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Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Theme answers:
- HARD CIDER (17A: Apple product that's not suitable for kids)
- PRINT MEDIUM (29A: Newspapers, books or magazines)
- EASY TARGETS (45A: Ideal marks for scammers)
verb (used with or without object), rif·fled, rif·fling.
• • •
It would be nice never to see LEONA Helmsley or the derogatory term WINO ever again. Both those answers were hard bumps in the road today. The fill is mostly fine, overall, though things get a little rough in the SW, with USONE and ALOU and LEMMA, which ... is a term I would never ever know if my best friend in college hadn't been a mathematician (56A: Helpful theorem, in math). Doesn't seem like a Tuesday-ish answer. It's NYTXW history is weird. It's relatively rare (this is just its sixth appearance since 2004—we actually went 11 years (!!) without seeing it at all (2004-2015)), but when it does appear, it appears on Monday and Tuesday as often as it does on Friday and Saturday. It's always weird to me the math stuff I don't remember learning despite having had math through Calc II. There are lots of math folks in crosswords, which might make it more grid-familiar than real-life familiar. The plural is "lemmata"—how/why did I remember that? My friend's mathiness must've rubbed off in odd, unpredictable, sporadic ways. But back to the fill. Really don't like APRS in the plural (34A: Credit figs.). Hadn't seen ALEUT in so long that I actually had No Idea what 52D: Language related to Inupiaq and Yupik was supposed to be, even with the "A" in place. You used to see ALEUT everywhere. You'd also see ATKA sometimes. Or even ATTU. Alaska was a crosswordese goldmine, is what I'm saying. Anyway, ALEUT frequency has been dialed back considerably, so now it's just a fine, regular term. One I semi-forgot. I also semi-forgot RIFFLE, which just sounds silly. I can't imagine saying it, and yet ... "riffling through a magazine" ... I guess that sounds OK. It sounds like a brand of toilet paper, though I may be crossing Charmin's Mr. WHIPPLE with the potato chip brand RUFFLES ("RIFFLES has ridges!"—that would be quite a slogan for a toilet paper brand).
[seriously what was wrong with people in '80s TV commercials!?
The first guy in this ad, yeesh ...]
- 9A: Audible response of contempt (SNORT) — I wonder how many times in my life I have tripped all over the SNORT SNEER SNOOT nexus of answers. Luckily, "audible" helped me out today.
- 47D: Expecting a baby, in slang (PREGGO) — interesting intersection of EGG and EGG here; pregnancy adds a whole new dimension to the "egg" theme (!). I prefer PREGGERS, since it makes me think of neither waffles (Eggos!) nor spaghetti sauce (Prego!). Actually, I think I prefer "pregnant." Just "pregnant" is fine.
- 25A: Certain spousal state (WIFEHOOD) — got the WIFE part easily enough, but ... WIFEDOM? WIFENESS? WIFERAGE? WIFEIOWA? Thank god for those thematic "O"s.
- 36D: Rock-paper-scissors, by another name (ROSHAMBO) — A WHILE (!) back there was a NYTXW puzzle with a ROSHAMBO theme and many people complained that they had never (ever) heard that term used for "rock paper scissors." Well, here you go—your hard-won crossword knowledge finally pays off! If Rambo worked for OSHA ... ROSHAMBO! It's a fun word.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
I’m a mathematician and have never once heard the term “lemmata.”
ReplyDeleteI've heard of it but usually as a kind of jokey anal reference. Of course we really use "lemmas."
DeleteI don't care about streaks and solve times. But I had a one letter DNF, the M crossing of ROSHAMBO & LEMMA. Ran the alphabet and couldn't even come up with a guess. Maybe I'll (no, I won't) remember these 2 for next time. I did remember that jeweler's eyepiece had been in the puzz before but of course I didn't remember the term. Crosses did it for me.
ReplyDeleteWINO bothers me not. PREGGO bothers me. So cutesy and stupid.
I really like SLATHER. Great word.
Solid Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteStarted in the NE and worked clockwise, which meant that my Fishing site at 39D was a Pond before it was a PIER. That was my only non-typo overwrite. More easy than medium.
Good day for my taste buds today. HARD CIDER, eggs over easy, a cookie, CHEESIER with some VIN, I’ll take ‘em all.
ReplyDeleteOdd and sad to have TRON appear the day after David Warner’s death.
Cute. I like my eggs over HARD but it's durn tooting difficult to get them that way. Most cooks seem to be afraid to go there and I have often had to settle for MEDIUM. As for the puzzle, I thought it actually was an 'AHA moment' theme for a second since I imagined the phrase "OO, EASY!" to be an exclamation of an AHA moment, which I somehow envisioned someone having upon solving a problem. Then that didn't fit with MEDIUM, since no one ever exclaims that. But I figured it would all suss itself out, and indeed, the revealer did that nicely. I did not know/remember LEMMA despite also going through Calc like OFL, but that, like ALEUT, got filled in with crosses before I even noticed as I zipped through the puzzle. Loved the L alliteration of LOANER, LONER, LEONA, LOUPE, LISA, LEMMA, LAVA, and just for good measure, I'll even include heLENA. Knew roshambo, but not how to spell it. Was convinced it has to be some French version like ROCHAMBEAUX, but, no. My favorite version is Rock, Paper Scissors, Lizard, Spock.
ReplyDeleteNot sure why we need LEONA and PREGGO.in the puzzle. Hadn’t seen the ALOU brothers make an appearance in the puzzle or in an MLB uniform in quite some time but felt better about it being almost bookended by ALEuT in the South East Corner. Trying to cut down on carbs so almost not quite getting tired of Eggs. Enjoyed the cuteness factor of the visual in the theme.
ReplyDeleteMy five favorite clues from last week
ReplyDelete(in order of appearance):
1. Bum around London? (4)
2. What often includes a chairlift? (4)
3. Comment from one who is all thumbs? (4)
4. Motion picture? (4)
5. Opposite of cut (6)
ARSE
HORA
TEXT
BLUR
ATTEND
Add me to the Natick-at-LEMMA-ROSHAMBO-cross list. I was surprised by Rex's reference to a recent puzzle with a ROSHAMBO theme, so I followed the link, then looked up my solve of the April 13 puzzle. Found I had a very good time on that solve; when I looked at the crosses with that ROSHAMBO, I could see why. Easy! I probably never filled in the word itself at all. Since it looks like it's now a Shortz fave, I'm going to try to remember it for future use. LEMMA? Nah.
ReplyDelete"Newspapers, books, or magazines" (29A) are PRINT MEDIa--plural. MEDIUM--singular. It's bad enough to see this mistake made everywhere every day, but in a crossword? Come on.
Amen- each is a different print medium, and combined they are MEDIA. I thought Rex would jump on that.
DeleteWas Will asleep at the switch? Cannot believe he let this go unchallenged! I can see my Latin teacher rotating...
DeleteIt was "or" not "and" so they weren't combined
DeleteI grew up in Ireland and there (and in the UK) “arse” was definitely considered to be rude and impolite. I’ve been surprised to see it show up with such frequency both here an in the LA Times crossword.
DeleteNeat puzzle, I actually groked/enjoyed the theme for a change (since it is straightforward and I didn’t have to put myself through mental torture in order to discern it). Definitely knew LEMMA. Only recognized/recalled ROSHAMBO from the prior puzzle. Solid puzzle for a Tuesday today.
ReplyDelete@Lewis: I look forward to your favorites list every week. This week's shows that last week's puzzles weren't all that dazzling. ARSE for "bum around London" has appeared, in very slightly altered form, in a number of recent not-NYTXW puzzles, so it's not even original.
ReplyDeleteI can't recall ever hearing of eggs over medium or hard. Would have thought someone who wanted them that way would say something like, "I'll have eggs over easy but don't make them runny."
ReplyDeleteLots to like in today’s sparkling puzzle. Thanks, Lillian. It was a nice antidote to today’s tsunami of depressing news stories in the Times.
ReplyDeleteI was also looking for sunny side up—the best kind.
ReplyDeleteEspecially nice puzzle on a Tuesday. CHEESIER, JANGLY, ONEVOICE, HARDCIDER, RIFFLE, even ROSHAMBO, which I might have remembered from last time, if I were a bit sharper - all fun to see. And the simple theme didn't give itself away. Yay!
ReplyDeleteI did have to guess (luckily correctly) the first M of LEMMA/ROSHAMBO.
I played plenty of Rock, Paper, Scissors in my day, and I never heard it called ROSHAMBO. Besides, where I grew up, we had Rochambeau Avenue. But I admit that ROSHAMBO is kinda a cool word.
ReplyDeleteProvidence?
DeleteOne of the best Tuesdays in quite a long while. Got the Egg orders first and then noticed the Eggs on top, just a wonderful surprise.
ReplyDelete@B Right There, I recently ordered my Egg with the instructions, "Over hard, tell 'em to fry it til it begs for mercy." It came back browned and crispy around the edges. Rare perfection.
Amy: There’s a part of the song Yorktown, in “Hamilton” that goes:
ReplyDelete“The code word is ‘Rochambeau,’ dig me?
You have your orders now, go man go!”
This makes me wonder if Roshambo is related to Rochambeau.
Very fine Tuesday puzzle. Growing up, we called over easy Dippy Eggs, as you could poke your toast in the yolks.
I thought everyone knew that, resulting in a memorable kitchen conversation when I had a sleepover at my friend Roxy’s home.🙄
Cute theme - well filled. A little bite for early week with ITERATE, RIFFLE, STASIS etc. WIFEHOOD was ?? moment for me. Ted Lasso can speak of biscuits.
ReplyDeleteI had a very proper mathematician for a linear algebra professor in college who - whenever asked about Gauss’s LEMMA would always reply “which one” with his nose in the air. Euclid’s prime LEMMA is so elegantly simple but it was Poincare’s LEMMA that helped me with field theory.
LEONA LEONA it’s over and through - the baby is crying and calling for you
Enjoyable Tuesday solve.
Sometimes what I call a “happy-dance word” shows itself as I’m solving, that elevates my spirits and right then and there, and on-the-spot makes the puzzle worth doing. Simply, a magnificent word, to my tastes. That may happen here and there during the week, but today it happened three times! – SLATHER! RIFFLE! JANGLY!
ReplyDeleteSo you had me there, Lillian, but no, that wasn’t enough. You also threw in a riddle theme – “Try to figure me out before uncovering the reveal” – and delightfully stumped me, a riddle that included word pictures, which I adore.
You NESTed this all in a junk-lite grid, threw in POACHers to echo the eggy theme, and to cap it off, you have HELENA in the same puzzle with SKYE, given that Montana is known as Big Sky Country.
All this lifted this puzzle well above crossword STASIS, and, in my mind, marked you, IMO, as one who has that crossword knack, one to watch. Congratulations on your debut, Lillian. You’ve drawn me into your ORBIT and thank you so much for this rich, rich solve!
POACHer and prEGGo!
DeleteIt’s not just that the Os represent eggs. An O with a circle around it looks like an egg, the O being the yolk.
ReplyDelete@anon 7:33 -- Thank you for your kind words about my weekly list. I do try to check the clues for originality, and I check the clues in all the major venues, and if the clue has been done before, or even has been *close* to done, I leave it off. Here, as you point out, we've had ARSE appear in the NYT Puzzle a lot recently (three times in the past week!), but the clues did not riff on "bum around". There have been "bum" clues done before, but never "bum around", and I thought that different enough to include in the list, though I also thought it was a close call.
ReplyDeleteI once knew but forgot LEMMA and it rang a bell when I filled it in. ROSHAMBO was completely new.
ReplyDeleteGood fun puzzle today - nice execution of theme and enjoyed the longer clues and answers
ReplyDeleteU know I have seen LEMMA before in crosswords, if nowhere else. but I'll never remember it without having at least four of the letters in place. And I remembered having seen ROSAHMBO fairly recently, but if you asked me the name of the rock paper scissors game, I'd have been stumped. Maybe I'll picture Rambo playing ROSHAMBO as a memory aid.
ReplyDeleteDidn't see the revealer coming, yay.
My first dinner with my host family in Spain was a big platter of fried eggs, which I absolutely detest. I think it's a texture thing (?). Anyway, I had to explain in my then inadequate Spanish that I couldn't possibly put such a thing in my mouth and wished they could be thrown out the window. I finally settled for "no puedo" (I can't), which was at least true. And "Hey Pablo, fried eggs for dinner" became a standing joke.
Very nice debut, LS. Lovely Surprise revealer. Hope to see many more from you, and thanks for all the fun.
Why on earth was there a double "O" over the word HARD? I tried HARD to zero in on the answer but my effort came to naught. My mind was completely blank.
ReplyDeleteOOh, look! Now there's a double "O" over the word MEDIUM. I tried to zero in again. Nothing.
I put the two "O"s in again at 41A and quickly (tOO quickly!) wrote in SOFT under them. Aha! SOFT TARGETS.
No, not SOFT TARGETS. EASY TARGETS. (Why wasn't I using my erasable pen? Because it's Tuesday, that's why.)
A cute theme that I couldn't figure out until I got to the revealer. And absolutely no proper names at all. Wonderful!!!
We've had that peculiar word for "rock-paper-scissors" in two fairly recent puzzles, I think. Why can't I ever remember it? Why can't I even come close to remembering it? Because I'm Nancy, that's why.
A brief word about the unfortunate term WIFEHOOD. Is that a good word for the happy state of marital bliss? It sort of sounds like a kind of imprisonment, doesn't it? Would you ever use it in an actual sentence? I wouldn't.
A junk-free Tuesday puzzle with some nice cluing and some unexpected un-Tuesdayish words like LEMMA.
@Nancy - I share your queasiness over WIFEHOOD (25A). Also, since our (ahem) apolitical Supreme Court has shown us just how apolitical it is, shouldn’t the revealer be FRIED CHICKENS?
Delete(not Joe Bleaux)
When we played ROSHAMBO at the playground, we would say "RO" as we swung our right hand to the right, then "SHAM" as we swung it to the left, and then "BO" as we extended our hand shaped to indicate rock, paper, or scissors to our opponent. We would say the words rhythmically so that we would both disclose our choices simultaneously.
ReplyDeleteWhat would be said (if anything) by those who called it rock, paper, scissors?
@Anonymous (7:30) The clue for 29A includes the word OR…therefore the answer should be singular, PRINT MEDIUM.
ReplyDeleteThe plurals “ newspapers, books, magazines” is probably what threw you off, and is poor editing, IMO.
I agree with @Nancy that a puzzle with “no proper names” (except HELENA, ALOU, LEONA and LISA) would be wonderful! Shows it can be done, and should be done more often. Maybe ALEUT, USONE and WNBA should be included in that list of “no proper names”, since they all require capital letters. But I won’t complain about the dearth (mostly) of cast members, rappers, et.al.
(Just happened to be hard-boiling eggs while I did this puzzle…put eggs into boiling water for 11 min…perfect every time!)
I'll never understand what sets OFL off. WIFEHOOD??!! I thought we'd be subjected to a column-long rant on what a stupid word that is. But we get only a little bulleted note that isn't even really critical. Wonder what he would say about husbandhood or spousehood.
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteTough to get EGGS over MEDIUM, as that's the perfect cook. Not runny whites, and yolks still liquidy for your toast to sop up. I order that when I go to a restaurant, and have ended up with either over EASY or over HARD.
Anyway, when I got to Revealer clue, knew it would have to do with EGGs, but thought it would be EGGs on something, not what the theme ended up being. Right ballpark, but on the day no game was taking place.
Once I got first one - OO HARD, filled in the other two swiftly. Still didn't help all that much. Another toothy solve today, so far this week I've had to avoid getting bitten. Exception was the super easy clue for 43A, Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona ___" Monday-easy clue there. Just "Mona ___" would've sufficed.
Know ROSHAMBO as the name of the Rock Paper Scissors game. Cause I he smart. Har, not really. For some reason my not remembering anything brain remembers that.
Couple writeovers, tee-PJS, JiNGLY-JANGLY, LEMMe-LEMMA. Easy on the -ese today. Brain saw clue for UGLI as Uncut fruit instead of Uncute fruit. Weird how that happens. I was like, "that could be any fruit! What a weird clue!" Silly brain.
Debut for Lillian. Chen's POW. Nice! Heck, even Rex liked it! Enjoy your day, Lillian. Got the trifecta.
yd -5, should'ves 4 (Back to normal...)
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Did the same thing about uncute Entered ugli but didn't realize why until you explained it!
DeleteWhy am I not surprised that runny eggs make him gag :-)
ReplyDeleteLEMMA was recently a word in the Spelling Bee game. Raised a lot of pique among the drones that such an obscure word is allowed but a word like "lenten" is not. I tell ya, it gets rollickin' over there...
ReplyDeleteIn eight years of high school and college math, never once heard the term LEMMA. And haven't heard it since - until today.
ReplyDeleteWhere I grew up, Rock, Paper, Scissors was never a thing. I was well into adulthood before I even heard of it. I still have no idea how it works, and have certainly never heard the term ROSHAMBO.
I guess some kids have all the luck growing up in an environment where LEMMA and ROSHAMBO are a part of the air they breathe.
Or maybe not.
@JD lol. Thanks for the tip. I'll try that next time.
ReplyDeleteIn my world, soft, medium, hard apply to BOILED eggs. And l’d be very surprised if any NYC deli ever got an order for a fried egg other than, sunny side (softj), over-easy (medium) and we’ll-done (hard). So a major conceptual disconnect in the culinary front here. Also, the cluing was so very meh! I really don’t understand all the kudos today. But maybe that’s just me: I’m a (published) constructor and not a solver. As such, my practice is to ‘read’ fully Revealed XWords to see the good, the bad, and the ugly of my fellow constructors.
ReplyDeleteLEMMA tell y'all, even the LONER with a LOANER, those experiencing WIFEHOOD, those who are PREGGO, and those who are JANGLY EYED, this puzzle came with sizzle, ya know, 'cuz the FRIED EGGS.
ReplyDeleteSome will profess in grave tones the angst they feel at circles in the squares, but they're delicious here, so don't SNORT. Have a HARD CIDER if you're 'murikan or VIN if you're Les Français (unless yer a WINO) and grab some sliced feta to make breakfast CHEESIER. Don't have sliced feta? Time to upgrade your charcuterie.
Easy peasy SLATHERin' of fun today. I imagine seven of us will spend the day chatting about their favorite LEMMA. Don't think I knew RIFFLE is a word. Is HUSBANDHOOD a thing like HUSBADRY? If I wrote this puzzle, I'd be proud of it.
It's OHO Will, not AHA.
Uniclues:
1 Budget-minded's credo.
2 Give Bart's sister a treat, or Mona's nickname explaining the smile.
3 Cubic zirconia.
4 Rallying cry of sexy cyclopians.
5 Chefs filling in at the egg station.
6 You, on finding any of the following in a puzzle: right spelled rite, circles in squares, pluralism, red-eyed vireos, anything unknown, the word nerd, every single song not written between 1965 and 1975, sports, STEM terms used rather haphazardly, anything we can imagine is WS's fault, and crossbred dogs.
1 SEND PRICES
2 COOKIE LISA
3 CHEESIER KARAT
4 US ONE-EYED TOYS
5 LOANER POACHERS
6 TEMPEST HEAD
I sort of learned that other name for Rock Paper Scissors from that previous puzzle so I confidently wrote ROcHambo. I blame it on the fact that one of the high school bands when my kids were in high school was called Rochambeau named after the general.
ReplyDeleteInstead of Snort, Sneer or Snoot I had SNiff. Took a while to sort that out.
Cute puzzle, I'll take mine EASY.
Add Leona Helmsley and "wino" to the ever-expanding list of words that need to be culture-cancelled. Pretty soon, we'll be left with aerie and ort.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 9:35 AM: Agree. WIFEHOOD. WTF? If you look up the definition, you'll see, believe it or not, "womanhood." Are all the NYTXW eds male? So offensive.
ReplyDelete@pablo's fried egg story brought a big smile and a fond memory of my brother who spent one of his high school years living with our aunt and uncle in Atlanta. Our uncle was of a military nature, and the rule was that you ate what was served. My brother was a Mt. Rushmore candidate for picky eater, having lived his first 15 years on not much more than peanut butter and banana sandwiches (and Coca-Cola). Irresistible force, meet immovable object.
ReplyDeleteThe grand showdown came over a serving of brussel sprouts. My cousins and aunt had completed their meal and been dismissed from the dining room. Only two souls remained at the table, locked in a gustatory stalemate. Time froze. The tension mounted.
At last, one large tear appeared in the corner of my brother's eye, eased out, and coursed slowly down his face. Victory! Uncle hard-ass rose, defeated, and marched away in retreat.
Fine puzzle that was easy as a themeless with a nice surprise in the end, so it was absolutely unexpected to find so many companies about the ROSHAMBO/LEMMA cross. LEMMA is an integral part of HS geometry course for me, and if I remember correctly, then I've seen a ROSHAMBO in a rather recent NYT crossword. Am I wrong here?
ReplyDeleteFool me once with ROSHAMBO, shame on you.
ReplyDeleteTwice, I'll give myself a pass.
Today, despite the panic that I still wouldn't remember it, the "M" appeared firmly in my brain and was right!
I was thinking how hard it is to get eggs over medium. If you ask for soft or EASY, you get runny (for "sopping"). If you ask for MEDIUM, you get the same thing. However, if you go all the way to HARD, you get the texture of hard-boiled in fried form.
Welcome back Lewis! I did the world's worst impression of you yesterday just so people could hopefully get a smile in your name in your absence.
Not fond of PREGGOS or PREGGERS, it seems to imply that it was unintended for some reason. That could just be me...
ONCEVOICE - A really beautiful song, here performed by the Wailin'Jennys:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-24qGCvo7A&ab_channel=eTown
Interesting that we are being possibly set up for a new LEONA by including the infamous queen of mean, plus a singer "Lewis" that may not be so familiar, but we might recall in the future.
I had CringIER before CHEESIER bc that's what the kids are saying these days.
ALOU, the family relations that will never leave.
I never heard roshamnbo. Or lemma.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that other name for RPS is indeed Rochambeau and not Rochambo. For a guy who rants about missing diacriticals in NYT Xwords it's kind of odd you celebrate this Anglicized version of a French name. At the VERY least, it should end "boh" and not "bo", and if you're going to allow this, why not go all the way and spell it "roshambo"? Isn't "roch" pronounced "rock" in English? Rahcombo indeed.
ReplyDeleteHey, Rex. The puzzle sucked. Like the last five or ten. The worst thing that hashappened in puzzledom is these websites that feed you words to solve your construction problems. Wifehood crossing residues...jangly...lemma...Good God.
ReplyDelete@TJS 10:09 AM (summarizing from the 21st) I gaze through the smoke of incense burning in a statue of Amun Ra and see into the future. It says you will continue to do New York Times crossword puzzles and you will comment on dozens of them by the day Santa Claus arrives. The Oracle of Denver has spoken.
DeleteJuly 26: Today, the first vision is confirmed. Comment #1. Thirteen more (grouchy or not) by Christmas! Let's do this. I have faith in us.
Books are PRINT MEDIA. Magazines are PRINT MEDIA. Newspapers are PRINT MEDIA. Newspapers, books or magazines are PRINT MEDIA. It is absolutely bonkers that they clued the singular MEDIUM this way. Nuts. Borderline illiterate.
ReplyDeleteI like how "poachers" crosses eggs over easy!
ReplyDeleteThx, Lillian; OOh, that was a tasty Tues.! 😋
ReplyDeleteMED. 🥚
Very smooth solve; no 'cracks'.
I'll take my EGGS POACHEd and/or MEDIUM-HARD boiled.
Liked this one very much! :)
@jae
Croce's 729 was a typically med. 2 1/2 workout; only prob was too much unknown stuff in Texas. So, big-time dnf there. :( See you next Mon. :)
@pabloinnh (2:39 PM yd)
Good on ya! I expect @jae and I will have a go at the 731 soon.
___
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
I graduated with a major in English literature, but for my first two years I was wavering between that and math. The decider was when I took differential equations, and had to prove something called Zorn's LEMMA. I just couldn't figure it out. I asked a couple of people for help, and they both gave me the same hint. Didn't work, so I majored in English. Now I don't even remember what the lemma is, but the word is seared into my memory. Good thing, because I needed every single cross for ROSHAMBO. (#mathgent, we said "one...two...three."
ReplyDeleteBack home, over EASY meant you flipped the eggs without breaking the yolks. Over HARD meant you broke them. So there was no place for medium; but we were out in semirural Wisconsin, I guess the city folks had more sophisticated ways with their eggs.
Several years ago, my brother-in-law, a retired physicist in his 90’s now, developed and taught an Adult Ed course on the relationship between physics and music. When I saw him the following Thanksgiving, I asked him how it went. He said it went well, he was pleased, and then he added, “I must tell you, though, I was appalled at the level of ignorance that’s out there.” I asked him what he meant, and he said “There was actually a woman in the group who did not know what a logarithm is.”
ReplyDeleteWell, I was sitting there, having no idea what a logarithm is, so I stammered something like, “Well, I wouldn’t say that marks her as a complete moron, does it?” And he said, “Oh, please. That’s like never having heard of Shakespeare.” (Whew, I passed that one.)
That became the standard of intelligence in my family. My wife met one of my daughter’s boyfriends before I did, and when I asked her how he seemed she said, “Well, let me put it this way: I don’t think he knows what a logarithm is.”
The POW ??? I rest my case.
ReplyDeleteOne generally has to get passed the Calc sequence before *doing* proofs (and thus lemmas), aka Higher Maths.
ReplyDeleteNot in your own geometry one doesn't, oh esteemed teacher .
DeleteI am a true blue EGG head......I LOVE EGGS.. Wanna know what my favorite breakfast is? I always have some Cuban black beans stewing in a pot and white rice in the fridge. Then I take a farm raised egg and gently fry it. I put my egg in a cold pan, turn the heat to MEDIUM, cover the pan and in about 4 minutes...an egg of divine perfection. Slide it on top of the beans and rice and you'll want to dance the rest of your day.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice Tuesday....!!!! I enjoyed all of it and it made me hungry. I feel sorry for people who don't like eggs...I even like how they look .
But then you give me PREGGO. Is that not as CHEESIER as it gets? It's just plain UGLI me thinks. "I am with child" is also cheesy. How about "She has a bun in her oven." The list kinda goes on because Lucy and Ricardo didn't want to say PREGNANT!!! The SKYE is the limit.
LEMMA and WIFEHOOD were the little hard parts. Easy enough to get and it didn't cause a wince.
Best Tuesdays in AWHILE... and now I'll go eat a COOKIE.
odd how the gag reflex works, i.e. randomly among the population. for me (you do want to know, right?) the dead cert is pudding, I really can't get any down. I have to have my fried eggs over VERY easy, thus the yolks barely warm and not a problem getting them down. OTOH, my scrambled eggs have to be well done, not a fluid molecule to be found, because if there is, my tongue revolts. perhaps The Swedish Chef can explain?
ReplyDeleteYes, LEMMA crossing ROSHAMBO was a definite Natick, IMHO. I guessed correctly on the "M" so was able to finish without cheating, but I didn't feel great about it.
ReplyDelete@Liveprof:
ReplyDeleteThe give away: those who really don't know say Log-A-rhythm.
Clue for 41A is backwards.
ReplyDeleteA Brit would call a biscuit well, a biscuit ( or more commonly bickie)
Cookie is an American confection of food & language.
2 mangled Britishisms in 2
days, not bad!
Congrats to Lillian on the debut. Enjoyed the puzzle and especially liked learning the fancy name for rock-paper-scissors. Or should it be scissors-paper-rock? Or paper-rock-scissors? Or…?
ReplyDeleteAlso learned that when you leaf through something, you are riffling and not rifling.
Never heard the word LEMMA before, either. Sounds more like a small animal than a math theorem.
All in all, a fun and educational puzzle, though it does seem a bit high in cholesterol.
Easy. No real problems with this one. Smooth with a novel/clever theme, liked it. A fine debut!
ReplyDeleteWell wasn’t this just a little sunny-side-up Tuesday delight! Great fun and what a tremendously clever idea for a theme. Beautifully done Ms. Simpson!! Congrats on your debut and puzzle of the week. Impressive. I’d say I hope to see more from you but I’m pretty sure we will. Just hope it’s sooner rather than later.
ReplyDeleteLiked LOANER and LONER which are going to be my Wordle words today. I side EYED ROSHAMBO but seem to vaguely recall having that once before. Winced at the waspish clue for NEST since I was stung by one earlier while out watering flowers. Those tiny little creatures certainly do pack a powerful punch.
A chicken-raising friend sometimes blesses me with some delicious fresh EGGS and I often have them for lunch, OO MEDIUM with cherry tomatoes which I have a bumper crop of right now. But before I go pick any more of them you can bet I’m going to look around and make sure there aren’t any flying insects in the vicinity. Despite the antihistamine, baking soda paste, vinegar, and Cortizone cream, my hand is still smarting.
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ReplyDeleteGreat Tuesday puzzle with very little PPP and interesting answers.
ReplyDeleteSeems like a lot of “egg preparation” controversy today. @Roo, I didn’t even know that there was an “eggs over medium” designation until well into middle age, and you are RIGHT, it is hard to find someone who does it well. Eggs over hard? I don’t get that, seems like you might as well scramble the puppies.
I didn’t see PREGGERS and JANGLY until read @Rex. I don’t know @Gary Jugert, PREGGERS sounds better than “bun in the oven.”
I adhere to Joaquin’s dictum so 52D was okay by me AND I already Googled and STILL don’t quite understand but it seems that ALEUT and Inuit are larger language categories with Yu’pik and Inupiaq being subcategories. I’m willing to believe they are all “related.”
A happy Tuesday - thanks to a very cute theme and otherwise satisfying entries + @Rex's good-humored review. Thanks to those who pointed out the complementary POACHERS and PREGGO. More nods of appreciation for SLATHERS, TEMPEST, INDULGE, RIFFLE, CHEESIER, and JANGLY. What a fine debut!
ReplyDeleteDo-overs: Smear on before SLATHER, REmnantSs before RESIDUES, KAReT. How-could-I -have-forgotten: ROSHAMBO.
Eggstremely easy for a Tuesday.
ReplyDelete@jberg. Differential equations ended my math major, too.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think we should let WNBA slip by without a shoutout to Brittney Griner.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that PRINTMEDIUM does work as clued. If someone commanded “Name a print medium”, you wouldn’t say “book”, but you would say “books”. OTH, if someone said “Name a print media” I don’t know what you’d say.
The revealer itself could have been clued as “Butchered breakfast order”. FRIEDEGGS over UGLI.
Liked the egsforbreakfast theme and thought this was a very fun and well executed puzzle. Congrats on the debut, Lillian Simpson.
@Nancy
ReplyDeleteALOU, WNBA (sorta) ROSHAMBO (kinda) HELENA (maybe)
@mathgent
1,2,3
Not as colorful just as efficient.
I like my 🥚 🥚s
ReplyDeleteEASY
Loved this one
And.mostly my 🧩🧩’s
MEDIUM on Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Fun puzzle!
U
🤗🧩🦖🦖🦖🧩🤗
POACHERS was a fun tangential themed, and I wanted those over-medium eggs to drop right into the NEST below!
ReplyDeleteLEMMA was a near-gimme, for this one-time math student/teacher. ROSHAMBO sounded vaguely familiar, once I got it all filled in.
ReplyDeletestaff weeject pick: OO. Appearin in the circles, them OOs look very much like eggs. Woulda left the circles off the cookin instructions parts, but that's just a personal preference, likin to be sneaky. But it's only a TuesPuz, sooo … ok.
fave side dishes: INDULGE. ONEVOICE. SLATHER. COOKIE. WOOL clue.
Thanx for the fun, Ms. Simpson darlin. And congratz on yer primo debut. Was a pretty friendly puz, at our house. We wanna egg U on, to make some more such tasty puzs.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
**gruntz**
@Hack. 41A-What Brits call a biscuit/COOKIE seems pretty staightforward to me. But it depends on how you see the clue. It is poorly written and not the only bad clue today.
ReplyDeleteA delightful theme. I love that the Os actually look like EGGS, yolk and all! I hard boiled a bunch of eggs last night for the first time in a while, so this felt extra fun :) Also love “bad button to click accidentally”. We’ve all been there; absolutely panic-inducing!! Thanks for a great puzzle Lillian
ReplyDeleteRegarding the PRINT MEDIUM kerfuffle over singular/plural. The Word "OR" in the clue would indicate singular but each item is itself plural so the result is a mot mess. As Mary Mcarty (9:31) points out, this is just bad editing.
ReplyDelete@Roo (9:35) I get the same results with ordering over MEDIUM EGGS at a restaurant and can usually count on them being closer to over EASY and runny. But I’ve found if I do as @B Right There suggests at 7:08 and order over HARD hoping they’ll come back undercooked, then I get hockey pucks just this side of petrified. However I must admit I don’t really expect someone else to cook them just the way I like them when it has taken me years of practice to learn how to do it myself. 😄
ReplyDeleteBack in the day, we never said eggs "over hard". If you didn't like runny eggs, it was "over vicious".
ReplyDeleteThose WNBA players have long leggs.*
ReplyDelete*Sorry
Brits have a different biscuit / cookie dichotomy than do Americans. To a Brit, if it's sweet & chewy, it's a cookie, other wise it's a biscuit, i.e. if it snaps, it's a biscuit. In America, if it's sweet it's a cookie. Biscuits are a completely different beast.
ReplyDeleteAndrew R @9:35
ReplyDeleteWhat is the point of your comment about Rex and runny eggs? It went over my head. Help me out.
Eggs over HARD and that's all there is to it. Every time I hear someone on the Food Network rave about how the gooey egg runs all over the dish, I cringe. I love eggs but not "easy".
ReplyDeleteThis was fun and only PREGGO annoyed me a whit. Thanks, Lillian Simpson and congrats on the debut and the POW from Jeff Chen.
@albatros shell (11:35). Thanks for answering my question. The next time we have cake in my corner of the playground, there's a big piece for you.
ReplyDeleteThe easiest way to remember “lemma” is that it’s hidden in the common word “dilemma,” which is the choice between two premises or lemmas.
ReplyDeleteThat was uncute, Anonymous 1:30.
ReplyDeleteI am ashamed of self (remember Grover, I yam so ashamed!). Many hang-ups especially in the NE, though I don't think MEDIUM was altogether my fault. I went wrong on ADRIFT thinking that would have to end -ing. Don't follow basketball so had no idea about the sky and the sun. I don't think RESIDUES is a Tuesday word.
Funnily enough, though, I was able to correct my ROcHAMBO as soon as I got EASYTARGETS .
SB - got to PG in 15 minutes but am hanging there.
Complete BS. A Brit does not call a biscuit a cookie. A cookie is fully an American term. A Brit says bickie. How annoying.
ReplyDeleteNot to get political since our reliable Anonym-oti are running about warning about their cancel-culture stawman, but seriously, cookie, biscuit, bread bin, not to mention pram, boot, trolley, and our highly beloved of late, arse. It's all adding up to the same conclusion: The Brits are just not behaving like us. Maybe they missed the footnote to the 1776 document written by slave holders that we'd be requiring the same words as us. They're trying I guess: We Reagan, they Thatcher; we orange man, they whatever-Boris-was, them Brexit, us attempting to jettison democracy. If we can at least make them agree a saloon is a sedan, we might not need to dust off the muskets. C'mon England, do everything our way.
ReplyDelete@41A Is WRONG!!! folks. Imagine you have a cookie in your hand. What would a Brit call it? That's right, a biscuit. That cookie is what a Brit would all a biscuit. Now, was that so hard?
ReplyDeleteTry thinking about how the clue might be right before you go on about how it is wrong. Same think for the next thing your partner says. And your neighbor. And the next stranger you meet.
Best breakfast ever: dipping bacon into runny yolk!
ReplyDeleteWhat's wrong with WIFEHOOD? The position of being a wife. Just as is husbandhood, fatherhood/motherhood, adulthood, priesthood, nunhood, manhood, childhood, and hundreds of others. Even Robinhood.
ReplyDeletePREGGO? Seriously? Don't we already have a perfectly serviceable word, "pregnant", for that? Seems like a neologism created solely for the sake of creating a neologism. PREGGO looks and sounds more like a brand of spaghetti sauce, right?
ReplyDeleteNever came across the term in math but I remember LEMMA from a long ago undergrad course in Deductive Logic. Anon @1:01 beat me to it but I was going to point out its existence in the much more common "dilemma".
I don't know why but I find the word SLATHER disgusting. Yuck!
For a long time I had BOSHAMRO for the rock, paper, scissors thingie. The crossing APBS look just fine for some financial abbreviation. I finally got that straightened out when the crossing ORBIT showed up.
ReplyDeleteRelative difficulty: Easy-Medium-Hard
I skimmed the comments and no one seems to have pointed out that SOFT TARGET has nothing to do with scams. It identifies a civilian or object that is unprotected from a military or terrorist attack. It, like collateral damage, is a euphemism used to conceal the ugly truth that innocents die in conflicts.
ReplyDeleteFairly easy except for the impossible (for me) crossing of LEMMA and ROSHAMBO, neither of which I've heard of. Just looked up the latter word and its alternate meaning sounds really painful!
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 7:29. I wonder if that’s because the answer isn’t softTARGETS?
ReplyDeleteI believe the kids on South Park play ROSHAMBO but instead of RPS they kick each other in the balls.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, that’s how I learned the word.
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ReplyDeleteI only heard of eggs over easy. Eggs over hard or medium are new to me. But it’s a real thing so bravo to Lillian Simpson on her debut NYT crossword.
ReplyDeleteHEAD NOD
ReplyDelete"INDULGE me AWHILE,
make ITT BEE EASY, please?",
ASKED RAY with A smile,
"I'VE A need for RELEASE."
--- LEONA LISA LOUPE
I like my FRIEDEGGS sunny side up, but this will do. I was fishing at a Pond before the PIER.
ReplyDelete'Lousy' start to wordle but got it in two! Eagle.
This puzzle reminds me of a funny egg story at a restaurant where I worked on a summer break whilst in college. This was a Howard Johnson's on the NJ Turnpike. The menu listed "2 Country Fresh Eggs, any style." Well, we had an egg mix named "Country Fresh," and then we also had real eggs. So...one day we ran out of the real eggs. Try explaining to lots of hungry travelers (I worked the 11 pm to 7 am shift) why they could only get their "Country Fresh" eggs scrambled. Oh the hilarity.
ReplyDeleteDiana, Lady-in-Waiting, but no longer a waitress
Roshambo! A mash up of two Kurosawa films?
ReplyDeleteSorry, I couldn't help myself.
Preggo: Eggo? Bad any way…
ReplyDelete- - Robert
I wasn't sure how to spell roshambo, but since it's a word made up out of the thin air in the 1930s and only recently known outside of California, it doesn't really matter how you spell it. I grew up knowing it by its Japanese name, jan-ken-pon.
ReplyDelete