.png)
Friend of Forman and Fez on That 70s Show / TUE 3-29-22 / Onetime movie studio rival of MGM / Rocky outcrops / Ancient statesman known as the Censor / Valuable violin informally
Tuesday, March 29, 2022
Constructor: Jamey Smith
Relative difficulty: Easy (easiest Tuesday puzzle I've done in a long time, easier than most Mondays)
Theme answers:
- NASHVILLE (18A: "The country music industry")
- K STREET (20A: "The lobbying industry")
- SILICON VALLEY (26A: "The high-tech industry")
- MADISON AVENUE (42A: "The advertising industry")
- DETROIT (51A: "The automotive industry")
- HOLLYWOOD (54A: "The film industry")
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics (from Ancient Greek: τόπος / tópos, 'place', and ὄνομα / onoma, 'name') is the study of toponyms (proper names of places, also known as place name or geographic name), their origins and meanings, use and typology. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of any geographical feature, and full scope of the term also includes proper names of all cosmographical features.
Metonymy (/mɛˈtɒnəmi/) is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept. [...] A country's capital city or some location within the city is frequently used as a metonym for the country's government, such as Washington, D.C., in the United States; Ottawa in Canada; Tokyo in Japan; New Delhi in India; Downing Street or Whitehall in the United Kingdom; and the Kremlin in Russia. Similarly, other important places, such as Wall Street, Madison Avenue, Silicon Valley, Hollywood, Vegas, and Detroit are commonly used to refer to the industries that are located there (finance, advertising, high technology, entertainment, gambling, and motor vehicles, respectively). Such usage may persist even when the industries in question have moved elsewhere, for example, Fleet Street continues to be used as a metonymy for the British national press, though many national publications are no longer headquartered on the street of that name. (emph. mine) (wikipedia)
• • •
[Lil Nas X, "Industry Baby"]
I don't expect much resistance from a Tuesday puzzle but with this one I got almost none. I had one moment of hesitation during the entire puzzle, when I couldn't figure out (for a couple seconds) what followed PET at 41D: Gag gift in a ventilated box (PET ROCK). I did not know PET ROCKs were "gag gifts." I thought they were things people knowingly bought for themselves (however ironically). "Gag gift" made me think something juvenile and gross like fake vomit or PET ... POOP. I don't know if I actually wrote PET POOP in or not ... probably not, I probably just waited for crosses to take care of it ... but I definitely thought PET POOP was the right answer for at least a moment or two ... so there's your solving highlight, folks: the incorrect answer, PET POOP. I'm off for some early-morning coffee + cat time. Enjoy your Tuesday.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Save And Share :
121 comments:
Ah… a theme based on one of our language’s bajillion -nyms. I always enjoy thinking about nyms. Here’s the thing – Rex, I always thought a toponym was like Panama hat or Burgundy wine. So it’s something that gets its name from its geographic origin. I was thinking today’s themers were metonyms – locations whose names take on a broader semantic role, representative of something way bigger than just the place itself. Now my head is spinning trying to sort all that out.
Whatever they are, very nice that all the themers are U.S. geographical locations that represent an “industry.” So Oval Office, Savile Row, or Vatican wouldn’t work. I think the “industry” angle tightens up the list and thus makes it much less arbitrary than Rex’s charge.
RAIL as clued (“train travel”) is a sly little wink of a synecdoche, cousin of the metonym. ASS could be a synecdoche, too, if clued right: He saved my ASS when he offered to line the lacrosse field for me. (true story)
Loved the palindromic cross of UFO/TOFU.
“Vide” before CHEF. I watch too much Top CHEF.
Lots of references to Langley: HIDE, CLOAK, FAKED, PANIC. . . hah. I guess some references to the Kremlin, too: DODO, ASS, BRAT, DOG. . .
The ALLA clue reminds me that I keep forgetting to learn how to make that pasta ALLA carbonara. It’s the bacon part that caught my attention; I would eat a cork beer coaster if it had bacon on it.
I bought some NO-RUN hose once at the Flea Market in Raleigh. Seriously – the hawker took a big file - the kind you’d bake into a cake for a prison buddy - and rubbed it up and down the demo pair. I mean, he put some muscle into it, really dug in. Those things were indestructible and the single ugliest pair of panty hose I’ve ever owned. Continuing to privately overthink outfits for my son’s trip to the altar, I just ordered some really sheer hose that’ll probably run sometime between the Electric Slide and the Cupid Shuffle.
If your only complaint is "too easy", then stop there. I thought it was fun. Theme was quickly grokked and facilitated a smooth solve.
Was one of the hardest Tuesday puzzles for me in ages, mostly because I know very little about Mexican food (blame a New England childhood and an old-England adulthood!), so was totally hung up in the NW corner. The rest was fairly straight-forward and not terribly interesting, so will generally agree with Rex on the rest of it.
Ah. Theme of the Metonyms. I liked it.
Is POST TRUE the opposite of Pre-fab?
Going to CANOODLE in HOLLYWOOD(LE), so Toodles!
🧠 (faster than yesterday)
🎉🎉.75
With a starter from the xword:
Wordle 283 3/6
⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩
🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
I count any puzzle in which I learn something new and worthwhile a gift, and today it was METONYM, where a word subs for a concept it is associated with, like “hand” for “help”, Wall Street for high finance, or “pen” and “sword” in the famous adage.
I, a word nerd, will add that to my list of word-relationship terms, and this puzzle illustrates a couple more that are already on my list:
Homophone – IDOL and IDLE
Palindrome – ELLE and ALLA, and they cross!
Jeff Chen says this is a theme that’s never been done before, doesn’t even fit into a standard theme genre, so props to you, Jamey, for ingenuity.
Cool theme, cool new word-nerd term – big thumbs up. Thank you for this, Jamie!
I enjoyed this puzzle. I agree with @Rex that it was easy for a Tuesday. My only pause was at the first theme answer, when I was positive nothing starts with "KS". Interestingly, on my NYTXW app, the themed clues were italicized instead of between quotes.
I agree 100% with LMS; the themed answers are all American business-related metonyms. I don’t think the concept of "toponym" is relevant to this puzzle.
Remarkable timing on this puzzle, coming right on the heels of the metonymy / synecdoche discussion.
Very good theme – wish I’d thought of it.
PANIC was my first thought for 41A, but the clue seemed to indicate there would be an abbreviation in the answer. Bad clue.
Surprised to learn the situation room is NSC – I guessed DOD. I may be thinking of the War Room from Dr. Strangelove.
So Shortz was reading yesterday’s comments? 😂🤣😂
I didn’t time but this felt Monday easy, maybe even Newsday Monday easy. I did get a slight eyebrow twitch at going Billy IDOL. Nothing says “fresh” like 1983 rock stars. We did get ELLE Fanning instead of the magazine or a French pronoun clue and Ashton was KELSO this century, but do we really need to PPPify IDOL? My only other brief hiccough was right at the end with the SAN/NSC cross. I had the answer but was just looking to confirm that SAN was the front of whatever SW US city they chose today and saw the Japanese honorific clue. Huh? Wasted precious nanoseconds before my brain left SAN Ysidro and realized it was YsidroSAN we were looking for. But that was my last letter in so the puzzle was actually done before I realized it was done.
The ANDROID clue also got a “since when?” eyebrow twitch. Turns out the clue is accurate (by a lot) globally even though it is not true in the US. Globally it’s a 3-1 ANDROID advantage while in the US it’s basically 50-50 with iOS usually slightly ahead. Interesting factoid is that iPhone users tend to be wealthier (have to be wealthier given the expense) meaning they have more to spend in the App Store, so the app market share is reversed despite the huge advantage ANDROID has in global OS market share. Either way, those companies are make a ton of money.
Being from the Motor City, enjoy seeing DETROIT right across the puzzle; also like the theme. It was easy, but fine for Tuesday. Metonyms, eh? Got it.
The only one that wasn’t an auto fill was K STREET. The rest, so easy. This pup was over before I even got my feet wet.
Onward…
Easy and fun, sort of like me after a drink and a bowl.
The 5:26 post by Loren Smith is correct. These are not toponyms.
Harmless fun - filled in with no hitches. Liked DOGLEG and CANOODLE. Didn’t know KELSO - but didn’t have to.
Enjoyable Tuesday solve.
Record time, and finished with ACED IT. Sweet.
I got the theme construct early on and was looking forward to learning what they were called in the revealer - alas, no revealer. Not to worry, I had OFL to fall back on. Since many have commented already about the easyish solve, even for a Tuesday, there may have been a missed opportunity to squeeze in the revealer (assuming the crosses were still Tuesday appropriate).
My nits are also the IDOL/KELSO cross - so unnecessary. I would much rather that the Times editors work a little harder at avoiding these type of self-inflicted wounds - especially if they are concerned about the puzzle “skewing old”. Just clue IDOL a more conventional way, which is much better than shoving vulgar rappers or quasi-slang from 5 years ago into the grid to skew young, which always (to me) seems forced and contrived.
This puzzle gave me a huge "I never thought of it that way before" moment. And while that's not as good as an "Aha!" moment, it's not nothing either.
I never realized how uncommonly common it is to refer to industries by where they're located rather than by what they are. This is extremely interesting, actually. In every instance used here, with the possible exception of K STREET (I always say "Lobbyists"), the place name would be used maybe 50 times as often as the industry name. Everyone says "HOLLYWOOD". And "SILICON VALLEY". And "MADISON AVENUE". Etc, etc.
Can you imagine Jamey Smith's excitement when she first stumbled upon the matching numbers of letters? SILICON VALLEY=MADISON AVENUE!!! NASHVILLE=HOLLYWOOD!!! DETROIT=K STREET!!! Wow!!!
It's amazing that no one ever thought up this idea before -- especially with the matching number of letters and all. But no one ever has, right? Which is why it's good to have as many different constructors as possible. No two puzzle-constructing brains work exactly the same way or produce the same original theme ideas. A plethora of constructors will likely always produce a plethora of new ideas.
when he first stumbled upon...
in my youth I’ve made out with a ton of guys, I CANOODLEd with none of them
Thx Jamie, for the visit to some of the U.S.'s most well-known metonyms! :)
Med.
No snags on this one; smooth journey all the way.
Liked it; fun adventure! :)
@pabloinnh 2:11 PM 👍 for QB yd :)
@Beezer (5:52 PM yd)
Put me down for 'lazy brain' syndrome. Happens far too often! :(
@jae
Boy howdy, you were right about Croce's 695. This may take days to finish. Over my pay grade in so many ways. Been there before, tho, so will forge on. 🥵
First and last Duotrig post (unless I should be lucky enuf to get a 33/37 one day.
Daily Duotrigordle #26
Guesses: 34/37
0️⃣9️⃣ 1️⃣6️⃣ 2️⃣0️⃣ 1️⃣1️⃣
1️⃣2️⃣ 0️⃣3️⃣ 1️⃣3️⃣ 1️⃣0️⃣
1️⃣5️⃣ 0️⃣4️⃣ 0️⃣5️⃣ 1️⃣4️⃣
1️⃣7️⃣ 2️⃣1️⃣ 3️⃣4️⃣ 0️⃣6️⃣
1️⃣9️⃣ 2️⃣2️⃣ 0️⃣7️⃣ 1️⃣8️⃣
2️⃣3️⃣ 2️⃣4️⃣ 0️⃣8️⃣ 2️⃣5️⃣
2️⃣6️⃣ 2️⃣7️⃣ 2️⃣8️⃣ 2️⃣9️⃣
3️⃣3️⃣ 3️⃣2️⃣ 3️⃣1️⃣ 3️⃣0️⃣
https://duotrigordle.com/
___
wrt SB: recently modified plan of attack: still 30 min. time limit for pg, but have pecked away at QB off and on during the day, similar to all puzzles I work on – a bit here and a bit there. Have managed QB 6 of last 8 days using this method, without spending all day on it as I used to do.
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
What in the world did the NYT do to the pen / pencil function? After they changed it, you now have to click on the square in the puzzle which is highlighted which then changes direction of your typing, then you have to click on that square again which changes direction back to the way it was, then you can start typing the right word. This makes using that function twice as cumbersome. Awful.
I would have left the themers unclued and somehow indicated that they were related. The fill was easy enough. It would have been fun to guess the place names. I've seen cryptics like that.
Rex really struggled to fill his space today.
@Zed - Yeah, I suspected several people here would get the metonym theme at the first theme entry then encountered. I know I laughed.
@LMS - I think you're trying to sucker me in here, but Panama hats came from Ecuador, so they're really mistoponyms.
Different starter.
Wordle 283 3/6
⬛🟨⬛🟨⬛
🟨⬛🟩🟨⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
I got the NYMPH wordle in 2 because after my opening word LEMON, there was no other word that it could be after confirming the placement of the M and learning there was an N. It took awhile to figure out. Maybe there was another possible word with an M in the 3rd spot and an N not in the last spot, that had no O-E-L in it but I couldn't find any.
I don't always start with LEMON but now and then I like it.
Very enjoyable puzzle. I too found it an easy solve. As usual, when Rex runs out of things to say about the puzzle he says the same thing over and over and over. I'm beginning to lose faith in our genial host.
Hey All !
Ontario pasta industry CA NOODLE. (That could either be "Canada" or "California")(Let your lazy brains contemplate that one for a bit)😂
Nice puz. Figured after YesterPuz POW, puzs would've went downhill, but this one is pretty darn good. Nice handling of the 13's. 13 long Themers are tough to put in a puz, as you usually end up having to put in a set of three Blockers either over or under them. Jamey had the added constraint of having another Themer two spots up (and down) from the 13's. Hence the L shaped Blockers, with another little one poking out of the NW/SE L.
And I'm sure to a lot of you, that sounds like babble, but at least I know (I think) what I'm trying to say!
Have to confess, didn't know K STREET. Anything political I don't do. Makes life less stressful.
TBAR, how many are there? Most Ski Resorts have regular Ski Lifts, no? Or are TBARs more for the Bunny Slope? Or is it just another puz word hardly seen in the wild?
yd -7, should'ves 4
Four F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
We just had metonym on 3/23
"Metonym for the U.S. Congress, with “the” answer: HILL
For me, a crossword is worth solving if it provides me with some fun and I can learn something. Today, though easy, was also fun. And, like @Nancy, I had the "I never thought of it that way before" moment, learning just how common metonyms are.
I don't care what Captain Buzzkill (aka @Rex) says, this puzzle was a success in my book.
Thank you, @Loren! Nice to know (even) you got a -nym head spin, too. I don't feel quite so dense now.
I was going to ask for clarification on meto-, topo-, and synecdoche, but I guess I'll have to read yesterday's comments instead. (Hello, @Zed 722am)
Quiz based on yesterday's Wordle -- as promised. You'll find it an interesting challenge.
Joe Dipinto came up with the challenge and I was able to solve it. I didn't need to use those two words yesterday since I'd already eliminated many of the consonants in question with my first two guesses. But after my Wordle solve, I wanted to see if I could come up with Joe's solution.
Let's say you've narrowed Wordle down to ?OUND. You haven't yet eliminated any of the following possibilities: B,F,H,M,P,R,S,W.
What two 5-letter words can you come up with that, taken together, will include all eight consonants?
Why not hold your answers until after 4 p.m. EDT today so that everyone has a chance to figure it out on their own.
KSTREET? I see what you did there. Hey, 'I'm done. That was kind of fun, or as the rabbit said to his partner, this won't hurt a bit, did it?
@Roo-Same thought here about TBARs. Haven't see one in a very long time. Those of us of a certain age remember rope tows. Now that was a challenge.
@LMS re wedding stories-at my son's rehearsal dinner we had an aluminum canoe filled with ice and beverages. Well, that was the plan, but aluminum canoes are, well, large, so we had a couple of coolers in the canoe with the actual ice and beverages. I made a big sign, using the calligraphy skills that I had to learn to address all their invitations, that said "Let the CANOODLING begin". We still have it somewhere. So a nice memory there.
The report from last night's HOOTENANNY-it wasn't in a barn and there was no dancing. This will make sense to some of us.
Fun Tuesdecito, JS. A little too easy. Just Sayin'. Thanks for the fun.
Taking @Zed's advice, I changed my opening word
Wordle 283 3/6
⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
oomph and brows given you 7 out of 8. That's extemp.
TBAR
What a fun little romp this was! Yes it was super easy and could’ve been run on a Monday and I would’ve liked it just the same. As @Nancy said about yesterday’s puzzle, this is the kind of crossword you like to offer to a novice. Fill that makes the entire grid flow smoothly combined with a clever theme which aids in the solve. Well done Jamey!
Great timing for the use of the metonym after yesterday‘s discussion and of HOLLYWOOD following the Academy Awards kerfuffle. Wonder what they will TROT out next year to top that infamous debacle.
Several good Wordle starters today. I know which one I’m using.
Rosin? Resin? They are both pronounced the same. I think. That threw me in the NW, because with an e instead of an o I wanted "seep" or something similar, which didn't work with KStreet. "Leak" didn't make sense. Carne Alada? nah.
Easy. Fun Tuesday...toponyms, metonyms, synecdoche, or whatever...worked for me. Liked it.
BRAT, ASS, and TIPSY TROT into my TBAR. CHEF had OILY ASADA on our DIET PLAN. TIPSY yelled: WAT DODO puts a DOG LEG in the TOFU? NEIN yells: Where's my CANOODLE ROLL? I FAKED PANIC and began to toss my PET ROCK at URSA,( the bouncer with a huge COIF). She then yells: Everyone....Go to that Placebo pub in RYE. They're offering some free SILICONE ESPNU. You can SOAK your FEET in ODDER and the metonyms are quite savory. You'll thank me later.
Everyone dashes off and all I'm left with is an empty plate of random toponyms.
@Gio 9:21. Although I have never heard it as a definite rule, it seems like Wordle never uses words that are simply four-letter words with an 's' tacked on at the end. That eliminates hymns, numbs, and damns.
The only other option I came up with is nimbi, which is also a plural but I don't know if Wordle avoids non-standard plurals or not.
Too often I begin reading the write up and feel like quoting Ed Norton ("Sheesh, what a grouch!"). I expect little on a Monday or Tuesday except a fairly eay puzzle. I guess some have higher expectations than myself. Who cares. I enjoyed the puzzle and give it a thumbs up.
I have resolved not to complain about the cold weather here, because the summers have been rough in the NYC area. Except at least until the gas bill comes.
"I did not know pet rocks were gag gifts". . . 'Nuff said about our King. Good day.
Last I checked (see my Top Secret clearance) the Situation Room isn't the regular meeting place for the NSC. It's only used during 'crises', so the Natural Answer for 'grp.' is NSA. See the wiki for details.
The NSC is sited in the Old Executive Office Building. Again, see the wiki.
Billy Idol released a new EP six months ago and is touring this year, but yes, 52D could have been clued differently.
Yes, it was easy but the theme was interesting in that it made me think about how much these industries are associated with their locations.
My only write-over was 47A since I assumed that any four-letter ancient Roman statesman would have to be NERO. That if he’s eating a snack. it’s an OREO. That if he has a pet, it’s either an EEL or an ASP. That if he’s heading to a three-letter destination, it’s a SPA. That if the spa is on a mountaintop, he will take a TBAR to get there. And that if anyone ever writes a poem about all of this. it will be an ODE.
SAN and LAN walk into a bar and each order a metonym…
Puzzle was pretty basic, theme was okay, nothing offensive enough to make me want to slap an Oscar presenter.
It did give me inspiration for a name, Cato "Canoodles" Carbonara, which I will file away to use for a character in a story ("The Green Paint Mystery"?), or just adopt as my personal nom de lowlife.
I believe “Oval Office” or “Vatican” being used to refer to an entire organization/country would be synecdoche
Please provide another 5 letter word with M in the center and the N not last. And no E, O or L. I'm having trouble finding one.
What part of "after 4 p.m." don't you understand?
What part of the country do you live in? ROSIN has an "ah" sound, while RESIN sounds like "eh."
@Anon 11:28 - @Anon 10:05 provided numbs in an as part of his effort @Gio an idiot. Problem is, @Gio wrote to whole sentences, one saying he didn't think there was a word, another admitting that there may well be such a word, and two sentences exceeds both @Anon 11:05's reading for comprehension abilities & patience when there's a opportunity to call someone an idiot.
@RP thought the puz had way too much short stuff, and I reckon that's slightly true. Average word length today was 4.82, compared to 4.89 for all TuesPuzs. [That .07 of a word coulda been whittled out a bit by them 42 black squares.]
However, the fillins were way above average in freshness. Freshness factor (per xwordinfo.com) was 53.8, compared to a TuesPuz average of 26.4.
Cool theme idea. At first, with K-STREET in place, M&A wondered if it was gonna be themers like G-STRING and M-SQUAD. Are those kinda words a -nym-named group? Bet @Muse darlin'd know.
staff weeject pick: WAT. Looks the weirdest of the bunch, until U see how it is clued.
fave sparklers: ESPNU. CANOODLE. Metonyms. PETROCK & PETPOOP.
Thanx for the fun, Mr. Smith dude. Good CROSSWORLD contribution.
Masked & Anonymo6Us
**gruntz**
It's Metonymy pure and simple, and OFL would have been better off just coming up with examples relevant to him. For instance, at any SUNY campus, I bet the profs are constantly referring to "Albany". Usually with disdain at their latest idiocy.
I thought the puzzle was a lot of fun. And it is interesting to think how recent many of these metonyms are. HOLLYWOOD has been around for almost a century. But when I did a summer internship in a Washington law firm in 1968, KSTREET was not yet in use, though the firm made most of its money from lobbyists, more politely known as trade associations. NASHVILLE existed as a country music hub, but as an early fan of country music, it wasn't until maybe the 1980s that it became a metonym, with Music Row as its common name. Before that, I heard it referred to as "16th Avenue". And really, the heart of country music was the Ryman Auditorium, which is downtown.
Loved @LMS's post today.
MFCTM.
Loren.. (5:26)
Zed (7:22)
GAC (9:22)
@x (11:02) Why yes, there ARE a number of brilliant people on this “pathetic” site. Individuals who are educated, worldly, sophisticated , and amazingly intelligent. Doctors, lawyers, judges, book editors, scientists, mathematicians, engineers, chefs, professors, teachers, artists, authors, lyricists, and poets - just to name a few. I don’t presume to count myself among them as I am woefully outclassed when it comes to crossword solving and likely many other subjects. However, hardly a day goes by that I don’t learn something from one or several of them. Just a suggestion but … instead of ridiculing, maybe give that a try sometime.
A bulb came on regarding the Oscars and similar awards. Feminism, or maybe some other ism, has decreed that "ess" is not to be used to differentiate male/female as traditionally done in various fields, like actor/actress. Okay, so why are there still award categories for best actor/actress and best supporting actor/actress. If all are actors** then there should be only one category for best actor. The winner can be any gender. It seems like someone is trying to have it both ways.
@ Anonymoose (12:32 p.m.) - I've wondered for years: why do they give awards for best male and best female actors when the gender has nothing to do with acting ability? Maybe they should just give an Oscar to the best actor in each of the 56 genders recognized by facebook.
Amen
@12:32
within the trade, even amateur community theater, it's just 'actor'. as to why the Academy has awards for both genders?? equal opportunity, I suppose.
Bisexuality immediately doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night.
-- Woody Allen/1975 (aka, before his Mia problem)
As I was solving this, I got to perhaps the third theme answer and mumbled to myself, "Ah, metonyms." If this had run a week ago, I would not have had that thought but thanks to yesterday's blog discussion, there it was. Eerie.
K STREET - on my only trip to D.C., I would wake up early and explore the area near my hotel. One day, I wandered along a few blocks of K Street. There was nothing to see that screamed "lobbying". I suppose I'm not surprised. There were a few more interesting things to see on Embassy Row at least. And the Mall, of course.
Jamey Smith, nice job on finding all those theme answers that answer the criteria.
@Joaquin:
Ah, but gender had (and, some contend, still does) role boundaries. Imagine Ida Lupino in John Wayne's role in "The Big Stampede"?? I don't think so. Or The Duke as Scarlett O'Hara. That I'd pay money to see.
@pabloinnh 10:21am, Thanks for the rope tow memory! I’d forgotten those, but since my first pair of downhill skis were wood, it’s no surprise my memory is fading. I have a 4 year old snowboarding grandson and can attest that the local slopes here and one this winter in VT, still use TBARs on the bunny slope.
@LMS Thanks for a fun start. Your "Lots of references lines had me chuckling at the end.
I learned something (if it sticks) - nothing too worthwhile -I had never heard of K Street. So didn't get the theme until Nashville followed by Silicon Valley.
Fun puzzle.
@RooMonster 9:32am. Nope, seen quite often in the wild if you’re a beginner old enough to use one. Otherwise a grown-up has to drag you up the bunny slope. Haha!
NYMPH
@pabloinnh 1021am 😉👍
@GILL 1058am 🤣 It's like I'm there!
@J-Dip 1108am I believe Cato "Canoodles" Carbonara is a known accomplice...er...associate of Rings Fibonacci.
@Whatsername 1223pm You assume there is anything left for @x to learn. 😉
@Anonymous 1005am Pity the numbing didn't include your fingers.
@Joaquin 1252pm LOL! And welcome to the Academy Awards Week!
@Anonymous 1232pm I'm probably going to regret this, but "his Mia problem"?
I agree with your last point. I get the WaPo in paper form, and they have the same person constructing every week’s Sunday puzzle - Evan Birnholz now and Merl Reagle before him. They suffer from a lack of variety.
It’s nice to come here and realize the ingenuity of the theme after reading the comments. I’m afraid the “nym” discussion didn’t occur to me as I was solving. I was busy hunting for a clever revealer. I especially enjoyed KSTREET since I’d never heard the “metonymical” term used for lobbyists.
PETROCK was a surprise answer. I liked it, but would have been more surprised if “gag” had been left out of the clue. I imagine that PETROCKs became a tiresome fad and had to get a job to survive. I still see them around with a slot in their bottom where one can hide a key.
This was a fine early week puzzle but I would have chosen it for Monday.
I knew when posting about NYMPH, that anonytroll would respond and would make a post to call me an idiot. His whole shctick is to wade through my posts and a few others here to tell us we are idiots. He serves no other purpose in this forum except to tell people they are stupid. He never posts about the puzzle or Rex's blog. He exists only to attack other posters.
I thought after the mods were asked a few days ago to delete posts where one poster calls another poster an idiot that this anonytroll would be silenced, but I guess not.
If you call him an idiot, he cries and whines to the mods.
As Kitchef stated, Wordle doesn't use 4 letter words with an S on the end or very obscure words.
@Frantic:
(actually, @12:57, responding to a moose @12:32)
Having cleared that up: Mia and Woody had, ummm, dating problems some years after that quote. As to who caused the problems, there remains a bit of disagreement.
Sure, easy puzzle, but still had a Natick. SEAR crossing R STREET. Never heard of K STREET.
I thought the theme was mildly interesting; Jeff at xwordinfo praises the technical elegance.
[Spelling Bee: yd 0, after taking 6 min. to get to pg.
@bocamp 8:50am; your method is mine, except for the time limit. I time myself to pg, then switch it off. Later in the day I try for QB, a few minutes before supper, then a few more after supper, etc.]
[Wordle: yd yuck, DNF failing to guess the first letter before running out of turns. I really prefer Hard Mode but some days it's just no fun.]
I don’t know of any good sites for concerts in Milwaukee, but I consider MADISON A VENUE I can work with.
The NE corner contains OILY IDLE FEET. Aren’t they the devils playthings or something?
Very fun and quick puzzle. Great Metonyms, no toponyms, excellent Tuesday. Thanks, Jamey Smith. (My spellchecker wants toponyms to be to pony’s.)
KSTREET went in off the KST and the other ????nyms went in unimpeded by the need for thought. And you folks thought Monday was easy. Nice few weeks of harder than normal early weekers is over, but this was otherwise nice piece of work. Three cities, two streets, and a semi-fictional valley. All stand-ins for well known American busynesses. I guess the theme nitpicians could claim Silicon Valley is not like the others. Where is it? Mostly Santa Clara Valley? Don't know, never been there. I just look at the map and wonder why it's called northern CA. Isn't there a central CA someplace?
I am not convinced Rex is wrong in his -nym usage. Some of those definitions make me dizzy and seem open to interpretation or judgment calls by an umpire. His position might be harder to defend.
PETROCKs were a gag gift. I think they came with a full set of instructions on care, feeding, and training.
@Gio
LEMON and presto. Pretty neat. I tried ASTER for nothing followed by COUGH for an H. That left me with a difficult choice to find of NYMPH or LYMPH. I guessed correctly but was surprsised the H got me down to two words as far as I could see and not usong plurals. Your situation was even more surprising.
Nifty idea, fun to solve - and the rare puzzle where the all of theme answers went in ahead of the other entries. I went wrong early, though, with TUrn TO x rASHVILLE: I wondered if the theme were puns on city names - not that I understood how "rash" would work - until K STREET went in unchanged. So, besides learning the concept of metonymy, I also learned that other people "TUNE" TO something on the radio; I'm still in the days of turning a knob. I'd anticipated @Rex's objection in crossword court of "Arbitrary!" and thank @Loren 5:26 for immediately speaking for the defense.
@Hartley70 1:06-My first skis were wood as well, as they belonged to my mother and dated from the 30's. Finally had to get a new pair when one got closed in a car trunk. Snap, the end.
On a happier note, Northeast Slopes, which is in VT not too far from where we live, is served by a TBar and TWO rope tows, and that's it. Talk about retro.
My four year old granddaughter knows nothing but the "magic carpet" method of going uphill. Kids these days.
@Hartley & @Pablo
We used to joke that we started with leather skis and wooden boots.
This started out with a big "What the....?" at 1 Across. Thought I was well versed in all things taco but couldn't make any sense out of the "Came ___ taco" clue. It took longer than it should have to realize that "Came" was actually "Carne". Doh!
When I was a kid my mom would set a radio in the kitchen window so that while we were working in the garden we could listen to Dizzy Dean announcing a baseball game. When the pitcher went to the ROSIN (14A) bag between pitches, Dizzy would pronounce it "rah zun". I think it's the same stuff that cellists and gymnasts use but maybe pronounced "reh zun". A brief net search turned up mostly cannabis related meanings. Wonder how that would work sprinkled on a taco?
Did you know that today is National Vietnam Veterans Day? I'm guessing not. No mention of it on the NYT or WaPo online front page. If you know a Vietnam Vet, tell them "Welcome back!". It might be the first time that anyone has ever said that to them, fifty years late but better late than never.
Life after a big lottery win. EASY STREET
Toponym - The only definition all the dictionaries agree on is “place name.” In that respect, Rex is correct, these are all toponyms. The definition @LMS mentions is only mentioned in some of the dictionaries (but not Merriam-Webster or Oxford) and so appears to be a shortening of the adjectival form, “toponymic.” However, I do agree that the theme is metonymy, with no need to refer to the toponymic characteristic unless you wanted to specify that these are toponymic metonyms. And who wouldn’t want to say “toponymic metonymy?” When I get my yacht I think I just might name it Toponymic Metonymy (and moor it at the Rye marina).
Wordle Plurals - I just googled “How many five…” and the top completion was “…letter words in English?” A couple of sites gave the number 158,390. That means that there are nearly 434 years worth of options without using plurals (I’m assuming that number doesn’t include plurals, so maybe just 217 years). I’m going with the rule should be no plurals of any sort.
@Gio - Illegitimi non carborundum - Everybody understands.
@Frantic Sloth - Mia accused Woody of sexually abusing one of their adopted children.
@Bad Mouse - The NSC is chaired by the President and in a crises and other times meets in the Situation Room. The NSA is an agency like the CIA. The heads of both are also on the NSC, but the NSC is the “grp.” that uses the Situation Room.
@Anoa Bob - Thanks for the heads-up about today being National Vietnam Veterans Day. I am one and I didn't know!
I have a baseball-style cap embroidered with my old unit and the words "Vietnam Veteran" that I often wear. It has occasioned many positive comments and never one of hostility. The only downside to the cap is than many folks assume, because I am a veteran, that I am a Trump supporter; this is definitely not the case which has led to some awkward moments.
@Nancy 10:17.
Two words that will work are WHaRF and BuMPS.
You don’t actually need two words that contain all eight possibilities, though. If you have seven of them, and no match, you know by process of elimination that the eighth one is correct.
Now, here’s a more complicated situation. ?ATCH. The first letter could be B, C, H, L, M, N, P, or W. Two of those letters, C and H, are already known to be in the word. So a word like PINCH, which contains four of the possibilities, won’t help if the missing letter is “C” or “H”, as you already know those are in the word once; you just don’t know if one of them appears twice.
Now can you come up with two words that will allow you to deduce the correct answer?
@pabloinnh 2:46 pm, Small world! My son and family rented an airb&b on a farm 10 minutes away from Northeast Slopes in Feb for a 4 day stay. Thought it would be perfect for Ed at 4. They got an enthusiastic look at it but the next day a blizzard hit and they closed the slope. They rebooked for August again and will go back in the winter. They loved the area.
@JC66 3:06pm, haha! Yup, black leather, but unlike the skis they weren’t hand-me-downs. The boots were newfangled with buckles not laces. How fabulous was that!
That makes it unanimous so far, @kitshef. Joe D had BUMPS and WHARF, I did too, and @Barbara S emailed me with that same solution earlier in the day, before the 4 pm-mandated reveal. Of course we can't be sure that there's no other solution, but there doesn't seem to be. anyway, congrats!
I'll go ponder your challenge now. It definitely sounds more complicated, so who knows if I can solve it?
@anonamoose: How about best actor in a male role and best actor in a female role. It eliminates gender all together.
@kitshef (4:04):
First BLOWN and then CAMPS.
BLOWN will check the B, L, W, and N. (Game over if it's one of them.)
CAMPS will check the C, M, P, and S. (Game over if it's the M, P, or S.) If it's the "C" being used twice, the C will appear in blue -- showing it's now in the right position for CATCH. If that doesn't happen, the only possibility remaining is the H for HATCH.
AMIRITE? :)
@Nancy 10:17 AM. Wordle challenge: The words “bumph” and “frows” use all of those consonants (with the 2 vowels in the already found letters).
I know this was mentioned here before, but The New Yorker now is five days a week with reverse difficulty from the NYTX. Here is the announcement. Only Friday will be themed. I'd say the Monday is routinely roughly equal to the NYTX Friday, although the PPP ups the difficulty on occasion for those of us of a certain age.
@Nancy-
I had a different combo (CLOWN and BUMPS), but you hit on the important notions: that you need to cover all the letters save one, and at least one of the C or H has to begin one of the words.
@Kitshef 4:04 PM. Possible solution = plumb and whelp (only the “c” not in those two).
@LMS (I know it’s late). I also plugged in vide for answer to “sous____.” I don’t watch cooking shows but my son-in-law (with my daughter) in Alaska does sous vide and that is how I learned.
Dunno. I looked up metanym and toponym after I looked at comments this morning (busy day!) and I think it is stretching it to think that KSTREET is a toponym. Just my opinion.
I enjoyed the puzzle so THAT is all I’m gonna say…
Or BLOWN and HUMPS. But in Wordle you always start this scenario with (at least) one possibility eliminated, so the maximum you ever need to check is Total Possibilities Minus Two.
Anyone who's lived in or near DC knows that 'K STREET' means Lobbyist Gulch. For those living in Flyover Country and not keeping up with the Fake News, may be not so much. A toponym if ever there were one.
I said ANOTHER.
NYMPH was the answer.
@Beezer - If I am interpreting correctly the purest toponym is a place like Mesa, AZ, a place name derived from a topographical feature. But then “toponym” expanded to any place name in general. Under this definition K STREET is as much a toponym as the rest. Now “toponym” is expanding to include the concept of an object named for a place it is (allegedly) from. That’s what Muse was discussing this morning. But that type of toponym isn’t the theme today, these are metonyms that happen to also be toponyms. Clear as mud?
@Nancy
I went with SHREW and BLIMP. And lo and behold, found out it was an F!
RooMonster Why Isn't Wordle On The Puzzle Page? Guy
@Zed. Yes. Clear as mud. I’m just sayin’ that if I were @Rex I wouldn’t have muddied (!) up the waters with toponym. Not dying on the sword though…
4PM mandate? 🙄
Woody Allen was investigated by the Connecticut State Police. The Connecticut Attorney General never even filed charges.
The kid was seen by the sex abuse experts at Yale. They said no abuse took place.
NY police and social services investigated. They also saw no evidence of wrongdoing.
@Beezer 7:23 - Agreed. It’s almost as if he’s not perfect.
Joaquin @3:56, In case no one has said it yet---and even if they have---welcome back! I got my first one, other than from close friends and family, a year or two ago. I was in the parking lot loading some stuff from Walmart when a guy walking by noticed the Vietnam Service Ribbon bumper sticker on my car and asked if I was a Vietnam vet and when I said yes he said "Welcome back." That was it, he just smiled and I said thanks and he kept on walking. I think he was probably a vet but not old enough to be from our era.
@Anoa Bob, @Joaquin (and any others who served): A heartfelt Welcome Back and thank you from someone most assuredly of your era.
@Joaquin (@3:56 PM)
I'll double down on @Anoa's Welcome Back! I didn't make it past Hawaii, but had a brother who served in there.
___
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
@Whatsername 12:23
This is late but I hope you see this.
Your rebuttal to @X 11:02 was spot on.
I believe most of us come here day after day to read our blog friends. And please...count yourself as the (in) classed.
I don't even know how to spell pathetico....
I'm serving mojitos at my pathetic bar. Yay, me.....
@joe dipinto
Not that it matters but you can get to a ?ATCH without having used one of the involved letters. If your 2 words are GATOR and TOUCH that gives you ?ATCH at your 3rd word without using any of the crucial letters I hope. The repeating O is a bit unrealistic, but I have a puzzle to do.
Wordle 283 4/6*
🟧⬛🟧⬛⬛
🟧🟧🟧⬛⬛
🟧🟧🟧⬛🟧
🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧
@anon 737pm
Where is the comment that this is about? I misses it. Thanks in advance.
@Anonymous 153pm and @Zed 348pm You mean like this? Kind of an understatement. 😉
@Nancy 1017am, et.al.
I had Barfs & Whomp or Whump, and I'm not happy. 😂
I actually think Rex needs to take a break. I love this blog and visit it everyday. I give money once or twice a year. But come on. Puzzles are fun. Some are amazing and some are bad. But most NYT puzzles really are solid, if you are not someone who does 700 puzzles a week. Take some time off, Rex. This was fun. Not amazing, but very fun. Really be more stoic (in the Ancient Greek and Roman sense) and appreciate what you have. If you can’t, then go on a long vacation from all puzzles and then come back. And thank you for your service to all of us with this blog.
@albatross shell – yes, that's true. You might do GATED or FATED instead of GATOR first.
Wow. This is how I know not only Rex, but most crossword solvers, are... let's say "not young" (and I'm 34). This was the crustiest crossword I've ever solved, including a few dozen from the 90s. Clue after clue was "no one has said that since before WWI". I'm sure Will Shortz is still on a LAN and I'm sure he found the one store in NY that sells sardines, but good lord the theme answers: the only one remotely relevant anymore is Hollywood, and even that is significantly out of touch. I might not renew this year. This is the bottom of the barrel and it should be a miracle that anyone is alive anymore capable of solving it.
We just finished a 4 day drive home from a month of Florida. We got in at 11 PM, found today’s paper on the porch, so I solved the puzzle. Like Rex said, it’s just a list; it really needs a snappy revealer to tie it together. Can’t think of one myself, though.
Rex wants a Pulitzer prize for every crossword puzzle. Not realistic Sir Rex.
Nothing horrible about this puzzle it’s just lacking pizzazz.
The Curse of the NW. AGAIN. I had absolutely no idea what was going on with 20-across--nor would anyone outside the lobbying "industry." To me that's a sore subject anyway; it's the single most destructive thing about our government (excepting of course, He Who Shall Not Be Named). Add to that it's a letter-add-on, so the whole mess is a big barf at the Space station.
After doing the rest, I saw what was going on, so was able to finish, but with little joy. The entire deal is ragged at best. Case in point: NORUN. Show me a NORUN baseball game. That isn't still going on.
Okay, I learned something. I now know what neighborhood to avoid in D.C. What the [TVMA]: I just won't take the trip. Double-bogey.
PETROCK & ROLL
I'd CANOODLE some with IRINA,
but she FAKED PANIC when she could,
and MADISON's a TEAS, just keener,
so I'll OPT to give HOLLYWOOD,
--- CPL. CATO KELSO
Anoa, go ahead and mention your former unit. I wear a Fourth Infantry cap with a CIB. I just assume one in a thousand will know what the cap insignia is, and one in a hundred thousand will recognize the CIB. Hi to Whatsername.
good Tuesday and I had fun guessing the place names. Fairly straightforward.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
EZPZ and yes it's a list, but themes often are. Big deal. Must be Attract Newbie Week.
P.S. Got one of "those" combos in today's Wordle, and tried @Joe's approach. It got me a 100% cinch par:
YGBYB
BGGGB
GBBBG (trying three of the missing possibilities)
GGGGG
Post a Comment