Constructor: Kevin Christian and Andrea Carla Michaels
Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: BEAN COUNTER (56A: Corporate number cruncher who might be interested in the ends of 17-, 26-, 37- and 47-Across?) — last words of theme answers are all types of beans. If you "count" all the beans ... there are FOUR (54D: What a 56-Across would tally for this puzzle?):
Theme answers:
FREIDA PINTO (17A: "Slumdog Millionaire" actress)
UBER BLACK (26A: High-end ridesharing option)
AIR ON THE G STRING (37A: Bach piece whose title sounds a bit risque)
ROYAL NAVY (47A: U.K. military force)
Word of the Day: FREIDA PINTO (17A) —
Freida Selena Pinto (born 18 October 1984) is an Indian actress who has appeared mainly in American and British films. Born and raised in Mumbai, Maharashtra, she resolved at a young age to become an actress. As a student at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, she took part in amateur plays. After graduation, she briefly worked as a model and then as a television presenter.
I have no idea who FREIDA PINTO is. Looks like "Slumdog" was her first film role, and, to date, by far her biggest. She's a weird choice for the lead themer on a *Tuesday* puzzle, and all I can think is that her name must've actually inspired the puzzle. Not sure how else you come up w/ a bean-themed puzzle like this. Sadly, there's really nowhere for the puzzle to go without a great revealer, and this puzzle definitely does not have one. BEAN COUNTER makes no sense. The "counter" part I mean. None. Yes, there are FOUR themers, ergo FOUR beans in this puzzle, but ... so? I mean, the fact that you have to add that FOUR answer basically screams "My Revealer Makes No Sense." If it made sense—no need for the extra FOUR bit. Just bizarre. Also, string beans aren't really beans. They're legumes, but not beans, the way the others are beans, despite being called "beans."
Legumes are plants that bear fruit that grows in pods. Beans are the seed from different varieties of plants, although typically the whole plant is referred to as beans. In other words: all beans are legumes, but legumes aren’t necessarily beans. (randallbeans.com)
I also don't really know what UBER BLACK is, but my first guess for that second word was BLACK, so I must've heard of it. It's a weird couple of opening themers, esp. for a Tuesday. But the main problem is that the theme has nowhere to go, has no revealer to make it make sense, and so we get this whole FOUR fiasco today. Crossing FREIDA with COE (3D: Iowa college) seems pretty dicey (neither is terribly famous), but I guess there's no other letter that could realistically go there.
The other main problem is the fill, which was giving off mothball smell before I even got out of the NW corner. SLR COE ECIG RASSLE LEANTO SEABEES AGAR RAMA YAWED OOH *and* AAH and EMOPhilips!? EMOPhilips?! That is what's called "steering into the crosswordese." Before EMO became recognizable music genre, it was *always* clued as EMO Philips. Here's roughly six years' worth of EMO cluing from around the turn of the century:
That's a lot to put on one guy's shoulders. Not a lot of room for interesting cluing variations. But then in 2004, [Modern rock genre] made its debut as an EMO clue, and after that, the puzzle rarely looked back. EMO appears in the grid pretty regularly, but EMOPhilips hadn't been seen for four years before today. This is just his sixth appearance in the past 13 years. To use EMO Philips now is like playing the oldies ... but I don't know why you'd do that today, when the grid already feels kinda stale.
It was hard to find things to like today. I like "Peanuts," a lot, and didn't mind RED BARON (5D: Snoopy's nemesis), but in an already old-feeling puzzle, it just made things feel older. TEAHOUSE was probably the nicest thing in the grid (39D: Japanese meeting place that serves refreshments). Gotta get back to my family, who sound like they're having all kinds of dessert-related fun without me. See you tomorrow.
Hate to be “that guy,” but string beans are, in fact, beans. They’re the young, unripe pods of the same species of plant that produces black beans, pinto beans, etc.
Medium for me too but it felt tougher partially because I did not know (@Rex) FRIEDA or the Bach piece. Plus, while I know UBER, I’ve not heard of (@Rex again) UBER BLACK. I’m kinda with @Rex on this one.
Got FREI... at 17A and (naturally and confidently) filled in FREIDA kahlO. That was quickly corrected by the Beatle at 18D. I hadn't heard of FREIDA PINTO but it filled in quickly from crosses.
Unlike OFL, I liked this one with its two-part revealer.
I found it very easy. I had "Doric" instead of IONIC first, but no other problems. The theme helped me get UBERBLACK and FREIDAPINTO, neither of which I would have come up with otherwise.
I guessed right on the RAMA/MIRO cross. A very pleasant Tuesday morning workout.
This was a “but why” idea for me - no interest in BEAN COUNTERS and some oddball themers. Overall puzzle was fine - not too much pushback. FREIDA was unknown but the crosses were easy enough.
Not worth having the PPP heavy theme with the actress and the artwork clogging up the grid just to get a theme related to beans. Boring with a very giant capital B.
How often do you see a revealer with a coda? Hardly ever, if ever. And this one brought a great gift.
Before revealing BEAN COUNTER, I figured it had BEAN in it somewhere, given the theme answer ends, but couldn’t guess the entire reveal. When I finally uncovered it, it didn’t land strongly. Sure, corporate number crunchers are called bean counters, and there are those beans in the theme answers, but NYT revealers usually pack more punch than that, and I was confused.
But then came the coda, FOUR, and suddenly everything made sense. That brought a mighty “Aha!” because it was so unexpected -- a two-part reveal! And that was my favorite moment of the puzzle.
There was also a mini-theme of names. I counted 10 outright, even without including TRU, ANTMAN, RED BARON, or OBERON. But that’s not all. There were nine names that popped out within answers: OSCARs, freIDA, rELIc, aiRONthe…, seABEes crossing rABE, royAL, anTED, and the glorious RIVAL, which has IVA, VAL, and AL.
Andrea and Kevin, this is your sixth collab, your first five being Mondays. Congratulations on your first Tuesday, and thank you for that sweet coda moment, which made for a lovely springboard to my day!
I don't get your confusion on the theme. Bean counter is a (sometimes mildly derogatory) name for corporate finance types. The fact that it might also refer to literal beans makes it a cute, easy little Tuesday themer. Having us actually count the beans was by no means necessary, but I thought made it totes adorbs.
I thought it was very easy, probably mostly due to all the old default fill. I'm a little surprised Rex didn't mention the three different military answers (four if you count Air Force ONE). That was probably when I realized this puzzle wasn't trying very hard. Ditto OOH and AAH. If they were both clued "Sound at a firework display" I would have thought it was clever. Clued differently I just thought, "Ugh, lazy." Not sure what Rex is talking about with string beans. They are absolutely beans.
Super easy. I know Freida Pinto through the movie and remembered it was ‘E before I’ . My assessment of puzzle difficulty is often the opposite of Rex’s.
Made quick work of this but had to guess at the FREIDA/COE crossing. Agreed, E was fairly obvious, but a bummer to finish any puzzle that way. Maybe I’ll remember COE next time.
Emo Phillips is hysterical, old or not. Give him a listen. And I think Coe has been in many puzzles. Maybe not NYT so much? Anyway, aside from FREIDA, it felt like an easy Monday to me. Enjoy your time in Colorado, Rex!
For some reason I though this was Wednesday, and thought to myself that the COE/FREIDA cross was borderline unfair for a Wednesday. On Tuesday, it's much worse. Not often you get three WoEs on a Tuesday (COE, FRIEDA PINTO, EMO).
44D of course should be AhH, not AHH. NYT actually got this right a couple of times recently, but they fail much more often.
'SEABEES' comes from an initialism for 'Construction Battalion'. So why isn't it 'ceebees'?
Hey All ! Well, I liked it! Rex asks Why? for a bean-themed puz. I ask Why not? Bring on the beans!
I don't get the uproar of including FOUR as a quasi-alt-"Revealer". It probably just ended up there through normal filling of the grid, so the duo said, "Hey, why not include it in the Theme?"
All puzs have dreck, said it many times. Especially tough to fill clean is a swath of three's like we get in NW/SE corners. I believe the duo did good.
Anyway, TuesPuzs will TuesPuz. That's s one was fine.
Had a one-letter DNF at AIR iN THE GSTRING/MIRi. Either one should be correct. 😁
Wonder how many of us will be BEAN COUNTERs Thursday?
Scuttlebutt, in the past, was used mostly by military personnel. It would encompass asking for information. What’s the scuttlebutt? When are we attacking?
I liked "Slumdog Millionaire" and totally remember FREIDA PINTO from it, because how could I forget someone with that name? Though I don't think I've seen her in anything since. She is a bit obscure for an early-week puzzle.
@alexscott68 - you are correct, because there are two different songs: Rama was by the Edsels back in 1957 Shama was by fictional band Otis Day & The Knights, from the movie "Animal House"
Even though Freida Pinto hasn’t really acted since slumdog millionaire, she dated her costar (Dev Patel) which provided a lot of tabloid fodder. Since, she has been a fixture in grocery checkout rags, so if you’re slightly in tune with celebrity goings on, this was a gimme.
I saw "Slum Dog Millionaire" a long time ago, so Freida ? Same for "Juno" and Michael ? And of course UBER, but UBER ? Easy crosses, at least, and I knew COE, but prefer Sebastian ___ for that one.
Whiffed on what the theme was going to be by not associating BLACK with BEANs, despite having eaten lots of BLACKBEANS and rice in Central America. Oh well.
OOH and AAH both appear frequently but I don't remember them appearing simultaneously. Not sure this is a noteworthy achievement.
Hey @Roo-no pablos, but a PAUL, so I'm cutting into your insurmountable lead, but not much.
OK Tuesday, KC and ACM. Kinda Clever And Caught Me a little flatfooted with the revealer. Thanks for a decent amount of fun.
I’m continually amazed at the arcane “rules” puzzle critics cite. For example, “You just don't have Frieda Pinto crossing with Coe in the NE corner on a Tuesday.”
Uh, sez who? Would Frieda Pinto be permitted to cross Coe on a day other than Tuesday? Could she cross Roe or Doe but not Coe?
Are these ”shoulds” codified somewhere, or are they just rationalizations dreamed up to satisfy someone’s frustration over a particular puzzle? Inquiring minds want to know.
Maybe it's an American thing, but I grew up as an Englishman and I have only ever heard it called "Air on a G string", not "the G string". Beside that, I thought the puzzle was cool beans!
FREIDA PINTO?? How quickly we forget. But I have the strongest feeling that you were the seed entry (pun intended) behind this puzzle that boasts a cute revealer. The other themers aren't nearly as "full of beans" as you are, honeybunch.
The most curiosity-provoking clue for me was the option when setting up a new tech device. I had S??? and, being a Luddite, I was thinking "STOP!". But once I had SY, I thought of SYNC right away. My various gadgets -- I don't have a lot, but even a few are too many -- are always wanting me to help them communicate with one another. But I don't want them to. If I let my email know what my cell phone number is, then I'll have to answer my cell phone and I never do. I'm a landline devotee. I only got the cell to be able to call UBER and the rest of the time it sits, turned off, in a drawer. If my friends don't know my cell number, why should Yahoo? Or Google? Or Amazon?
There are entirely too many ants in the superhero universe. What an odd species from which to create a superhero. Is ANTMAN any relation to ATOM ANT? Asking for a friend.
I think this is the first time I cheated on a Tuesday. I saw Slum Dog Millionaire when it came out and of course it made Dev Patel famous, but FREIDA PINTO? I was looking for an Indian name. I usually good at college names but COE eluded me. I can never remember the "I'm not in the office" abbreviation. Was it going to be ARI or iRa? I had Warms instead of CLIMB, EON didn't work so tried AGE, not sure why RUT and ADORBS were so slow to come except at that point I had designed it was going to be a green bean. ARGH. After cheating on the actress name, the puzzle fell into place, but it felt very unsatisfying. (I have heard of UBERBLACK vaguely.) I too thought we might be looking for a military theme.
Pretty much ignored the theme while solving but had suspicions of there being a BEAN or FOUR involved before I even got to the revealer. I found myself agreeing with Rex that STRING was a bit of an outlier. Yes of course it is a bean and it is a legume but at the same time, almost the opposite of the other three, a sort of horse of a different color. It just would’ve been more logical to use another dry pod type like KIDNEY, RED, or BUTTER - common words which seem like they would have been easy enough to incorporate.
A souped up version of the musings of an Oglala Lakota medicine man: UBERBLACK ELK Speaks.
Hey @Roo and @Pablo. Look who's in the middle of AIRONTH EGS TRING.
I read that the voters of Oregon decided that LSD should BEAN over the COUNTER medicine. Just another reason for IDAHO folk to visit The Beaver State.
People shouldn't be down on this puzzle as it's carrying a heavy load. In fact, it's a PAUL bearer. I LEANTO liking it. Thanks, Kevin Christian and Andrea Carla Michaels.
FOUR BEAN salad is kinda famous, even though there might be some quibbles over which beans should be counted. Overall fun stuff despite some PPP hangups.
I was a little surprised at all the criticism heaped on the puzzle today. First, the 2023 version of The Little Mermaid has a song sung by Awkwafina and Daveed Diggs called The SCUDDLEBUT. Second…I only knew of EMO Philips through crosswords BUT he apparently toured with Weird Al in 2018. Is Jerry Seinfeld stale? (His name doesn’t lend well to fill, for sure). As for PPP, I didn’t know FREIDAPINTO’s name, but Slumdog Millionaire is a classic and the crosses were fair. Sure, MIRO is problematic in that the cross can create the hard choice between in/ON. So, this may be tougher than most Tuesday puzzles. Bottom line, I liked the puzzle.
Okay, so @Rex probably picked a bad legume/bean authority with Randall Beans, a company that sells pre-cooked jars of “mature” beans. He can’t ALWAYS be perfect. Here’s the thing…TODAY I learned that what I call green beans are actually the immature form of those mature beans you can get in cans and jars! But I tend to be the type that thinks that if something is called a bean…good enough for me and my crossword satisfaction. Just don’t call a peanut a nut! ;)
I did the first puzzle in the Will Shortz's era last night. It's 30 years old today. November 21, 1993. It's a complete train wreck, but Will made it clear to everyone what to expect from him on that day. So when I hear some of you complain the puzzles have gotten worse or that Will is losing it, I will remember this puzzle and know you're just fussy.
As for today's puzzle, I loved the theme and thought, unlike 🦖, the reveal tied it up perfectly. Nice fun puzzle.
Tee-Hee: AIR ON A G-STRING is soooo [risque], but thank goodness Johann Sebastian Bach had the forward thinking wisdom to help the NYTXW team be a little less lonely by sharing his naughty little tune. It's not really called that by the way, but who cares when we can talk about underwear for ladies.
Uniclues:
1 The first draft of Dracula entitled, "I'm Gonna Bite You So Hard." 2 Warriors who say, "Pip pip cheerio." 3 We gots taters, we gots right wing wackadoos, and that's all we gots. 4 I will find every penny. 5 Adversary in the Baaa-ttle. 6 Gramma's. 7 Tell Boomers believing they have the best bread to be quiet.
1 BRAM RELIC 2 ROYAL NAVY HERD 3 IDAHO INFO 4 BEAN COUNTER VOW (~) 5 GOAT-OFF RIVAL (~) 6 ADORBS TEA HOUSE 7 CHECK RYE EGOS (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year was actually a poem on the non-word SMAZE:
I'm amazed I've never heard of SMAZE I've lived in Denver many days in thermal inversions I sit on a chaise sometimes the whole west is ablaze it sends the roans and bays into a craze the gays, the fays, all in the same maze going through a phase of eating Lays and over-praising local plays in the smog our spirit sways as sun rays can't raise our spirit in clear-aired ways and it weighs down my ways as I gaze into dusty airways like eating from ashtrays almost always on my birthdays I've written essays on these displays and raged in doorways and hallways and in three of my Hyundais on the byways and highways and alleyways polluting Mondays and holidays and nowadays the runaways and stowaways don't need resumés or protégés to paraphrase in cabarets my tirades on SMAZE
This would have been a fine Mon. downs only candidate.
Nevertheless, a joyful solve. ___ Croce's 860 was relatively easy (1+ NYT Sat.). Post-solve, had to check in with ChatGPT to grok the 'metaphor idiom'. ⚡️
Balton & Stewart's NYT acrostic was also relatively easy.
On to Anna Shechtman's New Yorker Mon. 🤞, with Neville Fogarty's New Yorker cryptic on tap for tm. ___ Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
@Stuart 9:31 AM There are no rules in crosswords, but people who solve puzzles love rules and can't help but cry when others don't follow the ones they've made up. So now you also know why there is, in fact, crying in baseball.
Joan Miro was a very successful Spanish (Catalonia) artist who died in 1984 at age 90. He was among all those abstract artists whose fame grew in the mid 1900s. I believe his first name is pronounced “wahn”, but is often pronounced Joan as a woman’s name. I have sometimes read curmudgeonly comments that proclaim “…never heard of her” in blogs such as this one.
Easy and cute. It was a happy moment when I unmasked the BEAN COUNTER: I'd pondered PINTO, BLACK, STRING, and NAVY for commonalities and come up with only colors, a horse or car, and a...string. The kind of fake-out I enjoy. I also liked the pairing of the OSCARS with the Golden GLOBES.
Help from previous puzzles: CERA. Help from living next door to Iowa: COE. No idea: FREIDA PINTO.
@Upstate George 9:59: I confidently wrote AIR ON a G and was astonished to see it wasn't going to fit.
@Teedmn from yesterday - Glad you prevailed! I'm prepared to be laid low (again) any week now - there have been some that have absolutely opaque for me.
I get the impression @RP didn't care beans for this puz. I will counter slightly, and say it was ok, but sure had trouble with no-know themers FREIDAPINTO & UBERBLACK. Luved the AIRONTHEGSTRING clue, tho. Plus, always hard to beat beans for Thanksgiving.
staff weeject picks: OOH & AAH. 25 weejects, fed by 4-stacks in the NW & SE, plus 3-stacks in the NE & SW. ADORBS.
Thanx for gangin up on us, Ms. ACME darlin & Mr. Christian dude.
@anonymous 2:06 am. Right on Can't imagine why Rex went off on tht tangent . He was riding enough to criticize without such a bizarre claim.
I rather liked the theme. Had no idea what it was until bean counter came into view. Then realized there were fourths of beans named.
Agree Freida's name was very unknown, but it was not too difficult to get from crosses. And despite its frequent (pe Rx) use in the pat had never heard of in the past had never head of Emo Phillips.
@Nancy…hahaha, all I know about ANTMAN is that he is played by Paul Rudd is that he is reputed to be of the nicest guys in Hollywood AND he is cute as a bug (pun intended).
Marveling once again that my 30 year old daughter is faster than I am at crossword puzzles like this, where so many clues reference things from her childhood or before she was born. I'm not terrible (I don't think) she's just amazingly good at puzzles.
Slumdog Millionaire is from 2008 Emo Philips was popular before 2008, it looks like Juno: 2007 Rama Lama Ding Dong is from 1957
MOOLA, RED BARON, and TRU might also be difficult for anyone under 50.
From the USDA: “Green peas and green (string) beans are not counted in the beans, peas, and lentils vegetable subgroup because the nutrient content of these vegetables is more similar to vegetables in other subgroups. Green peas, which are not dried before consumption, are grouped with starchy vegetables. Green beans are in the other vegetables subgroup, which includes onions, iceberg lettuce, celery, and cabbage. Beans, peas, and lentils (or pulses, as they are also known) include the dried edible seeds of legumes. Beans include varieties such as kidney beans, pinto beans, white beans, black beans, lima beans, and fava beans. Also included are dried peas (e.g., chickpeas, black-eyed peas, pigeon peas, and split peas) and lentils.”
@Frank Lynch 9:32 – "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" doesn't actually quote anything by Bach directly, but the organ line does have a similarity to the melody of "Air on a G String".
This was quite difficult for me, I needed a hint for 37A because I spent a very long time trying to think of a risque bean that started with G. I've heard of that Bach piece before, but I didn't know it was by Bach and it didn't come to mind.
In addition, I am personally banning this COE nonsense from all future Tuesdays. I didn't have time to consult Stuart. Sorry, I don't make the rules 🤷
When I saw that the grid had 40 black squares I knew that there would be a parade of three and four letter entries. It's hard to get solvers to OOH and AAH over all that perfunctory glue holding everything together. If you like a balance between the theme and quality fill, I think this one was a bit wide of the mark.
BEANs were a garden staple when I was growing up in Tennessee farm country long ago in the previous century. The main type was called green BEANs. Harvested early, while they were literally still green, they could be cooked and eaten whole, both outer pod and inner BEANs. But first the end of each BEAN would have to be broken off (producing a sharp snapping sound) and the cellulose STRING-like fiber on each side pulled away. So they were also known as snap BEANs or STRING BEANs.
If memory serves me correctly, I agree with @Anon 2:06 AM. If left on the vine long enough, the outer pod will dry up and turn a brownish yellow. Then only the inner BEAN would be edible. The STRING BEAN becomes a PINTO BEAN.
@Gary J 11:06, If you believe that "There are no rules in crosswords", as you say, then I'm guessing you haven't submitted a puzzle for publication. Each publisher has rules for acceptable puzzles and many of these are listed at Cruciverb.com. The New York Times has there own Puzzle Submission Guideline page that includes Technical Specs.
Before I leave, my inner nine year old would like to say something:
Beans, beans, good for the heart The more you eat, the more you fart The more you fart, the better you feel So eat beans for every meal
Hi Lewis. I'm scooting in here trying to figure out how to sign up for this blog since Nancy would like to know who i am and connect outside of Wordplay, IRL. I don't see a way anywhere on this blog, so I'm trying through replying. ;-)
Just saw your 4:13 query to Lewis, @sotto voce. Welcome! Lewis is a good person to ask, I'm sure, and there are other people here who are knowledgeable about the process of getting a "blue name". (@JC66 is one, @teedmn is another.)
Now how can I have a blue name and a blog profile and yet not be able to tell you how to proceed? Other people here helped me set my profile up back in 2014 and I have no memory of what they told me all those years ago. I scarcely remember what I had for dinner last night. @Hartley (who's sadly not posting much these days) chose my avatar and put it up on the profile for me all the way from CT!!! and then called me to say she had a "surprise" for me. I never touch or change anything on my profile, NEVER!, because if I lose it all, I'll never be able to duplicate it.
If, because people are right now away for/traveling to/preparing for Thanksgiving, you don't get the help you need, don't despair. Try again after the holiday. Also posting any request early in the day is always better. But I guarantee you that someone more tech-savvy than I (a very low bar, btw) will help you out soon.
While I never use it, I know the term very well. It started as an old term on sailing ships for a container of water around which sailors used to stand on breaks and trade rumors That naturally led it being used for rumors in the navy and then to the general public. After WWII everyone knew what it meant. and many used it. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is still in use among at least some older people. I mostly see it in writing now but still part of the language. it is a lot better than ABES and the like! Notice that while Rex criticized the puzzle for old and musty answers he didn’t complain about the clue. Nothing wrong with it.
Too easy to be entertaining, in the 1st place. After spending the entire day picking up a locally raised organic turkey, spatchcocking it, prepping the dressing and making dinner, at last I was able to sit down and relax with my martini -- to this?
Because network viewership is down so much in general they are still relatively highly rated. They also had a significant increase last Winter when Jimmy Kimmel was host so they may have bottomed out.
@JC66 Yes I've also heard that version. It was less likely to elicit a stern look at grandmas' dinner table but my inner nine year old prefers "fart" to "toot".
For anyone thinking about creating a Blogger account and going blue on OFL's comment board, click on support.google.com/blogger.
SEABEES = CBs, or Construction Battalion. But yeah, they're NAVY.
Bringing us to an ARMY/NAVY mini-theme, to join FLORET/RABE for you broccoli lovers.
I like a theme when I can't figure out what it is on the way down. This was ONE of them. I was: OK, you got me, I give.* Then when the revealer hit, it was an AAH moment. Nice.
Threes abound. I see @M&A counted them: 25 of the "lil darlins." There's bound to be some iffy fill in all that, but overall, a birdie.
Wordle par.
*You got me, I give: WHAT in Tarnation was the SB pangram today?
COLE slaw in the corners to go with your various BEANS. Andrea Carla Michaels is not only a superb crossword constructor but is also known as the “Pizza Lady” who feeds the homeless on the streets of San Francisco.
So we get the ARMY and NAVY to OOH and AHH over the OSCARS and an EMMY. And ACME got her handle in on the 41a clue. Along with a lot of 3s. Yikes! Pretty easy though. Wordle will have to wait for now.
If the clue is Iowa college, and the answer is three letters long, then it is Coe. An absolute freakin gimme any day of the week. It appears in NYTxwords alone approximately 3 times a year.
A long time ago, I was solving this puzzle and got stuck at an unguessable (to me) crossing: N. C. WYETH crossing NATICK at the "N"—I knew WYETH but forgot his initials, and NATICK ... is a suburb of Boston that I had no hope of knowing. It was clued as someplace the Boston Marathon runs through (???). Anyway, NATICK— the more obscure name in that crossing—became shorthand for an unguessable cross, esp. where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known. NATICK took hold as crossword slang, and the term can now be both noun ("I had a NATICK in the SW corner...") or verb ("I got NATICKED by 50A / 34D!")
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84 comments:
Hate to be “that guy,” but string beans are, in fact, beans. They’re the young, unripe pods of the same species of plant that produces black beans, pinto beans, etc.
Medium for me too but it felt tougher partially because I did not know (@Rex) FRIEDA or the Bach piece. Plus, while I know UBER, I’ve not heard of (@Rex again) UBER BLACK. I’m kinda with @Rex on this one.
Got FREI... at 17A and (naturally and confidently) filled in FREIDA kahlO. That was quickly corrected by the Beatle at 18D. I hadn't heard of FREIDA PINTO but it filled in quickly from crosses.
Unlike OFL, I liked this one with its two-part revealer.
I found it very easy. I had "Doric" instead of IONIC first, but no other problems. The theme helped me get UBERBLACK and FREIDAPINTO, neither of which I would have come up with otherwise.
I guessed right on the RAMA/MIRO cross. A very pleasant Tuesday morning workout.
This was a “but why” idea for me - no interest in BEAN COUNTERS and some oddball themers. Overall puzzle was fine - not too much pushback. FREIDA was unknown but the crosses were easy enough.
Snoopy
Liked OBERON and the SEABEES - US ARMY pair. ADORBS is brutal as always and YAWED should have been edited out.
Most pleasant experience than the big guy but fully understand his critique.
Me and PAUL
Not worth having the PPP heavy theme with the actress and the artwork clogging up the grid just to get a theme related to beans. Boring with a very giant capital B.
Knowing neither I had MIRi and AIRiNTHEGSTRING. Took me way too long randomly changing things to find it.
AIRONTHEGSTRING makes for a wonderful earworm. Thanks.
Must have been right in my wheelhouse. Fastest Tuesday ever. Liked it, maybe that’s why.
Agree with Rex for once. You just don't have Frieda Pinto crossing with Coe in the NE corner on a Tuesday.
Looks to me like a puzzle getting ready for battle: a fighter pilot (5D), sailors (47A), infantry (46A), engineers (46a), and a quartermaster (56A).
How often do you see a revealer with a coda? Hardly ever, if ever. And this one brought a great gift.
Before revealing BEAN COUNTER, I figured it had BEAN in it somewhere, given the theme answer ends, but couldn’t guess the entire reveal. When I finally uncovered it, it didn’t land strongly. Sure, corporate number crunchers are called bean counters, and there are those beans in the theme answers, but NYT revealers usually pack more punch than that, and I was confused.
But then came the coda, FOUR, and suddenly everything made sense. That brought a mighty “Aha!” because it was so unexpected -- a two-part reveal! And that was my favorite moment of the puzzle.
There was also a mini-theme of names. I counted 10 outright, even without including TRU, ANTMAN, RED BARON, or OBERON. But that’s not all. There were nine names that popped out within answers: OSCARs, freIDA, rELIc, aiRONthe…, seABEes crossing rABE, royAL, anTED, and the glorious RIVAL, which has IVA, VAL, and AL.
Andrea and Kevin, this is your sixth collab, your first five being Mondays. Congratulations on your first Tuesday, and thank you for that sweet coda moment, which made for a lovely springboard to my day!
I don't get your confusion on the theme. Bean counter is a (sometimes mildly derogatory) name for corporate finance types. The fact that it might also refer to literal beans makes it a cute, easy little Tuesday themer. Having us actually count the beans was by no means necessary, but I thought made it totes adorbs.
Scuttlebutt? Has anyone said that since, idk, WWI? Or ever?
I thought it was very easy, probably mostly due to all the old default fill. I'm a little surprised Rex didn't mention the three different military answers (four if you count Air Force ONE). That was probably when I realized this puzzle wasn't trying very hard. Ditto OOH and AAH. If they were both clued "Sound at a firework display" I would have thought it was clever. Clued differently I just thought, "Ugh, lazy."
Not sure what Rex is talking about with string beans. They are absolutely beans.
Super easy. I know Freida Pinto through the movie and remembered it was ‘E before I’ . My assessment of puzzle difficulty is often the opposite of Rex’s.
Made quick work of this but had to guess at the FREIDA/COE crossing. Agreed, E was fairly obvious, but a bummer to finish any puzzle that way. Maybe I’ll remember COE next time.
"Scuttlebutt" is an odd clue for "info," no? When I hear scuttlebutt i think gossip or dirt....
Emo Phillips is hysterical, old or not. Give him a listen.
And I think Coe has been in many puzzles. Maybe not NYT so much?
Anyway, aside from FREIDA, it felt like an easy Monday to me.
Enjoy your time in Colorado, Rex!
For some reason I though this was Wednesday, and thought to myself that the COE/FREIDA cross was borderline unfair for a Wednesday. On Tuesday, it's much worse. Not often you get three WoEs on a Tuesday (COE, FRIEDA PINTO, EMO).
44D of course should be AhH, not AHH. NYT actually got this right a couple of times recently, but they fail much more often.
'SEABEES' comes from an initialism for 'Construction Battalion'. So why isn't it 'ceebees'?
I could’ve sworn it was Shama Lama Ding Dong, not RAMA.
The Oscars may have been highly rated once, but in recent years rates have been steadily declining and can no longer be considered “highly rated”
The Oscars are no longer “highly rated”. Audience share is sinking year by year
Pretty common phrase
Hey All !
Well, I liked it! Rex asks Why? for a bean-themed puz. I ask Why not? Bring on the beans!
I don't get the uproar of including FOUR as a quasi-alt-"Revealer". It probably just ended up there through normal filling of the grid, so the duo said, "Hey, why not include it in the Theme?"
All puzs have dreck, said it many times. Especially tough to fill clean is a swath of three's like we get in NW/SE corners. I believe the duo did good.
Anyway, TuesPuzs will TuesPuz. That's s one was fine.
Had a one-letter DNF at AIR iN THE GSTRING/MIRi. Either one should be correct. 😁
Wonder how many of us will be BEAN COUNTERs Thursday?
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Scuttlebutt, in the past, was used mostly by military personnel. It would encompass asking for information. What’s the scuttlebutt? When are we attacking?
*"Get me out of jail!
Free Dipinto!"*
I liked "Slumdog Millionaire" and totally remember FREIDA PINTO from it, because how could I forget someone with that name? Though I don't think I've seen her in anything since. She is a bit obscure for an early-week puzzle.
@alexscott68 - you are correct, because there are two different songs:
Rama was by the Edsels back in 1957
Shama was by fictional band Otis Day & The Knights, from the movie "Animal House"
Felt very cheated. I had "AIR IN THE G STRING" not "AIR ON THE G STRING". Never heard of Joan Miro. Thumbs down for me.
Even though Freida Pinto hasn’t really acted since slumdog millionaire, she dated her costar (Dev Patel) which provided a lot of tabloid fodder. Since, she has been a fixture in grocery checkout rags, so if you’re slightly in tune with celebrity goings on, this was a gimme.
I saw "Slum Dog Millionaire" a long time ago, so Freida ? Same for "Juno" and Michael ? And of course UBER, but UBER ? Easy crosses, at least, and I knew COE, but prefer Sebastian ___ for that one.
Whiffed on what the theme was going to be by not associating BLACK with BEANs, despite having eaten lots of BLACKBEANS and rice in Central America. Oh well.
OOH and AAH both appear frequently but I don't remember them appearing simultaneously. Not sure this is a noteworthy achievement.
Hey @Roo-no pablos, but a PAUL, so I'm cutting into your insurmountable lead, but not much.
OK Tuesday, KC and ACM. Kinda Clever And Caught Me a little flatfooted with the revealer. Thanks for a decent amount of fun.
I’m continually amazed at the arcane “rules” puzzle critics cite. For example, “You just don't have Frieda Pinto crossing with Coe in the NE corner on a Tuesday.”
Uh, sez who? Would Frieda Pinto be permitted to cross Coe on a day other than Tuesday? Could she cross Roe or Doe but not Coe?
Are these ”shoulds” codified somewhere, or are they just rationalizations dreamed up to satisfy someone’s frustration over a particular puzzle? Inquiring minds want to know.
To all those unfamiliar with Bach's Air On The G String, it might be more familiar to you as the opening notes of Procol Harem's Whiter Shade of Pale
The only way this puzzle could have been made fun would have been to clue 62D for the marina.
Maybe it's an American thing, but I grew up as an Englishman and I have only ever heard it called "Air on a G string", not "the G string". Beside that, I thought the puzzle was cool beans!
FREIDA PINTO?? How quickly we forget. But I have the strongest feeling that you were the seed entry (pun intended) behind this puzzle that boasts a cute revealer. The other themers aren't nearly as "full of beans" as you are, honeybunch.
The most curiosity-provoking clue for me was the option when setting up a new tech device. I had S??? and, being a Luddite, I was thinking "STOP!". But once I had SY, I thought of SYNC right away. My various gadgets -- I don't have a lot, but even a few are too many -- are always wanting me to help them communicate with one another. But I don't want them to. If I let my email know what my cell phone number is, then I'll have to answer my cell phone and I never do. I'm a landline devotee. I only got the cell to be able to call UBER and the rest of the time it sits, turned off, in a drawer. If my friends don't know my cell number, why should Yahoo? Or Google? Or Amazon?
There are entirely too many ants in the superhero universe. What an odd species from which to create a superhero. Is ANTMAN any relation to ATOM ANT? Asking for a friend.
Cute puzzle.
I think this is the first time I cheated on a Tuesday. I saw Slum Dog Millionaire when it came out and of course it made Dev Patel famous, but FREIDA PINTO? I was looking for an Indian name. I usually good at college names but COE eluded me. I can never remember the "I'm not in the office" abbreviation. Was it going to be ARI or iRa? I had Warms instead of CLIMB, EON didn't work so tried AGE, not sure why RUT and ADORBS were so slow to come except at that point I had designed it was going to be a green bean. ARGH. After cheating on the actress name, the puzzle fell into place, but it felt very unsatisfying. (I have heard of UBERBLACK vaguely.) I too thought we might be looking for a military theme.
Pretty much ignored the theme while solving but had suspicions of there being a BEAN or FOUR involved before I even got to the revealer. I found myself agreeing with Rex that STRING was a bit of an outlier. Yes of course it is a bean and it is a legume but at the same time, almost the opposite of the other three, a sort of horse of a different color. It just would’ve been more logical to use another dry pod type like KIDNEY, RED, or BUTTER - common words which seem like they would have been easy enough to incorporate.
Agreeing with Dr A on this one, I've never heard anyone use the term scuttlebutt - where is it a common phrase???
A souped up version of the musings of an Oglala Lakota medicine man: UBERBLACK ELK Speaks.
Hey @Roo and @Pablo. Look who's in the middle of AIRONTH EGS TRING.
I read that the voters of Oregon decided that LSD should BEAN over the COUNTER medicine. Just another reason for IDAHO folk to visit The Beaver State.
People shouldn't be down on this puzzle as it's carrying a heavy load. In fact, it's a PAUL bearer. I LEANTO liking it. Thanks, Kevin Christian and Andrea Carla Michaels.
FOUR BEAN salad is kinda famous, even though there might be some quibbles over which beans should be counted. Overall fun stuff despite some PPP hangups.
Thanks for not disappointing!😂 I was so sure there be a riff on the G String!
I was a little surprised at all the criticism heaped on the puzzle today. First, the 2023 version of The Little Mermaid has a song sung by Awkwafina and Daveed Diggs called The SCUDDLEBUT. Second…I only knew of EMO Philips through crosswords BUT he apparently toured with Weird Al in 2018. Is Jerry Seinfeld stale? (His name doesn’t lend well to fill, for sure). As for PPP, I didn’t know FREIDAPINTO’s name, but Slumdog Millionaire is a classic and the crosses were fair. Sure, MIRO is problematic in that the cross can create the hard choice between in/ON. So, this may be tougher than most Tuesday puzzles. Bottom line, I liked the puzzle.
Okay, so @Rex probably picked a bad legume/bean authority with Randall Beans, a company that sells pre-cooked jars of “mature” beans. He can’t ALWAYS be perfect. Here’s the thing…TODAY I learned that what I call green beans are actually the immature form of those mature beans you can get in cans and jars! But I tend to be the type that thinks that if something is called a bean…good enough for me and my crossword satisfaction. Just don’t call a peanut a nut! ;)
I did the first puzzle in the Will Shortz's era last night. It's 30 years old today. November 21, 1993. It's a complete train wreck, but Will made it clear to everyone what to expect from him on that day. So when I hear some of you complain the puzzles have gotten worse or that Will is losing it, I will remember this puzzle and know you're just fussy.
As for today's puzzle, I loved the theme and thought, unlike 🦖, the reveal tied it up perfectly. Nice fun puzzle.
Tee-Hee: AIR ON A G-STRING is soooo [risque], but thank goodness Johann Sebastian Bach had the forward thinking wisdom to help the NYTXW team be a little less lonely by sharing his naughty little tune. It's not really called that by the way, but who cares when we can talk about underwear for ladies.
Uniclues:
1 The first draft of Dracula entitled, "I'm Gonna Bite You So Hard."
2 Warriors who say, "Pip pip cheerio."
3 We gots taters, we gots right wing wackadoos, and that's all we gots.
4 I will find every penny.
5 Adversary in the Baaa-ttle.
6 Gramma's.
7 Tell Boomers believing they have the best bread to be quiet.
1 BRAM RELIC
2 ROYAL NAVY HERD
3 IDAHO INFO
4 BEAN COUNTER VOW (~)
5 GOAT-OFF RIVAL (~)
6 ADORBS TEA HOUSE
7 CHECK RYE EGOS (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year was actually a poem on the non-word SMAZE:
I'm amazed
I've never heard of SMAZE
I've lived in Denver many days
in thermal inversions I sit on a chaise
sometimes the whole west is ablaze
it sends the roans and bays into a craze
the gays, the fays, all in the same maze
going through a phase of eating Lays
and over-praising local plays
in the smog our spirit sways
as sun rays can't raise
our spirit in clear-aired ways
and it weighs down my ways
as I gaze into dusty airways
like eating from ashtrays
almost always on my birthdays
I've written essays on these displays
and raged in doorways and hallways
and in three of my Hyundais
on the byways and highways and alleyways
polluting Mondays and holidays
and nowadays the runaways and stowaways
don't need resumés or protégés
to paraphrase in cabarets
my tirades on SMAZE
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Not arcane in the slightest. Good v bad puzzle making
Thx, Kevin & ACME; a ROYAL Tues. treat! 😊
Easy.
This would have been a fine Mon. downs only candidate.
Nevertheless, a joyful solve.
___
Croce's 860 was relatively easy (1+ NYT Sat.). Post-solve, had to check in with ChatGPT to grok the 'metaphor idiom'. ⚡️
Balton & Stewart's NYT acrostic was also relatively easy.
On to Anna Shechtman's New Yorker Mon. 🤞, with Neville Fogarty's New Yorker cryptic on tap for tm.
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
Forgot to mention; I would have liked to see MORK CALLING ORSON as a themer. A nice thematic grid-spanner.
@Stuart 9:31 AM
There are no rules in crosswords, but people who solve puzzles love rules and can't help but cry when others don't follow the ones they've made up. So now you also know why there is, in fact, crying in baseball.
Joan Miro was a very successful Spanish (Catalonia) artist who died in 1984 at age 90. He was among all those abstract artists whose fame grew in the mid 1900s. I believe his first name is pronounced “wahn”, but is often pronounced Joan as a woman’s name. I have sometimes read curmudgeonly comments that proclaim “…never heard of her” in blogs such as this one.
Easy and cute. It was a happy moment when I unmasked the BEAN COUNTER: I'd pondered PINTO, BLACK, STRING, and NAVY for commonalities and come up with only colors, a horse or car, and a...string. The kind of fake-out I enjoy. I also liked the pairing of the OSCARS with the Golden GLOBES.
Help from previous puzzles: CERA. Help from living next door to Iowa: COE. No idea: FREIDA PINTO.
@Upstate George 9:59: I confidently wrote AIR ON a G and was astonished to see it wasn't going to fit.
@Teedmn from yesterday - Glad you prevailed! I'm prepared to be laid low (again) any week now - there have been some that have absolutely opaque for me.
I get the impression @RP didn't care beans for this puz.
I will counter slightly, and say it was ok, but sure had trouble with no-know themers FREIDAPINTO & UBERBLACK. Luved the AIRONTHEGSTRING clue, tho. Plus, always hard to beat beans for Thanksgiving.
staff weeject picks: OOH & AAH.
25 weejects, fed by 4-stacks in the NW & SE, plus 3-stacks in the NE & SW. ADORBS.
Thanx for gangin up on us, Ms. ACME darlin & Mr. Christian dude.
Masked & Anonymo5Us
**gruntz**
I'm surprised at the medium rating - I thought it was very easy & a fun puzzle. Thanks, Andrea & Kevin!
@anonymous 2:06 am. Right on Can't imagine why Rex went off on tht tangent . He was riding enough to criticize without such a bizarre claim.
I rather liked the theme. Had no idea what it was until bean counter came into view. Then realized there were fourths of beans named.
Agree Freida's name was very unknown, but it was not too difficult to get from crosses. And despite its frequent (pe Rx) use in the pat had never heard of in the past had never head of Emo Phillips.
@Nancy…hahaha, all I know about ANTMAN is that he is played by Paul Rudd is that he is reputed to be of the nicest guys in Hollywood AND he is cute as a bug (pun intended).
Marveling once again that my 30 year old daughter is faster than I am at crossword puzzles like this, where so many clues reference things from her childhood or before she was born. I'm not terrible (I don't think) she's just amazingly good at puzzles.
Slumdog Millionaire is from 2008
Emo Philips was popular before 2008, it looks like
Juno: 2007
Rama Lama Ding Dong is from 1957
MOOLA, RED BARON, and TRU might also be difficult for anyone under 50.
@egs--Congrats on the inclusion, but I could have done without the PAUL bearer, which is something I'd rather not think about.
From the USDA: “Green peas and green (string) beans are not counted in the beans, peas, and lentils vegetable subgroup because the nutrient content of these vegetables is more similar to vegetables in other subgroups. Green peas, which are not dried before consumption, are grouped with starchy vegetables. Green beans are in the other vegetables subgroup, which includes onions, iceberg lettuce, celery, and cabbage. Beans, peas, and lentils (or pulses, as they are also known) include the dried edible seeds of legumes. Beans include varieties such as kidney beans, pinto beans, white beans, black beans, lima beans, and fava beans. Also included are dried peas (e.g., chickpeas, black-eyed peas, pigeon peas, and split peas) and lentils.”
@Frank Lynch 9:32 – "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" doesn't actually quote anything by Bach directly, but the organ line does have a similarity to the melody of "Air on a G String".
This was quite difficult for me, I needed a hint for 37A because I spent a very long time trying to think of a risque bean that started with G. I've heard of that Bach piece before, but I didn't know it was by Bach and it didn't come to mind.
In addition, I am personally banning this COE nonsense from all future Tuesdays. I didn't have time to consult Stuart. Sorry, I don't make the rules 🤷
When I saw that the grid had 40 black squares I knew that there would be a parade of three and four letter entries. It's hard to get solvers to OOH and AAH over all that perfunctory glue holding everything together. If you like a balance between the theme and quality fill, I think this one was a bit wide of the mark.
BEANs were a garden staple when I was growing up in Tennessee farm country long ago in the previous century. The main type was called green BEANs. Harvested early, while they were literally still green, they could be cooked and eaten whole, both outer pod and inner BEANs. But first the end of each BEAN would have to be broken off (producing a sharp snapping sound) and the cellulose STRING-like fiber on each side pulled away. So they were also known as snap BEANs or STRING BEANs.
If memory serves me correctly, I agree with @Anon 2:06 AM. If left on the vine long enough, the outer pod will dry up and turn a brownish yellow. Then only the inner BEAN would be edible. The STRING BEAN becomes a PINTO BEAN.
@Gary J 11:06, If you believe that "There are no rules in crosswords", as you say, then I'm guessing you haven't submitted a puzzle for publication. Each publisher has rules for acceptable puzzles and many of these are listed at Cruciverb.com. The New York Times has there own Puzzle Submission Guideline page that includes Technical Specs.
Before I leave, my inner nine year old would like to say something:
Beans, beans, good for the heart
The more you eat, the more you fart
The more you fart, the better you feel
So eat beans for every meal
I'll show myself out.
@kitshef 8:36
The Seabees (construction battalion) is spelled SEAbees because it's a part of the Navy. My husband was with the Seabees in Vietnam.
"The Fighting Seabees" is a 1944 film with John Wayne. Worth watching.
@Anoa
I learned it as
Beans, beans. The musical fruit.
The more you eat, the more you toot.
The more you toot ...
Excellent uniclues, lovely poem, perfect post.
Hi Lewis. I'm scooting in here trying to figure out how to sign up for this blog since Nancy would like to know who i am and connect outside of Wordplay, IRL.
I don't see a way anywhere on this blog, so I'm trying through replying. ;-)
EMO Philips is way more entertaining than EMO music. Keep the clue as-is.
@egs
Har! Nice catch. Notch one for you!
RooMonster On The Lookout For More EGS Guy
Just saw your 4:13 query to Lewis, @sotto voce. Welcome! Lewis is a good person to ask, I'm sure, and there are other people here who are knowledgeable about the process of getting a "blue name". (@JC66 is one, @teedmn is another.)
Now how can I have a blue name and a blog profile and yet not be able to tell you how to proceed? Other people here helped me set my profile up back in 2014 and I have no memory of what they told me all those years ago. I scarcely remember what I had for dinner last night. @Hartley (who's sadly not posting much these days) chose my avatar and put it up on the profile for me all the way from CT!!! and then called me to say she had a "surprise" for me. I never touch or change anything on my profile, NEVER!, because if I lose it all, I'll never be able to duplicate it.
If, because people are right now away for/traveling to/preparing for Thanksgiving, you don't get the help you need, don't despair. Try again after the holiday. Also posting any request early in the day is always better. But I guarantee you that someone more tech-savvy than I (a very low bar, btw) will help you out soon.
Gary — Love the last uniclue today. Living in Mamaroneck, NY, as I do, I have failed countless times to CHECK RYE EGOS. It ain’t easy, believe me.
Same here
While I never use it, I know the term very well. It started as an old term on sailing ships for a container of water around which sailors used to stand on breaks and trade rumors
That naturally led it being used for rumors in the navy and then to the general public. After WWII everyone knew what it meant. and many used it. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is still in use among at least some older people.
I mostly see it in writing now but still part of the language. it is a lot better than ABES and the like!
Notice that while Rex criticized the puzzle for old and musty answers he didn’t complain about the clue. Nothing wrong with it.
Agree!
Seabees. Part of the NAVY hence SEA bee. Their symbol was a cartoon bee with a Tommy gun and a navy cap.
Too easy to be entertaining, in the 1st place. After spending the entire day picking up a locally raised organic turkey, spatchcocking it, prepping the dressing and making dinner, at last I was able to sit down and relax with my martini -- to this?
Because network viewership is down so much in general they are still relatively highly rated. They also had a significant increase last Winter when Jimmy Kimmel was host so they may have bottomed out.
I saw that complaint also about the “woman “ Joan Miro.
being too obscure.
Well, then it's a good thing the USDA has no authority on deciding what is or is not a bean.
@JC66 Yes I've also heard that version. It was less likely to elicit a stern look at grandmas' dinner table but my inner nine year old prefers "fart" to "toot".
For anyone thinking about creating a Blogger account and going blue on OFL's comment board, click on support.google.com/blogger.
@sotto voce -- See Anoa Bob's post at 7:04 p.m.
Quite funny you used the phrase "oddball themers," a day later.
SEABEES = CBs, or Construction Battalion. But yeah, they're NAVY.
Bringing us to an ARMY/NAVY mini-theme, to join FLORET/RABE for you broccoli lovers.
I like a theme when I can't figure out what it is on the way down. This was ONE of them. I was: OK, you got me, I give.* Then when the revealer hit, it was an AAH moment. Nice.
Threes abound. I see @M&A counted them: 25 of the "lil darlins." There's bound to be some iffy fill in all that, but overall, a birdie.
Wordle par.
*You got me, I give: WHAT in Tarnation was the SB pangram today?
COLE slaw in the corners to go with your various BEANS. Andrea Carla Michaels is not only a superb crossword constructor but is also known as the “Pizza Lady” who feeds the homeless on the streets of San Francisco.
https://abc7news.com/pizza-homeless-woman-gives-out-free-to-people-san-francisco/3706290/
SYNC-AAH-RAMA
THE INFO ON OSCAR’S REPUTE
Was HERD TO BEE THE wrong thing;
ONE MAN said he’s OFF of THE flute
TO blow AIRONTHEGSTRING.
--- EMMY MAE OBERON
So we get the ARMY and NAVY to OOH and AHH over the OSCARS and an EMMY. And ACME got her handle in on the 41a clue. Along with a lot of 3s. Yikes! Pretty easy though.
Wordle will have to wait for now.
Happy Boxing Day!
If the clue is Iowa college, and the answer is three letters long, then it is Coe. An absolute freakin gimme any day of the week. It appears in NYTxwords alone approximately 3 times a year.
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