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Cousin of Euchre / SUN 10-1-23 / Longtime N.B.A. executive ___ Ujiri / Land united by Theseus / Idiot in Britspeak / Semiautobiographical film set in rural Montana (1992) / Animated dinosaur film that spawned 13 sequels (1988) / Blockbuster sequel with an iconic plot twist (1980)
Sunday, October 1, 2023
Constructor: Jeffrey Lease
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (Easy, but skewing Medium if you were unfamiliar with the movie titles)
Theme answers:
- ONE FLEW / THE CUCKOO'S NEST => "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (18A: With 23-Across, second film to win all five major Academy Awards (1975)) (ONE FLEW appears directly "over" THE CUCKOO'S NEST)
- THE EMPIRE SEKIRTS => "The Empire Strikes Back" (41A: Blockbuster sequel with an iconic plot twist (1980)) ("strikes" is written "back"wards)
- THE LAND TIME => "The Land Before Time" (50A: Animated dinosaur film that spawned 13 sequels) ("The Land" appears immediately "before" "Time")
- TRANSLOSTLATION => "Lost in Translation" (67A: Romantic dramedy directed by Sofia Coppola (2003) ("Lost" appears "in"side "Translation")
- READING BURN => "Burn After Reading" (89A: Coen brothers farce involving the C.I.A. (2008) ("Burn" appears "after" "Reading")
- JEOPARDY JEOPARDY => "Double Jeopardy" (97A: Crime thriller that takes some liberties with its namesake legal concept (1999)) ("Jeopardy" is "doubled")
- CROUCHING TIGER => "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (114A: With an unseen portion of 128-Across, Oscar winning martial arts film (2000)) ("Dragon" is "hidden" in 128-Across: [DRAG ON]E'S FEET (128A: Deliberately procrastinate))
- A RIVER RUNS => "A River Runs Through It" (16D: Semiautobiographical film set in rural Montana (1992)) ("River" literally runs through "IT" (i.e. the letters "I" and "T," which appear circled in the grid)
- [SHOP] OF HORRORS => "Little Shop of Horrors" (74D: Dark comedy about a carnivorous plant (1960, 1986)) ("Shop" is made "little" by being forced into a single square) (crossing BI[SHOP] (72A: Certain chess piece)
Hypergamy (colloquially referred to as "dating up" or "marrying up") is a term used in social science for the act or practice of a person dating or marrying a spouse of higher caste, social status or sexual capital than themselves.
The antonym "hypogamy" refers to the inverse: marrying a person of lower social class or status (colloquially "marrying down"). Both terms were invented in the Indian subcontinent in the 19th century while translating classical Hindu law books, which used the Sanskrit terms anuloma and pratiloma, respectively, for the two concepts.
The term hypergyny is used to describe the overall practice of women marrying up, since the men would be marrying down. (wikipedia)
• • •
I was slightly bothered by A RIVER RUNS (through) IT because it felt like "RUNS" shouldn't actually be in the grid. The "running through" part was represented visually, so you didn't need "RUNS." Would've been enough to have A RIVER running through "IT." A RIVER runs through IT. Boom, perfect. But I guess the idea is that A RIVER RUNS (as a phrase) goes "through" IT, which, OK, yeah, I guess that's defensible. I don't especially understand why the RIVER part is highlighted in the grid. It's the whole first part of the title that "runs through" IT, and anyway, we can all see the RIVER, there it is, in the answer, don't need it highlighted. But highlighting it doesn't hurt anyone, so ... if that's what you wanna do, why not? Not necessary, but it adds a little visual interest to the grid, so ... whatever. Knock yourself out. I think the little SHOP and the hidden DRAGON are by far the most inspired parts of this theme. The rest is ... fine.
I'm glad Sofia Coppola appeared today (as the director of "Lost in Translation") (67A) since it allows me a chance to elaborate (briefly) on why I think the term NEPO BABY (which appeared in the grid yesterday) is so *&$^ing stupid. I mean, yes, Sofia Coppola is the daughter of a very famous director, but so what? Are her movies not good? She's arguably one of the best living American directors. Did her father's fame and fortune give her advantages in establishing a filmmaking career? Undoubtedly. But rich and famous people have been breeding forever and hardly any of their kids actually become famous. Some of them try and fail miserably. NEPO BABY just sounds like some sneering, whiny, celebrity-obsessed sour grapes garbage, a term you can use to insult someone you don't like (more often than not, a girl/woman), or a *kind* of person you imagine is an embodiment of injustice, but who is really just ... a person—one who, like you, didn't choose their parents. Also ... children going into the same profession as their parents? How is this surprising, or even noteworthy? Doctors beget doctors, lawyers lawyers, teachers teachers, and (god help us) politicians politicians, every day everywhere all over the place. Bach had a lot of composer kids. These things happen (well, Bach-level stuff is pretty rare, but you see what I mean). So you go ahead and be mad about NEPO BABYs, you whiny babies— I'm gonna keep thinking Sofia Coppola and Liza Minnelli and Maya Hawke and Zoe Kazan and Willow Smith and Ben Stiller et al are just fine. Pretty great, even. (Further reading: "The Nepo Baby Discourse Is Rotting Our Brains")
There were some potentially tough words in today's puzzle. ATTICA! (25A: Land united by Theseus). As a prison name chanted in "Dog Day Afternoon," familiar. As the name of the peninsula that encompasses the entire Athens region, gotta think it's a lot less familiar. And crossing AMALIE!? (13D: Tampa's ___ Arena). Yeah, that seems like a possible speed bump, for sure.. GEOTAGS, also a potential stumper (60D: Digital location markers). It's just metadata added to pictures and videos establishing geographical location, and as digital-era terms go, it's a reasonably common term. But still seems like something that could trip up some solvers. MASAI Ujiri will definitely trip up some solvers, particularly the non-sportsy ones (85D: Longtime N.B.A. executive ___ Ujiri). I could picture the guy (an architect of the Toronto Raptors 2019 championship and the current team president) but absolutely could not remember his name. Will be very obscure to many solvers. I think that's it for answers that might cause widespread havoc. I'm not sure how I feel about SIPTEA (29D: Enjoy a cuppa). Let's see ... DRINKCOFFEE ... yeah, no, that's bad. EATASANDWICH ... also bad. I think SIPTEA is probably bad as well. SPILL THE TEA, great. But SIPTEA is just a random verb phrase. Weak tea. Also not a fan of plural SONNYS, not least because my brain insists it should be SUNNIES (80D: Bono and Liston). I know it shouldn't, but good luck arguing w/ my brain, it's very stubborn. The LIVE part of LIVEDJ took me a while (68D: Entertainment at many a wedding). Never occurred to me that the DJ might be anything else. Seems like dead DJs would be hard to come by. I mean, what would it cost to get Wolfman Jack or Alan Freed to do your wedding? A lot, probably.
See you next time.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. having MAIN ACT (48A: What an opener precedes) and ACT (55D: Do something) in the same grid is very bad. If you use ACT in another phrase (like ACT OUT or ACT NATURALLY), that's not great, but it's not nearly as bad as just duping the word and leaving it hanging out there all by itself. Lazy, inattentive editing there. Absolutely no reason ACT should be in the grid. Takes no effort to rewrite the grid and make ACT go away.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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102 comments:
Can't believe I got this in 32 minutes, it was making me sweat for awhile. I liked the theme and how it was integrated , other than the hidden dragon REALLY confusing me, but I got all the down words so it wasn't important that I get it.
Overall pretty easy and fun. 8.5/10 for me. Really easy for a Sunday.
All most all of this was pretty easy except for the NE which was tough because dense PPP (see what @Rex said). I also had problems remembering the Coen Bros. movie and the MASAI cross (Hi @Rex) was not really helpful. Clever take on a familiar theme, liked it. A fine debut!
In re 97A, Double Jeopardy (“Crime thriller that takes some liberties with its namesake legal concept”). [SPOILER ALERT — but if you haven’t seen it 24 years after it was released…]
This is a film I love to hate. Ashley Judd is convicted of the murder of her husband, who faked his death. A fellow inmate (who assures her she can be trusted for legal advice because she was a lawyer before she went to prison) tells her when she gets out, she can then kill him, because they can’t try her again for his murder. And Tommy Lee Jones never tells Ashley, no, that’s not correct, your original conviction would be overturned, and when you’d be tried for the real murder, it would be 1st degree, premeditated murder, and you’d probably get the death penalty because the husband was now in Louisiana. Not to mention her first thought should have been to not take advice from a lawyer who went to prison. AAARGHH!!
Amazingly I got this puzzle 100% correct, but I had six letters circled as dubious because considerable guesswork was involved, including the AMALIE/NIA natick. Way, way, way too much PPP in this one, but concur with Rex about the well executed theme. Just way too much work, and by work I mean guesswork, to give this one five stars...
MASAI crossing ESSIE was a near-Natick for me. Never heard of either.
Good theme. My favorite was SHOP OF HORRORS. Thanks for explaining ESFEET. I got that through crosses and couldn’t figure out what it meant or how it related to a dragon. I remembered the title Double JEOPARDY well enough to recognize it with only a couple of crosses, but that’s all I remember. The 90s really churned out the legal thrillers, huh?
The theme was fine, not too hard to guess. Many of the themes had inferred prepositional words -- over, before, in, after -- which is familiar Thursday territory. I like Thursdays!
The SHOP rebus was a bit of a curve ball, but a good one. I should have realized there was no 3 letter chess piece. The only movie I haven't seen is, naturally, the animated dinosaur film.
But I was quite annoyed by the incredible cancer cluster of names in the, let's say, east southeast. Out of 7 down answers, 6 of them (89, 84, 85, 71, 79, and 80) are names, and the other one (78) is clued using two names. 84 and 85 were unknown to me, and they ended crossing 104 across, another unknown name. That's just terrible. And AHMAD crossing AMALIE and MOTO was another intersect of unknown names.
[Spelling Bee: Sat currently -1, missing a 6er. Fri was also -1; missed this 5er that I swear I've never seen before.]
Did the shaded column with two circles at the base not look obscene to anyone else? I opened up the puzzle in the NYT app and was just like “whaaaaat the heck is this theme going to be?!?” 😂
This was a whole week of Thursday gimmicks rolled into one cinematic multiplex: shaded letters, words “over” other words, a tiny rebus, a few puns and more. All good. Only two nits: UJIRI will be known only to NBA junkies. He is not Pat Reilly or Doc Rivers or I(don’t know how to spell his first name)Thomas. Pretty obscure. Second, the RIVER does not run through IT. It gets dammed up at IT, which probably explains why those letters were circled, another Thursday favorite.
What would have been cool, and beyond my capabilities to figure out, would be to have skipped JEOPARDY JEOPARDY and done the old Fred MacMurray INDEMNITY INDEMNITY, which in turn was remade into the more current BODY BODY and could have also spawned My SONS SONS SONS.
Different idea for a Sunday and well played. Enjoyed solving.
RUNS *should* be included in the 16d answer, because each themer utilizes only one word from the movie title to establish the "adaptation" technique: OVER, BACK, BEFORE, IN, AFTER, DOUBLE, HIDDEN, THROUGH, LITTLE. Every other title word is there (except DRAGON, but that's the point in that one).
I really liked this theme, though I also don't remember the "Double Jeopardy" movie, and I also don't see why RIVER is shaded and the IT squares circled (the IT could have been identified in the clue as "with part of 41-Across). Some of the fill is questionable, but @Rex already covered which ones. LIVE DJ is pretty hilarious. But overall, much better than most of the recent Sunday puzzles.
I don't want to hear "Tiptoe Thru The Tulips", so I will play this instead:
♪ Catch the moon, one-handed catch ♪
I wish the hidden DRAGON could be entered as a DRAGONE rebus in front of SFEET instead of having ESFEET. It wouldn't be as hidden, but it seems unintuitive to not accept that.
Happened to be awake...!
I liked this. Breezy and fun. I circled the 85D / 104A / 89A crosses as a difficult set of PPP, although managed to guess correctly. 13D / 38A also. And like Rex, I was also scratchin' my head at why RIVER is highlighted... but oh! - I didn't see IT in circles until just now. OK.
Happy New Month, everyone!
One of my favorite Sundays of the year. I laughed out loud at a couple of the themers. But I always like wordplay in my crosswords and especially movie-themed; I guess I’m among the target audience for this one.
Generally enjoying the puzzles more lately.
I should add that I don't really like TOILS OVER being in the grid when OVER is the operational word removed from the first themer.
Ah, Valhalla for those – like me – who like visual puzzles. A smorgasbord of them, each a different genre, a veritable arcade.
Nine theme answers, when often squeezing in seven on a Sunday is hard. Yet Jeffrey somehow managed to shoehorn in the gorgeous PANACEA and DEFT. Not to mention crossing theme answers – twice!
I liked seeing JEOPARDY JEOPARDY because that quiz show often has visual puzzles as a category. I liked the neighboring PuzzPair© of ONE FLEW and GO AWOL. And I liked the hidden BAT in ATBATS right next to the Hidden Dragon.
Two random thoughts:
• SEKIRTS for “Strikes Back” brought a puzzle by Bruce Haight (Thursday, 11/9/2017) to mind – it’s a puzzle I’ve featured in a crossword course I’ve taught. It’s fun, highly recommended.
• NODDERS. When I look at this word I see a new meaning, akin to BONKERS, a word that could be clued [With “go”, get crazy]. Here, I’m seeing “go nodders” meaning “get bored”, feeling like you’re going to nod off. As in, “After three minutes of the monotone lecture, I was seriously going nodders.”
Jeffrey, your bright debut puzzle was a hoot in a box (imagine a HOOT rebus square), a no-nodders outing, and I’m happy to hear that you have one in the queue. Thank you so much for this!
Fun puzzle - quirky enough theme to keep the big grid interesting. Liked the fact that most of the movies were just a little off of the mainstream and each treated differently. LITTLE SHOP was tops for me.
And the sounds of the Big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm
Massive side eye to some of the oddball plurals today - NODDERS, SONNYS, OMAHAS, SOHOS, HES etc. OMAHAS reminds me of Peyton Manning. Have been to a few Lightning - Isles games at AMALIE - nice place. Are there dead DJs working weddings also? Work in GIS and GEOTAGS will become a common term for you.
Pleasantly enjoyable Sunday morning solve - the sun is out after 7-8” of rain the past two days - maybe the Jets will surprise later.
Fugitives say that the streets aren't for dreaming now
Between AMALIE, AHMED, ATTICA and MOTO, I was toast in the upper NE corner and had to resort to googling.
Other than that, I really liked it especially the hidden dragon. What a delightful aha moment on that one!
What is ESFEET (128A)? Got it through crosses but I'm lost. Checked dictionaries... no help. So what bit of wordplay am I missing?
Got the gimmick with Cuckoo’s Nest. With a (scrambled, no less) PPP theme, I knew I had no real chance at an unassisted solve today, but was pleasantly surprised at the amount of progress I was able to make before crying “uncle”.
Looking back post-solve, I thought there was a lot of collateral damage due to the strain that such a complex theme puts on a grid. I’m obviously not a big fan of things like AHMAD crossing AMALIE and MASAI crossing ESSEI, etc. I think if I loved the theme I would be a little more tolerant of the Dark Matter / Black Holes in today’s little slice of the CrossWorld universe.
The Times published an essay by Roger Rosenblatt yesterday discussing some of the trials and tribulations associated with getting on in years - one of them he mentioned is the number of world famous people (and movies, and popular phrases and idioms) that you’ve never heard of, which really struck a chord so to speak. No way I would have ever recognized READING BURN for example (I still have no clue what it is referring to). I did immediately drop in TULIPS for 1A though, so I must still have a few functional synapses left.
The first Sunday puzzle in a long time that I've really enjoyed. Maybe Shortz was on vacation when this delight was selected.
Fabulous puzzle. Loved it!! The last of the movies was soooo tricky….
Thank you Jeffrey!!
Thx, Jeffrey; quite a FEaT! 😊
Easy-med.
Smooth sailing most of the way.
Good start in the NW, but the missing 'over' didn't register, so didn't catch the trick until TRANSLOSTLATION.
Spent a good deal of TIME at the end (didn't want two dnf's in a row) trying to make sense of READINGBURN and ESFEET. Not READING the blog until I grok those two themers.
All said and done, an excellent workout; on the easy side, except for the aforementioned.
Good exercise; liked it! :)
___
Lester Ruff's Sat. Stumper was med (3 x NYT Sat.). Fun challenge! :) On to Daniel Raymon's NYT cryptic on xwordinfo.com. 🤞
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness, Freudenfreude & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
YUP! I thought two berries and a twig were a pretty universal symbol.
I’ve just decided that I love themes in which each theme answer uses a different gimmick. I’ve seen it a couple of times before and loved all of them. Like Rex, I thought the repetitive tricks (“over,” “before,” “after”) were the weakest, and the hidden DRAGON was absolutely brilliant. I also wondered WTF ESFEET was - “I know I should finish my homework but I am just going to ESFEET today.” When I cogitated through and saw the hidden DRAGON, I was delighted.
BTW, I loved Rex’s opening line today - “I’m finding this hard to dislike.” So Rex. As in, “I really wanted to dislike this but I just can’t, darn it!” I tease with great affection. And you have convinced me on Nepo Babies, a term which I had kind of liked. But you’re right, we don’t sneer at children of lawyers or police officers who follow in their parents’ footsteps, so why do we do it for actors, artists, writers, athletes…? Maybe because we all secretly want to be those things, unlike lawyers and police officers, so we think, “Sure, I could break into Hollywood too if my Dad was Will Smith.”
I also agree with Rex on LIVE DJ. I wasn’t thinking the opposite would be a dead DJ, but one who DJs via … Zoom? Similar side-eye to ONE-HANDED. I was thinking of baseball catches, which are pretty much never two-handed. But football catches are usually two-handed but could be one-handed with an outstretched arm, so objection withdrawn.
My almost Natick was the crossing of MASAI and ESSIE. I was the best choice, but never heard of either.
Very much enjoyed this. Very creative. Sundays are oft a matter of figuring out the theme, which then repeats and it becomes a chore. Here the trick is different for each movie, yay!
Often, what makes or breaks a puzzle like this is the familiarity of the themers. If you know all the movies, it's fun. If not, it's a chore. I knew them all.
Nice job by Rex today, until he called the odious Ben Stiller “pretty great”.
Things I did not like, though: SOHOS, ESSIE crossing MASAI, AHMAD crossing AMALIE and MOTO, and that clue for HES. Someone really needed to nix that HES clue.
Live DJ I guess as opposed to a set list on an ipad which many people are using these days!
@Rex, thanks for pointing out that Double Jeopardy is not Double Indemnity. I filled in the correct answer while picturing Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. And now I’m remembering that amazing performance by Edward G. Robinson!
And I laughed out loud at your take on LIVE DJ. As if a DJ weren’t already a substitute for a live band.
Enjoyed the theme but stared at the empty square where AMALIE and ATTICA cross for too long, trying to figure else out what might be wrong in the NE, until I just gave the letter A a try and got the happy music. Total guess. Bad cross. Unsatisfying way to finish an otherwise fun themer.
Well, last night I got a Harvest Super Full Moon, and an equally rare single rebus square ((SOC?)Hi, anoabob). Doubled by 2 circled squares, and quintupled by 5 shaded squares. Very fun puzzle, loved the hidden DRAGON clue also. I think I lucked out with the names being wheelhouse-ish.
Not only was ACT duped, it was in the same mid-East section, so as not to be unsee-able.
I'm sure "sneering, whiny, celebrity-obsessed sour grapes garbage" refers more to the general very online discourse than anyone here, right? Very valid points made about children having a leg up in any business: tow-truck operator, Wall Street trader, etc. The numbers of professional athletes whose parents were professional athletes is an excellent example because that is one of the more meritocratic professions. Also, the number of rich and famous ne'er-do-well children show that it can be a curse as much as a benefit.
Still, I think there is something legitimate left in the American psyche, perhaps coming from revolting against kings/queens and extended royalty, that innately repulses Americans. While RP's examples are excellent ones of people who made the most of their opportunities, how many other wonderfully talented people go unheard of because they don't get to cut to the front of the line and get the attention and opportunities their abilities deserve?
It's kind of funny that MARRIEDUP appears the next day...
Is anyone able to explain ESFEET to me? I am just not understanding it for some reason.
Double Jeopardy rules don’t sleep on it! Worth a watch.
I’m glad you mentioned the MAINACT/ACT thing! I got to MAINACT about 30 seconds after filling in ACT, so I was very aware that I was repeating a word. It really threw me off. I wound up jumping to another part of the puzzle rather than fill in the last three letters because it just seemed…wrong. That said, I really enjoyed the puzzle! Figuring out the trickier theme answers (ESFEET!) was immensely satisfying. I think that’s what I’ll remember about this puzzle down the line.
Explained explicitly in the theme description
Tell me about how talented the Kardashians and Paris Hilton are, then complain about NEPO BABY. I don’t use it for real talent.
I'm thankful I'd heard of each movie, and I found it fun to see how to squirrel around each answer. The northeast and southwest tripped me up the most, so an enjoyable and challenging outing.
LETTUCES is funny. ESFEET is not.
Tee-Hee: A RIVER runs through IT looks RACY with the gray squares erected above the two, uh, circles.
Uniclue:
One with high herr.
MARRIED UP FRAU
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Brought the scissors. MENACED YOYOS.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Fun Sunday, though the NE corner was not.
Would have loved to see “Horror/mystery iPhone app users were forced to see 4x on Thursday”.
BLACKBOX/CLUE
Hey All !
Not gonna bore you with telling you I had sent a similar themed puz to the Times, only to have it not accepted... Oh, wait, I just did! 😁
Liked this puz, obviously. An idea by me brought to fruition (and publication) by someone else. Good on you, Jeffrey!
That NE corner sent me fleeing to good ole Goog. Had to blatantly look up both AMALIE and AHMAD. Ah, mad. 😁 Wanted dockED for MOORED, and the crossing Themers we're messing with me. Thinking that the BACK of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK would be written backwards up the shaded squares. Or maybe something twixt the circles would turn back? Heck if I know. Turned out STRIKES was "back", and the circles only had to do with the Down. Dang. To bring out my inner 10 year old, or @Gary Jugerts Tee-hee, those circles with the shaded squares looks a bit phallic.
ESFEET was in, but I thought "what in tarhooties is that? I'm a big time procrastinator, but I'm not sure if I ever ESFEET." When I didn't get the Happy Music at the end, I figured that had something to do with it. But no, it was correct. Thanks to Rex for the RexPlanation. Hidden DRAGON indeed.
Turned out my mistake was just a typo! ARGH! Has EsSEL/OMAHsS, a one-letter away typo, the finger hitting S instead of A. Man, that bites! I usually check as I'm solving, especially getting twice the chance to make sure.
A quick rework of Rex's ACT dupe area got me TUTS for TUBA and SKI for SOT, which gets Downs TIC and SCI. A quick rework, didn't say it was better!
Anyway, Sunday Scaries later today ...
Four F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Mostly easy. The NE corner was the only part that felt late week. Yesterday's puzzle was easy. I couldn't bring myself to comment on it as I had a busy morning.
yd -0, dbyd pg -1 I had to look up how to spell a 7 pointer, it's an Italian word I always think is a food but it's actually a musical term.
I think it’s DRAGON esfeet (drag one’s feet)
Strange comments on Nepo babies. It's good to point out when people had a leg up! It doesn't invalidate their accomplishments, it just reminds us that it's not exactly a meritocracy
Speaking of Nepo Babies, i loved this:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/10/02/nepo-baby
（DRAGON)ESFEET, part of the “crouching tiger hidden dragon” puzzle
My first thought!
I completely agree with every single one of Rex’s comments. I couldn’t get the NE and had to check several times. Masai stumped me and I didn’t get the Hidden Dragon part at all until Rex explained it to me. And, including ACT twice was a definite no-no in puzzle land. I want to add that I thought HES for Sylvester and Garfield was pretty awful too. Really awful actually.
That I remember all these movies and saw quite a few of them, all in theaters, means they’re really old. That I had lunch with Tiny Tim over 40 years ago and his fame was already over a decade prior, really suggests that another clue would’ve been fairer. He was a guest at radio station where I as working my way through college as a copywriter. The DJs were all alive and at that lunch.
Theme was easily gettable and fun but had to come here to understand Esfeet. Cover group, Bruce Springsteen and the Esfeet Band.
Please Read Rex before posting. He explains all.
A Sunday-size grid brimming with mentally stimulating word puzzles to try and figure out -- all of them very different. Such fun!!! I am such a happy camper!!!
The creme de la creme is "Little SHOP OF HORRORS. What an enormous "Aha" Moment that was! So much better because nothing else in the puzzle had prepared me for it and therefore it came as a huge surprise.
The trick of making a puzzle like this work for everyone is to pick movie titles that are completely in the ether -- even if the solver has never seen the movie. As for me, the only title I didn't know was THE LAND BEFORE TIME -- though once it came in, it was obvious what the title must be. But I thought I remembered some movie title called THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT. Yes? No? Anyway, when I parsed the entry, I realized that that couldn't be it.
And while I finished the puzzle, I couldn't remember the entire title of the CROUCHING TIGER movie. My eye had also skimmed right over the fact that 128A was involved in some way. I had to read Rex to see the HIDDEN DRAGON aspect of both clues and then -- "Aha", but alas, not my own "Aha" -- the completely bewildering ESFEET finally made sense.
You made this so much fun for the solver, Jeffrey -- and in so many different ways. It's everything I could hope for from a Sunday puzzle.
Read Rex’s explanation. I didn’t get it until he explained it to me.
CROUCHING TIGER … (hidden) DRAGON
—>
(DRAG ON)E’S FEET
For those suffering from the Sunday Scaries, show up to the office tomorrow with the NSFW Yogi look.
If you get reprimanded for no shirt, claim body shaming.
If your boss responds approvingly, claim sexual harassment.
If you’re ignored, claim implied micro-aggression.
A win/win/win for you and your lawyer. And - most importantly - you get to go back to the safe space of your home!
I’m disappointed. I was waiting for RexRants (TM) on plural SOHOS and the horrendous WKS, which might plausibly be abbr. for weeks, but has never in history been used for “works” in physics.
If you hired someone to play only tracks by Jerry Garcia and his band at your wedding, he would be a DEADDJ, although I’m sure he would be grateful.
If you could have the phallic symbol piercing the missing part of ESFEET, you’d have Bruce LEEs Enter the Dragon.
What did the Mexican boy say as he left his father to go live in the city? CIUDAD.
I guess that if you go both ways, you get your clothes at a BI SHOP.
I believe that ASTROPOP was Ziggy Stardust’s genre.
Really fun debut. Unusually refreshing Sunday. Thanks, Jeffrey Lease. I’m
The phrase NEPO BABY figures prominently in this week’s NEW YORKER!
I would not have know 79D except that I'm the rehearsal accompanist for Youngstown State University's production of "Zombie Prom," which went into tech yesterday and opens next Friday. What school is the story set in? Why, Enrico Fermi High!
I came here to say that about the Natick, too!
How did I love thee? Let me count the ways: I won't because there are too many...BUT.
You started the puzzle with an Over. CUCKOOS NEST indeed. Then you made me work a little harder trying to figure out the backwards SKIRT. I'm really liking this. Take a little break and come back so that I can figure out the rest of these gems.
I did. Except...The end. ES FEET. Thank you @Rex for your explanation. Boy did I stare at that one I remembered Hidden Dragon being part of the title but how did ES FEET (which sounds like some sort of fungus on your toes) fit the equation. AHA. Another clever.
I'm glad I did this one. It's like all Sundays should be...Smart and Clever.....
Hah, I've seen "Double Jeopardy" but didn't remember that was the title so I was confusing it with "Double Indemnity" in my head, though not in the grid. @Anon 12:27 makes a good point about a plot flaw that I didn't consider but the escape scene in the car off the ferry was pretty cool, to me.
I understood the DRAGON was hidden but failed to note that the reference to 128A was talking about that last across answer and not the CROUCHING TIGER answer. I'd like to think that if I'd made the effort to look for 128A in the grid, I would have gotten the DRAG ONE'S FEET rather than holding my nose and waiting for the "sorry" message showing I had ESFEET wrong.
I thought this puzzle was fun and congratulations on your debut, Jeffrey Lease!
I loved this puzzle… fun, clever clueing, entertaining (what with movies and all).
And I really enjoyed Rex’s write-up. Going off on some cool tangents and I very much agreed with him (Sofia Coppola, “(god help us) politicians politicians,” etc.)
Happy Sunday!
This was fantastic. When I got the Empire Strikes back one it made me smile. Only thing that even made my brow raise slightly today was LiveDJ. But with the movie titles being so inventive, I'll give them a pass.
one terrific debut: congrats!!
but... the 1960 dark comedy about a carnivorous plant is "THE little shop of horrors." the musical movie -- based on the off-broadway adaptation -- drops the article.
already looking forward to what comes next!
;-)
This theme almost worked. Almost. The exception is THE EMPIRE SEKIRTS. The name of the movie is The Empire Strikes Back, not The Empire Strikes Backwards. SEKIRTS is Strikes spelled backwards, not Strikes spelled back. That dud left me scratching my head in the NE. I confidently wrote in THE EMPIRE STRIKES because that answer works ... the word STRIKES is at the end (the back!) of the answer. There was no reason to mess up the theme by incorrectly requiring SEKIRTS to be written in. Can't believe the editor didn't fix that.
Lost in Translation is one of my favorite movies. I'd just returned from living in Tokyo for a few years and I saw a movie poster for this film. I didn't know what it was about; all I saw was Bill Murray in the poster and that was enough to get me in the theater. Watching Coppola completely nail the experience of navigating Tokyo as a gaijin was priceless. I watched the whole thing with a huge grin on my face then sat in my same seat and watched it again. It's a perfect film.
Rex inadvertently hit upon yet another movie for the next permutation of this this theme: "NOONDOGDAY". Yes, surely the list is endless.
Surprised the ONIT/ IMON near-dup didn't bother OFL.
GREAT creative puzzle Jeffrey! I was determined to finish this one (without a cheat) & I DID! (stymied on "Esfeet" but it was worth it).
Glad Essie got a chance for once (instead of Opi) - her colors are great too.
Since your next puzzle has already been accepted (Congrats!) & you're working on your third, I'm looking forward to seeing you again very soon!
One of the most fun Sundays ever. I liked how the constructor EASED us IN to the theme with ONE FLEW right [OVER] THE CUCKOO'S NEST and then made things a bit trickier. My favorites were the [LITTLE] SHOP and the [HIDDEN] DRAGON. I had a conceptual DNF with THE LAND TIME: not knowing the movie, I thought it might me "The Land Time Forgot,," with "Forgot" getting forgotten, admittedly quite a stretch.
@Jeffry Lease - Thank you for this treat!
“Double Indemnity” will always stick with me because of the scene where the protagonist drives the car off the ferry. I used to live in Seattle, and I couldn’t help but think about that every time I rode the ferry there.
Can someone tell me where the REBUS or MORE button is on the Mac laptop? I don't see any options ???
double jeopardy was a petty good movie. don't know if it's held up over time.
@janie no "the" on little shop of horrors - at least the movie.
today's time was a personal best.
Okay, the theme consisted entirely of proper nouns (film titles) -- I get that. So why, then, on top of this, does every second or third clue seem to be ANOTHER name or brand name?? Ends up being a sinkhole of PPP trivia, ruining what could have been a delightful conceit.
@jb
In Across Lite, use the "esc" key.
I breezed through this puzzle until the very last. And then I got stuck. I did finish it, thanks to crosses, but could not see what the heck "esfeet" had to do with procrastination. Didn't connect it with Crouching Tiger until OFL set it all out for me. I felt stupid but justifiably so ... that was pretty darned obscure!
As for Double Jeopardy, I remember it well because the whole thing was filmed in my neighbourhood in North Vancouver, B.C., sometimes almost literally in my backyard. There were whole days that I couldn't move from A to B because the streets were blocked. When I finally saw the film, I thought "for this I had to find a different coffee shop for three weeks?". It wasn't a terrible movie, and I am a big Tommy Lee Jones fan (to me, he will always be Woodrow Call), but that movie sure didn't make a lot of sense.
anonymous 2:08
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054033/?ref_=nm_flmg_t_29_dr
an oldie but a goodie!
;-)
NEPO BABIES is okay, but I still prefer TRUST FUND TRASH.
As is often the case, the NYT crossword uses pop culture reference I am way too young to remember/know existed!
Luved the theme. Had many different tricks up its sleeve.
fave themer: The one with the hidden DRAGON.
staff weeject pick (of a mere 46 choices): BCD and ACR are pretty nice 'n' wonky. DEE had a real neat clue. And then there was ACT(II). Pickin em all.
Primo quad weeject stacks, NW & SE.
Extra partly hidden themer: 117- + 118-Down's "CATS".
re: LIVEDJ. M&A personally always prefers ZOMBIEDJs. [Sounds like a great schlock flick title, btw!]
NE was no-know city, at our house: AMALIE/AHMAD/MOTO/ATTICA + tryin to figure out the ARIVERRUNS themer, all at once.
Only other feisty no-know-crossin meat: MASAI/ESSIE.
Enjoyed this SunPuz solvequest, immensely, anyhoo.
Thanx for the fun, Mr. Lease dude. Congratz on a topnotch debut. Anxiously awaitin yer ACT III. har
Masked & Anonymo10Us
**gruntz**
@JC66 Thank you :)
On the subject of "Nepo Babies," Megan Amram had a funny column in last week's New Yorker about the ultimate Nepo Baby, Jesus Christ...
I'm so pleased to see so many of the comments are very favorable today. This is one of those days I really hope the constructor stops by as they deserve to know how much we appreciated the work.
I was hoping someone would explain why the shaded twigs and berries. If just a salacious insert, I think it’s tasteless.There must be a better explanation.
Rex posted a link to the New Yorker "Nepo Baby" piece in yesterday's blog. No need to keep bringing it up.
Late again. Early morning choir practice, long service, afternoon chores, started late, and did it while watching football. Not all bad, as I liked seeing all my favorite commentators had enjoyed this one as much as I did. My kind of wordplay, and I caught on with the CUCKOOSNET answer and looked forward to what was coming, which did not disappoint.
Got the DRAGONesfeet connection and seeing how many folks missed it made me feel extra special (tries to pat self on back, decides those days are long gone). And a LOT of people liked the NYer piece on nepo babies. Me too.
Very nice Sundecito, JL. A stellar debut. Just Looking for many more like this, and thanks for all the fun.
@Roo-It's a stretch but both my boys are UNH alums, so I'm claiming half a point. You are still a small dot in the distance far ahead of me though.
IMHO. Many of us would like to think that our achievements are due largely to our efforts. However, there continues to be "privilage" in society, regardless of whether it is called white privilege, racism, nepobabies, nationality, etc. We are not all "created equal" as much as we would want that to be true.
Nepobaby is just a modern word for prince or princess. It is important to continue to recognize the realities of inequity so that we don't stop arriving to be better.
While I agree that it is hurtful to label an individual a neopbaby, the concept is still valid.
Salute to NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast for mentioning Double Jeopardy last week, so it was fresh in my mind.
What does 11d mean? Subject of sticker shock? Cast?
Well, then it wouldn’t be hidden at all, so…
Fun Sunday puzzle. Loved SEKIRTS and ESFEET the most (clever). Surprisingly had no problem with Double JEOPARDY; never saw the movie, but it was so big and so hyped when it came out that I almost feel like I did.
@Cassieopia Thank you! That foursome also totally stymied me. Seems like at least a suburb of Nattick.
I love any movie with Ashley Judd in it. I couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t in a bunch of other movies until years later when the Me Too stuff started. Seems she was pretty much banned from movies because she didn’t allow abuse.
Cost. Crosses GO AWOL
Perhaps this is another age issue. I am in my ‘70’s and I actually read Greek myths (in translation) in high school. So I knew the answer was a Greek place name. Attica is not at all obscure to my generation so I knew it once I got a few of the crosses, especially decent. So it wasn’t a Natick for me at all. I didn’t know Amalie but I got all the crosses eventually.
@Linda
You must have a typo, it's COST that causes Sticker Shock, not CaST.
Cal. here means calendar. So it is an abbreviation for weeks! Took me a while to grok it
Anon 5:48,
What?! Ashley Judd has worked steadily in mainstream Hollywood since she broke in more than two decades ago,
What banishment are you talking about?
@pablo
As much as I enjoy the ROO/PABLO-PAUL-EMMA-Various-Half Points and Half-Pints, I believe it's closer than you think. Well, not the ROO/PABLO, granted, but how about if I take away anything that only has ROO in it, like ROOM or whatever? If I stick to just a straight ROO, we're pretty close!
Is there a program or something that'll run all the ROOs/PABLOs for the year? That's too computery over my head for me to figure that one out!
(Oh, and ASS has both of us in the dust!)
RooMonster Conceited Guy 😁
@Anon 8:01 – Ashley Judd was one of the first women to speak out publicly against Harvey Weinstein, and later filed a suit claiming remarks he made had sabotaged her ability to get roles after she'd resisted his advances. If you google their names in tandem you'll get more details.
Please excuse Conrad’s tardiness today. He is in ATTICA, Greece, and it’s seven hours earlier than it is in the real world.
(Signed)
Conrad’s Mother
I am not a movie goer or watcher but I managed to get the answers.
The original meaning of a Live DJ is someone who brings their own records, spins them, and takes creative liberties with dynamics, transitions, setlist, and the mic. As opposed to your uncle clicking on a Spotify playlist.
Oops replied to the wrong comment
"Never heard of Masai" is as strange as not knowing "Double Jeopardy" for peple who claim to be of the world. But I digress:
100 percent on Sofia Coppola, Zoe Kazan, Ben Stiller, and, ok, hell, even Liza Minella.
But Maya Hawke and Willow Smith are pretty talentless and probably wouldn't even be able to keep their night shifts at the AM/PM if their dads weren't the assistant manager and moms keeping the books.
Thursday called: he wants his puzzle back. Certainly a different tack than your usual Sunday slog. I enjoyed sussing all of this out. There was something for everybody: The rebus, things "in" other things, or through them, backwardisms, and even a magic dragon (not Puff though) who's more like the Cheshire CAT. Fun stuff.
The fill does get a bit wonky here and there, but not enough to prevent a birdie.
Wordle phew.
(DOUBLE) JEOPARDY
MATILDA and RACHEL weren't MARRIED,
their MAINACT would CLOSE HONEST stores.
PHOTOGENIC and RACY they carried
ON AT THE (LITTLE) SHOPOFHORRORS.
--- SONNY LEE REESE
More entertaining than MOST Sundays. A couple of those themers were unfamiliar to me but crosses got it done.
Wordle birdie thanks in part to a LousY start.
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