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Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
Word of the Day: MONA Van Duyn, 1990s U.S. poet laureate (4D) —
Mona Jane Van Duyn (May 9, 1921 – December 2, 2004) was an American poet. She was appointed United States Poet Laureate in 1992. [...] Van Duyn won every major U.S. prize for poetry, including the National Book Award(1971) for To See, To Take, the Bollingen Prize (1971), the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize(1989), and the Pulitzer Prize (1991) for Near Changes. She was the U.S. Poet Laureate between 1992 and 1993. Despite her accolades, her career fluctuated between praise and obscurity. Her views of love and marriage ranged from the scathing to the optimistic. In "What I Want to Say", she wrote of love:
- It is the absolute narrowing of possibilities
- and everyone, down to the last man
- dreads it
But in "Late Loving", she wrote:
- Love is finding the familiar dear
To See, To Take (1970) was a collection of poems that gathered together three previous books and some uncollected work and won the National Book Award for Poetry. In 1981 she became a fellow in the Academy of American Poets and then, in 1985, one of the twelve Chancellors who serve for life. Collected poems, If It Be Not I (1992) included four volumes that had appeared since her first collected poems. It was published simultaneously with a new collection of poetry, Firefall. (wikipedia)
• • •
I ended up having to rebuild pretty much from the ground up; that is, from way down at the very bottom of the grid, with an answer I knew well: Juan SOTO (48A: M.L.B. star Juan). He recently turned down a 15-year, $440 million dollar contract with the Nationals. He's now a Padre, and he is expected to ink a contract worth northward of half a billion dollars. Why? He's one of the best hitters, through his very young age (23), in the history of the sport. He also helped me regain my FOOTING in this puzzle. Went from him and PSST and IDID to DONATED TO and very quickly the SW corner was done—that corner and the NE corner and frankly all the corners were much more forgiving than that NW corner was for me. The one real challenge left was the middle, where I was finally able to tease out LOW BATTERY (such a good clue!) (6D: Plight of the 1%?), and, with much struggle and quizzical grimacing, FORCED SMILE (30A: Expression in an uncomfortable situation) (absolutely diabolical use of "expression" there—I really wanted a spoken phrase). You know a puzzle is good when it smacks you around and yet ultimately makes you smile (in an unforced way). So I got FORCED SMILE, thought "yes, I UNDERSTAND," and then happily rode SISTER CITY down to an easy puzzle exit. Was the puzzle a satisfying Saturday experience? GOD YES!
- 17A: Moving film? (SHRINK WRAP) — one of the hardest "?" clues I've ever seen. It's also borderline in terms of legibility. I guess that ... when the wrap (which is a kind of "film") is going on, it is shrinking and thus "moving." I honestly was looking at SHRINK-M-P at one point and thinking "what the hell is a SHRINKY MAP!?" [someone in comments suggests that you use SHRINK WRAP as packing material when "moving" to keep things from shifting around; I only know it as the material sometimes covering commercial products, though I guess even then the wrap probably does act as a stabilizing agent during transport]
- 25A: ___ Foundation (nonprofit with a history going back to 1984) (TED) — never heard of TED stuff until sometime in the '00s, I think, so this was a surprise.
- 26A: Locale for a pin (MAT) — had M-T, thought, "well, that's MAT ... but how does that make sense? You leave a *key* under the MAT, maybe, but a *pin"?? ... ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh, pin. Like wrestling. Now I UNDERSTAND!"
- 23D: People born on the 4th of July, e.g. (CANCERS) — I have no idea what any of the summer signs are. Everyone I knew and loved growing up was autumn winter and early spring, so after ARIES and before LIBRA, I am Zodiacally illiterate. This is all to say that today I found out that GEMINIS and CANCERS have the same number of letters.
- 26D: King Arthur's slayer (MORDRED) — the most up-my-alley clue in the whole thing. Chivalry's MR. HYDE (2D: Literary character who "alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil"). An agent of absolute destruction. Love him.
See you tomorrow.
*kealoa = short, common answer that you can't just fill in quickly because two or more answers are viable, Even With One or More Letters In Place. From the classic [Mauna ___] KEA/LOA conundrum. See also, e.g. [Heaps] ATON/ALOT, ["Git!"] "SHOO"/"SCAT," etc.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
A good Saturday offering. It kicked my ASP but good. Even though I flailed around and used several lifelines I still appreciate the difficulty. My ego was soothed by Wordle.
ReplyDeleteWordle 427 3/6
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟨⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Thanks for the explanation of MAT as a locale for a pin. Never would've landed on the wrestling connection.
ReplyDeleteAs for SHRINK WRAP - no, the wrap isn't moving. It's what you use to keep drawers and other things in place before loading your stuff into the van when you're moving.
That’s not called shrink wrap. Shrink wrap is plastic wrap that goes on to something and, upon being heated, shrinks to adhere to the something. Usually food, eg packaged meat.
DeleteShrink wrap is definitely what is used when moving. They literally wrap up everything that could shift or move in the truck. We used multiple box cutters and Exacto knives to free our furniture after we moved 8 years ago.
DeleteThat is still not shrink wrap, it’s plastic wrap. I’ve had professional movers wrap my things, too. I’ve even wrapped and unwrapped (cut open) grocery store pallets for a living, with giant rolls of plastic wrap that go around and around in layers, and have to be cut open with box cutters. Not even the meat plastic is shrink wrap. Those are all just plastic wrap.
DeleteSHRINKWRAP is a particular kind of plastic wrap that you wrap in a *single layer*, then aim a heat gun at (similar to a blow dryer, but less airflow and way hotter). The heat causes the wrap to shrink into a harder plastic that grips the item—think: the plastic around batteries, jar lids (with the little perforation strip), etc.
I have never once complained about a clue here, but I’m sorry, I have *never* heard of anyone shrink-wrapping their items when moving. Likely the high heat from the heat gun would damage a lot of items. I’ve seen shrink wrap used in packaging, I’ve seen it used as a temporary hold, I’ve never seen it used in moving. Not saying it has never been done, but this is beyond pedantry, it’s just plain wrong.
@Anonymous - 1:06 PM - Totally agree with you. It was a bad clue for a long entry that impacted one's ability to solve a lot of other entries.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteHemant, considering I knew right away you were the Friendly Atheist, I thought the foundation you were going for (26 across) was the FFR (Freedom From Religion) Foundation. Congrats on a tough, but fun, puzzle.
ReplyDeletewhen moving, you secure furniture in shrink wrap
ReplyDeleteShrink wrap moves as it is heated, it draws tighter to the item being wrapped
DeleteAhhh, a capital-P Puzzle. One not about marquee answers, but rather, about riddles to crack. One rife with vagueness, one in which you have to take stabs and dive deep into the memory. And one about the pleasure of rewards, when an answer suddenly makes perfect sense and can be confidently thrown in.
ReplyDeleteAnd holy moly – 14 NYT debut answers – all in the language! CANCERS, DONATED TO, DON’T LIE TO ME, FORCED SMILE, FUTURIST, GOD YES, I UNDERSTAND, LOW BATTERY, MORDRED, NO VISITORS, ONE TIME USE, PROMO CODES, SHRINK WRAP, and SISTER CITY!
Thus, one uber-fresh puzzle. With so many new entries, it reminded me, a veteran crossworder, of my early days of solving, when I didn’t have a store of known answers/clues to use as footholds. A gift! Padded by some brilliant cluing, like those for FORCED SMILE, MAT, and OR NO.
Kudos to the NYT team that, of late, have made the Saturday puzzles steep hills to climb, as they should be – please don’t start leveling off!
And kudos to you, Hemant, on this your third NYT puzzle, all of them Saturdays. This one, IMO, was crossword art. Thank you for a most memorable trek!
Now see – it’s so great to participate in a crossword blog so that you can learn stuff like today’s constructor’s background. Neato.
ReplyDeleteThe northwest was brutal until I gave up on “ers”/”end _ _ _” Bet I’m not alone. Rex – I’m impressed that you got UMS and UPSHOTS so quickly. The possible “end_ _ _” was like a siren song for me.
“Hat” before MAT for the pin location. I don’t know much about King Arthur, but I knew “Hordred” just wasn’t cutting it.
“Pauses in discussion” – waiting patiently for Mom to remember the name of her friend in Sunday school’s first cousin’s plumber’s dad who recently had his right knee or was it his left knee replaced, but she was actually telling me about a pecan pie recipe said friend told her about.
One of the highlights this morning was seeing that the NYT still uses the diaeresis (32A clue for STARRY). Mystifyingly, diaereses make me happy. Sometimes when I’m in a mood, I’ll use it in stuff like coördinate and coöperation.
I loved the clue for ONE TIME USE. Every now and then, someone will ask to borrow a Kleenex. I offer the box and say something like You may think it’s the case that I want it back, but it’snot, hoping they’ll notice my little joke, but they never do. Sigh.
FORCED SMILE – me, after having some infant foisted on me. The beaming mom’s like, You wanna hold him? And me (too ashamed to admit I’d rather hold a pet snake than a baby) like May I? Oh thank you! And I sit there with a FORCED SMILE hating the mom. I was relieved when I had kids of my own that this aversion vanished for the time span that it needed to be vanished.
Kept wanting some kind of “endowment” dealie for DONATED TO.
Speaking of endowments, “fats” before FIGS for the testosterone boost. Who knew? This explains the FIG leaf, then, right? The humble guy doesn’t wanna alarm anyone with the impressive success of his fig regimen. Continuing in this louche direction. . . the towel that Non-Fig-Eating Guy hastily puts around his waist upon exiting a cold pool could be, well, a SHRINK WRAP. Ba dum tss.
PS - @old timer from yesterday – oops. I’m so sorry! I was being a smart-ass about Fasti. A long time ago I came out of the closet here among this erudite, educated commentariat about not being highbrow and cultured. While others sit in their tv-less rooms sipping tea and reading Dostoevsky, BARs of Haydn softy in the background, I’m on the couch eating Cheez-Whiz and watching Shep’s dog Craig marry Patricia’s dog Peaches on Bravo’s vapid Southern Charm. About every six months, I vow to try to be classier, put Segovia on in my classroom before school, brew loose tea in a real tea pot, blah blah, but it just never takes. While I’m oversharing (A. Gain), I remember looking at little Gardiner when he was a newborn and vowing that he would have a classy Grace Kelly kind of mom who wore elegant nightgowns with matching robes. I was thinking feather flourishes. But no. I yam what I yam. > I just sent him a fake prank envelope I bought on Amazon with Adult Entertainment Casting Studios as the return address and big red letters thanking him for his “enthusiastic video application.” I’m hoping against hope that his wife gets the mail that day.
Thank you @LMS for the coffee out the nose ROFL re the “fig leaf”; you are in rare form today!
DeleteAlways enjoy your comments Ms. Muse Smith.
DeleteAgreed wholeheartedly on diaereses. Topped, in my book though, by the use of ‘æ’ whatever that letter is called.
So, would it be dïæræsïs? If only?
@LMS I love bravo shows too! Highbrow/Lowbrow is such a great combination in life.
DeleteSHRINKWRAPping is used on boats for outdoor winter storage.
ReplyDeleteYou can save yourselves some time with Ted Talks by realizing that a good 60-70% of them are essentially this:
ReplyDeleteI have this amazing idea/discovery that no one has ever thought of in the way that I have thought of it.
And that is really strange, because it is so simple and obvious - there for all of us to see if we only looked.
Yet, it took me to actually see it.
It's so amazing that if you listen to me and embrace this idea, the entire world will be transformed.
Now, don't you want to transform the world?
And aren't I amazing? Brilliant, actually?
Yes?
(ooohs. aaahs. applause)
Then you really should buy my book.
DNF today as I had @LMS's hAT for my pin location, and just assumed hORDRED was some Arthurian name I had never learned. If it's not in Holy Grail, it's outside my wheelhouse.
ReplyDeleteVery nice puzzle with a lot of good clues, although Rex's fave 1% clue I thought was forced.
In the last two years, the Nats have traded away Juan SOTO, Trea Turner, Max Scherzer, Josh Bell, Kyle Schwarber, and Daniel Hudson. Meanwhile their highest paid player, Stephen Strasburg, has pitched 8 games in the last three years, winning one, with an ERA of 7. Their second-highest paid player leads the league in losses, hits allowed and earned runs allowed. Dark days in DC.
Very good puzzle by Herman Mehta should rate a POW. I also had a laugh at LMS’s musings on fig leaves and shrink wrap!
ReplyDeleteShould be Hermant Mehta, sorry
Delete@Loren Muse Smith -- One way to get out of baby-holding is to say, mid-foisting, "No, thanks. I'm vegetarian."
ReplyDeleteAlso, LMS, I'm such a fan of using the diaeresis. It's archaic, but it's fun to be archaic. I remember, as a kid, being bothered that an abbreviated "cooperative" is a "coop." Just try naively and preemptively coopting a coop without a single diaeresis.
Now, diarrhesis seems like something else altogether...
ReplyDeleteMy solving experience was similar to @Rex's but I didn't enjoy the puzzle as much as he did. My 7Dx20A was the same but in the opposite direction: I filled in CAB for the truck part and confirmed it with ADMAN. That made both of them very difficult to correct.
@LMS: You should get a New Yorker subscription. Not only are their five-days-a-week crosswords uniformly excellent, in the articles they consistently use diaeresipodes.
The consistently good cluing is what elevates this one to a stellar quality. I really enjoyed the straightforward, witty and creative clues that are tricky but not in-your-face esoteric or arcane. I personally never heard of the MORDRED guy - don’t even know if the incident referenced in the clue is real or fictional. The other PPP was at least a lady who wrote a best seller (and not 4 decades ago, lol) and a poet laureate - which is hard to complain about in a grid that also welcomes ODIE and the whole HYDRA clan.
ReplyDeleteNice to see the NYT leave the gimmicks and “try too hard by a half” stuff behind for a day and just publish a high-quality, well crafted example of what they could (and in my opinion should) be striving for on a daily basis.
The ORNO clue is wrong. "ORNO deal ORNO" is not a thing. I guess the clue was intended to mean "Words that 'deal' comes before and after."
ReplyDeleteThank you! Re-read the clue like 10 times after finishing, certain I was wrong
DeleteORNO comes both before and after DEAL in the phrase DEAL OR NO DEAL—Rex
DeleteAre you gaslighting? "Deal" is the word used before and after, not "or no".
DeleteThe misdirects today were fantastic - nuanced but clear upon the aha. The cluing on SHRINK WRAP is top notch - I took it to be the WRAP they use on palettes of material before shipping. The central tri stack is so solid - although I hate to see CANCERS anywhere even in today’s usage.
ReplyDeleteKind of goofy looking grid with those big blocks in the hip area. Some of the 3s were rough - especially the leading UMS.
@Z from yesterday - I have to go back for guys like EC and his alter ego Weller. After the first few records they both lost me - maybe Imperial Bedroom is my cutoff? I can’t listen to the Bacharach wannabe stuff. I guess it’s not easy when you peak so early.
Yes - I UNDERSTAND
Highly enjoyable Saturday solve. Now it’s off to get some FIGS.
I’ve never commented here and am no expert like most of you, but I’ve done the puzzle every day for about 8 years. I came here to see if anyone else took issue with the cluing of 18A: isn’t it backwards? Words before and after deal would mean “OR NO DEAL OR NO,” wouldn’t it? Or perhaps I’m way off because I did it in the early morning rather than at night per my usual routine.
ReplyDeleteFriday was easy and today was challenging? Swap that for me - totally in my wheelhouse and a record Saturday. Fantastic cluing. Went from MALALA to LOWfATmilk (?) to SHRINKWRAP to PROMOCODES. After ADREP saw that the truck part was BED, fixed LOWBATTERY and flew through the rest. Loved it. Nothing forced about the smile on my face.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, when I got up today my phone battery was at 1%! I plugged it in only five minutes before doing this puzzle. Talk about the Twilight Zone.
ReplyDeleteNow our figs with goat cheese and prosciutto wrapping on the grill sound even better!
Fun solve today!
@Joe If you contemplate the phrase “deal OR NO deal?” which is fairly common, the clue holds together.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a great puzzle! I had both MAp and hAT and eventually knew it had to be MAT but I had no idea why until I read Rex. Ah, I get it, thanks!
ReplyDeleteI put my pin in a MAP.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I knew that LOW BAPTERY was wrong but am ashamed to admit how long it took me to fix it.
DeleteAgree that this was a fun solve, despite trouble in the NW corner.
ReplyDeleteI felt a strange sort of connection between many of the longer clues, especially in proximity...
"I saved on the order using PROMOCODES." Fortunately it came in SHRINKWRAP."
"FOOL'S GOLD I PRESUME?" Her SCORN was barely disguised.
"No, its GENUINE!" I protested.
"DON'T LIE TO ME," she gently persisted with a FORCED SMILE. "I UNDERSTAND it is for ONE TIME USE?"
"GOD YES! Its TEA!"
Plastic film that is used for moving is stretch wrap. It comes in rolls and is stretched around things like chest of drawers. It is also the material that used to wrap pallets. Also called pallet wrap.
ReplyDeleteShrink wrap is different. Shrink wrap doesn’t stretch unless it’s heated. Shrink wrap is typically used for sealing retail packaging. A contraption called L-sealer (which employs a very hot wire) seals the shrink wrap film loosely around a carton. The carton is then sent through an oven which ‘shrinks’ the plastic tightly around the box.
Shrink wrap is not used for moving because it doesn’t stretch in its normal state.
Here is a shrink wrap machine. https://youtu.be/jeLcL9TM8-4
Just saw your comment and could’ve saved myself a wind-full of griping. Thank you! If I ordered SHRINK WRAP for wrapping pallets or securing items for moving, I would have to return it. It would not work. They’re not interchangeable. The correct answer is stretch wrap. Even if someone said SaranWrap, it’s more accurate. It is not SHRINKWRAP. If this wasn’t in such a pivotal spot on the puzzle, I wouldn’t be half as grumpy, but here we are.
DeleteI took it to mean that the film moves, as it appears to when you apply heat
Delete@Joe D from yesterday - I don’t recall an EX LAX billboard on the LIE but the Hiram Walker one was near the Elmhurst tanks on the WB approach to the viaduct. I forget the text but I can still see the big bottle standing there.
ReplyDeleteFantastic puzzle, and by that I mean 'I was able to get it done after having my doubts'. The northwest was rough and I had to take a stab at Mr Hyde, hoping that it was correct. Shrink wrap is clued brilliantly as is the rest of the puzzle. Perfect Saturday puzzle experience, gracias
ReplyDeleteAmy: really fine puzzle.
ReplyDeleteNow that's a Saturday puzzle. Makes you work for so many of the answers...but then aha when you get it. Rex highlighted the good ones so I won't, but hope the author sees this praise and does more for us. I careened off in the wrong direction many times...lots of choices for buddy, and I was looking for phrases not facial expressions, like Rex. So much fun to find the right answer.
ReplyDeleteYikes. First time in 70-plus years of doing these that I have ever given up totally after five minutes of utter frustration.
ReplyDeleteI only took a few precious nanoseconds figuring out the “before and after deal” clue. Not surprised to see it tripped up others, but now I get to feel all superior because I figured out that it is “OR NO deal” for the before part and “deal OR NO” for the after part. Just another diabolical clue in this wonderful Saturday challenge.
ReplyDeleteUnlike Rex, I just keep reading across clues until I get a toehold (more like a fingernail hold today). FLEUR / FOOTING didn’t get me anywhere, but then MAT / CANCERS (July birthday, here) gave me enough to get going. Those four words provided enough for me to build the middle. The entire NE to SW diagonal then went in fairly smoothly. A couple of hiccoughs in the SE, so it was a little more challenging, but not undoable. But that NW corner, boy howdy. UMS, ers, uhs, nothing like a kealoakea at 1A, eh? Tried ers/ending for much too long. Then I pondered whether or not Serena had written an autobiography (Serena and MALALA are both 7 letters - unfortunately for me). Hand up for AD men, “confirmed” by the perfectly reasonable oil rig CAm. Eventually ODIE gave me MR. HYDE which gave me UMS which allowed me to see UPSHOT. That was enough for me to finish.
That was fun.
@Conrad - diaeresipodes - 😉
I read The New Yorker for the cartoons and the diaeresipodes.
@Danny - 🤣😂🤣
@LMS - I couldn’t help but notice the SHRINK WRAP riff was preceded by an “endowment” riff.
@Son Volt - Elvis
is
king.
I can't agree more with Anon 9:17, and further wish Amy a very good morning. If only I knew who Amy is.
ReplyDeleteI was all over the place this morning. Sailing through the NW and then hitting a brick wall across the road. Big SMILE at the center stack but totally AVERSE reaction to the SE. So many answers I just loved starting with PROMO CODES, my favorite part of on-line shopping.
ReplyDeleteI won’t LIE TO you, I allow myself to cheat on Saturdays because like Clint Eastwood, I know my limitations, but I do try and man, this was a fun one to crack. The simplicity of the answers in that center stack is a thing of beauty and yet I had to work for them. The sneaky use of the word “expression” in the clue for FORCED SMILE was pure genius. Same for NO VISITORS. So perfectly logical but still I tried to make that all manner of medical terms before I finally saw the obvious. RED SEA, LOW BATTERY, SHRINKWRAP. Saturday of the Year IMHO.
Northwest ugh..
ReplyDeleteHydra,odie,Ted….
Piled atop each other
Throw in Mona and goodbye NW.
Oh, that NW corner. Couldn't decide between ERS or UMS so I finally went back to the online version and revealed square 1, which I never do, which made UMS right which lead to UPSHOT. I actually had SHRINKWRAP in place but the M__H____ was a big zero until I put the R in. Doh! I guess this is a technical DNF. Don't care.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of it went OK, and I was even feeling smart for remembering MORDRED and seeing how pin related to MAT. I think the ORNO answer would have been clearer if the clue had been "after and before deal", but nobody says that.
Some evil misdirects, HM. Had Me scratching my head, as should be the case on a real Saturday. Thanks for the workout.
"DON'T LIE TO ME!"
ReplyDelete"GOD, YES! I DID!" (FORCED SMILE).
"I PRESUME."
"ACK!"
"UMS. I UNDERSTAND." (FORCED SMILE).
"PSST. I SAID SO."
You could write a really bad novel using the vernacular dialogue in this puzzle. Perhaps someone will.
Seriously though -- I had to cheat on MONA to solve the NW corner, what with its Marvel Comics clue, its bug-eyed toon, and its pure evil character. (Yes, MR HYDE is world-famous, but there are so, so many pure evil characters in fiction. IAGO, anyone?
And the "Moving film" clue went right over my head, even when I had the WRAP. (I was thinking maybe "THAT'S A WRAP" as in "once this scene is wrapped up we're moving this film to a new location.") I guess SHRINK WRAP is what they wrap your possessions in when the movers move you? I wouldn't know: I let them do their thing and I do mine. (Sit quietly out of the movers' way, close my eyes, and worry.)
Other than the NW corner, I didn't find this all that hard for a Saturday. But in @Nancyworld, one cheat = a DNF.
@Nancy 10:06am
DeleteThe 2 down clue was in quotation marks; it came straight from the book.
wanted AGENT for 7 down, so that section was the last to fall.
ReplyDeleteCan someone explain MAC?
ReplyDeleteGot MIREd in the NW, but found the other areas of the puzzle much easier. Working my way back up to that initial corner, I put in MAp for 26A, Locale for a pin. I was so sure that was right that I spent 20 minutes trying to get LOW —ApTERY to work. Finally looked around at what else could be wrong and realized MAT worked and LOW BATTERY is a pretty good clue/answer. Great puzzle, but I think they should have taken the question mark on the clue to FUTURIST (One who’s always thinking ahead?) and put it on the clue for MAT. Would’ve saved me some time, at least.
ReplyDeleteWithout any crosses, I confidently put TEARJERKER in as the Moving Film. Messed me up quite badly!
ReplyDeleteA proper puzzling Saturday with lots of knotty answers hither and yon.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember where I started because all I did was act like ODIE. I think it was MALALA. Then hopped over to the pretty FLEUR then took a nap.
I give myself plenty of time on difficult Saturday. I remember when I first tried my fingers on a Saturday and all I could do was put in a plural S. I'd use the computer like a dictionary but I never seemed to find the devious answers. I've gotten better with age. I still sing Twinkle, Twinkle and often use the eenie meenie theory; sometimes I get lucky..... Today:
I did get lucky guessing UMS BED and CAP. A trio of goodness because it opened a few doors. My bete noire hit me hard in the SHRINK WRAP. A bugbear joined the hobgoblin with MORDRED and FIGS. I just can't see FIGS in this garden of Eden. Does it fall in the ONE TIME USE category? Thank you TED, I think I'll go to BED and hand my husband a FIG.
After many pauses, the light began to shine. The long answers found there way into my GOD YES territory and I was in SMILE city.
I really enjoyed crawling my way to a final tada!
Re: SOTO, and kitchef (7:30). The Gnats also let Bryce Harper and Tony Rendon leave to free agency in recent years, altho the latter has been hobbled since he left.
ReplyDeleteBeing a fan changes when your team drops from champs to chumps pretty quickly. I have friends in DC who have stopped going to games, in disgust, but I'm hanging on (by my fingertips). Each win is a precious jewel now. They beat the Padres in San Diego last night and the night before -- how in the world?
Nellie Cruz is squeezing the last few drops out of a very long career, and some of the kids are showing flashes. In a lovely post-game interview Thursday, Finnegan was asked how it was that the team seemed so well-motivated despite their sorry record. He said they are still trying to go 1-0 every day. And that everyone comes to the ballpark every day believing they will win.
(Loved this puzzle, btw.)
Thx, Hemant, I wON'T LIE TO you; I loved this challenge! :)
ReplyDeleteMed.
Avg. time-wise, but felt tougher.
Got TED, MALALA, ACK & ASP right off, but ADman sold me a bill of goods.
This was a hit-and-miss solve, but THE RED SEA parted and I eventually found my way home.
Getting SHRINK WRAP (loved the clue), facilitated a successful conclusion in the NW.
Great adventure; lots of fun along the way! :)
___
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Hey All !
ReplyDeleteToughie here today. Ample Check Puzzle use, plus a desperate Goog to get things going. Looked up Louche.
From Rex's write-up about Juan SOTO. Over $500 million. Really? Really really? Baseball player salaries are out of control. C'mon now. Eventually baseball will out price itself, as no one will see a live game if a beer is $75, plus a $35 got dog. I'm happy for SOTO and his family, but dang
Anyway, at least half my puz is in black letters. It's not all blue. (Note in case you don't know what I'm talkin' ' bout, and think I'm further losing my marbles: when you hit Check Puzzle on the NYT puz site, your correct letters turn blue, otherwise they are black if you solve regularly). So there's that. A 50% cheat. Har.
Happy Saturday All.
I PRESUME I SAID SO that I UNDERSTAND, I DID.
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Liked it. It took me 1 hour and 10 minutes. Feels like a great mind workout. Once I stopped letting myself google for answers, I started to finish Friday and Saturday puzzles. It does take me a long time but this is only my 2nd year at it.
ReplyDeleteI had nothing much after 20 minutes. I start to panic that this is the puzzle that's going to take me out but slowly and surely I complete it!
Hey LMS, I love crappy reality TV too And I had a friend who used to keep CheezeWhiz in his car. Nothing like a can of cheese in a spray bottle!
When I traveled from the U.S to Argentina, I noticed many travelers used a shrink wrap service to wrap their luggage. The service was inside the airport. I also saw this in Puerto Rico. When I finally got the clue, that's what I first thought of. The shrink wrapped suitcases and people moving.
I found this one really hard but felt proportionally rewarded for persisting until it was done. Same problems as everyone else plus BUBBLEWRAP before SHRINKWRAP. I associate ACK with Bill the Cat.
ReplyDeleteSerious question; why shrink wrap luggage?
ReplyDeleteTheft prevention
DeleteWhen @LMS posts I have a smile (unFORCED) on my face the rest of the day
ReplyDeleteERS and ADMAN messed up NW for along time.
MORDRED sounds positively horrible being different things in different stories. I mean, pick a narrative, amirite? Maybe he shouldn't be included in puzzles based on his very un-breakfasty life choices. I bet at family gatherings they called him Mr. Murdery Mordred.
ReplyDeleteNeeded a little boost from Uncle G for MONA, SOTO, Marvel Comics (whatever), TED, FIGS, and OPEC. But otherwise a pleasant Saturday morning.
I think the clue for LOW BATTERY is epic.
Harry Potter quiz time. In the movie Goblet of Fire, who said, "DON'T LIE TO ME," to Harry and why? (Answer: SNAPE on suspecting Harry stole polyjuice potion supplies and gillyweed.) And you say HP in your puzzles is a WOE. P-shaw.
Uniclues:
1 Weighty decision faced when dealing with leftovers.
2 Cartoon dog throwin' some hats 'round.
3 Beverley Hilton omelet station.
4 Criminal's answer to the question, "You pick pocketed how many tourists?"
5 Gentle reminder to the double-dipper.
6 Every right-wing pundit.
1 SHRINK WRAP OR NO
2 ODIE CAP TOSSIN'
3 STARRY EGG BAR
4 "I DID NO VISITORS"
5 PSST, ONE TIME USE
6 SORDID FUTURIST
GODYES is an expression I only use in one situation, in the privacy of my own home. Saying “Oh, hallelujah!” instead would probably ruin the moment.
ReplyDeleteBrutal cluing (in a good way)! I thought this was a great Saturday puzzle, so challenging and so satisfying to finish. I started out with extended wandering in the grid wilderness before finally finding FOOTING with BAR x BOW OUT in the far SE - that gave me enough for progress onward and upward until the Final Frontier of the NW. What saved me there was re-writing in MR HYDE (previously erased because of "impossible" crosses) and being able to inch my way backward from -ODES and WRAP.
ReplyDeleteHelp from previous puzzles: MALALA. Do-over: MAp. No idea: MONA, HYDRA, SOTO. Lucky strike: MORDRED ("Huh, so that's why he's important"). @Anonymous 10:19: Me, too, for thinking of "tear jerker."
Medium with the bottom half easier than the top. NW was last to fall.
ReplyDeletekea/loa erasures - @Rex cab/BED and AD man/REP
Helpful person to finally remember- MALALA
Word I looked up after @lms used it a while ago and still forgot - LOUCHE
Most diabolical/delightful clue - Moving film?
Just about right for a Saturday, liked it a bunch!
@Son Volt – my brother doesn't remember an ExLax sign on the LIE either. He says there was a Martini & Rossi sign close to the tunnel entrance but I don't particularly remember that. At least we all agree on the Hiram Walker sign.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle seems hell-bent on making you feel depressed. Your friend is in the hospital with CANCER and when you go see him there's a NO VISITORS sign. You sit in the waiting area, where next to the tissue boxes there is a warning: "For ONE TIME USE only". Everywhere you turn someone is giving you a FORCED SMILE instead of a GENUINE one, and you suspect you are not being told the truth ("DON'T LIE TO ME!"). No one will elaborate with details ("Because I SAID SO"), so you are reduced to responding "I UNDERSTAND" over and over. Then someone asks if you've DONATED TO the MORDRED Fund, which you misinterpret as the "more dread" fund. GOD, NO.
Finally you decide to call another friend to meet for dinner but your cellphone flashes LOW BATTERY – 1%. And you forgot your charger. So you go home and listen to Cat Stevens's "MONA Bone Jakon" album. In MONO (which you hope you didn't catch at the hospital).
I'm delighted when I solve a Saturday, so this is a good day. NOVISITORS was my foot in the door, and ONETIMEUSE gave me CITY, then SISTER led the way north. I foofed around in the other corners a bit - STARRY was being elusive, as was MORDRED, but not for too long. I didn’t know MONA or MALALA, so that crossing was a “Does MALALA seem familiar?” guess. Moreso than Ralala at any rate.
ReplyDeleteI really wanted toehold for 21D so I crossed it with ponyup for the kitty.
I'll excuse SHRINKWRAP or see it as film that moves as it shrinks in the oven. I learned about SHRINKWRAP waaay back when a friend at Tower Records explained how they could reseal opened record albums.
Thanks for the wrestling mat explanation! GODYES had me hesitant to write it in because of objections I've seen here, but I loved it.
@LMS Oh, how many times did I hear the most obscure details about the connections among my mother-in-law’s long ago friends or relations whose names couldn’t quite be recalled, enroute to something of only peripheral interest in the first place? I so wanted “Cut to the chase.” For 31A
Best Saturday in a very long time. Super crunchy and clever but doable with effort. Loved it. I fell hard for ante up before TOSS IN but my coin flip resulting in AD REP saved some time. I am not a comics fan - never have been, but thankfully my crossword addiction served me well for HYDRA as did my knowing MR HYDE for certain. Ers before UMS slowed me a little but ODIE was a gimme and I had enough fill to finish the NW. once out of there, I moved at a reasonably steady, albeit slow pace to completion. This was pure challenging fun!
Delete@Loren : You made me laugh out loud this morning with your FIG theory and your mom’s story, your TV show and gag envelopes. I too am completely AVERSE to baby holding and just had that situation FORCED on me yesterday. As I gritted teeth my teeth in what I hoped looked like a SMILE, I sat bouncing a 20 pound infant on my arthritic knee while secretly praying he would start crying so I could hand him back to his mother.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous (10:10) MAC is sometimes a friendly greeting between guys who may or may not know each other. “Hey MAC,” as opposed to Hey Buddy or Yo Dude for example.
I like the term kealoa. Other ones are ROTI/NAAN and STA/STN ("points on a train map" or whatever), as well as a number of "part of [acronym]" clues if those count.
ReplyDeleteSHRINK WRAP.
ReplyDeleteA Saturday that knows how to...never mind. The opening became the finale.The rest was no walk inthe park, either. One letter give up because I was too exhausted to even guess at Malala/Mona.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that the phrase "shrink wrap" has been mis-used for so long that is acceptable now. It happens. But I'm not giving a pass to the no-deal phrasing.
Laughed all the way through the @LMS offerring today. But my biggest guffaw was reserved for @Z's "now I get to feel all superior". NOW !!! ??? C'mon...
@kitshef:
ReplyDeleteWell... at least Snyder has some other org. to point to. Not that he's any better, of course.
Joe Welling..."Deal or no deal."
ReplyDeleteI think it's fair to say that GOD YES is borderline blasphemy (wimins tend to say such at that particular instant, for example), while “Oh, hallelujah!” is said in religious (generally of the Christian sect) fervor. Not anywhere near synonyms.
ReplyDelete"Shrink wrap" is your concluding session with your psychoanalyst.
ReplyDeleteBest crossword I've come across in ages. Seems impossibly hard and begins to reveal itself.
ReplyDeleteA recent LAT puzzle had both Mauna's in it.
ReplyDeleteGOD YES, it’s another great puzzle and I cracked its CODES all by my lonesome, I DID, despite my ignorance of Marvel, Twitter and baseball.
ReplyDeleteUnlike @Rex, I had nada in the NW but MALALA/ASP. (Presciently, the evil guy that leapt to mind was MORDRED but he wouldn’t fit. Imagine my delight when he showed up at 26D.
The center filled in more easily, but I put a pin in my MAp. So what was to become LOWBATTERY was L—BApTERY. Ah, wrestling. I’m old enough to have taken wrestling in Jr. high gym class. I didn’t think I’d like it but it was fun, and I learned there’s more to it than “what it looks like.”
I was not thinking that [Places for cabins] would involve SHIPS, but that [Brought on board] would - very nice twist.
Funny Kleenex reference. In desperate moments I have broken the ONE TIME USE rule. Not for GENUINEly SNOTTY usage, of course.
FIGS crossing FOOL’S GOLD - one of my niece’s original songs is FIG Dreams. Another I call Fool’s Gold because that’s the line that stays in my head. It’s real title is Sleeptalk Interlude:
It’s been years but if I talked in my sleep
It’d be your name on my lips
When we quietly dreamt of a home
Filled with instruments
Everything else is fool’s gold
Finally filled in everything else and had to claw my way back into the NW. White salES for the discount offerings went in and came out. Gave UMS and ACK a whack, changed MAp to MAT. Stared and stared and the LOW BATTERY light came on, rescuing me from the SORDID MIRE. As the Mini today said, “Yay!”
Great job, Mr. Mehta - smart puzzle. (I didn’t know until reading @Rex about his “Friendly Atheist” history. He really is smart - he found a way to get paid to attend religious services.)
This was a great Saturday solve. Giving yesterday's ho-hum puzzle the POW is further proof of Jeff Chen's lack of taste.
ReplyDeleteOne of the real surprises of this puzzle was how hard of a time I had with the three letter entries . SRI was the only one I could TOSSIN with no crosses and use to get other entries.
Ironically one of my three letter mis-guesses was what started me writing answers in. If 26 A we're ATM(quite likely) then 6D could end with the word moneY which is what the 1% are all about right? Wrong as this was it gave me STARRY for 32A and from that I got the whole SW and eventually the middle stack and the NE.
Those opposing corners were still tough. In the NW I briefly had a BUBBLE/SHRINK write over. BUBBLE just didn't work but it fits the clue far better. You apply heat to the wrap that's used for moving all it will do is melt. Just another reminder to never take Saturday clues too literally.
In the SE did anyone else think 44A might be cOVId something? Why was NOG so hard for me to come up with and why did ONETIMEUSE give me BOWOUT and then BAR instead of the other way around? Anyway the SE was the last section to go in. This was just over an hour of top notch solving.
Note to self: if I ever go swimming with @lms don't wear Speedos.
yd -0, Tu-Thur -0, Mon+Sun pg-1, Sat -0
I'm commenting rather late because right after I finished the puzzle in the paper this morning I heard a transformer in the neighborhood explode and our power went out. At that point I discovered that my phone was down to 6%. That's a LOW BATTERY coincidence.
Mistaking “loupe “ for that other SORDID word & holding “bubble WRAP” as my moving essential for an impossibly long time almost did me in today. Actually resorted to checking ACK & ODIE using the app button which did little to help unfortunately. I need to check out the xwordinfo constructor note & mark Hemant as a name to remember (beside Titanic & debacle?). YEP, All three of his grids have been Saturday publications, so we at least know what to expect. How can I tie my reactions up? SHRINK WRAP? OR NO?
ReplyDeleteBack to see if others had as much fun (FORCED SMILE) as I did.
Alternate clues:
ReplyDelete1D. What the dyslexic junkie did?
29D. What the dyslexic hippie tripped on?
28A. 1000 page book entitled “Why You Should Tell the Truth”
40A. Greeting to Auerbach
UPSHOT
LDS
DONTLIETOME
HIRED
Did you do the things I asked you to?
I SORDID some of ‘em, and I SHOGUN do the rest soon.
A terrific beast of a Saturday following a wonderful Friday. Cluing both days has been magnifíque. Thank you, Hemant Mehta.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe best example of a FORCED SMILE I can think of is William Hurt’s in “Body Heat” when, at lunch, Kathleen Turner’s husband mentions to him that if he ever caught her cheating, he’d kill her lover (who was Hurt, of course).
ReplyDeleteSecond best is Joan Cusack in “In & Out” when she practically begs Kevin Kline to marry her.
Loved the puzzle and it took a lot of my (as usual) last minute time packing today to spend a week on Lake Michigan with two other couples. I LOVE going places with these guys especially since they ALWAYS pick very cool rentals and my husband NEVER says to THEM…”isn’t that a bit pricey”?
ReplyDeleteSo only comments are, I found the whole SHRINKWRAP thing a bit inscrutable although I thought @Rex had a reasonable explanation that the film SHRINKS/moves when heated, but then again I think these days folks will take huge amounts of blankets and pillows and SHRINKWRAP them to where they are almost flat as a pancake which allows more space when moving. Let’s just say none of this came to mind during my solve.
And speaking of SHRINKWRAP my @LMS spit-take was with the man coming out of a cold pool! That of course reminded me of a Seinfeld episode and coed skinny-dipping.
Finally, I refused to take the pin I dropped on my MAP until at the end when I realized BAPTERY was not “a thing.”
SHRINKWRAP is absolutely 100% wrong. Perfectly wrong. Not a chance in hell that shrink wrap is used in moving. Or is it? Maybe in industrial contexts only. That's for professionals only. Or is it?
ReplyDeleteShrink wrap and stretch wrap are two different things, but can be used interchangeably.
Oh. Clean up from late last night with last anonymous asking @Nancy and I things about the “language of tennis.” Maybe @Nancy knows. I didn’t take a tennis lesson until I was 39 and somehow became a slightly better than average “club level” player. I mean the whole “club level” thing is a misleading term. It basically means peeps who aren’t good enough to be a “pro” and probably not a “teaching pro” (except for young children). A CLUB doesn’t necessarily enter into the equation. Community tennis centers with programs can develop quite good “club level” players as well as pros.
ReplyDeleteAnd @Nancy, you cracked me up with your LET talk. Given the fact I worked as an attorney I did NOT see tennis as time I wanted to spend being confrontational. I had NO problem even if the other side called a let when my partner and I were both up at the net (in a winning the point position) and a ball rolled well behind the baseline. But WHOA NELLY I witnessed many verbal scuffles because of things like that.
Did anyone else consider, for 6D, LOW faT milk? Poor milk, in such a plight :-).
ReplyDeleteThis was more than medium challenging for me for some reason. Had MALALA crossing ACK and ASP and then jumped to the relatively easy SE, then SW then climbed the grid, getting my FOOTING one square at a time.
Nice challenge, MR. Mehta!
Oh-- I get the ORNO clue now. Cleverly misleading. It occurs before and after two separate instances of "deal."
ReplyDeleteI had for "God's sake" for the forced expression (I had FORG_ _DS_ _ _E). It seemed like it was not perfect but it worked and it threw me off for a good long while. Hard to recover from that.
ReplyDeleteOverall really nice puzzle!
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ReplyDeleteFantastic puzzle. My favourite clue was It has a significant part in the Bible.
ReplyDeleteLewis was kind enough to send me a printout of his WAPO puzzle via the snail-mail. The snail-mail being what it is, I'm very late in commenting on a puzzle that so many of you praised more than a week ago.
ReplyDeleteI found it crunchy as hell and exceptionally well-clued. And it got me good on the "Frank exchange" clue. Of course, if I also hadn't whiffed on the 28D clue, I might have...but never mind.
(I blame my meat-eating habits for part of my downfall, if not all of it, btw.)
A really nice job, Lewis!!
###################
To Beezer: If you only started playing tennis at age 39 and you've reached the "club player level" -- that's a huge achievement!!! At Central Park at least, "club level players" are very well respected. You're not at the "pro" or "teaching pro" level? Who is? Maybe 11% of the tennis-playing population and maybe a lot less.
In Central Park, "club level player" would probably be reserved for a 4.0 or better. (I was only a strong 3.5 - 4.0. Someone I greatly respect once did tell me that if I moved better, I'd be a 4.0.)) Even a 4.5 player -- a level that I often refer to as "Central Park royalty" -- would not be nearly good enough to be on the tour. Nor a 5.0 for that matter. Probably good enough to be a teaching pro at a minor tennis facility for the 4.5, but not at a major one. You'd need to be at least a 5.0 for the major one.
A challenging Saturday, yes indeedy.
ReplyDeleteJust getting back to yesterday's puz, as I recall, the expression SMOOTHMOVEEXLAX really had nothing to do with their physical klutziness and stumbles, but rather, their social awkwardness and how they (mis)handled a situation.
A lot of ways for me to go wrong in this one - especially with the 3 letter words. But fair enough, the unexpected is interesting!
ReplyDeleteSome clever clues were overshadowed by MOVING FILM (SHRINKWRAP) which to me is an A-one example of an unfair clue. 😝(Got it by downs). 😜
If oh, hallelujah! is GODYES, what is GODNO? Please apply the latter to “moving film”
Nevertheless a bit of cranky fun from a Saturday 🧩.
😜🦖🦖🦖🦖😜
We thought 1% referred to milk and had COWFATTERY.
ReplyDeleteShrink Wrap is a term. I hear it used a lot for the plastic covering on magazines or things that are new. I thought it was bubble wrap at first but shrink wrap does make sense as a plastic overing.
ReplyDeleteOmg, @anon4:37…you cracked me up with COWFATTERY!
ReplyDelete@Nance ( May I call you that?) omg. No. I think of my teachers said I was like a 3.8…I played, and won some dubs at the 4.0 level but the peeps (women) were so cut-throat I couldn’t tolerate it and quit playing at THAT level which meant I likely wouldn’t advance. I did not care. My aim was to compete on a friendly level. Like I said, I had absolutely no desire to play with “mean girls.” I’m thinkin’ “what the hell? None of us are gonna be in the US Open”! In my area…”club level” just meant you were good enough to participate in USTA match play. 5.0+ (When young) considered beyond that.
@Z - Allison, Mystery Dance, Hand in Hand etc yes. Chamber pop - no thanks. As you often and aptly post - de gustibus.
ReplyDeleteI just finished this after coming back to it 4 times today. Witty clueing, so frustratingly good. Loved it!
ReplyDelete@Anonymous, 4:37 PM: "We thought 1% referred to milk and had COWFATTERY."
ReplyDeleteLOL. I had the same thought about fat content but did not come up with the phrase COWFATTERY, which I have to say is kinda genius.
no comments on two answers containing TO and a clue and answer both containing TO ME?
ReplyDelete@Beezer -- My brother's called me Nance for years and years. Sure you may.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds as though we're exactly the same level. The USTA reps who evaluated me just wrote "3.5+" on the card, said "strong 3.5" to my face and didn't specify the decimal point. Since I always had to guess "three-point-what?" I selected (in my own head and why not pick what you like, I say?) 3.9. But who knows?
Like you, I played plenty of 4.0s in my time. I just didn't beat any of them:) My best "win" was a loss: I lost to Judy Shreiber 6-4, when no one probably would have thought I'd win a game. She was at the very least a strong 4. Never mind that she had one eye on the clubhouse porch from 50 yards away (we were playing on an open back court) watching for her "real" game to arrive. Never mind that the set was infinitely more important to me than it was to her and that I was focused in an intense way that she was not. It's still one of the best sets of tennis I ever played.
If you're going to call me "Nance", @Beezer, maybe we should communicate off-blog sometime rather than bore the nice folks here with the minutiae of our tennis exploits. You're not in blue; I don't even know what state you live in; but if you contact either @Lewis or @Teedmn (they both have my email address) they can provide it to you and you can get in touch with me. I'd love to hear from you.
Did it with no checking but it took me almost two hours. Probably my worst Saturday ever! It’s true that I’m running on little sleep, but the misfit clue for SHRINKWRAP had me puzzled in a bad way, and I always struggle with answers that include an article (THEMAGI) or title (MRHYDE) because I don’t think to include those in the answer. So many times I wrote in, erased, and rewrote in: ADREP ODIE UMS ACK LEAD CAP and DONTLIETOME, trying to make something work in the NW! My first instincts turned out right on those but it felt so uncertain for such a long time.
ReplyDelete@JC66 - Apparently nobody clicked on your link and saw all the products pictured in SHRINK WRAP for transporting and then realized the "move" in the clue was not about changing residences but about moving product from factory to store (or wherever SHRINK WRAPped helicopters end up).
ReplyDeleteAgain, it is best to consider all the different ways each word in a clue might be used before proclaiming a clue "wrong." It is almost always the proclaimer who has erred.
“ACK!” was also about 80% of Bill the Cat’s dialogue in Bloom County.
ReplyDeleteUpper left corner of this puzzle slew me. Looked up MONA, MRHYDE, and still couldn’t finish because I had ICK. Brutal.
ReplyDeleteGreat non-themer. Not much junk (UMS, ACK, SIE etc.) But the rest of the grid is pretty clean. HORDRED was a WOE to me. The toughest part was the SE corner. SISTER came easily but CITY took a while to figure out. Had eIn before SIE. I had an Aha! moment after I solved 36D which was so cleverly clued. Nicely done Hemant Menta. Do I want more like this one? GODYES!
ReplyDeletePS - Today, Wordle was like running hurdles wearing a tight girdle. I hate when that happens….
Wordle 462 4/6*
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
PPS - Had pAL before MAC which also slowed me down in the SE corner and made SISTERCITY harder to solve. NOG took a while too and I can’t say why…
ReplyDelete@anon 9:07 - in the phrase 'deal ORNO deal', ORNO is both after and before 'deal'. Use your noodle.
ReplyDeleteTough but fair puz
SORDID MOVE
ReplyDeleteIPRESUME that you'll BOWOUT,
IUNDERSTAND you've NO excuse.
ISAID,"SO long", GODYES, NO doubt,
IDID you as a ONETIMEUSE.
--- SISTER MONA HYDE
Wordle eagle
ReplyDeleteBBGGG
GGGGG
Oddly enough, the first answer I put in was REDSEA. But how long do you think I might take to think of a MAT for a pin? Right - never. That was my downfall. But not my LOUCHE, which I thought sounded like a cough drop.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, @Rondo, ORNO, or not ORNO, got to me, too - thanks for clarifying.
Tough, fair, and fun.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
I worked all morning and through lunch on this bad boy, but I got it! Clues written for the MENSA set, for sure. Nothing medium about it: full-bore challenging all the way through. I started in the SW, took a real flier on DONATEDTO/DONTLIETOME on the meager strength of the shared D, and eventually ended up with most of the center. So my conundrum with 6-down came on the other end! I'm looking at -TERY and wondering what in the world that could be. Had OFF & I been solving as a team, we'd have gotten that puppy sooner, combining LOWB- with -TERY.
ReplyDeleteI had 1- and 2-down early, but still couldn't advance the NW. No idea what louche means, so that one had to drop on crosses. Finally figured out SHRINKWRAP (groan!) and got the rest there. SE felt like mopping up, but it too had its off-putting clues. He couldn't do much with NOVISITORS though, so I guess if there was a hint of medium-ness it was there.
Triumph points to the max: birdie.
I cannot tell a lie; going from BBBYY to BGGGG, I misread the tap-in birdie and had to settle for a par.
Congrats to Team USA for a great showing early in the President's Cup.
ENDALL for UPSHOT ATM for MAT and ANTEUP for TOSSIN so it took a long time and needed help from from our daughter for HYDRA
ReplyDelete