Old-fashioned trial transcriber / SUN 10-2-22 / Menu eponym / Asset when playing cornhole / About 6.5 inches on a standard piano / Help page initialism / German physicist with an eponymous law / One-named singer whose last name is Adkins / 2015 inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame

Sunday, October 2, 2022

Constructor: Kathy Bloomer

Relative difficulty: Easy (easiest Sunday in recent memory)


THEME: "Le Puzzle" — wacky phrases created by adding "LE" to familiar phrases:

Theme answers:
  • TRICKLE QUESTION (22A: "When will the leaky faucet get fixed?," e.g.?)
  • ALL OVER THE MAPLE (106A: Where you'd find the sap for syrup?)
  • SKIPS A BEATLE (3D: Says "John, Paul ... and Ringo"?)
  • CLASS TRIPLE (63D: The three R's?)
  • WORDLE OF MOUTH (31D: M_U_H?)
  • LOTTERY PICKLE (34D: Loss of the winning ticket?)
  • STARTLE DATE (15D: Show up naked, perhaps?)
  • PALACE COUPLE (60D: King and queen?)
Word of the Day: OH HENRY! (64A: Candy bar whose name is an exclamation) —
Oh Henry! is a candy bar containing peanutscaramel, and fudge coated in chocolate. 

There are multiple versions of the Oh Henry! bar origin story. The manufacturer Nestlé says that the bar was introduced by George Williamson and his Williamson Candy Company of Chicago in 1920 in United States. The most popular alternate story is that Thomas Henry, manager of the Peerless Candy Co. in Arkansas City, Kansas, invented a bar he called the "Tom Henry Bar" in the late 1910s, and sold the recipe to George Williamson in 1920. There is no credible documentation of this story.

There are other alternate accounts of the origin of the name of the bar. The story supported by Nestlé is that there was a boy named Henry who frequented George Williamson's second candy shop. He became a favorite of the young girls who worked there, who would say "Oh Henry" when speaking to or about him, and Williamson used this phrase to name his new confection. The other (undocumented) story is that the name was changed from the Tom Henry Bar to Oh Henry! when it was purchased by Williamson. Popular myths are that it was named after O. Henry or Henry Aaron.

The Williamson Company was sold to Warner-Lambert in 1965, which soon sold Oh Henry! to Terson, Inc. Nestlé acquired the United States rights to the brand from Terson in 1984. In 2018, Nestlé sold the rights to its U.S. confectionery products to Ferrara Candy Company, a subsidiary of Ferrero SpAFerrara quietly discontinued the US version of Oh Henry! in 2019. (wikipedia) (emph. mine)

• • •

So ... [Erstwhile candy bar whose name was an exclamation], then. Good thing they discontinued the candy bar "quietly," otherwise, my god, you can imagine the uproar ... 



This is one of those themes that feels like it belongs in some other publication. The concept is pretty stale. You're just adding letters. Two letters: "LE." Why? I don't know. The title, "Le Puzzle" ... is that supposed to evoke Le Car? What is that? It's as if the title is admitting, "yeah, there's not much of a concept here, but there's wackiness, so, you know, enjoy." Seems like you could add "LE" to words all day long, and then the number of phrases you might use those words in, hoo boy, that list has gotta go on forever. So you find some and you arrange them symmetrically and here you are, but where are you, really, besides killing 10 min. to a half hour on a Sunday morning. The wacky really Really has to pay off for a theme this conceptually thin to work, and it's hard to argue that the payoff is very substantial here. I gotta give credit to WORDLE OF MOUTH for at least trying hard. That answer is grammatically tortured but it's got the right idea: as with all things wacky, go big or go home. The clue is innovative and cute and the answer is current, so props to that themer for sure, but the rest of this is pretty lackluster. Well, STARTLE DATE is pretty startling, and that's better than just being chuckleworthy, so we'll count that one as a plus as well. The rest, shrug. There they are. 


The non-thematic fill is pretty unremarkable, and occasionally wobbly. RATEDAAA and AAH ... I feel like there's a potential theme here somewhere [Like bonds issued at a spa] (RATED AAH), something like that. But all the AAAAAA action here is weird. The TNOTE / NOTPC (ugh) / O'MEARA section is pretty thick with mustiness as well. SEE ME!? I LAY! The fill never gets above mediocre. The grid's main problem is that it's poorly filled so much as that it's just loaded with ordinary, unremarkable 3-to-5-letter answers. Not a lot of fun to be had there. Second day in a row for HORSEMAN, which is the bizarro fact of the day (okay yesterday was HORSEMEN plural but close enough). I didn't have a lick of trouble anywhere with this one. Maybe getting from [Boos] to HONEYS took me a few beats, or acceding to ASSHAT, that might've cost me some seconds, but mostly I was writing in answers as fast as I could read clues. I wish there was more to talk about today, but this grid just isn't giving me a lot to work with. I had PROD before CROP (101A: Whip) and couldn't remember the Nickelodeon brothers' names (PETE) (102D: Name of either brother in a classic Nickelodeon sitcom) (that show missed me completely, though honestly that's true of virtually every show on Nickelodeon; I was too old for that network, and my daughter just never cared). 


The clue on ALL OVER THE MAPLE feels very weird (106A: Where you'd find sap for syrup?). Imagine if your maples were actually covered in sap ... because that's what I was imagining, because the image the clue evokes. You know what's actually ALL OVER THE MAPLEs (outside my house) right now? The damn screaming blue jays. What is it with the blue jays this late summer / early autumn? I've never heard more damn jay yelling. I mean, jays are notoriously pushy jerks, but they are really going at it, screaming-wise, this year. They are beautiful birds, but I am looking forward to shut-the-hell-up season, whenever that is. 


I'll leave you with a couple of bonus features today. First, video of the crossword round-table discussion I participated in last week as part of the opening festivities of the Finger Lakes Crossword Competition (it's me and "Wordplay" blogger Deb Amlen and constructor Adam Perl, moderated by New Yorker constructor (and Cornell professor) Anna Shechtman):


And then, finally, an email I got from a reader this week. It had the subject heading: "A Will Weng story" so naturally I was intrigued (Weng was the NYTXW editor in the '70s, the successor to the original editor Margaret Farrar and the immediate predecessor of Eugene Maleska, who was Shortz's predecessor ... mind-boggling that in 80 years there have been only 4 NYTXW editors!). Anyway, here it is, your Crossword Anecdote (from reader Oliver)!
It is 1970. I was doing my two-year Vietnam military obligation in San Francisco, working for the Yellow Berets in the U. S. Public Health Service (q.v. — “Yellow Berets”).

I was then married to Lisa Ferris Brown [ed.: not her real name], a cruciverbalist and cryptogram solver. 

Lisa, then  25, decided to compose an X-word puz for the NYT. It took some prodding on my part (not re: content, but re: persistence), but eventually Lisa completed the puzzle and sent it off to Will Weng. A few weeks later, a poorly typed letter on undersized and mis-aligned stationery (poorly typed because of a number of overstrikes with ribbon-clogged keys) arrived from Mr. Weng.

Mr. Weng wrote: “Change ‘Ahab to arab' and we’ll publish it.” There was one other change Mr. Weng wanted — I cannot recall. After some more encouragement, Lisa made the suggested changes and mailed the revised puzzle back to New York. Lisa also sent a Xerox (a Big Deal in 1970) of the puzzle to my dad, who, as I noted in my test email to you, was a 30-year veteran NYT X-word pro — could even do the Friday puzzle between Lexington and Wall Street.

OK. Silence for another few weeks, and then…. a letter to Lisa Ferris Brown (née as written, but may have sent her letter to Mr. Weng as Lisa Brown Kelman) from the New York Times arrived. Well, an envelope arrived, not exactly a letter. In the envelope was a check for $15.00 from the NYT’s bank. No hint what it was for.

A few more weeks passed. Then my dad called me: “Lisa's puzzle is in today’s paper!” I have no recollection whether it was a Monday or any other weekday.

End of story? No.

In April, 1970 Lisa and I took the Italy Grand Tour. On the way back, we checked in at Fiumicino in Rome for our flight to SFO. A guy in the window seat had the International Herald Tribune (which carried a mishmash of Euro stringers and NYT stuff) opened to the crossword puzzle. Lisa was sitting next to him. At some point, the guy turns to Lisa and asks, “Hey what’s a 4-letter word for XXXX?”

Lisa says, “May I  please see that puzzle for a moment and may I borrow your pencil?”

The guy surrenders the folded Herald Tribune and his pencil. Maybe it was a pen.

It’s Lisa's puzzle, the rights to which she had surrendered when she sold it to the NYT for a small fortune.

So Lisa proceeds to complete the puzzle in mere seconds without looking at the clues and hands it back to the guy in the window seat. The guy makes a few feeble efforts to check the clues against Lisa's fill-ins to make sure she had not entered just a bunch of letters, and then says:

“How did you do this?”

Lisa answers:

“I wrote it.”

The guy does not know which is more improbable — that she wrote it or that she was some kind of 200 IQ genius. But Lisa convinces him it was just a freak coincidence. They guy was a shrink from Berkeley.

We shared some drinks.
Y'all are free to send me random crossword-related stories like this *any* time you like. They entertain me no end. Take care, and see you later.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

84 comments:

Joaquin 12:05 AM  

I was kinda sloggin' my way through and then 79D made it all worth the price of admission.

“That rug really tied the room together”, says The Dude.

jae 12:08 AM  

Easy. Breezy solve with a mildly amusing theme. Sans before SINE and trying a couple of ways to spell LOEWS were it for missteps. Liked it more than @Rex did.

Ken Freeland 12:15 AM  

Liked this one a whole lot more than Rex...finished cleanly, no unsolvable naticks, and the theme answers were a laugh and a half. I 'll generously award it five stars! "HONEYS" for "boos" and ASSHAT convince me that crossword puzzle constructors know a different English language than I do,but that's ok if the cross-cluing is in my own patois.

yinchiao 12:27 AM  

I guess you're not supposed to try saying any of these out loud -- it's just letters in boxes, right? But "map" -> "maple" and "coup" ->"couple" do kind of rub my ear the wrong way.

Alice Pollard 12:44 AM  

Easy - my last entry was HONEYS (clue was Boos? - didnt really get it, but whatever. I guess Boo is a term of endearment in some circles. Not mine). And hated to see WORDLE invade our precious XWord. Nice puzzle, enjoyed it

Anonymous 12:47 AM  

This puzzle had both “ok” and “okay.” That’s gotta count for something.

It also had “ko,” fow what it’s worth.

egsforbreakfast 12:55 AM  

Themers missed by Rex: ADELE, NILE, EAGLE, ALE. The appropriate clues are too obvious to bog me down here.

Review quiz: a HORSEMAN knows that a one year old horse is ripe for training. So on January 2, 2022, he buys a colt born on December 31, 2021 and jumps on it.. The horse collapses and has to be put down. The HORSEMAN demands his money back, saying, “That northern hemisphere thoroughbred was not one year old.” Eventually, at trial, Judge Aileen Cannon rules that the HORSEMAN owes money to Donald Trump, who had no previous association with the case, the horse or the HORSEMAN. WTF?

Answer: Hugo Chavez.

I never found a title or a revealer or anything else approximating “Le Puzzle.” Nonetheless, it was easy enough to pick up the “familiar phrase + LE” conceit. And, unlike Rex, I get that it’s all a play on WORDLE and its numerous spawn.

Not much of a challenge, but a fun time. Thanks, Kathy Blooomer.



okanaganer 1:20 AM  

The theme would have been better if all had undergone a change of pronunciation when the LE was added. Like: COUP to COUPLE and MAP to MAPLE.

Typeovers: FLAY before CROP, and bizarrely SVELDT before SVELTE. (I guess I was thinking of VELDT, probably because of this catchy tune by deadmau5 inspired by an eerily prescient 1950 Ray Bradbury story).

And two Kealoas -- FOCI before LOCI, and NONPC before NOTPC -- produced the bewildering START FEDANE which delayed my Happy Pencil by a bit.

[Spelling Bee: Sat 0, only 15 min to QB. Sept was a very good month: QB on 23 of 26 days played! Here are the 4 words I missed in Sept.]

Erin 1:34 AM  

The closest story I have to the Lisa flying story, for your amusement...

I was doing some last minute Christmas shopping with my dad at a Barnes and Noble a few years ago, and one of the things he wanted to grab was a crossword book for my mom's stocking. While in the appropriate aisle, I flipped through the NYT Friday and Saturday collections and sure enough, spotted one of my own puzzles and showed it to my dad. There were two copies of the collection on the shelf, so we decided to buy one for Mom's stocking.

My dad encouraged me to sign the other. I wasn't sure if I should, but then I figured, what the heck... it might be a nice easter egg for whoever bought it. As I was signing, an employee came over to chastise me for writing in the book.

I explained what I was doing, and even showed him some ID. He seemed a little skeptical, but decided it was fine, since I wasn't solving the puzzle or anything. He seemed even more okay with it once he realized we were buying the other copy on the shelf.

Gary Jugert 1:44 AM  

Harry Potter is #1! And, it's October so we can count on plenty of re-runs of our favorite witchy drama. We'll languish on the devan soaking up so much miss Granger we'll run the risk of memorizing all her spells. (I've already done it.) And dear ole 🦖 will growl a bit over billionaires with misaligned noggins. Grr.

Yesterday: HENS TEETH (whatever those are).

Today: HEN PECK (the sad refrain of poor beleaguered men wanting women to be seen and not heard).

Yesterday: HORSEMEN

Today: HORSEMAN

Tomorrow: Can't we agree it's non-sense we gender identify around mammal manipulation? Crazy cat lady and belligerent badger non-binaries. And further can't we agree there's no point whatsoever to the continuing existence of domesticated horses? It's 2022 -- you don't need those pointy shoes, the goofy hat, belt buckle advertising, or songs about your pickup truck. Get a bicycle.

MANY crosses MANI. Nice.

I know yer thinkin' IN PENCIL is a synonym for "weak cruciverbalist" ... and you're right. 🙃✏️

Speaking of not using a pencil, the app has two dashes for each missing letter in the Wordle clue making it 900 letters long.

ENID makes a long overdue appearance again today and the attentive editors of Wikipedia continue to remind us there were 27 better places to live than Enid in 1998.

Boos:

FEEL OKAY and OKS. Enough, m'kay?

Tee-Hees:

Of all the legendary ways of startling a romantic interest, our editors (sadly, but unsurprisingly) went with "show up naked." Ivy league liberal arts education meets NYC dating scene on junior crossword editor pay. Bless their pea-pickin' hearts. Today's editor's cries for help began without subterfuge at 1-Across: ASSHAT. Way to start strong. Then we slam some SHOTS and wrap things up with kissing a Republican on the mouth over political correctness. Potentially offensive, say?

Thanks for the video post 🦖. Looking forward to watching the whole thing today.

Uniclues:

1 One guy looks to science and funds the research to find a way to keep tzatziki on the gyro instead of oozing down your fingers.
2 Turf tuffs terrorize the trite.
3 The price of a nasty shake.
4 Hosts a literary dinner with an awkward ending.
5 Ancient warrior's expository exaggeration on the urge to knock on some skulls.

1 FELLA FOOTS PITA LAB
2 GRASS FOES KICK HACKS
3 ALKALINE MALTS FEE
4 HAS OVER POETS. LOSES IT. (~)
5 "AAH, INK THE AX YEN." (~)

Joe Dipinto 2:07 AM  

You'd think that since the Times owns Wordle they'd use the graphics to make the clue represent it accurately. They could have used [T-H-U-M-B?], with the letters in appropriately colored boxes (yellow, yellow, green, yellow, gray)

chefwen 2:26 AM  

Hey, any puzzle that starts with ASS HAT has got to be a winner. I do, however, agree that it was pretty darn easy for Sunday. I did enjoy it after the thrashing I got on Saturdays puzzle, which I finally did finish after Googling my ass off, ooh there’s that word again.

Onward to the LA Times.

Conrad 6:24 AM  


I read the title and the clue for 1A and immediately thought "Rebus!" and was terribly disappointed when it didn't work.

Anonymous 6:39 AM  

I truly detest AAH and always want it to be AHH. To me the former is what the doctor has you open your mouth and say. The latter is what comes out of your mouth when the appointment is over.

OffTheGrid 6:39 AM  

I just had to stop. This is so bad. Theme answers are so forced and you can't change the vowel sound. Yes, I'm talking to you, ALLOVERTHEMAPLE. And the sap isn't even "ALL OVER". Enrobe? Yuck! ASSHAT? I might even print this mess so I can flush it down the toilet.

Anonymous 7:21 AM  

So some answers are chuckleworthy, while others are chuck worthy.

Son Volt 7:27 AM  

Solved as a themeless - just no interest in the intended wackiness. Filled like an oversized Wednesday. Agree with @Joe D that if you go with the shameless product spot might as well make the presentation cleaner.

Didn’t think I’d ever see two adjacent Spam clues. GESTATES, RATED AAA and AREA RUGS all deserve to be shunned. Is there an e missing in GAMY? ALKALINE was neat

I liked TALL ONE but I equate it with any drink - not specific to beer. The 4s and 5a thru the center diagonal were tedious. When I solve on paper it’s always IN PEN.

The great Will Oldham as PALACE Brothers

I expected more on this cold, stormy morning. @chefwen is going to the LA Times - I’ll check in with Stan Newman.

Lewis 7:46 AM  

I like wordplay themes that make me try to think of more answers, as today’s did. I like theme answers that make me smile warmly inside, of which there were several. I love theme clues/answers that draw out a spontaneous cackle, as WORDLE OF MOUTH did.

I like lovely crosses, such as STENO crossing POOL, and NIKOLA, who was 6’2” according to Wikipedia, crossing TALL ONE. I like answers that just look funny to my eyes, even though they’re legitimate, like FOOTS.

I like big puzzles that relax me, while holding my interest throughout.

So, KB, thank you for a puzzle that hit my happy button as your offering did today. Le Puzzle was joyeux!

kitshef 7:52 AM  

The last across and last down themer are flawed due to the sound change (hi, @yinchiao), and there are stray LEs in the grid (hi, @egsforbreakfast).

Rex must have a very short memory, as two weeks ago we had a much, much easier Sunday puzzle.

flOg before crop. whiP would also have fit.

bagelboy 8:01 AM  

Easy - only slow spot was TBILL and TBOND before TNOTE and HORN before HONK and KINK before KICK all in the same area. Worked it all through and still ended up with a fast Sunday time for me.

Colin 8:05 AM  

Fine but very easy. I knew, just knew, that theme would be slammed as simplistic.

My mother used to feed us a lot of Spam when we were growing up. We decidedly did not like it, nope, unless it was fried - not bad in an omelet, for example. How 'bout that Spam lamb, on M*A*S*H? Such a slice (so to speak) of Americana. Anyone been to the Spam Museum in Minnesota? I'd like to visit sometime, just to relive some of those childhood memories.

Phillyrad1999 8:25 AM  

Played like a big Monday. This puzzle is nest described by a Warner Bros. favorite. Le Pew.

bocamp 8:32 AM  

Merci, Kathy, pour 'le puzzle' par excellence! :)

Easy-med.

Very smooth top to bottom solve; floated on down towards the ABYSS, and ended with the ALTEREGO I wanted for yd's puz.

Loved WORDLE OF MOUTH; coincidentally, just had MOUTH as one of the 32 WORDs in yd's DuotrigORDLE, just before embarking on this xword.

Most enjoyable Sun. adventure! :)

Will be working on today's Puns & Anagrams puz in the NYT' Games section.
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏

Bob Mills 8:35 AM  

Easy puzzle. Easy theme to grasp. Just one problem---the MANI/HONEYS cross. How is a salon job a MANI? If that's short for MANICURE, has anyone ever used that abbreviation in speech? How are boos HONEYS? Is "boo" a girlfriend or boyfriend? If I boo someone, am I honeying that person?

Trina 8:47 AM  

My Hawaiian cousins all love spam. Spam fried rice is actually surprisingly tasty.

Easy puzzle but likeable.

TTrimble 8:58 AM  

It was easy for a Sunday, all right, but I'm surprised nobody has pointed out a big reason why: the cluing was just so remedial. Salty droplet --> TEAR. Prop for a painter --> EASEL. A pomegranate can contain a few hundred of these --> SEEDS. Bottomless void --> ABYSS. Song from back in the day --> OLDIE. Adversaries --> FOES. Condition treated with insulin --> DIABETES.

It reminds me of -- does anyone else remember this? -- that feature in the Sunday paper comics section titled "Cappy Dick" where said "cappy" would say, "Hey, kids! Try for these prizes!" Followed by a bunch of moronic puzzles for kids to solve. Picture some freckled cornfed redhead with a cowlick named Henry calling out, "Hey, pops! I got 'em all!" "OH HENRY, that's great!"

C'mon, NYT. You can do better by your clientele.

Anonymous 9:09 AM  

Was I the only person bothered by the cross of HAS OVER and ALL OVER?

Also — So that’s why I’ve been searching in vain for an Oh Henry! bar these past few years.

Anonymous 9:12 AM  

Me too!!!

Nancy 9:16 AM  

STARTLE DATE was the funniest, I thought. WORDLE OF MOUTH kind of tickLEd me too -- mainly because of the unusual clue.

But when you're someone who hears the sound of every word you're reading in your head rather than someone who simply sees that word on the page, ALL OVER THE MAPLE and PALACE COUPLE just don't cut it.

I'm sure there's some sort of reason why "boos" = HONEYS, but I don't know what it is and the clue really annoyed me.

I feared at the get-go that 1A would be a rebus of something unprintable and so I was relieved when ASSHAT came in. Just not relieved enough. Really, NYT, your taste level keeps plunging.

What's the magic that makes a long Sunday puzzle un-put-downable? We all know it when we see it without being quite able to explain it. This was a perfectly respectable and professionally crafted Sunday, but I could have put it down anywhere. Even though I didn't.

SouthsideJohnny 9:20 AM  

Basically a quibble with this one - and it’s the Northeast section. You have (in my opinion) the weakest of the themes - STARTLED DATE and then the rest of the section is a trivial stew (or perhaps the Times would prefer it be referred to as a cassoulet), with HORMEL, HERMIONE, HARPO, ENID, ADELE and OMEARA. Compare and contrast that to the SW section where you also have a theme entry (CLASS TRIPLE) which is accompanied by items such as AREA RUGS, GESTATES and even RATED AAA. The one trivial entry there is Sam the EAGLE and I’ll take that one over being asked ADELE’s last name any time. As Rex mentioned, this one played easily enough that the trivia wasn’t overly annoying - just stylistically I would prefer that those entries be spread around the grid to dilute the concentration a bit.


mmorgan 9:21 AM  

I started out with _SSH_ _ at 1A and wondered if it was a rebus with LE in the last square. Nah, couldn’t be, but close!

Other than that, yes, as Rex said, easiest Sunday in recent memory.

JD 9:22 AM  


Had the theme at 3D and I'm known to be obtuse. O'Meara is starting to be my Number 1 golfer guess, the alpha and the O'Meara on golfers because I can never remember the name of the crosswordese Japanese golfer (there's an O and an S, it's an easy name) for some reason. I have a few things that, words or names that come up often and it's a struggle every time. Ada used to be one.

But one thing I never forget is Ass because the NYT must have a monthly Ass quota. Ass is the new bra, Ono and Eno. Constructors getting emails saying, "Change Top Hat to Ass Hat, work with it and we're good to go."

Wordle clue and answer were just wonderful. Struggled for a second with AL Lover Them Aple. But just a second. Put in Nil for Lil and sniffed in my word snobby way but only for a second there too.

Fun Sunday.

Anonymous 9:49 AM  

100% — changing pronunciation or not for the theme should be consistent. The mish-mash feels dirty.

Teedmn 9:49 AM  

You can't call a puzzle a slog when it fills in this fast, which is a PLUS in my book.

I saw WORDLE OF MOUTH and figured that was the SEEDS for this puzzle and Kathy, over at xwordinfo.com, kind of confirms my guess. I liked WORDLE OF MOUTH as a themer, along with SKIP A BEATLE, ALL OVER THE MAPLE and PALACE COUPLE. I thought the sound change in the last two was an asset.

STARTLE DATE was certainly startling but awkward in my opinion. LOTTERY PICKLE and CLASS TRIPLE, good base phrases but not so wacky when themed.

Pondering what might be 6.5 inches on a standard piano was amusing. I thought of OCTAVE but dismissed it because playing an octave is a stretch for me and I thought it must be a longer reach than 6.5 inches. I can stretch to one key over an octave but don't know if I could do it cleanly when actually playing. Small hands are not helpful when playing piano or guitar but might be with flute or piccolo (which I've never played.)

Kathy Bloomer, thanks for the smooth Sunday puzzle.

Anonymous 9:50 AM  

OK / KO would be nicely balanced by Okay / Yakko (one of the Warner Brothers who live in the water tower)

RooMonster 9:52 AM  

Hey All !
I got a KICK out of the puz, but then, I'm easily amused.

I imagine you'd get quite a STARTLEd DATE if you showed up naked (along with everyone else!)

HORSEMAN/CALLED could also be HORSEMEN/CELLED. Guess which one I went with I know the clue is singular, but who pays attention to that?

Thought fill was decent. Ese and stuff, but y'know, all puzs have those.

@Lewis
High doubles today? We even get e Triple! AAA. Nice

Four F's
RooMonster
DarrinV

pabloinnh 10:01 AM  

Looks like my take on 1A was shared by some others. I knew it wasn't going to fit but the first four letters I filled in from downs were ASSH and hope sprang eternal. Not that I would want to see that in a NYT puzzle, especially on Sunday.

Otherwise a "read the clue and write in the answer" experience, with plenty of M&A moo-cows. Caught the trick at TRICKLEQUESTION, appropriately enough. Also, reading the title is helpful, which I cleverly took to mean something was going to be happening with LE. Sure enough.

Thought the themers were fun and now I have time to do other stuff on a Sunday morning, so there's that.

Nice Sundecito, KB. Kept Busy for a little while and enjoyed myself, so thanks for all the fun.

@okanaganer-After getting to pg in the SB yesterday, I kept coming back to it off and on all day and wound up getting to QB for the first time in a long time last night, and then I read your "in fifteen minutes" comment and put my pride back in my pocket where it belonged. Well done you.

Lewis 10:09 AM  

@roo -- I take a vacation from alphadoppeltotting on Sundays, so I can't answer your question!

Diego 10:41 AM  

OFL’s take on the jays was more amusing (chuckle-wise) than this whole puzzle!
Also, @JD 10:22 on “asshat” is a real knee-slapper.

Birchbark 10:49 AM  

OH HENRY, O'MEARA. HORMEL TINS. Nifty.

One of the many sprawling plot lines in "Against the Day," by Thomas Pynchon, is NIKOLA Tesla's view that the energy we need can be drawn cleanly from magnetic fields in the earth below us. Scarsdale Vibe, Pynchon's stand-in for J.P. Morgan, will have none of it. One of the things I think about while doing chores.

ALL OVER THE MAPLE -- the more's the better when it comes to the blue jays, those saucy vandals. They add to the early days of beautiful colors in this good place.

Solving and typing while listening to the Vikings and Saints in London -- 10 - 7 Vikes, late in the first half.

Joseph Michael 11:18 AM  

I enjoyed this puzzle’s sense of humor, especially SKIP A BEATLE, TRICKLE QUESTION, and WORDLE OF MOUTH. Thanks, Kathy Bloomer, for a Sunday puzzle that didn’t put me to sleep.

Given that a LE is added to each themer, perhaps 110D is a subliminal revealer?

Teedmn 11:22 AM  

Re Rex mentioning the raucousness of the bluejays: Their annoying calls in late summer/early autumn are as much a sign of the changing seasons, to me, as the leaves changing color. That rusty metal screeching they make is a reminder to cover the garden from frost (which I've already had to do once and will do again by the end of the week.)

This is not my favorite time of year. I would much rather be listening to the first red-winged blackbird making its spring appearance.

beverly c 11:27 AM  

I liked STARTLEDATE, WORDLEOFMOUTH, and even TRICKLEQUESTION - but the real highlight of the puzzle was …

AREARUGS! @Joaquin 12:08 AM Hi!

Another big laugh came from @egsforbreakfast 12:55 AM Thanks for your Review Quiz.

Oh, and a shout out to our pal @Gary Jugert 1:44 AM for the uniclue #1 -almost as good as Placates Eve.

G. Weissman 11:27 AM  

This puzzle was meh. It did not cause me to “smile warmly inside” or outside, nor did it “draw out a spontaneous cackle.” Is it really okay (ok?) for a puzzle to include both FEELOKAY and OKS as answers? Seems like something the editor might have caught. When did ASSHAT become fair game? Is SHITHEAD next?

Carola 11:30 AM  

Cute, liked it a lot. I didn't find it all that easy. Even after getting the LE idea with BEATLE, I needed plenty of crosses to get some of the others (STARTLE DATE, CLASS TRIPLE, LOTTERY PICKLE), with a nice payoff in amusement.
Weighing in on MAPLE and COUPLE - for me the sound change is what made them the best of the bunch.
Help from previous puzzles: O'MEARA, KAL-EL. Do-over: NIcOLA. Would they really?: ASSHOxx (Hi, @Conrad, @Nancy, @mmorgan.

Sixthstone 11:35 AM  

Tooting my own horn for deciphering the gimmick on my very first entry SKIPS A BEATLE. Now I can feel smarter than everyone all day.

Geezer 12:10 PM  

This puzzle is getting a pretty positive response from the commentariat. Most likely the result of lowered expectations for Sunday.

Ghoti 12:20 PM  

I ask my daughter often if she wants to get a mani with me — though admittedly more often a mani/pedi.

Anonymous 12:23 PM  

I had KINK for “Bit of spice, figuratively” for the longest time, couldn’t figure out what LOTTERYPINKLE was, lol

Anonymous 12:34 PM  

There was a show on tv called Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. Then they made Mama Jane: Not to Hot.
Very obese Mom and daughter.
That’s how honey and boo boo got together and boos was created.
Very embarrassed that my first comment on the blog after all these years is about a crass mother-daughter duo turned obesity into a comedy. PS They gave now list weight!!!!

Ben 1:00 PM  

WORDLEOFMOUTH was badly clued: on the web, it showed up as "M_ _U_ _TH," implying there were two missing letters in each gap. Should have been caught by the editor.

okanaganer 1:24 PM  

@pabloinnh, re SB... thanks for the compliment! And keep at it, I was amazed how much I improved by doing it every day. BTW, 15 minutes is unusual... I usually take about 10 min to get pg, then go off and do stuff and come back after lunch, then try again near suppertime if necessary.

@bocamp used to keep a list of obscure words that he would scan before starting, and I tried that but found it too much of a chore. What I have been doing is saving a screen shot, naming it after any odd words it contained, and keep them all in a folder. That makes those words more memorable (eg "loblolly" a few days ago).

CDilly52 1:41 PM  

Best uniclues yet, @Gary J!! I do so look forward to them .

Alex 2:03 PM  

NOTPC plus HENPECK made me CRANKY. Coming late in the puzzle made me finish with a sour taste in my mouth.

Anonymous 2:29 PM  

Where did Z/Zed go? He is missed…

Anonymous 2:34 PM  

Agreed, Ben.

Eddie 2:46 PM  

FeelsOK and OKs not okay
Loved the anecdote.

CDilly52 3:56 PM  

Yes to being easy, yes to theme done before, yes to not terribly inventive, yes to some inconsistency in theme parallelism etc, etc, etc. Yes to all the complaints. Doesn’t make this a bad puzzle. Today’s email to @Rex reminded me of my first Sunday solo solve.

Somewhere out there in the vast Sunday NYTXW solver-verse there is a solver (more, I suggest than one) for whom this is the first Sunday cheatless complete solve. Who among us cannot remember that? And to me that makes this worthy. Period.

For me, it would be an end to something that has been an enjoyable and important part of my day since I was somewhere between my 8th and 9th birthday. Doing this puzzle has taught me so many things and has given me so many wonderful memories and at each stage of my life, it has introduced me to scads of things I’d never have encountered, not the least of which is this community of fascinating and über talented folks. As my life has evolved, so has my solving experience.

Today’s solve really took me back to my first completely solo Sunday solve. Because I continued to share so puzzles with Gran all through high school, I obviously cannot claim any Sundays as my own then.

As anyone who knew me when would guess, I fell in with a gaggle of stereotypical bead wearing, placard carrying self styled revolutionaries in undergraduate school. At our mirning coffee klatsch, I introduced them to my NYT (purchased every day at the little drugstore down the street at Oregon and Lincoln) and little by little, they came on board. But not on Sundays.

I kept at the Sundays, learning about goofy theme styles (like today’s) and all the conceits and editor’s preferences of the day, but I chalked up a big ol’ bunch of DNFs. I saved my incomplete Sundays and any time I visited the family, I took them with me to check in with the Master-Gran.

She patiently revisited these and helped me pick up so many additional construction tricks of trade, and she concluded that I had everything I needed to do one all by myself; all I lacked was confidence.

She (as usual) was right. She told me her “secret” to Sundays: don’t panic, think and just let your brain do the work when you get stuck. Now, her “getting stuck” entailed having to move on to another little chunk of the puzzle. She did share with me that in her early years of solving she would have to lay down the puzzle altogether - a completely novel idea for me!

So I went back to school and kept at it and eventually Mr. Weng (this was very early in 1970) published a Sunday not unlike the one today. A repeat Sunday theme that was easy to pick up and nothing too far out there in terms of names, or specific works of visual art (one of my weak spots to this good day). After quite a battle, and with some incredibly helpful crosses that based on my experience now were probably the result of some editorial guidance, I did it!!

I will never forget it. I finished while grabbing a snack at Treno’s across from the Krannert Center shortly before I needed to take my place in the pit for an opera performance. I raced (literally) down the ramp to the parking garage and into the Stage Manager’s office where lived the nearest phone I might use before the opera concluded. Without even asking, I grabbed the phone and dialed zero to make a collect call (remember those?) counting on the fact that on Sunday evening everyone would be home. Gran must have been in the kitchen because she answered, accepted the call and I motor-mouthed my excited announcement that I finally completed a Sunday all on my own. To which Gran responded, “Of course you did. I never doubted”.

Every serious solver should be able to enjoy that feeling. It takes practice and experience. The paper’s repeating things that worked before helps build the constellation of solvers. That’s good for the crossword universe and of course for the NYT, which I personally hope continues long into the future.

Nothing at all wrong with the occasional, classic (though easy) Sunday.

bocamp 4:00 PM  

@pabloinnh 👍 for your QB yd! :)

@okanaganer (1:24 PM)

Yes, my SB List (over 1,400 words) is laborious. I used to spend 1/2 hr. per day on it, but like you say, it became a chore. I haven't studied it since I stopped doing the SB, but if I restart, I'll seriously consider bringing your 'screenshot' idea into the mix. Btw, 'loblolly' is #2 on that list. I'll never forget that pine tree! :)
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏

Adam Simpson 4:24 PM  

I was 100% sure A bit of spice was KINK and got soooo stuck in that section…

Anonymous 4:51 PM  

Agreed very easy Sunday, however asshat and honeys was lost on me

Son Volt 5:00 PM  

@CDilly - just a fantastic post - thank you.

Photomatte 5:13 PM  

Has anyone ever called anyone else "boo" to mean HONEY? Anyone? Me either

Anonymous 6:24 PM  

Good point

Anoa Bob 6:45 PM  

There is a collection of pre-Shortz puzzles on xwordinfo.com including ones during Will Weng's tenure as editor. I think it would be interesting to see the actual puzzle mentioned in the letter to OFL but that would require knowing the date of publication. Since almost all of the puzzles from that era have the author listed as "Unknown", the constructor's identity would still be protected. Seeing the puzzle would bring about a nice closure to that charming anecdote, don't yous think? (Letter writer---hint, hint!)

Chris 7:09 PM  

The "Adventures of Pete and Pete" reference made my day because singer Syd Straw was in the cast. (I think her name has popped up in the Times crossword at least once).

jazzmanchgo 7:24 PM  

"Boo" is still a common term of endearment in the American South, or among those with familial/cultural roots there (e.g., many African-American people). Soul-blues singer Stan Mosley had a hit with the song "Has Anybody Seen My Boo?" a few years ago.

The character Boo Radley in "To Kill a Mockingbird" also comes to mind; it's not specified in the story, but I'm guessing "Boo" had been a childhood pet name that people continued to call him by (not uncommon in the South) -- especially apropos since he was revealed to be an innocent, childlike man.

smalltowndoc 8:19 PM  

If you were a Detroit Tigers fan in the ‘60s, AL KALINE was anything but "basic"!

TTrimble 8:33 PM  

@Photomatte
"Boo" as a form of "honey" was recently used quite condescendingly (just as a man might condescendingly call a woman he is not on friendly terms with "honey") in a congressional hearing on climate issues, by U.S. Representative Clay Higgins (Louisiana). Here's a link.

I've actually heard "boo" as a form of "honey" used a lot, as part of African-American vernacular, as well as generally in the South.

Anonymous 9:23 PM  

The clue has nothing to do with the reality tv show—that would not make sense with the answer. Another name for your bae or your sweetie or your HONEY is your “boo.” Therefore multiple “boos” would be HONEYS.

Anonymous 9:27 PM  

I felt like that was intentional, and really *really* like the constructor for that extra chuckle of misdirection.

Joe Dipinto 10:06 PM  

I have friends who use BOO or BOO-BOO as an endearment.

@Jazzmanchgo - I always thought the neighborhood kids, or maybe just Scout and Jem, had made up the name "Boo" because he was invisible and (supposedly) scary. I'm not sure if that was stated in the novel though.

fiddleneck 11:18 PM  

My granddaughter was Boo and Booboo from the day she was born. It’s not exactly what this reference means by “honey,” though.

Kate 11:20 PM  

DNF because I had KINK instead of KICK for "bit of spice, figuratively". I was too confident in my wrong answer to accept LOTTERYPINKLE as wrong

sixtyni yogini 11:39 PM  

Loved the letter-story!💥
The puzzle-not so much. (But partly on me- was in a hurry - so didn’t stop to smell out the roses.)
😜🦖🦖🦖🤗

Lion 12:51 PM  

Far out, Dude!

me 3:20 PM  

The OVER cross definitely bothered me! I thought that was a no-no and surprised Rex didn't mention it.

Unknown 9:20 PM  
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous 1:25 PM  

My Hawaiian husband’s mother gave me her recipe for Spam stew when I married her son 50 years ago. Even my hauole parents loved it. It’s supereasy to make.

spacecraft 12:43 PM  

TALL schmall. Just gimme a COLD ONE! That's what people say. Oh well, a Rohrscach test there. Another near the end: my bell rang instead of my phone, so it toLLED instead of CALLED. THAT mishap caused much SE consternation before it got straightened out. Aside from those two hiccups, it was relatively easy.

Fairly pedestrian puzzle; a simple letter add-on (though when reading the title I thought we were in for a French-fest). Nothing extraordinary. Par.

Wordle bogey, lucky enough with that common combination.

Diana, LIW 12:58 PM  

Well tre le le le le. Tis the season.

This Sunday may have gone too quickly - and I certainly do not time myself. Neither does Lambo.

Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords

Burma Shave 2:23 PM  

NOTPC RELIEF FEE

OH, HERMIONE's a TALLONE with CLASS,
from ATHENS and ALLOVERTHE South,
if on a DATE she KNEELS in THE GRASS,
you'll PAYEXTRA for THE WORD OFMOUTH.

--- HENRY "HARPO" SAYER

rondo 2:54 PM  

Hand up for coLdONE, I only order a TALLONE when there are choices of size. Lotsa themers and about as wacky as you've come to expect. Nice to see my dad's nickname in here a day after what would've been his birthday.
WORDLE par.

Anonymous 3:12 PM  

My first thought for 1 across was ASSH…. Oops not enough spaces. Left that and later got it only thru the down clues. Never heard of asshat in my circles.

I found 15 down rather disturbing…grounds for charges of sexual harassment.

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