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Tobacco plug / SUN 2-20-22 / Reason-based belief in God / Repeated sound that's hard to get rid of / Ubiquitous advertiser with an acronymic name / 673 parts of the Louvre Pyramid
Sunday, February 20, 2022
Constructor: Victor Barocas
Relative difficulty: Easy to Easy-Medium, somewhere in there
Theme answers:
- OUI ("yes") SHALL OVERCOME (22A: Positive thinker's motto?)
- DIEU ("God") PROCESS (34A: Means of becoming a god?)
- BELLE ("beautiful") TOWER (51A: Where Rapunzel let down her hair?)
- EAU ("water") FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE (65A: Holy water?)
- C'EST ("it is") CHEESE (83A: Answer to "What is Roquefort or Brie?"?)
- LAIT ("milk") TO WASTE (96A: Spilled milk?)
- REINE ("queen") CATS AND DOGS (112A: The queen with her pets?)
A caryatid (/ˌkæriˈætɪd/ KARR-ee-AT-id; Ancient Greek: Καρυάτις, pl. Καρυάτιδες) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term karyatides literally means "maidens of Karyai", an ancient town on the Peloponnese. Karyai had a temple dedicated to the goddess Artemis in her aspect of Artemis Karyatis: "As Karyatis she rejoiced in the dances of the nut-tree village of Karyai, those Karyatides, who in their ecstatic round-dance carried on their heads baskets of live reeds, as if they were dancing plants".
An atlas or telamon is a male version of a caryatid, i.e. a sculpted male statue serving as an architectural support. (wikipedia)
• • •
As if ATREE weren't annoying enough as a partial answer, this puzzle had to go and riddle it up, thereby calling attention to it, highlighting it in neon yellow, rather than cluing it as a much more humble fill-in-the-blank so we can just solve it and forget it ever existed (108A: What's clothed in summer and naked in winter, per an old riddle). Why people insist on drawing attention to their worst fill like this, I'll never understand. AT NINE is bad, but at least it's straightforward and easy, so its badness isn't likely to linger in your mind. The voiding of "nerdiness" of all meaning continues apace at 39D: Most likely to win at Trivia Night, maybe (NERDIEST). I know plenty of real nerds who don't concern themselves with trivia at all. Math, science, "Star Trek" and "Star Trek"-related shows, sure, but this thing where "nerd" just means "someone who knows trivial stuff," I dunno. It doesn't track that well. I had no idea GEICO was an acronym: "Give Everyone Insurance, Come On!"? Ah, no, I see it's "Government Employees Insurance Company." Huh. I feel like I've learned and forgotten this before. I had T-BOND before T-BILL because honestly I don't know financial things at all and when I'm solving I just put in plausible-sounding words and hope for the best (54A: It matures quickly, in brief) (T-bonds actually mature slowly—takes at least 20 years). There's not a lot else to say about this one. "ANNE WITH AN 'E'" is original, for sure, but that's the only non-theme answer that really stood out. The grid is mostly clean and clear. The theme just isn't up to snuff. Dommage.
Another Boswords virtual crossword tournament (or "league") is just around the corner. I think it's a "league" because competitors solve puzzles once a week over a period of months, as opposed to solving a bunch on one day. Anyway, this time it's the "Boswords 2022 Spring Themeless League"! Here's a few words about the tourney from tourney organizer John Lieb:
Registration for the Boswords 2022 Spring Themeless League is now open! This 10-week event starts with a Preseason puzzle on Monday, February 28 and features weekly themeless puzzles -- clued at three levels of difficulty -- from an all-star roster of constructors and edited by Brad Wilber. To register, to solve a practice puzzle, to view the constructor line-up, and to learn more, go to www.boswords.org.
The puzzles for these Boswords competitions are excellent, and as I've said before, if you're curious about what the world of crossword tournaments is like, if you wanna dip your toe in those thrilling waters, Boswords is a good way to find out. You can choose your own difficulty level. You can solve with a friend or family member as a pairs team. What've you got to lose!?
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. my daughter (who just graduated college in December) is currently on tour for her first professional theater gig—stage managing a regional tour of "Church Basement Ladies" across the upper midwest. They open on Thursday in Ottumwa, IA (yes, Radar O'Reilly's hometown, that Ottumwa). She also has a summer job lined up assistant stage-managing at a Shakespeare festival, but I'll tell you more about that later. Anyway, I'm proud, and my daughter is working, so hurray for a Theater degree, actually!
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120 comments:
I mais be wrong, but I C’EST this was a great puzzle. OTOH, I would almost bête that it will be trashed by @Southside Johnny, detester of foreign words and other linguistic non-entities.
According to family lore, my grandfather was a Pooh-bah in the Menshevik party, which favored rEVOLUTION by EVOLUTION, as opposed to the more radical Bolsheviks. He was imprisoned in the later days of Tsarism, and escaped when his comrades blew apart the prison with dynamite and led him to a waiting horse, which he eventually rode across the frozen Baltic Sea. Stopping briefly for a fling in Paris, he made his way to the US, where he became a jack-of-all-trades and won and lost fortunes gambling with Al Capone and his cohorts. I spent many, many weekends watching the White Sox on TV with him, but never got him to talk at all aboutanything to do with Russia.
Rex’s commentary misconstrues so many things that I can’t bring myself to put in the time to point them all out. Most of you have probably noted them already.
Anyway, thanks for a Sunday treat, Victor Barocas.
Ongrats to your daughter, and to her proud papa! Thanks for sharing the good news.
Two OKs in the puzzle is worth pointing out as well. C’est mal.
Rex absolutely nailed it about the pronunciation fails. REINE is not "rain", and don't get me started on DIEU... well read what Rex said. Exactly.
Today was such a slog, in sharp contrast to yesterday which just sailed on a summer breeze. I think it's the problem with the larger Sunday grid, more than with the effort put into making it.
I enjoyed ANNE WITH AN E when it first aired on CBC in Canada 5 years ago. It's weird; when I was growing up you couldn't pay US networks to show a Canadian show. Now with all these streaming platforms, I guess it's changed. Schitt's Creek, Corner Gas, Kim's Convenience!
[Spelling Bee: Sat.: 7 min 30 to get to pg, then got to 0. No surprises!]
Loved this one, love the French people, love the country, love the food. Was having so much fun until I hit 91A. My brother in law, years ago asked my husband and me if we would tell his parents that he was GAY, no problem, will do. He is the sweetest, most kind person on this planet and we love him dearly. I always referred to him as the sister I always wanted. The clue brought me to my knees in tears. Three days ago, unexpectedly, he had to be taken to the hospital in total renal failure, diabetes is the culprit.
We are devastated.
I think this is my fifth dnf of the year. I had DIVERTED at 59D. TESTCHEESE made no sense to me but I couldn't work up much interest to straighten things out. The couples ice skating competition was on TV and I was trying to hurry through this thing to a side solving project. I've printed out the four puzzles that used the same grid as yesterday's and I want to see how they compare. The first was a Manny Nosowsky from '97 and even though it was a Friday it was a little harder to solve. Ah the good old days. The other three will give me something to pass the early week doldrums along with the SB.
yd -0
Medium. French homophones work for me. Liked it.
Puzzles like this make me despair. No fault of the constructor. It seems no matter how many successes I enjoy in decently times finishes, ultimately a puzzle like this comes across to which I manage the most tenuous of connections. To say that I "slog"ed through this would be a boastful exaggeration.
Maybe I'll blame today's lackluster performance (1h 30m+) on the cortisone shot I had this am for a gouty toe ... nonetheless, my ego's taken a hit that will time some time to cure!
Fairly easy until I finished-not-finished and didn't get the happy music. I fixed a stupid typo but still no victory song. That's when I realized that gEST CHEESE didn't make sense -- I had confidently and permanently put in DIVeRgED for "Split" at 59D. Then I changed it to @puzzlehoarder DIVeRtED, which of course was no better. Sadly, I don't know French and I haven't memorized all the state mottos so both versions of 83A and ESTe at 72A looked fine to me. Took quite a while for the bulb to light on DIVORCED/ESTO/C'EST.
@Rex: Congratulations to your daughter on her job in the theater! Her schedule makes me think of this song
@chefwen: So sorry to learn about your brother-in-law. Best wishes to him and the rest of your family.
Victor admits to liking “dumb puns”, (in his notes) and, I guess, so do I, because these theme clues / answers, brought big inner smiles. Waiting for each new one made this entire solve a pleasure. It wasn’t just the punny answers that tripped off those smiles, it was the clues as well, which connected the French and English parts of the answers in a way that made me imagine funny things. The thought of someone snapping their fingers and saying, “C’est cheese!” is a hoot, for instance, IMO. All the themers entertained me.
Then there are those two big curves in the grid, which look like back-to-back parentheses, and made me smile again, because it reminded me of Kameron Austin Collins’ clue of [The right one can produce a smile], for PARENTHESIS.
I also loved ANNE WITH AN E and CARYATIDS, two answers nowhere in my brain, because they toughened the solve, and the kicker – the icing on the cake – was [Lose possession?] for EXORCISE.
So, Victor, you gave me one terrific feel-good grid-venture with this, and I’m deeply grateful!
Like this one a lot. There should be a divergence on the pronunciation of "Dieu" depending on which movie you're watching where "Mon Dieu!" is said with great feeling. I think Rex's "Dieu" is pretty far away from the real vowel sound that validates the answer. Anyway, laughed at "C'est cheese" and appreciated the others more than our dismissive host.
@egs - you’re close ! I couldn’t really muster up enough energy and enthusiasm to parse my way through the theme entries, and similarly, hard to be very energetic about trashing it - good for those who are up to and enjoy the challenge. For me, when a theme falls this flat, the rest of the grid lands with a giant thud as well.
The clue for PROW has me stumped (I’m thinking it’s a nautical term - projecting as the front of a boat or something ?). Maybe there is an alternative definition. Similarly, no clue on the clue for NDA (it went so far over my head I could barely see if) - NDA ? ?
Not sure if WS feels any sense of duty to safeguard the public trust, but the NYT would do well if they didn’t encourage such nonsense as LISTICLEs.
What a picky mouse does: TEST CHEESE
And, yes, the five greatest words in the language are unquestionably "Dad, I got a job." Congrats.
And "Trailer Park Boys" if you're into juvenile humor.
While I agree some of the pronunciations don't quite work perfectly, I don't think it's a big deal and enjoyed the idea of this theme. The NE corner snagged me for a little while.
[Speaking of EXORCISE, my brother and I were going on about Airport 1975 last night, and noted Linda Blair among the all-star case (and Linda Black among the AIRCREW). In addition to Airplane!, I was ultimately diverted to Carol Burnett's hilarious spoof, Disaster 1975.]
A new way to clue OREO! 53 calories, LOL... I haven't seen this before.
Rex, congratulations on your daughter's first professional gig! Love that you mentioned Otummwa, IA.
Here's a clue for a Hidden Diagonal Word (HDW) in today's puzzle:
Performs a showstopper, perhaps (5 letters, answer below)
I'm thinking Rex is probably correct in rating this on the easier side, but I found several things with which to struggle.
It took quite a while to see IN THAT (106A, Seeing as), not helped by the fact that I blanked on ANNE WITH AN E.
But most of the problem came in that center section, where I was:
1)inexplicably done in by DID IN, at least for a while; 2) ignorant of the Latin conclusion of the MO motto; 3) misread the clue to 39D, looking for most likely winner instead of most likely to win (noun vs. adjective); and 4) took way too long to grok CATER.
The CATER issue was tied to the "I have no clue" for CARYATIDS issue. I wanted it to begin with mARY instead of CARY! But all was not lost--I enjoyed the image of a team of virgin Marys with a large building hoisted on their shoulders.
Answer to the HDW clue:
BELTS (begins with the B in 36A, PBS, and moves to the SE; could also be clued as "Sings or drinks with gusto" or "What business attire and automobiles have in common."
Speaking of French CHEESE, there's a diagonal BRIE in the NE corner.
Worked for me.
But I knew I should have taken that left turn in Albuquerque.
Big grid + small puns doesn’t work for me. I guess some decent non-theme fill but not for Sunday size.
BERT, ERNIE and OSCAR. Electric EPEE is new to me. Two OKs are rough. Liked DRESDEN, LIP READER and ANNE WITH AN E.
And I remember one faded summer
A chore.
Hearty congratulations to your daughter!
Wordle 246 3/6
🟨⬛🟨⬛⬛
🟨🟨🟨⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Rolled in another nice birdie today. Sitting at 7-under after two rounds and on the front page of the leaderboard heading into the weekend.
Thx Victor; a très bien Sun. puz! :)
Med.
Smooth journey, except for my blunder at DIVORCED. Had DIVertED / ESTe / tEST CHEESE. Knew that was wrong, but didn't think to look at the long down. Should have twigged at EST_. :(
Nevertheless, another very enjoyable adventure.
@Whatsername (3:57 PM yd)
Wow! what a great link to the Wordle archive. Many thx! :)
@puzzlehoarder / okanaganer 👍 for recent 0's
___
yd pg: (15:55) / Wordle 245 5/6*
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Well, Rex is just being pooey. I loved this, and all the themers were terrific (if you chill a bit). This was a wonderfully good old-fashioned groany Sunday puzzle just like Gramma used to make. So to speak.
@Southside Johnny — NDA = non-disclosure agreement (doc to ensure secrecy) — like one might have to sign after sleeping with a former president, for example— the former president has one of his lackeys pay money and have the victim sign an NDA to ensure that the “secret” never comes out — even though it inevitably will.
Shoutout to @Nancy (or anyone who knows)...
Was the solution to yesterday's Wit Twister SENSE DIET, TIREDNESS, DISSENTER?
As any American who has spoken with distant living people knows, vowels can change in pronunciation wildly from region to region. I think that is true for any "living" language that is spoken in a large enough territory. So complaining about pronunciation failures seems to me beside the point. One of the Jeopardy! college contestants speaks Latin. I wonder if she would agree with me.
And I do feel kind of sorry reading the comments of those for whom solving times is so important. Not so for me. It's the process that attracts me. Not my time, not even whether I successfully complete the puzzle (which usually doesn't happen when PPP and slang is beyond me. So French based pronunciation puns agree with me (who took French in high school and college). As a result, I enjoyed this puzzle. More than the nits that are aimed at it. "The wackiness mostly doesn't land today." Not in my book. To each his own.
-
@chefwen, sorry. Diabetes is awful, runs in my family too. Is a transplant possible? Will be thinking of you.
Rex, enjoyed the schedule. Congrats to Ella. Many of the towns she's headed to are familiar as I lived in the midwest. Hope she'll have a few hours now and again to visit some of the downtowns. Sioux Falls really has falls in a park.
Puzzle is fine, didn't love it, but it was mildly amusing.
I made exactly the same mistake. Like you, I was befuddled by TEST CHEESE. Being from Missouri didn’t help me see the other wrong cross on ESTO vs ESTe.
just awful.merd
"Rex is just being pooey." Ha! Admit it, that's why we come here every day.
I disagree with Rex on the “calling attention to your bad fill” comment. A TREE may be a partial (I don’t really share the aversion to those), but the clue makes it more interesting. The clue for AT NINE, on the other hand, is just blah. How is that better?
Speaking of clues, “lose possession” is outstanding for EXORCISE. hope it makes @Lewis’ list.
Can we stop pretending that ERNIE and BERT are just roommates? C’mon, Sesame Street, it’s time for one of them to say I’M GAY, or better yet both to say We’re GAY.
Some of the themers were indeed grammatically clunky, but I didn’t mind that the pronunciation was off on a few. They were close - good enough for me. Overall, i liked it, apart from the DNF noted above in response to someone who made the same mistake as I did.
First, puns. Second, vowels. If you think the vowels don’t quite work in puns you don’t get puns and you really really are just flat out wrong on vowel pronunciations. Bad puns (that is, “bad” as in “good”) regularly rely on Vowel Movement. I’ve read that daily Vowel Movements reduce the incidence of brain farts. Be regular.*
*I usually don’t care, but this masterpiece makes me wish Rex read the comments. 🤣😂🤣
Decades ago, we went to France with a little phrasebook. It told us to say, "We are two" (nous sommes deux) when we went into a restaurant in order to ask for a table for two.
Every time we tried it, the French stared and some laughed and finally a kindly maitre d' told us, "Ma'am, you are saying, 'We are god.'(nous sommes dieu)."
I've never forgotten the pronunciation since.
I actually emjoyed the puns for this one. Lay to waste is a phrase, Rex, as I am sure you are aware. You aren't supposed to translate. And the pronunciations aren't exact, merely suggestive.
BTW, "XXX" on a bottle is not "ale." The Xs refer to distillation, three meaning triply distilled. "XXX" means booze.
In my best French, this was a large heap of "garbage."
The theme was fun, and easy. Once you get the French word, you can pretty much fill in the rest of it. My two big problems were:
a) DIVeRgED, along with everyone else, it seems. I studied Latin for four years, but that was 62 years ago, so I started with ESse, got the T from IRATE, and decided ESTe was a participle. I'm guessing ESTO must be a subjunctive, but you couldn't prove it by me.
b) TERA-nanoseconds tying to reconcile AV (as in AVer or AVOW) with prima donna. At some point I read the editor's introductory note, which called attention to the title, and realized what was going on with DIEU PROCESS, and that fixed it all. I didn't know about the FBI Academy, so I was thinking of Quantico as a Marine base, and trying to fit in 'second looey' instead of FEDS.
Id didn't help that I had the obvious cpaS for Ernst & Young. What a beautiful misdirect!
I got ENT from the crosses, and was glad to see that he hadn't decided to make one of Tolkien's walking trees cross A TREE.
@Chefwen, I'm very sorry to hear about your brother-in-law. I'll hope for the best.
@Rex, congratulations to your daughter!
This took a long time, mostly because I have enough trouble reading the tiny numbers on a Sunday, and this will be my last document before we replace the black ink in the printer. It was mostly OK, but parts required some archeological skill. Then I was stuck forever because one of my V's somehow looked like an N so I had GEN for a book when LEV would have revealed everything. Not many words begin with WIEG, I discovered. Sheesh.
I think we can apply Joaquin's dictum to foreign pronunciation. If you can say DIEU like a French speaker, I applaud you, but for those of us raised speaking American English, it ain't easy.
All of you DIVERTED people missed the chance to enter DIVERGED, leading to GOATCHEESE. Not me.
Also ANNEWITHANE makes a wonderful DOOK if you're not familiar with the program.
A Very Bodacious Sunday, VB Thanks for all the fun, and thanks for eschewing the opportunity to include the French philosopher/street vendor and his Rainy Day Cart.
I've always been a Francophile, or at least wanted to learn the language. My two quarters of college French and a reading French class were so long ago that today's puzzle is about all I could handle. I thought this was fun and very clever.
It took me a long time to get the first theme answer (LAIT TO WASTE). The puzzle title gave a nice hint but I had to get a bunch of crosses before it all gelled. My favorite theme answer is C'EST CHEESE. Perhaps because it reminds me of one of my husband's favorite sayings, "Some say la vie". I can't tell if he knows it's a joke or not.
My big hang-up was in the SLAP/ALTE/PLOW/TBILL/AIRCREW area. I hadn't looked at the constructor's name or I would have realized that Victor, being a fellow Minnesotan, would not expect to see snow on the winter road (salt, perhaps.) And I should have realized that with SLURRED in the grid, the insult would not be a SLur. But I wandered around in that spot and ended up with a double DNF when I failed to do the calculation and had a gEgA for 54D. What's an AIg CREW, you ask? Something to do with insurance, anyway. Right.
Thanks, Victor, this was a very nice Sunday puzzle.
Yay, Ella, for getting a job in theater. That's one hellish looking tour schedule, crisscrossing the upper Midwest.
And @chefwen, so sorry to hear about your brother-in-law.
like many others today I was diverted from my goal, but test life I guess.
C'est magnifique! BEST SUNDAY EVER....I loved this as much as my amiga, @chefwen.
I'm pretty sure I whispered loudly "Mon DIEU...I hope @Rex loved this as much as I." (sigh)
I speak some French..Like @chefwen, I love anything French. My step-mom is French and I love her to tears. I've heard people disparage the French...Bah. These same people don't even try to enjoy a good glass of wine, sitting in a little cafe and eating some good CHEESE with a little baguette.
This puzzle brought smile after smile after smile. I MISS YOU, VICTOR.
My favorite? All of them.
I took my time...I clapped my hands in glee...So many wonderful memories of spending time in Nice where my dad had an apartment....telling the bread lady how beautiful she was (she was fat and had no teeth) and she'd laugh loudly every morning when I'd come in....The list is endless.
I had one little Google: LISTICLE. Wasn't sure of spelling....Sounds a bit like testicle?
Big grin seeing 23D: Man of La Mancha. I soooo wanted Don Quijote or Sancho Panza. I took a little rest and remembered reading the book in Spanish....By the way, Cervantes wrote of Quijote NOT Quixote as the English prefer. Try the Spanish version...It'll knock your socks off.
@Wanderlust....According to Frank Oz, ( the co-creator of BERT and ERNIE), they are just very good, best friends. I don't really care because some of my besties are GAY. They are more fun (usually) than some of my straight friends. AND...they love my food!
@Pete 10:27 yesterday.
I know...All of God's creature must eat. I'm not afraid of snakes at all. We had them everywhere in Cuba. I'd take some cheese out to them. My dad would laugh silently. He finally told me they are carnivores . I asked him what that meant. He told me they only eat meat. So, I took them some of my leftover carne asada. He laughed again.
Toads...on the other hand...They are pretty ugly, no? Plus...they do a bad croak dance.
@Rex...Congratulations to you and your wife. It sounds like you two did a great job af raising a shining star.
@chefwen...I'm thinking of you and your brother-in law. My great aunt had renal failure and she lived a very long life. I always believe in hope. A hug is on its way...
Well, I took French so I knew the key words in the puns wouldn't be any problem for me -- and I still didn't want to do this puzzle. The puns would need crosses to figure out and there were so many clues that required tiny little bits of extraneous information that I don't have and couldn't be bothered with. Like...
Neighbor of Siberia in Risk
One of the books of the Torah
List in The Idiot's Guide to
673 parts of thhe Louvre Pyramid
BuzzFeed staple
Netflix series set at Green Gables
One of 17 in Monopoly
Taller roommate of 15-Down
Shorter roommate of 14-Across
I knew it would be a slog and so I stopped cold. I had a OUI and a LAIT and an EAU...and nothing else. And that is SUFFIT for me.
@chefwen (1:23 AM)
🙏 for your brother in law.
___
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Rex is right about the problems caused by pronunciation. To all of those who’ve been saying there are a variety of acceptable sounds for the vowels. True. But that doesn’t mean all pronunciations are acceptable. And frankly, Shortz’ defective midwest speech is the problem here.
Saying melk for milk isn’t a variation, it’s an error. So too reine for rain.
Against my will I heard Shortz on NPR this morning apologizing for his claim that Aaron and Erin have the same initial vowel sound. They don’t. He even made a faux apology. Mind boggling.
Rex is also right about treasury Bonds. Not only are they not short term, their alternate name is long bonds, Maybe the constructor and Shortz got confused by T-notes which are issued at much shorter terms.
Anyway, no need to get into Treasury offerings, unless Pete comes along to , ahem, help out with finance issues as he did with Hedge funds and shorting a little while back. It’s
PS...Yes...some of the French pronunciations are different than the ones sounding here. for example DIEU PROCESS. DIEU in French is pronounced more. like deeyou. Not like the intended "dew".
It didn't matter one little bit to me, like it did to @Rex. This was tres enjoyable.
@Z -- Well done!
Hey All !
Well now. Toughie for me. DNF in a few spots. Had to guess at a couple of the Frenchies. Sure, I knew OUI, EAU, DIEU, inferred BELLE and LAIT, but couldn't get the others. (In retrospect, C'EST was a should've.) As a matter of fact (AAMOF as the kids say today? maybe?), DIVORCED eluded me for some reason. Wanted DIVIDED first, too short. Was thinking divested, diverged, dividend (?), probably a couple of others. Dang.
Had Donna for Prima ___, of course, never heard of Prima FACIE, but it gets an F at least. FEDS go to Quantico? Who knew. Had jaM for DOM for a bit (Jamaica, mon.) So a tough little section there.
Saw others comment on ANNE WITH AN E. Har. Not having heard of the show, I thought it was ANNE WITHANE, as a name.
Resisted putting in ITSOK, as already having OKED. Is it OK to be double OKED? Seems UNDUE. Maybe redo that SW corner. Get rid of VISA ETON RAKE, and come up with something else. Just sayin'.
Didn't catch the second layer of the theme that Rex points out, as in each Frenchism corresponds to the clue. As in OUI for yes for Positive thinker's motto. So that adds to the betterment of this puz.
Maybe the ole brain was on a NAPS today. Ah well, C'EST la vie.
yd -2, should'ves 2 (TRIPE!)
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Or if the secret ministry of frost
Shall hang them up in silent LISTICLEs,
Quietly shining to the quiet moon.
-- With apologies to Coleridge
EAU FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE -- @Rex, your daughter has quite a job to do. How you stage a 7:30 performance of a musical comedy, strike the set, drive the 5-1/2 hours from Hartford, WI to Van Wert, OH, and put on two performances the next day? Then do the same thing over and over again as the bus BOUNCES BACK and forth from town to town to town? I'm counting 53 (possibly 54) performances over 52 days in 35 cities. And that doesn't even factor in the number of corn fields and wind farms they'll see along the way.
83A "CESTCHEESE" was a funny answer, but it is worth noting that "c'est" really isn't pronounced like the English "say." It has a short "e" (as in the English "let"). Americans tend to pronounce it like "say," but that's because we have a tendency to make short French vowels into diphthongs, something no Parisian like tolerate. (The French in the provinces are much more tolerant...)
I enjoyed the puzzle until the happy music didn’t play. I mainly know crossword French, so I should have guessed CESTCHEESE, but GEST seemed plausible (maybe as instruction to smile for the camera? ) and I had DIVeRgED. EXORCISE's clue was a rewarding challenge.
There are 50 different Latin state mottos, I suppose. Does anyone care what they are?
So many abbreviated answers in this puzzle as well. I hated it.
I thought the theme was a treat, especially EAU FOR HEAVEN"S SAKE, with DIEU PROCESS a second-place favorite. It would have been C'EST CHEESE if I hadn't also, like some others, DIVeRgED from the correct answer, justifying "gEST CHEESE" as a folksy "just cheese" - not that that's phrase or that geste is even spelled correctly. At least I corrected my first misstep into the theme: at 1D, I had ???UD crossing 22A ?UISHALL, so I wrote in a Q for QUI SHALL... and had no idea what was going on. Man, the time it took to straighten that out!
@Sioux Falls, thank you for explaining NDA.
@Rex, congratulations to your daughter! I hope March will be a lamb while she's here in our territory.
@chefwen, I'm so sorry.
C'EST CHEESE was the last themer I got because, as retired guy noted, it's pronounced "seh" not "say."
How could editor let that go through? How could so many solvers not know it? C'est dommage!
No, @Twangster, that's certainly not it! Leading me to a...
**Wit Twister from yesterday alert**
To answer your question:
SENSE DIET makes absolutely no sense. DISSENTER doesn't scan.
Maybe @jberg or @Joe D will know the answer. I don't. This is the first one that has ever stumped me!
I used my Roget every which way to Sunday. I thought the second word of Line 1 was probably RULE, RAGE or LAWS. I had no idea what the first word was.
For Line 3, I looked up 10-letter synonyms for "rebellious" that scanned. Then I moved to "disobedient" and "stubborn". That led me eventually to OBSTINATE, the only 10-letter word I could find that does scan. But I can't make that work.
For Line 2, I looked up synonyms for "hint" and "trace". Then, having failed to find anything useful, I dropped that and looked for words expressing passion or emotion. Couldn't find anything there, either. I seldom have to resort to my Roget, but this was driving me crazy. It still is.
I need help too. Anyone?
beverly,
Perhaps surprisingly there’s nowhere near 50 State mottos in Latin. Less than half that actually.
Many are in English, but there’s also Italian— Maryland, French—Minnesota, Hawaiian—well, you know, GreeK—California, and those oh so tres woke folks in Washington who opted for Chinook—-using a bit of slang or jargon.
As for caring, I actually do. Take a look,at them; some are of course piffle. Others have deep philosophical implications.
Fun puzzle. I get that the puns are in French, but what language is ATREE, ALEAST, DIDIN, LEAPTO, EARSAT. and ATNINE?
93A – Remove from godhood? UNDIEU
We call that a Dieuplicate Themer Error.
(Not to mention "Do the DIEU" further down.)
@jberg pretty much laid out every answer I put down first but had to change…including the Quantico question. Unlike @jberg, I did not take French and my knowledge of said language is only due to living a long life (and paying attention) so SOME of the fill-ins escaped me such as C’EST but I just had to wait for crosses. As is usual for me, I really enjoyed the puzzle in spite of any nits…
Like @egs, I thought of @Southside as soon as I sussed the theme with the appearance of OUI and EAU. However, I was kind of surprised when I saw @Nancy’s comment about the things she didn’t know and didn’t care to know.
@Z, that was a good one, for sure!
Is @Frantic okay or just on vacation?
Lastly…to the Anonymous that appeared to gauge any failure of this puzzle on Shortz’s “incorrect Midwest accent”….I really hope you were making an unfunny joke.
Lol @Z, bring on the lottery…
Wordle 246 2/6
⬜⬜🟨🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
JK. My last two days I had. 6 and 5….
Rex,
FYI people don’t “graduate college;” they “graduate FROM college.”
Anonymous
Where is my bestie, @Frantic? Just a few hours that I don't hear from you and I become frantic....xo
Hand up for having DIVeRgED/gEST.
Also had rye (hi @Z) before ALE, but easily changed with crosses.
@Chefwen
I'm so sorry.
Thanks, Nancy ... I was thinking you were the author but no doubt there are multiple puzzling Nancys out there. In case anyone else wants to give it a shot, you need to find a 9-letter word to fill in the blanks (well, two 9-letter words and one that breaks into 5- and 4-letter words):
The art world's latest _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _: just draw!
No _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ of texture, shape and color!
Yet, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ at heart, I break that law.
My brushstrokes thrill me! (Pencils are much duller.)
(And apologies for the off-topic post but the answer is only available in Monday's printed paper, which I don't get.)
NDA = Non-disclosure Agreement
Beezer
I’m dead serious.
I’m guessing you aren’t English, Australian or from the North East of the United States.
You may not hear the difference but most of the English speaking world hears a difference between Aaron and Erin. Shortz does not.And I say with confidence that anyone who cannot hear that difference ought not be in charge of a puzzle which relies on nuanced phonics.
complaining about dieu--how's about the excruciating "rhyme" of adieu with "you and you and you" ! If R and H can get away with it, so can NYT. But much ickier in Sound of Music.
How many had EAU FOR HEAVENS LAKE?
Made sense. I just thought I missed something in Bible study.
re the Saturday Wit Twister by Nancy Coughlin:
PLEASE DON'T POST THE ANSWER HERE
Some people are still trying to figure it out.
Thank you.
@retired guy & @Marcia - Who have you been talking to? - There’s more you can find on the interwebs. French speakers tend to be less nasally than Americans, but C’EST is still usually said with a long A, not a schwa or short A.
Related to this, though, is that there isn’t a single French pronunciation any more than there is a single English pronunciation. Hang out around Aix-en-Provence and OUI will often sound more like “way” than “we.” Québécois is as different from Parisian French as Midwestern English is from London English. It’s all messy and inconsistent and shifting. All one can do is pun and laugh and not be too serious.
@Anonymous 12:24 - You may be dead serious but you’re also 50% wrong about Aaron and Erin.
@anonymous (12:24 pm)
Well o certainly wouldn't put that person in charge of my two children, Aaron and Erin. They're confused enough already.
@Anon 10:36 /10:24 No, the Brits and Aussies have defective accents. I can't understand half of what they say. And don't get me started on the Scots. I'm pretty sure they speak English inflected Neanderthal. All of them should be shot, except for those with perfect OxBridge accents. And the word is phonetics, not phonics. Phonics is either a method teaching reading based on phonetics, or a morononym for phonetics which entered the language due to the people who didn't know the difference between phonics and phonetics. Kind of like the fact that Alibi also means excuse, not proof of being somewhere else.
BTW, your typing is much better this morning that it was last night. So, 12:00 is your start time?
@beezer 12:00 - I’ve had a run of 4’s and 5’s after a run of threes. I took a 5 the other day when I could have gotten a three if I’d gone with my gut rather than “good strategy.” I didn’t want to use a doubled consonant so made two other guesses with different consonants. I know from Twitter that words that use a letter a twice cause complaints, and mathematically my two wrong guesses were just as likely as the answer, so it was only “good strategy” to avoid the LL if it were wrong, which it wasn’t.
Say cheese was the pun? Now that is funny. Yes C'EST (say) la vie. Perfect. Dumb me I looked up how to pronounce C'EST online and didn't get it at all.
But yes sound shifts are common in puns. Remember Woody Allen at the movie theater. Did you-> did jew transformation. I knew OIU EAU LAIT BELLE DIEU (die u?).
Speaking of languages:
How come that Masses on the Mountain commercial song sounds so Piaf-ish and when I looked up the lyrics it turned out to be Spanish. Fake me out much.
BELLETOWER was a flop because beauty TOWER makes no sense as a clue answer and bell tower not on a par with the other answers. Enjoyed all the others.
I guess this weekend gets the award for most peculiar use of TREE in two consecutive days.
Started out very sloggish to me. Once I got rolling in the South I must have tuned into the right wavelength and many clues became clear on the road North that drew blanks on the way down.
WORDLE:
Rolled in a proud bogey due to a brain freeze. I still have my wordle in orange and blue. One blue on my first word. Forgetting that blue meant wrong place I put in a second guess with that letter in the same place. Again that was the only colored tile. Tried again and got one orange tile. So now I knew my mistake. One orange one blue and sitting 3.
If I only did it once would have been a brainf**t.
@chefwen
My sympathies for you and your family. Best wishes for a sucessful treatment and a speedy recovery.
For what it is worth, OUI SHALL OVERCOME must be one of the great puzzle answers of all time. And just in time for BHM!
tc
Ditto...a clran and fun solve, 4 sure!
Mon Dieu, cette thème, c'est le pire.
Z,
Viz Aaron Erin. Spok3n like a true Midwesterner.
Chomsky,
Yes.
Phonics was a joke. That is, my post was didactic. Not funny perhaps, but the usage was purposeful not an error of ignorance.
@Joe D-- If you figure it out, can you please send the answer to me off-blog. Thanks!
@okanaganer:
Now with all these streaming platforms, I guess it's changed.
Hardly. USofA TV is always looking for cheap stuff to fill time. Most of what's on some cable/sat channels comes straight from CBC.
@12:24
having grown up in Western MA (the part that Bean Town ignores except when collecting taxes), home to (last I looked, which is a long time) the Merriam-Webster, we have no accent. the pronunciation in the book is the way we spoke/speak.
If at first you typo try try again. But if there is another one you all are just going to have to live with it.
@albatross she’ll - BELLE TOWER specializes in road side service for stranded young women.
@2:09 - Well, I am that, but the link was to M-W and shows two pronunciations of “Aaron,” one of which is also the pronunciation of “Erin.” Their example is to Aaron as a southern last name. No idea if that distinction is regional and I don’t care enough to look it up. Tis puncloseenough.
@2:09 Again, you're misusing your words. It's idiotic, not didactic that you were being.
@Z 12:46
You are absolutely right about pronunciations being regional. I hadn't thought about that.
French Canadian is almost like another language, yet it is French. I'm comparing it (I suppose) to Parisian French or The Riviera French.
As I mentioned, I speak some French and all of these hit my sweet spot; I had no trouble figuring out the accents or the themes.
Same here, except I'm not from MO. I have been DIVORCED, though. I've also been diverted when told to smile at the camera (a much better clue, IMO).
@Nancy 2:32 re Wit Twister – I will, and likewise please do the same. I'm not getting anywhere with it. I thought of some of the same things you did. I liked SILLY RULE or CRAZY RULE or possibly (something) IDEA for the first line but can't do anything else with those letters.
I didn't think BELLE TOWER was one of the theme answers. Belle is an English word for a beautiful woman. Rapunzel is a beautiful woman, and she resided in a tower, making that a BELLE TOWER.
Sundays when I dnf, I feel cheated. It was DIVORCED that did it; I joined the diverted/diverged gang.
@okanoganer, I'm awe-struck, not just by your consistency but also your speed! Today pg -7 so far.
@Chefwen all best wishes for your b-in-law.
Wow, @Anonymous 12:24, you have some energy on this and I see that you are dead serious. I’m not sure exactly what your point is because (depending on what you call the Midwest) you left out MOST of the U.S. Does Aaron/Erin (and yes, I tend to HEAR it the same, and MAYBE it’s wrong) tie in with proper French pronunciation? Unfortunately most of the U.S. has not taken French and, for example, quite often pronounce dieu and deux the same (as evidenced above). I bid you good day.
Thank you for this, for the life of me I couldn't figure out what the English was supposed to be.
Z,
Did I miss something? You posted a link to Aaron. But without a link to Erin, it’s useless.
And no, pronunciation is not regional per se.
Midwestern commonly mispronounce milk as melk. It sis so common there’s currently a National spot for Lactaid where the spokesman mispronounces milk.
I know who produced the ad. Who wrote it. Neither pronounce it that way.
They’re selling to the folks who mispronounce it. Flyover country. Like Michigan.
There’s a difference between e in Erin and A in Aaron. Perhaps you don’t hear it.
But that is a pity, not an affirmation of your position.
Re: 7D (Exorcise)
This poor girl was possessed by demons so her parents sought out the services of an exorcist who got very good ratings on Yelp. The only problem was his fee was $25,000. When they told him they couldn't come up with the money, he said they could pay it off over time. Great! So the exorcism was performed and went very well. She resumed living a normal life. After a couple of years, though, the family suffered some economic reversals and started missing payments. Not a happy ending: the girl was repossessed.
Ba da boom.
A note from my backward journey through the Archives (1995 spoiler alert) -- An answer that outdoes ERIE PA for sheer bravado:
SITKA AK ("Address SW of Juneau").
I'd take that one any day of the week in 2022.
Sure were some weaker spots in the theme, but but it worked for me as a enjoyable “traditional” (for many, read “old, dull and boring”), but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
First of all, DIEU PROCESS made me laugh. Yes, it is one of the themers for which French pronunciation does not work, unless it is English pronounced with a French accent. I laughed at this one because I imagine my colleague in Paris saying “due process” with his heavy Parisian accent and it absolutely works. When working in Paris, and addressing complex issues of American due process rampant in this particular international litigation, his pronunciation led is all to a string of “sacred” processes until we had beat the horse to death. Anyway, my personal frame of reference made that one funny.
OUI SHALL OVERCOME, BELLE TOWER (although more of a thing than a saying), and EAU FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE all worked. Perhaps Mr. Barocas overplayed his hand a bit, but the puzzle was a delight to solve, and everything I like to see in a Sunday NYTXW. My Gran would have adored this one. At my ever advancing age, I find I understand her so much better, and feel prepared to begin my own Grandmother phase, scary as that is!
Clever clues, too. Angled to get attention: Abbr. as a prime example. Fun with a bit of crunch in spits and so little junk. A very enjoyable Sunday for me. Now on to my other regular Sunday puzzles.
@Leslie. That one makes me cringe every single time! But I suppose I can’t argue woth R’s & H’s success.
Z,
The link you provided only has one pronunciation. Not sure that link is making the pint you think it is.
@4:04/5:48 - Well, the pint will probably be an IPA. As for my link, M-W provides two pronunciations for "Aaron" under the first definition and one of those again under the second definition. Each of the two pronunciations even come with a sound file so everyone can listen for the difference between ˈa-rən and ˈer-ən. And I assume you can manage to type "Erin" into the handy dandy search field on the page to see which of the two pronunciations applies to "Erin" if your discerning ear isn't up to the task.
Z,
It’s the second pronunciation . At best as you would say, sub optimal.
M-W provides no sound file which differentiates the sound using their wav files. I’m looking at an oscilloscope. Are you?
To change the subject,
Re: YesterPuz
WEEZER is coming out with four records this year, one on each Start of Each Season, so still quite relevant.
RooMonster Living In The Past Guy
I finished. But I increasingly experience Sunday puzzles as just a slog by nature, and the easiest ones are even less rewarding. I think I'll feel like I kicked a vice if I actually swear them off. The junk food of crosswords. Bloated and bloating. Let's form a recovery group.
**Wordle Talk**
Apparently today’s word is being used as “evidence” that the NYT has made wordle harder by using more obscure words. Highlarious. I’m just guessing that the complainers might complain about three of my four guesses, with only stink being really common.
Wordle 246 4/6
⬛🟨⬛🟨⬛
⬛🟨🟨⬛⬛
⬛⬛🟨🟩⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
@Anon - 🤣😂🤣😂🤣 - Maybe you just need more expensive speakers (I kid). The difference between the vowel sounds is clearer on the pronunciation key page, (they use ash and bet for the examples there) and also clearer with the male vocalization on the Erin page, but yeah, pretty damn close. To me the key point is both pronunciations of Aaron are deemed acceptable by M-W.
@RooMonster - Here’s hoping our own @beezer makes an appearance on one of those Weezer albums.
@Leslie and @CDilly52 --
In defense of Hammerstein: He rhymes "adieu" with "yuh and yuh and yuh". (Which rhymes perfectly, btw.) He's being funny, or at least trying to be. And as for me, I do find the line amusing.
Hammerstein has a flawless ear for rhyme. He's one of the best lyricists who ever lived. He would never rhyme Aaron with Erin, for example. I feel I have to speak up on his behalf. As I hope he would do for me if he were still alive. :)
@chefwen, very sorry for you and your family. Good thoughts coming your way.
My dad was an FBI agent so I was happy to see Quantico. Still have some letters he sent to my mom from there. Also letters of commendation, and the 1965 letter of condolences on his death, from J. Edgar.
Only problem today was having jumPTO (conclusions) which encouraged my wildly wrong “pantomimes” for the Echoes clue. Hey, it fit, like yesterday’s smelly coney island, for BASSET HOUND.
There was a real Radar: Don Shaffer, from Ottumwa, Iowa, was the inspiration for the MASH character. BTW, Yesterday’s Dr. DeBakey was instrumental in the creation of MASH units.
Another Ottumwa native I found interesting:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mrs_Potts_sad_irons,_ca_1899.jpg#/media/File:Mrs_Potts_sad_irons,_ca_1899.jpg
Looks like I’m the only one to object to the frivolous reduction of “We Shall Overcome” to positive thinking. We Shall Overcome is about perseverance in the face of crushing inhumanity. I don’t like to see it demeaned in a crossword. Yep, touched a nerve here. My FBI father was passionate about civil rights.
Why on earth are people posting their Wordle scores?
opium snare ÷ funky bunch = belly
Force St. Green, under check
Moray suede:
rough flick spoof
Thank you for supporting my Kickstarter fund to get my poetry published. No contribution is too small. Unlike my poems.
@Z
I assume that is a joke a reference to Bell telephone towers assuming such exists or existed. I'll also assume that the apostrophe or other marking in my name was acciental and not some to well hidden joke. Since it was your 3rd attempt I am unsure of either judgement. Regional spelling of judgment?
@A
Wow. Dad was an FBI agent. I would guess you have much reason to be proud and that the whole family may have had to make certain sacrifices at some time. I assume he died somewhat early but not necessarily so. And may have died on the job from your phrasing. What ever the case I am glad he honored the civil rights movement too. It is at least my opinion that his boss did not honor it very well at all. Thanks for sharing. I had some thoughts about the song but, you know, the song itself is an example of positive thinking. Say it, sing it and this song will make people believe which will make people act which will make more people believe which will eventually make a dream come true. I don't really think a pun cheapens much anyway. God water beautiful women or civil rights anthems.
@Nancy
Aaron Erin rhyme. Well according to the discussion hear they either do not rhyme at all or they are identical words so not a rhyme at all.
Now does either rhyme with BARON BARREN SARIN ERR IN AIR IN KAREN SWEAR IN DARREN.
@albatross shell - Damn auto-corrupt. And “road side service” might be provided by a tow truck, aka a TOWER, not a TOWER.
Completely agree with you!
LAIT is way worse than REINE and DIEU in my opinion. This one is merde, if I don’t CEST so myself.
Best clue: Ernst and Young e. g. Abbr. I would’ve expected Rex to sneer at this clue – after all Joni Ernst and Todd Young are Republicans!.
Never a fan of pronunciation themes, and this was worse than most especially reine and dieu. The others I can live with, but not those two.
Congrats on your daughter. Ottumwa was in last weeks acrostic.
I didn't like this puzzle much but reluctantly finished. I do know French so I got all of those long answers. Belle tower was horrible. I knew something tower right away but Belle has nothing to do with hair and I never played Risk even though I figured Ural eventually. Never heard of Anne with an E and I search Netflix all the time for anything to watch. I figured nerdiest but didn't understand SENS for a bit. I try not to think of cow inseminators. Listicle was annoying. Feds was obvious (Quantico was a show) although I hear feebs a lot. Never heard the word TARE 107A, much less Caryatid.
Had slur and jump to initially and was fixated on roommates being Stan and Ollie. But I bounced back. LOL
My only question still is 12D DOM.
Dominica? Dominican Republic? D of M something? Help!
Wait.. nobody else immediately filled in '... for LOURDES sake' as soon as they got "eau.."? I mean, it fit perfectly and you have to admit it would have been a genius themed answer to 'holy water'.. Cost me several minutes of confusion when I had to undo it..
How could I not love a puzzle that says to me EAUFORHEAVENSSAKE? Moi? Oui!!
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords, lover of French and puns and Sunday
DINED INLAID
DIEUPROCESS TURNS you ON IN haste,
EAUFORHEAVENSSAKE IHOPE FOR some.
Don't LEAPTO put our LAITTOWASTE,
so IT'SOK if OUISHALLOVERCOME.
--- ANITA ALIBI
More brown nosing....
Easy except for one tiny alcove: The lower west, from 70 to 86 across. That was a bear, and very nearly stopped me cold. Game starter = PLAYERONE?? We're supposed to get there from THAT?? And ANNEWITHANE: is that famous? Never heard of it. Put it with Hathaway and you have a smashing DOD, but otherwise...huh? That whole section was a nightmare. Took the puzzle from easy to medium-challenging, all by itself.
The rest of it was okay, but it wasn't worth the sweat for that one area. Bogey.
You are hilarious!
@Spacey - my mom and I read the "Anne of Green Gables" series out loud to each other. Anne often explained to others that her name was spelled "Anne with an E." For once, and I do mean once, I am the one to "get" the trivia. So...yes, it's famous to Anne lovers.
Lady Di
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