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Prepared to fight Goliath? / WED 1-31-24 / Fine partner? / Rank associated with tea and sandwiches? / Protruding feature on a cliff / Private university of North Carolina
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Constructor: Nathan Hale
Relative difficulty: Medium (4:10) (maybe skewing Medium-Challenging, depending on how easily (or not) you grasped the theme concept)
Theme answers:
- READIED A ROCK ("ready to rock!") crossing TEDDY (20A: Prepared to fight Goliath? / 6D: Presidential nickname of the early 20th century)
- TIMED A GET-UP ("time to get up!") crossing SMOKEY (34A: Practiced changing one's costume by the clock? / 29D: Motown legend Robinson)
- BACKED A WORK ("back to work!") crossing BOO-BOO (41A: Invested on Broadway, say? / 24D: Owie)
Gregg Charles Popovich (born January 28, 1949) is an American professional basketball coach and executive who is the president and head coach for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Popovich has been a member of the Spurs organization since 1994, as president of basketball operations and general manager before taking over as coach of the Spurs in 1996. Popovich is the longest tenured active coach in the NBA as well as all other major sports leagues in the United States. Nicknamed "Coach Pop", Popovich has the most wins of any coach in NBA history, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest coaches in NBA history. [...] In 1979, Popovich was named the head coach of the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens, the joint men's basketball team of Pomona College and Pitzer College in Claremont, California. Popovich coached the Pomona-Pitzer men's basketball team from 1979 to 1988, leading the team to its first outright title in 68 years. (wikipedia)
• • •
Outside of the theme, not much going on. I wish they wouldn't "?" clues for answers that are long and Across when theme answers are long and Across and also feature "?" clues. Very confusing to get to the end and see what looks like yet another themer ... only to have it just be a non-thematic POLYGRAPH. Great answer, but terrible, terrible clue (61A: Something you shouldn't take lying down?). How does the "down" part work here? I get that you shouldn't take it "lying" (because it's a lie detector—hurray, more puns). But what is "down" doing? What's the pun part there? Is the "?" on the clue supposed to mean "hey, just ignore 'down,' it doesn't work, I just can't stop punning"? No real trouble with anything else. GRASP for USURP at first (1A: Seize), and WIG for RUG (58D: Toupee, slangily). Oh, and OTOS for OTOE, which made my thematic adventures even more gunked up (BACKS DA WORK!?!?). OTOS hasn't been seen since 2021, but it has a long history. OTOE is better, but that's not the word my fingers typed in, alas. Managed to guess correctly on the BILLS/BEAKS kealoa* at 31D: Prominent parts of toucans. Managed to actually *use* my recently acquired Word of the Day knowledge to retrieve Chris REDD (who was Word of the Day back on Jan. 11). But that didn't keep me from writing his name as Michael REDD just now (Michael REDD was an NBA All-Star in the Aughts). REDD Foxx has really been put out to pasture, which is too bad. He was a funny (and *dirty*) comedian, and his sitcom still has the greatest TV theme song of all time.
Big month for ELON! (37A: Private university of North Carolina). Three appearances just this month, two as the University. That's two more appearances than women made as solo constructors on the byline this month. You are reading that right. There was not a single puzzle made by a solo woman constructor in the entire month of January (there were twenty-three (23!) such puzzles by men). Further, counting all co-constructors as a half, there were only three women total. That's an overall "balance" in the month of January of 28 men to 3 women. This (enormous) discrepancy simply isn't happening at other major (and minor) outlets. New Yorker is roughly half and half, by design. Last I checked, USA Today was majority women in January. I'll stop talking about this issue til the end of next month, but this is the worst month for gender imbalance that I can remember. Ever. And I blogged through the very worst years of it (late '00s through mid-'10s).
I managed to maintain a NYTXW spreadsheet for the whole first month of the year, which means I can easily look back at every theme, every Word of the Day, every ranking (1-100) I assigned to every puzzle (for my eyes only). I can see quickly which day of the week I'm liking most (Friday) and least (Sunday), and what the gender balance is (see above). This makes it easy to compile my Puzzles of the Month (a regular feature from now on, I hope!!). Three exceptional puzzles each month: two themed, one themeless. These are my January 2024 Puzzles of the Month:
Themed:
- Damon Gulczynksi, "Y =X" (Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024)
- Jake Halperin, "BIRDS AND BEES" (Monday, Jan. 22, 2024)
Themeless:
- Hoang-Kim Vu (Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024) (THIS IS POINTLESS, ABOVE MY PAY GRADE, etc.)
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. EARL is [Rank associated with tea and sandwiches?] because of EARL Grey tea and the eponymous EARL of Sandwich
*kealoa = a pair of words (normally short, common answers) that can be clued identically and that share at least one letter in common (in the same position). These are answers you can't just fill in quickly because two or more answers are viable, Even With One or More Letters In Place. From the classic [Mauna ___] KEA/LOA conundrum. See also, e.g. [Heaps] ATON/ALOT, ["Git!"] "SHOO"/"SCAT," etc.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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114 comments:
Pretty interesting for a Wednesday. Wish Rex would stop it with the whiny DIE tropes about women constructors. Print the puzzles that are the best and ignore the identities of the constructors already.
Easy one. Haven't seen CCCP since the Olympics of my youth when the whole point was to best the USSR, when it was TimeDaGetUp and get ReadiedaRock.
CCing SoSo BooBoo? (Are you copying me on your minor mistake).
I didn't understand Carol Brady's haircut even in the '70s.
Yeah Elon! My son is headed there this fall; thrilled they’re having a moment in the NYTXW.
And thank you for continuing to point out the gender imbalance-gender isn’t critical to construction prowess, but it’s a his reminder that we have a long way to go in general.
Are they the best though?
You could at least spell correctly the thing you’re pretending to be mad about (it’s DEI)
II thank you for pointing out the gender imbalance at the NYTXW. It would be easy to surmise a lack of submissions or lack of talent if you hadn't also posted the stats from USA Today and The New Yorker. When I flew to Italy at the beginning of the month, I marveled that we had a woman pilot and I also thought - won't it be great when that doesn't have to be mentioned. But as long as there is such gender discrepancy the matter must be mentioned loudly and repeatedly.
Very clever puzzle with a heme that helped the solve, plus verbal wordplay added inside the theme answers. My only difficulty was in the east, because I didn't know BOOBOO was a bear, and was slow to get INSERT because I was looking for a category inside a newspaper.I remembered that cccl stood fir USSR, and that helped me come up with USURP.
My compliments to the constructor.A challenging puzzle, but a fair one. Well done!
Another puzzle that appeared to be more concerned about the theme gimmick and the associated construction challenges than the solving experience. I noticed the theme was made up of a few nonsensical phrases like “READIED A ROCK”, saw that they were crossing the “bears” and came her expecting OFL to give me the low down on the theme nuance that I missed. But unfortunately, that’s it - a bunch of nonsensical phrases crossing the names of “bears” apparently now does a theme make.
Looking forward to Friday.
This puzzle reminded me of the old hymn “Gladly, the Cross-eyed Bear.”
I’ll see your Sanford and Son theme and raise you Barney Miller.
Pretty nifty theme idea. But the TEDDY bear was actually named for Theodore Roosevelt, so a different clue should have been used for 6-Down. Such as: "Soul singer Pendergrass".
For me, it’ll always be: “Boy, d’way Glen Miller played…songs dat made d’hit paraaaade…!”
Weird, and I liked it. Of course, any puzzle with bears, and especially with Smokey Bear, I'm inclined to like.
I remember seeing Smokey several times at the National Zoo in the late sixties and early seventies. I cried when he died. In fact, I’m tearing up a little right now.
Agree 100% with Rex, which rare.
I guess it was a cute theme - but just poorly executed. The fill drones on and on and segmented grid to make the theme work. USURP is one of my favorites - but is cancelled out by the abbreviation in 1d. Why include “The Last Supper” when asking for the Italian spelling? RUG - APR - DEE - CCING and BREA - EARL - APIS - RHEA are evidence enough that this should have been scrapped or further edited.
January has been mostly brutal including the inane female constructed Sharing is Caring puzzle. It really doesn’t appear as if the selection of these entries are merit based. I’m not a believer in quotas but if the majority of your puzzles are going to be bad - why not strive for some type of balance?
TEDDY BEAR’s Picnic
Kudos to Nathan for just putting this grid together.
First, it’s a tight theme, I believe. Finding “A to B” phrases that can convert to “A’ed a B” phrases, well, I don’t think there are that many out there. Up-to-speed → Upped-a-speed, maybe. Signal-to-noise → Signalled-a-noise, maybe. But these are hard to come by, and then their letter lengths have to meet the requirements of symmetry. Tough!
Second, the three bears must cross these answers, and a grid must be designed to accommodate this. Tough!
All this on a NYT puzzle debut. Bravo, sir! Hail Nathan!
But also – what an original theme! Double-layered and never done before. Again, on a debut!
Throw in a trio of words I adore – OUTCROP, USURP, SKEDADDLE – and, for me, all in all, this adds up to quite an impressive creation, debut or not.
Nathan, your theme is so interesting and unusual that I’m hoping for more from your fertile mind. Please? Congratulations on your debut, and thank you for making this!
I solved without much struggle but didn’t bother to understand the themers, just waited for Rex to explain them to me, because they felt tormented. And so they are. Also didn’t bother to look at what was in the gray squares & notice they were bears, because I hate this new gimmick with colored squares indicating some sidebar cuteness like the mallet for whacking moles & I never pay any attention to them. But I love Smokey Robinson & his presence gave me joy.
As per the gender imbalance and the commenters complaining that @Rex is mentioning it over and over, it’s very important to women. The puzzles that Aimee Lúcido and Brooke Husic and Robyn Wientraub are constructing are incredible and seemingly everywhere EXCEPT the NYT. It’s a huge issue because they are apparently purposefully discriminating against these and other excellent constructors for the very reason that they are in fact women. There are way too many of them for this to be some kind of coincidence and given the poor quality of the puzzles that ARE making it through in the NYT lately (and there are some really really bad ones) that makes it even more astounding. I still do this puzzle because I love the blog and it is not really something I would get without doing the puzzle. But other places are publishing much better puzzles and many of them are by women.
Barney Miller grooves hard, but I'll still take The Streetbeater (Sanford & Son theme) over it for its energy and funky Chuck Rainey on bass (though BM's bass slays, as well.) I have so many memories of coming home from granpa's house in the 80s with my dad, having a bowl of cereal as a light, late supper (we ate our main meal at about 3 p.m.), and sitting down to watch Sanford and Son and Three's Company reruns. The latter probably not age appropriate for me at the time (8, 9 years old), but the questionable stuff was over my head, anyway.
I sussed the theme out quite early, then thought, nah, that can't be the theme--that's just too silly, so I abandoned it. Only with 3/4 of the grid filled in did I realize my initial hunch was right. Finished in average time, but I was not enjoying the puns, nor the clue for POLYGRAPH with the "down" that just doesn't fit the answer.
Interesting to see the gender breakdown. I don't pay too much attention to it normally, but when compared to the other publications, that at least provides some perspective as to whether the NYT is an outlier, and here it does seem to be one, wildly so. It helped convince me that it is something that should be analyzed and hopefully acted upon.
And, perhaps interesting to someone, the letters in "CCCP" are not Latin letters, but rather the Cyrillic forms that correspond to "SSSR." So a "C" is a Cyrillic "S", and a "P" is a Cyrillic "R". Some may recognize it was borrowed from the Greek rho, which also looks like a P. And the CCCP/SSSR stands for "Sojúz Sovétskix Socialistíčeskix Respúblik" ("Union of Soviet Socialist Republics") in transliterated Russian.
Got this one all filled in correctly--GMCS took forever, for some reason--and looked at all those weird phrases and said "I'm missing something", which I surely was, and just never got it. That's why we have this blog I'm sure. Of course I'm familiar with the CROSSTOBEAR expression but it never kicked in. I'm not sure how that happens, but I'm pretty sure Taylor Swift had something to do with it.
No real other problems. Loved seeing SKEDADDLE and knew that Mr. Popovich spells his name with two G's. Agree with OFL on the awkwardness of the "lying down" clue.
Interesting concept, NH, but for me it was just Not Happening. No whoosh unless you count the sound of all of this going over my head. Thanks for a medium amount of Wednesday fun.
Could someone how “taking off”(46A) works as the clue for LESS? Lessening, maybe, but LESS?
I'm wondering if the first three themers are intended to represent situations in which one has a "cross to bear." You could certainly argue that "time to get up" and "back to work" are times when a person might feel that they have a cross to bear. But adding "ready to rock" as such a moment strains the gimmick too far.
Yeah, okay, a corny mess, but to me it was a fun and clever corny mess!
@Dr A 7:58 - Amen. Could not have expressed those sentiments any better than you did - especially the fact that the NYT puzzles frequently flat-out suck, so why not at least try something different? It’s like when a really horrible baseball team trades their star player - “Hey, we finished last with you. We can finish last without you.”
If Marine means as in the USMC, (me Nam) then I hope you see what a vital part of our Corp they have become ( and always were) and why it’s so important to give women constructors the same opportunities as men. I simply can not believe women have not contributed puzzles we would have all enjoyed a lot more than some of the dreadful puzzles foisted on use. Life is good. Semper fi.
Thanks for pointing out that all the theme answers follow the pattern of “A to B” converted to “A’ed a B.” That redeemed them for me, as my first impression was that they were SO-SO forced phrases.
Here I am again, your resident alphadoppeltotter, after a visit one week ago, to report that today’s puzzle has an unusually high (20 or more) number of double letters. There are 20 in the grid.
How unusual is unusually high? The last time this happened legitimately, that is, not theme related or the result of a grid with an extra row or column, was more than three years ago (12/25/20).
BTW, I also report on unusually low results (fewer than five). Inexplicably, I’ve taken on this role for more than seven years, and thus this post. I remain your humble servant, and ever on the alert.
Thanks for pointing out that the “meh” them phrases actually followed a pattern of “A to B” converting to “A’ed a B.” That redeemed them for me.
The theme songs to Sanford and Son and Barney Miller are both great. The former is "The Streetbeater" by Quincy Jones. I also like the theme songs for S.W.A.T., Baretta, and Police Squad! I learned recently that the Police Squad! opening is a spoof of the opening to M Squad, whose theme song features a piano solo by Count Basie!
Hey All !
Didn't grok the A to TO thingamajig the Theme was going for. Finished puz correctly, but no joy in Mudville. Did get the BEARS Down, though.
Wanted to put in CROSS EYE BEAR for the Revealer, but that didn't make sense. Unless you're referring to the Alanis Morissette song "You Oughta Know", where her lyric is "the cross I bear that you gave to me", but sounds like "the crossed eye bear you gave to me."
@Lewis has me seeing Double (Letters), I spy with my little UVEA 20 of them.
Hump day. It's all downhill from here.(Funny joke, in case y'all haven't heard it - After Tuesday, even the calendar say WTF. 😁
No F's (Just NOS) - Har
RooMonster
DarrinV
wait a minute- Rex completes puzzle in 4'10" and calls it a slog???? Even on a Monday, a 4 minute finish is damn good.
One of the most baffling puzzles I've ever done. The peculiar, not-in-the-language phrases that no one said ever are NOT the answers that are highlighted in gray. And the [crossing] answers that ARE highlighted in gray are not the least bit interesting or unusual.
It's puzzles like this that originally drove me to the realm of the crossword blog since there is no way in the world that I can wait until tomorrow to find out WHAT THE BLEEP IS GOING ON HERE...
So now I've read Rex and I still don't understand WHAT THE BLEEP IS GOING ON HERE. How does SMOKEY change "EDA" to "TO". How does TEDDY? How does BOOBOO?
This puzzle either sailed right over my head or right under my head, and I don't know which. Maybe I'll crawl back into bed now.
And I kept waiting for a clue to “bear down.”
Annoyed by the the revealer, “or what 20-, 34- and 41- Across did in this puzzle”
That’s true, and so do a full on 7 other Acrosses. 17a just SKEDADDLES right on through TEDDY, etc. Hope ol’. SMOKEY got a swig of AMSTEL when it was flowing right through him. Anyway, to not have any other “bear” crossings would have likely resulted in a lot more 3s, so I get it. But for me, the phrasing of that revelear is irksome.
Between the clunky theme and the densely packed proper names and foreign words in the western section, I really struggled here. Big miss for me.
Sanford and Son is classic but tap the brakes on greatest tv theme song. That honor goes to The Rockford Files. Three(!) solos: keyboard, guitar and harmonica, all in one theme song!
I pop in from time to time to read Rex's explanation of a puzzle's theme or why a certain clue is tied to its answer. Too often, though, I feel deluged with negativity towards the puzzle - it had too many this or that, too few this other, not enough women constructors, etc. Why always, every single day, do you find something to hate on, Rex?
Life is good, let's treat it that way!
Thx Nathan, pretty smooth; definitely not a BEAR! 😊
Downs-o was mostly easy-peasy.
Picking up on the theme was useful info. (altho, I learned the full import of it from @Rex's write-up. Very clever, indeed!)
The NW was the only semi-tricky area. Having had Chris REDD (NYT maybe, or possibly another xword) recently was a huge help.
Another fun coincidence: not long before embarking on this puz, I had cause to google BREA (can't elaborate right now).
A delightful adventure! :)
Speaking of adventures, still working on last Sat.'s downs-only; getting nowhere fast.
___
Elizabeth Gorski's Mon. New Yorker was med, with a nice mix of easy and tough.
On to David Balton & Jane Stewart's NYT acrostic
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
Pretty much agreeing with Rex on this one, although I *am* tired and grumpy this morning in general and was hoping for a pick-me-up from the puzzle. 'twas not to be, unfortunately. I can appreciate the effort needed to find the phrases and add bears to them, but the overall effect feels really forced and limits the fill options. Finished a whole 3 seconds faster than my average time. Ah, well: there's always Thursday...
Is Rex hinting that Shortz discriminates against women because he's gay?
Thanks for keeping track of the stats on published puzzles created by men and women. It's pretty astonishing.
If you'd like to see more puzzles from female constructors, try The New Yorker. Right now you'll see are Caitlin Reid, Olivia Mitra Framke, and the ever wonderful Elizabeth Gorski.
My statistic for the month is that there were SEVEN days when I reported a missing paper. And I was in error on TWO of them, including yesterday, when the deliverer tossed it into a tree, where it stuck. I looked and looked, down, on the ground, and could not find it. Later in the day I looked up, and there it was. Several firsts there.
The Puzzle? my favorite part was the SE corner, with a stack of BREA, EARL, APIS and RHEA. I slapped them all in and felt like a star. Not like the kind of person who knows BOOBOO bear. Yeesh.
Okay, I see now. It's a combo of two entirely different themes: a "sound-alike" theme -- READIED A ROCK sounds sort of like READY TO ROCK -- and a BEAR theme. I could have stared at my completed grid until the bears came home and never seen any of it.
Several reasons:
1) I never heard of BOOBOO the BEAR.
2) I'm not a multitasker and like to do only one thing at a time. That extends to puzzle themes too.
3) While the exquisiteness and clarity of my enunciation would not have especially impressed the late Queen Elizabeth II, I do pronounce my "to"s pretty clearly for an American. So that when I say READIED A ROCK, it really doesn't sound all that much like READY TO ROCK. I never got the sound-alike part of the theme and thought that for some unknown-to-me reason, the letters "TO" were being swapped out for "EDA". Why was that? And what did that have to do with TEDDY, SMOKEY and BOOBOO?
Agreed.
@Nancy - I don't think there's anything deep going on. All the answers "cross[ed] a bear". I don't think the bear is doing anything to make the across answer a pun. All the theme acrosses are simple puns. (BACKEDAWORK sounds like "back to work" especially if you pronounce it like me, i.e. "backtawork, guys!" READIEDAROCK = "ready to rock," etc. Do you read Wordplay? They've got the theme and everything broken down there. When I have no idea what in the heck is going on in the puzzle, that's the first place I check (and there's links to it from the app and the Games web page.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/30/crosswords/daily-puzzle-2024-01-31.html
I thought the puzzle was brilliant. Loved solving it. Especially the final aha revealing all the bears in the grey downs that I had forgotten were even there. Ready to rock!
I never grasped the concept and whizzed through anyway thanks to the Down clues
Haha! I read this as a reference to da Bears, as in Chicago Bears and Mike Ditka Chicagoese; readie da rock, time da getup, backe da work, and Cross da Bear! Seemed weird, but ok, kinda fun when da Bears had such a terrible season, but still, they are da bears!
I got snagged early not knowing Chris REDD, but after that thought it was a fun puzzle with multi-layered construction/theme. To my ears, kinda deaf as they are, the theme answers had a cadence of their own, regardless of the punny alternative pronunciation that took a bit of stretching as @Nancy points out.
@Nancy, check old Yogi Bear cartoons from the '60s-- BooBoo was his little sidekick. Actually think Yogi would have been a better name to cross. More ancient trivia - Yogi Bear's name was takeoff on famous baseball player of that era, Yogi Berra, who was well known for his wordplay.
Aside from that, I thought theme was clever and marveled at it while solving. I pictured a revealer like TOTODA, but couldn't think of a good clue for that!
Any puzzle with SKEDADDLE in it can't be all bad; and the theme was at least complicated, although also confusing. I got READIED A ROCK, and of course noticed the artful aid of alliteration-- so then I got TIMED... and wanted to make it TIMED Attire. But that doesn't really work, the central a is now part of the last word, So I went on, saw CROSSED A BEAR and BACKED A WORK(??!) and the three bears descending in the shaded squares. But I looked in vain for some larger meaning in the across theme answers, other than having the same grammatical form. I had to read Rex to see the "to becomes EDA" thing, which lifted the puzzle in my estimation.
Nancy, you've probably figured it out by now, but there are two unrelated things going on -- the READY to ROCK/READIED A ROCK pattern in the acrosses, and the names of bears, SMOKEY, TEDDY, and BOOBOO (Yogi Bear's sidekick) in the shaded downs. Too bad the constructor couldn't work in a Goldilocks reference.
Talk about kealoas--almost all credit card readers offer you the choice to swipe or diP your card; most now also let you TAP, although that does not work with some older cards. I just put in the P and checked some crosses.
I did like the rising and falling EA sequence in the SE with BREA, EARL, and RHEA. Too bad APIS broke it up.
But in the tertiary education area, the puzzle is off. I have a couple of friends on the faculty of that Philly school, and a grandson attending as a student, and its informal name is PENN. No extraneous letters. As for OSU, I guess it's technically permissible, as they do call it that (sometimes--OK State seems to be more common) in Oklahoma, but use the initials almost anyplace else and you're referring to The State University of Ohio.
If the Times is sued for gender discrimination (and I think they have been, actually) I don't think they'll do very well if they argue that the men make better puzzles.
Felt similarly about the theme as RP (yes, a slog indeed), was held up infernally by confidently writing Chris Rock over Redd (another kealoa?) and appreciate pointing out the unforgivable gender breakdown. It would be less problematic (though still problematic) if the puzzles had all been amazing, but I feel like this January was an also pretty low patch for quality.
Two thoughts. I wish there were a MAO University and someone should explain to Rex the post hoc fallacy.
This reminded me of a joke I heard as an undergraduate about 50 years ago. Unfortunately I don’t remember the set-up, but it involved a bear named Gladly, who was cross-eyed.
I came, I saw, and I conquered the puzzle, then I read the comments and found out “I’m the kind of person who knows BOO-BOO bear.” Well, yeah I’m the kind of person who watched cartoons when I was a kid. But…I guess that might make the reference skew old in 2024. I kinda sorta GET the EDA/TO thing but mostly not. Seems a little inelegant that nobody would spell the phrase “readi to rock.” I guess the bottom line is I’m conflicted on my feeling about today’s puzzle but @Lewis pointed out some good things so I’ll go with that.
I’ve been enjoying some of the memories of good tv show theme songs. I have to put my top vote in for Sanford and Son/Quincy Jones. I figured that HAD to be a keeper when my son as a pre-teen started “singing” the instrumental in “dah” fashion once he’d seen it on Nick at Nite.
Wasn’t initially real excited about this as it did feel a little sloggish as Rex discussed. As such, left me feeling a bit CROSS and I pronounced it only SO SO. Then after reading RP, realized that I had forgotten about the shaded downs. Now that of course, elevated it considerably and made the sweet revealer work beautifully. Nice job Nathan, a debut with some OOMPH.
I will forever think of the late Queen Elizabeth when I see a reference to Paddington BEAR. If you’ve never seen this charming video of them having tea together, it’s worth a couple minutes to watch.
I'm not sure this is an error or not, but doesn't 34A not follow the pattern?
Tim(ed a) to get up, shouldn't the "e" be necessary to complete the phrase. Time to get up?
Back(ed a) to work.
Readi(ed a) to rock. (i to y)
Didn't get the theme at all until my companion, Gladly the Crosseyed Bear, explained it to me. And in other news, can someone please tell the Big Ten alumni at The NY Times that there's no such school as UPenn? UMass, yes, but for that other state with lots of syllables it's just Penn.
This was pretty easy solve for me. I had no idea what was going on with the theme answers but I did notice the bears in the shaded squares. After reading @Rex I kinda get it and I mostly agree with his take on this one.
Easily solved as a themeless. Like several others here, I can't bear all the gray squares and other silly little games seemingly every day now. I like to solve crosswords. It's my daily mental yoga. If I wanted to play silly little games, I could do so with NPR's Weekend Edition on Sundays. What I do instead is turn off the radio as soon as I hear Ayesha say, "It's time for the puzzle!" W.S. appears to be more interested in being a radio personality than editing crosswords.
Still, I habitually solve the NYTXWD daily, despite the shortcomings.
I finished the puzzle but I have no idea what it was about. Going to read Rex's write-up.
I did love seeing Smokey Robinson :)
I don’t have exact numbers to support this, but the frequency of female constructors seemed to increase considerably for a good while within the past couple of years. (Of course, @RP never made a point of acknowledging that fact.) Does this mean WS and company changed their attitude/policy re constructor gender, and then changed back? Doesn’t really make sense. And the NYT X-word has certainly published the excellent work of many women over time.
Comparing publications hardly makes a strong argument—some NYT alternatives have been explicit about favoritism toward females, which could be an important factor in attracting submissions as well as editorial choice.
The northwest was a BEAR for me, but otherwise pleasant. I hit the reveal early and kept trying to force the letters B-E-A-R into the answers. After seeing the actual answers, they're more strained than my hapless ideas.
ALLA for ATTA. Sigh. Remember those salad days of ATTA and how we've gotten addicted and then they yank it away. Got the DTs bad.
Tee-Hee: TEDDY ... oho, the "bear" eh?
Uniclues:
1 The New York Times Crossword team.
2 Leaving mi casa on foot on Tuesdays.
3 Recommended number 11 on the amp.
4 One wearing a pink boa, cowboy hat, penny loafers, a Speedo, a flowered shirt, and plenty of zinc oxide.
5 Locations of love interests for British noble.
1 ELI USAGE SAVER (~)
2 TAPAS SKEDADDLE (~)
3 PRAISED BLARING
4 OAHU DANDY
5 EARL BOOBOO MAP
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Much ado about nothing... well unless you think being total B's is fetch like the Plastics ... you know, Gretchen, Karen, Regina, Chastity, Hope, Mandi, and Quinn. Ugh. SORORITY STATIC.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@SouthsideJohnny & Dr. A - agree with you both. I thought I was the only one who thought the NYT puzzles suck lately. And if I'm looking for a good puzzle by a female constructor (Robyn, Aimee, Brooke, Anna Schechtman. etc.), I don't have to look any further than The New Yorker.
Born in 1954, my favorite babysitters were named Hannah and Barbara.
I mean Hanna-Barbera. Every Saturday morning, I was READIED A ROCK (Ruff + Reddy followed by Rock Bottom, a minor character in the non-HB cartoon Felix the Cat).
Weaned myself with the arrival of Magilla Gorilla - that just seemed insulting to my 8 year old intelligence!
But in the meantime, there were some great theme songs.
those oh so merry, Chuckleberry opening songs
Even reading Rex’s explanation, I don’t fully understand the theme. From reading this blog I found out about changing “ed a” to “to” and I see that in all the theme answers, but what does that have to do with types of bears going down? It’s like two separate themes
Even reading Rex’s explanation, I don’t fully understand the theme. From reading this blog I found out about changing “Ed a” to “to” and I see that in all the theme answers, but what does that have to do with types of bears going down? It’s like two separate themes
Smith here. Not going to rewrite the entire post with my avatar (BEAR related though it is).
Completed the puzzle this am (about 10 hrs ago), got the bear part but not the rest, too early for Rex, so went about my day and now at wine thirty I finally find out what it was all about. Guess I'm just too literal minded in that, ok, yeah, David got a rock ready, why the ? And an angel investor is a backer, so, yeah, that's what they do. TIMEDAGETUP meant nothing at all. Saw all the bears going down, so, ok, yeah, the themers each CROSSED A BEAR.
I now give it a meh-ty shrug. Really? SOSO. From the solvers perspective. I grant that it was clearly a BEAR to construct (I'm sure someone beat me to that but I haven't read you all yet).
har. Primo kooky puztheme. With a double-dribble theme mcguffin. Luv it.
OK, sooo …
1. Anytime U get served up what is clearly a themer-length Across answer of READIEDAROCK, U gotta know somethin shady is involved in its meanin/significance. I mean, shoot -- as is, it's pretty far out of the mainstream of all sane conversations.
2. However, then U got these red herring gray squares shootin thru the themers, like *they* own the place. Obvious question: how are these gray entries (like TEDDY) related to the Across themers? Nuthin rational immediately comes to mind.
3. After confrontin points #1 and 2, clearly it is time to jump ahead down to see what the revealer clue says. Therein, U have another bear reverence, which matches up fine with TEDDY, but not so much with READIEDAROCK.
4. TIMEDAGETUP is equally weird themer meat. And there's this second bear, crossin it in an entirely different place.
5. Deduction, post-point #4: Chaos is probably afoot. OK. Bring it.
staff weeject pick: AWL. Nice placement, next to ALL(AGES).
pretty easy solvequest, at our house. Lost many precious nanoseconds, but that was mostly starin at the crazy themers. Nice ahar moment, when CROSSEDABEAR finally got splatzed in, and turned a lightbulb on in the M&A brain-attic.
U sorta gotta make up yer own 2nd revealer, for the puzthemers to be "TO"-bearers, without gettin cross.
fave stuff included: SKEDADDLE. POLYGRAPH [that is one weirdly worded clue, tho]. OUTCROP. USURP. BOOBOO bear.
Thanx for gangin up on us with two puzthemes in one puz, Mr. Nathan Hale (!) dude. And congratz on a primo nutzy debut. U clearly did not regret havin but one puz to give to your many-themed xword country. Or somesuch.
Masked & Anonym007Us
p.s. Well, I notice the associate NYTPuz editin staff includes at least a coupla gals. And one of em, Wyna Lui darlin, has been publishin her puzs over at the New Yorker. And ladies such as Liz Gorski used to publish a lotta puzs at the NYTPuz, but not so much anymore. But then, dittosville for Patrick Berry. And mostly we're gettin debut constructioneers poppin up in the NYTPuzs, anymore.
I suspect it's there's a complicated story afoot here, Watson.
… And what about all the masked constructioneers? Oh, yeah … see below.
**gruntz**
@Nancy - both your comments do a fine job of articulating my thoughts about this puzzle. Nicely said!
I've never left a comment before (I leave that to all of you). But, when such a strong, yet correct, statement is made on this blog...I must concur out loud.
You are dead on, my friend.
Sanford and Son DOES have the greatest TV Theme ever. The funk is real.
Anyway, carry on. Cheers to each of you!
Some people, like @Rex, just complain, complain, complain. In fact some old friends have dropped him because he just Loved a Bitch". No offense meant to @Mrs. Rex.
I thought this puzzle was won-der-ful!!! The cheesy puns that crossed a bear? My vote for best 2024 puzz to date. Congrats and thanks, Nathan Hale.
My Word(s) of the Day: the crossword stalwart "at sea." Yes, I saw the three BEARs, but I couldn't grasp what was going on with those goofy phrases that CROSSed them. Maybe if I'd said them, out loud or in my head, I'd have heard the joke. Like @Peter P 10:10, I'd have come out with "backtawork," etc., and might have understood the joke. Thanks once again to @Rex for explaining a theme that has eluded me.
I guess the theme was good, but I can't tell because the puzzle was ruined for me by all the colleges and coaches and team nicknames. I've learned to tolerate at least one college abbrev per puzzle, and when there are a couple it's merely annoying. But when there are three, plus a coach I've never heard of on a team I've heard of but for the life of me couldn't tell for sure what city it's in or what sport they play (Spurs). In fact I completely missed the whole "bear crossing" thing because as soon as I finished it I closed the puzzle, wanting to forget all about it. OK rant over.
[Spelling Bee: Tues 0; QB streak at six.]
@ Joedipinto Whatever are you talking about.? Yes the They nickname was for Theodore R. Just as the clue said , so what is your problem.. Quite apart from your suggested clue being meaningless to me and I'm sure most.
My first thought on getting the theme was “oh how cute”. My second was “Rex is going to hate this “. Probably because I’m not that great at solving puzzles.
I appear to be in the minority. I agreed with Rex's assessment of the puzzle. I did not like the fill. There was too much crossword-ese for a Wednesday IMHO.
oddcouple !
Thanks, @jae.
I'm thinking that one of the problems is that there are two themes in the puzzle, but there's only one revealer. CROSSEDABEAR explains the BEAR theme, but not the sound-alike theme. It's an example of the sound-alike theme, but it's not an explanation.
This would have worked better, I think, in a Sunday puzzle with a headline because the headline could have provided a hint to the 2nd theme. Some possibilities:
NOBODY UNDERSTANDS ME!
IT'S NOT WHAT YOU SAY, IT'S HOW YOU SAY IT
WAS THAT A SLUR, SIR?
Of course, finding enough themers for a Sunday puzzle would have been quite a challenge.
"Big month for ELON! (37A: Private university of North Carolina). Three appearances just this month, two as the University. That's two more appearances than women made as solo constructors on the byline this month."
At least that's only one instance of Musk? They're trying!
As a Penn alumna, it really gets my goat every time I see "UPENN" in this puzzle. Dear Mr. Shortz: The school is called Penn or the University of Pennsylvania. It is not "UPENN." That is its email address. Thank you for coming to my TED talk!
Elena,
Fight on Pennsylvania!! And though I appreciate any Quaker fighting the good fight, the battle has been lost. And as you note, it's strictly owing to the email address.
I feel your pain. It's awful. But I take solace in the fact that at least I'm not a Cornell man. Or, God forbid, a Brown grad.
Anyway, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah,
hurrah for the red and the blue.
Col `88
So strange about the lack of female constructors this month! Even if, let's say, they truly did not receive enough quality puzzles from female constructors to slate for publication this month, couldn't they have published one of the female Games editors at least? What's going on?!
every time UPENN appears there are complaints that it isnt a thing. my wife has a phd from penn and worked there, and while most people do not say "u penn" it is used (not just as in upenn.edu which was her email), especially when talking to people from other parts of the state/country who automatically think nittany lions football when you say "penn". i understand that some people may not like it, just like some people are offended by "philly", but that doesnt make the answer incorrect. the clue was not "most commonly used abbrev for a philly school".
years ago rex ranted about "Penna" not being a legit state abbrev, claiming that only Penn or PA are used. some people dont get out enough; eg driving on our turnpike.
my wife worked in the office that controls intellectual property, and:
"The University’s online style guide says that while Penn is the officially sanctioned term, UPenn is permissible … in situations where it may help to distinguish Penn from other universities within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
wikipedia also disagrees:
"The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a..."
I join those who thought the reveal didn't actually reveal the critical part of the theme, the "-ed a" to "to" trickeroo. I sort of got the sound alike READIED A ROCK with "ready to rock" but neither version seemed to fit the crossing BEARs thingie. That was more confusing than helpful in tying the whole thing together.
A better clue than "Something you shouldn't take lying down?" for 61A POLYGRAPH would be "Something you should never take". The PLOYGRAPH is not a lie detector. It measures several physiological functions---heart and breathing rate, blood pressure and galvanic skin response---that may or may not change when a person lies or tells the truth. It's more likely to give a false positive---indicate lying when the person is telling the truth---than to correctly detect when a person is actually lying. Its unreliability makes the POLYGRAPH inadmissible as evidence in a court of law.
NYTimes has made great efforts in bringing on board new constructors of all stripes, resulting in the huge pool of regulars, and frequent debuts.
NYer puzzle is wonderful, but they rely on the same 15 constructors (8 female/7 male for the huge majority of their puzzles with a few exceptions. Most of them are names you know from having published in the NYTimes in the past. Perhaps they pay better or offer more control over the finished product?
Like @rosebud I interpreted the theme as a reference to old Chicago-ese. All the themers make more sense if you say them in Mike Ditka voice. More specifically I believe it is a reference to the old Saturday Night Live skits about the same, since there is even an SNL in the grid!
https://youtu.be/NhMqjHEDmcU?si=z-yD_HC5cgi1ZYvw
Rex’ puzzle by gender counting is fine (whatevs) but the implied “NYTXW team is sexist” needs some tangible justification.
1. Have any female constructors (Robyn, Brooke, others with access to this blog) encountered such resistance?
2. Is there a “tribute to women” month coming up? In which case, hoarding women’s puzzles will be more than offset its January numbers.
3. Why on earth would the liberal NYT risk credibility being on the wrong side of Herstory? (Yeah, I write that somewhat sarcastically, but why would Will Shortz or anyone else purposely exclude women? In choosing which CROSSWORD to run?)
Calling (or clearly implying) someone is a racist/sexist/homophobe/transphobe/xenophobe is all too common about those with whom we disagree/misinterpret. These are serious aspersions on one’s basic character (not their ill-conceived posts or bad one-off judgments; it’s condemning their basic unchangeable essence!)
I think Will Shortz used to post on this blog ( may have been on Chen’s. Growing up on BOOBOO bear, I’m old!)
Have you asked him what’s the dealio?
Communication beats character assassination!
Son Volt
The reason they included Last Supper in the parentheses was because Cenacola, which is the Italian name for the mural, was needed to signal the answer in Italian but was considered too hard for a Wednesday without the translation A bit convoluted but it worked for me.
@Northwest Runner: As someone who went to Penn and taught at UMass, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!
Tsikave
I guess it is because clues are hints not definitions. Taking off is ambiguous, to make this puzzle a little harder , but one of its meanings taking of pounds etc, leads to LESS. Close enough for crosswords. Clues like this are becoming more common. Some hate them. I find them slightly annoying.
Anyone remember a guy named Chan who owned a lumberyard? Teak logs came up missing and the only clues were footprints from what appeared to be a small boy. In desperation he staked out the area. He was rewarded when he caught a black bear with tiny feet carrying a teak log under each arm. Yes, it was the Boyfoot Bear With Teaks Of Chan.
Andrew
Not speaking for Rex, but to say that criticism on the subject of sexism is automatically a major attack on someone’s character is demonstrably wrong. Researchers have shown time and time again that sexism, and of course also racism, is often unconscious. Happens all the time. Bias is a n extremely difficult problem to deal with precisely for that reason.
I am sure Shortz et al are not consciously biased against women constructors but the odds are very high that they are unconsciously biased. That’s not a character attack.
On the other hand, refusing to accept the idea that you may be biased, is a legitimate subject of criticism
@Andrew 4:48 -- Thank you for the voice of sanity you provide and for your refusal to condescend to or patronize those of us whom Rex seems to feel are "the weaker sex" -- in that we're unable to stand up for ourselves.
You pose the question: "Have any female constructors (Robyn, Brooke, others with access to this blog) encountered such resistance?" Well, I'm a woman -- albeit one who works with a male collaborator -- and while, like all constructors, I may feel the NYT has made a mistake in turning down a given puzzle, I have never once remotely entertained the thought that it was because of my gender. Not even once.
I've had the pleasure of a friendly and good-natured email relationship over the years with Will Shortz -- and even a phone call many years ago. He is the nicest and warmest person you can possibly imagine. He's responsive and completely approachable. I cringe for him ever time Rex makes a mean and gratuitous comment.
I do think the NYT was misguided when they turned down my DEBT CEILING puzzle, which was one of my personal faves, but never in a million years would I think they turned it down because I'm a woman.
I imagine Robyn and Brooke would feel the same way. Wish you could ask them.
Congrats and best wishes to your son. Great school.
This was what I call “Constructor’s Puzzle. It took some serious work to craft something with this much thematic material running different ways throughout the whole grid.
First the idea, I would guess might have been the pun on CROSSED A BEAR. That made me chuckle just seeing it. Then, perhaps the “what other sayings could I include that sound like well-known phrases as does the revealer? Then, what else can I do to give the literal CROSSED A BEAR more meat? Kudos indeed, Mr. Hale.
As the solver today, I have to say this was a tale of two puzzles for me. I had one of my rate as hen’s teeth wavelength experiences with our constructor and found the entire puzzle Monday easy. I say this not to proclaim my astonishing prowess, but rather to point out my complete inability to catch on to the nuances of the theme until long after I had heard the happy music. In fact, I knew we had a theme because there were the grey down entries that were the “bears,” but it took me a couple enjoyable minutes following completion to put it all together.
So. I am with @Lewis today. This is a constructor’s work of art. It not only demonstrates Nathan’s ability which his constructing colleagues will undoubtedly recognize, but it also was an enjoyable solving experience for me, the daily solver (and likely many others like me).
Nice work!
@Sharon AK 1:08 – the clue for SMOKEY is "Motown legend Robinson"; Smokey the Bear is unrelated to Smokey Robinson. The clue for BOOBOO is "Owie"; BooBoo Bear is unrelated to an owie. The TEDDY bear, however, took its name directly from the "Presidential nickname of the early 20th century." It's inconsistent with the cluing of the other two "bear" answers. If you don't like my suggestion, what about "Skimpy nightwear item" as the clue for TEDDY? That would work also.
Do they get to see all rejected submissions in the Marines? Or are you just assuming that the puzzles written by men are the best?
Sure. “Let’s see, that’s $10, less the 20% discount…… so that’s a net total of $8” and “Let’s see, that’s $10, taking off the 20% discount…… so that’s a net total of $8.”
This is the answer. "SNL" was probably the theme revealer. A little too old of a skit to be obvious to those not around in late 80s.
It's a direct synonym, but only in a particular context: when doing verbal calculations, taking off and less both mean the same thing as minus. Eg, "net revenue is profits less expenses".
I did not enjoy this puzzle, and it stung extra having just received a rejection from a puzzle I am, admittedly, too in love with. ps I am a woman, but i have a pretty gender neutral name. There is no gender button in the submission form.
Completed the puzzle. Never figured out theme. Still scratching my head. Too contrived. No fun.
*Groan!* It’s a bad dad joke gone out of control. For this we have a grid that’s jammed with really bad fill. Tired of these SOSO offerings!
With all the bears going down, I too was looking for some "bear down" theme. Got the "-ED" replacing "TO" with the first one, which helped later on. But it took the revealer to tie it all together. Cute.
Couldn't believe he could get away with two "-ING" endings next to each other, but somehow he came up with RADII, UPENN and GREGG. A tour de forced.
Again, continuing a weeklong trend, good theme paid for with some iffy fill. It is what it is, I guess. Par.
Wordle par.
SLY USAGE
HE'S got A CROSSEDABEAR,
TIMEDAGETUP, be READIED,
SO, let's ROCK ONA dare,
it's DELLA in A TEDDY!
--- DEE DEE MILANO
Liked it better than OFL. Almost chuckled a couple times. Guessing that the Broadway reference in the clue is because of NYT, otherwise coulda been invested in a painting or a song or a bust (sculpture type, but good mislead).
Wordle birdie.
The quality of any puzzle - and not the gender of its creator - is what matters.
Would that Rex could stop his over the top, banner waving, virtue signalling, performance art excrescences.
His narcissism knows no bounds.
Found this puzzle very easy for a WedPuz filling in wise. However, Rex's explanation about the across themers only made things murkier for me. I finally completely grokked it, when Nancy had her aha moment and explained it on the blog. It was an aural ploy. You had to verbalize those themers. For whatever reason, that just didn't occur to me. I'll have to keep my ears perked up in the future. And yes, when you say things quickly, enunciation becomes less precise.
Got tripped up with CAULKS and INSERT and I'm not sure why. Just didn't see it.
But I loved the punny answers - got that!!!
Diana, LIW
Because Teddy Roosevelt wasn’t a president? Yeesh. Franklin was not the only Roosevelt president.
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