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Chuckwalla relative / THU 4-4-24 / Gave a red card, informally / Derby participants in July / Game show host John Michael / Mission involving Spirit and Opportunity, in brief / What Scott Joplin might yell after a spill? / Kind of candle at a wedding ceremony / Coiner of the term "ambient music" / Accessory in many Rembrandt self-portraits
Thursday, April 4, 2024
Constructor: Kevin Curry
Relative difficulty: Medium (Easy, but then, in the southeast, suddenly hard)
Theme answers:
- VERMOUTH (4D: One part...)
- GIN (39D: Five parts...)
- ICE CUBES (9D: Chill with...)
- SHAKEN NOT STIRRED (3D: Famous specification for a 57-Across)
- OLIVE (43A: Garnish with an...)
John Michael Higgins (born February 12, 1963) is an American actor, game show host, and comedian whose film credits include Christopher Guest's mockumentaries, the role of David Letterman in HBO's The Late Shift, and a starring role in the American version of Kath & Kim. He portrayed Peter Lovett in the TV Land original sitcom Happily Divorced and provided the voice of Iknik Blackstone Varrick in The Legend of Korra and Mini-Max in Big Hero 6: The Series. He also starred in the NBC sitcom Great News as Chuck Pierce for two seasons. Since 2018, he has hosted the game show America Says, which earned him a 2019 Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Game Show Host, though he lost to Alex Trebek. Higgins attended Amherst College, graduating in 1985 and was a member of the acapella group the Zumbyes. Starting on April 17, 2023, he has also hosted the new version of the game show Split Second on Game Show Network. (wikipedia)
• • •
Ah I see we're back to "look at this picture I drew" puzzles again. Great. This one was a mess in many ways. I was lucky that today, for whatever reason, I actually stopped for a second and looked at the empty grid—it seemed ... tall (it is: 16 rows instead of the usual 15). But in checking out its tallness, I also noticed the chalice-shaped black-square pattern sitting on the bottom of the grid and thought "well, it's either about the Holy Grail or ... maybe a cocktail." Then I got excited because I love cocktails (Thursday thru Sunday we have cocktails at 5pm, with a regularity and commitment bordering on the religious). So then I started in on the puzzle and ... well, thematically, the game was over way, way too fast:
I liked finding ENO at the bottom of my glass. A little bonus crosswordese garnish. What I didn't so much like was the (famous??) quote about MARTINIs from ... E.B. White??? The Charlotte's Web / Elements of Style guy??? Not a name I would've associated with the MARTINI. And that quote, yikes. That thing took this puzzle from way too easy to nearly impossible. QUIETUDE, LOL, I've never seen anyone use that word ever. I barely know what it means. I assume it has something to do with a state of calm, peace, serenity ... quiet? Yes, "a quiet state: repose" (per merriam-webster.com). All I know is that when ELIXIR OF LIFE didn't fit, I was plum out of ideas, and my god was it hard to get a foothold in the SE as a result. I died somewhere around COUPE. Below that ... I got KEEPER and ENDER'S, but they did nothing. Ditto REA and ADD. I kinda wanted BIBS but wasn't sure (54D: Racers' wear). The only way I finally got into all that empty space down there was *finally* figuring out the first two letters of DQ'ED (44A: Gave a red card, informally). Without the "thrown out of the game" part in the clue, my brain failed to make the leap to disqualification (even though if you'd ask me what a "red card" meant, I could've told you). And the "Q" made all the difference, though again, I wrote in QUIETUDE like "uh, I think this is a word, but this does not feel like a famous quote... but let's see." And it worked.
And from there I realized that it was PUNIER and not TINIER (51A: More piddling) and that the "Derby" participants were not horses (that's May) but BATTERS ... in the Home Run Derby (which precedes the MLB All-Star Game ... they're really expecting you to be a hardcore sports fan today) (54A: Derby participants in July). To "Tighten the purse strings" was to CUT BACK (and not CINCH UP, as I'd originally guessed). Night and day, this corner compared to its symmetrical counterpart. The familiarity gap between SHAKEN NOT STIRRED and ELIXIR OF QUIETUDE is approaching infinity. Universal fame vs. ... shrug.
Explainers:
- 57D: Mission involving Spirit and Opportunity, in brief (MER) — if it's not the French "sea," I have no idea what MER is supposed to be. Apparently this is the abbr. for "Mars Exploration Rovers." Ugh. It's the sea. Why would you turn the sea into an initialism like this? Stick with the sea, or fix your grid so you're not dealing with MER at all.
- 14A: Dolly, e.g. (EWE) — the cloned sheep
- 18A: What Scott Joplin might yell after a spill? (RAGTIME!) — this is an unwelcome trend in clues, for sure. RAGTIME is of course the music Scott Joplin popularized around the turn of the (last) century.
- 27A: Kind of candle at a wedding ceremony (UNITY) — no idea. First I'm hearing of this. Per wikipedia: "The origins are unclear, however the use of a unity candle in a 1981 episode of General Hospital may have helped to popularize the practice." Dear god.
- 34A: Certain soccer kick (TOE POKE) — Do *not* order the TOE POKE bowl, the toes really overwhelm the tuna and absolutely none of it complements a MARTINI.
- 58D: Homophone of a body part and a letter (AYE) — confidently wrote ARE here ... forgetting that there are no AREs anywhere on my body (I don't think).
- 26A: Letters associated with Joseph Smith (LDS) — Latter-Day Saints (Mormon Church)
- 28D: Alternative to an energy drink, perhaps (NAP) — one of the worst clues I've ever seen. NAPs are great. I wouldn't touch a so-called "energy drink." Not an "alternative" in any meaningful sense of the word. You drink one so as not to fall asleep ... so the "alternative" is falling asleep? So dumb.
Not many errors today. The only one I really remember was when I tried to turn my MARTINI into a Gibson by garnishing it with an ONION instead of an OLIVE. A kocktail kealoa* to start off my day (with an honest-to-god cocktail waiting for me at 5pm). Hope your own day is full of quietude. See you later.
*kealoa = a pair of words (normally short, common answers) that can be clued identically and that share at least one letter in common (in the same position). These are answers you can't just fill in quickly because two or more answers are viable, Even With One or More Letters In Place. From the classic [Mauna ___] KEA/LOA conundrum. See also, e.g. [Heaps] ATON/ALOT, ["Git!"] "SHOO"/"SCAT," etc.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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120 comments:
Again I didn't dislike this as much as OFL did, but I knew once I saw the grid that it would incur his wrath. My solve went pretty much as his did, except DQED came to me immediately (as did NAP, for whatever reason) and so I had less trouble with QUIETUDE, seeing as nothing else really fit there. Biggest problem for me was insisting on MiR for the longest time instead of MER. Guess I thought the missions must have been Soviet. (And not a word for the appearance of the olive after completing the puzzle on the app?)
For me, QUIETUDE fell into place immediately and the whole SE whooshed into place. In fact, my main complaint about this puzzle is it didn’t offer enough resistance for a Thursday. As Rex said, the theme was clear immediately and then it was just a matter of filling the blanks. Not much difficulty or sparkle, IMO.
Rex, you should check out the finished puzzle on the app. It makes a small black OLIVE out of the O in that word, a larger green OLIVE out of the letters AGG, with the black space after SINATRA turning into a red pimento. And I think the two black squares extending diagonally to the upper right from that now-red square are a toothpick. (They should’ve turned light brown.) Nice MARTINI art.
I’m more of a gin and tonic guy, but I’ll enjoy a MARTINI if it’s on offer. Agree with Rex on the difficulty of the SE. That Q was my last letter. I thought the quote would be ELIXIR OF THE GODS, but it was too short. QUIETUDE is indeed odd; guess White liked to have his drink alone. My do-over in that section was SEvErED before SECEDED. I liked DON’T EVEN, and I recoiled and laughed at your warning on TOE POKE.
Never heard of MYALGIC or ON TILT, but I’ll try to use the latter next time I play poker. If I have a few MARTINIs I may just play ON TILT.
I *never* dislike a puzzle as much as OFL, and I thought today’s was fun (albeit more like a Wednesday than a Thursday).
I don’t understand “I have no idea what you think you're doing with the VERMOUTH and ICE CUBES ….” Given their placement in the grid, it seems to me they’re being poured into the martini glass, right? So is the GIN. Makes sense to me.
You do not pour ice cubes into that glass
Like OFL, I found it easy-ish until I got to the SE.
Wanted PRudeS for 7D but it didn't fit. Settled for PRImS before PRIGS
Series before SITCOM at 32D
DON'T EVEr before EVEN at 44D
@Rex tiNIER before PUNIER at 51A, which led to ...
tAntE ("la familia" was in a dialect of French I invented for the purpose) before PADRE at 51D
Thought about BeTToRS before BATTERS at 54A (Do they run the Epsom Derby in July? It's June this year, but I didn't know that)
I feEl before I'D BET at 56A
@Wanderlust SEvErED before SECEDED at 63A
TOE POKE (34A) and ON TILT (49A) were WOEs (hi again, @Wanderlust)
I guess I am one of those pop culture tough guys who likes to rinse the glass out with vermouth and then pour in gin that has been shaken so hard with ice that a beautiful froth of “guppies” forms on the top. Can I get a ruling about whether the clue “you’d better *not* go there…” precludes the use of a contracted “not” in DONTEVEN? It threw me off and I would like to feel self righteous about it like Rex.
I’m not much of a martini drinker, but I do like cocktails. If I were to make one, what would be a good vermouth to use?
And I did like the puzzle. The grid art is nice, and so is the subject.
I think my quick answer to the Scott Joplin clue was much better than the actual one: “get a rag”. Now I’ll finish.
I thought this was going to be an EB White tribute puzzle and the glass was maybe a trumpet, as in Trumpet of the Swan. Threw Elements of Style into a long down, and then was temporarily stumped when it didn't fit. Would totally do an EB White tribute puzzle.
I have never had a MARTINI and at this point never will as I quit alcohol altogether 2 years ago - I kept looking for James Bond somewhere. QUIETUDE? never heard of that and actually Googled the EB White quote. DQED was not coming to me - I had DiED for awhile in there. Yeah, the southeast was tough; I had SnappED before SECEDED so that didn't help. I like the colors on the Times App once completed.
For the ERA to be legislation, it needed to be enacted. It never was, having not received ratification by the requisite number of states within the time allotted (notwithstanding the current argument regarding the time limit, which has gotten nowhere). The ERA remains merely a proposal by the US Congress to the states for amendment to the Constitution (one stage the legislative process), but it not legislation (part of the body of law).
Obviously constructed by a football (soccer) fan: KEEPER crossed by TOE POKE and red card DQED.
Just one look at the grid and the long "gimmick" answers were gimmes, so the puzzle was really just about the fill around the gimmick answers. Odd.
And let's take note that the NYTimes went to all the trouble of trying to force us to use its proprietary app and reformatting its entire archive so it could not be solved with other apps just so we could get essential cute visuals like the gray martini in the glass topped by the green olive stuffed with red pimento. Sooooooooooooo worth it......
Played more like a Tuesday for me, although it took regular Thursday time. This puzzle brought back fond memories of two martini lunches , never a third and then a return to work on highly complex legal issues. I am now a retired senior and have no idea of how I did it back then. My suggestion to all, drink while you can before all an afternoon cocktail does is make you want to nap for a few hours.
I had no problem with the QUIETUDE part, but I could not for the life of me get the ELIXIR part, not knowing UNITY or TOEPOKE and putting in wrong answers for several of the 3-letter words. Had to resort to googling the wedding candle to sort it out.
Incredibly unfair to ask for an actor named Stephen with a three letter last name when both Stephen REA and Stephen FRY (who in my book is WAAAAAAAY more famous and noteworthy) star in the same film. Fry is even billed higher! Veered me off course in the SE for a long time.
Ambitious theme and grid that actually started off in nice fashion with the Bond line, but I agree with Rex that ELIXIR OF QUIETUDE basically took all of the wind out of the sails (and enjoyment out of the entire eastern seaboard). When you have a theme answer that basically requires you to parse (i.e. slog) your way through every cross to come up with something as inane as QUIETUDE, well I would submit that you lost a substantial part of your audience and the associated enthusiasm.
The crosses on the east weren’t crazy, but a bunch of cryptic stuff like XES, DQED, ID BET, TOE POKE, and even BRAVURA turned that area into a lot of work for very little payout.
Quick wish to the blogging gods today - please don’t have half of the comments today instructing us on the “proper” way to make a MARTINI - the one sentence Rex gave us on the topic is more than enough to carry the day.
I’ll give the constructor an A for effort on the clue for EYE TEST, but that one landed with a thud for me.
My parents were martini drinkers, so once I got MARTINI the rest fell into place. It took me a long time, because I first assumed the subject of the puzzle was a person, not a drink. I also had "severed" for a long time instead of SECEDED.
I also thought the Lewis comment ended in "attitude," because a martini often changes one's mood. ELIXIROFQUIETUDE is a wonderful phrase, but it's hard to fit into today's puzzle because the Q isn't followed by U. DQED is a devilish answer..it helps to be a soccer fan to connect a red card with disqualification.
I agree with Rex that a NAP is not an alternative to an energy drink. A better clue might be, "What you might need if you have too many of this puzzle's subject."
The cluing on RAGTIME was the only one I liked. Gave me a little giggle and felt good to get without any crosses.
Never heard of a UNITY candle before and I’ve been to many weddings. MARTINI was easy to get because of the shape of a cocktail glass in the grid, and SHAKENNOTSTIRRED was a gimme, but the quote from EB White - I had no idea for a very long time. That was partly because I didn’t know DQED or TOEPOKE and I agree with Rex that the clue for NAP was just awful. I only finally figured it out because I made wild guesses on UNITY and TOEPOKE based on other crosses. Can’t say I really enjoyed this…
Saw the graphics right away - fun but awfully easy for Thursday trickery. Liked BRAVURA and NANCY - TOE POKE span. No clue on HIGGINS and the PRIGS x LDS cross was awkward. Nice post solve OLIVE.
Ben Folds
Don’t MARTINI shame Rex - I keep my Bombay in the freezer and a jar of Dolin soaked olives in the fridge - no ICE, extra VERMOUTH, SHAKING or STIRring.
White was also much more than a children’s author. Strunk was one of his professors so he does have that connection but read some of his Notes and Comment efforts and his Harper’s columns from One Man’s Meat. It will become clear that he, O’Hara, Walcott Gibbs etc knew their way around a MARTINI glass.
Enjoyable Thursday morning solve.
Dream Away
@RoritaGNW: Exactly what I wrote in. With confidence. GET A RAG. Disappointed in the actual answer. Ho-hum.
From the sublime, musically, to the ridiculous: I had no idea that Nancy SINATRA was in the Grammy Hall of Fame. Question; WHY????? She never even won a Grammy. Is everyone nominated for a Grammy so enshrined?
I'm never delighted by a puzzle based on some sort of graphic representation of someone. This one no exception.
Despite Nick Charles's foxtrot recommendation, I prefer my martinis stirred, not shaken.
I work my puzzle most every morning on my iPad at the breakfast table. Per Wanderlust's note above, as I keyed in the last letter of the puzzle and the screen display was flipping back to the congratulatory display for my having finished the puzzle, I noticed a very brief flash of red on the screen and wondered what was happening to my device! I closed the congrats and there was the olive. Clever.
The secret to keeping vermouth at its best is to store it in the refrigerator, not at room temperature. My favorite kind is Dolin (dry).
I started with a thrilling crossword moment:
Looked at the grid, saw it was asymmetrical, wondered why, and after the first word I filled in (DOH), my brain from out of nowhere shouted “Martini glass!”. Then I glanced at the clue for 3D spanner, and without hesitation filled in SHAKEN NOT STIRRED. Swee-eet!
The rest of the fill-in was The Tale of Two Cities, whoosh-ville and inscruta-burg, areas of splat, and zones of battle, the battle coming from no-knows and vague clues, resulting in return-to’s and, eventually, ahas.
Well, since I love both the rush of bam-bam-bam, and the hard-work riddle solves, unraveling this was an all-encompassing pleasure.
If anyone’s solve time was a bit longer than usual, it could be because of the extra row (put in, no doubt, to accommodate SHAKEN NOT STIRRED).
I love ELIXIR OF QUIETUDE, so calming and beautiful in sound and feel. Never heard it before. Serendipitously sharing the puzzle with SITCOM, which sounds like SIT CALM. I also loved the PuzzPair© of CASTE and AWAY.
Congratulations on your NYT debut, KC, and thank you so much for a well-worth-it outing today!
Read the energy drink/nap clue as you're tired and can either push through with an energy drink or give in and take a nap. Both are refreshing in different ways! (Choose the nap, I say ;)
E.B. White wrote for the New Yorker for nearly 60 years! (Starting in the 1920s.) His quote about martinis is quite well known and, more importantly, he was a fixture of the 20th century NYC publishing world and strongly associated with cocktails.
DNF because of quietude, which felt incredibly unfair. So did Stephen Rea, who I have never heard of and stood no chance of guessing. One glance at his career and I see why I've never heard of him. I also had CINCHUP instead of CUTBACK, so I was screwed regardless. Challenging is fun, but impossible is not. 2/10.
Theme that took a while to suss out, and then was fun to fill in theme answers.
Still solving online and in a hurry because unpacking, and I missed the martini glass grid art but caught on to the theme in a hurry. I had a martini when I was in college and discovered an aversion to gin that I still have, so that was my first and last martini.
My problem area was the NE as my candle was UNLIT for too long. I finally stuck in IRS as a plausible three-letter government agency which somehow led to ELIXIR and that was that.
Hand up for knowing QUIETUDE from somewhere. Not a word I use every day though.
DQED and BIBS in the same area made me think of ski racing. My wife was a hotshot racer in college and even at our, um, senior age is a wonderful skier.
Nice enough Thursday, KC, Congrats on the debut and Keep Constructing more of these. Thanks for all the fun (and a break from unpacking).
I simultaneously love RAGTIME and agree about the clue being part of an unwelcome trend. It did give me a good chuckle today.
This old lady doesn't mind an occasional lookup, but when the puzzle requires an encyclopedia, a dictionary and Bartletts, it's too much!
My wife and I had a long-standing, good-natured feud with her grandparents about which spirit was the correct one for a martini, including one hilarious Christmas where we each gifted the other a bottle of our preferred martini liquor. I think tonight I'll raise a (very dry) martini in their memory, although it'll be a gin martini: vodka martinis are an abomination.
Bluto11
Excellent puzzle with lots of aha moments. I don’t understand several of the comments:
1. Quietude is not all that obscure.
2. Why is the clue for and answer “ragtime” part of a worrisome trend?
I too started out with “get a rag,” but it didn’t fit, which made it a superb misdirection, and the aha moment which followed was one of the best in a long while.
Now I want OFL to be used in the puzzle. Would "Initialism for dictator... or Rex" work?
I had the same problem. I’ve seen the movie several times and I have no idea who Stephen Rea is.
I had problems in the same places as Rex but mostly liked the theme and found this one easier than most Thursday puzzles.
I did not know what a chuckwalla is and had to look it up to figure out what its relative could be.
I laughed at “nap”’once I figured it out. I never would have thought of “myalgic” if it hadn’t just filled in.
Hey All !
I like the "and just glance at the bottle of VERMOUTH" version. Har. Is it really a MARTINI with just GIN? Or is it because you add an OLIVE?
Anyway, my grid added some funky coloring once I finished. Apparently it's supposed to be a toothpick going through the OLIVE. For those who didn't get the colorization (apologies if someone else has posted this already), the last Blocker in the sequence of the three diagonal blocks above the glass turns red, signifying the pimento, the AGG letters turn dark green, signifying the olive, the O of OLIVE/TRIO turns black, signifying the end of the toothpick, and the "glass" turns light green, I guess the VERMOUTH tinged GIN?
@M&A gets a weeject fest today. 😁
Agree that the east side of puz seemed a different puz than the west side. Especially the SE. Wanted IfeEl for IDBET for quite a while, was finally able to see IDBET, getting me QUIETUDE, and the corner fell. Got the Happy Music, even though wasn't 100% sure of that corner, or of the PRIGS/MYALGIC cross.
So an interesting, if not quite exactly a ThursPuz puz. Ah well.
Happy Thursday.
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
The RAGTIME clue was not unwelcome to me. Not at all. It was the first time I'd laughed at a crossword answer in... oh, yonks.
Turned out to be a pleasant solve for the most part other than fairly heavy on names and trivia. Cringed when I realized the themers were cross-referenced but as soon as I saw SHAKEN, it was as clear as an OLIVE in a MARTINI glass. Still had some trouble in the SE though. Red card was a mystery, I was thinking a Derby with horses, and the ellipses in the clue for ID BET had me thinking it was a themer ... but mostly because I kept wanting ELIXIR FOR THE SOUL.
No idea who/what Ben Folds Five was but instantly knew there was a STILETTO in the Prada poster. The clue for TLDR seemed wrong to me as it's stated from the perspective of the writer who's saying "For those [of you] wanting a summary." When actually it's the reader who thought "TLDR" and would say "I'm wanting a summary."
Can't wait to see what @GILL does with this.
@Anonymous 7:44 AM - RE: WHY??? is Nancy SINATRA in the Grammy Hall of Fame? Because "These Boots Are Made for Walkin" (1966) is absolutely iconic.
Shaken, not stirred, will get you cold water with a dash of gin and dry vermouth. The reason you stir it with a special spoon is so not to chip the ice. James is ordering a weak martini and being snooty about it.
Even I noticed the grid art immediately, though it didn't do me a scintilla of good until VERMOUTH finally came in. The art could have stood for "glass" or [any] "cocktail" or even for "Y".
What I really liked about this puzzle was that it was an ungettable "keep the faith" solve until I got VERMOUTH -- and then it was suddenly gettable. Not easy, mind you, but gettable.
I smiled a small smile at VERMOUTH and ICE CUBES and OLIVE and then a huge smile at SHAKEN NOT STIRRED. But there was still one gigantic obstacle ahead...
ELIXIR of what???? I had the TUDE and started thinking of TUDE words. ELIXIR OF RECTITUDE? I hardly think so. Of ATTITUDE? Of SOLITUDE? Of SOLICITUDE? Of GRATITUDE?
I was running out of TUDE words and many didn't fit anyway. It didn't help that I had no bleeping idea what the abbreviation for "gave a red card" is. D?ED? Your guess is as good as mine.
But the Beach Boys sang a lot about cars, at least I think they did, so I wrote in COUPE for the "Little Deuce" clue which meant zilch to me. And, yay!!!, one thing led to another in the SE corner -- finally getting me to ELIXIR OF QUIETUDE which I wouldn't have thought of on my own in a million years.
A few awful answers in the grid. DQED and can we please lose internet-speak gobbledygook like TLDR, whatever THAT means. Please!!!!!!! But mostly I liked this puzzle because it made me think and it made me work and it had some great long answers to boot. And I really liked the theme. Hic.
Two easy(ish) puzzles in a row? I was thinking maybe Joel felt a little guilty for torturing us and decided to ease up!
100% disagree with Rex on “RAGTIME”. Us older solvers need a few gimmes too. It can’t be all yeets and baes.
Surprised no one commented on the AYE/EYE TEST cross, given the clue for AYE. I can't decide if that's cute or a bad dupe.
This song, which I hadn't thought of in decades, came to mind as I realized it was just another dumb recipe xword.
Kind of a Drag, when your Thursday lets you down…
Nancy Sinatra was elected to the HOF after the Chair of the committee woke up with a horse's head in his bed.
Bumper stickers we're not likely to see:
MYALGIC can beat up your algic.
MYALGIC can beat up your honor student.
@Anonymous
I think some bars put ice in the empty martini glass and leave it in there until they're ready to pour, then they dump it out. This is to chill the glass.
I've been to a number of weddings with unity candles, as far back as the early '90s. Similar rites include pouring different colors of sand together, bringing dirt from each person's hometown and planting a tree in it, etc. Maybe it's the people I know.
I've decided (for myself) that there's no way to talk about "cocktailing" without sounding either bougie (bordering on douchey) or alcoholic, so I will opt out of the martini preference debate in favor of self-righteousness.
I also confidently fell into the ArE rather than AYE camp without questioning what part of my body that might be. Which left the rest impossible to make sense of, unless somehow the test with many characters was a prETEST and an MpR was something I'd never heard of.
Took some maneuvering to suss out the ELIXIR OF QUIETUDE quadrant after putting in "mafia" and "Cinch it" and "miNIER" before having to erase and start again, but I got there.
I tended bar for a long time and there were always the "fancy" people (usually 40-ish women) that ordered a "vodka martini, no vermouth." I would say, "So you want me to chill some vodka and serve it up?" A good dry vermouth is a lovely thing by itself and goes a long way towards making the right gin a lovely, sippable treat (somewhere in the 3:1 to 4:1 area). Stirred! Not shaken. (Funny that they included the dumb James Bond trope given that he always ordered vodka martinis.)
If two mischievous little ones get married, is there an impUNITY Candle at their ceremony?
I was recently busted by the Fish and Wildlife service for possession of an ilLEGALEAGLE.
Better clue for CUTBACK would have been "Sage advice that might be received by an habitue of three martini lunches."
Congrats on the staggering debut, Kevin Curry.
You need to read more E. B. White!!
And then there’s A Drink With Something In It by Ogden Nash. 😊
Mike Herlihy, I agree that Dolin dry is excellent. A definite go-to. If you haven't already, and can find it, try Izaguirre dry. Their sweet is fantastic as well.
Or to belabor 50 Ways…
Just pour in some GIN, Lynn.
Add some VERMOUTH, Ruth.
Toss in the ICE, Bryce.
Listen to me.
Have a MARTINI, Jeannie.
When sober, you’re mean-ie!
Have another glass, lass.
And just let me be.
(How do you clean a Dirty MARTINI glass?
Add the Palmolive, OLIVE…)
I read somewhere that James Bond's predilection for shaken martinis was exactly backwards. If you shake the drink, the ice tends to break up and more of it melts into the cocktail before pouring through the strainer, so you wind up with a more dilute drink. I dunno; I tried a martini once and decided I didn't like it.
BTW, has anyone heard from/about LMS? I don't think I've seen her here in over a year.
Like others, I found that the scaffolding of INS x SHAKEN NOT STIRRED x MARTINI helped make very short work of the left side and the contents of the cocktail glass. But to the right of ICE CUBES things got hard...I'm on much firmer ground with James Bond than E.B. White. ELIXER wasn't too hard to see, but OF what? I had to fill in the empty real estate bounded by COUPE, BIBS, and KNEAD, and that took a while. Last in: the U of BRAVURA x QUIETUDE. A flourish of a finish!
Lordy lordy this was unpleasant. And now we have another day on the blog talking about martinis. Yawner. I wrote in both long downs with one single cross because they're trite hackneyed and stale phrases you can't avoid in a world filled with alcoholics trying to class up their addiction with complicated drinking games, action heroes, and poetry.
Sigh. I guess I'll go pack another dozen boxes. Our house is on the market and we really don't want to move, but it'll be better than the non-olive olive that shows up post solve on the app. Yeeshk.
So much short junk and another kaleidoscope of proper nouns. I really try to be positive about these puzzles, but holy cow. The first six lines of acrosses only have three real words and a metric ton of garbage. By the time you get to MER you think, "Sure, why not."
Uniclues:
1 How to get Frank on stage.
2 Homerun slugger's fan club.
3 "Look at me, I have strong opinions on gin."
4 Poems celebrating cirrhosis of the liver.
5 Mexican priest known for hitting sour notes.
6 Prepare for British citizenship.
7 Direction from my wife as she leaves the house after handing me a honey-do list.
1 SINATRA TOE POKE
2 BATTER'S MAILERS (~)
3 MARTINI BRAVURA
4 VERMOUTH ELEGIES
5 SEMITONE PADRE
6 CUT BACK ICE CUBES (~)
7 DON'T EVEN NAP
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Romeo in the median. OUT OF ORDER ALFA.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thank you! I couldn’t figure out what all the colors were!
If you can find an Italian vermouth, try Bordiga Extra Dry. Just a drop elevates that gin martini! (Refrigerate after opening the bottle to keep it fresh for the next time.)
Wow! Rex seemed to have missed his MARTINI (or had too many) last night cause he sure seems to have gotten up on the bed’s non-QUIETITUDE side this morning 😉
Liked the solve just fine, even the RAG TIME. The number of 3letter words made us spout a four letter word or two into our morning grog, but the pimento olive graphic was the garnish that made us grin.
I am so over this genre of Thursday puzzle! It's Pi Day all over again. Let's just plop some random phrases on a grid, but there will be an animated graphic at the end! :( :( :(
I agree about gin! I loved this puzzle for its tribute to EB White (definitely a cocktail guy) and for the avoidance of the pointless argument about, grrr, vodka.
I was cracking up at @Rex comment about TOEPOKE!!
I love the image in my mind of Scott Joplin yelling RAGTIME!!
Fun puzzle. Loved the image at the end on the NYT app.
Very enjoyable. Didn't mind the 23 threes because of the cute picture.
Rembrandt is a top favorite of mine, but I don't remember his self-portraits.
I learned TLDR here; it's been in several puzzles. I took it to be an insult, not a request for a summary.
TLDR = Too Long Didn’t Read… yes, annoying modernism, but trust me, it’ll come in handy at some point. Ahem.
Note to three Anons: 7:07; 8:03; 8:59 -- I wouldn't know Stephen REA if I tripped over him after a 3-MARTINI lunch, having absolutely no idea what he even looks like. But I know him well for the purpose of crossword puzzles and you should too. He's ALWAYS your 3-letter Stephen, because his name is puzzle-useful. (The name FRY is not puzzle-useful, btw.) So place him in your permanent three-letter name folder, along with ENO and ONO. You're welcome.
I'm pretty lazy, so I'm far more likely to stir a MARTINI than shake it. (Vodka not gin, I hate the taste of gin.) Nor do I own a real cocktail shaker. So when I shake, I have to find a spill-resistant jar with a close fitting top. But to me, 007 was right -- a shaken MARTINI is better than a stirred one. It somehow seems to have more kick. (Or am I only imagining it?) Anyway, there's no need to weaken the drink with ice. Only use two cubes of ice when you shake and your drink won't be diluted.
Sorry, @SouthsideJohnny (7:08). Unlike you, I live for instructions on how to make the best MARTINI. I was expecting a colorful comments section today and, happily, it hasn't disappointed.
I guess now I should know the origin of the words "reindeer" and husband".......! Might the NORSE be DQED in the ELIXIR of some sort of QUIETUDE? Oh my...so much trivia. Why do I feel as thought I should watch every single episode of Jeopardy and maybe sidle up to a bar on a Friday Night Trivia contest. in order to enjoy a Thursday such as this....Hmmm.
But wait! You gave me a MARTINI. I new exactly what you were once I flung some GIN into your glass. And.... you add the accouterments.
A friend brought over a bottle of Noilly Prat extra dry VERMOUTH . I had the GIN so he proceeded to make me what he said what the best MARTINI I'd ever drink. After freezing two MARTINI glasses, he took a rind from a lemon and gently rubbed it over the rim. He then poured the VERMOUTH in and swirled it for what seemed like an hour. Satisfied with his swirl, he poured it out. He poured his gin in a shaker full of ICE and he did the blasphemy. He shook it! It was gentle. He poured into our frozen glasses and gently speared two OLIVES on a toothpick with a little red flag on it into the glass. I think the olives were stuffed with cheese...or maybe it was just pimento...I can't remember because I prefer an onion....and we sipped away. It was good. Was it the best NARTINI ever? I don't know, because, unlike @JC66, I don't really like them.
But...the puzzle. Except for all the damn trivia that I didn't know, especially Ben Folds Five or who in hell is Chuckwalla and his relative or that Abbott Elementary or Mr. HIGGINS or why racers wear BIBS, I thought the art grid was fun. I had some MYALGIC, UNITY and NEUTER pains, but otherwise, I was a TOE POKE.
How do we feel about AYE crossing EYETEST when the clue specifically called out that aye is a homophone of eye?
I didn't know the E.B. White quotation -- and, like @Nancy, spent a lot of time playing 'guess the TUDE' -- but I would argue that his literary style very much fits his being a MARTINI drinker.
I know what a red card is, but no idea about DQED. I tried an l there, for down-listed or something like that, but I needed the COUPE to let me see QUIETUDE, even though it's a perfectly normal wowrd.
The very best part of the experience for me was misreading the tiny numbers, thinking that "Alternative to an energy drink, perhaps" was the clued for 25-D, and confidently writing in TEA. I think that's the opposite of a malapop.
@whatshername, meaning on the internet always evolves; lately I've been seeing people write "and if you don't have time, here's the TL;DR!"
The second best part was having the MAI, reading the clue with cocktails on my mind, and spending at least 10 seconds wondering if MAI-tais were now served in bubble wrap.
The worst part was reading the clue about "V is for Vendetta" and muttering that Sue Grafton had published 25 of those alphabetical novels before she died and the puzzle shouldn't expect me to remember some character named Stephen in one of them. Then it occurred to me that they might have made it into a movie, and I had the R, so I followed the old rule, Rae if female, REA if male.
I get the martini-glass image, but I still see a face when I look at it.
Shaken not stirred is James Bond's directive
Was somewhat jarring to see "coupe" next to the "drawing" of a martini glass. It's less sloshier, and "they" say drinking a martini out of a coupe glass is a bit more "modern," but I just thought that with the juxtaposition, it should have been in italics.
@GILL
Yeah, this puzzle was meant for me.
Easy-medium except for (like many others) the SE. I did not know QUIETUDE, I had SEvErED before SECEDED which I took out and put back and took out again, I also took out and put back KNEAD, I feel before IDBET, plus mADRE before PADRE…tough corner for me too.
TOEPOKE was also a WOE and DQED and BATTERS took some staring.
Gotta love a MARTINI puzzle with great graphics! Liked it quite a bit more than @Rex did.
Hah, I knew I knew QUIETUDE from some poem or other, it has come to me while washing dishes. Forgive me if someone else has already posted this. Cuchulain's fight with the sea, by William Butler Yeats:
...Then Conchubar, the subtlest of all men,
Ranking his Druids round him ten by ten,
Spake thus: "Cuchulain will dwell there and brood
For three days more in dreadful QUIETUDE,
And then arise, and raving slay us all.
Chaunt in his ear delusions magical,
That he may fight the horses of the sea.'
The Druids took them to their mystery,
And chaunted for three days.
Cuchulain stirred,
Stared on the horses of the sea, and heard
The cars of battle and his own name cried;
And fought with the invulnerable tide.
Elixir of quietude made my day, and this puzzle! Sweet.
Liked the puzgrid art, rendered with Martini-tipsy puzgrid symmetry.
And with a 16-high puzgrid, to make room for most of the themers.
Speakin of themers: ELIXIROFQUIETUDE was a definite no-know, at our house. Have heard tell of FORTRESSOFSOLITUDE, tho.
staff weeject pick: GIN. Themer meat. honrable mention to AYE crossin EYE(TEST).
some fave stuff: STILETTO. LEGALEAGLE. DONTEVEN. IGUANA. RAGTIME clue.
Figured out the puztheme pretty early, thanx to a 3-Down start of SHAKEN, which led m&e immediately to NOTSTIRRED, which then led m&e immediately to MARTINI. It just all BONDed together, somehow. Saved precious nanoseconds.
Hard spots: TLDR/LDS -- guessed it right. QUIETUDE/DQED/BATTERS. I guess the BATTERS part must be related to the so-called "Home Run Derby", pre-allstar game?
Thanx for the solvequest high, Mr. Curry dude. But, OLIVEs? … yuck. [personal dislike]
Masked & Anonymo6Us
puzgrid art continue-tude:
**gruntz**
Sometimes cubes are poured into the glass before the gin, swished around to chill it (sometimes with a hint of vermouth for very dry) then tossed and martini added for a nice cold, frosty martini. Nothing quite like it. I’m one of those “tough guys” who likes his martinis very dry! Sorry Rex.
SE was a nightmare, but I loved (hated) this puzzle because if I can't enjoy a crossword for what it is I know I can enjoy the scathing write up from Rex.
SEVERED before SECEDED, which made me think ELIXIR OF QUIET ART, which feels just as believable as QUIETUDE. Lots of ripping and tearing needed to correct that error.
Yuck. Played like a “martini” made with vodka and poured into a solo cup with ice cubes.
Well, I saw E B White and all I could think of was Charlottes Web, and so that screwed everything up for me...I was determined 10 down had to start with 'spider'...suffice to say it took me a long time to finally figure it out..shheeeeshh !
I saw EB White and immediately thought of Charlottes Web...so that screwed op everything for me...I was determined 10 down had to start with 'spider' so suffice to say it took me way to long to figure it out !
I also found it much easier than the typical Thursday puzzle until I got to the SE corner and ELIXIR OF THE GODS didn't fit. Then I finally remembered that a red flag in soccer (I'm not a big fan) means you get thrown out, which helped me get DQED, and the rest eventually fell into place at just under my average Thursday time.
As mentioned by Kate, fom Ogden Nash's "A Drink With Something In It"
There is something about a Martini,
A tingle remarkably pleasant;
A yellow, a mellow Martini;
I wish I had one at present.
There is something about a Martini,
Ere the dining and dancing begin,
And to tell you the truth,
It is not the vermouth—
I think that perhaps it's the gin
Thanks for the John Prine song!
Always happy to hear John.
I turn 92 this month and it's hard to remember a day in the last 50 years or so that I haven't had a martini or two. Always Gin, always an olive that I never eat, my cat sits up for it. (Seriously). Freeze the glasses and pitcher and stir for 30 seconds. My friends rave and they're right. Sheer perfection!
Did I like this puzzle? What do you think? I had trouble with COUPE for the longest time until I recalled that I was in a movie once called "Deuce Coupe".
Stephen REA has had some major roles, been Oscar nominated and has been a widely acclaimed actor for more than three decades.
Will take him as a legitimate, even if 3-letter convenient, PPP over all of the LILs cited in NYTXW combined!
REAlly good actor!
Now excuse me - back to working on more verses for 50 Ways to Lose Your Liver…
Another way to make the SE harder on yourself is to confidently put HITTERS into the grid when it wanted BATTERS. I almost did the same with TINIER over PUNIER.
I was somewhat stumped by “Quietude” simply because the ONLY TIME I enjoy a martini (Beefeater Gin, Noiley Prat vermouth and Pearl large green olives) is before a meal so nothing to do with relaxation!……
Dorthy Parker supposedly: “I love a martini….one at most….two I’m under the table…… three I’m under my host”
If I was going to have a drink it would be vodka with fresh-squeezed orange juice. I did know SHAKEN NOT STIRRED from Bond movies & I liked 44D DON'T EVEN &
28D NAP. Since I didn't know DQED, didn't get QUIETUDE right away. The graphic (martini glass & olive) was fun. So a DNF for me. Now coming.... "SATURDAY"....
oops - I meant Friday 😳 (no, I didn't have a Martini)
I had to DNF because I was certain I had FRY correct, and that completely blew up my SE corner.
I'm not sure what's wrong with me... sailed through this puzzle after dinner last night and didn't even notice the martini glass!
That was several hours ago but offhand I can't even remember any typeovers. (Oh wait, I think maybe having no idea what Abbot Elementary was, I tried ROM COM before SITCOM?) So many answers like STILETTO just seemed obvious.
[Spelling Bee slump continues... Wed -1 so far.]
So true!! 😏
Even worse, the soap box derby is in July. I was certain it was "drivers"
Made lots of mixed drinks during my grad school bartending days but the bar where I worked was near the university campus and a MARTINI order was rare. It was more of a Tom Collins, whisky sour, tequila sunrise, screwdriver crowd. I'm a beer hound so all the fine details of making a MARTINI are lost on me.
Any puzzle with MYALGIC in it will win over this old word nerd's heart. And then comes along the pièce de résistance ELIXIR OF QUIETUDE. Didn't know it as being from E. B. White but love ELIXIR for a magical potion meaning and QUIETUDE reminded me of one of my science heroes Carl Sagan's use of the opposite DISQUIETING. Here's an excerpt from an animal rights lecture he gave at Cornel University in 1994:
“Humans — who enslave, castrate, experiment on, and fillet other animals — have had an understandable penchant for pretending animals do not feel pain. A sharp distinction between humans and 'animals' is essential if we are to bend them to our will, make them work for us, wear them, eat them — without any disquieting tinges of guilt or regret. It is unseemly of us, who often behave so unfeelingly toward other animals, to contend that only humans can suffer. The behavior of other animals renders such pretensions specious. They are just too much like us.”
I don’t agree that BOSSY can be clued with “giving orders.” One can be giving orders without being bossy. In fact the definitions I find for bossy refer to the fondness or inclination to give orders, not the act itself.
Struggled most in the NE. With only TBAR and FEN I really wanted motheROF/fatheROF…something for 10D. Took a while for my brain to see the X and Q and then the puzzle fell.
Knew STILETTO cold from watching that movie many times on inflight entertainment screens.
I'll drink to this nice Thursday puzzle, despite the SHAKEN. The clue should have been "Famous incorrect specification..."
There are many opinions of the proper martini proportions: 2-to-one, 3-to-one, 5-to-one, etc. But there is only one liquor in a Martini. That is GIN. Ian Fleming was a good writer, but didn't understand the martini. A martini should not be shaken with ice. That forms bubbles, which destroy the pristine clarity of the drink. It should be gently stirred in ice cubes (not crushed ice) until is is nicely chilled. And there is no "vodka martini". I was talking with Ro, one of my favorite bartenders, some years back when a guy came up and ordered one. Ro told him, "Martinis are made with gin. You must want a cocktail made with vodka and vermouth, right?"
My martini is made of 3 parts gin, 1 part vermouth, a dash or two of one or more bitters, and garnished with one or more green pitted olives. I prefer a good domestic craft gin. There are many, but my favorites are Greylock and Ethereal, made by Berkshire Mountain Distillers. But there are so many great craft gins. I like Fever Tree vermouths, which are becoming more and more available. I make my own bitters, but there are many excellent one available. Orange bitters are a good staple. The olive(s) should not be stuffed with pimiento or anything else. BTW, this drink garnished with a cocktail onion instead of an olive is called a Gibson. That's how narrow is the proper definition of a martini.
The martini is served in a cocktail glass - that is, a V-shaped piece of stemware. Such glasses have, unfortunately, lately become known as "martini glasses". "Unfortunately" because these days, anything served in one of these glasses is a "martini". There is now an ugly profusion of drinks like the "chocolate martini".
What/who is OFL?
I love Mancino Secco because I’m a martini purist - gin! And I prefer small batch, very herbaceous gins. The Mancino Secco is perfection, in my aging and cocktail obsessed opinion.
I’ve complained on here before that the NYT xw has too many references to alcohol and gambling but it seems I’m the only one who finds it problematic.
Unity Candle: a "tradition" created by the florist industry from whole cloth - and inductry that is always seeking more and new ways to convince wedding couples to part with their money for the "essentials."
The really comical thing is that the instructions for the ritual that come with the set are so contrived as to make the whole thing look ridiculous and awkward when played out. An utterly made up "tradition" whose time never came and can't go away too soon.
Would love to see the IKEA stick figure version of the instructions, though.
They do this all the time in crosswords, I always want to put Fry and it's always Rea
The FRY/REA KEALOA is real. Terrible, unfair cluing. The southeast was a shit show.
Call me an old goofball, but I don’t hate the “grid art” puzzles. Maybe it’s because I started solving so young and those were often ones that allowed me to contribute more to my ever-patient Gran’s solve while I watched and hoped I’d be able to solve by myself some day.
For whatever reason, I missed the grid art until well into the puzzle. OK, I know the reason. My car was broken into a few nights ago and my entire wallet was lifted. Yes, the car was locked. Anyway, the stress of replacing my IDs and insurance cards etc is giving me the high speed wobbles. My concentration on anything else is difficult.
But I did get the art about halfway in as I sped through the easy grid. Humorous moment was when I entered TOE POKE via downs, the POKE coming first. When I got the TOE, having only read the footie-related clue once and immediately skipping it due to my dearth of detailed knowledge about the game. Consequently, I thought the answer was a specific type of Hawaiian fish dish pronounced to’-eh po’-keh. For reals.
Loved the reference to the annual MLB All Star break’s Home Run Derby. Every year as I celebrate Opening Day (week) and gorge on baseball’s return, I start looking forward to the July events that always occur around my birthday. This year, I have my family to help me celebrate with all the silly little baseball rituals my late husband and I created to honor the yearly return of the national pastime and its annual mid-season All Star celebration.
Pretty easy for a Thursday. The SE got a little tougher, but since DQED and COUPE had easily led me to QUIETUDE, I had enough to get PUNIER, the PUN of which sitting there without its -IER got me to head scratchin’ for a bit, but it sorted itself.
Just when I thought I was done and dusted, and the happy music played, I saw the martini had been poured and garnished with the OLIVE, that I originally thought might be its cousin, Gibson’s OnIon. This was just fun and fun is good.
Our Fearless Leader
Now, can someone help with WOE?
Felt quite vindicated by this review, because i was sailing along fine until the SE and that obscure EB White quote.
ONTILT and BATTERS seemed rather obscure to me, even for a Thursday. What started as a joyful solve ended up in a but of a grind. But the martini was cute.
I had FRESH ICE, which dovetailed nicely with soccer's BICYCLE kick . . . so that section was my nemesis.
And being born on 2-14, too bad my name is not VAL or that would have been a nobrainer.
unlike the OB [original blogger], I thought the martini theme was utterly delightful, down to the imagery of the black squares. I'm going to give it 5 stars - - - and two olives!
@anonymous 3:59
WOE = What on Earth, A more kindly version of WTF
I’m thinking MER could be an abbreviation for Project Mercury, the first human manned spaceflight program
Vermouth. You mean like Dolin? Yum!
TOE PUNT
TOE PUNT
TOE PUNT
What on earth is “TOE POKE”?
I don't drink 'em, but I have a martini peeve: after vermouth and gin or vodka, it ceases to be a martini, even if it's in a martini glass. Same for margaritas (my go-to) - lime base, orange flavoring (Grand Marnier for me) and tequila (Cuervo Gold) - that's it.
Three weeks of Joel as official editor, three weeks of sub-par clues. Disappointing. The nytxw needs new blood.
Thank you both
What on Earth.
Elixir of Quietude sounds like it could be a later Fleming title—keeping the puzzle, with the stirred/shaken reference, Bonded.
I don't know who wrote that Wikipedia article about Unity Candles in weddings originating from a 1981 TV episode. I was married in 1971, and we had a Unity Candle in our wedding. They were in nearly every wedding I went to back then. Typically, each mother would light a candle on either side of the alter, representing the individual lives of their son or daughter. Then, during the ceremony, the bride and groom would take their candles, bring them together to light the "Unity Candle", and then they would blow out their "individual candles" ... all symbolizing the "two becoming one flesh". I'm actually surprised to learn that no one today does this, and that no one younger than me has a clue about Unity Candles. They were very common 50 years ago. We all knew the significance of the ceremony ... it never required an explanation.
Not a theme type I'm ever going to like ... a drink and grid art. SE corner a little tough, but the rest easy.
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