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Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (for a Tuesday)
Theme answers:
- BEEKEEPERS (17A: Hive minders)
- "O HOLY NIGHT" (24A: Words before "the stars are brightly shining," in a carol)
- YOUTUBE (34A: Second-most visited website worldwide, after Google)
- EN FUEGO (44A: Literally, "on fire" ... or, metaphorically, excellent)
- DECAF LATTE (50A: Drink that comes with a buzz cut?) (no caffeine = no "buzz"; the "buzz" has been "cut"!; puns!)
Ottava rima is a rhyming stanza form of Italian origin. Originally used for long poems on heroic themes, it later came to be popular in the writing of mock-heroic works. Its earliest known use is in the writings of Giovanni Boccaccio.
The ottava rima stanza in English consists of eight iambic lines, usually iambic pentameters. Each stanza consists of three alternate rhymes and one double rhyme, following the ABABABCC rhyme scheme. The form is similar to the older Sicilian octave, but evolved separately and is unrelated. The Sicilian octave is derived from the medieval strambotto and was a crucial step in the development of the sonnet, whereas the ottava rima is related to the canzone, a stanza form. (wikipedia)
• • •
As for the non-theme stuff, my main feeling is that the grid structure really choked off the flow there in the middle. There are only these two teeny tiny outlets connecting (roughly) the top and bottom halves of the grid (at the "E" in HOE and the "E" in EMT). Never been a fan of super-segmented grids. Always been a fan of flow. That flow deficit definitely put this into the somewhat-tougher-than-usual category for me. OTTAVA wasn't as hard for me as it probably was for the average solver, but that's only because I teach Dante every year and therefore talk about terza rima every year and therefore have some familiarity with the whole rima scene, as it were. I know Lute OLSON's name, but only if I'm actually watching a college basketball game in the '90s and some announcer says it. Lute OLSON seemed pretty dang un-Tuesday-ish, despite his "longtime"-ness. I guess we should just be glad he wasn't providing the clue for LUTE—OLSON was at least inferrable. I also got a bit slowed down by cutesy misdirective cluing (see GOATS (1A: Kids and their parents)) and vagueness (see "BYENOW!" which I had as "BYEBYE!" (7D: "Ta-ta!"). Ta follows ta, as bye follows bye, thus my answer is better, QED. I think I wouldn't put ENROLLS *and* ENGULFS in a grid where the theme relies on the "EN"-ness of EN FUEGO. Hard enough to make "EN" pop without crowding the field. OPRAHS and ALOHAS are not exactly wonderfuls. SOW is kind of duped in SOWING, even if the SOW does come to us in hog form (41D: Female hog)—easily fixable (STREW/SOW to STREP/SOP). I think that's it. OK, bye bye (or BYE NOW, your call).
Was I the only person offended by the sow/sowing double clue?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteSo what’s offensive with these?
DeleteSow and sowing are two completely different words with completely different meanings. Just because you have a string of Same three letters in a row does not make it the same word. Are you really trying THAT hard to be offended???
DeleteBugged me a bit
DeleteSalut is just wrong. That means "Hello". The correct answer here would be "santé". "Salud" would be Spanish, "Salute" Italian.
ReplyDeleteHad the same objection. It stumped me for quite a while.
DeleteSame. I made that mistake in France once and was quickly corrected. But I had - ALU- in place when I got there so I just assumed the clue was wrong.
DeleteOffended is a bit much but I noticed. The new rule seems to be if the words have different meanings and come from different roots this type of duplication is OK. I have stayed neutral on this so far. Is it a new rule and how far will it be pushed. Unwritten rules? Maybe it is the pronouciation too. Maybe the part of speech helps too? How hard will it be pushed?
ReplyDeleteI was more offended that I was wondering what kind of drink a DECA FLATTE was for a bit. DOOKed again.
Put ALI BABA instead of YOUTUBE for second most visited website and it ruined my solve. Doh.
ReplyDeleteProbably the two most un-Tuesday things in the grid are OTTAVA and OLSON, and they cross each other, and they cross at a "guess a vowel" in OLSON where it could easily be OLSeN.
ReplyDeleteBryce Harper would have won the NL batting title in 2015 except Dee Gordon, who was using steroids and eventually suspended 80 games for it, edged him out.
This was FLATTE - half witted theme with similar cluing. I liked ARNIE and TRAMPLE - mainly because it always makes me think of TRAMPLEd by Turtles
ReplyDeleteHard pass on this one.
One can leap like a kangaroo?
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteAs for many others whose comments preceded mine, OLSON and OTTAVA were WOEs. But since the clue gave me "eight" and I know that eight in Italian is otto, I at least guessed at the first three letters, including the Natick. Hand up for @Rex BYEbye before BYENOW. Also agree that the former is better (but I'm biased).
@Anon & @Albie - Not offended, but it is definitely sub-optimal. And, as Rex points out, easily changed so why not do so?
ReplyDeleteFirst sounds are letters is not my idea of a great theme, so having this on Tuesday is appropriate. Tuesdays gotta tuezz.
Some people teach Danté. Others Just like to eat. However you get your rima on is up to you.
Did not like the cross at 27A/D. aLSON is possible, and aYS fits the clue perfectly. Even putting aside the un-Tuesday-ish-ness of this particular OLSON, they could have fixed this just by indicating Yiddishkeit in the clue for 27D.
ReplyDeleteThe theme was fine - could possibly have gone with DDAY for the Decaf (but would have risked getting dinged for being in poor taste).
ReplyDeleteThat west-central section is very tough for a Tuesday with OLSEN,OTTAVA,TREVI and the whole mess leading to SALUT. That quartet would be at home on a Friday, so hopefully some here enjoyed a little crunch on a Tuesday. I imagine that section could be frustrating for newer solvers trying to build a bridge from Mondays to Weds, skill-wise.
So Monday and Tuesday this week have been well-executed and enjoyable - would love to see more of these the remainder of the week instead of a "swing-for-the-fence master feat of construction" gimmick that falls flat on it face as a solving experience.
Same problem as OFL with the restricted flow nature of this one, but it gave me a chance to essentially solve two puzzles, left and right, and that's OK. I did find it pretty easy but it was full of stuff I knew and my first guess was usually right, except for BYEBYE, but OHOLYNIGHT fixed that in a hurry. That's a good tenor show off Christmas piece but I only had the chance to sing it once at our annual pageant because our director hated it. As fate would have it, it was the only one of these that my Mom attended as they lived hours away. Serendipity.
ReplyDeleteNice enough Tuesdecito, and I had no idea what the theme might be and the revealer was in the right place, yay. Thanks for all the fun, RDA. My Recommended Daily Allowance of Tuesday went down very nicely.
PS-You know what we all missed in yesterday's "verb like an animal" fest?
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
Yeah, that one.
OYS crossing OLSON crossing OTTAVA crossing TREVI…. And for what? None of these add anything to the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThx, Richard, for this crunchy Tues. puz!
ReplyDeleteMed.
Seemed a tad tougher than my time indicated.
Enjoyed the challenge, esp on a Tues.
@jae
Croce's 709 coming along slowly; hopefully will finish up later today. 🤞
___
yd pg: 23.45 (-4) (another SB word bites the dust)
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
I did leave the 2nd SOW out bc of the obvious dupe, but relented.
ReplyDeleteI get the parallel nature of BYE BYE = TA TA, but I think BYE NOW is more tonally similar. I hear "bye bye" as either a little sexy, or as a pleasant slightyly disingenuous dismissal, like an airline attendant saying bye bye over and over as all those people they've been stuck in a tube with are departing.
Lots to think about for a Tuesday. I enjoyed WOOLGATHERS, STYMIE, MYNA. I get Rex's point about flow - today, I had to start over completely in the SW.
OTTAVA is at least partially inferable with eight in the clue. First vowel has to be an "O", sorry kitshef. Octavo is a format of printing sheet music, probably led to OcTAV for me. Last vowel an O or A.
@ George, I was thinking the same thing about Salut, unless Skol! is also said when someone sneezes
ReplyDeleteStrike that last one...that's also Sante
ReplyDelete“Knew” Lute OLSeN instantly, but less familiar with rima, so eTTAVA didn’t seem ridiculous until I DNF. Add me to the BYEbye group, but that was corrected pretty quickly with 24A. The revealer was an “aha” for me - had no clue what the connection would be for the themers. Nicely done.
ReplyDeleteI liked the fact that this was tough for a Tuesday. As for the theme, I didn't get it at all. I was thinking of a Spelling Bee, and wondering if there might be a Spelling You, a Spelling O or Oh, a Spelling Decaf -- well, you see how my mind was working. Or wasn't working. Anyhow the theme is sort of cute, but it wasn't relevant to my solving experience.
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteO HOLY NIGHT this was a toughie for a TuesPuz. That name-laden West-Center area did me in. Had to Goog (because it's the most visited website) for the basketball coach, as I'm not into the sport. Could've clued it as Actress Elizabeth in the Marvel Cinematic World. Har. Then we'd get complaints about not watching Marvel movies.
Had _OU_UB_ and embarrassingly took me a while to see it. Part of the blame falls on my one-letter DNF, having ELFUEGO for ENFUEGO, thereby giving me BO_eD for the Reveal. Also, had OcTAVA, and O_S wanting to be either a W or an H. Dang
Didn't notice the "separated grid" Rex mentions. Did notice the long Blocker line in NW/SE. Six Themers crammed in is fine by me, y'all know I like lots of Themers. And still kept it a 15x15 grid.
Haven't been to IN-N-OUT in a while. Great burgers that don't affect your digestive system like those other places. Real potatoes that get cut right there for fries, then cooked. Yummy.
Non-POC S's in PASS and PRESS (although PRESS enables two POCs)(well, maybe one, as EDYS is the Brand Name)(it's not EDY, and I have two tubs of ice cream, I have two EDYS)(you know what I'm trying to say!).
BYE NOW!
yd -10 (fail!), should'ves 6
Duo - didn't do.
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Right off the bat I appreciated the new-to-me OREO clue. It was obvious, but not stultifying, so good job! Overall this was an above average Tuesday. I agree that the OLSON/OTTAVA cross was bananas early in the week, but it gave us something to sink our teeth into, so hooray! “Yummilicious”has to be my favorite NYT clue in a long time and that light-hearted attitude was repeated next door in “get schooled”. The BOUND themers were cute and the revealer was very nicely done.
ReplyDeleteFunny thing, Decaflatteˊ is the French word for that little bit of art foam that fancy places swirl into your latte. It's true.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter was a flower girl when she was 6 years old and her job was to strew petals from a little basket down the aisle. But she froze, so as she passed me I whispered, "the petals," but she panicked and fisted the whole lot into one spot. Still, I was proud.
Liked this a lot and thought it was easy yet interesting for a Tuesday (except for Olso(E)n, OTTAVA (Ettava). Great theme with fun words abounding.
Think they've cleared all the Trevi Fountain clues out of the hopper? Wouldn't it be great to have a toaster brand called Skol?
I wonder if Rex knows the great Dante scholar Anthony Pellegrini. He was my professor at SUNY Binghamton back in 1984. Looks like he lived to be 97 years old. He was the president of the Dante Society and wrote many books on it. Maybe I will email Rex and ask.
ReplyDeleteI thought O HOLY NIGHT was the outlier because its contribution to B-O-U-N-D is just O. And the clue for DECAF LATTE was great, so I didn’t notice the the DE could have preceded a million things. My first thought was a non-alcoholic drink not a non-caffeinated one, but this works.
ReplyDeleteI liked the positive and negative juxtaposition of the two daydreaming clues but is WOOLGATHER really a verb? I would say gather wool.
TNT before AMP, and CPR before ESL. I cried foul too, at the cross of OTTAVA and OLSON because OLSeN is about as common. But eight is going to be OTT not eTT, so I calmed
myself down.
The treats OREO and EDYS both make their ten billionth appearance.
Yep, challenging for a Tuesday, and I liked the theme.
Very cute - I liked the joke of the reveal, with its change in meaning of SPELL...which I will admit to having to do twice in order to get the light bulb turned on. Extra smiles for WOOLGATHER and MULE x SULKY, nods of appreciation for TRAMPLE, NULLIFY, SUBTLY, ENGULFS. A REALLY good Tuesday, I thought.
ReplyDeleteHelp from previous puzzles: TIKI. No idea: OLSON.
I thought this was a delightful Tuesday puzzle…a little crunchy but not too much so. The clue for DECAFLATTE was worth the price of admission and, like @Albie, it was a DOOK to me until I said DOH! So with respect to any complaints that the D should “stand alone” I disagree because we would have lost that clever clue.
ReplyDelete@Roo…lovely Elizabeth’s last name is OLSEN…yeah I ALWAYS hesitate on the spelling of OLSON/OLSEN. Same with LARSON/LARSEN. Maybe it’s Norwegian v. Swedish background?
I had “strow” instead of “strew”, hence “ado” in place of “age”. I thought “strew” was the past tense but it turns out that “strow” is just an archaic form of the word according to the Oxford Languages Dictionary. Wow! I’m older than I thought! Hahaha
ReplyDeleteHave a great Tuesday everyone!
Average Tuesday time for me. Had OcTAVA first, but quickly sussed out that it was actually OTTAVA. I should have known that off the bat, but it's been about 25 years since I've used that term (I was an English lit major with a focus in Romantic era poetry. See: "Isabella, or the Pot of Basil" by John Keats for an example of ottava rima, but perhaps, from a later era, "Sailing to Byzantium" by Yeats would be a bit more well-known. Now I've got the Smiths stuck in my head: "A dreaded sunny day, so I'll meet you by the cemet'ry gate/Keats and Yeats are on your side/while Wilde is on mine.") But I digress.
ReplyDeleteLike Roo, YOUTUBE took me embarassingly long to get, even though I had three, perhaps four, letters in place. I just could not think of it, even though for me it's one of my top three destinations. Perhaps because I often access it via the app. But once I figured it out, I smacked myself in the head, and then wondered, what are the next three most popular websites? Well, according to one source, it's Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia. Of the top ten, the only one I don't recognize is Baldu.com (Chinese search engine.) Adult material doesn't show up until numbers 9 and 10 (xvideos, pornhub, in that order [surprisingly to me. Also surprising is the former is Czech and the latter Canadian.])
I did not like SALUT for "Skol!" in French. As mentioned before, the typical French toast is "santé." This website (https://www.fluentu.com/blog/french/cheers-in-french/) even says "You may’ve heard some films and TV programs from outside of France show French people saying Salut when they toast—which is incorrect. Salut means “Hello,” not “Health.” " It's been a couple decades since I've studied French, but that accords with what I was taught.
In response to SALUT naysayers:
ReplyDeletesa·lut
/saˈlo͞o/
exclamation
used to express friendly feelings toward one's companions before drinking.
“Salut" is very French. It comes from Latin salus, salutis. It is also used in Catalan.
(English Spanish Translator.org)
It's a nice puzzle, and so many great entries, but the theme seems weird to me. So they SPELL BOUND phonetically. Um... so... uh... okay?
ReplyDeleteYay:
GOATS: Great clue.
BEE KEEPERS: Another great clue.
YOUTUBE: I thought the Chinese search engine Baidu was #2. Who' d'a'thunk it's YouTube.
TREVI: Again! Every puzzle is better with Trevi.
DECAF LATTE: Another great clue.
AMP: Another great clue.
The Side by Side clues in 10D and 11D.
Hm:
I'd never heard the term WOOL GATHER. I guess 16th century phenomena aren't as popular as they used to be.
Boo:
OREO prominently placed.
I don't like YAMS.
wool gathering really a tuesday word for all of you? it's from the mid-16th century
ReplyDeleteThis was quite possibly the most baffling Tues I've ever done.
ReplyDeleteSo the puzzle tells me to read the starts of all these clues and because I obey the laws, I did. This is what I got: BEE O YOU EN DECAF. And the answer is.......... SPELL BOUND? Is it because I'm a lousy speller? How do you get bounds out of this?
My little smile did come, though with O HOLY NIGHT. I was the little angel in our Cathedral chorus who sang it at the top of her lungs. We were all supposed to sing it together softly but I belted it out...all by myself. It was a TASTY NOTE of revenge for my music teacher who thought I should've been tending the GOATS in the manger.
Did anyone watch "Like Water For Chocolate"?
I liked the clue for DECAFLATTE, also ACT and WOOLGATHER side by side. The clue for GOATS was fine.
ReplyDeleteIs ENFUEGO a common term somewhere?
My error was SUBTLe instead of SUBTLY. Not a fan of team initials, but I missed that when checking things over.
One question - Has anyone ever heard a non-bombastic performance of OHOLYNIGHT? It seems like it has potential to be better…
Oof. I spent a year in Franch and knew very well SALUD is just wrong. Slowed me down.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of Terza Rima, but not of OTTAVO, luckily the O was easy to intuit since it was clued as eight lines. Never heard of the Lute sports guy.
I wondered for a while what the heck BOYED had to do with SPELLBOUND, but figured it out. I don't really like puzzles where the revealer doesn't actually help solve the puzzle. This was more like a meta-puzzle. Fine, just wasn't expecting it.
Felt very challenging, but also very doable.
1across raises my geezer hackles, so must share my frustration that we have almostly completely abandoned the words child/children. "Kids" is no longer just casual usage but used in news articles and professional writing and commenting. Seems to trivialize our culture's responsibility to treasure and nature our offspring.
ReplyDeleteGet off my lawn!
DeleteWell, well, well. A Tuesday that was kinda fun. I don’t usually waste mornings when I can fill in the NW section on a first pass. Today’s debut grid paused me at 1A and I continued to enter fuzzy navel at 50a, so there was delight after all in sorting out Mr Allen’s well-played misdirection. And after a SPELL even a Newboy was BOUND to get it going with a second cuppa non-DECF. Will have to drop by Richard’s blog to see if his other work holds such SUBTLY devious fun.
ReplyDeleteOFL's opening sentence, "The theme is clever, even if the puzzle ITSELF wasn't too fun to solve," described my feelings. Except, for me, the theme was truly delightful. Too often, if a theme is not immediately clear to me, I simply turn to the Rex blog for illumination. But I bothered to figure this one out, and when I realized that BEE O YOU EN DE literally SPELLed BOUND, it gave me a good laugh.
ReplyDeleteThe fill was choppy, with lots of annoying 3 letter stuff jammed in the center. I did like ENGULFS and NULLIFY as interesting words for a Tuesday puzzle. And one day I'll remember that STREW is not the past tense of STROW.
Yeah, the only rima anyone knows is terza; but, as others have pointed out, the clue kind of rubs it in your face that it's 8. That helped me a little, but I forgot my Italian and put in OcTAVA, crossed with SofTLY. Of course I didn't know the basketball coach, and while I knew LOU Reed, I didn't know that song, plus I had _Ou. I was just going to take a DNF and blame it on the puzzle when I noticed that OYS and aYS both shared the Y as well as the S, and that gave me YOUcUBE, and I figured that out. And a little more pondering changed _ufSECTION to SUBSECTION, and it all fell into place.
ReplyDeleteSurprised myself by knowing INNOUT. I knew it from the I, but since I couldn't understand why I knew it, I waited for the crosses.
I'd have got LOU right away if it's been clued with this song.
ALOHA is a Hawaiian word. Hawaii is not in the South Pacific. In French Polynesia, it would be Nana. In Fiji it would be Bula.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI got a bit stuck at the SALUT for the same reason as @George 6:30 et ALIA. However, because I trusted the esteemed editing team at the NYT not to be so gauche as to commit a spelling error on top of a just plain incorrect answer, and I had SA_ _ _, I left SAnté and almost had a DNF. That error sat there mucking up the little stack with OLSON, YOU TUBE, SUBTLY until the very end. I only follow women’s NCAA roundball so Lute OLSON - OY!
ReplyDeleteOther than that little quagmire, and being completely confused rather than misdirected by the GOATS but the downs solved the problem. The clue for OREO just tried too hard but I appreciated the effort. Any time I see a four letter snack, treat, “black and white”, dunkable, twistable food clue the answer is obvious. The SOWING/SOW double rankled.
As for the theme, I found it enjoyable and give Mr. Allen kudos for theme answers that seemed so completely unrelated to one another making the reveal a surprise. Well done! Overall, another bad day for the editors, but a Tuesday with some crunchy bits and a nicely conceived and well executed theme.
Tough, more like a Wednesday. Very smooth, liked it, nice debut.
ReplyDeleteMe too for OTTAVA and OLSON as WOEs.
Only SPELLBOUNDin spots in this TuesPuz were at no-knows OTTAVA & ENFUEGO. M&A's solvequest was thus able to bound along well, losin few precious nanoseconds. Nice puz.
ReplyDeleteGood theme ahar moment and neat LENGTH/GNASH & NULLIFY/SUBTLY crosses.
staff weeject pick: LOU crossin YOU(TUBE).
Had BYEBYE before BYENOW, which was about my only brief false alarm -- but wised up fast thanx to OWL. Also had no particular idea what the buzz cut clue for DECAFLATTE meant.
Thanx for the fun, Mr. Allen dude. And congratz on yer fine debut.
Masked & Anonym8Us
**gruntz**
OTTAVA crossing OLSON crossing TREVI is a potential double Natick. Especially the OTTAVA/TREVI crossing -- two foreign words, that letter could be basically anything if you don't know either one.
ReplyDeleteAn ignominious defeat today - a 5 letter DNF on a Tuesday and I blame China. My final area today was the west-central. I didn't know 27A or 30D. I finally saw SUBTLY and thought 29D would be taB SECTION. Obviously, after Google, the most visited website would be some obscure Chinese site so I was prepared for oddness and awS for 27D, OcTAVA for 30D and taBSECTION paid off in spades with wOacUBE.
ReplyDeletePerhaps, if I'd figured out the theme first, I may have avoided this, but perhaps not.
Richard D. Allan, congratulations on your debut puzzle and on completely stymieing me!
@Beezer from yesterday, yes, she's so slow. On a D.C. trip, we went shopping in Georgetown and easily spent an hour or so in one hat shop. And the two sweaters she eventually bought were tried on and discussed for another hour in our hotel room before she decided to return one (maybe both, I can't remember.) I, on the other hand, am still wearing everything I bought on that 2008 trip. We'll be in Brazil together in July and I'm anticipating (dreading?) another shopping trip!!
EN FUEGO never had our colloquial meaning in Spanish so far as I know. Means literally on fire, but not figuratively I don't think. Could be wrong. And SANTE apparently now is used as French toast, but in my day, it was always preceded by "a votre", so the phrase is the French for "to your health!" Salut, which also means health, has long been the one word toast.
ReplyDeleteI had a Rexian moment of disgust when I was forced to write in DECAF LATTE. The thought of a DECAF shot of espresso is appalling. Somehow a DECAF cafe au lait doesn't bother me.
I have lived many years in France and am currently a French professor and can confirm that "Salut" is just wrong. It means hello. It is possible to say "santé," which means health, when toasting.
ReplyDeleteIt's been interesting following the discussion relating to the SALUT clue/answer - the emerging consensus seems to be that it is flat out wrong. I have to admit that I find it somewhat amusing that Shortz has gone on the record many times alleging that foreign words and phrases need to be "common usage" to qualify for inclusion, yet this one is so "common usage" that he, his entire team of editors, and the universe of beta-testers did not have a clue that it is bogus.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they know how to say "BUMBLING INCOMPETENCE" in French.
The thing that bothered me with the themers here is that all of them except O HOLY NIGHT have more than just the actual letter at the beginning. There's plenty of phrases that start with "Oh," which I personally think would have been in better keeping with the other theme answers. Unless you want to parse it as OH 'OLY NIGHT and read it in a nice Cockney accent, in which case I am on board.
ReplyDelete@Scott Gunther, I did not mean to imply that “salut” does not mean hello in French. I think that from what I’ve read this morning that the Sauternes clue was important since that is in southwest France which I believe has an Occitan dialect, similar to Catalan in Spain. I agree that’s a pretty “in the weeds” reference for a Tuesday but I also found this:
ReplyDeleteFrom Old Occitan salut, from Latin salūtem, accusative singular of salūs (“greeting, good health”), related to salvus (“safe”).
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/salut
@Teedmn…yikes! You obviously have the patience of a saint plus your friend must be very special to you (sans shopping!) I would likely feel compelled to take a book with me and hang out at a café until shopping is done!
Finished with AYS crossing Lute ALSON. Seemed likely to me, as Lute Alson sounds Scandinavian. Of course I've never heard of any of these damned college coaches.
ReplyDeleteBut I liked the theme! A little different.
[Spelling Bee: yd pg in 9:20, finished at -1 missing this 9er. (@bocamp... yes I tried "aitch" and thought: didn't that used to be a word?)
Sun. (dbyd) pg-1, missed this.
]
This puzzle needed more clues about rockets and space travel.
ReplyDeleteGordo is right. More rockets, less decaf coffee.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Gus and Gordo. These men speak the truth.
ReplyDeleteHar. From reading y'all, the Themers SPELL BOUND, ala the BEE O YOU EN DE. Took me until this second to realize, which makes me feel even more idiotic than not getting YOU TUBE or ENFUGlEGO right off. Apparently I need Both hands held. Or a brain cells infusion. Y'know, they used to say you lost brain cells when you drank, I never believed them!
ReplyDeleteRooMonster DBS (Declining Brain Syndrome) Guy
WOOLGATHER does seem like a trennbare verb... "She gathers wool", rather than "She woolgathers". But, English.
ReplyDeleteThis seemed a bit hard for Tueday, although the only actual thing I didn't know was the Lute guy. So when I got the "almost" message, on the little phone screen, I changed OLSeN to OLSON and got it done. Meaning I had eTTAVA, which should have been an obvious error. Haven't really had much Italian in my life since, ahem, 1970. And then I spoke much better French than Italian, which had amusing moments. I was 12.
RIGHT ON Anonymous at 1:54.
ReplyDeleteTotally different words with different pronuciation.
SOW & SOWING are fine. What ruined it for me was having "ENG" appearing in both ENGULFS and LENGTH. Now that's a dupe! Bad, Will, Bad!
ReplyDeleteSALUT - Usually the clue is something to do with a French greeting or Port du SALUT cheese. But the claim that it is a French equivalent of "Cheers!" or "Here's to you" by the NYTX goes back to January 7, 1979 when Maleska was the editor (Toast, in Tours). A toast type clue reappeared four times under Maleska and 8 times under Shortz for a total of 12 of the 37 appearances. I'm thinking that after 43 years and 12 appearances that it probably is defensible.
ReplyDeleteÀ votre santé.
Vat is ze capital oaf Canada? OTTAVA
ReplyDeleteSurprised that none of the SOW/SOWING critics are GNASHING their teeth over BYE NOW/BY U. A pair of nice Ta-tas is always welcome in the puzzle.
I was late today and had to speed read the comments, but I’m not sure that anyone congratulated Richard D. Allen on his NYT debut. Congrats and thanks, Richard.
As the Hawaii correspondent I’ll note that ALOHA is a Hawaiian word, and Hawaii is not in the South Pacific, but is north of the equator. In Tahiti - South Pacific- it is AROHA…
ReplyDeleteLol @Jberg, I confess right here and now there is a big blank spot in my brain that has to do with RIMAs in general but I luckily had the crosses nailed. Also…I agree that Walk on the Wild Side is THE preeminent Lou REED clue but back in the day I was totally smitten by his music so he did come to mind for me. Lou Reed had a lot of great instrumentals in his songs but honestly I think Lou was an early rapper.
ReplyDelete@Zed…you pretty much expressed what I meant on SALUT….not necessarily clean…but defensible. And that is ONLY if you take into consideration the location and dialect of the region in France. Still, way above Tuesday pay grade. In fact, my ignorance while working the puzzle was an asset.
"Aloha (/əˈloʊhɑː/, Hawaiian: [əˈlohə]) is the Hawaiian word for love, affection, peace, compassion and mercy, that is commonly used as a simple greeting[1][2] but has a deeper cultural and spiritual significance to native Hawaiians, for whom the term is used to define a force that holds together existence.[3] The word is found in all Polynesian languages and always with the same basic meaning of "love, compassion, sympathy, kindness",[4] although the use in Hawaii has a seriousness lacking in the Tahitian and Samoan meanings.[5]" (Wikipedia)
ReplyDelete@jae
Finally packed Croce's 709 in. Got bubkes in the NW; also had 3 errors in the NE. :( Nevertheless, always appreciate the challenge! See you next Mon. :)
@okanaganer
Missed the same 9er. Otoh, got your other one (eat these daily in my snack mix).
___
td pg: 3.32 (0) / W: 3* / WH: 3 / Duo: 34/37 / Phrazle: taking too much time; signing off at 1,29,9,2 (may put a time limit on it, and be content with more 3's)
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
[@bocamp... that word is one of the big holes in my knowledge; never heard it outside of SB. If someone tried to play it in Scrabble I would have challenged it and lost, I guess.
ReplyDeletetd pg in 3:19 but then got stalled at -1, missing... another 9er! Dagnabbit. But I finally got the vowel-loaded critter.]
@Beezer 6:25 - I think you got sucked in by the "experts" and their wrong interpretation of the clue, specifically, "toast." According to them there is only one acceptable French toast. "To your good health" is a fine toast. So is "here's looking at you, kid." And so are "cheers!" and "I salute you" and "It's good to see you" and "pip pip my good man." Indeed, raise your adult beverage and say some kind words and you have a toast.
ReplyDeleteNow, is SALUT defensible? Do the French use SALUT as a toast? Here's a simple thing everyone can do; Go to google translate, pick French to English, and pop in SALUT. It will tell you it means "Hi." But look below and you will discover that it also means salvation, salute, saving, bow, salvo AND (here's the biggie for today's discussion) pip pip. Boy howdy, that sure looks like something one might say as a toast. Is it infrequently used that way? Sure. But so what? The Criers of Wrong (aka forevermore as CoWs) are wrong again.
I only drink in the USA.
ReplyDeleteBased on wikipedia (ALOHA is common in all polynesian languages) and based on various online dictionaries and SALUT's use in Provence and southern France it seems Shortz wins the day. Didn't seem that way at the start. ALOHA has also been clued beyond Hawaii in past puzzles according to my memory.
ReplyDeleteFor me I gave heard Salut used that way in the US so ignorance was bliss. When I was 17 in central France, a family kept pouring home brew shots for us because we were Americans and my traveling companion's dad fought in France in WW II. I don't remember what drinking word we used.
Whatever the toast, I'll drink to it.
ReplyDeleteNever heard the Guv called Arnie, only Ahnold. Same as Cousy referred to Auerbach. And the only one who Auerbach let do.
ReplyDeleteSLOB is un-pc and hurtful. We slobs prefer the term "Nonchalant situator of objects".
ReplyDeleteI had two words correct on my first guess in both of today's Phrazles.
Phrazle 57: 2/6
🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟪⬜ 🟪🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩
Phrazle 58: 2/6
🟩 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩
Brian in SLC
ReplyDeleteA couple of Naticks should have been expunged by the editor before it went to PRESS. TAN crossing ENFUEGO and OLSON crossing OTTAVA may have STYMIEd some. I considered TaPASS before TDPASS (Is that YOUR fault Burma?). DECAFLATTE took a while to parse out. Nothing REALLY NOTEworthy. The theme ITSELF was OK but a bit SUBTLE. No GNASHING of teeth. Not too many OYS (or veys). Just lacking a bit of kick, like the aforementioned DECAFLATTE. BYENOW!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePS - Triple bogey on the Wordle today…
ReplyDeleteWordle 367 6/6*
⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
⬜🟨⬜🟨🟩
🟨🟩⬜🟨🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
LES EGO
ReplyDeleteBEEKEEPERS of HOLY stuff,
not SUBTLY SPELLBOUND by rage,
BYENOW you have SEEN enough,
you REALLY should ACT YOUR AGE.
--- ARNIE OLSON
A bit of a snaggy process through today's grid, thanks to those choked-off NW and SE corners. Man, those 5-square bars! I agree with the rating of medium-challenging, for a Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteThe theme had a punny revealer: yep, we did SPELL B-O-U-N-D, we surely did. Good for us. It doesn't exactly "get you right here," but it is kinda cute. The fill has its interesting spots, the cluing a bit in advance of Tuesday, contributing to the snagginess. I must confess I get bored with all that Starbucks language; just gimme a black coffee, please. Feels like I need one now. Par.
Besides the first day of summer, this must be Snag Day. Me and my big mouth: after crowing about a 5-under string, what do I shoot? Bogey. And with a pretty good start word*, too.
BBYYB
BYYYB
BBGGG
BGGGG
GGGGG
*IRATE
Without the reveal clue I'm sure the theme would have eluded me. So yes, we did SPELL BOUND. Not bad for a Tues-puz.
ReplyDeletePretty sure @foggy and I both used IRATE yesterday. I tend to change them up. Doing so got me a wordle birdie today
BYBBG
GBBGG
GGGGG
Woulda been another eagle had it been great.
Saw a GOAT in my neighborhood last week. Yup - a real one. It's still there. And wouldn't you know it, the worst house on a very nice street. A goat. I was SPELLBOUND...
ReplyDeleteAnother house has an OWL they carved into an old tree stump. impressive.
We also have a BEEKEEPER around the corner. Who knows - probably YAM farmers are lurking about. It's enough to make you spill your DECA FLATTE. (oh the things you see in a crosswords when you come back an hour or two later)
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords, not STYMIEd
Yes Rondo. I used IRATE yesterday but I also like to mix it up with faves like TRAIN, CRAVE, ORATE etc.
ReplyDeleteNow wait a sec. How did we start with the SAME WORD, and I got BBYYB?? 'Splain that to me, willya? I assume your solution was GLOAT, right?
ReplyDelete@spacey - we used IRATE yesterday, you used it today. I started with SAINT today
ReplyDelete@spacey - we used IRATE yesterday, you used it today. I started with SAINT today.
ReplyDelete