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French trick-taking game / Prognosticate with a crystal ball / Traditional folk song played by British and Australian ice cream trucks / Worker designation coined by Upton Sinclair / Hindi for palace / Steve with eight NBA championships
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Constructor: Rich Proulx
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Word of the Day: Jonathan Safran FOER (39D: Author Jonathan Safran ___) —
Jonathan Safran Foer (/fɔːr/; born February 21, 1977) is an American novelist. He is known for his novels Everything Is Illuminated (2002), Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2005), Here I Am (2016), and for his non-fiction works Eating Animals (2009) and We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast (2019). He teaches creative writing at New York University. (wikipedia)
• • •
Actually, this isn't the first screenshot I took. the first one just had OHIO (fine) SRO (pfffff...) and LAHR (pffffffffffff...), but then when I *immediately* thereafter ran into a *partial* palace name (MAHAL), I took another shot. After that it was a rough run through SCRY LAIC AER across ECARTE and ARIEL up to SCREE ECCE, down to "PSST, EROS" and so on and so on. TORI TARSI. I'll stop now, but it really was like having garbage thrown at me while I solved. Like running some kind of unpleasant obstacle course. The only lucky thing that happened was that I didn't actually see the theme for the longest time. I got a couple theme answers and thought "yeah yeah, first words are colors, fine," and I went down the east side all the way to the bottom before eventually doubling back and, with all the theme answers now in place, looking at the revealer clue for the first time (with only the back end filled in). And why was this solving pattern "lucky?" Because the theme ... is good. Turned a JOYLESS solve into something much more tolerable. I'm not sure I'd say the theme was "worth it," but I felt like it got me within shouting distance of "worth it," at least. I had a real "aha" or "OH I GET IT" (*or* "I SEE!") moment. Nice wordplay twist on a familiar biblical phrase. The one thing I don't really like about the theme is YELLOW TAILS—I love it as a standalone answer, but "TAILS" forces me to think of this as old-fashioned men's formalwear (a dress coat), whereas COLLAR, SLEEVES, and LINING are generic enough that I can imagine whatever kind of coat I want. Why not lose YELLOW TAILS, turn the WHITE collar BLUE, and add RED BUTTONS as your fourth themer? Now my coat imagination is free!
No real trouble with this one. No difficulty, that is. I wanted POP-UP before BLOOP for the very first clue I saw (1A: Weak hit), but that was one of the very few answers that caused me to slow down much at all. When you solve a lot of crosswords, and have been solving them since well before the end of the 20th century, ECARTE is just there in your bag of tricks, so if it baffled you, just remember: you are normal (32A: French trick-taking game). I didn't know Simu LIU but I do know Lucy LIU so the name was easy to infer. I wanted SELLS to be SELL because of the clue wording (14D: What sex does, they say). What sex does is sell. The fact that I can write that sentence and that it makes total sense shows why SELL seemed right. But sex SELLS, yes, I SEE. I was just following your lead on the cluing, but if you want me to start the sentence over for myself, then yes, sex SELLS. Why not just use the clue [Sex ___]. That would've been wicked. Maybe you need quotation marks: ["Sex ___"]. Think of the fun wrong answers people could've written in!
That's enough for today. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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101 comments:
Picturing that coat, with its GREEN SLEEVES and YELLOW TAILS, made me wonder who could adroitly pull it off, and the first two to come to mind were Jon Batiste (Stephen Colbert’s bandleader) and Elton John.
Crafting a theme out of COAT OF MANY COLORS – that’s something that comes from one with a mind for making crosswords. That would be Rich, who’s last puzzle had a reveal of SOUND MIXING, and theme answers of TWITTERBUZZ, HUMDRUM, RINGPOP, and LOW ROLL.
My mind went trippy during my post-solve grid scan. It saw three kind of hits in the same neighborhood: BLOOP, SMASH, and SRO. It liked seeing three palindromes (ECCE, ERE, ANA) and SCREE / SCRY, and upon seeing that pair recited SCREE SCRY SCROE SCRUM, with that last word being one my brain adores, finds scrumptious.
Then it saw the backward TAO, which tripped off “The TAO of Pooh”, a lovely complement to nearby answer MILNE. And the reveal – COAT OF MANY COLORS – tripped off Joseph, which tripped off Mr. Biden, a lovely complement to the answer SAVE US. It also tripped off “Eat at Joe’s”, a lovely complement to the answer ATE AT.
Rich, thank you for the mind whirl and for your ingenuity, and for a sweet solve. Many thumbs up!
Solved counter clockwise from the NW and ran into trouble at the very end, in the NE. The SCREE/SCRY twins and ECARTE had me scratching my head for a while. I've seen all of them before, but they're not implanted in the crosswordese section of my brain.
(1) Is there a Tim Rice-Andrew Lloyd Webber official COAT OF MANY COLORS with *specific* colors? Or is it whatever the stage crew can come up with?
(2) Weird weird weird note from the Rich in today's xword.info
This one may have a large fan base, but for me it was not worth it. The theme is just too flat (GREEN SLEEVES is one of the theme entries for heaven’s sake) - it’s just not worth slogging through the junk like ECCE, TARSI, MAHAL, TORI, FOER, ECARTE, LIU . . . for such little payoff.
Well, at least I learned that SCREE and SCRY are real words (even though they shouldn’t be, btw).
SUESS (as clued), yes. MILNE, no (unless you can redo the clue using a double-digit font) - I prefer to solve my Xwords without the use of microscopes, magnifying glasses, dictionaries, encyclopedias or even uncle google (although that was not always the case).
This cracked me up, When you solve a lot of crosswords, and have been solving them since well before the end of the 20th century, ECARTE is just there in your bag of tricks, so if it baffled you, just remember: you are normal. So so true. As is the converse, if you put ECARTE in with nary a blink of an eyelash because of all the crosswords you do you are just a wee bit abnormal.
Just as an experiment I’ve used the app three days in a row. Obviously just my opinion, but it still sucks. I did my Gorski puzzle in PuzzAzz just to get a side by side today. Part of the issue is that the NYTX app has too many keyboard features (features I don’t use) making the virtual keyboard cluttered. Second, and this is the biggie to me, is the NYTX clue display. PuzzAzz has a column of Across clues to the left of the grid and two short columns of down clues below the grid. This is somewhat like the puzzle appearance in the paper. The NYTX app has a column of clues to the left of the grid and uses that space below the grid to display the two clues for whatever square you’re in. This is maybe helpful if your eyeglass prescription is old, but is an incredible waste of screen space. It means fewer clues are on the screen at any one time. I think this reduction in available information is why my solving time is slower in the NYTX app than in PuzzAzz. More importantly, it means I have to work harder to see all the clues (hence the cluttered keyboard). My visceral reaction to the app is it sucks, and now I think I know why I think that. Tomorrow I’m going back to printing out the puzzle.
Thx Rich, for such a COLORful creation! :)
Easy-med
Moved thru this one with very little pushback.
SCRY and SCREE (interesting words). Long 'i' vs long 'e'.
Always have to pause for DRIER vs DRyER:
"Drier is a comparative adjective meaning more dry. A dryer is one of many types of electrical appliances used to dry things. The words were once interchangeable. The distinction crept into the language through the 20th century and has only recently solidified. Some dictionaries still list the words as variants of each other, but the words are almost always kept separate in 21st-century publications." (grammarist.com)
Compilation of the Mr Whippy greensleeves ice cream van
Will be checking out some of FOER's books.
Fun solve. :)
@mathgent (10:14 AM yd)
Thx; that was a scary one!
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yd pg: (11:47) / Wordle: 4
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
***** Wordle Alert *****
Stuck one in the middle of the green and rolled in a nice birdie. 5-under after 14.
Wordle 242 3/6
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***** NYT Mini Alert (possible spoiler) *****
I just noticed something a bit disconcerting - there are three made-up words (out of 10) today. Not a good sign. I just don’t understand the philosophical aversion to using words in crossword puzzles (it’s not like there aren’t what, several million of them to choose from). For some reason, I was very sad to see that.
Had EUCHRE before ECARTE but otherwise pretty smooth.
Foer fan. Novels are very good, @bootcamp. Puzzle just okay. NE was my final solving section and just lost patience. ECCE, CTRL, and ECARTE just below. Theme is clever, but not convinced it justifies all the fill. Or I'm just cranky because spring training, baseball.
List of words you're unlikely to need in your day outside.
OTOE
FOER
TARSI
LIU
AXL
SIA
SCRY
LAIC
AER
SCREE
PLIE
ECCE
SRO
ECARTE
TORI
---"EST"
APU
CNET
Well, I thought this was very clever. If you didn't, perhaps crossword solving isn't the hobby for you.
And count me in as one of those learning that SCRY is a word (though I've never needed it yet and doubt that I ever will in real life).
And to add to @Lewis's list of who would wear such a multi-colored coat: If you watched the game on Sunday, you saw Joe Burrow wearing some rather outrageous outfits. A WHITE, GREEN, SILVER, and YELLOW coat would have fit right in.
Cool puzzle. Expected a Dolly Parton link and instead got the Swedish folk duo who sing “Emmylou”. Nice.
If you lived in Pittsburgh during the Bob Prince era of broadcasting the Pirates, he called for a “bloop and a blunder” to get some runs in. Bloop was an easy fill for me!
Thanks for the link, I enjoyed his comments. What was weird?
I found this puzzle incredibly hard. I don't know ECARTE or LAHR or that that particular quote was from MILNE, I put PERU before OHIO. I don't know what SRO means. The "OH" in OHIGETIT is silly, etc, and crossing it with ISEE feels like nearly a dupe.
“ it really was like having garbage thrown at me while I solved. Like running some kind of unpleasant obstacle course.”
100%
I’m neither a car person nor do I have the kind of disposable income necessary to be familiar with models of BMWs.
I read “Everything is Illuminated” a while ago but couldn’t grok FOER
SCREES/SCRY TORI/TARSI LIU/LAHR
bah, humbug!
Hmmm. Did no one else start with Peru rather than Ohio? That set me back for a moment …
This played harder than a normal Wednesday for me. Theme was fine - but some questionable fill glommed things up a little. The SCRY x ECARTE cross is a reach midweek - add FOER and SCREE and we get some rough sledding. Liked the MILNE quote.
Tough but enjoyable Wednesday solve.
I love this theme to death. I can picture Rich shouting "Eureka" and almost hitting his head on the ceiling -- inadvertantly levitating when the idea occurred to him. And then, when all his theme answer ideas turned out to be symmetrical and his revealer turned out to be a grid-spanner (!) -- well, did he break out in song? Dance?
It's an idea so inspired, so completely nutty, and so entertaining that I can only say I wish I'd thought of it myself.
A coat with a WHITE COLLAR, GREEN SLEEVES, YELLOW TAILS and a SILVER LINING. Poor Joseph. I'm surprised anyone in the Bible was envious at all.
@John Lyon 7:41 AM: The Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary, published in 1989, contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words. To this may be added around 9,500 derivative words included as subentries.
@Anon8:55 & @Jess - A not uncommon kealoa. Now you know to look for one cross before entering either Peru or OHIO. Also, I think they aren’t even pronounced the same, Peru being “Lee Ma” and Ohio being “Lie Ma” (any Ohioans care to confirm or correct?), but you can’t tell that from reading the clue.
@Jess - Standing Room Only - something I’ve only ever seen in movies, crosswords, and playoff games. It’s a useful set of letters so it will be in another puzzle again soon.
@bocamp - 😂🤣😂 - I have some of those as well, but not the DRyER/DRIER confusion. I also almost always pause when there is an -ence/-ance or -ent/-ant possibility. Apparently my brain decided on its own that remembering when the e or a were correct wasn’t something worth doing.
@Word Counter - 600,000 is a more accurate count of English Words according to the folk at the OED.
Caught the theme after seeing a couple of color + clothing parts answers, and it took me most of the puzzle to ignore it and write in YELLOWTUNAS, which I fixed nearly instantly, but shame on me.
I've know SCREE since an Earth Science course as a freshman in high school and have learned SCRY somewhat more recently from, of course, crosswords. Nice to see them in the same puzz.
GREENSLEEVES has always been one of my favorite melodies. Simple yet elegant.
My only complaint about this one is the placement of the revealer, which is in the middle, when it should be at the end. Some of us have mentioned this before, but it doesn't seem to be doing much good. Hope springs eternal, I suppose.
Nice job, RP. I found this Right Purty. Also I suspect that people who complain about crosswordese in a crossword puzzle probably complain about chocolate chips in chocolate chip cookies.
I thought this was a terrific theme, though it was a little awkward that the sushi fish had to be a plural to fit.
I didn't know 1A or 1D right away, being neither a car fan nor a baseball fan, but got them eventually. Was amused that BMW apparently needs a car that sounds like something from Apple.
I don't consider MAHAL a partial as clued, and was interested to learn its meaning.
I flew through this Wednesday in half my usual time without feeling like it was too easy.
Hey All !
Grid is 16 wide. First one to call it!
@amyyanni
LOL at your auto-correct calling @bocamp @bootcamp!
Toughie WedsPuz for me today. Had to Goog for KERR, as got stuck in that area, JACK for some reason deciding not to jump into the ole brain. And LATRAVIATA? Holy Opera. As a non-sophisticate, that was an impossible one. Got that whole answer on crossers.
SCRY and LAIC toughies, too. Luckily, knew LAIC from SB. Now know what it means (even though I'll probably forget it next time it shows up.)
Theme was neat. Thought it was only about the COLORs, but now see it was a "both parts" theme.
Still only 38 Blockers, which is good in an oversized grid. More puz for your money. Oh, wanted to say, "How am I supposed to know Ice Cream Truck songs from other countries?" Har.
yd -0! WooHoo, three 0's this month. I'm on fire!
No F's (JOYLESS!) (But SB makes up for that today)
RooMonster
DarrinV
SRO means Standing Room Only.
Just to be clear, I don’t think Joseph’s brothers were envious of his coat. They were jealous of what it symbolized - Their father’s favoritism/love for Joseph over themselves.
Wait a second -- I thought Rex HATED partials, and now he's advocating for one?? Has the world gone mad???
There is an article in the WaPo sports section today about how important a good fitness regimen is for curlers (the sport on ice, not the ladies in beauty parlors). I believe there were some curling fans among us a few days ago.
Another hand up for Peru. Actually, I confidently plopped down peru, soy and commitTO before looking back. Thought about removing LAHR for a split second but sanity restored itself eventually and WHITECOLLAR sorted out the whole mess.
I must try to remember Ohio for next time.
@Z - You can turn off the “Show Clue Bars” in settings and set “Clue size” to small to see more of the list
Wordle 242 3/6*
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Bravo Rich. Today’s grid was tailored to our tastes as experienced but not jaded solvers. Had to replace robe with COAT, but about the only JOYLESS moment. I certainly can see Rex’s aversion to the fill being crosswordese, but it’s that de gusto that shouldn’t me denied others?
Off to the wonderful world of Wordle via a swing through the Wednesday New Yorker. Wow 🤩
"I'll stop now, but it really was like having garbage thrown at me while I solved. Like running some kind of unpleasant obstacle course."
LOL
I danced the fandango tango with a cornucopia of my favorite shades. Color me happy.
Although I had to use my magic SCRY in various glass ball areas, I really, really enjoyed this.
How clever said I. Amusing as well. I looked at 24A and whispered under my breath...this better not be "Turkey in the Straw." NO...twasn't. So I stopped for a few moments and sang: Alas my love you do me wrong, GREENSLEEVES my heart of gold.
Any puzzle that brings out my feet to dance and my throat to sing, will alway be endearing to me.
My SCRY failed me for a while. I had my usual problems with some of the names. I expect that in my puzzles. Rich made them gettable and for that I'm not regrettable.
And so, Rex, complains (as do others) about old fashion words being used here and yon. I didn't care a BLOOP. They were needed. Why you ask? Because in the end you gave me a delightful theme.
COAT OF MANY COLORS was the icing on top of my chocolate cake. I let out a big YES! The attic light bulb shone brightly and I tip-toed through my tulip colored lens.
I will now go sprinkle PIXIE dust all over my abode.
Great job, Mr. Proulux.
I loved the theme, and didn't mind the fill, although I did think some of the long downs were a little force (viz., ACTIVE ROLE). I knew SCREE from hiking and SCRY from reading fantasy novels (though I never saw it while solving). And unlike Rex, I thought the crossing Latin plurals were a nice touch.
For those complaining about the plural TAILS, I refer you to Irving Berlin.
@Anonymous 6:45 AM - Here are the ending lyrics to Andrew Lloyd Webber's song "Joseph's Coat":
It was red and yellow and green and brown
And scarlet and black and ochre and peach
And ruby and olive and violet and fawn
And lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve
And cream and crimson and silver and rose
And azure and lemon and russet and grey
And purple and white and pink and orange
And red and yellow and green and brown and blue
Well you know I just *had* to find a video of this. I like the horror-movie vibe.
↑ I have a Scarf of Many Colours that my mom knitted for me when I was in high school or early college, can't remember exactly when. Still looks brand new.
Standing Room Only
If a show is a hit and there are no seats left
@Tony M - At least on my iPad all turning off “Show Clue Bars” does is create empty white space beneath the grid, and going to the small setting means seeing 23 clues rather than 18. Neither is what I would consider an improvement. As far as I can tell, the NYTX app still isn’t as good as any of the apps that were around a decade ago for just a basic puzzle and still isn’t as good for displaying their own unusual puzzles as PuzzAzz was from 2013 or so until the NYT decided to require the use of their in house app.
Rex's long meandering discussion of why 'sex sells' should be 'sex sell' is both wrong and illustrative of his need to publish criticisms of every puzzle. I do like most of his posts despite this, and I know that he would not be as popular without a lot of complaining. So be it.
I thought today's puzzle was very pleasant and entertaining.
GAC
Easy-medium. FOER was a WOE and it’s been quite some time since I’ve seen SCRY so I needed crosses to get it. I knew Semi LIU from playing Jung Kim on the Netflix show “Kim’s Connivence”. It’s a wonderful half hour comedy and I highly recommend it.
Clever and delightful, liked it.
BLOOP??? That got me off to a bad start, especially when I had no idea what X1, M2, and i3 could be (Star Wars characters?) and wanted Lima, PERU at 3D and SOY milk at 4D, but I warmed up to this COAT OF MANY COLORS as I continued to try on various possibilities and finally figured out what sex does.
I thought it would be INANE to complain about social media on Facebook until I saw the IRONY that the crosses demanded. What about the IRONY of complaining about crossword puzzles every day on a crossword puzzle blog?
Don’t know about Simu LIU as a super hero, but he’s worth watching in the hilarious Netflix series “Kim’s Convenience” about a Korean-Canadian family running a convenience store in Toronto. One of my favorite TV discoveries during the pandemic.
I really enjoyed the puzzle and thought the theme was clever. A tad bit easy but I had MY special spelling stumbling blocks…MAJAL (um, Spanish anyone?), SUESS (always before SEUSS), and whether it is ECCO or ECCE.
@Z, thank you for explaining what you don’t like about the NYT app, as I think I asked that question a couple of days ago. I have not tried PuzzAzz but I like the larger keyboard pop-up on the NYT app (as opposed to Acroos-Lite) and like not getting distracted with a lot of extraneous other clues unless I choose go to that “cross point.” To each his own!
Kind of a tough time with this but it was not completely JOYLESS. The long downs were a nice SILVER LINING plus I learned TORI and SCRY. I struggled with some of the trivia and it took me a bit to figure out the theme before arriving at a very pleasant OH I GET IT moment. Pretty DARN clever, I must say.
As a devoted fan, I couldn’t help but remember the Seinfeld version of this theme subject. The sleeves are not GREEN and the TAIL is not YELLOW, but I give you Cosmo Kramer in his COAT OF MANY COLORS.
@Z - yes, I see what you are saying. I usually do the puzzle in landscape mode, which does eliminates that white space. Doesn’t make it great though, not trying to defend the NYT app.
SRO was widely used for regular season Phillies games ( not just the playoffs) only a couple of years ago. It will be again if they mount a challnge to the Braves.
Additionally, NY has a fascinating bit of real etate law regarding rent stabilized hotesl wehere one can becoame a tenant of the hotel and enjoy enormously below-market rayes for housing. The law covers SRO's of course.
The point being, SRO is found in lots of places outside noir, the playoffs and crossword puzzles.
I hate having my run stopped on a Wednesday. But it did. Never heard of SCRY. Somehow or other TORI equates to donuts or donut shapes? Yeck
My drier/dryer problem today was at VAINEST. Wrong vain, said I, in vain. It's vanest, but that doesn't fit. Wait, wasn't that song "you're so vain"? Wait. How could he be vain? The song WAS about him...
So many rabbit holes today. But a fun Wednesday. And learned SCRY in that very tough SCRY/TORI/ECARTE center.
Can’t help it! My fifth eagle! Sometimes I think I must have ESP….
Wordle 242 2/6
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BLOOP MAHAL WHITECOLLAR obvious choices for me even though I say BLOOPer and did not know the other 2 as specific facts. Needed the J and k for JACK.
The O in FOER was a problem. I did see 2 of the movies based on his books (Illuminated excellent, Extremely pretty good). Never knew Eating Animals movie existed. Same with an animated short Love Is Blind which might be amusing (Adam and Eve move in together).
SCRY ECARTE AER LAIC area was the only really nasty area.
SCREE and kYRA (I mismembered KeRi, duh) were slowdowns as was the opera which took awhile to recall the pronouciation and spelling.
Very JOY-full puzzle and theme.
ROO: 16 and I never noticed. Spot that most of the time these days.
Needed M annd L to get MILNE, and me a Christopher Robin. Nice quote.
@amyyanni (8:00 AM ) / @RooMonster (9:41 AM ) 😂
No harm, no foul; besides, I was bocamp @ bootcamp, and to boot, I've got Foer's 'Eating Animals' audiobook on hold.
@jae (10:29 AM)
Thx for the heads-up re: Semi Liu's Netflix series; got it cued up. :)
"Liu was cast in his first main role as Jung Kim in CBC's popular sitcom Kim's Convenience, the TV adaptation of a popular play of the same name. It remains his most notable television success to date, with the series being nominated for and winning multiple awards internationally, including "Best Comedy Series" at the 2018 Canadian Screen Awards and "Most Popular Foreign Drama" at the 2019 Seoul International Drama Awards. Liu starred in the series until its ending in 2021." (Wikipedia)
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td pg: (4:01) / Wordle 242 4/6*
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Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
This COAT OF MANY COLORS has brought forth commenters' accolades of many shadings: "inspired," "terrific," "clever," "delightful," "entertaining," "pleasurable," - and I say "yes" to all. A lovely solve. For me, the theme shone so brightly that the various SCRYs and ECARTEs and their ilk faded into the background, although I'll admit to a moment of thanks for having YEARS and years of solving behind me, as the TARSI and TORI accumulated.
Do-over: Plan before PREP. Help from previous puzzles: APU. No idea: KERR, NILES, LIU.
@Z; Are you using the NYT app on an iPad? If so, try landscape mode rather than portrait. I think it makes better use of the screen space.
Hard to be down on a puzz when the top row says BLOOP SMASH SASS. Feels like a joyous but over-served night out where you wake up with a bunch of ATM cash withdrawal receipts in your pocket, but no clear memories after those first few rounds.
I could, OTOH, forego a game of JOYLESS ECARTE
Alternate clue for 33 A:
Where a puppy can have a meal
.
.
. ATEAT
The theme was much more solid than I first thought, with “coat” and “colors” both being relevant, and the fill was pretty clean, if a little crosswordeseyish (feel free to use that word if you ever need a 16 letter word for “slightly obscure”). Thanks for a really nice puzzle, Rich Proulx.
I liked it. Smart, with some sparkle and crunch.
This comment is about a wonderful book I just read. It is somewhat related to crosswords because Jeff Chen raved about it on his blog. The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz. It came out last May and was on the NYT list of best books of the year. It has so many twists in it that I am going to skim it from start to finish today to understand it better. The middle third dragged a bit but the climax was thrilling.
I flew through this, Always able to work around the things I didn't know. At the end? What a delight!
Our ice cream trucks play Pop Goes the Weasel. Not the ear worm I want. Give me GREENSLEEVES any day.
Yesterday here at the house we were lamenting the absence of Folk music as a genre in modern media. “Singer Songwriter” is not the same as traditional music.
Thanks Rich for a cheery start to the day!
I always thought that the coat of many colors had a specific (I'm thinking seven) number of colors, and that the "MANYCOLORS" folk were ill-informed or lazy. Well, a little research later and apparently we're all wrong. The translation of the Hebrew word used apparently gets broadly interpreted as elaborate or resplendent. That can take the form of multi-colored, elaborately sized or tailored, of the finest materials or finely embroidered or any combination of the above. Basically Joseph had one damned fine coat, beyond his station and much better than his brothers. Or, it's just a fable.
@beverly c. (12:04) -- Do you also live in NYC -- or is it simply that ice cream trucks everywhere all play the beyond-annoying "Pop Goes The Weasel"? (I always want to smother that weasel inside a mountain of ice cream!)
BTW, I'm a folk music lover too, as you'll see if you go to my blog profile. Like you, I miss it today's musical genres and think it's a huge loss for the modern generation.
Or it's just a fable isn't much of a zinger. In fact it's a non sequitur. The question of whether the sttory is true or fa ble is a fair one. But it's validity has no bearing on the meaning of the coat. Ergo, endidn a discourse ofn the caot's meaning with "Or it's justr fable" is nonsensical. enfing it with something which contrasts the central object-the coat--with something else would work. Like Or maybe it was just a vest. Or maybe it was a blazer.
@Tony M - So here’s an interesting feature in PuzzAzz that your comment reminded me of - Just by rotating my iPad I get one of four different layouts. With Home button on the bottom it is as I described. Hold it with home button at the top and the Across Clues are on the right side instead of the left side. Hold the iPad in landscape orientation and the keyboard is smaller and under the grid with the clues either to the left or right of the grid depending on whether the home button is to the left or right. this is similar to what the NYTX app does, but with four different layouts instead of two. I discovered this feature long ago when I opened the app and couldn’t figure out why the layout was suddenly different. Many precious nanoseconds of confusion ensued.
@anon11:36 - I agree. I still prefer solving on paper to any app, but when I travel I will go landscape view.
@Beezer 10:40 - Personal preference is a big factor. That’s also part of the frustration with the NYT mandating their app, people who preferred a different app were basically told “tough.” I have no doubt that lots of people like that feature for lot of reasons, including that it is simply easier to read.
@Beezer11:22 - If you win the lottery will you share your winnings. I’ve got two. I am unreasonably proud of having as many birdies as pars, 15 each.
@GAC - I think Rex’s plaint was about the clue. Matching tense is important in solving so he tried to match tense. He acknowledges that the clue is okay, so I took it more as a meandering explanation of why he was briefly slowed, not a criticism of the puzzle per se.
MFCTM.
Nancy (9:03)
CarynL (10:15)
Pete (12:12)
Hands up for PERU. I'll be on the lookout for this now. I guess MAIM / MAUL is another one.
I actually enjoyed the long downs: YEARS LATER, SECRET PLAN, OH I GET IT.
@tea73... agree MAHAL is not really a partial as clued. 99% of us will know it from the Taj, but that wasn't in the clue.
[Spelling Bee: yd 6:30 to reach pg, then 0. td 3:20 to reach pg!]
Scry and laic? WTF.
I cried, "OH no!" when I espied SCRY in the grid, knowing we would have all too many comments here claiming that as an unknown. I based that on what happened in 2017, 2018 and 2019 when it also appeared in a NYT crossword. I didn't even need a crystal ball :-).
I had a singular person in peril at 45A, SAVE me, and I almost fell for Lima, Peru in the NW. I did fall for she/HER at 10D. And I walked the TARSI, TORI, LAIC path up to the NE, saying hello to the crosswordese along the way, a la Rex, but it made me smile rather than say "oof".
I liked the theme, thought it clever. Thanks, Rich Proulx!
@Nancy, I’m pretty sure that Pop Goes green Weasel is a common ice cream truck tune across the country. Seems like back in the day my Jack in a Box played that when cranked also. Funny how it is a fun song as a kid, but then takes a 180 degree turn to unbearably irritating once you are no longer excited by an ice cream truck!
Thanks@Mathgent! I’m ALWAYS looking for my next good book. I just finished up Circe by Madeline Miller…excellent book told from Circe’s perspective. I learned a lot (listening to it, the narrator is smooth as silk) or maybe I forgot things I’d learned from Edith Hamilton OR I was a lazy student when I read it (most likely). Starts way before Odysseus and ends post-Odysseus.
@ Gary Juyen 8:19
Depends on where you are spending your day outdoors. if hiking in any of the mountains I've hiked in, you may likely see scree and need to cross scree (which can be tricky)
To the others who paired "scree" and "scry" Why? No relationship. None
And why call them crosswords? I cannot remember seeing scree before in crosswords anor does scry seem common.
Woops, Exception to my Why? Loved Lewis' "scree, scry, scry scrum"
I always wondered why a coat of many colors would be desirable or be seen as a symbol of higher status for its wearer so thanks to pete @12:12 for that nugget.
Developed a fondness for sushi while in Japan so with the Y already in place for 58A "Some sushi menu fish", I was thinking YELLOW FIN tuna. But that neither fits the 58A slot nor fits the color/coat-part theme. YELLOW TAILS had me doing a quick net search. This is what sushiuniversity.jp says are the five types of tuna used in sushi: Pacific bluefin tuna, Southern bluefin tuna, Bigeye Tuna, Yellowfin Tuna, Albacore Tuna. So the last themer was a bit of an outlier for me in what was an otherwise nicely done theme.
I'm seeing the conjugation as SCREE SCRY SCROW SCROD. My sources inform me that SCREW is an acceptable variation for SCROW.
⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
So glad I didn't change my avatar...
SAVEme before SAVEUS.
TIL that ice cream trucks play GREENSLEEVES, huh. That was also where I got the theme.
Pretty fast, just right for post-hike relaxation. We are not spending retirement doing nothing at all, but there's a little nothing in every day!
Just read @Rex. Didn't see Simu LIU, that happens sometimes if I don't need the crosses, but I sure would have known him from Kim's Convenience, although not as clued, if you see what I mean.
@Mathgent 11:56
Thx for the recommendation, got it on hold.
Why did some anon post the same wordle result six times?
I am moderately pissed off that I couldn't complete an otherwise fun puzzle. SCRY, TORI, and ECARTE? WTF?
@Smith
Why did you comment on it?
Another vote for Kim's Convenience and Simu Liu, although he's clearly not the best actor in the show. (That would be the woman who plays his "umma," Jean Yoon.)
FOER? On a Wednesday?! I went for EARLOCK instead of OARLOCK, and so a technical DNF.
And in more important news:
Wordle 242 4/6
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
You’ll understand why I shared this if you read the story.
A fun solve with a bit of a bite to it.
Now of course anyone who grew up with the Old Testament knows about the Coat of Many Colors. But what many of you may not know is that Dolly Parton sang, and I think wrote, a song with that title. Her Coat of Many Colors was what her Mama made for her growing up in Appalachia. Her mother could not afford a winter coat at the store, so made one with scraps from her sewing box.
A great tear-jerker of a song, and like I said, could be true.
@Nancy 12:27 No, I'm on the opposite coast in Portland. I guess that Weasel is a big attention getter.
Re folk music. There's too much bombast in much of todays popular music for me. One reason I love folk music is that it's more approachable for casual singing. If only we could stop believing that singing is only for professionals…
Also a fan of Do Wop :)
@Z:
if you put ECARTE in with nary a blink of an eyelash because of all the crosswords you do you are just a wee bit abnormal.
Hear!! Hear!! Oh, and that includes you.
Never figured out if a BLOOP is just a Texas Leaguer.
@8:55
Hmmm. Did no one else start with Peru rather than Ohio? That set me back for a moment …
almost, but this is a Wed. puzzle, so no.
@9:53
I believe there were some curling fans among us a few days ago.
Well, not fan. Just one who questions why a curler needs PED??? They're just sliding a rock on ice. Bowling (ten pin division) requires more effort..
A regular donut, the kind with a hole in the middle and tire inner tube (if you can one) are topologically/technically a torus; TORI in latin plural.
There was another cool Canadian TV comedy ten or so years ago, Corner Gas. If you can find it on one of the many different services they have nowadays, check it out. Funny stuff.
RooMonster Couch Potato Guy
Mods,
What does the story z just linked to have to do with today’s puzzle, Rex’s write up, or even the days discussion?
Is this just z’s forum and everyone is subject to his whims?
Slogged through the names/Literary references/foreign words and eventually finished. Like many others, sticking point was NE with SCREE,SCRY, ESCARTES.
Other major goof was TAJMA for 15A (as in TAJMA HAL, later realized as TAJ MAJAL)
@Anon 7:56
RYE is a running joke on this blog.
Greensleeves announcing the arrival of the ice cream truck sure beats the Mr Softee jingle.
JC
No. Not so much. I’ll grant that z bangs the rye drum, but the rest of us? Come on.
Puzzle was good.
You wordlers are boring.
@JC66:
So, which is jokier, RYE or NATICK?
Nice puzzle, but … I meant to write this in the morning … a coat with those features would not be very pleasant to look at. Interesting and unusual, yes, peasant, no
TARSI, ECARTE, SCRY, TORI is a ridiculous knot of words. Took me quite a while to untangle it even though I was only missing the C and R of SCRY.
If rye is too wry for you, don't rye.
Brushing is muscular work. Power and endurace help. And maybe some PEDs improve steadiness, contol and aim.
I love watching curling. I would like better coverage with more discussion of possible tactical possibilities.
I really like the blog.I have shared your site with my friends and family. It is always a pleasure to read.
Real Relax Massage Chair
ATOMICSUBMARINE is dated, but technically correct. For instance, it was originally the Atomic Energy Commission and now is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Hieroglyphics were written as consonants separated by a generic schwa kind of sound - they didnt have different vowels. Technically its ?m?n R? where the ? are a generic vowel (think umuh ru), and any vowel would work, making this (or any Egyptian word) the ultimate kealoa, where any modern vowel could be used. So yes, we could eventually see Amyn Ra.
I agree with @Nancy that hitting on this must have been quite a joy for the constructor, and it made for a nice puzzle, too.
By the way, the quote attributed to MILNE is not something he ever said or wrote. It is often misattributed to him.
Puzzle of the week (so far). Newspaper has the wrong name listed as the constructor again.
GETIT ACTIVE
That DARN ARIEL had a SECRETPLAN
up HER SLEEVES TO COLLAR a male.
SILVERLING is she found ANEW man
who liked HER TRAIT of YELLOWTAIL.
--- KYRA KERR
Pretty decent midweeker. @Lewis, you're right: Jon Batiste would rock that COAT! Stay human, my friend. Not the clued LIU but Lucy, will be DOD. Birdie.
Both the NW and SW corners beat me today. Mr. W has a BMW (actually 2) and I still didn't get that clue. Ha ha on me.
OK - so the rest was fun, and done. My Bible study days of childhood always stay in my corner - or smack dab in the middle of everything. I may falter with the Periodic Table, but I still know all the books of the Bible - in order! Many colors indeed.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
SILVERLINING - note to self: must proofread
MANYCOLORS of COAT parts. Pretty good even with a SCREE and a SCRY.
KYRA Sedgwick, yeah baby.
DARN nice puz.
Couldn’t determine whether it was Jacob or Joseph who had the COAT OF MANY COLORS.
Was it either or both of them? Whatever, it made for a good revealer.
SCREE/CTRL in the NE corner was involved in a scrap for a while. It ended when the duo of ECARTE/SCRY won over EpARTE/SpRY.
KYRA Sedgwick and Steve KERR might be an item? Nah.
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