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Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (times will be fast, in part because the puzzle is undersized (14x15))
Theme answers:
- PRINT ORDER (15A: *Number
- POCKET DOORS (18A: *Barriers that slide in and out of a wall)
- STOCK CHARACTER (32A: *Stereotypical literary persona)
- FASHION LINE (51A: *Designer's collection)
Oreo O's is a breakfast cereal that consists of Oreo-flavored O-shaped pieces of cereal. It was conceived of by an Ogively & Mather NYC advertising employee and introduced in 1997 by Post Cereals. In 2001 the cereal got a new recipe with real creme filling. A variation of Oreo O's called Extreme Creme Taste Oreo O's contained Oreo filling-flavored marshmallows.
The cereal was launched in 1997 and discontinued in 2007 everywhere other than South Korea. In May 2017, Post Cereals announced that it would restart production of Oreo O's starting June 23 and continue production indefinitely. (wikipedia) (my emph.)
• • •
I was actually startled that the fill was as weak as it was today, given the relatively non-demanding nature of the theme. Any time long theme answers abut, as they do in this grid, filling a puzzle cleanly can get tricky (as those abutting answers are locked in, and you have to make (in this case) seven adjacent Downs run cleanly through them), but I was getting boring vibes right out of the gate, in the tiny NW corner, where everything felt stale. And then to come upon dubious stuff like SNORTY as well as ugly stuff like USH and OREOOS, while only occasionally hitting anything very interesting ... it was pretty disappointing. Again, the theme answers aren't really giving you juice today because they have to meet these very restrictive thematic terms, so the fill really should get up off its feet and help out, but all we get of note is mountaineering slang (ROCK JOCK) and a redundancy (FREE GIFT). I liked both, actually—never heard ROCK JOCK, but ... you know, it rhymes, and who doesn't like rhyme? And while FREE GIFT doesn't exactly sparkle, the clue at least makes it interesting. I am also partial to FRECKLE, having had lots of them as a kid. It's a low-key fun word. But most of the rest of the fill runs forgettable to SPLAT.
No tough spots today beyond figuring out what the hell kind of "Barriers" slide in and out of a wall. Well, ROCK JOCK slowed me down, but not in a bad or particularly troubling way. That answer is giving off weird vibes, though. Like, it's evocative of so many other things. Like SHOCK JOCKS, or ROCKS FOR JOCKS (which is what Geology for non-majors was called in college, right?). There's also the "MTV ROCK & JOCK something or other" ... some kind of contest? ... maybe a celebrity basketball game? ... my brain is not currently willing to relive the '90s, so it's not coming in clearly. Ah, here we go: here's an unwanted trip down Memory Lane for you Millennial / Xer types:
MTV Rock N' Jock is a television series on MTV featuring actors, musicians, and other entertainers playing sports with professional athletes. The original episode was called The MTV Rock N' Jock Diamond Derby, and was changed to MTV's Rock N' Jock Softball Challenge, in year 2. The concept expanded to include basketball in 1991, football in 1997 and bowling in 1999 The game was an annual feature (with multiple reruns of most episodes) for many years on MTV.
Belinda Carlisle, Corbin Bernsen, and David Faustino, all on the same team! Man, that original
MTV's First Annual Rock N' Jock Diamond Derby (1990) must've been something to see. And Keanu Reeves! Kevin Costner! I forgot the kind of star power MTV could wrangle back then.
As for the puzzle, it was short. It was easy. It is done. See you tomorrow.
What is 'out of doors'?
ReplyDeleteOutside
DeleteIt's where our moms used to let us play as kids, but unfamiliar territory to today's kids if their moms are okay that they're riveted to a screen.
DeleteIt's when you don't have any doors left.
Delete@Liveprof LOL
DeleteDidn't understand the theme while I was solving, but it didn't matter. An easy solve with an absence of misdirect clues.
ReplyDeleteSNORTY? (10D)
ReplyDeleteUgh!
Just off PB timewise. Small grid as @rex mentioned, but also very direct cluing. No real cleverness or misdirection, even for a Tues. A very “see ball, hit ball” experience. Like a typical Newsday puzzle (Stumper notwithstanding).
ReplyDeleteThought theme was ok. OUTOFDOORS my least favorite. @Rex is spot-on with the letdown on these double word followers. “Cool, good finds, I guess, moving on with my day now”
ReplyDeleteNo overwrites today. I don't know the band Sublime, but what other three-letter music genres beginning with S are there other than SKA (29D). I didn't get the theme until I came here, but that's on me -- I missed the significance of the shading on OUT OF and was focused on SORTS. I know that in computing there are bubble sorts, bucket sorts, heap sorts, quick sorts, etc., and I was wondering if there might also be order sorts, pocket sorts, character sorts and line sorts.
You should know sublime
DeleteNice write up by Rex regarding the collateral damage that the daily theme requirement causes pretty much constantly. It’s basically just the cost of admission. The downside risk for me is when the themes get too cute for their own good (or too cryptic because the constructor is trying too hard to be “brilliant”) and the whole thing becomes a giant insolvable slog, which obviously was not the case today.
ReplyDeleteToday I had the unusual experience of getting fouled up by one of the easiest answers - RADIO just seemed way too straightforward and easy for the Sirius connection (and the stupid math quiz in what appears to be Spanish didn’t help). So I had to fight my way through the POCKET DOORS and PRINT ORDER tandem, neither of which sound very intuitive to me, although I had at least heard the term POCKET DOORS in the wild. PRINT ORDER sounds a little green paint-ish. So a few speed bumps on a Tuesday, but no harm, no foul in the end.
Never has a theme gone so completely over my head. Often I won’t really understand while solving, but a bit of thought post-solve makes it clear. Not so today. Until reading about it, I had no idea why any of these words were ‘out of sorts’, and I didn’t know why OUT OF was highlighted.
ReplyDeleteAlso, never heard of POCKET DOORS. Puzzle left me feeling snorty.
Oho! A language quirk puzzle, when a constructor showcases an oddity of English – today, the plenitude of phrases that begin with “out of”. If it’s a quirk that’s new to me – and this one is – I go wow and huh and holy moly and ain’t life grand.
ReplyDeleteBut Nate went two levels above simply finding a quirk. First, he found in-the-language phrases composed of “out-of” completers. Extremely clever of him, in my mind, to think of doing that. And second, he scored the perfect revealer in OUT OF SORTS. Nailed it!
So, I’m already won over before looking at the completed grid and finding lovely answers – FRECKLE, BESTOW, KIOSK, LOUPE, ADROIT, RESPITE, not to mention OUT OF SORTS itself. I also smiled when I saw that ROW is in one.
Two echoes of note. One, an echo of yesterday’s controversial AM STEREO in today’s RADIO. And two, I looked up SNORTY and learned that in British slang it means ill-tempered or annoyed, thus making it the perfect OUT OF SORTS echo.
You had me when you unveiled a new language quirk, Nate, then sealed the deal with the bonuses you threw in. This was a most splendid outing – thank you!
Yeah - theme type is a rehash but this was fine in the end. I thought the overall fill was a little funky - in a good way. ADDERS, HANSEL, SPLAT etc.
ReplyDeleteLulu
Extra tall grid. I always thought ROCK JOCKS were Allison Steele and Vin Scelsa and the like. Not sure why the shade from the big guy on POCKET DOORS. Side eye to SNORTY.
Pleasant enough Tuesday morning solve.
You’re moving on the back roads by the river of my memory
Thanks posting gentle on my kind. I love me some Lucinda!
DeleteOut of order!?
ReplyDeleteI'll show you out of order.
You don't know what out of order is, Mr. Trask.
I'd show you, but I'm too old. I'm too tired. I'm too fucking blind.
If I were the man I was five years ago, I'd take a flame-thrower to this place!
Out of order? -- who the hell do you think you're talking to?
I've been around, you know?
There was a time I could see -- and I have seen.
Boys like these -- younger than these -- with their arms torn out, their legs ripped off.
But there is nothing like the sight of an amputated spirit.
There is no prosthetic for that.
(Pacino. Scent of a Woman.)
Liveprof
DeleteAbout the dialogue from Scent of a Woman.
I have never seen the movie, nor that scene nor read the dialogue or mention of it
Yet I guessed the movie the quote was from as soon as the first paragraph. I did read a review and knew the character was blind.
Funny how the mind works.
(When it came out the Times gave it a so so review and I never bothered to see it)
KEEN - shrewd not okay, sharp okay, eager better
ReplyDeleteClose enough for crosswords. (A clue, not a definition)
DeleteI wonder if ushers like to ush and enjoy ushing people to their seats?
ReplyDeleteFun Tuesday with an interesting theme. Lots to like, and only one truly bad fill to get SNORTY about.
ReplyDeleteThis was one for those of us who do the Connections puzz in the NYT. This one would have had, say, PRINT, ORDER, POCKET, and DOOR scattered around the grid and the idea would be to connect them as "things that can start with out of", which I think in this case would have been wicked hard. Pretty clever to find so many "out of's" that are also two-word phrases.
ReplyDeleteOur last house had a POCKETDOOR leading to the pantry. Of course, our last house had a pantry. Those were the days.
SNORTY? Really?
I first heard OTOFSORTS used properly on a bus in London when a drunk was raving about this and that and a fellow passenger upbraided him with typical English understatement by telling him "You're OUTOFSORTS, mate". I may not have heard it since.
Nice enough Tuesdecito, NC, Not Challenging but good on you for finding all those cool themers. Thanks for all the fun.
I am not a Brit, but I consume a massive amount of UK content--TV, movies, books, what have you. I would say that the incident you described is an incorrect usage of the phrase. To be OUT OF SORTS is to be slightly unwell, to feel ill at ease, a little like malaise, or even mildly discombobulated--something just isn't quite right. A drunk causing a scene in public might certainly be out of sorts (either as a result of drinking to excess or as a cause for getting so drunk in the first place), and would most definitely be out of sorts post-binge. But it doesn't really work as a phrase for telling someone off. It's more a descriptor of a sensation or a comment on someone's demeanor.
DeleteFrom my vast consumption of UK media, I might expect someone to tell a drunk in London that they are OUT OF ORDER, meaning that their behavior is unacceptable or out of line. For emphasis, the onlooker might say, "you're bang out of order, mate!" In the States, we tend to think of OUT OF ORDER as something being non-functional, broken, in need of repair. But in the UK, it can also be applied to people or situations that the speaker finds unacceptable in some way.
Semantics, I know, but if we're talking about correct usage, I couldn't help myself. Perhaps Brits could weigh in? It could also be generational, too. Perhaps OUT OF SORTS has shifted in meaning over time?
Hey All !
ReplyDeleteWhy is the OUT OF shaded? To let us know that's the only part of the Revealer to use? Odd, that.
Did notice the undersized grid, so synapses still firing.
Decent puz. Like others, unsure exactly what OUT OF DOORS is. You go shopping at Lowe's for a security door, and there's none? "Sorry, but we're OUT OF DOORS." /scene
More in the vein of ROCKJOCK ...
Mercedes Sprinter lover? VAN FAN
Enamored with blankets? COVER LOVER
Young women dating older men? GRAYER PLAYER
π
Well, time to get OUT OF here. I'm OUT OF ideas and OUT OF time.
Four F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Very surprised people find out of doors strange.
DeleteIt was a very common expression and I foolishly thought it still is
Age showing again.
Means simply outside.
Liveprof: You're out of order! You're out of order! The whole trial is out of order! They're out of order!
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU for the Rock N Jock trip down memory lane! Not only did I forget all about that, what a national anthem by Steve Vai.
ReplyDeleteMuchas gracias Rex
"Let me list some OUT-OF SORTS, eight of them in fact" - I thought this was great and echo @Lewis on the fun of this quirk of English. I feel that the Crossword Muse really smiled on the constructor with the gift of the reveal and the four solid phrases. I savored going back over them with "Our of..." for all eight, with an extra smile for POCKET and LINE. An out of the ordinary Tuesday for me.
ReplyDelete@dgd from yesterday-Thanks for a further apology and good luck with your name mnemonics. I just found the confusion interesting as my older brother is named Peter and I went through years of school being called by his name.
ReplyDeleteWe are embarrassed about it, but there is a significant part of the population who has trouble keeping track of names. We tend to hide it by avoiding use of names where possible. I have been that way since I was a kid a long time ago.
DeleteIn the case of Pablo and Pedro there are Spanish names beginning with P, 2 syllables, ending in o. Also the l and r are not that far apart in how they are pronounced. Very tricky for my name deficient brain.
In the case of 2 brothers in school in the’50’s and ‘60’s. with “foreign” names., that mixup was inevitable.
@Liverprof: I love that scene. Pacino at his most over the top performance.
ReplyDeleteUSH is not a thing.
Never heard of OUT OF DOORS. What does that even mean? Surely, it’s not synonymous with outdoors? Or does it mean someone broke into one’s record collection and absconded with The Soft Parade, Waiting for the Sun, Strange Days, L.A. Woman, etc?
It is a thing and it does mean the exact same thing as outdoors. The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters has the "Ontario Out of Doors Magazine" so it's not even anachronistic...yet.
DeleteI worked at a movie theater and we referred to usher shifts as “ush” or “ushing”. It’s limited but it’s a thing :)
DeleteCute and quickly done puzzle. I side-eyed SNORTY then thought it really is a good descriptor for a horse that is excited. However, USH got the full-out eyeroll. Can’t imagine anyone saying “I’m an USH at the wedding” but okay. I think everyone would agree that the weakest themer segment was out of DOORS, because, at least in my mind EVERYONE says OUTDOORS. Or is there an idiom I’ve never heard that relates to a game show?
ReplyDeletePOCKETDOORS are a great space saving device for small half-baths fer shur but I admit…every time I have used a half-bath with a POCKETDOOR I never quite feel like it is securely shut, let alone locked.
Maybe you are OUT OF DOORS and therefore need to resort to a POCKET DOOR?
ReplyDeletePlease tell me why some boxes are shaded in the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteWow! Is this clever or what? Eight (8!!!) words that follow OUT OF and that also work together in pairs. And all of the phrases are completely in the language. Wow! As intricate as a Swiss watch.
ReplyDeleteThis is the kind of puzzle that no A.I. program could create, I'm thinking. Too fanciful. As long as there are real human beings who can pull off this sort of thing, we're safe from the predations of A.I. -- at least as far as puzzledom is concerned.
Yes, I did say to myself: "Oh, please don't be SNORTY." But in a puzzle this well conceived, SNORTY deserves to be given a pass, I think.
Out of pocket is also an expression I'm familiar with. When a patient's insurance doesn't cover a procedure the patient is required to pay "out of pocket."
ReplyDeleteadverb. 1. : from cash on hand : with one's own money rather than with money from another source (such as an insurance company) With so many people willing to pay out of pocket most insurance companies do not pay for the procedure, because they regard it as "cosmetic" … Kenneth Chang.
Loved it. Felt like a crossword version of Connections, and (out of ____) should be in one soon. And the Ska clue reminded me why I enjoyed learning it was a precursor to reggae yesterday - catching on to it through Sublime.
ReplyDeleteSurprised they included Student LOAN forgiveness without mentioning that it's been found unconstitutional
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with Nancy. The themers are sweet. But that doesn't do enough to liven up the dull solving experience. Unexciting fill, no wordplay, and 26 threes in the small grid.
ReplyDeleteYeeshk. Felt like a grocery store crossword. I did see a student production of Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel opera last week and it felt like a grocery store opera. I also just found out the crooner Engelbert Humperdinck is still alive.
ReplyDeleteAs aging goes, we all turn forty
If we're five foot nuthin they call us shorty
Mucous runs when we're being sporty
A schnoz full of blahs is grossly SNORTY
T'would be better to play pianoforte
Uniclues:
1 Face mask.
2 Dude who's really over communal living.
3 Trysty snowbunny tries tequila.
4 One saying, "You should write 'em back."
5 Pallid doom lurking in today's puzzle.
1 FRECKLE GIRDLE
2 ANT OUT OF SORTS
3 AMP SKIS AFFAIR
4 PEN PAL COACH
5 THE SNORTY EVIL
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Bloody Mary with extra Tobasco. ASS SASS TODDY.
¯\_(γ)_/¯
@Liveprof. I didn't recognize that you were printing a quote until I got to the end. I was reading and shaking my head and thinking, "Man, @Liveprof is showing us a new side of him/her/theirself today. That really came OUTOF the blue."
ReplyDeletePackage of cookies you give your wife after you got drunk and made a fool of yourself at the neighbor's party: SORREOS.
I wish I could afford SiriusXM, but for now I'm still listening to Sirius AMSTEREO.
If you're going to use OUTOF as the common thread tying the themers together, shouldn't you avoid OUTOF-related words in the fill? Like just today, my wife had an incredible OUTOF GIRDLE experience while remaining OUTOF STEP with my needs.
Why are mathematicians like some venomous snakes? They're both ADDERS.
Way better puzzle than @Rex is giving credit for. Thanks, Nate Cardin.
Ha! My dark side has to come out at some point. Won't be pretty.
DeleteThx, Nate, an ADROIT production; well done! π
ReplyDeleteMed (I think).
Downs-only for the win.
Getting the theme was a boon.
Last fill was a slight hitch with AFFect before AFFAIR, as cDO wasn't happy, got it SORTed OUT; a more careful reading of the clue would have dispelled any notion of the former, anyway.
CobraS before ADDERS. Both ADROIT & COACH went in, came out, and eventually went back in to stay.
Learned about POCKET DOORS, and ROCK JOCK.
Loving these Mon & Tues. downs-only; fun adventure td! :)
___
Croce's 864 is proving to be a bear (over 5 hrs in). Lots of ideas for the upper Mid-west, but can't get them to play nice. π€ Anna Shechtman's New Yorker Mon. will have to wait.
___
Peace π πΊπ¦ ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude & a DAP to all π π
@pabloinnh I had exactly the same reaction re:Connections and posted it about the same time, but don't see it.
ReplyDeleteAt first I was going to say "I wasn't into this constructor's head." But no, I'm not going to take the blame. This was awful.
ReplyDeleteBTW I really like Connections. Sometimes I fly through them, sometimes not.
@smalltowndoc , @Beezer, trina : there are some people like me that occasionally say ”out of doors” where most people would use “outdoors.” As @lewis noted , many OUT OF expressions are oddities off of the English language but are still used ABROAD . One idiom that readily comes to mind is “smalltown” which usually means something other than the size of a municipality. This could be used to describe a native of NYC whose way of thinking is short sighted and unsophisticated.
ReplyDeleteThe house I grew up in had POCKET DOORS, as does the one I live in now, so that one was easy. But I wonder about FASHION LINE. Do people really say that? If your Dior, say, you might have a "fall LINE," but the fashion part is sort of implied. But close enough, given the demanding theme.
ReplyDeleteSORTS often implies an anagram, so I wasted some of those precious nanoseconds trying to anagram OUT OF, with no luck as all. Using it as a 'kinds' synonym is fine, just not what occurred to me. I do think it's lame to put the OUT OF part in shaded squares; surely we could have parsed that phrase unaided -- or is that to make it Tuesday-easy?
@Nancy, sadly, I think that's just the sort of thing AI can do -- at least, it can make a list of all the words that are commonly preceded by 'out of' and all the expressions that can be made by combining two of those words. Whether it could make a good puzzle out of them is another story.
Legal analysis of the day: the Supreme Court decision on student loans was not about constitutionality, it was about the proper interpretation of a statute.
My initial reaction was sort of … what a snooze fest … but then, I realized that not just one but both words in the themers can be preceded by the OUT OF connector. And what and cool and clever revealer! What started out seeming like it was going to be elementary and overly simplistic ended up with an impressive SPLAT - look at that! Nice job sneaking up on us with that KEEN little surprise today, Nate.
ReplyDeleteI love POCKET DOORS and wish builders would use them more because they completely eliminate the need for space to open and close. Is there anyone left who still wears a GIRDLE? I thought Spanx was all the rage now.
@jb (11:16) I am totally hooked on Connections. It’s just a nice change from the usual filling in the blanks. And I love the trickiness on those days when I don’t fly quite so swiftly.
Well, hey -- at least the puz weren't OUT OF SNORT-words…
ReplyDeletestaff weeject pick: JUS. Better clue: {Just a column short??}.
fave stuff: SHRANK. FRECKLE. FREEGIFT. OREOOS [Ore oos might have some fun clue possibilities, btw]. ROCKJOCK themer.
Five long themers, huggin up against each other, crammed into a 14x15 puzgrid. What could possibly go wrong with them shorty-snorty fillins? har
Thanx, Mr. Cardin dude.
Masked & Anonymo3Us
**gruntz**
Well, it's Tuesday, so I'm not too SNORTY today. Guess that means I'm OUT OF snorts.
ReplyDeleteI think I read in the paper last week that Hall is suing Oates… or vice-versa? Meh…
ReplyDeleteEasy because smaller grid. I put in coRset before GIRDLE without looking at any of the crosses which is one of the dangers of excessive whooshing. I thought this was a clever take on a familiar theme, liked it.
ReplyDelete@bocamp - glad some else is finding #864 on the tough side.
ReplyDelete@jae π€£
ReplyDeleteAnother 90 mins to finally grok 5D 'to have control over', which has finished off the NW and provided a better gateway to the MW, which is still not playing nice. π
___
Peace π πΊπ¦ ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude & a DAP to all π π
@anon 1:55-Pretty clear you're referring to my earlier post. All I can say is that's what the man said. The year was 1971, so it's entirely possible that the meaning has shifted.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 11:33 AM #2; Oh, that’s nice. Calling me "short sighted and unsophisticated"? An ad hominem attack on another poster? I don’t think that’s really appropriate for this forum. Feeling a little OUT OF SORTS?
ReplyDeleteThe concert promoter said "Jim Morrison called in sick, so I'm OUTOFDOORS!"
ReplyDeleteLast dad joke, I promise. Why people put their themers on consecutive rows I don't know. It surely strains the fill. Get SNORTY? I misparsed OREOOS to rhyme with "kangaroos," so didn't know them either. And USH? Please.
No fewer than seven Ks, in an undersize grid. That's a TON.
I am looking forward to seeing what POCKETDOORS might look like. Must be secret entrances...or exits.
A tough theme to pull off, so some points there. Par.
Wordle phew! And most embarrassing too, since the word is so simple. If only it had appeared in yesterday's grid, I might well have had an ace.
Yet another lunchbag letdown. Does anyone remember when the NYT crossword was great?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure everyone here has probably used a small bathroom with a pocket door. You just didn't know that was what it was called. In fact, if not for pocket doors, many half baths would just be throne rooms.
ReplyDeleteOUTOF ORDER
ReplyDeleteFrom POCKET to JOCK, take IT to THE bank,
like OAK or a ROCK, but GEE, IT just SHRANK.
--- SIR IAN BRANDO
POCKETDOOR huh? IDO have one on THE small bathroom in THE basement. I JUS' call it a sliding DOOR.
ReplyDeleteWordle bogey after the fourth try on BGBGG.