First man, in Maori mythology / FRI 4-1-22 / Vegas machine with best odds / Masterwork completed in 1499 / Biblical land near kingdoms of Judah and Moab / Headliner of the first Warner Bros short to win an Oscar / It makes il mundo go 'round

Friday, April 1, 2022

Constructor: Evan Mahnken

Relative difficulty: Medium



THEME: the puzzle wants to try some April Fools *%@! on you, enjoy — the "joke" is in the "Puzzle Notes": "This puzzle has four different solutions. When you're done, read the circled letters from top to bottom to find another one." So ... the four theme answers are all "solutions" of one kind or another, and the circled squares literally spell out "another one." Are you happy now?

Theme answers:
  • MOUTHWASH (17A: Bathroom cabinet item)
  • HAND SANITIZER (27A: Product often advertising 99.99% effectiveness)
  • WINDOW CLEANER (44A: It might help clear things up)
  • SALT WATER (57A: Sound filler)
Word of the Day: TIKI (5A: First man, in Maori mythology) —

In Māori mythologyTiki is the first man created by either Tūmatauenga or Tāne. He found the first woman, Marikoriko, in a pond; she seduced him and he became the father of Hine-kau-ataata. By extension, a tiki is a large or small wooden or stone carving in humanoid form, although this is a somewhat archaic usage in the Māori language. Carvings similar to tikis and coming to represent deified ancestors are found in most Polynesian cultures. They often serve to mark the boundaries of sacred or significant sites. (wikipedia)

• • •

Hello and welcome to the stupidest "holiday" of the year. After my workout on Monday, my trainer at the gym said, "OK, I'll see on Friday ... April Fools' Day." To which I said, sarcastically, "great." She said, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna do anything, I'll be here, just like normal" (I assume she was telling the truth—I'll find out in a few hours). Then she said, "You'd think people would grow out of that by adulthood." Yes, yes you would. But no ... here come the predictable attempts at gotcha-ery. I live in a world that is absolutely drowning in disinformation, 24/7, it's literally killing us all, so yeah, I don't have time for this "day" and even the most lowkey of its corny nonsense. You know what this puzzle did—it took a Friday puzzle away from me. If you think that's entertainment, well, you and I are very different. As you know, if you've read this blog long enough, Friday is the Best Day. It's the day I look forward to the most, the day when the NYTXW is most likely to hit its mark, to provide delight, to deliver the whoosh whoosh zoom zoom pleasure that I'm always chasing but much less often getting from my puzzle-solving regime. But no, I've got this pun on "solutions" with its little "see what I did there" post-solve flourish. [Extremely deep sigh]. I clearly picked the wrong month to stop drinking.


So here's your definition of "solution" today, in case it was at all unclear:
5. Chemistry
  1. a. the process by which a gas, liquid, or solid is dispersed homogeneously in a gas, liquid, or solid without chemical change.
  2. b. such a substance, as dissolved sugar or salt in solution.
  3. c. a homogeneous, molecular mixture of two or more substances. (dictionary.com)
And your theme answers today are, it seems, a bunch of said "solutions," though I would never think of them that way. I see three household cleaning agents and some SALT WATER. Maybe that's the point—you don't think of them that way, so maybe (maybe) you don't get the "solution" "joke" right away. Or at all. I don't know. All I know is that "A-N-O-T-H-E-R-O-N-E" has big "B-E-S-U-R-E-T-O-D-R-I-N-K-Y-O-U-R-O-V-A-L-T-I-N-E" energy. Like Ralphie after he decodes that message in "A Christmas Story," I am extremely disappointed.


I struggled only in the NW, where my first pass turned up nothing but ATM (20A: Vegas machine with the best odds?). But I managed to back my way into that section later once I got the latter end of MOUTHWASH. My most embarrassing moment (considering my wife is from New Zealand) was putting in MAUI instead of TIKI at 5A: First man, in Maori mythology, though I felt slightly less bad when I looked up Maui and discovered that one of Maui's Maori names is Maui-TIKITIKI. Also, in case you thought Maui was just an island, here:
Māui (Maui) is the great culture hero and trickster in Polynesian mythology. Very rarely was Māui actually worshipped, being less of a deity and more of a folk hero. His origins vary from culture to culture, but many of his main exploits remain relatively similar. (wikipedia)
Ah well, at least I had INACAN to console me after screwing this answer up ... [yet another extremely deep sigh].


Because the "theme" has taken away what might've been a slew of marquee answers, the only NEWSWORTHY answer today is NEWSWORTHY (29D: Fit for a big write-up, say). I think GO TO PRISON wants to be NEWSWORTHY, but it's about as NEWSWORTHY as INACAN. Hey, if you GOTOPRISON, are you INACAN. Is prison sometimes referred to as "the can"? Yes! "The can: a jail or prison." Though nowadays, more often "a toilet," I suppose. At least in the U.S. Hope you enjoyed this ARTY fare much more than I did. I wish you a good day, free of people who think April Fools' is a "good day" for pranking. Oh, also, big love and good wishes to all my friends who are attending the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament this weekend in Stamford, CT. I hope to see you all at some other tournament very soon. Mwah!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

141 comments:

Anonymous 5:47 AM  

Perfect for an April Fools Friday, IMO. Had some teeth so it felt Friday-ish, and then I for one felt extremely fooled by the carefully worded note. I didn't understand what was going on until I had finished the puzzle, and I got a sort of end-of-Usual-Suspects feel as I ran my eyes down the circled letters, sent them up to reread the note, and then had my moment of revelation.

If there's any place for April Fools (and I agree there aren't many), it's in the puzzle game I play every day. Thanks Evan Mahnken.

Conrad 5:54 AM  


I read the note and then promptly ignored/forgot about it. Struggled in the NW, mainly due to jOlT instead of BOOT at 2D. Also a bit of a snag in the NE with SLushiE. Aside from that an easy Friday. Reread the note post-solve and didn't get the significance of "solutions" until I read @Rex. But I LOL'd when I read ANOTHER ONE.

OffTheGrid 5:59 AM  

More of a Thursday type puzz but even then it would be pretty lame. I read the note so I couldn't ignore the theme. The nail in the coffin was the circled letters.

BTW, nobody can CTRL Z. HAR!

Joaquin 6:03 AM  

Do you need to get your day off on the wrong foot? I got yer "solution" right here: Read @Wrecks first thing in the morning.

It took me a few minutes to get the gag and the "aha" was more of a sigh; nevertheless, I enjoyed the solve and the gag.

Frantic Sloth 6:07 AM  

Sure. Why not?
Let's just ignore other, more major holidays and go ahead and semi-theme a Friday in honor of April Fools (Fool's? Fools'?) Day.

Because loosey goosey anarchy is what the NYT is all about. Right?

Oh, what's the use of living anymore if this is what life has become?

-OR-

Just ignore the circles and whatever their gimmick is and solve like it's a real, themeless Friday as Gof intended.
Then you might have some fun. Well, I did anyway. It was a bit of a rough start - the kind where an answer pops into my head right away and I think "nah. That can't be it", and turns out it is! Got about a third of the way through before all those white squares I skipped inspired me to take a chance and just try some of those answers.

Result? Wavelengths align and off we go!
When it was all over, a trip to xword.info explained the theme and the "four solutions". But, MOUTHWASH, HANDSANITIZER, WINDOWCLEANER, and SALTWATER are such sparkly, inspired entries they hardly need a theme to shine their shoes.

I jest. Just a tad. And I did have some fun.

🧠🧠
🎉🎉🎉

Lewis 6:16 AM  

Hah! And I repeat – hah! Gullible me! April Fooled again!

First I laughed at reading what was in the circles. Then I laughed because you got me good, Evan. There I was, wondering what I could change to make another possible solution, no less three more, when I finally saw the four solutions. Huuuuuuge hah!

I love how that note is written with such a straight face. One side of me wants to tell you, NYT team and Evan, to GO TO JAIL. The other side is grateful for how I came into this puzzle with Friday seriousness and have left it gleeful.

I like the last column – TENSE USER ARMY – as I picture the hordes of online solvers worried over what the heck the four solutions to this puzzle are.

Your joke with its punchline hit the mark with me, Evan. This is going to be a good day – thank you!

Arr Grr 6:41 AM  

I am going to spend some time in the archives so I can have my Friday puzzle. The highest point of my week, the Friday puzzle, especially at the moment, and it was replaced by this. I wish to sob.

Irene 6:51 AM  

Easy puzzle except for the crossing of UZO and KYLO.
Who?

Anonymous 7:01 AM  

Didn’t see the note, ignored the circles, didn’t make any difference. After what seemed like a long slog I was surprised to see that I came in a couple of minutes quicker than my average Friday. It just didn’t seem quick. I’m with Arr Grr— off to the archives.

kitshef 7:06 AM  

I got only the mildest of kicks from ANOTHER ONE … I think the puzzle would have been better without that extra element.

The four solutions, though, I got a big kick out of. Clever and funny.

Was wondering if we'd get a pan from @Lewis today.

PGregory Springer 7:09 AM  

Has the distinction of giving me my fastest Friday solving time ever.

king_yeti 7:12 AM  

Never read the note and finished in Tuesday time.

Anonymous 7:29 AM  

I knew both UZO and KYLO because I do a lot of crossword puzzles. Never heard of either of them elsewhere. The O could have easily been an A or even an E. Otherwise, good puzzle. Thanks.

Z 7:29 AM  

@OffTheGrid - 😂🤣😂

I don’t know if it’s the Dutch Reformed stoicism I grew up with or just my general demeanor, but I’ve never been around many people who celebrate April’s Fool. I’m not opposed to tomfoolery and there have been some good pranks (Sidd Finch, anyone?), but this puzzle? It was the dadiest of April Fools Dad Jokes. A quadruple Schödinger puzzle would have been nifty. But MOUTHWASH and HAND SANITIZER just reminds me that COVID is still here and it looks like I’ll be getting a flu shot and a COVID shot every year for the rest of my life. Happy April.

I got what was going on fairly early. AMORE was my first answer and I solved clockwise with very little resistance until the NW. I feel like a cluing opportunity was missed with MOLE. Who doesn’t want Avagadro to be in the MOLE clue when we have a chemistry pun?

@Irene - How did you manage to avoid Star Wars mania? Especially since KYLO Ren and Rey are such crossword friendly names? Nevertheless, you’re right, that’s an awful crossing. Since it is two names all six vowels are plausible and several consonants cannot actually be ruled out. I mean, I can easily imagine a KYLT Ren with a tartan light saber, UZT could easily be a potato chip eponym.

Son Volt 7:34 AM  

No - not your typical Friday but I had no issue with it. Cute theme - well constructed. Liked OPOSSUM, TWEETY, KUSH - there’s a lot of clean fill. Like the use of ARMY with Drove.

We can add MOLE and ALUM to the chemistry theme.

Tuesday level puzzle on a Friday is never great - but in this case I’ll deal with it.

Dr.A 7:40 AM  

Wow! You are the curmudgeonist curmudgeon that ever curmudgeoned! And that’s from someone who adores you.
Anyhoo, I’m gonna try to have some fun with April Fool’s day, my kid loves it. Gotta go set her clock ahead an hour.

albatross shell 7:41 AM  

This mislabeled OPOSSUM HUNT turned into a snipe HUNT and a perfectly pratical April Fools Day joke on us.

TJS 7:56 AM  

I agree with Rex except for the giving up drinking part.

bocamp 7:57 AM  

Thx Evan, for a fun-filled Fri. puz! :)

Easy+

Very smooth solve, except for a dnf at KYLO / UZO; thot maybe there was a sister named KYLA. And, didn't we recently have UZO? Or, maybe that was from some other source, e.g., indie puz, etc. Anyway, hopefully it will sink in this time. (UZO Aduba)

Couldn't figure out the 'four different solutions', altho I saw the the circled letters did spell out 'ANOTHER ONE'. [update: thx to @Rex and others I now get it. I really need to start paying more attention to the 'notes' and 'themers']

Liked this one a lot! :)
–––
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊

SpyGuy 8:12 AM  

I liked it. Got done, and got a chuckle out of both the solutions and the circled letters. I try not to take things too seriously. Uzo and Kylo are both right in my wheelhouse, so those were no trouble at all. Had Maui at first, as well, but knew it wasn't right as he's a demi-god (as all who watched "Moana" hundreds of times know, all I can say is you're welcome), so didn't stay with it long so that didn't slow me down.

Anonymous 8:19 AM  

FH
An upper-quartile solve, so, fairly easy. I didn't get the whole 4 solutions part until I read Rex's miserable comments. Oh, now I see. Clever.
And I got Wordle in 2, so there......

mmorgan 8:20 AM  

I’m a very big fan of April Fool’s Day, but I Did Not Get This puzzle. It’s very far from my idea of April Fool’s Day fun. And the TIKI / KUSH cross was a total Natick for me (though I did briefly think of TIKI).

amyyanni 8:25 AM  

My best April Fools was when I was in charge of the program spring picnic. We were a nonprofit and it was a tough year. Sent a memo explaining we'd be having it at the rest area on the Interstate and assigned the different offices what to bring. The farthest one was also instructed to scoop up any fresh roadkill as a colleague knew how to skin and grill critters. 🙄🤣😉 Some people seriously have no sense of humor. Several complained to the Director.
Count me in with the folks missing the Friday challenge. This was too easy. Admittedly, my science of choice in school was Biology. In another life, I may be an entomologist. 🐝🦋🐞🦟

Mags 8:26 AM  

For 42D [“Mess”] I had C-L-U x x E-R and for a brief happy moment thought the answer was the cheeky “Cluster” as in “cluster f***” and appreciated the cheekiness during this season of misinformation, as Rex referenced. So bummed when I got around to 51A [“Behind”] and realized it was the more boring “Clutter” 😂

Lewis 8:27 AM  

@kitshef -- Thought about it; have thought about it the past few April Fools days. Maybe up the road...

Tom T 8:34 AM  

Got through this grid quickly (for me, on a Friday), but was dnf'ed by the double Naticks (for me) of UZO/KYLO and TIKI/KUSH.

My first entry was ISH (8D, Suffix with bull or bear), which led to an unfortunate guess that 17A (Bathroom cabinet item) was hairbruSH. Turns out a hairbrush was not the "solution."

I enjoyed this one, but didn't get the four solutions part of the joke until I read Rex. Would have liked to have seen the ANOTHER ONE letters more symmetrically distributed through the grid--that would have been a fine feat of construction!

pabloinnh 8:38 AM  

This is one where I read the first few clues and thought "this is going nowhere" and then I got an answer here and there and suddenly I was three quarters done, with the entire NW region staring at me, connected to nothing. For reasons unknown to myself, I tried MOUTHWASH off the final H and boom I was done. I say "unknown" because our bathroom cabinet does not contain said product, and never has.

I'm with the group who saw ANOTHERONE in the circles and said, OK, and stopped without actually looking for "solutions", so OFL pointed that out to me, and increased my appreciation for this one, which had been, um, minimal.

I, and I hope others, will resist the temptation to repeat "that's a moray" jokes punning on song lyrics. Thank you in advance.

Didn't know TIKI as clued and nice to see LIL clued as something other than part of a rapper's stage name.

OK for an April Fool's Day effort, so thanks for that, EM. If I was expecting Even More, the joke's on me.

pjd 9:07 AM  

I also hate when Friday themelesses are sacrificed for some dumb reference to a holiday or anniversary or something. Annoying.

Also, awful start when in the NW corner you've got "ATM" clued WITH THE WORD "MACHINE" ... C'MON THE "M" STANDS FOR MACHINE WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE??

Beezer 9:08 AM  

Very fun puzzle but went by too quickly for a Friday! This must have been very much in my wheelhouse OR it isn’t a Friday level of difficulty.

Speaking of April Fool jokes and adults being juvenile, my husband pulled a semi-successful one on me as I was reading this blog. I say semi-successful because I DID jump up from my chair but then realized what he was doing before I ran over to the window. I shan’t say what he said he saw, but it WAS believable…

RooMonster 9:12 AM  

Hey All !
The big AHA came when the ole brain cottoned onto the "four solutions"! Kept trying to see if any of the circled letters could be anything else, or trying to find ambiguous letters that might possibly be changed. How could there be more than one solution? Then I wrote out the circled letters, which spelled out ANOTHER ONE, reread the note, then that AHA! Chuckled a bit at the corniness. I thought it fun. 😁

IN A CAN is not the best. Agree could've been cross-referenced with GO TO PRISON.

Happy April Fools Day. Don't let the Fools get you! Oh, it's also my Mom's Birthday. I'm sure she got teased in school about it.

Another name for today could be Schrodingers Day. That darn cat...

yd -1, should'ves 1 (ARGH!) Stereotypical miss... (Wink wink nudge nudge)

No F's (ha ha, funny joke) 🤪
RooMonster
DarrinV

Anonymous 9:12 AM  

You don’t seem to enjoy much, Rex.

Canon Chasuble 9:14 AM  

Mark Twain said it: "The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other
364 days of the year." (this wording among other variants). But as to the "four solutions": "Humbug!"

Ab 9:23 AM  

This was a Tuesday puzzle on a Friday. I shouldn't have to read the notes to understand that there's a theme when the fill is so easy. It is a huge disappointment and I expected more for April fools. Perhaps that's the trick haha it's a Tuesday on a Friday.

Unknown 9:28 AM  

How is Detroit ENE of Kansas City? Unless it’s some other Detroit not in Michigan? Clearly due NE.

Pete 9:29 AM  

Either I'm a genius and I alone found the fifth solution (SLURPEE) and thus know the true meaning of ANOTHERONE, or the constructors and editors made a huge gaffe and put in a fifth solution in a puzzle with only 4 solutions and gibberish circles.

In either case, don't mess with Friday themeless, OK?

Nancy 9:38 AM  

My heart sank when I saw the note. There's so much anxiety-provoking uncertainty in the world right now. I don't want a puzzle with "four different solutions". I want a puzzle with one perfect solution that I can rely on. An OASIS of predictability in an unpredictable world.

So I decided to ignore the note and solve this thing as a regular, straightforward puzzle for as long as I could.

As long as I could turned out to be my entire solve. Damned if I could see more than one solution to the puzzle. Nor was I in the least unhappy about it.

And, if there was no such thing as a crossword blog, I would have gone to my grave never knowing (or caring, btw,) what that mysterious note was all about. Now that I see that it's a play on the word "solutions", I have to say: pretty cute and completely unexpected.

Biggest nit? "Right?!" does not equal "I KNOW". Funniest clue? ATM as the answer to "Vegas machine with the best odds?" I hope, @Lewis, that you'll keep this one in mind for your favorite clues of the week.

Jess Wundrin' 9:39 AM  

Is Adam the first man in Middle Eastern mythology?

Z 9:45 AM  

@Unknown 9:28 - I don’t think these clues really require getting a protractor out, but even with a protractor the clue is fine. Sault Ste. Marie is NE of Kansas City. Detroit is between northeast and east of Kansas City, so ENE is fine. A quick look at my Maps app suggests that Detroit is very close to 22.5° north of east of Kansas City.

@Pete - I had the same thought but the symmetrical OPOSSUM clearly isn’t. Does the presence of ice make it not a solution?

EdFromHackensack 9:48 AM  

the last time I smoked marijuana was in 1981. KUSH? I dont think he had that back then. My only hiccup though I did google once or twice. Yeah, felt like Ralphie in A Christmas Story

Nancy 9:54 AM  

From the "But I Will Never Call This a DNF" Department:

Reading the blog, I see that my KYLe/UZe is wrong. Your bad, not my bad, Evan. I'm calling this a "solve!" Try and stop me.

Anonymous 9:54 AM  

Where to start? I suppose first congratulations are in order to Mr. Mahnken for his clever, fun, and fresh puzzle. Kudos to Mr. Shortz for running it today.
W.S. Also deserves kudos for this weekend's gathering in Stamford. It's his baby, and it's his time, effort and expertise that makes it go. What a shame that Rex's pettiness is so profound that all he can muster is good wishes to the competitors without so much as a whiff of appreciation for the man who's responsible for the whole shebang.
But then, haven't we come to expect as much from our bitter Binghamtonian?
I was surprised at Rex's lack of appreciation for April
s fools day itself. Though perhaps i shouldn't be. Not because he's so joyless, though he is surely that. But rather because as a Medievalist, you'd think April Fools would be kind of up his alley. Think the Nun's Priest story in The Canterbury Tales. Or even the changeover from The Julian to Gregorian calendar not too long after. Fascinating stuff really.
Oh well, maybe some people are just shortsighted. Especially, in my experience, the Dutch who celebrate today uttering the phrase "on the first of April, Alva lost his glasses"
Anyway, my mandate is to enjoy the puzzle, and the day.

Mike in Bed-Stuy 9:55 AM  

I have a 6-week follow-up with my cataract surgeon this morning, so I’m grateful for the quick-for-a-Friday solve. Enjoyed the April Fool’s theme. As for Kylo Ren, I think a lot of Boomers skipped episodes 7, 8, & 9. Which makes me think of Carrie Fisher. Which makes me sad. But I had a great bacon egg & cheese on a roll from a food cart on W. 17 St. on the way to my appointment, so all’s well.

Whatsername 9:59 AM  

A themed puzzle on Friday? No worries, no HARM, no foul. Well unless you’re @Wrecks (@Joaquin’s brilliant monicker for him today) In which case you’re going to find whatever you can to suck the joy out of the most fun day of the year. Why be so TENSE about an occasion meant purely for laughter? Lambasting it only adds to the dreadfulness of the world and doesn’t do a thing to change it. OK Rex, BAH humbug, if you SAY SO.

But I don’t. I say this puzzle was a big HIT and the bonus fifth “solution” was priceless. I started out thinking the circles were going to say APRIL FOOLS and what a delicious AHA moment when I saw the answer. I liked USER opposite HTML, HIT ON next to AMORE, GODS SLURPEE, OPPOSUM HUNT, SALTWATER SPA, CREOLE CLEANER. Didn’t need a single cheat, just had lots of fun which is what today is supposed to be all about. Thanks Evan for starting my weekend off with a big smile.



Mike in Bed-Stuy 9:59 AM  

I think “Middle Eastern” is a little broad cuz that region encompasses a number of mythological traditions. I’d say Judeo-Christian or Biblical. Which of course gives short shrift to Islam, the other Abrahamic religion. But that’s the terminology I grew up with.

J. Pinkman 10:01 AM  

Possum. Big, freaky, lookin' bitch. Since when did they change it to opossum? When I was comin' up it was just possum. Opossum makes it sound like he's irish or something. Why do they gotta go changing everything?

Mike in Bed-Stuy 10:06 AM  

@Nancy - “Right?!" Kinda does not equal "I KNOW” in Millennial / Zoomer speak. The full expression is, “I know, right!?” and is associated with the text shorthand “ikr” to which you can add the “!?” If you want. It is said in response to…actually, I’m not sure how to explain this without an example. So, your friend says, about a mutual friend, “I love her, but she has to do something about that hair,” to which to respond, “I know, right?!” It’s a combination of acknowledgment and assent.”

Hartley70 10:22 AM  

Ahhh. Amusing puzzle on the wrong day. The solve was smack on my usual Wednesday time and I would have raved about it two days ago. On a Friday it doesn’t quite hit the mark when a real challenge is expected, and that’s not the fault of the constructor. ANOTHERSOLUTION was a fun revealer.The K in TIKI was the last to fall and it was a guess. I tried SeA before SPA regarding cucumbers. EMMA was a bit of a challenge. That’s all I’ve got.

Anonymous 10:25 AM  

Jess Wundrin',

Mythology? No.
But the world's three great religions in the area say yes. Islam recognizes Adam as as the first man and his wife Hawa (Eve) as the first woman. Likewise Can and Abel as their children. Of course Judaism and the all-but-gone Catholics (of various Rites) know Adam to be their father as well.
What we call the Middle East is usually carved up a bit more precisely by the rest of the world. That is, they rightly see The Levant as a wholly different entity than say, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States and of course Iran.
But the Levant is home for us because includes ancient Mesopotamia. And the Mesopotamian creation story--The Enuma Elish-- names Lullu as the first man.
It's a very brief cosmogony. Certainly worth a read.
If you come awry with only two pieces of knowledge from this post let them be this.
First, Enuma Elish--the opening words to the story-- is Akkadian for "when above ( some like the very nice but wrong, When on high".
Second, History Begins At Sumer. Not only a fact, but another very worthwhile book.

pmdm 10:27 AM  

As usual, some adore the humor n this puzzle, others hate it. As usual, Sharp hates it. The pont of an April Fool's joke (or one of the points) would be to fool you. So, for me, this was an enjoyable (or appropriate) puzzle. I liked the solve, and I liked that it fooled me. And I laugh at those who frown at the puzzle. At least on this day, you probably deserve what was aimed at you. And I mean to say that gently.

mathgent 10:28 AM  

Not only is this puzzle terrible, I would say it's immoral. When we do a puzzle, we are giving our trust to those presenting it to us. We need to believe that it's legitimate. That we are not being led down a blind alley. So when there is a note on the puzzle presumably from the NYT, we are compelled to believe it as a condition of doing it. Turning an official note into a joke is wrong.

I can't take a joke, you say? There are some things you don't joke about.

kitshef 10:29 AM  

@Jess Wundrin' - Islam, Judaism and Christianity all recognize the first five books of the Bible as truth revealed by god.

albatross shell 10:38 AM  

I thought it was at least a Thursday level puzzle (or a really tough Wednesday) and since it was Friday I did my extra-happy dance for solving with no googling. I had fun too. ATM clue (vague memory it was used before but I hope not), good fill, wide variety of clueing modes and subject matters. Nice religious sub-theme. Are OASES mentioned in the Bible?

Of course Mormons would put an ad in that playbill. They want to give place to learn a positive view of their religion and, like most religions: never miss a chance for conversion.

And for serta-sealyness this puz was quite amusing. The usual RNS EDU PRO. HARM-HuRt. OASIS-edenS? Does def qualify as a nickname these days? The two stars though were HUNT-roll and ISU-KSU-TCU-OSU-TTU and who knows what else.

I saw ANOTHERONE but had no idea what it meant. Came here without ever looking for the note which left little chance to get it. I will point out that the solutions alone can spell out ANOTHER in order except for the H and letters in the solutions can be an anagram of ANOTHERONE. That would have been great if the circled letters had been in the 4 solutions in order. The anagram would just cause extra hate and be too obscure without a revealer. I wonder if the constructor might have been attempting to do that at some point.

I tried TOWAWAY yesterday but it was a letter short instead of a letter long. Yes, yesterday was much tougher for me anyway.

I was busy driving to Lebanon yesterday and taking care to avoid the winds,thunderstorms, hail and posssible tornados enroute. But I will mention that I have fallen asleep in all 3 MRIs I have had. Maybe its the low blood pressure?

Could the MOTEL-hOTEL stuff have been intentional to setup the misdirect for today's puzzle?

Nancy 10:40 AM  

A plea to Anonymous 9:54:

Your comment is well-written, thoughtful, intelligent, and interesting. It's a nice addition to today's blog. And therefore it merits a name to go with it. So give yourself a nom de blog and that way we'll get to know who you are and be able to hang out with you. You can put your blog name in black at first, requiring no special effort on your part, and later move to blue with the assistance (if needed) of a tech-proficient person on the blog. (That person, incidently, will not be me. But there are many such to be found here.)

Hope you'll consider it and that this is the last time I'll have to refer to you as "Anonymous".

Nancy 10:44 AM  

@mathgent: LOL. An inspired riposte for April Fool's Day!

jberg 10:55 AM  

A) I didn't notice the note, so aI just solved the puzzle, and was disappointed to come here and see that I'd missed the existence of the theme. I also lost track of the circles, so even though I had meant to see what they spelled out, I forgot to do it.

B) This is kind of embarrassing, but I had no idea about either the Maori first man or the marijuana variety, so I went with the K on the basis that there are TIKI torches, and they're kind of Polynesian.

C) You may think it's surprising that the Mormon church would advertise in The Book of Mormon program, but not me. I once asked a Mormon friend, who's been a liberal crusader for reform, what other Mormons thought of "Angels in America," to which she replied that they were just glad to be getting some public notice at last.

D) I'm with @Nancy, for me "I KNOW" would be a response to "Right?!" not a synonym for it, so I put in Y'KNOW until my HAND SANITIZER cleared that up.

Frantic Sloth 10:57 AM  

@OffTheGrid 559am 👍👏🤣

Am I the only one to think 16A (It makes il mondo go 'round) was a money answer? I blame TCM and Cabaret.

@amyyanni 825am 🤣🤣 Roadkill Scoops. People without a sense of humor deserve themselves.

@Beezer 908am Now, that's just not right. Inquiring minds want to know. Deer? A bear? Bobcat? Parade? The rapture? What??

@J. Pinkman 1001am Just stick to cows and their house and you'll be fine.

@Hartley70 1022am 👍Totally agree that this would have rocked a Wednesday and that day placement is not on the constructor.

Newboy 11:08 AM  

34down kept me from hearing today’s jingle for the longest time….plopped in SAvE on my first pass and couldn’t break out of the baseball mindset, then failed to spot any of the SOLUTIONS, so suitable April First response here. Thanks Evan for an amusing grid to spring on those of us who enjoy such. For those who wanted to retune your flute….BAH!

Whatsername 11:10 AM  

@OffTheGrid (5:59) “Nobody can CTRL Z.“ Good point. 😆

@Joaquin (6:03) “@Wrecks” Priceless!

@Anonymous (9:54) I second Nancy’s 10:40 suggestion.

@Mike (10:06) I struggled unsuccessfully with how to parse that expression. Your explanation was spot on and a perfect example.

@Dordle Solvers: A real eye-opener today, one that probably even most of us cruciverbalists may not know. On the other hand, Quordle was one of the easiest I can remember (starting with a word from the CW).

bocamp 11:11 AM  

@Nancy (10:40 & 10:44 AM)

Both posts: bang on; well said! :)
___
td pg: 13:50 (0 in 30 give or take) / W: 3*

Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊

Whatsername 11:12 AM  

@mathgent (10:28) I KNOW, right? 🤣

bourbonmyths 11:14 AM  

Rex's connection between GOTOPRISON and INACAN was the only source of joy for me in today's puzzle experience. Thank you. Now I'm off to EATASANDWICH.

GILL I. 11:21 AM  

Ding Dong...
Who's there..
ANOTHER ONE...
ANOTHER ONE what?
Oh...just me sitting here sucking my thumb in a corner and wonderin if I should laugh or cry. I'll do neither.
Where I grew up we never heard of jokes on this here first day of April...Nope...we just sat around eating black beans and rice. Then I came to this USofA. I was invited to my first sleep-over party; it fell on April 1st.
I think I was about 15 or so and still wore one of those training bras for flat chested girls who still stuffed her bra with yellow toilet paper. I hid the trainer under my pillow but my so-called "new" friends found it and put it in the freezer (toilet paper and all).... See how funny that is? I yuck yucked all the way home.
Back to the puzzle....
I'm a bit in Rex camp today. Friday is my all-time-favorite-day-of the week-puzzle doing and I don't want shenanigans...well, maybe, if it comes with some good PEAT.
It was Tuesday easy....I wanted to clap with the best of them...I wanted to dance on a table top with TWEETY TIKI and make lots of noise with my SLURPEE. Instead, my OASES began to fill with SALT WATER and I badly needed to use the bathroom.
I will now trot off and read the comments and hope they are as fun as usual and that no one will insult another person and that we hold hands and sing kumbaya and that I can turn on the TV and not see Will Smith crying and the weatherman will tell me it's sunny today and that the homemade Limoncello I made is final ready to drink and that the 100 proof vodka I used won't make me pop my socks.
See you later...maybe?

Joseph Michael 11:26 AM  

Evan, don’t you know you’re not supposed to try and make Rex laugh? One unexpected chuckle can mess up his vibe for weeks and then how the heck is he supposed to lambast puzzles with any integrity? Your April Fool’s Day “joke” has gone too far. And on a Friday, no less. I don’t know how he will get through the weekend.

Victory Garden 11:31 AM  

There is no pleasing some bloggers. Bring back Whit!

Like several others, I ignored the circles/solution situation (not out of protest but just wasn't looking at it that way) and went for the straight solve.

I can hardly think a groaner dad joke of a punchline is "misinformation," but go off, I guess, if there's zero room for groaners, dad jokes, or indeed any levity at all in your life.

sixtyni yogini 11:36 AM  

Liked some of the clues 👍🏽👏🏽👍🏽! And very fast for YT.
But the theme -A BIG meh 🫤 and the circled letters —. 2 🌽🌽 corny to be fun.
🫤🦖🦖🦖🫤

Jess Wundrin' 11:50 AM  

@Mike in Bed-Stuy, @Anon 9:54, @Kitschef - I don't need any remedial education on the Judaic / Christian / Islamic creation story. I just reject that it is any more valid than any other creation story. Why does the NYTimes call the Maori's creation story a myth, when it would never call Genesis a myth? Religious bigotry, that's why. My creation myth is better then their creation myth because mine is true and theirs isn't. How do I know so? Because I know so, that's how. See, bigotry.

Pete 12:02 PM  

@Whatshername Right about the Dordle. I was in to position where I only had to get the last letter, and I was able to run (by entering the letter, seeing if it was a word) the alphabet to get the word. Even at that I just skipped the correct letter at first, because you know, that was impossible. When I looked it up it was only ever used as a partial, and even so, was pretty much it's own definition.

@Z - No, a SLURPEE is a solution and is the fifth solution in the puzzle.

Anonymous 12:06 PM  

@Jess Wundrin':

Well said. Just don't ever weigh in on the can/may controversy; you'll get deleted.

Masked and Anonymous 12:07 PM  

A kinda funny solutionquest … just right for April Fools on a FriPuz.

staff weeject pick: LIL. Clued as {Wee}. Perfecto.

Got pretty suspicious of the theme mcguffin, as I noticed about 1/3 of the way thru that The Circles were gonna spell out ANOTHERONE. Then started eye-ballin them two filled-in themers, and saw the solution(s). [I did the puz version in the paper, where the Note is pretty hard to overlook.]

First FriPuz ever to feature The Circles? Anyhoo, can see why some purists might want their usual hard-ass themeless FriPuz, so my condolences to them. [yo, @RP]

Thanx for the puzfoolerery, Mr. Mahnken dude. Just what M&A had been hopin for.

Masked & Anonym8Us


**gruntz**

beverly c 12:10 PM  

Reading these comments inspired me to alert my husband to a non-existent possum on the porch. He came running. Fortunately he enjoyed the fact that I laughed so hard.

This puzzle was a quick solve for me, in spite of having to work around PPP. The solution I like best is SALTWATER.



Joe Dipinto 12:23 PM  

After the first two, I assumed the long acrosses were going to be human hygiene or health products, so I wanted ACNE MEDICINE for 44a, which of course didn't fit. The "prank" landed with a resounding clank. So no. This puzzle did not BEGET satisfaction.

This is from a movie that I've never seen, but I like the song.

OffTheGrid 12:24 PM  

This morning I also did the LA Times xword of Mar 19, a Saturday. I really liked it. I've been doing more and more of their puzzles. They are free after waiting for a 20 second ad at https://www.latimes.com/games/daily-crossword. There are 14 available at a time with the oldest being dropped and a new one added each day(Today it's Mar 19-Apr 1). Don't know about an archive.

JC66 12:26 PM  

Didn't see the note (use AcrossLite) and solved like a normal Friday.

jae 12:28 PM  

Easy-medium. I did noticed the liquid theme but it took a while post solve for it to dawn on me what sort of solutions the note was referring to. The circles were a nice touch. Liked it more than @Rex did but I can’t disagree with his “stupidest” holiday rant.

Masked and Anonymous 12:36 PM  

p.s.

One thing that maybe was missin in this pranky FriPuz was some pranky ?-marker clues. I don't believe I saw any such clues today. Some of those woulda made the puz a bit more Friday-ish challengin. Just sayin …

19-A. {Punch the coffee maker, say?}

31-A. {Good nickname for POTUS #45?}

36-A. {What a kitty does to help maintain the lawn?}

52-A. {Spat, without finishing cleanly?}

etc.

To be fair, maybe the puz was goin for un-marked ?-marker clues, like 14-A and 13-D? To enhance the April Foolishness, perhaps? That'd be ok with m&e, of course.

M&Also

old timer 12:42 PM  

Toad AWAY, Toad AWAY, Toad AWAY, TOAD AWAY, Where do you go when you're Toad AWAY?

Hey, we all have our sacred texts. Mine was written by the four brilliant guys in the Firesign Theatre.

The puzzle was Friday hard in one sense: There were only a handful of obvious answers. So much so that AMORE was the first thing I penned. Fridayish in another sense too: I had so little near the top, I went to the bottom, and filled in from there. Of course RNS was a gimme. One of my daughters is one (now a Nurse Practitioner), and she happens to be visiting with her two children just now. As an aside, the best thing for grandchildren I ever bought was an old upright piano. Kids today seldom see them, and they are always fascinated to experiment with those 88 keys.

It does raise the question: Why is it that on Fridays and Saturdays, the bottom is always easier than the top?

The last big answer to fall was GOTOPRISON. I had misread "Big 12" for Big 10, and convidently entered MSU and then OSU before getting ISU at last.

SPA would have been obvious, except I don't know what it has to do with cucumbers.
My MOUTHWASH is in a bottle too big for the bathroom cabinet, so it lives on the counter but it is an obvious answer.

Unknown 12:47 PM  

I thought the NE corner was very tough & had to cheat. BEGET really threw me.


Farewell all.

Georgia 1:02 PM  

That K was a wild guess for me. I also enjoyed the puzzle but don't find it particularly April Fools themed.

Peter P 1:04 PM  

@Unknown (9:28) - Detroit is at a bearing of 70 degrees from Kansas City, Missouri, according to a couple of online calculators I checked. NE is defined as 45 degrees. ENE is defined as 67.5 degrees (Or 67°30') . The clue is correct.

Camilita 1:09 PM  

@bocamp and @Tom T. Again with the KYLO REN. The NYT loves it.
I learned this Star Wars trivia at NYT crossword puzzles. As I've said I really hate Star Wars clues. The other one is ANI, it is clued as a nic name.
The Simpsons, we have ABE, STU and APU and NED.
I have a list of crosswordese. I'm 2 years now doing these and these words seem to be now stored in my brain for readily available retrieval.

egsforbreakfast 1:27 PM  

Alternate clues:

19A informal greeting to Mr. Randall.
24A. Two common effects of overimbibing
59A Caesar’s observation on learning that Mrs. Brutus was also involved in the backstabbing incident




HI TON
SLUR PEE
ET HER

I’m not sure why Wrecks has his Knickers in a knot over this one. I’m pretty sure that few, if any, solvers used the note to help them solve. It simply doesn’t make sense until you’ve finished and can study the wording of the note with reference to your finished grid.

It wasn’t hard enough to be a typical Friday, but I imagine that WS and crew decided to run it today for it’s “fooled you” value. Anyway, I enjoyed the solve and I especially liked sussing OU the meaning of the note. Thanks, Evan Mahnken.

Anonymous 1:30 PM  

Jess,
Preference isn't proof of bigotry. Your charge is without evident foundation.
Moreover, the Maori creation story is not simply different from Western creation narratives, it's ontologically different in kind.
The three great world religions are monotheistic. They ascribe creation to a Prime Mover. That Primer Mover created the world (and man to) enjoy his love for eternity.
The Maori, like many peoples ( including the Babylonians I noted) do not have a prime mover. Like the Enuma Elish, The Maori cosmogony joins the Sky and the Earth to create man. There is no Logos. That is anathema to Western tradition.
Subordinating that Maori tradition to the monotheistic narrative is right and proper in that in Western thought ( broadly universally held for two millennia) is that creation is ordered to a superior end: The Almighty. But why believe me? The Maori themselves are today overwhelmingly Christian-- mostly Anglican, (Roman) Catholic and Presbyterian. Surely, they're not engaging in bigotry as well, right? I mean, karakia ( Christian prayer) is the de rigueur way to begin Maori public gatherings.

bocamp 1:35 PM  

@Whatsername (11:10 AM) / @Pete (12:02 PM)

I'm wondering if we're on the same puzzle. 🤔 On my daily dordle #0067, I got the less common word on my 3rd try and the other at 5. What's eye-opening for me is the low Ngram score it gets. This word is very familiar to me in the following ways: #1, #2 & #3. Anyway, words are sometimes strange and mysterious creatures, but always fun to work with. 😉
___
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊

mathgent 1:37 PM  

My comment on 10:28 wasn't satirical. I mean it. I think that this puzzle is immoral.

Of course, in the real world, immorality in a crossword doesn't amount to a hill of beans. But, for many of us, it is important.

Rachel 1:38 PM  

I thought this was a clever concept for April Fools. I got a little chuckle out of "another one," and definitely felt had! The "solutions" in the puzzle weren't very strong, but I still appreciate the concept.

Wanderlust 1:41 PM  

I liked it, so I guess Rex and I are very different, which I can live with. I never read notes ahead of time (on the app), so I knew some April Foolery was up with the circles, and read them as ANOTHER ONE when I finished, but no idea what that meant, wondering where I missed a revealer. Finally realized I should look for a note, but I assumed the joke was just that there weren’t really four solutions (to the puzzle) so ha-ha on you if you tried to find them. Only realized what the solutions were by reading Rex.

My birthday is today, so hard for me to avoid being pulled into the spirit of the holiday. I am used to attempts to fool me on my big day so it is very hard to put one over on me. But I usually play along. Last year my birthday cake was coconut, which everyone who knows me knows is the only food you can buy in a grocery store that I can’t stand. As expected, there was another cake - tres leches, yum! - behind that one. We’ll see what tonight brings. (Even if you don’t like the holiday, equating it to Russian or QAnon disinformation seems like a stretch, Rex.)

Agree with those who loved the clue for ATM, and its truth is undeniable. If you sit at a slot machine for hours expecting a big payoff, well then April Fool’s on you. When I have gone to casinos, the only game I play is blackjack because a good player can tilt the odds in their favor. That’s true also of craps, which I have never learned, and poker, which I don’t have the cojones to play (at least in a casino).

Love the term SAY SO. I wonder how it went from a verb (“because I say so”) to a noun (“I have it on the boss’s say so”). LMS probably knows but I haven’t seen her today.

Ben 1:47 PM  

Any time I'm feeling a little too cheerful and upbeat, a little too pleased with the puzzle I just completed, I come to Rex and let him throw sodden blankets all over my parade.

Seriously, you've got some kind of April Fool's vendetta? This was a charming little puzzle, Rex, and not everyone hates wordplay as much as you do.

Jess Wundrin' 1:49 PM  

@Anon 1:30 - Your argument is self serving bullshit. Christianity is better because it's better. Christianity is better because it's aligned western tradition and because western tradition is aligned with Christianity and western thought says so. Your argument is a nullity. You can't have a belief system without a monotheistic God? Bullshit. Tell that to the Hindus, to the Buddhists. You're a bigot, because you deny all but your own belief. Period. You may have faith, but it's faith not fact.

Whatsername 1:54 PM  

@bocamp (1:35) Based on the links you posted, I would say we are definitely looking at two different puzzles. Not even in the same ballpark. Could be since you’re in Canada? Email me if you want to know the secret word.

Eniale 1:56 PM  

Hah - Not. I compliment those who have all the 3-letter trivia memorized by now. I did a lot of googling today.

But on the other hand, SB yd 0; td pg -4

Whatsername 2:02 PM  


Happy birthday @Wanderlust!! No fooling. (Bet you never heard that one before.) 😜

Carola 2:02 PM  

The constructor got me but good - I spent many minutes looking for alternative solutions of the crossword kind, spaces where alternate letters would work, before the penny dropped. So a (grudging) hats off to Evan Mahnken for the successful foolery.

Georgia 2:16 PM  

I am not interested in arguing whose G/god is best, but why is Tiki referred to as Maori "mythology?" I'm reading that he's a Polynesian god, the creator of life. Why is their religion dismissive?

Aelurus 2:21 PM  

Uh-oh! Usually I’d think, What fun, a puzz with circles. But wait...in a themeless Friday?

Ah, it’s April 1st. Cool shenanigans involved?

Filled it in record time, probably a personal best, though the silent app told me otherwise. Naticked on TI_I. Took me a few letters to finally think it might be K, for TIKI, and learned about Kush, a strain of marijuana which might be more than 99% pure, a percentage that will always mean Ivory soap to me. In my college chem class the professor told us about the chemist who was able to ascertain 99.44% of the content was amazed at its purity, and so the Ivory marketing department guy who was in the lab at the time highlighted that number in their ad campaign.

Sorta kinda looks like four theme answers at 17A, 27A, 44A, and 57A — things that clean?

Nice to see TWEETY and the cute ATM clue, which reminded me of my first time in Vegas and playing Blackjack at Caesar’s. I had $100 to spend and said when I lost it, I’d quit. The time before our trip learning Blackjack was well spent because for more than an hour of fun I repeatedly won and lost almost all the money and when I won again, coming out $20 ahead, I quit. Because I’d seen a Looney Tunes Whittall and Shon colorful sequined wool hat in the Warner Brothers shop, located in a mammoth merchandising area belowground where the ceiling awed with cumulus clouds against a blue sky and tall fountains and Roman statues abounded along the walkways. I knew I wanted that hat more than playing till I lost. I still have it.

Maybe the puzz is saying, Gotcha [ANOTHER ONE], made ya look!

Oh! Just read Rex, where I find I missed the note that came with the puzzle. Huh. I guess it is gotcha. The playing was fun, but, like Rex, I’d rather have the usual themeless, lovely Friday.

Gotta get back to my work project and feed the birds but look forward to finding out this afternoon what everyone thought.

okanaganer 2:29 PM  

The theme was a anticlimax, for sure.

My pet food came IN BULK and the Biblical land was EDEN. But I fixed them.

I got a laugh out of "Sound filler". There are so many different labels for ocean parts. Vancouver has: Georgia Strait, Howe Sound, Burrard Inlet, Coal Harbor, English Bay, Indian Arm, and even False Creek (so named because it is not a creek!). All are the Pacific Ocean.

[Spelling Bee: yd 7:30 to pg, then QB right after lunch. A lot of C's!]

okanaganer 2:35 PM  

[Spelling Bee again: td 3 min. flat to pg. Quick one!]

Nancy 3:14 PM  

Today, I had a baby bird in my apartment. I wonder if that bird was in my apartment for two whole days?

I had heard loud chirping yesterday from what seemed like my LR window -- but when I looked out at the top of my window A/C, then at my window sills and then on the trellis-like gizmo under my A/C (these are the places they usually perch), there was no bird there. The chirping stopped and I forgot about it until about 1:30 today.

I heard loud chirping again, and when I looked at my three LR windows, there was the silhouette of what seemed to be a tiny, graceful, tiny bird on the upper frame of the middle window. I walked to the window to take a closer look. The chirping got more and more frantic and the poor little thing, flying like a kamikaze pilot, btw, whizzed past me on the way to the entrance foyer, grazing my face. How was I going to get this poor tiny little thing -- very pretty by the way and its chirping was quite sonorous, even though obviously panicky -- back out the window?

My window was opened only about two inches -- but maybe it was much more widely opened earlier? And it was obviously a baby bird. I saw some red, along with blue, as it whizzed past me at what seemed to be 90 m.p.h. Can a baby robin be this small? It was more colorful than a baby sparrow and somewhat thinner.

I opened my two windows wide (the 3rd has the A/C) and went to get a long umbrella. Meanwhile this stupid bird is crashing everywhere -- over and over again. It's crashing into the top half of all three windows. "Can't you see I've opened the lower half of these windows for you, you stupid bird??? Sorry, but they don't open from the top." And when it's not crashing into the windows, it's crashing into the mirror over my couch. Over and over and over again. "You're going to kill yourself, you stupid bird. This simply cannot be good for you," I admonish it.

I go to the front door, open it wide, and put a chair against the door. If the bird goes out that way, it's someone else's problem. I'll call the handyman.

I'm trying to use the umbrella to direct the bird DOWN-and-then-OUT from the top of the window, but without poking it or even touching it. When I do that, it neither goes down or out, but back -- right at me and towards the front door. Then it heads for the mirror again, crashing against it at least half a dozen times.

"You are so dumb, bird! You have a real bird brain, do you know that?" But the darned thing is so cute and so scared and chirping so loudly and by now it's sort of like my own child. I do not want it to die in my apartment!! And its parents must be really worried by now.

Finally, finally (this whole macabre dance must have taken at least 10 minutes) my umbrella timing and maneuvering is just right on what must be the 17th try, and the little critter finds the opening in the window and flies away. I hope he'll be OK; he really did quite number on himself.

Mission accomplished. I'm feeling great sense of relief -- some of it for myself, of course, but most of it for the tiny bird. I do hope his eyesight improves as he gets older.

And this is how I spent much of the afternoon.

bocamp 3:21 PM  

@mathgent (1:37 PM)

My mistake. :( I understand now. :)

@Wanderlust (1:41 PM) 🥳 🎂 🎁

@Whatsername (1:54 PM)

Ah, that makes sense! :)

@Eniale (1:56 PM) 👍 for 0 yd (I was -2)

@okanaganer 👍 for QB yd

That's an amazing time for td's pg! :)

Btw, down Valley news: my granddaughter's ringette 'Team BC', represented by the Kelowna area) won their first game at the Westerns in Regina today.
___
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊

JC66 3:44 PM  

@Nancy

Great story.

Have you considered naming the bird UZO? It might help remembering her the next time she's in the puzzle.

Tim Carey 4:06 PM  

Umm, what Ms. Nancy said: put your name on posts like this.

And, BTW, putting stuff out there like "The three great world religions" is pretty western centic and is certainly going to offend 2 or 3 billion in Asia, the Pacific, Africa, and even indigenous people in Europe and the Americas.

I mean I can't do a Friday xword to save my life, and I bitch a lot, but at least I put my name on my posts.

Just sayin'..

ulysses 4:06 PM  

Tuesday easy for me which is disappointing. Really want a challenge on a Friday. Fill was okay. As usual, I missed the blurb, which may have been a good thing? Here's hoping for a better Friday. Will Shortz really needs to go.

Anoa Bob 4:09 PM  

@Nancy and others who might find themselves in a similar situation, an effective way to quiet a panicking bird like that is to throw a towel or other light weight cloth over them making sure to cover their head and eyes. It's like magic. They immediately cease all activity. I'm guessing it's a reflex to darkness and their brain tells them it's night and time to "go to bed".

I saw a guy rescue an osprey that got its foot caught in a sailboat's rigging and was hanging upside down about twenty feet up the mast. He climbed up the mast and as he got closer, the osprey started to flail around in panic, risking serious life threatening damage to its foot and wings. Then the guy threw a towel over its head and, ta da, the bird became perfectly quiet and still. He carefully extricated the bird from the rigging, carried it over to a nearby grassy marina area, sat it down and gently removed the towel. The bird looked dazed but after a minute or so, it flew off, all this to cheers and applause from us onlookers. Definitely a feel good moment. Ospreys are awesome!

Z 4:38 PM  

Regarding I KNOW: If you add the right inflection it works fine. For example:

Anonymous Poster: That Zed is an absolute genius!
Other Anonymous: Right!?

compared to

Anonymous Poster: That Zed is an absolute genius!
Other Anonymous: I KNOW.

@mathgent - I find it hard to accept that a puzzle known for wordplay could be considered “immoral” for engaging in wordplay.

I think everyone knows that the one true way to judge a god is whether or not adherents use “may” and “can” correctly (and by “correctly” I of course mean the way I insist everyone else use them).


Two of the three statements above are subject to Poe’s Law. If you’re not certain which you probably should not embarrass yourself.

Anonymous 4:44 PM  

The flailing Anoa Bob describes actually has a term: bating. It's used almost exclusively in falconry. I'm glad I can now in good conscience extend its usage to sailing.
Ospreys are indeed awesome. Here are a couple of facts I like. Maybe you'll find them interesting too.
Ospreys are one of the few ( maybe the only) raptor which routinely completely submerges when hunting. They have a nifty nictitating membrane over their eyes which allows them to see under water. They also reposition their catch in their talons while flying so the fish's head is pointing forward--the direction of flight--to reduce wind resistance. And at the risk of enraging someone whom I recently angered when discussing taxonomy, Ospreys are the only member of their genus within the family pandionidae ( genus pandion). I mention it because a woman named Phoebe Snetsinger. She was once widely regarded as the world's most successful and or best birder. ( Her story is very interesting). At any rate, it's almost certainly true that at the time of her death she had seen more species of birds than anyone on Earth. Her favorites, and her specialty, were birds which comprised an entire genus by themselves. Like our friend the Osprey.

Whatsername 4:48 PM  

@Nancy: Glad and your little feathered friend are both OK. I had one in my garage once - a dove - and used a broom to do the same thing you did with your umbrella. This one was looking at a wide open garage door but I still couldn’t get it to go out. It finally made a mad dash for it, probably out of sheer panic over the crazy lady with the broom.

pmdm 4:52 PM  

Zed: I also get quite annoyed by the misuse of "may" and "can". There's a great deal of difference between possibility and ability. Anyway, as an ex-OSHA employee, I also get uptight about the confusion over "shall" and "should." It might be nice to do something if someone says you should do it, but the suggestion becomes an imperative if you state that you shall do it. I seem to remember a few things put out by the Catholic Church that seemed to ignore this.

Mike in Bed-Stuy 5:27 PM  

@Jess - The word "myth" is an English derivative of the Ancient Greek word "mythos" which simply means "story." I'm suspect you already know that.

Anonymous 5:30 PM  

I enjoyed it... amusing "theme" for April 1. It entertained me... isn't that the bottom line?

Mike in Bed-Stuy 5:31 PM  

@Whatsername - Thank you. In addition to "acknowledgment" and "assent," I should have noted that "I know, right?!" also implies a sort of "You and I have a shared insight into this," a kind of camaraderie of opinion and judgment.

Eniale 5:47 PM  

@bocamp - Yay for yours and all other granddaughters and while we're at it, grandsons too!

okanaganer 6:44 PM  

@bocamp congrats to your granddaughter! I have family in Kelowna too... niece, nephew, great nephew / nieces, and my sister's boyfriend.

[Spelling Bee: td 3 min. to pg as mentioned, then only another ~8 min. to QB! Maybe a record for QB but I don't generally time it so who knows?]

[dordle: one bizarre word today. I'd never heard of it, and M-W doesn't even have an entry for it except when paired with another word!]

oldactor 6:49 PM  

@anoabob: re:yesterday: Thank you amigo for that amazing explanation of resacas and the gorgeous photo.
We are indeed fortunate to live in this Magic Valley.

Anonymous 6:57 PM  
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
kitshef 7:29 PM  

@Whatsername 11:10 - boy were you right about Dordle. Got it in six, but was fairly lucky to do so.

@Georgia 2:16 - "myth" and "mythology" have two meanings. One means lore that is handed down, and has no "value" attached - it is not judged to be right or wrong, true or false.

The second meaning implies that the subject is false, or at least of questionable foundation. When you see "seven myths about belly fat" in a headline, they are using it in this sense.

But absent any inside information, I see no reason to think (and sincerely doubt) that the Times is making such a judgement in this case.

Why do we have two such different meanings or the same word? Welcome to English.

Whatsername 7:48 PM  

@Anonymous (4:44) Fascinating information about the Osprey. This is exactly the type of thing I was referring to recently when I told someone on this blog hardly a day goes by that I don’t learn something from reading the comments. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise.

@okanaganer (6:44) Re Dordle . . . totally bizarre.

Anoa Bob 8:35 PM  

anon @4:44, I was working on my boat at the marina when I heard a loud splash off the stern. That usually signals that a pelican has made a dive and I turned around to see if it made a catch or came up empty. The water was still roiling but no pelican was visible. And then I nearly fell over backwards...it was an osprey that had made the dive! I didn't know that they did full submersion dives. I thought they only flew close to the surface to snag prey. I've seen it a second time from the beach when one dived completely under in the surf. Amazing.

Z 9:20 PM  
This comment has been removed by the author.
albatross shell 9:23 PM  

@pabloinnh
LIL might need an Abner clue if it wasn't for rappers. Some literary characters I guess. Maybe it was common enough before rap. I can't think of many but rappers galore in the modern era.

@old timer
Congrats to your daughter. That takes some work and does the world good too. Two in my extended family.
I notice your moniker has been clued 33 times in NYTCWs. Mostly as veteran, vet, experienced one, greybeard. Once as vet's cousin. Once demanding a hyphen. Twice as a Thompson both I guess from Fibber McGee and Molly, once specifically, and once as Seth and once as Bill. Same person, inherited role, coincidence? And most recently as Hourglass?. I remember that one. I think my first thoughts were sundial or pocketwatch. A new old timer occurred to me today: BIGBEN.

@Wanderlust
I liked SAY SO too but my guess is anyone can SAY SO but that only makes it so when the one with the authority to say so says so be it ruler tsar or boss. The one who gets to say so has the say so. OED says first use in 1637 as we have "not only saysoes but proofes". Half a century later it was saysos. Then a particular person had sayso. They call it American dialect. There was also a saywell meaning approval that is obsolete.

Kids know who has the SAYSO, so they know it is the parents or teachers that have the power over can and can't. They are asking exactly the realistic question as they (correctly) perceive the world to be. The parents are teaching a politeness that makes that reality sound less dictatorial.

We say Christian religion and indigenous mythology because we live in a Christian dominated culture that as a rule has been dominated by folks like oue favorite @anon. They label their belief as truth. But the only evidence for this truth is their belief. Being first is not necessarily connected to being truth. If you believe, believe. If not, don't. Don't believe just because you have been taught to unless this pretense of belief gives you what you want. In either case don't do anything cause I told you. I have no fear of that.

Anonymous 9:28 PM  

Whatsername and Anoa Bob,

Bob was right first; osprey re amazing. That trick of flying with the fish headfirst in their talons. You’ll scarcely credit this, but ospreys have a reversible toe. Ye, you read that right.And no, this is not an April Fools joke.
Google something along the line of “osprey movable toes”. There are plenty of accessible reticle on this incredible adaptation.

Anoa,
I’ve been dreaming of birding the Lower Rio Grande Valley for my entire adult life. Very jealous of your location.

Aelurus 9:29 PM  

Hope everyone had a foolishly good day today.

@Wanderlust 1:41 pm - Happy birthday! Hope it’s tres leches cake tonight.

@Nancy 3:14 pm, @Whatsername 4:48 pm – Scary stories with good endings for you and the birds! One year I was emptying a house while living in a new one and most days after work would drive straight to the old house for more sorting. Walked into the middle bedroom and startled the bejeezus out of a gray squirrel who took to whirling frantically around the half-empty room looking for an exit. Each of two tall vertical windows in that room almost reached the floor, so all the while watching that squirrel I closed the bedroom door right behind me, sidled to one of the windows, opened it, and stood far away from the clear path to it. Air flowed out indicating the way to freedom. Did the squirrel vamoose immediately? Not a chance. Ran into the closet and I spent a bit of time gingerly rattling the clothes on the opposite side. When the poor squirrel leaped back into the room, he saw the marvelous open window and finally realized that was the way to go, and took it. At that moment I’m sure both of us were on the same wavelength, and it one of great relief!

Joe Dipinto 9:35 PM  

I had the same Dordle as @Whatsername. Got the last letter on Guess 7 by running the alphabet until something didn't turn red. I think it's the name of the pharaoh buried next to Khufu.

Jess Wundrin' 9:41 PM  

@Mike - I don't know if your last sentence was meant to be "I'm suspect that you knew that" or "I suspect you know that", but in either case, so what? I know what myth and mythology mean in English today, which is how I used them. I spoke of various peoples' creation myths, which form parts of their respective mythologies. All people, everywhere at every time, have wondered where we came from. The first person who answered "The sun and the stars got together and made babies, that's who we are" in response to someone asking "where did we come from" was declared an oracle and worshiped for life, and a creation myth was born. None of then, none of us, know. Some of us have powerful faith in one story or another, but it's just faith in a story, not a fact, no story is better or worse than any other story. Anyone arguing against that just doesn't understand their own faith, and are just howling into the wind that they're following the one true story, because it's just too scary otherwise. The truth is that one knows how we came to be, only that at one point we weren't, some time later here we are, and eventually we probably won't be.

kitshef 9:42 PM  

You definitely have something different. Here is the link I use

https://zaratustra.itch.io/dordle

kitshef 9:43 PM  

(That last comment was to @Zed 9:20)

Z 10:07 PM  

@Jess W. - That there horse looks dead to me.

@kitshef - https://zaratustra.itch.io/dordle is where I go, too. Now I’m wondering if that site is in England and I just did Saturday’s puzzle. Deleted my comment so I don’t spoil it for anyone else. Going through some of the other links I noticed @okanaganer linked to a British definition, so I’m guessing that may have been the problem with the weird word.

And slightly embarrassed by my near DNF here:
Daily Duotrigordle #30
Guesses: 37/37
2️⃣0️⃣ 0️⃣8️⃣ 2️⃣1️⃣ 2️⃣2️⃣
2️⃣3️⃣ 0️⃣7️⃣ 2️⃣4️⃣ 2️⃣5️⃣
2️⃣6️⃣ 2️⃣7️⃣ 2️⃣8️⃣ 2️⃣9️⃣
3️⃣0️⃣ 0️⃣6️⃣ 3️⃣1️⃣ 3️⃣2️⃣
1️⃣9️⃣ 1️⃣4️⃣ 3️⃣3️⃣ 3️⃣4️⃣
1️⃣3️⃣ 1️⃣2️⃣ 3️⃣5️⃣ 1️⃣1️⃣
1️⃣8️⃣ 1️⃣5️⃣ 3️⃣6️⃣ 0️⃣9️⃣
1️⃣6️⃣ 1️⃣7️⃣ 0️⃣4️⃣ 3️⃣7️⃣
https://duotrigordle.com/

Anonymous 10:17 PM  

Jess,
I’m not sure you’re weighing competing stories accurately. For example, The Gospels claim to include the words of Jesus. And Jesus claims to be the Son of God. I don’t know of other stories which claim to have statements fro the lips of God himself.
The story may be false, but regardless of its veracity , it is a markedly different kind of story making very different claim than say the Maori creation narrative.

Georgia 10:19 PM  

Thanks, I appreciate your response. But imagine the clue: 4 letters, starts with A ...:
"First man, in Christian mythology."

Euclid 10:57 PM  

@10:17
The Gospels claim to include the words of Jesus. And Jesus claims to be the Son of God. I don’t know of other stories which claim to have statements fro the lips of God himself.
The story may be false, but regardless of its veracity , it is a markedly different kind of story making very different claim than say the Maori creation narrative.

That's a far piece from a creation myth, which is that God created the whole mess in 7 days and earth is 6,000 years old and that humans frolicked with dinosaurs. I, for one, believe in the Big Bang. Noting, of course, that lacking air at the time, there was no Bang.

Robert Lockwood Mills 9:00 AM  

I thought the puzzle was easy for a Friday, except for the NW section. The circled letters were an abstraction, quite unnecessary.

I enjoyed April Fools Day by sending out a message to about 50 friends that I had decided to run for president in 2024. Almost all the women replied, "April fool!" while all the men took me seriously. Not sure how to interpret that.

rogerinNYC 4:53 PM  

Exactly. Cause of my DNF

thomas 9:56 PM  
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
spacecraft 1:05 PM  

@Wanderlust: Happy B-day, but you cannot actually "tilt the odds in your favor" unless you count cards and size your bets accordingly, which will soon attract attention of the boys upstairs and get you uninvited to return. However, you can make it close, say about -1%, with normal best play. Assuming you can still find a game that pays 3:2 on a BJ; more and more are going to 6:5.

To the puzz. My basic reaction is as OFF's: I got robbed of my Friday themeless. This bit of flummery is fine, but not for a weekend slot. I too struggled with sq.7, never having heard of KUSH (I'm a good boy, I am, and I don't wanna GOTOPRISON!). I entered the K because of TIKI, though I'm ignorant of Maori mythology. All was well in the end, and I duly registered my groans. I just wish they hadn't usurped the Friday. Par.

Back in the swing:

BGBBB
YGBYB
GGGGG





thefogman 1:47 PM  

Cute. In a Dad-jokey kind of way.. I had to ponder a while after completing. And when I finally got the gimmick I had a brief Aha! moment followed - by a a groan. Yes, Fridays are usually more of a feast. Instead we got a Happy Meal short a few nuggets.

PS: Salvaged Wordle just in the nick of time…

Wordle 321 6/6*

⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

DaveR8R 2:26 PM  

Technically, the casino ATMs are the worst bet in Vegas, in as much as they charge between 5$ and 20$ per withdrawal

Anonymous 2:35 PM  

Edom?

Burma Shave 3:11 PM  

AWED PRO

No HARM using MOUTHWASH for soap,
YET the WINDOWCLEANER’s none the wiser,
he’ll REDO it with SALTWATER, the dope,
the ISSUE is that it’s HANDSANITIZER.

--- LI’L EMMA HUNT

rondo 3:18 PM  

Puzzle notes? Not in the St. Paul paper. So ANOTHERONE didn’t mean much to me. And I was looking for some other cleanser or soap or something instead of SALTWATER. Having no puzzle notes will do that.

Pick an EMMA, any EMMA.

Third ever wordle:
BBYBB
BGBYB
GGGGG
By @spacey’s metric, I’m 4 under after 3. Wish it was so on the golf course.

Diana, LIW 7:47 PM  

For an April Fool's joke, this was fairly meh.

For a puzzle, it was fun - got the solution without noticing the solutions, even tho I read the note. I've often wondered if a puzzle could be constructed with two solutions. Not simply like the hotel/motel conundrum recently encountered.

Onward.

Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords

rondo 8:31 PM  

@D,LIW dual solution puz: http://www.alaricstephen.com/main-featured/2017/7/3/the-clintonbobdole-crossword

Unknown 7:25 PM  

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Unknown 4:00 AM  
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