Cinderella's calling card / SAT 4-6-24 / Afghan region whose name means "black cave" / Pictures where people are headscarfed? / Longtime name in Top 40 radio / Notably circular formations on Mars / van Rossum, programmer who created the Python language / Thick envelope during admissions season, say
Saturday, April 6, 2024
Constructor: Byron Walden
Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: none
Word of the Day: Azimuth (50D: Azimuth, e.g. => ARC) —
An azimuth (/ˈæzəməθ/ [...] from Arabic: اَلسُّمُوت, romanized: as-sumūt, lit. 'the directions')[1] is the angular measurement in a spherical coordinate system which represents the horizontal angle from a cardinal direction, most commonly north.Mathematically, the relative position vector from an observer (origin) to a point of interest is projected perpendicularly onto a reference plane (the horizontal plane); the angle between the projected vector and a reference vector on the reference plane is called the azimuth.
When used as a celestial coordinate, the azimuth is the horizontal direction of a star or other astronomical object in the sky. The star is the point of interest, the reference plane is the local area (e.g. a circular area with a 5 km radius at sea level) around an observer on Earth's surface, and the reference vector points to true north. The azimuth is the angle between the north vector and the star's vector on the horizontal plane.
Azimuth is usually measured in degrees (°), in the positive range 0° to 360° or in the signed range -180° to +180°. The concept is used in navigation, astronomy, engineering, mapping, mining, and ballistics. (wikipedia)
Difficulty-wise, this one followed a weird pattern for me, as the west side (top and bottom) played much harder than the right. There's often top/bottom discrepancy, but L/R, less often. This is really just quadrant variation, and the two quadrants I had real trouble with were NW and SW, the first because that's where I started and it's always (or frequently) toughest where you start, since by definition you don't have any crosses to help you get going. I got going by putting in LIVELY at 1A: Vivacious and then "confirming" it with YES and LEES. Luckily, I could see that that "confirmation" was possibly bogus, since I'd only "confirmed" the suffix. I could tell I had OH or "AH I SEE" there at 15A: "That just clicked" and the "resoundingly" part of 19A: Lands resoundingly really suggested THUDS, so somehow from all of that, and after finally pulling LIVELY, I could see B-SIDE, then BUBBLY ... and I didn't exactly whoosh out of that corner (HOPE, hard (22A: Intend); IRS, hard (25A: Dodgers' foes, for short); the unexpectedly vague THING part of BAD THING, hard), but once I hit the bottom of the NW and caught the front end of those long Acrosses—whoosh whoosh ("NEED I SAY MORE" and "GOT A SEC?")
Southwest corner was where I finished up, and that felt even harder. I had -ORA -ENDS and -EST at the ends of all the long Acrosses down there, but ... nothing. Forgot TORA BORA was a thing (if I ever knew). Wanted UPTRENDS but it looked (still kinda looks) funky and not quite right. And could not see Ryan SEACREST at all. After Casey Kasem, I'm kinda out of Longtime names in Top 40 radio (I listen to Casey countdowns on Sirius X/M's "70s on 7" channel nearly every weekend, as we drive out to our favorite bakery in Owego, or up to Ithaca to see a movie at Cinemapolis ... but I don't think about or hear or see Ryan SEACREST, ever, not since I stopped watching American Idol something like 15 years ago). So there was just empty space in the SW. INHD and that's about it. No idea what "ten-code" is so couldn't get CBER. Only a vague idea what "Azimuth" was, so couldn't get arc (though did get it off the "R" eventually). ADO was a gimme, but in a puzzle like this, I'm suspicious of gimmes ... but then ADO allowed me to see ON DOPE for 39D: Not clean, in a way, and that "P" confirmed my earlier suspicion about UPTRENDS, and I finally had the traction I needed, but still the puzzle fought me, right down to HO-ER and TO-ABORA crossing -HO-TA. The puzzle just pulled the London, Ontario! gag like last week or last month or something like that, so I did not expect to see it again so soon, but here it is: HOSER is Canadian, not British, slang for "dunderhead." We've established that I simply didn't know TORA BORA. Which leave -HO-TA, which ... I cannot believe I got got by a "letteral" clue. I usually see right through these, but for whatever reason, [Black heart?] just didn't register as "letteral," i.e. a clue that points to one of the letters in the clue itself (here, the "a" at the "heart" of "Black"). I ran the alphabet at the first letter until I hit "S" and suddenly HOSER and SHORT "A" jumped out like "ta da! Happy to see us!" I guess. That's what's called stumbling over the finish line. But I finished! Which is the point.
Explainers:
- 7A: White Russians, e.g. (CZARISTS) — I had the "Z" from ZOMBIE MOVIES at this point, so this answer was easy, even though I had no idea that's what the CZARISTS were called. Without that "Z," White Russians would've had me thinking only of cocktails.
- 25A: Dodgers' foes, for short (IRS) — me: "how do I get an abbr. for 'Giants' to fit in here?"; that terminal "S" in IRS made things so much worse, 'cause I just kept looking for a plural.
- 17A: Can't they all just git along? (DOGIES) — "Git along, little DOGIES" is a line from some classic western song I know only in some atavistic way where you just know things your ancestors knew but you don't know how. Ah, here we go—a 1940 Roy Rogers movie (no head-scarfing, probably):
- 26A: Film with the tagline "In space, no one can hear you clean" (WALL-E) — gah, once again the universe is punishing me for not seeing this movie. I had the "WA-" and couldn't think of any movie, let alone space movie, that worked. This is because my brain was scrolling through 5-letter words, not 4-hyphen-1-letter names.
- 3D: Cinderella's calling card (BIG UPSET) — "Cinderella" is the team that gets unexpectedly far in a tournament, the team that's not supposed to be there but got there due to (usually) at least one BIG UPSET. Common terminology, especially around NCAA Tournament time (i.e. now).
- 4D: Under cut? (B-SIDE) — [Upper cut?] would be the A-SIDE, then, I guess. Record terminology! (A "cut" is of course a recorded song / track).
- 12D: "Death Be Not Proud," for one (SONNET) — technically Holy Sonnet X. I taught it earlier this year. Not my favorite Donne sonnet. Kinda hacky / cliché. I prefer Holy Sonnet XIV, which is bonkers.
Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for youAs yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bendYour force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.I, like an usurp'd town to another due,Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain,But am betroth'd unto your enemy;Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,Take me to you, imprison me, for I,Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me. (from poetryfoundation.org)
- 34D: Mac, for example (RAIN COAT) — not the computer, then. Mac (i.e. Mackintosh) is Britspeak for a rain-proof overcoat. Here's an article on its history. First one went on sale in Glasgow, 1823.
- 48D: Cup alternative (CONE) — this is an ice cream distinction.
- 35D: "Zero stars" ("IT STINKS") — Had the "IT S-" and went with "IT SUCKED!" I like this version better. Infinitesimally more polite.
171 comments:
First few comments were lost because of a technical glitch—I had to create a new post because I f’d up the HTML in the original one. Apologies for the screwup ~RP
This one did not click with me.
Super hard for me but I prevailed in the end. One protest. Ever try to book a reserved seat? You can’t actually because, well, it’s reserved, no?
Rough go. Too many vague or misleading clues with little access into the corners. This was a player's puzzle. Tough for this hobbyist.
Fantastic puzzle - unlike the inconsistent voice yesterday today it’s clear and loud - not easy but stays true. NEED I SAY MORE and RESERVED SEAT bridge the corners so well. The mid-length downs through them are great - BIG UPSET, IT STINKS etc.
I’m a ZOMBIE for love
TORA BORA was a CNN staple there for a while. Don’t love the dual clues with off and cup. Backed into SEACREST. DOGIES, LAPIS, CREDO are wonderful.
Highly enjoyable post aftershock solve. I didn’t recognize the Stumper constructor today - not a true tough one but a nice puzzle.
PALACE Brothers
Absolutely impossible for me. I cannot remember ever having given up on a puzzle before, but I did on this one. My first cheat was to Google some things I had put in to see if they were correct (yes, OPEN MRI is a thing; yes, that song is from RENT). That wasn’t enough, so I upped the cheating to Googling answers (GUIDO, TORA BORA). That still wasn’t enough. Even after closing the app and coming back to it, I couldn’t get any traction. Finally came here to look at some answers - so, a total surrender.
My huge problem was misreading the “In space…” clue. I just read “scream” instead of “clean,” and confidently put in “Alien.” Knew it was right, so refused to pull it. Never reread the clue. Sigh. Maybe that would have made the difference.
Lots of grumbled Ohhhhhs as answers became clear post-surrender. The best of them was, of course, ZOMBIE MOVIES, whose clue may already have won best of the year.
Well worth the struggle. I was stuck in the SE. I had ADO, tentatively (I thought DIN could also be a three-letter “Ruckus”). The D then led me to think the person who was “Not clean, in a way,” could be IN DEEP some nefarious enterprise. Finally had to look up TORA BORA to set that corner right.
My other big overwrite was in the SE - I had the R for “Mac” and was pretty proud to come up with RED APPLE. .
UH OH OREO was a fun one to parse, and a fresh take on a crossword standby is always appreciated.
That was nothing short of brutal. Completely on a different wavelength today. Just couldn’t get past a couple of meager toeholds. I’ve progressed in my puzzling where I can solve Fridays and Saturdays 95% of the time relatively smoothly. How boy not today. Waved the white flag of surrender and moving on.
@Wanderlust (7:26). Me, too. Out of my league. For those who solved it clean, bravo!
Brutal but good puzzle.
Link below for the great aria from John Adam’s opera Doctor Atomic, with the text from Holy Sonnet XIV, Oppenheimer sets his eyes on his deadly creation…
https://youtu.be/AlUHKHLk_VU?feature=shared
The clue for “zombie movies” is unfortunately religiouly insensitive, though, especially being run on this date, because this is Ramadan and “people in head scarves” first brings to mind women in hijabs. To go from that to movies about “the undead” probably feels hurtful to Muslim people during their most serious religious observance.
Too hard for me. Misread the clue on WALLE and put ALIEN. Had LIVELY instead of BUBBLY. Had a few guesses here and there (DOGIES, PABST) but the only place I could get any momentum was the southeast corner.
Finally gave up and revealed CZARISTS. From there I built up a good head of steam for a bit, but got completely stuck on the northwest corner.
Good puzzle, but way too hard for me.
Oh, there is so much going through my head about this puzzle, but I’ll edit it down to three items.
• When I see Byron’s name atop the grid on a Saturday, it’s time for me to set my brain to Zen mode. Let me explain. In the style of yoga (Ashtanga) that I practice, I find that there are certain difficult poses and transitions between poses that I just can’t do if I try too hard. But if I shut my conscious brain off and let it go still, success follows. That is, I cede control to my mysterious inner world. That is how I have to approach a Walden, and it helps greatly.
• I know that a BW Saturday will have world-class twisted cluing, where, when the answer hits me I want to stand, bow, and shake my head in amazement, bathed in pleasure. Places it happened today: [Pictures where people are headscarfed?] for ZOMBIE MOVIES, [Dodger’s foes, for short] for IRS, and [Can’t we all just git along?] for DOGIES.
• Sometimes the cluing and difficulty hide what is always a feature of a BW Saturday: freshness. There is always a wealth of answers that have never appeared in the NYT puzzle’s 80 years. Today there were 11, including IT STINKS, NEED I SAY MORE, RUN PAST, and ZOMBIE MOVIES.
Byron, you really don’t need to put your name atop your puzzles, as they have your personality shining throughout. IMO, Crosslandia is deeply richer for your puzzles, with their wit and challenge. Thank you for making them, and for an outstanding outing today!
My solve proceeded steadily (even though it still felt on the medium-hard side for a Saturday), mostly thanks to inferring ends of answers (AH or OH before I SEE, something MOVIES, omething COOK, etc.).
My last corner was the SW and it took me about half of my total solve time, though most of my time in the SW was me stubbornly leaving in POLES for DUNES (Mars has some sort of ice caps like Earth IIRC, and those would be pretty round-ish I guess) and then POLES would cross RELAY TO (?) which led to a TAPAS (??) table. CRAPS was my first guess there, from the S. I considered TIMES table at some point.
Once I finally put in DUNES, I could see RUN PAST and then GUIDO, the GUARDS part of PALACE GUARDS, UPTRENDS, and then ON DOPE. I don't think I've heard ON DOPE but I was quite sure that the answer would be some variant of ON DRUGS. I had to finish by running the alphabet at TORA_ORA x C_ER, a total Natick for me.
Wayyyy over my average Saturday time. That one got the neurons firing.
If Rex can post the “wrong” Donne sonnet, then I can post Yosemite Sam’s version of “Git along Little Dogies”:
I cain’t git a long little dogie
I cain’t even get one that’s small
I cain’t git along little dogie
I cain’t git no dogie at all
Ok, I really wanted headscarfed to be two words in the ZOMBIE clue - would have been silly but fun (but probably would have ruined the aha factor, so we’ll take it - great clue as is).
On the other side of the coin, I thought the clue for RESERVED SEAT tried way too hard and landed with a THUD. Ditto for HOSER and probably the worst clue/answer of the day with that TOY CON nonsense.
I always struggle on Saturdays, so I can’t really opine as to whether this one was more “brutal” than usual, but definitely trust Rex’s judgement on that. I can say that this one was more enjoyable than many others for me because I got so many “aha’s” and “Oh, I see” when the answers dropped in (like for “White Russians” for example). I’d much rather struggle my way through those than sit for an exam on the names of the dopes that came up with COBOL, PYTHON, POWER BI, yada yada yada . . .
I cannot believe Rex gave Bryon a pass on Bad Thing. That is the single worst clue/answer combo I’ve ever seen on a crossword puzzle. And for it to be right there at the top. No flipping chance. This is the kind of puzzle that makes me want to stop doing crosswords.
Just a great run of puzzles here recently. Nice to see a proper Saturday grind here.
Anybody else have Cinderella’s calling card as FOOTSIZE? That basically wrecked that whole section for me.
This puzzle was way way way too hard. I’m glad people enjoy this sort of thing. Just too hard to parse any of this to be any fun.
Also, “headscarfed?” I get the joke, but shouldn’t it be “head-scarfed?” That hyphen would have helped me a lot.
Penny Lane by The Beatles: "...and the banker never wears a MAC in the pouring rain, very strange..."
I couldn't get one answer with confidence after 30+ minutes of staring. I don't know how Rex possibly calls this medium. I can generally finish Fridays and Saturdays, maybe with a lookup or two, but this one was just never going to happen for me. BAD THING might be the most frustrating answer. I don't know how anybody was supposed to make that leap. I could probably say the same thing for 90% of this puzzle. Saturdays lately have just been absurdly disappointing for those of us who aren't professional crossworders.
I'm hoping that the trouble this puzzle gave me means the ACPT puzzles will be a breeze. DOGIES went in first, and the NE filled in fairly fast but my black cave in the SW was bORobORo. I thought an azimuth was solar system related but then thought, "no, it's an oRe", thinking of bismuth, I guess. That caused some trouble.
PALACE stopped where GUIDO began. I had IDO in place and couldn't come up with a name. The digeridoo was whirr-ing from the crossing Mars waves. Yeah, this one was Byron Walden tough.
But as Rex said, Byron's name is always a good sight on Saturday because then I know it will be Saturday hard. Thanks, Byron!
I feel beat up, but savorong the satisfaction of finishing. This may be a "medium" for the pros, but no way this was anything but "challenging" for us dabblers. This is, though, the kind of puzzle I love - I learn a lot from this sort of workout, and gain confidence for future puzzles
Super clues ! Favorite was 3D "Cinderella's calling card", a tip of the hat to March Madness.
@RP - as I learned from "Dr Zhivago", during the Russian Revolution the White Russians were the loyalists and the Reds were the rebels. The Reds prevailed and eventually formed the Communist state which impacted our young Boomer and Gen X lives so much
Thanks for the John Adams aria, Blex -- wow.
I heard Adams once explaining how he chose music as his life's work. He was a young kid in a terrible community band -- you could barely make out what song they were trying to bang out when they played. And they volunteered to play in a local mental hospital once. They set up in the common room and the patients were brought in. Most were staring into space, or walking around in circles, or muttering nonsense to themselves. Every one in his or her own space, far away. But when the band began playing, they all turned and walked towards it, and focused on the music with wonder and appreciation. Adams said he realized at that moment the power of music, and how deeply it can connect to people.
******
On ZOMBIE MOVIES, I remember watching Night of the Living Dead with friends back in the early 70s. At one point, one of the characters was surrounded by zombies with no way out. He lit a torch (happened to have a torch handy) and the zombies all cowered away from the flame and he escaped. My friend Werner leaned over and whispered: "It's good to keep that in mind -- if you ever run into something like this, they are usually afraid of fire."
Thanks, Werner. Will do.
Ten-code: “10-4 good buddy…”
Just beautiful! Started in the southeast and then worked through concentric azimuths. Two thumbs up!
Nice misdirection on HOSERS being in London, Ontario!
Challenging for me, and somewhat of a trek. Liked it less than OFL did.
Overwrites:
1A: @Rex liveLY before BUBBLY
7A: CZARInaS before CZARISTS
11D: out before ICE
15A: oH I SEE before AH
35D: I haTed it before IT STINKS
42A: geo before DIS-location
44D: twaNg before DRONE for the digeridoo sound
45A: coNe before PINT (CONE turned out to be correct at 48D)
WOEs:
HOHO OREO at 2D
GUIDO van Rossum at 41A
Had the same problem as @Rex with HOSER (38A), not realizing it was Canadian, not British.
This was the best puzzle in at least a month!
Nothing but air (unfilled white space) in my first pass except for ADO.
Would probably have quit then had I not been using my Thur-Sun Autocheck strategy - sure, you lose the streaks but don’t waste time with wrong answers or having to figure out how to fill in rebuses according to NYTXW quirky tech (I still get 3 day streaks M-W for whatever slight ego boost they provide).
I love spending up to 25 minutes on a challenging solve - the additional 15 minutes poring over where I might have a typo or other BADTHING was just frustrating. And I am able to surmise unknown names like GUIDO (rather than googling) so Autocheck gives completion more a sense of victory for a good not great hobbyist like myself.
This puzzle had for the most part fun misdirects.
But how is PINT an alternative to cup since it two cups equal a pint. Cup vs. CONE are alternative choices, but make a cake with half the flour and you’ll have egg on your face (to try a HOMECOOK - whatever that is - analogy).
Also, don’t get SHORTA for Black heart? Huh?
Those nits aside, kudos to Byron’s construction (and Joel’s heretofore much-maligned editing!)
The clue for HOSER was just flat-out wrong. And the cross with SHORTA? Flat-out awful.
Had BONGOS at first for 55 across: Stereotypical beatnik accessories. The only beatnik I could think of (besides literary ones like Sal Paradise (Jack Kerouac) and Dean Moriarty (Neal Cassady)) was Maynard G Krebs from Dobie Gillis. I don’t think he wore BERETS. He did end up as a castaway on an island later in his life but by this point he’d changed his name to Gilligan.
Nope
The hardest part was scanning through the puzzle looking for an "in."
And then it got harder.
Wonderfully satisfying.
I loved this puzzle - perfect in that it took me a long time and a lot of thinking/guessing, but things slowly came into focus. Very satisfying!
Side note:I always print out the grid and fill it out the old-fashioned way. I can do all kinds of other puzzles and games on the computer, but not crosswords.
Once in a while, I come to this site to fill an answer in, but today I had to practically just copy all the answers from Rex's grid to complete the puzzle.
I do not like that I am a HOSER, but I have admiration for Mr. Walden and anyone who completed this puzzle without help.
And BTW, I have had an OPEN MRI. No, actually, I was put in the tube. Open? Not so much. One tiny crack. "If you have trouble, look out through the slit." What I saw was a wall (not WALL-E). I started screaming right away. That was the end of my OPEN MRI. Don't let them fool you. IT STINKS.
I hesitated for a sec before dropping in HOME COOK when I didn’t see an “e.g.” or something similar in the clue (some professional chefs are chosen as contestants as well). You can tell I’m not quite ready for Saturdays without training wheels yet.
Rex explained the cluing convention for “Black heart” and all of its siblings and cousins very nicely in his write-up today. Those types of clues are usually pretty easy to spot, although I found today’s to be especially mischievous as well.
HOSER is Canadian, used in London, Ontario, I suppose. Evil clueing.
He literally explains this
You gripers really should try reading some time
Why are you supposing, IT’S EXPLAINED IN THE WRITE-UP
He singled it out for special criticism. That is the opposite of giving it a pass.
Sorry - but thuds are patently not resounding - they are dull sounding - smacks are resounding.
Got a LOT of it, some really amusing stuff (ZOMBIES, because yeah, I got the "scarf"; HOSER b/c the other London--figured; Mac as RAINCOAT; the CZ version of CZARISTS for once; couple of gimmes like TORABORA (srsly how could you not know that? did you sleep through the aftermath of 9/11???).
But damn, that NW left me with a sour taste. BADTHING and BIGUPSET both landed with a THUD for me. A [demerit] is way way way too specific for such a blandly general answer. I mean, I know that's a constructor's trick sometimes but it's a "meh" trick not an "aha" one. Likewise BIGUPSET. A "calling card" is an attribute not an outcome, so the wordplay kinda clinks, as compared with [headscarf] which goes down smoothly (like a tasty mouthful of brains--yumm!). "Meh" not AHISEE.
BTW, I was associating SEACREST with a jukebox not a personality, but I must have been thinking of SEEBURG.
While I’m in a good mood (mostly from watching the return of bald eagles swooping by my windows as they scan the river below), want to praise CONNECTIONS, the fun little logic game with Wyna Liu typically finding just the right level of difficulty (though the April Fool’s pictorial version totally threw me - glad it’s only once a year!)
Also, Jeff Chen’s Imsqueezy.com is a winner! While I initially just added letters to make legit words (that turned out incorrect), now am led by the downward secret word and am having fewer “tight squeezes”. Though I still appreciate the “reveal one” option when stumped - plays to My Cheatin’ Heart! An innovative and fun 5 minutes each morning…
Wasn’t there a group (or maybe just the song) called “White Punks On Dope”? Or am I just dating myself?
They are *paradigmatically* resounding lol
I was having a really rough time until the SE clicked. Regarding zombies, I thought they were wrapped in scarves, but I guess those are mummies. Didn’t even get the gross joke until Rex explained it.
“Git along” little DOGIES for me always recalls “I Ride an Old Paint” as sung by my dad (similar to the Burl Ives version here https://youtu.be/VWz0SIiOFT4?si=pY_kyGT971SdjmQE ). Other notable and rather different versions on YouTube include Woody Guthrie from his 1940s Smithsonian Folkways recordings, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott , also from Smithsonian Folkways, and my favorite of these. But I learned today that I misheard the lyric, as those dogies “Ride around”. Still a lovely and richly evocative song.
So it’s ok to just ditch the TSAR style of reference to bygone Russian tyrants willy nilly like this? I can’t count how many times I’ve had to stop myself from writing CZAR. It’s ALWAYS TSAR. Unless I’ve missed an earlier example. If so it would’ve been years ago.
Impossible.
I am never sure whether CZARIST or TSARIST is appropriate , but somehow I thought the White Russians went with the TS version. As Nicholas II put it, “D’oh!”
One word to sum this puz up: Tough. Hard. Impossible. At an impasse. Yowsers.
Ok, so that's a few words. 😁
Unabashed Check Puzzle feature use. Threw in a few Reveal Squares in there, just to keep moving along, as the ole brain seemed like it was mired in mud. Stuck in every section. The only thing I had in knowing it was correct was OPENMRIS and DOGIES (although having DOGgie first).
Puz SKEWED hard, NEED I SAY MORE?
No AH I SEEs, just THUDS. Apparently, I'm not the target Why Aren't SatPuzs More Difficult demographic. Har. That's just my OPED.
Funny to see TOYCON, as there is one here in town this weekend. Might just go...
Happy Saturday!
No F's (CRAP)
RooMonster
DarrinV
BADTHING? Come on, now. This is the NYT puzzle, not the in-flight magazine puzzle. And Ryan SEACREST as a "longtime" name in Top 40? He's a name in Top 40, sure, but he's not a longtime name. I'm pretty sure every television sold in the past 15 years has been INHD, so how can that be "ideal" for home theaters? Are there non-HD alternatives? And UPTRENDS? That's another BADTHING.
This puzzle felt like it was constructed by a C student who didn't study for the final exam.
Rex is the right age to remember the animated show “The Critic” from the mid-90s. The main character, Jay Sherman voiced by Jon Lovitz, used to review movies with his tagline “It stinks!”
@anon 9:40
Fee Waybill (aka Quay Lewd) and The Tubes.
Saw this show at The Roxy in LA IN ‘75 - a circus, or carnal carnival, atmosphere - with trapeze artists, jugglers, firefighters, and Fee in 18 inch heels supposedly intermittently passing out. Great music and wild fun (all for I think $10 and a two drink minimum).
White Punks ONDOPE!
Saturday NYT #69 for Byron. Nice!
DNF in the NW corner. Couldn't quite parse _H_HOREO (Shah Oreo?). One B would have helped get BUBBLY, but I struck out on all 3 Bs. Challenging for sure. I fought hard to finish this one because PABST, WALLE, PRYOR, ZOMBIEMOVIES... but Byron/Joel sunk my battleship. GG, had fun though.
This one was way too difficult. Saturday is always harder for me than any other day but this one had too many bad clues.
Even with Rex’s explanation I’m mad at “shorta.” Just terrible.
I try not to turn on auto check until halfway done but today I had to do it after one pass through. I had to use a lot of square reveals and a couple of word reveals on things I would never have known without google.
my happiest moment today was reading the classic Simpsons reference in the write-up. the puzzle was fun overall, challenging but doable
Somewhere between really really hard and impossible.
I hated this puzzle. IT STINKS. GOT A SEC? Anyone who has listened to Bob and Doug Mackenzie knows Canadians say HOSER'. London, Ontario? I am glad you also noticed this, Rex. A PINT is not a substitute for a cup under any circumstances. HOPE is not a synonym for 'intend'. Sure, a demerit is a BAD THING, but so are many others. That's just a bad clue. Or is it a bad answer? Who says 'bad thing'? Can I say the answers here in general seem forced. ON DOPE? That strikes me as a phrase from the 60s or 70s, much like CBER. TORA BORA? It is a cave complex in the Pachir Aw Agam district of Nangarhar in the White Mountains. It is not a region. TOYCON? That's about a lot more than legos. And the plural of crocus as the source of colchicine? Glad I do Spelling Bee. Colchicine is a treatment for gout and I highly recommend Frank Bruni's columns on how he suffered with that disease. Calling the only vowel in a five letter word its heart is just stupid. Now vowels are the hearts of words? No, they are not. I reiterate. This puzzle stinks. NEED I SAY MORE?
loved this puzzle for all the reasons you mention here. it was an ordeal, and i was happy to have been ordealed.
you really should watch wall-e. possibly multiple times.
Bad Thing took this puzzle down several notches. I hesitated because it was an inane response to Demerit, that terrifying black mark.
Great puzzle. Tough but fair. I always thought HOSER was a Canadian term made up by the SCTV guys. Apparently I’m wrong. I think MAC is a British term which I learned from the Beatles Ballad of John and Yoko and Penny Lane. Helps to be old sometimes.
I'm here to echo many of the comments above. I couldn't connect with this one. Significant Googling took place. UHOHOREO was way too obscure for me to parse. I struggled mightily with yesterday and today. Happy puzzling!
What a puzzle! Slow, but satisfying.
The SE corner was my killer.
I had confidently put down BOWL as a cup alternaitve [PINT]
I also had PARKAS as the cold weather outerwear.
I wasn't crazy about ANORAK because I have owned a lightweight Patagonia ANORAK for 20+ years, and I don't think of it as a cold weather accessory. I wear it on a chilly Spring day as a wind breaker.
Finally, I was initially going to go with BONGOS instead of BERETS, so yeah, that SE corner was a toughie.
So many wonderful answers and clues.
This one kicked my butt. I finished, but took nearly twice as long as Saturday average. Not helped by a total misread of clue - at 26A, read the first few words and just assumed the last one was "scream," I guess - so put in "Alien." That was one of a handful of entries on the first pass through.
First got traction in the southeast, with OPEN MRI, ...CON, ANORAK and BERETS. But after that, just very slow. Misdirects that had me for a long time (Cinderella, for one). Oh, funny (to me, and I hope not offensive) error - before I had pulled Alien, and had MOVIES at the tail of 8D, put in turban MOVIES. Yeah, maybe that's a genre.
Rarely so relieved to get happy music. Thanks, Byron Walden.
Oh, I even did the puzzle in the morning, after a good sleep - as opposed to my usual of doing it at 2a just after work. But qualifying from Suzuka was on at 2, so the puzzle had to wait.
Sheez Louise, I felt like I doubted every square. Very tough. Not that fun. ZOMBIE MOVIES was my favorite.
@pabloinnh
Congrats on the deboxing. Looking forward to it. We started showings and wow do I dislike AnyDamnFool judging my home. It's a great place and their opinion is incorrect if they fail to love it upon stepping through the front door. 🙃
Tee-Hee: ON DOPE.
Uniclues:
1 Champagne pusher.
2 Where to buy a Barbie near Osama bin Laden's old place.
3 What appears to never happen after age 50.
4 I'm writing a poem / that'll make you ho-ho-um / but daggonnit it'll show 'em / fourteen lines of hum drum-um / don't use the word purple / or the haters will chortle / it's a garble it's a burble / they'll complain thru a snorkel / sometimes they rhyme / sometimes they don't / with love Petrarch begrimed / his odes but I won't / sorry this wasn't better / I'm ON DOPE and unfettered
1 BUBBLY CZARISTS
2 TORABORA TOY-CON
3 BAD THING HIATUS
4 MEDIOCRE SONNET (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Character flaw of the soprano. HATES ALTO.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yup, I’m over in the corner with @Wanderlust and @Mathgent. I got a few toeholds in areas but just couldn’t expand enough without a few cheats. I spent a lot of time trying to make White Russians into “Belarusi” (not a word) and Latvians, and stuck in Stroh instead of PABST even though I’m not sure Stroh’s was a Milwaukee beer. For whatever reason, I started strong in the NW and was able to suss out BUBBLY and BAD due to DOGIES, LEES, AND YES, but…BAD…THING? I guess.
I dunno. MAYBE I could’ve finished this puzzle without cheating if I’d spent all day on it, but methinks NO. That does NOT mean I think this was a bad puzzle, just “above my paygrade.”
If there was a MEME of me after finishing this, I would be in a desert, crawling desperately toward the tiny little puddle of water under the palm tree in the HOPE there might be a PINT of ice cold PABST hidden there somewhere. In other words, it was the kind of not MEDIOCRE solve which made me say “I need a drink.” NEED I SAY MORE? But since I’m at HOME where it’s 10 o’clock in the morning and no palm trees in sight, I guess I’ll have to make do with coffee. Wonderful puzzle Byron. It was painful but IT didn’t STINK.
I’m with @John on this one. Wicked cluing, unrepentant Googling. But in hindsight the clues match the answers, so a tough Saturday. No outpouring of “too easy” complaints, so seems a success for the interim (?) editor.
After my third White Russian last night, Mrs. Egs asked, "Egs, are you drunk?" "SHORTA" I replied.
When Lee Iacocca had a cavity filled, the first thing his dentist said was OPENMRI.
Wine steward: My I recommend this semi-sweet Lambrusco?
Diner: GOTASEC?
I'm surprised that no nitpickers have commented on the answer to Dodgers' foes (plural) being IRS (singular). Unless we are to understand IRS as having an apostrophe as if it stood for the many Internal Revenue Services that battle tax dodgers.
Well, I see I've RUNPAST my time here, so I'll just thank you, Byron Walden, for a fantastic brain workout.
Wow, was this tough for me! Like @Rex, I was happy to see Byron Walden's name at the top, anticipating a real Saturday challenge - which almost turned out to be too much for me. I was really happy to be able to finish.
A fairly easy entry into the right side through CHEAPLY x CZARISTS, with the gift of the Z for ZOMBIE MOVIES (what a clue!), lulled me into a hubristic feeling of security. But then.... While I managed to go westward with the three center rows, I could move neither north nor south from there. In the end it was two letters that saved me: B-SiDE and SHORT A - two entries hardly unknown in crosswords, but for me the clues did a great job at obscuring them. They gave me enough traction to piece together the rest. Last in: CB-ER x SEACREST. Favorite fake-out: Cinderella's calling card not being a "lost shoe"!
I'm just going to crosspost what I posted on the Times comments page here:
I’m writing this comment in hopes that anyone at the Times will see it.
Please stop with these incessantly bad and obscure Saturday puzzles. Please. Stop.
I used to love the Saturday puzzles when Shortz was editing them. There was an occasionally difficult puzzle here or there I didn’t get, but for the most part, they were a fun, if slightly taxing, challenge.
These new puzzles are awful. Patently AWFUL. “Off” crossed with “White Russians, e.g.,” and, “Eponymous Milwaukee brewer Frederick.”
Sorry, I don’t drink much, and I sure as heck don’t know anything about any beer brewers. This is just bad, bad, bad.
I’m not going to resubscribe when this year runs out if you don’t get an editor who can make puzzles without resorting to random esoteric trivia for 25% of the answers.
I don’t mind difficult. That’s fine. I do mind all the NATICKs and impossibly obtuse clues crossed with proper nouns I’ve never heard of. I’m tired of having three clues entered after two passes, turning on autocheck, and finding out two of them are wrong.
Can you please find a replacement for Joel Fagliano before he ruins the crossword forever?
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
P.S. I wrote this comment before I had even attempted to solve White Russians and realized it referred to something other than the drink, but I still didn't know what that something was. I still hate this puzzle up and down. I think I'm just going to automatically turn autocheck on for every Saturday puzzle until I can get some kind of foothold somewhere. So tired of making two passes through the grid and not being able to enter almost any answers with any confidence.
Tough. NW was last to fall when I finally tried BUBBLY. Some of the clues in that section bordered on diabolical….Intend, Dodger foes, Under cut…tough corner. That said, the whole thing was pretty crunchy. I needed almost all the crosses for PALACE GUARD, did not know GUIDO, GOT A SEC did not leap to mind given the clue, TOYCON?…not easy stuff.
Unlike @Rex the SW went more quickly for me because I remembered TORA BORA and knew 10 code=CBER.
I was going to complain about HOSER being Canadian but I realized we’re in London, Ontario again.
A fine challenge with a soupçon of sparkle, liked it a bunch. Nice to see Byron’s name on a NYT puzzle again.
Canadians say hoser. Brits? Prat.
@Andrew (9:37) I love Connections too. It’s a fun little game with a different sort of brain workout. I just now tried Squeezy for the first time. Also different and fun, thanks for the tip.
@egs (10:53) You made me laugh and triggered a memory too. Back in my single girl days, Reunite Lambrusco was what my BFF and I nearly always drank on dateless Saturday nights to drown our sorrows. Decades later, although we no longer care about dates and can afford a much nicer wine selection, I still occasionally buy a bottle of Reunite just for old time’s sake.
Absolutely no idea how/why "Off" = ICE and/or an "envelope" is a YES. What the F__??!!
It’s amusing to compare the comments and the mood here to their counterparts on Word Play. It’s hard to believe we’re talking about the same puzzle😀. I’m surprised, Rex, that you rated this as “medium” difficulty, based on your description of the solve, I shudder to think what a hard puzzle would look like!
I've been knocking off BW puzzles for years and I've never had one put up the kind of fight this one generated. Maybe the new clue editing accounts for that or maybe this one just has my number
The NE and the center were normal Saturday resistance but starting with the SE then the NW and ending in the SW the resistance just doubled from one corner to the next.
I thought for sure the SW would be a complete failure. As per usual I had my dipthong dyslexia to over come. I had GAURD crossing UPTREND. ARC and ONDOPE were my only other toeholds . I needed to crack the Afghan locale to break the log jam and it took me half an hour to come up with it. After all that work I dnfed with PASS crossing CRESS. No idea how I let that one get PAST me but it did. Hard to spot too.
As per the usual I had much better luck with the SB....
yd -0. QB28
1. Kill 2. An acceptance i.e. a YES
Respectfully disagreeing with Darian Tucker. Speaking for myself, the Saturdays had become way too easy (and I'm no puzzle genius, believe me). They should be harder than "slightly taxing." I didn't know that beer brewer either, and I thought of the drink for White Russians, but pounding away at it gave me crosses that helped. I'm happy to see the puzzles getting harder under Joel F.
Ah, yes....A Byron mind buster. But did you like it? Why yes, especially all of my wrong answers that I eventually got right after putting this puzzle down about 20 times then coming back for the AHA it deserved.
So let's start with Cinderella and her calling card at 3D. Slippers? Big corns? Bog Plant? Then I say to myself BUBBLY has to be right just to start my day. So it's BIG something or other. See where this is going?
Move on: I did. I was able to guess CZARISTS from a CHEAPLY song. And then....can it really be ZOMBIE MOVIES? Why yes...it is. I was able to fill in the top right section with grunts and groans and lots of aha's. Cool beans.
The two cup clues didn't bode well with me. I had them in the wrong place. I then went and stared at dunderhead. Of course I thought Brit speak. One day, I'd like to see a constructor use the word NUMPTY. That's how I felt. THEN....I get to the Afghan region. CRAPS...HOSER that I am, I got the very wrong BORA BORA. The show stopper clue at 38D was a cute name called HI A BUS.
Head East and cross fingers. CROCI sez I. Doesn't a beatnik wear a BEANIE? Nah. RAINCOAT has to be right and it ends with a T. BERET it is. Back to BUBBLY and figuring out what cinderella has to offer: BIG UPSET! Yes, I suppose that would happen if she lost her slippers or had corns and hid under a bog plant. AH, I SEE to the rescue.
I had to look up GUIDO and SEACREST. Names....Drats!. So, for a Byron Saturday, I feel brilliant that I only had two cheats. Actually, if you call looking up an answer to see if it is correct, then I had several more. Good for me!
Two puzzles in a row that make me question my own solving chops. The difference is that I finished yesterday's with no cheats, but didn't enjoy it. Today, I couldn't finish, even with some minor cheats -- and yet, with the exception of the SE, I did mostly enjoy it.
Starting with the 3/4 of the puzzle that I did finish: BIGU was driving me crazy in the best possible way -- really piquing my curiosity. The only "calling cards" I could think of for Cinderella were GLASS SLIPPER and TINY (or DAINTY) FOOT. Oh, THAT kind of Cinderella! Nicely misleading clue.
There were some THUDS in the NW, though. BAD THING is an almost laughably vague answer to "demerit." BAD MARK, yes. BAD REPORT, yes. But BAD THING???!!! We could spend an entire day making a list of all the BAD THINGs in the world.
GOT A SEC? Maybe it's a "request to chat" and maybe it's a request to put away some groceries or see what the cat is up to. Not a fair clue.
Don't even get me started on TOYCON in the SE. Now if I'd only known PRYOR and if I'd only known CROCI...
Would it have helped? No idea -- but why-oh-why was I too proud to cheat? They were both eminently cheatable answers.
It's times like this that I'm so grateful that I don't keep track of my "streaks." This has not been a banner week for me.
MetroGnome OFF=ICE=KILL in noir detective novels; a fat envelope from one’s favorite ivy means you have been accepted and need to fill in a CRAP load of rubbish forms?
Like TORA BORA I too got bombed by Byron today. That short vowel sound was my favorite clue today. Think hat vs hate perhaps?
Seconding @ANdrew’s recommendation for connections & Squeezy as great warmup activity (though today they didn’t help at all)
Yesterday's puzzle got some "Should have run on Saturday" comments but compared to this one, maybe it was not so AMISS after all, eh?
Never heard of "photodynamic therapy" and a quick look at google doesn't help much explaining how that connects with 23D LASES.
My first thought for 20A "Eponymous Milwaukee brewer Frederick" was SCHLITZ, "The beer that made Milwaukee famous". Too many letters and it probably would be a crossing nightmare anyway. So PABST it is.
Surprised that no one has mentioned 23A LAPIS as the answer for "Deep shade of blue". LAPIS is Latin for "stone" which seems a tad too general for any given color. But it's used here as short for LAPIS Lazuli, a semi-precious stone prized since ancient times for its deep blue color. It was used to decorate the funerary mask of Tutankhamun and renaissance painters used an "ultramarine" blue pigment made from LAPIS Lazuli, for example, Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring.
Best Saturday puzzle in ages. I can't remember the last time I felt this satisfied with the challenge a puzzle presented. The only stinker for me was (as many have noted) BAD THING. Managed to avoid a lot of pitfalls somehow, especially with WALLE.
A lot of people are grousing about the difficulty, but IMO nothing disappoints like a too-easy Saturday puzzle. I look forward to the challenge all week, and I would rather DNF once in a while (and probably learn some new names and vocab) than breeze through every one. More like this one, please!
This is an absurd take -- suggesting that constructors should avoid great wordplay in any instance where there is any loose association between religion and a thing that some might find unsavory. The point of misdirecting cluing is that the interpretation in the context of the puzzle is *not* the expected interpretation. Moreover, the answer here is simply a category of entertaining movies. This clue and answer doesn't even come close to equating women in hijabs with zombies. This kind of hypersensitivity, the kind that wants to suck fun from humorous games based on Olympic levels of mental gymnastics, is a prime example of the kind of pedantic thinking that discredits movements for social justice at large.
IRS for “Dodgers foes” is a lousy one since “foes” implies that the answer is a plural - and the IRS is not a single entity. B
Yes you can because a reserved seat won't be sold to anyone else once you'ved reserved it!
Ok so I read wordplay and was quickly reminded of why I never do that. Also many people here (Lewis, Nancy) seem to cut and paste their wordplay comments here. Is that why commenters here so often seem not to have read the blog?
Really thought I might break a 223-day No-Cheats streak today. Put it down multiple times (first time was overnight) and finally got it … took over 1:21 in total. Painful SW, but so many great clues that I wasn’t as furious as I sometimes am when the occasional Saturday tries to kick my butt as this one did. Masterful constructing.
10-4, Rex.
And you really should see Wall-E. You’ll love it. Did you know that Kathy Najimy is in it?
Ok ok I’ll put it in the list 😀thx ~RP
I wish more people had this 👆🏻 attitude
The Tubes, at their finest.
I started with the same opinion about “calling card” and it was one of my last fills. But on reflection I have to admit the phrase is often used to refer to a defining action ala “the thief’s calling card was that he always ___.”
This puzzle just wasn't fun. So much misdirect but not in a good way. Lots of eye rolling and googling obscure trivia. Who is this puzzle even for? Saturday puzzles don't need to be impossibly hard!!
@andrew, have you tried Keyword on the WashPo site? It’s a very fun minute or so every morning, give or take
Hardest Saturday - or maybe any NYT puzzle ever.
Congrats to those who solved it at all/without a cheat :)
Um, maybe you should repeat a grade (like all of them!), instead of expecting puzzle makers/editors to only use clues/answers that you personally know.
Fee Waybill rocks
Ok Byron; you’re the smartest thing in the known multiverse and you’re going to let us all know it, on steroids. Congratulations. Happy now?
Anon 12:33 -- No -- actually you've got it bass-ackwards. I write my comments HERE, always, and then, only afterward, copy them and paste them on Wordplay. I was probably on this blog for as much as 8 years before even going to Wordplay.
Speaking of Wordplay, though: It's gratifying to see that the puzzle pros hired by and paid by the NYT agree with me about the Big Change in puzzle cluing since Joel took over. Maybe I'm not imagining how much harder and perhaps less fair it is? Here's Caitlin in her Wordplay column today:
"SATURDAY PUZZLE — This is the third really gnarly Saturday grid in a row, which makes for a somewhat unsettling pattern. Maybe it’s part of the run-up to this weekend’s American Crossword Puzzle Tournament; maybe it’s another editor’s sadistic streak in Will Shortz’s absence. (What if they’re all like this from now on?)"
The west hemisphere was wildly, wildly difficult. Glad to see I'm not alone there, though.
I had REBOUNDS, which I was sure of, instead of UPTRENDS and that doomed me in the Southwest. First DNF in a long time; I was never going to guess BADTHING for "demerit" (...really?) or HOSER for London dunderhead, so I didn't feel terrible about filling in the rest and calling it a very dirty "win", of sorts.
Very tough but made it through. SE was first to fall but everything else took forever. Was drinking and watching TV which didn’t help, but nearly 90 minutes when average is usually 15-20.
Wanted to leave RICKDEES in for the longest time!! Peace out Seacrest.
I don't understand the for a song clue? Can someone explain how the answer fits.
Thank you for this response, fellow anonymous person.
Just about a perfect tough Saturday! 15 minutes of very very slow progress followed by a nice acceleration; finished without cheating/googling at 28 minutes which is about my maximum before getting frustrated. It felt good!
Lots of typeovers: for "On tap" IN A KEG before TO COME, LOSER before HOSER, and I HATED IT before IT STINKS. And bizarrely, I thought maybe White Russians were CRIMEANS!* And more bizarrely, BARBIE MOVIES! (I thought: does she wear a head scarf?)
I had never heard anyone use the term HOSER until Bob and Doug started it. It is not a common usage, at least here in Western Canada.
By the way, there is also a Paris in Ontario! Crossword clue writers take note.
[Spelling Bee: Fri 0 and proud of it; that was a lotta words. Streak at 3.]
(* Note Belarus more or less means White Russia.)
What is the relation between on tap and to come??
Another major struggle in the NW. Rest of the puzzle played day appropriate.
I went down a similar road. I have an auto-DNF rule for Fri and Sat. That is as much time as I am willing to gaze into the abyss.
It was worth coming here just to read this response
Lots of pointlessly mean replies to folks who didn’t gel with certain clues. I will try not to do the same here. Google “resounding thud”, with the surrounding quotes. This is a very common phrase. So common that I couldn’t figure it out either. Nevertheless, it was fair play.
Maybe it’s because I warmed up with two Phrazle puzzles, but this felt like a normal Saturday. Usually I print and solve on paper but I’m not home so I was forced to use the laptop. Didn’t mind when I got the pleasant surprise of the ‘happy music’ after all the squares were filled in under an hour and under my own power. There was a lot I didn’t “know” but somehow grasped enough tiny filaments of familiarity to finish fair and square. (Four “consolation f’s” in that sentence for you, @Roo!)
First in was tsARISTS (can’t fool me with your fake cocktail clue, so there) which at least helped more than it hurt. Gave me RENT which suggested PABST. Then crickets, so after dropping in an -S here and an -ED there, took another stab at the NW. AH/oHISEE seemed too easy so I warily tried I GOT IT for “That just clicked” until DOGIES and the possibility of THUDS sent me back hat in hand. Sorry I doubted you, AHISEE.
Speaking of doubt, I too couldn’t believe “Demerit” was merely BAD THING until the crosses left no other choice. Also, HOPE is nothing like “Intent.” The great musicians I know play with intent. The others just HOPE things turn out well.
Other do-overs include Remit to/RUN PAST, DomES/DUNES, geo/DIS(location) and wAxED/DARED (Didn’t shrink).
Not a fan of the horror genre, so I just figured the characters must wear scarves. Got the AH I SEE moment from the @Rexplanation. Are ZOMBIES good HOME COOKs? You may have my RESERVED SEAT for that episode of “MasterChef.”
I needed another @Rexplanation for the BIG UPSET sports reference as well - I was fine with it being all about Cinderella UPSETting her BIG sisters.
@Rex pointed out the “ice cream distinction” of cup vs CONE, but maybe cup vs PINT is too - “You want a cup or a CONE?” “I’ve had a hard day; I’ll take the whole PINT.”
I liked the clues for SIDE B, PALACE GUARDS, RAINCOAT and DRONE.
The RAINCOAT/ANORAK cross makes me HOPE for good viewing weather Monday for all the eclipse chasers.
Count me among the admirers, Byron Walden. YEAH!
Fantastic puzzle, perfect level of Saturday wordplay!
Fantastic puzzle, perfect level of Saturday wordplay!
If something is ON TAP, that means that it's scheduled to happen soon or rather, is to come. One way to ask what someone has planned is, "What's ON TAP?"
I had a reasonably good first few passes. For example, I got PABST and CHEAPLY without any struggle. The former sits in a center-transition zone while the latter is the downside left edge on the NE corner. That usually signals success for me. But I had a critical mass of unavailable answers, meaning that I lacked the capacity to solve it due to simple ignorance or was psyched-out by something. CZARISTS psyched me out. I knew this one, but I recently learned that Belarus was once called White Russia. That sounds like a lame excuse but it truly and completely iced out my Russian Revolution trivia-fu. I might have been able to get around this block but nothing else came to me for that corner.
Usually, in a SatPuz this feisty, I rely on the 3-letter weejects for footholds. But the clues for YES, IRS, and ICE were offerin none of that. They were in a 3-way tie for staff weeject pick, btw.
soooo… M&A was forced into his hunt and pick method … Read all of the Across answers, and see what I can get. Ahar! "In space, no one can hear you scream …" ALIEN! I was "in" [aka in for trouble], due to the same quick-scan mis-read as @David Grenier dude. Did get ADO right, at least.
The nanosecond slaughter waged on, as M&A tried his hunt and pick out on the Downs. Got a couple more. Knew I was in for a looong haul. Finally, CZARISTS/ZOMBIEMOVIE/PABST got m&e rollin.
Ergo … fave puz thing was ZOMBIEMOVIE. Schlocky.
Mutually agreed to call off FriNite Schlockfest, becuz of our need to watch the CatlinClarkFest. Great game.
Kinda interestin fillins: BADTHING. ITSTINKS. Sounds like a TOYCON afoot.
Thanx for the ultimate challenge, Mr. Walden dude. NEEDISAYMORE ... ain't GOT A nanoSEC left.
Masked & Anonymo5Us
**gruntz**
Real struggle but finished
As others have pointed out, hilarious that Rex devotes the bulk of his writeup to how hard this constructor's puzzles are, and his epic struggle with this one, then rates it "Medium."
Toughest puzzle in quite a while. Reminded me of my first attempts in the 90s when the puzzle was much harder in addition to my being a novice.
@Darien - at that time, I didn’t blame the puzzle for being bad when I couldn’t finish because I assumed I needed to step up my game. I lived more, read more, and did more puzzles to the point where I am surprised when I don’t finish. Go ahead and cancel if you like, your loss…
Today, I was on team Andrew with auto-correct, enabling me to finish without cheating in the form of looking something up. Some answers made me groan on completion. INHD a stupid clue as mentioned by someone - try buying a set that isn’t. BADGRADE is much better than BADTHING, but the genius of ZOMBIEMOVIES and others was worth the struggle.
How am I supposed to know the translation (from which language) of a black cave? Oh, the only cave system I know in that area TORABORA, where Osama bin Laden was supposedly hiding out and was on the news every day for months.
I think it is reasonable to expect people to read the rest of the NYT or its equivalent in order to do the crossword from time to time.
PABST is of course the P in PBR, the favorite cheap beer of the college crowd, or who knows what they’ve moved onto since I learned that factoid. I had STROH first, oh well…
“Resounding thud” is a funny phrase now that I think about it. Built in sarcasm and self-contradiction since, as mentioned, a THUD is the opposite sound from anything that resounds. If Big Ben ever makes a THUD, we’re in trouble.
We just had the London, Ontario misdirect recently, but did that help today? Me “maybe Canadians got this from England??”. Busy picturing Rick Moranis now:)
Can anyone explain 6D to me? How does YES answer “Thick envelope……?
It’s Saturday. Saturdays are supposed to be hard. Own your failure.
Wow - Anonymous’ grumpy comments from 9:22 to 9:35 suggest he may have downed too many CZARISTS last night.
Didn’t even realize the first of the series was directed at me. IPad doesn’t list responses to posts - why people post @names and times to know who and what the hell the comment refers to (iPhone IOS does, which is where I later learned, as DeNiro said, “You talking to me?”)
But yes, @anon 9:22, I did miss that SHORTA Rex-planation! A million apologies!! Much preferred the clue from @Egs 10:53 - THAT would have made 7A at least funny in its awfulness!
(Speaking of 7A, is there such a thing as RESERVEDSEAT in this insane age of squatters’ “rights”? Though at least with a seat, the term “squatting” makes sense. Of course, if you’re on a Boeing aircraft, you may be in the exit (eject?) row quicker than you think!)
Do schools send envelopes anymore?
@anonymous (3:21)
The "thick"envelope from college admissions has a cover letter that begins with something like "Welcome to the University of London, Ontario, Class of2028!" and contains a lot of information and more forms to fill out.
This "thin" envelope contains only a letter that begins something like "After careful consideration of your very strong application, we regret to inform you...."
So the thick envelope signals YES.
Of course, this is all outdated, since these things are communicated electronically now.
Home Run….BEST BIG LEAGUE PUZZLE IN YEARS….I’m exhausted but will toast success of completion
Brilliant. And totally beyond me. I finished it in about 20 minutes - with Rex’s completed puzzle sitting to my left. I took quick glances to get a single answer at a time and tried to fill around it. Shortly thereafter, I took another glance. Quite successful.
The new NYT game Strands (currently in Beta phase) is also great fun.
It’s been decades since Inwas in college, but IIRC, a thin envelope was a rejection, but a thick envelope was full of admissions information; i.e. ‘Congratulations! You got in!’
As long as I’m here, this was the hardest puzzle in years for me. I’ve heard the name ‘Seacrest’ but I have no idea who he is or what his connection to Top 40 music is or was. Oh well.
The key to the thick envelope clue is “admissions season”…colleges will send a quick/short rejection letter, but will include a larger packet to accepted students, with guidance to register and set up accounts/profiles. So a thin envelope is a “no,” and a thick one is a “yes.”
same. i got open mri. i consider that a small win! lol
I will begin my rant with the Ryan Seacrest clue. There is a difference between “Top 40 radio” and “American Top 40”. The former is a radio format started by Todd Storz (same number of letters as Seacrest). The format varied from station to station so the top 40 songs could be different in every city and competing stations would often have competing versions of which songs were in their list. The latter is a syndicated program begun by Casey Kasem in the waning days of Top 40 radio. Perhaps mixing the two up was the constructor’s intent. I don’t know. But gauging from Rex’s response and most of the comments I doubt that anyone got it.
This is really what is wrong with NYT crosswords as a whole. Constructors who have just enough knowledge to cobble together a puzzle in the hopes that they can confuse and bewilder solvers. I guess that this is how they get their kicks. A sort of cruciverbalistic sadism. Take the “White Russians” clue for example. A White Russian is a cocktail made with vodka, coffee liqueur, and cream. The Whites on the other hand were the anti-Bolshevik forces during the Russian Revolution and were not strictly czarists.
I’ve been solving crosswords for 40 or more years. What I have seen over the past few years is a devolution into inanity. A well conceived clever clue is totally appreciated. But when you have clues such as ones in today’s puzzle you just have to sit back and go…wtf? It’s authentic frontier gibberish at its worst.
I stand.. well sit.. humbled by the experience... go Byron!
Nope. No way. Nuh Uh. Five levels of indirection is three levels too many, unless you are Louis Carroll.
Super hard for me; had to take a break to reset my head on this one.
Went with baseball at first for the Dodger's clue and IRt ended up thankfully close to IRS. I kinda like the IRt answer better, but don't know if it ran through Brooklyn.
Didn’t realize that Ryan Seacrest was on the radio. Just know him from American Idol and New Year’s Eve. So, for a while, my answer was the famous DJ SEAn wEST. :)
What a delightfully crunchy-whooshy Saturday! Like OFL, when I see a Byron Walden byline, I automatically make coffee because I am going to need it. And I did.
Many of my mistakes and sticking points were the same as those of @Rex. Of course, I also had other tough spots. My first (and it helped me keep most of the NW blank) was “mean” at 22A (“intend”), and I’m going to die on that rotten clue’s hill today. It’s the one truly bad one. I also entered oH I SEE and left it there too long. Because my “mean” and “oH” left me with _o_TMING, it appeared that the answer would be two words? Accordingly, I struggled mightily and left the NW for hopefully calmer waters. Finishing the NW was my final solve point.
So, the whooshy parts. My success began with NEED I SAY MORE, GOT A SEC and OPEN MRI. Alas, I am one of the folks who have in the distant past (i.e. long before the OPEN MRI) needed to be sedated to have an MRI. I still have to practice relaxation techniques to be in crowded elevators for more than a couple floors. So, with all of those places falling at once, I went back to the top and built the NE easily, buoyed by the feeling of floating along on Mr. Walden’s cleverly vicious sense of humor. But hubris will out.
The screeching of brakes before coming to a sudden THUD in the center of the SE forced me to abandon my rose colored glasses and lace up the gloves. PINT, as the “alternative to cup,” fell easily but that clue’s second appearance not so much. Like today’s best clue (one of the year’s best actually), leading to ZOMBIE MOVIES, the clue for CONE (“cup” meaning ice cream in a cup) threw me way off kilter. CROCI? Really? A fake Latin plural from such a superlative constructor sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb. Maybe we can blame this one wince on the editor? However it passed muster, that entry is disappointing. In fact, in my opinion IT STINKS, but because it does, I forgive it since the blooming spring flowers led to an easy entry, literally IT STINKS! And with that longish down thus falleth the SE.
The diagonal fill running NE to SW was mostly easy and thankfully so because as everyone who knows me at all is aware, I know absolutely nothing about programming. In fact, I am so embarrassingly ignorant that had Mr. W not so kindly sent me in the right direction with so much information in the clue about Oython’s development, I might not have finished because GUIDO is not a familiar name here in the US, and I guessed at each letter.
Thanks to the fair but tough clues for DUNES, CRAPS, I had enough to weather the storm of cleverness that gives us PALACE GUARDS, RUN PAST and CBER. We used to see that one often during the CB radio heyday of mid- through late-70s, (before @Rex and many of today’s solvers). CBER helped enormously. In fact, it provided enough momentum for me to complete the puzzle’s gritty SW.
Then, back to the NW, where the DOGIES did at last “git along,” and it gave me HOPE that I’d figure out my other mistake. And I did.
I laughed out loud and gnashed my teeth. Finished two pots of coffee and enjoyed the triumphant feeling of success that always floods me with that special feeing of accomplishment in a tussle of this type: A-List constructor vs. long time solver. What fun.
Please, everyone forgive all my typos. I am once again just out of hospital and am slogging through the visual tribulations of a vicious flare of my autoimmune disease. I am trying to master the art of dictating a blog entry. Used to dictate all my legal work to my assistant, but this doesn’t seem to work as well. Perseverance!
Couldn't figure out arc, decided Azimuth was the name of an orc (sorry Tolkienists) and that Tora Bora was in fact Toro Bora. Nope. "Bad Thing" just seems vague, especially for such a specific clue. Otherwise satisfyingly crunchy.
Same here. Ridiculously difficult but doable
Checking in. This puzzle took me all day, as I was interrupted by unpacking, the arrival of my son and granddaughter (who "helped" a lot-she's six) moving furniture, setting up two bedrooms, break for lunch, off to buy needed stuff, getting the kitchen unpacked, going to recycling, getting takeout for dinner, and here I am.
This puzzle may have taken me all day without all the other activities. I agree with all the people who liked it as I finished it no cheats and with all the people who disliked it for all the complaints they had about dumb clues but overall a very satisfying W in the W column.
@Gary J-Slightly different experience with selling the former condo. We put an unrealistically high price on it and had two offers over that and I could only think, really? Someone thinks this place is worth that much? Much easier to leave than our previous lovely ho ousen four plus acres. Hope you can find a home you like as much as your present abode.
You're evil, BW, but good evil. Some Brilliant Wordplay, but some Bad Work too, for which you get a demerit. Thanks for all the hard-earned fun.
First DNF in several years. Impossible. “Dogies”? Never heard of it. “Short A”? Are you kidding? “Bad thing”???
@CDilly52 darlin: Your primo comment prose far outshines yer typos. Keep up the good work and be well.
Gotta agree, that DOGIES clue was a good git, no matter when and how U git it.
p.s. speakin of typos ... M&A meant ZOMBIEMOVIES. [Accidentally dropped the S, in my preev msg.]
M&A
@CDilly
What M&A said.
Interesting that someone had no clue about the famous song Git Along Little Dogies but used this lack of knowledge to trash the puzzle.
Apparently not a famous song now?
Anonymous 7:55 pm
Just because you don’t know something doesn’t mean the answer shouldn’t be in a puzzle. Perhaps you should look up the song from which the word comes before you trash this very tough puzzle.
Brilliant Simpsons callout to open the review. https://youtu.be/OyIIqrcl-V0?si=KhlpPtVUFR_Fmvss
challenging and unenjoyable
A deeply unpleasant puzzle to solve, honestly. Incredibly esoteric answers to generic clues, to the point where it feels like it's trying to "gotcha" at every turn. Not to mention the answers that just don't agree with the clueing logic.
Obviously Saturdays are meant to be challenging, but this just straight-up wasn't fun.
Perhaps the most difficult puzzle I have ever tried to solve. So many answers where even when you have them you are not sure you are correct because the cluing is so obtuse. A slog for me, for sure.
holy sht ! youve never seen walle !? this first act is possibly the best in all filmdom !
A Dutchman named Guido?
That was my first guess....not!
Although I didn't find it too difficult to get the theme and figure out which were the relevant clues, I was a tad surprised not to see the theme clues italicized.
Unless, the point was add a little difficulty by not identifying them
BTW, I liked Rex's EE-E
Ah I See!!!
Stuck with Losers until backed into a corner by Hiatus, then sat here muttering "well I'm from London (UK variety) and I never heard that one..."
Medium my Aunt Fannie, this was tough. This would have been a medium Croce Freestyle.
Only three WoS (UHOHOREO, HOMECOOK, GUIDO), but the cluing was diabolical (in a good way).
Ryan Seacrest has been hosting American Top 40 for more than twenty years, so I think that qualifies as "long-time".
Toughest in a long time...many years. Finally nailed it, but it was a struggle.Has anyone commented on the BAD THING/IT STINKS symmetry? nice.
I knew Rex would say it was "medium" or even "easy" because it actually was extremely difficult. I've been solving puzzles for at least as long as he has and I got his schtick a long time ago.
It's medium?? I haven't peeked at the answers yet, but I have pretty much been building my own alternate crossword in the provided squares. I think I might have given up. Thank you kitshef and Don Byas for assuring me it is stupid tough.
My favourite "I think/know they're wrong but nothing works" answers, so far are
OPIUM DEN for High station and DOGIES for Git along. How is Cinderalla's calling card not a glass slipper? I'm desperately trying to fit HIJABI MOVIES into 8D. They can't possibly be asking me to name a particular competitor on a particular reality cooking show, can they? Maybe it's a person famous from something else who happened to be on the show. I've even googled some things (while avoiding actual crossword cheat sites - cheating has its grades). Didn't help. I guess it's not a LEGO IN. I want 2D to be some sort of reverse Oreo. ANTIOREO? But LIVELY has to be right. White Russians are an example of what? Cocktails, ethnic Slavs, things the Dude likes, Caucasian subject of Putin, supporters of the czar .. OMG ... CZARISTS fits. Let me try that for a while.
So, after figuring out CZARISTS while writing my above comment, I got a few more and then gave up for real, doing the thing I do when I give up which is rapidly filling in the blanks with things that sort of fit, even if misspelled or very dubious answers. It may please some people to know that I stuck BAD THING in for demerit in that way, and SEACREST for the radio guy even though I was pretty sure he was one of the pretty people, so unlikely to be on radio. I was very surprised not to have either marked wrong when I finally hit the check puzzle key. I think Lewis is right about being Zen and not thinking too hard.
Byron Walden. I’m going to remember that name. What a tough puzzle!
CHEAPLY GUARDS AMISS
UHOH, NEEDISAYMORE about IT,
or DRONE ON TO UPSET those SKEWED dumb?
Any HOSER who DARED without IT
knows IN A RAINCOAT IT’s hard TOCOME.
--- GUIDO PRYOR
DNF. How in the world is "Intend" morphed into HOPE? Horrible clue.
Wordle birdie.
After yesterday's world record of writeovers, plus today's new world record of writeovers, I am now fluent in Egyptian hieroglyphics or runes, perhaps both. But I completed both correctly. HUZZAH!!!
My brain hurts.
The grade school xword clue/answer for 1D was diabolical. I loved it!
I hated every bit of this grid. Nothing intuitive to me at all. Thoroughly unpleasant. HOSER, GUIDO, WALLE, CROCI, TOYCON,HOMECOOK such junk fill.
A Thousand thumbs down on this.
Extremely difficult IMO. Inkfests everywhere. Intend = mean, right? Wrong. HOPE is wish. Azimuth is nor ARC to me, and I used to do a lot of surveying. Cinderella 'story' would be a BIGUPSET, not a calling card, though. Before I tried downs, Bongos were the beatnik accessory, but MEDIOCRE a gimme, inkfest there. Headscarfed? What a stretch but now believable. ZOMBIEs and vampires not an adult thing - grow up. I could go on . . .
Wordle birdie.
No he doesn’t. Rex refers to the clue. Heart has a short a, but how do we get that from “Black Heart?”
I’ll say it out loud, this puzzle stunk. Terrible. Awful. It was a huge demerit if that makes sense. Which it doesn’t.
Post a Comment