Relative difficulty: easyish Monday, with a couple not-at-all-Monday clues/answers
THEME: SHONDA RHIMES (54A: Creator of "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal" ... or, when said aloud, a hint to the starts of 20-, 30- and 45-Across) — each theme answer's opening word "rhymes" with "Shonda":
Theme answers:
FONDA THEATRE (20A: Los Angeles venue named for the star of "12 Angry Men")
"WANDAVISION" (30A: Disney+ series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe)
HONDA ACCORD (45A: First car from a Japanese manufacturer to be made in the U.S. (1982))
Word of the Day: "APACHE" (28D: Sugarhill Gang song with the repeated line "Jump on it!") —
[warning: cultural insensitivity aplenty]
• • •
Conceptually, this is pretty cute. A straightforward repurposing of a famous person's name. The RHONDAs and VONDAs of the world probably feel a little left out, but the fame factor on those folks isn't exactly Monday-level. Vonda Shepard is a singer and Vonda McIntyre was a scifi writer of note, but you couldn't use them on a Monday, and as for RHONDAs, turns out that name *feels* a lot more common than it really is. I blame the Beach Boys' "Help Me, RHONDA." The only well-known RH- RHONDA I can think of is RHONDA Fleming, an actress of yore (i.e. the '40s and '50s—my movie wheelhouse, but probably not yours). She played Jimmy Cagney's faithless girlfriend in the 1949 crime classic "White Heat" ("I made it, ma! Top o' the world!" [explosion!]) [update: I am wrong—it's not RHONDA Fleming in that movie, it's Virginia Mayo! RHONDA Fleming was in different crime movies, like "Out of the Past," "Cry Danger," and "While the City Sleeps"]. So anyway, you get the SHONDA rhymes that you get, and what you get is fine, though it was a little weird to get a TV series creator as the revealer and then a TV series she *didn't* create as one of the themers. Also, what the hell is the FONDA THEATRE? And why is it spelled Britishly? Man, I hate when American theaters do that. Feels weirdly pretentious. Leave the -re stuff to the Brits (and Canadians and what not). Am I supposed to know the FONDA THEATRE? I know FORD'S THEATRE (-RE again, what the hell, are all non-movie theaters spelled that way!?). I'm sure the FONDA THEATRE exists, but it doesn't strike me as famous. Not Monday famous. And speaking of not Monday famous, what in the actual heck is going on with the clue on "APACHE"!?!?! If you know the Sugarhill Gang, you know them for the ultra-famous early rap hit "Rapper's Delight." I have literally never heard of "APACHE," which is fine, I haven't heard of many things, but I really think this is a strange way to approach a Monday clue: to take an ordinary tribal name and turn it into a Saturday-level trivia question. Plus, you gotta wonder why you'd drive right into the whole cultural appropriation mess (see video, above). Just a bizarre cluing move.
Outside the theme, the fill was decent, maybe even slightly better than the usual Monday fare. I enjoyed seeing CHAUCER (my old friend) and GUERNICA, and CINCO DE MAYO makes for a pretty lively long Down there in the SE. ARCO ACAI ERRS didn't have me too hopeful coming out of the NW, but the fill picked up after that. Not sure I'd put ARCO and ARCS in the same grid (since they're both related to bows) (from L. arcus, "bow, curve"). Not surprisingly, I had difficulty only when the cluing tried to get cute, which today came with the tie-in clues about the things brought home intentionally/unintentionally from the beach. SEASHELL was easy enough, but SAND was not. I guess you get SAND in your towel and various bags and garments and thus you "bring it home" but that clue is a stretch, and the stretchiness adds vagueness and thus difficulty. I thought the answer was SUN- something. Seriously thought (for a second or so) that there was some kind of rebus afoot, and the answer was SUN [BURN] ... I mean, those are *definitely* "unintentional," whereas maybe you *meant* to bring home SAND from the beach. As a souvenir. So SAND added unpleasant grit. But otherwise, this played like a normal easy Monday. Hope you found at least some of this puzzle enjoyable. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. you can find variations on today's theme here and here :)
Ok, so I misread the reveal clue as being for 59A and stupidly sat there sounding out ARGUE. Arrr Gyoo. Over and over again, not getting it. I must have been distracted by all the coverage of Queen Elizabeth; they were on the part where Margaret had met Antony Armstrong-Jones, and I was wondering what it would be like to be a glamorous princess flouting tradition and riding on the back of a motorcycle.
When I righted myself and saw the real reveal, I smiled. Perfect!
Rex – I’m with you on Americans spelling things like THEATRE and honour. I roll my eyes at the pretentiousness but then go on about my business spelling yoghurt, hiccough, and doughnut. My pretentiousness is acceptable. Theirs is not.
But I’m *not* with you on the two beach tie-in clues. Loved them.
The father of one of my daughter’s friends once, while at the beach, went to one of those garish screamy stores and bought a few containers of beautiful SEASHELLS you’re supposed to take home, transfer to a little china bowl, and display on the back of your commode. Not Dan. Mr. Prankster set his clock early, took those shells out to the beach, and planted them here and there in the sand. Then he got his coffee and sat on the deck to enjoy the spectacle of the early beachcombers discovering the treasures. He said they were almost all older people, and it was fun to watch them quicken their pace to snatch up the treasures. One woman was panic-screaming back at her slower husband, Myron!!!! Go back and get a bucket!!!! Hurry!!!!.
Dad used to tell the story of how he and his four siblings caught a baby alligator at Myrtle Beach. Because the car was crowded, they strapped it to the side of the car for the trip back to Charlotte, where it lived a brief life of being walked on a leash before freezing to death in the plastic pool in their backyard. I used to think this was a swell story, but now it makes me unspeakably sad on so many levels. I’ve become someone who can’t even kill an ANT because there’s a chance it may have a SOUL.
Nice to have CINCO DE MAYO right next to BODEGA. And PEARL is in the SHELL.
CHAUCER – Our next-door neighbors, the Dotsons had an Old English Sheepdog name CHAUCER. My sisters and I would climb over their fence to romp with him, and when he’d take a breather to drink some water, we’d shriek REFILL!!! and dive back over the fence lest we get slobbered by his wet face fur. They had all but his head shaved in the summer, and he looked like a white dandelion puffball with spindly legs. Anyhoo. . .I didn’t get the joke of his name until I was in college. Then I had to go back and rethink my opinion of the Dotsons. How could I have missed the sly intelligence there?
TRANSITIONS – when our students move from one class to the next. These are the trickiest parts of our day since so many of them want to fight each other. When students get to my room, they’re loath to actually enter because they want to hang outside to see what’s what. Once they’re safely in my room, I stand there, a human barrier to the water fountain right outside my door. Ms. Smith – I just want a drink of water. Yeah. Right. I’m learning, but man oh man is the curve steep and wrought with landmines. We got an email last night that we could celebrate our favorite college or pro football team on Mondays through November. I guess this is a gesture of good will to thank us for our service? I dunno. But I’ma stop at Walmart on the way in to get a Panthers jersey – nice to be allowed to wear jeans. Sometimes I just feel too tired to face the day, but I plough ahead.
Medium-tough. Monday is probably not the day to run PPP based theme, especially with WANDA VISION and FONDA THEATRE as answers. I knew the first one because I pay attention to streaming but I don’t subscribe to Disney +. The second was a WOE but easily guessable. APACHE as clued was also a WOE. That said, a solid Monday with some fine long downs. Liked it and Jeff at Xwordinfo gave it POW.
...a while ago we were vacationing in Ixtapa during CINCO DE MAYO. There was no celebration. However, in San Diego copious amounts of Dos XX are consumed every year in celebration of CINCO DE MAYO.
@bocamp - Croce’s Freestyle #742 was a medium Croce for me or about 2.5 X last Saturday’s NYT. The NW was especially daunting and I would have bet real money that I had errors in that corner. I got lucky and I hope you do too.
A SHONDA (in Yiddish) is something shameful or scandalous. As if Ms. Rhimes, a Black woman, didn't have enough of life's challenges. But there she is, smack-dab in the middle of a work environment where half the folks speak or understand Yiddish. Oy vey!
I solved only looking at the down clues, and it took a while. (I blame TRANSITIONS for which the clue was so odd; thank Gof for GUERNICA and CINCO DE MAYO.) With this method, grokking the theme is crucial to filling in some acrosses to help with the unknown downs. And that was a problem, made worse by looking at FO-D-THEATRE and of course seeing, as Rex did, FORD'S THEATRE. Which meant, with HONDA ACCORD, it was obviously a car theme. But it's not, it's a name theme, and made worse since I only actually knew one of those names! A battle, but somehow I got there.
And Rex, seriously you didn't know Apache? I don't remember even hearing the Sugarhill version, but boy it is a classic guitar instrumental dating back to 1960 but covered many wonderful times. But with that clue, it became yet another a dreaded unknown name and very tough for me.
@Rex and Loren, we Canadians are expected to know both metric and imperial, English and French, and also American English and British English spelling var's. THEATRE looks just fine to me, as does DEFENCE. No pretension.
[Spelling Bee: Sun 0. A pretty good shortened week for me (no internet at the cabin last long weekend)... Tues to Sun: 0, 0, -1, 0, 0, 0. Only missed this should've 7er on Thu.]
Ronda from Wakanda played a sad SONATA I TRY and I TRY but who wins the GAMES? FONDA, WANDA, HONDA, and SHONDA.
INFO before DATA, oh woe.
Adding BODEGA to my favorite words list for now just above lava cake. All of you better words are on notice: Get into a crossword and push bodega out.
If you have ants in your pants and those pants are on fire those ants by association liar bugs.
Don't you wish the story of Noah was true?
One of the required classes I took in college was Chaucer, and the professor only offered it at 7:30 a.m. It was how they separated the serious English students from the not serious. I remember almost nothing from that class, except it really hurt to go to it. I still love the idea of Chaucer, but for me it is only vague recollections of wyrd werds, drinking at an inn, and fart jokes.
Wish TETRIS was listed as one of the GAMES.
BOHO and SOHO and probably some other HOs. In Denver, we have LODO, HILO and RINO. So my condo is in Capitol Hill, so I guess that's CAHI. It's all a bit lame-o.
Of all the Marx brothers, Karl is the unfunniest.
Uniclues:
1 My house before that dog finally died. 2 He who shot for the middle and hit it. 3 Mom's supportive comment to her child on his amazing discovery the first time they'd visited the ocean. 4 My thought exactly on grokking the Picasso problem.
1 PET'S GAS CONDO 2 HONDA ACCORD DAD 3 "AWW SEASHELL" 4 GUERNICA... DUH.
I thought the downs really made the puzzle. A PPP based puzzle theme is never going to be my fave. Yes, well done as far as it goes, but it’s still PPP.
Nobody ever heard the Sugar Hill Gang's "Apache" in these parts. As Okanaganer says, everyone knows it as a guitar instrumental by the Shadows —which only makes the clue even more bizarre, for any day of the week.
I'm definitely with LMS, NOT Rex, re the clues for 35D and 39D. Thought 35D was rather too long and obvious until I came to the next one, then found them both fun. Had (and still have) NO IDEA re Apache and Shondra Rimes, but the crosses filled them in easy enough Going to go Google Pixar film "Soul" now. Goodnight
Nice Monday puzzle. There were a couple of tough names but PPP seemed reasonable over all. I had not heard of GUERNICA. THIS IS A GOOD ARTICLE ABOUT IT
Yes, pretty heavy on the PPP but still an ok Monday. Hands up for FOrDs until AWW straightened my out at 21D. Couldn't quite remember whether Ms. RIMES was a Rhonda, Shaunda, or Shawnda but crosses took care of that. And I also smiled at the beach clues. We used to vacation with two other couples for 14 years in Destin, FL. We'd pool our money and get a condo with walk-out onto the beach. This was still in the quiet days before spring breakers found it and gaudy tourist shops and bungee jumps invaded. But point is, the sand was so pure white that the bits of it that invariably clung to the bottom of the beverage cooler, or beach chair, or towels and thereby got dragged into the condo, could easily be mistaken for sugar or salt. Water so clear, you could see sand dollars 20' below you. Dolphins, rays, and yes, an occasional shark sighting (just a little nurse shark or sand shark - not enough to close the beach, but enough to make you take the kiddies (and scaredy-cat me) out of the shallows). No SEASHELLS, and that's probably why the sand was so white. I always packed a big suitcase for a week's worth of activities, and invariably actually wore only a few t-shirts and a couple of pairs of shorts for the occasional golf outing, shopping trip, or restaurant meal, spending most of each day in a bathing suit on the beach instead. Took me years to pare down the clothes I brought to what I would 'actually' wear. Good times.
Ok, it was Monday enough for me so rather enjoyed it. Except for GUERNICA. Could be me but I don’ think that’s a Monday answer. In total agreement with Rex on the spelling of THEATRE. While the clue does say “star” of which would make it FONDA, the entire cast were more or less stars of varying degrees. A very young, Jack Klugman, Martin Balsam, Lee J Cobb, EG Marshall and Ed Begley Sr. As for APACHE, a little embarrassed to say that the lyric and the song title came easy for me. After I finished, decided to look up the chart history and was surprised to see that the highest it ever made it was 53 on the charts. Seemed like it was being played every hour when we still listened to music on the radio. But it is not a Monday clue for sure. Was also a little surprised to see that Rappers Delight never got out of the 30s. My guess is that these songs were too long to get a lot of play time. Apache coming in at 4 minutes and Rappers Delight close to 5.
Agree with the emerging consensus thus far on the rough spots today (basically the PPP-based theme, GUERNICA, the cluing for APACHE and even WANDAVISION which seems pretty obscure to me, but that may be a wheelhouse thing). Reasonable crosses saved the day.
I only knew the CECE lady because she was in a recent puzzle (in the Times, I believe) - I suspect I shall see more of her since she is apparently Monday-level trivia. In a similar vein, not knowing a lot about the Brontë Babes can be a bit of a disadvantage in CrossWorld.
Violation of Monday requirement number one – themers have to be really, really famous. HONDA ACCORD is rock solid, but each of the others I’ll bet will be WOE for at least 20% of solvers.
And all but the HONDA are show-biz related, which made me scratch the noggin a bit.
And there are plenty of other names that are not that familiar: APACHE, CECE, SOUL, NAS. Two of those could have been clued without resorting to obscure trivia.
SAND in your hair, SAND in your shoes, SAND in your crotch... c'mon. Really not much of a stretch. What is a stretch is (you were kidding, right?) bringing it home as a souvenir.
Two things I never spell American are "amoeba" and "aesthetic". I dunno, "ameba" looks a little naked to me. On the other hand, I find "foetid" hilariously British-looking. Go figure.
ARCS and ARCO in the same puzzle: definitely a nose-wrinkler. Otherwise, Monday-easy, with an exception for not instantly knowing the model of a HONDA. Honestly, I can't tell you the difference between a HONDA ACCORD and a Toyota Bandwagon or whatever. Cars is cars to me.
Must admit that would be me, an old guy on the beach, excited by those ""shiny shells'" but, by the same token I like to surreptitiously drop pennys just a head of where I see the metal detector guy is dowsing!!
@Joe Dipinto: Thank you for the Shadows! I knew I'd heard that song as an instrumental, but I couldn't remember the name of it or the group.
@Sharon/ak: SOUL is the movie that won the fabulous and much-missed Jon Batiste an Oscar and a few other awards, in the year before he won 10,000 Grammys. I'm still waiting for it to be streamed for free somewhere.
Thought both the SAND and SEASHELLS clues were fine, and liked them together. No stretch there for me.
A very easy Monday, but the theme felt a little weak to me. TRANSITIONS and CHAUCER were sparklers among the usual Monday stuff.
Would have changed the SAND clue to "something brought home inevitably from the beach", but otherwise a fine Monday.
Didn't know APACHE, but OTOH I don't know Sugar Hill either.
I've seen GUERNICA in the Reina Sofia in Madrid and was impressed by it's power and size-it's enormous! Had only seen reproductions and liked the surprise.
I could see what the revealer was going to be, so I dutifully wrote in SHONDARHYMES, which was true but had to be changed. She's one of the more famous alumna of the college up the road from us.
Nice Monday with a little Crunch, ML. Took a Mite Longer than some Mondays, but so what. Thanks for all the fun.
Almost TV Guide-ish with the pop trivia. The only thing I’ve seen of Shonda’s work is the insufferable Bridgerton - can’t comment on her other stuff.
This was typical Monday time - but agree with Rex that there was some atypical early week fill. I think APACHE is from someone who read about Sugarhill Gang. GUERNICA and Moonlight SONATA were nice to see.
I like the lovely reminder of Paul Newman, with Butch Cassidy in a clue, and a backward hint to another of his roles with DUH. I like that HONDA ACCORD is not alone, joined by Kia SOUL and Hyundai SONATA. I also like the singsong ARCO / BOHO / CONDO / ELMO, backed up by partial MAYO.
I’m kinda fonda the theme, and I’m sure I’m not alone in filling in HONDA ACCORD without a single cross after having uncovered FONDA and WANDA. Answers that pinged nicely to me: BOHO, CHAUCER, GUERNICA, THREADS, and BODEGA.
I liked the cross of NOAH and ANTS, as I pictured the pair of the latter nobly entering the former’s conveyance. No doubt, the hardest workers on the ship. Relatedly, we have the COO of the dove, a bird that figured prominently in the story.
Thus, for me, much to like, a delightful Monday all around. Thank you, Michael!
FONDA Fonda bo bonda banana fana fo fonda fie mo monda . . . . Oh wait, wrong game.
Certainly filled the bill for a Monday but like @Zed, a puzzle built around proper names is not ever gonna be on my list of favorites. HONDA ACCORD was the only themer I recognized.
I couldn’t help but wonder if this ran today because the Emmy awards are presented tonight and SHONDA RHIMES is no doubt somewhere on the list. I used to love watching that but have lost interest in recent years. Especially since they have consistently snubbed the drama series Yellowstone, one of the best shows on television IMHO, but apparently not woke enough to be recognized.
If you looked in the back of my mini van right now the SAND clue wouldn’t have stumped you. Seriously? We’ve been home for a month and I think I’m still washing it out of my kids.
As a MN Lynx fan APACHE was an incredibly in-my-wheelhouse answer. Feels good to be on the other side of the trivia for thee but common knowledge for me. Frankly surprising considering the usual cultural touchpoints of the NYT puzzle.
Hey All ! Jeff Chen gave this the POW? It's an OK puz, but doesn't seem POW worthy. I'm dreading already the rest of the week.
RHiMES with SHONDA. Well, naturally HONDA rhymes with SHONDA. Isn't a five-string-repeater s no-no? How about an ANACONDA? Taking a dip in a PONDA? Getting out of jail on a BONDA? A fern FRONDA. Becoming a VAGABONDA. (Violated my own five-string-repeater rule...)
It was a nice MonPuz, just seemed a bit weird to me. But, who am I? No one of consequence.
Well, hope y'all enjoyed Week 1 of the NFL. Some wacky games. The only trouble with NFL Season is it seems to go Super-fast. It'll be Week 17 before you know it.
I'm with @Z in not favoring a PPP-based theme, but in practice this worked out, as I was able to guess WANDAVISION and have read about SHONDA RHIMES. Nice Downs, overall fun to solve.
@Joe Dipinto, thank you for reminding me of the "Apache" of my youth.
The clue for sand was really easy, I thought. Who doesn't bring home some unwanted sand after a beach visit? Also, Apache has (seemingly) made a comeback with DJ's over the past 5 or so years. At least I've heard it many times. Maybe it was sampled in a more recent song, which led people to find the original? I owned the 12" extended single as a kid, along with Rapper's Delight, so it wasn't obscure for me. The Furious Five were also featured, IIRC.
@Whatsername - Yes! The Chiefs were one of only a few teams that lived up to their hype yesterday. They've got their work cut out for them this season, but it looks like they are up to the challenge.
As I like to say, "It's only a football game, but it's so much more fun when my team wins!"
SHONDA RHIMES is pretty famous, but I needed crosses for both the O and the I, not to mention letting me know that it was not RIMES. No trouble with CHAUCER, though.
Rex lives inland, and I guess doesn't get to the beach much. Unless you go to a beach made of pebbles (and why would you?) you would be challenged not to bring some SAND home with you.
Ford's Theatre was revived as a performance venue in 1968, but the only reason anyone outside of DC knows about it is that Lincoln was shot there -- so I don't understand the temptation to put in in at 20A. Also, the clue does make it's pretty clear that Henry FONDA is involved.
As for the spelling -- I don't know why they did it that way in LA, but here in the Northeast it's pretty common; we also have a lot of centres. My belief is that at least some of these have been named that since before the American spelling was developed, but that's just a guess. Interestingly, there's a town named Sauk Centre in Minnesota. It's the model for Sinclair Lewis's Gopher Prairie. The townspeople are proud of this fact, suggesting they may not have read the book.
The FONDA THEATRE was such a gimme to me that I almost wrote it in without even checking any crosses.
Of course, according to Google Maps, I live about 4.5 miles from it.
And also... on September 14, 2005 I met the woman who is now my wife, going to see the Decemberists play at the Fonda. Almost exactly 17 years ago today, it was love at first sight at the Fonda Theatre!
Now, it just so happens that she was born and raised in London. And while, yes, everything and everyone British can, just by their very existence, come off as pretentious... when you spend enough time with one, you realize they're just as down to earth, human, and flawed as we are...
Ha! I'm kidding! Absolutely pretentious bastards, every last one of 'em!
ACAI and TOV worked in a small BODEGA called GUERNICA. Periods of TRANSITIONS made them ARGUE all the time. They needed some GAS with SASS. TOV had A VISION. He wanted to CLONE a CONDO and USE it for the CINCO DE MAYO GALA being held on CHAUCER street. They approached the FONDA, WANDA, SHONDA and HONDA sisters for advice. All four were CYNICS. No-one knew their AGE or if their names were ALIASES. TOV didn't care. He liked SHONDA the most because she had SOUL. She would wear a SEA SHELL on her BOHO and dance the COO HUR with the best of them. It was a SIGHT to behold. SHONDA TOOK out her HYMN and began to EXPEL a DAD joke. The ANTS in TOV's shabby THREADS began to EXPEL. All he wanted was a PEARL of advice.. She TOOK this ICED APE ASIDE and uttered her famous AWW. "We will open the CHAUCER street THEATRE... We will bring our PETS...We will dance the COO HUR...ANNE will ride her APACHE horse named NOAH and ANNE will serve AHI on RYES in the LOGE...Let the GAMES begin!" ACAI and TOV began to sing a Mamma MIA SONATA to no DEAF ears. No one SNORED,...DUH! The ARCO ERRS they lived in would UNITE them and fill a GAP that was SURE to make the CYNICS happy. I O U one said TOV with a COO ....He SANK A TON of money into that old STYE and now he was going to EARN some SASS respect. The CINCO DE MAYO GALA was a success ....The hit of the show was seeing SHONDA and TOV dance the COO HUR on SAND with NAS.... Best of all, the GUERNICA was no more.
People don’t know GUERNICA?!? Please please please read the article @OffTheGrid linked to at 6:15.
@Joe Dipinto #2 - Thanks for posting the correct link. 1960? I loved the “too cool for school” aesthetic of that video. The cultural insensitivity is there, too, but toned way down from the Sugarhill Gang video. If it weren’t for the name you might even miss it. But with the name attached I can feel the Hollywood western/John Wayne inspiration. Makes me wonder how much The Shadows inspired Ennio Morricone.
I take issue with the Cinco de Mayo cluing, since it's not a national Mexican holiday, and it exists in the US solely to sell beer. A better clue would be "Day in which a bunch of gringos get trashed and wear Mexican sombreros," imo.
Funniest comment: @John McEnroe 9:12am: GAME, SET, MATCH indeed.
FONDATHEATRE was not especially difficult for anyone who has spent time in LA. Also inferable based on the clue. Aside from HONDAACCORD, the other themers were unknown to me. The downs were better, though to me APACHE is the instrumental from way back. Good to be reminded of GUERNICA.
Always interesting how our life experiences are so different. GenXer here, and Sugarhill Gang's "Apache" is close to legendary status. That said, I actually didn't realize until the puzzle that was the Sugarhill Gang, but I got it straight from the "Jump On It" part of the clue. I do go to a lot of weddings (being a wedding photographer), so that may be why perhaps I'm a little more aware of it. It still hits the playlists even today.
Overall, this was on the very fast side for a Monday. My only issue was my fat fingers fumbling GUERNICA into GeuRNICA which added a few seconds to my completion time as I had to find the error (which I knew was in the NE, as a couple answers didn't make any sense to me, but I tend not to fix my errors as I go, but return to them.)
Overall, a lot of fun for a Monday. One of the better Mondays lately.
Neat MonPuz theme, really boosted by the clever revealer double-ahar moment. Like. M-AND-AVISION, anyone?
APACHE. Great Jorgen Ingmann instrumental hit tune from 1961. Also, our Yosemite tourbus guide once pointed out APACHE snow, up in the early-June mountains: "A patch of snow here, a patch of snow there". Hope they still got that Apache stuff, these warmer days.
staff weeject pick: AWW. One of several double-double-U weejects in NYTPuz history: AWW. EWW. OWW. WWI. WWE. WWF. Any guesses, which one has yer Patrick Berry Usage Immunity? *
Had the same exact thought as @Z 10:44. I never cease to be flabbergasted at what people here admit to not knowing. What boulder do they live under? I mean, so much knowledge is acquired simply from existing! How does one get through life without knowing Guernica?! How does the world turn? Well, at least the first commenter who didn’t know took the time to look it up and pass along the link.
• This song was written by Jerry Lordan, a British singer/guitarist/songwriter...(He) got the idea for this song after watching the 1954 film Apache, starring Burt Lancaster as the Apache warrior Massai...Lordan played "Apache" for the Shadows on the tour bus using his ukulele, which he used to write songs, and The Shadows loved it. •
Apparently the Shadows version was huge internationally, but not here. In the US it was a (very similar) version by Danish guitarist Jörgen Ingmann that was a big hit a year later.
Would folks please stop posting Wordle solutions in the morning? I enjoy reading comments but the Wordle solutions give lots of info -- and as a PDT reader, I'm always disappointed to see them.
Rex has apparently never taken a houseful of little kids to the beach and then yelled at them while shoveling out the house! I can hear myself “look at all the sand you brought home!”
About yesterday. Very enjoyable doable Sunday. The SE did slow me down but finally knocked it out. That was an awfully silly error about the NBA city. No way around it. But if MIN were the answer geographically, would the clue be correct? MIN stands for the state not the city. The city is not on the scoreboard. Hmm. Also the northernmost NBA state would be Minnesota (that is accurately) if you do not count provinces as states and you do not count Canada as state. Aww, aren't nits adorable?
Today I feel a little dense or maybe that's everyday. First there was @Muse about the CHAUCER joke. Cause a dog chaws on things? Cause he drinks from a saucer? Oh cause he has a Canterbury Tail.
Then @Gary's "If you have ants in your pants and those pants are on fire those ants by association liar bugs."
I had to add an "are" and change liar to fire. Then I could have used @Muse's help to decide which is correct: Don't you wish the story of Noah was/were true? The officiating powers side with was if you believe it is true and were if you don't believe it is true. Not sure about the Mr. Inbetween. No messin'. But @Muse would say it don't **cking matter.
I also need @Muse or someone of her ilk to explain a word in today's wordwarp that I would not know in a CW. Devoice, as the r in creme. Different than the r in credit, crick, crack , string, strum, ring, rem? And the w in twin? Swift? This living gonna kill me someday.
I’m assuming everyone who claims they’ve never heard “Apache” has and just doesn’t know the name of the song. Google it and listen to the first 30 seconds, and it’ll likely elicit some recognition.
I see that @Rex had a "trigger warning" [warning: cultural insensitivity aplenty] for his posted video. I watched a wee bit of it and I'm really surprised he would post such a thing. It's quite awful. Does this mean we won't have any more rants from @Rex about "sensibilities"? Has he gone to the dark side? Does he still call the Cleveland Guardians the I_____s?
I know HONDA ACCORD but the others, no. Surprised a rhyming first names theme made the grade. Kind of thin soup if you ask me.
I've lived by the beach a couple of times and would go there at least once a day. The first time or two I tried to get rid of the SAND before returning home. Seemed like no matter how hard I tried, there was always some that I missed. So I came to accept the inevitability of SAND and, much to my amazement, it didn't bother me all that much. I think most people who go to the beach regularly learn to live with the constant presence of SAND.
I jotted down a large "No!" on my scratch paper when I saw the answer to 47A "Skeptical sorts" was CYNICS. A skeptic says "Maybe, but let's see the evidence". A CYNIC says "Hell no, I'm not buying that malarkey anymore". I agree with George Carlin's dictum that there is no CYNIC like a disillusioned idealist. I am one. The Vietnam War made me one. Pretty much everything since has just reinforced and strengthened that CYNICism.
@Anon11:56 - To disagree slightly, I’m never surprised what people do not know. There’s only so much one can learn in a lifetime and the sphere of human knowledge seems to grow exponentially. But I absolutely do agree that I appreciate @OffTheGrid posting the link. Definitely a work of art and a history worth knowing, especially if you want to understand the source of the belligerence of certain groups.
@Joe Dipinto - So I wasn’t too far off. TCM has a bunch of classic westerns and it is interesting to see how differently indigenous people are portrayed, often seemingly depending on the leading actor. I might just have to watch APACHE and see where Burt lands. Any insight on Morricone. I’m curious but not curious enough to digging around for his influences.
@Wundrin’ - I believe Rex’ point was to question why the NYTX would use a clue that references this culturally insensitive song (and video) when you have inoffensive alternatives. So really just a gentler rant. And having watched the video I have to agree with OFL.
@Heidi and others - We are all still not waiting to hear what kind of spoiler the approved sharing format might be giving you. I can’t quite decide if you have some flawed logic you’re applying, you’re all a bunch of supergeniopodes, or just annoying trolls. Being the skeptical CYNIC that I am I lean towards option C, but….
@Z: There’s only so much one can learn in a lifetime and the sphere of human knowledge seems to grow exponentially.
When I was in school (HS or College, too long ago to be more specific), it was standard knowledge that Newton was the last man to 'know everything' for some definition of 'everything', usually limited to scholarly pursuits.
@Z – Just read Morricone's first paragraph on Wikipedia. TGTB&TU is but a drop in the bucket of everything he composed, arranged, and performed, including scores for every film genre. He likely could summon up any given style as needed.
Ah, pretentiousness. I appreciate and honour that of our ever so clever @LMS, but must admit to my personal favourite THEATRE, and I welcome snacks of yoghurt and doughnuts in my THEATREs, but ask that you refrain from hiccoughing during the presentation.
Having exactly zero idea who the Sugarhill Gang is, but guessed at the answer from the crosses. Was unsure about WANDAVISION but thank my granddaughter had turned me on to SOUL, a lovely Pixar piece with excellent music. Again, the crosses supported my guesses.
Overall, a tad mire resistance than a typical Monday, but fair and fun with an easy but very well crafted theme. Certainly more entertaining than yesterday. I forced myself to finish yesterday’s puzzle just before midnight. That was the first time in decades that a puzzle just did not hole my interest and I considered just leaving it half done. But I couldn’t. If puzzling every day with dear Gran taught me anything it was the value of discipline. Once you undertake a task, you complete it. All day, the blank squares taunted me until I had to finish. Overall though, Yesterday felt like a giant “so what,” I’m sorry to say.
@anon 3:34 not true about Wordl. Some of us can get hints from seeing a wordl grid with the blank squares. For example, If it's one of those with one or two columns solid all the way down with 6 tries, you can tell that it's a type of word with lot of rhyming words . I always try not to look and scroll past it fast if I haven't done it, because seeing these grids helps me cheat.
I have to agree with the many posters re: SAND. That one jumped out at me immediately. I'm guessing rex is simply not a beach person, which would explain it. I grew up on the beach, so yeah, that was a gimme.
A gentle request to those of you who are familiar with Guernica and simply can't believe that others may never have seen or heard of it. Perhaps they're not as smart as you. Leave it at that. No need to publicly shame then in this forum. Thank you.
@Gary Jug 7:32....I'd be happy to teach you......: You put your right foot in...you put your left foot out.....Do the boogy woogy...dance through some tulips...Grab your partner and shake her all about. It's fun! :-)
@Gio 3:34 - I originally posted my Wordle today but took it down for a similar reason. I think that especially when you get two or three Wordle posts it does give a hint. I do enjoy seeing what other people did, though.
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Since Rex was talking about the lack of famous Rhondas, I'm surprised no one mentioned Ronda Rousey. Her name would even fit some of the themer spots.
The Sugarhill Gang "Apache" definitely shows up on classic hits radio stations more than most rap hits, let alone rap hits which never reached the top 40. The instrumental song has been featured in a pharmaceutical commercial in recent years, too.
I drive a HONDAACCORD, when I’m not driving my 2022 HONDA Ridgeline. It is my second HONDAACCORD -EX model and they have both been excellent cars. Current one is next-to-last year that HONDA made ACCORD coupes so it’s not from 1982 like the one in the puz. Lotsa options and looks real sharp. Enough advertising. Puz was fine. Wordle birdie, nearly eagle.
Mostly pap, with (it seems) all the crosswordese you can think of. RHIMES (elbow dig) with SHONDA. Not my glass of ICEDTEA.
GUERNICA meets CHAUCER in the highlight of this piece, but not much else is electrifying. TRANSITIONS...[SNORES]. A couple of points for SAND & SEASHELL, unwanted & wanted beach souvenirs, but this one does little more than hold the Monday door ajar. Bogey.
The E!A!G!L!E!S! stomped on those Cowboys last night, and I celebrated with an eagle of my own:
A long time ago, I was solving this puzzle and got stuck at an unguessable (to me) crossing: N. C. WYETH crossing NATICK at the "N"—I knew WYETH but forgot his initials, and NATICK ... is a suburb of Boston that I had no hope of knowing. It was clued as someplace the Boston Marathon runs through (???). Anyway, NATICK— the more obscure name in that crossing—became shorthand for an unguessable cross, esp. where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known. NATICK took hold as crossword slang, and the term can now be both noun ("I had a NATICK in the SW corner...") or verb ("I got NATICKED by 50A / 34D!")
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94 comments:
Ok, so I misread the reveal clue as being for 59A and stupidly sat there sounding out ARGUE. Arrr Gyoo. Over and over again, not getting it. I must have been distracted by all the coverage of Queen Elizabeth; they were on the part where Margaret had met Antony Armstrong-Jones, and I was wondering what it would be like to be a glamorous princess flouting tradition and riding on the back of a motorcycle.
When I righted myself and saw the real reveal, I smiled. Perfect!
Rex – I’m with you on Americans spelling things like THEATRE and honour. I roll my eyes at the pretentiousness but then go on about my business spelling yoghurt, hiccough, and doughnut. My pretentiousness is acceptable. Theirs is not.
But I’m *not* with you on the two beach tie-in clues. Loved them.
The father of one of my daughter’s friends once, while at the beach, went to one of those garish screamy stores and bought a few containers of beautiful SEASHELLS you’re supposed to take home, transfer to a little china bowl, and display on the back of your commode. Not Dan. Mr. Prankster set his clock early, took those shells out to the beach, and planted them here and there in the sand. Then he got his coffee and sat on the deck to enjoy the spectacle of the early beachcombers discovering the treasures. He said they were almost all older people, and it was fun to watch them quicken their pace to snatch up the treasures. One woman was panic-screaming back at her slower husband, Myron!!!! Go back and get a bucket!!!! Hurry!!!!.
Dad used to tell the story of how he and his four siblings caught a baby alligator at Myrtle Beach. Because the car was crowded, they strapped it to the side of the car for the trip back to Charlotte, where it lived a brief life of being walked on a leash before freezing to death in the plastic pool in their backyard. I used to think this was a swell story, but now it makes me unspeakably sad on so many levels. I’ve become someone who can’t even kill an ANT because there’s a chance it may have a SOUL.
Nice to have CINCO DE MAYO right next to BODEGA. And PEARL is in the SHELL.
CHAUCER – Our next-door neighbors, the Dotsons had an Old English Sheepdog name CHAUCER. My sisters and I would climb over their fence to romp with him, and when he’d take a breather to drink some water, we’d shriek REFILL!!! and dive back over the fence lest we get slobbered by his wet face fur. They had all but his head shaved in the summer, and he looked like a white dandelion puffball with spindly legs. Anyhoo. . .I didn’t get the joke of his name until I was in college. Then I had to go back and rethink my opinion of the Dotsons. How could I have missed the sly intelligence there?
TRANSITIONS – when our students move from one class to the next. These are the trickiest parts of our day since so many of them want to fight each other. When students get to my room, they’re loath to actually enter because they want to hang outside to see what’s what. Once they’re safely in my room, I stand there, a human barrier to the water fountain right outside my door. Ms. Smith – I just want a drink of water. Yeah. Right. I’m learning, but man oh man is the curve steep and wrought with landmines. We got an email last night that we could celebrate our favorite college or pro football team on Mondays through November. I guess this is a gesture of good will to thank us for our service? I dunno. But I’ma stop at Walmart on the way in to get a Panthers jersey – nice to be allowed to wear jeans. Sometimes I just feel too tired to face the day, but I plough ahead.
I have many great memories seeing some of my first shows as a teenager at the FONDA THEATRE. It’s very well-known in California.
Medium-tough. Monday is probably not the day to run PPP based theme, especially with WANDA VISION and FONDA THEATRE as answers. I knew the first one because I pay attention to streaming but I don’t subscribe to Disney +. The second was a WOE but easily guessable. APACHE as clued was also a WOE. That said, a solid Monday with some fine long downs. Liked it and Jeff at Xwordinfo gave it POW.
...a while ago we were vacationing in Ixtapa during CINCO DE MAYO. There was no celebration. However, in San Diego copious amounts of Dos XX are consumed every year in celebration of CINCO DE MAYO.
@bocamp - Croce’s Freestyle #742 was a medium Croce for me or about 2.5 X last Saturday’s NYT. The NW was especially daunting and I would have bet real money that I had errors in that corner. I got lucky and I hope you do too.
A SHONDA (in Yiddish) is something shameful or scandalous. As if Ms. Rhimes, a Black woman, didn't have enough of life's challenges. But there she is, smack-dab in the middle of a work environment where half the folks speak or understand Yiddish. Oy vey!
I solved only looking at the down clues, and it took a while. (I blame TRANSITIONS for which the clue was so odd; thank Gof for GUERNICA and CINCO DE MAYO.) With this method, grokking the theme is crucial to filling in some acrosses to help with the unknown downs. And that was a problem, made worse by looking at FO-D-THEATRE and of course seeing, as Rex did, FORD'S THEATRE. Which meant, with HONDA ACCORD, it was obviously a car theme. But it's not, it's a name theme, and made worse since I only actually knew one of those names! A battle, but somehow I got there.
And Rex, seriously you didn't know Apache? I don't remember even hearing the Sugarhill version, but boy it is a classic guitar instrumental dating back to 1960 but covered many wonderful times. But with that clue, it became yet another a dreaded unknown name and very tough for me.
@Rex and Loren, we Canadians are expected to know both metric and imperial, English and French, and also American English and British English spelling var's. THEATRE looks just fine to me, as does DEFENCE. No pretension.
[Spelling Bee: Sun 0. A pretty good shortened week for me (no internet at the cabin last long weekend)... Tues to Sun: 0, 0, -1, 0, 0, 0. Only missed this should've 7er on Thu.]
Sorry, @Rex, but the SAND/SEASHELL pairing was easy and fun.
I’m not FONDATHEATRE but I do love a BODEGA GALA.
If you EXPEL GAS, then IOU.
Nice, breezy Monday. Thanks, Michael Lieberman.
Woo hoo Rex. 🦖
Ronda from Wakanda played a sad SONATA
I TRY and I TRY but who wins the GAMES?
FONDA, WANDA, HONDA, and SHONDA.
INFO before DATA, oh woe.
Adding BODEGA to my favorite words list for now just above lava cake. All of you better words are on notice: Get into a crossword and push bodega out.
If you have ants in your pants and those pants are on fire those ants by association liar bugs.
Don't you wish the story of Noah was true?
One of the required classes I took in college was Chaucer, and the professor only offered it at 7:30 a.m. It was how they separated the serious English students from the not serious. I remember almost nothing from that class, except it really hurt to go to it. I still love the idea of Chaucer, but for me it is only vague recollections of wyrd werds, drinking at an inn, and fart jokes.
Wish TETRIS was listed as one of the GAMES.
BOHO and SOHO and probably some other HOs. In Denver, we have LODO, HILO and RINO. So my condo is in Capitol Hill, so I guess that's CAHI. It's all a bit lame-o.
Of all the Marx brothers, Karl is the unfunniest.
Uniclues:
1 My house before that dog finally died.
2 He who shot for the middle and hit it.
3 Mom's supportive comment to her child on his amazing discovery the first time they'd visited the ocean.
4 My thought exactly on grokking the Picasso problem.
1 PET'S GAS CONDO
2 HONDA ACCORD DAD
3 "AWW SEASHELL"
4 GUERNICA... DUH.
I thought the downs really made the puzzle. A PPP based puzzle theme is never going to be my fave. Yes, well done as far as it goes, but it’s still PPP.
Nobody ever heard the Sugar Hill Gang's "Apache" in these parts. As Okanaganer says, everyone knows it as a guitar instrumental by the Shadows —which only makes the clue even more bizarre, for any day of the week.
Let's try that link again...
(Sorry, I was too busy stamping out my cigarette to pay attention earlier.)
I'm definitely with LMS, NOT Rex, re the clues for 35D and 39D. Thought 35D was rather too long and obvious until I came to the next one, then found them both fun.
Had (and still have) NO IDEA re Apache and Shondra Rimes, but the crosses filled them in easy enough
Going to go Google Pixar film "Soul" now.
Goodnight
SAND was a quick gimme. When I change clothes later I always wonder, "How did it(sand) get THERE!?"
How is Christmas like at a cat at the beach?
They both have sandy claws.
Nice Monday puzzle. There were a couple of tough names but PPP seemed reasonable over all. I had not heard of GUERNICA. THIS IS A GOOD ARTICLE ABOUT IT
Yes, pretty heavy on the PPP but still an ok Monday. Hands up for FOrDs until AWW straightened my out at 21D. Couldn't quite remember whether Ms. RIMES was a Rhonda, Shaunda, or Shawnda but crosses took care of that. And I also smiled at the beach clues. We used to vacation with two other couples for 14 years in Destin, FL. We'd pool our money and get a condo with walk-out onto the beach. This was still in the quiet days before spring breakers found it and gaudy tourist shops and bungee jumps invaded. But point is, the sand was so pure white that the bits of it that invariably clung to the bottom of the beverage cooler, or beach chair, or towels and thereby got dragged into the condo, could easily be mistaken for sugar or salt. Water so clear, you could see sand dollars 20' below you. Dolphins, rays, and yes, an occasional shark sighting (just a little nurse shark or sand shark - not enough to close the beach, but enough to make you take the kiddies (and scaredy-cat me) out of the shallows). No SEASHELLS, and that's probably why the sand was so white. I always packed a big suitcase for a week's worth of activities, and invariably actually wore only a few t-shirts and a couple of pairs of shorts for the occasional golf outing, shopping trip, or restaurant meal, spending most of each day in a bathing suit on the beach instead. Took me years to pare down the clothes I brought to what I would 'actually' wear. Good times.
Ok, it was Monday enough for me so rather enjoyed it. Except for GUERNICA. Could be me but I don’ think that’s a Monday answer. In total agreement with Rex on the spelling of THEATRE. While the clue does say “star” of which would make it FONDA, the entire cast were more or less stars of varying degrees. A very young, Jack Klugman, Martin Balsam, Lee J Cobb, EG Marshall and Ed Begley Sr. As for APACHE, a little embarrassed to say that the lyric and the song title came easy for me. After I finished, decided to look up the chart history and was surprised to see that the highest it ever made it was 53 on the charts. Seemed like it was being played every hour when we still listened to music on the radio. But it is not a Monday clue for sure. Was also a little surprised to see that Rappers Delight never got out of the 30s. My guess is that these songs were too long to get a lot of play time. Apache coming in at 4 minutes and Rappers Delight close to 5.
Agree with the emerging consensus thus far on the rough spots today (basically the PPP-based theme, GUERNICA, the cluing for APACHE and even WANDAVISION which seems pretty obscure to me, but that may be a wheelhouse thing). Reasonable crosses saved the day.
I only knew the CECE lady because she was in a recent puzzle (in the Times, I believe) - I suspect I shall see more of her since she is apparently Monday-level trivia. In a similar vein, not knowing a lot about the Brontë Babes can be a bit of a disadvantage in CrossWorld.
Violation of Monday requirement number one – themers have to be really, really famous. HONDA ACCORD is rock solid, but each of the others I’ll bet will be WOE for at least 20% of solvers.
And all but the HONDA are show-biz related, which made me scratch the noggin a bit.
And there are plenty of other names that are not that familiar: APACHE, CECE, SOUL, NAS. Two of those could have been clued without resorting to obscure trivia.
Reminded me of Neil Young's "Kinda Fonda Wanda":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yynFq2cU9-c
SAND in your hair, SAND in your shoes, SAND in your crotch... c'mon. Really not much of a stretch. What is a stretch is (you were kidding, right?) bringing it home as a souvenir.
Two things I never spell American are "amoeba" and "aesthetic". I dunno, "ameba" looks a little naked to me. On the other hand, I find "foetid" hilariously British-looking. Go figure.
ARCS and ARCO in the same puzzle: definitely a nose-wrinkler. Otherwise, Monday-easy, with an exception for not instantly knowing the model of a HONDA. Honestly, I can't tell you the difference between a HONDA ACCORD and a Toyota Bandwagon or whatever. Cars is cars to me.
Must admit that would be me, an old guy on the beach, excited by those ""shiny shells'" but, by the same token I like to surreptitiously drop pennys just a head of where I see the metal detector guy is dowsing!!
@Joe Dipinto: Thank you for the Shadows! I knew I'd heard that song as an instrumental, but I couldn't remember the name of it or the group.
@Sharon/ak: SOUL is the movie that won the fabulous and much-missed Jon Batiste an Oscar and a few other awards, in the year before he won 10,000 Grammys. I'm still waiting for it to be streamed for free somewhere.
Thought both the SAND and SEASHELLS clues were fine, and liked them together. No stretch there for me.
A very easy Monday, but the theme felt a little weak to me. TRANSITIONS and CHAUCER were sparklers among the usual Monday stuff.
This boomer knows the Sugar Hill Gang version of "Apache" very well. It's a classic in its own right.
Would have changed the SAND clue to "something brought home inevitably from the beach", but otherwise a fine Monday.
Didn't know APACHE, but OTOH I don't know Sugar Hill either.
I've seen GUERNICA in the Reina Sofia in Madrid and was impressed by it's power and size-it's enormous! Had only seen reproductions and liked the surprise.
I could see what the revealer was going to be, so I dutifully wrote in SHONDARHYMES, which was true but had to be changed. She's one of the more famous alumna of the college up the road from us.
Nice Monday with a little Crunch, ML. Took a Mite Longer than some Mondays, but so what. Thanks for all the fun.
Almost TV Guide-ish with the pop trivia. The only thing I’ve seen of Shonda’s work is the insufferable Bridgerton - can’t comment on her other stuff.
This was typical Monday time - but agree with Rex that there was some atypical early week fill. I think APACHE is from someone who read about Sugarhill Gang. GUERNICA and Moonlight SONATA were nice to see.
Connor Oberst covering SEASHELL Tale
I’m not a Monday trivia guy.
I enjoyed this comment so much.
I like the lovely reminder of Paul Newman, with Butch Cassidy in a clue, and a backward hint to another of his roles with DUH. I like that HONDA ACCORD is not alone, joined by Kia SOUL and Hyundai SONATA. I also like the singsong ARCO / BOHO / CONDO / ELMO, backed up by partial MAYO.
I’m kinda fonda the theme, and I’m sure I’m not alone in filling in HONDA ACCORD without a single cross after having uncovered FONDA and WANDA. Answers that pinged nicely to me: BOHO, CHAUCER, GUERNICA, THREADS, and BODEGA.
I liked the cross of NOAH and ANTS, as I pictured the pair of the latter nobly entering the former’s conveyance. No doubt, the hardest workers on the ship. Relatedly, we have the COO of the dove, a bird that figured prominently in the story.
Thus, for me, much to like, a delightful Monday all around. Thank you, Michael!
Wordle 450 5/6*
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩
⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩
🟨🟨🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Bogey ;(
Tough word today. Couple bad guesses didn’t help either.
FONDA Fonda bo bonda banana fana fo fonda fie mo monda . . . . Oh wait, wrong game.
Certainly filled the bill for a Monday but like @Zed, a puzzle built around proper names is not ever gonna be on my list of favorites. HONDA ACCORD was the only themer I recognized.
I couldn’t help but wonder if this ran today because the Emmy awards are presented tonight and SHONDA RHIMES is no doubt somewhere on the list. I used to love watching that but have lost interest in recent years. Especially since they have consistently snubbed the drama series Yellowstone, one of the best shows on television IMHO, but apparently not woke enough to be recognized.
Hey @Joaquin, how bout those Chieeefs!
If you looked in the back of my mini van right now the SAND clue wouldn’t have stumped you. Seriously? We’ve been home for a month and I think I’m still washing it out of my kids.
I see GAME SET in the NE. Where the hell is MATCH?! You gotta be kidding me!
Thx, Michael, for the RHyMES! :)
Med+ (Tues. time).
Some pretty chewy fill for a Mon. puz.
If I had a HONDA ACCORD, it wasn't running on all cylinders this AM.
Always have trouble with which network has which logo. 👁
Nevertheless, loved the theme and enjoyed the challenge! :)
Thx @jae; on it! :)
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
@NYDenizen. I don't usually best you.
Wordle 450 4/6
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⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩
🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
As a MN Lynx fan APACHE was an incredibly in-my-wheelhouse answer. Feels good to be on the other side of the trivia for thee but common knowledge for me. Frankly surprising considering the usual cultural touchpoints of the NYT puzzle.
Hey All !
Jeff Chen gave this the POW? It's an OK puz, but doesn't seem POW worthy. I'm dreading already the rest of the week.
RHiMES with SHONDA. Well, naturally HONDA rhymes with SHONDA. Isn't a five-string-repeater s no-no? How about an ANACONDA? Taking a dip in a PONDA? Getting out of jail on a BONDA? A fern FRONDA. Becoming a VAGABONDA. (Violated my own five-string-repeater rule...)
It was a nice MonPuz, just seemed a bit weird to me. But, who am I? No one of consequence.
Well, hope y'all enjoyed Week 1 of the NFL. Some wacky games. The only trouble with NFL Season is it seems to go Super-fast. It'll be Week 17 before you know it.
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
En route to the comment box, I stumbled across some of the comments on the cute cluing of SAND. "SAND???", I said to myself. "Don't remember SAND."
Turns out I never saw it because it filled in completely from the crosses. And that's the trouble with Monday puzzles: So much always does.
Too easy to be of much interest.
rex obviously never went to flashbacks when it was open.
Easy Monday even with all that PPP. @Wordler tipped me off and I did it in four.
Virginia Mayo was the girlfriend in “White Heat”
My five favorite clues from last week
(in order of appearance):
1. What have we here? (5)
2. Recommended labor practice (6)(5)
3. Yellow slippers? (6)(5)
4. It's over here (3)
5. Norman or English king? (4)
THESE
LAMAZE CLASS
BANANA PEELS
END
LEAR
I'm with @Z in not favoring a PPP-based theme, but in practice this worked out, as I was able to guess WANDAVISION and have read about SHONDA RHIMES. Nice Downs, overall fun to solve.
@Joe Dipinto, thank you for reminding me of the "Apache" of my youth.
The clue for sand was really easy, I thought. Who doesn't bring home some unwanted sand after a beach visit?
Also, Apache has (seemingly) made a comeback with DJ's over the past 5 or so years. At least I've heard it many times. Maybe it was sampled in a more recent song, which led people to find the original?
I owned the 12" extended single as a kid, along with Rapper's Delight, so it wasn't obscure for me. The Furious Five were also featured, IIRC.
easy, but did not know the Picasso piece. And hesitated at the spelling of FORDTHEATRE
LEWIS - are we getting your top 5 today? thats always a highlight of my Mondays
@Whatsername - Yes! The Chiefs were one of only a few teams that lived up to their hype yesterday. They've got their work cut out for them this season, but it looks like they are up to the challenge.
As I like to say, "It's only a football game, but it's so much more fun when my team wins!"
SHONDA RHIMES is pretty famous, but I needed crosses for both the O and the I, not to mention letting me know that it was not RIMES. No trouble with CHAUCER, though.
Rex lives inland, and I guess doesn't get to the beach much. Unless you go to a beach made of pebbles (and why would you?) you would be challenged not to bring some SAND home with you.
Ford's Theatre was revived as a performance venue in 1968, but the only reason anyone outside of DC knows about it is that Lincoln was shot there -- so I don't understand the temptation to put in in at 20A. Also, the clue does make it's pretty clear that Henry FONDA is involved.
As for the spelling -- I don't know why they did it that way in LA, but here in the Northeast it's pretty common; we also have a lot of centres. My belief is that at least some of these have been named that since before the American spelling was developed, but that's just a guess. Interestingly, there's a town named Sauk Centre in Minnesota. It's the model for Sinclair Lewis's Gopher Prairie. The townspeople are proud of this fact, suggesting they may not have read the book.
The FONDA THEATRE was such a gimme to me that I almost wrote it in without even checking any crosses.
Of course, according to Google Maps, I live about 4.5 miles from it.
And also... on September 14, 2005 I met the woman who is now my wife, going to see the Decemberists play at the Fonda. Almost exactly 17 years ago today, it was love at first sight at the Fonda Theatre!
Now, it just so happens that she was born and raised in London. And while, yes, everything and everyone British can, just by their very existence, come off as pretentious... when you spend enough time with one, you realize they're just as down to earth, human, and flawed as we are...
Ha! I'm kidding! Absolutely pretentious bastards, every last one of 'em!
ACAI and TOV worked in a small BODEGA called GUERNICA. Periods of TRANSITIONS made them ARGUE all the time. They needed some GAS with SASS.
TOV had A VISION. He wanted to CLONE a CONDO and USE it for the CINCO DE MAYO GALA being held on CHAUCER street.
They approached the FONDA, WANDA, SHONDA and HONDA sisters for advice. All four were CYNICS. No-one knew their AGE or if their names were ALIASES. TOV didn't care. He liked SHONDA the most because she had SOUL. She would wear a SEA SHELL on her BOHO and dance the COO HUR with the best of them. It was a SIGHT to behold.
SHONDA TOOK out her HYMN and began to EXPEL a DAD joke. The ANTS in TOV's shabby THREADS began to EXPEL. All he wanted was a PEARL of advice.. She TOOK this ICED APE ASIDE and uttered her famous AWW. "We will open the CHAUCER street THEATRE... We will bring our PETS...We will dance the COO HUR...ANNE will ride her APACHE horse named NOAH and ANNE will serve AHI on RYES in the LOGE...Let the GAMES begin!" ACAI and TOV began to sing a Mamma MIA SONATA to no DEAF ears. No one SNORED,...DUH! The ARCO ERRS they lived in would UNITE them and fill a GAP that was SURE to make the CYNICS happy. I O U one said TOV with a COO ....He SANK A TON of money into that old STYE and now he was going to EARN some SASS respect.
The CINCO DE MAYO GALA was a success ....The hit of the show was seeing SHONDA and TOV dance the COO HUR on SAND with NAS.... Best of all, the GUERNICA was no more.
People don’t know GUERNICA?!? Please please please read the article @OffTheGrid linked to at 6:15.
@Joe Dipinto #2 - Thanks for posting the correct link. 1960? I loved the “too cool for school” aesthetic of that video. The cultural insensitivity is there, too, but toned way down from the Sugarhill Gang video. If it weren’t for the name you might even miss it. But with the name attached I can feel the Hollywood western/John Wayne inspiration. Makes me wonder how much The Shadows inspired Ennio Morricone.
I take issue with the Cinco de Mayo cluing, since it's not a national Mexican holiday, and it exists in the US solely to sell beer. A better clue would be "Day in which a bunch of gringos get trashed and wear Mexican sombreros," imo.
Don't get your mayos confused, please. Virginia Mayo was Cagney's moll in White Heat.
Virginia Mayo was the girlfriend in “White Heat”
@Lewis 10:15 AM Great choices, but I was secretly rooting and would have lobbied for "Meeting with a dead line?" SEANCE.
Virginia Mayo was the girlfriend in “White Heat.”
Cute one!
Really good for a Monday.
The RHIMES were perfect.
🌈🤗🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖🤗🌈
Just returned from a beach vacation. Everything full of sand.
Funniest comment: @John McEnroe 9:12am: GAME, SET, MATCH indeed.
FONDATHEATRE was not especially difficult for anyone who has spent time in LA. Also inferable based on the clue. Aside from HONDAACCORD, the other themers were unknown to me. The downs were better, though to me APACHE is the instrumental from way back. Good to be reminded of GUERNICA.
@Anon 10:00. Not sure how I helped but.... yur welcome?
You gave me a good chuckle, @Dan 10:32. Thanx.
Always interesting how our life experiences are so different. GenXer here, and Sugarhill Gang's "Apache" is close to legendary status. That said, I actually didn't realize until the puzzle that was the Sugarhill Gang, but I got it straight from the "Jump On It" part of the clue. I do go to a lot of weddings (being a wedding photographer), so that may be why perhaps I'm a little more aware of it. It still hits the playlists even today.
Overall, this was on the very fast side for a Monday. My only issue was my fat fingers fumbling GUERNICA into GeuRNICA which added a few seconds to my completion time as I had to find the error (which I knew was in the NE, as a couple answers didn't make any sense to me, but I tend not to fix my errors as I go, but return to them.)
Overall, a lot of fun for a Monday. One of the better Mondays lately.
Neat MonPuz theme, really boosted by the clever revealer double-ahar moment. Like.
M-AND-AVISION, anyone?
APACHE. Great Jorgen Ingmann instrumental hit tune from 1961.
Also, our Yosemite tourbus guide once pointed out APACHE snow, up in the early-June mountains: "A patch of snow here, a patch of snow there". Hope they still got that Apache stuff, these warmer days.
staff weeject pick: AWW. One of several double-double-U weejects in NYTPuz history: AWW. EWW. OWW. WWI. WWE. WWF. Any guesses, which one has yer Patrick Berry Usage Immunity? *
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Made sounds while sound asleep} = SNORED.
other fave stuff: CYNICS. GUERNICA. CINCODEMAYO. HYMN & HUR.
Thanx for the fun, Mr. Lieberman dude. Cool theme execution.
Masked & Anonymo5Us
**gruntz**
* WWI.
Had the same exact thought as @Z 10:44. I never cease to be flabbergasted at what people here admit to not knowing. What boulder do they live under? I mean, so much knowledge is acquired simply from existing! How does one get through life without knowing Guernica?! How does the world turn?
Well, at least the first commenter who didn’t know took the time to look it up and pass along the link.
I thought I knew all the lingo here, but what, pray tell, is a “PPP” theme?
@Z - According to Songfacts:
• This song was written by Jerry Lordan, a British singer/guitarist/songwriter...(He) got the idea for this song after watching the 1954 film Apache, starring Burt Lancaster as the Apache warrior Massai...Lordan played "Apache" for the Shadows on the tour bus using his ukulele, which he used to write songs, and The Shadows loved it. •
Apparently the Shadows version was huge internationally, but not here. In the US it was a (very similar) version by Danish guitarist Jörgen Ingmann that was a big hit a year later.
Would folks please stop posting Wordle solutions in the morning? I enjoy reading comments but the Wordle solutions give lots of info -- and as a PDT reader, I'm always disappointed to see them.
Rex has apparently never taken a houseful of little kids to the beach and then yelled at them while shoveling out the house! I can hear myself “look at all the sand you brought home!”
WARNING WORDWARP SPOILER AMBER ALERT
About yesterday. Very enjoyable doable Sunday. The SE did slow me down but finally knocked it out. That was an awfully silly error about the NBA city. No way around it. But if MIN were the answer geographically, would the clue be correct? MIN stands for the state not the city. The city is not on the scoreboard. Hmm. Also the northernmost NBA state would be Minnesota (that is accurately) if you do not count provinces as states and you do not count Canada as state. Aww, aren't nits adorable?
Today I feel a little dense or maybe that's everyday.
First there was @Muse about the CHAUCER joke. Cause a dog chaws on things? Cause he drinks from a saucer? Oh cause he has a Canterbury Tail.
Then @Gary's
"If you have ants in your pants and those pants are on fire those ants by association liar bugs."
I had to add an "are" and change liar to fire. Then I could have used @Muse's help to decide which is correct: Don't you wish the story of Noah was/were true? The officiating powers side with was if you believe it is true and were if you don't believe it is true. Not sure about the Mr. Inbetween. No messin'. But @Muse would say it don't **cking matter.
I also need @Muse or someone of her ilk to explain a word in today's wordwarp that I would not know in a CW. Devoice, as the r in creme. Different than the r in credit, crick, crack , string, strum, ring, rem?
And the w in twin? Swift?
This living gonna kill me someday.
I’m assuming everyone who claims they’ve never heard “Apache” has and just doesn’t know the name of the song. Google it and listen to the first 30 seconds, and it’ll likely elicit some recognition.
I’m not one of the wordle posters, but the blank colored squares are the appropriate share format, and provide zero information as to the solution.
I see that @Rex had a "trigger warning" [warning: cultural insensitivity aplenty] for his posted video. I watched a wee bit of it and I'm really surprised he would post such a thing. It's quite awful. Does this mean we won't have any more rants from @Rex about "sensibilities"? Has he gone to the dark side? Does he still call the Cleveland Guardians the I_____s?
I know HONDA ACCORD but the others, no. Surprised a rhyming first names theme made the grade. Kind of thin soup if you ask me.
I've lived by the beach a couple of times and would go there at least once a day. The first time or two I tried to get rid of the SAND before returning home. Seemed like no matter how hard I tried, there was always some that I missed. So I came to accept the inevitability of SAND and, much to my amazement, it didn't bother me all that much. I think most people who go to the beach regularly learn to live with the constant presence of SAND.
I jotted down a large "No!" on my scratch paper when I saw the answer to 47A "Skeptical sorts" was CYNICS. A skeptic says "Maybe, but let's see the evidence". A CYNIC says "Hell no, I'm not buying that malarkey anymore". I agree with George Carlin's dictum that there is no CYNIC like a disillusioned idealist. I am one. The Vietnam War made me one. Pretty much everything since has just reinforced and strengthened that CYNICism.
@Anon11:56 - To disagree slightly, I’m never surprised what people do not know. There’s only so much one can learn in a lifetime and the sphere of human knowledge seems to grow exponentially. But I absolutely do agree that I appreciate @OffTheGrid posting the link. Definitely a work of art and a history worth knowing, especially if you want to understand the source of the belligerence of certain groups.
@Joe Dipinto - So I wasn’t too far off. TCM has a bunch of classic westerns and it is interesting to see how differently indigenous people are portrayed, often seemingly depending on the leading actor. I might just have to watch APACHE and see where Burt lands. Any insight on Morricone. I’m curious but not curious enough to digging around for his influences.
@Wundrin’ - I believe Rex’ point was to question why the NYTX would use a clue that references this culturally insensitive song (and video) when you have inoffensive alternatives. So really just a gentler rant. And having watched the video I have to agree with OFL.
@Heidi and others - We are all still not waiting to hear what kind of spoiler the approved sharing format might be giving you. I can’t quite decide if you have some flawed logic you’re applying, you’re all a bunch of supergeniopodes, or just annoying trolls. Being the skeptical CYNIC that I am I lean towards option C, but….
@Z:
There’s only so much one can learn in a lifetime and the sphere of human knowledge seems to grow exponentially.
When I was in school (HS or College, too long ago to be more specific), it was standard knowledge that Newton was the last man to 'know everything' for some definition of 'everything', usually limited to scholarly pursuits.
I think it’s less about just randomly rhyming a first name, and more about rhyming a first name when the last name happens to be RHIMES.
I don’t know any of her shows, but I’m aware of her name in the industry, and thought it rather clever for an easy Monday solve.
@Z – Just read Morricone's first paragraph on Wikipedia. TGTB&TU is but a drop in the bucket of everything he composed, arranged, and performed, including scores for every film genre. He likely could summon up any given style as needed.
Ah, pretentiousness. I appreciate and honour that of our ever so clever @LMS, but must admit to my personal favourite THEATRE, and I welcome snacks of yoghurt and doughnuts in my THEATREs, but ask that you refrain from hiccoughing during the presentation.
Having exactly zero idea who the Sugarhill Gang is, but guessed at the answer from the crosses. Was unsure about WANDAVISION but thank my granddaughter had turned me on to SOUL, a lovely Pixar piece with excellent music. Again, the crosses supported my guesses.
Overall, a tad mire resistance than a typical Monday, but fair and fun with an easy but very well crafted theme. Certainly more entertaining than yesterday. I forced myself to finish yesterday’s puzzle just before midnight. That was the first time in decades that a puzzle just did not hole my interest and I considered just leaving it half done. But I couldn’t. If puzzling every day with dear Gran taught me anything it was the value of discipline. Once you undertake a task, you complete it. All day, the blank squares taunted me until I had to finish. Overall though, Yesterday felt like a giant “so what,” I’m sorry to say.
@GILL I. 10:35 AM I have decided I would like to learn how to dance the V
COO HUR as well. Any advice?
@anon 3:34 not true about Wordl. Some of us can get hints from seeing a wordl grid with the blank squares. For example, If it's one of those with one or two columns solid all the way down with 6 tries, you can tell that it's a type of word with lot of rhyming words . I always try not to look and scroll past it fast if I haven't done it, because seeing these grids helps me cheat.
I have to agree with the many posters re: SAND. That one jumped out at me immediately. I'm guessing rex is simply not a beach person, which would explain it. I grew up on the beach, so yeah, that was a gimme.
A gentle request to those of you who are familiar with Guernica and simply can't believe that others may never have seen or heard of it. Perhaps they're not as smart as you. Leave it at that. No need to publicly shame then in this forum. Thank you.
For years, Guernica was at the Museum of Modern Art, I think maybe I took it for granted.
For years, Guernica was at the Museum of Modern Art, I maybe took it for granted. But probably in a more appropriate home now.
@Gary Jug 7:32....I'd be happy to teach you......:
You put your right foot in...you put your left foot out.....Do the boogy woogy...dance through some tulips...Grab your partner and shake her all about.
It's fun! :-)
@Gio 3:34 - I originally posted my Wordle today but took it down for a similar reason. I think that especially when you get two or three Wordle posts it does give a hint. I do enjoy seeing what other people did, though.
I think Rex went to the beach his last vacation. A great lakes beach.
This theme made me smile :) I loved it, and love seeing a puzzle themed around a woman of color as well!
Something tells me between NAS and the Fresh Prince nod ("Apache"), this puzzle designer might be a fellow elder millennial?
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Since Rex was talking about the lack of famous Rhondas, I'm surprised no one mentioned Ronda Rousey. Her name would even fit some of the themer spots.
The Sugarhill Gang "Apache" definitely shows up on classic hits radio stations more than most rap hits, let alone rap hits which never reached the top 40. The instrumental song has been featured in a pharmaceutical commercial in recent years, too.
Dute theme. Decent fill. Not much junk. Nicely done Michael Liberman.
SET SIGHT
THEATRE was HUR first VISION ACCORDing TO the Times,
SEW TV was a big TRANSITION TOOK on by SHONDARIMES.
--- CECE CHAUCER
I drive a HONDAACCORD, when I’m not driving my 2022 HONDA Ridgeline. It is my second HONDAACCORD -EX model and they have both been excellent cars. Current one is next-to-last year that HONDA made ACCORD coupes so it’s not from 1982 like the one in the puz. Lotsa options and looks real sharp. Enough advertising. Puz was fine.
Wordle birdie, nearly eagle.
Mostly pap, with (it seems) all the crosswordese you can think of. RHIMES (elbow dig) with SHONDA. Not my glass of ICEDTEA.
GUERNICA meets CHAUCER in the highlight of this piece, but not much else is electrifying. TRANSITIONS...[SNORES]. A couple of points for SAND & SEASHELL, unwanted & wanted beach souvenirs, but this one does little more than hold the Monday door ajar. Bogey.
The E!A!G!L!E!S! stomped on those Cowboys last night, and I celebrated with an eagle of my own:
BBBGY
GGGGG!
EDIT - Cute theme. Not Dute.
I'm as FONDA THEATRE as the next person - can't wait to go back!
Yes, there were a few non-Mondayish words in this puz
@Foggy - we knew what you meant. Unless you meant "dude." Nah...
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
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