.png)
Counterpart to a receiver, legally / THU 8-3-23 / 1872 utopian novel whose title is an anagram of NOWHERE / Carry zero weight idiomatically / Annual D.C. address since 1913 / Event involving floating in brief / Language in which crossword puzzle is Krucvortenigmo / Cloyingly sentimental / Locomotive quaintly / Namesake of Ithaca's sea / Offshore competition
Thursday, August 3, 2023
Constructor: Simeon Seigel
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Theme answers:
- ASSIGNOR / AMUSES (15A: *Complete fools)
- STRAPS / HOOTERS (24A: *Ones with clay pigeons in their sights)
- FOREVER / BERATES (39A: *Echoes)
- SHINDIG / NATION (48A: *Outrage)
Cori Dionne "Coco" Gauff (born March 13, 2004) is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of world No. 4 in singles, reached on October 24, 2022, and world No. 1 in doubles, achieved on August 15, 2022. Gauff won her first WTA Tour singles title at the 2019 Linz Open aged 15 years and 7 months, making her the youngest singles title-holder on the Tour since 2004. She has won three WTA Tour singles titles and eight doubles titles – three partnering with Caty McNally and five with Jessica Pegula. Gauff rose to prominence with a win over former World No. 1 and seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams in the opening round of 2019 Wimbledon. [...] Gauff made her WTA Tour debut in March 2019 at the Miami Open and won her opening match. She received a wild card into the qualifying draw at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships, where she became the youngest player in the tournament's history to qualify for the main draw. There she reached the fourth round, and each of her matches was the most-watched of the day through the first week of television coverage in the United States. Later that summer, still aged 15, she reached the third round of the US Open. In 2021, she reached her first major final in women's doubles at the US Open, and reached her first major singles final at the 2022 French Open. (wikipedia)
• • •
Even without ASSIGNOR, the theme is only so-so. There's a cleverness there, but there's also a "so what?" feeling I was left with after theme discovery. You have false answers, and then you get the real answers by adding five letters from the previous answers. OK. Theoretically. But in practice, this is one of those puzzles where you just accept nonsense answers until you get down to the revealer, or you just skip down to the revealer because you can't be bothered waiting to find out how the wrong-seeming answers can be made right. Stupidly, today, I chose to wait. So AMUSES, HOOTERS, why? Who knows? Just random words. No joy there at all. There's always the possibility in a theme like this that the revealer will provide a really big "aha," that the wading through shrug after shrug will result, finally, in a satisfying revelation. But that revelation was severely undermined, in my experience, by the revealer itself, which really seemed like it wanted to be TAKE ... A NAP. That is certainly, undeniably a better answer for [Get some rest] than TAKE FIVE is. [Get some rest] strongly implies sleep, or at least a protracted time "off," not just five dang minutes. Yes, you are "resting" when you TAKE FIVE, but that clue is misleading in an awful, cheap way. [Rest for a bit...], that would've worked. Anyway, took me a couple hacks at crosses to figure out what was supposed to follow TAKE.
Then it took way too long for me to figure out how in the hell TAKE FIVE applied to the theme answers. The problem was with the meaning of "TAKE," which usually means "TAKE away," as in "make disappear." So I was vaporizing the last five letters of the previous Acrosses instead of bringing them over and affixing them to the front of the answers to the starred clues. This resulted in ... well, nothing, as you can imagine. The worst obstacle to my grasping the theme is fact that ASSES (first three letters of ASSIGNOR + last two letters of AMUSES) is a perfectly good answer to 15A: *Complete fools, and it's five letters long (!?), so I thought that maybe ASS/ES were the "five" letters I was supposed to "take" and ... do something with, god knows what? Sigh. Even after I saw IGNORAMUSES, I thought "wow, he's' got ASSES and IGNORAMUSES going simultaneously, what eldritch spellcraft is even at work here?" But ASSES was a red herring. Alas.
The rest of it? Easy, for the most part. No real thrills. The long Downs in the SW are strong, for sure. In the NE? They're just OK. In fact, everything else is just OK. I totally forgot what a "caravel" was, so PINTA gave me more trouble than it should have (3D: Historic caravel). Should've made that my Word of the Day (it's a small, fast Iberian sailing ship of the 15th-17th centuries). Latter part of TEAR SHEET was not clear to me. I wanted TEAR AWAY (or AWAYS, I guess) (11D: Page detached from a magazine). Thought the BLAHS might be the BLUES (29A: Melancholy, with "the"). Had DIZZY and DITZY before DITSY (47D: Spaced out). Loved seeing COCO Gauff in the puzzle (look for GAUFF, eventually). I didn't exactly love seeing "EREWHON," but I got a perverse pleasure from knowing it, down to its odd, near-but-not-quite reverse-spelling of NOWHERE. The fill in this one runs a little rough around the edges (lots of overfamiliar short stuff like SSNS ANI EMI ABE IKE etc.), but the grid never feels genuinely gunky (NOR does it feel GOOPY, which I wanted to be GLOPPY or GLOOPY). Hoping for more SEEMLY weekend fare. See you then.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. it seems possible (probable?) that TAIL ENDS was originally part of the theme somehow (60A: Closing parts). It's right above the revealer and, well, you do TAKE FIVE letters from the TAIL ENDS of the previous answers to make sense of the starred clues, that's for sure. Bizarre to just leave TAIL ENDS there, thematically unmarked, but I guess there was no smooth way of incorporating it, ultimately. Or maybe it's just a happy (or sad) accident.
P.P.S. what the hell is a LAMP tree? (45D: Tree whose first four letters are an anagram of another tree => MAPLE)
P.P.P.S. yes I'm kidding, I know it's MALP tree, please, no mail
Save And Share :
109 comments:
Rex – what a relief to read that you had trouble in that same area. Funny how differently we both walked away from it, though. You, miffed. Me, so relieved that I finally finished that I forgot to be miffed. I actually googled to make sure I could pronounce ASSIGNOR right should I need to slip that beaut into some convo. Some assignation. (Oh, and me, too, on the TAKE a nap thought.)
So what with the verrrry tricky theme and the aforementioned area, I was mystified for a while, had to resort to looking at the revealer Even then, I was thinking that the “previous answer” was the answer for 62A, i.e., the previous answer to 63A. Hmm. How does ISSUES help with anything? I looked and looked at AMUSES, BERATES, HOOTERS, NATION and finally noticed the end of FOREVER.
And let me tell you I was delighted. Hah! Take five letters! I’m so grateful that they didn’t use circles; the aha moment was all the better for it. I was deeply satisfied and happy to see the other themers. I love having a completed grid and still not seeing the trick. Way to go, Simeon! (Oh? And Simeon? My avatar? It’s a slight variation of your theme.)
OWLS right next to HOOTERS. Nice.
“Sappy” before GOOPY. If I knew GOOPY could mean schmaltzy, I’ve forgotten. For me, GOOPY means gooey. But if feels like they’re slightly different. Picture a big old ice cream sundae: Gooey describes it sitting there; Goopy describes it as a big glob drops off the spoon onto your shirt. Like, goopy connotes some kind of movement going on. I’m overthinking this. (By the way, schmaltz strengths has 15 consonants and 2 vowels. I’ll wait while you write this down.)
I never remember that the plural of genie is GENII. Dumb. How many times do I have to enter GENII in a grid to cement this little tidbit in my brain? I vaguely was thinking maybe genie stemmed from genus and hence genera. Too long. (Mom and I were recently watching Mr. Holland’s Opus, and she asked what opus meant. I told her, Y’KNOW, that it meant like a musical work. Then I couldn’t help myself: I said, Do you know what the plural of opus is? She guessed opuses. Nope. Told her it was opera. And she was genuinely surprised and pleased. So I was pleased that this pleased her. Maybe some of you can be pleased that I was pleased that she was pleased.
Hey, @Lewis – I bet you meditate some? In the LOTUS POSE? I’m jealous. So many times I’ve tried to meditate, and I’m just lost. My mind starts to race in just a few seconds. When I’m trying to go to sleep, I’ll think, Ok, I’m going to count backwards from 100.. At around 92, I’m already wondering if I turned all the lamps off in my classroom. Wondering if I need to iron the shirt I’m gonna wear. Planning my meal prep for the next week. Wondering if opus is actually Greek and hence its proper plural would be opodes. Figuring out the consonant/vowel ratio in schnapps and twelfths.Wondering how the hell you’d use the word twelfths in a sentence. Realizing you can cut a pizza in twelfths… Jeez Louise.
I guess I knew CUT NO ICE. I sat there saying, Buddy, that cuts no ice with me. and it sounded natural. It’s so close to break the ice. Hah. If a stranger approached me on a really cold day and was like, This whole climate change ISSUE is overblown. Right? This would neither cut nor break any ice.
I kinda hesitated with the thought that a tube top lacks STRAPS, but I get it. I hate seeing women wearing strapless stuff and constantly tugging and re-adjusting everything lest their HOOTERS. . . ahem. If you’re gonna go the strapless route, make it so that you Wear it, wear it. Use some tape or something so that you don’t have to be constantly messing with it; it kills the effect. Follow me for more fashion advice.
Briefly thought REVERBERATES was just going to use the final three letters of FOREVER, but it would "bounce" back (or reverberate) so I had very high hopes for the theme. Oh well...
Agree, ASSIGNOR was too legalese.
Never heard of the odd CUTNOICE (Americanism dating from the late nineteenth century, it may come from skating, that is, the image of a poor skater who cannot cut figures in the ice. Or it may come from an icebreaker that cannot break up ice floes as it should.)
But the worst was YKNOW - aka YADIG and other supposed hipster lingo. YaKNOW? Get your YAYAS out (first Stones live album) - and at least show some consistency with the junk fill.
Otherwise, the post solve reaction when i FINALLY grokked the theme was positive. I was one of the IGNORAMUSES part of SHINDIG NATION each week (after watching Where The Action Is after school. Good times!
a young Leon Russell with pompadour on Shindig!
Double pleasure this morning of reading both Rex and Loren immediately after solving the puzzle. Thank you both!
So you have a theme that requires a Sherlock Holmes to make any sense of, resulting in the themed answers looking totally nonsensical. Add in stuff like ALIG, EREWHON and YKNOW, then ask us if we know “krucvortenigmo” - and you guessed it, a typical Thursday NYT stinker. They really should give these puzzles their own name, their own section (similar to the way that they do with SB) and have a Crossword Puzzle Section that has actual crossword puzzles.
Had one of those rare days where the theme helped me backsolve. I had STRAPS-HOOTERS, FOREVER-BATES, and SHINDIG-NATION so was able to figure out ASSIGNOR-AMUSES. I suppose the best thing about the theme is that the second parts are stand alone words but not stand alone words as part of the actual answer? My reaction is pretty much the same as OFL’s: “And…?”
That NW though. Brutal. GSUIT? Um, I guess so. GOOPY means sentimental? You sure about that? CUT NO ICE? Nope, that’s a head scratcher. Like I said above, I was able to solve for ASSIGNOR but wasn’t upset about the word until Rex got me fired up.
Nifty theme that I liked a lot. Revealer was a huge clunker, as it is not clear to what “the previous answer” refers (I assumed it meant 62A), and what is meant by “do with the end” of it. But in solving, I basically ignored the revealer and that was fine and fun.
I was hoping one of the trees would be a non-tree tree, like 'shoe' or 'family'.
I want to live in a SHINDIG NATION, not one where everyone FOREVER BERATES one another.
I’m SOOO glad to have you back! We all need vacations, so you were due. But the rest of us pined.
Happy semester prep! (Sorry, I remember my own early August angst only too well.)
Thx, Simeon; excellent Thurs. puz! 😋
Med+ (wasn't on the wavelength for this one).
Clever theme, which was helpful in the end game.
Enjoyed the challenge! :)
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity ~ & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
The plural of genie is *not* GENII. Genie comes from the Arabic “jenni”; it is singular; the singular is not GENUS. Just awful.
<3
Welcome back Rex! And yes, relieved to see that I’m not the only one who struggled with the Northwest. My dad is a retired lawyer (well, still using that license to try and defend voting rights in South Florida) and I had no idea about ASSIGNOR. Not saying it doesn’t exist - he probably wouldn’t be able to drop, say, DONOR ADVISED FUND (a niche-ish term from my work) into a puzzle. But agree it felt obscure for a Thursday, and made the heft of the puzzle skew northwest even though the themers were all in the east. Maybe it’s made okay by the themer, though, if one were to backfill? Anyway, I suggest we try taking CUT NO ICE to the streets, as @Gary suggested about EVILER the other day. Sometimes crosswordlandia really jumps the shark.
Anyway, I enjoyed the rest of it, and thought that the themer was a clever way to integrate some really good longer words without having to do allll the work of slotting them in.
Finally, somehow I thought it was the first *three* letters of the tree that had to get anagrammed, and so I had LEMON in lieu of MAPLE for a bit longer than I care to admit. Here we are.
My two loveliest moments were, first, when I had AMUSES filled in as well as the NOR of ASSIGNOR, then suddenly – wham! – saw IGNORAMUSES, and second, when I had the M of MAPLE, wondered if that could be the answer, then in another flash saw that it began with an anagrammed PALM.
Also lovely were the couple of sections that were hard to fill in. Leaving them, returning, figuring out a couple of squares, leaving, returning, getting a couple more, then suddenly – wham! – splatting the whole area in.
Moments like these make crosswords so addicting.
Glancing at the puzzle post-solve brought more discoveries. Five-letter semordnilaps are fairly rare in grids, but there are two today, DENIM, and the most magnificent YKNOW. Also, there’s the PuzzPair© of RAFA and ACE. And the two theme echoes right at the start: GAP, for one, as it is what the five borrowed letters in this theme must cross; and GAP followed by ACE, as the end of the former turns the latter into “apace”.
And, let me say, there’s a Boggle-style TIC starting with the T in TIETO.
Simeon, one thing I love about your puzzles are that they are capital-P Puzzles, presenting tricky nuts that have to be cracked. My brain comes alive trying to crack riddles, whether successful or not. Brain-come-alive moments are also addicting. Thank you for a most pleasurable outing!
As a guy with a law degree, I have no problem with ASSIGNOR, and I thought the theme was clever. So what if it was hard? Thursdays are supposed to be hard. 😁
4D -- Noooo!
Strangely enough, I actually enjoyed this, despite its problems. I think the theme is great, although I gave up halfway through and went to solve the revealer in order to have any hope of figuring it out. Once I did, the theme answers were fun to solve.
CUT NO ICE is something I've actually heard of, so no problem there. I don't like ASSIGNOR but I recognize it.
My biggest complaints (besides the Prequels reference):
OWLS next to HOOTERS is an odd decision.
Someone either doesn't know what GOOPY means or got their wires crossed with SAPPY.
DITSY, besides being spelled wrong (it's ditzy), doesn't mean "spaced out" to me. It just means "dumb." So that felt off to me, but I'll accept that it could be an alternative definition for others.
I've never heard of a TEARSHEET and can't even picture what it is describing.
So there was a lot of eye rolling during this solve, but overall I enjoyed the challenge and appreciated the payoff. So I'll keep my grumpiness to a minimum.
But seriously Shortz... stop spying on me.
Things that are not a thing -GOOPY, GENII. Bleach. Ode to yesteryear - IRONHORSE, TINPAN and CUTNOICE. And last but not least I think that EMI is owned by Universal. Finished in the Northwest for all of the aforementioned reasons pointed out by Rex and others.
Dreary.
45D: Tree whose first four letters are an anagram of another tree => MAPLE. It's a PLAM tree.
I had fun with this one. Yeah - some clunky fill here and there but an apt revealer and getting the trick aided the solve. TAKE FIVE will always be Brubeck. Not sure of the big guy’s issue with ASSIGNOR - very common term. IRON HORSE and EREWHON are top notch. Rex rightly highlights the short glue - the result of an aggressive theme.
Pleasant Thursday solve.
I’m having a SHINDIG with the Lord
@Andrew, Thanks for the Leon Russell video. I’ve been a fan since the mid-70s but never came across this. The voice and those pounding keyboards were all there, though.
As translated from the original ESPERANTO: "Is a crossword even worth doing, does it CUT NO ICE, is it doomed to be FOREVER BERATEd, if there is no TIC TAC or TIT for TAT somewhere in the puzzle?"
Caught on to the trick early, with SHINDIGNATIONS, but miscounted the letters in the NW and had""skeetshooters instead of TRAPSHOOTERS. I finally cheated to get PINTA by looking up "caravel," a word I wasn't familiar with, and that finished it.
This is the right kind of theme puzzle. You need the theme to get the fill. Sometimes the theme isn't apparent until after the puzzle is completed. Well done.
“Y’KNOW”… really? Maybe “Ya know”, but this one was a big reach, imho. On the other hand, I finished this one without figuring out the theme and wouldn’t have if I didn’t read the explanation here. Was an easy puzzle for a Thursday.
Having just finished paying my semi-annual real estate tax bill, I confidently put down ASSESSOR as a counterpart to "receiver", which totally threw me. I finished the rest of the puzzle, didn't love it, didn't get the theme until I came here (and didn't need it, thankfully), and tried to go through to figure out what I had gotten wrong. Realized PINTA had to be the answer and the rest fell into place, but although I'm a lawyer I never thought of ASSIGNOR. The counterpart to ASSIGNOR is "assignee"; using the non-legal term threw me hard.
Meh.
@RP: Good to have you back. I appreciated the guest bloggers who all did a nice job, but it just isn’t the same without you.
First picked up on the trick at TRAP SHOOTERS, then got REVERBERATES pretty quickly but got thoroughly stuck on IGNORAMUSES. I blame that squarely on the four proper names crossing ASSIGNOR (agree with Rex there) - one of them being a 19th century novel difficult to parse IMO, even with the anagram hint. Then throw in GOOPY which brings to mind an actual sticky mess, not a romanticism. SAPPY - now there’s a word meaning “cloyingly sentimental.”
Anyway, I liked the puzzle otherwise but felt justifiable INDIGNATION at that nightmare in the NW. It just CUT NO ICE with me if YKNOW what I mean.
Umm, you never heard of Tin Pan Alley?
Too many proper nouns I didn’t know. I had to look up COCO, and check a couple of others to make sure they were right. Meh, not a super fun one for me
Help! I got the five starred clues (clever) and finished the puzzle but still don't get the "take five". Five what? Put them where?
Thank you!
I was getting ready to nitpick that EREWHON isn't so much an anagram as the word spelled backwards, but then Rex straightened out my misconception.
And I like Weezie's suggestion of bringing back CUT-NO-ICE but I propose doing it with a twist and bring it back as CUT-NOICE, which is definitely how my eyes want to parse it in the grid.
I thought this was fun -- clever theme and some good fill.
Was hoping for a Brubeck video, but I'll take The Housemartins.
Methinks OFL is a bit tetchy after his vacation -- major overreactions to the NW corner, TAILENDS and the TAKEFIVE clue ("awful" -- really?).
Hey All !
Welp, I was at sea on this Themer. Too clever for the ole brain to grasp what to do. Apparently I needed circles, or shaded squares, or somesuch. Hand held, and all that.
Now that Rex hath explained, it's rather cool. IHNOR and INDIG had pretty clever words. It seems daunting to start with needing a beginning to INDIG. I'm wondering if that was the catalyst to this theme for Simeon. Was he playing around with words, and said, "I wish our country was a SHINDIG NATION. Hey... Look at that...." And a theme was born.
Does anyone still watch movies ON DVD? Are DVD players still made? Maybe they'll come around again, like record players and LPs. (Unsure if you've seen the newer records, but they are rather think. Nothing like the thin ones that would warp if not stored correctly.)
So, a good puz that tickled the brain cells, but not the few left in my brain. Pity. Turned out pretty neat. Too much GOOPY up there. YKNOW?
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
The theme is pretty darned clever -- one of those truly successful themes that offers a dual challenge: one to the constructor, but also one to the solver. Because it's pretty near impossible for the solver to solve this thing based on crosses alone. Eventually you have to figure out what the heck is going on. And those are the best themes.
But if I can't give this puzzle all the love it perhaps deserves, it's because I suffered so much in the non-theme areas. First of all...the trap! Was it deliberately set?
"Cloyingly sentimental" is of course SAPPY. What else could it be when you have that PY? And SAPPY leads perfectly to TIE UP (instead of TIE TO) for "link with". So now what do I do with CUTNa?CE for "carry zero weight"?
It's GOOPY, you say? What the bleep is GOOPY???
I finally have CUTNOICE and I don't get it at first. What a DOOK!
Thank heavens for IGNORAMUSES which enabled me to get ASSIGNOR (!) which enabled me to get GOOPY.
But there's still one Natick that I haven't been able to solve: the SDS?/SOT? cross. I forgot to look at the answer; I'll go look now...
SDSU???? What's that???? SOTU????? What's that????? Someone will tell me, yes?
A very clever and intricate theme -- but with some fill that I found absolutely sadistic.
Sorry, but all the whippersnapper complaints about antiquated slang CUTNOICE with me. I don't think I've ever used it either but if you read things from the earlier parts of the Twentieth Century you'll run into it.
GOOPY in our family has always referred to the crud that comes out of the eyes of pets or small children, as in "_____'s eyes are looking a little GOOPY".
Caught on at REVER BERATES and seeing the trick was way helpful, especially with IGNOR AMUSES.
I always like to sing FOREVER Young when I play at senior centers or nursing homes. Also sang it for my parents at their fiftieth anniversary celebration.
Some of us were just talking about the old tv show SHINDIG, which someone had just seen an episode of featuring someone like Herman's Hermits from fifty years ago, looking impossibly young.
Strong boo to YKNOW. Smacks of desperation.
Really enjoyed your Thursday offering, SS. Sure Seemed fair to me, and thanks for all the fun.
Phillyrad1999, I was also bugged by EMI>SONY, bugged enough to look it up. Turns out the while EMI record label belongs to Universal, the EMI music publishing company belongs to Sony.
GOOPY and GENII made my neck hurt, too.
So never heard of “assignor” or that anagrammed novel. Ok, whatever. What threw me, when I was still assuming the revealer was “take a nap,” was that directly under amuses, tin pan, when spelled backwards, partially spells NAP. So I fumbled around with that, finally figuring out the actual trick when I was just about done. I dunno, this one just CUT NO ICE for me.
I love lamp (tree)
Solved as themeless, took a little longer than usual. When I finally got to it, I misinterpreted the revealer to mean the previous *themer* and couldn't see my way past that! Rizzo before RATSO. CUT NO ICE was a gimme, though I couldn't say why. ASSIGNOR familiar from a previous career, altho not in that exact use.
ESPERANTO pops up in very odd places. Last year in Boston we saw a sign for a ferry in English, Haitian Creole, and Esperanto.
TEARSHEET - proof that an ad ran in the magazine or newspaper, it is literally torn out of the publication and sent to ad agency (alomg with invoice or receipt)
SDSU - San Diego State University (go Aztecs!)
SOTU - State of the Union
I’ve never heard GOOPY as a term for “cloyingly sentimental”. Only ever heard it in the context of something physically slimy, or melting or something. Had SAPPY there forever and it seriously held me up.
SDSU correctly stands for South Dakota State University, but that doesn't make sense with the Aztecs clue. Google tells me that in this context, it stands for San Diego State University, which apparently is a school that exists that some people (probably Californians) have heard of.
SOTU = State of the Union
Did it as a themeless, pretty quickly, and still insist that the revealer isn't correctly stated--not a misdirect, just wrong. Frustrating, because I would have enjoyed the puzzle if the revealer made sense. And I wasted time trying to take five letters from "issues" and stick them into starred answers to have them make sense. Otherwise, like Smith at 9:14 -- Rizzo, and somehow "cut no ice" fell into place. Had blues instead of blahs, but then remembered seeing blues in a clue. Always thought it was lotus position, didn't know it was a pose.
Can’t believe no one has yet linked to Dave Brubeck’s iconic jazz number TAKE FIVE, so called because of its unusual 5/4 time signature.
@Sir Hillary: Your wish is my command. I agree; I'd much rather have seen 63A clued with one of my favorite jazz pieces.
I didn't get the theme until well after I was done. Solved it as a Themeless Thursday, ignoring the clues to the themers.
Wanted EStonian for the language at 10D but it didn't fit.
Ya dig or Ya see before Y'KNOW at 27A
@Rex BlueS before BLAHS at 29A
Never heard of "Da ALIG Show" (31A), Googled it post-solve and discovered it's "Da Ali G Show"
asPen before MAPLE at 45D, although I couldn't make sense of Peas as a tree anagram
I had never heard of ESPERANTO or heard a piano referred to as a TIN PAN. Ended with EScERANTO/TIN cAN. Oh well.
For all the above reasons and rex's reasons that it was easy-medium, I found it IMPOSSIBLE. It was just too hard for me to be enjoyable.
I skipped ahead to the revealer when it became clear the theme answers weren’t going to make sense on their own. I don’t know, TAKE FIVE was pretty clear to me, and led me to see I needed to change ASSIGNee to ASSIGNOR. I enjoyed this one quite a bit. CUT NO ICE is great - I guess I’m a living anachronism, because I’ve said “that cuts no ice with me” unironically.
Hands up for spending half my time in the NW. I kept going back and forth between star ASTER and Anise, hoping one would work. I went up there last and kick myself for not remembering ASIGNOR was part of the theme, which would have helped (always great when a theme gives you at least one of the answers). Forgot or never knew caravel (looked it up, hi BobMills) like RP, and couldn't jar COCO into my brain in spite of definitely knowing who she is. CUTNOICE sounds vaguely familiar post-solve, but those consonant vowel combos look weird without the whole phrase.
I wanted SOAPY/SOPPY/SOUPY/DOPEY - this after finally giving up on oK,NOW.
For those of you claiming GOOPY isn't a thing, multiple dictionary sites on google's opening page give this very sense of the word (schmaltzy, hi@Loren) without even having to click the links.
@PhillyRad1999, interesting about EMI: The music publishing division (specified in the clue) is owned by SONY. The record label is owned by Universal.
Rex usually returns from vacation a little with a lighter pen. Nothing wrong with ASSIGNOR, and I get that legalese is not his thing, but he BERATES the whole puzzle. If people complain about partial answers, they need to praise making the partials real words when it happens. I'm sure Rex gives out many ASSIGNments in class, so this was at least inferable, unlike EREWHON, which is a total WTF if you don't know it, other than the anagram clue, which at least lets you narrow down the letters one by one.
That being said, I'm with Whatsername and glad to have RP back, even with the excellent guest blogs!
Hooters right after tube tops? Not so nice.
Aha!! State of the Union!! THAT sort of address!! Very clever!!
OTOH, the less said about having to know the nicknames
Of every single college and university in the country...
In every single sport...
For both the men and the women...
the better.
Johnny, I agree with you 100%. Why does every Thursday need to have a gimmick? I wish they would make it a slightly easier Friday type puzzle.
Easy-medium. I typically solve the puzzle and then look for the theme which is what you almost have to do with this one. Fortunately the crosses pretty much filled in the answers that made no sense. The result was a delightful aha moment when I went back over the finished puzzle. A clever and fun Thursday with some fine long downs, liked it.
Sometimes an outfielder snags flies, but I’ve never heard of anyone who TRAPS HOOTERS.
I tried in vain to eat some rock-hard SORBET last night, but I could CUTNOICE.
I stared at Da ALIG Show for about a trillion nanoseconds wondering who or what ALIG was. .Lightbulb! D’oh!
For some reason this played easy for me, including the much maligned NW. I’d TAKEFIVE puzzles this good in any week. Thanks, Simeon Seigel.
It was definitely sapPY and ASSessOR. Forget that the Star Wars boy had to be either ANI or Ben. When I finally untangled most of the NW, I was still staring at PI_TA and thinking PIeTA? Is that a caravel? CUT NO ICE was the last thing into the puzzle.
Why couldn't we have a Gwyneth Paltrow TIE TO 14D's clue, which would have made it more accessible?
Yes, I certainly needed the revealer to get the theme but I understood right away what they were asking for and was happy when INDIGNATION helped nail down the first letter of 48A.
Thanks, Simon, you gave me a Thursday challenge!
anonymous@7:29; Merriam Webster disagrees with you
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genie
Pleasingly tough for me, as I kept myself from looking at the reveal clue until I'd figured out what was going on with the theme, and that took a bit. When the grid was almost filled I saw S-HOOTERS, and assumed that we were to add a single letter to the beginning, leading me to do a futile alphabet run in front of AMUSES. Fortunately, TRAP soon jumped out at me, and the aha was there. I thought the combinations were great. Okay, ASSIGNOR itself isn't great, but totally worth it for its contribution of IGNOR, and I loved the idea of SH-INDIGNATION. Also putting the puzzle in the pleasingly tough area for me: unknowns like ASSIGNOR, CUT NO ICE, TIN PAN.
Do-overs: TIN cAN, BLueS. Help from previous puzzles: ALI G. Dunce cap moment: "It's too bad BERATES isn't a word, like all of the others are" (I was seeing it as BEAR-ates). @Anonymous 7:16, thank you for your comment on the "stand-alone words" that turned the light bulb on for me.
I, for one, was absolutely delighted by Today's Puzzle which was a challenge, to be honest... except for the "trick clues" and the revealer, at which I laughed--- and I went straight to my original LP of Brubeck's "Time Out" and listened to "Take Five" for the next 30 minutes. I am almost always totally ignorant of song/artist/group references, but Brubeck? That's a different story. I thought today's answers were tricky, funny, unexpected and altogether satisfying to solve. Thanks for a great morning. Oh, the first word I actually filled in was "Esperanto" because that is, as far as I know, the only " language" where hardly anything of a word's etymology makes any sense to me. The clue to that answer contained "Crucis", of course, but that's as far as it went. The second clue to fill in was "Erewhon" which for me, as Rex wrote, hardly needed the Utopian reference. Once in a while it's satisfying, not to mention unusual, to have a puzzle where nearly everything is on my "wavelength."
I had an old girlfriend who used to tell me that I was "Slow On The Uptake." As a result, that will always be SOTU to me.
The plural of genius is genii. In Latin. Here, we speak English. I tire of the habit of so many "geniuses" to apply Latin rules to English.
I know it's Thursday.
But I wasn't having fun, had to cheat - so I'll just say this wasn't a satisfying challenge for me at all.
@RooMonster 8:56. I still have a DVD player, and use it often. And a VCR, and use that, too. And a CRT TV. And a CD player. And a phonograph. And a cassette player.
I figured TAKE???? for "Get some rest" was ANAP. And then I saw IGNORAMUSES, REVERBERATES and the other two themers. There was no NAP to take. What?
I had to work to get the SE and TAKEFIVE. It still didn't make sense until ... Five letters!
Really enjoyed all the little surprises in this one.
I just noticed that the side by side entries that contain the four themers are actual words in themselves. How cool.
Not lately, but I have said "That cuts no ice with me." Meaning that it's not important or significant.
Looking the fill, it's perky and fun. DITSY. ALIG. GOOPY.
I've followed COCO closely ever since her startling Wimbledon showing in 2019. She has excellent speed and anticipation. If she gets stronger, she could get to the top. She's only 19.
Well...this kinda PAINED me. Not in a terrible way, just the kind that makes your eyebrows arch really high.
Here are the arched eyebrows: the ALIG show?...CUT NO ICE?...How to spell something I've forgotten and glad... EREWHON. I think there's a restaurant or something with that name. SOTU?...and my angst, agita, dyspepsia ....GOOPY.
I think GOOPY would be a nice name for a Hound dog. Come sit with me GOOPY.
A big smile though when I met up with STRAPS HOOTERS. I liked that one a lot. Without TAKing FIVE, this phrase alone, got my mind thinking about how to strap your hooters. I'm on Facebook and while strolling down hoping to find a few nuggets to post, every 3 seconds, an ad for a bra pops up. They are special bras. If your HOOTERS weigh approximately 40 lbs, then, by gum, there is a bra that will somehow perk those babies up to within 1 inch from your chin. Free shipping if you buy 2.
I knew we were dealing with SHOOTERS so I went back up to try and figure out the first one. That was the hardest one. The downs got me thinking hard. ASSIGNOR AMUSES? Aha!... IGNORAMUSES. Again, I thought about how some amusing assignor becomes an ignoramus.....Is there some sneaky scheme I'm not in on?
The reveal meant nothing to me. I wanted TAKE A NAP. Why? Oh, it's TAKE FIVE. SHINDIG NATION INDIGNATION. I got it.
I like puzzles like this. Anything that makes my mind wander into a realm of ESPERANTO, gets kudos from me. YKNOW what I mean? Oh, I also wondered what a rickety piano is and why it's called a TIN PAN. Sigh...the English language !
I thought it was a fine puzzle - I liked the theme - it felts suitably devious for a Thursday, and I did have an aha moment once I saw it (after filling out AMUSES and HOOTERS and shrugging). CUTNOICE was not part of my vocabulary, but ASSIGNOR was fairly easy after a couple of crosses (probably helps that I am well versed in legalese, but it’s not an overly technical term IMO), and I have heard GOOPY used in that sense. Any word that’s gobbledygook “in what language” is likely ESPERANTO - helped by RESETS buttons. Fave answers were LOTUS POSE and IRON HORSE.
So glad to see that Rex' time off didn't diminish his persnicketyness.
I was stuck on ASSESSOR … the office that assesses real estate taxes versus RECEIVER who accepts payment …
Turn around, @RP. Good to see yer back!
TAKE FIVE … Cool Dave Brubeck instro hit, from the 1950's. [and yo, @Sir Hillary]
Makes for a nice, frisky krucvortenigmo theme, also.
krucvortenigmo = puz, huh? Gee, I can't understand why ESPERANTO didn't catch on bigger.
I reckon it's all AMUSES fault, that I caught on to the theme mcguffin. That answer made no sense, even after I had it all filled in. Saw its be-asterisked clue and instinctively went lookin for the revealer. Immediately thought of TAKEFIVE for the revealer … a gimme, if U have the 45pm record. Then just had to do what the "or what…" part of the revealer clue said. QED.
Not many no-knows in the solvequest, at our house. Just EREWHON ... altho knowledge of ALIG & PEPIN were mighty faint, I'd grant.
staff weeject pick: ERS. Plural abbreve meat. One of the six POCs [yo, @AnoaBob] to take advantage of the whoppin six S's along the rightmost column of the krucvortenigmogrid. Also liked that ERS could "take four" and thereby generate OWLSERS, what with HOOTERS splatzed directly below.
Thanx for the fun, Mr. Seigel dude. Cuts the ice, just fine. Downright krucs the enigmo, in fact.
Masked & Anonymo5Us
**gruntz**
I notice early on that HOOTERS had an S in front of it, and it is Thursday, after all, so I went back to take another look at AMUSES. Could it be RAMUSES? I had had ASSIGNee, then changed it to ASSIGNeR to go with Erewhon, but I did notice that there is a little square with GN right over OI, and thought maybe it had something to do with that. (Unfortunately, I'd never heard of the tennis player -- don't tell @Nancy!). And since I was looking for 'skeet,' it took e a long time to see TRAPS. So I had all the theme answers (I'd finally noticed that COCO would make it work) by the time I got to the revealer -- but I didn't know they all took 5 letters. That led to a funny kind of double shimmy there -- knowing it was the revealer led me to reject TAKE a nap for TAKE FIVE, and then the five led me to go back and figure out TRAP. I enjoyed the whole experience, I have to say.
Me too for wanting a Paltrow clue.
For those of you in the dark about Esperanto, it was invented by someone who thought we could only get world peace if we all spoke the same language, but that to adopt an existing language as universal would unfairly favor those who already spoke it, so that others would resist. Time was every community worth its salt had an Esperanto club where members got together and spoke it to each other. It never caught on, though -- and it had a strongly Indo-European bias (which is why you can see why that word might mean 'crossword puzzle,') so it didn't really serve the purpose.
I think I've heard someone say "that CUTs NO ICE," and maybe "that don't CUT NO ICE," so that's OK with me. What I've never heard anyone say, though it's in the puzzle a lot, is "feel me?"
@Johnk -- Genius is Latin; GENII is anglicized Arabic. True, one could also pluralize it as 'genies."
I generally love themes, but I came here today specifically to find out what the heck the theme had been after I had filled everything in. Feel a little foolish, as I did try to work it out, but maybe I was less motivated since I had technically completed the puzzle. NW corner was OK, started with GSUIT, and since I wasn't getting the theme I waited to fill in ASSIGNOR with everything else.
The character Eleanor on "The Good Place" used GOOPY to mean overly sentimental. Doesn't make it well known, of course, but it meant I knew I had heard it somewhere.
Think I need to listen to some Brubeck now.
♪ You hurt me once, you hurt me twice
Oh but-a baby, that don't cut no ice ♪
(song #23 on my personal Top 100 of 1966)
ASSIGNOR is fine at 1a, but the legal counterpart would be "assignee", as @Adam 8:33 points out. Since two-thirds of the letters are the same they used the rather vague "receiver" instead. A reworded clue would be better.
I thought this was a nifty theme once I got it. I wasn't really paying attention to the incongruities of the starred entries at first. I briefly thought maybe HOOTERS and OWLS were somehow supposed to function together.
(song #100 on my personal Top 100 of 1985)
It wasn't until BERATES fell in that I started thinking, okay, *what* is the deal here? But the revealer explains exactly how to comprehend the starred answers. Our blogger seems to have been having a bad day.
Wanted SAPPY before GOOPY, but saw quickly it wouldn't cut no ice. All in all the solve went smoothly. Guess you could say I ACEd it.
(song #9 on my personal Top 100 of 1975)
I agree. I think 63A is poorly phrased. I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do with ISSUES to make sense of the starred clues. Poorly edited. And nigh impossible in the NW to this solver.
Lots of discussion of plurals today.
It's a good thing the plural of IGNORAMUS is not IGNORAMI, or the puzzle wouldn't have worked.
Robyn W. is at the NYer today with a VERY EASY puzzle if anyone is interested :)
I had “Ok now” (said in my head with a touch of sarcasm) in place of the correct answer for “Feel me?”. When I didn’t get the happy music I fixed it. Otherwise great puzzle; YKnow what I mean?
Not quite as much fun as yesterday, but okay. Too bad Simeon couldn't fit MONSIGNOR instead of ASSIGNOR, darned symmetry.
I had ASSIGNER, which meant 5 down had to be CECE, so for "parliament" looking at EW-S all I could think of was... EWES. Seriously?
[Spelling Bee: Wed -1, missed this 7er which I tried several times without the E.]
No problem with TAKE FIVE. It's what a sergeamt says on a march when it's time for a quick rest (or chance to pee). Often followed by "Smoke 'em if you got 'em" in the old days. I did think there ought to be a zed rather than an ess in DITSY.
I looked up the plural of genie. Merriam Webster says the usual plural is genies, but GENII is also used. News to me.
My favorite answer was IRON HORSE. It reminded me of the French and German chemins de fer and eisenbahn, both meaning IRON roads. My last and hardest answer was ASTER, AS I had Anise written firmly in ink. Plus I never would have thought about those missing STRAPS on tube tops. Wanted something like sleeves.
I loved that clip with the young Leon Russell on SHINDIG. He was very good playing that old TIN PAN, wasn't he?
Oh, and this ex lawyer says the counterpart of ASSIGNOR is ASSIGNee. The counterpart of a receiver is usually a person guilty of THEFT.
@GILL I (and anyone else confused by TIN PAN):
The term comes from a place (and musical style) in late 19th/early 20th century New York called Tin Pan Alley. The story goes (and I'm basing this on my memory of a music history class from 25 years ago, so apologies to any actual music historians for everything I'm getting wrong...):
In an effort to capitalize on popular music demand, a bunch of songwriters and publishers set up shop in a particular area of New York (I don't remember where, you can probably look it up if you care). These folks would continuously be churning out songs to sell. It got to the point that if you walked down a particular street in the city, you could hear a multitude of pianos plinking away through the windows. These were salesmen, not concert pianists, so they often used rickety old dime store pianos. Someone remarked that walking down the street sounded like rain falling on a bunch of tin pans, and it earned the nickname "Tin Pan Alley."
You might think this is super obscure, but you've probably heard of a few composers who became famous working in Tin Pan Alley -- most notably one Mr. Irving Berlin.
Again, anyone who knows better is free to duly mock and correct everything I'm misremembering.
Enjoyed this puzzle.
Unfortunately, I was tripped up in a weird way by cracking the mystery of the theme on the REVER-BERATES answer for echoes. Being, like @Lewis, a lover of all things palindromic and semornilapic (there's a word to behold!), I looked at REVER and thought, "Oh, wow, you have to put the last 5 letters of the previous answer in reverse order and then add them to the theme answer. That's incredibly complicated!" It didn't occur to me that I didn't have to REVERse the REVER for it to work, and that caused great confusion for some time as I tried to solve the other themers. But I got there--happy music on the first entry of my final box (the G in GENII).
Agree with @Nancy on the sapPY better than GOOPY and the TIEup working as well as TIE IN.
EREWHON--total woe.
sunvolt, webwinger and others: Now let's see who can come up with a puzzle based on "Unsquare Dance", which is in a spritely 7/8. My favorite Brubeck piece, by far.
@Mack 1:43....Oh, wow. Thanks for the information on TIN PAN. That's one I won't forget. I knew of Tin Pan Alley but didn't put a rickety piano into the equation. There's a song title!: "Rain Falling on a Bunch of Tin Pans."
Gracias....
The Aztecs were in the NCAA March Madness Championship game this year.
I agree! My theory is that, although the majority of clues in Thursday puzzles are Thursday-level difficulty, there are always a handful of asinine clues that they need to make their precious gimmicks work. But that's enough to raise the difficulty of the whole puzzle. Usually when I can't finish a Thursday, I can still get the gimmick but I'll get stuck on some idiotic word like goopy.
@Mark - TIN PAN was slang for a decrepit piano back in the 1880s. Tin Pan Alley came later, as the music publishing business became focused in one spot in Manhattan, on W29th between 5th & 6th [wiki], and songwriters positioned themselves there.
San Diego State University (30D SDSU) alumnus here, class of '73. My diploma, however, says California State University, San Diego. Kind of awkward sounding, right?, so I think they changed it back to the original San Diego State University. My diploma has the signature of a two term Governor of California who went on to be a two term President of the United States.
I agree with all yous who thought an opportunity was missed to clue the reveal TAKE FIVE as the iconic Dave Brubeck jazz number, one of the greatest of all time. It's a cut off his "Time Out" album where every song is in a different time signature. I still have the vinyl LP. It's the second one. The needle wore out the grooves on the first one!
I was pleasantly surprised recently to find out I wasn't the only visitor to this blog who liked blue grass music. One of my favorite blue grass groups appears in today's grid. Here's their rendition of Elton John's "Rocket Man".
Like to stay longer but, with all this dry, hot weather recently, I gotta go water the MALP trees.
Whew. Finally. Thanx Simeon for a wonderfully complicated puzzle. Mucho work and enjoyment. So much fun.
@Mack - Thanks, after reading your description I immediately thought of the Brill Building. I didn’t realize there was a connection but wiki says it was the “last bastion” of Tin Pan Alley. Lots of music and performers I enjoy started there.
I had a great time with this puzzle, and finally managed to use the theme to solve the fiendish NW corner. Yes, it took longer than usual, because it was a real puzzle. It didn’t help that I misread the tube top as tube sock and couldn’t come up with anything except the too short “heels” for 30 minutes. @Gill - hilarious!
@Canon Chasuble : Re the ESPERANTO clue, there's also “enigmo” in there…
@Southside Johnny - Loved your comments, but the puzzle too! You make some good points.
@kitshef - Yes! To the non-tree tree idea. And SHINDIG NATION.
Anyone besides me not able to figure out @Loren Muse Smith's avatar?
I wasn’t going to comment today because there was so much to comment on, but…
On behalf of all lawyers everywhere who simply refuse to speak plain English, I apologize for ASSIGNOR. My lawyer-granddad had me read a wonderful book, “Plainly Speaking,” by a very famous journalist (I think) whose name escapes me (d%# it!, that “senior moment” thing is for real, y’all). Once I passed the bar, I do not believe I ever in 40+ years of practice used that word, not even in detailed land and banking transactions worth 100s of millions of dollars, pounds, lire, francs or Euros or any other type currency. It was one of my hallmarks to avoid legalese unless absolutely necessary, and I would bet that in those 40 years it was not necessary more than 10, and probably all of those dealt with very complex financial, estate and property issues.
My clients appreciated this and told me so frequently, as did many state and Federal judges trial and appellate level. It just is not necessary. That’s probably my professional pet peeve and I’m keeping it. So all you lawyers in the neighborhood, I appreciate that you may disagree, but trying to change my mind at this point is useless.
Wow. I guess I just needed to get that out of my system. Seeing that really irked me. As for the remainder of the puzzle, it was fine. Not very surprising once I figured out that there was a theme, but the lengthy reveal sort of spoiled the possibility of a real “aha” moment. I found that the reveal answer alone (especially because in the app once the solver hits the reveal clue all the theme answer spaces are highlighted), I just think the clue was just TMI to maximize the wow. I’m thinking it might have been an editorial suggestion?
I may just be really really cranky today too. The heat here is just so dangerously high that I don’t even want to walk down the drive to get the newspaper in the morning. I couldn’t avoid some errands today and was absolutely exhausted when I got home after being in and out if the car for a couple hours.
So apologies of I’ve offended anybody, especially our able constructor, and one of my very favorites. It has cleverness and interest but not a lot of word play. And yes, that NW corner was possibly tough for many. I also cringed (and I am not easily given to cringing) at STRAPS next to HOOTERS. Ugh.
It’s G & T time kids. Until tomorrow.
Whoops, wrong fraction in my earlier post. It's 3/4 of the letters.
Ugly
Cut no ice pretty resonant with me. It's at the end of jj Jackson's soul classic but it's alright
I had ChatGPT translate my original post from this A.M.:
Jen la traduko al Esperanto:
Dankon, Simeon; bonega ĵaŭda enigmo! 😋
Med+ (ne estis en la ondo por ĉi tiu).
Saĝa temo, kiu helpis en la fino de la ludo.
Ĝuis la defion! :)
Paco 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Kunordiĝo ~ Tolereco ~ Bonkoreco ~ Ĝojaĵo ~ Bonsorto ~ kaj DAP al ĉiuj 👊 🙏
Ended up doing real work today so I am late to the party. I like this puzzle. Never saw CUT NO ICE since it filled itself in, but phew that's nothing I would ever have guessed anyway.
I love TIN PAN ALLEY era music. It's the overlooked final stand against the horror of electricity foisted upon music making. Gimme a GOOPY love song over anything in 5/4 time every day of the week.
LOTUS POSE next to IRON HORSE is a winner.
Looked up caravel. I sure don't know my boats having grown up seeing no REGATTAS in Colorado, but I have very serious opinions about snow shovels.
If we are ever having a lovely lunch and you tell me the plural of GENIE is GENII, that will be the end of lunch and you will go be right and I will go out to rub lampii looking for GENIES.
@egs I might have a computer folder labeled "Taxes 1987" that traps hooters. 😉
Uniclues:
1 Shift supervisor creates new display at clothing retailer.
2 Hardly NYTXW solvers as our editors like big butts.
3 Puts on a {tee hee} you know...
4 That ennui that looms over certain members of our commentariat when they see nifty spellings.
5 Homophonic soup hits the spot.
6 Emulate how we did sports in the old days.
7 My primary emotion when the librarian brings down the hammer.
8 Fake bad beer company goes public.
1 GAP ACE RESETS
2 ASS IGNORAMUSES
3 STRAPS HOOTERS
4 Y'KNOW BLAHS
5 FO REVERBERATES
6 RUN IN DENIM
7 SH INDIGNATION
8 PHONY IPAS IPO (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Raise elicit funds occasionally. PIMP A BIT.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I just wanted to say a quick thank you for all your work in general. Especially today, I really appreciated the Sam Cooke song. I can’t believe I don’t think I’ve ever heard that one before.
Thank you!!!
Oh hey thanks for acknowledging the music selections, glad you liked today’s; NIGHT BEAT is a great, great album 🎶—RP
There’s a difference between puzzles that are “challenging” or “difficult” and those that are simply willfully obtuse. And mask such as cleverness. This is one of those. Got it, and most were easy, but the bit was a slog the whole way. Not one misdirect felt either earned nor rewarding (upon successfully sussing). Just why.
After minor surgery today, coming out of anesthesia (at least that's my excuse) I read Rex's postscripts and actually started to Google "MALP tree" before saying DOH. Oh dear.
Hope they get that quote-unquote mascot changed soon.
Hoedown, maybe?
Not much fun. I had stopped doing the NYT puzzle out of frustration and recently was given 4 months of NYT Games. I've only been doing them for 2-3 weeks now but am frustrated all over again by seeing the same fill words in successive days, which feels lazy, and things like SOTU's clue not mentioning that it's an abbreviation.
@Beverly C - For the phrase Live like a king, I, per the revealer, "took five," the letter V being the Roman numeral for five.
So live becomes lie with the V taken away.
Not my best work, but whaddya gonna do?
The clue was “some spirits.” The answer in the grid was GENII. Make it make sense. (I am a Latinist by training.)
No JD here but agree completely with Stuart‘s sentiments. The only real issue I had was 66A. I was watching the 51D movie ON DVR not ON DVD, and couldn’t for the life of me figure out why TAR was the answer to BIT!
Holy sweet Jesus was this not fun at all.
The NW quadrant should be a Class A Crossword felony.
This was one of those puzzles where I eventually teetered between looking up some of the answers to move things along, and hitting "reveal puzzle" to put it (and me) out of misery. I rarely do either.
Bonus middle finger for crossing ALIG with GENII.
White house lingo:
SOTU = state of the union
POTUS = president of the united states
FLOTUS = first lady of the united sates
VPOTUS = vice president of the united states
SCOTUS = supreme court of the united states
Pride:Lions...Parliament:Owls...Kvetch:Whiners...All human beings on the planet have gaps in their knowledge. Never encountered 'assignor' or come across"Erewhon'? You're not alone, but don't blame the constructor for your ignorance.
I too had never come across 'assignor', but it fell into place from the crosses and seemed reasonable, so I learned a new term today. Whining about never having heard the term 'cut no ice'? That cuts no ice with me, just means you're human and - like all of us - don't know everything.
A brilliant puzzle and the answer for 63 across - take five - brought it all together.
First time I've ever seen the State of the Union acronymized. I do certainly applaud ANY effort to shorten the thing, however.
Another total blank: "Da ALIG Show??" If you say so. Flirted briefly with POTUS POSE...nah, those guys don't do much meditating.
Held up for a while in the SW because I thought, silly me, that the entire 62-63 line conformed to the theme, and trying to use "SSUES" to start a word was impossible. Finally noticed that 62 was NOT starred, but for me that took away from the whole setup. 63 was the simple, stand-alone revealer. O...kay. I guess.
Nit to pick: THEFT is not in the Ten. Thou shalt not steal. Stealing and THEFT are not precisely congruent, legally. Stealing implies the taking of something possibly while the owner is present, as in the famous loaf of bread of Hugo fame. THEFT implies owner absence.
I do like OWLS over HOOTERS, and the Brubeck shout-out. Par.
Wordle birdie; am now on a run of -6 for the last (TAKE) FIVE.
Unfamiliar with the phrase CUTNOICE and also unfamiliar with COCO Gauff. I thought maybe CUTNOIsE then thought twice and opted for the C for COCO. Guessed right but this surely was a DNF for many because of this unfair crossing, i.e. Natick. It was pretty good aside from that blemish. But who wants to see a zit on the face of Mona Lisa?
DIP PINTA INDIGNATION
Any IGNORAMUSES, Y'KNOW,
are FOREVER PAINED TO tend
TO PHONY ISSUES high and LOW
with HOOTERS and TAILENDS.
--- ELIAS "IKE" VENN
And COCO crossing ACE. No PHONY there. I used the word SHINDIG recently about a private party at his company that I had been invited to and the (much younger) fellow looked at me with the RCA dog POSE (wwhaaaat?); I had to repeat. I think SHINDIG was lost on him. GASSED in the corners.
Wordle par.
Finally - a Thursday "trick" that I got! When I realized what this charmer was doing, I actually wished there were more of the "*" clues. A first for a Thursday? Maybe a second.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
Post a Comment