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Netflix heroine Holmes / THU 4-27-23 / Some adult nightclub entertainers, literally / Absolute concentration literally / Danish birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen / Characteristic of an interminable slog literally / Endpoint of the Great Wildebeest Migration / Traits that trigger repulsion
Thursday, April 27, 2023
Constructor: Michael Schlossberg
Relative difficulty: Easy
 |
| [on paper and on the app, the boxes involved in the theme answers are missing various edges; see below] |
Theme answers:
Word of the Day: ODENSE (49D: Danish birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen) —
- DOCTORS (Without Borders) (no edges on any of the cells) (15A: International medical group that won the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize, literally)
- (No end) IN SIGHT (no final edge, after the "T") (16A: Characteristic of an interminable slog, literally)
- (Undivided) ATTENTION (no edges separating the letters from one another) (23A: Absolute concentration, literally)
- (Baseless) ACCUSATIONS (no bottom edge for any boxes) (46A: Charges lacking merit, literally)
- (Topless) DANCERS (no top edge for any boxes) (67A: Some adult nightclub entertainers, literally)
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| [Here's what the grid is supposed to look like] |
Odense ([...]) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 205,978, making it the fourth largest municipality in Denmark (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus and Aalborg municipalities). Eurostat and OECD have used a definition for the Metropolitan area of Odense (referred to as a Functional urban area), which includes all municipalities in the Province(Danish: landsdel) of Funen (Danish: Fyn), with a total population of 504,066 as of 1 July 2022 [...] Odense is served by Hans Christian Andersen Airport and Odense station, which lies on the line between Copenhagen and the Jutland peninsula. (wikipedia)
• • •
That leaves me with the fill, which ... well, there it is. Not much to say. I would love ICKFACTOR in the singular, but in the plural it just seems silly. When, how, why? It just doesn't get used that way. Curate Your Wordlists, People! FOOT SCRUBS is a cool answer, and it's what I wanted initially, but then I thought 53A: Separates from the mother ship was UNMOORS ... mostly because I wasn't reading the clue correctly. My eye just picked up something about a ship separating and UNMOORS seemed like a real word for that situation. But "mother ship" = space ship, so in that sense, sure, UNDOCKS. Had the tiniest bit of trouble with the indefinite article in ASMIDGE (1A: The tiniest bit). Had a total geographic breakdown with ODENSE (49D: Danish birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen), which I had first as ODESSA (I *knew* ODESSA wasn't "Danish," but ... my typing fingers, running purely on crosswordese instinct, did what they did). Then I tried ODENSK, is that a thing? I know GDANSK is a thing, is ODENSK? Nope, not so much, no. Thankfully, SHAMBLK is not a thing (70A: Drag one's feet), so was ultimately (literally, ultimately) able to SHAMBLE my way to ODENSE.
The fill has some ICK FACTORS for sure, with ETTU, ADUE, AFTS and ANO forming a kind of shambling gang of the Crosswordese Undead. Several kealoas* today (LO-CAL / LO-FAT, ERS/ORS, NADA/NONE), but none of it really made a difference to the solving experience. This fill is ultimately unremarkable. The theme is the thing. You liked the visual gag, you didn't, who can say? But that's all there is. Wish I'd experienced the intended "edge"-less grid in real time, but I didn't, so ... there. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. ALFA Romeo made a "Spider" model car for close to 30 years (33D: Spider in a garage, informally?); AFTS is short for "afternoons" (27D: Some times, in brief) ... I think everything else is straightforward?
*kealoa = a pair of words (normally short, common answers) that can be clued identically and that share at least one letter in common (in the same position). These are answers you can't just fill in quickly because two or more answers are viable, Even With One or More Letters In Place. From the classic [Mauna ___] KEA/LOA conundrum. See also, e.g. [Heaps] ATON/ALOT, ["Git!"] "SHOO"/"SCAT," etc.
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114 comments:
I thought it was very clever and missing edges were a great help. And also made it easier than the usual Thursday.
@Rex, you really need to to get the NYTXW app. This is not the first time you seemed befuddled because the"trick" wasn’t visible. It’s really not expensive. Maybe your readers could take up a collection so you can afford it?
I also solved with my grid looking normal, I understood DOCTORS (without borders) but of course not the significance of the "edge" bit of the revealer. Easy-medium.
I got kealoa'd at NADA but ENOLA fixed that instantly, and I finished with TAT after struggling to see COO_SCRUBS and realizing that I also had a kealoa wrong with LO-CAL.
AFTS clued as afternoons... really? Also not a fan of seeing two university abbreviations (LSU, BYU) in the same grid.
Agree with OFL's Easy assessment. I solved on the NYT Web site but I was too bleary-brained to get any of the themers other than DOCTORS [without borders]. Clever, but I didn't see the rest until I got here. I liked it, but I solved it as a themeless, mostly ignoring the theme clues.
The initial grid I printed had a Note telling me the puzzle was best solved by using the newspaper PDF version of the puzzle. So I reprinted and am delighted I did so as it was a great solving experience on paper when you have the right grid.
Not too hard for a Thursday, but clever and fun nevertheless. OFL often tries too hard to find something unlikeable. Lighten up, Rex! š
Theme is kind of meh, given I got most of the themers from crosses mostly. The missing words didn't really matter, though I guess there was a tiny yay when I got the trick of each one. Getting the trick was tougher for me as I keep the app in dark mode. So for me, the missing borders appeared as extra dark lines. So...yeah.
Thank goodness that Rex studied the grid like it was the zapruder film and explained the hidden secrets of the universe to us. Hopefully now the world is safe from the Zombie Apocalypse.
ICK FACTORS should be the adopted team name of the NYT crossword editorial staff, since they feel compelled to include some in the puzzle every day - even on Mondays.
I don’t know how an “interminable slog” provides INSIGHT, since I do the NYT “crossword” puzzle every day and rarely gain any - although I might be quizzed as to who was the Chief Justice in 1922.
I’m usually enthusiastic and excited to welcome my friend SHREK to join us for a visit, but to be honest I feel bad that you got caught up in this ICKY MESS today.
I had to he same experience as Conrad. Finished it, but couldn’t suss why 3 of the theme answers were correct. Oh, well …. RCP in TO
Loved the theme, which was visible on the NYT website, but wouldn't call it easy. Living outside the US made 62 & 63 down almost impossible to parse and my brain could not fill in SHA__LE (wanted "Shuffle", but knew Ana was correct). Anyway, fun Thursday!
My grid had erased lines and I got DOCTORS (Without Borders) easily, but couldn’t think up the accompanying word for any of the other themers and didn’t know what they were until I read Rex’s write-up. The whole thing was a slog, with a bunch of crosswordese and several annoying kealoas. Overall, ugh.
I solved on the NYTXW app and it had a regular grid. So it solved as a themeless. Oh well.
An additional kealoa in today’s puzzle: ad hoc/LIB.
Plus — name a city smaller than Aarhus?
Ah, well, Thursday’s done. Cue up Friday!
Seemed like an awful lot of short fill making for a choppy solve. I have not counted *, so that’s just a subjective view.
Grid made me think we were in for a space invaders theme.
In Tennessee, it is now illegal to drag your feet in public.
[* Okay, I went and counted 24 three-letter words and 18 four-letter words.]
Oy. I *did* solve it on the mobile app, and none of the grid line edits were visible to me, nor was there any kind of note or warning that it was better solved elsewhere. I grokked on to the words being part of the phrase pretty early on but alas on the grid I had, the revealer actually made things more confusing. So I basically had to solve as a themeless, and trust that all would be revealed on coming to this blog. Before I started, I looked at the grid and thought it was maybe supposed to be a visual representation of a cute puppy? But no dice, obvi. If a puzzle can’t reliably be presented to its solvers in the way that it’s intended, the NYT should either take steps to remedy that before publication or decline to run it. So, I really can’t comment on the theme’s quality itself, but I suspect I might have had a similar take to Rex’s about it had I puzzled as intended.
For all that griping, this was within a few seconds of a personal Thursday best, so still pretty easy. Some of the cluing was fine to good, though agree with Rex that the plurals of convenience (hi @Anoa Bob) on ICK FACTORS and FOOTSCRUBS were letdowns. BELLOWS was cute, and getting it helped me realize I needed to overwrite hoc for LIB. GRIST was a good clue; ESCHEW is just a word I like and enjoy seeing. Basically a good bit, I liked even amidst some other things I didn’t much care for - heavy crosswordese, POCs, a ho-hum theme - though the most glaring of my dislikes was no fault of the constructor’s but how the grid showed up on the mobile app. Le sigh.
I saw the weird spaces but ignored them. I do not think “literally” means what it is used to mean here, which is “graphically.”
No issue with this theme -- it's Thursday, after all. Fun to solve.
But...it's amazing to me that in our tech-dominated world, the software for things like this is so poor. I solved on the NYTXW site, but DOCTORS had a top border, and the final two letters of ATTENTION had dividers.
That aside, this was a clever idea which I enjoyed. Kudos to the constructor.
I enjoyed this one - thought it was a clever theme. Thumbs up!
I would have liked to "not see" the missing edges, but the puzzle was easy for a Thursday already. This way I got to puzzle over it more.
Also, the clue made ettu the interesting and different. I'll take any crosswordese necessary if it comes with a different clue. Except Oreo is done...
No end IN SIGHT, as Rex notes.
The missing end wasn't discernable on my phone, so I had the same problem you did.
I’m confused, your grid looks just like mine and i got it immediately. There are no lines between the boxes on Doctors Without Borders, there’s no end line in no end in sight, there’s no bottom line in baseless accusations etc. I thought it was cute.
Definitely seeing the missing edges made this one quite easy…once I had DOCTORS early in, I saw the theme. My favorite clue was “Things that may stand near thrones?” Initially I had SWORDS (Game of Thrones memories, perhaps), but then remembered my dad had always referred to the toilet as his throne…
Very cool puzzle. I can barely solve 'em and here someone creates a beauty like today's.
Anybody else notice that WHAT FUN is atop topless DANCER?
Learned something, too. I've never heard the word SHAMBLE but at my age (80+) I fear I may actually be a shambler!
I am usually fine with gimmicks, but this one felt like it missed the mark because of the inconsistency. Why does the missing line between 59D and 67D only apply to TOPLESS DANCERS and not, by the same rules, force me to read 59D as BOTTOMLESS WHAT FUN or something? What about the other random places where edges are missing from other clues? I got the idea, I solved it relatively quickly, but I think the execution was not completely realized.
Like a good do-bee I printed out the newspaper version, which had omitted the edges where they should have been omitted, but also cut off all the numbers for the first column of Across clues. This did not add to my enjoyment, as I was reading the clues on my laptop and trying to fill them in on paper. Too much toggling early in the morning.
Eventually caught on to the gimmick and the rest of it was a fun ride. I've seen this kind of word play before and it always makes me think of my favorite of this genre, WORLAMEN. (Answer below.)
A very nice Thursday indeed, MS. Mighty Sly, and thanks for all the fun.
Answer- World without end, amen.
It’s unbelievable that the times has such a crappy app that they recommend you solve on paper instead of using their app. They think that the app must be good despite having to recommend a paper solve because “hey, it’s the Times, the puzzles are the greatest, so the app must be good.” Just for the record, i used their app for this puzzle and it wasn’t a good experience. I had to come here to actually figure out how the puzzle worked, because the edge feature was so poorly delineated I didn’t think much of it in respect to the clues.
I also solved the puzzle on The NY Times crossword app. My grid had all borders intact. I didn’t get the theme so I am once again thankful for all of you clever bloggers (Rex included) that did get it and enlightened me!
I have the app but it didn’t do me much good—instead of missing borders, it displayed them as extra-thick borders, giving the answers the opposite meaning (e.g. ATTENTION was completely divided). Fortunately the themers were easy enough to get from the crosses.
Is there a reason why Rex will not solve puzzles using the NYT app? What is it? It appears to be a form of self-flagellation. Or just Rex's insistence on finding fault where none exists. This was a puzzle that I found difficult, but very entertaining. Thank you to constructor and editor.
Huh, I also used the app (iOS version) and the edges are clearly missing on both an iPad and an iPhone. Are you by chance using an Android device?
I solved in the NYT app, but in dark mode and it gave everything edges and borders where they weren't supposed to be. I was so confused! but still solved
WHAT FUN!!!!!!!!
And the fact that WHAT FUN goes over [topless] DANCERS is even more fun!
And wasn't DOCTORS [without borders] just plain wonderful?
This is just a treasure trove of wordplay delights -- all of them different -- and I had an absolutely wonderful time!
And a wonderfully apt revealer that ties everything together was even found for this, though it actually didn't really need a revealer at all.
Dare I admit that the one themer I didn't understand before coming here was ATTENTION? I tried lots of adjectives. "Full attention". "Strict attention". "Total attention". Nope, nope and nope. Aha! Undivided ATTENTION!!!! Of course! Perfect!!!!
The secret to making this a puzzle that people love rather than an maddening exercise in pure frustration is to play scrupulously fair with your clues and your crosses. This puzzle does that in spades. Barring something quite extraordinary coming down the pike later this week, this would get my vote for POW. You didn't get it, Michael? Well, I say you were robbed.
Dark mode has a thick white line, switching to light mode fixed the issue.
I wasn't loving this puzzle but I forgave it everything when I figured out topless dancers. It's funny because that method of writing it is so cute and wholesome. One of my favorite NYTXW answers ever!
I'm going with WHAT FUN! I loved this one, for its cleverness and for its just-right difficulty for a Thursday. Last night I took a look at the puzzle on the NYT app, saw that there were some grid machinations going on and, suspecting that the app might not handle them well, decided to wait for this morning and the paper. Very glad I did. DOCTORS was easy to see, but I had to work a bit for the others, and appreciated that. I thought the baseless ACCUSATIONS and topless DANCERS were great. For me, one of the best Thursdays in a long while.
Hey All !
Quite interesting. The NYT app that I pay $39 a year for has the correct-as-intended grid 9 times out of 10, today being no different. Got the "line less" sections of the puz. Hmm, says I, let's see what in tarhooties is going on.
First one I got was DANCERS (yes, male here š). But couldn't get Pole DANCERS out of the ole brain, and there wasn't a border twixt that and WHAT FUN. Another Hmm, and wondered how that would work. Continued solving, the next one I got was DOCTORS. That one turned the lightbulb on, and I said, "DOCTORS! Without borders! Hah!" (Well, in my mind I said that.)
Never did figure out Topless DANCERS š (letting the males down). The other one I couldn't get was (no end)INSIGHT. And was thinking "open"ACCUSATIONS.
So, although I got the spirit of the theme, my brain let me down on grokking some of them. AH ME. Still a cool idea.
Got a great Har at adding an F in to get AFTS. That's how to do it! Well, at least the clue was odd. Could've been "Backs of ships" or something.
A funky looking grid, left/right symmetry, missing lines that didn't screw up putting letters in (on the NYT app), decent fill. WHAT FUN!
Six F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
FYI: If you are on the app and not seeing the "missing" edges, you probably have overlays turned off in your settings.
Now onto my thoughts.
Wait, what? I was sure when I finished it would tell me to keep trying since the white lines in the puzzle seemed to serve no purpose even though the revealer said they did ... especially since the app makes them look extra edgy.
Thank goodness for š¦ or I'd never know what happened here and I would have missed seeing the topless dancers and the good lord put topless dancers on Earth for me to see. I consider myself an expert at seeing them.
I didn't notice how much junk was in the puzzle until afterward, probably because the cluing is straightforward.
Same struggle with Odense as š¦.
Uniclues:
1 Her off-topic comment seemed healthy.
2 How you know your wallet will soon be empty.
3 What I do when there are no topless dancers.
1 ASIDE WAS LO-FAT
2 DOCTORS IN SIGHT
3 OGLE FOOT SCRUBS
Same, issue being “dark mode” totally shanks the border segments.
My app (on a Droid phone) worked perfectly, removing all the correct edges, so I'm very much surprised at the complaints here. Also doesn't seem fair to me to call any crossword puzzle app crappy for not being able to perform some of the very un-crosswordish things NYT experiments with, especially that most of those tricks are fine in its app.
Hmm. I solved (as usual) on the nyt website - not the app - and although it was unresponsive at first, once I closed it and reopened it things were fine (but it ate up a minute not responding to input and me wondering if that was somehow part of the Thursdayness). The missing edges were all missing. Plus the boxes turned light blue, so, I guess, you'd know it was a themer?
Also, easy until it wasn't. I got all the themers and everything but the NE. No clue whatsoever about the EN_ lions, had DOUBLEd for batteries and baseball with, again, no idea why re baseball (although there is a bar in a nearby town called Double D's; it's a DANCERS bar), and could see that STD_ beetle must be wrong, unless there's some new slang about diseases I'm not familiar with....
So a triple-ish Natick.
Which is too bad for an otherwise easy puzzle!
Thx, Michael; no rEGRETs on this one. Time well spent! :)
Med+ (A SMIDGE on the tough side).
Took some effort post-solve to grok the themers' unique EDGiness. Very clever!
DunG before STAG and hoc before LIB held up the NE for too long. :(
SHAMBLE was the cause of my demise on a recent xword. Pleased that I remembered it, and dropped it in with the 'SH' in place, realizing that SHuffLE wouldn't work due to the 'u' not being a likely ending to Armas's given name.
WHAT FUN today; liked it a lot! :)
___
@okanaganer (1:58 PM yd)
Enjoyed your HITCHCOCK puz; didn't find the SE an issue. I do many 'indie' xwords, some of which break the so-called rules of the game. Thx for posting the .puz link. Great website, btw! :)
Anonymous (9:47 PM yd)
Loved your tribute to San Francisco themed movies. Will be watching 'The Last Black Man In San Francisco' (on Paramount+) later td. :)
___
Peace š šŗš¦ ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all š
what's diner slang?
(NO END) IN SIGHT was the winning phrase to me. Had wanted something for the singular word INSIGHT. Deep? Endless? Great AHA moment!
The consistent “literally” clueing was the cue denoting the tricky answers - no asterisks needed.
Also, like Joaquin, had never heard of SHAMBLE in that sense. Shamble on, fellow Golden Ager!
Fun Thursday (at least for those using iPad app)!
After printing as usual and reading the little note from the crossword coach, I reluctantly got the iPad and referred to the dreaded app to see what was happening. It ever so helpfully showed me there were no borders around the DOCTORS, no divisions in the ATTENTION, no basis for the ACCUSATIONS, and no tops on the DANCERS. Ta-da. But even though I’m HIP TO all that stuff, I prefer to ESCHEW the electronic solving option, so I took that enlightenment and proceeded to FOCUS on my paper which was not really difficult at all. In fact, probably one of the easiest Thursdays I’ve ever done.
That FACTOR ASIDE, this was a great theme idea but somewhat awkwardly executed because of the limitations in displaying the theme conceit. It’s ironic that for all the advancements of technology, it can occasionally become a hindrance. But [sigh] be that good or bad, it’s the world we live in.
My grandmother did crossword puzzles right up until her passing at age 94 and I intend to equal or exceed her accomplishment. I sincerely hope by that time I’m not forced to do so with some sort of portable device because there’s no paper option left. I’ll only end up in trouble for the DRASTIC damage that will occur when I HISS and hurl my iPad24 [splat] against the wall. But with any luck, I’ll have a crossword-loving roommate named @Nancy and I can blame it on HER. WHAT FUN that’ll be!
yet another thursday puzzle where it was best to ignore the theme and solve with crosses. as has been mentioned, the gimmick completely breaks down in dark mode _sigh_
Been awhile since I've posted a 12¢ apoplexy, but today is a clear #4 day:
The 12¢ APOPLEXY: I think the NYTXW is uniquely terrible in the world and I might quit (but not really) due to the grievous smiting of ...
Blog Axiom #4: Squares: The grid ... woe be to the grid.
As a reminder, if this isn't fun, there's always whiskey.
Dark mode on the NYT xword iPhone app made this puzzle incomprehensible as the exact opposite visual clues appeared emphasized rather than missing. Thought the fill was a slog of uninteresting trivia so not a big fan of this puzzle overall.
My deepest sympathy and condolences to all the app solvers. Yes -- all of you.
The ones who have what they tout as "good" apps and the ones who have what they gripe about as "bad" apps.
The ones who have NYT apps and the ones who have non-NYT apps.
The ones who got puzzles on their apps that looked absolutely normal -- with no themer delineations at all -- and so how could they be expected to solve the puzzle?
The ones who got puzzles on their apps with fuzzy themer delineations that were confusing. Or that blended into one another. Or that couldn't be read on the screen. Or that wouldn't reproduce properly off the screen.
What an unnecessarily frustrating morning. And on a morning that could have been so wonderful for all of you. If only you'd solved on paper as God intended. But I'm not offering judgment; I'm only offering a shoulder. Please understand that I feel your pain and I'm trying to TAKE THE EDGE OFF.
finished no errors, never got the theme til I got there though I figured out topless DANCERS. So the puzzle was kinda a dud for me. I think if I had done the hard copy in the paper - like a God intended - I would have Gott the theme. Thanks for the BRUCE rex, we saw him recently and he was amazing. And he is now 73. Unbelievable onstage still
Hmmmm ... my NYT app showed all the appropriate lines missing. Tried to attach screenshot but don't see how.
kealoa (times 2) at 18 across....is it singLE A....doubLE A OR tripLE A ball.
Solved in the mobile app on iPad, in light mode. Still had inconsistencies in the borders. Had lines below DOCTORS, and a line between D and O. Had a line between A and T on ATTENTION. Just sloppy, imo, if thats the theme basis. I solved basically as a themeless. Did get the themers after complete, mainly due to INSIGHT, as that was the only themer whose borders weren’t FUBAR’d in some way.
Nitpicking, sure, but it’s the theme, and it’s the NYT app.
Anyway, took it from WHAT FUN to (R)EGRET for me.
I noticed immediately upon opening the puzzle that the grid looked like a happy guy wearing a tie, and it was whoosh! whoosh from there. I immediately intuited that there is no end IN SIGHT to the baseless ACCUSATIONS that have demanded the undivided ATTENTION of the topless DANCERS known as DOCTORS without borders. Filled all of that in just off the grid art! After that, I thought “I need something that TAKESTHEEDGEOFF A SMIDGE,” so I poured STOUT. And that’s when I noticed the secret themer. 28D SOAP, where each letter is in a box. Get it? SOAPBOXES. Really clever (pours himself another STOUT).
I really like that the Grey Lady doesn’t always play it safe with the crossword. This was a fun idea that, apparently didn’t translate perfectly for some. Thanks, Michael Schlossberg.
Solved this on paper as a themeless that didn’t quite make sense until I came here. I guess I should have read the Note more carefully. FUN puzzle.
Favorite word in the grid: SHAMBLE.
Favorite themer: (topless) DANCERS
Strangest clue: 2/
DOOK alert: DOIN
I use the iPhone app, and the relevant borders are 'hidden' by overlaying white on top of the standard black borders, which made the theme very confusing—for example, ‘DOCTORS’ has each letter visually boxed in, rather than removing the borders. I also assume this puzzle was made some time ago as Queen Elizabeth (the most obvious ‘HER Excellency’ to my mind) died six months ago.
@Georgia (9:52 AM)
One possibility for including attachments is Dropbox. The basic plan is free, and you can easily upload docs, etc. to your 'Public' folder, then provide a link in your Rex blog post to that particular doc using Blogger's standard hyperlink format. If you need help with this, ask for someone to email you their 'how to' cheat sheet.
___
Peace š šŗš¦ ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all š
Enjoyed this one but was frustrated at the end because I, too, have never heard of SHAMBLE, and I still can't figure out what FEB has to do with "2/"...Wait a minute. It's short for February, the second month. Nevermind!
Edit to say “overlays” setting was On. Since they use overlays, it just isn’t that difficult, time consuming or whatever, to present any grid-based gimmick correctly.
I enjoyed the theme, even though I didn't catch the "topless" part of DANCERS or the "baseless" part of ACCUSATIONS. "No end INSIGHT" and DOCTORSWithout Borders were easier to figure.
Almost quit over a cross, but then guessed ENOLA instead of "Enora" and got the congratulatory sound from my Mac.
I agree that ICKFACTORS is not a suitable answer in an NYT puzzle.
Easy-medium solve time but it took a bit of staring to make sense of the theme answers. I did it on the NYT app on my iPad and it kinda showed something was going on. Bringing up the print version on my screen helped.
WHAT FUN works for me, liked it.
@GaryJugert. Thanks for the overlays tip! I think this has happened before. Not sure how it was turned off..
12 (16% of answers!) abbreviations or initialisms. That's not fill, that's alphabet soup!
12 (16% of answers!) abbreviations or initialisms. That's not fill, that's alphabet soup!
Got Doctors w/o Borders, but had to figure out the others only when they were complete. Had it as Unfounded Accusations, for instance, but the whole thing was anticlimactic.
Stilist @10.44, Queen Elizabeth was never "Her Excellency", although by and large an excellent monarch. QE2 was "Her Majesty". The "Excellency" title in England is reserved for ambassadors.
I'm surprised you disliked this one, because I was delighted by it. (Undivided) ATTENTION put a big smile on my face when I first uncovered it. I can see how the solving experience would be flattened by not having the intended gridlines, though.
Count me in @Nancy’s camp today. The penny dropped at DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS and the theme really helped solve on a Thursday. Rex’s ranking of easy seems plausible, except for the north east quadrant that had some really interesting intersections. I did suffer initial grid shock with those strange missing lines on the iPad version, but checking with wife’s paper print out did contain a note to clarify that the game was afoot as ENOLA soon confirmed.
WHAT (bottomless) FUN [on paper]! Great ThursPuz theme goofiness. Printed version really took the edge off an otherwise tough solvequest. etc.
Dang, tho. After printin off the puz, M&A's first reaction was: "Uh-oh … almost time to change the printer cartridge."
Got a general sense of the theme mcguffin pretty early on, at (no end) IN SIGHT. Great ahar moment.
Luved the E/W symmetry -- even with the un-symmetric(al) white line art.
staff weeject picks: Symmetrically-placed ANO & UNO. Parts of the nifty weeject stacks in the SW & SE.
Thanx for the fun with white lines, Mr. Schlossberg dude/CAT. Superbly weird puz idea. [But but … SHAMBLE, huh?]
Masked & Anonym007Us
**gruntz**
I got it, in the sense of putting all the right letters in all the right boxes (or voids). But I didn't get it, because I didn't know the DANCERS were topless, or there was something without an end, or those ACCUSATIONS were without a bottom line, hence baseless. It helped that I always solve on paper, and the print edition missed all the borders that needed to not be there. I knew, it being Thursday, there were tricks, but I didn't quite see how elegant and complete the trickery was.
I have, however, been to the SHAMBLEs, which was in its own way, the most famous street in York. As a student, traveling with other students on very limited budgets, the SHAMBLEs once had the cheapest good meal in all England. The SHAMBLEs, we were informed, had once been the street for York's butchers, and the street, in olden days, had literally run with blood. By 1966, it was just quaint, and full of very old buildings, and few tourists went there. Of course it was ruined for me when I went back with my college-aged daughter 20 years ago, and so many of the buildings had been converted into tourist trappy shops. Still, the York Minster is amazing, and if you look for just the right pub, you can hear folks who still talk in broad Yorkshire accents.
My app on a Droid displayed everything correctly except for the final right hand edge of INSIGHT which showed up, so the word was not 'endless'.
Thank you!
Solved on the app but the overlays look like they were *added* edges so didn't get the gag at all.
Doctors Without Borders should not be confused with another nonprofit organization that does very good work, Doctors Without Pants.
*******
So how do two words that are so similar and derive from the same root get such varied meanings? SHAMBLE means to drag one's foot, as we all now know, and SHAMBLES means a state of total disarray, or a slaughterhouse. And both derive from small bench, table, or footstool!
Well, the slaughterhouse meaning came from the meats in a meat market that were displayed on the small bench or table. Since slaughterhouses are messy, the meaning expanded to cover any very messy scene.
And the foot that is being dragged may be the foot of the stool that is misshapen or dragged along, or the bowlegs of the person sitting on the stool.
If I'm wrong (which my wife assures me I always am), please correct me.
BTW -- here's your Zen question of the day -- If a man says something in the forest, and his wife is not there to hear him, -- is he still wrong?
Couldn't get my head into this one. Tomorrow's another day
I solved on my Android phone, all the graphics (or I should say lack of them) were intact so the theme was easy to figure out. 1a could be a tie-in to yesterday's movie, which in addition to the two leads starred Barbara Bel Geddes in a supporting role as Midge.
I liked it, but wish that "literally" hadn't been added to every clue. "For literal effect" in the revealer clue explains the theme sufficiently. Once again Will Shortz insists on spoonfeeding solvers the gimmick.
Remember this?
@Nancy said everything I was going to say, right down to "as God intended." So I'll resort to philosophical musings:
1) Like @Rex, I thought the ACCUSATIONS were unfounded. Why is that wrong? It makes as much sense as baseless, and produced the same answer.
2) I get it, but it still seems weird that there is a question mark after the clue for BELLOWS, which is there to tip us off that "wind bag" is meant ... literally.
3) You know that the ACCUSATIONS are missing their bottoms, because ID CARDS and UNDOCKS are not all in edgeless squares. But you only know that DANCERS are topless because the bottomless thing has been used already. Of course, we know in both cases because that's what gives us an answer -- but wouldn't it be more elegant to clue the difference? Or maybe not.
On a personal note, solving crosswords is supposed to ward off dementia, but I wonder sometimes. I once changed trains in ODENSE, and even in that brief time I was made aware that Hans Christian Andersen had been born there. I could visualize where it would be on a map. But I must have stared at it for two minutes trying to remember that city's name. Of course, if I didn't do puzzles my mind would probably be completely gone.
I loved the puzzle.
May I just say that @Gary Jugert had the BEST advice today! People who use the NYTX app need to look in their settings. With that said, I have all “functions” turned on EXCEPT for the damned “happy music” as some call it. I call it annoying so turn it off.
@Georgia (12:15 PM) yw š
___
Peace š šŗš¦ ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all š
PS to @Roo. I believe that the $40 dollars is for the NYT Games subscription and the app is free to install. My guess is that @Rex has at the least the Games subscription and could use the app if he wanted to. :)
I got the idea quickly with Doctors (without borders). But could not think what phrase would go in 16A. Wanted the phrase to end in "no end" or" without end" so needed almost every cross for " in sight".
And had to come here to understand the topless dancers at the 59/67A.
Learned something: My long ago alma mater has a satellite campus in SLC. Did not when I lived in SLC in 1966 but there was one in Hawaii in the 1950's.
Thought it way bizarre that the NYT games could not print out the grid with missing lines even though they showed it that way for the digital solve. How is that even possible?
I subscribe to the NYTXW and solve online on my desk top PC. All the missing parts of the grid were, in fact, missing, so the gimmick was apparent early on but still fun to figure out how each themer fit the scheme.
If I'm crunching the numbers correctly, the price of a subscription means each puzzle costs around eleven cents plus you get access to the archives which has every puzzle going back to '93, the beginning of the Shortz era. I think access to the archives alone is worth the cost of the subscription. I do several of them every week.
The theme gimmick was quite imaginative but it came at a cost to overall fill quality. As some of yous have mentioned, two long Downs, ICK FACTOR and FOOT SCRUB, needed help to fill their slots. Likewise for BELLOW, BIDET, ID CARD, UNDOCK, et. al. Even a couple of themers, ACCUSATION and DANCER, and the reveal TAKE THE EDGE OFF, got help from the plural of convenience (POC) to do the job.
I immediately dismiss all complaints about the inability to view or do the puzzle on your phones, desk-top mini-computers, cigarette lighters, und so weiter .. buy the newspaper! It's one of the last ones we've got left.
The issues the app has are ridiculous considering the Times’ stature and profits. I’ve complained to them about the Wordle Bot not working in the “Games” app, which is insane, and their response was “shrug—do it in the newspaper app.”
Was sure I had it right off with DOCTORS at 15A as I fit “borders” in at 16A. Wrong! So I reimagined and eventually found the five different brain-teaser themes – WHAT FUN to tease out. (Hi, @Nancy 9:03 am)
Some attendant word-gamey fill too: DOUBLE A, [R]EGRET.
Favorite, probably because I’m working on and (mostly) off on whole-house decluttering:
no end IN SIGHT
Is 23A “riveted ATTENTION”?? Doesn't seem right... Will check blog to find out. (Thanks, @Rex: undivided! And hi again, @Nancy)
Thought of @Lewis’s comment a week ago, that these types of Thursday puzzles are more like word gymnastics. Such as this classic (but picture a smaller font for the word “miss” if it doesn’t transfer to the comment field):
FRIENDS standing FRIENDS*
----------miss----------
When I was in college chem majors liked this one: The symbol Fe2+ set in a circle atop a stand, meaning “ferrous” wheel. Once current as an iPhone case ...a pause to remember college without a portable phone, and when no one had to be told what was a pun (looking at you, product description!).
Then there are the Droodles, one of my favorites being the spider [maybe also in a garage] doing a handstand.
Thanks, Michael, for the mental workout and reminiscences!
@Rex – I thought the ACCUSATIONS were groundless, then baseless.
@kitshef 7:21 am – LOL, I thought that about the grid too.
@Joe Dipinto 12:30 pm – Clever tie-in to yesterday's!
*A little misunderstanding between friends
I solve on a desktop PC with 2 monitors, using Across Lite, and the procedure is this: read the note, open the puzzle on the web page, take a screen shot, and view that on my other monitor. Works great! Of course you poor wretches solving on your phones are out of luck if the missing borders are missing... or is it "not missing"?
I saw DOCTORS without the "Without Borders" and got the gimmick right away, no problem. A couple of the themers required some deep thinking after finishing, but that was the fun part.
[Spelling Bee: yd -2, missed two 6ers!]
@Nancy - I was a late adopter of XWs on smart devices. Thought staying with newspapers was the one true way.
Immediately loved making the switch:
1. Most important, could read what I had entered. My penmanship has always been horrendous, and I would have to rework what my sloppily written letters could mean as I continued.
2. No messy cross outs or writeovers. Had the secondary impact of me taking more guesses, which is more fun.
3. Immediate correction, if you want it. Not having to wait the following day to see where I had gone astray.
4. Timing, if you want it.
5. No grubby ink smear on hands from the aptly named “Grey Lady”.
6. No folds in the newspaper, no need for a clipboard in case I want to solve in the bath.
Of course, if I drop my iPad in said bath, all the advantages listed above are moot. Fortunately, hasn’t happened yet!
HOC/LIB is NOT a kealoa. They do not share any of the same letters, let alone in the same position.
Worked a charm on my Android phone and tablet
The word 'literally' is literally only in the theme clues
AFTS? Worst fill in the puzzle.
I print the puzzle from the Replica Edition and solve in ink.
I didn't look at the grid prior to selecting >Print/As Image<, so when the unusual grid appeared, ready to go to the printer, I assumed there was a problem with my monitor.
So, I went ahead and printed it. When I saw the result, I took a look at the original and saw the weirdness.
"Ah," said I, "It's Thursday." At first, I thought the theme would be something about actors forgetting their lines. But the 15A clue exposed the theme.
To me, Thursdays possess major ICK FACTORS, and this was no exception. But I held my nose and solved it quickly, with more than A SMIDGEn of rEGRET.
@JoeD
What is your avatar today??
Been busy the last few days. Trying finally to commit to sorting out accumulation of the stuff one collects over life and marriage and family etc. i plan to sell my house and move to California to be closer to my immediate family and of course my granddaughter. It will be a process. We are building a “Granny Flat” for me which, thanks to the pandemic seems to continue to make construction problematic. Accordingly, it looks like moving won’t occur until the end of the year.
Anyway, I hurriedly solved all week and was so looking forward to a knotty Thursday to be enjoyed leisurely with a no pot of good coffee. Alas, the fun was short lived, but fun nonetheless. Put me in the š category. I appreciate clever, and I am a huge fan of grid alterations. In fact, when I hit the obvious DOCTORS (Without Borders) my brain immediately went back to the puzzle a while back with the really big squares for the theme answers. I intended to look for it and found that in his comments, our able constructor cited the very one (Joe Deeney, July 1, 2021, whom we also saw just last Wednesday). This theme gave me things to figure out and some smiles; a delightful Thursday combo of attributes.
As I approached each theme answer, in almost all cases, the answer itself was not difficult and was so cleverly illustrated in the grid itself. However, “no end IN SIGHT was a stumper. Not until I got out my trusty magnifier did I see the small alteration in the grid.
I also stumbled a bit with ACCUSATIONS, thinking first (like a lawyer) “mere” or “rank” having uttered similar things probably countless times over the last 40+ years. Why it took me a bit to see the “baseless” (also certainly an allegation I have made - more in writing I think). I do adore a good Thursday, and this absolutely ticked the boxes for me.
Fun puzzle but rather difficult to make out what was going on on my iPad. The lines or rather absence thereof were FIGMENTs. Poor transcription, what? Once caught on— easy.
@Beexer
But that's the best part of the solve... My life is meaningless without hearing the Happy Music.
š
RooMonster Happy Happy Joy Joy Music Guy
Not often anymore do those of us who aren't keeping up with the Joneses and being "cool and trendy" by using gadgets to complica-- uh, I mean "virtualize" every possible aspect of everyday life get to score a victory, but I think we got one today. Small-scale in the grand scheme of things, no doubt -- but I'll take what I can get.
At some point I realized that the themers appeared to be the opposite of the literal (i.e. visual) interpretations and thought that maybe the problem was that I had the NYTG app set on dark mode. Sure enough, I switched and the presentation matched the theme! The app programmers blew it here by not taking into account the light/dark mode setting.
A very clever theme.
Which actually put a bit of pressure on the rest of the grid, which might account for all those pesky little answers that rex likes to gripe about.
I thought TOPLESS DANCERS and ICKFACTORS made this super fun!
@Smith 3:36 – It's a FIASCO Dissent Pin. Sometimes I switch it out on Saturdays if the Jewish Space Laser Corps needs me to cover for Shabbat.
Creative imaginative puzzle and theme with a fine reveal. Some excellent clues for BELLOWS and BIDETS. I appreciated the OGLE OLEG pairing. Plus some more interesting than normal words. ESCHEW GRIST DRASTIC FOCUS SHAMBLE.
Go here
https://youtu.be/FEX2z-ZGMUw
to hear Morton and Bechet team up on Oh Didn't He Shamble with a funky Morton intro of Dead Man Blues and some informative comments on the 1902 song.
Thank you for explaining this! I finished the puzzle but I was doing it in dark mode and could not figure out why (TOPLESS) DANCERS had an extra thick line above it. I thought I was missing something!
...Dead Man Blues intro...
@Albie
Email name and I'll send you my Embedding Cheat Sheet.
I enjoyed this theme! I had 'ALLEGATIONS' before ACCUSATIONS. Does that count as a kealoa?
One clue that did not work for me was "Conscious of" for HIPTO. I feel like being "hip" to something has a more specific connotation of being into something as a fan or aware of a trend.
This puzzle was far from easy. It was a slog. It seems, Rex, that you tend to say “Easy” when in fact the puzzle is quite difficult. Is this to show your superior knowledge (ie. to make us feel inferior)? It was a shitty hook and even shittier fill (undocks, what fun, Odense, etc), but, yeah, easy. Ugh, can you please say Painful when a puzzle is painful?
I wonder when the NYT will publish an AI generated crossword. ChatGPT could be a regular constructor someday soon. I can’t say I am looking forward to the future…
Today's was remarkable for one thing right off the bat: a gimme NW!! How rare--and WHATFUN! I thought the rest would be a breeze, but soon discovered I had to give it my [undivided] ATTENTION. In particular, the NE was hard to get, me thinking ENDLESS all the way for 16a. Finally hit on 8a being simply literal, ? mark notwithstanding. Oh geez, it's just a BELLOWS.
Down south there was more headscratching. At first I thought the double-wide spaces shared the same letter, a trick I've seen before, but not this time. Of course: [baseless] ACCUSATIONS! This puzzle was giving up more than one aha (not to be confused with HAH) moment. And the last one was the sockdolager. [Topless] DANCERS! unluckily, that reinforced a familiar letter grouping into ODEsSa, the well-known but far from Denmark (!) city. Took an extra couple of minutes to get that straightened out, but after WHAT FUN (and it WAS!) I needed only to finish SHAMBL_ with the obvious E. That's a new word to this old fart; just when I think I have a pretty good handle on the language I'm proven wrong. We never stop learning.
The twin long downs are unfortunate: ICKFACTORS/FOOTSCRUBS. Ew. Still, this one was 59a to do, so birdie.
Wordle par--and for a Scrabble 33 count word, that's pretty damn good.
OGLE WHEN?
(TOPLESS) DANCERS, WHATFUN!
And HER (UNDIVIDED) ATTENTION, I'D say.
She TAKESOFF HER TOP: NONE!
Nothing WAS INSIGHT, not even DOUBLEA.
--- DOCTOR OLEG TAFT, BYU
Another hand up for Nada before NONE, and a few additional write-overs. But I WAS HIPTO the trick at DOCTORS without borders. Noticed: DOUBLEA ASMIDGE; DOIN INSIGHT. Circled: ANA de Armas.
Rare wordle DNF, lotsa wrong options.
@Anonymous 9:29am:
Adam and Eve on a raft.
Two eggs over easy on toast.
I thought the plural of foot scrub was feetscrub! And I assure you, if a pedicurist looked down at my bare feet, he/she would see ten ick factors!
Too bad Rex didn’t do his puzzle on the print edition in the good old fashioned newspaper. He missed out on a real treat. I loved this one. Lots of Aha! moments. Clever and fun to solve.
First thoughts were of dread - another wild Thursday. But a rebus it was not, and the trick made the puzzle more fun in the long run,.
and no rebi
topless DANCERS, DOCTORS without borders (one of my fave charities), baseless ACCUSATIONS. All well done.
WHAT FUN indeed.
Diana, Lady--in-Waiting for Crosswords
(Only had to look up STAG instead of DUNG)
@D,LIW = also wrote over dunG.
Who the hell says "afts" for afternoons? Literally NO ONE.
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