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Role for Daveed Diggs on "Black-ish" / WED 9-14-22 / Theme song of a classic western visually suggested six times in this puzzle's grid / Tik-Tok's 3-D musical eighth note, e.g.
Wednesday, September 14, 2022
Constructor: Michael Dewey
Relative difficulty: Medium
The HAPPY TRAILS:
- ELATED
- GLAD
- JOYFUL
- JOLLY
- CHEERY
- MERRY
The Roy Rogers Show is an American western television series starring Roy Rogers. 100 episodes were broadcast on NBC for six seasons between December 30, 1951 and June 9, 1957. The episodes were set in the prevailing times (1950s) rather than the old west. Various episodes are known to be in the public domain today, being featured in low budget cable television channels and home video.
• • •
The thing that happens when you take an answer off the Across / Down axes is that ... say you've got a standard (STD!) 8-letter Across answer. Put it in, and now you've got eight Downs that run through it, and each one now has one fixed letter. That's eight fixed letters. Now put that 8-letter on a diagonal instead of an Across and what do you get: the same eight fixed letters for the Downs that have to run through it, *plus* eight more fixed letters for the Acrosses that have to run through it. Locking letters in place really restricts your freedom to fill cleanly, and you essentially double the pressure on the grid when you run an answer on a diagonal. Plus, all those answers with pressure on them are all adjacent to one another. The grid is still fillable, but the results are not likely to make anyone truly ... happy. Today's answers aren't perfect diagonals, but the same idea applies—there's hardly an answer in the entire grid that isn't affected by the theme. I see a handful of Acrosses here and there. And as for Downs, KNOSSOS and WIT are the only Downs in the whole puzzle that doesn't run through at least one theme square. With a theme this dense, it's very hard to make the fill sing. Considering the level of difficulty, this grid is probably filled reasonably well. Basically we get a BUSLOAD of theme instead of CAPFULS, and so the fill creaks throughout. The theme is quaint, and will bring back nostalgic (possibly happy) memories for some portion of the solving audience, but for many others it will be a "????" and so the fill will be all they really have. And at best it's just OK.
I struggled only in the middle, where I didn't know which -SAT was at issue (28A: Princeton Review subj.), and I couldn't remember Mrs. POTTS (28D: Mrs. ___, "Beauty and the Beast" character), and worst of all I had SPREE for SPEED (32D: Tear). Ironically, I *knew* the [Suburb of Boston], LYNN being far more grid-common than that other infamous suburb of crossword-destroying fame (which remains a ONER in the Shortz Era):
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128 comments:
Any mention of Roy Rogers reminds me of the old joke (usually in a much longer form than this):
Roy Rogers is out riding his horse one day when a mountain lion attacks. Luckily Roy escapes but his new boots are ruined.
He’s so mad he goes back and shoots the mountain lion.
Upon seeing Roy returning with the lion across his saddle, Dale Evans asks him “Pardon me, Roy, is that the cat who chewed your new shoes?”
I did this Wednesday puzzle on Tuesday night and it seemed appropriately Tuesday-ish to me. KNOSSOS was unknown and LARDER, though known was definitely not top of mind, but the rest went in without hesitation.
The "happy trails" were a pretty slick feat of construction.
Ugh - terrible. I didn't know "Beauty and the Beast", so Mrs LOTTS seemed perfectly fine crossing LSAT, which is definitely a thing the princeton review does. Not a fan :(
Rex - I had to YouTube HAPPY TRAILS to remind myself how the song goes. It’s fun for once to be just a tad too old to JOIN in any nostalgia. Now I can’t get that first part out of the song of my head. Neat idea to have all the TRAILS here and there. I’m impressed with the sheer number of circles; those letters have to work not two, but three ways.
I think we’ve tossed around the plural of things like CAPFULS, maybe it was about armfuls vs armsful? I can’t remember. I’m wondering if that nursery rhyme is mucking things up; the black sheep assures us that she has three bags full. Not three bagsful. Well, it’s written that way, and writing is such a forced, invented form of Language that I’m not losing any sleep over it.
The clue for YEN bothered me a bit. I can beat back a YEN but not a compulsion. YEN is like Wouldn’t it be nice to have a few OREOs right now?, but everything’s ok if you let the urge pass. Compulsion is like I have to count the steps as I walk up the flight. And if I don’t, something hideous will befall me. No, really.
“Words of resignation” could be the clue for I’LL GO, too:
Mom: There’s a potluck next Thursday. Would you like to go with me?
Me: Sure. I’LL GO.
Rather than collapse into bed, catatonic from wrangling surly teenagers. I’ll go and sit at a table with all her friends, wait in line at the *never* two-sided buffet line, eat some chicken and green bean casserole. Look around, at once moved by the fellowship of all the nice seniors and horrified that this is what has become of my life. [My plan had been to retire and train me a search and rescue dog so that I could work for FEMA during disasters and become a bit of a big deal. My dog and I were going to be on Good Morning America, and it was my plan to be all humble and aw-shucks. Oh well. Mann tracht, un Gott lacht.]
“What may be broken at a party” – a heart. Hi, Tommy. Remember me? The person you dumped for Melody B? I had to relinquish your I.D. bracelet to her? I’ve gotta let this go.
Cool to have SPEED crossing BUS. Great movie, if you’re not into arty subtitled films and improving yourself and stuff.
Nice to have Lake Ontario crossing Lake ERIE. I recently saw this helpful mnemonic for remembering the Great Lakes: L isa Likes Licking Lettuce Lightly: Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron,Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario. That’s a game-changer, man.
Friendly reminder to run out and buy some Topo Chico because it just never loses its fizz.
I still have HAPPY TRAILS in my head, and in a mean-spirited way, I’m singing it to two of my more challenging students who fought yesterday and will be suspended for 10 days. Not nice, I know, but I tell ya – they’re both what we in the business call “Highflyers” - major handsful.
OK, so I am definitely of the generation to whom this puzzle is addressed. It’s a funny feeling, being in the bull’s eye — doesn’t happen often these days. I warn my students that someday the firehose of popular culture will no longer be focused on them, and it will be a strange sensation.
That said, and despite my undying affection for Dale Evans and her husband, this was a ho-hum puzzle for all the reasons Rex elucidates. Played fast but felt slow. Thank goodness for Rex. On days I enjoy the puzzle he often makes me mad, but on days like today he brings the brightness I needed from the puzzle and didn’t get. Well done, Fearless Leader! (Rocky and Bullwinkle reference intentional)
@lms: I was recently on a committee that was handing out teaching awards, and my job was to write up a little something about not only each winner but also each runner-up. So I submitted the write-ups for the runner-ups. Or was that the writes-up for the runners-up?
Except my hang up in LSAT vs PSAT, this was more Monday or Tuesday. But it was worth it just to read this blog and see the Pardon me Roy Joke above. Thank you Joaquin! Not compelling enough for me to search my cable listings for the Roy Roger’s Show though. That said I think their fried chicken is under rated.
A dern tootin' barrel o' fun. I liked it way more than 🦖. I thought the fill was a delight and the theme was well executed. I don't mind an OREO in a complicated grid now and again.
Had LSAT/Mrs. LOTTS for PSAT/POTTS so the error was undetectable and needed to see @OFL'S grid to find it. I wonder why Princeton Review uses the PSAT as a subject. I think they should work on fixing carbon emissions first.
Isn't KNOSSOS a beautiful word? And the Wikipedia article on it is splendid reading.
He woke up in the morning ELATED.
He planned to do a crossword. It was fated.
In olden times the puzzle made him GLAD,
but half the time these days it led to mad.
He'd learned to stir a big ole bowl of JOYFUL
into a steaming pot of bitters and annoyful.
An oldster feels his thoughts are gold by golly.
He shares them weeping at the death of JOLLY.
We see his name atop a post and grow leary.
Will he rant 'n' cry again? Oh please be CHEERY.
When his pine box arrives and we head to bury,
we'll remember his sad relationship with MERRY.
Uniclues:
1 Those who mock your pantry.
2 Jokes one makes on the side of the highway.
1 LARDER JESTERS
2 GO-FLAT HILARITY
I knew the song from Quicksilver Messenger Service.
A theme like this puts a huge amount of pressure on the fill [addendum: looks I’m on Rex’s wavelength today]. That means you really need a good theme. If the theme is good, you accept the fill problems. If it isn’t … look out, Nancy’s wall.
I loved the theme.
Here’s how you can get a five-star rating from me on your puzzle: include ROY ROGERS. My absolute favorite restaurant in the world is ROY ROGERS. Double-R Bar Burger, fries dipped in a mix of mayo and BBQ sauce. Sheer heaven.
I’m too young to have ever seen the Roy Rogers Show. Super excited to be able to type “I’m too young…” so no whining about boomers today kids because a lot of us are actually too young to know this stuff. Also excited to learn Eclat.
Pomp is such a great word, need to find a reason to use it today.
Pantry before Larder because that’s what Americans call a Larder and there was nothing in the clue that suggested we weren’t using that English. But thanks Beatrix Potter for Larder because we just knew it had to be O’Meara.
Looked up Stale as a verb (there it was, who knew) and Webster listed, “… (Entry 3 of 4) intransitive verb: URINATE —used chiefly of camels and horses.” Why just camels and horses?
Here's a Google ad, "Princeton Review® PSAT Courses Offer Options To Guarantee The Best Results." Guarantee. Could this be one reason why some people claim that the high school SAT is discriminatory and should be eliminated? I was against it but with this new info, well... Thanks Michael Dewey.
I am also squarely in the generation that knew and loved the Roy Rogers Show. The first years of television, and ROY ROGERS and DALE EVANS were adored, the song was a completely familiar part of life. So I liked this theme a lot. The fill, less so. But maybe you can’t have everything on an ordinary old Wednesday!
I love the tone. I love seeing a puzzle dwelling on good vibes. Thinking of happy trails – even thinking of Dale Evans and Roy Rogers makes my heart smile – and I found the puzzle to be a lovely balance to the trauma/drama of page one. I’ve walked some happy trails in my time, actual walks out in nature, and this puzzle made me stop for a moment, as lovely images flew up from my memory. That’s a gift. That’s a big plus on top of the fun and satisfaction of filling in the grid. So, to bring up another old tune, Michael, thanks for the memories.
Well I got LARDER and OMEARA instantly which led to DALEEVANS which led to HAPPYTRAILS. I happen to own an old song book with the music for HAPPYTRAILS in it and I remember when I first looked into it I was surprised to find out that the song was written by DAKEEVANS herself, which was not mentioned in today's puzz. Wiki is a little ambivalent but does give credit to Dale and I'm sticking with that, as I've misremembered enough trivia for this week.
I'm with LMS on YENS and didn't like STALED. --Is the bread still good? No, it STALED. Don't think so.
The thing to break at a party could have been a pinata, except it obviously wasn't. Never mind.
So who likes seeing all those mirthful words and getting an earworm from a crossword? I do. Didn't hurt that new grandson JACK made an appearance.
OK Wednesday by me, MD. My Department of nostalgia for sure, and thanks for all the fun.
Getting really tired of pop culture based puzzles.
What is a hamster's favorite song? Habitrails, to you...
Awful experience for me. Besides the crosswordese garbage Rex mentioned that’s littered throughout the grid, I could include CIRRI, RIEL, ENL, NEDS, ACEY, ECLAT, HAAS, JOHAN…. I know im missing some but I can’t stand looking at this mess. So annoying.
-Brando
Van Halen - Diver Down
One highlight was the ERIE ONTARIO crossing. At least for a short moment, about for as long as it takes the water to crash down the falls. I was trying to put the lakes in order of water flow. Erie falls down into Ontario. Should that have driven what lake is DOWN and which is ACROSS? Both lakes are horizontal, it is the falls that are vertical. Having a triple crossing of ERIE NIAGARA ONTARIO with the lakes being across and the river/falls down is more appropriate. That is where my brain went and the fun turned into mist and evaporated.
Is there a crossword name for these crossings that have an actual connection? I remember a Sunday puzzle with a sound of music theme with an appropriate MOZART - SALZBURG crossing. That was enjoyable for much longer.
The big guy nailed this one. I don’t care what your theme is - when you’re dealing with this many themers - diagonal at that - the overall solve will suffer. Segmented - with bland, shortish fill. SARI, CIRRI, STD, RIEL, CHI etc - there’s some rough stuff here.
I did like the two Great Lakes cross and KNOSSOS is just odd enough to be cool.
The Avetts used to close their shows with it
Underperforming week so far.
No joy. I didn’t even bother to check what happy little words were in the last three set of circles towards the bottom. At first, I tried to stay engaged at 4D, wanting UTAN or some nickname for an Arizonian and wondering what it would turn out to be. Also had the mis-step of pAntry (which seemed to be confirmed nicely with AMOK) instead of LARDER at 1D, so that meant a wobbly start anyway. I let OMEARA fill himself in. The 80s being my formative years, here’s the golf names I know: our old xword friend Arnie, Jack Nicklaus (though I keep confusing his name with Jack Nicholson, oops, and that’s a shame since I played at playing golf on a course he designed at some swank resort my uncle took the family to one time), Greg Norman “The Great White Shark”, Lee Trevino (though I would just as readily spell him with an a instead of an e), and I actually met Chi Chi Rodriguez when I was a Hospitality Volunteer at some golf tournament in Detroit in the 90’s. I remember that he was the nicest of the famous people, always greeting the volunteer and staffers at every hole and being super nice. That’s my list. Oh, and Tiger Woods. That’s it. Any Omearas or Isao Aokis (or, to play along with today’s discussion about compound plurals, should that be Isaos Aoki?) will have to build themselves from crosses, every. single. time.
Lost all hope of this being fun in the top middle section when the PPP storm really took off. Abandon ye all [joy]…
I thought that the volunteer should say “I’LL dO it”, but I guess some volunteerism means physically going somewhere. And I had no problem with Mrs. POTTS. Though I never saw the Disney movie, I do have in my brain a vision of Cinderella dancing with a tea pot and a candelabrum, so... teapot, Mrs. Potts. No problem. This also may explain why the song stuck in my head after this puzzle was actually “Be Our Guest” instead of “Happy Trails”. (Be our guest. Be our guest. Put ipr service to the test!)
Anyway, I’m glad Rex pointed out the difficulty of creating a themer like this, so now I understand the reason for the heavy PPP, but, really people… it’s a crossWORD, not a Name Search, for goodness sakes!
@Joaquin, yes, thank you. Your joke was the best part of the morning for me so far! Will have to send that on to my sister who teaches English in Spain and is always looking for groany puns to interest her students.
@LMS, maybe I need regular coffee in my cup instead of decaf this morning, but please explain that Great Lakes mnemonic. I only know HOMES (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Eria, Superior). Or, the great song lyrics from Gordon Lightfoot, of course:
“Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the rooms of her ice-water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams
The islands and bays are for sportsmen
And farther below Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered”
Wordle 452 4/6*
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Birdie lipped the cup, with wrong choice of 2 possibilities for the bird!
Wordle average today: 3.8.
I'm with what looks like the majority here, and particularly @Son Volt, whose comments are pretty much mine. One reason I prefer a themeless is that the focus is on the clues and answers themselves, rather than on a maybe-clever structural thingy, which so often produces a pile of really boring fill to prop up the theme. Yes, I see how clever the construction here is. Did I have fun solving it? Not much. 10A was as close to delight as this got.
Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were heroes of mine when I was a child. Quiz me: Not only can I still sing the song without looking up any words, but I can also tell you the names of Roy's and Dale's horses and their dog, and their wacky sidekick and his Jeep. If some of the brain cells storing that kind of stuff would relinquish their content, I might be able to remember where I put the brass hose nozzle last week.
When I was five, I got this for Christmas, one of the best presents ever:https://www.icollector.com/Dale-Evans-Child-s-Cowgirl-Costume-RR_i10420540
The commentariat is in fine form today, starting off with Joaquin's jaunty song reference, gratefully received as not only did it make me laugh, but it supplants the theme song of today's puzzle, winning the battle of the ear worms. You LOSE, HAPPY TRAILS.
Gonna have to try Roy Rogers next time I do the monster haul through multiple states to visit my mom. My brother and I have a running debate -- Popeye's or Chik-Fil-A? (god, is that how you spell it? I can barely make myself type that idiotic sequence) -- but I never thought to try Roy Rogers chicken.
Sorry, @LMS -- always get a kick out of your posts, but SPEED really ain't all that and a BAG of chips. Keanu and Sandra are almost certainly lovely people, but as actors, they kinda deserve each other. Just sayin'.
I can't make that sound that Zed makes -- it's something like blrrghh -- but anyway, that sound at THE ICE or any of these THE constructions.
Otherwise, didn't mind the puzzle much, despite all that Rex said. Got the theme in pretty short order.
Amy: another LSAT stumbler here. Love Daveed Diggs, but wasn't sure about JOHAN. Also flung in PANTRY for LARDER and OMNI for RITZ, so had some digging out work. It did feel dated, but enjoyed the happy trails.
@ Joaquin (5:57 am)
Was that attack out on Trail 29?
For me, ROY ROGERS will always be the name given to the boy's version of the Shirley Temple "cocktail." Except as a young boy out with the family, I would often mix things up and ask the waiter for a Rob Roy.
Well, dnf at lSAT crossing lOTTS. Don't know the character and LSAT way more likely than PSAT. Don't remember my kids studying for the PSAT??
So not feeling cheery or merry.
Did drive past a turnoff to Natick the other day on the way to Maine, so I guess this was inevitable.
Hey All !
Apparently, I have a LARDER in my kitchen. Who knew?
Neat puz. Hair-tearingly tough to get clean fill, with, as others have mentioned, the restrictions in each section of the puz. The "TRAILS" aren't necessarily locked in place, you can manuever them any way to get them in, but they still have to be in, so you get restricted pretty quick. Plus, add in three "regular" Across Themers, and viola, no hair.
So when I see this type of theme, with all these "have-to-workarounds" (@LMS - workaround?) I give many passes to iffy fill and -ese. I think the fill ENDed UP pretty dang good.
CIRRI, har. SB word. Didn't know what it was until now. Clouds. Nice.
KNOSSOS. Dang. May have heard of that many moons ago, but has since been pushed out of the ole brain to make way for some sort of useless knowledge.
Alt clue for 11D ANY IDEAS - What do we do now? (Insert any type of bad situation) Har
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Well this was a real trip down memory lane and I loved it. A little corny perhaps but I’ll take it any day over rap stars and video games. It’s nice to be the one knowing all the answers for a change. I was a pretty small sprout during those early golden days of TV but I recollect enough to thoroughly enjoy the memories this puzzle evoked. So - big thank you for this, Mr. Dewey!
Married at age 14 and a mother at 15, DALE EVANS was a pioneer in more ways than one as a single divorced parent in the early years of her career. During her time at 20th Century Fox, the studio promoted her as the unmarried supporter of her teenage "brother" Tommy (actually her son Tom Fox, Jr.), a deception that continued through her divorce in 1946 and her development as a cowgirl co-star to Roy Rogers at Republic Studios. (Wikipedia)
Bad puzzle to me because of all the PPP. I might be old (70+) but dont know or care about old PPP and more than new PPP. I guess it is a good puzzle, but not for me at all.
@Anonymous 8:36
What a memory!
Mustard and custard!
A puzzle with a weak theme, weak clues, and a weak grid. It meanders all over the place like those trails. And once I saw DALE (just DALE; no EVANS yet) plus [ELATED] in the NW, I immediately knew what the theme would be. Her and him and their song, of course.
But I'm old. If you're young, you can be forgiven for not knowing who these people are, what they're singing about, and why they're in your puzzle.
And that's the problem with a theme like this. Crashingly boring to those of us in the know and perhaps a great big "Huh??" to those who aren't.
Also, STALED is horrendous. Let me go back now to see who else has said so. I imagine more than a few.
And if I were Roy Rogers
I’d sure enough be single
I couldn’t bring myself to marrying old Dale.
It’d just be me and Trigger,
We'd go riding through them movies
Then we'd buy a boat and on the sea we'd sail
Lyle Lovett, “If I had a boat”
Because of a 1990s era Roy/Dale pbs special my uncle was watching last year I was able to use the theme to help trudge through this PPP/crosswordese morass. Like others, had LSAT/LOTTS.
For some reason my brain absolutely refuses to learn OMEARA even though I’ve seen it a few times and gotten stuck on it every time. Even right now it looks brand new. There’s a limit to how boring and useless PPP can be I guess?
@Anon 8:36. I was going to mention the goofy sidekick and his Jeep. I don't remember his name. I thought it was funny to have horses and a Jeep in the same "western". I'LL echo the fun of Joaquin's joke. I enjoyed the puzzle. The theme helped fill some squares (circles?) I found @Rex's notes on construction very interesting. I'm just a solver so I don't know these things. Doesn't diminish my fun. Some of the names were hard today. The only clunker was STALED.
Mira sobrino, aqui está O'Meara, el Riel Potts.
Didn't Roy have Trigger stuffed?
@Loren: “Look around, at once moved by the fellowship of all the nice seniors and horrified that this is what has become of my life.” I can sure empathize with that emotion and man, it is a gobsmacker when it first hits you. I used to go to a local restaurant with my mom where they had a buffet special for seniors at a significantly reduced price. The food was excellent but we had to sit in a separate room with all the other seniors for company. I took small comfort in the fact that I was the youngest one in the room. Grasping at straws I know, but desperate times . . . .
@Anonymous (8:26) “If some of the brain cells storing that kind of stuff would relinquish their content, I might be able to remember where I put the brass hose nozzle last week.” 😂 I can relate to that too. Oh boy, can I ever! I guess the upside is that when you finally find those things you put away so carefully, it’s almost like Christmas morning.
@Nancy: Yes, agree STALED is awful.
This is possibly the least enjoyment I've ever gotten out of an NYT puzzle. Absolutely brutal with names that are unfamiliar to me as someone under the age of 50. Drab fill. Just kinda gross. Oh well.
@OTG9:36 -- Pat Buttrum (sp?) drove his Jeep Nellybelle (sp?).
On a different subject ( and apologies to current residents), when I was a kid decades ago, there was a joking rhyme about the city nearby:
"Lynn, Lynn, the city of sin; you never come out the way you went in." Then, the main highway there was home to the metro area strip joints. I'm sure that's all ancient history now.
Lol STALED is sooo bad
Thx, Michael, for a HAPPY Wednes. puz! :)
Med.
Easy except for the NE.
Didn't know KNOSSOS or JOHAN, and was thrown off the TRAIL with CuP instead of CAP.
Finally got IDEAS, which gave me HINDUS and led to ultimate success.
Cute theme; didn't come into play during the solve, tho I might have needed it for the NE.
Dropped in DALE EVANS right off. Watched a lot of her and ROY in the '50s. Love their 'theme' song! 😊
Played some ACEY DEUCY back in the day.
Enjoyed the HAPPY TRAILS adventure. :)
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
Can someone explain 10A?
Oh yes!👍🏼
As one who is among those lucky enough to saunter down paths of “nostalgic (possibly happy) memories,” this was a delightful solve. I’m transported back to days in front of the old Philco lying on stomach rapt as the hoof beats echo & that unforgettable tune resonates. ROY & DALE live on in Crossworld at least and my tee tells me that is good! Circles in my puzzle my Rex explains, not so much. I’m happy for that balance on any Wednesday.
A BUS LOAD of HAPPY TRAILS... I began to sing and do a little two step.
When I went to stay with my grandmother in Malibu, she gave me my first pony and taught me to ride. To say that I was part of @Gary Jug's ode, would be an understatement. I would wake up early every morning and feed her and comb her and talk to her.
Nana didn't have a TV but our neighbors down the street did and I would go every Sat. to watch Loony Tunes. I then remembered watching the ROY ROGERS and DALE EVANS show. I fell in love with ROY and hated DALE. I hated her because she had what I wanted...ROY....My first American TV Idol. Dare I say how much jealousy I had, hoping she'd fall off of Buttermilk? ROY would assuredly come to her rescue on his great stead, TRIGGER. All of my juvenile hopes would be dashed.
My first mistake: LARDER at 1D. Like @JD I had pantry. Is the LARDER so named because one kept lard in a jar in the pantry?
I moved on and began to enjoy this puzzle. My nemesis, DALE EVANS, was easy for me to see and then I began to sing HAPPY TRAILS. I went looking for the happies.
I don't get all Anton Ego when doing a puzzle... I tend to look at how it makes me feel. I don't construct, so the ins and outs and the complexities and the amount of squares and black spaces, mean nothing to me. If a 1A and a 1D are good, then you've already put me in a favorable mood. This one did.
@Loren...Peter let me know he has an acre waiting for you upstairs. He needs a seraph and he thinks he's found it.
Thanks Rex, for your explanation of the difficulty imposed on the constructor by the theme.
I appreciated that the theme was CHEERY.
@LMS - I laughed so hard at your mnemonic I woke up my husband in the other room!
And re films for self-improvement- I give him a hard time when he picks one on his turn. “Oh, you’re making me watch a film school movie tonight?” I may have a higher tolerance for them than some folks - I like Terrence Malick. But with some it’s all I can do to stay awake. On the other hand, I also fall asleep during battle scenes (especially in space) in spite of the surround sound.
ILLGO
I never saw Beauty and the Beast, yet I have a picture in my head of Mrs Potts as a teapot and I think she had a son Chip, who was a chipped teacup. Not sure how I know this. I am 63 years old so a little “young” but I know Dale Evans/ Roy Rogers / Happy Trails. Again, not sure how I know this but somehow these things were absorbed in my memory through the years. I had a bigger problem with LARDER - never really heard that before. Finished no errors, all good. Nice puzzle with clever construction . Happy Trails all!
I know the song because my mother, whose first language was Yiddish (her parents were immigrants), used to do a version with a Yiddish accent:
Cheppy trails by you
Until ve gonna meet again
Actually had no idea the song had anything to do with Roy Rogers until I did this puzzle. Had barely any idea who Roy Rogers was beyond the restaurant chain, the non-alcoholic drink, and some vague idea that there was something cowboyish.
Also when I was seventeen I learned what a Roy Rogers was (grenadine and coke, basically a Shirley Temple with a different soda), and was determined to get it, and kept getting rejected by restaurants who didn't understand that I wasn't ordering a Rob Roy. Until I went to a diner that just went ahead and served me the Rob Roy. Don't remember if I ever got to try the correct RR but the image of that little cocktail being put on the table is seated into my brain.
Yes!
Thank you to @Rex for explaining the constraints that made this puzzle a bit tedious. I don’t have Roy Rogers as a cultural touchstone, so had little connection to the theme. Add in a random golfer and you’re one Erma Bombeck away from losing me completely. The nyt xword is such a weird whipsaw of fun and fusty. Too much of the latter, imho. At this point, @rex’ and the rexword community are far more of a pleasure than the puzzle.
Had pAntry briefly, but then remembered (from Oliver!):
If it should chance to be we should see some harder days,
Empty LARDER days, why grouse?
And as Dale and Roy sang:
... keep smiling until then!
Easy-medium but I grew up in the fifties. Uplifting theme with fill problems. Didn’t hate it.
Me too for SPree before SPEED.
@LMS - hands up for knowing HOMES mnemonic, but totally not getting the one you posted. Also on first cup of coffee??
I also didn't get Joaquin's joke. I usually come here to feel smart, but today is not that day.
Happy Trails was always around in the early '70s, like Roy Rogers on folksy TV shows. Not sure exactly why I know the song.
@OffTheGrid: yep. Pat Brady and his jeep Nellybelle contributed the comic relief.
@Everyone comin down hard on STALED: Easy there, tigers. STALED is not a debut desperado. Has been used 8 times before, 3 in the Shortzmeister's reign. There is Supreme Cringe precedent. Just not yer PB1 Usage Immunity.
Best bonus Easter-egg themer: PLOPS. U can circle it, startin at the 2nd P in HAPPYTRAILS, and then movin sorta NE-ward. Traces out a nice happy trail, for Trigger (or Buttermilk, of course).
Pretty fresh fillins, actually. Liked. Except maybe for PSAT/POTTS, of course. Lost precious nanoseconds of indecision, thereabouts.
faves included: ONTARIO/ERIE. BUSLOAD & CAPFULS. JESTERS & HILARITY. PLOPS.
staff weeject pick, of a mere 10 choices: CHI. Looked kinda weird, without the -Town part. Plus, the Greeks feel kinda snubbed now.
Only a QX short of havin total pangrammar, btw.
Thanx for the nostalgic trail mix, Mr. Dewey dude.
Masked & AnonymoUUs
**gruntz**
@burtonKD Pardon me Roy, is that the cat that ate your new shoes" vs Pardon me boy, is that the Chattanooga choo choo?
@Joaquin did us all a favor by shortening it. Properly told it is endless, making the listener wonder why his entire afternoon is being wasted with this pointless tale, making the groan at the end even more pronounced.
Old joke from the burbs of Beantown.
What’s the musical way to Boston?
Via Lynn
Can someone explain Low face = Jack?
1. Roy's sidekick was played by Pat BRADY.
2. JACK is the lowest of the three Face cards King, Queen, JACK.
3. LMS mnemonic was a joke. Read it again.
4. Joaquin's joke, Pun on "Pardon me boy, is that the Chattanooga choo choo?" (song of old)
Having lived in the Boston Metro more than once, Natick isn't a suburb, it's an exurb. Lynn, OTOH, is truly a suburb.
Natick to Boston: 24 miles (couple of towns between)
Lynn to Boston: 13 miles (scads of towns between)
@Anonymous 10:20 AM Jack's are the lowest ranking face card.
my lower brain stem memory returns Andy Devine.
More of a forced march than a happy trail, if you ask me. ONAN irregular basis? Must have fallen out of his chair reaching for that one. And no meteorologist would ever sit around talking about CIRRI, with or without fear of waking up their smartphone. It’s “cirrus clouds.” What’s next? NIMBI? CUMULONIMBI?? MAMMATI???
Wow, my reaction to this was exactly the opposite of Rex's: What a fun and dense theme that didn't strain the fill too badly.
He is right that ROY and DALE go waaaaaaay back. I had never heard of either one of them until I heard Elton John's "ROYROGERS" off Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (which actually doesn't mention DALE), and I had never heard of "HAPPYTRAILS" until Van Halen covered it on Diver Down (good album, but also their goofiest by a mile). The former is 50 years old, the latter 40.
So yeah, quite a dated reference. Still a fun puzzle though.
@Loren Muse Smith 6:28 AM "My dog and I were going to be on Good Morning America, and it was my plan to be all humble and aw-shucks."
Hee-lar-ee-ous.
@Seth 10:45...Would you mind coming over and wiping off the LATTE I splattered on my screen?
Also, no one calls Chicago “Chi”. Chi-Town, maybe
“Happy Trails” was written by Dale Evans
@William C. Pat Brady was the driver of Nellybelle. Pat Butrum was an actor who played Gene Autry’s sidekick.
I ate so much bread that had STALED that I sicked.
SARI, CIRRi, but ICHAT has STALED.
This was a joyful slog for me, singing HAPPYTRAILS while meandering through mounds of crosswordese.
@12:15
Showtime would disagree.
Helpful or moronic mnemonic?
Great Lakes mnemonic: as heelareeous
Grew up with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and loved the puzzle, including the smiling words. Who cares if the fill is constrained when the theme is so delightful?
This feels like generational payback for last week's Tetris-themed puzzle.
There was a Roy Rogers museum in Apple Valley, CA (now in Branson, MO), where they had taxidermied Trigger (Roy's famous horse) and Bullet (his less-famous dog) in a display case...
Wow. Only six seasons of the Roy Rogers Show? I think we got a TV around 1954, and I just assumed it had been running since the dawn of time. I had a few crosses when I got to ROY ROGERS, and he went right in. I didn't remember the song for a few minutes, but got it from one of the Ps.
OTOH, the JONAH/JACK & POTTS/PSAT crossings almost stumped me. I got them purely from name plausibility -- who's called lOTTS? And while I put in JACK, I didn't figure it out until much, much later. And why would you pay for a review course for the PSAT, isn't that just a practice test for the SAT? (btw, that "guarantee" means they'll let you repeat the course free, I think.)
Am I the only one who put in CuPFULS first?
@Loren, I think if the emphasis is on the amount, we pluralize the root word, as in three bags full. But maybe if you ask me how many cupfuls you should put into the washer, I might reply 2 cupfuls. Now that I've written it down, I'm not convinced.
I enjoyed the puzzle but I can totally see why it could be panned for a few reasons, the first of which is that it is terribly dated. I am 67 and I searched to find that it had six seasons from 1951-1957, so I would have watched reruns as a kid. Even so, for some reason it seemed dated to me when I watched it! I also thought in my childlike mind…wait…why does he dress like a cowboy and there are cars? Anyway, I’m easily pleased, so there’s that.
I was at the Palace of Knossos in late May so THAT went in right away…my thanks to Michael Dewey for my opportunity to feel very smart at that moment.
@LMS, your take on YEN being a pretty strong word for “compulsion” was spot on.
@anonymous 12:15, I agree! I have ONLY heard Chi-town and NEVER have I heard CHI. For those not in the know…CHI is pronounced SHY in this instance.
@Oh, I forgot to mentioned I DNF’d on this puzzle since I had LSAT and LOTTS. In my day nobody studied for PSAT and hardly anyone studied for the SAT. I’m sure my children probably did so quite possibly just a brain fart on my part.
23A / 26A - Loved seeing the Bonds clue right below the steroid era clue!
@Anonymous 12:15 -- that fill irked me as well, being a Chicago city dweller. Some do call it "The Chi," though -- typically in African-American communities. (Kanye West, for example, in "Hey Mama" has the lyric "was three years old when you and I moved to the Chi”
Dictionary.com does inform me, however, that "Chi" on its own is recorded as a nickname for Chicago back in the 1890s. So, I guess, maybe technically correct, though I have never heard that term used in my lifetime.
I got all messed up with --AT on the Princeton Review clue, and initially had GMAT, with midI for the cross about the dress. I didn't even think of SARI, even though I'm in the midst of them almost every weekend during wedding season. I saw the terminal "I", the clue about a dress, and my mind went straight to "midI/maxI/minI" without even thinking. But those are skirts. D'oh. And they don't fit the clue. Oh well. So I ended up eventually with lOTTS and lSAT, which still wasn't right. It just wasn't on my radar to prep for the PSAT. None of my classmates I knew did. (Hell, I know few who even prepped for SAT. We all did fine, but it's become tons more competitive since then.)
Bit of a chore of a puzzle, finishing in at a little under average time.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't understand the Roy Rogers joke upthread.
Puzzle fell right into place. Of course I watched ROY ROGERS and DALE EVANS as a child, knew HAPPY TRAILS, and bought the Quicksilver album, and heard that band all the time. Mona was one of the best songs of that era. Plus, going to and from Stanford I took every imaginable route to Los Angeles. One went through Apple Valley, and I visited the original ROGERS and EVANS Museum, which moved hither and yon in later years, and eventually closed. Can't say I loved Roy and Dale that much, but TV ran a lot of their old movies, which usually featured Gabby Hayes, and I adored him. Was he ever on the TV show?
Thanks @Pete, I recognize it, but wouldn't have grokked that for a long time, at least not in a hurry. Now on to re-read LMS mnemonic since it seems to be hilarious. Feeling like Lisa Simpson...
Aha, it's just remembering the L's, D'oh!
@Joaquin (5:57). I'm old and remember Chatanooga Choo-Choo, written in 1941 and played often in the Big-Band Era by Glen Miller. What a great pun.
I don't often disagree with Nancy but I enjoyed today's quite a bit.
Hardest Wednesday for me for ages - too much PPP, I don't do pop culture. And virtually no fun word play.
SB: pg but -5
Hands up for a rocky start at PANTRY before LARDER, and later LSAT crossing LOTTS. Also "Tear" was SPLIT before SPEED.
Hey where has @Barbara S. gotten to? Haven't heard from her for a while.
[Spelling Bee: yd pg-2, missed a 4 and an 8er.]
For the record (at least as the wiki says): You're all right!!!
Pat Brady
Andy Devine
Gabby Hayes
Smiley Burnette (no idea)
Thanks @Joaquin! That silly joke was my first thought as well and was one of my mother’s favorites and I cannot hear the song without hearing that punch line. Thankfully, the song is rarely beard these days.
As for being old: I am so old I knew Roy Rogers only from movies. I adored him. I was in college when he came on TV, and I was a little too sophisticated for TV then. The college did have one TV set in the student union. I began to watch TV in the sixties.
Well, I am not too old to know this theme and whipped this puzzle out in Monday time. Thankfully. It certainly was transparent if the solver is familiar with the old tv show. Even though I fall squarely into that solving group, I found this transparent and Monday easy with no surprise and a “non-revealer.” No energy, nothing splashy or very clever. Not bad but not really Wednesday worthy. Nothing offensive, just a bit too “age-ish” and unpolished. And certainly either too easy or too hard depending on the solver’s knowledge of very very old tv.
Well... because of my age, the 10x11x10 across came easy. I am noticing the currency of various countries in recent puzzles.
I’m trying to figure out who would spend money (and time) on a prep-course for a test that doesn’t count.
Painful for this millennial. I got JOLLY JOYFUL and MERRY earlier on, leading me to Christmas-themed headscratching. OMEARA/DALEEVANS cross had me guessing completely. No joy in this puzzle for me, I'll be here waiting for some puzzle this week to not be a throwback.
I had a Brady Bunch theme that was rejected a few months ago because it wouldn't resonate with young puzzle solvers. Somehow this one passed the "hip" litmus test. Huh.
When I noticed the little "happy trails", I half expected to see one leading from NAVEL to...I don't know, CROTCH? Would that be acceptable?
Apparently Andy Devine was in the Roy Rogers movies. Pat Buttram (Mr. Haney in Greenacres) was Gene Autry’s sidekick. Lastly, Pat Brady was the driver of the Jeep Nellybelle.
@frankbirthdaycake - PSAT scores are used to determine merit-based scholarship candidates.
@frankbirthdaycake…because your chance to be a National Merit Scholarship semi-finalist depends on your PSAT score. If I had known that when I was 16, I MIGHT have tried to prepare for it also because I imagine even just qualifying as a National Merit Scholar might have added some cachet to my quite ordinary college applications.
@kitshef you are a faster than me! 🤣
I rarely agree with @ Nancy, but I'm with her on STALED. I knew that had to be the answer, but it felt wrong on a lot of levels.
I am also in the camp of not knowing the author, but having taken the LSAT, confidently put down LOTTS, and having no idea why I hadn't properly finished the puzzle.
Finally, I didn't care to see HAS and HAAS is the same puz, for some reason.
And for me, that's a LOT of nit-picking.
On the other hand, I was given a record as a young boy which had HAPPYTRAILS on it, and I thought it was a clever theme. But I did agree with rex's analysis that the theme put a TON of pressure on the rest of the grid, and so here we are. But I believe that anyone complaining about today's puz needs to try making one or two, and you start to appreciate just how tough it can be, and perhaps the criticisms will be a bit more tempered.
@jberg & kitshef - kitshef is on the right track. - The PSAT is the qualifying test for a student’s entry into the Natural Merit Scholarship Program.
Can you explain this joke? I tried google and it was no help!
The title of the album and D Evans brief at end. Great guitar on Who Do You Love by Cipollina. Play it all the time when hiking.
@GILL -- If you had given me 500 guesses and asked me to guess who was your first TV hearthrob from the 1950s and whose wife you wanted to bump off in order to have him all to yourself, I never would have come up with Roy Rogers. Never in a million trillion years!
BTW, I went back and I looked at the extended version of "Happy Trails" and if ever a clip showed how much America has changed in my own lifetime, this would be it. The performance would be laughed off the screen today, and yet...There's a loss of innocence that happened so slowly and so imperceptably that we didn't notice it -- until every shred of that innocence had completely vanished.
I used to love a double-r-bar burger.
I saw the King of the Cowboys at the Houston Rodeo and Fat Stock (Fatstock?) Show in 1940 something. . . Dale was there riding her horse , had some kind of name like “Milk.” Roy shook hands with us kids for about an hour. I wore brand new cowboy boots. My sister wore a green cowgirl dress with fringe and pearl buttons. My parents took pix of us with Roy. All very good but still wish I was too young ever to have seen them on TV.
Roy and Dale are local icons here in Apple Valley, CA. They had a couple houses here and we have streets named after both of them. Once there was a Roy Rogers museum as well, but that got moved to Branson, and I think is closed now. Nice to see a couple local heroes in the puzzle. As for the puzzle, I struggled and missed PSAT, trying lSAT instead. Drats.
Shouldn’t it be capsfull, not capfulls?
@anon
Depends on your definition of should. But capfuls is proper.
Capsful an alternate. That is if it is the same as cupfuls.
When I see the title "Happy Trails," I always think of the Western-themed album jacket art for Quicksilver Messenger Service's second album (19690, which had the same title.
@Anon 6:55
Buttermilk
Dale’s horse was a buckskin named Buttermilk.
Same thing happened to me but backwards, when I couldn’t remember the name of the cocktail and so was very surprised when the waiter brought me a tall glass with pink soda, cherry included. I was so embarrassed I just drank it, but made sure never to confuse both RRs again.
@anonymous 6:33am comment to their students: I liked that a lot. A really astute way to describe the abstract concept of aging to those who have not yet experienced. I’ve told young interns before: just wait til you stop getting the jokes; it will happen one day out of the blue, then you’ll realize. For me, it hit hard when I suddenly had a job that required I check IDs for certain purchases—being confronted with the birth year:legal drinking age calculation all in black and white was a real slap in the face.
But disagree with Rex’s take somewhat. As usual (lately, it seems) I find it unduly negative and lacking in self-awareness (so many gripes about the too new—usually rappers or memes—being unwelcome, but then we get this charming bit of old, and…nope, now it’s too forced and has too much crosswordese. Ok. But…the Sunday puzzle that had no crosswordese and all long fill? Nope, not dazzling enough. So that was bad, too. And let’s not start on the hate for PPPs, but also the hate for too-easily-clued names…)
(Man, I would hate to be this guy’s kid).
Anyway…
Trying to stick it out in the face of daily ignorance bc I like some of the commenters here (my gf already bounced for another and refuses to partake), though I’m starting to suspect perhaps the ignorant hot takes actually spark the right amount of engagement needed to get the views, so maybe I’m just part of the game.
Oh well. Anyway, the clever theme kept me entertained just fine through some meh fill, and was perfectly diverting (even +) for a Wednesday. Hate to admit a few clues even stumped me a bit longer than they should’ve. But a good reminder that an inscrutable clue on a Wednesday is often a sign that the answer is likely familiar crosswordese and you’re just missing the joke. But that’s what makes the fun for me: figuring what puzzle it is and when to relax and let the fill flow. Crossing fingers for a good Thursday.
Would've been clueless on larder without the local store larder and cupboard. Only now realizing it is just a pantry. Wondering about the cupboard...
I’m old, so the Rogers clues were easy. It was the TikTok, Blackish and Gibbons ones that annoyed me. Also thought the clues were below par for accuracy.
I still have my autographed photo of Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and Trigger.
I remember watching the show at a neighbor's as we didn't have a TV yet.
Those two, Hopalong Cassidy, the Lone Ranger and Tonto, my six-year-old TV watching. But that was when there were only Westerns to watch. I apologize to my Indigenous sisters and brothers for watching these TV shows.
The punchline refers to a line from the song “Chattanooga Choo-Choo.” “Pardon me boy, is that the Chattanooga Choo-Choo?” When you tell the joke you would sing the line in the same tune, which doesn’t work in writing! Of course, if you are unfamiliar with the song that wouldn’t help either.
@tompdavis 6:21 AM - Yeah, ditto on the lOTTS/POTTS / lSAT/PSAT thing. No biggie. Enjoyed this puzzle overall.
Tough one for me, I’m too young to reall know this one, but old enough to have some inkling of the pop culture. I like what someone above said about the fire hose of pop culture no longer being on you. It comes quick, I may steal that phrase with my students.
Awkward grid to navigate. The NW/N and S/SE sections, as well as the NE and SW, are choked off from the rest of the grid by narrow passages. In PASSing, I'd like to point out that since we had all those "Utahs" in a grid a few days ago, there have been some every day since. Have we started a new fad?
Solving was easy (theme) and hard (fill.) STALED? I never in my life heard of that word as a verb. That it exists is a wonder, but it surely qualifies as desperation. And there's a lot of that going around.
ILLGO AHEAD and give props for the theme, the song title as a fitting revealer and all that, but the price was HIGH. S? It all comes out to a par.
I open my mouth about Wordle success, and I get a bogey. Serves me right.
Cute theme but the fill was awful in spots. Plus, roads are not covered in tar. They are covered in asphalt. PS - I wonder if a character in Burma’s poem might catch an STD today…
Cute and well-executed theme but the fill really suffers as a result.. Agree with Spaceman about STALED. It’s technically a word but obviously used here as convenient letter glue. CIRRI is also iffy as is PSAT, ENL, EBAN, ONAN etc. PS - I wonder if a character in Burma’s poem will catch an STD today?
PPS - My newspaper shrunk the NYT puzzle to a ridiculous degree. It’s really hard to read the numbers and the clues now. Don’t know how much longer I will keep on blogging here if the puzzle stays this small…
test
G-FLAT CHAT
YES, I’LL always ENDUP JOLLY
when I JOIN with ROY and DALE,
GO AHEAD, be GLAD, by golly,
sing of CHEERY HAPPYTRAILS.
--- MIRA O’MEARA
G-FLAT CHAT
YES, I’LL always ENDUP JOLLY
when I JOIN with ROY and DALE,
GO AHEAD, be GLAD, by golly,
sing of CHEERY HAPPYTRAILS.
--- MIRA O’MEARA
Sorry for the duplicate postings. The blog took a long time to absorb my comments.
Huh? How does Lisa licking lettuce help with names of the Grear Lakes?
"Happy Trails" is Mr. W's email signoff phrase. So this made me smile. Even tho I still have a few gaps in my teeth. That repair will take a while...a long while. Oh well. I've much else to be happy about.
OKIE doke, let's OREO.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
In case the two anonymice are still wondering about the mnemonic for the Great Lake names, they're all referred to with Lake coming first, so they're all L's, so of course it doesn't help. It's just making fun of all the postings on mnemonic hints. In pre-PC days, we'd have called this a blonde joke, or name your favourite group to pick on as being clueless.
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