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Percussive dance style / MON 12-18-23 / Colorful symbols of hope and happiness / Woman temporarily serving as monarch
Monday, December 18, 2023
Constructor: Joe Marquez
Relative difficulty: Medium (the Downs-only solve gave me some trouble there for a bit)
THEME: QR CODE (47D: Scannable black-and-white square ... or a hint to 17-, 30-, 45- and 57-Across) — theme answers are two-word phrases where the first word starts with "Q" and the second word starts with "R":
Theme answers:
- QUALIFYING ROUND (17A: Preliminary tournament stage)
- QUACK REMEDY (30A: Snake oil salesman's offering)
- QUEEN REGENT (45A: Woman temporarily serving as monarch)
- QUARTERLY REPORT (57A: Financial statement issued every three months)
In a monarchy, a regent (from Latin regens 'ruling, governing') is a person appointed to govern a state pro tempore (Latin for 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy, or the throne is vacant and the new monarch has not yet been determined. One variation is in the Monarchy of Liechtenstein, where a competent monarch may choose to assign regency to their of-age heir, handing over the majority of their responsibilities to prepare the heir for future succession. The rule of a regent or regents is called a regency. A regent or regency council may be formed ad hoc or in accordance with a constitutional rule. Regent is sometimes a formal title granted to a monarch's most trusted advisor or personal assistant. If the regent is holding their position due to their position in the line of succession, the compound term prince regent is often used; if the regent of a minor is their mother, and she is wife or widow of the king, she would be referred to as queen regent. (wikipedia)
• • •
These answers are all QR phrases. You can't deny that. That is what they are. Are they exciting? Not really, but it's a pretty tight set, quite frankly. There just aren't that many viable QR phrases. You can tell how limiting the set parameters are by the fact that we get QUEEN REGENT, a term I've never seen. In fact, it was the Across answer that was hardest for me (by far) to parse while solving Downs-only today. In fact, I really needed the theme to help me make sense of both QUEEN REGENT and QUARTERLY REPORT. It was useful to know that there would be two words and the second would start with "R"—helped a lot in parsing those answers. This was a hard set of Across themers to get ahold of. Wanted QUALITY to be the first word in the first themer (QUALIFYING ROUND). No trouble with QUACK REMEDY—in fact REMEDY helped me get the MOVE part of WRONG MOVE, which also seemed like it might be WRONG TURN (10D: Ill-advised maneuver). The big stumbling blocks, though, were BLUEBIRDS and ICE BAGS. That first "B" in BLUEBIRDS was not at all clear, as -UDGE really seemed like it wanted to be FUDGE, and the clue on BLUEBIRDS made me think there were *lots* of colors involved, not just one (33D: Colorful symbols of hope and happiness). -UDGE, SHR-NK, MO-,all of them remained ambiguous until I decided to commit to a *single* color for "colorful"—then BLUE immediately sprang to mind and I was in the clear.
I also had trouble with OTOE, since I had UTES there at first (54D: Great Plains tribe). UTES are more Great Basin than Great Plains, but those regions are adjacent, so I don't feel too bad about the screw-up. I also had AYE before YEA (61D: Vote of support). And then for some reason the BAGS part of ICE BAGS was giving me fits (25D: Swelling reducers for sprains). I wanted only ICE PACKS, which wouldn't fit. ICEPAKS? ICESACS? Shrug. Very rough. Only solved it all by finally getting QUEEN REGENT down to QUEEN RE-ENT and running the alphabet. QUEEN RECENT? No. QUEEN REGENT. Oh, yeah, that seems possible. And then the "G" gave me ICE BAGS and that was that. I got BANDO from crosses and assumed the clue would be referencing Brewers great Sal BANDO, but no, it's B AND O, i.e. B & O (62A: Railroad property in Monopoly). You don't see ampersandwiches much any more. This is a classic example (see also RANDB, BANDB, RANDD, RANDR, PBANDJ, etc. etc.).
As for the fill quality, it was fine, but WEAR IT is an abomination. WEAR IT? WEAR IT. WEAR IT? Surely the constructor looked at that and thought "uh ... I'd better not." If that thought occurs to you, even once, you better listen. Every other thought is rationalization. There is no reason for something as bad as WEAR IT to be in a puzzle with this little thematic pressure. I am guessing WEAR IT is yet another in a series of unfortunate "debuts" this week (see yesterday's ASAGUIDE, for example). Just checked, and yup, a debut. Ugh. Not a claim to fame, that one. If you're gonna debut an answer, make it a good one. Please? Thanks. OK, more Holiday Pet Pics now. Please note: I cannot accept any more. I have more than enough to last me the rest of the year. I'll do this again next year, I promise. All cats today, let's see who we're dealing with! We got two under-the-tree kitties...
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| [Bandit! (thanks, Beth)] |
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| [Fiona! (thanks, Amy)] |
One kitty who wants to help with the present wrapping, lack of manual dexterity be damned...
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| [Chloe! (thanks, John)] |
One kitty who just wants to sit here by the fire, thank you very much ...
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| [Rocket! (thanks, Tawny)] |
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76 comments:
Easy. A Gen Z friendly theme but I’ll bet they’ll have no idea about QUINN, IONE, or GEENA…I just checked with my 21 yr. old grandson and I bet right. He and his girlfriend have a NYT games subscription and they attempt the puzzles every day. He finished today’s without knowing the actors (or movies) and told me the QR theme was very helpful. He also did not know B AND O (he played Fortnite not Monopoly) and PEQUOD (I told him he should read Moby Dick).
Cute theme and a reasonably smooth grid, liked it.
Croce Solvers - Croce’s Freestyle #868 was mostly medium-tough for a Croce. The SW, however, was extremely tough for me because I held on to a wrong answer for way too long and there was some very tricky clueing. May you have better luck than I did.
All-time record fast time for me. Did not seem amazingly easy, but things just kept falling with hardly a pause.
Another inaccuracy in the Connections puzzle that just went up at midnight. One that's easily fixable. Let's see if they change it later...
"PEW" PEPE ERUPTS...."It smells like CHUM took a WRONG turn in here!!!!!"
He AROSE from his QUEEN bed just as his KRONE of a wife, IVY, (clad in her BLUE ESQ ASIAN ABA) came in to REPORT that it's the PEQUOD and it won't BUDGE. "There's no REMEDY" she'd QUACK...."EVENS so, the MOB will ELECT to BANDO the ONSET of a QUARTERLY REVUE!"....
"IONE" one of those ships, ERUPTS ALEE. ALEE had BAGS under his eyes....You OTOE see them. EVENS so, he had a REMEDY for the CHUM smell that AROSE from the PEQUOD. He had a GPA in TETRIS. He had to DEFRAUD the board of QBS to QUALIFY, but it was a smart MOVE.
ALEE had lots of ENERGY and he was the REGENT DEAN on the board of QR CODE. He said ADIOS just once and only because he ELOPED with QUEEN ANN at the QUARTERLY INTERNS ball. His SAGA had a TWIST and he would WEAR IT like a BUDGE of honor.
QUEEN ANN was SENDAK packing....
ALEE was a NEAT old BIRD. He knew CHUM ENACTS with ECOLI and you can DIE from the ONSET of YEAST TREE TAP if you make a WRONG MOVE. The REMEDY is a TWIST of A ROSE PORT with ICE in your TAP water. It takes the smell of CHUM away.
The PEQUOD finally did BUDGE from PORT. The MOB didn't care anymore. They had the good SENSE to let that NEAT old BIRD, ALEE, do his MOVE. His REMEDY worked....
And that's the truth!
"One kitty who wants to help with the present wrapping, lack of manual dexterity be damned..." reminds me of my best friend in architecture school, who had two cats with whom he would have frequent arguments. Those one-sided arguments usually ended with him saying "Look at these... opposable thumbs! Nyah nyah." while demonstrating said thumbs in a taunting manner. The cats were not impressed.
Rex, I think I had an easier time with this, also solving down clues only, because I recognized QUEEN REGENT right away. I think I remember it from the series Victoria where they are trying to make her a regent because she's too young to be "a real queen". We know how that turned out.
I really wanted BUTTERFLIES for 33 down "Colorful symbols of hope and happiness" but it didn't fit. But BLUEBIRDS are okay too.
[Spelling Bee: Sun currently -1 (oh no!) missing a 6er (oh my 14 day streak is in dire peril!). I will have one last try in the morning.]
I thought it easy to average for a Monday.
Did want ice packs before bags but when packs plural did not fit, along came the b and bags it was.
I saw the theme was QR after the second themer. Thought "quarterly report" was very strong. " Queen regent" more unusual. Not sure I've ever heard it, but as soon as I had queen I knew regent would be the R word, so...easy.
Since Q is not a common letter and must almost always be followed by U, I was impressed by the construction. Liked the revealer - thought it tied the theme answers together nicely.
Yesterda's photo of a purple lit Coco was striking
Ahoy-hoy,
I made a post yesterday after a long absence. I made it simply because I wanted to ensure there was proper information about Base-60 math (and the fact that you can count to 60 on one hand), and also celestial navigation, which I know how to do both with my 60-counting hand or with an expensive sextant.
I appreciate those of you who noticed and said hi in the comments, such @egsforbreakfast. Thank you.
Coincidentally, I did a few puzzles from the archive, and one of them had an "Earthrise" theme. It was February 6 2023, and I got curious and looked at the Rex entry for it, just to see if he would point out the lack of women on Apollo 8. It is the only other post on this blog I have read since I quit reading it in September 2022. What did I find? In the first paragraph of the first reader comment @egsforbreakfast writes:
Rex may not know a lot about GRINDR, but we now know that George Santos does. I find myself wondering at times whether Santos isn’t the long-missing JohnX. Same je ne sais quoi air of mystery about them.
Gulp.
@egsforbreakfast (may I call you @egs?) I know you didn't mean anything by that and you were going for the funny, as I always do, but of all the people who you might think I am I would hope that George Santos is at the bottom of the list. For the record, let me state that I am not George Santos. If I was I would have blown my brains out a long time ago. It's all good, @egs. Actually I should give a bio of the real me because I'm pretty awesome, I'm easily the most interesting guy I ever met. I've never been cursed with ambition or drive, yet every place I ever worked was world class, and even better I was always the most incompetent person there. It's like being the worst active quarterback in the NFL; you're still an NFL quarterback, so that makes you better than everybody else. The math here is easy, you can do it on one hand. I'm writing a book so I'll sell it to you when I'm done.
- - - -
A word about cats:
I left in September 2022 because a post I made early one Sunday morning had a link to a picture of a kitten. Yes, a f**king kitten. A few posts later someone complimented the picture I had linked too. Shortly after that, my post was deleted, as well as the post that complimented me. It was completely disappeared. That's Putin-level shit right there, and I was rightly offended. I mean it.
Also for the record, here's the kitten picture, and it is 100% SFW G-Rated. It's a kitten, fer cryin' out loud:
Cozy Little Kitten
You know who probably hates that picture? Putin, that's who.
@GILL I. Enjoyed your comment/story... well done.
Nice debut, and the grid kind of looks like a QR code :P
My five favorite original clues from last week
(in order of appearance):
1. What one might look at the night sky with (9)(6)
2. One you might beseech to get glasses (3)
3. Crushes that have lost their sparkle? (4)(5)
4. Air ... or chair (3)
5. What takes a toll? (3)(2)
CHILDLIKE WONDER
REF
FLAT SODAS
RUN
ONE P.M.
So sad to not know Anthony Quinn…
ICE BAth before ICE BAGS, but otherwise the puzzle gave me very little resistance. I thought the theme was well done--although frankly I thought @Rex was going to give QUARTERLY REPORT a little more grief. :) In any case, not a bad start to the week.
@JOHN X: Yeah, Putin ... and George Santos.
Welcome back!!
Fun fact that I recently learned, Snake oil was in actuality a legitimate remedy, due to its high concentrations of omega-3. “Snake oil salesmen” became a term for conmen because they were selling fake snake oil. This does make the clue slightly irksome.
I recognized QUEEN REGENT without much hesitation - it was QUACK REMEDY that I thought it was a bit of a stretch (and who is this SENDAK dude ? Hopefully, he’s pretty famous to appear on a Monday - I’m more of a GEENA Davis / Anthony QUINN guy myself).
A rare Monday DNF when I put in QUiCK REMEDY and never checked the cross.
Also a rare Monday WoE with IONE, but I think OTOE appears often enough to make it a fair cross.
Croce Freestyle 868 was overall medium, but also with a one-square DNF at the 59 square (a cross between an abbreviation and an initialism).
Thx Joe, a QUALItY puz with a Mon. REMEDY! 😊
Easy-med (downs-only).
Got the Q idea early, but didn't pick up on the 'R' until the very end of the solve, trying to grok 47D, 'Scannable'… Had upCODE, but that wasn't working for uTS or _pEE. Was finally able to see the 'R's in the second words of the themers, which had filled themselves in with the down crosses at that point.
Four other possible sticking points were: SEN_AK, PEQU__, SHRiNK and BAN_O. I knew BANjO couldn't work, then thot of Sal BANDO, which didn't seem a very likely Mon. candidate, but … Couldn't see BLUEBIRDS, until I finally twigged that SHRiNK might be past tense, hence the 'U', which gave me _LUE, leading to the 'B' in BUDGE and voila BLUEBIRDS & MOB. Learned later that I needed to parse BANDO, which confirmed that it wasn't my 'pal' SAL. Went with my gut instinct for PEQUOD & SENDAK, and Bob was my uncle.
Majorly fun solve; exhilarating journey! :)
Thx, @jae; on it! :)
___
Balton & Stewart's NYT acrostic on xwordinfo.com was tricky, but doable.
___
On to Croce's 868. 🤞 Apparently, no Mon. New Yorker td, but a holiday puz by Husic & Wagner in its stead.
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
A trio of salient post-puzzle observations:
• AROSE made me think of the famous Gertrude Stein quote, and a quick rabbit-hole search yielded that the computer game “Camen Sandiego” has a villain named Rosa Zarrosas Arroz.
• A pair of interesting pairs. First, embedded animal sounds in UPROAR and QUACKREMEDIES. Second, names not clued as names in IVY and DEAN.
• A most magnificent PuzzPair© in PEPE and PEW.
And a during-puzzle “Woo HOO!” as I figured out the revealer before uncovering it. Oh, this may have been easy for many, but it’s a skill that doesn’t come easy to me, and excuse me while I go float on a cloud for a bit.
So, a feel-good moment and hidden treasures in the box today. Thank you for making this, Joe, and congratulations on your debut!
Downs-only, I did the entire top half (yay) and quite a bit at the bottom (double yay!) including the revealer, but at some point I had to look at some across clues. Just a few, 2 or 3, was enough for me to finish the rest downs-only. It felt very nice indeed.
I kinda liked WEAR IT.
Quick little FYI - QUEEN REGENT was popularized by Game of Thrones (books >>> show). Cersi Lannister was QUEEN REGENT while her evil son King Joffrey was too young to rule on his own. I've not heard the term outside that series...
contender for fastest solve were it not for finger fumbles on the keyboard.
After two themers I was looking for some version of QRCODE, and when it showed up verbatim I said, aha!, there you are. I know what a QRCODE is because they are ubiquitous but I can't say I have ever scanned one. Maybe if I had a smart phone.
No mysteries today with the exception of IONE, how do you do? Can't remember anyone ever saying "better put an ICEBAG" on that" and BANDO will always be Sal for me, as he is for some others, apparently.
About right for a Monday, JM, not Juicy and Meaty but solid, and thanks for a fair amount of fun.
@John X-I've always had a fondness for audacity and hope your stick around for a while. I for one have missed you. I'm thinking you finally achieved parole, so good for you.
Never could get a proper print version of the Stumper. Hoping for better luck today with the Croce and the NYer.
This is a great Monday puzzle and an auspicious debut. I don't view puzzles on an easy-difficult scale; rather, I view them on a clever-inane scale. Yes, I whoosh-whooshed through this. But each fill was a little thrill, a discrete ripple of pleasure. The theme was fun to fill and fun to reveal, and made so much sense! I love me some misdirective clueing; but that's not what Monday's are about. Today's clues were neat, clean, and respectful of my intelligence. There was even some resistance offered, as I had WRONG turn before WRONG MOVE—corrected via crosses, although I also had Paco before PEPE, so it was a kind of double-cross-correct situation, which was briefly panic-inducing, but ultimately satisfying.
Never heard of a QRCODE, but the theme entries made the answer inevitable. Nice puzzle...Monday easy but enjoyable.
Hey All !
A theme to warm @M&A's U-loving heart.
Pretty NEAT puz. Too bad the Blockers couldn't be made to look more QRCODE-like. Har, that would've been something.
QUACK REMEDY was new here. I had QUiCK, which seemed more plausible, but the Down won out, as SIGA isn't anything.
No ASS today. Shocked and amazed. 😁
Nice handling of all the Q's. Quite Right.
This was a relatively Quick Romp, a Quality Respite, and not a big Quiz Read. Quantifingly Restitutible. (No clue what that means...)
Monday! Argh!
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
Rex, It's a Wonderful Life is "schlocky," i.e. "cheap or trashy material"????
C'mon man! AFI has it in their top 100 films of all time and it's required viewing at Christmas time. I thought you were only a curmudgeon when it came to crossword puzzles.....
A smooth and nicely filled grid, but with the kind of cluing that made thinking almost completely unnecessary. I was, however, wondering what the QR revealer would be? QR CODE. Isn't that the squiggly thing on the menu or your bill or somewhere -- the squiggly thing that you're supposed to scan with your phone? In order to pay?
I don't use my phone to pay for stuff and I don't know how to use my phone to pay for stuff and I don't want to know how to use my phone to pay for stuff. "Can you please bring me a check?" is my reply to the peculiar squiggles. I didn't know it was a QR CODE and I have no idea what the QR stands for.
There is no question in my mind that the ubiquitous IPhone will be the downfall of our entire civilization. Maybe everyone should just have one implanted in their skull and be done with it.
Thought on the unfortunate QUEEN REGENT, "temporarily serving as a monarch". If she were a guy, she'd never be asked to relinquish her power, now would she?
Great fun. Down, across, repeat from top to bottom. Only snag was where I wish enough people remembered Sal Bando the great Oakland A's third baseman, and he could still fill in for the railroad.
Changing to SEVENTH could fix the inaccuracy plus might add to trickiness.
Naticked on a Monday! IONE and OTOE cross never heard of either.
Re @Rlev's interesting point at 6:35, Chinese traditional medicine uses a snake oil to treat joint pain. Also a 2007 study showed snake oil improved the swimming endurance of mice and their ability to solve mazes, compared to mice fed lard. (No improvement on crossword puzzles.)
I'm just impressed with how the researchers got the mice into those tiny bathing suits.
<a href="https://youtu.be/vn_or9gEB6g?si=KnjDHzrSdJADcbt0>BLUE BIRD_ </a> of friendliness
Like guardian angels it's always near.
TMBG's Lincoln and Flood remain some of the most comfort food-y of music for me.
I'll second the motion for Cersi as QUEEN REGENT, not that she'd countenance a vote on the matter.
Couldn't remember the second letter of the railroad for the life of me, (Hello Google. Yes, it is Monday; why do you ask?) Gotta say I prefer B & B to BANDO
I also am very glad to see you back, @JOHN X. Off-blog, JOHN was kind enough -- before he disappeared -- to share some checks of his checkered past with me, but with JOHN X, you never really know what you should take with a grain of salt and what you should swallow whole.
But do understand, JOHN, that I've missed your QUINTESSENTIAL ROGUISHNESS, your QUIXOTIC RECOUNTINGS and your QUIRKY REPARTEE.
QR phrases with a blah revealer. Oh well, water under the bridge.
I did find a website with 40 quirky Q words ("to add to your vocabulary!") and the same site has 40 rip-roaring R words. They'd make some Wednesday level fun, but still the reveal. QR CODE. {Sigh.} I wish QUACKERY RACKERY was a thing.
In Colorado we have western bluebirds, but they're not as blue as you'd wish if you were a bird designer.
Poor PEPÉ (le) PEW is rended asunder in this violent paean to healthy relationships.
Uniclues:
1 When she decided to have a second list of dumb kids "to level the playing field."
2 What the red pill did.
3 LinkedIn.
1 DEAN UPROAR
2 SHRUNK ALICE
3 INTERNS GENRE
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Apt description of my brother-in-law. PAID FOR NEXT TO NOTHING.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@Liveprof said...
Re @Rlev's interesting point at 6:35
I too found the point interesting. However, I think the clue is actually perfectly in line with what @Rlev said. If the clue was simply "Snake oil", then I think you could say it's wrong, but it says "Snake oil salesman's offering" and as you said, what the salesmen often were offering was bogus.
But, still a good point! I gotta go find me some snake oil!
"In Colorado we have western bluebirds, but they're not as blue as you'd wish if you were a bird designer."
Comment of the Day, I'd say, @Gary.
Yep, very quickly done but solid Monday puzzle with a pretty clever theme.
@Nancy, even though I have a smart phone I echo your sentiments. The first time I “dealt with” QRCODEs was when restaurants first opened again (with tables places far apart) and the restaurants taped QRCODEs onto the tables in order to view their menu online rather than handle a potentially “germy” real menu. Man. Have things moved on from that. My husband and I got a new tv (mutual Christmas gift) which I set up yesterday. I had to scan QRCODEs at least 5 times to connect the tv to various and sundry services. THEN…just this morning, we had our water softener replaced (it was on warranty) and I was given a paper with a QRCODE in order to access the owner’s manual. I have mixed feelings about THAT. Paperless can be good for the environment. You CAN access these things through your computer, but the QRCODE takes YOU right to a website that you would otherwise have to get to by typing in an insanely long URL. Anyway, thus the SAGA of technology today.
@GILL…good one today!
How is this a Gen Z friendly theme? QR CODE ist the only themer that‘s remotely modern and (i) it‘s the shortest one and (ii) QR CODEs have been around forever by now. A gimme for a majority of smartphone users, which is, well, almost everybody. The rest of the puzzle did not favor younger solvers, as you pointed out. I‘m a (late) Gen Xer and probably the last generation to whom QUINN and GEENA are gimmes.
A fun & easy Monday. Thanks, Joe :)
Saved by the kitty pix and GILL I.! The puzzle itself...for me, QR CODES elicit elevated blood pressure and pulse. "Scan QR code" - why? with what? Who thought these were a good idea? Obviously not my theme day. I liked the plot TWIST crossing WRONG MOVE and recalling the historical romance SAGAs I read in high school involving a scheming QUEEN REGENT. BLUEBIRDS brought a smile.
Do-over: nUDGE. Help from previous puzzles: IONE. Moment of incomprehension: having BANDO from crosses, I looked to see what the clue was, expecting "Baseball great Sal," and could not figure out for the longest time how that fit with a railroad.
GILL I. - I'd say you surpassed yourself, except that you regularly do that. Laughing from start to finish.
I thought we had a guest blogger for the first paragraph, then Rex made a Quick Return.
Surprised at two things:
1- Medium as any part of this difficulty. Probably my fastest ever, I was checking my technique for seeing clues and boxes as fast as possible because the acrosses in order were so fill-in-the-blanks moo cow easy. The downs were just a matter of seeing which few white spaces were still left. Then a final glance across gave the themers and remaining few blanks. Maybe today is some kind of "downs significantly harder than acrosses" anomaly.
2 - Apparently we take a lot for granted living in the NYC area. QR codes for movie tickets did not appear Quite Recently, although I couldn't use one for a Quiet Riot concert.
Only Rex can find fault with the "bluebird of happiness": he is supposed to be elusive!
Lest I sound negative, I'm looking forward to giving to the year-end plea and holiday card!
Nice to see JOHN X back! Nice kitty:) - see it while you can
I get all confused about shrinky grammar, so I had SHRaNK before SHRUNK. I always think "shrunk" is a past participle, like drunk, thunk, or skunk, but I guess not.
I also had IONa before IONE, thinking if she was named for one island in the Hebrides she was probably named after two of them -- almost, but not quite.
Snake oil can be tricky -- you put too much of it on your snake and it just slides around when it's trying to slither forward.
Anyway, the theme -- I could see from the first two theme answers it had to be about QR CODEs, but was hoping for something a little less straightforward, like "gate to an online menu," say. It was a bit of a letdown.
My daughter is now 47. When her generation were in their teens, they seemed to know all the movies ever made, because they were available on rerun channels and later on the internet. Now they're almost all on Netflix, but maybe interest in movies in general has waned.
ICE BAGS and BUDGE also gave me fits (I had Ice Bath and Nudge, respectively) but I don’t mind WEAR IT because it was well-clued. If the clue had been something like “What you do with a shoe” it would have been dreck all around, but “If a shoe fits, wear it” is a legitimate saying that’s in the language, which makes a big difference, IMO.
@RP: Dang, dude. If it was yer first viewin, U put off ever seein "It's a Wonderful Life" for quite a few years. Especially if U do a lotta TCM.
It's a good flick. Capra did good work.
M&A fave XmasCritter pic today: Misha about to light up.
ah yes, the puz…
Never have used a QRCODE dealie. [Quick Response … sorta like a souped-up barcode, I reckon.]
Pretty straightforward puztheme, but it paid out 9 U's off all them Q's, sooo … quappy quolidays!
staff weeject pick: QBS. Scrabble-twerkin plural abbreve meat.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Preliminary tournament stage} = QUALIFYINGROUND. Got er off the QU.
other fave stuff included: PEQUOD. SHRUNK. WRONGMOVE [wanted WRONGTURN, until ELOPED changed my mind]. TREE clue [nice Christmassy touch].
Thanx, Mr. MaQRuez … er … MaRQuez dude. And congratz on a primo debUt.
Masked & Anonymo9Us
downs only, anyone?…
**gruntz**
I think it’s fine! It runs north south.
I agree that tech has made people apparently dumber. I've been rear-ended on the highway in stop and go traffic 5 times in the last 2 years after never in almost 40 years.
Tech is a matter of finding the right tool for the right job.
QR codes are very easy to make, and generally just direct you to a web page. I've used them to do paperless concert programs (although I hesitate bc it encourages people to pull out phones during a concert, a real scourge sometimes), or add links to more historical or artistic program notes than one would want to do on a paper program.
Paying on a phone, or in my case, my sports watch is great on many occasions: not having to dig a wallet or credit card out to get on a subway/bus. When biking, not digging out a cc from a cramped possibly sweaty back pocket.
@John X. I'm thrilled to have you back. Hope you'll stick around. Try to find @LMS while you're at it. Sorry about the George Santos thing. I try to be as irreverent as possible within the strictures of a public blog. I knew you could take it.
I hate It's a Wonderful Life, hate it with intensity of the surface of the Sun. The scene where he looses it, tells his wife and kids to get the hell away from him, and totally destroys everything on the table all due to the frustration of his miserable life? That was my mind set every.single.day for a couple of decades. Yearls later, even on my best day, watching that scene can drive me back to that hole for a few days. It's banned in my house. If only my wife would believe it.
@Gary - Yes, Eastern Blue Birds beat out Western Blue Bird, but I would guess (I've never seen one) that the Mountain Blue Bird beats them both. I remember the mistake I made when I told a co-worker that I had seen my first Blue Bird, and damn, was it blue. He insisted for another hour to explain to me that I had been seeing Blue Birds all my life, and wondering what kind of an idiot I was that I didn't know that. I explained otherwise, but he insisted he was right. When I finally told him I wasn't talking about a Blue Jay but a Blue Bird, and that if he ever once in his life considered that, in a disagreement between peers, he might, just might, be the one who is wrong not everyone would consider him the asshole they do.
It is abundantly clear that Rex is a cat 🐈 guy 😊
Croce was medium-hard here with a problem in the SW that slowed me down. Wonder if it was the same wrong answer the @jae had? (Mine was 48D.)
Interestingly, in addition to a QUEEN REGENT, which I'm familiar with thanks to likely-unhealthy amounts of binge reading medieval-themed mystery novels, there's also the much more obscure QUEEN REGNANT, which strikes me as a fairly evil later-in-the-week answer just waiting to happen.
I'm traveling, and since I print out the NYTQW on paper, I haven't solved one since we left home. I often solve Mondays in my head anyway, so here I am. I found the solve rather easy.
The bed we slept in last night was a double, rather than our usual king. Sleeping on the very edge, I rolled off the bed at 5 am, landing on my right hip (the iliac crest, which would make a good crossword fill, IMHO). So I solved ICE BAGS right away. I have one on my hip as I write.
We had Donovan's Mellow Yellow a short while ago, and today we get his daughter. Ione Skye. (But she was raised by her mom.)
Don't forget the fourth variety of bluebird: The Jewish Bluebird. It's the Bluebird of Happiness?-Are-You-Kidding?-With-My-Back?
@Anonymous 11:01 I cannot see putting Geena Davis and Anthony Quinn inthe same generation. I think of her as maybe two decades later.
I thought "wearit " was a fun answer as clued.
Pete,
You're the guy who hunted South of a Tuckerton, NJ right? You're a Jersey guy. Have been for more than five decades, no?
If that's the case, and you aren't visually impaired and get outside from time to time, I have little doubt that your co-worker was right. There is no way on God's green earth that you didn't see a bluebird by the time you were old enough to work. I'll concede that you may not have known it. You might have even misidentified it. But bluebirds are plentiful in NJ. In fact, They're what you call back yard or feeder birds because, yeah you guessed, they routinely come to backyard feeders.
@Pete,
So you called a co-worker an asshole? Did he deck you? Did H.R. reprimand or punish you?
That's the kind of uncivil speech that most employers frown on.
This old timer says, I couldn’t say it better. So I won’t. Come back often @JohnX!
@Joe Dipinto, did they fix Connections yet? I did it a couple of hours ago and didn't notice any mistake.
If so, can you let us know what the change was? It probably won't be a spoiler to just do that.
30A "Snake oil salesman's offering" reminded me of a time back in the 90s when our intrepid Exploring the Mayan Route gang was stopped over in San Christóbal de la Casas, the capital of Chiapas, Mexico, for a few days rest. We were hanging out at the downtown plaza where a man was speaking animatedly to a surrounding group. He was talking about all kinds of aches and pains when he picked up a burlap bag and dramatically flung it open. A large snake flew out and landed near us! (The weather was cool and the snake was sluggish so we didn't get bitten.) Then he brandished some small jars of what looked like petroleum jelly. He was literally selling snake oil! Looking back, I wish we had bought one---what a keepsake that would be.
By the time I got to 45 Across I knew the "Woman temporarily serving as monarch" would be QUEEN something or the other. My first impulse was QUEEN ELECT! Ha! Still like that better than REGENT. Might we see a KING ELECT in the near future?
@Okanaganer
I sent you an email re: Connects.
@Okanaganer – they didn't change it. I'll email you too.
@pabloinnh - 48d I kinda knew. I had the wrong snack item at 39d and got stumped for a long time by the clues for 37a & d.
Bad natick at 64A, apparently. Does the DIE of the answer pluralize as DICE? If so, never heard of it. If not, I would appreciate an explanation. Otherwise quite a good Monday, I thought.
I liked wear it also (mmorgan comment)
Rex hates partials.
They are not all bad b
IONE and OTOE have regularly appeared in the Times puzzle for decades. However of late there have been fewer sightings but they still will continue to appear because the letters are so useful.
You would do well to remember them!
( They’re gimmes for long time solvers).
Blue Stater
Yes dice , plural of die.
Very surprised someone would call quack remedy a stretch. . It has been around at least since the 19th century and is still in use. Honestly, to me it’s a very common term which I heard spoken even. I would guess almost most on the blog would know it so it is fine for a Monday.
Sendak was a very famous writer of children’s books. Where the Wild Things Are was a hugely successful one and the publisher still sells a lot of them. He had artistic successes which got him in the news. Sendak is easily a Monday answer.
The puzzle? Meh. Nothing really to say; an ok Monday.
I agree with you about "It's A Wonderful Life." It certainly reflects Frank Capra's view of life, and is as hokey and contrived as any Christmas movie ever. I could write a multivolume book analyzing all the many and varied things wrong with the movie (just one example: what happened to Mrs. Harry Bailey, George's sister-in-law? There's such a hoopla in the middle of the movie when Harry returns to Bedford Falls from college a married man, marrying before his older brother George, and his going off to work for his rich father-in-law. And then? Nothing. Crickets. Harry goes off to war and wins the Congressional Medal of Honor, and we never hear or see boo about his wife after that, and she isn't included in the big ensemble scene at the end. Did she die? Did she and Harry get divorced? Who knows, and as far as Capra and the screenwriters are concerned, who cares? Just one of many pet peeves I have with this movie.) But the acting is terrific (aside from Henry Travers's whiny-voiced Clarence, whose voice and persona become annoying very quickly). And one big reason to see the movie: Jimmy Stewart. I agree that in that particular era of classic Hollywood, there were two superb male actors above all others, Stewart and Cary Grant (they only appeared in one movie together as far as I know, 1940's "The Philadelphia Story," and each played lead in exactly four Hitchcock films).
IAWL was Stewart's first film after returning from active combat piloting bombing missions in the European theater during the war. This was among the most dangerous of combat assignments in that war, and the casualty and capture ratio of flight crews was high. Compounding the danger was the knowledge that many of the bombs they dropped ended up killing civilians on the ground. The work of war took a heavy psychological toll on Stewart, who suffered from symptoms of what we now call PTSD for years afterward. And it was even apparent in his physical appearance. Look at the still-boyish Stewart in such pre-war-duty films as "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "The Shop Around the Corner," and the aforementioned "The Philadelphia Story." Then look at the Stewart of IAWL and many of his other post-war films. He was only 38 when IAWL was released, but his hair had grayed, there were worry lines in his face, and a haunted look in his eyes. Recall the scene, during the sequence when Clarence grants George his wish that he "had never been born," when, in desperation, he goes to the house in which he grew up and is told, coldly and lovelessly, by his own mother (a superb Beulah Bondi), that he never existed. The look of terror and disbelief in his face, his eyes, after she slams the door in his face, is unforgettable. Hitchcock, being Hitchcock, was particularly deft at evoking the haunted torment of Stewart in Stewart's performances in Hitchcock's movies. Just remember Stewart haunted by love and death in "Vertigo," struggling literally to maintain his sanity and equilibrium while caught up in a web of deceit, lies, murder, and romantic obsession.
Ironically, Stewart played "Slacker George" (to use Potter's uncomplimentary phrase- another great actor, Lionel Barrymore) in IAWL, rejected for military service because of deafness in one ear, while being an actual combat veteran in real life, while his friend and fellow conservative Republican John Wayne played valiant war heroes many times while never actually being anywhere near the line of fire in real life.
@Anon 1:56
a) As recently as the '70s Blue Bird populations in NJ, and the entire east coast, were so low that people had legitimate concerns that they would become extinct west of the Mississippi. An extensive nest box placement & conservation effort, fortunately, fixed that. Their population has increased over 12000% since then.
b) Ever hear of a city? Where there are no nesting places / natural supplies of food for Blue Birds?
c) Finally, he had confused Blue Birds with Blue Jays.
But, once again, you know better than I what I have and haven't seen, what I have and haven't done.
Anon 2:02 - I was going to question your reading ability, but you're right, I am among "everyone", so I did indirectly call him an asshole. But, since you're also Anon 1:56 you might want to give consideration to the advice I gave my co-worker.
The one virtue of WEAR IT was reminding me of the grade school level shaggy dog story of the Foo Bird.
No matter where we live, we have all probably seen a Blue Bird. The company makes school buses.
After the first two themers, I had two thoughts: 1) Oh look at me, I can put lots of Qs in my grid, aren't I clever? 2) So it has something to do with QR--which I believe is quick read. But not much joy in the phrases.
I'm going to let BANDO pass, because it's only the clue that makes it a you-know-what. Just say "Baseballer Sal" and be done with it.
Despite having one of my all-time faves GEENA for DOD, this puzzle did not MOVE me. The best thing about it, other than Ms. Davis, is the PEPE/PEW connection (yo, @Lewis). Bogey.
Wordle par.
Clever theme. Enjoyable solve. A little bit more challenging than your average Monday. Quite good.
WRONGMOVE, CHUM
TED AND ALICE REPORT
ENACT AROSE that TED had hoped
would DEFRAUD the QUEEN's court,
INTERN he AND ALICE ELOPED.
--- GEENA LEE QUINN, ESQ.
A bunch of write-overs across the upper half: WRONGturn, DEceive, nUDGE. All easily fixed, but a Monday mess. It was GEENA's birthday yesterday, she's as old as I am. YEA baby.
Wordle par.
Well, if you're going to run ALL the pet pictures, just Photo-Shop the cats out.
O U R A Q T
Quick - is it a pangram? Nae, nae. Tis but a Monday pleasure.
Onward
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
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