Word of the Day: CAROLINA REAPERS (46A: Extremely hot peppers named for their scythelike tails) —
The Carolina Reaper is a cultivar of the Capsicum chinense plant. The crossbreed is between a "really nastily hot" La Soufriere pepper from Saint Vincent and a Naga pepper from India, and was named "Reaper" due to the shape of its tail. It has been described as having a fruity taste, with the initial bite being sweet and then immediately turning to "molten lava" Developed by American breeder Ed Currie, the pepper is red and gnarled, with a bumpy texture and small pointed tail. In 2017, Guinness World Records declared it the hottest chili pepper in the world. (wikipedia)
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This is a beautiful grid so let's talk about the one feature that is inexcusably bad. Inexplicably bad. Mind-shakingly bad. "Why would you?!" bad. I'm talking, of course, about the KARL / KARTS kross. I mean cross. No, kross. Wait ... cross? Is it? Who Can Tell? It's true that in retrospect, you can see they were *trying* to nudge you toward the "K" choice—the mystery "mathematician" has a last name that sounds German (23A: Mathematician Weierstrass dubbed the "father of modern analysis"), and video games seem like an arena where you'd find wacky spelling (23D: Vehicles in a Nintendo racing game) [Note: The "K" spelling is by far the preferred spelling for the racing vehicle, although the "C" spelling is attested; as a NYTXW crossword answer, GOCARTS switched permanently to GOKARTS in 2003, no one knows why...]. OK, I see the reasoning I was *supposed* to use. It was the reasoning that I did, in fact, use. But sitting right here, right now, I can tell you that some non-zero number of solvers are going to come to that exact crossing and throw up their hands. That's certainly what happened to me, and I've been at this solving thing ... a while. Now, I made the right guess, and for the right reasons, but let's be very clear: It Was A *Guess*. And that is not the situation you want *any* solver to be in on a single square. Ever. And it's such a stupid, avoidable issue. Make the KARL Benz or Marx, someone who is much better known and thus much more obviously a "K"-KARL. Or, better yet (much much much better yet), make that damn letter a "C." Why in the world do you want/need that "K"? Its high wackiness factor? Higher Scrabble value? In *that* situation, it is Not better. [Shopping icons] crossing [Weathers who played Apollo Creed in the first four "Rocky" films] gets you a clean and clear "C" in that space. Make the clues harder or weirder, I don't care, but in the end, when the solver is down to one square, that square should ultimately be indisputable. This square was not. I've *heard* of Mario Kart a lot. A lot. Not unfamiliar to me. But the spelling? Shrug. I would say "well, that's on me," but that's what crosses are for: for when you blank out or aren't sure or are generally ignorant. But today, the cross did Nothing to help. This was me trying to get -ARL: "D'oh, not sure, better check the ... d'oh!" Just horrendous editing there. And for what? It's not like KARL and KARTS are good, or have clever clues. I would argue KARTS, on its own, is actually suboptimal, whatever the clue. You could've done something harder *and* more interesting with a "C"—*and* avoided any C/K confusions. But no. No. You did this.
OK, so, if you ignore that stupid "K," this puzzle is something close to ideal. Precisely what I predicted would happen yesterday, when we got yet another sloggy soggy disappointing Friday. This should've been the Friday. Breezy, zippy, colorful, dynamic ... in a word, fun. Only that one CLUNK (KLUNK?). Those stacks look daunting, but they were like most pitbulls I've known—scary to look at, snuggly babies when you get to know them. All you gotta do is just start working the short Down crosses. Me, I went STACEY to YAY (wrong) to YES (after I noticed 3D was a plural) to CANES PRONGS EGGS OHMAGE (kind of a guess?) and then boom!
Off the SOP-, woo hoo! Turns out, not a lot of words start "SOP-" so getting to SOPHOMORE SLUMPS wasn't that hard. "Let's try ... this!" And it worked, LOL. What a feeling. Those other 15s were cinches. I might've gotten both "A MODEST PROPOSAL" and the "THRILLA IN MANILA" with absolutely no letters in place (another reason why the puzzle feels like a Friday and not a Saturday). Once those upper 15s are locked in, you've got the front ends of alllllll the Downs up there, and so it's very easy to make short work of the entire upper half of the grid. I had a little trouble bringing down the Downs in the NE corner, but SALT and PLAY were clear, and they got me NYT (which, again, I would've gotten with absolutely no crosses) (20A: "The 1619 Project" publisher, for short), and then MISNAMES was doable, and I just hacked through there (w/ a brief pause for guesswork at the awful C/K crossing). Thought maybe SALT BATH at first, but you don't really swim in the tub, do you (do you?). Anyway, upper half, up in SMOKE, fast.
Lower half, very similar if you come at it from the west. LOAMS ORLEAN and SPATTED went in easy from their last letters, and then I had the front of all the Downs there in the SW, and none of them put up much of a fight. I will say that SPATTED and especially APCS (?!)* are ... not good. But they're so small, such minor flaws, and since they help to prop up a truly gleaming grid, I'm happy to tolerate them here. I love that the puzzle doesn't just dazzle in the long, showy answers; you get some very nice stuff in the connective areas, like "WE'RE OK!" over "THAT'S ME!" crossing "THE NERVE!" Just aces. Again, as above, so below with the easy 15s. Even CAROLINA REAPERS, which I've never heard of, was easy to get from the clue. I had a little trouble initially bringing CRUSADE into view (34D: Intense movement), but everything around it was so easy that I didn't struggle long. I wish this had run yesterday and I wish that C/K thing had been handled more professionally. Otherwise, perfect, no notes, really really like this one. Will definitely be a contender for Themeless Puzzle of the Month. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
*I know it stands for "AP Computer Science" but still I say "?!" One of the uglier abbrevs. I've seen.
P.S. A "helicopter" might fly out of a MAPLE because that's what you call the little winged seeds that twirl to the ground as they fall from MAPLE trees. I've got two sugar maples out front, so this phenomenon is very familiar to me.
Medium-Challenging for me. It didn't help that I blanked on A MODEST PROPOSAL (17A).
Sometimes the answer I wanted didn't fit: SALT water at 15D, THRILLer IN MANILA at 16A, MArkers at 37D
Overwrites: Berne before BASEL at 25A, tiMOr before SAMOA at 26A, CLaNK before CLUNK at 41A
Are OHMAGE (2D) and SPATTED (29A) words? My degree is in Electrical Engineering and although I've heard of ohms (of course), I never heard OHMAGE. SPATTED sounds like it should describe a dapper dresser in the Roaring Twenties.
Aw, Rex, maybe this is just because KARTS is a gimme for younger solvers, but I feel like the obviously German last name makes that spelling more than fair for a Saturday. But, I’ll wait and see what other folks say to fully form an opinion - this viewpoint could be just me, too I do agree with SPATTED; who doesn’t say “had a SPAT” or “were in a SPAT?!?” But absolutely allowable given the majesty of the grid, like last Sunday’s HEROIZE.
Let’s be clear: this is a magnificent puzzle. I opened it and said “oh no” out loud and so very dramatically that it prompted my dozing dog to look up in concern. But then what a beautiful surprise, that the grid spanners were either immediately recognizable or eventually grokkable, and it somehow managed to be both Saturday-appropriate and breezy, resulting in one of my fastest Saturday solve times. The cluing is clever, the phrases are fresh, the trivia is terrific without being too obscure. Like, I can’t be the only one who is delighted to have a fresh clue for UNO and now to know it’s in the Toy Hall of Fame. Even simple clues like “Buff” for MAVEN - it’s a multiple misdirect, and I was only thinking about the “swole” and “tan” meanings of the word. And how sweet was cluing toddlers’ SEATS as sometimes being LAPS?! That one made me miss my niece and nephew a lot. So much fun to play in this gorgeous playground of a grid, with a mix of wide open spaces and exciting books and crannies.
I knew CAROLINA REAPER almost off the bat, though I tried Trinidad Scorpion first (thankfully one letter too long). My partner is a pepperhead and we have a shelf in the fridge door reserved for hot sauces. This year we’re growing Bulgarian Carrot Chile, Habanada, Lemon Drop, and Ghost peppers. We still have dried Matchbox and Cayenne peppers from last season.
Finally, somehow I only got MAPLE through the crosses, despite living in a cabin that we refer to as Rosy Maple Manor, after the gorgeous pink and yellow moth that is attracted to all of the red maples in our yard. Growing up in Brooklyn we called the MAPLE “helicopters” whirligigs - my brother and I would open them up and stick one half on our noses and pretend to be rhinos. Now I know the scientific term is samaras, and if I ever had a kid, Samara would be in contention as their name as a result. Whatever we call them; they’re lovely, even if I’m not particularly looking forward to sweeping them off the deck over the next few weeks.
Truly a gorgeous start to the weekend, thanks Carter!
I totally agree with Rex. Thought I had solved it, but didn’t get the happy music. Checked the grid several times. Finally dawned on me to change the ‘c’ to ‘k’ — whew! Didn’t lose my streak.
It *had* to be a K. Not just because of the German name, but because CARTS are not things you race. They are things you push around at the grocery or things you put your online purchases into before you check out. KARTS are things you race. It's not a "wacky video game spelling". A quick google will tell you that you ride in go-karts, racing them is called KARTING and after a bit more googling to make sure that KART was the regular spelling, I find that my home town has karting on ice. ON. ICE. Well, darn. Guess I'll have to wait until next winter to try that. Or maybe sometime this summer. You know, because Canada.
Good to see Rex give voice to all of the downtrodden amongst us who absolutely abhor PPP crossing PPP entries. Personally, I think he went after KARL x KARTS which is really the misdemeanor offense while the felony transgression is shifted down one section (GAIA x GUPTA).
I don’t believe I have ever come across MENS REA before, which seems weird because it sure looks like it would be a popular filler for constructors.
Math student here. The Weierstrass theorem is one of those things that gets etched in your mind because of how often it comes up, so the name Weierstrass is very familiar to me, but I had no clue that his first name was KARL. (KARTS with a K was a gimme though)
But guess what, CARL Friedrich Gauss, arguably THE greatest mathematician ever, feels much more crossworthy. They could've gone with the C and still had a math clue.
I wasn’t bothered by the cart situation. Thanks to my grandchildren, I knew it was a K. On the other hand, I thought the helicopter from maple was a bit too obtuse, even for a Saturday.
Loved this! Learned a lot. And I have no idea what makes the K cross “stupid.” Someone please tell me where I can get a copy of the “Crossword Constructor’s Rule Book” that Rex uses.
Rex, I can''t buy your argument about not guessing. The trivia here is too random. I didn't know PIERRE, for example, or the Meryl Srreep role. So much of the fill is guessing. I too thought about SALT BATH, but it didn't make sense. Meanwhie, some of the answers, like SPATTED are highly questionable. In fact, I will go so far as to say that 'spatted' is not a word, just like no one talks about APCS. Similarly, I really wish they would stop with the soccer and 'ole' connection (one song I associate only with the world cup and don't particularly care for). Real fans at real games sing songs that target the other team, the players, the manager, where they are in the standings, and worse. Or the,songs support their own team, players, etc. No one sings 'ole' which Spanish speakers are much more likely to say after a great move by a player. 'Ole' is also a word of encouragement to Flamenco performers, also known as a jaleo, or a Scandinavian first name. The editing could be so much better.
It has appeared before but I don’t think lately (I am too lazy to look it up) I am a retired lawyer and I first saw it in law school. It does have convenient letters so here it is again! Gaia has been showing up more often lately and it will appear again I agree with Rex about the Karl/Kart cross. My fault I missed the hint of the very German last name but it is only since the advent of computer games that kart took over. Another age thing. Oh well.
I was shocked to see the Greek spelling of GAIA rather than the Latinate GAEA. It would be helpful if the puzzle indicated which version we can expect or standardized the spelling it accepts. And while I am at it, I wonder if people would support eliminating octopi from NY Times puzzles altogether.
The idea that having to guess at a square “is not the situation you want *any* solver to be in on a single square. Ever.” is ridiculous. There’s literally no puzzle that every solver can solve. That’s why people get DNFs. Sorry you had to guess on this one. Maybe tomorrow will be better.
Kart didn’t bother me at all (for reasons stated by Jim)…but pro-peace? Really? Who is against peace? Not really how I would define 60s activism. Very awkward phrasing.
I got the K without a problem because it just seemed right for a video racing game. My puzzle editing puzzler was also mentioned by Rex - why they switched the Friday and Saturday puzzles. Don’t they have test solvers? I can’t imagine anyone finding yesterday’s easier than today’s. (Of course, someone will write that they did.) It’s not really that big a deal, of course - I still got one whooshing Friday solve and one can-I-do-this? Saturday solve.
And boy did this whoosh. Slightly different from Rex but the result was the same. After putting STACEY right in, I tried to make “The Rumble in the Jungle” fit. Right sport, wrong continent. But it didn’t take long to get THRILLA IN MANILA.
CLUNK was a classic kealoaulu. CLaNK and CLaNg also could have worked.
I liked “one traveling by daylight” for SOLAR CAR. But I think today’s puzzle was distinguished by its great answers and yesterday’s by its great clues.
A gorgeous and elegant looking grid, giving the puzzle the patina of beauty before filling in the first square. Carter’s NYT debut puzzle (3/17/23) was equally stunning in a completely different way, with what looked like a balloon floating in the middle.
Grid elegance is one thing; filling it in with loveliness is another. Try it sometime. I never heard of CAROLINA REAPERS but they sure add zing to an answer set as does THRILLA IN MANILA and those SOPHOMORE SLUMPS. This grid has six spanners, a stingy 66 words, and is remarkably clean. Triple-stacks usually are accompanied with embarrassing “sorry-I-had-to-do-this-to-make-it-work” crosses, but not today.
It's a sweet bonus when answers ping intensely happy memories, and that happened twice. I remember when I spent what felt like a fortune on a reel-to-reel, and how when I played it for the first time, the fidelity filled the room and almost made me faint with joy. The other memory: I watched the THRILLA IN MANILA in a movie theater, I, who worshipped Ali, and it may have been the most lose-yourself-in-excitement – hollering, jumping, pounding strangers’ backs – experience in my life.
So more than just a fill-in-the-grid satisfying outing today, as it was padded with beauty, and had me reliving – actually reliving in my former brain as if I were there again – a pair of moments I haven’t thought about in ages. That’s a gift puzzle, and thank you so much for it, Carter!
I wouldn’t call it “easy”, but I agree that this puzzle turned out to be less daunting than it looked, with its six long spanners. It helped that the title of thSwift book popped into my brain after a couple of seconds, and the thrilla in manila right after that. Not so with the bottom three, however. I really wanted “eight track tapes”, and it fit! Never heard of Carolina Reapers, and until I came here I had no idea that those things that fall from maple trees were called helicopters. Even after I capitulated and wrote in the “m” of “maple”, I still didn’t get it. The “K” of Karl and karts didn’t bother me in the least, and I’m still not sure why it was so upsetting to so many people. My time, however, was way too long (an hour and a half), but that was because my cat insisted on climbing all over me and my laptop, and she didn’t help out at all because she doesn’t do crossword puzzles.
I guessed the K correctly too, having some association with Mario and KART lurking in a few brain cells. But I knew that if the puzzle told me I had an error, that would be the first place to look. I will say that the supposedly Germanic spelling doesn't, or shouldn't, really help. Someone above already pointed out Carl Gauss (German), to which I will add Carl Jung (Swiss, but from the German-speaking part of Switzerland). And I've known quite a few Karls (mostly not German) in my life; the one whom I saw just yesterday is of Mexican heritage.
I disagree that KARTS are the only version of this word that can be raced. Shopping cart races are absolutely (perhaps unfortunately) a thing. And since this is all going on in a video game, it could be pretty much anything, right?
AMODESTPROPOSAL was my first entry. Thought I was going to get the THRILLA one right after, but I couldn't dig it up. "Something in the somewhere," I thought.
To my fellow EEs squirming at OHMAGE (agree that nobody uses it, but it is a valid word), just be glad that we didn't get "amount of conductance" -> MHOAGE.
Yes, because a “vehicle in a racing game” could totally be a cart and not a KART. A lot of Go-Carts in Rex’s neck of the woods, apparently. I wonder if he’s tried to google “go-cart” and seen what comes up (it’s “Did you mean Go Karts?, in case you were wondering).
This looked a lot harder than it turned out to be. Randomly scanning clues, I saw Mr. GUPTA and started there, with GAIA next and moving steadily upward. Strangely enough, I filled in THRILLAINMANILA before I even read the clue for AMODESTPROPOSAL, which was a gimme. Also remembered reading the "resistance" clue and thinking OHMAGE? I mean there's wattage, right? When I got back there in it went. Should have more faith.
Hesitated on the dreaded K crossing but I don't think it's worth a paragraph's worth of complaining. Had SALINITY before SALTLAKE. I like mine better.
Overall just a great Saturday. Creative and Charming and thanks for all the fun.
And now it's Green Up Day here in NH and I'm off to do some greening up.
Wish every Saturday could be like this one. As one of those '60s protesters, I didn't love PROPEACE; awkward and slightly CLUNK-y and not exactly the true opposite of anti-war. The K issue was not an issue for me; even if you've never heard of Mario Kart, "German" made the K clear.
@Anonymous 7:13: If you don't know the name of the President's press secretary, that's on you, pal, and you don't get to call that cluing "random."
Absolutely loved this puzzle--elegant, challenging, and not relying on "HA! This definition is from an 1858 dictionary and you'll never get it!" cluing. Bravo!
Did it used to be spelled "go-cart" before computer gaming? Because to be the actual real life vehicles were always spelled "go-kart" and I would assume that's where the video games get the spelling
An ego-boosting (and fun) Saturday that, as Rex points out, feels a lot more like a Friday. I especially enjoyed the upper half.
BUT, as a high school teacher in a school with a whole lot of AP courses, I can tell you that I've never, ever, ever heard a student refer to APCS. It is always -- always -- AP Comp Sci. Just like AP Biology is always AP Bio and never APB. APUSH. APES. AP Lit. AP Lang. Etc.
I thought KART was more than fair, clued how it was. The puzzle expects me to know fairly obscure movie, music and sports trivia (especially yesterday where most of it was clearly aimed at a much older solver, and I am 40!), so I don't think knowing the name of one of Nintendo's huge tent pole franchises is out of bounds. Video games are a part of the cultural and business landscape now.
Well, maybe two kinda sticky point: KARL / KART, but the mathematician (whom I don't know) sounds like a German name to me, so I may be wrong, but I'm guessing that 'K' is the preferred letter. I think it's also the preferred letter for KART (in the context), as well. (hi @Jim in Canada (6:46 AM).
Bit of an eye-roll at APCS; found it a bit CLUNKy. (hi @Rex).
Enjoyed the solve. :) ___ On to Steve Mossberg's Sat. Stumper. 🤞 ___ Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness & Freudenfreude to all 🙏
And interestingly, KART and KARL were two of my first fills. I guess it depends how familiar you are with the whole entire Mario Kart franchise which is not new. I filled in KARL without every having heard of this particular Karl. Anyhoo, everything else was hard for me, so I guess that is my one ace in the hole here. I know about Mario Kart. Not exactly proud but just saying, it was not hard for anyone who has any experience with that entire 8? 9? Game series.
I don't see the big deal. When I got to that point I made a mental note to try both C and K if the puzzle didn't show as solved when I finished. As it turned out, neither initially got the job done, which turned out to be because I had CLINK instead of CLUNK. Fixed that, tried both C and K and that was that.
I would much rather know that it's a C or K than have no idea at all, especially if there's more than one place in the grid where that's the case.
Gettable from crosses but LAPS SEATS? I just keep saying it in my head even after finishing. LAPS … SEATS. Nonsense. Toddlers’ (ok, possessing…) sometimes… the sitter in a lap. LAPS SEATS.
You know that feeling when you look at the grid and you see all those long 15s and say "well, this is gonna be tough." But then with little prompting you throw down four of them no problem and say "this is an unexpected but pleasant turn of events." That's a great feeling.
Having voted for her twice, it was also great to see Stacey show up right off the bat.
Really enjoyed this one. Definitely snappier than yesterday. Had no problems with Mario Kart. My Mario Kart record is 1-0, and I've retired undefeated.
Speaking of German-sounding Carl-with-a-C Jung, my first thought for 16A was Rumble in the Jungle, but it was too long, leaving me with ‘rumble in the jung’, which felt like a seed for a theme puzzle dropping the ends of phrases.
I'll add two composers to my list of German Carls: Carl Orff, of Carmina Burana fame, and Carl Maria von Weber.
Coincidentally, while looking up the latter on Wikipedia, I found that he interacted professionally (directly or indirectly) with the following, who (I am pretty sure but haven't verified) are all German: Carl von Steinsberg Carl Gottlob Cramer (note spelling of last name, too!!) Carl Seidel And Weber's grandson was also called Carl.
Hmmm, am I avoiding starting my day? Yes, I think I am. Best be going.
Hey All ! Easy here also, although I did Goog for the Switzerland University, and Author Susan. Was zooming along nicely, and hated being stalled by two unknown PPPs.
Yet still ended up with a DNF. Oof. Had Rex's C for the K of KARTS/KARL (though really should've gotten that), and an E in GAIA, GAeA. PEERRE is as good as PIERRE when it comes to names. (Well, maybe not...)
"Oof, stacks" was my initial reaction as I opened the puz, but thankfully Carter didn't make them excruciatingly difficult. My brain thanks you for that.
EIGHT TRACK TAPES fits where REEL TO REEL TAPES is. Just sayin.
Happy to see Adaptation in the clue for 33A. I haven't seen it since it came out. I just ordered a DVD. I remember Chris Cooper being great in it.
Didn't know about helicopters on maple trees. I wish I knew more about trees. They're amazing beings.
I don't know much about video games but Mario Kart is familiar to me.
Every time I shake my head at one of Rex's silly comments (like today), I remind myself of how hard it would be to fill that space with something smart every day on a deadline.
Another EE here and never heard of OHMAGE but put it in and liked the possible future wordplay possibilities with HOMAGE 😊 Props to a fine puzzle which put up very little resistance 👍👍
I fell for the cARTS/KARTS trap, but this is 100% correct. And I think this came up a few months back. Karts/go-karts is the correct spelling for a racing vehicle. Carts are for groceries and stuff like that.
There are some people for whom this kind of guessing is not allowed, and so not being certain about which one it is on one’s own is the same as not being able to solve the puzzle fully.
Thank you for your note on OHMAGE. I'm just a hobbyist and have never heard the word either. Hearing that from an EE. I would have forgiven it if it had been a wacky pun, clued perhaps as "A paean to the resistance." But this? Nope nopity nope with extra nope sauce!
I thought I was losing my everloving mind when I had MAPLE for the helicopter clue and BOOKS it for the "takes off" clue -- with no way around either one of them. So after finishing this bear of a puzzle I asked myself:
1) Could MAPLE be the name of a heliport? and
2) Could "BOOKS it" have a brand new slang meaning I didn't know?
When the answer to both questions was "yes", I realized I hadn't lost my everloving mind after all. Whew.
The long stacks at the top went in fairly readily; the ones at the bottom: not at all*. But the ones at the bottom were sabotaged by my having PROtEsts instead of PRO-PEACE (a little green paint-y, no?) for my 1960s activism. I was pleased with seeing SOPHOMORE SLUMPS off just the S-PH, pleased at thinking of THRILLA IN MANILA when I saw the THRI, and pleased with remembering A MODEST PROPOSAL from just AMOD.
Now to the bottom stack: I avoid hot peppers like the plague and never heard of CAROLINA REAPERS. As for REEL TO REEL TAPES: Old technologies come and go without my ever knowing what they are/were. Then new ones appear and I don't know what they are either.
I now see I made the CARTS/CARL instead of KARTS/KARL mistake. Doesn't matter. I pronounce this bear of a puzzle "Solved!!!!"
*I don't know how anyone on earth manages to pull off these amazing triple stack grid-spanning puzzles. Truly I don't!
I don't know how you can say this clue "Mathematician Weierstrass dubbed the "father of modern analysis"" means the mathematician had a German name. Replace Weierstrass with Rex, and it means a mathematician who Rex thinks is the father of analysis. No reason to assume weierstrass is the mathematician and not the dubber. Also, Stacey is best known for being the original election denier who still hasn't conceded the GA government race that she lost by a mile.
This has been a great week of puzzles. Took me longer than Rex to see SOPHOMORE SLUMPS, but the other spanners up top were almost gimmes, so a lot of whoosh, whoosh up there. The bottom half was tougher. Sontag is my default author named Susan, “confirmed” by the A in BETAS, so that took a while to sort out. I also really resisted APCS. That’s an ugly answer in an otherwise lovely puzzle.
Mario KART is well known to me, so the possibility of a C there never occurred to me, but I can see why that would be frustrating
Mario Kart has been a hugely popular series of games for about 30 years now. Huge. 30 years. Not like... it was big in 1996 and now it's retro... it's still hugely popular. It's one of the Nintendo cornerstones. You don't have to be 18 or younger to know about it, I'm 45 and frankly I was late to the game.
FWIW, I posed the following question to ChatGPT: "In Germany, what's the approximate ratio of "K"s to "C"s in the name "Karl" vis a vis "Carl"?"
Answer: "In Germany, the name "Karl" is more commonly spelled with a "K" than with a "C". According to data from the German Federal Statistical Office, as of 2021, there were around 2.4 million people in Germany with the first name "Karl", compared to around 65,000 people with the first name "Carl". This suggests that the ratio of "K"s to "C"s in the names "Karl" versus "Carl" is approximately 37 to 1. However, it's worth noting that there may be regional or historical variations in the usage of these spellings."
I rephrased the question: "In Germany (early 19th century), what was the approximate ratio of "K"s to "C"s in the name "Karl" vis a vis "Carl"?"
Answer: "In early 19th century Germany, the use of "K" versus "C" in the name "Karl" versus "Carl" was not as standardized as it is today. During this time period, the spelling of the name could vary depending on factors such as the region of Germany, the language spoken in the area, and the personal preference of the individual or their family.
However, it's worth noting that the spelling "Karl" was more common than "Carl" even in the early 19th century, especially in regions where German was the predominant language. This is because the letter "K" was often used in German to represent the "hard C" sound, which is the sound that the "C" makes in the name "Carl". The letter "C" was more commonly used to represent the "soft C" sound, as in the word "city". Therefore, "Karl" would have been the more natural spelling of the name in German, while "Carl" may have been used in areas where other languages were more prevalent or where there was a personal preference for the spelling." ___ Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness & Freudenfreude to all 🙏
Y’all, Mario Kart is the literal trademarked name of the video game. They thus race karts. The fact that the clue contained Nintendo specifically points to the spelling. This isn’t a debate about whether the C or K is more reasonable able or utilized to talk about racing - it has to do with *Ninetendo.* Which was in the clue. It’s no different than the ICEE clue all the time - that’s the brand spelling of a thing.
@anon 6:31, nice comments - give yourself a name and stick around!
I am disappointed in RP today for filling an entire screen with invective over one letter when the puzzle is so completely lovely. It should get a 2 sentence mention at the end, if anything. MarioKarts has been extremely popular for over 30 years, and as mentioned the name implies a German spelling(yes, I see that "C" spellings exist, but implication still there). Completely fair for a Saturday; Amen to Canadian Jim with Go-Karts (Kare for some Kurling?). For a PPP Karl, I might have gone with Succession CFO, but that's clearly current, but worse:(
As @mathgent says, I'm thankful to RP for doing this everyday. Maybe this (K)erfuffle is a PLOT to activate engagement, in which case, Mission Accomplished!
I think the "Saturday-ness" of the puzzle lies in the 15 stacks rather than the easiness; it just "looks" like a Saturday puzzle. Agreed about the difficulty vis-a-vis yesterday.
i like the terrible two's clue crossing the LAP SEAT answer.
I guess if there's wattage, there can be OHMAGE, even if nobody ever uses it?
I did have an opportunity to swim in the Dead Sea SALTLAKE once, and it felt like I was lying on a yoga mat or something with barely any of my body under the water. It was pretty cool until I made the mistake of wiping my eye with my arm, resulting in a blurry race to the shore to look for any source of fresh water to rinse the burning salt out.
I always wonder if the editing process involves putting MENS REA and GAIA in early week puzzles to make Saturday more doable. Then I start to notice that the NYer seems to also be in on the PLOT.
clueing BOOKS it as "takes off" is some Saturday level vagueness.
@Mothra I SO wanted it to be Eight Track Tapes! Never heard of the peppers (or the maple thing either). Disappointing, cos I zipped thru the top half. My senior in high school just took her AP English test so we were just discussing A Modest Proposal. Finally had to give up and cheat like a bandit this morning to fill in the last few boxes.
Hello to my fellow EIGHT TRACK TAPES people. Even as I entered it, I remember thinking that compact cassettes (1963) existed before 8-tracks (1964), but it fit so nicely.
I liked “Amount of resistance” directly above “Like much 1960s activism.”
Seems like they wrote this puzzle for me. Cruised through and had a delightful time. Too many abbreviations, but every time you see six grid spanners you're gonna get those.
Learned about KARL Weierstrass and read some of his math stuff on the Wiki, which could have been written as blah blah blah blah blah since that's how much I understood.
I have no idea how toddler's seats become laps or why helicopters have anything to do with maples, but this is why 🦖 is my first emoji.
Uniclues:
1 Delusional self assurance at the craps table. 2 What happens when the Amazon arrives. 3 Sign up your sciatic. 4 "That gook on your face."
1 "SEVEN. WE'RE OK..." 2 RIP OPEN CRUSADE 3 ENROLL THE NERVE 4 MISNAMES MAKE-UP
Lovely puzzle. I had the same reaction as Rex about that K, although I got it. I mean, there's nothing in the clue to indicate that we're discussing go-KARTS, and I'd never heard of the mathematician (I thought Freud was the father of analysis). I know about as much about Mario and his brother as I do about Marvel characters. But it was a little more plausible.
A better clue for 2-D: "How Dorothy might have addressed the Wizard when first seeking his help."
I didn't even notice mens REA, but have heard and seen the term a lot in discussions about whether Trump should be prosecuted for the January 6 insurrection (which of course he should be).
Fun fact: botanists call those MAPLE helicopters "samaras." I'd love to see that in a puzzle some day.
@Nancy from yesterday--Thanks! Although I knew that meaning of break, it didn't occur to me while solving. I thought maybe they didn't pause for tea, or something like that. Doh!
@Rex put his finger right on my DNF. As I see-sawed over K v. C, my reasoning was, "We're getting a German name because we're supposed to react with 'K,' but it's Saturday, so it might be a fake-out," and, as others have already pointed out, there are also famous Carls (let's not forget Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach). So I went with C, not knowing my carts from Mario's Karts.
Otherwise medium and fun to solve, with its SLUMPS, THRILLA, MODEST PROPOSAL, and REAPERS, and plenty more that was enjoyable to figure out - as in, doing an alphabet run for ?APLE. Here I am, pulling gazillions of baby MAPLEs out of my garden and never thought of those helicopters that get them started. Loved the moment my dim bulb lit up over that one. Another favorite was OHMAGE - it's so close to "homage," giving me the image of physicists bowing down to the force. Another treat for me was BOOKS, a usage I'm fond of and which I don't ever recall seeing clued that way.
In the "me, too" department: At first, I could only remember Rumble in the Jungle; thought of tiMor before SAMOA; tried out eight-track TAPES. Do-overs: knock x khaki before CLUNK x CHINO; GAeA, MISdials.
Thought it was Thriller in Manila but didn't fit. Then thought the IN must be in a rebus square. No again. Figured it out then couldn't get California reaper till I went to Netflix and was watching a doc about chili pepper eating contest . A lightbulb went off and I skipped back to the puzzle and was very pleased with myself. Still don't know what Mens REA means. I'll have to skip back to Google
If Ms. Burnett participated in a regional Public Employees Retirement System, would she be CAROL IN AREA PERS?
Voltage, amperage, wattage are used all the time. I can’t see the harm in an OHMAGE to resistance.
It seems to me that MAVEN (22D) carries a connotation of expertise that is not provided by “Buff”. A MAVEN is likely to be a buff, but a buff isn’t necessarily a MAVEN. Rex is a crossword MAVEN, but I’m a mere buff. The more times I type the word “buff”, the crazier it looks. Am I really a buff?
As they age, Mens REArs look sadder and sadder.
Welp, I guess Chuck III is coronated by now, so congrats to him. Also to Carter Cobb for a very whooshy whoosh Saturday.
Wasn’t gonna take time to do the puzzle until later but then when I saw all those beautiful long stacks and pretty staircases, I couldn’t resist. Such an appealing grid, just begging to be filled in, but I didn’t have an easy time of it. Although I was able to RIP thru the top stack much faster than the bottom ones. “Cassette forerunners” had me thinking more in terms of of vinyl records until I finally saw the CAR in 29D and the ALA CARTE which gave me the first REEL and broke that area OPEN.
Like REX I have several sugar MAPLE trees and have been inundated with those little helicopters in the last week or so. They MAKE UP quite a mess on the driveway etc. and then get stuck there when it rains. But it’s fairly entertaining to sit and watch them fly around if you’ve got nothing better to do.
I don’t eat hot peppers. Ever. Even the “mild” ones. I’ve had people say oh here try this one it’s sweet, you’ll like it. Six glasses of ice water later, I’m ready to strangle them with the STEMS. CUKES are more to my taste, so I had no clue about CAROLINA REAPERS. Anyway before reading Rex, I did my own Wikipedia search and was delighted to learn of not only the developer, Mr. Ed Currie but also the name of his business, the Puckerbutt Pepper Company. I mean is that priceless or what?
I'm not a whiz bang Saturday solver...but I did put on some Friday pants to solve today. I sometimes get intimidated by people who whiz and bang through hard Saturday....How do they know all these things!...Well, today I wore my proud hat. To be sure, there were lots of things I didn't know. I forgot 1D STACEY and I've never heard of 2D OHMAGE. I called a friend because I was hell bent on solving this. The cheat was worth it because it gave me my first longie: THRILLA IN MANILA. I took my time to fill in the downs; they came fairly easy. The OLES have it and with a little roar, A MODEST PROPOSAL sunk in with some aplomb. Back up to 1A. What starts with SOP? Add my HO to the mix and SOPHOMORES LUMPS jumped into action. Three long answers done in the upstairs region. The middles gave me my angst agitas. EGGS MAPLE and KARL didn't make it into my bar. Continue working on the downs and see if they come to play. Favorite answer SALT LAKE, gave me hope and I carefully penned in KARL SAMOA WERE OK and THATS ME. Nifty name for a law office. Boy was I happy at this point. It gave me lots of hope and maybe, just maybe, I can finish this with very little help. I guessed a lot. I'm looking at SEVEN (no idea what a Neutral pH is) and I'm looking at SPATTED. Can these be correct? I'll find out. Head for the basement and see if I can tackle the other longies. I looked up 36D PLANAR because because I don't know anything two dimensional. Now hear this! That R at the end gave me my best guess today. REEL TO REEL TAPES. Confirmed by a few downs like THE NERVE and EEL. See? it can be done. Just take your time and don't get too nervous. I'd flunk any time test because I can't fly through these. It's sure fun, though, when words do jump out. And by jump out....here's looking at you CAROLINA REAPERS. I thought Habaneros were hot (we had them in Havana..Hah!)...but the REAPERS take the crown of your tongue off Speaking of...I think I'll go watch Charlie become King. Anyway, this was exciting to finish.
@Weezie. Knew it was you just by your style..... ;-)
I'm glad Rex got his whoosh today but this put up a bit more resistance for me, albeit less than yesterday. I read the clue for 1A and ran to greener pastures immediately. This meant that GUPTA crossing GA_A and ORLEAN were my entry points. I even threw down EEL in 48D with no crosses because, three-letter clue, Korean, why not EEL?
My biggest hold-up was at 22D. "Buff" with ___EN in place, hmm. Not a color. Not smooth, as in sanding. Not "in shape'. I had to fill in the entire top of the puzzle and work down to meet in the middle at MAPLE before I saw MAVEN. I was blank on the Swiss city so those two were my last entries.
CAROLINA REAPERS - somewhere I've seen the name but I've never seen the pepper before. Rather ugly specimens per the photo in Rex's write-up. Based on that photo, I'd have gone with a sea creature or scorpion name though perhaps, if they're actually as hot as advertised, the Grim Reaper has another claim on the name. (I just noticed "named" is in the 46A clue and MISNAMES is in the NE. Oops? Or not a problem?)
Except for PROtEsts at 30D and "thaT hurt" at 45D, I had few missteps today. Thanks, Carter Cobb, for a smooth Saturday solve. This is definitely not a SOPHOMORE SLUMP!
Medium or just about right for a Saturday difficulty wise. That said, all that white space was kinda intimating. Costly erasures: khaki before CHINO which begat knocK before CLUNK, ken before UNO, PLOy before PLOT, Berne before BASEL... I did know KART from previous Xwords.
Wow, breeziest solve for me on a Saturday ever. The longs dropped right in. As for the rest, mostly straightforward but a few moments of fun with "movement supporters" being CANES and "helicopters might fly out of" a MAPLE. Agree that coinages like OHMAGE and SPATTED and APCS are questionable but that kind of crossword-ese is part of the fun... no? I solve on paper so the lack of "happy music" did not bother me when I flubbed the KARL/KART thing. Did not diminish my enjoyment.
C before K except after Mario is—or at least , should be—a spelling rule in the Dictionary Crosslandia. That and the crossing of GAIA & PIERRE raised eyebrows this morning as we BOOKed it through this amazing grid.
As an owner of SEVEN urban yard MAPLEs, I feel some sympathy for Rex who has only a couple to tend! If as Frost said April is the cruelest month, then MAPLE is the messiest tree. Helicopters in abundance to sprout in impossible to reach places, pollen to pollute any flat surface, and falling flower clusters to clog rain gutters are only the obvious sources of ACTION ADVENTURE for us city slickers. Roots and leaves, oh yeah. We hosted “Annual Leaf Raking” parties for several years in our attempts to handle the fall falling carnage & would have continued until a Twain scholar in attendance made the connection to whitewashing fences apparent.
Talk about go-karts! Did you see the karriage King Charles and Queen Diana were riding in?
(I’m guessing those were the two in the back seat. I know they SPATTED in the early ‘90s but assume their difficulties were worked out and today was the culmination of their fairy tale romance!)
Like @wanderlust, I opened up the puzzle, saw the grid, and muttered out an unacceptable word that could be a hybrid of “aargh” and “oh dear.” I just KNEW I couldn’t finish it but I DID! I first thought of Rumble in the Jungle but after realizing THAT was too long, put in THRILLAINMANILA. And WHY was I so sure it had to do with Ali? Oh yeah, because it was “much viewed.” Had PROtests before PROPEACE, and PLan before PLOT. Let’s just say that this was a day I was thankful to be on the NYT app and not on paper because I think it might have looked like an indecipherable mess.
Good point @mathgent with respect to @Rex silly comments. Yes, he dutifully fills in the blog space (almost) every day. I will say that KARL/KART gave me no pause due to the reason many commenters stated above.
I guess if I had ANY nit it would be the clueing for SOPHOMORESLUMPS. ok. I got it once I had SOPH and a few crosses and I know what it is but it just felt like a stretch. I’ll live.
BOOKS reminded me of a time when I sometimes said before leaving…”Well, I have to book”
I've been racking my brain trying to recall how we made go-KARTS in the early-mid 50s. Can't remember what we used for wheels… roller skates, wagon wheels, tricycle wheels?? I do remember using feet on the front wheel axle for steering, and at some point graduating to a rope attached to the axle. I think I had a chunk of wood on the side to act as a braking mechanism. In fact, I don't even remember whether we called them Karts or Carts. The next street over had a perfect hill for coasting, and I do remember how tolerant the neighbors were with us, tho. :)
More odds and ends on the KARTS vs cARTS issue:
"Mario Kart[a] is a series of kart racing games and a spin-off Mario franchise developed and published by Nintendo. Players compete in go-kart races while using various power-up items. It features characters and courses mostly from the Mario series as well as other gaming franchises such as The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, F-Zero, and Splatoon.
The series was launched in 1992 with Super Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, to critical and commercial success.[1] The Mario Kart series totals fourteen games, with six on home consoles, three on handheld consoles, four arcade games co-developed with Namco, and one for mobile phones. The latest game in the series, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, was released on the Nintendo Switch in October 2020. Over 164.43 million copies in the series have been sold worldwide."" (Wikipedia) ___
It's interesting to view the graph of "go-KART" vs "go-cART" from the 1800s to now via Google Books Ngram Viewer. 'Go-carts' has dropped dramatically from the early 1900s, and currently holds only a slight edge over go-karts. (here)
NOTE:
"When you enter phrases into the Google Books Ngram Viewer, it displays a graph showing how those phrases have occurred in a corpus of books (e.g., "British English", "English Fiction", "French") over the selected years." Google ___
A search of Google shows "go-kart" at 23,500,000 hits, with "go-cart" at 3,365,000. Without the quotes, the hits favor go-carts by a wide margin. "Go-figure." lol
___
ChatGPT chimes in with this:
""Go-kart" is the more common and widely accepted spelling of the term, while "go cart" is less commonly used. This is especially true in American English, where "go-kart" is the standard spelling and "go cart" is relatively rare. In other regions or dialects of English, the usage may vary, but "go-kart" is still generally the more common and accepted spelling. It's worth noting that while "go cart" is less common, it is still used and may be considered a valid alternative spelling in some contexts."
All said and done, if I hadn't known Mario Kart for sure, I'd've been naticked on this cross, as were so many. :( ___ Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness & Freudenfreude to all 🙏
When my son graduated from UMich in 2012, Sanjay GUPTA gave the address in The Big House and did a very nice job (he's a Michigan man: Go Blue!). He told us how his parents met.
As soon as his mom arrived in Ann Arbor, her car broke down. (It was a '63 Nova.) She had very little money and knew no one. She went to a phone booth and looked through a phone book (remember those?) for an "Indian-sounding" last name. She called. The person she asked for wasn't home, but the fellow who answered the phone had graduated from U. Mich Engineering and loved cars. Of course, he was happy to help. It was love at first tow.
I got ohmage right away, probably because it seems like it *should* be a word, since voltage and amperage are. But I think you're right about it- I can't swear that I've ever heard it used before. And it's not in my autocorrect dictionary. I wonder how it made the cut.
Another who fell for the C/K square, but it was quickly fixed when the happy music didn’t play. I'm faintly familiar with Mario. I didn’t know the spelling of racing karts was correct with a K. I always assumed it was a purposeful misspelling - like Krazy Glue. Misdials for MISNAMES slowed me up a bit, as did lifevest for SALTLAKE but neither lasted long. THRILLA opened the way up top.
WHISK, CHITS, CLUNK, CANES and SMOKE - all nice.
Our neighbor's tree hosts box elder beetles, so we assumed it was a box elder, but it's not. It's a huge silver MAPLE. It's grown to divide the fence, and as we're on the south side, we get most of the shade and the maintenance. It drops multiple yard debris bags of helicopters in our postage stamp-sized yard every year. For those who are unfamiliar with them, on the ground the dry wings are waggled by the breeze, which helps the seed burrow into the LOAM. The maple is also popular with wildlife. Our mini-poodle mix, Rikki, treed a raccoon there two nights ago.
I wanted EIGHTTRACKTAPES as well, but eight-tracks are a form of cassettes as well, right?
If you're following the Jean Carroll/Trump trial, you know that the judge just referenced A Modest Proposal -- a reference that Trump's lawyer, Tacopina, seemed to not get.
Came in hot with the CAROLINAREAPER and didn’t look back. Loved this puzzle a little too much.
Perhaps I’m still suffering abused solver syndrome after that Friday fiasco.
This grid was so daunting at first glance and then it all just clicked. Cinco di mayo buzz and all, this was mucho easy fun. If you can’t suss the Ks, quit whining and be grateful for these Saturday solves - by far the best of the week.
Pretty good themeless puz … if only it had had a few more long answers. Just kiddin, of course. M&A in fact wants to pay ohmage, to this puz's copious openness.
staff weeject pick of a mere 8 candidates [due to its bein a 66-worder puz, I reckon]: UNO. xword hall of famer answer.
The no-knows abounded, in the solvequest at our house. Spatted up lotsa precious nanoseconds. Ironically, KARL/KARTS was no problemo, for us. Primo MISNAMES/KARL crossin potential, tho.
66 years old so the long uppers were all gimmes for me. So was reel to reel tapes, which are NOT a "cassette forerunner" except in the sense it was here before cassettes, but it's still used professionally today. To me, "forerunner" generally implies the thing that came afterwards replaced the former.
Also, 66 years old and have never, ever, seen "Go Kart" spelled "Go Cart." It's always Kart. It's always been Kart. It will always be Kart.
Top-drawer construction, timely trivia, great themeless fun!
As for Rex’s K rant, I always think of this particular behavior as one of his “wild hair” days. In general he’s quite balanced but occasionally (today?) he goes off the rails. Many others have pointed out that he’s got a tough job and he does it exceedingly well and with sure regularity.
Exactly! Sure, toddlers’ SEATS sometimes go IN people’s LAPS, but that’s not how it was clued: “Toddlers’ 26-Down, sometimes.” So…. their SEATS are sometimes LAPS? How, anatomically speaking, might a SEAT become a LAP??
I opened the puzzle, gasped with delight at the grid and said "Martin Ashwood-Smith!" No not him, but nice to see some lovely stacks, it's been a while.
Several of the long acrosses popped right up, although not perfectly. I had SOPHOMORE SEASON which sounds more familiar than SLUMP. THRILLA IN MANILA went in perfectly. But then I had ROLE PLAYING GAME before ACTION ADVENTURE, and then REEL TO REEL DECKS. Not sure why I wanted DECKS before TAPES.
As for Names I Don't Know, got a welcome holiday from them today. But hands up for CARL crossing CARTS. And I agree OHMAGE was an ugly start.
@Andrew…was your Queen comment on purpose or….wishful thinking?
@Newboy…most of my life I’ve lived around maple trees. Our current property has a tree that I will GLADLY trade for ANY maple. It is a sweet gum. Once you’ve dealt with those spiky balls in your yard you will pray to have your helicopters back!
Just opening this beauty put a smile on my face. All those longs and a wide open, flowing grid pattern made this look like the archetype of what a Saturday themeless should be.
The fill didn't disappoint either with a lovely blend of challenging but ultimately doable clue-answer combinations.
For what it's worth, in a former life long ago in the previous century I was a sonar tech in the Navy and later an electronics maintenance tech in the aircraft construction industry and I confidently dropped in OHMAGE at 2 Down without hesitation. Looked and sounded just fine to me. Still does.
One thing I did notice, and not in a good way, was that the grid fill got a lot of help from the plural of convenience (POC), including three of the grid spanners and quite a few of the two for one variety, where a Down and an Across both share a final S. Here are ones needing help to fill their slots: SOPHMORE SLUMP, PRONG, HIDE, OLE, LAP, MISNAME, CANE, BOOK, EGG, KART, BETA, SEAT, STEM, CHIT, LOAM, CUKE, GAS, CAROLINA REAPER, and REEL TO REEL TAPE.
Just to add one more comment. In 72 years, I once heard an electrician use "ohmage." I thought WTF, even though I knew exactly what he meant. I've never heard it again.
There's a perfectly good and simple word, of course, namely "resistance." The word "voltage," in contrast, is much more justifiable because "electric potential" is a more complicated phrase.
Trying to overturn a Presidential election , without an iota of factual basis leading to the storming of the US capital plus organizing a conspiracy to overturn the democratic process and encouraging others to do the same in the future is the equivalent to raising questions about a state election, in a state that for 100 years actively did everything it could to prevent Blacks from voting , and has started down that road again with the assistance of a highly partisan Supreme Court takes false equivalency to unimaginable levels.
Always happy to complete a Saturday. I liked this one a lot, as I had to work iit-and was able to. Enjoyed Rex's slightly obsessive (who, Rex?) rant about the "K's."
But kart and cart sound the same and if you never ever played the game or see anyone do so it becomes a very easy error to make. Also the clue did NOT reference the famous Mario brand, but it’s owner company so if you only know the k from previous Times crosswords it is an easy error to make
I’m 100% with @Conrad 6:25 AM and @Rich Furman 9:39 AM (his reply) on OHMAGE. I thought it was supposed to be like a “paean to resistance” and did not want to include the H because on my 60+ years of doing this puzzle I have never seem this form of the old standby OHM. Ha d up for nopity nope nope.
As many (easily over 100) times we stayed at a KOA for a quick and convenient overnight is at least the smallest number of times I have complained aloud (actually I ranted) about deliberate misspellings. The ones I loathe with a heaping helping of vitriol are the ones that end up in the dictionary. No wonder English is so hard to learn; we make a rule then we lionize the breaking of said rule - in the dictionary! Consequently, I very reluctantly acknowledge that one rents KARTS at a track and cARTS at the Aldi grocery stores (well, you do get your quarter back if you lock your cART up when you’re done), but I don’t have to like it. In fact, I have accepted the K for KARTS to the degree that I barely winced when I checked the down to make sure that Mr. Weierstrass is a KARL.
So, @Rex’s multi-graph rant made me laugh because it sent me back to every time we were about to pull into a KOA. After hearing my rant for many years, my husband would say, “we are close enough to start your diatribe now. I bet the owners would appreciate it if you skipped it; I’m pretty sure they already know.” He was tactful like that way.
I questioned OHMAGE, but it worked. I have never in my life SOATTED, but again, it’s of the language (oh, this rule we follow!) sonagain, on. And I had some interesting “dunnos” made accessible via crosses. For example, never heard of a Silk PRESS, had to scratch my head on APCS but the well crafted clue explained it.
Like others (hi all!) who thought the GAIA/GUPTA cross was much more difficult (although, being a fan of Sanjay GUPTA made it simple), I think that one might have been a better reason for the side-eye. But that’s just me.
The grid scared the livin’ daylights outta me. No lie. It’s the kind of grid that just has me quaking in my bare feet. Especially on a Saturday. So I started reading all the clues for the dreaded spanners. Lo and behold, THRILLA IN MANILA (my oops was thinking for a nanosecond that it’s two Ls) and A MODEST PROPOSAL just hopped right in followed quickly (after getting S-O-P-H) by SOPHOMORE SLUMP. Like OFL, once I got the top spanners in, I had a gateway to a smooth whooshy completion. This is a spectacular puzzle, a true work of art.
It’s Pride Weekend here in the rainbow dot that is Norman. I’m off to the drag show-despite our governor and his loonies. Happy weekend all!
The Kart/Karl rant is just beyond. The level of uncertainty Rex experienced here, while not unique, is by no means universal. If it was a sticking point for you, that's fair, but give it a couple sentence mention and move on.
Me too! (not #metoo just regular me too) THRILLA and MODEST were my first two entries and I felt so smart... for a little while. Never noticed the c/k conundrum, just entered K and moved on. FunPuz!
I am a mathematician and misparsed the clue "Mathematician Weierstrass dubbed the "father of modern analysis" " to someone that Weierstrass had dubbed the father of modern analysis, and couldn't think of a top analyst of the time whose last name had 4 letters. It's embarrassing to have a clue in your wheelhouse and whiff. Once I got a few letters, I realized it was his first name, which I did know. Maples, on the other hand ....
I found this one a lot of fun with the great grid-spanning stacks. I got tripped up a bit by forgetting that high school classes use the A.P. naming convention in the United States, so I thought coders might be taking a class on APpS. That had me trying to make *ApART* somehow work for individually, before ALACARTE became clear.
Karting has been the gatewat for young race car drivers of every kind for ages. And not just the apparently unmentionalble-in-polite-conversation stock car drivers - but snootier acceptible-in-polite-conversation F1 and just about every other class of racing as well. If anything the Mario Kart reference made the clue harder when they probably thought they were throwing people a bone....
For me it was the easiest Sat in the last few years. Not a bad puzzle either - though I really prefer a meaty stumpers. My only qibble was the helicopter clue. While I sussed it out I wouldn't say helicopters "fly out" of trees - like birds - they fall and twirl down. Like apples or acorns, just more slowly. So clue was off. Spatted is pretty ugly too.
Seems a bit too much written about K v. C. A suggestion to blogger: Why not indicase your personal rating, such as EASY and what you imagine that of the ordinary solver ? . Medium - Challenging for most?
I wonder if anyone besides the person who constructed this puzzle has ever said., heard, or seen the word SPATTED. I can hardly wait to use it! That one plus BOOKS, OHMAGE, and PROPEACE seemed rather forced.
I can’t believe Rex (and everyone else in these comments) isn’t as annoyed as I am about APCS! Not only does “no one refer to it as APCS”, as another anonymous commenter pointed out, but there in fact is no such course! There are two different courses, AP CS A, and AP CS Principles. A clue that had been properly edited (come on Will!) might have read, “College level courses for H.S. coders”. It’s just as, perhaps, “AP Math” encompasses a number of distinct courses.
Well, I spell my own name with a C, so of course DNF at #23--and the single most unfair cross in crossword history. In fact, I'm gonna declare that I finished, and score it.
I love me a gridspanner gimme, which came with AMODESTPROPOSAL. Learned that sucker in junior high ("middle school," for you young'uns). 16a and 1a came in soon after. The south was another matter entirely. So north easy, south challenging: medium.
A long time ago, I was solving this puzzle and got stuck at an unguessable (to me) crossing: N. C. WYETH crossing NATICK at the "N"—I knew WYETH but forgot his initials, and NATICK ... is a suburb of Boston that I had no hope of knowing. It was clued as someplace the Boston Marathon runs through (???). Anyway, NATICK— the more obscure name in that crossing—became shorthand for an unguessable cross, esp. where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known. NATICK took hold as crossword slang, and the term can now be both noun ("I had a NATICK in the SW corner...") or verb ("I got NATICKED by 50A / 34D!")
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149 comments:
Medium-Challenging for me. It didn't help that I blanked on A MODEST PROPOSAL (17A).
Sometimes the answer I wanted didn't fit: SALT water at 15D, THRILLer IN MANILA at 16A, MArkers at 37D
Overwrites: Berne before BASEL at 25A, tiMOr before SAMOA at 26A, CLaNK before CLUNK at 41A
Are OHMAGE (2D) and SPATTED (29A) words? My degree is in Electrical Engineering and although I've heard of ohms (of course), I never heard OHMAGE. SPATTED sounds like it should describe a dapper dresser in the Roaring Twenties.
That K. Thought I had solved it cleanly but NYT disagreed. Couldn't find my error and gave up. That K.
Aw, Rex, maybe this is just because KARTS is a gimme for younger solvers, but I feel like the obviously German last name makes that spelling more than fair for a Saturday. But, I’ll wait and see what other folks say to fully form an opinion - this viewpoint could be just me, too I do agree with SPATTED; who doesn’t say “had a SPAT” or “were in a SPAT?!?” But absolutely allowable given the majesty of the grid, like last Sunday’s HEROIZE.
Let’s be clear: this is a magnificent puzzle. I opened it and said “oh no” out loud and so very dramatically that it prompted my dozing dog to look up in concern. But then what a beautiful surprise, that the grid spanners were either immediately recognizable or eventually grokkable, and it somehow managed to be both Saturday-appropriate and breezy, resulting in one of my fastest Saturday solve times. The cluing is clever, the phrases are fresh, the trivia is terrific without being too obscure. Like, I can’t be the only one who is delighted to have a fresh clue for UNO and now to know it’s in the Toy Hall of Fame. Even simple clues like “Buff” for MAVEN - it’s a multiple misdirect, and I was only thinking about the “swole” and “tan” meanings of the word. And how sweet was cluing toddlers’ SEATS as sometimes being LAPS?! That one made me miss my niece and nephew a lot. So much fun to play in this gorgeous playground of a grid, with a mix of wide open spaces and exciting books and crannies.
I knew CAROLINA REAPER almost off the bat, though I tried Trinidad Scorpion first (thankfully one letter too long). My partner is a pepperhead and we have a shelf in the fridge door reserved for hot sauces. This year we’re growing Bulgarian Carrot Chile, Habanada, Lemon Drop, and Ghost peppers. We still have dried Matchbox and Cayenne peppers from last season.
Finally, somehow I only got MAPLE through the crosses, despite living in a cabin that we refer to as Rosy Maple Manor, after the gorgeous pink and yellow moth that is attracted to all of the red maples in our yard. Growing up in Brooklyn we called the MAPLE “helicopters” whirligigs - my brother and I would open them up and stick one half on our noses and pretend to be rhinos. Now I know the scientific term is samaras, and if I ever had a kid, Samara would be in contention as their name as a result. Whatever we call them; they’re lovely, even if I’m not particularly looking forward to sweeping them off the deck over the next few weeks.
Truly a gorgeous start to the weekend, thanks Carter!
Thank you for confirming that I am right about this cross. Also, my condolences :) ~RP
I totally agree with Rex. Thought I had solved it, but didn’t get the happy music. Checked the grid several times. Finally dawned on me to change the ‘c’ to ‘k’ — whew! Didn’t lose my streak.
It *had* to be a K. Not just because of the German name, but because CARTS are not things you race. They are things you push around at the grocery or things you put your online purchases into before you check out.
KARTS are things you race. It's not a "wacky video game spelling". A quick google will tell you that you ride in go-karts, racing them is called KARTING and after a bit more googling to make sure that KART was the regular spelling, I find that my home town has karting on ice. ON. ICE.
Well, darn. Guess I'll have to wait until next winter to try that.
Or maybe sometime this summer. You know, because Canada.
Kinda surreal to come to the blog to try and find the error I couldn’t find and then read a multi-paragraph rant about why it’s not my fault. Nice.
Good to see Rex give voice to all of the downtrodden amongst us who absolutely abhor PPP crossing PPP entries. Personally, I think he went after KARL x KARTS which is really the misdemeanor offense while the felony transgression is shifted down one section (GAIA x GUPTA).
I don’t believe I have ever come across MENS REA before, which seems weird because it sure looks like it would be a popular filler for constructors.
Math student here. The Weierstrass theorem is one of those things that gets etched in your mind because of how often it comes up, so the name Weierstrass is very familiar to me, but I had no clue that his first name was KARL. (KARTS with a K was a gimme though)
But guess what, CARL Friedrich Gauss, arguably THE greatest mathematician ever, feels much more crossworthy. They could've gone with the C and still had a math clue.
This was me, dang it.
A surprisingly easy Saturday! I got THRILLA IN MANILA and A MODEST PROPOSAL right out of the gate, and everything fell into place after that.
I wasn’t bothered by the cart situation. Thanks to my grandchildren, I knew it was a K.
On the other hand, I thought the helicopter from maple was a bit too obtuse, even for a Saturday.
Loved this! Learned a lot. And I have no idea what makes the K cross “stupid.” Someone please tell me where I can get a copy of the “Crossword Constructor’s Rule Book” that Rex uses.
Rex, I can''t buy your argument about not guessing. The trivia here is too random. I didn't know PIERRE, for example, or the Meryl Srreep role. So much of the fill is guessing. I too thought about SALT BATH, but it didn't make sense. Meanwhie, some of the answers, like SPATTED are highly questionable. In fact, I will go so far as to say that 'spatted' is not a word, just like no one talks about APCS. Similarly, I really wish they would stop with the soccer and 'ole' connection (one song I associate only with the world cup and don't particularly care for). Real fans at real games sing songs that target the other team, the players, the manager, where they are in the standings, and worse. Or the,songs support their own team, players, etc. No one sings 'ole' which Spanish speakers are much more likely to say after a great move by a player. 'Ole' is also a word of encouragement to Flamenco performers, also known as a jaleo, or a Scandinavian first name. The editing could be so much better.
It has appeared before but I don’t think lately (I am too lazy to look it up)
I am a retired lawyer and I first saw it in law school. It does have convenient letters so here it is again!
Gaia has been showing up more often lately and it will appear again
I agree with Rex about the Karl/Kart cross. My fault I missed the hint of the very German last name but it is only since the advent of computer games that kart took over. Another age thing. Oh well.
TIL that REEL TO REEL TAPES and EIGHT TRACK TAPES have the same number of letters. Ugh!
I was shocked to see the Greek spelling of GAIA rather than the Latinate GAEA. It would be helpful if the puzzle indicated which version we can expect or standardized the spelling it accepts. And while I am at it, I wonder if people would support eliminating octopi from NY Times puzzles altogether.
The idea that having to guess at a square “is not the situation you want *any* solver to be in on a single square. Ever.” is ridiculous. There’s literally no puzzle that every solver can solve. That’s why people get DNFs. Sorry you had to guess on this one. Maybe tomorrow will be better.
Kart didn’t bother me at all (for reasons stated by Jim)…but pro-peace? Really? Who is against peace? Not really how I would define 60s activism. Very awkward phrasing.
I got the K without a problem because it just seemed right for a video racing game. My puzzle editing puzzler was also mentioned by Rex - why they switched the Friday and Saturday puzzles. Don’t they have test solvers? I can’t imagine anyone finding yesterday’s easier than today’s. (Of course, someone will write that they did.) It’s not really that big a deal, of course - I still got one whooshing Friday solve and one can-I-do-this? Saturday solve.
And boy did this whoosh. Slightly different from Rex but the result was the same. After putting STACEY right in, I tried to make “The Rumble in the Jungle” fit. Right sport, wrong continent. But it didn’t take long to get THRILLA IN MANILA.
CLUNK was a classic kealoaulu. CLaNK and CLaNg also could have worked.
I liked “one traveling by daylight” for SOLAR CAR. But I think today’s puzzle was distinguished by its great answers and yesterday’s by its great clues.
As an electrical engineer I can assure you that no EE ever uttered the word ohmage. It’s not a thing.
A gorgeous and elegant looking grid, giving the puzzle the patina of beauty before filling in the first square. Carter’s NYT debut puzzle (3/17/23) was equally stunning in a completely different way, with what looked like a balloon floating in the middle.
Grid elegance is one thing; filling it in with loveliness is another. Try it sometime. I never heard of CAROLINA REAPERS but they sure add zing to an answer set as does THRILLA IN MANILA and those SOPHOMORE SLUMPS. This grid has six spanners, a stingy 66 words, and is remarkably clean. Triple-stacks usually are accompanied with embarrassing “sorry-I-had-to-do-this-to-make-it-work” crosses, but not today.
It's a sweet bonus when answers ping intensely happy memories, and that happened twice. I remember when I spent what felt like a fortune on a reel-to-reel, and how when I played it for the first time, the fidelity filled the room and almost made me faint with joy. The other memory: I watched the THRILLA IN MANILA in a movie theater, I, who worshipped Ali, and it may have been the most lose-yourself-in-excitement – hollering, jumping, pounding strangers’ backs – experience in my life.
So more than just a fill-in-the-grid satisfying outing today, as it was padded with beauty, and had me reliving – actually reliving in my former brain as if I were there again – a pair of moments I haven’t thought about in ages. That’s a gift puzzle, and thank you so much for it, Carter!
I wouldn’t call it “easy”, but I agree that this puzzle turned out to be less daunting than it looked, with its six long spanners. It helped that the title of thSwift book popped into my brain after a couple of seconds, and the thrilla in manila right after that. Not so with the bottom three, however. I really wanted “eight track tapes”, and it fit!
Never heard of Carolina Reapers, and until I came here I had no idea that those things that fall from maple trees were called helicopters. Even after I capitulated and wrote in the “m” of “maple”, I still didn’t get it.
The “K” of Karl and karts didn’t bother me in the least, and I’m still not sure why it was so upsetting to so many people.
My time, however, was way too long (an hour and a half), but that was because my cat insisted on climbing all over me and my laptop, and she didn’t help out at all because she doesn’t do crossword puzzles.
I guessed the K correctly too, having some association with Mario and KART lurking in a few brain cells. But I knew that if the puzzle told me I had an error, that would be the first place to look. I will say that the supposedly Germanic spelling doesn't, or shouldn't, really help. Someone above already pointed out Carl Gauss (German), to which I will add Carl Jung (Swiss, but from the German-speaking part of Switzerland). And I've known quite a few Karls (mostly not German) in my life; the one whom I saw just yesterday is of Mexican heritage.
I disagree that KARTS are the only version of this word that can be raced. Shopping cart races are absolutely (perhaps unfortunately) a thing. And since this is all going on in a video game, it could be pretty much anything, right?
AMODESTPROPOSAL was my first entry. Thought I was going to get the THRILLA one right after, but I couldn't dig it up. "Something in the somewhere," I thought.
To my fellow EEs squirming at OHMAGE (agree that nobody uses it, but it is a valid word), just be glad that we didn't get "amount of conductance" -> MHOAGE.
Rex's extended rant about KARL and KART is quite insane.
Yes, because a “vehicle in a racing game” could totally be a cart and not a KART. A lot of Go-Carts in Rex’s neck of the woods, apparently. I wonder if he’s tried to google “go-cart” and seen what comes up (it’s “Did you mean Go Karts?, in case you were wondering).
The mathemetician had a German last name...so the K was not a guess. And go cart doesn't look right either, so K it is, with those clues
This looked a lot harder than it turned out to be. Randomly scanning clues, I saw Mr. GUPTA and started there, with GAIA next and moving steadily upward. Strangely enough, I filled in THRILLAINMANILA before I even read the clue for AMODESTPROPOSAL, which was a gimme. Also remembered reading the "resistance" clue and thinking OHMAGE? I mean there's wattage, right? When I got back there in it went. Should have more faith.
Hesitated on the dreaded K crossing but I don't think it's worth a paragraph's worth of complaining. Had SALINITY before SALTLAKE. I like mine better.
Overall just a great Saturday. Creative and Charming and thanks for all the fun.
And now it's Green Up Day here in NH and I'm off to do some greening up.
Wish every Saturday could be like this one. As one of those '60s protesters, I didn't love PROPEACE; awkward and slightly CLUNK-y and not exactly the true opposite of anti-war. The K issue was not an issue for me; even if you've never heard of Mario Kart, "German" made the K clear.
@Anonymous 7:13: If you don't know the name of the President's press secretary, that's on you, pal, and you don't get to call that cluing "random."
Absolutely loved this puzzle--elegant, challenging, and not relying on "HA! This definition is from an 1858 dictionary and you'll never get it!" cluing. Bravo!
Did it used to be spelled "go-cart" before computer gaming? Because to be the actual real life vehicles were always spelled "go-kart" and I would assume that's where the video games get the spelling
Presumably people who are pro-war?
"The bad kind of hard", where the difficulty comes in the form of unknown names like ORLEAN, Basquiat, GUPTA, and PIERRE, rather than clever cluing.
Also, SPATTED? Also also, a video game clue for ACTION ADVENTURE. Also also also, awful clue for EGGS.
An ego-boosting (and fun) Saturday that, as Rex points out, feels a lot more like a Friday. I especially enjoyed the upper half.
BUT, as a high school teacher in a school with a whole lot of AP courses, I can tell you that I've never, ever, ever heard a student refer to APCS. It is always -- always -- AP Comp Sci. Just like AP Biology is always AP Bio and never APB. APUSH. APES. AP Lit. AP Lang. Etc.
@SouthsideJohnny – I always remember mens REA thanks to the movie Legally Blonde.
Not offended by the K. Go-Karts.
Funny on eight track tapes before REEL TO REEL TAPES. PLOT and PLANAR crosses worked. Got to EEL, which I knew, ah the old reel to reel.
Anyway, really good puzzle, aesthetically and fill. A little closer to a medium for me. Fair and fun.
Phew. Needed a fun and breezy one after yesterday. This played very easy for a Saturday - no real “aha” moments - but was for sure enjoyable.
I thought KART was more than fair, clued how it was. The puzzle expects me to know fairly obscure movie, music and sports trivia (especially yesterday where most of it was clearly aimed at a much older solver, and I am 40!), so I don't think knowing the name of one of Nintendo's huge tent pole franchises is out of bounds. Video games are a part of the cultural and business landscape now.
Thx, Carter, nice job; fine xword! 😊
Med.
Fairly smooth Sat. puz; no major sticking points.
Well, maybe two kinda sticky point: KARL / KART, but the mathematician (whom I don't know) sounds like a German name to me, so I may be wrong, but I'm guessing that 'K' is the preferred letter. I think it's also the preferred letter for KART (in the context), as well. (hi @Jim in Canada (6:46 AM).
Bit of an eye-roll at APCS; found it a bit CLUNKy. (hi @Rex).
Enjoyed the solve. :)
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On to Steve Mossberg's Sat. Stumper. 🤞
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Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness & Freudenfreude to all 🙏
And interestingly, KART and KARL were two of my first fills. I guess it depends how familiar you are with the whole entire Mario Kart franchise which is not new. I filled in KARL without every having heard of this particular Karl. Anyhoo, everything else was hard for me, so I guess that is my one ace in the hole here. I know about Mario Kart. Not exactly proud but just saying, it was not hard for anyone who has any experience with that entire 8? 9? Game series.
I don't see the big deal. When I got to that point I made a mental note to try both C and K if the puzzle didn't show as solved when I finished. As it turned out, neither initially got the job done, which turned out to be because I had CLINK instead of CLUNK. Fixed that, tried both C and K and that was that.
I would much rather know that it's a C or K than have no idea at all, especially if there's more than one place in the grid where that's the case.
Did anyone else notice that "eight track" and "reel to reel" have the same number of letters, and they share a "t" and a "r" in the same place?
Spatted?? Give me a break
Same!!
Gettable from crosses but LAPS SEATS? I just keep saying it in my head even after finishing. LAPS … SEATS. Nonsense. Toddlers’ (ok, possessing…) sometimes… the sitter in a lap. LAPS SEATS.
WHAT.
You know that feeling when you look at the grid and you see all those long 15s and say "well, this is gonna be tough." But then with little prompting you throw down four of them no problem and say "this is an unexpected but pleasant turn of events." That's a great feeling.
Having voted for her twice, it was also great to see Stacey show up right off the bat.
Really enjoyed this one. Definitely snappier than yesterday. Had no problems with Mario Kart. My Mario Kart record is 1-0, and I've retired undefeated.
SPATTED is not a word. Neither is ARGUATED or CLASHIZED.
Simply making up words SHOULD NOT be allowed. EVER!!
Speaking of German-sounding Carl-with-a-C Jung, my first thought for 16A was Rumble in the Jungle, but it was too long, leaving me with ‘rumble in the jung’, which felt like a seed for a theme puzzle dropping the ends of phrases.
I'll add two composers to my list of German Carls:
Carl Orff, of Carmina Burana fame, and Carl Maria von Weber.
Coincidentally, while looking up the latter on Wikipedia, I found that he interacted professionally (directly or indirectly) with the following, who (I am pretty sure but haven't verified) are all German:
Carl von Steinsberg
Carl Gottlob Cramer (note spelling of last name, too!!)
Carl Seidel
And Weber's grandson was also called Carl.
Hmmm, am I avoiding starting my day? Yes, I think I am. Best be going.
Funny, that K went in for me without a moment of hesitation, but if the puzzle had used Rex’s suggestions for Carl, I might never have gotten it.
Hey All !
Easy here also, although I did Goog for the Switzerland University, and Author Susan. Was zooming along nicely, and hated being stalled by two unknown PPPs.
Yet still ended up with a DNF. Oof. Had Rex's C for the K of KARTS/KARL (though really should've gotten that), and an E in GAIA, GAeA. PEERRE is as good as PIERRE when it comes to names. (Well, maybe not...)
"Oof, stacks" was my initial reaction as I opened the puz, but thankfully Carter didn't make them excruciatingly difficult. My brain thanks you for that.
EIGHT TRACK TAPES fits where REEL TO REEL TAPES is. Just sayin.
Gotta run, have a great weekend!
No F's (Non-THRILLA, that)
RooMonster
DarrinV
Happy to see Adaptation in the clue for 33A. I haven't seen it since it came out. I just ordered a DVD. I remember Chris Cooper being great in it.
Didn't know about helicopters on maple trees. I wish I knew more about trees. They're amazing beings.
I don't know much about video games but Mario Kart is familiar to me.
Every time I shake my head at one of Rex's silly comments (like today), I remind myself of how hard it would be to fill that space with something smart every day on a deadline.
The puzzle had some nice things in it.
Another EE here and never heard of OHMAGE but put it in and liked the possible future wordplay possibilities with HOMAGE 😊
Props to a fine puzzle which put up very little resistance 👍👍
I fell for the cARTS/KARTS trap, but this is 100% correct. And I think this came up a few months back. Karts/go-karts is the correct spelling for a racing vehicle. Carts are for groceries and stuff like that.
There are some people for whom this kind of guessing is not allowed, and so not being certain about which one it is on one’s own is the same as not being able to solve the puzzle fully.
Thank you for your note on OHMAGE. I'm just a hobbyist and have never heard the word either. Hearing that from an EE. I would have forgiven it if it had been a wacky pun, clued perhaps as "A paean to the resistance." But this? Nope nopity nope with extra nope sauce!
I thought I was losing my everloving mind when I had MAPLE for the helicopter clue and BOOKS it for the "takes off" clue -- with no way around either one of them. So after finishing this bear of a puzzle I asked myself:
1) Could MAPLE be the name of a heliport? and
2) Could "BOOKS it" have a brand new slang meaning I didn't know?
When the answer to both questions was "yes", I realized I hadn't lost my everloving mind after all. Whew.
The long stacks at the top went in fairly readily; the ones at the bottom: not at all*. But the ones at the bottom were sabotaged by my having PROtEsts instead of PRO-PEACE (a little green paint-y, no?) for my 1960s activism. I was pleased with seeing SOPHOMORE SLUMPS off just the S-PH, pleased at thinking of THRILLA IN MANILA when I saw the THRI, and pleased with remembering A MODEST PROPOSAL from just AMOD.
Now to the bottom stack: I avoid hot peppers like the plague and never heard of CAROLINA REAPERS. As for REEL TO REEL TAPES: Old technologies come and go without my ever knowing what they are/were. Then new ones appear and I don't know what they are either.
I now see I made the CARTS/CARL instead of KARTS/KARL mistake. Doesn't matter. I pronounce this bear of a puzzle "Solved!!!!"
*I don't know how anyone on earth manages to pull off these amazing triple stack grid-spanning puzzles. Truly I don't!
As a retired electrical engineer, I can honestly say that I have never heard or used the word “ohmage” for resistance.
I don't know how you can say this clue "Mathematician Weierstrass dubbed the "father of modern analysis"" means the mathematician had a German name. Replace Weierstrass with Rex, and it means a mathematician who Rex thinks is the father of analysis. No reason to assume weierstrass is the mathematician and not the dubber. Also, Stacey is best known for being the original election denier who still hasn't conceded the GA government race that she lost by a mile.
This has been a great week of puzzles. Took me longer than Rex to see SOPHOMORE SLUMPS, but the other spanners up top were almost gimmes, so a lot of whoosh, whoosh up there. The bottom half was tougher. Sontag is my default author named Susan, “confirmed” by the A in BETAS, so that took a while to sort out. I also really resisted APCS. That’s an ugly answer in an otherwise lovely puzzle.
Mario KART is well known to me, so the possibility of a C there never occurred to me, but I can see why that would be frustrating
You can't tell that Weierstrass is the one who does math or the one who gives others titles.
Sorry, Rex. But you are wrong here.
Mario Kart has been a hugely popular series of games for about 30 years now. Huge. 30 years. Not like... it was big in 1996 and now it's retro... it's still hugely popular. It's one of the Nintendo cornerstones. You don't have to be 18 or younger to know about it, I'm 45 and frankly I was late to the game.
Am I the only one who had “eight track tapes” before “reel to reel tapes”?? It even worked with some of the downs!
FWIW, I posed the following question to ChatGPT: "In Germany, what's the approximate ratio of "K"s to "C"s in the name "Karl" vis a vis "Carl"?"
Answer: "In Germany, the name "Karl" is more commonly spelled with a "K" than with a "C". According to data from the German Federal Statistical Office, as of 2021, there were around 2.4 million people in Germany with the first name "Karl", compared to around 65,000 people with the first name "Carl". This suggests that the ratio of "K"s to "C"s in the names "Karl" versus "Carl" is approximately 37 to 1. However, it's worth noting that there may be regional or historical variations in the usage of these spellings."
I rephrased the question: "In Germany (early 19th century), what was the approximate ratio of "K"s to "C"s in the name "Karl" vis a vis "Carl"?"
Answer: "In early 19th century Germany, the use of "K" versus "C" in the name "Karl" versus "Carl" was not as standardized as it is today. During this time period, the spelling of the name could vary depending on factors such as the region of Germany, the language spoken in the area, and the personal preference of the individual or their family.
However, it's worth noting that the spelling "Karl" was more common than "Carl" even in the early 19th century, especially in regions where German was the predominant language. This is because the letter "K" was often used in German to represent the "hard C" sound, which is the sound that the "C" makes in the name "Carl". The letter "C" was more commonly used to represent the "soft C" sound, as in the word "city". Therefore, "Karl" would have been the more natural spelling of the name in German, while "Carl" may have been used in areas where other languages were more prevalent or where there was a personal preference for the spelling."
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Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness & Freudenfreude to all 🙏
I'd guess anyone under 40 knows Mario Kart.
To the engineers: Have you started spelling the greek letter "ohmega" as an OHMAGE to resistance?
Y’all, Mario Kart is the literal trademarked name of the video game. They thus race karts. The fact that the clue contained Nintendo specifically points to the spelling. This isn’t a debate about whether the C or K is more reasonable able or utilized to talk about racing - it has to do with *Ninetendo.* Which was in the clue. It’s no different than the ICEE clue all the time - that’s the brand spelling of a thing.
@anon 6:31, nice comments - give yourself a name and stick around!
I am disappointed in RP today for filling an entire screen with invective over one letter when the puzzle is so completely lovely. It should get a 2 sentence mention at the end, if anything. MarioKarts has been extremely popular for over 30 years, and as mentioned the name implies a German spelling(yes, I see that "C" spellings exist, but implication still there). Completely fair for a Saturday; Amen to Canadian Jim with Go-Karts (Kare for some Kurling?). For a PPP Karl, I might have gone with Succession CFO, but that's clearly current, but worse:(
As @mathgent says, I'm thankful to RP for doing this everyday. Maybe this (K)erfuffle is a PLOT to activate engagement, in which case, Mission Accomplished!
I think the "Saturday-ness" of the puzzle lies in the 15 stacks rather than the easiness; it just "looks" like a Saturday puzzle. Agreed about the difficulty vis-a-vis yesterday.
i like the terrible two's clue crossing the LAP SEAT answer.
I guess if there's wattage, there can be OHMAGE, even if nobody ever uses it?
I did have an opportunity to swim in the Dead Sea SALTLAKE once, and it felt like I was lying on a yoga mat or something with barely any of my body under the water. It was pretty cool until I made the mistake of wiping my eye with my arm, resulting in a blurry race to the shore to look for any source of fresh water to rinse the burning salt out.
I always wonder if the editing process involves putting MENS REA and GAIA in early week puzzles to make Saturday more doable. Then I start to notice that the NYer seems to also be in on the PLOT.
clueing BOOKS it as "takes off" is some Saturday level vagueness.
You want high scrabble value? Go with JARL/JARTS.
@Mothra I SO wanted it to be Eight Track Tapes! Never heard of the peppers (or the maple thing either). Disappointing, cos I zipped thru the top half. My senior in high school just took her AP English test so we were just discussing A Modest Proposal. Finally had to give up and cheat like a bandit this morning to fill in the last few boxes.
This person gets it
Hello to my fellow EIGHT TRACK TAPES people. Even as I entered it, I remember thinking that compact cassettes (1963) existed before 8-tracks (1964), but it fit so nicely.
I liked “Amount of resistance” directly above “Like much 1960s activism.”
Seems like they wrote this puzzle for me. Cruised through and had a delightful time. Too many abbreviations, but every time you see six grid spanners you're gonna get those.
Learned about KARL Weierstrass and read some of his math stuff on the Wiki, which could have been written as blah blah blah blah blah since that's how much I understood.
I have no idea how toddler's seats become laps or why helicopters have anything to do with maples, but this is why 🦖 is my first emoji.
Uniclues:
1 Delusional self assurance at the craps table.
2 What happens when the Amazon arrives.
3 Sign up your sciatic.
4 "That gook on your face."
1 "SEVEN. WE'RE OK..."
2 RIP OPEN CRUSADE
3 ENROLL THE NERVE
4 MISNAMES MAKE-UP
Lovely puzzle. I had the same reaction as Rex about that K, although I got it. I mean, there's nothing in the clue to indicate that we're discussing go-KARTS, and I'd never heard of the mathematician (I thought Freud was the father of analysis). I know about as much about Mario and his brother as I do about Marvel characters. But it was a little more plausible.
A better clue for 2-D: "How Dorothy might have addressed the Wizard when first seeking his help."
I didn't even notice mens REA, but have heard and seen the term a lot in discussions about whether Trump should be prosecuted for the January 6 insurrection (which of course he should be).
Fun fact: botanists call those MAPLE helicopters "samaras." I'd love to see that in a puzzle some day.
@Nancy from yesterday--Thanks! Although I knew that meaning of break, it didn't occur to me while solving. I thought maybe they didn't pause for tea, or something like that. Doh!
And a decent number of similar letters too, just enough to keep you keeping it far longer than you should.
Yes!!!! Thought I was being so smart, but also, no.
@Rex put his finger right on my DNF. As I see-sawed over K v. C, my reasoning was, "We're getting a German name because we're supposed to react with 'K,' but it's Saturday, so it might be a fake-out," and, as others have already pointed out, there are also famous Carls (let's not forget Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach). So I went with C, not knowing my carts from Mario's Karts.
Otherwise medium and fun to solve, with its SLUMPS, THRILLA, MODEST PROPOSAL, and REAPERS, and plenty more that was enjoyable to figure out - as in, doing an alphabet run for ?APLE. Here I am, pulling gazillions of baby MAPLEs out of my garden and never thought of those helicopters that get them started. Loved the moment my dim bulb lit up over that one. Another favorite was OHMAGE - it's so close to "homage," giving me the image of physicists bowing down to the force. Another treat for me was BOOKS, a usage I'm fond of and which I don't ever recall seeing clued that way.
In the "me, too" department: At first, I could only remember Rumble in the Jungle; thought of tiMor before SAMOA; tried out eight-track TAPES. Do-overs: knock x khaki before CLUNK x CHINO; GAeA, MISdials.
Thought it was Thriller in Manila but didn't fit. Then thought the IN must be in a rebus square. No again. Figured it out then couldn't get California reaper till I went to Netflix and was watching a doc about chili pepper eating contest . A lightbulb went off and I skipped back to the puzzle and was very pleased with myself. Still don't know what Mens REA means. I'll have to skip back to Google
As a physicist, I concur with the anti-OHMAGE voices. Voltage is fine. Wattage is ok, but power is better. Amperage and ohmage? No, Nein, nix, nyet!
Yes and I REELly didn't want to give up on Eight track tape
If Ms. Burnett participated in a regional Public Employees Retirement System, would she be CAROL IN AREA PERS?
Voltage, amperage, wattage are used all the time. I can’t see the harm in an OHMAGE to resistance.
It seems to me that MAVEN (22D) carries a connotation of expertise that is not provided by “Buff”. A MAVEN is likely to be a buff, but a buff isn’t necessarily a MAVEN. Rex is a crossword MAVEN, but I’m a mere buff. The more times I type the word “buff”, the crazier it looks. Am I really a buff?
As they age, Mens REArs look sadder and sadder.
Welp, I guess Chuck III is coronated by now, so congrats to him. Also to Carter Cobb for a very whooshy whoosh Saturday.
Same too!
Wasn’t gonna take time to do the puzzle until later but then when I saw all those beautiful long stacks and pretty staircases, I couldn’t resist. Such an appealing grid, just begging to be filled in, but I didn’t have an easy time of it. Although I was able to RIP thru the top stack much faster than the bottom ones. “Cassette forerunners” had me thinking more in terms of of vinyl records until I finally saw the CAR in 29D and the ALA CARTE which gave me the first REEL and broke that area OPEN.
Like REX I have several sugar MAPLE trees and have been inundated with those little helicopters in the last week or so. They MAKE UP quite a mess on the driveway etc. and then get stuck there when it rains. But it’s fairly entertaining to sit and watch them fly around if you’ve got nothing better to do.
I don’t eat hot peppers. Ever. Even the “mild” ones. I’ve had people say oh here try this one it’s sweet, you’ll like it. Six glasses of ice water later, I’m ready to strangle them with the STEMS. CUKES are more to my taste, so I had no clue about CAROLINA REAPERS. Anyway before reading Rex, I did my own Wikipedia search and was delighted to learn of not only the developer, Mr. Ed Currie but also the name of his business, the Puckerbutt Pepper Company. I mean is that priceless or what?
@egs. OHMAGE would be more related to "henryage" or "faradage" than to the properties you mention. Thank goodness we don't have to put up with those.
I'm not a whiz bang Saturday solver...but I did put on some Friday pants to solve today.
I sometimes get intimidated by people who whiz and bang through hard Saturday....How do they know all these things!...Well, today I wore my proud hat.
To be sure, there were lots of things I didn't know.
I forgot 1D STACEY and I've never heard of 2D OHMAGE. I called a friend because I was hell bent on solving this. The cheat was worth it because it gave me my first longie: THRILLA IN MANILA. I took my time to fill in the downs; they came fairly easy. The OLES have it and with a little roar, A MODEST PROPOSAL sunk in with some aplomb. Back up to 1A. What starts with SOP? Add my HO to the mix and SOPHOMORES LUMPS jumped into action.
Three long answers done in the upstairs region.
The middles gave me my angst agitas. EGGS MAPLE and KARL didn't make it into my bar. Continue working on the downs and see if they come to play. Favorite answer SALT LAKE, gave me hope and I carefully penned in KARL SAMOA WERE OK and THATS ME. Nifty name for a law office. Boy was I happy at this point. It gave me lots of hope and maybe, just maybe, I can finish this with very little help.
I guessed a lot. I'm looking at SEVEN (no idea what a Neutral pH is) and I'm looking at SPATTED. Can these be correct? I'll find out.
Head for the basement and see if I can tackle the other longies. I looked up 36D PLANAR because because I don't know anything two dimensional. Now hear this! That R at the end gave me my best guess today. REEL TO REEL TAPES. Confirmed by a few downs like THE NERVE and EEL. See? it can be done.
Just take your time and don't get too nervous.
I'd flunk any time test because I can't fly through these. It's sure fun, though, when words do jump out. And by jump out....here's looking at you CAROLINA REAPERS. I thought Habaneros were hot (we had them in Havana..Hah!)...but the REAPERS take the crown of your tongue off Speaking of...I think I'll go watch Charlie become King.
Anyway, this was exciting to finish.
@Weezie. Knew it was you just by your style..... ;-)
I'm glad Rex got his whoosh today but this put up a bit more resistance for me, albeit less than yesterday. I read the clue for 1A and ran to greener pastures immediately. This meant that GUPTA crossing GA_A and ORLEAN were my entry points. I even threw down EEL in 48D with no crosses because, three-letter clue, Korean, why not EEL?
My biggest hold-up was at 22D. "Buff" with ___EN in place, hmm. Not a color. Not smooth, as in sanding. Not "in shape'. I had to fill in the entire top of the puzzle and work down to meet in the middle at MAPLE before I saw MAVEN. I was blank on the Swiss city so those two were my last entries.
CAROLINA REAPERS - somewhere I've seen the name but I've never seen the pepper before. Rather ugly specimens per the photo in Rex's write-up. Based on that photo, I'd have gone with a sea creature or scorpion name though perhaps, if they're actually as hot as advertised, the Grim Reaper has another claim on the name. (I just noticed "named" is in the 46A clue and MISNAMES is in the NE. Oops? Or not a problem?)
Except for PROtEsts at 30D and "thaT hurt" at 45D, I had few missteps today. Thanks, Carter Cobb, for a smooth Saturday solve. This is definitely not a SOPHOMORE SLUMP!
Amy: couldn't figure out my error for quite a while. Yes, I went with Carl and Carts. Otherwise, a lively, swooshy puzzle.
Medium or just about right for a Saturday difficulty wise. That said, all that white space was kinda intimating. Costly erasures: khaki before CHINO which begat knocK before CLUNK, ken before UNO, PLOy before PLOT, Berne before BASEL... I did know KART from previous Xwords.
Very solid except for maybe SPATTED. Liked it.
Wow, breeziest solve for me on a Saturday ever. The longs dropped right in. As for the rest, mostly straightforward but a few moments of fun with "movement supporters" being CANES and "helicopters might fly out of" a MAPLE. Agree that coinages like OHMAGE and SPATTED and APCS are questionable but that kind of crossword-ese is part of the fun... no? I solve on paper so the lack of "happy music" did not bother me when I flubbed the KARL/KART thing. Did not diminish my enjoyment.
C before K except after Mario is—or at least , should be—a spelling rule in the Dictionary Crosslandia. That and the crossing of GAIA & PIERRE raised eyebrows this morning as we BOOKed it through this amazing grid.
As an owner of SEVEN urban yard MAPLEs, I feel some sympathy for Rex who has only a couple to tend! If as Frost said April is the cruelest month, then MAPLE is the messiest tree. Helicopters in abundance to sprout in impossible to reach places, pollen to pollute any flat surface, and falling flower clusters to clog rain gutters are only the obvious sources of ACTION ADVENTURE for us city slickers. Roots and leaves, oh yeah. We hosted “Annual Leaf Raking” parties for several years in our attempts to handle the fall falling carnage & would have continued until a Twain scholar in attendance made the connection to whitewashing fences apparent.
GAIA is certainly not PPP.
Talk about go-karts! Did you see the karriage King Charles and Queen Diana were riding in?
(I’m guessing those were the two in the back seat. I know they SPATTED in the early ‘90s but assume their difficulties were worked out and today was the culmination of their fairy tale romance!)
Like @wanderlust, I opened up the puzzle, saw the grid, and muttered out an unacceptable word that could be a hybrid of “aargh” and “oh dear.” I just KNEW I couldn’t finish it but I DID! I first thought of Rumble in the Jungle but after realizing THAT was too long, put in THRILLAINMANILA. And WHY was I so sure it had to do with Ali? Oh yeah, because it was “much viewed.” Had PROtests before PROPEACE, and PLan before PLOT. Let’s just say that this was a day I was thankful to be on the NYT app and not on paper because I think it might have looked like an indecipherable mess.
Good point @mathgent with respect to @Rex silly comments. Yes, he dutifully fills in the blog space (almost) every day. I will say that KARL/KART gave me no pause due to the reason many commenters stated above.
I guess if I had ANY nit it would be the clueing for SOPHOMORESLUMPS. ok. I got it once I had SOPH and a few crosses and I know what it is but it just felt like a stretch. I’ll live.
BOOKS reminded me of a time when I sometimes said before leaving…”Well, I have to book”
Great Saturday puzzle!
I've been racking my brain trying to recall how we made go-KARTS in the early-mid 50s. Can't remember what we used for wheels… roller skates, wagon wheels, tricycle wheels?? I do remember using feet on the front wheel axle for steering, and at some point graduating to a rope attached to the axle. I think I had a chunk of wood on the side to act as a braking mechanism. In fact, I don't even remember whether we called them Karts or Carts. The next street over had a perfect hill for coasting, and I do remember how tolerant the neighbors were with us, tho. :)
More odds and ends on the KARTS vs cARTS issue:
"Mario Kart[a] is a series of kart racing games and a spin-off Mario franchise developed and published by Nintendo. Players compete in go-kart races while using various power-up items. It features characters and courses mostly from the Mario series as well as other gaming franchises such as The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, F-Zero, and Splatoon.
The series was launched in 1992 with Super Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, to critical and commercial success.[1] The Mario Kart series totals fourteen games, with six on home consoles, three on handheld consoles, four arcade games co-developed with Namco, and one for mobile phones. The latest game in the series, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, was released on the Nintendo Switch in October 2020. Over 164.43 million copies in the series have been sold worldwide."" (Wikipedia)
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It's interesting to view the graph of "go-KART" vs "go-cART" from the 1800s to now via Google Books Ngram Viewer. 'Go-carts' has dropped dramatically from the early 1900s, and currently holds only a slight edge over go-karts. (here)
NOTE:
"When you enter phrases into the Google Books Ngram Viewer, it displays a graph showing how those phrases have occurred in a corpus of books (e.g., "British English", "English Fiction", "French") over the selected years." Google
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A search of Google shows "go-kart" at 23,500,000 hits, with "go-cart" at 3,365,000. Without the quotes, the hits favor go-carts by a wide margin. "Go-figure." lol
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ChatGPT chimes in with this:
""Go-kart" is the more common and widely accepted spelling of the term, while "go cart" is less commonly used. This is especially true in American English, where "go-kart" is the standard spelling and "go cart" is relatively rare. In other regions or dialects of English, the usage may vary, but "go-kart" is still generally the more common and accepted spelling. It's worth noting that while "go cart" is less common, it is still used and may be considered a valid alternative spelling in some contexts."
All said and done, if I hadn't known Mario Kart for sure, I'd've been naticked on this cross, as were so many. :(
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Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness & Freudenfreude to all 🙏
When my son graduated from UMich in 2012, Sanjay GUPTA gave the address in The Big House and did a very nice job (he's a Michigan man: Go Blue!). He told us how his parents met.
As soon as his mom arrived in Ann Arbor, her car broke down. (It was a '63 Nova.) She had very little money and knew no one. She went to a phone booth and looked through a phone book (remember those?) for an "Indian-sounding" last name. She called. The person she asked for wasn't home, but the fellow who answered the phone had graduated from U. Mich Engineering and loved cars. Of course, he was happy to help. It was love at first tow.
I got ohmage right away, probably because it seems like it *should* be a word, since voltage and amperage are. But I think you're right about it- I can't swear that I've ever heard it used before. And it's not in my autocorrect dictionary. I wonder how it made the cut.
Another who fell for the C/K square, but it was quickly fixed when the happy music didn’t play. I'm faintly familiar with Mario. I didn’t know the spelling of racing karts was correct with a K. I always assumed it was a purposeful misspelling - like Krazy Glue. Misdials for MISNAMES slowed me up a bit, as did lifevest for SALTLAKE but neither lasted long. THRILLA opened the way up top.
WHISK, CHITS, CLUNK, CANES and SMOKE - all nice.
Our neighbor's tree hosts box elder beetles, so we assumed it was a box elder, but it's not. It's a huge silver MAPLE. It's grown to divide the fence, and as we're on the south side, we get most of the shade and the maintenance. It drops multiple yard debris bags of helicopters in our postage stamp-sized yard every year. For those who are unfamiliar with them, on the ground the dry wings are waggled by the breeze, which helps the seed burrow into the LOAM. The maple is also popular with wildlife. Our mini-poodle mix, Rikki, treed a raccoon there two nights ago.
EIGHTTRACKTAPES at 50A has to be the longest kealoa I've ever seen
Ohmage?!?!?
I wanted EIGHTTRACKTAPES as well, but eight-tracks are a form of cassettes as well, right?
If you're following the Jean Carroll/Trump trial, you know that the judge just referenced A Modest Proposal -- a reference that Trump's lawyer, Tacopina, seemed to not get.
Came in hot with the CAROLINAREAPER and didn’t look back. Loved this puzzle a little too much.
Perhaps I’m still suffering abused solver syndrome after that Friday fiasco.
This grid was so daunting at first glance and then it all just clicked. Cinco di mayo buzz and all, this was mucho easy fun. If you can’t suss the Ks, quit whining and be grateful for these Saturday solves - by far the best of the week.
I don't understand the clue for EGGS. Grocery list "ending"?
Actually, EIGHT TRACK TAPES (which also fits) were the direct predecessors of cassettes.
Uh, wait -- helicopters fly out of MAPLE? HUH?!!
Pretty good themeless puz … if only it had had a few more long answers.
Just kiddin, of course. M&A in fact wants to pay ohmage, to this puz's copious openness.
staff weeject pick of a mere 8 candidates [due to its bein a 66-worder puz, I reckon]: UNO. xword hall of famer answer.
The no-knows abounded, in the solvequest at our house. Spatted up lotsa precious nanoseconds.
Ironically, KARL/KARTS was no problemo, for us. Primo MISNAMES/KARL crossin potential, tho.
faves stuff: MAPLE clue. SPATTED [Better clue: {Having fancy-Dan shoe accessories?}]. THRILLAINMANILA.
Thanx, Mr. Cobb dude.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
**gruntz**
66 years old so the long uppers were all gimmes for me. So was reel to reel tapes, which are NOT a "cassette forerunner" except in the sense it was here before cassettes, but it's still used professionally today. To me, "forerunner" generally implies the thing that came afterwards replaced the former.
Also, 66 years old and have never, ever, seen "Go Kart" spelled "Go Cart." It's always Kart. It's always been Kart. It will always be Kart.
Top-drawer construction, timely trivia, great themeless fun!
As for Rex’s K rant, I always think of this particular behavior as one of his “wild hair” days.
In general he’s quite balanced but occasionally (today?) he goes off the rails. Many others have pointed out that he’s got a tough job and he does it exceedingly well and with sure regularity.
Computers
@Ethan Taliesin 12:33. I suggest you re-read the clue.
Yes they do!
Rich Furman @9:39 “A paean to the resistance “! Brilliant!
Exactly! Sure, toddlers’ SEATS sometimes go IN people’s LAPS, but that’s not how it was clued: “Toddlers’ 26-Down, sometimes.” So…. their SEATS are sometimes LAPS? How, anatomically speaking, might a SEAT become a LAP??
I opened the puzzle, gasped with delight at the grid and said "Martin Ashwood-Smith!" No not him, but nice to see some lovely stacks, it's been a while.
Several of the long acrosses popped right up, although not perfectly. I had SOPHOMORE SEASON which sounds more familiar than SLUMP. THRILLA IN MANILA went in perfectly. But then I had ROLE PLAYING GAME before ACTION ADVENTURE, and then REEL TO REEL DECKS. Not sure why I wanted DECKS before TAPES.
As for Names I Don't Know, got a welcome holiday from them today. But hands up for CARL crossing CARTS. And I agree OHMAGE was an ugly start.
[Spelling Bee: yd 0, last word another SB favorite. But no goofy words yd!]
@Andrew…was your Queen comment on purpose or….wishful thinking?
@Newboy…most of my life I’ve lived around maple trees. Our current property has a tree that I will GLADLY trade for ANY maple. It is a sweet gum. Once you’ve dealt with those spiky balls in your yard you will pray to have your helicopters back!
@Stacey
A stool at a bar is a SEAT, as is a grandfather's LAP.
See several comments above. Including mine (at 8:00)
Those boxes stayed open a while for me, but it means that toddlers often sit in someone's lap.
My puzzle on the NYT app says "Grocery list listing." So eggs could be an item on a grocery list.
Just opening this beauty put a smile on my face. All those longs and a wide open, flowing grid pattern made this look like the archetype of what a Saturday themeless should be.
The fill didn't disappoint either with a lovely blend of challenging but ultimately doable clue-answer combinations.
For what it's worth, in a former life long ago in the previous century I was a sonar tech in the Navy and later an electronics maintenance tech in the aircraft construction industry and I confidently dropped in OHMAGE at 2 Down without hesitation. Looked and sounded just fine to me. Still does.
One thing I did notice, and not in a good way, was that the grid fill got a lot of help from the plural of convenience (POC), including three of the grid spanners and quite a few of the two for one variety, where a Down and an Across both share a final S. Here are ones needing help to fill their slots: SOPHMORE SLUMP, PRONG, HIDE, OLE, LAP, MISNAME, CANE, BOOK, EGG, KART, BETA, SEAT, STEM, CHIT, LOAM, CUKE, GAS, CAROLINA REAPER, and REEL TO REEL TAPE.
Here's a 1:19 YouTube of maple seed helicopter flight. Even cats are fascinated by them.
Just to add one more comment. In 72 years, I once heard an electrician use "ohmage." I thought WTF, even though I knew exactly what he meant. I've never heard it again.
There's a perfectly good and simple word, of course, namely "resistance." The word "voltage," in contrast, is much more justifiable because "electric potential" is a more complicated phrase.
Villager
Toddlers sit in LAPS. The LAPS are the toddlers’ SEATS.
Trying to overturn a Presidential election , without an iota of factual basis leading to the storming of the US capital plus organizing a conspiracy to overturn the democratic process and encouraging others to do the same in the future is the equivalent to raising questions about a state election, in a state that for 100 years actively did everything it could to prevent Blacks from voting , and has started down that road again with the assistance of a highly partisan Supreme Court takes false equivalency to unimaginable levels.
Always happy to complete a Saturday. I liked this one a lot, as I had to work iit-and was able to. Enjoyed Rex's slightly obsessive (who, Rex?) rant about the "K's."
Toddlers sit in LAPS. The LAPS are the toddlers’ SEATS.
There is a verb form of SPAT. I had to look it up to make sure it was real, but it is.
But kart and cart sound the same and if you never ever played the game or see anyone do so it becomes a very easy error
to make. Also the clue did NOT reference the famous Mario brand, but it’s owner company so if you only know the k from previous Times crosswords it is an easy error to make
I’m 100% with @Conrad 6:25 AM and @Rich Furman 9:39 AM (his reply) on OHMAGE. I thought it was supposed to be like a “paean to resistance” and did not want to include the H because on my 60+ years of doing this puzzle I have never seem this form of the old standby OHM. Ha d up for nopity nope nope.
@Beezer (1:43) I agree, sweet gum trees are the worst. I don’t think the birds even like them.
As many (easily over 100) times we stayed at a KOA for a quick and convenient overnight is at least the smallest number of times I have complained aloud (actually I ranted) about deliberate misspellings. The ones I loathe with a heaping helping of vitriol are the ones that end up in the dictionary. No wonder English is so hard to learn; we make a rule then we lionize the breaking of said rule - in the dictionary! Consequently, I very reluctantly acknowledge that one rents KARTS at a track and cARTS at the Aldi grocery stores (well, you do get your quarter back if you lock your cART up when you’re done), but I don’t have to like it. In fact, I have accepted the K for KARTS to the degree that I barely winced when I checked the down to make sure that Mr. Weierstrass is a KARL.
So, @Rex’s multi-graph rant made me laugh because it sent me back to every time we were about to pull into a KOA. After hearing my rant for many years, my husband would say, “we are close enough to start your diatribe now. I bet the owners would appreciate it if you skipped it; I’m pretty sure they already know.” He was tactful like that way.
I questioned OHMAGE, but it worked. I have never in my life SOATTED, but again, it’s of the language (oh, this rule we follow!) sonagain, on. And I had some interesting “dunnos” made accessible via crosses. For example, never heard of a Silk PRESS, had to scratch my head on APCS but the well crafted clue explained it.
Like others (hi all!) who thought the GAIA/GUPTA cross was much more difficult (although, being a fan of Sanjay GUPTA made it simple), I think that one might have been a better reason for the side-eye. But that’s just me.
The grid scared the livin’ daylights outta me. No lie. It’s the kind of grid that just has me quaking in my bare feet. Especially on a Saturday. So I started reading all the clues for the dreaded spanners. Lo and behold, THRILLA IN MANILA (my oops was thinking for a nanosecond that it’s two Ls) and A MODEST PROPOSAL just hopped right in followed quickly (after getting S-O-P-H) by SOPHOMORE SLUMP. Like OFL, once I got the top spanners in, I had a gateway to a smooth whooshy completion. This is a spectacular puzzle, a true work of art.
It’s Pride Weekend here in the rainbow dot that is Norman. I’m off to the drag show-despite our governor and his loonies. Happy weekend all!
The Kart/Karl rant is just beyond. The level of uncertainty Rex experienced here, while not unique, is by no means universal. If it was a sticking point for you, that's fair, but give it a couple sentence mention and move on.
Me too! (not #metoo just regular me too) THRILLA and MODEST were my first two entries and I felt so smart... for a little while.
Never noticed the c/k conundrum, just entered K and moved on. FunPuz!
The only word she knows is meow, and she doesn't know how to spell it. (Hitchhiker's Guide shout-out)
Super Mario Kart came out in like 1997. That’s the reference.
I am a mathematician and misparsed the clue "Mathematician Weierstrass dubbed the "father of modern analysis" " to someone that Weierstrass had dubbed the father of modern analysis, and couldn't think of a top analyst of the time whose last name had 4 letters. It's embarrassing to have a clue in your wheelhouse and whiff. Once I got a few letters, I realized it was his first name, which I did know. Maples, on the other hand ....
I found this one a lot of fun with the great grid-spanning stacks. I got tripped up a bit by forgetting that high school classes use the A.P. naming convention in the United States, so I thought coders might be taking a class on APpS. That had me trying to make *ApART* somehow work for individually, before ALACARTE became clear.
Karting has been the gatewat for young race car drivers of every kind for ages. And not just the apparently unmentionalble-in-polite-conversation stock car drivers - but snootier acceptible-in-polite-conversation F1 and just about every other class of racing as well. If anything the Mario Kart reference made the clue harder when they probably thought they were throwing people a bone....
For me it was the easiest Sat in the last few years. Not a bad puzzle either - though I really prefer a meaty stumpers. My only qibble was the helicopter clue. While I sussed it out I wouldn't say helicopters "fly out" of trees - like birds - they fall and twirl down. Like apples or acorns, just more slowly. So clue was off. Spatted is pretty ugly too.
Anti-war is definitely the term not pro-peace. That one irked me
OHMAGE. Not a word used by anyone who has ever handled a resistor.
Seems a bit too much written about K v. C.
A suggestion to blogger: Why not indicase your personal rating, such as EASY and what you imagine that of the ordinary solver ? . Medium - Challenging for most?
I wonder if anyone besides the person who constructed this puzzle has ever said., heard, or seen the word SPATTED. I can hardly wait to use it! That one plus BOOKS, OHMAGE, and PROPEACE seemed rather forced.
Same!!!
"Mens rea" is a legal term meaning intent or state of mind of the criminal. Actus reas refers to the criminal's actions.
I can’t believe Rex (and everyone else in these comments) isn’t as annoyed as I am about APCS! Not only does “no one refer to it as APCS”, as another anonymous commenter pointed out, but there in fact is no such course! There are two different courses, AP CS A, and AP CS Principles. A clue that had been properly edited (come on Will!) might have read, “College level courses for H.S. coders”. It’s just as, perhaps, “AP Math” encompasses a number of distinct courses.
Nothing crazy republicans (redundancy) say or do is unimaginable.
Didn't even take note of the K krossing because I've been playing Mario Kart games for almost my entire life. That spelling is planted in there good.
APCS is terrible. I'd go with the armored personnel carrier meaning instead, if that jumble of letters has to be in there.
OPEN TO YES
'Twas AMODESTPROPOSAL by STACEY
TO MAKEUP THE game TO PLAY,
got ME ACTION and ADVENTURE so racy,
A THRILLA minute but WE'REOK.
--- KARL PIERRE BASEL
Carts with a "C" are pushed around in grocery stores, or smoked. I had a go-Kart in the 1950's!
Well, I spell my own name with a C, so of course DNF at #23--and the single most unfair cross in crossword history. In fact, I'm gonna declare that I finished, and score it.
I love me a gridspanner gimme, which came with AMODESTPROPOSAL. Learned that sucker in junior high ("middle school," for you young'uns). 16a and 1a came in soon after. The south was another matter entirely. So north easy, south challenging: medium.
Wordle bogey. Go Knights go!!
yes, the MODESTPROPOSAL got me started, but I fell off the wagon somewhere along the wya.
Diana, LIW
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