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Modern initialism for Black dialect / THU 8-17-23 / Rebuff in Rostov / Covered with bryophytes / Part of the Hollywood monogram J.E.J. / Make out sloppily in the library? / Bistate metro area abbr. / Sargasso Sea spawners / New Edition's debut single ("You look so sweet, you're a special treat")
Thursday, August 17, 2023
Constructor: Erik Agard
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Theme answers:
- CONCOURSES (i.e. C. O. N. courses) (16A: Cup of noodles, and others?)
- SERRATIONS (i.e. S.E.R. rations) (20A: Shrimp egg rolls, and others?)
- CARFARE (i.e. C.A.R. fare) (37A: Chicken and rice, and others?)
- CAVEATS (i.e. C.A.V. eats) (39A: Coq au vin, and others?)
- BRANDISHES (i.e. B.R.A.N. dishes) (55A: Baked rigatoni alla Norma, and others?)
Effa Louise Manley (née Brooks; March 27, 1897 – April 16, 1981) was an American sports executive. She co-owned the Newark Eagles baseball franchise in the Negro leagues with her husband Abe Manley from 1935 to 1948. Throughout that time, she served as the team's business manager and fulfilled many of her husband's duties as treasurer of the Negro National League. In 2006, she posthumously became the first (and, to date, only) woman inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, chosen by the Special Committee on Negro Leagues for her work as an executive. (wikipedia)
• • •
Around the beginning of the pandemic, I sank heavily into baseball books, and a bio of her (pictured above) was one of the many books I read (and enjoyed). She's probably the least (generally) well known answer in the grid, but she was really important on the business management side of baseball, and it turns out the book I read was just one of many written about her. She's a really important figure (and obviously being the first woman in the Baseball HOF makes her inherently puzzleworthy). I'm looking over all the EFFA MANLEY crosses and ... yeah, they all look fair. I can see how that answer alone might drive the puzzle into difficult territory, but the relatively gettable theme should keep this one on the easy side, overall.
While the theme answers didn't give me much trouble, a lot of the short fill did, though not for very good reason. I just couldn't see through the somewhat vague cluing. RACES (1D: Election night list) and MICS (28D: Row for a musical group) in particular required every cross. So many things listed on election night (stats? states? maps? candidates?), so many potential rows for groups (what kind of group? rows of chairs, rows of music stands? are these bands fighting?). I also had a "How does a paradigm move??" moment (SHIFT), and neither of the "watering holes" were immediately clear to me. I knew that there was a Kansas City, Missouri as well as a Kansas City, Kansas, but I semi-embarrassingly didn't know that St. Louis (STL) had a "metro area" that extended into Illinois (it is Illinois, isn't it?? yes, thank god, at least my brain was able to retain *that* much geography). If it's a "metro area" in three letters and it starts with "S," my first instinct is, oddly, SLC, but of course there's no "Bistate" metro area out there. Just Utah ... and then, I dunno, a bunch of MESAs. Cities are harder to come by out west until you hit CA. My favorite clue, because it led to a genuine "d'oh!" on my part, was 4D: ( and ) (ARCS). I thought the parentheses were doing something to the word "and," like ... is somewhat whispering to me? Encouraging me to go on (with my story)? Is it a word meaning "and"? No, it's just on arc ... and then another arc ... and together the parenthetical-looking dealies are just ARCS. Mathematically so.
I really like the loopiness of the clue on MOM (6A: Wow, that's upside down!), and I like the coincidence of GEAR appearing over SHIFT appearing over CAR! Hurray for chance juxtapositions. Not sure how I feel about "C'MON" crossing "CAN I COME IN?" Seems like a dupe of "come," even if "come" isn't fully written out in "C'MON." I think I'm gonna let this one off with a warning, but ... I see your shenanigans, so don't let it happen again, mister. Just be glad that "CAN I COME IN?" is such a strong entry. Harder to be mad when I'm dealing with nice fill. I no-looked PYTHONS today (43D: Things with coils that can be dangerous) (just filled it in from a handful of crosses, never looked at the clue), and, even more miraculous (to me), I absolutely stuck the landing with my first guess on that insane direction clue (36D: 157.5 degrees from N). "Uh ... SSE!? ... holy cow, that's right? ha ha ha, amazing." If I'd just slowed down and thought about it, SSE and SSW were really the only possible answers there, but while I was flying through the grid, all I saw was a non-round number and a direction, and my SSE felt like a shot in the dark. Like, I just threw it up and hoped it would stick. And it did. And I was GLAD (48A: Chuffed). See you later.
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92 comments:
I took an extra dose of stupid pills yesterday, so it took me some time after finishing to get the theme. I solved by getting all the themers from crosses. That made the puzzle Medium-Challenging.
Thx, Erik, what a marvelous construction; You really knocked it out of the park! 😋
Hard (Sat. time).
Didn't catch on to the trick until near the bottom of the puz. It was a big help with filling in some of the gaps.
Worth every minute of this battle!
Esp loved learning about EFFA Manley.
"… some key points about Effa Manley and her involvement with the Newark Eagles:
Business Leadership: Effa Manley was a skilled businesswoman and took on various responsibilities within the Newark Eagles organization. She was actively involved in the team's operations, including marketing, player recruitment, and community engagement. Her dedication helped the team become financially successful.
Advocacy for Players: Manley was known for her strong advocacy on behalf of African-American players. She fought for fair treatment, better wages, and improved conditions for players in the Negro leagues. She also advocated for players' rights to be signed by major league teams.
Negro League World Series: Under Effa Manley's ownership, the Newark Eagles won the Negro League World Series in 1946. The team's success was a testament to Manley's leadership and her commitment to building a competitive and talented roster.
Civil Rights Activism: Beyond her contributions to baseball, Effa Manley was also active in civil rights causes. She was an outspoken advocate for racial equality and justice and used her position to promote social change.
Legacy: Effa Manley's impact on baseball and civil rights has left a lasting legacy. Her efforts helped pave the way for African-American players to eventually integrate into Major League Baseball, which happened with Jackie Robinson's debut in 1947.
Effa Manley's story highlights the important role that women played in the history of baseball, particularly in the context of the Negro leagues. Her business acumen, advocacy, and commitment to social change have solidified her place as a trailblazer and an influential figure in both sports and civil rights history." (ChatGPT) (Vetted on Wikipedia)
Enjoyed this adventure immensely! :)
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
Never discerned the theme even after parsing together a couple of the answers, so this one turned into a slogfest right away. Hard to fight through a grid when you have no chance at the themers and still need the crosses for stuff like EFFA MANLEY and CANDY GIRL. Nothing terrible or inherently difficult today - I just felt like a spectator who wasn’t invited to the party cuz I never got the theme.
I loved the science-y bottom section with EELS, ARGON, LARVA, MOSSY and PYTHONS.
And I appreciated that the temptation to cross-reference the clues for GEAR and SHIFT was avoided.
And that was a really great clue for MISREAD.
But golly, how much did I hate this theme? I would rather have a quip quote puzzle; that’s how much I hated it.
I was a little “meh” on the theme, partly because of the always awkward “and others” construction. Are there other dishes with the initials BRAN besides baked rigatoni alla Norma? Boiled rabbit and nutria? But the many synonyms for food were fun, and the revealer was nice.
The fill was mostly good, with lots of wacky clues, many mentioned by Rex. But my favorite was “make out sloppily in the library” for MISREAD. Just picturing a couple in the stacks, slobbering all over each other and distracting studiers around them so much that they misread their texts.
As a native Midwesterner (a STLan, in fact), it’s funny to watch Rex fumbling over flyover-land geography. Is it Illinois? Yes, it is Illinois! Yay me! And I don’t think there are MESAs around Salt Lake City. It’s in the Rockies; mesas would be more in the desert southern part the state. Both parts are so beautiful!
When I saw it, when I finally saw it, sussed the theme, it was an OMG “Hah!”, one of the biggest and most satisfying I’ve ever experienced. That joy of cracking combined with the blessed relief after suffering through a pestering persistent overarching stymie. “You devil, Erik,” I silently screamed, “you brilliant devil!”
Oh, I knew coming in that the puzzle would be impeccably put together, cleanroom spotless, with at least one priceless clue (two for me today: [Wow, that’s upside down!] for MOM and [( and )] for ARCS) – all Agard trademarks. Erik, after all, has the talent, the knack. I never leave one of his puzzles without thinking, “Man, that was good. That was really really good.”
But to keep the hits coming, as he does, well, that’s talent with heft.
Oh, sure, I loved the double clues for BEDS/SHOE and DIVE/POND, and the smiler of “Make out sloppily in the library”. It was lovely to see the rhymers TETE, FRET and NYET hanging out in the same neighborhood. And I loved seeing the abutting GEAR, SHIFT, and CAR (Hi, @Rex!).
But what I’m taking away from this capital-P Puzzle is the capital-P Payoff, that curtain-part from heaven. Great one, Erik, you magnificent devil. Thank you so much for this!
Ditto
Enjoyed this a lot. The theme was a simple concept well executed, and some nice long non-theme answers.
I never figured out the theme till I got here, and there was much — to me — obscure stuff I didn’t know at all, but somehow I finished it. Glad Rex liked it, but I didn’t know what to make of it. But one thing I’ll say is that Erik Agard’s puzzles are always “interesting.”
Never got the theme, thrashed through without it, came here to find out what I missed… no joy, complete anticlimax.Worst Thursday of the year for me. Shortening? Meh.
Not the typical Thursday trick - but very cool. Agree with the big guy that it assisted the solve going forward once it fell. FARE was the only outlier for me.
Rest of the grid was smooth and slick - I don’t expect anything less from Erik. Loved EASY GOING and CANDY GIRL. Jury still out on the MOM clue.
Enjoyable Thursday solve.
Did you stand by me
Appreciated the cluing and the fill overall. Loved the nod to EFFAMANLEY. I don’t think of abbreviating when I think of SHORTENING so the theme was lost on me unfortunately. Now that its been laid out for me - simply taking the initials of the clue feels a bit meh to me.
Surprising no one, Erik Agard is probably my favorite constructor. This puzzle didn’t disappoint - so many clever, offbeat clues, such good trivia worked in an accessible way, Black af. I really loved the silliness of “Wow, that’s upside down!” — I actually wrote it in and then deleted it thinking it was too easy for a Thursday at first. And I agree with @kitshef re the science-y bottom half. I was delighted to be able to drop MOSSY right in; there’s an amazing popular science book by Indigenous ecologist and botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer called Gathering Moss which explores the role that mosses play in ecosystems and totally blew my mind.
Anyway, it took me a little while to get the theme, but once I did, I said out loud “OH… well, that’s goofy.” But in the kinda loving way when your friend is being silly and you’re responding like, “oh, you.” And I really don’t know what to feel about it. On the one hand, once you get it, it feels almost too easy. On the other, it’s not even immediately apparent on the revealer - I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what word they could possibly be shortening at the beginning of each theme clue. And then it clicked into place, and became a gimme. But that’s still enough bite for it to more than pass muster in my book, I think. Plus wow is it an impressive, multilayered theme to come up with the answers for.
This was an easy Thursday for me, but this is about as in my idiosyncratic wheelhouse as a puzzle gets. Now on to a much less interesting day…
For me, this was a theme in search of a puzzle. Where was there any suggestion that we were expected to use the initial letters within the clues? What is the point of this?
I guess I'm always going to be in the minority regarding Thursday puzzles.
I didn’t grok the theme until I was done, which caused me to feel some frustration with this puzzle (especially after finding Wednesday’s puzzle oddly vexing). But on reflection I appreciate this one for its lively fill and cluing (and, OK, a fairly clever theme).
My only real beef here is with CARFARE. Is that a thing? It doesn’t seem nearly as “in the language” as CONCOURSES, CAVEATS, BRANDISHES, or even SERRATIONS.
Excellent fun for all! (Also a mnemonic to remember Effa associated with baseball.)
Tried to get O’MALLEY in thinking it was an owner’s widow but BRAoDISHES was obviously wrong. Also wanted SEaRATIONS.
Took a minute after completing to get the AHA. Then OHO. Then MOM upside down!
Fun puzzle completed despite my ignorance of AAVE and EFFA.
DNF because of the Natick of two show-biz things at GMA/MANDY. I went with GsA sANDY. Other than that, it was a fun puzzle, easy once I figured out the theme.
brava before RICAN (do we call that an adjective of convenience?) and, bizarrely, ALeS before ALPS.
I first read the clue for 6-D, "Make out sloppily in the library?" as a cryptic -- meaning to anagram 'make out' into a word meaning library. That EUM looked like a plausible ending, but the rest of it didn't work, and I finally realized it was a pun instead.
Not for me, this one.
It took a while to get a decent foothold, but when I did, it was smooth sailing. Like Rex, I grokked the theme at the second answer and then the others became quite easy. CAVEATS, for example, went in without any crosses.
I enjoyed the theme because, as Rex said, you get to spend some brainpower figuring out which "meal" words will complete the "real" word. That sort of thing is why I'm doing puzzles in the first place.
I started out irrationally angry at RICAN, because I hate fill-in-the-blanks and especially hate ones that arbitrarily alter the word to make it fit. Really? You start with "Costa _____" and your answer is RICAN? C'MON, that's awful. In retrospect, however, I can't think of another five letter word that would fit, so I conceded that it wasn't too unfair.
No, I've never heard of EFFA MANLEY, and maybe I should feel ashamed for that, but she was a baseball manager. It's awesome that she did so much for racial equality, but I also don't expect to know the first black woman elected to the board of, oh... say, The American Go-Kart Association.
(Frankly, I don't think I could name more than three or four men in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Jackie Robinson, I assume.)
Holy cow, what a clever theme! How Erik Agard got this idea, I can only guess.
Fabulous theme density, with awesome long downs to boot -- MOM upside down!
EFFAMANLEY was vaguely familiar, but I needed crosses. I must read up on her.
For you liquid-lunching figure skaters: Stoli and lime, and others? >>> SALCHOW
:)
Yeah me too. I didn’t actually get the theme until Rex explained it. Hey, a new verb? To Rexplain the crossword theme?
Whoops,
Forgot to finish my thoughts...
First, what a strange, consumerist way to clue ECO. I assume that's a brand name of some sort? Eco Style?
Second, CAR FARE? Is that a thing? cab fare, yes. Bus fare, yes. But CAR FARE? Never heard it.
So much great cluing here. Witty, original, a little sneaky, purposeful. Thank you, Erik
Hey All !
Ok, further evidence of brain cells exiting stage right. Never caught the theme. Struggled with the puz, as First Initials of the foods never popped into the ole brain. Too clever for me, apparently.
Got the ole "Aha" after RexPlanation, so thanks. Had to Goog for EFFA, as baseball not my forte.
Missed opportunity to clue PYTHONS as "Full Monty?"
SEa RATIONS first for SERRATIONS. Har.
TVG crossing VCRS is neat. 54D requires knowledge of STEM. 😁 Not only must you know math, but science as well.
TATA.
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Never figured it out (thanks for helping 🦖), but when I put in the last square it said I was done. Very clever.
Had to look EFFA up since she crossed two theme entries and bryophytes, so not as fair as OFL says.
AAVE is new to me. I'm still on the old term and it appears to be defunct. As am I.
Uniclues:
1 Knife maker goes straight.
2 Boyfriend in the woods.
3 Steer clear of gas station sushi and hotdogs.
4 Gnome.
5 Result of the phrase, "Off with his head."
6 Assume they're in this relationship for the hugs.
7 One who's failing the unhoused.
1 ENDS SERRATIONS
2 GEAR AMIGO
3 CAR FARE CAVEATS
4 MOSSY TINY
5 EARL SHORTENING
6 MISREAD PYTHONS
7 EASY GOING MAYOR (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Jamaican in a bar at 4 am. LAST CALL RASTA.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Finished puzzle, came here for the Rexplanation of the theme (couldn't work out what was being shortened, duh, and just took the "what makes an actual word here" approach).
Minor quibble: although the answer to 67A was obvious (thanks, ECO and SNOB), it's an abbreviation, which isn't indicated in the clue.
Always enjoy Erik A puzzles!
@Mack 9:04 forgot, yes CARFARE is definitely a thing, although it sounds old fashioned even to me, something my mother might have said...
Filled in the entire thing, correctly, as it turned out. and then spent more time than I wanted to trying to make sense of the revealer. Congratulations to all of you who did, but that happiness was not mine today. It was satisfying to untangle some of the clues, at least.
Happy to discover EFFAMANLEY, as anything baseball-related interests me. Not sure how I've missed her for so long. My mother-in-law's name was Effie, another one-of-a-kind name.
I Eagerly Await EA puzzles, as they are often in the NYer, but this one left me scratching my head. Nicely done, Mr. Agard, and thanks for a puzzle that really knows how to puzzle.
Great challenge!
Yes, car fare is a real thing. I remember it from my childhood, mostly older people using it even back then. It was called that because most urban transit many many years ago were street cars. So, it's called bus fare now.
Yikes! In hindsight—after reading @Rex—a fun puzzle. I got BRANDISHING and SHORTENING early on, but because of the reference to Norma in the BRANDISHING clue, thought the SHORTENING had to do with leaving out a second D—BRAND dISHing. This led me right down a rabbit hole trying to decipher the rest of the themers…otherwise seemed to be on the right wavelength with the off-the-wall stuff like MOM and PYTHON.
Terrible theme. "And others"? What others? How on earth were we supposed to make the leap by checking the initials of the listed meals? I guess you'd need to get all the crosses AND get kind of lucky to make the connection. I didn't think they could do any worse than last Thursday's theme, but this one surprised me by doing it.
Rexplain! 👍🏻
Did anybody else get “Mice” for musical row (as in Three Blind Mice) and Alpe for the mountain range? Not going to give myself a DNF because I was obviously referring to a single peak in the mountain range (in French) 🤣🤣
Your boiled rabbit and nutria is making me nauseous.
I finished the whole thing and still didn’t get it! Thank goodness for @Rex to explain this to me. I do love Agard puzzles and I did enjoy the puzzle but I’m just marveling at how I missed the whole shebang!!!
Even after finishing the puzzle, I still didn't get the gimmick. All the Downs helped me on the "shortened" Across answers but I have to say, the product is called Cup Noodle, not Cup Of Noodles, so that answer wasn't helpful to me.
Now I'm hungry
Maybe I missed this, but was I the only one to Natick at AAVA/AAVE - NATS/NETS? (Not sure Natick is a verb.) So another DNF this week. :-(
Also thought it was "short" for Brand Dishing. Then further convinced myself that it was Cave Eats because I didn't know what Croq du Vin is and thought it was something about Wine being aged in a Cave? Still finished but was confused about serrations and concourses til I got here.
Fresh roasted orange stroganoff tandoori , and others?
We ate in a Chinese restaurant last night. Had some Chow Mein, some Lo Mein and some CANICOMEIN.
I’m with @Lewis on the wonderful Aha! Always glad to see Erik Agard.
FROSTBITES
Woke up in a bad mood and this puzzle didn't help. I got the theme fairly quickly, but still struggled to finish and didn't enjoy all the wacky clues. Glad to hear that others did, though. Next time I see Mr. Agard's name I will be forewarned.
From yesterday:
- For those complaining yesterday that COTE is for doves, I'll give this PSA that a pigeon is otherwise known as a "rock dove".
- MIR doesn't require speaking Russian, just remembering the space station, back from when the spirit of international cooperation was more in vogue...
Did Lewis do an unannounced guest-blog today? Very enlightening and informative, pointed out strong and weak parts fairly, love it! (I just saw that Lewis out-Lewised himself today:)
After its last 2 recent appearances, I no longer know how to pronounce C'MON (at least I don't have to rhyme it with anything).
@Wanderlust, I see your point about geography, but SLC is surrounded by Oquirrh Mountains to the West and Wasatch to the east (technically a subrange of the Rockies).
sANDY seemed like it could work for MANDY or CANDY, SANDYCANDYMANDYLOA!!!
I grokked the theme down toward the bottom with several letters in place. It is always fun when getting the theme helps you get the answers sometime mid-solve.
I was originally listing VOTES for 1D, leading to Costa Vista - seemed strong enough to resist changing, making that one of the later sections to finish.
@Mack, definitely have heard CAR FARE, maybe generational or regional?
Brilliant of Eric Agard to think of this - a nice Thursday twist from the frequent rebuses.
Oh, did I feel dim. I had the revealer and three of the themers. So, I thought "oh, car fare is Caribbean fare, and concourses could be soupçon or concentrated soup." I was struggling to see what SER could be - what words about Asian cuisine could become ser? Finally, struggling with caveats, I saw that CAV were the initials of Coq au vin. Could that be it? Could it have been that simple - a quick check confirmed. AHA! Some cool clues. Would have preferred "may I come in," but all else made up for that!
A small personal peeve... I detest CMON.... And we've had a lot of it this year, seven times already. Only one time less than the also hated Oreo at eight. In spite of hating CMON, I'm kind of rooting for it to appear again soon and bump Oreo down a notch.
My rant aside, another enjoyable Agard puzzle.
I finished filling in the grid without seeing the gimmick. I saw the five themers as random words except that they all ended with words having to do with meals (COURSES, RATIONS, FARE, EATS, DISHES). Then I wrote out the full entries next to the clues on my printout. Aha! I saw the initials!
What an intricate theme! Great piece of work!
Jeff Chen said it was a tired old theme. The examples he gave didn't have nearly the complexity this one has. For one thing, the examples all had the same initials (SOS, like SAME OLD STORY).
Count me among those who didn't get the theme until reading Rex. Really, a DNF here, as I got frustrated and asked Google's help on EFFA MANLEY. Too much white space left in the southwest. After that assist, was able to finish.
For a long time, I was remembering the Liberty's time in Westchester County - was trying to think of a four-letter college team for a shared arena - Iona, say.
On to Friday.
@Sir Hillary - wild applause for your Salchow.
Hand up for car fare being a common expression, most often used to mean subway fare. I guess the fare to ride subway cars?
What fun! I certainly scratched my head plenty to get the CON of CONCOURSES (what kind of a 3-letter course is a cup of noodles???) but once I had that, I pretty much ran with all the other themers.
Except for BRANDaSHES. My "game played on the road" once I had the final "Y" was AWAY, not I-SPY -- and because it was *confirmed* by YES, I initially never questioned it.
So that's what "chuffed" means!!!! Our @Hartley has used the word many times with me over the phone about some incident or other, and I was too embarrassed to tell her I had no idea at all what she meant. I thought it meant she was angry. Doesn't "chuffed" sound angry? So I wrote in IRED, not GLAD. And that first I, plus the final L made my "highly sought-after" thing an IDEAL rather than a GRAIL.
Don't ask.
In that same section: Why does "Huh" = ODD? That's the one clue in this puzzle I really object to. And EFFA MANLEY, sweetie -- you were no help at all!
But despite some quite arcane clues and answers, I loved this. Give me a cryptic-style theme with a lot of thinking thereby required for me to do and I'm a very happy camper.
Has anyone coined a word or a phrase for: I HAVE NO FRICKEN IDEA HOW I FINISHED OR WHY?
Erik and I have never quite managed to get to know each other. I still remember his cluing Che Guevara as a hero. Maybe it tainted me.
I'll just throw it out there (again) that I know zero about baseball nor will I ever. I'm glad for EFFA and her NBBHF title. I cheated on you and I wasn't happy that I had to but how else was I going to ever finish dinner or lunch for that matter.
I was able to see the first COURSES and the RATION etc etc etc etc. I said "So What?"....
1A....It has to be Costa BRAVA? I wanted it to be BRAVA. I love Costa Brava. I do like Puerto RICAN food, though, so there's that!
I'll continue trying to figure this one out because I couldn't sleep last night and the Hawaiian news was so sad and I'm having nightmares about all those people who died and the list goes on. So, Erik, you became my diversion....for a while only. Turns to you weren't much fun either.
I liked one clue only because it made me smile MOM.
Hasta luego CHE.
Initialisms? Oh CMON. Never became AWARE of the trick so I didn’t exactly SOAR with joy and I really hate when a theme has to be explained to me. Sometimes I learn from it and then there are times like today when I just shrug and say okay THEN. However, I did enjoy learning about EFFA MANLEY. She was worth the price of admission.
A hat tip of awe to Erik Agard for coming up with the idea and finding five synonyms for "food" that work as the second half of interesting words. I caught on to the theme trick at "Chicken and rice" - for some reason the C-A-R stood out for me - but I couldn't come up with the completing FARE at that point. Instead I went back for a confirmatory glance at CONCOURSES and filled in the first R of SERRATIONS (I'd been toying with SEa RATIONS = C-rations). After that, CAVEATS came quickly, but I needed crossing help with the DISHES to complete BRAN - a great word for the end of the menu. Very cool Thursday.
Do-overs: MICe before MICS (hi, Anonymous 9:39) and "anyone home?" before CAN I COME IN. No idea: CANDY GIRL, EFFA MANLEY, AAVE.
On the tough side for me. I finished correctly but had no idea what was going on, so when I got the “happy music” I was kinda surprised. I mean EFFA MANLEY was highly suspect. After quite a bit of staring the penny dropped. Add me to those who thought this was both clever and frustrating.
As I type this, my beautiful Effa Manley bobblehead doll sits to my right. I bought it years ago online from the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame. Yes, such a place exists --- God bless America. But I'm not sure it's still available from them.
Cashew-Almond Tahini and others. CATCHOW
@Anonymous (8:28) and Mack (9:04) CAR FARE is pretty dated, even to a Boomer like me but I recall hearing it used as in, “I was going to take the bus but I didn’t have car fare.” This was many years ago and the people referring to it that way were older THEN, so I’m guessing it may have some reference to the days of street cars.
Wait, J.E.J. isn't Janet EDNA Jackson?
Couldn't get a foothold in the SW without knowing EFFA MANLEY.
A new candidate for the @Joseph Michael Treasury of Helpful Solving Hints:
Always assume that a pop song title will be a "Duh!" that a 7-year-old might come up with.
Pop songwriters are not Stephen Sondheim. The job of a pop songwriter is to express a completely obvious thought in the most obvious language available. I didn't know CANDY GIRL either. But when the lyric is "You look so sweet; you're a special treat" and you have at that point, as I did, C-ND-G---, what else would it be?
High FIVE to Eric today. I’m sure that his MOM is saying wow! As are we👏🏼
I love Erik's puzzles but this time I couldn't get into his head (theme). I did enjoy "Wow, that's upside down" = Mom. All the more reason that I'm disappointed (in myself).
Good to see you, Erik!
Never figured out the theme, and was surprised when I successfully completed the puzzle. I'm not 100% sure I get it even after reading Rex's explanation!
I was so CHUFFED when I saw Erik Agard was the constructor today! Then I was super-CHUFFED that I actually finished the puzzle in spite of several attempts by my ID to convince me to Google! I will say the whole operation exhausted my brain such that I didn’t bother to figure out the angle with SHORTENING on the themers and came straight to the Rexplanation. Btw…is this the first time commenters have used Rexplain/Rexplanation? Brilliant.
I REALLY hope that EA continues to throw us a bone with his fabulous puzzles!
Well it *is* Restaurant Week in NYC, and here's a Five Course Tasting Menu being offered for $1,475 per person at one establishment:
Salad ~ Cantaloupe-Olive-Nasturtium
•
Appetizer ~ Steamed Escargots Roquefort
•
Pasta ~ Cocciolini "Anita Rachvelishvili"
•
Main ~ Carp avec Vealbrains
•
Dessert ~ Blistered Rum-Absinthe Nectarine
And you thought that "others" didn't exist for any of the themers, I bet.
I liked this much better than yesterday's. I had BRAVA at 1a initially but the New Edition clue scotched that. CARFARE is the cost of riding any public transportation but probably the term doesn't get used much anymore since it implies "cash" and hardly anyone uses cash on buses or trains.
I have fond memories of a 1972 Central Park production of "Hamlet" with James Earl Jones as Claudius, Colleen Dewhurst as Gertrude, and Stacy Keach as Hamlet. Although I didn't like Sam Waterston as Laertes in it. (But I did like him the following summer as Benedick in "Much Ado About Nothing".) << usage of arcs
Normally I tend to run with OFL and I like Erik’s puzzles usually. Today though I felt like there was just a bit too much of the purposely vague clueing for a Thursday. I struggled mightily.
I actually liked the puzzle, but it hurt!
Didn’t like CARFARE at all. Wasn’t there a more common type of FARE that would have worked? CABFARE [Cranberry apple butter, and others?]
Didn't get the gimmick and still am not amused, despite the rexplanation.
Too many duhs for me, as I don't get involved with )ane pop culture just to solve crosswords. arc TV, pop music, etc. arc.
Finished it and had no clue what the theme/trick was. For me, really unsatisfying. Abbreviations not noted in the clueing and then an abbreviation no one uses (J.E.J). And can someone explain the MIC clue?
@Nancy, I also thought "chuffed" could mean upset. OED has citations for both extremely pleased and rather upset. Yet another word that can also mean its opposite.
It took both CONCOURSE [at first I thought Cup Of Noodles was some sorta slop served to prison inmates] and SERRATES to get an ahar moment from the theme mcguffin.
For a while I wasn't too keen on this ThursPuz, but it was just so darn different, that I eventually came around to likin it.
staff weeject pick: TVG [Be sure to try the Tomato Veal Gumbo SPECIAL].
some faves: EFFAMANLEY [a no-know, but happy to meet her]. CANDYGIRL. PYTHONS. At least 10 ?-marker clues [half of which were themers]. MICS clue kinda deserved a ?, even tho it didn't get it -- and there were more deservers of that, as I recall. This Agard chef comes with some serious game.
Thanx, Mr. Agard dude. Baked rigatoni alla Norma … revenge of the PASTA!
Masked & Anonymo1U
**gruntz**
Yes! And let me add me and my daughter to the group of non fans of the theme. Thursdays our favorite day and this underwhelmed to say the least
STREETCAR fare.
For those who hate CARFARE, there's always
Falafel-Avocado Nachos, and others:
FANFARE
• or •
Toasted Harissa Orange Rice on Unagi-Glazed Hushpuppies, and others:
THOROUGHFARE
MICS are microphones, which are often lined up for players on a stage. I didn't get this either and was grasping for music terminology (BARS?).
I hate, hate, hate quote clues (not to be confused with quip quotes, which I equally detest) such as "What?", "Huh?", "Later". Too many other crappy clues: 44A, 6D, 7D, 28D, 47D, 57D. The trick was OK, but nothing to chortle over. Easy puzzle but no fun. Since Rex likes this so much, he should marry it. (RIP PeeWee)
I finished the puzzle and had no idea of the theme. Didn't occur to me that they were initials. I thought they were SEA RATIONS and a BRAND DISH or something.
I'm a native St. Louisan and had no idea that our Metro area was that unique or interesting. And I had SSE already.
@Joe D (1:31) -- More than occasionally, I think you missed your vocation and should be writing for SNL. You absolutely had me going for a while. I was even about to ask you if that $1,475 Restaurant Week 5-course meal was being offered in Brooklyn or Manhattan and what, for heaven sake, was their usual, non-Restaurant Week price?
Don't miss Joe's post, everyone. It's absolutely hilarious -- though it's even funnier when, as I did, you come to it trusting and completely wide-eyed and not on the lookout for a spoof.
The "and others" doesn't work, logically. How can you call something other than chicken and rice (i.e., "and others") "chicken and rice eats"? I finished the puzzle without seeing the so-called theme, and I'm not a fan of it.
Same here. Came here in a huff to find out what was happening.
a kind of weird experience. enjoyed the puzzle, but didn't get the theme at all, despite comparing theme answers during and after completion. usually on thursday i get that big AHA moment that is very satisfying, so today i felt a bit robbed. at first i thought CONCOURSES was "short[ening]" for "convenience courses." then i thought the shrimp eggrolls was something about "sea rations" (why else make the eggrolls shrimp, specifically?) and well, you can see how this idea fell apart rather quickly but i couldn't come up with anything else. i came here ready for the forehead slap but instead it was just "oh...that's it?" the outlier for me was baked rigatoni alla norma. every other clue contains an actual food/dish, but i've never heard of anyone using pasta alla norma to make baked rigatoni. i'm sure someone somewhere has done it for some reason but, it's not anywhere near the level of the other themers.
still, i liked the rest (except, can we *please* stop the "ECO can be an answer for anything, any time!" stuff...please) so i didn't hate it like yesterday. resisted writing in AAVE for a little bit since the more modern term is BVE - although if you're speaking specifically about actual african americans (and not erroneously using african american as a PC term for all black people) AAVE still works.
Me too. Finished, but had to have the theme rexplained.
I loved this puzzle. I wish more NYT puzzles were like this. I loved the tricky simple stuff. And the erudite stuff that turned out to be simple. I loved the theme, which included simple easily recognizable foods and snobby (What's THAT?) foods and put them all on the same equally accessible level by reducing them to their initial letters. I loved that it felt open and friendly and somehow modest. I loved the arcs clue, and the mom clue struck a personal chord. Decades ago my little kids (Thanks, Dad!) gave me a mug for Mother's Day. It said “MOM, MOM, MOM“ all over it. I “accidentally” held it upside down and said, “Oh, I LOVE it! It's a ‘WOW, WOW, WOW' cup!” The kids' faces registered hilarious magic, and I still treasure that, along with the cup. Thank you, Erik, for the hilarious magic of your puzzle!
Effa Louise Manley is discussed as an answer in the crossword. How familiar were you with her before encountering her in this puzzle? Are you interested in learning more about her contributions to baseball and sports history? Tel U
wow amazing
Wow I HATED this. A miserable solve. Never got the theme, which appears to be a common problem.
If there were a crossword version of baseball cards with hall of famers on them, Erik Agard would be on them. It took me quite a while to decipher the themer. I kept going CMON, but no luck. The light clicked on when I solved CAVEATS and realized that CAV was short for coq au vin. Smooth sailing after that. Clever theme, and unlike yesterday’s puzzle there was very little bad fill. As usual, Erik introduced me to an interesting person I did not know about: EFFAMANLEY. Tricky but fair via the crosses. Nice job Erik.
TINY GEAR
MANDY's EASYGOING without A care,
of leaders' MANLEY CAVEATS AWARE:
"YES our chances ARGON
with A DIVE in the POND,
THEN I'll have SHORTENING", said the MAYOR.
--- EARL GRAIL
I solved it with no write-overs but didn't "get" it until coming here. Some of the clues seemed kind of obtuse. I Noticed: ISPY IWONT CANICOMEIN. At least there were no multiple letters in boxes.
Another wordle eagle! Two consecutive.
Here we go again with the "easy-medium" crapola. There is not one "row" or column in this entire grid that even dares whisper "easy."
My very first word into this puzzle was...well, it was wrong. Game played "on the road" is, naturally, an AWAY game. Agrees with YES, even. This error almost crashed me on the rocks before I could even gain purchase. But it was like this ALL OVER! How can the word "easy" get anywhere near this?
Perhaps the SW might have been a bit easIER for the 1/2 of 1% who somehow heard of EFFAMANLEY. I know self-proclaimed baseball trivia experts who never heard of her. And then "HUH!" is supposed to translate into ODD. That little cluster almost made me quit.
Obfuscation abounds. I didn't even bother with the actual theme; just filled in what looked like real words in those spots and hoped it would make some kind of sense. This whole thing feels like a competition: the constructor wants to defeat the solver. Why? Bogey.
Wordle par, sacrificing a birdie chance by using an elimination word to avoid at least four guesses for GGGBG.
Pie worthy. Bleech!
Thank you for your posts, @Spacey. I was thinking perhaps I was just in a bad mood, because, well, this puzzle just seemed STUPID. Even when I came here and saw Rex's explanation - still seemed STUPID. Then again, I simply love Thursdays - can't you tell.
Yeah. EFFAMANLEY. Periodic table numbers.
Too bad I like crosswords instead.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
I did not find the puzzle easy at all!
( Huh! That's odd!)
I refused to write in letters in many spots across the themers, because I had not figured out what the Thursday gimmick was. Were the theme answers mash-ups? I had the answer shortening in place already. Multiple letters in one square? Did the theme answers go up or down or both??? I stared at caveats, which was the first themer I filled in completely. Is it a mash up of cave eats? Is cav a French term I don't know? I kept staring at clue and answer, and finally saw Coq Au Vin, C A V! Have I figured out the riddle? I looked at the other themers. Yes, I have! I wrote in the rest of the missing letters, and VIOLA*, I was done!!!
(* purposeful misspelling)
@stephanie 11:45 pm:
Eco Style is a brand name. The word Style has a capital S in the clue.
Think Dining Car?
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