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Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- "SISTER SISTER" / MONACO, MONACO (19A: 1990s sitcom starring Tia and Tamera Mowry + 24A: Grand Prix city)
- "LOUIE LOUIE" / "EXTRA, EXTRA!" (41A: 1963 hit for the Kingsmen + 49A: Call from an old-time paperboy)
- ET CETERA ET CETERA / "SURPRISE, SURPRISE" (70A: "... you get the point" + 74A: "Well, lookie here!")
- NAMES NAMES / "KNOCK KNOCK ..." (97A: Sings, in a way + 104A: Classic joke start)
- PEOPLE PEOPLE / DOUBLE DOUBLE (121A: Extroverts + 129A: Basketball feat suggested by this puzzle's pairs of theme answers, informally)
Mofongo (Spanish pronunciation: [moˈfoŋɡo]) is a Puerto Rican dish with fried plantains as its main ingredient. Plantains are picked green and fried, then mashed with salt, garlic, broth, and olive oil in a wooden pilón (mortar and pestle). The goal is to produce a tight ball of mashed plantains that will absorb the attending condiments and have either pork cracklings (chicharrón) or bits of bacon inside. It is traditionally served with fried meat and chicken broth soup.[4] Particular flavors result from variations that include vegetables, chicken, shrimp, beef, or octopus packed inside or around the plantain orb. (wikipedia)
• • •
The fill is interesting in places, but there was also the completely ridiculous third-string spelling of Amon / Amen Ra (AMUN RA). Wikipedia tells me this is actually the first-string spelling, but sorry, crosswords, you can't foist the AMON/AMEN dilemma on me year after year and then all of a sudden decide "oh, no, sorry, today it's with a 'U'." I give this answer precisely one KUDO, which, contrary to the clue, is not a [Singular praise] but the antithesis of praise, a mockery of the very concept of praise, a crossword nonce word that belongs at the bottom of the sea where it will bother only the cephalopods. I was happy that DOSAS seems to have finally sunk into my crossword-solving brain (79A: Thin pancakes in Indian cuisine). The same cannot be said (yet) for MOFONGO, but I'm working on it. Pretty sure I heard it mentioned recently in a food podcast I listen to, but it didn't stick. I had trouble with this puzzle only in a few places. Had the -KEY but couldn't find the CRI- (75A: Quaint exclamation of dismay). Misspelled ANKE (93D: 1990s tennis star Huber) (got it immediately, but spelled it "ANKA"). I think APE was probably the answer that gave me the most trouble. A-E and still no idea (89D: Certain close relative). That clue is garbage. "Certain" ... come on. That's a non-clue.
Really liked "PEACE OUT!" (96D: "Later!") and UGLY CRY (47D: Weep in an unflattering way, in modern lingo). I also liked HIGH HORSE (35D: Perch for the self-important). Speaking of horses, apparently the Kentucky Derby was yesterday. The winner was RICH STRIKE. I will have forgotten this fact before I finish this sentence because nobody cares about horse racing any more. These are just facts. Horse racing and boxing reigned supreme on sports pages 100 years ago, but in my lifetime, less and less, and now ... pfft. I kinda remember American Pharoah but only because the "Pharaoh" part is misspelled. Before that, I gotta go back to, like, Alydar, maybe? I dunno. I also don't know why I'm talking about any of this, since it has nothing to do with the puzzle. I blame the booster shot. Good day to you all.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Yep, very easy. This was refreshing after some of the recent Sunday’s. Sometimes it’s fun to breeze through a grid. Liked it.
ReplyDeleteI knew MOFONGO from “Beat Bobby Flay”.
@jae 12:11 AM - I knew MOFNGO from growing up in Brooklyn
Delete@ Mike in Bed-Stuy 1:01 PM - Oops and apologies for misspelling: MOFONGO
DeleteVery Easy!!! Except for AMUNRA, as Rex mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI concur... very refreshing after the recent Sunday slogs, but ended up with the MOFONGO/ARGO natick, which I guessed right, so I guess all's well that ends well...
ReplyDeleteFor 128A (Best Picture winner of 2012) I tried and tried to squeeze in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. But CRIKEY, that was ELAPSE of judg(e)ment. Even The ARGOny and The Ecstasy wouldn’t fit. Decided to just take my BAE for a stroll on the BRAES.
ReplyDeleteI wanted LewisLewis for 41A (1963 hit for the Kingsmen) in honor of our esteemed @Lewis, but overcame that disappointment when I got to 114D ROOS. Hi @RooMonster!
In all seriousness, this was fun, but I did it as fast as my aging fingers could fly on the iPad. I don’t think I ever slowed down, all of which was abetted by the duplicative theme answers. Anyway, nice idea with the DOUBLE DOUBLE. Thanks, Matthew Stock and Chandi Deitmer.
Nice easy puzzle with nothing weird. I can go in peace into my day. Who knew we repeat words in phrases so often and can stack them up? Interesting.
ReplyDeleteRex said "I have no idea how hard or how easy it is to pull this off. But I do know that solving it was dull". Well, I think it was probably a bit hard to pull off, but I do agree on the dull part.
ReplyDeleteSURPRISE SURPRISE makes me think of Gomer Pyle. Oh, Google says it's actually SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE! Now there's a theme idea: 3 by 3!... we can add ETCETERA ETCETERA ETCETERA; Yul Brynner from The King and I. Um...on second thought, please no.
CRIKEY makes me think of Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter.
In Canada, DOUBLE DOUBLE is a common order at Tim Horton's. (Coffee; double cream, double sugar. Evidently we like our milk fat and sugar up here.) Memory: visiting my younger brother and his pals in my university days, 1982 or so, after a movie he suggested "Hey let's go to Tim Horton's." Never having heard of the donut chain, I replied "I don't think I've met him."
[Spelling Bee: Sat 22 min to pg; currently stalled at -1, missing an 8. Quite a slog: over 3x as many words as Fri!]
This was a fun puzzle, over much too quickly.
ReplyDeleteOne thing really bugged me, as a one time student of Greek. KUDOS is already a singular noun, like mythos, pathos, cosmos and eros. Is a lone albatros an albatro?
@Horace S. Patoot 2:38 AM - Yes, indeed...and we just had this discussion on this blog within the past week or two. Thanks for your lovely list of examples. The last time we bandied this about, I used "gyros" as an example of a word in that class of Greek nouns that is commonly seen in American English with "gyro" as the singular. Of course, the proprietors of Greek diners and food carts know that is wrong, but the customer is always right, right?
DeleteWay too easy, half the puzzle is already done for you. Started at noon when the puzzle is available and quit shortly thereafter, saving it for wine time.
ReplyDeleteRaised an eye rep at PEOPLE PEOPLE, like Rex said PEOPLE person is the way to go.
LA TIMES awaits, I’m hopeful it will be a tad more challenging.j
Hand up for easy easy! New pr for Sunday, and that's on the phone with the eensy teensy letters. Never heard of a DOUBLEDOUBLE (sports, no thx) but saw it easily having already gotten all of the others.
ReplyDeleteBack to studying German. Thanks for the brief brain break!
Which reminds me, people think German is hard, but they've never taught English to Speakers of Other Languages. This hard to explain English situation arose recently:
We have "ea" in brEAk and in brEAd, two different pronunciations. Which would be OK, but we also have "brake" and "breed" and "braid".
Another point of interest: Omina must be followed by a verb. Omina buy a bottle of wine. Omina go to the movies. You cannot say Omina Germany or Omina movie. You'd never say it wrong but I think the explanation is fun.
[end language stuff]
This is the first time I'm seeing "omina." Makes sense. In my dialectical region of the USA, it used to be "ongonna" (although the internet seems oblivious to this bit of linguistic history). But that now seems dated to me. Reminds me of Meyer Wolfsheim's use of "gonnegtion" (connection) in The Great Gatsby (yeah, yeah, antisemitic stereotype, but it's still my favorite American novel of all time, and I'm Jewish). More recently, living in predominantly Black bed-stuy, Brooklyn, I've learned "ima," which I love and now use in texts all the time.
DeleteNO. NO. A thousand times NO!
ReplyDeleteKudos is not a plural word.
KUDO does not exist. Not now. Not ever.
And no ignorant use of this non word will ever make it so.
32D: Wrote AM_NRA to await either E or O. Got U, it was a bump.
ReplyDelete36A: I had always thought KUDOS was singular, but KUDO has shown up in two puzzles recently. I don't like it.
This Sunday was a walk in the park, comparatively.
ReplyDeleteYears ago I was on a business trip to Puerto Rico. My host took me to a local restaurant and after reading the menu I asked, “What is MOFuNGO [as it was spelled on that menu]?” He tried to explain it; I tried it and now it’s one of my favorite foods, even though I’ve apparently been misspelling it for a very long time due to that menu typo. That was pretty much my only overwrite on the puzzle.
What is Monaco, Monaco? The Grand Prix is in Monte Carlo in the Principality of Monaco.
ReplyDeleteI agree!!!
Delete@Anonymous 6:37 AM @Anonymous 11:58 AM - I *knew* that sounded fishy! Thanks for confirming.
DeleteMy favorite answer is MOFONGO because MOFONGO, and when I learned that it evolved from the African food called “fufu”, I liked it even more.
ReplyDeleteThis had to be a bear to construct. It’s hard enough to stack one theme answer over another smoothly, and to do it five times, and do it as smoothly as was done today, is amazing. Much credit to the constructors on that.
Yes, compared to recent Sunday puzzles in general, which to me were getting tougher, this one felt as difficult as holding a balloon by a string. Fine by me, something sweet and breezy to kick off the holiday.
Thanks for this, Matthew and Chandi, and happy Mother's Day all!
This was a nice gentle ride, sort of a Sunday puzzle for beginners. The revealer neatly tied it together. Yeah, KUDO is incorrect but I no longer let things like that EATAT me. I'VEMOVEDON. I've said before that for the NYPD Xword editor, any pluralization, or singularization is A-OK. Also any invented abbreviation is just fine and spell non-English words and names any way that works. That's the reality.
ReplyDeletePeace, cheers, and I hope you all enjoy the day.
Yes, very easy, but not at all unpleasant.
ReplyDeleteQuestions raised today:
ReplyDeleteWhich is worse: a singular kudos or a plural dosa?
Is there a flattering way to cry?
Since when does ‘crikey’ indicate dismay? To me, it just indicates surprise.
I do admire this as a feat of construction, but given how much stuff is given away for free by the theme entries, the cluing difficulty needed to be cranked way up.
Any bets on how long it will take before "Rich Strike" shows up in the NYT puzzle?
ReplyDeleteI would think stacking those long themer pairs in a 22 square grid is no easy task. That said - the trick made for one of the fastest Sundays ever.
ReplyDeleteThought the overall fill was solid - lots of 3s and 4s but smooth enough that it almost filled itself in. Liked STALWART and IVE MOVED ON. I’ll be making a MULE for my wife later - she likes Bundaberg ginger beer from Australia.
I’ll pass on things like CRIKEY, KUDO and the convenient PEOPLE plural. I like tostones more than MOFONGO - but cool to see anyway.
Climb off your HIGH HORSE you’re no angel yourself
Not much pushback - but an enjoyable Sunday solve.
NYT doesn’t know that Kudos is singular. Disappointing. Was also disappointed by the puzzle overall. I usually plan to spend a certain amount of time doing the puzzle and drinking coffee on a Sunday while every one else sleeps in my house. Not today. Finished the puzzle before the coffee. Liked MOFONGO. Seems like every other Chopeed episode has someone making MOFONGO which tells me I watched too many epoisodes. Happy Mother;s Day to the Moms. Time to serve ours breakfast in bed.
ReplyDeleteEasy peasy, marred only by another unnecessarily hint-y bio blurb by Will Shortz in the print magazine. Pointed to one of the themers (extra extra) as the basis for the puzzle. I mean, come on Will, give us those extra 30 seconds to happen upon it on our own!
ReplyDeleteThx Matthew & Chandi, for the DOUBLE whammy puz! :)
ReplyDeleteEasy-med.
Smooth sailing; TACKed down from IBMS.
No storms along the way.
Enjoyed the solve. :)
@okanaganer (5:32 PM yd) re: the Saturday Stumper
I can't access Newsday w/o a subscription.
___
yd's: pg -14/ WH: 3 / Sed: 18/21 / Duo: 34/37 / Phrazles 37 & 38: 2/6
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Loved it….great for a rainy Mom’s day…
ReplyDeleteKUDO
ReplyDeleteScroll down for an explanation of how it became a word and how long it’s been a word. Long time readers will have already surmised that it is a back-formation.
And no matter how loudly prescriptivists and occasional prescriptivists scream language users will ignore them and use words any way they please.
Ah, yes, a kealoakea. A god who was around a few thousand years and we cannot decide how to represent the vowel in his name. As long as the vowel cross is fair I just go with it.
@6:37 - Monte Carlo is a quarter in MONACO, MONACO.
@jcal - There was an overhead clip trending on Twitter last night showing Rich Strike coming from way back in the pack to win. The announcer doesn’t even mention the HORSE’s name until the very end. I guess at one point the odds of the Rich Strike winning were 99-1. It’s amazing to watch.
This one got a Mehty shrug. The conceit didn’t thrill me and the rest of the puzzle was just fine. There have been worse, but that’s damning with faint praise. As opposed to “that deke was so good the defender was faked out of his jock strap,” which is damning with feint praise. No word yet on damning with fuint praise.
@Zed 8:23 AM - I mean, like, I'm not going to waste *too* much of my time agonizing over KUDO. And yeah, sure, go ahead and dignify it as a back-formation, which of course you are quite right, it is. But—and this says more about me than it does anything else—this whole sg. KUDO, pl. KUDOS thing makes me think of cooties. And who wants cooties?
DeleteI wasn't familiar with either BONA or BRAES and had all puzzle but the first letter of both. Had to keep guessing letters until the app told me I had solved
ReplyDeleteWas this fun because it was easy or easy because it was fun? Who cares, I thought it was both and agree with folks that thought it was about time for a Sunday like this, calloo callay.
ReplyDeleteToo soon for another KUDO. We just had this kerfluffle. Newcomers can refer to the archives.
I'm with @okanaganer--anyone who sees SUPRPRISESURPRISE and says they don't think of Gomer Pyle is just being snobby.
And here's another name from "Schitt's Creek", which makes me more and more certain that said locale is located somewhere in Crosslandia
Enjoyed all the Spanish flavor of today--besides MOFONGO we had El GRECO, ALMA, and ECUADOR (equator), all gimmes.
"Get off you HIGHHORSE" is something my mother used to say to people she thought were making a bit too much of themselves (including me, occasionally), so it was nice to see that on Mother's Day. Moms rule.
Nice breezy Sundecito, MS and CD. Many Sundays previously have been Complete Disasters, so it was great to relax a little and just have some fun, for which thanks.
@Amy - Never read the blurb!. At least I never do for exactly that reason.
ReplyDelete@bocamp - I do not have a Newsday subscription, but the Crosswords app by Stand Alone downloads the puzzle for free. The only issue is I have to open the app that day for the puzzle. Since I didn’t open the app yesterday the Stumper didn’t download. I haven’t done it in awhile, but the e-edition of the Detroit Free Press also has the Stumper and I could print it from there. Printing from an e-edition is always a little weird, though.
Only problem I had was instantly and overconfidently writing "show" for "Talk ___" and then having to go back and change it to the correct SHOP. The "Wins/PINS" mixup wasn't evident on sight.
ReplyDeleteAMUNRA wasn't an issue for me because TOURBUS was obvious, eventually. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, including my own mother, my fiancée, and my former wife.
Cruised through 95% of this like it was a Tuesday - wanted TOSTONE for MOFONGO though, which I prefer (perhaps with some sour cream and caviar). It was nice to have a breezy one that skewed easy for a change. I didn’t bother sweating the trivia today - just not curious about a Spanish ALMA crossing an Egyptian AMUNRA, for example. Similarly, I’ll take it on faith the CRIKEY and AEON are actual words, cuz well, it’s the NYT so they may just be, well you know . . .
ReplyDeleteIt took me a while to find a mistake in the far NW region of Siberia, where I confidently entered Talk SHOW and dropped in WINS for the cross without reading the clue. Took a long time to find it.
Did not know the tennis person (ANKE) - I remember ANNIKA, but I think she was a golfer. I’ll have to check with Uncle Google.
Exact same SHOW for SHOP mistake took so long to hunt down.
DeleteYou get a kudo for that bicep curl.
ReplyDelete♪ Louie Sugar Mony Cherry Liar Iko Monday Rebel Jenny Tighter Woman Pata Chewy Goody Doctor Sookie ♪
This is one of those puzzles where the gimmick was so immediately obvious that I just tooled around the grid filling in the theme answers and then abandoned the rest of it because why bother? (But later I was bored so I went back and finished it.)
Who the hell says MONACO, MONACO? It's a city-state, you say it once. What next —Singapore, Singapore? Vatican City, Vatican City?
Phrazle 39: 2/6
⬜🟨⬜🟪⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
@Zed mentioned the clip of Rich Strike winning and did not exaggerate. The horse was something like 15th after a mile, and the race is not much longer. Worth a few minutes of your time.
ReplyDeleteYes, cluing could have been a bit tougher. This solved easy and fairly. Also got a second booster a few days ago. Rex is right; this puzzle is perfect for being in that fog. (Had a few nights of insomnia this time. 🤷🏽♀️)
Happy Mother's Day to all who observe it.
One great thing about NYC living is the surprising events you would have heard about if you lived anywhere else: On a walk through the park last fall, we heard music that was even louder than the usual blasting coming from every single picnicking group. Thinking it sounded live, we headed toward the restaurant on the Hudson now occupying the space formerly held by the notorious La Marina. It turned out to be a big party with a live band and one of the most popular singers from Santo Domingo. All of this was to celebrate an attempt at the Guinness Book record for World's Largest MOFONGO. It was something like 40' long x 2' wide. This was the Dominican version made with green plantains. They had lots of aluminum foil take out pans available, so we enjoyed this for the better part of a week.
ReplyDeleteThe construction is interesting. They had to come up with two different sets of answers for the same letter pairs and fit this all together. A little easy, but the top took a second pass to get many of the answers.
For an opposite take on PEOPLEPEOPLE, the Depeche Mode song:
People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully
CRIKEY sounds Australian to me.
Apes are close relatives to humans
ReplyDeleteSince the second vowel sound is a schwa and it is a transliteration of a thousands of years old god, I hereby allow any vowel the constructor desires:
ReplyDeleteAMAN RA, AMEN RA, AMIN RA, AMON RA, AMUN RA, AMYN RA - all fair game, just make the cross fair.
PEACEOUT from my HIGHHORSE.
Agree that this played easy, but like all Sundays there was a lot of it. I hadn't heard of mofongo, but here in Hawaii, the Puerto Rican community bought us the Pastele, which is made of grated green bananas some pork and other ingredients which seem similar to it. They are delicious.
ReplyDeleteNever knew Monaco was Monaco Monaco so I learned that. A lot of people care about horse racing. I had a bunch of texts from friends after that great race. Sharp lives in a cocoon.
ReplyDeletecrikey/clank could just as easily have been krikey/klank.
ReplyDeleteStop getting the Booster shots! They are not protecting you from anything! It's all propaganda.
ReplyDeleteHope you don’t get Covid and find out the hard way.
DeleteWhat a waste of time. Easy easy. Boring boring. I solved it faster than the first quarter went in the derby
ReplyDelete@Rex, is your MOFONGO authentic if it doesn’t stick?
ReplyDeleteWhat a great Kentucky Derby! I knew nothing about the entrants until yesterday, but when I saw Rich Strike I noticed his strong haunches. Was hoping he’d do well, since he wasn’t entered until the day before. They were sharing stats before the race and apparently no horse who started in slot 17 ever won the Derby. What a ride by Sonny Leon!
This wasn’t the downer for me it was for @Rex. Hope he doesn’t get too aily from his booster. (If Shortz can use strawy…)
I do have a problem with both 70A and 74A. The “Et cetera” and the “Surprise” quotes are repeated 3 times, not two. Did I miss something - some hidden triplet reveal?
Misspelled LOUIs LOUIs at first until the fruity gemstone turned out to be a PsAR.
PEOPLE, PEOPLE works better if you add a comma, as in trying to bring PEOPLE to their senses. Think Seinfeld?
@Birchbark from yesterday re SIDE DOORS, I had the same thought - a lot/ton of people I know hardly ever use their front doors.
Funny SIDE DOOR/Mother’s Day story - as a child I went through a phase of catching critters and bringing them in the house for an afternoon of study. One day when I was about 9, I opened up the SIDE DOOR and surprised a large (maybe 4 feet) green snake sunning on the stoop. Poor thing made a break for the holly shrub and coiled its neck around the base while I carefully held on to its MID-section, trying to keep my prize from escaping. My mom came up behind me and exclaimed “Let go!” Figuring she knew something I didn’t (generally a good assumption to make about your mother when you’re 9), I obeyed, and the relieved snake whooshed into the shrubs. Crushed, I complained, “Why?!” though I knew she was just protecting me. Her actual reproach? “You might have hurt it!” Happy Mothers’ Day! Even if they’re gone, they’re not gone. :-)
@A 9:46 AM - re: Even if they’re gone, they’re not gone. AMEN to that.
DeleteAs I filled in KUDO and AMUNRA, I was aware of the pushback they get. But, it’s a crossword puzzle, not a scholarly paper.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 9:48 AM - ikr?!
DeleteI agree totally that this puzzle was easy and a refreshing change after recent tough (as in last Sunday’s) puzzles. There needs to be some room for the aspiring relative beginner.
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteOHNO, says I, sipping coffee smack dab in the center of Natick with _ONA/_RAES. CRIKEY! Hmm, what sounds logical since the ole brain doesn't know either? Thought about an I, ran the alphabet in my head again, then decided that BONA sounded Latiny, threw it in and got the Happy Music! I RULE!
Agree with the rest of you PEOPLEPEOPLE that other than sitting in that cafe sipping coffee, rest of puz was easy.
Thanks to whoever it was that pointed out puz is 22x22. Thought the Blocker count was high, but with the larger grid, it's normal to low.
I believe this puz was a toughie to construct. Getting clean crossers on stacked-anything is always hard. KUDO(s) to Matt & Chandi. Hardly a nit about the fill. Rex didn't even mention the two OUTs, DRAG OUT, PEACE OUT. Two NOs, YESNO, OHNO. Then again, it Is a Two-by-Two puz. Oh, and two ROOS. Har.
(LOG ON, IVE MOVED ON - probably others I'm missing)
But when you need to look for nits, you know it was a smooth puz. So I'm gonna stop looking. 😁
yd -15 (Geez Louise), should'ves 8
Duo 37 (barely...) Missed 1-2-9-14-18 (misses 14 and 18 were knucklehead misses)
I know I've got a problem. About three months ago I decided not to do Sunday puzzles, but addiction is addiction, so here I am. Maybe going public with it will help. At least it didn't last very long.
ReplyDeleteI'd never heard of a DOUBLE DOUBLE, and since it was clued as a revealer it might not have fit the theme pattern, so I waited for a few extra crosses. I've since looked up the term, and am not sure why anyone cares. It's like hitting for the cycle; if you've already hit a double, a triple, and a home run, and on your next at-bat hit a long drive that eludes the center fielder, do you stop running at first? I don't think so.
So, KUDO -- c'mon, folks, the clue is a pun! Let yourselves enjoy it!
OTOH, the clue for TEENS is ridiculous. It might as well have read "many people." And while BONA gratia may or may not mean "in all kindness" in English, it doesn't mean that in Latin, which is what the clue specifies.
But CRIKEY makes up for it. What a great word!
Anyone else have the Gist of an idea at first?
@jberg 10:00 AM - Re: "So, KUDO -- c'mon, folks, the clue is a pun! Let yourselves enjoy it!" Okay, I can see that. But if the constructor intends it as a punning clue, and does not endorse the idea that KUDO is a "correct" or "grammatical" usage, I would like to see the clue acknowledge that—so, perhaps, something like "Singular praise, in contemporary usage at least." Which sounds awful, I know. And therein lies the rub. But, yeah, at the end of the day, my ultimate reaction is 🤷🏻♂️
DeleteFurther evidence of Declining Brain Syndrome:
ReplyDeleteForgot to add my signature, which I know you all clamor for! (Or is that clamor for me to GO AWAY?)
Four F's
ROO(s)Monster
DarrinV
New speed record for me today. Maybe it's just the afterglow but this one wasn't as dreary as most of the recent Sunday puzzles have been.
ReplyDeleteI hate to KNOCK KNOCK this puzzle, but the problem was that it had no SURPRISE SURPRISE. Well, maybe its earliest entry. There's a MONACO MONACO? Who knew?
ReplyDeleteThere was one potential for a mistake -- but I didn't make it I'm happy to say. It would have been a funny one though. I had MM? for the "ultimate fighting inits" and almost wrote in MMm. The cross was with "certain close relative" and I liked that "M". I was all set to write in "MOM".
Imagine my SURPRISE SURPRISE when it turned out to be APE.
I would have enjoyed some EXTRA EXTRA crunch in this puzzle.
BIO and BIONIC ?
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 10:16 AM - That's kinda how I felt about ASKEW and ASK TO
DeleteThe biggest puzzle to me is WHY some commenters and @Rex struggled with 121A, Extroverts/PEOPLEPEOPLE. I don't see how it could be any simpler.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 10:17 AM - ikr?!
DeleteI like that this puzzle has DOUBLE (2) constructors.
ReplyDelete@bocamp- I print out the Saturday Stumper from a site called Brainsonly.com. No subscription needed for anything (I had the same problem with Newsday).
ReplyDeletePS-Had a hard time getting started, but today's Acrostic is good challenging fun.
LOUIE LOUIE was my first theme entry today. Yes, that means I had a very fast solve time after that. Really, my only write-overs were AOL before MSN and going back and forth between NYPD and LAPD a couple of times at 110D.
ReplyDeleteSince 1988 I have carried in my pocketbook a copy of the Bloom County comic strip that had the lyrics to "Louie Louie" in it. I've even pulled it out a couple of times since to prove a point. Weird, moi?
I was not sure what noise a jalopy made, had to think far too hard about why FINE worked at 13D and didn't even read a few clues (DOSAS, PBA). I enjoyed learning a tidbit about TET and am trying to imagine how a ROOK got its current chess shape when the name is derived from the Persian for chariot. We're back to AMUN-RA, yea!
Thanks, Matthew and Chandi, this was easy enough to never slog down and it was fun!
Highland Mary
ReplyDeleteBY ROBERT BURNS
Ye banks, and BRAES, and streams around
The castle o' Montgomery,
Green be your woods, and fair your flowers,
Your waters never drumlie!
There Simmer first unfald her robes,
And there the langest tarry:
For there I took the last Fareweel
O' my sweet Highland Mary.
I liked this one but maybe the gimmick was better-suited for a weekday grid. Rex is right. Once you got the gimmick there wasn’t very much resistance. Anyways, this one was still better than most of the Sundays we’ve had lately. Even so, Sunday can and should be better. Why ssn’t it?
ReplyDeletePS - HMD
Is @jberg the only person on the blog who gets the pun? KUDO was my favorite clue/answer in the entire puzzle.
ReplyDeleteOne of the definitions of "singular" is "peculiar/odd". And being the recipient of only one KUDO is peculiar praise indeed. I loved this!
Here's the Webster's reference. Look at Definition #4.
@Nancy 10:37 AM - Ah! Okay, your explanation about "singular" meaning "peculiar" or "odd" is pretty convincing, even to a stubborn old classicist like me.
DeleteBefore I caught on to the theme, thought the puzzle was actually referring to the site of today's Formula 1 race, Miami Gardens, at 24A. Had the M at the start, same number of letters. Go, Max.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the subtle nod to INO. It was my first thought after I got 129A, as I’m sure is true of the rest of the SoCal diaspora.
ReplyDeleteVery easy Sunday and since I the puzzle in morning it’s a good thing because I can now go off and enjoy the beautiful spring day.
ReplyDeleteI also put in talk SHOW before SHOP but then saw that WINS was not a winner.
@jberg, DOUBLE DOUBLE is a basketball term. I bet you just glanced at the clue too quickly!
Happy Mother’s Day to the moms out there!
Someone wrote: "Anonymous Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteStop getting the Booster shots! They are not protecting you from anything! It's all propaganda."
And you posted it. You give these morons a soapbox? What sort of FUCKING IDIOT are you?
@jammon 11:09 AM - Hmm. Close call! Yes, it is a classic example of how misinformation poisons social media. OTOH, that particular anonymous is so consistently, well, whatever you want to call it, I'd be sad to miss his (their?) contributions to this blog.
DeleteAfter the last two disastrous Sunday puzzles, I give this puzzle a BOOYAH! BOOYAH! Easy, yes. Too easy, perhaps. But I like it when I can solve a Sunday puzzle in a reasonable amount of time and feel like I RULE.
ReplyDeleteI usually dislike themes with repeated words, but this one has a certain charm thanks to the DOUBLE DOUBLE revealer and construction. I also learned that MOFONGO is something you eat and not something you call somebody you’re mad at.
Favorite fill: I’VE MOVED ON and UGLY CRY
Least favorite: CRIKEY and KUDO
Still trying to figure what a singular KUDO would be. A one star review? It’s kind of like complimenting someone on their new TROUSER or watching the Kentucky Derby through your BINOCULAR.
Nice to see how many people object to KUDO which is not a word, nor should such a backformation be tolerated. We watched Moon Knight which led to me learning about Egyptian divinities so the Amun was something I've run across as I read about Konshu, Ammit and Taweret. Seriously, you have to expect the constructor may vary the vowel, as with Aten and Aton. No big deal. This was a pleasant Sunday for a change. I teach Latin and have never seen the phrase BONA GRATIA, that I can recall. Guess I need to read more Cicero.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 11:28 AM - Might not matter how much Cicero you read. Agreed, I'm a Latinist, too, and I've never seen BONA GRATIA. Based on the clue, I foolishly translated literally to TOTA GRATIA, which I had never seen in real Latin, but figure what the heck (the crosses got me back on the straight and narrow, though). I just looked up this mysterious collocation of words on that miraculous internet, and found this at https://thelawdictionary.org/bona-gratia/
Delete"In the Roman law. By mutual consent; voluntarily. A term applied to a species of divorce where the parties separated by mutual consent; or where the parties renounced their marital engagements without assigning any cause, or upon mere pretexts."
@jammon - It seems stupid is okay but mean and trollery are not. I must say that anyone who acts based on an anonymous post on a crossword blog probably deserves whatever results.
ReplyDeleteBTW - Double boosted and I strongly suspect I’ll be getting #3 in 6 months. So Much Stupid Out There which normally does not impact everyone else.
@burtonkd 8:53 - Yep. Exactly.
@Teedmn - You’re my kind of weird.
@Anon10:17 - I was going to say the same thing earlier and forgot. There are certain careers that are best for PEOPLE PEOPLE. Can you imagine a real estate agent that wasn’t one?
That Rich Strike video if you haven’t seen it, yet.
@Zed 11:30 AM - Thank you for the link to the Rich Strike video. Amazing. I have never seen anything like it. And I'm not one who cares much about horse racing...but amazing is amazing.
DeleteWe need you all to start getting the Booster shots directly in your brain. It's the only way they're effective. Pass it on.
ReplyDelete@Mods - Anon 9:27 is spreading dangerous misinformation please remove that post.
ReplyDeleteSis just sent me this link re: Mother's / Mothers' Day.
ReplyDeleteHeather Cox Richardson begins her story thusly:
"I told this story here two years ago, but I want to repeat it tonight, as the reality of women’s lives is being erased in favor of an image of women as mothers…."
"If you google the history of Mother’s Day, the internet will tell you that Mother’s Day began in 1908 when Anna Jarvis decided to honor her mother. But 'Mothers’ Day'—with the apostrophe not in the singular spot, but in the plural—actually started in the 1870s, when the sheer enormity of the death caused by the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War convinced American women that women must take control of politics from the men who had permitted such carnage. Mothers’ Day was not designed to encourage people to be nice to their mothers. It was part of women’s effort to gain power to change modern society."
She ends with this:
"And while we celebrate modern Mother’s Day, in this momentous year of 2022 it’s worth remembering the original Mothers’ Day and Julia Ward Howe’s conviction that women must make their voices heard." ((Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson)
@Zed (8:33 AM) / @pabloinnh (10:24 AM)
Thx for the ideas! :) but, printing is not for me.
I open it in 'brainsonly', take a screenshot of the pdf, load it into the Notes app on my iPad and solve using the Apple pencil. (one of my 'lifehacks') lol
I love Across Lite and use it for many indie xwords that come with the .puz option. Per @okanaganer's suggestion, I added the Crossword Scraper extension to my Brave browser; so far, I've been able to convert the NYT to the .puz format. Ironically, I don't mind doing the NYT on their Games site, tho. Will be looking for other xwords that I can use Scraper on. :) [update: I was finally able to get the Stumper in .puz format, using a deft maneuver]
___
td pg: 12.10 / W: 4*
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
only wait-for-it moment was LOUIs LOUIs or LOUIE LOUIE.
ReplyDelete@11:28 - BONA Gratia seems to have its deepest roots in law, where it is applied, e.g. to a divorce BONA Gratia, by mutual consent or in good graces. Cicero may be of no help. Also, KUDO exists, your wishes non-withstanding.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 12:20 PM and numerous others - I mean...drinking chlorine bleach exists, too, right?
Delete@jammon/11:09
ReplyDeleteI guess the Qanon Borg have assimilated Rex. just stock up on bleach and zinc tabs.
@Zed:
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine a real estate agent that wasn’t one?
Sure can. House prices would be 10% lower.
This was a very very loooong Monday….puzzle, .. and neither short or sweet.
ReplyDeleteFast means nothing without some bling.
🤨🦖🦖🤨
@Magnificent Beast Zed: Per K-Derby runtpuz (yester-blog), M&A was rootin for Zandon & Zozos.
ReplyDeleteEasy SunPuz themers, which was good, since the theme was pretty humorless. Interestin 2x3 black blocks, on the center sides of the puzgrid.
staff weeject picks: The openin weeject stack in the NW corner. [ISM, BIO, MSN]. Knew there musta been some reason for such luvly Ow de Speration, right outta the rodeo chute. Yep. Them double double dealies, promisin some great fill struggles to come.
Actually, some of the desperation got absorbed by havin 154 words and a 22x22 puzgrid spread. ONEISH & CRIKEY were kinda cute, tho.
Thanx for ganging up on us, Ms. Deitmer darlin & Mr. Stock dude.
Masked & Anonymo13Us
I enjoyed the puzzle today! Theme was thin, but it was easy and breezy and that made for a pleasant diversion.
ReplyDeleteI only have one nit to pick, and that’s the cluing for YODA. It *should* have read, “Character with noted object-subject-verb syntax.” In the context of the clue, it is the syntax that is noted — not the character. The adjective is modifying the wrong noun. Rubs me the wrong damn way.
In another note: The blog has not allowed me to comment as oceanjeremy for a few weeks now. Keeps saying “Unable to sign in to comment.” Even though I’m signed in. Bah.
I had to comment as “name / url” to post this. (Used a fake URL.) Is this a Blogspot website update that tried to fix something that wasn’t broken? Anyone else encountering this? Has anyone figured out a fix?
Thanks @Zed for the Derby link. I’d seen the NBC footage and said to my husband I needed to see one that points to the horse. Simply amazing and while the horse is an obvious athletic specimen, it also makes me think that the jockey is extraordinarily talented and that the Derby will not be his last major race!
ReplyDelete@Nancy, I had responded to your tennis nut talk last night if you didn’t see it. 😀
Liked it. Favorites: the central pair of ETCETERA ETCETERA (the theme, in a nutshell) followed by the joke of SURPRISE SURPRISE (the theme by then being obvious); the old-time EXTRA EXTRA!; and the evergreen KNOCK KNOCK! (The latter, under NAMES NAMES made me think of a post-naming ominous KNOCK on a door). And "nice one" also for STALWART, HIGH HORSE, OSMOSIS.
ReplyDeleteEasy! The clue for KUDO needed a question mark at the end, and I blame WS for its absence.
ReplyDeleteMy nitpick is: Apprently the Monaco Grand Prix spends little time in Monaco-ville, the part of Monaco we might call the City, with its government buildings and the Prince's Palace and the old fortress. Mostly, it is run in Monte Carlo, Monaco, a different quartier.
I agree that the crossing of BONA and BRAES is a little bit dubious. The Latin phrase is far from well known. And the only BRAE I've ever come across was the Bonne Brae Country Club in the next town over from where I grew up. It's not one of those commonly used Scottish words.
ReplyDeleteVillager
I did see it, @Beezer. I should have responded then. But it was late. Sorry I didn't.
ReplyDeleteAs much as the recent difficult Sunday puzzles have seemed like a waste of time it's these super easy ones that are the real waste. I breezed through this and it gave nothing back. Some of the themers I didn't even have to read the clue for. A few crosses made them that obvious.
ReplyDeleteMOFONGO was the only real bonus today. A KUDO to anyone familiar with that one. It's seven letters but even the Scrabble dictionary doesn't include it.
yd pg -7 ...sheesh!
Richard Lewis has an uncle in a coma named Lewis Lewis. Oh wait, he just woke up so maybe he can give his nephew a kidney! Lewis Lewis: What, I just woke up and now you want me to start giving things out?
ReplyDeleteSecond Phrazle. Boy am I good at this, hee-hee!
ReplyDeletePhrazle 40: 2/6
🟨🟪 ⬜⬜🟪🟪🟨 🟪🟩🟪 🟨⬜🟩🟪 ⬜⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Since I got both of them, I demand two kudos.
Yeah, @burtonkd. I know CRIKEY from Crocodile Dundee.
ReplyDelete@BRAE?? people
ReplyDelete"By yon bonnie banks, and by yon bonnie BRAES
Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond....
Is this no longer sung? What a pity that would be.
@oceanjeremy - Are you trying to do this from the mobile version? Because I have the same issue there. The simple solution is to scroll to the bottom and click on “web version.” I then just click on “post a comment,” that takes me to the web version of the comments box and I can post without a problem. I’ve had the issue for years now, but I’m usually in the web version anyway so it doesn’t bug me much.
ReplyDelete@Beezer & @MiBS - Not much of a horse racing person, either but amazing is amazing.
@MiBS - And who wants cooties? 🤣😂🤣 - Best argument on this issue ever. Personally, I’ve gone from occasional prescriptivist to full time descriptivist. Complaining about annoying language evolutions is a little like complaining about the weather. No matter how loud we complain we aren’t going to stop the weather.
Hand up for not being familiar with BONA gratia, but zero problem sussing it from the provided translation.
@M&A - Zandon and Zozos sound a little like the HIGH HORSEs one rides on the stairway to heaven. If you ever find yourself riding Zozos on the stairway to heaven, whatever you do you can’t let go.
Tiresome in its easiness, and made far worse by the ALMA/AMUNRA cross and by the bogus answer PEOPLEPEOPLE. Two weeks in a row of truly poor Sunday crossword puzzles.
ReplyDeleteSo easy for a Sunday except for AMUN RA although the crosses made it obvious that was “correct.” Fir the life of me, I couldn’t remember Susan SONTAG. Had SON___ but all I could think of was Sondheim - obviously wrong m. That little area fell last, but when I got the R of the TOUR BUS, the light went on for STALWART and I was done.
ReplyDeleteBeat clue, and the only answer producing even a tiny smile was NAMES NAMES. The reveal, although superfluous did at least show that our constructors had a plan and carried it out, albeit without any Sunday silliness, difficulty or pizazz.
You ARE good at it, Joe D (2:27)!!!!
ReplyDeleteI thought I was matching you step for step, phreagle for phreagle ...until today's DOUBLE disaster.
To begin with, I had a 3 on the first Phrazle -- which I copied, but then couldn't bring myself to post here. Now my that copy is gone-- because I just did the second Phrazle (which replaces it).
I should have posted the first one. The second one is MUCH worse. Oh, hell -- I've bragged a lot, and now it's time to cop to abject failure.
Was it all Beginner's Luck at the outset? [UGLY CRY].
2nd Phrazle:
Phrazle 40: 4/6
🟪🟪 🟪⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟪 ⬜🟪⬜🟨 🟨⬜🟪⬜🟨⬜
🟩⬜ 🟪🟨⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟪 ⬜🟩🟨🟨🟪⬜
🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩⬜
🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
#phrazle
Well my comment from 3 hours ago seems to have vanished, probably into the spam folder.
ReplyDelete@bocamp... on the Newsday crossword page: in Firefox, I have no problem, just click a puzzle and then the Scraper button. In Chrome, for some reason a "Subscribe now" dialog pops up and blocks the page. But then I can hit Reload page, and if I'm fast enough, click the puzzle name before the dialog pops up, and Scraper works.
[Spelling Bee: yd pg -1, missed this word. 72/73!]
@okanaganer - Nothing there by you.
ReplyDeleteLate post, but agree this was easy. Nothing special in the theme, but the construction took some work. Like many, I did not like KUDO rearing its ugly head again.
ReplyDeleteSolved this in the car on our way to my mother-in-law's house in NJ (no, I was not driving!).
No time to read the blog today, but idle curiousity: is this 22 x 22 grid as large as the NYTs ever publishes?
ReplyDelete@Nancy, yes, @Joe and @bocamp are good at it but so are you! If it were Wordle, maybe beginner’s luck, but not with Phrazle. As you said, Phrazle has a much lower ratio of luck to actual brain power. Today’s 2nd had so many possibilities, I had to resist trying to use an actual phrase on my first guess, and instead just tried to flush out the various contenders for the two and three letter words. It took more time than I should’ve spent on it. Hope they don’t start offering one every hour!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, they’ve rejected a couple of words, ‘among’ for example, as being “not in word list.” Tried it two days in a row. Why wouldn’t ‘among’ be in the word list?
Phrazle 39: 2/6
🟨⬜🟪🟩⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Phrazle 40: 2/6
🟩🟪 🟨⬜🟨🟪⬜ 🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩⬜🟪 ⬜🟪⬜⬜🟨🟨
🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
@Brian in SLC – the Sunday grid is occasionally 23 x 23; in fact it was so just last week.
ReplyDeleteThanks Joe
Delete@A Moderator... thanks for checking; first time that's happened to me in a very long time!
ReplyDeleteFirst time on Phrazzle…
ReplyDeletePhrazle 40: 3/6
⬜🟪 🟪⬜🟨🟨🟪 🟪🟪🟨 ⬜🟪⬜🟪 🟪🟨🟪🟩🟪⬜
🟪⬜ 🟪🟨⬜🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜🟪 🟨⬜🟨🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
#phrazle
https://solitaired.com/phrazle
There was a fragrance named AMUN. Who knows whether there is a correct spelling. After all, it was a hieroglyph. Frequency in the NYT doesn't equate with correctness.
ReplyDeleteRex, because you don’t care about something does not equate with “nobody cares.” Why the absolute? Sure, horse racing has declined in popularity and that is demonstrably provable. But plenty of people care. Especially about The Derby. Especially when an 80-1 long shot wins!
ReplyDelete@Nancy 3:37. Oddly, I decided just yesterday to try Phrazel, largely because you are such a booster of it. First try was a Phreagle and I thought “easy as pie.” Today was a par (Phrapar?). Not so easy after all. My personal take is that I enjoy WORDLE and SB more, I think because the possible combinations are finite, although the number could be very large. The infinite possibilities confronting you at the start of Phrazel kind of daunt me or something.
ReplyDelete@Nancy 3:37. I also posted a four on the second phrazle today. I blame it on the phrase not being a familiar one. The famous version of that phrase has one word different.
ReplyDelete@A 7:25. I've also noticed odd words not being accepted. The one that really stuck out to me was 'mom'.
I read this to my wife and as I was reading the last part about the horses she asked “what is he going on about?”. That make your next line pretty classic for us.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the blog.
Thanks to all for your Phrazle phrympathy and phrupport. It means a lot to me.
ReplyDelete@A -- For "among" not to be accepted as a legit word in any of these wordlists is more than grounds for protest. It may call for large street demonstrations in every city. Absurd!
AMEN / AMON / AMUN RA is the new CZAR / TZAR / TSAR.
ReplyDeleteDisappointed the theme today was not clued as a Canadian coffee order.
@Nancy – I sent you an email.
ReplyDeleteAMONG could be in a phrase – HONOR AMONG THIEVES comes to mind. That's an odd exclusion. I tried CAUSE CELEBRE the other day and it wouldn't accept CELEBRE but that's a foreign word.
Show.shop, just like others reported.
ReplyDeleteTook for ever to find.
EXTRA,EXTRA: DOUBLEDOUBLE RELAID
ReplyDeleteOH, SISTER,SISTER, I must ASKEW:
Who NAMESNAMES of PEOPLE you 'knew'?
SURPRISE,SURPRISE, CRIKEY they ASKTO,
so I'VEMOVEDON, and you'd be WISETO.
--- LOUIE "LEO LEVY
I too found it easy till I got to the SW, and "Sings, in a way." I just couldn't figure that one out. 100% ignorant of what 99-down could be, so I had to wait until I got enough letters to grok IVEMOVEDON; then finally saw the "other" meaning of "sings." A major misdirect, but fair enough.
ReplyDeleteSome fill desperation, understandable with the theme restrictions. Kind of boring to do; no punch. One of those "Oh look what I can do" puzzles. Meh. Par, and that's generous.
Hitting a common letter combo in Wordle, I decided to play safe with a search and go for par:
BBBGY
BGGGB
BBYBB (the search)
GGGGG: it worked!
Someone needs to stop over on the Archive of Our Own (AO3) website and tell the fan fiction authors there that KUDOS is "the antithesis of praise, a mockery of the very concept of praise." There are going to be some very upset folks. Any volunteers?
ReplyDeleteWhat does “names names” mean?? I figured that out from the crosses but… no idea how “sings, in a way” relates to it.
ReplyDeleteOne nitpick. Fuel is not a power source. Engines, Motors, Batteries, etc are, but fuel is what feeds a power source.
ReplyDeleteTo Anon(10:19PM): Example-A Mafia Don in prison makes a deal. He provides to prosecutors names of his accomplices in order to be released sooner. In other words he "sings", or "names, names."
Left Coaster doing Syndicated Puzzle.