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Relative difficulty: Medium
Word of the Day: AVA Max (36D: Pop singer ___ Max) —
Amanda Ava Koci (born Amanda Koci; February 16, 1994), known professionally as Ava Max, is an American singer and songwriter. After moving from several states in the United States to pursue a music career since her childhood, Max signed with Atlantic Records in 2016, where she released the song "Sweet but Psycho" in August 2018. It became her breakthrough single after peaking at number one in 22 countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, and New Zealand. The song also peaked at number two in Australia, and at number 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100. In March 2020, Max released the song "Kings & Queens", which peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number 19 on the UK Singles Chart. It was followed by the release of her debut studio album, Heaven & Hell, in September 2020, which charted at number two on the UK Albums Chart and at number 27 on the US Billboard 200. In November 2020, the song "My Head & My Heart" was released, which peaked at number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number 18 on the UK Singles Chart. (wikipedia)
• • •
I see a small handful of proper nouns that might've given solvers trouble today. When your primary claim to fame is a 20+-year-old song that peaked at no. 11 on the Hot 100, there's a good likelihood that huge numbers of solvers, young and old, are going to struggle to come up with your name, though having "LIL" as a part of that name really helps with the inference (13A: Rapper with the 2001 hit "Superwoman Pt. II") (LIL MO). Never heard of Kelley O'HARA, but I can infer O'HARA, since it's a reasonably common surname that I've seen before (credit to the puzzle for steering clear of "Gone With the Wind"). And AVA Max, LOL, I forget which recent (non-NYTXW) puzzle included her full name ... probably a Peter Gordon "Fireball" puzzle, or maybe an American Values Club crossword, but the point is I actually learned a name from a puzzle (earlier this week) and then Got To Use That Knowledge when that name came up again (today!). In our highly siloed pop cultural landscape, it's harder and harder to register the fame of people who aren't in the movies you like or the shows you watch or who don't sing the music you listen to. The proliferation of all media means that the public square is a bygone concept, which means that I can float along not only not knowing the secondary members of TV shows I don't watch, but in many cases, Not Even Knowing That Those Shows Exist. The point is ... I forget what the point is, exactly. Just that now, more than ever, huge fame to a certain demographic can still mean near- or complete invisibility to other demographics. This isn't a new thing, but the degree to which it is true is much much higher now than it was, say, 25 or even 10 years ago. That doesn't mean you should never include only kinda-famous, or niche-famous, people in the grid, just that you have to treat those names carefully, with extremely fair crosses (today's puzzle seemed to do that ... no fatal "NES(SUN) DORMA" / ELIE Saab crossings here).
Errors today:
- NACRE (!?) for OCHRE (2D: Hue made from limonite)
- FRO for FOE (11D: Other side)
- THROB for TIRED (8D: Beat)
- RINSE for TONER (56A: Step two in many skin-care routines) (the power of "lather RINSE repeat" compels me!)
- PET TREATS for CAT TREATS (1D: They might smell fishy)
- 30A: Modern initialism for one skimming text (TL;DR) — stands for "too long / didn't read" and it feels very Old Internet. Or just old. I encountered it first as a troll-y and dismissive comment on any post deemed too long, but sometimes it gets used to signify a condensed version of some longer take, e.g. someone might summarize a long article or their own long comment thread with a "TL;DR" version. I don't really see this initialism that much anymore. But maybe I'm just tuning it out, or I've muted everyone who uses it.
- 15A: Off the mark? (ERASE) — where "Off" is ... a verb? Like ... you put out a mob hit on the (pencil) mark? You made lead eat lead? Huh. OK.
- 37A: Like some gallery displays (ARTSY) — absolutely not. Galleries contain actual art. ARTSY is about affectation. Boo hiss to this clue.
- 58A: Gram alternative (NANA) — so we're dealing with nicknames for grandma ... and here I thought we were dealing with nicknames for social media (if Instagram can be "the GRAM" then ... maybe the "alternative" is ... FACE? BOOK? SNAP? TWIT?)
- 57A: Right on (APT) — crossing INEPT!? That's gruesome. Those words are too related, sense- and soundwise, to be crossing each other.
- 49A: Spiritual wanderer (LOST SOUL)— this didn't hit right. I think of a "spiritual wanderer" as someone who is wandering purposefully, whereas LOST SOUL seems like someone who's damned, or at least has no idea what to do. We had OLD SOUL yesterday and LOST SOUL today. I wonder what kind of SOUL we'll get tomorrow. Maybe KIA.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Well, Matthew, you had me at [Joe carter] for COFFEE URN. I felt like standing up and CLAPping when that one came along. I still do. That’s about as good as a clue can get, playing off of a name and so perfectly describing its answer, and so “Hah!” producing.
ReplyDeleteBut even without that, this puzzle is high thumbs up. Saturday vague cluing that gets the brain churning, slows the pace, and makes fill-ins richly satisfying. Freshness, with the not-often-used diagonal grid symmetry, and with seven NYT answer debuts, including the marvelous HEAD FAKES. A bear area, seemingly impenetrable – for me, the NE corner, and it felt like you acknowledged it with your I’M SO SORRY and CODE RED, and ALARM, and where, for a bit, I felt like a LOST SOUL.
I love the buildup in difficulty during the week, leading to the Saturday apex, and when Saturday delivers, as it did today, it ties the bow so sweetly. Thank you for all the work you threw into this, Matthew!
Rex’s comments today echoed my sentimentss, good and bad, 100%. My unrelated question for this morning: did Passover end last night, or tonight? (Answer: either/both.)
ReplyDeleteNo ambiguity. Passover ends tonight at sundown. It started last Friday night (at sundown) and goes for 8 days.
DeleteFANTA should really be more popular. It’s delicious, comes in multiple flavors, and has no caffeine. Only my general desire to limit soda consumption keeps me from drinking it all the time.
ReplyDeletePuzzle made me wonder what makes an OMELET PAN different from any other pan. Some research seems to indicate that the answer is about forty dollars.
Baffled by ‘much’ = FAR.
I was too, then I thought “much too long” = “far too long.”
Delete@Joaquin had me considering the PoC lilyannes for 1D.
ReplyDeleteI filled in a sizable section of the NW. Then completed the entire south half before getting much more in the north. Then whittled away at the rest. My first totally sucessful Saturday in several months so hoorah hoorah. I'm assuming that means for many here it rates an easy.
All that wander are not LOST but some are.
INEPT does derive from APT so I guess Rex has a point there.
I enjoyed that getting half answers didn't give you whole answers. Doublethinks. Hah.
@Kitshef "Tis a far, far better thing.."
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid Nesbitt's orange was the thing. I could get a Nesbitt's and 2 Hershey bars for a quarter.
ReplyDeleteI loved this Saturday puzz. Well deserving of JC's POW.
@kitshef
ReplyDeleteThis job will take far longer.
This job will take much longer.
Far to go = much to do being inadequate?
When you die, the musical stylings of AVA MAX are what plays in the elevator that takes you to HELL.
ReplyDeleteRepent now, sinner; repent now.
@kitshef. The words certainly are not always interchangeable but how about: This is a bit too Much. This is a bit too FAR.
ReplyDeleteThx Matthew; very smooth Sat. puz! :)
ReplyDeleteEasy-med.
Started out in the NW with nada. Wanted RED, but couldn't think of anything to finish it off. I guess, since it ended up at the end of the phrase, that could be considered a sort of *malapop.
Got nothing until EDEN / COFFEE URN, and the rest was smooth sailing.
Only unknown was TLDR. Having looked it up, I do recall seeing it somewhere as TL;DR (too long, didn't read).
Played DISC GOLF with my students at Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver.
Another fun, enjoyable Fri. eve, doing the Sat. NYT xword. :)
*for more on 'malapop' see Rex's blog from Mon., Aug. 18, 2008
___
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
I'm with Rex today. Pretty smooth but dull as dishwater.
ReplyDeleteHappy to see Kelley O'Hara, though. I'm a big fan of the U.S. women's national soccer team, and she's long been one of my favorite players.
I thought “much” for FAR was really stretching the play on words much too FAR. The best I could come up with was “He hasn’t traveled very far” v.v. “He hasn’t traveled much” - weak, I know. Maybe someone can do better ?
ReplyDeleteOMELET PANS are shallow with sides that curve outward for ease of dismount, and usually have a long or insulated handle which obviates the need for an oven mitt or towel. Not at all a necessity, but helpful if you are manning the OMELET station and making dozens of them during one seating.
Enjoyed Rex’s critique and comments this morning - he really can write very well when he takes his prosaic, focuses his comments on the puzzle construction and avoids getting on the space shuttle.
I wonder how many people today who haven’t encountered a TOLL PLAZA in a while will attempt to convince the unwashed masses that they no longer exist.
There were far better examples of far/much usage than your attempt. See comments. Prosaic and Prozac are not synonyms.
DeleteThere goes Rex stealing my joke again…
ReplyDelete@kitshef - regarding FANTA, The origin story makes marketing it always a little risky. (I think I learned about the origin here, not something Coca Cola talks about, much)
I still use TL;DR, but I’m old so I can’t really disagree with Rex. I do feel like the snarky use has diminished but that the “I know I was rambling so here’s a quick synopsis” is still seen in the wild.
I do feel like the DISC GOLF demographic has a higher percentage of guys who might be doing a TECH DEMO than golf GOLF. Still, DISC GOLF strikes me as less dude specific than GOLF. That might just be because I know more woman who play DISC GOLF than golf and I’m probably atypical in that regard.
Loved the ASANAS clue. Not “Clodpole.” I’m with @Lewis on the clue being great, but with Rex that the URN part of COFFEE URN was a wee bit bitter. I was amused that Rex didn’t realize that the gallery wasn’t an Art Gallery. Even Lowes and Home Depot have “galleries” that definitely are more ARTSY than art. I don’t disagree with Rex’s criticisms, but I still liked the solve. A good Saturday, although it felt on the easy side here.
I don't always agree with Rex, but I'm with him 100% on this puzzle and its clueing. ARTSY was just wrong, and LOST SOUL felt like it could have been shoved and twisted and jammed into the clue, kinda sorta, but not really. Also, as another commenter pointed out, FANTA comes in many flavors other than orange, so that clue was a clunker too. Like clueing Edy's as "vanilla refreshment."
ReplyDelete@SouthsideJohnny: It's somewhat graceless to criticize someone else's writing when you do it in a sentence that includes "...he really can write very well when he takes his prosaic." Physician, heal thyself.
ReplyDeleteStarted out with great confidence, putting in reD flag at 1A. D'oh! Then when only the one cross worked, got rid of it and tried lacrosse for the basket game at 7D. Double d'oh! Finally gave up on the north and found a toehold in the SE with YMCA (43A), MOANA (44D) and SPASM (59A). Went counterclockwise from there, finishing in the NE. Needed help from Sergey and Larry for the "peninsula of gold" and "Superwoman" clues.
REDALERT does not fit for 1A, but you knew that. Gratifying to see RED in the answer at least.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you have __OUS and the clue is "made up", FICTITOUS works very well, except it's wrong. A swell misdirect though, like the "digital" in NAILFILE.
Good thing LIL is almost generic for rapper names, didn't know AVA as clued, and TLDR was a WTF but fair crosses. Moment of confusion on URN vs. POT, easily fixed.
Someone who plays DISCGOLF and can do a mean TECHDEMO would be my older son, who also plays a mean game of golf. Our cat who used to roll over for CATTREATS seems to have forgotten how, but he will still sit and raise his paw for us, so there's that.
All in all a very nice Saturday, MS. Just the right amount of pushback to make me Muy Smiley. Thanks for all the fun.
Lol, I sure felt like I was paying him a compliment. I need to take the plunge and turn off auto incorrect.
ReplyDeletein mild defense of the ARTSY clue, i think what they're going for are "gallery" displays one puts in their home or something, not an official art gallery, i.e. the way people put "gallery walls" in their homes are often very twee-artsy-cutesy in design, rather than straightforward displays like in a professional gallery
ReplyDelete@albatross shell, @OfftheGrid. I would never use 'far' in either of your phrases. I absolutely believe you that people do, but it sounds off to me. @Petes's example works, though.
ReplyDeleteA much briefer, similar thought than Rex's ("15A: Off the mark? (ERASE) — where "Off" is ... a verb? Like ... you put out a mob hit on the (pencil) mark? You made lead eat lead?") went through my head when I got ERASE. Thanks, Rex, for clarifying my feeling, though I do think the clue is kind of fun.
ReplyDeleteI also kind of agree with Rex about the second half of certain answers. Most of those that gave me pause (ETSY SHOP, MATH TESTS) were easily filled in with the crosses, but TECH DEMO was one of those dams where I was worried I'd never break through. Didn't help that with __SE in place at 21A, I kept thinking it would be pOSE, as in camera "shot". Somehow I came up with GLAMOROUS after staring at OROUS for a while. I'm just glad that EDEN as clued was a gimme or I'd still be looking at a completely white NE.
The clue for CLAP, 33D, makes me think of playing hot potato rather than CLAPping.
Thanks, Matthew Stock, this was a puzzle worthy of a Saturday.
I know nothing about grid construction — is symmetry on a diagonal line very common? The puzzle looked odd from the start. The lack of any really long answers might have contributed to the assessment by Rex and others that the puzzle was a bit meh. I liked it, can’t say I loved it.
ReplyDeleteFor someone who is undoubtedly a strong feminist, Rex has very traditional views of what appeals to men and what appeals to women.
Favorite clue was “departure announcement” for BYE. I did not see that coming.
Will keep it short today so no one puts TL;DR after my post.
I know nothing about grid construction — is symmetry on a diagonal line very common? The puzzle looked odd from the start. The lack of any really long answers might have contributed to the assessment by Rex and others that the puzzle was a bit meh. I liked it, can’t say I loved it.
ReplyDeleteFor someone who is undoubtedly a strong feminist, Rex has very traditional views of what appeals to men and what appeals to women.
Favorite clue was “departure announcement” for BYE. I did not see that coming.
Will keep it short today so no one puts TL;DR after my post.
Rex complains about two word answers where the second word could be many different words. He gives these examples: "That is the kind of plodding energy that I was getting from this puzzle most of the time. TOLL blank, TECH blank, COFFEE blank (BOOTH?" How do you fit booth into three spaces?
ReplyDeleteWarning: the following JIF vs Peter Pan excerpt may fall into the TL;DR category:
ReplyDeleteFAR better vs 'much' better
The Real Difference Between Peter Pan And JIF Peanut Butter:
"Peanut butter lovers tend to have some definite opinions on what makes or breaks the spread, and no two kinds of peanut butter are created equal. Many enthusiasts have their favorite go-to brands, often because of their preference for texture and flavor. As two of the biggest brands out there, Peter Pan and Jif peanut butter are common choices. However, there are some big differences between the two.
The first real difference between the two brands of peanut butter comes down to how each tastes. And according to both Insider and Thrillist, Jif transcends Peter Pan. Jif has molasses added to it, so it tends to be sweeter than Peter Pan. Jif is also a lot smoother and spreadable than Peter Pan, which was deemed too thick, while lacking a deep roasted peanut flavor. Jif was thought to have a well-balanced sweet and salty flavor, though it was called a "dessert PB&J" by Thrillist.
But taste and texture are not the only ways Jif prevails over Peter Pan. It also carries a healthier edge over its competitor, though neither is exactly a champion of healthy foods." (Mashed)
___
td pg: 9:38 / W: 3*
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
@Southside
ReplyDeleteGreat much-FAR equivalency swap out there. FAR too much. Much too FAR. FAR (much) better than your second suggestion. That was intentional?
@Rex
I thought pencil mark and eraser. Not mob hit.
A lost soul is a person who’s trying to find his/her way. Clue is spot/on.
ReplyDeleteGood Saturday challenge,IMO, maybe because for the second day in a row I had thoughts of abandoning ship and then started chipping away. Had to go all the way to "YMCA" for a confident fill-in and battled my way from bottom to top, getting a better feel for the constructors' tendencies along the way.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else thinking we might see an outbreak of "TL:DR" around here ?
"Artsy" is not great, but Home Depot using "Gallery" is pretensious BS. (SP?)
Lots of fun with this. The diagonal symmetry is so cool - but created some challenge for me in that tiny NE corner. I liked COFFEE URN - but can see Rex’s slant. Just read a tweet in which TL;DR was used - so definitely not passé. MUD BATHS, HEAD FAKES, IM SO SORRY are all solid.
ReplyDeleteSide eye to the redundancy of ETSY SHOP. Weren’t we taught earlier this week that TOLL PLAZAs are out of fashion?
Yankee Doodle keep it up and call it MACARONI. Mid 70s but I’ll always remember Grace singing these goofy lyrics
Enjoyable Saturday solve.
Actually agreed with most of Rex's eye rolls today.
ReplyDeleteMedium for me, too. From MACARONI, I swept - well, actually, crept - clockwise around the grid, finishing up with LIL MO x LED. It took me a minute or two to understand the diagonal symmetry; then I spent some time matching up the longer entries that would overlap at the NW-to-SE diagonal "fold" - with HEAD FAKES + LAVA LAKES the clear winner. It seemed to me that there were FAR more three-letter entries than usual on a Saturday, and I wondered if that had to do with this sort of symmetry.
ReplyDeleteThe porch door is open. While reading today's review I heard a bell jingle every few seconds off in the distance outside, followed each time by a loud meow sound. I went to the porch to investigate. Through the gaps in the pines that border our property to the south, I espied my neighbor tossing disc after disc at newly sunk pole in the ground. When the disc hits the pole, the bell rings, and the disc usually drops into the "basket" that's mounted there. And his toddler son cheers like the meow of an owl-struck cat, but in a cheerful way. Ergo, DISC GOLF.
ReplyDeleteI found the cluing very clever, more important to me than the pizzazz of the answer. Lots of aha smiles.
ReplyDeleteThis: "two-part phrases where the second word seemed like it could be anything"--always a peeve for me too. I mean, fair enough as a way of cranking up the difficulty by blocking the escape route out of a corner, but almost always a "meh" experience when some cross or other tips you to what the second word must be. I was stuck with TECHTALK for much (or FAR) too long, and there's absolutely no ompelling idiomatic link between the two. I was in tech for a long time, and would have just called it a DEMO. ETSY... SHOP? I mean, yeah, I guess, but I was stuck trying to figure out what you'd need to add to ETSY after having that half of the fill for several minutes. Partly because ARTSY was just so wrong. Another of those perennial xword-isms, but that clue was just straining too hard to come up with something original. Unlike NANA, which is also bog-standard fill but this time the clue made for a nice Aha! only after getting it from crosses. Now that's a Saturday-quality clue right there!
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteOne of those PuzDays when it started off impossible, but I kept chipping away, and ended up (for me) a quick time of 38 minutes! Dang, didn't realize I be so smart. 🤪🤯
COFFEEtiN first like I'm sure a bunch of people had. GLAMOROUS was a neat find, as the ole brain kept thinking of a made-up story, and just couldn't get anything to fit. Aha, says I, that kind of made-up. TOLLbooth first (obvious misdirect there, ya got me Matthew!) for TOLLPLAZA. JIF was another "cool" moment, as I wanted SMEE or HOOK, but both too long. I let off a half squeal, half groan when I realized it was peanut butter. ASANAS a sorta kinda heard maybe once in my life thing. The crosses all worked, so good on me.
Hey, just realized this puz has diagonal symmetry. The "fold line" would be NE to SW. Interesting.
So a not-too-brain-draining SatPuz, which is always a good thing, as these brain cells that youthful drinking damaged are getting fewer and fewer. Hopefully I won't turn into a LOST SOUL (or a LOST brain) when I get older!
There's a story in BYE FAR OAF ROD somewhere. Maybe involving a TECH DEMO.
(Ill stop myself now, as I was about to go down the rabbit hole with some more answers in a giant convoluted story that I'm sure no one cares about!)(Like that convoluted statement.)
yd -4, should'ves 1 Duo 35/37
Six F's (FANTAstic!)
RooMonster
DarrinV
Poor cluing. Joe carter? URNS carry coffee? That's a stretch. Never heard of LIL' MO. And you are seriously expecting Lil' Mo's audience to know Hieronymus Bosch and vice versa? 'How awful' indeed.
ReplyDeleteIt is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known. Dickins could have written much, much. I suppose.
ReplyDeleteAn enjoyable puzzle that I found challenging in parts.
ReplyDeleteI thought of CODE RED immediately, but tried to confirm that it wouldn't be "RED-something-or-other" before writing it in. "Colorful warning" makes CODE RED sound like something that's, well, fun, doesn't it? I mean we should all hope that a CODE RED isn't issued for us someday -- though I suppose it's a lot better than a CODE BLUE.
I didn't know MALAYSIA without crosses and I couldn't imagine what a child's necklace would be made of. Maybe some sort of paper mache? Sea shells, perhaps, if Mommy is ARTSY. But MACARONI????!!! That sounds truly disgusting.
I've never smelled a CAT TREAT and I hope I never shall. That sounds pretty disgusting too.
For "Joe carter" I wanted something on wheels. Doesn't a COFFEE URN just sit there and you have to do the carting, assuming there's any carting to be done?
I didn't know DISC GOLF had baskets. The way it's played in Central Park, the goal they aim for seems to be...Nancy. Arm or leg or head, it doesn't matter -- though I think perhaps they may get a better score for head.
An engrossing and mostly proper name-free puzzle. There was yet again another LIL-something-or-other rapper (how many LIL rappers are out there? 27? 52?), but he was fairly crossed and Ava Max was his only companion. So it was fine.
Yes, “carter” implies that “Joe” is relocated as with a cart. Urns do not carry coffee, they store it. Having an employee carry an urn around surely would risk an OSHA violation.
Delete@zed -- I loved that ASANAS clue as well, but it won't be on my list this week because it has been used before (once, 2019, Jeff Eddings, Universal puzzle).
ReplyDelete@DrBB -- I agree completely re the clue for NANA, which indeed dressed up a common answer.
I had AMISS for "Off the mark?", which I contend is a better answer.
ReplyDeleteAgrees that ARTSY had a terrible clue and ETSYSHOP was just terrible. But enjoyed the puzzle; had nothing at first, then remembered starting in SW corner seems to make Friday/Saturday more doable (at least for me - is that a thing? Seems the lower o the page, the more straightforward. But this is coming a guy who didn’t realize that the puzzles got tougher as the week went on - I just thought I was tired from the work week!)
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of TGIF - like to read Chen’s review (mostly upbeat vs. Rex’ nitpicking - both slants are enjoyable yin/yang - but tend to cringe (which has itself become a cringeworthy term through overuse) at the easily offended nature of xword reviewers.
Today’s case in point: despite giving it his highest honor of POW, Jeff objected to “freedom cry, for some” being TGIF, linking to freedomcry.life. Nothing to put about, he sniffed.
Um, this is a crossword, supposed to be fun and at times funny/punny. Taking offense at such an innocuous clue seems a tad ridiculous - twisting logic to find an impeachable violation. Certainly doesn’t denigrate any freedom movement past or present.
Seems “partially off the mark” - LIGHTENUP! (Get it? a partial erasure only lightens up. But that joke might also be considered racially insensitive so I apologize in advance and must #DoBetter)
I don't understand why Rex wants to "steer clear" of Gone With the Wind.
ReplyDeleteGreat Saturday puzzle. I don't know what it is about the diagonal symmetry but every late week puzzle that I can recall using it has been high quality.
ReplyDeleteThis took me about 9 minutes longer than yesterday's solve. I wasted much time in the NW trying to get RED FLAG and then CODERED to work. In the NE all I came away with was FOE.
EDEN supported by ROD and ORE gave me my start. From there I went steadily clockwise. When ____FAKES gave me LAVALAKES then NAILFILE and JIF. The puzzle really opened up and the solve became a romp. The NE did put up a final fight but that just increased my respect for the puzzle.
yd -0
I started off strong, with 'red flag' (confirmed by DATA) and MATH TExTS. Also TOLL booth and and ETSY Site. I also wanted coffee vaN (a better fit for carter in the clue), but had the sense to put in the N and wait for crosses. But it all sorted itself off, for a satisfying solving experience.
ReplyDeleteThe high point was the clue for 33D, "It goes hand to hand." I had the CLA, so I spent some enjoyable nanosecs visualizing a circle of people on the beach passing a CLAm around.
I thought the Dickens quote was more generally known than it seems to be. Here's the whole passage (@Pete gives the TL;DR condensation):
“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.” (From "A Tale of Two Cities")
Felt like that LOST SOUL for FAR too long as I trampolined around Matthew’s off kilter grid. Finally bounced back to the NW to ERASE the reDflag and string MACARONI together having totally catapulted over that 12a clue repeatedly … egads, as NANA would often say! Rappers to APT clueing for COFFEE URNs & LAVA LAKES—this puzzle HAS IT ALL, but somehow still had a Meh feeling as OFL noted (without rancor for a change).
ReplyDeleteI guess I had wanted a Saturday return to EDEN, but only enjoyed a TGIF vibe as Mr. Happy Pencil said “BYE.”
Liked this a lot. Just finished because I ran a 5K this am. Managed to lead the senior ladies, so not a LOST SOUL today. Thankful for JIF providing a toehold. 🌻
ReplyDeletePassover ends tonight, so that MACARONI at 12A should be replaced by some potato kugel for those who observe. The first Seder occurs on the evening before Day 1. That was last Friday night. And there are 8 days, so it runs from last Saturday until sundown tonight.
ReplyDeleteSo my reason for Ava Max being a gimme was that a few months ago we got concerned about what our 12 year old son was looking at on the internet and I went through the history to check. One of the things I found (IMO not all that concerningly given the wide range of possible more explicit/exploitative alternatives) was a search for "Sexy photos of Ava Max". So I figure that anyone that any pop star that a 12 year old boy with pretty conventional-for-his-age music tastes is trying to find photos of is probably crossworthy even if I hadn't otherwise heard of them.
ReplyDeleteHad bEta DEMO before TECH DEMO. My work is tech-adjacent and I've never heard anyone say TECH DEMO before, so the actual answer was a bit of a letdown. IME, a demo is generally just called a demo so the answer had a bit of the tautological feel of 'automobile drive' or 'orchestral symphony'.
Unlike Rex, I liked TLDR which I both use and see frequently. It may be unique in the history of the internet in having started off as trolly snark and then evolving into something thoughtful that is now mainly used by people to be helpful when they realize they have written an essay where some readers will only want two sentences.
Saturday:
ReplyDeleteDARE I say I felt ULTRA GLAMOROUS? Preparations for my dinner started with an early MUD BATH and LIL MO singing in the background. My days ROSTER started with CAT TREATS for our OCHRE little mouser. Although I was a bit TIRED, I wasn't going down the "IM SO SORRY" lane without a CODE RED fight. I wanted a Saturday delight. I looked fancy in my MALAYSIA ARTSY dress; my spiritual wandered did feel like a LOST SOUL when arriving at the TOLL PLAZA, though. We had run out of money. A kind SOUL lent us the fare and off we went looking for a bite to eat. We ended up in a JIF joint whose specialty was MACARONI and orange FANTA. I felt like I was in Bosch's first panel. Is this EDEN? or it is not? Joe, our carter, brought us a COFFEE URN filled with a DOSE of lovely wafting odors. He almost tipped over the OMELET PAN because he had a SPASM. Although he was an INEPT OAF, we rather enjoyed his food. The menu was easy to read, the price was right and so.... we decided to make it even more delightful by playing a round of DISCO GOLF before tucking in.
Was this TLDR?
Did anyone explain LED for "Drove"?
ReplyDeleteBottom half easy, top tougher with SE the toughest corner. I stared at the top for a quite while and only had ERE, EDEN, TGIF, and Throb off the T in TGIF which of course was wrong. I moved to the bottom and zipped through it which let me finish the NW (DISC GOLF helped a lot). In the NE LILMO was a not inferable WOE plus the ARTSY and DOSE clues were iffy....so tough corner. Solid and smooth, liked it.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated this one more than you did, Rex, but I also appreciated your review, especially the Whitney Houston video, which made my morning feel complete.
ReplyDeleteGOTTA SEE THIS It's not TL at all.
ReplyDeleteSmoooth-ish SatPuz solvequest. Was ready for MOANA, this time. Only near nat-tick-like moana was around the mysterious FRERE/OAF/TLDR groupin, but survived with only a few extra nanoseconds splatzed onto the got-to-think wall.
ReplyDeleteRe TLDR: Debut wrd. Evidently stands for somethin like Top Level Desperation Result.
staff weeject picks: BYE & OAF. Due solely to their feisty clues. Clodpole. har
Cool slaunch-wise symmetry puzgrid. Wonderin if the puzgrid layout was kinda the "seed entry", rather than any of the actual answer words. Anyhoo, faves included: HASITALL. TOLLPLAZA. SUPERSIZE. COFFEEURN. MOANA. [Give m&e MO MOANA! Bring it, Shortzmeister.]
Thanx for the fun, Mr. Stock dude. Good job.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
**gruntz**
I had "Starter" over "Roster" for baseball team announcement and began the colorful warning with RedXXX - it messed me up something fierce.
ReplyDeleteI first tried cheeRios for the child's necklace clue.
ReplyDeleteNew record for me for a Saturday - less than 20 minutes! No idea why - usually takes 45 to an hour. Sometimes the clueing just clicks.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Rex overall. Nothing amazing here, but sufficiently tricky.
For better or worse, agree with Rex on ARTSY and LOST SOUL -- I had those very same thoughts when I figured out those answers.
ReplyDeleteMUCH can be pretty close to FAR when used with "more": "I had MUCH more trouble with this clue than with the other ones . . ." / "I had FAR more trouble with this clue than with the other ones. . ."
ReplyDeleteNot a precise synonym, perhaps, but close.
You'll all either thank me for this or curse me until your dying day. It's the new Phrazle game and it's a "time suck". It takes much longer to solve than Wordles 1 and 2 -- and it also makes you have to think so hard that you'll feel the stuffing being squeezed right out of your head. But it's a real challenge in a way that the other Wordles aren't.
ReplyDeleteI tried my first one yesterday and got confused by the colors and what they meant. (It was much easier than today's, though, and I did get it eventually -- in 4 or 5 tries, I don't remember.)
Rules: You have a phrase of several words. A green letter means you've found both the word that the letter is in and the exact place in the word that the letter appears. An orange letter means it's in that word, but not in that spot in the word. And a purple letter means that it's in another word in the phrase, but not in that one.
Hint: The words you enter into the spaces don't have to produce a coherent phrase. You can put in something like TRIUMPH BIRD MARGERINE and no one will care if the number of letters per word is right.
Here's my result today:
Phrazle 20: 3/6
🟪🟨🟪🟨⬜🟩⬜ 🟪⬜🟨🟪⬜🟪 🟪⬜🟩 🟪⬜🟩⬜
🟨🟩🟩🟪🟨🟩⬜ 🟪🟨🟨⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩
#phrazle
I got today's in 3. I'll show you -- and then I'll never bother you again with it unless I were to get it in 2.
@albatross shell (7:23) - Good one! The ultimate POC.
ReplyDelete@Wanderlust - This particular form of symmetry is pretty unusual. Most common is 180° rotational symmetry, turn the grid upside down and the grid pattern is the same. Next most common is mirror symmetry along the vertical axis, where the left and right side match. It seems to me that mirror symmetry along the diagonal is uncommon enough, and this particular pattern, with those L-shaped black shapes aligning along the diagonal, is especially unusual. I didn’t notice it until you pointed it out, but it’s a nice feature of this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteKitchen Cabinet Color Gallery
A garage door gallery
Five ways to create a really cool gallery wall
Simply, the ARTSY clue is spot on and it tricked people, including Rex, in the same way the “off” clue fooled people. That it fooled so many makes it a better clue, I think. Generally speaking, when a late week clue seems off it is really that you need to reimagine what the words in the clue can mean.
@TJS - A big box store being pretentious? That’s never happened before. 😂🤣😂
@mathgent - “Jobs drove Apple into smart phones.” “Jobs led Apple into smart phones.” That’s the best I got.
@Son Volt - The TOLL PLAZA is still there, just no booths are workers.
@albatross shell - but the mob hit reading is funnier, in a dark humor sort of way.
@SSJ - I need to take the plunge and turn off auto incorrect. - I’ve always used “autocorrupt,” but “auto incorrect” is pretty good, too.
Hey everyone.
ReplyDeleteWas in the air yesterday and had my phone in airplane mode. Anyway, the dude who said I drank 64 beers from Anaheim to Boston got it wrong. It was 65. I rember because I went 5 for 6 the next day and always like the numerology angle to the suds and stats angle.
Wade Boggs
PS. Take a page from Sue Grafton’s family. After her death they declared the alphabet ends with the letter Y because she never got to publish the title which would’ve ended with the letter no one should utter.
This was a tough and fun puzzle! Confidently put in REDFLAG and thought…is this going to be an easy Saturday? Nope.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a child (before treated lawns) I used to go out to pick clover blossoms in our backyard and would tie the stems together to make a necklace. Good memories of that oh so pleasant smell of clover! I never strung thread through MACARONI but seems like my daughter may have in kindergarten.
Ended up a DNF…had to check where my error was. Well. I had put in ALERT instead of ALARM. O’HARE seemed reasonable but I had missed the resulting SPAST instead of SPASM.
@Mathgent, I took the LED/DROVE clue to be…”The coach led/drove the team to a win” or also the fact that cattle drivers would lead/drive the cattle to a different location. Btw, I’m getting close to the end of The Plot…so glad I saw your recommendation…thanks!
During a TECHDEMO, the software engineer admitted that he had not CODERED the new App himself.
ReplyDeleteWhat does the Madison Avenue copywriter do when he can’t think of a way to promote his client’s new products? HE AD FAKES.
What did the owner say to the guy trying to steal his forked-tail bird? Hey, my TERN!
I thought this was a good, solid Saturday. Thanks, Matthew Stock.
@Nancy - thank you for the phrazle tip. I tried it once, couldn't come up with a phrase of the right length, and gave up forever - until now.
ReplyDeleteNow really, my theory is it isn't really a DNF if I looked up the name of a rapper. Which I did to find LIL MO. But even so I ended with a DNF because I had TECH mEMO instead of TECH MEMO, and assumed the resulting LEn was just one of those Things I Don't Know. LED is just wrong, You can be leading no one when you drive a car, and if it is cattle or sheep you DROVE, you don't really lead them, you hustle them along from the rear or sides -- in the case of sheep, with the help of a skilled border collie. And in the case of a domestic cow, nine times out of ten if you get old Bossie moving, she knows her way home.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as has been noted, COFFEE URNs tend to stay in one place. Now in Britain, tea URNS are a staple of life in any place of mass employment, as they are trolleyed about from station to station, for those mandatory morning or afternoon refreshment breaks.
Some of the clues were first-rate, especially the ones for HEAD FAKES and MATH TESTS.
Beezer. Thanks for LED. I guess driving cattle is leading cattle.
ReplyDeleteHappy you're enjoying The Plot. My wife is also near the end and can't wait to finish it.
Am I the only one totally in the dark about what a "cod pole" (or codpole) is???
ReplyDeleteThe NW came quite easily; the rest not so much. In fact, much of it not at all. I should get out more.
ReplyDeleteI knew straight off that Peter Pan referred to peanut butter, but "Elf" kept getting in the way of JIF. And so did Mulan instead of MOANA. And so on.
@Nancy, the MACARONI for the child's necklace aren't cooked yet, so not at all disgusting! With my grandchildren I used to color penne first with food coloring; once they were dry we'd thread them on lengths of yarn - voila, a necklace!
Fri SB pg-1; today QB
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ReplyDelete@Harry - Nope. Got it by inference. Clodpoll is the word in M-W with today’s clue, clodpole, listed as a variant. So a variant of an unusual word. I think the ngram shows it is not just us.
ReplyDeleteMy first awareness of 'YMCA' was at the 1996 Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA. It was a very popular theme in the stands between innings. Fun to go thru all the gyrations! :)
ReplyDelete@RooMonster 👍 for Duo! :)
@puzzlehoarder 👍 for -0 yd
@Nancy (12:29 PM)
With your language skills, I've no doubt you'll be getting Phrazle in 2 very soon! I like your approach! :)
@Eniale (2:16 PM) 👍 for SB prowess! :)
___
WordHurdle: 3
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Hands up for the wrong second word in TOLL BOOTH, TECH TALK, and COFFEE CUP. They all sound snappier than the correct answers, I guess because two one syllable words. Also the latter two have alliteration. Unlike Rex I enjoyed the puzzle's consistency and resistance.
ReplyDeleteFor "Blow up" I tried a bunch of things; my fave wrong one was PULVERIZE.
[Spelling Bee: yd (Fri) 17 min to pg, later got QB with this word, which is odd because I got its anagram much earlier.]
As a female solver I didn’t find the puzzle gendered in any direction. Knowledge is not gender specific. Why is it assumed men would know sports themed clues and women would know makeup related clues? I watch sports a lot more than I do my nails! I found it a fun, quick Saturday puzzle. Particularly loved Joe carter!
ReplyDelete@Mathgent, I AM enjoying it. I’m actually listening to the audiobook. I may not be as close to the end as I thought…3 hours left. I’m now far enough along I’m devising my OWN possible twist(s) though. Funny, my husband is an IP attorney and I had never really thought of the “plot” element of infringement which I guess is just more “bad form” than illegal. At any rate, this book was just the ticket as I had just finished Lauren Geoff’s Matrix (for my book club). You need a dictionary nearby when reading that due to the medieval time setting with Marie de France and Eleanor of Aquitaine….
ReplyDelete@Burn Thank you. Excellent observation. Unfortunately, it will take a long, long time before the rest of humanity will evolve to a similar level of common sense, never mind the tenor of the political discourse these days, it was self-evident yesterday right here when the mods decided that enough was enough and deleted all of the posts from those who chose to participate in the “I know more than you do” pissing match. And just so there is no mistake - RP is one of the biggest instigators.
ReplyDeleteTough but fun. All synapses firing and after quite a few changes to answers I was, erm, sure of, I finished cleanly. Had the same thought as Rex about the clue for 37A and that answer went in only from the crosses. “Boo hiss,” from me, too.
ReplyDeleteFavorite misstep:
33A – Marine One before COFFEE URN
Favorite answer:
12A – MACARONI. Yep, made these at camp. Being very young we used ziti (to help with threading), colored the links, glued on sparkle, and proudly wore them home. Just don’t wash your face while wearing your necklace!
Easiest, and had me looking for “eel”:
31A - ORE
I’m the nth person pointing out the obvious, right?, that 8A TGIF is a day late?
Unknown as clued, but gettable with a couple of crosses:
16A – Plus ULTRA
Unknown but total alphabet soup; I Googled and it seems a bit rude:
30A – TLDR
Also unknown; still need to look these up:
7D – DISC GOLF
18D – HEAD FLAKES
Uh-oh, ear worm!
43A – YMCA
This morning the baby quails that had been eggs hatched in a large plant pot. I startled the mom once while watering an adjacent plant and she flew off chattering loudly to the covey outside the pony wall. They all promptly joined in the reprimand. I was startled too and immediately looked down to see speckled eggs underneath the soft dense lavender canopy. It was the only time she was disturbed, so I was surprised when she bolted today. This time she didn’t fly very far or alarm-call so I gave another quick look and saw several very hidden, very tiny, brown-and-black-striped puffballs cheeping and running around. Walked off quickly and in a bit carefully checked and was glad she was right there back with her chicks. They’ll probably all be out following the parents around tomorrow in what must be one of the fastest introductions to the world. No more YMCA; this tune for spring.
Yes! I made this point above. Rex really seems to believe that men like manly things and women like girly things, so a puzzle with sports, math and business is a “guy” puzzle - but proudly notes that he is not that guy.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThanks @BurnThis... I came here to make the same assessment. Even though OFL clearly supports women, he continues to perpetuate gender stereotypes: sports, math, science, tech, business are all male. Basketball is for boys; basketweaving is for girls. That kind of thinking is damaging. Always has been.
We glamorous men say "can it"!
@BurnThis, @East Coaster, & @Wanderlust - Reread that opening salvo from Rex. He didn’t write what you think he wrote. Then ponder this and maybe reread Rex with that definition in mind. And then ponder how the seemingly nonsensical “everyone is gender fluid” makes sense when that definition is applied to how you, yourself, occasionally do not meet the norms for your gender. And, if you’re really daring, ponder how gender norms have varied even in your lifetime.
ReplyDeleteMy personal favorite example of changing gender norms is a slightly older colleague and the story of his three children’s births. #1 - Drop off wife and told “You wait in here and we’ll get you when it’s over.” #2 - You can be in the delivery room until the delivery begins. #3 - “Would you like to cut the umbilical cord?”
TL;DR? It’s a lot more complicated than your posts imply.
@harry
ReplyDeleteNo I did not know what clodpole meant, but I knew what it sounded like it meant, and I knew OAF was a common 3 letter crossword word. Plus I had COFFFEE and MERGE in.
More generally, a CW-Hack: on a T-F-S puzzles a weird or obscure word will be used to clue a common crossword answer that is often vowel rich. Sometimes you can just infer a word. No knowledge necessary. Sometimes I look up words only to realize I didn't have to. A real kick in the pants. Just cause you have no idea doesn't mean you can't get the answer. But sometimes it does.
@Zed 8:09 am – I didn’t think of Home Depot either; thanks for another way to look at the clue. I notice now it does say “some,” after all. And for the help months ago when I tried to post a link – Could not find where I went wrong and always remember now to type in the URL instead of just copying and pasting. Something about the quote marks changing form otherwise, I think.
ReplyDeleteAnd 12:45 pm – autocorrupt – totally agree!
@pabloinnh 8:31 am – Yes! I also had “red alert” and had to let it go. In a way, I think crosswords help me to be more open to letting go of what doesn’t work anywhere. After I send this post, I’ll be back decluttering the office closet, long ago retrofitted with document and art supply shelving, so I can again find what I’m looking for.
Forgot to thank Rex for posting a link yesterday to a group solve of a cryptic crossword he did with friends Rachel and Neville. I watched the American cryptic and after listening for a while even got two answers (brandish; tropic) without knowing why they were cryptic. For the rest I needed all the explanations they offered but left with a greater appreciation of the complicated form. Saw about a third of the British cryptic solve, which was truly devilish. I thought the incorporation of “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma” was brilliantly connected. The puzzle even included Churchill, who, I learned, described Russia that way. I knew the phrase but would not have connected it to the linked clues. Thanks for the peek into solving cryptics.
@Nancy 12:29 pm – Well, I thank you for explaining Phrazle and I’ll definitely try it!
Lil Mo is an R&B singer, not a rapper. Editing staff needs someone that knows the difference.
ReplyDeleteLike @Llewis, I cheered the Joe carter clue first because Joe Carter is one of my all time baseball heroes and second, that was the best clue in the puzzle. And one of the tricksy ones I got immediately, so another mark in its favor. Other than that, I was not on the same planet, let alone wavelength as our constructor today, but I eventually got it all. Whew!! A Saturday workout for sure. Have to agree with @Rex about the two word answers one word of which could be anything. Those just added another level of crustiness. Absolutely appropriate Saturday.
ReplyDeleteNobody better than Whitney Houston (well perhaps Aretha Franklin) to sing a soulful song.
ReplyDeleteStupid clues. Boring answers.
ReplyDeleteThe NYT wants to make the crossword hip, contemporary, etc. Specifically "out" is the idea that the answers should be restricted to actual "SAT" words that you would find in a dictionary. Too literary, too scholarly, too pointy-headed.
ReplyDeleteBut I think that's the wrong direction to go when these puzzles more and more become a grid of slang words and specific names such as the combination of NIGIRI and YEEZUS -- a double Natick that makes it impossible to figure out how M--N could have anything to do with 43 across clue of "Air."
Otherwise, a good puzzle.
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ReplyDeleteRed flag crossing with DATA got me off to a great start I thought but there's no palindrome for F-F so that was the end of that. The big problem was coffee___; I figured out coffee for joe right away but went with mug, cup, then after EDEN can and tin, before finally getting URN, which as noted above doesn't really fit. Good clue but save it for when you can use it with something that actually carries coffee instead of holding it.
ReplyDeleteI too thought the 1a clue was perfect for REDFLAG; also refrained from writing it down because of that darned palindrome. But CODERED? Yo, I've worked in many a hospital and that's a sound for an emergency that is ALREADY UNDER WAY, hence NOT a "warning." This is a terrible--in fact, just plain WRONG clue. Where's the editor??
ReplyDeleteOther stuff also made this puzzle nearly impossible to solve. Unknowns were around every corner. ETSYSHOP is the greenest paint ever. ETSY IS a shop. Geez! "Fix" for PIN? Should be "Affix" to make it passably fair. And who the hell is AVA MAX? I had to Google post-solve, and...Wow, GLAMOROUS! Instant DOD!
In typical me fashion, I started in the SE with YMCA/MOANA, and wound up in the--of course--NW. Final entry was BYE, clued most cryptically by "Departure announcement." From start to finish, brutally hard. Three hours' worth. Still, a finish, and mountains of triumph points attend. Birdie.
And a third tweetie in a row:
BGBBB
GGBYY
GGGGG
I now have MORE birds than pars (!) in my history.
Etsy is a hosting site for artists and crafters, and each artist/crafter has their own individual shop on it.
DeleteI know firsthand.
DEMO ORE SPASM?
ReplyDeleteI'MSOSORRY, but CANIT be,
an ALARM that seems CODERED
is GLAMOROUS ERE you see,
INEPT AVA just FAKES HEAD?
--- MOANA "LI'LMO" O'HARA
Not too tough for a Saturday.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I did have to look up one answer. Can you guess? Yup, LILMO.
Must study names along with the P-Table. Not to mention Urdu. And Greek mythology. And...
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords