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Tropical fruit with highly nutritious seeds / MON 10-10-22 / Tuna type in sushi restaurants / White dogs or bluish-gray cats / Credential for a painter or sculptor / The Wire character portrayed by Michael K. Williams
Monday, October 10, 2022
Constructor: Byron Walden
Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- SPARRING PARTNER (17A: Opponent who helps train a boxer)
- PARALLEL PARKING (39A: Most difficult challenge for many a student driver)
- PARTS DEPARTMENT (60A: Place in an auto dealership to pick up wiper blades or spark plugs)
Maltese dog refers both to an ancient variety of dwarf canine generally associated with the island of Malta and to a modern breed of dog in the toy group. [...] The modern variety traditionally has a silky, pure-white coat, hanging ears and a tail that curves over its back, and weighs up to 3–4 kg (7–9 lb). The Maltese does not shed. /// A Maltese (Italian: [malˈteːze]) is any cat whose fur is either completely, or primarily, gray or blue and is of indeterminate breed. (wikipedia)
• • •
I just watched a "Rockford Files" episode where Jim owned a piece of an up-and-coming boxer, and there were definitely SPARRING PARTNERs in there somewhere. The episode also featured a car dealership (run by Mary Frann, of "Newhart" fame), which must've had a PARTS DEPARTMENT. And now that I think of it, Jim runs into some PARALLEL PARKING trouble outside the young boxer's house when some goons arrive and box in his iconic Pontiac Firebird (lic. CA 853 OKG). He has to ram his way out of the curbside spot. Very inelegant, but desperate times etc. Basically I'm saying that I just watched this crossword puzzle in "Rockford" form, not 30 minutes ago, so I probably had an advantage over most of you. Probably accounts for why I barely broke stride from beginning to end. PREENS before PRIMPS (1A: Fusses in front of the mirror), but after that, absolutely no hesitation on any clue until I went with EASY AS PIE and then EASY AS ABC before finally realizing it was EASY-PEASY at 34D: "So simple!" Then I weirdly wrote in PEONY before POPPY at 50D: Red flower of wartime remembrance, and then refused to pull the trigger on the inane INANER and just let the crosses do the work, which slowed me down slightly. Otherwise, again, about as easy a puzzle as I've ever done. Even the long stuff came easy. And yet it was colorful enough to be interesting, despite the easiness.
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| "A Fast Count" ("The Rockford Files" Season 5, ep. 11) (100th episode overall!) Guest starring Mary Frann (Newhart's wife on "Newhart"!) and Kennth McMillan, who was in everything in the '70s and '80s, usually playing dads and cops ... my fav role of his was the borough chief in The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 (1974), or maybe Rhoda's boss on "Rhoda" |
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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80 comments:
Easy. Got off to a slow start with @Rex PReenS but recovered quickly. So, solid and Monday appropriate but I agree with @Rex that the theme is a tad bland, liked it. According to Byron’s comments at Xwordinfo this is his first Monday.
@bocamp & pabloinnh - Croce’s Freestyle #750 was NYT Saturday easy except for the NE which killed a number of nanoseconds. Good luck!
Solving by looking at only the down clues, this was unusually easy. Except for one stubborn clue, "Dial a radio show, say". I had TUNE IN (thinking that "dial" was the radio dial). Then PARALLEL wised me up, so I had CALL UP, and I went with that. The cross PAPA looked so perfect I didn't flinch at the other cross MUL (which I thought maybe was one of those @&*$%#@*&%$** college abbrevs). So finished with 2 wrong squares!! Oh, well.
PAR TWO had me wondering... some PART TWO rebus?... there's no such thing as a par 2. Oh forgot about mini golf!
[Spelling Bee: Sat. pg-1, missed this 5er. Then Sun., currently pg-3 because I just can't concentrate. My QB streak is lying in pieces in the ditch. I blame a sudden nasty viral illness and shocking positive test for Covid, which is baffling considering I'm fully vaxxed and haven't been in any crowds for weeks. Bummer!]
I had all three themers in place and still needed the reveal to explain. A treat for a Monday.
@jae – I’m not surprised that this is Byron’s first Monday; I imagine a lot of us associate his name with beastly hard Saturdays.
I agree with Rex about the fill and the fact that the themers are 15s. (My avatar is only a 10, but it’s one of the best movies I’ve ever seen.)
PARALLEL PARKING – last weekend I had dinner with my son, his wife, and my daughter at Juju – a toney, trendy restaurant in Durham. We left his house with *zero* wiggle room for error or parking issues. But right there in front of the restaurant was a little spot, and my son expertly parallel parked his car all the while running his mouth and yucking it up. I was beyond impressed.
I wouldn’t have even considered it. Most of the time when you parallel park you have two audiences: the first are the people at the sidewalk café casually enjoying your humiliation over their wine. The second are the line of cars you’re holding up as you reANGLE your car, three, four, five times. Nah. I’ll just park a half mile away and hoof it.
I was today years old when I learned that happy as a CLAM is the first part of the original happy as a CLAM at high water.
Liked FOODIE/CHEAP WINE.
“Fusses in front of the mirror, say” – My sisters and I in our teenage years all getting ready for school in our shared bathroom with only one oval mirror. Epic fights.
Aunt Charlotte had two MALTESES: Killer and Mr. Cool, two of the meanest, nastiest dogs I’ve ever known. MALTESES in this plural form looks like the tail end of an Ogden Nash poem:
…The solution if you sneeze and wheeze is
Get a pair of mean malteses.
I just want to thank the earlier poster who finally explained where "happy as a clam" comes from. I've spent many years wondering what could make clams happy, and now I know!
I thought the SE was tough. Not familiar with OMAR / BRENT / AGNEW, and never would have known BOY GEORGE or BAR in reference to those clues.
First thing I noticed were the three grid spanners so I gave them a try and got 2 out of 3. They weren't exactly Saturday level but still fun. Orally there are 5 PARS and one "PeAR". No biggie. Barely even a nit. Oops just noticed one more nit-PARM. I still give this a straight A.
REPO, REPOT, RETRO
FOODIE, ATE, TACO, AHI, HERB, PARM, SPUD. Wash it all down with CHEAPWINE.
Easily finished this one in record time for me - everything seemed like basic crosswordese except for the small PPP-laden section in the SE with ETNA, OMAR, BRENT, AGNEW and BOY GEORGE. Fortunately they are wheelhouse-friendly (save BRENT). The aha of the PAR TWO revealer did not contribute much, but at least the theme entries themselves were all pretty reasonable.
My five favorite clues from last week
(in order of appearance):
1. "___ a lot!" (Dracula's expression of gratitude?) (5)
2. Set up for a swing (4)
3. F in music class (4)
4. Comfort food with shortening? (3)(1)(6)
5. Craft since ancient times (5)
FANGS
TEED
LOUD
MAC N CHEESE
CANOE
PAPERY PAPAYA is a nice column.
In case anyone cares, this puzzle set a new record for the most appearances of the letter P in a 15 x 15 NYT puzzle, with 20. Walden also holds the record (in a tie) for most appearances of the letter N, at 26. And he is in 5th place for most appearances of the letter O, although his total of 31 pales in comparison to the leader at 69.
@jae - Freestyle 750 took me more than twice my average time. Every section was a struggle, and the first three across answers are things I've never heard of.
This was at least Wednesday tough for me. PReenS, EASYaspie, tuneIN, ooh (to go with "la-la"), obscure characters from an aging TV series (OMAR somebody), apo before MIL.
Add some at least Wednesday-level cluing: PARM means chicken or eggplant!?!?!?! (I always thought it meant the stinky cheese you sprinkle on at the end). Didn't know papaya seeds were particularly nutritious (or even edible! and how is that Monday level knowledge?). Always thought the stuff in a paintball gun was, y'know, PAINT!!!! (Please note I've never actually played (is that the right term?) paintball.)
And despite getting all the grid-spanning answers easily, I missed the two PAR thing despite also getting 67A (but thats mostly from the downs) even though I've played plenty of miniature golf (despite it being one of my least favorite beach-town activities) I didn't know (or had mercifully forgotten) that miniature golf is two par.
BTW, don't tell anyone in my family I hate miniature golf. That's like hating kittens or glitter or s'mores. But I dutifully smile and play most of the holes as if they're eight par. And use the stubby pencils to record my shameful scores. About as shameful as my time on this Monday puzzle. I think I might enjoy paintball more.
But I refuse to eat s'mores.
I appreciated that there were so many long answers in this puzzle that still garnered an easy rating. It’s not a simple feat of construction! Then again it’s usually the 3 and 4 letter words that often challenge me. This was a great start to a Monday!
Rex spot on here. Kind of an obtuse theme - but a wonderful grid for early week. All the non-theme longs were solid - TOTEM POLE, EASY PEASY, CHEAP WINE among them.
Love the SEASCAPE x Happy as A CLAM cross. PRIMPS leading off set the tone. If I ventured in the slipstream
Not sure how I feel about MALTESES and INANER - the forms are so odd but interesting.
POPPY poison - POPPY tourniquet
Enjoyable Monday solve.
I didn't notice the theme until I read this column.
Almost a new Monday record, very quick and easy walk through of a solve. Only mild hesitation was on 1A ironically which probably cost me a few seconds as I went back later, should have checked 1D which would have been an easy gimme. And 33A which didn't come immediately either. The eternal debate as to whether do all the A before the D in first pass or alternate by sector...
Hah! This does not look like a Monday grid (Hi, @Rex!). The black square count is equivalent to a Friday and the word count equivalent to a Thursday. That is, there is a whole swath of white compared to a Monday grid, meaning bigger words. And to fill it Monday level requires extraordinary skill.
Enter Byron, one with that. This didn’t feel like a Thursday or Friday puzzle – it was absolutely a Monday. Bravo, sir!
Byron is known not just for his difficult themeless puzzles, but also for adding NYT puzzle debut answer, and today he threw in five, including the excellent additions to the oeuvre PARTS DEPARTMENT and CHEAP WINE.
I did like the pair of semornilaps in the grid, ETA and ATE, plus the schwa A-train column of DORA / SORTA / ETNA (column 11), with its supporting cast of NAPA, PAPAYA, and ETA. I loved the smile-worthy answer to the question “Who me?” with the last two words in row six: YES EWE.
I love when skill is displayed with such ease that the difficulty is masked, that it feels totally natural, as in the making of today’s puzzle. You are a Crosslandia legend, Byron, for good reason. Thank you for this jewel of a Monday!
Enjoyed everything about this with one exception… there is nothing MORE INANE than “INANER”!
@Anon 8:10. What about INANEst?
Whoop! It's Monday. Always a delight to see the puzzles return to something enjoyable after the long lonely road of Fridays and Saturdays.
Now, let's talk about privilege. Seven PARs in a puzzle is approximately seven more than I would hope for in a round of golf, but when you have a life where you can go to a park filled with drunken old white right-wing-nuttified men, and then care about how many times you whacked a little ball, maybe the universe owes you zero pars. I feel lucky to get them sitting here on this fancy couch while my cat is bathing next to me. He will be cooking up hairballs to puke all over this couch.
Also, exciting news, this puzzle is sporting the always useful INANER. Lots of times when I'm actually "in a ner," I forget the delight a ner can be. Go enjoy your ner today.
PASTA SPA SPUD BUDS:
oh mya mya I like a PAPAYA
pair it with a pasta and I'll say "hiya hiya"
a glass of CHEAP WINE maybe two or ten
a little PARM a lotta CLAM again and again
I'm SORTA a DORA when eatin them SPUDS
I eat mashed potatoes with BACO duds
and I serve 'em to the TSAR cuz he's my bud
they slide down ma gullet so EASY PEASY
sour cream and butter and a lotta cheesy
full-belly flirtin' with the ladies ain't easy
but the ART DEGREE dope
with her MANI 'n' PEDI
she looks like NO HOPE
but she's ready already
eat the french fries and down the hash browns
when tomorrow comes
she can CALL IN to the SPA
they'll wipe away the crumbs
and make 'er hot as ETNA
Uniclues:
1 Wooden faces singing vertically. (By the way, wouldn't that be a fun thing to see in a musical?)
2 Pescatarian with a view.
3 Side dish at the best place on Earth that doesn't exist (yet).
4 "Rom Com"s.
1 TOTEM POLE ARIAS
2 SEASCAPE FOODIE
3 PASTA SPA SPUDS
4 NO HOPE LABELS
Great start to the day. One of the reasons I enjoy this space is what I learn about crosswords - I finished thinking 'lots of long answers for a Monday' without taking in what a feat that is - so now appreciate it even more.
Another, of course, is what I learn about all of you, and @okanaganer sorry about your COVID and wishing a quick recovery. I've given up trying to understand who gets it and why and just stay vaxxed and masked.
And another is what I learn about things in general that spin out of the puzzle - @lms thanks for the happy clam digression. I love the Rockford Files, my friends and I in younger years cleverly forming The Rockford Philes. Haven't watched the episode here for a long time so will have to find that again. And SEASCAPE crossing ELM put my heart right back up on Penobscot Bay in Maine, so that was a lovely touch.
And then there's the puzzle itself. I enjoyed how the theme worked. Got the first two themers, latched on to the reveal, but was sure the second stroke in the third would come from SPARE not DEPARTMENT, so that took a little work, easily addressed with the downs.
Fun Monday - thanks for the puzzle, the blog, and the comments.
Well this was certainly EASY PEASY, so much so that it almost seemed like child’s PLAY. However, it seemed very smooth and was considerably redeemed with a pretty cool trick which I didn’t see until the revealer. The PAR in each theme answer has a PARTNER! Nicely done.
Had no idea there were cats known as Maltese. Ive always thought of those as Russian blues but refer to them as Sheba Cats because they look like the kitty on the label of the Sheba brand cat food.
The thing I remember most about Mary Frann in the later Newhart show was that she always wore a sweater with massive shoulder pads. Can’t say I ever cared for her as in that role but then again Suzanne Pleshette was a pretty tough act to follow.
Loved this puzzle! Got all the themers off a letter or two, and a little aha at the revealer. No junk; well, as others have said, INANER is pretty bad but forgiven due to the otherwise lightness of the fill. Delightful start to Monday and the week!
This was a really fun Monday, probably because it was so EASYPEASY. Even the long entries were gimmes. If you like a quick picker-upper to make you smile on a Monday morning, this one's for you; if you like any semblance of a tug-of-war, not so much.
LMS's avatar beat me to it, but after finishing I did think of "Spare Parts" -- only it was the song from Springsteen's "Tunnel of Love" album.
Wish all Monday puzzles made me smile like this one did.
Hey All !
@kitshef
You can't leave me hanging here. What's the most F's in a puz?
I agree with Rex on the grid design/fill. It's quite tough to have the open spaces that this puz has, and get clean fill. And make the answers/clues MonPuz easy. There's only 32 Blockers, which "normal" is 38. Not INANER by any stretch.
I like playing Mimi-Golf, as long as you're doing it for fun. If you turn it into some kind of crazy competition, it loses its flavor. I like gimmicky Minis, some are just blah-green-boring-no-frills ones I designed a Mini-Golf course while I was in High school, on that gray tablet paper stuff. Remember those pads? Anyway, never did anything about it, but I'm not too modest to say the holes were cool! 😁.
I'm apparently the correct age to know BOY GEORGE. You couldn't get away from him in the 80's. I didn't even listen to that type of music, but my sister did, so Culture Club was in everyday rotation. Plus, MTV (when they were literally Music TeleVision, playing music videos.) Ah, the good old days.
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
Yep, it was a good'n for a Monday!
For me, @Rex in his first paragraph said it all, in appreciation of this fine Monday.
Do-overs: EASY as pie, SEAShorE. No idea: BRENT, OMAR.
Where or when is a CLAM happy? @Loren, "at high water" is a lot more logical than what I learned: "Happy as a CLAM in the land of Uncle Sam."
@jae, @Loren, @Lewis, today was the rare day that I didn't check the constructor's name before solving and before reading @Rex. My wide-eyed reaction was, "BYRON WALDEN?!" No wonder it was so good. I hope we'll see more early week puzzles from him.
@kitshef, thank you for pointing out the PAP partners crossing the theme answers with PAPERY PAPAYA.
@Gary Jugert, I was hoping you'd uni-clue ASTRAL MALTESES :)
Thx, Byron; nice, smooth, early-week puz! :)
Med. (not quite EASY-PEASY)
Started inauspiciously with PReenS. :(
Was trying to recall the NATO alphabet last nite before falling asleep. Had to look up 'Juliett' this A.M..
Spent most of my boxing time in the gym as a SPARING PARTNER. Never had a sanctioned bout. Packed it in when I went back to school.
My fave ARIA: O Mio Babbino Caro by Maria Callas.
Speaking of TOTEM POLEs: A blessed 'Indigenous Peoples' Day' 🙏
Coincidentally, happen to be currently reading 'One Bead at a Time' by Beverly Little Thunder w. Sharron Proulx-Turner
SPAS SEGUEs to the 'Sweat Lodges' Beverly talks about in her book, i.e., 'healthy' places.
Fun adventure; really enjoyed BW's Mon. offering! :)
___
Belated Happy Birthday! to @JC66 🎉
Happy Thanksgiving Day! to all you Canadians out there. 🍁
Thx @jae; on it! 🤞
Med. Saturday Stumper by Matthew Sewell; the SW was the toughest part to suss out.
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
Wordle 478 3/6*
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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Easy Peasy as Birdie Pie!
I can watch Rockford Files just for the telephone message at the beginning and the music alone. Throw in Stuart Margolin as Angel, and it's one of the best detective shows of the 70's. After Steve McQueen, James Garner was one of the coolest people on earth.
Delightful Monday puzzle! I just chugged along with the acrosses through the whole puzzle, did a tiny bit of cleanup with just a few downs and then…no Congrats (I turn off the “happy music” because EVERY time it startles my dog). Yep. Revisited 1a to switch to PRIMPS and there you have it! The result is I probably don’t remember or even know most of the DOWN clues/answers.
Everyone (including me) tends to think of PARALLELPARKING as the hardest thing in learning to drive but I’m old enough to also remember my Dad teaching me to pass a car on a two-lane highway. Yikes! “Now, NOW!….punch that accelerator…get around it”!
Reading @Rex’s digression into the Rockford Files reminds me of @Nancy’s “crush” on James Garner. We will see if she bites on that.
@Whatsername your comment on Mary Fran’s shoulder pad sweaters cracked me up! I do remember it was purt near impossible in the late eighties/early nineties to find women’s sweaters WITHOUT shoulder pads. However, every time I start to think THAT was one of our pinnacles of questionable fashion, I think of the recent “cold shoulder” cut outs in ladies’ tops. You’re at a store rack, you see what you THINK might be a nice top, pull it out and see the gaping hole at the shoulder. Ugh!
Inaner????
Well, PREEN first, of course, and EASYASPIE, and OMAR and BRENT made an unknown stack, but everything else went right in smooth as a smelt, which I what I'm sure OFL meant to say instead of "butter-smooth".
I've been rereading some of the older and catching up with the newer Spenser novels, which involve lots of SPARRINGPARTNERS or just plain old beating someone up.
Had no idea what a MANIPEDI was until I had a granddaughter, who now goes to gave such things done with her mom and grandmother (not my wife, the other one). MANIPEDIS are about as frequent as skin peels in our household.
The only time I heard my younger son say "wow" to something I did was for an exhibition of PARALLELPARKING with our minivan. Tight space, first shot, two inches from the curb front and back. I didn't have the heart to tell him it was all luck.
Just a great Monday, with a theme I didn't see coming and the revealer in exactly the right place. Bodacious Work, BW, and thanks for all the fun.
Now off to the Croce, which will either be easier than usual or impossible, and then on to the New Yorker Monday. It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it.
This puzzle was so incredibly easy, it gave me a case of paraparesis.
One can wander around the MIRE of SEASCAPE isle. It SORTA looks like an EASY PEASY trek into town, but one SLIP on some PAPPERY POPPY PULP and YES, you'll need to CALL IN the MIL.
After enjoying our AERIAL ANGLE of ASTRAL glory, we invite you to do some PARALLEL PARKING next to the NAPA PARTS DEPARTMENT on ELM street. Look for a TOTEM POLE with TWO MALTESES and A CLAM sign.
You can then SLIP into the NO HOPE TACO BAR. You'll meet GEORGE who is a BOY with a FOODIE ART DEGREE. He makes PASTA PARM with CHEAP WINE which is OKEY-doke and he once ATE PAPAYA with AHI on an HERB SPUD.
He has a SPARRING PARTNER named EEGS. It would BEFALL EEGS to PEP up the NO HOPE TACO BAR and so, he'd SEGUE into ARIAS from PAR. He hoped the RETRO crowd would get a GRIP and enjoy a SPUD or TWO...Unfortunately, MANIPEDIS, who is the local FOODIE TSAR, would enter with his MCS in tow. The PRIMPS at the BAR would become IRATE and begin to throw PAPAYA AHI with POPPY PULP at MANIPEDIS and all hell would let loose. This is typical for a Monday night PLAY.
We also invite you back for PART TWO and meet APED. He's married to DORA but that's another INANER story.
Oh...also...in the back of NO HOPE, we have SPAS that allow you to PUT your little toes in. Bring your CHEAP WINE and let the DUO, BRENT and AGNEW do an OMAR dance native to SEA SCAPE Isle. You'll enjoy the EASY PEASY pace and the PASTA will be on GEORGE...the BOY.
Just a quick FYI- Taco Bell got its name because the owner’s last name was Bell.
It has a nice “ring” to it.
@okanaganer: BOO on the Covid bug paying you a visit. Hope it doesn’t stay long. Sorry about your QB streak. I had it in June and I’m still battling the brain fog, especially in the early morning.
I used to assume that the happy as a clam expression referred to the (dubious) smiley aspect of the clamshell. Maybe if you imagine it with googly eyes stuck on top?
Now I know it's from "happy as a clam in mud at high tide" (when they can't be picked off by seagulls.) That alone made the whole puzzle worth it.
I like your sneeze poem. My 60lb Belgian Shepherd jumps into my lap when my husband sneezes. He must think he's a Maltese.
Years ago I had a wonderful Maltese cat--except I didn't know until I was "today years old" (hi, @LMS) that he was a Maltese cat. But I did give him a proper name for a Maltese ... Steely Dan.
As for the puzzle--what Rex said.
A delightful Monday romp.
Unusually for me, I stopped to think about the theme after getting the first two, and saw the pair of PARs. I figured it must be something about PAR TWO, but wanted it to be clued as "non-existent golf hole." Maybe too tough for a Monday.
Having been burned before, I wrote in "EASY AS ___" and waited for the crosses, feeling very proud of myself. Fortunately, I got SEGUE before PARTS DEPARTMENT, which would have confirmed Abc and buried me even more deeply.
One large gripe in this otherwise super-enjoyable puzzle. To clue NATO as "Peacekeeping grp." is ludicrouser than I can imagine. It's a military alliance.
I managed my first totally successful solve using only down clues. Interesting side effects like making the two PARs jump right out at me once I got 2 of the spanners. Also made the SW corner the toughest when I put in EASYaspie until I remembered I got caught in that serta-sealy once before.
@Lewis amusement corner.
PEP EWE ATE-ETA TRA-ART DORA-AR0D PARTWO-OW TRAP and the weird surprising nonsense MANIPEDIS-SIDE PIN AM or SIDE PI NAM. And the not worth mentioning TACO- O CAT NATO- O TAN PASTA-AT SAP and the partial PARTNER-RENT RAP . Plus some others as weak or weaker.
I thought this was a solid Monday. Some PoCs. Good theme. Nice spanners. Every time Rex moans about why this theme, what's the purpose, I think of the Marx Brothers and why a duck?
yep, I think there may have been an intentional effort here to "go PP" and acquire the new high-P record.
@Roo-- Record number of F's = 12. Tie between Curtis Yee & Alan Arbesfeld.
Manny Nosowsky set the record of 19 U's, back in 1996.
staff weeject picks: APP & PEP. Solid P-Performers.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Titles for knights} = SIRS.
Got the PAR-PAR drift mid-solvequest, from the first two themers. Wasn't quite sure how the puz would justify that yet, tho.
Enjoyed huntin down the bonus PARONE PARM.
Thanx for the fun, Mr. Walden.
Masked & Anonymo3Us
**gruntz**
With apologies to Shel Silverstein:
I tell you I’ve fought INANER men
But I really can’t remember when
He bit like a mule
And kicked like a crocodile.
Mischievous political spinners are PR IMPS.
This puzzle was more than up to PAR for a Monday, but that’s just PAR for the course for Byron Walden.
@Roo. I know it's the F's in the grid that count, but how about the triple in the 1D clue?
Speaking of did you finish the puzzle, I always feel like I didn't when I didn't quite get the theme. Today, I looked at it and said, oh PAR in the second word. Oops.
Otherwise pretty smooth except for PReen and EASY AS pie.
Boy GEORGE was a gimme in this house.
@NYDenizen. You beat me yet again.
Wordle 478 4/6
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@Roo Monster - It's like they are not even trying for 'F's. Even X and Z beat F. The only letter with a lower record is J, with 11.
INANER should be barred from NYT xwords. It’s among the weakest consistently used fill words. Ever see it out in the wild? A five-year ban on ETNA, SPAS, TACO, and SORTA would also be nice.
@kitshef
Har! I had kept noticing the F-lack as I kept doing these puzs (only do the NYT one), which is where my crusade came from. I emulated @M&A in the poor plight of the U being the least used vowel. Funny how the poor F doesn't get used that often.
On the same, but different note, ever noticed in SB that words beginning with N are few and far between?
RooMonster Looking Out For The Little Letter Guy
@Okanager, I see now that you mentioned CoVid using your SB report! So sorry to here this and I am NOW going to get an appointment to get the new vaccine since it’s now been 6 months since my second booster. Dang. These days the doc has me getting Shingrex, pneumonia, flu…and this year I have to squeeze in a tetanus. Looks like fall is gonna be filled with potential site injection pain cuz I KNOW my whole left arm will be worthless after the tetanus shot.
Also…huh, I GUESS I always felt like the DOWN clues were less challenging? Apparently not. I will try doing only downs tomorrow and see how it goes (if I remember).
@Roo, I think you need to submit a puzzle with tons of Fs. You can call it “All Effed Up”!
I treated 1A as a kealoa, threw down PR___S and worked on the downs. PRIMPS does seem fussier to me than PREENS. PRIMPS is all the back and forth with hair and makeup whereas PREENS seems more just admiring oneself with a few tweaks here and there. On the other hand, not being one for much of either, I may be way off.
Congrats, Byron Walden, on filling in your Monday NYT puzzle gap. Nice job!
@Roo, the continuing lack of F's puzzles me to no end. When F is one of the Spelling Bee letters, the words with F are legion. So why are they so ignored in crosswords?
Seems to me to be some over the top inane INANER hatred here. If you are criticizing it for overuse in crosswords okey doke. It seems less common than many others to me but I'll accept your judgment on that.
If you are criticizing its use in general or feel more inane is the only proper usage then not much with you. The dictionaries give their approval plus it saves 3 letters over more inane. Even in crosswords I would prefer a 6 space INANER over a 9 space MOREINANE.
Dictionaries do not seem to like inapter at all or inepter very much. UNINANE doesn't make the grade either. I do like the sound of uninane much better than inaner but its existence and necessity to exist is not the anest thing in the world. But that could be said of us all.
41A "Astral Weeks" Anyone?
@Carola 9:58 AM
Arrgh! How'd I miss it? Hm... lessee...
*Holy cats.
*Little dogs with a big crystal balls.
*Bejeweled falcons.
*Mediterranean swamis and astronomers. (Although I suspect people from Malta would be Maltesians, right?, or if they're caucasian I suppose they'd be vanilla Malts.)
??
The phrase in clam-digging country where I come from (South Shore L.I.) was "Happy as a clam in mud." Never heard the high water version until today.
As it turns out, f is the 16th most frequent first letter in English words (I don’t think this includes proper nouns). The less frequent initial letters (in order) are g, y, p, b, v, k, j, x, q, z.
It lags in 18th place in frequency of occurrence anywhere in English words, followed by y, w, k, v, x, z, j, q.
But it’s a real NYTXW laggard. It’s record number of appearances in a puzzle (12 as @M & A pointed out) ties it with q for next to last, exceeding only the pitiable 11 racked up by j in a puzzle on 4/20 of 2009. And I think we know what 4/20 is all about.
So I’m with @Roo. We must right these F-ing wrongs!!!
@kitshef-Same experience here with the Croce. Finished it, but not without looking longingly at Nancy's wall.
@MarthaCatherine (7:17) I enjoyed your post today and found it very entertaining, partly because I share your dread of those stubby pencils and the whole humiliating experience.
@Beezer (10:14) I wore my share of the big shoulder pad look but of course it really was the pinnacle of fashion back then. Remember Crystal on Dynasty? She practically had to turn sideways to get through a door. I’m with you 100% on those grotesque tops with the sleeves cut out. I have never seen a single woman who looked good in one. And I wanted to tell you I had the exact same experience with my dad learning to drive. To this day, if I pass a car on a two-lane highway, I can still hear him in the passenger seat saying “if you’re gonna pass, then go on and go and don’t take all damn day about it.” 😂
This puzzle had an old school feel to it and in a good way. Three themers and a short reveal combined with a low black square count of 32 left plenty of room for quality fill. Nice theme/fill balance there.
I did a side eye when I saw 35D "Credential for a painter or sculptor" was ART DEGREE. Seems like the quality of their ART would be their essential credential---that which gives them credence as ARTists---and an ART DEGREE would be superfluous.
I used to subscribe to a publication of the Center For Science In The Public Interest called Nutrition Action Newsletter. It's a scientific evidence based guide to diet and health and is still available for subscription. I recall one issue where all the fruits commonly available in grocery store produce departments were ranked according to their overall nutritional profile. The one at the top with the best combination of vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, etc. was the PAPAYA. There was no mention of nutritional value of PAPAYA seeds but I don't see why they would not also be nutritious. (I don't care for the taste of PAPAYA by itself but it's great mixed with other fruits like the pineapple or mango.)
@whatsername…yes, I was young back then and also had my share of not only shoulder pad sweaters, but shoulder padded dresses and suit jackets. Thing is, I’m not nearly as broad shouldered as Crystal/Linda Evans so SOMETIMES I even thought it balanced things out. Lol on Crystal walking sideways through the door! At any rate, I HAVE seen the “cold shoulder” look good when it is 1) formal or “night on town,” with younger women and who 2) have, well, “great shoulders.” (Plus, it’s usually a square cut) How the trend got into the mainstream market I’ll never understand.
@Nancy…did I miss your post? I was looking for some James Garner comments!
A story too make up for lackadaisical F use (no guarantee that it's good!)
"What a fine fettle of fish", said from a femme fatale, feeling like she's floundering off the facade of freedom. She's finally free to fall and fawn over flowers flowing in fields of fruit, as feathers fly off the cuff. "Fluffy stuff is found in fiery fumes of finality," she frowned. But fun was found in favorite flavors of foodstuffs. Finishing off with fairly functioning fountains of familiarity, health was frought with fumbling faith. "What the f__" she fluttered, than fainted.
FIN
Roo
Pretty normal Monday difficulty level. My favorite appearance was seeing the late, great Michael K. Williams from the Wire as OMAR, one of the most unique and well played characters in TV history.
NATO Is a peace keeping group? NATO is a collective security alliance. It’s hardly a peace keeping group. It has occasionally served as such, in the Balkan’s in the 1990s for example in Kosovo and Bosnia. But more often it’s role us to
Argh! Autocorrect! "health" is supposed to be fealty. And I would've sworn I proofread that...
@Beezer -- How sweet of you to notice my absence.
1) I overslept (until 9:30, but I needed it.)
2) I had to get my apartment ready for my cleaning woman with barely enough time to even strip the bed.
3) I got a phone call at the worst possible time that I couldn't cut short.
Then I went to the park on a drop-dead gorgeous day. I've been there for hours.
I'd completely forgotten that I hadn't commented on this puzzle. But it's a Monday and I didn't have much to say anyway, so no harm, no foul.
But it's always nice to be missed :)
@Gary Jugert 1:27 - Thank you, four times over! Talk about delivering when called upon! :)
@RooMonster 5:08 PM
This is the correct path young Jedi.
@Roo…🤣🤣🤣 I love it! I need to make a notation that this date shows many F words you might use in a puzzle!
@Nancy, I am erratic in whether I comment…you, not so much! I just figured @Rex’s mention of the Rockford Files might get you swooning again on the BEST Maverick…❤️
EASY PEASY Monday, as it should be, and I never even come here on a Monday, but had to post my respects to this grid. Perfectly fine entry level theme, but very well constructed grid with some pleasant entries (CHEAP WINE, BOY GEORGE, BRENT spiner) and good use of fill. I definitely noticed and appreciated.
This one was 34D begining, middle and end. A great beginner-level puzzle that will hopefully draw more new solvers into the pool.
NO USE
Drinking CHEAPWINE at the BAR,
my PARTNER HERB saw NO marking,
that BOY had NOHOPE with A car
for EASY PARALLELPARKING.
--- POPPY AGNEW
Hand up for PReen. Inkblot marred an otherwise beautiful grid. Big fill all around, and two iotas of imperfection. PARM is fine as an abbr. but in this puzzle it's a stray PAR. Inelegant. But INANER...is. <--
As to The Rockford Files, I liked the show, his dad and Gretchen--but I couldn't stand Angel. I dunno; the character was like fingernails on a blackboard to me. If they listed Margolin in the opening credits, I'd turn it off and watch something else. No fault of Stuart's, he was written that way.
The puzzle, though screaming for a PAR, earns a birdie here.
Wordle? What else today? PAR.
P.S. Syndilink took me to a Sunday--and NOT next to the correct Monday! Grrr....
EASY enough and 7 PARs altogether, I'd like to do that in a round of golf. PODS in the corners. Unforgettable POPPY Montgomery, yeah baby.
Wordle birdie.
EASY enough and 7 PARs altogether, I'd like to do that in a round of golf. PODS in the corners. Unforgettable POPPY Montgomery, yeah baby.
Wordle birdie.
I missed doing the Wordle yesterday and thus my streak ended. I don’t know why, but Wordle doesn’t let you skip a day and punishes you by ending your current streak. Pretty mean if you ask me.
Always remember:
A day without Wordle is like a day without your girdle.
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