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Bottle of rum go-with / FRI 8-26-22 / Zoom call background effect / Old telecom inits. / A heavy one may want a lighter / Joey who doesn't wear pants / Fruit-bearing shrub known botanically as Prunus spinosa
Friday, August 26, 2022
Constructor: Robert Logan
Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- all of them, I guess
Aidan Mackenzy Bryant (born May 7, 1987) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the late-night variety series Saturday Night Live (2012–2022), beginning in season 38, and leaving at the end of season 47. For her work on the series, she has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, including two nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Her other work includes a voice role in the animated series Danger & Eggs (2017) and a starring role in the sitcom Shrill (2019–2021); for the latter, she also served as writer and executive producer and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. (wikipedia)
• • •
I got bad, eerie vibe off of this one right from the start. The grid has a weird look—boxy and plain, like a generic "crossword grid," with no answers over 10 letters long, so it looked like it was gonna have bad "flow" and few if any real marquee answers. So my gut was telling me something was up, and then I dove in and that gut feeling only got stronger. I finished the NW corner and there was nothing shiny or sparkly about it, nothing that seemed purpose-built—why would you stack 8s in a themeless? What good could come of that? The best you're gonna get is "OK." And the worst you're gonna get is ... well ADP (5D: Big inits in payroll services). That answer alone was like a giant red alert. It's a terrible bit of fill, the kind you'd only trot out if you needed it to hold together an *amazing* corner ... and that NW corner is not amazing. I kept going, of course, and found that the fill wasn't bad so much as blah. Then I got a bit worried a theme was developing when "YOU BETCHA" crossed "YES, INDEEDY." This worry only intensified when I hit "OKEY DOKEY" ... Am I really enduring this bone-dry grid just so I can have a "folksy phrases of agreement" theme? Because that would be bad. But then "HARD TO TELL" interrupted the apparent theme pattern, and I was back to just an inexplicably bland puzzle. But then, at the end, explicability. Tragic explicability. A genuine revealer, one that brings sudden and, in this case, truly horrid illumination. A Bizarro revealer with an upside-down "AHA" (which is "AHA" spelled backward ... see, you can't even tell it's Evil. It looks just like the Good "AHA"! Scary!). The jolting, abrupt ending to all this Uncanny-Valley Friday nonsense was the revelation that the puzzle did, in fact, have a theme. Not "folksy phrases of agreement." No, that theme actually seems reasonable now. No, our theme is a completely invisible, no-enjoyment-added letter-count theme. The Acrosses have even letter counts and the Downs have odd. This would've been disappointing on a *Wednesday* (which is about where the difficulty level was); on a Friday, it's criminal.
I like themes on Friday (or Saturday) even less than I like themelesses on Sunday, but at least a themed Friday (or Saturday) has a chance with me. The theme just has to be stellar. You took away my favorite puzzle of the week from me (the themeless Friday), so OK, replace it with something better then. But this ... isn't better. It's so far from better that it has left "better"'s gravitational pull entirely and floated off to become basically space junk. There was some incidental fill that I would've liked in a better conceived puzzle that wasn't intruding on my Friday themeless pleasure. I actually like "A WORD..." and "YES, YOU!" They're terse yet colorful. Colorful is hard to do in short fill. But on a Friday I should not be telling you that my favorite fill was 5 or 6 letters long. Why make a less-than-mediocre themeless just so you can make the EVEN ODDS joke!? Which doesn't even really work on a literal level—as a "description of the lengths of this puzzle's Across" answers, EVEN is (adjectivally) correct. As a "description of the lengths of this puzzle's [...] Down answers," ODDS is non-adjectival, and thus not really a "description" at all. Ill-conceived and extremely ill-slotted on a Friday, this puzzle. Baffling, truly. But people will likely be so focused on their personal best Friday times (YES, YOU) that they won't care much that the puzzle was, at best, a shrug. To which I say, great. Take your enjoyment where you can get it!
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. Happy to see the wonderful Aidy BRYANT in the puzzle, but surprised we didn't up seeing her as AIDY first. Seems like a potentially useful four-letter answer. If y'all wanted to make AIDY the next ENYA, I would not be mad.
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116 comments:
I agree with the Easy assessment, but I struggled in the NW, all my own fault. I wanted toP(something) for the team leader at 1A, misremembered ADP even though they handled payroll for at least the last two decades of my working career and conflated it with security company ADt, and my retirement spots were inNS. Luckily, the rest of the puzzle was "Yes, indeedy!" easy, and I went clockwise, backing into the NW.
Liked it a lot more than @Rex did (but what else is new?)
The plural of genus is genera - not the answer accepted by the genIuses who edit these puzzles. Did I misunderstand 8down?
GENUSES??? No, no no! The plural of genus is genera. Always.
Like last Sundays offering this puzzle was a disappointment. It seems the first compromise in the making of a stunt puzzle is always the quality of the solve itself. By stunt I'm referring to features like a record low number of entries for last Sunday or todays categorizing the length of the entries themselves. Stacked grid spanners can have the same effect.
This would have made a great Wednesday. Especially as I generally don't do early week puzzles anymore. On top of the lack of late week resistance having to put in entries like YOU BETCHA, YESINDEEDY and OKEYDOKEY made the solve feel like the equivalent of sitting on an x-word Whoopee cushion. I was not amused.
yd -0, dbyd pg-3, Sunday-Tu -0
Holy moly, this was tough for me, especially the northwest. Rex – I’m impressed that you finished that area first. @Conrad - good on you that you found this one easy.
Didn’t help that I had “over pack” for OVER PLAN. I’m guilty of both. Invariably when I’m unpacking my suitcase from a trip, ¾ of the clothes I hang back up remained utterly untouched. I’m reminded of this clip I saw on TikTok.
@M&A – Hey, there, buddy! Glad you’re back!
@Ei Con (from yesterday) - that clip was hilarious, and I related to everything. Thanks.
To the GENUSES objectors – hmm. I hear you, but, well if you’ve seen only Tosca, do you say you’ve just been to one opus? On the foreign plural/singular stuff, I just go with the flow and avoid all the arguments and ruckpodes.
“Eightsome”. . .Seasoned solver that I am, I put in the OCT and waited for crosses to see if it was “octet” or OCTAD. A while back, I adopted -some as my go-to adjectivizing suffix of choice. Ach! Tad, put that magazine back and bring me something more hardcover dictionarysome. I need it to be really heavy to flatten these copies that came out of my printer all curled up because of the &$#@ humidity in my classroom. I always forget that -some moonlights as a nominalizing suffix indicating a group of a certain number. Hah. An elite athlete has a constitution of some twosomes of awesome chromosomes.
SHELTIE and HERDS. I tell you, I could spend hours watching clips of sheepdogs herding hapless sheep. Those poor sheep don’t have a chance. I always feel if I could meet one of those dogs, I’d be in the presence of greatness. They’re such low-key bad asses. No flash, no swagger, they just quietly go out and get’er done. I saw this clip a while back, and while I do feel kinda bad that the sheep are the butt of the joke in a way, I’m reminded that we humans have a helluva lot of spare time on our hands, especially, apparently, shepherds.
The clue for RICE took me a minute. Then I realized the “in a bed” refers not to “you” but rather to the “food” part. As in red BEANs and RICE. Good stuff, that.
“Show vanity, in a way” - PREEN feels all public and attention-seeking; you want people to watch the process. “Primp” feels like something private that you do leisurely in front of your bathroom mirror or (furtively between classes with your compact). Either way, they’re both vanitysome.
Running this puzzle on a Friday, while taking up fully two-thirds of OFL’s rant today, is not the constructor’s call. I thought it was wonderful. Great clues. (Editors- you messed up my stats. Booooo.)
I predict a very high comment count today. @Rex was so upset he seems not to have noticed the alcoholic answers involving pirates BESOTted on Rum, YOHOHOing. This is not a theme. It is a feature of the grid that is present before a single letter is entered. So let's not belabor that point. My tears are ruining my coffee. Tears triggered by @Rex's "You took away my favorite puzzle of the week from me". Yes. This was easier than most Fridays. That is not a fault. Time Schmime. I simply like solving and I enjoyed this one. And I kind of like the oxymoronicity of EVENODDS.
@LMS. The guideline for trip preparation is take half the clothes you think you need and twice the amount of money.
Sorry, LMS. I understand your lax "anything goes" position on grammar. But we’re not talking about a term used in everyday conversation. Rather, this is a word used almost solely in the biological sciences, where grammatical rules are held to a higher standard. As a physician, I wouldn’t tolerate incorrect plurals in medicine because they’d be, well, incorrect, irrespective of a layperson’s misuse. The same holds true for the other sciences.
A week or so ago I posted to say that I was seriously considering canceling my NYT Xword subscription because the only puzzles that I find at all interesting anymore are Fridays and Saturdays; everything else seems to just be phoned in these days. Well, tomorrow's puzzle better be spectacular because after this one ruined my Friday I'm halfway out the door.
I don’t categorize this as a themed puzzle. 64a presents a characteristic of the grid - but there’s no functional or content connection to solving it. It was fairly easy for a Friday - but I liked it more than the big guy. The folksy phrases were cute - brought me back 40 or 50 years when my mom's answer to my “see you later alligator” was “OKEY DOKEY artichokey”.
Not a huge fan of ALPHA DOG at 1a. TAHITI, SCHMALTZ, YO HO HO etc are all good. That center stack of 3s was funky. Keep BESOT out.
No problem with either genera or GENUSES for the irregular plural - just as I can see AP TEST as the superlative of APT.
Crash on the LEVEE mama - water’s gonna overflow
Not a typical Friday - but an enjoyable solve.
Easy for a Friday, but I'm ina hurry, so okay. No fun wordplay in a single clue... that's just sad. The revealer was mere showing off... harmless. The agreement phrases were a silly , unnecessary theme.
And still, I enjoyed solving the puzzle, so thank you for creating it.
I loved the puzzle as soon as I saw its way-out design. I didn’t know what I was in for; it was like heading toward a country I’ve never visited. Even more so when I saw that this was a NYT constructor debut.
But as I solved, it actually felt like home, like solving a typical grid, getting footholds, and working from there. The NW put up a good fight – I wanted TAMES for the cat impossibility, but HERDS was excellent. LEVEE was tough with a lovely clue – [Bank regulator] – and GENUSES stubbornly played hide-and-seek in my memory. So, getting that NW corner more than satisfied my brain’s work ethic.
Speaking of cats, my Wiley has taken to licking the hair on my head. What’s with that???
My favorite answer was SCHMALTZ. I don’t care what it means. I just love how it sounds. Robert added four terrific in-the-language debut answers to the NYT canon: DOLBY, HARD TO TELL, MONKEE, and WE’RE DONE. And he peppered the grid with nine double E’s, tremendously high single-letter double count.
It’s impressive to debut on a Friday, and with such a junk-lite grid. Robert, you made me sit up at attention, as did your grid, which, with all its right angles made me want to stand like a soldier and salute. Congratulations, and thank you for a very memorable crossword experience. I selfishly am eager for more!
Super-easy Friday with a "theme" (not really, as @Son Volt points out) that I never even noticed until I read Rex's column. A "theme" meant for constructors, not solvers because we who are doing the thing are not helped, or amused, by the fact that acrossses are evens and downs are odds. And we really don't need a theme on a Friday.
There were a lot of fresh and clever clues here--liked YES INDEEDY/YES YOU, SCHMALTZ, OKEYDOKEY, HARD TO TELL, and the blast from the past MONKEE, so the easy solve as also fun.
NW corner was the only thing that kept me from a new a Friday PB. See the GENUSES/genera comments everywhere. And I think of ALPHA DOG as more than a "leader." And ADP, OMG!
PUH-REACH, Rexy!!!
I've never read an LOTR book or seen a movie (are there movies?) but FRODO is one of those names that seeps into the memory. Full disclosure-I entered FROtO initially.
I guess the constructor thought the grid shape and “revealer” were kinda cool, but they had nothing to do with how one solved the puzzle. Absolutely nothing. But I did find it to be a pleasant solve. My only hiccup was having wEED for Bulrush, so I assumed that AWOwD was some hip young person abbreviation I didn’t know.
A blatant gimmick/stunt puzzle on a Friday is never a good thing.
That said, this would have been fine on a Wednesday. The "folksy" phrases were fun, and the fill is pretty clean -- Rex seems to pin his entire "NW is suspect" argument on ADP, which is hardly the worst thing we see in puzzles.
All to say, this is nice work from the constructor. I'm with those who take issue with the editor's decision to run this on Friday -- a very poor call in my opinion.
🤣😂🤣 - Will people never learn? Argue with Muse all you want, but maybe consult the dictionary first.
GENUSOPODES is how we say at Z’s Placebo and Tentacle. Why use three syllables when five will do?
I was at an Elvis Costello concert Tuesday (yep, he is still king. You know this is true because it says so right on his first album) and was thoroughly amused by his “you can’t put the genius back in the bottle” line.
I liked the folksy terms. I liked the dead pirate —> pre-fab four misdirect. But, yeah, otherwise with Rex. I will complain longly and loudly about letter based themes being inferior to wordplay based themes. But this ain’t even letter-based, it is letter count based. Please Please Please constructors, the next time you set some construction challenge yourself and overcome it, just post about it on Facebook or Twitter or to your aunts. Just do not submit it for publication. Please. We beg you.
BTW - not a record, but definitely easy Friday, more medium Wednesday territory.
@Lobster11 - If it weren’t for Rex and the commentariat I’d probably join you. I don’t have time these days to do all the good puzzles out there, and it’s increasingly rare for the NYTX to be even top three on a given day.
I suppose it takes something offbeat, like this grid, to get Will's attention. I understand that it's hard to get a Friday published. But the goofy grid didn't bother me and there was enough sparkle and crunch to make it fun. Plus I liked being reminded of Frances McDormand and Fargo.
Love the clips..thanks for sharing your fun takes on the nytpuzzs too🤣
FH
Agree it was easy. Agree it wasn't very good. Still: a record Friday solve for me, of under 9 minutes. And I've found by experimentation that it takes me 4-5 minutes to fill in a grid on-screen, even when I know all the answers from previously solving the puzzle on paper.....
OMG #1 - I get an email every day from Twitter with “posts you missed” that I normally just delete. But I scrolled through it today and it ends with a Liberty Mutual Post. That fucking emu is everywhere.
OMG#2 - The NYT emailed me with the exciting news that I can play Wordle in their App. How long until they pull a .puz and force us to play Wordle in their App?
Agree with much of @Son Volt. Except ALPHADOG was OKEYDOKEY and I didn't see APTEST as most APT right away, but when I did, I couldn't help wishing it would have been clued that way. AP stuff always seems a bit clunky in the grid.
Enjoyed the folksy trio of agreements. Other pluses:
WE'RE DONE I'M DOWN
MONKEE Davy Jones (it was nice having a gentleman farmer and semi-retired celeb living around here).
HOMEY SCHMALTZ
HARD TO TELL
BOOGIE (Film about the porn industry in Camelot? I don't have to give you the answer do I?)
NANOBOTS
ITS A DEAL
YO HO HO OREO
YO HO HO FRODO
TAHITI (what's wrong there?)
YES YOU
EVEN ODDS (sort of like army intelligence)
No google needed Friday.
NW made me think it was Friday for awhile.
Had to stare at the grid a while to convince myself it was symmetric. It is very odd-looking. And a lot of white space. Pretty solid really. Not Times-day appropriate. Still a good one.
could someone please explain Board, so to speak, equaling MEALS?
Record time by nearly 2 1/2 minutes?!? & well under half my Friday average. What will I do with all this free time??
Wordle 433 4/6*
🟦⬜🟦⬜⬜
⬜🟦🟦⬜⬜
⬜🟧🟦🟦⬜
🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧
Rolled the dice with Naticks on 2,3. This is real weakness of this game!
Well, I agree that this puzzle theme did nothing for me. It's more of a constructor's ego trip, "See what I did there?!" OK. Impressive. Luckily I found the solving experience enjoyable anyway. Got nothing in the NW to start, but loved the HERDS clue, actually chuckling out loud, and that gave up ALPHADOG instantly. Did halt at GENU_ _ but it didn't bother me when it built out, like some here have indicated. SHMALTZ actually means lard. Overly oily is supposed to be indicated by that, I guess. Liked the never before seen clue for our old crosswordese SLOE. Still not sure about the APTEST clue. And I took AP Calc, thought back in my day it was just called Calc but you got to take it a year or two earlier than when it was usually planned. We had alot of 'agreement' in this puzz with YES making two appearances, and ITSADEAL, and the actual AGREE.
Liked the animal stuff like the MONKEE (Peter was my favorite), the SHELTIE, the cats being HERDed, and our ROO. Also thought that the colloquial stuff mixed with the APTEST, GENUSES, OCTAD, NANOBOTS high-brow stuff was a nice juxtaposition.
Enjoyed this easy, peezy, breezy Friday. I liked that the NW gave me a little resistance to give me that slight panicky feeling, then the cute HERD clue giving me traction, and off I went to give me that great feeling of ESTEEM. Thanks, Constructor.
Two answers contained YES. Editing???
Sorry, this puzzle was a NO for me also.
Room and Board
Please tell me I’m not the only one who tried RECtaL for “explosive feedback”…
SCHMALTZ another Yiddishism heard frequently in NYC, these seeming to show up regularly now The word literally means “cream”, making it the APTEST metaphor for over-indulgent rich sweetness in emotive performance.
Hands up for having to work my way back into the NW. HERDing cats is the obvious phrase, but I just read an article about pet owners being encouraged to brush their cats’ teeth. At least an unsuccessful herding doesn’t result in shredded fingers.
@anon 8:31, think room & board fees for college.
“Both "genera" and "genuses" are correct, although "genera" is best for academic writing.“. Google-brain.
@Mathgent 8:11
Sadly I was instead reminded of a person from Alaska...
@Anon 8:31
As in "room and board". A place to sleep and meals. Also seen on TG perhaps as a "groaning board".
Oh, lighten up. Phrasing was fun! Enjoyed this, even, oddly so, it was a bit too easy for the end-of-a-week puzzle!
👋 for easy, record time, not interested in letter count, and inNS before DENS.
Did not appreciate reference to some Alaska politician but much appreciated the Fargo reminder!
YESYOU reminds me of a kids rhyme:
Who stole the cookies from the cooky jar?
[So and so] stole the cookies from the cookie jar [points]
Not me!
YESYOU
Not me!
Then who?
[Someone else] stole the cookies...
Etc., etc.
You might want to take that up with Websters who proclaim that either GENERA or GENUSES is acceptable.
All you have to do is change the clue for EVEN ODDS -- easy enough to do -- and, poof!, you've got a themeless puzzle. Which, if you're a puzzle editor adhering to the "themeless Friday" *rule*, you probably should have done.
As a solver, I don't care about any of these *rules* -- none of which I initiated or necessarily would have. Not the sliding scale of increasing difficulty as the week progresses; not which day the trick puzzles are slotted for; and not what can and can't be a themeless day. But since this particular theme was entirely invisible, making it go bye-bye would probably have been a very good idea.
As easy Fridays go, I found the puzzle enjoyable. I liked the playful way YOHOHO was clued and I absolutely loved the clue for DREAM. Very imaginative. I hope Lewis will pick it for this week's best clues.
I didn't remember that TRAVOLTA played lawyer Robert Shapiro, so I guess he has a lot more acting range than I thought. I remember the real Robert Shapiro, and if I were casting director, never in a million years would I have thought of TRAVOLTA for the part. Would you?
Question: Why does the NSA need mathematicians? I thought they needed spies.
Biggest mistake I didn't make. I saw "Davy Jones was one" and I had -O-KE- filled in. You have no idea how much I wanted to write in LOCKER.
Easy, but extremely pleasant to solve.
Sorry, lard not cream, wrong animal fat
Way too easy for a Friday. “Who me? Rejoinder” as a clue for “yesyou” might be too easy for a MONDAY! But I liked challenging my record Friday time. Though I lost… 😊
I know this is the sort.of thing prescriptivists hate to hear, but OED reports that genuses has been in use as a.plural form.of genus since the 1600-1700s.
In brief: tough for me; liked it a lot. I don't know how to say this without sounding ridiculous, but while I was solving I thought I heard a new "voice" in the clues and answers, so after finishing and checking xwordinfo.com, I wasn't surprised to see it's a debut. I'll concede that I, too, could have done with a little less of the folksy chat, but otherwise I found the different voice very appealing, both in itself and because it was different.
@Robert Logan, thank you for the challenge and the fun. I hope to see more from you.
Did I enjoy it? YES INDEEDY! And even though it was easier than your typical Friday, it put up enough resistance to make it a challenge, at least for me.
Hey All ?
Is this a Schrodinger theme? It is a theme and not a theme. Har.
I thought the "Revealer" was neat. When I got it, I looked at the grid, said "pretty neat!", and kept on solving without my panties in a bunch. It was just a neat grid perk. Now it makes sense as to why there were six-blocker swaths in NW/SE.
Some fun clues. ITT not one of them. Where's "TV Cousin?" or somesuch. Who didn't want ATT there instead of ITT?
Had the YESYOU in the SW, then the crossing of that in NE, YESINDEEDY/YOUBETCHA.
Dang @pablo, another ROO. If you look in NE, there's a "plus sign" with your name:
---DONE
---PLAN
BLUR
Anyway, YO HO HO and BESOT. AGREE?
One F
RooMonster.
DarrinV
nw was easy ? I had "herds" and then zip . First time in a long history of puzzling that "schmaltz" came to my rescue. And I even spelt it right on the first try! After that, I slowly began to enjoy the challenge. Didn't seem that easy to me, but the cluing made me stop and think. Has there been a POW yet ? I hope not.
I liked this one. I liked the folksy phrases. I loved schmaltz. I’m never good with names and don’t watch SNL so have no idea who Aidy Bryant is. Didn’t read the bio. Anyway liked this one.
So all the across answers had an even number of letters and all the downs had an odd number of letters? Oh.
Hand up for finishing in the NW, as a first glance yielded nothing, and I was fearing the worst but then found BOOGIE and sped on from there. Back to the NW where I saw that I had overlooked the obvious HERDS for cats and finished up quickly enough.
My wife's families had SHELTIES forever. My favorite was Skipper, who once downed a bowl of ice cream so fast that it gave him what can only be described as an ice cream headache ( on the floor with his paws over his nose and whimpering).
Took a minute to remember THAT Davey Jones. Shame on me.
Hey hey we're the MONKEES, and people say we monkey around
But we're too busy singin', to put anybody down.....
Words to live by.
Congrats on the debut, RL. Lots of fun folksy phrases, and nothing Remotely Louche, which I know doesn't make a lot of sense but it's a word I have to use before I forget it. Thanks for all the fun.
I would have to agree. Even/Odds number of letters is not a clever thing, nor is it something I'd imagine as being difficult to make.
30D and 31D say it best: NOT OKEYDOKEY
-Israel
This grandma got a better Friday puzzle.
Schmaltz in German does mean lard...but in Yiddish (and showbiz by way of NYC and Hollywood) it means rendered chicken or goose fat. Rendered pork fat not being a Yiddish fat at all.
Thx, Robert, EVEN for the ODD Fri. puz! :)
Easy-med.
Solved NW, down, around, ending with BBS in the NE.
No hangups, except for HAwaiI, before TAHITI (was thinking of Sandwich Islands).
Love SHELTIEs.
Smooth journey, today! :)
25/25 on this week's Extreme Wordle. Looking forward to working on the Acrostic this weekend.
___
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Old stuff, like ADP (I do databases, although ADP doesn't use one) were front of mind. Not the least that I learned last night, thanks to Cisco Kid movies on TCM that the first color teeVee shows weren't from the big 3/4 (never can remember when NBC/ABC were split), much less RCA which invented the thing, but by something named Ziv TV. Sold its shows directly to local stations. The year was 1953!!! About 2 dozen color teeVees in the whole country.
I liked the unique grid design and moderate level of PPP and no SCHMALTZ whatsoever. While I wouldn’t call it it a themed Friday it was not HARD TO TELL that YES INDEEDY, YOU BETCHA, YES YOU, OKEY DOKEY and ITS A DEAL certainly conspired to create the flavor of one. So I did not totally RECOIL FROM the concept, but it seemed like one of those puzzles which was more about the construction ESTEEM than the solver’s DREAM.
Don’t PLAN to be a SMOKER!
OK WE’RE DONE here.
Huzzah..a Friday puzzle without the help from any Google Gods.
Rex should win a Bulwer-Lytton award for describing an "ill-slotted,, truly baffling, tragic explicability" Friday do. I BETCH @Barbara S. could help him win.
When I can finish a Friday without the need to go use the bathroom, or make more coffee or walk the dogs, I'm amused and happy. I enjoyed it all... YES INDEEDY. I use these words all the time because they are fun. I was so proud of OKEY DOKEY. Gee, I even remembered NANO BOTS and DOLBY. I remember COLOR TV and SLOE. I also remembered that Davy Jones was a MONKEE and not a locker. I knew LIZ (bet Republican out there) and that TRAVOLTA played Robert Shapiro. I even knew Aidy BRYANT. Very satisfying.
As much as Rex hated the puzzle, I enjoyed it.
I had only answered 1A and 1D when I said to myself, “ERM, that’s ODD. I wonder if the entire grid consists of ODD letter counts down and EVEN letter counts across? I better go to the last clue and see if there is a revealer that confirms this.” Well YESINDEEDY, there it was. Guess I’m a real ALPHADOG.
I’d rather BESOT than drink too much.
Is NICAD not an abbreviation for Nickle-Cadmium? Or is it an independently floating word? The latter, I suppose. I could imagine having a NICAD day where I needed recharging but then was just like new.
I recognize the criticisms from Rex and others, and the puzzle was certainly easy for a Friday. But it’s nice to have an ODDball puzzle thrown in now and again, and I quite enjoyed it. Thanks and congrats on you debut, Robert Logan.
@8:56
YES!!! you should seek professional help for your obsession. :)
Easy Friday. Never heard of ortho straight but it worked out ok.
Can someone explain these types of clues like LIGHT (INTO)?
I gather that I'm supposed to add the word in the parentheses to the answer. The answer here is RIP INTO=LIGHT. Sometimes this confuses the crap out of me. Is there a name for this type of clue? Any info on these is appreciated.
I spent a lot of time on Zoom with my special needs son had his program on Zoom during the pandemic. I'm not remembering the BLUR. I was kind of stuck there on BLUR and RIP.
no Monkees video?! alas
I liked the unique grid design and moderate level of PPP and no SCHMALTZ whatsoever. While I wouldn’t call it it a themed Friday it was not HARD TO TELL that YES INDEEDY, YOU BETCHA, YES YOU, OKEY DOKEY and ITS A DEAL certainly conspired to create the flavor of one. So I did not totally RECOIL FROM the concept, but it seemed like one of those puzzles which was more about the construction ESTEEM than the solver’s DREAM.
Don’t PLAN to be a SMOKER!
OK WE’RE DONE here.
For the epitome of a schmaltzy experience, visit Sammy's Roumanian Steak House on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Goes great on the chopped chicken liver. And the chilled vodka is an added bonus.
My last comment on the subject.
Notwithstanding the OED’s citation of the layperson misusage in the 15th century, the people at Oxford are unanimous in their stance that genera is the plural of genus (see Oxford Dictationaries of Biology, Biochemistry &Molecular Biology, Oxford Concise Medical Dictionary. All state, "genus, plural genera".
And someone will have to correct the editors of Merriam-Webster on their mistake regarding GENUSES. Collins, Britannica, American Heritage, Cambridge Eng Dictionary, NewWorld Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, etc, etc, are unanimous (unanimice?), the plural of genus is genera.
The two scientists who created and popularized the term genus, Linnaeus and de Tournefort, both used "genera" as the plural form.
I rest my case. smalltowndoc, 2nd place in PA state debate competition, 19….
Started with LEVEE and PREEN, and wanted SKINS for the cat. Not that I'm in favor of that kind of behavior.
I liked the folksy phrases.
There’s something a little creepy about NANOBOTS. (Is that what Bill Gates has been injecting into people through the Covid vaccine?) But this was a fun puzzle with a schmaltzy sense of humor that I enjoyed. Congrats to Robert on the debut and the EVEN ODDS achievement.
Everything about this puzzle is tremendous... except for the weird attempt to add a theme in the very last answer serving no purpose whatsoever.
Can't wait to read about GENUSES from all our geniuses. Is it FRODO or Bilbo. It's always the same road block. America will always remember Liz as the last Orc to be slain prior to the full-scale deployment of nutbaggery.
I didn't need any help to complete this Friday puzzle, so perhaps that means exactly what all the very sad people have been talking about, the puzzles are getting easier? I might be getting better, but I have plenty of evidence to the contrary.
I do wonder about those who seem inconsolably apoplectic over the puzzle or this blog. I mean we all spent 12¢ to get today's puzzle. What other things in that price range cause such angst?
A WORD
WE'RE DONE here announced
the ALPHA DOG
YES INDEEDY our BOOGIE is banned
It's NANOBOTS YOU BETCHA
and it's HARD TO TELL
They're just so TEENY tiny
cuz you know it's their deal
(IT'S A DEAL)
They're floating in yer veins
like they broke over the LEVEE
If you wanna take a peek
it's OKEY DOKEY
but you YES YOU
will need a COLOR TV
YO HO HO you'll be ON ALERT
you can ride that lert
down into the SCHMALTZ
Uniclues:
1 Good name for a basement remodeling company.
2 Latest dance craze for all right wing nut jobs.
3 "I knew every answer, so they must have scored it wrong."
4 Sticky note on the curbside console.
5 Samwise's motto.
1 DENS! YES INDEEDY!
2 NANOBOTS RECOIL
3 AP TEST SCHMALTZ
4 RIP COLOR TV
5 YOU BETCHA, FRODO
Yep, Wednesday easy. Liked it more than @Rex did but it did seem a tad meh.
BRYANT was my only WOE and Ore before OIL was it for erasures.
@10:43
Lucky you. No kids with crooked teeth.
How is 25 Down (0°) north?
@Joseph Michael:
Nah... that started with The Trumpster, and we can see the result in violence against The Deep State.
This puzzle might have been better in dubly.
YOHOHO !
(liked it!)
YESINDEEDY!
YOUBETCHA!
How couldjya not love
ALPHADOG
and
SCHMALTZ ⁉️
Just full of BOOGIE woogie good energy. ⚡️💥⚡️
Did not find it easy but 👍🏽❤️👍🏽 it.
💥🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖💥
Fun Friday. Easier than usual, tho not record setting, a little short on inspiration, but, well, nothing to make me want to stop doing them. @Nancy, LOL, had to be lOcKEr. Also had to be YESIreEbob. @Smith, "who stole the cookie" was fun playing, and a great way to distract the kids. @LMS thanks for the clip, and agree on the dogs. Same feeling. TGIF.
There’s a difference between a dictionary entry that says “plural: genera; also, genuses” and one that says “plural: genera/genuses”. The MW definition has a clear indication that the plural of genus is genera, and take notes of other usage without approving or suggesting it is correct.
Funky-lookin FriPuz grid … and, mask my mouth, a themed FriPuz! … Different. Like.
staff weeject pick: ADP. Was new "payroll services" news to m&e. Looked it up, and got ADP Overhead Door. Nice (and of course odd) weeject stacks, on the E & W puzgrid sides.
GENUSES clue was neat. Either GENUSES or GENERA are acceptable, btw … with GENERA bein recommended more "for academic writing". Sooo … the question becomes: Is a FriNYTPuz academic writin?
Lotsa cool fillins, too. Especially admired YESINDEEDY crossin YOUBETCHA.
Thanx for the superb themed-up FriPuz, Mr. Logan dude. Glad I got back in time to see it in the wild. And congratz on a heckuva way to score a debut.
Masked & Anonymo3Us
p.s. yo, @Muse … and, great to see U back, as a regular.
**gruntz**
A heading of 0 degrees is due north.
This had me at YoHoHo. Fun puzzle!
Very fast for me (10 min. exactly). A puzzle of positives: YES INDEEDY, YOU BETCHA, AGREE, OKEY DOKEY, and IT'S A DEAL. That's more of a theme there, I'd say.
[Spelling Bee: yd 0, a few tricky words to remember.]
ruckpodes?
I still don't understand how rip into = light. Can anyone explain this?
I'm the one with the classics PhD in the room. Genera is the plural of the Latin genus. But the crossword is not in Latin, it's in English. And in English, we often Anglicize Latin and Greek plurals, and that's just fine.
@Smith 9:12 – Me as well. Someone who resurfaced recently. As Marge in "Fargo" said, "I think I'm gonna barf..."
Really enjoyed this puzzle. I consider myself still a relative newbie at the daily puzzles (was a longtime Sunday-only type). I flew through this like no Friday in memory. From the comments on this blog, I see that may have been in large part because this was an easy Friday. Be that as it may, my solve was not only rapid, it was highly pleasurable. NW, bam! Across the middle, bam! Back up to the rest of the north, bam! On down south, bam! Notable overwrite: For 8D I had genomes. Oh, I was so proud of myself. Then based on crosses (BLUR, YESINDEEDY, etc) I changed it to the correct GENUSES, and that gave me a laugh and a "duh!" and I was off to changing 14D incorrect "scant" to correct TEENY. And so on. Fun, fun, fun. Take the damn T-Bird away if you must, daddy.
@Nancy It is not the only time that John Travolta has been cast as an attorney. He played one in “A Civil Action”, a movie that I showed my students at the end of the year in chemistry class to show a consequence of pollution caused by industry. Granted in that movie the lawyer he played was not of the caliber of Robert Shapiro.
Yeah, easiest Friday ever, a personal record, I believe, and I wasn't really even trying. I can't say I disliked it, certainly not to the level Rex was sent to; Rex did a fantastic job of ranting, fun stuff on the AHA and better's gravitational pull.
Two write-overs even, where I had the S of 44D and started entering Scottie, but quickly decided that wouldn't fly with Scottish in the clue. And 34A, I started with RECalL, perhaps harking back to when I was driving a hunter green Ford Pinto.
Congratulations, Robert Logan, on your debut.
Two yes answers? Fatal flaw.
Schlag means cream. Schmalz means fat, especially rendered chicken fat on chopped liver.
Via NGRAM - From Garner's Modern American Usage - Page 390:
GENUSES
The clue for 8 Down "They make up families" clearly suggests that the answer will be related to Linnaean taxonomy, and I'm willing to swim against the tide when it comes to respecting Classical Latin usage in whatever context, be it scholarly or scientific or casual everyday usage (Rebusgate, exempli gratia), so I would say the answer should be GENERA.
I think it would have been except for one thing; not enough letters for that slot. Plural of convenience (POC) to the rescue. Paired up with with NONOBOTS, it's of the two for one variety. They're joined by HERDS and DENS in that corner.
I would also argue that another two for one, plural of convenience is at the place where they most often occur, in the lower rightmost square. EVEN ODD would have been the preferred reveal to make it consistent with the (alleged) number of letters theme. There are an EVEN number Across and an ODD number DOWN. The S added to ODD is there for convenience and it makes for a weaker reveal, if you ask me.
Agree that this would have played better on a Wednesday.
@Brian 1:17 pm - In a galaxy far far away there was an argument about the “correct” plural of octopus. Octopuses or Octopi. It was learnt that day that “Octopus” comes originally from Greek, not Latin, so to be all classical about it the plural would have to be Octopodes (Ach toe poe deez). The plural part is “-podes,” hence the plural of “ruckus” would be “ruckpodes.” Personally, I always keep the O when I crack wise, so I would have spelt it “ruckopodes.” But I also never ever argue with Muse because that’s a losing endeavor on many levels.
Did somebody object to my adjective? I mean, how else do you explain so many emus?
Always a little creeped out when Rex intuits in his write-up that I had beat my best-of-that-day time on a puzzle. But he missed it yesterday(!) so I feel a little better.
Brian. It is a running joke on the blog. Fake plural using the Ancient Greek plural form.
@Gio 10:49 and @Anon 1:27– I think normally in those types of clues you're supposed to imagine the parenthetical word in both the clue and answer. "Light" and "rip" are not synonymous by themselves, but add "into" after both and their meanings within the resulting phrase are synonymous.
@Anon 11:04 – Sammy's Roumanian closed last year. And I never got to go. Their chopped liver was legendary. :-(
@Anoa
This is not a themed crossword. It is a themed crossword grid. The revealer reveals nothing about the answers except that all down's have an odd number of spaces and the across's have an even number of spaces. A one answer theme, revealer only. It is a revealer because nobody claims to have noticed that fact from just looking at the grid. EVENODD would have to be a down revealer in any case, and would be a worse reveal because it is not a common phrase and EVENODD is not. Moreover the answer could read as EVEN-ODDS.
While solving I had bEdS before DENS. When I fixed it with crosses I thought DENS, retirement spots? I guess bears retire to DENS. And then I thought well I am retired watching COLOR TV in my DEN while doing this puzzle, so OK I guess.
@Joe D - one of the oddest places ever - the weird tile floor and the tee shirts the waiters wore. The first time I went was after a day of drinking at Downtown Beirut - we walked into Sammy’s and my stomach turned seeing the SCHMALTZ being poured over the chopped liver.
Clue: King. Answer: Costello
Literal definition of schmaltz is chicken fat. Idiomatically, it means overly sentimental.
I’m bored with the constant caviling about “bad fill.” Much worse is words or phrases neither I or my great great ancestors ever came upon, until they pop up in a crossword. Might call them long fill, like long Covid. And Rex is right, this puzzle is a real downer.
This was not unlike the nursery rhyme little girl “with a curl right in the middle of her forehead . . . “. When it was easy it was very, very easy, but when it was hard, it was horrid! I could not get started. Period. I have been all darn day on this with nuttin’ but white space with one isle of fill - that being my first entry TAHITI, which gave me the toehold for the equally easy SCHMALTZ, which in tuen gave me enough to get RECOIL and REPORT. And a lengthy break thereafter ensued.
Never have seen or heard “Into the Woods”, but I have not been Rip Van Winkling and am aware that it is a mashup of fairy tales. After YES INDEEDY, TEENY along with knowing something about the Sondheim gave me a magic BEAN, and I had a chunk! Glory Hallelujah.
The entire west half though would not fall. I felt like my high school self during the times I stubbornly eschewed the dual solve with Gran and (yes, this in fact did hurt her feelings, but high school years and narcissism - whatcha gonna do) insisted on doing it solo. Mistake. Realizing this helped me channel Gran’s mojo and brought a wonderful memory to mind.
Gran was undoubtedly the best teacher I have ever known. Her incredible ease and facility with essentially Socratic methods beat any law professor or appellate judge I ever encountered. Solving with her felt like a conversation. When she asked a question I felt like she was truly seeking my opinion or asking me to share my (LOL, as if!) knowledge and experience. But I have apparently internalized some of those invaluable lessons. I can apparently sort of channel that patience to find some “Granishness.” Finding that astonished me when it happened.
My soon to be finally adopted granddaughter and I played games together much of my time with the fam in Michigan. Her cruel and debilitating neglect and psychological abuse coupled with her intelligence and quick wit has left her with some stout defense mechanisms that arise quickly when she is not able to control a situation. Losing at games for example, brings on some (admittedly funny but) inappropriate, cruel and disrespectful “sass,” with which she doesn’t mean to hurt, but to protect herself lest someone, especially an adult whose approval she desperately wants think less of her. Her past is incredibly sad.
Wondering what specifically triggered a few of her nastier “jokes,” I began calmly to ask what was happening when she knocked all the game pieces on the floor and by nibbling around the edges, we really had several great conversations. Lots of metaphor, but we both knew what the subject entailed.
Twice, my daughter and son-in-law were in the room and observed the mini-melt downs and our chats thereafter. Later in the week, my daughter gave me a huge spontaneous hug. She said, “Mama, I know you miss Great Grandma (“Gran” to me) and that you think you don’t measure up. But the way you can reach Landon is magical.” One of the most unexpected and dear compliments I have ever received.
So it took me all day, but I enjoyed the solve and the love that is with me all the time. Still holding me together.
@joe dipinto 7:47 I didn't realize it is supposed to be both words. No wonder I get confused. Sometimes the word seems to match the clue word but not the answer and vice versa.
Thanks! CHEERS,
@Zed
Just curious, if you happen to remember. I spent a couple weeks puzzling out what the various conventions were with added words in clues, particularly with parentheses. I posted several times as it came up in in puzzles and eventually came to the correct analysis. I believe @A may have been the only one who mentioned I solved the mystery.
What I did not understand is, if nobody knew why was there not more interest in this very helpful discovery?
And if many people knew, why did not anybody just tell me?
And for that matter, if nobody knew why had nobody bothered to find this out before or just ask Shortz and tell the rest of us? And is this convention common throughout the crossword world?
The curse of curiosity.
Oh my. My last post about crosswords and parentheses was about a post from @Joe DiPinto.
But anyone may answer.
And my reply to Anoa should have read "because it [EVENODD] is not a common phrase and EVENODDS is."
@@CDilly52
A beautiful post.
I had ADP as EDS for awhile.
Yes
Agreed!
@smalltowndoc – I hear ya. Just promise not to outwardly shame someone for saying GENUSES, and we’re good. My issue isn’t using the “correct” anything; it’s the public shaming I have a beef with. Here’s a poser for you. . . the “correct” pronunciation for forte (as in Foreign plurals are not my forte.) is simply /fort/. So what do we do now? Continue saying /fortay/ or go with /fort/, knowing people’ll think we’re not educated? Decisions, decisions. . .
@Zed – yeah - ruckopodes would have been much better. I was overthinking whether the ending was -odes or -podes. Since the only two words affected are octopus and platypus, I didn’t know if that P was part of the stem or part of the suffix. (I’ve said it before, it’s a shame that the plural of hippopotamus isn’t hippopotamopodes pronounced /hippuh*pahtuh* MAH*pudeez/. But actually, I guess it’d be hippopotamodes. . . circling back to that problematic P.)
I usually come here seeking solace by hearing Rex pick on the parts of a puzzle I hated. Today I came hoping he loved this one as much as I did! Boy was I disappointed 😞. Still I'm glad a lot of commenter love a puzzle wit "yohoho" "yesindeedy" and "youbetcha" in it. I guess if it isn't normal the Rexman takes a pass. Personally. I love a puzzle that makes me smile and this one did that alot. All except the northeast. Where I dropped in" afraidso" for yeah im breaking up with you and proceeded to make it work with herds and adp then struggled mightily till I finished the rest of the puzzle came back and started over. "Weredone" seemed kinda harsh for this up beat romp but in my case it was true when I got it ;--)
Noir got spell checked to normal above..
Weird week. Thursday and Friday were both easier than Wednesday, and today maybe easier than Tuesday?
Count me among the 'never genuses' pedants. And yes, all corrections should be done in private.
I liked the fill, but hated the theme, and the clues needed to be tougher.
Not bad for a debut puzzle. I liked that the revealer was tucked in the SE corner like a prize in the bottom of the Cracker Jacks box. Well done Robert Logan.
Rex says it’s a themeless but what about YOUBETCHA, YESINDEEDY, ITSADEAL, OKEYDOKEY ? Seems like a theme (indicating agreement) was under construction but was put aside, maybe for lack of symmetry. Either way, it was a decent puzzle even though it was a bit too easy for a Friday. But that’s on the editor, not the constructor.
Easy--would've been ridiculously so if I'd known the BRYANT lady. I (gasp!) never watch SNL. Thus the NE was last to fall, but fall it did. This Friday puzzle had that one anchor tooth in an otherwise toothless mouth. I feel a strange kinship with it in this regard.
So we have evens across and odds down. Why? Because we can, I guess. Unusual to have any kind of a theme on Friday, but it adds nothing at all to the solving experience. It's just...there.
I like folksy fill, but this was almost too much. YESINDEEDY/OKEYDOKEY: one of these is enough. Once again the adage hits home: just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD. Bogey, mostly for the gross misplacement this late.
On a brighter note:
YYBBY
GBGGB
GGGGG
IT’SA DONE DEAL
YES,INDEEDY IT was swell, YOUBETCHA IT was fun,
IT’S NOT HARDTOTELL, but YES,YOU know WE’REDONE.
--- LIZ VAN SCHMALZ
Seemed more like Magic 8-ball theme with HARDTOTELL, AGREE, NOT, and those others. That's all I have to REPORT.
Day two of very enjoyable puzzles - keep 'em coming!
Finally finished yesterday's, looked back at it, and must say it was very, very clever.
Today's was easier for me, but again enjoyable. I seemed to be on its wavelength. Yes indeedy! And like @Spacey, the NE was the last to fall due to that NAME. What are the odds?
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
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