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Architect who lived to be 102 / WED 9-13-23 / Suffix with cyclo- / Little wonder?
Wednesday, September 13, 2023
Constructor: Guilherme Gilioli
Relative difficulty: I didn't think it was hard... but my time was slow (11:02)
THEME: Paradoxical answers — The response to a question is a classic way to say "I'm not sure," but the way it's phrased actually answers the question correctly
Theme answers:
Word of the Day: JOANNE, clued as Woman in a Lady Gaga song and album title (2016) —
- Paradoxical answer to "What is 'Golf' in the NATO alphabet?" — GEE I DON'T KNOW ("Golf" is GEE)
- Paradoxical answer to "Can you say what 'nyet' is Russian for?" — NO LET ME THINK ("Nyet" is NO)
- Paradoxical answer to "Where does oil come from?" — WELL YOU GOT ME (Oil comes from a WELL)
- Paradoxical answer to "What isle is located between Ireland and Great Britain?" — MAN THAT'S HARD (It's the Isle of MAN)
Word of the Day: JOANNE, clued as Woman in a Lady Gaga song and album title (2016) —
Musically, Joanne is a stripped-down, dance-pop, soft rock and Americana record with country elements, with a focus on Gaga's vocals. Lyrically, the album delves into the theme of family and life's emotions; the death of her aunt, Joanne Stefani Germanotta, deeply influenced the record. [Wiki]
One of my favorite playlists that I've made is called "songs where the name of the song is the name of a girl" and it features this song. (Along with many others!) You can listen here if you like. --Malaika
• • •
Actually, looking back over this grid, I'm seeing what may have slowed me down. First of all, there were several short entries that had multiple words, like SPY ON, EAT UP, and ON END which slowed me down. (My brain doesn't start thinking about two-word answers unless the entry is six letters.) Then there was the crossing of WENDS (a word I have never heard before) and WMDS (an abbreviation I'm not familiar with, please don't call me uneducated for being unfamiliar with something, I'm very smart I promise but I don't know War Things) that took me a little while to get.
This type of theme is so impressive to me. It is something I would simply never think of! It's word play, but it's not a pun I don't think.... (I have low tolerance for puns.) It's giving Who's On First vibes. My least favorite of the bunch is the NO themer (using "no" kinda feels too easy) and my favorite is the WELL one. I tried to think of some more but like I said, my brain does not really work like this. My only hope when I make themed puzzles is to use a very straightforward with theme with a cute revealer. What about: [Paradoxical answer to "What's a synonym for smite?"] for DAMN, I DON'T KNOW.
lol that's truly horrible 😭😭
Finally, let's talk about the entry RIPEN, which had a cute little clue to go along with it-- Change from green to red, maybe. The reason we are talking about this is because it gives me an excuse to talk about my tomatoes, which, I don't know if you know by now, but I have been growing on my fire escape all summer. I know what you are thinking! "She's talking about her tomatoes?? Again?? When will it end! Girl, we are here to talk about crosswords! Stay on topic! Please stop foisting pictures of your tomatoes upon us!!!!" To you I say: No <3 Please look:
 |
| Cheesy grits (Serious Eats recipe) topped with scallions, homemade chimichurri sauce, bacon, and blistered cherry tomatoes |
I think that's all my rambling for now. Bullets below!!
Bullets:
- [Start or end for Alexa?] for SCHWA — This is a hard clue, because if you don't know what a SCHWA is then you simply have no hope. It's the linguistic term for the sort of "uh" sound that A's sometimes make in English, like in the name "Alexa." I only know about SCHWAs from the excellent teen novel The Schwa was Here. I like it because it has a gentle twinge of sci-fi, but it's basically just a realistic fiction book. Buy it as a present for your 12 yr old friends and relatives!
- [Little wonder?] for ATOM — I don't understand this... please explain to me. I get that ATOMs are little, but that's all. Are they... wondrous?? Not to me lol.
- [Overhead light?] for HALO — Very good clue 👍
- [London transport, with "the"] for TUBE — I am going to London (and Florence and Rome) tomorrow and am so excited I can hardly breathe. Please let me know if you have visited these places and if you had favorite things you did there!
- [Where two barrel vaults intersect, in architecture] for GROIN — Very funny to me that they went with a tame definition here when five entries earlier we had THONG, but I guess they like to mix it up!
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120 comments:
Thx, Guilherme; a GLOWing production! 😊
Hi Malaika; as always, good to see you. Thx for your write-up! 😊
Med.
Smooth solve.
Love the SWIG SWAG cross!
Asked ChatGPT about APNEA 'Breath control practice', and lung packing.
"In competitive freediving, "apnea" refers to the practice of breath-holding, and "lung packing" is a technique used by some freedivers to increase the amount of air they can hold in their lungs. These two concepts are related but represent different aspects of freediving.
Apnea (Breath-Holding):
Breath-holding is a fundamental aspect of freediving. Competitive freedivers must be skilled at holding their breath for extended periods while they descend to various depths in the water.
Apnea training involves learning how to relax, control your heart rate, and manage the urge to breathe, which allows divers to stay underwater for longer periods.
Proper apnea techniques are critical for safety and performance in freediving. This involves understanding the body's physiological responses to breath-holding and how to manage them.
Lung-Packing:
Lung packing is a technique that some advanced freedivers use to increase their lung volume beyond their normal functional residual capacity. It involves taking additional breaths of air after a normal inhalation to maximize the amount of air in the lungs.
Lung packing can be used to "overfill" the lungs and potentially gain a few extra seconds of breath-hold time. However, it is an advanced technique and should only be attempted by experienced freedivers who are well-trained in the method.
The goal of lung packing is to saturate the bloodstream with oxygen and potentially reduce the risk of hypoxia (oxygen deprivation) during deep dives.
It's important to note that while lung packing can provide some advantages in terms of oxygen saturation, it also comes with increased risks. Overexpanding the lungs beyond their natural capacity can lead to barotrauma (lung injury) and other health risks, making it a technique that is not recommended for beginners or those without proper training.
In competitive freediving, the use of lung packing is a matter of personal choice and is not without controversy. Some organizations and competitions may have rules or restrictions regarding the use of lung packing. Safety should always be a top priority in freediving, and divers should receive proper training and follow safety guidelines to minimize risks associated with breath-holding and related techniques." (ChatGPT)
Very enjoyable solve. Liked it a lot! :)
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Natan Last's Mon. New Yorker was easy-med except for a one cell dnf at the 'alt-rocker' / 'fire, so to speak' cross. Spent a good portion of the day trying to make any sense of the latter; came down to two letters that might fit. Chose the wrong one. Now I know about the alt-rocker, but still can't make any sense out of the 'fire, so to speak'. Anyone…? (short of a spoiler, of course); maybe an Ngram link). 🤞
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Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
Malaika I don't know where to start...
Ripening tomatoes on your fire escape! Well a few decades ago my Vancouver West End apartment had a tiny south facing balcony where I grew cherry tomatoes (that my neighbor gave me); they took up 80% of the balcony and ripened well into November I believe. Awesome.
Then you are going to London, Florence, Rome... tomorrow! I was there 36 years ago, plus Paris, Berlin (East and West), Scandinavia, Prague, Yugoslavia, Athens and many more. You'll love it!
Oh yeah the puzzle... well, atoms are wondrous I guess cuz they are the basis of absolutely everything. And GROIN vaults are a real definite thing in masonry building. Cuz they look and function like, well, a groin.
I got stuck in the left middle, as the clues for SPY ON and HEW were so opaque, and ANSARI was a dreaded unknown name. Tried HOWLS for "Distress calls" and wondered what the heck a SPHON was.
[Spelling Bee: Tues 0, last word an archaic 6er.]
Have fun on your travels, Malaika! I live in London and my biggest piece of advice is to get on the river at some point. You can take a commuter boat for not much money and travel to from one end of the city to the other and get great views. If you end your trip in Greenwich, you've got fabulous museums, a beautiful park for picnics, and fun markets. It's hard not to enjoy the city, whatever you do!
Had to cheat to finish it, because of problems in the SE. Had "barred" or "banned" instead of BADREP, because I was sure that the NASA project was some kind of drone.I guessed at LAMAZE and got lucky.
I enjoyed the puzzle. Very creative idea; I especially liked MANTHATSHARD and GEEIDONTKNOW.
Didn't enjoy this solve one bit. Struggled with the middle left as well, for the same reason you mentioned. Never heard of a schwa. Theme was pretty boring as well. Oh well. There is always tomorrow.
Enjoy your trip, Malaika! My favorite thing in Rome was the Colosseum. Modern buildings last about 50-100 years. This one has lasted over two thousand years, despite having sustained attacks.
Overall, I found the puzzle about as easy as @Malaika did, although I had more overwrites than usual for a Wednesday: ink before JET at 5A, NieLS before NEILS at 21D, drOP before HOOP at 52D, iMED before DMED at 53D and bIzeT before LISZT at 59A
Can someone help me with ONEND? To me, that describes a vertical surfboard, but "Continually"?
Lol, came here just for ATOMs. Thank you for the bullet point. They stopped being wondrous about 50 years ago by any reasonable person with a third grade education. They also don't make up everything. They actually probably make up less than 5% of stuff. Dark energy and dark matter make up most of the universe and are certainly wondrous.
In fact here's a list of little things that are more wondrous than atoms (and little):
Quarks
Mouns
Glouns
Neutrinos
Taus
Photons
Bosons
Gravitons (if they exist)
Tachyons (if they exist)
Maybe on Sat, I could stretch it to something like it's such a wonder that these little things make up almost all the matter we interact with. But, on Wed, just gross.
Get your shit together nyt, because when a ten year who watches Star Trek or has a passing interest in quantum physics can write a better clue than you, it's just pathetic. Do better.
Oh... good puzzle. Slightly hard for Wednesday. Good writeup.
The theme really seemed to just fall flat for me. Everyone knows that NYET means NO in Russian, so what does the random phrase beginning with NO contribute to the grid or the solve ? It seems like a squandered opportunity - the themes could have added some humor or sparkle or at least get a chuckle out of someone. I must be missing something, if so, it’s like I was saying to the lady with the wooden leg - WELL Peg, you really stumped me that time.
Rex would say “Very Easy.” But I suppose you have to be over 30. WMDs is Weapons of Mass Destruction and first thing to come to mind. Schwa is learned (and for some then forgotten) in Junior High. Theme was too easy after first theme answer so that no fill was needed to get the rest. Age makes you familiar with most things except maybe “beer hats” but the crosses gave me that.
London is great. See the museums: British museum is a must, Tate if you love art. Florence is easy. Head for the Piazza and Duomo, then walk to the bridges. Rome is more sprawling. Get transportation to see everything: the Coliseum and the Sistine Chapel.
The atom is the most wondrous thing you’ll ever study if you study it. Its structure starts with three basic particles (ignoring the SM) yet gives us everything in the universe from just that… from babies to waterfalls to the sun.
Malaika! Loved your post! That bacon looked tasty. When in Rome- you should visit Meccanismo for appertivo! Such a great deal and delicious!
I think what slowed me down on this is that none of the theme answers is in any way a standalone phrase. Like, there's nothing iconic about "GEE I DON'T KNOW" or "NO LET ME THINK" that isn't equally so of "No I don't know" or "Gee let me think." Even though the theme clue made the first word obvious, you just had to hack out the rest of it through crosses.
You're not allowed to grow tomatoes on your fire escape. In case there's a fire and you/people have to escape.
The lower left completely stymied me, and it didn’t help that I misspelled LAMAZE as LAMAsE. Which made me put in holsT instead of LISZT. I finally googled “did Holst write La Campanella?” and of course that steered me in the right direction. I also got stuck on the periscope clue cause I only had - - - AN, and my brain wouldn’t come off of “it’s got to be something Man, like opmAN or ormAN or some other nautical term I don’t know.” Frustrating. Tough for me overall but enjoyable in the end.
Just a recommendation for Florence: when you're done at the Uffizi, cross the river and in between the two bridges, go to a place called Cantina del Gelato. You won't be disappointed
Enjoyed the cleverness of this puzzle and I felt that each theme was a reasonable payoff. Liked the crossing of SWIG and SWAG to kick it off. Some of the cluing seemed more Thursday-Friday (Shadow e.g., delivery class?, etc - not sure why the qualifiers) but overall enjoyable. Never need to see WMDS in my puzzle ore references to them. Ugly. Just Ugly.
I think ATOM is referring to the DC Comics superhero 'The Atom' ... but that's just a guess.
Malaika, you and I are very different people, so this is probably terrible advice for you. But my favorite London-area things are the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, The Greenwich Observatory, Hampton Court, The Courtauld Gallery, and the Jack the Ripper Tour with London Walks (really, any of their tours are worth it). And a plus one for getting out on the river.
Conversely, I'd avoid Madame Tussaud's, which I found surprisingly dull.
NO LET ME THINK is the one themer that didn't work for me, as that's not a phrase anyone says. People do say "now, let me think", ('which organization sponsored the Carter-Ford Presidential debates?'), but that wouldn't have fit.
Lots of names in the grid today.
Fun, and pretty challenging for a Weds. Like Malaika, I am trying to come up with other possible themers. “Who was Anubis in ancient Egypt?” GOD, HOW WOULD I KNOW? “What’s the postal abbreviation for the Sooner State?” OK, YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS! “What are the odds of winning the lottery?” NO CHANCE OF ME GUESSING THAT.
The hardest part was the West Central, where I stuck with bRag instead of CROW for far too long, and where the clues for SPY ON (“Shadow”) and HEW (“Fell”) were really vague. Finally seeing SCHWA was the key, although I briefly wondered what SPhON was since hOWLS seemed like the right answer.
Malaika, you will love all three places. Unless you’re there for a pretty long time, you’ll be full up with the must-sees. For Florence, try to get up to Fiesole in the gorgeous Tuscan hills above the city. You can take a bus there but you can also walk part of the way there or back. Maybe the bus uphill and walk back to Florence downhill. You can jump on the bus whenever you get tired.
I love the word SCHWA because it’s a great example of a name of something almost everyone’s seen, but the average person not might know. It’s the upside down e that you’ll find throughout dictionary definitions, which are shared in the International Phonetic Alphabet.
I don’t think it’s a referendum on your intelligence Malaika, but I do think it’s a stark reminder of how much knowledge is generational. As someone who went to high school two blocks from the World Trade Center and has a brother who was present at that same school on 9/11, the Bush regime’s lies about WMD’s were ever-present. My college organizing was and political analysis still is shaped by living through those times; the false specter of WMD’s was used to justify so much violence being done in the name of the lives of people I knew. It makes sense that it might not be something Malaika knows and no judgment on that, we all have our wheelhouses. And, reflecting on how quickly something that was so pervasive and influential can recede well into the cultural background within a generation or two is a real “well, whoa, wow, weird” moment of realization for me.
All three puzzles Guilherme has had published in the NYT have felt bright and smile-inducing. I know I will light up when his next one comes around.
Just as a reminder, he started solving English crosswords in 2016 to, in his words, improve his English vocabulary (he is Brazilian). Now he makes crosswords full-time, in Portuguese, Spanish, and English in print and online. His Times puzzles have come on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so he could still hit the cycle (a NYT puzzle for every day of the week) in his first seven puzzles, something only one person has ever done (Andrew Ries). Go for it, Guilherme!
[What do you often do in basketball?]
SHOOT, I HAVE NO IDEA!
I liked the triple rhyme of HEW / LOU / THRU, the crossing rhyme of I’VE and DRIVE, and seeing two of my favorite words side to side – SCHWA and PREEN. My brain loved the riddle-based theme and the couple of areas I had to earn.
And my spirits loved being zhooshed up by this puzzle’s fun feel. Thank you, Guilherme, for this!
I hated the theme answers. Who says "No let me think"? Isn't it "Now let me think"? A better theme answer for that question would have just been "No I don't" or something. And "gee" is such a weak answer. The question should have been, what's G in NATO alphabet? And then they'd need to have a response that includes golf, but that would have been way better.
I enjoyed the puzzle. It felt hard for a Wednesday for me, but didn’t actually take longer than normal. The one complaint I have is that “old” was clued as “no longer in use”. That just isn’t correct. Many old things are still in use (perhaps like myself). I guess Ageism lives, but I just didn’t think it would be in the times.
Definitely not a wheelhouse thing here, as I read through a lot of the clues with no "I know that one!" feeling at first, but then eventually thought, "Oh yeah, duh". None worse than being unable to start right in because I couldn't think of a four-letter word for "stuff in a pastry bag". That kind of a morning.
Bounced around and caught on with the Isle of MAN answer, saw that the answer to the question would be the first word in the answer, and aha! Not that hard, but took too long.
Not helpful that DION for me is the guy singing "Runaround Sue" and ANSARI is probably a nice person but a complete unknown. We've had this kind of SCHWA clue before and I always need most of the letters before I think of it.
So eventually enjoyed this one a lot, GG, that is, after I Got Going. Very nice Wednesday indeed and thanks for all the fun.
My recommendation for Florence: the Galileo Museum. It’s fantastic, filled with scientific instruments from a broad range of eras. And it has Galileo’s middle finger preserved in a jar, positioned to be flipping off the Vatican.
I chuckled at the I'm baby meme. (We're all babies. Loud, complaining babies who want to be noticed.) I miss my cherry tomato plant that I had a few years ago. Love tomatoes.
Theme was a bit tame, but I appreciate the construction of the grid. All 4 themers are 12 letters long. Multiple words cross a pair of the themers, yet the fill is pretty clean, except for maybe WMDS (makes me think of the Iraq invasion). After 9/11, we were angry babies.
Thanks for the write-up, enjoy your trip!
Cute enough theme - at least there’s no circles. Liked BEER HATS x BAD REP.
MAN THAT SHARD sounds like something from the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.
Pleasant Wednesday morning solve.
Mike Nesmith was not just a Monkee
If you know SCHWA you are definitely more educated about that than I am! Wow, first time I could not finish a Wednesday. WMDS were very much in the news during the Iraq war. That was the “excuse” pardon me for being a bleeding heart liberal, that was given when Bush/Cheney decided they wanted control of the oil there. They kept insisting there were Weapons of Mass destruction and of course none were every found. Congrats on winning your game!
I’m gonna look up that book, thanks for the rec.
For the record, La Campanella is not originally by Liszt. It is a paraphrase on a theme by Paganini.
It's really hard to go wrong in any of those cities - enjoy! But for some very slightly off the beaten path sights I'd recommend the Inns of Court and near by Sir John Soane museum in London (there's also a Templar church nearby which appeared in Da Vinci Code de but is lovely in it's own right). In Rome, the Castel Sant'Angelo is incredible - it was built as Hadrian's tomb and the become the papal fortress, and various uses between and after. Plus Gelato!
How about the triple doozy "bowline?" ...not a clue
In Florence go to the Academy Gallery. The statue of David is there and some unfinished works of Michelangelo. He said the the statue was in the block of marble and he just took away what wasn’t needed. The unfinished pieces show that well. Have a great time.
@bocamp: I was naticked at the same spot in Monday's New Yorker puzzle ("Rockin in the Suburbs" alt-rocker x Fire, so to speak). I could only get it by asking Sergey and Larry for the alt-rocker. I still don't get how the clue fits the answer at 19A.
Hey All !
"What is the sewing of socks called again?"
Darn If I Know.
Pretty neat puz. Finished quick, but puz still seemed to have resistance as I solved. No whoosh today, but a steady marching from top to bottom. Finished in SE corner, which almost never happens.
As solving, it seemed like I was running into W's everywhere. Let me count them ... *Jeopardy music* ... 8 of them. Hmm, seemed like more. Strange the things the ole brain picks up.
Like Malaika, unsure how to catagorize this theme. It's pun-ish. Literal puns? Pun-Lite? I dunno, discuss.
Always like how LISZT is spelled. Maybe I can be Rooszt? Har.
8 W's, but ...
No F's (I'm in an UPS ROAR about it) 😁
RooMonster
DarrinV
M, after spending a day at the museum in Florence, you might find that your Uffizis are killing you.
Guilherme -- did you really have to give us JET at 5A just two days after the Aaron Rodgers debacle. That's cold, man.
Is this a correct usage of PARADOX?
I know what a SCHWA is--I even remember learning the term in 4th grade from a substitute teacher--but I don't think I'd have described those A sounds as schwas. But who knows? Maybe I pronounce those A sounds more distinctly than the constructor does.
In any case, I found this puzzle pretty enjoyable otherwise.
Good morning, Malaika! I am so excited for you to be heading to Europe; post pandemic, heading anywhere, seems pretty, exciting, still. In Florence, get across the river and up the hill to have a perfect view of a beautiful city. Also, make sure you go to the central market, where you will be hard-pressed not to buy all the fabulous food in the world. in Rome, thumbs up for the Colosseum and the forum, of course, the Pantheon, all the fountains, and the tourist fun of Bocca Della Veritá. Enjoy!
I'm freakin out, Samsa came up the other day, my copy of the New Yorker was open to a cartoon of a cockroach. In bed! Named Gregor Samsa!!! Just finished an article on Franz Liszt, same issue, and Liszt shows up today, play theme to Twilight Zone here.
Weak puzzle with patchy difficulty. IEDS is better than WMDS for actual warfare; WMDS are a problem of statecraft and spycraft, not actual warfare. And 30D was woeful against a 32D that could be YELLS, making CROW hard against BREW and HEW hard against ?EL, with SCHWA being no use.
Most of the puzzle was easy enough. Some good mid-week fill made easier by the theme. However, that middle-left section gave me a lot of trouble.
Sir John Soanes house
@Conrad (9:00 AM)
Just came across this site. A page search for 'outfit' results in four hits, two of which may be the answer to our dilemma. WDYT?
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Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
I love all comments about fire escape tomato’s. My Grandmother from Sicily had 12 children, all had a mandatory appearance with children and spouses in tow for Sunday lunch , a 6 hour experience. All of her vegetables for her gravy (sauce to the non - Sicilians) grew on her and her neighbors fire escapes. So thank you for the tomato reference.
I liked the puzzle a lot.. It seemed hard while I was doing it, but the time ended up pretty normal for me. But I hated the clue for "old", which was "no longer of use"。 That isn't the same meaning at all. For example, I am old, but I hope no longer of use And may old things, churches bridges whatever are still in use. I guess I wasn't expecting ageism to creep into the Times.
Simple but serviceable theme for a Wednesday but nothing really stands out as exceptional in the clueing/answers for the non-thematic answers. I agree that I can’t imagine anyone saying NOLETMETHINK…you’d either say NO or maybe hmmmm, LETMETHINK. @Southside, my chuckle today was that YOU said “everyone knows what nyet means.” C’mon, you know why.
@Malaika, I agree with @Weezie…WMDS is generational knowledge and even someone (like me) who doesn’t really know “war things” knows WMD if they were old enough to read the news in the early aughts. I mean, I was in my mid 40s and asked my husband…what do they MEAN by this term…like a nuclear weapon? Anyway…the whole thing brings back bad memories of deceit for me…moving on.
Somewhat surprised that there was no comment about Aziz ANSARI and #Metoo. His situation WAS a bit different from what I’ve read and I think how he handled it has salvaged his reputation. In fact, NPR had an interview entitled Sexual Assault or Bad Date.
Well, I’ve certainly been serious lately. Maybe not enough joy juice in the puzzles…
It had me at SWAG/SWIG; after that, this puzzle could do no wrong. And I learned that APNEA was more than sleep apnea, and coould be a good thing.
Well, it did do me a little wrong at 54-D, implying that because I'm OLD I'm no longer in use. Tell that to I.M. PEI!
Somehow I was on the right wavelength for the theme answer -- as others have said, the phrases could be many different things, but somehow I was able to guess them just from the initial word and the letter count; as a result, the puzzle seemed very easy.
@Malaika, let me second the recommendation for John Soane's museum, formerly his residence -- full of architectural curiosities and various ways of making a small space seem larger.
As for the Colosseum, sure, everybody should see it, but 45 seconds is enough. Or I hear there's a guided tour where they explain all the details of tunnels and trapdoors, that might be interesting. The best things we did in Rome were a) the catacombs, and b) Trastevere (where we stayed).
Thanks, @bocamp. I think you hit it. Who knew?
Not me, certainly!
Very inventive theme - I especially got a kick out of bringing in the NATO alphabet, perhaps an unlikely candidate for wit. And some tough cluing made it on the hard side for a Wednesday - so even more to like. I noticed YOWLS next to LAMAZE - sorry if TMI, but I was in the "no epidural for me" generation and the latter really did save me from resorting to the former.
Help from previous puzzles: ANSARI. No idea: JOANNE, BEER HATS.
@Bocamp 1:15 and @Conrad 9:00 - Re: Natan Last's puzzle, after more than one alphabet run, I gave up at that cross. In general, I approach this constructor's puzzles with, "I haven't a prayer," anticipating so many names I won't know.
@Malaika - Your trip sounds wonderful. In Florence, don't skip the churches where there are beautiful Renaissance frescoes: check out the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella and, if you can get tickets, the Brancacci Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine.
Nothing really wrong with this puzzle but can’t say I enjoyed it much. It was not difficult but slow going for me, just took a while to figure out the theme and then when I did see it, more of an oh than an aha. SW was a big slog because I did not know the composer, the comedian or the barrel intersection, was stumped by the trivia hint for CIA, and agree with another poster that the clue for OLD is BAD.
@Anonymous (5:42) Continually meaning intermittently, as in “it rained continually for days ON END.”
@Conrad (10:29 AM) 👍
Nor I!
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Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
These are all the phrases I say when doing crosswords. These and, "Crud, I'm stuck, hey Google."
Joanne beat me today and without her the north was out of reach. SWIG/SWAG was an hilarious beginning, but then nothing up there until the end.
Tee-Hee: They said some buildings have GROINS, but c'mon kids, we know you NYTXW staffers and what GROINS you really wanna "clue." Don't make us PROBE your THONG. Grrrrroins! Sort of bookends Malaika's sweaty fingers.
Today is the one-year anniversary of the UNBORN BABY puzzle leading @Z to abandon ship and the simultaneous exit of the historic canoeing expert @Anonymous troll.
Uniclues:
1 Disappointed Purdue Pharma sales rep statement at the Christmas party.
2 How all my trips around town work with all these potholes.
3 ... not with your friendly Purdue Pharma rep in town.
4 Lock Chris Rock in the closet.
5 The theme of Aziz's last stand-up special.
6 ... cuz it's gonna hurt if you wait.
7 Celine celebrants saying she's aces.
8 Retie bikini bottom.
1 SWAG JET AGAIN?
2 WIPE SODA DRIVE
3 ISN'T PAIN DOLED?
4 RATION INTROS
5 ANSARI BAD REP
6 GET IT NOW LAMAZE!
7 DION TYRANTS
8 EDIT THONG HOOP
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: As a kid, she was known as spaghetti legs McGee. RAMEN ROCKETTE.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Medium. Cute and reasonably smooth, liked it.
Stuff I didn’t know as clued: APNEA, JOANNE, and GROIN.
SCHWA I knew from Xwords.
Hi Malaika: Just a quick note to tell you that you actually have heard the word WENDS before, and in fact you use it all the time, just not in this form!
Ever wonder why the past tense of "go" is "went"? Linguists call it "suppletion", a process where two previously unrelated words become inflected (varying) forms of one another.
So WEND was a perfectly normal verb in English, that meant something like "to make ones way" (which is also what "go" means), and its past tense was "went". At some point, we decided to mix and match, using "go" in the present, and "went" in the past.
Languages do this all the time, other examples in English are: "good, better, best" (not gooder, goodest); and "be, is, was" (not be, bees, beed).
Have a great trip to Europe!
@Carola (10:43 AM)
I hear ya! 🤞
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Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
What’s flushed down the Pope’s toilet? Holy crap, I have no idea.
What does a cook do before boiling corn? Shucks, I don’t know.
Who died for our sins? Christ, I haven’t a clue.
ADDONTO, ONEND, SPYON, DION. Right ON!
I liked it. Thanks, Guilherme Gilioli.
Paradoxically, I enjoyed bein bucked in this rodeo.
{What's the main Hindu sacred animal?} = HOLYCOWNOIDEA.
staff weeject pick: UPS. Goes well with EATUP. And nice weeject stacks, NE & SW.
fave stuff: BEERHATS [Hic, what are those?] GETITNOW [Almost seems theme-related, somehow]. SWAG/SWIG opener.
Thanx, Mr. Gilioli dude. Fun theme.
Masked & Anonymo3Us
p.s. Have a great trip, @Malaika darlin.
**gruntz**
I’m an ER physician, a quasi specialist in cardiopulmonary physiology, and my bullshit matter went off on this one. So I went down the rabbit hole. Turns out, this is a common practice in free diving, and I do generally respect common practices in elite athletes, because expletive is not NOT evidence, but I have run into a fair number that are likely more mental than physiologic (see also, KT tape). Of course, when we’re talking elite athletes, mental distances are also not unimportant. The problem I see with this practice is the same we see when we intubate people—when you increase pressure in the lungs and airway, you decrease cardiac output through decreasing preload. In an already sick person, this kills them. It won’t kill an elite athlete, but my hunch is that it would have a much bigger negative effect than any marginal increase in oxygenation from opening extra alveoli. But they’re also quickly going under pressure, so maybe it equalizes. In any case, the benefit is at best psychological, imo.
Was quite a slog for me, particularly in the west section (like others, wanted BRAG before CROW, couldn't see SCHWA or HEW from the clues, and just struggled throughout that whole section). Theme really didn't do much for me, but looks like others liked it. Atoms will always be wondrous for this chemistry-trained solver, and the HALO clue was a highlight. Usually like misdirection clues, but some of the ones (already mentioned above) didn't give that spark. Oh, well - still finished without any writeovers or lookups. On to Thursday!
Malaika - all the London advice you've gotten is right on the mark. We too like to stay in South Kensington. Also, we second the Jack the Ripper walk. Great fun. Tate Modern. National Gallery. Portrait Gallery. The list is endless. Just walk around central London and you'll find it all. Yes on Greenwich. Use the tube [and river services] to get to anything you want to see. I hope you have a great trip and I hope we get the report.
The problem with 30d is that you have to know who or what Alexa is. I know several women up in the Great Plains with that name, and the two "a"s don't have the same sound. You have to know that the clue refers to a digital assistant and how it is marketed, and if you don't know that you won't get the clue. So we get a Natick at 30d and 46a
Enjoy your trip. To find the hill Kim Scudera mentioned, just find the green David. Best places for theatre tickets in London are the shop inside the Leicester Square tube stop or the kiosk about a block away nest the National Gallery. King of like TKTS in NYC, but they also sell discount tickets in advance. Not just day of
Since Rex took the day off, so many stepped into the breech to pick tiny nits. But I didn't let it bother me. I liked the puzzle a lot. Fun figuring out the themers, smart cluing, learned something, not many threes.
SCHWA's been in the puzzle quite a number of times, where I learned it. I suppose that it's useful if you go to a dictionary to learn how to pronounce a word.
This is different, imaginative...and rather entertaining. What I like about it is that none of the theme answers are guessable without crosses -- at least they weren't for me -- and that makes the puzzle crunchier.
But I must YOWL in PAIN at one of the clues. 54D caused me no end of grief as I searched in vain for a composer beginning with a "U" and a plus-one beginning with a "T". Neither seemed to exist. What was going on?
Oh, I see: "No longer in use" is OLD, not OUT. Except it's not. Many old things are still in use (you should see my closets if you doubt my words) and many relatively new things can be ditched early on. It's an inaccurate and unfair clue that futzed up my solve, so I'm YOWLing. (Note to NYT: Don't ever clue OLD that way again.)
The clue for ATOM ("Little wonder") is also really bad. You want to be tricky, sure, but you gotta play fair.
I wasn't wild about "give out" as the clue to RATION either. You METE out or you DOLE out, but to RATION implies there's a shortage involved and that no one is getting the amount they really require.
I liked this puzzle. But if I were Puzzle Editor, I would have changed all three of those clues, FWIW.
What a great Wednesday! Puzzle clicked, Malaika pinch hits and memories were triggered—now that’s a midweek trifecta that pays out.
I don’t know how much time you have in European visits, but I don’t think anyone has suggested a short bus ride to Hampton Court when in London. The grounds are lovely and a visit to the tiny office that spawned Thomas Cromwell will remain forever engraved in a visitor’s memory. Truly, there is no way to go wrong when you open your eyes and heart to any new vista. All the suggestions from commentariat either trigger wonderful reminiscing or spark desire for new adventures.
@Weezie 7:52 AM
+1
How was the plague spread, where would you find a taste bud, and do you want the sweet Champagne or the dry?
“Rats, it’s on the tip of my tongue, just give me a sec.”
Well...a puzzle I really enjoyed. From SWAG to SPED to the middle HEW TRON WENDS.
GEE for golf, No for nyet, WELL for oil and MAN for Isle. How did Guilherme come up with these? They were cute and entertaining.
I also like @Lewis' SHOOT, I HAVE NO IDEA and @Roo's DARN IF I KNOW. Now I'm going to spend all morning trying to figure some others......
GROIN was the hardest answer for me to get. I just don't know my barrel vaults. The thought of using Google though, pained me. I eventually got it but I didn't get it.
@Malaika...You'll be getting lots of good and interesting comments on what you should see and do on your lovely trip. You could stay 5 years in London and still not see all the things to see. One thing you should not miss (in my opinion) is the Tate museum. That'll take about a day to visit. Then ask a local for a good pub to eat fish and chips....
May I highly recommend you not rent a car in Italy. In Rome you will be stuck going around any roundabout forever and a bus will be speeding in your direction head on. Trains and buses are great.
When in Florence...Well, You're in Michelangelo territory so I suggest you try to stare at "David" as long as you can. As for food. Ask the concierge at your hotel to recommend a restaurant where the locals eat. You can't go wrong. I ate Cotoletta alla Milanese at just about every restaurant in Italy and my 6 year old son would only eat spaghetti. I know you like tomatoes, you'll get plenty of them in Italy and then you will wonder why we can't grow the same ones and why the really good ones here at the market cost about $5.00 each. Enjoy your trip...I know you will. Stay off the tourist beaten path if you can then buy yourself some Florence Glass Atelier.....
Churchill underground bunker if u like history. Walking anywhere. All musuems. Super theatre. LOOK RIGHT, RIGHT, if you jaywalk !!
A normal person says "Let me think..." first, then "No" when they can't come up with an answer.
Lemme think, lemme think, ohh...noooh...
Oh— "NO"!
Oh, "NO NO NO NO NO!!"
I also don't particularly like "Well, you got me." I would have preferred "Well just how the hell am I supposed to know that?"
La Campanella
In London, Churchill's World War II bunker, National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, and the Museum of London Docklands. Rome and Florence were so full of tourists i left as soon as possible.
London: superb theatre. All museums. Churchill bunker if you like history stuff. LOOK RIGHT if you jaywalk!
egs -- three for three today! -- very funny!
and bocamp thanks for solving the Natan Last issue -- that square was my one miss too.
Conversation.
Do you want this 3-day-old leftover pizza or something else, and want.
No. Let me think.
Malaika,London My favorite place in the world for a fast meal is a Pret a Manger which can befound fall over in London.
Favorite things I guess have been the Tate, the Victoria and Albert, plays and concerts at the National Theater, concerts in Wigmore Hall (there is also a good restaurant downstairs there) and free Sunday concerts at St Martins in the Fields in Trafalgar Square.
Also Kew Gardens - a bit of a tue or boat trip from the center.
I couldn't recommend for or against things like the Tower of London. In 45 years of annual trips I never went and never wanted to.
Somehow the British Museum never appealed to me as much as the V and A and the Natural History museum next to it.
@CWT Very cleer
OK, your first one is definitely the winner.
What are the 7 words you can't say on the radio?
&#@*, I don't know
Fun write-up Malaika!
I didn't know WMDS & while I started out quickly, the flow soon faded & I had to work hard. You got me good, Guilherme!
Although I understand the concept, never in my 83 years had I heard the word “groin” used this way. So — get this: this morning I pick up the book I started reading last night (George Eliot’s “Mr. Gilfil’s Love Story “) and find on page 19 a description of a “lofty groined ceiling” in an English manor house. What’s the word for this? Serendipity?
A fun little diversion today. Like others, I got stuck in the left middle and it was the last section to go in. Enjoy your trip! Now, I must go attend to my tomatoes. I'm still waiting for them to change from green to red, sigh.
Enjoyable theme.
But
Right after SWAG and SWIG, I wrote None the WORSE. I was none the WISER for it.
I was surprised at how many commenters have said they learned SCHWA from crosswords. Believe me, I didn’t go to what anyone would consider a first-rate elementary school, so I wonder if I was in some age group when there was an emphasis on “phonics”? I started first grade in 1961 and it seems we had a separate “phonics” workbook in MAYBE second or third grade? It’s a cool word, so maybe my teacher just highlighted it for discussion one day, but I AM curious.
@egsforbreakfast 11:07 AM
For the win.
With the A and M in place at 58A, I wondered if it was AheM. I think the clue fits AheM as well as it does ATOM which is, not well at all.
I misspelled NeiLS Bohr at first and thought the Scuba need was a mAsK, both of which caused a mild slowdown in the solve.
I found this fun so thanks, Guilherme Gilioli.
Malaika, try and visit Churchill’s underground war bunker. Fascinating.
In London: The Churchill War Rooms (the bunker). A MUST SEE.
For London: If you enjoy Harry Potter or just films in general, take a day trip to the Warner Bros. Harry Potter Studio tour. We spent 7 hours there. (including lunch with butter beer). Mind blowing.
You must do the Cinque Terre hike which is a short train ride from Florence. Pisa is also nearby. It's hokey, but I really enjoyed it.
@Liveprof (12:45 PM) 😊
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Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
In Rome, do NOT miss the Borghese gallery!
Hi Malaika,
I love your recipe! There are cheesy grits lovers in my household and fresh tomatoes from my husband’s garden. So I think we’ll be making that recipe soon!
I usually stay away from “house wine” after a bad experience with over-indulging in it in the old Puglia’s in Little Italy back in the day. However I found the house wine in restaurants in Italy to be great! And if you like coffee make sure you order the coffee local people drink. Some places realizing we were American kept trying to give us Cafe Americano which was not to my liking there, although I found it very sweet that the staff tried to accommodate us. Gelato or drinks at 4PM and dinner much later were really enjoyable. Of course the art and architecture are amazing but make sure you leave time to just wander about in Florence. You won’t regret it!
As for the puzzle I liked it although I had “bends” for meanders and “BMD” in place of “WMD”. True, weapons of mass destruction are horrendous but mines or “IEDs” are also horrific, cause so much damage to human beings and linger long after the war ends to mutilate or kill unsuspecting individuals.
Terrible puzzle, such a slog, stupid theme and abysmal fill. Frustrating on a day like today to check the blog and not have the satisfaction of a Rex tirade
Hey Maika! Super job, and I have done the cheesy grits recipe too: delicious! I have to get my tomatoes from the farmers’ market, the soil here takes too much babying for my lack any of green digits.
I agree completely with your evaluation of this delightful Wednesday. Mostly easy, including (for me anyway) the theme. But several spots hing me up for quite a while. First, it took me a bit to get GROWTH, mostly because I was also a bit stuck on DOLED. The remainder of the entire E half was quite accessible.
Where I was nearly stumped was over în the “Midwest.” CROW and HEW Were in as was the WELL of the theme clue. I am unfamiliar with Aziz ANSARI but the answer was fairly easily inferred. With all that, and still having no idea what kind of a “shadow” was wanted, so there was my first mistake. Then plopping in HOWLS at 32 down did me in for quite a while. I was flummoxed. Completely. It took me a load of laundry and a bunch of paperwork and miscellaneous tasks to finally hit on “Oh, shadow lime follow clandestinely!!!” Sheesh. This was a dandy Wednesday, and congratulations on your gorgeous harvest, Malaika. If you prune them carefully, they should besr fruit at least to the first frost, whenever that may be in your little corner of the world. Enjoy!
Can’t log on. Wishing Malaika a great trip. Second the rec for Sir John Soanes house. In Florence walk from the Pitti Palace down to the Arno and wish you lived there.
In Rome eat lots of fried artichokes
Pleased to see a harder-than-normal Wednesday. Now that I’m retired, and have more free time, I’ve started solving the Times’ puzzle a day earlier in the week. Wouldn’t know Joanne but the crosses were fair. Maybe too simple at times: In crossword world, the architect is always Pei. And there’s gotta be a better clue for Lou.
@egs 11:0¶. I was probably going to spend all day trying to come up with something. Thank you for saving me the time....I laughed so loud at Holy crap, I have no idea, that my husband thought I was screaming at the dog!.....
I read the post. I am slow on the uptake. Must be a joke.
This old timer thirds the rec for that place
Let me just add the best gelato in Florence is near the Santa Croce. Everyone will point it out to you.
Last time I checked WW II is considered a war. And WMD’s were used in the war.
Anyway who’s to say they won’t be used again.
WMDS - the bane of the Bush2 folks
The. clue in no way referred to people. Ageism is totally irrelevant to the clue and answer.
I have some old things in the attic I have to get rid of.
Crossword clues are hints, not dictionary entries. Among the many connotations of old is something no longer in use.
Yes, I am OLD but I am still very much in use!!! Terrible cluing.
Nancy, I think "no longer in use" is a legitimate definition of old. For instance, "That's the old version of the program."
Craven Cottage, the home stadium of Fulham FC! In an absolutely beautiful park by the Thames, if you take the tube there you will have to walk 3/4 mile through the park and it will be awesome! And you get to see some footy!
I am familiar with SCHWA but was just staring at empty space over there until I got HEW, even after I’d tried SPY ON, PREEN, and YOWLS. That one cross took up half my solve time!
Nice first name playlist by the way, Malaika. Check out the Memphis Ukulele Band version of Valerie.
In Rome, check out the Capuchin Crypt. Contains the bones of all the monks that ever lived there made into cool designs
Great explanation :) Even as someone who was around during the bush era i initially had IEDS before landing on WMDs. Quite a throwback indeed!
Malaika: If the Villa d’Este outside Florence still lights up their fountains at night, that’s a must see. London is amazing. Walk along the south side of Thames starting at Waterloo Bridge, past the National Theatre, the London Eye, the book stalls, the Tate Modern, the Globe Theatre. End your stroll at Borough Market for lunch. Portobello Road is also fun. Stop at the crepe stand at the top of the road. Yum!
DNF for me. Couldn’t parse HE(?) and (h)O(?)LS. Did not enjoy the rest of the puzzle. Total slogfest. Just had to look up HEW…
@Malaika: Although Windsor Castle is not in London, it is well worth the side trip up the Thames. It is Camelot come to life.
Puzward. This was toothier than your average midweek offering. I wasn't quite sure what the theme clues wanted, and it was only after getting several crosses that the answers emerged.
Also I had a major crossing "gimme" that was wrong: Pest/mAsK. Screwed up my whole north and nearly caused a DNF.
So that's a GROIN, eh? Paired with PEI, it's a mini-theme.
I like being made to think, so birdie.
And my great starter word resulted in: a Wordle par. Oh WELL.
GET WISER (GROIN PAIN)
AGAIN, JOANNE said, "Oh, GEE,IDON'TKNOW,
but, WELL,YOUGOTME ON my guard.
Will IT ADDONTO a BADREP TO go
ON DATES with an OLD MANTHAT'SHARD?"
--- NIELS LISZT
Alright.Not great but not particularly bad.
Oddly enough, I almost always find that the longer answers are the easiest for me. Must be that paradoxical thinking - I've got it down. And up.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
I love to come on this blog and see people say that they have never heard of things that for me are just plain common knowledge, that everybody knows. Several people said they didn't know what a schwa was. I learned what it was when I was a kid. Then I think, maybe there no longer is an emphasis on phonetics or the parsing of a sentence that existed when I was young (many moons ago). I grew up in a small town about 40 miles southwest of Chicago, and at the time almost all "grade schools" were K through 8. Nowadays, I think most kids will have gone to 3 different schools by the time they get to highschool, and they will have lived in the same house the whole time.
@RooMonster 9:04 AM, I had an F for you for a while, when I had pROfit instead of GROWTH for 11D. Alas, it was not to be.
Material Issue: Diane,
Li’l Christine, Kim the Waitress.
@anon 5:50 - similar school situation growing up, except 45 miles from Twin Cities. 12 years in one school building. Parsed sentences, learned SCHWA to navigate dictionaries. Etc. Afraid 'kids' these days don't know squat. Don't wannabe the 'get off my lawn' guy, but I won't suffer a fool.
Wordle birdie.
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