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Feline friend of Tom on Tom and Jerry / FRI 4-14-23 / Once-trendy green cocktails / Heckelphone relative / Old Jewish enclave / Bro hugger perhaps / Snack item with green filling / 13x platinum Pearl Jam album that actually has 11 tracks / Stereotypical millennial breakfast item
Friday, April 14, 2023
Constructor: Billy Bratton and Clay Haddock
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
Word of the Day: TUBI (32D: Free alternative to Netflix) —
Tubi is an American over-the-top content platform and ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox Corporation. The service was launched on April 1, 2014, and is based in Los Angeles, California. In January 2021, Tubi reached 33 million monthly active users. As of January 2023, Tubi has 64 million monthly active users. (wikipedia)
• • •
I could not find the cluing wavelength of this puzzle At All. Got stuck way way more than I normally do on a Friday, and as I say, the payoff for the struggle was nowhere near worth it. Thought [Fool] was a verb (1A: Fool => TWIT). No idea what ETON has to do with Rugby. They just ... play it? Huh. OK. [Rugby is apparently another English school that "competes" with ETON ... obviously, I had no idea] Thought POTS was SODS (30A: Supply at a nursery). I had the front ends of lots of longer answers and no idea where to go, including both longer answers up top. Had MUSIC- and ONAG- and ... nope, nothing. Didn't even know the Grammys gave awards for MUSIC VIDEOs. Eventually wanted ON A GOOD RUN at 17A: When things are going well. ON A GOOD DAY is a good phrase, but again the clue doesn't really get at the context very well—you're usually saying ON A GOOD DAY in the context of pointing out how bad something is on a normal day, or how "even ON A GOOD DAY so-and-so couldn't such-and-such." The "addict" in 36A: Addict's plaint made me think drug addict, so that was unpleasant ("I CAN'T STOP"), as was THRONE ROOM, come on, whose cheesy uncle is saying this? (27D: Lavatory, informally). Toilet euphemisms ... just the worst.
The middle of the grid was absolute murder for me, especially 31D: Some branded coolers (YETIS), which I wanted only to be ICEES. It is true, YETI is a brand of cooler (in the sense of "container for keeping food and drink cool") but they make a lot of other stuff too (pretty sure I've got a thermos), and anyway, [Some branded coolers], ugh, the phrasing on that, who wrote that tortured clue? "Branded coolers?" What is that? Besides ugly? And then: American ... ELM??? That's your [American ___]? Then the "texted eyes" at 26D: Texted eyes, maybe somehow weren't an EMOJI (just a COLON). Even PADS / SAD LOT—as clued, I could not get ahold of them (42A: Treads lightly / 37D: They're awfully sorry). Again, if there had been significant reward for the struggle, I would have been happy, as I have been happy in the recent past with brutal themeless puzzles. But this puzzle never delivered. Just a slog all the way to the end. Very much looking forward to tomorrow. Saturday is the new Friday. Or at least I hope so. See you then.
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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108 comments:
Rugby and Eton are both English boarding schools (the sport being named after the former). Presumably, the clue was meant to indicate that Eton competes against Rugby, either for students or on the pitch.
The one clue I really liked was "Key collaborator" for PEELE. Devilish, but perfectly fair.
Naticked at 13A exactly as Rex described. That could have been either AHME or OHME and I have never in my entire life heard of the goddamn cat.
I thought it was a really harsh clue, to the extent I was like “they wouldn’t make that reference in an American puzzle” - but the Rugby school is a public school (where the sport was invented, in a town of the same name). Public in this context of UK schools means “very expensive old private school”. So it’s a competitor in the sense that they’re both schools for the ultra well off
Very green puzzle today with AVOCADO TOAST, MINT OREOs and APPLETINIS. None of which I have ever consumed as far as I know. I love avocados - in guacamole. Otherwise, they taste pretty bland to me. I could probably eat a box of Mint Oreos in one sitting but don’t think I’ve ever tried one. Flavoring martinis with apple feels like ruining a drink that was never intended to be fruity.
I sound like a GRUMP, but I liked the puzzle fine. I felt the opposite as Rex about the same things. Lots of nice clues that paid off for me, like “walk on water” for PIER and “gave the finger?” For POKED. The long answers were mostly nice phrases — ON A GOOD DAY, I CAN’T STOP, LOVE TO HATE. I liked thinking of the implied snark in YOU DO THAT followed by the rapid fire “DID IT!”
But definitely challenging. The SW came together first, then the NW. I had a lot of WHITE SPACE in the east for a long time. STAND PAT led me to MOP UP, which gave the first letters of the long acrosses in the NE. Mopped up that section. I finished in the SE, where HOot before HONK for “fowl call” was the big hold-up.
I think I vaguely knew that Rugby was the school where the game was invented. I don’t think of FEY as “otherworldly.” I think the word has evolved to mean something like “twee” or “precious.” Hard to define but it’s a very specific type that is clear in my mind. Perhaps someone who would play a heckelphone.
Generally agree with Rex today, but I defend the clues and answers for RUGBY, THRONE ROOM, APPLETINI, and AVOCADO TOAST. I thought they were fair and maybe even fun/cute. Can anyone explain what STANDPAT means? I'm sure I'm just being obtuse but I can't make sense of it.
Maybe it's just the letdown after yesterday's gem, but I didn't find a lot to like about this. YOU DO THAT, I CANT STOP, NCISLA, I MEAN TO SAY were pretty bad, but the OH ME and OH HI combo was worse.
And of course there’s the awful clue for ESP.
Finished no errors. So it was tough but not *that* tough. Loved the PEELE clue. I has aHME before OHME, but the cat couldn’t have been TaPSY, never heard of TOPSY but it made more sense. SHTETL looked wrong. still does. Maine attractions is PINES? what because they have alot of pine trees? what am I missing. Doesnt say alot for Maine if the attraction there are trees. pesT before GNAT . is RPG really a thing? I get that it stands for role playing game. I had STANDPuT before STANDPAT. THRONEROOM? sorry thats a stretch.
In draw poker, if you don’t want to exchange any of your cards for new ones, you STAND PAT, so you hold your own hand.
Stop the presses! Rex didn’t care for a puzzle, and stated so publicly ! It must be really, really bad !
The one clue/answer that had me scratching my head today was WHITE SPACE - certainly right there in the GREEN PAINT category, with an accurate clue, but wow, what a big nothingburger.
AVOCADO TOAST is also a bit of an enigma - why is it called that? If you put a fried egg on top of a piece of toast, is it EGG TOAST? It seems like you should put the AVOCADO in the toast (i.e. make AVOCADO bread, and then toast it). OMG - I just googled “egg toast” and it seems like it is kind of a catch-all - you can dip the bread in eggs and toast it, or just pile it with scrambled eggs, etc (I know, TMI).
THRONE ROOM is really lame. I know they have the juvenile humor box that requires checking, but really - why bother if you are just going to phone it in like that.
Nice to see OREO return after a brief hiatus (and with about as good a clue as one can muster for our dear friend OREO). I’m definitely hoping that the lovely and elegant Ms. Teri GARR graces us with her presence over the weekend.
Have a great Friday everyone.
Ohhhhh, the terrible 13A! Finished the puzzle and got the SAD LOT message that something was wrong. Couldn't find it and had to use the Check function to see that 13A was OH ME (said no one, ever, not ever!), not AH ME (said a few people 150 years or so ago, I guess), and the stupid cat's name was TOPSY, not TAPSY, and who the heck knew that? Seriously. I'm looking for one person who knew the answer to 1D. Not worked it out with crosses--knew it. Anyone? Bueller?
Nevertheless, I liked this puzzle. Especially liked the two "Water line"s and most of the long clues, which came fairly easily. So funny that Rex asked, "Whose cheesy uncle is saying this?" about THRONE ROOM, because as I filled it in, I had a nice warm memory of my cheesy uncle, who used to use that cheesy term. TIL that YETIs are coolers and the heckelphone is related to--but not a precursor of (which is what I thought)--the OBOE. It was something invented by a guy named Heckel and suggested by Richard Wagner.
As for APPLETINI and AVOCADO TOAST, I liked the clues and don't get why Rex is so bent out of shape about them. The APPLETINI was part of a fad that has passed, and is rarely mentioned--or ordered, I'd guess--any more. The toast still feels to me like something young Californians eat on a regular basis, and even if Dunkin' is now offering it, it still skews Millennial. Was put off by ELM for "American ___"--so many other more obvious answers.
Right on average time for a Friday, had some fun, exercised my brain--liked it.
One of those rare days when I had an easier time of it than OFL. Agree with his take on the NW (TOPSY?) but the V from AVOCADOTOAST led to some kind of VIDEO, and so it went around the grid. I knew YETIS as they've become the in thing in high end coolers and I knew about the Rugby ETON connection DOESNTMATTER went right in and that's a lot of toeholds.
I think my least favorite answer was PINES FOR "Maine attractions". Hey, let's go to Maine and see the PINES! I mean, really.
I had a good time with this one, BB and CH. Barely Broke a sweat and Could Have used some clue tweaking, but any puzzle with "hecklephone" is OK with me. Thanks for all the fun.
With so much out of my wheelhouse and wavelength, with me stabbing in the dark and treading much water, with vagueness and wit in cluing, this was a faith solve, where I amped my determination and insisted that if I stuck with it, it would eventually succumb. And it eventually did, making this outing extraordinarily satisfying.
Wild guesses, misses, pings of realization, “Wha?”s and “Hah!”s” all over the place, leaving behind a trail of well-earned fill-ins. From beginning to end, a knotty trek, and afterward, as I gazed at the completed grid, it seemed more like a photo album of remembrances, where the answers evoked what I went through to get them.
For instance, I loved when POKED hit me for [Gave the finger?], and STAND PAT for [Hold one’s hand]. When JASON hit me after I mentally-manually went through the months. I loved the moment APPLETINIS popped in my head from lord knows where. I vividly remember the pivot when I stopped thinking “footstools” for “Ottomans”.
And so on. From start to finish, a drama-filled odyssey with a happy ending. Billy, I fondly remember your CONVERT TO METRIC puzzle, with answers like KILOMETERS DAVIS. Clay, congratulations on this impressive NYT crossword debut. To both of you, high gratitude for this most edifying gem!
Definitely some niche cluing for a Friday - but I liked it overall. Like all of us Rex tends to deride things outside his comfort zone - I have no issue with that. Tom and Jerry’s friend an unknown - poor editing. ELM is a little awkward but fine and paired with PINES is nice.
Scruffy the Cat
The capital R gave it away - it’s always ETON. I like the SHTETL string. If the millennial tag fits…Did anyone really drink APPLETINIS? Didn’t like that plural either way.
Tough - but enjoyable Friday solve.
JASON and the Scorchers
I absolutely despise "oh me" and "ah me". No one on earth says that. I have no idea why it grates so much, but it bugs the hell out of me.
1D could have had an Uncle Tom’s Cabin clue, but I guess we steer clear of that area these days.
@Alice: Maine is the "Pine Tree State." I assume that's what the puzzle was getting at, but yeah, it's not the first or even tenth thing that comes to mind when thinking of attractions there. Lobster, spectacular rocky coastline, blueberries, chains of lovely lakes, glaciated granite, blackberries, mosquitoes, horseflies... wait... maybe pine trees would be in the top ten...
Easy side of Medium for me. Like @Rex, I boggled in the NW. But I moved on to the North Central, where RPG gave me a much-needed toehold and I just progressed clockwise from there, ending in the NW, which is clearly the weakest part of the puzzle. Too bad that had to go where people generally start.
PEELE as clued was pretty much the only WOE. And Woo-Hoo! I spelled SHTETL correctly off of just the SH!
Maine's nickname is "The Pine Tree State"
Ew, just ew. I was constantly like “no, that does not work” OH ME ? Has anyone ever said that, ever? I was actually irritated by this puzzle, and normally I’m just like “Oh Rex will hate this” but this was one I can honestly say really blew me away with it’s badness. Love to hate it.
Almost gave up, but finally finished it after coming up with MAKESSENSE (the clue "tracks" doesn't make sense to me, however). Guessed right on PADS and PEELE, though I first thought that "Key collaborator" pertained to Francis Scott Key. And I first thought "medium talent" was MEH, then remembered Will Shortz' love for misdirects, which led me to ESP.
Don't know how I remembered SHTETL, either. This was the hardest puzzle I've ever finished without cheating. Thanks to the constructor.
Wrong answer: The Heckelphone is related to the bassoon, not the oboe. It was invented and named for the bassoon manufacturer Heckel.
@Wanderlust 6:48
Agree completely on FEY. It so much doesn't mean otherworldly that I resisted putting it in even when it was obviously correct.
With @Kitshef @Taylor and @Jim on OHME. Unless it's OH ME OH MY and clued as "Itchy's catch phrase" I can do without it.
I was so flummoxed by ETON that it took me until now to grock why POTS was an answer to nursery supplies, but that's on me. Just the same, I find elite institution answers. especially when clued so obscurely, smacking as snobbery. Now I need to know Rugby is an ETON rival? Do I need to start studying their alumni bases or who their founding fathers are too? Give me lowbrow THRONEROOM over ETON/eli/cantab any day.
Otherwise I really enjoyed it, especially since I'm indirectly called out in the pop culture catch phrase of OHHI
Aside from that, Rex, did you like the puzzle?
Yeah, except it actually *does* mean otherworldly.
Liked it more than @Rex, but also found it easier, 1/2 average time for Friday.
PINES reminded me of childhood summers in the PINE Tree State, as it was called before it became Vacationland (per their license plates).
TItan before TIGER thinking it was wrong anyway.
And WOE Topsy?? I guess they couldn't very well clue it as either "character in Uncle Tom's Cabin" or "electrocuted elephant", maybe better to rework that NW corner? Because OHME said no one, ever, it's aHME, and faux dramatic at that.
Loved Key for PEELE!
OHME. OHHI.
OHNO!
Pretty fun challenge. Oho! OHME and OHHI.
N-Ks: TOPSY, NCISLA and SHTETL.
Uniclues:
1 Bathing beauty backdrop.
2 Crossword constructor complaint.
3 Fancy female's fun.
4 Bulldoze homeless encampment.
5 "I wish I had my money back."
6 Puts a bucket in the backyard.
7 Hot dog, churro, nachos, peanuts, Dippin' Dots, and two quarts of beer.
1 PIER ON A GOOD DAY
2 I CAN'T STOP OBOE
3 APPLETINIS HOSE
4 MOP UP SAD LOT
5 CONNED PINES
6 ADDS THRONE ROOM
7 MEAL MAKES SENSE
There was a lot to like in this one: the clues for STAND PAT and PEELE stood out.
Unlike Rex, I like the way both YOU DO THAT and ON A GOOD DAY are clued. “Go for it” can have the same implied snark as the former in my experience, and the latter is frequently used to mean “when things are going well.”
Also disagree on LOVE TO HATE, which is ”https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LoveToHate”>very much in the language as a stand-alone phrase.
To @SSJ, WHITE SPACE is a specific phrase in layout/page design, so not in green paint territory at all.
Sorry Southside Johnny, but white space is definitely a thing (in the editorial world).
https://propagandum.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/16-things-about-white-space/
Well, if nothing else, today we have Rex outdoing himself with the most hysterical overreaction to a puzzle he's ever had. He bemoans nearly everything, then provides numerous supposed examples that, aside from the poor OHME/TOPSY cross, don't support his argument in the least. I figured seeing ESP called a "talent" and any reference to the GIG economy would earn his wrath, but he never even mentioned those. My theory: he's pissed because 23D wasn't clued as Rex Parker, typically.
Again, the OHME/TOPSY cross is indisputably bad, but what else is so terrible? We have two 12s, eight 10s, two 9s and two 8's -- all of which are good. SHTETL is a great entry (thinking Warsaw, I initially wrote gHetTo). Excellent clues for PIER, STANDPAT, CRED, SADLOT and SITIN. And the crosswordese-y junk...where is it exactly? Yes, the puzzle was on the hard side for a Friday -- so what?
33A made me laugh. A long time ago, I was bored and figured out how to complete the calendar with a headline on the resume of a radio personality: J. JASON, DJ (FM, AM).
Very nice work from Billy and Clay.
Anon@8:14: that's like saying I'm not related to my cousin because I'm related to my aunt instead.
Yay!! I guessed right on the "P" of the RPG/PSAT cross!! But if it had been an "M" or an "L", I still would have proclaimed this quite challenging puzzle "Solved!!"
Tried to start in the NW, but couldn't make any headway. Having empTySPACE instead of WHITE SPACE didn't help. Didn't know TOPSY as clued (but, happily, there was very little pop culture today) and the clever clue for PIER threw me for a loop. So I went elsewhere.
ON A GOOD DAY went in off the ON -- though I did stop and check one other letter before writing it in. AVOCADO TOAST was a gimme off my A?O beginning. And though I found it a tough puzzle with tricky cluing, there were some surprising other slam-dunk clues, ADAMS being the most notable. OREO was back in MINT form and GNAT was easy enough once I erased pesT. I very much liked the clues for PIER; POKED; STAND PAT and especially JASON (33A), though I know some of you will hate it. I'm sure there are a zillion JASONs I never heard of, but this clue made me have to...think! Thinking is always a good thing in my book. (Of course it did help that I already had the "J" from JIF.)
And did you notice that FEY was not clued with the Tina lady? Yay! I mean, I really like Tina FEY and find her very funny and all that but I always prefer non-proper name cluing when possible.
A nice Friday that offered just the right amount of challenge. Liked it a lot.
Amy: kinda liked the green food theme. Then the 3 entries TUBI, HOPI, YETIS sorta go together. An "ish" puzzle. Enjoyed it.
Hey All !
"Going to the THRONE ROOM" said no one... well, maybe a 10 year old sometime said once. It's "sitting on the THRONE" if it's anything, right? No ROOM.
Had a few qualms similar to Rex in some of clues not exactly ringing true to the answers.
Had Far for FEY. I always thought FEY meant "nice on you, but I don't care" or somesuch. Or is that FEH, akin to MEH? Had the aHME, but to me, TOPSY sounded more like a name than TaPSY, so went with the O, amazingly was correct.
Maybe tomorrow I'll have some AVOCADO TOAST with an APPLETINI. MINT OREOs for desert.
Time to MOP UP. Have a great Friday!
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
Actually, maybe Topsy the cat was named Topsy because she was Tom’s friend and it was a reference to Uncle Tom’s Cabin in a way.
Challenging and DNF (aH ME: I should have been suspicious of TaPSY, but really I can't feature anyone saying OH ME). For me, the pleasures in the puzzle were shorter entries with tricky clues, like PIER, STAND PAT, and, my favorite, SAD LOT; I also liked guessing at FEY for "otherworldly" and learning that definition.
Do-over: mUBI. No idea: PEELE.
@Southside Johnny, judging by recipe blogs I read, TOASTs have become a sort of food group, including recipes for eggplant salad toasts, artichoke gratin toasts, leek toasts, squash toasts, etc. (i.e., prepare a topping, heap it on a piece of toast, hopefully made from artisanal sourdough, maybe run it under the broiler).
Too much green, and YOUDOTHAT has just a garbage clue.
I liked this puzzle better than Rex did. But I found it hard to finish because I got tangled up in the same central area he did, around YETIS, COLON, ELM, I CANT STOP (which I originally had as I CANT go On). I also started with American “pie” but I knew that was wrong because it would have to be Miss American Pie.
My other notable error was gHetTo for SHTETL (hi @Sir Hillary), reinforced by HOPI and DOESN’T MATTER. The original meaning of ghetto was an area of a city in which Jews were required to live. I was in Venice once with a Jewish friend who was quite moved by the ghetto quarter, considered to be the oldest Jewish ghetto in the world (established by the doge in 1516). We noticed that the buildings were taller here than is the norm in Venice, presumably because they had to house so many families. And we couldn’t help but think of Shylock making his fictional home here. SHTETL, I gather, is also a historical term which means little town or village, referring specifically to small Jewish settlements in Eastern Europe. Anyway, gHetTo/SHTETL was a personal kealoa for me, if the common H and T are enough to qualify it as such.
No problem with ETON as a [Rugby competitor], but I had no idea about TOPSY. Wasn’t that the name of one of Peter Rabbit’s sisters? [Looking it up…] Nope. They were Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail. OK, then. I agree with Rex that “Go for it” and YOU DO THAT are likely to be said in completely different tones of voice. I have no views on the historical trendiness of either AVOCADO TOAST or APPLETINIS; sometimes trends just pass one by. Thanks, Rex: I’m sure my Millennial stepson and daughter-in-law would be delighted to hear that they’re old. I didn’t quite grasp Rex’s plaint about ON A GOOD DAY, which is an expression I use all the time to point out something that I can often do well, but only if the stars align.
[SB: yd 0. My last word was this stalwart SB crazy 8er.]
@Alice Pollard 7:14 AM
Actual Maine attractions:
-Trees that are NOT pines in the fall.
-Lobster mac-n-cheese (honestly it's better there than anywhere)
-That coastal drive up from Portland
-Trump signs everywhere
-Homes with 36 cars in the yard
-Hampton Inns with a view of Target that cost $350 a night
I’ve read several authors’ Young-Adult books in which the fairy world and its characters are “FEY”
Crossword puzzles should be fun. This puzzle’s answers should be the response to 37D; They’re awfully sorry
And TAPSY sounds as plausible as TOPSY for a cartoon cat
This went into Saturday territory but I did it late last night and I kept falling asleep. I got a clean grid and this morning I couldn't remember a thing about it. Looking it over this morning I noticed how all the double ten stacks are a "thing" paired with a phrase. It's almost a theme.
When dealing with unknowns in late week puzzles sometimes you have to use common sense. I have no idea who the cartoon character at 1D is. Like most people I put in AHME for 13A and I even tried to make DAISY work at 1D thinking that 1A would be DOLT. There's no logical basis for putting AHME in over OHME they only appear in puzzles and neither one is not better than the other. . TOPSY at least looks familiar. The second I came up with TWIT 1D became TOPSY and I finally figured out where the 16A clue was going. That's more than enough time wasted on that.
Sun- Thu -0
I like the part where you imagine things he didn’t even say. Stunning takedown…
Thx, Billy & Clay; fine puz! :)
Med; (just under Fri. avg).
I was TWITted from the get-go with dolT / daiSY. Departed the NW, and had a fairly easy time the rest of the way. Returned to the NW and got unTWITed for the win.
Had two correct guesses: TOPSY / OH ME (same reasoning as @Alice Pollard (7:14 AM) for 'O' before 'a'); PEELE / PADS (Like @Bob Mills (8:13 AM), I thot maybe an associate of FSK.
I guess one could make an argument for OH ME when accompanied with OH My. Otherwise here's Ngram's comparison.
"Key & Peele (abbreviated to K&P) is an American sketch comedy television series created by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele for Comedy Central. Both Key and Peele previously worked on Mad TV.[4]" (Wikipedia)
@Anonymouses (5:51 AM) & (6:01 AM)
Thx, didn't know 'Rugby' is a boarding school, so that makes better sense than ETON just competing in 'rugby'.
TUBI fan here. Currently watching 'The Colditz Story' & 'The Man Who Knew Infinity'.
Enjoyed the solve! :)
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
Excellent puzzle, fell at an appropriately Friday-ish pace. Could have been Ah, me and Tapsy crossing upper left, but other than that a perfectly fair fight.
Dealer: Do you want to draw any cards, Mr. President?
Nixon: We’ll, I can’t STANDPAT.
Dealer: Have you considered marriage counseling?
Nixon: SOYA, but I really LOVETOHATE.
For those wanting a different clue for TOPSY, don’t forget that Mopsy, Flopsy and Topsy were Peter Rabbit’s sisters.
I liked the puzzle and would put it in the very easy category for a Friday. Thanks Billy Bratton and Clay Haddock, and congrats on the debut, Clay.
I weigh in with the “I liked this WAY more than @Rex” crowd but then again, I’m old enough that Grasshopper first came to mind for the green alcoholic drink since my parents’ friends would serve them at Christmas. I WILL say that I don’t really associate snark with “Go for it” so YOUDOTHAT was a struggle for me because I do associate snark with that phrase.
@Anon 6:01…TIL I learned that Rugby Is a school and a town AND that in England (maybe all of GB?) a “public” school isn’t public in the sense we use it in US. Does that just mean it is owned by the government? Perhaps I need to go down the rabbit hole of Google
@Gary J….funny story given your reply to @Alice Pollard. I live in the Midwest close to “hills.” We go on vacation with (college alumni friends) who live on the Kitsap peninsula in Washington state. About ten years ago the wife friend wanted to go to Maine to “leaf peep.” We did. Might have been more than ten years ago because we didn’t have search devices. We asked a “local” where she go to “leaf peep” when we got there. The local seemed a little perplexed and said…”Hmmm…I dunno…most people go to Vermont to do that”! Hah! Anyway…I’m sure there MUST be an area where there is spectacular fall foliage in Maine but I regretted our friends hadn’t come to OUR place a few weeks later to see some really spectacular fall foliage.
Pretty easy one today.
I hit a couple of speed bumps (have you really ever said, "Oh me"?), but somehow I remembered Topsy as a cartoon category, so... ok.
The cross I resented most was shtetl and peele. I saved that for last and tossed in an "E" and it worked.
No idea what nsicla is, however it's capitalized, but the crosses solved that problem.
Also had nehis first before replacing it with yetis. I've had no experience with either, other than encountering nehi in countless puzzles over the decades.
Otherwise this was pretty quick and unremarkable.
Kudos to Rex for the English Beat deep track!
Totally agree with Rex. This was a DNF (as well as a WTF?) for me.
Easy-ish for a Friday and very low on the proper names which I always appreciate. Still I ran into a few obstacles, primarily just things I did not know - TOPSY, GIG Economy, American ELM(?), YETIS as clued. OHME as a sighed aside elicited a sigh 🙄 and I agree with Rex about the clue for AVOCADO TOAST. ITS a millennial breakfast? Uh, we boomer breakfast snobs have been eating it for years.
It was worth the time to solve today just to learn more about Abigail ADAMS, a woman before her time and apparently one with some serious spelling challenges. The letter referred to was quite lengthy, with the text as clued found in the lower half of page two. Not much WHITE SPACE to be found there.
Started off with dupe at 1 across and alas at 13 across which gave me daiSY for 1 down. Solved everything else but the NW doomed my for a DNF
@Barbara S. (9:29). We've got a nice piece of cake for you in this corner of the playground.
I agree with almost everything Rex said. No fun at all.
@Gary J -- Uniclue #1 -- Wonderful!
@BarbaraS 9:29. Oops on Mopsy, Flopsy and Topsy! Of course she was actually Cottontail. Oddly, though, there seem to be stuffed Mopsy, Flopsy and Topsy rabbits for sale on various sites.
Good gravy...I'm not sure what to make of this puzzle. I guess I can start with my first reaction: The cluing is brutally not fun in some areas. I simply could not understand 11D: Why is MEAL the answer? Why is it clued as a fast-food option for a reduced price?
Then a big MOP UP mess in that COLON ELM YETIS center. How do you text eyes? Isn't a PIE American? and YETIS are branded coolers?
I had a HATE/LOVE relationship. Yes...a Friday should zing for me. It should want to make me do a little fandango tango or maybe try that BACHATA thing. The HATE came mostly in the cluing and a few fuddy duddy's. I'm looking at you TOPSY...and you, AVOCADO TOAST...and you, THRONE ROOM....Shall I go on?
No...I'm already exhausted.
So...Lets get with some LOVE (if I can find it)...APPLETINI. Yes! I liked that one... although I don't like them. I liked the sorta AHA gotcha with ETON, and although when I give the finger it's not usually the POKED one, I did smile at that answer.
Let's see, anything else? Not really.
The puzzle wasn't all that difficult but I had a trying time getting on its wavelength. I still don't understand why a simple answer like MEAL is the convoluted fast-food option.
Wow, I am such an outlier today! When both Rex and Lewis (and many others) rate a puzzle towards the "challenging" end of the difficulty range on a day when I had a shot at my fastest Friday ever, it feels weird--and pretty good.
I moved not in whoosh-mode but in quick and steady fashion from top to bottom with very little resistance and would have established a new best time, perhaps, except for two issues:
1) I felt too confident that 53A, Fowl Call, had to be HOot. That was unfortunate when one of the crosses it impacted was MAKES SENSE, because it didn't! And I also couldn't come up with 45D Gave the finger? with a T where the K in POKED was meant to be. I finally realized there are fowls who go HONK and dropped it in, expecting the happy music, which did not occur! And then it took some time to see that
2) aH, ME could be OH, ME (crummy answer) and TaPSY could be TOPSY. And that was that. On a side note--I have a brother two years my senior whose name is Jerry. Which made us "Tom and Jerry." I vaguely recall that we were subjected to playing that cat and mouse duo in a skit in grade school, but I might be mis-remembering that.
@Whatsername (10:33) -- Boy, that Abigail ADAMS letter you've unearthed sure is a doozy. And it's not just her "serious spelling challenges" (very funny comment, @Whatsername!) either. Did everyone back in Revolutionary Days write so stiffly? I would say:
"Shorter sentences, Abby!"
"Fewer compound sentences, Abby!"
"Not so many Latinate words, Abby! More plain old Anglo Saxon!"
I'm surprised John ever managed to get through them. And there were quite a lot of them, right?.
Pretty much the opposite of @Rex for me. I found it easy and easier than the last two day’s. HOot before HONK was it for erasures and the Pearl Jam album and YEN (as clued) and apparently ETON (as clued) were my only WOEs.
I agree that the NW has some problems, but I thought this was mostly smooth with a bit of sparkle, liked it.
After I finished this FriPuz, but before I came here, I was sorta thinkin "Wow, this puz had all kinds of neat fillins in it!" Then I read @RP's scathin review, and a lotta early Comment Gallery thumbs-pointin-down comments. Then started thinkin "Wrong again, M&A breath!"
But, I'ma gonna stick to my guns … Liked it, at our house.
fave clue: {Name spelled out by the first letters of consecutive calendar months} = JASON. [July-August-September-Oktoberfest-November baby.]
staff weeject pick: FEY. Always suspected that Ms. Tina darin was from another planet, or somesuch. She's far-out funny, plus is always sayin "I want to go to there".
The fillins that M&A liked were quite numerous, but here's my faves of the faves: MUSICVIDEO. ONAGOODDAY. YOUDOTHAT. APPLETINIS. THRONEROOM. MAKESSENSE. DOESNTMATTER. GRUMP.
Not to mention OHME & OHHI. TOPSY TUBI. har
Thanx for gangin up on us, Bratton & Haddock dudes. Good job, with lotsa fey feist.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
uni-clues:
**gruntz**
This was a big google day. I looked up Grammy categories, cartoon pals, film rating system, and Yiddish words. Other mysteries filled thanks to crosses. Needing to google reminds me of solving these as a youngster, using a physical atlas, thesaurus, and dictionary. Later I bought a copy of a crossword dictionary. It felt more fair to use those tools than it does to do a web search, because online searching is so much more likely to provide the answer effortlessly. I really do try to avoid it.
Other stumbling blocks included my addict saying “I need more.” And when I got the k in POKED I almost entered walk for fowl call. Nice one.
I enjoyed the clues for POKED, STANDPAT, JASON, ESP, MANE, MAIN, HOSE, MOPUP, and it was a treat to finally spot the snark in the clue for 31A. SADLOT - great answer. I really was puzzled by the absent plural S until I saw it.
Another person here vouching for FEY as a common term for the beings in the realm of Fairy in literature. We see this word in the puzzle often, with this usage. And I can’t get onboard with early commenters disparaging the attraction of pines. Please hug some trees. It will do you a world of good.
I hate to rain on the parade of two college kids who I'm sure are very nice people, but this puzzle was so sloppy and slapdash that I really don't understand how it made the cut.
This isn't the weekly circular in the grocery store. This is the NEW YORK TIMES, dammit! They accept something like 3% of submissions. Was this puzzle really in the top 3%? Is Will Shortz friends with somebody's dad or something?
I agree completely with Rex that the clues should be tighter. They aren't horrific, but it's the NEW YORK TIMES, dammit! The cluing should be A+, and he gave many examples where it isn't. And no one is going to Maine to look at the pines. That's a "wait, what" moment for anyone who has been to Maine (or anywhere in New England, where pine trees are everywhere). Why would you clue PINES as an attraction when there are so many other ways to clue it? That's a clue that a college kid in Minnesota who has never been to Maine would write, and that a NEW YORK TIMES dammit! editor should have fixed.
And to have OHHI and OHME in the same puzzle? Both are completely contrived. And DIDIT? Weak, weak, weak. And MOPUP, RUNAT, and DIDIT all in the puzzle and so close together? A NY Times themeless puzzle should have better fill in the grid.
This is the most amateur themeless in the NYT in recent memory. Whoever was editing it with the constructors didn't do them any favors.
The bassoon, oboe and hecklephone are all double reed instruments.
I've never heard of RPG except in reference to the IBM programming language. But I luckily guessed P over L for my final fill. Otherwise I found this puzzle easy for a Friday.
I recently leaned that Salman Rushdie attended Rugby when he went to England for boarding school.
I kinda liked this puzzle. Rex seems like he was in a bad mood today. ‘Name spelled out by consecutive calendar months’ was a fun slam dunk thanks to this silly viral video from 2018. Thanks kid, thanks Jason DeRulo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=967WmA-OXKM
I quite liked this puzzle and was roundly amused by the irony of Rex’s criticism of LOVE TO HATE.
Not sure how this Irish lad managed it, but SHTETL rolled right off the tip of my pen — and in ink no less. The rest of the puzzle put up a fight, but I enjoyed most of the struggle and felt like I had accomplished something by the time I was done.
My first stab at the addict’s plaint was I CAN’T GO ON which yielded a great DOOK that I could imagine hearing from a defeated Stooge:
Larry: “What’s wrong with Curly?”
Moe: “I don’t know. He’s been like this all day. Curly, what’s wrong?”
Curly: “I can’t GOON.”
Crossword secret: If it’s a four-letter musical instrument, it’s probably an OBOE (hello, @Nancy)
I'm a not great solver but amazed that for the 2nd day in a row I found this way easier than OFL. Funny how that works. I DNF plenty of "easy" Fridays.
Eh. Not up to my preferred Friday challenge level, but Friday puzzles never are anymore. Aside from that, I didn't feel any way about it: didn't like it, didn't hate it. Nothing about it stuck out to me. I just solved it and then it was over.
Oh— it did remind me that if the Coldplay singer's name had an I on the end of it, Gwyneth Paltrow's daughter would be Apple Martini. But that's neither here nor there.
Was there no editor for this puzzle? "I meant to say" is the answer for "Let me rephrase". I mean to say sounds like broken english that a non native speaker would say. Garbage.
@Johnk, an RPG is a Role-Playing Game. One of my sons used to play D&D all the time, and wrote most of his high school history term papers using D&D manuals as his main reference, e.g. for Irish mythology; so that one was easy, and without it I'd never have got PSAT, not having memorized the top scores of the various standardized tests. But after that, the puzzle had a lot of fun clues, and a lot of nostalgia: for the pine-needle filled pillow I once brought back from Maine, and more generally for the late, great American ELM, the tree that was virtually wiped out by Dutch elm disease.
I've played a lot of Renaissance music, in which sighs are frequently written as "ay ME" -- another possible variant. The whole problem could have been avoiced by cluing it as the first two words of this song by Lonnie Donegan.
And while we're talking music, if I recall correctly the last line of "St. James Infirmary" is "Put a twenty-dollar gold piece on my eyelids, so the boys will know I died STANDing PAT."
I'm with @Carola re: 13A. I would never say "OH ME" so TaPSY stayed in on my solve. Maybe it's not an Upper Midwest thing? Though I decided I would say, "OH ME, oh my".
I liked the clue for ESP, "Medium talent". And I was trying for a meta answer by putting in GRids for 23D's "One with cross words" but, "one" not being plural, it couldn't be right. Ah, me.
Thanks for the Friday puzzle, Billy Bratton and Clay Haddock. Congrats, Clay, on the debut.
Earworm for 76 year old -
Oh me oh my oh you
Whatever shall I do?
Hallelujah,
The question is peculiar
I'd give a lot of dough
If only I could know
The answer to my question
Is it yes or is it no?
Does your chewing gum lose its flavor
on the bedpost overnight?
It’s true that Heckel is best known as a bassoon manufacturer, but the heckelphone, itself, is played by a member of the oboe section on those rare occasions when it is used in the orchestra (e.g. Strauss’ Salomé and Alpine Symphony). If you don’t believe me, see heckelphone.org :) )
This was one of those puzzles I started at night, fell asleep on a couple clues and was absolutely stumped. Woke up to restart it this morning and the gears were working and answers were forthcoming. Didn't love it didn't hate it.
I'm wondering what kind of a not good day Rex was having to come up with a problem with the American ELM. I had pie there first. As jberg mentioned, this tree was once more common before Dutch elm disease nearly wiped it out. It provided shade for nearly every Mayberry like small town in America. There is still a beautiful walkway full of Grand American elms that has been preserved in Central Park. Worth a visit when in New York. Stop by and see Nancy, who lives nearby while you're at it :-)
I actually thought this was a fine enough puzzle, except the clues seem a bit off. I totally agree with the objection to PINES as they are indeed everywhere. I remember being quite underwhelmed that Georgia and northern Florida were full of them... where are all the palm trees and swamps with live Oaks? Here in the Okanagan valley bottom we have nothing but Ponderosa pines, but the rest of BC has plenty of the other kinds at altitude.
Typeovers: POLO before PSAT, GROUCH and GRINCH before GRUMP, and of course TAPSY before TOPSY because of AH ME.
[Spelling Bee: yd 0; QB streak 6 days. Once again had the same last word as @Barbara S 9:29 am; probably about the 4th or 5th time!]
And yet ANOTHER constructor whose goal seems to be clueing so arcane that no one will ever solve it. Or in my case, waste time on it. I’m getting better at recognizing the ego/time trap combination.
Loretta Lynn's "In the PINES"
I too put in GRids for 23D and was congratulating myself on catching on to the clever clue. I'm usually attentive to singular vs. plural, but GRids stayed there for far too long simply because I liked it so much.
Rex is often harsh, sometimes unfairly. But this puzzle sucked, for all the reasons Rex stated.
The cluing was the problem.
Weird, this was my easiest Friday ever. Nothing was particularly in my wheelhouse (looking at you, Flopsy!) but it all came together quite neatly.
Serious agreement with all who insist that OHME was not a thing until it was today. That's not a good look. I figured TAPSY was a possibility -- certainly didn't go vowel shopping on that one, given Ah, me's prominence.
OH HI has been in the grid surprisingly often. I wouldn't think it'd be *that* useful an answer. Stats from XWord Info:
2023 – 3 instances so far
2022 – 1
2021 – 0 (obviously because no one ran into each other during Covid, and the editors thought it would be in bad taste)
2020 – 3
2019 – 3
2018 – 3
2017 – 5
2016 – 4
2015 – 2
2014 – 3
2011 – 2
2010 – 1
2008 – 1
Am I wrong that any time OFL struggles with a puzzle he thinks it is something amin to “wincingly old fashioned.” While I absolutely think this one was hard, it didn’t play “old,” because the “old” or “old fashioned” fill is right up my alley! I think this one was just plain hard, mainly because the clues were tough. Really tough.
I hope some day soon I will quit reading IMED as I-MED as in a way to make a telemedicine appointment as opposed to an instant message which remains something I don’t quite understand. It has always seemed to me that if I text someone it “instantly” goes where it is sent. So what’s the difference between that and an an “instant message?” Maybe I’ll whip up an AVOCADO TOAST and consider it.
Not a banner Friday but it certainly gave me a massive workout.
@Masked and Anonymous 11:40 AM
What a hoot! Hard as tar-hooties as always. One huge mistake led to all kinda crazy and only one answer officially beyond me. Maybe a record low par for me as usually I'm far asea in yer feisty creations. Thanks for another fun (if brain-draining) Runtz.
I enjoyed APPLETINI! Cocktail trends tend to last but a few years. Think: Aperol spritz, espresso martini. Likely will not see those on the menus come five years from now.
THRONEROOM - not a thing. Pass.
ICANTSTOP - could have been themed in a much friendlier way. The connotation def. brought to mind hard-core drug addiction.
AVOCADOTOAST - would have preferred different cluing on this, something as simple as "Brunch item, maybe" since the Millenial hate is really played out by this point and the clue as-is was a dead giveaway for what could have been a fun reveal.
Level of puzzle enjoyment: moderate.
One of the better NYT puzzles I have seen in a long time. I hope we see more like this one.
@Nancy (11:07) According to the Massachusetts Historical Society, Mr. and Mrs. Adams exchanged over 1100 letters, beginning during their courtship in 1762 and continuing throughout John's political career until 1801. That’s a lot of misspelled words! Just imagine though, if it was nowadays - how many text messages that would be.
Rugby competitor. I immediately thought of the SPORT of rugby. .
So I looked at the clue as an attempt at a different clue for Eton, which often shows up in the Times puzzle. Rugby is a popular sport in England so it is logical that Eton has a rugby team.
Maybe my take is wrong but I don't think it was an elitist clue/answer situation. Maybe a lot of people never heard of the sport? Now that would surprise me.
I would have said the puzzle was average except I put LSAT instead of PSAT which was a stupid error. I thought it was a decent puzzlem
Not only was this puzzle very poor, but as you noted, the Sunday puzzle was dreadful!anonymous
Fell into the TAPSY/TOPSY vortex like several others here. Otherwise: clever.
For @Teedmn and @Mark K -- A truly exquisite use of the phrase "Oh me, oh my".
If I told you it was by Kander and Ebb, would you know what it was then? Anyone?
The song starts at 25 seconds in.
Hellish
This puzzle mostly felt like a breeze, which is rare for someone of my skill level. I am a bit surprised that Rex seemed to struggle so much with it. That being said, let's talk about that southwest corner...
I love the clue for PEELE, but it is very tricky and I didn't see it. That was the least of my worries, though, since there was so much weirdness in that corner! Is SAD LOT really a thing? I still don't understand how PADS and SLAT answer their respective clues. As an alcohol abstainer, APPLETINIS was a complete shot in the dark (wouldn't those probably be red??). All of these complaints are pretty mild, and I wouldn't have mentioned any of it, if it were not for one particular entry... SHTETL.
This is the worst WOE of mine in months. I understand it's a foreign word, but how on Earth is someone meant to infer the spelling if they've never heard of it? Every guess I threw into that corner seemed completely, impossibly incorrect. With all the uncertainty I had, I was only able to extract ?HT?T?, with serious doubt on the H in HOPI since it looked so wrong. A very sad DNF, especially because the rest of the grid was so smooth and fun.
Gratzi. That's a new one for me.
I liked this puzzle, but then again I'm a Boomer. I'm not at all up current popular culture, so this puzzle suited me to a t. Does anyone even say that anymore?? 🤣
Anyone experience a kealoa trying to use Ghetto instead of SHTETL?
Stuck doing the puzzles days late as our paper delivery is never on time…
STAND UP, STAND OUT
DOESN'TMATTER what YOUDO
or what YOU MEANTTOSAY,
if IT MAKES GOOD SENSE TO YOU
IT ADDS TO your GOODDAY.
--- JASON ADAMS
just to prove I can do other than doggerel
@CT2napa: "...If your mother says don't chew it do you swallow it in spite? Can you catch it on your tonsils; can you heave it left and right? Does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?"
AH or OHME, those were the days. (Latest kealoa: AH or OH?). So my choices were: TaPSY or TOPSY. I opted for the latter.
Mr. Roat: "That's when things started to go TOPSY-turvy: me TOPSY, and them turvy." [From "Wait Until Dark"]
This puzzle has one saving grace: it features STANDPAT, which is proper. Too often in the past we've seen the terrible SIT[S]PAT.
Suitably tough for a Friday, it may have a few unsavory answers, but overall not that bad. I've never had AVOCADOTOAST, APPLETINI--or even a MINTOREO. The grid does not make my mouth water. Par.
Wordle birdie.
I think this is the first puz this week where I had no write-overs, so I guess it caught me ONAGOODDAY. FEY not clued as Tina? LOVE her. Noticed: DIDIT ITS.
Wordle par
Loved it. Challenging but fair. Just right for a Friday.
I love the anonymoti who come on here and say an answer is wrong, but it turns out they're the ones who are wrong 99.9999% of the time. (I had Alexa, Siri, and Echo do the math.)
Three separate sessions did the trick. I think the back of my brain kept working on what I didn't get at first.
I still want to try that toast.
Diana, LIW
Yeah, I haven't tried AVOCADOTOAST either. Must not be hip enough.
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