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Relative difficulty: Medium
Theme answers:
- LARE[DO, T]EXAS / [I]T'S WAR (4D: Southern border city in a Larry McMurtry title / 22A: "The time for diplomacy has passed")
- JU[DO T]HROW / S[I], SEÑORA (7D: Certain martial arts takedown / 17A: Polite Spanish assent)
- AVOCA[DO T]OAST / [I]MO (10D: Trendy brunch order / 28A: Letters of qualification)
- YOU [DO T]HE MATH / OU[I]S (25D: "It's not hard to guess how this will end" / 38A: French agreements)
- TORPE[DO T]UBE / [I]HOP (33D: Underwater weapon-launching apparatus / 54A: Denny's competitor)
- POLKA [DOT]S / DOT THE "[I]"S (40D: Spotty pattern / 62A: Attend to details .. or a hint to entering six Down answers in this puzzle)
Matthew Staton Bomer (born October 11, 1977) is an American actor. He is the recipient of accolades such as a Golden Globe Award, a Critics' Choice Television Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. [...] In 2005, Bomer made his film debut in the mystery-thriller Flightplan, then in 2007 gained recognition with his recurring role in the NBC television series Chuck. 2009 saw Bomer then land the lead role of con-artist and thief Neal Caffrey in the USA Network series White Collar with the series lasting to 2014. He has featured in supporting roles in the 2011 science fiction thriller In Time, the 2012 comedy-drama Magic Mike and its 2015 sequel, the 2014 supernatural-drama Winter's Tale, and the 2016 neo-noir film The Nice Guys. In 2015, he won a Golden Globe Award and received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for playing a closeted writer of The New York Times in the drama television film The Normal Heart about the rise of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City. Bomer made a guest appearance on the fourth season of FX's horror anthology series American Horror Story. He was later upgraded to the main cast during the fifth season. In 2017 he received praise for his performances in the drama films Walking Out, Anything, and the 2018 comedy-drama Papi Chulo. He portrays Larry Trainor in the DC Universe series Doom Patrol, which premiered in 2019. (wikipedia)
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The only SUCKY thing about the puzzle, and it was only semi-SUCKY, was the idea that I would know "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." characters or model train lingo (!?!?). Look, Willy LOMAN and Ford LTDS and the Beatles' "White Album," OK, but I can follow you into Olde Tymey-ville only so far. And anyway, how are people *watching* "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." supposed to know the weird-ass way that LOUANN (LOU-ANN?) Poovie *spells* her first name!? Oof. As for the model trains, that clue is just perverse. G-SCALE is a perfectly normal musical thing* and you've gone and gunked it up with this dated / niche hobbyist clue (14D: Proportionate size for some model trains). I have only ever seen men and boys (always men and boys) playing with model trains on television and in movies. Never (ever) in real life. I'm fine with old men playing with children's toys, believe me, but it's bizarre to have a clue that's aimed at only roughly six such men on the planet. I hope they're happy.
I thought "The ROOM" was the movie that Brie Larson won the Oscar for. No? Ah, looks like that movie was just called "ROOM." I have no idea what "The ROOM" is, which means it's probably a horror movie ... nope, just a famously bad movie. Seems to have been popularized by the book (and then the movie) "The Disaster Artist." Huh. OK. Thankfully, that answer was not hard to infer. Never heard of MATT Bomer, and even after looking him up, despite his extensive resumé, it's really really hard for me to place him (48D: Actor Bomer of "Magic Mike"). Never saw "Magic Mike" (this is a hole in my pop culture knowledge I actually *do* feel bad about). Looks like Bomer is best known for his run on a TV show called "White Collar" ... which I couldn't even pretend to describe. Like "Suits" (LOL, "Suits"), it seems like a fictional fictional show to me. People say that it exists, and I believe them, but I know nothing. He was on "Chuck" for a bit back in the '00s. I watched that for a while. So I've probably seen him. I'm just glad I only had to get the MATT part today. BOMER might've killed me (though you are now encouraged to bring BOMER on! Lower the BOMER! I am ready).
- 7A: Tipping point? (JAR) — as in "tip jar," where you put ... tips. I got this one easily enough. Other question-mark clues, I was not so lucky with. Tried ESS for 35D: Stop start? (NON-) and ABC for 10A: Intro course? (APP). I also wrote in ACT for 8D: Word after bad or hard (ASS), though I'm less sure why I did that. "Hard ACT to follow ..." OK, but "Bad ACT..." no, not really. You can be a bad actor (in more ways than one), but "Bad ACT" is a loose observation about a comedy routine, at best. ASS makes much more sense.
- 47A: Bird found in the mud? (EMU) — Sigh. This is not a cryptic puzzle. I like cryptic puzzles, but this is not a cryptic puzzle. Seeing cryptic cluing in my standard xword makes me eyeroll.
- 11D: Benefit (PERK) — because of my ABC gaffe at 10A: Intro course? (APP), I wrote in BOON here at first.
- 45A: Travelocity spokescreature (GNOME) — I like "spokescreature" a lot. Beats the hell out of the AFLAC "spokesduck"
Since when is a dogleg a “sharp turn”? Pretty dull (obtuse?). Huh . . . Never picked up on the common origin there. Guess I’m not acute enough.
ReplyDeleteI LOVED this puzzle , and not because don’t we know this constructor? It was just fantastic and everything I want n a Thursday. Wow. Fill was not junky, clues were fun (great one for APP!), nontheme words were sparkly, and it took me until halfway through to figure out the theme.
ReplyDeleteAaaahhhh.
Can’t wait for the next puzzle from August Miller.
I couldn't agree more! This was FANTASTIC! Wish every puzzle were as superb!!!!!!!
DeleteWordle 236 5/6
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Wordle 236 4/6
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Thought this was a pretty cool puzzle - had fun sussing the theme and got a nice aha after LAREDO TEXAS. Agree with Rex that the overall fill was a little tepid - where’s the h in 13a and too many XOXO, X OUT, SHH’s for my liking.
ReplyDeleteDid like TOAD over CROAKS and the EMU - LEGUME adjacency has an appeal.
First cilantro , then beet salad and we get the triumvirate today with AVOCADO - somebody at the NYT must be a member of the foods I hate club with me.
Enjoyable Thursday solve.
ReplyDeleteI had IOI (as in 101) for the intro course at 10A. I had a very difficult time getting a toehold, until I got to the SE, where TORPE[DOT]UBE jumped out at me, once I figured out IHOP. That's when I got the theme and the rest was relatively easy. I was a model train person when I was a kid and I played with them as an adult when my son was into them, but the only gauges I knew were O, 027* and HO. Now 027 seems to have fallen out of favor and there are a bunch of new gauges, including G. Live and learn.
* Technically, it appears that 027 isn't a gauge, since it's the same as O. But the cars are smaller, allowing for tighter curves.
Matt Bomer is gay and married, so he got a lot of pop culture press. Knew him through all the press.
ReplyDeleteOHOH, OOLALA, iMO, ODS, OTOE, OOZE, ORSO, XOXO, ALOES, iHOP, DOOM
ReplyDeleteYour supposition was right: in the app, each dot turns visually into an "i" alternately in the six squares.
ReplyDeleteI thought that was kind of fun. Doesn’t take much to amuse me, apparently.
DeleteSurprised to see a tirade against GSCALE getting a clue that dared not to be conventional - when on a Thursday, new cluing angles are something I love to see (especially when they make an entry much more familiar to me).
ReplyDeleteLike, I goofed there by confidently putting in O-SCALE (my old set was all OO-Scale), but that single clue made the puzzle a lot more gettable. And whilst perhaps it's past it's peak (says the 27 year old), implying that it's hyper niche seems daft to me. Personally, I don't exactly live in a large town and I can think of at least 3 shops locally selling model trains, including one dedicated shop that only does that. If that's the standard we're using for "niche", then I struggle to think what we would say isn't niche.
Anyone else willing to accept bAR / bUDOTHROW ?
ReplyDeleteI occasionally hang out at a casino bar playing video (machine) poker and tip generously to keep the comp drinks flowing. So, first thing that came to mind.
Google says "Budo throw" is a thing ... (spell check isn't so sure ;)
Unusually easy Thursday (other than this snag). Nice little romp.
I know anything goes in AbbreviationLand but I doubt anyone has ever referred to an Appetizer as an APP.
ReplyDeleteWe do .... we order apps at a restaurant.
DeleteUs too. Potluck dinner - I’ll bring the apps.
DeleteWhat the heck do I enter into the “dot” squares to make it work in the app? I know what the answers are but can’t get it to finish.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
I kept the "i" for the crosses and when the puzzle was done the grid flashed "dot" in those boxes. Fun!
DeleteRex
ReplyDeleteI don't think highly of your whinging, either, I prefer Amy.
No hard feelings,
With love,
A.D.
Clever to have this puzzle follow last Thursday’s “cross your t’s” puzzle, and it makes me wonder if those times over the years, where after a long absence, suddenly an answer appears several times in one week – makes me wonder if that’s a not coincidence but rather the result of a sense of fun pervading through the crossword team. I’m going to choose to believe that. And may it continue!
ReplyDeleteIn the comments here and elsewhere, I echo the praise for the construction chops evident in making this puzzle, for its tricky and clever cluing, for its involving solve. But I’d like to add something I haven’t seen yet – August threw in eight NYT answer debuts, worthy additions to the oeuvre: AVOCADO TOAST, GUSH OVER, JUDO THROW, G SCALE, RUBS ON, SUCKY, THAT’S SAD, and the terrific YOU DO THE MATH.
Very impressive debut, August. Its high quality makes me hope to see more! Bravo, sir!
Thx August, definitely a PERKy puz this wuz! :)
ReplyDeleteMed+
Not particularly difficult, but required some extra TLC (or XOXOs).
Caught on to the theme fairly quickly, but still took time to parse all the themers.
Toughest spot was the LOU-ANN / NON cross. Originally had ESS for NON, and didn't know LOU-ANN, even tho I watched Gomer Pyle back in the day.
Just entering 'I's in the rebus cells got the job done. Nice effect upon completion with alternating 'DOT's & 'I's.
Enjoyed this one bunches! :)
@okanaganer 👍 for 0 yd
Yd's wasn't my ideal group of letters either.
@alicat (3:57 PM yd)
Hi Alice, thx for your kind words. I love 'skookum'; it's such a great word, and as you indicate, a powerful one! I sometimes employ it in lieu of 'awesome'. I probably overused it last year when it appeared in one of the NYT xwords.
Klahowya, Tillikum,
Bo, fellow Vancouverite old-timer :)
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yd pg: 14:57 / Wordle 3
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
@Michael Page -- "Dogleg" is most often, in my experience, used to describe a feature of a golf course (at least within US English). Online, I do find some examples outside that (like describing a road through the hills) but that's where I know the term from (even though I don't golf myself.)
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 7:27 -- APP for appetizer is perfectly common slang for me. It's there in dictionary.com and Merriam Webster online as the second definition. It's possible the slang is dated or regional, but I assure you APP is used for "appetizer" by many people. If you Google "drinks and apps" with the quotes (which is how I probably most often hear it), you'll find many hits of people using it in this sense.
Incidentally, outside of North America, in the English-speaking world apps/appetizers are known as "entrées", which means "main course" in American English (and parts of Canada.) Why that is, I'm not sure, as it makes sense that the word "entrée" would mean your first course, not the main one.
@Anonymous 7:40 -- I just typed "I" and it worked. I didn't bother with trying to rebus it or anything.
I know we come here for the carping, but I thought the DOT of POLKADOT was undisguised deliberately, as part of the revealer.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't get what's wrong with the spelling of Lou-Ann, but maybe that's because the only one I know spells it the same way. I mean it's a sensible rendition of a two-name name, isn't it? Would we expect John Paul to be spelled Jample or something?
I’m guessing the theme was tough for the constructor to pull together and edit - thus a lot of SUCKY stuff all over the grid (OHOH, XOXO, IMO, etc). Definitely fatigued by the “verbal synonyms” clue convention (“Fa-a-ancy!” —> OOLALA) - would love to see those dialed back a bit.
ReplyDeleteYes, restaurant kitchens have APP stations and servers frequently “check oh their APPs”. Don’t know who’s idea it was to go with a supporting character from Gomer Pyle - there has got to be a back story there. Maybe it’s just an in-your-face see-what-I-can do ego trip by someone. The NYT should consider getting a dedicated crossword editor, and maybe exposing their puzzles to a test audience before going live.
This was impossible for while, then piece by piece it just became hard for awhile. Then I almost kinda zoomed for awhile, though the NW corner made things hard again and was the last to fall. I’m not sure if this was “fun,” but it felt good to finish it and I thought it was a clever theme — getting that was a nice Aha moment. Never heard of MATT Bomer or The ROOM and didn’t know LOUANN (though I sure watched Gomer Pyle a lot), but none of it held me up too much. I still have my Lionel train set from about 60 years ago. Still miss the tilde but SENORA seemed a smidge better than SENOR and a helluva lot better than ANO. Now that I think of it, I liked this puzzle more than I realized, with its several layers of challenge.
ReplyDeleteIf you have not seen The ROOM, it is truly, phenomenally bad. The best way to watch it is with a cult theater showing, there are audience reactions (a la Rocky Horror) that enhance the experience.
ReplyDelete@Anon 7:27 - I have heard people call appetizers APPs many times. I refuse to get on board, but it is absolutely a thing.
More and more of the restaurants I go to have APPs on their menu instead of Appetizers; that was my first entry, though I did confirm it with PRAY before writing it in. Then right away I got SUCKY and ASS, spent a nanosecond lamenting the decline of standards--especially inappropriate since they surrounded that polite, if tilde-less, SENORA. Things are all going downhill; I blame the decreasing popularity of model trains, which encouraged young boys to "attend to details."
ReplyDelete10D had to be AVOCADO TOAST, so I could see that there was a rebus, but not what it was. JUIHROW seemed a little improbable, but it might have been a different system of transliterating from Chinese. It was LAREDO TEXAS and ITS WAR (which I hope was not meant seriously, this Ukraine situation is scary) that showed me what was going on. I thought it was brilliant.
I liked the OUIS OPAL ORSO line of O words, in addition to all the things @Lewis mentioned.
Hey moderators -- at 6:15 AM there's an anonymous posting containing nothing but a Wordle grid. Why was that left in? Aren't the comments supposed to be relevant to the puzzle and/or to Rex's blog?
Pretty much agree with Rex, and as a kid, remember Gomer Pyle (Shazam!) but not LOUANN. Entertaining. Had to fiddle with the boxes: DOT I didn't work, neither did DOT i. Fussy app.
ReplyDeleteRex, you’re killing me! Oh hi Mark.
ReplyDeletePut me in the "loved it" crowd. The best kind of a Thursday when you know there's a gimmick but it takes a lot of answers to see what it is, and the answers are hard enough to make that daunting, and then when you catch on, there's a major AHA! I knew there was something funny when AVOCADO wouldn't go on my TOAST, but it took until the SE and TORPEDOTUBE to bet the proper substitution.
ReplyDeleteI've know one LOUANN in my entire life. She spelled her name "Luanne".
Didn't know MATT but wonder if he started out as a Baby Bomer.
Great debut, AM. Looking forward to more And More like this. Thanks for an inordinate amount of fun this AM/
@jberg (8:33 am) I wonder if posting my bowling scores on here would be OK. Anyone else interested? We could make it a regular thing,
ReplyDeleteWhen does a bend become a sharp bend and is a DOGLEG ever actually sharp? Maybe there’s more variety than this, but my image is that the area nearer the tee is narrow and then the fairway widens at the bend (sort of the way a DOG’s LEG is wider above the knee), so there’s never any actual sharpness to it. Anyway, there’s a reason my first word in was CROAKS and I was wondering if a Saturday had escaped for awhile. But then CROAKS gave me an anchor, the coffee kicked in, I got to the too obvious to miss POLKA DOTS and the rest fell lickety-split.
ReplyDeleteEx-Sister-in-law is LUANN, the comic strip is LUANN, I think I’ve met a LUANNe or three, but LOU-ANN is definitely the way they would have spelt it in the Green Acres, Petticoat Junction universe. Although, now that I write that, I think Gomer Pyle was from Mayberry and I don’t know if Andy and Opie and Goober and Gomer were in that same universe. Anyway, Yay B&W TV clues. I had absolutely no friggin idea who this apologies character was and was looking for some slang variant of Lieutenant.
**wordle alert** potential spoiler if you’ve been paying attention
I went with the word from yesterday’s puzzle that I liked and got two green and a yellow from it and confidently went for the eagle, then the birdie, then took a long pause before tapping in the par. Two full rounds completed and I’m six under par.
I love the expression GUSHOVER and that's exactly what I'm going to do. GUSH, GUSH, GUSH! What a great puzzle!
ReplyDeleteAll rebuses are terrific but this one checks all the boxes. Crunchy, sparkly, smart. Plus the rebus squares alternate in a clever way.
I read Rex's nonsense every day as the price I need to pay to participate here but I got something out of it today. The clue for EMU is cryptic.
My train was HO, 1/87 the size of a real train. I just found that it is in the middle of the six scales. Z, N, HO, S O, G. In order, with G the biggest.
Happy to see Larry McMurtry in the puzzle. Lonesome Dove may be my favorite novel.
My luck ran out this morning. After three straight birdies, I bogeyed when my birdie putt rimmed out. I had narrowed it down to two possibles and picked the wrong one. I wish that Wordle would give the average score from the previous day. I'd like to know how hard it was for everybody.
EQUATE for "Liken"? I suppose that two identical things can be considered alike.
Wordle 236 4/6
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Missed a very makeable birdie today. 3-under after 8.
Mistake. I meant that my putt for par rimmed out.
ReplyDelete🤣😂🤣 - I did not catch that my iPad decided “Poovie” must be corrected to “apologies.” Or maybe my iPad feels just the same way as I do about B&W TV clues…
ReplyDelete@7:40- I entered (I/DOT) in those squares and that worked. .@8:48-Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. was a spin-off of The Andy Griffith Show.
ReplyDeleteOh I do so love gibberish in my crosses. SHH! Not really. Normally I love a rebus but DOT DOT DOT this was an effort. I did a lot of frowning and mumbling until I finally figured it out. Yes I am grousing but I have to admit I admire the concept and see great potential in this debut constructor. Congratulations August! I found it on the tough side but a very satisfying workout.
ReplyDeleteYesterday we had weird lifeforms and today we have more common critters: DOG, ELK, EMU, MAKO, a RHESUS monkey and a TOAD, whose long-awaited CROAKS are always a welcome sign that spring is here.
@mathgent (8:48) Agree Lonesome Dove is a classic for the ages. I’ve seen the mini-series so many times I can recite the dialogue before they say it. Only thing I don’t like about McMurtry’s books is that he kills off all the best characters.
Could have sworn this was created by an experienced, seasoned constructor.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that it's a NYTXW debut surprised and delighted me no end.
Clever theme, expertly crafted* and above average fill.
Wonderful Thursdayery (© @LMS).
Loved it!
*August Miller, himself critiques the relative weakness of POLKA DOT and other entries he'd have done differently (e.g., ODS) if he were making it today. Hmmm. Debut grid and he's already evolving - excellent sign of what I hope will be a lot more to come!
Congratulations on a sparkling debut, Mr. Miller! Please hurry back!
🧠🧠.5
🎉🎉🎉🎉
It's too bad Mr. Miller decided to get the F outta there --- his grid is just an "F" short of a pangram.
ReplyDeleteWhere you position your rebuses really matters! By starting me out with LARE[DO T]EXAS, the constructor made sussing out the theme quite easy for me. But what if the first themer had been TORPE[DOT]TUBE? I wouldn't know a TORPEDO TUBE if I fell over one and thus would have been completely at sea (pun intended).
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it's a rebus and I'm happy. Well maybe not so happy with LOUANN Poovie (good grief, it I had a name like that I'd go hide under a mushroom and never be seen again) nor so happy with SUCKY (I would never say that!!! I would only say YUCKY.) But it's a rebus, so I'll GUSH OVER it anyway.
The whole time I'm thinking: Didn't I just see a puzzle just like this a few weeks ago? Oh, wait, no, it was "cross the Ts", not DOT THE "I"s. And the conceit was entirely different, with the trick hidden in the clue, not the answer. And it was an entirely different trick. Still, I feel sorry for any constructor who has the bad luck to appear second when two puzzles are similar in any way. This is a very nice rebus, August, that Poovie person notwithstanding.
@jberg (8:33 AM)
ReplyDeleteWas thinking along the same lines re: posting Wordle results w/o any ref to the day's xword, but then the thot came: possibly there are some who are regular posters and choose to provide Wordle results separately. Who's to say?
___
I choose to have confidence in Rex and our Mods to know where to draw the line. Besides, the Wordle posts don't seem to be clogging the blog; if anything, it appears to me that they have subsided somewhat, at least wrt extraneous comments accompanying the results.
I vote for tolerance! :)
@Zex (8:48 AM)
I recall at least one 90° DOGLEG left. The sensible way to play it was to drive straight, then use a 2 or 3-wood to reach the green for a possible eagle. One could also try a 3-wood off the tee, hoping to get over the trees and near the green in one. Many balls lost in this attempt. lol
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td pg: 6:03 / td Wordle: 3 (4 under after 36)
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Well, I am one of the six people, Rex. Recently bought a townhouse, with unfinished basement for purpose of setting up model trains. And for many enthusiasts, it's way beyond toys. Modeling a railroad, with signals and buildings and roads...I'll stop now. Oh, while working on the puzzle, heard train horns on the former Reading. As in, Take a ride on the Reading.
ReplyDelete@Harry - yes, I had bar/budo throw - and was so sure it had to be right I couldn't see jar/judo throw. Ugh. So, DNF, really, since I discovered that's where my error lay only by coming here.
@Harry I had bAR/bUDOTHROW, too. Perfectly acceptable according to Google so I'm counting it as a win. Shouldn't the editor make sure stuff like that doesn't happen, though?
ReplyDeleteI started this puzzle in hate mode and ended in love mode. At first I thought I just was not on the same wavelength as August Miller and while I may not be totally, the puzzle gave me that satisfying feeling of, well, puzzling it out!
ReplyDeleteHad the same LOUANN spelling problems as @Z but had pulled the name out of the dark recesses of of my “kid watching t.v.” mind. I’m not surprised many here would not remember LOUANN since I was old enough by the time Gomer had a girlfriend to be about done with that show.
For those who had difficulty with what needed to be plugged into the app grid, I just put in i’s and the NYT app continuously changed the i’s to DOTs and back.
My nephew is on the Autistic spectrum, and owns about 1000 model rail road cars, and a commensurate amount of paraphernalia. When he was in his tweens or early teens, we on occasion would meet him and his parents at model railroad conventions. The attendees at these were 95% whitehaired men. The medium age was probably over 75. Most of the rest were very bored young children who's gramps was trying to get them interested in model railroading, so that he would have someone to leave his about 1000 model rail road cars, and a commensurate amount of paraphernalia to. There were a couple of kids like my nephew. There were a few people like my wife and myself who wanted to shoot ourselves in the head.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience, @Rex was right in his take on model railroaders.
I really enjoyed this one, and I’m not sure if my NYT app recently updated or just unique to this puzzle but this was the first time I’ve seen the theme boxes flash/alternate the two entries upon completion. In this case they alternated between “I” and “DOT.” Neato.
ReplyDeleteAnd agree with the comment that a DOGLEG is not a sharp turn.
I have a 50 year old N-scale train set (in storage). Really really small compared to G or the more popular HO scales. Someday I’ll get it back out. Someday.
I guess I'm SUCKY when it comes to scratching and sniffing a certain little mystery rebus.
ReplyDelete@mmorgan 8:20: I thought you had found a way into my head and stole my opening sentence: "This was impossible for a while."
I do SO love the rebus Thursday but they sometimes give me the angst agita perturbation blues. This took for ever and an hour to figure out where I was going to tip-toe through my tulips and sing YER Blues.
So much I didn't know: DOG LEG? GSCALE? That LOUANN person who has a last name Poovie? Boy would I change my name. Maybe something like Pervie...
Then we get to the rebus part. I did know this was going to be a tough pecan to crack. I think I finally (sorta) figured it out at AVOCA[dot]OAST/...[I]HOP area. I actually stared at that answer for about six days.
I went back up to 7D. Still scratching my itch because I don't know JUDO THROW from a DOG LEG. I skipped that whole area and went on down to YOU DO THE MATH...Loved that answer.
Little by little the fuzzy, hazy, light bulb began to go from dim to a bright shine.
Well, when did you yell AHA you ask? At the reveal: DOT THE I'S. POLKA DOTS came next.
I'm loving all the Spanish terms being tossed around SI SENORA today. Then we've had a BESO here and there, and a [YO] TE AMO discussion and, well, sock it to me.
This must've been very hard to construct. In the end I sat and marveled with what you did, August.
Enhora buena....
Proportionate size gives you SCALE, then wait for the last letter kealoa.
ReplyDelete@Keith D - I see what you did there! My brother's name is Mark, so we have some fun with that:)
I love the way dotted i/crossed t puzzles in proximity cause a paper vs digital rant for Rex and crossword team having fun for Lewis.
Hands up for Bar, but I have to say Judo makes the J indisputable.
Hey All !
ReplyDeleteI'm one of the six men who enjoys/plays/models trains, so yes Rex, I'm happy! G SCALE is a larger size, then it goes O SCALE, which is roughly half the size of G, and known best for Lionel trains, then HO SCALE, which is Half O size (hence HO)(the most popular size), then N SCALE (roughly half size of HO) which to me is too small, although you can fit more track in a smaller space, then Z SCALE, which is ridiculously small (you can fit a layout in a briefcase).
Now you know!
Oh, the puz. Kind of wacky. Upset it wouldn't accept my Rebussed DOTI, had to go back and just put in an I, which it accepted. Luckily no streak to protect. Inelegant that there's a DOT-I in DOT THE IS. So it sorta reads DOT THE DOT-IS. The Revealer shouldn't contain the theme trick. Did enjoy the animation once solution was accepted. Almost Schrodinger-like.
Lots of Blockers, 43 of 'em. Hope I don't upset whoever it was who had agita with people counting/complaining about the black squares.
XOXO crossing XOUT? Oof. However, TOAD above CROAKS is neat.
So a mixed bag puz for me today. Construction nice, NW has two crossing Themers, so tough to get clean fill, hence my aforementioned XOXO/XOUT. Somewhere twixt SUCKY and GUSHOVER. YEWS mileage may vary. (Or YER mileage...)
yd -3, should'ves 3 (THATS SAD)
(And people used to complain about our one line SB stuff! But now Wordle is the complaint du jour. Good stuff.)
NON F's (That MAKOs me SAD)
RooMonster
DarrinV
Challenging for me, in the best Thursday way: I just couldn't see the trick for the life of me - until after I'd been blocked three times, at LARED-, AVOCAD- and TORPED-....and each time by an...i...ohhhh! But the challenge wasn't over, as it took me quite a while to get the wonderful YOU DO THE MATH. Looking over the finished grid, I smiled at the second row: OO LA LA + GUSH OVER - exactly how I felt about the puzzle. Super Thursday!
ReplyDeleteDo-overs: Abc before APP, LAREDo TEX. No idea: YER, LOUANN.
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ReplyDeleteI think there are a few more than six of 'em. http://www.chattmodmod.org/
ReplyDeleteMediumish. Took a while to grok the theme, plus the NW was tough to break into. Tricky Thursday challenge, liked it. Nice debut!
ReplyDeleteI knew MATT from “White Collar”.
Yep, Ms. LOUANe Poovie almost sank my puzzle (and she successfully took up a third of my solving time).
ReplyDeleteClever theme, well-executed, but it’s hard to wash out the taste of spending so much time to find one erroneous letter — and then have it be a minor character from an inane sitcom that’s over 50 years old.
Perfectly tricky Thursday, so clever and so many aha moments!
ReplyDeleteTwo kind of funny things. One, I did exactly the opposite of Rex, put the "I" in each of those squares and kept it in my mind that it stands for "DOT" going down. Two, I didn't even think of that EMU clue as cryptic. NYT crossword, three letters, bird - bam, it's EMU! Are they found in mud? I have no idea. Didn't think a second thought about that they are, just took the clue's word for it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm from St Louis. I love anytime the puzzle can work IMOs into it. Might just order me some Imo's tonight!
ReplyDeleteHa! As maybe the only other St. Louis native here, I get the joke. I loooove St. Louis style pizza, which you can only get there, but there are some places that do it better than Imo’s.
DeleteI'm not a railroad hobbyist but I thought Rex’s criticism was overly mean today. Over the holidays the Columbia Gorge Model Railroad Club (men and women) invited the public to view their layout. I went, and the attendees were families from toddlers to elders in wheelchairs. It was impressive, and not only for the historical accuracy of the layout which included Portland, Troutdale, Multnomah Falls and more. There were many trains, hidden humorous items for kids (of all ages) to find, and sound and light effects, with the whole scene turning from day to night. And then I got a jaw-dropping peek behind (under) the scenes at a bit of the technical complexity and coordination involved. It may not be your cup of manga, but the clue was fair.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to see MATT Bomer in something good, watch "The Nice Guys," with Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. Bomer plays a generic bad guy, but Gosling's character's daughter steals the movie!
ReplyDeleteRex to the millions of model train enthusiats:
ReplyDeleteStop liking what I don't like!!!!!!
By the way, Marklin's Z gauge trains are incredible. Some of the finest engineering and precison building in the world.
Pete,
ReplyDeleteDon't give up! there's still time for you make your wishes come true.
A DOGLEG (to the right) golf hole and how to play it successfully demo for my pal, @GILL.
ReplyDelete@mmorgan & others. I have it on good authority that next Thursday's puzzle will feature a tilde/N theme.
ReplyDeleteHere's the fabulous Columbia Gorge Model Railroad featured on Oregon Public Broadcasting.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/2-A5MVBJ5js
Disclaimer: I am not, nor do I know personally any railroad hobbyists.
Such a deprived life!!! My brother and me had both an American Flyer train set (you know, the one with just two rails like real life as opposed to that faux Lionel track) and HO scale slot cars (forget who made them; not a very popular type).
ReplyDeleteAnd, Yahoo!! I made the puzzle. Why did it take so long?
Loved the theme, maybe because I figured it out fairly quickly. The grid itself looks strange to me. And the inclusion of sucky and ass in the same puzzle: I don't consider myself a prude (few if any do) but I am surprised how people who complain about political entries are OK with these types of entries. I don't like a puzle that skews toward trial PPP and/or lewd entries (understanding that people have different ideas about what constitutes a lewd entry. So, I guess, a shaky thumbs down when judging this puzzle. Too bad, considering the quality of the theme.
ReplyDeleteSorry Z, I haven't gone blue. For some reason yesterday the blog automatically signed me into my never-used Goggle account and I forgot to select and type in the Name/URL option. Today, no automatic Google Account login, and I will enter my Name. So I guess I'm back to black even as I identify (hate that word) as a Caucasian.
This puzzle has it all — clever theme, tricky clues, great fill, and even a RHESUS in a rebus. Congratulations, August. on a stellar debut.
ReplyDeleteMy only complaint is 13A. OO can be two moves in tic tac toe, or a cartoon character’s eyes, or even Ozzy Osbourne’s monogram, but without the H it cannot be part of OOH LA LA.
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ReplyDeleteIIRC, DOGLEG was the type of sawed off rifle that McQueen used in "Wanted Dead or Alive". Don't know the historical accuracy of the existence or name. And, for the record, any fairway that isn't straight-arrow is a DOGLEG, no Sharp Bend in the definition.
ReplyDeleteThat rifle was called a mare's leg, I think.
DeleteMy sixth grade friend spelled it Louann, so anything else seems like a cutesy variation. Yes, Gomer Pyle is reaching back a long time.
ReplyDeleteI found this one tricky, lots of redos. For 7A/8D I had TEE / END
Thanks for a welcome blast from the past from The Roches 🙂.
This puzzle is an example of significant improvement in the app, for which NYT deserves kudos. In times past, it was very finicky on what it would accept in rebus, a/b, picture, number, or other nonstandard squares, which resulted in much agita trying to figure out which way the app wanted it (and the accompanying agita over whether your error was actually something material elsewhere). Now, the app is forgiving; today, it approves any variant: DOT, I, I/DOT. DOT/I . . . The animations are cute gravy.
ReplyDeleteAlternate clue:
ReplyDelete14A. Lingering shot by director Van Sant. GUS HOVER
EMU and LEGUME in the same row. If an EMU used gel backward, would you have a LEGUME. Perhaps a reversed GEL GOD?
I remember Gomer Pyle as being LOMAN on the totem pole.
I was ready to heave this one at @Nancy’s wall when I saw JUIHROW, but tasted victory when AVOCADOTOAST was served up.
It seems like a-la-loo could be substituted for OOLALA in daily usage and convey pretty much the same info.
This was by no means a SUCKY ASS debut. I really liked it. Thanks, August Miller.
I'm surprised that no one has complained about LON crossing at Louann. I had DON and RON. It made a name like DOUANE. I didn't have NON either, EON seemed OK. That is what did me in, the LOUANN LON NON situation.
ReplyDeleteI got the theme pretty early on but I couldn't find my mistake. I was thinking it was a man's name. Do you all know LON Chaney? I do not.
Hi! Wow, loved this puzzle. Took a bit longer than avg Thursday but so clever. At first I thought I had nothing, then filled in XOXO and away we went. Got the theme at POLKAIS, after having messed up / struggled with nOsurprise at 25D, oof. Fixed that and the rest was great, a little crunchy. Still technically DNF, had to reveal puzzle because I could not see that OPeL is the car, not the stone, and I was positive that eMENDS was correct!
ReplyDeleteThank you, August Miller!
Next up: a CROSS THE I'S theme mcguffin. Or maybe an ACROSS THE I's theme, except that ain't quite makin sense to m&e, yet. [runtpuz dibs, tho]
ReplyDeletefave puz things: SUCKY. The EMU clue. The somewhat rare-ish Jaws of Themedness.
M&A sensed rebus hi-jinx early on. And actually considered "cross the I's", when I saw that IEXAS endin for 4-D. Didn't recall whether "Lonesome Dove" was near Laredo or Laramie, tho. Which is pitiful, since [geez, @M&A] Laramie ain't even in Texas at all. Anyhoo … M&A was forced to gather a second lab experiment data hunk, at 7-D. Eventually, after peekin at the revealer clue for some extra confirmation, figured out the I/DOT dealie.
Never heard of that there "The Room" flick. But no way it could be *the* "Citizen Kane" of bad movies. Have seen too many of them varmints at our Fri-Nite Schlock Filmfest to buy that there's just one really really dismally-made SUCKY flick out there. But, I will not digress into long lists of examples. Instead, let's talk about …
**Wordle!**
For the first time, today M&A scored an eagle 2 at Wordle. I am now officially "Magnificent". Behold, mere mortals. [No way I care to talk about my past Wordle performances, howsomeever.]
staff weeject pick: EMU. Luv its clue. honrable mention to YER, tho.
Thanx for the ThursPuz fun, Mr. Miller dude -- which had M&A screamin "Arrrrgh! My I's! My I's!" har
And congratz on YER DOTTSWAR debut puz.
Masked & Anonymo9Us
**gruntz**
MFCTM.
ReplyDeleteConrad (6:39)
Whatsername (9:14)
@pmdm (2:18) -- It's not the "lewd"ness, it's the bad taste. And the sophomoric qualities of ASS (as clued, unnecessarily) and SUCKY. I didn't like these either. All they do is help cheapen what's really a clever, entertaining and solid puzzle.
ReplyDeleteNot only geezers enjoy model trains---check out this 34 second YouTube Katze vs. Gartenbahn.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I see "rebus" used to describe a crossword puzzle I think of my long ago high school Latin teacher, Mrs. Albritton. She was an elegant lady who managed to inspire a respect and admiration for Classical Latin in a teenage country yokel---no easy thing to do---and she would have been very disheartened to see so many otherwise intelligent people misusing it.
If you are interested in how it is used in its original meaning, here's an excerpt from the PBS show "A to Z: the First Alphabet":
"NARRATOR: Such pictograms would be the basic building blocks of the first writing systems. And thousands of tablets like this one suggest that the reason for moving beyond a purely oral culture was something utterly prosaic: the need to keep ledgers. As far as we can tell from the evidence, for several centuries, the use of pictograms was limited to primitive accountancy. But then, sometime around 3000 B.C. there was the crucial conceptual leap.
IRVING FINKEL: The giant leap came when somebody conceived of this matter: that you could draw a picture which represented something that someone could recognize, but at the same time that sign could be used just for the sound of the thing it looked like. So, on this tablet here, there is an ear of barley. Now the word for barley in Sumerian is, is pronounced like “sheh.” So your Sumerian sees this and says “ah, “sheh,” “barley.” But at the same time, this scribe or a fellow scribe, in writing a totally different kind of document, could use this sign not to mean barley, but just to write the sound of “sheh.” And this giant leap is something rather simple, and it’s something which could have occurred to a child, but nevertheless it is of great lasting significance.
NARRATOR: Using a picture to represent a sound in this way is called the “rebus principle,” and it allows pictures to spell out words.
IRVING FINKEL: To give a really clear example. There’s a word “shega” in Sumerian, which means “beautiful” or “pretty” or “nice” or something like that. And so a scribe would write it syllabically, “she” “ga.” So, he would use this sign, the barley sign, for the “she” bit, and then he’d have to write “ga” for the second bit. As it happens, “ga” means milk. So, he would draw the picture which represented milk. And barley and milk together would spell “shega,” which had nothing to do with either barley or milk. So, this is a kind of rebus writing. Rebus is a smart word for it. It is really a pun in some sense. It is a kind of pun that you get another meaning out of the sign."
I would like to stay longer but I have to go down to the beach and shovel sand against the incoming tide.
I am continually surprised by the puzzles you choose to gripe about (all of them, basically). This puzzle had nothing to do with handwriting - it was just using the phrase "dot your i's" as an unlock for the rebus. Just enjoy what you're doing if you're going to do it everyday!
ReplyDelete@beverly c (11:25 AM)
ReplyDeleteMany thx for the Columbia Gorge Model Railroad link. Fabulous, indeed! 🚂
___
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
I put in LAREDO early on and then knew some Thursday trickery was up, wondering what the rest of the spaces were for when TEXAS didn’t fit. When I got to the White Album clue, i knew it was YER Blues, so the O in LAREDO had to come out. But it still took me forever to figure out the trick. When I did, I loved it. Most of the crosses, going both ways, are good, except TORPEDO TUBES, which is kinda meh, and OUIS, which could have had a more interesting clue (like IMO did).
ReplyDeleteSo many things to love, from YOU DO THE MATH to IT’S WAR to GUN SHY.
Matt BOMER is worth seeing in “The Normal Heart” as the dying boyfriend of Mark Ruffalo’s Larry Kramer character. Ruffalo, one of my favorite actors, is amazing.
The OZARKS were my happy place growing up in St. Louis - we spent so many summer weekends doing “float trips” (canoeing) and camping in those beautiful mountains. I haven’t watched OZARK, which I know gives a very different view of that area, as did the outstanding “Winter’s Bone,” the breakout role for Jennifer Lawrence as a plucky teen who has to keep her family safe as her parents decay into meth addiction and crime.
I will admit to not seeing the adoration for AVOCADO TOAST. So many of my friends (all women) crave avocados while I find them pretty bland unless they are in a well seasoned guacamole, in which case I can’t get enough.
For a while, I was all turned about regarding this theme. I blame 1A. I was filling in AVOCADO TOAST when I noticed there wasn't enough room. But look, off to the left at 33A is a T. If you DOGLEG yourself over there, you can used AVOCADOAST and grab that T, double up your O and... In fact, after I figured out the theme, I left my DOGLEGged answer in for 10D so DNF. Didn't even realize it until I looked at the grid to find out if dMS for 28A was correct. Oops.
ReplyDeleteI use DOGLEG exclusively for roads that are running straight, then suddenly turn and turn again to continue going the direction you were going before that annoying turn showed up. Golf terms are not part of my personal experience, though I've heard it.
OH OH, OO LA LA, OUIS OR SO ONUS OOZE OTOE OPAL OPT OZARKS. Wow, lots of xOxO love.
August Miller, congratulations on your NYT debut and thanks for the nice Thursday puzzle.
Anon 11:34
ReplyDeleteIt's mare' leg. Custom made for the show. It was a .44-40 Winchester.
Fun fact: Paul Newman is waaaaaay cooler than Steve McQueen, had better taste in cars ( but not bikes) and was a better driver.
For a fantastic story google Paul Newman's watch. You'll get a real quick out of it.
Didn't get to this one until lunch, so just going to join the chorus today. I thought this was a perfect Thursday. Did it without the rebus, just leaving I in for the acrosses, and watched them bounce to DOTs and back after the chimes rang. Was off to the races with ITSWAR and IHOP, and the reveal helped me figure out how to handle the downs,just like it said it would. Perfect puzzle.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we can share our different model railroad configurations in here. Would be fun to see other people's equipment and setups.
ReplyDeleteI never know what is and isn't going to be accepted for this type of gimmick, so I just put in all Is and fortunately that worked. However it looks dumb. But it was a good Thursday theme!
ReplyDeleteWrote ALTERS for 41 down "modifies" and just refused to change it for a long time.
I have always thought of a DOGLEG as a sudden but not drastic change in direction. Say, 60 degrees maximum.
@alicat yesterday 3:57 pm, you bring back childhood memories for me. My mom used to love saying "Klahowya, tillicum. Skookum wa?" I think it means "Hi, cousin. Doing well?" She grew up in Prince Rupert. I think Chinook was fairly widely known back then in BC.
[Spelling Bee: yd 0; td pg in 13:40. bocamp, I dunno how you got to pg in only 6 minutes, you're on fire!]
Anoa Bob,
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain. That the midwits have co-opted rebus is awful. And I have no time for anyone who argues that's just language evolving. Hogwash! That is devolving. Something is lost when rebus is used as it is on this site. As I said, I genuinley feel for you because I feel the excatly same way about begging the question. Those who believe it can man to raise a question are simply too dim to realize their misusage is helping to obscure a meaning which is valuable.
Anyway, I wish you luck againt the tide. I'll be tilting at that giant windmill from Holland.
PS. If you havent read it already, check out History Begins at Sumer, by Samuel Noah Kramer.
bocamp and beverly,
ReplyDeleteThe Columbia Gorge club's layout is cute. But if you want something with some scale, check out Roadside America ( Shartlesville, Pa). I'm sure theyere a youtube video. Probaly many. A shame they're out of buisness. It was incredible. If Moahair Sam is around, there's a pretty good chance he can back me up on that.
Wordle Warriors Unite!
ReplyDeleteWe will not be silenced.
Clever puzzle; enjoyed sussing the theme after 20 minutes; took time to fill in the entire rebus; and actually - unlike rex - enjoyed EMU as a cryptic.
ReplyDeleteNot sure why rex feels the need to put down those enthusiasts who enjoy model trains. Is it because they tend to be men?
It's his comments like this that make think he's a total tool, which is unfair, because he knows a ton of stuff about puzzles.
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ReplyDeleteAnoa Bob, I don't want to annoy you. You're one of my favorite posters here. From now on I will refer to puzzles like this as "bulging square" puzzles.
ReplyDeleteHated it.
ReplyDeleteThe whole NW was a blank for me; otherwise I enjoyed what I managed on this puz.
ReplyDelete@bocamp, while I wasn't looking in January you stopped mentioning your SB scores other than the time you took to get to pg; am I to understand that you and @okanoganer are QBing daily? I GUSH OVER both of you, and feel very akin to @roomonsterwith your regular -3's and should'ves.
My wordle story is that I don't do it - preferred my version which I used to play with first boyfriend, where you each think of a 5-letter word, and then suggest other ones in order to be told whether you have one letter that appears in your competitor's word, but certainly not which letter or where it matches. I had a whole series of strategic words to test with. And I remember flummoxing him with "Myrrh."
When I see a clue (such as the one for EMU) that doesn't make any sense, I always look for some kind of cryptic explanation; thus, I was able to quickly pluck it out today.
ReplyDelete@okanaganer (1:25 PM) 👍 for 0 yd
Just a whole bunch of words readily recalled from my SB list; kinda serendipitous! :)
@Anonymous (1:33 PM)
You're right about Roadside America; it was a magnificent labor of love. So sad it had to close its doors!
"The beloved attraction closed in March 2020 due to the pandemic, and was permanently shuttered by the end of the year. In January 2021, hundreds of Gieringer's miniatures, displays, and signs were auctioned off, including the waving Amish couple statues." (Roadside America.com)
Excellent YouTube vid: here.
@Eniale (2:33 PM)
Yes, I daily work the SB up to the point of pg; this has freed up much more time for chess, sudoku and other xword type puzzles. :)
The word game you describe sounds very much like Jotto, one our family used to play almost every evening back in the '50s.
Btw, in case you or any other SBers are interested, here's my updated SB List of words that I didn't know or had trouble finding.
___
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
White Collar and Suits was TV worth binging, the latter if only for the Duchess of Sussex. Never a dull moment in either, with someone waiting to pounce on someone at every moment, sometimes multiple someones at once. Your Ivory Tower should have been wide enough to embrace these dramas.
ReplyDelete@Anoa Bob -- But today was the truest, the purest of rebuses! You can easily represent a DOT as an illustration. Just as easily as you can a CAT or an APPLE. Look -- I'll do it for you:
ReplyDelete.
See???!!!
Spelling Bee word list? Not judging.
ReplyDeleteOne of those puzzles hard to construct (I’m guessing) but not so pleasant to solve. You get the gimmick and then it’s slog, slog, slog. Getting the rebus is a sort of aha moment but that’s it. I Ike to see an aha at every reveal.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous (4:24 PM) wrote:
ReplyDelete"Not judging" 🤔
The 'list' is for study, not for referring to during the solve; at least that's the way it works for me. It also includes basic defs, which in many cases have come in handy for various types of xwords. :)
___
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Oops, I linked a different cat vs train video than the one I meant to, although it is also a nice one. Here's the one I originally intended: Katz vs Gartenbahn III.
ReplyDeleteNancy, the puzzle today had either "i" or "DOT" in the relevant squares. If one is using letters of the alphabet (or words formed from them), one has already gone past the "rebus principle", as was explained with examples in the PBS "A to Z: the First Alphabet" excerpt above.
We had a rebus puzzle a couple of months back where the outline of a tree was in some individual grid squares and it was the sound of "tree", not an actual tree, that was used to solve each entry. And no one, not OFL nor any commentators used "rebus" to describe the puzzle. Sigh.
The wind has picked up outside so I'm going out there and shout into it for a while.
@Nancy
ReplyDeleteI think I may have suggested this before, but maybe @Anoa Bob would be okay with it if we dropped the S and referred to it as a REBU.
Good fun especially after last Thursday. Maybe we will be tittling j's the third Thursday in February. And whatever that oval crossing tail is in Q remains for the 4th Thursday in February.
ReplyDeleteRex keeps his one track mind about theme consistency being the be all and end all of all puzzles and doesn't notice how neat it is that POLK(doti) is also the only one that crosses the revealer.
I kinda found the handwriting theme and computer age answers mix a plus instead of a minus.
And LOUANN! I'm sure everyone remembers her. Well not me. I was thinking maybe loonie or GUNSHie Goovie. LOUANN LOMAN would be a heck of a name.
Best SUCKY ASS puzzle the times is likely to ever have, LEG U ME say.
BTW. DOGLEG:First definition in Oxford language dictionary:
(noun)
a thing that bends sharply, in particular a sharp bend in a road or route.
OOZE SEEP GUSH DOOM as the TOAD CROAKS.
Wordle 236 3/6
��⬛��⬛��
����⬛����
����������
Wordle 236 3/6
��⬛��⬛��
����⬛����
����������
Well neither way worked. One more try plus:
ReplyDeleteWordle 236 3/6
🟦⬛🟦⬛🟧
🟧🟧⬛🟧🟧
🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧
YBYBG
GGBGG
GGGGG
Oh yes. Cerulean and mandarin Wordle tiles. I can use these for the kitchen backsplash.
ReplyDelete🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧
🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧
🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧
🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧
🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦
Thanks, Albie.
Yep. My main reason for posting in official Wordle colors. Tired of the green and yellow here.
DeleteNice puzzle.
ReplyDeleteShot 86 today. Bogeyed 15, but that is a tough DOGLEG.
Playing again Saturday - I'll keep you posted.
Wordle 236 3/6
ReplyDelete🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜
🟩⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Too gimmicky for me. Semi-got the theme but not enough to help. All of the ? clues, which are always questionable as to how they will spell/phrase them, and my nemesis - names really stuck me. Thursdays are my highest average time of the week (even higher than Saturday!), and adding a DNF doesn't help. Thanks to the commenters here I have found SB, and am finding it more enjoyable and less stressful than puzzles like this, where the constructors try to overthink the puzzle (EMU, dogleg is sharp?). Reading the solution things make sense, but the theme doesn't translate well to solving online.
ReplyDeleteIn case anyone cares, I try to get up every day at 5AM (don't use an alarm), then I do the SB until roughly 6AM (unless I get Genius earlier), then the Mini, then the crossword. Then I read the comments, then comment, and whatever time is left after getting ready for work, I spend on the SB. So my SB time is limited.
ReplyDeleteTrying to make myself feel better about my misses!
RooMonster Genius Most Days Guy
Wordle is now on the NYTimes site.
ReplyDeleteFun puzzle! Love Matt Bomer from “White Collar”. He’s also a genuinely nice guy so yay for him getting a nyt xword moment.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThird puzzle in a row that I've really enjoyed. Agree that DOGLEG doesn't really match the clue.
ReplyDeleteBravo to Agust Miller for his excellent NYT debut. I would have loved to see (Georges) Seurat inserted somewhere in the puzzle. Clue: He used dots a lot.
ReplyDeleteOOLALA OOZE
ReplyDeleteYES, LOUANE has a TUBE
when YOU OPT for THE job:
IT'S THE ALOES THAT lube
EACH of THE RUBSON YER KNOB.
--- LON LOMAN
If you include the themers, there's about 30 Os in about 180 white squares. Seems like a lot. I guess you gotta do something when all the Is are in theme squares.
ReplyDeleteRather SEE GSCALE as musical.
I'm not gonna GUSHOVER this.
Convoluted rebus. Last Thursday/this Thursday = SUCKY.
ReplyDelete@foggy - I get your pointillism
ReplyDeleteGot the point at POLKA. DOTs it - still had a dnf. The usual problems. The usual answer - got most of it.
ReplyDeleteDiana, LIW for Crosswords
I did the exact opposite of OFF: I entered an i in the double-duty square, circled it, and hoped (but not PRAYed) I'd remember the downs were DOTs.
ReplyDeleteA DOGLEG, at least on a golf course, is typically less than "sharp." I'd say most of them fall between 20 and 40 degrees change from straight. In fact, go look at a dog sometime. I wouldn't call that a sharp angle.
I glommed onto the mcguffin in the SW, hand up. For a while I thought it was a straight rebus, which would've yielded DODTHEDOTS on the reveal line. Not a lot of sense there. (I too briefly thought of Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte) After a few false starts, such as duh for SEE ("Isn't that obvious?"), I did the SW; the rest of the puzzle gave much less resistance. Good companion piece for the recent "Cross your Ts" affair; now we can all write cursive. Not that I've ever seen a single signature in the last 40 years that was even halfway legible. Wow, has technology ever made us lazy!
Anyway, birdie, and if this is a debut, things are looking up.
Hey @Spacey - hand up for "duh" instead of SEE, too.
ReplyDeleteLady Di