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Grammy-nominated psychedelic music act with an animal in its name / TUE 3-7-23 / Brewpub order that's tart to the taste / Big fish catcher / 2010s HBO drama series that starred Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman
Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Constructor: Enrique Henestroza Anguiano and Matthew Stock
Relative difficulty: Very Easy
Theme answers:
- OFF ON A LARK (18A: *Doing something just for fun)
- BIG LITTLE LIES (25A: *2010s HBO drama series that starred Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman)
- LEFT RIGHT AWAY (53A: *Made a hasty exit)
- OUT IN FRONT (67A: *Leading the charge)
Tame Impala is the psychedelic music project of Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. In the recording studio, Parker writes, records, performs, and produces all of the project's music. As a touring act, Tame Impala consists of Parker (vocals, guitar, synthesizer), Dominic Simper (guitar, synthesiser), Jay Watson (synthesiser, vocals, guitar), Cam Avery (bass guitar, vocals, synthesizer), and Julien Barbagallo (drums, vocals). The group has a close affiliation with fellow Australian psychedelic rock band Pond, sharing members and collaborators, including Nick Allbrook, formerly a live member of Tame Impala. Originally signed to Modular Recordings, Tame Impala is now signed to Interscope Records in the United States and Fiction Records in the UK.Parker originally conceived the project in Perth in 2007. After a series of singles and EPs, Tame Impala's debut studio album, Innerspeaker, was released in 2010; it was certified gold in Australia and well received by critics. Parker's 2012 follow-up, Lonerism, was also acclaimed, reaching platinum status in Australia and receiving a Grammy Award nomination for Best Alternative Music Album. Tame Impala's third album, Currents, was released in July 2015, and like its predecessor, it won ARIA Awards for Best Rock Album and Album of the Year. Parker won the APRA Award for Song of the Year 2016 for Currents' first track, "Let It Happen". The fourth studio album, The Slow Rush, was released on 14 February 2020. At the 2020 ARIA Music Awards, Tame Impala won five trophies. (wikipedia)
• • •
I guess I would also quibble a little with the OFF part of OFF ON A LARK. The familiar phrase is ON A LARK. You do something ON A LARK. The OFF feels tacked on and less iconic. OFF ON A SPREE, a TOOT, an ADVENTURE, a TANGENT, etc. Those all sound much more correct to my ear. If I type [Off on a] into Google, here's what it thinks I want:
No LARK in sight. But again, even if it's not right on the money, I think it's close enough. I can't say "no one would ever say that," but I will say that my first instinct was not LARK but TOOT,—not because TOOT is *so* great, but because it sounded more likely *and* because this is the NYTXW, which loves quaint bygone phrases like "on a TOOT." Which reminds me, the fill in this puzzle does, at times, have a kind of quaint, bygone feel to it in places, with STENO POSER BALOO and MA'AM, and then a bunch of time-worn repeaters (ESOS OSO AGO EGOS ICI ITO, to say nothing of that whole RUPEE ETTA ALOT ANA section). I thought the longer answers were really solid, though. TAME IMPALA will be the far far outlier today, in terms of solver familiarity, but like all the other pop culture stuff today, they were in my wheelhouse, so no problems here. I love a SOUR BEER, though I really wanted SOUR ALE there ... not sure why that phrase feels more familiar (43D: Brewpub order that's tart to the taste). Anyway, didn't take me long to sub in BEER. I love SUPERFOODS and I superlove that they clued it as "adspeak," yes, thank you. All in all, an enjoyable little Tuesday. Two good early-week puzzles in a row! Makes me feel good. There's only one thing to do in a moment like this ...
[STRUT!]
See you tomorrow.
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72 comments:
Didn't know LATTEART or TAMEIMPALA, but the crosses were easy enough. I liked the puzzle, but agree it was easy.
Easy here too. TAME IMPALA was a WOE, but easy to get from crosses and the "animal" mention in the clue. Only overwrite was SCrUb before SCOUR at 46A.
Easy, but solid. Theme was nice and tight. Agree with Rex about OFF ON A LARK…I’m used to the phrasing where you do something ON A LARK.
I pulled of the freeway, on a lark, and found the worlds biggest ball of twine.
Vs.
“Where’d he go?”
“Oh, he’s off on a lark”
Yeahhh, no…
Also wanted SOUR ALE at first as it feels more right to me. But overall an enjoyable puzzle, if not just too quickly over.
So much to admire here with this set of themers. Totally agree with Rex on BIG LITTLE LIES being the outlier semantically. I really liked that they found expressions like these, and not some like we’ve seen in the past: (The Music Man, Poor Richard, fix breakfast) where the opposites have to be discovered. And I also appreciate that they didn’t go with the obvious stuff like bittersweet, Icy Hot, true fiction, don’t do it…
SAUD and TAME IMPALA were hard. Not unfair, just a little tough for a Tuesday.
I know this’ll rankle some, but I grew up in the south, where we always had to use MA’AM and sir with Mom and Dad. If Mom called me and I answered with What? instead of MA’AM?, I got a little spanking. There it is. I never felt like it put any kind of distance between us, any kind of stiff formality; it was just what we said. Even now as her adult child, I never answer her with anything but MA’AM.
Speaking of childhood, my sisters and I spent HOURS listening to our stacks of story records like The Prince and the Pauper, 101 Dalmatians, Jungle Book.. Entries like BALOO open secret longings to be back in that easy, carefree existence. Our only care was negotiating which story to listen to at bedtime, and those fights could get pretty ugly.
LATTE ART. I’ll say again that we have a lot of spare time on our hands. I mean, nice to be handed that beautifully-designed froth, but isn’t there something more important they could do with that time? Make the line go faster? (I dunno. Maybe latte art will be my future pastime once I retire. It’d be a hoot to startle a visitor with something like that.)
Honestly, any amount of time you’re in traffic for longer than expected, it’s awful. HOURS? Jeez Louise – a descent into hell. My sister, Meagan, and her husband got caught recently on an interstate, and after being at a standstill for like forever, Meagan (huge water drinker - this does not end well) finally had to, ya know, “go.” She left the car and went over to the shoulder where there was this short little concrete barrier. She had just jumped it when the traffic started moving. Her husband had no choice but to start going – before Meagan was able to start going, and she had to run between the cars to catch up to him. They weren’t going fast, but still. She says she imagines it was quite the spectacle. And she didn’t even get to accomplish her number one priority.
@LMS, future pasttime and number one priority had me ROFL, or maybe more appropriately made me laugh cry...🤣
Nice grid with a couple of rough spots for me at least - HARTS crossing KAL was tough, never heard of deer referred to that way. The two crossing non-words (BALOO x TIA) was a bit of a buzzkill, and STAX crossing NIX was a tough one as well. I liked the theme for a change, which is always a pleasant surprise.
Bit of a slowdown for me because I had SCrUb instead of SCOUR (newly discovered kealoa?) and didn’t check the crosses, which of course made no sense. Otherwise smooth sailing and I’ve even heard of Tame Impala.
Nice theme. I actually kinda like LEFT RIGHT AWAY best because the two key words in the phrase have completely different meanings from the ones that are opposed. The OPPOSITE of BIG LITTLE LIES (which was a fun series).
I learned a couple of things. Football fields don’t have 100 yards? I don’t understand. There are definitely 100 units on the field - are they longer than a yard? When did this happen? Or are they counting the endzones? Someone explain! (Too lazy to look it up.)
Second, why are HARTS only “some” male deer? I thought the word was a synonym for buck and stag. (And why do we have so many words for male deer?) This one I did look up because it’s just a definition. It is a male deer but especially a red deer over five years old. OK, then, I will ask a buck its age and species before I make any assumptions.
Any other internal five-year-old humans snicker at “got visibly excited, say”?
Did the puzzle before my morning coffee, so it took me ages to see that I had put in "Time Impala" - seemed like a good name for a psychedelic band to me!
@Ann, "Time Impala" is a way better band name!
Like the depth of the theme - agree with the big guy that the revealer gave me that comfortable ease. Maybe the OFF is superfluous? Liked OUT IN FRONT.
I think the fill was a little off - some decent longs that Rex highlights - but the 3s and 4s are rough - I guess collateral damage from the grid layout and dense theme?
To go with some of the dated fill Ray Peterson
I’m not a huge fan of fill in the blank entries - so DO NOT, AGO etc fell flat. I’ll pass on the SOURs. I like the informal stuff here - CMERE, ROFL, NAH. Guess on KAL.
Hmm.. the double letters do shine - OFF ON A LARK, LITTLE LIES, OPPOSITES, MAAM, RUPEE, BALOO, LLAMA.
Enjoyable Tuesday solve.
Continuing with the throwback feel The IMPALAs
Probably about average on the poc's (plurals of convenience)--I count 11. A few more and we might have had to impose the S TAX.
Fun, easy puzzle; liked the theme; main slowdown in the West with SAUD, that Spanish word I forget over and over, and the ERS/oRS kealoa.
Two scintillating clues highlighted the outing for me today.
[Id checkers?] is a brilliant clue for EGOS. First of all, it’s original – never been used before – which is impressive, being that EGO has appeared 750 times in the NYT, and EGOS has shown up 355. Second, it is misdirecting and smile-producing, playing off “ID checker”. Bravo!
The clue for OPPOSITES ATTRACT asked me to look at “the starts” of the theme answers, which I took to mean the first word. Had that clue spelled out “the first two words”, I wouldn’t have had the mighty satisfying aha that came when I made that discovery on my own. So, I’m very grateful for that little layer of subtlety.
There were a couple of mini-highlights as well. I have a fondness for palindromes, and today there were four (MA’AM, ANA, ICI, OSO)! Also, my Libra sensibilities, which rest so comfortably in balance, felt pampered by the whole OPPOSITES ATTRACT theme.
A smart and satisfying puzzle with lovely sparks. Thank you, gentlemen!
I gotta say TAME IMPALA was clued WAY fairer than when it’s some post-WWII era one-off band where they give you as little help as humanly possible (e.g. “the most notable thing they ever did was hit #28 in pop charts for half a week in 1952, good luck, they’ve got a weird name you’ll never be able to guess” - answer: THE PTRUWLKYS)
@wanderlust. The clue was ‘one of 120 in a football field, technically’. So from the back of one end zone to the back of the other end zone I’d 120 yard’s technically
Agree that yesterday and todays puzzles were very easy when I can finish the puzzles and then figure out the theme
Wanted DEFLEOPARD and was quite proud of my rock knowledge. Never heard of TAMEIMPALA. Maybe those two could be in a sitcom together, like Cagney and Lacey or Starksy and Hutch. The could go on a double date with Laverne and Shirley. The possibilities are endless. They could meet for lunch at Horn and Hardhart, chow down on some liver and onions, get into a scrape with Ren and Stempy and get hauled in for being loud and obnoxious; well, I’m sure someone in this group could tell their story better than I ….
Whenever we get a theme like this I think “why can’t every day be like this”? I liked it is what I’m saying.
Some decidedly non-Tuesday stuff that I didn't have to know like TAME IMPALA, STAX and SOUR BEER.
The last scene of Spiderman: Homecoming where Marisa Tomei learns something new is a great scene.
@wanderlust - traditionally, HARTS are male red deer. So your neighborhood white-tailed deer or mule deer would not qualify
“Number one priority.” Still laughing at that. Honestly, that would be a good xword clue.
Don’t know KAL or HARTS but the A was inferable.
Amy: agree with LMS that LATTE ART seems like a colossal waste of time, especially if there's a line. Suppose some might find doing crosswords frivolous, so my apologies to baristas. And hats off to the constructors for a fun and friendly Tuesday. Appreciate it, as am facing a teeth cleaning appointment this afternoon. Thanks!
Agree that this was Monday-easy and also agree with everyone who has never heard of TAMEIMPALA. Whatever happened to sensible band names like Screaming Broccoli and Moby Grape?
@LMS's musing about MAAM reminded me that our daughter-in-law always refers to her daughter, who is five, as "MAAM". Every time she does I find whatever loose object is handy and hit her with it. OK, no I don't but I do some major shuddering. I mean,, really.
Do people really say REC? Hey, I've got a REC for you? Is a TRAWLNET a real thing? Asking for a friend.
I liked the theme but the revealer was in the middle, tsk tsk. Also, they left out my favorite, which I used to hear when I worked in the garage of our local power company one summer. When someone was getting into a parking space, the instruction was "Go ahead and back up!".
Nice Tuesday indeed, EHA and MS. Eventually Had A Medium Sized smile when I finished, and thanks for all the fun.
This was pleasant and, yeah, on the easy side. I pretty much worked my way through from north to south, which doesn’t always happen – I often zot all over the grid in the course of solving. Having watched the series, I was happy to get BIG LITTLE LIES with no crosses. (@Wanderlust, "Fun"? – well, yes and no.) Truth is, I didn’t pay all that much attention to the theme until the end. I got OPPOSITES ATTRACT half-way through and saw the connection to BIG LITTLE LIES but didn’t focus on the other themers till after I’d finished. The construction of OFF ON A LARK is unfamiliar to me, too. I don’t usually hear or say LARK following a preposition (let alone two) – I’m much more likely to say ON A spree or ON A whim. In general, it occurs to me that the paradoxical phrase of this sort that I use a lot is “many fewer,” as in: We had many fewer cold warnings this winter than usual. Also “terribly good.” But that gets us into adverbs, so maybe into a different type of phrase than our themers.
I’ve never heard of TAME IMPALA and find it a hilarious name for a band. GLOW and LIT UP was a nice pair. I liked most of the long downs – SUPERFOODS, SHANGHAI, LATTE ART. But boo to the TRAWL NET for its destructive impact on the sea floor and its overabundance of bycatch (unwanted sea life caught – and destroyed – by mistake). I’m not saying TRAWL NET shouldn’t be in the puzzle, though. I’m prepared to take the bad with the good. Oh – and I’m not sure about that answer for Logan Roy’s children (HEIRS). Their position was looking pretty darn rocky at the end of last season.
UNICLUES:
1. Money required to get Arabia’s ruling family coifed by their Indian stylist.
2. Superfluous orthodontic information.
3. Hash brownies?
4. Leisure time in Baghdad.
5. Sound coming from the antelope stable on date night.
1. SAUD AFROS RUPEE
2. UNDUE BRACE DATA
3. ROFL SUPERFOODS
4. IRAQI REC HOURS
5. TAME IMPALA MOAN
[SB: Sunday and Monday, both -1. I’m getting too many of these. These were my misses. @okanaganer: I was amused by what you said was your last word on Sunday. It was my first!]
Nothing wrong with "OFFONALARK". Just because it isn't the first set of autofill suggestions doesn't mean it isn't an in-the-language phrase.
This one seemed easy, but my time was slow. Trained by a few years of Rex, I noticed it was 16x15, hah!
I am always so discouraged to read about a band who has been around since 2007, achieved Gold and Platinum status, Grammy nominations, etc. and I have never even heard the band name, much less the music. Time to go fix that...
Big Little Lies had 2 limited seasons - 2017 & 2019. The clue "2010s drama..." implies a bit earlier in the decade and longer lasting, like Seinfeld or Friends being 1990s comedies or Cheers 80s.
It seems that psychedelic rock is made up of songs about mind-altering drug use. The Beatles have been referred to as the first psychedelic rock band because of Revolver.
Hey All !
16 wide grid, the ole brain noticing right away. Still ticking!
That dastardly X in the last square, Argh! Cost me a one-letter DNF. (FWE - Finish With Error(s)).Had a P there, for NIP (could be) and STAP (stupid name for a record label, thought I). Got the Almost There! message, and actually went back to look for the error of my ways, and amazingly enough, found it! Had to do an alphabet run, but got to the X and said "Aha, STAX! Much better."
Neat theme. Believe you me. 😁 (Where did that ridiculous saying come from anyway? Believe me works fine by itself, and is more concise. I imagine it being said in a third-person voice, ala "Believe you, me.")
SOUR BEER sounds nasty, and no thanks if you offer it to me to taste and tell me it's good. I'll just take your word for it.
CMERE is CMONs lass known cousin.
Time to STRUT OFF ON A LARK OUT IN FRONT RIGHT AWAY. See ya
Five F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
The NYTXW week is off to a great start. This one was very nice.
TAMEIMPALA, as well as @Ann Howell's TiMEIMPALA (I agree, every bit as good) reminds me of a dumb contest my friends and I created in high school -- create a band name consisting of a random adjective and a random noun. My friend Jeff was first to go, and he offered up "Venereal Backpack". The rest of us thought that was so perfect that we immediately declared the contest over.
"Well duh, that was obvious" >>> YEAHNOKIDDING
I don’t understand the clue for POSER. Does a “Brainteaser” POSE a question? Hmmph, if so. I’d prefer something like “Faker, slangily” or “Fashion model, often” for this answer.
Wanderlust,
You're not confused. You're dead right. A football field is 100 yards long. Nothing technical about it. The end zones are not part of the field. Here's the dope from the NFL Digest of Rules
The Field: "5. The field is 360 feet long and 160 feet wide. The endzones are 30 feet deep."
Like FIFA insisting a match tied at the end of regulation andovertime is a draw DESPITE subsequent action, so too the NFL insists the field is 100 yards long. And that the Enzone is not part of the field. It's absurd, of course. More so when you consult rule 1:
"The goal line is actually in the end zone."
That means, necessarily, that touchdowns and safeties don't occur on the field. That is a bizarre proposition.
Next time I have to excuse myself to go to the bathroom I fully intend to refer to it as "my number one priority!"
The psychophysical energies that permeate my retirement savings are also known as IRAQI.
As @LMS might say, I was today years old when I realized that SHANGHAI and Sao Paolo have the same number of letters and start with “S”.
SKIS HARTS got me remembering back when Hart Skis were almost as popular as Heads. I googled them and found that the company still exists, but is taking a break for 2022-23 due to supply chain issues and may or may not ever be back. I owned a pair that weighed a ton. It always left me skiing with a heavy Hart.
Anyone who could execute this theme so well could probably tame wild horses. Thanks for a fun, well-executed puzzle, Enrique Henestroza Anguiano and Matthew Stock.
Anyone else think OSOS crossing ORS (vs esos/ers) could be considered a kealoa? I went with OSOS but thought it was a bit lucky.
To 🦖's point, I often say OFF ON A LARK, but to Go-ogle's results, I've never said OFF ON A COMET.
I am not sure how a POSER is a [Brainteaser.], but I am sure they missed an opportunity to keep up with the catwalk STRUT theme. Add in EGOS and we're fully prepared to let our SLIT do our explaining.
ROAR then ROLL then ROFL. So many ways to issue a floor-related guffaw.
Cloudy day here. Time for a nap.
Uniclues:
1 Homeless campers in my neighborhood.
2 Helicopter mom's veto of photgrapher's request to dress teen model in risqué garb.
3 Gym schedule in القائم
1 THOSE OUT IN FRONT
2 POSER SLIT NIX
3 IRAQI REC HOURS
The endzones are ten yards each :)
A very cute wordplay-based theme idea with a perfect revealer. Liked it a lot.
Some thoughts:
A STAG or a HART?
How to tell them apart?
I can't even begin
Till the letters come in.
Re: SUPERFOODS (30D) -- Now I don't much like berries, but I have two eggs every day for breakfast and I eat lots of both avocados and guacamole. Does this mean I'm a SUPERPERSON and will live forever?
Why would any musician(s) name themselves TAME IMPALA, of all things? How do you even dream up such a moniker? The names musicians give themselves these days completely baffle me. Why when I was young, groups had names like The Kingston Trio. And solo performers had names like Frank Sinatra.
A fun puzzle -- even more appreciated for appearing on a Tuesday.
Just curious...who originated the "uniclue"? Gary J. or Barbara S.?
@Lewis, funny that the first word that came to my mind about the theme was "satisfying." :)
I thought this one was on the hard side for a Tuesday, as I was stopped by more "no idea" clues than usual: TAME IMPALA, KAL, SOUR BEER, HEIRS as clued, along with a fair number of "not sure, need crosses": STAX, HOURS, HARTS.... After the first two theme phrases, I couldn't see any commonality, so decided to leave the reveal row blank except for the few crosses I already had. LEFT RIGHT provided the aha moment and made OUT IN fun to pounce on. I wish I'd had to work a little harder for the reveal, but the three letters I had were -PO- and the T from LATTE ART, and there it was.
The theme I loved but HART? SOUR BEER? TAME IMPALA? What on earth are these things and what are they doing in my Tuesday puzzle? Aside from those head scratchers, no resistance at all. Very nice solid, tight. We’ll done gentlemen.
I may not know a Grammy nominated psychedelic music act if I saw one, but I can attest to the fact that BIG LITTLE LIES is an excellent book and extremely well done TV mini series. I mean when you have LAURA Dern, Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep together on a screen . . . enough said.
Thx, Enrique & Matthew, for a GLOWing puz; nicely done! :)
Med (except had ORS, and had to deep SCOUR to LATCH onto my ERRor: oSOS for ESOS; d-oh!).
Kinda weird malapop with dnf oSO at 28D showing up as the 'bear' at 37D.
'Those' OSOs & BALLO, too boot, along with the SALMON, HARTS, IMPALA, LARK & LLAMAS would make for a SUPER interesting SAUNA party.
EAR, ERS, ERR & C'M'ERE were fun, too.
Good workout this AM; most enjoyable time spent! :)
___
@Crocers: finished in 1 1/2 hrs, so easy-med; the SE was by far the toughest section.
___
On to Elizabeth Gorski's New Yorker Mon. 🤞
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Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
Please explain BRAINTEASER = POSER
Excellent Tuesday puzzle! This 67 year old is a TAME IMPALA fan thanks to our 24 year old son, although their songs have a tendency to sound very similar. Kevin Parker is a perfectionist in the mold of Brian Wilson.
I’m always amused when you hear about someone who was “found missing.”
Aren't these called oxymorons? Perfect imperfections comes to mind when OPPOSITES ATTRACT. I've never been able to last in a relationship where my mate thinks riding a dirt bike is a fun date.
BIG LITTLE LIES added to my smile repertoire. I loved the series. I'm now watching "The Last of Us."...
LATTE ART...Yes! A fun way to start my everyday morning. Peet's French roast in a French press. Some whole milk and vanilla Delight zapped for a minute in the micro. Froth up the hot milk, add your coffee and make a little picture of the Mona Lisa.
Tuesdays have become pretty good. Remember when they were the red-headed, freckle faced step child? Now they feel more like watching Grace Kelly frolic with Fred Astaire.
TAME IMPALA looks funny in my grid. I had TAME IMP...ALA what? Had trouble with ROFL because I've never rolled on the floor laughing. I like the pinkish SALMON looking at SUPER FOODS and, well, I liked it all.
And what, pray tell, shall tomorrow bring?
Easy. No erasures and TAME IMPALA was the only WOE. Reasonably smooth with a solid Tuesday theme, liked it.
If you liked BIG LITTLE LIES I highly recommend Little Fires Everywhere currently streaming on Hulu. Reese stars in this one also with Keri Washington.
All of these pairs are opposites in some linguistic sense.
Easy but nicely constructed puzzle.
Let's see, Loren: Your sister Meagan leapt back over a concrete barrier and ran between lanes of moving automobiles to catch up with the now-moving car her husband was driving and somehow managed to fling herself back into it? And she accomplished all this with a bursting bladder yet?
Your sister must be quite the athlete, Loren!!!
@Barbara S -- I cracked up over Uniclue #5.
Uniclues:
1) My eyesight isn't what it used to be and when doing a puzzle I now have to take certain measures
2) It's hot, it's milk, it melts. What can I say?
3) Maria abandons her flying carpet
1) EGOS/ESOS LIT UP
2) LATTE ART HALF
3) OFF ON A LARK TOMEI
Anon 10:42: Gary J
Anonymous @ 10.58
A POSER is a complex question. A challenge to answer by one’s one’s brain power. It’s a word that no English speaker says or writes anymore except crossword people.
I LIKED OFF ON A LARK. IT SOUNDED MORE LARKY WITH THAN WITHOUT.
@Anon 10:16 – ORS/ERS is a kealoa when the clue is "hospital sections" or such. ESOS/OSOS isn't because ESOS means "those" and OSOS means "bears" (as in the animals that do coke). ESOS/ESAS is a kealoa, however, because they both mean "those".
Hawaiian city HILO might made a nice themer here -- if it was a runtpuz.
Real clever theme idea.
Very (O SO) easy-ish. Fun solvequest, with bonus puzgrid bigger size. No-knows were not many and mostly tame little imps.
staff weeject pick: REC. Liked its diff clue.
Other fave sparklers: SHANGHAI. SUPERFOODS [M&A also likes most SOUPER FOODS, btw]. SOURBEER was a kinda interestin concept ["Hey, barkeep -- U got any more of that great beer that's gone bad?"]. UNDUE.
And STAX was a gimme, as M&A has a coupla the Otismeister's 45rpm records.
Foreign words of convenience: ESOS. NOIR. TIA. OSO. ICI. CMERE. [yo and har, @AnoaBob dude]
Thanx for gangin up on us, Anguiano & Stock dudes. Nice TuesPuz.
Masked & Anonymo8Us
**gruntz**
The Monday New Yorker puzzle was one of the worst I’ve ever done. Ridiculously obscure PPP, blah marquee answers and not one clever clue.
De gustibus non est disputandum, I guess. I like it better when the theme words are not clued as opposites. Still a good theme, though.
For those asking, POSER as applied to a question means the same thing as 'stumper,' as in "sBoy, that's a real POSER." Not exactly the same as brainteaser, but close enough.
Here's a video of ISicut Cervus," Palestrina's setting of the 42d Psalm, frequently translated into English as "The HART that panteth in the chase..." There's also the White Hart, Richard II's emblem, which lives on in pub names across England.
Late to the party, but have not much to share beyond everything that’s been said - I liked it! I might be one of the rare members of this commentariat that knew Tame Impala - glad we’re in agreement that it was fairly crossed, and I think it was more than made up for with some of the old-timey fill.
@Wanderlust, I had the exact same experience with SCrUb and SCOUR as you did, down to the silliness of not checking the crosses and then it slowing me down when I had to check the whole thing before getting the solve. But yes, fun to get a new kealoa out of it, at least.
Week’s off to a pleasant start, excited to see what else it brings!
@Anonymous (10:42)
The rest of us but follow in the Master's footsteps.
So,M&A, what kind of equipment is needed and/or available these days to play 45s? I have a fair number of LPs (including some Otis) and I'm just hoping the stylus on my turntable does'nt die before I do.
BTW, been reading the blog for ages. F
This is my first post.
Les
I live for LMS comments. Truly.
@Les 2:18PM - Well … I'm not much of an authority on current record players. My turntable is probably from back in the 1980s vintage, and I only use it occasionally, for those records I've hung onto, over the years.
I did record a bunch of em to CD (with accompanying detailed notes) long ago, and I do still play them CDs, tho. Which just takes a current DVD player & a TV set.
M&A Rockin Help Desk
Otis Redding was signed to Stax the company; however, his output was released not on the Stax label but on the imprint Volt Records. A minor point, but it always sort of annoys me. I owned 45s on both labels and they looked completely different. Volt had a lightning bolt logo, while Stax used a stack of records.
Volt
Stax
To celebrate today's puz I'm going to order me some jumbo shrimp.
Not sure that BIG LITTLE LIES will stand the test of time, but otherwise a nice, clever thematic Tuesday.
Poser is used as a hard question to answer, a type of puzzle.: "That was a real poser." Not the sense of the word as artist model.
Gary J.
Every Canadian knows the football field is 110 yards long with two 20 yard deep end zones. There are a lot of other differences, here is a fascinating Wiki article on them.
I had no idea of this history, for example: "Many, if perhaps not most, of the rules differences have arisen because of rules changes in American football in the early 20th century, which have not been copied by Canadian football." And from 1874:: "Picking up and running with the ball violated a basic rule of the American game of the day; when the U.S. captain (Henry Grant) pointed this out... the reply was simple: Running with the ball is a core part of the Canadian game."
[Spelling Bee: yd and td 0; QB streak now at 10. @Barbara S, that's quite a coincidence about that first/last word!]
@Barbara S. 8:54 AM
Gasp! #3 and #5 are a bit spicy!
Long time beer hound here and I'm astounded that anyone would knowingly drink SOUR BEER. Isn't that what happens when beer gets too old? Wine and spirits may age well but BEER, no. Doesn't the fermentation process continue after it leaves the brewery and, given enough time, the BEER will eventually turn into vinegar? Sounds to me like SOUR BEER is BEER that's well along in that process.
There are lots of SUPER FOODS and most of them are in the produce department of your grocery store.
SHANGHIA is both a large port city and a verb whose meaning derived from the unscrupulous practice there of obtaining crew for a ship by getting victims drunk or drugged to the point of passing out and then hauling them onto the ship. When they came to the next day, they would find out they were already at sea. They had been SHANGHAIed!
@Tom T, 8:07, the POC Committee wholeheartedly endorses the idea of imposing an S TAX whenever the grid fill gets a POC Assisted or POC Marked rating. Now to work out the enforcement and collection details.
@LMS
Glad it wasn't a primary mission 2. One of my faves today was your EAT FAST FOOD.
What does WOE stand for?
What On Earth?
Okay but not great. That’s the standard now at the NYT crossword puzzle.
@muse: Gotta explain THE Music man. That one's got me buffaloed.
Nice one today, with some cool longer fill and no real trash in between. Theme works fine, and though easy to get is still enjoyable. Solid birdie.
Wordle par; thought of it for third shot but "Nah, it can't be that." It was. A tough par-4, like maybe #11 at Augusta.
A DATA GAME?
RIGHTAWAY THOSE LITTLELIES
DONOT mean UNDUE TOTAL fact
if OUTINFRONT it’s HALF the size,
ALOT of OPPOSITESATTRACT.
--- LAURA SUE HART
@spacey - them/us.
The person behind M.C. Skat Cat in the Paula Abdul video is, or was, involved in programming at 89.3 The Current (you can stream it).
Never heard of TAMEIMPALA. My mom had an Impala - it was pretty tame, too. Learned to parallel park in same. It was about a block long.
OPPOSITESATTRACE reminds me of magnets repelling each other - remember that in kindergarten? I do. Kinda amazed me, back then.
This puz didn't amaze, but it was fun to do. Lambo helped.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
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