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Edible squash seed / MON 2-6-23 / Phenomenon witnessed from space / Popular same-sex dating app / Red hat of the Ottoman Empire
Monday, February 6, 2023
Constructor: Taylor Johnson
Relative difficulty: Easy to Easy-Medium (from a Downs-Only perspective)
Theme answers:
- "I HEAR THAT"(34D: "Gotcha")
- HEART-HEALTHY (22D: Like a diet low in sodium and favoring whole grains)
- SPEAR THROWER (9D: Ancient tool for hunters or warriors)
Grindr (/ˈɡraɪndər/) is a location-based social networking and online dating application targeted towards members of the gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community.
It was one of the first geosocial apps for gay men when it launched in March 2009 and has since become the largest and most popular gay mobile app in the world. It is available on iOS and Android devices in both free and premium versions (the latter called Grindr XTRA and Grindr Unlimited). As of December 2021, Grindr has approximately 11 million monthly active users.
The app allows members to create a personal profile and use their GPS position to place them on a cascade, where they can browse other profiles sorted by distance and be viewed by nearby and faraway members depending on one's filter settings. Selecting a profile photo in the grid view will display that member's full profile and photos, as well as the option to chat, send a "tap," send pictures, video call, and share one's precise location. (wikipedia)
• • •
Are there no other IVANAs in the world? Truly? And did the clue have to write out the entire full-ass name of that creep that used to be president? I'm only looking at the clue now, since it's an Across, but yuck. Reading that clue would've made me SQUIRM for sure. SQUIRM, on the other hand, was a most welcome answer, and also one of the few tough parts of my solving journey today. Why? Well, I wrote in WRITHE. Other missteps ... hmmm ... none, really. There were definitely some strong pauses. At PERM (55D: Salon job), and at UPTON, for instance—when I saw that [Supermodel Kate] was gonna start with a "U" I thought "oh no, here we go, I'm gonna be upended by supermodel names yet again." Thought it would be someone contemporary and unknown to me. Also ... who's that other Supermodel Kate? ... waifish ... you know the one ... Moss!!! I was picturing Moss, but imagining the real answer was someone unknown to me. But nah, UPTON, that's a name I know. I don't know why I know Kate UPTON, is she married to someone famous? I really don't want to look this up. Sigh, hang on ... LOL yes, she is married to someone famous: 47-time Cy Young winner Justin Verlander! Look, the deal is you don't have to know anything about the names, you just have to know the names exist. That's all that's required for crossword success.
That SW corner was by far the ugliest thing in the grid, and it's obviously because of that attempt to cram "bonus" theme material into the corner. Why? It adds nothing, and the results down there, particularly "AH, ME" (54D: "Alas!"), are not great. As a Downs-only solver, I can tell you that I was Not At All confident when I saw NETI drop into the grid. I wasn't sure that was anything at all; then I remembered that there was such a thing as a NETI pot, but I honestly wasn't sure how it was spelled. I double- and triple-checked the Downs and they were obviously right, so I just went with it, and sure enough: NETI (a NYTXW debut answer ... well, technically it's been used eight times before, but not since 1975, and all those other times it was clued as [Thatch grass] or [Pacific grass], man crosswords used to be awful).
I just found out today about a crossword puzzle-pack benefiting children's charities ... and it turns out today's constructor is one of the project's constructors and editors! It's called "Grids for Kids" and it features puzzles for all skill levels, including six made specifically for kids. Constructors and editors are all pros. Looks like ... [counting] ... 25 puzzles total, including two cryptics! All you gotta do is give > $10 to a youth-focused charity and bam, the puzzles are yours. Good deal. For exact details, check out the project website here. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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87 comments:
Rex may not know a lot about GRINDR, but we now know that George Santos does. I find myself wondering at times whether Santos isn’t the long-missing JohnX. Same je ne sais quoi air of mystery about them.
IVANA know why Mrs. T. upsets Rex so much. BTW, Jill Biden gave a brief, smooth and impressive “Record of the Year” award at the Grammys tonight.
I forgot to do downs only, so this was a quick one. Thanks, Taylor Johnson for a fun Monday.
Like Rex solved downs only, and hands up for seeing NETI at 65 across and thinking "no way that's correct". So for 54 down "Alas!" I switched from AH ME to AH NO (changing 65 across to NOT I) and finished with an error. Argh!
But just gotta say, EARTH RISE is an uplifting theme. On Christmas eve 1968, astronaut Bill Anders snapped a picture from lunar orbit, as the earth first came into view. An exquisite photo from a wonderful moment in history. The Wikipedia page relates "After Apollo 8's momentous return, NASA technicians – not able to wait for normal film processing – drove four hours from Houston to Corpus Christi Texas to the family-owned R & R Photo".
[Spelling Bee: Sun 0, my last 3 words in order.
My week, Mon to Sun: 0, -1, 0, -1, 0, 0, 0. Missed WEEPIE (Tues)... huh?, and DURAG (Thurs)... I tried DORAG!.]
NETI was eating LIVER. It gave her the ODDEST PEAK in her HEART but she knew it was HEALTHY for her GUTS. She also had the URGE to eat GOBS of KALE with some PEPITA YAMS.
The folks in the town of GRINDR called her a WACO. GITMO, the EARL of GRINDR thought otherwise. He could SPEAR any PREY with EASE and serve it up with some ROTONI al DENTE. He so wanted to WIN her HEART over. He'd say that the FRESHER the PREY, his URGE to SQUIRM would ERODE....
DEAR GOD, he was in love with this BAE. The ACHE in his HEART became FRESHER each DAY. He wanted to HIRE a TENOR to sing a PEAK PURR. He'd take NETI ASEA and ROAM the CLIFF of IUD located in FEZ. She'd be AWED by his SHAG... Her CLAWS would EASE into his YAMS... You'd be able to hear the OOHS and the OH HO. O MAN...she would HEAR THAT and PURR.
NETI, however, was SMARTER than GITMO. SHIA the GUTS to show GITMO and the folks of GRINDR the WRATH she felt. They felt like a STYE on her LIVER. She'd MEASURE the SOBS and the SQUIRM when any BIG PREY was served up at the WACO INN.
IVANA was the new HIRE at the WACO. She STASHED LIVER and KALE into the ROTONI and the folks would let out SOBS. IVANA, with her BIG SHAG PERM, would yell "It's HEART HEALTHY...Your GUTS will thank you...so will the QTIP in your ROYAL you know what!!!" The SQUIRM would PEAK which would always AMAZE NETI ...She tried to MEASURE their ACHE but it never could EASE her ANG. She knew deep down in her HEART that the LIVER with GOBS of KALE and PEPITA YAMS were HEALTHY.
At the end of the day, she'd PURR AH ME and ask for OTRA ASTI...Her pet AKITAS would SEAM at EASE because she fed them LIVER with GOBS of KALE every day....The EARL of GRINDR would still be in love with his BAE but NETI would OVOID him. She was happy in her HEART and would PREY the other folks felt the same way. And that's the truth!
PS: @Whatsername...MWHAA back atcha!
On the tough side for me. Not really sure why, except that I had trouble coming up with SPEAR THROWER. Pretty smooth, solid theme, liked it.
Croce solvers - Croce’s Freestyle #782 was mediumish for a Croce with the top half easier than the bottom for me. Good luck!
The thrower is the user, not the tool. The spear is the tool. Unless the thrower is Thag. Thag is a tool.
My five favorite clues from last week
(in order of appearance):
1. Finishing-line cry? (5)
2. Crush cans, maybe (5)(4)
3. Long ones can be measured in centuries (4)(5)
4. End of a flight, in two senses (7)
5. Sanctuary for many couples (3)
BINGO
GRAPE SODA
BIKE RIDES
LANDING
ARK
This has to be in the running for the best comment ever made on this site. Hilarious!
I had a hard time believing NETI would be in a Monday puzzle, especially when it would be so easy to remove with something like OCHO / OMAR / NETS. But this almost redeems it. Almost.
Lol, Rex knows supermodels like I know (a lot of) sports guys-- if they're married to someone I might care about, I can maybe remember they're name.
"47-time Cy Young winner". 😄. An exaggeration, but only slightly so.
I liked this puzzle. But, I didn’t notice the rising EARTHs until I read Rex’s blog. I thought each EARTH was "falling", i.e., spelled vertically, top to bottom, and thought that was critical failure in the construction. But now I see what Taylor did here, and it’s quite nice. The themed downs are all legit as is most of the fill.
I don’t understand the clue for SPEAR THROWER. I don’t see how that can be a “tool” yet that is exactly the clue: “Ancient tool for hunters or warriors”. Maybe there is a secondary or tertiary definition for one of the terms that I am not familiar with - but if that’s the case and it has to be lawyered to make it fit, then that’s brutal cluing for a Monday. Maybe they were thinking of a slingshot.
Similarly, crossing NETI with a marginally nonsensical AH ME is another in a long line of NYT self-inflicted wounds of the “we just can’t help ourselves” GENRE.
Rex – I’m guessing that the “bonus theme material” in the southwest is MOON, right? I vehemently disagree that it’s unnecessary. Until I saw that, I was thinking that EARTHRISE was some kind of global warming, geological phenomenon that I was unfamiliar with. Like, today Denver NC’s elevation is 909 feet but next year it’ll be 1012 feet. Dumb, yeah, but there it is. When I finally sat back and saw the whole picture with MOON, I realized that EARTHRISE is what Neil Armstrong could have enjoyed had he been able to set up a little towel and beach chair to hang out for a while.
I finally took the time to investigate the difference between OVOID and oval. Seems that the former is three-dimensional and the latter is two. There you go.
Rex – your “writhe” for SQUIRM is defensible, but for me, they’re quite different. I SQUIRM if my lower back is bothering me. I writhe if I need an emergency root canal.
Ok. So when SPEAR THROWER fell, I vaguely wondered if the “tool” in the clue was like the tribe’s secret weapon spear ace, the “David” of the gang, if you will. Nah. 17A’s ex nothwithstanding, people aren’t considered tools. Then I remembered the atlatl and felt kind of learned and worldly for knowing what one is.
Hand up for not knowing that GRINDR was for same-sex hopefuls. Honestly, the name makes me blush, I don’t care who its patrons are. The spelling makes me wonder if it’s also Tindr and Bumbl? Just checked – nope. But there is Happn. I saw a Hater, too. That’s interesting. You connect because you hate the same stuff. I wonder if you get to have a top-ten list. I’d lead with hating grammar snobs, beets, and Monopoly. Oh and guys? If you have a profile on one of these apps and really want to set yourself apart, don’t use a picture of yourself leaning against a motorcycle, arms crossed so that your hands are bulging out your biceps - you’re not fooling anyone. Don’t use a picture of you holding a big fish you just caught. Other tired tropes: golf carts, sports cars, boats.
@Gil I – I would SOB, too, if I found LIVER and KALE in my ROTINI! Hah!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spear-thrower
In case it was unclear, my previous comment was referring to your spectacular saga above, Gill. :)
I see the ‘round-earthers’ have infiltrated the NYTXW.
PURR PER PERM is an interesting trio.
Hysterically easy. Solved using only across clues and finished faster than I normally would seeing all the clues. Pretty good puzzle, though. Just some bad fill in the SW with OOHS, BAE and OH HI crossing AH ME.
SPEAR-THROWER questioners: A spear-thrower is a tool that lets the person throw the spear harder. See here.
Fireballers: Croce 782 was medium for me, although I had a surreal start when 1A, 1D, 2D, 3D and 17A all went right in like it was a NYT Monday.
Anon@5:11, SouthsideJohnny: A spear thrower is essentially a lever that allows the hunter to throw the spear with greater velocity. There's a wikipedia entry. Its modern suburban manifestation is the dog ball launcher. See also atlatl.
1 total result for ATLATL
1 result for ATLATL from pre-Shortz puzzles:
Date Grid Clue Author
Sun Aug 10, 1952 19D Mexican throwing stick. Willard N. Jordan
Editor
Farrar
Well I guess my starting word for Dordle/Quordle will have to be EARTH today!
I have seen SPEAR THROWER in the Jean Auel books about cavemen - the "Earth's Children" series. The heroine of the series invents one, and it's definitely a tool.
This was a popular series, and this answer fit's nicely into this puzzle.
I like that the puzzle began with CLAWS, because that’s what this puzzle had, IMO, for a Monday. Monday is generally, for me, a march, and sometimes even a sprint. Today there were hesitations, where I had to wait for a cross or two. This made me, who has a strong work ethic, quite pleased.
Some after-observations:
• Lovely answers added spark and beauty: FEX, AKITAS, GRINDR, ROTINI, PEPITA, and EARTHRISE.
• I love when OH HI pops up in a grid.
• Sweet to see PEAK at the top.
• Pairs tying things together: PURR next to PER (Hi, @Kitshef!), BIG and AT-LARGE, and MOON with a backward TIDE.
• From the two-degrees-of-separation department: KEYS are made of “notes”, which goes with CLIFF.
That iconic earthrise photo still, after all the times I’ve seen it, touches my heart, and thank you, Taylor, for bringing it alive again. This made me leave your puzzle not only happy, but deeply content.
I'm heterosexual, so GRINDR was unfamiliar. But this was the only tricky part of the puzzle. Easy-peasy, and a huge relief after the PUNishing grind on Sunday.
“I’m a man, so TAMPON was unfamiliar to me”—you hear how dumb that sounds, right?
I liked the theme and thought it was executed well with answers that felt fresh. And it was helpful - I don’t think I’d have recognized SPEARTHROWER as quickly as I did without it (and yes, per Wikipedia there is such a tool). Very nice puzzle.
I think the Times is on as good a roll over the last week or so as I’ve experienced in the couple of years since I’ve been solving regularly again.
Pleasant enough hidden word theme - shaded squares definitely assist the solve. EARTH RISE is a noble revealer and central idea. SPEAR THROWER was awkward.
DEAR GOD
Overall fill was flat - nothing terrible but just not a lot of splash. Unlike the big guy - I didn’t like SQUIRM or GRINDR. OOHS over BAE is weak. Did like PEPITA, KALE and AKITAS. IVANA or her clue is harmless.
Gene Chandler
Enjoyable Monday solve.
That’s right - the woman is SMARTER
Monday Funday. This one was over too soon. Thought the cluing seemed easier than usual. Except for humongous. That's not big. "Like the ocean" or "not small" would be more like how all the other clues rang. Lol, humongous is for "not big", like when big just won't do. The theme, and the picture, and remembering its impact, all worth it.
A follow-up comment from yesterday's discussion: at a Marilyn Monroe exhibit in a museum I will leave unnamed, one of the paintings was abstract and didn't seem to belong. It looked like a tree, but the trunk came down from the top of the canvas. Curious, I went to the exhibit catalog to figure out what I was missing. Turns out the tree trunk was Marilyn's neck and the "tree" was an abstract silhouette of her head--Marilyn was upside down! In other words, she was WALL HUNG but not WELL HUNG.
I brought it to the attention of a museum volunteer who hurried off to find the curator. Apparently the painting had arrived with the other pieces in the exhibit from a significant American museum, with the hardware for hanging it already in place. Seems it had been upside down there too. The mistake was corrected, and it remains to this day my only contribution to the world of visual art.
TIL that a SPEARTHROWER, AKA atlatl, is, indeed, an actual tool. Thanks, @LMS, for that link. I had thought it was a glaring error in this puzzle, but now I know it is simply 'way too obscure for a Monday.
The grid is my least favorite kind of easy puzzle; the theme isn't zippy enough to delight, but there's the heavy dose of crosswordese required to allow the theme to exist. So no sass, no zip, no fun. Just a slog plus a SPEARTHROWER.
Tried the Downs Only thing again; like @Rex,the long Downs killed me, but unlike @rex, I couldn't come up with EARTHRISE (wanted BLUE PEARL, har). Also had fidget for SQUIRM. I'm afraid I don't have the chops yet for Down Only--I defaulted to the traditional solve process and things fell into place.
Drat, I forgot to solve down-only. AGAIN. Drat.
Puzzle was Monday-fine, I saw all of the EARTHs going up in their respective columns but didn’t see the left-right thing, which definitely adds a nice touch.
geez even if you are not gay, GRINDR we is a word you should know in this day and age. Easy Peasy except I put in AlledGE before ATLARGE . Thanks for including the Steve Forbert clip. I met him in Newark DE - I was tending bar at a restaurant he came into pre-show and left me 2 tickets to his show down the street. Was great. I think he would have really hit it big if not for his massive cocaine addiction.
I solved diagonals only. Backwards and reflected in a mirror. Using the cyrillic alphabet.
Easy and fairly simple theme but that’s okay because it’s Monday. I did like the images of the EARTH RISING which added an element of beauty to the grid.
While LIVER is high in cholesterol, I’m certain that PEPITAS and KALE would be on the HEART HEALTHY list. The doctor’s list anyway, not mine. The seeds aren’t so bad but I’ve tried and I just genuinely dislike that disgusting green weed. It reminds me of something you’d put in silage, which was a mixture my dad used to produce to feed for the cattle.
The URGE to stick a QTIP in your ear can be hard to resist but doing so can result in a wax buildup severe enough to affect your hearing. And trust me, you don’t want to need a doctor to fix it because I speak from recent experience. I think I’d rather eat a bushel of massaged kale with pepitas than go through that again.
gitmo and trump?...hard pass
This puzzle is all about mood for me. Waking up cranky on a Monday morning, I definitely welcomed the thought of EARTHRISE and that glorious photo. Boom -- mood shifted! More than enough to make minor dreck like NETI, OOHS, OHHI and IVE (duping the first-person perspective of IHEARTHAT) seem just that -- minor.
Guessing that Rex solved this so quickly that he never noticed GITMO. Had he done so, he would have had some blistering commentary, given the activities that have been going on down there for the last 20 years.
Re: GRINDR...Being monogamous since 1986, I have no clue about dating, to say nothing of dating apps. Nevertheless, I've heard of some of them. What I never realized was how niche they have become. We watched "Fleishman is in Trouble" a few weeks ago on Hulu, with ads. Some of the early episodes revolve (usually hilariously so) around a main character's discovery of dating apps after a recent marital split. So, who are the primary advertisers? Dating apps, very targeted ones. Christians, seniors, single parents and a host of others I can't recall -- each with a dating app tailored to them. Who knew?
BTW, "Fleishman" is good, not great, but Claire Danes is amazing and incendiary. Perhaps not coincidentally, we recently decided to start "Homeland", 12 years after it premiered. Having now binged the first two seasons in successive weekends, I can say it is the best series I have ever watched. She is astonishingly good.
I spit a little coffee reading @egsforbreakfast's Santos/JohnX theory.
Hey All !
Good MonPuz. Isn't including a Themer, ala EARTH in your Revealer sort of cheating? That doesn't diminish this puz, but just curious.
Always look for a Pangram after Z's and Q's. But the other two ODDies aren't in, J and X.
AMUSES at Rex's WRATH over IVANA. She did divorce him...
MOON today, as the object in space, not the dropping trou act. Har.
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Kinda cute. Outer space stuff is fascinating. I wish I was smarter so I understood more about it. Watching a bunch of sci-fi movies probably did me no favors. I am of the notion you can fly around in space easily getting from planet to planet and then shooting the people there because they're evil. I think it's more complicated than the movies describe.
This puzzle is a nice bookend with last week's flying saucer puzzle.
Uniclues:
1 Put Super-Glue on it before insertion into the orifice.
2 You know how you made me furious yesterday? Well get ready for a new day.
3 Sever red-headed kid with the mouthy wife.
4 Those who know how the magician did it.
5 Put on an eye patch.
6 My less-than-thrilled response to our family's commitment to healthier eating.
7 Get in a sword fight with a pirate ... and lose.
1 LIMIT Q-TIP EASE
2 FRESHER WRATH
3 ROYAL MEASURE
4 SMARTER AWED
5 STASHED STYE
6 DEAR GOD ... KALE (~)
7 REMIT GUTS ASEA (~)
Seeing that all of the shaded squares would be EARTH speeded up the process, which really didn't need speeding up. I've read enough SF and seen the photo enough to make EARTHRISE a gimme, so there was that too.
People having trouble envisioning a SPEARTHROWER should think of one of those gadgets you use to extend your arm length and throw a tennis ball for your dog on the beach. I think they work well, but we have cats who never go to the beach and only chase what they want to.
Nice to know about the tails on AKITAS. They seem to be showing up more frequently.
A fine Monday,TJ. Took Just the right amount of time. Thanks for all the fun.
Off to the Croce and the New Yorker Monday, although today is the first Monday for child care with 8-month old Jack, as his day care is having staffing problems. At least he's a smiler.
@GILL I. 2:02 AM
Another epic. Like mice to cats, words are in danger when you arrive for a play date.
A spear thrower is a correct answer for a tool - it's an ancient device for increasing leverage when you throw a spear at, presumably, the bad guys.
Now Neti, on the other hand. Definitely paleolithic.
@SouthsideJohnny 6:37 AM
It's a leather thong (ahem) used to throw the actual spear.
The dog-ball-throwing modern equivalent of the atlatl or spearthrower that I know of is called a Chuckit (tm).
And not only is it brilliant, but the smooth rubber balls that they make for it are absolutely superior to the old fuzzy tennis balls. Ask any dog I've ever known. They go nuts for those balls!
(Sorry... not meaning to allude to any Grindr reference.)
@K.S. Umnole (8:42). Come down to my corner of the playground. I've got a piece of cake for you.
Our PBS station played The Alamo over the weekend. We watched about an hour of it last night. I don't think that John Wayne gets enough credit for his acting talent.
There is a tool that helps to throw spears. It is a stick with it a hole in which you insert the spear and then use the leverage to throw the spear faster and further.
I don't mind easy puzzles, but if you get to automatically fil in a whoe bunch of squares, as you did today, my joy at solving is a bit diminished. So while I did like this one, I don't thinks it wows me like some other puzzles do.
From yesterday. Kitshef, I hope you didn't take offense at my post yesterday. None was intended. Thinking about it, while the music was played (frequently, as I recall) on both rock and classical music radio stations in the (I think) 1970's, it seemed the piece should have sounded familiar to most people who lived during that era. Of course, many alive today did not, and if you lived away from a place like NYC the radio stations might not have been so apt to program it. Perhaps I was being too parochial.
Touché !
@Kitshef, funny you should mention that. We used to have a cat that actually enjoyed having her hair curled; you could tell by the number of PURRs PER PERM she emitted.
Dating apps are like what Rex says about celebrity names; for puzzle purposes, you don't have to know who they're for, just that they exist.
Here are some fun pix of SPEAR THROWERs.
On behalf of everyone at team Grids For Kids, thanks to Rex for the plug of the puzzle pack. We've raised $1,200 in the first few days toward our goal of $5,000 - thanks to everyone who has donated and shared to help us raise funds for kids charities!
@K.S. Umnole (8:42) Best comment of the year! Thanks, I needed a good laugh today. 🤣🤣🤣
They sell mini spearthrowers, for when you have the urge to hurl asparagus at your enemies.
A splendid puzzle with a splendid theme for a splendid Monday morning. Despite the weird NETI.
Here's G. Verdi's first Top 10 hit, in the key of F# major –a key signature almost no composer would ever use (six sharps, dear God!)
A pleasant, smooth, easy Monday with no junk.
@Egs -- If I were JOHN X, I'd sue for defamation :)
Nicely done! My first long Down was SPEAR THROWER, followed by EARTHRISE - and like @smalltowndoc 6:31, I wondered how EARTH could be rising when its letters were falling. So the gradual "reveal" of the RISE across the grid was lovely. Uplifting grid art, ending with the inspiring image from the photo.
I thought SPEAR THROWER was hard for a Monday; I knew it only from a taking Brownie troop on a tour of the Wisconsin Historical Museum way back when.
@GILL I. - The CLAWS and the YAMS, omg. How do you do it?
@pabloinnh, belatedly from Saturday - Thank you for mentioning Stella's Stumper. I don't usually get to those puzzles, but I like her Tough as Nails crosswords, which are generally just right for me. But this one - man, really tough! It put me through the wringer but I finally got it.
Thanks Anon; TIL. Thag is still a tool.
Put kale in spaghetti sauce, or make a salad with it, cranberry walnut sesame seed dressing on kale yum.
NETI deserved to be MOON-ed. Liked the puztheme, tho.
Seemed slightly feisty for a MonPuz, but nuthin overly nanosecond-grabby. A few no-knows like: NETI. PEPITA. GRINDR [altho GRINDR sounds slightly familiar, maybe from hearin it mentioned in a Bill Maher or Steven Colbert joke].
M&A has used QTIPs in his ears almost since birth. Never had an earwax problem. PuzEatinSpouse refuses to use em, and has had to have her ears cleaned, due to wax build-up. Just sayin.
staff weeject pick: BAE. Always a teeth grindr.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Sound of a contented cat} = PURR. Note: Good name for a datin app for cats: PAMPURRR. And SQUIRMR for dating worms, of course.
fave other stuff included: ATLARGE. DEARGOD/ODDEST. SQUIRM. ROTINI.
Thanx for the nice crossword view from space, Mr. Johnson dude.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
**gruntz**
So, the EARTH actually is flat, after all.
Oh, dear, can you stand seeing it...again? @Terra Schaler (11:24) (who obviously hasn't seen it) drove me to re-post:
To be sung to the tune of "I Hate Men" from "Kiss Me Kate")
I hate kale!
And anyone who cooks with kale will fail!
You put it in a salad and the salad you diminish,
You put it in a casserole; your family won't finish,
And then you'll know what others know: You shoulda cooked with
spinash --
Oh, I hate kale!
The tool is commonly called an atlatl, but what you are throwing are large darts, not spears. Spears are for thrusting damage.
Thx, Taylor, for this rising EARTH view! :)
Med+ (Tues. time).
On the tough side for moi.
Can't believe I had ScwIRM for SQUIRM. 🤣
Lots of kea/loas: ROAM / ROve; OVOID / OVate; AH ME / oH My; BAE / hon; GOBS / tOnS / lOtS.
Unknowns/hazies/learnings: GRINDR; UPTON; NETI; FRESHER; OTRA; SPEAR THROWER.
Learned PEPITA (as pumpkin seed) from the Spelling Bee.
Fun, challenging adventure. Liked it a lot! :)
___
Had to hit the 'reveal' yd to discover that I had a sp gaff, so a tech dnf. Sun. xwords are fraught with typo danger.
On to Croce's Freestyle and Anna Shechtman's Mon. New Yorker. 🤞
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
Dnf downs only with SMAtTER x tOTINI. I guess I was thinking of tortoni and imagining *another* pasta shape (there are so many). Easily fixed by looking at the across clue.
Obviously didn't see the clue for IVANA but @Rex I also prefer to call him "he who shall not be named". But, it's just a puzzle, right?
@GillI wow!
Also, don't know supermodel names but somehow I got it.
Pretty dang funny!
Not many supermodels appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
@pmdm - certainly no offense! Actually, it brought me pleasure to think that people with such different life experiences can still share a common interest in crosswords.
I already had a the encircled EARTH in HEART HEALTHY and SPEAR THROWER so when the third one in 11D EARTH RISE arose, I thought the clue "Phenomenon witnessed from space..." was flat out wrong. Viewed "from space" the EARTH just hangs there, neither rising nor setting.
It wasn't until later in the solve when 63D MOON ("What the Apollo 8 crew was orbiting when astronaut Bill Anders took his iconic 11-Down photograph") provided the necessary interposing celestial body to make an EARTH RISE (or an EARTH SET) possible.
Since the clue for 63D MOON cross references 11D EARTH RISE, that hiccup could have been avoided by likewise cross referencing the clue for 11D EARTH RISE as "Phenomenon witnessed from 63 Down...".
There was fertile ground for us POC (plural of convenience) hunters including several two for one POCs, where a Down and an Across both get a letter count, grid filling boost by sharing a single S at their ends when KEY/AKITA, SSN/OOH and AMUSE/YAM were not up to the task of filling their slots.
BAE was the one that got me. I just have never heard, or recall having seen this word. I am a genuine 75+ geezer: is it something new? I get a little edgy when there's something that it seems everybody - but me - knows.
Wasn't gonna comment today, but what is up with all the NETI hate/whiffing? That's a gimme.
The shaded squares made this one too easy. Not as skillfully deployed as last week's UFO themer.
p.s.
@kitshef - U had a very nice spottin, on that PURR PER PERM trio. Could almost make a puztheme outta stuff like that!
BTW: Today's runtpuz explanation posted at Down Home site, if U are still interested in what that pesky NE corner was up to. Just sayin.
M&A Help Desk
as a loyal q-tip user with the enthusiastic support of two new york city ENTs, i am outraged at 15-across. outraged!!! earspittingly mad! i shall be protesting outside the ny times offices today with giant cotton swabs.
IVANA know why my earlier post wasn’t published.
Saying how easily the king of snark is so easily triggered by all things TRUMP?
We in the “older” category remember the “space race” that started in earnest in 1957 when, despite the US touting its plans to launch satellites in 1955, the USSR sent Sputnik up and followed that by being first to achieve manned space flight with Yuri Gagarin.
We cheered when Kennedy achieved Congressional backing for the goal of getting a man on the moon and safely home again by the end of the decade. Those were heady times indeed. We were awestruck as we followed the highs and lows and all of the excitement and gut wrenching fear of every flight. No internet or cell phones and three television stations - maybe four with public tv. And Walter Cronkite. And real news.
Until this Christmas, a stunning color print of EARTHRISE has hung in my husband’s office since Christmas 1986. Our daughter was hooked on space travel and all things “space” when Sally Ride became the first woman to “slip the surly bonds of earth” in 1983. Our Kate was only four.
My husband, ever a teacher and a lifelong student and aficionado of all things astronomy, aerospace and space exploration was thrilled when Kate showed interest. They made drawings of the solar system and went out to look at the stars. With every issue of Sky and Telescope magazine, he would distill the complex information for her and many bedtime stories were about our astronaut heroes and their adventures.
The Challenger tragedy of early 1986 was traumatic. Millions of us watched in real time as the day so many children were celebrating the “First Teacher in Space” ended in tragedy.
Still participating with her dad in their mutual interest, they spent extra time talking about the sacrifices made for progress and specifically about Challenger and the hope that things the scientists learned would help make the next mission that much better.
As their exploration continued, the Apollo program caught her interest. She loved thinking about walking on the moon. I only recently tossed her shoebox diorama of a toothpick and aluminum foil “LEM” on the mostly sand and spray painted styrofoam lunar surface.
The year came to an end and Christmas became the focus. The Smithsonian catalog landed in our mail box. One of the available items was a beautifully matted and framed color reprint of the iconic EARTHRISE photo from 1968. Kate showed it to me and said we “have to get this for Daddy.” We did, and it has been the focal point of his office ever since.
My daughter has since become a dedicated teacher of very challenged fourth through sixth graders. Her twelve students this year are all boys, and she says it is a completely new dynamic. At Thanksgiving, she said “All they want to talk about is evil aliens.” I asked her if they showed any interest in the factual side of space travel. She said she’d think about it.
I packed up EARTHRISE and sent it to her. She was thrilled and hung it in her classroom. None of her kiddos had ever seen anything like it. At first they didn’t believe it was taken from space. That was all she needed to get them wanting more. She started with the clip of the Apollo 8 crew seeing EARTHRISE for the first time and taking the pictures that became the photo on the wall.
We talked last weekend and she said they were demanding to see more actual “movies” from the NASA archives. She said she was so happy to be able to pass on all her Dad taught her about space.
If we’re lucky, we actually get glimpses of things that turned out well.
@bigsteve46 12:39 pm. BAE has been used 29 times in the Shortz era, always in the same sense as it is used in today’s puzzle. Hope this news doesn’t make you even edgier!
Joe Dipinto. I don't laugh out loud very often, nor do I encounter asparagus jokes often. Thanks on both accounts.
I think Rex once said he was a Detroit Tiger fan. Me too, so I know who Kate Upton is. She is married to former ace Tiger pitcher Justin Verlander, who was traded to the Astros and is now a NY Met. I liked him when he was a Tiger, but not so much anymore.
GillI, I was screaming so much reading your post that the neighbor came rushing over to see if she should call EMT. That is the funniest post I’ve ever read. There are many treasures among the Rex krewe but your post made me howl like a banshee, whatever that is. TFFW
Sweet puz that brings back that amazing day in the wild blue yonder.
Alice
IVANA was the new HIRE at the WACO. She STASHED LIVER and KALE into the ROTONI and the folks would let out SOBS. IVANA, with her BIG SHAG PERM, would yell "It's HEART HEALTHY...Your GUTS will thank you...so will the QTIP in your ROYAL you know what!!! --@GILL
I was running out early this morning, woke up late, and therefore didn't have time for more than a cursory glance at the comments. I almost missed this -- and what a loss that would have been!! Is this the funniest thing @GILL has ever written or what? I laughed so hard just now I almost fell off my chair.
Thank you to all the whimsical lovers here...(blush)....I started my silly stories on Mondays because I'd finish the puzzle quickly and then I had nothing better to do. They're fun and crazy but I actually enjoy myself!
Any other takers perhaps?
PS. The hardest part was fitting IVANA in with her BIG SHAG PERM. I toyed with her LIVER as well.
@bigsteve46 - Don't feel bad. I have never heard anyone actually use bae, except perhaps in a previous puzzle. I understand it has appeared in song lyrics and social media, particularly in the last 10 years, but to actually have heard someone utter the word in conversation? Never!
Keep the stories coming @Gill! I look forward to the silliness and guaranteed smiles.
I had the exact opposite experience of OFF's: GRINDR was a no-know--in fact, that G was a natick! Was it bLOB or GLOB? I complete-guessed G. Only lucky to finish.
I enjoyed the theme; anything astronomically related is thumbs-up here. DOD Kate UPTON ADDS some more enchanting scenery. Yet there are problems.
Of all the bleedovers on EARTH, MUST we endure OHHI? Too many H's! We already have an extremely rare 3-H entry (HEARTHEALTHY). EASE up! And BTW, the crossing of EASE/ASEA seems awfully dull. Theme good; fill nit so much. Par.
Another Wordle birdie: sizzling right now!
BIG HEART ACHE
IVANA had an URGE to SHAG,
PREY DEARGOD THAT EARL can find her.
IHEAR the MEASURE of a hag
is no LIMIT who may GRINDR.
--- CLIFF UPTON
This puz was down to EARTH as we get the EARTHRISE left to right. Finished with EASE. NECK in the corners with yeah baby Kate UPTON.
Wordle birdie.
Pretty easy if you overlook the weirdness in the SW.
Neti pot:
I know somebody who uses one.
I see them at Walgreens.
I saw one on Big Bang Theory.
My preferred method is to tilt my head backwards under the shower head. No fuss, no muss.
I can still recite the Cyrillic alphabet, which I learned over 56 years ago. Impressive! Even if I do say so myself! 😎
The opposite of measure twice, cut once, as seen on Home Town:
Measure once
Cuss twice
Here comes another atmospheric river - just hope I don't feel the EARTH move.
OKAY Monday with just a touch of crunch here and there. Keeps it HEARTHEALTHY.
Diana, LIW
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