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English football powerhouse to fans / SUN 2-5-23 / Crime show spinoff to fans / Anise-flavored liqueur / Acclaimed rock-and-roll biopic of 2022 / Historic builders of rope bridges / Options for bee's knees cocktails / Aerial threat during the Cold War
Sunday, February 5, 2023
Constructor: Jeremy Newton
Relative difficulty: Medium (if you don't know film titles, maybe harder)
Theme answers:
- "THEIR RITE'S TOUGH" (i.e. "The Right Stuff") (22A: "That cult's initiation ceremony is brutal! [1983]) (Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Sound)
- "THAI TAN KNICK" (i.e. "Titanic") (32A: Bronzed New York basketball player from Bangkok [1997]) (Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Sound)
- "HELL OWED ALI" (i.e. "Hello, Dolly!") (49A: Why the Devil was forced to pay "The Greatest" [1969]) (Best Sound)
- "AH, MIDDAY, YES..." (i.e. "Amadeus") (65A: Cry after remembering to meet at noon [1984]) (Best Sound)
- "SCHICK HOG, GO!" (i.e. "Chicago") (81A: "You there, hoarding the Quattro razor! Scram!" [2002]) (Best Sound)
- "GLAD HE ATE HER" (i.e. "Gladiator") (95A: How one cannibal felt after devouring the other [2000]) (Best Sound)
- "THUMB-MADE TRICKS" (i.e. "The Matrix") (110A: Some optical illusions created with one's fingers [1999]) (Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Sound)
The Academy Award for Best Sound is an Academy Award that recognizes the finest or most euphonic sound mixing, recording, sound design, and sound editing. The award used to go to the studio sound departments until a rule change in 1969 said it should be awarded to the specific technicians. The first were Murray Spivack and Jack Solomon for Hello, Dolly!. It is generally awarded to the production sound mixers, re-recording mixers, and supervising sound editors of the winning film. In the lists below, the winner of the award for each year is shown first, followed by the other nominees. Before the 93rd Academy Awards, Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing were separate categories. (wikipedia)
• • •
I exaggerate about how few answers I liked. Looking it over, DARK HUMOR is a fine entry, as is ALIEN LIFE and HEAD ON IN. And some of the themers demonstrate real ... creativity, I guess you'd say. But I just can't pretend that getting them was fun. NODS OUT ... I'm still stuck on this. You NOD OFF, sure. But after you've been "dosed"? You might ... GO OUT ... CONK OUT ... PASS OUT ... but NODS OUT just clanks. And WALL-HUNG ... I guess technically, adjectivally, yes, art can be WALL-HUNG for sure. But ... "oh, did you see the Hopper exhibit? I really loved it, especially the WALL-HUNG stuff." "So ... all of it, then?" "... Yes." In case you think it's just the punning that turned me sour on this one, here is the screenshot I took *just* after I started, well before I knew the theme, when I could tell that things were not headed in a good direction. The fill was weak and iffy right from the word "go" (which appears at least twice in this puzzle, btw, but it's just one two-letter word in a giant grid, so I don't really care). Anyway, that early screenshot:
By far the hardest part of the puzzle for me was the SOUND MIXING part, particularly the MIXING part and the adjacent fill. The DOADOET/NODSOUT/XOO pipeline really did me in. I could not recover any sense of pleasure after that. Every movie title was tough to get, obviously, because the "SOUND MIXING" was so, as I say, tortured. Some of the "mixes" kind of work ("GLAD HE ATE HER") and I guess a couple are actually so outlandish they're funny ("AH, MIDDAY ... YES ..."). But the bizarre compound adjective "THUMB-MADE" just about killed me, esp. after the bizarre compound adjective "WALL-HUNG." And the vowel sound in THEIR really sends "THEIR RITE'S TOUGH" wide of the mark. If forced to spell SCHICK (weird scenario...), I would've spelled it without that first "C," so that "SCHICK HOG, GO!" answer was a bit tough to come up with. I thought GRAN (with an "N") was a good [Nickname for mom's mom], which made THUMB-MADE TRICKS even harder to see (it was already the hardest-to-parse of the bunch). In the end, it wasn't just the "bad" puns—most puns are bad, and the only enjoyable ones (for me) are very bad—it's that they were so convoluted they (mostly) lost their snap, and then the revealer, instead of clarifying things, really muddied and gummed them up, both in terms of the clue wording and in terms of the actual factual accuracy of the clue. An ambitious idea, imperfectly realized.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. MANU = MAN. U. i.e. Manchester United (69A: English football powerhouse, to fans).
P.P.S. Really wanted 94A: Six-foot runners? (ANTS) to be EMUS
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175 comments:
Groaners, dad jokes, and bad puns - what could be better on a Sunday? I'll take these any 'ol day over the many Sunday slogfests that have run in the last couple of years.
Great fun. Thank you, Jeremy Newton.
A normal and fairly entertaining puzzle except for that very difficult SW corner. Never heard EMBED as noun, and never heard of SATIE in any context. Nothing else down there was all that tough on its own, but I just couldn't get any foothold until I took a flier on STANG. You can’t imagine how weird it is that a car clue was what got me restarted.
I also sort of figured HONG would not be permitted to be clued that way. I was wrong.
Had a rant prepared about Best Sound versus Best Sound Mixing, but Rex beat the heck out of that horse already.
Yet another joyless Sunday slog. Rex nailed it.
Groaners all! Didn’t hate this as much as OFL, but knew he would rip it to shreds.
As a big-time lover of “the beautiful game” (footy), I must pick one egregious nit… those who really know Soccer know not to ever call the Reds from Old Stratford “Man. U.” They are Man. United, or Man. Utd., or MUFC, but NEVER Man. U. U is for University, not for United.
I’m scared to say it now but I liked this puzzle a lot
“This makes no sense at a simple grammatical level, as the Oscar *is* the recognition, so though the movies were certainly recognized for SOUND MIXING, they were not in fact OSCAR WINNERs until they were so recognized.”
This is a bit much, even for a finicky commentator. If you were asked how many presidents were born in Virginia, would you seriously reply, “None! They were all babies when born and didn’t become president until living ex utero at least 35 years”!?
Medium-tough. Making sense of the theme clues/answers took a bit of effort. Plus jeweL before BERYL in the NE and needing to stare a while to get STANG is the SW devoured many nanoseconds. I liked this punfest quite a bit more than @Rex did.
Interesting theme, but slow going to get the themers. Rex's legitimate objection aside, the revealer was pretty good. THUMB MADE TRICKS and THAI TAN KNICK are interesting; bizarre cuz of the silent consonants but mostly phonetically plausible. HELL OWED ALI not so much because the rhythm is off, as it is with a few others.
Oddly enough WALL HUNG is very familiar to me from the public washroom sector of the building industry: ya got yer wall hung toilets, wall hung sinks, and wall hung vanities. Not to mention hand dryers, soap dispensers... the list goes on and on! As Rex noted, sadly the clue fails to make a mainstream case for this phrase.
[Spelling Bee: Sat 0, last word this oddball 5er, just one of those lame SB "words".]
A painful solve. I'm not a big film goer, so somewhat harder than medium for me.
Hi everyone. The cocoon contains a pupa. The silk is spun outside the cocoon. Not in the cocoon. Right Rex?
Taken aback by your comment, TimG. As a Brit football follower ... pretty much everyone calls Man U Man U. I've never heard of Manchester University being called Man U, it may be, but everyone would think of football if you spoke of Man U. And Man U play at Old Trafford not Old Stratford (?).
Painful puzzle. Finished it but yuck.
The sheer magnitude of the problem the constructor set for himself amazes me! You have to give credit where credit is due.. This works fine, whether you feel its too punny or not.
I thought SOUND MIXING was off for 46d because I was pretty certain that category name didn't exist until fairly recently. So I checked the Oscars d-base, and yep, everything @Rex said.
The use of OSCAR WINNER in the clue for 46d might have been the constructor covering his ass for the fact that TRON (72d answer) was nominated in the Best Sound category, but didn't win. It was nominated in one other category and lost there too, so it won no Oscars.
Ergo, had the 46d clue said, say, "Category for which every *film* in this puzzle was recognized", it would have been wrong, because TRON is a *film* that didn't win in that category. But by saying *OSCAR WINNER* instead of "film", TRON is excluded in no uncertain terms.
If that makes sense.
Anyway, I solved this by putting in all the theme answers first, with no crosses whatsoever. This sort of puzzle always invites that approach. It was a little difficult to figure out how to re-spell some entries but I managed. Then I went back and did the rest of it. Didn't really love it, except for HIGHTAIL, a word I 'm partial to for some reason. Hated NO BUENO. Stick it with "Ah so" and "Capeesh".
Too tired now, maybe I'll think of more to say tomorrow.
...and the reason STANG took a while is that T-Bird is a ‘Vette rival. A STANG rival would be a ‘CUDA or an IROCZ, or a TRANS AM, or a Cougar...
Horrible slog of a puzzle. Had BACKSPACE at 39A ("Neighbor of a return key"), causing me to waste even more time hunting down the error.
Hated it. Almost didn't finish not because I couldn't but because I didn't want to. Very disappointing. I usually look forward to Sunday puzzles but this one.. Ugh... The constructor was thinking how clever he was.
I’ve been here long enough to know as I solve whether or not there’s a Rexcoriation waiting for me to read. Ok – sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised – but, yeah . . . that Rex’s opinion matters to me the way it does actually affects my solving experience. I have no idea why I root so much for the feelings of the constructors, why it matters so much to me that Rex like a puzzle. But there it is.
So while I truly enjoyed each and every themer, loved sitting there and whispering Jeremy’s oronyms, I felt a little sick knowing that Rex would highlight the puzzle’s warts. I mean, sure – NOD OUT, DO A DUET, XOO… not great. (I loved WALL-HUNG, though, loved thinking about all the little frames that should never be WALL HUNG but rather crowded onto every side table and surface, especially if you have a good-looking, photogenic family. For such families, the WALL HUNG stuff is relegated to a massive mosaic of tanned skin and straight teeth following you up and down the stairs.)
This kind of trick will occupy my thoughts for quite a while. If you try to come up with others, you quickly get a deeper appreciation of what Jeremy accomplished. In every single themer, no word, no part of a word no matter how small shows up in its original sense. So like SPIED HER MAN or CHERRY UTZ OF HIRE wouldn’t meet his standards because of the MAN and OF. I could find none as good as the gems Jeremy created. Paris Height, Sigh Co., Eat Tea, Rah Key, Been Her. . . See? This is a terrific set of, granted, groaners. But I loved all of them.
Rex – I knew Daisy was a dog, and I knew she was a GOOD GIRL. No prob.
The clue for LANDING is a hall-of-famer.
The clue for 88A coulda been expanded to “Word with pie, pot, port, peep, pigeon, and post.”
After being stunned that pandas have 20 TOES, I calmed down and figured that they’re calling all the digits on the four legs TOES. Right? Just for fun, I googled and was delighted to learn that bees have six knees, but then, ok, of course. They’re insects.
I liked learning that the greeting ALOHA means “love.” I swear I’m jealous when I hear of cool ways other cultures greet each other.
Shalom/salaam (Hebrew, Farsi, Arabic) – “Peace”
Konnichiwa (Japanese) – kinda like, “And what about today?”
Sawubona (Zulu) – “I see you and value you”
We get stuck with How You Doin? And pray pray pray the person recognizes the question as the phatic communion that it is and not an actual inquiry into their well-being. This is especially true when running into one of Mom’s friends at the mailboxes. Safer to lead with Hey! Nice weather, huh? or How ‘bout them Panthers! than to ask how they’re doing ‘cause let me tell you, They. Will. Tell. You. After impatiently listening about their latest doctor visit, MRI, fall, rash, ache, I leave hating myself for being so indifferent to their loneliness.
Jeremy – haters gonna hate. I loved this. Bravo that you came up with these and that you achieved symmetry. The THEIR (and not THE) in 22A was a masterstroke.
Surely this took a Herculean effort to create, but the alleged puns were too painfully horrible to make it fun. They reminded me of the kinds of things my best friend and I used to come up with (and find hilarious) when creating our own stage plays, age 12. I'm with Rex on this one.
Enjoyed the Rex write-up more than the puzzle, which I found somewhat cute, a bit too clever, and oddly clued at times. But the write-up: critical, but not scathing; detailed, yet personal; just a fun read!
Excellent! I didn't follow Rexy's rant but now do (and agree it's more than "a bit") thanks to your brilliant parallel.
Why, when there are lots of comments, I scroll to find yours and deflate when I'm too early or you don't post. Marry me? Oh whoops, I'm married. So how you doin'?
Nope, almost always 'Man U'. And the ground is 'Old Trafford'
Don't usually comment but that was a truly awful puzzle
This is going to sound a bit weird, but ... what @Rex said ... AND ... what @lms said.
Two delightful, opposite takes on the same puzzle.
Normally Rex can exaggerate a bit, but “Physically painful” I can relate to, groaning as I was so often at the fill and, mostly, the dire attempts to create soundalikes for the film titles that weren’t very accurate and not at all humorously clued. Noooooooo.
Isn’t an Oscar nomination a recognition as well??
Having grown up in the drug-filled 60's, I am very familiar with term NODS OUT. One nods off during a boring presentation. One nods OUT after a shooting up with heroin or taking downers such as barbiturates. As the clue says "after a dose," the answer (although unpleasant) is spot on.
I hung in there long enough to parse together THEIR RITES TOUGH and suspected that we were dealing with basically a PPP theme filled with gibberish answers - which was confirmed when I got to THAI TAN KNICK. Absolute garbage in my opinion (although I’m clearly in the minority - how else does one explain the popularity of the NYT puzzle when it constantly publishes this kind of stuff).
DAISY was the name of the the Bumstead's dog in the Blondie comic strip. God forgive me why I recall this 50 years after not having seen a Blondie comic, but there it is.
Also, I technically have not yet finished this puzzle yet because I am in "find the bad letter" hell. Am avoiding comparing my solve to Rex's for now, but maybe come Sunday evening I'll get desperate.......
Would have liked the puzzle until I hit NODS OUT…then I just wanted to throw my iPad across the room. I’m just going to imagine it was a tribute to GWEN Stefani and No Doubt, but now I have to go brush my teeth for all the bile taste that NODS OUT gave me
I did this last night and screamed with delight when I got each themer. They’re so bad, I just loved them. I had so much fun with the themers that I barely noticed the fill. Rex doesn’t like it? Fill schmill. I’m still screaming and laughing at the themers. Thanks for the fun!!
Okay, so I’m a fan of silly. I’ve always been. I love it when the imagination strays off the straight and narrow. As a kid, silliness was a great source of pleasure, i.e., my sister and I would come up with silly-sounding words, and often silly definitions for those words – a source of great amusement (we still do this). Silliness I’ve enjoyed over the years include Spike Jones, Roger Miller, Rube Goldberg, Monte Python, Robin Williams, many cartoons, commercials, and Halloween costumes.
So I was a sucker for this puzzle. Re-sounding movie titles to wacko interpretations? Are you kidding? Right up my alley. “Hah!” after “Hah!”. Throw in [Therein lies the rubbed] and I’m smitten.
I loved using the clues to help figure out the movie titles, and I especially loved saying the re-worked titles out loud. Silliness doesn’t always land for me, but the silliness in this puzzle did.
Thank you, NYT team, for giving this puzzle the go-ahead. And thank you, Jeremy, for greatly brightening my day.
Jeremy Newton, if you are reading this blog, count me as another fan of this clever puzzle with its puns and convolutions. I don't mind a few oddities of the sort people are complaining about; they add to the challenge.
I came here for the rant, but now I feel better about the bad puns (I know movies) and the whole puzzle. And, not for nothing, NODS OUT is totally correct. It’s what heroin users do.
"Rexcoriation" (a la LMS) - Love it!
I enjoyed the idea of this... What an imagination to "remake" titles like this. I would give our constructor some slack on Best Sound Mixing: If you go to the official Academy Awards website (https://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/) and search their database for Best Sound Mixing, these movies will come up.
But I hafta agree, some of the answers were off. DOADUET was probably the worst of the lot, yah.
So-o-o... Do ants really have feet? Are they technically feet? Is this like calling a lobster claw a hand?
It should be trivial to make 80-Across end with an E.
@Robin, I also felt shame at recognizing Daisy as the Bumstead dog. Why does that nonsense lodge in my brain?
@kenji I do the same thing!
@Loren Marry me? Oh whoops, I’m gay.
I liked the theme - had fun parsing the films. Sunday-sized grid are always going to be rough fill wise so I don’t expect much anymore. Like Rex my favorite was GLAD HE ATE HER. As a lover of comics he probably should have connected Daisy with Dagwood and Blondie. Like @LMS that was a no brainer. Surprised to hear that that wonderful film The MEG did not win an OSCAR.
Anthony’s son ELVIS Perkins
I’m not going down the technicality road with this - don’t follow the OSCARs anyway so wouldn’t know the difference between categories. The revealer was apt - if not correct in it’s details. Liked the location surrounded by the densely packed themers. Rex has highlighted some of the short glue - it’s not great but this puzzle is all about the theme.
Looking for LEWIS and Clark
Not a blockbuster - but an epic sized theme today - mostly an enjoyable Sunday solve.
The TUBES
Oh, and maybe it’s because I read the daily Blondie strip every day, but there’s nothing obscure about DAISY to me!
Completely agree on NODS OUT. But what really made the 13-y.o. in me chuckle was how "GLAD HE ATE HER" was crossed with "WALL HUNG". Heh. Heh heh. (I'll see myself out...)
I came here to leave my comment and @mmorgan beat me to it - these were not groaners, they were wonderful screamers, and I loved each and every one of them. I thought the puzzle generally was more on the challenging side, and it was great that the themed answers really didn't reveal themselves until they were entirely in and pronounceable. Awesome romp of a puzzle that I thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you Jeremy Newton!!
Not to violate the breakfast rule...
But I wonder if the constructor is aware that 95A was the punchline of each of many variations a "dirty" joke about Russell Crowe shared by practically every middle boy in the 2000-01 school year. If you worked with young teenagers at the time, or had them in your home, it was a joke you could not avoid overhearing over and over again.
The only context where NODS OUT works is after someone takes heroin and they "nod out." Doubt that's what the constructor was going for, but who knows.
Too easy, and nothing really fun here, no “aha” moments. Kind of like work more than a pleasure. OH well. There’s always next week. Yesterday’s puzzle was awesome.
seems to me that Sharp tends to be difficult to please concerning wordplay, so I am not surprised at his reaction to this puzzle. And this type of wordplay tends to really his or miss with solvers. So I am surprised at niether the write up of the comments.
While I did know the names of the movies (even though Amadeus is the only one I actually saw) such knowledge didn't help me so much. I guess I just don't have the patience to figure out the puns. Having seen them now in the crossword blogs, they seem better to me than they originally did. even so, I am not totally won over be the concept. Don't really know how to rate the puzzle. I guess my thumb is hovering at the midway point between up and down. Since a good number seemed to enjoy the puzzle, I think it should have been published.
Kitshef: Blood Sweat and Tears (I think on their second album, the one with the Spinning Wheel song) played an arrangement of a Satie composition that is pretty much ubiquitous. I am surprised you never heard of him, having been the composer of the Trois Gymnopied which is often heard (at least one of them) on the radio.
Crossword puzzle constructing is an art, not a science. The uproar about SOUND MIXING and SOUND ignores that reality. Cut the guy some slack! This wonderful puzzle had to be very tough to create. The constructor should be showered with kudos, not nit-picked about NODS OUT versus NODS OFF. I know that Rex flourishes precisely because he nit-picks, so I don't expect him to abandon that approach. But the commenters don't need to follow his example. Really nice puzzle.
Don't know movies and don't like puns. A giant Sunday slog.
Perfect start to the day. Really enjoyed the themers, no issue with the reveal (and agree nomination is recognition), and thought the fill was a small price to pay. And @LMS thanks for making it even better than I realized. The only issue I had was with the 'D' in The Matrix, but it's fine and I can't improve it.
BACKspAce and Pastis before PERNOD made me slog a bit, but not to many do-overs. Time to play some David Bowie and ponder ALIENLIFE. LOL, the older I get the surer I am it's already here in abundance.
Bravo! Ditto on it all😀
A good song/video to accompany today’s blog would be Dada’s “Dizz Knee Land”.
It was what he was going for. “After a DOSE”.
@Dan I got a cheap laugh at a theater when after seeing the preview for the Russell Crowe film, announced a little too loudly, GLAD I ATE HER! Wasn’t 13 yo but in early 40s.
Had RCA, then BMI, then BMG (11 cds for 1¢!) before EMI. Also thought DadsHUMOR before DARK.
@LMS - I’ve been conditioned to hope not that Rex will enjoy a puzzle but if he will be set off by a term or name. Why I hope TRUMP card, ADOLF’s Meat Tenderizer, KIRK Cousins/James CAMERON, hell, even PEPE LEPEW will be included. Ain’t I a stinker?
Actually this is correct. Manchester United supporters who understand the club’s history don’t refer to them this way. Fans of other clubs (particularly Liverpool) have an infamous song that uses “Man U” which is why it’s problematic.
I know it's only February but I'm giving this puzzle the nod for worst Sunday of the Year Oscar. So many times I just wanted to quit solving in disgust. When DOADUET showed up I thought to myself that at least I was over with the worst of it. Then I finished with that SW corner and realized how sadly wrong I was. While I got a clean grid out of it all I can say is anyone who makes a puzzle like this ought to be BALLHUNG.
yd -0
Enjoyed the comments far more than the puzzle. So nice to read responsorial intelligence. Today was notable in that lms and Rex as direct opposites were wonderfully entertaining. The puzzle itself was a bit too obtuse for my taste and I needed some Wikihelp here and there. But oh! those comments….
As any real fan knows, Man U are, and always will be, simply “United.”
Rexcoriation I’m dying
Yes, there was plenty to groan about in this puzzle--and not just the puns. NODS OUT was on my list, but then I looked it up and found that phrase has been a term for falling asleep after a "dose" (alcohol or drugs; either will do) since 1961, while NODS Off (which was also my choice) simply means "to fall asleep."
WALL HUNG: also...weird and terrible. But the clue for I DIG at 107D made me laugh out loud. That was today's bright spot for me. Much needed.
Nods Out was, and is, a thing, Rex. Take my word for it.
Puzzle was both a slog and weirdly satisfying to finish. Good enough for a Sunday.
"Jeremy Newton, of Austin, Texas, is an engineering manager for mobile games..."
Well, of course he is!!! What else?
"He grumbled a lot while making this puzzle..."
Not as much as I grumbled -- before I threw it against the wall, that is.
You can load up an already PPP-themed puzzle with additional and mindless PPP up the wazoo, but when push comes to shove, you can't make me stay until the bitter end. Or anywhere near it. I quit less than halfway through.
Those who really know soccer call it football. ;)
At noon on March 1, I intend to cancel my subscription to the New York Times and its puzzles. That is when the Times will stop offering digital access to its Acrostics and Cryptic Crosswords, in my opinion their two best-quality offerings.
I have solved every Shortz-era NYT daily crossword and acrostic, going back to 1993 and '99 respectively. I'm working my way back through the cryptics now. I have a long way to go, so I won't get anywhere close.
I encourage you to try these puzzles while you have the opportunity. They don't try at all to be "very much in the language." They're very light on pop culture. They never apologize for difficult vocabulary words. They sometimes sing of far-flung geographies and remote myths. And the clues can wow once solved.
The Acrostic, always by Henry Rathvon and Emily Cox, uses cross-referenced clues and answers to reveal a quotation and its author. It always seems impossible at first, but you just keep chopping until you see the pattern emerge, and then everything finishes in a rush. And the quote is usually fun, sometimes thought-provoking.
Cryptics, for me, seem impossible from start to finish, but somehow I do -- usually after an hour, and often more, of trying -- like Saturday crosswords when I was new to this. You have to solve the clue in order to solve the answer, and only half of the letters cross. And if the cryptic is by Richard Silvestri, you often have to solve clues-within-clues. The Rathvon/Cox cryptics are also tough, though they feel like old friends after all those acrostics.
So be it.
I feel the same way-read Rex and scroll to find LMS! I just want to be your friend! I do worry if don’t post for a few days!! Thanks-I always learn something new!!
Hey All !
Well, call me a simpleton or just a SOFTY, but I thought this was a great puz! Took a while to figure out what the Themers wanted, but once I got the first one, THAI TAN KNICK, and actually read it out loud, let out a chuckle, thought, "Clever!", and set about finding (and speaking aloud) the rest.
Last one I got was THUMB MADE TRICKS, and that ended up my favorite!
Posting before reading anyone, so this Back-At-Rex complaint may have already been addressed, but... Relax and enjoy the punniess, Rex! Who gives a flying fig if the catagory is no longer SOUND MIXING? It's not like we're trying to cure cancer here, it's a crossword puz designed to give you joy and some fun diversion. Have fun! It's OK to laugh at the corniness! HELL OWED ALI! C'mon now, that's good stuff.
Too bad GEENA couldn't have been GENIE, then 74 D really would've made Rex whoop! 😂
I do agree, however, on NODS OUT. Had Off there, like 100% of everyone who got that answer first with no crosser help. NODS OUT sounds like it'd be a good movie title. Maybe by Jordan Peele, although his titles are one word only.
Here's a sad attempt at one:
Talking dog complaining to Actress Daly?
FUR ACHIN'S TYNE
Nifty puz. A fun WOW-ness. Thanks HOMIE, for a fun time!
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Ok, people, tell me I’m not the only one who had bEtte as the Davis actress, resulting in WeLL HUNG for the museum art. I thought, “Wow, you found a NYT-safe way to clue that. A little convoluted, but bravo!” I should note that I saw the awful NO BUENO coming but I didn’t put it in, hoping it would be something else. Kinda disappointed when I had to change well to wall.
As usual with punny Sundays, this one really split the commentariat. I am on the plus side, though I agree some of the fill was really bad. The themers were very hard for me to get, and I can’t believe an earlier commenter was able to go through them and fill them in without many crosses. The fun of this kind of puzzle for me is needing almost every cross to see the pun (for SCHICK HOG, GO!, I needed every single cross) and then experiencing the groan of recognition. Interestingly, OSCAR WINNER and SOUND MIXING were the last to fall, after all the punny titles were in, mostly because their areas were really tough.
I watched ELVIS the other night. The movie was kind of a mess but Austin Butler was fantastic as the King. Tom Hanks, on the other hand, gave RETCH-inducing performance as Col. Tom Parker. The music was fantastic, including very modern tales on the classics. Just looked it up and, yes, “Elvis” was nominated for Best Sound. Seems odd that it wasn’t clued somehow as part of the theme.
Last thought - Col. KLINK made me smile and cringe at the same time. I loved “Hogan’s Heroes” as a kid, and the buffoonish KLINK and Sgt. Schultz were a big part of the fun. Only later did I look back with horror on how it gave me an impression of Nazis and WWII as a laff riot. What were they thinking?
Amy: Puns were an acquired taste for me. Took a running buddy, who made me guffaw during long marathon training runs, to make me appreciate them. Found this very amusing. And THAITANKNICK! That made me rewatch Bowen Yang's bit as the iceberg. Instant classic, that.
I love me a good pun, but half of these were excruciating. The only one I think *actually* works is Glad-He-Ate-Her. The others... woof.
Lots of words when a simple "meh" would suffice.
The only delight for me in this miserable slog was seeing my club in the NY Times puzzle after a nervy win yesterday (what was Casemiro thinking) and Arsenal losing at Everton. Some of the most tortured puns I have ever seen. Who thought that was a good idea? Like teaching me about the terminology for heroin usage. Glad he ate her and wall hung: some double entendres seem out of place as well.
Difficult because of the number of clues that had plausible (arguably better) wrong answers.
Backspace for backslash
Emus for ants
Chessmen for chessset
Pupa for silk
Jewel for beryl
Trans does stang
Nods off for nods out
Etc.
I'm sure the constructor is very pleased with himself, but I agree with everything Rex said about this puzzle. What a slog, esp. in the SW. Ugh.
Just popped in to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our favorite storyteller, the lovely . . .
@GILL: Wishing you a day filled with all your favorite things my dear. Mwah!
How about WeLL HUNG? 😏
one of the most painful puzzles i've forced my way through. the chicago one was seinfeld gif worthy
Say it again! Absolute slog.
Talk about an ear worm. I’ll be singing HELLO WEDALI all day.
I achieved a personal first today when I got censored for my take on 95A. Probably a good call by the blog admins, so I’m not going to GOAPE. But I think we all ought to acknowledge that the comic universe is largely composed of unheard DARKHUMOR.
I was GNASking my teeth over the Kealoa at hONG KONG.
Little Jack Horner was known to pull off a few THUMBMADETRICKS over in his corner from time to time.
I love puns and SPACETRAVEL (in the sense of last Sunday’s puzzle), so I’m more than good with this puzzle. So much so that I might frame and WALLHaNG it. Thanks, Jeremy Newton.
Sheesk. Ouch. Took forever to get my first themed answer, then when the joke made sense, I kept thinking the entire time, "One of these is gonna have a mistake in it and I will never find it." I was relieved when the Congrats sign popped up.
Looking back over this puzzle, it's full of junk. Wow. Off to Monday.
Uniclues:
1 Gymnopédies-ist preps to Ford-ize.
2 What far too many contemporary art shows look like to a dolt like me.
3 Haters really hate vintage sci-fi.
1 SATIE SITTING IN STANG (~)
2 SHRED SHOW WALL HUNG
3 TRON BAD KARMA ACRID (~)
The "glad he ate her" pun was not about cannibals. Take our word for it.
To me, puns are like grandchildren - you love them no matter how bad they are. The worse the better.
Side note: Saw The Banshees of Inisherin last night. Wow. Best to see on the big screen. Four very worthy Oscar nods for acting.
Well I like puns as well as the next Dad-joke lover, and I appreciate the effort it took to come up with these, but I found a couple of them not groan-worthy, but cringe-worthy(HELLOWEDALI, SCHICKHOGGO). Also know the dirty joke version of Gladiator, and could have spent all morning without thinking of it.
Daisy is in our local paper too Gimmee. WALLHUNG? Is there another place to display your paintings?
I'll have to give a pass to NODOFF thanks to those among us who are more familiar with heroin use, but I'm with @Joe D. and OFL concerning NOBUENO. Please, if you're in the habit of saying that, just stop. This sounds like what Tarzan would say if he spoke Spanish, and it's awful. I have similar problems with "No problemo", as the word is "problema". Shame on you, Bart Simpson, for encouraging this atrocity.
I wanted SOUNDTRACK first and that K gave me SKIS for "six foot runners", which almost made sense, except that no skis are anywhere near six feet long any more, except jumping skis, and I was ready for a rant about that too, Unnecessary, ss it turned out.
I appreciate your skill in construction,, JN. Just Not in my collection of favorite puns. Thanks for a fair amount of fun at least.
@Birchbark (10:00) -- OMG, if you quit the NYT, will you also be quitting the blog? OMG.
You are our Renaissance Man -- thoughtful philosopher and rugged outdoorsman both -- and therefore you are simply not replaceable. Please don't leave us!!!
As far as Cryptics go, I love them too. I find the ones in the NYT to be quite fair, compared to the ones that appear in the British papers, esp "The Guardian". And they're also a lot easier than those that appear in the WSJ -- as always kindly forwarded to me by @mathgent. Right now, though, I may need a hair transplant because he sent me a fiendish Cox and Raython called LANGUAGE LAB that I'm pretty sure is unsolvable by me. Even though @mathgent has sent me three emails containing hints -- each one considerably hint-ier than the last, I STILL am nowhere near solving it and am tearing out my hair. I throw down the gauntlet, @Birchbark: Can you solve it? Evidently @mathgent did -- which is really impressive!
And once again -- please don't leave us!!
@Birchbark, where did you see that information. If that is true I will also be canceling my subscription. I really only keep it for the cryptic.
LMS @ 3:58 Is “haters gonna hate” to assuage Jeremy? I dare say we all HATE (detest, abhor, despise) specific stuff. Does that make us haters? RP finds a lot to loathe but I’d never imply that he’s a hater. Maybe this isn’t your intent but it reads that way to me and/or it suggests that those of us who find this puzzle an overcooked slog—and say so—are haters. I may be overthinking this but you get my drift.
On another note, the WALLHUNG issue reminded me of a gallery visitor I overheard who described an installation as well hung. The (male) gallerist was not amused. I doubt that the Russell Crowe allusion and the hanging reference are unintentional—adolescent, yes
I completed this one because I suffer with occasional masochism, usually on Sundays.
Did no one else have BEST PICTURE before Sound Mixing??
I unabashedly count myself in the groaner pun camp. AH, MIDDAY, YES was my fave.
Hung on to pupa and T-bird for too long but I had a snickering good time solving this one!
A jewel of its kind, loved it. I didn't think HELL OWED ALI could be beat until I got to GLAD HE ATE HER (I was so sure that regret was going to be involved). But AW MAN did I puzzle over AH, MIDDAY, YES!
@Jeremy Newton, what a terrifically inventive puzzle! Thank you for the fun.
Re: Col. Klink, 16D
Werner Klemperer, who played Klink, was from a Jewish family and made it a condition of accepting the role that Klink never emerge as the hero of an episode. No problema, Werner. His dad was the conductor Otto Klemperer. John Banner, who played Sgt Schultz, was also Jewish, and was a Sgt in the US army during the war.
Robert Clary, who played Cpl LeBeau, was Jewish and a holocaust survivor. He died last November at age 96. He survived at Buchenwald by entertaining the Germans. He said afterward: "Sometimes I dream about those days. I wake up in a sweat terrified for fear I'm about to be sent away to a concentration camp, but I don't hold a grudge because that's a great waste of time. Yes, there's something dark in the human soul. For the most part, human beings are not very nice. That's why when you find those who are, you cherish them." There are far more terrifying observations on his Wikipedia writeup.
@Birchbark, I couldn’t agree with you more.
From yesterday’s comments:
Anonymous Steven said...
NYT is no longer going publish digital Variety and Acrostic puzzles and is in fact removing access to the entire archive of these puzzles! They are offering no compensation for this loss of service and I feel they should hear about it. If so inclined, join me is emailing NYTGames@nytimes.com to express our disappointment!
Let’s get some letters going!
Another complete slog. I do the crossword to challenge myself and have fun. This one was no fun at all. And I must agree with OFL; its nods OFF, not nods OUT. The constructor was really pushing the limits of wordplay. Let's hope next week is better.
@Nancy, @matchgent - is that LANGUAGE LAB puzzle available online? Sounds like one I'd really enjoy.
@pmdm - Sometimes, people just have different life experiences. I'm fairly sure I've never heard the words "Trois Gymnopies" before, and a quick trip to YouTube confirms I've never heard the music, either.
@tb - they are hiding it well, but this if from the NYT
"Starting March 1, 2023 we will no longer publish or support digital versions of the Acrostic and Variety Puzzles. The digital versions of these puzzles were difficult to support for our technical teams, and few of our subscribers played these puzzles online. By removing support, we can refocus our resources on our other offerings.
Acrostic and Variety Puzzles can still be played in the print edition of The New York Times and the Sunday magazine.
The ability to download and print these puzzles will be discontinued on February 26, 2023.
The archive will be available until March 1, 2023."
The reason given is clearly bogus. It will take more effort to take down the archive than to leave it in place, and the 'effort' to simply put up .pdf versions to print is trivial.
Thx, Jeremy; what a marvelous construction! :)
Hard.
Still looking for at least one error. 🤞
Nevertheless, a very enjoyable battle (ongoing)! :)
@Stella's Sat. Stumpers: relatively easy (1.5 x NYT Sat.), but a sp blunder at the 53A / 51D cross. :(
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
Hated it. If they were all this irritating I'd quit doing them.
Good God. *Awful*. *Terrible*. Another candidate for worst evah. But the field is getting very crowded.
Can't believe so many don't know that when a junkie shoots up they often nod out - slump forward and go into a daze.
Yes: Man U play at Old Trafford, where the heart of the home support congregates in the Stretford End.
Here's the website, @kitshef. It says there's a PDF to download. I wouldn't know because @mathgent always sends me a printout, snail-mail.
All I can say is be careful what you wish for :)
LOVED IT!!
@Anon 2:09. I stand corrected on Old Tratford, will attribute that mistake to the late, late hour. Silly error. My source for not calling them Man U was a Mancunian mate who took great umbrage at that abbreviation, but I’ll take your word as another Brit, thanks. As for me, I’m a Chelsea guy, so suffering through this season.
It is hard to believe this stinker took 12 years to write. Even more surprising is the fact the author was eventually happy with THIS. Imagine how bad prior versions must have been! So many bad answers including “Nods out” instead of “Nods off”? Yuck!
@cdilly (Just saw your post from last night)-New record for wind chill on Mt. Washington as it got down to -108. In a word, brrrrr.
FYI “nod out” is indeed a phrase, specifically re: heroin use; I thought it was a little edgy for the NYT!
And the Oscar goes to Jeremy Newton. Best Sunday ever. I have never laughed so much while doing a Sunday crossword.
Why can’t the Times publish a Sunday puzzle I enjoy? The world may never know.
I realize it’s much easier to destroy than to create but much of this fill was absolutely horrid. Just torture getting through this today.
Also, specific low-points: WALL HUNG and THUMB MADE. Nope.
I’m pretty much with you on every point except for your grammatical argument here:
“So ... SOUND MIXING ... is the (and I quote the puzzle now) "category for which every OSCAR WINNER in this puzzle was recognized"??? This makes no sense at a simple grammatical level, as the Oscar *is* the recognition, so though the movies were certainly recognized for SOUND MIXING, they were not in fact OSCAR WINNERs until they were so recognized.”
“Oscar” is also the name of the statue signifying the award and, hence, is a thing that can be won. And am I wrong that “Oscar winner” is a pretty common way of referring both to film and individual awardees? Also, your final temporal point doesn’t really cut it. We are calling them “Oscar winners” now, in the present. From this temporal vantage point we can say that SOUND MIXING is (well, better: was) was the category for which every winner of an Oscar (statue) was in fact recognized. Seems to me to make perfect grammatical sense (albeit factually incorrect, as you point out).
Can someone please explain 90D: End of a flight, in two senses ==> LANDING. Other than a plane flight (the obvious one) we are stumped as to what the second sense could be...
Also, how is 100D: Journalist in a field ==> EMBED ??
I thought the theme was brilliantly executed and that Rex is being a bit too purist on the SOUND MIXING answer. It's already impressive that the constructor was able to come up with such solid, well-known films for all the themers (usually these kinds of puzzles have several obscure 'duds'), but even more so that each one also won Oscars related to sound. The fact that the answer was tweaked makes it all the more clever since SOUND MIXING is the manner in which the the titles become "Hollywood Remakes." It ties the puzzle up very elegantly. Agree with Rex about some of the fill being clunky. NODS OUT is atrocious, but I also think HEAD ON IN is pretty miserable too.
@TAB2TAB -- A LANDING is also the end of a flight of stairs.
(There will probably be 10 such explanations being offered in the next batch of comments.)
@Loren 3:58 am, to your list of cool greetings I would like to add "Hajimemashite", which Japanese say upon first meeting. It literally means "it has begun"; 'it' being 'our friendship'. Sooo much classier than "nice to meet you".
Re "dirty joke" and Russell Crowe character, this Wortspiel has been around a long time. It was said by Christopher Walken during a scene in The Deerhunter, 1978. I grew up in a mixed ethnic neighborhood with many Italian Americans and I remember hearing it then (I'm 84). Good things last a long time.
@Birchbark
I too am going to cancel my Games subscription. I have access to the digital edition of the Times through my workplace (The Nation) and I don't need all that dead tree matter to bind up every two weeks for recycling. I only work the dailies Thursday through Saturday, and I download them and Sunday's to work on paper. The Acrostic—for obvious reasons—is the only puzzle I work online, and I would hate to have to go back to working it on paper. The Variety Puzzle is sometimes a cryptic, which is the kind I prefer, but always disappointingly easy. So I will be saying a fond farewell to my Games subscription and to the New York Times puzzles by end of this short month.
There are plenty of cryptics to keep me busy at the London Times and Sunday Times (whose prize puzzle I blog every other Sunday as part of the team at "Times for the TImes," which used to be hosted by LiveJournal but migrated to its own site shortly after Putin invaded Ukraine and we learned that LJ is owned by a state-owned Russian bank). Now I'll have more time for the devilishly difficult weekly Mephisto.
@Nancy (10:44) -- "Gauntlet" is a perfect word-choice for a cryptic challenge. I rarely solve on paper (hence the forthcoming cancellation). But I do have a WSJ subscription and will give "Language Lab" a shot (thrown gauntlet a matter of honor and all, and I must respond, though your wish alone sufficeth).
DAISY was the name of Dagwood and Blondie's dog in the old comic strip. And yeah, junkies "nod out," although I think being "dosed" usually refers (or at least used to refer) to being given psychedelics without one's knowledge (e.g., in Kool-Aid). A junkie who nods out has probably O.D.'d.
I absolutely loved this puzzle. Brilliant concept and winner after winner. The fact they all won Oscars and were nominated (that is how I read the word “recognized”) for sound is amazing. I hoped Rex would give praise, but feared an unjustified rant. But I knew - I KNEW IT - LMS would give this gem its proper shine. Thank you LMS thank you. You are my hero.
I spent time trying to fit Dad Joke in 17A, producing a "cringe and a laugh" and starting with D. Had to give it up at the end.
Sill have no idea what the hell a "STANG" is.
Corny, corny, corny. But lotsa fun. I liked it, except for the crossing of WALLHUNG and STANG. Nobody calls a Mustang a STANG. And WALLHUNG paintings? You mean as opposed to floor-HUNG or perhaps ceiling-HUNG paintings? Yeesh!
I knew all the movies referred to in the puzzle and still found it a total slog. I didn’t get a sense of “Oh, how fun and satisfying!” when I’d see the completed answer, but a sigh and a “was that really necessary?”. Never heard of nodding out so the comments here have been educational. I really wanted the clue about the Devil and The Greatest to reference The Devil Went Down to Georgia (losing his fiddle of gold to the greatest fiddle player - though it was really “the best that’s ever been”) until I quickly realized that wasn’t right.
@ Anonymous 1:10 am Bravo! Thought that "grammar" rant nonsense but couldn't have smacked it down so well.
Also, How many solvers actually remember when sound mixing was or was nota seific category? Hopefully very few.
Put a smiley face by the clue for spa. But now that I reread it I see it says rubbed instead of rub which kind of spoils it.
'ed" at the end which kind of spoils it.
I agree
Re: the end of the online versions of acrostics and cryptics. Yesterday I emailed NYTGames, calling into question their reasons for discontinuing the digital forms (i.e., technically "difficult to support"; "few" subscribers are interested), and today I received a response from a customer support specialist. Basically boilerplate, repeating the language of the original announcement, but also including this: The main reason behind removing the Acrostic and Variety from our online platforms is due to the complex nature of these puzzles which, we believe, are best solved in a printed format, a statement that will boggle the mind of any acrostic solver who knew they'd entered paradise when they solved their first digital puzzle and the letters of the clue answers automatically appeared the boxes of the quote.
Is it possible to hate a crossword this much….yes
Rex thought Glad He Ate Her the best of the bunch. But it doesn’t compute. He kills his buddy and dines on the remains, and what he feels is “glad”? Possible, but surely unlikely. We had a better version 70 years ago: Why Was the Roman Happy?
Boy, that SW corner was killer. My first DNF in a long, long time.
And is six foot runners really an okay clue for ANTS? Just because they have six legs and, I guess, some kind of feet? (As if to prove my point, the google tells me their feet are called tarsi.) That clue was awful!
Learning that the themer films winning their Oscars for SOUND MIXING isn't technically accurate is a slight bummer, but I think this is one of those times where artistry and artistic license win out over staid factuality. Every time I completed one, I said it out loud, gave it a wry smile, and was like, "Okay, uh huh, all right all right, ell oh ell." GLAD HE ATE HER made me legitimately laugh; it's the smoothest of all the themers, and I think it touched the same sort of button as like saying something like, "Gladiator? I hardly know her!"
I knew Rex was going to hate this puzzle because he doesn't seem to enjoy the act of playing with the sounds of words for its own sake. There's real utility in being able to do this sort of thing that I think is underappreciated. It makes you a more flexible writer and speaker. It's brain food, regardless of how goofy the results are.
WALL HUNG might clang on the ears, but it does make technical sense to specify a painting that way, as opposed to a sculpture that would be free-standing or a mobile that might be ceiling-hung. I'm not gonna dog it.
Speaking of which, DAISY immediately scanned as a dog name for me because my grandparents had two cocker spaniels named Li'l Abner and Daisy Mae, which is an even more obscure comics reference than Blondie.
to Wanderlust @ 10:05: I would guess the idea was that making Nazis seem ridiculous and buffoonish drained them of the power they held over those they had oppressed. Some time had passed, the evil had been put asunder and chased back into the woodwork, and it was safe to laugh at them. I think it's a lost art, in a way. Maybe we would be in a better place if we had been more intentional about making evil look stupid and stupid look shameful. This was a country that once nuked Dan Quayle's future from orbit over POTATOE. We practically shamed public smoking out of existence—never quite understood why we didn't/couldn't/wouldn't bring that same energy to being dumb.
Also, I love all the folks who are still like "I agree, Rex, NODS OUT isn't a thing!!" well after it's been proven in the comments, repeatedly, that it is. Rex has to take the L when he says something like that because the proving otherwise has to come later, but commenters have little excuse. Read and think before you speak.
MetroGnome @2:06 — STANG is short for Mustang, paralleling how "'Vette" in the clue is short for Corvette. And contrary to what thefogman right below you said, I have heard people say that. It clangs to the ear, yes, but I've heard it many times.
Liked it. Not exactly a G.O.A.Theme, but nice and humorous, which really helps m&e, on a mega-solvequest.
Actually, a pretty well-butchered set of Oscar winners here. Kinda like @mmorgan said, they're so bad they're great. Groaners? U want groaner themers? Try this one out …
{Alaskan involved in confusing crossword solvers (2020)} = ?*
staff weeject pick: KIR. "The Fifth Element". well... sorta. kinda.
Theme was funny, but also helped with the solvequest. First one I nailed was THAI-TAN-KNICK. After that, got most of the themers off half the letters or less. "I think like them," M&A muttered in hopeful amazement.
@Muse darlin: Nice themer, there in yer "Avatar". Considerin mine (*), M&A is envious.
Thanx for the Oscar Wild fun, Mr. Newton dude. Good job, altho … NEWMUSIC,DOADUET --> har
Masked & Anonymo8Us
p.s. * = NOME-ADDLE-HAND.
**gruntz**
It is a negative subject but as someone said the term nods out does exist : after a dose, i.e heroin the user nods out.
I think it is a valid answer also.
I didn't hate the puzzle.
Thought I would never get a toe hold even with CDT, HAH and ERE because the answer to 1A (King, Queen, etc) is CHESS mEn, period. That error forced me to meander around until I got my “zoom/whoosh” going in the NE. I worked my way diagonally down to the SW and had a great time with the oronyms.
First of all, kudos to our constructor! The sheer number of theme entries blew me away. And their cleverness made me smile, groan and laugh. Well done. This is my kind of Sunday silliness. Knowing we were in for a full blown Rexcoriation (@LMS, pure genius) did not dampen my enthusiasm one whit. The purpose of the Sunday puzzle is to entertain. It did. At least once a week, the NYT should let its hair down and just refuse to take itself so seriously.
Because the difficulty level of the theme is so high, I can even forgive the somewhat tortured clues and answers (NOD OUT is just weird) because the goal was to get all the themers in and let them shine.
Thanks, Jeremy, I had to out on my shades the shine on this one was so bright!
I feel too old to do this puzzle when the only rival to a Corvette was a T-Bird, when "Let's Dance" meant Benny Goodman (via C.M. von Weber) and the joke at 95A about the "Happy Roman" was all the rage in my 3rd-grade class. And yes, we got it then because sex-ed was learned in the streets not in a classroom.
ManU can mean one thing and one thing only:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manu_Gin%C3%B3bili?wprov=sfti1
I liked it, kind fun.
Whatever you think of the puzzle it was nice to only have 2 or 3 pretentious liberals offended by certain clues.
Way lower than usual.
Nice job Jeremy!
I'm with frogman - I've never heard "Stang" for Mustang, while Vette is very common. Does anyone besides me remember Arnold Stang?
I simply never ever ever do the Times Sunday crossword. I decided years ago that it is two darn long and always disappointing in the end. A big effort with a small payoff.
I do enjoy reading all the comments here, though. And they reconfirm my decision.
Carola 2:14 - Ditto. I hadn't heard NYT was discontinuing digital acrostics! Total bummer. Acrostics are a delight on line and a slog on paper. I'm glad I completed a 3-year COVID project - I did all the archived acrostics, about 600 of them. Would not have dreamed of doing that on paper.
48A . . . "rubbed" = the people who are being rubbed therein
@Sandy McCroskey (1:38) -- I'm impressed by your "too easy" comment and by the other cryptics you solve -- would be interested in your thoughts on the gauntlet @Nancy (10:44) threw down. And suggestions for which alternatives can be solved online.
@Carola (2:14) -- Amen. Your observation helped me craft my e-mail to nytgames@nyt.com, as suggested earlier by @Unknown and @Anonymous Steven.
A lot of @'s above, but good minds behind the names. Thanks --
I incorrectly had WELL-HUNG crossing GLAD HE ATE HER and thought, This is pretty racy got the NYT. Didn’t last long, but it added some spark to this slog.
I wouldn't change a thing Rex noted. Couldn't find a foothold and definitely didn't get any of the theme-rs except through lots of crosses, even after I grokked the theme.
I resigned myself early on to a probable DNF. However, I stuck with this far longer than was pleasant and ultimately nailed it.
Totally agree. This was a groaner but was fun groaning with my family
Erik Satie, French composer. But yeah, EM’ bed, like “wolf blitzed was embedded with coalition troops”. Later shortened to embed. But the clue sucked. “Journalist in A field” ??? THE field, maybe.
“It’s an honor just to be nominated!” is the cliche/lie actors and directors tell themselves!
Had similar problems to Rex's around THUMBMADETRICKS with all its obscure crossings, but at the end if the day no real naticks here and the puzzle was finishable, but left a disagreeable corny aftertaste. I'll give it three stars.
I never solve —sorry, "play"— the Variety puzzles online, so the upcoming change won't affect me. But their reason for discontinuing them sounds specious.
You can download a pdf of the WSJ "Language Lab" cryptic here. I haven't cared for Cox & Rathvon's cryptics for the Times— they're usually too obvious —but I'll try this one. It looks similar to Richard Maltby's puzzles in Harper's, by far the toughest cryptics I've done. They always have a devilish extra layer or two added to the mix.
Late to the party, but I thought these pins would be bad enough to be appreciated by Rex. I enjoyed it. Had the same reaction to NODOUT, but see now that it is a thing.
In case you care, and because I had nothing else to do at the moment, here's a list of the films that won the Sound award when it was actually called Best Sound Mixing:
2019 1917
2018 BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
2017 DUNKIRK
2016 HACKSAW RIDGE
2015 MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
2014 WHIPLASH
2013 GRAVITY
2012 LES MISÉRABLES
2011 HUGO
2010 INCEPTION
2009 THE HURT LOCKER
2008 SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
2007 THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
2006 DREAMGIRLS
2005 KING KONG
2004 RAY
2003 LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING
@Birchbark …Sorry, seeing this late. I haven't tried the Language Lab puzzle yet.
The duo who used to do the cryptic crossword in The Nation, Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto, have a Patreon site, Out of Left Field, for which I am one of the test solvers.
The London Times has an overseas digital subscription package that is very cheap, especially compared to what UK residents have to pay, even if they only want the puzzle. I only look at the Crossword Club, though I have access to the entire… Murdoch-owned… production. Gee, thanks…
I'm easy to reach, sandy "at" thenation dot com.
(It's my "work" address, but I've used it for everything for thirty-odd years. Lock me up! Ha.)
“Nod out?” F*** off.
Daisy happens to be my dog’s name, so I got that one.
I'll leave the Mustang vs. Corvette comparison for another day but STANG? A fitting end to along slog...enjoyed the comments.
I loved it!!!!
I'm not a big movie person, so this one was extra tough for me- pretty much as frustrating as a puzzle with a ton of proper nounds. Also annoyed by SOUND MIXING.
not fun, not smart, not funny but ... really just torture. HOWEVER,
heroin addicts nod 'out' not 'off.'
I believe that Rex and the pun haters must be American. If they were Brits they would delight in the word play that causes Americans to groan. Word play, whether obvious or abstruse, should always be welcome and enjoyed for what it is--play. Isn't that why we do puzzles, as games?
Please add Weird AL to that pantheon of silliness.
Rex....Daisy was Dagwood Bumsteads dog...fyi
I’m a fan of “mucho gusto”. Such joyful sounding words for meeting someone new!
"And the Award for most nits picked in a single New York Times Sunday Crossword goes to..."
To quote the great stonefaced comedian Pat Paulson...
"picky, Picky, PICKY!"
Not only did I thoroughly enjoy this puzzle (hell.owed.Dali – Hello Dolly! cracked the code for me)…but I’d rate it 5☆ for originality and cleverness.
But then, what do I know?
I don’t try to solve crosswords at Breakneck Speed.
I appreciate common crosswordese that provides welcome entry points into puzzles.
And I don’t go looking for pesky nits to pick about the grid, construction or fill.
I’m just a retired Baby Boomer and lifelong puzzler, who teethed on Dell Crossword magazines, still gets a High when a particularly clever theme is uncovered…and hopes he never becomes blase or overly critical when solving.
One other thought for all of you Crossword Wizards out there.
I suspect The New York Times crosswords are not specifically designed and edited with you in mind…but for ordinary people who enjoy the challenge, delight and satisfaction of puzzling through a crossword.
Keep it in mind when you go rooting around for those nits.
(I mean c'mon now, complaining and arguing about the meaning of the term 'Sound Mixing'...?)
The February 5th puzzle took all the pleasure out of one of my favourite pastimes. It was terrible. Awful. I've been doing the puzzles for 50 years and I've never HATED one. LOATHED is more accurate.
Sue Potts
😂😂😂
Arnold STANG, in addition to being a fixture on several game show panels, turned in a nice supporting performance in "The Man With the Golden Arm," a film everyone should see. (DOD GEENA Davis would've been great in the Kim Novak role.)
This puzzle was straight-up challenging, taking two solid hours of full-tilt brainwork to finish. The problem was the clues, which were almost all "somewhat off." Just one example: "Tapped" for CHOSE. Yes IKNEWIT: one can get tapped for an assignment. It's just...around the corner, so to speak. The clues were like that more often than not. Hand up for CHESSmEn. More ink spillage at THEIRRITESTOUGH, when I tried to make THE fit.
I understand the inaccuracy of the category, as the constructor wanted to bring in the idea of the theme, i.e. "MIXING" the SOUND. Just one more pun he couldn't reject. Nits can be picked, but we get the idea. I must consider the triumph points for this poser, which are...considerable. Birdie.
Wordle birdie as well. Coming out of the fog?
I was wondering if anyone else immediately knew that Daisy is the Bumstead's dog. I'm 64 and have been reading Blondie my entire life. My local paper still runs it.
HIGHTAIL DUET
THAT GOODGIRL won't CHITCHAT with men,
IKNEWIT's RITE TOUGH TO date her,
his TRICK'S TO say, "GO, HEADONIN."
AH,MIDAYYES, HE's GLADHEATEHER.
--- GWEN LEWIS
Not as wacky as the other day, but HUMOR enough. As noted above, Daisy as the Bumstead's dog's name easy to recognize. Which stone or ivory tower does OFL live under or in? Had tbird before STANG, right company, wrong car. GEENA, GWEN, or ANI, yeah baby.
Wordle par.
I very much enjoyed this puzzle. Thought it was clever!
The cocoon walls are made of silk. So technically there is silk in the cocoon.
If you enjoyed the "sound it out" theme answers, try the game Mad Gab. Hilarious, especially when a couple glasses of wine are consumed first!
What a terrible puzzle. Surprised more people didn’t take issue with “Their rite’s tough” which as a homonym should have been “THE rite’s tough”. Also “slangy” (“Like ‘threads’ for clothing”)…that’s just plain SLANG, not “slangy”.
Also am I the only one who knows “Glad he ate her” as the punchline to a classic dirty joke? “Wall hung” was also one letter away from that category.
So glad I wasn't the only one who thought this was a total slog! The theme clues were hard enough, but some of the others were head scratchers!
In syndication, this one is running this Sunday, March 12, the day of the Oscars. Surprised they didn't make it do it would run in the NYT this weekend instead, but it works for those who see it elsewhere....
Got it finally, but not sure it was worth the time spent. I can't imagine how much time was spent on construction. Hope it paid off.
Daisy in the comic strips was also Lil' Abner's girlfriend And she was no dog.
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