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Portmanteau in 2010s fandom / FRI 8-25-23 / Nickname that drops -an / Most populous majority-Hispanic county in the U.S. / fries Krusty Krab menu item / Spice used as a breath freshener / Dish flavored with tamarind paste and fish sauce
Friday, August 25, 2023
Constructor: Rafael Musa
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Word of the Day: ELI Apple (32A: N.F.L. cornerback Apple) —
Eli Apple (né Woodard, born August 9, 1995) is an American football cornerback for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ohio State, where he was a part of the team that won the 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship, and was selected by the New York Giants in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft. He has also played for the New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers, and Cincinnati Bengals. (wikipedia)
• • •
First off, a classic shout-out to my number-one fan:
There's one clue I feel like I'm not getting, and that's 16A: Like something wicked and dark? (UNLIT). I don't know what "wicked and dark" is supposed to be a reference to? What is the wordplay? Why is there a "?" on this clue. If something is dark, it's UNLIT, OK, but the phrase "wicked and dark" just doesn't register with me, so I'm obviously missing the "?" joke. I had UPLIT here, imagining someone telling ghost stories with the lights off and only a flashlight illuminating their face from below. Or something like this:
That definitely seems "wicked and dark" to me. There’s also this picture my wife sent me last night from downstairs…
 |
| [We’ve been having … a bat problem; should be fixed now, but we remain vigilant. Well, my wife does] |
When I google ["wicked and dark"] I just get references to *this* crossword, so ???? I'm at a loss. There's a horror movie called The Dark and the Wicked (2020), but that seems an unlikely reference here, if only because "dark" and "wicked" have switched places in the clue. I'm sure one of you will explain what the hell this clue is about, thank you in advance. [UPDATE: “wicked” = having a wick (!?!), so the clue is referring to a candle … wow that is awful]
Hardest part of the grid for me was the NE, where I could not for the life of me think of something you might "shuck" besides corn. This is probably (definitely) because I saw the musical "Shucked!" last weekend, and, well, let me tell you what the musical was about. One word:
["Just as sure as the day that you were born...."]
I was staring at that initial "O" at the answer for 21A: Shuck it! and thinking "... but CORN doesn't start with an 'O'." And then the only thing I could think of that one might shuck was clothes, so I tried to make that "O" into some species of OUTERWEAR, but that didn't work. I do not eat OYSTERs, nor do I shuck them. But I am aware that people do (and do), and so when I finally (literally finally) got the answer: D'oh. I tried to come into that NE corner from below, to no initial avail, since I wanted "I GOT THAT" instead of "I'LL TREAT" (12D: "It's on me!"). The phrase is usually "MY TREAT!" so that clunked in my ear, for sure. Also no idea who ELI Apple is. I read his wikipedia page and ... again, I do not get this (apparent) trend of including the names of professional athletes who haven't done anything of note besides be professional athletes, something that would mark them as truly exceptional, such that someone who is not a hardcore fan might have heard of them. I'm sure ELI Apple is very good at his job, but no records, no league-leading stats, no Pro Bowls, no championships. Why is he crossworthy? Is the idea that he was once a #1 draft pick for the New York Giants, and so, by the power of the puzzle's New York provincialism, he's fair game? It's kind of baffling.
Round up:
- 19A: What ties can get you into, for short (OTS) — if the score is tied, you (sometimes) head into "overtime" (OT).
- 39A: Heads outside? (PORTA-POTTIES) — "Head" is an old-fashioned (military? nautical?) word for "toilet," kids.
- 27A: Small grouse (SNIPE) — I continue to think that SNIPEs are fictional because of that one "Snipe Hunt" episode of "Cheers." Every time I'm reminded that they're real, I'm taken aback.
- 36A: Certain page with blanks (MAD LIB) — I've never accepted this term in the singular and I'm not gonna start now. MADLIB is an exceedingly accomplished DJ / producer / rapper, try him next time you need to go with an "S"-less MADLIB.
- 39D: Spelling Bee feature (PANGRAM) — found this bit of NYTGames self-referentialism kinda smarmy, actually. (In the "Spelling Bee" game, if you find a word that uses all of the letters, that's called a PANGRAM)
- 41A: Note-taking spot? (ATM) — so, banknotes. I thought it was cute.
- 50A: Flat-bottomed boat (SCOW) — can't stop spelling this word SKOW. Would love to, but somehow can't. Now I'm off to sing "Flat-bottomed boat, you make the rockin' world go round!" for the rest of the day. See you tomorrow.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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95 comments:
There was a lot of fuss around ELI Apple when he was drafted by the Giants because he was going to play with Eli Manning in the Big Apple. 🤷♂️
Idk if he’s legitimately Crossword Famous, but he was/is notable & memorable in my view
"Like something wicked and dark" refers to a candle that is not yet lit.
It's... it's just a little play on wicked. A thing with a wick.
I think it's "wicked" as in "has a wick." Clever? Dunno. I still don't understand "starsin" as an answer for Headlines. I'm missing something very obvious, I'm sure.
Headlines == An actor who is a "headliner" is thus the star of the production. Headlines in this case means your name is on the poster or the front of the playhouse prominently as the major star. :)
Similar to OFL, I was worried that we were in for a slog festival when I saw the trivia test in the northwest and then slid over to the NE and was baffled by the wicked and dark clue as well as the “most common name” in the country of your choice trivia query as well. Fortunately the central and southern part of the grid recovered a bit and we got back to some nice crosses like NO PAIN NO GAIN and PORTA POTTIES.
I’m still scratching my head over SLEEP DEBT - is that a real thing (in the medical sense)? I googled it and just got the redundant “it means you slept less than what you need” - Duh? Seriously, if it’s an actual affliction or medical term, so be it and I feel for people who are afflicted. It sounds kind of phony to me though and Uncle Google seems to treat it as another term for sleep deprivation. One has to wonder - does SLEEP DEBT accumulate at interest, and if so - at what rate. Maybe something usury like SOFR plus 400 bp ? How does one go about repaying SLEEP DEBT - can you just get a good night’s sleep - or do you have to maintain a ledger and keep track of the amount of time that you nod off at your desk as well? It is fascinating the things that you learn from doing the NYT XWord sometimes.
“Wow that is awful”? Huh? I loved “like something wicked and dark” for UNLIT. Methinks Rex thinks it’s awful because he didn’t get it. I thought this was challenging and scintillating - I would have run it on a Saturday. Lots of great answers, from HELLSCAPE (could have cross-clued that with PORTA-POTTIES), OWN IT and LIVE A LIE. Lots of great clues, like “wicked and dark,” ”a large one might have more sides” for MEAL and “note-taking spot” for ATM. (I feel like ATM may hold the record for the answer with the most clever clue variations, with potential misdirections galore - note and bill and bread and dough and more.)
I haven’t seen the “Cheers” episode but I do remember being sent on a SNIPE hunt at camp, so I share Rex’s feeling of being surprised that they are not imaginary creatures.
I think a MAD-LIB can be singular. I’m sure I said, “Let’s do a MAD-LIB many a time in my friend Danny’s basement. We were (ADVERB) obsessed.
I’ve never heard the term SLEEP DEBT but I am definitely on the hook for it. And….I’M LATE.
Hope OFL reads the comments today. I was about to explain "wicked and dark", which I thought was a great clue, but I'm already too late.
Wanted HELLHOLE, but it was too short, so I started with old friend Nick NOLTE and things went pretty smoothly from there. Those of us who are SBers knew PANGRAM instantly, not sure if others will be so lucky.
Took forever to see ILLANOMAR, as I was trying to think of someone who was "naturalized in Congress", whatever that might mean.
Just saw BELIEBERS in another puzzle, which was very helpful. NYer?
Very nice Friday with just the right amount of whooshiness, RM. Rolled Merrily through this one and thanks for all the fun.
I updated the blog an hour+ before you posted this comment ~RP
Amass and en masse in puzzle. Altogether too easy for Friday and I’m 80
The spark in this puzzle for me was in the wordplay, with which it’s loaded. I, who relished wordplay as a child and who just as much still do, was therefore enamored with this outing.
Clues like [A large one might have more sides], [Selling point], [Note-taking spot?] hit my happy button (“hit” here in present and past tense). And Rafael got me good at [Like something wicked and dark?], which, for the life of me, I couldn’t parse for UNLIT (Hi, @Rex!), that is, I never saw WICKED as the one-syllable word (until it was revealed in Rex's update). I bow down to the beauteous wordplay there. Oh, man, I love getting fooled like that!
Otherwise, in this puzzle, I liked the range flavors it evoked – ANISE, OYSTER, LINDT, and KELP. And, word nerd that I am, I adored that anagram crossing of MASSE and MESAS. I also savored overcoming several areas of bite, which always feels good.
But it’s the wordplay that snared the bulk of my joy today. I was bang-on Musa-amused. Rafael, your penchant for word-fiddling will keep me looking for your puzzles up the road. I loved this, and thank you!
I had a very similar experience to Rex for several things: OYSTER for one, for the life of me I couldn’t think what you would shuck other than corn (I love fresh corn on the cob but I hate shucking it) or maybe your clothes. I don’t like oysters and definitely not raw oysters, and always think of the line from the movie Midnight in Paris, “She’s in bed with a bad oyster.” Shudder.
Loved MADLIBs as a kid, and was also thrown off by the singular here. Overall I liked the puzzle, having the most trouble in the NE and the SW. UNLIT was tough but I now appreciate the pun - MOTOROLA didn’t come for a long time because I was trying to think of a company that currently makes a flip phone, not the olden original flip phone. We were such phone innocents then!
I tried to start with 1A, but like @pabloinnh the worst place I could think of was a HELLhole, which didn’t fit so I figured it was something else entirely. Like OFL, my first entry was at 1D. Unlike OFL, I put in kudOs, confirmed by OTS. But I knew the 15A and 17A trivia, so that brought me to HI MOM, which combined with SNIT, CODE and AMASS to give me HELLSCAPE.
When I looked back on the completed grid, I saw12D and thought, “What’s ILLTREAT doing there? I don’t remember any cruelty in the clues.”
@Southside: try searching for “SLEEP DEficit” instead of “SLEEP DEBT.” Apparently, the two terms are used interchangeably.
The trivia fest in the NW bugged me also - I never like the full proper name to fill a long. High word count - segmented corners that fall flat - not my kind of Friday. I really dig Rafa’s blogging here - but never saw the same in the cluing today.
The HI MOM x HELLSCAPE is cool - but that corner is marred by the rest of the fill - LHASAN? SOLES, OYSTER, NO PROB, TEST etc - all strained. I did like ACCEDE and KELP.
With Rex on the shameless self-marketing of the SB.
I’m going to chalk up my dislike to the dreary weather this morning.
Slaid Cleaves
Thx, Rafael; a perfectly fine Fri. production! 😊
Med (but felt tougher for some reason).
Was stubborn in the NW, refusing to leave it until I at least made a dent in it. Finally got it all, except for the 'H' in the ILHAN / LHASAN cross. Came back with only that cell to fill in. Always seem to have trouble with LHASA (wanting LlASA) and ILHAN is always hard, too. Finally twigged on the 'H', and Bob was my uncle.
The remainder of the puz was fairly smooth, so, tough NW, easy-med for the remainder.
I think I've finally got BELIEBERS down pat.
Loved the 'wicked' clue.
Our condo complex is going thru a major reno, hence PORTA POTTIES.
Lots of SNIPE hunts with the kids on camping trips. Always good fun.
Speaking of camp, this happy camper is off to BED, so as to avoid falling into SLEEP DEBT.
Good solve this Thurs. eve. Esp liked the NW challenge! :)
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
UNLIT there really throwing back to that *classic* cryptic crossword clue of "Wicked source of light? (6)"! Took a long while to try to open up the North West because of it (12D I couldn't get without wanting 'MY' at the top, and 13D just couldn't see).
Rest of the grid solved nicely! East was fairly quickly in - HIMOM into OTS was also my start, then ILHANOMAR gave me enough purchase to get started.
Top-notch cluing made this a lot of fun to solve. Only Lewis ever seems to know whether a clue is new or not, but I especially liked the clues for PORTAPOTTIES, OTS, UNLIT, MEAL, and ARM RESTS.
And the fill is colorful. HELLSCAPE, NO PAIN NO GAIN, SLEEP DEBT and PORTAPOTTIES have a certain je ne sais quoi that make this puzzle quite lively.
I should go look up MADLIB since I don't understand the clue. And I would point out that when you CITE someone or something, you're definitely giving credit to it: no need for "in a way".
Here's the sort of themeless that makes clear why Friday is the favorite puzzle day of so many solvers. Lots to sink your teeth into, but no suffering required. A very enjoyable puzzle.
I had "gripe" instead of SNIPE, because the clue fit both (a grouse is a complaint as well as a bird). ELITES was a bad answer for the clue, I thought, because the clue didn't suggest a plural group. Lhasa is the capital city of Tibet, but LHASAN isn't a word (is it?).
Otherwise I thought the puzzle was on the easy side for a Friday.
I found this one to be reasonably ok. Medium, perhaps? I got the NW in fine, but had the darnedest time finding a foothold afterwards. When I eventually did, everything went smoothly, but it was slower than normal. Maybe I was in a lazy mindset...
The whole thing was pretty inoffensive; my problems mostly have to do with useage.
I've never heard anyone use LAM as a verb outside of XWs, yet they seem to insist it's the only way it should be clued. I sometimes wonder if Shortz even realizes it's a noun.
"It's my treat" is the phrase. I'LL TREAT is... weird. I'd get blank, slightly creeped-out looks if I said that.
SLEEP DEBT is a thing, but more commonly called "sleep deficit". But DEBT is at least logical enough that I can accept it probably exists as an alternative.
Interesting responses to SNIPE. I don't think I've ever heard of the fictional creature, just the real thing. Currently reading Anna Karenina and they go shooting for snipe a number of times.
Singular MADLIB is fine with me -- that's how you distinguish a specific one in the book. My issue is with the ridiculously vague clue. "Certain page with blanks?" C'mon. It's like they're givien up at that point.
Paul Steinberg, who was a co-constructor along with his son David and wife Karen in NYT puzzles that appeared in July and August, has died, and there is a brief and lovely obituary in the WordPlay blog. My heart goes out to the family, along with wishes for strength and peace.
Eli Apple is among a select group of pro athletes: Darryl Strawberry, Bob Lemon, Milt Plum, Raymond Berry, Don Cherry.
A SNIPE is not a small grouse. Totally different family of birds. Only thing in common is that they get shot at.
How is FLAG = TIRE?
Hey All !
Not a too-bad FriPuz. Got through fairly quickly. Did get hung up in a couple of spots, but refocused and was able to plow through.
Not much to expound today. Haven't thought of MAD LIBs in forever. Enjoyed them iny young times.
The Steelers are looking good in pre-season. Let's hope they stay this way during the regular season.
Back to Spelling Bee, where I already have a PANGRAM. 😁
No F'S (Alright, this is getting ridiculous. Now you see my crusade? 😁)
RooMonster
DarrinV
FH
Not exactly sure how 'Event with no cover charge, perhaps' translates into OPENMIC.
@Son Volt 7:59
Slaid Cleaves!! 👍👍
Re: MADLIBs -- I just looked it up. Sounds like a game that most of us word-obsessed solvers should be pretty good at, right?
By sheer coincidence, I've spent some of the past week or so helping a friend out by reading the dramatic family history/memoir he's writing and offering suggestions. The manuscript had a sentence that his father was "overly concerned" about the danger one of his mentors would be in if an escape plan was carried out. Here was my emailed suggestion:
"Don't say "overly" concerned. He should be concerned!!! Deeply/legitimately/immediately/increasingly/suddenly -- any of these would be acceptable descriptors."
Would playing MADLIBS be anything like this? If so, I think I'd quite enjoy it.
Thanks, Rafa! I had what Lewis would call a faith solve... stuff that wasn't clear suddenly popped into my head several times, cool feeling.
Also full of uniclue possibilities, thinking as I solved.... like...
Bivalve frustrated by extreme length of sporting event
OTS test oyster
I'm sure Gary will have loads more.
Great Friday puzzle!
@liveprof 🤣🤣
@A Grimwald - Grouse & SNIPE each also are verbs which mean to complain.
@Sutsy - Flag & TIRE each are verbs which mean to loose energy.
@Anon 9:10 It doesn't. However, an OPENMIC night at a club usually doesn't have a cover charge, as they're not paying the acts.
After failing with HELLhole, had to go all the way down to SLEEPDEBT to get a start—my APPLE watch keeps track of this debt for me, so was prepared for that reference. Was very slow build from the puzzle bottom back up to HELLSCAPE, something from comic book days…Did have to Google LHASAN…
sleep debt is not a thing, you cannot convince me otherwise
@Sutsy:
/flaɡ/
verb: flag; 3rd person present: flags; past tense: flagged; past participle: flagged; gerund or present participle: flagging
(of a person) become tired, weaker, or less enthusiastic.
"if you begin to flag, there is an excellent cafe to revive you"
@Anon 9:10 -- Attendees at an OPEN MIC event are actually the performers* at that event, so why would they be asked to pay a cover charge?
*Although some of them, especially those who've had a bit too much to drink, perhaps should be asked to pay twice the cover charge :)
You’ll have the ASPCA on your ass if you ILLTREAT your dog. And if you leave his kennel door open, HELLSCAPE.
People tell me that I’m charming and fun when I’m lit. But wicked and dark when I’m UNLIT.
ILHANOMAR isn’t just an angry progressive. She’s a MADLIB. And while we’re veering into politics, how about that mug shot? I can see that on a T-shirt above the caption “LIVEALIE.” Of course, given his propensity for throwing allies under the bus, you could call him TATTLEDON.
I’ve signed a promissory note to discharge my SLEEPDEBT, so I think I’ll go take a nap. Enjoyed the puzzle. Thanks, Rafa.
On the tough side for me, with REDO my word of the day: usually, I won't write in an answer without checking crosses, but today I had to resort to guessing a lot - and was wrong a lot. I enjoyed the challenge of working it all out.
Do-overs: run before LAM, clove before ANISE, tony before NORM because I dropped the -an on the wrong side, fade before TIRE, garde before MASSE, ACCEpt before ACCEDE. Help from previous puzzles: BELIEBERS, BTS. No idea: ELI. You got me good: the "wicked" candle clue!
@Rafa, thank you for a just-right Friday.
Very hard for a Friday, particularly in the SW. I did not understand PANGRAM at all and had to look it up post-solve. Very bad form, IMO, to use a word known only to NYT games players for that clue.
Terrible clues for UNLIT and SNIPE. One mindboggling dumb, the other merely wrong.
I thought this puzzle was a dandy and felt so pleased to finish it without cheating! I will say I guessed ELI (Apple) with the “i “ in place. So much fresh fill!
Another example of NYTX continuing education for me with ELI Apple. Here’s the thing…you REALLY need to look at the first footnote in the Wikipedia article to find out his mother is from Ghana (a good story) and ELI took the last name Apple in his senior year of high school to honor his step-father. So. I found the interesting thing about ELI was everything about him that wasn’t related to football.
For those of you who haven’t seen SpongeBob SquarePants it really is a cartoon that can be enjoyed by adults. Not sayin’ it’s not better enjoyed with a child present but it kinda helps restore one’s faith in mankind…or in this case “undersea animal-kind.”
Shout out ("Hi Mack", not "Hi Mom") to Mack at 8.44. The only possible use of "lam" is in the phrase "on the lam", making it patently obvious the word is a noun and not a verb. I know verbifying is supposed to be cool these days, but doing it to an innocent word like "lam" is a step too far.
If your energy flags, you’re getting tired.
There are many books of playable MadLibs available at bookstores, usually in the children’s section but fun for young and old. We adults often play them with dirty words just to add to the hilarity.
If you’re on a hike or something and you say you’re “flagging,” it means you’re getting tired.
Open mic nights at bars often don’t have cover charges because the quality of the musicians is unknown. Otherwise if it’s a professional band you likely would have to pay a cover.
I just got a reminder call from a doc's office and the person gave her name as Noah but it was a female voice, so I asked her how she spelled it and she said NOA, and that it's also from the bible -- a female Noa. That was new to me. It seems like it should be a popular name in Crossworld but I've never seen it.
Apparently, it's a popular girl's name in Israel. There is a story in the Bible about the daughters of Zelophehad. He did not have a son so the daughters (Noah, Tirzah, Mahlah, Hoglah and Milcah) went to Moses and asked for the legal right to inherit their father’s property. Moses agreed and they became the first women in the ancient world to have legal rights to property ownership, apart from their fathers or husbands.
In modern Israel the name for women dropped the "h" to soften it. So that's the story on NOA. Of course, we've all seen Zelophehad countless times in puzzles -- he's a veritable Mel Ott.
NO PROB except for the SILVA that I finally just hit “reveal” to end the NE frustration. Whizzing down the page from PAD THAI & AMASS to WASNT & SLEEP DEBT sure set up an expectation that today’s solve was a gimme. Then from that diagonal swoosh to NO PAIN NO GAIN & MADLIB as gimme crosses really looked like a Tuesday puzzle, but then reality struck. I’m hoping that this week’s binary solving experiences will resolve into a Goldie Locks Saturday when all will go just right. Thanks Rafael for a mildly unsettling day.
Too easy for a Friday. No teeth.
Easy-medium for me too. No real problems with this one. The NE corner was the last to fall. BUSY and UNLIT required some mulling (Hi @Rex). Solid with a bit of sparkle, liked it.
Lots of good stuff in comments today, but EGS , just WOW!
The word “ere” is a preposition or a conjunction - not an adverb.
Great post today, @egs, 9:56. And your third paragraph is especially good. In fact, it's wicked good.
I guess I was lucky. Unlit was the first thing I thought of.
How is “opposite of plain” busy?
Is BTS a band? I thought they just sang and danced.
When a Star is staring in something they are also Headlining in it.
Speaking of SLEEP DEBT I woke up wide awake 2 am after 2 hours sleep (WTF?). Paper (obviously) hadn't come yet so I went on-line. With my INSOMNIAC 'S ACCRUAL, I didn't do too badly. But finished on paper just now (which I prefer anyway) & came here to say thanks to Rafa - an enjoyable Friday!
Great Friday although a couple of the proper names stumped me before I could finish. But as we discussed earlier this week, when I find myself in that spot, Google is my friend.
If you’re a pro football fan you may already know that ELI Apple is reportedly one of the most unpopular guys in the league, now on his 5th different team after only 8 seasons.
@M & A from Thursday: I posted a late response to you yesterday but in case you missed it, thanks again for your help with my printing problem.
@Lewis (8:58) Appreciate the note about Paul Steinberg. I remember David in his Constructor Notes mentioned that he was in poor health. Sad news.
@egs (9:56) Agree with others, your post today is the crème de la crème of the commentary.
Nice, doable FriPuz. With some wicked clues, here and there.
staff weeject pick: ELI. Always cool to add a 100th meanin of ELI to our list.
Puz with a PANGRAM, today. [Except for FJQXZ].
some other faves: HELLSCAPE. NOPAINNOGAIN. OYSTER & its clue. UNLIT clue. ILHANOMAR. MADLIB. PORTAPOTTIES.
TOO REAL HELLSCAPE: PORTAPOTTIES on CSPAN usin OPEN MIC.
Thanx for the themeless fun, Mr. Musa dude.
Masked & Anonymo1U
illustrated; Down Home solvin option recommended:
**gruntz**
I wrote MENU early on for 22A, which made the NW the last to fall. The rest was NO PROB.
I felt that way about "en __." Would the English preposition "in__" be enough of a clue?
This was mostly easy with the exception of the NE. I completely misread the "Shuck it" clue
as a phrase and typed in OHDEAR which segues smoothly with STARSIN. I further supported this mistake by putting RICH in the BUSY slot. Eventually I just took out all the wrong letters that were getting me nowhere and figured out the ERAS clue. With that entry in place everything else fell in like dominoes but getting to that point was slow.
A whole separate issue inthe NE was the time it took me to come up with the term "catfish" which if I'm remembering correctly is the term for pretending to be someone else. It didn't fit the slot but I still had to come up with it just to eliminate it as a possibility.
Even though I'm a regular SBer I thought the clue in the SW was referring to a traditional spelling bee otherwise PANGRAM would have dropped in automatically .
Speaking of the SB yesterday was the first QB I've missed in about two weeks. There was an eight letter word which was completely new to me.
It is if you owe it!
Anon (11:04)
Both ILHANOMAR and MOTOROLA contain MOLARs.
Late to the party on the @Rex doggie name: go with Vienna, so that when your wife is away from home and worried about the poor pup, Rex can channel his inner Billy Joel and croon, "When will you realize, VIENNA waits for you."
Sadly, I thought there might be some "shout out" misdirection today and had bIngo for 1D (HIMOM). And will I ever learn to spell ILHANOMAR? And, even though I lived in South Florida for 25 years, I forgot that DADE County became MIAMIDADE County not long after I moved there. So, the NW took a looong time to unravel.
Played straightforwardly - solved in two sessions around lunch. That "wicked" pun is a cryptic classic, so thought that was fair, but non-cryptic folks might not agree. Been solving on screen more than paper recently, and that definitely helped with this one - lots of writeovers all over the grid. Still, finished a couple of minutes under my Friday average despite seeing lots more white squares than usual after multiple go-throughs. My younger kids are now doing MADLIBs, so it's nice to see an oldie be relevant. Wanted CLOVE instead of ANISE for far too long, so the NE was just a mess, but the overall feel was pretty nice. Not too many gimmes, and a lot of nice mid-range-size answers; just what I want on my Fridays. Well done, Mr. Musa!
Boy sometimes the clueing just tries too hard. And why go out of your way to use a name to clue something that's just a word? Eg ROCK, NORM, KELP.
For the midnight sun regions, tried very hard to put in ARCTIC. For whatever reason, took ages to realize it was POLAR.
[Spelling Bee: Thurs -1, missed this 6er which I tried to spell like this. @puzzlehoarder, I got that 8er you missed but only cuz I've seen it in SB before.]
Not sure “ere” is an adverb? I think of it as a preposition.
Lol
Dozens of examples for the verbs “lammed” and “lam it” are to be found in 1930s and 1940s American pulp fiction detective stories (published as books or in magazines.)
Felt like a cross between a hard Friday and a soft Saturday. But managed to finish.
I’m glad Rex found this easy-medium. For me it was HARD HARD HARD!!! But I did enjoy it.
When I saw the clue for 64A "Insomniac's accrual", I immediately dropped in SLEEP DEBT with only the S of 59D BTS in place. It's definitely a real thing. I first learned about it in the Navy and later studying and teaching psychology.
At sea we had working hours and watch duty. Between the two, it was rare to ever get even four or five hours of uninterrupted SLEEP. The longer we were at sea, the more our SLEEP DEBT would build up and our desire to get even a few minutes sleep would get stronger and stronger. We could almost fall asleep standing up! SLEEP would become an obsession.
Psychologists have found that SLEEP is a basic physiological need that is part of our biological circadian rhythm. If you don't think SLEEP DEBT is real, trying staying awake for, say, 48 hours. The longer you go without SLEEP the more the DEBT will build up and the more powerful the desire for SLEEP will become. Then you will know first hand what SLEEP DEBT is. There is only one way to repay that DEBT---get some SLEEP.
What does OFL mean? (seen in some comments here)
I, too, wanted SKOW, but maybe because I really wanted SKIFF (also a flat-bottomed boat) in there.
I know it's common to dislike the "trivia-style" clues like ILHAN OMAR and MIAMI-DADE, but I really like them. I see them less as pure trivia, and more like creative thinking. I got them with no crossers by spending a few seconds thinking about the likely candidates for both.
Whether it is a good decision or not, Shortz & Co. a long time ago decided that this type of dupe is completely acceptable. So if you want to do the Times puzzle you will either have to repeat the same complaint over and over or get used to them.
Personally, I usually don’t even notice. Rex sometimes complains but only when the dupe is egregious or there are too many.
I think in a way was added to hint that the answer did not involve a debt
I thought the "wicked and dark" clue was clever, but LHASAN is lame. "Gee, come to think of it, that palace does look kinda Lhasan!" No.
@KellyMac 2:34 – You're right, ERE is not an adverb. Its synonym BEFORE can function as an adverb when used to mean "previously", e.g. "I've never done this before". But ERE isn't used in that sort of construction. M-W defines ERE as a preposition or in some cases a conjunction.
Another wrong clue to append to the ever-growing list.
How is the candle form of "wicked" equivalent to unlit? A wick is like the fillament in a light bulb, the element itself says nothining about whether it's emitting light or not.
Today’s New Yorker crossword also included a clue referencing Ilhan Omar.
Nope. No no no no.
PORTAPOTTIES was awesome.
Tee-Hee: HELLSCAPE.
Uniclues:
1 Mollusc must endure ties.
2 Says hi to Duane Johnson's guy.
3 Told God.
4 Ticket terrible tunes.
5 My lifestyle.
1 OTS TEST OYSTER
2 GREETS ROCK CPA
3 TATTLED ON ALTAR (~)
4 CITE OPEN MIC (~)
5 LIVE A LIE NO PROB
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Why your head hurts. TOM COLLINS ROMP.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@Smith 9:29 AM
❤️
Motorola still does! They brought out a new version of the Razor recently.
But then we're not talking about birds, we're talking semantically. The implication is that a snipe is a smaller complaint than a grouse.
I have (maybe?) heard it as a sleep deficit, but never a sleep debt
FH
To 'Dictionaries exist....'
Thanks (re OPENMIC)
Get it now. I was misled by OPENMIC usually being clued to something embarrassing that gets said on one, like Reagan's "We begin to bomb Russia in 5 minutes"
I watch a LOT of football, and I’ve never heard of Eli Apple. Agree with Rex 1000% on this one. Eli Manning is worthy. Eli Apple? Nfw.
A snipe is just not a grouse. Is it OK to have "Joe Namath" clued as "small baseball player"?
Our fearless leader
Wow, I could NOT figure out why that clue made sense either! Thank you for explaining the "wick" pun.
I've frequently heard people refer to a "sleep debt." It's what you develop after a bad night's sleep or two (or more). Once you have a "sleep debt," even one good night of sleep might not be enough because part of it is just going toward paying down your "sleep debt."
don't see any explanation why an UNLIT candle is wicked while a lit candle is not. help!
Medium-challenging. But some of those clues… Oy vey! Too clever by half.
REAL BUSY SOLES
She GREETS NORM IN A room UNLIT,
“Am I TOO LATE TOO pay my DEBT?”
“NOPAINNOGAIN, I’LL SLEEP ON IT”,
she GASPS, “I’LLTREAT you well IN BED.”
--- ELI LINDT, CPA
@Don Byas - a candle has a wick, therefore it is wicked. Dark because it is UNLIT.
A reasonable Friday. That congressman was something else to fill in, making the NW once again the toughest sector, but eventually it all came together. I thought 1a should be just the first 4 letters; adding -SCAPE was hard.
The rest of it was indeed easy-medium for the day. Nothing too outlandish, so we go with a birdie.
Another birdie also for Wordle. Maybe Team USA could use me in the Ryder Cup. They certainly could use SOMEbody.
The 16A clue was wicked good.
Snipe and grouse are both synonyms for complain. We're not talking birds here.
I actually found a dictionary that has the word "ere" defined as an adverb.
I'm not telling where.
(Na na na na na!)
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