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"On My Own" singer in "Les Misérables" / MON 6-19-23 / Shelfmate of Aleve and Advil / Iconic hairstyle for Amy Winehouse / South American predator whose name translates to tooth fish / Reshape as a pipe cleaner / Prickly plant in a thicket / Whiff three times in the batter's box / Hurling curling or baton twirling / Penguin lookalike
Monday, June 19, 2023
Constructor: David Liben-Nowell
Relative difficulty: ??? Normalish?
Theme answers:
- SLICE OF BREAD (16A: Sandwich top)
- RASPBERRY JAM (31A: Fruity sandwich ingredient)
- PEANUT BUTTER (45A: Savory sandwich ingredient)
- SLICE OF BREAD (57A: Sandwich bottom)
Éponine Thénardier (/ˌɛpəˈniːn təˌnɑːrdiˈeɪ/; French: [epɔnin tenaʁdje]), also referred to as the "Jondrette girl", is a fictional character in the 1862 novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.The character is introduced as a spoiled and pampered child, but appears later in the novel as a ragged and impoverished teenager who speaks in the argot of the Parisian streets, while retaining vestiges of her former charm and innocence. She still loves her brother Gavroche. [...] Éponine is also featured in the stage musical adaptation. She is played by two actors, a young girl for Young Éponine in the Montfermeil scenes, and by a young woman for the adolescent Éponine in the later Parisian scenes. Actresses playing Young Éponine and Young Cosette sometimes interchange roles in different performances to equalize performance opportunities and vocal strain.
The musical gives a pointedly sympathetic depiction of Éponine, which has made her one of the show's most popular characters. Throughout the musical, the ragged, independent, and tragic Éponine is starkly contrasted with the demure, innocent, and sheltered Cosette.
Michelle Kwan skated to "On My Own" during the 1997 Skate America competition as well as the 1998 Tokyo Golden Gala. [...] The character of Joey Potter in Dawson's Creek, played by Katie Holmes, sang this song at a talent show phase of a beauty show, (Season 1, Episode 12) in which she participated. In the pilot episode of Glee, the character of Rachel Berry, played by Lea Michele, sang this song as her audition piece for the New Directions glee club, this version charted at number 42 in Ireland and 73 in the UK. (wikipedia)
• • •
As a Downs-only solve, this was pretty easy, except (and I mean "Except," capital "E") ... When everybody was busy seeing "Les Misérables" in the '90s, I was busy ... not doing that. Big musicals that "everybody" sees and "everybody" knows = extremely not my thing. I am not a part of that "everybody." And so while ÉPONINE is probably a Monday answer for most of you, hoo boy was it gibberish for me. Just the most improbable-looking Monday answer of all time (last NYTXW appearance: 2003! On a Thursday!) Solving Downs-only, I was very lucky that AMI- at 27A couldn't really end in any other vowel but "E," particularly not an "A," because I'd've happily guessed APONINE given half a chance, why not? It's no less silly-seeming a name than ÉPONINE. I honestly laughed when I finally had ÉPONINE written into the grid, like "oh well, fingers crossed!" Rest of the fill seems solid and maybe even a little above average. Really like TOP-NOTCH, and I love that the AERIALIST is (aptly) dangling from high atop the grid. You cannot convince me that baton-twirling is a SPORT, please don't try (7D: Hurling, curling or baton twirling). Also, I don't know why HES gets clued as a plural—it's so awkward that way. Better to just clue it as a partial and get a good song going in the solver's head. "HE'S So Fine" or "HE'S a Rebel" or something. It's not good fill, so at least let us get a good earworm going.
This puzzle looks enormous but at 12x19 it's got just three more squares than your standard 15x15 grid. Caleb Madison has a puzzle out at The Atlantic this month called "Caleb's Inferno" that has a similar, if more extremely vertical, shape (7x25). The whole point of that one is that it gets more ... hellish ... as you descend the grid. You should try it. (It's not that hellish down there, tbh). Actually, you (that is I) should probably be doing the Atlantic puzzles regularly, since Paolo Pasco is the main constructor. I just did a tiny puzzle of his (Fri. June 16, a 9x9) that took me longer than a typical NYTXW Saturday puzzle, but I don't think they're all like that. Anyway, that's all for today. Happy Juneteenth. See you tomorrow maybe.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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101 comments:
Easy. Smooth and delightfully different. My only problems were initially spelling BRIER with an a and tracking down a typo which can happen when you hunt and peck on a iPad. EPONINE was a WOE for me too. Liked it and not just because PB&J (with strawberry jam) is perhaps my favorite sandwich.
Croce Solvers - Croce’s Freestyle #818 was NYT Friday easy except for the SE which took a lot longer than the rest of it. Plus I needed help with 45d from my CS student grandson to finish. Good luck!
Misread "Caleb Madison has a puzzle out at The Atlantic ..." as *The Athletic* and spent the last five minutes searching its app for its puzzle section while also wondering why The Athletic's crosswords weren't merged into NYT Games. Oh well, but I was certainly intrigued by sports-centric crosswords.
I usually do Mondays looking at down clues only, but I saw this crazy grid and... well I panicked, and decided to try across clues only. (Don't ask for the logic of this, I panicked). And it didn't go well, with a ton of empty acrosses. So I gave up, and looked at whatever the heck clue I wanted to, and got the solution the regular way, and it was fun!
So that is the point... some people jeer at this "downs only" gimmick. But the thing is: I used to skip Mondays entirely because there was little joy or challenge in it. Then I tried downs only, and Monday soon became a favorite day of the week, because it was usually challenging and fun. And the thing is, if it is TOO challenging or NOT fun, you can always go back to the regular method.
As for jelly vs jam, seriously Rex, can't the J in PBJ stand for jam?
I am awake at 1 am because my family allowed my to nap on the couch watching golf and then nap (again) with my daughter curled up on my lap watching the little mermaid this afternoon. With that in mind, I was hoping for a little more pushback and something that might tire me out. This wasn’t it. Perfectly fine puzzle, but almost insultingly easy.
@rex I’m not a musical guy, but I’m a sucker for les mis. I saw it on Broadway in high school and I only went because it was a field trip and meant we didn’t have to go to class. It was awesome. Stop being so cynical and give it a watch.
Hope everyone had a great Father’s Day and happy Juneteenth tomorrow
"Over ice"? I suppose it's technically correct, but I don't recall ever having heard anyone say that anywhere, much less at a bar, rather than "on the rocks" or something shorter (just "rocks" or "ice"). Maybe I've been hanging with the wrong crowd or in the wrong places for the past too many decades.
It was POPS special day. His son IMAX, who was a TOPNOTCH SWAB on the SSE BEEHIVE, was in the AREA and wanted to DROP by. IMAX might STRIKE some as the RACY type, but compared to POPS EVIL neighbor, EPONINE, HE'S a SLICE of FIJI JAM and BUTTER on some white BREAD.
You see, EPONINE was a known PIRANHA. You'd put a SLICE OF BREAD out to be FED to DINO, the dog, and she'd swoop down and JAM into her mouth. She was also known to SPORT a RACY BRA that she WOVE into her SARI...she also DYED her hair PEA green...What a SHAM!
IMAX knew how to BUTTER his BREAD. He would lure her with a PEANUT and she'd be like a BEE sucking a PEA. He'd PORE her a TAD of LAVA OVER ICE and hope this EVIL TRILOGY of ABASED thoughts in his mind would DROP enough hints. He didn't want to EXTORT or CENSURE her; he just wanted her to JAM into her CAR and HALE to another planet.
EPONINE finally left and decided to become an AERIALIST in the town of LOS OCHOS. The CABINS were FREE and so was CABLE. She also had a small OVEN she'd bake her BREAD in. You could also see her flying in the BRIER patch which was truly a SPEC, even thought one might need a TYLENOL to UNSEE it...She was really FREE at last.
The HAZE finally lifted and it was time for IMAX to return to the SSE BEEHIVE and SWAB his decks. POPS was happy...the BUTTER was churned, RASPBERRY JAM was DROP dead delicious this year and BREAD was being baked in the town OVEN for all to eat. It was a SLICE of heaven...
And that's the truth!
I’m sorry, but PEANUT BUTTER is simply not a savory food. Salty, okay? But *savory*???
Rex is certainly right about PBJ - the J is for jelly, a sandwich that was a mainstay of my youth. Welch's grape jelly and Peter Pan peanut butter (smooth) were the ingredients at my house. Nice to see an odd-shaped puzzle.
For a Monday puzzle, this one is quite crunchy. Or is it smooth? Either way, it reminds me of my youth. No Wonder I enjoyed it.
Easyish? Even downs only took me just 7 min. The sandwich thing made that second SLICE OF BREAD super obvious. Agreed, partly on the J filling; I grew up with that being strawberry jam, never jelly.
Really nothing else to add...
Apricot JAM for me, with sliced banana.
Do not understand Rex's use of the word "dupe" here. Help?
Strange that Rex now deems foreign names as “silly” but ok…
Eponine is a French name, from epos (horse). So yes, it is a silly name, but probably not the way Rex meant it.
For the rest I found the theme delightful because as OFL mentioned they duped the slice of bread, which I took to be ironic and literal at the same time and therefore brilliant.
Fwiw raspberry jam is my go to combo with peanut butter when I make myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
My five favorite original clues from last week
(in order of appearance):
1. Multiple-episode pilot? (3)
2. Evidence of a "SCREECH!," maybe (4)(4)
3. Pressing need? (7)
4. Strung accompaniment for a hula (3)
5. Digital support group? (4)
HAN
SKID MARK
BARBELL
LEI
TOES
Childlike theme - similar fill. Uncomfortable app solve requiring scrolling to get to the grid limits. I’ll pass.
EVAN Dando
Duplicate, I think.
Can't sleep. 3 am. Here we go.
It's a skinny puzzle and the theme'll make you fat. Ha. It's so rare to find a non-standard shape among the puzzles I've typically worked. Seems almost naughty like a RACY BRA (see below), or maybe like there's a reason to construct a tower of babble, but nope, it's just skinny.
SLICE OF BREAD twice is hilarious. 🦖 questions the JAM, but I wonder if it shouldn't have been a Cloud-Egg Croque Madame, or a Pesto, Artichoke, and Havarti Grilled Cheese on a Baguette, or a Rueben, Monte Cristo, lobster Po'Boy, or Muffaletta. It obviously couldn't be a Philly Cheese Steak since the last time it came up in a puzzle, anyone who'd ever driven through Philadelphia turned into a rabid beast claiming hereditary privilege to insider knowledge about the "real" cheese steaks. I'm more of a pasta fan, or handheld burrito kinda guy, but as long as someone else is cooking, I'm in. If I can eat it in front of the TV standing up, even better. If Lord of the Rings is on, I'd pick that show since I'm letting my beard go and I think I'll look like Gandalf or maybe Dumbledore in the end. But I digress.
TOP NOTCH and TOP SHELF have the same number of letters and the same meaning. Shelf is more evocative of the HAZE in the puzzle and the subsequent need for TYLENOL, but they went with notch. Sigh. My kingdom for a bedpost.
A brief warning regarding AERIALISTS. The man in the song about flying trapezes steals the narrator's teenaged gal, forces her to change her name to a boy's name, and makes her do all the difficult tricks up in the air. This is another reason to date older women.
Tee-Hee: RACY and BRA.
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year:
1 Boxing Altoids fear only these.
1 WINTERGREEN MINTS UNGLOVED
Uniclues:
1 Device used by toothed fishes to add a smoky flavor to horse flesh.
2 The story of my life on marijuana, booze and pain meds -- or, on old age with modern technology, modern pronouns and modern democracy, which, as it turns out, is equally foggy.
1 PIRANHA OVEN
2 HAZE TRILOGY
Seems to me that the novel grid shape is meant to look like a slice of bread. More fun that wat.
The highlight of this one for me was coming to the realization that I didn’t know how to spell RASPBERRY. I was staring at that one square which would have given me EPONINE and wondering if I was face to face with a Monday DNF, but I went with RASPBERRY with a P and all ended well.
Nice to see NASCAR and Dale Sr. Get a moment in the sun. Little E (Dale Jr.) or Chase Elliot would have been fine representatives as well.
I never saw BRIER spelled that way. It has always been "briar" to me. Once I realized that BEEHIVE was the only possible answer for the hairstyle clue, I tried the "bad" spelling and it worked.
Except for that, I thought it was a normal Monday with a gentle theme.
Missed opportunity: started with ‘pea’, had ‘bee’ in the upper half, was looking for an ‘and’ in the lower half and a big finish with ‘jay’!
West coast thing. As a bartender in NYC, that was a give away that the customer was from California.
Our leader must have really liked this one, he dug deep to find nits. Raspberry jam for a PBJ is as common as pepperoni on a pizza. I believe J is the first letter of JAM so no problem there.
My downs-only solve was a breeze - except for the same place Rex mentions, with EPONINE, but my problem was much bigger. No idea about that character. I saw Les Miz once but that name was not in any part of my brain. Neither was TARE - I wanted zero there. And I think of an IMAX screen as huge but not necessarily immersive. So I had to “cheat” and look at across clues in that section.
RASPBERRY jam (or jelly, I also don’t remember the difference) is my go-to for a PB&J. Raspberries might be one of my two favorite foods, along with chocolate (and they are even better together). My RASPBERRY bush is in full production right now, and I am in heaven. Some of it hangs over a wall, above the sidewalk. The other day I was picking them there and popping them in my mouth at the end of a dog walk. A woman walked by, smiled conspiratorially, and said, “I won’t tell.” I told her it was OK, that I lived there, but that anyone walking by is welcome to pick them. Passers-by rarely do, but I think it’s less that they think they are stealing and more that they are so immersed in their phones that they don’t notice the bounty right above their heads. More for me.
Would have preferred to see the lower bread as "ANOTHER SLICE." It fits.
A cruciverbal and gustatorial delight, with lovely serendipities:
• BEND crossing ORE.
• TRILOGY crossing STRIKEOUT.
• FIJI abutting HYDRATE.
• DROP dropping.
• PuzzPair© of RACY and NASCAR.
• PuzzPair© of SWAB and SEAFARER.
• Quintet of lovely four-letter semordnilaps – ERGO / AVON / MADE / EVAN / EVIL.
To balance this vertical grid, I strongly recommend the horizontal puzzle by Patrick Blindauer of 10/6/2008, which Jeff Chen pointed out in his blog today. It is highly entertaining, even if you just look at the solution.
Today, David hit the cycle – now has had a NYT puzzle published for every day of the week – on his 13th puzzle. In contrast, yesterday’s constructor, Joe DiPietro, has made 137 NYT daily puzzles and has yet to hit it (This is not a criticism! – maybe it’s not important to him! – I’m just pointing out the contrast). On the other end, only one constructor, Andrew Ries, hit this cycle in his first seven puzzles.
David, this was a most pleasurable outing, and props for coming up with such a simple-yet-charming motif. Bravo, sir, and thank you!
I had a raspberry jam and peanut butter sandwich this weekend…i have always made PBJ with raspberry jam…maybe it’s a midwestern thing? Fun references to Jimi Hendrix and Amy Winehouse and hope everyone has a week without needing Tylenol. I didn’t know you could use the same answer twice so that was my only pause on a delicious Juneteenth Monday.
Hold up, @Rex hasn’t read the novel? hasn’t taught the novel at some point? No way. I get the “musicals not my thing”, thing, but very surprised that even when he had it filled, was still all “fingers crossed!” The song gives her a prominent scene in the musical, but also an important character in the novel.
The visual clanged for me. I've never seen a PBJ that's taller than it is wide.
Jam has fruit pieces; jelly is clear
My closest ever to a downs-only solve but had to look at one across clue to turn OH Ho (EPONoNE) into OH HI (EPONINE). OH well. Never seen Les Mis and don't expect to.
I mostly agree with RP that PB&J is "peanut butter and jelly" and not "peanut butter and jam." To those arguing that it's OK because Jam starts with J, I say that "tortoise" starts with "T" but that would not in itself justify building a theme around a bacon, lettuce, and tortoise sandwich. Having said that, I have a peanut butter and jam sandwich several times a week. Usually with raspberry jam. Jam spreads better than jelly. Jelly, frankly, is unnecessary in life.
I just had a flashback to ca. 1980 when there was a product on the grocery store shelves that had peanut butter and jelly (grape, I think) loosely swirled together so that you would only need to open one jar to make your PB&J. I had fun ridiculing it. I don't think it lasted long.
This made me spit my coffee laughing ‘When everybody was busy seeing "Les Misérables" in the '90s, I was busy ... not doing that. Big musicals that "everybody" sees and "everybody" knows = extremely not my thing. I am not a part of that "everybody."‘ that’s exactly me as well. I have not seen any of those must see musicals. I did not know this one either but fortunately was not doing a downs only solve.
Youth Slang for, usually, a cheaper version of a high end thing. "This Maybelline lipstick is a dupe for my favorite from Sephora."
Now the kids use it for everything, though; acknowledgment, snark, insults, etc.
Fun, breezy Monday solved mostly Downs Only because why not.
Question for the veterans: why aren’t there more unusually shaped crosswords? Is it because they might be looked at more closely by reviewers or is it just something about the construction that makes a square more conducive, or something else?
And, said with care, before decrying something as “not a sport” or “not a real job” or whatever, maybe we should pause to consider the typical gender of the person who does it and whether that might be subconsciously influencing our views? I dunno, maybe our fair leader did that and still stands by the view. All I can say is that I didn’t do baton twirling but I did spin fire staff (what can I say, I hung out with a lot of circus punks in college). Basically, I’ve got enough experience with spinning sticks around in the air to say it’s *way* more challenging and athletic than it looks.
Happy Juneteenth.
If you grew up listening to Raffi, you definitely know that a peanut butter sandwich can be made with JAM!
(One for me and one for David Amram)
Maybe it was the puzzle itself, but I got much, much further doing it downs-only than I have with any other puzzle to date (and this is probably the 9th or 10th Monday I’ve tried to do downs-only). This was the first time I got all the themers and about 85% of the fill without looking at any of the across clues. Progress!!
Eponine was indeed a gimme for me.
I’m one of the few people I know who really dislike peanut butter, but this is a very nice Monday puzzle.
Since I'm PB and my wife is J, part of her email is pbandj, which usually needs some explanation when we tell people what the whole thing is. So a shout out puzzle is always appreciated.
When I was teaching our high school did a production of "Les Mis" which was spectacular. They rented costumes and even had a revolving platform at center stage which added to the special effects. The director was also the choral director and I was complimenting her after the show and she said it was the year she had the voices for it. Did she ever.
Agree with BRIER looking odd to me. Also, if you "whiff three times in the batter's box", to me that means you struck out three times. "Whiff " for a swing and amiss may be technically correct but I think it more commonly applies to a whole at bat.
I liked your Monday sandwich, DLN. Usually Don't Like Names Like EPONINE in a puzzle but this brought back some nice memories, and thanks for all the fun.
re: the J stands for jelly!!!!
I live in western Canada. Here, it stands for Jam. Perhaps it also does in parts of the US.
"Peanut Butter and Jam" is a thing here, while "Peanut Butter and Jelly" isn't the standard at all.
Hey All !
Where's the Q? Missed the Pangram by *this* much. Redo the SW corner to get SHAQ, and go from there. 😁
Very interesting grid. Somebody said to resemble a piece of bread? Maybe. Maybe it's extra thick bread, like a burger bun, as the SLICES are four rows in. Unsure why you needed 19 Rows instead of, say, 17. To get the word count closer to a 15x15?
My body doesn't seem to tolerate PB lately anymore. Shame, cause I really like it. Crunchy guy here.
Puz light on dreck, so that's nice.
Rex cracks me up. EAT A SANDWICH! Would've been awesome if David got that down the center column!
It's Monday again? Dang, times flies when you want the weekend to continue.
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Have seen Les Mis once or twice, have read the novel at least twice, so knew EPONINE but it definitely did not feel like a Monday answer.
Also agree on the jelly/JAM nitpick. It’s not a fatal flaw, but no less an authority than Welch’s offers Concord grape jelly AND Concord grape jam, so they’re not the same thing. What we have here is a perfectly fine generic sandwich, but it’s not a classic PB&J. I’m not off the top of my head thinking of a jelly flavor that would have a grid-spanning 12 letters - grape would be 10. Apricot would work but is usually a jam or “preserves” rather than jelly. Same with rhubarb, which is my personal favorite but would be way too niche anyway.
I generally refrain from commenting here but am making an exception today in defense of raspberry jam, which is usually the only type of jam you’ll find in my fridge. It may not make for an archetypal PBJ (with strawberry or grape jam?), but it’s certainly in the realm of “normal” choices given how easy it is to find in pretty much any supermarket in North America. Admittedly, I’m biased, but I think it’s a solid Monday answer.
I don’t always do Mondays but I’m glad I did today. As Rex said, charming, whimsical and daring. Although I do prefer grape JAM with my PEANUT BUTTER, I found the whole thing most appealing. The grid shape, the ingredients in between the SLICES OF BREAD - the Art of the Sandwich - and a very tasty Monday.
As I came here, I was hoping Rex would name the theme "Eat a sandwich!" He didn't, quite, but he came close enough; so now I'm happy. I think this whole puzzle was a send-up, combining ridiculously easy answers with that cliche for overly general fill.
Other than that, just three points:
1. Those sandwiches have been called PBJ only since sometime around 1980; back in the 1950s they were called "peanut butter and jelly," nothing else. Eventually the analogy with BLT became too hard to resist. (Technical note to those unsure: when you make jelly, you put the cooked and mashed fruit in a jelly bag, which you hang over a bowl. Then you take the juice that drips through and make it jell. With jam, you just leave the fruit in.)
2. My wife has a first cousin once-removed named BRIER. I always thought it was a weird spelling, but Dictionary.com gives it as the main one.
3. AUKs fill an ecological niche in the Arctic similar to that of penguins in the Antarctic; but they don't look all that much like them. And they can fly (except for the great auks, which are extinct, so you see where that got them).
Google “BRIER” and it will bring up “Briar”. The word is Briar.
Even if I’m putting jam in my PBJ, I still call it a peanut butter and jelly. Just one of those things that I cannot care to be too pedantic about.
I thought @Rex would absolutely unleash on the “eat a sandwich” theme! I also was surprised to see that todays puzzle actually had a few MORE squares than the usual. Perfectly serviceable Monday in my book.
@DrA…I feel very similar to you with “musicals.” I READ Les Miserablés in my early twenties and, ever since, I’ve considered it to be one of the most powerful books I ever read. I’m evidently a rare bird but I find taking that work of art, condensing it into a two hour experience with songs thrown in to be…well, (I almost said offensive)…let’s just say, I KNOW I would ultimately be angry watching the musical and keep in mind I LIKE Hugh Jackman.
@anonymous above…I agree that I don’t think of peanut butter as “savory” but then again I tend to buy one of the “sweeter” (and smooth NOT crunchy) brands!
@Eater of Sole…I hear you on your “jelly” take because I don’t like it either but I DO think it is necessary because it is MUCH less expensive than preserves and jam (I THINK jam is the most expensive of the three). Hey. I just thought of that…not intended to sound preachy…
I don't know about you, but I always put a Tylenol tablet under the peanut butter when I make a pbj sandwich. And a piranha on the top for garnish.
Unusually shaped grids are all well and good, but I can't fathom using this layout to depict any kind of sandwich. A literal or metaphoric sandwich has its components packed tightly together. Here the bread and fillings are spaced miles apart from each other. The extra rows at the top and bottom just emphasize how sprawled out the thing looks.
Oh well. Open up the jar.
Thx, David; a yummy sammy! 😋
Med.
Had a typo dnf with BEdHIVE crossing BRIdR. Took me a while to find it, as I was suspect of EPONINE from the get-go. lol
Otherwise, a smooth PEANUT BUTTERy solve.
It's been a slice; enjoyed the JAM! :)
Thx @Rex for Caleb's links. :)
A meaningful Juneteenth to all! 🌟
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Thx @jae, on it!
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Fun/ny acrostic yd. Not too hard. A riot!
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On to Croce's #818, with Brooke Husic's Mon. New Yorker on deck. 🤞
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Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness, Freudenfreude & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
Reading comments about JAM vs. jelly reminded me of childhood summers at my grandmother’s house where she had a good sized grape arbor. Every summer we picked buckets full of them for jelly and I can still remember the smell of the juice cooking on the stove. My mother always hated doing it but felt an obligation because the grapes were there and needed to be used. It was a messy, time-consuming process for sure.
@Wanderlust (7:02) It’s a good thing I don’t live in your neighborhood, I’d probably be stealing raspberries every day. Yum!
@SS Johnny: Agree it was nice to have a sweet reminder of The Intimidator this morning. I had just watched NASCAR’s 75th anniversary special over the weekend and he was of course a significant part of the history narrative.
I actually rechecked to see if this column was actually written by ‘Rex’. How could he like this? Should be in Hi-lites magazine, not taking up space in the NYT. Juvenile, simplistic and not necessitating even a moment of actual thought. Even for a holiday Monday, a waste of time and paper.
Wow, @Rex, 10 lines of griping about EPONINE and Les Miz, and not a word about Dear EVAN Hansen, a notably less-notable show. And Will-where’s the (alt) on BRIER? As a Monday downs-only solver, that “a” stayed in til the end.
I find it interesting that so much of Rex’s et.al comments devour the PB&J controversy, showing how deeply ingrained our cultural patterns are.
It's an enormous miracle -- like something right out of the Bible!!!! I slept well last night and this morning my vision has been restored to what it was five decades ago!!! I can see ALL the numbers on the grid -- even without my glasses!!! Now I remember how effortless it used to be doing crossw--
Uh oh -- wait. I think the numbers may be bigger. I think the squares may be bigger. I think the entire grid may be bigger. Darn it -- if that's the case, my eyesight hasn't improved at all.
I pull yesterday's puzzle out of my small pile. Yes, that's it. Yesterday's was much smaller. But thank you, Will Shortz, thank you!!! I guess a lot of other older solvers with diminishing eyesight have been complaining? And now the puzzle will be bigger? How wonderful!!!!!
But, no, Today's puzzle is a one-off because for some reason it's a 12 x 19. Aw shucks. For a moment I really thought...
A cute puzzle, btw. Playfully, it breaks a cardinal crossword rule and dares us to be amused rather than horrified. And once I realized that my youthful vision had not been miraculously restored, I sat back and permitted myself to be amused.
berg,
I think all the auks—more properly known as alcids— look a whole lot like penguins.
One thing’s for sure, there is no such species as auk., with the possible exception of what is sometimes called a little auk. But nearly always, everywhere and by everyone, a dovekie.
There was a major influx of dovekies down the East coast last winter. I have it on good authority that every birder from Bar Harbor to Assateague saw several. Well, everyone except me😡.
Re. Peanut Butter as a savory food. Skippy has four grams of sugar in a "two tablespoon" serving (as if anyone can spread it that thin). Jiffy has 3. That little difference is something I can taste and I'm Jif fan because it taste savory to me. Husband was a Skippy guy. We had to keep a jar of each in the house because that.
Not passionate about this, but I hope to not see this grid again. Liked the puzzle though.
I thought it was against the rules to repeat an entry.
Tapenade. I should have said "tapenade." Not only because it (so cleverly!) invokes a very recent discussion here, but because a bacon, lettuce, and tapenade sandwich could be an actual thing, as opposed to the tortoise version. Sounds too salty for my taste. Peanut butter & tapenade anyone?
I had AERIAL___ and thought for a split second that an AERIAL ACE is a thing. Nope, that's a Pokémon move.
EPONINE is a perfectly acceptable answer in a Monday puzzle... a New Yorker Monday, that is.
Seeing the reaction to this one, I think I’ll stop work on my “Seven Layer Dip” puzzle. Plus I’m not sure the times would take a 9 x 35 puzzle anyway. But on to this puzzle. My personal favorite PBJ is peanut butter and jalapeños. A bit of mayo helps but isn’t necessary.
While caring for our 5 year old granddaughter, we’ve recently discovered the Smucker Uncrustables, which come in
PB & Grape Jelly and PB & Strawberry Jam. For those unfamiliar with Uncrustables, it might be best to simply read the main patent claim.
patent
The sealed crustless sandwich.
The first claim of Menusaver's patent reads:
A sealed crustless sandwich, comprising:
a first bread layer having a first perimeter surface coplanar to a contact surface;
at least one filling of an edible food juxtaposed to said contact surface;
a second bread layer juxtaposed to said at least one filling opposite of said first bread layer, wherein said second bread layer includes a second perimeter surface similar to said first perimeter surface;
a crimped edge directly between said first perimeter surface and said second perimeter surface for sealing said filling(s) between said first bread layer and said second bread layer;
wherein a crust portion of said first bread layer and said second bread layer has been removed.
Now that’s a PBJ!!!
If you’re going to order a drink OVERICE, you need to enunciate very carefully. Last time I ordered a Jack Daniels that way, I got it on basmati.
Fun little puzzle, David Liben-Nowell. I guess you earned your BREAD for this one.
Very cute. I smiled at how @Rex's "Eat a sandwich" was transformed into "MADE a sandwich." Solving - smooth as creamy PEANUT BUTTER. A detail I liked was the NW corner's EVIL PEA - seemingly less threatening than a fairy tale's usual EVIL stepmother or the like, but not when you can't get to sleep.
Re Lewis's 727 comment on constructors who have "hit for the cycle"--i.e. had a puzzle published for each day of the week. He said it's not a criticism of constructors who haven't; it's just a casual observation.
I'd go further. To me it's a feature, not a bug if you haven't. Construct a Monday or Tuesday puzzle and you'll have to dumb down your clues. If you don't dumb them down yourself, someone at the NYT will dumb them down for you. And that's why I have no interest in ever constructing a Monday or Tuesday puzzle. If I come up with some theme idea that seems early weekish -- and if I can't toughen it up in some way to make it more challenging -- I just drop the idea and look for a crunchier one.
I solved this before I had time to put on my blindfold for my usual Monday in-the-dark solve. Cute theme and cool sandwich-shaped grid, but man was this easy.
Grew up loving PBJs but graduated eventually to PBGOs (peanut butter and green-olive sandwiches). Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.
@Eater of Sole
How about Baloney, Lettuce & Tomato?
Where I come from (meaning my household) J = Jam
Cute & very easy.
BTW you're dating yourself, Rex by mentioning in your write-up "He's So Fine" & "He's a Rebel" but I remember them both so I guess I am too :)
And, of course, "Purple Haze"
In the late 1930s, my mother worked for a research dentist. PB&J sandwiches were forbidden because the peanut butter stuck the sugar to the teeth. Lucky for us, my father introduced peanut butter and bacon sandwiches (on toast). A family favorite for three generations!
Really enjoyed this puzzle. The clues were really on my wavelength except raspberry jam, but I got there after getting a few of the downs. I’ve tried PB&J with many flavors, but for me it’s grape jelly or bust. I was really thrilled by the Eponine clue. It’s my favorite musical and Eponine’s On My Own is my favorite song from the show. I’ve been reading this blog for years and have found that Rex and I are pretty opposite on which pop culture clues that give us trouble
That's one tall hunk of easy sandwich makin. With yer different 12x19 puzgrid dimensions. Like.
staff weeject pick: FED. Good sandwich go-with.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Sandwich bottom} = SLICEOFBREAD. Once U know it ain't open-faced, it's all over but the fillin in.
Some fave stuff: PIRANHA. BEEHIVE. TOPNOTCH. HYDRATE. STRIKEOUT.
Thanx for the fun, Mr. Liben-Nowell dude. And Now … Let's see how many other weird puzgrid dimensions U can crank out.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
**gruntz**
and/or
**gruntz**
@JD, I was so surprised to find that Skippy has MORE sugar than Jif AND that you think of Jif as more savory because my tastebuds read the opposite! This blurb I found might explain why (saltiness):
While they are nutritionally similar, Skippy contains 10 more milligrams of sodium than Jif and one more gram of sugar, and has fewer nutrients overall. But it does have half a milligram less saturated fat than Jif.
At any rate, if my husband buys the pb…he gets Jif. Yeah, I go for the sugar king, Peter Pan! I’m just glad he doesn’t like Skippy!
Dumb grid. Silly puzzle. Not NYT worthy. Felt like a was solving a Hi-Lites for Children puzzle.
A very playful Monday. Good ol’ PB&J. Brings back memories of school lunch for sure. And making the sandwich as we solved was just cute and fresh and so much fun. Gave Monday a real lift.
Even as a small child, I hated peanut butter. Always have. The one exception was, back in the day, finding a health food store near the Haight that ground peanut butter to order. *That* was worth eating. However, my wife likes her PB&Js, and the J of choice usually is strawberry jam (or preserves). When I was a kid it was all too often Welch's grape jelly. But then, I also have never much enjoyed RASPBERRY's flavor.
I was absolutely delighted to come across that dupe SLICE OF BREAD. Who'd've thunk it? But entirely fair, in that unique context.
I did not solve Downs only -- never do, but today, the Downs were far easier to come up with than the Acrosses, though, like OFL, I found a few longer Downs that were not exactly a piece of cake.
Is it possible to play the Atlantic using third party software? I can’t find a puz file link anywhere. Thanks!
The highlight of this puzzle is @Gill I's write-up. Best use of Eponine in a sentence! It made me laugh, thanks.
@Rich W
Try this.
@Rich W, if you install Crossword Scraper for Firefox or Chrome, it will let you download the .puz from the page JC66 linked to.
Re jam vs jelly: as @Jim in Canada said, it was definitely "jam" in western Canada when I was growing up 50 years ago.
Also "the Brier" has been a Canadian curling championship for many decades.
Growing up, there was never any peanut butter in my home because my older brother loved it too much and would binge on it. So my mother had to stop bringing it home. I was okay with that -- I liked it but didn't love it.
A bigger issue was strawberries. Whenever there were strawberries in the house and I'd go near the fridge, my mother would say -- "don't eat the strawberries! -- they're Jay's favorite and he'll be home soon -- I got them for him." I was "okay, I guess I'll have something else."
Fast forward thirty years -- my mom is gone, my brother is in his sixties and I'm around 50, and he's over at my house and I happen to have some strawberries in the fridge. So I say to him -- "hey, this is luck -- we have some strawberries -- your favorite, right?" And he said, "You know, I was home once and enjoyed a few strawberries and Mom somehow got the idea that they were my favorite, but really they're no more my favorite than any other fruit." And I said ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!?? My entire childhood I couldn't eat strawberries because of you!! I was like some poor Appalachian kid who never saw a grape or something! (Love you Mom.)
@Beezer, Wow. Taste buds are interesting. My husband hated walnuts because he said they were bitter. And Peter Pan is the Fresca of peanut butters.
Great point! ... But as one starts with a 'slice of bread' and builds up, wouldn't another slice be at the top of the grid?
Maybe is just a SoCal thing, having grownup in the shadow of Knott's Berry Farm. But to me, nothing beats a Boysenberry jam PB&J. Except a Boysenberry pie.
I pity your upbringing.
It’s Jelly. It just is.
I like jam better but pbj is jelly.
@JD…you kind of confused me there with your Fresca thing. I rarely have any soft drinks but Fresca apparently has NEVER had sugar. Maybe Peter Pan is the Pepsi of peanut butter? 🤣 Hah, you’d MIGHT think I have a sweet tooth but honestly my idea of a good time is a square of 85% dark chocolate! However, when it comes to peanut butter it’s go big or go home!
At any rate, my sugar Googling today made me realize why I like Coke more than Pepsi…2 LESS grams of sugar in a Coke.
When I saw the 12X19 grid, I knew the unusual shape had to be directly connected to the theme. Why else would one disregard the time-honored NYTXW convention of having 15X15 grids for weekday puzzles? I mean, the convention goes back to the 1940s when Margaret Farrar was the first NYT crossword editor.
Then when I saw that the theme was a sandwich, I was perplexed. A normal 15X15 grid would look a lot more sandwichish than a 12X19 grid, right? Or why not go in an even more sandwichy direction and make it a 19X12 grid?
I've decided that the unusual shape is just there to accommodate the 12 letter theme entries. That's it. Those themers are cast in stone, grid construction wise, and it looks like that is the only reason for the 12X19 grid shape. It's a GOC (grid of convenience)!
I think that a GOC is a pretty flimsy reason to abandon the normal 15X15 convention. Plus the 12X19 had the added demerit of making the grid look most unsandwichlike.
@Eater of Sole if you're thinking of smucker's "goober" (stripes of pb&j in the same jar) it's still around and has been for ages.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goober_(brand)
Why does anyone claim this grid is shaped more like a slice of bread than a normal one?
I just measured a slice of packaged white bread to be sure. And yep, no suprise, the sides were equal.
Rye, pumpernickel, a baguette ( depending how far you cut from the end) sue. But regular old bread ( and for better or worse, white bread is the standard bread in the US)? Nope. A gratuitous gimmick….. that I very much enjoyed.
My "Today I learned..." was that raspberry jam is apparently pretty popular in a peanut butter sandwich, given how many commenters eat it regularly. I genuinely have never heard of that combination before, and I also don't think I've ever had raspberry jam in my life! But I will try it now!
I evidently forgot that RASPBERRY has a silent P in it.
Fortunately, I knew Eponine.
I agree with upthread poster - a college literature professor dissing this because he doesn’t “do” musicals?
I’ve read the book in the original French, English translation and even an almost 30 hour audio book.
Rex could try one of those.
@Trina
Silent, like the PEE in toilet. 😀
We always made jam at home when I was a kid, so I’ve honestly never called it “PB & Jelly” in my life. I don’t think I’ve ever even purchased jelly before—why settle for gelatinized juice, when jam crams in the whole fruit, seeds and all? (Sucker for raspberry and blackberry jam). This weird little puzzle even had me suddenly remembering the excellent and long-forgotten PEANUT BUTTER and JAM song I made up around age 5 to sing loudly at and annoy my sister. Yes, of course those were the only words.
Hmm, this grid may have perhaps unfairly elicited a skeptical grimace that lasted most of the solve, but you know what…I think it won me over. I’m all in. Hell yeah, second SLICE OF BREAD!
@Anoa Bob - Margaret Farrar edited the Sunday NYTX for about a decade before it ever became a daily, and the puzzles were massive under her. Something like 20x25 or more.
While I of course agree that the phrase is “Peanut butter and jelly,” I don’t think most people would argue that using jam makes it not a PBJ. Raspberry is my favorite thing to use for PBJs, but even removing my own bias, I think strawberry jam is also quite popular. There are (I think) more jams than jellies out there. I’ve certainly had PB and grape jelly, and that’s fine, but definitely not the only valid thing.
Maybe it’s because I’ve been out of touch with this blog for a while; I dunno. But today’s comments are funnier, more clever and delightful than I can remember. Is it because very few things are more fun than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Anyway, thanks y’all.
I thought I must be missing something as I couldn't see any reason for this puzzle to be published, ever. Maybe there was some Juneteenth connection I was missing? Nope, just a bad puzzle that 'breaks the rules' to no purpose.
Agreed that Croce 818 was easy for a Croce. Never really stalled, just steady progress until suddenly it was done.
I haven't yet looked at the Monday puzzle, but just had to come here to say that yesterday's Sunday puzzle was THE WORST EVER. A REPEAT OF A BAD PUZ!!
Diana, LIW
Rules don’t matter anymore. Duplication of SLICEOFBREAD should have disqualified this puzzle.
Welcome back, @M&A!
To "Sharpen" OFNP's understanding of jarred fruits: Jelly is simply the jelled juice of the fruit, clear and homogenous. Jam is made with the crushed fruit, seeds and all. And preserves is the whole fruit mixed in with jelly. Marmalade is another story.
BRIER is actually the principal spelling, but BRIaR--made famous by Uncle Remus' Bre'r Rabbit, is an acceptable alternate.
This puzzle makes me want to "eat a sandwich"--but not this one. I don't like the featured fruit. Grape or strawberry for me. But sugar-FREE, please.
I think the no-dupe rule can be suspended in this case. I can eat (and have done so) open-faced PBJs, if I lean over a paper plate while doing it, but the two-slice version is much better. Gluten-FREE, naturally.
The fill is less savory. OHHI has been in at least four times now--and that's four times too many. Awkward plurals HES and HEYS. HEY, is HAZE a dupe?? And I'm sorry, but EPONINE is NOT a Monday entry.
My paper squooshed the grid down to make it appear square, so the "squares" were short fat rectangles. This would result in an awful mess for that sandwich. It's messy enough already. Bogey.
Wordle par.
Yes, Diana, LIW! What's happening with our syndie-land Sunday puzzles? Why are we getting repeats of old ones - and not even the good old ones?
Sandwich ingredients… Who’s minding the store while WS is on vacation?
To whomever:
Peanut butter with no sugar is savory. Also, many of the natural varieties require stirring before spreading.
Brier with an e is actually the primary spelling, and the a spelling is the alternate spelling. I grew up knowing only the briar spelling, until I started doing xword puzzles, therefore I leave that a/e space blank until I know the answer crossing there.
As a kid, I ate many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from a sack lunch at school. While as a young man on a tight budget, peanut butter on a piece of toast was my go to snack of choice. Chewy, ooey, gooey, and very filling .
Repeat answers. Repeat puzzles. Isn't it two too much?
And who has eaten raspberry jam in their PBJ? Is it legal? Asking for a friend.
And I agree with the gripe about EPONINE - but Monday is a fun day anyway.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
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