Pretty dull wackiness today.You've got one real winner (NO CHANTS IN HELL), and then a bunch of seat-fillers ranging in quality from OK (GHOSTLY PRESENTS) to completely forgettable (LOSING PATIENTS). That "patience" / "patients" similarity is old hat and was the pun I was able to get to the quickest. GHOSTLY PRESENTS benefitted from being first, so it had the capacity to (like a good ghost) surprise! And then NO CHANTS IN HELL had me thinking the wackiness might actually achieve acceptable or even enjoyable levels today. But then the bottom half of the grid happened, and the concept just ran out of steam. The cluing didn't help. I don't know that PRINTS OF THIEVES is a bad pun, as far as this exact -CE-to-TS spelling pun goes, but the clue is so dull. Yes, thieves leave fingerprints. They do that. IRL. So ... how is this funny. At least the other clues really leaned into wackiness (with the best of them leaning in hard, which is a big reason why it's the best of them). But the PRINTS OF THIEVES clue is anti-wacky. Joy-draining. Nothing about thieves who steal art? Or who are actual *cat* burglars (you know, who might leave paw "prints")? Like ... get wacky with it or go home. As for the rest of the grid, it's chock full o' short stuff and doesn't have much to recommend it. The longer Downs are fine, and CALZONES are tasty, but it's mostly a shrug—a grid you dutifully fill in, but one that never gives you much to be excited about, or even amused by.
It is an incredible accomplishment to make it as a pro athlete in any sport, so on that level I have respect for OTTO Porter, Jr., but as a crossword answer? He was on a team that won a championship recently, it's true, but so were other guys you couldn't name, and beyond that championship, there's no real distinguishing accomplishment of the type that might make you think, "hey, this guy should really be in a crossword." No All-Star appearances, no scoring or rebounding titles ... I dunno, he's just good at basketball in a kind of ordinary way, which is itself extraordinary—again, just *being* a pro is amazing. But usually to be a crossword answer, you'd expect some there to be *some* reason that the gen pop (i.e. non-basketball fan) might know him, and I can't see what that is. In his defense, wikipedia does say that his play in the 2022 Finals was a significant part of Golden State's winning that championship: "He would play a sizable role in the finals, starting in Game Six, and helping them take home the title." Credit where credit is due. It's just bizarre to have an exceedingly easy puzzle where the one idea they have for "increasing difficulty" is "let's throw in a random basketball player. Just so we can have a different OTTO." I guess I should be grateful that it's not just the "Simpsons" bus driver again. but this one seemed pretty obscure (for non-fans). LOL I just looked up [men named Otto] and of course got this:
[Yes, google, that is what I am asking for ... this is a real "Who's on first?" situation we're getting ourselves into...]
Not many sharp edges to cut yourselves on today (this metaphor brought to you by a very minor tuna-can accident that befell someone not named "me" in this house yesterday) (my daughter is home for a few days before moving to NYC ... the accident didn't befall her either. And my cats are fine. So ... yeah, someone else. Again, that someone else is fine and also reading this and by now is likely thinking "why are you telling people about my stupid tuna can accident?" and the answer is I don't know but I got started and can't seem to stop, I love you, honey!). I had ADZE before RASP (1A: Woodworker's file), which is about the crosswordiest error a solver can make. "I wanted ADZE" who *wants* ADZE?? (woodworkers aside). I had the most trouble in the middle of the grid, inside the ambiguous gunk pile that extends from STRIP to DANG. I was mad at STRIP because it was a short answer in a crucial spot but it was telling me to go off and solve a whole long Down answer in order to understand the clue. I never look at clues for long answers until I've got some crosses (usually a fool's errand, otherwise), so, pass ... and then ATAD, ITIS and DANG, all lumped together there, all could've been different things (ABIT? ISEE or IBET? DAMN or DARN?). Unpleasant slogging through there—all ambiguity, no reward.
Even though EGRETS are about the crosswordesiest birds there are, I enjoyed seeing them today because they reminded me of my new favorite podcast, "Field Trip," which is about the National Parks (I'm halfway through the Everglades episode). Rather than just provide a kind of straightforward description or history of the parks, the show looks at the park from a ground-level view, often through the eyes of someone who works or lives near the park, and often that person is a member of a Native American tribe, so you are constantly having to think about the majesty of the parks alongside the realities of land appropriation and mismanagement, the ravages of capitalism and commerce. And yet despite dealing with some unpleasant realities it still manages to convey the breathtaking quality of these unique and awe-inspiring environments, and celebrates attempts both inside and outside the Park’s’ official infrastructure to keep the parks wild, magnificent, and thriving. The field recordings are beautiful and the conversations between the host (Washington Post's Lillian Cunningham) and her guides and other interview subjects are candid, frank, and frequently surprising (and even funny). Her Everglades recordings and interviews are repeatedly punctuated by animals just ... showing up. Alligators in their path, ospreys dive-bombing for a meal just off to the side of their boat. It's immersive and wonderful and I'm getting paid nothing to tell you this, OK bye!
Thank goodness I knew LESOTHO (from Sporcle quizzes). Not so sure I'd've gotten ELO, tho, without the cross.
Had STAck before STARZ, as I'm currently watching 'Outlander' season 7 via Prime's StackTV channel.
PITA CHIP was new to me.
Fun trip; most enjoyable! :) ___ K.A.C.'s Mon. New Yorker was easy-med (med-hard NYT Sat.). No hitches, but one super clever clue/answer, which I didn't fully understand til post-solve analysis. ___ Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity ~ & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
Aw, I liked the theme all the way through. I found it super cute, and the fill was serviceable with some less common words in the mix, imo.
My nephew is 5 and has discovered world maps, flags, and capitals, and has almost all of them memorized (yep, super smart, hyperlexia runs in the family). LESOTHO made me smile because it’s one of his faves and it’s adorable to hear a little kid chirp things like “Meseru, Lesotho” for fun.
Thanks for the hot tip about the podcast; it sounds right up my alley. I really enjoy the Overheard at National Geographic podcast; it has a similar orientation to its subjects and also often involves interviews with Nat Geo journalists, photographers, and adventurers about their experiences.
I hope a certain unnamed individual soon makes a full recovery from their aluminum-driven misadventure, both physically and pride-wise.
Whenever I see EGRETS (which is often, since I started solving regularly) I think about one of the Piers Anthony Xanth books where someone is having some kind of battle of wits with a computer-like thing and tricks them into creating an EGRESS (exit) by making them think it’s the female form of EGRET.
It was 40 years ago I read those books. I’m sure I’m not remembering correctly at all.
After getting GHOSTLY PRESENTS, my brain’s work ethic got satisfied by trying to guess the remaining theme answers with the fewest crosses. There’s a difference between having three crosses, then four, then five, and trying to figure out the answer each time, and in not doing that but simply waiting until enough crosses make the answer obvious. It takes a touch longer, but for me, that is time very well spent.
So, Caryn and Matthew, you not only gave me smiles with your theme, but your puzzle brought much satisfaction; it was a lovely well to drink from. Thank you both for making this!
Not sure how you confuse an adze for a RASP. Perhaps you also confuse axes and files. I mean, really.
Anyway, it's International Cat Day, so good news for all of us who celebrate. Our guy is almost nineteen and still trucking, knock on wood.
This one was OK but the puns were hardly surprising. I have been referring to waiting for your photos to come back (when you still had to do that) as "Someday My Prints Will Come" for some time now, and when we were singing some Gregorian CHANTS in a choral group I labelled my copy as being from the "Fat CHANTS" collection. Everybody has used the patience/PATIENTS ploy at some point. So not really an aha! or an oho! in the bunch.
Easy breezy Wednesday, CR and MS. Can't Really say it made for Maximum Smiles, but thanks for a fair amount of fun.
My only overwrite was GHOSTLY PRESENce before reading the clue. I didn't know the OTTO at 12D but NESS set me straight, and at that point I grokked the theme. Other than that, smooth sailing. "Whoosh Whoosh" all the way.
Cute - not the cornball it needs to be but fine midweek puzzle. Down with the big guy on OTTO - but can’t understand confusing an adze for a file. NO CHANTS is sold.
Don’t like abbreviations to start. CALZONES and PITA CHIPS cool - and also love to see EGRETS. A couple of unfortunate plurals but for the most part slick and well filled.
I will preemptively say "bah!" to any naysayers. This theme was great. PRINTS OF THIEVES is great. I'll take puns all day long. They are, after all, the greatest possible sign of intelligence (perhaps second only to Simpsons quotes).
Well, what can I complain about today? Of course we're expected to know Hebrew, and having both PESHACGLGHZ (or whatever) and SINAI is starting to border on churchy (synagoguey?). Barf.
Just once Id like to see ELAN clued in reference to Lotus. Apparently not once in some 700 appearances has it happened. And yet "Brio" somehow pops up twice. And "Promethean spark". Ok.
Has LA LA LAND been used to refer to Hollywood prior to that mediocre movie? I had never heard it mean anything besides spaciness.
Look out for the prudes coming to complain that TEAT and a reference to breastfeeding has appeared in their puzzle. I'm sure they thing it should have instead been the name of some kosher law or something.
Annoying to see Bil Keane listed next to Bill Watterson. I once had an argument with my nine year old who claimed Family Circus is funnier than Peanuts. I think I need to cut him from the will.
Actually learning something this week with the second appearance of MOMA. Yesterday I learned that the word “modern” in Modern Art is not synonymous with “recent”, but references an era / group of artists who broke from past traditions in (roughly) the late 1800’s and forged their own style. That saved me from a potential mass confusion situation today when I learned that MOMA opened like a 100 years ago.
Unfortunately, I don’t seem to get the same cosmic energy boost from learning the names of landlocked countries in Africa or how to say almost anything in Latin. Oh well, for taste there is no argument I guess.
I make my own CALZONES and usually put Marinara on the inside - so I was a little lost there when Garlic Knots or Mozzarella Sticks (or even Fried Ravioli) were not viable alternatives. Now I’m hungry as well.
I'd guess that only half of Rex's post today is about this puzzle, or about crosswording in general. The other half is about tuna cans and field trips. Well, it's his blog. Can't understand why Rex chose adze rather than RASP for the file, since an adze is not a file. I think he's joking about that one.I liked the puzzle. Knew OTTO since Porter played for the Georgetown Hoyas and I live across the river from that school.
The time that I cut myself on the can of tuna cat food, I had to go to the local ER for stitches, and the person cleaning me up was a friend, and her main comment of consolation was, "you know, you kind of stink right now" because I had splashed the liquid all over my shirt in the process of my brilliant move.
Speaking of Bil Keane, Google “Dysfunctional Family Circus” for some adult-oriented parodies.
Speaking of the bus driver from The Simpsons, remember the time he was sentenced to AA: “my name is Otto, and I like to get blotto!”
Speaking of EGRETs, see them, Great Blue Herons, ducks, geese and bald eagles on my walks around the small lake on which I live. Minnesota is great April through the first snowfall. Then comes the long dark winter…
Looks like we have a challenge today: what would be a whacky clue for PRINTSOFTHIEVES. I think the pun is fun but darned if I can come up with a clue to make @Rex happy…”result of sloppy break-in technique”? Ugh! This is a job for folks with more imagination…
If presented at a Comedy Club, the wordplay in these theme answers wouldn't exactly have people rolling in the aisles. But for the purposes of a crossword puzzle they're fine. This is awfully easy for a Wednesday though and probably should have been run yesterday.
yep. NOCHANTSINHELL was definitely the pick of the litter. Maybe the other themers coulda had funnier clues, somehow, to pick up the slack. Somethin like:
ACROSS. 17. Eerie gifts that everyone can see right through? 47. Like Dr. Jekyll, with Mr. Hyde doing the blood draws? 59. Bonnie and Clyde's art gallery exhibition? etc.
staff weeject pick: TUE. Had an educational clue, plus it hosted the only U in the puz.
If Otto Porter Jr is too obscure for crossword notoriety, David Ortiz is not. He is THE greatest clutch (October) hitter I've ever seen and that includes Reggie Jackson. He stepped forward after the Boston Marathon bombing and became the public face of the city in those days of outrage and pain. He fills those big shoes admirably. So let's not get too hung up with the obscure, Rex, when there is also an opportunity bring focus to the worthy.
I checked twice to make sure I was doing the right puzzle since it seemed much easier than I would expect for a Wednesday. The puzzle said it best, IT IS A TAD TUE. Like 🦖, I think NO CHANTS IN HECK the best.
NICE TRY is a fun phrase. I've switched from CALZONES to stromboli in my day-to-day life to avoid the ricotta rage.
LESOTHO was brand new to me. I am going to memorize the African map today! Or maybe tomorrow.
I thought the phrase was prince AMONG thieves, but that would require 18 boxes. Maybe he swiped the other three.
Tee-Hee: TEAT.
Uniclues:
1 Contemporary gallery offers retractable leash to prevent disengaged family members from saying, "This stuff is hideous, I will meet you out front when you're done." 2 What every disbelieving sibling has thought at the news their brother or sister isn't the loser they've been portrayed as during Thanksgiving meals. 3 New TikTok dance went viral. 4 Proof the pro-Shaq posse likes his singing.
A fine Tuesday puzzle. On Wednesday, I expect a little more both in difficulty and in themer quality. GHOSTLY PRESENTS in particular felt like "I need a fourth themer, I guess I'll throw that in".
Barbara S. -- was yesterday National Slice Your Finger Open Day? I also did a number on myself. I was prying apart frozen turkey burgers with a sharp knife. Instead of saying "Use something else, moron," my brain said "Okay just be super careful." Before I knew it, my kitchen looked like the Manson murder scene. I was lucky to avoid the ER. It seems to be healing okay.
Peter is absolutely right about David Ortiz, who gave us many thrilling moments at Fenway. But too bad Macknwoke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Wow. Pan after pan.
OK, I see many of you don't understand how Rex solves, viz., he just reads enough of the clue to suggest an answer. E.g., sees 'woodworker' and puts in ADZE. He has cited many examples of this practice over the years.
How about "Hard copy of surveillance camera footage after a burglary?"
@Southside, I see what you did there. Evidently you know more Latin than you LET ON.
For those of you puzzled by LESOTHO, it's the former Basutoland.
@creosote since both of those answers appeared in the puzzle today, this comment really had me stumped for awhile, wondering how one could confuse a matte finish with a wedding dress made of satin fabric. finally, the lightbulb went off. true!
Hyperlexia? You say it like its a good thing. And I agree. But I've just looked it up...it's a relatively new diagnosis. Kid who read early, know flags, countries. And now we need to worry? Gosh.
Is Rex ever satisfied? I liked the theme. And as for the person who said PESACH and SINAI is too Jewish, now you know how I feel about those stupid Star Wars character names at least twice a week.
I'm always amused by folks who think using an electricity sucking machine full of rare earth metals and silicon which have been strip-mined and then refined and stuck into those machines by poorly paid labor and shipped around the world in cargo containers, eventually dumped in vast pollution creating piles, are somehow more "eco-friendly" than getting a square of paper made from sustainably forested woodlands which produce wood and other materials for many other uses besides paper (and could be recycled if it's not already) and sent through the mail.
I especially love the folks who tell me in email signatures to "save a tree" by not printing that email.
One of the CDs I have loaded in my work shop CD player is of Gregorian CHANTS. Today it cued up while I was doing some work with a RASP on a wood and inlayed stone project. Nice little xword woodwork synchronicity there.
I never thought of CHANTS being the same as "singing hymns", as clued. CHANTS seem more monophonically repetitive and meant to create an inward meditative state while I've always thought of hymns as polyphonic songs of praise and adoration sent outward to some divine PRESENTS. A quick peek online shows CHANT and hymn as synonyms so I sit corrected. (But I still think they are different.)
Today we get a PITA CHIP to go with yesterday's COCOA PUFF. Wonder if tomorrow's puzzle will have an OAT in it.
Looking back over the grid, NICE TRY seems like it would work just fine as a single word. Possible compliment to a cabinet maker: "That's a lot of NICETRY you've put into your cabinetry."
Speaking of CHANTS, here's a Gregorianesque mantra I use occasionally: "All EGRETS are herons but not all herons are EGRETS".
I never heard the term hyperlexia. But it caught my attention. It would have been applied to me if it existed around 1960. I didn’t start reading early, but once I started I read A LOT and was into maps etc. (in fact I made a project of drawing the outline of every state in the continental US) As it happened I did have trouble relating to my peers and was considered a strange child. But I think my reading habit ( my mother had to tell me to stop reading and go outside and play) was partially a coping mechanism
I wouldn’t be surprised however that the poster’s nephew could both relate to other children and read a lot. Interesting that hyper is used as a signal of a problem. I agree with the poster’s choice to use it as a compliment!
I thought the theme was delightful, with NO CHANTS IN HELL such a winner - hard to guess without crosses and absolutely inspired. Granted, the others were easier to get, but still PRINTS OF THIEVES is really good, too.
I think La La Land refers to Los Angeles--as a place and as a mindset--especially I find that New Yorkers use it to refer to LA--I've never seen the movie but I've heard NYers use that for a long time.
Just want to say that I am a foreign service officer and often mock Rex for not knowing geography (which he alas doesn’t, though I love him) but I laughed today at Lesotho. When I began my career 22 years ago our class mentor had been Ambassador to LESOTHO and I swore I would never settle for being Ambassador to a landlocked country of less than 3 million that no one has heard of. It turns out the place is quite interesting being entirely within the borders of South Africa and a major mailing locale. Who knew? Anyway for what it’s worth.
A long time ago, I was solving this puzzle and got stuck at an unguessable (to me) crossing: N. C. WYETH crossing NATICK at the "N"—I knew WYETH but forgot his initials, and NATICK ... is a suburb of Boston that I had no hope of knowing. It was clued as someplace the Boston Marathon runs through (???). Anyway, NATICK— the more obscure name in that crossing—became shorthand for an unguessable cross, esp. where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known. NATICK took hold as crossword slang, and the term can now be both noun ("I had a NATICK in the SW corner...") or verb ("I got NATICKED by 50A / 34D!")
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64 comments:
Thx, Caryn & Matthew; NICE work! 😊
Easy-med.
Smooth sailing most of the way.
Thank goodness I knew LESOTHO (from Sporcle quizzes). Not so sure I'd've gotten ELO, tho, without the cross.
Had STAck before STARZ, as I'm currently watching 'Outlander' season 7 via Prime's StackTV channel.
PITA CHIP was new to me.
Fun trip; most enjoyable! :)
___
K.A.C.'s Mon. New Yorker was easy-med (med-hard NYT Sat.). No hitches, but one super clever clue/answer, which I didn't fully understand til post-solve analysis.
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity ~ & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
Aw, I liked the theme all the way through. I found it super cute, and the fill was serviceable with some less common words in the mix, imo.
My nephew is 5 and has discovered world maps, flags, and capitals, and has almost all of them memorized (yep, super smart, hyperlexia runs in the family). LESOTHO made me smile because it’s one of his faves and it’s adorable to hear a little kid chirp things like “Meseru, Lesotho” for fun.
Thanks for the hot tip about the podcast; it sounds right up my alley. I really enjoy the Overheard at National Geographic podcast; it has a similar orientation to its subjects and also often involves interviews with Nat Geo journalists, photographers, and adventurers about their experiences.
I hope a certain unnamed individual soon makes a full recovery from their aluminum-driven misadventure, both physically and pride-wise.
Whenever I see EGRETS (which is often, since I started solving regularly) I think about one of the Piers Anthony Xanth books where someone is having some kind of battle of wits with a computer-like thing and tricks them into creating an EGRESS (exit) by making them think it’s the female form of EGRET.
It was 40 years ago I read those books. I’m sure I’m not remembering correctly at all.
After getting GHOSTLY PRESENTS, my brain’s work ethic got satisfied by trying to guess the remaining theme answers with the fewest crosses. There’s a difference between having three crosses, then four, then five, and trying to figure out the answer each time, and in not doing that but simply waiting until enough crosses make the answer obvious. It takes a touch longer, but for me, that is time very well spent.
Then, I usually like to briefly scan the completed puzzle, looking for things that pop out and make me go “Hah!” or “Interesting…”. Today it was SAGGY at the bottom, the unusually-high four palindromes (SOS, ANA, OTTO, and EVE), the one-letter-off mini-theme (STRIP/STRAP, EGO/ELO, NAPS/NAGS), and, best of all, the most marvelous PuzzPair© of ME ME and EGO.
So, Caryn and Matthew, you not only gave me smiles with your theme, but your puzzle brought much satisfaction; it was a lovely well to drink from. Thank you both for making this!
Not sure how you confuse an adze for a RASP. Perhaps you also confuse axes and files. I mean, really.
Anyway, it's International Cat Day, so good news for all of us who celebrate. Our guy is almost nineteen and still trucking, knock on wood.
This one was OK but the puns were hardly surprising. I have been referring to waiting for your photos to come back (when you still had to do that) as "Someday My Prints Will Come" for some time now, and when we were singing some Gregorian CHANTS in a choral group I labelled my copy as being from the "Fat CHANTS" collection. Everybody has used the patience/PATIENTS ploy at some point. So not really an aha! or an oho! in the bunch.
Easy breezy Wednesday, CR and MS. Can't Really say it made for Maximum Smiles, but thanks for a fair amount of fun.
My only overwrite was GHOSTLY PRESENce before reading the clue. I didn't know the OTTO at 12D but NESS set me straight, and at that point I grokked the theme. Other than that, smooth sailing. "Whoosh Whoosh" all the way.
Cute - not the cornball it needs to be but fine midweek puzzle. Down with the big guy on OTTO - but can’t understand confusing an adze for a file. NO CHANTS is sold.
Don’t like abbreviations to start. CALZONES and PITA CHIPS cool - and also love to see EGRETS. A couple of unfortunate plurals but for the most part slick and well filled.
Pleasant Wednesday solve.
IT IS what IT IS
I enjoyed Rex’s review, though I liked this more than he did. But wow, was it easy.
I will preemptively say "bah!" to any naysayers. This theme was great. PRINTS OF THIEVES is great. I'll take puns all day long. They are, after all, the greatest possible sign of intelligence (perhaps second only to Simpsons quotes).
Well, what can I complain about today?
Of course we're expected to know Hebrew, and having both PESHACGLGHZ (or whatever) and SINAI is starting to border on churchy (synagoguey?). Barf.
Just once Id like to see ELAN clued in reference to Lotus. Apparently not once in some 700 appearances has it happened. And yet "Brio" somehow pops up twice. And "Promethean spark". Ok.
Has LA LA LAND been used to refer to Hollywood prior to that mediocre movie? I had never heard it mean anything besides spaciness.
Look out for the prudes coming to complain that TEAT and a reference to breastfeeding has appeared in their puzzle. I'm sure they thing it should have instead been the name of some kosher law or something.
Annoying to see Bil Keane listed next to Bill Watterson. I once had an argument with my nine year old who claimed Family Circus is funnier than Peanuts. I think I need to cut him from the will.
Actually learning something this week with the second appearance of MOMA. Yesterday I learned that the word “modern” in Modern Art is not synonymous with “recent”, but references an era / group of artists who broke from past traditions in (roughly) the late 1800’s and forged their own style. That saved me from a potential mass confusion situation today when I learned that MOMA opened like a 100 years ago.
Unfortunately, I don’t seem to get the same cosmic energy boost from learning the names of landlocked countries in Africa or how to say almost anything in Latin. Oh well, for taste there is no argument I guess.
I make my own CALZONES and usually put Marinara on the inside - so I was a little lost there when Garlic Knots or Mozzarella Sticks (or even Fried Ravioli) were not viable alternatives. Now I’m hungry as well.
I'd guess that only half of Rex's post today is about this puzzle, or about crosswording in general. The other half is about tuna cans and field trips. Well, it's his blog. Can't understand why Rex chose adze rather than RASP for the file, since an adze is not a file. I think he's joking about that one.I liked the puzzle. Knew OTTO since Porter played for the Georgetown Hoyas and I live across the river from that school.
The time that I cut myself on the can of tuna cat food, I had to go to the local ER for stitches, and the person cleaning me up was a friend, and her main comment of consolation was, "you know, you kind of stink right now" because I had splashed the liquid all over my shirt in the process of my brilliant move.
doesn't help that michael port jr just won the championship, and actually got playing time
Speaking of Bil Keane, Google “Dysfunctional Family Circus” for some adult-oriented parodies.
Speaking of the bus driver from The Simpsons, remember the time he was sentenced to AA: “my name is Otto, and I like to get blotto!”
Speaking of EGRETs, see them, Great Blue Herons, ducks, geese and bald eagles on my walks around the small lake on which I live. Minnesota is great April through the first snowfall. Then comes the long dark winter…
Looks like we have a challenge today: what would be a whacky clue for PRINTSOFTHIEVES. I think the pun is fun but darned if I can come up with a clue to make @Rex happy…”result of sloppy break-in technique”? Ugh! This is a job for folks with more imagination…
If presented at a Comedy Club, the wordplay in these theme answers wouldn't exactly have people rolling in the aisles. But for the purposes of a crossword puzzle they're fine. This is awfully easy for a Wednesday though and probably should have been run yesterday.
@Mack. Neither one of those is funny.
Since the full-word answer to 36A is "perquisite," shouldn't the short form be "PERQ?"
Hey All!
Liked more than Rex. I don't think he disliked it, but some of the nits are a bit, well, nitty. Do agree on the easiness.
I always get a chuckle when I hear CHAD. A country named after a typical college frat boy. 😁
Anyone notice the Mini today? What is The School of The New York Times?
Nice WedsPuz you two. Punnery is funnery! I want to see funnery in a puz...
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
yep. NOCHANTSINHELL was definitely the pick of the litter. Maybe the other themers coulda had funnier clues, somehow, to pick up the slack.
Somethin like:
ACROSS.
17. Eerie gifts that everyone can see right through?
47. Like Dr. Jekyll, with Mr. Hyde doing the blood draws?
59. Bonnie and Clyde's art gallery exhibition?
etc.
staff weeject pick: TUE. Had an educational clue, plus it hosted the only U in the puz.
some fave stuff: TINSELTOWN. NICETRY. CARTOONING [a fave M&A hobby]. CALZONES.
Thanx for gangin up on us, Ms. Robbins darlin & Mr. Stock dude.
Masked & Anonymo1U
**gruntz**
Photos of bandits?
I also liked the puns more than Rex did. Not a tough puzzle, but enjoyable to solve.
If Otto Porter Jr is too obscure for crossword notoriety, David Ortiz is not. He is THE greatest clutch (October) hitter I've ever seen and that includes Reggie Jackson. He stepped forward after the Boston Marathon bombing and became the public face of the city in those days of outrage and pain. He fills those big shoes admirably. So let's not get too hung up with the obscure, Rex, when there is also an opportunity bring focus to the worthy.
I checked twice to make sure I was doing the right puzzle since it seemed much easier than I would expect for a Wednesday. The puzzle said it best, IT IS A TAD TUE. Like 🦖, I think NO CHANTS IN HECK the best.
NICE TRY is a fun phrase. I've switched from CALZONES to stromboli in my day-to-day life to avoid the ricotta rage.
LESOTHO was brand new to me. I am going to memorize the African map today! Or maybe tomorrow.
I thought the phrase was prince AMONG thieves, but that would require 18 boxes. Maybe he swiped the other three.
Tee-Hee: TEAT.
Uniclues:
1 Contemporary gallery offers retractable leash to prevent disengaged family members from saying, "This stuff is hideous, I will meet you out front when you're done."
2 What every disbelieving sibling has thought at the news their brother or sister isn't the loser they've been portrayed as during Thanksgiving meals.
3 New TikTok dance went viral.
4 Proof the pro-Shaq posse likes his singing.
1 MOMA STRAP PERK (~)
2 OSCAR ... DANG
3 SAGGY STEP SLEW
4 O'NEAL ARIA AAHS (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Drinking blended kale and surfing. JOLLA-ISH TOILS.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Matte/ satin is a kealoa.
An invitation to an exclusive bird party might end with “RSVP - EGRETS only”
Before becoming king, Charles amassed a large marine art collection featuring many prints of whales, or so I like to believe.
SAGGY? Get a DANG TEAT STRAP!
I’m always down with puns. Thanks for the chuckles, Caryn Robbins and Matthew Stock.
A fine Tuesday puzzle. On Wednesday, I expect a little more both in difficulty and in themer quality. GHOSTLY PRESENTS in particular felt like "I need a fourth themer, I guess I'll throw that in".
The it's too (hard, easy) for (day of week) comments seem to be irresistible. Even some of the best of us got sucked in today.
I LOVED this puzzle - thanks to you both!
Medium. Familiar theme nicely executed. I’m with the contingent that liked it more than @Rex did
Mali before CHAD
OTTO andANA as clued were WOEs.
@Gary J
PRINCE OF THIEVES.
When I saw the first theme ghost into the grid, I wondered if the sound change in each theme answer would be the same, and it was, which is nice.
@Anon 7:11, so that would make a male ogre an ogret? :-) I read most of the Xanth books back in the 90s but I don't remember that one.
Thanks, Caryn and Matthew.
Barbara S. -- was yesterday National Slice Your Finger Open Day? I also did a number on myself. I was prying apart frozen turkey burgers with a sharp knife. Instead of saying "Use something else, moron," my brain said "Okay just be super careful." Before I knew it, my kitchen looked like the Manson murder scene. I was lucky to avoid the ER. It seems to be healing okay.
Peter is absolutely right about David Ortiz, who gave us many thrilling moments at Fenway.
But too bad Macknwoke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Wow. Pan after pan.
A TEAT is not a site - unless perhaps there are plans to construct a building there.
The original Swedish movie “En man som heter Ove” was pretty good. Don’t see OVE that much in the NYTXW though.
@johnk
site
/sīt/
noun
noun: site; plural noun: sites
a place where a particular event or activity is occurring or has occurred.
"the site of the Battle of Antietam"
Many English words have more than one acceptable meaning or interpretation.
I remember the Piers Anthony story. Someone was trapped and they used the ogre/ogress combo to elicit egress from a story involving an egret.
Really fun. Liked it.
OK, I see many of you don't understand how Rex solves, viz., he just reads enough of the clue to suggest an answer. E.g., sees 'woodworker' and puts in ADZE. He has cited many examples of this practice over the years.
How about "Hard copy of surveillance camera footage after a burglary?"
@Southside, I see what you did there. Evidently you know more Latin than you LET ON.
For those of you puzzled by LESOTHO, it's the former Basutoland.
@creosote since both of those answers appeared in the puzzle today, this comment really had me stumped for awhile, wondering how one could confuse a matte finish with a wedding dress made of satin fabric. finally, the lightbulb went off. true!
I did finish this wanting a calzone...
Hyperlexia? You say it like its a good thing. And I agree. But I've just looked it up...it's a relatively new diagnosis. Kid who read early, know flags, countries. And now we need to worry? Gosh.
I highly recommend the book A Man Called Ove which is the story the movie A Man Called OTTO is drawn on.
Is Rex ever satisfied? I liked the theme. And as for the person who said PESACH and SINAI is too Jewish, now you know how I feel about those stupid Star Wars character names at least twice a week.
Seriously? Peanuts is a gem
Hands up for having SATIN at 25 across, then getting to 42 across and realizing: malapop! and Kealoa!
I must object to RPMS. That is just ridiculous, since R stands for "revolutions". It's exactly like using MPHS. Please stop doing this!
[Spelling Bee: Tues 0, last word this 5er. QB streak at 6!]
Evite rant follows:
I'm always amused by folks who think using an electricity sucking machine full of rare earth metals and silicon which have been strip-mined and then refined and stuck into those machines by poorly paid labor and shipped around the world in cargo containers, eventually dumped in vast pollution creating piles, are somehow more "eco-friendly" than getting a square of paper made from sustainably forested woodlands which produce wood and other materials for many other uses besides paper (and could be recycled if it's not already) and sent through the mail.
I especially love the folks who tell me in email signatures to "save a tree" by not printing that email.
"No chants in hell"was worth it all! Delightful.
One of the CDs I have loaded in my work shop CD player is of Gregorian CHANTS. Today it cued up while I was doing some work with a RASP on a wood and inlayed stone project. Nice little xword woodwork synchronicity there.
I never thought of CHANTS being the same as "singing hymns", as clued. CHANTS seem more monophonically repetitive and meant to create an inward meditative state while I've always thought of hymns as polyphonic songs of praise and adoration sent outward to some divine PRESENTS. A quick peek online shows CHANT and hymn as synonyms so I sit corrected. (But I still think they are different.)
Today we get a PITA CHIP to go with yesterday's COCOA PUFF. Wonder if tomorrow's puzzle will have an OAT in it.
Looking back over the grid, NICE TRY seems like it would work just fine as a single word. Possible compliment to a cabinet maker: "That's a lot of NICETRY you've put into your cabinetry."
Speaking of CHANTS, here's a Gregorianesque mantra I use occasionally: "All EGRETS are herons but not all herons are EGRETS".
I never heard the term hyperlexia. But it caught my attention. It would have been applied to me if it existed around 1960. I didn’t start reading early, but once I started I read A LOT and was into maps etc. (in fact I made a project of drawing the outline of every state in the continental US)
As it happened I did have trouble relating to my peers and was considered a strange child. But I think my reading habit ( my mother had to tell me to stop reading and go outside and play) was partially a coping mechanism
I wouldn’t be surprised however that the poster’s nephew could both relate to other children and read a lot. Interesting that hyper is used as a signal of a problem. I agree with the poster’s choice to use it as a compliment!
No because it is not an abbreviation. It is exactly parallel to bike for bicycle. Happens all the time in English.
@JC66 10:58 AM
+1 Thanks!
I thought the theme was delightful, with NO CHANTS IN HELL such a winner - hard to guess without crosses and absolutely inspired. Granted, the others were easier to get, but still PRINTS OF THIEVES is really good, too.
I think La La Land refers to Los Angeles--as a place and as a mindset--especially I find that New Yorkers use it to refer to LA--I've never seen the movie but I've heard NYers use that for a long time.
Just want to say that I am a foreign service officer and often mock Rex for not knowing geography (which he alas doesn’t, though I love him) but I laughed today at Lesotho. When I began my career 22 years ago our class mentor had been Ambassador to LESOTHO and I swore I would never settle for being Ambassador to a landlocked country of less than 3 million that no one has heard of. It turns out the place is quite interesting being entirely within the borders of South Africa and a major mailing locale. Who knew? Anyway for what it’s worth.
Bil Keane did not create a comic STRIP. He created single-panel cartoons. Or perhaps, a daily COMIC, more generally — which is what I put first.
From EWASTE to EVITE; we're still in the Everse. E-nough, already!
Yeah, -NCE to -NTS, with wackiness. Perhaps not enough wackiness. It fell flat, for me. The struggle for early-week quality continues.
PITACHIP?? Is that a thing?? Never heard of it.
C'mon. Will, surely there's better than this out there. Bogey.
Wordle eagle.
PRINT IT
IN TINSELTOWN some STARZ may STRIP,
if their PRESENTS shows they GROOM well.
FAT and SAGGY means NO OSCAR trip,
HEY, NICETRY, but NOCHANTSINHELL.
--- OTTO O'NEAL-ORTIZ, CEO
A better answer to 29D would have been comic stripping, with referencing to Betty Boop in the clue. Is my age showing?
Wednesdays are my new favorites, and I lost no PATIENTS with this one. Word play - that's my line.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
A bit easy for a Wednesday. I liked the gimmick and nothing in this puzzle made me mad.
The dog ate my homework. I guess.
But I enjoyed this puzzle - never lost PATIENTS with it, because it had lotsa wordplay. Love puns and all wordplay!!
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
3rd attempt to post - wake up, ByndieLand!!
Diana, LIW
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