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Modern reproductive tech inits / SUN 9-25-22 / Sir Isaac Newton work on the fundamentals of light / Odd-numbered page typically / Opera whose title character is a singer / Rapper with the 2011 hit album Ambition / Weekend destination for an NYC getaway maybe / Opera that aptly premiered in Egypt
Sunday, September 25, 2022
Constructor: Meghan Morris
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
Theme answers:
- ELECTRICAL OUTLET (23A: *What's in your wallet) (i.e. [What's in your wall])
- FAKE NEWS (32A: *Press junket) (i.e. [Press junk], etc.)
- SHAVING CREAM (43A: *Barbershop quartet)
- GEOLOGIST (49A: *Rocket scientist)
- USERNAME AND PASSWORD (68A: *Security blankets)
- INFLATION (92A: *A drop in the bucket)
- EXTERMINATOR (95A: *Ticketmaster)
- DRIBBLES (106A: *Ballet movements)
Tswana, also known by its native name Setswana, and previously spelled Sechuana in English, is a Bantu language spoken in Southern Africa by about 8.2 million people. It belongs to the Bantu language family within the Sotho-Tswanabranch of Zone S (S.30), and is closely related to the Northern Sotho and Southern Sotho languages, as well as the Kgalagadi language and the Lozi language.
Setswana is an official language of Botswana and South Africa. It is a lingua franca in Botswana and parts of South Africa, particularly North West Province. Tswana tribes are found in more than two provinces of South Africa, primarily in the North West, where about four million people speak the language. An urbanised variety, which is part slang and not the formal Setswana, is known as Pretoria Sotho, and is the principal unique language of the city of Pretoria. (wikipedia)
• • •
The gimmick works brilliantly in places. [Security blanks] just cruuuuuushed me. Didn't help that I was coming at nearly every themer from the back end (because I did the east first—not the wisest move). My main problem with the execution is that the "ET"-less clues really really Really need "?"s on them ... most of the time. Clue on GEOLOGIST ends up working perfectly—yes, a GEOLOGIST is in fact a "Rock scientist." But the rest of the "ET"-less clues end up being punny and/or really ... forced, in a way that would normally earn the clue a terminal "?" ... but no such luck. I guess we were just supposed to take the whole gimmick as one giant "?" Anyway, the "ET"-less clues range from weak (e.g. [Barbershop quart]) to perfect (e.g. the aforementioned USERNAME AND PASSWORD clue). Didn't love that there was a conspicuous "-ET" in one of the themers (ELECTRICAL OUTLET). I know the theme is clue-related, so there's technically no foul there, but I'd get all "ET"s the hell out of the way if I really wanted my theme to pop. Also, NET gets duped (see 65A: NET GAIN), which seems really bad, since NET is the key word in your revealer. And the title isn't great. Doesn't seem to really capture what's going on except in the vaguest of ways (i.e. you do in fact take two ... letters out of the clue). So all in all this is really ambitious and imaginative. I just found the execution a little wobbly.
 |
| Cute ATARI clue you got there... (70D: Maker of the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial video game) |
So much hardness for me today. Even after the disastrous opening (NW) corner, with its "?" TWERK clue (1A: Do some backup dancing?) and its "?" EVES clue (3D: The before-times?) (YORE!?) etc., I kept falling into ditches. So hard to seem STOMACHS coming from the bottom up, with such a vague clue (9D: Stands). So so hard to even grasp the meaning of READER (7D: Circulation unit). Both clues are fine, just very tough. Wanted EONS for ERAS in that same area (31A: Stretches of time). Wanted HEAPS ON for DUMPS ON in that same area (28A: Burdens with). No idea about John Legend song titles, so "ALL OF" was tough, esp. alongside BUENA, which I want to come before "Vista," not "Park" (12D: ___ Park, city west of Anaheim). Couldn't grasp meaning of "chain" in 50D: Tool chain (LOWES). Thought OZARK was OSAGE (51D: Missouri county on the Arkansas border). No idea who this non-Tharp TWYLA is (66D: "Schitt's Creek" role for Sarah Levy). Continue to be repulsed by NON-PC, as I am by UN-PC, both of which have been deleted from my wordlists. The very idea of "PC" is a right-wing shibboleth, so I won't go near it. What is an ETON shirt? I collar, mess, rifles, I've seen all these preceded by ETON, but "Global (?) brand of men's dress shirts," that's a new one on me, a mostly non-wearer of "dress shirts." That said, I generally found the bottom of this puzzle easier than the top, but that may just be because the more grid you have filled in, the easier things get, as a rule, and also I understood the theme by the time I was finishing up, which helped enormously.
Struggled to come up with that "K" in "OPTICKS" (81D: Sir Isaac Newton work on the fundamentals of light). Thought maybe OPTICES was a word. We already got a "tick"-based theme clue (EXTERMINATOR), so more "ticks" felt unwelcome. I live in "tick" country, which is also Lyme country, so "ticks" are always unwelcome. Luckily the grid felt otherwise mostly clean and largely pest-free. Loved GOT WISE and "OFF WE GO!" Very zippy. That's all I've got for today. Gonna take the day off and go see "Don't Worry, Darling." Looks like it's going to be either legit good or campy good, and I'm down for either. See you later.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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131 comments:
Tough! Much like @Rex I got nowhere in the Northern tier. I tried moon walk (rebus) followed by tango followed by starting from the bottom up where I got the reveal and slowly worked my way back to the top. Changing STAff to STAVE helped me finish. A fine Sunday WORK OUT liked it.
You don’t use triceps for pull-ups
Otherwise, great puzzle
My experience was a lot like Rex's: I had troble establishing a beach head, but once I did, the rest started coming to me. I felt like I got a good workout, which is infrequently the case these days with the Sunday. So, I enjoyed this one.
Again we have a theme where the trick is all in the clues and not the answers. Not quite as nice as the inverse, IMHO!
Hated DWADE crossing DESI and ETON. (3 difficult proper nouns!) The only one of those 3 I've actually heard of is DESI but considering DWANE had me thinking... is it really NESI?
BASH then BEAT before BELT, Rex's HEAPS ON / DUMPS ON, and the good ol' EONS / ERAS Kealoa, made the BRAS columns quite difficult. Once again knowing French / German / Spanish is tres / sehr / muy useful for getting ETES / NEINS / ESTAR.
Got LIBERIA right away because I recently read an article in the Smithsonian magazine about a search for the document that created that country.
[Spelling Bee: Sat 0; my QB streak at 11 days straight; ties my record! Hardly any goofy words today.]
This was reeaaalllly hard for me. I mean I felt like I was in a Kafka novel for a bit. I couldn’t get anything except DOC and a couple of S’s on the first pass. I totally agree with Rex and @jae that the top was a whole lot harder than the bottom.
But I tell ya, that aha moment was Mag. Ni. Fi. Cent. What a relief when I finally saw it.
I got the THEY but didn’t understand the “pin” part of the clue. Duh. I went to a training this summer, and there were bowls of them. I got the she her hers one and wore it. (No fae faer faers one)
@jae - I wanted “staff” before STAVE,too. I think I’ve made this goof several times.
I hesitated to write in KEG for that fountain of youth. I sat and thought about it, and, yeah, I guess KEGs play more to a younger crowd. It’d be weird to go to a party here at the Terraces where I live with mom – one of those 55-and-over communities – and see a KEG. The last potluck I went to there was an honest-to-god punch bowl with the little punch glasses and everything. I had some to show my solidarity, and yup – same ole cloyingly sweet pineapply syrupy ick I remember from the ‘60s. It was gone in minutes; those people sucked that stuff down like water. There were a bajillion KEGs in my undergrad and grad school days, and I sucked that stuff down like water. Every time I see a toddler just learning to walk, I picture myself lurching toward the KEG for, what, my 8th beer maybe? Sheesh.
FAKE NEWS could have been clued as “Trumpet blast.”
“Tool chain” – “Hooters” was too long.
For inquiring minds – Monrovia is the capital of Liberia. Y’all all probably knew that. I had to look it up. (Hi, @okanagaer.)
I looked up shibboleth, too. I mean I kinda knew what it meant, but I wanted a refresher. Terrific word, Rex. I had “not” PC first. These days there is so much that’s considered offensive that talking to almost anyone becomes a minefield. My very first day at Turning Point, the other English teacher had Covid, and some kids were asking about her. The conversation went like this:
Them: What’s she look like?
Me: Well, hmm. She’s about my height, maybe a little shorter, medium-length hair, about my age.
Them: [Sitting back, shaking heads] You’re allowed to say she’s black, Ms. Smith.
I live in constant fear that I’m going to say something racist/agist/sexist/ableist, and it’s exhausting.
Anyhoo . . . I don’t want to brag, but I did see TOSCA in Verona at the Verona Arena (a Roman amphitheater in built in 30 AD.) So I’m kind of a big deal.
The airport codes reminded me that I’ve started poking around for tickets to the upcoming ACPT. Gotta plug it – if you go, you’ll be like, why didn’t I do this sooner? It’s not about the competition; it’s about hanging around with like-minded, delightful people all weekend. And stargazing. All the badass constructors go. It’s a hoot. (@imsdave – ahem. I’m still game for the talent show, buddy.)
Very challenging, very fun, super smart puzzle. Took me forever and I would still be willing to work on it some more.
Love the theme and it helped the solve. Pretty rare unfortunately.
Look how clean and interesting the fill is too. Positively delightful.
Uniclues:
1 Childhood nickname for future Sci-Fi queen Croft after learning what those holes in the wall do when combined with a butter knife.
2 Digested.
3 Rex returning your term paper.
1 ELECTRICAL OUTLET LARA
2 STOMACH'S END HOLLOWED
3 UPSTATE DOC REUNITE
Too many names, of people I've never heard of and never wanted to.
Bugt I got onto th thereat "fake news and then the theme was fun if not much else.
Overall found it a tad easier than @Rex did. That’s because after I gave up on the North I managed to get GEOLOGIST from crosses and figured out the theme from the clue. Fell into the @jae trap of [moon]WalK at 1A and the @okanaganer DWAnE/nESI trap in the SW. Just the right amount of challenge for a Sunday.
Everyone is saying that the nw corner is difficult how ever it was one of the easier fills for me . Avid hip hop fan so I knew wale off te bat which helped me with twerk cross. I blame my age and culture. Lol. I also got Liberia off the bat As well because I’m liberian . The capital is Monrovia
The way the clue reads, NYC IS the getaway weekend . FOUL!
Next time I get a haircut I'll ask for a quart of SHAVINGCREAM to go.
Could not for the life of me figure out the trick, but I managed to slog my way through, though it took nearly an hour. Wow, brilliant theme, wish I'd have seen it during the solve. Toughest Sunday in forever.
I’m sorry but the first theme answer actually DOESN’T work without an “ET”
Pleasing puzzle with a well-executed theme, which I got at GEOLOGIST.
Know SIA from her music and ARIE from crosswords, but that cross may be tricky for some. Similarly, know D-WADE from basketball and DESI from crosswords, but another tough cross, potentially.
Extraordinarily easy acrostic this week. Some weeks I’ll only get four or five words on the first pass through the clues. This week I got twelve.
Very creepy that LMS's students speak in unison. Sounds like a Village of the Damned situation.
Took forever but liked it.
Agree with everyone this was a tough puzzle. I didn't start moving along until the theme revealed itself. Cool theme, "...WITHOUT AN ET," heh heh. But, as pointed out by others, the PPP's did not help at all, especially at places like the crosses at 63A/57D and 127A/106D.
I always get a kick out of comments from the New York "city folk" that Westchester (where I live) is "upstate." I consider Albany to be "upstate." Maybe those in the Capitol District consider Plattsburgh "upstate!"
55A ("Complete") took me a while even when I had three of the letters. When I finally got it, I was reminded of Mr. ATOZ, the librarian on the Star Trek episode "All Our Yesterdays."
Started at midnight when I couldn't sleep. Got about 2/3rds done, and still hadn't figured out the theme. Apparently my brain was still working on it (another reason you shouldn't do crossword puzzles at midnight, the first being the blue light from the laptop), because I had an "aha" while dropping off. I was tempted to get back up and continue.
There was no whoosh whoosh with this puzzle, for me. It started hard, in the top left corner and ended hard in the bottom left (DWADE??? ETON?). When I saw ETON I thought "Does international mean British?" Googled, Swedish founder, named after British ETON.
Congrats on 16 years, Rex!
TRICEPS is wrong.
Lots of pop culture, not anywhere near my home plate.
So many clues outside the strike zone, e.g., EXCAVATED is too far from HOLLOWED OUT; e.g., STAVE is not STAFF.
From (empty NW) start to finish, just no fun at all.
Did not get the theme even after finishing the puzzle and looking at the [correct] answers. That made the puzzle very hard. Exacerbated by my unfamiliarity of much of the PPP. (Should I continue to use the term PPP now that Z has abandoned solving the puzzle and commenting here? Unsure.) Still, oddly, enjoyed the puzzle.
This one is not for me. I finally was able to grok the theme, but the rest of the grid and the associated cluing just didn’t seem like any fun. For example, one whole row in the center consists of: ATOZ TIOS ELFIN TRI - I don’t believe there is a real word in the whole quartet. Yes, I’m aware that this type of nonsense is pretty much SOP for the NYT - doesn’t make it enjoyable (for me at least).
Played easier for me than Rex. Nearly a themeless until the revealer - was able to get most with crosses. I don’t care for the alternate universe of putting the trickery in the clues - just makes the whole thing a chore.
I’ll pile on with the big guy’s stance on not wanting to see ETES and FILET etc in the fill. There are also quite a few ETs embedded in non theme clues - no asterisk but still loses some shine when “head of a badminton rackET” crosses an actual themer.
@Carola from late yesterday - tough as nails is right. Thanks for the link.
SYD Straw
Not my type of fun.
ARIE/SIA was a Natick for me. The theme was simply useless for solving the puzzle. Joyless slong.
Loved the gimmick and many other things about the puzzle.
But way more pop culture than I care to know, or feel in any way enriched for knowing. The puzzle was challenging enough, so it didn't need to become annoying, as well. If only the Beatle's had reunited....
One question, though. Is EX TERMINATOR referring to the ex-governor, ex-bodybuilder and ex-Kennedy-in-law?
Can someone explain the answer to odd numbered page, typically. Recto. I can’t see it.
@Southside johnny, I went to a fishing lodge on an island off of Fairbanks Alaska, and the area was called Elfin Cove.
Recto refers to the right side page of an open book. These usually have odd numbers
It's a right-hand page of a book, which normally would be odd-numbered.
I just gave up and went to Wordle. So much more tractable than this convoluted construction.
ELFIN is indeed a real word. It is also the wrong answer to the clue. Legolas is Elven, and Tolkien was very clear on this. I'm sure he would be perfectly ok with Amazon's casting decisions, but this clue/answer will have him spinning in his grave.
Thx, Meghan, for a great Sun. workout! :)
Very hard (2 x avg).
This one would have befitted an ET; it was out of this world. lol
My kind of puz; a battle to the 'better' end. :)
A very slow, methodical, plodding expedition.
Was determined to get the NW before embarking on the rest of the journey. In spite of not knowing WALE nor KIT CAR (wanted CAR KIT), finally sussed that corner out, and proceeded with the trek.
The toughest area was ALL OF / FAKE / KEG.
Had no CLUE re: the theme (even after getting WORKING WITHOUT A NET). Obviously, didn't pay enuf attention to the word, 'parsed'. Post-solve, finally saw WORKING WITHOUT AN ET, and again failed to read carefully, trying to find ETs to eliminate in the answers rather than in the clues. Once the light bulb went on, all was good! :)
'Curling' became my fave participation (and viewing) sport after moving to Canada in the 70's. Many fond ENDs, one of which was a coveted 'eight-ENDer'.
"An eight-ender, also called a snowman, is a perfect score within a single end of curling. In an end, both sides throw eight rocks, and in an eight-ender, all eight rocks from one team score points." (Wikipedia)
Just a great, and very fulfilling adventure into the otherworldly universe of an ET.
Med-hard Acrostic today; not at all on the right wavelength for this one. Enjoyed the battle; a worthy challenge!
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
@Anonymous 9:00 AM
The front or face of a single sheet of paper, or the right-hand page of an open book is called the recto. The back or underside of a single sheet of paper, or the left-hand page of an open book is known as the verso.
@anon the odd numbered pages are usually on the right side of a book while you're reading it, and recto is an old word for that.
Tolkien is rolling in his grave for "elfin" rather than "elven" for Legolas. He literally coined the latter term (along with "dwarvish").
Wonderful! The Aha Moment was everything an Aha Moment should be.
I find it true pretty much 100% of the time that when you put your trick in the clue rather than in the answer, you have the best chance of befuddling the solver. And for a while I was completely befuddled.
I did this puzzle yesterday and had a lovely, somewhat liquid dinner with my family last night, so I don't remember at exactly what point the scales fell from my eyes and I began to re-read the clues. I think it may have been the third themer down where I said: "Aha! They're taking away the ET!!!" And after that, of course, all befuddlement left me and the puzzle went from baffling to much, much easier.
Another puzzle where I wish that this brilliant idea had been mine. I like the conceit so much that I will even forgive this puzzle its two Naticky spots: the SIA/ARIE cross where I guessed right and the DWADE/DESI cross where I forgot to guess at all. (I would have picked an N instead of a D, as in DWANE/NESI and I would have been wrong. But, in the great scheme of things, so what?)
A really enjoyable and very clever Sunday -- one of the best.
Hey All !
That dang STOMACHS section/area was tough! Nothing was brewing in the ole brain there. Finally broke down (again!) and Googed for STAVE. For UPSTATE, had it as UnSTAgE for a while! I was reading the clue as Going to NYC, not Leaving. After the shameful Goog, was able to grok the rest, and finish with the Happy Music.
Kept wanting Bash for BELT. Had Right for RECTO. HAD lEnTO in for a bit, whatever the hell that is. What the what is IVF? Kea/Loa of EonS and ERAS. What a mess.
Puz was good. Took me a bit to figure out what in tarhooties the theme wanted. Aha, says I, take out "ET" from the clues. But not "NET?" Another Aha, WORKS WITHOUT AN ET. Clever.
Must be something about the 50 minute mark that gets me Apprehensive. That was when I Googled for STAVE. Finished in 54 minutes. Ah, well.
Maybe @Gill will regale us with a story today. YES I CAN TWERK is a good start!
Five F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Amy: sweet 16, Rex. Thank you. LMS, if the absent teacher was white, would you include that in your description?
Liked this a lot. SW corner was toughest for me. Very clever theme, strong fill, fun sense of humor. Happy Sunday.
Tough Sunday, but I enjoyed it. Agree with @Rich, Legolas was many things, but "elfin" was not one of them. I'd even accept "Elvish," but that's a stretch.
Hardest Sunday for me in ages. I had to look up some answers because I was just absolutely stuck. The theme is great, but I did not understand it, especially because there were so many WEIRD clues otherwise. Great effort, tho.
PC is not only real, it is crippling as LMS ably attests.
Great puzzle! Loved that there was a clue for DESI that didn't involve I Love Lucy.
Once again, however, the NYT messes it up with unnecessary highlighting of cross-references. The theme clues are starred, and your solvers aren't idiots. Stop screwing up perfectly good puzzles with sophomoric graphics, NYT!
Dnf. Don't get it. Too many inane quasi punny clues.
@LMS “FAKE NEWS could have been clued as “Trumpet blast.” 😂👏
Just getting back to crossword and blog after a stroke In occipital lobe on Sept 2. Some issues with vision have slowed my solving down. Who knew that good peripheral vision was good for solving?
It is good to be reading all y’all again; I’ve missed the wit and the insight into the puzzles. Sorry Z has left. Any particular reason?
Oof. I am ashamed to say that I did not divine the theme, GOT WISE I did not, and so this one was brutally tough; my experience was akin to @Rich Glauber's.
I'm going to blame my failure on Covid, transmitted to me no doubt by my students. Now, I have to admit: I've been feeling great; the Paxlovid I got really knows its business, and once I started taking it, in conjunction with the OTC stuff, everything cleared up including my mind. But now my wife has it, and eventually all her coughing and throat-clearing drove me out of bed late last night and to the puzzle. So maybe it was the wrong hour to do the puzzle. I got the idea of removing ET; I just didn't see to apply it to the clues, duh.
Now that I know it though, the puzzle looks ingenious.
I honestly didn't know DWADE and TSWANA. I SORTA knew DESI, and DRIBBLES was a guess, clueless as I was.
The hell you don't use your TRI's doing pullups. Yes, one uses the biceps too; both are involved. And the back muscles. Sorry to say, but the commenters here who are insisting that the TRI's aren't used simply don't know what they are talking about. Must be some kind of Dunning-Kruger pandemic that has swept through these past, oh, seven years or so.
Speaking of Trumpet blasts (oh, @LMS, you sly devil you!) and DUMPS, here's something for you.
Tough cluing plus plenty of unknown names made this a very challenging Sunday for me. Thankfully, I caught on to the -ET business fairly early, when the grid said GEOLOGIST and the clue said "Rocket." That allowed me to go back and fill in the ELECTRICAL OUTLET and gave me a fighting chance at the rest of the theme answers. Cost-benefit analysis: for me, a wash - I wish I could be more positive, because I think the theme is clever and creative (e.g., FAKE NEWS!). But the difficulty of the rest took too much of the shine off for me.
Do-overs: STAff before STAVE, USER NAME As a PASSWORD. Help from previous puzzles: ARIE, DESI. No idea: LARA, CLEO, ETON, DWADE, WALE, BUENA, TSWANU. Hardest area, and yet appealing once I finally could fill it in: BRAS x ALLURES + BELT x STOMACHS.
I LOVE “Trumpet blast.” I was going to follow with…of course, some will be offended, bummer. But now that I think about it, it can be interpreted in a couple different ways. So perhaps both sides of the dishes aisle would be ok with it? Or perhaps both sides would be offended? Like you said…sensitive times.
Yeah, I was considering things like insulation, termites, studs too.
Classic old school NY Times puzzle, but "Wood that sinks in water" is a paraphrase of an extremely poor taste joke from the early 80s that perhaps should have been re-clued.
This was not fun, didn’t flow, lacked flair but that’s familiar turf on a Sunday.
Still bothered by one of the themers: who buys SHAVING CREAM by the quart?!?!
This was a real bear for me. I just wasn’t on the wavelength for the clues. I essentially worked it as though the 8 (Eight!) themers were unclued. Eventually I finished, with high uncertainty at the crosses @ Nancy mentioned. I didn't think to remove et from the clues, so now I know to check there in the future. I'm sure this was very satisfying for those who figured it out.
I also miss @Z and appreciate his frustration with the insidious presence of BS.
A prime example of the continuing decline of NYTXW, particularly Sundays. Very sad.
My biggest complaint is that the Tachometer (30A) is not a "Dash Dial", it's a gauge. I can't rev up my engine by turning my tach.
Knott’s Berry Farm is in BUENA Park.
Agree about TRI being incorrect. I want with “lat.”
Oh, and Happy Birthday Blog! You're a constant source of amusement and enlightenment.
An American, a Mexican and a YESICAN walk into a bar…..
I can’t believe that @Gary Jugert laid off of TWERK BRAS BABE CATS for a Uniclue answer.
I like that NONPC and TABOO are sorta pinky shaking and that BAN starts in TABOO. A mini morality play.
What the Beatles never did: bad song, eat bugs, ecstasy, brew ale ….
Something DWADE of the NBA never does? WORKSWITHOUTANET.
Like Rex and others, I had a heckuva hard time gaining traction, but got the gimmick pretty early and flew thereafter. Very nice Sunday workout. Thanks, Meghan Morris.
@Birchbark from yesterday - thanks for the tip about the radio show with Joel McCrea!
Also from late yesterday I have to agree that current culture seems so caught up in itself - it sees no value in anything not brand new. Unfortunately it's hard to find music and films from the past on the new platforms, even if someone were interested.
This was hard! But my kvetch is if you are going to reference Legolas for a clue you better have ELVEN as ana answer. Tolkien didn't use elfin. If the answer is elfin, Clue it Like Hermie.
Like many here I had next to nothing in the top and started bouncing around and wound up in the SW where DRIBBLES had to be right and I recognized the trick right there and went back up and wrote in ELECRICALOUTLET just like that (hi @Carola), feeling like a genius, which doesn't happen often. Seeing what was up with the themers was a huge help with the rest of the puzzle, which could have been beyond challenging, but wasn't.
@Colin-I grew up north of Albany in the southern Adirondacks which we considered UPSTATE. I also lived for a while in Plattsburgh, which is definitely UPSTATE. It always seems wrong to me to consider places like Buffalo to be UPSTATE, it's what we would have called "Western NY". Also used to be fun in Plattsburgh to listen to Canadians' amusement when we called ourselves "The North Country".
I thought this was the best Sunday in quite a long time and was sorry to finish it. Just tons of smiles and ahas all over the place. Thanks for all the fun, MM. Magic Moments abounded, and all I can say is, Sundazo!
And now on to the Acrostic, where my genius Sunday will probably be laid low in a hurry.
Yes tough but not unfair
After getting the ET theme fairly soon, 🧩 became doable - doable, not easy. 🤗 Lotsa BLANKet spaces.
Not a boring Sunday more a kinda Funday.
🤗🦖🦖🦖🦖🤗
I usually do the Sunday puzzle 6PM eastern, but I had an early dinner date, so didn't get to it until about 11PM.
Threw in TWERK and EVES to start, but that was it in the NW.
Slowly worked through the rest without figuring out the theme and DNF'd at the V in STAVE.
Forgot to start the timer but it felt like it took forever.
I'll blame it on the late hour (not to mention the two martinis).
@Rex.
MAZEL TOV on 16 years.,
For a little while I thought AMERICA would be a cute answer for "country whose capital was named after an early US president"
Terrible puzzle. No wit or style. Hard but no fun. Absolutely hated it.
One big objection: No doubt elfish works okay for kids movies. But Tolkein was explicitly refernced by "Legolas" so the word is elvien. Also for roleplay gamers. Really a tough stumble for me.
But the theme was great. Enjoyed the rest of the puzzle.
Who buys shaving cream by the quart? Presumably barber shops do, since they use lots of it. The rest of us don't.
I also thought for a long time that the getaway weekend was to NYC, not from NYC. I finally decided there are few places in NYC that one would truly spend a whole weekend, and none of those fit. The joy of NYC is the many different things to do.
I thought there was some well-known guy called DrADE. So I was totally mystified by the across being rEARS.
Who knew that United had a hub in SFO? Hubs usually aren't on the coast, for the obvious reason that there are lots of missing spokes as a result.
The cluing for 28 across is badly non-parallel. "He dumps on his friend" does not mean the same as "he burdens with his friend." The latter makes no sense at all, in fact. The clue would better just have been "Burdens."
Surprised Rex didn't immediately know OPTICKS, since he has considerably familiarity with less-than-modern English literature. Removal of that K in more recent times definitely is a thing. For example, physicks.
Villager
This theme was invented by someone under the influence of something. I didn't understand the trick, even after it was explained.
More evidence that Sundays should go themeless. The occasional themeless we get is much more enjoyable than most of the crap we get on Sunday. Wouldn't miss Thursday's crap either. I know, I know, you're thinking, "Then don't do them." I think I'll take your advice.
Well, ok … I sorta latched onto the theme mcguffin, after gettin enough stuff uptop to see that 23-A was gonna be ELECTRICALOUTLET. But my initial mcguffin interpr(et)ation was: yep, U take the last two letters off yer clue, but they'll then show up again, at the end of the answer. Not quite right, M&A breath.
Cute theme & reveal.
fave themer: {Press junk(et)} = FAKENEWS. Like @Muse darlin's clue even better, of course.
best Ow de Speration debut: HAVEIT. har
staff weeject pick: IVF. Wanted ATC [Abort The Court].
Thanx for the fun, Ms. Morris darlin. Great job.
Masked & Anonym007Us
**gruntz**
@anonymous 7:02am; the revealer says that the clue, without the “et”, works for the answer, not the other way around. So “What’s in your wallet” minus the “et”, is What’s in your wall”, and the answer is correct.
Well I certainly felt like a PEA BRAIN with my nearly 45-minute time today, way over my average. And after thinking I was off to a great start by getting TWERK right off the bat (not that I am a practitioner - no one wants to see my back up dancing ). I didn’t get the theme until I was almost done, long after I got the revealer. I kept looking for “net”s to remove. It didn’t help that I never see the puzzle title since I solve on the app. “Take two” might have helped me see it was “et” not “net” I needed to look for.
Once I got it, I thought it was quite clever. My favorite was “drop in the buck(et)” for INFLATION. I had to think about that, but it works great (and, sadly, is quite timely).
Most of us in the media NEVER use FAKE NEWS to mean news reports that are false. Trump has totally corrupted the term because he uses it to mean news reports that are actually true but that he wishes were false. The one way I would actually use it is in @LMS’s brilliant example of “Trump(et) blasts.” LMS scores again!
Speaking of which, I did like DWADE crossing DRIBBLE even though I have barely heard of that player and badly wanted SHACK there. Yeah, it’s usually SHAQ, but SHACK sometimes and he’s much more of a “great” than DWADE.
Agree with those objecting to ELFIN for Legolas. Elves in Tolkien are absolutely not ELFIN as it’s defined - they are tall and regal, not short and cute. Also didn’t like UPSTATE since I read the clue as a place in NYC for a weekend getaway, for those of us who don’t live there.
But on the whole, a challenging and fun outing.
There's something "tasteless" about pointing out that EBONY is a wood that sinks in water??
FANTASTIC! Best Sunday in ages. This is NYT level... the title doesn't give too much away, and the revealer takes a moment to parse correctly. If only every Sunday were as creative and enjoyable....
@MetroGnome said...
There's something "tasteless" about pointing out that EBONY is a wood that sinks in water??
Please explain.
I had a dark moment with the clue “Wood that doesn’t float”
Pain in the neck. Joyless grind once I lost interest in whatever theme might turn out to be.
DWADE/DESI was brutal. Other than that, once I cracked the code (early), it was kind of easy. TSWANA I never heard of.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY REX PARKER BLOG!!
Long time no comment, but fear not: my wife and I still solve together with pen and paper on Saturdays and Sundays, then solve separately and compare notes on the app the rest of the week, as we’ve been doing for three or four years without fail. I miss having the time to interact with the commentariat community here, but my work/life balance is untenable and this is, alas, one of the casualties.
I feel that the sixteenth birthday of this blog is reason enough to chime in and say “Hello and I miss you all.”
Solved today’s puzzle over breakfast tacos and bloody marias. We had no real trouble except the B in BRAS and BBC, as we kept thinking it would be ABC or NBC. Then we started to think internationally, and BBC, then “Aha! Bra!”
I will note that SNL segments are *sketches*, not SKITS.
And UNPC / NONPC should henceforth only ever be clued as “Right wing shibboleth.”
SIA crossing ARIE was a complete Natick for me, and I'd expect I'm not alone. OTOH, the opera clues were gimmes -- all of which says something about the kind of music I have spent my life with, and what not.
As a musician, agree that STAVE is an incorrect answer to the clue. STAFF would be right.
Actually, the Tolkien adjective is elven. ELFIN is just wrong as clued.
It took me a LONG time to understand the clue. Eventually the mental light bulb lit up and I started to feel some satisfaction. Some answers were a big stretch for me. I’m thinking of you exterminator. Now I have a question I truly hope someone can answer. Why are the letters IAMSO shaded in blue? I see that every week one of the clues is shaded blue but I don’t know why. Please someone help.
Bizarre, unnecessary rant about the “non-PC” clue.
The "non-floating" wood can be seen as a reference to an old and tasteless "joke" about Natalie Wood's death by drowning.
Liked the Acrostic but definitely got slowed down by a word in the quote that couldn't possibly be a word until it was.
@Anon 3:27
@Rex solves in AcrossLite and IAMSO is the last word he filled in today.
Welcome back, @oceanjeremy. Always nice to see a familiar voice.
@pablo
Thanks, didn't remember the joke so had no idea.
re: Acrostic
I had the same experience.
Happy Birthday Rex Parker. This community rocks.
p.s.
HAPPY B-DAY, to Rex the Wonder Blogger's Blog! Congratz on 16 puzzlin years.
M&A Celebrations Desk
The title was really good, imo. Yes, you take 2 letters out of the clue, but there are also two interpretations ( I,e, two takes) to the reveal (the one that goes with its clue and the parsed one) and, via that, two interpretations takes) to every one of the clues. Considering the title can refer either to taking out two letters from the clue or two seeing two takes in the clues and in the reveal, even the title has two takes! So much mileage from two little words! I loved it!
It’s never SHACK.
"Muscle used in a pull-up.." is TRI (presumably short for tricep, even though literally no one refers to the triceps as "TRI") No, no it is not. The triceps are not activated during pull-ups. Aren’t the constructor and editor responsible for making sure the clues are accurate or, at least, not flat out wrong?
Anyway, I liked this puzzle.
People don’t buy a quart of shaving cream, barbershops do.
Slog of a puzzle. Surprisingly got the theme early on and filled those in fairly easily. Did NOT like the clueing. Felt like one of those trying to be too clever, and then missing the mark instead. LOWES is not a tool brand, nor do they sell tools exclusively, so it’s hard to see any way this clue makes sense. Push-ups most engage the TRI muscles. Legolas is not ELFIN, he is explicitly Elven (even Elvin would’ve been more forgivable). HOLLOWED for excavate is just sloppy and a tick or two off. The clue for ETSY is just intentionally annoying (the answer was filled by crosses so it was easy, but all this constructor did by trying to be clever is outdate their puzzle if the site ever changes a simple homepage layout). SNL consists of sketches, not SKITs. Apocalypse clues to DOOM? The word has evolved from Revelation, but it always conjures destruction. DOOM? Maybe if the Marvel character is friends with Dr. DOOM? Goodness. And STAVE over staff? Come on.
The fill clues remind me of an old professor I had years ago for Western Civ. He insisted on giving quizzes every Monday, and always bragged about how “difficult” his tests were. The reading material was always fairly interesting, but not complex (selections from his “own” “textbook” that he had published, which literally consisted of poor-quality photocopies of articles from NatGeo and other publications). We would gather in study groups to read the articles and quiz each other until we knew the material well. But his tests were ridiculously inscrutable. The reason they were so “difficult” wasn’t for complex material or deep thinking, but he would ask the most random questions about peripheral, unimportant details, to the point you nearly had to memorize the article to pass the quiz (things like colors of clothing that were irrelevant to any significance, or a sequence of unimportant events). Nothing to do with actually knowing the material or using critical thinking.
He was eventually forced into retirement for being a terrible professor.
That’s what half this puzzle’s fill clues feel like. Way to be cute.
Happy Birthday! I’m always up for a party, guys. This puzzle, however, irritated me all day. The theme was terrific and I had it in reasonable time, but the NW defeated me and I had to finally hit reveal word several times so I could enjoy my dinner. Bon Appetit!
@smalltowndoc
Wrong on both counts (e.g., the 0:45 mark in the second link). Do you even lift? ;-)
People do say "quads", "bis", and "tris", even if you never heard it.
It may be true that the triceps muscle is generally not a primary focus of people using pull ups to build muscle, but the triceps is nevertheless engaged. More info here.
I call B.S. because of the Natick at the crossing of TSWANA and ENOS.
No fun at all. Way too many difficult clues, some because of the wording and some because they are obscure answers. How are we supposed to know the official languages of South Africa? If I see this constructors name in the future, I'll give it a pass.
Amped up my anxiety. Now that it's over, I'm sort of pleased. Especially seeing that it was hard for most other folks, too. I ended up "cheating" unintentionally—I had ALLOw as a guess for 11D [John Legend's "—Me"] crossing with woKE NEWS (when I still had no idea what the theme was). And when I ALLOwed myself to Google the putative John Legend hit, I found that the song title was "ALL OF Me" and therefore crossed with FAKE NEWS. So there's that. But otherwise, though I had a ton of overwrites, I solved the whole thing on my own (even things I did not know *at all,* like DWADE (cuz gay / sports). But I cannot close out this comment without adding that, for this boomer, "All of Me" will forever be the Sinatra song written by Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons. Sorry folks. That's just the reality of the situation.
Captains log, supplemental. For the uninitiated, here's a link to the iconic recording by Sinatra:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD8lVdXzUpk
Struggled in general, then with the A NET/AN ET, then hated it still. Some cute fill.
Thought the same thing. Elfin appears zero times in LOTR. It’s always elven.
You don’t use TRIs in a pull-up any more than STOMACHS.
@Mike-in-Bkln
Email me and I'll send you my Embedding Cheat Sheet.
Just wanted y'all to know, DWADE is not the name of the person. It's Dwayne WADE, but gets shortened to D WADE, as the clue does imply it's a nickname. I don't follow basketball, but somehow I do know that!
Skits, Sketches, let's call the whole thing off.
Happy Birthday RexBlog! Sweet 16. Be home by 11:00, young Blog.
I started on here (remember, bad memory here!) five, six years ago? I started as a Syndie, but eventually got a Puz subscription. Aren't you all glad? 😁
RooMonster Clean Up Guy
I had a big crush on "a net" Annette Funicello back when she was on The Mickey Mouse Club. I still have hanging up in my workshop a cardboard poster cutout of her (and Frankie Avalon) from one of their 60s Beach Blanket Bingo movies. Seeing her picture in OFL's blog put a smile on my face.
I started going to the gym and doing workouts when I quit smoking in the early 70s. I continued up until Covid. Thought I knew the muscle groups and which ones are used in the different types of resistance training. I never thought of TRIceps as "Muscles used in a pull up, informally" and I've never heard them called TRI (60A). I just do calisthenics these days and my TRIcep exercises are push ups and, especially, TRIcep dips. Here's a great tutorial on doing TRIcep dips using just a chair.
I always thought barbershops used imported shaving cream and bought it by the kilogram.
Happy Birthday Blog! I think I've been here for at least 12 or 13 of those years, maybe more, but I don't read all the comments every day. Like today.
My experience with this puzzle was almost a carbon copy of Rex's except I knew Twyla. Other than that, reading his writeup captured my solve perfectly -- same glitches, same walls, same confusions. I had several theme answers without having any idea why they were "right." Figuring out the gimmick was a huge rush of pleasure -- crosswordsy speaking, of course. Tough and frustrating but fun when it came together. Impressive work!
I don’t understand why you label the puzzle “medium to challenging” if you had so much trouble with it. I only come here when I find a puzzle harder than usual to see if you had trouble as well. Clearly, from your remarks, you did. Yet you seemingly can’t ever admit that a puzzle is honest to goodness “challenging.” Why is that?
I was a little surprised at the first STAVE complaint, as that was (to me) a common alternative to 'staff'. But the complaints kept piling up, so I checked and it turns out STAVE is primarily British. Guess I know a lot of Brits.
Agreed.
You rock, Rex! I thought this was a terrible puzzle with irrelevant clues.
Bad puzzle! Clues were inaccurate.
I'm a little shocked that Rex and many here ranked this one as challenging. This is the extremely rare puzzle where that is the case and I raced through it. This one rated not just easy, but very easy for me. Cannot figure out why that is the case since 99 times out of a hundred I come here thinking a puzzle was difficult and everyone here flew through it.
People aren't more sensitive now. They're empowered to tell others when they've hurt them. The stuff was still racist/sexist/ableist when you were "allowed" to say it.
We all say things that are offensive without realizing it. The "easily offended" are usually telling you so that you can do better next time. We should be happy to be called out; it means they trust us to be better. We aren't a lost cause.
I'm happy to live in a world where people with less privilege feel empowered to make things hurt a little bit less. And I appreciate when I'm given the chance to improve myself.
I think this falls into the category Rex refers to as “yes, a lawyer might argue in a court of law …” but no, the tricep isn’t a significant contributor to the forces needed for a pull-up. If the constructor/editors had said “push-up” then it would be correct. Obviously just a mistake.
Also, Plan B is Take Two!
Ditto... ppp galore
SIA and ARIE are both such common crossword clues that they really should be obvious to all frequent solvers. And yet somehow I can NEVER remember ARIE!
Agree
@loren muse smith Always love your clever comments. Keeps me laughing and coming to this blog. Thank you!
BABE NEWS
TWYLA WAS TABOO, she WORKSWITH ALLOF the guys,
REACT to the CLUE, she TWERKS AND THEY ALL GOTWISE.
--- RALPH OLAF GODOT
Finished the NW last due to a Tango/oldCAR cross before TWERK/KITCAR.
LARA Flynn Boyle, yeah BABE.
Wordle par, coulda been eagle.
An odd Sunday, IMHO. A tad too much culcha of the pop variety.
Lady Di
Oh yes, I finished it with 2 errors. Ah me...
Sorry, couldn't devote the necessary time to work this one out; I was too busy cheering my (STILL!!!) unbeaten Eagles to a victory over a tough Cardinal squad, in doubt right up to the last play, a field goal attempt by them to tie us: oops, wide right!
After seeing the rather obscure revealer, I might well say I wouldn't have found it anyway. Oh well: archenemy Dallas next week.
After a clean RINSE start, BBBBB, I managed a bogey.
Happy 16th Rex! Here’s to many more! Thanks for all the insight, information and laughs over the years. Much appreciated.
Wow so many complaints about triceps. You know you can hold the bar both ways.
FWIW, I had unbow crossing ewterminator. Works that way, too, no? I say ew to ticks. I am a paper solver, so nobody told me otherwise until I got to Rex.
Also, SFO as hub — United has many flights to the west from there.
Agreed!
Hated movie ET and hated this puzzle, especially the bottom right corner. Found theme obvious and uninteresting. in that SE corner, couldn't parse 117D Zero and desperately wanted Tutsi (Tsutsi? ) to fit at 105D. Once I got here and saw Tswana, I got the rest though it took four reads to understand Zero In On. Quite ashamed I didn't get the last four letters of 121A without ANET. Kudos on the Funicello photo.
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