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Rooster raised for eating / SAT 9-17-22 / Org. running global championships since 1930 / Mascot whose head is a baseball / In which Nunavut means our land / Role in 2020's Trial of the Chicago 7 / Performs repetitive tasks to gain experience points in gaming slang
Saturday, September 17, 2022
Constructor: Grant Thackray
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Word of the Day: Patricia WETTIG (32A: Emmy winner Patricia of "Thirtysomething") —
Patricia Anne Wettig (born December 4, 1951) is an American actress and playwright. She is best known for her role as Nancy Weston in the television series Thirtysomething (1987–1991), for which she received a Golden Globe Award and three Primetime Emmy Awards.
After her breakthrough role in Thirtysomething, Wettig has appeared in a number of films, including Guilty by Suspicion (1991), City Slickers (1991), City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold (1994), and The Langoliers (1995). She returned to television playing a leading role in the 1995 short-lived drama Courthouse and later played Caroline Reynolds in the Fox drama Prison Break (2005–2007) and Holly Harper in the ABC family drama Brothers & Sisters (2006–2011). (wikipedia)
• • •
I was surprised I got into this one as easily as I did. I ran through the spring Zodiac signs I know, and while both PISCES and GEMINI fit, they wouldn't work with 3D: Jacobean ___, which had to be ERA, so I figured the "sign" in 1A: Sign of spring must mean "evidence" and yeah, no idea there. But then I took an absolute guess at 2D: Name on a truck and it was ... right?! (HESS). And then I went back to the Zodiac for my [Sign of spring] and (voilà!) THE RAM:
There were cluing problems, however. A couple of big ones, involving marquee answers. The more minor problem involved the clue on AUDIO-VISUAL AID (47A: Slide behind a speaker, maybe). Since AUDIO is not strongly associated with a slide, I dunno... I wrote in AUDIO because it seemed like it had to be right, but then had some trouble filling in that little SW section at the end and so actually started doubting AUDIO. I guess AUDIO-VISUAL AID is a broad category that includes "slides," so it's not wrong, but I would've liked something more audio-y there, for clarity's sake. The much more major cluing problem came at 12A: Question ... oh, crud ... I just realized, just now, that I misread the clue! (12A: Question in a lot of cars?). Well, that is, I didn't notice its trick / punny meaning. Gah! I thought the clue was telling me that "WHERE DID I PARK?" was a question one hears in a lot of (i.e. a great many) cars, and I was like "but ... but ... but ... if you're already in your car ... doesn't that mean ... how ... why are you asking this!?!?" But of course "lot" here means a car lot or parking lot, so you hear the question in the lot, probably walking around, clicking your little chirpy key-ring mechanism, and yes, that tracks. I hereby retract the objection that I was going to make. Or, rather, I ... don't make it. I make it not. No objection! Aborted objection overruled!
- 19A: Like certain corrections (PENAL) — pfffff OK, technically, yes, I guess, but since you wouldn't say "PENAL corrections" (would you?) this one feels weird. It was very hard for me, and came right in the middle of the whole MISSACUE fiasco.
- 4D: Possible source of monthly income (RENTER) — I had RENTAL. This also happened near MISSACUE junction.
- 32A: Emmy winner Patricia of "Thirtysomething" (WETTIG) — remembered her, but not her vowels, my god. WITTIG, WITTEG, WETTEG, WETEGG, WETLEG, who knows!? Patricia WETTIG is married to Ken OLIN of crossword fame (also of "Thirtysomething" fame). I just realized I confuse Ken OLIN and Bob Saget. But only visually, not in crosswords.
- 25D: Relationship strains? (DUETS) — there were entirely too many "?" clues for my taste today, but this was a good one (with "strains" meaning "tunes").
- 7A: Performs repetitive tasks to gain experience points, in gaming slang (FARMS) — "in gaming slang" is a strong indicator that I won't have any idea what the hell is going on. Here, I was really, really glad I knew FIFA, because otherwise, hello Natick! I hope you at least knew FIFA! Game crossing game! Not sure how this cross is going to play for some of you...
- 19D: Hideout for Blackbeard (PIRATE COVE) — Had the "PIR-" and so got this one easily *except* for that "O," which I left blank at first because I thought a PIRATE CAVE might be a thing (pretty sure it is a thing).
- 43D: Role in 2020's "The Trial of the Chicago 7" (SEALE) —That's Bobby SEALE, co-founder (with Huey Newton) of the Black Panther party.
- 29D: Motivated, with "under" (LIT A FIRE) — this clue is so interestingly odd that I almost completely forgot that LITA FIRE is basically MISS ACUE's slightly but only slightly better-looking cousin. EAT A SANDWICH, LITA FIRE!
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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104 comments:
I began boldly with taurus-are we there yet- and -days of our lives- for the first 3 acrosses. Good answers but so terribly wrong, which became apparent very soon. As I slogged through this I kept comparing it to yesterday's. Today is appropriately harder but less elegant. Too many wonky clues made it less enjoyable.
Ok. I do not like THE RAM, said Sam (RAIMI) I am!!!. I do not like it on my screen I do not like it Jacobean (you will forgive me). All in all was Saturday enough for me. It should be Pirate’s Cove not Pirate Cove. And yes as some one who recently could not find my car coming out of an MLB game I did not say “Where did I park?” after 20 minutes of searching and arriving at my car!. In the rain!
I was charmed by the grid design, which, when I squint, looks like a big Superman S. This is not the first time one of Grant’s grids dazzled me. One of the most elegant puzzle designs I’ve ever seen is his 1/26/2019 Saturday – worth a look.
While the word count today is Saturday low at 66, the black square count is high, at 39, which is higher than on a typical Monday puzzle. High block count allows the constructor to be more choosy about what goes into the grid, and raises the hope that there will be a good number of juicy answers.
And, IMO, there are, my favorites being WHERE DID I PARK, THE SANDS OF TIME, PIRATE COVE, ATLANTIS, ADDENDA, and MISS A CUE, the first three being NYT puzzle answer debuts. Some juicy clues as well, such as those for STOOD, WHERE DID I PARK, ATLANTIS, and the deliciously devilish [Go out too late, perhaps], for MISS A CUE.
Some areas fell with a swift brush, others required the chisel, so your puzzle, Grant, both satisfied my brain’s work ethic, and made me feel good about my solving skills, and thank you for that! It also had me wowing at your puzzle-making skills. Bravo, sir!
455 3/6
Thx, Grant; a perfectly fine Sat. puz! :)
Easy-med dnf.
Had CaVE and took forever to find COVE. Convinced self that GaFER had only one 'F'. Oh how the mind wants to have its s/way! :(
Started with TauRus. Just checked, and discovered that it is actually a 'sign of spring', not that I knew that fact. So, a legitimate entry, albeit, incorrect.
Aside from those gaffes, I was mostly on GT's wavelength. :)
WETTIG was my only unknown.
Had the WHERE DID I PARK? issue so often that I finally started forcing myself to key on an identifying landmark upon getting out of the car.
A very smooth and enjoyable non-solve. :)
Don't usually do the Wordle, but bc of the hype yd, tried it and struck out, in spite of getting all the letters on my first word (albeit, none in the correct spot; ouch!). Otoh, have been doing well on the daily & practice Duotrigordles, getting mostly 34/37s with the occasional 33 mixed in. Will never get a 32 unless they decide to actually use ROATE as one of the 32 words. Have tried using ORATE, but it just doesn't pack the overall punch to start out with.
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
Grant – I got a kick out of WHERE DID I PARK /THE SANDS OF TIME stack. Wonder how many times seniors wander around a lot looking for their Buick LaSabre.
GAPE SAT – This happened to me. I think I was dusting, and The Bachelor happened to come on. I had never watched it; at that point the joys of really stupid tv shows were still lost on me. I’d look over, marvel at the shallowness, the white teeth, the embarrassing kissing. . . dust some more. . . look back over upon hearing the third . . .be vulnerable or . . .get some clarity. . . and then I sat on the footstool, gaping. And I couldn’t stop. Now I’m hooked. I’m an unabashed Housewives fan; I feel way more ashamed admitting to being part of Bachelor Nation. [hangs head]
YONDER feels either like Shakespeare :
But soft! What light through YONDER window breaks? It is 27.1751° N, 78.0421° E, and Juliet is the sun.>
or like Hoss Fly, a groomsman at my brother-in-law’s wedding:
I’ma GO FER’em purdy gals over YONDER.
(@Dan from yesterday – I like that Macy’s and just looked it up.)
I used to think that it took two to tangle. Makes sense. I have to take issue with the adage, though. I was doing a swell (margarita-fueled) solo TANGO once and was saved from attempting a solo dip by the airport bar manager’s, Ma’am, we’re going to have to ask you to leave. . . Just kidding.
Loved the clues for STOOD and DUETS.
GIF – First of all, I hadn’t realized it’s an acronym for graphics interchange format.. But how to say it? Google seems to favor its pronunciation as /jif/. I dunno. That’s too much like our I’ll get to it in a jiff. My money’s on the hard G winning out in the end.
OOPS. IT’LL DO – words you never want to hear from your surgeon. I’m reminded of this meme.
@Gerry Kelly from yesterday. I know, right? I run my mouth here like nobody’s business. It’s funny – when I sit down to type, my margin notes are about the grid, but then stuff just shoots from my head to my fingers and bam. Blather. I always look back with surprise, like where did all that crap just *come* from? If you click on the reddish-orange B to the left of my name, my comment vanishes, and you can be spared.
As anyone who has ever done any theater work will attest, MISSACUE is a perfectly good answer, and not remotely like EAT A SANDWICH or GREEN PAINT. Otherwise, a great Rex review.
Sweet - low word count puzzle. Love the lack of black squares in the body of THE grid. Loved the Achilles clue and WHERE DID I PARK - there’s just not much here not to like.
Complete blank on WETTIG - never watched the show. GAPES AT is questionable and thought the cluing for GOT AT was off.
My thoughts followed @LMS - first towards Romeo but then the true backwoods in me came through - The late, great Kelly Joe Phelps
Enjoyable Saturday solve. For a different type of challenge - try Steve Mossberg’s Stumper.
Nice puzzle, slightly on the easier side. The use of the definite article in the answer to what it takes 2 2 do, seems quite reasonable to me. In the phrase it's a verb, whereas alone, as an answer, it's a noun. If that's the major quibble then Grant has done a mighty fine job (as Abe Lincoln might have said).
My only quibble here is cluing anything from "thirtysomething," which was first aired *35* years ago.
Fun puzzle but tough for me. I struggled with miss a cue, not because it's an obscure phrase but I was thinking curfews. Good misdirect. I kept trying Aleut for Inuit and couldn't make it work with crosses. And I slapped my head when it took so long to see lit a fire ..such a common phrase in sports and business.
So, great puzzle for anyone with all their brain cells engaged, and a slow wake up for me.
Didn’t anyone else have BIRD BATH? Thinking of those little tweets and splashes totally made me MISS A CUE.
I thought there was a fair amount that hit the target today, including the parking lot clue, MISS A CUE, BIRD CAGE and the LITTLE RASCALS (which are probably approaching their Centennial sometime soon, lol). Yes, I plead guilty to complaining about actors’ names from 1950’s era oaters while singing the praises of Alfalfa, Spanky and the rest of the gang.
The duds for me today were FARMS and FIFA - I think of FIFA as being associated with the “World Cup” which is a global championship - the clue is fine, but it just seemed off to me. NUNAVET seemed totally unnecessary - but hey, it’s the NYT, and the Thirtysomething lady from thirtysomething years ago gets a pass since we welcomed the whole Our Gang crew in for a visit today.
Proud member of the @LMS Army here.
Nice and tough puzzle and interesting OHO answers. Needed my usual quality time with Uncle G, but we're buddies on Saturday.
I would quibble with "Question in a lot of cars." If you are IN the car, you ask "where CAN I park." If you ask "Where did I park," it's either a "Question outside of a lot of cars," or perhaps "Question about a lot of cars." OH WAIT... just read 🦖, nevermind.
Anyhoo, most of my questions are about cats anyway.
FEUDS then DUELS before DUETS. Glad I'm not solving in ballpoint.
Learning about Nunavut was interesting.
I've never seen nor heard of a HESS truck.
Mr. Met and Mr. Red are equally plausible and of course I went with the wrong one.
Uniclues:
1 Agricultural units desperately seeking the ladies.
2 Your bod.
3 Dancing program's teaser for ratings season.
4 All the plans I have.
5 Why he lives in a cage.
6 Exasperated director's post-mortem of why things went sour.
1 THE RAM FARMS
2 NEURAL ESTATE
3 THE TANGO ADO
4 RACY GOALS
5 RENTER LIT A FIRE
6 MISS A CUE? NO RUSH!
Much more challenging than Easy-Medium for me. Mostly due to sticking way too long with @Rex RENTal at 4D, WHERE can I PARK at 12A and misremembering Sam RAIMo at 9d. Normal Saturday outside of that N-NW area.
Who did all the THEs annoy? THE ME!
Although their preponderance did bring to mind a great song, which would have been APT for Rex to embed.
My certainty that "One for the money" would be gOLddigger cost me some time. Would have been a great entry, but it didn't take long before INUIT was wrong.
Some dodgy cluing today. BIRDCAGEs are not spherical, Nunavut is in Inukitut, not INUIT, clues for DOLLAR SIGN and DUETS are strained way past the breaking point.
THE RAM, THE TANGO, THE SANDS OF TIME, THE ME.
Bob Saget was born in Philadelphia. Ken Olin attended college there. City of brotherly looks.
I found this tough and challenging in all the best ways: i.e. mostly through tricky cluing. Yes there was that WETTIG woman and at first I thought I'd have to cheat on her -- but it turns out I didn't.
My first dilemma was "Question in a lot of cars?" Here's what fit: WHERE can i PARK? WHERE may i PARK? And WHERE do we PARK? Who would ask WHERE DID I PARK when you're already sitting in your car, for heaven's sake?
Oh, you got me good, Grant! You're not in the car, you're in the lot looking for your car. Now that's what I call superb wordplay.
Other great clues: DUETS (25D); RACY (15D); MISS A CUE (6D); STOOD (51A); BIRDCAGE (22A). I would have seen that last one sooner, only I had RENTAL instead of RENTER for the source of monthly income.
What got me through today were the long Acrosses. THE SANDS OF TIME was easy, but I'm so pleased with myself for seeing AUDIO-VISUAL AID just off the "L" and then going back to find some checks before writing it in. INUIT gave me the all-important "U".
Everything I look for in a Saturday puzzle. It kept me completely engrossed and ended up making me feel smart.
With THEME crossing both THERAM and THESANDSOFTIME, I liked this themeLESS.
@lewis, @bocamp, and others: Not so fast with the grid kudos today. This Grid is virtually identical (just 2 blocks different) to a recent, original one: https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/14/2021.
Amy: much easier than yesterday's. Fun to see the Little Rascals. Not a lot of names; I did watch 30 Something, so Wettig was in once getting the W. And The Ram is my sign.
instagram takipçi satın al
Ahas at The Ram, Where (DID) I Park, Dollar Sign, Stood. Puzzle-pondering-mode for Berth, Audio Visual Aid, Miss A Cue. Digging through the memory for Seale and Wettig. Sliding down the steps from the NW to the SE. No junk.
Comeuppances at Powerpoint Show* before the vastly superior Audio Visual Aid and Bird Nest** before Bird Cage.
98-year-old mother-in-law still watches Days of Our Lives. Sands Of Time reminded me of the opener. And how much the show now relies on sudden demonic possession of the characters. Seriously, you see a character's eyes turn fluorescent green and you know they've gone bad. Miss it now that I've relocated and don't have a TV. Nah!
*A thing I might've made up that fit.
**While I sneered with superiority at my willingness to accept something incorrect in order to get on with the puzzle.
So much fun. Loved it. The's made it interesting.
I don’t ever want to hear Rex complain about The NRA or Trump or any other thing or person if he won’t condemn Bobby Seale’s inclusion in the puzzle. Guy was a murderer, straight up.
—Alex Rackley
Minor nitpick: in gaming you GRIND for XP. If you FARM something it’s to collect stuff, like items, money, or raw materials.
Also, so pleased when DAYSOFOURLIVES fit immediately into the hourglass clue, until I wasn’t.
Anonymous 9:07,
Actually both Saget ( Temple) and Olin (Penn) went to college in Philly.
Proud member of the Gerry Kelly army here.
And frankly, there’s no way that there aren’t others who’d like to join but who won’t risk the scorn.
Yeah, MISSACUE was a clunker. Had MISSABUS, which made a lot more sense as something that happens when you oversleep and "Go out too late" but had to give up on it pretty early because it didn't work with the crosses and "CUE" took a long while to appear. Also not a fan of the definite article inclusion in general, though getting the ends of those fills from the crosses clued me into the fact that I needed the longer version of the familiar phrase in question, so "THE" it is.
Well, CROCUS didn't fit for "sign of spring", and so I went elsewhere, looking for toeholds, which showed up soon enough. And me an Aries. I mean, really.
Some nice misdirects, which others have pointed out. Having an S to end ADDEND was a time-eater, and I had the (I thought) brilliant DOLLARCOIN before DOLLARSIGN. Uh, no. All those consonants in a row in ITTLDO took a while to parse as well.
Very thankful for THESANDSOFTIME, had to memorize the Longfellow poem in fourth grade about how great men leave "footprints in THESANDSOFTIME", and of course the LITTLERASCALS. Nothing like those long acrosses to keep things moving.
Many mini golf courses around New England seem to be called Pirate's Cove, so the singular, or non-possessive form looked a little funny, but had to be right.
Well done indeed, GT, a Great Time. A Saturday that knows how to Saturday. and thanks for all the fun.
Now on to the Stumper.
So now we have to add SNIP to SNIT, SNOT and SNOB? Holy LOA/KEA Batman!
Hey All !
Came in almost exactly average time. Seemed a lot tougher. Slowly meandered through the grid, ending up in my toughest spot, the SW. Threw in my last letter, then... Happy Music! WooHoo!
Nice puz, lots of wide open spaces, which anyone will tell ya, ain't easy to fill cleanly.
Fist-in-the-air mock rage at 1A.. Who didn't start with TauRus there? Then there was BIRD_A__, and almost wrote in BIRD LAIR! LIT A Fuse? LIT A match? (Too long), couple others I thought of that I can't think of now. Had ATSEA twice (!) originally, at 22D BERTH, and 23D GOTTO. Dang. mack for HESS first.
So a good brain workout today. Didn't tax it too much, the NEURAL net is still functional! (Albeit not as good as it once was!)
Now to the F VISUAL AID ..
Five F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
ERA fixed blooms as my sign of spring, tho I guess I should've known "sign" would require "bloom". Those great long acrosses at the top finally got me to change from Mack to Hess, tho I like Mack more as a name on a truck. Was also sure AUDIenceprompt was perfect, so took me awhile to untangle that mess. "Around" before YONDER as well. But a fun and clever Saturday I could get through in under half an hour remains thrilling.
@Alex - Sorry my brother, but you know damned well I had nothing to do with it. The only evidence implicating me was provided by the guy who actually did kill you, hoping that giving me up to the Feds (I was the one they really wanted) would get you a better deal. The jury deadlocked 11-1 (11 for acquittal). If you still have some family, I can get a copy of my cookbook to them.
@Anon 9:43 - Odd thing to be proud about, but you do you. Just pick a non de blog so I can know to avoid you please.
Was I alone in being tripped up by the answers not being GAZES AT and CAZON…. I didn’t know CAPON, alas.
Agreed! You go out on stage when you’re on…unless you miss your cue.
Thanks for getting back to me. I honestly don't mean any disrespect to you. I get the idea now that you and the other posters are like a little club and you all interact over these puzzles. As an outsider I read Rex because he can be a crank and also to explain some answers and just wondered why others offered their opinions. Peace
This was just painful.. Bad puns. No fun. Thanks for the write up which was far more enjoyable.
Like Rex in the car lot today, I was held up when I MISSed A CUE. Wasn’t as bothered as OFL by those LITTLE RASCALS “the, the & the” as they seemed to logically flow from the clues as edited. Appropriately the third D in ADDENDA was the final entry filling the vast field of white that at first I had felt intimidated by….make that by which I had first felt intimidated ? ( Cue @LMS or Winston). All in all, an interesting way to begin our weekend so thanks Grant for the nicely AUDIOVISUAL AID presented by your DOLLAR SIGN grid.
Bobby,
Why do I suspect your apology isn’t sincere? Anyway, history has pretty much proved that the Black Panthers were really just a bunch of amateurs. Murderous, criminal, venal, sociopathic, but at the end of the day, inconsequential thugs.
Bobby— you’ve got it backwards. I’ll stay away from you. I’m no criminal.. you?well, even I though you weren’t convicted of my murder, you were culpable. And as panther, a real p.o.s..
The varied experiences of this puzzle that people had are kind of fascinating. I'm with @Nancy.
Rex, I beg to differ on MISS A CUE. I was a teen thespian in high school and college, and I hope to return to it in my dotage. One of my high school roles was the psychiatrist in Harvey. The character had a “will they or won’t they” romantic tension with the nurse, and my ditzy co-star almost always MISSed her entrance CUE for our final scene when we pledge our love, leaving me on stage fuming and the audience wondering what happened to that little subplot. It may be the reason I never made it to Broadway and I will never forgive her.
When Taurus didn’t work for the spring sign, I saw THE RA-, and went with RAt, thinking of the Chinese New Year, which of course has nothing to do with seasons. And I am a RAM. Also had LIT A FusE (under), which wreaked have with the two long acrosses down under. Speaking of which, excellent clue for ATLANTIS.
I thought WHERE DID I PARK was awful for the same reason as Rex, and didn’t get why it was great until I came here.
Learned two new things today - what a CAPON is and the tidbit about GOLD. No idea why someone would draw it into a wire an atom wide but I am glad I know.
Had the same nit pick! Glad I wasn’t the only one.
Oh, meant to add, please don't consider me for a meal !
(See 42A)
I'm too gamey.
😁
RooMonster Really, Who'd Eat A Rooster? Guy
🐔
As I read @Rex minutes ago, I wondered if he has ever heard the expression “It takes two to tango?” That was one of the “THE” answers that worked well because of the phrasing if the clue. Nice one.
If it weren’t for the two easy long ones up top, I might never have gotten finished. Thankfully, WHERE DID I PARK and THE SANDS OF TIME came easily. Kudos for the “lot of cars” in that clue. Gave me a chuckle.
Since I am not a gamer, FARMS was completely new, but was part of the easiest chunk of the puzzle. With the two long acrosses, MR MET and a Regular, Sam RAIMI, FARMS seemed APT. Yep, that helped too.
I messed up with RENTal and thought supplements was ADDEd something so PENAL and BIRD CAGE didn’t fall easily and in fact that was my last place to clean up. Darn it! PENAL was my first thought but I just could not see RENTER even though the clue was so precisely written.
All through school, I was chided, lectured about, repeatedly corrected on and downgraded for failing to carefully read the directions! It caught me today for sure. Our Mr. Thackray wrote some very elegant clues and caught me several times. Well done.
Another excellent clue, that for DOLLAR SIGN got me to think DOLLAR bill. The I being correct and making IT’LL DO fit so nicely also messed with that area for a good while. THE TANGO saved me.
The growing up as the middle of three sibs, trouble was always brewing between two of us. When the nastiness was just about to fisticuffs, my grandmother would intervene. Typically, one of the perps would try to claim blamelessness and Gran would always say “Fiddlesticks! It takes two to tango!” Loved that clue today; took me right back to my cusp of juvenile delinquency days.
I groaned at CAPON only because there is a bad, bad old joke the punchline of which is sung to part of the US Army and is 🎶 “as those CAPONs go rolling along” 🎶. Ugh.
Down at the bottom, the long answers helped again. I got the VISUAL AID portion immediately and the LITTLE RASCALS and one of my daughter’s favorite old Disney movies, “PETE’s Dragon” finished off the SE diagonal nicely. Had the easy long ones not been easy, I might not have finished. The SW corner gave me fits even after I had so much of it. I am still struggling with “Designs” as a clue for GOALS. To me, that’s the one clunker clue. I will stand corrected though, if one of the neighbors here can explain the clue.
Overall, I really enjoyed this one. Some really snappy clues, something to learn, and a bit of an unusually shaped grid. Well done Grant Thackray. Almost time for football! Happy Saturday everyone!
Not alone, although as soon as I saw the rooster clue, I did know CAPON which fixed it quickly. However, GAPES AT is not a phrase I use so it still looks a bit odd.
I wonder if Rex wanted something more "audio-y" (on 47A: Slide behind a speaker, maybe) because he was thinking of "speaker" as an electronic component and not a person/presenter, dunno.
Had NEILL instead of RAIMI for 9D:Sam of Hollywood--took me forever to correct.
Had PIRATESCAVE because I convinced my self that GAFER was an alternate spelling for GAFFER. Sheesh.
Fun puzzle!
@Everyone. Please let go of LMS Gerry Kelly armies thing. Loren responded. It should be over. We all thank you.
When I first say Ken Olin on 30 Something was when I first understood what was going through the mind of all those people who told me to wipe that smug look off your face. That man has the worst resting "I'm just a smug S.O.B. that you really need to punch" face of anyone I've ever seen.
@Roo - You do realize the difference between a Rooster & a Capon is, right? Pre-adolescent castration.
I was so off base on this one, unlike you and OFL. I had MISS ACT I for Go out too late.
Another one that confidently put in AREWETHEREYET at 12A and THESANDSOFTIME at 14A and thought today will be a breeze. Wrong.
Twenty minutes later I finally finished. 12A got corrected fairly quickly as I started working on the Down clues.
Other goofs:
SOCIAL vs NEURAL
PICS vs GIFS
DOLLARBILL vs DOLLARSIGN
I had all the problems Rex did, plus around before YONDER, and I liked the THEs less. And DOLLAR bIll before SIGN.
Although they mean the same thing in practice, the idea that prisons should be correctional was originally meant to replace the punishment part. That's why, as Rex pointed out, you never see "penal correction."
Medium. Me too for RENTal before RENTER plus DOLLAR bill before SIGN cost me a few nanoseconds, but knowing PPP like RAIMI, LITTLE RASCALS, and WETTIG helped to make up for it. Clever cluing and a bit of sparkle made this an interesting challenge, liked it!
First, let me just say the clue for WHERE DID I PARK should go in the crossword Hall of Fame. If there’s not already such a place then @Lewis should make a PLAN to get ONE started. With much ADO.
Yesterday I was able to disguise my humiliation under the pretense of being enlightened on things I didn’t know. But alack, there’s no hiding away in a PIRATE COVE for me today. The LITTLE RASCALS would’ve solved this ONE faster than I did.
Among my MISS CUES: Chews before REAMS, gazes on before GAPES AT, under pressure before LIGHT A FIRE under, will do before ITLL, rental before RENTER, miss a cut before CUE, WHERE I probably had football on my mind. WHAT a BIRD brain.
I’ll just SNIP off my ego now and leave it here until Monday when there’s a puzzle I (hopefully) can do without quite so much AID. Wishing all a lovely weekend.
Enjoyed lot of cars clue, and LMS’ PETES. THE tango, not so much.
I thought this was going to be harder than it ultimately was. I went all the way to the bottom to get my entries at ACA and GOLD and wandered clockwise for the rest of the mostly smooth solve.
MISS A C__, I considered if you go out too late, you might not find any Cabs running, but that never made it into the grid.
My last entry was OOPS. I thought 46A was Disney's "PETEr Dragon" and OO_R was a real headscratcher until I put in SNIP and the world turned right-side-up.
Thereabout, in 24A's clue, looks RACY without its ending S and the online Dictionary agrees with me.
Grant, I enjoyed your Saturday puzzle, thanks!
@Nancy, I found a photo I took of my embedding explanation, taken March 2018, so your guess of four years is good and I think I sent it by email to Gill I soon after I sent you yours, by snail mail as you assured me yesterday!
It appears that Wordle results are now banned, at least the same day results. I simply posted my number without the little squares and it still didn't get in. That's fine but I still believe that posted results provide no useful information. Just my opinion. No discussion necessary.
♪ So I lit a fire / Isn't it good... ♪
Didn't we just have Norwegian cake recently?
The parking lot clue is inspired. MISS A CUE is not really a thing. A DUET is not a relationship. I can't stand the ETHANE-type clues ever, but they are particularly odious on Saturday.
Can't wait for THE THE to show up in a puzzle. Meanwhile, a two-fer today.
I’m truly astounded or, more likely, simply misinterpreting something. Rex says:
Sign of spring must mean "evidence" and yeah, no idea there. But then I took an absolute guess at 2D: Name on a truck and it was ... right?! (HESS). And then I went back to the Zodiac for my [Sign of spring] and (voilà!) THE RAM:
It seems like this must mean that Rex used “Check Word” or “Check Puzzle” as he had no possible other way of knowing that HESS was correct at that point. If he indeed uses the check functions routinely, it puts his difficulty ratings in a whole new light. I consider using the check functions to be a DNF, and I admit that today I had to do so. But you can’t say a puzzle is “Easy-Medium” if you had to use a check. Is there some other way of interpreting what he wrote?
I liked the puzzle, particularly the lot of cars clue. Thanks, Grant Thackray.
@LMS and @ Dan from yesterday - After Dan's question about Macy's my husband pointed out that randomly invented coordinates would most likely be in the ocean. Great catch Dan!
And just for those who come here to read Rex and then look at the comments - some marginally related - that they wish weren't there:
Yesterday evening I revealed my plot for SKEWing Wordle stats by solving on the web and transferring the answer to the app. In the future I expect to see the app stats decline precipitously. So the opposite is the case with the XW. When I first started using the app, I ignored the stats and often left the timer running while refilling my coffee and making toast etc. This had a significant impact on my times - particularly on Saturday. So now I'm on a generally improving trend, which is nice. But really, the only way to tell the relative difficulty is by comparing today’s time with my best time. But I'm also getting more experience so it's not a true comparison. It makes me think of all the survey texts and emails I receive. Rate your experience of your latest visit to the chiropractor, our dental office, your recent delivery, our restaurant, of the power outage you recently experienced (for real!) What is the frigging point?!
BTW - Enjoyed the puzzle today, lots of happy moments, but I don’t get 30A Focus of the law of the land? ESTATE? Anybody?
MissACab. MissActI.
Oh oh OKAY The land as in acreage. Got it.
Anon 11:11,
Ill drop it when the people who falsely accused Mr.Kelly of malice at least acknowledge they were in error. An apology would be better.
Easy-ish word set, feist-ish clues. Makes for a fun SatPuz, at our house.
Very few no-knows. All I could find parked out there was: WETTIG & ITO.
Lotsa fave fillins:
* Debut ones: PIRATECOVE. LITTLERASCALS. WHEREDIDIPARK. THESANDSOFTIME.
* non-debuters: ATLANTIS. BIRDCAGE. WHATSNEW. DOLLAR[BILL]SIGN. ITLLDO.
Neat clues: MISSACUE's. BIRDCAGE's. WHEREDIDIPARK's. TENDON's.
Add to that four coolly-placed Jaws of Themelessness, and U got yerself a 64-worder that's a real themeless masterpiece.
Thanx for the fun, Mr. Thackray dude. Great job. Glad U parked it here. IT'LL more than DO.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
**gruntz**
What could possibly be better than THE TANGO two step?....add me a fandango, please. THE RAM had me doing a little tip-toeing thru some tulips.... I flayed a bit so I moved on to greener pastures.
Now WHERE DID I PARK my car? Oh yes...I see it YONDER under THE SANDS OF TIME. I'm enjoying my romp.
I easily got to 22A and my mind wanders to Maya Angelou and I reminiscing about "I know why the caged BIRD sings."Instead of being sad, I turned my thoughts into the wonderful comedy: "THE BIRDCAGE" and remembered how incredibly great Robin Williams was in his role as Arman.
I'm thinking that I just may finish this without my snoopy neighbor intervening. He didn't.
I almost called him when the door bell rang and it was Ms. WETTING. I can never remember how to spell her name. I asked her to leave for a while so that I could finished my dance with the LITTLE RASCALS.
I did have to be careful at the PIRATE COVE because I wanted Blackbird to be hiding his stash in a CaVE. Thank you, you hapless GOFER.
A Saturday that kept my mind busy and happy. I was able to call Ms. WETTIG back into my house . We ate a little CAPON raised on MR MET's FARMS and danced our hearts aways.
And that's the truth!
Second day in a row my solving experience seemed very similar to @Rex. What’s up with that!? My difference today was that I felt like I was flying through the puzzle at the beginning, THEN screeched to an idle or creep toward the end. Usually it takes me a while to get some toe holds with the Saturday puzzle. Today the problem was closing it out! I am pleased that I managed to finish without cheating once I saw I had RENTal and BIlDCAGE (bildcage)…D’oh! I was happy I knew FIFA and WETTIG and may I say I don’t know why I have a brain cell devoted to WETTIG. I was 30 something when the tv show came out. My husband and I immediately dubbed the show “The Annoying Whiners.” Poor, poor, young, urban professionals…sob.
@Southside, Nunavut Canada is three times the size of Texas. Maybe questions about Texas are unnecessary.
@kishef, I THINK that Inuktitut is within the large family of Inuit languages.
@Egs…I think he put the H for HESS in and then revisited 1 across and things fell together to indicate his guess was right.
@Larry 11:13
Ouch!
In my infinite knowledge (read: clueless), no, I didn't know that is what a Capon is. Poor guys!
@egs
I see your point, and I am definitely not a Rex-defender, but personally I don't think he uses the "Check" feature. I think he's able to suss out wrongness quickly. For example, if he put "mack" in as his first guess instead of "HESS", he'd have quickly seen it was wrong, being able to get other answers around it to see his mistake. I could also be waaaay off the mark. Was that a Schrodinger question? 😁
Roo
@anonymous 9:43 Why are you here? You dislike everyone, as you explained in your post yesterday. You feel you are superior to everyone here. The only reason you hang out here is to insult posters and tell us how superior you are. Get another hobby. You obviously don't do the puzzle as you never mention it. You just come here to troll. And you basically are not even good at that as most of your posts get removed.
I confidently dropped in GOLDDIGGER for “One for the money” and hung on for dear life, certain it was correct. The actual answer barely makes sense … what does the “One” in clue refer to? Signs? I mean, that’s a lousy clue, and nary a word from Rex, who hates everything.
Ok, to continue 🦖’s SLIDE BEHIND A SPEAKER = VISUAL AID comments: is there any speaker who uses SLIDES any more? (Everything is digitalized.) So that’s my nit!
There were many clever clues as have been pointed out here I’m sure - and a few losers for me.
This may have been a good, enjoyable 🧩 but for YT, who likes to whiz through a 🧩, there were not enough (about 2] gimmes to get the tough clues 🙃 so I fretted and put in answers that fit but were wrong.
As one’s solving improves —such puzzles, though neither a SONG or a PARTY — might become enjoyable or bearable. 😂😜😂
😟🦖🦖🦖🦖😟
Well, I thought this was a proper Saturday. Made me work for almost every bit. Really wanted 1A to be aries somehow, so had to get help from the crosses. Same as OFL on HESS and RENTer. Loved the 12A CAR PARK clue/answer! I once walked out the entirely wrong door at a major mall and spent almost until closing time scouring all parking areas for the vehicle. I still get recurring nightmares about it on occasion. It’s one of the reasons that when buying my last car, I insisted on the sunset orange one, rather than the gray one the dealer had available. It would be one more challenger for me to recognize my own vehicle if it were gray, and hope that the orange will help me spot my vehicle. So far, that’s working.
And agree that the AUDIO part of 47A was surprising since I, too, thought the clue referred to something more just specifically visual. Got most of the other tricky things in the end, enjoyed some of the cutesy clueing (like for DOLLARSIGN and ATLANTIS). The PPP was not intrusive and though I have never seen Thirtysomething and don’t know this WETTIG, crosses built it all, so, OK.
But was totally stumped at ?IFS x ?OALS. Mostly because I had 41D (Given on a platter) as (L)EDTO. As in leading someone to do the right thing, or get the right answer. And what I know about social media could fill a thimble, so though I see there’s some little icon on the bottom of my texting box that says GIF, it just didn’t hit my radar that (L)IFS wouldn’t be a thing. Maybe some crayzee way the kids are spelling something about life these days? So, sadly, had to run the alphabet and then got the Doh moment! Guess my NEURAL network wasn’t hitting on all cylinders.
But, like I say, I expect to hurt a little on a Saturday, and this spanking was just fine.
@LenFuego 1:01 – "One for the money" would be a good clue if the $ were the shift alternate on a keyboard's 1 key. But it isn't, it's on the 4 key.
So ends another episode of
Why This Clue Sucks Bigtime.
It doesn’t help that the ‘farming’ clue is literally wrong. Farming is performing repetitive tasks to acquire an item of some kind. One can farm xp, or reputation, or specific items in-game. But as written, “perform repetitive tasks to gain xp”, the term is “grinds”.
I thought this was great... a nice grid, with consistently pleasing long answers. WHERE DID I PARK was fantastic, tho I initially had WHERE DO WE PARK, which is something you could actually ask while in a car.
I too tried ALUET (then ALEUT) before INUIT. (I didn't think INUIT was correct because it is the name of the people, not their language, which is Inuktitut.) A slightly fun pun is "My wife wanted to travel to the Yukon, but I wanted Nunavut".
I found CAPON in Spelling Bee the other day and decided to look up the definition. Ick!
[Spelling Bee: yd 0, last word was this 8er. On a 7 of 8 QB run!]
Got off to a fast start for a Saturday--actually had THERAM in place and wondered if THERAM was a word related to THERMAL (because spring marks a change in temperature). Yikes! :-)
egsforbreakfast, like Rex I took a guess at HESS (when it was clear that Mack wouldn't work). The Hess tuck line is somewhat iconic, and the word just came to me. I don't think Rex uses Google to solve.
Anyboday else have MISSAbus for Went out too late? That caused one of my bigger slow-downs, complicated by having RENTal for RENTER and being sure that Twitter Sphere had to end in bAll, instead of CAGE.
My other slow section, and the last area to fall, was that SW, where LITTLERASCALS and STOOD were not helping me get GIF,FED, ONE, and GOALS. Finally sussed out FED TO and the corner led to Happy Music.
Miss a cue/ Go out [on stage] late
Regarding AUDIOVISUALAID, it is common with applications like Power Point to imbed a piece of music or a video with audio into any given "slide." So that helps that clue to work better.
Me too. I always thought Gafer (the electrician on a film set) was spelled with one f & pirate cave worked!
What @Adam12 said. Although I'd wager SNOT is not in the NYTXW, but 'SNOT may be.
Solid Saturday! North filled in like a medium Wednesday, then got few clues first time around in the South, but faith-solved my way with a woosh to the end, to borrow a couple of catch phrases.
I was trying to force AUDIOVolumeAID into there thinking the "slide" was a slider switch on the back of a speaker amp. Final answer much better.
Man, Rex read my mind on the Parking clue, then took it the extra step to reveal the great clue!
Rex missed the boat (MISSATUG?) on MISSACUE. "Go out" as go out onto the stage. And although I probably have heard it more in the past tense, it is definitely a solid phrase. He then quadrupled down on this misreading to spoil a whole bunch of other clues, like a proverbial bad apple spreading through the grid.
So glad to have LMS back on a regular basis again. That thing that happens when you start typing and you have no idea how that spun GOLD came out of your fingers, it is called TALENT! (which has also been backed up with years of work, study and practice). As someone else mentioned a few years ago, you should really look into writing a regular column or compile your thoughts into a book!
@Joe Dipinto 1:34 PM
Yep. And GOLDDIGGER would be a crackling answer for "One for the money". Even DOLLARBILL is way better than DOLLARSIGN for that clue -- a dollar bill applies uniquely to ones.
When several other answers are way better and cleverer answers to your clue, it's time to rethink your clue.
First learned of CAPON when working at a supermarket in the Netherlands. The Dutch spelling is 'kapoen', but as I recall the packaging also had the English sp. The product may, in fact, have been imported.
@NYDenizen (9:13 AM)
Good catch! Not an issue for me, tho, as I'm mostly just interested in good, original clueing and fill. I'd guess this isn't the first time a grid has been duplicated or as in this case, nearly so.
I'm easy when it come to grids. Doing Crucinova and other convention-breaking xwords, I'm inured to whatever the constructors throw at me grid-wise.
@Son Volt (8:02 AM) / @pabloinnh (9:58 AM)
Found today's Saturday Stumper by Steve Mossberg relatively easy. Had better luck with it than today's NYT (not so much time-wise, but error free). :)
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
I’m not grokking how we get RACY from the clue “Blue-ish”…can someone explain??
Blue jokes tend to be on the “dirty” side. Blue movies are soft-porn like. Racy in the sexy sense.
@Martita
See definition # 7.
@CDilly -- You're an architect and you hand the builders your designs for a new opera house. These are your GOALS for exactly how it it to be built.
I set my NYT puzzle on fire and gave it a Viking burial in my backyard. I thought it was impossible (and I thought Friday’s was easy). My brain just couldn’t deal today with “the ram.”
@bocamp, @Son Volt
Stumper was tougher than the NYT for me today, but "relatively easy" since Nancy's wall was never in danger. Thought it was typically misleading but ultimately fair.
nice wet leg shout out!
p.s.
@RP - yep. PENAL corrections does sound kinda weird. Sorta like that there TV drug ad, where they talk about correctin problems with real long, bent cucumbers, or somesuch. [We always mute it, at our house.]
Still a great SatPuz, tho. Maybe too eazy-E for some, but just right for the likes of m&e.
M&Also
Bobby Seale is an important figure in American History. He shouldn’t be banned from the puzzle. Same goes for Trump and his crowd. The penchant for excluding people from the puzzle because we find them distasteful is distasteful.
Someone earlier noted the dollar sign in the grid. I completely missed it. Wonder if Rex did also.
Why are you being so weird about this? I don’t even make an account on account of the Google, but I respond to whomever I please. So can you. There are regulars who post. There is no club. You’re welcome to post daily as well. But maybe make it about the puzzle and not the other avatars posting words.
So…double quibble re LITTLE RASCALS, then?
(my comment was @Gerry) —Anon 10:26
The idea that anyone is feeling maligned because they’ve decided that the frequent posters in the Rex Blog comments section make up some kind of exclusive, elitist “club” is just hilarious to me.
Yes!! I was looking through the entire comments section for someone to point this out. Literally a different thing entirely.
A plethora of THEs: THERAM, THESANDSOFTIME, THETANGO. This has to go down as a defect, but otherwise we have a pretty representative Saturday puzzle, with ?-marks aplenty and a few way-out-there clues to spice things up. A couple of them almost GOTTO me. With Patricia WETTIG as DOD, this'll earn a birdie.
Like so:
GBBYB
GYGBY
GGGGG
GOAL RUSH (NO GOLD RUSH?)
THE YONDER SANDSOFTIME are NEW,
an AUDIO and VISUAL CUE,
IT's FEDTO you
without ONE SKEW,
you've GOTTO find WHAT IT'LLDO.
--- MR. PETE SEALE
this stream OF unconsciousness brought TO you by THE DOLLARSIGN
Ah, a memory from the distant past - my Aunt's Sunday capon dinner. Have never had it again, but remember it as delicious.
Easy-medium? No way. Tougher than your usual Saturday. Almost impossible for me. WETTIG was unknow. Had AUDIOVolUme—- for the longest time. Had pIcS before GIFS Hard. Had many FITS before completing. Next!
@kitshef 9:07am
I work at 2 bird shows a month, and can assure you that spherical bird cages do exist. Also, bird backpacks exist, and are very popular. You can go for a walk, and take your pet bird with you. They are made of plastic with a clear cover.
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