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Like the protagonist at the start of "28 Days Later" / SUN 10-9-22 / One of the two main branches of Buddhism / Celebrity gossip show with an exclamation point in its title / Writer known for his anthropomorphic animal characters / Visual depiction of the apparatus used by the starred professionals / Mario who founded a fashion empire / One with a marsupium affectionately
Sunday, October 9, 2022
Constructor: Jessie Trudeau and Ross Trudeau
Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- CHIMNEY / SWEEP (25A: *Worker with a brush [three rungs])
- SUBMARINE / COMMANDER (56A: *Captain with a periscope [four rungs])
- CHERRY / PICKER (90A: *Seasonal orchard worker [eight rungs])
- TELEPHONE / REPAIRMAN (101A: *Worker for AT&T or Verizon [four rungs])
- HOUSE / PAINTER (123A: *One putting a coat on outside [three rungs])
Pope Paul VI (Latin: Paulus VI; Italian: Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, Italian: [dʒoˈvanni batˈtista enˈriːko anˈtɔːnjo maˈriːa monˈtiːni]; 26 September 1897 – 6 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in 1978. Succeeding John XXIII, he continued the Second Vatican Council, which he closed in 1965, implementing its numerous reforms. He fostered improved ecumenical relations with Eastern Orthodoxand Protestant churches, which resulted in many historic meetings and agreements. [...] His positions on birth control, promulgated famously in the 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae, were often contested, especially in Western Europe and North America. [...] Pope Francis canonised Paul VI on 14 October 2018. (wikipedia)
• • •
From one perspective, 1-Across is just one answer in the puzzle, no better or worse than any other answer. From a more correct perspective, however, 1-Across matters more because it sets a tone—it's the first thing a solver is likely to see, and to try to tackle. So it's nice to open boldly, or at the very least, cleanly. This is all to say that I'm not too big a fan of opening the puzzle IN A COMA (1A: Like the protagonist at the start of "28 Days Later"). Never saw it, but I think it's a vampire movie (???), so I assumed the answer was something like UNDEAD or NOT DEAD or PRE-DEAD or something. IN A COMA, aside from being a prepositional phrase and thus semi-awkward as a standalone answer, is just grim. Sidenote: I watched "Coma" (1978) for the first time last week—also grim, and not just because of the comas, though it's cool to see late-career Richard Widmark, especially since he's still playing creeps (perfectly) well into his later years. Oh hey, double sidenote: there's a great ladder scene in "Coma"—in fact, the ladder in question is depicted on the cover of the home video release of the movie!
The point is, I wouldn't open my puzzle IN A COMA if I could help it. And SOA, as well as ONI next to MDC, weren't doing anyone any favors either. But mostly the constructors do a NICE JOB of filling the grid. Well, random popes are about as welcome as random Roman numerals, but since PAUL VI was actually pope with many solvers' living memory, he's not as random as, say, LEO VIII (whom I just made up ... I'm just assuming there was a LEO VIII ... yup, he was both pope and antipope!!! OK, now I've gone and tricked myself into liking LEO VIII, dammit!). The clue on RON was about the only thing in the grid that gave me any actual trouble (92D: Bacardi, e.g., in México). Beth ORTON > Kyle ORTON. That's about all I have to say about this one.
Hope you enjoyed this one's ups and downs. See you later.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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123 comments:
It seems to me that these gimmicky puzzles are usually more fun for the constructors than for the solvers. This may be the exception that proves the rule - this puzzle was fun to build (per the constructors), and fun to solve (per me).
Loved this one as a puzzle newb. Still took me awhile but happy to have finished a Sunday with no help!
ENBY??? I can't even. the clue for 12 Down had an error in the newspaper. It erroneously referenced 11 Across, not 11 Down. Never knew Otis's first name.
I actually like visual gimmicks like this, but they have to be really good. The thing I’d have expected from a really good puzzle on this gimmick would have been a giant column of Hs with no Hs anywhere else. If a puzzle is going to use them to visually represent rungs in a ladder, it ought to do that only. No “here, but not there” uses.
I thought this was a fun Sunday, but am kind of wishing I'd saved it for the morning as now I'll have to actually do something when I wake up. Took a little longer than Rex to get the theme, mainly because with dRY before WRY I didn't get to SWEEP, but first CHIMNEY_, then a lot of H's, then the reveal, and it all clicked from then on.
12D should be "Stretch longer than an 11-down", no? Either I'm missing something or that's an error that should CAUSEASTIR. Speaking of which, the crossings of MAKEMAD, SPAREME, CAUSEASTIR, and EGESTED offered quite the mini-theme. Kind of glad I wasn't doing this at breakfast, now that I remember that.
This was way harder for me than Rex ‘cause I prefer to avoid reading the reveal in hopes that I can tease out the trick on my own. When I finally saw HOUSE PAINTER, I was delighted. This was just after I got that 8D was all H’s. So cool that it really does look like a ladder. Bravo, Jessie and Ross.
Timely theme in that I’ve been fascinated by this guy on TikTok who proves you can go anywhere - be granted access to any room or building – no questions asked, if you’re just carrying a ladder. The last one I saw, he walked past a box office line at a theater, stood until an employee opened the door for him, walked past the concession stand and disappeared down the hall with all the movie rooms. How funny is that?! I know I’d let anyone into our school if they were standing there with a ladder.
Or standing there with 5 second graders. Last week, I was in my classroom before the sun had even come up, and I heard a rapping. I walked out to the lobby and saw a woman standing there with 5 kids. I opened the door, and she sailed past me with just a Watch them, please. Where’s the nearest bathroom?. A bus driver. Hah. I’ve often wondered what they do when nature calls. Those little bebackpacked girls and I just stood there staring at each other, all of us kinda stunned.
I’m not erudite enough to speak Sappho, so her output was simply an idea before ODES.
72D “Skeptical reply to ‘That’s true’” – I wrote in “I bet” and then “I see.” I resisted IS IT because I couldn’t get that it was IS IT and not I SIT.
I liked MINI BAR crossing IN A COMA. One stay in a DC hotel, I avoided the COMA but ordered a crap ton of make-up and kitchen gadgets while depleting the MINI BAR and watching infomercials.
LADDERs. Man. We have a step ladder outside, one that’ll get you up to the ceiling and hence send you to the emergency room. It’s metal and ancient. I’ve had several run-ins with this damn thing: changing the AC air filter, adjusting window valences (dating from the Clinton administration), changing the bulb in the laundry room. I’ve learned now to agree to do this stuff *only* if Mom promises to go into another room and not watch. Not even peep around the corner. I know I complain about her a lot on this blog, and I shouldn’t. She’s kind, agreeable, thoughtful. And a fixer, like any good mom. The extent of her concern about me and my well-being is such that I shield her from most of my sadness. There is no place for grief in a house which serves the Muse.
I liked this theme. So did Jeff Chen, giving it his POW puzzle of the week.
Re cherry picking and ladders: here is the world's largest orchard ladder in, yes, a cherry orchard, a few blocks from where I used to live.
I am too bummed by the Blue Jay's epic fail today to say any more.
Easyish. I tried a rebus at SWEEP and got rid of it pretty quickly. I then solved around 2/3 of the puzzle and the theme emerged. No real problems after that. Very cute and very clever, liked it a bunch and so did Jeff who gave it POW!
I had DNACOMA crossing DMS (direct messages)
No idea what dna comas we're but no idea what the movie was either - no happy music
Was pleased to complete this puzzle correctly , but can someone tell me what TTYL means? Nearly had a natick there because RUDY coulda' been RUDi for all I know...
These constructors must be friends of Mikey…
Talk To You Later
@Rex: "I don't know how you keep a theme like this from unfolding all at once, from giving away the entire game early on." Ooh! Ooh! Mr. Kotter! I know! I know! It happens when you recoil IN teRROR and don't see the litany of H's until there's a whole lot more of them. Other than that, easy. Ish.
More rough fill than a typical Sunday so needed a bit more work really, but gimmick was ok.
You don’t need a ladder for this low-hanging fruit of a puzzle!
It turns out I did my final Sunday last week. I am INHORROR.
Fun puzzle, but I ignored the parts of the clues that cited multiple rungs, so wound up wondering: What's a submarine picker? Or a cherry repairman?
I enjoyed this one, if for no other reason then filling out all the Hs in the ladder was stupidly fun. As usual I completely missed the part of the themer that linked all the jobs together - the fact that each job is associated in some way with an actual ladder.
@ Anonymous 12:16 says:
"Loved this one as a puzzle newb. Still took me awhile but happy to have finished a Sunday with no help!"
Best reason to like this puzzle.
It has visual appeal with the ladder.
It has both right and left brain aspects in that you had to search for the finish of the clue.
https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2013/12/02/248089436/the-truth-about-the-left-brain-right-brain-relationship
We found it easy and quick, but also felt our brain muscles being stretched.
P.S. my captcha was to find chimneys!
I guess the theme was neat? I don’t know - it was an unemotional solve once the hook fell. Segmented grid with a mess of short fill - all resulting from the H-string.
I’ll double down on the big guy and proclaim that entire opening NW corner as brutally bad - IMS, NIH, OTOH and AAA MEMBER?
I did like the ALLIANCES x SLY NODS cross and SHREDS adjacent to CAUSE A STIR was cool. CHERRY PICKER was the top themer.
The non-theme Hs didn’t bother me.
I didn’t get to post late yesterday - but put me high on the list of BEET haters.
Mama Hated DIESELs near COMMANDER is righteous
I can appreciate the chops here - but the solve left me EGESTing a big CLOD of GAH.
This was like a training puzzle for a newbie. I'm getting used to the Sunday puzzle getting simpler ... It is what it is. Like many of you, I'd like a more challenging Sunday but it's clearly not to be.
Visually, though, this was fun. BTW Rex, I do it on paper and start on the lower right... So 1 across is among the last clues I see.
This brought a very pleasing “ah!” when the theme hit me, and in fact, the whole time I filled in the grid, I was infused with a very pleasing feeling, like being outside when the temperature is perfect, when you wouldn’t want it to be a quarter of a degree higher or lower. No stress, no drama, just loveliness. I don’t know how the constructors did this, but they did.
I liked the grid’s A-train trochee-trove of HONDA / TUBA / CIRCA / COPA / ERA / AVA / PRADA, not to mention that A-train beginning, with INACOMA, MILITIA, SHARONA, MAHAYANA. Speaking of MAHAYANA, [One of two main branches of Buddhism], in case you’re wondering, the other branch is “Theravada”.
Jeff Chen mentioned how the crossword gods smiled on the constructors, and it’s worth repeating. That spot-on reveal, CLIMBS THE LADDER, is perfectly placed, bannered right across the middle of the grid, but it never could have gone there had there not been an H right in the center of CLIMBS THE LADDER.
That H-span at 5D was excellently clued for the theme, but for some reason I started to think of “clues for a large string of H’s”, and landed on [Big sigh] and [Whispered whole note].
So, J&R, you not only got me mellow and happy, you got my mind to play. I’m glad and grateful for this creation of yours. Thank you for making this!
I was thinking of a Sandra Bullock movie in which she drunkenly crashes her car and ruins her sister’s wedding at the very beginning, so INACOMA worked all right there. Liked the string of H’s once I saw it. TTYL!
I vaguely recall a "chutes" puzzle from days of yore (in another era eons ago) that used a similar gimmick, but in the opposite direction and diagonally. Am I just imagining this?
Definitely enjoyed the fact that the theme was an enhancement to the solving experience and not some cryptic quasi brain-teaser that just gums up the whole works. Agree it was for the most part easier than a typical Sunday might be, but it still had some rough spots (for me the section with the Narwhal and the leuko-CYTE was pretty tough, as was the Latin trumpet crossing ARMOR which introduced me to a new definition of the word “mail”, lol).
Interesting that LEO was clued as a soccer guy and not a pope, and PAUL was clued as the pope and not a Beatle - at least RINGO was still RINGO a day or two ago.
I thought TELEPHONE REPAIRMAN was kind of interesting - do they still exist? Perhaps in some areas where there is limited cell service land lines are still pretty prevalent ? I would guess that someone who repairs cell phones would be called some type of an IT Tech or specialist, but who knows - close enough for CrossWorld for sure - I’m not quibbling, just curious.
Talk to you later, in texting parlance.
A column of 21 H’s down the center of the grid? What a waste of prime real estate.
H
H
H
H
H
H
HATE
H
H
H
H
H
H
HATE
H
H
H
H
H
H
HATED IT!
Sorry Z isn’t here to enjoy both a random Roman numeral (MDC) and a random pope (PAUL VI) in the same column.
Do telephone repairmen still exist? Isn’t it cheaper to replace the phone than to fix it?
I really liked the theme, but man this was easy. Maybe they felt it had to be because of the trick, but tricks are more fun when you have to work for to get them.
In an incredibly rare occurrence, I knew EVERY proper name in the puzzle. I even remembered (thanks to a blog commenter to whom I am indebted … although I can’t remember who it was) that it’s aVa duVernay.
Also, 28 Days Later is NOT a vampire movie. It's about a viral pandemic that jumps from animals to humans.
Little bit of trivia - Tom Selleck was one of the bodies in Come
From one perspective, 1-Across is just one answer in the puzzle, no better or worse than any other answer.
Correct. You should have stopped there.
From a more correct perspective , however, 1-Across matters more because it sets a tone—it's the first thing a solver is likely to see, and to try to tackle.
It does no such thing. You are just projecting that onto the puzzle.
I liked this, even though the gimmick became obvious almost immediately. Ross Trudeau did a similar thing recently with the grid that had ADDDDDDDDDD representing the answer "attendees".
Their first hit minus you-know-who
Yet ANOTHER cute gimmick POS. No mas! My subscription to the NYT Crossword ends in a few weeks...will not renew until there is an adult editor.
Once I got the H trick, it became a breeze. Broke my personal time record in solving the Sunday puzzle of 37 minutes, at 36m, 5s.
So the jumping up several rungs was easy enough -- after all, both the theme clues and the puzzle title provide pretty clear instructions -- but what were all those empty spaces about?
Anguishing over that question for perhaps longer than I should have, I did not find this puzzle "Easy". What on earth was was the mystery letter in front of SWEEP? What was the letter after CHIMNEY?
It did not help that I've never heard of MAHAYANA Buddhism. It also did not help that I had GRR (not GAH) for "I'm frustrated!"
But suddenly a lot of "H"s began appearing in Row 8. Hmmmm. They sort of look like a LADDER, don't they? Bear in mind I hadn't gotten to CLIMBS THE LADDER yet. So I pat myself on the back for thinking: "What if they're all "H"s?!"
After that, the puzzle went from highly perplexing to eminently solvable.
Nits: "SO A wiseguy, eh?" is completely unguessable because it's so arbitrary. An ESCAPE ROOM is a place, not an "activity". But basically I thought this was a very interesting and original puzzle with a big "Aha Moment".
BTW, I was frustrated.
Easy, mostly because the theme answers were, and a cute theme which is mostly a plus also Sundays tending to the sloggy side of life.
Fun creating the ladder and the line of H's went in quickly.
It might have been nicer if the theme answers were cuter. They were at least workmanlike.
A footballer I've never heard of crossing a foreign word I don't know.
Awesome.
For folks like me, ORSON crossing CENSIME looks just as right as ORTON crossing CENTIME.
Not a huge fan of scary movies, but 28 Days Later is a great film. Recommend. Oh and it's a viral pandemic, not vampires.
Speaking of rising up rungs, my ( extremely odd-looking, I'm sure) "BTW" line at the bottom of my comment should have been inserted instead after my third paragraph -- where it would not have been a complete non sequitur.
This happens to me so often. I insert something in a comment or an email, what was below it disappears from my view -- not gone, mind you, but invisible to me -- and then, after I hit "Send", there it is in the most peculiar place making no damn sense at all. And in correspondence that may be fairly important too.
Does this happen to anyone else?
Hey All !
First off - @mooretep (and @everyone) - You have a Google/Blogger account, since your name is in blue, you don't have to do the Captcha thing! Just hit the "Publish" button and it'll go through! Down With Captcha!
Took me a bit to suss out what in tarhooties was going on. Had a few H's sprinkled about in 8D, thought to myself, "Could the whole thing be H's? Nah, that's silly!" Decided to read the Revealer clue, had enough letters in to get CLIMBS THE LADDER, and together with the PuzTitle, assured me enough that yep, it would be all H's. So scrolled over to 8D, and held the H key. That got me to see HOUSEH, wondering what that could be, then reread the clue, figured out the H ladder aspect, went up three "rungs" to see HPAINTER, let out an "Aha!", and continued with the solve. "The H's are ladder rungs, representing a complete ladder, that you have to "climb" to complete the Themers", said I to myself. Yes, sometimes the ole brain needs to spell out things like that. 😁
That large paragraph aside, I did like the puz. Got hung up in SE, as CENTIME and ENBY we're unknowns. Thanks Rex for explaining ENBY, as I was gonna say there's no such thing... blah blah blah. Had to Goog for CENTIME, finally seeing ALLIANCES, as for some reason I couldn't (un?)parse it as one word. Kept seeing ALL I (something).
One more Goog for TUBA, ugh. Had oppoSE in for ADVERSE, which stopped me cold there. Once the cheat was done, was able to erase oppoSE, and finish up. So, a FWH today. (Finished With Help) Maybe add a number to it for how many look-ups/Reveals? FWH2.
Also still has the 12D clue saying 11A instead of 11D. Usually later in the day (I'm Pacific Time, so I usually do puz around 6AM here, which is 9AM for you east-coasters), it gets fixed online and I'm left to wonder what the heck y'all are talkin' 'bout.
Have a nice Sunday, ya CLODs.(Present company included!)
One F (Seriously? In a SunSizePuz? I say NAY. Har
RooMonster
DarrinV
Instead of starting in the NW I poked around filling in answers I knew immediately, starting with 42A’s BEL. Then I bounced around gathering what answers I could, filling in more and more letters, and wondering what the trick was, because it didn’t seem to be a rebus, and the H’s smack in the middle were getting suspiciously numerous and tall, and, hmm, sorta kinda just like Rapunzel would appreciate. Then I encountered 65A and the jig was up!
When I was almost done filling in answers, my question was, Do I need to fill in the H’s accompanying the unchecked answers and the ends of the first parts of the professions? I thought it was cool to leave those squares blank so I could easily see, without counting, where the workers’ occupations had climbed up the ladder, and they all do CLIMB THE LADDER. Nobody gets a demotion.
Answer: Yes. Of course. No happy music without all the rungs. OSHA wouldn’t want anyone falling off the ladder!
This puzzle was so much more than a NICE JOB – thank you, Jessie and Ross! – and I had fun learning the new-to-me things along the climb, my favorite being that superstitious actors avoid saying the play title MACBETH aloud in theaters.
Holy moly! What about the unavoidable occurrences in performance of the play? Can the actors say the word with impunity when they mean the person, not the play, or is that too fine a distinction? Next time I’m in a theater (preferably watching Macbeth), I’m going to ask about that. Or just ask....[dramatic pause] Whew. All’s well that ends well: Google says it’s okay when the play is being performed, just not when you’re in a theater and the play is not being held. So, yes, wiggle room.
Thx, Jessie & Ross, I definitely rose to the challenge; loved your construction! :)
Easy-med trek.
Pretty much on the right wave-length all the way.
Didn't take long to see the LADDER of 'H's; just wasn't sure whether they were part of the answers until later on in the solve. Clever idea! 💡
I think it was CHERRY PICKER when I fully grokked the concept.
Have sung in many CHORAL groups.
Coincidence of the day: just had WASABI peas in my morning crunchy snack mix. They provide a nice 'spicy' component, but not ULTRA HOT.
Had SCRAWL in a xword yd, but clued differently.
I was very much 'up' for this one; fun CLIMB! :)
Challenging Acrostic today, but doable. Good mental workout! :)
Off to do the Saturday Stumper, which I forgot to do yd.
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
@Roo954am
Just cause you are upset about the lack of F's in the puz, it is no reason to add a D, unless your name is Anthony, AdVERSE, I hope you get the joke.
Fun little setup. Got CHIMNEY SWEEP first of the themers, but couldn’t quite figure out why the last and first letters, respectively, were missing. Then the H ladder came into view. Cute! No big a-ha moments, but fun to see who would be climbing next. Perfectly pleasing Sunday morning puzzle. Just bummed now that I finished it Saturday night instead of with my coffee now.
It’s the SUBMARINE COMMANDER because on an approach against a surface ship, it is the captain on the periscope… most experienced eyes.
Signed, Jim
Former SUBMARINE COMMANDER
Ellen Degeneres discusses the different ladders she has in her house, how big or small they are, and what she uses them for. And then she says "I also have a little stepladder," indicating with her hand how tall it is, "which I treat just the same, and love just as much, as all the others."
I cooked beets once. I bought them with the beet leaves and everything. Once you start slicing them, everything around you slowly becomes very red. By the time I was finished my kitchen looked like a scene from the Manson murders.
Loved the puzzle today. Congrats to the newlywed constructors.
To all the.crossword lawyers, are 69D and 71A duplicates or just related cross references?
Couple of nits:
12D: incorrectly references “11 across” instead of “11 down.” At least in the app, assume it’s also wrong in the print version. As it’s early on, it briefly sent me down a rabbit hole looking for nonexistent internal partial words.
Bacardi is Cuban, not Mexican, or at least was until they fled to Bermuda (where they speak English, not Spanish). Yes, they also speak Spanish in Mexico, but why not clue it better?
And for some reason the App version omitted the puzzle’s title (although it appears in the info window for those who (unlike Rex) aren’t allergic to opening it.
We were all set to be IN A COMA right at the start I was IN A COMA by the time I finished.
Always fun when a friend of Rex makes an awful puzzle and Rex declines to criticize it and instead calls it "nifty" or some such thing.
I liked this, even though it was easy. When a XW has tricky visual effects, I write over the pencil answers in bold fountain pen ink, then file the puzzle with others I've saved for [circa, 4-down] 10+ years.
I'm hoping at least one grandchild will take up puzzle solving.
Have a good weekend, all. Now for a Periodle.
This is the second SCRAWL we've seen recently - I like it. I also FELT good about AAAMEMBER with no crosses. It was nice when my iffy name recall pulled up SHARONA. That was probably possible because of the music - if she'd been a person from that long ago she would have stayed murky. Ooh murky! (That's one for Wordle)
I had a FWH1 - I had SUBMARINEr and neglected to change the r to H when I filled the ladder. I resorted to Check Puzzle to find it after an admittedly lackadaisical scan for the mistake preventing the happy music.
@Jim Stevens 10:40 Thanks, so it's not just in the movies!
My late mother-in-law drove us crazy and she was a caring and fun-loving person we still miss. But we had to keep worries away from her for all our sakes.
Testing hopping straight to PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT now.
Kind of got the yin/yang of “Genderqueer identity” with ENBY and WASABI.
I saw I Claudius years ago, but not familiar with I NACOMA.
@Roo. Surprised you didn’t mention 61D ROO. I also note that it’s crossing TOOTH. Are your devices ROO TOOTH capable?
I’m having a hard time thinking of how one could use SNOWIN (78D Strand, perhaps) in a sentence. Snow isn’t an active verb. I’m going to SNOWIN these guys. It’s a SNOWIN situation.
When you Google things that are (110A) Really, really spicy are they ULTRAHOT SEARCHES.
This was certainly an easy Sunday, but I loved the concept and thought much of the fill was wonderful. Thanks, Jessie and Ross.
Thank you! Don't understand how that kind of error made it into the NYT.
I waited until the last move to enter 900 H's. Very satisfying conclusion to a fun Sunday.
Uniclues:
1 Deep sea laundry.
2 Graffiti artist.
3 {He's back. Ug.}
4 Strip club.
5 The glorious sound an exasperated wife makes upon learning her husband's latest inane plan.
6 Assure a passionate one (who doesn't identify as male or female) that no one cares.
1 SUBMARINE CAMO PILE
2 SCRAWL PAINTER
3 ALMS HOUSE SLY NODS
4 ALA TALMUD ESCAPE ROOM
5 HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
6 INURE ENRAPT ENBY
LOL!
I, for one, did *not* enjoy this one's ups and downs. Another candidate for worst evah. I despair....
Yes @Rex, I DID enjoy the ups and downs of this puzzle and I’m glad you seemed to have kinda sorta liked it too!
Just to add to what @kitshef said, the virus in 28 Days Later is called the “Rage virus” and I would categorize it in the “zombie” genre although the “reanimation” is very quick. Very similar to World War Z, the movie that was based on the novel by Mel Brooks’s son Max.
@Nancy, ESCAPEROOM is actually an activity these days. Groups of people will pay to go into a room and find all the hidden clues necessary to get out of the room. The experience can be quite fun and sometimes organizations will set up ESCAPEROOMS to raise money for charities.
My rating: This is what big Sunday grids are for. And: Challenging. That's because my Sunday solving habit of working only from my first cross (no skipping around) had me starting at I MET x IN HORROR, after which a guess at the crossing PRADA and then DIESEL sent me down the right side of the puzzle. So I had to back into the theme. I was mystified until I reached ?REPAIRMAN, which in no way was part of the name of a pest control brand (I'd assumed that the dash in the clue space meant it was a continuation of the previous Across clue). Suddenly the ????EY? from I MET and NAY made sense: CHIMNEY? and ?SWEEP, though it still took a while for me to get the H idea. In sum: I loved working it out, including going to town with my neon pink highlighter to sort out all of the professionals. A very fun Sunday.
Slight brain fog here as I have developed my fist cold in years and woke up with a C two octaves below Middle C, which is not a good sign for a tenor.
Anyway, I'm in the group that left the squares like _ SWEEP blank. Got the gimmick just fine but HSWEEP just looks wrong to me, and if this is a DNF, so be it.
I've climbed a lot of LADDERS -shingling, repairing leaks, painting, cleaning roofs, and on and on. Had to use a 40' one to paint the peak of our two-car garage not that long ago, and I'm never doing that again. My dad was a lineman (for the power company, not the telephone guys), and I never saw him use a ladder at all. CHERRY PICKERS , yes, but they were referred to as "bucket trucks". Climb that pole. LADDERS are for the cable tv guys.
Thought this was an above average Sunday with some ingenious construction, also, Stunt Puzzle! All right! Nicde work, JT and RT. Just Takes a Righteous Theme for you guys to strut your stuff, and thanks for all the fun.
Whoa. I'm a blogger because I went blue. Thanks for that info,@Roo. It explains a few things I've been puzzled about.
I somehow missed this, but why is @Z missing ?
Didn't really enjoy this one but staggered through it until I was finishing in the North Central and hit the typo. That was enough for me to say I'd had enough.
Like @KateA 7:50, I thought "28 Days Later" related to the Sandra Bullock movie, "28 Days". I thought it must be a sequel so I set down "IN rehab" at 1A and when IN A COMA replaced it, still thought it related to the Sandra Bullock movie. D'OH.
My version of the puzzle had this clue: 12D {Stretch longer than an 11-Across}. This had me believing that these two, 11D and 12D, would end up as part of the theme, starting me off with a confusion that was only lifted towards the far end of my solve.
I thought the puzzle was well constructed but found it bland because of the lack of fun wordplay. But thanks, Jessie and Ross, for Rising to the Challenge of this Sunday puzzle.
@Loren Muse Smith 1:25 AM
"There is no place for grief in a house which serves the Muse."
Thanks to the Trudeaus for a fun puzzle. It was quite challenging until I finally figured out the theme and then suddenly it became quite easy. Loved all the hydrogen symbols down the center.
I knew that a TELEPHONE H is a 4, that the HOUSE H is probably down the street between HOUSE G and HOUSE I, but I didn’t realize that H’s came in flavors and the CHERRY H does sound like a winner.
A minute and a half off my personal best for a Sunday puzzle. Very little resistance. Perhaps we didn't need the "# rungs up" parenthetical additions to the theme clues, since CLIMBSTHELADDER was so easy to get from the clue.
A lot of stuff/names I didn't know in this grid, but all fairly crossed.
Nice to have an easy Sunday with a clever construction.
Talk To You Later
@Aelurus 10:07. Your last paragraph piqued (or is it peeked vs peaked?) my MacBeth curiosity button.
Evidently, actors playing the parts in Shakespeare's tragedy, tragically died. So what's the antidote for accidentally uttering the forbidden word? "Exit the theatre, spin around three times, spit over your left shoulder and either recite a line from Shakespeare or unleash a profanity." How's them apples?
I usually don't do a NYT Sunday puzzle because they've been tedious and boring. I piqued at the constructors names and decided I'd give it a whirl. I'm gad I did.
So I started with IN A COMA and ended with SLY NODS. My comatose left sided brain couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do with all the - floating around. The SLY NODS came upon discovering that I had to climb a LADDER rung or two or more. Que fun, said I....But being lazy with my H's, I left 21 of them blank. I felt they had climbed enough ladders for the day.
I will end by saying that the tip-toeing through a TULIP or so made this señora quite MAHAYANA today.
NICE JOB!
How in the world is Paul VI a random pope?
I mean how much more specificity is even possible?
In fact, he’s part one of the all-time great baseball trivia questions.
Anyone know it?
@jammon 9:12 AM
You're in good company. On a regular basis, people say they're giving up the puzzle.
The 12¢ APOPLEXY:
Axiom #1: Stuntz & Themez: The theme is stupid. Stunt puzzles are stupid (unless I like the stunt).
@Son Volt. BEET hate is a crime. I have reported you. The knock on your door will be a BEET cop.
Cute theme idea. Only real semi-gripe is that M&A prefers more humor in his SunPuz themes, to help him wanna plow thru that there giganto 21x21 puzgrid.
fave ladder climber was the phonetically humorous TOO TON D.A.
staff weeject picks (from 38 choices): GAH & HUB. Cuz they both got to set foot on the ladder from H.
Tough spot award goes to: ORTON/CENTIME/ENBY. Sure … come after m&e, when I'm all tired out from my long solvequest. snort
some fave stuff: AAAMEMBER. ILLTELL. SPAREME. MACBETH. ULTRAHOT + WASABI. ESCAPEROOM clue [one of only two ?-marker clues, I think].
It's either wrong again M&A breath, or my puz had a clue typo. My puz's 12-Down clue said: {Stretch longer than 11-Across} = EON. Reckoned they meant "11-Down" (ERA), since there weren't no 11-Across.
I complain about the general slog of SunPuz solvequests, but I should fully disclose that I always do about half of a SunPuz then pass it on to the PuzEatinSpouse, who conquers the rest of it. I did get to inform her about my uncoverin of the theme mcguffin, tho. She got to do the tough spot award area, tho.
Thanx for gangin up on the two of us, Trudeau folks. 8-Down may have set the record for the most of a single letter in one NYTPuz answer. Sooo … H of a feat, congratz.
Masked & Anonymo10Us
**gruntz**
I didn't find this particularly easy to solve. (Sly nods? Enby? Mahayana?) Kind of middle of the road, difficulty-wise, for me. I appreciated the gimmick and the visual trick of the ladder once I had it figured out, but it wasn't a joyful journey getting there.
Had IN teRROR at first, so it took me a while to see the H ladder.
I turn 83 today, so that's an excuse, too. ;-)
Since I write my letters in lower case, how am I supposed to see a ladder? Annoying.
The 11 across error in the magazine and print errors is not there in Jeff Chen's write-up. There it is the correct 11 down.
@albatross
Sorry, the gerbil apparently took the day off.
@egs
ROO TOOTH! Was that said by Scooby Doo?
I blame the stretch of H's throwing off the ROO radar. Yeah, that's it.
@everyone
Happy you've Ditched the Captcha!
@JC66
Happy Birthday!
RooMonster Clean Up Guy
I don't understand the "extra" H's.
Hi everyone, Colin here (at work, so I am not signed into to my Google account...).
I liked this puzzle, but had a bunch of inexplicable "R's" at the end of the themers because.... I put SUBMARINER as the answer to the person at the periscope, although I understood the captain of the boat to be the one usually with the arms draped across the arms! I thought (silly me!) "R" for "rungs"??? So, I put R at the end of everything. But I got this otherwise.
Other temporary bumps: DRY for WRY (humor); SORTA for CIRCA ("Roughly"); and I started thinking a group of fighters might start with PILOT... but no.
This was a pleasant solve on my Metro-North commute in this morning.
Colin
Several issues kept me from embracing this theme.
I've climbed a few ladders and none of them looked like a vertical row of disconnected Hs. I think OSHA would ban that kind of LADDER as a workplace hazard. That part of the theme fell flat for me.
I was looking for some rhyme or reason for the number of rungs listed in the theme clues. Maybe I missed something but they seemed arbitrary.
56A "Captain with a periscope" had me wondering how that related to CLIMBS THE LADDER. Does the SUBMARINE COMMANDER have to climb a LADDER to get to the periscope? I did a hitch in the Navy so I know most all ships have LADDERs but there's nothing about a "Captain with a periscope" that suggests LADDER CLIMBing to me.
So I resorted to my crossword amusement plan B and started looking for plurals of convenience (POC). Didn't have to go far. Even the central reveal CLIMB THE LADDER and the crossing RING IN needed some letter count boosting from that two-for-one interior S POC. And the bottom section had three more where a Down and an Across share a final S, including, yep, the lower, rightmost square. Hey, I'm easily amused (just not by disconnected LADDER rungs).
Happy birthday @JC66!
@Loren Muse Smith
I see what you did. "No place for grief in a house which serves the Muse"is pretty erudite about Sappho after all.
Happy birthday, @JC!
Must agree with @bocamp re challenging Acrostic. Early on I started sensing a theme, which turned out not to be there at all. I only just finished it. How did our other Acrostickers fare? @pablo?
(All afternoon I've been singing "In A Coma", to the tune of In The Navy" by the Village People. As it happens the lyrics do mention a submarine.)
@Gill 12:12 pm – I’m glad your curiosity was piqued and you shared your find, thanks! At least the antidote’s creator was considerate enough to leave the profanity up to the individual. I imagine that on exiting the theater to follow the instructions there would already be a steady stream to choose from.
@JC66 1:07 pm – Happy birthday!
@Joe Dipinto - I thought it was a fairly easy acrostic, though not so much as the last one. A, D, E, G (though slightly misspelled), L, N, P, Q and X all went in on my first pass - above average and with some very useful squares in the quote. My only real slowdowns were B (hard0 and O ("hard to untie, say" where the right answer occurred to me but does not, in my opinion, fit the clue).
In general I have found that @bocamp and I have opposite experiences, so our knowledge overlap is small. Although I do think he also had an easy time two weeks ago.
I climbed a ladder to pick cherries. The professionals complained that we amateurs would pick all the easy ones and leave the hardest work to them.
Sorry. ENBY is not a thing, regardless of how many people say it is a thing. I can learn it, but it doesn't legitimize it for me.
@Joe Dipinto, Kitshef, others…I work acrostic also although quite often it is many days after release. This one was on the easy side for me…go figure, because I’m here to confess I often cheat like a bandit to finish Acrostic (because I don’t leave it alone and return later…partly). I therefore say easy because on the Girl Scout oath I did not cheat. For sure, the bulk of the answers were not as “themey” as most but it was apparently in my wheelhouse.I WILL say that although I guess technically correct (I will assume it must be) the British city threw me for a loop but once I had a critical letter I threw caution to the wind and filled in.
Happy Birthday JC66! Well, I guess we know now that you weren’t BORN IN 1966!
@TJS…@Z/Zed made a short appearance after he went MIA. The 9-13-2022 puzzle was the last straw for him, in short.
Happy birthday JC66!
Sooo, because of the theme I misread 124A as "ascents", and having no idea who the down guy was I stared at SLY_ODS trying to think about stairs, steps, sneaking back into the house late at night and trying to get upstairs without stepping on the creaky stair...although I'm sure my parents knew... and then finally I reread the clue.
Other than that pretty easy, just a stumped moment with dRY humor making me think I was wrong about SWEEP, especially since it seemed to start in the wrong square. But the HHH did ultimately clarify.
Upper or lower case? Someone mentioned not seeing the ladder because, lower case. I've always used UC, as have others I know IRL. ,
Yawning
Rex...there was never a pope named Leo in our lifetime. They were all back in the Dark Ages (well, at least long ago).
@Acrostickers-I am in awe of those of you who found this one easy. Finally completed it successfully and I'm glad I don't time myself, because I would probably be embarrassed.
@JC66-Happy birthday! My singing partner hit the same number last week, and he still works in the high school M-F. plays guitar and dobro and harmonica with four or five different groups, and teaches adult ed courses--this fall's is on Ella Fitzgerald. It's people like him and yourself who give me hope for the future.
FWIW, I also found the acrostic (which I did yesterday) on the tough side. But looking back, I'm not sure why. Except for the fact that the capital of Cameroon wasn't going to bubble up from my brain; it had to be inferred. Oh, and also the answer to A is new to me. And B is only vaguely familiar. The kitchen patrol job was a long time in coming (there are many jobs to do in the kitchen).
Apparently superstitious actors refer to the play as "the Scottish play" so they don't have to say the name. When reporters interview actors before Macbeth opens, actors often use that term. I once read about the origin of this superstition and promptly forgot it.
Based on the half dozen times I have seen the play, the actors do say the character's name!
p.s.
Happy Birthday to @JC66! Hope it was a humdinger of a party!
M&A
@JC...HAPPY HAPPY... or as they say in my neck of the woods "APY VERDE TU JOO." Hope you're enjoying a nice cold martini - stirred and not shaken.....
I save the acrostic for Monday
Thanks all for the BD wishes. I really appreciate it.
As usual, I’m on Team Love the Gimmicky Sunday Puzzle. And I don’t care that the theme was easy. So easy in fact that I got it on the first the e clue because the parenthetical told me how many “rungs.” All I had to figure out was where to out the word SWEEP. It obviously went three lines up. WRY, ERA and EON going down quickly solved the problem. Left to suss out? Why the “extra” squares. I continued.
Because of the extra squares conundrum and the single long center down, I did focus on the middle area. Took me only a fee mire answers to see that H was going to be the “ladder,” and once I figured that out, the rest of the solve was honestly a bit dry.
I enjoyed the theme and appreciate the construction. Another good, classic NYT Sunday.
@dm3000 5:32
I knew
at least one person would complain about ENBY and here you are. Good for you. I'm glad you took the time out of your day to let us know that non binary people are not legitimate for you. Is the existence of non binary people in some way affecting your life negatively? I doubt it so why do you care so much? Live and let live. This isn't your problem.
@Gio: They are a tiny % of the population and a major reason why the Democrats will lose the House and possibly the Senate. Way to go wokesters.
@Gio 9:01PM
Well said. I'm guessing the commenter who said "ENBY is not a thing" (a dumb thing to say; clearly it's a "thing" to some people) would be the type where NIMBY* is, regularly and inevitably, a thing.
*Not In My Back Yard. Like, "get off my front lawn, you so-called non-binary types, and don't you even think of getting in my back yard!"
Happy Birthday, JC66. Although I have no direct experience with 83, my grandmother said that 83 and 84 were her favorite ages since her twenties.
Oh, by the way:
Phrazle 348: 1/6
🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩
#phrazle
Tee-hee.
Hahaha. Even after I finished, I was stuck in Sandra Bullock’s 28 Days, so … in a sofa? No. In a coma? Umm, not how I remember it, but she did portray an alcoholic, so … Anyway, thanks.
@bluedogmoderate This is one of the dumbest things I've ever read. It doesn't make any sense at all. The Democrats are making non-binary people a campaign issue? If they win everyone will be required to declare themselves non-binary? Or give half their salary to non-binary people? Is that what the Democrats are promising?
If anything, the Semi-Fascist Extremist Party is scaring you into.thinkonh if Democrats win, your lily white straight world might change and you can't have that!
Happy Birthday @JC66
Jay's? Try being a Mets fan..
I’m surprised Rex didn’t mention this right off the bat. It’s rare to find such a mistake, which makes it all the more noteworthy Wish my Dad were still alive so I could tell him of this momentous occasion! 😂
Can’t we just go back to the old days when there weren’t cutesy stories about the puzzle creator/creators, and have an editor at the helm who is actually still interested in the job?
Agreed
Sounds good
As was I ! What a tedious puzzle. Thumbs down.
In orchards, as per the origin of the expression, pickers of the cherries use ladders to get to the cherries.
Intriguing to start, until you get what's going on. From then on the puzzle virtually fills itself. I have seldom gone through such an easy grid. If you're bothered by the "gaps" in the LADDER, simply extend the vertical lines of the H's until they connect. There, feel better?
The fill was remarkably clean, needing only the most OBSCURE QB of all time, Kyle ORTON as an outlier. Even AAAMEMBER is so in-the-language that I can't object. Well done, Trudeaus! Birdie.
If Wordle is going to throw a triple-letter word at me, I won't be the least ashamed of a bogey--especially after starting BBBBB/BBBBB.
CARMEL CHERRY
I'LLTELL you when IMET SHARONA
she'd CAUSE my HART to STIR A lot.
I'm SO ENRAPT, as INACOMA,
I'd PICKER 'CAUSE she's ULTRAHOT.
--- RON COLBERT
SNOWIN INTERROR, RINGSIN INACOMA - INURE ear. ONI IMET, ugh. PAULVI MDC for most of the RRN set. AAAMEMBER JCREW ENBY, more letterplay than wordplay. ILLTELL you not the best fill.
ALL the themers have a NICEJOB CLIMBing LADDERs, I guess.
GAH, wordle bogey.
Oops. typo. INHORROR. INteRROR is what I had to write over. Kinda messy there.
I've noticed that no one has mentioned the rung symmetry. It is: 3—4—8—4—3! That's code!!! If anyone still has their Cracker Jack decoder ring, please tell me what it means!
@NorthwestRunner Dieu is French for God-Mon Dieu is French for Holy Crap! Dei is Latin—Opus Dei is an ultra orthodox Catholic sect.
And I was tot day years old to learn male deer = hart
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