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Actor Guy of "L.A. Confidential" / THU 11-23-23 / Repeats a mantra / Audibly enthused / What the Dutch call "klompen" / Important component of oral health / What composers use to settle the score?
Thursday, November 23, 2023
Constructor: Vasu Seralathan
Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: Body part + gerund — Theme answers are a body part followed by a gerund verb, clued indirectly by sequences of letters as examples of the relevant actions.
Word of the Day: PLUTO (Second-most massive of the solar system's known dwarf planets) —
Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest known trans-Neptunian object by volume, by a small margin, but is slightly less massive than Eris. Like other Kuiper belt objects, Pluto is made primarily of ice and rock and is much smaller than the inner planets. Pluto has only one sixth the mass of Earth's moon, and one third its volume. Pluto was recognized as a planet until 2006.
• • •
Theme answers:
- EYE-OPENING (OPTO-)
- ARM-TWISTING (MAR)
- HEART-STOPPING (VALENTIN-)
- JAW-DROPPING (_IGS__)
- GUT-BUSTING (BEL LY)
Onto the puzzle! This was a cute Thursday, I thought. Played a little bit easier-than-usual for me (which I am not mad about, at all) ... didn't really have any major snags. I only realized after solving that the theme answers all had body parts as their first words. That was a cool extra layer, and I went from being somewhat meh on the whole thing to being quite into it! Even though them being body parts wasn't relevant to the clues, it's details like this that can really elevate a theme.
 |
| Do MANDMs look like buttons? I guess they do... |
There's nothing really to nitpick about the theme (unfortunately I feel the need to nitpick the theme of every puzzle I solve ... I wish I were not this way!) ... GUT-BUSTING was new to me (I had only seen it as the "bust a gut" idiom, but never in that form), but it feels legit enough and was probably just a blind spot for me. I also wish there had been a better way to convey the "stopping" than with a dash, which to me more directly indicates a prefix (e.g. OPTO-), but this worked well enough!
 |
| This LADLE is a cute dinosaur! |
I wonder whether the editors were desperately poring over this puzzle trying to find a place to sneak a Thanksgiving reference (PLYMOUTH: [Site of what many regard as the first Thanksgiving]), or if the constructor submitted that clue and this puzzle was slated for today because of it? Or maybe it was all just a happy coincidence? Who knows!
 |
| Some ASPENS for you |
The fill was quite clean for a puzzle with 5 theme answers and 72 words (that's themeless puzzle territory; theme puzzles can generally go up to 78. Fewer words generally mean more open space, and a greater challenge in finding smooth fill). The trade-off there is that it becomes challenging to include fresh bonus fill (NOTATION / GLOM ONTO is totally fine, but not really the sparkliest of stacks), but overall I really enjoyed the smoothness here and the chonkiness of some of the whitespace areas.
Bullets:
- PLUTO (47D: Second-most massive of the solar system's known dwarf planets) — First they demote PLUTO to not even being a planet. Now they're telling us it's not even the biggest dwarf planet?!? Justice for PLUTO!
- SPEARS (4D: Hunting tips?) — Very clever clue, but also a missed opportunity to include Britney in the crossword!
- ALPO (18A: Spot food, perhaps) — I know the Spot = dog name thing is a crossword mainstay, but I have never met a dog IRL named Spot ... is Big Crossword perpetuating lies? Maybe so!
- PLYMOUTH (1A: Site of what many regard as the first Thanksgiving) — I saw a TikTok the other day saying that Plymouth Rock is the most overrated tourist attraction ever and that it's just some random rock that wasn't actually referred to by the Pilgrims at all! I'm not positioning myself as pro or anti Plymouth Rock at this time, so don't come for me in the comments. Just sharing.
That's all from me today! Been enjoying this week's puzzles so far, and I hope tomorrow's (my favorite puzzle day of the week!) keep up the good streak. Eli will be back to blog about it!
Signed, Rafa
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71 comments:
Easy. I skipped the part where you need to figure out the rebus clues and just let the theme answers fill themselves in from the crosses.
Minor problems: I knew the Guy from L. A. Confidential but not exactly how to spell him…atv before UTE…PLOw before PLOD.
Very smooth grid where, thankfully, I could ignore the theme and parse the rebuses post solve. Cute, liked it.
1) I am very familiar with the term gut busting, but that might be a gen z thing?
2) I grew up in MA and Plymouth Rock is literally just a rock. My sister dropped a flip flop down there which was the highlight of my visit
Pluto is still the largest dwarf planet. He’s just been laying off the Alpo’s.
Eris showed up in 2005 with more mass than Pluto. She’s causing much ado about nothing, as per usual.
Can anyone explain the clue for jaw dropping? I didn’t get that one. Thanks!
arrows before SPEARS for the hunting tips at 4D
Askew before ATILT for the non-perpendicularity at 6D
Aeon before AGES for the wait at 45D
I always thought an ASPEN was where you kept your donkey.
I was expecting a little more for the holiday. Theme is straightforward - at least we are spared a revealer. The grid filled itself in pretty much. Liked ASPENS, TOE TO TOE and TWO FER. We get the ultimate SAT cross of AUGUR x USURP.
Strand of Oaks
Bright spot here is @Pablo’s OTTER.
Pleasant - but short solve. Turkey Trot at 8 and then some Celebration Ale. Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Now it all started two Thanksgivings ago
Not as enamored with the cryptic theme as our guest host, but it wasn’t terrible - just not high on my list to be attempting to discern that _IGS___ gets us to JIGSAW for example. The only other problem areas were TWOFER, which doesn’t register as “Double deal” for me and OOHED doesn’t seem to connect with “enthused” for some reason. Very workman-like offering today, nice job by the constructor.
The clue was _IGS_ _
Insert the *dropped* letters J, A and W in the blanks and you get JIGSAW.
Double deal = Commit treachery
TWOFER = BOGO or two birds, one stone.
PLOD, clued with snow? That's double dealing.
I love little word riddles like this, and afterward, I appreciated the extra layers – all theme answers starting with body parts and ending with ING.
I also love dogs, so that little section in the middle South, with IN BED (with its dog clue) and PLUTO beneath GOD (DOG backward) – warmed my heart.
I loved [Flick of a flicker] for ASH, and the sweet misdirect [Double deal] for TWOFER.
This is Vasu’s second NYT puzzle, and his first played around with the letter X, which represented TIMES, KISS, STRIKE, CROSS, and TEN in various answers, with the terrific reveal SOLVE FOR X.
Vasu, I eagerly await what your inventive mind comes up with next, and thank you for a breezy puzzle that pushed so many happy buttons!
Quick and fun! My one nitpick is about VALENTIN- ...how is valentine a heart? besides just being associated with the holiday? Why not I _ NY or something?
SLOG before PLOD and PORCH before PATIO GLOMmed me up for a bit, but besides that it was smooth sailing!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Can someone explain 31 down? I got god for the answer but don’t understand the clue “pan, e.g.”
Agree nice job on the puzzle, satisfying number of clever answers and clues. Wanted PIGSTY for the _IGS__ themer and LETS for Star____ in the SW but otherwise straight through solve
Am thankful for this blog, along with many many other blessings ...
Have you heard that Mickey Mouse and Minnie are getting a divorce? The judge said “ What’s this Mickey, you say she’s crazy?”
He said “ I didn’t say she’s crazy your honor, I said she’s F#%king Goofy!”
Just a silly little diversion, crosswords.
Or so some say. I for one love silliness, so give me silly in any form. Give me play. Give me inventiveness. Give me riddles to crack. Give me laugh-out-loud moments. Give me a diversion that takes me to a place that I deep down enjoy. Give me the work of people who earnestly strive to entertain, strive to give the brain the opportunity to figure things out and feel exercised and happy.
Thrust me into a community of those who are like minded, and who pile on more silliness, inventiveness, and edifying insight, and who feel like family – as this place is.
Have the puzzles be honed and scrubbed by skilled and talented craftspeople who set a high bar.
And what a gift! What a ball of beauty! What a piece of magic, spark, and brightness to adorn the path we travel. It never had to come about, and yet here it is, this towering gift. I give thanks for it always.
I had a foster dog named Spot. I never knew a dog named Spot either
He had a big old spot on his back. I loved loved loved that his name was Spot! It was perfect. Adoptive new owner changed his name to TOBY! The worst name ever for dog or human
Much to be thankful for in this Thursday puzzle, crafty without being overly convoluted (Exhibit A: the rebus), yet not too easy, at least for me.
One nit to pick: I’m adding MANDM to the list with AANDE & RANDR. Justice for ampersands (and Pluto)!
Liked the combination of NOTATION and the “not play by ear” clue.
Nice job, Vasu! And happy Thanksgiving to all in this interesting community of puzzle lovers!
Left three columns much harder than the rest of the puzzle.
HEART STOPPING (or HEARTS TOPPING) doesn't seem to work as clued. I need to think about that a bit.
[after reading Gameplay column]
OMG it turns out the constructor had a perfectly good clue for HEARTSTOPPING, but the editors replaced it with this much, much worse clue. Shameful editorial decision.
Very funny write up, and a great way to start turkey day.
Here in NH the teevee is RIFE with ads imploring us to go visit PLYMOUTH at this time of year "site of the first Thanksgiving". Talk about a gimmee. Plymouth Rock itself is , well, a rock. Oh.
Yes on PLOW and not knowing Mr. Pearce. I knew cutoffs and cutups and cutouts and today I learned CUTINS, so today is a good day.
OOHED but no AAHED. Oh well.
Thanks to @Son Volt for the OTTER shout out, as I was feeling slighted again by another ROO hopping into the puzzle. A "romp" of OTTERS is, well, perfect.
Very nice Thursdecito indeed, VS. Very Speedy but entertaining solve, and thanks for all the fun.
Speaking of thanks, I won't even try to add anything to what our friend @Lewis has posted, except an amen. Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Rafa, you are too young to have had this experience, but many of us older folks learned to read with a bunch of simple books that included Dick, Jane and Spot. I am NOT kidding. “See Dick”, “See Jane”. “See Spot”. “See Dick Run”. “See Spot Run”. You get the point. And even if i have never ever met an actual dog named Spot, this is forever emblazoned in my brain that Spot=Dog. I’m sure you had a much more modern version of learning to read!!! Just one of those things.
Like @Dr A, I have been recalling a host of dull Dick and Jane books, but like Rafa, I have never known a dog named Spot.
Beautifully said, @Lewis (7:51). Much to be thankful for, esp OFL for hosting all of this nonsense. Happy Holiday, everybody.
@anonymous 7:36. Pan is the Greek god of shepherds etc
PAN IS A Greek GOD
A gut busting laugh is a Boomer thing
Which I figured out but which also has no relation to the answer, in a way. That was an outlier to me.
Pan, as in the Greek god of nature.
55 DOWN - How is GOV a "nonpublic" domain extension? It's a "public" extension where I come from. Is that the way it reads in the print edition?
Didn't think I'd get there, but I finally did. Enjoyed the solve, especially compared to most Thursdays. HEARTSTOPPING came to me quickly, but the other themers took much longer.
I had "pig" crossing" lanai" instead of HOG/PATIO, so the North section took a while. I also imagined "pigsty" instead of "jigsaw" until the very end...getting "jigsaw" gave me JAWDROPPING and then JCREW.
Hey All!
Okaaaaay, where's my Thanksgiving puz? Wanted a grid art turkey, or something. List foods, football, overeating, Uncle Bob falling on the ice unable to get up because he's so full... Something. I guess PLYMOUTH clue will have to do.
As for this puz, regardless why it ran on Thanksgiving, it's pretty good. Seems more WedsPuz-ish, but I guess the "clue wackiness" pushes it into ThursPuz territory.
I AM TOO snuck into the ASAMI, ASDOI, SODOI, ME TOO, DITTO, group (yes, I realize the first three are a letter short. Work with me here. Har.)
@pablo
Not going to GLOM ONTO the ROO in the puzzle. 😁 It does have an OTTER for you to enjoy.
You know, looking back over the theme, I do believe it IS Thanksgiving related! First, you enter the house of whomever invited you for the Holiday, be it a relative or a friend, and you see the feast spread out. It's EYE OPENING! You start feasting, whereupon after, you need some ARM TWISTING to have a piece of pie. It's HEART STOPPING how much you ate! JAW DROPPING even. You have to loosen your belt, as you're GUT BUSTING.
Nice.
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
Along with a pride of lions, a murder of crows, and a parliament of owls, I now have a romp of OTTERs in my mental menagerie.
Very nice set of themers.
Thanks be to God for giving me a long life and this excellent playground where I come to play every day.
What a beautiful post @ Lewis.
Happy Thanksgiving to all. Now I'm on to the puzzle.
Really wanted a Thanksgiving puzzle. No idea why but really wanted one. I solved primarily downs and never really understood the word game. Very easy Thursday. Played like a Wednesday for me. Happy Thanksgiving all!
Adirondack chairs definitely belong on PORCHes, not PATIOs.
Amen
I was almost brought to tears by how neatly and precisely this puzzle recreated our family Thanksgivings:
First, we'd all get SMASHed. Then Dad, with SALIVA dripping from his mouth, would CHAR the Turkey so badly that Mom couldn't even do any CUTINS to see if it was edible. Once she even had to HOSE it down while we all OOHED and aahed. Soon, my sister PATTI would GLOMONTO a LADLE and go TOETOTOE with Dad. "AMI supposed to eat this HOTShit?" she'd yell. "IAMTOO grossed out!" And she'd stomp out to the PATIO. But eventually we'd calm down and remember all that we had to be thankful for. Then we'd have Mom's special MANDM cake with candy HEARTSTOPPING and get INBED.
Thanks for the memories, Vasu Seralathan.
I love this kind of cryptic-style puzzle theme -- especially when all the themers are different. I was thinking that if OPTO- was EYE OPENING, then MAR would be some sort of SEA-related answer, but the answer was an entirely different use of MAR. Much fun figuring it all out.
We do a great many things with our GUT, don't we? Before thinking of GUT-BUSTING, I thought of GUT-WRENCHING and GUT-SPLITTING.
My only writeover was at 13A. I always want someone to PLOW the snow for me so that I don't have to PLOD through it.
The Dutch word "klompen" is pitch perfect. When I hear someone walking around in CLOGS I always want to say "Don't klompen so much!"
Delightful puzzle.
Pretty much solved it as a themeless. The gerunds offered a bit of a cheat which made it feel a little less Thursday-like.
Somehow the NW wouldn't come together for me even though I wanted to put in Plimouth/Plymouth from the start. (I went with Plimouth first, it's how Plimouth Plantation is spelled--the cross learnt me not to be a know-it-all). Anyway, for some reason I couldn't make it fit on my first attempt. Who knows what I was doing when i started this last night.
Went with RIpE before RIFE, which kept the happy music from playing but offered the reasonably satisfying cross TWO PER.
And Plymouth Rock is a bust.
Worst. Field Trip. Ever.
Was there in August and a cyclist was, erm . . . watering it.
Easy for a Thursday. Themers were cute and solvable unlike last week. Still having nightmares jumping over busses.
UTE as a sporty vehicle? Said no one, ever.
Cute and easy. I enjoyed the variations on the theme, with the letters up to different tricks in each. Thank you to @Rafa for pointing out the body parts, which I'd totally overlooked!
Favorite theme answer: JAW-DROPPING. I'd seen "jigsaw" but couldn't figure out how to unravel it. Favorite non-theme misdirect: Double deal.
Do-overs: like others, I had PLOw and Porch, also AWe before ADO and HOLD on.
@M&A - A Thanksgiving feast of U's for you. Can't get a lot better than AUGER x USURP :)
I'm with @estivator, .GOV is the domain for the public sector. I think the puzzle must have meant not available to "the general public."
The trouble with OOHED is that it's in the active voice; I have never heard 'enthused' except in the passive. And I would have loved to see BON AMI clued as the cleanser. Except for those minor points, a fine puzzle.
And we learned all about the uses of SALIVA! Not just for spitting anymore.
You are too young to know that Spot was the dog in a reading primer used in USA called FUN WITH DICK AND JANE. Us folk in our 70’s do: SEE SPOT RUN!
In addition to the "Dick and Jane" books which were used in early childhood education when I was a lad in the 50's, there was a series (perhaps still going?) of children's picture books when my sons were kids in the 90's, with title's like Spot's First Christmas.
I don't remember ever knowing a dog in real life named Fido or Rover either.
Nice puzzle. Thanksgiving blessings to all. Let Thanks abound!
Why am I the only one not to get OPTO- as eyeopening? No snark, please.
SMASH?! That's what Hulk does?! I stared at those blank squares forever. Forever. LADLE finally arrived with SINEW, but they'd been out drinking with MANDM and the whole lousy lot of 'em stunk up the joint. I guess if Hulk smashes, then OTTERS romp, eh?
PATTI was a party pooper in the basement, but I forgive her since I had so much fun with this.
Uniclues:
1 Dog's breakfast.
2 How you convince Australian to box.
3 Breathtaking bestie in Besançon.
4 What's all over the back seat of my Voyager.
5 Boxing double-billing.
6 Fermatas.
7 Hug trees.
8 Why I'm at a coffee shop on Indeed instead of being at work.
1 EYE OPENING ALPO
2 ROO ARM TWISTING
3 JAW DROPPING AMI
4 PLYMOUTH SALIVA
5 TOE-TO-TOE TWO-FER
6 HOLD IT NOTATION
7 GLOM ONTO ASPENS
8 REORG DOINGS
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Feature of my stingy brother-in-law. MOOLAH DEATH GRIP.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Pretty easy for a Thursday. I had Heart Skipping before Heart Stopping but quickly fixed that.
Missed the "holiday" theme but I think we had one earlier this week or was that somewhere else?
Enjoy the holiday!
Thx, Vasu; a SMASHing Thurs. puz! 😊
Hi Rafa; good to see you again, and thx for your take. 😊
Easy.
Pretty much tore thru this one.
Loved the theme, but still haven't fully grokked the HEART STOPPING one, altho, I do see that 'Valentine' is cut short.
All the INGs were very helpful.
I assume OTTERs are 'in a romp' bc they like to 'frolic'? 🦦
Fun solve; liked it a lot! :)
___
Neville Fogarty's New Yorker cryptic was med-hard. Best clue: "For example, Beehive State mammal drops in the morning (6)"
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
Fairly easy-ish for a ThursPuz … very little faceplanting = { ___ MASK}.
staff weeject picks: EYE, ARM, JAW, GUT.
Lotsa nice longballs, faves of which included: PLYMOUTH Turkey Day plant. TOETOTOE. HOLDIT. TWOFER. SALIVA crossin JAW.
Didn't quite grok the SMASH clue, at our house.
Happy Thanx-Givin to y'all. Eat hardy. And then, only a few shopping days left until Christmas.
Thanx for the cool word picture puzlets, Mr. Seralathan dude. Good job.
Thanx also to @RP, plus Rafa, Eli, and all them other primo blogsubs.
Masked & Anonym007Us
**gruntz**
Too Easy Week continues.
You’re missing the wordplay. It is non-public in the sense that .gov domains are not available to purchase by members of the public.
@Conrad 5:05 AM
As a lifelong Coloradan, I can verify you are absolutely correct on ASPEN.
A nice puzzle from Vasu and a nice blog review from Rafa. Thank you both! Thought this was a cute theme and it contained a funny coincidence for me - I just went to pick up new glasses yesterday at the PEARCE EYE Clinic.
Wishing all a peaceful and pleasant Thanksgiving.
Also not a fan of Valentine=Heart.
I knew a cute Jack Russell terrier named DOT—she had a lovely, large SPOT on her back
JAWDROPPING, HEARTSTOPPING, and GUTBUSTING are all great Thanksgiving answers, if you think about it. Too bad the first two can’t be read that way.
The clue for HEARTSTOPPING doesn’t quite work. Something like CARDI- would’ve made more sense.
Also the clue for 55D, Nonpublic domain extension seemed wrong. Wouldn’t GOV be a public domain extension? Didn’t understand that clue.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Agree with @anonymous 9:59, but I was thinking "Stoop"
An easy enough Thursday for me to actually finish!
It’s dropping the word “jaw”
@alexscott 1:28 I guess it's non public, in that the public can't use it!
“OPTO-“ is a prefix (opening) that means “eye.”
@DrJJ - Thanks for the joke - I won Thanksgiving this year.
My initial inclination was "pig sty" but, fortunately, I saw "jigsaw" shortly after that.
OPTO is a prefix (ie “opening”) for vision-related words
Thank you for the MANDM explanation. I never did figure it out. I don’t like those. You?
Sinew is not brawn.
I knew John, Jean and Judy. Is that peculiar to the northeast or catholic schools?
@Tartan calf: No, I certainly do not. I call them ampersandwiches, terms featuring initials at the ends with "AND" spelled out in longhand between. Who would do that rather than use "&?" NO one EVER, except in crosswords. In my scoring system, such offenses automatically cost a full stroke.
A shame, too, today, because otherwise it's a good puzzle and would've surely earned a birdie. The theme is almost perfect--if JAWDROPPING were second in STEAD of next-to-last, we would have moved down the body from EYE to GUT. Par.
Wordle eagle.
I'MUP TODO IT (TOO HOT)
PATTI is just JAWDROPPING,
AND so EYEOPENING INBED,
"HOLDIT", I said,"I'M STOPPING",
AND got A TWOFER one IN STEAD.
--- LANCE SPEARS-PEARCE
Wasn't exactly kneeslapping nor spinetingling nor TOEtapping, but pretty good. Also not a fan of the ampersandwich. Nor the clue for GOV, that's not wordplay, it's muddled. Noticed: TOETOTOE TODO DOINGS; CUTINS/INA crossing.
Tried to reach for a wordle eagle, had to learn for a bird.
I managed to finish the puz w/o any help, but kept wondering "what's the trick?" I finished, and still little/no clue.
body part/gerund yeah so?
Ampersandwiches are "fair," but MANDM's? That's my "yeah baby!"
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
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