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German film award akin to an Oscar / THU 5-26-22 / Exclamation after a witty comeback / Print collectors for short / Famed designer whose career was boosted by American Gigolo
Thursday, May 26, 2022
Constructor: Jonathan M. Kaye
Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- WRESTLING MATCH ("20A: "You've got to know when to hold 'em")
- ORIGAMI CLASS (31A: "Know when to fold 'em")
- LOWBALL OFFER (41A: "Know when to walk away")
- ELECTION SEASON (57A: "And know when to run")
The German Film Award (German: Deutscher Filmpreis), also known as Lola after its prize statuette, is the national film award of Germany. It is presented at an annual ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the German film industry. Besides being the most important film award in Germany, it is also the most highly endowed German cultural award, with cash prizes in its current 20 categories totalling nearly three million euros.
From 1951 to 2004 it was awarded by a commission, but since 2005 the award has been organized by the German Film Academy (Deutsche Filmakademie). The Federal Commissioner for Cultural and Media Affairs has been responsible for the administration of the prize since 1999. The awards ceremony is traditionally held in Berlin. (wikipedia)
• • •
I'm mad at GROGU because it was the *only* thing I didn't like about this puzzle. This is such a dumb (in a good way), simple, clever theme. Taking all the verbs in the chorus out of a poker context and plunking them in absurdly literal contexts—I don't know why this works, but it does. Plus, now I'm singing "The Gambler" in my head, which, as earworms go, could be worse. Plus, I was oohing and aahing a little even before I got to the theme, as I dropped BOURDAIN and then BLOWHARD right alongside it. BOURDAIN was a fine writer and by all accounts a lovely man, but he was *repeatedly* (and literally) referred to as a BLOWHARD in the press, so I gotta imagine that BLOWHARD / BOURDAIN pairing would've made him smile. I couldn't quite figure out what WRESTL- was gonna do in that first themer, but I could see ORIGAMI coming into view pretty quick, so that's when I got the literalness of the theme concept. I had trouble with CLASS (wanted CRANE (!?)), and later on I had a little trouble figuring out what SEASON you were supposed to "run" in (that SW corner is a tiny bit hairy). But mostly the theme answers came easily, and delightfully, unexpectedly. I most admire LOWBALL OFFER—such a great phrase, such a perfect answer for "when to walk away."
The fill on this one was strong as well, with AFEWZS being the top answer of them all (46D: Forty winks)—got a genuine "wow" from me. Don't know if it's original, but it is a ton of fun to try to parse. Worth the effort! I really liked much of the cluing today too. 39D: "What is your greatest ___?" (interview question) (WEAKNESS) made me laugh because it made me think of the conventional fake-humble answer, "Sometimes I care *too* much" (or "I work *too* hard" or "Perfectionism"). I also loved the clue on ARMANI (46A: Famed designer whose career was boosted by "American Gigolo") because I am a huge fan of "American Gigolo" (the movie that kickstarted The Eighties and one of the greatest neo-noirs of the decade). If you aren't listening to "Erotic '80s," the latest season of Karina Longworth's "You Must Remember This" podcast, then do yourself a favor and remedy that immediately. It's a wonderful year-by-year trip through sex in the movies during the decade that comprised my entire adolescence, so yeah, I am into it, although it did coerce me into watching "Jagged Edge" (yesterday), which I was Not so in to. But now I'm glad I've seen it, I guess, even if it was pretty bad. Anyway, "Erotic '80s" is up to 1985 this week. Four more years to go. Get on board! OH DEAR, where was I? Oh, ARMANI! Richard Gere! Blondie! Cinematic '80s ... my happy place. Hope you found things to like in this puzzle, and if GROGU was one of those things, well, de gustibus etc. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. "item of wear" is such a weird, awkward phrase (29A: Often-changed item of wear => DIAPER). There's gotta be something better. [Oft-changed covering]? [... protective gear]? Maybe just [Oft-changed item]? I dunno, something else.
P.P.S. like several of you (it seems), I found the clue on SOARS (53D: Shoots up) to be jarring and unwelcome, to say nothing of inapt. Why evoke heroin usage here? Or mass shootings? It's awfully grim—grim enough that it bothered the constructor, who actually sent me an email this morning disavowing it (his clue was [Flies high]).
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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109 comments:
So, the combination in this puzzle of ELECTION SEASON and PLEA, on top of my heavy heart and RILED UP spirit after Tuesday’s event, all intensified by Steve Kerr’s impassioned rant on Tuesday night (look it up), inspire me to say, even here, a crossword blog – in November, scrutinize who you are voting for. Those who do not explicitly support expanding background checks to include private sales and gun show sales (House bill HR8, essentially) – do not vote for them, and do vote for those who do explicitly support these measures. We who support them easily have the numbers.
I do not think it’s a dream to believe that our wretched situation can be turned around. One small turn can begin an avalanche. Let this be a flashpoint issue. Do not let it fade. Spread the word.
OK puzzle, but utterly inappropriate for a Thursday. There ought to be some kind of quirk on a Thursday. Run this on Tuesday/Wednesday and it would fit right in.
A puzzle that not only not for me, but aggressively so. Clue for EDNA was meaningless. Ditto GROGU. And LOLA. And ELSA. That is not the way to get difficulty into your puzzle.
@Lewis: Amen. Amen. Amen.
The puzzle: Opened it up, loins girded and sword sharpened, prepared for the usual delightful brain battle that is the Thursday NYT puzz. So disappointed. It might be a fine puzzle (aside from GROGU--agree that constructors are using 'way too many obscure Star Wars/Thrones names), but it was no Thursday. Easier than Wednesday, and the only real challenge were the themers. The fill was Monday level.
I had the puzzle complete and happy, dropped in my last letter and ... no happy music. Checked all the acrosses. All looked good. Checked the downs ... EfSA is a pretty weird name, even for someone I've never heard of. Changed the letter to ELSA/LOCI and the Shortzian gods were appeased.
But wait. Isn't fOCI a better fit for "central points? Google seems to agree:
LOCUS: a particular position, point, or place. [not necessarily central]
FOCUS: the center of interest or activity.
So I solved it, but it took a little "locus-focus."
Filled in the north feeling super smart, then came to a screeching halt in the south. Continuing my week of finding I’ve been wrong about a lot of things, always thought Naiads was spelled with a Y. That made Soars, Grogu even tougher and I had to go back to Shoots Up in what seemed like an endless of loop of “don’t forget.”
This was a really fine, if easy, Thursday puzzle, enhanced by wondering if a certain person nearly imploded at the Moistens/Wet pairing (and look there’s even Spit). I have a small mean streak.
Would rather see Comedian Tracee Ellis for Ross in the future. She’s delightful, current, and she’s earned it.
Jeff Chen took some low-grade exception to Origami Class and Low Ball Offer but they’re totally in the language.
Nice going Jonathan M. Kaye. Looking forward to future efforts.
I didn’t know GROGU (or EDNA mode) but luckily I could fill them in. Like Rex, I enjoyed the Kenny Rogers.
I so disagree with Rex on this puzzle. The theme was lame and some of the theme answers even lamer. To wit: ORIGAMI CLASS?? Is that a thing? LOWBALL OFFER is good, I’ll admit. But the others? Not so much. And, I agree with @kitshef, Thursday puzzles deserve some clever word play. Instead, with different clues, this puzzle could have been a themeless.
So we're fine and dandy with LUCIAN and OSAGE and OPIE on a Wednesday, OPIE being a character from TV that aired 50 years ago, that's just peachy. But a smash hit series from the last two years, with easy gettable crosses, that's a bridge too far?
Got it.
Rex, stop being so old. This is what that Letter to the Editor was talking about. Stop it. Stop. You and people like you are actively pushing out any new younger blood with these rants. Stop. Stop it.
This puzzle definitely was not a “slog” but it was one of the crosses. I liked the fun theme and found it more of a “jaunt”. Thanks Rex! I learned “slog” from many of your reviews.
A great start to my day - Loved the puzzle. Loved @Lewis' comment. And loved this classic from @Rex: GROGU. [Where pirates go to college].
Now, if my back would stop hurting ...
For me, what makes GROGU a bad fit for me is that it's not how anybody actually refers to the character. My kids both watched the entire series (and I kinda half-watched), but they would only refer to him as "Baby Yoda" and would be hard-pressed to even remember the name.
On top of that, it's not gettable as a common name once you have a few letters filled in. Like, I didn't know EDNA or SARA today, but with a couple letters it becomes obvious what is likely to go in there. Had I been stuck on any of the (admittedly pretty easy) cross clues, there would be no way to intuit what's likely.
Thx, Jonathan; enjoyed your offering! :)
Med.
No major holdups.
Just had to convince self that GROGU is a thing. Have watched 'The Mandalorian', but Baby Yoda is all I know.
Forgot that 'A Game of Thrones' is just one of the chapters from 'A Song of Ice and Fire', as the series is often referred to as G.O.T.
Couldn't tie the themers together, but I'm sure I'll learn more from the blog.
Fun adventure! :)
___
yd: Duo: 33/37 (only my 2nd 33)
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
I guess you had to be there. This just didn’t tickle me the way it did Rex.
I go by “Z” to avoid the butchering of my last name. Along about 2009 or so a new guy showed up to pickup with a name as frequently butchered who also went by Z. To spare confusion I became O.Z. (old Z). Irksome. So my reaction to A FEW Z’S is a twinge of “get offa my name” annoyance. There are a few other Z’S out there. I get that same twinge every time I meet one. Much more so than when I meet someone with the same first name, common enough in my generation that I went through grade school with three others.
@Ted - It’s not the youthiness of GROGU, it’s the nichiness (Nietzschiness?). Baby Yoda👍🏽👍🏽 - GROGU 👎🏽 Personally, I’m with you on Opie, but he’s the Oreo of kid characters.
IOWA, with the exact same clue, was in a different puzzle I was just getting to yesterday, It was even in almost the exact same position. Very odd. Caused me a moment of confused déjà vu.
I don't see how "Shoots up" is a good clue for SOARS. If you are soaring, by definition you are already up, whether or not having shot there. Given the current news cycle, an unwelcome clue.
GROGU??? Who thinks up these names, anyway? I imagine a company called "Let Us Name All Your Super-Heroes, Super-Villains, Extraterrestrials, Visitors From The Future, and Video Game Characters For You". I imagine the employees putting all the letters from the alphabet in a big hat and pulling them out, blindfolded, one at a time.
The hardest answer for me was 39D: "What is your greatest W-------?" I had the W and was looking for a synonym for "Accomplishment" -- one that begins with a W. No one in an interview has ever asked me what my greatest WEAKNESS is. If they did, I'd "know when to walk away." Right then, in fact. I wouldn't even need to wait for a LOWBALL OFFER.
This was awfully easy for a Thursday -- absurdly easy in the North, but it got more interesting as it rolled southward towards LOWBALL OFFER, which I certainly didn't see coming. Would have made a much better Wednesday puzzle.
Hate GROGU but that's on me not the constructor. But AFEWZS is just plain awful for young and old
Would someone please explain 54Down -- how does Onion = Whopper ingredient?
Thx in advance.
Queens Blvd., Rego Park Queens NYC . Mid 1960s. First , as far as I know, establishment of its kind opens...KNISH NOSH
Big YES on the LOCI-FOCI confusion.
Amen
@Zed - I am guessing that most last names beginning with Z are, let's say, easily butcher-able. I can think of at 2 other people who went by Mr. Z or Dr. Z. As crosses to bear go, this one has some zing to it, at least.
Speaking of Z - just when you think you know someone (Rex), I'm waiting for scrabble*&^%$ing to make its dispiriting return, but lo and behold AFEWZS was his favorite answer. Guess I'll just have to keep reading...
That SW corner was a bit tricky. MTETNA and AFEWZS are odd-looking clusters and ZUNI is new to me. hopI lived my grid for a long while. I like that the Pueblo people inhabit the SW in the puzzle.
I could have sworn I'd seen GROGU here before. I remember wracking my brain to remember the name for "baby Yoda". Xword info has 1 entry (today). I see Rex's point about an over-abundance of niche characters, but have to go with @Ted today. That series achieved cultural touchstone status, and if you've heard of "baby Yoda", you've probably at least seen GROGU at some point, but just forgotten. Hidden in plain sight is fair game. Plus we got pirate university out of it!
I liked the theme, but agree about its non-Thursday-ness.
Not going to beat up on GROGU because it is still early and that puppy is already black and blue all over. A FEW ZS was clever and got me good. ONION ---> think Burger King. Who decided that there is an official lettuce wrap lettuce (BIBB)? Is that true - who makes up these rules (oops, I guess the clue didn't say that it is the ONLY acceptable choice, however an "e.g." would have been nice). Don't know if it is common knowledge - WILCO stands for "will comply" as in "Roger, WILCO" so ON IT scores nicely there.
I liked reading OFL today - he enjoyed the puzzle yet still had the energy and enthusiasm to treat us to a classic Rex rant about the one answer he didn't like (and it sounds like the overwhelming majority of us agree with him so far).
@anon 8:38 - assuming this is serious, the fast food chain Burger King sells a hamburger sandwich known as the Whopper, of which onions are a standard ingredient.
Good news: Puzzle went by quickly. Bad news: Should've been a more enjoyable romp.
Theme felt strained even though the idea was a good one.
Boo:
Quite a collection of junk we'd expect from four long theme answers. EMIT, LOCI, OLE, BAA, NOOR, AAS, IPSO, OBOE, ONIT, ASIF, CIA, MRIS. The downs as a group are more interesting than the acrosses.
TITHER is its own level of awful.
Smartened me up:
Didn't know ARMANI got famous from Richard Gere. His movies were unwatchable, but the clothes must've made an impression.
FAT and FIT are on the carriage return.
NAIAD will never have a Y in it, but it should.
GROGU is Baby Yoda's name. I watched the first season of the show and it was not good. I suspect people will hate GROGU next to NAIAD, but the crosses were reasonable.
German Oscars are the LOLAs. Cute.
Yay:
I like A FEW ZS, BOURDAIN, ROSTRUM, PAGODA, LACED UP, MOP TOP, and ICICLE.
Finally, don't think you can squeeze another AHA past me. In the 21st century, it's OHO. Get with it NYTXW.
Universal background checks and required training will help people make it to fifth grade. Please hold 50 wackadoos accountable.
I must be quick today. The puzzle was not in my wheelhouse. I don't like puzzles that confuse me. For those who understood the references, it must have been a good puzzle. For me, thumbs down.
A comment about the comment from Lewis. Some want to correct the problem by passing a law, which may only prolong the problem. (And I'm not thinking of abortion.) Some want to solve the problem with a constitutional amendment. Be careful who you vote for.
Can someone explain why "soars" is not a good answer and why it is bothering people? Thank you.
Thanks for getting the song stuck in my head this morning.
For me, @Rex's "Grog U." saves the day. With no inkling of the Kenny Rogers song, I didn't understand how phrases relating to a card game rose to Thursday-level theme worthiness. This led to further quibbles, e.g., for an ORIGAMI CLASS wouldn't knowing how to fold 'em be more important? Anyway, the pleasures of this theme were lost on me. Nice array of 8-letter Downs, though, and the grid highlight LOW BALL OFFER.
@Anon 9:13, It's a fine answer, but at this moment the clue points to the sorrow that's in news (see @Lewis).
re: why should I be expected to know Star Wars characters?
It's a cultural juggernaut. The main characters are well-known even to folks who have never seen a minute of any of the films.
Phrases from the SW universe are part of our vocabulary, even if we don't remember where they originated.
The Mandalorian was just on Disney+, true, but those memes are everywhere, the toys, shirts, LEGO sets, etc are everywhere, and I'm 100% convinced you have seen that character, even if you didn't know its name.
Too obscure unless you're "in the know"?
That can be said for literally EVERY rap artist outside of maybe Snoop or Dre.
That can be said for every sports figure if you don't watch sports.
That can be said for authors outside of those that showed up in school literature classes.
Crosswords are chock full of stuff You Have Never Heard Of. The litmus test is whether or not you can get those unknowns from known crosses, and in this case, you could. It's fair.
Rex gets bent about Star Wars references, but *loves* when rap stars I've never heard of with uninferrable names show up in the grid. If I have to know/care who they are, he can deal with Grogu.
i'll take GROGU any day over AFEWZS
Hey All !
Wheelhouse here for EDNA Mode, however, the clue should have the movie it came from, which is "The Incredibles". That may have opened up the answer for some.
Rex surprises once again. Thought he'd go ballistic about that SW corner. All he said was it was "a tiny bit hairy". A FEW ZS, RILE UP, MT ETNA, CSIS. Yowser. He even liked AFEwZS! And the clue for SOARS is "Shoots up", which does not reference Heroin. It means to "shoot up to the sky", like a firework, or a toy rocket. Dang Rex, stop trying to be offended by everything. I do agree the original clue was better. Why do simple clues like this get changed?
IPSO FAT. Har. BIBB lettuce. Cool word, but yikes. GROGU first time heard here, but cross-gettable. Also paused at the LOCI-FOCI conundrum, but went against my unhealthy F obsession, and put in the L. Turned out correct. ROSTRUM was almost a WOE, but somewhere behind the cobwebs in the ole brain a faint light flickered, and I realized I have heard that term before.
"What is your greatest WEAKNESS?"
"Getting pissed off at interviewers."
😁
yd -4, should'ves 2
Duo 35, missed 1-2-4
Four F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
@Nancy 8:36 - One of the calls to customer service Gene Weingarten made (referenced a few days ago when Rex published Gene's letter to the editor) was to the makers of Dreft baby laundry detergent.
Gene: "How did you come up with the name for this product? ... It just doesn't see like a whole lot of effort went into the choice. Was the first runner up "Fnith" or "Blech" or something?"
Here’s how good this puzzle is. It’s a Thursday grid without a wild trick or a lot of cluing wordplay and yet I leave it without a hint of disappointment, so glad that I did it.
Look at what’s here:
• BOURDAIN, BLOWHARD, PAGODA, LOWBALL OFFER, ARMANI, A FEW Z’S!
• A theme based on a catchy, grade-A, earworm-worthy song.
• Theme answers that perfectly and beautifully play on that song’s words.
And for me, an odyssey-solve. Where I flew through three quarters of the puzzle only to land in the SW, a tarpit that had me bouncing through the clues again and again – gritting my teeth, determined not to look anything up, and waiting, waiting, waiting, for a sliver of a realization to pop out and spark a fill-in. The kind of realization that begets the exploding kind of aha that, for a blissful moment, makes life grand. And it indeed came, along with the fireworks.
So, good on you Jonathan. You put a very good one together this time around, and I am so very grateful!
Kind of disappointing as a Thursday puzzle. Thursdays are usually my favorite because they are difficult in a "logic problem solving" sort of way, rather than in a "grinding my way through naticks" sort of way. I am unfamiliar with the song that inspired the theme, but it was easy enough to figure out anyway. Anyway, I think this should be a Wednesday.
Am I the only one that wrote in nipple for 11 down? Anyone?
I agree that soaring is what you do after you are aloft - not what you do to get aloft. Soaring is effortless while shooting up takes work.
You never count your GORGUs, when you're sittin at the boobtube.
There'll be time enough for countin, when the Mandalorian's done.
Have seen that schlock flick series one time, but did not recall GORGU.
Like @RP's GORGU clue, much better.
Theme was fine, and indeed pretty moo-cow-inclined, as far as ThursPuz difficulty.
staff weeject pick: AAS. Standard puz assault with small batteries.
some of the faves at our house: BLOWHARD. AFEWZS. NAIAD [Another pup from the GAIA food group]. ESPNU & GROGU.
Thanx for the fun, Mr. Kaye dude. Nice earworm job.
Masked & Anonymo5Us
**gruntz**
@burtonkd 9:02 AM - It looked like ONION from the crosses I had, so I went through the old jingle in my head just to confirm: "Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun." But alas, although I got the entry right, the jingle is about the McDonald's Big Mac, not the Burger King Whopper.
Solved this puzzle without ever once thinking of Kenny Rogers, so the theme was lost on me, but enjoyed it anyway. Especially liked LOW BALL OFFER and A FEW Z’S as well as the clue for ICICLE.
If I was going to rant about one clue in the grid, it would be “Shoots up.” In a country where guns kill 109 people every day, on average, the wordplay is neither cute nor clever. Surely the NYT can find a better way to suggest SOARS.
Gas prices shot up again overnight. Gas prices are soaring. Soaring is perfectly apt for shooting up.
Nothing WETS an appetite like a NOSH on an ONION GROGU while sitting on Anthony BOURDAIN's lap. A FEW ZS or maybe an HOUR after imbibing a STEIN ON TAP might change how I felt after finishing this puzzzz.
Im going to echo @kitshef. Not for me.
A bit of a SLOG. Why do I have an image of a WIPING DIAPER in my head? Is that a bit OFF COLOR? And...I can't stop seeing TIT HER hanging over an ICICLE. BAA AAS black sheep have you any wool?
I might've enjoyed this more had it been Wed.
Oh....is LOW BALL the same as hanging fruit?
My biggest gripe with this is the repetitive use of "UP"--see LACED UP, RILE UP, and cluing SOAR as "Shoot up." Definitely slowed me down in the already tricky SW corner because I was reluctant to put RILE UP in there since it felt duplicative. Otherwise enjoyed this puzzle quite a lot.
I think it’s the clue “shoots up” which refers to drug abuse and mass murders by firearms.
Seemed trivia heavy and quite underwhelming for a Thursday. I get the phrases from the song but seemed odd to me that the answers were all over the place. When it started out with WRESTLING MATCH, I was expecting something similar for the others. Like BASE ON BALLS for know when to walk and TOUCHDOWN PASS for when to run. But that’s just me of course.
I don’t get SNAP as something you’d say after comeback. I’ve heard people say “oh snap” as a polite form of “oh that other four-letter word that starts with an S.” And the staff at my orthopedic surgery clinic sometimes wear T-shirts depicting a broken bone with “oh snap” under it. But just SNAP alone, not familiar.
pmdm,
I'll take my chances. The last amendment to the constitution was 30 years ago. And that was after it had languished as a proposal for 200 years. Fact is 27th amendment wasn't the work of a politician as much as a college sophomore.
Wow, for the first time ever, I agree with every word of RP's review.
I agree with you, Rex, that this puzzle was easy (my fastest Thursday time ever) but I'm afraid I can't agree with you on the theme, which I thought was strictly "meh."
A charming and imaginative puzzle with a few perhaps obscure cultural references, for me anyway. But this puzzle wasn’t custom designed for me. Uplifting when I got the theme and it’s not on the constructor that it appears on Thursday. Thanx JMK. Delightful indeed.
I parsed Shoots up/SOARS figuratively. The flu rate shoots up in the winter. The flu rate SOARS in the winter.
Thanx for the advice. (Unsolicited) So the status quo maybe isn’t all that bad. ?
I loved this puzzle. The lyrics to "The Gambler" have always made me giggle anyway, with their faux gravitas. So the idea that the gambler is actually talking about these completely unrelated things is hilarious. ORIGAMI CLASS in particular made me lol. I give it props for being an inspired theme.
I would ordinarily agree that GROGU is unwanted, just by virtue of it being "Star Wars" subject matter, but I didn't even notice it was there since I was working the downs in that area. A FEW ZS is pretty bad, but I'll give it a pass because I liked the theme so much.
Phrazle 75: 2/6
⬜🟩⬜⬜🟪🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟪
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩
Easy. GROGU was a WOE for me too, but a lot of the rest was standard crossword fodder...ESPNU, MT ETNA, NAIAD, AHA, SPAS, MRIS, OBOE, OLE, CIA, CSIS...so, very easy. This would have made a good Wednesday. Liked it.
Bravo @Lewis 7:07am.
Something that bugs me about today’s Rex Rant and many of his past ones is the use of “expected to know”. It seems so ego-centric to believe that the constructor is expecting you, personally, to know something. If this were so, it would be a trivia/proficiency test. Instead, you are actually expected to attempt to solve for unknown answers by means of the conveniently provided crosses.
I once knew a girl who folded a lot of paper. I considered her an ORIGAMIC LASS. She could BLOWHARD for an HOUR and not EMIT SPIT (OHDEAR, just SAYNO to this OFFCOLOR WEAKNESS).
44D LACEDUP and 47D RILEUP. I don’t think so, although I’m not going to get too worked up about it.
A very fun Thursday challenge. Thank you, Jonathan M. Kaye.
Fun puzzle.
Only struggle was SW. Not familiar with Zuni, which meant I couldn't parse "AfewZs."
Given the events of Tuesday, my stomach dropped when I saw the "Shoot Up" clue. Fortunately it was different context but could have done without that particular clue.
@nancy I was confused as to why they were asking me What is My Greatest Weak Knees?
I thought the theme-related clue/answer combos were fine.
But in response to @Lewis' "Look at what's here". I liked the same things you mentioned. But :
onel,tither,baa,bio,aas,onit,asif,aha,csis,abba,elsa,noor,edna,armani,zuni,grogu,ursa,osha,ipso,espnu... What is the percentage of actual words in this "crossword" puzzle? The fact that none of these caused me any trouble except "Grogu" doesn't mean I felt any sense of accomplishment.
On the other hand, I hope everyone takes @Lewis 7:07 comment to heart.
That's funny, @kitshef. "Dreft" actually sounds like a cross between "Aft" and "Dreck". Dreck for the aft?
@Jim in Canada: The main characters are well-known even to folks who have never seen a minute of any of the films.
Well, actually, no, Jim, they're not.
Whopper, as in hamburger
another hand up (not the first? haven't parsed the comments) for CAT NAP first.
the only BLOWHARD reference I know about to BOURDAIN was him dissing many 'celebrity chefs' as BLOWHARDs, esp. before his CNN version. he mellowed out a bit, and even was nice to some of them.
@Lewis:
The Rest Of The Paper has a long-ish piece by Max Fisher on the effect on gun deaths in other countries that reacted intelligently to one or two such incidents in their recent histories. We get multiple a year. Not intelligent.
most legislation comes from Big Bidnezz with their hands out. an Amendment from concerned citizens isn't a bad thing. given that a small minority of 'concerned citizens' packed the SCOTUS in order to destroy legal privacy, that's worth worrying about.
in case you haven't been following: Roe is founded on the 14th's implied right to privacy, and SCOTUS throwing out Roe must, of necessity, throw out the right to privacy. enjoy your Brave New World; if your a rabid Right Winger, you might, since you and your kin are setting out to establish what's called 'elected dictatorship'. Turkey, Hungary, Venezuela, etc. aka, 'the last free election' syndrome. exactly what the Trumpster tried to pull off.
here's a nearly decade old report (things are worse now): https://www.forbes.com/sites/melikkaylan/2014/07/31/the-new-wave-of-elected-dictatorships-around-the-world/
another kealoa entry—made trickier when it’s … er … confusingly clued
I agree with OFL, for once. GROGU is a total loser, but the theme was clever and the fill otherwise pretty good.
I am so glad @Lewis came back to give us some of his regular commentary.
Loved A FEW ZS. Brought me back to the summer I was 13 and went on a post camp road trip to see the wonders of the Great Southwest. We probably saw the ZUNI, as well as the Hopi cliff dwellings. And the solemn warning given by our camp director when we visited Gallup, that we might see some drunken Indians on the streets (the terms used were far more genteel, and we really didn't see any). We were there to see the famous Indian dances. Also my tribe, as an Indian Princess dad, was the ZUNI tribe. On our campout, the girls soon learned that we dads were the native Americans prone to overindulgence.
There'll be time enough for Phrazle
When the puzzle's done
Phrazle 76: 2/6
🟪🟪 🟪⬜🟪🟨 ⬜🟨 🟪⬜🟪 🟪🟪⬜⬜🟨
🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Ditto!
@Mike in Bed-Stuy
The Whopper jingle I remember is:
It takes two hands
to handle the Whopper.
The two-fisted burger
at Burger King.
Stopped watching "Star Wars" after the fourth installment. Had to see the second one a second time - first viewing was from the front row, having consumed earlier in the day things that affected my memory.
An ABBA clue I hadn't seen before, and didn't get right away - got to __BA before AHA.
Good review 🦖, good 🧩 and agree!
Agree also with “shoots up” clue - not welcome in these difficult, alarming times. (even tho I read it as shooting up in the air - SOAR… only time a one track mind on a TH FRI or SAT worked.)
Enjoyed this one! Easy but with some teeth to make it interesting and fun.
Peace to ALL - here and everywhere! 🤝🖖🏼✌🏼❤️✌🏼🖖🏼🤝 😂even to the ad hominem trolls and Wordle peeps. 😂
🤗🦖🦖🦖🦖🤗
Pretty weak theme, IMO, with a lot of themers that don't really sound like actual, common phrases. ORIGAMI CLASS, in particular, was very GREEN PAINT.
Totally agree! My LEAST favorite answer in the puzzle. That whole section was terrible to parse through.
Wow, I’m feeling the generational difference because I think the exact opposite about this puzzle. Not even seeing GROGU or remembering EDNA mode was enough to save this puzzle, which was effectively a themeless puzzle with a reference to a song I’ve never heard before.
I didn't know the name GROGU but I have him sitting on the bed in my spare bedroom, waiting for my great-nephew's birthday in July. It was the cutest, softest thing at Target, even the clerk awwed over it. Now I know his name, cool. Thought GROG U is pretty funny, thanks Rex.
This was indeed an easy Thursday puzzle with some good clues and answers. I thought the "Print collectors, for short" clue for the tired CSI answer was nice and A FEW Z'S was fun to see fill in from crosses. I didn't have any trouble seeing the theme and while I did wonder how many ORIGAMI CLASSes there are, I decided it was fine.
Thanks, Jonathan Kaye, nice puzzle.
@Conrad 7:30, nice "locus-focus"!
OMG Big Mad "Star Wars" Universe fans, it's a real old-fashioned comments section now!
~RP (Lecturer, Grog U.)
I had efsa until my wife corrected me. Foci is the better answer for that clue.
This was probably my favorite theme in the last couple of years. Just loved getting each one. Definitely my POW if I had my own blog.
I'm with Rex and others about Star Wars etc. I thought the original was a silly movie when it first came out; I kinda grudgingly liked it later on, but all this sequel/prequel stuff... just no.
@Zed: watched Pulp Fiction for the 157th time last night... Bruce Willis's memorable last line was "Zed's dead, baby."
@egsforbreakfast 11:14am said "I once knew a girl who --- --- ---". I bet if you don't recall the end to that sentence you can't guess it.
[Spelling Bee: yd -3 with 2 should'ves (to borrow Roo's expression). Had trouble concentrating... holiday weekend hangover, still?]
Didn’t like it at all. I wanted some connection between lyric and answer or a commonality among the themers. Also, way to easy for. Thursday. Where’s the challenge here?
On it!
Burger King.
HA! Same!
@Rex Parker Love this, but remember at Grog U to grrrrrrade on a currrrrrrve.
Just searched the comments... Nobody had SNOOZE for "Forty winks"?? With ZUNI in place, it seemed like a no-brainer. Took a few minutes to work it out.
@Lewis 7:07 - I feel the same and continue to hope our Congress will find the will to follow what New Zealand's Parliament did in less than a month after Christchurch was victim in 2019 to their first mass shooting: Do something. Pass legislation. Deeply care. I found Steve Kerr's plea here; thank you for mentioning it. Kerr's frustration is ours, at least, as he says, the 90 percent of us who want background checks. PolitiFact finds this percentage generally accurate, and shouldn't this amount of agreement result in legislative action?
Thought this an easy Thursday but kept looking for the trick until I too realized, at ORIGAMI, the four lines were from a Kenny Rogers song.
Favorite answer: AFEWZS. Which worried me when I saw that my across answers resulted in this: A _ _ WZS[!] But then I got the missing (iron-clad) FE and finally parsed it for the AHA[!]
And, Rex, love the pirate school mnemonic. Will remember GROG U now for the next time Baby Yoda's real name is needed.
I had no idea that Grogu was a Star Wars character, and even after looking this up I don't see how this fits the clue. For me grog = rum, the favorite drink of pirates and seamen everywhere. So GROGU = rum university, which covers both the pirate and learning references of the clue. Where does Star Wars come into this?
I didn’t like there being two UPs going down. Thought that had to be wrong…
Busy morning getting our summer camp opened up, rushed home for A Thursday! Oh boy it's Thursday! In went ABBA instantly and the rest of it wasn't much harder. The Kenny Rogers song is a hootenanny staple and the lyrics are familiar, the wacky answers were OK, there was that awful GROGU thing, and then I was done, wondering where my Thursday had gone.
OK job, JMK. Just Maybe Kinda straightforward for the day of the week. Thanks for some fun.
@Lewis #1-I totally agree and hope enough voters care enough to make some changes. I had similar hopes after Sandy Hook and I'm becoming more and more afraid that the "that's not who we are" reaction is just flat wrong. And this from your resident cockeyed optimist.
OMG - Rex dropped in. The only problem is now we’ll have weeks of “see, he’s lying about not reading the comments.”
Knish Nosh is still in Forest Hills, Queens:
98-104 Queens Blvd.
Still Good.
@pabloinnh:
the "that's not who we are" reaction is just flat wrong.
It's always been wrong. This is who we are, well, except for 20 years ~1950 to ~1970. The thing is, the WWII generation was mostly in charge of Bidnezz and Gummint over that period, and still carried a modicum (and decreasing as 1945 got smaller in the rearview mirror) 'we're all in this together', aka Socialism (well, for white folks at least), attitude. The Greatest Generation's kids didn't know anything else, from direct experience, so decided that this return to Reactionary Fascism is the anomaly. Not hardly. The Great Depression came from someplace, and that someplace is widespread corruption betwixt Bidnezz and Gummint. Just read up the history of the USofA until FDR. The Rural Rubes ran the Damn Gummint for most of the 19th century, and gave us the War of Northern Aggression as our prize. They're well on their way to another one. All thanks to a Constitution that empowered an uneducated, rural, white minority.
Insurrections and rebellions, mostly by an uneducated, rural, white minority, were commonplace in the 19th century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rebellions_in_the_United_States
Have a nice day.
Please do not engage in non-crossword-related fights in this comments section. Even when I generally agree with your take, it's polluting, it's common, it's pointless. If a troll's comment somehow makes it through, please ignore it. Dive in on crossword-related stuff, and don't be afraid to get political *if it's relevant to the puzzle*, but nasty, personal, un-crossword back-and-forths are tedious and if you're truly personally nasty toward any person or group of people I'm going to ask mods to delete those comments or else delete them myself. There's enough pointless name-calling and denigration elsewhere on the Internet if you really want that sort of thing. Cruel, dumb, or extremely off-topic stuff will be deleted. Thanks for helping to make this forum a generally pleasant and informative place to come. I appreciate it.
~RP
A FEWZ's???? Just NO!
Timely theme since Thursday is poker night for our local group. The first three themers about knowing when to "Hold 'em", Fold 'em" and "walk away" still applies to typical poker games these days. The last, "And know when to run" refers to poker games of yore when it was illegal to gamble and a game could be busted by the cops and players taken to jail. Of course all the money at the table would be confiscated.
Even if the game didn't get busted and you won a lot of $, you still had to get out of the place with it. I know a player who has a SCAR (not a scab) on his left temple where he was ambushed and knocked unconscious as he was leaving the house where the game was being played. All his winnings were taken. He should have run, not walked away, when he left that game.
Thanks for the 5:30 pm wake-up call, RP. I sincerely hope you and your mods follow through. And thanks for the blog. It’s a big part of my day.
Despite some obscure answers, I managed a Thursday PR from the crosses and a couple guesses. Didn't get the BIO/Thumbnail link. Had GIF, then the BIBB cross made me guess BMP, and the German Award offered no help.
Hey! Who's that new guy who posted at 2:02 and then again at 5:30?
@Joaquin – it was a Rex imposter.
RexPostor?
Love GROGU as an answer. Also love a good old-man rant from Rex, so please keep those SW and GOT clues coming!
GROGU isn’t going anyway sadly. GROGU mercy out sold any Star Wars, and alllegedly any Disney property character overall in bith 2020 and 2021. Along with ANDOR (new Star Wars tv show coming out) and ENDOR. They just are going to fill our crosswords.
LOW CLASS STEIN SAGA
That OFFER's OFFCOLOR, DEAR,
but my BIBB's LACEDUP to FIT,
I'll BLOWHARD ONTAP beer,
and I'll AGREE not to SPIT.
--- LOLA BOURDAIN
How about a stir fry pan purchased on the internet (EWOK)? Enough. This natick cost me a DNF. I convinced myself that the clue for 59-down was a lyric from the Starship song SARA--it wasn't--but uh-oh: SARA was already in the puzzle! It was one of those "it must be but it can't be but..." moments. Having zero knowledge of The Child's name, I just gave up.
Also I have to say the theme was confusing. The phrase "Know when to..." certainly conforms to the lyric, but the answers don't jive. The cues call for a verb ("know") but the answers are events. I had WRESTLING and ORIGAMI right away, but had no idea what was supposed to finish out the line. Almost had to do the east as a separate puzzle. Even if I'd known that G, this was bogey territory for sure. It just didn't hang.
At least it wasn't a rebus. No write-overs but . . . hmmm. Nick and Nora's dog ASTA in the corners.
Wordle bogey as the birdie and par putts both rimmed out on the first letter.
I don’t AGREE with Rex about 41A - LOWBALLOFFER. I thought it was the weakest of the themers. A WEAKNESS because all the other ones have a completely different meaning than what’s in the lyrics in The Gambler. With LOWBALLOFFER yes, you walk away because the deal’s no good. But that’s pretty close to what you do with a bad hand and high stakes in a poker game. Not so for any of the other themers which have a completely different twist. Anyhoo, not a SLOG and three out of four ain’t bad plus there were a enough AHA! moments to keep this OLE BLOWHARD happy. OHDEAR! It’s time for AFEWZS, i.e. my one-HOUR catnap. SEEYA!
Wordle par because the birdie putt rimmed out--and I should've known! The word was short for (Cassidy) HUTCHinson, whose bombshell testimony made world news.
Forgot until I was finished that this is a Thursday - hooray for no rebusie trick.
One letter I was unsure of. Otherwise, a smooth Thursday.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
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