Response to a relatable meme in internet slang / MON 10-17-22 / Having a concern for wealth and respectability in slang / South and Central American mammal related to the raccoon / Cartoon character who once had a club named after him / Peacekeeping grp since 1949 / Mocking retort to Captain Obvious / Iconic magazine cover figure who asks "What, me worry?"

Monday, October 17, 2022

Constructor: Caryn L. Robbins

Relative difficulty: Easy


THEME: "I'M ALL EARS" (61A: "You have my full attention" ... or something 17-, 24-, 38- and 51-Across) — fictional characters with distinctive and / or large ears:

Word of the Day: COATI (45A: South and Central American mammal related to the raccoon) —
Coatis, also known as coatimundis (/kˌɑːtɪˈmʌndi/), are members of the family Procyonidae in the genera Nasua and Nasuella. They are diurnal mammalsnative to South AmericaCentral America, Mexico, and the southwestern United States. The name "coatimundi" comes from the Tupian languages of Brazil, where it means "lone coati". (wikipedia)


• • •

MAD Magazine fans must be thrilled. It's been a big month for ALFRED E. NEUMAN, I guess! Actually, that ALFRED (E.) NEUMAN / "INITIAL HERE" puzzle appeared in September (the 28th), but it was really recent is my point. But that doesn't matter, the more MAD the merrier, as far as I'm concerned. But while I do love MAD Magazine, and I enjoy ALFRED E. NEUMAN as a standalone answer, this theme felt a little on the weak side to me. It also felt ... oddly mean-spirited? I don't think it's cruel, exactly, but it felt like the puzzle was pointing out characters with "big ears"—and I know at least a few people who are sensitive about their ears and don't like even good-natured teasing. These characters are all fictional, so who cares ... mostly? But something about thinking that this group had something in common felt oddly ... I don't know. Let's just say that at a literal level it doesn't really make sense. I don't think of BUGS BUNNY's ears as iconic. His ears are rabbit's ears, they seem roughly proportional to the ears that a rabbit would have. He's no more "ALL EARS" then he is "ALL TEETH." If people didn't wear those dumb MICKEY MOUSE ears at Disneyland, I also wouldn't think too much about Mickey's ears either. NEUMAN's and SPOCK's ears, being attached to a cartoon human and a fictional humanoid, respectively, are more ... distinctive, in that they are either exaggeratedly large / out-sticking (NEUMAN) or pointy (SPOCK). OK ... but it's as if the puzzle is saying "look at the weird ears on all these things" and eh, it's not really working for me, coherence-wise. 


What's more disappointing is the fill, which really hasn't been held up to a smooth Monday standard here. I recently had an editor send a grid back for revision precisely because she thought it would be better without the answer "I DIE" (among a few other little things), and she was right. And that grid probably isn't even going to be part of a Monday-easy puzzle. Five theme answers is on the dense side for a themed puzzle, but still, stuff like "I DIE" and "ÉTÉ" and LAMS and EDY and TRU and UTILE I would try really, really hard to chuck. You usually can't get *all* of the subpar fill out of your grid, but esp. on easy puzzles, you wanna keep it way, way down, and it just didn't feel down enough today. I did like the colloquial "IT ME" (I don't "like" the phrase irl, it feels cutesy and cliché by now, but it's still fresh by comparison to much NYTXW slang), and I had fondness for the colloquial elder statesman "NO DUH" as well. Not too keen on BOUGIE, which, like pointing at someone with big ears, feels insulting (Also, I spelled it "BOOGIE" at first and then looked at it like "... uh, I think, that means 'dance'!") (2D: Having a concern for wealth and respectability, in slang).  I guess I wouldn't mind "BOUGIE" as a partial song title. Was gonna say you could clue it via the Migos song "Bad and BOUGIE," but it turns out that, as with many words in the world of hip-hop, the spelling of "BOUGIE" in that song title is ... creative ("BOUJEE!"). 


NOTES:
  • 32D: Bill of fare at a smorgasbord (BUFFET MENU) — I thought the whole point of buffets was that there is no menu. You just go up there and start shoveling stuff onto your plate.
  • 1D: Opportunities to face a pitcher (AT-BATS) — the better answer for the clue is PAS (Plate Appearances), but I don't wanna get too far into the weeds with baseball stats, so sure, AT-BATS, whatever... Actually, it's weird: the word is used casually (by announcers, even) to mean "the experience of being at the plate," regardless of outcome, but statistically, there are several outcomes (incl. walking or getting hit by a pitch) where a plate appearance would not count as an "at-bat." So ... maybe we'll just say the clue is using the term in the most general of ways. It's certainly defensible. Just not statistically precise. 
  • 27D: Middle of the leg (KNEECAP) — a very nice longer answer, though I think I've seen too many gangster movies and shows because the first thing I see when I look at that word is a verb.
Hope you've got a nice autumn day to enjoy. See you tomorrow. 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

93 comments:

Anonymous 12:26 AM  

Loved ITME, pretty fresh.

UTILE was rough.

Overall I liked it.

jae 12:37 AM  

Easy-medium. Cute, amusing and IMHO pretty smooth. Four fictional characters with prominent ears works for me. Liked it. A fine debut!


@bocamp & pabloinnh - Croce’s Freestyle #752 was on the tough side of medium for a Croce. There was a fair amount of arcane stuff. I knew the punk band or it would have been worse. Good luck!

@bocamp - Re: Power of the Dog. If you haven’t seen the picture that won the Oscar that year I highly recommend CODA. It wasn’t difficult to find characters to like in that film.

okanaganer 12:54 AM  

Trying to solve by looking at only the down clues, it didn't look promising for a while, then it did. Thank gof for those wonderful across themers that are guessable without the clues! And the revealer, which gave me a bit of a chuckle. The SPOCK answer brought to mind the episode where he uncharacteristically used an idiom in response to something another crew member said: "I can't believe my ears!" (I tried to find a youtube clip but couldn't.)

One across answer that looked just plain wrong was ITME. Surely not! Ah, well. And also, looking at -CED for 34 across, MCED never came to mind until I got WELCOME MAT.

For "Family members", the only 3 letter I could think of was MOB. You know, that other type of family.

[Spelling Bee: Sun 0, @Z if you're out there you would have liked this one. Several fun goofy words]

egsforbreakfast 1:36 AM  

What do you do after the shower plumbing is in place? UTILE. What if it doesn’t look good? RELAY. Who could do that? LAYMEN.

After seeing 68A NODUH, I’m inclined to start keeping tabs on the DUH vs. NODUH wars. In the Shortz era, it is 53 to 10 in favor of DUH, but my instinct is that it’s a bit closer ITW. I’ve pecked a bit around the Interwebs and have yet to find anyone taking on the question. Lots of interesting stuff about whether the French really have a DUH equivalent. I’ll publish my findings should I find them.

I think the clue for 42A SNAFU (Terrible mistake) is all fucked up. It really means the opposite of a mistake. Just the normal situation:

SNAFU is an acronym that is widely used to stand for the sarcastic expression Situation normal: all fucked up. It is a well-known example of military acronym slang. It is sometimes bowdlerized to "all fouled up" or similar. It means that the situation is bad, but that this is a normal state of affairs.Wikipedia.

Really nice, Monday-appropriate debut, Caryn L. Robbins. IMALLEARS for your next puzz.


Loren Muse Smith 2:40 AM  

Rex – I see your point on Mickey’s and Bugs Bunny’s ears not being exaggerated, but still – they both have a pretty famous pair. Making fun of someone’s ears can be mean, so it’s good that all the themers are fictional.

I liked the WELCOME MAT/ALONE cross. My mat would say, Go Away. I never knew until recently that I’m actually an introvert because I get my energy from being ALONE.

I actually had a dnf cause I put in AT ME (@ME) instead of IT ME and didn’t bother to check the cross. I have no idea what meme they’re talking about, so I figured it was a request. Hey, y’all check this out and then @me your response.

UTILE – I don’t think I’ve ever spoken this word aloud because I’m just never sure how to say it. Does it rhyme with futile? Or is it like you tile? (Hi, @egsforbreakfast – terrific tiling vignette, btw.) I’ve looked into it, and apparently it is the latter. I dunno. I’d feel like a BOUGIE British wannabe if I said it like that.

Could DONNE sonnets be called donnets? Just a thought.

Ok. Were Bo-Peep’s sheep LOST? It says that she "lost her sheep." So they “were lost” (by her) in the passive voice sense. Maybe those poor guys took off on purpose to escape her nagging for a bit. Many a time, my kids lost me, but I was not in fact lost; I was hiding in the coat closet because I didn’t want to be involved in their bickering. Little Gardiner would always find me and immediately whine that Sage had hit him. He never once questioned what I was doing crouched in the closet behind a bunch of winter coats.

This theme makes me laugh ‘cause even though Mom wears hearing aids, lots of times, she’s ALL EARS. Even though she has trouble picking up much of a regular conversation, her hearing aids can pick up *any* food-related noise frequency. I’ll sit there thinking I want a piece of brie. Me getting a small piece of brie is nothing, takes no time. I’ll say I’m going to the bathroom. Do my business. Tiptoe into the kitchen, quietly open the fridge, gingerly pull out the drawer. . .

Mom: Are you getting something to eat?
Me: Yeah – I was getting some cheese. Want some?
Mom: Sure! On those Sun-Dried Tomato Wheat Thins? Thanks!

What could have been a 10-second fridge raid has now become An Event involving plates, a knife, napkins. Probably a glass of tea. I cheerfully comply, all the while hating myself for trying to be such a sneaky jerk pig.

Anonymous 3:38 AM  

I suppose the correct one to use instead of SBAFU is FUBAR for F-ed Up Beyond All Repair...

Conrad 5:08 AM  


Only overwrite was Slav before SERB at 31A. Easy Monday.

Dumbo 6:15 AM  

Well I feel really left out. I don't know whether to be angry or hurt. A bit of both I suppose. I mean, Hello! Cartoon character? Prominent ears? I FLY with those things, ya know? I guess my name is too short to be a theme answer in the NYT Xword. I'm also much cuter than Bugs or Mickey or those others. Just don't forget me is all I ask.

Anonymous 6:55 AM  

Har!

Leon 7:05 AM  

Other WW II acronyms besides SNAFU and FUBAR were:

SUSFU
SAFU
TARFU
FUMTU
JANFU
JAAFU
FUAFUP

Anonymous 7:05 AM  

I DIE crosses John "Death Be Not Proud" DONNE. I thought crossword puzzlers liked that sort of thing?

kitshef 7:08 AM  

IT ME. BOUGIE. ‘nuff said.

Despite which I’ll say more. It is surprising how often Rex will call something passé or cliché or dated when I am hearing it for the first time. It happens today with IT ME.

Irene 7:18 AM  

Is ITME really a thing? The crossing with SIM made me realize that I'm way too old for this puzzle.

SouthsideJohnny 7:18 AM  

COATI seemed unusual to me - this can’t be the first time that’s it’s been in the NYT, yet I don’t recall seeing it appear before. Mildly tough crossing OSSIFY, which I remembered was a word but forgot what it meant. So a Monday speed bump for me at least.

BOUGIE and ITME are very typical NYT “trying to be hip” clue/answer combinations that usually miss the mark - but, ok, fair enough. Someone recently took exception to the characterization of NATO as a peacekeeping group - I’m neutral on that issue, probably close enough for CrossWorld.

Anonymous 7:41 AM  

Wow, hadn't thought about Kal Kan in years!

Dr.A 7:45 AM  

I felt the same about the big ears theme. Like Yeah, let’s make fun of people’s body parts! that’s what this world needs. And I do not like “NO DUH”. Such a nasty insult.

Lewis 7:52 AM  

Oh I loved this. As I went through it, non-Monday-common answers kept coming – AGITA, UTILE, COATI, OSSIFY, REGALE – and they should appear on Monday, IMO, because newer solvers have the same vocabulary base, in general, as most solvers. But things need to be kept simple, with a wealth of footholds, and with the less common words spaced apart, making the crosses easy.

And today, yes, those words are widely strewn, embedded in seas of easier answers. As a result, everyone is happy. The newer solvers reach success, and the more experienced solvers enjoy brushing across some gorgeous words.

Both level solvers also profit from today’s theme. Many newer solvers’ previous crossword experience is with beginner-level puzzles with no themes, and so here they get delightfully introduced to the concept.

Me, I try to figure out the theme before uncovering the reveal, so today I filled in the puzzle down to right above the reveal, then looked. I saw, in BUGS BUNNY and MICKEY MOUSE, that the two words of each answer started with the same letter; also, the second words were animals. I thought I was onto something, until ALFRED and SPOCK arrived. I was stymied.

I uncovered the first, then the second letter of the reveal. No clue. But after getting the third, I saw it, with a Big Bang and “Hah!”

So yes, I loved this and I bet new solvers did too. Is this not a great Monday puzzle? What a formidable debut, Caryn. Congratulations and a huge thank you!

Son Volt 7:53 AM  

Cute theme - not sure where the big guy was going today. Some short glue - but decent longs and overall smooth. Liked the revealer - although didn’t really help the solve. REGALE and AVERSE crossing ANGRY was cool.

Private SNAFU pulls BUGS’ out of his bag by his prominent EARS in this short. Like @egs interpretation - I think the SNAFU clue is off. I always assumed it stemmed from the existentialists - Graham Greene and Iris Murdoch and the absurdity of war and all that.

Don’t like BOUGIE or NO DUH. COATI is crosswordese and the LAMS nuance probably doesn’t belong early week.

VAN the Man invoking John DONNE

Enjoyable Monday solve.

Gary Jugert 7:55 AM  

So so so happy we don't need to discuss the grid, or the theme, or any of the crosses, or words... except one (or is it two, or is it not a word): ITME. Let the rage (or bootlicking) begin.

Okay, wait, toss in BOUGIE too. It's gonna be a great Monday.

My thoughts: ITME is dumb, even by internet standards. And my niece says BOUGIE, but I think it robs one of the opportunity to say bourgeois which sounds so much more BOUGIE.

Uniclues:

1 Complete list of anthropomorphic rabbits knowing how to say, "Eh, what's up Doc?" properly.
2 Prepare legendary mouse for oncoming train.
3 Selfless social climber.
4 "It said, 'Carbs, salt, grease, and murder,' but corporate wouldn't allow us to keep it."
5 "I see London, I see France."

1 BUGS BUNNY ALONE
2 TIE MICKEY MOUSE
3 BOUGIE ANTI-EGO
4 LOST BUFFET MENU
5 NEAT WELCOME MAT (~)

American Liberal Elite 8:02 AM  

Saturday clue for bougie: Nice candle

TTrimble 8:12 AM  

I hadn't heard IT ME either. Hmph. Not a fan; sounds like intentional dumbing down. Okay, in a fUTILE bid to pull the brakes on curmudgeonliness, I looked it up, and Wiktionary says that it's mock African-American vernacular (my emphasis). So, it's (it?) not even LEGIT. Not organic. Some made-up meme thing that really hip people like Rex now declare is so 2015. That's what happens to all internet memes: their hipness half-life is about a week or so, tops. Bah! Read a book.

TRU: sounds like the name of a cable channel. TRU TV. Oh, wait: that's because it is. Did I know that before? It just sounded like it was, so I looked it up, and there it was.

The puzzle isn't bad. Had "angst" before AGITA which sounds more elevated somehow, and less Monday. Love me some BUGS BUNNY in my puzzle. Thanks, Caryn -- as it happens, I could use some cheering up.

Pausing long enough to say: I'm not a robot.

Anonymous 8:14 AM  

Could someone please explain ITME? Full stop along the Natick Trail....

mmorgan 8:23 AM  

Some years ago (well, many), my sister got a coatimundi, thinking she could domesticate him along with a dog and some cats. His name was Murray. He was very cute when young, but when he started to grow up, well, let’s just say it didn’t work out all that well, especially when he started just stealing food from people’s plates while they were eating.

Mr. Grumpypants 8:45 AM  

Fun puzzle. Not "mean" at all. This is the last place I'd expect to see such a pathetically weak nit.

GAC 9:13 AM  

Really nice Monday, despite BOUGIE. Rex, once again, finds some reason to hate this nicely constructed Monday puzzle. And to criticize the fill; there will always be fill, so let it go. As one comment noted, the themers should have included DUMBO.

Smith 9:15 AM  

LAMS is ridiculous.

What happened to the bank robbers?

They're on the LAM.

How about the car thieves?

Also on the LAM.

Oh, so all the baddies are on LAMS.

Other than that, commenter, how did you like the puzzle? Fine, Monday easy. Lost a few secs putting in ANnoy and not looking at the crosses but quickly fixed.


Anonymous 9:31 AM  

@Rex - if you read the Constructor Notes you would see that the constructor made a conscious effort to stick with fictional characters so as not to insult an actual person. And the reveal is "I'm all ears", not"I'm all BIG ears."

RooMonster 9:34 AM  

Hey All !
Fun puz. Seemed like the Themers should've been all cartoons, maybe. BIG BAD WOLF? @DUMBO (6:15)? Granted, they aren't symmetrical. Just a thought. The MAD guy and SPOCK have bigger ears, but not compared to other two.

Finding bits because puz was good, and don't really have too much stay. 😁

BOUGIE is a fun, sarcastic word. Let the poor thing be. It's more fun to say than pretentious. Don't let it ANGER you.

Lots of DOHs and DUHs lately. The new OREO?

Who knew EDYS ice cream was named for an actual last name? Joseph EDY, whose name I'll forget next time I need it.

Fun MonPuz, Caryn.

Four F's
RooMonster
DarrinV

pabloinnh 9:39 AM  

I had several "on a Monday?" reactions to some answers, also a couple of WTF's (ITME, BOUGIE) so this had a little crunch, of which I heartily approve.

Had an excellent graduate course on comedy in which the professor pointed out that "What's up doc?" is the quintessential comedic response to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that life throws at us. This resonated because Bugs is way up there on my list of all time favorite toons.

"American Pie" is a good source for IDIE, see also "That'll Be the Day", by B. Holly.

Very nice Monday, CLR, and congrats on the debut. Charming Little Rascal of a puzzle and thanks for all the fun.

@jae-thanks for the Croce heads up. I'll give it a shot, along with the Monday New Yorker (the hard one).

@okanaganer-Got a QB yesterday, first one in a while. I like it when there's a reasonable number of possible answers, like words with a Z.

JD 9:48 AM  

Quick little solve, which I needed after giving up on Sunday. Got a big kick out of the theme, although the solve felt slightly AARP magazinish (if they have a puzz). Lams?

@Egs and Anon 3:38, I'm reading the actual diary of a Vietnam helicopter gunship pilot and am relying on a directory of military slang and acronyms I found online. Reading this book and catching their drift, my guess is that SNAFU meant All Fcked Up most of the time. It says that the R in Fubar could mean reason or repair. My husband was a scout pilot and now I see why he used to say "Calm down. No bullets, no stress." These guys faced death every other day. The language was as intense as the situation.

Nice Monday. Enjoyed it.

NYDenizen 9:49 AM  

Wordle 485 4/6*

⬜⬜🟨🟨🟨
🟨🟨⬜🟨🟨
⬜🟨🟨🟩🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Onelook.com script: ???i?,//set??-ramb

Onelook actually solved in 3, but l rejected the solution as l (incorrectly) thought it was a proper. (The app occasionally capitalizes non-proper nouns for indeterminate reasons).

Beezer 9:53 AM  

Nice and breezy Monday puzzle that flew by too quickly!

I think if a real person were used in today’s theme the perfect one would be BARACKOBAMA. Why, you say? Because our ex-POTUS often cracks jokes about his prominent feature, although in MY mind it just “tones down” his handsomeness to a mortal level. Anyway, I can picture him laughing if he would’ve been featured.

@LMS, I am with you on the introvert scene. People who know me say “What!?” but I am the type who can go to a party, “turn it on” then spend the entire next day recovering from so much social interaction. I always say I’m an “outgoing introvert.” My husband, on the other hand is what I would call a “reserved extrovert.” Go figure.

Like @kitshef this was the first time I’d seen ITME. When I googled I found a 2015 article “15 Words or Phrases that Millenials Use that No One Understands. I’d heard of most of them but now I’ve completed THAT degree and will move on to Gen Z.

@bocamp, I’m glad you liked Power of the Dog. Of course I’m one of those people that decided I may have enjoyed some kind of low level torture than sit through The English Patient, so I probably should keep my movie reviews to myself! 🤣

Nancy 9:59 AM  

Well, if this isn't just one of the cutest revealers ever! Loved it! Chuckled out loud. And how many Mondays have ever made me chuckle?

The grid is also smooth as silk. No crosswordese and almost no proper names -- other than the big-eared honorees, of course. And they're all very well known.

I imagine that 1) coming up with the "I'M ALL EARS" idea and 2) finding all those symmetrical theme and very funny answers would be something that would make you leap out of your chair or bed shouting "Eureka!!!" At least it would me.

Here's one I'd save to give at some future time to any newbie solver in my life. Well done, Caryn. I'm now running off to xword to find out if you actually shouted "Eureka!".

mathgent 10:06 AM  

I didn't read Rex for quite a while but returned so that I could understand some of the comments here. He hasn't been ranting, but just so many empty words.

kitshef 10:07 AM  

@Beezer - I had a look at that article you mentioned. My favorite part:
"Hundo P - This phrase is fairly obvious when you think about it."

Marty 10:11 AM  

Being insulted by BOUGIE? 🤦‍♂️

Alice Pollard 10:12 AM  

ITME??? Bite me

Whatsername 10:35 AM  

Another PPP based theme with a healthy dose of trivia, so no surprise to see it was ALSO a debut. Quite a surprise however to learn that LEGIT is considered colloquial. Really? Maybe to those who use BOUGIE as slang. And I don’t think “terrible mistake” even remotely meets the definition of SNAFU. Is IT just ME? Comments will tell.

On the plus side, the theme was cute and probably made a lot of people smile. An EAR adorned character for solvers of most any age and overall a near perfect Monday for beginners.

Anonymous 10:43 AM  

Definitely agree that lam is always used in the form “on the lam” never as a free standing verb.

Anonymous 10:45 AM  

Did anyone else have angst before agita?
I really liked this puzzle.

Tom T 10:47 AM  

started the puzzle just doing Across answers and finished without "Happy Music." Looked for obvious typos and found none. Finally noticed I had not checked one of my early Across answers against the Downs--that "mean" fairy-tale stepmother (5A, EVIL). DUH. And D'oh!

Joseph Michael 10:49 AM  

Easy, easy, easy, and then…IT ME?

Have we in Western Civilization become so lazy that we can’t make the effort to include the ‘S in a two-word sentence? I can only say that it sad.

And Bugs, Mickey, Alfred, and Mr. S, there nothing wrong with yer EARS.

However, this was a fun puzzle for a Monday morning.

Joe Dipinto 10:49 AM  

Pat Benatar hit, as covered by a cockney band?

It Me With Your Best Shot

Nancy 10:54 AM  

Rex posted several links, but not this one. This song -- well at least the chorus of it -- is sure to give your big ears an earworm for at least the rest of the day.

Tough luck, @Dumbo. You were an EARly big EARS character and we love and honor you. You simply need more letters, that's all.

@Beezer (9:53)-- "The Power of the Dog" failed my "first watch the movie trailer" test (which for me beats any review in predicting if I'll like a film) and so I wouldn't watch it on Netflix even for free.

I thought "The English Patient" would never end. You can pick my movies for me any time, @Beezer!

Anonymous 11:00 AM  

NATO is a military alliance, not a peacekeeping grp!!

Anonymous 11:12 AM  

Recognition

Whatsername 11:12 AM  

Another beloved big-eared character not to be forgotten was Wile E. Coyote. We Boomers had some great cartoons to grow on.

@Beezer: I’d be right there next to you at the party chatting away like some social butterfly, the whole time wishing I was at home in my PJs. Also agree with you about President Obama 😄 and The English Patient. 😴

Wordler 11:20 AM  

@NYDenizen. Nice par! I had woes today.

Wordle 485 6/6

⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜
🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜
🟨🟨🟩⬜🟨
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

J.W. 11:21 AM  

Favorite Clue, Spite Division: ITME, which immediately made me think "oh, that'll give the Rex Parker crowd a coronary." Also @TTrimble I would not cite Wiktionary as an authoritative etymological source. IT ME is in no way AAVE, much less "mock" AAVE. Just your average infantilized but ultimately harmless netspeak.

Favorite Clue, Genuine Division: OSSIFY. Nice one to see on a Monday.

I'm cool with seeing BOUGIE but it is gravely misdefined in the clue. There is almost always a pejorative bent to it in typical usage. It's more like "mistaking tackiness for high class" or "having unsophisticated but nevertheless expensive taste."

The theme was serviceable. I really like Lewis's point about how this is a good puzzle for introducing themes to solvers accustomed to easy themeless puzzles. I don't have much to say about it myself though. I generally aim to complete Monday puzzles in less than 5 minutes; got this one in 4:15.

bocamp 11:30 AM  

Thx, Caryn; I was ALL EARS for your fine Mon. offering! :)

Med.

Wide AWAKE and very much on the right wavelength for this one.

Back in grade 6, I'd sit crosslegged in front of the TV watching the MICKEY MOUSE 'Club', wearing my MICKEY MOUSE EARS. Annette was my idol. 🐭

Was also a big ALFRED E. NEUMAN fan back in the day.

SNAFU (situation/status/systems normal: all *fouled up) was a common term in the Navy. Other versions: FUbar (*fouled up beyond all repair/recognition) & SNAFUbar. (*bowdlerized)

MAY have learned COATI from the SB, not sure.

The 'Say Hey Kid': one of my all time faves. Willie MAYS' 'The Catch' from the 1954 World Series. (going away, basket catch at the fence) ⚾️

Speaking of baseball, YMCA was big in the stands between innings at the 1996 Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA.

Learned BOUGIE today.

Fun adventure; liked it a lot! :)

Thx @jae; on it! :)

And, yes, I loved Coda (and will definitely look forward to rewatching); but, I also found characters in 'The Power of the Dog' to empathize with and have sympathy for. The 'power' of redemption was also very prominent.

@Beezer (9:53 AM)

You're a good sport! Civil discourse is the spice of life. :)

I'm not sure I'd say I 'liked' it; I found it kinda eerily surreal, and not an easy watch. But, at the same time, there was substance in the message/s. I rated it highly bc of the overall production: first class in every way!

Btw, I did like 'The English Patient! 😉
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏

Elaine B 11:33 AM  

@Beezer, @Nancy - The I Hate The English Patient club meets noon every Wednesday at Monk's Cafe (112th St & Broadway).

JD 11:36 AM  

@Bougie folks, my millennial hit me with Bougie shortly after starting college over 10 years ago. Guess who's Bougie now.

@Son Volt, Van Morrison at his best. Thank you. When I read your post I could hear Robbie Robertson yelling Van the man! after that coke-fueled performance of Caravan during The Last Waltz (probably because I've watched it so many times).

jae 11:38 AM  

@Beezer - I’m with you and @Nancy on The English Patient.

Masked and Anonymous 11:40 AM  

Kinda cool, that neat fill like KNEECAP passes thru 3 themers. [Or themears, if U will.]

staff weeject picks: The 3-stack of em in the SW corner. Cuz they also spell out a 3-stack of weejects, goin the other way:
REF
AGE
NOD
Also hats off to the weeject stacks in the NE, and in the upper and lower central areas.

BOUGIE was a no-know. Evidently derived from "bourgeois". On a MonPuz day, its clue needs to help U out a bit more. Tack on "… and almost anagram of gibe duo", or somesuch.
… meanwhile ...
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {College URL ender} = EDU.

SIM/ITME. har

fave stuff: KNEECAP. WELCOMEMAT. BUFFETMENU. SNAFU. OSSIFY.

Thanx for the fun, Ms. Robbins darlin. And congratz on yer nice debut. Appreciate the SEAN Connery and 007 U's combo.

Masked & Anonym007Us


**gruntz**

Dan 11:42 AM  

I don't think this puzzle was making fun of people with different ears. All the clue says is "...something 17-, 24-, 38- and 51-Across might say?"

This had me imagining each of these specific characters saying this line, which in every case actually seemed like something that would have happened.

I can totally see Mr. Spock having said "Yes Jim, I'm all ears." with absolutely no irony whatsoever as Kirk tries to figure out if he had just made an attempt at humor or was completely serious.

I can picture Bugs leaning in to Elmer Fudd with a great big cupped hand and an exaggerated ear and pronounce in a thick Brooklyn accent, "I'm allllllll... ears...."

Mickey Mouse would probably have a tiny little giggle after saying it.

And, of course, it makes perfect sense for a headline of Mad Magazine with AEN full-faced on the front.

To me, self-deprecating humor like that is fun and I loved getting those images as a bonus from today's puzzle.

Anonymous 12:03 PM  

@Lewis -- any favorite clues from last week?

CDilly52 12:07 PM  

@Anon 3:38 beat me to the punch on SNAFU. vs FUBAR. Loved the bathroom tile!

Nancy 12:08 PM  

Good grief. I just realized that this was my first Monday (I'm pretty sure) DNF. I had aTME crossing SaM. I had no idea (still don't) who lives in the virtual "City" and the AT of ATME seemed like it might have something to do with the "@" Sign which often has something to do with the internet -- and the internet was in the clue. See what I mean?

Neither of these clue/answers meant anything to me at all. And so for my own purposes I'll simply call this a "solve" and think no more about it.

Joe Dipinto 12:16 PM  

...But it not him
And then I die
That's when I die

Lewis 12:41 PM  

My five favorite clues from last week
(in order of appearance):

1. Cramming together, e.g.? (5)(4)
2. Pile of texts? (4)(5)
3. Big matter of concern for senior management? (4)(5)
4. Latin music duo (7)
5. U.S. ID? (5)


STUDY DATE
POOP EMOJI
PROM NIGHT
MARACAS
IDAHO

GILL I. 12:45 PM  

We were driving our VAN and got LOST. We finally saw a WECOME sign pointing to an EVIL looking town called BOUGIE. DANA was the SERB RELAY MAN who was ABEL to stay AWAKE in case there was a TRAP. He was quiet as a MOUSE and could ALSO hop like a BUNNY if we needed help. He was LEGIT and a PERSON TRU to EARTH. His ANGER was UTILE because we all had AGITA.
I was EDGIER than usual but we were hungry and needed to be FED.
Up ahead I saw a WELCOME MAT in front of the SNAFU INN and BUFFET. I was AVERSE to being FED there because the MENU was full of BUGS. My EARS would ARC and make my KNEE CAP OSSIFY just thinking about eating COATI on RYE. It made me CRY for MOM.
We entered SNAFU and we were told there was a NEU MAN in charge. His name was ALFRED and had pointy ears. He looked like a LOST PERSON sitting all alone smoking a REFER. No one sat with him because he was known to slip you a MICKEY if you tried to REGALE him with humor.
We sat in a corner and out waiter, MR SPOCK, handed us a CARTA and declared "IM ALL EARS." "NO DUH" exclaimed DANA. I told him we were AVERSE to try the COATI, but he assured us no ALARM bell would go off and it wasn't a TRAP. We were in a RUT but needed to be FED. Our COATI came COLD and still had its EARS attached. For dessert we had the EDY chocolate BUNNY. We needed TO DO a quick LAM outta town. BUT.....
A TEEN from the YMCA came in with his band. They began to dance the BUNNY hop and SIM started to BOUGIE. A little MOUSE told me we should join in. We did!!...The MEN would LAY down their ANTI NATO signs and also join in. It was a NEAT sight to behold. Even the NEU MAN, who aways sat ALONE with his ANGST, asked his MOM to BOUGIE with him. She RAN into his arms and with a CRY of delight...
I DIE just thinking about it. I was ABEL to toss my EGO out the window and REGALE with the town people in BOUGIE and the SNAFU INN and BUFFET.
It was an EVE I'll never forget.

jberg 12:54 PM  

Like @Lewis I thought the theme was going to be alliterative 'toons, and was looking forward to Porky Pig, Donald (or Daffy) Duck, etc. Some how I hadn't noticed that ALFRED E. NEUMAN was a themer, but MISTERSPOCK puzzled me. Fortunately, the revealer was not far away, and all was well. I liked it, but it's plagiarized from H. Ross Perot, who used it to refer to himself in the 1992 Presidential debates.

Re Rex: the origin of the ears is not Disney World, but the eponymous club; at the end of each program they would put a pair on the day's guest of honor before declaring him or her an honorary Mousketeer.

I had seen IT ME only once before, just a few days ago, and I'm pretty sure it was right here on this blog, used an exapmple of Internet slang that had become ancient history. Not too ancient for the puzzle, though! (And that's OK with me.)

I just noticed that Buddy Holly has ears that aren't that small. Never occurred to me before!

Anonymous 12:55 PM  

I think it’s FUBAR—beyond all recognition

old timer 1:01 PM  

I put in ITME, but had no idea what it was about. Assumed it was something like IM ME (send me an Internet message). And didn't correct my initial BOOGIE, though I meant BOUGIE because I had the U on the cross. I have never read or heard anyone say "IT ME". I have heard BOUGIE, as slang for bourgeois. I learned early on, from some famous bluesman, that Washington, D.C. is a boo-jwah town.

Other than that a very easy Monday puzzle for us exprerienced solvers. OFL is right to assume that real beginners might have problems with some of the words.

King Charles 1:08 PM  

I don't get it.

johnk 1:16 PM  

Lots of men here (15), albeit fictional for the most part, and a place for mostly men: ABEL, DANA, BUGS BUNNY, MARC, MICKY MOUSE, DONNE, ALFRED E NEUMAN, MISTER SPOCK, MAYS, YMCA, LAYMEN, SEAN, EDY, TRU, ERIC. And 2 females thrown in for "balance" (?): EVE and MOM. I'm surprised Rex didn't comment on this.

Whatsername 1:26 PM  

@GILL: The SNAFU INN and BUFFET. That’s right up there with Z’s Placebo & Tentacle. 🤣🤣🤣

CDilly52 1:31 PM  

While making fun of people’s visage or especially body parts that are simply “there” is hurtful, all the characters here are fictional, so I give it a pass. MICKEY and BUGS have recognizable ears that aren’t “ALL” but they are part of their iconic selves and therefore seem to fit the theme. I’m ok with it.

Before we dated, my late husband and I knew each other from “afar” - he in the percussion section and I up with the flutes in several U of I performing groups. We got much better acquainted at “The ‘Bird,” a morning coffee late night beer hangout a short block from Smith Hall. Most of the music school and faculty hit the Bird at least once a day.

In the mornings, a stack if Daily Illini papers were dropped off and a few folks were always doing the (easy) syndicated crossword. It was very common to hear “what’s a four letter word for . . .” Or something similar and someone else would call out a suggestion.

That “someone” was frequently me. I’d wait to see if anybody else had a thought or if the answer was truly a gimme, I’d ignore the request and let someone else help.

I got so that the serious solvers started to congregate in one of the big round corner booths. It was in that booth while collectively solving a Daily puzzle that I learned the difference between SNAFU and FUBAR. And got my date that ended up in my 44 year marriage. The coffee was terrible and the beer watered, but I have only great memories of The Bird.




pabloinnh 1:36 PM  

@jae-Made it through the #752, finishing on 1A, which was a real groaner.

Beezer 2:09 PM  

@kitshef…🤣 I know, right? The ONLY reason I know ANY of this jargon is due to the fact that at the beginning of the pandemic my work had started the Teams chat function due to “work at home” conditions. The majority of my co-workers were young Gen Xers and Millenials. I did a fair amount of googling early on…

@Nancy…thank you for your vote of confidence but if I were you I’d ONLY pay attention to my BOOK recommendations since I tend to stay on a fairly “high plain” with my reading material. On the other hand, you’d probably gasp at some of my movie choices because they run the gamut and sophomoric humor is definitely included.

@Elaine B…thanks for posting that link! I remember that episode well and felt so vindicated!

RooMonster 3:24 PM  

@Gill 🤣😂🤣😂🤣
Awesome! I especially loved ...make my KNEE CAP OSSIFY...

RooMonster Who Doesn't Love A Good Story Guy

okanaganer 3:32 PM  

[SB: @pabloinnh, congrats on yd. Today 0; pretty accessible with really only one strange word.]

Vicki 4:04 PM  

This is the second time in recent weeks I've seen NATO clued as "peacekeeping organization". It's NOT a peacekeeper. It was created as a peacetime military alliance. The participating countries agreed to consider an attack against one as an attack against all, and billions of dollars have since been allocated by the U.S. Congress to provide weapons to those countries. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, diplomacy with the Soviet Union included verbal assurances to limit expansion of NATO eastward. This policy was reversed and we can see how NATO expansion has upset what had been a delicate balance of power in the region.

Beezer 4:42 PM  

@CDilly 52…Great story The Bird! Yeah, I think of a SNAFU as a not totally unexpected hitch in things, like…”Hey, there’s a bit of a snafu in our travel plans” versus “Omg, our vacation plans are totally fubarred”!
Be that as it may, I suspect we both got the answer in spite of the exaggeration…😉

dgd 4:55 PM  

You are right about the origins of the word and of course the definition provided. But it is a word after all and since it's creation 80 years ago the usage has expanded to include big mistakes.
After all, football fans are not talking about the bombing of London when they refer to "the blitz".

bocamp 5:07 PM  

@pabloinnh

Kudos for both your SB QB yd and your Croce effort td. I'm 45 mins into the 752 and grasping at straws. I can hardly wait to get to your 1A 'groaner'. lol
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏

dgd 5:10 PM  

This is actually one of the rare cases where a word comes from the first letters of words in an expression. Situation normal all fucked up is what most GI's were dealing with most of the time. (My late father would most definitely agree) And then the initials created a great word. It is such a good word it has survived 80 years though the meaning has expanded.

Anonymous 5:13 PM  

Good one!
I thought of the French word but not the clue. A certain bloggers head might explode though.....

Son Volt 5:56 PM  

@JD 11:36a - watching him do the leg kicks and then walk off is one of the great moments of recorded rock and roll.

Anonymous 6:16 PM  

Seems a tad Orwellian to describe NATO as a "peacekeeping grp." It's a military alliance. (Which isn't to say it can't be justified in those terms; it's just to say you should call it what it is.)

jae 6:59 PM  

@pabloinnh & bocamp - Yep, 1a was one of the answers that led me to use the word “acrane”. Weird would also have worked.

Wanderlust 7:07 PM  

Probably commenting too late for you to see this, but my favorite term for this is “ambivert.” A woman I know coined it to describe herself but it fits me to a T. I can speak publicly to an audience of hundreds without breaking a sweat, then mingle with people afterwards for an hour or so. Then I will be desperate to get back to my hotel room for my introvert time. And ideally the next day I don’t have to talk to anyone.

Krishanu Ray 9:40 PM  

@Vicki agreed

bocamp 9:50 PM  

@jae / @pablo

Success on Croce's 752! (2 hrs, so med). Finally sussing out the 'club' did the trick in the NW. See youse next Mon. :)
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏

Unknown 10:40 PM  

I liked it. Smooth ride. Any time the reveal makes me smile is a good puzzle in my book!

Anonymous 11:28 PM  

Also hated the English Patient!

Anonymous 8:54 AM  

I hate the clues related to current social media - it me ??
The world was a better place before it

Anonymous 12:39 PM  

I so relate to that scenario except it’s a husband instead of a mom. Yeah, I could have eaten that tidbit 15 minutes ago but now I’m cleaning dishes.

thefogman 9:52 AM  

Nope. This one still needed editorial help. How did LAMS crossing ITME get the green light? I’m not hip enough to know about BOUGIE so that’s on me. But NATO is definitely not a peacekeeping group.NODUH is just bad. So are TRU, KAL, ETE and SIM. New constructors should get more help from the editor(s) before their work goes to print. Bravo to Caryn L Robbins on her debut and here’s hoping she has many more ATBATS.

spacecraft 11:16 AM  


I missed DUMBO, but I see he chimed in with his own complaint. That leaves, let's see...the Ferengi, maybe? Well, we already have Star Trek represented. A fun theme with a fun revealer, nice light entertainment for all those Monday-hating Garfields.

I knew @M&A would eat it up, with its 22 "weejects" and .007 U's. Hey, 22/7: that's the fractional approximation for pi!

Couple of things from the fill: AGITA seems out of place this early in the week, and then there's ITME. I not surprised; the language getting more and more SNAFU as we go along. Who wants to bother with all those forms of "to be," like "am" and "is" in the previous sentence? Yeesh. But for a debut: birdie.

Luckily Wordle does not time answers; I stared at BYBBB YYBGB for several minutes before coming up with GGGGG for the birdie.

Burma Shave 11:39 AM  

ANTI WELCOME

What EVIL PERSON would CRY,
"NO, ALFREDE.NEUMAN ain't funny."?
I'MALLEARS TO listen why
IT MAY be MICKEYMOUSE or BUGSBUNNY.

--- DANA VAN DONNE



This one didn't post yesterday:

ILL HOTDOG EGO

EZRA is a BADASS,
gave a FATLIP to ME,
THE "HEROISM" he has
isn't SOFT on a MENTEE.

--- EMIL ELIOT

Diana, LIW 4:06 PM  

My formative years were heavily influenced by Mad Magazine, so I'm glad to see it's mentor in the puz.

A couple of "bigger than Monday" clues/answers in today's offering, but as always, quite doable.

Diana, LIW

This just in. Chocolate and Chip have gotten the presidential pardon. (T-Day turkeys) perhaps they will show up in a NYTXC.

rondo 7:02 PM  

Always appreciated ALFREDENEUMAN. First issue of MAD I bought was the September 1965 issue; got it at the drug store in what was then downtown Issaquah, WA. Not many years later I graduated to National Lampoon.
The puz was fine.
Wordle birdie.

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