Believer in Islamic mysticism / MON 6-13-22 / French peak / Princess played by Emma Corrin on The Crown / Andean herd animal / Three-point driving maneuver / Spotted wildcats of the South American jungle / India's smallest state
Constructor: Hoang-Kim Vu and Jessica Zetzman
Relative difficulty: normal Monday
THEME: JUMP SUITS (58A: Garments similar to rompers ... with a hint to the shaded squares in this puzzle) — circled ("shaded" in your grid, maybe) squares spell out the "suits" in a card deck, and these "suits" "jump" up one row somewhere mid-word:
Theme answers:
there are none (just look at the grid)
Word of the Day: JIB (58D: Triangular sail) —
A jib is a triangular sail that sets ahead of the foremast of a sailing vessel. Its tack is fixed to the bowsprit, to the bows, or to the deck between the bowsprit and the foremost mast. Jibs and spinnakers are the two main types of headsails on a modern boat. (wikipedia)
• • •
Basically a very easy themeless, but without the openness and wonderful fill that a true themeless generally brings. So, an easy and fairly boring themeless that is super-duper reliant on the revealer to stick the landing—you need it to be perfect to make the total lack of genuine theme answers seem worth it. But the landing is not great. Shaky. The suits do jump, but they are ... jumping suits, not jump suits. The phrase just doesn't hit the mark. Yes, I get it, we all get, but this is not a horseshoes / hand grenades situation. Close isn't good enough. You really need le revealer juste here, and JUMP SUITS just wobbles. It's one where you squint a little and go "ok, yeah, I SEE," but this theme needs its revealer to have a much bigger impact. The "suits" restrict the fill the way a normal theme would, but they don't give you any theme content. So you get all the fill compromises and none of the theme pleasure. It doesn't add up. Also, the fill could be better all over, particularly in that northern section. ALPE really has no place in an easy-to-fill Monday puzzle (15A: French peak). It's a very rough foreignism, the kind you only wanna trot out if you're desperate to hold something amazing in place. And that desperation just isn't called for here. I redid this section a bunch of ways—WAILS can go to WAITS if you need, LAPELS to all kinds of stuff, like INPUTS and REPELS and IMPELS etc. I didn't *love* any of my quickly de-ALPE'd efforts, but they were definite improvements *and* in every case I also managed to DITCH the incredibly depressing (as clued) BEACHED (21A: Stuck ashore, as a whale). And I wasn't even using software. Unbeach the whale, de-ALPE the puzzle, make everything cleaner and nicer, it's very possible.
I have "no no no" as well as "LOL" written next to K-TURN, what is happening!? (61A: Three-point driving maneuver). It's a three-point turn. That's what it's called. It's always been a three-point turn. It doesn't need new names. How hard is it to say "three-point turn"? You did not need to bring a letter into the mix. Three-point turn is easy to understand and more accurately describes what's happening with the maneuver. K-TURN, what in the world? That sounds like a bad drug reaction. Like when you take "K" (short for Ketamine, I believe) and things take a very bad "turn"—like maybe you fall into a K-HOLE (an actual term, not making it up, I swear). Anyway, U-TURN would've worked fine here (the UFC is very much a thing), and I'd rather see K-HOLE in my grid than K-TURN. Actually, scratch that, K-HOLEs sound scary. But at least K-HOLE is not a fake name for a thing that already has a perfectly good name. My god, when I search [define k turn] the first hit I get is literally titled "Three-point turn," perhaps because That Is The Correct Name For It. Sigh.
Notes:
28A: Dirty dozen? (BAD EGGS) — this term is slang for bad people, not a term describing actual rotten eggs (that term, funnily enough, is "rotten eggs"). So the cutesy clue kinda misses here.
6D: Big flaps in the fashion industry? (LAPELS) — Again, I want to like the "?" clue, but they're just flaps. LAPELS aren't inherently big. Like, in relation to what? Some LAPELS are big, but ... maybe specify the era? [Big flaps in '70s fashion?]. The internet is telling me that "the '30s and the '70s featured exceptionally wide LAPELS." Seems like that information could've been useful here.
34A: India's smallest state (GOA) — this was my favorite part of the puzzle, because I misread the clue as [India's smallest snake] and then, verrrrry reluctantly, wrote in BOA, thinking, "man ... how big *are* Indian snakes!!?"
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. K-TURN is, completely unsurprisingly, a debut entry. It's also known as a Y-TURN in some parts, apparently, so uncork the whole [letter]-TURN bottle, I guess! Go nuts!
I've been a licensed driver for 65 years and have never heard or used the term "K" turn. However, I once did a "Q" turn at 70 MPH on the Santa Monica Freeway. Not on purpose. Does that count?
Medium. Smooth grid, novel theme, and just about right for a Monday. Liked it more than @Rex did.
KTURN was sort of a WOE but it made sense with the K place, although I kind of agree with @Rex’s take.
@bocamp - The top half of Croce’s Freestyle #717 was a breeze while the bottom half (mostly the SW) took a couple of days and some help from my sister in NYC. During a video cocktail hour chat I asked her if she had read any Dr. Seuss to her grandkids. Turns out she had and was very familiar with The Lorax. That helped me finish the puzzle. Hopefully you will have better luck.
Spotted CLUBS right away and figured the others would be SPADES, etc. My guess for what the revealer would be was ‘two-piece suits’ – close but no cigar.
1D. This is ______ approved vaccine. 21A. Experience ongoing joint pains. 44A. Where you roll out le sleeping bag.
A CDC BE ACHED LA TENT
Super fast and easy puzzle. I want to be positive (like my blood type), after I ranted yesterday, but the split-level themers made for kinda boring fill, as per Rex. Nice, smooth effort, though. Thanks Hoang-Kim Vu and Jessica Zetzman.
Funny writeup Rex, from "Unbeach the whale, de-ALPE the puzzle" to "man ... how big *are* Indian snakes!!?"
Solving by only looking at the down clues, the puzzle went bi-bim-bap, just like that. But I couldn't figure out the theme without looking at one of the across clues: the revealer. Ah!!... I see. Kinda cute.
The phrase K TURN is new to me too. People are always doing them in front of my house, because I'm in the middle of the block, plus I park in the back, and ditto for the guy across the street, so there's extra turning width cuz we're not parked in the street, and it's a bit annoying, especially in winter when they drive a bit up onto the sidewalk, which packs the snow down so I can't shovel it off... umm... what was my point again?
Liked WAD UP crossing CLUMPED. They could have been uni-clued as, say, "Put in a mass"! (Note "put" could be present or past tense). Also chuckled at the G-rated clue for PEE.
[Spelling Bee: Sun 12 min to pg, but currently (10pm PDT) stuck at -1 missing a 5er.]
Rex's general analysis of the puzzle was great, but KTURN isn't a new word. I took Driver's Ed in Manhattan in 1985 and my instructor always called it a K-turn.
Learned to drive on Long Island and ‘K turn’ was fairly common, I got the clue immediately before having any other letters solved. So I had to chuckle at this RexRant as announcing that three-point turn is the ONLY possible valid term. This is why I always read your post!
A bit late to the party, but as a NJ teen, we only called them "K turns". The first time I heard it called a "three point turn," I thought that has needlessly complex.
Don't get Rex's complaint aabout the dirty dozen clue. I thought it clever and fun and assumed the dirty dozen and bad eggs were the same people - not literal rotten eggs But K-turns??!! quite an easy breezy Monday. liked the jumpsuits .
My five favorite clues from last week (in order of appearance):
1. Element suggested by NOPQ STUV ... (5) 2. They may leave a lengthy paper trail (10) 3. Abrupt change in tone, perhaps (3)(4) 4. Joins a heavy metal band, say (5) 5. Monocle-dropping exclamation (1)(3)
I've always called it a KTURN because that's what my driver's ed instructor called it. Rex, if you google it you get over 6 billion hits so it is a term--just notone you know.
Seems like a puzzle that was trying to accomplish something different - never got there and ended up early week. A stretch to call this a themed puzzle.
Thought the overall fill was decent - no issue with BAD EGG or ALPE - liked ON A DARE, ALPACA and AIMS TO.
I've always called them k turns, threepoint turns is very cumbersome to say. I would say it's a regional thing but I'm from the Ithaca area which ain't too far from Binghamton. Just seems like a strange thing to get your panties in a bunch about...
@Anon 03:03: OPED was coined by the NYT because the articles were printed (on paper!) OPosite the EDitorial page. “Opinion” didn’t figure in the abbrev. But you’re right that it should have been clued with “for short.”
When I took Driver Ed, my instructor used “K-turn” and “3-point-turn” interchangeably. But that was when cars were powered by feet and horns sounded like “Yabba-dabba-doo!”
I enjoyed the clever theme and partially guessed it before uncovering the revealer (at least I had the SUIT part!), as well as the junk-free grid.
And here’s a fun fact: The word PAELLA has nothing to do with rice; it is the Valencian word for “frying pan”.
My word for this puzzle is “zip”, as I did zip through it and there was zip I didn’t like. Congratulations on your daughter’s birthday, Jessica and Hoang-Kim, and thank you for brightening my day!
Is Rex serious that that there are no theme answers (I see four Suits - Clubs, Hearts, Spades, Diamonds), and that they don't Jump (they do go up), with a revealer of Jumpsuits that wobbles (it lands perfectly, Jump Suits, Jumpsuits, Suits that Jump)?
Or am I missing something?
An easy Monday with only K Turn as obscura, but still gettable.
Oddly, I first heard the term K-turn. Last week, from my NY born husband. Guess it's regional.
Great puzzle for a Monday. Several easy clues that didn't come to me right away. Cluing Kamala as Harris was respectful of her and made me think about president Harrison...not a Monday clue. Lots of answers for walking through a graveyard, none fit quickly. The a small aha once had some crosses.
Great fun for a Monday, which is usually dull. Theme, perhaps, was a gentle intro to more interesting themes for newbies.
For me, it’s a Y-TURN. My driver's ed instructors all called it that, and I believe it was also in the text materials that way. They seldom used the technical term '3-point turn' that I can recall. K-TURN was totally new to me today also. Liked seeing my good old CELLO in the grid! It’s often a kealoa with VIOLA unless you use crosses. My wife leans that way. :-)
I learned “three point turn” as “K turn”. I never even heard three point turn until I was older. Maybe it’s regional? But I’m 53 and that was what my father called it when he was teaching me to drive.
Can honestly say that my wife is the only person I have heard use the term K-Turn. Wonder if it is a New Jersey thin* or a Drivers Ed thing. I never took drivers ed.
In drivers Ed, half a century ago, we learned the K-turn. I’ll use either term interchangeably, probably about equally. Since I only need to say it about once a decade, the sample size is not large.
Learned to drive in NYS and never heard KTURN, so it may be more a matter of age than region.
Not usually bothered by the occasional POC, but PAELLAS? Pues, no.
After CLUBS I went looking for the other suits, which were hiding in plain sight. I did like the revealer, which I did not see coming, and did not bother me as much as it did OFL, but that's not unusual.
A perfectly serviceable Monday, HKV and JZ. Had a Kindly Vibe and Just Zippy enough. Thanks for all the fun.
Looking at the reveal clue, I asked myself, "Are there stePSUITS I've never heard of?" So, that was the hard part of the puzzle for me - I had to cave and look at the JIB clue to get it.
K-TURNS, however, I have heard of: around here they've replaced the y-TURNs of my youth. "Three-point turn"? Never have heard anyone use it.
Probably not intentional, but BEACHED (whales) is above WAILS.
Aha. A BROKEN SUIT. Otherwise known as a TENACE in Bridge. I absolutely hated having to play them; I played them excruciatingly badly; and it's one reason I didn't play Bridge very often or for very long, even though I come from an incredibly talented Bridge-playing family on both sides.
But isn't TENACE an awfully sophisticated and arcane Bridge concept for a Monday puzzle? And if it's BROKEN SUITS instead, how would you clue that?
Turns out it's neither. It's JUMP SUITS. Oh. I SEE.
I didn't even notice the theme, btw, until I was almost finished with the puzzle. When I sail through an easy-peasy Monday with an alacrity that, alas, I never showed at the bridge table, I don't pay any attention to a theme that's completely extraneous to my solve. I'm sort of like a horse with blinders on -- brooking no distractions as I head effortlessly towards the finish line.
@Anonymous 6:40 - Sure, googling "k turn" without quotes gets you 6 billion hits, but, if you just think about it for a moment, there's no way there's actually 6 billion hits for that term on the web. That's almost twice as many hits as for "cat." Googling it with quotes (forcing an exact match, and not just a match on either of the words--although there is a little more voodoo Google does that makes that a rough explanation of what's going on), you get a more sensible 268,000. "U-turn" gets 24 million. Google N-Gram is a better way of getting the sense of a term's popularity. Here's the graph for "U-turn" vs "K-Turn": https://tinyurl.com/mx59yvf6
At any rate, put me in the club of never having heard of it but, hey, something new I learned today! I suspect it is a regional term. The KFC cross made it fair, though the first thing I wanted to do upon finishing the puzzle is check this blog to see if I was the only one stymied by the term.
WeepS for WAILS slowed me down a bit, and I had to go back to the puzzle to recheck and had to change ALPs to ALPE. A rookie mistake there, with the way the clue was written obviously fishing for a French word.
Didn't notice the theme until after finishing -- usual for me for a Monday.
Great puzzle. Way too many clues. When will WS and his team ever learn to write in a more consolidated fashion, like:
1 Modern artist paints with corporate doodoo. 2 Headline describing Caesarion's mom in a bikini. 3 Rotten omelets remove a gall bladder. 4 Pool FedExed used water. 5 Vegetarian feline's nut stash. 6 Crumple photo of singer Ross. 7 RWNJ view of reality. 8 No. 1 mystic. 9 Take your stupid chicken. 10 Drug dealer instructions for ravers.
1 DAUBS PIE CHARTS 2 CLEO BEACHED 3 BAD EGGS OPERATE 4 SPA SHIPPED PEE 5 OCELOT'S ALMONDS 6 WAD UP DIANA 7 I SEE FACTS FETID 8 BIG SHOT SUFI 9 HERE, DAMN KFC 10 EAT, ATTEND, TRIP
Hey All ! Neat theme idea. With regarding Rex, I do agree on the KTURN/UTURN thing, but disagree on his North Center rant. I'm sure there's better fill that could go in there, but hey, it's fun as is. IMHO. 😁
I've probably heard the term KTURN, but with my wonderful memory, haven't recalled using it much. I'm a three-point turn-er myself, having come originally from Pennsylvania. Also can be called Flip a bitch (technically that's turn around, but if the road is narrow enough, a KTURN ensues.)
I got the "shaded squares", which in the NYT site, gives you a nice light green shade.
Noticed a bunch of -ED ending words today. Another @Anoa POC device. Or I believe his LCI would be a better descriptor.
The (non) Themers (Rex) are plurals because that's how they are in real life, so to me, they get a POC pass. @Anoas mileage may vary.
A nice MonPuz that took slightly quicker than normal here, and I don't try for speed. I thought BAD EGGS was a neat clue, so there Rex! 😁
yd -11 (oof), should'ves 8 Duo 36, missed 1-2-7-11
It's a K TURN in New York, it's always been a K TURN, because who has time to say "three point turn"? No one. And what's the third "point" anyway? You're proceeding forward and you go left and stop (point 1). You reverse toward the right and stop (point 2). You pull forward, straighten out and you're on your merry way.
Pretty sure @Rex is unfamiliar eith the fashion term JUMP SUITS, and gad in mind as the only possible use, the one piece suit used by pilots and parachutists. JUMP SUITS are currently a fashion “thing” for all ages, mostly women, but I have seen them for men as well. Easy Monday.
Count me in with the folks that had never heard of KTURN and I’m thank the Colonel/KFC for helping me out. A breezy and enjoyable Monday puzzle. Lol @Joe DiPinto on your “who has time” comment! I KNOW you are just playing into the stereotype-hilarious.
@OFL Laughed and laughed (and still laughing) about "man ... how big *are* Indian snakes!!?" You can tell we have a lot of old men on the blog when the most passionate topic is about turning your car around, but just for fun y'all, Google "Indian snakes" and click on images. Yeeshk.
@Joe Dipinto: Here's your three points marked: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-point_turn
And a 3-point turn can often turn into a multi-point turn depending on the narrowness of the road and obstacles.
@Anonymous 9:47. Note the note in that article: ""Three point turn" is the formal name in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and in many regions of the United States.***Less common terms*** are: "Y-turn","K-turn",and Broken U-turn."
(Emphasis mine.)
I'm from Chicago -- not aware of the term "K-turn" being used here. My wife is from Buffalo -- I just asked and she is unfamiliar with the term. Once again, looking at Google's n-gram viewer, the term "Three-point turn" turns up in the English corpus more than twenty times as frequently as "K-turn."
@CDilly52…I don’t know about you, but EVERY time jumpsuits have come into fashion and I momentarily considered it, I ALWAYS thought of going to the ladies room and then thought, “oh yeah, um, no.” 🤣
Very good Monday that I would be pleased to share with a novice solver. Can’t say that the “theme” had much impact but it was a clever revealer and made me smile when I did see what was in the circles.
JUMPSUITS were all the rage in the 80s and 90s. They could be very flattering to the figure but oh what a pain to maneuver when you had to PEE.
IMHO, a CROP of BAD EGGS can be quite FETID. Be careful not to use them in your PIE.
Peter P, Also, if it's more than three turns it's not a three point turn. That is to say, there's no such thing as a three point turn that becomes say, a five point turn. A three point turn has no ability to be transformed into something else. It's fair say there was an attempt to make a three point turn but the road proved too marrow and the turn was actually a 4 pointer. But that's not the same thing. K?
Hand up for @kitshef's TWO PIECE SUITS as a better choice for the revealer.
One more martini comment. Back in the day I kept a fifth of Tanqueray gin in my freezer, premixed--when I started a new bottle, I simply removed a jigger of the gin and replaced it with a jigger of vermouth. 'Tini's on demand.
Answer to HDW clue:
PSI (begins with the P in 47D, OPUS, and moves to the SE)
Easy puzzle, with a slightly odd theme that requires splitting the theme entries. After solving the puzzle I looked at the grid. Odd way to position the four suits. I would have laughed if there were two jokers also in the grid. All in all, thumbs up.
Okay, I'll beat a dead horse. I took drivers ed in NYC in 1966 or 1967. The school instructor referred the legal turn as either a K Turn or a three point turn (as opposed to the illegal - according to him - U Turn. I have no idea how the turn was referred to in the teachers' manuals. But, weather you heard of it or not, the term did exist back then. Regionalism? I suspect it was an accepted turn with regional preferences in terms of what you called the maneuver. I had a job when in High School at a hot dog stand. I admit to being confused when asked for some pop. Just I would have been confused if asked by the Doctor (the name is not really Doctor Who as JNT would insist) for a torch. What's my point? It should be that I wish the comments would move on.
Otherwise IMHO a clever and suitably easy Monday puzzle with a distinct theme. I SEE not how Rex could refer to this as a themeless when there are four suits jumping out and a revealer to tie them together. Enjoyed the FACT that there were a lot of good words and very few names or trivia.
How times change. When Gone With the Wind was released in 1939, the National Legion of Decency gave it a “B” rating (morally objectionable in part) because Rhett Butler used the word DAMN in his farewell to Scarlett. Now it’s just a word in a crossword puzzle.
Mostly smooth JIBing all the way, except for the K-TURN. Thx for the elucidation @Rex! :) And, thank goodness for the fair KFC cross, or I'd've never gotten it.
Had LAbELS before LAPELS, which took a tiny bit of wind out of the JIB. lol
Misread the clue for 49A as 'crumpled', so had WADed; thot, whoa, that should be WADded, so reread the clue and changed the answer to WAD UP, helping me see 42D, CLUMPED. Another small hITCH in the JIB.
Fun early week solve; enjoyed it muchly! :)
@Nancy (8:42 AM)
And, speaking of 'Bridge', JUMP ShIft would have been a cool idea, say for a Sat. puz., albeit perhaps a bit on the esoteric side.
@jae
Thx, looking forward to it! :)
Btw, my sis is a fine CELLO player, but not into xwords, so I'm on my own with this one. lol ___
Yd's NYT' 'Puns & Anagrams' was a doozy; not at all 'mediocre'! :) ___ yd 0 / W: 5* / WH: 4 / Globle: 3 / Worldle: 3 / Sed: 19 / Duo: 34
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
@Lewis..Hi. PAELLA (no S, please) IS a rice dish originally from Valencia. It takes its name from the word "paellera." The paellera is the flat pan that you make it in. OK...So I did notice the food court. I also (because I'm brilliant) wrote in the first CLUBS and just waltzed on over to get the HEARTS. A little down further I just plopped in SPADES and filled in the DIAMONDS.... Well that was over quickly. Hmmm. let's see the revealer. Oh..lookie here...what a surprise! JUMP SUITS! aren't they called "jumper suits?" I'm betting that our 4.0 solvers that time themselves will tell us that they did this in exactly 3.4 seconds. BEACHED whale: My middle sister and I were at a beach in Torremolinas and there was this very very large man wearing one of those little tight spandex swim SUITs. He was lying on a large beach towel that took up a lot of space. My sister looked at him an declared he looked like a beached whale. I laughed.because he did!. Then some time later there was TV coverage on all these small whales getting stuck in sand and everyone running around trying to pull them back into the ocean. I cried. I will never ever say that someone looks like a BEACHED whale again. I've never eaten some BAD EGGS. Mine come from chickens who roam all over the place and eat worms and cackle and have fun and produce these large, delicious, greenish EGGS. Our stores here in California charge about $6 for half a dozen. Not surprising because I also pay $6.45 for gas. I think I now know more about the K TURN than I ever wanted to know. I'm off to get gas and see if my little feathered pals have laid some EGGS.
Jason Bourne's girl friend gets killed in the second installment. he later insists to his 'handlers' that he was in Goa when the killing he is being framed for happened in Berlin and the girl friend killed (the assassin assumed he was driving, but he had a really big scope on his sniper rifle so I don't buy that bit of the plot). I just assumed that Goa was a city, since that's generally how one does personal GPS. learned something new.
Regional?? I suspect so. Here in the Blue Northeast, it's a Y TURN, and for obvious reasons: you start by turning the wheel hard right, and back up toward the opposite curb and then straighten the wheels (that's the right side of the Y and stem), then drive straight and then turn the wheel hard left (that's the stem and the left side of the Y).
As a descendant of William Playfair, the father of statistical graphics, I was pleased to see his PIECHARTS in today's puzzle. The story of his life is enthusiastically told in the well-researched book "Playfair" by Bruce Berkowitz.
fave themer: The broken HE ARTS one. fave other stuff: CLUMPED. BIGSHOT. SUFI.
staff weeject pick: ORA. Had a nice, kinda weird clue. Sooo … this is a quote by someone? … maybe Emily Post? Primo weeject stacks in the NE & SW, btw.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {You're reading one right now} = CLUE. It's like the puz constructioneer has ESP!
Point of order: How many theme answers does this here puz have? Five? Nine? More?
Thanx for the Oh,K-fun, Mr. Vu dude & Ms. Zetzman darlin. Nice start to the week.
@CDilly52 9:58, @Beezer 10:29 - Re: JUMPSUITS. In the 1980s, when they were also having a moment, I bought a Banana Republic Flight Suit, which I actually wore on an overnight flight from Chicago to London. Ladies room is one thing; now think "airplane lavatory." Nevertheless, entirely worth it for the coolness factor. It's still in my closet, much too awesome a garment to let go of.
@Joaquin (12:05) I did one of those on interstate 25 in Denver during rush hour one frosty morning. Just tapped the brakes when someone cut in front of me and ENDed up in a 360 spin across four lanes of traffic. Don’t recommend it.
Easy puzzle. I had to hunt down the theme at the end. Took me another 5 seconds to grok it. I got kturn instantly. That’s what I was taught in a CT high school. I find the term 3 point turn much less common even though I was a born and bred New Englander. I enjoyed the puzzle. Just a few seconds off my fastest time. Thanks!
Cute, easy, and learned what I’ve always known as a 3-point turn is sometimes a K-turn. To add to the regionalism, I was born in NYC and learned to drive on Long Island.
@kitshef 12:11 am – Love your revealer for this puzzle!
@JD 8:01 – LOL.
@Egsforbreakfast 11:17 – Haha! @Joaquin 12:34 pm – you’re so right; almost missed that comment.
@Conrad et alia - OPED is like Radar (RAdio Detection And Ranging), it's become a word onto itself and no longer needs the clue clarification that it is shortened from it's original source. Except, of course, for the common misconception that the original source was "OPinion."
"Broken. U-Turn," sounds like dialogue from some weird board game.
The thing about 61A KTURN is that it doesn't have to be there. There's no good reason for it. It's down there in that pinched off lower right corner where there are no theme constraints---unlike the upper left pinched off corner---and the only letters that must go in there are -STER from 46D TOASTER. That makes for a super easy corner to fill, almost like a 4X4 grid all by itself. Given the slew of possible fill combinations that would work, I'm surprised that KTURN made the cut.
Lots of POCs (plural of convenience) in the grid but agree with @Roo that the themers, although plural, are not POCs because the Ss are there for a reason, not just for convenience. Can't say the same about the two for one POC in the KTURN corner where a single S boosts the letter count of an Across and a Down. Makes that corner even easier to fill.
tra, Justifications?Pal, it’s clearly a widely used term. Im curious what you mean by justification for the dozens of posts vouching for its usage. What are you talking about?
@Anoa The thing about a KTURN is that it has every right to be there. Common term in the NE. It is the NYT crossword. Were the crosses too hard? No . All easy peasy. I am surprised how many seem to have not heard of it. Rex over reaction somewhat humorous. JUMPSUITS works fine for me. But if it were types of beans I'd say JUMPING BEANS would work too. Wait til you see tomorrow's unknown word. Probably already have.
Does anybody remember WORDS? You know, those things you CROSS in a CROSSWORD? Well, here they are! Yeah, it's only an easy Monday with a simple theme that's only faintly cute, but hey: it's a beginning. ALPE CLEO GOA DIANA (DOD) USA IRS LIAM KFC and, I guess if you want to, ACDC--and that's it. When have you seen a grid with fewer than 10 PPPs? Whatever else, that alone deserves a birdie.
KTURN must be what you make driving a--wait for it--KCAR! Source of my only writeover ("U"), which at least is better than the horrid "UEY or "UIE." More grids stuffed with REAL words instead of forests of PPPs, please. I say again, birdie.
I dare say Cam Smith did two important things yesterday: 1) Hoisted the Claret Jug; 2) Saved countless sports books from near ruin.
First off, I prefer circled squares to shaded squares. Shaded squares make it hard to read the answers you write down when the shading is so dark as it was in my newspaper today. Secondly, there are too many DAMN hoops to JUMP through to get the gimmick. Is a romper similar to a JUMPSUIT? I have no CLUE. Does the split levels of the various card suits suitably represent the word JUMPSUITS? And what’s a KTURN? Hmmm… IMHO WS should have DITCHed this one. Note to BIGSHOTS at the NYT: It seems like AGES since we had a REALLY good puzzle. WADUP wit dat?
Never heard of a k-turn or y-turn. I learned 3 point turn in driver's ed in Illinois in the 60's. Who knew you could learn things in a Xword puzzle, Rex?
In MN c. 1970 it was called a yTURN and we had to practice it on rural highways with low traffic and not much for shoulders. Otherwise no head-scratching today. OFL wants new ideas and complains when there is one. Wordle par today. One more try to make 72 'holes'. Pars are eking out over birdies.
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I've been a licensed driver for 65 years and have never heard or used the term "K" turn. However, I once did a "Q" turn at 70 MPH on the Santa Monica Freeway. Not on purpose. Does that count?
ReplyDeleteMedium. Smooth grid, novel theme, and just about right for a Monday. Liked it more than @Rex did.
ReplyDeleteKTURN was sort of a WOE but it made sense with the K place, although I kind of agree with @Rex’s take.
@bocamp - The top half of Croce’s Freestyle #717 was a breeze while the bottom half (mostly the SW) took a couple of days and some help from my sister in NYC. During a video cocktail hour chat I asked her if she had read any Dr. Seuss to her grandkids. Turns out she had and was very familiar with The Lorax. That helped me finish the puzzle. Hopefully you will have better luck.
Spotted CLUBS right away and figured the others would be SPADES, etc. My guess for what the revealer would be was ‘two-piece suits’ – close but no cigar.
ReplyDeleteI miss having a toaster.
Alternate clues:
ReplyDelete1D. This is ______ approved vaccine.
21A. Experience ongoing joint pains.
44A. Where you roll out le sleeping bag.
A CDC
BE ACHED
LA TENT
Super fast and easy puzzle. I want to be positive (like my blood type), after I ranted yesterday, but the split-level themers made for kinda boring fill, as per Rex. Nice, smooth effort, though. Thanks Hoang-Kim Vu and Jessica Zetzman.
Funny writeup Rex, from "Unbeach the whale, de-ALPE the puzzle" to "man ... how big *are* Indian snakes!!?"
ReplyDeleteSolving by only looking at the down clues, the puzzle went bi-bim-bap, just like that. But I couldn't figure out the theme without looking at one of the across clues: the revealer. Ah!!... I see. Kinda cute.
The phrase K TURN is new to me too. People are always doing them in front of my house, because I'm in the middle of the block, plus I park in the back, and ditto for the guy across the street, so there's extra turning width cuz we're not parked in the street, and it's a bit annoying, especially in winter when they drive a bit up onto the sidewalk, which packs the snow down so I can't shovel it off... umm... what was my point again?
Liked WAD UP crossing CLUMPED. They could have been uni-clued as, say, "Put in a mass"! (Note "put" could be present or past tense). Also chuckled at the G-rated clue for PEE.
[Spelling Bee: Sun 12 min to pg, but currently (10pm PDT) stuck at -1 missing a 5er.]
Rex's general analysis of the puzzle was great, but KTURN isn't a new word. I took Driver's Ed in Manhattan in 1985 and my instructor always called it a K-turn.
ReplyDeleteMust be an NYC thing because I also learned to drive in Manhattan and we always referred to them as K-turns.
DeleteLearned to drive on Long Island and ‘K turn’ was fairly common, I got the clue immediately before having any other letters solved. So I had to chuckle at this RexRant as announcing that three-point turn is the ONLY possible valid term. This is why I always read your post!
DeleteLearned to drive in NJ and it was always called a K-Turn.
DeleteI have to concur with my Tristate colleagues here. K-turn. I’ve never called it anything else
DeleteMy dad, born in New York and raised in New Jersey, called it a K-turn.
DeleteThis New Englander called it a three-point turn.
Made for a very confusing driving lesson when I was a teen.
A bit late to the party, but as a NJ teen, we only called them "K turns". The first time I heard it called a "three point turn," I thought that has needlessly complex.
DeleteNever heard of K TURN, but when you look at the letter it makes perfect sense.
ReplyDeleteHave to agree with @egs on the kind of boring part. Once you get your CLUBS and HEARTS the other two are auto fill, which gives you a leg up.
I don’t even want to think about a BEACHED whale, makes me too sad.
OP ED seemed unusually sloppily clued in that nothing suggested an abbreviation and ‘opinion’ was in the clue itself
ReplyDeleteThat bugged me, too!
DeleteOp Ed is short for “Opposite Editorial”.
DeleteWas going to tweet about about how F-ing sad this puzzle was.
ReplyDeleteYeah, sure, that's Monday for you, but still, really weak.
But now Twitter does not want to repeat my lack of appreciation?
I give up.
Don't get Rex's complaint aabout the dirty dozen clue. I thought it clever and fun and assumed the dirty dozen and bad eggs were the same people - not literal rotten eggs
ReplyDeleteBut K-turns??!!
quite an easy breezy Monday. liked the jumpsuits .
My five favorite clues from last week
ReplyDelete(in order of appearance):
1. Element suggested by NOPQ STUV ... (5)
2. They may leave a lengthy paper trail (10)
3. Abrupt change in tone, perhaps (3)(4)
4. Joins a heavy metal band, say (5)
5. Monocle-dropping exclamation (1)(3)
ARGON
LITTERBUGS
TAN LINE
WELDS
I SAY
I've always called it a KTURN because that's what my driver's ed instructor called it. Rex, if you google it you get over 6 billion hits so it is a term--just notone you know.
ReplyDeleteSame!!!
DeleteAlway called it a k-turn
DeleteSeems like a puzzle that was trying to accomplish something different - never got there and ended up early week. A stretch to call this a themed puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThought the overall fill was decent - no issue with BAD EGG or ALPE - liked ON A DARE, ALPACA and AIMS TO.
Our crossword friend Lou Reed singing about how he’d rather be a kite than a dentured OCELOT
There have been better Monday’s.
I've always called them k turns, threepoint turns is very cumbersome to say. I would say it's a regional thing but I'm from the Ithaca area which ain't too far from Binghamton. Just seems like a strange thing to get your panties in a bunch about...
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete@Anon 03:03: OPED was coined by the NYT because the articles were printed (on paper!) OPosite the EDitorial page. “Opinion” didn’t figure in the abbrev. But you’re right that it should have been clued with “for short.”
When I took Driver Ed, my instructor used “K-turn” and “3-point-turn” interchangeably. But that was when cars were powered by feet and horns sounded like “Yabba-dabba-doo!”
I like ENDS at the end, the cross of WAD UP and CLUMPED, the PuzzPair© of BAD EGGS and FETID, and the triple-CH mash at the confluence of TECH, PIE CHARTS, and BEACHED. I loved the mini-theme of EAT(12D): TOASTER, KFC, PAELLAS, PIE, EGGS, ALMONDS, and CROPS.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the clever theme and partially guessed it before uncovering the revealer (at least I had the SUIT part!), as well as the junk-free grid.
And here’s a fun fact: The word PAELLA has nothing to do with rice; it is the Valencian word for “frying pan”.
My word for this puzzle is “zip”, as I did zip through it and there was zip I didn’t like. Congratulations on your daughter’s birthday, Jessica and Hoang-Kim, and thank you for brightening my day!
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/paellera
DeleteBeen making K turns for many decades. Maybe it is an East Coast thing. Like a grinder.
ReplyDeleteK-turn may be a regional thing, as it didn’t seem at all unusual to me. Boy does Rex dissect the themes. Tough crowd, lol.
ReplyDeleteIt was mostly 3-point turn for 50 years.
ReplyDeleteBut that has changed.
Just for some perspective, compare K-TURN to CELLO.
Personally, I’ve never heard of K-TURN before today.
Is Rex serious that that there are no theme answers (I see four Suits - Clubs, Hearts, Spades, Diamonds), and that they don't Jump (they do go up), with a revealer of Jumpsuits that wobbles (it lands perfectly, Jump Suits, Jumpsuits, Suits that Jump)?
ReplyDeleteOr am I missing something?
An easy Monday with only K Turn as obscura, but still gettable.
Liked it.
Oddly, I first heard the term K-turn. Last week, from my NY born husband. Guess it's regional.
ReplyDeleteGreat puzzle for a Monday. Several easy clues that didn't come to me right away. Cluing Kamala as Harris was respectful of her and made me think about president Harrison...not a Monday clue. Lots of answers for walking through a graveyard, none fit quickly. The a small aha once had some crosses.
Great fun for a Monday, which is usually dull. Theme, perhaps, was a gentle intro to more interesting themes for newbies.
Well done.
For me, it’s a Y-TURN. My driver's ed instructors all called it that, and I believe it was also in the text materials that way. They seldom used the technical term '3-point turn' that I can recall. K-TURN was totally new to me today also.
ReplyDeleteLiked seeing my good old CELLO in the grid! It’s often a kealoa with VIOLA unless you use crosses. My wife leans that way. :-)
I learned to drive in WI and we also called them Y-turns. Never heard of K. I thought I was the only one, glad you posted this!
Deleteno to OPINIOIN being in the clued for 10A
ReplyDeletePlease see 10,000 previous comments from multiple puzzles regarding “opposite editorial”
DeleteBTW, the K-Turn was called a street turn when I took my drivers test. Admittedly, you had to get out and crank the car first, but there you have it.
ReplyDeleteI learned “three point turn” as “K turn”. I never even heard three point turn until I was older. Maybe it’s regional? But I’m 53 and that was what my father called it when he was teaching me to drive.
ReplyDeleteCan honestly say that my wife is the only person I have heard use the term K-Turn. Wonder if it is a New Jersey thin* or a Drivers Ed thing. I never took drivers ed.
ReplyDeleteIn drivers Ed, half a century ago, we learned the K-turn. I’ll use either term interchangeably, probably about equally. Since I only need to say it about once a decade, the sample size is not large.
ReplyDeleteLearned to drive in NYS and never heard KTURN, so it may be more a matter of age than region.
ReplyDeleteNot usually bothered by the occasional POC, but PAELLAS? Pues, no.
After CLUBS I went looking for the other suits, which were hiding in plain sight. I did like the revealer, which I did not see coming, and did not bother me as much as it did OFL, but that's not unusual.
A perfectly serviceable Monday, HKV and JZ. Had a Kindly Vibe and Just Zippy enough. Thanks for all the fun.
Looking at the reveal clue, I asked myself, "Are there stePSUITS I've never heard of?" So, that was the hard part of the puzzle for me - I had to cave and look at the JIB clue to get it.
ReplyDeleteK-TURNS, however, I have heard of: around here they've replaced the y-TURNs of my youth. "Three-point turn"? Never have heard anyone use it.
Probably not intentional, but BEACHED (whales) is above WAILS.
Aha. A BROKEN SUIT. Otherwise known as a TENACE in Bridge. I absolutely hated having to play them; I played them excruciatingly badly; and it's one reason I didn't play Bridge very often or for very long, even though I come from an incredibly talented Bridge-playing family on both sides.
ReplyDeleteBut isn't TENACE an awfully sophisticated and arcane Bridge concept for a Monday puzzle? And if it's BROKEN SUITS instead, how would you clue that?
Turns out it's neither. It's JUMP SUITS. Oh. I SEE.
I didn't even notice the theme, btw, until I was almost finished with the puzzle. When I sail through an easy-peasy Monday with an alacrity that, alas, I never showed at the bridge table, I don't pay any attention to a theme that's completely extraneous to my solve. I'm sort of like a horse with blinders on -- brooking no distractions as I head effortlessly towards the finish line.
K-turn is a very common term in the NYC area and may in fact be referred to as such in local driving manuals. It could be a regionalism.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 6:40 - Sure, googling "k turn" without quotes gets you 6 billion hits, but, if you just think about it for a moment, there's no way there's actually 6 billion hits for that term on the web. That's almost twice as many hits as for "cat." Googling it with quotes (forcing an exact match, and not just a match on either of the words--although there is a little more voodoo Google does that makes that a rough explanation of what's going on), you get a more sensible 268,000. "U-turn" gets 24 million. Google N-Gram is a better way of getting the sense of a term's popularity. Here's the graph for "U-turn" vs "K-Turn": https://tinyurl.com/mx59yvf6
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, put me in the club of never having heard of it but, hey, something new I learned today! I suspect it is a regional term. The KFC cross made it fair, though the first thing I wanted to do upon finishing the puzzle is check this blog to see if I was the only one stymied by the term.
WeepS for WAILS slowed me down a bit, and I had to go back to the puzzle to recheck and had to change ALPs to ALPE. A rookie mistake there, with the way the clue was written obviously fishing for a French word.
Didn't notice the theme until after finishing -- usual for me for a Monday.
Please forgive me for being a day or two late, if not a dollar short, with these:
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Yogi comment:
"I never said a lot of the things I said."
**********
On shapewear -- overheard in a men's locker room:
Joe: "Pete -- since when do you wear a girdle?"
Pete: "Since my wife found it in the glove compartment."
Great puzzle. Way too many clues. When will WS and his team ever learn to write in a more consolidated fashion, like:
ReplyDelete1 Modern artist paints with corporate doodoo.
2 Headline describing Caesarion's mom in a bikini.
3 Rotten omelets remove a gall bladder.
4 Pool FedExed used water.
5 Vegetarian feline's nut stash.
6 Crumple photo of singer Ross.
7 RWNJ view of reality.
8 No. 1 mystic.
9 Take your stupid chicken.
10 Drug dealer instructions for ravers.
1 DAUBS PIE CHARTS
2 CLEO BEACHED
3 BAD EGGS OPERATE
4 SPA SHIPPED PEE
5 OCELOT'S ALMONDS
6 WAD UP DIANA
7 I SEE FACTS FETID
8 BIG SHOT SUFI
9 HERE, DAMN KFC
10 EAT, ATTEND, TRIP
Hey All !
ReplyDeleteNeat theme idea. With regarding Rex, I do agree on the KTURN/UTURN thing, but disagree on his North Center rant. I'm sure there's better fill that could go in there, but hey, it's fun as is. IMHO. 😁
I've probably heard the term KTURN, but with my wonderful memory, haven't recalled using it much. I'm a three-point turn-er myself, having come originally from Pennsylvania. Also can be called Flip a bitch (technically that's turn around, but if the road is narrow enough, a KTURN ensues.)
I got the "shaded squares", which in the NYT site, gives you a nice light green shade.
Noticed a bunch of -ED ending words today. Another @Anoa POC device. Or I believe his LCI would be a better descriptor.
The (non) Themers (Rex) are plurals because that's how they are in real life, so to me, they get a POC pass. @Anoas mileage may vary.
A nice MonPuz that took slightly quicker than normal here, and I don't try for speed. I thought BAD EGGS was a neat clue, so there Rex! 😁
yd -11 (oof), should'ves 8
Duo 36, missed 1-2-7-11
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
It's a K TURN in New York, it's always been a K TURN, because who has time to say "three point turn"? No one. And what's the third "point" anyway? You're proceeding forward and you go left and stop (point 1). You reverse toward the right and stop (point 2). You pull forward, straighten out and you're on your merry way.
ReplyDeleteI bet BJ used to make K TURNs on Lawn Guyland.
For those who suspect K turn is a regional term, you are correct. But that region is of course the planet Earth. Seesh.
ReplyDeletePretty sure @Rex is unfamiliar eith the fashion term JUMP SUITS, and gad in mind as the only possible use, the one piece suit used by pilots and parachutists. JUMP SUITS are currently a fashion “thing” for all ages, mostly women, but I have seen them for men as well. Easy Monday.
ReplyDeleteCount me in with the folks that had never heard of KTURN and I’m thank the Colonel/KFC for helping me out. A breezy and enjoyable Monday puzzle. Lol @Joe DiPinto on your “who has time” comment! I KNOW you are just playing into the stereotype-hilarious.
ReplyDelete@OFL Laughed and laughed (and still laughing) about "man ... how big *are* Indian snakes!!?" You can tell we have a lot of old men on the blog when the most passionate topic is about turning your car around, but just for fun y'all, Google "Indian snakes" and click on images. Yeeshk.
ReplyDelete@Joe Dipinto: Here's your three points marked: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-point_turn
ReplyDeleteAnd a 3-point turn can often turn into a multi-point turn depending on the narrowness of the road and obstacles.
@Anonymous 9:47. Note the note in that article: ""Three point turn" is the formal name in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and in many regions of the United States.***Less common terms*** are: "Y-turn","K-turn",and Broken U-turn."
(Emphasis mine.)
I'm from Chicago -- not aware of the term "K-turn" being used here. My wife is from Buffalo -- I just asked and she is unfamiliar with the term. Once again, looking at Google's n-gram viewer, the term "Three-point turn" turns up in the English corpus more than twenty times as frequently as "K-turn."
I’m sure others have shared, but I grew up (70s-80s, Western NY) and it was called a K-Turn. Not new
ReplyDelete@CDilly52…I don’t know about you, but EVERY time jumpsuits have come into fashion and I momentarily considered it, I ALWAYS thought of going to the ladies room and then thought, “oh yeah, um, no.” 🤣
ReplyDelete@Joe D
ReplyDeleteI've lived in the NYC area my entire 82+ years, got my driver's license when I was 16 and never heard of K TURN before today.
Very good Monday that I would be pleased to share with a novice solver. Can’t say that the “theme” had much impact but it was a clever revealer and made me smile when I did see what was in the circles.
ReplyDeleteJUMPSUITS were all the rage in the 80s and 90s. They could be very flattering to the figure but oh what a pain to maneuver when you had to PEE.
IMHO, a CROP of BAD EGGS can be quite FETID. Be careful not to use them in your PIE.
Peter P,
ReplyDeleteAlso, if it's more than three turns it's not a three point turn. That is to say, there's no such thing as a three point turn that becomes say, a five point turn. A three point turn has no ability to be transformed into something else. It's fair say there was an attempt to make a three point turn but the road proved too marrow and the turn was actually a 4 pointer. But that's not the same thing. K?
Hidden Diagonal Word (HDW) clue for today's grid:
ReplyDeleteGreek letter or inflation measure (3 letters)
Hand up for @kitshef's TWO PIECE SUITS as a better choice for the revealer.
One more martini comment. Back in the day I kept a fifth of Tanqueray gin in my freezer, premixed--when I started a new bottle, I simply removed a jigger of the gin and replaced it with a jigger of vermouth. 'Tini's on demand.
Answer to HDW clue:
PSI (begins with the P in 47D, OPUS, and moves to the SE)
Easy puzzle, with a slightly odd theme that requires splitting the theme entries. After solving the puzzle I looked at the grid. Odd way to position the four suits. I would have laughed if there were two jokers also in the grid. All in all, thumbs up.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'll beat a dead horse. I took drivers ed in NYC in 1966 or 1967. The school instructor referred the legal turn as either a K Turn or a three point turn (as opposed to the illegal - according to him - U Turn. I have no idea how the turn was referred to in the teachers' manuals. But, weather you heard of it or not, the term did exist back then. Regionalism? I suspect it was an accepted turn with regional preferences in terms of what you called the maneuver. I had a job when in High School at a hot dog stand. I admit to being confused when asked for some pop. Just I would have been confused if asked by the Doctor (the name is not really Doctor Who as JNT would insist) for a torch. What's my point? It should be that I wish the comments would move on.
K turn, no. Y turn, yes.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise IMHO a clever and suitably easy Monday puzzle with a distinct theme. I SEE not how Rex could refer to this as a themeless when there are four suits jumping out and a revealer to tie them together. Enjoyed the FACT that there were a lot of good words and very few names or trivia.
How times change. When Gone With the Wind was released in 1939, the National Legion of Decency gave it a “B” rating (morally objectionable in part) because Rhett Butler used the word DAMN in his farewell to Scarlett. Now it’s just a word in a crossword puzzle.
KTURN, the LONGJOHN of the driving world...
ReplyDeleteThx, Hoang-Kim Vu & Jessica Zetzman
ReplyDeleteMed.
Mostly smooth JIBing all the way, except for the K-TURN. Thx for the elucidation @Rex! :) And, thank goodness for the fair KFC cross, or I'd've never gotten it.
Had LAbELS before LAPELS, which took a tiny bit of wind out of the JIB. lol
Misread the clue for 49A as 'crumpled', so had WADed; thot, whoa, that should be WADded, so reread the clue and changed the answer to WAD UP, helping me see 42D, CLUMPED. Another small hITCH in the JIB.
Fun early week solve; enjoyed it muchly! :)
@Nancy (8:42 AM)
And, speaking of 'Bridge', JUMP ShIft would have been a cool idea, say for a Sat. puz., albeit perhaps a bit on the esoteric side.
@jae
Thx, looking forward to it! :)
Btw, my sis is a fine CELLO player, but not into xwords, so I'm on my own with this one. lol
___
Yd's NYT' 'Puns & Anagrams' was a doozy; not at all 'mediocre'! :)
___
yd 0 / W: 5* / WH: 4 / Globle: 3 / Worldle: 3 / Sed: 19 / Duo: 34
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
@Lewis..Hi. PAELLA (no S, please) IS a rice dish originally from Valencia. It takes its name from the word "paellera." The paellera is the flat pan that you make it in.
ReplyDeleteOK...So I did notice the food court. I also (because I'm brilliant) wrote in the first CLUBS and just waltzed on over to get the HEARTS. A little down further I just plopped in SPADES and filled in the DIAMONDS....
Well that was over quickly. Hmmm. let's see the revealer. Oh..lookie here...what a surprise! JUMP SUITS!
aren't they called "jumper suits?"
I'm betting that our 4.0 solvers that time themselves will tell us that they did this in exactly 3.4 seconds.
BEACHED whale: My middle sister and I were at a beach in Torremolinas and there was this very very large man wearing one of those little tight spandex swim SUITs. He was lying on a large beach towel that took up a lot of space. My sister looked at him an declared he looked like a beached whale. I laughed.because he did!. Then some time later there was TV coverage on all these small whales getting stuck in sand and everyone running around trying to pull them back into the ocean. I cried. I will never ever say that someone looks like a BEACHED whale again.
I've never eaten some BAD EGGS. Mine come from chickens who roam all over the place and eat worms and cackle and have fun and produce these large, delicious, greenish EGGS. Our stores here in California charge about $6 for half a dozen. Not surprising because I also pay $6.45 for gas.
I think I now know more about the K TURN than I ever wanted to know.
I'm off to get gas and see if my little feathered pals have laid some EGGS.
@Gill
DeleteHey, you voted for that...
KFC should have been clued as “Fast food chain that serves COLESLAW”.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the clue for KTURN should have noted that it is an abbreviation. The original term was Potassium TURN.
Love the potassium turn!
DeleteI'm from New Jersey. Learned to drive more than 40 years ago and had to learn to do a "K Turn." Maybe it's a regional thing?
ReplyDeleteJason Bourne's girl friend gets killed in the second installment. he later insists to his 'handlers' that he was in Goa when the killing he is being framed for happened in Berlin and the girl friend killed (the assassin assumed he was driving, but he had a really big scope on his sniper rifle so I don't buy that bit of the plot). I just assumed that Goa was a city, since that's generally how one does personal GPS. learned something new.
ReplyDeleteRegional?? I suspect so. Here in the Blue Northeast, it's a Y TURN, and for obvious reasons: you start by turning the wheel hard right, and back up toward the opposite curb and then straighten the wheels (that's the right side of the Y and stem), then drive straight and then turn the wheel hard left (that's the stem and the left side of the Y).
ReplyDeleteQED.
In my Chicago suburb(early ‘70’s), the K-turn was the most dreaded part of the behind the wheel exam!
ReplyDeleteNorthern New Jersey - K-turn is totally a thing.
ReplyDeleteAs a descendant of William Playfair, the father of statistical graphics, I was pleased to see his PIECHARTS in today's puzzle. The story of his life is enthusiastically told in the well-researched book "Playfair" by Bruce Berkowitz.
ReplyDeleteM&A prefers the term "Broken U-turn".
ReplyDeleteHardest spot in the puz for m&e: GOA/PAELLAS.
fave themer: The broken HE ARTS one.
fave other stuff: CLUMPED. BIGSHOT. SUFI.
staff weeject pick: ORA. Had a nice, kinda weird clue. Sooo … this is a quote by someone? … maybe Emily Post?
Primo weeject stacks in the NE & SW, btw.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {You're reading one right now} = CLUE. It's like the puz constructioneer has ESP!
Point of order: How many theme answers does this here puz have? Five? Nine? More?
Thanx for the Oh,K-fun, Mr. Vu dude & Ms. Zetzman darlin. Nice start to the week.
Masked & Anonymo6Us
**gruntz**
@egsforbreakfast (11:17) wins by several lengths in today's "K-turn" debate.
ReplyDeleteCan somebody explain the answer to 65A? Beats me.
ReplyDeleteKings of Leon and Queens of the Stone Age are both popular rock bands.
Delete@CDilly52 9:58, @Beezer 10:29 - Re: JUMPSUITS. In the 1980s, when they were also having a moment, I bought a Banana Republic Flight Suit, which I actually wore on an overnight flight from Chicago to London. Ladies room is one thing; now think "airplane lavatory." Nevertheless, entirely worth it for the coolness factor. It's still in my closet, much too awesome a garment to let go of.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think I have ever heard “3-point turn” before today. I’ve made it 35 years in New York and have only ever heard of it as a K-Turn. Weird.
ReplyDelete@Joaquin (12:05) I did one of those on interstate 25 in Denver during rush hour one frosty morning. Just tapped the brakes when someone cut in front of me and ENDed up in a 360 spin across four lanes of traffic. Don’t recommend it.
ReplyDeleteEasy puzzle. I had to hunt down the theme at the end. Took me another 5 seconds to grok it. I got kturn instantly. That’s what I was taught in a CT high school. I find the term 3 point turn much less common even though I was a born and bred New Englander. I enjoyed the puzzle. Just a few seconds off my fastest time. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteEuclid,
ReplyDeleteWhy are you, a Greek, using a Latin phrase?
And wouldn't you mistakenly call it an upsilon turn rather than the correct kappa turn?
@Carola, I bet you looked VERY chic and you cracked me up with the “think airplane lavatory”!
ReplyDeleteWe had K-turns in California too in drivers Ed in the 80s.
ReplyDeleteCute, easy, and learned what I’ve always known as a 3-point turn is sometimes a K-turn. To add to the regionalism, I was born in NYC and learned to drive on Long Island.
ReplyDelete@kitshef 12:11 am – Love your revealer for this puzzle!
@JD 8:01 – LOL.
@Egsforbreakfast 11:17 – Haha! @Joaquin 12:34 pm – you’re so right; almost missed that comment.
Kturn nope
ReplyDeleteIt is not a K turn unless you’re planing to drive back on the wrong side. An X turn is more accurate
ReplyDelete@Conrad et alia - OPED is like Radar (RAdio Detection And Ranging), it's become a word onto itself and no longer needs the clue clarification that it is shortened from it's original source. Except, of course, for the common misconception that the original source was "OPinion."
ReplyDelete"Broken. U-Turn," sounds like dialogue from some weird board game.
The thing about 61A KTURN is that it doesn't have to be there. There's no good reason for it. It's down there in that pinched off lower right corner where there are no theme constraints---unlike the upper left pinched off corner---and the only letters that must go in there are -STER from 46D TOASTER. That makes for a super easy corner to fill, almost like a 4X4 grid all by itself. Given the slew of possible fill combinations that would work, I'm surprised that KTURN made the cut.
ReplyDeleteLots of POCs (plural of convenience) in the grid but agree with @Roo that the themers, although plural, are not POCs because the Ss are there for a reason, not just for convenience. Can't say the same about the two for one POC in the KTURN corner where a single S boosts the letter count of an Across and a Down. Makes that corner even easier to fill.
K-Turn LOL - and the justifications are hilarious!
ReplyDelete@Anony 5:28...The BAD EGGS or the the fat guy on the beach?
ReplyDeletetra,
ReplyDeleteJustifications?Pal, it’s clearly a widely used term. Im curious what you mean by justification for the dozens of posts vouching for its usage. What are you talking about?
Too many plurals
ReplyDelete@Anoa
ReplyDeleteThe thing about a KTURN is that it has every right to be there. Common term in the NE. It is the NYT crossword. Were the crosses too hard? No . All easy peasy. I am surprised how many seem to have not heard of it. Rex over reaction somewhat humorous. JUMPSUITS works fine for me. But if it were types of beans I'd say JUMPING BEANS would work too. Wait til you see tomorrow's unknown word. Probably already have.
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ReplyDeleteDoes anybody remember WORDS? You know, those things you CROSS in a CROSSWORD? Well, here they are! Yeah, it's only an easy Monday with a simple theme that's only faintly cute, but hey: it's a beginning. ALPE CLEO GOA DIANA (DOD) USA IRS LIAM KFC and, I guess if you want to, ACDC--and that's it. When have you seen a grid with fewer than 10 PPPs? Whatever else, that alone deserves a birdie.
ReplyDeleteKTURN must be what you make driving a--wait for it--KCAR! Source of my only writeover ("U"), which at least is better than the horrid "UEY or "UIE." More grids stuffed with REAL words instead of forests of PPPs, please. I say again, birdie.
I dare say Cam Smith did two important things yesterday: 1) Hoisted the Claret Jug; 2) Saved countless sports books from near ruin.
Wordle par after a complete whiff on guess #1.
First off, I prefer circled squares to shaded squares. Shaded squares make it hard to read the answers you write down when the shading is so dark as it was in my newspaper today. Secondly, there are too many DAMN hoops to JUMP through to get the gimmick. Is a romper similar to a JUMPSUIT? I have no CLUE. Does the split levels of the various card suits suitably represent the word JUMPSUITS? And what’s a KTURN? Hmmm… IMHO WS should have DITCHed this one. Note to BIGSHOTS at the NYT: It seems like AGES since we had a REALLY good puzzle. WADUP wit dat?
ReplyDeleteDAMN NEAR REAL (BEACHED WAILS)
ReplyDeleteISEE that DIANA ATTENDs
TO MEN who OPERATE
like BIGSHOTs with AIMSTO ENDS
that PIECHARTS only SATE.
--- LIAM DAUBS, ALIAS "SPEC TECH"
Never heard of a k-turn or y-turn. I learned 3 point turn in driver's ed in Illinois in the 60's. Who knew you could learn things in a Xword puzzle, Rex?
ReplyDeleteI also learned that in Ireland and England it is officially called "a turn in the road". That's because it might include more than 3 points.
ReplyDeleteIn MN c. 1970 it was called a yTURN and we had to practice it on rural highways with low traffic and not much for shoulders. Otherwise no head-scratching today. OFL wants new ideas and complains when there is one.
ReplyDeleteWordle par today. One more try to make 72 'holes'. Pars are eking out over birdies.
Obviously, I had to like this one since I'm included.
ReplyDeleteAnd in NJ, it was a 3-point turn.
Diana, Lady-in-the-Puzzle