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Rock subgenre named for its vocal aesthetic / SUN 1-30-22 / Heavy metal's prince of darkness / Frothy coffee invented in Greece / Still da Trina title track of 2008 / Kitty stunt performer once known as the "fastest woman in the world" / Maliciously reveal personal info about online / Goddess in a peacock-drawn chariot / Suffering from a losing streak in poker slang
Sunday, January 30, 2022
Constructor: Ross Trudeau
Relative difficulty: Challenging
Theme answers:
- BES(TRAP)ALBUM / EX(TRAP) + OINTS (22A: Grammy for Kendrick Lamar's "DAMN." or Cardi B's "Invasion of Privacy" / 4D: Scores for placekickers)
- (TRAP)PISTS / TE(TRAP) + ODS (51A: Brewing brothers / 39D: Four-limbed animals)
- ORCHES(TRAP)ITS / FLYING (TRAP) + EZE (46A: Sources of music in musicals / 14D: Circus apparatus)
- S(TRAP)LESS GOWN / CON(TRAP) + TIONS (96A: Marilyn Monroe wore a fuchsia one while singing "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" / 75D: Rube Goldberg machines, e.g.)
- VON (TRAP)P FAMILY / UL(TRAP) + URE (102A: "The Sound of Music" household / 93D: Lacking any adulteration)
Kitty Linn O'Neil (March 24, 1946 – November 2, 2018) was an American stuntwoman and racer, known as "the fastest woman in the world". An illness in early childhood left her deaf, and more illnesses in early adulthood cut short a career in diving. O'Neil's career as a stuntwoman and race driver led to her depiction in a television movie and as an action figure. Her women's absolute land speed record stood until 2019. (wikipedia)
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Lots of stuff I just didn't know today. Beyond the aforementioned ON TILT (ugh) and VOSTOK, I had no idea who Kitty O'NEIL was—I assumed she was a fast runner, not a fast driver. You'd never call the fastest male driver the "fastest man in the world." Bizarre. No idea who Trina is or what "Still da BADDEST" sounds like (70A: "Still da ___" (Trina title track of 2008)). She seems to be a really reputable rapper, but she hasn't had any mainstream chart success to speak of. "Still da BADDEST" wasn't even a single, why is it clued as a "title track" and not just as [Trina album of 2008]? Again, bizarre. I knew Bob FOSSE but did not recognize him from that clue (37D: Only person to win an Oscar, Emmy and Tony in the same year (1973)). I have watched every season of "The Great British Bake Off" and still managed to forget NOEL Fielding's name (118A: ___ Fielding, co-host of "The Great British Bake Off" beginning in 2017). I thought DOX was spelled with two "X"s, but apparently one is acceptable (though you'd definitely use two in words like "doxxed" and "doxxing"). I had SEEDY before SEAMY (82D: Disreputable) and GOURD (?) before ACORN (74A: Kind of squash). I have no idea what SPICER is supposed to mean here (77A: One using cloves or garlic). Is a SPICER ... someone ... who adds "spice" ... to whatever they're cooking!?!? So, pretty much any cook of anything more elaborate than PB&J? Is garlic even a "spice"??? For the third time, I say: bizarre. Do people really cry multiple OWS in a tattoo parlor?? (103D: Crises in a tattoo parlor). I don't have any tattoos, and I've never been in a tattoo parlor, but somehow a chorus of OWS is not really the soundscape I imagined.
There's an article out this week about culturally contentious issues in crossword puzzles. Featuring quotes from Will Shortz, Ben Tausig, Patrick Berry and others (I'm one of the "others"). Just ignore the part where they mysteriously claim that HITLER is "five letters" long ... see you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. 46D: Heavy metal's "Prince of Darkness" (OSBOURNE) may be much more familiar to you by his first name, which is what most people call him: Ozzy.
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132 comments:
a boring long slog...hated this so much-
SCREAMO, while descriptive was unknown to me, and it made my usual 1A start impossible. And from there it became the trickiest Sunday puzzle in my memory. Enjoyed it a bunch.
Hey, @Rex. Re: Your complaint about SPICER. Just be thankful Ross didn't clue it as a Trump Spokesman. You'd have had to finish your blog from some safe space!
Sadly, a bit too much PPP in this puzzle leading, as per usual, to several naticks. Too bad.... the architecture was impressive,
That’s not what being ON TILT means. It’s not when you’re losing — it’s when you get rattled and play recklessly or make bad decisions (could be because of losing streak or even one bad beat or another player trash talking etc.).
Also I’ve never heard people say OW while getting tattoos
This was a great puzzle, IMHO. I got the TRAP thing fairly early on, but it was still all fair, challenging and rewarding.
Side eye to ORCHESTITS, but no problems aqui. Another side eye to SLICE as an “ORANGESODA”, since there were 11 flavors of Slice, and Lemon-Lime was the predominant one.
Wondered if 127A (ESPOUSES) might be the modern incarnation of the old mail order brides.
Thanks for a wonderful Sunday puzzle, Ross Trudeau.
Got about halfway through, got the TRAP thing, but I wasn’t having any enjoyment in this, pawned it off to puzzle partner and printed out the big Saturday Wall Street Journal puzzle. I would recommend it to all you puzzle people. It was very clever and funny, loved it. Picked up the NYT puzzle still only three quarters finished and still couldn’t get into it. Sorry Ross, I tried.
Wow, a real effort to discover the rebus thing. For 22a I simply had BEST ALBUM and couldn't figure out what was wrong. Then for 46a had ORCHESTRAS, again took a while to untangle that. For 102a, had TRAPP FAMILY, ditto problem. Just a puzzle full of trap(p)s!
Also 69a initially had ALERO for the luxury Hyundai. Umm... no.
[Spelling Bee: Sat 0; nice and clean with few stupid words.]
The real itch I have with ONTILT was it’s not even correctly used! It does not mean a player on a downswing, you can be on a downswing and not be ONTILT. You can also be winning and be ONTILT
Wandered through this puzzle putting words in and taking them out for seemingly ages, until finally getting the concept. Good idea, but Challenging for me.
Ditto. Oints.
Hit most of the traps [no pun intended] and WOEs that @Rex and others have reported, but the one that almost sank me was misremembering the Hyundai AsERA and not being bothered by (or noticing) the FLYING [TRAP]EsE. In my defense, Wikipedia says "As of the 2017 model year, the Azera is no longer marketed in the United States and Canada."
Dull puzzle. The trap locations were literally trivial on iPad as the down clue underneath had a - symbol in it always revealing the trap in the square above. Screamo? Strange word to start a puzzle with and feared the worst from there. Ozzy yes, ozzy osbourne yes, osbourne, no. A real slog today.
Once the rebus was revealed, clear sailing. Stuff I didn't know fell to crosses. Good puzzle.
My wife - a woman - found the PMS clue to be in bad taste.
ULTRAPURE is a term of art in chemical manufacturing, at least that's how I know it. Very niche.
This will probably be more acceptable to the solvers who pay attention to (and perhaps appreciate) the theme entries, and perhaps the rebus fans as well. I’m pretty much on the opposite end of the spectrum. I was glad to see that Rex mostly confined his comments to the puzzle and didn’t go all moonbeam on us - I also think he nailed this one with his observation that “gibberish always looks stupid in the grid” - with which I obviously agree.
Unfortunately this one also includes an unhealthy dose of the made up stuff and borderline ultra-nonsense that OFL also pointed out, like ON TILT, ULTRAPURE and TRAPPISTS - so this one is pretty close to an out and out dud.
Got the rebus gimmick pretty quickly, then went through the grid and entered TRAP in the spaces above "-", which made the intersecting downs and acrossed pretty easily gettable - and it was clear sailing until then.
It can't be DURAG in this puzzle. Check the resultant down if it was.
Rough sledding when SCREAMO is your favorite entry. Got the trick early enough with TRAPPISTS - the force is strong with the construction but the resultant solve here had no rhythm or flow. All the oddly placed black squares really glom it up.
Lots of trivia but I’ve come to expect that now in a Sunday sized grid. I liked the longer nonthemers - RESURRECTS and the PREDISPOSE x ESPOUSES cross are really neat. Just too much TWO BIT fill to keep me interested.
This guy must know someone to get so much play in the NYT…
Was hoping for a little more than this before the dig out begins.
Theme trumps fill, so this is an absolute winner in my book.
EARWIGs get a bad rap. They are harmless.
A could be wrong – I often am – but I’m pretty sure there is no longer any such thing as Orange Slice. I know Slice got a reboot recently, but I don’t think Orange made the cut.
Wordle 225 5/6
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2 over par after 18 rounds.
I don't do Sundays - - - - life is too short! :)
Thx Ross; terrific Sun. puz! Clever theme. :)
Tough.
Took a very long time on this one. Enjoyed the battle, but ended up with a dnf at SIBS / SCREAMO. Had uNEXPERT / duBS and just couldn't see the correct answer. Got it very quickly once I didn't get the happy music, but a dnf is a dnf. :(
Really appreciated the struggle; well worth the extra time spent. Just need to keep working on learning to listen to the spidey-sense, e.g., dCREAMO sounded catchy and viable, but still didn't seem quite right. Otoh, duBS seemed fine for twins.
🙏 for all affected by the snow storm, stay safe!
@TTrimble / @okanaganer 👍 for 0's yd
Today's acrostic was by far the easiest I've come across, and again, had success in working from the top down, after getting two or three answers from clues below.
___
yd npg: 35:31 / Wordle: 3 (blanked on 1st word; 4/5 in position on 2nd word; only one possibility for 3rd word); iow, a lucky 3 today. I'll take it, after a horrendous SB effort, incl. no unknown words, and a pangram that only needed an annex to a word I already had. This is what time pressure does to me; I was already 5:31 over my 30 min. limit when I got to g, so I packed it in at that point with no p)
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Big DNF for me (first one in ages) - had EGo [One being coddled, maybe] which gave me MOWoLI. Although I knew the reference, the misspelled name seemed too right for me to question (maybe because it is close to Malawi, which is a real word), Oh well
Learned about the Trappists. According to Wikipedia, they abstain from meat from TETRAPODS.
The first theme answer was above (or through) two black squares next to each other. I thought that was going to represent the door, but only two of the other answers followed that pattern.
The most difficult theme answer was TRAPISTS, as @Rex mentioned it was difficult to see at the beginning of the word. It was also not a word I knew, which made it harder to see. The next most difficult was VON TRAPP FAMILY, as I went through so many iterations of the name, including "the vonn trapps" with various combinations of one or two 'n's or 't's, and an occasional 'e' at the end of TRAPP. Most of this was before I figured out the theme, so I was not looking for a rebus at the time.
ESPOUSES is Spanish for significant others.
There seems to be a strong consensus and I pretty much agree, neat idea too easily uncovered and then a slog through a choppy grid.
What a weird thing to expose one’s inner prescriptivist. There is no single correct spelling of DORAG. It’s pretty obvious from Merriam-Webster (you know, one of those organizations that looks for original usages) that the original spelling was DORAG. Wikipedia even provides a Life photo caption from 1965 with the DORAG spelling. Meanwhile, that NYT article Rex cites offers only this as proof of DuRAG, On the other hand, anyone who has ever worn a durag spells it durag. Moving on. Translating this, “me and my friends spell it ‘durag’ and we’re right so there.”
Didn’t we just have the RAISE HAVOC discussion? My question is are you a “reek” HAVOCer or a “wreck” HAVOCer? M-W gives the long E pronunciation of “wreak” first but does offer both of them. I grew up as a wrecker but have converted to a reeker to help me avoid misspelling it.
Only other thing that really stood out today is that I didn’t know how to spell Ozzy’s last name. I did not realize it had a U.
**Wordle Alert and potential spoiler**
Unsatisfying par today. I had the middle three letters correct and the fifth letter in the first spot on my second guess, so only needed the first letter. I went with a past participle that isn’t even the standard past participle while squinching my nose, then almost immediately realized what I should have guessed.
Caught on early when FGS didn't fit with the crosses at 4D, and PAT is singular (usually, I think?) while the clue called for a plural.
Didn't care for it. Felt very choppy. Lots of 3 letter answers. And the editors couldn't find a better clue for 130A? Or 80A?
Gave it 7 minutes and decided there must be something better to do. Actually, anything would be better. But it seems that some people enjoyed it, so I'm happy for ya. Maybe there's an acrostic.
I am sooooooooo upset that DURAG is misspelt
I solved this thinking that RAP for some reason went in the black squares linking the down themers, not even noticing the across rebuses (rebi?) until the very end. Humph.
I got irritated early by FOLDUP and OILSUP.
Please get rid of "rebuses"! It's a cheap cheat, there should only be one letter per square, PERIOD. Hated this puzzle.
Thanks for clarifying I'd heard the term on tilt but never like it was clued.
Did the puzzle last night and felt good relaxed vibes about it; turns out I was wrong:)
Watching the first bit of the Australian Open that I've seen, hi Nancy. Tuned in just in time for very tense final set currently at 5 all 40-40. I always forget about this tournament with the current cold temperatures and the discombobulating start times.
On the construction side, there are a lot of small sections, but I like the way the trap doors get you into many of them, providing some unity.
This puzzle was a pleasant balance of difficult fill and a clever theme. Normally I hate themes but I have a soft spot for ones with a visual element. I didn't think of it so much while solving but it's cute the way the rebus forms an open door and the rest of the entry falls down through the black hole.
I caught the theme early when the obvious ORCHESTRAS didn't work. I was having trouble with the fill in the NE corner and trying to remember the second letter for A_ERA. The blank clue for 62D was of no help. I was hoping the theme would make it obvious so when FROS gave me FLYING the whole section snapped together nicely.
For the rest of the solve I avoided looking for the blank clues so I could further enjoy the puzzle. Sticking to the fill and stumblingly upon the themers I was able to keep duplicating that initial experience in the NW.
After three days of push over puzzles it was nice to feel a little resistance.
yd -0
I generally find that starting in the SE pays off for big puzzles because it there's a revealer, that's where it's going to be. Not that the rebus for this one was all that hard to figure out. But I do love it when the rebus crosses also work, which is frequently--and annoyingly--not the case. BUT.
BUT BUT BUT BUT
"Overly simplistic"??? Oh god does that trigger one of my peeviest pet peeves.
OVERLY???????? Please explain how there's some level of oversimplified that isn't "overly" so? Ugh.
What @mmorgan just said.
The TRAPPFAMILY Lodge is not far away in VT. It's a lovely place with extensive cross country ski trails and a nice restaurant and a brew pub and so on. We were lucky enough to spend a night there and it made such a nice impression that I ignored the VON part of the answer and the TRAP rebus and never got that part of the puzzle sorted out, but by then I had had enough of this particular theme and didn't really care.
@puzzlehoarder--Good one, and you know that's almost true. There's ESPOSOS and ESPOSAS, pretty close.
Right Tricky construction, RT. Just seemed to go on and on. I'll let you know if I ever see a PACKTENT. Modified thanks for the fun.
Nasty, uninteresting puzzle -- crushingly difficult, but boringly so. I've said this before and will do so again: puzzles like this have no place in a general-circulation newspaper. Time for a change. Well past time.
Like @DrBB, usually start at the bottom of Sundays. Enjoy getting a little toehold, then fill in the bottom. Makes a sound foundation and uncovers the theme. Maybe that technique colored the solve because I had a good time on this.
The 5K yesterday was a Run with the Dogs, so lots of dog with their humans on leashes. Glad I ran. And today is warmer. Hope everyone has power today.
I had the opportunity to escape the TRAP when I tried putting ORCHESTRA PIT in at 46A but I pulled it out when it didn't fit. From there it seems it took forever to see the TRAP doors. Solving randomly, I saw the revealer clue about halfway through but the SE was so empty, I didn't have anything to help reveal it. I can't even remember where I finally got the theme. Mind like a steel TRAP, I guess.
I loved the clue for RESURRECTS. We write off dead inventory at my job, keeping it on the shelf but zeroing out its value on the books. Sometimes customers will start buying that product again and we put it back on the books, which I call RESURRECTed inventory. Gotta have fun in accounting when you can!
That bottom section with its two basketball clues, a gamer clue and a space race clue, along with a poker term I've never heard, took 2 minutes to fill in according to my solve data. I have yet to go camping and see anyone build a LEANTO. But I successfully whittled that section down so no reason to SCREAMO.
Ross, this was a really nice Sunday puzzle, thanks.
@Z 8:49a - listened to Sabbath since the mid 70s and never realized there is a U there - I guess he’s always just been Ozzy.
@pablo 9:39a - the entire VON TRAPP property is beautiful. Add in The Alchemist right around the corner and it makes for a good trip.
Hey All !
I thought that "RAP" was hidden in the Blockers of the Themers, which made the Across ones "fall" into the TRAP DOORS before continuing on. Thought to myself, "why is the Revealer TRAP DOORS when only RAP is in the Blockers?" Came here, and saw that TRAP was Rebussed, and that I'm a moron. Luckily, a lone T in the rebus squares garnered a Happy Music finish.
Kind of a misdirection on the first Themer, BESTRAPALBUM, as BEST ALBUM works perfectly fine on its own. And thought the NYTXW was getting mighty racy with ORCHES TITS.
Surprised Rex didn't rail on the two ON quite close together, ON END & SITS ON. There's also SWITCH ON, ON TILT, and MEL ONS. (😁)
I didn't think Ms. Olympia contestants OILS UP, I thought it was only the Mr. Olympia contestants. Can we still have these contests in today's world? Where's the LGBTQA+ Olympia?
Did the Hair Bands of the late 80's have SCREAMO FROS?
Who or what are TRAPPISTS? Wanted Strohs first. Not sure if there are brothers Strohs, but hey, it fit.
Gonna bet the EZ-E ODS on the OINTS TIONS.
(Doing that little bit of nonsense with the - clues, made me see there are only basically four Themers in this whole SunPuz.)(Well, eight, actually, Across and Down.)(If you're going to TRAP DOOR me, maybe two more would've worked.)(Just sayin'.)(Alright, I'll stop with the parentheses now!)
How about a headline: The TSAR was put AT RISK for being the SEXIEST. Details at 11.
yd -13 😕, should'ves 6
Four F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
I had the same problem as @mmorgan and did it ever RAISE HAVOC with my solve which took 50% longer than typical Sunday. Started in NW and got gimmick - sort of - right away with EXTRA POINT but the T in BEST ALBUM also looked entirely plausible so I blithely continued putting RAP in the black squares over the - clues. Hint: it does not work.
Otherwise liked puzzle, cluing and long fill a lot. And TAHINI is better than my original pAnINI.
Enjoy the games today. Not likely to live up to last week.
I’m so sick of male puzzle makers putting in BRAS, PMS, SEXIEST. Just stop. Then the FROS and DORAGS (missed that one, must have gotten it from the crosses). And YANK, ORAL, OILSUP. This guy just seems so pervy. Yuck. I hated every minute of this puzzle.
So far, looks like I'm the only one who had an issue with TIED/TIER each being reasonable answers for "Level". Cost me a minute tracking that down - otherwise, average Sunday time.
Apparently, I liked this more than most. Nice idea elegantly realized. I'll happily put up with some sub-optimal fill for that.
@Blue Stater - Take a deep breath (or a Xanax). It's just a diversion.
Doubly awesome that they used an obscure poker term incorrectly.
@pabloinnh Back in the '70's my family was on vacation in VT. We had just stopped by the Von Trapp family gift shop where we purchased Maria's biography. After driving about a mile from the shop, we spotted Maria herself, walking along the road all by herself. We pulled over and asked her if she would autograph the book and take a photo with my sister and me. I remember her being extremely sweet and genuine.
Read the article Rex posted link to and it’s absurd. How can you possibly be offended by so many words? Rex may think he is being sensitive and protective objecting to “prom queen” and other answers but he is just narrowing and restricting language use. Hitler was a dictator. Should we erase history?
DNF, tanked in the middle. NW corner took forever because I thought Best Album was a Grammy category, mostly because I haven't watched the Grammys in close to 50 years. That left me with a Place Kicker getting Ext.
For Instance was tough because my four-limbed animal was a Quadruped. I found Tetrapod but not Tetrap online. What am I missing? I found this definition of Quadruped, which I'm only sharing because of the example sentence from whatever dictionary Google relies on.
Quadraped
plural noun: quadrupeds
1. an animal which has four feet, especially an ungulate mammal.
"smell is so important to quadrupeds"
The sentence punctuation is great there too.
I wish the kids had brought home some Screamo when they were teens so that I could look at them with a straight face and say, "There will be no Screamo in this house" and not break character with tears of laughter. Such a joyful, idiotic word.
The Baddest Unnerve(d) me and I've never seen Tahini on Tabbouleh but there it is.
I'm a Ross fan and what I got, I loved. Just don't have the patience to stick with a Sunday when the pushback level goes up. Which is to say, I like easy Sundays.
The final across clue seemed like a missed chance for something. The familiar phrase is a “thirst trap” for a photo of a sexy man or woman. Seems like that could have been tied in as a revealer somehow.
My solve was the opposite of Rex’s, so I enjoyed it more. I could see that there would be a rebus when FLYING T…. fizzled out. But skipped it and forgot about it. Got the TRAP DOOR revealer before realizing that TRAP would be the rebus. Then I got the VON TRAPP FAMILY, saw the trick with the downs and was on my way. TETRAPODS and ULTRAPURE were weak, but the other eight themers were all good, IMHO (which is what I thought FWIW was at first). Is ULTRAPURE a real thing? Something beyond just pure?
Agree the fill was just OK, and not a lot of clever cluing to make me smile. Actually, I did love “gets out of a grave situation” (RESURRECTS) and liked the misdirection on “traffic control org” (DEA).
I don’t think I ever knew the meaning of “legerdemain” - will try to remember it.
I just looked for some word in the puzzle to give me an excuse to comment on the thrilling, see-saw AO final. I’ll use NET. So glad my hero Rafa pulled ahead of the evil Novax in the GOAT race. My ideal would be Rafa and Roger tied for the lead but I know that’s unlikely.
Sexiest? Dorags? PMS? Talk about culturally insensitive.
Wow, I’m shocked to see so many negative comments about this puzzle! Actually, many of the things @Rex complained about were things that made me enjoy the puzzle more. I was also surprised to see @Rex label this as “challenging.” Go figure.
Like @mmorgan, I initially thought RAP was embedded in certain black squares because BESTALBUM seemed to be a good enough answer for 22 across. I think I figured that out when I was foundering in the ORCHESTRAPIT.
Found the clue for SEXIEST puzzling (no pun intended) and I’m still not sure I get it…other than “sexual thirst”? Hmmm. That’s probably my least favorite clue unless I am missing something.
From Carol the first to Blue Slater the latest: Amen to all, it's time for a Times puzzle change.
Tough. It took me a while to see that the TRAP went both ways (BEST ALBUM threw me off) so my solve involved quite a bit of staring at stuff and trying to make sense of it. Mostly agree with @Rex on this one but I did like it a tad more than he did.
@Sun Volt--Agree about a visit to the Alchemist being worthwhile. Lawson's, also excellent, has opened their brewery in nearby Waitsfield, worth a stop too.
@Anon 10:21--Nice story about Maria.
@JC66=Agree that the Acrostic was well on the side of easy, lots of familiar words and phrases to fill in the quote with. I thought the quote was pretty amusing.
Don't trap doors swing down to surprise and trap you? What Rex shows in the picture is more of a hatch. Too pendatic?
ULTRA-tough for me. I got off to a shaky start in the NW, where BEST ALBUM looked fine to me, so I couldn't see any way of getting the crossing EXT???OINTS to work. Then I entered PPISTS for the brewing brothers, hoping that the missing TRA would show up somewhere, and crossed it with 4-legged TaPirS, without being able to come up with a reason for that particular quadruped choice. Hapless wandering through the grid brought me to the reveal, and then the VON TRAPP FAMILY finally showed me how the rebus worked. Back to mop up the other DOORS. Terrific puzzle - ingenious construction, satisfying to work out.
Do-overs: scarab before EARWIG, aSL, non before OUI. Help from previous puzzles: INGE, SIA, STU as clued. No idea: SCREAMO, BADDEST, O'NEIL, TETRAPODS, VOSTOK, ON TILT, PACKTENT, AZERA, KOBE.
Isn’t rho theGreek “r?”
An interesting concept, but fatally flawed. I spent fifteen minutes choking on this last night. I knew there was a rebus. I knew there was some trickery on the dashed downs. I even wanted ORCHESTRA PITS. But I couldn’t quite get all the pieces to fit together for me.
Came back to it this morning, and finally saw BEST RAP ALBUM, at which point every rebus was a gimme: it’s just two squares above the dash clues. Punched those in rapid fire, and had a bland Sunday themeless.
But man, that moment where it clicked was a good one.
Put me in the @mmorgan camp, thinking that some of the black squares were RAP in the downs, a belief that led me to put in TEr(rap)inS for the four-limbed animals. Meanwhile, I had decided that for the crosses you had to scoop up that RAP as you crossed over the black square, only it didn't quite work for rPISTS. I could see that it must be TRAPPISTS, but not where the T came from. Finally the light dawned, and I was more or less OK.
BTW, I'm not surprised that some of you have never heard of them -- part of their discipline is to speak as little as possible.
Part of the genius of this theme is that several of the across entries worked without the rebus: BEST ALBUM, ORCHESTRAS, & TRAPP FAMILY (what they actually call themselves; see their hotel.
Rock subgenres appear to be a great source of made-up words. At least the clue was fairly explicit, so I put in SCREech almost right away.
One small complaint, though: CUP is a unit; ONE CUP is a quantity.
RT is usually better than this. Where is the editor? The puzzle is very badly clued in spots. But it’s WS’s job to clean that stuff up. The gimmick just wasn’t worth the damage done to the grid. Sundays can (and should) be better than this. Such mediocrity. It makes me want to SCREAMO…
Wordle 225 4/6
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I'm in the camp of those who enjoyed the puzzle; clever construction with some crunchy fill. I finished in a bit under average time, so that may color my rating. Most of us, I think (including Rex) are inclined to like a puzzle more if we like how we "performed" on it.
A number of nice Hidden Diagonal Words (HDW) today: POI, KIR, FENS (also MOI and UNO, if OUI wasn't enough three letter foreign language for you). But I'll give a clue for my favorite HDW in this grid:
Prefix appropriate for deadly sins
Agree4 with the cringe factor on PMS.
Hey, @Roo, thanks for the tip o' the hat yesterday. Actually there are 5 themers (times 2 + 10) today. I was impressed that Ross came up with 10 answers that included TRAP, but none of which used the actual word TRAP as part of the answer.
Speaking of answers, here's the answer to the HDW clue:
SEPTI- (begins with the S in 37A, FORINSTANCE, and moves to the SE)
I liked the puzzle quite a bit.Got the rebus early on. Adding rap to the best album happened after the fact. Really liked many current references. Didn’t love “SEXIEST” as the answer to the clue for 30 across “most likely to inspire “thirst”. But otherwise enjoyable.
No. Eso es 'esposas.'
I had to fall all the way to the bottom of the pit before I finally smelled the TRAP. It was the one and only VON[TRAP}P FAMILY. I then took a big scratch and sniff at the TRAP, returning to Marilyn in my favorite scene in her S[TRAP]LESS GOWN. At least I was sure of two TRAPS. By this time, I was getting bored (just a bit) and wondered if I should continue. I kept bonking my head on that dastard light bulb. I tried in vain to not put a bandage on my wounds. It seemed that at every turn I'd get bonked at SCREAMO, VOSTOK, not knowing what TRAPPISTS are, never having met the Prince of Darkness, nor who is swinging on a chandelier (oh yeah...it's SIA...!). And who is this person called Trina? I finally came to a full stop, get up and go someplace else when I met that WIIMINI. This list goes on but I won't bore you.
I semi-retired from Sunday puzzles because they were either making me yawn or they were filled with words I never encountered in the wild. I normally like Ross puzzles but this one (although clever in its theme) left me sad and tired.
I want a Nancy/Lewis to PEP me up and sprinkle me with fairy dust.
PMS just PMO*
No rating for you! One year!
*PISSED ME OFF
I agree. I found it moderately challenging but doable, and fun.
Yes, and it's also not uncommon in marketing contexts.
Hand up for thinking RAP went into the two black squares between EXT and OINTS since BEST ALBUM works. Struggles ensued until I got to the revealer and all became clear.
@Z
re: WORDLE, waited the extra nanosecond.
Wordle 225 3/6*
⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨
🟨⬛🟩🟨⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
@Albee & @bocamp
@Kitshef commented late last night that he found the Acrostic hard. Why do I like his response better? 😂
My Timeses didn't make it through the snow globe this weekend, so I was forced to view the Saturday and Sunday solutions at XWord Info. I don't feel like I missed too much. (Except I did like 27d yesterday, as I commented: a new piece of info for me, and the most interesting puzzle answer in a long time.) I should get the Sunday paper tomorrow so I can still do the Variety puzzles.
The most noteworthy thing about the article @Rex linked to today is the relentless misspelling of Ben Tausig's name as "Taussig". Also, according to Shortz a puzzle was once submitted with "gluttonous" as a clue for PIG? "And I went to the dictionary…gluttonous is basically one who overeats." Well, no: a glutton is one who overeats. So yes, it's a good thing you didn't go with that clue.
It all inspires confidence that these people are qualified to du what they du.
Oh— I did like being reminded today of a cousin's wedding I attended in Philadelphia when I was about 4 years old, where my brother and I got puking sick from overimbibing ORANGE SODA.
Press here for disco BRA→ 🟨
Isn't the purpose of a DORAG to cover your hairDO?
For the first time, I did this one online, so had some difficulties with the rebus - this had to be a rebus puzzle, didn't it? It was fine, and once I figured this out, I knew OFL would hate it.
So-o-o-o much prefer good ol' paper and pen (or pencil).
Colin
(at work right now)
A challenging, clever puzzle that I managed to solve, but that confused the hell out of me. Because it wasn't the TRAP that went missing, it was the RAP. So that I was looking for a RAP revealer, not a TRAP revealer. And I couldn't come up with a single idea for a RAP revealer. I thought of TRAP DOOR immediately, but if that were the case, then why were all those "T"s still in the puzzle?
Add to that the fact that some missing RAPs were in the black squares and some were in the white squares and I was confused even more. Now normally I like it when different things are happening in the Acrosses and Downs -- but these weren't different enough. They were just similar enough to be confusing and there didn't seem to be any explanation for the slight difference.
I AM going to recommend this puzzle to my pal, @mathgent, who tends to wait for my recommendation before doing Sunday puzzles, but I'll warn him that, while he might love it a lot, he might also be completely confused by it. And that I have mixed emotions.
Enjoyed the theme and like @Roo envisioned RAP in each of the themer black squares with a T above it so that you fall *down* into the Across TRAPS and *into* the Down TRAPS. Makes no difference to the final result but made it a little more fun than a standard rebus puzzle. Too bad it resulted in such a claptrap grid with answers like ORCHESTITS, OINTS, and TIONS.
Maybe the reason you hear OWS from the tattoo parlor is that they are doing this puzzle and getting punctured with a lot of ugly fill. The worst of it for me was the ONTILT/VOSTOK cross. OW indeed.
I found this more challenging and therefore more enjoyable than most Sundays. I saw there had to be a rebus with FLYINGT but didn't see the separate ending until I stumbled across the revealer while looking for toeholds.
There was plenty of trivia I didn’t know but I finished with only a one square error that was a dumb mistake. Not Rex’s dumb mistake. Mine was tIC for SIC. I’d wanted OSMOtic so I wrote in OSMOTING and “someone else’s error” was tIC, which raised an eyebrow but was acceptable.
When I knew there was an error, my first guess was the March Madness/poker slang cross, but I'd guessed right there.
All in all a pretty good Sunday.
Tu bad rube Goldberg (no relation) isn't around to ask. And by the way....PMS, BRA, OIL UP, STRAPLESS GOWN, what is going on here?
Tough challenge for a sunday--39 minutes for the father/son duo. Enjoyed the rock music theme (SCREAMO and OSBOURNE). Also enjoyed discovering the traps and eventually seeing that they were repeating and represented trap doors. Didn't have to cheat, so that's a good sign that it was a reasonable, doable puzzle. Liked CONTRAPTIONS best, I think. Great Puzzle, Ross! thanks. --Rick
After a long time reading and enjoying this blog, I’ve come to the realization that underneath “Relative Difficulty” in the header you need “Relative Joy” and a point scale to go with it so that I can search for the puzzles that you like (and maybe the ones you hated). I read them only after I’ve solved, and that’s usually the first thing I want to know: Did Rex like this one? Or did he agree with me that it sucked?
Does anyone put tahini on tabbouleh? Ugh
@Fellow Earthling, here’s a huge AMEN! All of those answers just gave the puzzle an “ick factor”
It was definitely challenging. About 3 minutes slower than my Sunday average. It would’ve been more like 1 or 2 minutes but I had DURAGS instead of DORAGS at first completion check. I found it without a cheat, but still annoying, since I always thought it was spelled DORAG until I read a fairly definitive piece, I could swear it was in the NYT, explaining why it’s supposed to be DURAG instead. That was one instance where being “in the know” didn’t help.
Any time I see Mr. Trudeau’s byline, I out on another pot of coffee and strap in for a rough. tide. No exception today and I nearly had a DNF because if SCREAMO. Also the T(RAP)ISTS / TET(RAP)ODS really hung me out to dry.
Toughest Sunday in ages, but through absolute guesses in several spots. Too much with the FROS, DORAGS, PMS, BRA, SEXIEST. There are better words.
Clever idea, a bit awkwardly executed, but absolutely Sunday worthy.
Enjoyed it! Mainly because of the theme. Though lots of rough spots via names and sports.
Also thought the crossword content debate article was great. Go 🦖!
And I will add my 2$ to the fact that certain words can ruin and/or cause this solver to quit a puzzle. (May I never ever see a Hitler or MAGA, or any other hate-obsessed word in a puzz … )I
That’s my rant. I’ll refrain the from the totally unrelated rant about wordle. Teehee. 😂
🦖🦖🦖🦖 for 🧩
🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖 for the article 🤗
DOX made me want to SCREAMO! I admit to being IN EXPERT, perhaps FACILE in my solves, but Ross truly gave us a workout this morning. Even with SHEHER help it was tough to find those monks—perhaps they were hidden in that secret priest’s hole behind another TRAPDOOR? Loved it all nonetheless and can now look forward to the Rossword that he dropped in the inbox today, also a 21x21 grid. Like others have noted, the Sunday grids usually lack the PEP of late week puzzles, but today’s more than satisfied.
Oh, & if you can sacrifice some Wordle time, do click that link to the article Rex provided as it continues the discussion that has engendered repeated debates here on Rex’s blog. I almost came back to share that URL myself after seeing it on another news feed, but I still am working toward html competency.
The wreak/raise havoc thing drove me nuts and came on here just to see if you mentioned it :)
Nothing sexist about "sexier." It's gender-neutral.
It is an interesting article (that Rex linked to), but a lot of problems. The biggest one is claiming that voting for Hillary Clinton is the definition of "left wing". No, "maybe" voting for the Green Party is left wing, but really being left wing probably has noting to do with electoral politics especially as they are controlled by corporatists in this country.
Nothing sexist about "sexiest." That's gender-neutral.
agree! this one sparked joy in me.
@anon11:22 - The Greek letter RHO is represented by the glyph “P” which is the same glyph but represents a different sound in our alphabet. This trick of using a Greek letter that looks like an English letter to get the word for the Greek letter can also be used for eta, tau, chi and some others.
The PMS thing is understandable but speaks to some of the difficulty that article discusses. On the one hand, PMS is a real thing that some people suffer from, sometimes so much so that it impacts their life. At the same time the term has been weaponized against women, as if emotions and hormones only affect women. Should it be off limits because some people misuse the term? Personally, I’d have gone with a multiple afternoons clue.
@JD - No email in your profile, so I’ll say here that you are missing something and are so close to seeing what it is with your quadruped/tetrapod/tetrap conundrum.
Basically liked the puzzle, except PMS, SEXIEST, and one more-- INEXPERT for AMATEUR. Sorry, but there are many "amateurs," as in people who don't get paid, who are quite expert. Yeah, "inept" is a second definition; an insult to amateurs everywhere.
Theme mcguffin was hard, then much easier:
* HARD: Thought 22-A was BESTALBUM, which [like for many others] led to false belief that things like RAPs lived inside black squares. Wrong again, M&A breath.
* EASIER: Once M&A figured out the puz's rebus with a TRAPdoor twist, the "-" clues really telegraphed the other TRAPdoor locales.
Nice Jaws of Sundayness, at the puzgrid top & bottom. That and raised-by-wolves MOWGLI/WIIMINI really sold M&A on the puz, overall.
staff weeject pick: 32 weeject choices, but most of em were pretty respectable. Kinda gotta especially luv the ones that fell thru the TRAPdoors: ODS. EZE. URE.
honrable mention to DOX, tho. Cuz it looks like a DOC that fell thru a trapdoor and broke somethin.
Thanx for the trap-shoot [sp?] solvequest, Mr. Trudeau dude.
Masked & Anonymo9Us
biter from outer space:
**gruntz**
Funny thing, TRAPPISTS was the first to fall for me, then VON TRAPP FAMILY.
I did this entire puzzle without figuring out the theme, just figured there was some weird "stepping" that I was missing.
And I concur: RAISE HAVOC is not a thing. Like, ever.
This was a slog as a result.
Not in my wheelhouse - I don't really do music (other than classical) - any time I get one of those clues right is when I've encountered it in a puz or just NYT articles. And today there were a lot!
Got TRAPDOORS with no trouble but never got far enough to realize there was more to them that just the word. Gave up after an hour or so.
And as for SB, after about three weeks of pg -4 regularly, today it's pg -5.
I will not be discouraged...... I think. I hope.
Wordle 225 3/6
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⬛⬛🟩🟨⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Another nice birdie today - back to even par after 16.
I enjoyed this one, probably because I didn’t get the “trap” theme right away … meaning I was mostly solving it as best I could (searching for a ‘step’ approach with other answers to address what turned out to be the trap answers). I guess I can thank the Von Trapp family for giving me my “aha moment.” So, it felt like a slog for a while, then I really enjoyed it.
Weird --I've heard "raise havoc" all my life.
Wow, I'm shocked by the negative reviews. I found this perfectly challenging and brilliant.
@Z 1:44, Oops. There it is. I think I got carried away thinking about that Baddest Unnerved Acorn Spicer and just kept moving.
I gritted my teeth typing in PMS. That's just offensive. Like men don't get irritable? Women get irritable, too, and guess what, it's not from hormones necessarily. I know PMS is a thing but very very much overused to call women emotional.
Bra not much better--so f--king sick of that one. Oils up? Sheesh! Sexiest? What the hell!
Just F--king stop it!
Don't mind me, I'm just trying to amuse myself on a Sunday afternoon...
It's time to play: ••••DIRNDL!••••
Name the article of apparel in 6 guesses or less. Or fewer.
🟨⬛🟨⬛⬛ SHOES
⬛🟨⬛🟨🟨 PANTS
🟨🟨⬛🟩🟩 SABOT
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ASCOT
Inconceivable!
Play again?
🟨⬛🟨⬛🟨⬛🟨⬛🟨 CHEONGSAM
⬛⬛⬛🟩🟩🟩⬛⬛⬛⬛ LEDERHOSEN
⬛⬛⬜⬛⬛⬛🟩⬛ DASHIKI ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ LOINCLOTH
⬛⬛⬛🟩⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨🟨⬛ SMOKINGJACKET
What the hell are you smoking?!
We hope you are enjoying DIRNDL. Play again?
I agree....failed on so many levels
I liked the puzzle more than most. Yes, theme revealed easily before the revealer. But I agree on questionable clueage and mishandled phrases RAISING HAVOC (?), ON TILT. DNF due to AZERA/SERA cross and one other I cannot now identify.
Epilogue from an answer of contention the in this past Monday's puzzle:
While viewing an episode of 'After Life' with Ricky Gervais last night, he mentioned QUAD BIKE. So, further verification... I'd never heard the term.
Who dey?
What a game! Who'd a thunk?
RooMonster Time For NFC Game Guy
SCREAMO crossing CNET and APA almost brought me down. I'm not sufficiently rock-savvy or techy and I'm not American. Thought the TRAPDOORS were funky, though. If @kitshef thinks EARWIGS are harmless I can only conclude he's not a gardener.
I can't comment without being pedantic about the ultrapure cluing, so I'm going to go with the Trappists - I live about 30 minutes away from the monastery where they make jams and jellies - the Damson Plum Jam is the only jam I eat now. They also have a brewery mentioned in the puzzle but alas, I have no tolerance for beer or wine (I like beer and wine, but both give me headaches, so I'll stick to scotch)
A fun, easyish puzzle from my backward journey though the Archives: Wednesday, October 29, 1997. I laughed out loud once and chuckled twice.
It’s “e.g.” no. “i.e.” in this case, Rex. Exempli gratia, not id est.
@Anon8:21 - Rex used “i.e.” five times and correctly each time.
Sucked.
Orchestra pits
Me too.
Trappists are monks, therefore brothers
E-spouses (like e-mail) - funny.
I got it.
A rare DNF for my wife and me. Just could not see how to fit trap in correctly. But we were also thrown off by spicer as a person using cloves or garlic. To quote a well known crossword freak, "gibberish always looks stupid in the grid."
It was kind of fun, but WHO PUTS TAHINI ON TABBOULEH?
Middle Eastern people. Usually on the side.
Agree that the puzzle was challenging and painful to solve. But it was all worth it when Rex posted broken bells,"trap doors!" Nice job.
Tabouli (there are many romanized spellings for this dish!), which I learned how to prepare from my Syrian grandmother, is neither served with tahini on top nor on the side. It would have to be a special request from the one ordering it. I have eaten a lot of tabouli during my life and never has it come from the kitchen with tahini anywhere near it!
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Hated it.
Way too many made up words.
EXTRAPOINTS, FORINSTANCE
ONE of THE SEXIEST CONTRAPTIONS
HER MINI STRAPLESSGOWN ever saw:
Was there ONECUP ORE TWO for HER MELONS,
AND was SHE ATRISK to YANK off HER BRA?
--- MADAM LEIA OSBOURNE VON TRAPP
NONONONNONO! 119a was my last word in, which completed 121d. TAR is *not* road goo!!!!! ICANNOT stress that enough.
Princess LEIA had the SEXIEST steel bikini ever. Yeah baby.
SITSON SWITCHON ONTILT FOLDUP OILSUP RAISEHAVOC with the no-repeat 'rules'. And then a rebus on top of it. TWOBIT TRICKS.
Q: How do you prevent Canadian bacon from curling?
A: Take away the little brooms.
Go @Rondo. SCREAMO!
I swear they sometimes play SCREAMO music at the gym - no, I'm not making that up. It is cringe-worthy, whatever it is. Not all the time, but when they do, I notice.
I've gotten over the fact that this had the dreaded "R" concept in it. At least they had the decency to indicate where with a -.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
Nicknamed Ozzy, first name is John.
Wife is esposa...husband is esposo
I agree. This kind of crap is annoying.
I'm working through the NYTXW archive after recently subscribing, and I've enjoyed using your blog as commentary/help/explanation on several occasions (and often I'm just curious about which clue you choose to geature)feature.
Genuine question though - do you ever have purely positive sentiments about a puzzle? You seem to gripe, a lot. Sometimes I can see why, but often it seems you're just hunting for a reason to complain. Are you just trying to keep your blog relevant or are you really so hard to please?
Follow-up question: do you construct puzzles gloriously free of all the problems you are always so quick to nitpick? Or alternatively, can you refer me to a regularly published puzzle that is miraculously free of these nagging issues?
Sorry (not sorry) if you can sense the slight bite in this comment. It's intentional but not entirely hostile.
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