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Trumpeter Wynton / FRI 8-12-2022 / Outer: Prefix / No cock-a-doodle-do-ers
Friday, August 12, 2022
Constructor: Trent Evans
Relative difficulty: This felt impossibly hard, but looking at my time (20:27) it was only medium hard
THEME: Themeless
Word of the Day: PHASER (Fictional weapon of the 23rd century) —
Phasers are common and versatile phased array pulsed energy projectile weapons, first seen in the original Star Trek series and later in almost all subsequent films and television spin-offs. Phasers range in size from small arms to starship-mounted weaponry. Though they seem to discharge in a continuous "beam", close observation reveals that phasers actually discharge a stream of pulsed energy projectiles into the target.
• • •
Hey pals! This is your last day of Malaika, or as I like to call it, Malaika MWednesday: Part 3. After this you will be free of my "horrible" and "inane" reviews. (For one month. Then I will be back rambling about "systemic sexism" and "I don't know pop culture references from the 60s" and other Gen Z bullshit.) Today's random musical theater YouTube video is Eva. Sigh. I always end up at Eva.
A Friday! I always prefer a Friday to err on the side of "too easy" and this one did not. (Actually, I always prefer for all puzzles to err on the side of "too easy.") One of my things is that if I'm not enjoying a puzzle, I'll simply stop solving it. (Same with books or movies that I'm not enjoying.) If I were not reviewing this puzzle I would have stopped after five minutes, but I'm glad I stuck it out. I didn't love the overall cluing vibe (which seemed to be "hard and vague") but looking over the fill now that I'm done, there's sooo much good stuff in here.
Both of the stacks are truly flawless, at least going across. Six stunning answers. (The downs... hmm. ADIA.... PIU.... LEONI.... Hmmm......) I wish they had been clued in a way that was a little more.... Idk, Friday! Lively and light and sparkly and fun! Reducing SPACE CAMP-- such an evocative phrase-- to geography-based trivia is just not my idea of a Friday clue. I would have preferred something as cliche and easy and technically inaccurate as [Summer destination that's out of this world].
Other high parts were LIVE TWEET (*chef's kiss*) and I WONT ASK, which I literally said tonight at dinner, and FAKE TAN and BESTIES (... which I also said at dinner tonight). Low parts for me were MARSALIS (a name I'm unfamiliar with) and AMSCRAYS and ECT. Can someone explain NAVE for [Basilica section] please?
Oh, I guess I should say "ACED IT and YOU NAILED IT have IT crossing at the I" so there we go. I said it. It's done.
Bullets:
Oh, I guess I should say "ACED IT and YOU NAILED IT have IT crossing at the I" so there we go. I said it. It's done.
Bullets:
- Have you ever had falafel made from FAVA beans? I've only had the chickpea variety.
- The clue for MORNING RITUAL slowed me down a lot because I shower and solve the crossword at night! I love to be clean when I get into bed, and my curls do better drying overnight.
- The first answer I put in was [Position in an array, to a computer scientist]. A gimme! I guess my nit is that I would have said "programmer" instead of "computer scientist."
- I love mathematical PARADOXes. My favorite changes, but right now it's Russell's-- a classic.
- KNEX was another gimme for me... Did y'all put "Lego" first? (I had the X from above which made it easy.) I had tons of these as a kid.
*I read enough C&H when I was younger that through early college I had every strip memorized. (This skill is now, alas, rusty.) A friend didn't believe me and I told him to pick a random strip, describe the first panel to me, and I would complete the rest. He picked this one, and indeed, I nailed (heh) it, and he literally was speechless.
Also, this comic is 10x funnier now that WAP actually means something.
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144 comments:
Malaika - I really enjoy your write ups. You come at it from a very different perspective from Rex (and me). Seeing what you think about a crossword is interesting, because you often see something that I never would have noticed. I’m always happy when I see you filling in for Rex.
It took me a good dozen clues to get started on this one, but then I flew through the puzzle after that. It was fine to good. I winced at amscray and Marsalis, but the fill was good besides that. Solid Friday.
Wow Malaika, this was hard for you? Quite fast for me, 11 minutes more or less, and I'm not a fast solver. It was just: read the clue, type in the answer. THE DOG ATE (MY HOMEWORK==IT), YOU NAILED IT, perfect examples.
This seems like maybe a record low number of acrosses... 27?
There were a couple of typeovers, eg SPRAY TAN before FAKE TAN. And Malaika, like you, for 12 across "taking a shower and solving a crossword" are EVENING RITUALs!, at least in the hot weather (96F here today), since I have no AC, I shower after my post dinner walk. (Walk highlight: teen girls skip rope class on the tennis court, in uniform.) Then do the xword, as I am in PDT and the puzzle is online at 7pm latest.
And speaking of temp(erature)s, "Some frigid temps" are not usually TEENS here, since we use Celsius. Although in this hot weather, a Celsius TEEN feels pretty refreshing (50 to 66 F).
[Spelling Bee: Thurs pg-2, missing a 5er and a 10er(!) But how on earth are capacitate, capacitive, and capitate not acceptable?]
FAKE TAN… Friday is going to be an interesting news day.
SPACE CAMP was a flat out gimme, so this took only slightly longer to solve than Wednesday or Tuesday puzzles this week. A fine Friday solve.
Malaika found this puzzle "impossibly hard". And yet it was the easiest Friday for me since, well ... ever.
Like they say: One person's meat is another person's Impossible Burger (or something like that).
I’ll take those black corners that afford the six entries for the stacks. Malaika, I agree that all of them are terrific. But it took a bit to let go of “routine”” for RITUAL. I kept going back to make sure it didn’t fit.
Anthony Hopkins would appreciate FAVA crossing VIN. A nice Chianti. Another fun cross: THE DOG ATE IT/SHRED. I’m reminded of when my newfie, Beverly Ann, annihilated my copy of Anna Karenina one summer, rescuing me from my resolution to become more erudite and fancy. Returned to Grisham and Baldacci and have never looked back.
Curl Up and DYE is good, but the most inspired business name I’ve seen was for a security company: Surelock Homes.
Man that ACME clue totally got me – bought it hook, line, and sinker and was vaguely wondering if I was too old to give one a go.
A BEAR is never a problem while camping so long as your co-camper runs slower than you do.
Loved AMSCRAYS. Funny that ixnay has earned a spot in Merriam Webster, but AMSCRAY has not. I’m guessing that the lexicographers found enough edited, printed occurrences of ixnay to warrant its inclusion. Maybe AMSCRAY is pretty much just a spoken command and hence doesn’t appear in print enough?
Secret child languages (aka ludlings or cryptolects) aren’t limited to English. Someone from some Spanish-speaking country taught me one, where you add po to every syllable, so
Yo puedo hablar francés becomes
Yopo puepodopo habpolarpo franpocéspo
And there’s one for Japanese (Okinawa, maybe?) where you repeat each vowel, but first add a b sound, kinda. So
konnichi wa becomes
kobonbunibichibi waba
I’ll wait while you write this all down.
In middle school, my friends and I used Gibberish all time. I mean we were flat fluent in it. If I was on the kitchen phone talking to Barbara W and Mom walked in, I could switch to Gibberish, and Mom had no idea that I was recounting my awful spin-the-bottle experience with Michael C. You have to understand that this is a viable, functioning language, and once you get the hang of it, it’s effortless to both speak it and understand it.
@Zed – I know, right? YOU NAILED IT re today’s news. Nuclear stuff? Jeez Louise.
Perhaps it's age- but I found this by far the easiest and quickest puzzle of the week. Wynton Marsalis is one of my favorite contemporary jazz musicians - but then again i know jazz far better than all those obscure hip hop or rap artists that have been showing up of late. And space camp was, for some reason, completely obvious -as were most of the other long answers. (i bring up age, because I'm still getting over not knowing Atari from yesterday - which not too long ago was the world's leading game manufacturer)
The dog ate my homework was delightful, and so was morning ritual (I guess I'm a morning person). Will I ever think about fava beans again without thinking of "Silence"?
Malaika, thank you for your always delightful write-ups.
My personal best for a Friday, 13.42 and that is with wasting a ton of time on knex and paradox.
I bet there will be some very fast solve times out there in Commentaristan for this one, the reason being there's not nearly as much grid space to fill in as we typically see in most puzzles. I was in disbelief and had to count like three times but the tally came out the same each time---48 black squares! I don't recall ever seeing that many in any puzzle, especially a Friday themeless. Wow! Not sure what the justification for that was.
The clue for 40D TIN CAN "Naval destroyer, in old slang" was right up my alley. I served on one during my hitch in the Navy but I can't imagine many solvers being familiar with that phrase. It goes back to at least WWII. The larger war ships had thick steel plates around the hull to protect against torpedoes but the smaller destroyers did not. Their hulls were thin, sort of like a TIN CAN.
Very easy for me too...@Malaika boomer vs. Gen Z perhaps? I put in SPACECAMP with no crosses and just kept going. I am 100% positive my Gen Z grandkids have no idea what goes on in Huntsville, Ala.
ECo before ECT was it for erasures. This had a fair amount of sparkle, liked it.
@Zed & lms - I too am looking forward to the up coming news cycle.
I also found this easy, sort of like a themeless Wednesday. My only overwrites were a brain f@rt with Cle instead of CIN for the Bengals (I know better, I really do) coupled with falling into the lego/KNEX trap. But BETE and PARADOX fixed that once I finally figured out that PARADigm wouldn't fit either the clue or the space.
@Malaika, add me to the list of folks who enjoy your write-ups, but please PLEASE listed to some Wynton MARSALIS. The guy is just great!
Someone needs to explain NAVE as part of a basilica? REALLY..??? Do we have a brain lAPSE here?
It's always satisfying when a hunch turns out correctly, and I had two of them today. The first was SPACE CAMP, which I did not know happens in Huntsville, Ala., but what else could it have been? The second was THE DOCTOR IS IN. I've never seen You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, but I suppose a vague memory of Lucy and Charlie was enough.
Those two fabulous successes were enough to keep me buzzing for the remainder of the puzzle, but I do agree with Malaika about the Downs. That being said, I have never hazarded an attempt at constructing a puzzle, so who am I to say what is or is not good or acceptable crossword construction. But it's nice to know I'm not alone in side-eyeing a few of them.
Also, I think a nave is the middle part of a church where the people sit. My college had a chapel where I saw a performance of the Messiah and my ticket said 'Nave' on it. I can only assume basilicas also have naves, but perhaps the more Catholic readers can give a more definitive answer.
Easiest Friday in a long time.
Fastest Friday solve ever. SPACE CAMP was a gimme and it was off to the races from there.
My first (and of course, very possibly, only) puzzle is live today. If you subscribe to a newspaper that prints the Universal Crossword, it will be there. Or you can go to Universal Crosswords online.
Very much a wheelhouse puzzle. The only trouble was PIU, which the crosses said had to go there but what the heck?
I did want squat before LUNGE. I think of LUNGE as more hamstring and glute than quads – although it does both.
Malaika - as always its been a blast. Till next month. Love puzzles that make me remember Sara McGlaughlin and Charlie Brown all in the same puzzle. Other than that - I would politely request to join those above in the fastest Friday solve ever club.
And now I am off to search the world over for Fava Bean Falafel!
Very easy Friday for me too.
Top half fell way quicker than normal for me, probably because I got SPACE CAMP, MORNING RITUAL, PHASER, and CONN on my first pass, when I only fill in when I am confident that there is one-and-only-one possible answer (I.e. no guessing). Normally after my first pass I only have a few short proper names to build off of. The main stumbling block up top was wanting BAT SIGNAL instead of BAT PHONE.
The bottom half was a lot harder for me. After first pass I only had MARSALIS and CIN. Not enough of the downs from my run at the top trickled through to the bottom to give me any good momentum. I took a few guesses (SPIN CLASS, BETE) and that helped me start making progress with crosses. The “phrase that is sort of like another phrase” or “phrase you might say in this situation” clues don’t usually click for me and I’ve never heard the name of the song THE DOCTOR IS IN. It took a lot of crosses to get the bigger answers in the bottom half.
My colleague is a huge fun of Wile E. Coyote (I am more of a Daffy fan myself: https://youtu.be/THcs7T8wZAI), so the jet pogo clue was crystal clear. The fun part was to figure out afterwards that Wile E. apparently never used that one, it's from a very different looney toon.
The other day it was DMX. Today it was Wynton MARSALIS. You may want to ask yourself why you are so unfamiliar with incredibly famous black musicians.
Agree! Super easy!
Yesterday and today played very. Maybe it’s a generational thing.
Such different responses to the clues in this one! I know nothing about Alabama other than stupid stuff about a football team--Bama, Roll Ride. SPACECAMP? OK. Never heard of it.
On the other hand, I'm kind of amazed that MARSALIS is foreign to anyone. An entire jazz family--Ellis, the patriarch; sons Wynton, Brandon, Delfeayo, Jason. New Orleans royalty. American royalty. Hell--global royalty. Even if you don't know jazz, you must have heard something about this amazing group. For example, Branford was music director of "The Tonight Show" in the '90s.
A NAVE is the central aisle of a church. Any church. You don't have to be a Catholic church to have a nave. And you don't have to be a Catholic church to be a basilica. OTOH, ADIA? (crickets) PIU? I took piano lessons for 12 years as a child, but that word doesn't ring any bells. And one final generational thing: KNEX? Who knew? People 'way younger than I am, apparently.
Today's column and comments just show how intensely personal crossword puzzles are. None of the things I mention makes a crossword bad, and encountering clues that are outside your generation or experience shouldn't make you angry. Things like having 12 names in one puzzle make a crossword bad. This was a good crossword. Congrats, Trent!
Ditto - fastest Friday by minutes for me. Nothing really slowed me down, so must be a generational thing (I’m 50).
Easy, but an easy Friday for me means completion with no look ups and only 2 or 3 checks. My time would be several minutes more than times mentioned today. I had a good time. Sometimes shorter crosses helped me get the long answers and sometimes vice versa. I googled KNEX (correct spelling K'NEX) I thought maybe if I know what they look like it might, but probably won't, help me remember for the next time. I have no real life knowledge of this toy. It appears similar to Tinker Toys and Rig-A-Jig.
@Chainminded: There are two (and a half) crosswordese church parts: APSE and NAVE. An APSE is a recess, often with a domed ceiling, where, for example, the alter might be. The NAVE is the central part of a church building, where the central AISLE (the half, because it has LAIC uses too) is, and where most of the congregation sits.
I’m a borderline Boomer and I found it hard. Very not on my wavelength. I still don’t understand PIU.
I thought this puzzle was fun and easy. A couple of comments about Malaika's column:
There are a lot of obscure terms in ecclesiastical architecture, but NAVE is one of the most common.
I don't think the Space Camp clue is 'geography-based trivia'; it's just knowing where something famous happens. By analogy, imagine a clue that mentions Orlando---you'll probably think of amusement parks.
I guess my nit is that I would have said "programmer" instead of "computer scientist."
Why? (Computer scientist here.)
Loved it not so much because it was easy but because the cluing was GREAT. Of those already cited "acme" was my favorite.
Yes, a nave is the central axial part of any basilica, flanked by two narrower aisles and facing a semi-circular apse. This building style (not always a church) has been around for a few thousand years.But the word is also used simply refer to the main seating area of a church.
Yes, there were some very clever crosses, and YES: Listen to Marsalis.
Generational difference. Super-easy Friday for this 50+.
Attractive grid - well filled. Corner symmetry creates an ORB of splashy medium and long entries. Did this trend older? I had no pushback at all. Agree with Malaika on FAVA beans - I always just assumed falafel was chick peas or ceci.
I don’t like pig Latin - real world, puzzles - keep it away from me. The YOU NAILED IT x ACED IT cross is not so elegant but we’ve seen similar in recent puzzles - I guess it’s becoming acceptable.
I am AT EASE in the arms of a woman
Highly enjoyable Friday solve.
Loved this. Was feeling like a genius til I realized it's a Boomer puzzle. The Dog Ate It, Bat Phone, Phaser, The Doctor is In, Acme (HA!). Amscray, which the Stooges used, although I hung onto Itsplay for way too long. My wheelhouse must be black and white TV from the 60s. I'm not proud.
Malaika, pleeze start a blog. You will be missed 'til next time.
I'm with those who found the puzzle extremely easy, from the giveaway SPACE CAMP on down. One welcome moment of resistance at PARADOX.
NAVE s connected linguistically to “navy.” It’s the Christian idea that the church is the vessel in which believers are “sail guide” home to God. Depending on the building’s architecture, you can often look up at the ceiling and it’ll look the keel and spars of a boat’s hull. The tradition in Demark is to hang a model ship in the NAVE for the same purpose. The ship in our church is named “Hjemad,” or so n English, “Homeward.”
Wow people, man. Malaika is awesome, probably doing this out of the goodness of her heart to help Rex out and please can we just be kind!!! Thank you for your write up, I love it. I did not know KNEX at all, never heard of it. Thanks for filling in M!
It’s a gorgeous looking grid, with those photo album corners. And, as with a good photo album, I enjoyed leafing through this puzzle, because it had so many endearing entries, IMO. I loved all the answers in the upper and lower stacks, and in between, there was FAKE TAN, LIVE TWEET, I WON’T ASK, MARSALIS, and PARADOX. As I uncovered each of these 11 answers, my cells resounded with an “Ahh, that’s sweet!”, and by the time I finished, I felt glad to be alive, having passed through such beauty.
There were happy-sparks along the way too. Being momentarily thrust into Road Runner world, for one (that answer, ACME, popped right in without hesitation). FAVA beans – I love them and it’s been forever since I’ve had them, and now I’m on a mission. Nice cross of YOGA and LUNGE.
I got enough rub in the NW to satisfy my brain’s work ethic, but what I’m taking away mostly is the sense of beauty in the answers and grid design. Thank goodness for beauty in this world. Kafka said, “Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.” Thank you, Trent, for creating this!
@zed -- Excellent FAKE TAN take!
I like her reviews, but I lost my breakfast at the end with the WAP comment.
Flew through this one. The stacks are fun, and any reference to Wile E. Coyote will always play well here.
@Malaika — Thanks for stepping in this week. Don’t let the a-holes get you down. I personally found your M/F breakdown yesterday to be not very relevant, but the vitriol it triggered was ridiculous. World we live in, I guess…
Another record Friday time here. I started out with an educated guess at SPACECAMP, then just started flying. I had a few educated guesses, but in a rare Friday experience, I never had to erase anything today. I enjoyed it, but also recognized some of the things that would probably not be in others’ wheelhouses.
As for nave, well, it’s a shame that lmgtfy.com doesn’t seem to be working right.
As usual, it was the car clue that got me. Or in this case led to my complete downfall. My vehicle history source was CAR FAn (isn't that what you'd think too?) -- and it was all downhill from there.
That digger was digging for CRABS, not CLAMS. My messenger for the gods was ARES, not IRIS. My updates in real time came from a RE-RE-TWEET (don't ask) and I couldn't for the life of me get to NAVE, which I knew had to be right. But I had ?ArE. INDEX was A?DEn. The ACME/CRAM crossing letter (the C) was left blank.
What a hot mess! All my mistakes seem eminently fixable now, but they didn't five minutes ago. I probably should have pulled a @GILL, put the puzzle down and gone and walked the dog* while letting my brain straighten itself out, but I didn't. My bad.
*Oh, wait -- I don't have a dog.
I don't have a favorite paradox. I must be a stupid ass. (Don't answer that!)
@kitshef - Congrats on having your puzzle published!
@Anonymous: I still don’t understand PIU.
I puzzled over that, too, thinking "score" had to do with sports. But it's a musical score, with instructions as usual in Italian; PIU means "more".
@Nancy. Next time let INDEX fix your car.
I didn't have time to keep up on yesterday's discussion, but I am so inspired by our guest blogger. Thank you Malaika for your posts, your youthful and honest views, your chops as a constructor, your bravery to bring up a topic worth discussing, and of course enduring the Anonym-oti of this blog and their perpetual grossness.
A reminder to us lovely old man-splainers, lots and lots of people don't know who Alito is. People have lives and jobs. Your politicians want you to be in a tizzy over such things so you'll send them money, but knowing him or not knowing him is largely irrelevant.
I loved everything about this puzzle (except EOS is a model, not a brand of camera). If I keep staring long enough even on Friday, it seems like I can eventually figure things out (if there's not too many proper names). One song, one musician, and the same actress as yesterday, so awesome. If it keeps going this way, I won't be able to justify the existence of Google any more.
EROS/ENDEX before IRIS/INDEX but LOVE TWEET seemed unlikely.
Here's my Charlie Brown story: I'm in second grade and back in those days a thing called a newspaper was delivered to our house. They'd waste all this paper printing stuff that made adults get inky fingers and would make them mad and we'd throw it away at night and then do it all over again the next day. I know it sounds crazy, but that's how life was in the olden times. They printed two whole pages of cartoons called the funny pages and I couldn't read most of them except Family Circus, Nancy, Ziggy and Charlie Brown (sorta). But Peanuts kept using this one word "ridiculous" I didn't know because my phonics said it's pronounced "ride-eh-KYUOO-less." I suppose I could've asked somebody, but I think it was 4th grade before it finally dawned on me what word I was reading. The problem these days is everything is so crazy, nothing seems ridiculous any more. It's all just the way we are, so I think we can delete it as a word and a concept.
Uniclues:
1 The Joker's first act of business after he won the mayor's race.
2 Words from your overly kind boss seeing you with your feet up.
3 A book of affirmations.
4 The hospital.
5 How society went despite clutching pearls.
1 AXED BAT PHONE
2 "AT EASE? I WON'T ASK."
3 MAXIM TRACT
4 ATILT PEON AREA
5 TABOOS ACED IT
There is an Egyptian restaurant in NYC called Zooba. They serve falafel made with FAVA.
Amy: Congrats @kitchef!. Will look for it.
Really like this one. Have been to a Wynton Marsalis concert at a small pub in Northampton, MA. He's fantastic.
I worked this on my phone somewhere over the Arctic Circle on a flight from Seattle to Amsterdam. Fastest Friday for me, almost matched my fastest Thursday time.
I did the father/son space camp at Cape Canaveral with my younger son, who charmed all the counselors and was granted the Right Stuff award.
This was a pretty easy Friday puzzle. Everybody has their wheelhouse; I guess mine is a wheelpalace.
“You’ll find no bigger C&H fan I, and this be the truth” said I to the archbishop between shots of whisky, but destroyers are still a thing and TINCAN is still what they’re called. Destroyers and frigates are still major AA and ASW components of carrier strike groups, and you can bet that you’re going to be hearing about these in a big way in the not so distant future. World War III has already started, folks, and like its predecessor there is probably a three year ramp-up to the major hostilities, and we are in that ramp-up now. If you’re an investor go bullish on bullets and bandages.
Destroyers are current but astronauts are obsolete. Robots can do the job so much better, and they don’t eat, breathe, poop, or try to kill their romantic rivals. SPACECAMP is probably really great and fun and educational in so many related and useful technological areas that it is a great benefit to the bright young men and women who attend, but training to be an astronaut now is like training to be a Civil War reenactor. If you need an astronaut just get a crewman off a nuclear submarine, who for decades have routinely deployed on lengthy patrols outside the earth’s atmosphere in a deep sea environment much more hostile, both environmental and tactical, than anything encountered on a space flight. Only the moon missions were better. Nuclear submarines are many times more complex machines than spacecraft, they operate independently without a vast ground control support team, and some of them even launch rockets into outer space. The submarine service is known as “the silent service” in part because it doesn’t publicize much of what it does. Full disclosure: JOHN X was a nuclear engineer on a fleet ballistic missile submarine between high school and college. I did six patrols in the North Atlantic of 40 days continuous submerged running time each; coupled with sea trials, shakedowns, and exercises I spent over 300 days of my young life outside the earth’s atmosphere, and I did it before I was 23 years old. That plus growing up in the Smithsonian is how I know all this stuff. Add in Catholic prep school and boy do I hate authority; I’ve never had a boss since.
I’m writing this lying in an ICU on excellent drugs (for real) so I guess I rambled a bit. Forgiveness please.
@kitshef 7:07 AM Hooray and congrats.
ACED IT, NAILED IT, appreciated the grid a lot. Wheelhouse or age? See clue, write answer. Came in at just 12 min, or half normal Fri time.
Just sent you a congratulatory email, @kitshef. But you deserve a congratulatory telegram. Great news and I'm very happy for you!
@Kitshef 7:07
Nice puzzle! Congratulations!
I'd say it was quite easy--I set a new Friday personal best. Still, it was an enjoyable puzzle.
It's not as good as "Curl Up and DYE" but my hair salon uses a punny name too: "Shear d'Art".
First pass through the acrosses, I thought of a string of answers that were one letter off and was fearing some kind of "letter in the black square" or other unexpected trick for a Friday. sprayTAN, theDOGATEIT, MORNINGritual, BATsignal.
So, like Malaika, the first 5 minutes were slow, but the bottom was really easy, then the top just opened up with the downs and I was done in under 10 minutes, very fast for me on Friday.
So is WAP on the coffee table like the old x rated cartoon with the caption -"Who's that banging on the piano?"?
Starting to take long stacks for granted, this was a fun and impressive puzzle, that could have used more resistance.
For whatever reason, I found today's to be shockingly easy. It just clicked. That is not my typical Friday experience.
Hey All !
Gee, commentariat quite active this morning, already 50+ posts (it's 6:25 here in PDT), so I might repeat some observations from others.
Like, e g., The Large number of Blockers. With those four (M&A coined phrase) Blocks of Themlessness (of course can't think of exactly how he describes it, thanks brain) we get 48 Blockers. Holy cannolini, that's 10 more than normal Max. It does make the grid look like a framed picture, though.
A few X's sprinkled about to liven up this puz. Two UPs again, along with two ITs. Although, the flip side is you can argue there is also three ISs in IRIS, MARSALIS, and BASIS. Just trying to cover all the angles! Har
Easy puz here. 15 mins 17 secs (again, the NYTXW app tracks my times, and since they do, it's nice to see), with my fastest FriPuz time being 13m14s. Average is 31m32s, so this falls into Easy for me. Already fretting about the SatPuz, have a feeling it's going to be impossible. 😁
Time to finish my MORNING RITUAL and AMSCRAY.
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
The confusion may lie in not realizing that a basilica is a church with all the parts of most churches. It is usually in a particular architecture, and often built over a grave — or supposed grave — of a saint. Basilicas are usually of some historical significance. The Pope designates churches a basilicas.
Yup
@Nancy
"Mane Attraction" is mine!
Really nice Friday puzzle. Why are some getting offended by a reference to a Wireless Application Protocol?
This one was a fine example, for me, of the difference between a "gimme " and an "oh yeah". SPACECAMP was a gimme, read the clue and write in the answer. HYATT was an "oh yeah", as I couldn't instantly think of a hotel chain that started with H, but when the Y of YOGA showed up, it was "oh yeah, HYATT. So this became a puzzle full of gimmes and oh yeahs, with nary a WTF to be seen, which made for a very smooth and enjoyable solve.
Fast for a Friday, which places me in the boomer section, which is where I belong.
Very solid indeed, THE. Totally Happy Experience for me, and thanks for all the fun.
Way to go, @kitchef!. Ole, ole ole ole.
@kitshef - Nice theme. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
@mmorgan - 🤣🤣🤣
@Jdr - I’m thinking Malaika read “basilisk” instead of “basilica.”
@Malaika - Like @Sir Hillary said, Illegitimi non carborundum. I think I speak for most of the commentariat when I say it’s fun to read your takes and I appreciate you filling in for Rex.
if you dont know things like NAVE maybe this puzzle is out of your wheelhouse and would be Very Hard. For me, it was extremely easy. no real resistance. Easiest Friday I can remember
Thx, Trent; you pretty much NAILED my MORNING RITUAL! :)
Easy-med; almost ACED IT.
Thot I was in for it, getting only PENT & EGG in the top area.
AMSCRAY came to the rescue, and everything except the Carolinas fell quickly into place.
Fun puz; loved it! :)
___
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
@Kitshef
Really neat theme! Well done! Won't be your last. BobL
I’m gonna fall into not so humblebrag mode and say this was quite possibly my fastest Friday ever (when I didn’t cheat). It seemed remarkably low in PPP to me but maybe I just knew the stuff. My son had both Legos and K’NEX so I was covered there. I could see how Malaika would be unfamiliar with the MARSALIS family of musicians especially since I continue to learn something new every day of my life.
Like @LMS I loved seeing AMSCRAY. Seems like my Dad said that a few times to me when I was an over-inquisitive little kid and he was in “his chair” trying to take a nap.
@mmorgan, you may be joking, but if not please Google Cardi B songs.
Congrats @kitshef! I don’t know if my local newspaper has Universal or not, but I’m checking after I post!
@Anonymous 1:31 AM - Why did you wince at MARSALIS?
@Kitshef
MAZEL TOV!
Took me 20 minutes which for a Friday was super easy. Getting spacecamp right off the bat helped.
Someone doesn’t know what a nave is and never heard of Winton Marsalis ? Wow !
What, NO COFFEE?? Not in the MORNING RITUAL or in the puzzle, in spite of not one but two [Grounds] clues. Such A TEASE.
I also have to let THE DOG out to fetch the paper. She's never eaten it. That answer brought back memories of late homework excuses. “Left it at home” was a go to. Guess kids can’t get by with that one these days.
Nice streak of enjoyable puzzles this week. This one a fast Friday. I NAILED IT. IT didn’t hurt that I’ve been using CARFAX (and Facebook, and Craiglist, and Autotrader, etc, etc) to hunt for a used car.
Mr. A and I also happened to watch a couple of episodes of the original BATman this week. Commissioner Gordon mad a big deal of asking his officers if it’s really time to call….[stares at BATPHONE, then they all stare at BATPHONE]. That silly fun is a great escape from whatever is PENT up.
Two UPs and three ITs but who’s counting?
That two of the three X’s in the puzzle both come from “Less is more, for one” is a neat illustration of the concept.
Almost got a repeat of BUGBEAR, with 16A BUB crossing BEAR. And bug was in the 15A FLU clue.
YOGA LUNGE cross - a reminder to exercise? Well, actually, I made a note this morning to exercise my LUNGs to get in better shape for the symphony season.
Do PHASERS use A.M.S.C. RAYS?
Wynton’s piccolo trumpet has RAYS of gold. Here he is recording “Abblasen," the theme of "Sunday Morning”:
NAILED IT
Thanks, for a fun Friday, Trent.
It never fails to surprise me how many people will take the time to come here to be mean, when they could just get on with their day.
I only liked the clue on SPACECAMP because I got it quickly.
I feel like I can hear Rex complaining about MET UP & SIT ON & ADD UP & ACED IT as being all too similar
Just way too easy for a Friday. Fastest Friday ever, and about 35 or 40 percent of average for this day of week. 1 Across a gimme, and the first word in 12A...made getting the downs pretty simple. Oh, there were a couple small sections that needed to be worked into.
The M's in the CDs downstairs have Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Pat Metheny, Thelonious Monk. "Big Train" from Wynton, if you also enjoy steam trains....and "Midnight Cruiser" from Steely Dan. I know it starts with Felonious, but it sounds like Thelonious.
@kitshef your puzzle themers enabled me to learn THREE new things today! Ha! On a side note I SHOULD have printed the puzzle out because half the puzzle was hidden when my keyboard popped up on my iPad! Congrats again!
I'll SIT ON any urge to humblebrag or report my time, but this was a relatively fast Friday for me as well.
A chef's kiss to this creation -- very clean; expertly done. A lot that is "in the language" as OFL might say. The long acrosses are real standouts.
And a chef's kiss (mwah!) to MWednesdays parts I, II, III -- really refreshing to your voice (and others') in this column. Thanks, Malaika!
@kitshef
Looking forward to giving it a go! I think I'm going to have to try my hand soon at construction (it's been years).
Thanks to @LMS for teaching the word "cryptolect" (in my fumbling I thought of "idiolect", but that's different), and for linking the "gibberish". If I'm not mistaken, the exact same form of gibberish was used in Slums of Beverly Hills in this scene.
Happy Friday, all!
Samuel Alito is not a politician, @Gary. He is an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, albeit a very religious, anti-democracy justice. A dangerous man.
Thanks Malaika for spending your week with us. I have enjoyed hearing your viewpoints and I WONT ASK but hope nothing was so horrible or inane as to keep you from coming back. I believe you are fully UP to the TASK.
Thank God it’s Friday and no complex theme that requires an explanation. I absolutely adored this puzzle. What a delightful bright spot in my MORNING RITUAL today! So much that jumps out - SPACE CAMP, DOG ATE IT, LIVE TWEET, BAT PHONE, AMSCRAY. And the grid design is a thing of beauty. Great job Trent. Probably every other post on here will say this but yes, YOU really NAILED IT!
Loved the mention of Wynton MARSALIS. I had the pleasure of seeing a live performance at the local Symphony once and he was beyond masterful.
SPIN CLASS sounds like basic training for politicians. Unfortunately some of them go on to get graduate degrees in the subject.
@Anonymous 7:20 AM - Phew! Glad I didn't have to post that comment today. I got enough people pissed off last time I made a similar observation.
Malaika, I really enjoy your write-ups and I'm glad you can have a sense of humor about the grouches in the comments.
It's true, what's hard for you may be easy for me (and vice versa). For example, I found the overall puzzle pretty easy, comparatively speaking, but 22A was the last word I got, whereas it was a gimme for you. It's always valuable to hear about another person's solving experience. It's a good reminder that what's familiar and easy to me may not be for everybody.
I would like to see the people who are aghast that you don't know MARSALIS struggle through the current pop culture references in an AV Club crossword and tell them "Wow, you really didn't know the title of that Cardi B track?"
Loved this one and yesterday’s!
Why? No time today, but might be that I’m not stumped so much any more haha so hard 🧩s are fun and satisfying and the feeling I’m getting better at this.
But hey, it might just be luck and mood.
Either way, 2 enjoyable puzzles.
🤗🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖🤗
Ps. Am fine with critiques that back up their points ie make sense! However meanness and ad hominem attacks are so rampant these days - and such a waste of time here and everywhere else. ✌🏼🤗✌🏼
I can't quite put my finger on "why this didn't make me want to dance." The cluing felt a bit stale...almost like Un EARTHY humus mixed with FAVA beans.
I'll start with staring then getting up to walk my pups with @Nancy. I don't mind doing that at all on a Friday or Saturday. I'm with Malaika in that the cluing needed a tweak or two. It came across as wanting a zing a smiley pop and a chewy crackle. None of that was felt by me.
All the long entries were really nice and they were easy for me to get. I had a long pause at SPACE CAMP because it might as well have been shooting craps for all I knew.... the downs opened the door.
I liked meeting UP with BESTIES BUB BEAR. They all live peacefully in a DEN of PARADOX. My MORNING RITUAL is groping for the bathroom light and brushing my teeth. My shower is always at night but my puzzle doings are always in the morning with my Pete's cafe con leche. My BETE noire is like getting a FAKE TAN. It streaks yellow where it should shine and it drips like bad DYE on EGG head Giuliani.
I will now go and do the puzzle @kitschef created and hope he will lift my MARSALIS..I bet it does....
Fastest Friday ever!
SPACE CAMP
Wait, what's happened to John X? He almost sounded normal today! Maybe it's because he's on REAL drugs???
@kitshef,
Thanks for the heads-up, and congrats. Just did puzzle on paper in Inky, while listening to Wynton Marsalis. Enjoyed it. I had a little trouble spelling the answer to 37A, but that was easily fixed. Neat theme.
@kitshef (7:08) Thanks for the link and congratulations! Fun puzzle and a very clever theme (I had no idea.) Loved the title too.
@JOHN C (9:03) Have to admit I thought of you when I read the clue for TIN CAN. The ICU? For real?? Yikes. Get better!
@A (10:47) Enjoyed the link to the MARSALIS number. Oh man, I had forgotten how good he is. Just phenomenal.
Malaika, I am going to guess that your difficulty is age related because this played bright and breezy for me - a Boomer. I really like your suggested clues for SPACE CAMP and TIN CAN (although technically, to work properly the communication device clue would have to be plural “devices” and have a plural answer, “CANS,” (and this senior citizen wold probably clue Dennis the Menace before Calvin and Hobbes but I read that one too, so either way. Nonetheless, those clues yield a definite improvement toward a more “Friday-ish” and solver-inclusive feel. Just demonstrates how the wheelhouse is a real place!
From the beginning, I just flew through this until I hit the south half. Slowed down a bit for AT EASE and PARADOX and the Charlie Brown song, because as soon as I read “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown,” that title song started blaring in my head and even though I played Snoopy in the show, I had to move on to let my subconscious go find the remainder if the score! And now I will have that earworm all day.
I also got the TWEET part of LIVE TWEET, but that’s the “a tad too current” entry for me today since I admit that I have never opened Twitter - ever. Sure, I have seen scads of tweets, but have exactly zero desire to spend time there. Feel entirely free to call me a cranky old fart.
Completely agree that the fill was lively and relatively junk-free. Thus, a very enjoyable Friday. And an equally enjoyable review. Malaika, I truly enjoy your substitute stints for @Rex. Thank you! I look forward to seeing you again. Hopefully soon. Stay safe and be well.
Last time I watched a WWII navy movie a TINCAN was a depthcharge. Or, may be, ashCAN?
Nobody has mentioned the dupe involving AX. There’s CARF AX (a medieval double bladed battle weapon) and AXED, which is how my secretary from Queens pronounced “asked”. As in “ So that guy I saw at the libary (how she pronounced library) finally axed me out). I think the guys saw her as a bit of ATEASE.
The Big Orange Guy hasn’t yet had to resort to THEDOGATEIT to explain the missing nuke papers, but I imagine he’ll get there.
Congrats @Kitshef on a nicely themed puzzle.
And thanks Malaika for your enjoyable takes this week.
And finally, thanks Trent Evans for a really fun and smooth Friday puzzle.
Wynton is largely rejected by 'modern' jazz folks, due to his obsession with bop and bebop and large ensemble. He's a reactionary. Not good in either politics or arts.
never went through a pig latin phase(r) as a child, but recognize re-spelling as the characteristic. alas, PIG LATIN has the same letter count as the answer (which I prefer not to spell); the clue didn't really hint at another re-translation from pig latin to pig latin.
@egs:
The current never-before-treasonous president leads me to coin a new name for the creep: The Manchurian Donald (my coinage, and I surely cleave)..
Let me just say this is the very best of MWTFalaika's writeups. Damning with faint praise? Maybe. But today she made me smile, and didn't make me angry. Actually made me laugh out loud, with that Calvin cartoon. I own the complete, bound collection, and when my oldest grandson visited, age 7 or 8, he found it, opened one of the volumes on the living room floor, and laughed and laughed. We actually saw very little of him that visit.
He is, I now know, a very good camper, and probably not afraid of BEARS. Also the kindest of big brothers, and the most moral young man I ever hope to see.
Never heard that DOCTOR song. But certainly saw the sign, in so many Peanuts cartoons over the years. Our local paper has them in reruns, as Schulz lived in our town for decades, and left behind a lovely Ice Arena. I used to watch him and his buddies play Senior Ice Hockey there.
MARSALIS went right in. SPACECAMP was an easy guess. Wanted Tea to be LEONe, but I got the right SPIN on it at the end. Took a long time to get everything right, but now my MORNING RITUAL is over.
@kitshef -- WTG! And what a terrific theme! I'm glad you got to work with David Steinberg, he's so crossword smart, yet he listens and respects what you say. Enjoy this exciting day!!!
@Mike in Bed-Stuy 11:28 AM
@Anonymous 7:20 AM
Maybe stop calling others you've never met racist and people would get pissed off at you less? I've been around awhile and I couldn't care less who DMX is and I am now assuming there must be someone of color in the group. Is it a group? I know who Wynton Marsalis is because he's actually "famous" and on late night TV from time to time. Guess how much network TV young people are watching these days. I find listening to jazz like going to the dentist, especially industry approved beige-paint jazz, and would hope someone like @Malaika is listening to something way better. Again, it's impossible to be racist against someone you don't know until you know what race they are. Let's try to be better at this.
ADIA was a huge song that got tons of airplay in the late 90s and shows up in crosswords almost as much as AIDA (for obvious reasons).
All too often I mess my solve up by not completely reading the clue, leading to a misinterpretation of the answer. Today I somehow managed to mentally add verbiage that wasn't there. Hmmm. I read 9D as "More, on a score[board]" and with the P in place thought it might be Pts. Luckily I never considered putting that in place and now I recognize it as belonging on a musical score.
I found this easy for a Friday, even easier than a Robyn Weintraub easy Friday. Loved the clue/answer pair for 26A; AMSCRAYS went in, bam, because 24D, DYE, was my first entry into the grid.
I was glad to find SPIN CLASS was the answer to 55A, and not the rap reference I was fearing (SoulCycle just sounds rap-related to me).
Thanks Trent Evans, I like your Friday puzzle!
For me, it was because it was the name of a trumpeter, and I couldn't even tell from the clue if I was supposed to be guessing a first or a last name.
The subset of people who know trumpeters by name has to be exceedingly small (specifically an even smaller fraction of those people who listen to music that highlights trumpets). Things like Sarah Maclachlan song names always trip me up (even if I know the song) but I recognize that it is well known trivia. But a trumpeter???
Easiest Friday in quite a while! Got it done in just under 8 minutes, which was just over half the time I took on yesterday's puzzle. A lot of the clues were indeed misdirects, but they were pretty transparent and common crossword misdirects, IMO.
Surprised the columnist didn't know MARSALIS -- the Marsalis family (father Ellis and sons Branford and Wynton) are Jazz royalty. Have a listen to some of their work! It's good stuff.
It's a toss up betwixt C&H and Pogo as the most subversive mainstream newspaper strip.
@Kitshef- well done!! Enjoyed it enormously.
Mr. Marsalis is a wonderfully versatile musician who doesn't just play jazz. My favorite CD of his (yes, some of us still use CDs) is one of him playing classical trumpet music.
Wow
No social media refs,no rap music or other current fads(?)
No movie directors….
OK I guess rap is here to stay….
Definite generational difference with the reviewer
Who,btw, doesn’t impress with her street language comments either.
A rather easy Friday for this creaky (cranky?)old timer…
@Kitshef - really nice. It definitely passed the 11d.
Apropos of absolutely nothing I researched the trumpet MARSALIS uses and it is a Selmer (French) gold-plated one that is about 30K. He apparently gives his trumpets away every five years. And the Prana Monet mouthpiece he uses is around 500 bucks.
Somebody above asked why folks are expected to know famous trumpet players. Guess you don’t NEED to know ANY musicians but it sure helps in crossworld.
@Dr.A @8:17: I read through all the comments here, and didn't really find anything unkind -- there were some objections to parts of the columnist's critique, but they were all (as far as I could see) stated in a straightforward way without insult or disparagement. When you publish a critique of something, you naturally open yourself up to critiques of that critique. I'd much rather see that than have the comment section consist solely of people gushing over what a great writeup it was.
You think Wynton Marsalis is obscure? He’s a national treasure. Look him up.
Friday is my favorite day, and this one was far easier than any others in memory. Many immediate write-ins made crosses come quickly.
I was surprised you noted this as hard. As a fairly new solver (been at it a few months on and off), I have NEVER solved a Friday, yet I got this one. Granted, I had to check the blog for a couple helper points, which I actually do pretty frequently even on easier days.
That said, I usually don't even TRY Friday since usually, I have trouble even putting a good dent in them and just kinda give up, but I kept going with this one, and was able to fill in almost all clues with no help. I did get stuck a bit on "thedoctorisin" and "younailedit".
In hindsight, You Nailed it should have been easy, but I was stuck thinking it was some version of You Googled It, with some kind of rebus or trickery.
For everyone who doesn't know Wynton Marasalis, GO LISTEN NOW! Nat'l treasure is right!
Our guest host finished this puzzle about a minute faster than I did and considered it difficult. For me it was borderline easy. Part of what slowed me down was that I'm not at all familiar with PIU and in the south I had a POLE/POLL write over. I often confuse those two homophones. The biggest slow down was in the NW. I had both an AXIOM/MAXIM and a SHARD/SHRED write over at the same time. I briefly wondered if there was such phrase as AWAKINGRITUAL. With a little erasing all was cleared up.
As far as any guest host not knowing NAVE I'm not buying it. I think that's what people nowadays call gaslighting. Or maybe I'm not to clear on that term either.
yd pg-1
Thursday and Friday without a google. Why do I think Saturday will be a killer?
Fun answers, fun clues.
Those across answers made up for those extra black squares in the corners. The corners are often the boring spots in the puzzle anyway.
Quite a few plural and past tense space stretching. Plus CLAMUP METUP and NALEDIT x ACEDIT seems to be pushing the envelope a bit.
I did enjoy some of the symmetric pairings.
SPACECAMP SPINCLASS
THE DOG ATE IT?
YOU NAILED IT!
MORNING RITUAL?
THE DOCTOR IS IN.
PHASER AT EASE
CRAM YOGA
Just read the first dozen posts & skipped on my AJAX pogo stick to say ditto to yesterday’s comment though I can get (if not appreciate) the WAP reinterpretation of Peanuts. Definitely a Gen Z mystery, but a gimme for crotchety old guys.
Your “walk highlight” was such a creepy and unnecessary addition to this response. Leave those KIDS alone.
My favorite business name is the local "Jesus is Lord Fresh Shrimp and Window Tinting". Who needs puns!
I just had to google "What does WAP mean"... still laughing
Today was a personal best Friday time for me. The grid looked intimidating, but the fill was easy.
My easiest/quickest Friday in a long time. Felt strange.
Hard? Played more like a Wednesday to me. I was actually kind of disappointed.
@kitshef. Congrats! Nice clean puzzle.
@JOHN X Hope you make a full and speedy recovery. I appreciated your description of serving on submarines vs in space. You make a very striking comparison. Space has all the glamour I guess.
I like ACME, BUB, FAKETAN just because. I also liked BATPHONE, but first I wanted shoephone, then payphone. Have to get my fantasy hero co-stars sorted out. The Chief at CONTROL, Perry White of The Daily Planet, and Commissioner Gordon of Gotham City. Thanks internet.
Fastest Friday Ever!
Had to look at the calendar to make sure today's not Tuesday.
I was surprised too. I reluctantly enter Friday and Saturday puzzles each week thinking, if I make any headway at all, it’s gonna take over my day. This one was a breeze…Wednesday level almost.
This was my fastest Friday ever I the app era.
Congratulations, @kitshef! Loved it and hope for more.
Also if you are interested in the history of WWII. But I think it is more a matter of age because when I was young I heard it in WWII movies playing in cycle on TV.
On the subject of "tin cans" you might like a book I just finished "Unsinkable" by James Sullivan concerning a destroyer in WWII. Beautifully written book.
8:54: my record for a Friday and about 1/2 my usual..
@kitshef - congrats on the publication. A little rough using a different interface, but not your problem. Nice theme set and breezy puzzle!
I love your write-ups, Malaika! You add an extra bit of fun to solving the puzzle!
Wow, Cleaver, read real news. What he's doing now is treasonous.
Nave is the main part of the church when you come in through the front door.
Another vote for easier than usual. Wasn't fast, but not sticky, either. Got a few of the long answers first pass through, and the newer terms (LIVETWEET and BESTIES) came to me easily. I was dreading a long trudge through Friday, but finished under 20 taking my time.
Also add another thumbs up vote for Malaika (and the other guest reviewers). A different, fresh, and much less political recap of the puzzle.
Goose Latin! Goo-la-foose La-la-fat-ti-la-fin. It took forever to say anything of substance, but my sister and I *made* the time. (It was important.)
Ku-la-fu-do-la-fos to @kitshef. I was startled by a lot of things, including the existence of "state insects"! (Not a spoiler -- it's in the clue.) We have provincial animals and flowers but we draw the line at arthropods, she said, swatting at the 200th mosquito of the season. But, hey, the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, swallowed a bee during an outdoor press conference today. Maybe the honeybee will now be elevated to provincial icon status.
A great puz, and an excellent blog from our guest blogger.
Until the WAP reference (call me old, but just not a fan of CB and her ilk)
Did the puz in well under my normal time, much of the fill was in my generational wheelhouse.
I, for one, actually like my Fridays & Saturdays to be tougher. If I wanted easy, I'd just stick to the early days of the week.
Other notable symmetric crossing:
The FAKETAN PARADOX
EARTHY TABOOS
I WONT ASK
AMSCRAY(S)
METUP ADDUP
(notably bad?)
And the central cross
BESTIES LIVETWEET
Yah know, I think it's funny that so many older folks are so quick to tell younger folks things like, "hard work that makes you physically uncomfortable builds character. suck it up" while being equally quick to complain that younger folks' observations and critiques about the world make them emotionally uncomfortable. why the hate??? isn't it just building your character???
Malaika would clue TINCAN by increasing the ratio of male to female names in the clueing. What would Malaika say about that?
@Ben 1:56. The worst offenders have been removed, for example a comment that specifically called both the blog and its writer "horrible", and a comment that misgendered the writer. What remains certainly includes insult, for example the comment which assigned "assignments".
@Anonymous 12:28 Nothing needs to be said because no one here has suggested male names should never appear in crosswords.
Marsalis is one of the few I knew on the first go through.
Easiest Friday in my memory. This is everything yeaterday's was not, or rather, the reverse. An increedibly mild clue set generously sprinkled with out-and-out gimmes. But: because it's a themeless and yesterday's has a theme, The Grey Lady Must Preserve Tradition. Anyway, this doesn't even deserve a Thursday. Tuesday, tops. Toughest word was KNEX, the K of which was my last letter in.
There are a lot of folksy, in-the-language entries, but too many involving IT. In particular, NAILEDIT butts right up against ACESIT. Surely one of those is enough. IT would surely be a shame if THEDOGATEIT! At least DOD Tea LEONI offers a bright spot. Since it appears on a Friday, I must score this a bogey; it simply does not do Friday's job.
Had a rare DNF on Wordle, but I must cry foul. PARER, are you kidding? nobody's getting that.
Very easy. One writeover. ECT was a bit junky but there wasn’t much else to gripe about. I had Lego before KNEX. I did not know what PEON, PIU or TRACT were as clued. But that’s okay. Upon lookup they made sense. Mini theme with MAXIM and PARADOX which could have been expanded on but that’s fine. A good themeless is hard to find these days. Nicely done Trent H. Evans. YOUNAILEDIT.
CLAMS UP
BUB, IWON’TASK if IT’s a CIN,
when he UP and AMSCRAYS and walks,
but if YOU say THEDOCTORISIN,
that CONN CAN mean no PARADOX.
--- IRIS MARSALIS
Well...after seeing those long across answers, I felt lots and lots of triumph points when I finished. In retrospect I guess it was easier than the average Friday. But still. I had fun.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
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