Sunday, December 24, 2023

Fictional band fronted by David St. Hubbins / SUN 12-24-23 / Highly prized collectibles, in lingo / Dude, in modern slang / Kim's ex, in tabloids / Locale in the final scene in "Vertigo" / Name of Lincoln's favorite dog / Ancient landmark whose name translates to "high city" / Aphrodite's frequent companion / Lover of Hero in Greek myth

Constructor: Drew Schmenner

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium


THEME: "Wrap Stars" — an "ELF" rebus—five "ELF" squares, whom the puzzle calls SANTA'S LITTLE HELPERS (get it, 'cause they're helpers and they're little, i.e. smushed into single squares) (100A: Workers seen in five squares in this puzzle?):

Theme answers:
  • SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTER / CRUEL FATE (26A: One who's not afraid to brag / 9D: What awaits a tragic hero)
  • FEEL FOR / CARAMEL FLAN (34A: Sympathize with / 3D: Sweet custardy concoction)
  • BARRELFUL / ANGEL FOOD CAKE (54A: Quantity of beer ... or monkeys? / 39D: Spongy dessert)
  • HEEL FLIPS / PERSONNEL FILE (72A: Skateboard tricks started by kicking with the back foot / 36D: Record kept on an employee)
  • BELFRY / OFF THE SHELF (117A: Locale of the final scene in "Vertigo" / 75D: Not custom, as merchandise)
Word of the Day: MING-NA Wen (97A: Actress Wen of "The Mandalorian") —

Ming-Na Wen (Chinese溫明娜; born November 20, 1963) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Melinda May / The Cavalry in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013–2020). Wen made her breakthrough in The Joy Luck Club (1993) as June Woo. She also voiced the eponymous character in the animated film Mulan, its sequel, and reprised the role as Mulan in the video game. Additionally, Wen made a cameo appearance in the live-action remake of Mulan (2020).

She is also known for playing Fennec Shand in The Mandalorian (2019–2020), Star Wars: The Bad Batch(2021), and The Book of Boba Fett (2021–2022) and for playing Dr. Jing-Mei "Deb" Chen in the medical drama series ER (1995–2004). Her other works include Kingdom Hearts II (2005), Sofia the First (2014), and Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018); the roles of Chun-Li in Street Fighter (1994), Detective Ellen Yin in The Batman (2004–2005); and Camile Wray in Stargate Universe (2009–2011). She was honored as a Disney Legend in 2019. (wikipedia)

• • •

It's Saturday night and my daughter just got into town so I am not going to spend too much time with you all tonight. Priorities! This puzzle was fine. Five small ELFs, OK. The only "Santa's Little Helper" I recognize is Bart Simpson's dog, but if that's what these guys wanna call themselves today, fine by me. The theme itself is pretty light (one-note concept, with only five relevant squares—I've seen as many if not more rebus squares in a 15x15 grid before), but the "ELF"-containing answers are frequently good—the best thing about the grid by far. SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTER is a real winner, and the others are pretty good too, or at least OK. The worst of them was OFF THE SHELF, which is bad mainly because of its clue (75D: Not custom, as merchandise). The term is "off-the-rack." It means specifically "ready-made, rather than made to order," and is used specifically of clothing. OFF THE SHELF is how things fly during big sales. Maybe. Still, "ELF" answers are mostly good, and the grid is mostly solid, and I've had far less enjoyable Sunday experiences, for sure. So let's just call this a win.


I just watched The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) today (part of the Criterion Channel's current Hitchcock collection, and one of the few post-1940 Hitchcock movies I hadn't seen). It's not one of his best, though it is compelling for a number of reasons, one of which is Doris Day looks amazing and sings "Que Sera Sera" a whole bunch. The other is that you can see Hitchcock working out things he ends up using in other movies, like big taxidermy scenes (see Psycho), and, to my astonishment, a Jimmy-Stewart-in-a-bell-tower scene (see Vertigo)! At least, I would've called it a "bell tower." Apparently that is what BELFRY means. I have never heard the term BELFRY used without bats being somewhere very nearby. Which is to say I've never heard it used any way but metaphorically. But since I knew I was dealing with an "ELF" rebus, BELFRY wasn't that hard to turn up. 


I had BRUV before BRUH (99A: Dude, in modern slang). Apparently BRUV is exclusively British? Hmm. I've heard it a bunch, but maybe I just ... watch a lot of British things / listen to a lot of British hip-hop? I have no idea. I forgot about MING-NA Wen. I don't know her from all her "Star Wars" / Marvel baloney, but I definitely remember her from her many years on "ER" (97A: Actress Wen of "The Mandalorian") If there's any proper noun trouble to be had today, it will probably involve her name and the area round her name, which includes KANYE (who I thought was just YE now) (92A: Kim's ex, in tabloids). SPINAL TAP runs through that area too, but that was a gimme for me, and probably a lot of people. The most famous mockumentary of all time (73D: Fictional band fronted by David St. Hubbins).


I've complained about the awful RARES before, and recently, so this sudden reappearance is dismaying, please stop (64A: Highly prized collectibles, in lingo). I had BASS SOLOS before BASSLINES (8D: Iconic features of "Under Pressure" and "Come Together"), and would never have put the word RUSES in the same universe as surprise parties (53A: Surprise birthday parties often involve them), so that area was a teeny bit tough. That area also had LOUD TIE, which I eventually and weirdly wanted to be LOUD TEE (???) (42D: Article of clothing that might be decorated with candy canes). So yes, minor confusion all through there. But then that area also had the "Ithaca is GORGES" pun, which is iconic around these parts (Central NY), so that helped me clear things up. The only SILENT- answer I really like, or can tolerate, is SILENT E, as that is a thing you learn when you are first learning the basic rules of pronunciation as a child. SILENT N ... is not such a thing (61A: End of autumn?). Nor is SILENT B ("thumb"). Or SILENT M ("mnemonic"). Or SILENT L ("colonel"). Or SILENT T (which could've at least been made relevant today ([Christmas feature?])). But wordlists have every possible SILENT- permutation in them now (probably), so here we are. Any letter can be SILENT if you want it to be (well, F, G, J, Q, V, Y, and Z have not appeared after SILENT ... yet). OK, I said I was gonna keep this short, so ... finished!

[LOUD TEE]

Two crossword news announcements. First, there's an article by Natan Last in the most recent New Yorker called "Can Crosswords Be More Inclusive?" (it's titled "Rearrangements" in the print edition, for some reason). I think it's an excerpt from his forthcoming book on crosswords. Very much worth reading. Also, there's a big profile of the entire NYT Games department over at Vanity Fair ("Inside the New York Times' Big Bet on Games"). It's interesting and revealing ... and I get quoted a bunch, which is fun (for me, anyway). Oh, and I made a custom crossword for a design agency's annual holiday card, and that card then got written up in an ad agency industry magazine. Very unexpected. I haven't received the actual card in the mail yet, but the pics make it look nice:



And now, more Holiday Pet Pics! Not dividing by species today, just diving in!

[Babette is nine years old and/or it is Hanukkah; Babette doesn't care as long as there are treats (thanks, Michael)]

[This is Chloe. They call her "Rat," but a rat could not pull off that sweater. Probably. (thanks, Mak)]

[Theo here is noble, whereas Georgie ... well, see the next photo]

[Georgie's been baking in the sun, you're gonna have to give him a minute (thanks, Anne)]

[Lily, Priss, Baby (tail only) and Greta fight for Christmas tree supremacy (thanks, Frank)]

[Pearl waits patiently for a Christmas miracle, aka treats (thanks, Barbara)]

[Spartacus also waits. It's a little more intimidating when Spartacus does it (thanks, Deborah!)]

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

81 comments:

  1. Easy-medium. A breezy Christmas solve. MING NA was it for WOEs and the only speed bump was figuring out the ELF squares. Fun Sunday, liked it.

    ….and I meant to mention yesterday that TREVOR Noah has a new standup special on Netflix titled “Where Was I”

    ReplyDelete
  2. Some respectable resistance until I figured out the theme. Easy after that. I did this after watching "It's a Wonderful Life" while wrapping presents.

    Sa -0, makes 15 in a row

    ReplyDelete
  3. HMTR.... Would have liked to concur with Rex's favorable review, but can't because of the fatal natick that I ended up with right smack in the middle of this otherwise somewhat challenging puzzle IONE/JLO. This is yet another example of bad editing IMHO... if you MUST use PPP, for criminy sakes don't cross it with yet more obscure PPP. This is just common sense. Geesh!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous9:28 AM

      Jennifer Lopez is one of the least obscure celebrities in the world.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous9:31 AM

      Ione is in the NYTXW quite often.

      Delete
  4. The title "Wrap Stars" misled me a bit; I thought it would involve answers "wrapping" onto the next row or something. And when I came upon 3 down CARAMEL something I noticed that if we turn to the right when we hit 26 across, we also get CAR/AMEL. But that never went anywhere.

    At the end I was faced with a bad Natick at MINGNA crossing NILLA and would have had to guess some random letters, except a few days ago Rex was going on about NILLA so I got it.

    As for SILENT N, we have a lot of silent letters in English. For example with "sought" since it's pronounced exactly the same as "sot", you could have SILENT UGH.

    After weeks of overcast and gusty winds, in the Okanagan we just had a gorgeous day of sunshine and light winds and it was pure bliss. Here is a picture I took of some statues on the lakefront.

    [Spelling Bee: Sat 0; 4 day streak. Rooting for puzzlehoarder in his streak (nojinx! nojinx!)]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:50 AM

      Same. Don’t get the title either.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous7:56 AM

      Same. What does title mean?

      Delete
    3. Becki9:00 AM

      It’s a pun for “rap stars.” But they’re “wrap stars” because they’re elves and they make presents? I thought it was a reach… elves aren’t really known for WRAPPING the presents, are they??

      Delete
    4. Anonymous9:09 AM

      Elves wrap presents, therefore they are stars of wrapping, thus “wrap stars”

      Delete
    5. Anonymous9:15 AM

      Because elves are stars at gift-wrapping?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous9:29 AM

      Elves wrap presents? At least they do in “Arthur Christmas.”

      Delete
    7. You raised the accent issue again, Okanaganer.
      Sot and sought do not rhyme for many in the US. Like me this group the o in bot, cot, dot, hot, hot lot not pot rot SOT tot the same or similar to the vowel in the note that follows sol.

      Delete
  5. “Off the rack” refers only to clothing. OFFTHESHELF refers to everything else.

    In engineering, to design and build something using OFFTHESHELF components would mean exactly that: the gizmo can be built from existing parts stores, with few if any new parts needing to be designed or purchased.

    “Off the peg” and “bespoke” are terms for clothing you can use if you want to sound British.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:21 AM

      Yup, off the shelf components save time and money when building things (software, hardware, rockets etc.)

      Delete

  6. @Rex: Computer geeks use "Off the Shelf" all the time. There's even an acronym for it: COTS, Commercial Off The Shelf, describing software that is purchased rather than coded in-house.

    My overwrites:
    43D: Rated x before x RATED before R RATED
    44A: NOTabLY before NOTEDLY
    59D: bARnEs (as in "& Noble") before HARPER
    80A: IONa before IONE
    95A: DEAfEN before DEADEN
    99A: BRoH before BRUH
    111A: falLS before KEELS

    97A: Ming-na Wen was a WOE, but judging by WotD clearly crossworthy. I need to watch more Disney.

    ReplyDelete

  7. I got an error when I posted, so I'm reposting. Apologies for the (possible) duplication.


    @Rex: Computer geeks use "Off the Shelf" all the time. There's even an acronym for it: COTS, Commercial Off The Shelf, describing software that is purchased rather than coded in-house.

    My overwrites:
    43D: Rated x before x RATED before R RATED
    44A: NOTabLY before NOTEDLY
    59D: bARnEs (as in "& Noble") before HARPER
    80A: IONa before IONE
    95A: DEAfEN before DEADEN
    99A: BRoH before BRUH
    111A: falLS before KEELS

    97A: Ming-na Wen was a WOE, but judging by WotD clearly crossworthy. I need to watch more Disney.

    ReplyDelete
  8. RARES and the even more ungainly RUER were blemishes in an otherwise enjoyable solve. Merry almost-Christmas to Rex & co.!

    ReplyDelete
  9. IONE appeared in last Monday's puz (actress Skye).

    I liked seeing HEELFLIPS, though that clueing was basically worthless. Almost every skateboard trick starts by kicking with the board down with the foot. (You can also do heelflips by popping down with the front foot, if riding nollie or fakie.) "Skateboard tricks" would have been good enough.

    Wonder how many pics Frank took before deciding 3.3 cats in one picture would be good enough to submit :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Fun - temporal puzzle. Knew something was up right away with CARAMEL FLAN - realized the trick further down. I can remember someone in my family getting a BARRELFUL of Monkeys one Christmas so that stood out.

    Typical large grid glue all over but the overall fill was fine. Some obscure trivia that had to be backed into but most of this was early week easy.

    A pleasant Sunday morning solve. Wishing Rex and all his ELFs here a peaceful and Merry Christmas.

    Mary Gauthier

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous3:06 PM

      Thanks for posting this song, heartrending.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous8:37 AM

    The title Wrap Stars refers to Santa's Little Helpers, i.e., the elves who wrap the presents Santa is delivering....

    ReplyDelete
  12. Clever and pretty fun.

    Definitely worried about MINGNA as I submitted, and a wee bit upset that we are expected to know anything about The Mandalorian.

    Fun fact: The Avengers ran for six seasons; Diana RIGG was only in seasons four and five. But in the US they did not air seasons 1-3, and split up the last two UK seasons into three seasons in the US, so in the US she was in two-and-a-half of the four seasons (51% of the episodes).

    An unusually clean Sunday grid for me with only three squares overwritten, when I changed from BARRels to BARR(ELF)UL.

    ReplyDelete
  13. At my work at least, OFFTHESHELF is the standard way of referring to a non-customised product, especially for software but I've heard it in other contexts. You don't really hear much 'off the rack' lately even for clothing.

    I also assumed Ithaca referred to the Greek island, which most definitely does not have GORGES, either the mythical or modern version, so I found that clue pretty perplexing, even wondering briefly if it was a reference to a Borges story. Upstate New York makes more sense!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous8:50 AM

    Shout out for Rosalita by Bruce. Dynamite’s in the BELFRY!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous8:57 AM

    My best error of the year. . .

    I got to the revealer and had SAN already filled. Counted it out and, without looking at the clue, confidently wrote in SANitation engineer! Fortunately the next few crosses showed just how silly my error was. Imagine, an 18-letter KEALOA.

    Best holiday wishes for everyone.

    — Jim C. in Maine

    ReplyDelete
  16. Caught on early here with the CARAMEL/FLAN FEELFOR cross and then I was off on an ELF hunt, which was a good time. Slowed down again by misreading clues--I was looking for a "fictional brand" for too long, ditto for a "water brand" instead of a "wafer brand". Had ACT for ASK for too long and the MINGNA person was a total unknown so the lower middle was a mess for a while, but I finally fixed everything and sang myself the happy music to the tune of the "Hallelujah Chorus".

    I liked your Christmas Eve offering just fine, DS, as I enjoy me a rebus and these Didn't Scare me. Thanks for all the fun.

    Merry Christmas to all who celebrate and Happy Holidays to those celebrating other things. May your friends be merry and bright.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Is a LOUDTIE a thing? This one felt like a reach to me — I had LOUD TOP first, which felt equally reach-y — but maybe it’s just not a term I know. Definitely wished UGLY SWEATER (a thing for sure) would fit in there.

    Short notes:
    - I was thrilled and actually had a little gleeful giggle at “member of a wet quintet.”
    - Agreed with others who said OFFTHESHELF is legit.
    - RUER annoyed me (“let’s just add -(E)R to a random verb” — yes, morphology is fun, but still.) It crossed with a clue about one of my favorite movies of all time, though, so I’ll give it a pass. Or maybe I’ll passify it, since we’re just neologizing with abandon here…

    Long time reader, first time commenter. Thanks for being part of my daily ritual, Rex, and happy holidays!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous9:11 AM

    I don’t understand what a “CHIS” is? And how that relates to something being XXX? Did the whole puzzle but that just stumped me cold. DNF cause of it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Greek letter represented three times is a "chi"

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:54 AM

      Also didn't finish bc of that section. Chi is the Greek letter we call X, so multiple Xs is "chis."

      Delete
  19. Anonymous9:15 AM

    (1) RARES RARES RARES RARES RARES RARES WHY GOD WHY
    (2) It should be noted that the TMWKTM remake has one of the **lamest** endings in a Hitchcock film (Bernard Miles falls down the stairs- ooh the suspense!)

    ReplyDelete
  20. WRAP stars refers to the elves being famous for wrapping presents, unless something deeper (and more sinister?) is going on.

    I mentioned the Natan Last article a few days ago, very well done, of course.

    -NGNA just had to be wrong, until it wasn't

    I loved the clue for RUSE! very evocative and accurate.

    for "branding", you need a branding iron, but that was in the clue. HOTIRON brings to mind a hair curler or laundry to me.

    off to procure a BARRELFUL of SECCO MEAD - thanks for the last minute gift idea!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous9:39 AM

    In the weird world of Youtube collectible unboxing videos, “rares” is a pretty common term. I think for that reason a younger audience would find that one easier to figure out; it’s good to have slang from a variety of generations represented!

    ReplyDelete
  22. @Conrad and @JOHN X already said it: OFF THE SHELF is very much a term of art in the whole engineering/software/manufacturing world.

    ReplyDelete
  23. The redundancy of 86D EKG TEST reminds me of the much maligned "fiction novel"tweet by North Carolina Republican House member Madison Cawthorn in 2021.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hey All !
    Quite a FEW F's in here! A Christmas miracle? Har.

    I found the ELF Rebus early-ish in my solve. The first one being at FE(ELF)OR. Then found the next one pretty darn close in the top long Across (26A). Said, "Hmm, there must gonna be a whole slew of ELFs!" A bit of a letdown to have only five.

    Still a good puz. Finished in 38 minutes (quick!), only to get the Almost There! message. Argh! Got a mini streak going, so decided to see if I could find my mistake. When, lo and behold, I came across LEANDEx/xRATED, and said, "Hmm, could it possibly be an R?" Changed it, and Happy Music greeted me. Huzzah! To me, that clue suggested xRATED, not RRATED.

    Had BASSsoloS in for BASSLINES, and was going to comment on the crossing of triple S's there. Alas, not to be.

    Happy Christmas Eve. Hope Santa brings you lots of good stuff tonight. 😁

    TEN Lords ... I mean F's (10!)
    RooMonster
    DarrinV

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous9:47 AM

    Just WAY too many proper nouns and trivia. This was not enjoyable at all.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Westchester Gal9:48 AM

    Not so much a nit as an observation: where I come from, I’LL and ISLE are not homophones. The former has one syllable and the latter sounds like aisle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:53 AM

      LOL they all sound like “aisle”

      Delete
  27. Anonymous9:50 AM

    Enough with all the obscure actors/actresses!! I can't spend my entire life watching TV and movies, but apparently that is the only thing crossword constructors do with their time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous9:58 PM

      Do you really think the constructors know all this trivia from their lived experience? Bah, humbug! X-word software offers up this kind of material in droves. That’s why IMO it’s fine to bring Google to my defense.

      Delete
  28. Niallhost10:00 AM

    Got my first ELF with OFFTHESHELF but, like Rex, was annoyed that it wasn't off the rack. Originally had "ER" as the rebus (which worked with offthERack), thinking that the puzzle had something to do with emergency medical workers. Nope.

    exeS before CHIS
    AnnaPOLIS before ACROPOLIS
    SLAT before SEAT
    Wanted LEANDER to be someone whose name ended in X, for xRATED

    Ended in 41 mostly because I could not figure out the HUMPS/UMBRA section to save my life. Spent a good 7 minutes on those few words.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Surprised they didn’t try to work in Elf on the Shelf, like “where kids might find a 100a”

    Anyway, an enjoyable Christmas Eve solve.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My solve had me revealing that answer from the bottom up, and I was fully expecting "elf on the shelf" to materialize until I read the clue. Seems like a missed opportunity. Really good puzzle for a Sunday though!

      Delete
  30. Congrats to Rex and Merry Christmas suggest you get that card professionally framed.

    ReplyDelete
  31. OFF THE SHELF is most definitely a thing, and not just in computer engineering land. Any non-custom, readily available solution is an off-the-shelf one. OFF THE RACK? Nope. Except maybe in very limited, fashion speak.

    And either way, the clue is completely backward. This is bad enough that it warrants a correction in the app version!

    PS was hoping we’d hear from LMS now that school is presumably on vacay. Any one have (hopefully good) tidings?


    ReplyDelete
  32. @Westchester Gal - I really think all pronunciation clues should be banned because of regional variants. I am curious though how you pronounce I'll, ISLE and AISLE. Merriam-Webster has the exact same pronunciation for all three (ˈī(-ə)l), as do I.

    ReplyDelete
  33. I withdraw my comment! The clue is “not custom, as merchandise”.

    So “off the rack” is probably apropos.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Alice Pollard10:46 AM

    HUMPS/UMBRA was tough for me too. I googled Bactrian. Sue me, its Christmas Eve, I have stuff to do LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Just OK, for an X-mas Eve puzzle. I would've liked to see a few more ELFs strewn about the place. Five of them aren't going to be able to truss up all those off-the-shelf items that need to be delivered, especiallly if they keep taking breaks to eat more caramel flan and angel food cake. STORIED PAST is a good answer though. Better storied than checkered, I guess.

    And that's a wrap!

    ReplyDelete
  36. Pretty easy, but hated the rebuses (rebii?) I still think more than one letter per square is a cheat.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Beautifully embedded ELFs. While a repeating rebus -- instead of one that changes its spots -- can often make a rebus puzzle too easy, that's not true here. The ELFs here pop up in the most unexpected places and they're exceedingly well hidden. The most devious was BARR[ELF]UL: It looked for all the world like it was BARRELS, but that didn't work with the Down answer ANG[ELF]OODCAKE.

    The rest of the puzzle kept me engaged throughout -- with interesting clues that were fun to figure out. Even all the pop culture people didn't bother me TOO much. My biggest hiccups were RATED R instead of R RATED and ACT before ASK for "Pose".

    A word about 83D. I was in 5th Grade at P.S.6 when this less-than-welcome change to the beloved and familiar Pledge that we'd been reciting daily in school for the previous four years was unceremoniously thrust upon us without explanation. Having a keen ear for good poetic meter even back then, I immediately knew that the new version simply didn't scan as well. And also you don't go around changing something as sacrosanct as the Pledge of Allegiance, now, do you?

    Needless to say, I was not a happy camper.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Anonymous11:29 AM

    To Anonymous 9:11 -- CHI is a Greek letter usually written as X

    ReplyDelete
  39. Wow - a rebus I enjoyed a lot.

    Thank you, Drew & Merry Christmas :)

    To all!

    ReplyDelete
  40. Except for the LOUD TIE clue, this was a pleasant solve. Plenty of work and patience required, but the propers mostly crossed themselves out.

    Poor Fido.

    Uniclues:

    1 Rock kills the flowers.
    2 Gave author Lee wafers.
    3 Heart rending events do not interest heart monitor results.
    4 Fan fiction.

    1 BASS LINES RUIN LILIES
    2 SENDS HARPER NILLA
    3 CRUEL FATE BORES EKG TEST
    4 STORIED PAST OFF THE SHELF

    My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Hot coals with needles poking out. SATAN EYE DROPS.

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    ReplyDelete
  41. I was happy to see that the rebus squares worked in both the across and down directions. But, don't tell Ron De-Santas that SANTASLITTLEHELPERS go both ways.

    LEANDER was a lover of Hero, but he also enjoyed a good hoagie once in a while. When you come right down to it, he'd chow down on just about anything if it was wrapped INBRED.

    I remember back in the 60's there were chants of "Off the Pig". I guess nowadays, it's "OFFTHESHELF".

    Down south, BASSLINES would be part of your fishin' RIGG.

    Nice Christmas Eve puzzle. Hope Santa brings lots of clams and oysters and isn't sELFish with the shellfish tonight.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Really slow on the uptake today, mostly because my solve was so scattered. I just went with it and didn’t get to a rebus space until the BELFRY, which turned out to be obvious. I had SUPERB and SPAY. I have also seen “Vertigo” many, many times. The final scene looking down from the BELFRY is one of those iconic Hitchcock scenes that by itself identifies the film - just lime the shower scene in “Psycho.” Anyway, I had already been expecting some sort of holiday merriment today so the ELF rebus was obvious.

    While wending my way back to the top, I finished the reveal (which I suspected but chose not to complete before I had the theme squares.

    Pretty easy. The clues got a little tricksy now and again, and a couple things I simply did not know, but fair crosses for the most part. The IONE/JLO would have been tough had I not found the ELF down below because everything I know about skateboard technique comes from crosswords and HEEL FLIPS was a WOE for me. Thankfully INJURED gave me JLO’s J. Pretty much any 3 letter actor nickname clue beginning with J is JLO.

    Where I very nearly got stuck was back at the top-center which was the last bit to fall. I only had the SHAMELESS SELFPROMOTER, LEASED and DEAL going across that top center mini-puzzle. Both the across and down clues had me stumped, even with FATE going down. Had I not finally gotten CRUEL, I never would have finished. STRODE was next, then UNBRA, and after getting HUMPS, my brain (stuck for way too long in kisses or movie/tv ratings - right where Mr. Schmenner wanted me), finally got CHIS. Whew!!!

    Happy holidays everyone. I hope you all are spending them with family in whatever manner you define it, and that each of you feels the love.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Elf RUNTS. Merry ChristM&As to us.

    staff weeject pick: TEN lords a-leapin. Goes well with the PEAR clue.

    About average SunPuz feistiness, at our house. But slightly slow-ish start, due to a rebus needin to be unmasked.

    some faves: CALYPSO. LOUDTIE clue. BARRELFUL of ELFs. STORIEDPAST. RUNTS.

    Thanx for the yule-like-it fun, Mr. Schmenner dude. Well-wrapped.

    Masked & Anonymo9Us

    inspired by all them cool @RP pet pics:
    **gruntz**

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  44. “Off-the-shelf” is pretty common, at least in some sort of professional environment: Off-the-shelf software vs custom…for example. Overall enjoyable for the holidays. Finished at 25:25 and I feel like that is some sort of Christmasy sign, not sure what of though. However, RUER, RUSES, and RARES caused some cringing.

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  45. When my boss started the company I work for, he chose the acronym PROS which stands for Parts Right Off the Shelf. And then made it redundant by making the dba name PROS Parts.

    My go-to reference for belfry doesn't involve bats, but instead, what I consider the most evocative part of Longfellow's "Paul Rever's Ride":

    Then he climbed to the tower of the church,
    Up the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,
    To the belfry-chamber overhead,
    And startled the pigeons from their perch
    On the sombre rafters, that round him made
    Masses and moving shapes of shade,—
    By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,
    To the highest window in the wall,
    Where he paused to listen and look down
    A moment on the roofs of the town,
    And the moonlight flowing over all.

    Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead,
    In their night-encampment on the hill,
    Wrapped in silence so deep and still
    That he could hear, like a sentinel’s tread,
    The watchful night-wind, as it went
    Creeping along from tent to tent,
    And seeming to whisper, “All is well!”
    A moment only he feels the spell
    Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread
    Of the lonely belfry and the dead;
    For suddenly all his thoughts are bent
    On a shadowy something far away,
    Where the river widens to meet the bay,—
    A line of black, that bends and floats
    On the rising tide, like a bridge of boats.

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  46. In case some of y'all haven't seen it, here's another holiday cat picture, this one sent to Earth from 19 million miles away in deep space. Tater, the space kitty.

    There's also a short video of Tater that was a NASA test of ultra high definition laser communication from the space craft Psyche. It can be seen on YouTube by clicking here.

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  47. Anonymous2:11 PM

    I went to school with Drew Schmenner all the way from kindergarten through high school, and we were (very friendly) competitors always trying to outdo each other. We both did the crossword puzzle daily in high school and were even featured in our high school newspaper about it! To see his name when I open up the NYT crossword is both delightful and incredibly infuriating hahaha. He has once again outdone me but I will match his feat one day! Happy holidays all!

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  48. HadIt2:20 PM

    Two Sundays in a row with damn *GIMMICK* puzzles! Whatever happened to CROSSWORDS, where erudition/cleverness with actual language, instead of cutesy-poo tricks and games with construction, was the business at hand?

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  49. SharonAk2:52 PM

    LINCOLN HAD A FAVORITE DOG????
    Did everyone know this but me? I have no memory of ever hearing or reading that about Lincoln.
    just as obscure as Mingna and (to me) Kanye, but shorter.

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  50. BELFRY is actually what it took for me to grok the ELF rebus theme. Near Natick on RIGG/IRIS.

    The best part of Santa's Little Helper is when Bart gets a credit card in his name and it arrives as "Santos L. Halper".

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  51. Anonymous3:48 PM

    Late to the party but liked the poetic CRUEL FATE.

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  52. Anonymous4:44 PM

    I glossed over the clue for Santa‘s little helpers — I had F’s in all of the rebus squares, and I thought the theme was “no ‘EL’ (as in “Noel”)….

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  53. Nice. Easy puzz for the Eve. We actually won't celebrate with family until next weekend so it's a quiet day at home tomorrow. Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

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  54. Anonymous7:36 PM

    @Rex - Thanks for the link to Natan Last's article. The boy can write a little.

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  55. Anonymous2:27 PM

    I took OFF THE SHELF to be a sly reference to the kid book ELF ON THE SHELF, given that the puzzle creator has young children!?

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  56. Anonymous9:23 PM

    I didn’t solve this as a rebus based on ELF. Instead, I got to PERSONNFILE, saw there was no L, and figured the theme was ‘NOEL (haha, and naturally appropriate). The app allows this as a valid solution for all five of the theme squares.

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  57. Sorry, I don't understand the argument about SILENT N. I'm looking online for corroboration of the fact that E is the only true possible silent letter. Are you saying that some human ear or sensitive device can perceive the difference between the final sound in AUTUMN, and say, DRUM or even COME? It's inaudible to me, so in my rookie rulebook, the N is silent.

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  58. Diana, LIW12:19 PM

    What a nice Christmas present - a rebus. Just what I wanted - to give away to anyone else.

    Of course, once one of those little "helpers" shows up you can be on the lookout for them. And I learned something about ACROPOLIS, so not a total waste.

    Hey SyndieCats, the holidays are almost over...

    Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords

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  59. So, it's Rebus Thursday/Sunday. Okay, I can play any game, as long as I know the rules. In fact a nice puzzle, RUINed by that SILENTN piece of trash.

    A sure birdie but for that, with Diana RIGG repeating as DOD. Par.

    Wordle bogey, again lots of ways STO__ could go.

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  60. Burma Shave3:17 PM

    SUPERB SEAT

    AIN'T HER R-RATED movies HOT?
    JLO has A STORIEDPAST.
    A LITTLEHELPER OFT she got
    when she TRUSSESUP HER ASK.

    --- SAM HARPER

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  61. Anonymous5:58 PM

    I'm super late on the this one but I can't believe no one complained about RELINKS. That is not a thing one does to URLs. I work in software and have never heard of someone relinking a URL, and a google search comes up dry too.

    Overall too much weird fill on this one.

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  62. The Canadian military uses off-the-shelf equipment too. When they just buy regular Chevy Silverados, paint them matte green and change out the radios, the results are called "MilCOTS" for Militarized Commercial Off the Shelf [truck]s.

    I think we all need to have a surprise party for Rex, so he can find out that RUSES are definitely a part of the operation.

    And Ken and I will just have to learn to remember IONE Skye, as I don't think she's going away from crosswords soon.

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