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Cousin of a cassowary / WED 12-14-2022 / Short meeting? / Avatar of Vishnu
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
Constructor: Matthew Stock
Relative difficulty: Medium (8:05)
THEME: LUCKY BREAKS — Classic lucky charms are split across several words / black squares
Theme answers:
Word of the Day: BRET Easton Ellis ("Less Than Zero" writer) —
The blog began years ago as an experiment in treating the ephemeral—the here-today, gone-tomorrow—like it really mattered. I wanted to stop and look at this 15x15 (or 21x21 thing) and take it seriously, listen to it, see what it was trying to do, think about what I liked or didn't like about it. In short, I gave the puzzle my time and attention. And I continue to do that, every day (Every! Day!). And it is work. A lot of work. Asking for money once a year (and only once a year) is an acknowledgment of that fact. There is nothing to subscribe to here ... no Substack or Kickstarter or Patreon ... and there are no ads, ever. I prefer to keep financial matters simple and direct. I have no "hustle" in me beyond putting my ass in this chair every morning and writing.
All Paypal contributions will be gratefully acknowledged by email. All snail mail contributions will be gratefully acknowledged with hand-written postcards. I. Love. Snail Mail. I love seeing your gorgeous handwriting and then sending you my awful handwriting. It's all so wonderful. My daughter (Ella Egan) has designed a cat-related thank-you postcard for 2023, just as she has for the past two years, but this year, there's a bonus. Because this year ... the postcard is also a crossword puzzle! Yes, I made a little 9x9 blog-themed crossword puzzle for you all. It's light and goofy and I hope you enjoy it. It looks like this (clues blurred for your protection):
Good morning, besties! Surprise Malaika MWednesday because our CrossWorld King is on vacation. I am a biiiig fan of this type of theme, where the words break across black squares. Shameless self-promotion alert, the first puzzle I ever received payment for had this theme, you can solve it here. This theme works best when there's an apt revealer, and Matthew nailed it here!
- NUMB / ERSE / VENOM
- RETRAIN / BOWL CUT
- GRISHAM / ROCKIER
- ABHOR / SESH / OEUF
Word of the Day: BRET Easton Ellis ("Less Than Zero" writer) —
Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964) is an American author, screenwriter, short-story writer, and director. Ellis was first regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack and is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark technique, as a writer, is the expression of extreme acts and opinions in an affectless style. His novels commonly share recurring characters.
• • •
***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...
• • •
All four of the lucky charms he selected are well-known-- RAINBOW is maybe the weakest link for me, but I do still think it works. And I appreciate how they are arranged in symmetrical rows, even if the theme content itself isn't symmetrical. (Generally, I don't have any strongly-held morals inre symmetry.)
With "five" theme answers (sort of more, actually), it's tough to get fun long answers that have no relation to the theme. (We typically call these "bonus answers.") It's even tougher when the central answer isn't 15 letters long, because it locks in some black squares in the central row. But Matthew still gave us PARABLE and CRONUTS and even PANERA.
Time for a Soup Interlude!! I went through a phase (6th-ish grade) where my main activity was going to the mall with friends and ordering potato soup in a bread bowl from Panera. I feel like we should bring back bread bowls. I don't see them anywhere anymore, or maybe I'm just in a too-hipster part of Brooklyn. Today I have only eaten soup: French onion soup, while watching the Croatia/Messi, I mean, Argentina game, and then ramen for dinner. Please leave your four favorite soups in the comments.
Not much else to say about this puzzle-- Matthew Stock sure makes them easy to love! Or did I miss one of your gripes? Let me know below
xoxo Malaika
Save And Share :
108 comments:
1. French onion
2. Good chicken noodle
3. Loaded potato
4. Shitty chicken noodle
The theme was fine. One theme answer helped me correct an error -- where at 50 across I had SHAKIER -- cuz SHAMSHAK isn't a lucky thing.
I don't understand 19 across "Name in price lists?" == ELI. Not a clue. Nothing.
Malaika... my fave soup: "Mama" Ramen type noodles from Thailand (they come with 3 count'em 3 different flavor packets!) but before putting the noodles in the water I simmer thinly sliced cabbage, red onion, red and orange bell peppers, ham, and mushrooms for 10 minutes. (Important tip: the "chili" seasoning packet is crazy spicy; put in only about 1/6 it, then when dishing taste test and if it's not spicy enough for you add more.) Cheap yet yummy.
[Spelling Bee: Tues currently -1, missing a 9er!! Arggh.]
Nice to find you here today Malaika. I like how you managed to turn the blog into a soup du jour exploration while dealing with a Matthew Stock puzzle. You can’t make a good soup without a good Stock, I say. My 4 favorites: Cold borscht; bouillabaisse; gazpacho; and onion. Thanks for asking.
I’m too burnt out on the ASS thing to comment on today’s gimmes, except to point out that when Actress Thompson looks in the mirror, she sees an ASSET. Except that the E and the SS don’t look quite right, but whatever.
Solving the final themer I had HORSESH_ _. I suppose HORSESHit could be good luck if you’re the boy who concludes that “there must be a pony under here somewhere.”
Nice write up, Malaika. Nice construction MS.
I love praising soups on a Mr. Stock puzzle day!
My favorites are:
Spanish garlic soup
Chicken noodle soup
Pho
French onion soup
I'm sure I'm not the only one ...
At the bottom themer I had in the shaded squares with the final two to go: HORSE SH _ _.
The tiny bit of French I know saved me!
Easy. No erasures and no WOEs. The fill is a tad rough in places but the theme is cute, liked it.
@Malaika - PANERA also has a pretty good Chicken Tortilla Soup.
Did not enjoy this at all. 56/57 down Good picnic forecast- Sun Orb?
@okana - pricELIsts
Thanks for pinch-hitting, Malaika. I like this kind of trick, too, especially when the words are broken up in a more startling way like ABHOR SESH OEUF. Yay!
My usual fill-in-the-blank toeholds didn’t help me this morning, but happily I dabble a bit in Trimurti, Dashavatara being my favorite, obviously. There’s only one four-letter avatar for Lord Vishnu, people. मजाक था।.
I liked noticing that it’s great to be in a groove but icky to be in a rut. DOEs may agree with me.
First thought for that unfashionable unisex hairstyle was of course "mullet." Kept trying to make it fit. It seems that people are starting to sport mullets again in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way. Back when you wore it as a serious hairstyle choice, a mullet was a kind of announcement as to the type of person you were. I’ll repeat the story about the time in WV a fight broke out in the cafeteria between two strapping boys. I was on lunch duty but just stood there waving my hands and calling for back-up. This woman – older than me- who happened to be eating with her special needs student, simply stood up, waded in, and calmly, expertly, broke the two kids APART and held them until reinforcements arrived. Later, I was telling my coworker how embarrassed I was that I had been so ineffective. Was whining that this woman who was older than I was could just do that and why couldn’t I just do that??? He said simply, She has a mullet, and you don’t.
“A moose has a big one.” Jeez. I’m spending too much time with puerile teenager boys. Second though was “neck.”
Sharing is CARING. My colleague will share any part of her lunch with any student. I’m always stunned at her generosity. The day after Thanksgiving break, she shared her leftovers with so many students that what was supposed to be her lunch all week was gone in one day. I, on the other hand, will turn off my lights, close my door, and wolf down my lunch in a corner like a little selfish, unsharing pig teacher.
I love the word SKULK. If there were some kind of something you could put on your phone to surf the web incognito, you could call it the SKULK App.
I was reminded of my kids’ childhood with the PICK NOSE SESH area. Once when little Gardiner was in fourth grade, his doctor was looking in his nose for whatever they look for when someone’s sick. I said, Dr. Meisel – I’ll spare you the details, but you’ll never find anything in there. Ever.
PS – about my avatar. . .I saw this on TikTok:” My wife just confessed that for her entire childhood she thought Colonel Sanders’ bow tie was his whole body and now I can’t stop seeing a tiny stick body every time I look at him.”
PPS – make this soup and double the bacon.
Oohh... French onion, tom yum (preferably with shrimp), roasted red pepper gouda, and maybe a white chicken chilli?
I thought the puzzle was a tad proper-name heavy, but maybe it just felt like that because I didn't know them. I am also still confused on the Eli price-list answer. Overall, a pleasant Wednesday.
My only overwrite was SneaK before SKULK at 33D.
I'm not as big a soup fan as Malaika, but my favorites are French onion, New England clam, Vichyssoise and ... does chili count as a soup?
FWIW, if you're ever in Sussex County NJ, the Hampton Diner in Newton has recently added three soups in bread bowls: French onion, chili and broccoli cheddar.
“pricE LIsts” has the name “ELI” hidden in it.
Alphabet soup.
Gumbo
Split pea
Butternut squash
Chili
Nice puzzle. For once I used the theme to complete the grid, especially with RAINBOW, because I never would have come up with BOWLCUT on my own.. It was nice to see OCHRE instead of OCHER.
I don’t understand “the hate in hate mail” and how we are suppose to get VENOM from that.
That took me some time to parse. The name ELI literally breaks across the words pricE LIsts.
Tomato basil
Clam chowder
Duck
Butternut squash
Puzzle was fine. The letter M beat me. I had RA_A and RESU_E going down. My stupid brain kept wanting a 4 letter word to go with RE and since SUME is not a word, DNF (Sad, I broke my 2 day streak)
Strange clue for BIO - must be something a generation or two younger than I am would recognize. SW corner looks bizarre (but not at all out of place for Shortz) with OEUF, RAMA, BRET Ellis, NSA and ARAFAT.
Don’t know what CRONUTS are, but they don’t sound very appetizing. If you’re tempted kids, skip the CRONUTS and leave a cookie out for Santa and a big old carrot for Rudolph.
Awful, awful, awful clue for ELI.
I’ve heard CRONUT before, and it sounded like a donut portmanteau, but of what? [post google: croissant, apparently.] The CRONUT was invented in 2013!
French onion
Chilled sour cherry
Leek onion and potato
Tortilla
Panera still has bread bowls.
Roasted tomato basil, chicken tortilla, Amish potato, butternut squash, beef and barley
Malaika:
Begorrah, that was a fine write-up.
Lucky Charms cereal debuted in 1964 with oat pieces in shapes of bells, fish, arrowheads, clovers and X's and green clovers, pink hearts, orange stars and yellow moons marshmallows.
Currently:
Heart Charm – Gives life to objects
Star Charm – Power of flight
Horseshoe Charm – Power of speed
Clover Charm – Power of luck
Blue Moon Charm – Power of invisibility
Rainbow Charm – Power to teleport
Red Balloon Charm – Power to float
Unicorn Charm – Brings color to the world
This was great, and such a perfect idea for a theme I’m surprised it hasn’t been done before. Matthew - do another one adding UN to the beginning of your revealer and break up BLACK CAT, BROKEN MIRROR, FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH, etc. I didn’t say it would be easy.
I loved the paired responses to a female family member in the two neighboring downs: “Will you two please stop with the father-son SASS!?!” Responses: OK, DEAR … YES’M.
A brief interlude on my hometown restaurant chains: 1) St. Louis is the one city where you will find no PANERAs. That’s because the chain started there as St. Louis Bread Company, and when they expanded they thought the name wouldn’t work, so they changed to PANERA. But they left the original name in STL. 2) St. Louis has the indisputably best fast-food chain in the country, a roast-beef sandwich place called Lion’s Choice, so good you could never go to ARBYs again. No one can figure out why it hasn’t expanded outside STL.
@LMS, you’ve outdone yourself with the mullet story. Did you have a BOWL CUT at the time? Mullet vs. bowl cut wrestling match - you know who is winning that one.
Malaika, thanks for the four-soup challenge. I have one soup I make each season. Winter - Spanish sausage-kale-lentil. Spring - cream of asparagus. Summer - gazpacho. Fall - gingery butternut squash. All with ingredients from the garden, except that the asparagus comes from a friend’s garden because I don’t have the space or the patience to grow it. Nothing else can grow in that spot and it will be a few years before you get anything at all.
Lastly, loved the clue for ATM.
French onion
Peanut butter soup
Split pea (ham bone from Honey Baked Ham store)
Any soup made for lunch in our dining hall back in the early 80s by the Hungarian ladies doing the cooking. I loved them (both the soups and the ladies)
Broken words across shaded grid sections - I’ll pass. Overall fill didn’t hold up well either. Interested to see @anoa bob discuss the ASSES x REBUS x IPAS cross. SESH - PICK - NOSE is rough and more French thrown in again. I put a SPELL on you.
Did like PANACEAS and the PARABLE - LAVISHED stack. Our local donut shop makes a CRannoli. No VENOM for ARAFAT?
@Malaika - my nonina made pasta fagioli that’s still my favorite.
ULTRAvox
Not an ideal Wednesday solve.
Thank you for your thoughts on this one, Malaika.
I liked this one. Was an easy Wednesday. Felt like some clues and answers were a sorta retro. Nice. Even though it was a bit of a gimmie, I always like to see the symmetry that shows when the revealer actually reveals something.
Short time reader, first time commenter! Am I the only one who loved the ELI clue? I find it to be too much of a gimme when they explicitly name that we’re looking for a name in the words supplied; I liked that the author made us work for it just a little bit more.
As for soups, it’s a bit too early come up with an entire *four* of them, but this time of year I love a butternut (or other squash) soup with apple, ginger, carrot, and garlic, garnished with fried sage.
That Panera bowl does look good, Malaika. Among my favorite soups are split pea, which I love making for a holiday meal, and I'm always on the lookout for a good gazpacho. Also: mushroom soup with sherry.
@egs
You came through anyway, burned out or not. Her name looks a little ASS backwards to me, too.
@LMS
Omigod, the stick figure. That's too funny! My wife will die laughing next time I have an opportunity to point this out.
I agree that the theme was artfully done, and the fill is fairly clean (not really keen on NAV though). I like the cluing for THIRD. SHAMROCK ties in nicely with ERSE.
So: pretty easy straightforward Wednesday. The one hangup I had was SneaK before SKULK. AMUCK next door looks a little weird, but I cannot deny that that particular Merrie Melodies short is a classic. (Bugs Bunny at the end, with an arch expression: "Ain't I a stinker?")
Matthew Stock: "What am I, some sort of soup joke to you?"
Man those theme answers were hard to parse!
Gazpacho
Vichyssoise
Broccoli with cheddar
Hot n Sour
butternut (or I think they call it Winter Squah at Panera), tomato, chicken noodle, black bean and can I throw in Lentil?
Fun puzzle!
Favorite soups:
Matzoh ball
Umm…. Three other soups, I guess.
Need a "lama dingdong" to go with RAMA
PICK NOSE
Prefer QB Manning, _____Whitney, or anything else for ELI. The hidden name trick is lame and always will be
We solvers got CCED the other day.
Need a Buck to accompany DOE and RUT.
How do cows communicate in the digital age? EMU
I'm gonna go ASTIR my soup.
pricELIsts. yeah, it's one of them.
Definitely seafood gumbo, though the chicken and duck varieties are also just fine. I love living with a man who cooks. I enjoyed the puzzle—0ne of the first times when seeing the theme helped me with solving.
I encountered some lovely moments – call them LUCKY BREAKS – from this puzzle:
• An unusual-in-a-crossword five-letter semordnilap, with TESSA.
• The abutting cousins OKAY DEAR and YES’M.
• Two words I love as neighbors – AMUCK and SKULK.
• The iiambic schwa-starters: APART, ASTIR, AVOWS, AMUCK.
• Sweet flash images from BOWLCUT – Spock, Jim Carrey in “Dumb and Dumber”, Moe, and early Beatles.
Matthew, this puzzle was… charming! You are but a Monday away from hitting the cycle (having a NYT puzzle published for every day of the week) – go for it! In any case, please keep ‘em coming. This was, for me, a pot of gold, and thank you for making it!
Very nice puzzle. I enjoyed it.
I chopped my hair yesterday, and looked at myself as I had a mullet, and giggled. The coincidences that every days crosswords brings... It's just mind boggling. Happy holidays to all my crossword puzzle heroes, peace be with you and yours
Love and light,
Thyakh 1
Soup?
How about just a big bowl of magically delicious Lucky Charms?
A little hiccuppy getting started. Misreading clue numbers never seem to help.
I enjoyed this one. We have a local Co-op that sells CRONUTS, which are delicious, and expensive, which is a good thing or I would eat several every day.
A little unusual to see a REBUS on a Wednesday, and I thought SUN as clued was a little awkward. Here's the forecast for tomorrow, SUN. Reminded me a little of Carlin's Hippy Dippy weatherman and his forecast for tonight-"Dark, followed by scattered light around morning." At least "dark" is an adjective.
Granddaughter TESSA arrives from England with family for an extended stay soon. Yay.
Malika-One word. Chowdah.
Nice Wednesdecito indeed, MS. Many Smiles while doing this one, and thanks for all the fun.
Moqueca
Cioppino
Phở
Gumbo
Amy: hi Malaika! Agree, this one made me grin, as did LMS' explanation of her avatar.
As for soup, Hot&Sour, Onion with Gruyere, Tomato with a grilled cheese, and this one: https://www.daringgourmet.com/domoda-gambian-peanut-stew/
Pea, Yankee Bean, avgolema, Ribboleto.
Yum😃😃😃
French onion, miso, hot and sour, lobster bisque, vichyssoise, carrot & ginger... I just never got into the idea of having "favorites," but I'll take any of those.
Me too for not understanding ELI. I actually looked up ELI Price on the Internet -- top hit was a 19th Century Whig politician from Philadelphia. Doh!
Here's the musical version of this puzzle.
@LMS - I have a friend who's a metal fabricator, and he asked me to make a wooden top for a desk he's making for his 8yo. I blew $150 of his money on some really beautiful curly cherry, and spent hours smoothing the upper surface. I started in on smoothing the back, but didn't spend hours on the bottom, figuring that with the 8yo, within days it would be nothing but a collection of old gum and snot.
I've never heard of a RAINBOW as being good luck. Less than 5 minutes of google searching failed to change this. I'm sure there's some support, but nah. HORSESHOES are not good luck per se, but can contain good luck if mounted on the wall properly. A SHAMROCK is good luck only if it's a 4 leaf SHAMROCK.
My wife makes some sort of Miso/Pho/Ramen/Sichuan olio that is to die for.
Hey All !
Aha, it just clicked in my silly brain about the Revealer. I was wondering how LUCKY BREAKS tied into having/finding the Themer answers, even though Revealer clue said "punny". The LUCKY items are broken over 2 or 3 answers. LUCKY BREAKS. Wow, some days...
Enjoyed solving, regardless of my silly brain not fully grasping the theme. Knew they all had to do with LUCK. As a young kid (is that an oxymoron?), was always looking for a four-leaf clover. May have found a couple, can't remember back that far!
Does PANERA sell CRONUTS? In soup? In a bread bowl?
Would you call a bread bowl soup a BOWL CUT?
If you never heard, ARBYS stands for (unofficially, I believe) America's Roast Beef, Yes Sir.
ASSES. Now they're coming after us in droves!
9D clue (Something you might need to do to solve crosswords) would work for 10D, too.
CHERI is CARING?
What ELSE? Think that's it.
One F (although SB today makes up for that)
RooMonster
DarrinV
Malaika,
Thanks for the link to your puzzle. I'm sure I'll enjoy it.
My favorite soups:
Cream of Tomato
Billi Bi ( FWIW Craig Claiborne called it the most elegant soup ever created)
Sweet and Sour Wonton
Chicken noodle
And Hat nailed it earlier: Stock and soup?! Fugghetaboutit.
RAMA? can someone explain this. I had REhirE for RESUME and messed me up. Didnt understand 60A. Liked the puzzle otherwise . Got ARAFAT off the T. I thought “Left base” = THIRD was very clever
How can y’all fail to list chicken soup? Real chicken soup, like my Jewish mother and father made. It’s not only delicious, it’s magical. Cures colds and fevers. Now, that said, I’ve doctored mine so that besides the bone-in chicken, water and the holy trinity (pun intended) of Jewish chicken soup (onion, carrot, celery), I add touches of fresh garlic, miso paste, soy sauce, hot sauce and lemon. Add a few herbs. Trust me, you will feel healthy just breathing the aroma.
It occasionally amazes me the things that constructors can “see” for themes. This is one of those days. Coming up with four LUCKY charms couldn’t have been too tough, but setting them APART in the grid so cleanly must’ve taken some doing. The end result was smooth, polished and an enjoyable solve.
A few little missteps. First had Bullwinkle with a big HEAD, then NECK before NOSE. Never heard of a CRONUT. Then misread the clue for BOWL CUT as a plural and spent a few edgy minutes thinking it was gonna turn out to be MAN BUNS. The horror!
Thanks for joining today Malaika. As for my favorite BOWL of soup:
My Mom’s Beef Vegetable - or at least my best imitation of it.
Potato with cheese and bacon
French Onion
PANERA Broccoli & Cheese
Does chili count as soup? Because I love it too. And I know some people think it’s gross but I will pass by Colonel Sanders and his GOATEE any day for the Wendy’s little red-haired girl’s version of it.
Anyone else hungry? I think a pot of soup will be a good choice for the next week or so by the sound of the weather forecast and the Siberian cold front headed our way.
Is an END*USER*RAM considered lucky? [row 14]
Nice take-a-break theme, anyhoo. Kinda missin that there RABBITSFOOT, tho.
staff weeject pick: ING. [M&A answer version = IN', btw.] Coulda used a slightly feistier clue, kinda like what ELI [in pricE LIsts] did. Somethin along the lines of: {Chain gang center??}.
Thanx for the nice break from doin [homemade!] Christmas cards, Mr. Stock dude. Nice job.
Masked & Anonymo8Us
p.s.
@Malika:
1. Plain good old tomato.
2. Lobster bisque.
3. French onion.
4. Clam chowder.
**gruntz**
Came here to complain about ELI, glad I'm not the only one.
Thx, Matthew; well done! :)
Hi Malaika. Good to see you again! thx for your write-up. Will be tackling your puz later today! :)
Med. (seemed easy, but avg time; go figure).
Good start in the NW, down the coast, over to the SE, and ending up in the NE at TA'S/ ETA.
Didn't need any LUCKY BREAKS for this one; felt very much on the right wavelength all the way.
Learned BRET Easton Ellis today.
Have read most of GRISHAM's books.
Loved TESSA Thompson in 'Veronica Mars'.
AVOided the AVOWS / AVerS kea/loa by virtue of the crosses.
Fun solve; very enjoyable! :)
@David the philosopher (5:28 AM yd)
Welcome to the commentariat! :)
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
Lots of potholes for me today: had aver instead of avow; Nike instead of Avia; loath instead of abhor; and MAs instead of TAs but once the theme revealed itself, everything fit into place. Had Smuck at one point but figured Warner Brothers wouldn’t be that edgy. Fun puzzle.
This was an entertaining Wednesday. I enjoyed the theme and revealer enough to forgive having a restaurant chain and a shoe company in a single quadrant. And once I knew the theme, I had fun guessing the themers on as few letters as possible.
But one thing I'm not so forgiving about. There are enough pop names in this puzzle already. Why clue a perfectly good cheese with the name of an actress -- even if she did win an Oscar? Cluing BRIE as a cheese would be too easy for a Wednesday, you say? I'm sure if you go to Wikipedia you can find some really amazing facts about BRIE the cheese -- facts you never dreamed possible in your wildest imagination. That's what I would have done.
My rule of thumb: Never use a pop culture name as a clue if you have any other option.
But the theme answers were fun, the revealer was perfect, and I enjoyed the puzzle.
Hot and Sour
Matzoh Ball (fluffy, if possible, and not too salty)
Split Pea
The Meyersville (NJ) Grange used to host a monthly soup contest during the winter. For $7 you could sample dozens of wonderful soups and pasta dishes. If you brought an entry, you got in for free, and prizes were awarded to the top six vote-getters. The first time I participated, I entered an escarole and white bean soup. It was a little bitter from the escarole, and my daughter still roars at the memory of the first guy who tried it. He turned to the fellow behind him and said “Stay away from that one.”
CRONUTS never caught on here in San Francisco. From reading the NYT, they had a brief vogue in NYC.
The clue for ELI is common in a cryptic but it caught me by surprise here. The clue should have been "Name in price lists literally?"
Very pleasant solve.
Took me a while to figure out what was going on and had an enjoyable aha when it all became clear. A BRIE-illiant puzzle.
The only one of these charms that actually works, however, is the SHAMROCK.
Great puzzle and write-up. Thanks, Malaika. And here are my soups:
Minestrone
Hot 'n Sour
Carrot Ginger
Tom Yum
Favorite soups:
Curried butternut squash
Pistou
Vicchysoisse
Borscht (but I like it hot, and I like it even though I despise beets)
French onion (too much trouble to make at home, so I am apt to order it)
But my favoritest soups of all were the ones they used to serve in game parks in East Africa in the late sixties. One was usually greenish and the other more orangish. They were blended soups and I assume just a mix of whatever leftover vegetables and meatstocks they had, but they were always delicious.
Puzzle was great. I don't know how people have brains that see these phrases and think "Oh perfect crossword theme!"
Old New Yorker cartoon:
A long table full of somber monks in their cowls hunched over bowls of soup. A monk at the head of the table is ladling out the soup and he says: "Forgive me brothers for breaking the sacred vow of silence, but I, for one, am tired of vichyssoise."
@Wanderlust (7:28) I’ve been around long enough to remember St. Louis Bread Company but didn’t realize that they kept the original name in STL. Interesting.
@Weezie (7:42) Welcome! I don’t share your enthusiasm for the ELI clue but I do love your screen name. Hope you’ll come back again and decide to stay a while
@Liveprof (10:27) I laughed out loud at your soup guy’s comment. I can just picture that happening at the local American Legion Hall in my hometown.
@Malaika, thank you for the cheery write-up. Medium for me, too, and fun to solve. After NUMB-ERSE-VEN and RAIN-BOW, I had the idea of LUCK and "broken" but couldn't come up with a reveal on my own, so getting LUCKY BREAKS was a combination of a delightful surprise and "Oh, of course!" Having the reveal was a lifeline in getting the ROCK after SHAM and the entirety of HOR-SESH-OEuf. Favorites elsewhere: PANACEAS, LAVISHED. Not a favorite elsewhere: the actual CRONUT I had at a ritzy patisserie in L.A. - tough and leaden.
For those in cold climes: I like this cabbage and farro soup" - good for supper on a night when sleet is pounding at your windows.
Duck AMUCK soup with a little poached OEUF dipped in BRIE bread. Or...Emiril Lagasse's Tortilla soup recipe. CRONUTS for dessert.
I could only ABHOR SESH...the rest had SASS. This was enjoyable. YESM indeed!
Unfashionable hairstyles...hmmm: Bald head with a ponytail. Colored braids on a bald head. Pink Mohawk. Hacked mullet with a rattail. Tiny dipped dyed bangs. And my favorite...Shaved head with green fringes.
Is there a man out there that really says OK DEAR? I like YESM.
We're having lots of fun this week...GALAS, RAGES, HOUSE PARTIES. Shall it continue on Thursday?
What is the correct way to spell OCHRE?
Dear Malaika. Are you saying you can't get soup in a loaf of bread? Next time you're in San Francisco, go to one of the restaurants run by Boudin bakery. They feature a creamy clam chowder in a hollowed-out loaf.
Mulligatawny, Crab Bisque, Turkey Chili, and Jambalaya. I have a favorite speciality shop that I frequent for these delightful treats. I just have to remember to order swiftly, move two steps to my left and have my money in hand or no soup for me.
I had a fabulous bread bowl of chili in San Francisco years ago. I wonder if you can get it these days.
TWO friggin' brand names to start off the NW??!!!
This one tested my brainicles until I remembered GRISHAM and got the revealer. I like them that way. Agree with @Nancy re BRIE.
It took over twenty-five years to find a Minestrone to love but I have it now. I'm also a fan of a soup recipe clipped from the newspaper years ago - One-Pot Chicken with Noodles, Ginger and Lemon. Also a fave: Spiced Moroccan Lentil. I love bean soups except split pea, which I find bland and heavy. Oh, and another vote for Gazpacho in about 8 months.
Wow, a mouth watering response by commentariat today capping a delightful grid and succinct Malaika moment; impossible to ask for more on a snowy Wednesday morning!
Thanks also to @Lewis whose response sent me off in search of a vaguely recalled NPR bit with more words to amuse. And @LMS was in prime form with both MULLET/BOWL CUT riffing and Olive Garden recipe that sounds worth trying.
I’m a big fan of Mommie Makeup, so picking any 4 is just too impossible, so I’m off to the fridge in search of sad vegetables in search of a Better Than ?? Broth��
If it ain't hot, it ain't soup!
I second any soup made with a Honey Baked Ham bone! The one near me used to sell bags of ham chunks left over after slicing/deboning. A real bargain and perfect for adding to soup at the end of cooking (so the ham stays moist). Unfortunately, the building where that HBH was located was closed for renovation...
Once again a puzzle gets a little SASS from some ASSES. Those are grid fill gold, enabling four plurals of convenience (POC), OVULES, LIMITS, CRONUTS and TAS. ASSES is an abbreviated version of the mother of all super POCs, ASSESSES. That's a POC itself plus it enables a potential five (!) crossing POCs. I was surprised to see that, per xwordinfo.com, ASSESSES has appeared nine times in a NYTXW during the Shortz era.
I don't think 23D "U R A Q-T!" is a REBUS but it's closer than the usual multiple letters in a single grid square that gets called a REBUS. If that letter string was replaced with [image of a EWE] R A [image of a pool CUE] [image of a TEE shirt] then it would be a REBUS, Latin for "By way of or with things", rather than a LITTERIS, Latin for "By way of or with letters.
I'm sure there is an "Oregon-based shoe company" named AVIA (13A) but I don't recall ever seeing a pair in the wild. Maybe only in Oregon?
I first tried ODIUM for 18A "The hate in hate mail". VENOM seems to be even a notch or two above that. I liked the double up of sorts at 55A "Really hate" for ABHOR.
31D OK DEAR and 35D YESM reminded me of a former marina neighbor who named his boat "YES DEAR".
Pho and gumbo are on my list, also 🍜 Can you believe it! There is no emoji for okra!
There is such thing as a SKULK app, it's called VPN and everyone should be using it. But I still laughed happily reading that VPN=SKULK. Oh, and I started with the big moose's horn...
I was thinking about my favorite soups and realized that my fave soups are those with one (or two!) of the following key ingredients:
Dill (potato, Hungarian mushroom, hot borsch)
Lemon (avgolemono)
Okra (gumbo)
Legumes (chick pea, lentil, butter bean, lima bean, pea, all dried beans!)
A friend is coming over today to make wreaths! After we select our plant material from the nearby woods, we'll warm up with red lentil soup and Tillamook cheddar melted on bagel halves, then get to work on putting our wreaths together 😊
Clam Chowder in the bowl: Still popular at SF's Fisherman's Wharf. French Onion soup, Bouillabaisse, Pho Tak also (ah so) good.
SouthsideJohnny, Cronuts were a 4 minute sensation in some hipster part of our fair city of New York a while ago. They were supposedly a combination of donut and croissant. Given that one is mixed and fried while the other is laboriously laminated and baked, I really have no clue what they were like, but they were a HUGE sensation. (Not unlike pet rocks.)
Guess I'm the only one triggered by Arafat in a puzzle, and with the Golan Heights no less. I'm guessing Rex would be too.
I didn't get Eli or Bio from the clues either. In my world BIOs are far too long as every 20-something composer or artist lists every single thing they've done, ever single show they've been in, every single famous teacher they've had, everything they know will be done in the next year, and pretty much everything else they've been and done in their short lives; and this is when you tell them to limit it to 100 words so it'll fit in a program. The you edit the 1,757 words down to 100 and they get mad at you. Go figure.
4 great soups, in no particular order:
Turkey and duck gumbo (made after every thanksgiving dinner) with roux taken to just shy of black.
Avgolemono (use real stock please)
Pea soup, made with ham
Good old Chicken soup, pretty much any way
Yummers!
Zuppa diPesce, Bouillabaisse, New England Clam Chowder, Mulligatawny
Pete,
Curly cherry for an 8 year's old desk? Wow, bold! Can't imagine the surface will remain smooth for more than a couple of hours given cherry's prpensity to nick, scratch and otherwise suffer marring. I'd have gone with walnut. especially if my buddy was paying.
Curious where you're spotting all those dead deer. I'm guessing either the Lebanon or Wharton State forests. Spoke to some folks about your claim and they're eager to investigate. Care to help them?
Love all the soup ideas and suggestions! My 4favorites are green posole, shoyu ramen, french onion and turkey & wild rice, but all if the others sound delicious, too, especially on a cold rainy/snowy day.
What a nice surprise. A bonus Malaika Wednesday and soup. While I enjoyed the puzzle just fine, the soup got my attention. My entire family knows that I am crazy about all kinds of food, but winter cooking is my passion and I. Love. Soup! I just made the most delicious split pea with shredded ham hock, roasted red pepper and tomato soup last weekend. I often make standard split pea and ham (delicious fir sure) but I had fewer peas than I thought, and didn’t want to go back to the market. The ingredients problem instantly reminded me of how the recipe for this soup originated.
Long ago, upon arriving home from school for lunch, I saw a weird reddish soup with my ham sandwich and asked Gran what kind of soup it was. Now, canned soup was “end of the month emergency food” at my house because Gran made almost everything from scratch. Canned soup was rare, and never a favorite, but because I was aware of the luxurious life I had compared to the majority of my friends and classmates in the inner city, I tried not to complain. Honest opinions were welcome though. Gran always wanted the family to enjoy our meals and she tried each day to cater to our individual preferences in some small way.
On this day, (I can’t lie) the reddish-greenish-brownish color of the soup was off putting to my young eyes. But it smelled good. I vividly remember Gran giving me the “be careful what you’re thinking” look, so I just took a taste. I was stunned-it tasted good! I asked “What’s in this?” and learned that since we had only two cans of soup for the three kids plus Gran (split pea and tomato), she mixed them together to avoid trying to warm both separately and then have to referee the sibling fights when we all wanted tomato. The sweet and tangy of the tomato really enhanced the sort of flat taste of the canned pea soup.
I actually think that lunch was the beginning of my understanding of “elevated palate” though I had no idea those were the appropriate words for either the concept or my gastronomic experience. I do know that this particular lunch changed the way I thought about flavor.
Gran and I talked after school that day and I asked her if we could try to make that soup from scratch. She sat me down and in her very Socratic way, asked me what I thought we would need. I got almost everything except some of the herbs (thyme and bay leaves) that I didn’t know about yet. I remember though that she was very proud of me for knowing that we would start with onions, carrots and celery. I told her (probably smugly and in an “everybody knows that” tone) that was the way she started lots of things.
After payday I was prepared for the first “big” grocery shop, The first grocery run of the month, each of us three kids was allowed to give Mom three things we would like to have, and she and Gran would plan meals. Gran always said that our requests would be given consideration. When Mom saw my long list not of dishes but of ingredients, she asked what it was and I said Gran and I were inviting something new.
I don’t think I have ever been as proud of a dish as I was of this soup I named “Smoky split pea and garden grown tomato.” My dad grew fabulous tomatoes every year and Gran canned quarts and quarts and quarts of them. I miss having those available to me,
To add my own twist and some additional depth of flavor to my more “sophisticated” version these days, I add roasted red peppers for additional earthy sweetness and I put a good glug of brandy in before service along with a dollop of sour cream in each bowl. Especially when I serve this soup, I can hear Gran’s voice as she tasted our first iteration all these years ago saying “it’s perfect because I can taste the love.”
Long time reader, first time commenter to say, Malaika, the crossing of 51A/39D in the AVC crossword you linked is *chef's kiss*
@ other David. Name in pricELIsts
A life story is a biography. Short is code for abbreviation. So Short life/BIO
Are y'all totally souped out yet?
I don't cook soup, I just eat soup, so I've been a little bit intimidated to chime in when so many here are actually sharing their own recipes. But I've been a soup lover my whole life -- to the extent that if I'm fortunate enough to be in a high-end restaurant with a highly touted chef and I can only afford two courses and I have to choose between soup and dessert, I'll choose soup every time.
My favorites:
*Lobster Bisque (it has to include sherry in the recipe)
*Vichyssoise (one of the world's great soups and where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? I can't find you anywhere anymore.)
*Split Pea, and even better, "Spring Pea" that one restaurant in NYC introduced me to. It's lighter and fresher than Splot Pea and filled with the taste of Spring. I wish I could remember which restaurant served it.
*Butternut Squash
Close behind is Borscht -- both hot and cold. I love them both. Hot, though, is much more likely to be made from scratch, made from a family recipe and made with love.
As you can see, I have a big preference for soups that are pureed -- as can be seen from my choices. And not too much salt, please.
FWIW the bio clue appears fairly frequently in Times puzzle. The pattern of the answer abbreviation of biography for short life is used often for other clue answers. I like this type of clue, maybe that is why I remember them.
And an opposite sort of story to @CDillys...
I was at a House Party once, where the host made the most incredible tasting New England Clam Chowder I had ever tasted. I literally couldn't stop eating it. It was all I had, with maybe a glass of water between several bowls. I was so full, I ached. I had to undo my belt, and couldn't sit straight up. I was slumped in a chair. Then I had to drive home. Holy moly, trying to drive unable to sit up from a stomach full of clam chowder was something! I almost stole the pot on my way out!
RooMonster Gluttony You Say? Pshaw! Guy
pasta fagioli is my favorite too, though it was my mom who made it - both my immigrant grandmothers died when I was very young. Fortunately, since I am not a good cook, I live right next to 2 Italian delis...
I on the other hand liked the puzzle.
Today I'm taking my last two finals, and at my age you'd think I could wander in and do my thing, but it still causes me the grumpies. Just need it over. I will perform like I just wandered in off the streets anyway.
Cute theme. I actually used it to help solve today. Of course if you rely on luck in life, you're likely to have breaks -- about 50% good and 50% bad, unless you're a stoic and those odds are 100% fine-ish.
Uniclues:
1 Go more for a mohawk.
2 Probably the minute you open the front door, although you can hold out hope some party goers will be nice.
3 The main function of church.
4 Rex Parker blog on Thursday.
5 "Rather than attending music school, how about y'all play your radios instead?"
6 Continue gobbling down breakfast pastry after a sip of coffee.
1 RETRAIN BOWL CUT
2 GALA'S ASSES ETA (~)
3 LIMITS LAVISHED
4 REBUS STONE LAB (~)
5 TIN-EAR PANACEAS
6 RESUME CRONUTS (~)
@CDilly52 - thank you for taking the time to type all that out. The story was as warming as the soup no doubt was.
Numb is quite literally the opposite of atingle. Quoth the M-W dictionary: "Unable to feel anything..." What an awful clue. One among many today.
Pomodoro Rosso on Columbus Avenue (in Manhattan) makes a great tomato soup in a bread bowl.
Roasted red pepper! Sour cream!! Brandy!!!!!!! I think I would kill for CDilly's version of Pea and Tomato Soup* which I might then move right up to 3rd on my list. Maybe even higher.
I'd forgotten about the Pea and Tomato Soup I had growing up in our own family. It was made by mixing canned pea soup and canned tomato soup and was actually one of my childhood faves. The combo is far, far better than either canned soup is alone.
My mother called it "Mongole Soup". I never heard anyone else use that term. But looking it up now, Wiki says that "Mongole Soup" IS the correct name. And if it was that good when made with canned soups, just imagine CDilly's homemade version! Yum!!!
Oh @Nancy how right you are about the spring pea soup. Growing up, along with the tomatoes, my father grew peas and we had a lovely light soup on the spring. I have yet to see spring peas at a farmers’ market here in Oklahoma. But lobster bisque (absolutely with the sherry) is simply divine.
No shame, @Roo!! Just a great compliment to the cook!
Y’all talkin about soup over here with an accidental prediction of todays puzzle.
Ha. Good one re ASSET in the mirror.
57D is a descriptor of a 56D, not a continuation of the answer for 56D. Good picnic weather is simply SUN.
1. (actually all 4!) Lobster bisque, but runners-up include minestrone, tomato and country-style chicken corn soup. There is also my homemade vegetable soup with beef tips, all-day simmered in the slow cooker, but that's really more of a main course than a soup. Some cheddar and gluten-free crackers and you've got dinner.
Haven't tried BRIE, which could've avoided another PPP clue, but she's DOD, so we'll let that pass.
I guess a RAIN[]BOW is lucky because there's a pot of gold at the end of it, but otherwise I hadn't heard of that being particularly lucky. The rest are spot on. Circles/shaded areas are mostly an annoying distraction to me, but in this case I see the rationale. Again, pass.
Fascinating fact learned: SPCA was started to protect carriage HORSEs (nice echo in the puzz, BTW). Makes sense, but then protecting ALL animals makes sense here at the Space station.
Good, easy Wednesday fare; birdie.
An errant tee shot led to a *phew!* six in today's Wordle. ):
There’s (at least) 16 three-letter words in this grid. Too many? Maybe. Is NAV really a thing? What about YESM and SESH? Sheesh! The theme was kind of cute but the fill stretched the LIMITS of acceptability.
ULTRA NUMB ERSE
It's BASIC that they PICK high stakes,
there's no LIMITS to their SASSes
in PARABLEs of LUCKYBREAKS
and HORSESHOES up their ASSES.
--- TESSA GRISHAM-DEY
Today's inkfest was OKbyme before OKDEAR. Otherwise no problems with the LUCKYBREAKS. PACT in the corners. Susan DEY, yeah baby.
Wordle par after a BBBBB start.
PS
Wordle in five today.
Wordle 578 5/6*
🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟨🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
1. Half baked French onion
2. Chicken canoodle
3. Exploaded potato
4. New England Clampett chowder
My only concern in doing this puz is that tomorrow is Thursday, and you know what that means. Actually, you don't know what that means. That's the problem - and the challenge. Onward
Diana, LIW
I'll add my love for French onion and ramen. But even more than that, my very favorite soups are from Singapore. There are many, but I'll mention two very specific choices: Tai Hwa Minced Meat Noodle is a humble stall selling bowls of soup for under five bucks in US money--and it has a Michelin star! It's fantastic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_Street_Tai_Hwa_Pork_Noodle Also wonderful is Wah Kee Big Prawn Noodles. https://eatbook.sg/wah-kee-prawn-noodles/ You might not think you want to eat prawn soup for breakfast, but trust me, you do!
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