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Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (much more like a Saturday than a Friday)
Word of the Day: ANNO mundi (18A: ___ mundi) —
Anno Mundi (from Latin "in the year of the world"; Hebrew: לבריאת העולם), abbreviated as AM or A.M., or Year After Creation, is a calendar era based on the biblical accounts of the creation of the world and subsequent history. Two such calendar eras have seen notable use historically:
- Since the Middle Ages, the Hebrew calendar has been based on rabbinic calculations of the year of creation from the Hebrew Masoretic Text of the Bible. This calendar is used within Jewish communities for religious purposes and is one of two official calendars in Israel. In the Hebrew calendar, the day begins at sunset. The calendar's epoch, corresponding to the calculated date of the world's creation, is equivalent to sunset on the Julian proleptic calendar date 6 October 3761 BCE. The new year begins at Rosh Hashanah, in Tishrei. Anno mundi 5784 (meaning the 5,784th year since the creation of the world) began at sunset on 15 September 2023 according to the Gregorian calendar.
- The Byzantine calendar was used in the Eastern Roman Empire and many Christian Orthodox countries and Eastern Orthodox Churches and was based on the Septuagint text of the Bible. That calendar is similar to the Julian calendar except that its reference date is equivalent to 1 September 5509 BCE on the Julian proleptic calendar.
While both calendars reputedly counted the number of years since the creation of the world, the primary reason for their disparity lies in which underlying biblical text is chosen (the Earth seems to have been created roughly around 5500 BCE based on the Greek Septuagint text, and about 3760 BCE based on the Hebrew Masoretic text). (wikipedia)
• • •
I was miserable solving this puzzle (because of the NW) until SILENT DISCO came along and put a big smile on my face (30A: Dance party where participants wear wireless headphones). After a few stray answers up top (only ELS, ALEXA, NO TIP, and a wrong APSE), I *finally* got traction in the middle of the grid (bizarre place for me to start). Like a true crossword stalwart I got going via an old standby: OHM (21A: Resistance). Is "resistance" involved? Is it three letters? It's OHM. There are certain (OK, very many) things I know solely from crosswords, and this is one of them. So I went OHM to HSN (Home Shopping Network) to LASSIE to EDIE to TIMOR to IMS, and then, after ALEXA and NO TIP gave me APPLY TO, I dropped in LEO. With that terminal "O" in place, I finally looked at the long Across running through all that center area I'd just filled in, and SILENT DISCO leapt right out. There were more such wonderful long revelations to come. Like when I realized that [Bugs, informally] had nothing to do with wiretapping or animated bunnies or annoying people, but literal insect-type bugs: CREEPY CRAWLIES! And COMMIT TO THE BIT—another long answer that got a "nice one" out of me. Real "D'oh!" moment when I stared down ALLOP- and could not conceive of how that could be the beginning of a "question" (26D: Question for the naysayers). ALLOP...ATHIC medicine. I'm pretty sure I even broke it into ALL and OP- and still couldn't see "ALL OPPOSED!?" Anyway, good answer there. The longer answers all glow, but CREEPY CRAWLIES, COMMIT TO THE BIT, and SILENT DISCO were definitely my favorite. All that and a SWANKY SPY SHIP! Many themelesses skimp on the marquee answers—not this one. This one GOES BANANAS.
Further notes:
- 6A: Chaise alternative (BANC) — this is a type of seating, I gather. "BANC" is Fr. for "bench." Yet another way in with the N/NW was a thicket—when short / not particularly attractive answers are really slowing you down ... I can't say that's the ideal solving experience.
- 8D: Policy in a restaurant that pays a living wage, perhaps (NO TIP) — You can have a NO-TIP policy, but the policy itself is "NO TIPS," plural. Clue should've made the answer adjectival ([Like a policy etc...])
- 16A: Fade from use (GO OBSOLETE) — so hard to parse without massive help from crosses (which, as we've established, were not helping much). GOOB is a funny answer-opener. I didn't have any idea about CABOOSES at first (4D: They bring up the rear), so no "B," so no hope at GO OBSOLETE. Needed the terminal -LETE before I had any kind of shot. [Note: GO OBSOLETE and GOES BANANAS sharing the same grid, maybe not ideal, kinda dupey, kinda same/same, but they're both such nice answers that I am inclined not to care]
- 17A: "Das ___ der Deutschen" (Germany's national anthem) (LIED) — yeeeesh, I'm not sure crossing the "D" in TEDX with the German word for "song" is the best idea, esp. when LIED is an ordinary English word. I honestly spent a few beats staring down the blank square at LIE- / TE-X; I knew that LIEB was a German word ... and then TEL-X seemed like it might be some "online" franchise ... but then I remembered TED Talks, and that TEDX was a thing, and then the "D" made total sense (recognized LIED as a real German word immediately). If you crashed and burned here ... I feel for you, and I'm sorry.
- 49D: Cardigan, e.g. (KNIT) — oof. Had the "T" and wanted VEST. Then got the "K" and wanted ... KILT. Well, I didn't want it, but that's all that came to mind. But what we've got here is KNIT in noun form. OK!
- 36A: Nickname alternative to Coby, perhaps (JAKE) — really? I have no idea why people are called what they're called, so this made no sense to me (these are nicknames for “Jacob,” I suppose). I had JACK in here at some point (from "Jacoby"?). There are so many great JAKEs out there. I had to endure some reality TV guy's name ("Below Deck"? LOL, what?); couldn't you at least throw me a nice meaty JAKE to make it up to me? A nice Gyllenhall, or detective JAKE Gittes from Chinatown, or even a JAKE from State Farm?
- 29D: They're about a foot (TOES) — I entertained and then discarded TOES as an answer because "about" means "around" (as in "encircling" or else "all around, here and there"), and if your TOES are truly about your foot, then ... ARE YOU OKAY? You should probably see a doctor. They should all be toward the front, facing forward.
See you next time.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Insomnia has me in its clutches but at least it’s only 2:40 AM out here in northern CA. The clues drove me nuts. Many felt as I f they were trying so Hard to be devious that they didn’t make a lit of sense.
ReplyDeleteAnd then there’s me being dense. Someone please explain why “Basilica sight” is ICON. A Basilica itself could be an ICON. What dis I miss? And thank you.
NOON was what finally got me started in the NW, (@Rex, it’s a “high” point - maybe on a clock with hands - as in “high NOON”) which was the last section to fall.
The material does not the cameo make, the carver makes a cameo from some sort of material which could be ONYX. Perfect example of a clue that needed help which help the editorial staff missed. Another clue just trying too hard is the one for LOO. Yep, St. Pauls is on London and the “head” in England is the LOO, but must all the names for toilet/restroom appear so frequently?
I though check needed another word or two for it to mean TEST. Is a BOLO a true “cousin” of a machete just because it is a weapon even though it has no blade and is not used similarly? Trying too hard.
Direct = POINT BLANK? Really?
Enough. I thought the puzzle as conceived had good ideas and could have been a really solid Friday, but it needed editorial assistance that was absent. This lack of editorial polish dis a massive disservice to the constructor.
Icon = painting of a holy figure, thus would be hanging in a basilica.
Delete@CDilly52, the BOLO you're referencing is actually a bola. Bola is the sling like weapon. BOLO is the machete like knife. I had to wait for the cross on that last vowel to be sure.
Delete“Robb” is spelled like that, so I wasn’t able to fill in Arya (my first thought) until I had some downs, so I didn’t treat it as a gimme (might have gone quicker if I had)
ReplyDeleteAnd Bran Stark.
DeleteI’m 100% here for the trickier or more evasive clues. I had a very similar experience as Rex w/r/t getting some toeholds. But then it moved along smoothly. A good feeling after initial resistance!
ReplyDeleteI don’t see GOBANANAS as synonymous with “Snaps.” Isn’t GOBANANAS usually used as I’m “Go wild” or “Act in a frenzy”? Like, “The kids are going to go bananas with all these Christmas gifts.”
D
DeleteI agree with your first paragraph
But you might not use go bananas as a synonym for go crazy but many do. The clue is fine
I am glad to see Rwx is finally giving credit where credit is due to someone who really brought puzzles into the modern age even if he did not then evolve as fast as Rex thought he should. Best to Will during his recovery and hoping he is able take back the helm if he would like to otherwise happy retirement to someone who is so gracious in all he does.
ReplyDeleteWhat she wrote re credit and what OFL wrote to a word —first time in a decade I would have written exactly the same commentary as OFL.
DeleteThank you for this gracious comment. There is way too much snark in the comments section. The puzzle is supposed to be fun and relaxing.
DeleteMark, boo hoo. There’s actually too much ***scolding*** in the comments, too many comments on comments (including this one!). You be you, let others be others.
DeleteRex, those TOES are about your foot because they have been cut off (with a BOLO?) to make TOE POKE. (That’s two straight days of good TOE gags from Rex. COMMIT TO THE BIT!)
ReplyDeleteFelt like a Saturday to me, too, but I liked it. Did not think I’d see the day when Rex was pining for Will’s return. In the past he’s been ALL OPPOSED to the editor. ARE YOU OKAY?
Things don’t “go” obsolete. They become obsolete. They “go” out of style.
ReplyDeleteI’ve been reading Rex daily for at least five years now and can probably count on one hand the number of times he has really struggled with a puzzle - so I had no chance. It was as if I got obliterated by a snow plow. The thing that felt unusual for me is that a lot of the grid plainly has Rebecca’s DNA all over it (in the good sense). Rex may be on to something with his hypothesis that there may have been a potentially pretty stellar puzzle in there that was done in by the heavy-handed editing. It’s almost like there’s a “Tale of two puzzles “there.
ReplyDeleteI would prefer to struggle with the corny, not-quite-perfect clue for TOES, which is at least discernible, instead of bumping into a section like the SE for example where you have ETNA crossing ARYA crossing HENNA. Rex alluded to it, but he has more leeway because he’s such an experienced solver - but when you get to the weekend where everything is tough, solvers like myself really need some help from the crosses. If you’re just going to load up your grids with ANNO MUNDI’s with the philosophy that “It’s Friday, they’ve seen it before”, then a bunch of us are basically being disinvited from the party.
Wow, it’s so rare that I can read Rex and say “me too!” over and over and over again (like, I don’t think it’s ever happened - he’s miles ahead of me in speed, general knowledge, xword knowledge, everything maybe except Game of Thrones). But today was that day - I put in apse and considered nave, I put in spare, etc. Very similar solving experience. But because I’m less good at these things, they tend to not bother me like they bother Rex - I just kinda feel like it’s my middling crossword skills causing my frustration and slow progress. But, man - that NW was way tougher than the rest of the grid - the last to fall.
ReplyDeleteNot sure how Rex defines this as one of the best grids he’s seen - it’s rough all around. His critique of the cluing voice is spot on - add useless and INANE short stuff everywhere and it was a grind.
ReplyDeleteThings “become” OBSOLETE - you can’t change these phrases to fit. Liked the LIONS SHARE - ALL OPPOSED stack especially crossing ESPRIT - but the entire corner gets ruined with short garbage.
Why start a Friday with 1d? JAKE? Below Deck is what?
At least there were enough gimmes to make the solve quick enough.
The Long RYDERs covering NRBQ
I love her puzzles.
ReplyDeleteAfter struggling all week with the new administration's cluing, this one went like a song, although I did get held up in the NW corner. Such lovely long answers.
Hooray for Rebecca!
I share @Iris’s dislike of GO OBSOLETE. And today I’m feeling Rexier than Rex, because the GO/ GOES dupe really bugged me. Otherwise, a fine Saturday puzzle a day early.
ReplyDeleteOh, the longs today, the luscious longs! There are 14 of them – answers eight letters or more – every single one of them pleasing. Oh, lovely shorts too – ON ICE, MOXIE, ESPRIT, ENOKI, HENNA.
ReplyDeleteAll smoothly woven into a low-count 70-word grid. It takes great skill to pull this off – the first-rate assembly and the beauty – without a hitch.
Then, for icing, there’s the freshness. Six NYT debut answers that are so, so good: ALL OPPOSED, COMMIT TO THE BIT, CREEPY CRAWLIES, GO OBSOLETE, SILENT DISCO, and SPY SHIP. Wow!
And the Goldstein wit, cluing UNO as the last countdown word before “Feliz año nueve!” – chef’s kiss!
Not to mention, a sweet serendipitous cluster: That O-sash from the NW corner to the last letter of ANNO, crossing the marvelous dook GOOBSOLETE.
All these were my highlights today. Rebecca. Seeing your name atop a puzzle always sets off a spontaneous cheer inside, where I actually smile. What stole my heart about your puzzle today was its shimmering answer set. Brava and thank you!
Exactly what OFL wrote. The editing has eroded to a point where the fun leeched from the puzzle. It was only some of the long answers and this blog that kept me from simply stopping and turning to something more pleasurable —like reading about politics—my least favorite activity. I know it is on the job training but can’t he find a mentor or someone to consult with , like OFL. The upside: silent disco (although disco is dead), creepy crawlies, goes bananas and committ to the bit. On a personal note , thanks for getting me through MSk with the blog —truly is the best medicine. Life is good.
ReplyDeleteOur host's description of starting the puzzle was a mirror image of mine. OHM and HSN were the first gimmies and I even remembered what the HSN initials stood for. The difference for me is I enjoy enhanced difficulty in any puzzle. The cluing of late has been great. The more SPIN/SLUE they can put on the clues for this old crosswordese the better and the more enjoyment I get out of discovering an entry like GOOBSOLETE or SILENTDISCO.
ReplyDeleteI dnfed with LIEB/LIED. I didn't like the look of TEBX so when I got the "so close" notification I knew I'd put in the wrong consonant. LIED looks very German also and the second I got the congrats for it I then recognized TEDX but a dnf is a dnf.
Much better luck with the SB....
yd -0. QB27
Started out kind of hopeless but ended up liking it, though Saturday-hard. The misdirection on short stuff just made me drop it and come back several times after letting the brain rest or process or whatever. Last was the GoT character name because I relied on crosses and wanted the Sephardic wedding ceremony to be HONEY, which it is a wedding ceremony but Persian.
ReplyDeleteGood tricky clues as for UNO hardened it up, but not unfairly, I think. The shiny long answers probably saved it--it earned the right, which many do not if they are only too-tricky without paying off with great longs.
That’s funny. My first utterance upon completing the puzzle was “what a slog” and then “I bet Rex also thought it a slog”.
ReplyDeleteNice effort by NYT for a Friday. The only thing separating it from a Saturday puzzle was the fairly straightforward cluing.
ReplyDeleteThe comment about every clue needing to be original is part of why I find Joel's editing tenure so awful so far. That and a complete inability to balance puzzles at all (yesterday with the Monday-level West and Saturday-level East was an example). I was also feeling ready for Will to move on, but if this is the future we're moving into, yikes. There has to be some way to send feedback on this, right? Games is a huge part of the NYT and right now Joel is ruining the marque game.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with @Areawoman 6:50 regarding Will. The puzzles haven't been the same without him. As I've said before, I wish him well & a speedy recovery 🙏🏻
ReplyDeleteBe back later when I've done (or not) the puzzle.
(I usually skim the comments early).
Got all the long down answers but didn't have a clue in the SE. Just too hard for me there. Don't understand how JAKE is an alternate nickname with Coby. Without the letter "J" I couldn't come up with Jane Eyre.
ReplyDeletePluralizing LOL is simply unfair. "Laugh out loud(s)"??? That's worse than crosswordese. Don't know what to call it.
I knew Rex would like this puzzle because of all the woosh-whoosh long answers! I got hung up for a bit by putting in CHE for 21A ‘resistance figure’ and CREEPY CRAWLERS.
ReplyDeleteLooks like today's publish completes Rebecca's Sunday-Saturday cycle, in less than 2.5 years. Impressive, and not at all surprising. Love the diversity in her puzzles, and there's always something to learn.
ReplyDeleteJAKE is an ICON, and those clues were great. Ok I LIED, they were INANE, LOLS. Also KNIT. I feel for the newer solvers who struggled with this one. I've seen ONYX clued that way before in another puzzle; BOLO, OHM, EDIE, ARYA. Without crosswordese, this would have been a DNF for me.
Great puz and writeup, thanks!
ReplyDeleteRe: GO OBSOLETE
We took our granddaughter Lianna to the Museum of Natural History in NYC a few years ago. During the obligatory stop in the gift shop to get her something, she suggested we also get something for her siblings, Zoey and Leon. Good idea! We bought them each adorable stuffed dinosaurs. But I failed to notice that the stitching was coming out on Leon's. By the time we gave it to him that night, it had gotten pretty bad. Oh, no!
I told him I'd be in the city the next day and would exchange it for a new one. I returned the next day with the bad dinosaur, and showed it to the woman behind the counter along with my receipt. She told me to select a new one. I found one with excellent stitching and placed it on the counter. Then I looked up at her and said: It's no wonder they've gone extinct.
I got absolutely no response. Zip. Nada. These museum women are a tough breed.
Can't remember a time when so many of us have read OFL and said "Spot on!". Me too. Original cluing is one thing but deliberate obfuscation is another. I mean, really.
ReplyDeleteActually had a good start with ONICE leading to CABOOSES but things slowed drastically soon after. Major Doh! when UNO finally showed up, said the retired Spanish teacher.
Never heard of COMMITTOTHEBIT, and GOBERSERK fits nicely for GOBANANAS, but is not helpful. Both BANC and chaise are French at least, sort of knew LIED for "lieder" and actually have heard of a BOLO knife, so at least there wss that.
Also agree with the Saturdayness of this one.
Very nice Friday indeed RG. Really Gorgeous long answers that deserved better clues. Thanks for all the fun.
I had PLAYS instead of PLOYS even though ANYX didn’t make any sense. ONYX didn’t really, either, but at least it’s a word, and apparently cameo jewelry is a thing. Now I know. Scoured the grid for my mistake for way too long before finding it; I guess that’s what I get for solving in the morning before my brain is functioning.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. My first entry was CABOOSES, then nothing until OHM. Kept thinking it was hard, and then one of the terrific longs would suddenly pop, even SILENTDISCO, which was news to me. Things I didn't enter until I had confirmation turned out to be correct every time.
ReplyDeleteOverwrite: GOESBerserk before GOESBANANAS, which I think is more accurate for "Snaps". Bananas just sounds wild and crazy in a mostly fun way, but snaps implies the release of pent up rage...
Hey All !
ReplyDeleteAgree on toughness. Had to Goog for the German national anthem, because German national anthem.
Had to Check Puzzle today, ruining another mini-Streak. I believe it was actually a typo, had ANLO/ICOL. Oof.
Short and sweet. I have to GOOB. Har.
No F's (SOBS, in both sense of the word 😁)
RooMonster
DarrinV
Great puzzle
ReplyDeleteThis felt challenging to me while I was solving, and yet I actually completed it a little under my average time. There were so many cool answers (CREEPYCRAWLERS; SILENTDISCO; TEDX) that the puzzle was an absolute joy.
ReplyDeleteI thought the cluing was absolutely fine. I expect a bit of misdirection when Friday rolls around.
Here is my question: How does checking a box "prove" that I'm not a robot? Maybe I'm just a super smart robot who knows I need to check a box.
Totally agree. This played like an easy/medium-ish Saturday puzzle. My solve time reflected the same. And I agree that the puzzles have felt a bit clunky in Will’s absence. I did enjoy this puzzle, though, and was happy to have a Friday offer some resistance. Feel like the puzzles have been very easy of late. I don’t mind the challenge. However, I do want the whoosh. Tough to ask for both, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI guess Rex didn't pay attention when he took physics in high school. He says that he learned OHM from crosswords.
ReplyDeleteNice to be reminded of Red RYDER. I remember him from the radio show of the 40's. His sidekick was an Indian boy named Little Beaver. He would say, "You betchum, Red Ryder!"
A restaurant recently opened in the neighborhood with a NOTIP policy. They gave it up after a few weeks because of complaints. One of our top restaurants, Zuni Cafe, has gone NOTIP. The service has suffered because many of the veteran waiters have quit.
I liked the puzzle a lot. A lot of lively entries.
Judges sit on a BANC and people can sit on a chaise. Is that enough?
This played easy for me, I often can’t finish Fridays but completed this in half an hour. I found it enjoyable and can’t quite comprehend the criticism of the clueing overall - except crossing LIED and TEDX and the ridiculous COBY clue.
ReplyDeleteSeems I’m in the minority because this one played pretty easy for me (and I LOVED it). Strong millennial energy (I am a millennial).
ReplyDelete@B$ "How does checking a box "prove" that I'm not a robot?":
ReplyDeleteIt's actually kinda interesting but also kinda creepy -- it's a non-standard checkbox that's not only more difficult for a spammer to check in the first place (you can't just send a simple command to mark it "checked" but actually have to go through the process with a cursor), but it also tracks the exact timing of all your mouse movements of when and how you click it.
So if it gets clicked as soon as the page loads without any mouse movement? Robot. If there's a bunch of mouse movement but it's pixel-perfect identical to a previously submitted form? Robot. If it's a bunch of mathematically random movement? Robot. And so forth.
Whereas if the person has been gradually scrolling the page, and moves the cursor in regular "human" ways that don't precisely match anybody else's pixel-for-pixel and otherwise don't give away common signs up being simulated, then not a robot.
Wow, finally! I almost always find myself in deep struggle with a puzzle that takes me a long time, then come here and see that Rex considers the selfsame puzzle “ easy”. Today I finished ten minutes ahead of average, nearly a Friday record. Stunned. Is it because of what I had for breakfast? Did I wake up sharper?
ReplyDeleteI suppose it is just that this one time I found myself on the same wavelength as the constructor.
But I did do one thing differently: if an answer strikes me as not quite right, write it in anyway and change it if I have to later. I had some pretty good guesses that worked.
Eh, I rather liked it. I thought the cluing was just clever enough.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm supposed to learn something from these strained clues, and if I was, I appreciate where the sentiment originates, but I am afraid the lessons fell flat except for CODY as I may remember it comes from Jacob.
ReplyDeleteUg: BANC, PAT, the clues for PORE and LIED in the first two rows made it clear this wasn't going to win me over.
Not a pleasant solve for me, but a few winners: SILENT DISCO, GOES BANANAS, COMMIT TO THE BIT, MOXIE (my 38th favorite word), and CREEPY CRAWLIES (not -ERS) all made me smile.
One vying to win a Goobers eating contest is a GOOBSOLETE.
Tee-Hee: CABOOSES. BED TEST.
Uniclues:
1 Quiet place to snort cocaine in England.
2 Vote for the wrong guy.
3 Gift of carbohydrates for a sad one in Pudacherry.
1 SILENT DISCO LOO
2 EASE BANNER YEAR
3 ARE YOU OKAY NAAN
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: All of them these days. We know you're a big wig, but dear god, please log out. OVERSHARING VIP.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This is maybe the first time I’ve heard Rex say a nice thing about Will. Thank you for that. Will is wonderful at his job and I wish him all the best and I hope he gets back to work soon.
ReplyDeleteTook one hour and twelve minutes (plus 14 seconds) of all-out grinding, but solved without cheats or mistakes. No idea that SLUE meant "Turn on an axis." Loved CREEPYCRAWLIES, although tried to end it with -ERS instead of -IES.
ReplyDeleteLots of flat-out (good) guesses!
Very, very hard and no fun at all -- though I did finish it without cheats.
ReplyDeleteFirst you start me off with that who-she? OLGA woman and the strange clue for BOLO -- now a knife and not a tie. There's the DOOK-y GOOBSOLETE, fairly dripping with green paint.
But the worst thing up there is BANC. "Chaise alternative"? You're kidding right? Chaise is to BANC as silk is to sandpaper. As filet mignon is to MREs. As First Class is to steerage. A chaise is soft, inviting, padded and comfy. A banc is hard and unforgiving. The clue is completely off.
In the absence of Will Shortz, I sort of feel like a trapeze artist who's lost her partner. The new guy may be a good aerialist, but will he really be able to catch me when the chips are down? It's like my security blanket has been snatched away. I don't feel the same level of confidence attacking the NYTXW as I did only a few months ago. It could just be me -- but somehow, I sort of doubt it.
Puzzle Department: In WS's absence, your "test solvers" are more important now than ever before. Use the same ones you've always used and pay careful attention to whatever they tell you.
Reading the comments, I've just become aware of a deficit on my part: I didn't recognize Rebecca Goldstein's name when I checked the constructor credit before I started the puzzle. Where have I been? I thought this one was terrific - what a wealth of ESPRIT, from the entries like CREEPY CRAWLIES to the clues like that for the nay-sayers. I liked the touch of POINT BLANK connecting to JANE EYRE's direct: "Reader, I married him."
ReplyDeleteLike @Rex and others, I had no luck in the NW, so solved down the right side, using GOES BANANAS to edge my way into the middle; the crosses with IMS and SOBS gave me what I needed to zigzag my way to the finish at WEBB x BRER. New to me: COMMIT TO THE BIT and SILENT DISCO.
@mathgent 9:41 - I was floored by your comment because my husband from time to time will come out with "You betcha, Red Ryder!" Around these Midwestern parts, "You betcha" is heard all the time, but over the last 50-some years I never thought to ask him where he got the "Red Ryder." This is my LOL of the day :) Thank you for posting that detail.
Justice for Lee Rosbach, a great TV character and a well-known name for reality fans. I know it seems wild that crossword solvers could also enjoy such lowbrow pursuits, but I assure you we're out there.
ReplyDeleteI had nothing in the first four rows of across answers, then finally got to OHM. I did think of PAT, which could certainly mean glib, but the "overly" bothered me. I mean, any glib is too much, right? So I went on. Same thing with PORE--I thought of it, but then I thought maybe they're called stomas because they're different from pores in some fundamental way. so I went on again. German national anthem? I figured they'd dropped Deutschland Uber Alles after the war, but had no idea. Now I'm bemused that it's a song about a song.
ReplyDeleteLEO should have been a gimme, but I was thinking, "Nah, his name was Lev" without noticing that they're the same thing. D'oh!
Since nothing on the surface of the sea can lurk from satellites, I was looking for some kind of sub until the P from PONDS forced me to change. As for ARYA, I've never seen GOT (or read it either), but aren't the Starks a very large family?
Spin before SLUE, spiRIT before ESPRIT.... And I needed an Internet search for Merediz to get OLGA. That turned out to be the key to the puzzle, except for a final guess on the H in HENNA.
I think I did enjoy the challenge, all the same.
I have the greatest respect for this constructor, but that unfortunately does not give me any POINTs as far as solving the puzzle. Very tough slog from start to finish. Some of the clues/answers could have been in a foreign language and not made much difference. No idea what a SLUE meant or why JAKE is an alternative to Coby. When did things start to GO OBSOLETE? Why is a doctor who specializes in GE called a GI? Erasures: LOCAL YOKEL/COLOR, GOES BONKERS/BANANAS, BROTH/ENOKI, SPIN/SLUE, HODGEPODGE/IN DISARRAY, PLAYS/PLOTS/PLOYS.
ReplyDeleteYES BUT is a phenomena discussed in the classic “Games People Play” by Eric Berne. It’s easy to spot and I see it a lot in today’s politics. If you’ve never read Dr. Berne’s book, it’s old (1966) but still timely and very enlightening.
M.C.: Who's bird is going next in the longest migration contest?
ReplyDeleteContestant: My TERN! My TERN!
One who GOESBANANAS could soon GOOBSOLETE. GOOBSOLETE looks absurd. Like it should precede Covfefe.
I hadn't heard of SILENTDISCO, but I'm a big fan of Silent Arena Rock, where the bands wear headsets and the audience hears nothing.
Welcome to today's lecture on complex operations on multiple arrays. INDISARRAY, we have the set of all prime numbers. INDatARRAY, we have the set of all whole numbers. When we subtract the one from the other, we get only the numbers which are no longer in their prime! Hip, hip hARRAY! And that concludes this week's TEDX talk from egsforbreakfast.
Wonderful grid, Rebecca Goldstein.
GOES BANANAS...You were my first long answer. This does not bode well. Cluing, cluing and cluing...what have you done to me? I will so join @Nancy and sit on a chaise. I might need a GIS for my sore YESBUT after a BANC experience.
ReplyDeleteI'm holding hands with @Rex today and many of the rest of you. LOO? Why can't you at least be a skip to. LIED?...NAE. You need to wear wireless headphones for a SILENT DISCO? What is that? And so it went.
I wanted to finish because I like Rebecca's puzzles. I did finish but it took a long time. I managed a smile at CREEPY CRAWLIE. SOBS at seeing BRER Bear and not a rabbit. Such a long clue just for HENNA and another one for UNO.
End of my sad story. I don't know how to COMMIT TO THE BIT.
Medium. I too got off to a slow start with ONtap before ICE , plus me too for apse before ICON, and sofa before BANC, but the long downs were pretty easy and opened up the puzzle nicely.
ReplyDeleteDid not know LIED, ANNO, and OLGA.
Solid and just about right for Friday with some fine long downs, liked it.
Can't agree with RP and many of bloggers - felt like clues were great. Plenty of "whooshing" , just not from the NW.
ReplyDeleteI expect the NW to be tough in the latter part of the week, and usually skip through it quickly and come back to it later.
Favorite long down was
CREEPYCRAWLIES , which led to COMMITTOTHEBIT. NE downs were original and on the easy side
I found cluing fine for a Friday, but note the tricky ones were mostly close to each other in NW/N , so Rex's point has some merit
As a fan of Mahler's "Das Lied von der Erde", no problem with LIED, and clever cluing for that word. To balance that, I never watched Game of Thrones, so ANYA took a little extra work for me.
Thumbs up from me, and I hope tomorrow's is a little more challenging
@ Teleiotes Thank you for the explanation. Interesting, and also a little scary!
ReplyDelete@ Whatsername The given name is JACOB. The nicknames are JAKE (which I knew) and Coby, which was a new one for me.
I'm a bit surprised that so many fokks found today's puzzle on the tougher side. I went with acrosses, then downs, then acrosses agin, and each time I picked up one or two more answers. I had written SPIN for SLUE, so that was a bit of a sticking point, butotherwise it was an enjoyable exercise.
I also feel like folks are being a bit harsh on the interim editor. Maybe we need to take a colective breath and remember that he is doing the best he can, and obviously is not trying to deliberately make awful puzzles! Think about the time that your supervisor took ill and you were all of a sudden forced to take on a different role . . . .
I wondered about the Jake/Coby thing and then I thought of Jacoby Ellsbury, of Red Sox and Yankee fame.
ReplyDelete@Gary J.-Just got back from recycling my second truckload of flattened moving boxes. This day will come for you too, believe it or not.
This FriPuz definitely had some MOXIE. Invested many precious nanoseconds.
ReplyDeleteM&A went with a commit to the CRAWLERS.
staff weeject pick: IMS. Used to use this IBM database management system all the time, when I was still in the mighty workforce. BTW, the 3-letter weejects really helped M&A limp along on thru this solvequest. Got many precious footholds.
fave stuff: LOCALCOLOR. CABOOSES. POINTBLANK. GOESBANANAS. Wasn't real sold on them gone-bananas clues, tho.
Took m&e forever to get NOON and ALEXA, even tho I shoulda figured em out pronto. I blame OLGA/ANNO & BOLO/BANC.
Thanx for the challenge, Ms. Goldstein darlin. Primo puzgrid. Tough but mostly fair.
Masked & Anonymo2Us
**gruntz**
p.s.
ReplyDelete@pabloinnh: I can definitely identify with yer movin woes. That's why they call it The MOVE Word, I reckon.
We have moved out of two houses in the past ten years. Still have some of our movin boxes, tho -- needed em to hold all the stuff we kept that we probably shouldn'ta.
Is U still "innh"?
M&Also
p.p.s.s.
Was glad to just hear that @Bob Kerfuffle survived the NJ earthquake with no damage. Hope y'all had similar results, if U were in that line of fire.
@egs 11:13. When MGM decides to remake A Night at the Opera as Silent Arena Rock the disarray scene will fit in for the contract scene perfectly. Laughed my ass off.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I usually enjoy Rebecca's puzzles, I didn't have my mind on this one - so I'll blame that on my bed & laptop shaking due to the earthquake (!) here in NYC.
ReplyDeleteIs there some place where one can find out first hand who, constructor or editor, is responsible for any given clues? Must be because I see lots of comments today confidently blaming the editor for lots of the clues. Or maybe you folks are following crossworder Tyler Hinman's dictum that if you like a clue, give him credit and if you don't like a clue, blame the editor.
ReplyDeleteThe longest train I ever saw
Went down that Georgia line
The engine passed at six o'clock
The CABOOSE went by at nine
Loretta Lynn - "In the Pines"
Uh yeah, Red RYDER, this is the cotton mouth
In the Psycho-Billy Cadillac come on, huh, this is the cotton mouth
And negatory on the cost of this mow-chine there Red RYDER
You might say I went right up to the factory
And picked it up, it's cheaper that way
Johnny Cash - "One Piece At A Time"
For "They bring up the rear" I had CAT POSES. For a long time. I was sad to delete it.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought was DOG POSES but yours is better ~RP
DeleteMe too! Came here to see if anyone else had that. Also had GOESBONKERS that made a partial of CROW for bugs... Thought it might be CROWFOOD or something
DeleteGreat Puzzle! Hard to get a sure foothold, and tough sledding throughout, so finishing it felt like an accomplishment. Medium Challenging here too.
ReplyDeleteI had a funny miss when I went with CHE for the resistance figure. That didn't help me unlock the top. Thank you, Rebecca Goldstein, I'll look forward to your next one.
"I'm about a foot today."
ReplyDelete"About a foot of what?"
"TOES."
"Huh? TOES? ARE YOU OKAY?"
"YES, BUT..."
"Well, your TOES must be IN DISARRAY."
[SOBS] "NAE, but does that POINT BLANK APPLY TO JAKE, OLGA, ALEXA, PAT, LASSIE, LEE, LEO, JANE EYRE, Red RYDER, James WEBB, ARYA, EDIE, and Ernie ELS, too?"
"Yes, that's the LION'S SHARE."
For Anoa Bob: I once submitted puzzles on a regular basis. When I met Will Shortz at the tournament in Stamford, I asked him whether the constructor's clues are used in the puzzle. He replied, "Some. I change most of them."
ReplyDeleteWhether that's still true in his absence, I don't know.
Google results:
ReplyDelete"become obsolete" - About 8,480,000 results (0.70 seconds)
"go obsolete" - About 239,000 results (0.38 seconds)
You nailed it Rex! I was quite frustrated by the consistently gnarly clues; why oh why clue LIED that way? (I knew it from Kindertotenlieder = Dead Children Songs). It seemed like such a slog; I was surprised I actually finished in medium time of 17 minutes. But after finishing, I realized: actually there were a lot of great answers here! Only the clues were annoying.
ReplyDeleteFor58 across "Helter-skelter", looking at INDIS-R--- all I could think of was INDISCREET! Or mayber even INDISCRETE.
[Spelling Bee: 2 day QB streak, at last! Puzzlehoarder, I'm not gonna catch you.]
@M&A-Yep., still in NH. Moved about 300 yds. north of our condo to another condo in the same complex. The new one gives us one-floor living which is a bonus. Still trying to cram our last big house's contents into a condo though, which always makes me think of the word "blivit", if you're familiar with that concept.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that insight @Bob Mills. When I first got a few puzzles published, many of the clues, probably around 50%, were changed by editors. As I got more experience more of my clues made the cut. This is Rebecca Goldstein's 15th puzzle in the NYT so with that kind of experience I would bet that many of the clues are hers.
ReplyDeleteBut my point is that without direct knowledge, how can we know for sure which ones are hers and which ones are the editor's. That's why when I'm commenting I always give any credit or blame to "the puzzle".
Wow, Rex praising Will? Maybe the upcoming eclipse really is an omen!
ReplyDeleteThis was a delayed whoosh for me. As for others, not a whole lot to show for first half doing acrosses only. Way more satisfying to finish when it starts out challenging.
ReplyDeleteAs for the editing, I don’t see a consistent heavy hand in the process. I wonder if the constructors’ unedited voices are coming through more. I am actually enjoying having to think in different ways - as a regular solver, I see through most of the regular tricks and ruses to the point where I have to think about what they’re not trying to get me to answer.
As for the days of the week, it is good to mix it up. Doing the NYer reminded me that my brain is capable of working on a Monday. Speaking of which, what is up with the late week small puzzles lately that don’t show up in the archive section?
@anonymous and @Puzzlehoarder, thanks for the answers. I assumed that the ICON refereed to religious art but still think the clue was awkward and that’s 100% on me.
ReplyDeleteThe BOLO/bola distinction is nee to me and I live learning new things! All I know about knives is that I adore the Wusthof set in my kitchen (I may have misspelled that). This kind neighborhood of generous folks always entertains and teaches me things every day. Thanks again.
Again I may be biased because I thought the puzzle was fairly easy, clearly in my wheelhouse. But if it is hard for many, what’s wrong with an occasional tough Friday?
ReplyDeleteSome of Rex’s nits I really don’t understand. en BANC has appeared before in reference to a “bench” of judges. I am positive BOLO has appeared as a knife before. A hard clue maybe but is it really that obscure? Rex seems to be saying is that most of the short words on a Friday should be easyish. I don’t agree.
I didn’t have a clue about Olga either but at least it a fairly common name. And I am sure someone would complain if nave or apse appeared, saying they’re too easy for a Friday!
One point Rex didn’t make was his usual nit that el refers to the train and ell to the letter. He also didn’t complain about the commercial Alexa. Maybe he had run out of complaints in the NW?
Super whooshy for me. *shrug*
ReplyDeleteMade it through without help, but many stumbles along the way. I was going to write ohm for resistance figure but for 14 down I began with “take it to the___” so I changed ohm to Che as in Guevara. And that held me up.
ReplyDeleteI just want to say, as someone who took ten years of German and has to endure every time of day and version of "TO BE" in Spanish, French, and Italian.... I have very little sympathy here, Rex! I was giddy to see a German answer that wasn't just DER, DIE or DAS. The best (raunchiest) parts of English have their roots in German - let's embrace it more, please!
ReplyDeleteMy brother’s name is Coby and I have literally no idea what this JAKE business is about.
ReplyDelete@schwa you made the blog slog worth the trek today. Off early today for a trail building project, so I only had time to blaze through Rebecca’s grid (with a couple cheats……embarrassingly for L?LS which I now see should have been a giffen). Kudos too for @Live Prof’s sharing the museum visit. OFL, NYTXW staff & the variety of great constructor may be the meat & potatoes, but the commentariat are the plums in my pudding.
ReplyDeleteAnother day, another NAE…
ReplyDelete…at least the cluing was merely awkward-but-mostly-defensible this time, as opposed to the usual flat wrong treatment of NAE as if it were merely Scots for “nay”.
I also plunked in APSE immediately…and when it turned out to be ICON instead, I wondered, “why a specifically a basilica if you’re not going for an architectural angle?”
Latin teacher here with a Ph.D in the subject, truth be told. I've never seen ANNO mundi in my life. i was able to suss it out, but come on. I speak German and lived in Germany. DAS LIED is something I guess I have heard somewhere and could guess from DAS, but again . . . come on. Who is this puzzle for? The ridiculous trivia is . . . well, exactly that. SILENT DISCO? Really? No smile on this face. I remember how weird the people seemed doing it when i was an undergraduate. No one joined them. Never heard of SLUE either. Cardigan as a knit? I tried LORD at first because I figured that's how obscure the trivia was. I went for APSE at first too. And JAKE? And the captain from BELOW DECK? RED RYDER? Sephardim have a HENNA ceremony? All so totally random, too random.
ReplyDeleteA rare day when I think I found things easier than Rex, as this played as a normal-easy Friday. But if COMMIT TO THE BIT had not come in so fast, I can see where I might have struggled a lot more.
ReplyDeleteBOAT in the corners. Agree with Rex. Things have been INDISARRAY since Will Shortz’s absence.
ReplyDeleteYESBUT NO
ReplyDeleteALLOPPOSED just say, “NAE!”,
if YOU ARE INDISARRAY.
YOU COMMITTOTHEBIT,
or GO sit ON KNIT,
POINTBLANK, YOU ARE not OKAY.
--- EDIE RYDER
I think I just set a personal world record for writeovers in one puzzle.
ReplyDeleteBiggest obstacle was in the SW wasting many nanoseconds having spiRIT before ESPRIT and ole before UNO. Also in the S with some CREEPYCRAWLerS first. But the LIONSSHARE filled in deliberately.
ReplyDeleteWORDLE eagle!!!!!
Very doable Friday, yet I almost came a cropper by writing CREEPYCRAWLerS instead of CRAWLIES. That ER really threw a monkey wrench into the SE for a while before I caught it. All's well, however, and we have a good one Birdie.
ReplyDeleteWordle par, lipped out bird try.
SILENTDISCO??? I do not ever want to see or hear of such a place. When will the techno madness stop?
ReplyDelete(I can hear some saying YESBUT...)
Diana, LIW