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First name in detective fiction / FRI 8-18-2023 / Your wurst side? / "Enigma Variations" composer
Friday, August 18, 2023
Constructor: Kameron Austin Collins
Relative difficulty: Hard :( Probably 40mins in total?
THEME: none
Word of the Day: ADAMS (Yolanda with four Grammys in gospel) —
Yolanda Yvette Adams (born August 27, 1961) is an American gospel singer, actress, and host of her own nationally syndicated morning gospel show. She is one of the best-selling gospel artists of all time, having sold over 10 million albums worldwide. In addition to achieving multi-platinum status, she has won four Grammy Awards, four Dove Awards, five BET Awards, six NAACP Image Awards, six Soul Train Music Awards, two BMI Awards and sixteen Stellar Awards. She was the first Gospel artist to be awarded an American Music Award.
• • •
With a triple-stack like this, I often see two things happen: 1) Constructors will keep the answers that intersect the middle as short as possible, and 2) The number of long answers in the rest of the grid is limited. So it's worth shouting out that Kam did neither of these things! Four long answers (IN EXTREMIS, SOSO REVIEW, FREE AGENTS, and SAUERKRAUT) wove in and out of the stack, and we also got four long across answers (WINE BARREL, PROXY VOTE, VITAL ROLE, LINED PAPER) to go along with them.
A trade-off is that we ended up with two very closed-off corners. The top-right and bottom-left section are super disconnected from the rest of the puzzle-- which is what allows all those fun Scrabbly letters in JAZZY and QURAN. When I make a puzzle with closed-off corners, I try to make the clues in there a little easier, since you don't have a way to "break in." It seems like Kam&co did the same here, as those two corners were the first sections that I managed to fill in.
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| jazzy! |
Another trade-off is short fill-- there was definitely stuff here I didn't love, like FINI and ELGAR and ERLE but not a ton, and I think it was worth it: the central stack was awesome! All three answers are delightful, and Totally Real Things. (Sometimes, constructors will use phrasing that's slightly off to stretch or shrink an answer to fifteen letters.) LIVING ON THE EDGE is probably my favorite, but it was hard to pick.
Bullets:
- [Opposite of playing it safe] for LIVING ON THE EDGE — I just read a book called Now is not the Time to Panic (which I loved) and (without giving too much away?) it describes a societal panic caused by posters with the phrase "The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives and the law is skinny with hunger for us." This entry reminded me of that book!
- ["Little Birds" eroticist] for NIN — I got this entry because a wine bar that sells erotica just opened in my neighborhood and they're called Anais. The concept was apparently "What if we made a coffee shop / bookstore but for adults only....?"
- [Heavy stock] for LINED PAPER — Can someone explain this to me? I've heard paper referred to as stock like "cardstock" but I don't understand the rest. In my experience, lined paper is very lightweight.
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102 comments:
LINEN PAPER/YANNI
I thought it would be CARDSTOCK, too, but the letter count didn't match. :)
Hey, @Malaika....I think you mean LINEN PAPER. Think some business cards? You'll probably have a million people answer you...If it makes you feel any better, I toyed with LINEN PANTS.
So the puzzle....I do love me some Friday KAC. I ride on his wave most of the time and enjoy the breeze through the longies. WINE BARREL had me sipping away to GIVE ME ONE REASON. I shall, just for the fun of it, as I'm LIVING ON THE EDGE. Does that make me an adrenaline junkie? The smell of some bodacious foods gets me in that mode.
I actually zipped through this one. To be sure, I had some stops along the way. At 22A I wanted anything other than TEA time to be my answer. I had a few hiccups around the PROXY GRAVA INEXTREMIS area. If ever I make expensive shoes, I shall name them those three words.
Is YANNI still singing?
Nothing really fooled me. Not even Nora's ORGY of the MUMS for Mom. And best of all, I spelled SAUER KRAUT correctly.
Why is TYPE a romantic preference. Mine is Omar Sharif.
Thanks for the review, Malaika, and thanks for the great puzzle on Tuesday. In regards to your question, I think the answer is actually LINENPAPER, since it crosses with YANNI. I’m guessing paper made from linen is generally heavier stock than regular pulp?
On my... The NYT crossword debut of FART.... Gasp.... Turn the clock back 18 months to Friday February 18, 2022 when we had the NYT debut of BRAINFART.... the offence posters on this blog took was hilarious... I can't wait to see today's comments. I'm going to get some popcorn ready and sit back in a comfy chair. Let the fireworks begin.
To save @nancy from further indignation, perhaps someone could warn her not to do today's puzzle.
GAFFE, FART, and REARS makes the little section up there pretty JAZZY..
And it's a pangram! I looked for that when the Koran became the Quran. KAC says he didn't plan it -- he just went for it when he noticed he was only one letter short.
Last, IMHO SAUERKRAUT is underrated.
I don’t understand the answer FAR for the clue A Way, 26A. Will someone please explain? Otherwise a pretty regular Friday for me.
GAWK rubberneck. Thought I nailed that. only crosses got me to change it
"Head Office" - Green Power - M-O-N-E-Y! Geometric progression. Don King. In conclusion, U.S. paper money could be called linen paper - 75 percent cotton, 25 percent linen.
Found it slightly on the easy side of medium. Had a little trouble with the NW - PROXY VOTE - with GApe before GAWP. Gaper block - thanks, Don Miller with traffic reports on KMOX in the 1970s, for introducing me to that one.
Had Pizza before PECAN - Mmmm, ZITI, PECAN, Pizza. I'm feeling peckish.
I thought I had zipped through this one pretty quickly, until the app said I didn`t have it. I looked it over a bunch of times, couldn`t find the mistake. I had three down as redo, and the cask as wide barrel. Looked at this column and saw the problem. Reno? My wife had to explain to me it was short for renovate.
Found this way easier than yesterday's, where I had no idea of the theme. This was a fun, breezy solve - very whooshy for a Friday! Biggest snag was GAWK instead of GAWP, which held things up for a bit. Loved the stack of three long answers in the middle that were so clean and crisp. Fun one!
I'm usually on KAC's wavelength, and today was no exception; I finished with a near-record Friday time of 7:07. Even with the fast solve, I still took a moment to appreciate all the clever puns in the cluing--the ones for ADIEU and PROXYVOTE were especially good, I thought. Also, a nice 90s music theme in the middle stacks, with a 1996 Tracy Chapman hit on top and a 1993 Aerosmith hit on the bottom. (Now if only someone had made a song called "Animal Sanctuary"!)
I was filled with dread when I read the byline -- KAC makes excellent puzzles, but not on my wavelength. Today was the exception. I "Whoosh-whooshed" through most of it.
GERI Jewell (1A) and SIGILS (28A) were new to me, as was gospel singer ADAMS (47A). Wanted SAUsage(something) for the wurst side at 30D. Toyed briefly with eArl for the Marquis name at 34D and REn before REY for the Star Wars person at 34D.
The clue was “a ways” - when something is a ways off it is FAR off.
Rolled this one up in 17 after spending hours on yesterday’s. Sometimes it’s about being on the constructor’s wavelength.
The clue is “a ways”. As in “is it close? No. It’s a ways .”
I loved the SAUERKRAUT clue because I also started out thinking “maybe it’s SAUSAGE-something,” so the confluence gave me a little help with the fill. I got very tripped up by GAFFE - I though the time was TEA and maybe the accents were BRAVA, and there was some time of a slip called a BAFFE that I’d never heard of!
A ways. As in "that's quite a ways away". It means far away.
“Your wurst side” is so great for SAUERKRAUT, which is also the worst side (dish) for me. As opposed to ZITI, which could be my best side.
Pretty easy for me, except the NW that seemed to give everyone trouble. Yes to the GApe, GAWk, GAWP progression. And to TEa time before TEE time.
Happy to have Tracy Chapman’s bouncy GIVE ME ONE REASON in my head to start the day.
Sounds like GAWP caused lots of trouble. Is that a real word? I've heard GAWK and GAPE, but GAWP feels wrong. Has anyone ever heard it used in the wild?
It's a ways off/away = it's far off/away.
Some fun things in this one. I enjoyed IN EXTREMIS for example - simply because it is SO, SO New York Times. I like the way they thrive on taking words that virtually nobody uses in real life and make them feel so welcome and at ease.
I also thought it was pretty cool to have FART right above INANE and crossing GAFFE - that is some Friday-quality juvy humor right there.
On the flip side, I do feel kinda bad for the ERLE dude - I don’t think a lot of people will know him if they are not fans of detective stories and such. It’s kind of like the constructor invited him but just let him be the Wallflower at the ORGY (and of course, it’s always nice to have the lovely and elegant Ms. Nora Ephron drop by for a visit).
Gorgeous, thy name is this puzzle’s marquee, that triple stack in the middle. Not only are the answers vibrant, but look at the crosses, all in the language, no hint of desperation. That is rare and wonderful. Further, four of those crosses – SAUERKRAUT, FREE AGENTS, SO-SO REVIEW, and IN EXTREMIS – are not only long, but gorgeous as well.
KAC’s puzzles may be known for wit and personality, but underneath are serious constructing chops. What a gift to Crosslandia he is.
I loved [It may follow praying] for two such disparate answers (AMEN and MANTIS). I loved the freshness that six NYT answer debuts brought, especially PROXY VOTE, VITAL ROLE, and WINE BARREL – hard to believe these solid answers have never shown up in the 80 years of this puzzle! I enjoyed the PuzzPair© of BYE and ADIEU, as well as the quintet of i-enders: FINI, ZITI, GERI, YANNI, and SWAMI.
Nice little touches as well, such as [Log time] for YULE, where “log” could be a noun or verb, and, in the clue for ANIMAL SANCTUARY, “Circus workers” misdirecting away from ANIMAL. And enough resistance to satisfy my brain’s workout ethic.
Not only a splendid solve, but an outing through beauty and quality. Thank you so much for this, Kameron!
Quick solve (16 min.) with some great content, but I so detest the expression “brain f**t” that I refuse to put in the last letter.
By the way, if after KAC's beauty, you still have an itch to crossword a bit more, I have a themed puzzle in today's Los Angeles Times and Washington Post. It's free, and can be printed out or solved online.
If you do it, I hope you enjoy it!
Thx, Kameron; a JAZZY production! 😊
Easy-med (except for a dnf at the GRAVE / TEE cross).
No matter; learned something about an 'accent'!
Very enjoyable outing! :)
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
Not particularly difficult. GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON was, well, a total "gimme", with that clue. As was AMOR up top, narrowing the 4-letter blue choices down to AQUA...and so it went, things falling in quickly thanks to pretty straightforward cluage. Of course I had GAWK at first like everyone else but that was the extent of any issues.
JAZZY YULE
For any Led Zeppelin fans out there, SIGILS are the runes/symbols depicted on Led Zep's 4th album - "zoso" etc. Each member of the band chose one sigil to represent them. As chief lyricist, Robert Plant chose the quill...
Fantastic pangram puzzle. The cluing is consistently fresh and smooth. SAUERKRAUT and FREE AGENTS are top notch as is the entire triple stack.
Bill Morrisey
I really didn’t notice much glue - the shorts were snazzy enough to stand alone. Some obscure trivia - GERI and SIGILS for me - but crosses were fair. Always thought it was “preying” MANTIS.
Highly enjoyable Friday solve.
@Lewis - wonderful offering today. It’s a handsome grid with the placement of those two spanners - and a smartly revealed theme.
Rose colored glasses
I really liked this puzzle. Was able to finish without looking up anything and had a relatively decent “time” on my app. I never heard of a SIGIL so that was new to me, and I did not know Yolanda ADAMS at all, or the Saab AERO etc but was able to get them eventually with the crosses. I loved the long answers, they actually helped me a ton.
Anyway, thanks Malaika.
Quite easy and very quickly completed, but still enjoyable to solve. I liked it so much I almost thought I wouldn't bother commenting because "What am I going to irrationally complain about??"
I put in GIVE ME ONE REASON and LIVING ON THE EDGE with only the first letters from GAL. That made the whole center a breeze and also made me feel like a hero.
GAWP is a real word I've heard used, but I agree GAWK seems better. To me, GAWK has more of a "rubbernecking, morbid curiosity" feel, while GAWP is more "I'm staring stupidly at you because I can't believe what you just said."
What is an air MILE? Is that some weird term for a frequent flyer mile? And if so, who ever uses it in the singular?
Can we please stop cluing ABE as "Fiver". No one calls it that. "How much do I owe you?" "One ABE."
No.
And finally, for any pearl-clutchers that might show up to wring their hands:
FART FART FART FART FART FART FART FART FART FART FART FART
NIN
Couldn't stop singing Tracy Chapman's Give Me One Reason and Aerosmith's Living on the Edge while solving...
Fast Friday here, but what a nice ride. Last thing I fixed was TEA to TEE (hola @ GILL I) and that was that. Learned SIGILS (SIGILS??) , chose the right spelling for QURAN, eventually, ditto for UMAMI, and have another ADAMS to add to my list of possibilities for that answer.
Many thanks to everyone for explaining YANNI and FAR. Anything worth doing is worth overdoing, as a friend of mine says.
Nicely done as usual, KAC. Kept A Close eye on your rascally clues, as I know how you operate from lots of NYer puzzles. Up to your usual standards, and thanks for all the fun.
Hey All !
Was waiting for Rex to kvetch about the closed off corners, alas, we get Malaika today. (Not alas for Malaika, I like her!)
Nice FriPuz. Found unusually easy. Normally stacks, or FriPuzs in general, I struggle. Finished this one in 18 minutes! That's some fast stuff for me.
Had Balsa first for BIRCH, which not only held me up slightly in the Stack, but got me wondering how canoes are so sturdy if made from balsa. Har.
Pangram, in case y'all didn't notice.
We made it another Friday. Have fun out there today!
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Things I never expected to see included FART and YANNI.
Things I enjoyed - INEXTREMIS reminded me of yesterday’s puzzle and LINENPAPER.
Got a little crossed up between TEE time and TEA time. Don’t know if that qualifies it as a true Kealoa. Overall an enjoyable Friday.
@Lewis -- great puzzle in LAT! I wish I had your laudatory skills and your insights to write a Lewis-like rave for it. Enjoyed it all -- theme and fill.
Your description of “linen” paper is inaccurate. Linen refers to the texture of the paper, not necessarily its composition. Papers that have a high ‘rag’ content (cotton fibers) most often have a linen texture, but not necessarily. Also, linen paper does not necessarily mean that the paper is heavier stock. most linen paper is heavier stock, but not all.
30 years of selling paper….
Happy National Couple’s Day. Or, for those Tex-Mex lovers who may or may not be paired off, Happy Fajita Day.
Count me among those who quake at the name of Kameron Austin Collins, but I had no trouble with this one. A slow start as, despite having been a faithful Deadwood-watcher, I didn’t know GERI Jewell (though she sounds like a fascinating person). The diminutive TEE, ABE, NIN and FAR got me going. Malaika commented on the isolated NE and SW corners. I thought the larger NW and SE were pretty cut-off, too, as only two long downs penetrate each one. But because the cluing was straightforward, no sweat.
GAFFEs: REn for REY, “gang” for TEAM, Saint for SWAMI. I also misread the clue for 45A and wondered what the heck you call a baby Himalayan. I finally found out what “fatuous” means. I knew about the silliness but I thought smugness was involved, too. I liked ORGY and OPRY in the same puzzle and was amused to see ORGY and SADE side by side. Not sure what Bill NYE, the science guy, was doing there but maybe he was filming the phenomenon for a TV special. BIRCH made me think of @Birchbark – gone, but not forgotten.
[SB: Wed -2, Thu 0. On Wed. I was astonished to find out that this is a verb and can therefore be used in the past tense – I was aware of the word only as a noun in the phrase that’s given here.]
I don't golf, so I really stuck with TEa time until I had all the other crosses for GRAVE. Saint before SWAMI too, but that didn't last as long.
But my real problem, despite years of Latin in high school, was IN EXTREMIS. I know the phrase, and get it from the EMIS, but for some reason wanted it to start with ut, and then ad, either though neither of those make sense in Latin. Chalk it up to an increasingly confused brain.
Don't like the clue for 26-D, though it was easy enough. FINI is French, does that make it informal? Is ADIEU formal? Done in Dijon would have been better.
I’m in with the general praise for this excellent Friday puzzle but have to un-clutch my pearls for a moment: That N section was the toughest for me, and the very last word to go in was FART, eliciting an “Ugh” just as I was finishing. Great puzzle, terrible way to go out.
Got it done with one cheat...LINENPAPER/YANNI cross (I had "linedpaper" because I'd never heard of LINENPAPER, and didn't remember YANNI.)
Guessed right on UMAMI, because only AQUA seemed fit the clue for blue shade. Was slow to get brain FART because I didn't expect to get past the censor. I also wanted TEA (time) at first.
All things considered, a well constructed puzzle of average difficulty for a Friday.
@Lewis-Thanks for the heads up on your LAT puzzle and thanks for the puzzle, which was just great. Lots of fun.
There were 17 mystery clue/entries. Often KAC has 20 or more, dropping me into DNF territory. Not much gnashing of teeth on this one, enjoyed it.
I've been out for lunch three times recently and I've had Reubens. They were all good but not enough SAUERKRAUT. They need the crunch.
Lots of nice four-letter words today.
RENo before RENU, fixed thanks to PROXY VOTE. Tea before TEE, fixed thanks to GRAVE. No other overwrites … on a Friday? Very, very, very easy for a Friday.
@Lewis-I see Pablo has beaten me to it. But let me add my thanks for your very enjoyable and crunchy LAT "dis-sing." And your appreciative deep dives on this site.
When I first encountered KAC puzzles, they were filled with stuff just outside of my wavelength. Either he opened me up to his style, or became more mainstream, because this was an enjoyable romp with little slowing down. His last few in the New Yorker were also much more approachable.
Off to look up SIGIL and do the LAT Lewis puzzle!
Not a complaint, but I was thinking the phrase is GIVEMEONEgoodREASON, and see that Joe may have inadvertently confirmed it.
I associate GAWP with cartoons. GAWK matches better with rubberneck, but fun to get that with the interesting, consonant-rich PROXYVOTE
Linen paper. Crosses Yanni, the Greek new age performer.
I thought this was a superb puzzle with very witty clues. Type, as in she’s not your type. Agree linen stock
Hey Malaika! Your northwest looks exactly like mine would if I solved on paper and I had a similar time. GERI who? The P in GAWP was the buzz kill of the day.
The rest of the puzzle was fun.
EXCEPT... INEXTREMIS! I assume this is a Latin thing, but it's terrible. One letter off from English. BYE.
Never heard of SIGILS so I was surprised when the puzzle filled in and then said I was done.
Tee-Hees: Don't FART from your REARS if you're at an ORGY or y'all won't be invited back.
Uniclues:
1 Condominium board election scandal.
2 Unpopular bug with a lilting slogan like "Costanza" or "By Mennen."
3 Mayan comedian's closing gag ... literally.
4 The one with the biggest wallet.
5 Bulldoze to make way for a burg.
6 My feeling for the wurst clue.
1 PROXY VOTE DRAMA
2 BYE MANTIS
3 INANE INCA FART (~)
4 FREE AGENT'S TEAM
5 DELETE ALP
6 SAUERKRAUT AMOR (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Forgoes the dining room table. TRIES OUT TV TRAY.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
A "keep the faith" puzzle for me, as I couldn't fill in anything -- I mean ANYTHING -- in the NW and upper Midwest (except for ESL) and went elsewhere. I hoped I'd get back there with enough to be able to solve it, and happily I did.
The first long answer for me was LIVING ON THE EDGE -- which I got from LIV plus checking the G of EDGE and finding Nora Ephron's wonderful (and wonderfully titled) book "Wallflower at the ORGY." She's one of the best and funniest writers of the last half-century and everyone should read her. All the long answers above LIVING ON THE EDGE whooshed in -- and I finally had enough to get back to the NW with IN EXTREMIS and FREE AGENTS.
SO SO REVIEW is a marquee (not marquis) entry -- but what on earth are SIGILS?????? The only IGILS word I could come up with was vIGILS -- giving me what looked to be VOSORE VIEW. I stared at this blankly for, like, forever. I was in that moment not so happy with Mr. Collins.
BTW, a better clue for SO SO REVIEW would be "It was okay". "It was fine" seems a lot more positive than SO SO. And so so that clue threw me off.
If memory serves, I usually struggle with this constructor and don't always feel we're on the same wave length. But since memory doesn't always serve, I'm going to mosey over to xword and take a look. Meanwhile, a nice crunchy challenge today.
@Lewis - Your LAT puzzle today is a "winner". Thanks for the fun solving time and congrats to you (again) for such a great puzzle.
Loose lips sink ships, and a FART will FREEAGENTS sphincter.
I love that YULE song that ends INEXTREMIS Dale.
MANTIS odd to see that Bulky Himalayan perched atop an ALP.
Like most commenters, I got the much desired Friday whooshes from this beauty. Thanks, KAC.
A perfectly resistant Friday for me, in the form of a hard shell around a soft center: I was floundering in the top tier until the center stack of easy grid-spanning answers gave me enough crosses to get into the NW (IN EXTREMIS) and center (FREE AGENT). Heading downward from there wasn't particularly easy for me, either, but the delight of finding SAUERKRAUT fortified me for the final frontier, that cut-off SW corner. Loved the cluing, loved being able to finish.
Do-overs: Like many, GApe, GAWk; REdO; error before GAFFE; MANTra before MANTIS; aNy before ONE REASON. No idea: AERO, GERI, ADAMS.
Can someone please explain Reno as an answer for home make over? No one seems to have mentioned it. Otherwise easiest KAC I’ve ever encountered.
I was a bit afraid when I saw this was a KAC puzzle but after circling around a few times I managed to “finish” it and felt SO good about it except…I didn’t finish it because I had TEa instead of TEE and when I looked for my error I realized I didn’t know what a GRAVE accent is and GRAVa seemed just as good. D’oh! Today I learned SIGIL and GRAVE accent and I always like to learn something new in a puzzle!
Even though I had the E, I was reluctant to fill in ERLE because I guess I never thought of Perry Mason as “detective fiction.” No biggie. When I looked it up the series was it is called “legal detective.” Maybe the short-lived “new” Perry Mason tv show was more true to the books because Perry had been a private eye before going to law school in that show and he was a bit “hard-boiled.”
Ok, I’ll bite. What’s the deal on the YANNI comments? Maybe I have a false memory but seems like YANNI was the “go to” New Age music puzzle answer before ENYA took control…am I wrong? Not sayin’ newer solvers would know but there is a reason I was NOT surprised that YANNI showed up at the party.
Maybe it’s because I’m more than twice as old as our dear Malaika, but I don’t know why she was bothered by FINI, ERLE, and ELGAR.
Not a great clue for FINI—“informally”? Done! would’ve sufficed. ERLE Stanley Gardner wrote the iconic Perry Mason series, and ELGAR is a pretty well-known composer (“Pomp & Circumstance” ring a bell?) and neither is terribly frequent in NYTXWs, IMO. A faster Friday than usual, and no Google cheats, and FINI!
I'm sure it will be great, Lewis -- and I look forward to once again receiving one of your always clever and challenging puzzles in the analog, non-techy form guaranteed not to rob me of any solving pleasure. I only regret that I can't chime in with praise right now like all the Rexites who do the puzzle online. And of course I'm bursting with curiosity as I always am in this circumstance.
@mathgent -- Re the [grilled] Reuben -- alas, no longer grilled anywhere anymore. I am fortunate who have had all my early Reubens at the restaurant that invented the sandwich: Oscar's at the Waldorf Hotel, which was right near the office where I worked. Not only grilled, but with a "secret ingredient" that few restaurants know about today. And while I can't get any restaurants to grill the sandwich for me, I can ask them to put Russian Dressing on both sides of the bread slices.
The sweetness of the Russian Dressing cuts through the saltiness of the corned beef and SAUERKRAUT and is the difference between a perfectly nice sandwich (SO SO REVIEW!) and a sandwich that will live in your memory forever.
Easy for me. My second fastest time ever for a Friday, only 3 second above my best, much faster than Thursday, and even faster than Wednesday.
@Lewis: Fun LAT offering today. Cutting edge - as always with you - and not the least bit disappointing.
Easy-medium. My brain FART was TEa before TEE and I actually play golf every Monday morning at a muni 9 hole course with a delightful group of folks. Plus I’m the guy that gets on the website at 7:00 pm a week in advance to make the TEE time...Doh! Liked the puzzle!
GAWP seems to be the British version of GAWK. We heard it used on an episode of Doc Martin last night.
I don’t know what Reno is? I’m in real estate never heard of it
Have never heard of LINEN PAPER or ERLE l, and I’m not sure I’ve ever heard YANNI, but managed to parse those squares and finish in below average Friday time.
not lined paper, linen paper.
while i did have to check a few answers, did not find this as difficult as malaika. age is often an advantage.
@okanaganer - heard on the radio about Kelowna evacuations; so sorry for all of Canada burning, hope you not being evacuated!
Might have been my fastest Friday ever (19-20 minute range), but I didn't get the "happy music" and couldn't figure out why! Finally hit "check puzzle," which indicated the "O" in PROXYVOTE was incorrect! Wha?!?!
Turns out I had missed the "O" on my keyboard and entered a zero.
Life goes on.
Great puzzle. BTW, You said “Lined Paper” when the word is “Linen.” I know you got it right on the puzzle itself, but indicated the wrong answer.
Like most of you, I found the cluing to be witty and the puz to be fairly easy overall (under 20:00, which is good for me on a Friday).
No issues with BRAINFART, but I'm not easily offended.
I had Anais Nim, and having never read the [d0wn clue] books, so that square led to a technical DNF. But so what?
Tough but fair, with some misdirection---Thought but discounted INCA early because I thought, no, it would have to be INCAN, right? Wrong. So that held me way back as I needed help with the crosses. Likewise YANNI didn't occur to me because I wanted ENYA, somehow. ALP seemed too general for the clue, which seemed a little borad if not sloppy, so I thought I'd look down not up and wanted LEA. Wanted TEA instead of TEE. Had to chip away at each corner, trying stuff with no outside help, which was fun.
Short for renovation. Doing a kitchen reno…Not the city in Nevada
@burtonkd 10:08 – Oh that's weird. Guess I've heard it both ways. I did enter the correct version in the grid, obviously!
@anonymous 11:02…home RENOvation.
A Liz Lemon picture is always a welcome sight.
FART debut, passin thru REARS. Mic drop.
M&A had some terrible trouble gettin a decent start, due to havin GAWK & REDO kinda semi-blockin my way in. Solution: Turned the barely started puz over to the PuzEatinSpouse. She proceeded to cream it, altho I did participate in helpin with decodin a few sneaky clues and scorin a few short answers, in tag-team mode.
fave clue that M&A decoded: {It may follow praying} = MANTIS.
fave clue that PuzEatinSpouse decoded: {Your wurst side?} = SAUERKRAUT.
staff weeject pick: TEE [For its sneaky TEE vs. TEA ambush potential, sorta like what GAWP/GAWK did]. Also partial to FAR, just becuz it reminded m&e again of FART.
other fave stuff: Almost all the longball answers, which crossed each other quite an unusual bit. Pangrammer braggin rights … albeit with them closed-off NE &SW corners doin the Q,J,Z scrabble-twerkin. SADE clue. Oh, yeah -- and did I mention FART?
Thanx for the themeless fun, Mr. Collins dude. Nice job.
Masked & Anonymo5Us
in celebration of the FART debut:
**gruntz**
@lewis
Loved your LAT puzzle.
I got it with no lookups, but it wasn't easy. Lots of mysteries. TYPE, for instance, for romantic preference. I think I've mainly heard of it on one wonderful song, "Third Rate Romance, Low Rent Rendezvous" where the lady says, "You don't seem like my TYPE, but I guess you'll do." PROXYVOTE did not exactly LEAP to mind. Nor did WINE BARREL, for cask, though "Cask of Amontillado" is my favorite EAPOE story.
I am very grateful to KAC for ANIMALSANCTUARY. Made filling out a large part of the puzzle FAR easier. Loved the accent GRAVE, because it made me think of W.C. Fields, aka Egbert Souse'. (And yes, the accent is really aigu, not grave).
Never knew the INCA had no money.
Thanks for giving OFL a well deserved break Malaika. I enjoyed your reactions as much as I did KAC’s grid. Anyone who can cross IN EXTREMIS with LIVING ON THE EDGE as icing on the cake (three layers and great flavors) is an established master constructor. Thanks too for letting me know that you were the Tuesday grid maker; I usually pass on the early week puzzles to grapple instead with the New Yorker offerings, but I’m curious to see what you did & how commentariat responded. It’s good to have the archives just for such occasions 👍🏼
There was a lot that came easy & some didn't (at first I was intimidated when I saw the constructor was KAC especially on a Friday).
I didn't know GAWP, SIGILS but the rest happened eventually. I really liked MUMS. Thank you!
@ Lewis - thanks for the heads up. Congrats on your puzzle in the LAT - I'm going over there now,
I was a little stuck on Animal Sanctuary because I was trying to make the 90s song theme work!
I got Yanni. Then figured out linen paper. Which I had never heard of
Short for renovation.
With ORGY , the Marquis de SADE, and Ms NIN, this puzzle was living on the edge. Fun!
“Terrible way to go out” haha I get it
@whatsername, @Sun Volt, @Live prof, @pabloinnh, @JFpon, @Joaquin, @JC66, @jb129 -- Thank you all for your kind words and feedback!
Hey, I get to stand in the corner with the rest of yous for a change. I thought this was a finely crafted puzzle with a VITAL ROLE played by a marquee grid spanning triple stack on center stage surrounded by a star studded supporting cast. Can't imagine anyone giving this a SO SO REVIEW.
Like some others, I am also a Tracy Chapman fan, so GIVE ME ONE REASON was especially nice. If you haven't heard her before, here's a YouTube of probably her biggest hit, Fast Car. She reminds me a lot of Odetta, a singer from an earlier generation. If you have the time, listen to Odetta's rendition of the Woody Guthrie song Pastures of Plenty.
@Lewis
Spoilers! Look away, but it's the end of the day so hopefully everyone already did it.
Ya got me good. LEGAL > LEGIT > LICIT! OCA is new to me, but seems like good ol' crosswordese. ROUGH DISTANCE > ROUGH DISPATCH. Had to look up ESTER. Fun puzzle.
Tee-Hees: ASSESS next to ASSN.
Uniclues:
1 Bombeck shows off.
2 The hope of every young man ever.
1 ERMA DRAPE SAGS
2 PUT ME IN TWOSOME
Some people in the US use fini in a colloquial way. I have heard it used casually on occasion.
He or the editors wanted to make the clue a little harder.
It is a valid clue.
@Gary Jugert -- Hah! I love your take!
Interesting about not knowing Earle. Not that long ago it was a crossword standard not quite as common as Oreo but close. I was puzzled why it showed up on a Friday because it was so easy for me, until I realized for newer solvers it is obscure!
Another reminder that I am old. Oh well.
Loved it - thanks Lewis!
@Peter -- Glad you enjoyed it!
I *knew* I was remembering the ONE (GOOD) REASON line as a lyric from an older song, pre-Tracy Chapman. It took me all day to think of it, and as it turns out it wasn't "one" but:
♪ Give me two good reasons why I oughta stay ♪
Excellent LATimes puzzle, Lewis.
Having run several print shops, I agree that “stock” is the usual jargon for paper. Linen is not necessarily heavier than other stock, though, and I thought the clue might be trying a bit too hard.
Great puzzle, though, and maybe my fastest KAC to date.
JAZZY Friday! Both GAFFE and FART and so many other excellent, witty and clever clues (of course; it’s a KAC puzz!). Oddly, I was on a roll fairly early even though I originally wanted to GAWk rather than GAWP and thought index cards instead of LINEN PAPER. Felt dumb after that one because I am a paper fanatic. I love to write with antique fountain (or even dip) pens and wet ink from an inkwell. The sound of a gold tipped pen on beautifully crafted heavy paper is so satisfying, and quality ink has a delightful smell. Also wanted my favorite lemoN rather than PECAN pie. All my first but incorrect choices were fairly easy to fix.
The other bonus is a Malaika Friday! Great job, as always. Nice to have you around. Have a great weekend everyone.
@Lewis - just finished your LAT puzzle. Tougher than the typical LAT Friday. The NE section took some staring. Enjoyed it!
OMG Tuesday was my favorite puzzle EVER 🩵 I was like whose puzzle is this?!
The concept of "closed-off corners" in crossword puzzles was discussed. Do you find that puzzles with more open or closed sections affect your enjoyment of solving? How do you approach solving when you encounter these types of configurations? Tel U
Agreed: easier than yesterday's but no pushover. ABE/BIRCH was my entry point. I soon had enough for GIVEME___REASON, but it took a while seeing whether it was THE or ANY. No wonder it took a while: it was ONE! The other spanners kind of fell in. That Scrabbly SW corner with an unknown PPP entry took another while. Good, toothy Friday puzzle. Birdie.
Wordle birdie too.
Very crunchy and delicious! Thank you KAC.
I respectfully disagree with Sarah B at 1:37 am. Erik Agard’s puzzle on Thursday (yesterday) was my favourite in a long time. Tuesday’s, not so much. Too much PPP.
It took me way too long to remember the Saab Aero, and I used to own a Saab, but not an Aero. My bestest and favoritest car I ever owned.
GAL ONTHEEDGE (TEAM AMOR)
YULE GIVEMEONEREASON to quarrel,
but your MUM'S at THE ORGY for ORAL.
INEXTREMIS THE TYPE SO bold,
SO UMAMI's a VITALROLE.
FINI. AMEN.
--- ERLE ELGAR
KAC indeed.
12+ awful or groan-inducing clue/answer pairs. I get the need for dreck to fill out the needless and uninteresting gimmick in the middle to make it a 'Friday puzzle' but there's was no call to misunderstand what irony is or what the Inca was, unironically use holy for the Quran or generally problematic Hindu gurus, use nonexistent or centuries-old slang, bring up franchise-crashing Mary Sues, etc. etc. etc.
I assume FART, SADE, and ORGY were their own gimmick to distract from the general muck of the puzzle... seems to have mostly worked for y'all but, nah, this was just lame.
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