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Virtual critters since 1999 / TUE 5-24-22 / Classic lollipop with a Mystery Flavor flavor / Bit of gear for a talk show host / Online retailer whose first sale was a broken laser pointer / Crunchy wasabi-coated morsel / Me day destination / Creatures in a pod / Fish that's an ambush predator / Parodist Yankovic / Mononymous king of football
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
Constructor: Ella Dershowitz
Relative difficulty: Medium, probably, though I was a little slow (***for a Tuesday***)
Theme answers:
- there aren't any, really
n. pl. cal·um·nies1. A false statement maliciously made to injure another's reputation.2. The utterance of maliciously false statements; slander. (thefreedictionary.com)
• • •
1) This is really a very clever idea2) What the hell kind of modernist / avant-garde chairs are these!? Where are their rear legs? How do they not topple over?
It's more like I'm looking at people sitting in the chairs rather than the chairs themselves. The shapes vaguely resemble people doing chair pose, perhaps on a YOGA MAT, or maybe at the wall, with the wall providing back support. And yet those shapes evoke chairness well enough, and you couldn't work at all if the chairs actually had legs, so the simple three-stroke suggestion of a chair is plenty. We get the idea. And all the musicals are very well known—iconic even. Very Tuesday-appropriate. The fill, on the other hand, felt a bit amped-up from your usual Tuesday fare. Those "chairs" would've put a lot of stress on the grid, and made it somewhat challenging to fill ... and yet the complete lack of traditional theme answers really opens up possibilities, and the puzzle maximizes those today, turning this into a somewhat lively themeless at the level of ordinary solving (that is, if you took the circled squares out, you'd only have to take the latter half of the MUSICAL CHAIRS clue off to have yourself a totally themeless puzzle). The result of this fill freedom is a couple of lovely longer pairs in the middle: ROOMIES / CALUMNY on the one side, WEIRD AL / ERASURE on the other. I once saw WEIRD AL open for ERASURE in 1989. Well, no, I didn't. But I *definitely* would have.
I was slower than normal today, I think. My main problem was that I just couldn't turn the corner and zip into the NE or the SW sections from the center. Teeny tiny openings meant that if I didn't get the connecting word, I got jammed, and I couldn't get the connecting word quickly either time, first, because it seemed inscrutable to me ("What kind of a mic is an -LMIC ... a PANEL MIC? Because the host is interviewing a panel?")
and then because the possibilities for the latter half of the answer seemed endless ("AIR ... strips? ways? lanes? What are they going for here? [time passes] OMG it's just -PORTS!? That's too obvious, how dare they!?") (41D: Sites of frequent touchdowns).
In the case of LAPEL MIC, wow, first, I was imagining the wrong kind of "talk show host" (think Oprah or Maury or Donahue, not Colbert). And also, all the late-night, desk-interviewing "talk show hosts" I can think of, or many of them, make a big show of putting an olde-tymey radio mike right on the desk (even if they are actually using LAPEL MICs). It's a perfectly good answer, LAPEL MIC, but I could not peep it through that tiny one-square opening. The AIRPORTS snafu is totally on me. As happens sometimes, my brain just froze on the seemingly infinite selection of possibilities. I also had trouble with PELE because "Football" threw me (my brain went digging in the wrong sport) (5D: Mononymous "King of Football"), and then ORCAS, holy cow, I was so mad that the puzzle was trying to sell the idea that OKRAS were "creatures" (21A: Creatures in a pod). Lastly, for some reason SOLACE took a lot of thinking, or crossing, or whatever. My brain just gummed up a little on that one. I blame the OKRAS fiasco.
Notes:
- 32D: Condition that affects executive function, in brief (ADHD) — me, with A-H- in place: "Yes, when I have an ACHE, my executive function is impaired, I guess, good clue!"
- 19A: What good art can make you do (FEEL) — see also "bad art" and, well, really almost anything. I kept looking around for a word that was supposed to follow FEEL, like INSPIRED or QUEASY.
- 45A: Classic lollipop with a "Mystery Flavor" flavor — when I go into my bank (yes, I still physically enter the physical bank), I have a ritual, which is Raid the DUMDUM Baskets! I'm looking for Root Beer, but I will definitely take a Mystery Flavor (flavor).
See you tomorrow.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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89 comments:
I woke up in quite a good mood today and solving this puzzle lifted me even higher. What a gem! What a delight! While I value my own opinions of a puzzle, it was gratifying to see that one of the experts, Jeff Chen, chose it for his POW. And @Rex had nothing bad to say.
Loved this puzzle! And thanks for the Erasure clip.
YMMV, but ... I thought this was an exceptionally clever puzzle. Congrats to the constructor!
Ella, you had me at CALUMNY, which I love the sound of, SWADDLE, which warms my heart, and DUMDUM, which triggered long-hibernating sweet memories. You had me at a higher-than-usual number of Tuesday answers I couldn’t slap in after reading the clue (yet plenty of easier answers for newer solvers). Your simple-yet-adorable theme charmed me. And PELE and WEIRD AL stood out as well-known people that make me feel good, gifts to the world.
Thus, I’ve been had in the very best way. My day has begun with a lovely plus-one. Thank you for making this, Ella!
I do like to think about the theme as I go. With the revealer in the center, not the bottom where it belongs, I had NEWSIES and CABARET in place when I got there.
I've never heard of NEWSIES, so for some reason I assumed that was a type of chair. And I figured the circles would be read left-to-right, so the second one was TERABAC. And at this point, I'm thinking wow, these are some obscure chair types we are getting.
Then came CHICAGO/OGACIHC, which really could only be read top-to-bottom as CHICAGO, so I reinterpreted TERABAC as CABARET, and still I thought we were talking about types of chairs.
Thus, not until the final corner and ALADDIN did I realize that they were musicals, not chair types.
The neat thing about the construction is that each musical has to have a three-letter string that is a standalone word: NEW, CAB, AGO, DIN.
Amy here. Sparkly puzzle, liked it a lot. Tuesday with a splash of seltzer. Always happy to find musicals in my crossword! Hope to see more of your work, Ella.
Tough for me before it opened up. Camping Rental was hard going for a Tuesday Van. Cheapen and Raw Silk? Great! But my brain was set for low effort, with a slight case of morning Asfaras. The fog started to life with Lapel Mic.
Cluing NYT, cluing. Wrench Handle. Clever but not too clever, well maybe a tad too for Tuesday, but a generation of Ikea furniture assemblers salutes you Ms. Dershowitz. Waves Perhaps for Says Hi, wow.
Calumny, I’ve gone a lifetime thinking it was some kind of disaster. Now I know. Struggled there for the longest time. Is that a composed Cacophony embedded in Rhapsody in Blue? Neat to be reminded of it.
Small correction. PELE played soccer.
Solved as a themeless - the circle art doesn’t do it for me. The center west was nice - CALUMNY, SOLACE, NSYNC all solid. Too many flat 3s and 4s don’t help the groove here - OHNO - YOLO?
Not sure SWADDLE has anything to do with holding or loving -wrapping tightly yes. I understand the nuance but it is poorly written for early week.
There’s SOLACE at the bottom of a bottle
I’m just not seeing this one.
I had some difficulty with the SE corner. YOLO? But I definitely enjoyed the puzzle
1999 was my hay day and let me tell you- all the rage back then (literally the entirety of the rage) was buzzin' around Geopets! Neopets?Never have I ever.
Otherwise what a great Tuesday puzzle. Officially a fan of Ella. Real neat stacking in all 4 corners (with the one aforementioned exception). Looking forward to her next one.
Pretty much exactly what one would want on a Tuesday - just enough amped-up difficulty to contrast with Monday, with little dreck and stuff to scratch your head about, and some very good clues (see ANKLET and AIRPORTS for example).
NEOPETS was the outlier today. Even after some cursory research, I'm still not sure what they are - they appear to be cartoon or cartoon-like animals that you a can buy or maybe adopt on line and then play/feed/maintain them? I wonder if you have to log on and walk your NEOdog twice a day - (no I did not actually visit the site).
@JD (7:25) -- You and I could misuse CALUMNY in a conversation and understand each other perfectly.
I expected a snarky remark about wearing an anklet and socks simultaneously. Also … what … no movie clip from Double Indemnity?
Perhaps the puzzle took a bit longer due to minimal of "dreck", which is always easy. And what we was there had decent clues, like for eel. Seemed more like the pleasant experience of a Wednesday bto me, because I had to think about a few...airport was great. ADHD said some serious about the syndrome. Someone took cluing this puzzle seriously, so I got the fun of it.
Pele called it football, as they do outside the states. Made us think a bit, even if it was a Tuesday. Hurrah.
only the addition of the great and also nine lettered musical Hadestown would have improved this.
Was it wrong to use the word silent in the clue for ASL?
I wasted $10 on the Merriam-Webster App, hoping it provided a definition for SWADDLE which matched the clue. It didn't.
I liked the rest of the puzzle.
Last week I posted The Perfect Summary of Being a Teenager in 1976 video, Kiss’ Beth. Today Rex gives us the epitome of the late 1980’s. Candidly, no need to watch the video. Just listen. I swear to gof there was exactly one dude singing lead on 75% of the pop singles, and they were all being backed by the same drum machine. That 1980’s voice and that drum machine perfectly encapsulates the 1980’s. Well, that and Molly Ringwald.
@JD and @Birchbark - Misusing CALUMNY would be a calamity.
@The Joker - Some days I think you just want to see the world burn.
A fine Tuesday themeless. I do think the circle art does capture the essence of chairyness, but I wouldn’t sit in one. My only disappointment was that the ARRÊT EAU column didn’t end in sonnerie.
Fun puzzle! I got Cabaret first and then Chicago and actually thought “is the theme Kander and Ebb musicals?” Which is why I had no friends. In high school.
Excellent puzzle, tough for a Tuesday.
Had SOothE before SOLACE and AIRstRip before AIRPORTS (poor job of paying attention to the POC). Got stuck on wanting 68A, Announcement upon a late arrival, to begin with the second person pronoun wE'RE instead of HERE. Knew the French word for "Stop," but not how to spell it!
Our family took in a WEIRDAL concert in South Florida in the 90s--what a blast! Multiple costume changes and more energy from AL than you'd find in a room full of kiddies playing MUSICAL CHAIRS.
Love the "hidden" musical titles; have a friend in the Broadway cast of ALADDIN currently. And all those "circles in the squares" brought to mind a well known Broadway theatre.
Fabulous puzzle except when someone like me writes in VHS as the first answer and then spends the majority of the time trying to grok the ungrokkable all because of the stupidly equally accurate VCR would have made the puzzle solvable, but it was my last entry I finally put into this maddening machine.
I blame lead poisoning. I read a news piece yesterday asserting GenX is 6 IQ points stupider than we should be due to lead poisoning. Years ago I read GenX had the lowest ACT scores of any generation, probably due to being latch key children watching Gilligan's Island too much. I am pretty sure sitting in the back seat while our parents smoked didn't help. We also raised the millennials without consequences, so we'll see if stupid is as stupid does.
Anyway, VCR/VHS.
The architecture of this puzzle is simply splendid. Favorite clue was for YOGA MAT. Least favorite answer was LEAD CAR. Did not know DUM DUMS have a "Mystery Flavor." I thought they only had grape and cherry and some knuckle-dragger took all the cherry ones so you're stuck with grape, and the lady at the bank doesn't seem to care.
Also, who wears an anklet under socks? Don't you wear them without socks? Or, at least over socks? I need to read a book on anklets someday, or on socks.
And finally, what's it gonna take for me to convince the venerable NYTXW editorial staff it's OHO, not AHA.
Thx, Ella, for this crunchy Tues. puz! :)
Med.
Felt a bit tougher than med., but time-wise was avg for a Tues.
No SPACIng out on this one; full attention required.
CALUMNY: now there's a late-week word fitting nicely into an early week grid! :)
Fun solve. :)
@jae
After last week's debacle, this one felt soooo good. Only 2 1/2 hrs (3 x a tough NYT Sat.), which places it slightly south of avg for a Croce. As always, a very enjoyable, energizing challenge! Oh, btw, the 'E' clue got answered by the cross (still, had to look it up afterwards). See you next week! :)
___
yd: Duo: 34/37
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
I think I am in the minority, but I lost interest in the puzzle even though I recognized its positive features. I am not surprised Jeff awarded a POW to this puzzle. But, for me, it just did not hit me in a good way.
I think I would have been happier if the clues were made a little more difficult and the puzzle showed up on a Wednesday.
Wow! Found it "hard" for a Tuesday🤣
A DUM DUM is nice every now and again. I tend to get a little antsy if I go too long without crossing over to a Lollipop, or if I really deserve a treat, I will break out a Blow Pop. Now that the weather is warming up, I'm looking forward to the unique enjoyment of sitting out front peoplewatching on a hot summer day content with my iced Bomb Pop.
Ahem, as they do outside the US and Canada
Hey you two. His handle is @The Joker. Stop taking life so seriously. 😃
Wow, my mileage really *did* vary. This was the hardest Tuesday I can remember -- Saturday-plus level of difficulty. At least, as I peruse the comments, I'm not alone....
I actually came to this site to see what rex's rant would be about AYN Rand, and to my pleasant surprise there was - - nothing. Tried to figure out why there was a Public Enemy song posted as a video, and perhaps it was because it was sung by Flavor Flav?? Playing off on the "flavor" clue? That was a little subtle for me.
Excellent puz. We saw Cabaret many years ago at the old Studio 54 which had been repurposed into a theater. Alan Cumming as the MC. Amazing.
This is such a lovely Tuesday puzzle and a bear to construct I would think. The theme is excellent. The little chairs were cute. CALUMNY was my favorite answer. SWADDLE was my least because the clue missed the key component of the SWADDLE, a snug baby wrap. Thank goodness for PELE, he saves me again from a “football” clue.
Hey All !
HERE I AM! OH NO! The DUM DUM BOAR SAYS HI
😁
Nice puz, quite surprised Rex didn't complain about the choppy grid. I usually don't find grids choppy that he does, but I did find todays like that, and he didn't! Always full of surprises. There still is average 38 Blocker count, bit still feels choppy. WEIRD.
Did like the Theme. Literal. Nice so many seven-letter MUSICALs out there. I'm betting @Nancy has seen them all, her of theater-going.
SAYS HI was odd to see in the grid, especially coming at it from below, I had __YSHI, and thought it might be a Pokemon. Har. Had LAPELpIn and was waiting for the complaints of why it was specified as talk show hosts. RAWhide first for RAWSILK. Hey, you never know...
No more ROOMIES for this ROO. Been there, done that, got the counseling bill!
yd -8, should'ves
Non Duo doing yesterday
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
I admit I had no idea what the circles were for until I came here. After staring for a bit, I did finally get the connection with the MUSICALS but not the CHAIRS.
Wanted END ZONES for AIRPORTS. Liked HERE I AM (think Nathan Lane in The Birdcage). And who doesn’t love a DUM DUM? But two clues that rankled. ANKLET - why on earth would you wear one under a sock when the whole point of it is to draw attention to your $50 pedicure? And SWADDLE. Yes you might swaddle an infant and then lovingly hold it but holding it lovingly does not require swaddling. That one just didn’t work IMO.
Kind of a sweet innocent little theme though and certainly an easy stroll on a Tuesday morning.
I learned YOLO because it was one of the optional essay topics for Tufts University a few years back.
I found the circled chairs ended up helping me solve the puzzle, though it wasn't till CABARET followed shortly be the revealer that I figured out what letter was missing from NEWSIES.
I was very much a turtle today - slow and steady.
I laughed at the PELE football clue. I suspect his team called it fútbol, but I thought it was a cute misdirect.
Thankfully my kids were not into NEOPETS, other parents ended up being slaves to them.
Cucaracha! I needed all of my legs to actually finish this.
I looked at my calendar and it did say Tuesday. I had to get rid of my Tuesday hat and think possible Wednesday. This was delightful; I had to chew my meal carefully, but the dessert was MUSICAL.
I see everyone talking about CALUMNY. I think I know what it means but I've never said the word out loud because I don't know how I'm supposed to pronounce it.
Then we get to candy.....I've never heard of a DUM DUM nor have I ever had a SNOCAP. Give me some Boom Chicka Pop cheddar cheese popcorn and I'll watch anything.
Should I check up on NEWSIES? It was NEW to me...NGO is Greenpeace?... How do you pronounce that one? Miami University is in OHIO? Who screwed up the geography?
This really had some great words and some great cluing. I just needed to be less SPACIER.
Medium. Smooth grid, a couple of nice long downs, and a clever if somewhat odd theme, liked it.
I got CHICAGO first, then I got the NEW part of NEWsies and confidently filled in NEWYORK. that took awhile to unwind. I have seen all 4 of these musicals, Chicago three times. Love Broadway... we are going to London’s West End this summer and are disagreeing what show to see. My vote is for My Fair Lady.... my wife wants to see something different as we’ve seen that a few years ago at Lincoln Center. We’ll see...
Oops … forgot to check out the theme post-solve. Very nicely done! :)
Pure silk vs RAW SILK
"Pure silk is woven after treating the yarns chemically which removes all sticky protein layers. Raw silk is woven from untreated yarns which contain sericin. In its most natural form, the yarns are quite uneven and that gives the fabric a slightly coarse yet smooth texture with a gorgeous sheen. Raw silk is used extensively in making high end designer gowns and loose silhouettes like palazzo suits and lehenga cholis." (saree .com)
___
td: 23:17 / W: 4* / WH: 5
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
@Roy Ritter (8:22) ASL stands for American Sign Language, so no problem with the clue using “silent”. Sometimes vocalizing is also used along with signing, but not always.
For some strange reason my hang-up was at 59D, (thinking “tabs on cans? tabs on net searches?”) and 63A (when neither “cuddle” or “cradles” would fit- I even tried “crADDLE” for a minute @#*!)
Calumny👍
SWADDLE: “I do not think that word means what you think it means.” -Fezzik.
Inconceivable clueing error.
Liked the theme, though I don’t think I’d ever want to sit in one of those CHAIRS. I’ll take the YOGA MAT for now and a NEAT Scotch to help me get through the Yoga.
Had a Blockbusters flashback at 1D. Remember when you used to have to drive to a video store to rent a movie and then drive back the next day to return it? And if you wanted to call home to find out which movie to get, you’d have to find a phone booth somewhere and have the right change. And if no one was home when you called, you might leave a message on the phone machine?
Favorite answer: CALUMNY
Favorite clue: Wrench handle?
Nagging nit re 68A: If you’re going to say something when you arrive late, try an apology before you announce your existence.
Medium here, too, making for a welcome Tuesday challenge, with a wealth of winning entries. I happened to spot CABARET early, meaning that that when I got to the reveal, I was able to return to the NW corner and finish up NEWSIES as well as the VAN, VCR, and RAWSILK that had eluded me. I did my best to guess the remaining two musicals with as few crosses as possible, with CHICAGO being easy but ALADDIN hard - I hadn't realized music was involved.
Speaking of MUSICAL, CALUMNY got drilled into me at a singing competition where Rossini's aria on the subject ("La calunnia") was a favorite (beginning as a whisper, like a gentle breeze, CALUMNY drifts from ear to ear, gradually growing in force to roaring hurricane level and eventually killing its victim). Plenty of opportunity for a singer to show personality and vocal fireworks.
Do-over: TAnA. Help from previous puzzles: YOLO.
@Anonymous 11:06. You are really something! (In a bad way)
Nice Tuesday. Three or four spots where I actually had to look around for sure things before being confident, which is a rarity early week. Weird Al helped a lot, of all things. Liked the Allen wrench clue. Never heard of dum dums growing up in Chicago.
I have a feeling Rex didn't go after the Ayn Rand mention because he never read her. Silo-effect of higher ed these days. But at least he pointed us toward the Public Enemy oeuvre.
@GILL, @Beverly C and @Gary J: Thanks for the words of support yesterday.
@GILL (10:38) I’m with you on the Boom Chicka Pop goodies. I’ve never been a fan of kettle corn but I am hopelessly hooked on their Sweet & Salty version of the stuff. Nom nom!!
Not as enthusiastic as most today. Tried for a while to put my finger on why the grid didn’t bring @Lewis’s joy (nice to have you back at least) or Jeff’s POW justification, but failed there also. Wasn’t the multiple POCs though there were a couple, no rappers or other obscurata to whine about either……hummm. Maybe I just will go sit in the porch swing and yell at neighbor brats riding their ebikes over the lawn. When I enjoy a puzzle less than Rex, it must be Tuesday.
@OFL:
(even if they are actually using LAPEL MICs).
well... I admit to not watching one of those post-11pm shows in some years, but when I did, the host (and chat partners, too I think) were picked up by olde-fashioned boom mikes.
OTOH, I was stuck with LAVALIER for too long.
OTOOH, about as many use a handheld mike when their 'style' isn't desk oriented; daytime versions at one time.
@The Joker:
only in his dotage years in the US.
For a terrific mashup of old musicals, check out "Dancing on the ceiling" on YouYube. Really fun!
Great puzzle! But I agree the clue for swaddles doesn't quite work. I wanted cradle, but it didn't fit.
Ella Dershowitz has the LA and NYT puzzle today. How many times has that happened?
No Times delivery so far, so no puzzle. Therefore, won't read the blog, but I'll share this with you.
Phrazle 71: 2/6
🟩🟩 🟩 ⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩 🟩 🟩🟩🟩
There was a huge chance for a hole-in-one, but I blew it.
Golfer 1: OHNO! I don’t think I can hit it ASFARAS the green.
Golfer 2: DON worry, DUMDUM. This hole is PARABLE.
I’d trade two NEOPETS for one CHEAPEN.
We took our four year old granddaughter (coincidentally the brightest and cutest 4 year old on earth) to a parade Saturday. The passing fire trucks, political candidates, festival royalty and corgi club all showered the crowd with candy, including lots and lots of DUMDUMs.
Let me add Australia to the list of soccer playing nations, since their national team is named the Socceroos.
Nice conceit and good execution of everything. Thanks, Ella Dershowitz.
Good one. 👍🏽 Good fun.🤸🏽♀️
ARRETE ! (🛑 NE corner a bit of a slow down 🛑) ARRETE !
🤗🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖🤗
There’s room in the world for more than one way to use swaddle as a verb. Haven’t you guys ever heard of metonymy? Poetry is one of the pillars of puzzlery. Literalmindedness can be a liability.
@Birchbark, And wouldn't that be a calumny (that is to say, @Zed, a catastrophic, cacophonous mess).
This was a "guess the theme answers" type of puzzle, fun enough. The only one I actually guessed was CHICAGO.
Well, the baby Jesus was SWADDLEd and stuck in a manger, and presumably his parents loved him, but I agree that the love is not part of the definition. The point is to wrap the baby's arms to his or her side, to keep them quiet. Decades ago I took a course in social psychology from Alex Inkeles, who maintained that the Russian practice of swaddline babies made Russians more prone to accept authoritarian leaders. Maybe, although it didn't save Tsar Nicholas.
Are NEOPETS those things you could put on your phone (or PDA at the time, maybe) that you had to take care of every day or else they'd die? I've never actually encountered one, nor remembered what they were called.
@Roo, Rex does complain about choppiness, you must have missed it. It's the paragraph right after the Erasure video, illustrated by a screenshot of his grid mid-solve.
According to Alexander Pope, the poetic word for planet is PLANET:
"Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken..."
Pope, "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer"
I may not get here tomorrow through Sunday, we're flying to Colorado to watch my step-daughter get her PhD.
@bocamp - Speaking of wheelhouses I knew the E answer from Infinite Jest.
My pet capybara is having calabacitas and cocoa today. Whoda thunk such a thing was even possible.
@Ed Rorie - 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
First of all, I adore those iconic Panton chairs. Our publiic library children’s area has a few that were from a donor and if there is a youngster sitting in that area, that’s the chair of choice.
This puzzle was an absolute delight and an amazing feat that demonstrates the best in crossword construction artistry. Other than CALUMNY being one of my favorite words, that’s all I have to say.
Mods,
Dum dum is still a type of shell and lapel mic is still properly known as a lav. Delete my posts as you see fit, but ask yourself why you're carrying Rex's water. I said nothing uncivil, only that Rex's lack of knowledge showed. And it does.
Good theme, with puzgrid art and The Circles. Not up on my musicals enough to know of NEWSIES, but knew-sied all the others.
staff weeject pick: OBS. Better clue, tho: {Limited observation??} or {Not nearly obsolete??}.
fave stuffins: DUMDUM. HEREIAM. WEIRDAL. LAPELMIC. [The last two almost look like weird adjectives, when read as single words.]
re: POW awards: Congratz to the puz. But kinda hard for M&A to pick a Puz of the Week right now, when we don't get to see em all in advance. SunPuz also got a POW, so maybe Sunday don't count as the start of the puzweek. Anyhoo, condolences to all them 5 loser puzs, to come.
Thanx for the fun, Ms. Dershowitz darlin. Good job of sittin-downs on the job.
Masked & Anonymo3Us
**gruntz**
what @1:23 said. some Mods prove the axiom, "all power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely".
Good comments today. @egsforbreakfast: har for PARABLE (however, you're quite wrong about your granddaughter; my great niece is the brightest and cutest).
"Silent" in the clue for ASL is just plain wrong. The bus I used to take to work in Vancouver went past a school for deaf kids, and they were always talking (signing) as they rode. Young and full of energy, the smacks of palms on fists and strangled gasping sounded just like a gang fight.
[No SB yd for me as too exhausted after drive home from cabin after Victoria Day weekend.]
@Anonym-oti Our mods here are wildly generous with your blather. If you got deleted you more than deserved it, and if you can't figure out why, it's time for you to take a vacation. Or pick a different blog to share your so so smartness. I've run several sites over the years and if I were moderating this one you would see how corrupt real power feels, because you wouldn't be here. It's weird and way too nice Rex allows anonymous commenting at all. Count your blessings and stop crying. And yes, I am sure you're way the smartest.
@Newboy -- Maybe you need to read my post again? I was most happy with this puzzle!
YOLO = You Only Live Once not to be confused with FOMO = Fear Of Missing Out. 😇
A BOAR is a male hog which may or may not be wild just there also are wild sows.
Late today as we had an overnight and a full morning of visiting a fish hatchery with our granddaughter, the world's brightest and cutest four year old. Hope no one else has tried to lay claim to that one today.
Found this one pretty easy as the "chairs" were obviously musicals, especially after I filled in the revealer early in the game, as it was in the middle where it really should not have been.
Nice one ED. Elegant Design, and thanks for all the fun.
The best Tuesday I've ever done -- and the hardest by far. My NYT finally arrived on my doorstep around 2 pm-ish (8 hours late), and boy, would it have been a huge loss if it had never arrived at all.
Initially, I had no idea what was going on. Whe I saw MUSICAL CHAIRS I was thinking of the kid's game, not Broadway shows, and I was looking for one set of three squares to be knocking another set of three squares out of its seat and then stealing it. Something like that. But that wasn't working with the first batch -- and suddenly I saw the word NEWSIES emerge. I still didn't make the connection, though. No, not until CABARET.
Then, I used CHICAGO to help me in the SW -- especially with SNOCAPS and NEOPETS.
Enormously enjoyable and unusually challenging for a Tuesday. One of those happy instances where the constructor has done a wonderful job of constructing, but has still left plenty for the solver to have to contend with. Loved it! Wish I could have worked on this earlier and gotten my highly favorable comment in much sooner.
@jae
Guess I'd better read it in case 'E' is clued in a future xword! lol Got the audiobook on hold. :)
___
td: pg -5
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
@Gary Jugert:
@Anonym-oti Our mods here are wildly generous with your blather.
Unless your a Mod, how would you know that only 'bad' blather is deleted?? And, naturally, define what it means to be 'bad'. I've seen really nasty posts that go up and stay up. It's all blather, of course. This is just a blog. Some blather is stories made from clues/answers; some I find cute. Some blather argues with / supports OFL's blather. Some blather argues with / supports comments blather. Or, is it your contention that all blather is equal, but some blather is more equal than others?? Yours being the latter, of course?
@anonymous, which one?
clue to which one and answer to that anon one
AD HOMINEM!
Agree wholeheartedly with those puzzled by the "Swaddle" clue. Definition is "to wrap tightly" -- "lovingly" is never mentioned in two separate dictionaries, including Merriam-Webster. Borderline mistake for an early week clue. Otherwise, fun puzzle.
Actually, @Roo, I've only seen two out of four: CHICAGO, and CABARET twice -- both the Joel Gray original and the Alan Cumming revival. Maybe we were at the same performance at Studio 54, @Unknown?
I'm pretty sure that ALADDIN is probably not a "Nancy Musical". I did toy with going to see NEWSIES at the time, but it somehow didn't seem like it was a "must-see". There's such an enormous chasm between the truly great musicals and all the others, and I've been blessed to see so many of the great ones over the years that it's hard for me to gin up that much enthusism for seeing those that simply aren't at that extraordinarily high level.
ASL = American Sign Language. Nothing to do with silent.
@bocamp - Just a heads up - It’s over 1000 pages with footnotes some of which have their own footnotes. It’s also a hoot! I read it around 20 years ago and I still remember a lot of it. It helps if you’ve read or seen Hamlet. Also, given your blog signature I would recommend reading Wallace’s 2005 Kenyon College commencement address (google it). Those are words I try to live by.
@Ed Rorie, @Zed -I agree about neologisms, but have either of you ever heard SWADDLE used in that context? I haven't, and as I said, I also looked it up everywhere I could, and couldn't find any citation for that usage. So, maybe not WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!, but any idea if it's actually right?
(also, I don't think metonymy applies here, as swaddling so that you can just put the baby down and it will sleep isn't quite the same thing as holding the baby lovingly in your arms. It's pretty much the opposite.)
@Pete and @Everyone else - Merriam-Webster has tons of example sentences that fit the clue. Indeed, upon reflection, I cannot figure out why so many have been troubled by the clue. SWADDLE very much is associated with babies and parental love, to wrap (an infant) with swaddling clothes. I’m thinking what maybe threw people is “hold.” Let me suggest that the whole purpose of a “wrap” is to “hold” something. If you SWADDLE a baby the idea is to hold the baby lovingly. Seems perfectly straightforward to me.
Twaddle:
What the NYTimes clue department serves up on a regular basis.
-- Merriam-Webster
That about wraps things up, folks. (rimshot)
Phrazle 71: 1/6
🟩🟩 🟩 🟩🟩🟩
Phrazle 72: 2/6
⬜🟪⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟩🟪⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
@Zed Yeah, I guess duck tape lovingly holds my dryer vent also. And that wrap I put on my muffler? Lovingly cradles it. I believe it also sings it a lullaby.
Nice stab at lawyering that clue, but whatever wordplay they may have thought worked just plain didn't.
So, I take it that "imposter" isn't an impostor ...
Maybe a few too many three-letter non words but overall a very NEAT and clever concept by Ella Dershowitz. Easy. So easy that I had zero ERASURES. I won’t BOAR you with how I FEEL about the CHAIRS. Rex said it all and his comment was DEADON.
PS - Maybe AHA could join ERASURE and WEIRDAL for his fantasy concert.
Normally when I see circles in a grid I groan, thinking "[56 across]!" But this time the patterns looked like...CHAIRS, maybe? Intriguing. And then when I started solving--in the NW, wonder of wonders!--it came out NEWSIES. Now there's one and only one thing NEWSIES can mean: the MUSICAL of that name. Ha!, I thought, MUSICALCHAIRS. Good one. Imagine my delight when that turned out to be the revealer!
So it was maybe a little tilted toward easy-medium for me. It still held some interesting words (CALUMNY, NEOPETS) and feisty clues to threaten to delete "easy" from "easy-medium."
I do not know DUMDUM the candy. I know it from an old Allan Sherman ditty:
Irving. Big fat Irving. Big DUMDUM Irving. The 142nd fastest gun in the West.
141 were faster than he, but Irving was looking for 143! etc. Hilarious stuff.
My natural reaction to this puzzle was: birdie. But then the thought occurred: why is it not an eagle? After thinking awhile, I couldn't answer, so eagle it is. Hey, it has SPACIER!!
PARABLE PARE
OH, it won't CHEAPEN you, MEN, ASFARAS a test,
NO, the SWADDLE brings SOLACE when I FEEL ABREAST.
--- ALLEN "WEIRDAL" ARRET
Well, I saw AHA in Los Angeles in April and ERASURE in Chicago about 5 years ago; both on the missus' bucket list. Not so with WEIRDAL nor NSYNC. Not on her MUSICAL spectrum. More than 20 threes but still kinda fun.
Wordle par. Next one will be 'hole' 54.
Would a show starring AHA, WEIRDAL, INSYNC and ERASURE called “NEW EMO MEN - the MUSICAL” CHEAPEN Broadway or would it FEEL NEAT? Maybe VAN Halen and Yoko OHNO could CHIME in as well? Call me a CAB RIDE. I’m going because YOLO.
PS: Am I A DUMDUM to have such thoughts?
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