Constructor: Olivia Mitra Framke and Andrea Carla Michaels
Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: TRI-STATE AREA (54A: U.S. geographical grouping ... or a hint to 20-, 27- and 47-Across) —theme answers are three states all run together (with overlapping letters), clued by the states official self-designations (e.g. Show-Me, Golden, whatever):
Tuesdays and Thursdays might get a bit abbreviated for a while, since I solve and write first thing in the morning and then turn around and teach shortly thereafter. And since I have a 7-something AM bus to catch, and I don't like to be rushed getting out the door, I can't linger over these write-ups the way I sometimes do on T and Th. Then again every time I say the write-up is going to be short, I end up going into normal writing mode and doing the same thing I always do, so who knows? I'm already wasting valuable time writing about the fact that I don't have that much time! The point is, if T and/or Th seem clipped in the near future, now you know why (or what my official excuse is). My cat (OLIVE!) woke me up at 3:30am today, so I Have More Time Than I Want Actually. But still, 5:30am finish time is going to be the goal! We'll see how that works out.
[I let her sleep. Anywhere. She is less obliging.]
I was happy the puzzle obliged my schedule today by being easy, but that's one of the few things about it I genuinely liked. I don't quite understand how this rises to NYTXW levels of Thursday trickiness. I've seen some version of this conceit before, I'm fairly sure, but that's not the problem—the dullness of the overall idea is the problem. Yes, you can run state names together, many of them famously share letter strings, so what? TRI-STATE AREA is a fine phrase but I don't think of a crossword answer as an "area" and there's nothing particular lovely or clever or funny about three state names mushed together, so I guess I'm just failing to see the appeal, particularly the *Thursday NYTXW!* appeal. And as for the tri-state Frankenstein's monster answers ... there really should be a higher bar for amount of overlap. Something to make the concept seem unusual and worthwhile. What I'm saying is that the overlaps are much more interesting when they comprise two or more letters—VERMONTANA! That's almost fun. But when the overlap is just one letter (as it is, twice, in this puzzle) ... that hardly seems worth doing. A cheap way to get overlap. There's not even entertaining wackiness to provide some auxiliary enjoyment. VERMONTALASKA is kind of fun to say, but the others, not so much. Hard to know how to say NEBRASKANSAS since whichever way you choose, you butcher one of the state's actual pronunciations, and with OHIOWALABAMA you can't even hear the IOWA part. It's like it's not there. I'm just finding it hard to see the Thursday-worthiness today.
Love the phrase I'M DOWN (as well as the fact that it is, in fact, Down) (4D: "Sounds like a plan!") and I like the clue on SALAD BAR (5D: Place to pick some vegetables?), and I'm never gonna be mad at finding a cocktail in my crossword (60A: Cocktail made with gin, soda, lemon juice and sugar => TOM COLLINS), but that's really it for high points. The fill is just OK, and actually a bit old-fashioned and creaky. EINandNIE? And then TSO and ABU and ORD and USAUSA and ASTERS and SLOE and ACER and ICAL (!?) and the old sandwich partial ON RYE ... there's just a crustiness that is not adequately balanced out by freshness. DOGROSE is "fresh" in the sense of "never heard of it" and "hasn't been in the NYTXW since 1962," and I don't mind seeing it here, but ... well, there are over 300 species of rose, so finding one I haven't seen or heard of is not going to be hard. If I were more botanically inclined, DOGROSE might've delighted me more. Those are the breaks. But even if I throw DOGROSE on the "Fresh" pile today, it's still not much of a pile.
[I don't love APER, but I really don't love ICAL / ACER, so I prefer this way ... oh wait, you could turn APER into AVER if you want! Yes, I think that's even better.]
Not too many problem areas today. Wanted REND for WEEP (21D: Tear a lot). Wanted MURDER before MOTIVE (27D: Whodunit plot element). Tried to mentally stretch out BAE to make it fit at 41A: Sweetheart before remembering that BEAU was also a word. That's all. See you tomorrow.
Number one overwrite was, of course, Acme before APEX at 59D. Also Babe before BEAU at 41A. But the one that hurt the most was DOGwOod before DOGROSE at 43D. That made 54A look like it wanted to be TwIST something. All those were easily corrected. I agree with the Easy rating, but I liked it a whole lot more than OFL did.
I agree that this was pretty easy for a Thursday and that it didn’t have the usual Thursdayery stuff going on. It wasn’t too hard to see that the themers were melded state names. I love that kind of word manipulation. I have to disagree with Rex on the reveal - the icing on the cake and the conceit’s raison d’être. I absolutely went back and considered those themer expanses as AREAs. Nice job, Oliviandrea!
I’M DOWN right next to WEEP.
Briefly considered “dandy lion” before DOG ROSE, but it was too long, and you’d have to be a fancy schmancy French major who understands that it’s actually dent-de-lion and then… well, heck.
Two clues had me thinking:
1. 22A - my first feelings for “espouse” are all about championing, adopting, embracing. . . this has nothing to do with being WED, buddy, hah just kidding. Sorta
2. 28D – my first feelings for ARISE(N) are all about occurring, cropping up, like it’s not as literal as rise.
The dog rose from his comfy bed. The problem arose when his owner snatched it up to wash the cover.
Ya feel me?
Cool that “I’M DOWN for the adventure” and “I’m up for the adventure” are so similar in meaning. Not exact, but close.
“A couple of chips, perhaps” – actual serving size, right? I eat three times the serving size just standing at the counter, divvying up Mom’s and my individual bowls of chips for our Virgin River-viewing pleasure. So I guess I usually eat about 15 - 20 times the actual serving size.(PSA – Do Not ignore the tiny suggested serving size of All Bran. Yes, there’s a story there, and it involves the exclamation, I achieved lift-off! Be very, very careful.
Pretty much the minute I get behind the wheel, I become an enraged, impatient monster. This alter-ego rears its head, too, if I’m in line at a SALAD BAR behind people who are too careful and discerning. My impatience is staggering. I seethe and hate the slowpokes as I scrutinize their progress, judge their decisions, damn their precision, all while silently imploring them not to take the last of that nasty-but-delicious fake seafood crab salad stuff. And then hate myself for being this way. It’s exhausting living life with unbridled impatience. And appetite.
I liked this just fine. It got a lot easier after I grokked the state names thing. After the theme answers were in but before I got to the revealer I was thinking "This would be extra cool if the 3 states actually bordered one another. Then the (unnecessary) revealer, TRISTATEAREA, actually drew attention to the fact that the theme entries are not tri state areas in the usual sense. Only NEBRASKANSAS abut. I still liked the theme a lot. It was fun discovering the three states sharing letters with the nicknames as clues. I guess I felt done before I got to the revealer, which I found disappointing. I'm not a fill hater so that was not a problem for me. A-.
I agree that one letters a cheap way to get overlap, but went searching for three state name overlaps that wouldn't have that problem and failed. FLORIDAHO, sure, but add a third. So I think you have to chuck the theme or live with the execution being slightly flawed, and glad the latter carried the day. And you know, an easy Thursday's just what I needed. Plus there's a cocktail and I got to read up on Erebus, who turns out to be someone I'm glad I hadn't met before.
I've always used the expression "TRI-STATE AREA" to mean an area where three states actually border one another, so I was a bit taken aback by the revealer.
A fun (if fairly easy Thursday) puzzle nonetheless.
I really liked the puzzle, which felt very smooth, but I agree it was a Wednesday puzzle and not a Thursday puzzle. I finished it faster than I finished Wednesday's, which almost never happens.
My two favorite parts. First, figuring out, with as few crosses as possible, the two remaining theme answers, after getting the first – my mind simply adores that kind of work. And second, the aha-smile moment at uncovering the clever revealer. (Alternate revealer, though not as good: UNITED STATES.)
I loved the answer I’M DOWN, which, at 4D, describes itself (Hi, @rex!). I also liked seeing the SIZE up and SLOE down. And looky there at that ERM in VERMONT!
Bouncy, clean, and zippy. This sent me dashing into my day with a smile. Thank you greatly for this fab collab, Andrea and Olivia!
Rex you don't quite understand how this rises to NYTXW levels of Thursday trickiness because it doesn’t - there’s no real trick. I had that feeling that something must be up because it was going down so quickly - but no - nothing. It was a decent puzzle - but should have run on Monday or Tuesday.
Really liked the long non-themers TOM COLLINS and LATE COMERS. Not a lot of glue. Rex doesn’t want to see NRA in the puzzle - I’d rather not see Covid. 67a made me think of Bukowski.
Some small disappointment here as I was looking for a Thursdazo and a Thursdecito showed up, which was tasty but not very chewy. Saw what was going on after I tried writing the first themer as three separate states, but WEEP took care of that, and since I knew most of the state's nicknames it became a fill-in-the-blanks exercise. Many of the clues were a little too straightforward for me, especially on a Thursday, but this leaves more free time this AM to get ready for the last beach day with the granddaughter before school starts. Tempus fidgit, as my Mom used to say.
@Lewis-Vermont is next door. I spend a lot of time in Vermont. My son lives in Vermont. Believe me, the only ERM in VT is contained in its spelling (which is your point, I know).
Nice enough puzz, OMF and ACM. On Many Fronts A Charming Mashup, just wanted something a little more demanding. Thanks for the fun.
If you are going to include Greek letters, this is about has good as you can do it. The first and last one are reasonably well known, and they have appropriate clues. Much better than a generic "Random Greek letter" type clue.
EREBUS we could do without (actually we could do without the daily dose of mythology for say, about a year).
Taking a German (or any foreign language word) and using it in an abbreviated construct, to me is horrible form. Was the editor really so hard up for a three-letter entry that instead of the usual "put in anything and hope it means something in a language somewhere" that we've moved on to "just make something up and hope that it kind of, sort of looks like a real word in any language anywhere"? Jeez, can't they find editors who will put a little effort into this?
Lettuce not blame the puzzle four the daze of the weak.
A fine TeWEDnesday I Espouse.
Never remember seeing this definition for espouse but it is both logical and apt.
I thought the easily sussed theme was wonderful fun. The reveal was a bit business-like. I was trying to make a common phrase out of three state squeeze or space savers or overlapping lines but got nothing.
Completely disagree with Rex on OHIOWALABAMA. OH HIGH OH WAH LA BAMA rolls off the tongue quite nicely with all 3 states hearable or infer-able. VER MON TAN A LASS KA and MAIN BRASS CAN SASS have their own amusements.
Pluses
OLIVE SALADBAR RANDY ON RYE (pastrami oh my) MOTIVE (Just finished the Jeremy Brett Holmes series last night. Not as good as I remember but still worth seeing) I CAL (another 2 words from Coolidge) the ALPHA and the ZETA IM DOWN SUTRA BEAU BARACK
Plant notes:
My wood asters do not seem to attract butterflies and this year there has been a dearth of butterflies in my yard. I hope I am the only one. DOGbane before DOGROSE. The dogbane that grew on the abandoned RR tracks have been shaded out so I got a garden varietal for the yard that is quite well behaved. DOGROSE is a beauty of a wild rose but invasive. The fragrance could be amped up a bit.
I am happy to have a puzzle I can joyfully solve without Google ticket clues on a Thursday. It makes me feel like I could possibly rise out of the bottom half of solvers at Lollapuzzoola on Saturday. There is always hope
Good recovery after the strikeout on 1. But, FWIW, there can be a ton of useful info in such cases. For me, it eliminated the 3 vowels in my seed, setting me up to immediately nail the content vowels. From there, it’s quite straightforward.
I was today years old when I learned that ALABAMA is the curveball state. Har. I never knew why the hammer was yellow, and always just assumed it was somehow related to putting the final nail in the coffin as the batter struck out. Nope. Turns out the 12-6 curveball is called a “yellowhammer” because the flight path resembles the flight path of the bird as it dives for prey. What colorful metaphor. Thanks, Jim Price, for keeping the term alive for Tiger fans for all these years.
@LMS - Me too on “espouse.” Turns out WED is the original meaning and the common usage now is the metaphorical extension, to WED yourself to a cause or position. Language users just will not be satisfied with a word having one and only one meaning.
@Anon 8:06 - I thought it was Engelbert Humperdinck. But neither has a hidden state name, so I’m thinking we’re both wrong.
Yep, too easy for a Thursday, which isn’t really a criticism of the puzzle. I feel like something could have been done with the cluing to beef up the difficulty/puzzlement level. State nicknames are not something I find particularly interesting. Still, it was a fine solve. No real complaints about the puzzle, although I do wonder what sort of scoundrel is ANTI-LOOM.
@Wordler - Har, my strategy, which I won’t share because it is so good it constitutes a spoiler,* is clearly superior to yours.
Wordle 432 3/6*
⬛🟩⬛🟨⬛ ⬛🟩⬛⬛🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
* C’mon. All talk of superior Wordle strategies is preposterous. Also, @9:28 - Complain about a Wordle Post and I will post my Wordle score. Them’s the laws.
I can't believe how slow I was to grok the theme and have any idea what the middle letters were. I kept thinking that there was some sort of competition going on, so I wanted OHIO V ALABAMA, but the V didn't work. Then I had the B and wanted MAINE BEATS KANSAS, but it was one letter too long.
Only when I put in the unavoidable W for WEEP at 31D did I see IOWA staring out at me. After that it was smooth sailing -- but I should have seen the pattern much sooner, like, say, Lewis did.
The themers are amazingly intricate and I'm wondering how that sort of thing is done. Do you dream these three-state overlaps up in your head? Or do you set up a computer program -- and what I don't know about computer programs would fill a library -- to find them for you? But how would you know ahead of time that there would be anything to be found???
Beats me. I do think that these overlaps are pretty nifty, and while some of you found the puzzle perhaps too easy for a Thursday, for me it wasn't at all. Liked it!
Agree with Rex, not a rousing puzzle, esp at 3:30 am. (Love his Olive, wouldn’t care when she woke me up) Running the names of states together, seems like grade school?
The theme may lack complexity, but I’ll take it any day over a themeless, which lacks any binding conceptual framework whatsoever. I was not bothered by, and actually liked, TRISTATEAREA because I was willing to grant that each theme answer is an area in which three state names coexist. In much the same way I grant that sometimes the letter I is the Roman numeral one, as when the answer is ACTI,uch as I grant a gazillion other unlikely things that only pass muster in the world of crossword. I’d also like to second the motion that folks don’t post their Wordle results here. I want to say “no one cares” and this is the wrong venue. But if it was my world people also would not exceed a certain word count when posting and would be barred from using the word “grok” and affecting a folksy voice that begs so hard to be adored.
Hey All ! CONNECTICUTAHAWAII. Too long? 😁 Nice puz. I (amazingly) remember a similar puz like this. Unsure how long ago it was, though. Anytime I see ACME as a constructor, co- or alone, I know it'll be a good puz.
Got hung-up in the SE corner. Couldn't get ROut out of the ole brain. Also wanted hour for EMMY. The APEX clue was a Huh? also. I've heard the expression Ne plus ultra, apparently never knew what it meant.
LATECOMERS could disperse into LATE ECO COMERS, clued as "Missed the Greenpeace boat?" I got nothing for TOM COLLINS
Got my College accomplishment again, ROO MBAS. Har. No PABLO today, sorry @pablo. Well, there is a sorta boggled one in the center-ish stack BRA AIL ROP Best I got. 😁
I was a TRI STATEr for 13 years when I lived in Connecticut. It's a small state, but split in half ala baseball teams. The West half are Yankee fans, the East half are Red Sox fans. I was in Milford, which is the West half. Nice town.
OHIO WALABAMA sounds like a nice place.
No F's (WEEP) We do get Six B's, though. RooMonster DarrinV
I thought it was a wonderful puzzle. You could pretend today was Tuesday and it would mean you have ERM coming again tomorrow and this puzzle was correctly placed in the week.
Here are the theme words spelled backward:
OHIOWALABAMA Amabalawoiho
MAINEBRASKANSAS Sasnaksarbeniam
VERMONTANALASKA Aksalanatnomrev
CAT ON A ROOMBA She was sittin' on a stump starin' at her favorite BEAU sippin' on her fizzy tonic a lotta gin a little SLOE "What's this boat yer buildin'?" she asked of her sweet NOAH "When it rains you'll wanta ride like a cat on a ROOMBA like a cat in a TESLA like two cats ALPHA 'n' ZETA two by two all in a ROW. We'll float to RIO and read the Kama SUTRA." And if that's not love, it doesn't exist.
Uniclues:
1 Stragglers arriving at the beach. 2 Why your head hurts. 3 Polishes singer's bald head. 4 Let's go for ice cream Ms. Kardashian. 5 Astronaut Armstrong's nickname derived from his compulsive desire to eat prepared veggies.
1 SAND LATE COMERS 2 TOM COLLINS ROMP 3 SWABS ALTO DOME 4 "I'M DOWN KIM. TCBY?" 5 SALAD BAR NEIL
I don't know that I set a PR with today's, but it played record-breakingly easy. (In fact my times have been decreasing from Tuesday on, which seems weird.) I like fast times as much as the next person, but I expect a bit more challenge from a Thursday.
@Southside You must be referring to NIE, but that's not an abbreviation, and it's not made up. You make that "made up" charge a lot, you know. Instead of griping about editors not putting in effort, you could put in some effort yourself and look it up. Takes only a few seconds.
As with many of you, once I grokked the theme, this fell pretty easily. And while it skewed easy for a Thursday, I'm not sure what the fuss is all about. Sometimes Thursdays skew especially hard . . . . . it happens.
Re: posting Wordle results . . . . . I think G. Weissman nailed it. You've got certain folks whose comments border on short novellas, and folks who post multiple times a day . . . . . so in the grand scheme of things, a Wordle cut and paste sort of fits right in to the general vibe. Plus you've got folks who use the term "grok" - - - ugh
One thing rex overlooked in complaining about the theme is that there were three spanners, and I think that was a pretty impressive feat of construction!
@zed If you believe in aggravating the aggravated do you believe in enriching the rich?
Wordle 432 3/6*
⬛⬛🟧⬛⬛ 🟧🟧🟧⬛⬛ 🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧
Obviously the second guess was lucky. But in retrospect if I put the third put the third choice second and the 3 same letters were correct and the last 2 wrong I would have had 2 likely choices left. As it was I had a near certainly for a three. Brilliant strategy? No because I had no idea how the second answer would play. I would assume you had many possible words left and your luck was on the third pick. But no way of my knowing for sure.
While the theme was quite appealing, I can’t say I enjoyed having to slog through all the trivia. Tsk tsk. Almost felt like a debut in that respect. I started out trying to make a rebus work with the ALA in ALABAMA and the BRA in NEBRASKA until I could see what was happening. DOGWOOD before DOGROSE which I never heard of but which Google tells me is also known as Rosehip a more familiar label. I wouldn’t say I’m completely ANTI so much as I just found it a bit underwhelming. Might’ve been better with a HOOHA in the AREA.
It's worth noting, from the triggering point of view, that the KANSAS-NEBRASKA Act was the earliest start of the War of Northern Aggression.
"the Kansas–Nebraska Act is most notable for effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise, stoking national tensions over slavery, and contributing to a series of armed conflicts known as "Bleeding Kansas". " -- the wiki
Thx, Olivia & ACME, for this 'state'ly Thurs. offering; very clever! :)
Easy-med.
Got the NW quickly, but didn't fully grok the theme until MAINEBRASKANSAS. Then it was smooth sailing all the way until the RANDY OLIVE ROOMAS, which took some head-scratching to suss out.
Didn't know 'ne plus ultra'; thank goodness for fair crosses at the APEX.
Fun solve; liked it a lot! :) ___ Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
I had some fun with it. I noticed the overlap of OHIO and IOWA early and supposed that two states were in each of the long themers. Then I saw TRISTATEAREA and the light went on. Three states!
But that was it.
Four states overlap at one point: UT, CO, AZ, and NM. Four Corners USA.
3 for me. Wordl is getting real. After visiting family last month, we have a 4 way group text where we load up our wordl result every morning. Today was two had 4/6 and one had 5/6. My brother was doing them, but he was bad at it. I gave him my tips, then he started beating me!
@albatross (8:20) The best plant I have found for attracting butterflies is a yellow butterfly bush. At one time I also had a pink and a purple one but they did not seem to be as appealing. The Monarchs and Swallowtails would swarm the yellow bush while paying little attention to the others. And yes the absence of both has been quite noticeable in the Midwest as well. Here is an article that might interest you about the general decline in their populations across the country this year.
@Unknown Sorry you dislike my "grok" so much from yesterday. It was an intentionally chosen word because I was describing a situation where I could see and understand what was going on but it just wasn't fully sitting right in my gut. Didn't quite grok it .
In any case I hope you saw my comment to you a day or two about your comment concerning Lego Art several days ago. I didn't re-read your comment so I hope I didn't mismember anything. I'll find my comment if you missed it and have an urge to see it if you want.
Yes I post too many times a day sometimes and sometimes not at all. I think the best stuff here is the interaction between members. Some days it's everybody says something but nobody reacts to each other. I like the back and forth. Although it does at times go haywire. I appreciate corrections from different sources too. If someone is incorrect and nobody makes a correction because they have already posted I would be disappointed.
Yep, too easy, no erasures and no WOEs. Yesterday’s was tougher. This would have been a cute medium-tough Tuesday or an easy Wednesday. Liked it but....
@TT - perhaps you can enlighten me as to the error of my way (it won't be the first time). On the NYT app that I used the clue was "Never: Ger." - why is Ger. abbreviated? Perhaps there is still a cluing convention of which I am unaware.
Was too easy for a Thursday… just a straightforward puzzle that took me about 1/3 of the time to solve yesterday’s puzzle. I don’t want straightforward and easy in a Thursday puzzle. One positive? I did it while laying in a rope hammock.
I enjoyed this ROMP through the USAUSA, having the most fun with the first leg, in figuring out how to get to IOWA. After that, it was a very quick trip. I had more fun imagining the ROOMBA-riding cats, their (phantom) presence nicely balanced by the DOG ROSE, with ALPHA right between them: which is the number-one pet?
Re: Espouse meaning WED - As a small child I was made to memorize the "Christmas story" from the Gospel of Luke and can still tell you that "Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child."
At least ONRYE wasn’t clued as “Atop a city with a marina.”
We didn’t get HOOHA today, but I’m sure RANDY was looking for it, while pathetically pleading DOME.
In case you weren’t picking up that the themer clues were state nicknames, the constructors thoughtfully included the USAUSA chant.
I have never seen ACER, whether in crosswords or ITW, without thinking “what a terrible name for a company”. I don’t know why, but it just grates on me.
I liked the puzzle fine for the brief time that it took to complete it. Thanks, Olivia and Andrea.
@Southside Johnny: not only is NIE not an abbreviation, as TTrimble said, but it’s cool that the other German word in the puzzle is EIN which is NIE backwards. Surprised no one else mentioned it. Easiest Thursday ever, but I like the suggested revealer (UNITED STATES) better than TRISTATEAREA. The “AREA” is too suggestive of its literal meaning, whereas “UNITED” is at least more metaphorical, if not completely accurate, with 2 red states+1 blue state each.
The runtpuz version of this theme would have stuff like: MALARIA.*
We just got back from a looong trip, and brought back covid as a souvenir. So, kinda restin up, and workin on 3 weeks of NYTPuzs backlog. Meantime, postins might be kinda skimpy.
Nice weeject stacks, in the NE & SW. staff weeject pick = RCS.
Thanx for gangin up on us, ACME & Olivia darlins. USAUSA comes darn close to theme related. Well, sorta.
For the first time, I decided I would start from the bottom up. I looked at TOM and decided I'd make some COLLINS. I came to TRI STATE AREA and took my rest. I had no idea what was in store for me. I like that on a Thursday.. I slowly moved up to the USA USA parts and pretty much guessed that we were talking about the over-SIZEd STATES residing in our beautiful country. Up on the APEX of this interesting theme, I managed to get OHIOWALABAMA. It seems it was easy for some, but not for me. I smiled, though, because I like overlaps and thinking about them. I'm pretty sure my favorite was MAINE BRAS KANSAS. It was there that I saw the overlap of Maine, Nebraska, and Kansas. It sounded like a plan that I was DOWN FOR. Fun. Most of these answers I knew. I had to really think about EREBUS and how to spell the ROOMBAS. I took a pause at the part of Arabic names. Could it be Ibn or Bin ? No, it was ABU, the father of.the twins Ibn and Bin. I came to the butterfly attraction and could only think of milkweed. No it was the ASTERS they like. I wish I could've seen more this year during their migration. I only saw one that I named DOG ROSE. I enjoyed this one...it was different and I like that.
@Southside Yes the abbreviation in the clue was poor. I did not notice. Should have mirrored the clue for EIN especially NIE is EIN backwards, not that mirrors would exactly reflect that.
My rebus detector went off today after I had to change OHIOIOWA out and ended up with OHIO_ALABAMA. Then I had to wait while 21D filled in to show my thought, a la Rex, of rEnd going there, was wrong. But I finally was able to read OHIOWALABAMA and WEEP. I liked that entry best, along with the VERMONTANA mashup so this puzzle left me with a cozy feeling rather than disappointment for a Thursday.
As a Canadian I have soaked up a lot of USA trivia, but state mottoes not so much. So the clues were totally wasted on me and I had to get all the theme answers from crosses. Well except maybe for "Last Frontier"... wait, isn't that SPACE? No, I guess that was "final frontier", at least according to James T. Kirk. Is "final" more final than "last"? So much for absolutes!
[Spelling Bee: yd pg-3, missed these and I really should've got the long one.]
@Southside I think it's quite usual to see "Ger." or "Fr." rather than fully spelled out, for example that's what you'll often find in dictionaries if you look up a loanword. I can see how this might have thrown you, but your error (besides assuming that the answer had to be an abbreviation of a foreign word -- I think that would be rather rare, if that's ever occurred) was saying or implying it was something made up, and then given a pass by lazy editors, without checking up on it first yourself to see if that's right.
So, I figured out first state name and then sometimes the last one, but there just wasn't enough room in the middle for anything else. Luckily it was, as so many have pointed out, pretty easy, so crosses filled in the themers and it all resolved in a nice fast time. I liked the IMDOWN vs. APEX progression from NW to SE. Even funnier that they were in the opposite positions in the crossword from reality. At least LOOM was indeed LOOMing over the puzzle and ALTO was indeed in a low position. Totally agree that DOGROSE is...what?!?! I'm in a garden club, but never heard of this. I tried DOGbanE, which is a great native weed that will kill a horse dead with just a few ounces, but is terrific for insects (butterflies and much, much more). Not sure if it does anything for or against DOGs. And then we get ASTERS all growing in a ROW, too, and a ROOT at the bottom of it all in the grid. Throw in the OLIVES growing in the SAND, and a few TICKS living in this garden, and the bees in their DOME, and I was half convinced that this had a garden mini-theme. Of course I think that a beehive doesn't actually have a DOME. I'm sure the traditional, old-timey depiction of a honey-bee hive has some mathematical shape name like ovoidism or conicalicoid, and I'm hoping that some more learned people on this blog will educate me.
Other nit is that IDCARD seemed like, no. No bouncer ever said, "Let me see your IDCARD." Ever.
But, that aside, liked the puzzle. Don't mind a few easy lay-ups every once in a while. I don't get hung up on NYT 'standards' so much like OFL. I just want to enjoy a puzzle. And, I've been doing the archives back to 1994 and feel that they were quite...esoteric back then. Not so fun. So much PPP! I am much more enjoying the modern day puzzles. Let me start my day by giving my brain a little work-out, but something that gives me a fighting chance. And then bring me down a notch on Saturday, where I will need to resort to my puzzle partner, Mr. Google. That's all I ask.
@B Right There 2:07 PM I've been musing about your beehive "ovoidism or conicalicoid" and wondered about a few crossword-centric "ISMs" from recent days.
-ERMophobia -ELSAaintgonna -HOOHArahrah -HARRYPOTTERnarygotter -PASSACAGLIAschmucagalia -LOTRlater -IKnowEverythingAboutSandwiches-APALOOZA -MORDREDdread -INBOXZEROhero -AUGHTnaughtism -SocksCanBeSpelledSOXdammitism -(This might be a bit long from today) TJSwants11minutesANDhisdimeback-CUZthispuzzleANDthisBLOGaresostupidism
I agree with the easy rating as well, but LOVED the puzzle! I think a 4th themer and no revealer would have been fine. 16 minutes for our twosome, close to a record for a Thursday (and we're doing it over zoom which I'm sure slows us down a little). Thanks, ACM and OMF for a wonderful Thursday puzzle! : ) --Rick
For any Wordle fans who might be interested: A few months ago I started a private group on Facebook called Yesterday's Wordle Postmortem. The intro reads as follows: 'This group is for discussion of the previous day's Wordle puzzle. (If you'd like to post your solution, you'll need to have saved a screenshot.) To avoid spoiling the puzzle for those who haven't solved it yet, we won't talk about a puzzle on the day it is active...'
People post images and talk about their luck, frustration, tactics, etc. Feel free to request to join; there are only about 50 members.
Easy for a Thursday, but that’s on WS for running it on the wrong day. Tuesday would have been about right. Rex is being a little picky about the theme. It’s fine. There is a bit of junk fill like ORD, RCS, DVR, TSO, TCBY and ICAL but not much more than usUSAl. Nice team effort by Alivia Mitra Framke and Andrea Carla Michaels.
Coming to the first themer, I thought, please tell me this is more than writing down three states three times. Oh boy, no, it's telescoping them together VIA overlap. I wasn't even gonna bother finishing, but it's Thursday, surely there is some interesting element, like maybe the capitals tell some kind of story, or something. but no, that was it. OHIOWALABAMA. And we get this on a THURSDAY.
Something is wrong here. The DOGwood tree has beautiful flowers, but no, we get the DOGROSE. Is THAT what propelled this into a Thursday slot? Please. I really think Mr. Shortz needs a sabbatical--or maybe just retirement. This is crapola.
Double-bogey, which I at least beat with a Wordle bogey today.
A long time ago, I was solving this puzzle and got stuck at an unguessable (to me) crossing: N. C. WYETH crossing NATICK at the "N"—I knew WYETH but forgot his initials, and NATICK ... is a suburb of Boston that I had no hope of knowing. It was clued as someplace the Boston Marathon runs through (???). Anyway, NATICK— the more obscure name in that crossing—became shorthand for an unguessable cross, esp. where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known. NATICK took hold as crossword slang, and the term can now be both noun ("I had a NATICK in the SW corner...") or verb ("I got NATICKED by 50A / 34D!")
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85 comments:
Any puzzle that doesn’t contain ERM is a good puzzle !
Number one overwrite was, of course, Acme before APEX at 59D. Also Babe before BEAU at 41A. But the one that hurt the most was DOGwOod before DOGROSE at 43D. That made 54A look like it wanted to be TwIST something. All those were easily corrected. I agree with the Easy rating, but I liked it a whole lot more than OFL did.
I agree that this was pretty easy for a Thursday and that it didn’t have the usual Thursdayery stuff going on. It wasn’t too hard to see that the themers were melded state names. I love that kind of word manipulation. I have to disagree with Rex on the reveal - the icing on the cake and the conceit’s raison d’être. I absolutely went back and considered those themer expanses as AREAs. Nice job, Oliviandrea!
I’M DOWN right next to WEEP.
Briefly considered “dandy lion” before DOG ROSE, but it was too long, and you’d have to be a fancy schmancy French major who understands that it’s actually dent-de-lion and then… well, heck.
Two clues had me thinking:
1. 22A - my first feelings for “espouse” are all about championing, adopting, embracing. . . this has nothing to do with being WED, buddy, hah just kidding. Sorta
2. 28D – my first feelings for ARISE(N) are all about occurring, cropping up, like it’s not as literal as rise.
The dog rose from his comfy bed. The problem arose when his owner snatched it up to wash the cover.
Ya feel me?
Cool that “I’M DOWN for the adventure” and “I’m up for the adventure” are so similar in meaning. Not exact, but close.
“A couple of chips, perhaps” – actual serving size, right? I eat three times the serving size just standing at the counter, divvying up Mom’s and my individual bowls of chips for our Virgin River-viewing pleasure. So I guess I usually eat about 15 - 20 times the actual serving size.(PSA – Do Not ignore the tiny suggested serving size of All Bran. Yes, there’s a story there, and it involves the exclamation, I achieved lift-off! Be very, very careful.
Pretty much the minute I get behind the wheel, I become an enraged, impatient monster. This alter-ego rears its head, too, if I’m in line at a SALAD BAR behind people who are too careful and discerning. My impatience is staggering. I seethe and hate the slowpokes as I scrutinize their progress, judge their decisions, damn their precision, all while silently imploring them not to take the last of that nasty-but-delicious fake seafood crab salad stuff. And then hate myself for being this way. It’s exhausting living life with unbridled impatience. And appetite.
I liked this just fine. It got a lot easier after I grokked the state names thing. After the theme answers were in but before I got to the revealer I was thinking "This would be extra cool if the 3 states actually bordered one another. Then the (unnecessary) revealer, TRISTATEAREA, actually drew attention to the fact that the theme entries are not tri state areas in the usual sense. Only NEBRASKANSAS abut. I still liked the theme a lot. It was fun discovering the three states sharing letters with the nicknames as clues. I guess I felt done before I got to the revealer, which I found disappointing. I'm not a fill hater so that was not a problem for me. A-.
Agree - very easy for a Thursday.
@LMS
I find myself checking Rex’s review just to see your comments/write up even more than Rex’s 😀. Very witty and amusing. Keep it up please.
I had a chance for a 3 but feces occurs.
Wordle 432 5/6
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Regarding the theme, Olivia and Andrea crushed it.
I agree that one letters a cheap way to get overlap, but went searching for three state name overlaps that wouldn't have that problem and failed. FLORIDAHO, sure, but add a third. So I think you have to chuck the theme or live with the execution being slightly flawed, and glad the latter carried the day. And you know, an easy Thursday's just what I needed. Plus there's a cocktail and I got to read up on Erebus, who turns out to be someone I'm glad I hadn't met before.
I've always used the expression "TRI-STATE AREA" to mean an area where three states actually border one another, so I was a bit taken aback by the revealer.
A fun (if fairly easy Thursday) puzzle nonetheless.
I really liked the puzzle, which felt very smooth, but I agree it was a Wednesday puzzle and not a Thursday puzzle. I finished it faster than I finished Wednesday's, which almost never happens.
My two favorite parts. First, figuring out, with as few crosses as possible, the two remaining theme answers, after getting the first – my mind simply adores that kind of work. And second, the aha-smile moment at uncovering the clever revealer. (Alternate revealer, though not as good: UNITED STATES.)
I loved the answer I’M DOWN, which, at 4D, describes itself (Hi, @rex!). I also liked seeing the SIZE up and SLOE down. And looky there at that ERM in VERMONT!
Bouncy, clean, and zippy. This sent me dashing into my day with a smile. Thank you greatly for this fab collab, Andrea and Olivia!
Rex you don't quite understand how this rises to NYTXW levels of Thursday trickiness because it doesn’t - there’s no real trick. I had that feeling that something must be up because it was going down so quickly - but no - nothing. It was a decent puzzle - but should have run on Monday or Tuesday.
Really liked the long non-themers TOM COLLINS and LATE COMERS. Not a lot of glue. Rex doesn’t want to see NRA in the puzzle - I’d rather not see Covid. 67a made me think of Bukowski.
Patterson Hood locking in on today’s usage of RANDY
Nice, clean solve - just not a typical Thursday.
How can you laugh, when you know I'M DOWN?
Is that Neil Diamond next to your name?
Am I the only one who was disappointed to see TILE instead of another Greek letter?
Some small disappointment here as I was looking for a Thursdazo and a Thursdecito showed up, which was tasty but not very chewy. Saw what was going on after I tried writing the first themer as three separate states, but WEEP took care of that, and since I knew most of the state's nicknames it became a fill-in-the-blanks exercise. Many of the clues were a little too straightforward for me, especially on a Thursday, but this leaves more free time this AM to get ready for the last beach day with the granddaughter before school starts. Tempus fidgit, as my Mom used to say.
@Lewis-Vermont is next door. I spend a lot of time in Vermont. My son lives in Vermont. Believe me, the only ERM in VT is contained in its spelling (which is your point, I know).
Nice enough puzz, OMF and ACM. On Many Fronts A Charming Mashup, just wanted something a little more demanding. Thanks for the fun.
Well, i got my best time for a Thursday on this Tuesday cakewalk.
Way, WAY too easy…
If you are going to include Greek letters, this is about has good as you can do it. The first and last one are reasonably well known, and they have appropriate clues. Much better than a generic "Random Greek letter" type clue.
EREBUS we could do without (actually we could do without the daily dose of mythology for say, about a year).
Taking a German (or any foreign language word) and using it in an abbreviated construct, to me is horrible form. Was the editor really so hard up for a three-letter entry that instead of the usual "put in anything and hope it means something in a language somewhere" that we've moved on to "just make something up and hope that it kind of, sort of looks like a real word in any language anywhere"? Jeez, can't they find editors who will put a little effort into this?
Lettuce not blame the puzzle four the daze of the weak.
A fine TeWEDnesday I Espouse.
Never remember seeing this definition for espouse but it is both logical and apt.
I thought the easily sussed theme was wonderful fun. The reveal was a bit business-like. I was trying to make a common phrase out of three state squeeze or space savers or overlapping lines but got nothing.
Completely disagree with Rex on OHIOWALABAMA.
OH HIGH OH WAH LA BAMA rolls off the tongue quite nicely with all 3 states hearable or infer-able. VER MON TAN A LASS KA and MAIN BRASS CAN SASS have their own amusements.
Pluses
OLIVE SALADBAR
RANDY
ON RYE (pastrami oh my)
MOTIVE (Just finished the Jeremy Brett Holmes series last night. Not as good as I remember but still worth seeing)
I CAL (another 2 words from Coolidge)
the ALPHA and the ZETA
IM DOWN
SUTRA
BEAU BARACK
Plant notes:
My wood asters do not seem to attract butterflies and this year there has been a dearth of butterflies in my yard. I hope I am the only one.
DOGbane before DOGROSE. The dogbane that grew on the abandoned RR tracks have been shaded out so I got a garden varietal for the yard that is quite well behaved. DOGROSE is a beauty of a wild rose but invasive. The fragrance could be amped up a bit.
I am happy to have a puzzle I can joyfully solve without Google ticket clues on a Thursday. It makes me feel like I could possibly rise out of the bottom half of solvers at Lollapuzzoola on Saturday. There is always hope
Insert (from In Living Color) Men on... GIF for "Hated it" here.
Forgot a plus:
NOAH and TONI at Arachne's LOOM.
Total waste of time Thursday. Not one moment of pleasure in the entire 11 minutes. What a week this has been.
Wordle 432 4/6*
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Good recovery after the strikeout on 1. But, FWIW, there can be a ton of useful info in such cases. For me, it eliminated the 3 vowels in my seed, setting me up to immediately nail the content vowels. From there, it’s quite straightforward.
This is a Xword blog. It is not a Wordle blog. Why don't you start a Wordle blog? It might be fun.
I was today years old when I learned that ALABAMA is the curveball state. Har.
I never knew why the hammer was yellow, and always just assumed it was somehow related to putting the final nail in the coffin as the batter struck out. Nope. Turns out the 12-6 curveball is called a “yellowhammer” because the flight path resembles the flight path of the bird as it dives for prey. What colorful metaphor. Thanks, Jim Price, for keeping the term alive for Tiger fans for all these years.
@LMS - Me too on “espouse.” Turns out WED is the original meaning and the common usage now is the metaphorical extension, to WED yourself to a cause or position. Language users just will not be satisfied with a word having one and only one meaning.
@Anon 8:06 - I thought it was Engelbert Humperdinck. But neither has a hidden state name, so I’m thinking we’re both wrong.
Yep, too easy for a Thursday, which isn’t really a criticism of the puzzle. I feel like something could have been done with the cluing to beef up the difficulty/puzzlement level. State nicknames are not something I find particularly interesting. Still, it was a fine solve. No real complaints about the puzzle, although I do wonder what sort of scoundrel is ANTI-LOOM.
@9:28 - Scroll on by.
@Wordler - Har, my strategy, which I won’t share because it is so good it constitutes a spoiler,* is clearly superior to yours.
Wordle 432 3/6*
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* C’mon. All talk of superior Wordle strategies is preposterous. Also, @9:28 - Complain about a Wordle Post and I will post my Wordle score. Them’s the laws.
I can't believe how slow I was to grok the theme and have any idea what the middle letters were. I kept thinking that there was some sort of competition going on, so I wanted OHIO V ALABAMA, but the V didn't work. Then I had the B and wanted MAINE BEATS KANSAS, but it was one letter too long.
Only when I put in the unavoidable W for WEEP at 31D did I see IOWA staring out at me. After that it was smooth sailing -- but I should have seen the pattern much sooner, like, say, Lewis did.
The themers are amazingly intricate and I'm wondering how that sort of thing is done. Do you dream these three-state overlaps up in your head? Or do you set up a computer program -- and what I don't know about computer programs would fill a library -- to find them for you? But how would you know ahead of time that there would be anything to be found???
Beats me. I do think that these overlaps are pretty nifty, and while some of you found the puzzle perhaps too easy for a Thursday, for me it wasn't at all. Liked it!
Agree with Rex, not a rousing puzzle, esp at 3:30 am.
(Love his Olive, wouldn’t care when she woke me up)
Running the names of states together, seems like grade school?
The theme may lack complexity, but I’ll take it any day over a themeless, which lacks any binding conceptual framework whatsoever. I was not bothered by, and actually liked, TRISTATEAREA because I was willing to grant that each theme answer is an area in which three state names coexist. In much the same way I grant that sometimes the letter I is the Roman numeral one, as when the answer is ACTI,uch as I grant a gazillion other unlikely things that only pass muster in the world of crossword. I’d also like to second the motion that folks don’t post their Wordle results here. I want to say “no one cares” and this is the wrong venue. But if it was my world people also would not exceed a certain word count when posting and would be barred from using the word “grok” and affecting a folksy voice that begs so hard to be adored.
Hey All !
CONNECTICUTAHAWAII. Too long? 😁
Nice puz. I (amazingly) remember a similar puz like this. Unsure how long ago it was, though. Anytime I see ACME as a constructor, co- or alone, I know it'll be a good puz.
Got hung-up in the SE corner. Couldn't get ROut out of the ole brain. Also wanted hour for EMMY. The APEX clue was a Huh? also. I've heard the expression Ne plus ultra, apparently never knew what it meant.
LATECOMERS could disperse into LATE ECO COMERS, clued as "Missed the Greenpeace boat?" I got nothing for TOM COLLINS
Got my College accomplishment again, ROO MBAS. Har. No PABLO today, sorry @pablo. Well, there is a sorta boggled one in the center-ish stack
BRA
AIL
ROP
Best I got. 😁
I was a TRI STATEr for 13 years when I lived in Connecticut. It's a small state, but split in half ala baseball teams. The West half are Yankee fans, the East half are Red Sox fans. I was in Milford, which is the West half. Nice town.
OHIO WALABAMA sounds like a nice place.
No F's (WEEP) We do get Six B's, though.
RooMonster
DarrinV
I am so in love with Olive!
I thought it was a wonderful puzzle. You could pretend today was Tuesday and it would mean you have ERM coming again tomorrow and this puzzle was correctly placed in the week.
Here are the theme words spelled backward:
OHIOWALABAMA
Amabalawoiho
MAINEBRASKANSAS
Sasnaksarbeniam
VERMONTANALASKA
Aksalanatnomrev
CAT ON A ROOMBA
She was sittin' on a stump
starin' at her favorite BEAU
sippin' on her fizzy tonic
a lotta gin a little SLOE
"What's this boat yer buildin'?"
she asked of her sweet NOAH
"When it rains you'll wanta ride
like a cat on a ROOMBA
like a cat in a TESLA
like two cats ALPHA 'n' ZETA
two by two all in a ROW.
We'll float to RIO
and read the Kama SUTRA."
And if that's not love,
it doesn't exist.
Uniclues:
1 Stragglers arriving at the beach.
2 Why your head hurts.
3 Polishes singer's bald head.
4 Let's go for ice cream Ms. Kardashian.
5 Astronaut Armstrong's nickname derived from his compulsive desire to eat prepared veggies.
1 SAND LATE COMERS
2 TOM COLLINS ROMP
3 SWABS ALTO DOME
4 "I'M DOWN KIM. TCBY?"
5 SALAD BAR NEIL
I don't know that I set a PR with today's, but it played record-breakingly easy. (In fact my times have been decreasing from Tuesday on, which seems weird.) I like fast times as much as the next person, but I expect a bit more challenge from a Thursday.
@Southside
You must be referring to NIE, but that's not an abbreviation, and it's not made up. You make that "made up" charge a lot, you know. Instead of griping about editors not putting in effort, you could put in some effort yourself and look it up. Takes only a few seconds.
As with many of you, once I grokked the theme, this fell pretty easily.
And while it skewed easy for a Thursday, I'm not sure what the fuss is all about. Sometimes Thursdays skew especially hard . . . . . it happens.
Re: posting Wordle results . . . . . I think G. Weissman nailed it.
You've got certain folks whose comments border on short novellas, and folks who post multiple times a day . . . . . so in the grand scheme of things, a Wordle cut and paste sort of fits right in to the general vibe.
Plus you've got folks who use the term "grok" - - - ugh
One thing rex overlooked in complaining about the theme is that there were three spanners, and I think that was a pretty impressive feat of construction!
@zed
If you believe in aggravating the aggravated do you believe in enriching the rich?
Wordle 432 3/6*
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Obviously the second guess was lucky. But in retrospect if I put the third put the third choice second and the 3 same letters were correct and the last 2 wrong I would have had 2 likely choices left. As it was I had a near certainly for a three. Brilliant strategy? No because I had no idea how the second answer would play. I would assume you had many possible words left and your luck was on the third pick. But no way of my knowing for sure.
While the theme was quite appealing, I can’t say I enjoyed having to slog through all the trivia. Tsk tsk. Almost felt like a debut in that respect. I started out trying to make a rebus work with the ALA in ALABAMA and the BRA in NEBRASKA until I could see what was happening. DOGWOOD before DOGROSE which I never heard of but which Google tells me is also known as Rosehip a more familiar label. I wouldn’t say I’m completely ANTI so much as I just found it a bit underwhelming. Might’ve been better with a HOOHA in the AREA.
It's worth noting, from the triggering point of view, that the KANSAS-NEBRASKA Act was the earliest start of the War of Northern Aggression.
"the Kansas–Nebraska Act is most notable for effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise, stoking national tensions over slavery, and contributing to a series of armed conflicts known as "Bleeding Kansas". "
-- the wiki
Odd that @OFL didn't get it.
I came up with a FOUR state Frankenstein (monster)
HAWAII-IOWA-ALASKA-KANSAS
HAWAIIOWALASKANSAS
What do you think?
-Israel
Gorgeous cat BTW
Fun idea but I agree it’s a bit too easy for a Thursday once you figure out the TRISTATE theme. Also, there is no HOOHA.
Thx, Olivia & ACME, for this 'state'ly Thurs. offering; very clever! :)
Easy-med.
Got the NW quickly, but didn't fully grok the theme until MAINEBRASKANSAS. Then it was smooth sailing all the way until the RANDY OLIVE ROOMAS, which took some head-scratching to suss out.
Didn't know 'ne plus ultra'; thank goodness for fair crosses at the APEX.
Fun solve; liked it a lot! :)
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Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
@Roo
Congrats on Aloha-beehive-nutmeg (or constitution, if you prefer, but nutmeg has a better backstory). Fine for a Sunday.
I grokked it in IV.
Wordle 432 4/6*
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I had some fun with it. I noticed the overlap of OHIO and IOWA early and supposed that two states were in each of the long themers. Then I saw TRISTATEAREA and the light went on. Three states!
But that was it.
Four states overlap at one point: UT, CO, AZ, and NM. Four Corners USA.
Wordle 432 3/6
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3 for me. Wordl is getting real. After visiting family last month, we have a 4 way group text where we load up our wordl result every morning. Today was two had 4/6 and one had 5/6. My brother was doing them, but he was bad at it. I gave him my tips, then he started beating me!
@albatross (8:20) The best plant I have found for attracting butterflies is a yellow butterfly bush. At one time I also had a pink and a purple one but they did not seem to be as appealing. The Monarchs and Swallowtails would swarm the yellow bush while paying little attention to the others. And yes the absence of both has been quite noticeable in the Midwest as well. Here is an article that might interest you about the general decline in their populations across the country this year.
@JC (10:31). Me too. 😂
Wordle 432 4/6
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@Unknown
Sorry you dislike my "grok" so much from yesterday. It was an intentionally chosen word because I was describing a situation where I could see and understand what was going on but it just wasn't fully sitting right in my gut. Didn't quite grok it .
In any case I hope you saw my comment to you a day or two about your comment concerning Lego Art several days ago. I didn't re-read your comment so I hope I didn't mismember anything. I'll find my comment if you missed it and have an urge to see it if you want.
Yes I post too many times a day sometimes and sometimes not at all. I think the best stuff here is the interaction between members. Some days it's everybody says something but nobody reacts to each other. I like the back and forth. Although it does at times go haywire. I appreciate corrections from different sources too. If someone is incorrect and nobody makes a correction because they have already posted I would be disappointed.
Nie is the whole German word for never. Clue using "Ger." Is a bit questionable
Yep, too easy, no erasures and no WOEs. Yesterday’s was tougher. This would have been a cute medium-tough Tuesday or an easy Wednesday. Liked it but....
@TT - perhaps you can enlighten me as to the error of my way (it won't be the first time). On the NYT app that I used the clue was "Never: Ger." - why is Ger. abbreviated? Perhaps there is still a cluing convention of which I am unaware.
Very similar result!
Wordle 432 3/6*
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Was too easy for a Thursday… just a straightforward puzzle that took me about 1/3 of the time to solve yesterday’s puzzle. I don’t want straightforward and easy in a Thursday puzzle. One positive? I did it while laying in a rope hammock.
I enjoyed this ROMP through the USAUSA, having the most fun with the first leg, in figuring out how to get to IOWA. After that, it was a very quick trip. I had more fun imagining the ROOMBA-riding cats, their (phantom) presence nicely balanced by the DOG ROSE, with ALPHA right between them: which is the number-one pet?
Re: Espouse meaning WED - As a small child I was made to memorize the "Christmas story" from the Gospel of Luke and can still tell you that "Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child."
At least ONRYE wasn’t clued as “Atop a city with a marina.”
We didn’t get HOOHA today, but I’m sure RANDY was looking for it, while pathetically pleading DOME.
In case you weren’t picking up that the themer clues were state nicknames, the constructors thoughtfully included the USAUSA chant.
I have never seen ACER, whether in crosswords or ITW, without thinking “what a terrible name for a company”. I don’t know why, but it just grates on me.
I liked the puzzle fine for the brief time that it took to complete it. Thanks, Olivia and Andrea.
@Southside Johnny: not only is NIE not an abbreviation, as TTrimble said, but it’s cool that the other German word in the puzzle is EIN which is NIE backwards. Surprised no one else mentioned it. Easiest Thursday ever, but I like the suggested revealer (UNITED STATES) better than TRISTATEAREA. The “AREA” is too suggestive of its literal meaning, whereas “UNITED” is at least more metaphorical, if not completely accurate, with 2 red states+1 blue state each.
The runtpuz version of this theme would have stuff like: MALARIA.*
We just got back from a looong trip, and brought back covid as a souvenir. So, kinda restin up, and workin on 3 weeks of NYTPuzs backlog. Meantime, postins might be kinda skimpy.
Nice weeject stacks, in the NE & SW. staff weeject pick = RCS.
Thanx for gangin up on us, ACME & Olivia darlins. USAUSA comes darn close to theme related. Well, sorta.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
**gruntz**
* Massachusetts + Alabama + Louisiana + Arkansas + Rhode Island + Iowa. (Usin their state codes, of course, for runt's sake.) A six-pack!
Welcome back @M&A.
You were missed.
I guess I started the Wordle result posting barrage today with my fabulous five. Now I feel like everyone is taunting me with their 3's and 4's.**
**Har!
Fun Fact - Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Andrea Carla Michaels were in the same college class
Today's theme reminded me of THIS
There are "real time" videos available if you're interested.
@9:28:
Wordle 432 3/6
🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
I typically start with the same two words. 10 different letters and all vowels but one …
@Loren Muse Smith 6:25 AM Brilliant as always.
For the first time, I decided I would start from the bottom up. I looked at TOM and decided I'd make some COLLINS.
I came to TRI STATE AREA and took my rest. I had no idea what was in store for me. I like that on a Thursday.. I slowly moved up to the USA USA parts and pretty much guessed that we were talking about the over-SIZEd STATES residing in our beautiful country.
Up on the APEX of this interesting theme, I managed to get OHIOWALABAMA. It seems it was easy for some, but not for me. I smiled, though, because I like overlaps and thinking about them. I'm pretty sure my favorite was MAINE BRAS KANSAS. It was there that I saw the overlap of Maine, Nebraska, and Kansas. It sounded like a plan that I was DOWN FOR. Fun.
Most of these answers I knew. I had to really think about EREBUS and how to spell the ROOMBAS. I took a pause at the part of Arabic names. Could it be Ibn or Bin ? No, it was ABU, the father of.the twins Ibn and Bin.
I came to the butterfly attraction and could only think of milkweed. No it was the ASTERS they like. I wish I could've seen more this year during their migration. I only saw one that I named DOG ROSE.
I enjoyed this one...it was different and I like that.
@Southside
Yes the abbreviation in the clue was poor. I did not notice. Should have mirrored the clue for EIN especially NIE is EIN backwards, not that mirrors would exactly reflect that.
@Masked and Anonymous 11:56 AM Welcome back y'all. We missed ya. Hope the trip was fab.
My rebus detector went off today after I had to change OHIOIOWA out and ended up with OHIO_ALABAMA. Then I had to wait while 21D filled in to show my thought, a la Rex, of rEnd going there, was wrong. But I finally was able to read OHIOWALABAMA and WEEP. I liked that entry best, along with the VERMONTANA mashup so this puzzle left me with a cozy feeling rather than disappointment for a Thursday.
Thanks, Olivia and Andrea!
As a Canadian I have soaked up a lot of USA trivia, but state mottoes not so much. So the clues were totally wasted on me and I had to get all the theme answers from crosses. Well except maybe for "Last Frontier"... wait, isn't that SPACE? No, I guess that was "final frontier", at least according to James T. Kirk. Is "final" more final than "last"? So much for absolutes!
[Spelling Bee: yd pg-3, missed these and I really should've got the long one.]
I had a lucky first guess:
Wordle 432 2/6
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
@Southside
I think it's quite usual to see "Ger." or "Fr." rather than fully spelled out, for example that's what you'll often find in dictionaries if you look up a loanword. I can see how this might have thrown you, but your error (besides assuming that the answer had to be an abbreviation of a foreign word -- I think that would be rather rare, if that's ever occurred) was saying or implying it was something made up, and then given a pass by lazy editors, without checking up on it first yourself to see if that's right.
@Wordler
I think it was @Anon 9:28's comment and @Z's 9:40 response that motivated us to post our scores today.
So, I figured out first state name and then sometimes the last one, but there just wasn't enough room in the middle for anything else. Luckily it was, as so many have pointed out, pretty easy, so crosses filled in the themers and it all resolved in a nice fast time. I liked the IMDOWN vs. APEX progression from NW to SE. Even funnier that they were in the opposite positions in the crossword from reality. At least LOOM was indeed LOOMing over the puzzle and ALTO was indeed in a low position. Totally agree that DOGROSE is...what?!?! I'm in a garden club, but never heard of this. I tried DOGbanE, which is a great native weed that will kill a horse dead with just a few ounces, but is terrific for insects (butterflies and much, much more). Not sure if it does anything for or against DOGs. And then we get ASTERS all growing in a ROW, too, and a ROOT at the bottom of it all in the grid. Throw in the OLIVES growing in the SAND, and a few TICKS living in this garden, and the bees in their DOME, and I was half convinced that this had a garden mini-theme. Of course I think that a beehive doesn't actually have a DOME. I'm sure the traditional, old-timey depiction of a honey-bee hive has some mathematical shape name like ovoidism or conicalicoid, and I'm hoping that some more learned people on this blog will educate me.
Other nit is that IDCARD seemed like, no. No bouncer ever said, "Let me see your IDCARD." Ever.
But, that aside, liked the puzzle. Don't mind a few easy lay-ups every once in a while. I don't get hung up on NYT 'standards' so much like OFL. I just want to enjoy a puzzle. And, I've been doing the archives back to 1994 and feel that they were quite...esoteric back then. Not so fun. So much PPP! I am much more enjoying the modern day puzzles. Let me start my day by giving my brain a little work-out, but something that gives me a fighting chance. And then bring me down a notch on Saturday, where I will need to resort to my puzzle partner, Mr. Google. That's all I ask.
Me too
@B Right There 2:07 PM I've been musing about your beehive "ovoidism or conicalicoid" and wondered about a few crossword-centric "ISMs" from recent days.
-ERMophobia
-ELSAaintgonna
-HOOHArahrah
-HARRYPOTTERnarygotter
-PASSACAGLIAschmucagalia
-LOTRlater
-IKnowEverythingAboutSandwiches-APALOOZA
-MORDREDdread
-INBOXZEROhero
-AUGHTnaughtism
-SocksCanBeSpelledSOXdammitism
-(This might be a bit long from today) TJSwants11minutesANDhisdimeback-CUZthispuzzleANDthisBLOGaresostupidism
I agree with the easy rating as well, but LOVED the puzzle! I think a 4th themer and no revealer would have been fine. 16 minutes for our twosome, close to a record for a Thursday (and we're doing it over zoom which I'm sure slows us down a little).
Thanks, ACM and OMF for a wonderful Thursday puzzle! : ) --Rick
For any Wordle fans who might be interested: A few months ago I started a private group on Facebook called Yesterday's Wordle Postmortem. The intro reads as follows: 'This group is for discussion of the previous day's Wordle puzzle. (If you'd like to post your solution, you'll need to have saved a screenshot.) To avoid spoiling the puzzle for those who haven't solved it yet, we won't talk about a puzzle on the day it is active...'
People post images and talk about their luck, frustration, tactics, etc. Feel free to request to join; there are only about 50 members.
I shared your disappointment
Oye M&A.....welcome back. We've missed you. Hope you had fun!
Thanks for that! I remembered the phrase but could not remember the where it came.
@LMS
Comedian John Pinette feels your pain. Enjoy.
https://youtu.be/GmFDtgfgyD8
Perfectly acceptable Wednesday puzzle that I'm not sure why was assigned to Thursday.
Oh joy! M&A is back!
Easy for a Thursday, but that’s on WS for running it on the wrong day. Tuesday would have been about right. Rex is being a little picky about the theme. It’s fine. There is a bit of junk fill like ORD, RCS, DVR, TSO, TCBY and ICAL but not much more than usUSAl. Nice team effort by Alivia Mitra Framke and Andrea Carla Michaels.
TRI-STATE ROMP
So I'MDOWN in ALABAMA,
and RANDY for a BEAU,
ISAID, "START out ON the Kama
SUTRA, but take it SLOE."
---ALMA COLLINS
Kinda weak, but at least no rebus. Wrote over DOGwood, unfamiliar with DOGROSE.
Wordle birdie.
Coming to the first themer, I thought, please tell me this is more than writing down three states three times. Oh boy, no, it's telescoping them together VIA overlap. I wasn't even gonna bother finishing, but it's Thursday, surely there is some interesting element, like maybe the capitals tell some kind of story, or something. but no, that was it. OHIOWALABAMA. And we get this on a THURSDAY.
Something is wrong here. The DOGwood tree has beautiful flowers, but no, we get the DOGROSE. Is THAT what propelled this into a Thursday slot? Please. I really think Mr. Shortz needs a sabbatical--or maybe just retirement. This is crapola.
Double-bogey, which I at least beat with a Wordle bogey today.
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