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Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (**for a Tuesday**)
Theme answers:
- HALLOWEEN (17A: Horror film franchise named after a holiday)
- HE'S OUT THERE (24A: 2018 slasher film set at a remote lake house)
- SCREAM (34A: Horror franchise with the antagonist Ghostface)
- GET OUT (41A: 2017 horror film that won Best Original Screenplay)
- DON'T LOOK NOW (47A: 1973 horror film starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland)
- YOU'RE NEXT (60A: 2011 dark-comedy slasher film that takes place during a family reunion)
In classical music, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions (see Interval number for more details), and the major third [...] is a third spanning four semitones. Along with the minor third, the major third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. It is qualified as major because it is the larger of the two: the major third spans four semitones; the minor third, three. [...] The minor third is commonly used to express sadness in music, and research shows that this mirrors its use in speech, as a tone similar to a minor third is produced during sad speech. (wikipedia)
• • •
Also, great as DON'T LOOK NOW is, it feels like an outlier in this set. Not part of the modern horror-verse the way these other films are. It's generally described as a thriller. It's set in Venice. There's a serial killer subplot, but it's mainly a film about profound grief (with one very famous sex scene thrown in for good measure). In so many ways, this movie is not like the others. But then I love it so much that I don't mind its standing out a bit. It's the mere listiness of the theme, and the dubious fame of two of the themers, that are the real problem here. I thought last Tuesday's Halloween-themed puzzle was the stronger effort.
And holy cow, AMAH!?!!? (51A: Asian nursemaid). There's a blast from the past. Crosswordese of the highest order. Hasn't appeared in the NYTXW in four years. I see AMAH brought fellow old-timer ELOI along as a date, nice. Then there's ATS and ATAN ... in addition to being gunky, these answers conspicuously duplicate "AT." I still don't believe ALT POP is a thing (Indie Pop yes, ALT POP meh) (33D: Catchy-yet-quirky music genre). The fill really suffered all over today. The longer Downs are at least interesting. I found both of them kinda hard. Didn't know EAST HARLEM was a discrete place (distinct from, say, other parts of Harlem) (10D: Upper Manhattan neighborhood also known as El Barrio) and my knowledge of music theory is limited, so MINOR THIRD, while a term I've heard, didn't come quickly (30D: Musical interval used to convey sadness). I wanted MINOR CHORD, I think. But my ignorance doesn't matter here—what matters is that those longer answers are unusual and interesting, and they give the grid a much-needed boost.
Three OUTs is a lot of OUTs. I'll give you two of those OUTs because they're actually in the titles of your theme answers, but you cannot have any more OUTs. ASKS OUT? Bzzzt! No. Violation. Also a violation? A lot of the fill in this grid. There's just no reason for stuff like ACHT and NRA and ANAL in those relatively undemanding corners. Hey, wanna see a trick? Watch me make an NRA disappear!
I agree that the theme didn't really cohere. But East Harlem is definitely a place.
ReplyDeleteOkay... HALLOWEEN is not a holiday, at least not where I live. Maybe it's a regional thing, but no one here calls it a holiday, because, well it isn't. A holiday is when you get the day off, or some time off.
ReplyDeleteHALLOWEEN! HE'S OUT THERE!... DON'T LOOK NOW; SCREAM, GET OUT, YOU'RE NEXT!
Anyway, I do not like horror movies so this theme was way out of my strike zone (kind of like that infamous pitch in tonight's World Series game that should have been ball four but was called a strike). In fact, I haven't seen any of these movies, and I've seen a LOT of movies.
[Spelling Bee: Mon 0, QB 6 straight.]
Got to 9 down and quit. Fuck that shit.
ReplyDeleteDon’t know about British Columbia but Halloween is a huge event for grownups as well as children in the US. Halloween parties etc etc and etc add up to a big commercial event. While not a legal holiday, it is treated in every other way as one. Close enough for crosswords.
DeleteEasy-medium.
ReplyDeleteMy most costly erasure was RArER before RAWER.
I know ALT POP from Xwords but (apparently like @Rex) I have not idea what defines the genre.
The only theme movie I’ve seen is GET OUT and it was pretty creepy.
EAST HARLEM and Spanish Harlem (@Ben E. King) are the same place.
Nicely done, liked it.
Ditto for RARER — couldn’t figure out why the happy music wasn’t playing
Delete
DeleteYes, and I didn't feel good about "Arare!"
ReplyDeleteAt 10A I put in RA_ER and waited for AWARE to resolve the R/W Natick (Hi, @jae).
No overwrites. I didn't know most of the movies but it was easy enough to figure out what was going on. Thought zygoTE for 45D but the Y in YOUR'RE NEXT directed me to OOCYTE.
TV Guide fare.
ReplyDeleteDanzig
Well I’m glad we got that out of our system. I’m surprised I hung in there as long as I did. I wish I had least heard of some of the movies before - and stuff like AMAH, ELOI, RAWER, OOCYTE . . . oh well, I guess that’s the best they could do.
ReplyDeleteBtw, if Shortz thinks Halloween is a holiday, he must be having an acid flashback.
Perhaps unfortunately, Halloween is treated like a holiday in the US in every way but statutorily. It is a huge business. People spend tons of money on parties and costumes. It wasn’t that way when we were kids but it is now
DeleteWell, it kind of is a holiday by statute. The reason daylight saving time ends in November is because the sugar lobby wanted an extra hour of begging for candy, uhh, trick or treat, so Congress moved the date.
DeleteA huge part of the fun of Halloween when I was a kid was making elaborate costumes. We carried this on when my millennial/genzennial kids were the right ages. Now you just go into Party City and plunk down $100 to dress up as Betty Boop or scary President 45 (or 37, who’s making a comeback this year for some reason) and voila, instant (non) creativity.
Always enjoy an Elvis Costello song showing up in the write up. Don’t Look Now and Elvis’ other recent albums are top notch!
ReplyDelete58-Across 58-Across!
Felt a bit tough thanks to only knowing two of the six themers. Insufficiently famous themers is a problem on a Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteLast week's Halloween-themed puzzle was more entertaining and should have run today.
I had "omah" instead of AMAH for the Asian nursemaid, because i couldn't remember (Mr.) DARCY. But trial-and-error worked.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise I thought it was on the easy side for a Tuesday, even though I'm out of touch with recent TV and movies. I didn't know any of the theme answers and relied on the crosses.
Missed a trick on the Hawke clue, given the theme - dude was in the first Sinister & more recently The Black Phone, give him those horror credits!
ReplyDeleteHalloween. In our last house, on a dead-end street, it was huge – an event – if someone, anyone, came trick-or-treating. In our current house, apparently in a Halloween vortex, we get more than a thousand. I am not exaggerating. We set up a table next to the sidewalk, and the hoards swarm by and get their goodies as if from a drive-in window. Efficient, and a blast.
ReplyDeleteRandom thoughts on the puzzle:
• Some lovely answers: ROUNDLY, STASIS, OOCYTE, and NADIR.
• A fauna undertone, with CHIRP, TUNA, STAG, OXEN, ARK, and wannabe HAWKE.
• Scariest movie moment ever for me – the one in “Wait Until Dark”, and if you’ve seen it, you know the one I’m talking about.
• CHIRP may remind some of a sweet animal sound, but what it triggers in me the dreaded knowledge that in the middle of the night – and I have no idea when – one of my smoke alarms is going to start chirping.
• Row three – HALLOWEEN ASANA – made me think of two poses: Cat and Corpse.
• I loved seeing REA (of SCREAM) abutting MENS.
Your puzzle, Kathy and Erik, was a fun Halloween hors d’oeuvre. Got me in the mood. Thank you for making it!
AMAH? This is a toadish maleskian last resort. Ugh and aargh.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you watched a comedy
ReplyDeleteEast Harlem is very much spoken of distinctly from Harlem. Rao's the hardest restaurant to get reservations at is in East Harlem.
ReplyDeleteI will always think of it as Spanish Harlem. A book by Piri Thomas about Spanish Harlem changed my life, “ Down These Mean Streets”. I will always remember. My teacher Mrs. Krinick who saw something in me that I did not and who told me to read the book. It changed the trajectory of my life from a gang member to the USMC to a well-known lawyer. Thanks as always to all of you who make this blog a daily oasis from the day to day news, most of which is depressing and distressing. Unrelated , to the older folks out there , listen to Ben E. King’s song about the rose that grows in Spanish Harlem. I always personally viewed it as beauty and life existing everywhere if we have the courage to look for it.
DeleteNot a gun owner or user, nor do I support the way they own politicians, but whenever I see the dreaded three letters, i know there will be some overreactions here.
ReplyDeleteNext time it runs, clue should be “Answer that needs a Trigger Warning?”
(Great, now I’ll be humming “I’m NRA the Eighth I am, NRA the Eighth I am I am” all day)…
This old timer says thanks for the earworm (not)!
DeleteAfter last week’s massacre in Maine, I think it’s fair to want a break from the NRA in one of the few pleasures left to some of us.
DeleteAh, AMAH...one of my first crosswordese words. How I missed you.
ReplyDeleteJIM @ 2:18
ReplyDeleteLove that you trigger so easily. Life must be tough for you!
In addition to Halloween,
ReplyDelete* Happy National Magic (and Harry Houdini Appreciation) Day
* Happy World Savings Day (promotion of personal financial security)
* Happy World Cities Day (“As we mark World Cities Day, let’s resolve to work together for urban areas that are not only engines of growth, but beacons of sustainability, resilience and prosperity for all.” -- UN Secretary-General AntΓ³nio Guterres)
Not a horror movie watcher, so unfamiliar with many of these. The HALLOWEEN and SCREAM franchises – or at least their titles – are well-known, however. The one film I have seen is DON’T LOOK NOW and it was as creepy as all GET OUT. But creepy in Venice is a cut above creepy anywhere else. (Nevertheless, I wouldn’t pursue a small person wearing a red redcoat through Venetian backstreets for anything.) Like others, I thought there was a kind of story suggested through the progression of titles and, man, the OMENS are bad.
I had a malapop, thinking BALMS was “aloes” and later finding that ALOE crossed it at the A. I also initially thought BERG was “floe,” so it took a while to sort out that AREA. At the end, though, I got mired in the upper center. I didn’t know HE’S OUT THERE, and had trouble with PRESOAK, SENTUP, STS and PAPAYA. I think it all started to fall when I finally came up with the hilariously titled “HIPS Don’t Lie.” (I wondered whether this was about obesity or sex, and have found, through diligent research, that it’s the latter.) So, yeah, I’d have to agree with Rex’s “Medium-Challenging” designation.
UNICLUES:
1. At this time of year, yoga pose you’re suddenly too rotund to perform due to intemperate candy consumption.
2. Yawns.
3. Ominous threat to the BOSE when it starts to act up.
4. Know the Emperor’s on the roof-edge, about to fiddle.
5. Pavarotti plowing.
6. Give a heartfelt speech to the groom that no one’s listening to.
1. HALLOWEEN ASANA
2. REPOSE OMENS
3. RADIO, YOU’RE NEXT
4. AWARE EAVE NERO
5. TENOR AT (AN) OXEN
6. ORATE MENS’ STAG
[SB: Sun and Mon, 0. Yay! Picked up my socks after several bad results. I thought I wasn’t going to pull it off yesterday until I finally remembered this variant pair. Oh, and also this unfortunate.]
Hey All !
ReplyDeleteHappy HALLOWEEN! That seems like an oxymoron, unless you're a kid going to get a lot of candy later!
NEATO puz. Those last two Themers may not be quite that well known, but do complete the puz nicely. GET OUT isn't a horror film in the slasher type genre, but still a decent flick.
Not a big fan of Slasher films, too much real life violence out there. Even John Wick movies. While actiony, it's just 2 hrs of him shooting people in the head. Fun (he said sarcastically.)
Anyway, for a Halloween puz, this one works just fine. Be careful of all the kiddies out later.
DONT LOOK NOW, but
No F's (Scary!)
RooMonster
DarrinV
Lukewarm about this one: a list of movies I haven't seen, complemented by creaky old-timers like AMAH and ELOI, plus the true horror of the NRA. Redeeming features: ROUNDLY, being reminded of Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie, and @Lewis's two HALLOWEEN ASANAS (7:42).
ReplyDelete@Lewis, in my grid, MENS went in from crosses, and as I eyes went left to check the clue, I wondered, "___ rea?" ....which I never saw right next to it! Thank you for that.
Make and impression, "Etch??" Etching is chemical, removal of metal by acid. Impression is mechanical forming by use of a die, like making coins. Having "press" in the clue misleards an inch too far.
ReplyDeleteYes but… etchings are printed with a press… just sayin
DeleteFilled the grid and sat then staring at my RARER ARARE cross. I knew it was wrong, but the penny wouldn't drop for me. (The horror. . .) I'm still convinced "RAWER" ain't a word as clued. Things start raw, and can't become moreso. (Could work if we're talking weather, "More cold and wet than yesterday").
ReplyDeleteAnyway, with most of the theme answers being directives/warnings, HALLOWEEN felt forced. SCREAM too.
I was actually born at Mt. Sinai hospital in East Harlem (we moved away from ny when i was an infant). As such I'm a bit biased, but it was still odd seeing Rex not knowing it lol.
ReplyDeleteYesterday i learned about the OBIES (thanks NewYorker in comments) today I learned OOCYTE. This week brought to you by the letter O. I feel like I knew that word in the past and have forgotten in the years since school.
I wouldn't say I'm 'triggered' by seeing NRA in the puzzle, but it does get a bit of an eye-roll from me. May they fade into obscurity sooner than later
@SonVolt misfitsπ€
PRESOAK isn't a washer setting, it's what you do before you put the clothes into the washer. Right? Or is there now something called a smart washer that does all these things for you? My washer's probably 30 years old, it has no computer in it. (and after it's through with the clothes I hang them on a line in the backyard, but never mind that).
ReplyDeleteRAWER? I can't even seem to pronounce it. Somehow I think I'd say More Raw.
Anyhow, hands up for not having been to any of these movies.
And my husband thought I was the only person who still hung her washing out on the line! Good for you! My Maytag is only 28, though.
DeleteYes, newer washers do have a Presoak setting, but they’re sure not made like the old ones. Any repairman will tell you to keep those old ones as the parts last much longer (plastic vs metal). Can’t remember why I finally got rid of mine after 35 years. Got a water-saving machine (live in So Cal) and it was a piece of crap. Switched to a Maytag industrial machine and I couldn’t be happier. Kudos to you both for air drying your laundry. My neighbor still does that. I’m too lazy.
DeleteDON'T LOOK NOW? Trust me, I won't. And I'll save myself the burden of covering my eyes so I won't SCREAM by choosing not to go to your ridiculously shudder-making movie in the first place .
ReplyDeleteForget gender, race, religion, nationality, and politics. Those are such incredibly superficial differences between people. The real line of demarcation between people is between those who will willingly, nay happily, subject themselves to such unnecessary, self-inflicted torment and the ones, like me, who wouldn't be caught dead there.
As for the puzzle -- appropriate for HOLLOWEEN, a holiday I've never much liked either.
Wow you must be fun at parties
DeleteI'm not upset at seeing NRA in the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteHe's out there is definitely a movie that doesn't exist. Looks like the Director even tried to take their name off the film.
ReplyDeleteHALLOWEEN movies, OK. I will never understand the appeal of slasher films, and steer well clear of them. Agree with OFL that DON'TLOOKNOW is not a horror film. I saw it many years ago and thought it was just terrific
ReplyDeleteHALLOWEEN around here gets a little more hype every year, with stores full of stuff in August and elaborate lawn and house decorations and on and on. My one nod to all this is to dress up like one of the Blues Brothers (thanks to my Dad's fedora) and go to a local parade. No trick or treaters at our condo either. Low key.
Guess I'm one of the few here who enjoys seeing old friends like AMAH. Takes me back to my early years of solving. And at least the execrable NEATO was clued as "quaint".
@Barbara S-Did exactly the same thing with ALOES and BALMS, except went with BERG right away, which fixed all that.
@Roo-neither of us anywhere near this one, but at least there's a TENOR.
Solid enough Tuesday, KL and EP. Kept Looking for some Extra Pizzazz, didn't find it, but thanks for a fair amount of fun.
Have to admit I’ve never seen a single one of these movies and only familiar with two of them, but I loved the HALLOWEEN theme. Some people hate occasion puzzles but I always enjoy them. I’m intrigued by the debate about whether or not October 31 is a holiday. To me it’s just another day, but for some people it’s a huge celebration, second only to Christmas for decorating and celebrating. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
ReplyDeleteI hate to rant about three-letter entries but could have done without NRA so blatantly clued, especially after the tragedy in Maine still in the headlines. I mean considering the current state of our society, I don’t understand why anyone would intentionally use that unpleasant reminder in the one thing that many of us turn to as a respite from the real horrors of the world.
Are there still cars built with “V” engines? Seems like everything now is measured with liters and turbos. I recently went from a six cylinder to a 1.5 liter. Didn’t much like the loss of power at first but quickly realized the hefty increase in gas mileage is worth it.
1000% about the NRA! Well put
Delete(Forehead slap). I could've had a VTEN!
ReplyDeleteAlternate clues for 42A:
@@
@@@@
@@@@@
All-star horror movie: DONTLOOKNOW but HESOUTTHERE and YOURENEXT!!!
"Hey, sexy. How do you like your TUNA?"
"RAWER"
OMAHAve you seen Dad?
PAPAYA, I saw him TENOR so minutes ago. Maybe it was more like seven ORATE.
Welp, it was a Halloween-adjacent puzzle for sure. Thanks, Kathy Lowden and Erik Piepenburg.
Hi, cult follower for You're Next here! Absolutely love it, probably my favorite horror movie of all time. I really recommend you try it out, but be warned that it does contain its fair share of murder, blood, violence and all the other staple slasher elements. The main appeal is that it's got a lot more comedy than you'd expect, mostly in the dark comedy, ironic sort of sense. Also, the protagonist is the most cathartic protagonist I've ever seen in a slasher, but I don't want to say too much on that. Plus, there are some very good scares and nice tensioning moments (the window reflection, the bottles in the closet). It really sticks the landing too, its great the whole way through. You gotta give it a try!
ReplyDeleteAs a massive and well-versed horror fan, I knew all of the films immediately, EXCEPT HES OUT THERE, which I can confirm is indeed so obscure that even this dyed in the wool fanatic had never heard of. Decent puzzle. My fastest Tuesday time by far. Could have been a Monday.
ReplyDeleteDang, so many commenters are Halloween Haters! What's wrong with an excuse to get dressed up, eat candy, and see cute pets in costumes??!!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, this puzzle was an absolute snoozer...really disappointing, given the thematic opportunities on this spooky day! Maybe tomorrow will be an All Saints Day theme?
For all the haters, just sip some hot cider (+/- bourbon), nibble on some kit kats, and watch Hocus Pocus tonight; I'm sure it'll improve your mood ;)
@grfpeace (9:34) My washer does have a PRE-SOAK setting. I don’t use it and only knew because I put it on that cycle without realizing it and wondered why it took so long to start washing. It’s a top loader, one of those energy saving models that has no agitator and uses less water which is a feature I hate. If I had it to do over again, I would buy an old-fashioned agitator model which just does the basics. Newer is not always better.
ReplyDeleteWhere's "PSYCHO?"
ReplyDeleteWell if you SCREAM because HE'S OUT THERE and you want to GET OUT, wouldn't he know where you are? I wouldn't SCREAM...I'd probably wet my pants.
ReplyDeleteMy wet my pants experience was because of Roman Polanski's "Repulsion." That one did a number on me. I don't think I've watched horror since then.
I thought this was cute in a Halloweenie sense. Like @Barbara S. I did a little malapop dance with BALMS and ALOE. Easy to fix with a BERG here and a LOUT there.
When I lived in NYC on 98th and Broadway we called it Spanish Harlem. Lots of bodegas not too far from my decrepit apartment. You could buy your plantains for your TOSTONES and frozen yuca for your Yuca al mojo. I guess that area has all been gentrified by now. I kinda liked it the way it was.
So my little grandkids - aged 5 and 2 - are going to their block party fun. Hadley dressed up as a "princess" (of course) and little Kieren as a hot dog. They will have fun tonight. Nonie is staying inside and probably drinking....
For those that do the HALLOWEEN, stay safe and have fun.....
I haven't seen any of the shows, but I love the menacing titles. I'm barely brave enough to watch the 30-second TV commercial trailers, and I always decide I can wait until never to go see it. NOPE.
ReplyDeleteOddly easy for me, super enjoyable, and I love it when π¦ rewrites a little section of the puzzle. He's smart.
MINOR THIRD always feels lonely without his pal augmented seventh. Of course way too often that carpetbagger augmented sixth comes along as an awkward tagalong. In a Halloween puzzle, it would've been fun to see the minor sixth from the Halloween slasher movie theme song or a minor second from Jaws. It also would've been nice if medieval. music theorists weren't a pack of elitist tools wanting to make these very simple concepts into exclusionary rights of passage for the privileged.
Tee-Hee: They said ANAL in the NYTXW.
Uniclues:
1 Standing on your toes in bloody high heels while wearing a nurse's outfit and a miniskirt (like nurses do) covered in spiders with sultry Dia de los Muertos make-up.
2 Type of ointment I use to soothe the chafing from my Lulu Lemon, Fruit of the Looms, and Banana Republic.
3 Commit a foul in basketball, but not football. That would be oblongly.
1 HALLOWEEN ASANA
2 PAPAYA BALM (~)
3 ROUNDLY VIOLATE
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Where most ladders come from. STEP STOOL ROOTS.
¯\_(γ)_/¯
It's not an overreaction to not want to see NRA in the puzzle. Would you want to see MASSSHOOTING in your puzzle??? The blood of children is on their hands. Especially combined with a theme about slasher films, and the latest tragedy in Maine... in very poor taste. C'mon, editors!
ReplyDeleteHear, hear!!
Delete@Charlotte (10:56) Hocus Pocus - now there’s a great Halloween movie and one I had forgotten about. But since you mentioned it, I checked the TV listings and see that it’s on tonight. So thank you!
ReplyDeleteNever seen any of these films, and I'm not much attracted to horror films now that I've grown. But we recently watched a very enjoyable and hillarious zombie movie called "The Dead Don't Die, directed by Jim Jarmusch. It was filmed in my area of the Hudson River Valley.
ReplyDeleteI found this puzzle very easy. The scariest fill was NRA.
Thx, Kathy & Erik, for the spooky puz! π»
ReplyDeleteHard, but worthy of the Tues. billing.
Hands up for the ALOE before BALMS malapop.
Not knowing any of the 'horror' films made it extra challenging.
Nevertheless, enjoyed the battle! :)
Will watch 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' tonite.
@Barbara S. π for your SB 0's
___
Croce's 854 was med. (3x NYT Sat.); the NE was challenging. On to Will Nediger's Mon New Yorker. π€
___
Peace π πΊπ¦ ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude & a DAP to all π π
Except for Halloween, never heard of any of these movies but all were sussable (a word I just made up). Really impressed that the titles told a story. Great, fun puzzle. Enjoyed it a lot.
ReplyDeleteThey should have swapped last Tuesday's puzzle with today's, imo. I liked that Halloween themed puzzle better.
ReplyDeleteFYI, You're Next is a top shelf home invasion thriller. Joe Bob says "Check it out".
ReplyDeleteI'm in the don't go to horror movies crowd but dutifully finished the puzzle and it has nothing to do with the lower extremity of my digestive system.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which, 54D ANAL has, per xwordinfo.com, appeared in the NYTXW 57 times over the years, 50 of those during the Shortz era. The seven pre-Shortz times it was clued as a variation of "Detailed study, abbr." or "Kind of geometry, abbr.). The 50 times during the Shortz era it has gotten clued similarly to today's "Overly meticulous".
It could just as easily been "Med school subj." ANAT or "I need ___" A NAP with 67A being TONG or PONG, respectively. Further evidence for the NYTXW being a last bastion of the discredited 19th century Freudian myth. But, as alluded to @Gary Jugert, they get to say a naughty word and make it sound intellectual. It ain't.
7D PRESOAK reminded me of George Carlin's PRE- send up. Would that not be simply SOAK? How can you PRESOAK anything? And 16A RAWER clued as "Less cooked"? I can hear George saying "If RAW is uncooked, how can you get more uncooked? That's just f***ing crazy!"
I agree that I'd like to see NRA go away, or at least be clued as a Depression era program instead of a gun industry trade group masquerading as a shooting sports organization.
ReplyDeleteI was one of the many who initially put in RArER in place of RAWER. I love ArARE, though I doubt it has ever appeared in the NYTXW, and the 11-D clue would have to change to "Japanese snack" or some such thing.
I'm not sure if I completely agree with the clue for MINOR THIRD. After all, the interval between the second and third notes of a major chord is minor, and vice versa. Measuring from the root note, though, the chords have the appropriately named intervals. Also, if you stack a bunch of MINOR THIRDs together, you get the spooky diminished seventh chord which is altogether appropriate for Halloween.
I have to include one last pet peeve. Apple, the fourth-largest manufacturer of personal computers in the world by unit sales, and possibly #1 by revenue, has sold us on the idea that they don't sell PCs. It would be like Mazda saying they don't make cars, they make Mazdas. It's a lost cause, I know... the Kool-Aid has been drunk long ago.
"Medium-challenging (for a Tuesday)"??? I have to disagree. My time was significantly under my Tuesday average, in spite of my being blissfully unaware of any the films (okay, I've at least heard of "Halloween" and "Scream" but know nothing else about them and could not have gotten them from the clues). So easy (for a Tuesday) in my book, since all the themers were easy to get from the crosses. It just wasn't very interesting, since I don't care at all about any of those so-called movie franchises, or the genre in general.
ReplyDeleteTikTok also enhances the theme. Time running out is a thing in every horror film.
ReplyDelete@Made in Japan 4:00 - three appearances in the NYT for ARARE, all pre-Shortz. All clued as a two-word fill-in-the-blank (e.g. "Its ___ treat").
ReplyDeleteThere are people who have no problem with KBG or NSA or even KKK but have a heart attack when they see NRA. I never owned a gun or even fired one but its a free country (or at least it used to be.)
ReplyDeleteKKK? What are you even talking about?!
DeleteHear hear, anon! Also, the KGB was dissolved nearly 30 years ago; the mass shooting in Maine was less than a week ago. I think it’s fair if some people aren’t feeling flippant about the org that helped make it possible right now.
DeleteLiked the overall puzzle, but really didnt like RAWER over RARER in 16A. Raw implies uncooked, and rare implies less cooked, which was the actual clue. Not a fan of that clueing at all…
ReplyDeleteGoogled Horror movie He’s Out There. Got a lot of info. Love Audience Reviews.There were plenty.
ReplyDelete@Made in Japan – I was going to write something similar about MINOR THIRD. The interval doesn't convey sadness per se – e g., it's used to sing-song "Nyah nyah, na-nyah nyah", which conveys triumphant gloating. It's really a minor triad or chord that people think of as sounding "sad".
ReplyDeleteChoked on this early this morning. Returned tonight and it seems I must be channeling the "holiday" spirit; I breezed through the previously challenging content in a couple minutes. Most notable were unfamiliar movie titles that I suddenly intuited. Actually feels a little eerie ...
ReplyDeleteTo Dr. A:
ReplyDeleteMACS are Sierra runners because Sierra is one of Apple's operating systems for the Mac
@kitshef 6:19 - I stand corrected... I hadn't thought of parsing it into two words. Unfortunately, ARARE has indeed become A RARE treat - it used to be readily available in grocery store bulk bins, but now it's only found at specialty stores or online at inflated prices.
ReplyDeleteI have always been afraid to watch the horror movies :)
ReplyDeleteDNF. Just didn't have the energy. Theme seems OK. Wordle birdie.
ReplyDeleteOMENS SENT
ReplyDeleteDON’TLOOKNOW, HE’SOUTTHERE,
to VIOLATE YOU, make YOU SCREAM,
YOU’RENEXT, so be AWARE
If YOU GETOUT on HALLOWEEN.
--- EVAN HAWKE
NEATO for PAPAYAS - they sure do get around! And we all know ATMs are everywhere, even tho (DONTLOOKNOW) we hardly ever use cash.
ReplyDeleteGood Tuesday - notta lotta names to make me wanna GETOUT.
Lady Di
Oooooh, scary stuff kids.
ReplyDeleteWordle birdie.