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Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- ON THE FENCE (16A: Thinking A or B ... hmm ...)
- WISHY-WASHY (23A: Thinking A ... no, B ... no, A)
- OF TWO MINDS (48A: Thinking A ... but also thinking B? Gah!)
- UP IN THE AIR (60A: Thinking A ... B ... maybe even C?)
Vincent Thomas Lombardi (June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in American football history, and he is recognized as one of the greatest coaches and leaders in the history of all American sports. He is best known as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers during the 1960s, where he led the team to three straight and five total NFL Championships in seven years, in addition to winning the first two Super Bowls at the conclusion of the 1966 and 1967 NFL seasons. (wikipedia)
• • •
Anyway, as I said, I don't think FATIGUE is conveyed very well at all here. You've got indecision. That's what you've got. I guess if you take the themer clues as one long monologue, you could imagine that the would-be decided is "fatigued" by the end there (I know I was). But really you've just got four adjectival phrases conveying indecision, the end. I don't think WISHY-WASHY goes with the others. It's not really a this-or-that decision-related word—"feeble or insipid in quality or character; lacking strength or boldness," says Oxford Languages (aka Google). Yes, I guess lack of boldness i.e. total commitment is a kind of indecision. Ish. Sorta. But not nearly to the same degree that ON THE FENCE, OF TWO MINDS, and UP IN THE AIR are. There's nothing surprising or particularly clever going on here, thematically. Just four indecision-related phrases that fit symmetrically. The cluing is trying its darnedest to make the theme into something more ... dramatic, or cohesive, I guess, but having a generic voice go "A? B?" isn't exactly evocative of ... well, anything.
The long Downs are rock solid, and FAT CHANCE and "I SAW THAT!" are winners under any circumstances. There wasn't much that was challenging about this puzzle *except* the clue on ECHOES (4D: REPEATS, repeats, repeats), which, in my software *and* on the NYT puzzle site, appears to have the last "repeats" in some kind of subscript. I thought for sure that there was some technical glitch in my software, so I went to the NYT puzzle site, but found basically the same thing:
Now I see that what was happening was that the font size was shrinking ... which is a cool way to convey the fading sound of an echo. The apparent subscript thing just interfered with the effect. Anyway, I had the initial "E" for that one and semi-confidently but possibly wishywashily wrote in not ECHOES but ETCETC. But after I finally got that cleaned up, the only significant hesitation I had for the rest of the solve came while trying to parse MAESTRI from the back end (57A: Super conductors?). -I, -RI, -TRI, -STRI ... still no idea. -ESTRI ... there, finally, I got it. MAESTRI. Oof. Not a great aha, this arbitrarily Italianed plural ("maestros" is totally acceptable, probably more common, and certainly less pretentious than MAESTRI in English). Wrote in "I'M LATE" before "I'M BUSY" (29A: "It's going to have to wait"). Enjoyed the serendipitous intersection of TWO (in OF TWO MINDS) and DOS (45D: Twice 32-Down (i.e. twice UNO)). That's all I've got to say about this one. See you next time.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Easy theme to pick up with some interesting fill. "Super conductors" was a terrific clue for MAESTRI, which looked wrong, but is the correct plural form of "maestro."
ReplyDeleteMy only stumbling block was the SWOOSH/THA cross. I didn't know either, but made a lucky guess.
SWOOSH but no whoosh today.
ReplyDeleteNo resistance today. I had ALARM before FLARE with just the __AR_, but OAT__MINDS didn't work and I quickly fixed it. Other than that there was nothing challenging today. I agree with @Rex about the theme, but despite the cluing I enjoyed figuring out the phrases. And I think of WISHY-WASHY as indecisive, so I see how it fit in with the rest.
ReplyDeleteFinished the puzzle with the same ALARM -> FLARE correction
DeleteI beat you both. I had alert AND alarm before flare.
Delete
ReplyDeleteMy only overwrite was at 49D, where my emergency signal was an aLARm before it was a FLARE.
Agree, a bit too easy for a Wednesday puzzle but I’m on a 52 day solving streak so I’ll take a gimme this morning.
ReplyDeleteJust a couple of nits about the fill (I bet MAUS and YMA just look like pure gibberish to many, for example). It seems like one should be able to construct a puzzle without having to search worldwide and hope that someone is named YMA.
ReplyDeleteOn a positive note - if you’re going to do the “guess the language” genre, please keep it to URDU, THAI or LAO (which seems to be a sub-theme this week). Similarly, if you insist on having a foreign contingent, keep it to the UNO, DOS stuff and actually ABIDE by that “common usage” constraint for a change instead of just paying lip service to it.
The theme was fine. Entries are a common enough stand-alone and the revealer is close enough for CrossWorld. Nice pleasant Wednesday morning solve.
I got yma by chance because the down clues for it were obvious to me. Didn't even realize that was an answer until reading your comment.
DeleteAs for Maus, it's pretty common in high school and college curriculum now... And was first on the nyt bestseller list as recently as 2020 due to book ban backlash. It's one people really should know at this point.
@Southside YMA Sumac was prolific in past puzzles. It's been a while since we've seen her, but keep it in mind because we'll see it again.
DeleteAgree with Wishy-washy. Pedroinnh calls answers like YMA old friends. We haven’t seen her in a while but we will meet again.
DeleteThought the puzzle was fine.
Rex of course knows that words can have different meanings. But he didn’t like the theme so he ignored the fact that wishy-washy definitely can have an indecisive element to it.
Decision fatigue is a very modern concept! It's popularized by social media and the first article I can find about it was from 2011. Rest of the puzzle was definitely last century though
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that psychologists have been researching the subject of decision fatigue for a while. But I completely agree that it is pretty new in popular culture. Maybe Rex heard about it as he is an academic and he doesn’t realize that it is a relatively new concept for most people.
DeleteI first heard it discussed about say too many choices in the supermarket or other stores The point being fewer choices can be better for your mental health.
DEFT indeed. First Ruth comes up with a theme based on DECISION FATIGUE, which is not your typical wordplay theme. Then she comes up with four phrases that exemplify said fatigue – impressive enough, IMO, but then, to satisfy the requirements of symmetry, they each have the same number of letters! And… they are lively and interesting!
ReplyDeleteThe theme requires a constraining 55 squares, and yet there’s hardly a whiff of junk in the grid. Plus, despite the constraint, there are sparks – SWOOSH! MAESTRI (with its terrific superconductor clue)! I SAW THAT! FAT CHANCE! References to Bette Midler and ANN Patchett! A smile-inducing rhyming clue in [Letters for debtors]! DEFT indeed.
All this gives the puzzle an out-of-the box feel immersed in the sheen of quality.
IOU gratitude, Ruth, and a standing O for making this. You’re just shy of a creating a decade of NYT crossword puzzles, but there’s nothing but freshness and bounce here. Brava!
Here is my one piece of advice – free of charge. The more difficulty you have in making a choice, the less difference it makes, so you may as well flip a coin and get on with your life.
ReplyDeleteI find I often disagree with Vince LOMBARDI quotes about sports, this one included. But outside of sports, he had a lot of good qualities. Anti-racist and anti-homophobic in a time and profession when that was rare.
By the way, I highly recommend Ann Patchett’s latest novel, “Tom Lake”. It’s one of those special won’t-forget-in-a-long-time reads, with characters beautifully drawn, an engaging story, and pleasurable touches page after page – turns of phrase, canny observations, and lovely rhythm of words, all of which define this author’s work. From the first page to the last. One terrific read.
ReplyDeleteA hand-crafted puzzle — the folk art of Crossworld.
ReplyDeleteI loved FATCHANCE, and the themer made me laugh out loud. Well, snort out loud.
Good stuff, Ms. Margolin!
Decision fatigue is most certainly a modern thing. It's meaning is less "tired of making decisions" and more "unable to decide due to too many decisions being presented"
ReplyDeleteIt's seen most often in discussions surrounding mental health.
If that’s true, then the cluing here is really off, since “A or B?” doesn’t exactly constitute being overwhelmed by options
DeleteVery easy here. Strangely enough I had the same experience as OFL with MASESTRI, except I had the initial MAES leading to confusion but crosses resolved that.
ReplyDeleteThe ECHOES clue was obvious and reminded me of my beginning attempts at doing the NYT xword with my department chairman when I was a first year teacher. We came across a clue which was "reecho", which we pronounced "ree--cho" and were baffled. Finally we gave up and looked up "reecho", discovering that it meant "to echo again". Oh. (Apologies if I have posted this story before, but I still like it.)
Today's highlight was the reappearance of YMA Sumac, another old friend from my early crossworld years. Hola! Thought you were gone forever, and welcome back.
I liked your breezy Wednesdecito just fine, RBM. Resided Between Monday and Tuesday in terms of difficulty, but I did learn DECISIONFATIGUE, so there's that. Thanks for a decent sized helping of fun.
I'm "fatigued" from seeing Rex rank every single puzzle as easy, no matter how many MAESTRI they shoehorn into it. No matter how many obscure architects. No matter how many "CANTS" for "tilt"????!!! Most definitely a medium puzzle at best for a Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know if it helps , but I kind of look at OFL as playing in the Majors and me at best AAA. So, if it is easy for him, in some cases I will shake my head and smile. It’s kind of my feelings about @Lewis—I know there will always be a good word for the puzzle and that he is also playing in the majors since he finds more in a puzzle that I can in a month of puzzles. It helps me strive to get better at it. I have loved the language since I was knee high to a grasshopper sixty plus years ago and was fortunate enough to have a career where language was at the heart of what I did everyday. So, hopefully , I will get a smile at someone’s three minutes to solve a puzzle which I was happy to finish in 30.
DeleteThanks. Well said.
DeleteUGH is apt. THA atop THAI crossing MAESTRI? Add in MISS M and the UNO-DOS combo and we’re teetering on a mess.
ReplyDeleteDECISION FATIGUE?
Little Queenie
Not too bad for me, except for the top middle - CRU crossed with RICOH I had no idea on either and was blanking on DAIS.
ReplyDeleteThe themers would have been suited much better to a revealer of DECISION PARALYSIS rather than FATIGUE
ReplyDeleteBut decision paralysis doesn’t fit.
DeleteClose enough for crosswords
Beautifully done! Smooth and fun ! I loved it !
ReplyDeleteJust old-fashioned fun. Decision fatigue is a real thing, maybe not quite as interpreted in the puzzle, but close enough. Some GREAT clues.
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteDecent theme. Nice 15 Revealer. Fill okay. Not sure I agree with the RexGripe of the cheater squares. There's only TWO. The bottom one could be replaced by an S, getting you HISS/DENTS, but the top one would require redoing that section. There's two Themers one row apart in there, with a 7 twixt them, so that is likely the reason. Acceptable, IMO.
Anyway, nice F-filled theme. π Interesting idea for a theme. I thought the cluing for said Theme made it good!
Wednesday already. Time flies when you're having fun. Happy Hump Day.
Five F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
There was a time, a few years ago, when Rex would be calling for Shortz head for the insipid quality of the NYT puzzles. I guess he has just given up. As have I.
ReplyDeleteFunny... my book club meets today and for a change we decided to each read a banned book and give a brief report (better be brief; we have 15 regulars) and I chose MAUS. Not sure why @Rex thinks it's obscure??
ReplyDeletePuzzle very easy. I haven't posted in awhile because you all usually cover my thoughts before I get here and my (still) fracture brain is a bit weak. Like I picked up the Sunday puzz and after 5 min I had... nothing. But then the next day , bam, done in 12 minutes. Never know when the synapses will fire.
Belated Happy Thanksgiving to all.
To the 7:53 Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle may not be as easy as your average Monday, but it was incredibly easy for a Wednesday. I finished it in half my usual Wednesday time. And while I admit the only architect most people can name is Frank Lloyd Wright, I. M. Pei is pretty iconic. He designed the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, The Louvre Pyramid, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in crossword land he's very popular for his abundance of vowels. Yma is also worth learning, she appears regularly.
I finally made myself read Maus a few years back, you have to be ready to be depressed.
While I wasn't a fan of the way the themers were clued, I thought this was a fine puzzle, and yes the clue for MAESTRI was great, and enjoyed that plural!
From the Wikipedia for Decision Fatigue: "For example, major politicians and businessmen such as former United States President Barack Obama, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg have been known to reduce their everyday clothing down to one or two outfits in order to limit the number of decisions they make in a day."
ReplyDeleteI definitely remember hearing this about Obama back when he was President, so Decision Fatigue has been a "thing" since at least the end of his Presidency.
To make the puzzle more current I might have suggested for 67A “A man of THEIR word.”
ReplyDeleteSome of us do the variety puzzle in the Saturday WSJ. The last one was by Patrick Berry and titled Pencil Boxes. One of the toughest -- I needed five cheats. Made even tougher by having what seems to be a wrong answer for the clue "Beethoven's longest symphony."
ReplyDeleteWow i thought decision fatigue was an older term than it is.
ReplyDeletelike 7:53Anon I have seen some difficult Mondays and Tuesdays recently get rated Easy but I figure as I do more puzzles I'll learn the crosswordese that holds me up there
DuckTeconMajor. About crosswordese, learning the old standbys does make these puzzles a lot easier. Otherwise obscure answers are quickly filled in.
DeleteThere's a time for modern and a time for old-school. For me, this was a great time for old-school, which is exactly what this puzzle was. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteNothing WISHY-WASHY about this puzzle. As opposed to many recent vernacular phrase-themed puzzles that were sloppy in their equivalency of clues and answers, this one is right on target with all of its themers -- all of which are squarely in the language.
ReplyDeleteAnd look at the density of the theme answers in the fill! Really nice, Ruth.
There were also some lovely clues for the non-themers. I especially liked the ones for SIRENS, ECHOES and BOW.
The one term I'd never heard was DECISION FATIGUE -- but maybe that's because I've never suffered from it. While there are many aspects of my temperament that I might like to change if I could -- such as my enormous tendency to worry, for example -- the one thing I've always liked most about myself is that I'm quite decisive. I make the best, most rational decision I can at the time, based on the circumstances of the moment and the knowledge that I have, and then I let it go. I just about never second-guess myself.
I thought this was a beautifully-made puzzle that was fun to solve. The fact that it was a bit easy for a Wednesday and might have been run on a Tuesday wasn't Ruth's DECISION to make.
Very engaging from the outset and I zipped right along despite a couple of clunkers, and a final wipeout on CRU. Losing to a three-letter wine term is a dark mark in my soul especially anytime it reeks of privilege. I don't think of CANTS outside of boating, so wine plus boat equals snobbery, unless the boat is an innertube and the wine is Coors.
ReplyDeleteThe theme was unusual and interesting. Weird clues, common phrases, and a you betcha reveal. I like it.
MAESTRI = Plural of in-your-face.
I always laugh when π¦ says a puzzle is old fashioned. When you've been doing this same exact highly structured and self-limiting activity for decades it seems likely you'll find plenty of musty stuff every day. They're not making new words all that quickly, and when they do, we complain about the words being stupid.
Uniclues:
1 Result of me making important decisions.
2 Those pains that could either be a terminal illness or gassiness.
3 A pillow under your desk.
4 Billionaires in outerspace {echo, echo}.
5 Fellow decides at 60 it's time to get over childhood trauma.
6 Crossword constructor's mantra.
7 The sounds in the heads of every coach-wanna-be.
8 Decides to major in Ancient Civilizations.
1 COMES TO ABYSS
2 WISHY-WASHY ACHE (~)
3 DEFT "I'M BUSY" INN
4 UP IN THE AIR CASH (~)
5 REST HIS ISSUE
6 USE-SST YAYAS
7 LOMBARDI SIRENS
8 OKAYS EGYPTIANS
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Cross-dresser does marriage better than anybody. LOLA OWNED "I DO".
¯\_(γ)_/¯
I have actually been to YMA Sumac's hometown, Aguas Calientes, Peru. It's at the foot of Machu Picchu. The hotel bathroom sink had only one spigot, it was not caliente.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was great that the constructor found four vivid 10-letter phrases that all provide an image of "I can't decide": being on a FENCE or UP IN THE AIR, or in a top-loading washing machine with the agitator going back and forth, or choose-your-own rendition of what having TWO MINDS might look like. I hadn't heard of DECISION FATIGUE, but guessed it when I had the C and the final I. My other small moment of triumph was getting MAESTRI from the I (admittedly, really small, given how few i-plurals we have). The long Downs were a treat.
ReplyDeleteNice enough puzzle but I was a little ON THE FENCE about the theme. I hate being WISHY-WASHY but I just can’t say I either loved or hated this. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if I’m completely out of the loop with modern day expressions but I have never heard of DECISION FATIGUE. And MAESTRI seemed like it was only there to ANNOY. But setting aside an ITSY bitsy ISSUE or TWO like that - it was A-OKAY.
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't read Maus, do yourself a favor and get it. My college roommate had it on the shelf and I picked it up on a whim. I'm not a big comic book or graphic novel person generally, but it moved me immensely.
ReplyDeletePatrick Berry must hand-make most of his xwords … cuz almost all of em have cheater squares, even tho they're often themeless. soooo … vive le handmades!
ReplyDeleteSomeday we will no doubt get a totally AI-made puz. Will be interestin, but U could get some pretty obscure fillins, if the AI machine has access to all known words and phrases in the universe, no matter how old or obscure. And will the AI machine be informed about use of cheater squares? Will it use them to appear to be more human?
staff weeject pick: THA. Hand-made THE, I reckon. Primo central weeject stack, btw.
Tha theme was an A … no … more like a B … maybe even a U? Gah! har!
some fave stuff: ECHOES & MAESTRI clues. SWOOSH. IMBUSY. FATCHANCE. EGYPTIANS. ISAWTHAT.
Thanx for the fun, Ms. Margolin handmaid darlin. Good job bringin out yer human YAYAS.
Masked & Anonymo6Us
made with the usual inhuman touches:
**gruntz**
Untrue about Berry on multiple fronts. Also this puzzle is not in his league.
DeleteSolved mostly the downs and began singing Bo Burham's "Jeffery Bezos" to myself at the outset: "CEO ANN-trepreneur . . ."
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/lI5w2QwdYik?si=lvNHPG5J7ZVcIUAm
I avoided reading the theme clues and had a delightful solving experience. "OF TWO MINDS" was the hardest to parse without the clues, but everything fell into place pretty easily and the theme explains itself just fine without the "A/B(C) testing."
Not sure why the revealer insists on the modernity of "DECISION FATIGUE." Wouldn't "The Psychological Exhaustion in this puzzle's theme" read more cleanly? Does the phrase "modern term" really add anything but ballast to the clue? For some reason, this chafes me.
Anyway, fun, whoosh-y solve.
Response of the single girl to the unwelcome advances of the famous architect: IMBUSY IMPEI.
ReplyDeleteThe Divine MISSM put the ASS back in SASSY.
If you want to go on about the old vibe of this puzzle, how about Lenny "NAILS" Dykstra next to Bucky DENT? Both are 3 time All Stars.
The LOMBARDI quote that has always left me scratching my head was "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." Maybe he was just weak on the concept of synonyms? We don't play with a football, we play with a pigskin. And we don't play in shoes, we play in cleats. And we'd be fine if they just got rid of the referees and substituted officials.
I thought it was a pretty nifty puzzle. Thanks, Ruth Bloomfield Margolin.
I enjoyed the puzzle and am a little “put out” that @Rex seemed to imply the puzzle skewed too “last century” due to IMPEI, MISSM, YAYAS, DESI, and YMA. I’ll give a pass on YMA but she is a crosswordese outlier. DESI has been in two very recent movies/documentaries, Lucy & DESI (2022) and Being the Ricardos (2021). Charlie Chaplin is last century and before my time but I know who he is. IMPEI is the Louvre (among other things) architect. Would Christopher Wren be “so 17th century”? Also, Bette Middler and The Rolling Stones are classic at this point. Good grief. I may not know the names of musical works by Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, etc…but I’m darn well not going to accuse a puzzle of skewing “old” if they are clued. Okay, I’m done.
ReplyDeleteHere is one example of why I do NOT mind things being in puzzles that I do not know…MANY years ago MAUS was an answer in the NYT puzzle. Given the clueing, I was intrigued and checked it out of the library. An absolutely riveting and emotional read as @Dorkito Supremo said above.
Very easy. But I have writeovers across the 15-letter middle. I began in the NW and headed south. So, with the DEC in place, I confidently entered DECEMBER. Then FATIGUE. Seemed "modern" enough and ECHOES my mood at this time of year. But Bette Midler saved me right away, TIS true.
ReplyDeleteYMA Sumac used to be on TV a lot; she was famous for her vocal range, which went very high. I think the current understanding is that Xavier Cugat, her husband, took advantage of her, but I may be recalling it wrong. If one is old enough to remember YMA, one is probably too old to remember anything correctly.
ReplyDeleteAll conductors, good or bad, are MAEATRI -- that's just what they're called. So I don't get the "super" in the clue. But I guess in the popular vernacular it has come to mean someone who is particularly good at his or her craft, so OK.
Anyway, I loved this puzzle for including CANT and DEFT, two beautiful words we don't see enough.
Thx, Ruth; nothing WISHY WASHY about this one. Loved it! π
ReplyDeleteEasy-med (just a guess, as I did it downs-only).
Since I have the time to spare, I'll be attempting downs-only solves for all Mon-Wednes NYTs.
Went with Don Shula before LOMBARDI, so that was my main holdup. Had the 'O' from OKRA / OKAY, then eventually WISHY WASHY & DECISION FATIGUE made Vince appear.
Got UP IN THE AIR fairly early on, so the theme was pretty easy to suss out, esp having the GUE to work with, which I first pegged as vaGUE.
Getting all the crosses for SWOOSH gave me THA, then ASPER, which I didn't parse, but thot ____gum. lol
Lotsa fun! A very enjoyable trip! :)
Thx @Lewis (7:33 AM) for the ANN Patchett 'Tom Lake' heads-up. I'm #461 on the waiting list for the audiobook. :)
___
K.A.C.'s Mon. New Yorker was relatively easy (1+ NYT Sat.). Three unknowns in the center downs, but fair crosses came to the rescue. :)
___
Peace π πΊπ¦ ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude & a DAP to all π π
@jberg, I’m pretty sure it was Charo who was married to Xavier Cugat at the time of his death. I saw HER a lot at one point on Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Now I’m intrigued about YMA so I’ll see if I can find her on YouTube.
ReplyDeleteEasy. Pretty SWOOSHy. No WOEs and epson before RICOH was it for erasures. Smooth grid, fun theme, a couple of sparkly long downs. liked it.
ReplyDeleteI get DECISION FATIGUE selecting bananas and oranges in the produce section.
@Lewis - I’m about 1/3 into “Tom Lake” and it is definitely a terrific read. I also highly recommend it.
@bocamp -- That "Tom Lake" audio is by Meryl Streep, by the way.
ReplyDelete@Lewis (3:02 PM)
ReplyDeleteAn added bonus, indeed! :)
___
Peace π πΊπ¦ ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude & a DAP to all π π
@jae (2:25) -- Go with the bananas over the oranges -- easier to rhyme.
ReplyDelete@dgd-I do indeed call some answers like Yma old friends, but I am no Pedro. You are confusing me with my brother, who would be "Pedro" in Spanish.
ReplyDeleteTrue story.
And no, there is no "Maria".
@ Southside Johnny Idid think Yma might be unfamiliar to many because I remember her from my childhood. I was surprised on Googling to learn that she had been active until only a decade or so ago and also that I was a bit older than I thought when my father brought home a recording and I heard her remarkable voice .I had been thinking 40's but read it was early 50's.
ReplyDeleteStill, her name has been in another puzzle or two recently so it shouldn't have too strange.
Loved the clues for ehoes (my fave because it was visual) and Maestri.
Easy for the midweek slot. As has been said, the themers are just expressions of the same idea; one clue would have sufficed for the four of them. They are, however, good, familiar sayings. The central term I didn't know but inferred with a FEW crosses.
ReplyDeleteNice to see LOMBARDI in there. DOD is the divine Miss YMA. Noticed: ECHOES/SIRENS symmetry. Learned: that CONEY Island...isn't. Birdie.
Wordle birdie.
The reveal needed to be better for this one to land.
ReplyDeleteHIS ISSUE
ReplyDeleteISAWTHAT U were ONTHEFENCE,
WISHYWASHY, saying 'CANT'S',
you're OFTWOMINDS not worth TWO cents,
and I'MBUSY, so FATCHANCE.
--- MISS YMA LOMBARDI, CEO
Ontheotherhand a decent Weds-puz. The former local Morning Show here on would occasionally play something by YMA Sumac; I miss that show even after 15 years or so.
ReplyDeleteWordle par. ThIRd shot did not fall.
I was going to post a comment earlier, but...
ReplyDeleteAnd then...
Yet...
Reminds me of an old Emily Latella routine on SNL. "If it's not one thing, it's another..."
And remember - two heads are better than one.
And just to add - I remember learning "idioms" in ASL, and my teacher explaining the absurdity of "ONTHEFENCE" to the signing deaf community, AKA Big D Deaf. "Train gone sorry"
Diana, LIW