Medicinal rinse / WED 5-18-22 / Cold weather cryptid / Long loose hood / Stop texting after a first date say / Tree that's a source of salicylic acid a precursor to aspirin / Animal that wears red pajamas in a popular children's book
Constructor: Andy Kravis
Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: solving a jigsaw puzzle — familiar phrases are clued as if they were steps in the solving of a jigsaw puzzle:
Theme answers:
LAY IT ALL OUT THERE (18A: Confess one's true feelings ... or Step 1 for solving a jigsaw puzzle?)
PICK UP THE PIECES (28A: Recover after a heartbreak ... or Step 2 for solving a jigsaw puzzle?)
FIND THE RIGHT FIT (50A: Look for an ideal partner ... or Step 3 for solving a jigsaw puzzle?)
SEE THE BIG PICTURE (65A: Get some perspective ... or what you do once you've solved a jigsaw puzzle?)
Word of the Day: "THE WIRE" (47D: TV series named second-best of all time by Rolling Stone, but which never won an Emmy) —
The Wire is an American crime dramatelevision series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. The Wire premiered on June 2, 2002, and ended on March 9, 2008, comprising 60 episodes over five seasons. The idea for the show started out as a police drama loosely based on the experiences of his writing partner Ed Burns, a former homicide detective and public school teacher.
Set and produced in Baltimore, Maryland, The Wire introduces a different institution of the city and its relationship to law enforcement in each season, while retaining characters and advancing storylines from previous seasons. The five subjects are, in chronological order: the illegal drug trade, the port system, the city government and bureaucracy, education and schools, and the print news medium. Simon chose to set the show in Baltimore because of his familiarity with the city.
The large cast consists mainly of actors who are little known for their other roles, as well as numerous real-life Baltimore and Maryland figures in guest and recurring roles. Simon has said that despite its framing as a crime drama, the show is "really about the American city, and about how we live together. It's about how institutions have an effect on individuals. Whether one is a cop, a longshoreman, a drug dealer, a politician, a judge or a lawyer, all are ultimately compromised and must contend with whatever institution to which they are committed."
The Wire is lauded for its literary themes, its uncommonly accurate exploration of society and politics, and its realistic portrayal of urban life. During its original run, the series received only average ratings and never won any major television awards, but is now often cited as one of the greatest television series of all time. (wikipedia)
• • •
This is the kind of puzzle that can go very wrong. The potential for forced-corny-pun-haha-get-it!? is always high when you try to force familiar phrases in another direction, and especially when you try to do it in bulk like this. A bunch of puns is one thing, a bunch of puns compelled by brute force to march in the same direction, that is (or can be) another. And YET(I)! And yet somehow this theme works very well. There's an aptness to every "step" in the jigsaw process, and an overall lightness of touch that, because it didn't feel like somebody elbowing in me in the side going "har har, good one, amirite?!," made me appreciate the way the theme answers just ... fit. The whole thing was very smooth and low-key. Subtle. No clowns honking horns. Nothing jarring. Every phrase has a strong non-jigsaw meaning, but with a little push, they all slide right into their respective jigsaw meanings, no problem. The steps are in order, everything's symmetrical (again, without any forcing). It's the kind of puzzle I can feel myself instinctively resisting on some primal level, but it's so well executed, and, again, so unhammy, that it won me over. It also made me remember that I love solving ("solving?") jigsaw puzzles but don't solve them in non-vacation contexts any more for two reasons: cats. Well, just the one cat, really. Alfie cannot lay off. The pieces are all just so many toys for him to run off with. He does the same thing with broccoli florets. He's a weird boy. Olive would probably leave a puzzle alone, but we're never gonna find out because ... Alfie.
[Alfie]
This was a very, very easy puzzle. If you time yourself, you probably didn't break any records, but that's due in part to the fact that the grid is oversized (16 wide, to accommodate the first and last themers). It's one of those puzzles where everything is riding on the theme, so it's a good thing the theme comes together, because the rest of the solve was a bit on the ho-hum side. Lots of overfamiliar, repeater-type stuff. Like, lots and lots. I won't enumerate it all, but the fact that we get LLAMA *and* LLANO should begin to give you some idea. I really don't understand the decision to put DOUCHE in the puzzle. This is literally the first appearance of the word in the NYTXW, ever, a fact which will surprise almost no one. What's most annoying about DOUCHE is that the clue is so coy. Like, you put DOUCHE in the puzzle, you should own that fact by cluing it as the thing that everyone is thinking of when they see DOUCHE. It's a "feminine hygiene product," or else it's an insult for a really annoying man (an insult whose insultingness surely comes from the feminine-hygiene meaning). Trying to hide from these meanings behind a general [Medicinal rinse] clue is, I don't know, a bit bizarre. It's like you're trying to avoid anatomical specificity, and yet the answer is virtually screaming anatomical specificity, whether you like it or not, so ... better to just go with it rather than retreat into vagueness. The wikipedia entry for DOUCHE is 99% about the vagina. If you can put DOUCHE in the grid, you can say "vagina." It won't hurt you. Or at least make the clue more women-specific. You know this answer is going to jar people, so I don't really get the point of including it in the first place, but if you're going to do it, Do It.
Notes:
41D: Sluggish (LOGY) — you ever have words that you just can't stand the sight/sound of. Well, LOGY is definitely one of mine. LOGY makes MOIST seem positively comforting. LOGY's main problem is it looks/sounds like "loogie." It's truly awful. Top Ten Repulsive Word.
60D: Brand originally called Froffles (EGGO) — two things. First, Froffles is better, please go back to Froffles. And second, I wrote in EDY'S.
35A: Plethora (SLEW) — I wrote in SOME.
20D: Evil clown in a horror film, e.g. (TROPE) — I wrote in TROLL. You can see a pattern developing here.
26A: Stop texting after a first date, say (GHOST) — big thumbs-up to this bit of clue modernization. I like the "old" meanings of GHOST just fine, too, but it's nice to see ordinary words get pushed slangward (especially when that slang now feels like a permanent part of the cultural landscape). Don't GHOST people. It's mean. Unless they're awful. Then definitely GHOST them. OK bye.
When I saw that the answer to the clue "Call back" was going to be REDIAL, my first thought was "Who the hell dials a phone any longer. Rex ain't gonna like that one!" But not a word...guess DOUCHE might have thrown him.
OK, seeing DOUCHE got my attention, but it does have a more general meaning, as does tampon. I entered "lavagE", which I suspect nearly all solvers did unless there was a prohibitive cross in place. I'm content with the clue. In any case, no harm-no foul.
My 1A “Sleeper” was a hold (as in wrestling), my 21A “Eventually” was iNtime, both confirmed by OmaN at 2D. That complicated the NW initial I was rescued by FAYE Dunaway.
PICK UP THE PIECES isn't an ideal match for actually doing the puzzle and would have worked better as the final step (i.e., after you finish the puzzle, you pick up the pieces and put them back in the box).
Far from a jigsaw fan - but this was a cute and well constructed theme. Liked the themers - not so much the remaining fill. Squat grid with an interesting looking staircase from NW to SE but some obscuria and odd trivia glommed things up. That ILL, PALL, LUCRE block was rough.
OK, so we're missing: "Turn all the pieces right side up", "Find the edges", and "Find the corners" and possibly "Separate by color", but I guess I can see how those don't exactly fit with steps in a relationship, or have another everyday meaning, so good enough.
Tight theme, nice execution. Had the L from PLAYFUL and wrote in GLUT before SLEW and tried THERE before THOSE and LUSH before LUXE but those were the only brief snags.
My Mom used to say LOGY. I like LOGY. Also like COATI.
Still haven't seen THEWIRE. At least it wasn't an actor from Schitt's Creek.
Nicely done, AK. What the local fishermen call A Keeper. Well on the easy side of medium but still lots of fun, for which thanks.
LOGY is pronounced low-gee (with a hard G), or (according to Merriam-Webster) less often like log-ee, never like “loogie” that I’ve ever heard. Maybe Rex should be a little more phlegmatic about the whole issue.
@jammon - REDIAL and DIAL seem to be in the language as much as ever, although dipping. What’s curious to me is the blip for REDIAL in the early teens. The term has been divorced from the rotary phone for most of my life. I have actually used a telephone DIAL, but it has been decades.
What Rex saw as a plus I saw as a minus. Don’t be tepid with the groan inducing punnery. These are weak sauce with barely a smile to be had.
I actually paid attention to and enjoyed the theme for a change. It was discernible, each entry was relevant and as OFL mentioned, felt unforced - so it contributed positively to the solving experience. COWL and LOGY were a tough combination, and LUCRE always seems to get me for some reason. Even the PPP wasn't too far out in left field. It's been a good week so far.
I wouldn't put DOUCHE in the same category as the recent "low brow" stuff we've experienced, but it does seem to be another data point that suggests that the Times' is reevaluating their opinion as to what type of material may/may not be included - hopefully they proceed cautiously and "walk before they run".
The west section had way too many sports related things. I didn't know RUSS, or ALEAST, or GRAF, or STRAHAN, so while the rest was easy, I had to cheat for an entire chunk of the grid, as the crosses were no use to me at all.
Liked it enough, but felt really heavy on the quotation-y clues. Even if you take out the fill in the blank ones, this seems a few too many for a single puzzle: “Here we go again…” “Again!” “The ____ is silence’” “Quit it!” “This is a /library!/” “Yeah, right” “A little ___?” “All right, I’ve heard plenty.”
Always be careful, even on a Wednesday. I was all set to write down my 1A/1D pair: CELL for the "sleeper, e.g." leading to CALF for "Something that may be raised on a farm." But, when I couldn't think of a 4-letter nation bordering the Araban Sea that begins with an "E", I knew I had to think again to FIND THE RIGHT FIT. Aha! SOFA/SILO!
This was a lively, chatty puzzle -- if easy -- but I would have enjoyed it a lot more if not for a problem that is not the constructor's fault, but which bothered (it always does) the heck out of me. SQUOOSHED SQUARES!!!! More squooshed than ever before, it seemed to me. I can't read the squooshed numbers and I can't make my handwriting fit in the squooshed spaces and what I was thinking as I picked up the puzzle was OH BOY, "Here we go again..."
More picas, please, Will! If you take a 16x15 puzzle, you need to give us a few measly extra picas! Do we have a deal?
Hey All ! Noticed the 16 wide grid right off, primarily by seeing the last Down labelled as 14. The ole brain still working, albeit not at 100% anymore. 😁
I used to do jigsaws a lot as a kid. My parents bought Jigsaw Puzzle Glue, which allowed you to stick the puz to cardboard and be a permanent picture. We hung them on the spare room wall. (Storage room we called the Spare Room.) I think they were eventually thrown away...
Neat puz. Even Rex liked it. Not into Kid Lit, so that LLAMA in red pajamas was a new one on me. I know BABAR, that's about it.
When I was Limo driving, I drove Steffi GRAF and hubby Andre Agassi, and even their kids a couple of times. Very nice people. Andre has a school here in town named after him, in a not-the-best section of town. It's a college prep school.
If you change PIPED to PIPET, which is an alt spelling of PIPETTE, you'd get TOUCHÉ for DOUCHE. Then everyone would be happy. C'mon NYTStaff.
Ahh jigsaw puzzles. I never understood the appeal until the first year of the pandemic when the hubs and I became serial solvers to stave off boredom and anxiety. We took over the dining room and kitchen tables with our respective 1000 piece monstrosities and whiled away the days. He had a kamikaze technique. I preferred nonchalance. It was a long, long moment that I don’t want to repeat. That said, the theme worked very well for a Wednesday level puzzle. I also found DOUCHE jarring, despite the amorphous clue. Froffles made me much happier than EGGOs do. Were he not the constructor, I bet Andy Kravis could have solved this puzzle in under a minute.
The movie posters for "Irma La Douce" are *amazing* http://cartelesmix.es/cartelesdecine/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/irmaladulce63004.jpg http://cartelesmix.es/cartelesdecine/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/irmaladulce63009.jpg
On the easy side for me for a Wednesday puzzle--took less time than yesterday to solve. Part of the easiness goes back to the Monday puzzle (verbs LIKE AN animal)--long themers that were easy to fill in with few crosses. The only one that held me up briefly was LAY IT ALL On The table (which wouldn't fit) before getting the OUT THERE ending.
Speaking of THERE, I had to chuckle when I stumbled on the answer for 45D, Word that might be said by pointing. I wrote in THerE, saying to myself, "Here we go again with an answer word that appears twice in the same grid." But then I realized it was THeSe--which was also my bad. Third try was the charm--THOSE.
Nice 5 letter HDW (Hidden Diagonal Word) of the day, which might be clued:
Loved this puzzle. (Full stop capital E) Except DOUCHE and LOGY. I would think if the software suggested those words, I would abandon the puzzle and go delete them from my word list and go to the liquor store. I'd see them in the same light as dictators. Just horrible and wholly unnecessary in our rich and varied language.
Word on the streets is dating in modern times is also horrible, but I don't remember it being all that great back in the 80s either.
I also have a cat and he lays out and stretches on the puzzles. Super aggravating if it wasn't so cute.
Moreover (vis-à-vis my previous comment about DOUCHE as my WOD), I would like to point out to Rex that his focus on DOUCHE as connected "99%" with "the vagina" is homophobic and heterocentric. I sooooo badly want to explain why...but I think I will choose not to LAY IT ALL OUT THERE, and let people either use their imagination or do some research. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
My first thought as to "Sleeper, e.g." was [Woody Allen] FILM. Which, for those who did not grow up in the 1970s with three older brothers, has the same revolutionary anthem as "Bananas" (as well as basically the same plot).
@Anonymous 10:34 AM - In fact, I was totally unaware of the case. I'm a classicist by training, but not by profession, so I don't generally know about such things. I just read an article about it in The Washington Free Beacon. It is indeed a sign of the times. But you are probably not surprised to learn that it is Katz's behavior that I find appalling, not that of Eisgruber or Princeton. As Tatianna famously said in "Ru Paul's Drag Race All Stars 2"—"Choices."
@Anonymous 10:34 AM - PS: After all, my dissertation was entitled "Mensura Incognita: Queer Kinship and Camp Aesthetics in Juvenal's Ninth Satire." My thesis advisor was Craig Williams, who *literally* wrote the book on Roman homosexuality. Interestingly, my greatest scholarly nemesis was Holt Parker, late of the University of Cincinnati, who in 2016 was arrested (and subsequently sentenced to four years in federal prison) on child pornography charges. Once again, Tatianna's dictum is apt: "Choices."
Worth it for @Rex's picture of Alfie belting out "Memory." Add me to the defenders of LOGY and to any other admirers of those who thought of "lavage." As far as pieces fitting together goes, I liked COAT x HANG, had trouble finding the right ones for the RUSS - STRAHAN area. Interesting last line with OPT IN --> ELOPE, with REST maybe = "happily ever after"?
You knew someone was gonna put this on the turntable.
I kind of like the puzzle but I don't know if the "love life" parallel really works for the last two themers. I don't think people say "I'm trying to find the right fit" when they mean they are still looking for Mr/Ms Right. Sounds a bit clinical. And the last answer in particular could be applied to too many situations to register specifically in a romantic context.
This was difficult for a Wednesday, maybe because I kept writing in the wrong word and then having to write over it — for example, wanting to “put it” rather than “lay it” all out there. Or thinking of “sluggish” as “lazy” before “logy.” Or misreading “Steffi” as “Steffani” and writing “Gwen” before “Graf.” But the solve was fun and I enjoyed the theme. Given today’s divorce rate, I was half waiting for the step where you realize that there is an important piece missing and go out to get another puzzle.
I have twice tried to watch THE WIRE and not been able to get past the second episode due mainly to disliking the characters. But today’s clue for it made me want to try again. So if it truly turns out to be the second-best TV series of all time, I will be forever thankful to Andy Kravis for giving me the nudge I needed.
The Big Picture: A llama from Milano Grazing in the llano
I watched "The Shield" with Michael Chiklis and Walton Goggins"(My favorite name ever). Not seen THE WIRE but wonder if it's anything like Shield, cops and drugs and stuff. Maybe I'll try it but it's such a dark theme.
VOTESIN and OPTSIN walked into my GHOST bar. Once IN, they exchanged some LUCRE, did a little LOGY, saddled up to the bar, and ordered EDIBLE MEAT and some PAULI LAGER. Irma the DOUCHE was the bartended that evening. She was a WILLOW of a lass but always wore a COWL that would HANG like a red clad pajama LLAMA. OH BOY, PIPED the TROPE sitting in his corner. We're going to see some GORE and get ILL. Do you SEE THE BIG PICTURE? DOUCHE yelled. "Just go ahead and LAY IT ALL OUT THERE!" ....."So you want me to PICK UP THE PIECES that were left by all the GORE? ....She continued her rant: I can't FIND THE RIGHT FIT!...I need HELP....WEST kept screaming "To err is human" ... The GHOST bar needed a REST. GRAF, sipping her PAULI, just kept muttering "leggo my EGGO." The PEP was gone...the LUXE replaced by a slew of NYET....the ATTIC light was dimmed and everyone sang "twenty one bottles of beer on the wall."
The neon sign...hanging over the bar, said " I LOVE THIS PUZZLE"
@RP: Nope. nope. Sorry, but these themers are woefully inconsistent. Three of em have the word "THE" in em, but the first themer has a close but no cigars "THERE", instead.
OTOH, THEWIRE entry does try to make amends, eventually. har [hmm … THEWIRE still has THERE hidin within it, tho…]
staff weeject pick: SHH. Better clue: {"No way do we get real detailed with that DOUCHE clue!"}. Was gonna suggest PIPET/TOUCHE as an escape rinse, but I see the wily @Roo beat m&e to it.
fave theme support crew: PLAYFUL. ENOUGH. DOUCHE. LUXE. REST/WEST [Due to the classic {What do wabbits do when they are tiwed of wunnin awound??} = GOWEST.]
M&A used to do a few jigsaw puzs, usually cuz someone gave one to us as a holiday gift. Don't recall our second move ever bein to pick up all the pieces, tho. Usually, once we had em all laid out there, we'd snoop around for corner pieces and edge pieces. Pick up all the pieces was more what we'd do, once we gave up. Ahar! … Maybe we had the wrong strategy!
Thanx for the puz about a puz, Mr. Kravis dude. Positively puz-zest.
Interesting. Long forgotten the specifics, but in some class in college, there was some book with some subtext about homosexuality... in the ancient Greek armies. IIRC, the justification, in Greek society, was that soldiers would fight with greater enthusiasm to save their lovers. Perhaps some -ologists have studied that thread in modern (20th century and later) armies?? No idea; not something I've contemplated in many years until your comment.
@Anonymous 11:41 AM - The part about lovers and courage in battle is from Phaedrus's speech in the Symposium (Plato). And I would say homosexuality is not a subtext in the Symposium—It's ALL OUT THERE, as it were. The symposium (dinner party) takes place at the home of Agathon, a more-or-less "openly gay" tragic poet who has just won the prize for tragedy in the annual festival of Dionysus (416 BC). (Agathon is the lover of Pausanias, who is also present at the symposium). Now you're firmly in my wheelhouse, and I could go on for 1000s of words, but out of kindness to the readers of this blog, I will not.
Anyone ever have "A dog from hell" ? Our family had Louie. His two favorite things were knocking down our two year old when he was learning to walk and chewing on the legs of our new coffee table. One night as the family was sitting around the table working on our annual Christmas jigsaw puzzle ritual, Louie jumped up and pissed all over the puzzle. We found him a nice home with a family that lived on a farm.
"Leggo my Froffles" ? No.
Have always hated "logy".Atleast throw another "g" in there, but log-isms just don't work. "like a bump on a log" ? What the hell is that supposed to conjure up? "Sawing logs" ? Nope.
So that's Sade ? Then who is the guy with the ritual scars on his face? I can't even figure out how to look that up.
Liked the Irma la douche reference, I think I might use it when OFL goes on ones of his epic rants, "What an Irma".
My only writeover was having there, then these, before THOSE. Easy enough before that. I agree with OFL's assessment here.
Just wanted to add that a DOUCHE was a frequent treatment for men in Victorian times, often associated with a Turkish bath. Macaulay, whose Journals I have, reports going for a DOUCHE several times in the late 1850s. And yet he totally rejected the "cures" at Malvern, a place he was otherwise totally in love with. Looking it up, they offered DOUCHEs as well as medical administration of the famous waters. The douche was per anum, but the waters were per os.
And when I was young in the 1950s, in Los Angeles, there were many ads in the paper for colonic irrigation. Considered an important health treatment by many.
In think that, in musical terms, we have to imagine repeat signs bracketing the second and third theme entries. That is, you pick up a piece, find the right fit, then go back and pick up another piece. Once you have done that 1,000 times you can see the big picture.
@Upstate George, I had the same thought -- but yet we all got it right away, I'll bet. Since we only see the word at all when preceded by 'filthy,' LUCRE has come to seem dirty in its own right.
Ah (RE)DIAL phones! I think I was in 7th grade when they came to Sturgeon Bay. Suddenly we had to have longer numbers, changing from 241 to 2534 (and a few years later to 743-2534). And I think it meant the end of party lines, making it harder to snoop on your neighbors. But the worst thing was you had to remember (or look up) the numbers, rather than just telling the operator whom you wanted them to ring. Now we've come full circle--I can just tell my phone whom to ring. Progress!
Question: how many Michaels are in the NFL Hall of Fame? I needed all the crosses.
Usually when I fail to fully read a clue, I miss the back half, but somehow, today, I managed to miss the "love" aspect of the theme clues and only saw the jigsaw parts - missing the BIG PICTURE entirely. When I read Jeff Chen at xwordinfo, I thought, what is he going on about, love phrases? Then I reread the clues, oh.
I raised my eyebrows at 9D, surprised to see it in the puzzle. It could have been clued as "Mondegreen commonly heard in "Blinded By the Light" or some such thing.
I always guess wrong on ahh vs. aah, and today ssh before SHH.
Andy Kravis, thanks for a nice [jigsaw] puzzle puzzle.
I can remember sick days staying home from school and watching game shows and maybe a bit of soap operas. Seeing those douche commercials I had no idea what they were talking about. These two women talking about how their husbands like them to smell nice and fresh. But something told me they were not discussing perfume. When I finally grokked it, I was mortified. TMI! I do not want to think about this during Family Feud!!!
Now I don’t care at all and agree with Rex that you should just be upfront about it. Nothing to be queasy about.
Loved the clues for ELOPE (run into a hitch) and ERODE (eat dirt).
It took me a while to watch The Wire — and once I did, it took me a while to get into it. But once I did, wow. So amazing. So tragic to lose Michael K Williams this year, and go back and look at Michael B Jordan as a little kid. That little pipsqueak turned into the sexiest man alive? (And he is - and always will be.)
Had to know what RS ranked ahead of The Wire. The answer is …. the Sopranos. Believe it or not, I’ve never seen an episode of that one. Both shows ran at a time I wasn’t watching TV - before I knew TV shows could be so good. Worth going back to watch it?
A few years ago, I signed out several seasons of my library's DVDs of The Wire. Since we can only keep for a week, I laboriously copied them to mp4 files on my computer to watch at my leisure. Some weeks later I was making space on my hard drive, noticed a folder called "The Wire", and thought: oh, that's the movie with Joseph Gordon Levitt, about the guy who walked between the World Trade Center towers; I've finished watching that. So I deleted it. Yeah, I've heard it was a good series...
As others have mentioned, DOUCHE is spoken quite often when checking in to hotels in French. "Chambre avec douche, s'il vous plait!" I wonder if there is a term for words that have a very specific meaning in English, but a different one in the source language. For instance as a tourist in Italy: opera, camera, and piano usually mean construction, room, and floor.
[Spelling Bee: yd 3:20 to pg then to 0 later. QB one day in a row!]
There are only 9 Michaels in the Pro Football Hall of Fame ( There is no such thing as the NFL Hall of Fame).
1964 Mike Michaske 1984 Mike McCormack 1988 Mike Ditka 1997 Mike Haynes 1997 Mike Webster 1998 Mike Singletary 2001 Mike Munchak 2007 Michael Irvin 2014 Michael Strahan
Not surprisingly there's only one Junious.
Someone above was speculating about Greek soldiers. You may be thinking about the Scared Band of Thebes.
Mike in Brooklyn, No, I'm not surprised you're on the wrong side of things. Princeton's actions are shameful. And you know it. The Academy is no place for wokeness.
@Anonymous 3:24 PM - Dear unwoke friend—It is quite fine for you to say that I am on the wrong side of things, and that Princeton's actions are shameful, and that the academy is no place for wokeness. But I gently and respectfully ask you to think twice about statements like "And you know it." When you say that, you are suggesting that I articulate positions that I do not earnestly espouse. Not sure why you do that, but you do. Please be assures—When I espouse a position, I do so quite earnestly. Please to disagree, please do argue. But please do not state that I do not mean precisely what I say.
@Wanderlust - I’m currently rewatching The Sopranos and enjoying it immensely. If you have HBO Max the whole series is available for streaming. I would also highly recommend Wire creator David Simon’s HBO series “Treme” about post Katrina New Orleans. The music is terrific.
Someone please tell me in which possible universe out of all the possible ones in the multiverse is "lay it all out there" an expression. The expression is "put it all out there" or, alternatively, "lay it on [or all on] the line." As far as I am concerned, this is just another instance of the rules for NYTXW construction having gone lax, allowing laziness and self-indulgence and whatever is convenient to the current generation of talent-impaired constructors to do whatever they want, make up expressions willy-nilly and stick them in f***-all fashion into their shoddily constructed works. What a load of bushwa. I'm totally disgusted by this.
@M&A GO WEST was the Marx Brothers, not Mae or Bugs.
MM's Blinded by the Light was a great radio song that concentrated and exploded some of the hooks of the Springsteen song, and leads with a rewritten or misheard hook that intentionally or accidently creates the DOUCHE ambiguity. I enjoy the Mann take but much prefer Bruce's original version with its tsunami of words, verses, and live energy heralding a new bat out of hell Dylanesque explosion. Soon to have his own style completely. I wore out those first two LPs. Just what the music world needed.
@anon I thought of that earlier jigsaw puzzle too. I didn't look it up but this puzzle seemed better than my memory of that one. I or maybe Rex or fellow boggers had more complaints about the theme answers I think. Surprised Rex did not mention it.
I do not count PIECES as a POC leaving only 3 in this puzzle, and two cross each other, not at the S. The other one is an example of what I call sertasealyness because it makes me LOGE, a word I dislike as much as LUXE.
Why is LOGE even a word? Just use loggy which is more intuitive (sleep like a log and it sounds better). Or how about slothy or slothe?
It might be somewhat appropriate or Greecian or tautlogical to make LOG the word of the day.
For all you people who complain that “no one says that“, “that isn’t a thing“, “never heard of that (hence it doesn’t exist)“, I guarantee you that if you go over to the next state or the next town or even the next block you will find that what you’ve never heard is the very common usage.
The Academy is no place for wokeness. - 😂🤣😂🤣😂 I mean,😂🤣😂🤣😂, Hold on Hold on, 😂🤣😂🤣😂, no really I mean 😂🤣😂🤣😂😂🤣😂🤣😂😂🤣😂🤣😂😂🤣😂🤣😂... I'm sorry,{gasp gasp}... I don't mean to laugh at you but you say such incredibly stupid things how can one not?
BTW - Lux Esto or perhaps, as they etch into a wall at a certain university, In the nation’s service and the service of humanity.
Z The academy is no place for wokeness. That it is the home of wokeness is a pity not a validation. Wokeness stifles the exchange of ideas. You are an embarrassment.
Nice job, Mr. Kravis. The sayings are not corny puns but are just familiar adages that “add up to” a fine reveal. I had a little trouble with Michael STRAHAN and a lot of trouble with ERODE. The ? was no help. Made me look for a single word for “getting yours.” Other than those little places, an easy and enjoyable Wednesday.
This very same theme was done just last year, on 8/8/21. I feel like today’s was somewhat more enjoyable, except that the whole time I was thinking to myself, “didn’t they just do this theme?” - https://rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com/2021/08/response-to-little-red-hen-sun-8-8-21.html?m=0
@Anon 9:01 - As said above, he probably got fired for being unable to keep his hands of the coeds, and is using the "wokeness" as a red herring.
Frank Langella just got fired from a movie, and is running around claiming he's the victim of "cancel culture". What he's the victim of is being fired for repeatedly ignoring the rules laid out by Netflix, the intimacy coordinator and his costar prior to the intimate scenes. Because "I'm an actor, and I need to be able to experiment, to get the feel for my motivation and actions". Well, you don't get to ignore the rules and paw at a woman who says no. Also, you don't get to do it the second time, after you've been told, again, that you can't do that. You get your ass fired, that's what happens.
The Prof got away with a warning, and a year off, on the first one with his first intimate relationship with a student. When the others popped up, maybe he just got his ass fired for doing repeatedly doing things that get you fired. Being the honorable man he clearly is, he blamed it all on something else.
BYW, I don't think "xokeness" means what you think it means. It means, essentially, being aware of, and sensitive to, the plight of others. Why you choose to weaponize that is beyond comprehension.
This was not at all an easy puzzle for me, mostly because of PAULI, IBSEN and SADE all crossing RUSS, none of which I was familiar with. Additionally, I had never herd of the idiom “gift of GAB”, which made that whole central west region completely impossible 😑
I don't want to put down Rolling Stone, but THEWIRE? If it's so great, why did I NEVER HEAR OF IT?? And if #1 wasn't M*A*S*H I throw out the whole survey. I had THE_IRE (on crosses), and I actually had to run the alphabet--even with _ILLOW going across!
I do count jigsaw puzzles among my pastimes; working on one right now. The themers are somewhat applicable, though the second one is a bit vague. But then again, the phrase there is so good he (A.K.) couldn't resist. So, thumbs up for the theme. The fill is...PLAYFUL. An all-around birdie.
A very well crafted puzzle. The theme was spot on because of the perfect double meanings that were not forced resulting in just ENOUGH chuckles and aha! moments.I also liked having both LLAMA and LLANO. The cluing for HELP (57D) and TMI (66D) was a touch unfair. 57D was vague and the blank could have been just about anything. 66D did not indicate an abbreviated phrase was the answer. The meta clue of 56D and 29D was also an added challenge for that corner, but in the end it was solvable via the crosses. Putting all that ASIDE, those are just minor nits for this PLAYFUL and enjoyable solve.
This was one of the easier Wednesday's, except for one thing. For whatever reason the on-line version that came out today got wonky on the down clues starting at clue 30. Clue 30 was blank and every clue thereafter was offset by one (i.e. Clue 31 was the actual clue for 30 down, clue 48 was the actual clue for 47 down, etc.) Once I clued (pun intended) into that little glitch the rest of the solve went fairly well.
I was a bit surprised at a couple of foreign language answers that weren't clued as such. The most obvious of this was 16A: Grassy plain : LLANO. Lucre and Coati feel that way to me too but I guess they've become a bit more mainstream.
I thought this puz was just fine. All those long phrases FIT in without seeming dumb or corny. The corners are TONS of help, like a jigsaw puz.
But wordle, OHBOY! I'll blame the bogey on taking two business meetings in the middle of it. Spoiler alert for anyone yet to do it. I was buried in blue after inter, not so good with lousy, having doubts about qualm, [then the meetings], couldn't swallow it with my uvula, and then finally just felt awful green.
Only one other person commented on (at least in the on-line version) the fact that 30 down was blank, and all other "down" clues from that point on were shifted over one (i.e., 31 down clue (Number of cards in Texas hold'em) fit the spaces of 30 down, etc. I think this was intentional ... you had to "pick up the pieces" then "find the right fit". I solved the top section very quickly and then for a few moments was stumped on the bottom half, but I had enough of the across answers that I was able to pretty quickly see the "fit".
I spent the first year of the pandemic doing jigsaws, so this brought back good memories. I never watched THEWIRE, but a friend really liked it. I get most of my TV info from the newspaper.
And then - what the L L? Was hoping for LL to become another theme. It didn't. Oh weLL.
.png)
When I saw that the answer to the clue "Call back" was going to be REDIAL, my first thought was "Who the hell dials a phone any longer. Rex ain't gonna like that one!" But not a word...guess DOUCHE might have thrown him.
ReplyDeleteMy touch tone phone has a Redial button.
DeleteI was so absolutely certain 9D would be LAVAGE, that even when nothing else was working I tried to stick with it. Still finished really fast
ReplyDeleteNifty theme.
Add Mae West to the Yogi Berra – AA Milne “never said a lot of things the they are supposed to have said” file. This one sounds genuine to me, though.
Different strokes Dept.
ReplyDeleteLOGY is one of my favorite words.
OK, seeing DOUCHE got my attention, but it does have a more general meaning, as does tampon. I entered "lavagE", which I suspect nearly all solvers did unless there was a prohibitive cross in place. I'm content with the clue. In any case, no harm-no foul.
Gotta check out Jeff Chen. POW? maybe? maybe not?
Shouls have had BAG somewhere in the puzzle and clue it and 9D in terms of the theme!
ReplyDeleteThe way to be winky about clueing DOUCHE is to go the French route, "Shower in Sherbrooke" or something
ReplyDeleteMy 1A “Sleeper” was a hold (as in wrestling), my 21A “Eventually” was iNtime, both confirmed by OmaN at 2D. That complicated the NW initial I was rescued by FAYE Dunaway.
ReplyDeleteThought Rex was going to say:
ReplyDeletePICK UP THE PIECES isn't an ideal match for actually doing the puzzle and would have worked better as the final step (i.e., after you finish the puzzle, you pick up the pieces and put them back in the box).
Far from a jigsaw fan - but this was a cute and well constructed theme. Liked the themers - not so much the remaining fill. Squat grid with an interesting looking staircase from NW to SE but some obscuria and odd trivia glommed things up. That ILL, PALL, LUCRE block was rough.
ReplyDeleteI still have my dad’s 45 with Not Fade Away on the backside - but my mom always liked Skeeter’s version better
Enjoyable Wednesday solve.
Thx, Andy; excellent 'jigsaw' puz! :)
ReplyDeleteMed.
Pretty smooth, with a few minor HANG UPs.
Got it all put together for a successful solve.
Enjoyed the BIG PICTURE! :)
___
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
OK, so we're missing: "Turn all the pieces right side up", "Find the edges", and "Find the corners" and possibly "Separate by color", but I guess I can see how those don't exactly fit with steps in a relationship, or have another everyday meaning, so good enough.
ReplyDeleteTight theme, nice execution. Had the L from PLAYFUL and wrote in GLUT before SLEW and tried THERE before THOSE and LUSH before LUXE but those were the only brief snags.
My Mom used to say LOGY. I like LOGY. Also like COATI.
Still haven't seen THEWIRE. At least it wasn't an actor from Schitt's Creek.
Nicely done, AK. What the local fishermen call A Keeper. Well on the easy side of medium but still lots of fun, for which thanks.
LOGY is pronounced low-gee (with a hard G), or (according to Merriam-Webster) less often like log-ee, never like “loogie” that I’ve ever heard. Maybe Rex should be a little more phlegmatic about the whole issue.
ReplyDelete@jammon - REDIAL and DIAL seem to be in the language as much as ever, although dipping. What’s curious to me is the blip for REDIAL in the early teens. The term has been divorced from the rotary phone for most of my life. I have actually used a telephone DIAL, but it has been decades.
What Rex saw as a plus I saw as a minus. Don’t be tepid with the groan inducing punnery. These are weak sauce with barely a smile to be had.
I actually paid attention to and enjoyed the theme for a change. It was discernible, each entry was relevant and as OFL mentioned, felt unforced - so it contributed positively to the solving experience. COWL and LOGY were a tough combination, and LUCRE always seems to get me for some reason. Even the PPP wasn't too far out in left field. It's been a good week so far.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't put DOUCHE in the same category as the recent "low brow" stuff we've experienced, but it does seem to be another data point that suggests that the Times' is reevaluating their opinion as to what type of material may/may not be included - hopefully they proceed cautiously and "walk before they run".
The west section had way too many sports related things. I didn't know RUSS, or ALEAST, or GRAF, or STRAHAN, so while the rest was easy, I had to cheat for an entire chunk of the grid, as the crosses were no use to me at all.
ReplyDeleteToo many proper nouns in general in that west section. RUSS and ALEAST crossing PAULI, IBSEN, *and* SADE!
DeleteDOUCHE means shower in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and maybe other languages as well. I may have had a larger point, but I forget.
ReplyDeleteDucha in Spanish
DeleteLiked it enough, but felt really heavy on the quotation-y clues. Even if you take out the fill in the blank ones, this seems a few too many for a single puzzle:
ReplyDelete“Here we go again…”
“Again!”
“The ____ is silence’”
“Quit it!”
“This is a /library!/”
“Yeah, right”
“A little ___?”
“All right, I’ve heard plenty.”
"What's all this I hear about country singer Andy Kravis making a puzzle?"
ReplyDelete"PSSST, Emily, ...................."
"Oooooh, that's very different. Never mind!"
Webster's II New College Dictionary mentions no particular body part in its definition for DOUCHE.
ReplyDeleteFor douche they could have misdirected with a “rinse for a cavity” clue.
ReplyDelete@Amy 8:49 AM - Touché
DeleteAmazing!
DeleteRex explaining douche is peak douchiness.
ReplyDeleteWell, if men can get pregnant, then how is douche women-specific? I thought you people didn't say men and women anymore.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 9:34 AM - ikr?!
DeleteAlways be careful, even on a Wednesday. I was all set to write down my 1A/1D pair: CELL for the "sleeper, e.g." leading to CALF for "Something that may be raised on a farm." But, when I couldn't think of a 4-letter nation bordering the Araban Sea that begins with an "E", I knew I had to think again to FIND THE RIGHT FIT. Aha! SOFA/SILO!
ReplyDeleteThis was a lively, chatty puzzle -- if easy -- but I would have enjoyed it a lot more if not for a problem that is not the constructor's fault, but which bothered (it always does) the heck out of me. SQUOOSHED SQUARES!!!! More squooshed than ever before, it seemed to me. I can't read the squooshed numbers and I can't make my handwriting fit in the squooshed spaces and what I was thinking as I picked up the puzzle was OH BOY, "Here we go again..."
More picas, please, Will! If you take a 16x15 puzzle, you need to give us a few measly extra picas! Do we have a deal?
Hey All !
ReplyDeleteNoticed the 16 wide grid right off, primarily by seeing the last Down labelled as 14. The ole brain still working, albeit not at 100% anymore. 😁
I used to do jigsaws a lot as a kid. My parents bought Jigsaw Puzzle Glue, which allowed you to stick the puz to cardboard and be a permanent picture. We hung them on the spare room wall. (Storage room we called the Spare Room.) I think they were eventually thrown away...
Neat puz. Even Rex liked it. Not into Kid Lit, so that LLAMA in red pajamas was a new one on me. I know BABAR, that's about it.
When I was Limo driving, I drove Steffi GRAF and hubby Andre Agassi, and even their kids a couple of times. Very nice people. Andre has a school here in town named after him, in a not-the-best section of town. It's a college prep school.
If you change PIPED to PIPET, which is an alt spelling of PIPETTE, you'd get TOUCHÉ for DOUCHE. Then everyone would be happy. C'mon NYTStaff.
"V SIGN*
yd -3, should'ves 2
Duo 37, missed 1-2-3-5-8
Four F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Ahh jigsaw puzzles. I never understood the appeal until the first year of the pandemic when the hubs and I became serial solvers to stave off boredom and anxiety. We took over the dining room and kitchen tables with our respective 1000 piece monstrosities and whiled away the days. He had a kamikaze technique. I preferred nonchalance. It was a long, long moment that I don’t want to repeat.
ReplyDeleteThat said, the theme worked very well for a Wednesday level puzzle. I also found DOUCHE jarring, despite the amorphous clue. Froffles made me much happier than EGGOs do. Were he not the constructor, I bet Andy Kravis could have solved this puzzle in under a minute.
"Irma, la douche!"
ReplyDeleteshouts Jack Lemmon to Shirley MacLaine
The movie posters for "Irma La Douce" are *amazing*
Deletehttp://cartelesmix.es/cartelesdecine/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/irmaladulce63004.jpg
http://cartelesmix.es/cartelesdecine/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/irmaladulce63009.jpg
On the easy side for me for a Wednesday puzzle--took less time than yesterday to solve. Part of the easiness goes back to the Monday puzzle (verbs LIKE AN animal)--long themers that were easy to fill in with few crosses. The only one that held me up briefly was LAY IT ALL On The table (which wouldn't fit) before getting the OUT THERE ending.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of THERE, I had to chuckle when I stumbled on the answer for 45D, Word that might be said by pointing. I wrote in THerE, saying to myself, "Here we go again with an answer word that appears twice in the same grid." But then I realized it was THeSe--which was also my bad. Third try was the charm--THOSE.
Nice 5 letter HDW (Hidden Diagonal Word) of the day, which might be clued:
Consume deliberately
Answer:
NURSE (begins with the N in 8D ...
ENOUGH!
If I had a Word of the Day like Rex does, my WOD would definitely have been DOUCHE.
ReplyDeleteLoved this puzzle. (Full stop capital E) Except DOUCHE and LOGY. I would think if the software suggested those words, I would abandon the puzzle and go delete them from my word list and go to the liquor store. I'd see them in the same light as dictators. Just horrible and wholly unnecessary in our rich and varied language.
ReplyDeleteWord on the streets is dating in modern times is also horrible, but I don't remember it being all that great back in the 80s either.
I also have a cat and he lays out and stretches on the puzzles. Super aggravating if it wasn't so cute.
Moreover (vis-à-vis my previous comment about DOUCHE as my WOD), I would like to point out to Rex that his focus on DOUCHE as connected "99%" with "the vagina" is homophobic and heterocentric. I sooooo badly want to explain why...but I think I will choose not to LAY IT ALL OUT THERE, and let people either use their imagination or do some research. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
ReplyDeletejammon, how are you making phone calls without dialing a number?
ReplyDeleteMy first thought as to "Sleeper, e.g." was [Woody Allen] FILM. Which, for those who did not grow up in the 1970s with three older brothers, has the same revolutionary anthem as "Bananas" (as well as basically the same plot).
ReplyDeleteMike in Brooklyn,
ReplyDeleteAre you following Joshua Katz's case? Appalling of course but also surely a sign of the times.
@Anonymous 10:34 AM - In fact, I was totally unaware of the case. I'm a classicist by training, but not by profession, so I don't generally know about such things. I just read an article about it in The Washington Free Beacon. It is indeed a sign of the times. But you are probably not surprised to learn that it is Katz's behavior that I find appalling, not that of Eisgruber or Princeton. As Tatianna famously said in "Ru Paul's Drag Race All Stars 2"—"Choices."
Delete@Anonymous 10:34 AM - PS: After all, my dissertation was entitled "Mensura Incognita: Queer Kinship and Camp Aesthetics in Juvenal's Ninth Satire." My thesis advisor was Craig Williams, who *literally* wrote the book on Roman homosexuality. Interestingly, my greatest scholarly nemesis was Holt Parker, late of the University of Cincinnati, who in 2016 was arrested (and subsequently sentenced to four years in federal prison) on child pornography charges. Once again, Tatianna's dictum is apt: "Choices."
DeleteAnswers I couldn't get to fit:
ReplyDeletePlethora: Abundance of dancing at a Jewish wedding
Residents of Splitsville: Bowling pins
Porter alternative: Schlep your own damn bags -- what the hell did you pack in here?
Worth it for @Rex's picture of Alfie belting out "Memory." Add me to the defenders of LOGY and to any other admirers of those who thought of "lavage." As far as pieces fitting together goes, I liked COAT x HANG, had trouble finding the right ones for the RUSS - STRAHAN area. Interesting last line with OPT IN --> ELOPE, with REST maybe = "happily ever after"?
ReplyDeleteEasy. THere before THOSE was it for erasures. Delightful and amusing, liked it a bunch!
ReplyDeleteFWIW: Michael K. Wliiiams, Idris Elba, Sonja Sohn, Wendell Pierce, and Andre Royo, to name a few, all had emmy worthy performances on THE WIRE
You knew someone was gonna put this on the turntable.
ReplyDeleteI kind of like the puzzle but I don't know if the "love life" parallel really works for the last two themers. I don't think people say "I'm trying to find the right fit" when they mean they are still looking for Mr/Ms Right. Sounds a bit clinical. And the last answer in particular could be applied to too many situations to register specifically in a romantic context.
Phrazle 59: 2/6
⬜🟪🟪 ⬜🟪 🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟨🟪🟨 🟪🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
This was difficult for a Wednesday, maybe because I kept writing in the wrong word and then having to write over it — for example, wanting to “put it” rather than “lay it” all out there. Or thinking of “sluggish” as “lazy” before “logy.” Or misreading “Steffi” as “Steffani” and writing “Gwen” before “Graf.” But the solve was fun and I enjoyed the theme. Given today’s divorce rate, I was half waiting for the step where you realize that there is an important piece missing and go out to get another puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI have twice tried to watch THE WIRE and not been able to get past the second episode due mainly to disliking the characters. But today’s clue for it made me want to try again. So if it truly turns out to be the second-best TV series of all time, I will be forever thankful to Andy Kravis for giving me the nudge I needed.
The Big Picture:
A llama from Milano
Grazing in the llano
I watched "The Shield" with Michael Chiklis and Walton Goggins"(My favorite name ever). Not seen THE WIRE but wonder if it's anything like Shield, cops and drugs and stuff. Maybe I'll try it but it's such a dark theme.
ReplyDeleteVOTESIN and OPTSIN walked into my GHOST bar. Once IN, they exchanged some LUCRE, did a little LOGY, saddled up to the bar, and ordered EDIBLE MEAT and some PAULI LAGER.
ReplyDeleteIrma the DOUCHE was the bartended that evening. She was a WILLOW of a lass but always wore a COWL that would HANG like a red clad pajama LLAMA. OH BOY, PIPED the TROPE sitting in his corner. We're going to see some GORE and get ILL. Do you SEE THE BIG PICTURE? DOUCHE yelled. "Just go ahead and LAY IT ALL OUT THERE!" ....."So you want me to PICK UP THE PIECES that were left by all the GORE? ....She continued her rant: I can't FIND THE RIGHT FIT!...I need HELP....WEST kept screaming "To err is human" ...
The GHOST bar needed a REST. GRAF, sipping her PAULI, just kept muttering "leggo my EGGO." The PEP was gone...the LUXE replaced by a slew of NYET....the ATTIC light was dimmed and everyone sang "twenty one bottles of beer on the wall."
The neon sign...hanging over the bar, said " I LOVE THIS PUZZLE"
@RP: Nope. nope. Sorry, but these themers are woefully inconsistent. Three of em have the word "THE" in em, but the first themer has a close but no cigars "THERE", instead.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, THEWIRE entry does try to make amends, eventually. har [hmm … THEWIRE still has THERE hidin within it, tho…]
staff weeject pick: SHH. Better clue: {"No way do we get real detailed with that DOUCHE clue!"}.
Was gonna suggest PIPET/TOUCHE as an escape rinse, but I see the wily @Roo beat m&e to it.
fave theme support crew: PLAYFUL. ENOUGH. DOUCHE. LUXE. REST/WEST [Due to the classic {What do wabbits do when they are tiwed of wunnin awound??} = GOWEST.]
M&A used to do a few jigsaw puzs, usually cuz someone gave one to us as a holiday gift. Don't recall our second move ever bein to pick up all the pieces, tho. Usually, once we had em all laid out there, we'd snoop around for corner pieces and edge pieces. Pick up all the pieces was more what we'd do, once we gave up. Ahar! … Maybe we had the wrong strategy!
Thanx for the puz about a puz, Mr. Kravis dude. Positively puz-zest.
Masked & Anonymo5Us
**gruntz**
When DOUCHE appears, Rex says “I see vagina”, while @Mike in Bed-Stuy says ACIDIC.
ReplyDeleteI feel LOGY YETI GAB that ONEDAY IOTA have a GORE-tex COATI can wear. A COWL beat a LLAMA to the LLANO IBET.
I’m OPTIN to call this an excellent Wednesday puzzle. Thanks Andy Kravis.
@Mike in Bed-Stuy:
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Long forgotten the specifics, but in some class in college, there was some book with some subtext about homosexuality... in the ancient Greek armies. IIRC, the justification, in Greek society, was that soldiers would fight with greater enthusiasm to save their lovers. Perhaps some -ologists have studied that thread in modern (20th century and later) armies?? No idea; not something I've contemplated in many years until your comment.
@Anonymous 11:41 AM - The part about lovers and courage in battle is from Phaedrus's speech in the Symposium (Plato). And I would say homosexuality is not a subtext in the Symposium—It's ALL OUT THERE, as it were. The symposium (dinner party) takes place at the home of Agathon, a more-or-less "openly gay" tragic poet who has just won the prize for tragedy in the annual festival of Dionysus (416 BC). (Agathon is the lover of Pausanias, who is also present at the symposium). Now you're firmly in my wheelhouse, and I could go on for 1000s of words, but out of kindness to the readers of this blog, I will not.
DeleteAnyone ever have "A dog from hell" ? Our family had Louie. His two favorite things were knocking down our two year old when he was learning to walk and chewing on the legs of our new coffee table. One night as the family was sitting around the table working on our annual Christmas jigsaw puzzle ritual, Louie jumped up and pissed all over the puzzle. We found him a nice home with a family that lived on a farm.
ReplyDelete"Leggo my Froffles" ? No.
Have always hated "logy".Atleast throw another "g" in there, but log-isms just don't work. "like a bump on a log" ? What the hell is that supposed to conjure up? "Sawing logs" ? Nope.
So that's Sade ? Then who is the guy with the ritual scars on his face? I can't even figure out how to look that up.
Liked the Irma la douche reference, I think I might use it when OFL goes on ones of his epic rants, "What an Irma".
Nice puzzle.
Am I crazy or isn't this essentially the same theme as 8/8/21? Had we not fully exhausted the wackiness of the conceit?
ReplyDeleteIT'S IRMA LA DOUCE. NO "H", THAT'S NO "H". JEESH!!!!
ReplyDeleteMy only writeover was having there, then these, before THOSE. Easy enough before that. I agree with OFL's assessment here.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to add that a DOUCHE was a frequent treatment for men in Victorian times, often associated with a Turkish bath. Macaulay, whose Journals I have, reports going for a DOUCHE several times in the late 1850s. And yet he totally rejected the "cures" at Malvern, a place he was otherwise totally in love with. Looking it up, they offered DOUCHEs as well as medical administration of the famous waters. The douche was per anum, but the waters were per os.
And when I was young in the 1950s, in Los Angeles, there were many ads in the paper for colonic irrigation. Considered an important health treatment by many.
@TJS – I believe you're thinking of Seal.
ReplyDeleteSecond Phrazle:
Phrazle 60: 2/6
⬜🟨🟪 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨 ⬜🟩⬜🟪 ⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩
"Lucre" means "money". It only becomes "Dirty money" when you put "filthy" in front of it.
ReplyDeleteI smiled when I came to LOGY. I like that word. Just saying it makes me a little, um, moist.
ReplyDeleteIn think that, in musical terms, we have to imagine repeat signs bracketing the second and third theme entries. That is, you pick up a piece, find the right fit, then go back and pick up another piece. Once you have done that 1,000 times you can see the big picture.
ReplyDelete@Upstate George, I had the same thought -- but yet we all got it right away, I'll bet. Since we only see the word at all when preceded by 'filthy,' LUCRE has come to seem dirty in its own right.
Ah (RE)DIAL phones! I think I was in 7th grade when they came to Sturgeon Bay. Suddenly we had to have longer numbers, changing from 241 to 2534 (and a few years later to 743-2534). And I think it meant the end of party lines, making it harder to snoop on your neighbors. But the worst thing was you had to remember (or look up) the numbers, rather than just telling the operator whom you wanted them to ring. Now we've come full circle--I can just tell my phone whom to ring. Progress!
Question: how many Michaels are in the NFL Hall of Fame? I needed all the crosses.
Usually when I fail to fully read a clue, I miss the back half, but somehow, today, I managed to miss the "love" aspect of the theme clues and only saw the jigsaw parts - missing the BIG PICTURE entirely. When I read Jeff Chen at xwordinfo, I thought, what is he going on about, love phrases? Then I reread the clues, oh.
ReplyDeleteI raised my eyebrows at 9D, surprised to see it in the puzzle. It could have been clued as "Mondegreen commonly heard in "Blinded By the Light" or some such thing.
I always guess wrong on ahh vs. aah, and today ssh before SHH.
Andy Kravis, thanks for a nice [jigsaw] puzzle puzzle.
I can remember sick days staying home from school and watching game shows and maybe a bit of soap operas. Seeing those douche commercials I had no idea what they were talking about. These two women talking about how their husbands like them to smell nice and fresh. But something told me they were not discussing perfume. When I finally grokked it, I was mortified. TMI! I do not want to think about this during Family Feud!!!
ReplyDeleteNow I don’t care at all and agree with Rex that you should just be upfront about it. Nothing to be queasy about.
Loved the clues for ELOPE (run into a hitch) and ERODE (eat dirt).
It took me a while to watch The Wire — and once I did, it took me a while to get into it. But once I did, wow. So amazing. So tragic to lose Michael K Williams this year, and go back and look at Michael B Jordan as a little kid. That little pipsqueak turned into the sexiest man alive? (And he is - and always will be.)
Had to know what RS ranked ahead of The Wire. The answer is …. the Sopranos. Believe it or not, I’ve never seen an episode of that one. Both shows ran at a time I wasn’t watching TV - before I knew TV shows could be so good. Worth going back to watch it?
A few years ago, I signed out several seasons of my library's DVDs of The Wire. Since we can only keep for a week, I laboriously copied them to mp4 files on my computer to watch at my leisure. Some weeks later I was making space on my hard drive, noticed a folder called "The Wire", and thought: oh, that's the movie with Joseph Gordon Levitt, about the guy who walked between the World Trade Center towers; I've finished watching that. So I deleted it. Yeah, I've heard it was a good series...
ReplyDeleteAs others have mentioned, DOUCHE is spoken quite often when checking in to hotels in French. "Chambre avec douche, s'il vous plait!" I wonder if there is a term for words that have a very specific meaning in English, but a different one in the source language. For instance as a tourist in Italy: opera, camera, and piano usually mean construction, room, and floor.
[Spelling Bee: yd 3:20 to pg then to 0 later. QB one day in a row!]
Thanks, @Joe D, thats the guy. Senior moment, one of many.
ReplyDeleteThere are only 9 Michaels in the Pro Football Hall of Fame ( There is no such thing as the NFL Hall of Fame).
ReplyDelete1964 Mike Michaske
1984 Mike McCormack
1988 Mike Ditka
1997 Mike Haynes
1997 Mike Webster
1998 Mike Singletary
2001 Mike Munchak
2007 Michael Irvin
2014 Michael Strahan
Not surprisingly there's only one Junious.
Someone above was speculating about Greek soldiers. You may be thinking about the Scared Band of Thebes.
Mike in Brooklyn,
No, I'm not surprised you're on the wrong side of things. Princeton's actions are shameful. And you know it. The Academy is no place for wokeness.
@Anonymous 3:24 PM - Dear unwoke friend—It is quite fine for you to say that I am on the wrong side of things, and that Princeton's actions are shameful, and that the academy is no place for wokeness. But I gently and respectfully ask you to think twice about statements like "And you know it." When you say that, you are suggesting that I articulate positions that I do not earnestly espouse. Not sure why you do that, but you do. Please be assures—When I espouse a position, I do so quite earnestly. Please to disagree, please do argue. But please do not state that I do not mean precisely what I say.
DeleteToo many sports questions
ReplyDeleteI found the clue for DOUCHE to be rather
ReplyDeleteinclusive. For those that partake in anal sex (like
gay men like me), it felt apt.
Phrazle 60: 2/6
ReplyDelete🟨⬜🟨 🟩🟨🟪⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟪⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩
@Wanderlust - I’m currently rewatching The Sopranos and enjoying it immensely. If you have HBO Max the whole series is available for streaming. I would also highly recommend Wire creator David Simon’s HBO series “Treme” about post Katrina New Orleans. The music is terrific.
ReplyDeleteSomeone please tell me in which possible universe out of all the possible ones in the multiverse is "lay it all out there" an expression. The expression is "put it all out there" or, alternatively, "lay it on [or all on] the line." As far as I am concerned, this is just another instance of the rules for NYTXW construction having gone lax, allowing laziness and self-indulgence and whatever is convenient to the current generation of talent-impaired constructors to do whatever they want, make up expressions willy-nilly and stick them in f***-all fashion into their shoddily constructed works. What a load of bushwa. I'm totally disgusted by this.
ReplyDelete@M&A
ReplyDeleteGO WEST was the Marx Brothers, not Mae or Bugs.
MM's Blinded by the Light was a great radio song that concentrated and exploded some of the hooks of the Springsteen song, and leads with a rewritten or misheard hook that intentionally or accidently creates the DOUCHE ambiguity. I enjoy the Mann take but much prefer Bruce's original version with its tsunami of words, verses, and live energy heralding a new bat out of hell Dylanesque explosion. Soon to have his own style completely. I wore out those first two LPs. Just what the music world needed.
@anon
I thought of that earlier jigsaw puzzle too. I didn't look it up but this puzzle seemed better than my memory of that one. I or maybe Rex or fellow boggers had more complaints about the theme answers I think.
Surprised Rex did not mention it.
I do not count PIECES as a POC leaving only 3 in this puzzle, and two cross each other, not at the S. The other one is an example of what I call sertasealyness because it makes me LOGE, a word I dislike as much as LUXE.
Why is LOGE even a word? Just use loggy which is more intuitive (sleep like a log and it sounds better). Or how about slothy or slothe?
It might be somewhat appropriate or Greecian or tautlogical to make LOG the word of the day.
For all you people who complain that “no one says that“, “that isn’t a thing“, “never heard of that (hence it doesn’t exist)“, I guarantee you that if you go over to the next state or the next town or even the next block you will find that what you’ve never heard is the very common usage.
ReplyDelete@Anon 3:24 - Crying that you're being fired for not being "Woke" might, just might, be a red herring for the fact that you're being fired for having multiple inappropriate relationships with female students, i.e. cause.
ReplyDeleteThe Academy is no place for wokeness. - 😂🤣😂🤣😂
ReplyDeleteI mean,😂🤣😂🤣😂, Hold on Hold on, 😂🤣😂🤣😂, no really I mean 😂🤣😂🤣😂😂🤣😂🤣😂😂🤣😂🤣😂😂🤣😂🤣😂... I'm sorry,{gasp gasp}... I don't mean to laugh at you but you say such incredibly stupid things how can one not?
BTW - Lux Esto or perhaps, as they etch into a wall at a certain university, In the nation’s service and the service of humanity.
@ghost
ReplyDeleteThe multiverse that includes country singer Drew Gregory.
Or NY Rangers blog:
blueshirts GameDay | On November 8, 2021
Rangers vs Panthers by the numbers: Time to lay it all out there.
Or various slang dictionaries that define it precisely as used.
Overwhelming? Not really. Adequate? By my low standards.
Worth a rant? Not by my high standards. Opinions may differ.
From previous post:TANKS-mAsKS.
I waited to see.
Z
ReplyDeleteThe academy is no place for wokeness. That it is the home of wokeness is a pity not a validation.
Wokeness stifles the exchange of ideas.
You are an embarrassment.
Nice job, Mr. Kravis. The sayings are not corny puns but are just familiar adages that “add up to” a fine reveal. I had a little trouble with Michael STRAHAN and a lot of trouble with ERODE. The ? was no help. Made me look for a single word for “getting yours.” Other than those little places, an easy and enjoyable Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteYour Catholic faith is a wokeness that is oft in conflict with respect for academic ideals. Somewhat improved since the days of Galileo.
ReplyDeleteThis very same theme was done just last year, on 8/8/21. I feel like today’s was somewhat more enjoyable, except that the whole time I was thinking to myself, “didn’t they just do this theme?” - https://rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com/2021/08/response-to-little-red-hen-sun-8-8-21.html?m=0
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete@Anon 9:01 - As said above, he probably got fired for being unable to keep his hands of the coeds, and is using the "wokeness" as a red herring.
ReplyDeleteFrank Langella just got fired from a movie, and is running around claiming he's the victim of "cancel culture". What he's the victim of is being fired for repeatedly ignoring the rules laid out by Netflix, the intimacy coordinator and his costar prior to the intimate scenes. Because "I'm an actor, and I need to be able to experiment, to get the feel for my motivation and actions". Well, you don't get to ignore the rules and paw at a woman who says no. Also, you don't get to do it the second time, after you've been told, again, that you can't do that. You get your ass fired, that's what happens.
The Prof got away with a warning, and a year off, on the first one with his first intimate relationship with a student. When the others popped up, maybe he just got his ass fired for doing repeatedly doing things that get you fired. Being the honorable man he clearly is, he blamed it all on something else.
BYW, I don't think "xokeness" means what you think it means. It means, essentially, being aware of, and sensitive to, the plight of others. Why you choose to weaponize that is beyond comprehension.
This was not at all an easy puzzle for me, mostly because of PAULI, IBSEN and SADE all crossing RUSS, none of which I was familiar with. Additionally, I had never herd of the idiom “gift of GAB”, which made that whole central west region completely impossible 😑
ReplyDeleteThis article information was really wonderful. Which is very much useful for me and impressed by reading.
ReplyDeleteups wiring + ups installation
ENOUGH INFO
ReplyDeleteBOY, FINDTHERIGHT teases,
LAYITALLOUTTHERE, OPTIN,
PICKUP PLAYFUL PIECES,
IBET you wili VOTE_SIN.
--- RUSS WEST
I don't want to put down Rolling Stone, but THEWIRE? If it's so great, why did I NEVER HEAR OF IT?? And if #1 wasn't M*A*S*H I throw out the whole survey. I had THE_IRE (on crosses), and I actually had to run the alphabet--even with _ILLOW going across!
ReplyDeleteI do count jigsaw puzzles among my pastimes; working on one right now. The themers are somewhat applicable, though the second one is a bit vague. But then again, the phrase there is so good he (A.K.) couldn't resist. So, thumbs up for the theme. The fill is...PLAYFUL. An all-around birdie.
Starting a bogey string now: ugh!
YYBBB
BBYBG
BBBYG
GBBGG
GGGGG
I will never again gloat about a subpar string.
A very well crafted puzzle. The theme was spot on because of the perfect double meanings that were not forced resulting in just ENOUGH chuckles and aha! moments.I also liked having both LLAMA and LLANO. The cluing for HELP (57D) and TMI (66D) was a touch unfair. 57D was vague and the blank could have been just about anything. 66D did not indicate an abbreviated phrase was the answer. The meta clue of 56D and 29D was also an added challenge for that corner, but in the end it was solvable via the crosses. Putting all that ASIDE, those are just minor nits for this PLAYFUL and enjoyable solve.
ReplyDeleteAlternative cluing for 9D DOUCHE Parisian shower
Straight down the middle and a two putt…
ReplyDeleteWordle 368 4/6*
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟨⬜⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
This was one of the easier Wednesday's, except for one thing. For whatever reason the on-line version that came out today got wonky on the down clues starting at clue 30. Clue 30 was blank and every clue thereafter was offset by one (i.e. Clue 31 was the actual clue for 30 down, clue 48 was the actual clue for 47 down, etc.) Once I clued (pun intended) into that little glitch the rest of the solve went fairly well.
ReplyDeleteI was a bit surprised at a couple of foreign language answers that weren't clued as such. The most obvious of this was 16A: Grassy plain : LLANO. Lucre and Coati feel that way to me too but I guess they've become a bit more mainstream.
I thought this puz was just fine. All those long phrases FIT in without seeming dumb or corny. The corners are TONS of help, like a jigsaw puz.
ReplyDeleteBut wordle, OHBOY! I'll blame the bogey on taking two business meetings in the middle of it. Spoiler alert for anyone yet to do it. I was buried in blue after inter, not so good with lousy, having doubts about qualm, [then the meetings], couldn't swallow it with my uvula, and then finally just felt awful green.
Only one other person commented on (at least in the on-line version) the fact that 30 down was blank, and all other "down" clues from that point on were shifted over one (i.e., 31 down clue (Number of cards in Texas hold'em) fit the spaces of 30 down, etc. I think this was intentional ... you had to "pick up the pieces" then "find the right fit". I solved the top section very quickly and then for a few moments was stumped on the bottom half, but I had enough of the across answers that I was able to pretty quickly see the "fit".
ReplyDeleteI spent the first year of the pandemic doing jigsaws, so this brought back good memories. I never watched THEWIRE, but a friend really liked it. I get most of my TV info from the newspaper.
ReplyDeleteAnd then - what the L L? Was hoping for LL to become another theme. It didn't. Oh weLL.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords