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Relative difficulty: Very very easy
Theme answers:
- 22A: I visited the cardiologist, who ... DIDN'T MISS A BEAT
- 31A: I visited the dermatologist, who ... MADE A RASH DECISION
- 47A: I visited a dentist and now I ... KNOW THE DRILL
- 69A: I visited the anesthesiologist and now I've ... LOST MY TOUCH
- 89A: I visited a sleep specialist, who ... GAVE ME THE NOD
- 105A: I visited the radiologist, who ... SAW RIGHT THROUGH ME
- 120A: I visited the podiatrist and now I ... STAND CORRECTED
Amalie Emmy Noether (US: /ˈnʌtər/, UK: /ˈnɜːtə/; German: [ˈnøːtɐ]; 23 March 1882 – 14 April 1935) was a German mathematician who made many important contributions to abstract algebra. She proved Noether's first and second theorems, which are fundamental in mathematical physics. She was described by Pavel Alexandrov, Albert Einstein, Jean Dieudonné, Hermann Weyl and Norbert Wiener as the most important woman in the history of mathematics. As one of the leading mathematicians of her time, she developed theories of rings, fields, and algebras. In physics, Noether's theorem explains the connection between symmetry and conservation laws. (wikipedia)
• • •
And there's not nearly enough longer / interesting fill to make up for the cornball theme. In fact, there's hardly any. I'm looking around for literally any answer I was happy to see, and I can't find any. "YOU GAME?" OK, yes, that's pretty good; that, I approve. That's got something. But the rest of it ... it's not bad, but at best it's just ... there. Taking up space. The theme is all there is today, and the theme ... well, if it's your cup of tea, god bless you. I envy you. I was just hurrying through this thing, grateful that it was easy (so I could be done with it quickly).
I don't know who this JENNA is (30A: Partner of Hoda on "Today") and I had trouble remembering and then spelling Linda COHN (started with COEN) (93D: "SportsCenter" anchor Linda), but other than that the only trouble I had with this puzzle came entirely in and around the worst of the themers: GAVE ME THE NOD (again, ?!?!?!). I'm on various social medias, and I don't really know what ADD is (86D: Button on social media). I "Like" you or I "Follow" you or I "Friend" you, maybe. ADD is ... weak and generic. So it didn't occur to me. The clue on WIENERS is actually really good (66D: Pack of dogs?) (i.e. hot dogs), but it was hard, and crossed the dumb themer I couldn't get, so it made that section harder. I don't know anyone who decorates their shelves with GEODES, so that was nowhere near the front of my mind as an answer for 77A: Natural decorations on some bookshelves. And for some reason [Have over] was a tough clue for HOST (for me). Oh, and the "GAME" part of "YOU GAME?" wasn't readily apparent to me either (59D: "We doin' this?"). So all along the length of GAVE ME THE NOD, I had issues. Elsewhere, zero issues. None. No resistance. Comically easy.
Notes:
- 1A: Favors (ASKS) — "Favors" here is a noun
- 5A: Slathered in sauce, in restaurant-speak (WET) — I feel like this is specifically burrito-speak. Are there other speaks that apply?
- 57A: Sorry ass? (EEYORE) — I kinda like this clue. He is a sorry ass. I don't so much like that "ass" is also a crucial component of another clue in the puzzle (110A: Rude ... or, without its first two letters, rude person (CRASS)). Feels like a dupe, even though "ass" doesn't technically appear a second time.
- 96A: Professional who works a lot (VALET) — so, a car lot.
- 37D: Behaved like the lion in Oz (COWERED) — I guess he does that. Some part of me doesn't like this answer because he's the "cowardly" lion, and ... COWERED is a homophone of "coward," which actually fits the lion better ... I dunno. It's legit, but it's rubbing me the wrong way. Like ... wrong "coward," man.
- 67D: Man's name that becomes a distance if you move the first letter to the end (EMIL) — I am usually so bad at these "when you move a letter"-type clues, but damned if I didn't nail this one right out of the box.
- 95D: Knocking onomatopoeia (RAT-A-TAT) — got this off the "R," which isn't that impressive. I think I would've gotten it even without the "R"—it's the only "knocking onomatopoeia" I can think of.
- 101D: Ancient Greek area north of Thessaly (THRACE) — I am aware of lots of ancient Greek names without being (very) aware of where any of them go on a map. Still, I was happy to piece this one together quickly.
- 103D: Color-blending technique (OMBRÉ) — this is a hair-coloring technique, as I understand it. Where the hair shades from one color into another, often getting lighter toward the tips. I first learned of OMBRE (in crosswords) as an old-timey card game, like Euchre or Whist, whatever those are (I learned them from crosswords too, I think ... or else from the poetry of Alexander Pope, I forget ... yep, sure enough, they play OMBRE in Pope's "The Rape of the Lock"; weird the things you (kinda sorta) remember from sophomore-year British Literature).
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Easy. No erasures and COHN was it for WOES. Breezy and amusing, liked it quite a bit more than @Rex did.
ReplyDelete….speaking of folks who used to contribute here, has anyone heard from bocamp lately? Did he say he was taking a break and I missed it?
…and JENNA is JENNA Bush Hager, W’s daughter.
These puzzles should be called the NYT Sunday natickfest. This week's: AVA/ADA... to me eVA is a far more likely woman's name. ADD messed me up more than it did Rex... I still don't understand the answer. Nor do I understand how CHIA can be a pet, but I regard CHIA/KIDD as only a quasi-natick because nothing other than "i" really makes sense there. The few cute clues do not make up for this unforgivable drech.
ReplyDeleteYes, eVA is a plausible answer but what is eDA? A is the only vowel that completes two real names in AVA and ADA.
DeleteI get that my standards for themes are not as high as Rex’s, but I found this a perfectly acceptable puzzle. Easy and a little silly. A pleasant way to spend 20 mins on a Sunday morning.
DeleteI had IDA and IVA and ended up having to break my streak because it wasn't noticeable enough for me to parse when checking.
DeleteWe should all certainly have ADA Lovelace committed to memory by now, but when referring to a singer (presumably) that I've never heard of, IVA Max is not even close to out of the realm of possibility.
Dreck
DeleteSame here re: Ida/Iva and end of streak!
DeleteSam
DeleteI looked it up. Eda is a name, though fairly rare.
I had an aunt named Eda.
So the complaints have a point.
Lovelace’s first name has appeared before in the Times
But if you don’t know either person, that cross at 82 is not inferable among a, e , i. They are not as obscure as NC Wyeth and Natick but maybe too close.
Very amusing commentary. I hadn’t laughed so much since I visited my anesthesiologist for some laughing gas.
DeleteCHIA is referring to chia pets, the little clay pots originally shaped like animals (now also like celebrities, characters, etc) where the chia grass grows where hair or similar structures would be. The classic is a hedgehog with the quills made of the chia.
DeleteLESSEE, where to start. My second wife is Gomez Addams' sister, making my STEPSONIT his cousin.
ReplyDeleteI ASSERT that EEYORE is one sorry CRASS ass.
John Wilkes Booth: I DIDNTMISSABEAT Ford's Theater.
None of the letters A through J is at the beginning of 45A, NORISK.
Why'd your house collapse? Did the wind get it?
No, ROTATE it.
You could say this puzzle was COB (it's totally corny), but I enjoyed it. Particularly I STANDCORRECTED after visiting the Podiatrist. I pity the fool who can't chuckle a bit at this foolishness. Thanks, Scott Hogan and Katie Hale.
I was going to be a cardiologist, but I didn’t have the heart!
ReplyDeleteEasy-ish for me. Wasn’t my favorite Sunday, but wasn’t my worst. The puns were pretty meh, but at least it solved fast!
This is a contender for easiest Sunday ever. RATATAT is an SB classic. Speaking of which....
ReplyDeleteyd -0 QB28 once again: coving? WTF SMH
LOL - Easily my favorite Rex writeup of 2024. Made even better by the inclusion of the video to SHARING THE NIGHT TOGETHER, on my all-time top 10 song list. Bravo, Rex!
ReplyDeleteIsn’t TRI being literally part of the word triscuit having the answer in the clue? Took me forever to commit to that cause I thought that would break a rule.
ReplyDeleteSame!
DeleteAlso (although true clue doesn’t explicitly say this), TRI doesn’t refer to the number of ingredients - it’s short for ELECTRICITY BISCUIT because they were originally made in electric ovens (powered by the Niagara Falls hydroelectric plant). It’s confirmed by Nabisco in this twitter thread: https://x.com/sageboggs/status/1242968548949004288?s=46&t=TnkbViYQVWb0RghdEULInw
DeleteThis also upset me because, if I'm not mistaken, it's also NOT a clue to the number of ingredients. There was a whole internet uproar a year or so ago about the mensing of the name and I believe it was determined that no one is actually sure of the origin.
DeleteYeah, one of the big possibilities floated was that it referred to the number of times it's baked
DeleteIn Switzerland we visit the anesthesiologist well before surgery to discuss how we’ll be knocked out.
ReplyDeleteFastest Sunday puzzle ever for me by over four minutes. I can’t even tell whether I enjoyed it or not because I finished before I had a chance to notice. It is fun posting a personal best, though, even if Rex rates it “very, very easy.” (It was.)
ReplyDeleteA pleasant Sunday to all.
Oh, one more thing (Rex is gonna’ love this): “Jenna” is the daughter of George W. Bush. I believe she replaced Kathie Lee Gifford.
ReplyDeleteoh Rex, its wasn't THAT bad. The groaners were kind of funny. It's a crossword puzzle, lighten up. I liked it.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Alice!
Delete
ReplyDeleteEasy (not "Very very easy") for me; liked it a lot more than @Rex did. My only overwrite was LESSor before LESSEE at 87A. I understand that attorneys no longer use those terms because they tended to confuse people (imagine!). Now they use "landlord" and "tenant".
Conrad
DeleteI can see why lawyers would avoid using lessor/lessee.
But of course in legalese they don’t mean the same as landlord/tenant.
The first set applies only to parties who have signed a contract, usually for a set period of time ( one year most common) The latter set includes those who have NOT signed a contract, and the tenant or landlord can end the arrangement at any time.
"Ombre" is not just a haircoloring technique, but extends to other artistic endeavors such as painting and weaving.
ReplyDeletePlayed like a Monday. So dumb. Went through it as fast as my fingers would move over the keyboard. All the theme answers obvious with a few letters in place. Very disappointing.
ReplyDeleteIt was fun! I loved the idiotic theme answers. Rex, you gotta lighten up.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Druid!
DeleteI thought it refers to any manufacturer of dairy products.
ReplyDeleteDidn't you watch "The Bear?" On Chicago, you can (should) order a wet Italian beef.
ReplyDeleteAnesthesiologists do a variety of pain procedures that involve numbing people, including epidurals and regional blocks. Don’t disagree that the theme is corny but that one isn’t the stretch you’ve made it out to be.
ReplyDeleteNeeded an easy, lighthearted puzzle today, so great. No junk.
ReplyDelete@Anon 5:07, I think there are also Ombre manicures. Lots of Ombres.
@Ken Freeland, Now you know Ada Lovelace. You'll see it again in the future. Chia Pet planters have been around since the '70s. Now people more just eat the Chia seeds and save money on the tacky planter.
@Egs, You're a genius.
I thought of being a magicians assistant but he wanted to Saw Right Through Me.
Thanks forcthe tip on Lovelace, and for the explanation about chia, but I still don't get how that makes it a "pet."
DeleteThat’s how they were marketed and called: “Chia Pets”. The planters were animal shaped. It was also the. Same era as the “pet rock”, which was literally a large pebble. lol
DeleteWet also applies to ribs.
ReplyDeleteSCANTY vs. SCANTLY vs. SHANTY. Lost the music down there. KARMIC? Really?
ReplyDeleteI like dad jokes and groaners, and I liked this puzzle. Painfully corny maybe, but there is a theme. Rex is being a bit picayune to insist that one does not see an anesthesiologist. (An improvement in the cluing maybe would be "I saw a [doctor] and now I..." - avoiding the "visited" scenario in Rex's mind) Anesthesiologists also perform nerve blocks - injecting numbing medicine into the site of a main nerve proximally, which, yes, causes you to LOSEMYTOUCH more distally. An epidural (for a Caesarean section) is a big nerve block. Anesthesiologists do not always put somebody under. And no, sleep is not THENOD, but we do nod off.
ReplyDeleteI thought COWERED was a nice spin on the coward(ly) Lion.
I love the original Winnie the Pooh stories (none of that Disney crap), and "Sorry ass?" is a great clue for Eeyore.
Anyone here have a Leap Year Birthday this week?
I agree (Colin 7:38 AM). This one put me in mind of the late great Merle Reagle - the master of corny puns. Liked it more than Rex & some others here.
DeleteI agree with Colin. Rex was overly picky about visiting anesthesiologists. I was also thinking about the Land of Nod as well as your nod off. Close enough for a corny joke! Rex really went overboard about cowered. I thought it was well done.
DeleteI found the theme easy, but too many (?) names made this one average for me.
Wasn’t comfortable with TOO for “Ridiculously”, but I guess if you’re driving too fast you could be driving ridiculously fast, so close enough in retrospect.
ReplyDeleteI thought the theme was tolerable - probably because the answers were on the easy side and I don’t enjoy parsing together the grid-spanners the way some others do - today it felt like the theme was my friend rather than an obstacle that had to be bludgeoned into submission.
I’ve lost track of EEYORE (I’m guessing he’s a Garfield dude, but who knows - I doubt it is Sesame Street as they don’t really have many sorry asses there). That could be a tough one for some peeps.
I was pretty much blown away by GEODE - wondering why a rock formation would be a bookshelf knickknack. It looks like there are plenty available on line, including GEODE kits. Is anyone here a GEODE aficionado? If so, please raise your hand - I’d love to hear the backstory!
EEYORE is a friend of Winnie-the-Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood.
DeleteAs a latent rock hound I have geodes sitting on my shelf as I write. Was kind of surprised, though, when it turned out to be the answer for that clue … even I don’t immediately think “bookshelf - geode”.
DeleteI think geodes are more likely bookENDS, not "natural decorations on bookshelves"
DeleteJENNA Bush...love her! She also has a book club. I've been enjoying WET burritos for years at The Grand Hotel in Ludington, Michigan. Maybe with an anesthesiologist you lose TOUCH with time since you blink and the operation/procedure is over.
ReplyDeleteWell, I love riddles, and my favorite part of filling this in was guessing the theme answers with as few crosses as possible. That way, when the answer came, it came with an “Aha!” as well as a “Hah!” So, that made the puzzle fun.
ReplyDeletePuns are so subjective. An eye-roller to one brings a guffaw to another. My favorite pun of the theme group was STAND CORRECTED, which brought an enthusiastic “Yes!” That, plus varying degrees of smiles on the others, made the puzzle funny.
Give me fun and funny any time. Life brighteners are a gift, and your puzzle, H&H, was just that. Thank you so much for making it!
Lewis
DeleteDitto about stand corrected. Thought that was the best one.
Anesthesiologists are also involved in pain management but then it would be the pain clinic, not the anesthesiologist but yes they do many things besides put people out at surgeries! Agree easy but also thought it was cute. I guess I’m corny!!
ReplyDeleteI suppose curmudgeonliness is sort of Rex's wheelhouse but it's a little overdone today. I liked this one a lot, the puns got a chuckle and so did several of the clues (really enjoyed cowered as a semi pun on cowardly)
ReplyDelete@egs - DIDNT MISS ABE AT Ford’s Theater wins Best Parsing Award!
ReplyDeleteRex, I love the way you call a puzzle “very, very easy,” then list all the things you found difficult, then call it “comically easy.”
ReplyDeleteNot much in this puzzle to suggest it’s less than thirty years old. I felt like I was deep in the archives.
Apart from that, Rex, how'd you like the puzzle?
ReplyDeleteI takes all kinds to make a world. This I know and recognize. Yet somehow, I never thought I'd encounter someone who did not know who EEYORE is. @SouthsideJohnny - Winnie-the-Pooh is now public domain. You can read it here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67098 for free.
ReplyDeleteAs for the puzzle ... the podiatrist entry is the clear star, and the sleep specialist is the weakest. As a Sunday theme goes, I'd say it's middle of the pack.
WTH is APRESSKI? Wait….my auto correct is trying to tell me it’s APRÈS-SKI. Is this a well known French phrase?
ReplyDeleteYes, it refers to the now old-fashioned social gatherings/drinks at ski resorts at the end of the day skiing but before dinner. Made its way into English language use in probably the 40s or 50s. I’ve heard this phrase my whole life (despite never having attended a proper après-ski myself).
DeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteLast letter in resulted in Happy Music. I for sure thought I'd have a letter or two incorrect. The AVA/ADA cross was a little thinker. Could've been IDA, or EVA, but the E or I didn't jive with the other name, so A went in. Just one example of some iffy spots for me.
The STAND CORRECTED Themer struck me as the funniest.
Seemed a lot of threes. Lemme count...
29 of them, 10 in the Acrosses, 19(!) in the Downs.
They had to sneak in an ASS. You could've just clued CRASS regularly, but that wouldn't fill the ASS quota. Shoot, they even added one in the clues! (Although it was a good clue.)
I liked this theme. Yes, puz was easy, 23 and change here. My record is 20 minutes, so pretty close. And I wasn't trying for speed.
Never heard of a TEACH IN. Pretty decent fill.
SB -1 YesterBee. Oof, so close. A 6-er I miss every time. Will try to store it in my memory bank along with the three five letter C words I have in there.
Happy Sunday!
No F's! (I VOTE NO to that!!)
RooMonster
DarrinV
This always felt like it had a little more resistance than it actually did. I saw the theme and knew Rex would groan, and not in a good punny way.
ReplyDeleteI learned HODA KOTB from puzzles, not having watching morning network TV in decades, now I have to know her partner? Turned out I did know her, thanks whoever pointed out that she is a Bush.
It was jarring to think of EEYORE from children's lit as an "ass", however literal that may be.
My Will Shortz clue: take a recent movie about an animal, add the letters of an author in order, and get the name of a character that is the same animal in a children's book series.
EO + EYRE = EEYORE
If you haven't seen EO, it is a beautiful movie about the life and inadvertent adventures of a donkey across Europe with a striking score.
@Southside, parse this: It was just too TOO.
Can Will just retire already so we don't have to see any more of these god-awful Sundays? This puzzle is so bad, so dreary and unenjoyable, I genuinely cannot imagine why anyone thought it was worth publishing. There have to be better submissions being rejected, right? Or is the rejected pile even worse than this garbage somehow?
ReplyDeletei liked the puzzle, very fun.
ReplyDeleteRe: cinema donkeys, see Banshees of Innesherin (SP?) and Balthazar
ReplyDeleteWhen I opened this one up the grid looked super chopped up, and it played accordingly. So much short fill can't help but be sloggy, and while the theme was enjoyable to grok from the crosses, it was mostly forgettable. SAW RIGHT THROUGH ME is cute, but if you've paid for a radiological study of your guts lately, you'll agree the view is hardly worth the tourist tax.
ReplyDeleteOn a bit of a self-indulgent rant, uniclue answers are the most difficult to find on Sundays (don't weep salty tears for me, it's a labor of love), but when you spill solo black squares willy-nilly across the expanse like a drunken pirate tossing empty grog bottles out into the ocean {splash}, well, it makes everything more difficult and doesn't do the sea any favors either. Only the pirate wins ... if you consider being drunk in a boat filled with unshowered fellas overusing the phrase "argh" a win.
ISOSCELES can be spelled four different ways according to me. I plan to spend my day studying up on MUNG beans.
Tee-Hee: WIENERS! [Slathered in sauce, in "restaurant"-speak.]
Uniclues:
1 I got permission to trash the place since he wasn't getting his security deposit back.
2 Based on the hideous decisions my kid makes these days, I think we can all agree he wasn't nearly as healthy as those pre-natal tests indicated.
3 Bugs living in a car build a water feature.
1 LESSEE GAVE ME THE NOD
2 AMNIOS STAND CORRECTED
3 SEDAN ANTS ADD EDDY
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Photographer's request of the casting department after the whole foot-fetish debacle. SANER HAND MODEL.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Ombré cake frosting
ReplyDeleteRex: “Wow, this is so painfully corny. Why do people keep making these?”
ReplyDeleteBecause they’re fun to solve?
I thought this was one of the better Sundays in a long time. It had a clever theme and was an enjoyable solve. Maybe Rex is just KIDDing.
I agree with OFL on the puns and would go farther. The Shortz era is marked by an odious trend to turn crossword puzzles into something else. The terrible Sunday puns and other nonsense, and the disaster that is the Thursday puzzle are my proof. I know each has very loyal fans, but aren't there alternatives outlets other than ruining crossword puzzles for people who like those things?
ReplyDeleteTo disagree with Rex, however, if I'm supposed to know Obama children's names -- which I sense appear more frequently than Bush children -- than a Bush child who appears every weekday morning on network TV doesn't seem like a big stretch. I'm not knocking the Obama children -- they're still too young to have made their way much. I'm also not praising Jenna Bush. Does anybody think she'd be where she is without the name Bush?
Personally, if we did away with all politicians, pop stars, and other passing fads in crosswords I'd be happier.
Bit the world doesn't and shouldn't cater to my happiness!
I love it when a pun puzzle has answers that are not in the least bit tortured and are completely in the language. It means that you can guess the answers with a minimum of crosses -- and it's the guessing of the puns that provide all the pleasure of a pun puzzle. Right?
ReplyDeleteThis one was perfectly swell. And in fact it was the themers that helped me with some of the rest of the answers that I didn't know, like the partner of Hoda, the security camera letters and the "Sweet but Psycho" singer. Remind me to miss that one.
My kind of Sunday puzzle -- smooth, well-clued, and amusing. I enjoyed it a lot.
I figured Rex wouldn't like this one because of its wackiness, or lack thereof (in his opinion) but I found it entertaining and not necessarily obvious, needing a number of crosses for most of the theme answers. My one agreement with his critique is that GEODES seems clued quite strangely.
ReplyDeleteI was glad to see I spelled ISOSCELES correctly first try, even in its down position. I sometimes have trouble spelling down answers correctly, as if I don't see them right in my mind because of the orientation (see LABoRyNTH from the other day, oops).
14D had me wanting a banana and power bar at a finish line so APRES SKI was a nice aha.
Scott and Katie, thanks for the fun Sunday puzzle.
I had surgery a little over a week ago. I met my anesthesiologist for 10 seconds in the surgical prep room where she promised not to kill me. She didn't, and I think highly of her. I had two 'visits' with radiologists as a result of the surgery. One made me drink a pint of emulsified barium, which cause me to experience projectile diarrhea for 24 hours, which prevented my going home on time. I guess this was helpful, because it left me in the hospital long enough for them to realize that I couldn't walk 30 feet without my blood O2 level falling to 72, which kept me from going home another day, got me sent back to the cardiologist for the second time, looking for embolisms. During the surgery they inflated my chest with CO2 to make the robotic surgery possible, but the CO2 escaped the chest cavity and blew up my entire face and upper chest and partially collapsed my lungs. Every trainee, doctor, nurse, whatever in the hospital dropped by at one point or another to see and palpate my subcutaneous emphysema so that they would recognize it in the future. My contribution to medical education. You're welcome.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle broke something in my relationship with the NYTimes xword. I've done them daily for over 4 decades, and this one made me hate doing them. It could be because the app sucks so badly (my clue text keeps getting smaller and smaller as I progress through the solve until I give up, close and reopen it), but the puzzle was just so much mediocre stuff. I was just spending my time doing mediocre stuff. I have developed this obsession with doing this one mediocre thing every day, with possible one puzzle per week or so being good. I really can't see doing them any more.
@Pete 11:43 AM
DeleteC'mon Pete, that's the emulsified barium talking. (Glad you're on the mend.) Remember, there's no way to vehemently disagree with 🦖 without doing the "mediocre" thing first. Generations of people could have: "Completed nothing meaningful. Did a lot of mediocre stuff. Still got this nice tombstone." written on a rock above their final home. Mediocrity at 14¢ a day is a heck of a deal when you realize the alternative is an overpriced novel by a contemporary writer touted as a NYT bestseller about whatever happens to be in vogue parlor talk these days. Or an Indy puzzle {shivers}.
I missed two visits with my urologist, but I finally went.
ReplyDeleteThen I visited a gastroenterology clinic, but I couldn't stomach it.
I visited a chiropractor about my neck pain, who found it difficult to adjust.
So I visited an acupuncturist, who stuck me with a big bill.
Went to a proctologist, but he was a pain in the ass.
DeleteOkay so call me corny. I enjoyed it a lot - a fun puzzle (so what that it's Sunday) & I thank you both for the solve :)
ReplyDeleteI didn't MISS A BEAT (or more than a couple) in filling in the first six theme answers but the visit to the podiatrist had me stymied through a bunch of crosses. Finally: STAND CORRECTED! Worth it for that one alone. Apart from the theme, I thought there was lots more to like: ISOSCELES, STAR SIGN + KARMIC, COWARD, TEACH-IN, ODYSSEY + THRACE, and that great clue for EEYORE. A fine, entertaining outing.
ReplyDelete@frankbirthdaycake: Kathie Lee Gifford used to be the daughter of George W. Bush?
ReplyDelete@Nancy
ReplyDeleteJENNA is George's daughter.
@Roo & @Pablo
ReplyDeleteI finally made the puzzle at 93D.
Bad jokes inspired by the puzzle. (Why should my wife be the only one to suffer?)
ReplyDeleteOn the dangers of walking backwards:
1. Did you hear about the optician who backed into the lens grinder? He made a spectacle of himself.
2. How about the butcher who backed into the meat grinder --- he got a little behind in his work.
3. And the poor girl who backed into the airplane propeller? -- disaster!
@Pete 11:43
ReplyDelete1) Thanks!
2) Ouch! Holy Blowy, Batman!
Are you seeking compensation? Or did you sign a waiver?
RooMonster Blow Me Up Once ... Guy
@Pete (11:43)-- What an absolute horror story! If one saw it on a TV hospital soap opera, they'd consider it much too over the top to be believed. I hope you'll now improve quickly.
ReplyDeleteMy suggestion: Continue with the NYT crossword puzzle. Give up having surgery.
You don't get my humor yet, @JC66? I was kidding, of course.
ReplyDeleteI love me a scathing review of a dumb puzzle. Rex nailed this one.
ReplyDeleteI love a Sunday puzzle with silly riddles, groan worthy puns, corny jokes. This was the most Sunday solving fun I've had in a long time! Thank you Scott and Katie!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the PuzzPair®️ of COWERED, for the Lion, and ISOSCELES, which I readily associate with — and I think many children first encountered in — The Scarecrow’s monologue on the Pythagorean Theorem in the scene where he receives a brain. Delightful!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a young kid, my sister used to wake me up in the middle of the night and force me to learn arcane info. For a long time, I thought a bad curse was "Base angles of an isosceles triangle are equal!"
Delete@Katie 12:26 - Genius association! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI'd rather this than the sack of crap clues that was dumped on us yesterday.
ReplyDeleteThe acrostic was fun. I was sure of only one answer to start, but after a bit another one emerged from my memory banks, and four or five correct guesses got things moving. I thought maybe it was going to be a pangram, but it was missing two letters. I did learn a new word from it.
This song is dedicated to the Odyssey of Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl who escaped from the Central Park Zoo in early February 2023 when his enclosure was vandalized. He made Manhattan his personal playground for the last year but, sadly, he struck a building this past Friday and died. Flaco would have turned 14 next month.
I actually found this more difficult than most of you, but thoroughly enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI have a geode on the mantle along with a petrified rock, sandstone orb rock, and a rock found at my parents’ house that split to reveal an ancient fish fossil! Also a buffalo made of ironwood, a vase made of olivewood, and a skunk tree pod from Hawaii. We love nature.
Sorry about your surgery experience, Peter, but reading about it made me laugh. Yes, thank you for your contribution to medical science. I hope it wasn’t for naught.
Most of the theme answers were clever and amusing I found 89A very weak. Game the nod as in I nodded of to sleep I guess was the idea but...
ReplyDeleteMade a rash decision and Know th drill et all were lever ad did sometimes helping solving,
Did not find it so easy. Still don't quite understand 1A
I guess people keep doing these and Willkeeps taking them, because they ae fun.
Thank heavens I haven't seen a long quote part 1, etc for ages. I HATED THOSE.
The quote could be anything - and they often weren't interesting once revealed
Totally agree about quote puzzles. Ugh!
DeleteYes kind of lame theme type when you've seen it this many times.
ReplyDeleteHad KISMET before KARMIC, and for the "Kind of keyboard" ASCII before EMOJI. I was actually thinking of QWERTY but somehow ascii came out of my fingers.
Jes @jae, it has been a while! bocamp, are you out there?
[Spelling Bee: Sat 0, that pangram was a longie!]
RIP Flaco @ JoeDiPinto. I hope it's only a matter of time before you show up in the puzzle 🌈
ReplyDeleteTotally sucked. Worse yet, even though I have solved the puzzle, the timer keeps going.
ReplyDeleteThose of you concerned that "newer" pop culture references are taking over your grids with yesterday's TOADETTE can rest easy today, with your character clue for a sitcom that wrapped over four decades ago.
ReplyDeleteI have 2 beautiful blue geodes on my bookshelf as bookends .. filled space in immediately on paper in NYT magazine in pencil as usual. Namaste
ReplyDeleteBbq ribs also served wet.
ReplyDeleteWhat the hell is an APRESSKI??!!
ReplyDeleteMetroGrome
DeleteI see the last part of your blog name in the puzzle
Anyway, FWIW
après-ski.
French expression very popular in the US once. Means parties etc. after skiing.
Went to the sex therapist, but he just made it hard.
ReplyDeleteWent to the optometrist, and she altered my perspective.
Went to the orthopedist and got a lucky break.
Consulted my mohel, and he told me I didn't have any skin in the game.
Crap. Just got the dreaded "whoops that's an error" screen and my excellent commentary has disappeared. Too bad, because it was a classic.
ReplyDelete@SharonAK - I share your distaste for quote puzzles!
ReplyDeleteSo no one knows what happened to @bocamp?
Funny themers … liked. And the no-knows were SCANTY, which always seems to make the SunPuz solvequest more fun. Just a few mysterious no-know names and that there color-blendin thing.
ReplyDeletestaff weeject pick: AVA one of the few no-knows to the Max, today. DOVE-tails well with HUH.
some fave stuff: IWANNA. YOUGAME. ODYSSEY. ISOSCELES. GNOME & NOM & SONOMA. The WIENERS & HORNED clues.
Thanx for gangin up on us, Mr. Hogan dude & Ms. Hale darlin. Nice special treatment.
Masked & Anonymo6Us
**gruntz**
I loved the whole Eeyore bit and I actually laughed aloud at "stand corrected" -- actually had a great time with this whole puzzle. But I do agree with one of the above comments about the Ava/Ada cross being nasty.
ReplyDelete@jae, @okanaganer – @bocamp's most recent post was February 17th. He didn't say anything about going away.
ReplyDeleteGive Will a break. this was fun.
ReplyDelete@Joe Dipinto - thanks for @bocamp info.
ReplyDelete…I also need to update my WOEs list to include AVA and EMMY. I never saw those clues as the crosses were gimmes (my granddaughter has an ADA Lovelace T-shirt).
Anesthesiologists often have their own medical practice for pain management. Not just found in hospitals.
ReplyDeleteThe "theme" answers were like bad jokes told by fourth graders. Ugh!
ReplyDeleteI loved this! First time I've finished a Sunday puzzle without cheating. Yay me. Sorry many of you are so jaded and have lost the joy. It's just a puzzle after all.
ReplyDelete91 Down: etching is not engraving. Etching uses acid and engraving uses tools.
ReplyDeleteA couple counterpoints to Rex:
ReplyDeleteIf you have certain conditions, you definitely go to the anesthesiologist for a pre-surgery appointment where they go over meds, health conditions, etc. So, 'visit the anesthesiologist' is definitely a thing!
There is a geode on one of our bookshelves (which is kind of interesting in that it's my wife's [she had it before we met], but I'm a geologist and she is not)!
How can you be such a curmudgeon* when spring is about to spring? These puns are funny. Granted that GAVEMETHENOD is probably the weakest of them, but it's not as horrible as OFNP...nah, OFC* makes it sound. Most of them (like the acupuncturist, lol) stuck the landing. I give the theme a solid birdie.
ReplyDeleteEasy fill reduces the slog factor, always lurking on Sunday. I liked how nicely ODYSSEY fit in. Give the whole thing a birdie.
Wordle par.
HORNED UP DECISION TIME
ReplyDeleteI LOSTMYTOUCH, IT's SO odd,
but WII KNOWTHEDRILL, IT IS sweet,
MY JENNA GAVEMETHENOD
and MADE sure she DIDN'TMISSABEAT.
--- VINNIE DEL SONOMA
A NOD to OFL, who should visit the real world a little more often:
ReplyDeleteThe Land of Nod can refer to the mythical land of sleep, a pun on Land of Nod (Gen. 4:16). To "go off to the land of Nod" plays with the phrase to "nod off".
And doesn't Land of Nod sell mattresses and such? This is old news.
Yeah this puz was corny, about the Sunday normal. there must not be much in the NYT pipeline.
Wordle phew. First four chances BGGBB.
I own geodes.
ReplyDeleteThey're on my bookshelves.
Who knew?!?!?!?
No, I wasn't expecting that to be the answer, but nobody was expecting it. That's what made it fun!
Speaking of the ombre technique, I've seen it on a number of cars. Top to bottom or front to back. Many of them are quite beautiful!
ReplyDeletePeople, Google "Who invented computer programming?"
ReplyDeleteADA Lovelace is not some obscure personality you should only know because she comes up in crossword puzzles. She's the originator of the medium you're using to communicate. You should be ashamed not to know who she is. AVA, on the other hand, is just a string of letters I was glad to have crosses for.