Saturday, April 20, 2024

Mysterious ancient geoglyphs in the Peruvian desert / SAT 4-20-24 / Dips, so to speak / Creatures inspired by George Lucas's dog / Whom King Tut's mummy was made to resemble / Littlest complaint, in an idiom / Old competitor of the Plymouth Barracuda / Chew the doors, e.g. / End of an overplayed pickup line / Pulitzer-winning playwright Suzan-___ Parks / Box in a cab

Constructor: Garrett Chalfin and Andrew Kingsley

Relative difficulty: Medium for the most part, but Challenging in one particular area


THEME: none 

Word of the Day: NAZCA LINES (30D: Mysterious ancient geoglyphs in the Peruvian desert) —


The Nazca lines (/ˈnɑːzkə//-kɑː/) are a group of geoglyphs made in the soil of the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. They were created between 500 BC and 500 AD by people making depressions or shallow incisions in the desert floor, removing pebbles and leaving different-colored dirt exposed. There are two major phases of the Nazca lines, Paracas phase, from 400 to 200 BC, and Nazca phase, from 200 BC to 500 AD. In the years leading up to 2020, between 80 and 100 new figures had been found with the use of drones, and archaeologists believe that there are more to be found.

Most lines run straight across the landscape, but there are also figurative designs of animals and plants. The combined length of all the lines is more than 1,300 km (800 mi), and the group covers an area of about 50 km2 (19 sq mi). The lines are typically 10 to 15 cm (4–6 in) deep. They were made by removing the top layer of reddish-brown ferric oxide–coated pebbles to reveal a yellow-grey subsoil. The width of the lines varies considerably, but more than half are slightly more than 33 cm (13 in) wide. In some places they may be only 30 cm (12 in) wide, and in others reach 1.8 m (6 ft) wide. [...] 

The figures vary in complexity. Hundreds are simple lines and geometric shapes; more than 70 are zoomorphic designs, including a hummingbird, arachnid, fish, condor, heron, monkey, lizard, dog, cat, and a human. Other shapes include trees and flowers. Scholars differ in interpreting the purpose of the designs, but in general, they ascribe religious significance to them. They were designated in 1994 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (wikipedia)
• • •

A properly hard Saturday that would've been reasonably enjoyable were it not for the way it ended. I kept expecting one particular answer to become clear as I got crosses, but that kept not happening. By the end, I had everything filled in except: 
  • everything NE of EROSION
  • the "NA" in NAZCALINES (which I was reading as one word, and which I really tried to make MEZCALINES) (little agave-flavored cookies?) (30D: Mysterious ancient geoglyphs in the Peruvian desert); 
  • the first letter in -AILS (31D: Dips, so to speak)
Which is to say that the real culprit was "BOOM! ROASTED!" (31A: Someone better call the fire department, because you just got burned!"). I can (now) imagine someone's saying this, but I had no idea this was something that could be a standalone phrase. The "BOOM!" part feels particularly ... ad-libbed or tacked-on or something. Like, "ROASTED!" would be enough, and you might say any number of things before it, like variants of "oh" or "ooh." In case the context for all this is not at all clear to you, both the clue and the answer are things one might say to someone who just got verbally humiliated by someone else. A third-party comment on a withering insult. My problem was that I was thinking of the clue as a type of thing one might say; that is, I kept treating the clue like it had an "e.g." after it, as if the answer were going to be the category of thing that the quotation belonged to. Or maybe I was looking for a word describing what happens when someone insults you like that. If someone roasts you on Zoom, have you been ZOOMROASTED? Roasted while doomscrolling ... DOOMROASTED?  It was only when I firmly told myself that "the answer is going to be a spoken equivalent of the clue" that I thought of "BOOM! ROASTED!" That would mean that 31D: Dips, so to speak would have to be BAILS. I reasoned that if you were bailing out a boat that was filled with water, you would have to "dip" your pail or bucket repeatedly into water in order to do so. So in went the "B" and "Congratulations!" went my solving software. It was only later, when contemplating how flimsy that BAILS clue seemed, that I realized that "Dips" (like BAILS) is slang for "leaves, departs." 


The modern slang of "Dips" crossing the modern slang of "BOOM! ROASTED!" ... that's a puzzle that's intentionally trying to exclude a whole (older, I guess) demographic. To be extra clear, the primary problem isn't the answers or clues themselves, it's the crossing. Anyway, the puzzle fizzled out for me at the end there as I wrestled with a slang phrase that didn't even end up seeming like a solidly standalone expression (although compared to HAD NO OOMPH, it looks rock solid, YEESHHAD NO OOMPH has big ATE A SANDWICH energy, although props for the tic-tac-toe win!). It's weird—the answer I didn't know at all (NAZCA LINES) didn't bother me one bit. That is, it didn't make me annoyed or upset or even terribly frustrated. I just figured it out from crosses, as one does sometimes. But "BOOM! ROASTED!" ... I dunno. The fact that I've kinda sorta heard it but that it feels forced and awkward as a standalone answer—plus the fact that it's Trying So Damn Hard to be cool—that, I found off-putting (if I google it and all I get are memes from "The Office," is it really cool, tho?). Thank god for WOOKIEES, or I don't know how I'd've gotten any real traction in the NE (getting absolutely no momentum coming out of the center of the grid)—although I will admit I tried to make George Lucas's dog into some kind of EWOK (EWOK BABY?) before remembering Chewy existed (10D: Creatures inspired by George Lucas's dog).


The rest of the puzzle ... happened. I think it was just a regular proper decent Saturday. Loved the idea of a FRIEND DATE at the LESBIAN BAR. Loved the SPOONERISM clue (52A: Chew the doors, e.g.). Wasn't sure "do the chores" was a particularly good standalone phrase—you do chores, or you tell your kid to "do your chores," but "do the chores" didn't quite hit my ear right. But the more I sit with it, the more I think it's fine; anyway, the cluing concept there is very clever. WARM FUZZIES is a lovely centerpiece, and BELCH under CRISPY BACON—thumbs up. Worst thing in the grid by far was ALIS (!?), which should've been clued via Muhammad and Laila and not as some godawful bit of Latin from a state motto, why, why would you do that? At least translate the Latin for people, come on.
The official English version of the motto is "She flies with her own wings" in keeping with the tradition of considering countries and territories to be feminine. However, because the feminine pronoun in the Latin sentences is often omitted and the verb form is not inflected for gender, the phrase could be translated with equal validity as "[one] flies with [one's] own wings", "[he] flies with [his] own wings", or "[it] flies with [its] own wings". (wikipedia)

Notes:
  • 1A: Napoleon had a large one (EGO) — please tell me you (too) tried HAT here (I also, weirdly, tried ERA)
  • 20A: Course addendum (SIDE) — "Course" as in "meal"
  • 29A: Littlest complaint, in an idiom (BOO) — "didn't say BOO (to anyone)" I guess? Yes. "BOO" in this context can mean really anything, but it refers to complaining, yes. Here's more than you'd ever want to know about the history of the expression, including its origins in the phrase "saying BOO to a goose"(!?).
  • 2D: '70s Ford (GERALD) — OK, that's clever. I had the "G" and wanted GTO ... something ... only to have GTO appear way on the other side of the grid (58A: Old competitor of the Plymouth Barracuda)
  • 21D: Bank worry (EROSION) — River bank, obviously
  • 27D: End of an overplayed pickup line (OFTEN) — as in "Come here OFTEN?" I could only think of four-letter answers to this one, namely SIGN and MINE. Has no one invented an overplayed pickup line since 1975?
  • 35D: Box in a cab (CB RADIO) — "Cab" here is not a taxi, or a wine, but the part of the tractor-trailer occupied by the driver. 
  • 43D: Get a running mate? (ELOPE) — death, taxes, and punny clues on ARSON and ELOPE. These are life's certainties.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

120 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:11 AM

    My problem was ALIS crossing GERALD. I took a wild guess and entered GERArD and ArIS. No good.

    BAILS and BOOMROASTED were not a problem for me as a millennial.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous6:25 AM

    Tough but enjoyable. BOOM ROASTED is one of the few things I put down with any confidence on the first pass.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:23 AM

      Same for me, and that was probably my favorite clue all year. So fun! I’m a solidly middle-aged mom so I don’t think this one is quite as alienating to us oldheads as @Rex makes it out to be.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous5:37 PM

      How old are your kids, though, because that’s a factor! Speaking as a solidly, middle-aged mom of tweens

      Delete
  3. Anonymous6:27 AM

    GERALD x ALIS was my last square. I knew the Latin phrase was something about flying and I could only think of APIS (bee) or AVIS (bird), both crosswordese.

    My brain goes into "overthinking themeless mode" on weekends - and I even did the Stumper earlier - so I somehow immediately thought of "Napoleon" as Animal Farm-related misdirection, and EGO went right in followed by OSIRIS. There were spots where my first instinct with the letters I had in place was correct but I didn't trust my guesses enough: COMFY from the C, OOMPH after HADNO, EMAILED from the M, and does WOOKIEES actually have two Es?

    BELCH is a word... and the clue has eating and drinking in it, I guess... but since it was clued as a proper name I didn't know, CBRADIO could've been a real NC WYETH moment for me. I had AMRADIO, then got CRISPY and remembered the initials CB from CBER (ugh) which was an answer in Byron Walden's puzzle from two weeks ago.

    I finished in an easy-medium Saturday time (a bit more easy than medium, I'd say), slightly faster than yesterday's solve. But I remembered OZAWA and also knew NAZCA LINES, so that helped.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous6:37 AM

    Something about this puzzle played very gendered for me. OFTEN clued as a pickup line, “finding” women at a LESBIAN BAR, going on a FRIEND DATE (which feels ickily adjacent to friend zone).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That’s interesting. Gendered in which direction? The only thing gendered there is the word “lesbian.” Plus, anyone is allowed to go to a lesbian bar, although the clue references women.

      More women and lesbians in crosswords, please!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous7:34 AM

      I believe the commenter meant the puzzle had a creepy dude vibe. They weren’t objecting to women/lesbians in the puzzle.

      Delete
    3. I got that drift. I just don’t see it, given the examples. Lesbians can say “Come here often?” too.

      Delete
  5. 59-y.o. here, so GERALD (loved that clue--clever misdirection) went right in after I got the G from EGO, but I got stuck at the same place OFL did--never heard Dips used to mean "leave" and was running the alphabet and the B was the first letter (since it definitely wasn't going to be "aOOM"). I hang out with a lot of people in their 20s and 30s, and I've never once heard any of them use the phrase "BOOM! ROASTED!" Feh.

    ReplyDelete

  6. 10D: Wanted it to be spelled WOOKkiES, which made 26A ROILS hard to see
    14D: paDS before BEDS
    27D: yours (as in "My place or yours?") before OFTEN. I need to spend more time in bars.
    32D: naB before RUB
    42D: ZestY before ZIPPY

    ALIS (23A), NAZCA LINES (30D) and Suzan-LORI Parks (44D) were WOEs

    And WTF is BOOMROASTED?!? Or rather, I know what it is after reading @Rex, but WTF is it doing in the puzzle?!?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous7:14 AM

    I had “hat” right until the very end - as a Brit I’ve never heard of a Ford Gerald, we had Escorts, Cortinas and Capris!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:24 AM

      Can’t tell if you’re serious but GERALD Ford was President of the United States of America

      Delete
    2. Anonymous7:38 AM

      I agreed completely with OFL except the 70s Ford was worth the cost of admission today. I was so trapped in my car mindset that even after I had the right fill, it still took me a few seconds to understand it meant the President and not a car—oops. I adore this type of misdirection , enjoy laughing at my self at times and it made me grin ear to ear. How could I not have thought of Gerald?

      Delete
  8. Totally thought 1a would be le ZOB. Nice puzzle - knew the Z’s stack (thank you NPR) and WOOKIEES/BORSCHT went right in. BOOM ROASTED was tough to parse and BELCH was a reach.

    Enjoyable Saturday morning solve. Lester Ruff’s Stumper is a far different grid layout and testy.

    Our Last Night

    ReplyDelete
  9. Some really clever clues, but then some things seemed off (HAD NO OOMPH, FRIEND DATE), and some definite WoEs (BELCH, LOS) that were unnecessarily clued as proper names.

    Why does the LESBIAN BAR clue have a question mark?

    I went with the leaky boat-related meaning for dips/BAILS, and see no reason to believe that is not correct.

    Yes, Rex, I had hat before EGO.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:01 AM

      The question mark is because of the double meaning of “out.”

      Delete
  10. Anonymous7:28 AM

    There’s a very popular episode/scene from The Office (American version) in which Michael Scott (Steve Carrell) insults everybody one by one and follows each line with “boom, roasted.” I’m not even a big Office fan and I was immediately familiar with the phrase.

    ReplyDelete
  11. For me, this puzzle highlighted that great genre of clue – the delayed reward clue – where you don’t get it on your first visit, but you get it with a BOOM on your second or third.

    That brings about an exultant “Hah!”, followed often by a spate of madly thrown-in answers off of the letters you just inserted. And suddenly you have a filled-in patch that was previously desert. One of the great Crosslandia moments.

    Then it happens again. Each of these elevates the mood, and for me, todays puzzle had a bunch. And, as the Beatles said, I feel fine.

    Just as a reminder, Garret, now in his first year at the University of Chicago, had Andrew as a teacher in high school, and this is their fourth NYT collaboration. It’s a warm fuzzy backstory that makes my heart smile.

    That center stack pulses with fresh energy – BOOM ROASTED and CRISPY BACON are NYT puzzle debuts, and WARM FUZZIES has appeared just once before. The same holds true for that stack in the NW, where LESBIAN BARS and FRIEND DATES are debuts as well. As a result, the grid is energized, filled with perk, absent of same-old.

    So, an ain’t-life-grand solving experience for me today. Garret and Andrew, you’ve got a good thing going, and may it continue – please! This was sterling, and thank you so much!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:28 AM

      <3<3 i agree with that second paragraph

      Delete
  12. Boom roasted is a famous line from The Office (American version).

    ReplyDelete
  13. I searched the net before reading Rex to get a sense what BOOM ROASTED was all about - it turns out to be not much. Struggled a lot there because BAILS v.v. Dips is about 50 years past my “slang” era (and I still don’t like RUB for “catch”).

    NAZCALINES next to OZAWA pretty much BOOM ROASTED that center section for me and it was party over at that point. I’m not proficient enough to cobble together enough Saturday crosses to back into NAZCA LINES, but they sound like they could be Egyptian Pyramid-like in their fascination potential. Investigating the backstory on those may be an interesting diversion later today.

    Rex pointed out an excellent example as to why the NYT will never consistently publish great puzzles - when confronted with a choice of cluing for a simple answer like ALIS, they opt for the arcane Latin Phrase (ditto for the math quizzes in Spanish) - it’s a tragic flaw that’s in their DNA. It’s similar to an excellent baseball player who just can’t hit a slider - try as hard as they may, the NYT will never make it above AAA ball for any length of time, although they obviously aspire to make it to the bigs. Sorry, “Alis volat propriis” is not how you get there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:42 AM

      “There’s the RUB!”—Hamlet

      Delete
  14. Anonymous7:35 AM

    Finished this a bit under average Saturday time after a ton of googling. Ended by running the alphabet (not too far at least) for the B at 31. Same thought as @RP for BAILED; no clue for BOOM ROASTED even after it was filled in.

    Immediately entered Galaxy at 2-Down, a fondly remembered family sedan from my youth. Turns out it was Galaxie; actually mainly a 1960s model, similar nameplate marketed more recently by Ford in Europe (thanks, Wikipedia!). Correct answer very clever for the clue IMO.

    webwinger

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous7:47 AM

    Old competitor of the Plymouth Barracuda - Barracuda was a 60’s, 70’s Pony car. Its Pontiac competitor would have been a Firebird (or Ford Mustang, Chevy Camaro, Dodge Challenger) not a GTO. Plymouth competitor of the GTO was the Road Runner. It doesn’t pay to know too much. It causes you to overthink the answer.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Fun Saturday, but when I saw Andrew's name I knew I would have trouble with the slang - had the same experience as Rex with "zoomroasted". A lot of Saturday fun.

    I've never heard of the Nazca desert nor it's lines, so NAZCALINES was completely filled in by crosses.

    Write overs included SHEAR instead of SHAVE, TINS instead of CANS, and NSA instead of LDS.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous7:53 AM

    NAZCALINES was the easiest entry in the puzzle for me. SPOONERISM took a little time to figure out, but I thought it was fun/clever. Didn’t know the spelling of WOOKIEES but got it via crosses.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous8:15 AM

    For 29 Down to use the clue “National Dish of Ukraine,” and then pick the Russian spelling, really threw and disappointed me.
    Yeah, BORSCHT is the more common spelling of the word. But, as someone who speaks Ukrainian, I initially entered BORSHCH. Nitpicky, I agree, but a better clue might have been “Slavic Beetroot Soup” etc

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous9:26 AM

      Actually, Borscht is the English name for it, not a transliteration of the Russian (which would be Borsch), so it it seems fair—and identifying it as Ukrainian is a subtle dig at the Russians, which I appreciate.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous8:28 AM

    My wife just told me that she currently has the WARM FANCIES and I can’t stop laughing ~RP

    ReplyDelete
  20. 22 minutes for us (father/Son team). Way easier than yesterday for me. The real Ford 70s trick was Galaxy vs GERALD. Cute one. Had the same struggles--BAILS, BOOMROASTED, NAZCALINES. Thank God I remembered that WOOKIEES had a double vowel there at the end somewhere, and thank God for somehow knowing there was a connection between BORSCHT and Ukraine.... great puzzle! Thanks Garrett and Andrew! --Rick

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous8:36 AM

    My first guess for end of a pickup line went back to college days: “So, what’s your MAJOR?”

    ReplyDelete
  22. Disagree about HAD NO OOMPH. I thought it was clued perfectly. With only the first H in place, I read the clue (“lacked pop”) and dropped in HAD NO OOMPH right away. It worked for me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:00 AM

      Exactly! Except I knew it had to be HAD NO punch.

      Delete
  23. And yes yes yes I so badly wanted it to be HAT instead of EGO. Way funnier.

    ReplyDelete
  24. HORRIBLE PUZZLE. Constructor and "editor" should be ashamed of themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous8:40 AM

    Surprised so many don’t know the Nazca Lines! Knew that one cold and it gave me one of my first footholds. I highly recommend researching them - they’re fascinating!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Having confidently written in cREAtING for 'bringing about' made it very hard to see the WARM FUZZIES, I kept trying to think of something Italian, cara pizza do, who knows. But Sir Toby BELCH and Emily Dickinson made me feel wanted in a way I haven't mostly, lately.

    ReplyDelete
  27. A Saturday that had me feeling smart and ignorant all at once. The NW was a breeze, the SW not bad--remembered Toby BELCH and knew NAZCALINES (pats self on back), but the SE was full of WTF's, viz., LORI, METH as clued, IMOVIE, and even APPLETINI, since I don't do cocktails. Had to be DOS or more probably LOS, and that finally did it, but YEESH.

    I remembered the odd spelling of WOOKIEES from previous puzzles, thank goodness, because RILES instead of ROILS was blocking everything in the NE. Didn't know if the squirrel was going to be a KIT or a PUP, but found out.

    Congratulations to all you youngsters who watch things like The Office and knew BOOMROASTED instantly. I'm with the BAILS like a boat crowd for the B. Logical guess.

    Nice crunchy Saturday, GC and AK. Got Caught feeling All-Knowing and realized there's still plenty of stuff to learn. Thanks for all the fun.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Bob Mills8:55 AM

    Finished it with one cheat (looked up NAZCALINES).

    Not a fun puzzle for me, because of all the hip-hop language. Never heard of BOOMROASTED, and how do BAILS and "dips" equate? WARMFUZZIES seemed natural from the clue, but has anyone ever used that phrase in conversation? Likewise with FRIENDDATES, which I guessed at correctly but don't consider a real thing. And the clue for LESBIANBAR suggested there was a bar somewhere reserved for lesbians, an/or that most women are homosexual. Ridiculous.

    I guess some puzzles aren't for everyone (does that mean I've been BOOMROASTED?)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous3:03 PM

      “Hip hop lines” 🫢😂

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:47 AM

      @Bob Mills

      i hate to burst your bubble but yes, gay bars exist. and women who are "out" drink there. i have no idea how you infer that "most women are homosexual" from that.

      Delete
  29. Anonymous8:56 AM

    Rex and the readers have said this too. The new regime at NYT crossword department seems to be going out of its way to make Friday and Saturday puzzles too hard. Re-clue belch to a more common use of the word. You could keep the cluing for bails then. Terrible crosses yesterday too.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Rex must not have a teenager in the house, hence “Boom, roasted” is unfamiliar to him. It’s definitely a thing, deployed on the regular against us, the older demographic (i.e., the parents). Sigh…

    ReplyDelete
  31. Never know whether the Rex Review is going to take the puzzle down for being too full of old x-wordisms or "tries to hard to be trendy." It's a hard needle to thread, that's for sure. As for me, my dominant impression was all manner of sparkling fills that were just hard enough to be satisfying. BOOM ROASTED wasn't a thing (woulda got OH SNAP! in a second--have we ever seen that in puzzle? It's time has probably come and gone), and I had no idea "dips" was slang for anything, but after running the alphabet I figured it must be the leaky boat and dropped in the B FTW. Bur there was plenty to make up for that being a teeny bit of a "meh."

    Huzzah for Sir Toby BELCH!

    ReplyDelete
  32. BOOM___ took me longer than it should have. I was trying to remember the viral 2011 rap battle line, Boom Bam Bap Bada Bap Bop Pow. Glad it wasn't a form of that. I'd hate to imagine all the old men(/women) yelling at clouds.

    Never seen ALIS before. From Google, ala: wing, volare: to fly, propius: one's own. He/She is flying with his/her wings. I've seen ALAR (having wings) quite a few times in the ancient NYTs, so that makes sense.

    Seiji OZAWA saved the day for me. Sad to learn he passed away a few months ago, age 88. RIP.

    Proper, challenging, and satisfying Saturday collab. Bravo, bravo!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous9:31 AM

    Yet another trivia filled proper noun fest from the NYT. The puzzle has seemed much more difficult due to obscure answers in the past few weeks.

    ReplyDelete
  34. I had BOOM TOASTED because I thought "TUB" was an okay answer for "catch," somehow. I did pause for a few seconds on that answer but roasted/toasted? BAH

    ReplyDelete
  35. Enjoy https://fb.watch/rzvu-l2yID/?startTimeMs=10000
    The Office Episode featuring “Boom Roasted”

    ReplyDelete
  36. Hey All !
    I work with a guy who is constantly yelling Boom Baby Boom! as he walks around. Very high energy fella. He also hugs everyone.

    Know of the NAZCA LINES, but apparently not how to spell them. Had NESCA in for a bit.

    Took a second to remember WOOKIEES. Thought of Chewbacca quickly, but then was like, "what is his group of creatures called?"

    Brain apparently woken today. Managed to get through this puz rather quickly, for me. Tough stuff it seems I would normally be stuck on, just seemed to come into view. Maybe it was the extra hour of sleep I got. (Side note: Woke up, looked at clock, said, "Ah, gotta get up, I'll just close my eyes for five more minutes and get up." Woke up again, looked at clock, it was one hour later. How does that happen?)

    Had to Goog BELCH. Who names their character that? I find it funny, of course, because I am not out of adolescence yet. 😁

    Variant of ASS in BOOTY, clued as such. Could've been a pirate thing. I guess ASS in all its variants is a must have at the Times. Gives them the WARM FUZZIES.

    Anyway, Happy Saturday!

    Three F's
    RooMonster
    DarrinV

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous6:07 PM

      “Boom, baby!” is a great recurring line from The Emperor’s New Groove, hilarious film.

      Delete
  37. Anonymous9:37 AM

    BOOM ROASTED makes me think of the Andy Samberg roast of James Franco where he turned the roast on himself. Now a classic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7Cc4F7Ayno

    ReplyDelete
  38. Google it. The Office Episode “Stress Relief” - Boom Roasted!

    ReplyDelete
  39. Anonymous9:57 AM

    But why does Wookiees have two Es?

    ReplyDelete
  40. Anonymous9:59 AM

    Never mind. It’s because the singular is Wookiee. Thanks, Rex.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Eliza9:59 AM

    Felt hard but took about my normal time. I had THEATERISMS instead of SPOONERISMS for a while, thinking that "chew the doors" was a version of "chew the scenery" that I didn't know!

    ReplyDelete
  42. "You won't believe this," he says to the bartender. "I was attacked by a leopard!"

    "Really?"

    "Yes! A leopard! In England!" The hiker sits down and orders the strongest liquor they've got. "I tried to run, but it was if course much faster than me."

    The hiker gets his glass, empties it, and asks for another. "It sent me to the ground with a mighty push from its paws, but weirdly enough it then just gave me a really sad look and left."

    "Ah, you met Father Andrews," the bartender says, matter-of-factly.

    "What do you mean?" asks the tourist, confused.

    "Father Andrews was our priest. A truly kind-hearted man, loved by all. His only goal in life was to serve his congregation as well as he could. So when he one day found a lamp with a genie, his very first wish was to be a loving shepherd to the community."

    "That's nice "

    "Absolutely, if only he hadn't been so prone to spoonerisms."

    ReplyDelete
  43. Did a musical version of Twelfth Night, so knew that I knew Sir Toby BELCH, but couldn’t remember it…stupid brain. Finally remembered the sing-songiness of the cast calling his name.

    I’ve seen, but didn’t know the name of NAZCALINES. Definitely fair crossings, apparently.

    My Ford was a GTOLTD, and was waiting for a REXROAST on that jumble. Gerald Ford was a nice surprise (again).

    Nice to do a proper challenging Saturday. Large swaths of white that gradually filled in in bits and spurts.

    HADNOOOMPH totally worth it for the OOO factor.

    Somehow I think using Mohammed and Laila for ALIS would have drawn complaints for using plural last names. Can’t win…

    Napoleon complex came to mind, ergo EGO. Followed by a close SHave, changed later to SHEAR.

    Who knew I could do square roots in a foreign language I don’t really speak?

    Fun all around today!

    Is Southside a real person or a parody bot?

    ReplyDelete
  44. Anonymous10:24 AM

    I had Ford Galaxy in there for longer than I’d like to admit

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  45. I loved this puzzle so much, that even when I got to the two parts I didn't love at all and where I had to guess wildly and, as it turns out, wrongly, I never stopped loving it.

    What I loved was the way in which almost all of the clues provoked curiosity. I was struggling, but I was never suffering. It was like playing detective. And then when the answers revealed themselves -- I felt so elated. SPOONERISM was a terrific surprise. I also loved LESBIAN BAR and FRIEND DATE. And I practically leaped into the air when WARM FUZZIES came in.

    For that one, I had to change NAB to RUB for "catch." I thought of Hamlet, natch.

    But what to do about NAZCAL?NES and ?OOMROASTED? I tried all the possible "dips" -- FAILS, RAILS, BAILS, HAILS, MAILS, NAILS, PAILS, SAILS, WAILS. None seemed right. I wanted ZOOM ROASTED, but ZAILS is not a word. I finally settled on RAILS (why? why?) and ROOM ROASTED. Those roasts always take place in a room, right? But what's BOOM ROASTED? And why are dips BAILS? You've got me.

    I did guess right on IMOVIE/NAZCALINES -- even though I'd been toying with EMOVIE/NAZCALENES. Well, at least there's that.

    So close to being a perfect themeless, but marred for me by those Naticky crosses. But a delightful almost-solve anyway.

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  46. What a great trip down memory lane. I'd walk right up to the best looking woman in the bar and utter the classic pickup line: Do you drive an F150 OFTEN? Generally I'd follow it up with a huge BELCH. The memories then shift to wiping APPLETINIS off my drenched face.

    I wanted to put a hyphen in EMAILED, but then I remembered the 2011 AP Stylebook change.

    If IMOVIE is "Popular video editing software" then what in Tarhooties (hi @Roo!) am I supposed to use for editing unpopular videos?

    I wasn't aware that METH gets prescribed. Let's see, you're a productive member of society with a healthy set of teeth. I think we'll put you on METH for a few months and see if we can't change that.

    I say this is a fun puzzle.......... ORISIT? Thanks, Garrett Chalfin and Andrew Kingsley.

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  47. Well, here's proof you can wreck a puzzle and limit proper nouns at the same time. The cringy stuff here is so over the top I kept saying, "Oh gawd, please don't be..." and then boop... exactly what I feared. I am so eager to get out of the weekend. These last two have been dreary, and we'll hope Sunday is better, but I'm not laying odds.

    Tee-Hee: Usually these are some stupid nonsense that makes it look like the NYTXW editors are a pack of lonely rapacious scallywags (which they are), but today it's like they hauled in a keg and edited the puzzle in the party room of a fraternity. So no. Not today.

    Uniclues:

    Ug. The more I look at this puzzle, the more I hate the thinking behind its construction, cluing, and editing, so I am taking the day off. (You're welcome.)

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  48. @JC66: har. good one. And that SPOONERISM clue was a definite M&A fave, today.

    Had many solvequest concerns that I was gonna be "BOOM!NAT-TICKED!". But somehow M&A eventually wreaked a win.

    staff weeject pick: RUB. M&A blew up the nanoseconds count, just stubbornly sittin on this central 3-letter mystery {Catch} clue, tryin to come up with the right answer. NAB. NET. GET. WIN. BAR. etc. [BAR had gotten to a pretty desperate level]. Finally … "Ah, there's the [right answer]!"

    Thanx to near-gimme WOOKIEES. Just had to remind self about which of the weird double vowels it used, toward the back end.

    Thanx for the NAZCA-sponsored slow race, Chalfin & Kingsley dudes. Nice job of gangin up on us.

    Masked & Anonymo1U (s)


    **gruntz**

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  49. A hard puzzle trying hard to earn Scrabble points, or at least it would SEEM SO. Again today, I admit that I have much yet to learn about crosswords: BOOM ROASTED which makes perfect sense. Dips for BAILS which doesn’t. NAZCA LINES - wow! What a fascinating discovery those are. Excellent misdirect for GERALD.

    I couldn’t help but wonder … would a LESBIAN BAR be the place to go on a FRIEND DATE after YOGA class? Seems logical. They probably order APPLETINIS. And is there any other kind of BACON besides CRISPY?

    SPOONERISM gave me WARM FUZZIES remembering our @Nancy’s Sunday puzzle from 3/15/2020.

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  50. My reaction to the puzzle is a mix between @Pabloinnh and @Nancy, with special emphasis on the felt smart and stupid at the same time. Yes, @Rex I had hat before EGO, AND had Galaxy before GERALD (hey, AxIS seemed reasonable). I was familiar with the mysterious lines you can see from the air in Peru, so had LINES filled in, but couldn’t remember NASCA. Also, even though I watched The Office, BOOMROASTED just didn’t click for the longest time.

    Did anyone here think of WREAKING without crosses? I mean…wreak havoc and all that, but I confess my mind was blank given the clue “bring about.” Also…geez…what is the difference and effects between METH used to treat ADHD and METH cooked in an illegal lab? I guess strength and delivery system?

    Very challenging but fun Saturday for me.

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  51. Nice to see NAZCA LINES, which I last saw 7 years ago while flying over them in a small plane. Amazing experience! Often seen spelled NASCA, en espanol, but FUZZIES made that a less-fuzzy distinction.
    BOO: BOOmroasted? YEESH!
    And don't get me started on the ---INIs.

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  52. Twas hard...Twas challenging...Oh good gravy, it frazzled me brains. "But did you like it?" "Why yes...I more than liked it because I had fun and I especially liked the WARM FUZZIES I got for remembering NAZCAL LINES and figuring out that OCHO is some sort of square root!"....

    Okay, so my "Dips" were rAILS and my fire department call was ROOM HOASTED. Is that a word or phrase that I should know? No! Can someone explain to me why a catch is a RUB? What are you? Cheat. Oh, it's a BOOM and it's ROASTED. Huh?

    How should I spell BORSCHT? The clue for LESBIAN BAR is strange. Women out to drink only go to a LESBIAN BAR? BELCH. Had trouble with that ZEAL ZIPPY area and I had trouble spelling WOOKIEES. YEESH indeed!

    I worked hard...I did. But, I finished this Saturday puzzle without too much help. The clue for Hound > TAIL was kinda blah and I still don't know why a catch is a RUB.

    @JC...Good one. Have you been into the APPLETINIS?

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  53. HAD NO OOMPH? On the contrary - I loved the energy of this ZIPPY puzzle. It was just the kind of tough-yet-fun Saturday challenge I look forward to. My sticking point was the cluster of "call the fire department" + the Peruvian lines + the bank worry + my incorrect guess at "untiE" ("Free"). That knot was unlocked by an alphabet run at ?UB ("Catch") - the R allowed me to see ROASTED, and erasing untiE did the rest. So much to like, from the misdirects in the clues to the wonderful long phrases.

    Do-over: untiE before GO FREE, WOOKIiES. No idea: BOOM ROASTED. Happy to be acquainted with: Seiji OZAWA and Toby BELCH (right under CRISPY BACON!). "Knew" but couldn't remember: NAZCA LINES. Moments of solver's joy: getting WARM FUZZIES from the M in the apt COMFY; seeing right through the SPOONERISM.

    @Garrett Chalfin and Andrew Kingsley - Thank you for the workout and the fun!

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  54. Only been doing NTXW daily for a couple yrs. About when they bought Wordle, I guess. Don’t really keep track of streaks, but it’s been awhile since not finishing a puzzle clean that I really wanted to finish (there are certainly times I just put it down, not because of difficulty, but NYT absurdity). Today was one I liked, and got mostly there before checking puzzle for errors. Just couldn’t get the NE and RileS was the culprit. Which was a head slap, because I hardly ever fill that in on first pass. But, I did, and then an even bigger, rookie-mistake head slap for not swapping in ROILS and giving it a go. Saw my error and finished it up.

    A good Saturday.

    Yes, to The Office and 4 kids between 18-26 for BOOMROASTED.
    Every cross needed for NEZCALLINES

    ALIS, as clued, is awful
    WREAKING, as clued is out of tune, whatever.

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  55. This was an odd mix of very easy and very tough for me. I finished the NW in early week time. The NE and SW were a tad tougher but not Saturday tough. The center and SE, however, were very challenging. BOOM ROASTED is no where near my wheelhouse. BAILS for dips (hi @Rex) and NAZCALINES were major WOEs…but what really sucked up the nanoseconds was ZestY before ZIPPY, which I held onto for way too long because ZEAL and YEESH. Seeing SPOONERISM saved me.

    Liked this one a bunch, just delightful!

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  56. EasyEd11:45 AM

    I always get the WARMFUZZIES reading @Lewis’s comments. Today was no exception. Also enjoyed meeting Suzan LORI Parks for the first time. Getting started o this puzzle was tough because like many I was stuck on an automobile frame of reference in the NW. But in finally getting the Ford reference I remembered seeing him in the 1960’s as a member of Congress hitting a towering home run at RFK Stadium in a game between the Reps and Dems. Overall this was not so much a fun solve as an interesting learning experience. Will have to watch some office re-runs to catch up with BOOMROASTED.

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  57. Hard not to have WARM FUZZIES for any grind that incorporates LORE from Jerry Rice, Bill Shakespeare and Seiji OZAW! Flummox after quandary after simple huhs today almost turned me into CRISPY BACON, and yet I was amused by the clueing from Ford to ELOPE.

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  58. Not as brutal as I thought it would be since it's Saturday. I was thinking the 70's Ford was relating to a car so I was hung up there (Gerald - duh), I had ZESTY for ZIPPY for the longest time. I really liked 5D HAD NO OOMPH (a first?) & isn't this the 2nd time ELOPE showed up this week?
    All in all, a fun outing - thanks, guys :)

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  59. Thanks for the shoutout, @Whatsername (11:56)!

    Every 25 months or so, not knowing anything about cars proves to be an asset rather than the huge disadvantage it usually is. I saw the Ford clue, and GERALD went in from the G of EGO without a moment's hesitation.

    So all that puzzle real estate is devoted to an expression that comes solely from one stupid TV show? Now that I find out that "The Office" gave us BOOM ROASTED, I'm feeling less forgiving of its inclusion in the puzzle. This is what I meant by saying yesterday that an expression needed to prove it "had legs" before being included in a NYT crossword.

    This inclusion of the latest and perhaps most ephemeral contemporary slang in crosswords is a new and to me very unwelcome development. It simply wasn't done back in the day. It's as though a puzzle from the 60s, 70s or 80s would have contained phrases like SOCK IT TO ME* or YOU BET YOUR SWEET BIPPY* or HERE COMES DA JUDGE*. I don't know how to check these things, but I'd bet every nickel I have that such fill never appeared back than. We might get the occasional "three-toed sloth in Madagascar"-type clue in the Maleska era, but we never got ephemeral slang. And that, I'd argue, was a very good thing.

    *All from "Laugh-In", I'm pretty sure.

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  60. Found this one tough, but enjoyable. Finally remembering what the NAZCA LINES were called really unlocked the middle and SE.

    Is it just me, or have there been a lot of EROSION clues that try to mislead you with "bank" lately?

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  61. I knew LINES, needed the crosses to get NAZCA, and it sounded right.

    A GTO was a Pontiac, and therefore GM, not Ford. :)

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  62. @GILL -- "Out" of the closet, I think.

    Also, @GILL -- "So there's the RUB", says Hamlet in "To be or not to be". In the sense of a Catch-22.

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  63. Yeah, I didn’t have the WARM FUZZIES for that center section. It didn’t help that once BACON went in, “Catch” became nab, as it usually does, and that held up 34A as well as 31A.

    Finally, with _OOMR__STED crossing _AILS, I wrote down every letter that could make a word out of _OOM and settled on BOOM ROASTED. When I came here to check, I felt no triumph, only a sad inevitability about the answer.

    I was so glad when SPOONERISM filled in. I was afraid it was some sort of ailment, like pica, where people or dogs feel compelled to chew the doors. YEESH!

    Thanks, Garrett and Andrew.

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  64. Anonymous12:12 PM

    Get well soon Will. I’ve had enough of Fagiliano and his arcane cutesy clues.

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  65. Anonymous12:13 PM

    Women who are “out”of the closet

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  66. I'm with GRUMPYPANTS on this one

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  67. As a car guy from back when, I say that the Pontiac GTO was not a competitor to the Plymouth Barracuda. The GTO was a mid-sized car, so the Plymouth equivalent would have been a Road Runner or perhaps GTX. The Pontiac analogous to a Barracuda would have been a Firebird.

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  68. "The modern slang of "Dips" crossing the modern slang of "BOOM! ROASTED!" ... that's a puzzle that's intentionally trying to exclude a whole (older, I guess) demographic."

    I'm glad to see others in the comments didn't feel this way, because for me, as a younger solver, I frequently feel some of these puzzles are trying to exclude anyone under 40 or so with the random esoteric people, shows, etc. that are treated as common knowledge.

    The goofy slang was definitely welcome (and very familiar).

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  69. @kitshef (7:23) I took it that the question mark indicates the play on the word “out,” women who are out.

    @Anonymous (7:38) I know just what you mean about laughing at yourself. I did the same thing when GERALD finally sunk in but not until after I had become mildly indignant that there was NO such car by that name.

    @JC (10:21) Gotta remember that one! 😄

    And speaking of things I learned from doing crosswords, yesterday I learned SOJU, then last night I was reading a book and there it was, being sipped by a character in a Korean barbecue restaurant. You just never know when things like that are going to come in handy.

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  70. Anonymous12:57 PM

    I so wanted it to be Gerard because that’s my last name but it wasn’t to be. Great clue, though!

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  71. Great clue from Mike Shenk's Marching Bands puzzle from last Saturday's WSJ. "Character from Law &Order." The answer has nine letters. I'll give it in my next post.

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  72. @Nancy 12:06....Thank you? "So there's the RUB" from Catch-22? Ay dios mio....

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  73. Another tough but satisfying Saturday at 24 minutes. Any harder and it would have been too frustrating, what with all the tricky clues without question marks: GERALD, EROSION, and CB RADIO in particular.

    I got NAZCA right away and then had no clue what followed. Finally I thought: surely it's not LINES?

    For the end of the pickup line, when I realized it had to be OFTEN, I parsed it as two words, eg: "Babe, you're a ten out OF TEN!"

    @JC66... excellent joke! I love that I had not a clue why you were posting it, until the very last word.

    [Spelling Bee: Fri 0; my last word was the longest pangram. Streak 12 days.]

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  74. Oldactor1:39 PM

    There is an old theater expression describing an over-acting performer "He chewed the scenery". Scenery often has doors. I tried so hard to work that out until the Rev. Spooner came to the rescue.

    Delightful puzzle.

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  75. My first thought for 1A "Napoleon had a large one" was EGO but said "Nah, that's too easy and straightforward". Only later when crosses verified it did I finally put it in.

    Not buying the Shakespearean slant on "catch" being 32D RUB. For me the Venn Diagram circles for "catch" and RUB don't overlap. RUB indicates continuous motion while "catch" implies motion abruptly brought to a halt.

    Catch-22 is one of my favorite novels and movies. The catch here is the paradox, the trap of being caught in a damned if you do and damned if you don't dilemma. Don't see any RUB there at all.

    I think going for this kind of opaque clueing for the likes of RUB and ALIS detracts rather than enhances the overall solving experience. Hey, it's "glue". Clue it straight up and move on. Save the challenging clues for the good stuff, the marquee entries.

    And there was enough good stuff in this one to override those nits and give my solve buzz the WARM FUZZIES. I was LOVING it.

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  76. Thought "Dips" was FAILS, and since FOOM! could be heard as an onomatopoetic representation of the way a fire or an explosion might sound, FOOMROASTED made perfect sense to me. Still does, as a matter of fact.

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  77. MetroGnome2:37 PM

    @NANCY: "Back in the day" is also "contemporary slang."

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  78. Trina3:04 PM

    With a few others, pretty sure DIPS/BAILS relates to the act of removing water from a sinking ship (or similar) …

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  79. Johnny Laguna4:04 PM

    Adding my voice to those who have never heard “Dips” as slang for BAILS. Hard grid today, for me anyway.

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  80. Minoridreams4:50 PM

    Apparently I am the only one who hates the expression "warm fuzzies." I also very much dislike crispy bacon but do love Cobb salads and have never had one that had particularly crispy bacon on it. This puzzle was way out of any wheel house I might even be near. Yesterday's was relatively easy for me. This was a moan, a groan and that center area - UGH.

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  81. p.s.
    Primo Jaws of Themelessness in today's puzgrid. They had extra oomph.

    M&Also

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  82. Anonymous5:07 PM

    Jazzmanchgo,
    If it makes you feel better ( though it doesn’t sound like you need it) dip as a synonym for failure is very common in birding.
    “Hey Jim, did you get the red-tailed blue tail?”
    Jim: “No, I dipped, but went to Barnegat and got a pair of longspurs, so the day wasn’t a total bust.”

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  83. Anonymous5:07 PM

    I had ODIs for some reason. Once I got that fixed I went back and changed ABASe back to ABASH. yeah had no idea about nazcalines

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  84. Anonymous5:43 PM

    D’oh!
    Red-flanked blue tail.
    (And if anyone cares, I dipped on it twice.But third time was in fact the charm.)

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  85. Just when you thought a Sunday couldn’t get any worse…hold my beer

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  86. Thank you to all who replied on the LESBIAN BAR clue. I still think the clue works just fine without the question-mark, but your collective explanation makes sense.

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  87. Brian8:21 PM

    I simply refused to accept CRISPYBACON. Because all bacon is crispy. Unless it’s bad.

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  88. I appreciate all of you who liked my SPOONERISM.

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  89. Anoa Bob
    Rub in Hamlet does has a very different meaning from the meaning of rub you are thinking of. As Nancy said, its metaphorical meaning is a type of catch. It derives according to the internet from lawn bowling where the ball is caught on a clump of grass, called a rub (a noun not a verb)
    So there is nothing wrong with the clue and answer.
    Alis is a bit much though.

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  90. Anonymous8:47 PM

    To @Nancy
    Not to offend, but have been reading you for some time, and it seems that you pooh-pooh any clue that does not fit your life choices. As in, if it's not Broadway Theater or Old Classics, it's no good. Millions of people watch TV shows and movies, so just because you think it's not known by you, does not make it a bad entry. Same for cars. Common, known. It just seems you are looking down at your nose at us common solvers.

    Again, sorry if this offends, I just felt the need to get it offy chest.

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  91. Recently I’ve been finishing Saturdays with no errors, even if they’re a slog, but struggling to finish certain Thursdays and Fridays. Curiouser and curiouser.

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  92. Gosh it seems BOOMROASTED is extremely generational. Millennial here, found it an extremely good answer

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  93. Anonymous7:53 AM

    DNE - did not enjoy. Maybe GTO - getting too old.

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  94. This was fun! So happy when Toby Belch popped into my head from 40 years ago to get me started.
    Had to come here to understand dip/bail though

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  95. Fingerbo3:04 PM

    "Boom! Roasted" is awful.

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  96. Anonymous12:52 PM

    Not acceptable. NAZCALINES crossing with BOOMROASTED and WRMFUZZIES was my undoing. I like a challenge but it has to be fair. This one was just cruel.

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  97. Anonymous1:09 PM

    So much f'ing dreck here. Boom roasted, WTF??? FRIEND DATE, never heard such a stupid phrase. Warm fuzzies I associate with comfy slippers. Who the hell ever said, CHEW THE Doors? Utter garbage.

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  98. Burma Shave1:16 PM

    DATE LINES

    LORI, my LESBIAN FRIEND,
    was SO LOVING to MOAN, “Pardon,
    I HADNOOOMPH in the END
    to RUB IT, SO did IT HARDEN?”

    --- KIT OZAWA

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  99. rondo2:52 PM

    I first had to change my 'bringing about' from cREAtING to WREAKING, since an OAt wouldn't be mighty. Then naB to RUB. And lastly the B on BAILS/BOOMROASTED. I've never watched an episode of 'The Office', so if that's where it comes from, too bad. Only so much screen time available these days.
    Wordle birdie.

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  100. Diana, LIW3:51 PM

    Oh well. Played horseshoes today - almost...

    Lady Di

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  101. We have now anthropomorphized another inanimate object:

    Left river bank: "I'm worried. It's been raining so hard, I'm afraid I'll wash away."

    Right river bank: "Yeah, tell me about it. I've lost ten pounds already."

    This one did not give me the WARMFUZZIES. Thanks to the twin down Z-gimmes, I got that one early. But the one above? YEESH! Here I was with _OOM_OASTED, and no clue. 31d_AILS could start with B, F, H, J, M, N, P, S, T, or W! And then _UB, meaning "catch" was a "huh?" for quite a while. There, though, we only had B, C, R or T to choose from. At least it did SEEMSO. At long last, I Shakespeared my way to the answer: Ay, there's the RUB. Really, really far-fetched clue on that one. BOOMROASTED? More elvish. SMH.

    One of my pet peeves came up today: CRISP[Y]. I maintain that the Y adds NOTHING to the word, it equals CRISP. Somebody stuck the Y on the end to ease the pronunciation, I guess, but to me it's superfluous. Bah on CRISPY.

    I can't say this one HADNOOOMPH, but it was hard and had defects. Par.

    Wordle birdie.

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  102. Daverino6:58 PM

    DNF…SE corner was a
    nightmare. NAZCAL LINES, IMOVIE, LORI, METH (yuck)…time to “dip”

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  103. Daverino7:03 PM

    How ironic that the drug in this crossword (that shouldn’t be in this crossword) used by me in my first comment bounced me out for inappropriate language. (says it all)

    DNF…SE corner was a nightmare #BLNT

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  104. Another case of trying to increase the strength of a puzzle with little used phrases and ambiguous clues. "Catch" for 'RUB'? - as in 'aye, there's the rub'??? 'Sentimental feelings' for WARMFUZZIES? They are emotional feelings, but rarely associated with sentimentality. Not a fan of this puzzle at all.

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