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Fishhook attachment / THU 3-3-22 / Soul sucker in the Harry Potter books / Accessory for a soccer fan / Goddess whose name means lovely / She met her husband Frank after beating him in a shooting match / It covers 6.8% of the earth's land / Simple recipe instruction or a hint to the answers to the four starred clues
Thursday, March 3, 2022
Constructor: August Lee-Kovach
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
Theme answers:
- HIGLIDAYS (16A: *Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur) ("High Holidays")
- FRENCRNS (25A: *The wolf in "Peter and the Wolf") ("French horns")
- BEACUSES (42A: *Cape Cod retreats) ("beach houses")
- ELEVENTUR (56A: *Last possible second) ("eleventh hour")
: a short line (as of gut) by which a fishhook is attached to a longer line (merriam-webster.com)
• • •
That NW corner was brutal on me. And I wanted ORBS right away! And SNL! But then ... off the "N" in SNL ... I wrote in AS IN instead of THAN (13A: Part of a comparison). And that was absolutely lethal. Could not bring myself to take it out. Seemed perfect. Also, Hammer's pants are PUFFY, or at least that's the adjective I associate with them, so that answer was confusing me (3D: Like Hammer pants = BAGGY). And RHINO, forget it, no, I couldn't see that at all. ENG could've been anything. Not sure why it took me so long to finally see ROYCE (a gimme)—that answer finally gave me the momentum to power through that thorny first-themer area. The rest of the grid was pretty manageable. Figuring out where the HHO bits were and how to write its answer into the grid was the only significant challenge. So, as is typical with Thursday tricks, there's an indefinite period of struggle just to identify the trick, and then the post-aha part, which is significantly easier. I wanted YALE at 14A: Its motto is "Fiat lux" (UCLA), which the puzzle must've known I would want, since it then taunted me with the actual YALE motto later in the grid (59A: Its motto is "Lux et veritas").
The fill was crustyish in places, for sure. EN-LAI SNELL is one of the less appealing pairs of fives I've seen in a while. Real "out of the past" energy. Meanwhile, ERST is nearby, nodding his approval: "Yes ... EN-LAI SNELL ... my old friends ... it is good to be together again ..." I'm sure TURN A LOSS is a phrase but it still rings awkward, esp. when you set it alongside its far more common counterpart, "turn a profit." You take losses, you turn profits. So no love for that long answer. Everything else is fine. Holds up. Not remarkable one way or the other.
Bullets:
- 39A: She met her husband Frank after beating him in a shooting match (ANNIE) — wow, once that curly-haired kid moved out of that orphanage, her life really went places ... (I know, I know, just let me pretend) (this "Oakley"-free clue is weird)
- 27A: ___ People's Democratic Republic (LAO) — the official name of LAOS
- 37A: Measures of cellular strength (BARS) — think phones, not biology
- 17A: Start of some souvenir shirt slogans (I HEART) — this one wants you to think it's fresh and clever, but it's really just a weird partial. I do not heart it.
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151 comments:
Isn't it HIGH HOLy DAYS? All I know is if the nuns in parochial school ever caught you calling a holy day a holiday or vice versa, you'd get a good head-pecking. And those are really painful - especially when your skull is young and the nun is angry. Ow!
*sigh* He's back. The wunderkind has created another gem, while simultaneously making me feel like an underachieving lump of coal. Joy.
Seriously, I thought the theme was clever with a sharp revealer. I'll just ignore its grid placement because I enjoyed the crap outta this puzzle. There was some bite to this little bugger, too. For me, it was all in the cluing.
As for the theme, HHO = H2O = Water that needs to be added. 🤌💋🖐 MWAH!
Plus HIGLIDAYS and BEACUSES need to be words now.
As in HIGLIDAYS are celebrated every April 20th BEACUSES they's funses.
And here's my ride!
🧠🧠.5
🎉🎉🎉.5
Reporting smooth sailing for me as I’m an expert in all logos and mottos. Right. Sheesh.
Rex – yeah, it took a minute to suss out how/where to add the water, even though the themers were pretty easy to divine. I’m glad I’m a pencil solver and can write small. I imagine there will be a lot of discush today about the troubles of online solve logistics.
And – serendipity. . . in class we’re looking at some of Tupac’s poetry, and the question of whether he sold out came up. MC Hammer’s name came up as a sell-out, and when some kids didn’t know who he was, I told them that he was that guy with the puffy (not BAGGY) pants.
@Frantic – love, love, love your higlidays beacuses.
HIGH HOLIDAYS. Snort. That fateful brownie happened over a Christmas break a couple of years ago.
“TKO” before ADE. Punchy ending, get it?
Misread 11D’s clue as “Soul sucker who wrote the Harry Potter books.”
“Fate” before FAME, but I was distracted. I still don’t really understand who I am, but I sure would be up for getting famous so I could find out. Being stopped at Harris Teeter, being pointed out on the streets, being photographed. . . it’s my plan to be approachable and not the least bit stuck-up.
Liked the BARS/BABBLES cross. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.
Speaking of which, this theme reminds of the t-shirt: Instant Asshole – JUST ADD Beer. I imagine the asshole-awakener differs for everyone. My tee shirt would read: Instant Asshole – JUST Publicly Grammar Shame Someone. Can’t help it. Calling out a show-offy pedant is my pash.
Yo. August. I see your little sneaky-sneak in 45D’s clue. “Fishhook” coulda been a contendah.
HERE I AM ON TV
Almost DNF because of HIGLIDAYS - I was so set on the HIGH HOLY DAYS, because....that's what they've been called all my life. I've never actually heard of high holidays - are they really a thing?
And on 37A, I got the BARS, but because I thought of cellular strength as the bars of a cell, meaning cage. I didn't even think of a cell phone. Huh.
Thought the theme was cute, but I do agree with Rex that the resultant answers are king of an ugly weird, despite HIGLIDAYS having a kind of higgledy-piggledy fun ring to it.
Pretty much what @Rex said, except I didn't share his trouble in the NW. If I'd thought "as iN" instead of "THAN" I'd still be solving. Lots of overwrites on the themers and neighboring words, but my only other overwrite was bonN before LYON at 54A; I'm (obviously) no student of European geography. @LMS, impressive catch on "Fishhook"!
As per the recipe I added water and my rebus-filled solution was rejected. Once I dehydrated it was all good. Not a particularly hard puzzle but I feel the revealer was misdirection.
I agree with @Rex about the "gibberish" but it's forgiven because the rest of the puzzle was strong, including the theme itself. Liked TAO LAO, NUDE EVES. I see a few 2-vowel potential Wordler starters.
When my kids were 5 and 7 they duck taped trash bags on their legs and called them Hammertime Pants. So baggy came easy. Can’t say I enjoyed much of the rest of it. Love my dads Sinatra albums and also enjoy Shakespeare but certainly don’t consider them classic in the same way. This one was pretty much all wet. Commence groaning.
Sometimes I think there is a little subconscious language circuit in the brain that operates independently to help solve puzzles like Wordle. I got a three today but not sure how. And today I revisited yd Bee after finding 22 words yd. The instant it appeared on the screen the pangram popped into consciousness. How does that happen? Sometimes my brain scares me.
Hhhhhhhated this one. All of Rex’s gripes were mine as well. It’s good to know things things that challenge me, also challenge thee.
The one that I’ll reiterate is “take a profit.” One earns or realizes or even pays taxes on a profit. But as Rex astutely reminds us, losses are taken.
Exactly! To rebus, or not to rebus - in this case, I guess NOT! I’m
That Renner/snell cross hooked me. Never heard of either.
Ah, youth! When August debuted (with a Saturday puzzle!) on October 9 of last year, he was but 14. And yet, on that and on this puzzle, IMO, there’s no giveaway of his tender age, overall, in clue and answer.
Plus, he’s shown creativity in theme. Yes, HHO has been used as a rebus twice before (2013 and 2016, according to Jim Horne at XwordInfo), but it’s never been used like in today’s puzzle, where you have to insert HHO in your imagination. On top of that, he has a terrific grasp of vague and slippery cluing, to add delicious rub to the solving experience.
I did like the cross of NUDE and NSFW, the terrific answers BABBLES and ELEVENTH HOUR, that smile/groan-inducing goofy [It’s famous for doing the floss] for ORAL B, and what a terrific reveal!
On top of that, this puzzle just had such a lovely shine to me. Franz Kafka said, “Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.” I must not have grown old yet because I saw much beauty in your creation, August. Thank you!
From finedictionary.com
TURN a loss
(v) turn a loss
fail to make money in a business; make a loss or fail to profit "I lost thousands of dollars on that bad investment!","The company turned a loss after the first year"
Ugh. Was this a rebus puzzle or you just had to “think” the extra letters? Because I solved it as a rebus and two things seemed bad - 1) the rebus only worked for the acrosses; 2) the rebuses weren’t consistent: GHHO for 16A, HHOR for 25A, and then two HHOUs.
Had jabbers instead of BABBLES for a long time, so that was a problem, and also I do not think TURNALOSS is something anyone says.
Not a fun Thursday.
Lovely having Jane Eyre and Frank stopping by. Found this to be a pleasant diversion. A few awkward spots, but enough good points for an overall thumbs up.
Is it an actual written rule that harry potter has to be in every NYT puzzle, or is it just something they do because to be cute?
Just awful. Worst puzzle in quite a long while. Tried to rebus my way out, but no good. Ended with a grid full of ugly nonsense. But there were two consolations: 1. the rare experience of hating a puzzle even more than Rex did, and 2. thinking about @Loren’s high holiday.
Rex says the puzzle was "... somewhat unsatisfying to solve."
I disagree 100%. I found this one of those rare puzzles where the construction was remarkable and the solving experience a lot of fun. I both loved it and admired it.
Congrats, August!
A little too contrived I think. Themers were fine - remaining fill was rough. Now we’re to know specific kid lit characters? Crosses were fair enough I guess.
Didn’t like the TARMACS plural. Lots of 3’s and 4’s. Side eye to the Fishhook clue - although I do like SNELL. Jeremy RENNER’s Clint Barton is my favorite in the new Marvel world.
Can’t say I enjoyed this one much.
Hand up for not being sure exactly how to add the water. I wound up putting in the downs correctly, then drooling on the puzzle.
SE toughest for me, with odd ORALB clue and tough NSA clue.
BEACUSES: Reasons the Saints keep losing?
I don't know how many of you have younger kids, but it took my mind forever to get off of "EN" for _____ canto. I know it's two letters, but still that's what stuck in my head.
Anyone want to talk about Bruno?
My problem with this puzzle was that I couldn't forget that chemists write out H2O as HOH because that is how the molecule is structured. Also easier to say.
Thx August, for a terrific battle! I worked up quite a thirst! :)
Tough+
Aside from the H2O trickery, this one was way out of my ken, wavelength-wise.
Nevertheless, enjoyed the 'fight', and managed to not dnf. (whew!)
Went back over it post-solve to see that H2O needed to be added to the themers.
Another outstanding Thurs. challenge! :)
@Frantic 😘 / @Eniale 😘
@okanaganer 👍 for 0 dbyd
___
yd pg: 8:35 / W: 4*
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Was learning a new word, SNELL, (and not knowing Mr. RENNER) worth having to correct one space before the happy music? I suppose.
Otherwise, this one came in easy for me--well below my average for a Thursday. The thematic twist landed with FRENCRNS, and led quickly to the revealer.
Like Rex, my slowdown was in the NW. I wanted ORBS and ROYCE (and ENG), but couldn't put them in with confidence without the theme answer. And I was so confused by why jewis(h ho)LIDAYS couldn't fit! Sheesh.
If the revealer had been "Just add Succession channel to your cable plan," 25A could become, Natives of LYON: FRENC(h bo)RNS. And if the revealer had been "Just add the last step in completing your taxes online," 56A could become, Almost a dozen scoops: ELEVEN TUR(ds). (ds = Digital Signature)
All together now: groannnnnn.
I liked it, and it bothered me not one bit that the ending answers looked “unpleasant,” in Rex’s words. As others have pointed out, all but FRENCRNS actually looked like words searching for definitions.
When recent obit headlines said that MASH’s Hot Lips Houlihan died, I and a million others thought Loretta SWIT - who is this Sally Kellerman? Of course I saw the movie too, but will always think of Loretta as Hot Lips.
Loved the RHINOs clue - I’m sure I’m not the only one thinking “coffee.”
Thanks, @Lewis, for letting us know the constructor’s age. Man, at 14/15, I couldn’t have solved a Monday puzzle, let alone constructed a complicated Thursday. Kudos, August. Enjoy these Higlidays while you can.
Very cute gimmick and great revealer. I figured Rex would find the resulting HHO-less answers unpleasant to look at, but alternatives such as a rebus or circles would have been worse for me. I have no idea what Hammer pants are but I’m not sure if I even saw the clue. I had a personal Natick on the REN_ER/S_ELL cross, as did some Anon up there. But the overall concept was cool and the rest of it was just fine, thank you.
rAmBLES before BABBLES.
@loren -- Wow! That's one terrific post, top to bottom!
Idea for an actual constructor (not me). What if you did just add water by the commonly depicted molecular shape of water, which is basically the Mickey Mouse logo where the ears are H and the face is O. The H's would be the end and start of words a row above where the O falls in the middle. Maybe circle those boxes to make them stand out. Bonus points if those three now connected words would make some larger meaningful "solution" either literally (components of a common mix) or figuratively(solve some meta-clue).
Okay, I finished it out of sheer stubborness. Got no sense of satisfaction. Hated every minute. Take your nsfw, highholidays ???,annie,oralb,sesh,and turnaloss, and shove 'em. Just add water.
Hand up for liking this one. Hand up for also LAUGHing at … so all you've got, then, is dry pancake mix, and you can't eat that. Good stuff, Rex.
Hand up for not winning any shooting contests because I, too, shot myself in the foot with as iN before THAN, meaning I had to circle back at the end to sort out the NW. I also like how 1D is an easter egg revealer, [Not shown here] indeed. Adding to my NW woes was that “Jewish holidays” fits the theme conceit but not the number of squares, blocking me from seeing the Coloradan HIG(H HO)LIDAYS.
Having the HS Class be a generic “sci” class not that long ago means it really is a pretty worthless clue. ENG or alg or sci or bio or, heck, lat or fre or art or mus or… well you get the point.
@FROTH - Well, of course. April 20 has to be the very definition of HIG(H HO)LIDAY.
I know Jeremy RENNER from Arrival. Science fiction without a single ray gun or light saber and the bad guys are all too familiar.
@Check before you complain - I think ngrams would be a more apt rebuttal to Rex’s claim, which is that “take A LOSS” is more in the language than TURN A LOSS.
Way too gimmicky with the only real payoff being a gibberish-laden grid. More yuk. This has not been the best of weeks for the NYT crossword crew.
Is there some special significance to a SCARF at a soccer game ? A special symbol of team affinity perhaps ? People wear scarfs to U.S. football games (and how about those outdoor hockey games). I searched for an alternate definition and found a reference to whale blubber, which seems like a dead end - but heck, stranger things have happened. I must be overthinking it.
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are of course high holy days not really holidays. So that’s why you wanted Holy in there as did I. But Y made no sense.
Well, let's see: First I had to figure out whether H2O was HHO or HOO. Or maybe OHO? HOH? Don't laugh. I wasn't all that sure, to tell the truth.
Then I had to figure out where the blasted "U" in BEACH HOUSES was? Where the "L" in HIGH HOLIDAYS was hiding out? Oh, I see. Those letters are taken from the Down answers -- letters which are not replaced by the (figured it out!!!!) HHO. And if you smoosh the HHO into the same square, placing it in front of those letters, everything will work out correctly. Assuming you can read your handiwork.
I loved, loved, loved this delightful and crunchy rebus!
Fair warning, though: When I go back and read the blog today, I will skip every single paragraph that has to do with your various apps and how they didn't allow you to enter the answers and give you Happy Music. I'm sure it was a problem for many, but I just don't care. Now you all know that I love the people on the blog who solve on apps every bit as much as I love the people who solve on paper as God intended. Some of you techie folks are really good, close pals. But I still have no intention of reading about your app problems:)
Absolutely brutal and not fun.
I "got" the theme early enough, and tried to Rebus everything. Total fail. Just a mess. Like Rex, I cannot abide having nonsense answers so I was jamming the Rebus in and of course the web site hated that and even then the SW was a total mess trying to suss out BEL and ANNIE and ERST and LYON and SESH?
This was Saturday+ tough and no fun.
I'm sure TURN A LOSS is a phrase but it still rings awkward, esp. when you set it alongside its far more common counterpart, "turn a profit." You take losses, you turn profits.
Yep. Although it looks to me that Take A LOSS being most common during WWII and Korea suggests its use was not always economical. But Rex was spot on on about TURN A LOSS.
The lifted/smart intersection totally stumped me today. Seemed like two clues trying way too hard. I am not as smart as I think I am, which is a smart slap in the face.
I thought maybe if we went plural it would make a difference. It did, but only to reinforce Rex’s point.
The morning's still young, but my candidate for Best Comment of the Day is @kitshef's (7:39):
Hand up for not being sure exactly how to add the water. I wound up putting in the downs correctly, then drooling on the puzzle.
Too funny, @kitshef!
I liked this one a lot, even if the revealer was in the middle, when of course it should be at the end. Actually it was a big help as the JUSTADDWATER was obviously H2O, but how to put it in? Fun to figure that out, but like OFL I wanted one FRENCHHORN, which prevented me from entering STETSON forever, even though it had to be right. Knew BAGGY, which led to ALG, which was less than helpful, because RHINO? Aha, eventually.
I remember learning SNELL when my age was still in single digits and I found out it had to do with fish hooks. Thought it was an interesting word, even at a tender age, and was clearly unforgettable.
I actually knew the Yale motto. Seems they are telling Harvard with their "Veritas", oh yeah? Well we've got Lux AND Veritas. Take that.
There's a group of big-voiced singers around here called BEL Canto, commonly referred to by many of us as the "Can Belto's".
Great Thursday, AL-K. That's A Lot of Knowledge for a youngster, or anyone else, for that matter. Thanks for lots of fun.
There should be an expression for when you incorrectly think one answer is a particular word, but then the word actually appears as the answer to a different clue. It happens enough to warrant a name... (Now if I could only think of a clever one)
@Rich Glauber - It’s got a name already, a malapop. Coined by Monday’s co-constructor, @ACME.
I was pleasantly surprised to open up Rex and find him describing this as "medium-challenging" after I solved it in near-record time. No significant problems for me, and I enjoyed the theme. I prefer mentally inserting letters to using the rebus feature.
- @Nancy - the app required nothing. Just fill in HHO with your good old-fashioned imagination. (lover of paper and apps).
- I thought DRAGRACES - might get a "Rupaul shows" clue
- I didn't mind the partial answers, but love Rex's dry pancake mix analogy
- I still think of MC Hammer's pants as BAGGY, basically an extreme example of the urban fashion of the day. Puffy is more like the Michelin-man-looking packable down coats.
- I wish I had been this industrious and clever at age 15; or now for that matter...
- I like the pair of mottos with "Lux"
- It took a while to parse out what was going on with this non-rebus rebus. Nice to see that there are still new ways to do Thursday tricksiness.
16A
So wanted a version of CHALLAHDAYS
Never heard of SNELL so that N was last to go in (didn't know the guy either, but jENNER didn't work).
Also 👋 for jABBerS before BABBLES. Was trying to remember something from 10th grade Bio about cells besides mitochondria... oh, *that* kind of cell!
Definitely challenging, good start to Thursday.
Had FRENCRNS and knew the crosses were right, tried a rebus but didn't work with the downs, just keep going.
Revealer was easy, having W_T_R it popped right in and then it clicked.
I use the times app,and on puzzles like these, never know wether to fill the letters in, separate them with a slash or whatever to satisfy the app. Is there some kind of standard? For example, for 25 across do I put in French/horns, the rebus box would contain c/hho. I’ve seen puzzles go both ways. And this one leaves out the letters hho entirely.
@Rich Glauber (8:44 AM)
I see @Z has come to the rescue re: 'malapop'(not to be confused with malaprop). Here's a discussion from 2008 which provides the background for the term and how it evolved from 'apres vu' to a 'sort of a mal deja vu' to a 'malapop':
@Rex from Mon., Aug. 18, 2008:
"36D: Bearded flower (iris) - weirdly, I had IRIS at 55A: Eye part (uvea) before I ever saw this clue. What are we calling that phenomenon, Andrea?"
@ACME (posting as @Anonymous (2:03 PM), Mon. Aug. 18, 2008:
"@mac
uh oh, this "andrea" thing is beginning to take on a life of it's own!
Before it goes too much further,
I guess apres vu didn't catch on, and as Rex has wisely pointed out, it's NOT the opposite of a deja vu bec we HAVE seen it, albeit in the wrong place.
sort of a mal deja vu...
so as a nod to that, how about a
MALAPOP?
MALAPOP: A word that you've popped into the puzzle or that has popped up, albeit it in the wrong place?
(Plus it's a nod to that baseball thingie of pop-ups...not to mention annoying pop-up ads)
MALAPOP, anyone?
(In Minnesota tho a MALAPOP would be a soda that's gone flat!)"
___
td pg: 14:35 / W: 4*
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Jew here. While the term "High Holy Days" exists, Jews refer to the two as the "High Holidays."
Simple as that.
I am Jewish and have always used the term high holidays, not holy days. So this seemed correct to me. Liked the puzzle.
Not a Jew, but I know enough it should be HIGH HOLY DAYS. other than that, I enjoyed the puzzle and liked the fact that the “trick” only worked across, not down. I’ve heard of Jeremy RENNER but Jeremy Irons kept coming to mind.
Wonderful Thursday challenge today and while I got the gimmick, I tried and tried to make that rebus work. I also was convinced the first themer was HIGHHOLYDAY even though yHEART was clearly wrong. It didn’t matter in the end because I knew RENNER and didn’t step into that sinkhole. I take my victories where I find them. Congrats to the youthful constructor for filling the grid with answers appropriate to all ages and creating a truly CLASSIC NYT puzzle.
A Peter and the Wolf note - it's "French Horns" not "Horn" (Singular) because the Wolf is depicted by a trio of French Horns; whereas the duck (for example) is depicted by only one oboe.
I solved this on my phone last night as I didn't have access to the printer and therefore am grateful that no rebus was involved. My typical approach to a Thursday is to ignore the theme and stick to the fill and that worked perfectly today.
This was still not easy to solve. My time was only 4 minutes less than last Saturdays' solve. That HIGH HOLY/HOLIDAY mess gaurenteed that I couldn't figure out what exactly the missing letters were until I got the revealer. That came late in the solve but by the time I entered the I of IHEART to get the congrats I had it all figured out.
From the comments I see that some people were confused by the chemically correct term HOH. This is a good example of knowing too much getting in the way of your solving.
Sun-Wed -0
Hey All !
HIGLI DAYS - Hootenannies at Piggly Wiggly
FRENC RNS - Nurses too busy to complete spelling Frenetic
BEACUSES - Ms. Arthur's why's.
EL EVENTUR - Escapade on the train
OK, I know they sucked!
Surprised more people aren't complaining about the non-words that end up sans HHO. Took me a bit to figure out what in tarhooties was happening, as that first Themer didn't help. Then once I did figure it out, had mUST ADD WATER. Couldn't figure out 35D with the M (ah, who am I kidding, I still wouldn't have figured it out with the correct J.) So Googed for that, as my progress was stopped cold. SW corner also a toughie, the clues were opaque down there.
Noticed the 14 wideness, yay me!
SCARF, always a neck coverer in NYTXW.
SNARF, always "chow down" in NYTXW.
Found puz OK, didn't I HEART it, but nice nonetheless.
Enough BABBLE from me. SEE YA.
yd -3, should'ves 1
Four F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
This was really hard for me, but IHEARTed it. Wrestled forever with how to make a rebus work. Started to catch on when I got the reveal and needed HHOu for Cape Cod and the last second, but couldn't make the same work for the holidays or horns. Machinations around hholidays, jewish holidays, holy days, and only getting FRENCRNS from the downs took forever. Pile that on all the same issues with asin, takealoss, and yes, TKO before ADE, and you get a mess to untangle. Sometimes I can't grok what's going on and just cheat. What I loved about today was I got hooked enough to stay with it, and finally realized all I had to do was ignore HHO. It's not JUSTADDWATER. It's DONTADDWATER!!. AHA!.
Will also add that I just remain in awe of puzzle constructers. I'm just starting to dabble. Am reading what I'm supposed to read, I think, am exploring the sites I'm supposed to explore, I think, and playing with software I'm supposed to use, I think. Have some ideas, but they're a mess. August is 15 and turning out gems like this? Wow. Am also in awe of solvers that just breeze through puzzles like this one. Took me forever. But loved it.
THIS PUZZLE IS NOT A REBUS!! (And making it one is a DNF)
Easy and fun. For me, it was the French horns that announced the theme; the question was how to squeeze them in. A glance back at my semi-populated 16A -- _IGLID_YS -- gave me the answer. Sort of - somehow, in my mind I overlapped the Hs and wondered, with the repeated HOs, why we were having a Santa-themed puzzle in March. Talk about needing the reveal!
Help from previous puzzles: SWIT and a bunch of auto-fill-ins: ORBS, NSFW, SESH, SNELL, SNL, EVES....
@Me
I meant SE corner. Silly brain.
Roo
Tough. I caught the theme fairly early but messed up by trying to fit a singular @Rex FRENHRN in which made the NE tough and violated the theme. Plus the SW was also a tad elusive for me....BARS, ANNIE, TURN... Plus me too for as in before THAN. Fun and tricky, liked it.
LOL. poor old Rex. Seems he's unfamiliar with the one of The Street's most common phrases: profit taking. Used commonly to explain (stock) market fluctuations. That Rex knows not of what he speaks but nonetheless speaks authoritatively is peak Rex. Never change Mike.
If the revealer had been DEHYDRATE, the grid could've been 15 X 15.
Matt SNELL was the fullback on Joe Namath's '69 NY Jets, who "upset" the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III to give the nascent AFC "parity" with the NFC. (The reason for the "s: I'm with those who believe the game was fixed.)
Another Jew endorsing HIGH HOLlDAYS.
Want to talk about windy/calm...backward/forward...generous/stingy. Do opposites attract?
I seriously don't know where to begin...I'll try.
Well I know my wolves and I know Peter ..he wasn't the pumpkin eater...oh no sireebob, he was the French Horn. So where and what do I do with this? Move along.
And now I should learn all the motto's of this great nation? I thought eggshells and coffee grounds were used to make MULCH...No. LAO and TAO skipped to my loo. When I'm NUDE I'm not just wearing a smile...I look at some sags beginning to show and I frown.
TARMACS came easy and it got me started on finding the theme reveal. Damnation, isn't it Alda winning all this MASH awards? No...it's Swit.
The beat goes on and I've become the drummer.
I still don't know what's going on.
I get to the reveal....Oh, I JUST have to ADD WATER. So how do I do that? Where? how? when?
Go back up to my ATTIC and try to turn my blurry light bulb on to high. I still couldn't see what was I was supposed to do with my water...Drink it? Add it to my Mueslix? Toss on my plant? Ay, Dios mio.
So I get to 39 A and had to mentally try and count the wives Frank [Sinatra] had. Who's this ANNIE chic? That's all that would fit. Move on...
AHA. I got BEACUSES... Where's the beef? No, where's the water? Take your pen out of your mouth and try to figure this out. I had some cheats....
In the end, I found this frustrating and not so fun. I like a fun dance now and again. Even when I sorta figured this out, it drained me. It sapped my happy juices out of me. Maybe I just need another cup of coffee.
AND WHAT, PRAY TELL IS RHINO? Why do they rate being in Java and Sumatra. Why isn't it coffee like the Good Lord said it should be?
THAN has been clued with some form of the word "comparison" umpteen times in the past. They're practically glued together in my mind. "As in" is part of an example, not a comparison.
I, too, would like this theme better if there were space to add the water. I like F-Slo's new words though, and plan to start using them. Also, it was a pleasure to see DR. AGRACES in the grid. Her extensive research on rhinos that sport French horns on their faces instead of the usual kind has gone unheralded. But did we really need a nonsensical Oprah quote?
Here's WABC-AM Radio's #46 song for the year 1966. (I'm still in list mode from yesterday.)
BTW, 1969 was a great year for NYC sports fans. The Jets won the Super Bowl, the Mets won the World Series (also beating the team from Baltimore) and the Knicks ('69/'70) won the NBA Championship.
Wordle 257 4/6
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Agree. Got the revealer just fine, but HHO is not how anybody writes out water, H(subscript2)O. Maybe H(superscript2)O. Which is not a thing.
It seems the revealer has induced some proprioception issues for solvers… Where is the solver standing in relation to the theme answers? Or maybe it’s more of a process issue… Where is the solver in the process? The line I mentioned from Rex explains where the solver is standing, pancake mix box in hand, reading the directions, not over the bowl stirring in water, and most certainly not with a pancake. I do think the clue is fair enough and doesn’t suggest a need for a rebus, …a hint to the answers to the four starred clues. In other words the four answers need WATER to make sense. It is almost as if the misdirection for veteran solvers is the anticipation that a rebus would be needed.
@Joe Dipinto 10:56 - Well sure, but where were you this morning when I needed that reminder?
@JC66 - 20 SNELL appearances in the Shortz era, only once as the only Jet with a Super Bowl TD and twice as the New Zealand miler.
@Everyone else - SNELL appears roughly twice every three years, so it will be in a puzzle near you, just maybe not soon enough to remember. I think it took five or six appearances before I bit down on the hook hard enough for it to stick.
SCARF is very much a soccer thing. Clubs often have a new SCARF for fans each season and even separate ones for special games. As for the eating rapidly meaning, from 2004 - 2016 there were 8 times where that was the clue, otherwise it has always been neckwear. It’s been in puzzles since 1948. SnARF first appeared in 2011 and has appeared 14 times.
Ah, the glory days of 1969.
Every Oriole met his Met,
Every Baltimore Colt his Jet,
Every Bullet missed it's Knick.
Every Baltimore fan was sick.
Great time to be young and a NY fan.
Just awful. A prime example of word game (this is not a crossword puzzle except in superficial form) that I Do Not Like. Belongs in Games magazine. So does someone else I can think of....
An extra tricky trick today about which I have mixed feelings. In the constructor notes, August says he would be interested in hearing about how difficult solvers found this. My reaction is I didn’t find it difficult so much as I found it frustrating, primarily because the down answers don’t make any sense with the rebus - is it a rebus? Not sure what to call it. Anyway, the down answers make no sense with it and the cross answers make no sense without it. So yes, frustration times two.
Adding to that factor for me was wanting HIGH HOLY DAYS in the NW. I never thought of those religious observances as holidays but maybe they are.
One of my favorite legendary females featured in the grid today. See my avatar for one ANNIE’s more famous quotes.
Was going through the comments, waiting for someone of the Jewish persuasion to confirm what was in my lower brain stem memory (my HS, back in the 60s, was known as "Palestine High" because, as a purposeful public Prep school, attracted the Best and Brightest not just from my city, but surrounding towns; school reciprocity was a settled thing in NE) that "High Holy Day(s)" was Christian specific, while HIGH HOLIDAY(S) was for Jewish holidays. Thanks to @Amelia.
I agree with Lewis. It's not really a rebus. You imagine HHO superimposed on one of the letters of the across entry.
Not a smooth puzzle. Lots of clunks. Substituting HIGHHOLIDAY for HIGHHOLYDAY bothers this non-Jew. GET for "Trick." Odds are rarely (if ever) written with a colon. Cluing ELEVENTHHOUR using the word "second." Calling DRAGRACES fights.
A Sinatra song is in the same league as a Shakespeare play. Yes it is.
BEACUSES - n., plant-eating insects with iridescent frencrns and up to eleven tur in each body segment; viewed by ancient Laos as soul suckers, the discarded shells of beacuses were traditionally worn as jewelry during the higlidays to ward off evil spirits.
Oh @Joe we definitely need a link to DR. AGRACES research….those FRENCH HORNS deserve to be noted! And apologies to @Nancy (8:23), but over 1/3 of today’s gridlock was trying different rebus options. I’m most in agreement with Mr. Chen’ assessment that “ Solving logistics aside, I enjoyed the evocative and entertaining theme answers.”
Another really challenging puzzle from August. Personally, I’m not offended by a non-15x15 grid….in fact I just yesterday enjoyed @M&A Runtpuz # 3778 that had been composting in the Acrosslite since it was mentioned months ago on this blog. Yet another way the links and recommendations shared by Buds of Rex bloggers brighten my days….thanks y’all.
We’re more high than holy it seems.
Two Jews on a deserted island built three synagogues…
Oh vey.
Re: Snell
Matt is most famous in this country. And in many circles Snell certified helmets are very important. Pete? Snell was an SCCA racer who died from head injuries when his helmet failed. his namesake foundation has done good work in advancing helmet technology and standards.
Z's allusion to fishhooks, is well not quite right. Hooks may be snelled, but I don't believe they are snell.
Besides, FIAT Lux is the motto for the whole University of California system, not just UCLA.
@What?:
but, of course. one for the Conservative, one for the Reformed, and one for the Ultra-Orthodox. you never know when one of them will switch. not to mention, what to do with the rescuers? they need a proper congregation, too you know.
A bone of contention's
Been stumbled upon:
I claim it's a REBUS;
You claim it's a NON-.
I've added my water,
It's in the right square.
But yours is imagined --
No water is there!!!
I glance at your grid
And I'm filled with dismay.
When you're told "JUST ADD WATER"
Why don't you obey???
MY EXACT COMPLAINTS!
I started this puzzle with fresHHOpe. But by my fiftHHOokah, I said “I wisHHOnestly that I was done,”
Perhaps the revealer is really meant to be read as JUST A.D.D. WATER. If the water has Attention Deficit Disorder, it may have wandered away somewhere.
I really liked this puzzle and the non-existent rebus that took some nano minutes to figure out. Thanks, August Lee-Kovach. (BTW, when I type Kovach, my autocorrect wants to make it Kodachrome. Glad I proofread before publishing).
Good puz, but dang that NE corner really DEMENTORed m&e. I mean, shoot -- the NW corner was tricky becuz I was still tryin to nail the theme mcguffin, but that's to be expected. NE was still tough at our house, even after FRENCRNS became almost a gimme. Didn't help, that I had FEAR, then FACE, instead of FAME.
DRAGRACES are fights? Well, then war is snell.
fave themer, by far = HIGLIDAYS. Sounds like it oughta be somethin, even tho it ain't. Luved @Frantic Sloth's take on it, too boot.
Yo, @Muse darlin: Perhaps HIGLIDAYS can be a weekend stretch where one totally eschews water, in favor of Stoli. Would include bathin and laundry, of course.
Re: CLASSIC -- Sinatra & Shakespeare is quite a pair to draw to. "Ain't that a kick in the hamlet?"
staff weeject pick: OFF. Only friendly FACE [aka FAME] in the NE, for quite a spell.
bits of sparkle included: CRITTER. JANEEYRE. CLASSIC [Would go with Carl Barks, over Sinatra, tho].
Thanx for the meta-desiccation, August dude. I noticed that yer puzgrid shrank a bit, becuz it was thereby kinda dried-out. Primo Jaws of Themedness, btw.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
**gruntz**
p.s. @Newboy: Glad to hear U enjoyed a composted runt. M&A don't get that, a lot. har
I figured out that it was the letters of the elements of which water consists. BUT, chemists write it as HOH (to represent the way the molecule is constructed and looks) when not using H2(subscript)O, and not HHO. That little flaw made it more difficult to solve.
Because the woman who drove to fame Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz and an assortment of other quacks is the font of all wisdom about fame - and everything else, it seems.
high holidays is a very very common way to describe these Jewish Holy Days. High Holy Days a bit more formal, like you'd maybe find that in the synagogue newsletter, but everywhere else, it'd be, like, when are the high holidays this year.
What a delight. Not excessively difficult, but the steady run of twists and turns had my mind running at high rev the entire time. One of the more satisfying solves in awhile!
DNF at RENNER/SNELL cross. DNC BEACUSES we got FRENCH HORNS. I did think the gimmick was a bit too gimmicky, but didn’t TURN A LOSS - no puzzle with FRENCH HORNS in it can be all bad.
@LMS’ HIGH HOLIDAYS snort comment is priceless. Made me crack up. Which is more than just a LAUGH - thought that clue/answer not an ideal match.
Hand up for wanting jABBerS.
Pet peeve alert. I Hate “I HEART” written out. It’s I love, not I heart.
@kitschef - “drooling on the puzzle” is awesome!
@Unknown 10:15 - right, three HORNS play the wolf. Got to have those growly low notes in the 2nd and 3rd. And actually, the horns get a bit of assistance at the tail end of the wolf by anOTHER brass instrument just visible in the video.
What’s better than three FRENCH HORNS?
@jammon (7:28a)
Is it an actual written rule that harry potter has to be in every NYT puzzle, or is it just something they do because to be cute?
My last name is actually POrTER; invariably read as (and addressed as) my latter day "namesake" ;)
So my ego just assumes that NYT constructors have a deep need to pay homage to ME!! :)
I'm not Jewish, but I've always heard it referred to as "high holidays" by my Jewish friends. Googling shows me plenty of Jewish websites that use that terminology, as well, though "High Holy Day" is also used by some. So that one went in without an issue for me.
I gave up at TURNALOSS, as I'm unfamiliar with the expression and, for whatever reason, couldn't suss it out or was too lazy to do so. The last two S crosses: ERST and SESH I didn't know. SESH should have been obvious in retrospect, but my brain was going at 2 mph last night, apparently.
That said, I enjoyed the theme, though I'm not a big fan of gibberish being left over in the puzzle. Wish the themers were such that you could leave out the HHO and still have something meaningful left over, but that's a tall order for that sequence of letters, so I can let it go.
Also, as mentioned above HHO is a weird way to write out water. I've seen it written as HOH. or H-O-H to emphasize its structure, but not as HHO. That said, it's a crossword, not chemistry class, so 2 Hs followed by an O gets the idea across well enough.
I got really stuck in the North East. I knew there was a crosswordese guitar term, but I didn't remember it. I didn't know the Goddess, I couldn't figure out Trick or Representation or any of it. I went to bed and at 4am I woke up and ERATO and DRAG RACE popped into my head while lying in bed. I grabbed my phone, and turned on the light and filled the whole corner in a minute!
I'm of partial LITHUANIAN descent. My grandfather emigrated from Vilnius, Lithuania to Glasgow, Scotland. He was killed in WWII fighting for the UK in the Scottish Paratrooper Battalion. He died in the Battle of Monte Casino. He is buried at the British War Cemetary in Italy at The Abbott of Monte Casino.
My grandmother (his wife) was born in Scotland. It was considered a "mixed marriage" at the time, A Lithuanian to a Scot. Both families frowned upon it. After the War, my grandmother, a war widow, met and married a US Soldier. Her husband was killed and she had small children. My mother and her siblings came to the US as part of Operation Magic Carpet, which used battleships to send returning GIs home. My mother was on the USS Washington as a young child with thousands of returning GIs! That is how she got to the United States!
@Amy. They're either early or late. Never on time.
I was strangely H blind today - after getting the revealer at 35A, I went back to my NE "wha?" and saw FRENC[HO]RNS. I thought to myself, "Huh, they're representing H2O with just HO? Okay, weird."
And the same with BEAC[HO]USES. I got to ELEVENT and had to stop because I couldn't see how it would fit. Finally, when 16A could be nothing but HIG[H HO]LIDAYS, I realized I'd been mentally leaving out an H and all became clear.
46A got me with the "floss dance" misdirection. Because I was thinking "dance", ORAL B brand was not coming to me. Nice one, August.
This was fun and unique, thanks!
@kitshef (7:39) Nancy beat me to it but I was going to award you the prize for the funniest post today.
@Roo (10:16) Your HIGLI DAYS list earns runner up honors. (They didn’t totally suck.)
@Nancy (12:10) Love your poem. I HERETO title it “Ode To A Thursday Conundrum.”
Jeremy RENNER is being fan-cast on the internet to play Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the eventual biopic. Because we really need to be thinking about that right now.
Filled in as rebus and therefore not fun.
So ditto 🦖
😏🦖🦖🦖😏
(not a happy face, only 3 Rex’s)
The blog today has become a real whine festival. I'll call the Wambulance.
Mottos are often in Classical Latin or Classical Greek because those are considered dead languages in the sense that they are no longer the vernacular of any particular region or people and no are longer undergoing the constant change and development that happens with live languages. So the meanings of the mottos are set in stone, both figuratively and often literally.
Today we see two examples, Fiat lux and Lux et veritas in the puzzle that have clear, unambiguous and unchanging meanings. Another example of Classical Latin, rebus, also appears in several of today's comments but now instead of the clear, unambiguous and unchanging meaning, there is confusion as to what a rebus really is. No one seems to know for sure.
I would say the confusion stems from rebus having been appropriated by crosswordworld to mean something other than its Classical Latin definition of "by way of or with things". And by misusing the term, the precision of its original meaning has been lost and replaced with doubt and uncertainty.
The reveal JUST ADD WATER suggests that the puzzle is, to turn a phrase, a Non rebus sed verbis puzzle.
And I thought that MC Hammer wore Harem pants.
MFCTM.
Loren (5:45)
amyyanni (7:20)
Z (11:33)
Anonymous (12:03)
Nancy (12:10)
I got a birdie again. Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket.
I was thinking that they should have clued SNELL with an Ozark clue. However, then I realized it was right next to ENLAI and REMMER. Not that I'm looking to add names, unless it's one I know! That SNELL on Ozark is a main character and a real piece of work.
Wordle 257 2/6
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Teens these days! Making NYT crosswords, when they should be smoking pot behind the auto shop. (Actually, I should talk... when I was 16 I was editorial cartoonist for our city's daily newspaper.)
TURN A LOSS -- never ever heard that, I'm pretty sure.
I always get Wayne & Garth confused with Bob & Doug. (The former on SNL, the latter on SCTV.) All-Canadian goofballs who were famous in the US in the same era. Dana and Mike were better though. Great times!
Loren, it is so nice to have you back.
[Spelling Bee: yd 0. td 12:50 to reach pg; will try for QB.]
Anoa Bob,
Yesiree.Language exists precisely because precision is so often critical.Homme in, beg the question, rebus.... all the fine points lost because language "evolves".
Catholics have "Holy Days Of Obligation". Note how Christianity makes everything sound like drudgery. You have to go to Mass, it's your obligation. Nothing is supposed to be even faintly enjoyable. There are no Holy Days of Partying, Just Because.
Speaking of enjoyable – @a, I totally enjoyed those French horns.
The problem with declaring @kitshef the winner for a 7:39 comment is that then the @Mighty Masked One gets no love for "war is SNELL."
@Anon12:02 - Hmmmm - If the NYTX is to be believed the fishing line is more famous than the Jet in this country. I only know the fishing line from puzzles and the Jet BEACUSE there are Jet fans here, so I have no opinion on which is more famous. I do know, though, that "fish hook" is the most common way to clue this particular piece of ese, so if you want to give people a way to remember SNELL when it shows up in 9 months (on average) the image of a fishhook being bitten on and catching is more likely to stick THAN the definition.
@Anon 1:21 - Shouldn't it be a "Wham!bulance?" With George Michael as the EMT?
Z,
I do not believe the New York Times on any matter save weather stories written by Robert McFadden. I believe he's now retired. More's the pity; he was the most gifted writer I've ever seen in newsprint.
And I think snell refers to knots or the rigging which allows you to deploy multiple hooks. It is not a reference to line.
@Anon2:29 - snell refers to knots or the rigging which allows you to deploy multiple hooks. - SNELL as a noun refers to the short piece of fishing line that attaches a hook to a longer line. SNELL as a verb refers to tying a SNELL knot so that the hook stays attached. If you want to SNELL multiple hooks there are instruction videos on YouTube. Unless of course you distrust Uncle Google as much as the NYT.
Also, I just want to add that Matt SNELL might be famous amongst Jet fans but the most famous SNELL in the US today is probably Blake SNELL, although being a Ray and a Padre makes it hard to get really famous. If we have a baseball season and if SNELL returns to peak form and if the Padres live up to the expectations he could still become the clear cut most famous SNELL.
Z,
Yep, sloppy by me. That rigging--the short line before the leader-- is in fact a snell. My bad.
I guess i'm accustomed to thinking about the whole thing as a unit and not constituent elements. My error.
No, I don't trust google all that much actually. Do you? I seem to recall you avoiding many of their products and services. Am I misremembering?
Finally, since you brought up Matt again...
For older fans--and you'll have to recuse yourself given your well documented distaste for the game--Matt Snell was a huge name not just for Jets fans. He was Sonny Werblin's fits big pull. Signing the BMOC out of OSU was a giant coup. And it happened a year before he snagged Namath. Of course that's getting to be 57 years ago or so, but fans of the AFL and or Ohio State will surely know Matt Snell.
And anyone with half a brain who rode a bike in the 70's or 80's made sure to have a Snell-certified helmet. I know this is hardly fertile ground for motorcyclists or fullbacks, but I'm guessing someone will be around to back me up.
@Z
I'm NOT a NY Jets fan. But, in 1969 they (mostly Namath) were constantly in the news in NYC so SNELL is a gimme for me.
Dry sense of humor.
Has nobody else heard the wolf played by bassoons? That's what I wanted before I got the idea about H2O.
I was solving online and figured this had to use a rebus, but I couldn't see how. Finally settled on /HHO and then the app told me I had some squares wrong. Triple checked everything and finally just got rid of the rebuses and the /HHO part and presto! solved. I thought the whole thing was annoying. I actually didn't have all that much trouble with the fill. But the not-a-rebus thing ruined my time.
Benedict of Nursia is the de-facto inventor of monastic life ca 500 CE? Interesting, very interesting.
What do you think my brothers and sisters were doing for the preceding millennium? Quilting?
Yes. "Anyway, the down answers make no sense with it and the cross answers make no sense without it. So yes, frustration times two."
Question is, why do people like this?
@JJK I thought the same thing -- only I thought ELEVENTUR was the one with HHO in the wrong place. But then I thought a little more, and realized that there is no 'right' place -- if you're going to put HHO in a square it could be either the preceding or the following one. But I think we're meant to imagine it residing in between the two squares, that's why it doesn't figure in the down answers.
I'm a little surprised so few people fish. If you do, you've likely bought a packet of SNELLed hooks once or twice.
I didn't think the muses were goddesses, but I looked it up and they are, so that's OK.
I liked it OK. I've never thought of producing a lovely-looking grid as my purpose in solving (unless there's grid art, of course).
Well, yikes. Almost broke my streak on this one. I ended up just guessing letters in the bottom center, which probably should disqualify my solve, but whatever. SNELL may as well be a nonsense word to me so I had SMELT there for awhile, but couldn't figure out anything other than AIL that would fit on the bottom. I probably know RENNER somewhere in my deep subconscious, but ENLAI I have never been exposed to in my life. Taken together, I didn't have enough to come up with a last name for this Jeremy character. I second-guessed EVES and YALE at varying points. This was the hardest NYT crossword I have done in recent memory, and it was a Thursday!
Right there with you @Frantic! Whew! You brought back memories of Sister MM, scariest teacher ever! I think I still have a permanent bruise on the left side if mu skull just above my ear. And I learned so much in third grade - especially how to pay attention to avoid the head peck!
Also, my take WY was the cool new words you cited!
LOL @ LMS - “divining” where to locate the water! Clever.
I found the forst theme location and knew that there was some sort if trick (rebus?), but didn't lock onto the HHO until FRENCHRNS because I had some difficulty with the center top section as well as I HEART (I do not care for that overused sentiment).
Clever concept, well executed. And it allowed mento think if all the theme answers as if they are new words. I especially lime BEACUSES and ELEVENTUR.
what @7:02 said. all pigs are equal, but some pigs are more equal than others.
@Anon 5:57 - So far from the pith, so very very far. Further that rational thought could take anyone. The fact that other faith systems had structured monasteries a thousands of years before your guy means nothing to you, to something can only be true if it's Christ-centric. Well, you're a religious bigot to go along with being deliberately obnoxious. Documentation that you're 1000-2000 years wrong about monastic living, and you can't even admit you're wrong. Instead you deflect you question a date that wasn't even relevant to the question. Your guy lived in the 1500s CE, I lived in the 500s BCE. There were monasteries that entire time, they just weren't Christian monasteries. By the way, some of them were - Coptic monasteries from the 2nd Century CE on. Your guy was 1300 years after these. So, its not only non Christian faiths you deem null, non RC Christian faiths count for nothing in your eyes.
You might want to take a look at yourself. And just admit you were factually and completely wrong.
I've never heard of the high holidays, only the high holy days. And I've been celebrating them for many years.
I'm not saying I'm right and others are wrong; maybe it's a geographical thing?
@Unknown:
more likely a limited exposer to none RC religions.
The concept is good, but the execution (i.e., where are you supposed to put all of those HHOS…oh, you’re not) is quite poor.
I didn’t enjoy it.
As a kid, the whole mispuchah called them the High Holidays. The interweb says Holy days and Holidays are both acceptable. No one liked going to High Holiday services in my family, except for my mom. Dad would rather have been at work and my brothers and I would have much preferred going to school (or having hot pokers jammed into our eyes). The males survived those services thusly: my older brother would smuggle a transistor radio into the synagogue, listening to the World Series via an earphone, and periodically whispering an update to the rest of us. I can still visualize my father leaning towards my brother, asking, "what’s the score?" Mom just didn’t understand; for the rest of the family, our religion was baseball!
@anon 7:02 here comes your crying. I was expecting it. You have the most despicable manners of anyone on the forum. You claim to be a Christian or Catholic or somesuch but you treat your fellow man the opposite of how Jesus wants you to.
So do you think you are going to heaven the way you spend your days hating your brother?
It was you who tried to troll and smear my post about my war hero grandfather. What kind of a low life piece of dirt does that?
It is you who is in the wrong. Your post was a ridiculous attack.
Not fun.
Puzzle made no sense. I kept adding rebuses (rebusi?) for hho and it made no sense on the cross. Did not get this one at all. Very unsatisfying.
Not fun at all. versions of a rebus “HHO” across made no sense on the downs. Frustrating and unsatisfying.
@Anon3:07 - I actually use Duck Duck Go as my default search engine, so when I say “google” or “Uncle Google” I’m using it much the way one might use “kleenex” for facial tissues or “Coke” for a cola. And even if I did use Google I’d still trust my ability to critically read the results, so I trust google hits in much the same way I trust Wikipedia or Britannica, as good starts. As for the bike helmet, SNELL does vaguely ring a bell, but It never managed to be a crossword clue. Matt cracked the line-up a few times, and Peter the miler, but no bike helmets. And you say Matt went to OSU? Well then no wonder I never heard of him.
@JC66 - I wouldn’t admit to being a Jets fan either.😉 And I acknowledge that having grown up a Lions fan has made giving up the sport completely much easier.
@Z
I went to my 1st NY Giants game in 1958 and became a season ticket holder the following year. I finally gave up my seats about 7-8 years ago as watching on a big screen TV beats schlepping out to the Meadowlands. Believe me when I say I'm no Jets fan.
The great Kiwi miler, Peter SNELL, setting a world record (3:54.4): Peter Snell breaks his World Mile Record at Western Springs, Auckland, New Zealand on 17 November 1964
___
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
@JC66:
well then, perhaps you could explain to the group assembled: why is it that the 1% buy a $2,000 5G Verizon phone so they can watch the game on that teeny thingee while sitting in the Meadowlands? I mean, real 5G only works in places like stadiums, but what's the point?
@Anon 10:30
Is that what they do? Who knew?
I enjoyed it a bunch. No problem with the missing water making the answers ugly through dehydration. They were sucked dry. That is the whole fu&%@ng point. Stoopid complaint. Just close your eyes and use your brain! Or use imagination. So damned literal.
TURNALOSS HIGHHOLIDAY ain't much to complain about either.
Ooh how evil used a less popular phrase on one. Kinda like using a rarely used word in a Thursday puzzle.
I did wonder if LYON had a marina. And hey it's a French word too. Think they might want to rename their river the Rye?
I think @LMS was giving Rex credit for spotting the fisHOOk clue themer. Now if the clue was Attachment on a snell the answer might have been FIS[hho]OK which would have fit the spaces available. Maybe clue and answer just got switched when there was no use for the too short unused themer?
The absence of a rebus is essential to the way this works. You have to ADD the water. It ain't there. Not as H2O, not has HHO, not as HOH. You have to add it (but only as HHO… it might be fun to have one that used HOH as well, but that would be asking a lot of the clientele).
I hardly ever start with the first clue. I got the revealer in very short order, and that made all the starred clues easy. So this whole puzzle was easy.
As a chemist, I really enjoyed having an chemistry theme. I also liked the fact that the water was not in a Rebus, it actually had to be added mentally, although I agree with Rex that the rest of the fill was less than enjoyable.
One minor (perhaps nit-picky) chemistry point: although the short hand formula is H2O, the actual molecular structure is HOH. HHO is not water, it could be Home Heating Oil.
Agree with you, Rex. I got the theme quickly — jumping down early to get the clever revealer — and spent the rest of the puzzle trying to force fit the theme answers into an awkward rebus. I liked the concept, but even after completing it, felt that the implementation was all wet.
Agree. I hate gimicky puzzles.
Maybe the grid is 14 wide because the constructor is 14 years old..? Therein lies the constructor's age as previous bloggers have questioned...
CLASSIC NUDE?
JANE RESISTS at THE ELEVENT(HHO)UR,
and BABBLES TO her DEMENTOR boss,
"Will ORALB a SIGN of power?
SEEYA JUST don't wanna TURNALOSS."
--- ANNIE STETSON
I don’t see the point to this one. If the words without the added HHO letters also meant something, then this might be worthwhile. Otherwise, it just isn’t worth the effort.
DNF: this one beat me senseless. Whooshed about six feet over my head. I didn't even understand half the clues! Might as well have been in Greek. I did manage the north central (Go FLYERS ((next year))!) but that was it.
Three-letter DNF, but I haven't yet figures out the "Thursday trick." So I have not read any comments - might be back later after seeing why adding water holds water for this puzzle.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
"Kick in the head" is Dino, not Francis.
I also do not like how the extra HHO letters only apply to the crosses and not to the downs. This one should never have been the green light, even if it comes from a kid constructor.
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