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Poet Hemphill of the 1980s Black gay cultural renaissance / FRI 7-14-23 / Benny Goodman jazz standard with the opening line "April skies are in your eyes" / Instrument heard in the iconic intro to the Who's "Baba O'Riley" / Brand of cutting-edge equipment / Japanese lunch option
Friday, July 14, 2023
Constructor: Jonathan Kaufman
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
Word of the Day: ESSEX Hemphill (25A: Poet Hemphill of the 1980s Black gay cultural renaissance) —
Essex Hemphill (April 16, 1957 – November 4, 1995) was an openly gay American poet and activist. He is known for his contributions to the Washington, D.C. art scene in the 1980s, and for openly discussing the topics pertinent to the African-American gay community. [...] He would garner more national attention when his work was included in In the Life (1986), an anthology of poems from black, gay artists, compiled by Hemphill's good friend, lover, and fellow author, Joseph F. Beam. His poetry has been published widely in journals, and his essays have appeared in Obsidian, Black Scholar, CALLALOO, and Essence among others. In 1986, Hemphill received a fellowship in poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts.// Essex Hemphill also made appearances in a number of documentaries between 1989 and 1992. In 1989, he appeared in Looking for Langston, a film directed by Isaac Julien about poet Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance. Hemphill also worked with Emmy award-winning filmmaker Marlon Riggs on two documentaries:Tongues Untied (1989) which looked into the complex overlapping of black and queer identities, and Black is... Black Ain't (1992) which discussed what exactly constitutes "blackness." // In 1992, Hemphill published his largest collection of poetry and short stories, entitled Ceremonies: Prose and Poetry, which included recent work, but also selection from his earlier poetry collections, Earth Life and Conditions. The next year, the anthology would be awarded the National Library Association's Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual New Author Award and a Pew Charitable Trust Fellowship in the Arts. In 1993, he was a visiting scholar at the Getty Center. // In the 1990s, Hemphill would rarely give information about his health, although he would occasionally talk about "being a person with AIDS." It was not until 1994 that he wrote about his experiences with the disease in his poem "Vital Signs." He died on November 4, 1995, of AIDS-related complications. (wikipedia)
• • •
I had no connection to this puzzle. Couldn't get my head around any of it very well, and none, literally none of the longer answers clicked for me, so the zoom-zoom factor was nearly nil. The best way to illustrate how Not For Me this puzzle was is to point to what I ultimately thought was the best answer in the grid ("DON'T BE THAT WAY") and then to point at its clue (33A: Benny Goodman jazz standard with the opening line "April skies are in your eyes"). As the puzzle itself says, "WHAT IN THE HECK?" You have this great colloquial phrase, one for which I can imagine all kinds of contexts, all kinds of colloquial cluing possibilities, and instead the place you go is ... whatever the hell this song is?? A proper noun? You steer *in* to the proper noun. And an obscure proper noun at that? Baffling. Benny Goodman, in the year of our lord 2023, when all kinds of more inventive (not to mention inclusive) cluing options are available to you? This ... this is how far apart this puzzle and I are today. Just not seeing eye to eye. I mowed through the NW corner pretty easily but then ... I mean, I couldn't drop *any* of the longer answers through the center, in *either* direction, despite having the front ends of virtually *all* of them. SODA ...? SPEAK ...? I CAN ...? WHAT ...? I thought SCOUT TEAM was correct (19D: N.F.L. practice squad) but kept pulling it because it wasn't helping me get any of the crosses. But the worst of all stuckness came from today's entry in the EAT A SANDWICH category of answer. For 16A: Drank discreetly, I had HAD A SIP locked in. Seemed perfect. So when it came time to try to make sense of 9D: Catches some waves, say (TUNES IN), this is what I was staring down:
The problem with all these answers in the middle, the ones I struggled with, was that when I finally got them, there was almost no sense of revelation or wonder or aha or any of it. It was "Oh, OK." Nothing felt quite like le mot juste, ever. "WHAT THE HELL?!" is what I wanted, "WHAT IN THE HELL!?" is what I wrote in ... only to find that it was "WHAT IN THE HECK?!" The SPEAK... answer was somehow worse, since it ended up having the dreaded ONE'S in it, ugh ("you" in the clue, "ONE'S" in the answer, always terrible). And then to wrap things up with one of the more disgusting "?" clues I've ever seen (47D: What might make one less likely to flip one's lid? => STYE). Ew, what? Why are you touching your STYE? Why are you "flipping" your (eye)lid At All, what does that even mean? Are you turning it inside out? Stunned that the clue-writer wanted the "flip your lid" pun that bad. Truly, this puzzle and I do not have the same idea what constitutes a good time. It happens.
I was happy to learn ESSEX Hemphill today. Kind of embarrassed I didn't already know him. I wrote in ESSIE and then crossed it with LIAISED at 22D: Acted as a segue for (LED INTO). I was like "No, not LIAISED! My most hated word!" And thankfully, no, not LIAISED. I had LAUDS at first for 1A: Praises loudly (HAILS), but few other outright mistakes (beyond those I've already mentioned). I like TAIL WAG a lot (24D: Dog's show of excitement). It's a funny little formulation (do we need the TAIL? What else is a dog gonna wag?) but it's vivid and colorful and feels very much in-the-language. Plus I just like dogs so dog stuff, especially goofy happy dog stuff, is always gonna please. OK, I gotta get coffee going and get ready for the window guys, then find somewhere else to spend the day so I can get some work done. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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109 comments:
Yeah, I also don’t get why ORALS are defense mechanisms. And the whole thing was “mechanical,” I guess I’d say. Meh!
Yeah, this was a weird puzzle! Hard agree about the Goodman cluing, and I even am the rare millennial who grew up in a home where his music was played regularly. Save for ESSEX Hemphill and OMAHA, I had almost no connection to any of the clues in this puzzle. (And both still took a couple crosses before they dropped in.) Sidebar: I read a truly excellent biography of Malcolm X a few years back, which includes aspects of his life that are controversial but absolutely well-researched and backed up: Manning Marable’s “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention.” Highly recommended, especially if all you’ve ever read is the autobiography, which Alex Haley had an overly strong hand in.
Anyway, back to the puzzle… it somehow managed to be both old timey and gross? In addition to the STYE clue, I’d prefer not to think about my underwear riding up before I’ve even gotten out of bed. And yeah, I imagine the ORALS miscluing will get a lot of protestation today.
There were a lot of good phrases and words in the grid today, I just didn’t really care for the cluing. It wasn’t bad, per se, just not my cup of tea.
I will say, I almost never notice or care about grid construction (unless it forces a ton of tiny or long words) but today’s was just very aesthetically pleasing. A butterfly? A four-leafed clover? I dunno, but I liked it a lot.
Not too difficult but as Rex said, not too shiny.
@Stuart - "orals" are oral exams taken by students, often in defense of a thesis topic or research.
Agree with Rex on almost every aspect of this puzzle, esp. the STYE clue — ick. The big exception is the Benny Goodman clue, which put that terrific old song in my head, a welcome earworm. Always glad to be reminded of that top-notch band, an all-time great. And yes, I’m old, but not THAT old. Good music has a long shelf life.
Let’s see if Mrs. Freude is in the mood to jitterbug . . .
Liked the 6 long answers. Found the XW to be medium difficulty. Learned a few new things. All in all, just fine. Thank you. — CP in SoCal
Wow, I never would have guessed that the Toronto Maple Loafs have won 13 Lord Stanley’s. I can’t remember them ever winning just one, and I’m older than dirt.
I enjoyed wandering around totally lost in that small NW section with the poet I know nothing about (ESSEX), someone who makes wedding rings - unless maybe it’s a cigar company (BELL), and GIORNO’s buddy ORO. Definitely felt like I was at a party there without knowing anybody and my undies were RIDING UP on me.
Nice of Rex to call out the terrible clue involving that Benny Goodman nonsense. Though, you would think by now he would realize that with the NYT having such a high arcane quota, that it’s difficult to check all of the boxes without having to sacrifice a perfectly good answer now and then in the pursuit of pleasing the gods of all things trivial on a daily basis.
Oh, I so wanted [Producer of some wedding rings] to be HORA.
Very easy for a Friday. I can’t tell what was even supposed to be hard today, other than I CANT TELL. Still never seen BENTO outside of crosswords. I never saw the clue for STYE but Rex's criticism is spot on.
I have never heard that SLURPing violates etiquette – unless that means Western as in California/Idaho? There are lots of things that can only be enjoyed with a slurp, including soup, juice boxes, and spaghetti marinara. I plan to continue.
Hard to get some traction in this one and I finally got going in the SW with BENTO and BOSCS, of all things. Steady progress after that and satisfying at the finish line.
Did the OFL thing with SIP and NIP, but I fixed it faster. Also tried green PEA before TEA which threw sand in the gears. And of course I knew nothing about "Succession", which made getting started a chore.
Far too long to come up with the Maple LEAFS, which is the only time the plural of LEAF is spelled like that, as far as I know. Seemed like a lot of Stanley Cups for a team that has been unsuccessful now for quite a while.
I thought some of the cluing would have my Mom saying "That's pretty cute", which she used to say with just a touch of sarcasm. And agree that the STYE clue was both off and icky.
Solid enough Friday, JK. Just Kept at it and finished sooner than I thought I would, so thanks for some unexpected fun.
@Gary Jugert from yesterday. Go ahead and put NH on your "bad" list, but our US Senators are both women and Democrats, and you have Lauren Boebert. I rest my case.
At least in the stone age of my youth (I doubt that it's changed) there were 2 oral defenses: To achieve PhD candidacy (following completion of all doctoral coursework), one had to take a written comprehensive exam and then successfully defend/correct one's responses ORALLY after it had been scored. Then--upon subsequently completing one's dissertation--one had to successfully defend it ORALLY "against" one's committee in order to be conferred the Doctorate.
Challenging for me. I fell into all the same traps as @Rex including SPEAK your MIND at 12D and WHAT IN THE HEll at 13D. AND ALSO, I added a couple of my own: lAuds at 1A and kALES for the jeweler at 39A.
Last word I filled in was STORE AD at 53A, because I kept trying to read it as {something} READ.
SPEAK your MIND was in there for a while mucking things up before I realized the constructor wanted ONES, despite having “you” right there in the clue. WHAT THE hell indeed.
My libra sensibilities cooed with pleasure at this uber-balanced grid design, a design, BTW, that has never been used before in a NYT puzzle.
This was a perimeter solve for me – couldn’t break that middle, so I had a ring of answers surrounding A LOAD OF white. Wrong guesses SPEAK HONESTLY and SPEAK CANDIDLY didn’t help. I never exactly WALTZed in, but chipping away finally bore fruit and a huge ahhh. And man, when that ahhh happens, it’s one of the great moments in Crosslandia.
Favorite answer: WHAT IN THE HECK (a NYT puzzle debut). I like seeing RIDES UP and WRAPUPS way up in the grid. Speaking of WRAPUPS, it’s ending echoes TAIL WAG nicely. And the coolth of ICE and SODA FOUNTAINS sounds mighty good at the moment.
How impressive to have a NYT puzzle debut on a Friday, and your high-quality puzzle, Jonathan, certainly earned publication, with its Friday bite, Friday informality, and Friday wordplay. Bravo! You’ve more than whetted my appetite to see more from you. Thank you for one terrific outing!
"Not with a bang, but a whimper". That sums my experience with the grid. From the perspective of difficulty, it was quite satisfying. I was sweating it entry by entry (even square by square). But so many clue fills rang flatly (none more than BELL and STOREAD).
Ultimately I sat clueless in the face of the triple-longs, across and down, leaving much of the adjacent turf unfilled as well. But then SPEAKSONESMIND strong itself together from just 3 letters, SP/I. That gave me the fodder from which to make gradual inroads to the heart.
The surprising thing is that while this was a greater struggle for me than the typical Friday, I steadily progressed and wound up with a significantly faster solve time than average. It's more than a little inexplicable to me.
Ugh, so close. Got stuck in the northwest and had to Go-ogle SPIRALS. It was really SODA FOUNTAINS that messed us up, but the air show takes the loss, and like 🦖 NIP vs. SIP made TUNE SIN unholy.
WHAT IN THE HECK is one of my favorite phrases of all time. I probably say it weekly.
Pleasant solve with plenty of flow for me. Really enjoyed it.
Tee-Hee: Becomes uncomfortable, in a way, as underwear. {And strong support for going commando.}
Uniclues:
1 Sounds of screaming fish in Colchester.
2 Lose to barbarians.
3 Career goal for all teen girls.
4 {Hey, this is a family-oriented activity.}
5 That gawd awful playlist you made.
1 ESSEX KOI WAILS
2 CONSIGN CITADEL
3 HEIRESS DESPOTS
4 SLURP FAB ORGAN
5 A LOAD OF TUNE SIN (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Comedies about tall people who help get things off the top shelf. "BE A HERO" SITCOMS
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I liked it much more than Rex and the early commentariat did, though I had the same issue of getting a lot of the first parts of the long answers and struggling for the ends. Same problem on sIP and NIP, of course, but NIP is a better, less eat-a-sandwichy answer because it implies furtiveness. I picture someone pulling a flask from a jacket pocket in church to have a wee nip of whiskey to get through the sermon.
I do agree with Rex on the Benny Goodman clue for a song I haven’t heard of, but I’m sure some of you older than me (60) will appreciate the memory (hi, @Andy Freude). I came away with a different song pleasantly playing in my head - the Who’s Baba O’Reilly with its ultra-cool ORGAN intro. I wondered why it was titled that instead of Teenage Wasteland (its refrain), so I looked it up and was a bit disappointed in the answer - named for two of Pete Townsend’s heroes, Indian guru Meher Baba and minimalist composer Terry Riley.
I agree with Rex that I am happy to learn about ESSEX Hemphill and a bit embarrassed not to have known him. I kinda knew that Malcolm X was from Nebraska, which is about the last place you’d expect him to be from, but I assumed Gerald Ford was born in Michigan, so I hesitated on OMAHA.
Mostly, I come here to praise the delightful clue for DESPOTS (“ones unlikely to rule in your favor”). Hoping @Lewis doesn’t tell us it’s been used before.
Way back when I first became a hockey fan (it didn't last), the NHL consisted of six teams, including the Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens (aka Habs for some reason that I never understood). Also Detroit Boston Chicago and NY. Anyway the two Canadian teams for the first half-century of the league were pretty dominant, which is as it should be in hockey. Now you got teams from Florida and LA winning stuff, WTF?!?
Finished it with one cheat. I had no idea who ESSEX Hemphill was, and XACTO made no sense. I also had "sip" instead of NIP until the very end.
I've never heard anyone say WHATINTHEHECK, only "whattheheck." And SPEAKONESMIND absolutely doesn't fit the clue grammatically, as stated by Rex. A disappointing Friday, for me.
The only issue with this elegant looking grid is that the numerous mid-length entries need to shine - not sure they do here. Agree with Rex on the Benny Goodman clue - and the oddness of HAD A NIP. Actually Benny was still relevant the last time Toronto won the Cup.
WALTZing’s for Dreamers
Pleasant enough Friday.
OMAHA you’ve been weighing heavy on my mind
Clever!
My take on ORALS was in reference to an ORAL argument from a defense attorney - I don’t have an issue with it.
For Eater of Sole: "Habs" is short for "Habitants," a French variant on "Canadiens."
@pabloinnh 7:18 AM
Oh gosh, yeah, ummm she's one of our national embarrassments from western Colorado where only twelve hillbillies and two guys hiding out from the law live. She's nearly lost to a fancy-pants from Aspen in a district with zero Democrats. "Nearly" is the sad part of that sentence. And I picked New Hampshire at random. 🙂 We did the fall colors two years ago and it was a glorious place to visit despite the $350 a night Hampton Inn in a Target parking lot being the most affordable choice in high season.
Thx, Jonathan; GOSH this was fun! 😊
Easy-med.
Pretty much WALTZed thru this one.
Only gaff was SPEAK 'your' MIND. Crosses patched it up.
Had many a BENTO box back in the day.
Have family in the OSLO area, and Dad was born and raised in Nebraska.
One of my Burl Ives faves; Big Rock Candy Mountain.
Oh, the buzzin' of the bees in the cigarette trees
The soda water fountain
Where the lemonade springs and the bluebird sings
In that Big Rock Candy Mountain
A very enjoyable adventure! :)
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity ~ & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
I also had some difficulty, especially with that NE corner as well. Glad to see I’m not alone. You really make me laugh. I’m sitting her, at 5:45 am in San Diego, drinking my coffee and trying not to wake up the whole house.
Thanks again for always being truly entertaining while also having a commentary on the puzzle. Why do we all love it? Idk but I’m glad you recommended AVCX. I do those a lot also!
I don't understand why people say they are embarrassed to not have heard of ESSEX Hemphill.
Just because he was gay and black?
Or because you feel you should know ever poet who ever wrote?
You mean STYE was right??? E was the only letter that would make a word but I didn't see how that could really be the answer. Yuk
For a puzzle that was so easy to start this took a surprisingly long time to finish. My experience was similar to what our host described. The easy material in the corners didn't really give the leverage to solve the middle longer answers that you (one) would normally expect. I had a YOUR/ONES and a HELL/HECK write over. Also I did it on my phone which always slows my solving.
The Benny Goodman song was no help but the "Succession clue was right up my alley. I'm catching up on the last few shows of this season as I've been away for 60 days hiking the PCT. This year I managed to knock off 700 miles of it and I have the swollen ankles and feet to prove it. I had every intention of going all the way to Canada but a dear uncle passed away and my wife and I will be attending his memorial this Tuesday on what would have been his 94th birthday.
Besides from the " Succession " clue another odd PCT coincidence is that SLURPing instant ramen turned out to be my favorite form of trail food
On the trail I didn't think about crosswords at all but when I did get phone reception I would do the Spelling Bee. I even managed a few QBs.
Speaking of the SB....
yd -0
@wanderlust -- It hasn't, and I loved that clue as well.
True story. Back in my student days, my friend Don and I ran into our friend Russ, whom we hadn't seen in a while. I asked Russ "How's school going?" at the same time Don asked him "How's the new girlfriend?" Russ beamed and said "I passed my orals," and Don said "Wow, she sounds tough."
From the TMI Dept. I hate to break it to you kids, but once you cross that line and are looking down at 70, with prostate and bladder issues, any stye that pops up won't even make the list. (I love it when I call the doc's office and the receptionist says: "Urology. Can you hold?")
Last, from my granddaughter: The typical frog can jump higher than the Eiffel Tower. That is because the Eiffel Tower cannot jump.
Not sure I get the complaint about the Benny Goodman clue. I am not familiar with DONT BE THAT WAY but I was able to get it with crosses, so it was a gettable answer. And the puzzle already had its share of lengthy colloquial answers (WHAT IN THE HECK, I CANT TELL) so we didn't need more. But inclusiveness in puzzles doesn't mean that every clue has to be about songs, people, and culture after 2010.
I also don't get the pearl clutching with STYE. Do people struggle to keep down their breakfasts when they encounter someone with a STYE? Thought the clue was amusing enough and was also amused by the cluing for SPY and PIER. Finally, I had TAXISQUAD before SCOUTTEAM (a much more fitting answer to the clue if I say so myself.)
Overall, I thought it was a fun Friday puzzle.
Because I am gay, I lived through the AIDS plague, and he sounds like a poet I would have liked to read but didn’t even know about.
Excellent debut - kind of amazing to read that he started solving crosswords 5 years ago and now has constructed a fun, challenging Friday NYTXW.
Yesterday’s gross trashing of entire state citizenries was a Woke-up call.
ONLYNOW I SEE that the TSAR and his DESPOTS don’t allow diversity in thought enough to SPEAKONESMIND. WHATINTHEHECK?
I’d say DONTBETHATWAY but it’s all ALOADOF…
Minor nit…. A synthesizer is not an ORGAN.
It was just okay.
A little bit of challenge, a few good clues, and WAAAAAYYY too much garbage.
ICE, MADE, TEA, AND ALSO, YES LET'S. Fill-in-the-blank clues are just the worst. Seriously? Have it _____? Green _____? WHATTHEHECK?
A LOAD OF is not "countless"
To me HAILing means greeting, not praising. But I concede it is a legitimate answer. I just don't like it.
Surely an ERA is best when it's below 1? Or below 0.50? Or below 0.1? Or- oh, who can be bothered to care about sports stats? Yawn.
Don't know what a SCOUT TEAM is and although I've probably heard that particular Benny Goodman song, I don't know it by name. So that ruined two long answers for me.
Overall, the puzzle felt like a party full of shallow, superficial people -- they look pretty, say lots of fancy words, but there's no real substance there.
On a more interesting note, I am just now registering that the Maple LEAFS are not the Maple Leaves. Huh.
Hey All !
Toughie today. Broke my streak of 9 days in a row of no mistake puzs with that HAD A NIP that tripped up Rex also. Dang. Tried several times to take out answers in the corner, seeing if I could tell what was wrong. Finally gave up, hit Check Please, and it crossed out my S of HADAsIP/TUsESIN. TUNES IN! ARGH!
Stuck everywhere else. Googed a couple of times for unknowns.
Puz does have Rotational Symmetry, so there's that.
Quick write-up, as this puz took me longer than normal. Gotta get ready for work.
Happy Friday!
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Usually I align with Rex's stated degree of difficulty, but for some reason, this was super easy for me, one of my fastest Fridays.
I want to add:
ORALS is the common term for ORAL defense, where you literally get up in front of your committee and defend your thesis orally.
I'm not sure why Rex thinks it's been "confused" with a thesis defense. It's the same thing (although sometimes differentiated in two parts -- the initial oral defense and final defense).
Challenging and engrossing to solve. The nits I have didn't take away from my enjoyment, but I'll mention them anyway.
The clue for ORALS, "defense mechanism", is trying much too hard and is way off.
At least back in my day, teachers did not shout out an exclamation point when they said "pencils down." They said it very nicely and gently -- otherwise we students, tense as we already were from the exam, might have jumped out of our respective skins. So when I saw the "!", I wanted SIMMER DOWN! or PIPE DOWN!, but they didn't fit.
A genie comes to you and offers you a choice between "countless" wishes and A LOAD OF wishes. Which would you take? I rest my case.
Most of my problems came in the NE where I "HAD A sIP" and not a NIP. I suppose I was thinking that drinking "discreetly" meant daintily rather than furtively.
This was a lively and crunchy puzzle that I was unable to breeze/WALTZ through. But then I didn't want to.
@Gary Jugert-Thanks for the explanation of where "NH" came from. I'm not blaming you for your state's representatives, and we certainly have our fair share of yahoos--and price gougers, as you found out during foliage season.
I'm glad you had a chance to see our autumn spectacle. "Glorious" is the right word. I've seen this now for (coughs) years and it's always somehow new and stunning.
I agree with @Rex on "medium-challenging," but unlike him, I really enjoyed matching wits with this one - I liked unraveling the oblique cluing and relying on pattern recognition for the long Unknowns. Very satisfying to finish. Along the way: nods of appreciation for CITADEL, WALTZ, PRIMERS, RIDES UP, DESPOTS. I see that this is Jonathan Kaufman's debut - I look forward to more from him.
Do-overs: Like @Rex and others sIP, Liaised x ESSie. No idea: ESSEX, the Benny Goodman title.
@Magoo 8:46 AM - I can't even. But I will anyway. I don't think one needs to feel embarrassed, per se, when one discovers a cultural touchstone of which they knew naught. In fact, I would agree with you, @Magoo, that one can be culturally adept without necessarily "knowing every poet who ever wrote." That being said, "Just because he was gay and black?" is so [expletive deleted] insulting to me, who is not Black, but is, like @Wanderlust, gay and lived through the AIDS epidemic (and am HIV-positive since 1990). Let's put it this way: Essex Hemphill is about as consequential, culturally, as, say, Robert Mapplethorpe—Yes, I am citing Mapplethorpe because he was WHITE and gay—and died of AIDS. Again, I don't know if "embarrassed" is quite the right word—maybe sort of disappointed in oneself is more the feeling—but yeah, you could imagine folks being "embarrassed" if they learned about Robert Mapplethorpe for the first time in a NYT crossword puzzle in 2023.
STORE AD is the most boring answer ever
@Marty, I was going to complain about the same nit but looked it up and found this: "Townshend wanted to input the vital signs and personality of Meher Baba into a synthesiser, which would then generate music based on that data. When this idea fell through, Townshend instead recorded a Lowrey Berkshire Deluxe TBO-1 organ using its marimba repeat feature to generate them."
@Mack, to be fair, "countless" in common usage also generally doesn't mean "countless." It more frequently means something like "a load of."
@Bob Mills, thanks for Les Habitants.
Greetings from the long-lost Mike in Bed-Stuy. I gotta say, I loved this puzzle, both on the clue front and on the fill front. Loved seeing Essex Hemphill in the puzzle. Loved the longs in both directions. Did not know that particular Benny Goodman hit, but enjoyed getting it from crosses, and was pleased to learn of it. Sure, I too had to write "ONES" over "YOUR." Big forking deal. Would y'all rather 12D had been clued as "Say how one really feels"? Obviously, using "one" in the clue would be disqualifying. So just eat your broccoli and do your forking puzzle. STYE fell into place via crosses and then I laughed at the clue that I could never have gotten. My dad (whose 51st yarhzeit is today, btw, z"l) was a "commercial artist" (what today we would call a "graphic designer") and so I grew up with Xacto knives on his big drawing table. In those pre-digital days, graphic design involved a lot of very literal cutting and pasting, accomplished with an Xacto knife and Best Test rubber cement, the smell of which rivaled that of my mom's pot roast for making me feel home and dry. I think the most amusing thing I can confess is that, inveterate sports nonthusiast that I am, for 56A I had the "L" from ARIEL, I knew the NFL was hockey, and I thought "a little money riding on the Maple Leafs" from Joni Mitchell's "Raised on Robbery," and I was home free.
Best comment ever. Still smiling.
@Liveprof -- Hah! Great post!
@Marty - the intro to Baba O'Riley is on an organ, not a synthesizer, so the clue is correct.
Medium. Me too for lauds before HAILS but LISP and Shiv Roy set me on the right path. My only other major hiccup was trying to make WHIZ(Z) fit where WATLZ needed to go. Solid with some sparkly long downs. Liked it a bit more than @Rex did, nice debut.
Did not know ESSEX as clued.
Magoo, were you ever planning on talking about a puzzle? Or did you create an account just to come and criticize everyone else's opinions?
Enjoyed it - maybe because it played easy for me but I had a dnf because I couldn’t see HAVE A NIP - was totally stuck on HAVE A SIP. I knew there was something wrong with that corner but never considered that SIP was wrong …
Jumping in to say what a rare day July 14 is! I’ve lured in Rex’s shadow for over a decade and never found a grid less challenging than his speedy rating, but GOSH—today’s misplaced Tuesday puzzle filled so easily that I finally broke that flawless streak. I’m going back up top for commentariat WRAPUPS.
AND ALSO thanks to Jonathan for making this a day to mark on my calendar.
only the biggest Who fanatic would know that was an organ and not a synth. not a fun puzzle for me
Thanks @Lewis!
And thanks for noting that the gorgeous grid design was an NYT first. I'm constantly impressed by all the info you share with us.
Watch Japanese movies— or go to Japan— to see bento boxes.
Started out thinking I was gonna get nowhere fast but gradually got a foothold then and took off. Just love it when that happens. That’s how a crossword puzzle should be. I did get bogged down in the southern half, however but mostly of my own doing. HAD AS OF NOW at 34D, SUSHI for my lunch option and an OAF bugging me and the crosses. Things finally fell into place when at last I saw STORE AD - which I’d stubbornly ONLY seen as ___READ up to then. That was a head-slapping moment.
I thought this was a beautiful grid and really appreciated the low level of proper names and trivia. An easier than usual Friday for me and one which I enjoyed solving. Congratulations to Jonathan and thank you, a very impressive debut.
Ugh. I just was not on the same wavelength as this puzzle. I didn’t know the trivia, none of the colloquialisms came to mind, none of the clues or answers gave me that satisfying feeling. So much so that I looked up the constructor who is very young (and I’m not that old) but the cluing didn’t even feel young to me. It was just … not my style. Favorite answer probably BENTO, but that’s not saying much.
A good Friday puzzle! I liked it! I liked the struggle.
Didn’t know the Benny Goodman song, but it was fun to find the familiar phrase.
I liked the things I didn’t expect - like EXACTO, WRAPSUP, WALTZ, PROBE, ICANTTELL, and DESPOTS.
SODAFOUNTAINS nice. Thanks for the song reminder, @bocamp!
I didn’t know the poet, or the Succession answer. (Or OSLO, LEAFS, OMAHA, SCOUTTEAM) But eventually it came together.
I thought the STYE clue had to do with blinking, not whatever contortions Rex is talking about. But I am fortunately unfamiliar with a stye in real life. And ORAL defense made sense to me. It seems we've had something related to PENCILS up a couple of times recently. Had to laugh at myself for struggling to parse STOREAD.
I suppose we can be ashamed to admit we don’t know everything and everyone, or humbly admit that the world is bigger than we will ever be able to encompass.
@Liveprof — best laughs of the day!
FAB puzzle. Kept me guessing the whole time and produced A LOAD OF ahas as I maneuvered the tricky cluing. Had many of the same write-overs as others and had to consult with Dr. Google once (hello, Siobhan) but enjoyed the workout. Especially liked WHAT IN THE HECK and realizing that there’s no such thing as a STO READ.
Small affirmations: YESLETS
@Liveprof, loved the phone greeting “Urology. Can you hold?”
At one point I thought I'd have to look up ESSEX Hemphill, but then I realized that an XACTO knife is a cutting-edge product, so I struggled on. But then i went with cArpS before WAILS, the ubiquitous HAD A sIP, and no idea at all about A LOAD OF or CITADEL. There, it was the "high" in the clue, which would have sent me down the Philip K. Dick rabbit hole except that I've never read that particular novel. But all fortresses are more or less high -- would you want to place one at the bottom of a hill, so that your enemy could roll boulders down at you? That I kept suggesting aIr something, until I finally figured out WHAT IN THE HECK?
A few nits. First of all, you don't slurp while eating ramen (or soba, unless it's cold) in order to show appreciation; you do it because otherwise you will burn your lip. I speak from experience. Slurping cools off the hot soup that has clung to the noodle just enough so that you can take it in without injury. I guess if you had a fork and spoon you could twirl up the noodles like spaghetti; that would certainly get you everyon'e attention! If you haven't seen it yet, try to stream "Tampopo," a terrific movie in general, with a great scene where some young Japanese women about to be sent to the US for work are taking a class in how to eat spaghetti without slurping.
Like everyone else, I thought you had to SPEAK your MIND in order to match the clue grammatically. But then the problem is that you have YOU in the clue and YOUR in the answer. A possible solution is to make the clue "say what a person really feels."
I just listened to "Don't Be T;hat Way." Of course I knew it; I think it was Benny Goodman's theme song (which is different from a "standard," btw; it is not a standard). The thing is, being a clarinetist and not a singer, he generally performed it as an instrumental, so the clue about the opening lyric is completely useless. I needed a bunch of crosses to see that it was the only plausible song title.
I'm not sure what a STORE AD is. An ad for a store, "Come to jberg's emporium for some real bargains!" Or is it a placard in the store promoting that week's special?
@Southside, in case you weren't just pulling our collective legs, BELL doesn't make wedding rings, but weding BELLs ring.
It was a struggle, but that's why we do these things, right?
@Mike 10:21am
Please lower the outrage.
I am also gay and lived through the AIDS crisis. I'm also HIV+ (since 1986).
The reason I specified "gay and black" is because there is an odd phenomenon at leftward-leaning people (like me) who become embarrassed because they feel they aren't sufficiently culturally aware.
You even agree in your post that embarrassed isn't the right word.
A real wheelhouse puzzle for me, just barely over my personal best for a Friday. Almost every first impulse turned out to be correct, with the exceptions of "inaudible" before I CANT TELL and "speak out about" before SPEAK ONES MIND.
Was very surprised to find Rex and most others rating it medium or harder.
I think the constructor managed to use all the letters of the alphabet in today's puz, so kudos to him!
I too thought it was a synthesizer @ the start of Baba O'Riley; who knew?
This felt like a typical Friday for me. I also found it fairly easy/hard/undecipherable....Those three are what I expect. I was able to tip-toe through the indecipherable . TUNES IN. That whole upstairs was the last to fall. IPA? Why are you hazy? I don't drink beer but I guess there's one with that name? HAD A NIP? My pups do that when they want to play. I left that area.
The hard was SODA FOUNTAIN. My awesome 30D was RAD...erase, erase. Oh, FAB...And so it went.
The rest was fairly easy.
Pause and reflections with ESSEX Hemphill.
My story.
Back in the 80's I worked in San Francisco. I loved the City. It was so vibrant and clean and exciting. Most of my friends were gay. Then Aids. My closest companion and dear friend who was one of the first to be openly gay at Mexicana Airlines, sort of paved the way for other gays to become open . It worked.
Jessie was smart and funnier than hell. He was the one who introduced me to ESSEX's poetry. He was always quoting him from his "American Hero." Jessie, too, was HIV positive and didn't tell a soul.
I knew. Everyone knew. So many...so many.
And now ESSEX appears and I reminisce. And I think of Jessie.
What I loved the most? I CAN'T TELL......
Really had a hard time getting a foothold. Ended up with most of the bottom half done with almost nothing in the NW. Had the same TUsESIN as many others. Also had pEA for 31D (___ green), which made 29A hard to parse, since I had nothing at all in the left side of that answer.
Finally just Googled 33A. Don't know much about 1930s song lyrics, despite my own advanced age.
Always thought the name of the Who song was Teenage Wasteland. Learn something new every day...
Just a nice Friday that initially offered some resistance and then, a pass or two later, clarifies itself and fell in just about average Friday time. I enjoyed it! Enough bite, nothing outlandishly challenging, good work.
First thing that hit m&e was that pretty puzgrid layout. More symmetric(al) than snot.
Second thing was how long most of the answers were. [Turns out the average word length was 5.73 -- and that's with 12 weejects, fightin hard to keep them lengths lower]. Feared this rodeo would be a buckin bronco. But ...
Turns out it was about medium lack of easiness for a FriPuz, at our house. Only two ?-marker clues. But some of them clues did get kinda sneaky without announcin it with a "?". fave sneak: BELL clue.
And then there's HADANIP: This actually wasn't too nanosecond-gobblin for m&e, as I immediately settled on 4 choices: HADANIP. HADASIP. HADSIPS. HADNIPS. Knew I'd need to solve some of its crossers, to get it right.
staff weeject pick: ORA. Nice, totally mysterious clue. Made my giorno hurt.
Lots and lotsa longball faves, includin: SODAFOUNTAIN. ICANTTELL. DONTBETHATWAY [yep. clue was a kinda weird choice]. SPEAKONESMIND. SCOUTTEAM. WHATINTHEwhatever. And OMAHA, cuz used to go there all the time, when I was a kid. TAILWAGgin doggies. XACTO & WALTZ were nice and scrabbly.
Thanx for the themeless fun, Mr. Kaufman dude. And congratz on yer debut puzgrid, that SPIRALS symmetrically in all directions. Liked.
Masked & Anonymo3Us
**gruntz**
Same as Rex, had WHATINTHEHEll and HADAsIP first. took a long time to get LEAFS. And the B Goodman song, I got it correct but kind of misread the answer as DONT BET THAT WAY... as if Benny was giving us gambling advice. Finished no errors and no cheats close to my average time. oh, I also had YESiree before YESLETS but I knew that was wonky. I would not have guessed Malcolm X was from Omaha. Maybe because I’ve neem on Malcom X Blvd (Lenox Ave) in Harlem so many times. I just read his bio and he was pronounced dead at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital - I was just there this morning for a procedure.
You're a funny guy, @Liveprof. And while you have set up a blog profile, you haven't put anything on it. Why don't you avail yourself of the opportunity to tell us a little about yourself? Pretty much anything at all would be welcomed, I'm quite sure.
@A (from yesterday) -- After 55 years of having no bloody idea why Paul Simon had found himself harmonizing till dawn with Frank Lloyd Wright of all people, I finally looked it up yesterday on Google. Wow! How interesting!!! How could I have let myself go all those years without trying to find out the meaning of those most peculiar song lyrics?
Well, it's true that my own mother once accused me of "having no curiosity" and, truth to tell, she wasn't entirely wrong. But it's also true that 55 years ago, such info was hard to come by. It took time and diligence and a lot of research -- often to no avail. Now you just type what you want to know into Google and out come four or five links.
Perhaps everyone here knows this info already. But if you don't, here is the explanation not only of the very odd lyrics but of why there is such ineffable sadness and melancholy in the song.
My experience was very close to Rex's.
I think I'll go get a sip of something and tuse in.
I liked this a lot. Had me thinking, but doable in the end. In other words, I thought this was a (typically) good Friday puzzle..
Thanks, Jonathan.
Big Bang Theory's Sheldon would like this puzzle because of its super-symmetry. Hands up for SPEAK [YOUR] MIND, HELL, and SIP.
@Eater of Sole, ditto for your comments about Canadian NHL teams. Now 30 years since the last Cdn team won the Stanley cup, and 55+ years since the Leafs did! Shameful.
[Spelling Bee: Thu 0, last word this 5er for the umpteenth time; I guess it's because of the unusual vowel placements?]
Totally agree - terrible answer to that clue!!!
You all can complain all you want about the Benny Goodman clue, but he’ll always be BENTO me.
Description of an autocrat/laundress in action? DESPOT DESPOTS
Right after I HADANIP I HADANIPa chaser.
Congrats on a sweet debut, Jonathan Kaufman.
@Liveprof (9:16) I’ll join the chorus of applause for your post today. Good laugh x 3.
@Mike (10:45) Welcome back.
@beverly (11:51) “I suppose we can be ashamed to admit we don’t know everything or everyone, or humbly admit that the world is bigger than we will ever be able to encompass.“ Very profound observation. And I would add that not only is it already bigger than I can encompass, it ALSO changes so rapidly that I no longer even pretend to keep UP.
@GILL (12:46) What a sweet story about your friend Jessie. Another good soul gone too soon. 😢
♪ And if you smell Shirley Thompson's breath
You'll find she's had a little nip of gin ♪
The Benny Goodman clue irritates me for a different reason. Having been briefly obsessed with big band music in the mid 1970's, I know the song very well.
The Benny Goodman 1938 hit recording of DON'T BE THAT WAY is instrumental. He never recorded it with a singer. Most jazz/swing groups do it as an instrumental. Lyrics were added late, and it turns out that opening line is part of a short intro tacked onto the beginning; its accompanying music doesn't exist in Benny Goodman's version.
Only a few singers recorded the lyrics. Mildred Bailey, the first, didn't sing the intro. Neither did Frank Sinatra in the 1960's. Ella recorded it twice, once with the intro, once without.
Even the sheet music doesn't include the intro. So why tie the clue to a lyric that practically no one's ever heard? Aha— the lyric just so happens to be displayed under the link to the Benny Goodman (instrumental) recording, in the first Google result that comes up for DON'T BE THAT WAY. How convenient. Think that had something to do with it?
It’s Friday so we have to make it difficult. Let’s be clever. No, let’s take the easy way and just include lots of obscurities.
A process we see too often in the Times.
Maybe it’s inevitable. With over 200 submissions a week, one would think there would be 6 jewels every week but maybe that’s just not possible. Still, the choice is easier or less obscure. I vote for the former.
To all who chuckled at my nonsense today -- thanks! True confessions: I stole the urology line from a greetings card I got after the prostate surgery. Still -- credit for remembering it, right?
Nancy, I just set the profile up in response to LMS's recent noodging us to do it. I'll enter some material as soon as I'm sober.
@beverly c (11:51 AM) yw 😊
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Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity ~ & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
Nothing wrong with Benny Goodman references - I never heard of "Baba O"Reilly" ( or any other WHO song other than the CSI theme.. Enjoyed this one, just about the right difficulty. Just don't care for the clue for "stye." Nice week, so far....
Quite the slog for me. The southeast especially.
But anything this late in the week is pretty rarely a romp. Not a lot to say, and too late in the day to post really, but I’m trying to get a tiny bit active in this cool kid’s community.
OK, I play the clarinet. Even professionally once in a while. Doesn't pay the bills, so my main gig was practicing law. Anyway, I think Benny is a God. And still, I have never heard that song. Avalon, Let's Dance, and ten or twelve others, sure. That one, not a chance. And that Essex guy, so many less obscure ways to clue that one. I bet that about 2%, or less, of the NYT readers would recognize that name.
We have all heard Baba O’Riley. Many mistakenly call it Teenage Wasteland
@Liveprof, you made my day and I’m seconding your @Lewis appreciation as well; he is truly a treasure!
Thanks to @Nancy for that fascinating Simon; you’re way ahead of me as I have been mystified but not inquisitive enough to search!
For any who want a SLURPING bowl accompaniment , you might enjoy the Netflix series Midnight Cafe from Japanese TV with very accessible English subtitles.
Alice Pollard - I've never heard Baba O'Riley, by any name. So "we" haven't all heard it! I can't be the only geezer here who never listens to rock....
True about change, @Whatsername!
One other thing about the puzzle - I so wanted the answer to 23A “They might restrict arms” to be pants.
I LIKED this one; impressive debut; agree there were some odd clues (you could argue every puzzle has a few weirdos, usually it has more to do with wheelhouse and generation); it was easier for me than most Fridays, and I learned some new stuff, like ESSEX.
As for Andrew @ 9:42, I wasn’t blanketing the people of Texas. I have dear family and friends who live in Texas and indeed much of my family (paternal and maternal) has roots in the South and Southwest. As you’ve surmised, my angst is with the extreme right-wing politics there. Predictably, you pushed the WOKE button. But I’m fine with that label or progressive or left-winger or liberal or democrat, whatever.
Sailed right through. Shocked that Rex rated it so hard. Shared none of Rex’s trials and tribulations at all. To each his/her own.
When I lived and worked in Japan I learned that to SLURP while eating anything was a compliment to the cook. It also increases the taste/flavor experience by drawing more air over the food up into the nasal passages. Try it some time and you will SEE.
And if you want a boxed lunch in Japan, you ask for an OBENTO. O is an honorific used for many nouns.
The Freudian mythos was discarded by mainstream psychology and psychiatry long ago in the previous century but it still lives on in popular culture, including the NYTXW puzzle. I'll bet yous a six pack of Sapporo beer that the next time ANAL appears in a NYTXW grid, it will get a Freudian personality type clue. Yeah, having done it, I know about the ORAL defense of one's dissertation but I still think today's "Defense mechanisms?" clue for 6D ORALS was a play on two of Freud's antiquated concepts.
I almost had an out of body experience when the first five Across entries all needed some plural of convenience (POC) help filling their slots. I thought maybe that was going to be the theme of this puzzle! Things tapered off a bit after that but there were still enough to make this a candidate for POC Puzzle of the Year. To wit: HAIL, OMIT, PENCIL, WRAP UP, RIDE UP, PACT, WAIL, SODA FOUNTAIN, PRIMER, LEAF, ORAL, TUNE IN, SPAR, DESPOT and BOSC. I may have missed one or two.
@OISK - If you ever watched CSI: New York you’ve heard Baba O’Riley.
This XWord seemed to take an answer and then find the most remote clue for it….a grid designed not to be solved. I’m sure the author is patting themselves on their back….”look how hard I made it, haha”.
I have a response, it’s only 2 letters, and the second one is “Y”.
Now that’s a decent clue.
@jberg, you do in Japan and other Asian locales, hence the “…contrary to Western etiquette” part of the clue. Like that’s the whole point of the clue.
Fast Friday for me, but like a few others, didn’t feel fast while solving. Some slow spots. STYE, clue and fill just bad.
Don’t have near as many nits as others, and there are alot in the comments today. Just some of the explanations for them are really misplaced. most are folks just not liking or understanding the clue/fill, rather pointing out a small flaw between a clue and its answer.
Weird day.
A bell rings not a person.
FWIW part of un giorno = ora
Part of a day = hour.
I think you and Rex have a point about going out of one’s way to have a song name as an answer.
But I liked the puzzle overall.
Just read in the Times this week about a revival of the musical TOMMY based on The Who’s album. Townsend was quoted as saying he was interested in Indian philosophy when he wrote songs for the album. Then he said Baba O’Riley was also influenced by it.
I was going to look up the connection but you saved me the trouble! A lot of British rockers were going through that phase at the time.
If anyone is interested, Tommy is appearing in Chicago to rave local reviews.
Habs- short for Habitants, an old positive nickname for “Canadiens francais”.
I’m shocked! Shocked. The Leafs won in ‘62, ‘63, and ‘64 and then again in ‘67. (Those are all 19’, not 18’.)
And there hasn’t been a peep out of them since.
It felt bizarre to be entering my favorite team in a NYT puzzle. Made my day.
I found it easy for me ( meaning Rex can do 5 puzzles for my one). Thought sip did not fit the clue as sip isn’t furtive.
I actually thought people Rex would complain it’s too easy for a Friday.
Omits as the second across answer! The inevitable OSLO
I liked it anyway.
The answer for the clue about the instrument used at the beginning of the Who’s Baba O’Riley, is an egregious error. It is well-known that it was one of the first instances of the ARP synthesizer to be recorded in modern music. A machine that became more widespread later. it is nothing at all like an organ of any kind. This lack of fact checking, really leaves me stunned. Apparently we keep getting fooled again.
"The instrument you hear at the beginning of The Who's "Baba O'Riley" is called a Lowrey organ or specifically a Lowrey Berkshire Deluxe TBO-1. The Lowrey organ was an electronic organ popular in the 1960s and 1970s. It was known for its distinctive sound and versatility.
In "Baba O'Riley," the Lowrey organ is prominently featured, creating the signature arpeggiated synth-like pattern that repeats throughout the song. The organ's sound is achieved by using its built-in rhythm and accompaniment features, which allow for a layered and textured sound.
The specific sound of the Lowrey organ in "Baba O'Riley" is often associated with the introduction of the song and has become iconic. It sets the energetic and anthemic tone of the track and is a notable element in the song's recognizable opening.
"Baba O'Riley" is a classic rock song by The Who, released in 1971 on their album "Who's Next." The combination of Pete Townshend's guitar work, Roger Daltrey's vocals, and the distinctive sound of the Lowrey organ contributes to the song's unique and memorable sound." (ChatGPT)
"The repeating set of notes (known technically as ostinato) in "Baba O'Riley" that opens and underlies the song was derived from the Lifehouse concept, where Townshend wanted to input the vital signs and personality of Meher Baba into a synthesiser, which would then generate music based on that data. When this idea fell through, Townshend instead recorded a Lowrey Berkshire Deluxe TBO-1 organ using its marimba repeat feature to generate them.[8] This modal approach was inspired by the work of minimalist composer Terry Riley." (Wikipedia)
Google search: Lowrey organ at beginning of Baba O'Riley.
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity ~ & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
Me too, Lewis! I was so proud of myself, wrote it in and was loath to give it up.
@Marty 9:44 AM and Anonymous 1:51 PM - The intro to Baba O’Reily was famously composed and recorded on a low-end Lowrey organ (with built-in Leslie speaker), not a synthesizer.
Isn’t it weird how some people can be so confident about something they don’t even know? I mean, even if this fact was new to you, you could’ve googled it in the same time it took to post this incorrect correction. But I suppose that would require enough intellectual curiosity to ever consider the possibility that maybe it’s you who is wrong.
IMHO, everyone should know the Benny Goodman 1938 Carnegie Hall concert recording. DBTW was the opening number. The historic concert (the first jazz concert in Carnegie Hall) featured the BG band at its best: with Gene Krupa, Teddy Wilson, Lionel Hampton, and Harry James, with cameos by
Cootie Williams,
Johnny Hodges,
Lester Young, and Count Basie! For musicians, it’s as iconic as the organ intro to Baba O’Riley!!!
Without Keith Moon playing drums, all other details of the song are meaningless. It’s just that simple.
First scan-through of the clue list: nada. I mean not a thing. I wondered "How (not WHAT) in the heck am I gonna do this?" BTW, the clue for 13d leads much more strongly to HOW instead of WHAT.
I finally decided that 46a must be PRIMERS, which made it possible for a very likely ending to 19d: TEAM. And then the solve just spread out from there, a little at a time. When finished, I was among ALOADOF people who had HADAsIP. Checking downs saved me.
Hand up for "you" vs. ONES at 12d. Rookie mistake, but hey, this IS a rookie. I'd say, a diamond in the rough.
ALOADOF triumph points; this puppy was tough, TAILWAG or not! Birdie.
Wordle par.
Saturday-level challenging for me but I solved it anyways. Excellent debut puzzle by Jonathan Kaubman.
Easy for a Friday, not an easy puzzle. I too thought of lauds for 1A at first, but because I use a pen as Gof intended, I check the crosses first. 4D & 5D were obviously lisp & slurp,so that made 1A hails. That meant since the 1D began with an h, plus the clue was "Succession" that the 1D answer would be heiress. However, I actually started in the SE with the gosh shale cross, and in the SW with the bento, Oslo, boscs cross. Rex's rant was unbelievably inane today.
Easy for a Friday, not an easy puzzle. I too thought of lauds for 1A at first, but because I use a pen as Gof intended, I check the crosses first. 4D & 5D were obviously lisp & slurp,so that made 1A hails. That meant since the 1D began with an h, plus the clue was "Succession" that the 1D answer would be heiress. However, I actually started in the SE with the gosh shale cross, and in the SW with the bento, Oslo, boscs cross. Rex's rant was unbelievably inane today.
Shout out to Benny Goodman. Listen to SEVEN COME ELEVEN and MEMORIES OF YOU. Benny Goodman hired pianistTeddy Wilson in the 1930s; putting together an integrated group long before Jackie Robinson joined MLB.
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