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Relative difficulty: Very challenging (slowest Friday of the year for me!)
THEME: None
Word of the Day: RED MASS (17A: Annual Roman Catholic service for members of the legal profession) —
A Red Mass is a Mass celebrated annually in the Roman Catholic Church for all members of the legal profession, regardless of religious affiliation: judges, lawyers, law school professors, law students, and government officials, marking the opening of the judicial year. Through prayerful petition and thanksgiving the Red Mass requests guidance from the Holy Spirit for all who seek justice, and offers the legal community an opportunity to reflect on the God-given power and responsibility of all in the legal profession.
• • •
***HELLO, READERS AND FELLOW SOLVERS IN SYNDICATION*** (if it's mid-January 2023, that's you!) How is the new year treating you? Well, I hope. Me, uh, not great so far (COVID, you know), but I'm 95% better, and was never terribly sick to begin with, so I have every reason to believe things will turn around for me shortly, thank God (and vaccines). Anyway, it's early January, which means it's time once again for my annual week-long pitch for financial contributions to the blog. Every year I ask readers to consider what the blog is worth to them on an annual basis and give accordingly. I'm not sure what to say about this past year. This will sound weird, or melodramatic—or maybe it won't—but every time I try to write about 2022, all I can think is "well, my cat died." She (Olive) died this past October, very young, of a stupid congenital heart problem that we just couldn't fix (thank you all for your kind words of condolence, by the way). I'm looking at the photo I used for last year's fundraising pitch, and it's a picture of me sitting at my desk (this desk, the one I'm typing at right now, the one I write at every day) with Olive sitting on my shoulder, staring at me, and making me laugh. It's a joyous picture. Here, I'm just gonna post it again:
I love the photo both because you can tell how goofy she is, and how goofy she made me. Her loss hurt for the obvious reasons, but also because she was so much a part of my daily routine, my daily rhythms and rituals. She was everyday. Quotidian. Just ... on me, near me, being a weirdo, especially in the (very) early mornings when I was writing this blog. She took me out of myself. She also made me aware of how much the quotidian matters, how daily rituals break up and organize the day, mark time, ground you. They're easy to trivialize, these rituals, precisely because they *aren't* special. Feed the cats again, make the coffee again, solve the crossword again, etc. But losing Olive made me reevaluate the daily, the quotidian, the apparently trivial. In a fundamental way, those small daily things *are* life. No one day is so important, or so different from the others, but cumulatively, they add up, and through the days upon days you develop a practice—a practice of love, care, and attention given to the things that matter. If you're reading this, then crossword puzzles are undoubtedly an important ritual for you, just as writing about crosswords for you all is an important ritual for me. It gives me so much. I hope that even at my most critical, my genuine love for crosswords—for the way my brain lights up on crosswords—comes through. I also hope that the blog brings you entertainment, insight, laughter ... even (especially) if you disagree with me much (most? all?) of the time.
 |
| [man, I really wear the hell out of this red fleece...] |
How much should you give? Whatever you think the blog is worth to you on a yearly basis. Whatever that amount is is fantastic. Some people refuse to pay for what they can get for free. Others just don't have money to spare. All are welcome to read the blog—the site will always be open and free. But if you are able to express your appreciation monetarily, here are three options. First, a Paypal button (which you can also find in the blog sidebar):
Second, a mailing address (checks should be made out to "Rex Parker"):
Rex Parker c/o Michael Sharp
54 Matthews St
Binghamton, NY 13905
Rex Parker c/o Michael Sharp
54 Matthews St
Binghamton, NY 13905
The third, increasingly popular option is Venmo; if that's your preferred way of moving money around, my handle is @MichaelDavidSharp (the last four digits of my phone are 4878, in case Venmo asks you, which I guess it does sometimes, when it's not trying to push crypto on you, what the hell?!)
I had fun making this puzzle (thanks to Rachel Fabi and Neville Fogarty for proofing it for me!). For non-snail-mailers who want to solve the puzzle, don't worry: I'll make the puzzle available for everyone some time next month. Please note: I don't keep a "mailing list" and don't share my contributor info with anyone. And if you give by snail mail and (for some reason) don't want a thank-you card, just indicate "NO CARD." Again, as ever, I'm so grateful for your readership and support. Now on to today's puzzle...
• • •
BAD JUJU was a fun way to start things off, though I had BAD lUck there for a long time, making the rest of that corner very hard to break into. AQUINAS was cool to stack with BAD JUJU for added scrabbliness, but I was not a fan of GUN BORE! I don't like guns IRL ... I don't like guns in my crossword ... I don't like wordplay about guns. I'd also never heard of DUNK TANK (in my defense, I have never been to a county fair...) but my friend (hi Adam!) tells me it was a fun answer and I believe him.
 |
| BOLT CUTTERS made me think of this critically acclaimed Fiona Apple album (which I confess I've never listened to!) |
The NE was the only corner that fell easily, probably because I knew Sharon OLDS (the only proper in this puzzle I knew immediately, I think). Cute clue on GAMERTAGS [Handles made to be played with], which, on a Friday, I would have expected to come with a question mark. But ... we already established this was secretly a Saturday puzzle.
Anyhoo ... what else? Just a lot of tough clues! Many of them really nice and satisfying, but hard! [Spells] for TRANCES, [Used car business] for RESALES, [Unnamed alternative] for OR ELSE, [Cause of a game's end] for TILT, etc etc. I had to ask a friend (hi Rebecca!) to explain that last one to me -- turns out it's about pinball. There are so many games! And they can end in so many ways!
 |
| Oh look, it's a jam! If only we had figured out a way to avoid this! Maybe we could make people live close to shopping, leisure, and work spaces. Maybe we could even have one big vehicle that could take a bunch of people around! Wow, that would probably help with pollution too, huh? Someone should look into this idea... |
My favorite fill was BAD JUJU, SO RANDOM, VODKA CRAN. Loved the angle on NET ZERO. The ELENORE / OLY cross was a guess for me, but L seemed like the most plausible letter there. Oh, it also felt mean to clue FRA as just [Brother] without a "in Italian" or "for a monk" or whatever qualifier. Sometimes a challenge is nice though, so I'm not too mad about having to work harder on a Friday. But I wish there'd been a bit more zingier stuff in the fill.
Bullets:
- GINZA [52A: Posh shopping district of Tokyo] — I have been to GINZA in Tokyo!
- USEFUL [7D: Advantageous] — I feel like USEFUL and advantageous aren't quite synonyms but ... it's a Saturday puzzle (yes, I'm committing to this bit) so I guess I can't complain
- KID A [37D: 2000 #1 Radiohead album] — I learned this album existed just a few months ago (please don't come for me in the comments; I was 5 in 2000) so it was cool to see it in a puzzle
- RED MASS [17A: Annual Roman Catholic service for members of the legal profession] — It's really funny to me that there's a special mass for legal professionals...
[Follow Rafa on Twitter]
Sometimes you're in the constructor's wheelhouse, sometimes not. Today was lots of BAD JUJU for me, but that's what makes doing crosswords fun. If it was just a matter of filling in the blanks, who would bother?
ReplyDeleteBADJUJU, DRUNK, VODKACRAN, ASSES. It was a trip down memory lane where I ran into yesterday’s guest blogger.
ReplyDeleteI liked that REDMASS and ALLRISE were symmetrically placed. It made me wonder if someone intones “ALLRISE” as the priest enters for the REDMASS.
I liked Rafa’s write up, but I disagree on the Friday is Saturday switcheroo. This was an average difficulty Friday, and I really enjoyed it. Thanks, KAC.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteEasy-medium. JIBES and UNOS gave me BAD JUJU and it went pretty smoothly from there. OLDS crossing RED MASS was a guess but what else could it be. KID A I knew from previous puzzles. NIA and ELENORE (as clued) were WOES.
ReplyDeleteA smooth puzzle and a fun solve, especially after yesterday’s. An excellent Friday, liked it a bunch.
Oooooh, very tough for me, though I did manage to finish. Definitely felt like a Saturday, took a long time to get a toe hold, then painfully slow filling in the rest. Good puzzle, though.
ReplyDeleteTerribly painful! In the end I had to look up a few things, there were just too many proper nouns I’d never heard of. Didn’t know Superman had a mother. Never been to Tokyo. Never heard of that mass, though I guessed the mass part correctly. Never heard of Sharon olds. Nor Elenore. Nor Rhee. Nor Yenta. Nor a few others probably. Harder than most Saturdays lately imo.
DeleteI really wanted “Used car business” to be UBERED, but when that (far better) answer didn’t fit, I had to go with the right (worse) answer.
ReplyDeleteThat’s a good one!
Delete
ReplyDeleteI'm with @Rafa, @Joaquin and @Melrose. Like most KAC puzzles, this was very difficult for me.
'Oh, it also felt mean to clue FRA as just [Brother] without a "in Italian" or "for a monk" or whatever qualifier.'
ReplyDelete@Rafa, it's not mean; it's Friday.
Kameron Austin Collins is by far my favorite crossword constructor. His cluing is tricky in a way that is extremely satisfying for me. This took me about 1.5x as long as a typical Friday of the past couple years, but I never felt totally stuck, just like there was another trick that I needed to untangle.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, Rafa, this was a tough Friday. Way over my usual time. That SE corner was a bear. Starting with ELiNORE, I got stuck with _MiN and _INZU. The SW was a head scratcher too. Finished up with TILT, just like my typical pinball game.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, we did miss you, Rafa, at least yesterday. I agree this was a Saturday puzzle - definitely tough for me. I wondered if I would be able to finish at all after the first pass, with very little on the board and what I did have scattered SO RANDOMly. But he persevered. And liked the challenge.
ReplyDeleteLots of felicitous pairings, like DUNK TANK next to AQUARIA. Why not combine them and dunk the C-list celebs into a tank full of fish? Also BAD JUJU almost crossing TRANCES. Like Rafa and probably 97% of solvers, I had lUck for a very long time, but JUJU is better by far. And one more almost perfect pairing in the south - KID(A) NAPPED.
Wait, one more - ERECT right atop ALL RISE. Ahem. Say no more.
I thought a YENTA was more of a matchmaker than a gossip. But I guess you’d need to really be up on the gossip to make good matches. I made one match that resulted in marriage and was preparing myself to become a full time YENTA, but alas, they got divorced.
YENTA is a real problem. It is a not uncommon Yiddish/Hebrew woman's name. The reason Yenta finds its way into puzzles is that the only famous Yenta is the fictional character in Fiddler on the Roof. The song "Matchmaker" is about her and her trade. But as a personality, she is one of the biggest gossips in town. I say it really should not be an answer in a puzzle .
DeleteYenta as a Yiddish word for gossip predates “Fiddler on the Roof” by a very long time.
DeleteThanks why Sholom Aleichem called the character Yenta.
DeleteAt the company picnic we used to have an Executive Dunk Tank, where you could buy three balls and try to send, say, a vice president plunging into the water. Money went to charity. We always called in the Executive Drunk Tank. And there was one guy no one would shoot for because he was known to be, in general, vindictive, petty, and grudge-holding. Guess which VP eventually became president?
ReplyDeleteRafa, this is not the group that is going to come at you for not knowing KID A until a few months ago. A lot of us will hear of KID A for the first time in this puzzle. I heard of it for the first time when reading your comments (having gotten it through crosses when solving).
Agree. I was 21 in 2000 and I just learned of this album 5 minutes ago.
DeleteWhat made this feel more like a Saturday to me was the lack of "whoosh-whoosh" that often characterizes Fridays -- which IMO was due to the highly segmented grid shape.
ReplyDeleteMan. This was brutal. But in a good way. Nearly identical solving experience to Rafa—BAD lUck initially, NE corner the easiest, etc. I'm slowly learning what to expect from certain recurring names, and Kameron Austin Collins generally means "get ready to sweat." After a few weeks of easy peasy breezy, this caught me off guard, but was refreshing.
ReplyDeleteFine Friday - I’ve found that once you buy into KACs cluing nuances things go much smoother. Refer specifically to the clues on ZEBRA and the plural SNOOZES.
ReplyDeleteLike DRUNK x VODKA CRAN. Never liked menthols - I smoked Camels my brother smoked Salems. Knowing AQUINAS, RED MASS and BOLT CUTTERS cold helped the solve.
Bought Old Spice POMADE for my son for years. Hear ALL RISE all summer with the great Judge. Wanted J-E-T-S in lieu of GMEN.
Enjoyable Friday solve.
DRUNKen Lullabies
Southwest was terrible. Everybody knows Superman’s original name, only fanatics will know his mother. “Unnamed alternative” should be clued “Undenoted alternative.” “Unnamed” implies a person. “Toasted” answer should be” drank.” Toasted and drunk are not the same tense.
ReplyDeleteToasted being used as an adjective! He was toasted = He was drunk.
DeleteA lot of people would know MARTHA KENT, and many would know birth father JOR-EL, probably from the movies. Even Supergirl KARA has her own TV show. But yeah, LARA is brutal.
DeleteI never like KAC’s puzzles. Something about the clueing just feels off for me. It’s like he tries to make tricky clues (and they are) but there’s no satisfaction in the answers. They just clunk. This one felt so old and sloggy. I didn’t know any of the names. Oof. I hope there’s something more fun tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteSome random thoughts:
ReplyDelete• Once again, a gorgeous KAC grid. Rather than a clatter of scattershot black squares, I enter a thing of beauty.
• Proof that advertising works. I popped in BIORE when the B appeared, a brand that I would swear I’ve never heard of.
• More beauty: The clue, [Like … all over the place], and its answer SO RANDOM.
• Never since Will Shortz has become editor has OR ELSE been clued other than referring to ominous words in a threat or ultimatum. How refreshing to see the neutral [Unnamed alternative]. Subtle, vexing, and original. Bravo!
• PuzzPair© of SMOGS and CHOKEPOINTS.
• Junk fill – nowhere. Interesting answers – everywhere: GAMER TAGS, BAD JUJU, BOLT CUTTERS, CHOKEPOINTS, ALL RISE, BAGMAN, DUNK TANK, and SO RANDOM (five of these are NYT answer debuts). What a skilled filling of the grid.
Kameron, you are top tier when it comes to filling, cluing, and designing a grid, and all my outings through your puzzles take me on highlight-filled trips through a kaleidoscope of places, eras, people, and objects that enrich and delight. You have such talent and a striking style, and I’m so grateful for your puzzles, including this one – thank you!
@Anonymous 8:01 Toasted=wasted=DRUNK=the occasional guest blogger
ReplyDeleteThis is my favorite kind of puzzle. You can get it, but you really have to work for it. I did not know the cross of GMEN and GINZA so that was a tough area but overall, I felt it was hard without being a slog and not a trace of crossword-ese which is always a good sign. So tired of the easy Fridays. the only thing I like better is a great theme that is tricky but satisfying.
ReplyDeleteThank you. The puzzle blogging universe has returned to normal after yesterday's hijacking. Love Mr. Collin's work.
ReplyDeleteChallenging and fun puzzle - as expected and desired for a Friday or Saturday,
ReplyDeleteI was SO CLOSE on BADJUJU - thought it was BADmoJo. DNF because I could not remember TILAPIA and didn’t know OLDS or REDMASS.
OLY - Olympia Beer - was somewhat big here in flyover Minnesota when I was Rafa’s age (yikes, that was 41 years ago! Ok, now I’m depressed. But not because of Kameron’s solid effort or Rafa’s fun, profanity-free writeup. Thanks to both!)
Amy: very tough, but fair. Had to resort to a few lookups. Had Brake Points instead of Choke for way too long. As @kitchen opined, raising hand for not knowing KIDA.
ReplyDeleteI'm familiar with Mr. Collins as he does a lot of puzzles for the New Yorker and since they always skew youngish, I always think, "here we go". Today's total WTF's included BIORE, REDMASS, VODKACRAN, ELENORE, and KIDA, and I'm probably leaving some out. Add reading "bother" for "brother" and you might think I'm still working on this. Nope, good stuff with DUNKTANK, BOLTCUTTERS, GMEN, and ALLRISE, among others, and it really went pretty smoothly.
ReplyDeleteWanted RIFLING for GUNBORE and haven't seen POMADES since I read Malcolm X's autobiography, which was nice to remember.
All in all a great Friday, KAC. Kept A Cool head and rolled along with just the right amount of pushback. Well done you, and thanks for all the fun.
I don’t like guns IRL either. No problem with them being in a crossword puzzle. Only ELENORE I’ve seen before is Turtles song. I was five when that came out in 1968.
ReplyDeleteI found this one pretty difficult, but not very satisfying. AQUINAS was a nice inclusion. (Qs always make things interesting, no? Just me?) But on the whole, I spent a lot of it muttering angrily under my breath. I'm not one to pay attention to who constructs the puzzles, but I suspect I just don't jive with this constructor.
ReplyDeleteWhat on earth is a VOD KACRAN I asked myself as I sort of guessed at ANVIL (I should know the coyote crusher?) and I sort of guessed at DRUNK (but what was KIDA, for heaven's sake?). I didn't write anything in, though. And I could have stared at the cosmetics clue until the cows came home without getting it.
ReplyDeleteAnd here are the things on the other coast I could have stared at until the cows came home without getting:
The Tokyo shopping district
The illustrator
The album
The NY footballers (I sure don't call them that!!!!)
The brew
The suggestion, in brief
Frustrated by all the obscure bits of trivia and not in the process of anything that could possibly be described as pleasurable, I quit on this puzzle with 80% of it completed. As for the remaining 20%? I just didn't care enough.
@anon801am
ReplyDeleteHe's toasted as in DRUNK stoned or wasted.
RESALES TRANCES DYNAMOS went in first read. ORELSE CHOKEPOINT SORANDOM ZEBRA and much else waaaaay slower. No idea OLY ELINORE OLDS. KingS before KOOLS (right church, wrong pew), mate before TILT. Lovely clues but more than the 3 Friday cheats I allow myself to feel sorta OK about failure to solve.That's on me. Gettable but tough excellent Friday.
Hey All !
ReplyDeleteHoly POMADES! That SE corner did me in. Managed to get everything else correctly, but had to Goog (twice!) in that corner. SO RANDOM was, well, so random! Along with NET ZERO as clued, OLY (wha?), POMADES wanting to be POMAgES, REC as clued, led to my two Googs for ELENORE and GINZA. I can see GMEN being a problem for non football fans. Yeesh.
In NE the D for REDMASS/OLDS was a guess, albeit a sorta logical one, and also the R of GAMERTAGS/RHEE. Another logical guess. (Although S was floating around the ole brain.)
Had VODKAsour first, wondering how that was informally. DRUNK crossing VODKACRAN apropos of the blog not to be mentioned. (Although I think it probably set a record for most comments ever.) Even missed the 9 double EE's @Lewis pointed out from YesterPuz.
ERECT above ALL RISE. Keep your 10 Year old snickers out of that one! 😁 RUINS above BOLT CUTTERS. Neat pairings today.
So a toughie today. Personal DNF when I go to Goog, but hey, if I didn't, I'd still be staring at that SE!
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
Kid A came out when I was 19 and is my all time favorite record. Was really delighted to see it in a grid. If anyone is interested, Radiohead released a Kid A “museum” video game which is one of the coolest things ever made. It’s free to download and play. Highly suggested.
ReplyDeleteI found DRUNK and DUNK TANK an amusing pairing.
ReplyDeleteVery challenging. GMEN *again*? Asked DH who said, "never heard it used that way". But thanks to him KIDA was a gimme.
ReplyDelete@Rafa you're a breath of fresh air! No SMOGS in your write up.
Wanted uberEd before RESALES, and see I was not alone.
No idea: RHEE, also GAMERTAGS, but filled in slowly with crosses.
And I love the visual of the locksmith at wits end grabbing the BOLTCUTTERS!
GUNBORE and "Complete bores" in the same puzzle?
ReplyDeleteDupes like that happen all the time now, so there are fewer mentions of them in this blog.
DeleteMaybe when they don't mean the same Shortz doesn't care?
Thx, Kameron, for this invigorating challenge! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Rafa; good to see you again (so soon, too)! thx for your write-up! :)
Very hard (would've been a tough Sat.).
The NW was almost undoable; took as long as the rest of the puz combined, but it finally fell, thx mainly to being willing to slot JUJU in, and see what might develop.
Had a somewhat educated guess at the OLDS / RED MASS cross for the win.
First encountered TILAPIA in the SB.
Unknowns/learnings: Sharon OLDS; RED MASS; BAD JUJU; UNOS; NIA DaCosta; CHOKE POINTS; LARA; RHEE; GINZA; ELENORE Abbott; VODKA CRAN; BIORE; 'Thetis'; KIDA; APACHE.
Growing up in the NW, OLY was a gimme.
Great battle; loved it! :)
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
Can anyone explain 44 across to me
ReplyDeleteRec. short for recommendation
Delete23 plurals on 68 clues seemed like a lot
ReplyDeleteVery difficult Friday. Even answers that should have been personal gimmes didn't click. I'm Catholic but have never heard of REDMASS. I used to live in Arizona but it took a few crosses to get APACHE. I spend a fair amount of time on the ol' Playstation but still couldn't see GAMERTAGS.
ReplyDeleteI don't drink so I had VODKAtini for a long time. I feel like I've heard "cranberry vodka" or perhaps "vodka & cranberry" before, but I don't think I've ever heard VODKCRAN. But, again, that's not in my wheelhouse so what do I know. I was way too committed to puLLUPS so it took a while to finish off the center.
DYNAMO should only ever be clued one way -- "The slim, lazy Homer you knew is dead! Now, I'm a big fat ______! And where's that cake?!"
I don't want to beat a dead horse so I'll just say "thank you!" to today's guest contributor and move on.
REC is short for recommendation.
ReplyDeleteCrunchy puzzle. SW corner finally fell when I changed “brake” to CHOKE.
Got a DNF because of the NW. Never heard of BADJUJU or DUNKTANK. This puzzle was especially hard for old-timers like myself who are unfamiliar with "hiphop" talk (is that the right adjective?). Since when are SNOOZES "complete bores"??? Is GAMERTAGS a real thing, or did the constructor just make it up?
ReplyDeleteSome show or event could be a real snooze is how I interpreted it FWIW
DeleteI like KAC’s work, and it seems to be getting less arcane and/or oblique. His stuff in The New Yorker is particularly sweat-inducing. This one seemed medium-ish. There were “concoctions” here that were new to me—DUNKTANK, BADJUJU, REDMASS among others—but they were inferable with the crosses.
ReplyDeleteAnd, RAFA, thanks mucho for the balm after yesterday’s savagery!
KAC and I come from completely different planets from what I can see. This one took me at least 3x my median Friday time, and for no apparent reason. I didn't know the RED part of REDMASS, but the MASS was a gimme, so that wasn't it. I resisted AQUINAS because he is Thomism, but ok. To whomever complained about "Superman's Mothers name", just read that clue as "Random name for a woman" and you're good to go.
ReplyDelete@Anon 9:59 REC as in recommendation = suggestion. I know, kids these days what with their texting and not being able to spell or use complete words.
I spent 6 hours driving on the PA Turnpike yesterday, and I can tell you that the cause of jams is almost exclusively jackasses driving in the fast lanes on cruise control at or below the speed limit. They seem to be run in packs, tying up two of the three lanes.
A yenta in Yiddish is a gossip.
ReplyDeleteThe Yenta everybody knows is a matchmaker.
This was easily the least enjoyable crossword puzzle I’ve ever done in my life.
ReplyDeleteI got lucky on this one--I thought of rObeS but didn't write it in, and then thought maybe APACHE would be a likely county name for the 4 corners region, and that gave me TOGAS and TILAPIA. There used to be a small farm on Cape Cod called the New Alchemy Institute; among other things, they had big cylindrical tanks where they grew vegetables hydroponically, and raised TILAPIA underneath, getting some kind of nutrient recycling in the process. I'd never have heard of that fish otherwise, I think.
ReplyDeleteBut speaking of Cape Cod, "Cape Codder" is what we call a VODKA CRAN around these parts, so that one was slow to come. OTOH, my first entry in the NW was USEFUL, which saved me from BAD luck; and there are plenty of UNOS around here too, so with the two Us JUJU was a gimme.
I guess there are people who don't know anything about theology or philosophy--I mean, I didn't know RED MASS (what's red about it, by the way?)--but still to clue St. Thomas AQUINAS as "The father of Thomism" seems lame. But I guess there's a guy in Radiohead named THOM, isn't there, so that's a nice link. (And I never heard of that album, either -- before coming here I was wondering if it was parsed KID A or KIDA as a slangy version of kidder.
On the general question, I thought this was an appropriate Friday, which I always expect to be KInDA hard. But my progress was steady, filling in each section, slowly, once I got into it. On a Saturday I expect it to be SO RANDOM, an entry here, and entry there, and a real struggle to connect them.
Wow - a real Friday puzzle out of yesteryear - can we get a real Saturday too? Fingers crossed and thanks KAC.
ReplyDelete@Bob Mills1013am
ReplyDeleteThose speeches were were complete bores, real snoozers.
I confidently slid GUITARSOLOS in for 40 Across (Jam producers?) and that threw off the SW entirely. Guitar solos just seemed so perfect! Also, as I'm sure lots of folks did, I had BADLUCK before I had bad juju. Bad juju? That's not fallout from a hex; that IS a hex.
ReplyDeleteStill a pretty good puzzle. Ginza was a gimme
I felt BAD JUJU this Friday. My lucky charm disappeared. I had to dust off my ouija board and ask it if today I should go to some sort of RED MASS and pray for redemption. It said YES.
ReplyDeleteI guessed at half of this and I guessed wrong. I've never met these things in the wild:
BAG MAN and his GUN BORE...GAMER TAGS joining RED MASS. The three DYNAMOS...GMEN, OLY and ELEANORE. NET ZERO was originally No ozone. CHOKE POINTS was a check and the clue for ZEBRA made me scream Holy Bunyons!
I almost went to visit Nancy and throw a "Toss this on the wall" dance. BUT...KAC can be a cool beans dude and I learn some new stuff. I KIDA not!
I had two claps today when I saw RHEE and GINZA riding a HARLEY after smoking KOOLS and being DRUNK on VODKA CRAN.
The end.
To albatross...Thanks for the reply. Except there's nothing in the clue about speeches. Are we to assume that "complete bores" refers to speeches? I'd be surprised if I were the only one objecting to that clue.
ReplyDeleteVery tough but enjoyable Friday puzzle. Like others have mentioned, it sometimes takes me awhile to get into the KAC mindset but once you do, it’s fun!
ReplyDeleteI think YENTA=gossip has been in the puzzle before. I checked Goog and it is defined as such. Apparently a Jewish matchmaker is shadchanit or shadchan. Of course, I always think of Barbra S in YENTl (small L).
I really had a hard time with the locksmith’s last alternative. I kept thinking “doorbusting” and “crowbar.” I think if I called a locksmith to open something I had padlocked I’d say “just cut the damned thing off” as my first and probably cheapest alternative. Maybe I’m missing something.
Also, if KAC “skews young” where did POMADES come from? DID people actually say hair POMADE in the last 50 years? Not a complaint…it’s in my vocab but in my mind that answer skews old.
Saw the first paragraph of yesterday's review and took the day off. Nothing like 327 comments to let you know Malaika should always be the backup.
ReplyDeleteTough puzzle today with plenty of nice things to look up and a handful of great words.
Let's talk AQUARIA: If you type in AQUARIUMS into Go-ogle you get fish tanks. If you type in AQUARIA you get a drag queen. Being right is for chumps.
Yays:
BAD JUJU. AQUINAS. DUNK TANKS (and we have them in the city too). ANVIL is on my favorite word list just above IFFY. SO RANDOM was the theme of 2022.
Boos:
FRA (too crossword-y), BOLT CUTTERS is often the first resort, KOOLS (how about zero smoking references?), LARA (comics, yawn), TRANCES are not spells -- they're the result of spells, cluing APACHE as a county in Arizona, more ASSES.
Dunno:
RED MASS, RHEE, NIA, GINZA, POMADES, ELENORE (what beautiful work).
Uniclues:
1 When the costumes you're wearing don't manifest in a bacchanalia.
2 Fish for cult leader.
3 Phrase heard by way too many bartenders nightly.
4 The old women (and a disturbing number of old men) living in our building.
5 All of them.
1 BAD JUJU TOGAS
2 AQUINAS' TILAPIA
3 DRUNK: "IT'S ON."
4 YENTA DYNAMOS
5 USEFUL SNOOZES
Jam maker…tried conservists and then preservists. Really slowed me down. Great puzzle!
ReplyDeleteForgot to mention that SB accepts both YENTA and YENTe.
ReplyDeleteyente/yenta:
"This Yiddish word for a constantly talking, meddling, or scolding woman is defined fairly negatively (synonyms include "gossip" and "blabbermouth"), but few people hear it that way today—partly because it's not commonly used as an epithet, perhaps partly because of the Barbra Streisand movie Yentl, and partly because the yenta has a good heart." (Women's Media Center (WMC))
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
What a Friday puzzle! Agreed it played like a Saturday...from 20 years ago! But very satisfying when the corners fell into place. NW was toughest. I had solaria for 2 down for the longest time, and "xxxhole" for 16 across. Just stared at the thing for the longest time until "aquinas" came through at 13 across.
ReplyDeleteMe on seeing the constructor's name: Oh, good! But wait, can I solve it? This one I managed to. Overall a medium for me, averaging out some wrote-it-right-ins (AQUINAS x BAGMAN, YENTA, DUNK TANK) and lucky guesses (SO RANDOM, OR ELSE) with some CHOKE POINTS (ELENORE, RED MASS, KID A, LARA). Fun to solve, with the right Friday mix of struggle and reward. But really, any puzzle that references the Acme Corp. - presumably the source of that ANVIL, one of their rare product that "works" - will win me over.
ReplyDeleteI went to University of San Francisco, a Catholic university run by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). We were required to take four years of philosophy. There was a heavy emphasis on the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, also called Thomism, a part of Scholasticism. I think most Catholic universities teach Thomism because it offers an intellectual basis for the Catholic faith.
ReplyDeleteIt was only slightly challenging for me but, then, I cheat using the autocheck feature. LOVE the Stow Lake background in your Photo, Rafa. Pinball was my game back in the day; I played at bars so no one would notice I could drink only a half glass of Pabst, never TILTed.
ReplyDelete@Beezer 10:59
ReplyDeleteGoogle POMADE. There are tons of them for sale for men. You’ll also find gels, creams, pastes, waxes and combos of these to Really. Confuse. You. Ain’t capitalism swell?
@Bob Mills…@Albatross was just giving an example. I could be at a party listening to someone yammer on and think…ugh, what a snooze!
ReplyDeleteWow, some bylines come with a built in fear factor and Kameron’s is close to the top. Two thirds of his NYTXW grids have bounced onto the doorstep on Saturday morning which tells us where his JUJU resides. Always a tough but fair way to justify another cuppa morning brew. Bottom seemed less challenging than the top half but that s probably a wheelhouse thing and each quadrant held a nice anchor entry: AQUINAS, TILAPIA, ALL RISE & GINZA each confirmed a couple crosses to avoid what otherwise might have become CHOKEPOINTS.
ReplyDeleteNice Rafa critique today & Rex making amends was considerate. As he said, “ Solvers have different experiences—this is a record of one of them.” Of course, the same is true of the blog itself—one can skip @anonomyous, lurk w/o posting, or simply go to the official NYT response link. Personally, I’m more often amused by Rex & his cranky crowd of fans than other sites I’ve auditioned. I would second yesterday’s suggestion to drop by the daily crossword links newsletter (hot link in yesterday’s rant) that really does provide options aplenty.
This was painful. I appreciate the effort and figure the worst puzzle ever published is better than I could ever hope to produce so I don’t mean this to sound like a criticism of the constructor so much as it is of me - but the next time I see KAC’s name I’ll just drop an ANVIL on my foot and be done with it. I struggled with the proper names but certainly had my trivia vocabulary expanded with the things I never heard of. VODKA CRAN which I thought that was called a Cosmo but Sex And The City has been gone for a while now so I’m way behind on the cocktail scene. RED MASS, BIORE, UNOS, OLY, GINZA, the Giants as GMEN. And who on earth knows Superman’s mother’s name anyway?
ReplyDeleteRANDOM thoughts: Thought sure we’d have a pangram when I saw the J’s, Qs, and Zs. VODKA crossing DRUNK was apropos, especially with a pack of KOOLS in between which have to be the nastiest cigarettes ever made. One name I did not struggle with was APACHE. As much as election coverage as I’ve watched, I ought to know the name of every county in Arizona by now. And speaking of politicians, some of those who think they’re such DYNAMOS use way too much POMADE. That’s just BAD JUJU.
@Rafa: Nice to have you back. Yes we missed you. Thanks for the articulate, fair and balanced review.
Jberg,
ReplyDeleteJust about everything. The red mass is (liturgically) A solemn mass of The Holy Spirt. Priestly vestments are red. And of course represent tongues of fire-- a reminder of The Holy Spirit's presence.
mathgent,
Thomism does that and more. It explains much of creation. Catholic or not.
My slowest Friday ever! Very rewarding ahas included BADJUJU, GUNBORE, BOLTCUTTERS, CHOKEPOINTS and DYNAMOS.
ReplyDeleteNo idea on UNOS, RHEE, KIDA. Was ZAP going to be ZZZ?
I had such a slow start I even wondered for a while if our missing rebus from yesterday was skulking in today's puzzle. Especially wanted boulder until I got ANVIL - so perfect! Mwah!
It took me forever to see the R in GAMERTAGS - I was set on naming the gadget in hand… Next time.
Kid A - one of my favorite albums of all time! What a perfect soundtrack to kick off this nightmare milennium!
ReplyDeleteLoved today's cluing, in spite of (because of?) the difficulty
What’s this? A puzzle with no recipe ingredients? A sober review with no four-letter words, insults, or condescension? What a difference a day makes. Thank you, KAC and Rafa, for steering the car back onto the road.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the puzzle a lot in spite of the SE where suddenly I was confronted with an illustrator and a Japanese shopping district that I didn’t know, an abbreviation that I didn’t recognize. and a phrase that for all of SOLARDOM I couldn’t parse.
Grid highlight: BAD JUJU
Grid lowlight: GUN BORE and its clue.
What’s that RED MASS in my glass? It’s a VODKA CRAN.
By the way, I have a huge announcement: I’m now selling NFT digital trading cards of myself as a BAGMAN, HARLEY rider, GMAN, YENTA, GAMER, Thomas AQUiNAS, and miscellaneous superheroes. They’re only $99 a piece. Let me know how many you’d like.
Wow! Great to have a difficult puzzle! Immediately thought of the misunderstood meaning of YENTA but thought surely the clue would be something like “for example.” Bad answer but all else good. ( Sidenote. You people really believe yesterday’s blogger was drunk? I’m almost certain he wasn’t. All of the blog was expertly done to create a firestorm which so many fell for. A puritanical attitude was revealed which really surprised me. Aren’t we ready for the answer we have all been waiting for= WHATTHEFUCK?
ReplyDeleteWhenever I’m in Olympia I walk the lovely river trail where Oly used to be brewed. “It’s the water that makes it good”. I was there in September when the salmon were jumping up the waterfall fish ladders. Wondering what happened to the iconic clock on the brewery…
ReplyDeleteReally hard for me - and therefore really fun. And it was so refreshing to have a rational; and I presume, sober blogger writing intelligently - and pointing out things i badn't heard of (REDMASS() as kvetching about† things everyone else in the world already knew - (new potatoes). Good on two counts - good puzzle, good blog
ReplyDeleteI'm in the liked it camp. It was a good, steady workout that provided a sense of satisfaction upon completion.
ReplyDeleteDid the side eye to 32A "Some menthols" KOOLS and not so much because of the plural of convenience (POC) but more because menthol cigarettes are both more harmful and more addictive than the non-menthol "coffin nails". Uncool.
Speaking of POCs, this grid gets a lot of help from them including the useful two for one variety. They are "like...all over the place" and start right away when both 4D JIBE and 22A ART get a letter count, grid filling boost by sharing that final S. They continue all the way down to where a two-fer is most likely to be found, in the lower, rightmost square. That never CEASES to amaze me. So much space taken up by "empty calorie" Ss earns the grid fill a POC marked rating.
I like your comments. I see your point about "POCs" but they don't bother me much.
DeleteI would disagree based on the clue that (black) "arts" is a POC because I think the plural form is more common than the sigular. Some words are like that.
@Bob Mills 10:13 - 'speeches' is insignificant to the comparison:
ReplyDeleteThe speech was a complete bore - a real snoozer.
My weekend at with the in-laws was a complete bore - a real snoozer.
Star Wars Episode 1 was a a complete bore - a real snoozer.
Yesterday's blog was a complete bore - a real snoozer.
Harder than snot FriPuz, at our house. Lotsa "interestin" fill words. Only 4 ?-marker clues, but many extra questionable clues, too boot.
ReplyDeleteHas the Official Jaws of Themelessness black square hunks. Has only 8 weejects to choose from, of which OLY gets the staff weeject pick nod. OLY was one of the informal drink mini-theme themers.
Lotsa POCs for @AnoaBob to pay tribute to. Almost a puztheme in itself, today. Hard to beat a right-hand margin of ASSES & CEASES, to prime the pump.
Some fave sparklers included: BADJUJU. DUNKTANK. ZEBRA [Clue got fashion-ignorant M&A to enter ZORRO, first]. APACHE. BOLTCUTTERS. AQUARIA clue. BAGMAN & GMEN.
Some no-knows: REDMASS. NIA. LARA. ELENORE. VODKACRAN. BIORE. KIDA. OLDS.
Thanx for the neat challenge, Mr. KA-Collins dude. SORANDOM got a har outta m&e, btw.
Masked & Anonym007Us
**gruntz**
Tough one for me. Had to cheat and confirm that 'Nia' was correct, then I was able to finish. "Chokepoints" threw me for the entire puzzle. Great clue/answer.
ReplyDeleteOof, that was a slog. Glad to see I’m not the only one. I felt about that puzzle the way I feel about (non-functional) exercise: I pretty much hate it while I’m working out, but I feel very virtuous and proud and yes, fine, even happy after I’m done. (Sidebar: functional exercise, like yard work? Love it.)
ReplyDeleteI especially liked “inspiration for some fashion lines”; was expecting something about sewing but delighted by ZEBRA. I appreciated the tip from @Sun Volt that this is a prime example of KAC’s tricky clues. Will keep it in mind for next time.
And as who is just getting back into daily NYT crosswording for the first time since high school 20 years ago, the inclusion of KIDA was a delight. Absolutely blew my mind when it came out.
What a great KAC puzzle. Quite tough until suddenly I broke through, and finished no errors. The cluing was not quite on my wavelength... eg the bland general word RESALES clued by the quite specific "Used car business" without an "e.g." But very satisfying to finish and many great answers. And great writeup Rafa.
ReplyDelete[Spelling Bee: 0 Wed and Thurs; on Tues -1 as I missed "allocable".]
This is the kind of late week puzzle KAC always produces and a welcome relief from the usual just for fun Fridays that we've seen of late.
ReplyDeleteSORANDOM is the way a themeless should be. While there were plenty of CHOKE POINTS they didn't slow down the solve as the resistance was even throughout.
KIDA was a complete unknown for me so I had no idea it needed to be parsed. The crosses said it was KIDA and so it was. I thought of KentS before KOOLS but no write over. I did have AGES before ARTS. Another near write over was thinking JIBES would be JIvES. Never can keep those straight. As always it was the crosses to the rescue.
Note to editor: Fridays aren't fun unless you have to work for them and this was fun.
Nice puzzle but did not enjoy seeing gun and cigarette references.
ReplyDelete@Diego…Thanks and that was a big d’oh on my part about POMADE!
ReplyDeleteThis was H A R D !
ReplyDeleteI sure grinned when Rafa asked if we missed him! He of course is well aware of yesterday's great TODO. The puzzle was just fine. I did a lookup for NIA that I really didn't need, since NIA was obvious enough though I knew nothing of her directorial exploits. POMADES went right in, though GMEN was an educated guess. Total Niners fan here, and they're going to the postseason. And while DRUNK was obvious, I've never heard of KID A. Nor BIORE.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant clue for ALL RISE. An order, usually given by the bailiff, when the judge walks up to the bench. In England, they order those present to "be upstanding". Which is in itself a reason to go watch the doings at the Old Bailey. Great clue for ZEBRA, too. Gotta say, some of the answers were green paint, but perfection, even for KAC, is impossible.
I am a little ashamed to have not known Superman's mother right off. I was a very regular Superman fan in the Fifties, of the show, and of the comics. I wanted to grow up to be Jimmy Olsen. Well, I say that, but I really wanted to end up as Perry White.
Intrigued by the AQUINAS discussion today, I decided to Google his quotations. You can learn a lot about a philosopher from his quotations.
ReplyDeleteI was charmed -- and perhaps even seduced -- by this one: Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine.
Oh wow! A philosopher possessing the same philosophical bent as I have. How rare! I think I could be talked into being quite the Thomist myself.
But, alas, then came this one:
As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active power of the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness in the masculine sex; while the production of a woman comes from defect in the active power.
Your verbiage is a little garbled here, Tom, but frankly I'd say that you just blew it.
Oh, whew. I found this super-hard, and relieved that I'm far from alone within this crowd.
ReplyDeleteI don't think of OR ELSE as a noun phrase (ELSE is an adverb) that would match "unnamed alternative" in terms of parts of speech, but I guess we could think of OR ELSE as an unnamed threat, so yeah. I suppose.
Lots of Natick potential: ELENORE crossing OLY, GINZA crossing GMEN (never heard that appellation). SORANDOM is a dook of hazard crossing REC (I had to run the alphabet over _EC and stop for a moment before seeing REC as a potential fit). Neither BAGMAN nor BAD JUJU are in my vocabulary. Neither is VODKA CRAN (I would call it either a Cosmo(politan) or VODKA with CRANberry [juice] or cranberry vodka or something like that). CHOKEPOINTS took forever to see. Had "amass" before ERECT. Had to cross my fingers at the cross of OLDS with RED MASS -- I'd heard of neither. Wasn't sure about KID A, but the crossing with ZAP seemed right (a somewhat gruesome clue -- I guess it's referring to the last moments in a mosquito's life).
When I first opened today's blog entry, I was worried for a moment because the font appearing in the grid was exactly like yesterday's -- I remembered that Adams had been guest blogger two days in a row earlier this year. Whew, it was Rafa instead. I hope Christopher Adams learned a lesson. He may yet grow up over time, and learn to look things up before immediately assuming that such-and-such phrase isn't a thing, and to avoid stereotyping people. He's clearly bright (most mathematicians are), and there's a good chance that his EQ will rise over time.
POMADE never fails to evoke George Clooney in 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?': "I'm a Dapper Dan man"! (50 secs in)
ReplyDelete___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
@Joseph Michael: How many do I have to buy to get to have dinner or play golf with you? THAT MANY??? Never mind. Also, I don't play golf.
ReplyDeleteToughest puzz in a long time. Unlike many, the SE corner was the only part of the grid where I did pretty well on first pass. The NW? Killed me.
Never heard of RED MASS, THOMISM, KIDA, CHOKEPOINT, VODKACRAN, GUNBORE, NIA, or Superman's mother. BAD JUJU? Good one, but I didn't know it and that's on me. The clue for ZEBRA seems bizarre; I'd like to know which fashion lines they're "inspiration" for. This puzzle was just not for me. The constructor and I occupy different points on the space/time continuum.
Funny to see Syngman RHEE again after all these years; he used to pop up in the crosswords regularly, but he's been dead since 1965. Along the same lines, I wondered whether KOOLS were still sold. Once upon a time, they were the most popular menthol cigarettes. They are. I haven't seen one in decades.
The Angelic Doctor's verbiage is anything but garbled.
ReplyDeleteNet zero is typically used to describe emissions. It is typically used refers a house or building that creates its own energy thus requiring nothing from the grid or fossil fuels.
ReplyDeleteweird coincidence about Uno's and Boston Market. Uno's, founded in Chicago, HQ is in Massachusetts. Boston Market (well Boston Chicken) founded in Massachusetts and at one time had its HQ in Naperville, IL.
ReplyDelete@okanaganer-Took me forever just to get to pg today.
ReplyDeleteI was crushed when they wouldn't accept PORTAPOTTY.
Anyone else have BrandX for ORELSE - the unnamed alternative?
ReplyDeleteI did not, but I wish I did now! Blast from the past. Good one.
DeleteThis was one of those puzzles that seemed like it was going be hard, but I kept making guesses that revealed themselves to be correct pretty quickly. So there was never a point where I felt stuck. Lots of interesting answers.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised to see KOOLS— that was one of my early guesses but I thought "they don't put cigarette brands in the puzzle do they?" It was my dad's brand, until he burned a hole in the arm of our red living-room recliner. The chair took on the aura of a museum exhibit after that. My brother and I would immediately point out the hole whenever a new person came over to visit.
I was grateful for the lack of tricksy/cutesy cluing, but on the other hand it seemed a little *too* drab. We had some ceremonial garments, some menthols, some mixers, some hair dressings, some retractable window shades. And what's all-over-the-place about Susan SORANDOM?
Sorry this post wasn't shorter.
discjockeyS fit perfectly (a little too...) for 40A Jams producers?
ReplyDeleteOnly other thing to slow me down was the whole puzzle:) With KAC, you know you're in for a battle - today I won after putting down the puzzle and returning just now later in the day.
@beverly c
ReplyDeleteYes, I put in "brand x" before OR ELSE.
@bocamp
I have the same association for POMADES!
@pabloinnh
I didn't think of "portapotty", but I did notice that Ezersky either spurned or completely missed the pangram "propitiatory". A pity, that!
Spectacular Friday. Very hard but getable with some effort.
ReplyDeleteI also thought of Fetch the Bolt Cutters… along with Kid A, one of the best albums of the last 25 years. I highly recommend treating yourself to both.
I liked yesterday’s blogger. I felt seen. Some of you are too uptight.
@beverlyc 3:53: YES! Brand X was used so often in ‘60s advertising as the unnamed inferior product, thought that HAD to be it. No ORELSE! (Still, that was a good alternative. Unlike any Brand X piece of garbage)…
ReplyDeleteNot in my wheelhouse, plus thought some clueing was a stretch.
ReplyDelete50 plus years Giants fan. Never, ever, not once heard them referred to as “Gmen”.
@Trina
ReplyDeleteGMEN was coined by Chris Berman on ESPN.
Hardish, but enjoyable. I really had a difficult time with the middle of the grid for some reason. But nice to see a Radiohead clue. It’s fun when a clue is completely in your wheelhouse. They are one of my Mount Rushmore bands, so super fun clue for me..
ReplyDeletePomades was fun too. I’m a dapper dan man, myself.
A challenging crossword should be clever clues to common words/phrases, not straightforward clues to completely trivial, ambiguous answers. If you dont like radiohead (as some of us do) you would never know or guess or infer KIDA. If you've never been to Tokyo (as most of us havent) you wouldnt know GINZA. Syngman of Korean politics? C'mon. These (and others) are such fringe trivia that would never be part of a non xword geek vocabulary. It reminds me of the 90s xwords with clues like Hoover's VP's middle name.
ReplyDeleteThere are many answers especially toward the end of the week in the Times crosswords which seem very obscure to me but I learn a majority thought otherwise On the other hand, I have never been west of California or east of Germany yet I knew the answer was Ginza almost immediately. I think many solvers of this puzzle didn't find it obscure and that is all it takes for a Friday puzzle. People do complain when there are too MANY name answers. That is another question. Ginza is a famous section of Tokyo, like Park Avenue in NYC.
DeleteI don’t quite understand your review. What limited universe do you propose crosswords be forced to inhabit? And what if that was boring to me? You’re as welcome to your preferences as anyone, but consider such sweeping declarations might appeal only to you and your limited wheelhouse.
DeleteKool cigarettes still exist but I do not believe Kool nonfilters do. Those would knock you on your ass if you hadn't smoked one for a few months. Hell of a cigarette.
ReplyDeleteThe caption under the picture of the traffic jams says
ReplyDelete...Maybe we could MAKE people live close to shopping, leisure, and work spaces....
I can just picture that now. I see a Sheriff walking up to some random house, knocking on the door and saying "Excuse me sir, but you'll have to come with us. We're making you live somewhere else".
I'm not from America but I can see that situation ending very badly.
I would think *especially* here in America, that situation should end badly!
DeleteI don’t subscribe to the idea of fringe politics being a “both sides” thing, but Democracy seems to sometimes be a hard thing for folks at either extreme end of the political spectrum.
Great puzzle. Frustrated in parts because it was difficult, with tricky clueing. But that’s a “me” problem. Wish it had run on a Saturday so I had more time to chew on the answers (had to end up looking up a few). Maybe not a lot of dazzle or sparkle, but such a lovely grid with solid and textured fill.
ReplyDeleteThe question mark is appropriate because “retirement” has two distinctive different meanings. Wish the blogger had not referred to living beings as “things.” Made me cringe. NZ is lovely place; you can get same kind of exotics at several locations in London.
ReplyDeletePuzzle was many things but certainly not easy for us mortals.
I just bailed on this puzzle. The clues weren't decipherable for me which made the answers impossible. Moving on!
ReplyDeleteFor some reason my comment yesterday was never posted. Blackballed? We'll see. Today: if anybody told me at first opening that I would finish this, I'd have said they were nuts. My only gimme was probably not shared by many others: RHEE. That was back in the day, like my era. I managed to build most of the NE from that, then embarked on a series of guesses. (Knew GINZA but forgot it until deep into the solve).
ReplyDeleteROLLUPS was hard to uncover because I had DRaNK instead of DRUNK. Maybe too many VODKACRANs. I like them though.
NW fell with a headslap, when I finally figured out that the [2,2] square, with U's leading out in both directions, took a Q; doh!
Unmeasurable triumph POINTS for a challenging Friday. Birdie.
Wordle near-eagle with BYYYB YYGGG, guessing LATER instead of ALTER.
The Eagles host the GMEN tomorrow night in the second round of the playoffs. Go Birds!
My comments didn’t appear either yesterday. Maybe ecause of the high volume of comments on the original day of publication a month or so ago. But if you go back to the “Post a comment” link of yesterday’s puzzle you can scroll down to the bottom and see the usual Sindy gang’s comments. Anyways, I really liked this one. Tough but fair. Learned a few things along the way. Kameron Austin Collins does not put out any junk.
ReplyDeleteZERO SODAS
ReplyDeleteThe TRANCE,IT never CEASES,
being DRUNK, IT'S what you do,
the MASS of VODKA, Jesus,
IT'S CLEAR you have BADJUJU.
--- SISTER ELENORE DIANA OLDS
After looking us AQUINAS and OLDS, I got it with a bit of work. Oh yes, and the correct spelling of TILAPIA - ah me.
ReplyDelete@Spacey et. al. - I wondered about yesterday's comments, too. There were so many (over 200) that they went to a second page. This happens about twice a year, and each time I have to relearn how to get there (it's right at the beginning of the "post a comment" instructions.)
OTOH - those comments yesterday must have had some bad JUJU.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
@DIANA, in the puz - yeah, by the time it came to me that the posts weren't showing it was later in the day. Really ought to remember about that.
ReplyDeleteToday's mini inkfest was having BADlUck before BADJUJU. Also had autoS before MAKES. Anyone else notice a lot of plurals today?
Wordle eagle! BYYYY to GGGGG