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Relative difficulty: Easy to Easy-Medium
Word of the Day: Oligopoly (51A: Noted example of oligopoly, in brief) —
: a condition in which a few sellers dominate a particular market to the detriment of competition by others (merriam-webster.com) (legal definition) [olig- (from Gr. oligos "little, few") + -poly (as in monopoly)]
• • •
I got past the two blockages by riding FRONT ROW SEAT down to the bottom to TANSY and BUSY and building back better :( from there. Here is where things started to clank a bit: ADVICE GURU? (52A: Expert with tips). Huge wince from me on that one. Had the GURU and thought "hmmm what kind?" and then I needed Many crosses to get ... ADVICE!?!?! What the ... that's way too generic. Also, redundant—don't all GURUs basically give "advice"? Recent examples from the web (at M-W.com) include a "fitness guru" and a "Democratic PR guru" (!), and I can name a few self-styled "financial gurus," but ADVICE GURU, uck and yuck. I also balked hard at DEMO LESSON (11D: Part of a teacher's job interview). There are teaching demonstrations (or demos, sure) and there are sample lessons, but DEMO LESSON just does not hit my ear right. I teach (college), my wife taught (college, high school), and ... I dunno, I guess I just expected the teaching lingo to be a piece of cake. Instead, I had to scrape for it, and ended up with a Frankenstein's monster-looking answer. DEMOLESSON sounds like what you do when you have absolutely had it as a teacher and decide to blow up your career on the last day by smoking and drinking and complaining about your bosses in a smoky, alcoholic, profanity-laden tirade. "See you in hell, kids!" DEMOLESSON, accomplished.
Super-awkward clues on PAW (18A: What's shaken after the instruction "Shake") and FEARS (12D: They might drive you to a flight). In an attempt at misdirection, both clues get some ridiculous phrasing. I like the idea of shaking a dog's PAW, for sure, but "instruction" (!?!?). You give dogs "commands," not "instructions," they aren't building a model airplane or making a cake, come on. And as for FEARS ... They might drive you to a flight? (12D: They might drive you to a flight). *A* flight?! What's this absurd "a" business? It doesn't even make for good surface sense. Are you trying to evoke the image of someone taking you to the airport??? That would be "your flight?" FEARS drive you to flee, or maybe they drive you to flight (the way your awful in-laws might drive you to drink). But to *a* flight? No. Tin-eared, grammatically clunky garbage, that clue. I don't think I've hated an indefinite article in a clue this much in a long time. But that whole section was at least partially redeemed by PRIVATE EYE (10D: Spade, for one), subject of much of my teaching and beautiful symmetrical counterpart to HORSE OPERA (26D: Movie with saloon fights, colloquially). Mysteries and westerns, that's the stuff! More, I say, more. I guess [Spade] was supposed to be ambiguous in that clue, but when you've read and watched The Maltese Falcon as much as I have, Sam Spade is the expected Spade. Cards Schmards.
Had the TSA tracking baby names at first. Then the NSA (maybe they're tracking them to find some kind of pattern, crack some kind of code, I dunno what these people do!). But no, it's the Social Security Administration (SSA), that makes more sense. Other mistakes include ASIS (instead of FREE) for the sofa sign (15A: Sign on a sofa in the front yard, maybe), KNEW for KNOW (3D: Saint Paul, Minn., radio station whose format really should be all news), and LIMA for YUMA (2D: World's sunniest city, per the World Meteorological Organization) ... only to have LIMA jump out and surprise me at the end of the puzzle after all! (17A: City where the conquistador Pizarro was assassinated). Fun with four-letter cities. Nuisance names were few for me. Really just EVIE, to speak of (47D: Nikki Reed's role in the 2003 film "Thirteen"). I learned of ELIE Mystal the last time he appeared in the grid, and then I started following him on Twitter, so his name stuck (6A: Legal writer and political commentator ___ Mystal). I couldn't tell you anything ASHLEE Simpson has done *except* lip-synch on SNL, but that's all I needed today! (24A: Simpson who was caught lip-syncing "Pieces of Me" on "Saturday Night Live"). Some days, your puddle-shallow knowledge of places and events and people is enough. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
I interpreted the FEARS clue as coming from “a fight or flight response”. So “a flight” made more sense to me in that context.
ReplyDeleteFight or Flight? Common enough expression
DeleteNot having the first letter I briefly considered that "a flight" might be driven by "bEARS". :-)
ReplyDeleteBoth TANSY and TRICE looked absolutely bizarre to me - they could have been all that was standing between me and QB in SB, and well, I would never have gotten there. I had also never heard the phrase HORSE OPERA, but in retrospect it’s a perfect descriptor for those 1960’s westerns from Italy - the ones with the Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef type leads.
ReplyDeleteNice clue for PROMS. I agree that the drive to a flight for FEARS fell absolutely flat though, but heck, you can’t win them all.
The NYT could devote an entire Sunday Magazine length article discussing whether 53D is a true statement (college athletes have GPA requirements). Sure - at schools like Stanford, Notre Dame and Princeton. But jeez, how many articles have been published about the so called “student-athletes” at football powerhouses that can barely spell their own names and attend classes that are scholastic in name only.
@Southside, I couldn’t agree mire with your GPA comment. For years, I tutored some of those “student athletes” and was appalled at what I learned up to and including the university creating classes that athletes could pass with ease. I will say that things have improved somewhat, but especially with basketball and football (in my experience at a major university) efforts continue to improve the level of education for the student athletes who struggle.
DeleteVery tough to get started; easy thereafter
ReplyDeleteHad dohA before YUMA, which felt like a good guess.
Never heard of ELIE or EVIE. Those could be the start of the crossword PPP word chain from hell.
Technically, never heard of SEAWEED SALAD, either, but that was inferable.
Wonderful puzzle - Rex identifies all the fine colloquial entries - I have no issue with DEMO LESSON. Low trivia level - liked EL NORTE and TRICE. Some ugly stuff - TBSP, ORGS, SRS etc and thought the ERECT - EJECT and ELIE - EVIE pairs are awkward.
ReplyDeleteHighly enjoyable Friday morning solve.
HEM covering Randy Newman
About orgs. At least it wasn’t a plural version of org at the end of an Internet address. The answer in the puzzle you might actually run into. So I didn’t mind it.
DeleteThat whole corner was by far the hardest part of the puzzle for me even after getting guinea pigs right away. (otherwise very easy). My reaction to TBSP was it can’t be. That is Monday level crosswordese. Not awkward to me but boring.
Liked the puzzle though.
Random thoughts:
ReplyDelete• This is CC and Tom’s third collab. Both have terrific range, as both have hit the cycle (at least one NYT puzzle for every day of the week).
• Lovely grid design with four pairs of 10s, one per corner, making for super connection, that is, no stress-inducing remote islands.
• Some gorgeous answers: FOMENT, THIS END UP, LURK, HORSE OPERA.
• Freshness, with seven NYT answer debuts, my favorites being BUNGEE JUMP, FRONT ROW SEAT, and I’M TO BLAME.
• My favorite SEAWEED SALAD is hijiki. OMG, I’m starting to salivate.
• A pair of PuzzPairs© -- ERECT / THIS END UP and GET LOST / FLEE.
• Yesterday’s OPERA and DEMO encore today as part of larger answers.
For me, a delicious level of resistance throughout sparked by a staccato of ahas. A very enjoyable entrée to the weekend by two skilled and gifted pros. Thank you, CC and Tom!
Given constructors’ fondness for The Simpsons, I spent far too much time wondering if Maggie might have lip synced in a later, lesser season.
ReplyDeleteNaticked times two. Never heard of CURES as it relates to the clergy and FLEE could’ve easily been FLED as clued (Cut out). THRICE clued as it was is archaic per Google and my bad for not knowing “oligopoly”.
ReplyDelete@SouthsideJohnny, they’re already known as “Spaghetti Westerns”.
FWIW cure’ is a cognate of the English word curate.
DeleteThx, Zouhqin & Tom; a fine collaborative effort! 😊
ReplyDeleteEasy-med.
Relatively smooth; definitely on the right wavelength for most of this one.
NorCal was a bit scary with FETT, ASHLEE, CURES & FLEE, but guessed right on all accounts.
Enjoyable solve! :)
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness, Freudenfreude & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
one of my faster Friday times (which is not saying much--23 minutes-ish). Like Rex, I had a feeling the "Spade" clue was Sam, as opposed to cards or gardening tools, but when "Detective" wouldn't fit I had to wait for crosses. Agree that BUNGEE JUMP would have made a better Down answer; similarly, THIS END UP could have found a happier home in the North. Wanted something like "trial class" instead of DEMO LESSON, but it was quickly obvious that wouldn't fly. SOUR GRAPES was my favorite longer answer.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there's an apt uni-clue for "I'M TO BLAME, MAINE, but my knowledge of the Pine Tree State is too limited to provide one. Also, I'm looking at the flag of Maine online and I don't see a chickadee? What's up with that?
Can anyone explain how FEARS drive you to flights? I still don't get it. Read the first comment above and STILL don't get it.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the left-hand side of the puzzle. The right-hand side a bit less. I'm with Rex on DEMO LESSON and ADVICE GURU, which is to say, Whutttt?... RUIN for "archaeological site?" I was going for "dig" or "midden," something active; a RUIN seems more historical than archaeological.
I think it's that you're afraid of something so you run away from it, and that running away is the flight
DeleteRandomly started with ALICE, as the quotation caught my eye, and made a steady but not exactly whooshy circuit of this one and ended up thinking it was pretty easy for a Saturday. I still think that's true, but also think it's just right for a Friday. Imagine that.
ReplyDeleteLiked seeing ELNORTE, found out something about YUMA, and made the acquaintance of ELIE, EVIE, and ASHLEE. How do you do? As for you, FETT, you can't keep showing up and expect to remain unknown. Also thought the clue for THESE was among the more convoluted I have seen.
Agree with @Anon's 6:15 assessment of the "flight or fight" connection. My first thought too.
Solid Friday fare, CC and TP. Clever Clues and a Total Package of amusement. Thanks for all the fun.
I was about to print out the Stumper, but it still seems to be Friday. I'll try the NYer instead.
LIMA is actually perennially overcast.
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteA CC sighting! Where ya been?
Nice puz. East side was slower in grokking than West. PDa before PDF, defensible. CENT clued quite sneakily. FOMENT always sounds odd to me (but does have an F...)
Fairly quick time for me, although it wasn't a Rex "whoosh whoosh" solve. Still fits and starts, a few rereading of clues to twist the ole brain into "third-definition" thinking. TANSY was new, wanted pANSY. Light on junk, a CC feature. I believe I've seen her co-constructors name before?
Anyway, Happy Friday!
Five F's (FLAIR!)
RooMonster
DarrinV
Used Google for the PPP - fortunately, the clues’ specificity made them easy.
ReplyDeleteShould have been FLEd for Cut out, and CURdS sounded as legit as CURES. That and never heard of TANSY, but pANSY/FRONTROWSEAp couldn’t be right.
Challenging Friday - this gruel was much tastier than yesterday!
Demo lesson was a slam dunk for this husband of a teacher
ReplyDeleteI’m in my 27th year teaching in NYC. We ALWAYS use the term demo lesson when asking someone if they had to do one as part of the interview. The term is 100% valid.
DeleteSame here in Chicago. Teachers do demo lessons as part of hiring. Totally normal thing that is said at least a million times in my building every spring.
DeleteTANSY is a new on me, so I wrestled just a bit on SE corner.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I really wanted a Front Row Seap.
DeleteFor me, Fridays turn on my ability to correctly drop a few long answers in right away without crosses. If I can’t, I’m in for a long morning. Today, IMTOBLAME and HORSEOPERA dropped in, and I was off and running. Until I got to SE corner. Haha.
ReplyDeleteMy experience was the opposite of @kitshef’s. Bungee Jump and Eject got me started and the SE corner held me up. Ruin was tough. Not crazy about Demo Lesson or Advice Guru, but the rest was solid gold.
ReplyDelete@Taylor, Google Fight or Flight response.
Someone said above that demo lesson is a valid term but it appears to be education jargon. Quite obscure if you aren’t in the field. But for me crosses weren’t hard.
DeleteI had a 1-letter DNF at the ELIE/EPS cross, where I had ELIO/OPS. OPS for debut music projects, as in little music opuses -- waiting to grow up once they've made their debuts. Well, why not? Makes as much sense as EPS, or maybe more. What on earth are EPS?
ReplyDeleteOther then that, a bit of a struggle in the NW. I had to go south first and then come back up.
THIS SIDE UP before I ran out of room and changed to THIS END UP. I beat a RUG before I beat an EGG. I waited before WACKO came in -- but flirted with OUTRE and EERIE and, once I had the W, WEIRD. Lots of 5-letter synonyms for "bizarre".
Got sidetracked and cut and pasted and submitted my unfinished comment by mistake. But can't remember enough of what I wrote to reconstruct it. Couldn't have been very important.
ReplyDeleteNancy,
ReplyDeleteEP is boomer code for more than a 45 less than an LP.
Extended Play records had more than one song but less than an album.
The term carried over through CDs to now.
Jeez, that was in my wheelhouse. I dropped in all the longer answers with little hesitation. This'll change tomorrow, but I'm happy with this one.
ReplyDeleteShaking a PAW. Aww.
SOUR GRAPES siding with HORSE OPERA is epic.
Tee-Hee: [Balls for teens]!!! Rolling on floor. I love the NYTXW slush pile editor. Oh, and our second ERECT of the week. 👍
Uniclues:
1 Sign to scurry past.
2 Peruvian pew reports.
3 That which precedes you living in a van down by the river.
4 One with the best interests of humanity at heart, no doubt.
5 Pharmaceutical industry opinion of humanity.
6 Arizona's favorite fruit during election season.
7 Be an oater expert.
1 BUNGEE JUMP FREE!
2 LIMA SMOG ALERTS (~)
3 GET LOST FOMENT
4 OPEC ADVICE GURU
5 MERE GUINEA PIGS
6 YUMA SOUR GRAPES
7 KNOW HORSE OPERA
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Uses LSD while doing nothing. ACIDIFIES LOLL.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@Nancy – EP stands for Extended Play. It's a release that contains fewer tracks than a full-fledged album – say, four or five songs. An unestablished artist might release an EP as their first effort because it's less expensive to produce.
ReplyDeleteI had teaching gigs in California (Chico), Texas (Dallas and Fort Worth) and New York (Brooklyn) and for every one of those jobs I had to do a DEMO LESSON.
ReplyDeleteGreat puzz today, best in a while!
ReplyDeleteWonderful puzzle, lots of fun to solve -- so many fresh and interesting entries. Lots of vague cluing, but thrilling to guess and see it fall into place. And because my first entry was PDF and I worked from there, I already had LIMA when I got to YUMA.
ReplyDeleteFor those asking, CURÉS is French for curates -- I put in PÈRES at first.
I do agree with Rex about ADVICE GURU. Advice columnist (or agony columnist) is the only term I've ever heard.
@Adam12, @andrew -- "cut out" can be singular or plural.
@Southside Johnny -- some student athletes may be dumb, but they still have to have the GPA if their school is in the NCAA. That's the reason for the watered-down courses.
Student athletes are no “dumber” than other students. Having represented literally hundreds of NHL, MLB, and NBA athletes , I can say without hesitation that the majority of them are as smart as the Fortune 500 CEOs I have worked with and permitted with on the business side.
DeleteAfter years of representing professional athletes , and acting as Chief Counsel for one of the 4 major sports , I can tell you without hesitation that student athletes in my experience are as smart or smarter than the average student. What is unfortunate is that the exceptions to the rule get the most press. I can also tell you in many cases the first thing many NBA players do when they sign their first deal is buy mom a house. I found the puzzle played easy for me today, but I am not a speed solver. To OFL, thank you for another entertaining write up. Life is good.
DeleteCut out can be present or past.
DeleteEasy-medium. @Kitshef - Me too for tough to get started but fairly easy after I got a toe hold. Did not know ELIE or EVIE as clued, and a hasty reading of 27a led to Estados before EL NORTE. Very solid and very smooth, liked it.
ReplyDeleteI don’t speed solve (or do anything quickly any longer), but today’s grid was so in my wheelhouse that it took maybe 30% of my usual Friday frustration factor. I could actually hear Rex’s whoosh today…..a new experience. SEAWEED SALAD & FRONT ROW SEAT just seemed right and proved to be actually correct. A brief bump when EviCT got 86ed for EJECT, but what an ego boost! Thanks Zhouquin & Tom.
ReplyDeleteI started with the 1A TYKES and knew there was some hope. Continued with the downs. TBSP. Pause at YUMA. I've been to YUMA and I knew of its sunniness. Continue. I did. Enormous pause at SEA WEED SALAD. Good gravy. I understand if you're an otter, but what's in that salad...Kelp? Help.
ReplyDeleteLittle sad part for me was I confidentially wrote in ESTADOS for 27A. That's what States mean in espanol. Ay frijoles...EL NORTE. Pero claro.
It seems like the left coast was the easiest for me. But then it wasn't. FETT? Is that really you? I believe so. Check.
SOUR GRAPES AND HORSEOPERA. Wham bang. Check.
Tackle the far right. Begin with WACKO and add BURIALS. Ah, yes...Spade was a PRIVATE EYE.
And so it went. I spent about and hour on this very enjoyable puzzle. Mind you, I get up a lot and raid the fridge from time to time. Today it was chocolate ice cream. You need to eat it slowly.
After yesterday's agita angst dyspepsia episode, today I enjoyed the sweets.
Very easy for a Friday. Lots of fun clues. Does anyone know if the NYT has used BUNGY before (as opposed to Bungee)? The first time I bungy jumped, in Thailand, was with a New Zealand outfit called AJ Hackett Bungy. I thought maybe the Thais had simply misspelled the word bungee but a couple years later, when I bungy jumped in New Zealand, it was spelled the same way. I gotta say, bungy jumping is WAY more terrifying than skydiving (there's no ground rush when you skydive; you're too far up for your body to feel like it's falling).
ReplyDeleteGreat Friday puzzle!
After seeing the constructors' names at the top, I JUMPed in with happy anticipation. Medium for me, and lots of fun to solve. The recipe-related TBSP and EGG helped me finish the NW quickly, but next door in the NE I couldn't do anything with PDF, so had to roam and probe for other entry points, grateful for the help from SEAWEED SALAD and FRONT ROW SEAT. For me the only dud in the grid was DEMO LESSON, where I agree 100% with @Rex. Favorite moments: uncovering PRIVATE EYE and, especially, FEARS!
ReplyDeleteI knew LIMA because in 1969 I viewed Pizarro's mummified remains lying in an elaborate glass coffin in the LIMA cathedral, a sight indelibly etched in memory. It turns out, though, that in 1977 it was discovered that they had the wrong body, when the actual bones of the conquistador were unearthed in a crypt.
Do-overs: repS before ABCS; peRES before CURES. No idea: EVIE, ELIE, ASHLEE.
A quintessential Friday. I almost had it but needed to look up a couple of names to finish. EVIE and ASHLEE were both strangers to me as were TANSY, TRICE and HORSE OPERA. Otherwise just outstanding. My thanks to the constructors for an excellent solving experience.
ReplyDelete@Joe (10:16) Thanks for the explanation on EPS. I always thought it had something to do with an electronic version of an album, like an e-book.
Quite easy for a Friday except for the NW, where I ended up cheating. Mystal was a mystery, even after I got I'M TO BLAME and EJECT. I penned in SEAFOOD SALAD, even though I am very familiar with SEAWEED SALAD. And count me among those who quickly forget most weird character names in space operas.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of operas, my first 3 fills today were ABCS SOUR GRAPES and HORSE OPERA.
This was tough for me. Every filled-in grid was a struggle especially since I never know anything about the Simpsons & sometimes Star Wars. And I immediately thought of "Ubers" for 12D "They might drive you to a flight"- shows where my head is (or isn't at).
ReplyDeleteAll in all, a typical Friday. But one I couldn't finish until I came here.
Seemed like a pretty good themeless with medium challengingness.
ReplyDeleteplenty of good stuff, includin: BUNGEEJUMP. GUINEAPIGS. HORSEOPERA. PRIVATEEYE. Plenty of feisty but fair clues.
no-knows [none of which crossed, sooo … OK]: ELIE. FETT. ASHLEE. CURES. TANSY. EVIE. TRICE (as clued).
staff weeject pick: EGG [aka GETLOST].
yeesh city: SEAWEEDSALAD. Appetizer BURIALS recommended. Would even prefer SOURGRAPES, I think.
TANSY … not PANSY? whoa. Next thing yah know, someone will come up with a TEWIT [instead of PEWIT]. shudder.
Thanx for gangin up on us, Burnikel & Pepper folks. Good to see some old pros back in the game.
Masked & Anonym007Us
**gruntz**
I had "as is" before "free" and "advice guru" was hard to get. But, fun for sure.
ReplyDeleteI join all of you all in thinking this was fine Friday romp. A couple of construction features did catch my PRIVATE EYE, however.
ReplyDeleteI always look at the black square design and count before beginning the solve. This one has 32 of them, including two cheater/helper squares. That's more typical for a themed puzzle than for a themeless and results in a lot of short stuff. (I really miss Jeff Chen's analysis at xwordinfo.com where letter lengths and frequencies, among others things, would be listed.)
And, yep, the TYKES coming out of the gate put me on POC (plural of convenience) alert. Speaking of which, SMOG ALERT needed some convenient help to fill its slot. Ditto with GUINEA PIG. And there were three of the super helpful two for one POCs, where a Down and an Across both get a letter count boost by sharing a final S at EP/SMOG ALERT, FEAR/BURIAL AND HAM/MOW. Those Ss are black squares in disguise and would give the grid a virtual count of 35.
I got a hearty guffaw from OFL's "when you have absolutely had it as a teacher and decide to blow up your career on the last day by smoking and drinking and complaining about your bosses in a smoky, alcoholic, profanity-laden tirade. "See you in hell, kids!" DEMOLESSON, accomplished." That's classic Rex!
This went incredibly fast... just over 8 minutes, probably half my normal time. Read clue, type in answer! Too bad it went so fast cuz the long answers are mostly real nice. The first one I hit was BUNGEE JUMP and it made me smile.
ReplyDeleteI think there actually weren't any typeovers, although when I entered my final word in the lower right I noticed TANSY and thought "that's gotta be PANSY" but before I could correct it I got the Happy Pencil!
I actually knew about YUMA's sunshininess, since I was really into meteorology in my teens. And I believe the opposite extreme-- record least sunshine-- is somewhere in Ireland.
[Spelling Bee: Thu 0; this 7er wasn't actually my last word but I'm proud I got it.
Wed -1, missed this unfamiliar 7er.]
@Carola 11:11
ReplyDeleteYour mummy story reminds me of Mexico. If you have ever been to Guanajuato you'd be guided to the "Museo de la Momias." You won't be able to sleep (or want to die) for a loooong time. You get an array of mummified people of all ages - still with hair and some holding dolls - and it's the eeriest thing to stare at for hours.
Oh...and now Mexico City has found a couple of mummified aliens - proving that there are living things that die outside of our galaxy.
Food for thought! :-)
A disappointingly easy Friday. Anything under a half hour is on the easy side for a late week puzzle and this one didn't even make it to 20 minutes.
ReplyDeleteSU-TH -0
So weird that EPS shows up as a question today. It seems like that or it’s close cousin LPS shows up at least once a week.
ReplyDelete@jberg, I think you mean”cut out” can be present or past tense.
I love Rex’s image of a demolition lesson. I wanted demo class. I can see it being given by Edna Krabapple. but, it is totally a thing.
Estados>el Norte for the US.
Easy for a Friday, especially once I realized that WEIRD could not be right, and lo and behold, WACKO made his appearance.
ReplyDeleteKudos to SEAWEEDSALAD.
I read French as well as any Paris fourth-grader, and when I finally finished this one, I yelled to myself, "Espece d'idiot!", for I had written in "abbe" and then "pere" before I got CURE' on crosses. And I know darn well a cure' is a parish priest.
ReplyDeleteThe rest mainly went down in a TRICE. Though I was amazed I didn't know SRS are Skip Day participants. I have three daughters who were once SRS at our local high school, and vaguely remember Skip Day. Or is this actually some event we old fogies get to take part in?
First Friday puzzle I've ever completed on my own.
ReplyDeleteBartenders are "EXPERTS WITH TIPS" They also add ice to drinks. Ergo, ADdICEGURUS. EdIE works going down so I'm sticking with it.
ReplyDeleteAs a former software trainer, I attended a couple of "demo lessons." It was an opportunity to see a job candidate as they would perform in our training rooms.
ReplyDelete@Nancy, I made a lucky guess on ELIE/EPS. I had heard of EPS but didn’t feel like it fit the clue. Really wanted to go with ELIo!
ReplyDelete@Nancy… I'm a big fan of ELIE Mystal, and that's not (only) because I copy-edit his many highly astute, wickedly witty and unfailingly urgent pieces at TheNation.com. He replied " Amazing. :) " when I notified him of his appearance here (subject line; TRUE FAME AT LAST!).
ReplyDeleteAs Rex says, Elie also appeared in an earlier puzzle. That was January 13, 2022—a Thursday, and I always work Thursday puzzles, and it is coming back to me…
ReplyDeleteI told Elie he shouldn't be so amazed, as it seems he would remember that this was the second time. A comment on that 2022 post revealed that he had tweeted about it.
Excellent puzzle . I’d also recommend today’s New Yorker puzzle . BTW, Ellie Mystal is a partisan hack . Not surprising RP is a fan.
ReplyDeleteFinished it Saturday morning because my computer hasn't been hooked up yet due to a move, and I needed to use the newspaper that arrived late Friday.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of TANSY, but got it from the crosses. Had "Peres" for the French clergymen, because "pere" is French for "father." But had to settle for CURES, which could have been clued more fairly.
Why can’t we have more like this one?
ReplyDeleteEasier than Wed and Thurs for me. No plethora of names - yeah! (baby)
ReplyDeleteNot a TANSY fan - have I ever seen one? But lots of other old friends in here to help me out.
Gimme your PAW - EPEE!
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
Seemed kinda easy for a Fri-puz. I have met both of THESE constructors; nice folks.
ReplyDeleteWordle birdie. Still trying to match @spacey, who BTW, hopes to be back posting soon.
A three-legged dog walks into a saloon and declares: "I'm lookin' for the man who shot my PAW."
ReplyDeleteWACKO ALERT
ReplyDeleteI'll FORCE you from THIS FRONTROWSEAT,
GETLOST or we'll EJECT,
THISLESSON is ADVICE complete:
don't HORSE around ERECT.
--- ROB FLAIR