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Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
Word of the Day: RENEE Taylor (43D: Actress/screenwriter Taylor) —
Renée Adorée Taylor (née Wexler; born March 19, 1933) is an American actress, screenwriter, playwright, producer and director. Taylor was nominated for an Academy Award for co-writing the screenplay for the film Lovers and Other Strangers (1970). She also played Sylvia Fine on the television sitcom The Nanny (1993–1999). [...] Taylor acted with improv groups in the 1950s. She worked as a comedian in the early 1960s at the New York City nightclub Bon Soir. Her opening act was a then-unknown Barbra Streisand. In 1967, Taylor played an actress portraying Eva Braun in Mel Brooks' feature film The Producers, a role she got while performing the play Luv with Gene Wilder, whom Brooks cast as protagonist Leo Bloom. [...] From 1992 to 1994, Taylor played the overbearing Jewish mother of Brian Benben's lead character on the HBO series Dream On. In 1993, she was cast as the mother of Richard Lewis, and the ex-wife of Don Rickles, in the Fox sitcom Daddy Dearest, which was cancelled after a two-month run in the fall. // Also in 1993, Taylor was slated for sporadic guest appearances on the new CBS sitcom The Nanny, playing Sylvia Fine, the mother of Fran Drescher's title character. After the cancellation of Daddy Dearest, Taylor was upgraded to a recurring cast member during the first season of The Nanny and eventually a full-time cast member by the third season.(wikipedia)
• • •
Two of the trickiest places involved arbitrary colloquialisms, by which I mean they are real colloquialisms, but like many colloquialisms, they have all kinds of variants, which meant determining exactly which words I was dealing with was not easy. I had "OH, RATS!" at 1A: "Botheration!" "Botheration" sounds proper and British and Winnie-the-Pooh-like, whereas "AW" sounds more slangy and American and Little Rascals-like, so "OH" seemed somehow more fitting. But the "Z" from UZI made me realize I didn't know any bands with "Z"s in them that started with "H" and fit the pattern ("HEEZER?!" "HANZIG!?"), so WEEZER finally broke through and "OH" went to "AW." Down below, a similar thing happened with "WELL, NOW..." (47A: "Hmm, let's think where this leads us"). I had "WAIT NOW..." because I had the initial "W" and the "NOW" and the clue really Really suggests pausing, i.e. WAITing, so ... yeah, that was that. "Botheration!" I cried (figuratively).
Didn't know DEBAKEY or RENEE Taylor but at least RENEE is an inferable name. DEBAKEY is a "this name came with my giant wordlist" name (24D: Michael E. ___, pioneer in coronary bypass surgery). You can rationalize using him because he's famous enough, in his field, and because you don't have any other obscure-ish trivia in your whole grid. The DEBAKEY Principle—you get precisely one DEBAKEY-type proper noun per grid ("DEBAKEY-type" being both not exceedingly well known *and* uninferable i.e. not a common name or a name that's famous in any other context). So today there is one and only one DEBAKEY and that's just fine. You can handle one DEBAKEY. It's Saturday, after all.
 |
| Puzzle-worthy ... but utterly unknown to me (this magazine cover is from before I was born (1965)) |
Is a MILE RUN really a test of "endurance" (35D: Endurance test in gym). It's just one mile, and if you are "in gym" you are very young, so a MILE RUN doesn't seem like much of an endurance test. I was imagining something much more grueling, though I don't know what. Rope climb? Fire walking? My favorite answers of the day were not part of that architecturally impressive center, where three 11s run through three other 11s. Rather, it was the symmetrical answers ROB BLIND (10D: Bamboozle big-time) and "PARASITE" (34D: First foreign-language film to win Best Picture); the former is a wonderfully vivid phrase, whereas the latter is a wonderfully vivid movie, a real masterpiece, and the last movie I saw in the theaters before COVID shut everything down in 2020. I've since been back to theaters a few times. The first movie I saw when I returned: "The Card Counter." Then I got in "Azor" and "The French Dispatch" before Omicron came and I stopped going to theaters again. But now Omicron is waning and I'm thinking about getting back in there to see "Licorice Pizza" before Omicron II comes and messes everything else up again. I love streaming movies (I've seen ~700 movies since the beginning of COVID Times, no foolin'), but nothing beats popcorn, Junior Mints, big screen, darkness. Even crosswords can't compete.
Explainers:
- 4D: Be with a group? (ARE) — plural present indicative form of the verb "to be"
- 34A: Group of commuters? (PAROLE BOARD) — they can "commute" sentences (nice clue)
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. this complaint is reasonable
SIGEP? Nicknames for fraternities?? NICKNAMES???
ReplyDeleteGARBAGE!
You should Google "Fraternity Nicknames". You'll find lots. One of my friends is a member of "Teke" or "TKE", Tau Kappa Epsilon.
DeleteThe volunteer fire department at University of Maryland is also a fraternity...Pi Rho.
DeleteHonest.
ReplyDeleteThe NW was brutal. I had oh heck instead of AW RATS at 1A, all done before BEAR HUG at 13A, interpreted the clue "Ditch" at 3D in the sense of leaving someone behind and had no clue about rap group at 19A or the rock group at 2D.
So I bade a fond farewell to the NW and started in the NE. That was a lot easier and I managed to work my way around clockwise with no major overwrites. Didn't know RENEE Taylor, but with a five-letter female name starting with RE, crossword-friendly RENEE is a good bet.
At one time I was a Big Brother through Big Brothers and Big Sisters (bbbs.org). My Little had a heart problem and was operated on by Dr. DEBAKEY, so that name is very familiar to me.
I revisited the NW with DEBAKEY and DARES in place, and that made it a lot easier.
Overall, a Medium Saturday.
agree with the screen grab you posted. never heard of Weezer and why glorify an uzi even though it is clued obliquely
ReplyDeleteFavorite clues today:
ReplyDeleteLanguage in which "thank you" is "khàawp khun"
"Botheration!"
Band with the lyrics "When I was younger, I used to go and tip cows for fun, yeah / Actually, I didn't do that 'cause I didn't want the cow to be sad"
I believe parole boards can only recommend commuting a sentence. Commutation is a reduction in sentence. A person on parole still serves their sentence under probationary terms. I believe this was a bad clue.
ReplyDeleteShould be “Pardon Board”
DeleteI don’t know which is more ridiculous, SIGEP as an answer or its clue. 😂
ReplyDeleteGoogle "Fraternity Nicknames".
DeleteYa but, most of us don't google when solving the puzzle. The fact that you RECOMMEND googling kinda makes the complainants point.
DeleteThe suggestion wasn’t specifically to Google while solving. This was during the post mort dissection
DeleteWhat an elegant grid design! Four diagonals, four stairsteps, no random block scatterings. No islands – one happy community of words. Had to be a bear to fill, and fill cleanly, and BB came through. He’s got some a-one puzzle-filling chops.
ReplyDeleteCluing chops as well. The one that set the “Oh, this is very good” chimes ringing for me was [Group of commuters?] for PAROLE BOARD. Big “Aha!” and “Hah!”
I started with a passel of confident answers and a nervous handful of I’m-not-sures, then things started filling in steadily, except for the NW, which put up a spirited resistance. My highlight was when, after seeing the D and K, it found DEBAKEY lounging behind scrub brush, fields of glass, and, I believe, some room dividers in my brain.
I should say that the Mini’s EDEN paired well with this grid’s GOD, SERPENT, and ORIGIN.
Just the kind of Saturday I enjoy, with some ease, some drama, and some comic relief. A journey tinged with complexity rather than a straight shot. I loved this, and thank you BB.
The only reason I knew DEBAKEY was because of Monty Python’s Argument Clinic sketch. They named the two professional arguers Mr. DeBakey (who was feeling a bit conciliatory that day) and Mr. Barnard (who had the argument with the customer). At some point I learned the trivia tidbit that they were named after two pioneers in heart transplants.
ReplyDeleteTrue to type, this Boomer knew DEBAKEY, but not UZI.
ReplyDeleteIt is a handsome SERPENTine like grid. Once I realized the cluing slant it went fine. Knew the WEEZER x UZI cross cold - that helped the NW. No clue on either DEBAKEY or RENEE.
ReplyDeleteLiked BEAR HUG and PAROLE BOARDS. The down tri-stack in the center takes up a lot of real estate but totally ran flat for me. I get the idea with HOUND and smells but that could be any type of dog. I think it was 7th or 8th grade when we started RUNing a MILE in gym every year as a standard - and that was over 40 years ago. Always very competitive with a group of teen boys. Thought the VIN Diesel entry was cute.
Enjoyable enough Saturday solve
I’m a recovering WEEZER fan, I own the album that includes the song with the lyrics in the clue AND I knew UZI off the bat and I still had a hard time getting that answer. Cluing a band via the lyrics of a non-hit, forgettable song on an almost equally forgettable album seems like a bad idea. It’s inferable, eventually, but I can’t see many people getting it without considerable help.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree!
DeleteIt’s been a crazy the last week or so - I was complaining about the verbal synonyms an WS smacked me in the face with one at 1A just a day or two ago. Recently I have been lamenting the need for microscopes or magnifying glasses to read the clues an Bam - Will comes after me with both barrels loaded (1A and 2D with AW RATS and WEEZER) - must be something in the water in that building across from Times Square.
ReplyDeleteI had the same thoughts about MILE RUN and DEBAKEY as OFL - which he articulated pretty well. I thought the clue for SADISTIC was a little off, I would think of callous as closer to cold and uncaring where as SADISTIC seems mor proactively dispirited, but in any event it is close enough for crosswords, horseshoes, government work, darts, FARTS and hand grenades.
And a special shout out to whoever came up with SIGEP - congrats, it looks like you are the early front runner for bogus word of 2022.
MILERUN is certainly a test of endurance if you are 7 or 8 and have small legs. NW corner on this one was brutal.
ReplyDeleteHard and no interesting answers at all... Shame
ReplyDeleteThx Billy; smooth Sat. puz! :)
ReplyDeleteEasy-med.
Pretty much brEEZERed thru this one.
Only hitch was not knowing either WEEZER or UZI. Had dropped in an 'n' in lieu of 'Z'. I mean WEENER and UNI seemed plausible. Didn't take long to catch my gaff, so, technical dnf, but happy ending, nevertheless. :)
Loved BEAR HUG!
Liked the clue for PAROLE BOARD ('Group of commuters?').
Gave up on the memory hog CHROME long ago; now using Brave, which has all my CHROME extensions. Unfortunately, Wordle just gets a blank screen, so use Safari for that.
Nice tip o' the hat to the SB GENIUS LEVEL (I know, @Anoa … but, it's all just in fun. :)
Very enjoyable solve! :)
@Z (9:24 PM yd)
Thx for the Quordle heads-up; been doing it daily since you mentioned it a few weeks ago. And, yes same here, a smattering of dnfs along the way.
___
yd pg: (14:19) / W: 4
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
VIN (Vehicle Identification Number?), what is “diesel” (the engine or fuel or something)? Any car enthusiasts out there that can offer some illumination on that one?
ReplyDeleteVin diesel is an actor who starred in the fast and furious movies.
DeleteVin Diesel, the actor.
DeleteAgreed with the complainant: WEEZER and UZI??? Band names and esp. songs by certain bands or singers (rappers are the worst, if you can call that singing) are a bane for me and, apparently, for other solvers. A relief to hear that. But that's how we learn about such things.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, pretty easy going today!
In my earlier childhood, I dreaded the annual “600," as in 600-yard run!! Not even a whole mile. Could barely finish it. It was part of a national fitness test of some sort. Once I hit puberty, long runs were miraculously and suddenly no problem. So from the 600 nightmare memory, I got the gym class answer straight off.
And Renee Taylor is killingly hilarious as Sylvia Fine, I must say!
A good day to all.
This one was definitely tough for me. I did not expect the completion thingy when I entered P for SIGEP.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Rex on MILERUN. I was thinking more like sit ups or geez, I dunno, holding your breath?
All in all a nice puzzle, and I thought the three middle acrosses and three middle downs made for some elegance.
East Coaster…. VIN is Vin Diesel the action movie “actor.”
ReplyDeleteLots was hard, lots was obscure (to me — DEBAKEY, UZI, WEEZER, or the THAI version of thank you), but PAROLE BOARD was just wonderful. Also knew RENEE Taylor right off, but just based on her name, no idea about her work or what she looks like. I also blanked on CHROME — mega-duh!
ReplyDeleteVin Diesel, the actor.
ReplyDeleteI thought I was GENIUS LEVEL when I decided BurRito was a wrap. WhatNOW didn't help me in the S either. But, I came around to all the correct words, greatly helped by knowing DEBAKEY off the D.
ReplyDeleteNice challenge today!
@Mikey I was in the ballpark on that one (if the universe is your ballpark). I need to get out more.
ReplyDeleteGuessed SULKS and the K gave me IKNEWIT, dead end, over to BLOODHOUND, didn't fit, kept HOUND, which begat EMERALD. and off I went down the East Coast, to eventually arrive back in the NW, where I had UG, and at first could only think of AREARUG, which could be a wrap, maybe. HUG instead lead to THAI and the W from AW gave me WEEZER, since my sons are fond of WEEZER, and that was that. Phew.
ReplyDeleteDoing a MILERUN in under six minutes was a requirement for the Fitness merit badge when I was a boy scout, and since I was young and did a lot of sports it wasn't that hard. Today my "running" means "not stopping to actually walk". In my defense, I am now older.
Remembered DEBAKEY as the heart transplant guy and I've always thought The Argument Clinic sketch is brilliant but hadn't made that connection. Thanks @Joe R.
Very nice Saturday indeed, BB. Bright and Bouncy and I was sorry when it was over. Thanks for all the fun.
The Mile Run is a classic endurance test. I had to do it in elementary school/middle school/high school every year in NY state and I’m 52
ReplyDeleteWordle 245 4/6
ReplyDelete⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
🟩⬛⬛⬛⬛
🟩🟨🟩⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Another errant drive today - recovered and saved par though. 6-under after 17.
WEEZER/UZI cross was stupid, unnecessary and unforgivable. Clue on PAROLE BOARD is flat out wrong. This one should have been sent back.
ReplyDeleteStrongly disagree. Weezer can no more be a Natick than the Rolling Stones could be. Easily famous enough that any crosses are valid. They are an enormous band with a lot of huge hits who have been culturally present for 30 years.
DeleteI will preemptively get off of your lawn.
DeleteC'mon @ghzosen,cluing Weezer with that clue is like cluing the Rolling Stones with "60's band that covered Irma Thomas". I would categorize Weezer as a successful '90s band, in no way "enormous".
DeleteChallenging for me, mostly due to the NW. The overall experience was one of those puzzles where it's just really hard to get out of the corners even after you've filled them, due to strategic placement of tough clues or PPP. SW for example: exit blocked by 34D PARASITE (common word but clued as a PPP film title), buttressed by 24D DEBAKEY, a full-fledged PPP. Had a hope/guess that 35A might be MAKEDEMANDS, and that was enough to release the synapse that was holding the famous surgeon hostage, but it took a while.
ReplyDeleteNW, not quite a Natick for me--I mean, I know the band Weezer but that lyric wasn't any help (and is that a first NYTXW appearance for WEEZER? . And cluing the familiar UZI as yet another "Li'l" rapstar name instead of the weapon? Ouch. Also BEARRUG before BEARHUG because "wrap," which prevented me seeing THAI, and REVEALED is a pretty oblique solve for "Let drop." Also wanted 17D to be DIPLOMAMILL, which wouldn't fit but kept me from seeing DEGREE, which even when I got it only seemed to confirm SIGMA for 25A. I mean, SIGEP? honestly? Lots of great stuff, felt just right for a Sat., and everything hangs together... except for that SIGEP right in the middle. What a dud.
PRIMO !!!!
ReplyDeleteFor me, this was like enjoying a BANANA split made with Negranti Creamery ice cream with a little Luxardo Cherry on top. Why? you ask... I'll tell you:
This is the first Saturday in ages that I actually finished with NO HELP. I did get a wrong answer. I didn't know WEEZER nor UZI. My finally answer, Alec was: WEEvER and UvI. Beeeeep. Wrong answer. I just missed the million dollar prize but for some reason, It didn't bother.
This took me a long time to complete. I just needed to get up several times and eventually let the juices of my brain flow along the Nile. Slowly, leisurely and then shout out AHA at the top of my lungs. A ton I didn't know....Never heard of PARASITE, didn't know RENEE didn't know a BRA was a balconette? Egads!!!!!....do you need a balcony boob to wear one? Never heard of of SIGEP and wasn't sure of ARE. I just took my time and phrases finally jumped out and began to make sense.
I thought for sure Rex would rate this easy. Yay me.
I really enjoyed this, Billy....Make my day some more, will you?
Got the long across entries, but DEGREE MILLS and GENIUS LEVEL gave me some trouble. Think it's easier to get those when they are across, for me at least.
ReplyDeleteLiked this a lot.
Like Rex, saw some movies during the in-between time. Mine were "In the Heights" and "Dear Evan Hansen." Just missed "The French Dispatch."
I filled in PEND crossing ABRUPT but could not find any further purchase in the NW so I moved on, trusting to experience that I'd be able to recover from it if those two were wrong.
ReplyDeleteSo when the NE gave me CHROME, crossing ORB, I made my stand there. I mentally tried to fit aMethyst in at 11D but it took but a moment to find EMERALD fit so much better. Great clue on SEDANS. All I could think of was “pears” for body shapes which didn’t work next to EMERALD.
I don't like the clue for TREED. “Pined away?” Too weird. And not so keen on the clue for GOD either. For a moment, I had HUT HUT in at 54A and considered “Mr. High-and-Mighty” might be a PhD; I’ve known a couple like that, but ORIGIN put GOD as the obvious answer.
My biggest problem with this was misreading 5D's clue as belonging to 4D and splatzing in “Lao”. Same general area of Earth but wrong. Speaking of Earth, I enjoyed the three clues, 9D, 32D and 45A.
So unlike Rex, I found this quite easy for a Saturday. Thanks, Billy Bratton, nice job.
I didn’t time myself, but it felt on the easy side of medium here. I got started by looking at the crosses to see if it was CHROME or safari. Personally I use Firefox except for on my mobiles where I use Safari. I’ve tried some others and Firefox is still the best for my needs. Anyway, SCRIP told me it was going to be CHROME and the entire east side fell quickly. I got PAROLE BOARD off the -ARD and immediately thought “people are going to complain” because we’ve had that PAROLE/probation/commutation discussion before. I did slow considerably coming out of the east. I saw through the Diesel clue immediately even though Fast and Furious is not my cuppa. Also only minimal problems with SIG EP (SIGma phi EPsilon - c’mon people - Frat = Greek letters and nickname = shortened - that’s barely even a Saturday clue), which combined with a few precious nanoseconds was enough to see GENIUS LEVEL and get rolling again. The NW was the “toughest,” but only in so much as I had to come back to it a second time. Once I saw BEAR HUGS the corner fell quickly. Unlike Rex, no self-imposed damage (zero writeovers) and the puzzle flowed smoothly with only the mildest of bumps along the way.
ReplyDeleteI agree with @Lewis about the grid. 180° symmetry is the standard, going up a level by making the grid 90° rotationally symmetrical is always impressive to me. There are a couple of infelicities but overall I think this was a rock solid effort.
👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
Lots to like and lots to groan at in this one. Def. Saturday level for me but sigep, hutone, hes, and wellnow were less than stellar. Came up with Debakey from the deep recesses, but I'm old. And I'm so sick of rap "names". But "weezer" came out of nowhere, and reminded me of Zappas kids, Dweezel and Moon Unit. Now those are names !
ReplyDeleteTo those cringing over and otherwise ridiculing Sig Ep.: Sigma Phi Epsilon (founded in 1901) has been referring to itself as Sig Ep, and has been commonly known as Sig Ep, since before forever. It is not a neologism. And it is not a quirk. It is consistent with the quite common practice almost ALL fraternities and sororities to use shorthand to refer to themselves. (e.g., Alpha Sigma Phi: Alpha Sig; Delta Delta Delta: Tri Delta; Phi Kappa Psi: Phi Psi;, etc).
ReplyDeleteThe rush to ridicule and demean here is sometimes stunning.
A lot of Frat Boys here today, defending their "culture"...
DeleteThx Billy; smooth Sat. puz! :)
ReplyDeleteEasy-med.
Pretty much brEEZERed thru this one.
Only hitch was not knowing either WEEZER or UZI. Had dropped in an 'n' in lieu of 'Z'. I mean WEENER and UNI seemed plausible. Didn't take long to catch my gaff, so, technical dnf, but happy ending, nevertheless. :)
Loved BEAR HUG!
Liked the clue for PAROLE BOARD ('Group of commuters?').
Gave up on the memory hog CHROME long ago; now using Brave, which has all my CHROME extensions. Unfortunately, Wordle just gets a blank screen, so use Safari for that.
Nice tip o' the hat to the SB GENIUS LEVEL (I know, @Anoa … but, it's all just in fun. :)
Very enjoyable solve! :)
@Z (9:24 PM yd)
Thx for the Quordle heads-up; been doing it daily since you mentioned it a few weeks ago. And, yes same here, a smattering of dnfs along the way.
___
td pg: (15:55) / W: 5
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Y'all.
ReplyDeleteSome of the complaints are valid, but I PB'd on this at 7:45 (my average Saturday is 20 minutes). Just smooth like butter for this 44-year-old white dude.
I can totally understand not knowing Lil UZI Vert, but WEEZER? Weezer is quite well known for the last 20 years or so with several big hits. They put that Buddy Holly music video on the Windows 95 install disc so like, yeah, everyone saw it.
And MILE RUN, I can’t imagine running a mile when I was still in gym. That would be equivalent to running from my house to my Grandma's house, all the way across town, which looms as a great distance in my memory. Now, running a mile isn’t worthy of mentioning, but it would have been a definite test of endurance when I was young.
ReplyDeleteOH Diesel the actor VIN.
ReplyDeleteOh GENIUSLEVEL not super genius.
Use of the exclamation point. Coffee store. URN. A storer of coffee or coffee storage. Shouldn't that have one? Does GOD? Does BEARHUG?
50-50 on those two. ARE maybe because it is asking the question "what is be with a group?"? GOD cause it's a joke? Is a BEARHUG a wrap? Does PAROLEBOARD need one because of the above mention of inaccuracy? Does the day of the week matter? Does how hard it is without one matter?
No problem with SIGEP. Fairly inferable with a couple of letters. The plural cross gives you SIG. SCRIP gives you EP or EP gives you SCRIP.
WEEZER DEBAKEY given me by Google. Cause it's Saturday, and if not it would be my whole Saturday. Although one never knows for sure.
WENTBANANAS most fun long of the day. I think there is a law against not loving BSSETHOUNDs. Got my real start in the South and worked North.
SADISTIC gave me pause but accurate eenough.
Hey All !
ReplyDeleteWe get Complete Rotational Symmetry today, as in any way you turn the puz, all the Blockers stay the same. A somewhat rarity. Makes for a good grid.
One letter DNF today, at that pesky/crazy P of SIGEP/SCRIP. Had SCRIt, and with it being next to CRIT, was going to raise a hullabaloo about two similar words right next to each other. Don't know SIGEP (or SIGEt for that matter). Southern Institute of Great Engineering People? Har.
Liked the crossing Longs in center. The Downs are more colorful than the Acrosses.
Have noticed UZI being clued as the Rapper lately, and not the "Isreali armament" or whatever it used to be. Rex would've lost his mind had it been clued as the weapon, but as a Rapper, it's fine. Good stuff.
Had pig first for BRA. Funny. Saw racerback as razorback. Nice double B's right there. Junk free grid, but CHIT, no F's. Change COURSES to FOURSET (clued as "a group on a golf course, usually"), which gets FLAN for CLAN and TOIL for SOIL. (I know, ridiculous! 😁)
yd -8 (missed the easy pangram!), should'ves 7
No F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
LOL I’m of an age so that DeBakey and Barnard could be dimly recalled names from childhood, but there’s no question that what cemented them in my mind was their completely random use in Monty Python’s argument sketch, nearly memorized in adolescence. “He’s a trifle conciliatory”
ReplyDeleteI got zapped by the blog page, so sorry for the repeat (and hope I keep my story straight). I don't believe parole boards can "commute" sentences, so Anon@7:04 am is right --- this is a bad clue. There's a very bad Natick at 2D/19A: two vanishingly obscure musical groups. Once again I point to the New Yorker's increasingly superior crosswords: smooth, professional, challenging in all the good ways and none of the bad ones. The NYT can and should do better.
ReplyDeleteUs septuagenarians stalled at WEEZER/UZI but pulled DEBAKEY out of deep memory somehow.
ReplyDelete@MaxxPuzz - Hand up for doing the 600yd run in 6th grade. As I recall it was a little less than one lap around our playground. Was it part of the Presidential Fitness Test?
ReplyDelete@MILE RUN doubters - As Rex pointed out, “gym” is a key hint. Gym class is usually an hour long and isn’t just athletes. A MILE RUN is about the max length you can do and insure that the slowest kid has time to shower, dress, and get to the next class on time. Sure, the cross country team would do a two MILE RUN as warm up before doing their speed work, but there are always lots of kids who struggle to finish a MILE RUN.
@Ted & @ghkozen - WEEZER is pretty famous, but they are not Rolling Stones famous. I would say they are Lil UZI Vert level famous. Both are Saturday crossword worthy, but crossing any two pop culture names is always suboptimal.
@DrBB - WEEZER debuted in the puzzle in 1999, this is the sixth appearance, and the clue has referenced Buddy Holly three times.
@H. Omer - I mostly agree and, like I said, you don’t actually need to know anything about SIGma phi EPsilon to suss out the answer. But I would say SIG EP, like any abbreviation, is suboptimal.
@Teedmn - Hand up for arching the eyebrow (while chuckling) at the GOD clue. Playing off what is normally an insult seems far naughtier and edgier than putting fart in a puzzle. There’s no biblical injunction against saying “fuck,” for example, but taking the lord’s name in vain is right there in the list with adultery and murder. From that perspective this is technically far worse than our Victorian discomfort with anything to do with our bodies. I liked the clue misdirection and the tweeking of religious sensibilities, but will understand if someone takes offense.
I'm a geezer
ReplyDeleteSo I didn't know WHEEZER
And I say, "Scusi"
'Cause I didn't know UZI
But it was not a total loss
I got DEBAKEY with nary a cross
There were things I loved about this very challenging puzzle. The clue for PAROLE BOARD (34A) is one for the ages. I loved the clue/answer for BEAR HUG (13A) and the clue/answer for DEGREE MILLS (17D). A good clue for SPA (53D) that I couldn't see without, well, all the crosses.
ReplyDeleteWhat I didn't like so much:
REach instead of RELAY for "Get across" (43A) is a much better answer. It was my answer for my entire solve -- even though it worked with absolutely nothing else and I knew it had to be wrong. It really futzed me up. I don't think "Get across" is an accurate or fair clue for RELAY.
I think TREED for "Pined away" is trying much too hard and doesn't really work.
AW RATS and WELL NOW could each have been anything at all. I hate these kinds of clue/answers.
And don't get me started on the WEEZER (huh?)/UZI (huh?) cross. I guessed right on the Z (after first guessing on the W). This is not because of my deep knowledge of rappers, mind you -- it's because of my dislike of most things rapperish. Would a rapper with "Lil" in his name (why do they all seem to have "Lil" in their names?) name himself after a weapon of mass destruction? I had a hunch that's exactly what he'd do, and I was right.
A mixed bag of a puzzle that gave me a good Saturday tussle and that made me work hard for my solve. I thought I'd have to cheat to solve the AW RATS NW -- but I didn't have to.
uhh... dont you think his parents named him ? geeze!
DeleteAn average Saturday solve. The open grid allowed for terrific flow. I started with CHROME in the NE. From there the corners went in clockwise with much feedback to and from the center.
ReplyDeleteThe NW went in last. It was a little more sticky than the other three corners but not much. I'm familiar with
WEEZER and I can't put a tune to those lyrics to save my life.
The grid looked familiar to me and sure enough the Feb. 5th Sat. by KAC has the same crossed 11s and the identical bat wings. The difference was the NW and SE "gates" are spun counterclockwise to virtually wall off the NW and SE corners. That puzzle took twice as long to solve.
Last Saturdays' puzzle was tough too so even though today's was what I consider to be average it felt easy.
yd -0, dbyd -0, Wed pg-1, Tue -0, Mon pg -1, Sun -0
Great write-up by Rex today. Fun and fair, while pointing out plusses and minuses.
ReplyDeleteWhat was Lewis' term for the puzzle you keep plugging away until you get the satisfying finish. "Faith solve"?
Weezer/Uzi right at the edge of my knowledge. Definitely a Natick, but inferrable.
Whether parole board clue is technically correct or not, it was a great misdirect clue! Aha!
ohcrap eventually begat ohrats and AWRATS. ohcrapawratsaloa!
That's a wrap: was looking at -ARH- wondering what kind of sari/sarong/afghan relative I'd never heard of would be the answer. Loved the aha moment with that one.
SIGEP: CEGEP is a pre-university program in Quebec, where they have pretty liberal forward thinking social policies. This made it hard to see the possible double covid variant shortening.
Amazing that first foreign language film to win best picture was so recent: I was digging through my foggy knowledge of Fellini or Truffaut until the worthy PARASITE came into view.
I have no knowledge of historical figures in cardiothoracic surgery, but DEBAKEYs are a common type of forceps used a ton in the OR, so that name is inferable.
ReplyDeleteAnd while I agree UZI is ridiculous, WEEZER is a very well known 90s band so no excuses. No one around here complains when a niche band from the 50s or 60s pops up.
(Caveat to the above: I am a millennial. And a physician. But still.)
DNF. I thought PENT, for being stuck in limbo, fit nicely instead of PEND. In my limited medical history knowledge, either TEBAKEY or DEBAKEY could be heart surgeons, as that answer, for me, was 100% crosses.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind UZI in the grid but clue it as an Israeli gun not some GD rapper. Jeesh!
ReplyDeleteI hit my Saturday average just reading the 2D clue.
ReplyDeleteWEEZER! It turns out that I KNEW IT! but, AW RATS, I didn't remember it in time. So I"m with those who DNF on the cross with UZI (but did know DEBAKEY). Tough and enjoyable otherwise, with many opaque-to-me clues and very gratifying answers. Loved ROBBED BLIND, especially next to EMERALD and the GENIUS LEVEL-DEGREE MILLS pair. I also noticed a Garden of Eden section with ORIGIN x GOD next to SADISTIC over SERPENT.
ReplyDelete@Billy Bratton, I thought this was a great Saturday puzzle, and I'm really looking forward to seeing your name at the top of another grid.
What a weird idea someone has about Rex’s take on the mile run. Far from endorsing the concept of a mile run being a test of an enduranc— Rex questioned it. The fact that Rex mentions gym class as being a clue to help you solve, he doesn’t agree with the basic premise that a mile run is a test of an endurance.
ReplyDeleteRex’s boy has I t exactly backwards.
Rex also whiffs on the rope test. It’s not a test of endurance but strength, specifically upper body strength. Shinnying up the rope helps a little, but almost all of the lift comes from the arms and chest.
And the idea that DeBakey is obscure because he was born before Rex was born isn’t just silly it’s narcissistic.
DeBakey changed the world. Not a lot of names on that list.
I learned from Rex that browsers and search engines are different. I use Chrome for both finding and displaying. I suppose the difference is technical.
ReplyDeleteI grew up on the city playgrounds so I am not as polite as most of y'all. Even a straight shooter like Z says "suboptimal" instead of "bad."
I think WEEZER has been in the puzzle before. I might have gotten it if I had put in AWRATS instead of AHRATS. Now that I know that they were an accomplished rock band, I may remember them next time. Like most of the other old folks, DNF in the NW.
Six elevens crossing in the middle. Hard to do but it doesn't make the solving fun for me. Very little sparkle in there.
First thing, I knew THAI, having visited there, and wrote in OHRATS, but that was all for the NW until the end. Hard time with 14D and 17D, even with the long acrosses complete with BIN or TIN initially for 29A. Once I convinced myself that ARE,PEN,BEARHUG were correct, the NW filled in.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree: And while I agree UZI is ridiculous, WEEZER is a very well known 90s band so no excuses (even for Boomers like me)
Re "endurance test in gym".
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, a MILE RUN is one of the few things in a gym class that wouldn't actually be done in the gym.
Second -- yes, a MILE RUN would certainly be an endurance test for me. But OMG, there are horrible things that SADISTIC phys ed trainers could come up with that would be so much worse. Anything to do with push-ups. Anything to do with chin-ups. Anything to do with crunches. The mind just boggles. Therefore MILE RUN was far from the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw the clue for 35D.
It was 1965 and I was working for a large Madison Avenue ad agency as a spot (local) TV buyer. One of the markets I was responsible for was Houston and one of the stations there invited down for weekend to visit the brand new Astrodome as a perk. Of course I accepted, but when I went to pick up my rental car at the Houston airport I was turned down because my driver's license had expired. As I wandered around the nearly deserted airport looking for any kind of transportation to get me to my hotel, I ran into this scruffy looking guy who told me he was just returning from an emergency trip abroad and that his driver, who was on the way to pick him up, would be happy to take me to my hotel after he was dropped of at his home first. I gladly accepted his kind offer and only learned from his driver upon arriving at my hotel that he was Dr. DEBAKEY returning from Europe after performing one of the first heart transplants.
ReplyDeleteMostly easy except for the NW which, unlike yesterday, sucked up a ton of nanoseconds. I know WEEZER but the only song I know of theirs is Holiday. I have also seen UZI Vert in Xwords but today I blanked, and I’m still iffy on how TREED works with the clue....tough time in the NW and apparently I wasn’t alone.
ReplyDeleteSolid Saturday with some nice long downs, liked it.
What a great story, @JC66!!!!
ReplyDeleteWe in the “seniors” seats would remember Dr. DEBAKEY who made the world news scene in the 1960s with seemingly miraculous advances in cardiac surgery, but his notariety has waned for sure.
ReplyDeleteVery clever clues todY. Several will probably compete for n!@Lewis’s “top” lust this week. On the other end of the spectrum, TREED in response to “Pined away?” still confuses me, but I got it. Finally. NW was just a bear, forget the hug. But, if it weren’t for said BEAR HUG, I fear I would not have been able to finish. And the WEEZER/UZI cross? Naticksville! I just guessed until it looked possible and 🤞. Luckily, that “Z” worked.
I agree wholeheartedly with @Lewis this morning. The grid itself is indeed elegant. And so workable. I comfortably traversed throughout once I got a foothold. The NW just sat until I tuned in to the constructor’s sense of playful clues and solved from NE diagonally to the SW, and filled in the last corners. Felt odd that the long center answers came easily, but I am certainly not complaining!
Delightful puzzle and I learned both WEEZER and Lil Uzi Vert (small green weapon? - to each each’s own). Happy weekend everyone!
I had to quit this one. The clues, instead of being smart and clever, were deceptive and not quite right. No aha! moments but a lot of "really?" moments. I don't know if this is typical for this constructor.
ReplyDeleteOne of the benefits of subscribing to the NYTXW is access to all puzzles in the Shortz era on their web site using the same software as the current puzzles. I've been doing some from '03 and just a day or two ago I saw DEBAKEY and in a Monday puzzle no less! So that was helpful today.
ReplyDeleteThere were a few two-for-one POCs, where a Down and an Across share a letter count boosting S at their ends, including one where a two-for-one is most likely to be seen, in the lower, rightmost square.
So yesterday we had HIRES On and today we get HIRES. See what's happening here? Repetition meta fer sure.
After completing the puzzle I got a "The end's in sight. The puzzle is filled but at least one square's amiss. Keep trying" message. I never did see what was wrong until stopping by OFL's blog. Aha! I had WEEBER crossing UBI. I didn't know their name but probably would recognize WEEZER's music and I'm totally lost on rapper's names. Oh well.
A parole board does not "commute" a sentence - I believe only the governor can do that. The parole board determines if a defendant who is incarcerated has earned the privilege of early supervised release. And at least here in Massachusetts, that doesn't happen very easily. So . . . clever clue,although technically not accurate.
ReplyDeleteThe NW corner was a dooozie - - - having OHRATS didn't help, and like many of my generation, the WEEZER/UZI cross was a killer. Don't get me wrong, I've heard of WEEZER, but that's about as far as it goes.
And in sadder news, today's WORDLE was a killer. So many choices for the second letter (5 by my count) I just started playing the guessing game.
Wordle 245 6/6
⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜
⬜⬜🟩🟩🟨
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Testing
ReplyDeleteTwo posts lost in the twilight zone today. :(
___
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Wow, JC66!
ReplyDeleteSo Rex is the kind of guy who knows some obscure rapper named after a firearm, but has never heard of the doctor who performed the first heart transplant. Got it.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis was a fine Saturday offering that caused me to have my usual Saturday experience of thinking I will NEVER be able to finish the puzzle but chiseling away all over the place I finally DO finish the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteWeezer put a smile on my face because their song “Buddy Holly” (I Don’t Care About That) always puts me in a good mood and when I was done with the puzzle I went to Youtube to listen to it.
I think this SNL skit best sums up the differences of opinion here on the Weezer entry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab5WvwfLuLM
ReplyDeleteReally tough one for me, but I got several of the ones OFL missed right away. Of course, I was a sentient human in 1965, by some time. DeBakey was easy; also a gentleman of Arabic(?) descent? His work in heart surgery was quite innovative at the time.
ReplyDeleteBrutal Saturday
ReplyDeleteUzi wtf
I'm a bit old for this one
Thx Billy; smooth Sat. puz! :)
ReplyDeleteEasy-med.
Pretty much brEEZERed thru this one.
Only hitch was not knowing either WEEZER or UZI. Had dropped in an 'n' in lieu of 'Z'. I mean WEENER and UNI seemed plausible. Didn't take long to catch my gaff, so, technical dnf, but happy ending, nevertheless. :)
Loved BEAR HUG!
Liked the clue for PAROLE BOARD ('Group of commuters?').
Gave up on the memory hog CHROME long ago; now using Brave, which has all my CHROME extensions. Unfortunately, Wordle just gets a blank screen, so use Safari for that.
Nice tip o' the hat to the SB GENIUS LEVEL (I know, @Anoa … but, it's all just in fun. :)
Very enjoyable solve! :)
@Z (9:24 PM yd)
Thx for the Quordle heads-up; been doing it daily since you mentioned it a few weeks ago. And, yes same here, a smattering of dnfs along the way.
___
td pg: (15:55) / W: 5
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
First of all, what an awesome looking grid! So pretty it seemed almost SADISTIC to fill it. I needed google help with names but it’s Saturday so no big surprise and of COURSE that cross in the NW corner was a real BEAR. And what’s with the clue for TREED??
ReplyDeleteThey make very few SEDANS any more which I find a little sad. Everybody wants an SUV it seems. I hate to admit it but I’ve been thinking along those lines myself of trading my eight-year-old four-door for something along those lines. Like everything else, prices are up and it’s worth a lot more than I ever thought it would be at this point.
WELL NOW football is over and no more calls of HUT ONE from the TV. It’s mid February and time to switch to the RUN of engines at Daytona the way GOD intended. At least it will be in my living room. Wishing all a safe holiday weekend.
I was a Sig Ep, and we never called it Sigep, but then, we were kind of spacey.
ReplyDeleteI liked the incongruous side-by-side pairing of GENIUSLEVEL DEGREEMILLS. They sound like a serious threat to the Ivy League (or the I-Leg as they say at SIGEP).
ReplyDeleteAnother notable juxtaposition was the CHROME RIBBED BRA. Sounds painful.
Alternate clues:
43A. Sleep with again.
47A. Positive progress from “sick earlier “
RE LAY
WELL NOW
I liked this puzzle a lot, but found it far easier than yesterday’s. PAROLEBOARD is a great answer. If I want to stick to only verifiable facts, I’ll just read an encyclopedia. Thanks for a sweet Saturday, Billy Bratton.
Easy for a Saturday
ReplyDeleteMFCTM.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous (7:04)
H. Omer (9:14)
Joaquin (10:04)
Anonymous (10:40)
I'm very happy to have solved the puzzle, but the UZI WEEZER cross with AWRATS instead of OH made me wonder if I'd make it.
ReplyDeleteMore things I had wrong first:
Burrito for BEARHUG
Classes fir COURSES
Corasipe (?) for PARASITE (I knew I knew this one, somewhere in my brain-files)
Google for CHROME
Ridged, Weaves for RIBBED
Canada Geese for PAROLEBOARD :D
Pet for HON
Reach for RELAY
Make threats for MAKEDEMANDS
The clue for SPA stumped me but Yay! when I saw it, and YODEL was fun to finally see too.
SIGEP isn't something I knew, and it seems DEBAKEY is someone I should know.
I can't get onboard with TREED as clued.
Nice pinwheel design.
Thx Billy; smooth Sat. puz! :)
ReplyDeleteEasy-med.
Not sure why my original post didn't make the cut today, but just wanted to say I enjoyed the solve.
Had to correct the WEEZER / UZI cross.
Loved BEAR HUGS!
___
td pg: (15:55) / W: 5
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
ReplyDeletesounds like Rex was having brainfarts this morning
I agree completely that Botheration! and AW don't go together. Unforced error there IMO.
ReplyDeleteProof positive that God is a man. It’s in the NYT crossword after all 🙄
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely diplomaMILL.
ReplyDeleteWordle 12 6/6
ReplyDelete⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟨🟨
🟨🟩⬜🟩🟨
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Wordle 13 6/6
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟩🟨⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Wordle 14 4/6
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Wordle 15 4/6
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟨🟩🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Wordle 16 4/6
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ worth
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ plead
⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ minus
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 quiet
Wordle 17 5/6
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟨⬜🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Wordle 18 5/6
⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟨🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Luckily for me, I had no idea what the first three acrosses might be, so my first entry was CHROME (confirmed by ORB, so it wasn't Safari). That meant that i got into the NW via IKE NE WIT, so the clue for 5D was equivalent to "4-letter language ending in I." That's my general approach; unless you immediately recognize the details in an obscure clue, just ignore them and reduce the clue to its essence: 4-letter language, 6-letter pop music group, etc.
ReplyDeleteI'm in my upper 70s, but I have heard of all three--WEEZER, DEBAKEY, lil UZU vert. But I didn't remember any of them until I had plenty of crosses. Even when I had all the Es I needed the W to see WEEZER. In fact, I think I needed the Z -- I thought maybe the rapper was going to be yet another form of Nas, but the U gave it to me. ABRUPT also gave me BEAR HUG -- like everybody else I was thinking of either a garment or a sandwich for too long.
Never heard of SIGma phi EPsilon, but got it from crosses.
And while I could see that employer had to be a SPA, what on earth is a "beauty therapist?" It could be someone who analyzes what is keeping you from looking more beautiful; or it could be like arts therapy, where you put on makeup as a way of working out your emotional problems.
Excellent puzzle, but I agree that the clue for TREED is too far over the top, and I think ORIGIN should have been clued in the singular.
WELL NOW! Toot Toot was more fun than today’s grid which required the trampoline solve approach. Still, it is Saturday, so I KNEW IT would be a struggle. Finally had to ask Uncle Google about the rapper tangoing with an unknown band to finish the NW. This was borderline SADISTIC yet strangely rewarding at the same time; getting on the wave length of a constructor half a century younger is never easy, but good for building moral character. Thanks Mr. Britton 😉
ReplyDeleteRex, moil and toil certainly mean the same thing. As an English instructor, you might want to brush up on your Faulkner--hounds moiled and yapped when they had lost the scent of the prey. When they had it treed, they bayed.
ReplyDeletei live in Houston so Debakey was kind of a gimme, and that probably saved the puzzle from being a failure for me, or at least put me way ahead.
ReplyDeleteWell I thought this was great, if over a bit too fast. It went like this: read the clue, think for 3 seconds, type in the answer. I can't even recall doing any writeovers, though there must have been a couple.
ReplyDeleteGreat grid, and great long answers. Normally names really tick me off, but I knew DEBAKEY and WEEZER was famous enough. I agree with those that really hate SIGEP cuz: I hate frat names, and I hate abbrev's, so that's a double stinker.
[Spelling Bee: yd 0. td 7:30 to reach pg (beat you, bocamp!).]
I didn't get to comment about how much I liked Aimee's puzzle yesterday, but since today's puzzle left me thinking "boy, did I like Aimee's puzzle yesterday" I'll do it today. Aimee's puzzle was lots of fun. That's me doing @Lewis.
ReplyDeleteI guess I know crossing triple stagger stacks is difficult, but I don't care. I'm guessing 90/180 degree rotational symmetry is harder the 180 rotation, but again, I don't care. Did I mention Aimee's puzzle was lots of fun?
If you're going to specify a scent dog, it's a bloodHOUND or don't specify the scent aspect. Scent dogs abound. If you don't want to get into the PAROLE != COMMUTE controversy, don't use two specific, technical terms if they're completely different things. Wordplay + synonym = not really a synonym just doesn't cut it. If "botheration" doesn't lead to a POOHism, I reject the validity of botheration as a word. I pity all those who didn't venture out in public for the 15 minutes that you couldn't venture out in public and not hear the (a) WEEZER song. It was a good song, but damn folks, 15 minutes is 15 minutes. It wasn't the song that had those lyrics, it's just that I recognized WEEZER as having a song. Just as I recognized THAI as a language, once I remembered KLINGON as a race and a language on Star Trek I initially feared they were going for at 1A.
I love "I knew DEBAKEY from a Monty Python sketch from 50 years ago", and "I knew DEBAKEY from work he did 70 years ago" comments. I wish some had commented "I knew DEBAKEY because he botch the spleenectomy he did on the last Shah of Iran resulting in his death, which he shouldn't have done because he was a cardiac surgeon and knew nothing about spleenectomies.", because that would only have been 40+ years ago. I didn't know DEBAKEY, but I know I loved the hell out of Aimee's puzzle. It was fun.
In other, snake related news, I bought two mice to feed the snake. I watched the snake hunting for a while and was left wishing I understood the intelligence of the snake. What is their level of understanding their need for stealth? Is there a conscious understanding, or just instinct? At one point the snake was focused on one mouse while the other was actually right under his belly, rubbing against it. There was no way the snake could have grabbed the second mouse, but how did it resist trying? Unfortunately for the snake, the mice have their own intelligence, which was that they could climb out of the window well. Yes, the mice could scale the 5 feet of vertical concrete. One came into my garage as I was working there. I grabbed him and put him back in the window well. An hour or so later there was a nice white mouse munching on the spillage from the bird feeders on the side porch. Happy as a clam, munching on sunflower seeds and cracked corn. He's not there today, perhaps because he feels quite confident being out in the open. Any of our resident owls, hawks, fox and crows would be astounded by that level of stupidity.
I will never know who rappers are, and I will never know the random syllables they use to name themselves. Except that whenever I see LIL I fill in NAS, not that that means anything. Now there's an UZI variant. What mutation will happen next?
ReplyDeletePete,
ReplyDeleteWay to#Amear DeBakey. There is no prooof, not even any credible accusation that DeBake mfaciltated the Shah’s death. The shit show that was the Shah’s finLdays is a maze of confusion and contradicting stories. No one, no one disputes That DeBakey removed a grossly enlarged spleen. The fact that the patient was suffering with a large cell lymphoma is curiously missing from your account.
@Jonathan Brown 😆
ReplyDeleteI've realized that although us in Gen X didn't accomplish much at all, we are currently in the sweet demographic spot for solving the NYTimes puzzle. Some old farts (yes, the word 'fart' is awesome) get mad about extremely famous bands, rappers and actors, and the young 'uns scratch their heads at, like, anything from the 20th century.
@JC66, Amigo. What a wonderful story...!!!!! You need to tell us more of your adventures....I know you're great at the "cheat sheet" MILE RUN but I bet you've got more goodies up your sleeve...
ReplyDelete@Pete. I agree with your BloodHOUND assessment . I did a "paws" at that one. I've seen the Blood H do their work and it's amazing.
Could't read your little messes story, though. I'm not scared of a snake nor a mouse. I just can't stand to watch what God intended... in Mother Nature.... to feed an animal. Call me a pussy.
@ Anonymous (2:31 pm)
ReplyDeleteWithout associating myself with Pete's comments....
Actually, it is not so far fetched to believe Debakey's lack of experience and training in abdominal surgery contributed to or even immediately caused the shah's death. Surely the shah was going to die from the cancer, and certainly the surgery revealed just how advanced it all was, but ...
Debakey was outside his lane working in a hospital he was unfamiliar with (in Cairo). He agreed to perform the surgery because the shah flattered him. The shah was extremely quirky about physicians, and insisted that Debakey do the surgery because he believed DeBakey to be the best surgeon in the world. Debakey should have refused. The ensuing surgery prompted an even greater infection - whether that greater infection was caused by rookie mistakes made by Debakey due to his lack of competence in abdominal surgery is a legitimate question. It is one that has been raised many time by folks who are actually expert in this area, who point to mistakes that could have easily been made by a rookie that would have caused more seriosu infection. Is there proof of doctor error? No. Would the shah have died as soon as he did after the surgery even without the infection? Perhaps. But it is not at all unreasonable to make the case that Debakey may have made things worse. ANd it is certainly true that, whether he did so or not, he had no business performing that surgery.
@Anonymous (1:16) From what I understand, everyone gets the same Wordle each day. QUIET was not the answer on the 16th or any other day last week.
ReplyDelete@WORDLE FANS: I ran across an interesting article: Wordle fans wonder if game is harder after move to New York Times site.
And this: An Archive going all the way back to the first Wordle. (Today is number 245.)
Plus an article about how yesterday’s word ended winning streaks for some people.
Late to the party today, because I spent my early morning on a 9 mile run, training for a Half-marathon in late March, a week after my 71st birthday. So had to smile at the MILE RUN "test of endurance."
ReplyDeleteEverything fell fairly easily in this one except for that NW corner that has drawn so many comments. Other than that, the only big thing to unravel involved having _ LEVE _ for the end of the "Not just smart" answer and figured it must end with cLEVEr instead of LEVEL. Oof.
DEBAKEY was really famous when he began the heart transplant work (although I tried to call him DuBAKEY.
Ultimately I entered every answer correctly in the NW, but only by checking some of my answers to see if they were correct. So, dnf.
There's a very nice 5 letter Hidden Diagonal Word (HDW) that I might clue as:
Stop flapping, perhaps
Answer:
GLIDE (begins in 14D square and moves to the SW).
Kildare,
ReplyDeleteNot associating yourself w Pete’s comments? Huh? You’re parroting then amplifying them.
Your nonsensical first assertion dismissed, let’s move on to the meat of the matter.
Yeah, there’s a difference between the gut and the chest. I never deposed DeBakey, but I’m willing to bet he knew it too.
You’ve ascribed motive tomThe Shah. Whence your info?
You’ve also ascribed DeBakey ‘s motivation. That he was base and vain enough to succumb to flattery.
You also called him a rookie in abdominal,surgery. You are out of depth regarding DeBake’s history in opening suites.
Yours are calumnious remarks. Were I an heir, I’d explain it too in a court of a law.
There is no proof that The Shah’s death was caused by iatrogenic actions. Much less Dr.DeBakey’s.
My earlier post seems to have vanished, oh well. I think we discussed this once before, but the phrase I'm familiar with is diplomaMILL. Definitely not DEGREEMILL.
ReplyDeleteHeading back east and looking forward to tomorrow's puzzle in good old paper!
Except for the NW corner, this was an excellent puzzle. Great grid design and solid fill with very little crosswordese, but I have to say AW RATS to WEEZER crossing UZI as clued.
ReplyDelete@Tom T- Hey good luck with the training. I've got you by a few years but still like to run, but no races since a 5K at my 50th college reunion a while back. I did win my age group though, beat both other people that hadn't trained at all and just wanted to try it. I remember training for the half marathons on days like this, cold and windy, and just hope you have better weather than that wherever you are. Good luck in March, and good for you for getting out there.
ReplyDeleteIncreasingly, I am putting aside the themeless crossword puzzle, moreso on Saturday than Friday. I have complained many times about my dislike of PPP and slang. Could that be the reason. Doesn't really matter. What I guess does matter is that I did not particularly care for today's puzzle accounting for the late comment. I used to care about completing the puzzles. No more. I find that sad.
ReplyDeleteMy mother, who died decades ago, like to buy puzzle books, some of which I have been going through recently. It might be my imagination, but I think there is less PPP and slang in those puzzle than those in today's NYT puzzles. Since most of the PPP entries are gimmees in you know the answer, there were less gimmees in the older puzzles. This translates to less immediate footholds. Or so it seems to me. If so, past puzzles are harder than those of today, Unless you have similar distastes as myself.
Many complain about Sharp's negative comments (which, as Z often points out, are due to a misreading of the text Sharp actually posts. But there are enough of comments like the one towords the end of today's write-up. Above, a quote of a Twitter post Sharp states that "this complaint is reasonable." That's a judgement call which others may dispute. While I pretty much agree with the assessment, I do suspect that such unbending observations that may clash with others is the reason for the invective aimed at Sharp. It is not what is said, it is the need to emphasize that one lacks infallibility and others may disagree. How often does this happen? No idea, but probably often enough to incite the (frequently unjustified) invective at Sharp.
I am probably in a grumpy mood because the nonagenarian mother a of a friend who is dying from [probably] smoking induced cancer (accompanied by asthma) (the mother, not my friend) just suffered a relatively bad stroke. While it may be a needed relief from a painful existence and slow death, it still is sad. Somehow the complaints about a crossword puzzle seem overwrought when compared to real life.
I am not a surgeon, but I went to medical school. Even though that was 30 years ago, I remember DeBakey forceps in the operating room. While it is a pretty niche answer, it may not be AS niche as Rex thinks. Anyone who has ever been in the OR as a surgeon, tech, med student, nurse, or nursing student, etc. will have heard of the DeBakey forceps. They are very commonly used, and it is a tribute to how important a surgeon Dr. DeBakey was that these forceps are named for him. It’s like being an important enough scientist that a unit of measurement is named after you.
ReplyDeletePmdm,
ReplyDeleteWow. So,sorry to hear that you find it in your heart to,mention that someone you care about was a smoker and it probably caused her cancer.
Must be tough being so virtuous. I’ll say a parapet for your less than virtuous friend.
@JC66 – Wow, Dr. Debakey really took a chance picking up some shady-looking guy wandering around the airport. :-)
ReplyDeleteWikipedia notes of BASSET HOUNDs that
Their sense of smell and ability to ground-scent is second only to the Bloodhound. (citation provided)
Had to post this, not just for the song but for the killer outfits.
This dates me, but I remember (though not via TIME) when Michael E. DeBakey was in the news. Overall, I found this puzzle fun, challenging, intellectually pleasing, and, via my own serendipitous trajectory of solution, sweetly pleasurable. My favorite clue was "Group of commuters?" but it could have, with an improved style of mischievousness, dropped the question mark.
ReplyDeleteAlso very much enjoyed Rex's comment on EMERALD, esp. about "the gemstone holy trinity." I think "emerald" is a beautiful word, with a worthy international history. It surfaced eventually in now-quaint name Esmerelda, and the Salingerian "Esme." Perhaps the latter, too, dates me.
Uzi is a rifle. The same people who never heard of Uzi Vert, are likely also to never have heard of Weezer. Comparing them to Rolling Stones is just silly; that comparison applies only to those versed in the genre. I don't listen to rock, never have, try to ignore it wherever possible, but I have certainly heard of the stones. But Weezer?? Not for this geezer!
ReplyDelete@Roberto 6:49 - I think you are confusing the words "glorify" and "mention". There's a difference.
ReplyDelete@Whatsername 3:57 – @Anon 1:16 appears to be doing the Wordles in the archive.
ReplyDelete@Joe
ReplyDeleteI was 25 and probably looked 14, so no worries. -:)
Drop your Letterboxd, girl, I wanna follow
ReplyDeleteAnon 6:31 – Yes, saying a parapet always helps.
ReplyDelete@Anon 4:21 / 2:31 - All your other nonsense aside, read this and tell me that (mistakes in) the surgery performed by DeBakey wasn't most likely the proximate cause of the Shah's death, or find a more definitive analysis to support that it wasn't.
ReplyDelete@Gill I - I too, really, can't abide critters eating critters, but that poor snake has been trapped in that window well for about 10 years, and he's become almost a pet. I've been unable to get him (or her) out, and wonder how he (she) got a baby snake for company last year. For years he's had plenty of toads to eat, but I don't think he's eaten since the end of last summer. I had to do something, but apparently I've failed.
Way late, but I had to add: I am a Sig Ep (1963) and the "word" is a real thing. National Sigma Phi Epsilon uses that shortening a lot. I've kinda lost touch so I learned about the inclusion of transgenders. Our chapter did not do the hazing that seems to plague a lot of fraternities. Then (and now as I understand) the emphasis is on developing a complete, rounded young man in academics and in life. I pledged because they had the highest GPA on campus and the worst touch football team. Where my priorities were.
ReplyDelete@Joe D (7:41) Ah, mystery solved - thank you. Although it’s beyond me why anyone would post results from that far back.
ReplyDeleteGood puzzle except for the "WEEZER/UZI" cross in the NW. Two obscure answers shouldn't cross.
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ReplyDeleteI see a spellcaster made it through :)
ReplyDeleteGood puzzle overall, but two complaints. Never heard degree mill, only Diploma mill. And of course SIGEP.
This one SCORES high but it was a bit easy for a Saturday. But that could be because I teamed up with my HON Mrs. Foggy to solve it. Still don’t know what SIGEP is. That entry was a little SADISTIC.
ReplyDeleteDNF: the NW natick. Tried WEEnER. As to UZI...see why I can't stand rappers? He names himself after a killing machine. I'm supposed to tolerate--let alone LIKE--anything that comes out of that guy's mouth? Bah. Or AWRATS. As if SIGEP wasn't enough.
ReplyDeleteWELL, the PAROLEBOARD DARES to MAKEDEMANDS
ReplyDeleteto SERVE time at LEVELs never seen.
NOW IT's been REVEALED they'll WIRE THAI the hands
of TOADS who ROBBLIND men of VISINE.
--- RENEE DEBAKEY
SADISTIC CHIT
ReplyDeleteWELL, the PAROLEBOARD DARES to MAKEDEMANDS
to SERVE time at LEVELs never seen.
NOW IT's been REVEALED they'll WIRE THAI the hands
of TOADS who ROBBLIND men of VISINE.
--- RENEE DEBAKEY
TOILS OLAY
ReplyDeleteOh GOD, of COURSE IKNEWIT,
she ABRUPTly WENTBANANAS when I ad-libbed.
AWRATS, should I just USEIT?
I'll WING IT with protection, RIBBED.
--- VIN MILLS
Looking up UZI allowed me to finally fill in the elusive NW corner. All else came along as desired - bit by bit.
ReplyDeleteThis Thur/Fri/Sat were very enjoyable for me. Great way to finish out the crossword week.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
Surprisingly fun to solve, fairly clued portions mixed in with the textbook examples of extreme pissers.
ReplyDeleteimagine thinking clues were bad, that was mad easy and fun. get your IQ up.
ReplyDeleteyo i wish was harder did while sleeping. literally I have a thing #fatigued #lightworkbaby #neversaynever #mondaypuzle?
ReplyDelete