in 56 and 58 across. (Ironically because once I could see the theme, I could infer the revealer without reading the clue.) Anyway, if you find Mondays overly easy, give it a try!
[Spelling Bee: Sun. 0; QB for 3 days straight.]
I have to agree with Rex on the workings of the theme and circles. I completely get it, but it’s just kind of a dull thud for me.
I chuckled after filling the NE with reference only to the down clues and then seeing NOUSE without reference to the clue. Is a NOUSE related to a mouse, or a spouse, or a louse?
Mini baseball theme with TRIPLEPLAY and TAGSUP. ONEA could also be a noobs way of saying “single A” in continuing this genre. Nice to think about baseball rather than dwell on the 49ers loss.
I’m writing this on Sunday night, so I’ve got to say ‘SLATE so I’m going to bed.
Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow.
Medium challenging, are you kidding? This was so easy i was almost embarrassed for it.
Locale for a home garden, yard. LIFE or LUCKY CHARMS cereal, you don’t say. I could go on, but why?
Time for PARTING WORDS, nightly night.
Ah, Rex. The importance of being (a better) ERNST.
You can dream or shake your impotent fists at an uncaring sky, but we all know these schmos are here to stay.
I wouldn't mind their eternal absence either, but all other nits fall away when there are lookie-loo clues to bear.
That whole PARTING / PARTed argument wasn't a biggie because I didn't have time to care.
I just wanted it all to be over.
🧠.5
🎉
I thought the theme ws mildly fun just seeing the "parting words appearing so when the clue for the revealer invited me to think about the words actually parting(or being parted) that was another smile. Found it average to easy for a Monday.
Yes, Egs... s'late I should be in bed
Thx Eric; you definitely MEDALLED on this one! :)
Med.+
Just the right amt of resistance to make this a reasonably challenging Mon. puz.
Had MEDICAre, so that held me up a bit in that area.
Maybe I'll eventually learn to spell GUANTANAMO. 🤞
Once used BRITA filters; now just go with straight tap water.
And my PARTING WORDS: fun solve.
@puzzlehoarder 👍 for 0 dbyd
@Eniale (2:48 PM yd) 🤞
@okanaganer 👍 for 3 straight 0's
@jae
Thx, on it later today. :)
___
yd pg: 17:35 / Wordle: 4 (even par after 25)
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Having the word care in the clue made MEDICAID more likely...
Only looked at the circled letters after completing the puzzle, so I had no problem with the theme.
Enjoyed aha moments with Guantanamo,atrium and passed out.
Good puzzle for me.
Rex thinks that it matters whether the themers are PARTING or some other form of the verb. Those of us who follow Joaquin's Dictum don't agree.
Wordle requires skill but you also need luck. My third try this morning had four green letters. The fifth letter could be any one of five. I guessed right on my second try for a bogey but I could have gotten a six or worse.
I've given up panning Monday puzzles because I get scolded for being an elitist and lectured on why they need to be so easy.
Three layers of PARTING, I like it. That is, the circled words are words said on PARTING, those PARTING WORDS are PARTING like the Red Sea for Moses, and they are hidden in longer terms that are also PARTING, separated by a black square instead of joined as we typically see for theme answers. Nice theme.
Do have to acknowledge that Rex is right that the theme answers are dull as dishwater. DATA TABLE just evokes drudgery. SLATE ROOF is too close to green paint to ever be interesting. Still, the theme does what it does well, so 👍🏽👍🏽.
What irked me was that second L in MEDALED. POCs help out constructors, and even solvers, and can occasionally overwhelm a puzzle. But a doubled letter paste tense of convenience just feels like cheating.
OTOH, ETSY TRYST has to be the worst (or best?) porn movie ever. So much Y going on. And now I am wondering if pigs are involved… an ETSY sty TRYST. Partial Anagram Porn! Can we get xword director Sam Raimi on this?
**wordlealert**
Got the eagle today to take me to four under after 26. (and yes, I know an eagle is 95% luck, but you still feel good when you get one)
Wordle 226 2/6*
⬛🟨⬛⬛🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
**more wordle**
@mathgent - I suspect my yellow letter was your missing letter. I count 9 possible words with four of these letters in place, so it is possible to get 80% on the first guess and not get the word in six guesses. That would hurt.
@Z. If Wordle par is 4, how can you be 4 under par in 26 plays? What am I missing?
Note on 4D. The clue is "Federal program for health *care* coverage", so (hopefully) answer could not be MEDICAre.
**Only Because A Question Was Asked Wordle Alert Yes I Agree This Is Probably Too Much Wordle**
@Wordler - 2 Eagles, 9 Birdies, 8 Pars, 5 Bogies, 2 Double Bogies - that works out to 4 under for 26 “holes.”
The way Rex needs to evaluate the politics of every word and clue is just such a bore. And not just politics, he found the word SPIT problematic the other day. I don't give a moments thought to the words being nice, happy words or unpleasant words as I solve. If I felt the need I would probably give up doing them. Today was my slowest Monday in a while so I am with those saying it was hard for a Monday.
Pretty easy, aided by the theme. Never even saw the clue for ERNST, but if I had, my reaction would have been bafflement. Does not seem like a Monday name.
I think of yard and garden as two separate areas. The former is generally either grassy and mowed or mostly untended and natural. The latter is where you grow your flowers or veggies. I felt that strongly enough that I hesitated to put in YARD, waiting for some other answer to appear.
Not sure where Rex got a medium-challenging assessment for this one, as it was plug-and-chug all the way. Maybe because he was all concerned about the theme, which I ignored. I think all of the non-PPP stuff is pretty much Monday level and very straight forward.
I didn’t know the ERNST lady that Rex whined about, and Sarah PALIN is a harmless former politician - so Rex, just ignoring her and sparing us your inane drivel everyday would be an improvement to your blog comments (IMHO).
It takes a bit of effort to imagine a network that would be more boring than one dedicated to U.S. professional basketball - maybe something akin to one of those 24 hour infomercial channels.
Liked the puzzle typical Monday. Btw, just because because Barack Obama lied about closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay doesn't suggest anything defamatory in the crossing. Sometimes there are coincidences and I wouldn’t read anything into it.
Man, you are such a joke. “Queasy” because a Republican was in the crossword? Joni Ernst has to be among the least offensive Republican senators yet you throw a tizzy fit. Great that everyone these days, even crossword bloggers, are contributing to the division in this country.
I’m with @Z on this one - the theme was nuanced and multilayered. Not exactly splashy in terms of theme content but functionally strong. Problem here is that the themers were short entries leaving the longs as regular fill. Liked TRIPLE PLAY but BAR CODES, HEADSTAND etc don’t shine.
Rex spends a lot of time selling the need for temporal fill - then demands two ERNSTs from the early 20th century. I don’t care much for the senator either but have no issue in an early week puzzle. I think the clue on 4d is clunky - MEDICAre is a federal health insurance program. At least in NY - MEDICAID is a state run assistance program. I guess it is federally funded so I guess there’s that.
Enjoyable Monday solve.
Well, you went looking for a plural with DUST, and DUST is indeed a plural! :-)
Like you, not a fan of the puzzle. "___ and Young" would have been another way (and a pretty Monday way) to clue ERNST without highlighting one of the most vile folks currently in the Senate. A lot of "it could be two things" clues (ONUS could have been LOAD, BLOT could have been SPOT, MEDICAID/CARE, etc), but more importantly, just not a lot of joy to be found. The theme never mattered, which is maybe the most damning thing.
My five favorite clues from last week
(In order of appearance):
1. In which head shots can be taken (6)
2. Structure with many layers (4)
3. Kid's cut, perhaps (4)
4. Catchy communication, for short? (3)
5. What gets filled at a shell station (4)
SOCCER
COOP
OWIE
APB
TACO
Wow. I don’t time myself but if I did, this would have been a record. Wham, bang, boom, done! Even for a Monday. I hate circles and ignored them until I was done, but a Monday is a Monday and this was a reasonable one. But normally, circles = blecch. Still… three mildly not unpleasant themers and that’s that? Didn’t love it but wasn’t as critical as Rex. But wham, bang, boom, done!
I can’t even follow Rex’s contortions on why the “parting” theme doesn’t work - seemed fine to me. But I agree that the three theme answers are the dullest set of marquee phrases you could pick. Also felt like there should be one more themer. Maybe “marCIA Obtuse” or “prIMO UTah” or “sTOOD ALOOf.”
Easy stuff here, guessed wrong on MEDICARE, or course and I kept trying to make TRIPLECROWN fit for the baseball feat, but that was about it.
I've always heard NOONE so NOBODY sounded off.
I think a better clue for ERNST would be 'writer Hmingway".
I thought the theme was fine, if a little obvious after a few of the circles were filled in.
And if you don't like BUANTANAMO, you probably don't like "Guantanamera", as that's where she's from.
Nice enough Mondecito, EB. East But not too easy. Thanks for the fun.
Never mind. Those aren’t coherent phrases, except maybe stood aloof. Not fully awake yet! The fact that I can’t come up with any more synonyms for goodbye that could split across a coherent phrase does make the constructing feat more impressive.
I enjoyed this Monday with a little bit of crunch. The theme might’ve been rather simplified but it worked just fine. I wouldn’t do a HEADSTAND in excitement over it but there’s NO USE looking for anything to complain about either.
I read recently that Sarah PALIN’s latest shenanigans included dining at a public SITE in NYC after her positive Covid diagnosis. As classy as ever in other WORDS.
@Joaquin: How do you go from the greatest game ever played to the most sickening one in the short span of seven days? I hated it but not as much as I would’ve hated losing to Buffalo after that phenomenal effort. I feel like they beat themselves last night and in all fairness, after whipping KC twice, Cincinnati really earned it. Still no matter how it ends, I’m always a little sad when the season is over.
Hard to put a difficulty label on this one, since I worked it last night while watching the 49ers/Rams game. According to the app, it timed out a little closer to my average time than my best, so easy/medium perhaps.
Had to smile and grimace as I typed in PALIN ("Here we go...").
Hidden Diagonal Word might be clued: Last one in the coffin
Answer: Nail
And what the heck is an "octave scale"?
Is there also a "seventh scale" or a "ninth scale"?
They didn't teach that at the music conservatory I attended.
I agree, let’s close Guantanamo before it is allowed in a puzzle, and do NOT ever include Palin. I would have clued ERNST as the younger brother on Swiss Family Robinson, one of my son’s favorite childhood movies. Otherwise, not too bad for a Monday…farewell to January! Time to move onto some February Frolics!
If Rex is correct, maybe since I used to be a lawyer I lawyered myself into approving the theme. Did grimace at Ernst, and would have smiled at Mr. Lubitsch. Shop Around the Corner is so charming and is the basis of She Loves Me, a wonderful show. Now I will be remembering those songs today. Thanks, Rex.
@ MathGent I'm with you on today's Wordle. I sussed out the last 4 letters, but then it was a roll of the dice as to what that first letter could be, and went from a game of skill to pure guesswork.
Wordle 226 X/6
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
I'm also with ChefWen re today's puz. One of the easiest Mondays I've seen in a long time. Enjoyable nevertheless. And probably a very good intro theme/puzzle for a newbiw.
Agree with the many complaints on Rex’s political interjection. Palin/Ernst made you “queasy”? Really? Reading the paper/hearing any news at all must be torture for such a delicate soul. I am hardly a Trump fan but you do realize that there are non-liberals and people with all kinds of differing views on issues. Correct? Or maybe not in academia so I suppose you’re in the right place. Unless a puzzle is egregiously offensive I see no need to point out every so-called offense.
I did share Rex's view that the words were PARTed, not PARTING, so I kept those 3 spaces blank until the end of the puzzle. No big deal, just less elegant than it could have been.
And I didn't really notice the word 'care' in the clue; as a professional public policy wonk, I went with MEDICAre on the ground that MEDICAID is actually a state program with a federal subsidy. I should have known better.
@Z, is it just coincidence that you mention pigs? Or were you thinking of this ad from Joni ERNST's first campaign, in which she brags about castrating hogs?
I thought the second L in MEDALLED was just wrong, but M-W allows it as a variant. Not so good on a Monday.
I am so relieved to read your review. I felt exactly the same. The cluing was so generic and the answers were not interesting. I love the feeling of flying through a Monday puzzle and this. was. not. it.
@RMK pentatonic scale, chromatic scale.
Isn't the point of WORDLE that you choose words that eliminate a lot of letters?
And yes, I am tired of Rex's political objections. I am a good liberal feminist whose first presidential vote was for George McGovern. But it's only a crossword puzzle and we are never going to heal the great divide in this country if both sides just demonize the other.
And I am tired of the attacks on JK Rowling. Her argument is a legitimate one that deserves a considered response rather than a personal attack. A child should be able to express themself however they want in whatever body they are born with without feeling shame or that they don't belong. It is the culture that needs to be changed dramatically, not the child's physical body. You can disagree with that, but it does it have to be so hateful?
Hey All !
Rex was too overcritical today. It was a very nice MonPuz, with, as @Z explained earlier, a triple-layer PARTING theme. Always get a laugh when certain WORDS set Rex off on a tantrum. Why weren't you offended by the POPE clue? Just as arbitrary a thing to be upset about as anything else.
Anyway, Rex chiding aside, sure, the Themer phrases didn't blow my skirt up, but they did what they were supposed to, and are real things, unlike, say, LEASEE YOUTH. That'll get you SEE YOU, but it's a non-thing.
Sounds like I'm in a mood today, but I'm not. Or maybe I need a LOLLIPOP.
Neat seeing NBATV over STATION. TAGS UP crossing PASSED OUT.
Good sportsball day yesterday. The Big Game At The End of The Season should be good. I'm going with the Rams to win over the Bengals, but you never know. Hence why they play the game. And Brady won't retire. He's not going away, unfortunately. 😁
yd -2, should'ves 2 (*this* close)
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
I was thinking "Easy," as I cruised through the first few rows and spotted the "divided good-bye" theme at ADIO_S. But I ran into a wall at "numbers displayed in rows and columns," which, due to lingering math class anxiety, caused neural pathways to seize up; also, I was hoping for a divided "ci_ao." Regained equilibrium with the SLATE ROOF. I loved the clue for PASSED OUT and the Cyclops-related cross of NOBODY and LIED TO.
Niggling alert: Like @Rex, I had the feeling that the reveal doesn't quite work. It seems to me that the letters are parting (separating from each other), not the words.
O ROMEO, these are my PARTING WORDS. Let's have a TRYST. See how PALIN and ERNST are woven into our TRYST and also how TRIPLE PLAY is involved too? Let's have a threesome! Oh, wait, you say I don't add so well, that there are four of us? I should have consulted my DATA TABLE. Oh well, I'll leave, but not in ANGER. ADIOS. TATA. I'll join you all LATER for CEREAL.
I never get in a tizzy over puzzles or words until I come here and find out what made y'all wild. It's a new doomscroll for me. I spent at least a year doing grocery store "easy" crossword booklets (where you better learn ROE and OVA real quick). Then at least two years doing Mondays and Tuesdays only. I'm able now to do the full week (slowly). I hope those complaining about a puzzle being too easy for a (fill in the day) remember us little people. Today took 15 wonderful minutes and I think I learned baseball is okay as long there is no mention of the NFL? If this activity is boring or maddening to you, grab a violin. Playing a real one {instead of sawing away on a metaphorically sad one here) is quite rewarding.
@Southside Johnny: as Whatsername mentioned, Palin is hardly harmless since she's dined inside at least one NY restaurant after having tested positive for COVID and continued to go to restaurants instead of quarantining.
We had a lot of new constructors there for a while but of those who've stuck around, you can see by now what to expect from Eric Bornstein. You don't always get a lot of flash but you get so little dreck. This is his ninth puzz for the NYT and seven of them have been Mon./Tues. He leans on solid early week words like Opals, Onus, Etsy, Tryst, with tight, basic themes.
His prior puzzle had the likes of Abba, Thugs, Ajar, Slam. Something for everyone. Not a lot of PPP, Phases, or Guess-What-I'm-Saying. Very few foreign language words. No fantasy authors, Marvel, or sports.
Another puzzle: law firm, Arse, Walls, Cows, & Anvil, LLP, representing British foreign national farmers and blacksmiths.
He did tear loose on Tue., August 31, with Wing Nuts, Tough Cookies, Bargaining Chips, Fire Crackers, Eye Candy, and Libido. My heart skipped a beat that day.
Loam, Silt, Spam & Clam today. Just rolls off the tongue.
Gary, it's great that you're getting better! I'm in the same boat. I couldn't do any day of the week not so long ago, and now I can do almost all of them. I don't think anyone should complain that a Monday or even a Tuesday is too easy (and in general, people don't). Complaining that they are uninteresting or poorly constructed, sure. But they are supposed to be straightforward.
I can see why people are frustrated if the usual increase in difficulty over the week doesn't happen, although some people overreact a bit to that.
@SusanMontauk – the adjective they should have used, if they felt one was needed, is "diatonic". An octave is an interval, not a type of scale. A whole tone scale spans an octave but the fifth note is not SOL. Likewise for a chromatic scale.
Poor little Monday puzzle. You did just fine. Your revealer tied the themers together in a clever way and you had a great clue for NOBODY. You deserve a LOLLIPOP.
In a world where nouns have gone mad, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to learn that MEDAL can now be a verb. What next? “Excuse me, I’m going to crossword for a while.”
Thought NOUSE made a great dook until I discovered that it is an actual thing: a computer pointing mechanism that is steered by moving one’s nose.
Well, damn.
PALIN PASSED OUT while PARTING with her PLASMA...Too much POT...
The POPE forgave her but she refused to PLAY... Even though forgiven, she eventually bit the DUST.
A Monday that made me sing ADIOS AMIGOS, COMPANEROS DE MI VIDA....And go back to sleep. I wanted to be a CLAM and be happy. InsteadI felt like a little toad in a NOUSE wanting to jump out of the boiling POT.
It's not the crosswords fault...It was watching the games of the century last night and watched both teams I wanted to win go down into Pits of despair.
@Whatsername...We can still remain friends...I think we should hold hands at my LOLLIPOP bar and sing Kumbaya. AIN'T is the bartender. You'll like him...He makes up words like MEDALLED and N BAT V.
@RMK - I agree with you that "octave scale" is a bit awkward. Why not just clue it as "major scale?" "Octave scale" is just odd terminology and imprecise. I've never heard that term in the wild, either, and Googling does not really elicit any convincing evidence this is normal usage.
This puzzle felt oddly slow for me, too, so I was happy to see it wasn't just me based on Rex and the comments. The finish time was a pretty average Monday, but I just did not feel answers slipping in as quickly as I expect to on a Monday.
My dude, if you don't like his 'inane drivel' why on earth are you 1) reading HIS blog and 2) commenting on it? Weirdly enough you could just... close the tab.
there are diminished scales, minor scales etc.
Who cares that Palin and Ernst are in the puzzle? Just because you disagree with their politics? Geez, they are fair game for a friggin’ crossword puzzle.
Good catch!
Let's see . . . .
Rex doesn't want to see PALIN or ERNST or GUANTANAMO in his NYT puzzles because they are offensive to him.
There are school districts in Tennessee that have banned the book MAUS because it is offensive to them.
What's the difference?
Couldn't resist today. Amazed at the luck.
Wordle 226 3/6
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
@Whatsername (8:40) - A very tough loss. But as I always say, "It's only a football game - but it's a lot more fun when my team wins!"
A slightly tougher (for me) than the usual Monday puzzle. And because Joni ERNST and Sarah PALIN were in the grid, I must now go spend several hours in my safe space, shower, and take my meds.
Enjoyed it. Fun Monday theme.
(And can really do without the references that 🦖 named today. Won’t name them again.)
🤗
🦖🦖🦖🦖
Written thoughts about a drifting boat.
esSAY ONARAft
@OFL:
so "parting" is an intransitive verb
Last time I checked an -ing word was a gerund. Let's go see...
"In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun"
the wiki
So, the English instructor is not fully correct. Splitting hairs?
Kinda like @GILL I., I really enjoyed the PALIN PASSEDOUT row. That woulda made an ultra-interestin revealer for some sorta themed puz.
But, hey -- all's right with the @RP world, as he got a dose of The Circles today.
I thought the theme idea was fine and the PARTINGWORDS revealer was fine. Coulda maybe doctored up the last part of the revealer's clue a tad, but not quite sure how. So I'll take a few POTshots at it …
{What this puzzle's circled letters are …
1. … or what they're the victims of}.
2. … in two senses}.
3. … ain't The Circles cute?}.
4. [aw, shoot -- just leave off the last clue part, and let's go play Wordle]
staff weeject picks: TOR + EWE. Better Down clue ... 37 & 55: {What the circled words said "this puz did to us", with "up"??}.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Fifth note in an octave scale} = SOL.
fave sparklers: LOLLIPOP. HEADSTAND. NOUSE. PALIN (on POT) PASSEDOUT.
Thanx for the fun, Mr. Bornstein dude. DATA TABLE? … har
Masked & Anonymo4Us
**gruntz**
Unknown,
No. The book was deemd age inappropriate. It was not banned. It's ofetn the job of a school board to weigh in on matters related to curicula. Nothing at all wrong for making a judgment about what is appropriate for a give grade.
my bestest ERNST is Haas. a happy day in Natick.
Re: Palin: in a world where Monty Python exists, why do we ever have to think of the former governor of Alaska?
Re: GTMO: It's easier to swallow if you think of the classic Fugees verse:
"I refugee from Guantanamo Bay/I dance around the border like I'm Cassius Clay"
@11:51
that's what Hitler said about books.
if the book can't be taught, how's that different from banned? and, of course, did the Rednecks in Tennessee state what grades/ages the book is appropriate? of course not.
what the Rednecks had to say: https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/27/us/tennessee-school-board-removes-maus/index.html
and the Rednecks about Darwin.
and the list goes on and on and on. the reason it's called a 'liberal education' is just because it isn't ignorant and restrictive. the Red states like ignorant and restrictive.
Close enough for crosswords but I think of having PASSED OUT as occurring against one's will, as in intoxication or fainting. I usually fall asleep quickly but it's because I turn off the lights, get into bed, and close my eyes. I don't PASS OUT. This wasn't the only clue that could have been better.
@jberg - That had not occurred to me, but 'tis apt.
Re: "octave scale" - For Monday the NYTX is going for a clue that emphasizes that we're looking for a musical answer. "Solfège" is not a particularly Monday friendly term. All "octave" is doing is waving to the solver "8 note scale."
@Unknown 11:12 - Rex isn't the government.
@anon11:51 - Clearly demonstrating that the members of that Board know nothing about 8th graders but are very good at coming up with justifications. On a happy note, they've managed to make the book a best seller again. Lots of those sales are to adults, but there is no surer way to get a 13 year-old to read a book than to tell them they can't.
@Legume - I think just so locked in on one interpretation that he couldn't see how it is okay. Most of us get locked in on a wrong interpretation at least once in awhile.
**more wordle**
@unknown 9:03 - And you didn't even exhaust half the possibilities. Rotten luck.
A question was posed about eliminating letters -
If you aren't playing hard mode the best strategy for guess 4 in @9:03's situation is to identify all the possible first letters and try a word with as many of them as possible. If you have a word with three of the possible first letters that's a 1 in three chance instead of a 1 in nine chance of hitting the right letter. In hard mode you're stuck guessing. Two of the possible right answers are fairly unusual words, but I don't know if we can eliminate less common words.
My favorite comments this morning.
Lewis (8:03)
pabloinnh (8:29)
Phil (9:04)
@GILL: Yes, sorry about the Niners’ loss but relieved that our two teams don’t have to butt heads again.
I don’t think Anonymous 12:24 is an effective advocate for his side, unless he’s a right wing version of Moby in which case he’s doing a stellar job. From yesterday’s New York Times: “Book challenges aren’t just coming from the right: “Of Mice and Men” and “To Kill a Mockingbird,” for example, have been challenged over the years for how they address race, and both were among the library association’s 10 most-challenged books in 2020.” It’s coming from all sides and concerns(from all sides) should be heard out.
@Z – And that is why scale with no adjective would have sufficed, instead of making up a term that doesn't exist. What did they think pei
Did I ever mention how you can make an unassisted TRIPLE PLAY without touching the ball?
Easy-peasy. I enjoyed the PALIN answer because it was one that I had to think about longer than most. So she is gone from my mind and politics. Sweet indeed.
I have a fascination with ERNST's teeth. She, poor woman, was abused and battered by her husband. Maybe that is why they are so big wide and perfect. It was her husband that she should have used the farm instruments on, not Democrats. I hope it might create a bit more empathy from her for the downtrodden of the world.
Mostly with @Z on PARTING. The words are parted (as hair or the Red Sea) Or the cirled letters of the words are parting from each other. A bit awkward because they are already parted and neither the words nor letters of the words are doing the parting. The constructor, god or Moses or eartthquake or comb did the parting. I thought it was a cogent and admirably consistent theme.
MAUS was in trouble because of a couple of bad words or some other minor offense. I am for Huck Finn to. Some plagiarism there too? I don't care. Texas abortion style law about books in libraries in OK. Go republican snowflakes. I think they banned the words "climate change" in government reports too. Poor dears. We just cannot talk about race or slavery. Or even criticize genocide or white supremacists without letting the other side voice the pro side. Glad I don't offend easily.
p.s.
I guess if some folks just ain't into the PARTINGWORDS revealer, one could go with somethin like WEGOTTASPLIT, instead?
M&A Departures Desk
p.p.s.s.
… And then U could clue up that WEGOTTASPLIT revealer as: {Call of the wild circled words?}.
Gets it done, yep?
Yeah, didn't think so …
M&Also
Niners v. Rams. Who cares? A dirty (but gritty too) team v. the one with the overrated coach. Two bad (hopeless) challenges using up all his timeouts with 12 minutes left in the 4th quarter. He only challenged once all season, meaning the refs were incredibly good to him or his coaching is lacking. Game decided mostly by bad plays instead of good ones. Both teams deserved to lose. I had it backwards: Expected SF QB start slow and and LA QB to choke at the end.
Speaking of bad coaching why did KC use that last timeout at the end of the first half?
And if Mahomes had looked right he could have waltzed into the end zone? And why was he signaling timeout at the end of the play? Didn't he know they were out of time outs? But yes he is the best qb in football now. Burrows is scary too.
The dust are all over the room.
half the time the complaint is that a difficult feat of construction is not enjoyable to the solver and half the time its that the theme is weak because it was too easy to do. i didnt particularly like todays but i usually dont like mondays and it wasnt about the nits.
i used to like the wit and 80s videos 10 years ago, but dont understand why some people think it makes them look smarter to emote about being disgusted by republicans and other people disliked by the liberal elite.
and since wordle is a big topic here, if there are 4 possible letters find a word that has 3 of them and you have a 100% chance of knowing. its not really a guessing game - its a logic game. i dont understand the point of "hard mode". it only makes it harder the way arcane proper nouns make xwords harder - it makes it less of a logic puzzle so whats the point. logic puzzles are solved by elimination not guessing.
using the strategy of not repeating known letters in #2 i only have 2 5s and no 6s. exactly 3.5 average.
@Penna Resident:
it makes them look smarter to emote about being disgusted by republicans and other people disliked by the liberal elite.
Because Liberals are smarter, but they're really not an Elite; being Liberal, their tent is wide and deep. They actually go to a real college, not Trump University or some Red State U. that only cares about foobaw or hoops. A Liberal education opens your eyes to more than just Traditional Values (no "Maus" or Critical Race Theory that 'discomfort' bigots). If every USofA citizen since 1800 were only taught Traditional Values (how to walk behind a plow mule, make babies by the dozen, and, if you've got some money, have Negroes to do the heavy lifting) how much better off would the Republicans would be? After all, they're the party of Big Business. Which, last time I checked, is the Elite that counts.
(breaking news spoiler alert !)
i guess now that the NYT puzzles owns wordle its fair to comment about it here.
Fill wasn't my fave -- the NE with "NOUSE" and "NBATV" stacked didn't really wow me. But I didn't hate the theme as much as Rex did, and thought it held up well. Is it the most memorable Monday? No - I think the construction of this was probably fairly easy. That's why I wanted the fill to be better. Loved 60D, though! Cute puz overall.
@Penna It’s been fair to comment about Wordle here for some time, so no real news there. Regarding some other topics, we take our cues from the top down. Rex is cool with pissing matches about politics, since he starts one every day. We are very comfortable commenting about sports and other current events as well. I saw your comment about how smart liberals are, so it is quite natural for you to inquire about fairness, although one thing I have learned from doing crosswords is that the liberal idea that equity of outcomes trumps equity of opportunity will never happen here. Not everyone who posts here will successfully complete the puzzle every day (although many do). I’m not sure what the liberal solution would be if that were an imposed constraint. I guess Will could run a Monday puzzle every day to make you feel a little better about yourself, but even that would not solve your artificially imposed objective and he would be out of a job (probably the most prestigious job in the crossword biz by the way). I’m guessing that by now that you may have come to the conclusion that you and I disagree.
That's weird – my 2:28 post apparently left the station ahead of schedule. I meant it to finish, did they think people would not realize from "note" that it was a musical clue?
@Penna I owe you an apology. I’m sorry, my comments were intended to be a response to @anon 4:49.
as is often the case, my comments may have been misunderstood by trying to keep the post short.
first, the NYT buying wordle comment was facetious. ive been watching for 10 years - initially to get the answers to the late week puzzles, now just to see how my experience compared. only skim comments very lightly but i know that after about noon they are much less about the puzzle.
second, i am not republican and i am not a liberal. i despise trump and am disappointed by everyone who supports him. but i am also annoyed when certain OPs here seem to think that they appear more woke and therefore smarter (because non-wokeness = ignorance). many people dismiss the use of the word woke because it is often used as an insult by someone on the right. i do not mean it as an insult and am very comfortable with its accuracy in describing this situation. i am also comfortable using the term liberal elite because liberals tend to be *on average* more intelligent and they therefore often come to the conclusion that their views are the ones that matter. that is elitism. its true that most people in this country are idiots but dismissing their opinions is bad policy.
and telling the world that you are appalled by republicans or men or NRAs being in a xword puzzle is just trite. that is really the only point i was making.
@Jod DiPinto 6:08. Glad you clarified your earlier post. I was wondering about Prince Edward Island (PEI) as an end to that sentence.
fun factoid: McMinn county, of "Maus" fame, is separated from Rhea county, of Monkey Trial fame, by a thin sliver of Meigs county. birds of a feather, and all that.
I guess I'm not a speed solver. Smelled 'easy' really quick and tried for a PR. While I hunt and peck and read as fast as I can, making little to no mistakes en route, I still can't get better than a 9:13, (2 minutes off my best). Having been shown a video of a speed solver and I'm fully a believer, it has to be as much hand-eye coordination as solving ability (as I already admitted I can't type, and the online interface is frustrating to me, but I didn't hesitate on the answers, either).
@Penna Resident - I, too, am in PA and I also am middle-of-the-road and find myself frustrated by the partisanship of both sides (yes, despite their piety, the left is equally as guilty). I do the puzzles for entertainment, mental exercise, and escape, and hate that the constructors, editors, reviewers, and commenters have to add politics to everything.
Look no further than this puzzle for continuing evidence of a repetition meta that the NYTXW has been running of late. Today they kick it up a notch by adding a clever twist. Remember MACH from a recent puzzle? Here we get the physicist's first name ERNST but as a red herring to throw us off the repeat meta thingie, they clue it with someone else. Diabolical right?
Since I don't follow politics I didn't know who Joni ERNST is. The vitriol stirred up by her name that is evident today is one of the main reasons why I don't follow politics. Sometimes I think OFL is just shinning some of yous on out there in Commentaristan.
Greetings from the west coast, very late getting to this. Found it easy except for the typo, which is becoming more of a thing.
Yd did Sunpuz on phone, first time, usually do on paper. Took 49 minutes per the time keeper. So freakin' small!!!
Sunset is beautiful here.
@Penna Resident 7:01...Good post...
For all you Wordle fans, SUBWAYDLE
Not fit for the breakfast test true story:
I had the last 3 letters of 67A filled in. I looked at the clue for 67A and accidentally got the crossing clue instead.
I thought it was a a well constructed puzzle with an eclectic collection of people. But maybe too many.
SLATE ROOFs: I love them. Historic and beautiful. No green paint there.
Loam teams with silt. Tagsup teams with tripleplay. A few good clues. Too easy but good day for football and politics and wordle blather.
Medalled? Please. Like podiumed, verbing nouns is beneath the NY Times. Not proper English.
@Ian. Sigh. You’ve never tabled a project or chaired a meeting?
Chair a meeting has a verb(noun) and an object. Medalled does not. Different grammatical form.
Middle of the road Monday fare. Not great, but not quite as bad as Rex makes it out to be. Still, the NYT xword can and should be better than this.
There he goes again, equating "difficulty" with # of NANOseconds it took him to race through it. This puzzle wasn't hard at all. Okay, maybe ERNST is ATAD obscure for a Monday, but really, the vast majority of the clues were of the gimme variety. The puzzle definitely belongs in today's slot.
I think that sticking a black square between halves of the themer is a new approach--and new is good. I rather thought that the series of "with" clues actually sped up the solution instead of bogging it down.
DOD is a DAVIS TRIPLEPLAY: when I was a kid, Bette; in my prime, Geena; and now Viola. Honorable mention to ANNIE POTts. Oh, I take it back. I still love Geena.
A couple of iffy fillers, but basically I liked it. I pay zero attention to the politics of any entries; that helps the enjoyment factor a lot. Birdie.
SET SITE LATER
"OROMEO, our PARTINGWORD,
OUT in the ATRIUM we kissed,
was ONE EWE know NOBODY heard,
NOW AIN'T it time TO start our TRYST?"
--- REV. BRITA PALIN
An absolutely perfect Monday for teaching a newbie. Loved it.
Diana, LIW
What @spacey said.
And the only other PALIN of real note is Michael PALIN of Monty Python, which is too old and stale for OFL.
Hey @Spacey - Don't know if you saw may comment yesterday, but since we have Annie with an "ie" today, here's yesterday's:
"@Spacey - my mom and I read the "Anne of Green Gables" series out loud to each other. Anne often explained to others that her name was spelled "Anne with an E." For once, and I do mean once, I am the one to "get" the trivia. So...yes, it's famous to Anne lovers."
Lady Di
A TRIPLEPLAY for three PARTINGWORDS.
--- NOBODY
@Lady Di: Yeah, I knew about A of GG; what I didn't know was anything about Netflix shows. I do not Netflix.
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