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Faline's sweetheart in a Disney classic / WED 4-5-23 / Bygone west coast conference name / Texter's hold that thought / Component of some sci-fi ammunition / Movie theater eponym
Wednesday, April 5, 2023
Constructor: Brandon Koppy
Relative difficulty: Medium
Theme answers:
- FILETMIGNON / "DON'T MIND ME"
- BREAST MILK / HOT MICS
- PET MICE / BAT MITZVAH
Kathryn Marie Hahn (born July 23, 1973) is an American actress and comedian. She began her career on television, starring as grief counselor Lily Lebowski in the NBC crime drama series Crossing Jordan(2001–2007). Hahn gained prominence appearing as a supporting actress in a number of comedy films, including How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003), Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), Step Brothers (2008), The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009), Our Idiot Brother (2011), We're the Millers, and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (both 2013). [...] In television, Hahn was featured in a recurring guest role on the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation (2012–2015), for which she received a Critics' Choice nomination for Best Guest Performer in a Comedy Series, she starred in the Amazon Prime Video comedy-drama series Transparent (2014–2019), for which she received a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Hahn also starred in the Amazon Prime Video comedy series I Love Dick (2016–2017), the HBOcomedy miniseries Mrs. Fletcher (2019), and the HBO drama miniseries I Know This Much Is True (2020). Since 2020, Hahn has voiced Paige Hunter in the Apple TV+ animated musical comedy series Central Park. // She starred as Agatha Harkness in the Marvel Cinematic Universe miniseries WandaVision (2021), for which she received critical acclaim and a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. (wikipedia)
• • •
Hello, and sorry for the delayed write-up. Looks like you're getting a Mali Thursday this week, not a Mali Wednesday. So yeah, she'll have the write-up tomorrow. Glad we got that sorted out. Crossed wires! It happens! Anyway, this puzzle ... I did it four hours ago! What was it again!? Oh right, the OVERSHARING thing. I think I'm a little too dense to get how the "over" part is working here. Are the cells "over"-sized in the paper / online grid? I just assumed that the 'TMI" bits were shared between one answer and the next answer "over" from that (i.e. the adjacent answer). I can't say the gimmick did much for me. Less "aha," more "what?" TMI means "too much information," i.e. "you're OVERSHARING," and the "TMI"s are all over-sized so there's definitely *something* here but I don't think the expression of the theme very neatly or clearly embodies the concept. You do get some good phrases in there ("DON'T MIND ME" and BREAST MILK being the standouts), but overall the theme doesn't really ... land. Took me a few beats to figure the theme out, since I couldn't figure out BREAST MILK even with BREAS- in place ("What word starts that way???" LOL), and then I couldn't figure out why TADA and ROMP and OMIT weren't fitting. Eventually OM(II)T became undeniable and the "TMI" gimmick came into view quickly right after that.
This puzzle felt a thousand times harder than yesterday's, but since yesterday's puzzle was the easiest of all time, I'm guessing this one was of just average Wednesday difficulty. No idea what "The Good Dinosaur" is. I know three ARLOs, I think, and the dinosaur is not one of them (6D: Good dinosaur in "The Good Dinosaur"). "AH, GOTCHA" is one of those "random sounds"-type answers I lamented recently, where it seems like the sound part is totally arbitrary. Seems like a cheap and vague way to shoehorn an "original" answer into your grid. "OH, GOTCHA," "OK, GOTCHA" both seem reasonable guesses, even if the "AH" option is, in retrospect, probably the best one. I remember PAC-TEN—it's the west coast conference I grew up with (and I grew up on the west coast). How long has it been defunct and, follow-up, how much longer is it going to be a viable answer? Seems like bygone athletic conferences should have a short shelf life. Looks like the PAC TEN's been the PAC TWELVE for 12 years now, so ... :( ... maybe take PAC TEN out of your Word List? I mean, unless you also think BIG FIVE, BIG SIX, and PAC EIGHT are good answers (those are what the PAC TEN was before it was the PAC TEN). And I'm guessing you don't think they're good, so ... delete!
Never should've had BRB at 1A in a puzzle where the theme is a *different* three-letter texting initialism. If you build your puzzle around a texting initialism, let it be the only texting initialism in the grid. More elegant that way. I realized today that I have never seen "Bambi" ... I have no idea what the plot is besides "Bambi's mom gets shot" (is that right?). I know there is a ... character? ... called ENA. Maybe it's Bambi's aunt? And I know that only because of crosswords. Anyway, "Faline" was less than meaningless to me. I don't think I've ever seen that name in my life. Huge gap in my cinephile education (and one I'm not likely to fill, tbh, too much great stuff out there still to see). I knew all the other names in the puzzle, I think, including EZRA Koenig, which is the name I think is probably likeliest to baffle solvers today. Can't see my comments section being huge Vampire Weekend fans, but I dunno! Prove me wrong, people! Kathryn HAHN, on the other hand, is in everything lately, so it seems way more likely you'd know her, though maybe she's more household face than household name. I don't know. I know both her face and her name. EVEL Knievel ... is also a name, and one I haven't seen in what seems like years. You used to see that guy All The Time, leaping across your grid every chance he got. Today, he largely stays in the garage, where he belongs. SELA is another name Of Yore, but at least she's still working, unlike EVEL. Oh, MARC Maron, there's another name. "WTF" has been on the ... air? (are podcasts "on the air"?) ... for well over a decade. He and Chagall are generally the ones holding down the MARC fort. Enough four-letter names! See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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81 comments:
I really struggled to get through this one - mostly because it is just, well - boring. So much trivia like BAMBI, MAE, MARC, ARLO, EVAL, HAHN . . . all stuffed into a grid with a gibberish theme and some really suspect clues like a director says SCENE and an OVUM is a tube traveler . . . OMG.
Maybe once a year I stumble upon one like this where it is so out of my comfort zone that I just can’t muster any enthusiasm whatsoever (almost invariably it’s a NYT puz). Kudos to all who enjoyed it, not my cup of tea.
Nice trick. For some reason, I left one of the TMI strings blank in each pair so that the crosses would work. I went back and filled them all in, opting for stuff like ROMMP over BREASLK. Either way, the appearance of “non words” never bother me in a grid. I liked this just fine.
I’m a bit buttoned-up, so BREASTMILK makes me feel embarrassed. I can’t explain it, but someone starts talking about their BREASTMILK, pumping, nursing what not, I just want to crawl under the couch. In this spirit, it’s hard not to see the phrase FELT AT HOME OVERSHARING. (Because of my discomfort, I really relate to poor, unsuspecting Bob Barr.)
If FORA has ever been in my radar screen, I’ve long forgotten it. I can’t imagine hearing it out in the wild. Listen, buddy, this is the wrong forum for you to be correcting anyone’s spelling or grammar. Maybe there are other FORA where this is acceptable, but not here, so amscray.
Loved the clue for PET MICE. When I was a sub in WV, this one 5th-grade classroom had a PET rat, Lucille, who had a hammock. Man oh man, she loved that thing. She was always sprawled out on it, calmly taking everyone’s measure. Judging. Throughout the year, I really got to know Lucille, and I adored her. Desperate for her approval, I would sneak over to her cage when no one was around and share my caramel corn with her. She’d see me approach and was like Oh hi, it’s you. She’d climb down from her hammock and walk over to the bars. I’d offer a piece, and she’d take it gingerly in her front paws. I loved that rat.
“What a pocket protector may protect against” – dating? Just kidding. I embraced my inner nerd in 10th grade and have never looked back.
8D is serendipitous. Yesterday I had a new kid. But when he gave me his name, I realized he has been on my roster all semester but has been suspended. (Since it’s been so long, I had asked about him and was told that he had tried to sneak a knife into school, and he’d be out for the rest of the year.) So hearing his name startled me and I surreptitiously considered him more closely. Just seemed like a normal kid. As we chatted, I picked up on a twinkle in his eye and realized that several times he was pulling my leg with some outrageous story. I told him that he didn’t really know me but that he couldn’t have chosen a more deserving teacher to “have on” because I spend the majority of my day pranking kids. I deserve it. But then I leaned over and said, Be warned, Mister. GAME. ON. Who knows what the truth is about his lengthy suspension. All I know is that most of the kids at my school are bright and delightful, not the hoodla everyone expects of alternative school populations.
Wait, no writeup from Rex or a guest? No witty but grouchy opinion to react to? What will we do? (Not having a writeup makes me realize how much I appreciate having one every day - thanks again for your dedication, Rex!)
The app does a little trick at the end of the solve, eliminating the doubled Ts, Ms and Is, and making them “share” a larger rectangle. TADA! The theme makes a little more sense.
I liked it fine, although I missed my daily dose of clever cluing - not even one attempt today. I liked that there were some other answers that fit the TMI theme - a GASBAG is
probably an over-sharer, as might be a person on a SOAP BOX. A HOT MIC might broadcast over-sharing of a different sort. AH, GOTCHA could be an awkward comment made to someone telling you about his difficulties in the bathroom.
You’re ON before GAME ON (hadn’t grokked the theme yet) and quinceañera before BAT MITZVAH (just noticing now that the former has one more letter so I must have left out a letter).
Finally - people have tiny hammocks for their PET MICE?!?!?
Semimalapop when I had HOTMI__ for 21D and before reading the clue thought it had to be HOT MILK. Turns out the MILK went right next door.
Can’t make “Is down with” equal HAS. Any ideas?
I don’t Twitter, but wouldn’t it make a terrible SOAPBOX? On your soapbox, you want to deliver a lenghty oration, not 288 characters or whatever they are up to now
Exactly what @SouthsideJohnny said. I liked absolutely nothing about this puzzle, including the way it looked on the screen after the happy music played. "Gibberish theme" indeed. I mean, what's the point of my having to write EMMMA and TTVSHOWS as answers? Where's the cleverness or amusement in that?
And so many off-kilter clues, including TALC at 41A. Unbelievably tone-deaf on any day, but especially today when a major headline in today's Washington Post is this: "Johnson & Johnson offers $8.9B to settle talc baby powder claims."
Well, Brandon has Puzzlemaker Brain, without a doubt. To come up with this out-of-the-box theme, first of all, and then to pull it off, and admirably. Sometimes a PB puzzle comes off as the constructor showing off, but not this one. This one is a Puzzle, a mystery to be cracked, just what Solvers like me pine for.
A puzzle given extra rub by a variety of non-direct clues, more ambrosia for a Solver. Clues like [Shock or awe] – are these nouns or verbs? Like [Tube traveler?] – is this a British reference? Like [Twitter, for some] – could be anything. And like [Isn’t able to stand] – which misdirected me to thinking “stand” as “being on one’s feet”.
I caught on early that there were boxes to be ignored in the across answers, but it wasn’t until I had filled in about two-thirds of the grid that I finally saw what went in those boxes. Getting through that much of a puzzle in a what’s-going-on state before cracking it, well, in my book, that’s solver heaven, as it brings the glorious got-it kapow, not to mention the satisfaction of a well-earned victory.
Thus, for me, an epic outing, for which I’m most grateful, Brandon. I’m anxious to see what your PB comes up with next!
Joe won’t be in today, he’s down with (has) the flu. I think?
Down with a cold or sickness means that you “have” it. Found that to be a tricky one.
Kitshef said "Can’t make “Is down with” equal HAS. Any ideas?" She has a cold = she is down with a cold. Sort of missed Rex's write-up and trust that he'll be back in the saddle again tomorrow. Or maybe today.
The chops are clearly evident - I liked the trick fine but I think it becomes so restrictive that we get some clunky fill. Hand up with @Wanderlust - liked the money shot in the app. PET MICE and BREAST MILK are rough. INKSPOTs remind me of my father.
Little buddy gonna shut you down
GAS BAG is apt above AVIATE. Really starting to dislike the texting clues. ARLO next to SCENES is cool.
Enjoyable Wednesday solve.
The BAND
This the best story about being a school sub I have ever read! Flesh it out for publication!
Talc may be a carcinogen and has been phased out as an ingredient in baby powder.
Mwissing our usual Mwednesday, Mali dear.
I found this serviceable, but not terribly exciting. Caught on early as, uncharacteristically, I started solving down the west coat and immediately ran into TADA, ROMP and OMIT – too short for the space provided. I didn’t think those answers could be anything else, and then got BREASTMILK and HOT MICS. So doubled up the T, M and I and waited for enlightenment. Which came quickly, because the revealer is also anchored to the west coast.
Are only authoritarian governments REGIMEs? Do only tyrants rule over REALMs? (Not sure about the former but I think no for the latter.) There wasn’t a lot of humor today but I thought DON’T MIND ME and RAIDED fridges were an attempt. I sure don’t remember Faline, at least not by name – guess at the age of 6 I tuned out BAMBI’s love life or else was still struggling to get over the death of his mom. I thought the director’s last word was “Print!” but that must harken back to the pre-digital age. It’s depressing how many words English has for [Isn’t able to stand]: LOATHES, hates, abhors, detests, despises, abominates, execrates, deplores. OK, OK already, we get it.
UNICLUES:
1. Letting Mr. Knievel know that your stunt injuries are just as bad as his.
2. President-Elect’s podium.
3. Bill Kenny singing “I Wish You the Best of Everything” and “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire.”
4. Mr. Pound in fascist Italy.
5. Angelina on the red carpet detailing everything Maddox, Zahara, Shiloh, Pax, Knox and Vivienne are up to.
6. Statement indicating you understand that you can get anything you want…excepting Alice.
7. Ink contract with your latest novelty performers.
8. Text message used to escape financial advisor who just won’t shut up.
1. “I’M SORE, EVEL.”
2. TADA SOAPBOX
3. INKSPOT SOLI
4. FELT-AT-HOME EZRA
5. OVERSHARING V.I.P.
6. “ARLO, AH – GOTCHA!”
7. SIGN PET MICE
8. “BRB, IRAS-GASBAG.”
[SB: yd 0. My last two words are specimens I know only from Spelling Bee, and I was mighty proud of myself for dredging them out of deep storage.]
Today's write-up: the antithesis of TMI
As in “feels ill.”
NEI
Hey All !
Ok, once completed, the NYTXW App thingie gets rid of the double-TMI in the shaded squares, and puts it in the center line of the Downs it goes through. So then the Acrosses make sense with only a single letter. But either way violates the Revealer, no? If you had one big six-square spot in the blank grid, then the Revealer would not make sense. Then again, now that they are "shared", or only one TMI going Down on completion, violates the OVERSHARING still. Right? Or am I OVERthinking?
Anyway, took a sec to realize you had to double the TMIs going Across, but then realized the TMI worked with the Downs. Got the Revealer, and it all came together in the ole brain. Got it at BREAST MILK/HORMICS, then proceeded to fill in the other six-block spots. Had SOLOS in for SOLII, of course, which made sense, so I had a minute of thinking the shared-sixes would all be different. That didn't last long.
Different kind of puz. This seems like it originated as a ThursPuz, but clues were easier than that, so we get a Tricky WedsPuz. Which is nice. Wondering what tomorrow holds.
Happy Hump Day!
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Nice gimmick, but it makes the puzzle too easy--after puzzling out the TTADA/ROMMP/OMITT box, I just needed to see FILET MIGNON to fill in all the shaded squares. But with all that repetition, the revealer needed to be great, and this one was only good. @Rex's explanation of the 'over' is a nice gesture on his part, but not convincing.
@barbara S., you're right about REGIME (trust me, I'm a political scientist!) And, yeah, I don't think you'll find much TALC in diaper bags these days.
I'll check back later to see if Malaika showed up -- I always love her writeups.
Love this! And yes I agree!
As in “he’s down with the flu.”
I left out one set of TMIs so the crosses would work. Looking for the reason the themers "moved over - or up" and then back. But the puzzle didn't show as solved. Had a look at Rex's grid, put in the extra TMIs and done. But it's ridiculous to have those extra letters! I see that the app makes them one letter spanning 2 squares, but, no. And I don't really get any sense that any of the themers is actually oversharing (sorry, @LMS, not squeamish about BREASTMILK). So, huh? Am I still missing something??
Otherwise very medium.
Had to cheat once. I had "OKGOTCHA" instead of "AHGOTCHA," and I had assumed the actress was Kathryn Kahn.
This was a very clever puzzle, with some devious cluing (particularly "tube traveler" for OVUM. My one criticism would be that a stage director doesn't say "SCENE" at any time. I've acted in over 90 plays and directed maybe 15, and never heard or uttered that word. So the clue must refer to a FILM director, but even that is questionable.
I hate it when 1A just makes me livid. Be Right Back does not mean hold that thought.
Desperately seeking Malaika. The latest Hulu blockbuster watched by tens and tens of people. Rex, a mild mannered crossworder with a troubled past, must overcome his own demons to track down the elusive and flamboyant Malaika hoping to fill an empty text box before the clock expires and the commentariat begin expressing opinions on their own like an AI machine gone rogue.
Wooo, did you see the TMI TMI turn into TMI. Extraordinary.
A crosswordy crossword. Head out with BRB, IRAS, IMF, AER and add three puzzle dahlings in MAE, MARC, and EVEL. We're not even out of the top half. But TV SHOWS was the only real clunker.
BLAH.
Bottom half was better and a lot tougher. Plenty of stuff only an experienced crossworder would know SOLI, FORA, SELA. The longer answers were fun.
Eighteen squares dedicated to TMI. That's TM⏹️s. They were useful for the solve.
Four-letter middle eastern roadblocks befuddle me every time. OMAN, IRAN, IRAQ, EMIR, SHAH.
Uniclues:
1 Well duh answer from motorcycle rider asked, "How are you?"
2 The Rex Parker blog.
3 All of them these days. We know you're a big wig, but dear god, please log out.
4 So you're saying Guthrie isn't the only one?
5 A klezmer if mom and dad won't listen to their daughter.
1 EVEL: I'M SORE (~)
2 TADA SOAPBOX
3 OVERSHARING VIP
4 ARLO? AH GOTCHA.
5 BAT MITZVAH BAND (~)
@Wanderlust, agreed: as much as I can gripe about the griping, I do miss it when it's gone. My experience of working the NYer puzzles is the same - I finish, and wonder where the rest of my puzzle experience is.
@Lewis: I thought you were referring to Patrick Berry with your PB, then noticed you had written Puzzle Brain in the previous paragraph. This is most apt, unlike whatever was supposed to be apt the other day.
I expect a ramp up in difficulty from Mon/Tues to Wed/Thurs, but this was really jarring after yesterday's easiest puzzle ever.
I just came back from Spain a few weeks ago (did you all notice I didn't post much for a while there?"), but I'll be darned if I didn't try to spell it AVIL(L)A despite having a guided tour.
I managed to remember that MARC Maron is in the puzzle because of the terminal C. Maybe next time, I'll remember astronaut MAE Jemison.
This is hilarious in a way. OVERSHARING means you have revealed exactly twice the amount of personal information you should have? No more? No less?
I realized -- at the first pair I got to in the NW -- that TMI would be doubled in the gray boxes but that only one of them would remain in the crossing answers. I wondered why? What would the revealer be? What revealer could possibly explain such a thing? TOO MUCH INFORMATION didn't fit -- and it didn't explain, either. Would the revealer be something like DOUBLETALK?
Because OVERSHARING doesn't explain the halving of the TMI, I think this is a somewhat flawed puzzle -- but flawed in a way that made me chuckle. Also, if a puzzle challenges me and piques my curiosity, I can usually forgive its flaws. This one began as a challenge...until suddenly it wasn't any more.
Today I learned that people not only have PET MICE, but give them tiny hammocks to relax in. How thoughtful.
This puzzle doesn't make much sense, but I liked it a lot anyway.
Thx, Brandon; good workout! :)
Med+
Didn't quite FEel AT HOME on this one, but enjoyed the challenge! :)
___
@ pablo: blew Natan Last's Mon. New Yorker big time, in spite of an avg solve time (1 1/3 hrs). Badly botched 2D / 15A, and had a sp. gaff at the 10D / 33A cross. :( Nevertheless, an excellent puz and very worthwhile endeavor! :)
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
@GAC that works. Thank you.
@Barbara S. 8:06 AM
#4 MWAH
The themers with consecutive TMIs are pretty impressive. Not a letter combination you might expect, even if its split across multiple words in each answer. And where I want to like that the app does the trick that RooMonster points out above, I kind of feel like it was a dirty trick when it did that.
As for the clues, BAMBI/MAE is a Natick for me since I had no idea who Faline was, even with the extra 'Disney classic' cluing. Other than that, the other head scratchers fell with crossing. Still, it was a bit of mental dissonance seeing the plural form of the singular act of singing solo in SOLI. And finally, TIL what a kneeboard is. Who named it that? Its on your thigh, not your knee.
Easyish with a Thursdayish vibe. I like seeing ERICA Jong in the puzzle. I bought Fear of Flying at a yard sale in Utah for a nickel. Best nickel I ever spent. Great read, though probably a bit dated today. Years later I was on Jury Duty in Hackensack NJ and they had shelves of paperbacks free for the taking. One was the sequel to Fear of Flying - not nearly as good. you get what you pay for :)
Entering one TMI provides sufficient information to solve the puzzle. Entering a second TMI is too much information…yes?
Bet you can’t eat a NEON FILETMIGNON
GAMEON!
Let me tell you about my wife’s fertility problems. Or would that be OVUMSHARING?
Fun puzzle. I miss Malaika but perhaps todays solving drink was over-consumed.
Entering one TMI provides sufficient information to solve the puzzle. Entering a second TMI provides too much information … yes?
Seeing the constructor pix with cute kids over on xwordinfo helped trigger breast milk flowing down the grid. Brandon is probably a good dad that changed diapers and did the two am bottle…..and still found time to put some nice puzzles out there.
@Barbara and @jberg -- I had the same "not all REGIMES are authoritarian" reaction to the cluing of REGIME that you both did, and even circled the clue to remind myself to write about it in my comment. But then, being me, I forgot.
BTW, I was also a political science major -- though unlike @jberg, I never did anything with it, career-wise.
Well...let's see. Huge pause for AVIILA. The NYT always clues this city as the one and only walled city I Spain. In fact, there are about 15 or so of them. Set your sights on Lugo next time you visit. These walled cities were either built by the Arabs to protect themselves against the Christians or vice-versa. Lugo is the only remaining city in this world that still has intact Roman walls.
OK...so I knew it had to be AVIILA or maybe Niebla! No...it was a TMI fling. FILET MIGNON and DONT MIND ME was definitely TMI. Ok...on with the next!
The down TMI's were harder for me to figure out. TTADA ROMMP and OMIIT. None invited to my bar. Eventually I let them in...problem solved.
Like @Barbara S, I wasn't terribly excited. I don't need to be all the time, but I do like an AHA here or there. None came - not even when I got the gimmick. This felt like perhaps Brandon was trying for a Thursday GOTCHA; slated for a Wednesday, it didn't conform to my style.
Hardest to figure out or understand: BREAST MILK SCENE. All I can think of is that the director's final word is either "Cut" or "That's a wrap." Or maybe she/he say's : "Cut, print, check the gate, moving on!". You just never know. SCENE is like What????
Enough of my SOAP BOX rhetoric....Now to go listen to see if someone will be wearing an orange jumpsuit any time soon.
Medium. EZRA and ARLO as clued were my only WOEs and PhASEr before PLASMA was it for erasures. Something a little different on a Wednesday, liked it.
Help from things recently encountered: MARC Maron has a new stand-up special on HBO Max and Kathyrn HAHN was on this week’s cover of Parade Magazine.
My usual NW start was thwarted instantly when I couldn't think of a single Disney Feline, never mind a corresponding sweetheart. Saw a clue about a walled city in Spain, which I knew very well to be Avila, which didn't fit. Went elsewhere
Wound up starting in the bottom, and working my way up, encountering along the way too much unknown PPP. Like others, I was leaving half of the shaded squares blank until the light finally came on and I recognized TMI, even though I had already filled in OVERSHARING. Kind of a cross between an Aha! and a D'oh!
The "feline" debacle caused me to abandon the NW far too soon, as we are baby sitting for grandson Jack, and I had just finished giving him a bottle of BREASTMILK before I could start on this. Asleep he is now, so down time.
Clever stuff, BK. The app version sounds like it may have been a Bit Kinder, but seeing the letters doubled somehow works for me for OVERSHARING, so thanks for a fair amount of fun.
@bocamp-Don't have the Mon. New Yorker with me but I remember taking informed guesses to fill in three squares, and when I checked them they were all right, so a success, or at least some lucky guesses. Fun puzzles but Last always skews youngish for me.
I was expecting endless complaints about Thursday-puzzle-on-Wednesday, proper nouns, colloquial phrases, and cetera. I'm happy to be disappointed.
As above: TALC ingredient once in baby powder. Or so I hope.
INK blOT makes me think of INK. INKSPOT makes me think of
https://youtu.be/rvwfLe6sLis
I misread 51D for its across clue and put in PAC-IO. What do you call those bars that go at the top and bottom of a capital I? Or that slash atop of the number 1?
And who would design a system that makes it difficult to know whether you intend a mark to be a one or a capital i or a small L? Historic tradition and organic growth.
I guess I am with Rex today about the OVERSHARING part being a bit of a muddle. Not like yesterday. No clear pun involved in the double TMI, unlike yesterday. OK don't take that too seriously.
To those who solve as God intended in my online solve the cirlces and the double TMIs disappear upon completion and a single TMI appears in the center if a double-wide space.
I always think of TMI when I drive through Harrisburg.
Pretty sneaky for a WedPuz. And different. Like.
DONTMINDME entry seemed prophetic, in retro-spect. Fortunately, got FILETMIGNON fairly early on, and noticed the neighborly-highlighted TMI letters, and then kinda knew what GAME was ON.
Woulda been a ThursPuz for sure, if they hadn't highlighted them TMIs.
staff weeject pick, of only ten choices: BRB. TMI [Too Many Initials].
Lotsa names, some of which were no-knows, namely: MARC. MAE. HAHN. EZRA. ARLO. Faline.
faver stuff: AHGOTCHA. SOAPBOX. BREASTMILK semi-themer. FELTATHOME.
re: PETMICE - yep. Got a big buncha them varmints in our garage this winter. PuzEatinSpouse parks all her plants in there for the winter, and the mice like to dig in the pots' dirt. Trapped about ten of em, before the rest wised up to the temptations of free peanut butter dabs. First winter for all these PETMICE, tho … what happened? Who can we indict?
TThhaanx for the fun, Mr. Koppy dude. Very cool theme idea.
Masked & Anonymo1U
**gruntz**
I thought this was a fun puzzle with a clever concept! I agree with @Rex that the rating was Wednesday “medium” as I had a little trouble getting purchase in the NE corner. Didn’t grok the repeated TMI until I got to EMMMA, then things fell into place.
@LMS, you are in rare form today! Loved the Borat video (although I confess that pretty much everything that Borat said to actual unsuspecting victims made me uncomfortable) and you nailed it with your avatar today. Btw, @anonymous 7:55am, if you referring to @LMS…she is not a substitute, she is THE teacher!
@Southside “trivia” is defined as: details, considerations, or pieces of information of little importance or value
"we fill our days with meaningless trivia”. I think you mean “proper names”…all of which we MIGHT or might NOT know. I just kind of bristle when I see a historical figure referred to as “trivia” since, for instance, Mae Jamison was the first African American woman to travel into space.
The only reasonable clue for TALC should be "Carcinogenic powder". An editor needs to wake up and read the newspaper he works for.
Felt like a slog and took me a while to get any momentum going. Maybe I’m like @Southside Johnny and it just was not in my wheelhouse but for some reason I had a lot of trouble with the clues. The trivia in particular held me up. After figuring out the trick I grudgingly admitted it was pretty clever but by that time I wasn’t in much of a mood to get very enthused about it.
I sure hope the powder in those diaper bags doesn’t contain any TALC. Bad stuff apparently. And I LOATHE science fiction so I don’t know and don’t want to know anything EVER - much less some GASBAG giving me TMI - about how PLASMA is used for an ammo. BLAH!
@Rex – I’m here to raise my hand as both a Vampire Weekend fan and a Rex Parker fan. There’s at least some overlap in that Venn diagram!
REGIME definition
1.
a government, especially an authoritarian one.
2.
a system or planned way of doing things, especially one imposed from above.
Both definitions fit the clue. Also so when you refer to something as a REGIME you are usually, but not always, disparaging it for its authoritarian ways whether it is the Biden REGIME or the Trump REGIME.
I would judge the puzzle harder than an average Wednesday. Thus harder than medium which which should be average I would think.
I don't really get how we are supposed to interpret the TMI areas either. It seems to me that the doubled/oversized squares already represent the "too much" part. So those squares should contain I-I, N-N, F-F, O-O, R-R, etc. Then maybe you could have TMI as a revealer somewhere, with a clue like, "Oversharing, or what the shaded squares depict?"
Otoh, stretching INFORMATION all the way over two crosses, or having its letters strewn in double squares around the grid, would admittedly be very difficult, so...
I have the first Vampire Weekend cd, which contains a song called "Oxford Comma" that is not really about punctuation. Reading about the Oxford comma is always fun. Wikipedia cites this as an example of where an Oxford comma might be recommended:
•
...(From) a newspaper account of a documentary about Merle Haggard:
Among those interviewed were his two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall.
•
Love Vampire Weekend! :)
I think a cluing opportunity was missed at 44 Across. The answer to "What a pocket protector may protect against" is, of course, an INK STAIN. An INK SPOT was a member of an American pop music quartet from the 30s and 40s whose singing style predated and foreshadowed rhythm and blues and rock and roll. In 1989 (per wiki) the original group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Here's one of their biggest hits, the 1939 "If I Didn't Care".
I was today years old when I learned from Barbara S., above, that Bambi is a male! Wow. Many of us concluded female from Bambi's appearance in the movie, but the book is clear on the matter.
Years ago, Marc Maron dated Moon Unit Zappa for five months, Frank Zappa's uncommonly named daughter.
@Anon 8:05 - TALC is not carcinogenic at all. Some TALC products had some asbestos contamination, and it's the asbestos that is the issue. It's known that inhaled asbestos is a probable carcinogen. It's never been established beyond "Studies of personal use of talcum powder have had mixed results, although there is some suggestion of a possible increase in ovarian cancer risk." regarding trace amounts of asbestos in TALC.
Facts/Schmacts, our take is 30% of $8.9 Billion.
Anyone else think BREAST MILK was an odd one for this puzzle? Maybe it was just an i complete theme execution? I got the “too many letters = TMI” thing right away because the first three theme across answers were easy. Then, when I saw the first downs through the TMI, and they were BREAST MILK and HOT MICS, I thought “clever!” The downs were examples of either something shared that might in itself be I for some (BREAST MILK) or something that might lead to sharing TMI (HOT MICS), but this did not carry through. So, maybe maybe not.
&I agree with OFL that this was more difficult than yesterday, but since yesterday set the bat so low, it wasn’t a stretch to get a better puzzle. Not dazzling, but not terrible. I limed the overall but was disappointed that the down answers through the TMI did not all relate to the theme. Good idea and a great start though.
I assume the PAC TEN is going to make a comeback, what with UCLA and USC defecting to the Big Ten.
Also wanted to say that I don't really equate GASBAG with "motormouth". To me, a motormouth talks a lot but the more defining trait is that they talk fast and rarely pause between sentences. A GASBAG doesn't necessarily talk fast, but does talk excessively, frequently sounds pompous, and is usually boring. Gasbags are more insufferable than motormouths, imo. But that's my take.
The theme would have been a bit more elegant if the boxes were double height/width in my app of choice (Across Lite). I guess for once the NYT App delivers something extra.
As often happens, I got a bit annoyed with all the unknown names in clusters. MARC crossing ARLO; EMMA, EZRA, ERICA. It was a real E fest on the right; at least I knew EVEL and ERICA.
I had to chuckle at Rex saying EVEL used to "leap across your grid every chance he got" but now "largely stays in the garage, where he belongs".
[Spelling Bee: yd -1; @Barbara S (Twilight Zone theme) I had the same two last words; I got the 6er but I swear I've never seen that 5er so I missed it.]
TMI ought to stand for "Too Many I's". But also it seems too many T's and M's. I got most of them, but never knew that Cake and Bread are bands, so I left that word incomplete. I agree with OFL that the puzzle, though clever in concept, has too many flaws. PACTEN went right in, of course. In my day I attended many Stanford Football games, and two Big Games at Cal, at one of which my friend and I got totally shnockered. The home games not only had an alcohol ban, it was well enforced, and the alums made up for it by having lavish tailgate parties -- indeed some could not stagger up to their seats and just stayed at their tailgates. After I moved to Sonoma County, I bought seats in the alumni section one year, but found the games weren't worth the trip, and the alumni who went year after year were too obnoxious.
Never found a FILET MIGNON worth the enormous price. Give me a T-bone, please, or a market steak, or even a coulotte. But hey, am I OVERSHARING here?
AVILA is well worth a detour if you are driving from Madrid to Pamplona or the lovely French coast just over the border.
Seriously. You had BA_BI, knew it was a Disney Classic, and didn’t get BAMBI? Seems like a fair cross, not a Natick.
I agree
@Anoa Bob (1:24). Thanks for reminding me of The Ink Spots. I just found videos of some of their songs on You Tube, including my favorite, I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire, 1941. We've got a nice piece of cake for you down here.
I was under the impression that the junk gimmick puzzles were on Thursday.
"Tube traveler" as in fallopian tube 😉
Cute idea, although I didn't quite get why you needed a pair of TMIs to indicate OVERSHARING, when a single one suffices elsewhere - until the app converted the doubled TMIs into a single double-wide one. Not sure how it would have worked in the print version.
Help from previous puzzles: MAE, MARC. Help from being a women's college volleyball fan: PAC-TEN, from the days when it exerted absolute rule - before the BIG TEN took over.
Do-overs: toledo before AVIILA, titMICE before PET MICE (in my defense, I thought that if orioles weave pouches as nests, titmice might weave tiny hammocks; okay, not much of a defense).
@Anoa Bob, I had the same thought about the INK SPOTS.
@Anoa
We linked to the same clip. One of these days I will learn blue links but after I do it once or twice I seem to lose the kna k and it stops working. On my phone I tap a url address and it shows up at the bottom of the screen. Tap that one and I am there. Seems like a waste of effort doing blue links. Some folks have to cut paste and go I guess.
Actor here. Never witnessed a director say scene at the end of a scene in either film or stage work. Never heard of it happening either. It just doesn’t happen. Film directors may say “cut”, “print”, “check the gate”, or “moving on”. Stage directors don’t have standard jargon for the end of the scene, so can say whatever during rehearsal. Actors will sometimes say “scene” when they’re done, but only in an ironic way. Terrible clue.
I kept on trying to fit INKSTAINs where INKSPOT was, so that was vexing, at least for a while.
EVEL Kneivel is not "back in his garage;" he's dead. Died of diabetes.
Thought today was really clever, and once I sussed out the theme the puz was pretty easy.
Kudos to "tube traveler" as the best clue of the day.
As it happens, yes, I'm a huge Vampire Weekend fan.
Never heard of a kneeboard in aviation before today. Always thought it was associated with pleasure boating on a lake. Will have to remember that…
@Joe Di Pinto…totally agree with your take on GASBAG v. Motormouth!
Liked the puzzle.
But your example of an occasion where an Oxford comma was needed is hysterical,
About Vampire Weekend, learned about them on Serius, I think Harmony Hall. Great BAND.
More than one jury thought there was a valid claim.
Coming back later just to add that EZRA Koenig was a gimme, huge Vampire Weekend fans here.
Yes totally clueless clue
As another actor - agreed!
IMO, I don’t think the gimmick is imperfect because the extra letters only work in one direction. The TMI should apply in bothe directions but doesn’t. Which bugs me. Am I OVERSHARING?
HOT SOAPBOX
DON’TMINDME for OVERSHARING
what the ANTI-EVEL PAC LOATHES,
they’re SORE AT ME for what I’M baring,
I FELTATHOME when my BREAST SHOWS.
--- ERICA MAE “BAMBI” LOEW
This puz definitely HAS TMI. All over. Odd FORA Weds-puz to have funny stuff going on. GASBAG in the NE and BAGS in the corners. Circled: SELA Ward, @spacey's fave.
Wordle par.
I began this puzzle by confidently filling in EMMA, only to see that it wouldn't fit properly. something was afoot. Another Thursday-on-Wednesday puzzle. (sounds like a European city on a river)
With only the teensiest bit of help, and not with the "trick," I was able to get it all properly. Lots of what @Spacey would call triumph points.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
and thanks, EMMMA
So pisser infested and irritating, it was a natural Thursday puzzle.
Hmm, they didn't print my post. Wonder if this one'll make it. I'll just say, much harder than yesterday, somewhat easier after figuring out the double TMIs. We keep getting sent back to March (!) instead of April. More "missing link" syndrome. Birdie, for my heartthrob SELA DOD.
Wordle birdie, but should've been an eagle after GBBGB.
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