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Relative difficulty: Medium
Theme answers:
- GUT FEELING (17A: Sneaking suspicion)
- THE KICKER (29A: An ironic punchline)
- BUMPY RIDE (45A: Rough flight)
- WATER BREAK (62A: Reason to pause a workout)
Salt Fat Acid Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking is a 2017 cookbook written by American chef Samin Nosrat and illustrated by Wendy MacNaughton. The book was designed by Alvaro Villanueva. It inspired the 2018 American four-part cooking docu-series Salt Fat Acid Heat. // A reference book, the cookbook is focused on teaching techniques and structured around the four titular elements: Salt, Fat, Acid, and Heat. The book explains what they are and how to master them in your cooking in order to become a better, more intuitive cook. Nosrat explains that these are the defining factors which determine the flavor and texture of food every time you cook, calling them the "cardinal directions" of cooking. The goal of the book is for readers to leave with a new cooking philosophy. [...] Nosrat started working on the book around 2009/2010 when Michael Pollan, an author and cooking student of hers, learned about her four-part system and encouraged her to write a book about it. She developed a curriculum based on the concept and taught many classes on it to develop the material. Throughout the process, Nosrat would note which concepts were easier to convey visually and started to design diagrams to help explain them. These also formed the foundation of diagrams in the book which give an overview, for example of sources of acid or salt.
• • •
'ROID RAGE feels oddly dated to me now. It once would've seemed like a sassy, modern expression, but now it feels weirdly '90s — like something no one says anymore. It also feels more mythical than real. I go to the gym regularly, and I've seen some bad behavior in there, for sure, but I've never seen 'ROID RAGE. My trainer is a bodybuilder—I'll ask her if it's (still) a thing the next time I'm in there (Friday). I thought TAMARI was just another word for "soy sauce," I had no idea it was uniquely "gluten-free." Allrecipes dot com talks about TAMARI and soy sauce as if they were in fact different things, but I think TAMARI's just a subset of soy sauce after all:
Tamari and soy sauce may look similar, but there are many differences between these two condiments. Soy sauce is common throughout all of Asia, but tamari is wholly Japanese. Tamari is the liquid that is pressed from fermenting miso paste, however soy sauce is made from fermenting in tanks with grains, in a method that's similar to beer making.
Cool, cool, I'm learning food things! Speaking of food things, you should definitely check out "Salt Fat ACID Heat" (the book and the Netflix documentary) if you haven't already (7D: "Salt Fat ___ Heat" (popular cookbook)). Samin Nosrat is a very engaging writer and host. She also does a really charming and informative food podcast with her friend Hrishikesh Hirway called "Home Cooking." Ooh, and I think she also made an appearance on Michelle Obama's Netflix food series, "Waffles + Mochi" (yep, first episode!). Anyway, crossword constructors, I've never seen SAMIN in the puzzle before (or NOSRAT, for that matter), so ... you know ... nudge nudge.
I had to run the vowels at ROI/HADID but otherwise a very enjoyable puzzle. I agree about BUMPYROAD too in that it doesn’t seem to be a childbirth stage.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteMedium-Challenging. Maybe I should read more cookbooks (or books about cooking): TAMARI at 50D was a total WOE, as were the supermodels at 30D and the dog at 38D. I kept doubting AYE at 35A because I was trying to parse 8D as MIND SEYE. Surprise! When the happy music played. Never heard of an URBAN CAVER, but it was inferrable.
What a delightful surprise these theme answers are. They’re normally not used in the context of pregnancy, but punningly, they all can be. And coming across them all together gave me the feeling of seeing language with new eyes. “Hah!” after “Hah!” after “Hah!” On top of that, all the theme answers are lively and entertaining.
ReplyDeleteThat more than justified the price of admission, but then there were the beautious EVOKED and MIND’S EYE. There was the lovely contradictory cross of ALL and HALF, and BITING over GUMLINES. It would have been cool if [Farm female] had been a certain one other than HEN; then we would have had as neighbors ETE, EKE, and EWE.
But I’m not complaining, I promise. I’m reveling over the wordplay of this theme, which has lifted me into a happy place that feels like it’s going to stick around. Thus, this puzzle was, for me, a special DELIVERY. Excellent debut, Rose, and a gift. Thank you!
I picked up the theme one after the last theme answer (water break) despite the revealer in the middle. Like "roy" and "roy" in the same puzzle, could do without the religion "bible" "amen" "eden". I knew about Sequoya from some time spent min grad school at the Cherokee Historical Society for the Historic American Buildings Survey. He was a tribal leader and helped establish the National Capitol at Talequah OK, and was at the creator of the Cherokee alphabet. Didn't know, and am now happy to know, that the tree was named after him.
ReplyDeleteWATER BREAK works for me. The rest not so much, with BUMPY RIDE being especially confusing.
ReplyDeleteNice to see SABRE spelt correctly.
I have yet to see MANSPLAINS in the wild. Does that make it crosswordese?
Catching up from vacation still. The week of 2/7-13 had a lot of excellent puzzles.
I obviously had no clue what the theme was so I circled around the perimeter looking for areas to gain some momentum and solved a pretty high percentage of them until I was forced to venture into the quagmire which turned out to be the center, from which I never returned. LORRY/ROI/HADID along with AKELA was just too much for me to overcome.
ReplyDeleteAgree with the good sentiments about the wonderful SAMIN NOSRAT (who at one time was an NYT contributor btw) - her marvelous treatise on the more subtle aspects of cooking/taste/flavor is insightful in the way that few others are (I would put Chef Jacob Burton in that category as well). One might wonder why a chef would finish off a Veal Marsala dish with “a few drops of fresh lemon juice” for example - Samin explains why.
I enjoyed this until I was down to several blank squares in the center section. What a mess! ROY, ROI, HADID, AKELA. The 4 hardest clues in the puzzle! And "THEKICKER" was clued terribly.
ReplyDeleteGet bent?!
ReplyDeleteStarting off with two Hidden Diagonal Word (HDW) clues for this grid:
ReplyDelete1. What keepers do (4 letters)
2. It comes after you (3 letters)
As for the puzzling experience, it was not speedy, but an enjoyable BUMPY RIDE (which I chose to interpret in the context of the "baby BUMP" at first, but then decided based on the arrival of my two sons that the hours leading up to delivery could, in fact, be metaphorically described as a BUMPY RIDE).
I wasn't familiar with the 7D cookbook title; had A _ I _ and couldn't come up with a word that fit. Had similar problem with 8D, Imagination, so that section took me the longest. Finally ECIG fell and the others followed. I like the MINDS EYE answer a lot.
Wanted aRgue for 48A off of the R, but corrected it easily (our old buddy ORATE).
Answers to the HDW clues:
1. FIND (begins with the F in 17A, GUT FEELING, and moves to SW)
2. VEE (begins with the V in 37A, DELIVERY, and moves to the NE; I thought perhaps I should put the you in the clue in quotation marks, but that felt like it would make the answer too obvious)
Hope everyone's Wednesday is "smooth sailing," as opposed to ... well, you know.
This was a fun late night solve before going to bed last night. ROI went right in, only because we recently had Reine's cats and dogs in the house, so her partner ROI had to turn up soon. Also thought there was something elegant having ROI cross ROIDRAGE, but can't remember why I thought that was fun. And wasn't Sequoya on Jeopardy last night?
ReplyDeleteMy sewer and tunnel explorer was an URBANdiVER for too long, and not knowing Gigi or Bella meant THEKICKER and AERO were the last to fall, but this was still one of my faster Wednesday's (LOL, meaning under 20 minutes - speed solving remaining a long way off).
Did kind of wonder if the theme takes on pregnancy/delivery might have a whiff of MANSPLAINing, but would defer to the constructor and those that have actually been pregnant on that point. LOL, it all held together for me just fine. And hey, today's hump day as well, so there's that.
Going to check out Salt Fat Acid Heat as I'm pretty sure my cooking skills could use a refresher, if not a reboot, and the book/documentary/podcasts sound interesting.
Wordplay informs us the constructor has only been solving crosswords for a year and this is her second puzzle.
ReplyDeleteFast learner? Rookie phenom? Congratulations are in order.
OK BSS bothers me more than it should.
Otherwise what @Lewis said better than I ever could.
I at first thought of it as a story of many months of prenancy. GUTFEELING being intuiting one is pregnant. KICKSTARTER being the first kick. Rereading the revealer I wondered if its all about the last day of pregnancy. Don't think that works as well but really can't decide.
Highly entertaining Wednessday and exceptional theme in any case.
Went through the whole puzzle without noticing the theme, despite being a woman who has suffered the delights of pregnancy. Strangely easier than Mon & Tues, but no more satisfying. On the other hand, got today's Wordle in 2 - count 'em - tries, so it wasn't all bad in the land of word play today!
ReplyDeleteWordle 249 4/6
ReplyDelete🟨⬛⬛⬛🟩
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⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
AARGH! Almost got the eagle I needed, but ended with par.
Not sure this one should have made it to term or not - the cute concept just doesn’t carry it. Liked THE KICKER - the others just felt odd.
ReplyDeleteBSS, RHOS, DELINT etc dumb down an otherwise clean grid. Liked MINDS EYE and the clue for EGG. Backed into URBAN CAVER - as someone who’s designed subway tunnels and storm water systems in the city I see no rationale why anyone would want to explore them.
The highly underrated Red LORRY Yellow LORRY
Liked the idea here.
This is outstanding. And BIG KID is an added bonus. Perhaps BUMPY RIDE is the ride to the hospital? And yes, an enthusiastic head nod and thumbs up agreement with Rex's words about Samin Nosrat. She is so engaging and knowledgeable.
ReplyDeleteI was also a bit confused by BUMPY RIDE, but the puzzle was quite nice. I know we tend to crave salt and fat, but I do try to avoid/minimize them. And we only use TAMARI because some people can’t have or don’t want gluten. My wife usually orders gluten-free in restaurants, and I usually ask the wait person (smirkily) if I can have her gluten.
ReplyDeleteFirst, gut feeling, the baby starts kicking, let’s go for a Bumpy Ride and gets things moving. Water breaks! Voila, here comes baby.
ReplyDeleteSomeday I'll remember that when a revealer appears in the middle of a puzzle, I'll skip it and go on to the bottom and come back and fill it in later and revel in its surprise. I wish I had done this today because it would have been a wonderful AHA!
ReplyDeleteThe theme was fairly obvious to me as we are expecting a grandson at the end of May and doing even more childcare than usual while Mom and Dad go for prenatal visits, so that kind of DELIVERY is all over the radar.
AKELA again, Shiba INU not, and now I know what to look for when I need a gluten-free soy sauce. That's always been a problem.
Very nice Wednesday indeed, RC. By a Rare Coincidence it felt very timely at our house. Thanks for all the fun.
Thx Rose; excellent Wednes. puz! :)
ReplyDeleteMed.
Definitely some crunch to this one. Fairly smooth solve; the only BUMPY part was the ROI / HADID cross.
Took some time to suss out the theme, but it was finally successfully DELIVEREd.
Enjoyed the adventure! :)
Just finished the recent NYT' Sunday Puns & Anagrams by Michael Lieberman. Challenging and stimulating. :)
___
yd g: 13:54 / pg: 19:45 / W: 3* (second day in a row getting to g before p)
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
You had me at MANSPLAIN, lol, such an appropriate term to appear in this particular blog! A gem of a Wednesday, thanks to the constructor!
ReplyDeleteAnd in way more pressing news:
Wordle 249 3/6
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PS Anyone notice how KIEV is officially a thing of the past? I think a few months ago rex was ranting against this very issue . . . .
"The non-theme stuff is pretty strong over-all".
ReplyDeleteYep. Like the crosses that gave us the theme. inu-gumline-name of two models-name of a kid lit character-name of a tv family. Oh, and what's half of 24.
How about that S.E. corner ? mav-fomo-bss and tamari ?
rhos and delint. "Get Bent"
Exactly.
DeleteI got the whole delivery angle fairly early so I am feeling all superior since Rex took awhile to suss it out. Hand up for BUMPY RIDE needing some fast talking to justify its presence in the theme set. I did not know either supermodel but I knew lots of HADIDs when I was working so no problem recognizing the name with a few letters in place.
ReplyDeleteWATER BREAK is a very common term in sports and for coaches. Much more so now than when I was in school since proper hydration is now better understood for its link to performance and injury avoidance. I also think ROID RAGE was more out there during baseball’s steROID era, but is still a thing. A quick check with Uncle Google turns up pretty recent hits and even relatively recent videos. So I’d say it’s still a thing, just not as much of a thing as it once was.
@Ann Howell - being a woman who has suffered the delights of pregnancy - Well put, that made me smile.
@albatross shell - If I had constructor aspirations I’d be annoyed with how easy Conlon makes it look. But I don’t so I just get to appreciate that she seems to be a natural at constructing.
Re: Yesterday’s art “discussion” - I found the whole thing throughly interesting on a number of levels, but I do apologize for engaging you know who and thus leading others astray in an all too predictable sequence. My favorite piece of irony that nobody else has a way of knowing is that my computer desktop background picture is Nighthawks.
Here's what I saw in my mind's eye -- and it wasn't MINDS EYE. It was MIND S--E. MIND SAVE? (That would make TEA KICKER, maybe. A modern coinage I'd never heard of? But it could also be TOE KICKER. In that case, what would TOE KICKER make? Hmmmm. MIND SO-E? It wouldn't make anything at all.)
ReplyDeleteWhen your MIND'S EYE is working in a completely DOOK-y way, there may be no hope for you -- and there was no hope for me today. Because I had no idea who those two supermodels were. I didn't know I was looking for a...name! Two supermodels with the same name? Who woulda thunk.
So it was THE KICKER! A sort of extraneous word. Who woulda thunk.
An ignominious 5-letter DNF Wednesday finish for me. I have a GUT FEELING that I may be an IDIOT.
BTW - We had a Shiba INU (and a Welsh Corgi) when the boys were growing up. Samurai lived up to his name and his breed, making larger dogs cower, happily murdering bunnies and squirrels when given the opportunity, and being absolutely wonderful with children and people generally.
ReplyDeleteBack-to-back eagles!!!!!!!!! Another one today!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWordle 249 2/6
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Well, I guess I prove Rex’s point as I am a man who has never hd a child (and thus never been through all the stages of DELIVERY either personally or as a hand-clutching baby daddy). I didn’t get the theme until I came here. And yet, despite my lack of experience, I’m going to MANSPLAIN pregnancy to you … no, I’m not.
ReplyDeleteBIG boy before BIG KID and BITter before BITING slowed me a bit at the beginning but then I moved through it at a good clip. Liked the clues for E-CIG and EDEN. I usually think I fairly MOD when it comes to the young people’s lingo, but not sure what get BENT means. Drunk?
Regarding the mostly bygone IPOD - I miss it. My gazillion gigabyte one that held every song I’d ever downloaded or uploaded from my huge CD collection has finally died. I could take it anywhere and choose from literally more than 10K songs. Now everyone only streams music, but no service has everything I want, especially with artists rightly abandoning Spotify. Am I the only one who still likes to listen to my own music collection?
AYE/yea is the worst kind of kealoa because you can’t even put in one letter.
@Z et al: if you need a (water)break from your Rye Placebo & Tentacles place, head across 287 to Nyack and visit the Edward Hopper Museum in Nyack - Natick adjacent only in xwords. It is across the Hudson using the (not GWB) Governor Pataki bridge. I was at the Met over the weekend and was pleased to see a couple of Hopper paintings.
ReplyDeleteNW was completely blank until the end and one answer across the bottom opened it up. I had the wrong TENET before DOGMA. A kealoa along with the ipod/ipad conundrum. AYE/YEA, EWE/HEN
@Wanderlust mentions the AYE/YEA kealoa. But there was another one today:IPAD/IPOD. I always write in IP-D...and wait. Seen one gadget, seen 'em all.
ReplyDeleteJust a general thought about crosswords, something I woke up with in the middle of the night. Every day, as I come to do the puzzle, I’m excited. “A new one!” “What’ll it be?” “Who made it?” Just an overall expectation of joy. Why? Because it usually turns out joyful.
ReplyDeleteIs this not a tremendous gift? To have something to look forward to every day? Something new that you can’t wait to unwrap?
I count myself as lucky to have stumbled into Crosslandia. After all these years, I still don’t take for granted the lift these little grids of squares have brought into my life.
@kitshef -- I guarantee, @kitshef, that if you were a woman and not a guy, you would definitely have heard the word MANSPLAINS used "in the wild" many, many times. It's actually one of my faves of new coinages because it so amusingly gets to the heart of a ubiquitous practice that for so, so long didn't even have a name.
ReplyDeleteburtonkd,
ReplyDeleteShame on you! You're giving everyone a bum steer. What you describe as the Hopper museum is really only his boyhood home. As for its status as a museum, well, putting it kindly, that's a helluva stretch. The "museum" has exactly one gallery devoted to Hopper. With nary an original. Just some prints.
If you want to see Hopper go the Whitney.
And if you have to cross the Hudson, do it from midtown. It's just a hop, skip and jump to Boulveard East and 49th Street. There can you can see the House which was the model for a masterwork of his called East Wind over Weehawken.
Sold nearly a decade ago for the bargain price of 40 Mil. Compare it to Chop Suey which went for just over 90.
Anyway, Nyack has much to recommend it. But if youre going there to see Hopperw, you'll be sorely disappointed.
Signed,
You know who
Samin Nosrat, it seems to me, is just crying out to be anagrammed. But she's dangerous: ARMS NATIONS, or ARSONIST MAN. Maybe better to stick to the cooking.
ReplyDeleteI think BUMPYRIDE may just be referencing the start of the whole process. You know, 9 months ago.
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteI can't seem to give this puz the props y'all are. Is it because I'm male? (Non-pregnancy/pig-headedness?) I completed the puz, but never got the theme. I DUNNO.
Get BENT. Wow. 1) Haven't heard that since the late 80's, 2) Isn't that verboten for the NYT? I'm not offended by it, actually got a chuckle, but dang, there's better ways to clue BENT. Will living on the edge!
We're missing (Toss in the air?)THROW UP and (Yearns)CRAVINGS as Themers. Also, I HATE YOU FOR DOING THIS TO ME! Har.
Aren't the HADID twins also wrestlers?
Was KIDD when he was a toddler called BIG KID KIDD?
Wanted SPELUNKER for URBAN DIVER (which is a wha?), too short.
And BUMPY RIDE is still not processing how it's a Themer in the ole brain. Explain?
Anyway, puz wasn't BS(S), just not on my wavelength. Guess I'll go Get BENT.
yd -4 (including that odd pangram) should'ves 1
Four F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
I had the initial M for 28D, thought of MANSPLAINS, checked the constructor's name, saw it was a woman, and wrote it in. Not that a man might not have used the word, but it seemed more likely. I think that helped me eventually get the theme, as well, though it really took WATER BREAK for me to see it. Neat theme, I'm happy to accept the looseness of some of the themers.
ReplyDeleteLike so many others, I had MIND____ at 8D and strained to thing of the second word. I almost refused to put in AYE because MIND SEYE didn't make sense. Then suddenly I saw it in a new, correct way.
@Unknown, I spent a month there once. Kiev is the Russian name for the city, in the Ukrainian language it's Kyiv.
@Wanderlust, from what you say I think you may not know that your phone can do everything a iPod did. Just install the iTunes app on your computer and upload your CDs to iCloud. On an iPhone you can then play them through the Music app; I'm not sure how it works with Android.
As Rex said, “ I liked this much more than I like most Wednesdays.” Only stuck at that area of name intersections around AYE. Unfortunately, having kanga before getting the right book’s AKELA was an incredible brain fart only solved with the assist appropriately of the mother of my sons. Lucky to have a puzzle partner who is willing to woMANSPLAIN in times like that….after she stops giggling. I’m forever grateful that a few years back she introduced me to puzzles as a game to be enjoyed instead of a frustration to be avoided. So thanks Rose for the grid as both a fun grid and a prompt for reflection on ALL the happy stages each pregnancy brings. Certainly deserving of Jeff’s POW awarded on that other blog.
ReplyDeleteRe BUMPY RIDE when I was in pre-natal classes the transition stage of labor was referred to as a bumpy ride.
ReplyDeleteIf you have any curiosity about URBANCAVERs or just want to read something mesmerizing, try Robert MacFarlane's Under Land : A Deep Time Journey. I also found Saminn Nosrat's shows based on her book charming and educational.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the puzzle. The biggest obstacle for me was THEKICKER, having ROY, HADID, AKELA crosses.
My take/vote on the theme was the progress through pregnancy. No personal experience though.
There are a thousand ways to clue BENT in the Naked City. "Get ____!" is # 1001.
ReplyDeleteThis great-grandmother loved this puzzle! Would have loved it even more had a similar theme appeared 60 years ago… which could never ever have happened then. The editor back then could have mansplained why. Nice reminder that life is better in many ways. (And fun memories.). Also big yes on Salt Fat … the Netflix series.
ReplyDeleteDELICIOSA....!
ReplyDeleteA Rose by any other name?
AH...I was wondering if this was leading to delivery stages. Yes...it certainly looks like it. I'll get to that later. You give me lots of food for thought, Rose. Yes, you did.
I had no trouble with ACID and Samin Nusrat. She has a wonderful smile that lights up a room. I read her recipe for her Puerto Rican beans and rice and thought: No one can beat my recipe. She did; it was very good. She's quite accomplished and has earned every food kudos she gets. She did it the hard way....you know... starting as a dish washer at Chez Panisse in Berkeley and working her way up to receiving the James Beard Foundation award. The rest is history.
Yes..there is quite a difference between Soy and TAMARI (to me)....I use both. I prefer the Japanese taste to the Chinese soy. Most people don't know the difference. We don't have a gluten -free issue so depending on my dish, I will use either. Soy is a lot saltier. TAMARIN is a lot darker and more syrupy.
Speaking of Japanese:
The Shiba INU is really a big dog in a small body; they can be quite a handful and if not raised properly they'll eat any other dog (even if it's 100 lbs bigger)....They have a VERY LOUD scream that'll scare the pants off of you. Other than those small issues, they are cute and fun to look at.
Now to the Creme de la Creme:
Ah, yes...the memories of my BUMPY and delicious ride with my two pregnancy's. Thank goodness in those days no one said "We are pregnant." I would've gently kicked him in his nether.
The GUT FEELING reminded me of being sick as an INU the first 3 months. The KICKER made me scream with delight. A real little human baby being is talking to me. I played a lot of Mahler to him. We hummed along together. Some of it was a BUMPY ride; I had to use the Loo quite often; no one on BART every got up to offer me a seat....although I weighed about 200 lbs....I endured; I was happy and I still danced the fandango tango.
As probably every single woman who has given birth can attest to...you remember where you were when the WATER broke. I was standing at the kitchen window eating a chocolate fudge for breakfast when it happened. It was better than finding gold in a pot in a lake in Tahoe. Sheer delight and elation and thrills and trepidation. So I went through 100 hours of labor (kidding but it was a lot), I did a lot of screaming until they finally gave me an epidural (to shut me up) and then...then....You cry with delight.
End of my tale....
Rose if this is your NYT debut...will you please come back and delight us some more with your puzzles?
I very much working this puzzle as a themeless because I NEVER got how SIGNSOFDELIVERY related to the theme answers (until I read Rex). As a woman who “delivered” two children I’ll give you my lame excuses. First and foremost, I have never considered my uterus my GUT. In my mind, my GUT is my stomach. Second. Bumpy ride? I guess one could contort that into the baby bump/ride to the hospital thing but not me. Then three, for me this left WATERBREAK standing alone. With that said, I’ve never really faulted a puzzle for those types of things…and I don’t now….just non-MANSPLAININ’ away my failure to parse the theme.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of MANSPLAINing, thanks @Nancy for your response to Kitshef because now I will only add that when working and discussing certain other females we had dealt with, the term could be used for how other women convey information, as in “and have you ever noticed she tends to mansplain things?”.
And @Nancy…By Jove…I think you’ve got it now! Two days in a row!
Filling in the squares is so easy for Jeff Chen that he occupies his mind during the process in trying to figure out the theme. It seems that many of you do also. I'm happy for you all but that's not something I enjoy. What I do enjoy is word play, clever cluing, and learning something. Very little of that today.
ReplyDeleteAm I grumpy this morning? It may be because I bogeyed Wordle. I had to choose between two words for par and chose the wrong one.
@Wanderlust - No, you are not alone. We filled multiple IPODs with our personal music collection, but as it continues to grow we've had to resort to using our retired iphones as well. They are much less user friendly as music players. The ipod was purpose built for one thing and did it extremely well. We wish they would come back.
ReplyDeleteFinished the puzzle fairly quickly but the theme was lost on me. Looks like I needed to have the theme mansplained to me... thanks Rex!
ReplyDeleteLiked GUMLINES under BITING. Also liked URBAN CAVER, MANPLAINS, BUMPY RIDE, and ROIDRAGE. Could have done without the two supermodels and that vowely wolf again from The Jungle Book. As for the theme, it was well executed but about as much fun as going into labor.
ReplyDeleteThanks, @Beezer.
ReplyDelete@GILL -- Really wonderful post today! -- all 53 paragraphs (just joshing you) -- but I wouldn't have known the chef you mention if I fell over her. When I saw "Salt, Fat, ACID, Heat" (and I had no idea what ACID would be until it filled in), I was thinking: "Now there's a cookbook I must remember to avoid!!" It sounded quite awful. But if my pal, @GILL, the gifted cook says AYE to it, it must be pretty good, right? I might have thought, though, that you'd have preferred a cookbook with the title "Garlic, Red Wine, Aioli, Butter, Scallions".
And the Mahler thing, @GILL -- it made me feel deprived. My mother was a perfectly lovely mother and all that, but she did not play Mahler to me when I was in the womb. If she had, would I be a truly laid-back, calm, relaxed and even serene person today? We'll never know -- but I do envy the soothing in-utero experiences of your son.
Medium. What @Rex said about getting the theme. Some fine LONG downs. Liked it. Excellent debut!
ReplyDeleteBased on a sample size of two, Rex's gender theory doesn't pan out. I got it at DELIVERY, while my sister had to go to the NYT column to get it.
ReplyDelete@Nancy 9:27 - We had a lovely, albeit longer, phrase to describe the phenomenon. We'd say "don't try to teach your grandmother to suck eggs".
I did the entire puzzle and stared at it for probably longer than Rex did without ever figuring out the theme. Went to XWord Info and read constructor notes. Still didn’t completely see it until after reading Jeff Chen and Rex Parker. So @Nancy I think I win the IDIOT competition today. However in my defense, I’m not generally a fan of crosswords that make jokes about pregnancy so maybe my MINDS EYE was just resisting the whole concept.
ReplyDeleteI’d like to hear a guy TRY to MANSPLAIN what its like to give birth.
Challenging for me - both to fill the grid and to understand the theme, even though I've been there and done that. I had to leave the completed grid and go off to other tasks, before a second look opened my MIND'S EYE to the scene. As far as childbirth humor goes, I DUNNO - just doesn't quite land with me. I thought the long Downs were very good.
ReplyDeleteGot the theme pretty quick, my male gender notwithstanding. As I MANSPLAINed to my wife, this puzzle was a cool conception -- maybe not immaculate, but really good -- over which I did not labor. In fact, as with the three childbirths she went through, I felt no pain at all.
ReplyDeleteShe's small, but packs a wallop -- does anyone have an icepack for my swollen eye? Oh, and a couch I can crash on until this blows over? Much obliged.
Samin Nosrat rocks.
I finished with no idea what "roid" rage is. 'Roids are steroids for any other unhip puzzlers out there. Also, I'm a mom of 2 and would never have figured out the theme. All the themers have something to do with pregnancy, but only "water break" is specific to the onset of birth. The baby kicks for months and the whole experience, and particularly the morning-sickness-that-lasts-all-day-phase is a "bumpy ride." " Gut feeling" is when you have an instinct you might be pregnant ... delivery is more of an "OMG THIS IS SO PAINFUL! feeling."
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete@Mathgent & @thfenn. You should give yourselves a par.
Also struggled to understand the theme, and got hopelessly lost in the south when I had POT for WOK, but who cares. Between the flashy downs and the theme that, while it took a while to click, was profoundly fresh and rewarding when it did click, this is easily my favorite puzzle of 2022 so far.
ReplyDeleteAlternate clue for 25A . How to avoid 17A, 29A, 45A and 62A.
ReplyDeleteSAYNO
I say “Don’t use Soy Sauce today if you can use the gluten-free version TAMARI.”
I thought the theme was a bit loose, but it overall works. In my MINDSEYE, it’s a progression from morning sickness through water breaking, but I’m not sure. I did, overall, like the puzzle and thought it was great for a debut. Thank you, Rose Conlon.
I’m not much of a WORDLE bragger, but I was pleased with this birdie that started with a puzzle answer from today.
Wordle 249 3/6*
⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩
🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Got the theme mcguffin after fillin in the SIGNFORDELIVERY revealer and thinkin it over for a spell. Expended precious nanoseconds, in this labor. Cute, different theme idea. Like.
ReplyDeletestaff weeject pick: INU. Debut weeject with a U IN it. Shiba INU is evidently both a Japanese huntin dog and a crypto-currency. Also an anagram of not much of anything except A HUN IBIS.
some fave extras: BIGKID & KIDD, especially in light of the theme. IDUNNO. CHEROKEE. MINDSEYE. ROY+ROI/ROIDRAGE. HADID [Better, no-name clue, tho: {Exhibited a valid driver's license, say}]. RHOS [Since puz constructioneer was a Rose].
Toughie spots, at our house: FOMO [Altho I do recall "FoMoCo" on lotsa boxes at the Ford dealership, when I worked in the parts dept. one summer.] HADID [as clued-up]. AKELA. TAMARI.
DELINT. har
Primo debut, Ms. Conlon darlin. Congratz. We are now expectant of many more cool puzs in yer future.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
**gruntz**
MFCTM.
ReplyDeleteGill I. (10:28)
Was surprised at How friendly Rex was to the theme
ReplyDeleteI got how "gut feeling" worked as soon as I came to the revealer. And water break later. But "bumpy ride" and 'the kicker" just dont fit delivery to me. If the revealer had been overall pregnancy, then yes.
Otherwise pretty good puzzle. Had to cheat for "acid" - never heard of the book and mind would not got to e-cig.
I hate the word "mansplain". I might be useful, but it has such an awkward sound..
@mathgent (10:31)
ReplyDeleteI have no time to post today, but @mathgent, my brother, I had exactly the same experience with today's Wordle and feel so much happier that you went through it, too. (Now, my next project is to decouple my emotional well-being from a 3-minute word game.)
Liked the XW, loose themers and all!
I just realized I had not even noticed the theme answers THEKICKER. Hmmm. I really don’t remember much if any kicking in labor and delivery…my husband may have kicked and screamed before he ALMOST passed out with our first (I kid you not) but my recollection was more “writhing around” than kicking at that point. However, once done and revealed to me, close enough for guvmint work for me! (PS…please no comments on my last comment…I worked for the government!)
ReplyDeleteI think I recall 'get bent' to be similar to the f-bomb; how'd that sneak past the Style Guide? Hmm ...
ReplyDeleteSpent a lot of time trying to fit COD into a rebus.
ReplyDeleteWordle 249 2/6
ReplyDelete⬜🟩⬜🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Maybe I’m not such an IDIOT after ALL.
Agreed with others who have complained that the theme answers are in fact signs of general pregnancy, but not signs of delivery in particular. As someone who delivered a baby one month ago, and whose baby was over a week late, I am intimately familiar with the signs of impending delivery. Other than water breaking, none of the theme answers are signs of delivery. Signs of pending delivery include water breaking, contractions, baby descending (change in pressure), nesting instinct, and loss of mucus plug. Babies in fact may kick LESS when labor is about to begin. “Bumpy ride” makes no sense to me, and I have no idea what “gut feeling” is referring to—contractions? Conflating pregnancy in general and delivery in particular is annoying.
ReplyDeleteThis was great for a Wednesday theme. Like Rex and others, after finishing I had to sit and think for a bit to get it, which was part of the fun.
ReplyDeleteToo bad HADID was clued for supermodels rather than the late starchitect Zaha.
I've definitely run into MANSPLAINS, on TV lots but also in actual conversation. And I don't get around much, so if I've run into it, it's definitely a thing.
[Spelling Bee: yd 11:20 to get pg (bocamp, this time I got the shorter pangram simultaneous with getting genius). Then got to QB later in the pm.
td 4 min. exactly to get pg. Will try for QB later.]
Wordle yd: my first 2 ever!!
🟩🟨⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Dear, sweet, @Nancy....
ReplyDeleteWe shall meet sometime (the gods have prognosticated it!) and I shall cook for you anything you want....I'm not, by any means, a trained chef like our @chefwen (yummy muffin!) but I'll give it the "foodies" try. Everyone (@Nancy's permission) can come and critique it. I'll bring a yummy "Estancia" Pinot noir.
My brother, whom you've met through me, was the one who introduced me to Mahler. My friends would yell: "You're playing THAT to your newborn baby? " Why, yes, I'd say. Even though you think his music is dark and maybe morose.... just you wait and see what he becomes...A GENIUS (kidding but he's pretty grand.
Speaking of babies being born and grown up. I will send you a picture of the B-day card you composed for Danie and Travis. it's MAGNIFICO!!!!
PS. @mathgent....Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI tried to leave this comment earlier but maybe it didn't go through. I'm a woman who has given birth (eight years ago) and I was totally stumped on what this puzzle had to do with the theme/hint answer. But I knew Rex would set me straight.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what "get bent" means, but I do remember boys saying it to each other in college in the early 60's. I always had the impression it's kind of nasty! (Maybe the censors didn't know!)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I've read that the about-to-be-born baby stops kicking. It's certainly been true in my experience.
Ugh. Not bad enough people insist on including their Wordles on Facebook, now they’re common in thee RexWorld comments.
ReplyDeleteWhy? I mean enjoy the word puzzles, but why must you feel compelled to share your results?
I'm not sure if anyone else already said this.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that the theme went in order of the entire pregnancy.
1. The woman has a gut feeling that she may be pregnant.
2. She is sure when she feels the little one kicking.
3. She signs some sort of contract with a hospital, mid-wife, etc. to do the delivery.
4. She rides out on a bumpy road or horseback to try to induce labor.
5. Finally, her water breaks and its time to deliver.
Sam
I thought the puzzle was easily solved as a themeless, but the meaning of the long crosses and a baby delivery totally escaped me. Even after coming here, I still think the theme is a stretch.
ReplyDeleteRight on, Andrew!
ReplyDeleteQueen Bee in just under 8 minutes yd.
ReplyDelete@Andrew 2:19. Hey! We didn’t give you shit about your thing with Virginia Giuffre. So lay off on the Wordlers.
ReplyDeleteMANSPLAINING!!! Clue/answer made my day. Thank you phrase coiner Rebecca Solnit and constructor Rose Conlon.
ReplyDeleteLoved this one but I needed a MANSPLAINER to get all the sport team answers. I deserved a few un-wheel house clues after all the recent art history, modern and contemporary art ones….
😂And I thought I was becoming a hot shot… 😂
HUGE number (to me) of sport answers were maybe an attempt to balance gender interests?
Loved this one. 5 Rex’s.
🤗🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖🤗
@andrew (2:19) I rarely post my Wordle score and only did so today because I got it in two lines which is pretty rare. I’ve noticed it starting to show up on Facebook too but I have yet to go there with mine. We went through the same process with Spelling Bee, people unhappy because of all the comments about it. It’s early days with Wordle. Postings will probably taper off once the glitter has started to fade.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely correct Andrew. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteWhatsername is quite right. This Wordle business is just a fad. It'll be a vague memory soon enough. (if only the same fate befell some of the chronic Wordle posters)
@Nancy, I solved your puzzle! It took me last evening and a bit more this afternoon, but I did it! (I won’t *ahem* recount all my efforts.) It was tough and beautifully crafted. You have quite a talent—I wish you had a daily. Thank you so much for sharing it with me; what an honor, and great fun! :)
ReplyDelete@Sam H I like how you think. If it weren’t too long a better revealer would be “all signs point to delivery.”
ReplyDeleteSuper Wednesday! Slow CDilly (maybe CDully today) because I filled in the reveal before the theme answers because I was struggling mightily with the theme fill. So, with a bunch of blanks throughout the theme answers and SIGN FOR DELIVERY, I went straight to UPS, USPS and Amazon and my brain wanted theme answers having to do with packages, mail, and trucks approaching the house! And they all fit (more or less) until WATER BREAK, at which time my brain said surely not “labor and delivery,” that is just too fringey for the NYT!
ReplyDeleteNot so, and there I was not out in left field, not in the bleachers or anywhere within the Friendly Confines. I didn’t even make the rooftops across the street!!! Heck, I wasn’t even in Wrigleyville at all (but I am pining for baseball and so sad about the lockout). Struck out on the theme.
But once I focused on that last themer, a dim incandescent bulb went on way, way back in the darkest part of the stacks and I got a GUT FEELING that in fact childbirth might actually be the theme. Good grief.
What an excellent Wednesday puzzle. A bit of a struggle since I do not think I will ever remember models’ names or the entire Greek alphabet and forget about my even wanting to know silly words having to do with social media. Thankfully the crosses (and knowing the English alphabet she said sheepishly) gets me through.
Thank you Rose Conlon! I look forward to your next offering.
Wordle tiles without the guessed words are inadmissible as evidence in court. They prove nothing. There is a very real possibility of tampering (cutting and rearranging the tiles to produce a desired result). And you can't post the guessed words without tainting the solution for those who don't want to know.
ReplyDeleteDidn't you people ever watch CSI: Natick?
Can't wait to see it, @GILL!
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, I'm so hoping that your prediction of what the gods have "prognosticated" does come true!!! Fingers crossed.
Wasn’t interesting or fun. Delint? Really? Something more interesting would be to find out why this puzzle was accepted and published. A mess.
ReplyDelete@ Joe Dipinto 4:33 It's pretty rare that someone posts something here that's genuinely funny. Thank you for that.
ReplyDelete@Wright-Young -- Thanks so much! Really glad you enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI have a fair number of other anagrammed verses that I typed up online for some of my pals here who like this sort of thing. You don't have your email address posted on your profile. My email address isn't posted either, but Lewis has it and his email address is posted on his profile. If you'd like to get in touch with me, you can ask him for it. I'll be happy to send you some more puzzles that I've already typed up online. Most of my original 41 are only in hard copy, but I've probably got as many as 10 I could send.
Wordle. I did a search for the todays Wordle answer. Sure enough I found it in under a minute. The surprise was I found it at Forbes magazine. I do not know if they do it everyday. I would think professional courtesy alone would prevent that for 24 hours. Seems easy enough to cheat on the Times crossword too. Equally pointless too.
ReplyDeleteToday I used a word from Todays NYTCW and rolled in a 50-50 eagle (as far as I could see). The first word had 2 exact hits and and 2 misplaced hits. Thank you Rose.
I was busy yesterday driving a disabled Vietnam Vet to a distant VA hospital to finally getting his new teeth and celebrating with a steak dinner. I firmly believe one should perform a good deed at least once a year. I can report the VA hospital seemed like a friendly place. Everyone, staff and patients, were cheerful and helpful. I trust it was neither a mirage nor a rarity.
Anyway good puzzles this week. Yesterday was a treat having a 2/22/22 puzzle. In the comics I saw it written as two twenty two twenty two. Made me think of that song In The Year Twenty Two Twenty Two or something similar. My favorite was calling it the Two-two-two-two-two to-do.
I would say AG has far more cultural appropriations than Nighthawks but Nighthawks may be catching up. But who cares and how silly, but somewhat interesting. We do silly here often and often do it well. I prefer the silly to be less troll motivated and with less animosity. On the whole, everyone knows what is going on. Just like when I say I love having Wordle here because it shows how much those who claim to hate spelling love what is essentially just a spelling game. And every one knows why I mentioned it and where my tongue is.
@Nancy, That’s so exciting! I sent Lewis an email. Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteI’ve only ever heard “Get BENT” in the stoner sense, not the “ef off” meaning, so I was surprised at the concerns raised. I checked the Urban Dictionary and the “ef off” meaning is the top meaning.
ReplyDelete@Whatsername - I would never but I think it was Carol Burnett who described it as like taking your lower lip and pulling it over the top of your head.
And for all the polite requests:
Wordle 249 4/6
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛🟩⬛⬛🟨
🟩🟩⬛⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
49 plays and still only three eagles.I do have almost as many birdies as bars, 17 birdies and 19 pars.
And then there’s Quordle - A toughie today:
Daily Quordle #30
6️⃣5️⃣
8️⃣9️⃣
quordle.com
⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜
⬜⬜🟩🟨🟩 🟩⬜⬜🟨🟨
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨
⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟨🟨🟨⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
🟨⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
And for those who like geography, globle:
🌎 Feb 23, 2022 🌍
Today's guesses: 9
Current streak: 18
Average guesses: 8.5
https://globle-game.com
I’m an OB Gyn and totally did not get that theme. That is all.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping for an explanation of HADID -- is it the last name of Gigi and Bella? Never heard of it or them. Never ever. Nasty, nasty puzzle for a Wednesday. No fun at all.
ReplyDeleteBad news.
ReplyDeleteMy karma ran over your Shiba INU DOGMA.
But seriously folks, this is a nice debut puzzle. But let’s just SAYNO to the BSS, INU, MAV and RHOS stuff. 16A was too cryptically clued for a Wednesday in my opinion. But still, this is Rose’s debut NYT puzzle so Bravo to her for a pretty decent offering with a very creative theme on childbirth.
Solved it as a themeless, then stared at it for just a minute--and oh yeah! Childbirth! I liked the time progression, from the first GUTFEELING all the way to the WATERBREAK--"Honey, we gotta go--NOW!" Indeed, THEKICKER must be a BIGKID (bonus themer).
ReplyDeleteA couple of near-twins, BIGKID/KIDD and ROI/ROY, were slightly distracting, and there was an EKE sighting, but outside of that it was an enjoyable solve. Hand up for never hearing of either HADID sister; that was pure crosses, but they're co-winners of DOD. Birdie.*
*No puzzle containing EKE will ever score an eagle.
Not a Wednesday level puzzle. Mostly workable but pisser infested.
ReplyDeleteKIDD, BIGKID?
ReplyDeleteThis GUTFEELING, IDUNNO, THEKICKER is I'm sorry,
it's a SIGNFOR real FOMO, but NO quicker than TAMARI.
--- LORRY LLOYD
HADID such a gimme. Yeah babies. One of them on a magazine cover at a store near you now.
ReplyDeletePut the BAND back together in the corners.
Kind of a BUMPYRIDE.
Yet another Wordle offshoot -Globle:
ReplyDelete🌎 Mar 30, 2022 🌍
🔥 1 | Avg. Guesses: 6
⬜⬜⬜🟨🟥🟩 = 6
#globle
Even tho I didn't know the names (including HADID and AKELA) I still finished w/no help. Much better than yesterday's paean to two. Hope I didn't sound like a MONSTER.
ReplyDeleteDon't think I'll ever become an URBANCAVER.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords