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Former moniker of reality TV child star Alana Thompson / MON 12-5-22 / Onetime manufacturer of the Flying Cloud and Royale / Makeup of a muffin top
Monday, December 5, 2022
Constructor: Tracy Gray
Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: "MY BAD!" (62A: "Oopsie!" ... and a hint to the ends of 18-, 25-, 39- and 50-Across) — theme answer ends with words that *can* mean "error" (but don't in the themers themselves):
Theme answers:
- OLE MISS (18A: 'Bama rival)
- DEPOSIT SLIP (25A: Bit of banking documentation)
- SAN ANDREAS FAULT (39A: Cause of many California earthquakes)
- HONEY BOO-BOO (50A: Former moniker of reality TV child star Alana Thompson)
Chappaqua (/ˈtʃæpəkwɑː/ CHAP-ə-kwah) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of New Castle, in northern Westchester County, New York, United States. It is approximately 30 miles (50 km) north of New York City. The hamlet is served by the Chappaqua station of the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line. In the New York State Legislature it is within the New York State Assembly's 93rd district and the New York Senate's 40th district. In Congress the village is in New York's 17th District.
Chappaqua was founded by a group of Quakers in the 1730s and was the home of Horace Greeley, New-York Tribune editor and U.S. congressman. Since the late 1990s, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have lived there. (wikipedia)
• • •
I wouldn't like to find a SALTY LUMP in my food, and I'm a bit concerned that the puzzle has both a LUMP and SPOT (and one on top of the other—you really oughta get that checked out!), but (taking this idea of serendipitously juxtaposed answers further) I like the idea of making up for your mistake by not only saying "MY BAD!" but then telling the people you wronged that "drinks are ON ME." Oh, and ARROW KEY and AEROSOLS seem to be asking you to clap as well, so go ahead and do that. I also like the SEE SPOT succession. My daughter learned to read, in part, with some very old-fashioned Dick & Jane book that my grandmother got her, so there was a lot of "SEE SPOT this" and "SEE SPOT that" in her early childhood. I wonder when "TÀR" is finally going to get a movie clue. Shouldn't be long now, as that movie is likely to garner a bunch of Oscar nominations in the next month or so (whenever those come out). Speaking of movies, we saw "The Menu" today and while I don't think it's as good as "TÀR" it was nonetheless very entertaining. And it's got Judith Light in it, which is as good a reason to see a movie (or TV show) as any. There's some sudden and fairly graphic violence in "The Menu," but if you can handle that, it's really a very thoughtful and surprisingly funny movie. Nice to see it with a (smallish) crowd that legit laughed, a lot.
Back to the puzzle for a bit. I tried to get cute and wrote in ADOBE at 20A: Mexican marinade made with chili peppers without (obviously) looking at the clue. I figured "ADOB-, what else could it be?" Touché, puzzle. No other stumbling blocks today. I think I needed a few crosses to finally see LEAKS, but that's the closest thing to "work" I had to do today (46A: Ways reporters get some secret information). A proper Monday, in that sense. That's all, I suppose. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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73 comments:
Easy. Just about right for a Monday, liked it.
@bocamp & pabloinnh - Croce’s Freestyle # 766 was pretty easy for a Croce, almost in NYT Saturday territory. Good luck!
A Monday puzzle full of regrets – hah! This is a terrific set of themers in that each final mistake word is so far removed from its mistake meaning. And they’re all separate words, so something like “holy terror” wouldn’t work. Hard to think of other contenders. Fur muff (or hand muff) isn’t great. And there’s no single ear muff. Time lapse, maybe? Nah.
I had “adobe” first, too.
I liked that OOPS is hidden in SCOOPS and the ON ME could fit with MY BAD – (that’s) ON ME.
And remember when that woman ran into Hilary on a HIKE near CHAPPAQUA after The Defeat?
Cross serendipity: CABOOSE/ASS, RESULT/AT LAST, FLAB/HONEY BOO-BOO. Weren’t both the TOT and her mom heavy? And then her mom lost a lot of weight and got into trouble with the law?
Oh, and as a TAR Heel, I have to POINT out HELMS in this grid full of mistakes.
Rex – good catch on the SALTY LUMP in your food. Gotta really stir in those grits, man.
That muffin top make-up? FLAB? Crossing LEAKS? Well, yeah. You wrestle your control-top panty hose on, instantly creating a spectacular muffin top ‘cause that FLAB LEAKS up out and over the elastic top. Sigh.
Tracy – nice one!
I try to do Mondays by only looking at the down clues, and it worked pretty good tonight as the theme answers were all evident, and MY BAD obviously the revealer. But I had one problem: no idea of the Clintons' town, which left quite a few blanks to guess at, and some were toughies: -HI, -IP, and -KA. I got all of them, but 38 across -UO I thought just had to be DUO. So the town was CHAPPADUA which sounded almost right but no happy pencil when I put that D in. So I ran the alphabet and was like "QUO!!!! Quo is a thing." And now that I see it, CHAPPAQUA does look slightly familiar.
I was also a bit dubious of 58 across SWAK which looked ridiculous without knowing what the clue was, but somehow faintly familiar. Oh yeah, love letter letters! Mwah!
[Spelling Bee: Sun 0, somehow got all these tricky j'ers.]
Didn't get a chance to read y'all from yesterday until just now and I think we've gotten clear on one point: The gollum guy is famous. Such a fickle friend when you have to tell people you actually have fame. The number one dude on YouTube has 115 million subscribers and pretty good chance he's not famous in the famous-y way we think of fame.
@LMS returns (woot!), and she's way more famous than gollum around here.
Speaking of famous, Mondays are always famous with me. I love them. Back in the day, I solved all Mondays in a paperback book from the NYT with a four-color ballpoint pen. That book sat in the bathroom and was tackled five minutes at a time forever. 🦖 was already writing this blog for part of that time. I didn't want help on those puzzles, but sometimes resorted to peeking in the back of the book for answers. Then the phones came along and Mondays are still the best. And somehow I care what others who've done the puzzle too think.
Hey kids, when was the last time you filled out a DEPOSIT SLIP?
Cole SLAW is back. Was it last summer we had a whole SLAW thing going on?
Uniclues:
1 Cute fanny on the number one hooter in the forest.
2 "No, we're not eating Mexican food again tonight."
3 Disgruntled spouse's resigned statement after being cajoled into going up to the counter to ask for more ketchup, and the impatient spouse's response.
4 Surprised baseballer appears to be shocked he's cheating.
5 Gets another cup of coffee despite feeling jittery.
6 Bloody Mary with extra Tobasco.
1 HIP OWL CABOOSE (~)
2 ADOBO YEN UMPED
3 "ILL ASK." "AT LAST."
4 "CORK? MY BAD. ON ME."
5 OBEYS URN YAYAS
6 ASS SASS TODDY
I thought 62A would never end. It was excruciating having to type out MYBAD, when I knew from yesterday’s puzzle that the hipsters now get away with just MYB. If I got this wrong, it’s ONME, or as they say in the mean streets, ON M.
I solved initially with across clues only (hi@okanaganer), so until my post-solve review I missed ASS over SASS.
Fun fast Monday. Thanks, Tracy Gray.
@rex, i understand you like the thematic-ness but aren't you concerned by the racist history of the term "ole miss" and its repeated celebration in the puzzle? i mean, it bothers me since i think they've been made aware.
Great Monday. No clunky fill, limited crosswordese, no inane trivia. I think HONEYBOOBOO has redeveloped her image as a young teen and refuses to go by that name now. She’s become an icon for body positivity and not letting the public’s perception define her.
@LMS. Ear Muff would work if the clue were, "Cold weather accessory for van Gogh".
What difference does it make whether the constructor is a man or a woman?
No clue who or what a HONEY BOO BOO is but it sounds like a pretty cool name. From the context of the comments so far, I’m guessing he/she was a reality TV show character - which is fine I guess. Don’t know James AGEE other than from the occasional crossword reference - I’m guessing that the coauthor of The African Queen might be a little out there for a Monday crowd, but the crosses were fine. Apparently a HARE and a Rabbit are not the same thing - a quick scan of some uncle google results does seem to characterize them separately, although I haven’t as yet been able to discern the differentiating factor.
Pleasant enough puzzle overall, but CHAPPAQUA was such an outlier that it sort of swallowed up the rest of the puzzle.
And Auburn is by far the best answer for ‘Bama rival. You want to say Tennessee, you have some ground to stand on. But Ole Miss??? Alabama is 54-10 against Ole Miss, with two ties. That .833 winning percentage is a hundred points better than their record against ‘everyone but Ole Miss'.
@SouthsideJohnny 6:55. Rabbits nest below ground, the young are altricial, and when they run from you, they'll run to cover and hide. Hares nest above ground, the young are precocial, and when they run they'll just flat out run.
So glad OFL has gone backed to enjoying solving. Though I agree they are getting better.
A perfect Monday. My only miss/slip/fault/boo boos were I’LL see for I’LL ASK and ole for RAH.
Since Rex mentions Tar (the movie), I’ll say that Cate Blanchett is fantastic, but I was a little troubled that the quintessential movie about a person of power abusing and destroying innocent young women … has a woman as its villain? (This is not giving anything away, BTW.) 99.9999% of the perpetrators of this crime are men but the one movie that tackles the theme so perfectly is about a lesbian. Hmmm….
I wondered about the origin of “Get Yer Ya-Yas Out” and it comes from a Blind Boy Fuller song where he tells someone to get out of his house or he’ll “throw your ya-yas” out the door. And “ya-yas” means ASS, so there’s another nice connection in the puzzle.
And I love learning new facts such as that baby HAREs are born open-eyed and hopping but baby rabbits are not.
@kitshef: I learned two great new words today. But if I ever see “altricial” or “precocial” in a puzzle, it better be a Saturday.
I thought this was a near-perfect Monday. Bright and breezy, good themer set, apt revealer. No prob at 1A and in the NW corner – COB, OWL, LEO and ADOBO wrote themselves in. ADOBO, btw, is a word I know from Spelling Bee, and LAIRD is a word I’m forever trying to use in SB and it’s never allowed. (Watch out Sam Ezersky – my ghostly but bloodthirsty Scottish ancestors are massing for an attack. Although, come to think of it, they were all peasants so probably wouldn’t care two hoots about LAIRD.)
Silly mistake #4268: I didn’t know where the Clintons live, but at one point I had most of the second half of the name filled in, something like P_QU_, and decided that the last letter must be E. That resulted in reporters getting secret information from LEEKS – you gotta watch for those Deep-Throat coded messages hidden in vegetables. Once I got it right, I liked LEAKS and SCOOPS both being in the puzzle – let’s hear it for the integrity of journalism in this age of deliberate misinformation.
It always amused me in The African Queen that Bogey a) played a Canadian, and b) that Canadian had the name Charlie Allnut. Here’s a snippet of dialogue from that film courtesy of James AGEE:
Charlie Allnut: "A man takes a drop too much once in a while, it's only human nature."
Rose Sayer: "'Nature,' Mr. Allnut, is what we are put into this world to rise above."
Katharine Hepburn’s book about the making of that movie is pretty entertaining. It was a wild and woolly shoot.
AT LAST here's something mellow for an early Monday morning. I love her voice and her delivery and the lush accompaniment and everything about this song and this recording. AND, she’s a crossword favorite!
[SB: yd, 0. I saw right through their trickery and got the set of words that @okanaganer mentions pretty early on. My last word was a major downer.]
Welcome back!!!
We lived in Chappaqua a few miles from the Clintons so that was a gimme. Quite common to see Bill around town, husband had a trifecta once saw bill, hill and Chelsea
Oh, my Libra craving for balance is so quenched. Here’s a puzzle about making errors and mistakes totally countered by that big happy face in the middle, not to mention the answer ROSY. Also – indulge me, please – I see a pair of hands tickling the rib area right above those two black-square legs at the bottom of the grid, more happiness. And so, a balanced blend of tragedy and comedy, yin and yang, flowing out of the grid, filling me with contentment.
And other lovelies. SANANDREASFAULT and HONEYBOOBOO looking gorgeous as they stream across. ON ME, as in “That’s on me”, right next to and echoing MY BAD. The lovely cross of CABOOSE and A$$ (Hi, @LMS!), and YAY (of YAYAS) touching RAH.
Tracy, you are a pro; this grid is beautifully put together. Left/right symmetry becomes you. Thank you for sparking my morning!
@SouthsideJohnny: James AGEE is remembered less for his screenwriting credits than for his masterpiece, done with photographer Walker Evans, "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men." But he's also a denizen of Crossworld because of the usefulness of his last name's spelling. If you don't know who HONEY BOOBOO is, keep it that way. One of the more loathsome "reality" shows ever made.
@BobMills: Seriously?
A delightful Monday puzzle--smooth and sassy, and I loved all of the connections that have already been mentioned. SAN ANDREAS FAULT is a great spanner!
After MISS and SLIP showed up I thought this would be an error-filled puzzle and was not disappointed. I knew CHAPPAQUA from spending time in that part of NYS but I wonder how familiar it is to most folks who are not Clinton followers.
No real snags but you could give me infinite guesses and I would not come up with another name for Alana Thompson. Glad there were some clues in the clue.
Exactly what a Monday should be, INHO. Terrific Grid, TG, and thanks for all the fun.
@jae and bocamp-I'll get going on the Croce. The Stumper did me in in the SE thanks to the "excellent" Stan Lee. Thought yesterday's Acrostic was about a medium.
I always try LAIRD in SB too! Much more of a word than pitapat and some of the other strange words that are accepted. And thanks for your shout-out to journalists, from one of the ink- stained tribe.
There’s Yogi Bear’s “Hey Boo Boo” as an alternative
Quite easy puzzle, that I liked a lot. Certainly not a time waster.
Bob Mills: To some, not a bit. To others (as to some Jeopardy! and Doctor Who fans), a lot. What should be sometimes isn't, and for me this is one of those times.
How many remember where, for a very long time, the Reader's Digest had its headquarters? (Hint: Off the Saw Mill river Parkway up on the hill beyond the Brewster railroad tracks.) Another hint: the correct response can be found in today's puzzle. And it's not Rye. (We miss you Z.)
AT LAST, a near perfect Monday, completely without FAULT. I’d love to hand this to a brand new solver for a very first NYT attempt. And what a lovely symmetrical grid. Somehow it just seems more soothing than the usual. In fact, other than HONEY BOO BOO, who always made me shudder, this whole puzzle was a smooth ROSY start to the week. Thanks Tracy, a pleasure.
While Rex kinda snarked about the clue for 11D, I thought it was perfect for Monday. Without the Clinton reference, I’d have needed the crosses to get it. Unfortunately I also knew that LUMP of FLAB when I saw it around the OLE muffin top. I have a medical checkup this Friday and have been trying hard to lose my extra pandemic pounds before the dreaded weigh-in. I’ve reached the goal I set for myself but still have four days to go and could easily SLIP up. Wish me luck.
@southside, you forgot to ask who the Clintons are.
AMY: Delightful Monday. Thanks @DanA for the Yogi Bear reference. He was a favorite of my youth. Smarter than the average bear!
One of those puzzles where you can fill in the grid without reading the clues and you can answer the clues without looking at the grid. Fit for a fifth-grader.
Finally. Living in CHAPPAQUA paid off.
Cute - atypical handsome grid layout for an early week puzzle. The revealer location is perfect. Like @okanaganer I usually solve Monday’s with downs only for more of a test - so the ASS/SASS stack was a little off. CHAPPAQUA is a quaint little town with a Metro North stop and is right up the road from the Rye Marina. BIBLEcode Sundays.
The LAIRD x TODDY cross makes me think of single malt whisky. The muffin top clue was odd. RC COLA and a Moon Pie.
Enjoyable Monday solve.
Across the straits - around the horn
Hey All !
@Dan A 8:43 beat me to it. BOO BOO is Yogi the Bear's sidekick, and Yogi is always saying, "Hey BOOBOO!"
Today, not only do we get an ASS, but also CABOOSE. Har.
Neat MonPuz. L/R symmetry rare on a Monday. But the only way to get your different letter count Themers in. Tracy has two 12's, a 7, a 15, and a 5 Revealer. Or if she used HEYBOOBOO, would've been a 9. Nice work getting them in, resulting in not too much dreck.
Upper Center actually tough to fill, three 7's stacked with all seven Downs going through two Themers! May not sound tough, but let me tell ya, it ain't easy. And everything is a real thing, no Abbrs., no made-up words, plus the RESULT nets us an ASS. 😁
As others mentioned, no only ASS, but SASS. And @Anoa Bob will be happy that both only resulted in one POC. That's actually tough to do.
Look forward to a @Gill story today. Lots of SALTY things to use.
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
Just FYI . . . The San Andreas Fault does NOT in fact run through San Andreas, CA. We residents like to say “It’s not our fault!”
Where’s the comment about excessive crosswordese?
Easy, - except that with regard to the theme, the "MY BAD" is ON ME, because I missed OLE MISS as the first of the answers. A joke I enjoyed, along with the SAN ANDREAS FAULT fracturing the grid and the parallel rhyming ARROW and AERO.
Do-over: made PAR.
@Barbara S and @Wanderlust, re: the Spelling Bee and LAIRD - Me, too. An exercise in futility, but I keep trying.
Thx, Tracy; perfect Mon. puz! :)
Med.
Just enuf pushback to make it interesting.
For some reason, couldn't see COB, and didn't know ADOBO, so the NW took much longer than it should have.
New for learning: ADOBO, CHAPPAQUA & MUFFIN TOP (one of which I OWN UP to, but has been greatly reduced after having gone ovo-veg a couple of yrs ago).
Otherwise a fairly smooth solve, top to bottom, with no BOO BOOs.
Never did manage to SHOoT PAR over the 'course' of a 'golf' game. My goal was to break bogey, i.e., get into the 80s. 39 was my best over nine holes. ⛳️
Currently watching Marisa TOMEI in 'My Cousin Vinny'.
UMPED Little League baseball from T-Ball to Big League, as well as softball at my Secondary school.
The BIBLE is my fave book, but I don't like to see it used in an official capacity for 'government' purposes.
Fun Mon.; enjoyed it a lot! :)
@jae
Thx, on it! :)
@pablo, etal: yd's Acrostic was pretty easy for me, altho the 'Days of the week, or Disney dwarfs' was a bit of a head-scratcher. 🤔
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
Whenever I see Chappaqua I think Chautauqua and end up googling the Chautauqua movement. Also got adobo as the answer but still typed in adobe
It was Monday and the folks of QUO would gather at the OLE CABOOSE Inn. The barkeep, LUMP...AKA BAD ASS, would pop a CORK and pour a SHOT of TODDY. It had some SASS and could make your YAYAS CORK your FLAB.
The line cook, SWAK, had a FAULT. He was always holding a BIBLE and listening to ANDREAS sing OPERA. His LOGO was the "LUMP is ON ME but the ADOBO is SPOT on." Unfortunately , the RESULT made you ILL.
Whenever SWAK would OWN UP to his BOO BOO, MISS IPSO would LEAP at the HELMS of the OLE CABOOSE and fry up some HONEY COB. She'd also make some SALTY SLAW with stewed HARES from the QUO LINE. The HARES had been SHOT with AMMO and their BLOOD KEPT in HONEY. It was bodacious. Even the CHAP from PAGUA OKED the HIP gruel.
Every one was ROSY. REO, the SALTY TAR would sing some OPERA (on KEY) with SWAK. SCOOPS of HONEY AQUA LAIRD would wipe the SULK away. The night KEPT getting better. NAAN would ORATE out loud about some tater TOTS. AERO, who UMPED the QUO TOTS, would HIKE up his HIP YAYAS and you could SEE a LUMP of a SCAR on his (ahem) ASS. He would LEAP for joy...NOT a FAULT to SEE anywhere....a RAH would SLIP out of the crowd and the HONEY COB would flow freely.
Although LUMP was a night OWL, it was time to close up. He'd take out his DEPOSIT SLIP and count the MIL EUROS he SCOOPS in every Monday. Every one left with a ROSY smile; nary a SULK in sight. They would MISS the CABOOSE Inn and YEN for another day of SALTY SLAW, BLOOD HARES KEPT in HONEY, and the sight of AERO's SCAR on his (ahem) BAD ASS.
SEE you next Monday!
@bocamp-Agree. Had to be something to do with a seven but sure didn't look like a word when I backfilled it.
My favorite clues from last week
(in order of appearance):
1. Accessory for running or dribbling (3)
2. Ones long in the tooth? (4)(5)
3. Something that's dropped after it's finished (5)
4. Inefficient confetti making tool (4)(5)
5. What comes before the night before Christmas? (4)
BIB
AFRO PICKS
ALBUM
HOLE PUNCH
TWAS
👍
Another fine story, @Gill!
Roo
@ Bob Mills. You said, "What difference does it make whether the constructor is a man or a woman?" Well I suppose it makes no difference from a solving perspective. But it's not about the puzzle. It's about access. If there is a process of publishing Xwords that favors male constructors, intentionally or not, that's wrong. It's a small part of the struggle for fairness and equality for marginalized groups that has been going on a long time. When my mother was born, her mother could not vote, not until my mom turned 7. Imagine that.
Count me in as someone who leapt to Auburn as a 'Bama rival.
Way cool deja vu vu vibe, from that HONEYBOOBOO themer. Has the clue plus a double helpin of the answer. Cool theme, also … Only extra zing it coulda had is if the puz made an obvi mistake, somewhere. Coulda been subtle -- a black square outta place, or somesuch.
Very well made MonPuz, featurin the rare E/W MonPuz symmetry, with the gridart happy-face and pigeon-toed feet. Lotsa fave entries abounded, includin: BLOODLINE. CHAPPAQUA. ARROWKEY. TOMEI. YAYAS. and, lastly, CABOOSE.
staff weeject pick; In the absence of an ERR, kinda liked CHI. Always refreshinly feisty, when U have to know what yer Greek letters look like.
Primo weeject stacks, in the NW & NE.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Last car on classic trains} = CABOOSE.
fave MonPuz Comments Gallery re-appearance: @Muse darlin.
Thanx for the fun, Ms. Gray darlin. Liked it. And extra-nice bonus weeject-knot structure, dead-center.
Masked & Anonymo5Us
**gruntz**
@GILL I. 11:27 AM
You are notorious.
You know, OLE MISS has a long racist past, and the story of its integration by James Meredith in the Civil Rights era is well known and inspirational. But the belated recollections of a long-ago yearbook editor are not to be trusted. No one would have called the wife of a plantation owner the old miss. OLE Miz, maybe -- Miz was used to refer to "miss" (followed by a first name) or "Missus" (followed by a last name). The cognate would be "Marse" or "Massa", from "master", when referring to a man. OLE MISS obviously refers to Mississippi's university, opened in 1848, and later, to its yearbook.
The puzzle was pretty good, though a little tough for a Monday. Of course we Californians got SAN ANDREAS FAULT right off, but the other long answers took me a while. I knew ADOBO only because 40 or 50 years ago, I used to eat at a place where it was on the menu. It is, I think, a Filipino specialty.
An easy and sweet Monday in my book.
Okay, I'LL ASK---what did San Andrés do to always get the blame? And why do they always misspell his name?
Not sure why anyone would be surprised that OLE MISS has antebellum roots. They are, after all, the OLE MISS Rebels and, until around 2010, their mascot was Colonel Reb.
I need to brush up on the latest body fat slang. "Muffin top" for 42D FLAB threw me. Aha, oho, maybe a pants-too-tight variation of love handles?
If, like moi, you sometimes count the number of black squares, here's a short cut to make it easier. If it's a 15X15 with top-bottom symmetry (the most common), count the number in the top seven rows, multiply by two and to that sum add the number in the middle eighth row. If it's a 15X15 with left-right symmetry (like today), count the number in the left seven columns, multiply by two and to that sum add the number in the middle eighth column. You're welcome.
This one has 44 black squares vs an average of 37.5 for Mondays (per xwordinfo.com). Results in a quite a few 3s and 4s. Hard to make those HIP and they are more often liabilities than assets to the puzzle's overall vibe.
Speaking of misses, slips, faults, and boo-boos, here’s a a quote from Marilyn Monroe, that, IMO, is infused with wisdom: “I’m selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as h@ll don’t deserve me at my best.”
Chappaqua is not a town; it's a hamlet in the town of New Castle. Will Shortz, who lives next door in Pleasantville, should have known that.
I didn't see that first themer until I came here, but I like it, despite the history.
And I enjoyed the puzzle -- but HELMS is in strong contention for the worst POC ever. Just imagine if Nelson's famous last signal before the battle at Trafalgar had been "helmsmen, take your HELMS." OTOH, what do we call the clue for ARROW KEY, which describes four different keys in the singular?
I've got a bottle that's labeled ADOBO, and I use it all the time -- but it's a rub, not a marinade. I'm not saying it couldn't also be a marinade, just that I've never encountered the latter.
As for CHAPPAQUA, just a minor point, but the clue calls it a "town," while the article Rex quotes says it's a hamlet inside the town of New Castle. Shouldn't be that hard to get it right.
@kitshef, now I'm envisioning alitricial and precocial as theme answers in a puzzle about a hidden spy agency.
As I've often said, my usual approach to solving is to ignore any details in the clue and just look for the right number of letters; the clue for 17-A did that for me.
I’m with Bob Mills. Don’t care about the immutable characteristics of the constructor.
MISS Chatelaine
BOO BOO's Birthday
nice puzzle but I could do without HONEYBOOBOO. I am waiting for the day they clue AGEE as “Mets 1969 centerfielder"
Sometimes I get a sense of pride in NOT knowing an answer. This would have been the case with HONEYBOOBOO. Unfortunately, I had HONEY___B__ when I saw the clue, and had to reluctantly fill in the rest.
Had MEG first instead of MIL on 24D, but I guess that would have been more appropriate if the clue had been "Thousand K's" instead of "Thousand G's".
What does it say about me that Alana Thompson was an immediate Gimme?
I also grew up reading Sally, Dick and Jane books. My father was a speech teacher at a Elementary school and he started bringing those books home for me to read when I was 4. SEE SPOT RUN! I still remember this and I had a foster dog once named Spot. I loved it, and he had a big Spot in his back. His adoptive family changed it to...barf...Toby...barf barf .
How the mighty has fallen though. From Dick and Jane to Honey Boo Boo.
Dear OfftheGrid: I respectfully suggest that you have a selective view of what constitutes preference/bias. If women have been discriminated against in puzzle selection (unproven, but possible), I would argue that older people have been likewise discriminated against.
Can I prove it? No, I can't...but the use of hippy-dippy language in current puzzles is overdone (is that a bigoted thing to say?). The excessive use of modern slang in today's puzzles suggests a clear preference for millennially over senior citizens (like me).
Agree with BobMill and SWF.
Also mostly agree with @nancy except I would put this one at 4th grade level.
.
FWIW in New York State that word hamlet can refer to a subdivision of a municipality that anyone else would call a town. Chappaqua is a town in the general sense of the word.
@Bob Mills
We'll never get anywhere in this discussion if we just speculate and state opinions. If you want to argue that older people are discriminated against at the NYTXW, go ahead, but it would be great if you could dig a little and provide sources or evidence.
There is one fact that's relevant, which is that "crossword mainstays such as The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal are largely written, edited, fact-checked, and test-solved by older white men dictates what makes it into the 15x15 grid and what’s kept out." This quote is from an article in the Atlantic published in 2020. The article is pretty interesting; I recommend it.
Another fact is that the XW is one of the NYT's biggest cash cows (measured by subscription rates; of course most of the revenue actually comes from advertisements, but the success of advertising is correlated with the number of readers). So ultimately, some of the decisions made about the XW will come down to sheer economics and what works. If they want to expand their subscriber base to draw in younger people or more diverse ethnic groups, and keep them interested (or avoid turning them off!), then the XW puzzle needs to continue evolving in new directions.
(I grant you: it can be hard keeping up with changing times. I feel it myself. The older you get, the harder it is. The only solution I know is read a lot and keep your mind and eyes open. Being around young people: kids, grandkids, students -- that can also help.)
@Alice Pollard - AGEE has been clued as a Met several times in the NYT, e.g Feb. 1, 2012.
B Mills is right. I have daughters. I just want them to compete on an even playing field.They’ll do fine. Back in the day it was tilted against women. It shouldn’t be tilted at all.
Born in 1964. Grew up with parents who did the Sunday Times together every week. They never had to know my pop culture references to solve the puzzle. #wait your turn. You’ll be old soon enough.
CHAPPAQUA is not a town but a hamlet in the town of New Castle, you say. So where is Elsinore?
And to be equally pedantic, Bloomsburg is the only town in Pennsylvania. So any reference to a town in Pennsylvania means you are talking about Bloomsburg. Just so you know.
ADOBO is a sauce a marinade a seasoning mix and a style of cooking (a dish) depending on what cooking culture one is co-opting.
It matters because men (who are mostly white) are so predominantly represented as crossword authors, book authors, movie directors, painters, professors, etc etc, and how unfortunately this caused our society to see things like history, language, and humanity through a male lens, which is inherently flawed, biased, sexist, racist and wrong. Even small efforts to tilt the scales in the opposite direction are important and should be acknowledged.
-Brando
Not bad. The top middle part was challenging for a Monday with HAL crossing OLEMISS. Football stuff and Shakespearean princes are not my forte so your mileage may vary…
The Syndi link is on the fritz again. At times like this I just leave the tab up and hit “Newer Post” at the bottom of the page the next day.
Killer Wordle today…
I have a new hate for that little word now.
Wordle 569 5/6*
⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
⬜🟨⬜🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
The OLEMISS thing has always bothered me; this is supposed to be an institution of "higher" learning, yet they misspell "Old" in what appears to be their official title. I mean, if you get a letter from there, wouldn't the letterhead say "The University of Mississippi?" Reading OFF's link was a surprise. I had no idea of the origins of the term. I don't want to get into an argument about its retention, but it just seems off to me. It leaves me hoping that their faculty are better teachers than their name. Plus, @rondo might be wondering where SVENMISS is located. After he's done with the TAR entry.
This is a quite serviceable Monday puzzle. The middle looks like a smile--sort of the wry kind that you make while saying MYBAD. I have a large shaker of ADOBO and use it all the time, no trouble there. In fact, none anywhere; it was one of the easiest Mondays in my memory.
Theme was cool and the fill smooth; this is far from Ms. Gray's first rodeo, and it shows. Add DOD Marisa TOMEI and the RESULT: too easy for eagle but a solid birdie for sure.
P.S. MYBAD: I MISSed seeing OLEMISS as a theme entry.
Wordle bogey.
Easy enough for a Monday but with a theme that pulls together.
D, LIW
BEA SASS
A SALTY OLEMISS KEPT it loose,
ATLAST thought, "I'LLASK HAL to choose."
"HONEY, SEE this HIP SPOT?
ONME HARES there are NOT.
Kiss this BOOBOO ON my CABOOSE?"
--- LEO LAIRD
Yes, another misuse of TAR. There is no TAR on your roof or your driveway unless you mistakenly put some there thinking it was the right thing to do. It doesn't mix with asphalt. You might have some TAR on your baseball bat handle, otherwise, NOT. Always wondering Sven's whereabouts.
Wordle bogey.
Roof TAR:
https://alcm.com/product/tar-roof-cement/
@foggy - yes, a coal TAR pitch product that would be a mistake to use for patching on a flat asphalt (commonly called TAR, a misnomer) roof. Also a poor choice for patching asphalt shingles, which most of us have. TAR was used to seal wooden sailing ships in the far distant past - a reason why sailors were called TARs.
Re: discrimination vs. oldsters: This octogenarian is similarly put off by the inclusion of recent slang, hip-hop/rap stars, and the like. However, this movement is inevitable; it's called evolution. I admit I have difficulty adjusting with the times--but that's ONME. MYBAD. And I retain the right to grumble about it because hey! Free speech! Gotta love that first amendment.
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