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OutKast or Black Star / SUN 10-29-23 / Famed New York City deli / "Siddhartha" author / Get seriously conked / Energy sanctions measure / A red one is sweeter than a green one / Understand someone else's side
Sunday, October 29, 2023
Constructor: Alina Abidi
Relative difficulty: Easy/medium
THEME: Fabric-ations — Pairs of theme answers use the same fabrics as letter banks, tied together with the CUT FROM THE SAME CLOTH revealer
Theme answers:
Word of the Day: ZEBRAFISH (11A: Striped minnow used in drug development) —
Bullets:
- GINGERBREAD (23A: Holiday building material (GABARDINE)) // BINGE READ (25A: Stay up all night finishing a book, maybe (GABARDINE))
- SENATE SEAT (38A: Washington post (SATEEN)) // ASSENT (40A: Thumbs-up (SATEEN))
- CUT FROM THE SAME CLOTH (61A: Having similar qualities ... or what four pairs of answers in this puzzle are?)
- OPENER (79A: Precursor to the main (NEOPRENE)) // ERROR-PRONE (81A: Liable to make mistakes (NEOPRENE))
- ARM'S REACH (101A: Grabbing distance (CASHMERE)) // CREAM CHEESE (103A: Philadelphia specialty (CASHMERE))
Word of the Day: ZEBRAFISH (11A: Striped minnow used in drug development) —
The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a freshwater fish belonging to the minnow family (Cyprinidae) of the order Cypriniformes. Native to India[2] and South Asia, it is a popular aquarium fish, frequently sold under the trade name zebra danio[3] (and thus often called a "tropical fish" although both tropical and subtropical). It is also found in private ponds.
• • •
Hi all -- it's Rafa here covering for Rex.
This was cute! I started solving this thinking I had the theme all figured out. And I have to confess I was a bit underwhelmed. Okay, we're using different fabrics as letter banks? Sure, "fabric-ations" is a cute title ... but why is this happening? What is this puzzle's raison d'être? Why are we repeating fabrics in consecutive across slots? I'm generally not a huge fan of anagram or letter bank puzzles, so I tend to approach them with quite a bit of skepticism.
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| Delicious LUMPIA |
But then, the revealer! This revealer delighted me like few ever have. It's perfect. Very in-the-language phrase. Totally describes what is going on. Explains why we are doing letter banks and not anagrams. Explains why we are repeating fabrics. If there is a revealer hall of fame, this revealer should be in it. If people write books about revealers, this one should be on the cover. A revealer studies college class should have this revealer as its main case study. You get the picture.
 |
| A delicious OMELET |
Revealer gushing aside, I do wish some of the cloths/fabrics had been a bit better known. To be fair, I am no cloth/fabric expert, but GABARDINE was new to me, and I was familiar with satin but not SATEEN, and NEOPRENE felt very familiar but I couldn't quite recall what exactly it was. Of course, there are a lot of constraints to make the whole thing work, so I understand it was slim pickings. Some of the theme entries (looking at OPENER and ASSENT) also felt a little too short, and did not have the same wow factor as GINGERBREAD or CREAM CHEESE. The revealer, though! It's all worth it for the revealer.
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| Delicious CREAM CHEESE |
The fill was super solid. Can't really find a single thing that gave me pause ... it's very well-made. HODGE / HESSE might be a tricky crossing, but I don't think any other letter could plausibly go there (maybe a Y?). LUMPIA was my favorite entry in the entire puzzle. I love food in crosswords! LUMPIA, OMELET, JALAPENO, GINGERBREAD, CREAM CHEESE ... yes, please. (Actually, no jalapeños. I am sensitive to spicy foods, alas.) The ARM'S REACH / FIRE EATER / SAY NO MORE stack is phenomenal.
- ATE (15D: Did a great job, in Gen Z lingo) — This clue rubbed me the wrong way. A cursory internet search will show lots of discourse about conflating AAVE with Gen Z lingo. (I did not read/watch all of these, and I therefore am not claiming to agree with everything said in them.) It is not my place to rehash this conversation here, but this clue did not sit right with me. At best, poorly researched ... at worst, appropriative. To be clear, I'm not trying to cancel anyone here. I have had fill/clues in my puzzles that in hindsight feel similarly off to me now. Just explicitly calling it "Gen Z lingo" really struck me and I wanted to leave a note.
- ANTIHERO (78D: "It must be exhausting always rooting for the ___" (Taylor Swift lyric)) — I am obsessed with Taylor Swift. Have you been listening to 1989 (Taylor's Version)? Tell me about it in the comments.
- POLL (109A: Big ask?) — Very cute clue!
- PLASMON (60D: Type of quasiparticle) — I'm choosing to be kind to my brain and not try to research and understand what a "quasiparticle" is ... I just thought things were particles or not particles! Like neutron = particle. Armchair = not a particle. But maybe it's not that simple!
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114 comments:
Great write up Rafa! Plasmon was new to me and I dabble in trying to understand particle physics every once in a while.
Really enjoyed this more than most any Sunday. Sundays usually just seem such a giant slog to me now. This was on the easy side, but definitely prefer that for these large grids.
Don't know that I've ever seen this byline before, so great debut (to me), Alina!
Not blown away by the theme; there are only 4 pairs of theme answers in this Sunday sized grid. But then I'm in a bad mood because I Finished With an Error (FWE©) at the P of LUMPIA crossing TPAIN both total unknowns, of course. My first guess was M for LUMMIA and TMAIN. Then I literally went thru the alphabet, skipping no letters, because it pretty much could have been any of them! Just the worst way to finish a puzzle.
Never heard of ANDES CANDIES. I don't buy candy (except I just bought 300 candy bars for the @&*$% trick-or-treaters) so I have no idea if we have them here in Canada.
Some typeovers: DEGRADED before DIGESTED, and ARMLENGTH before ARM'S REACH; both caused problems cuz of several correct letters. And I thought Taylor Swift may have said "It must be exhausting always rooting for the A**HOLES."
(Re yesterday's puzzle, for the unpopular 1 down answer to "Ultimately arrive (at)" it just occurred to me to consult Google Ngrams. You will note in 2019, that answer was used in print 55 times less and 350 times less than the alternatives, so kind of rare but not unheard of.)
[Spelling Bee: Sat 0; last word this 5er for not the first time.
My week, Sun to Sat: 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0. Missed this 5er on Tues.]
Old Masai saying: A lions pride is none of a ferrets business.
Got my Covid/Flu/HPV shots. The nurse gave me a choice - - INARMOR in ass. And speaking of ass, an ENT who adds proctology to his practice must be an ASSENT.
Someone who dates sailors SEESTARS.
This was both mighty easy and mighty fun. Thanks, Alina Abidi.
Pretty easy. The theme was obvious and WOEs were minimal. A couple of typos were it for hiccups. Cute (@Rafa) works for me and the reveal was delightful, liked it.
Long time reader; first time poster. I have some caffeine-induced insomnia tonight, so I thought I'd try something new.
Easy and enjoyable Sunday puzzle. However, I couldn't get the happy music to play. I believe I probably doubled my time trying to find my error Turns out I was overly confident in my spellings of BeRT and PeRLS. I don't think that's a Natick because I knew the words, just not the spellings. Lesson learned.
Thanks to all of you (Rex, guest bloggers, creators, and commenters) for entertaining me every day!
I remember—and double-checked just now to be sure—a Reddit post from last year that said, "[Today I Learned] Philadelphia Cream Cheese was invented in New York and has never been made in Philadelphia. Its name was part of a clever marketing strategy, because at the time (1880s) Philadelphia was known for its high quality dairy." So it may not have been entirely accurate to call it a "Philadelphia specialty," but I may just be picking nits.
It’s kinda wild that my day involved both FERRETS and an EDIBLE (in a legal state). No, I do not own any ferrets nor know anyone who does.
This kind of thing happens frequently enough that I’m considering the invention of a new form of astrology based on puzzles. Your personal puzzle sign would of course be based on the puzzle that appeared on the day of your birth. Not sure how to handle non-NYT puzzles; perhaps breakaway sects.
(You believe me now about the EDIBLE, don’t you.)
Back on topic, I was already enjoying the puzzle’s gimmick when I came across that big lovely revealer. Bravo. I had fun.
RoyAL before REGAL at 1D, NoNoS before BANES at 13D, @okanaganer ARM LENGTH before ARM'S REACH at 101A. TPAIN (66A) x LUMPIA (54D) was a WOE. Other than those, fairly easy.
I was less impressed with the theme than @RAFA. I figured out what was going on but realized the capitalized fabrics weren't needed for the solve, so it was basically a Sunday themeless.
A rare double natick for me: LUM_IA / T_AIN and _LASMON / _RATT. I had never heard of any of those. In the end, I had to cash in a Google card. I also suffered a semi-Natick at _ABARS / _EBRAFISH, but at least Z was a reasonable guess.
I enjoyed this one - made slow but steady progress. Struggled with NE having convinced myself of MARKETS not FERRETS, and having never heard of ZABARS found myself short on friction. For once, managed to remember to use the US spelling for EMPATHIZE rather than try and use an S in there. Nice, fun Sunday and cute theme!
ZABAR’S isn’t a deli. There is a deli section in ZABAR’S. Wanted KATZ’S but that didn’t fit.
“She said the man in the GABARDINE suit was a spy.”
How is a flipino spring roll crossing an obscure rapper not a Natick?
Ugh. A dumb clue for ANTIHERO and a reminder that someone made autotune popular. The rest of the puzzle was ok. Oh wait, except for the PPP, which was a lot. So much rap and pop. Was it necessary to force in more musicians clues for normal words? The aforementioned Taylor Swift clue. Harry Styles for WAS. Simon Cowell for IDOL. The Who for O'ER....
I'd normally give that last one a pass, but not in a grid already full of this sort of thing.
Then of course there are the movie and TV stars, multiple rappers, and another "famed" something or other in NYC. At least this time we get an actual drug store giant (CVS) instead of Duane Whatever.
I found this puzzle to be bursting with personality. For instance, the NE corner. There you’ve got HODGE conjecture from the world of math, ZEBRAFISH in a science context, STANS, EDIBLE, RPGS and ATE (as clued) which have contemporary currency, BURT from old movies, Nobel-winning HESSE, NYC’s legendary ZABAR’s and knitting term PURL. So much packed into a tiny corner, and this richness pervades the entire grid.
This before the sensational revealer, so good that it justified building a theme around it. Word banks don’t excite me, generally, but in service to CUT FROM THE SAME CLOTH, I was thrilled that word banks exist. BTW, this is Alina’s third NYT puzzle, and her first two were Jeff Chen POWs (Miss you, Jeff!).
Today’s grid had the spark and pushback that happify my brain, and now I’m hungry for more from you, Alina, because already it’s clear that your witty puzzles not only are riddles to crack, but splendid tours through a sumptuous world. Thank you for a scintillating ride today!
Anagram- (or letter bank-) based puzzles are almost always among my least-favorite, and today is no exception.
Fairly dull puzzle but with some bad potential-Natick crosses. SAM/SPADER and PRATT/ORO look a little suspect, but for the former ‘S’ is by far the most likely, and for the second knowing ‘gold’ in French, Spanish, Italian, etc. gives you a chance.
PRATT/PLASMON feels a little worse, but the physics/plasma connection at least gives you a chance.
But LUMPIA/TPAIN?. That looks unguessable.
Assent/Sateen?
LUMPIA + TPAIN = Total Natick (and I drove through Natick two days ago). Otherwise, quite easy, and while I don’t like anagrams, this was a half-step up from one.
The theme was on target enough to keep one interested, and the crossword stuff was actually pretty good, but boy oh boy the trivia was definitely NYT-grade today.
LUMPIA crossing TPAIN is all-star quality. Heck, that small SE section contains DIEGO, OLSEN and LEEDS - crossed by a British TV show and a trivia question about CHILE. And just to show off a little but more, we have all in the same row: the French painter Claire DENIS (or maybe DENIS Claire) along with Mr. TPAIN and PAULA Hawkins who wrote that book that I’m guessing is about that girl on a train.
So a decent puzzle with a heaping side helping of arcania - in other words, a pretty typical Sunday New York Times crossword.
A Sunday rarity: a fun, non-sloggy puzzle, and a lovely write-up by Rafa.
@Mack, as someone who has spent very little time in NYC and doesn’t particularly like the place, I figure that storing a lot of trivia about “famed” NYC phenomena is the price I pay for getting most of my news, etc., from the NYT and the New Yorker. That must be why, like @Saul, I thought, “Wait a minute, Zabar’s isn’t just a deli” — and I’ve never been there.
Another Sunday snoozer.
Agree on this playing like a themeless. Was looking forward to a good, old-fashioned Rex Rant.
Boring theme and some atrocious fill.
Quick and easy for the most part, but like many, I got Naticked at LUMPIA/TPAIN. Many unknown names but got them using crosses.
Rafi - I work with many young people who LOVELOVELOVE Taylor Swift, so I decided to spend some time listening to her this weekend. So far, I'm going to stick to my music (60s & 70s) because I just don't get it.
Had it all done except for the TPAINinthetush letter (thought Shania Twain might be autotuned, though she’s hardly a rapper).
Finally SAIDUNCLE and came here, put the pee in PAIN and still no auto-happy-tune.
Turns out I spilled the country CHILi. Had to CHEW on that (mental mastication) UGLI finish…
(Having not read the puzzle title - I never do (unless desperate) - CUTFROMTHESAMECLOTH was a wonderful revealer. And more surprising than if I had seen the unnecessary FABRICATION PROCLAMATION…)
I enjoyed the write-up, thanks Rafa! At first, I thought this would be strictly a bunch of anagrams, but no-o-o-o... not quite. CUTFROMTHESAMECLOTH - excellent. I also found the fill mostly enjoyable have have to agree with others there were too many PPP crosses.
What I probably enjoyed most was Alina's bio! Gotta love that Crossword Club at lunchtime.
Another "I can't believe I ate the whole thing" Sunday puzzle that I began late Saturday with the intention of leaving some fun for tomorrow...but couldn't stop. Very addictive.
At first I wasn't sure exactly what was happening. There were no anagrams, nor were we adding first 1 more letter and then 2 more letters as in a Building Block-style puzzle. There seemed to be no particular pattern -- and then I remembered the "Words of L-O-V-E" category from "Jeopardy" a few nights ago. As in: All the answers can be created from just those 4 letters, used once or as many times as you like. That's what's happening here.
I'm not completely sure why I found it as enjoyable as I did, but there was a certain pleasure to the "close but no cigar" nature of the themers. They were just close enough to one another to be provocative and yet one didn't have to do any of the slog-work of anagramming. The fact that the clue words were all fabrics gave the puzzle a certain je ne sais quoi.
This is at least the 3rd Sunday in a row that I've really had fun with. Nice job, Alina.
Swimming against the tide here (but right alongside Lewis): To me, this is just what a Sunday puzzle should be. Loved working out the themers and thought it was quite a construction feat. The fill was fairly easy overall, but I also Naticked on TPAIN/LUMPIA.
Question: How young do you have to be never to have heard of GABARDINE?
To me, deli means The Carnegie or Katz's, but I guess technically Zabar's qualifies. When my wife and I got married nearly 40 years ago (to each other), we broke up the reception into two pieces: A more formal sit-down lunch with the families and then, at night, a looser party with our friends.
Part of the food for the latter was lox from Zabar's. The bagels would be from our favorite bagel place in Brooklyn. We figured we'd need about 100 which, translated into bagelspeak, is 8 dozen. So we went to the bagel place a week ahead of time to see if there was anything special we had to do for an order that large. (My wife still laughs at this.)
I approached the counter like I was a big macher to let them know I would be ordering "8 dozen bagels" in a week, but I must have been a little nervous because what I actually said was: "Next Sunday I'm going to be needing 8 bagels -- is there anything special I should do in advance?" I had left out the word "dozen." He looked at me for a few seconds and then said "It won't be a problem." (Fortunately, my wife cleared things up, as she has continued to do for close to 40 years, kinahora.)
The clue refers to the company, not the city.
Thx, Alina; nicely done! 😊
Hi Rafa, good to see you again; thx for your write-up! 😊
Med (a few minutes under avg, but felt tougher).
Dnfed at Bert / PeRL. Always have trouble with both.
Enjoyed the adventure! :)
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Matthew Sewell's Sat. Stumper was med-hard (2x yd's NYT Sat.), but very doable. On to Daniel Raymon's NYT PandA. 🤞
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
I would’ve done better to have ignored the letter banks, and just looked at the clues. Trying to unjumble and use anagram logic really slowed me down. The LUMPIA/TPAIN had me mindlessly running the alphabet!
The ATE clue should’ve referred to AAVE and not attributed the use to the entirety of Gen Z.
However, I don’t take the stance that language shouldn’t cross cultural, ethnic, social, whatever lines. Language is remarkable in its fluidity, and no one owns it. John McWhorter’s NYT opinion columns often tend to these matters and are insightful and helpful in gaining more open perspectives on language history, changes, transference, and expansion. I recommend!
Again, no one owns the word ATE or its usage; it likely has a rich etymological history and was influenced by many factors over the centuries. But if AAVE is the most appropriate attribution for the definition in this clue, it should’ve been referenced that way.
100%
MEOW! Happy National Cat Day.
Hah! A letter-bank puzzle. Like the Spelling Bee. I felt well and truly practiced-up for this one. And, unlike many, I didn’t find this so easy. I had no difficulty with the theme answers and revealer, but got stuck over a number of other things, some PPP and some not. I found many clues vague and hard to pin down, such as Grand (REGAL), Broken down (DIGESTED), Away (NOT THERE), Reacts to a grand gesture, maybe (SWOONS). At first, I had trouble making sense of “conked” in the SEE STARS clue and got muddled with the FERRETS clue, thinking they wanted a collective noun for businesses! Poor Mr. Whipple – I had him as a GROuch before I realized he must have been a GROCER. I had a momentary lapse and put Colorado beside Nevada, making my energy sanctions measure a PRICECoP. (Huh?) And, yes, I had to run the alphabet at the LUMPIA/TPAIN cross. Too many letters seemed plausible there.
Rafa, Rafa, excellent write-up, but in your “Word of the Day,” how could you not explain the seemingly puzzling role of the ZEBRAFISH in drug development? Here’s an excerpt from an article in the journal Pharmaceuticals, dated 2021:
…the lower vertebrate zebrafish possesses many advantages over higher vertebrates, such as low maintenance, high fecundity, light-induced spawning, transparent embryos, short generation interval, rapid embryonic development, fully sequenced genome, and some phenotypes similar to human diseases. Such merits have popularized the zebrafish as a model system for biomedical and pharmaceutical studies, including drug screening. Here, we reviewed the various ways in which zebrafish serve as an in vivo platform to perform drug and protein screening in the fields of rare human diseases, social behavior and cancer studies. Since zebrafish mutations faithfully phenocopy many human disorders, many compounds identified from zebrafish screening systems have advanced to early clinical trials… (emphasis mine)
And there’s this, from the website, yourgenome.org:
* Zebrafish have a similar genetic structure to humans. They share 70 per cent of genes with us.
* 84 per cent of genes known to be associated with human disease have a zebrafish counterpart.
* As a vertebrate, the zebrafish has the same major organs and tissues as humans. Their muscle, blood, kidney and eyes share many features with human systems.
[SB: Fri -2, Sat -3. Poor performance these days, so I’ll focus on complaints about Sam’s egregious omissions of words. On Friday, I wanted CYCLONIC and yesterday FENNEC and TIFFIN. Sam, are you listening?
@okanaganer, you're on fire these days. Keep it up!]
Hey All !
Neat Revealer, but not as gobsmacked about it as Rafa. 😁 Does TIE it together nicely, though.
Didn't realize they were all fabrics until getting Revealer. Made no never-mind to the ole brain that I had seen the puz Title saying Fabric. I'll read the title, then immediately forget it. Silly brain.
Who put CHEESE STEAK in first for CREAM CHEESE? Once I realized that didn't work, figured out the SE corner, saw the ending was CHEESE, and thought maybe the Theme was reversed items? (Remember, forgot the puz Title.) But then said, "Ohh, the other Philadelphia foodstuff."
Some tough spots here and there. Wound up with a two-letter/four word FWE (Finished With ERRORs). One was just silly, had ECOTAr, getting me TErAS as the place where Six Flags started. How did I miss TEXAS? The other was PAULi/PLiSMON, which is kinda silly, too, in that PLASMON equates to plasma, whereas PLiSMON equates to absolutely nothing at all. Ah, brain. Thought about a Y there, also.
BOPIT new to me, missed that particular toy. Apparently on either side of too old/too young for it.
Good SunPuz overall. Was waiting for a RexBash, but we got a nice review by Rafa.
Happy Sunday!
Four F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
I *loved* this puzzle. The revealer was excellent, and there was enough bite and variability in the number of letters for each theme answer that it didn’t bug me like a straight anagram would have. I got the general gist of what was happening before I got to the revealer, but then the revealer gave me actual goosebumps, it was so clever. As for the fabrics, I sew so this is wheelhouse-y maybe? But the fabrics strike me as well-known enough. Even if not, since they were literally included in the clues, I don’t see the issue with them being less known, at any rate.
In general loved the mixing of cultural references - really a something for everyone vibe, and we all probably learned at least one new thing today.
Only nitpick- I had the same issue with ZABARS as Saul; despite literally leafing through the catalog last night I refused to drop it in until it was absolutely clear that’s the answer they were looking for. It’s a grocery store with a legendary deli counter, not a deli. I get the catalogues because I’m a firm believer in sending Jewish comfort food to anybody I know going through a rough time if I can swing it. An Argentinian friend who lives in the South and never had Jewish food til getting a gift box from me, now she orders it all the time. Basically, I adore ZABARS and I wish they had clued it correctly!
And Zabars is not a deli as any self respecting New Yorker knows
LUMPIA and TPAIN also did me in.
Just to set the record straight, cream cheese is not a “Philadelphia specialty.” It was named for Philadelphia by its manufacturer because that city had a reputation for good food at the time. It actually has nothing at all to do with Philadelphia. I tried to squeeze “cheesesteak” in there but of course that wouldn’t work.
Regarding ATE:
My question is, how long after a slang term is coined can a clue stop having to recognize the origin of the word and can just call it "slang?" There are tons of words that appear in crosswords now that originated in AAVE, but it's just been so long that no one would think to clue it in reference to AAVE -- it's just common slang now. (For example: dig meaning appreciate, crib meaning house, lit meaning exciting, bae meaning significant other, etc.) Granted, ATE is very new slang, so maybe it's new enough that recognizing it comes from AAVE is appropriate. But at some point there's a line where slang stops being attributed to its origins, and just becomes generalized slang.
READ IN BED and BINGE READ have the same number of letters. That slowed me down for a bit, but I loved the revealer. Just beamed.
It is a rare day that there is a plain mistake in a NYT puzzle - Zabars is NOT a deli. They describe themselves this way “ Gourmet emporium specializing in smoked fish, caviar, coffee, cheese, kitchen goods & housewares.” Let’s see what Alino says after moving to Brooklyn.
Oh, yes, right. I Naticked on LUMPIA/TPAIN too. "P" is the last letter in the world I would have picked. I was torn between "W" and "R" and left it blank in protest.
So why didn't I mention it? Because in my own mind I had already pronounced this puzzle "Solved!" and forgotten all about it. In the great scheme of things, it's a matter of absolutely no importance.
Exactly right! When I finally realized what the answer was I felt good that I hadn’t forgotten an actual NY deli - and annoyed at the inaccurate clue.
If you’ve ever been in or around the US Navy you’ve probably come across a lumpia sale to raise money for Navy Relief or other charities. Better get there quick though, because lumpia/pancit is too good to last!
I thought this was a really good Sunday puzzle. My "Oh, no, not anagrams" quickly changed into "Wait a minute, this is different...," in an intriguing way. I wasn't familiar with the idea of a letter bank, but what a great way to use it. Because I solved the puzzle going down the West side, though, I didn't see that the same fabrics were used twice until I was close to the bottom - then I went back up to the central grid-spanner and had the fun of filling in all that came after CUT. Really clever! I'd already been enjoying the puzzle - with stacks like ARMS REACH, FIRE EATER, SAY NO MORE, it was a winner for me, theme or no theme. I like the theme pairs, too - the paired pleasures of GINGERBREAD and BINGE-READing and of having CREAM CHEESE within ARM'S REACH.
Do-over: PRICE Cut. No idea: TPAIN, PLASMON. Dunce cap moment: Does Toyota make a PRIus model called the Rainbow?
Unlike Raja, who knew the fabrics except for GABARDINE, GABARDINE was the only one I knew, thanks to Simon and Garfunkel’s America. “She said ‘the man in the gabardine suit was a spy’”
If you were boring people at dinner regaling them with your adventures in crosswording, you'd joke about irrelevant themes, then humorless slogs, then rappers crossing Asian cooking ... and here we are: TPAIN / LUMPIA is comically terrible. And that's before you stare at a theoretical physics idea crossing a random art school, a minor novelist, and five (count 'em) colloquial phrases. Nice work with PLASMON. So how does this get foisted on the Sunday dreamers of the English speaking world? Well ... we look to our Lonely NYTXW Editors Tee-Hees (LNETHS) and find our fifth-grade slush pile editor clearing today's deck all to publish {drumroll} ...
Tee-Hee: Edible! Doood.
Oh, and nobody has ever actually swooned.
Uniclues:
1 Learned to survive the Plaza.
2 Gramma's architectural planning.
3 "Yes, I hold a numbskull's ass."
4 Why they're on first.
5 When they tried Ojo Caliente Cheese Cake that one time during Cinco de Mayo.
1 ADAPTED TO ELOISE AREA
2 GINGERBREAD BINGE READ
3 SENATE SEAT ASSENT
4 OPENER ERROR PRONE
5 ZABAR'S JALAPEÑO SPELL
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: OK, how about this? The judge finds the defendant guilty, but before the bailiff takes him away, the woman taking dictation ("dictation" tee-hee, get it?) takes off her glasses and she shakes out her long brunette hair and then all heck breaks loose, ya know, because they love jurisprudence. STENOG SEX SCENE.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What gave me pause, as a native of the City of Brotherly Love, is that cream cheese is in no way a Philadelphia specialty. It's a name chosen to market a product with no real link to that city.
I finished with the LUMPIA/TPAIN cross and it only took me as many tries to get it as the letter P is in the alphabetical sequence--16, for those who don't feel like doing the math. LUMPIA seems like one of those dishes that might benefit from a rename, at least from an English speaking perspective.
Actually, Zabar's describes itself as an "appetizing" -- as you can see in Wikipedia.
Somehow, that's a term which somehow seems like the wrong part of speech.
Same complaint. Deli is sliced meats. At a Jewish deli, probably corned beef, pastrami, etc. Zabar’s is a grocer, not a deli. Terrible cluing.
Something isn’t obscure just because you aren’t familiar with it. We all have gaps in our pop culture knowledge. T PAIN is a major celebrity.
Zabar’s is not a deli
But cream cheese is the speciality of the brand Philadelphia
You are lenient with yourself! 🤣
I was another who caught the TPAIN train today. Granted, LUMrIA looked crazy but, you know, foreign foodstuffs??
It seems as if Taylor Swift lyrics are coming at us from all sides lately. I'm not a Swiftie STAN so crosses were needed for ANTI-HERO. At least I knew the Who song.
Overall, I found the puzzle fairly diverting and I like the revealer and title. Neoprene as a fabric doesn't fit well with the other fabrics, in my opinion, though I do wear neoprene booties over my cycling shoes in spring and fall - they cut the wind nicely.
Thanks, Alina Abidi!
Well as an old Canadian, not from NYNY..had Myrons then Ziggys for NY deli before cheating!! Then blew up on the small slew of Rappers not to mention NY (Brooklyn art school) other than that enjoyed!!
Struggled mightily through the isolated PPP-loaded NW corner of this puzzle, only to be rewarded by the absolute natick of LUMPIA/TPAIN. At this point I trashed the puzzle. Been a while since I've done that, but this one had it coming.
@ Conrad 5;22, "weren't needed for the solve" Looks like you did need one of them if you had arms length instead od arms reach.
If found a lot of the names very obscure. Lumpia I knew but tpain???
So the puzzle was alternately quite easy and too hard.
Enjoyed the theme and agree with Rafa, the revealer was great.
*Terrible* Natick at LUMPIA/TPAIN. Otherwise meh.
Thanks to a lucky guess at the rapper/spring-roll cross, I solved this without a hitch and enjoyed myself along the way. The theme feels like a crossword-Spelling-Bee hybrid which takes anagrams to the next level by letting you use any letter more than once and then the revealer brings it all together perfectly. Thank you, Alina, for proving that a Sunday puzzle can be fun.
My only nit is the “soaps” clue. For example, on the daytime series “SAY NO MORE,” when PAULA SWOONS after BURT, the hunky FIRE EATER, heats up her LUMPIA with one breath and they fall in love, but then her UNCLE reveals that Burt is actually her long-lost brother, it’s not DRAMA. It’s melodrama.
My sentiments exactly!
I too thought first of cheesesteak, but since that didn't work I tried CREAMCHEESE and decided that the clue cleverly referred to the company, not the city.
ZABAR’S is a market not a deli.
DH and I have an understanding that looking up a rapper’s name is not a “cheat” … so with that bit of help finished the puzz. We both found the crossing a Natick.
Agree!
The Times has clued ZABARS as a deli every time it's been in the puzzle, so no point kvetching about it. And anyway, Zabars fits the original meaning of a delicatessen, which is a gourmet food shop. New Yorkers tend to think of a deli as primarily a sit-down restaurant where you get sandwiches (or order them to go), like Katz's or the old Stage and Carnegie Delis.
Didn't much care for this puzzle. The gimmick was immediately obvious, and it wasn't interesting or entertaining.
♪ She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy ♪
I never thought of neoprene as a fabric but they are all common enough.
Remember that book "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”? well, all I ever need to know about Rap and HipHop I learned in crossword puzzles... RAPDUO, TPAIN, NAS OutKast I have no idea or experience about any of them in the “real World”. I got them all from crossword experience.
I said, “Be careful. His bow tie is a really a camera.”
Hey I’m a New York City Jew, kvetching is my birthright! 😘 I’d argue that New Yorkers tend to think of *Jewish* deli as a sit down *or* to go spot for sandwiches and such; we think of a deli as any store where you get cold cuts or a sandwich, maybe some side salads, where that’s the primary thing they do. Some bodegas have a deli counter, and some bodegas might also count as deli’s, mostly not though. I know this is heresy to some but Katz’s is for the tourists; I think the best Jewish deli left in the country is probably 3 G’s in Delray Beach, FL. My late grandpa chose his retirement community for proximity to 3 G’s, it’s that much of the real deal.
Some things I didn't know - TPAIN, ONE OFFS & I'm embarrassed to say I struggled with GROCER for poor Mr. Whipple.
One thing you should know if you're moving to Brooklyn, from a native NYer, Carnegie, Stage & Katz's are delis - Zabars isn't. But do try them all!
A great debut, Alina especially on a Sunday. Best of luck on your move & welcome!
Mmm. Back in the day, the San Francisco hotel where I worked had an employee cafeteria. Free lumpia and panzit everyday! Lumpia is the best spring roll ever.
Naticked like a few others on TPAIN/LUMPIA.
While I'm not a New Yorker, I have visited your fair city over 30 times and blush to admit I've never heard of the "famed" Zabar's Deli.
Started this before church and finished it after, which is why I didn't get the word bank aspect of the themers. Yeah, that's the ticket.
Otherwise a pretty straightforward solve as a themeless, although I did notice the use of the letters in the fabric, so there's that.
Had LUM_IA and T_AIN and needed a letter. Knowing a connection between Spanish and the Filipinos eliminated M (no double M's), an R seemed unlikely, but the P rang a distant bell that there was someone named TPAIN, and that was that.
Really just wanted to check in with @GILL I who commented yesterday that she is "partial to men with gaps in their front teeth" and point out that I have been a proud practitioner of diastema for a very long time now. Just sayin'.
Nice solid Sunday, AA. An Ambitious concept nicely executed, and thanks for all the fun.
Am I the only one who remembers that Mr. Whipple's first name was George? That got me off on the wrong foot (confirmed by already having the O).
Great Sunday puzzle. Took 3 tries to get lumpia/tpain before getting the music reward. Otherwise straightforward medium Sunday with better than average fill
Besides being AHA revealer, it was nice to have it in the middle of the grid - appreciated the bottom section more because of that
[@Barbara S, thanks re SB! I definitely run hot and cold. And today's went pretty easy, I got to pg in under 4 minutes (without any rejected words, which is unusual). Then to 0 after an hour's break.]
I don't get it. What is the revealer?
This lyric is how I know what GABARDINE is!
I live a few blocks from ZABAR'S, and have never thought of it as a deli; it's closer to a gourmet food store. Like others have said, KATZ'S is the NY deli. (I actually wondered if KATZES was going to be the answer.)
Also didn't much care for the theme -- it's like the Jeopardy categories where answers are all made up of letters in a certain word (and just as dull). The revealer didn't much redeem it for me.
I thought I'd vaguely heard of TPAIN, but that P was as pure a Natick for most as you're going to find.
I have an idea Rex would have been a lot tougher on this, so the constructor should probably count herself fortunate.
Got everything except the NE. How are STANS huge fans? What are RPGS (Dungeons and Dragons clue)? ATE means excellent?
Really well done. Excellent debut by Alina Abidi. Keep ‘em coming!
@Bob Mills…STANS I believe is a combination of stalker/fans. I THINK Eminem might have coined the term. RPGs stands for “role-playing games.
Worked puzzle last night…busy today. Nice puzzle!
Sigh, sorry to be the bearer of bad news - Carnegie and Stage have both closed permanently, Carnegie in 2016 and Stage in 2012. It’s a real shonda.
@okanaganer andes makes "the after dinner mint" :) it's not a mint tho - it's a little chocolate with a mint layer (but it's all one consisted texture like a piece of chocolate). i loved these as a kid bc i was the weirdo that enjoys mint-chocolate. my grandparents always had a box of these in the cupboard.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andes_Chocolate_Mints
So the revealer is...the paired answers use the same letters as the piece of fabric in parentheses after the clues? And thus they are "cut from the same cloth"? I really don't get the enthusiasm. Something isn't connecting in my head. How does one "cut" ERROR PRONE from NEOPRENE? There is only one R in NEOPRENE so once you "cut" that letter from the cloth (that is, the word NEOPRENE) how do you magically get 3 more "R"s? Or is the cloth comprised of the word NEOPRENE repeated over and over again? Was expecting some more thoughtful relationship between the pairs of words. Maybe I'm just thinking about it too literally...Also grumpy over the number of 3-letter words in a slog of fill today. Ah well.
@bob mills - STAN is a combo of stalker and fan, coined by Eminem a few years back. An RPG is a role playing game. ATE is youth speak, what can one do?
@Bob Mills:
The 2000 Eminem song "Stan" is about an obsessive fan named Stan. That's how "Stans" entered the lexicon.
RPGs are Role Playing Games.
Zabar’s as a deli answer has come up repeatedly in this puzzle. And each time it grates on a lot of bloggers. The editors apparently feel it is close enough for crosswords. Not being a Newyorker, and never having been to a Zabar’s, my opinion isn’t worth much. But locals can get very picky. Katz wouldn’t fit - I have been to Katz- and Zabar’s spelling gradually developed. I think they had a restaurant rating book ( maybe online now?) which would be less controversial clue.
I don’t like rap usually and rarely listen to it, but I have seen the name, TPAIN, but had no idea he popularized autotune. The T brought the name to mind.
If I know the name, it ain’t obscure!
@dgd
You might be thinking of Zagat.
Re GABARDINE
You have to be young enough not to be a fan of Simon & Garfunkel, ( someone quoted the song above)
Philadelphia is a misdirect. The clue doesn’t say CITY of Philadelphia. That’s the name of the brand so it’s a perfectly valid clue.
As a tourist in NYC the first time I went to Katz Deli a decade ago I liked the sliced turkey sandwich; the second time recently not so much.
It might be just a change in my tastes as I am eating less meat, but the sandwich seemed bland the second time.
My guess is though the food is a lot better than all those chains around Midtown.
Thanks! That was my error re Zabar’s/ Zagat. I have done that before
I came here to see if anyone else pointed out that NEOPRENE is in no way shape or form 'cloth'. Yes they make wetsuits out of it, but that doesn't make it cloth. Them make suits of armor out of steel, and steel isn't cloth anymore than is neoprene. If someone else made this or a similar point, my apologies, but I couldn't read past the 57th comment regarding ZAPARS, deli or not? I'm sure we neoprene nitpickers pale in comparison.
@Weezie - glad you're back. You're my hero, so please give advanced notice if you're going to be sidelined for any length of time. BTW, it seems that the Bud Lite you leave behind at your BILs disappears between your visits. You should ask if he goes to the dark side when no one is paying attention.
Had the same reaction as all those other New Yorkers; The Stage was a deli, Carnegie was a deli, Benash and Second Avenue were delis and Katz’s is a deli. Zarbar’s is a great place for smoked fish, cheese and lots of other interesting items but a deli definitely not. Word of advice to @dgd; when you go to Katz’s forget the turkey. You have to order the pastrami.
TPAIN and LUMPIA were gimmes, for those not familiar with either you're missing out. Hardest part was BURT/PURLS/ ZABARS which is not a household term on the west coast
This puzzle was absolute junk. "Sateen" becomes "Senate seat"? "Gabardine" becomes "Binge read"? (A term I've never heard before anyway). Yet another disappointing Sunday,
The company is “Philadelphia Cream Cheese”. The clue isn’t referring to the city.
It’s weird/annoying to me that everyone is calling the LUMPIA/TPAIN cross a Natick. TPAIN is a gigantic current artist, not some obscure New England town. The guy even won the Masked Singer for those who don’t listen to his music. And I guess I’m lucky enough to live in a city with Philipino food, but I feel like lumpia are a huge food staple to an extremely large ethnic population with a massive presence in North America. The whole point of calling something a Natick is that it’s genuinely obscure to most of the population. It’s some random town with nothing of note about it that you’d never know unless you’ve driven through it. Both TPAIN and Lumpia are enormously popular things to millions of people. Just because you’re personally not familiar with something doesn’t make it a Natick.
Finally resumed today, after adjourning yesterday for a more enjoyable activity.
Wonderful puzzle for young solvers who are into current pop culture and obscure spring rolls. UGLI for me.
GABARDINE is the fabric used in Burberry coats -- I believe it was in fact invented by Thomas Burberry, the founder of the company, in the late 1800s.
I think you’re thinking of Zagat’s :)
Still think that the plural of "adieu" is "adieux"...just like "chateaux".
New Yorker here who goes to Zabars weekly. Zabars is not a deli. Zabars is a specialty grocery and also home goods store, its entire second floor is non-EDIBLE kitchen supplies. I also happen to be friends with a member of the Zabar family and even with all that I couldn’t get the answer even though I had the B in place. The clue is flat wrong.
long time reader, first time commenter here…loved, loved, loved this puzzle! the fabric choices made for some great pairings that produced pleasant and slightly off-kilter rhyming and rhythm. such a wide range of cultural references — and overall, a very tactile and lively crossword/solving experience! would love to witness the group puzzle solve at Alina’s work.
Back in the ‘50s, appetizing stores were found in Jewish neighborhoods in NYC (and likely elsewhere). And that’s exactly what Zabars is.
@Anonymous 10:38 AM:
Thank you for that. You are absolutely correct.
ORAL ASSENT ENDS BAN
"HIS or HERS", SAIDUNCLE MOE,
"if ONE's NOTTHERE, who's TO blame?
THE DRAMA'S which ONE will SAY 'NO',
IT's MORE or LESS THESAME."
--- PAULA OLSEN-NIELSEN
Yesterday's post did not, so I'll try today.
Easy enough except the LUMPIA/TPAIN cross. Had to ponder/guess at that one. Nt much else to say about the puz except - meh.
Wordle bogey, three shots at BGGBG.
Looking at yesterday's comments...Laura Nyro was a favorite in my dorm at college, and we saw her a few times. Amazing voice and poet.
Today - la, la, la... Not the hardest or easiest Sunday. Miss Zabars - yum!
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
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