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Pancakes sometimes served with caviar / TUE 3-12-24 / Anonymous creator of a painting sold at auction that subsequently shredded itself / Fictional land ruled by Aslan / Not playing any songs, as a radio station
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Constructor: Andrew Kingsley and Garrett Chalfin
Relative difficulty: Medium (i.e. normal Tuesday)
Theme answers:
- APARTMENT (17A: A♭) (i.e. a flat)
- LIE DOWN (38A: B♭) (i.e. be flat)
- LOOK ALIVE (63A: B♯) (i.e. be sharp)
- TECH SAVVY (11D: E♯) (i.e. E- (electronic???) sharp)
Avril Ramona Lavigne (/ˈævrɪl ləˈviːn/ AV-ril lə-VEEN, French: [avʁil ʁamɔna laviɲ]; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She is considered a key musician in the development of pop-punk music, as she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. Her accolades include eight Grammy Award nominations, among others.At age 16, Lavigne signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records. Her debut studio album, Let Go (2002), is the best-selling album of the 21st century by a Canadian artist. It yielded the successful singles "Complicated" and "Sk8er Boi", which emphasized a skate punk persona and earned her the title "Pop-Punk Queen" from music publications. Her second studio album, Under My Skin (2004), became Lavigne's first album to reach the top of the Billboard 200 chart in the United States, going on to sell 10 million copies worldwide.
Lavigne's third studio album, The Best Damn Thing (2007), reached number one in seven countries worldwide and saw the international success of its lead single "Girlfriend", which became her first single to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. Her next two studio albums, Goodbye Lullaby(2011) and Avril Lavigne (2013), saw continued commercial success and were both certified gold in Canada, the United States, and other territories. After releasing her sixth studio album, Head Above Water (2019), she returned to her punk roots with her seventh studio album, Love Sux (2022). (wikipedia)
• • •
The fill is less than sterling today as well. Lots of repeaters. AÇAI AGHA ATEAT IWIN etc., the (very) worst of which is ABRA (49A: Start of a spell), a ... partial incantation (?) that absolutely positively does not want to stand on its own and always give me a nails/chalkboard feeling when I see it (which, thankfully, is rarely) (oof, not rarely enough—56 times in the Shortz Era???). Looks like ABRA is sometimes an ["East of Eden" girl] or a Pokémon. Can't say that helps. Maybe the grid really needed ABRA in order to pull off BANKSY, which is easily the most interesting thing in the grid today (50D: Anonymous creator of a painting sold at auction that subsequently shredded itself). That whole SE corner is nice actually, from BANKSY into the old-fashioned but somehow endearing "AND HOW!" into the equally exclamatory "OY, VEY!," which slots in alongside the cleverly clued HAIKU (53D: A kind of poem / Found within this crossword clue / Serendipity) (the only problem with this clue is ... that not exactly what "Serendipity" means—there's an element of chance to "Serendipity," whereas this clue is a HAIKU by design).
Notes:
- 22A: "Hello," in Mandarin (NIHAO) — I was driving past a bubble tea cafe this weekend called NIHAO and actually thought to myself (possibly even said out loud to myself), "it's weird that you don't see NIHAO in the puzzle more often ..." and then Bam, here it is. That's serendipity (I think).
- 51A: Liquid-ate? (MELT) — hmmm. I see what this clue is trying to do (emphasize the "liquid" part by breaking off the "-ate"), but the clue, as written, looks like you want an answer meaning [Ate liquid] ... so, DRANK? Something like that ...
- 28A: Not playing any songs, as a radio station (ALL TALK) – what a dull way to clue this otherwise colorful colloquial phrase. ALL TALK is the counterpart of "no action," if it's anything. [Like someone who brags about what they're gonna do but never does it]. But this clue ... I wanted DEAD AIR.
- 1A: Discontinue (DROP) — welcome to 1-Across, the hardest part of the puzzle for me. Why? Because I went with STOP ... And then crossed it with STAGE (1D: Field of play?). Man, did that feel right on both counts. STOP / STAGE before DROP / DRAMA absolutely gummed up the works (for fifteen seconds or so, probably, but on Tuesday, that's an eternity).
That's it. See you tomorrow.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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86 comments:
Tuesday Medium for me too. I agree with @Rex that 17A should have been AN APARTMENT to be consistent with the clue.
Two overwrites, both in the first row:
1A: @Rex stOP before DROP (didn't have stAge for 1D because ROVE and MEL went in before I looked at the 1D clue)
9A: kAbob before SATAY
Liked this a lot more than Rex. Unfortunately, I never learned to READ MUSIC, so the 4 themed clues read fine to me. They and the rest of the XW were enjoyable, plus I learned NIHAU! So, NIHAU everyone! — SoCal CP
SATAY NIHAO? no thanks, didn't like this one
Definitely a dud if you don’t read music, so basically a themeless with a lot of dark matter entries. Then you can fill the grid in with crap like PREGO, NIHAO, AGRA, NARNIA, BANKSY and even add a math quiz in Roman numerals for good measure. It’s weird just how really, really bad the NYT’s stinkers can be. It’s almost hard to fathom.
I have absolutely no idea how to read music notes so this theme made no sense to me at all. I was able to finish with the crosses, but it seems a bit presumptuous on a Tuesday that all solvers are musically SAVVY.
I think it would have been neat if rather than two sharps and two flats, we got some other stuff mixed it, like a clef symbol, or 'f.'.
I never know nail polish brands, however often they appear in puzzles.
Love AVRIL Lavigne. SPINAL looks odd without the umlaut.
In case anyone is wondering, pennies were called RED CENTs because of the reddish look imparted by the copper (which is no longer used in pennies, but used to be).
B♯ and E♯ most certainly do exist. They are both found in the key of C♯ major. On a piano, they share a key with C and F, respectively, but the compromise of equal temperament doesn't make them the same note. They're not only different in theory – you wouldn't put C in the key of C♯ major – but also in pitch: on a continuous instrument, such as a violin, they are a Pythagorean comma apart.
Skewed tougher than medium for me, thanks to the plethora of non-English answers in the NE: SATAY, NIHAO, PREGO, and AGHA. Not impossible to dope out with crosses, but the density in that corner made it tougher than the usual Tuesday fare imo.
Really REALLY wanted BABY ON BOARD to be in this grid.
Back to yesterday’s discussion of permanent DST versus permanent standard time. Many people are pushing for permanent DST but physicians who specialize in sleep point out how unhealthy it is. Human beings need light in the mornings to help them get going. Also, the US already tried and rejected permanent DST in the 1970’s. It didn’t last a year before the law was repealed. The healthiest system is one where clocks match the solar day and that is permanent standard time.
I had "stop" before DROP and "orate" before OPINE, but otherwise had no trouble. I never heard of SATAY or NIHAO, but relied on guesswork in the NE and got lucky.
I agree with management that E# doesn't equate with TECHSAVVY. That made the theme awkward. I solved the puzzle without using the theme.
Didn’t know NIHAO.
Now if the clue had been “Hello,” in Korean…
ANNYONG!
Today is a grandson Jack day as the daycare people all have the dreaded stomach bug going around, so this will be short.
I read music and thought the clues and answer were close enough for crosswords. And where is @Joaquin anyway?
Took a short introductory course in Italian and the name of the textbook was PREGO but could I think of PREGO? Not until I had most of the letters. OYVEY.
OK Tuesdecito, liked it.
Just as a reminder, Garret, now in his first year at the University of Chicago, had Andrew as a teacher in high school, and this is their third NYT collaboration. It’s a backstory that makes my heart smile.
Their first puzzle together -- https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=5/25/2023 -- featured a grid that at first glance looks like it has normal symmetry, but a longer look shows that it actually doesn’t. I thought that was so cool, and believe it’s worth a look.
Uncovering APARTMENT from its clue did bring a “Hah!”, and made good riddles out of the rest of the theme answers. Along the way there was a supporting cast of appealing answers: SATAY, NIHAO, ALL TALK, RED CENT, AND HOW, BLINI, HAIKU, ARTISTE, BANKSY, BLOB, YOYO, and OY VEY.
Speaking of OY VEY, I like how it was bolstered by a backward OY OY.
Andrew and Garrett, I loved your accidental theme, and the smooth and sweet solve. You two are a-natural. Thank you for this!
Administrative note: I will be away for about a week and a half, for a family event. I'll try to sneak in my "favorite clues" list, but it may show up several days late. I look forward to joining you again!
I liked POSIT on top of OPINE
I tend to think of serendipity as when you are looking for something particular but you find something else that's equally or more wonderful. A moment when you'd say, "Even better!" As when I needed (and dreaded) a pair of high-heeled formal shoes to go with (an equally dreaded) dress, and I actually found a low-heeled pair that worked.
But I may be wrong.
enjoyed this one. not quite a personal best, but found it to be quite easy and not because i read music. i have no problem with apartment without "an".
i don't know avril lavigne's music, but pop-punk has been around since the bay city rollers.
Hey All !
Unsophistication strikes again! Had no idea what the symbols meant after the letters. I did know they were musical things, but never would have figured out "flat" and "sharp". That's on me. I do now know what people mean when they say, "Solved this as a Themeless", because that's what I did, not knowing how the Theme worked. Ah, me.
I'm guessing @Nancy will like this one. She of the Broadway, art, etc ilk.
Haven't seen a Roman Numeral Math Problem in quite some time. They used to be plentiful. Welcome back.
Nice having Down Themers in the grid along with the Across Themers.
Who had KEBAB (or any of the 63 other ways it's spelled) for SATAY first? I'm putting the over/under at 95%. Har.
Happy BDAY, if it applies to you today. Otherwise, Happy Tuesday.
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
I'm always impressed when constructors come up with ideas that are completely new -- or at least seem that way to me. It's hard enough to come up with a completely new theme idea within a category of puzzle types, but this seems like an entirely new puzzle type.
(Lewis -- has anyone ever used musical notation before as the basis of a theme?)
The answers to the musical clues are a bit forced (LOOK ALIVE for "be sharp"? APARTMENT, rather than AN APARTMENT for "A flat"?) but that's not really the point. If the point is to give the solver something different and entertaining, then this puzzle definitely succeeds.
It seems to me as though even people who have never once looked at a music sheet would still know the symbols for "sharp" and "flat", but perhaps I'm wrong. I'm off to two comment sections right now to find out just how universal -- or not -- this musical knowledge is.
No problem with the musical theme - I think it's reasonable enough to expect adults to know the sharp and flat symbols whether or not they play a musical instrument - that's just general knowledge.
can i point out that Banksy, unlike this commenter, is NOT anonymous?
I didn't like this puzzle for so many reasons that may all have to do with sleep deprivation. But I wanted to echo Robrecht's comment and say that E# and B# exist. I am a choral singer working on a piece that has a movement in F# major, a scale that contains an E#. And he sometimes throws in a B# to really confuse things. The human body is also a continuous pitch instrument and one has to take care to hit the middle of the pitch, particular in a group setting with differing parts.
Yes! Strange to learn at first but music is a language more sophisticated than simply black and white keys. Any key signature has sharps or flats, not both.
Liked themers, fill pretty drab with lots of crosswordese. So so overall
Puzzle was easy but even after finishing, i did not get the cutesy clueing
@SusanMontauk (9:12)-- Now that's one of the most interesting comments I've ever seen on the Rexblog. I know you can sing flat on a pitch (b-a-a-a-d) or sharp on a pitch (b-a-a-a-d) but I did think that if you hit the pitch, well then you hit the pitch -- and that was good.
But now you tell me you have to hit the middle of the pitch! Sort of like a well-struck tennis ball, I suppose? Who knew? And I'm speaking as someone who was in my high school chorus and was a member of the "Broadway at the Y Chorus" at the 92Y in the 1990s. Do I hit the "middle" of the pitch when I sing? If I don't, is that the reason that no one's ever asked me to sing solo?
@nancy -- The only one in the Times puzzles I could find was a 9/10/20 by David J. Kahn, in which one of the answers to a Beethoven tribute theme was GGGEb, with the Eb (and that b was the musical symbol) in one square. That answer was basically clued [Dramatic opening of Beethoven's 5th]. While the musical symbol wasn't the basis of the theme, it was at least in the grid!
SATAY, PREGO, NIHAO, crossing AGHA and the strained [E#?]. An affective way to turn a rather nice puzzle to a bad one. Oh well.
B# and E# do exist in certain keys, but are the same as a C and F on the neighborhood bully of instruments the piano. On certain instruments, it can be a skosh different when playing solo, but in an ensemble the note is the same as the piano. For those who don't have music in your background, it's fine not to know this. It's one of the many dumb things musicians through the ages have done to make the field as exclusionary and unwelcoming as possible. They want you to sit in the audience and take lessons, but they do not want you competing against them, and only the privileged are welcomed into the tarnished halls filled with musty odors and spider webs.
Uniclues:
1 My college home environs.
2 What that guys face did at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
3 Singing telegram wearing a nurse outfit gives the fellahs a thrill.
4 Boy were the fellahs happy.
5 NYTXW "rules" aren't really rules.
6 What anonymous street artist did to the art world.
7 Painters checkbook register.
8 computers you fight / you can't type your password right / i mock you you blight
1 ITCHY APARTMENT (~)
2 MELT AND HOW
3 PECKS BDAY GUYS
4 THRILL ELATES
5 LIMITS ISN'T
6 BANKSY SLEW (~)
7 ARTISTE BAD LOG
8 TECH SAVVY HAIKU
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Tushy in nice jeans. ANODYNE CREVASSE.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thanks, Lewis.
Seems logical to me that most of the general population would know what a sharp and a flat symbol mean but anyone who doesn’t might’ve had trouble today. However, I seriously doubt the average Tuesday solver speaks Mandarin, as in NIHAO which was the only area where I had any trouble. That was partly on me for not knowing SATAY or AGHA, but the fill alone in that NE was rough to use Rex’s term – or at least rough-ish. And then right smack down the middle is the one oddball themer that had to be parsed and IMHO didn’t make a bit of sense. Nice puzzle and clever theme overall but that section there kind of left me ending on a sour note.
@Nancy, let us know about the results of your survey. I would think those symbols would be widely known - this knowledge is not the same thing as reading music. While music education is among the first cuts in schools, I think it existed during most of our average-aged commenters' school experiences.
One of my favorite choral conducting experiences was a piece by Hugo Wolf where one phrase ended on C# major (C#,E#,G#) and the next began on Db major (Db, F, Ab). Watching the choir members' faces contorting trying to figure out how to sing the next sound, then it turning out to be exactly the same was priceless.
@Lewis, did you get clearance from blog administration to take another leave of absence after your fairly recent one? Your services are essential!
hands up for K_B_B(P)>SATAY
Had kebab for satay. That hung me up in the northeast for a bit
Don’t read music…and this was fun !
28A, Not playing any songs, as a radio station, brought to mind my Bampa (long deceased granddad) who from the front passenger seat on a family road trip in the 50's ran the entire dial of the radio, then turned it off, famously (in family lore) grumbling, "Nothing on but music."
My problem is that I couldn't see the little wriggly symbols. In conclusion, I had no idea this was music related until I got to following the composer's notation. Oh, it's music related and the little symbols I couldn't read are either sharps or flats. I needed to get out my magnifying glass to see them. Yay me.
I used to be able to READ MUSIC. My brother was a musician and we had a piano and of course it was understood that I was supposed to follow in his footsteps. I tried... My first and last solo was playing "The Yellow Rose of Texas." I played it in G major. Why my piano teacher thought I should play this is still a mystery. We lived in. Cuba at the time and I could barely speak English. All I remember is that I practiced for ages. It had to be perfect for my recital in front of a bajillion people. I got through it and got applause but that was my final curtain.
Once I figured out what this was all about, I thought it quite amusing. I also thought it a bit difficult in some areas. SATAY/TECH SAVY and the ACURA crossing the READ MUSIC. I eventually finished everything....
An enjoyable puzzle because now I'm singing:"There's a yellow rose in Texas that I am gonna see......
How would it have flown to have had a clue, "Just B" (answer below):
ACT NATURAL
After the blow up the other day over NOR, it was nice to see the Boolean meta-operator ANDHOW today.
If an ORT is a tablescrap, what in tarhooties (hi @Roo!) is an ASSORT?
Advice by Biden's campaign team before the State of the Union speech?: LOOKALIVE.
This one was particularly tough because I don't read letters. Fortunately, the extensive use of musical notation, which I do read, bailed me out. Thought this puzzle scored. Thanks, Andrew Kingsley and Garrett Chalfin.
I flew through this ... then I came here & saw the theme. I guess that counts. An enjoyable solve, thanks, guys :)
Easy-medium. As usual I ignored the theme which was a good idea because either I never knew or have forgotten the symbol for flat (when you reach a certain age it’s hard to tell which). Reasonably smooth and clever, but a bit too niche for me, plus @Rex makes some good points. Mostly liked it.
kebob, kebab…before SATAY.
Really liked it. Some cute stuff (REDCENT), a phrase from my past (ANDHOW), sweet theme, no junk, single digit threes.
While I agree with many of @Rex’s observations, I still found this to be an enjoyable Tuesday puzzle. And in answer to @Nancy…yes…it is hard for me to conceive that anyone in blog land could not parse out the simple musical notations/symbols. Can I read music? Um…Keep me on the clef, I STILL can…above/below the clef…not so much any more. I had a brief interlude with playing the clarinet (grade 5-8) and piano (grade six to jr. year high school). I also did choir, but was always amazed when some people could SING the right note by looking at the music.
@kitshef…Hahaha…just remember OPI and Essie because they are crossword friendly. Don’t clutter your brain cells with the fact that EVERY cosmetics company makes nail polish. OPI and Essie ONLY make nail polish.
@anonymous 9:08…hey…if you have the REAL answer (and not speculation) as to WHO BANKSY is…spill the beans!
@burtonkd…I suspect, like me, that the big kabob, kabab, kebob, kebab discussion the other day had both of us with K_B_B before SATAY!
Nice HAIKU clue. It's A♮.
When I saw the clue for 50D "Anonymous creator of a painting...." I thought if this person is anonymous, how are we supposed to know who it is. And maybe "creator of a painting" could be replaced by the more more succinct "painter".
The 36 black squares with four themers and a reveal meant there wasn't much room left to THRILL solvers who like a balance between theme and interesting fill. So I went POC (plural of convenience) hunting.
There was a generous sprinkling of them including three of the two for one POCs, where a Down and an Across both get a grid fill friendly letter count boost by sharing an S at the ends of ANT/HIDE, ELATE/PECK and WEED/GUY. The last one is where a two-fer is most likely to appear, the lower rightmost square.
Those three Ss are the equivalent of helper/cheater squares. They could be changed to black squares, the clues slightly tweaked and nothing much of interest or value would be lost. The grid would now have a virtual 41 black squares, further reducing the chances of quality fill.
@burtonkb -- Hah! Very kind...
Puztheme was fine, IM&AO. They were ?-marker clued themers, so anything goes, there. The revealer was kinda anti-climactic, tho.
But still -- A hard TuesPuz solvequest in spots, at our house (in order of most nanoseconds demolished):
1. PREGO/SATAY/NIHAO/AGHA. a know-no-no-know.
2. AVRIL/OPI.
3. BANKSY/BLINI.
4. KRIS.
These areas all made it harder for M&A to face the music.
staff weeject pick: VII. RRN with math clue.
fave thing: ALLTALK. Second day in a row appearance. primo deja-vuity.
har. @RP really came down on ABRA, for some reason. De busta gut, I reckon. I liked that it helped m&e figure out BANKSY.
Thanx for gangin up on us, Mr. Kingsley & Mr. Chalfin dudes. Flat out sharp puztheme. And M&A darn near flunked his one junior high music class … D, flat.
Masked & Anonymo2Us
**gruntz**
So Rex can now write his real name as Michael#
Nice! Surprise and luck. Hiding in plain sight, Smith!
The PREGO, NIHAO, AGHA crossing was … bad.
A hill I will die on: American "haiku" isn't haiku, why would there be a Japanese poetic form defined entirely by counting English syllables.
Blini, Prego, Haiku & Acai you were okay with?
I agree with EVERYTHING rex had to say today! There must be a blue moon
I didn't grok the theme until I came here, so all the theme answers had to come from crosses -- thus for me, the puzzle was medium+. I think my problem is that I am a musician, so I wanted the clues to lead to something musical (perhaps not noticing the ?s.)
If you dont C Sharp you might B flat
i screengrabbed this post cuz its obviously a banksy. gunna be ricH !
In honor of Rebecca Goldstein's fine puzzle yesterday.
The phone rings.
Good morning. You have reached the law firm of Goldstein, Goldstein, Goldstein, Goldstein and Goldstein.
May I speak with Goldstein please?
I'm sorry, Goldstein is in court this morning.
Well, is Goldstein available then?
No, Goldstein is out of the office right now.
OK, then please put me through to Goldstein.
Goldstein is in a meeting at the moment.
How about Goldstein? Is Goldstein available?
No, I'm afraid Goldstein is on vacation all week.
In that case, can I speak with Goldstein?
Speaking.
Finished with faster than avg time, but overall this one just didn’t sing. Upon review, would agree with the NE as the main culprit, and theme density a willing assistant, on why the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze.
I didn't get the theme first time through but after revisiting, I saw the literal reading of the clues and thought it was clever enough for Tuesday. I liked LOOK ALIVE best and thought that was equivalent to Be sharp, close enough for crosswords anyway.
My K_B_B splatz at 9A, thinking I was so clever, had to make way for SATAY so I was skewered by that clue.
Thanks, Andrew and Garrett!
Burtonkd - nice comment about @Lewis & one I (& I speak for most of us) agree with totally. Have a great time, Lewis - we will miss you & your always uplifting comments :)
I picked a bad day to try solving down clues only as I missed most of the music fun until it was over. The only down themer was TECH SAVVY which I just couldn't connect with "E sharp" until the crosses had totally filled it in. Anyway I had an error at OPI crossing PISA where I thought the lipstick was OVI.
Isn't ICE RINK redundant? Do they make dirt rinks?
[Spelling Bee: Mon 0. QB 3 days!]
17A Apartment was one of my two favorites. The other being 11D Tech save. I thought each was perfect , and fun, for its clue. The other two were Okay, but . Liked Loo alive better than LI down.
I could not see what Rex was on about in his complaints.
Had a hard time getting started on this puzzle. Had "stop" instead of "drop" and "kebab" instead of "satay"
After I got those sorted it was typical orange Tuesday and I looked forward to the music clues and figuring them out.
They make Roller Rinks.
Oof. The SATAY, AGHA, NIHAO, PREGO crosses broke my Tuesday streak. On the bright side, I learned four new things.
In the key of C#, a notated E is really an E#, and a notated B is a B#. Etc. I do wonder if some players wouldn't be better served by music scored with no key signatures, and only sharps or flats (pick one) indicated, requiring only the learning of 12 fingerings or other settings per octave based on only 12 separate note and accidental indications. I have never been able to rapidly sight-read music using the current notations, when the key and/or accidental load gets too exotic. Playing the totally wrong note is much worse, believe me, than failure to make minor adjustments in pitch depending on various academic factors. But I never claimed to be a musician, only an instrumentalist.
@egsforbreakfast
Thanks for the laughs. Started with smile and by the lat paragraph was LOL.
as a musician and a tech savvy person I found E#? = TECHSAVVY just absolutely horrible.
a) NARNIA is not “ruled” by Aslan; he’s a Jesus figure, not a monarch
b) The clue for ACURA (High-end Honda) feels off without “brand” or “division” at the end
Didn’t grok the theme at all!
Anonymous 3:10 pm
Agha is old crosswordese. Often appeared in early in the week clued the ———Khan ( he was “a jet setter” of the old days). Being old myself I got it quickly. It does have convenient letters so it might start showing up again. Be ready for it!
Mskare
About DST
The Times just had an article that other experts and statistical analysis reach the opposite conclusion. Arguing that many more people are out in the early evening than in mid AM hours and statistically DST saves many more pedestrians’ lives. He did suggest returning school to later start time s like they used to be.
I don’t know the answer but I don’t think the issue is so simple as you presented it. Also standard is not true time for people at edges of the time zones and also the lines zig and zag for political reasons.
We can’t agree on anything in this country right now so nothing is going to change in any event.
It has to do with resonance.
No no no no no - this puzzle is so bad I almost wanted to go back to “modern” interpretations of Robert Frost.
E# ? Lanai dupe? VII ? ALL TALK clued in a bizarrely literal way? And just because we haven’t had enough acai ads…
Shockingly bad.
This one gave me fits, especially NE corner, where I wanted KEBAB (or KABOB, however the **** word is spelled). Felt more like a Thursday than a Tuesday to me.
My peeve with Ni Hao is that Chinese doesn’t have phonetical Roman letters, so there is really no spelling for it. And it’s a greeting but it doesn’t mean hello. It’s literally, “You good?”
@whatsername why do you think the average Tuesday crossword solver? Can’t speak Mandarin? I am sure plenty of us Asian Americans enjoy crossword puzzles.
Like Rex, I also got STOP for the upper left-hand corner which stymied me for quite a while. And I had KEBAB and then KABOB before I realized it was SATAY.
No sharps or flats in my paper: cheap font. Boxed X's on all the theme clues. Not that it was hard to figure it out, after getting READMUSIC on crosses, but still, big disadvantage here. Yet my only writeover was ROam before ROVE. I guess we can add that to our kealoa list.
Strange bleedover: ALLTALK. Starting to sound like a filibuster.
Sporting the DOD SASH today is AVRIL.
This wasn't a THRILL, but it'll do. Par.
Wordle birdie.
This worked OK for me as a Tuesday puzzle in the syndicated version with the musical notation spelled out. That way the puns made immediate sense e.g. b sharp - look alive. I can see how the musical notation would spoil whatever humour you may appreciate by coming between the delivery and punch line leading to a lot of "huh?"'s. Whereas in the syndicated version the gimmick was a quick-hit for me starting with apartment etc.
A ♭ theme with dull fill. Yet another NYT letdown.
SAVVY TALK
Is there EVER a LIMIT of THRILL?
You GUYS know DRAMA AT ALL?
OYVEY, LIEDOWN LOOK AT AVRIL,
AND see ATEAT in ABRA.
--- MEL BANKSY, VII
Fun fairly easy puzzle today. I can't read music, but know some of the basic symbols. When I was a kid, there were things everybody learned.
Kindergarten: the alphabet. The floor in the classroom was made up of linoleum tiles with the letters of the alphabet on them.
First Grade: the script alphabet, which from what I can tell might as well be ancient Sanskrit to kids nowadays.
Second grade: basic musical scale and notation. Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do. (Xwords taught me sol) Symbols like clef, sharp, flat, chords. The times they are a-changin.
Yesterday we had EZ PZ Monday. Now...Tricky Tuesday - that's for sure. Didn't think I'd get it at first, but then the ole "bit by bit" kicked in for moi.
Lady Di
And yes, Spacey, roam/rove is a kealoa.
Diana, aka Lady Di
How the hello does A = Apartment... DRECK!!!
So tired of these gimmicky themes. They are not interesting to me at all. Does every NYT xword need some obscure theme? Absolutely HELL NO!!
Apparently I’m the only one solving the puzzle from an actual newspaper? Must be because at least someone would’ve commented that the theme was impossible to understand because the b and # symbols printed up in the newspaper as two ?? —making the each themed clue senseless. Easy-medium for me.
I didn't get the # and b symbols, just written out words. I wrote APARTMENT straight out on seeing "A flat," thinking "probably wrong, but whatever, I'll fix it in crosses," because that's how I do puzzles: all the way through the acrosses without peeking at the downs, and then all the way through the downs without doubling back, over and over again.
I think it comes from when I first started and knew that I would soon enough be completely stumped by the Maleska croswordese that I'd never learned, so this would string out the discovery of little bits that I could do for long enough to give me an illusion of progress.
And thank you, Rex, for a place where I can write long happy comments that no one will read, because most of your community is six weeks ahead.
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