THEME: HIDDEN / AGENDA (9A: With 68-Across, ulterior motive ... or what 21-, 37- and 59-Across each has?) — the letter string "AGENDA" is "HIDDEN" inside three answers:
Theme answers:
HÄAGEN-DAZS (21A: New York City-born ice cream brand with a Danish-sounding name)
VOLKSWAGEN DASHER (37A: 1970s auto that shares part of its name with one of Santa's reindeer)
MAGEN DAVID (59A: Name for the star on Israels' flag)
Word of the Day: VOLKSWAGEN DASHER (37A) —
The Volkswagen Passat (B1) is a large family car produced by Volkswagen in West Germany from 1973 to 1981. // The original Volkswagen Passat was launched in 1973. The body types offered originally were two- and four-door fastbacksedans (that were discontinued in 1981). These were joined in January 1975 by identically profiled three- and five-door hatchback versions. Externally all four shared a modern design, styled by the Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro. In essence, the first Passat was a fastback version of the mechanically identical Audi 80 sedan, introduced a year earlier. [...] In North America, the car was called the Volkswagen Dasher. The three- and five-door hatchback and a station wagon model were launched in North America for and during the 1974 model year. (wikipedia)
• • •
This puzzle is like yesterday's puzzle in that it has a well-worn, tried-and-true theme type (in this case, the "hidden" word), but it fails by doing poorly what yesterday's puzzle did so well. Yesterday, the revealer was a real revelation, and all the answers worked beautifully, no stretches at all. Today, the revealer is blah and everything besides the ice cream feels like a real stretch. I know something about stretching the limits of answers to make your theme work: I once made a BEER BELLY puzzle where I "hid" LAGER inside VILLAGE ROADSHOW (a movie production company that has done major work but is not exactly a household name). But my puzzle didn't just hide LAGER over and over and over. There were other beer types. Here, it's just AGENDA AGENDA AGENDA, and there are only three themers, so those "huh?" themers really leave a mark. And today, the biggest "huh?" was VOLKSWAGEN DASHER—in fact, the answer is so "huh?," it essentially *tells* you that it's "huh?" but putting that giveaway bit in there about Santa's reindeer. I didn't know the Star of David was known as anything but the Star of David, so MAGEN DAVID was a shrug. Seems like a valid answer, but the point is that you really have to stretch the bounds of familiarity to make this work, and why? Just to see AGENDA again? Further, the revealer comes too early—the whole thing is given away at the top of the grid. Nothing much left to discover except how in the world there could be two more, non-ice cream answers that fit the bill. I just jumped to the end and then filled in VOLKSWAGEN DASHER (a car I've never heard of) shortly thereafter:
The other way this puzzle doesn't work as well as yesterday's is the fill, which was full of CRUD from the very start. Literally, the very start is where CRUD is, but that's also where ARRANT crosses ENNEAD (!?). When I'm stopping to take a screenshot of the wince-y fill before I've gotten out of the NW, that's a bad sign. But I stopped. Right here.
Did the cruddy NW predict overall cruddiness? Kinda. ATRACE IRINA NTH AGRA OHO AAHED ENID ONIT ACER LEDS EARPS (plural) ... these are not all *bad* but some of them definitely are, and all of them are tired or otherwise crossword-common, and I've only enumerated a portion of the problem here. ORBITING LIBERACE gave me a very nice visual—I like to think of him up there in the sky, just shining and playing away—and GONE AWOL is a nice variation on mere AWOL, but there's not much else here to help get the puzzle up on its feet. The puzzle was easy overall. I have no idea what a KETONE is or what it has to do with perfume (56A: Perfume ingredient), but that was the only stumper (outside those last two themers) in the whole grid.
I watched the 1983 movie version of The Pirates of PENZANCE this past week (I'm trying to watch as many major-release movies from 1983 as possible this year—no reason, just 'cause it's been 40 years and it's something to do). It was ... bad? I mean, I'm sure it's a fine operetta, but the production was cheesy, and even though Kevin Kline was handsome and athletic, the movie wanted me to believe that Angela Lansbury was "ugly" and "old" and had no sex appeal, and my credulity could not stand the strain. I realized while watching it that I know nothing about Gilbert & Sullivan except that modern Major-General song, which I always thought was in "H.M.S. Pinafore" — me, to my wife: "Wait ... they did *two* nautical operas??? What on earth?"). Yesterday's 1983 film was The Sting II, which was also not good (it was supposed to be set in NYC but they kept filming at famous L.A. landmarks, what the hell!?). But it did have my childhood celebrity crush, crossword legend TERI / GARR, in it, so it was highly watchable, implausibilities and inconsistencies be damned. See you tomorrow.
Initially reversed the last two letters of HAAGEN DAZS
Don't remember the Volkswagen Dasher
Long hesitation at 41D x 59A, thinking it had to be GONE AWOL x MoGEN DAVID, like the wine. Decided that the best course was to pick oWOL or MAGEN. Mentally tossed a coin and decided on the A. Looking it up afterwards, Magen is "star," while Mogen is "shield". My Hebrew is even rustier than my Spanish.
Not a great fan of the clue on DIVA. Women are often seen as “high- maintenance” whereas men will be seen as demanding. Otherwise an enjoyable if somewhat old-fashioned puzzle.
I knew it was going to be “one of those” right at the non-clue for the non-word at 1D (tres LECHES) and it managed to get worse from there (with ARRANT and ENNEAD leading the way). I horsed around with the rest of the nonsense for a while and finally through in the towel at a (yuk) MAGEN crossing ENID. Yes, it’s a puzzle, and technically it qualifies as a crossword puzzle - it’s just not a good one. The NYT is the only major publication that green-lights this kind of stuff on a regular basis, and it’s not a pretty sight.
Rex could have praised the constructor for finding a way to hide AGENDA in three phrases. That had to be very tough. I found the puzzle to be very easy which is my only complaint abut this one. Good work Daniel Raymon! I will look for other puzzles with your name on them. As for the fill? There will always be fill.
Well, I learned about MAGENDAVID and relearned how to spell HAAGENDAZS, but that was about it on the plus side today. Mr. Revealer showed up way too early and sticking AGENDA in places that were pointed to made everything a little too easy.
We're doing a course on novelty songs and the Modern Major General just showed up, not as such but as Tom Lehrer's marvelous take on the elements. Brilliant.
Speaking of songs, I regret to report that "Squeeze Box" did not show up last night at the hootenanny, thus breaking some kind of streak and destroying my reputation as a prophet.
@Anon 6:16-I hear your DIVA complaint. Our five-year old granddaughter, were she a boy, would be described as "having leadership qualities". Alas, some folks describe her as "bossy". So it goes.
OK Tuesday, DR. Didn't Ring the big bells for me but certainly serviceable. Thanks for some fun.
Finished it quickly, maybe because the puzzle catered more to senior-age solvers than most do. Thanks for that, Will Shortz!
I had trouble only with the ENID/LEDS cross, which is embarrassing because my mother and grandmother were named Enid. My grandmother was named after the Tennyson heroine who loved Gerant.
Why are LEDS short for "certain bulbs"? Is LED an abbreviation?
If you’re a huge Gilbert & Sullivan fan - which I am - then Kline’s Pirates isn’t so bad esp for the music. For the casual observer Caveat Emptor. Better to absorb the Doyle Carte records or Mike Leigh’s awesome Topsy Turvy and then come back to this later.
A brief “double ENTENDRE” rabbit hole led me to a TRIO of smile-producing actual newspaper headlines: Kids Make Nutritious Snacks Milk Drinkers Are Turning To Powder Grandmother Of Eight Makes Hole In One
A lovely Tuesday morning ride, fun to uncover, plus things to discover. Thank you for making this Daniel. You GIVETH and I enjoyeth.
I’ve watched that film of Pirates 30, maybe 40, times, and I loved it the first time and I love it more and more with each viewing. It’s beyond brilliant. Not the best analogy, but it did to G&S what Pee-wee Herman did to children’s TV.
Otherwise I had pretty much the same reaction as Rex to the puzzle but I got held up because I’d only heard of MoGEN DAVID, a supposedly awful wine.
Happy Mardi Gras!! My advice is to spend the day listening to WWOZ from Nola.
Yeah the nested word theme - but in this case we get a six letter word in AGENDA and I think a decent revealer. Thought the overall fill played late weekish - especially the already discussed ARRANT x ENNEAD cross.
I had a 1980 DASHER diesel that my dad gave me so that was nice to see. Dark green and a German ride - generated all of 50hp and probably took half a minute to get to 60 but could make close to 600 miles on a tank.
Bob Mills - LED is a Light Emitting Diode. LED lights are orders of magnitude more efficient than old incandescent bulbs, and even more efficient than the CFL (compact fluorescent) bulbs that became popular in the 'aughts.
Most new bulbs are LEDs. You probably don't think about it because they look pretty much like old bulbs. You may remember a brief stink the right tried to make about a decade ago that "Obama is coming for your light bulbs" based on moves to phase out production of inefficient incandescent bulbs in favor of more efficient new technologies. Yet somehow despite all of their doom-and-tyranny mongering, society survived.
The Pirates of PENZANCE is a fabulous operetta, my favorite G&S. The movie adaptation is terrible, but if you ever have the opportunity to see a production of it, it’s worth it.
I feel like anyone who has been to more than two or three Mexican (or tex-mex) restaurants (no, Taco Bell doesn't count) must have at least seen Tres Leches cake on a menu. I felt that "non-clue for a non-word" was a gimme. Agree that ENNEAD x ARRANT doesn't belong on Tuesday but otherwise don't object to it.
Favorite blunder on my part was reading "apian" as "ape-related" and thinking maybe "treE" was the answer. Seemed dubious so I let it go and read "apian" correctly the next time around.
I always thought it was UTAHN (as do UTAHNs, apparently), but it seems UTAHAN is common-enough usage.
Re: the actual puzzle, not light bulbs. I didn't mind the theme. I confess I knew the answer to HAAGEN DAZS immediately but did look up the spelling. VOLKSWAGEN DASHER I'd never heard of but was eventually gettable from crosses. MAGEN STAR though? Never heard of it, not gettable (meaning I needed every cross for MAGEN). And that ENNEAD.
Had RINGO for STARR for the longest time, even though it seemed as if EARPS wanted to cross. I kept thinking "well JOHN, PAUL, and GEORGE" don't fit. My brain could not possibly grasp the idea that the clue could use a last name. I kept trying to remember the "fifth beatle" wondering if that was it. Finally I decided it was some misdirect and there must be some *other* fab four it was referring to. I erased RINGO, put in EARPS and then got DODGER and that got me STARR. That corner was the last thing to go, and I had to use both the "check puzzle" and eventually "reveal answer" because I've never heard the words ARRANT or ENNEAD. NONAD, yes. ENNEAD, GFY.
My favorite actual headline was from a Rochester MN paper. I had just moved there and the article was headlined “Library bars dirty and smelly.” As someone just out of college I was surprised to hear that the local library had a bar!
I dunno. We're talking transliteration here, but the Yiddish speakers in my family said it Mogen David, which is also how the wine people spell their alternative to Manischewitz. I could illustrate the problem, having to do with the vowel under the initial letter, but have no idea how to write Hebrew letters on a keyboard. Either way, ogenda wouldn't work, so I give it a pass, although so lame a theme probably doesn't deserve it.
I thought this was a serviceable Tuesday. To be honest, I paid no attention to the theme while solving and only cottoned on at the end. I’m a bit of a sucker for words tucked inside other words or answers – I admit I got a kick out of seeing the HIDDEN AGENDAs, especially in HÄAGEN-DAZS. Despite having consumed gallons of the stuff in my earlier life, I surprised myself by having trouble spelling it, and I see I wasn't alone. (And btw, there are no umlauts in Danish.)
Some solvers had trouble with the ENNEAD/ARRANT cross? If you played Spelling Bee, people, those two words would have been a piece of cake (served with HÄAGEN-DAZS). I laughed with delight at getting MIA HAMM off the M. She’s someone I know solely through crosswords and there wasn’t even anything about soccer in the clue. The ABBY Wambach clue did mention soccer and she’s a name I don’t know. Crosses helped me this time but I guess I have to memorize her next. I’ve been to PENZANCE on the way to Land’s End. Didn’t see any pirates but it’s a charming Cornish harbour town, and I remember the grand Market Building, the Egyptian House (odd place for Egyptian Revival architecture) and the Jubilee Pool.
UNICLUES:
1. The life of a philanthropist-garbageman. 2. What the bratty little brother was trying to create when he slapped ice cream on his sister’s neck. 3. Scaloppini ingredients the way a non-cook might try to make it. 4. Dancing attendance on someone you’re attracted to in a painfully obvious way. 5. Glittery lizard with a pompadour. 6. Ammunition? 7. Marie Osmond?
[SB: Sunday, 0; yd, -2. Missed something embarrassing plus this, which I don’t remember ever seeing in SB before. @okanaganer, I’m rooting for you in your ongoing streak – To Infinity and Beyond!]
Easy. Agree with @Rex on the theme. It was nice to see ABBY Wambach and MIA HAMM sharing the grid; also liked the TRIO of OHO, AAHED, and DEEP SIGH, and the HE-MEN - HUNKS pair.
Help from previous puzzles: SWOLE, ARRANT, ENNEAD. No idea: DASHER, MAGEN DAVID.
While I detest those find-the-word puzzles which are just a bunch of jumbled letters, I do like a crossword with HIDDEN words. This was a very well LAID one and pleasantly, sans circles or shaded squares. Let us all GIVETH thanks for that.
Themers were strong and I’d venture to say, not easy to come up with. MAGEN DAVID was educational. VOLKSWAGEN DASHER might’ve been tough for the younger crowd but with fair downs. And who doesn’t love HÄÄGEN-DAZS? Even though some of us had to experiment with the spelling. I will say that NW corner was kind of a SLAP in the face to start off with though, and the combination of LECHES/ARRANT/ENNEAD wasn’t pretty - even uglier if you spent much time with your drummer named RINGO. Not that I did or anything. Ahem.
Speaking of legendary musicians, I can’t imagine there will ever be a more dazzling piano artist than LIBERACE. Although I didn’t find the biopic to be a great film, both Michael Douglas and Matt Damon did their professional best to make it one.
This took me the same time as yesterday's, or maybe a few seconds less.
I don't understand why people are objecting to ARRANT; I think it's a perfectly fine and ordinary word, even a handy word. As in "arrant nonsense". ENNEAD shows up a lot too, and not just in crosswords (does the "!?" in Rex's review mean he's not familiar with it?). Nothing CRUDdy about them.
I learned that MAGEN DAVID means "shield of David".
HAAGEN DAZS is a goofball corporate spelling (I think it might also have an umlaut or two, in an attempt to look all Nordic-like), and in fact on the first go I had interchanged the S and Z, but that was taken care of soon enough by PENZANCE.
AGENDA is a fun word. It's originally a plural form -- almost nobody uses the word "agendum" any more, but it means a "thing to be done", hence AGENDA literally means "things to be done", but that became singular again: a list of things to be done. If you attempt to pluralize it to "agendae", then someone may call you out for using a hypercorrection, and for not knowing your Latin. It's safer to say "agendas".
SB: 0 yd. My last word took me forever, despite the fact I had used that word a little earlier in the day when writing a friend! Today's I thought was very easy.
Hey All ! 16 widegrid, in case anyone was wondering. And still only 36 Blockers. More puz for your money.
Tried MERCURY COMET for the car first. Too short. (The answer, not the car.)
Nice open corners, tough to get decent fill with the Themers all over them. The NE/SW had to not only incorporate the Center Themer, but had to deal with the Revealer also. With longer words. Not an easy feat Pulled off nicely.
The puz GIVETH us pleasure, Rex taketh away. (JK, Rex!)
OHO, I AAHED seems like it should be a line from a book. Like looking at a Hot Spring in the winter
Wanted eRRANT, but 1A clue wasn't "Greeted on the Big Island". 😁
No F's (oversized grid, and still couldn't get one in!)(Constraints, I on w 😁) RooMonster DarrinV
I was initially quite impressed with the embedding of such a long word as AGENDA done three times across two words in each instance. And then I remembered that Jeff Chen has set up a computer program where all you have to do is type in *AGENDA* (with an asterisk before and after) and specify the number of letters you want in your answer and out will pop every possibility that exists upon this earth.
I myself could have access to this wondrous program if I were willing to plunk down some cash money for it. So if at some point I come up with an embedded word puzzle idea that can't be accomplished through ideating alone, I probably will bite the bullet and cough up the money.
But I would never waste such complex embedding on a puzzle where the solver fills in the answer and then -- well after the fact -- says "Oh, look what we have here! AGENDA!! My, my!!" No, I'd want to use it in a rebus or in some other tricky way where the solver can't solve without figuring out the trick first. I'm quite fiendish that way:)
But despite the fact that AGENDA wasn't used in a tricky way, this was a pleasant and smooth early week puzzle with no CRUD and with some nice non-Tuesdayish fill like ARRANT, ENTENDRE and KETONE. My only brief dilemma: Would it be a VOLSWAGEN DASHER or a VOLKSWAGEN DANCER? I know my reindeer, but I don't know my cars.
Anonymous: If you had spent several years as the Manager of a leading professional opera company as I did, you wouldn't be so quick to dismiss, as you did, the definition of "Diva!"
Also, both Shé di Felina and Gary Jugert must be absolutely thrilled by yesterday's news that Roald Dahl's children's books are now being republished with many passages re-edited so they won't offend impressionable people.
And "Pirates of Penzance" is one of three G & S "Nautical Operas" if you want to count "The Gondoliers."
Another delightful theme. Who knew AGENDAS were sneaking around like they do? I like having a "wait for it" theme reveal as I stared at HÄAGEN-DAZS trying to imagine what was hidden in it. I also like staring down HÄAGEN-DAZS before making it vanish. Lately I've been more of a Tillamook kinda guy. Mostly I stick with Old Fashioned Vanilla, but I'd never balk at any flavor. Our yogurt shop nearby has chocolate and vanilla ice cream in one of the machines in addition to all the fancy yogurt flavors. Their topping bar doesn't have muesli and it's always struck me as a failing, but I don't say anything since the last thing the world needs is another old white guy telling a teenager what her boss should be doing.
That ENNEAD/ARRANT cross coulda been almost anything.
I would be remiss if I failed to celebrate OHO in the center of the puzzle (almost). Soooo much better than AHA, and "Well, well, well!" sums it up pretty nicely.
Frank CAPRA turns out to be a fascinating character. I didn't know It's a Wonderful Life was a massive flop and signaled the end of his career. And poor old LIBERACE... what a weird existence. Here's the résumé of Wyatt EARP according to Wikipedia: Lawman, buffalo hunter, saloon keeper, miner, brothel keeper, and boxing referee. I bet he was fun to have lunch with.
Uniclues:
1 Lizard lounge entertainer, literally. 2 A rootin' tootin' shootin' band of brothers. 3 Singing pirates. 4 Sinclair's leg braces after Wednesday uses her for taxidermy experimentation. 5 Traffic jams for those born to run. 6 Headstrong ariaist grew up Mormon. 7 Neophyte exasperated by nuances.
1) Puns that can cut you to the quick 2) What every Tar Heel soccer passer knew how to do 3) One to whom the words "alas", "woe is me" and "Oy" are foreign
Am I the only one who* wonders why people always post "Was I the only one who [whatever they want to mention] " instead of saying "I [whatever they want to mention]"? Why not just say it?
@Anoa Bob will not be posting today, or any other day, as his head exploded when attempting to count the POCs in this puzzle, and he passed away rather painfully at 10:15AM today.
In Lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Indonesian Society for the Preservation of Buffalo.
At six letters, AGENDA was hardly HIDDEN and the repetition of it made the solve too easy, even for a Tuesday, but I enjoyed the puzzle in spite of all that.
Liked SWOLE crossing HEMEN with HUNKS nearby. The pairing of UTAHAN and NO VICE seemed apt. And the IGUANA LIBERACE added an intriguing image.
According to the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article, MoGEN DAVID (which of course I put in first) is just the Yiddish pronunciation of MAGEN DAVID, means shield but is generally used as the name of the 6-pointed star. Whether Wiki is right is above my pay-grade.
ENNEAD is fine with me, a good word--and since neither nonad or nonet would fit, it posed no problem. HAAGEN DAsz, on the other hand.... So that mad two of the three themers misspelled, and as to the third, I noticed the kealoa that @Nancy pointed out so I waited for the crosses.
Didn't we have the exact same clue for ERIE yesterday? I blame the editor. There are so many other ways to clue it: PA port, Native American nation, Alabama ghost town...
I was going to complain about Edison's being an elephant murderer, but it turns out that he didn't really do it.
I dimly remember a pun about William Penn’s mother’s sisters, who baked incredibly good, but cheap desserts. People were always shocked at the Pie Rates of Penn’s Aunts. Or something like that.
I’m not too impressed with AAHED or UTAHAN.
Awful to hear from Barry AuH20 after all these years. Extremism in defense of liberty is NOVICE. Of course his intellectual descendants are no longer interested in liberty. Today it would be Extremism in owning the libs ….
I carry a whole lot of useless junk around in my head, including lyrics by Allen Sherman. His My Son the Folksinger album included the Ballad of Irving, which starts like this:
He was short and fat, and rode out of the West With a Mogen David on his silver vest He was mean and nasty right clear through Which was kinda weird, 'cause he was yellow too
They called him Irving Big Irving Big, short Irving Big, short, fat Irving The hundred and forty-second fastest gun in the West
I like seeing AGENDA in surprising places, but overall this wasn’t a fave.
I thought this was very enjoyable Tuesday fare but I’m also the type that (if I don’t NEED the themer) figures the theme out post-solve. Learned about MAGENDAVID (did anybody else start to fill in starofDAVID before finding one square short?)
Like @Barbara S, ENNEAD posed no problem for me, but not because of SB. I’m pretty sure the ENNEAD has been clued in the past with reference to the Supreme Court. Also, the HuffPost sponsors The Ennead Awards: Nine justices: nine prizes.
LED bulbs! Man oh man, I am a HUGE advocate! When we moved into our condo in 2014 our kitchen had eight “canned” ceiling lights with “warm” LED bulbs. We probably use our kitchen lights more than any others and we STILL have not had to replace one of those bulbs!
References above to Mogen David made me grimace since I had a bit of a BAD reaction to MD 20-20 in high school. The only good that came out of it was that it taught me to avoid the porcelain throne the rest of my life!
Mediumish. I had spelling problems with all of the theme answers, plus IRINA was a WOE (as was DASHER) so the NE was last to fall. Lotsa PPP, I’m with @Rex on this one.
@Anon 9:37 -- With all the real-life cruelty and misery being unleashed upon the world right now, THIS is what you choose to get your knickers in a twist about????? I sure do hope you are "the only one."
I enjoyed this one. A puzzle with no hidden agenda other than hiding AGENDA. Lovely. And yet apparently some hidden agenda other than the hidden AGENDA. Even more lovely.
All these years and I didn't know Dashers were just American Passats. Even though I knew Rabbits were just American Golfs. Wouldn't say their engines either roared or purred, but enjoyed that clue/answer, and all four of those cars.
Learned both ARRANT and ENNEAD, and speaking of the latter, can't wait for baseball to be back. Looking forward to seeing both the Boston and Baltimore Enneads soon.
@Gary Jugert (10:12) and Nancy (10:14) Excellent crop of uniclues. Fascinated by your opposite takes on DEEP SIGH NOVICE. Goes to show the subtleties of uniclues.
Language isn’t constrained to only one domain, though. Even if “diva” and “high-maintenance” are “neutral descriptors” in the business (which I doubt is actually the case), they are decidedly not in any other context.
It’s perfectly reasonable to critique this clue in a public puzzle, since for almost every reader those words will be inarguably gendered.
Easy one today, though I did not bother to figure out the theme.
Just wanted to point out that Pirates of PENZANCE is only notionally nautical. It all takes place on dry land, which is why a Major General is in charge of dealing with the situation, rather than, say, a rear admiral. Not one of G&S's best, but it does have that song that Tom Lehrer used for The Elements. Pinafore is better, and more nautical.
Pete @10:26, the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated. My neighbors heard me screaming and thrashing about and came over to administer timely resuscitation.
Yesterday's puzzle actually had more POC (plural of convenience) action than today's. Of special interest to the POC connoisseur were two entries, ASS and ABYSS that, although singular themselves, enabled four crossing POCs.
I treat myself to a pint of HAAGEN DAZS once a week and there's one in the freezer right now so I was able to confirm the spelling for that themer. I was, however, crushed, crushed I say, by @N. Estle's 12:44 news that it really isn't a pint; it's only 14ozs! Another example of Shrinkflation. Is nothing sacred anymore?
@Barbara and Gary -- Ah, yes -- "the subtlety of uniclues." There's a Ph.D thesis in there somewhere; I just know there is.
@bmv (12:49)-- "Topsy-Turvy's" on Netflix now? I heartily second your recommendation that people avail themselves of the opportunity. I have my own personal copy thanks to the generosity of @old actor who sent me his very own DVD all the way from Texas. So I've seen it more than once and it's a fabulous movie. Of course I'm a big G&S fan. (I assume that you've seen it, @OISK, haven't you?)
It stands alone in its category. All the other biopics of composers and songwriting teams have been dismal. Laughable, even. "B" movies, all of them. Or am I being too kind? "Night and Day" (Cole Porter); "Words and Music" (Rodgers and Hart); "Rhapsody in Blue" (Gershwin) -- one worse than the other.
But this is a four-star movie. And if you're not already a G@S fan, this movie may well turn you into one.
The theme was a bit meh and agree with Rex that it would be more interesting to hide several synonyms for agenda. Also easier to construct!
Typeovers: NEWBIE then NOOBIE and even NOOBEE before NOVICE.
In about grade 5, my younger brother was in Pirates of Penzance and Pinafore. I don't remember his role in Penzance. But he was the captain in Pinafore, and did the song "I am the Captain of the Pinafore..." brilliantly. This part was the funniest ever:
CAPTAIN: I am never known to quail At the fury of a gale, And I’m never, never sick at sea!
ALL: What, never?
CAPTAIN: No, never!
ALL: What, never?
CAPTAIN: Hardly ever!
ALL: He’s hardly ever sick at sea,...
[Spelling Bee: yd 0, QB streak 11 days! @Barbara S and Ttrimble, your 2 words are very goofy ones, but I usually remember them.]
Fat Tuesday and a bit of a thin puzzle, for me. Props to Daniel Raymon for finding enough ways to create a HIDDEN AGENDA and for splitting the theme reveal in two for a bit of extra camouflage (maybe?). Found that the early reveal gave away too much.
That said, I had to figure out how to spell HAAGEN DAZS, and the very crosswordy ARRANT crossing ENNEAD gave some resistance up in the NW. loved homage to G&S.
I sang lots of G&S especially as I got older. I do the funny old lady parts, my favorite is the Duchess of Plaza Toro in “Gondoliers.” The PENZANCE answer also reminded me of the “West Wing” episode featuring the big argument between Sam and Oliver about whether “Modern Major General” is from Pinafore or Pirates of PENZANCE. While the Kevin Kline movie is far from a D’Oyly Carte rendition, it’s heart is in the right place and it holds up fairly well.
Slightly yawny theme, I'd grant. Didn't know how to spell the first ice-themer [but it was my fave], and didn't know the other two themers at all.
staff weeject pick: NTH. As in NTH occurrence of this kinda theme.
fave stuff: PENZANCE. DEEPSIGH. HUNKS. IGUANA. CRUD. MIAHAMM & STARR, both with double letter name enders. LECHES+ARRANT+HAAGENDAZS was a pretty challengin start, right outta the chute. Lost precious nanoseconds. M&A almost became a NW-corner-DODGER, but persevered.
anon 9:36- Check out today New Yorker crossword. Clue on 34A is “Person from the Beehive State.” I think you’ll be happy with the answer (five letters).
Always enjoy learning something interesting from the crosswords. This one had the MAGENDAVID . Thanks . It reminded me of another recent discovery—Jewish dietary laws require scales for certain things like seafood. Did some research and discovered why this is required. A wonderful reason! Check it out.
As someone who just marked 20 years of continuous sobriety, I love the word wino bc it helps to keep it green for me. I also love “drunk” bc that’s what I am. I do not “suffer from the disease of alcoholism” nor do I have “substance use disorder”, I’m a drunk and touchy-feely “sensitive” descriptors that suggest to this drunk’s brain that the thing that almost destroyed my life (and surely will if I ever pick up a drink) is not my fault, my choice or my responsibility doesn’t help.
Totally personal peeve: the Häagen-Dazs clue would be much more on point with "Dutch-looking" rather than "Danish-sounding." The fun, corporate name is (to me) cool-looking, but is objectively not Danish-looking (or sounding).
Between the double "aa" (common in Dutch) and the Dutch city "the Hague" (Den Haag), well.... Could be we just have a Swedish/Swiss, Austrian/Australian-style malaprop at play :)
Solving in a weird order due to vacation catchup, so I solve this right after NEXT Tuesday's puzzle. Both terrible, though in entirely different ways. Today ... you have three themers, and most people have heard of only one of them.
Pretty much what OFF said. Weird: we are totally different people, yet we both have a thing for Teri Garr. Sadly, she's not in the grid today--but MIAHAMM and ABBY Wambach are, creating a mini-theme as well as co-DODs.
It WAS easy enough to do; the crosses LEAD you to the correct spelling of HaaagenDazs. Hard to spell, easy to eat. I thought the themers were going to contain synonyms of "AGENDA," not just the word itself. The whole thing seems forced and inelegant. Nice open corners, but not filled that well. Bogey.
Who doesn't like a puzzle with an AGENDA? And yes, spelling one of my fave ice creams has been the bane of my existence since I first had it in NYC in the 1970s!
@N. Estle 12:44pm: Where I live, Ben & Jerry's, and Talenti are more expensive, so the per ounce price evens out. Also, I don't buy Breyers, or B&J's since being acquired by mega-corps. Their ingredient lists now read like a chemistry experiment.
A long time ago, I was solving this puzzle and got stuck at an unguessable (to me) crossing: N. C. WYETH crossing NATICK at the "N"—I knew WYETH but forgot his initials, and NATICK ... is a suburb of Boston that I had no hope of knowing. It was clued as someplace the Boston Marathon runs through (???). Anyway, NATICK— the more obscure name in that crossing—became shorthand for an unguessable cross, esp. where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known. NATICK took hold as crossword slang, and the term can now be both noun ("I had a NATICK in the SW corner...") or verb ("I got NATICKED by 50A / 34D!")
.png)
86 comments:
CRap before CRUD at 18A
Initially reversed the last two letters of HAAGEN DAZS
Don't remember the Volkswagen Dasher
Long hesitation at 41D x 59A, thinking it had to be GONE AWOL x MoGEN DAVID, like the wine. Decided that the best course was to pick oWOL or MAGEN. Mentally tossed a coin and decided on the A. Looking it up afterwards, Magen is "star," while Mogen is "shield". My Hebrew is even rustier than my Spanish.
Thx, Daniel; I liked your AGENDA! :)
Very hard for a Tues (Wednes.+ dif)
One blunder after another, today.
Nonead for ENNEAD; DAncER for DASHER (d-oh!); SWOLl for SWOLE.
Unknowns/hazies/learnings: LECHES; ARRANT; HAAGENDAZS (sp); VOLKSWAGEN DASHER; KETONE; MAGEN DAVID; VEAL; SWOLE; ENID; IRINA;
Always have to think: HOrde or HOARD?
Got it all worked out in the end, so yay! :)
Very much enjoyed the battle! :)
___
Croce's 786 was easy-med, with 7D & 20D crossing 24A being the only real area of concern.
On to Paolo's Mon. New Yorker. 🤞
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
Not a great fan of the clue on DIVA. Women are often seen as “high- maintenance” whereas men will be seen as demanding. Otherwise an enjoyable if somewhat old-fashioned puzzle.
OK puzzle--who knew you could find three ways to hide AGENDA in longer phrases.
The early introduction (9A) to an easy revealer, followed closely by a first theme answer (HAAGENDAZS) that fell easily, took some of the shine off.
Agree with @Rex on the icky cross of ARRANT & ENNEAD--their shared N was my final letter entered.
I suppose you might say I liked the concept of the puzzle but was not "AHHED" by the execution.
[DEEP SIGH]
I knew it was going to be “one of those” right at the non-clue for the non-word at 1D (tres LECHES) and it managed to get worse from there (with ARRANT and ENNEAD leading the way). I horsed around with the rest of the nonsense for a while and finally through in the towel at a (yuk) MAGEN crossing ENID. Yes, it’s a puzzle, and technically it qualifies as a crossword puzzle - it’s just not a good one. The NYT is the only major publication that green-lights this kind of stuff on a regular basis, and it’s not a pretty sight.
Rex could have praised the constructor for finding a way to hide AGENDA in three phrases. That had to be very tough. I found the puzzle to be very easy which is my only complaint abut this one. Good work Daniel Raymon! I will look for other puzzles with your name on them. As for the fill? There will always be fill.
My father drove a 37A, so it was a gimme. Nice XW. Enjoyed it.
Well, I learned about MAGENDAVID and relearned how to spell HAAGENDAZS, but that was about it on the plus side today. Mr. Revealer showed up way too early and sticking AGENDA in places that were pointed to made everything a little too easy.
We're doing a course on novelty songs and the Modern Major General just showed up, not as such but as Tom Lehrer's marvelous take on the elements. Brilliant.
Speaking of songs, I regret to report that "Squeeze Box" did not show up last night at the hootenanny, thus breaking some kind of streak and destroying my reputation as a prophet.
@Anon 6:16-I hear your DIVA complaint. Our five-year old granddaughter, were she a boy, would be described as "having leadership qualities". Alas, some folks describe her as "bossy". So it goes.
OK Tuesday, DR. Didn't Ring the big bells for me but certainly serviceable. Thanks for some fun.
Finished it quickly, maybe because the puzzle catered more to senior-age solvers than most do. Thanks for that, Will Shortz!
I had trouble only with the ENID/LEDS cross, which is embarrassing because my mother and grandmother were named Enid. My grandmother was named after the Tennyson heroine who loved Gerant.
Why are LEDS short for "certain bulbs"? Is LED an abbreviation?
FH
I thought that, in most limericks, the second word is WAS, not the third. "There was an old man of Madrid......"
If you’re a huge Gilbert & Sullivan fan - which I am - then Kline’s Pirates isn’t so bad esp for the music. For the casual observer Caveat Emptor. Better to absorb the Doyle Carte records or Mike Leigh’s awesome Topsy Turvy and then come back to this later.
LED = Light Emitting Diode
This is a very tight theme. Can anyone come up with another theme answer?
I like that KEY is west, and CRUD is up. It was fun to see the neighbors ABBY LANES, reminiscent of 50’s-60’s singer Abbe Lane. There’s a lovely schwa-de-vivre A-train of CAPRA / AGRA / AGENDA / IGUANA / DIVA / IRINA. And I especially liked the PuzzPair© of STARR and MAGEN DAVID.
A brief “double ENTENDRE” rabbit hole led me to a TRIO of smile-producing actual newspaper headlines:
Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
Milk Drinkers Are Turning To Powder
Grandmother Of Eight Makes Hole In One
A lovely Tuesday morning ride, fun to uncover, plus things to discover. Thank you for making this Daniel. You GIVETH and I enjoyeth.
I’ve watched that film of Pirates 30, maybe 40, times, and I loved it the first time and I love it more and more with each viewing. It’s beyond brilliant. Not the best analogy, but it did to G&S what Pee-wee Herman did to children’s TV.
Otherwise I had pretty much the same reaction as Rex to the puzzle but I got held up because I’d only heard of MoGEN DAVID, a supposedly awful wine.
Happy Mardi Gras!! My advice is to spend the day listening to WWOZ from Nola.
Yeah the nested word theme - but in this case we get a six letter word in AGENDA and I think a decent revealer. Thought the overall fill played late weekish - especially the already discussed ARRANT x ENNEAD cross.
I had a 1980 DASHER diesel that my dad gave me so that was nice to see. Dark green and a German ride - generated all of 50hp and probably took half a minute to get to 60 but could make close to 600 miles on a tank.
I’m a HOG for you baby
Learned MAGEN DAVID. Don’t like SWOLE or WINO. The grid is loaded with trivia and names. The TRIO ended when Dusty Hill passed.
I’m 50-50 on this one - odd grid but in the end a pleasant Tuesday solve.
Dear ABBY
ARRANT crosses ENNEAD - crime against crosswords! Especially on a Tuesday.
Bob Mills - LED is a Light Emitting Diode. LED lights are orders of magnitude more efficient than old incandescent bulbs, and even more efficient than the CFL (compact fluorescent) bulbs that became popular in the 'aughts.
Most new bulbs are LEDs. You probably don't think about it because they look pretty much like old bulbs. You may remember a brief stink the right tried to make about a decade ago that "Obama is coming for your light bulbs" based on moves to phase out production of inefficient incandescent bulbs in favor of more efficient new technologies. Yet somehow despite all of their doom-and-tyranny mongering, society survived.
The Pirates of PENZANCE is a fabulous operetta, my favorite G&S. The movie adaptation is terrible, but if you ever have the opportunity to see a production of it, it’s worth it.
I feel like anyone who has been to more than two or three Mexican (or tex-mex) restaurants (no, Taco Bell doesn't count) must have at least seen Tres Leches cake on a menu. I felt that "non-clue for a non-word" was a gimme. Agree that ENNEAD x ARRANT doesn't belong on Tuesday but otherwise don't object to it.
Favorite blunder on my part was reading "apian" as "ape-related" and thinking maybe "treE" was the answer. Seemed dubious so I let it go and read "apian" correctly the next time around.
I always thought it was UTAHN (as do UTAHNs, apparently), but it seems UTAHAN is common-enough usage.
Re: the actual puzzle, not light bulbs. I didn't mind the theme. I confess I knew the answer to HAAGEN DAZS immediately but did look up the spelling. VOLKSWAGEN DASHER I'd never heard of but was eventually gettable from crosses. MAGEN STAR though? Never heard of it, not gettable (meaning I needed every cross for MAGEN). And that ENNEAD.
Had RINGO for STARR for the longest time, even though it seemed as if EARPS wanted to cross. I kept thinking "well JOHN, PAUL, and GEORGE" don't fit. My brain could not possibly grasp the idea that the clue could use a last name. I kept trying to remember the "fifth beatle" wondering if that was it. Finally I decided it was some misdirect and there must be some *other* fab four it was referring to. I erased RINGO, put in EARPS and then got DODGER and that got me STARR. That corner was the last thing to go, and I had to use both the "check puzzle" and eventually "reveal answer" because I've never heard the words ARRANT or ENNEAD. NONAD, yes. ENNEAD, GFY.
Could we PLEASE retire cringy words like wino and sot when referring to people with a serious disease? Sheesh.
I also ended with the N on the ARRANT/ENNEAD cross.
But shouldn't it be LEDE rather than LEAD?
LEDs are Light-Emitting Diodes
My favorite actual headline was from a Rochester MN paper. I had just moved there and the article was headlined “Library bars dirty and smelly.” As someone just out of college I was surprised to hear that the local library had a bar!
I dunno. We're talking transliteration here, but the Yiddish speakers in my family said it Mogen David, which is also how the wine people spell their alternative to Manischewitz. I could illustrate the problem, having to do with the vowel under the initial letter, but have no idea how to write Hebrew letters on a keyboard. Either way, ogenda wouldn't work, so I give it a pass, although so lame a theme probably doesn't deserve it.
I thought this was a serviceable Tuesday. To be honest, I paid no attention to the theme while solving and only cottoned on at the end. I’m a bit of a sucker for words tucked inside other words or answers – I admit I got a kick out of seeing the HIDDEN AGENDAs, especially in HÄAGEN-DAZS. Despite having consumed gallons of the stuff in my earlier life, I surprised myself by having trouble spelling it, and I see I wasn't alone. (And btw, there are no umlauts in Danish.)
Some solvers had trouble with the ENNEAD/ARRANT cross? If you played Spelling Bee, people, those two words would have been a piece of cake (served with HÄAGEN-DAZS). I laughed with delight at getting MIA HAMM off the M. She’s someone I know solely through crosswords and there wasn’t even anything about soccer in the clue. The ABBY Wambach clue did mention soccer and she’s a name I don’t know. Crosses helped me this time but I guess I have to memorize her next. I’ve been to PENZANCE on the way to Land’s End. Didn’t see any pirates but it’s a charming Cornish harbour town, and I remember the grand Market Building, the Egyptian House (odd place for Egyptian Revival architecture) and the Jubilee Pool.
UNICLUES:
1. The life of a philanthropist-garbageman.
2. What the bratty little brother was trying to create when he slapped ice cream on his sister’s neck.
3. Scaloppini ingredients the way a non-cook might try to make it.
4. Dancing attendance on someone you’re attracted to in a painfully obvious way.
5. Glittery lizard with a pompadour.
6. Ammunition?
7. Marie Osmond?
1. CRUD, EARN, GIVETH
2. HÄAGEN-DAZS NAPE
3. LECHES, VEAL, TEA
4. ARRANT ORBITING
5. IGUANA LIBERACE
6. EARPS’ HOARD
7. DIVA WAS UTAHAN
[SB: Sunday, 0; yd, -2. Missed something embarrassing plus this, which I don’t remember ever seeing in SB before. @okanaganer, I’m rooting for you in your ongoing streak – To Infinity and Beyond!]
Easy. Agree with @Rex on the theme. It was nice to see ABBY Wambach and MIA HAMM sharing the grid; also liked the TRIO of OHO, AAHED, and DEEP SIGH, and the HE-MEN - HUNKS pair.
Help from previous puzzles: SWOLE, ARRANT, ENNEAD. No idea: DASHER, MAGEN DAVID.
While I detest those find-the-word puzzles which are just a bunch of jumbled letters, I do like a crossword with HIDDEN words. This was a very well LAID one and pleasantly, sans circles or shaded squares. Let us all GIVETH thanks for that.
Themers were strong and I’d venture to say, not easy to come up with. MAGEN DAVID was educational. VOLKSWAGEN DASHER might’ve been tough for the younger crowd but with fair downs. And who doesn’t love HÄÄGEN-DAZS? Even though some of us had to experiment with the spelling. I will say that NW corner was kind of a SLAP in the face to start off with though, and the combination of LECHES/ARRANT/ENNEAD wasn’t pretty - even uglier if you spent much time with your drummer named RINGO. Not that I did or anything. Ahem.
Speaking of legendary musicians, I can’t imagine there will ever be a more dazzling piano artist than LIBERACE. Although I didn’t find the biopic to be a great film, both Michael Douglas and Matt Damon did their professional best to make it one.
Magen is a shield
This took me the same time as yesterday's, or maybe a few seconds less.
I don't understand why people are objecting to ARRANT; I think it's a perfectly fine and ordinary word, even a handy word. As in "arrant nonsense". ENNEAD shows up a lot too, and not just in crosswords (does the "!?" in Rex's review mean he's not familiar with it?). Nothing CRUDdy about them.
I learned that MAGEN DAVID means "shield of David".
HAAGEN DAZS is a goofball corporate spelling (I think it might also have an umlaut or two, in an attempt to look all Nordic-like), and in fact on the first go I had interchanged the S and Z, but that was taken care of soon enough by PENZANCE.
AGENDA is a fun word. It's originally a plural form -- almost nobody uses the word "agendum" any more, but it means a "thing to be done", hence AGENDA literally means "things to be done", but that became singular again: a list of things to be done. If you attempt to pluralize it to "agendae", then someone may call you out for using a hypercorrection, and for not knowing your Latin. It's safer to say "agendas".
SB: 0 yd. My last word took me forever, despite the fact I had used that word a little earlier in the day when writing a friend! Today's I thought was very easy.
Hey All !
16 widegrid, in case anyone was wondering. And still only 36 Blockers. More puz for your money.
Tried MERCURY COMET for the car first. Too short. (The answer, not the car.)
Nice open corners, tough to get decent fill with the Themers all over them. The NE/SW had to not only incorporate the Center Themer, but had to deal with the Revealer also. With longer words. Not an easy feat Pulled off nicely.
The puz GIVETH us pleasure, Rex taketh away. (JK, Rex!)
OHO, I AAHED seems like it should be a line from a book. Like looking at a Hot Spring in the winter
Wanted eRRANT, but 1A clue wasn't "Greeted on the Big Island". 😁
No F's (oversized grid, and still couldn't get one in!)(Constraints, I on w 😁)
RooMonster
DarrinV
I’m with SouthsideJohnny on the LECHES, ARRANT, ENNEAD deal. A more straightforward clueing for LECHES would have sped things up for me.
But, I do like MAGENDAVID crossing SEDERS.
I was initially quite impressed with the embedding of such a long word as AGENDA done three times across two words in each instance. And then I remembered that Jeff Chen has set up a computer program where all you have to do is type in *AGENDA* (with an asterisk before and after) and specify the number of letters you want in your answer and out will pop every possibility that exists upon this earth.
I myself could have access to this wondrous program if I were willing to plunk down some cash money for it. So if at some point I come up with an embedded word puzzle idea that can't be accomplished through ideating alone, I probably will bite the bullet and cough up the money.
But I would never waste such complex embedding on a puzzle where the solver fills in the answer and then -- well after the fact -- says "Oh, look what we have here! AGENDA!! My, my!!" No, I'd want to use it in a rebus or in some other tricky way where the solver can't solve without figuring out the trick first. I'm quite fiendish that way:)
But despite the fact that AGENDA wasn't used in a tricky way, this was a pleasant and smooth early week puzzle with no CRUD and with some nice non-Tuesdayish fill like ARRANT, ENTENDRE and KETONE. My only brief dilemma: Would it be a VOLSWAGEN DASHER or a VOLKSWAGEN DANCER? I know my reindeer, but I don't know my cars.
I think it usually, “There once was a man from…..”
Native Utahn here.
The (alleged) alternate spelling of UTAHAN hurts my eyes.
Only non-Utahns spell it that way.
Was I the only one troubled by using hidden agenda inside a Jewish symbol given the political climate as of late?
Especially when it was crossed with Seder. That whole corner made my stomach sink.
Anonymous: If you had spent several years as the Manager of a leading professional opera company as I did, you wouldn't be so quick to dismiss, as you did, the definition of "Diva!"
Also, both Shé di Felina and Gary Jugert must be absolutely thrilled by yesterday's news that Roald Dahl's children's books are now being republished with many passages re-edited so they won't offend impressionable people.
And "Pirates of Penzance" is one of three G & S "Nautical Operas" if you want to count
"The Gondoliers."
Another delightful theme. Who knew AGENDAS were sneaking around like they do? I like having a "wait for it" theme reveal as I stared at HÄAGEN-DAZS trying to imagine what was hidden in it. I also like staring down HÄAGEN-DAZS before making it vanish. Lately I've been more of a Tillamook kinda guy. Mostly I stick with Old Fashioned Vanilla, but I'd never balk at any flavor. Our yogurt shop nearby has chocolate and vanilla ice cream in one of the machines in addition to all the fancy yogurt flavors. Their topping bar doesn't have muesli and it's always struck me as a failing, but I don't say anything since the last thing the world needs is another old white guy telling a teenager what her boss should be doing.
That ENNEAD/ARRANT cross coulda been almost anything.
I would be remiss if I failed to celebrate OHO in the center of the puzzle (almost). Soooo much better than AHA, and "Well, well, well!" sums it up pretty nicely.
Frank CAPRA turns out to be a fascinating character. I didn't know It's a Wonderful Life was a massive flop and signaled the end of his career. And poor old LIBERACE... what a weird existence. Here's the résumé of Wyatt EARP according to Wikipedia: Lawman, buffalo hunter, saloon keeper, miner, brothel keeper, and boxing referee. I bet he was fun to have lunch with.
Uniclues:
1 Lizard lounge entertainer, literally.
2 A rootin' tootin' shootin' band of brothers.
3 Singing pirates.
4 Sinclair's leg braces after Wednesday uses her for taxidermy experimentation.
5 Traffic jams for those born to run.
6 Headstrong ariaist grew up Mormon.
7 Neophyte exasperated by nuances.
1 IGUANA LIBERACE
2 EARP'S HOARD
3 PENZANCE ENGINE
4 ENID SPLINTS (~)
5 HOG ROADS KNOTS
6 DIVA WAS UTAHAN
7 DEEP SIGH NOVICE
Uniclues:
1) Puns that can cut you to the quick
2) What every Tar Heel soccer passer knew how to do
3) One to whom the words "alas", "woe is me" and "Oy" are foreign
1) ENTENDRE KNIVES
2) LEAD MIA HAMM
3) DEEP SIGH NOVICE
@Barbara S. 8:44 AM
#1!
I guess you haven’t worked in the business. Diva is a perfectly neutral descriptor, as is high maintenance.
Am I the only one who* wonders why people always post "Was I the only one who [whatever they want to mention] " instead of saying "I [whatever they want to mention]"? Why not just say it?
* Obviously, a joke here.
@Anoa Bob will not be posting today, or any other day, as his head exploded when attempting to count the POCs in this puzzle, and he passed away rather painfully at 10:15AM today.
In Lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Indonesian Society for the Preservation of Buffalo.
At six letters, AGENDA was hardly HIDDEN and the repetition of it made the solve too easy, even for a Tuesday, but I enjoyed the puzzle in spite of all that.
Liked SWOLE crossing HEMEN with HUNKS nearby. The pairing of UTAHAN and NO VICE seemed apt. And the IGUANA LIBERACE added an intriguing image.
LED = Lanky English Dude. Think Mick Jagger.
You're not alone. Tone deaf at best.
@David Grenier: I think that many New Yorkers of a certain age consider the "fifth Beatle" to have been Murray the K. Thanks for the memory.
According to the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article, MoGEN DAVID (which of course I put in first) is just the Yiddish pronunciation of MAGEN DAVID, means shield but is generally used as the name of the 6-pointed star. Whether Wiki is right is above my pay-grade.
ENNEAD is fine with me, a good word--and since neither nonad or nonet would fit, it posed no problem. HAAGEN DAsz, on the other hand.... So that mad two of the three themers misspelled, and as to the third, I noticed the kealoa that @Nancy pointed out so I waited for the crosses.
Didn't we have the exact same clue for ERIE yesterday? I blame the editor. There are so many other ways to clue it: PA port, Native American nation, Alabama ghost town...
I was going to complain about Edison's being an elephant murderer, but it turns out that he didn't really do it.
AFMDA is American Friends of Magen David Adom -- Israel's equivalent of the Red Cross. (Adom means red.)
I dimly remember a pun about William Penn’s mother’s sisters, who baked incredibly good, but cheap desserts. People were always shocked at the Pie Rates of Penn’s Aunts. Or something like that.
I’m not too impressed with AAHED or UTAHAN.
Awful to hear from Barry AuH20 after all these years. Extremism in defense of liberty is NOVICE. Of course his intellectual descendants are no longer interested in liberty. Today it would be Extremism in owning the libs ….
I carry a whole lot of useless junk around in my head, including lyrics by Allen Sherman. His My Son the Folksinger album included the Ballad of Irving, which starts like this:
He was short and fat, and rode out of the West
With a Mogen David on his silver vest
He was mean and nasty right clear through
Which was kinda weird, 'cause he was yellow too
They called him Irving
Big Irving
Big, short Irving
Big, short, fat Irving
The hundred and forty-second fastest gun in the West
I like seeing AGENDA in surprising places, but overall this wasn’t a fave.
I thought this was very enjoyable Tuesday fare but I’m also the type that (if I don’t NEED the themer) figures the theme out post-solve. Learned about MAGENDAVID (did anybody else start to fill in starofDAVID before finding one square short?)
Like @Barbara S, ENNEAD posed no problem for me, but not because of SB. I’m pretty sure the ENNEAD has been clued in the past with reference to the Supreme Court. Also, the HuffPost sponsors The Ennead Awards: Nine justices: nine prizes.
LED bulbs! Man oh man, I am a HUGE advocate! When we moved into our condo in 2014 our kitchen had eight “canned” ceiling lights with “warm” LED bulbs. We probably use our kitchen lights more than any others and we STILL have not had to replace one of those bulbs!
References above to Mogen David made me grimace since I had a bit of a BAD reaction to MD 20-20 in high school. The only good that came out of it was that it taught me to avoid the porcelain throne the rest of my life!
Mediumish. I had spelling problems with all of the theme answers, plus IRINA was a WOE (as was DASHER) so the NE was last to fall. Lotsa PPP, I’m with @Rex on this one.
Volkswagen Dasher was my first car... four door wagon, was actually a great car IMO.
@Anon 9:37 -- With all the real-life cruelty and misery being unleashed upon the world right now, THIS is what you choose to get your knickers in a twist about????? I sure do hope you are "the only one."
pabloinnh,
Leadership, properly understood, has never been confused with bossiness.
I enjoyed this one. A puzzle with no hidden agenda other than hiding AGENDA. Lovely. And yet apparently some hidden agenda other than the hidden AGENDA. Even more lovely.
All these years and I didn't know Dashers were just American Passats. Even though I knew Rabbits were just American Golfs. Wouldn't say their engines either roared or purred, but enjoyed that clue/answer, and all four of those cars.
Learned both ARRANT and ENNEAD, and speaking of the latter, can't wait for baseball to be back. Looking forward to seeing both the Boston and Baltimore Enneads soon.
Be careful when you reach for Haagen-Dazs on your supermarket freezer shelf.
That faux pint container is actually only 14 ounces. The comparably priced Ben & Jerry's and Talentis are a full 16 ounces.
@Gary Jugert (10:12) and Nancy (10:14)
Excellent crop of uniclues. Fascinated by your opposite takes on DEEP SIGH NOVICE. Goes to show the subtleties of uniclues.
Want more G&S? Watch Topsy-Turvy on Netflix. It's great!
Language isn’t constrained to only one domain, though. Even if “diva” and “high-maintenance” are “neutral descriptors” in the business (which I doubt is actually the case), they are decidedly not in any other context.
It’s perfectly reasonable to critique this clue in a public puzzle, since for almost every reader those words will be inarguably gendered.
Easy one today, though I did not bother to figure out the theme.
Just wanted to point out that Pirates of PENZANCE is only notionally nautical. It all takes place on dry land, which is why a Major General is in charge of dealing with the situation, rather than, say, a rear admiral. Not one of G&S's best, but it does have that song that Tom Lehrer used for The Elements. Pinafore is better, and more nautical.
Pete @10:26, the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated. My neighbors heard me screaming and thrashing about and came over to administer timely resuscitation.
Yesterday's puzzle actually had more POC (plural of convenience) action than today's. Of special interest to the POC connoisseur were two entries, ASS and ABYSS that, although singular themselves, enabled four crossing POCs.
I treat myself to a pint of HAAGEN DAZS once a week and there's one in the freezer right now so I was able to confirm the spelling for that themer. I was, however, crushed, crushed I say, by @N. Estle's 12:44 news that it really isn't a pint; it's only 14ozs! Another example of Shrinkflation. Is nothing sacred anymore?
@Barbara and Gary -- Ah, yes -- "the subtlety of uniclues." There's a Ph.D thesis in there somewhere; I just know there is.
@bmv (12:49)-- "Topsy-Turvy's" on Netflix now? I heartily second your recommendation that people avail themselves of the opportunity. I have my own personal copy thanks to the generosity of @old actor who sent me his very own DVD all the way from Texas. So I've seen it more than once and it's a fabulous movie. Of course I'm a big G&S fan. (I assume that you've seen it, @OISK, haven't you?)
It stands alone in its category. All the other biopics of composers and songwriting teams have been dismal. Laughable, even. "B" movies, all of them. Or am I being too kind? "Night and Day" (Cole Porter); "Words and Music" (Rodgers and Hart); "Rhapsody in Blue" (Gershwin) -- one worse than the other.
But this is a four-star movie. And if you're not already a G@S fan, this movie may well turn you into one.
The theme was a bit meh and agree with Rex that it would be more interesting to hide several synonyms for agenda. Also easier to construct!
Typeovers: NEWBIE then NOOBIE and even NOOBEE before NOVICE.
In about grade 5, my younger brother was in Pirates of Penzance and Pinafore. I don't remember his role in Penzance. But he was the captain in Pinafore, and did the song "I am the Captain of the Pinafore..." brilliantly. This part was the funniest ever:
CAPTAIN: I am never known to quail At the fury of a gale,
And I’m never, never sick at sea!
ALL: What, never?
CAPTAIN: No, never!
ALL: What, never?
CAPTAIN: Hardly ever!
ALL: He’s hardly ever sick at sea,...
[Spelling Bee: yd 0, QB streak 11 days! @Barbara S and Ttrimble, your 2 words are very goofy ones, but I usually remember them.]
Fat Tuesday and a bit of a thin puzzle, for me. Props to Daniel Raymon for finding enough ways to create a HIDDEN AGENDA and for splitting the theme reveal in two for a bit of extra camouflage (maybe?). Found that the early reveal gave away too much.
That said, I had to figure out how to spell HAAGEN DAZS, and the very crosswordy ARRANT crossing ENNEAD gave some resistance up in the NW. loved homage to G&S.
I sang lots of G&S especially as I got older. I do the funny old lady parts, my favorite is the Duchess of Plaza Toro in “Gondoliers.” The PENZANCE answer also reminded me of the “West Wing” episode featuring the big argument between Sam and Oliver about whether “Modern Major General” is from Pinafore or Pirates of PENZANCE. While the Kevin Kline movie is far from a D’Oyly Carte rendition, it’s heart is in the right place and it holds up fairly well.
Laisser les bon temps rouler!
@Nancy (2:02 PM)
I'm sure you're right about the uniclue Ph.D. If Will Shortz can hold a B.A. in enigmatology, you never know where this might go...
Slightly yawny theme, I'd grant. Didn't know how to spell the first ice-themer [but it was my fave], and didn't know the other two themers at all.
staff weeject pick: NTH. As in NTH occurrence of this kinda theme.
fave stuff: PENZANCE. DEEPSIGH. HUNKS. IGUANA. CRUD. MIAHAMM & STARR, both with double letter name enders.
LECHES+ARRANT+HAAGENDAZS was a pretty challengin start, right outta the chute. Lost precious nanoseconds. M&A almost became a NW-corner-DODGER, but persevered.
Thanx, Mr. Raymon dude.
Masked & AnonymoUUs
**gruntz**
What about “Yankee Doodle Dandy”?
Arrantly easy. I'm left with the image of VEAL ORBITING LIBERACE.
anon 9:36- Check out today New Yorker crossword. Clue on 34A is “Person from the Beehive State.” I think you’ll be happy with the answer (five letters).
Always enjoy learning something interesting from the crosswords. This one had the MAGENDAVID . Thanks . It reminded me of another recent discovery—Jewish dietary laws require scales for certain things like seafood. Did some research and discovered why this is required. A wonderful reason! Check it out.
Has it occurred to anyone here that JOHNX is...
...Q?
Headliner is the star performer in a production, not so much the person in a in a newspaper headline.
Ergo LEAD, not Lede.
I think the last 2 days were both very difficult for the day of the week.
ARRANT LECHES crossing HAAGEN and ENNEAD. The spelling alone was tough.
Then there was HAAGEN WAGEN and MAGEN.
And I just got a KETONE report in my urine analysis. Perfume? Some chemist rescue me.
I enjoyed both solves. Even kinda liked LEAR LAID LEAD LEDS NESS HE MEN MEN LO nonsense after a bit.
Fully agree. I refused to put in UTAHAN on principle and completed that portion of the puzzle with crosses.
As someone who just marked 20 years of continuous sobriety, I love the word wino bc it helps to keep it green for me. I also love “drunk” bc that’s what I am. I do not “suffer from the disease of alcoholism” nor do I have “substance use disorder”, I’m a drunk and touchy-feely “sensitive” descriptors that suggest to this drunk’s brain that the thing that almost destroyed my life (and surely will if I ever pick up a drink) is not my fault, my choice or my responsibility doesn’t help.
Is it just me or does AAHED look odd?
Totally personal peeve: the Häagen-Dazs clue would be much more on point with "Dutch-looking" rather than "Danish-sounding." The fun, corporate name is (to me) cool-looking, but is objectively not Danish-looking (or sounding).
Between the double "aa" (common in Dutch) and the Dutch city "the Hague" (Den Haag), well.... Could be we just have a Swedish/Swiss, Austrian/Australian-style malaprop at play :)
Now I wish I HAD some Häagen.Dazs!
@TAB2
It does have 5 letters and 2 are word stretchers which may delay Anoa's recovery.
We Utahns consider UTAHAN a typo.
Solving in a weird order due to vacation catchup, so I solve this right after NEXT Tuesday's puzzle. Both terrible, though in entirely different ways. Today ... you have three themers, and most people have heard of only one of them.
Pretty much what OFF said. Weird: we are totally different people, yet we both have a thing for Teri Garr. Sadly, she's not in the grid today--but MIAHAMM and ABBY Wambach are, creating a mini-theme as well as co-DODs.
It WAS easy enough to do; the crosses LEAD you to the correct spelling of HaaagenDazs. Hard to spell, easy to eat. I thought the themers were going to contain synonyms of "AGENDA," not just the word itself. The whole thing seems forced and inelegant. Nice open corners, but not filled that well. Bogey.
Wordle birdie.
Who doesn't like a puzzle with an AGENDA? And yes, spelling one of my fave ice creams has been the bane of my existence since I first had it in NYC in the 1970s!
Now - off to the car shop for a tune up.
Diana, LIW
A NOVICE HOARD
IRINA loved HUNKS and HEMEN,
ERGO a DEEPSIGH WAS made,
when ATRACE of HIDDEN semen
would DASHER hopes of getting LAID.
--- ABBY CAPRA
@Beezer 11:28am:
I haven't heard anybody mention Mad Dog 20/20 in years! Boy, that stuff was vile!
@kitshef 12:10pm:
What do you mean by most people???
Are you calling me an ODD ball?
Have heard of Mogen DAVID but not MAGENDAVID. Hard to find answers with a HIDDEN AGENDA I'd imagine.
Wordle bogey:(
@N. Estle 12:44pm:
Where I live, Ben & Jerry's, and Talenti are more expensive, so the per ounce price evens out. Also, I don't buy Breyers, or B&J's since being acquired by mega-corps. Their ingredient lists now read like a chemistry experiment.
Post a Comment