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Dweller on the Musandam Peninsula / SAT 3-25-23 / Traffic sign near a jughandle, maybe / Ancient Nahuatl speaker / Tech for 1970s TV characters Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers / Software surprises named for holiday treats / Musical with a preteen title character / Tech for time travel in Back to the Future
Saturday, March 25, 2023
Constructor: Robyn Weintraub
Relative difficulty: Easy
Word of the Day: jughandle (26D: Traffic sign near a jughandle, maybe => NO LEFT TURN) —
A jughandle is a type of ramp or slip road that changes the way traffic turns left at an at-grade intersection (in a country where traffic drives on the right). Instead of a standard left turn being made from the left lane, left-turning traffic uses a ramp on the right side of the road. In a standard forward jughandle or near-side jughandle, the ramp leaves before the intersection, and left-turning traffic turns left off of it rather than the through road; right turns are also made using the jughandle. In a reverse jughandle or far-side jughandle, the ramp leaves after the intersection, and left-turning traffic loops around to the right and merges with the crossroad before the intersection.The jughandle is also known as a Jersey left due to its high prevalence within the U.S. state of New Jersey(though this term is also locally used for an abrupt left at the beginning of a green light cycle). The New Jersey Department of Transportation defines three types of jughandles. "Type A" is the standard forward jughandle. "Type B" is a variant with no cross-street intersected by the jughandle; it curves 90 degrees left to meet the main street, and is either used at a "T" intersection or for a U-turn only. "Type C" is the standard reverse jughandle. (wikipedia)
• • •
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| 23A: Tech for 1970s TV characters Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers (BIONICS) |
The puzzle started out tamely enough, but then it dropped "USE THE FORCE" and it was like Robyn was talking to me, encouraging me to dig deep inside, tune out all distractions, and defeat Darth Puzzle. And then she crossed "USE THE FORCE" with "CAN I SEE SOME ID?" and then crossed *that* with "YOU DID WHAT?," which is the puzzle equivalent of hitting warp speed. BONUS POINTS! FLUX CAPACITOR! It was like being in a (stand-up, arcade) video game, in the best way. There were even EASTER EGGS! Basically, this was Weintraub being Weintraub, which is always beautiful to see.
There were a few trouble spots, I suppose. I had no idea what the "Camelot" clue wanted because it seemed to want a musical-specific answer, and I don't know the musical, and having taught Arthurian literature for a number of years I can tell you with some assurance that Camelot is far from IDEAL. If you know what those people get up to when they're not celebrating themselves ... it's not always pretty. Anyway, needed crosses for that. but they weren't hard to come by. Wanted "NO PROBLEMO!" at first for (13A: "Or don't ... whatever works for you"). But then TWEEDLE-DEE got me anchored and once LEDGES went in, and once the LADY descending the staircase became the NUDE descending the staircase, I was able to spring out of that NW corner via The Force. Had trouble with both fast-eating/drinking clues today (DOWN, BELT). Wanted things like BOLT, WOLF, GULP, I dunno, stuff like that. Had a couple of geographic kealoa*-esque moments in the NE where I wasn't completely sure what -ANI and what -EC I was dealing with at 15D: Dweller on the Musandam Peninsula (OMANI, not IRANI) and 11D: Ancient Nahuatl speaker (AZTEC, not OLMEC), respectively, but luckily my first guess in both cases was right. The puzzle was *so* Gen X that after writing in and taking out BOX SEATS at 34D: Superfan's purchase, I wrote in BOX CD SET. I never know if it's "box set" or "BOXED SET." At any rate, BOXED SET can apply to books as well as music; CDs not necessarily involved today, alas.
Explainers:
- 37A: Temple buildings (DORMS) — So ... Temple University. This clue got me, for a time.
- 21D: Certain deer (ROES) — I don't think ROES is a very common plural, but roe deer are a common, smaller, largely European species of deer.
- 9D: Club beginnings? (TEE TIMES) — when you "begin" your round at the (golf) "club."
- 19A: Midway point? (GATE) — So ... Midway Airport (in Chicago).
*kealoa = a pair of words (normally short, common answers) that can be clued identically and that share at least one letter in common (in the same position). These are answers you can't just fill in quickly because two or more answers are viable, Even With One or More Letters In Place. From the classic [Mauna ___] KEA/LOA conundrum. See also, e.g. [Heaps] ATON/ALOT, ["Git!"] "SHOO"/"SCAT," etc.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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109 comments:
Even though I consider myself a "car guy", I never expected to get bailed out by a FLUX CAPACITOR. I just couldn't get started, and then ... there it was and I was off to the races.
Apart from having an early sticking point due to putting down "TWEETY BIRD" instead of "TWEEDLE DEE", this was a lot of fun for a Saturday! The nerd in me loved the sci-fi stuff :)
21D almost cost me my streak (wouldn't have been a big loss). The "certain deer" absolutely, positively had to be dOES, right? D'oh!! TdADER didn't look right, but maybe there's an Emergency Room person in a TD Bank AD? Took a long time for the bulb to illuminate.
It’s absolutely uncanny how every puzzle she makes is fresh and fun and clever and just a delight to solve. And no problem with the “Gen X” references: I may be over 80 but was completely familiar with The Bionic Woman and Luke Skywalker and Annie and Back to the Future etc etc. After all, one’s 30s are also a lot of fun, Rex!
TGIRW!
There are only a handful of constructors, in my book, whose puzzles are more than a highly enjoyable brain exercise, nay, whose puzzles – each of them – are an event. You can see it in the joy coming from the commenters. I can see it in how my whole being lights up at seeing the name atop the puzzle. Of course, Robyn, with her skill, wit, and humor, is in that elite group.
Once again, today. All her trademarks in full display. But does it feel like “just another Weintraub?” No, not at all! Totally fresh, just picked, stand-alone magnificent.
I, a lover of wordplay, know that several clues will get me buoyant, as those for DORMS, MUTE, and especially [What an actor might do before the evening show] for MATINEE did today.
I, a crossnerd, heard a ping in my brain when I read the clue for UPON, which has been clued hundreds of times in the major crossword outlets, but never with the “sneak___”, “check ___”, or “follow ___” angle. There’s that Weintraub freshness.
Perhaps it’s easy, after doing many RWs, to take for granted how lacking in junky answers they are, how the clues are bursting with wit, and how rich with I-can-relate-to-that colloquial phrases they are. No! These are precious constructing skills, rare and wonderful, and, IMO, never to be taken for granted, but always to be amazed at and grateful for.
Thank you, Robyn, for being such a Crosslandia force. And thank you for once again – amazingly, once again – igniting my happy button!
I probably should have realized "YOU DID tHAT?" wouldn't work since, unless Oscar Wilde wrote a poem about birds that I don't know about, "tIT" really wasn't on his list of preferences.
Really enjoyed this one! Found it medium difficulty so ideal Saturday level for me. Thanks for explaining the answers for Temple and Midway, Rex, this Brit had no way of understanding those otherwise!
This was a fine puzzle, but I physically winced at "boxed set". No one calls it that. It's a box set. Other than that, very nice!
@CWT: Total agreement. I'm not over 80, but I'm much older than Rex, and none of those clues was foreign to me. And then there's the added bonus of knowing the musical "Camelot" (1960 debut) and getting off on exactly the right foot.
I don't know how she does it, but Robyn Weintraub never, ever disappoints. There is no junk here. Not a single porch fridge or car on blocks. No "Look at me! I can trip you up because I'm so smart!" clues. It's all bright, fresh, fun, and doable. I groaned at DORM for "Temple buildings," but it was a happy groan.
Best Saturday in ages!
I’m a couple of years older than Rex’s IDEAL Gen X age range for this puzzle, but it was entirely in my wheelhouse too. And I loved it.
Great writeup today too. I loved Darth Puzzle and I can just imagine the Jamie Sommers hair styling salon melting in front of the fireplace and your sister subsequently melting down too. (They were both heroes with superpowers but the boys’ toy is an action figure and the girls’ toy is a hair salon. Ugh. Unless her tresses were some kind of BIONIC weapon…)
CAN I SEE SOME ID sounds exactly right, but why “some”? Why doesn’t the bouncer ask for “an” ID or “your” ID?
Anyone else put zoom for MUTE? Nice misdirection on that clue and many others. Rex listed a bunch but my favorite was “what an actor might do before the evening show” for MATINEE.
Didn't check the constructor until I was done and seeing who was my aha moment. Oh frabjous day. Stand Aside Easter Eggs, your moment is coming. No Pressure, can I see some Tweedle Dee. You Did What? Ooze, Mute & Yap purveyors of fine snobbery. I could play with this all day.
I want a BOXED SET of Robin Weintraub puzzles - puzzles that are invariably at the intersection of challenging and fun.
Robyn on a Saturday! The APEX (or is it the Acme?) of puzzle fun. She’s one constructor who never lets us down. Thanks, RW!
Any time Robyn is in the house, people are going to have a slew of favorite clues - mine were the “meeting setting” for MUTE, the Temple misdirect for DORMS and Oscar Wilde’s WIT.
I felt she chose to rely on a little too much trivia to amp up the difficulty level (OMANI, AZTEC, CUBAn hummingbirds, LIEGE, RIGA, and even Khamhaeng). I may not like the answers, but I do like the creativity of the clues - and will note that none of it was inappropriate for a Saturday.
I never watched the FLUX CAPACITOR movie - I just didn’t think those guys were funny at the time (I know it is science fiction, but it was supposed to be funny, right?). Welcome back ROBYN - and please don’t be a stranger. Maybe you could grace us with a nice mid-week grid sometime.
Yes, a perfect whoosh-whooshy Friday. I just wish it weren't over so quickly.
Also, I'm proud to announce that (this time) she didn't fool me once. Not once. Saw through every misdirection on first blush. I guess the Force was with me.
FH
This puzzle was 'OK'. Started easy, got a bit stuck, broke out and finished in about average time. Not sure why you-know-who raves about this constructor so much. Perhaps, having made a fuss about needing more women constructors, every puzzle so-constructed cannot be criticized, where withering criticism is the natural order. And while I'm at it, let me mention how utterly banal all the Star Wars movies are.
Finished it with one cheat. I had "Flexcapacitor" instead of FLUXCAPACITOR, so I had to look up Nora DUNN. This was a puzzle for scientists.
Some of the cluing was very vague...DORMS for "Temple buildings for one example. Presumably it referred to Temple University. I gave myself a B+ for needing only one cheat.
I guessed wrong on both geographic kealoas. OLMEC and IRANI before AZTEC and OMANI (as a bonus, I also had LAOS for a while instead of CUBA, lining up with letsSEESOMEID[*]). Then when I tried to fix AZTEC I only hit the first two letters, so I had AZmEC crossing MUmE and wondered if that was a zoom competitor. Oh yeah I also had ZOOM for a long time before I took it out to make room for OLMEC. Anyway the point is I spent a bunch of time tripping over my own feet in the NE.
I often get annoyed by Saturday puzzles, due to aggressive obscurity. Not at all today despite this one playing harder than average for me.
[*] On reflection, "let's SEE SOME ID" is more of a cop (or fuzz) line than a bartender line. Also it is the chorus of a great song by The Golden Palominos ("I.D.")
There's no point in rating this puzzle as easy. Of course it's easy, it's a Robyn Weintraub puzzle. I've made no secret pf my contempt for her puzzles. She's the marshmallow lady to me because of the user friendly pablum she churns out. The craft that she puts into them just makes it worse. She could probably make the most challenging puzzles out there if she put her mind to it. I had much the same problem with PB1. RW takes it even further. There's always something about her puzzles that gives them a smiley face aura of pandering to the lowest common denominator. If Hallmark put out xword puzzles RW would be their number one constructor. There are still a number of constructors who can put out Saturday worthy puzzles like Ryan Mcarty and KAC. You won't get those kind of puzzles from this constructor because she just isn't interested in making them. You never have to look for a way to solve an RW puzzle and that's the problem with them. How am I supposed to enjoy solving a puzzle that I would actually have to look for a way to not solve? If this was all just about RW it wouldn't be so bad but unfortunately I've read numerous comments from young constructors who idolize what she does. It's like RW is just the tip of an iceberg that is dumbing down the late week NYT puzzles. The editor is really to blame. I sometimes think WS is like the band that played on the deck of the Tittanic and he's just going down with the ship.
yd -0
A couple of gimme longs made this go by too quickly. USE THE FORCE x FLUX CAPACITOR x CAN I SEE SOME ID went right in without much effort - that opened up the rest of the grid. Conversational feel - with some quaint trivia interspersed. RW’s cluing has become very comfortable and homey.
AZTEC Camera
There was some glue as a result of all the interconnected longs - but nothing too ugly. Agree with the big guy that ROES is slightly BOGUS. Probably knew the IAGO fact but a nice tidbit on a cold, rainy morning. MISTY will always be associated with Eastwood.
Highly solvable and enjoyable Saturday solve. Fair warning - Mossberg’s Stumper takes a little more doing.
Mahalia
I’m an old millennial, but BIONICS and that REM song were the only cultural references I was clueless to. But that didn’t matter, the crosses for both took care of them. Great puzzle, my only complaint is the oh-so-tired EPEE. Can’t we get some FOILS and SABRES one day?
Quick takes from Las Torres del Paine in Chile.
I was kinda down on myself as we walked into a bar yesterday. So the bouncer asked CANISEESOMEego?
Othello, exasperatedly: OMANIAGO. You’ve made me an EDGY MESS.
I can’t say enough about how good Robyn Weintraub is at puzzle making. Pure enjoyment on my part.
Well if you thought yesterday was easy ... and I’m not Gen X. Back when we had three networks and no internet, we all shared cultural references.
Beautiful puzzle, but it’s not even clear to me what was supposed to be hard today. DUNN, I guess? Cluing overall seems Wednesday-level. I did put FarES before FINES, Laird before LIEGE, and irANI before OMANI, but all of those were fixed almost immediately.
One vote here for ‘boxed’ set. Just like 'whipped cream', 'iced tea', white-tailed deer', etc.
I actually hate when people say “Box Set”. it’s not a set of boxes! My biggest smile was that the answer was “BOXED SET” which is much more grammatically correct! It’s a set that is boxed. Haha. Also loved FLUX CAPACITOR and BIONIC. I guess we are the same age-ish. I did have IRANI before OMANI but realized it was wrong. and I had trouble with the THAI corner, but got it eventually. Very fun puzzle for the Gen XEers.
It’s BOX SET, there’s no argument to be made for BOXED SET. A but too much geography/trivia today but that’s because Robyn’s name at the top of a puzzle raised my expectations super high. Lots of great fill. Lots of new clever ways to clue old fill. Just need to have a streak of at least a week sometime when OMAN does not appear in a puzzle.
This was a Saturday full of "I remember that!" and "Great clue!". Geez, what a lot of fun.
I'm with the Boomer Crew who was exposed to a lot of this stuff and it's nice to know it's still accessible. I even felt good about knowing REM, and from reading the blog for so long, EASTEREGGS.
INCH gave me IRANI but Nahuatl I know, so AZTEC meant OOZE. Only other do over was PUN for WIT, IAGO fixed that one. I found a couple of the long answers harder to parse with the handful of letters I had, namely CANISEEESOMEID and YOUDIDWHAT, but wonderfully satisfying to fill in the whole phrase.
Friday Saturday, who cares? Today's RW is a thing of beauty and a joy forever, a Real Winner, and thanks for all the fun. Saturdazo!
Of course this was terrific, but RW byline made me question if it was really Saturday. A hearty 2nd to JD's "frabjous day"?
2nd time recently I got hit with a TWEEDLE/DEE/DUM/EALOA. Any way to tell them apart?
ZOOM for meeting setting (as opposed to MUTE, the Zoom setting option) led to AZTEC for the Musandam Peninsula dweller. Did Rex ever settle on a term for right answer/wrong space? Zoom and din/YAP muddled up the NE, giving me Incan in the Aztec spot and doubt for BIONICS. It sorted out easily at the end.
NOPRoblemo fit so well, the pidgeons not only got a LEDGE, but the whole LoDGE.
Turns out I'm an older Xer: same wheelhouse experience as Rex. The tentpole shows and movies from back then were unavoidable, and my kids could have answered all of these, except maybe BIONICS. My heart sinks thinking about the horror in their household with the cherished Jamie Summers doll present melting on Xmas day. To think now about all the heavily marketed plastic stuff we pestered our parents for...at least the Bionic man came with a giant button in his back that would lift his arm, and a glass eye you could look through. And that weird rubber skin you could pull back to show the bionics underneath, at which point the skin would tear and hang loose forevermore.
BIONICS was such specific PPP, I thought it had to be wrong. 6 Million Dollars now might get you a heart stint and associated recovery.
Wow, @puzzlehoarder, really subbing in for Rex today in the ire department, huh? I genuinely enjoy learning about everyone’s pet peeves and taking in the rants.
As for me, I liked it a lot. Not much to say that hasn’t been said already, except for BOGUS and BONUS POINTS crossing on the U, which just delighted the word nerd in me.
Today was solidly medium for me on the first pass; once I got footholds in the bottom I was able to work my way back up and would say it was easy-medium. Might be in part because every muscle in my body aches - our sump pump discharge hose sprung multiple leaks with all the snow melt, and I spent half the day yesterday on cleanup and replacement. My landlord gives us a significant rent discount for taking care of the place; let’s just say I earned it this month.
Boomers here... Hard to get a foothold and it was a struggle all the way through. Managed to get through it, but was in the "challenge" category for us.
btw - for all RW fans, she has a puzzle most weeks at The New Yorker, as well as Patrick Berry, Natan Last, Elizabeth Gorski, and many other hard hitters.
So, can I see some id and make it a double have the same amount of letters. Once past that the puzzle opened up for me. Great, and typically Robyn.
"Boxed" is the proper adjectival form for a set; the shortening to "box set" is pretty easy to see. A similar issue with a popular beverage down South; it's always "ice tea" but should be "iced tea." Good puzzle today; no "rebuses."
Hey All !
A slightly easier than normal SatPuz here. At least the top half. The bottom half had me flummoxed for a bit. Funny thing, in SE, what got me going again was the unknown to me 42D, Panatelas, e.g.. No clue what in tarhooties they were, but had C___RS, and said, "Hmm, maybe CIGARS?" Threw it in, and lo and behold, finished up that corner.
Neat grid, there are four cheater squares, but hardly noticeable as you're solving. Lots of open space.
Nice puz, Robyn. TOPS, one might say.
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
puzzlehoarder, I think your issue is more with the editors than with Weintraub. I agree that her puzzles are very smooth and more suited to Fridays, but the decision to put her puzzle on a Saturday is not hers. You're blaming the wrong person.
@Anonymous 8:14 AM: You can take your misogyny and stick it. It's one thing to say you don't like a particular constructor; I have a couple I don't like either. It's quite another to say the only reason this constructor is so appreciated is because she's female.
Hate to be that guy, but when I saw the byline I groaned. I can't imagine anyone having trouble solving this, it's so vapid. There's practically nothing that hasn't shown up in myriad NYT puzzles. Same old movies, same old rock groups, Iago, tee times, boxed sets, easter eggs, SNL alumni, the irksome conversational snippets that RW alwats inserts. I don't get quoting that lyric, or any lyric, from "Camelot" in the 1a clue when the word "ideal" never appears in the song.
You can keep this one. zzzzzzzzzz...
I’m 86 years old but none of the “Gen xxx” stuff gave me trouble. Am I a freak?
Particularly liked the clue for “obit”
As always, a delight of a puzzle from one of my favorite constructors.
@Rex, stop saying “no problemo.” It’s “no problema.” It’s a common error but easy to fix and respects the beautiful language of Spanish.
If one gets all pop culture from XWDs, the most popular musical acts of all time must be ELO and R.E.M.
And c’mon man, ROES? ROES???
I agree that the nice gimme of FLUXCAPACITOR opened this one up. Liked BIONICS too. I liked this puzzle.
I may be wrong, but: the Aztecs, while sharing routes with Nahuatl speakers who are indeed ancient, flourished in the 14th-16th centuries. Not ancient, unless you also consider Joan of Arc ancient.
Wouldn’t it have been fun if the 1across answer was “silly” in reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail?
@Lewis 6:48 AM
"... nay, ... " -- Lewis
It is my one last hope in life you speak like Polonius for reals.
@puzzlehoarder 8:43 AM
Sending the chemists over to your house as I am worried there might've been something in your Cheerios.
My new avatar is a little water color I did in honor of the mighty hummingbird. I wanted to draw a picture of one of the most adorable little creature on this earth. In CUBA (24D) we called the wee ones zunzuncitos. They were hard to find, but we had them....This brought on a huge smile for me today.
The rest of the puzzle...not so much. Boy I had trouble in many spots:
Robyn's clues are fiendish. Take a simple answer like TWEEDLEDEE and make the clue sound like an epigram written by John Byron. Take a favorite THAI answer and pepper it with King Ramkh whatshisname..
And so it went.
I was pretty happy that I got as much done as I did. Biggest big mistake is penning in CAN I SEE your ID. I think TEE TIME gave me the SOME I needed.
Some answers just popped in. Here's looking at you CIGAR. And because I watched Breaking Bad, I knew METH.
I watched Back to the Future a hundred years ago and I thought a FLUB CAPACITOR sounded about right...
And so it went.
It took me over an hour to get just half the entries and I had to look up some names, but I finally did finish. Mission accomplished.
@Puzzlehoarder 8:43 – I didn't see your post earlier. Sadly, I concur with your, to use a word from yesterday, ASSESSMENTS.
(While I'm here I should fix my "always" typo earlier.)
Had to finally sign up for this one. Honestly, the Robyn gushing sometimes irritates me *a bit*. Don't get me wrong. She's good. But not *everything* she makes is gold. This was absolute gold. One of the best puzzles I've ever seen! TOPS!
Agreed, it's heavy Gen X, but I think everything is incredibly gettable if you're half awake and not super young. Star Wars and that quote are iconic. FLUX CAPACITOR, maybe slightly tough (I plopped it in immediately, but I think most could infer it at some point and I've heard plenty of references to it outside BTTF). I'm older millennial, born 1984. The only thing completely outside my wheelhouse was DUNN and, whoa boy, crossing that wonderful, yet absolutely devious clue on DORMS... I left that D blank for a while. It was always only gonna be D, but when I finally got it, delightful.
Felt pretty easy for a Saturday. But, my time (34:09) was only a marginally faster than my average. So seems like plenty of challenge. But, just behold that grid for a second and admire. There is almost no crosswordese. And of the few bits that are, not a single one is an eye roll. Wonderful!
You aren’t sorry and you love to be that guy* (*every other guy, and I do mean guy, on the internet). Congrats on your edginess.
Wonderful puzzle, agree with the great flow, nice long answers like FLUXCAPACITOR. Only nit was very minor--I think a sharp shrill sound is a YiP whereas someone talking too much is YAP... but that's pretty minor. Loved EASTEREGGS and BONUSPOINTS and BOGUS. 23 minutes for us. nice job, RW
I am undoubtedly critical much of the time, but I have never made comments about a constructor as mean-spirited, personal, and ignorant as puzzlehoarder’s comment was today ~RP
Me too.
I agree with RP. @Puzzle sounds a lot like that drunken buffoon that stumbled into a guest-blogging gig here not too long ago.
I'm another old fuddyduddy who had no trouble. Beginning at the bottom with EASTER EGGS gave me an easy leg up for the SE. Nice to see TOPS on the bottom.
Easy. Remembering FLUX CAPACITOR was very helpful.
Missteps: Tale before TIER, TEE boxes before TIMES, taUt before SNUG.
No WOEs.
This was more like a Friday for me too. Much more fun than yesterday’s, liked it a bunch.
Stumperfans-After working on last week's off and on for two days, this week's took less than half an hour. Lots of lucky guesses.
@Danny-Welcome to the anti-no problemo crusade. Muy bien dicho, and nice to have some company, but my experiences in this do not fill me with hope.
Another DNF. That's two in a row. Good grief!
In a million zillion years I never would have thought of MUTE as a "modern meeting setting." Never. I'm a Zoom washout -- having tried 7 different times, with 5 different hosts, for 7 different purposes, to get in/participate/be seen -- and having failed in 7 entirely different ways each time. And now I'm a "never again" Zoom attendee.
I also know absolutely nothing about Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers nor their TV characters, so I wrote in BIOpICS for their "tech". I've never heard of BIONICS. And this led to...
O?ApI for the peninsula dweller. Aha! OKAPI!!! Well, why not, I thought.
Oh, but what to do about kUTE for the "modern meeting setting"? I looked KUTE up, but it didn't exist. Well maybe it was a kute new way of saying "meet cute"?
So another epic fail. I've used up so much space on my mistakes that I've left very little time for some of the marquee clue/answers in the puzzle: MATINEE; OOZE; and DORMS. (If you were a Zoom veteran, I suppose you could say MUTE, too.) But unlike most Weintraub puzzles, this one was chockful of things and terms I didn't know: "jughandle"; USE THE FORCE; EASTER EGGS in the software sense. A real bear of a puzzle for me -- but I was kept enthralled throughout and kept thinking that with enough determination I'd finish it. Alas, it was not to be. I blame you, Zoom!
Absolutely brilliant. Rex says, “Basically, this was Weintraub being Weintraub, which is always beautiful to see.” So many wonderful clues like those for MINT, TIRE & OBIT to bring giggles when the penny drops. I’m amazed at how long it took to get on the other side of the bar and not ask for the MEnu, for example. And those of us longer in the tooth get wonderful vibes from recalling times spent watching The Six Million Dollar Man & a time traveling DeLorean with kids who were Rex’s PEERS. Absolutely brilliant!
@Gary Jugart, as long as that substance in my Cheerios doesn't make me write uniclues I'm down with it.
Thx, Robyn; another beaut! :)
Easy-med.
Well under avg time, but felt harder.
Just finished watching the orig 'Alice in Wonderland', so TWEEDLE DEE was easy.
Watch 'Back to the Future' every Nov. 5th; FLUX CAPACITOR was another gimme.
Had TEEshotS, which caused my biggest 'Traffic' tie-up; CAN I SEE yOur ID made for more troubles at that LEFT or right TURN.
Thx @Rex for the 'jughandle' article; learned something. :)
MIDWAY was the toughest to decipher: airport GATE?
Loved the 'Temple' misdirect for DORMS.
All in all, an IDEAL Sat. adventure! :)
___
On to Steve Mossberg's Sat. Stumper. 🤞 (hi @Son Volt)
I see a new Cox / Rathvon acrostic awaits at xwordinfo.com
Agree with @burtonkd (9:24 AM); The New Yorker has some jewels, esp. their Mons.
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
Funny, just yesterday I was thinking it had been a long time since we’ve heard from RW. I did not expect to see her on Saturday but very glad I did. The thing about her puzzles is not that they’re easy, IMHO. It’s going from the clue, which can seem next to impossible, and then realizing the answer which turns out to be so obvious that it just seems like it was easy. BIONICS and FLUX CAPACITOR are two perfect examples. For me, this was the hardest Weintraub yet did but as far as I’m concerned, she’s still the ultimate crossword goddess.
I was very curious what a jug handle would turn out to be so I’m grateful for Rex’s explanation which saved me having to look it up. Now that I see the illustration, I’m sure I’ve been in that formation before without even realizing it had a name but it makes perfect sense. The craziest traffic innovation I’ve seen is the what they called a double diamonds or figure eights, where the traffic reverses lanes thru an intersection. They’re a little freaky until you get used to them.
I really struggled with this crossword, but in a good way! Saturdays were made for struggle. As a younger-than-gen-X solver, I definitely didn't feel like there was any issue with the pop culture in this puzzle. The only thing unfamiliar was the media that BIONICS was referencing, but it was very inferrable.
I know I’m late to the party, because I solve in syndication. But about the card a few weeks ago. The three letter name I most often encounter in puzzles is not ONO, ENO or ORR, it is ELS.
Good fun for me.
Had problems up top. Wanted Sam Clemens for the Tweedle Dee quote for some reason. The Midway clue had me flummoxed. And the geography stuff in the NE was bugging me. So I started from the bottom and the cute answers really started clicking. Two women from SNL, nice. BONUS POINTS crossing EASTER EGGS, terrific. And of course FLUX CAPACITOR crossing USE THE FORCE. It all filled in pretty quickly except I flubbed the SIGMA/DORMS intersection, and "sharp, shrill sound" to me is more YiP than YAP, though neither seems exactly right.
In the Lerner and Loewe musical, the entire lyric of the title song “Camelot” is built on the conceit that the weather has been decreed by law to be perfect there. It never uses the word “ideal”, but the clue quotes a bit of the lyric expressing that idea.
Oh, thank heavens for you today, @GILL! So many other of my Rexblog pals -- @burtonkd, @Joe D, @kitshef -- labelled this as "too easy" and if that doesn't make you feel like a dummy when you not only don't solve successfully but when you are struggling every step of the way, I don't know what will.
I agree with those who call this somewhat of a "generational" puzzle. Much of the required knowledge, early Boomer that I am, was out of my wheelhouse -- and one of the things I've always loved about RW is that she's managed to keep the whole "wheelhouse" question gorgeously and completely out of her puzzles. So that while, as always, I found her cluing today absolutely fabulous, this did not end up being one of my favorite RW puzzles.
Very glad I wasn't the only one who had BOXCDSET at first 😂
@bocamp - where did you even FIND the original Alice in Wonderland? I'm kind of an Alice junkie, but I've never seen any made prior to the Ruth Gilbert version. My favorite is the Gary Cooper/Cary Grant version -- although it's been years since I last saw that and I wonder if it would still provide the same level of amusement and amazement.
Gen X-centric? Nope. The pop/arts answers were some of the easier stuff for me today. However, this RW masterpiece (aren’t they all!) was a glittering example of crossword construction. And it took quite a while to get started and I experienced very little “whoosh.”
I have a bone to pick with YAP as a “shrill” sound. “Sharp,” yes, but in my lexicon, a YiP is shrill and a YAP is sharp but throaty. So there. And my YiP made me want Incas but my brain told me, “Stop it, you idiot, you know Nahuatl is AZTEC!” Fixed that but I’m still grumbling. I know the difference between a YiP and a YAP. We had an anniying neighbor once whose chihuahua was a squeaky yipper and a fluffy mutt who was a yapper. All the time. So much so that her lease was not renewed, to the delight of all the neighbors in our 8 unit building.
All of the “explainers” were RW classics, and in the Saturday context took me longer than they might ordinarily. I was so focused on the lack of theme and my brain failed to recognize the cleverness on first (and second and in some cases third) pass. The Temple buildings nearly stumped me, but my librarian upstairs in her grey lair kept telling me to “just try DORMS and see if it fits.” Thank you, subconscious.
Gonna admit something many of you will find absolute heresy. I have never seen “Back to the Future.” Thankfully, my 50 years of solving have introduced me to most of its salient, crossword worthy aspects. Took me some of the CAPACITOR crosses to remember it, but when I had the X from BOX, and C_PAC_T__, boom! Brain fully engaged.
Never heard anyone say BOXED SET, but it could be just that the -ED is elided. I kept trying to say BOXED SET, BOXED SET, BOXED SET, and decided that even if I intended to utter all the letters, the -ED probably wouldn’t be heard. Not a big deal.
My absolute favorite clue of the day was “what an actor might do before an evening show.” That was my one place where I got the clever answer right off the bat. This was a RW Saturday work of art. Certainly not easy for me, but a joy to solve.
Very clean fillins thru-out this 72-worder, but hard anyhow. I blame the clues. Especially the clues with Daugava River, King Ramkhamhaeng, Ancient Nahuati, Musandam Peninsula, jughandle, and Steve Austin/Jaime Sommers.
Plus, it took many extra precious nanoseconds to read that TWEEDLEDEE clue.
fave clue: {Wilde thing} = WIT.
staff weeject picks: YAP & YEN. Admired how she stuck some black "cheater" squares in, to provide a nesting area for em.
some other faves included: YOUDIDWHAT. NOPRESSURE [M&A had NOPROBLEMO, for a while]. CANISEESOMEID [M&A started it out with LETS, until he was on to the METH]. USETHEFORCE [needs a LUKE, at the end, tho]. BOGUS/BONUS. NUDE [a gimme, as M&A knew the Duchamp painting well].
Thanx for the themeless fun, Ms. Weintraub darlin. I gotta second @Lewis's TGIRW.
Masked & Anonym007Us
Have to agree with RP that the comment posted at 8:43 is an uncalled for personal attack on the constructor. Express your vitriol if you must but confine it to the puzzle, not the human being who created it.
I love RW’s puzzles but this one was too generation-specific for me—as Rex and others have underscored. I did NOT find it easy and I don’t live under a rock, as certain snobs here have suggested about those of us who had difficulty solving it. IMHO, I think RW was trying too hard to make it hard because of the frequent carping that she’s too easy. This was the first puzzle of hers that I thought was overworked and felt as if it were constructed by an editorial committee. I look forward to her next outing!
Ah, it must be nice to feel like a god and denounce with unmeasured vitriol someone whose puzzle one hates. Personally, I found the puzzle medium-challenging, but I did
not utter a curse once about the constructor (or even editor). Fortunately, as Saroyan wrote, "hate dies every minute." But what I cannot understand is why a solver would think it is "cheating" to look up an answer, when constructors "cheat" every day of the week by using computer programs to construct their puzzles in the first place.
Cool yea this puzzle was a millennial nightmare
I don’t have any idea why there is so much praise for this one. It is certainly not below average but it has a lot of “”Really?” answers. It reminds me of a recent one that commentators tore apart.
I am older than you by a bit and was able to get the references from the 1965ish era. I saw a DeLorean recently and wondered if it had a flex capacitor.
For Canon Chasuble: I agree with your assessment in re computer programs. I gave up trying to get a puzzle published because I realized I was competing against people who use someone else's brain in constructing puzzles. That is a form of cheating. Thank you for your comment.
I'll add to the praise for Robyn and this puzzle. It could have been a bit harder, just so it wasn't over so soon.
Hands up for BOX CD SET which left me wondering why an actor would do a MATINCE after supper. And just below that I had UNKIND for "Mean" and I really didn't want to change it because it was so perfect.
@kitshef, surely you meant to say "back when we had four networks..." PBS was huge back in the day!
On my grand tour of the USA I saw a sign for AZTEC Ruins National Monument and got so excited... I had no idea they lived this far north! Of course the first thing I learned in the park was that they didn't.
[Spelling Bee: yd 0; my last word was this 6er (and note M-W spells it with a dash!), although this 7er took me a while. QB streak at more than 5.]
I so wanted to fit DeLorean in there.
Rex, You are correct, Camelot was not ideal. What was ideal was the casting of my beautiful, beautiful, Richard Harris, as King Arthur, in the movie version of the musical Camelot. Check out Roger Ebert’s review on his site. Lerner and Loewe, dude!
https://youtu.be/j0BiJRI4GOE
@CDilly -- Do yourself a favor and watch "Back to the Future". It's one of the most riveting and compelling movies I've ever seen. And you can certainly trust me -- a dyed-in-the-wool hater of almost all science fiction ever written or filmed. I can't stand either of the "Stars" -- "Wars" and "Trek" -- and I've avoided just about everything else with space capsules and aliens too.
There are exactly three science fiction-y films I've loved and one I've liked but didn't completely understand:
BACK TO THE FUTURE -- Because the idea that if you go back to the past you may change the past for the worse is a really fascinating one.
ET -- Because the alien is so sweet and lovable and vulnerable that you just can't help caring about him beyond all human reason.
PLANET OF THE APES -- Because it's more satire than science fiction, and what's being so mercilessly satirized is...us.
2001 -- Because it has such size and scope and importance. If only I could have understood what it was actually saying.
That's it, @CDilly. So trust me on "Back to the Future" and rent it.
I was born in 1990, and I really enjoyed this puzzle. I grew up being influenced by Gen X, so there was a deep (if shadowy) nostalgia for me. I got a bionic woman from a yard sale when I was about 5; I have vague memories of various tech items being jokingly referred to as "flux capacitors;" my childhood neighbor let me play his collection of '80s arcade games in his garage, etc.
People love to shit on Gen X, but I like you guys. (Most of you, at least.)
@kitshef (12:34 PM)
Apologies; I should have said original 'cartoon' version ('51). Even then, I'm not 100% sure there wasn't an animated production prior to that. Didn't know of Ruth Gilbert's Alice, so thx for that! :)
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Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
@Nancy 2:44 I think your comment to CDilly that he should "rent" Back to the Future says it all. Hardly anyone "rents" a film anymore; they "stream" it. For free, typically.
I should add that while I don't mind a good scifi film, I tried to watch BTTF and thought it was kind of stupid. I know it was popular back in the day, but I wouldn't say it has aged well.
Speaking of movies, we just finished watching All Quiet on the Western Front. Amazing. Searing. Powerful. If you haven't seen it yet . . . .stream it!
And for the puzzle, a satisfyingly challenging Saturday, solved in just under my normal time so I wouldn't say it was super easy.
Also had “BOXCDSET” before BOXEDSET.”
@Nancy darlin- If U like tales about time travel complications, consider viewin the 2004 schlock flick called "Primer". Mind blower alert.
Also … really got a yuck out of the GATE & SIGMA clues, in today's SatPuz. M&A just keeps findin more stuff to luv.
M&A Flick Reviews Desk
**gruntz**
@B$ (3:23) -- 1) @CDilly is a woman.
2) How many streaming services are you signed up for, B$? I only have Netflix, so most things I might want to stream aren't available to me. But I have a public library two blocks away where I can order DVDs for free and by phone. It's a much, MUCH cheaper option than joining a zillion streaming services you have to pay for.
Only snag for me was wanting "Lets see some ID", so I had a struggle for a few minutes. But other than that, as a 60-something this puzzle was right in my wheelhouse.
My first thought: Robyn Weintraub? On a Saturday? Followed by a mix of elation (It will be delightful) and deflation (It will be too easy). That mix held steady through the top section, where there was indeed NO PRESSURE as I had fun filling in the answers apace. But then, the clues got tricky on me, and suddenly I was no longer in "easy" territory and was happy to be proven wrong. Enjoyably "medium" from then on. My favorite clue was for MATINEE and favorite cross THE FORCE with the FLUX CAPACITOR - I love the idea of their combined energy potential (not to mention loving both movies).
Do-overs: maui before CUBA, irANI, mAy I SEE a [why doesn't "menu" fit?]
@pabloinnh 11:34 - Hats off to you for your easy cruise through the Stumper - it was a beast for me! I missed last week's, will go and check it out.
I did not at all find this easy, but did enjoy the solve from start to finish. Especially liked YOU DID WHAT? and CAN I SEE SOME ID? Saw “Back to the Future” when it first came out and have no recollection of the FLUX CAPACITOR. However, the crosses took care of that for me. Also liked the elegant clue for NUDE.
Crossword Secret: If it’s a four-letter Shakespearean character, it’s probably IAGO.
@Nancy
Your list of sci-fi films makes me think you might like Arrival. It's about how language influences our understanding and experience of time.
I liked MINT, MUTE, FLUXCAPACITOR, TEETIMES, EASTEREGGS, NOPRESSURE, even though I wanted No Problema. I was very sure it was right so that bogged me down for awhile. I got SIGMA from crosses and had to look it up later.
@beverly c, Thanks! I'll definitely check it out, beginning with the trailer.
@M&A -- I'll definitely check that out, too -- again by way of the trailer -- although the word "schlock" doesn't exactly fill me with positive anticipation :)
Zoom came to mind until the cross, OMANI appeared. Well done corner I thought.
@bocamp – Noooo! Don’t tell me Alice has joined Winnie-the-Pooh in being reduced to a “pantsless Disney character”.
@pabloinnh (11:34 AM)
Well done on the Stumper! :)
Just over 1 hr. for me, so relatively med.
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Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
That annoyed me a little too. But when I like the puzzle I usually blame a bad clue on the editor!
@Pablo and bocamp - good for you guys - I usually have a disconnect with Mossberg’s cluing and today was no different.
Or LEAR
I solved this very late -- my wife was napping after an arduous kayak paddle, and I had nothing else to do, so I solved the puzzle. I found it hard, but much of that was my own fault. First off, like @Joe DiPinto, I was looking for an actual lyric about Camelot -- but unlike him I did not remember the lyrics very well, so I put in "sunny." I could see at once that none of the crosses worked, but there it was all the same.
Never saw Back to the Future, so I wasn't sure about FLUX/FLeX, but CAPACITOR was obvious, so that got me going. And of course, zoom, which gave me...azeri? I mean, maybe Azerbaijan has a peninsula someplace. THAI was easier, because the king's name had a very Siamese feel to it.
I did like the puzzle, I just wasn't on its wavelength for too long, so it was slow for me. Partly being 79; I did some of that pop culture stuff with my kids, but not all of it.
Serious question: did anyone actually put in TWEEDLE DEE from the clue? I just put in TWEEDLE D, and waited for crosses.
@Burtonkd -- the term is "malapop," and it comes from @Acme, not Rex.
@burtonkd (9:12 AM) / jberg (7:59 PM)
re: 'malapop', i.e., right answer/wrong space
AFIK, here's the origin of the term: (check out the blog for that day to see all the relevant comments to ACME's post)
@Rex from Mon., Aug. 18, 2008 wrote:
"36D: Bearded flower (iris) - weirdly, I had IRIS at 55A: Eye part (uvea) before I ever saw this clue. What are we calling that phenomenon, Andrea?"
@ACME (2:03 PM) (posting as @Anonymous (due to a 3 post limit at that time, which she thot she'd already reached) wrote:
"@mac
uh oh, this "andrea" thing is beginning to take on a life of it's own!
Before it goes too much further,
I guess apres vu didn't catch on, and as Rex has wisely pointed out, it's NOT the opposite of a deja vu bec we HAVE seen it, albeit in the wrong place.
sort of a mal deja vu...
so as a nod to that, how about a
MALAPOP?
MALAPOP: A word that you've popped into the puzzle or that has popped up, albeit it in the wrong place?
(Plus it's a nod to that baseball thingie of pop-ups...not to mention annoying pop-up ads)
MALAPOP, anyone?
(In Minnesota tho a MALAPOP would be a soda that's gone flat!)"
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Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
Fair enough! My apologies, I definitely wasn’t intending to suggest the *type* of critique was Rex-like, just the intensity, and I’m sorry if that wasn’t clear. I deeply appreciate your particular style of criticism, and often agree with it. I of course strongly disagreed with @puzzlehoarder here, for the record.
AMEN. Where can I get it?
I had BOXseats for a while. "Superfan" speaks to me of sports, not music.
This was a weird experience: laying DOWN long gimmes--then struggling with the shorter fill. Blame Saturday-level cluing, but it played just about medium for me.
Of course, FLUXCAPACITOR, the unquestioned star of the show, went in instantly. So did BIONICS, and with only a handful of letters CANISEESOMEID and TWEEDLED...but I had to wait for the kealoa on that one. All these helped the solve along, but there were parts that still took some brain work.
Must take the opportunity to honor Lindsay Wagner, DOD star of "The BIONIC Woman." I used to call her the "chick BIONIC."
Sometimes a panatela is just a CIGAR. Birdie.
Wordle par.
Like finding a late EASTEREGG, I finished this with NOPRESSURE. Before breakfast! So, more time to go to TRADER Joe's.
Yes, @Spacey, it is just a CIGAR, but better than no CIGAR!
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
I wish every puzzle was as good as Robyn Weintraub’s puzzles.
TWIT WIT (1/6/2021)
TWEEDLEDEE said, "STANDASIDE,
NO USE of FORCE CANI ABIDE,
NOPRESSURE ON THE INTENDed ONE,
until THE TIME tTHE PEERS ARE DUNN."
--- ANNIE WIIG
@spacey - or a smoke.
I only wrote over mAySEESOMEID; proper English, you know. Noted: TOPS in the bottom row, DOWN at the top; ISPY in the corners. Circled clue: Kristen WIIG.
Are you NUDE if only your TOPS DOWN?
Wordle par.
I think I set a new personal record for write overs. I read common request at a bar, and immediately wrote in, make it a double.
@puzzlehoarder 8:43am:
"I guess you just hate fun."
You're not as bad as Blue Stater, but then again, he's bought every "get off my lawn" sign within a 50 mile radius of his house.
@Anonymous 9:06am:
You are absolutely correct if you collect boxes as your hobby.
@Anonymous 10:20am:
Ancient is a relative term. I'm sure to many a five year old, you are quite ancient.
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