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Relative difficulty: Medium (i.e. average for a Monday)
Theme answers:
- ECHO CHAMBER (18A: Environment that reinforces one's biases)
- TRAFFIC ARTERY (24A: Major thoroughfare)
- IN THE SAME VEIN (50A: "Similarly...")
- SAFETY VALVE (60A: Precautionary device in a pneumatic machine)
The "fade" hairstyle is a popular short haircut for men—it actually made Google's "Year in Search" trending data list for 2020—and it's sometimes also called "military reg." It simply means that your hair tapers from the bottom to the top and it can be as close to the skin as you like. // The term "fade" originated in Black-owned barber shops and has become the popular term for an aggressively tight taper in men's hair. Hair at the sides and back is cut as close as possible with clippers and "fades," or tapers, up into almost any length on top. (byrdie.com)
• • •
TRAFFIC ARTERY was the only answer that slowed me down at all today, though the VALVE part of SAFETY VALVE took some crosses because I found the "pneumatic machine" part of the clue distractingly specific. "SAFETY ... ???? ... oh, it's just VALVE? Oh, ok." I was taken aback a little bit by the clue on FADE, mainly because I think of that as a Black haircut, not a military haircut, but I have since learned that the cut is sometimes referred to as "military reg," so OK, there you go. Still, the term "originated in Black-owned barbershops" (see Word of the Day, above), and the "hi-top FADE" in particular was made broadly famous by hip-hop and R&B songs and cultural icons of my youth (late '80s, early '90s). The haircut I associate with marines is the CREW cut. But again, the clue is accurate enough. The only other brief trouble spot was IMOVIE, which I forgot existed, despite its being installed on my own damn computer, the one I am writing on right now (49D: Video editing program from Apple). Sigh. Oh, and I had a little trouble with SPLIT (33A: Skedaddle), mostly because I had the -IT and though it was going to be a two-word phrase ending in "IT," like ... I dunno, BEAT IT (too long) or LAM IT (is that a thing?) or something like that. OK, that's all, see you tomorrow.
I found this to be much more fun than the typical Monday (at least for an experienced solver). And I really liked having ABBEY ROAD as an answer instead of some piece of (c)rap music.
ReplyDeleteAlso, is it okay for me to refer to my hairstyle as a "full FADE"?
Juaquin: using “rap music” is an oxymoron…
DeleteHad a total mind fart for some reason & confidently wrote in "Abbey Lane" !!
Deletegiven the importance of clever wordplay in (good) rap, I'm surprised that a crossword fan wouldn't at least appreciate it as a possible art form.
DeleteOh brother
DeleteIf you think rap is bad music you're being lazy about it. There's plenty to admire from a skilled rapper, just like any other artist.
DeleteMr anonymous is showing hints of latent racism. Love it.
Delete- Brandon
Medium. Pretty smooth and a solid Monday, liked it. The song was originally recorded by Aretha’s sister Erma in 1967 and has been covered a number of times since then. Joplin’s version with Big Brother and The Holding Company is of course the most well known and hers is the voice I hear in my head.
ReplyDelete@bocamp - Croce’s Freestyle # 739 was on the easy side for a Croce. Toughest part for me was the NW. Good luck!
Rex – I have to disagree on several fronts. Sure, the parts occur elsewhere in the body, but they’re all still parts of the heart. It never occurred to me to take issue. And TRAFFIC ARTERY went straight in, but I get what you’re saying. Lastly, I never even read the clue for the reveal because PIECE OF MY HEART feels like a phrase broader than just its status as a song title. Like, Yeah, I broke up with him last week, but he’ll always have a piece of my heart.
ReplyDeleteI guess if someone’s gonna give me part of them, I’ll take a PIECE OF their HEART over a piece of their mind any day. [See LETS IT FLY.]
@Joaquin – “full FADE” . . . Har.
First thought for that bungee jumper’s attachment was codicil.
Those AFLAC commercials bug me almost as much as Progressive’s Flo. Enough. How. E. Ver. . . the Progressive commercials with the guy coaching people not to become their parents are too funny. And that Geico Pictionary sloth is epic.
RIO TACT – Brazilian ballroom dance instructor gently telling you that your Samba is positioned to become your “most improved” dance.
'Codicil' LOL
DeleteI can barely describe the joyous celebration in my head bordering on pure jubilation when I find a puzzle with OHO and OHOH sharing real estate. And importantly, no AHA anywhere to be found. I think all our work with WS is paying off.
ReplyDeleteI am worried that we are running out of words. We're reusing two from Saturday's puzzle ASHE and DIY, and two from yesterday's puzzle. GASH and N'SYNC (was sorta in the puzzle). Before you know it, they'll take a word out of today's puzzle and use it over and over -- like, I dunno, TOT, or ALTA, or EDYS, or IRE. It also feels a little too soon to be seeing NIELS Bohr again.
Nice to see REC, ESC and ETC in the same place. I wouldn't want them running loose in the real world.
HAL9000 is my favorite ROBOT.
GAL Gadot has certainly become crossword royalty. I wonder if she knows. Maybe we should try to get her to write Rex a letter to the editor so we know she knows. I've never seen a single show she's been in, but I confidently write her name into puzzles without any crosses these days.
I like the theme of this puzzle. After the last few days, I'd say any legit theme would be welcome.
Uniclues:
1 Santa watching a Netflix comedy, but mispronouncing his first giggle.
2 A really bad idea.
3 "I am so sick of doing all the work simply because you won't use lotion."
4 When the Phantom tells a joke.
1 OHO ECHO CHAMBER
2 SAFETY VALVE DIY
3 LOOFA LETS IT FLY
4 LA SCALA RIOT ACT (~)
She is in the 2022 remake of Murder on the Nile!!
DeleteGal Gadot crossing loofah gets a piece of my heart. Didn't Matti Caspi sing that version?
ReplyDeleteI think the military version of that haircut is the "high and tight." At least it was, back in the day.
Actually one of the more interesting Monday puzzles. A little harder than normal. I try to solve Monday "across only" but gave up on that plan after a few minutes. Oh well.
Zippy
I solved looking at only the down clues. I finished despite a couple of dreaded unknown names: EDDIE Redmayne, and "Esports competitor" (but turns out it's not a name cuz I thought Esports was a company so "their competitor" was another company but I was mistaken).
ReplyDeleteWriteovers: PLOW before SLED, GALA before FETE.
Today is the Ironman Triathlon here in Penticton; it's a 4 km swim, a 180 km bike ride(!!!), then a 40 km run(!!) I'm watching the live stream right now of the late finishers. They started swimming at 7 am; it's currently 10:40 pm and they're still streaming in like crazy. The cutoff is midnight, and there's always someone trying to beat the deadline. That's 17 hours of swimming, biking, and running (well actually some walking for several of the late finishers, I'm sure.) Several in their 70's. How oh how do they do it?
I love Janis---saw her in concert, summer 1970---and I love Piece of My Heart. But it's no love song. It's the desperate cry of a downtrodden woman with no self-respect. It's powerful and horrifying, but it's not a love song.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree. Ridiculous clue for a great song.
DeleteOn one hand, it felt a little stale - lots of fill that it feels like I’ve been seeing a lot lately (GAL Gadot, ARTIE Shaw, EDYS, NIELS Bohr, ION, SHH, STET, HERS), a Space Odyssey robot reference, and an anatomy-based theme centered on a song written 55 years ago. On the other hand, I *loved* the LACTIC/ ADHOC/ RIOTACT stack in the N, VCR + REC is giving 80s, and now I really want an ECLAIR and some ICE CREAM . All in all a fine Monday (except I am still going to be salty about HAL)
ReplyDeleteMany women have sung "Piece of my Heart" - Joplin's is I imagine the best known version. But there is Erma Franklin's original version and one by Faith Hill and other too I believe. I thought this was a fun Monday - traffic artery didn't bother me in the slightest. And I liked seeing the Academy Award winning Eddie Redmayne making an appearance too.
ReplyDeleteSolid Monday if not "OHO" inspiring. I hate the Pick me, pick me clue more than any other I can think of. For me it really taints a puzzle. If OHOH really needs to be in the grid, clue it "This could be trouble" or something similar.
ReplyDeleteNice Monday. I agree with @Margaret in NJ, in that I would never think of Piece of My Heart as a “love song,”. But I appreciate the history lesson from @Jae. I remember the first time I heard it, sung by Joplin (I wasn’t aware of earlier recordings), in the late 60s. I’d never heard a voice quite like that and didn’t really know what to make of it. It sounded more like screaming than singing, but it was mesmerizing.
ReplyDeleteemordnilap clues
ReplyDeleteNoises from a POM
Dust ups
Secure a boat
Shannon and Ray
Scam victim
Said Santa
YAPS (SPAY)
ADOS (SODA)
MOOR (ROOM)
DELS (SLED)
AFOOL (LOOFA)
HOHO (OHOH)
Where I come from it's LETS FLY, not "lets IT fly", which doesn't google at all as a phrase meaning what the clue says.
ReplyDeleteAgree with @Margaret in NJ – "classic love song" is a pretty hilarious description of PIECE OF MY HEART. It's anything but, the gist being "you treat me like shit but c'mon, do it again, I'll always be here for you to step on."
I have never thought of PIECE OF MY HEART as a love song. I think of it as a very creepy representation of a broken relationship. (Hi, @Margaret in New Jersey)
ReplyDelete‘Her’ used to be used for both “that’s her book” and “that book is her”. Then people started to add the -s on the end in the latter use, so “that book is HERS”. Note that we don’t have any differentiation in the case of a male: “that’s his book”, “that book is his”. I personally will never accept this modern, sloppy usage, so I still say “that book is her”.
Never in my whole life- 70 yrs. old- have I heard that. Are you sure it is American English
Delete@okanaganer - I had the same confusion on the eSports clue. And I know someone whose wife is competing in the ironman (and yes, it is still called the ironman even for women).
ReplyDeletePIECE OF MY HEART is not a Joplin song nor a Franklin song. It is a Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns song.
Moron is not necessarily a synonym (and, therefore, not an appropriate clue) for idiot. Originally morons, imbeciles, and idiots were different categories based on IQ.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.counterpunch.org/2017/04/20/whatever-happened-to-bill-oreillys-loofah/
ReplyDeleteThey spell it Loofah.
Allegedly settled for $9 million.
Screwy theme here.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, technically, there are arteries and veins in the heart just as there would be for any other organ like the liver or lung, it's weird IMO to call them "pieces" of a heart. If someone asked a doctor to name the pieces of a heart, artery and vein would probably not come to mind.
And whoever called PIECE OF MY HEART a "love song" never listened to the lyrics.
As soon as I saw Jeff Chen’s name I knew this fine puzzle would be nitpicked to death by Rex.
ReplyDeleteI liked having the reveal in the center, encouraging guesses at the remaining two theme answers - which for me resulted in the "triumph" of IN THE SAME VEIN going right in and then a need for many crosses to get SAFETY VALVE. I see @Rex's point about the awkwardness of TRAFFIC ARTERY, but that was more than made up for by the excellent ECHO CHAMBER and ARTERY's cross with ABBEY ROAD.
ReplyDeleteDo-over: LETS IT OUT. No idea: PIECE OF MY HEART.
I was intrigued when I saw Jeff Chen contributing to a Monday - I suspected he would amp up the difficulty a tad, which appears to have been the case (see LA SCALA and ALTA for example). Not a big fan of the triple-PPP start up in the NW at 1D,1A and 14A but at least it wasn't too WoE and the crosses were fair.
ReplyDeleteI thought the theme entries were close enough for CrossWorld, although I don't dissect them to anywhere near the extent that Rex and some other purists here do. I just hope they stay out of the way and contribute something positive, which was also pretty much the case today.
Nice to see the very professional, workman-like effort from this constructing duo on a Monday.
Neat little puzzle - harmless. Kind of like the split revealer in the center. TRAFFIC ARTERY is a little flat - but I won’t bitch on a Monday.
ReplyDeleteOverall fill is smooth enough - just not a lot of stuff I actually like. Love RADISHes and NIELS. Keep EDYS and the associated LACTIC, ABBEY ROAD, ECLAIR and others.
Oh MY HEART
Enjoyable Monday solve.
Simple and sweet. It is lovely how CHAMBER, ARTERY, VEIN, and VALVE take on non-cardiac meanings in their theme answers, and how tight the theme is, given that there are no common phrases ending in AORTA or ATRIUM. And, of course, junk-minimal. That “of course” because Jeff won’t let a puzzle go anywhere without being maximally scrubbed (and Chase may be the same way).
ReplyDeleteI liked seeing ESC next to ROOM and the nearby palindromes TOT and OHO. Also, yesterday’s anagram-fest inspired me to look for (X, Y, Z) anagrams of today’s theme answers, and one I liked, where the anagram related to the answer, was for TRAFFIC ARTERY. Its three-word anagram seems like a good description for a tailgater on a major highway: (CAR, AFT, TERRIFY).
Perfect Monday theme and execution that made my heart go pitty-pat. When a puzzle is beautiful, even if it’s easy, it lifts my day. Thank you, gentlemen!
Enjoyed this puzzle more than most Mondays. Prolly because Jeff Chen is such an expert. Goes to show that even easy can be rewarding. Easy to solve, not necessarily easy to construct. Sort of like a Haydn symphony is easy on the ears because the composer is such a master of the complexities of the form.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI am glad I'm not only one who noticed the many answers that seem to be recycled answers from the last few days to couple weeks. Was I in some kind of time warp NYTCW dream? How does this even happen?
ReplyDeleteAnd at the same time it played much harder than the normal Monday. Many more answers than normal that were not apparent on first reading and far more breaks in continuity where I had to jump to clues that had no crosses to complete a section. In fact it was the recent repititions that helped keep it in a somewhat Mondayish time frame.
Has EDYS and EDDIE ever been in the same crossword before?
A pile of theme real estate might have added to the difficulty, but without dirtying up the fill.
You all are crazy if you think PIECE OF MY HEART is not a love song. You think love makes you act rationally and in your own best interests? Love is but a dream sweetheart.
I found today's puzzle to be fun but I did think of Janis Joplin's version which I never thought of as a "Love song." It's a decent enough Blues version of what could be a love sing, albeit very aggressive. Each to his own I guess. I never liked the Janis Joplin version that much.
ReplyDeleteThe HAL 9000 was an AI computer NOT a robot
ReplyDelete@JNKMD 8;57 AM Dolores Umbridge is that you? You seem to be taking the magic out. Let us remember that all of this is fiction so putting limits on fanciful things is a wet blanket thing to do. Then let us examine where does Hal start and where does Hal end. While part of him is a computer, he's also in charge of all of the systems on board and as such the entire is ship an extension of him. He's a giant robot you can live inside of, but still a robot.
DeleteAvg time, so mediumish. ASHE again, GASH again. Didn’t object to the pieces, didn't think about it long enough. Nice to have a theme on Mon, gets newer solvers involved. I did wonder if anyone would complain about an "over half-century old album title" but seeing no objections I deduce that it's an iconic classic (like many of us!!).
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteNIELS BOHR is the new Yoko One, Brian Eno, ETC. 😁
Good fill, considering the five basically grid-spanning Themers. (Well, four + Revealer). Lots of fixed spots that need to fill cleanly The two long Downs go through three of the Themers. Good use of the Blockers to cut down on three-cross aspect. (I know [I think] what I'm trying to say)
Theme is full of F's, so that's nice. I'm sure it took the constructors some time to clean up the fill. Have a Happy Monday! (If there's such a thing!)
Six F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Perhaps today's write-up is a prime example of why many deride Sharp's sometimes humorous negativity. Seemed a bit silly to me that what can seem to me as banal can result in strong venom. Right or wrong, sometimes it's not what you say but how you say it.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I did like today's puzzle, which solved maybe a bit more difficult for a Monday. I would rate today's puzzles as one of the better early week puzzles. Even if I totally miss any pictorial effect referred to at XWordInfo.
A few weeks ago, some people objected to tase in the puzzle, but nary a word from rex about 33d, "fix, as a pet." as if a normal and healthy pet needs to be "fixed." "Fixing" a pet is a weird way of saying "animal genital mutilation." It is animal abuse. If you don't want an animal in your house, don't bring one in. But let's not talk about "fixing" when what is broken is not the pet but the human.
ReplyDeleteA little pushback on a Monday, which is fine, and I will forgive the revealer being in the middle by getting the Joplin earworm embedded, which I will sing all day, but not attempt at his evening's hootenanny. And ABBEYROAD, an "added bonus" a phrase I use ironically, because it drives me crazy.
ReplyDeleteAre some of the heart parts found elsewhere in the body? Sure. So what?
No disrespect to triathletes everywhere, but today my wife and I are celebrating 52 years of marriage. Let's see them try that.
Solid Monday, CD and JC. Competently Done and Just Chewy enough. Thanks for all the fun.
Liked the themers and the puzzle. ABBEY ROAD and LA SCALA we’re nice bonuses.
ReplyDeleteAs an a-fibber for the past 10 years or so, I appreciate the heart in this one. I'm also happy for the other heart "pieces" who get some crossword love typically reserved for their colleague AORTA.
ReplyDeleteMy five favorite clues from last week
ReplyDelete(in order of appearance):
1. Share one's seat? (4)
2. Free movie starring yourself (5)
3. Super-useful item? (6)(3)
4. Wave to one's math professor? (4)
5. Fashionable spots (5)(4)
MOON
DREAM
MASTER KEY
SINE
POLKA DOTS
Let's see what we have here in the NW corner. OHO! It's Wonder Woman and Pac-Man and a streaming service and OHO itself and LOOFA, whatever that is.
ReplyDeleteWe will also eventually have a movie, an album, a video editing program, a video camera button and a boy band.
You've heard me often refer to some sophisticated puzzles I really admire as "a grown up puzzle." Perhaps you've wondered what I would think is NOT a grown-up puzzle. The answer: A puzzle very much like this one. A puzzle that believes life is best lived with headphones on and in front of a screen of one sort or another.
What does an Esports competitor munch on while he plays? An ECLAIR.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of anagrams, a person who wants to get even with a Swiss city would avenge GENEVA.
I just signed up for the surprising new streaming channel HBOHO, SODA SOFA is going to get a lot of use in my house.
This was a very nice Monday. Rex’s criticisms are unwarranted nitpicking. If you cut out a heart and name the things you find therein, you’d have all the themer endings. Thanks, Chase Dittrich and Jeff Chen.
@Anonymous 9:33 - Every year in the US, well over one million adoptable pets are euthanized. "Fixing" does not equal "genital mutilation", rather it helps control the mass extermination of loveable animals.
ReplyDelete@Pabloinnh 9:44 - Mazel tov on 52 years!
I don’t think Janis Joplin had biology in mind when she sang this song. The dissection is a little too clinical for breakfast time (please pass the scalpel) but the grid is well constructed.
ReplyDeleteHad a problem with GLARES in the plural. It’s just GLARE. But liked RIOT ACT and LET’S IT FLY.
I, MOVIE sounds like the autobiography of a film.
RIO TACT could also refer to Brazilian diplomacy.
Re #Anonymous Anonymous said...
ReplyDelete“As soon as I saw Jeff Chen’s name I knew this fine puzzle would be nitpicked to death by Rex.”
I love Rex’s deep dives into JC’s puzzles, which, increasingly, do seem to include the type of missteps he and others have identified today. Not necessarily nitpicks, methinks.
When you get a haircut on a military installation, you generally have two options: high-and-tight or FADE. The only difference is the width of the transition zone from a #1 clipper or close-shave on the side of the head to the 1 or 2 finger lengths of hair on the top. With a FADE, it’s a broad transition, an inch or two depending on the barber. A high-and-tight goes from skin to hair in less than an inch. Source: a very white veteran
ReplyDeleteThis was kind of fun and a little upbeat (YES, bad pun) for a Monday. I fully expected Rex to LET IT FLY on this one because Jeff Chen but I had no complaints. Regardless of whether the theme answers exist in other parts of the body, they are definitely parts of the HEART which is how we would primarily think of them.
ReplyDeleteIf you’ve never seen the MOVIE The Theory of Everything, EDDIE Redmayne’s Oscar winning performance as Stephen Hawking is well worth the time. Highly recommended.
Nice puzzle. Although I agree we're seeing lots of short words and bits and pieces too frequently.
ReplyDeleteQuestion apropos of nothing: When you copy and paste on a touch screen, do any of you also feel like the material you've cut is in your fingertip? I very gingerly hold that finger aloft as I don’t want to risk touching anything until I get the excerpt out on the new page. Weird.
@Anonymous 9:33 The decimation of songbirds by pet and feral cats is an ecological tragedy. Spaying and neutering is not cruel, it's kind. https://www.birdconservancy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Backyard-Habitat-Why-Curtailing-Your-Cat-Is-for-the-Birds-NWF.pdf
No problem with TRAFFIC ARTERY. My nit is LOOFA getting cheated of its h once again.
ReplyDeleteIs HAL a villain?
c. 1300 (late 12c. as a surname), "base or low-born rustic," from Anglo-French and Old French vilain "peasant, farmer, commoner, churl, yokel" (12c.), from Medieval Latin villanus "farmhand," from Latin villa "country house, farm" (from PIE root *weik- (1) "clan"). Meaning "character in a novel, play, etc. whose evil motives or actions help drive the plot" is from 1822. (etymology online)
I thought this was an easier Monday than most, but less patronizing. I did have to correct a couple of things. Are soldiers allowed to wear FAlls? Cola before SODA had me wondering. Also tried post before HILL. Needed ASHE to "set" me straight, har. OH OH - it’s US Open season!
The PIECE OF part of the revealer took some crosses - apparently I have another hole to “fix” in my pop music knowledge.
Likes:
SHH crossing ECHO CHAMBER
ABBEY ROAD, esp. crossing WEEDS
the REC CORD run-on
SPLIT over PIECE
RAID crossing (The) HILL
RIOT ACT running into LA SCALA
thinking about SLEDs and snow days
Final scary thought: SAFETY VALVE DIY.
While solving I disliked ARTERY and VEIN, but you all have convinced me. Anyway, it was fun trying to guess the theme entries.
ReplyDeleteIf you drive across the northern USA from east to west you soon come to understand that there are about 90 minutes each evening when you basically cannot see anything in front of you. “Annoying” hardly covers it.
@jberg
ECLAIR LET'S IT FLY when LOOFA isn't NSYNC with her. She'll read her the RIOT ACT and call her an IDIOT. LOOFA gets sad and yells "You ABHOR MY LACTIC HEART!" and then she'd SPLIT to go get a RADISH on RYE. She chose the Blinky, Pinky, Inky deli even though the food gave HERS GOUT. When she finished, she contemplated a skedaddle to an I MOVIE and watch "GHOST"....but...TRAFFIC was a PILE up mess on ABBEY and LA SCALA ROAD. "OHO...Well, look at that!" she whispers to no one... I see that quack, Ben AFLAC, with ECLAIR ..."
ReplyDeleteI bet they are going to that FETE with Nobelist Bohr." LOOFA GLARES with contempt and almost pops a VEIN.. She runs up ECHO HILL because she needs to be in an environment that will reinforce her biases. After a few WEEDS she was ABLE to open her HEART. She needed her SAFETY VALVE to remain calm and to forgive those that sin. The GASH in her HEART would yank her ARTIE CORD and even though ECLAIR SPLIT with her, she and GAL Gadot will fly away to AFRICA on lake GENEVA. "This TOO, shall FADE" she whispered.
When they arrived at their L-Shaped ROOM, they sat on the SOFA and did a puzzle by Chase and Jeff. It was a PIECE OF TOT art. They were so happy and AWED. Even though he was a villain, HAL would've approved TOO....
@GILL I. 10:59 AM "You abhor my lactic heart." The melancholy refrain of every constructor daring to visit this blog the day their puzzle is published.
Delete"Piece of My Heart" - Originally recorded by Erma Franklin, in 1967. Good tune. Good puz, too boot.
ReplyDeletestaff weeject pick: OHO with bonus cousin OHOH. Primo weeject stacks in the NW & SE, btw.
fave musical extra: ABBEYROAD.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: The ABBEYROAD clue was pretty darn friendly, but for variety's sake, will go with: { ___ Gagarin, first person in space} = YURI.
Thanx for gangin up on us, Dittrich and Chenmeister dudes.
Masked & Anonymo1U
**gruntz**
Just testing if I can comment as myself here, rather than as anon.
ReplyDeleteMAZEL TOV @Pablo.
ReplyDelete@pablo: Best wishes to you and your bride on your anniversary. An accomplishment to be extremely proud of.
ReplyDeleteSeemed like a fine puzzle, but as soon as I saw Jeff Chen’s name, I knew Rex wouldn’t like it. Seems like he was stretching to find something wrong with it. Oh, and “Piece of My Heart” predates Janice Joplin, though her version is certainly the most famous.
ReplyDeleteIn Boston, before the Big Dig, the Southeast Distressway was called the Main Artery by the traffic gal.
ReplyDelete@7:33
ReplyDeleteAnd whoever called PIECE OF MY HEART a "love song" never listened to the lyrics.
made that mistake with "Killing Me Softly".
I found this to be a particularly enjoyable Monday and would echo @LMS with respect to my disagreements with @Rex takes on the pieces of the heart but add…@Rex said he’ll give us chamber and valve…earlier saying “we all know the chambers…seems general”…so I guess the constructor needs to find a common saying that includes atrium and ventricle? Similarly, under his vein and artery analysis perhaps direct attachment is needed so only aorta and vena cava can be used. Ok. I guess I ramped up what @LMS said a bit.
ReplyDelete@Nancy, I was a bit surprised to read your comment today because I didn’t see the clues/answers as any more indicative of a society that is solely dependent on our modern devices than the “average bear” NYT crossword these days, and for awhile. I mean, I can go for a long power walk today, stick my phone in my pocket, pop my ear buds in, and listen to Beethoven, Gershwin, or whoever. (For me it would be ‘whoever’). I read AND listen to audiobooks and podcasts, play board games and cards with real people AND also occasionally play pinochle online with real people I don’t know. Yes, I watch tv so I know about AFLAC but I’d like to think Im not tethered to devices and am an adult. Probably all of us have the justifiable fear that we are losing something with the advent of the digital age but THAT is a whole ‘nother story.
@9:33
ReplyDeleteNot hardly. 'Fixing' is no different from a tubal ligation or vasectomy (well, same result anyway) in humans. Shelters are full to the brim with unwanted 'pets'. Unless your an honest breeder (not a midwest puppy mill, btw), there's exactly no reason to keep a fertile 'pet'.
Oops. Too many years away, Central Artery.
ReplyDeleteSPLIT was the standard term for leaving a scene back in the hippie days.
ReplyDeletePIECE OF MY HEART I first heard at the Fillmore not long after Janis joined the band. I was AWED for sure. Of course I had loved Big Brother, but their hit tune had been "Roadblock". Once she came on board, their hit tune was whatever she chose to finish a set with. The clip OFL posted is far from the best of the performances I heard. Often the band was far better, and it became routine for Sam and James to join in whenever Janis repeated a phrase like "come on" or "take a".
Good times! And, good though Janis was in the Cheap Thrills era, I always thought she was better playing with the original Big Brother.
I must say, this was the slowest Monday for me that I can remember. I had no idea that a FADE was a Marine haircut. I was looking for "buzz" or the like.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThx, Chase & Jeff, for this HEARTy fare! :)
ReplyDeleteEasy-med.
Finally got GAL Gadot down pat.
Recently added RADISHes to my veggie mix.
Lived on a houseboat at Dal Lake, Srinagar, INDIA ('70). Wasn't a 'vegetarian' at the time, but am now.
Not familiar with PIECE OF MY HEART, but do know Peg O' MY HEART ~ Bluegrass Student Union.
Also, there's PIECEs OF April, one of my fave Thanksgiving movies.
Enjoyed EDDIE Redmayne in 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' (BritBox).
MY HEART Stood Still ~ ARTIE Shaw and His Orchestra
Lovely Mon. cruise down the 'Major thoroughfare'. :)
Kudos to @pabloinnh for a fine performance on the Acrostic. @Trimble, @Kitshef and I all got stuck in TRAFFIC, but managed to arrive successfully at our destination. :)
@pablo
Congrats to you and your wife on your 52nd anniversary; wishing you many more years of blessed wedlock! 🙏
@Trimble
I've taken a hiatus from the SB, but one word stands apart wrt your pet peeves. I'll take a peek at yd's letters to see if my guess is correct. 🤔 [update: yup, I nailed it! LOL]
Thx @jae, on it! :)
___
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
well... HAL 9000 wasn't AI as that term is used today, although sentience in a computer is what some geeks say will be true at some point. right now AI is just very rapid regurgitation of stored facts. some say that stats (i.e. correlation) yields 'new facts' from the datastore. relational databases have been doing that (in a different way, though) since IBM invented one in the early 70s, but they didn't want to take aim at IMS, its cash cow (and whose faults Codd devised the relational database to solve), so what we now know as Oracle was first. there's an odd irony to that fact. back in the early 50s, Remington Rand (viz. Sperry) had the first mainframe, but dawdled on releasing it, and IBM got out of the gate first.
ReplyDeleteI saw Janis perform here in San Francisco a couple of times at The Fillmore Auditorium late sixties. Electric. She released Cheap Thrills in 1968 and died in 1970. I played that album a thousand times. My favorite song was the Kris Kristofferson song, Me and Bobby McGee. I think Bill Graham's introduction is on Cheap Thrills. "Ladies and Gentlemen, four gentlemen and one great, great broad. Big Brother and The Holding Company." I tear up just typing it in.
ReplyDeleteAgree w 🦖. JANIS was so needed in this one.
ReplyDeleteWell, come on, come on, come on, come on…
And didn't I give you nearly everything that a woman possibly can?
Honey, you know I did
Honey,
how hard would it have been to add JANISJOPLIN or JOPLIN or JANIS in one place and JOPLIN in another?
It would have satisfied
ANOTHER LITTLE PIECE OF MY HEART, NOW BABY
(tempted to add ALL the lyrics here, but am guessing someone already has 🤗)
At least it wasn’t a boring Monday and just the song reference made my day!
🤗🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖😎
Well, come on, come on, come on, come on
Well, @mathgent we might have passed each other under the psychedelic light show at that Fillmore concert. 🤗
ReplyDelete"Piece of My Heart" is new to me. Didn't affect my solve. After I read y'all I found and read the lyrics. It's quite a ways from "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing" but still a love song, I'd say.
ReplyDelete@mathgent & sixtyni yogini
ReplyDeleteMe too! What a splendid time to live in the Bay Area!!!
I’m new-ish to this arena: Is Chen a competitor of Parker? Seems like the best explanation for the inane nits he picked
ReplyDeletetoday.
Enjoyed it, esp for a Monday.
Like others here, I saw Janis Joplin in SF at the legendary Fillmore and elsewhere, and she (Emma Franklin, too) both sing the number as if their hearts are broken—angry sure!—but deeply damaged by love. It’s clearly a love song of a certain convention.
Totally agree with Beezer @11:30 about digital devices (directed to Nancy @10:02) and how you can exploit their uses and still be an adult.
Nice Monday puzzle. Saved a sheet of paper by solving it in my head.
ReplyDelete[SB yd g-3, I assume the word that irked TTrimble and bocamp (and me) was this 7er? I've never heard of it, nor has Merriam-Webster.]
ReplyDelete✌🏽❤️😍❤️✌🏽
ReplyDeleteHaha, rock on y’all!
California dreamin’
@Diego, mathgent, and anonymous
✌🏽❤️😍❤️✌🏽
@kitshef 7:11 I can't figure out if your "the book is her" is a joke I don't get or you just banged your head.
ReplyDelete@okanaganer (1:41 PM)
ReplyDeleteYou may be right. I guessed this was @TTrimble's peeve.
___
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
@sixtyni yogini (12:23) Were you one of the people from Ohio who came to San Francisco during the Summer of Love? With flowers in your hair?
ReplyDeleteContrarian Zed here: PIECE OF MY HEART is a hard edged song about unrequited love. So I’d say it qualifies as clued.
ReplyDeletere: Love song/Not love song: If love doesn't hurt, is it really love? I say no. Discuss.
ReplyDeleteGAL GLARES at the GASH (top line).
ReplyDeleteWell, was actually surprised to see that this was a Jeff Chen. I usually love his puzzles and even think I can recognize them, because they make me smile or do some other x-factor thing that is above and beyond, but not today. Oh well.
I also think that an artery is not a piece of a heart. It’s the part that comes out. On the other hand, I realize that arteries are inside organs (I guess), right? So it works. Otherwise, I liked the whole food vibe of it from the RADISHES that need to be WEEDed. To be healthy, I will eat them with fresh, cold butter and a sprinkle of salt on RYE. Wash it down with a SODA and enjoy EDYS ice cream with an ÉCLAIR for dessert.
The rest is just decent Monday. Nothing really of note. I do wonder how new xworders would fare with YURI and ETTA next to each other and ASHE crossing one of my favorite clarinet players (after my father) ARTIE, with NIELS in the neighborhood.
@LMS, did an actual out loud chuckle at RIO TACT!!! Wish my dance instructor had as much tact when he told me that my two-step had a few too many steps in it! (Well, what do you expect from someone with two left feet?)
@ Margaret in NJ, thank you for pointing that out about the song. I think it’s all about him and his taking and taking! And yet, she’s kinda misguided in thinking that being tough means hanging in there. Even a bit of Stockholm syndrome (in my opinion) in the way she thinks that she will give him another piece of her heart ‘if it makes you feel good’. Rather disturbing, really. And @albatross shell, if you think doing crazy things like what that song is about is love, well, I will do what I rarely do. I will call you out on something and say, “Seek help”. Crazy, head-over-heel funny business is cute. Wearing two different shoes because you are besotted with your new relationship and can’t keep your mind on getting dressed, that’s cute-in-love. Asking for a toxic person to abuse you some more for his own pleasure. Nope. Just…NO!
And along those lines @Anon 11:28 AM, re Killing Me Softly I believe refers to the intimate act of love making. He’s not actually ‘killing’ her. I believe he’s bringing her to that moment of extreme pleasure. Little euphemism there.
@Pablo -- Wow -- congrats! And here's to many more!
ReplyDelete@B. Right There - Hmmm, usually “it’s about sex” is the right interpretation, but not so much with Killing Me Softly. There are some other sites on the interwebs with pretty much the same story; the young performer was inspired by Don McLean at a concert, shared her ideas with her songwriter, who then fleshed out the ideas. The original didn’t sell, but Roberta Flack’s cover did.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it’s interesting to me that so many are sensing violence in the Piece of My Heart lyrics. Yes, the person needs to get over the guy, but there’s nothing in the song that I hear to suggest anything more than he’s not as interested in her as she is in him. Someone needs to tell her, “he’s just not that into you,” and she needs to listen.
KILLING ME SOFTLY? Pffft. Stupidest song ever.
ReplyDeleteStrumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
The title is an odd phrase which might have worked if placed sparingly for maximum effect. Instead it just repeats ad nauseam. If he's killing you softly why don't you shut up and die already?
Roberta Flack did sing a true example of a Classic Love Song though: Ewan McColl's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face".
@Zed, your 7:05 post was right on point. I agreed with you earlier but I especially agree now.
ReplyDeleteAlso, 🤣 @mathgent’s last post.
Check out the original singer of Piece of My Heart- Emma Franklin. Amazing
ReplyDelete@Be right there
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that you are limiting love and the human condition to what is politically correct and healthy. Willie Nelson and Patsy Cline express the same circumstances more gently:
Crazy for thinking that my love could hold you
I'm crazy for trying and crazy for crying
And I'm crazy for loving you.
As Zed points out there is nothing in either song that suggests the object of affection is doing anything but not committing to her. It breaks off a piece of her heart each time but he has never promised more and she is the one making the choice. Healthy? No. Love? You're in no position to judge.
@Pabloinnh
My congratulations or sympathies, which ever is most appropriate. Life did not work out that way for me. But am now in a relationship I expect to last til death, but not 52 years.
Agree. A puzzle with the song "Piece of My Heart" as its theme that makes no reference to the legendary and lamented Janis Joplin (1943-1970) is a cruel travesty.
ReplyDeleteWow, it’s late. US Open will do that.
ReplyDelete@albatross, @Joe D, @Zed, @
I listened to the song - I think it is a song about love, if not a “love song” in the shmarmy sense. So many different kinds of love - this may be a tragic one but still. Sometimes hearts can do no more.
(Something about the musical lines of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” made me think of this song.)
@Joe D, I totally agree “The First Time Ever I Saw You Face” is a classic love song. I love the Roberta Flack version but, wow, Peggy Seeger is amazing. Peter, Paul and Mary did it justice as well.
Bottom line is Ewan MacColl is a great poet.
Janice Joplin used to sign her name using little HEARTs to dot the eyes:
ReplyDeletehttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janis_Joplin#/media/File%3AJanis_Joplin_Signature.svg
LASCALA SAFETY
ReplyDeleteINTHESAME playhouse as HAL,
HERS is THE CHAMBER OF doom,
MYHEART goes out TOO THE GAL
when that IDIOT's IN HER ROOM.
--- GENEVA "ABBEY" ASHE
Have to agree with OFL re: arterials, both minor and principal. Higher TRAFFIC volumes than major collectors.
ReplyDeleteNever considered PIECEOF MYHEART as a 'love' song. Depends how you look at it I guess. Classic though.
Wordle bogey even with GGBBB start. So many possibilities.
As with The Jam earlier: Janis Joplin and Richard Thompson. Again Rex’s musical tastes and mine intersect.
ReplyDeleteEdit - Make that Janis, not Janice…
ReplyDeleteYou don't get the real force of that lyric until you hear the next line:
ReplyDeleteYou know you got it / if it makes you feel good!
Joplin was a genius with a depth of soul rarely found in life. She was taken far too quickly.
As such, this puzzle is a bittersweet tribute, and I found myself tearing up as I solved it. The theme entries, a couple of them, were a bit shaky, but from a broad viewpoint they were fine.
A bit jarring was EDDIE Redmayne, whose signature character Stephen Hawking stands in stark contrast to the neighboring down: IDIOT. A good Monday: birdie.
Wordle bogey; common combination blues.
Must admit that TRAFFICARTERY was NOT my fave word of the day. Awk awk.
ReplyDeleteINTHESAMEVEIN, I certainly did like ECLAIR. Not so much RADISH, especially if it was on RYE.
Top it off with some EDYS.
Let's go eat!
Lady Di
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ReplyDelete