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Block with a horn / FRI 4-12-24 / Give a greeting, in slang / Bit of detritus from a Thanksgiving meal / Device that converts rotary motion into linear motion / Buttery side dish that's often grilled / Lavish display, as of color / Ritual performed to break a spell
Friday, April 12, 2024
Constructor: Evan Kalish
Relative difficulty: Easy
Word of the Day: ANVIL (44A: Block with a horn) —
An anvil is a metalworking tool consisting of a large block of metal (usually forged or cast steel), with a flattened top surface, upon which another object is struck (or "worked").Anvils are as massive because the higher their inertia, the more efficiently they cause the energy of striking tools to be transferred to the work piece. In most cases the anvil is used as a forging tool. Before the advent of modern welding technology, it was the primary tool of metal workers.
The great majority of modern anvils are made of cast steel that has been heat treated by either flame or electric induction. Inexpensive anvils have been made of cast iron and low-quality steel, but are considered unsuitable for serious use, as they deform and lack rebound when struck. [...]
The horn of the anvil is a conical projection used to form various round shapes and is generally unhardened steel or iron. The horn is used mostly in bending operations. It also is used by some smiths as an aid in "drawing down" stock (making it longer and thinner). Some anvils, mainly European, are made with two horns, one square and one round. Also, some anvils are made with side horns or clips for specialized work. (wikipedia)
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[Gah, this was filmed at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor! I saw Television there with my friend Mike Berk! Sorry, grad school flashback, moving on ...]
Only a few notable hesitations today, and no stumpers at all to speak of. I was blocked from taking a counterclockwise path by the fact that I couldn't (quickly) come up with CAM (25D: Device that converts rotary motion into linear motion). If you want to slow me down, ask me about engine parts, for sure. Or poker. Or golf. Or a lot of things, actually, but especially engine parts. Oh, also, I couldn't get COB because I've never had corn on the COB for Thanksgiving in my life (23A: Bit of detritus from a Thanksgiving meal). I've seen COBs as Thanksgiving decorations, but the only vegetables I'm eating on Thanksgiving are potatoes and green beans. I'm not saying the green beans are traditional. I'm saying that's what we've always eaten and I would spurn your corn as non-canonical. So I headed clockwise and had to deal only with a few problems in that direction, like what vowels go in SEGEL (10D: Jason of TV's "Shrinking") (that's Apple TV; they should specify that, I think—very good show). I also had Chinese takeout on the brain (since that's the only way I eat it around here), and so HOT ___ left me scratching my head, after SAUCE wouldn't fit. Not real familiar with TEXAS TOAST, so had to let crosses guide me there (64A: Buttery side dish that's often grilled). And didn't know ANVILs had horns. Or I did, but only in the vaguest of ways, i.e. I know the rough shape of an ANVIL, but didn't know the pointy bit had a name. The ALFA / FIAT crossing was giving me AUDI / OPEL vibes, but those wouldn't cross properly. If the FIAT clue (40A: European automaker) had contained "Italian" instead of the vague "European," things would've been easier there, but they were easy anyway.
Constructors and editors seem constitutionally unable to lay off the "?" clues when it comes to ARSON (34D: Hot topic in criminology?). After ELOPE, I don't think there's a word out there that inspires more questionmarkery. In the past year, all four appearances of ARSON have featured a "?" clue: [Hot topic in criminology?], [Bad match on tinder?], [Bad lighting?] [Harsh lighting?]. A conflagration of puns. And that's just scratching the surface of ARSON's "?"-clue history. Looking over their cluing histories, ARSON actually appears to be worse than ELOPE, pound for pound, when it comes to attracting "?" clues, though the ELOPE clues tend to be more ... adventurous? [Not get reception?] [Expedite some union business?] [Opt for the window instead of the aisle?]. Damn, that last one is an all-timer. But mostly, as with today's ARSON clue, this "?" whimsy runs a bit stale, and transparent.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
*speaking of the NCAA Basketball Championship, congrats to South Carolina and their coach Dawn STALEY, whose name has not yet been in the crossword, though it is more than worthy. The only STALEY ever to appear in a NYTXW was Gerry STALEY, a 4x All-Star pitcher, who appeared once in 1955. No offense to the pitcher, but his stature in his sport is nowhere near Dawn STALEY's in hers.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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105 comments:
SUMO is the name of the sport. The athletes who wear mawashis are called RIKISHI. You may Anglicize it as SUMO WRESTLERS, if you wish. But Sumos?! SUMOS??!!! This kind of shoddy editing really torques my mawashi.
Yeah, fairly easy for a Friday. Far fewer overwrites than usual:
i told you so before THAT TRACKS at 1A
limoS before TENTS at 4D
audi before FIAT at 40A and also Audi before ALFA at 29D
One of the joys of New Jersey is our corn. From midsummer to early fall we get some really wonderful corn at our farm stands. As a result we've become jaded and disdain all but July-to-September Jersey corn. At other times, no corn is good enough, so it's never a Thanksgiving feature. This is a long way of saying that like OFL I had to puzzle a bit to get COB for the Thanksgiving detritus.
Loved this one and its sparkling long answers. Don’t care whether ARSON or ELOPE is clued with a “?” or not; they work either way and will not go away.
Now that March Madness is over, I hope for (but do not expect to see) some Frozen Four clues. 🏒🥅
...Wait, a CAM is just a part of an engine? Didn't know LARAMIE, and I just guessed that M thinking of cameras... with film reels... that spin (?!)... to make a motion picture. I guess I was getting mixed up with projectors? My brain turned the "overthinking themeless mode" dial up to 11 and it's not even Saturday. Also had ATEAM before ELITE and I just blanked on ELITE for some reason (and also considered the possibility of the answer being a group of actual stars). Had no idea why RABAT, Morocco would be the roof of the world and then... TIBET. Huh, THAT TRACKS.
I was slowed down by several unknowns especially in the southern half of the grid. NASONEX, PALM PILOT, TEXAS TOAST, Vidalia (WHITE onion came to mind because of yesterday's clue for ONION). And I also had EAR before LIP. AND I didn't know that "buff" is a color, so TAN x NASONEX was essentially a Natick for me. Buff could've been slang for a sailor - a TAR - for all I knew. Or maybe a kind of hat similar to a TAM.
A bunch of very nice answers (all three long Acrosses in the NW, HATE WATCH, "IT'S A PLANE!", DON'T MIND ME). RAIN DANCE had my favorite clue of the day.
Easy Friday. But why is tan a buff relative?
No such thing as mint sauce - it’s mint jelly…
Had an easier time in the southern hemisphere (once I cleared LARAMIE and NASONEX). It was nice to bounce around and make progress on a Friday - I actually felt like I knew what I was doing for a change.
The north was closer to what I normally experience on a Friday - items like THAT TRACKS and BLANKET HOG are all legit in retrospect, but they hardly jump up and down and reveal themselves without a fight (and today, as is usual on the weekends, the crosses weren’t helping much either). Finally broke through the IMPS/SETH/SNIT section and built some momentum (MINT SAUCE) seems a little green-paintish, but no complaints and I need the help on a Friday anyway.
Hopefully they continue to mix in a few grids that are on the easy side now and then to keep us non “hard core” solvers interested on the weekends.
Easiest Friday in memory—roughly 16 minutes, half my usual time. It played like a Wednesday for me. I got stuck on cob for a bit and limos before tents but other than that I was disappointed that the puzzle seemed to lack teeth. I now have limited my self to the sports and entertainment sections of the newspapers because I am long retired and
in the tooth so I can leave it to the Z generation to run the world. While my peers often mock them , I now believe have life right—balance. I don’t think I gained anything by working 80 hour weeks except for material things which have far less value than family and personal time.
Go Hawkeyes!
They are both beige
I convinced myself that a CAR converts rotary motion energy into linear motion. (It does though, right?)
Agree that the mint condiment is a jelly, not a sauce, and that corn on the cob is not a Thanksgiving thing, it’s a late summer thing. But Rex, “5-10 minutes”? Rub it in, why don’t ya?
Tan and BUFF are both variations on the color beige.
Favorite clue? [Ritual performance to break a spell], for RAIN DANCE – That is, a dry spell. Hah! Double hah!
Favorite answer? Well, many. The longs were the stars, IMO, today, with eight nine-letter and six ten-letter answers. All of the longs in the NW and SE, in particular, shined brightly. The stacks in each corner were anchored by longs that have never appeared in the NYT puzzle’s 80 years – THAT TRACKS, TRAVEL KIT, TEXAS TOAST, and PRICE DROP. That’s a most lovely quartet.
A paucity of footholds made this the kind of grind I relish. PACKERS instead of BRONCOS held me up for a good bit. I like how PRICE DROP descends, and how refreshing, IMO, to not have a cheer-based clue for OLE.
I want a tussle in my NYT themeless, and you came through, Evan. The uncovering was especially sweet, with so many appealing answers to beautify the experience. Thank you for a most splendid outing, sir!
Finished this without incident but would not have called it easy. Only knew LARAMIE from the Simpsons, which helped a lot ("Laramie Smokes").
Yeah, mint jelly. That was a snag. Hello, Mr. SEGEL. I'm sorry I've never heard of you or your show, but that's true of a lot of actors and shows, so don't go feeling special. I've never HATEWATCHed anything either, but at least I've heard the term somewhere.
The BRONCOS answer turned out to be timely with all the OJ news lately. I read this morning that the original BRONCO is in a museum in Tennessee and is a popular attraction, which I find curious. If it were parked on my lawn I'd pull the shade.
Started with ANKA (hi Paul!) which lead to KIT. SHAVINGKIT didn't fit but TOILETKIT did and did that slow things down. Never called it a TRAVELKIT, but it had to be right.
I liked this one a lot, EK. Some ESOTERIC KNOWLEDGE required (I knew ANVILs have a horn) and just the right amount of crunch for a Friday. Thanks for all the fun.
I was sure the “roof of the world” was NEPAL, so the NW was nigh on impossible.
Nice smooth Friday
There is a such thing as mint sauce. It’s sold in bottles and is vinegar based. It’s very old fashioned.
My favorite use of the word "detritus" (from the clue for COB), was by the late Bart Giamatti in his 1977 essay "The Green Fields of the Mind." He guides us through a half inning in the crucial final game of the season. His Red Sox are behind, of course, but mount a rally. This sentence comes after a ground ball finds its way through the infield for a single.
"The aisles are jammed, the place is on its feet, the wrappers, the programs, the Coke cups and peanut shells, the detritus of an afternoon; the anxieties, the things that have to be done tomorrow, the regrets about yesterday, the accumulation of a summer: all forgotten, while hope, the anchor, bites and takes hold where a moment before it seemed we would be swept out with the tide. Rice is up."
******
On the puzzle, it gave me a good workout and I was proud of myself until I saw OFL called it easy. Oh well. The shared N of NASONEX and TAN threw me. Loved BLANKET HOG.
Wasn't corn part of the first Thanksgiving dinner with the Indians and Pilgrims? Maybe that's where the COB comes from.
This took me what I would normally consider a good Saturday solve. However the difficulty bar has been raised so much of late that it felt easy.
A big slow down for me was my NEPAL/TIBET write over supported by an ATEAM/ELITE write over. I wasted quite a bit of time trying to make that work. Backfilling the NW was how I finished.
I liked the near pairing of the two C-BIT words in the north center.
yd -0. QB34, yesterday's estimate was off
MINT SAUCE and Mint Jelly are both things. The are two separate, but related, things. They are both made with mint leaves. They are both served with lamb. Mint Jelly is sweet jelly made with sugar and is congealed. Mint Sauce is an acidic sauce, made with vinegar, with some added sugar to cut the acid, forming a thickened liquid containing finely chopped mint leaves.
Both commercially produced Mint Jelly and MINT SAUCE are widely available at your local supermarket.
Though the custom in your home you may be to serve mint jelly with lamb, one should not conclude from this that MINT SAUCE: a) does not exist, and b) is not a customary and popular accompaniment to lamb in many homes that are not yours.
Thought I was heading for an average, or slightly longer than average, time for a Friday - but the NW just escaped me. If I recall correctly, had only AUTHOR and COHABIT in there. And TATS, though I took that out.
Finally thought, hmmm, could that Jason in 10D be the same one from HIMYM; how is his name spelled? Put SEGEL in, which allowed me to see the ONE in what became I OWE YOU ONE. Went on to finish.
Old song clues - Rain Dance could have been opener from Guess Who's "So Long, Bannatyne" - somewhere I might have a print (neg is long gone) of me standing in the 1990s in front of the apartment house shown on the album cover, holding the album. Believe the empty apartment building was damaged by fire about 10 years ago.
@ liveprof (8:13 am)
Written records from Plymouth colony reportthat the pilgrims planted 20 acres of "Indian Corn" during their first year. "Indian Corn." the precursor to our modern corn. was a dry corn - not the sweet corn that we would eat right off the cob today. The practice was to remove the corn from the cob, grind it into cornmeal, boil it, and pound it into a mush - often served with molasses. So unless the pilgrims let the corn go unpicked, that corn mush would most certainly have been served at the harvest festival, and the cobs would have been the detritus.
Even today throughout New England (and, perhaps beyond) "Indian Pudding" - the mush with molasses and, in a bow to modernity, some whipped cream in top - is served as a dessert in homes and restaurants - not uncommonly at Thanksgiving Dinner, as well!
Hey All !
Got seriously stuck in West-Center. Dang. Had Cog and shAVE(L)KIT, totally missing the fact of that L being there. So those two wrongs led to many stares and clue rereads, until finally having to Goog the Wyoming trifecta. Once that was in, finally saw ALFA/FIAT, and the rest fell forthwith. A one-cheater to keep my Streak* going.
Rest of puz was crunchy, but managed to navigate through. Wouldn't call it easy, more medium-tough.
Put in BLANKET HOG with nothing in! But then, couldn't seem to get any Downs, so took it out. After some other stuff filled up there, saw my BLANKET HOGs was correct after all! Weird how that happens.
"You can have all the covers tonight, but I OWE YOU ONE BLANKET HOG"
"I'll just give you a bite of my SWEET ONION TEXAS TOAST."
/Scene
Good FriPuz, good to be a Friday.
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
Nope, not easy at all. NW was extremely tough, especially when you opt for NEPAL instead of TIBET.
No one, truly no one, has ever said "That tracks"
At least no one over the age of ......
I rate this puzzle 5 Vidalias! Sweet with many layers. I’ll see myself out…I always buy those from Costco - more expensive, but 5lbs instead of 10 for the Spanish ones, half of which go bad before I get to them, so THATTRACKS, which I believe I saw this week in a different puzzle outlet.
Interesting article in The Atlantic tracks the rise of agriculture in the human species and has quite a bit to say about the importance of corn in the Mesoamericas; also that it was not the only staple - many “lost crops” whose importance is being rediscovered. I could picture the COB from the centerpiece of a modern Thanksgiving meal. We definitely don’t eat it as our tradition.
@Liveprof - baseball is more worth watching for the announcers than many other sports. With the lack of action, they have a lot of time to wax poetic. Fun fact to have learned that Bart is the father of the recently Oscar-nominated actor Paul Giamatti.
I really enjoyed this one. NW didn’t come right away (hands up for ATEAM with a caveat that I thought it could easily be wrong). It was a very satisfying place to finish.
My toiletries were in a ZIPLOCBAG to go through the ever popular xword TSA.
No humans in New Zealand until 1300 AD?
@RidetheReading: My experience in the NW was exactly the same. I also kept waffling between LIMOS and TUXES for the wedding rental, and for a time had NEPAL instead of TIBET. I completed the rest of the puzzle in under 10 minutes, and spent 15 minutes finishing the NW corner. Ended up about double my usual time, if not more. The "UO" of IOWEYOUONE had me doubting everything.
Kept trying to make the future return clue tax related, squeezing in IRS or AUDIT in there someplace. And ALIST or ATEAM for ELITE.
I don't have Apple TV, so the TV reference was lost on me. The woes of narrowcasting - too many shows to track.
If it had been on paper, there'd be a blotty mess of ink in that corner.
Loved the puzzle today but had a weird (for me) experience, in that I found ALL the puzzle easy EXCEPT the NW quadrant was absolutely inscrutable to me. It’s like my brain switched to OFF in the area. Probably because I did not know Tibet was the “roof of the world” (um, I briefly had “ozone”, as in the ozone layer) and The expression THATTRACKS was unfamiliar to me until today. So, I cheated (with almost everything done) to get THATTRACKS and STILL struggled mightily to complete. That’s okay. I learned some new things!
Wow. I’m trying to think if I’ve ever HATEWATCHed anything. Well, maybe so if it counts to tune something in to see if it is as stupid as it sounds. I did that with the reality show that had Honey Boo-Boo…confirmed it ridiculous…wondered about the end o’ days…and turned it off.
It took me 2-1/2 hours, but it shouldn't have. I was fixated on "traditional service" as some kind of "class" instead of mass. I knew LARAMIE as a city, but not as a river or mountain range. I guessed at Rob LOWE, and that led me to SWEETONION ( thought it was
"green onion."
After last Friday's debacle, it feels good to solve a weekend puzzle without cheating.
While I'm sure they meant colors for "buff" and "tan," they're also descriptors of Venice Beach weightlifters...or Jersey Shore characters.
Really challenging and really good. Way over my typical time even with relatively few proper nouns. A well made well edited effort. Exceptionally good especially when compared to a series of turkeys we've seen of late. Took me forever to beat.
Did you know Paul Anka is still alive and has a tour coming up at the end of May?
I grew up in one of those crazy far right churches you see in TV dramas nowadays, and I remember learning about CUBITS from Noah and the ark. I still use cubits today when working around the house. It's a handy (get it?) measuring stick.
So let's talk about how I can see the Bronco stadium from my house. How they've been "my" team for 60 years. How I used to go to the games with my mom. How we've had three good years in all that time. And how we pay extra taxes to make sure those boys can drive sports cars here in the good ole Mile High City. And then how they haven't even made the playoffs for eight years. EIGHT. And yet our good ole local media here, year after year, says ohhh this is gonna be the year they're so great! Ugh. So let's not talk about the Broncos. We do have a pretty good basketball team right now.
Uniclues:
1 Fond remembrance of grampa's swing.
2 Bedroom brawl.
3 What we will all be doing in October whether you want to do it or not.
4 Nickname for mobster in charge of bet collections in western Nevada.
5 Tease youngster in a Tennessee tuxedo.
6 "Boy, we could sure use the moisture."
7 Stand in line (again) at the United Airlines customer service counter after naively booking an afternoon flight with a connection.
1 I OWE YOU ONE TIRE
2 BLANKET HOG SNIT
3 ELITE HATE WATCH
4 TAHOE ANVIL (~)
5 DENIM SON DISS
6 RAIN DANCE HOLLA
7 AWAIT TRAVEL KIT
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Around the World afficionado who decoupages his tool with Playboy bunnies. SEXY YOYO NUT.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The NW was my nemesis -- and when the absolutely wonderful BLANKET HOG came in, it was all I could do to not jump up and dance for joy. I had had the "B" from TIBET (which I was pretty sure was right), and I'd written in (very lightly) BED something or other. BEDMATE was too short and I couldn't think of a substitute.
Confession: BLANKET HOG probably wouldn't have come in if I hadn't cheated on SEGEL. Once again, I was following the Nancy Rule [TM]: Cheat only when you're really, really enjoying a puzzle and have hit a wall so that you can't continue with the puzzle that you're so enjoying unless you cheat.
A tough puzzle -- with the toughness coming from fiendish cluing and occasionally from vague cluing, but not from a boatload of mindless trivia.
One question: Just how many prize-winning CURIE scientists are there out there anyway?
After BLANKET HOG, my favorite clue is the one for ITS A PLANE. I know zilch about the Marvel Universe, but even I know Superman and his familiar intro. Two winning clues for this week, I'm thinking, Lewis.
A perfect Friday -- one that makes you use your wits rather than have to come up with up a lot of tiny, random facts. I loved it.
What's with all this lazy modern shortening of words? Like "bae" for "babe" or COHABIT for Coke Habit.
I never felt the need for one of those PDA devices back in the day. When someone would ask me why, I'd say "God is my PALMPILOT."
I imagine that @gary jugert was getting desperate for a tee hee out of this puzzle until he got to the bottom row (or should I say ROE?) and experienced the joy of SETS.
I really enjoyed this puzzle. Thanks, Evan Kalish.
Agreed. Plus, it fit!
You could find out in two seconds (but yes, late 13c. C.E. is correct—South Island is last major land mass to be colonized by humans)
I’m 54 and say it all the time. Truly. ~RP
This felt very current. Not a lot of old trivia or old actor/tv/movie names. The term THATTRACKS is something I never heard until the last few years; now it seems like a pet phrase of those in their early 30s (along with "that's fair"). I guess the same generation uses HATEWATCH? I've never heard that expression but it seems to fit into the modern notion that anyone who disagrees with you, or who doesn't love what/who you love, is a "hater."
Glad to see HOLLA clued properly this time.
Sumo is the sport.
Sumo athletes are sumotoris.
Not too hard (I got NASONEX from crosses) except for the NW. I got in my own way by starting with 'as expected' at 1-A, which made the sea delicacy eel, and just messed everything up. I finally looked up SEGEL, whom I'd never heard of (and in a show I've never heard of) and it all fellinto place.
We may eat corn in the form of Indian pudding, but we don't leave the COBs lying around on the table, or throw them on the floor.
Here's a recipe for MINT SAUCE just to drive the point home. I could also have been clued by an Asterix reference--he and Obeliix are always complaining how the English ruin wild boar by putting mint sauce on it.
Easy enough to get, but do people really say ART LAB instead of studio? I almost put in fab LAB, an actual thing.
Rex's WOD shows us how much worse it could have been. ANVIL could have been clued "block with Hardie and Pritchel holes." I didn't know that point was called a horn, but I could visualize one falling on Wile E. Coyote.
Mint sauce is an English classic - mint, sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper
I just *knew* that @Rex would rate this as easy.... he always does when I struggle. And that I did.
I did have what I'd call *easy* entries at the top. ROE and AUTHOR and that was it. Hand UP for Nepal but saved by BLANKET HOG. THAT TRACKS? Is that really you?
So I get to the middle part of the puzzle and stared. Hand up for Opal/Audi. Damn...here I go again. RAIN DANCE to the rescue. So it's ALFA and FIAT and of course someone wanted this confusion on purpose.
LARAMIE. Yes, I got you. My husband and I drove through the southern part of Wyoming. The towns we crossed were pretty desolate but we had high hopes for Cheyenne where we planned to overnight. There is one thing that stands out for me. I went into a convenient store and the handsomest cowboy I have ever seen in my life, tipped his stetson and winked at me then opened the door for me and whispered "Ma'am." I've never swooned in my life but I sure wanted to then.....So yes, @Rex....Your wife will love Wyoming!
I managed the southern section of the puzzle without too much trouble but I sure had a lot of huh's. I've never heard of an ART LAB - ever. I'm a wannabe artist and I'd never call my creativity room a LAB. The center held me up. Can it really be COB. I wanted YAM. Erase, erase. My final error: I had (and left) 41A as a CAG and mometasone sounds like GASONEX wold cure you.
So, this is what I'd call a happy struggle, wrong answers, guess again puzzle. It took me a long time to finish because I kept putting it down and walking away, but I enjoyed it.
If you EAT a SWEET ONION on top of TEXAS TOAST, will you need GASONEX?
@pabloinnh (7:54)-- TRAVEL KIT is very much the term of choice for us ladies. SHAVING is usually not the focal point of our getting ourselves together for public presentation and TOILET KIT is such an unattractive phrase. And anyway, "toiletry" is in the clue.
@Beezer -- I'm with you. Life's much too short to ever HATEWATCH anything. I never have and I never will.
And since we're both tennis players, @Beezer, we should have a "quick reflexes" competition: How many nanoseconds does it take, once you realize that you hate a program, to get that program off your screen?
Well it took me longer than 5 or 10 minutes but as @Nancy said, it was a good fair workout that didn't drive you nuts with trivia. I got off on the right continent but soon figured out I was in the wrong country with NEPAL and the ATEAM trekking across it. Then went the wrong direction in my European autos in an AUDI before an ALFA.
On the food front, I don't think many people eat SWEET corn at Thanksgiving but the pilgrims may have had a COB or two left over. THAT TRACKS I suppose. And I've occasionally subbed TEXAS TOAST for French bread in my homemade ONION soup, but I don't really recommend it.
Lot of BS short answers; WAG TAN COB MTS.
And it's MFing mint jelly fool
If you’ve never had mint sauce, it is a wonderful accompaniment to lamb; it’s acidity cuts the fattiness of lamb, while adding a sweet mintiness that is delightful. Try the Cross and Blackwell if you can find it. Britishness at it’s best.
I got traction in the SW and enjoyed this puzzle, struggling mainly with the NW. But i get a lot more mileage out of puzzles because it takes me roughly 5 times as long as OFL.
As an artist for decades, I have *never* heard a studio called an ARTLAB. A quick web search revealed it as a proper name in a few places. (Marketing strikes again.)
BUFF definitely qualifies as a color descriptor. There is even a tube color widely available called Titan Buff, which is unbleached titanium.
Happy Friday, crossworld!
@Nancy agree re TRAVELKIT.
Also, as a non-Aerican, my knowledge of your Thanksgiving traditions did not include Corn on the Cob. So is it s thing or not? Regionally perhaps? Seems late in the season for fresh corn to me.
Having found the NW impenetrable, I was happy to see the crossword-friendly IMPS greet me next door, giving me the cross with IT'S A PLANE! - and the puzzle won me over right there. Folks, I still can recite the entire Superman intro (..."strange visitor from another planet...") and this entry made my day. And there were plenty of other pleasures in the other long entries; I especially enjoyed the dry "spell" being broken by the RAIN DANCE and the hard to parse DON'T MIND ME.
Do-over: Cog before CAM. Help from previous puzzles: SEGEL, which gave me the crucial G to suggest BLANKET HOG; also ART LAB and HATE WATCH, phrases I've only seen in puzzles. No idea: NASONEX.
I thought it was Tibet, had trouble completing the NW, switched to Nepal and had even more trouble until I finally found the error of my ways.
I have never seen corn on the cob served. Corn off the cob wouldn’t surprise me. But decent fresh ears of corn are not very widely available in late November. But perhaps it’s just not a thing in my region!
Is there a palindrome with BLANKET HOG that is comparable to "go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog"?
Mostly easy except for the NW which was the tough part of this one for me. Knowing SEGEL (Shrinking is excellent BTW) and finally remembering TIBET helped me finish.
Did not know OLE.
Solid and smooth with some tricky clueing and a smattering of sparkle, liked it.
I knew I was in trouble when the first answer was THAT TRACKS :(
Fine but temporary TUXES for TENTS and COG for CAM.
PRICEDROP got me started, of all clues.
Lots of pencil-ins that didn’t work today. Ozone(??) for TIBET. Vent for TIRE. Tuxes for TENTS. Uni for ROE. Snug for KNOT. The NW took a while to unravel in the MIDST of all that.
Really wanted some kind of -mANCy as a ritual but backed into RAIN DANCE.
Enjoyed this a lot more than last Friday.
Isn't it odd when an anonymous poster reports a fast solving time? "Oh, someone out there solved the puzzle quickly. My, my."
Several Catholic churches in San Francisco offer a mass said in Latin every week.
@Nancy, @Susan A-Agree that toiletry was in the clue and that disqualified it, but the lady I've been married to and done all my travelling with for fifty three years plus has never called this thing a TRAVELKIT, so I'm excusing my ignorance.
2
Using mint jelly on lamb would be considered blasphemous in my house. Mint sauce is the only way to go!
re: BIT OF DETRITUS FROM A THANKSGIVING MEAL: the clue does not say that the bit is on your plate or on the table. For the chef to prepare the meal he/she might buy ears of corn and scrape off the kernels for the recipe....instead of buying Birdseye kernels. The cob (detritus) then ends up in the garbage.
Tuesday-easy up top, a little tougher down bottom, and then that ART LAB/FIAT/ANVIL/ALVA section that was actually Friday-worthy.
Buff and tan - beach compliments!
That quote is gorgeous! Thanks.
@Nancy, our code of crossword ethics are the same! And besides…we always confess and so far the Crossworld police haven’t given me a ticket. Oh…and @Gill…just so you DON’T think I was bragging when I said most of the puzzle was “easy” in my first comment…I should have said “solvable.”
Also, @Nancy…I suspect YOUR reflexes are quicker to turn off than mine. I can temporarily get overcome by the “watching a train wreck” syndrome before I snap to and turn it off!
@Gary Jugert…oh boohoo, eight years. My team had the SAME QB as YOUR last Super Bowl win, but our win was 17 years ago. Then eventually you stole our QB…(just kidding, he deserved a winning team)
My first thought was MINT sauce. Then I though to myself "no, this is an American puzzle, they won't know about MINT sauce, I bet it's MINT JELLY". One of my few overwrites.
@Anonymous 10:31 - Antarctica would like a word with you.
yeah, that tracks. (ha! said it! and im 56)
My first thought for 1D "roof of the world" was ANDES. That and LIMOS for 4D "Rentals for some weddings" made that difficult-for-me corner even more difficult.
I also confidently put in PACKERS for the NFL team with sold out seats since 1970. BRONCOS? Really? Freezing cold and barely enough oxygen to sustain life? Tough crowd.
I gave the side eye to 64A "Buttery side dish that's often grilled". I never thought of bread being a "dish", side or otherwise. And if we are talking TEXAS TOAST then there has to be some garlic along with that butter.
Puzzle definitely wasn't EASY for me but it was a good workout and time well SPENT.
THATRACKS: New to me (75 y.o.). MINTjelly first. COB never a part of my Thanksgiving. Ergo, some struggles.
For me this was about as fast as Friday gets... just over 10 minutes. The only typeover I can remember was FLAG before TIRE for "Lose steam".
I haven't been to LARAMIE but I have been to Durango which when I hear it also makes me think of old westerns. And Rex, your phrase "I'm going to Laramie" would work perfectly in the chorus of Talk's song Hollywood.
I think a more broad definition for CAM is a part that rotates but is not round. Think of cam locks.
[Spelling Bee: yd 0, streak 4. puzzlehoarder, your streak is only 34? Yikes.]
Rex, thanks for the shoutout to Dawn Staley. I live not far from her in Columbia and will tell you she is well loved and admired here, as are her players.I plan to go to the parade honoring them tomorrow on Main Street. We're so proud of the Lady Gamecocks!
Corn on the cob would be terrible in November which is why it's not served at Thanksgiving. Rex so jealous, Television at the Blind Pig what great show that must have been!
My favorite arson story is the one about the gentleman who bought a box of very expensive cigars, had them insured and then proceeded to smoke the lot. He reported to the insurance company that his property had been consumed in a series of small fires. the insurance company then turned around and had him prosecuted for arson. This puzzle was not my favorite.
Anon 6:35
I have a bottle of Cross & Blackwell "Mint Sauce" (with Egyptian mint leaves) in my fridge right now.
What more can one say than "Holla, to all in the art lab".
NW corner was no place for the weak of brainpan, such as m&e. Shoot, lotsa the longballs up there had ?-marker clues, too boot.
M&A therefore pitched his solvequest tent in the NE corner, which got things goin at our house. IMPS, TIRE, SNIT, ITSAPLANE … bang, bang, bang, zoom.
staff weeject pick: MTS. Plural abbreve meat. And holla, to all in the Hawaiian Mts.
some fave stuff: NASONEX [cousin of NANOSECS]. ITSAPLANE [Super, man]. IOWEYOUONE & its clue. TEXASTOAST. THATRACKS. DONTMINDME. RUNUP.
Thanx for a mintsaucy solvequest, Mr. Kalish dude. Darn good job.
Masked & Anonymo5Us
**gruntz**
About double my average Friday time. Maybe just a wheelhouse problem? Idk, the clues just weren’t landing for me. A few too many question marks. I don’t associate corn on the cob with Thanksgiving. Also - you feel a knot, but the knot is not a feeling.
I’ve never heard of grilling Texas toast, and looked up several recipes, none of which call for a grill. Being cleverly misleading is one thing but this is just bad editing.
Burtonkd (9:38). I agree about baseball announcers. I enjoy Keith Hernandez and Gary Cohen of the Mets very much these days. Decades ago, Phil Rizzuto was hysterical, especially when teamed up with Fran Healy or Bill White. And I grew up with Red Barber and Mel Allen.
@Gary Jugert - Paul ANKA sang My Way in Times Square this past New Year’s eve.
Texas Toast, like biscuits, rolls, or garlic bread, is a bread, not a "side dish."
First of all, @Rex, you will love Dunedin, as I’m sure you know from stories and pictures. My son-in-law’s sister married a New Zealander, and since they (before they married) traveled all the way to Michigan to attend our daughter’s wedding to her brother, we splurged and attended Catherine and Dean’s wedding in Dunedin a few years later. It was the trip of a lifetime. My husband went gaga at the famous Renaissance style train station, (thought to be the second most photographed building in the southern hemisphere - second to the Sydney Opera House) and I enjoyed it all but most of all I enjoyed the people we met in Dunedin.
The puzzle came very close to win ing today because of the NW. Like others, all I had in the first pass was TIBET and TATS. I had to move on to get a foothold.
I guessed IMPS in the NE just to pencil something in. Luckily, that was correct and it was the beginning of a little “whooshlet.” I never actually achieved full whoosh today. Each time I thought I was gaining momentum, a clever clue (like the one for ANVIL) would bring me to a full stop.
The NE section all the way down through SLEEPY fell nicely. However, having WATCH and the final E of SEGEL did not help me to get HATE WATCH completed because that phrase is so foreign to me I’d not have gotten it until the very end when, after my counter-clockwise trip through the grid I was forced to hunker down and force my brain to finish the NW.
Even after tuning at long last to our constructor’s wavelength, the NW remained so tough for me! Hearty congratulations, Mr. Kalish; you really made me work for this one, and I love a tough Friday - and Saturday for that matter. Honestly, I stared at the blanks for a good fee minutes-possibly 5, before I went ahead and entered TENTS. Since I knew that my original idea of “a team” at 19 A was wrong because I was certain of TIBET, the TENTS made me think ELITE. So, then I tried TYKE and ROE next. And was stuck. The letters I dod have just were not helping so I quit for a while, and vacuumed.
When I returned, refusing to bring out my metaphorical white flag, the Y and O helped me think “has to be YOU,” and that finally opened up my dead brain.
This was the best Friday in ages; thank you Evan Kalish! More, please.
Far too many bogus clues to be a good puzzle, even though there are only 2. I believe they've been covered above. But those two weren't my problem. I don't say or write THAT TRACKS or HOLLA, and I don't know anyone who does. Here in our bedroom, we say "blanket snitch". TATS quite enough, thanks - never heard of the sleeve, but, unfortunately, I now know what that is. LIMOS for TENTS; ANDES for TIBET, BIOS on the sleeve. Those did it in the NW for me.
I just found out about Waffle. It's a free word game on the internet. 21 letters are shown on a 5 by 5 grid. You exchange pairs of letters trying to get six words, three across and three down.
The NYT doesn't own it. Maybe Amazon. I did today's and ten or so on their archive. It's kind of fun. I already do Wordle and Connections every day.
Anyone else?
Like @Nancy and others had to look up SEGEL and found the puzzle anything but easy. On the other hand did appreciate the lack of trivia. ITSAPLANE might qualify as trivia but it brought back memories of sitting in front of vacuum tubed radios with tiny yellow-lit dials providing the numbers for stations. For me, that made the puzzle well worth the struggle, a fun “aha” moment.
Jelly before sauce- fixed rather quickly. South east was tough because I’d never heard of Texas toast or nasonex
I just started reading the comments. I knew there would be a complaint about SUMOS. And it’s in the first post. Not fond of it myself but I know that crosswords have long since gone beyond formal language and rules. This is an English language crossword puzzle and what Americans say shows up in the Times puzzle . It is not a treatise on sumo.
Perhaps rikishi has been in the puzzle but people would really scream about that even on a Friday.
Same experience for me. Easy. Then incredibly difficult.
Anon @4:40, I would agree that SUMOS might pass the "Hey, it's an anglicization" bar but the clue "Athletes who wear mawashi" uses the Japanese term for their loin cloth so to be consistent, the answer should also use Japanese, right? But that opens another can of worms because in Japanese there are no plurals so it would be just rikishi: one Sumo wrestler = rikishi; two or more Sumo wrestlers = rikishi.
Apologies for the serious gaposis in my earlier comment. Oops.
None of the Chinese restaurants I've been to offer HOTTEA as a freebie. The fortune cookie, yes, THATTRACKS, but there's no such thing as a free tea!
(DONTMINDME).
@Burtonkd Fun fact: in the great Paul Giamatti movie Sideways there’s a scene where he’s looking at old family photos and one of the pictures is of him standing next to his father, Bart
I think I’ve overfitted my solving to Shortz. Puzzles since his leave have been a lot harder for me.
Old fashioned my eye! It's delicious and so easy to make with mint from the garden - I recommend you all try it! You'll never buy jelly again!
Same, breezed through it (just under 8m) except for that square. Had no idea buff is a color either, and I’d never heard of the steroid. Wasonex seemed like a terrible name for any drug but “buff” being a kind of marble seemed more likely than anything else.
Holly Jones
Traditionally virtually every Chinese restaurant in New England had hot tea gratis. (Of course when upscale Chinese restaurants arrived, they charged, but most did not)
Since , I have noticed a change.
But still for most people, free hot (green) tea is iconic for a Chinese restaurant.
Honest.
Regarding SUMOS: Anonymous 4:40 is correct to point out that crosswords are free to represent what Americans say whether or not it conforms to the "rules". However, until I started doing the NYTXW I had never heard anyone refer to sumo wrestlers as a "sumos" and it is still the only place I have seen the word. I've concluded that some sloppy crossword constructors have convinced themselves that it's something people say just so they can use it to get themselves out of a jam. Perhaps it's a regional thing, but I've never heard it where I live in Minnesota.
MINT SAUCE....
And buy yourself some Crosse and Blackwell. Spend a little money, go to you butcher and ask her for a frenched rib rack. In a small bowl mix bread crumbs, minced garlic and herbs de Provence with olive oil. Smear the ribs with Maille Dijon then add the crumb mixture. Sear the ribs (both sides) in a hot cast iron skillet. Add a little white wine or some dry Vermouth. Put the ribs in a 450 degree oven for 13 minutes. Let rest. Cut the ribs into lollipops. Dip each one into your Crosse and Blackwell MINT SAUCE.
Your welcome.....No jelly in this household......
It’s a plane? Is that a terrible Superman reference as in it’s a bird, plane? If so, terrible.
That's right b4 that tracks 1A
Tuxes b4 tents 4D
Yes. Lah to dah. You’re all so smart. Fairly easy. No problem. We love ourselves for being so brilliant.
For 90% of the world, this was a challenging puzzle. It’s comical reading everyone’s posts when coming on here. Doesn’t anyone EVER think the puzzles are challenging.
I often struggle to finish late week puzzles. So you’re all so smarmy… er um smart.
Try 14 letters. Second 2 are G and ends in MENT…
I'm another who groans at OFNP's "easy" ratings. Not so here, but then it IS Friday.
The logic of today's slang eludes me. Why would anyone ever WATCH something they HATE??? Life's too damn short!
Heard of MINT jelly, not the SAUCE. Ergo, difficulties in the NE. I used good ol' Paul ANKA as my anchor (!) entry, and soon had the SW. Then, big empty stare. Eventually crawled through the center and, after taking way too long to get ARSON, filtered into the NE.
NW was last, made tougher by my insistence on ALIST instead of ELITE. They've been using ALIST so often lately... But it all came together finally. Not knowing SEGEL was a huge handicap.
You may not award me many triumph points--but I claim them anyway. Birdie.
Wordle birdie.
Easy? Not for me. A decent Friday challenge.
IOWEYOU A SWEET ONE
IT’s PLANE to see YOU’re EASY,
I WATCH YOU DANCE, so HOT.
I DON’TMIND if YOU get SLEEPY,
let’s COHABIT, will YOU KNOT?
--- SETH SEGEL
from yesterday
SURE SCARCE
AGING was NORM, UNABLE, NOT proud,
ONCUE to perform, IN SECRET, NOT ALOUD.
--- REP. JESSE FALCO
Corn on the cob at every Thanksgiving for around the last 30 years. Geographic location determines when it is harvested. I found the puzzle fairly hard, but it seemed to be a voice thing. Oh, and hands off!!! I don't want anybody feeling my aura!!!
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