Eyelike openings / THU 5-2-24 / Regal figure on a tarot card / The "toe" of Italy's "boot" / Wirelessly operated toy vehicle, informally / Romantic partner, casually / Martian who wears a green helmet and skirt

Thursday, May 2, 2024

Constructor: Brandon Koppy

Relative difficulty: Easy


THEME: TEA LEAVES (56A: Divination aids ... or a phonetic hint to the shaded squares in this puzzle) — there are "T" squares that come pre-filled, and you have to make them "leave" if you want to make sense of the clues to the various answers that contain them:

[the "T"-less grid]

The "T"-less answers:
  • EMPRESS (15A: Regal figure on a tarot card)
    • RIG (15D: Fix) / BAE (3D: Romantic partner, casually)
  • ALANIS (18A: Self-titled debut album released four years before "Jagged Little Pill") 
    • LASED / MARINE (9D: Aquatic)
  • FINESSES (34A: Manages with delicacy)
    • PEAL (25D: Ring) / LEVIES (19D: Imposes, as a tax) / MARINE (9D: Aquatic)
  • EXILES (50A: Banishes) 
    • MARON (38D: Stand-up comedian Marc) / SALE (46D: It might elicit a "cha-ching")
Word of the Day: MAR(T)INE(T) (unclued) —

1. a strict disciplinarian 2. a person who stresses a rigid adherence to the details of forms and methods // When France's King Louis XIV appointed Lieutenant Colonel Jean Martinet to be inspector general of the infantry in the late 17th century, he made a wise choice. As a drillmaster, Martinet trained his troops to advance into battle in precise linear formations and to fire in volleys only upon command, thus making the most effective use of inaccurate muskets—and making the French army one of the best on the continent. He also gave English a new word. Martinet has been used synonymously with "strict disciplinarian" since the early 18th century. (merriam-webster.com)
• • •

This one doesn't really work, for what seems like obvious reasons. The "T is just ... there. As a solver, I have to solve around it. But the only way the revealer—the "leaving" part—makes sense, from a solver's point of view, is if you somehow absolutely did not see the gimmick before you hit the revealer. Maybe then you would say "Oh, the "T" leaves; I was wondering why none of my answers made any sense," but it's hard to imagine being someone who could, on the one hand, fill out this entire grid, and on the other, not have Any Clue At All how / why all the "T" answers work. I guess if you start with the revealer, then bang, you're in business, but if you solve top to bottom, then the "ignore the 'T's" gimmick becomes obvious fairly quickly, and TEA LEAVES ends up being a massive anticlimax. Basically there are a bunch of T-squares (which is what I thought the revealer was going to be!) and you just ... ignore them. So there is no real theme. Just "T"s that are in the way, and once you realize they're merely in the way, then they cease to present any kind of problem. You end up with a rather dull and basically themeless puzzle. I suppose (once again) you're supposed to be impressed by the architecture, i.e. the puzzle is built with answers that make sense with and without the "T"s (though the "T"-containing answers are all unclued). But ... I don't care about this if it doesn't enhance the solving experience, and it absolutely does not. It's a one-trick puzzle, and the trick gives itself up early, and then the explainer comes in late trying to explain the trick, like "it was a joke! TEA LEAVES! "T" ... leaves! Get it? It's a pun." Yeah, yeah, I got it. The only way to make this theme work is to force me to write the "T"s in—make them necessary for the Downs, but nonsensical for the Acrosses. Then maybe, maybe, the trickiness might actually be tricky, and the revealer might have some real revealing power.


The fill on this one kind of falters as well. I do love the (unclued) word MARTINET, and CALABRIA (12A: The "toe" of Italy's "boot") has a certain mellifluence, but GONE PRO and EMAILER have that regrettable oof-inducing awkwardness that crosswords occasionally and regrettably slip into, and much of the rest of the fill is shortish and dull and leaning toward crosswordese (OCULI and ABES are fairly representative). But the puzzle was very easy, and people tend to appreciate a very easy Thursday that doesn't actually go through the whole typical Thursday business of tricking you, so I imagine this puzzle will go over well at least with some contingent of solvers. I enjoyed remembering REBECCA and MARVIN the Martian, but most of the solve was a ho-hum fill-in-the-blanks exercise. The only trouble came with RCCAR (pffft, really? in my day, we'd go through the trouble of saying "remote control" out loud, every time. RC was for cola and "remote control" was for cars, and we liked it that way!). I also wanted to make "roughly a quarter of the world's population" live on ISLAnds or be ISLAnders somehow, but nothing island-y would fit ... then I realized it was ISLAMIC. Totally different pronunciation and concept and everything. Do ordering in and ordering out mean the same thing? Yes, yes they do. I just googled both:

  • ORDER IN: to order food that is ready to eat to be brought to your home or to the place where you work: I think I'll stay home tonight, order in a pizza, and watch my new box set.
  • ORDER OUT: to order food that is ready to eat to be brought to your home or to the place where you work: We stayed home, ordered out for pizza, and watched a movie on demand.

So ... the difference is in the way you watch your movies? Fascinating. Anyway, ORDERS IN wasn't hard (59A: Uses DoorDash, say), but it did lead to this slight in/out confusion, which turns out to be a revelation: no difference at all!


See you tomorrow. And thanks to Clare and Mali, as usual, for spelling me the past two days, giving me some much-needed time off during this hectic end-of-semester period (last day of classes: today!).

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

103 comments:

Conrad 5:45 AM  


Easy-Medium for me. Since I solved "Downs-only lite" (not reading the theme clues), I didn't notice anything odd with the acrosses. They were perfectly good words, and the downs with the pre-set T's in them just ... ignored the T's.

Had some trouble in the SW because I wanted 36D to be RydEr CUP (news flash: I'm not a golfer) and 51D - the flower shop owner and (misread) optimist - to be rose. Also never heard of the 38D comedian.

andrew 5:58 AM  

U _ _ E R
_R A S H

Son Volt 6:10 AM  

Cute but just too easy - like TV Guide or Highlights easy. Left the squares untouched in the app and got the post solve graphic. Agree with the big guy that the fill was fun - RC CAR, REBECCA, AVERSE etc - no real pushback.

IRIS

RIP to the great Paul Auster who’s Moon Palace is one of the highlights of late century literature. I’m assuming he was a Rex reader because he posted here a few times - and if I recall had a back and forth with @Z.

Pleasant enough for a Monday - but not Thursday.

Hail ATLANTIS

Andy Freude 6:19 AM  

The word to describe followers of Islam is “Muslim.” ISLAMIC is for things: institutions, art, culture.
Otherwise a nice, semi-challenging Thursday. Liked it more than Rex did.

Anonymous 6:23 AM  

I had IBN instead of ABU, forgetting this means "son of" not "father of". Messed up the entire corner (including the revealer) for a while. Otherwise, easy peasy.

Phillyrad1999 6:54 AM  

Nice cute Monday puzzle

Anonymous 7:04 AM  

Temptress. Atlantis. Fitness test. Textiles.

Rug Crazy 7:05 AM  

I'm with andrew.....getting tired of gimmicks

Ghitor 7:05 AM  

I do not like these super gimmicky puzzles at all.

Oh Eugene Maleska, you must be turning over

Ed Rorie 7:09 AM  

“Islamic” is used in the clue as an adjective, not a noun.

Anonymous 7:10 AM  

I had the same complaint and groaned when I realized the answer.

“Michigan has a large Muslim population” = OK

“Michigan has a large Islamic population” = Very Fox News-y

SouthsideJohnny 7:13 AM  

I’m one of those that Rex referred to who prefers a Thursday theme that is straightforward and easily discernible, so I got along pretty well with this one. I of course whiffed on CEELO, MARVIN, IBSEN and the MARON dude. I did however get REBECCA and FEDEX CUP - so about a .300 batting average on the trivia, which is a pretty good day for me (I wanted ROMNEY where RON PAUL ended up - so I’ll call that a draw because at least I had a fighting chance).

Well, I got treated to a visit from Ms. EPHRON and Ms. GARR so far this week, hopefully ROBYN will pay us a visit tomorrow.

feinstee 7:20 AM  

Other than FED EX CaP / OCaLI, it was very easy. A Fed Ex cap would actually be a nice prize

kitshef 7:22 AM  

Very, very clever. But as with many very, very clever puzzles, the cleverness didn't particularly add to the solving experience. RC CAR crossing MA(T)RON was dicey, although the only other possibility I could think of was sC CAR/MA(T)sON.

MaxxPuzz 7:25 AM  

Happy end of semester, Rex! It was always such a relief when I was still in academe. I'm sure you will celebrate appropriately tonight.

Alice Pollard 7:26 AM  

got the trick very early and the top half went super fast. Struggled on the bottom though. 53D Last but not least..... VERB, boy something so simple created a hassled for me in the SE corner. PS I have never, ever used DoorDash and hope I never do

KB1566 7:32 AM  

Just saying…how could you go with TEA LEAVES when STRIP TEASE was right there….?

Lewis 7:38 AM  

Brandon’s original concept – instead of the grayed squares with the T’s, just having plain white squares – sounds fantastic to me. Cracking THAT would have felt mighty fine, and the appreciation of the skill/creativity of this construction would have been amplified by those good feelings.

And there IS so much skill behind this puzzle – finding words that worked, omitting all the T’s in the grid except for those in the theme answers and revealer (Hi, @Steve L!), and piecing it all together… this is top notch construction.

Plus, as I imagine it happened with Brandon, somehow running across the phrase TEA LEAVES and having the brain immediately tick tick tick, going “What can I do with this in a puzzle?” I am so grateful for brains like that, that so enrich Crosslandia.

I loved [Mobile home?] for SHELL, and figured that something so good has surely shown up before in the major crossword outlets. But no! “Home” has been used a lot, but prosaically, like {Snail’s home]. High props for that.

Thank you, Brandon, for an A-ONE concept, a sweet solve, and for bringing excellence to crosswords for six years now!

Max W. 7:43 AM  

I think the nicest thing I can say about this puzzle is that it at least has the elegance to not have any other T’s in it (besides the revealer). Oh, and that you don’t have to type all of the T’s in on the NYT app.

Quick fix to make this an actual Thursday NYT-worthy puzzle: lose the gray squares with T’s (which basically give away the revealer right away), clue as-is. Then the revealer would actually land and those T-filled answers would have been genuinely confounding instead of super easy.

swac 7:47 AM  

Marc Maron will be chuffed to learn of his inclusion today, and will likely spend the first 14 pre-interview minutes of his WTF podcast next week talking about it.

Anonymous 7:56 AM  

I enjoyed it, thought it was a clever theme. The T squares probably should have just been blank to make it more challenging, but it was neat to see the construction.

Also, I think it's "leaves" as in "leaves of a table". Like those big tables where you add the middle piece to make it bigger or take it out to make it smaller. So Ts are "leaves" of the words that you can remove and still have a whole word.

Anonymous 7:59 AM  

Played like a Monday until the gimmick didn’t work. In the app, typing a “t” (or anything) in those “t squares” wasn’t visible. I must have mistyped one but couldn’t see where. After rechecking all the answers, I then went through and retyped all those “t”s until the happy music played. Ugh. Enough with the flashy graphics.

Anonymous 8:01 AM  

Did anyone else have the experience, using the NYT app, of finishing, not getting the happy music, then, after a fruitless search for errors, hitting check puzzle to find that one and only one of the phantom T squares was scored as wrong, then deleting that square and getting the win tune? Grrrr!

webwinger

Mandy 8:10 AM  

Am I the only one who didn’t have Ts in my squares? Just blank gray squares? Solved in the NYT app.. Puzzle was correct once I removed anything from these squares

mmorgan 8:11 AM  

Across Lite had no Ts, just random squares with circles. Probably made it harder for me to figure out what was going on. Mostly, I just ignored those squares and at first the revealer was just confusing. A more challenging solve without those Ts, not sure if it was more interesting.

Anonymous 8:17 AM  

I liked the theme, but I spent half my time fretting about whether the T squares needed to be filled in, and if so how. Indeed, it felt like half the Wordplay column was devoted to explaining how Android users should handle them. Fortunately leaving them blank worked in iOS. Would have been more challenging but more fun to not pre-fill the squares or clue one direction with the T and the other without.

Anonymous 8:22 AM  

Glitch in the app said I had one of the pre-filled T squares wrong. Epically annoying, I gave up only to discover I’d filled everything in right.

SusanA 8:25 AM  

Sailed along after getting the revealer early on. But had Intro Instead of RECAP, completely forgot RONPAUL and RCCAR had me stumped.
Oddly, my clues showed as incomplete for all T words until the end, whether blank or filled-in.

Continue to be impressed that anyone can construct a grid like this at all.

Diane Joan 8:34 AM  

I liked this puzzle. I’m not a constructor but I imagine that coming up with words that work with and without a particular letter takes some skill. Also I just got back from vacation and a straightforward puzzle is just what I needed!

Anonymous 8:35 AM  

Genius!

Dan A 8:37 AM  

I miss the older Thursdays. So sad when T leaves.

pabloinnh 8:42 AM  

One of those days when I knew the puzzle wouldn't print properly so I did it online, which I thoroughly dislike. Saw early that I was supposed to ignore the T's, got to the revealer and thought, yeah, I knew that, and ... and... but that was it. I did get to see the T's do some blinking on my laptop though. Pretty sure my printed copy wouldn't do that. (I know many of you have offered suggestions about how to print these off correctly, but I'm still having no luck with that. Thanks anyway.)

Otherwise not much to say except that ASIATIC fits nicely where ISLAMIC is meant to go and a t-shirt can be LGE, MED, or SMA, which is kind of a triple kealoa.

Nice pickup on TEALEAVES being a possible theme, BK, But Keep trying for something a little more Thursdayish. Thanks for a fair amount of fun.

Alexscott68 8:49 AM  

My problem with GONE PRO is less the awkwardness of the phrase and more the fact that when you Make it to the big leagues, you’re going from minor league to major league baseball, both professional leagues.

Anonymous 9:05 AM  

GONEPRO, along with being awkward fill, is poorly clued, in my opinion. “Made it to the big leagues” originates as a baseball phrase, and the vast majority of players (all but a few dozen in the last 100+ years) play professionally as minor leaguers before playing in the Major (“big”) leagues. I know it’s a phrase that has currency beyond baseball now, but it still really implies that it is definitionally someone’s first professional experience.

RooMonster 9:05 AM  

Hey All !
Well, my interest is not working in my 🏡 use, so no computer, no TV. Ugh. Had to solve the puz on my phone. (Different, to say the least.) Unsure if that was why I found this puz easy (you'd think it's be tougher on a phone than on a computer), or if it was just easy. Less than 20 minutes on a Thursday is like crazy fast (for me).

Interesting having the T's pre-filled. Then, once finished, animation makes them "LEAVE". OK...

Consistency in that they make both the Across and Down words different actual words, with or without the T's.

Anyway, until the internet thing gets fixed at my house, I'll be doing puzs on the phone. My phone only allows me (or at least, Im not techie enough to figure it out) to let me have one internet site opened at a time. So no F counts for now. Just don't forget about them! 😁 (Well, now that I think about it, I can count them before I come here. So forget all that. Silly brain. 😂)

Happy Thursday.

RooMonster
DarrinV

Anonymous 9:06 AM  

This, exactly!

Sam 9:11 AM  

GONE PRO definitely the roughest moment in the grid. “Went pro” is a reasonable standalone phrase.

Anonymous 9:11 AM  

I actually did solve this without understanding it. I just figured out there were blank squares all over. I didn't even understand the revealer until I read the blog. Maybe because I was on a website - did the "T" show at all in other versions? Anyway, it was kind of fun to do it that way.

beverly c 9:21 AM  

Another vote for wishing the Ts had not been prefilled.

Bob Mills 9:23 AM  

Figured out the trick early, but eventually stumbled twice...MARON/RCCAR cross and ASL/LASED cross. I had MASON and TASED for the downs.

GONEPRO is terrible on two accounts. It's ungrammatical with the clue, and it's not factual. When a ballplayer reaches the big leagues, he's almost always been in the minor leagues first. A minor league player is therefore already a professional, contrary to the clue's premise.

PH 9:29 AM  

According to Brandon Koppy's notes, he said his original submission omitted the shaded squares. With empty squares, I think the puzzle would have been more of a slog than an enjoyable solve for many people. With empty shaded squares, the squares would just be ignored, and the theme wouldn't have made sense -- Ts can't leave if they were never there in the first place. I can see why the Ts were added, and there's nothing wrong with an Easy-ish Thursday from time to time. Theme concept is still there, and it's *very* clever. Fun solve. Thanks, Brandon!

Daveyhead 9:30 AM  

What Allexscott68 said

Liveprof 9:32 AM  

@KB1566 (7:32) -- very good!

Anonymous 9:33 AM  

I for one loved this fun puzzle.

jberg 9:33 AM  

In the actual paper, the Ts are faint white letters in grayed-out squares, and I got a third of the way through the puzzle before I noticed them. So I naturally put in BA(B)E for BAE, which fits the clue just as well. I finally figures it out, though I didn't notice that leaving the Ts in gave you different words.

Marc MARON is becoming a puzzle staple, but I still wanted MoRaN first.

The most fun part was inventing the word Ro-CAR, for "robot car." But it didn't fit REBECCA, sadly.

OK, gotta run.

Nancy 9:43 AM  

"T"s? Please! All I noticed about this one, once I figured out that I was to leave the gray squares blank and that the answers would work just fine when I left them out, was that this was really similar to the HOLE-y puzzle of, what was it? Just last week?

Blank tiny little circles or blank gray squares. Same conceit; same solving process. Now all I needed was a good reason for leaving them blank. HOLES had been done already.

Was TEA LEAVES a good reason? Well, it's a very clever reason, but, alas, it's also a great big "Huh!" for the solver. And that's because there's nothing to clue the words that contain the "T"s. You need clues that contain them both.

So how about, say, "Salome/Catherine?" for TEMPTRESS/EMPRESS. If you did that sort of thing everywhere, you could bring solvers into the trick and invite them to play along. They could have some nice "Aha" moments.

This way I had to come here to find out what was going on. I missed the whole thing -- and I suspect that most people did. Well, at least right up to seeing TEA LEAVES -- and by then it's sort of "game over."

JT 9:56 AM  

Clever and cute, with a theme that sbsoutely worked...but just too easy for a Thursday.

Banya 10:04 AM  

I'm really surprised that Rex didn't comment on SSS.

Tennessee 10:09 AM  


“Ferris Bueller, you’re my hero.” Andrew and Nancy have a permanent invitation to my dinner table!

Anonymous 10:17 AM  

Thank you! Came to the comment section to see exactly this

Nancy 10:26 AM  

OMG, OMG, OMG! There are "T"s in my blank gray squares too!!!* "T"s that are damn close to invisible. I never saw them at all. They would have made the puzzle a lot more interesting.

*I only realized there were "T"s when I read the comments.

Anonymous 10:29 AM  

Exactly the same experience.

Anoa Bob 10:33 AM  

HOLY COW! Do all of y'all live in a deep cave with a huge rock blocking the entrance? This is a tribute puzzle. Today is National Matcha Day. And Matcha is made from...yeah, green TEA LEAVES! C'mon people, try to keep up.

Abe 10:44 AM  

I am so grateful that 45A was not clued as "five-dollar bills."

mathgent 10:50 AM  

Really enjoyed it. FINESSES was the star. Got a big kick out of seeing fiTnessTesT appear. Three Ts!

Besides the amusing gimmick, there was some good wordplay. The clue for REDSEA, for example.

Carola 10:51 AM  

I'm among those who solved the puzzle without the pre-filled Ts - my grid just had gray squares, which, when the puzzle was completed, flashed with faint white Ts. About halfway down, I paused to look at the those blank spaces and saw that Ts would fit...nifty! And knowing about the Ts helped me get FINESSES and EXILES. I needed crosses for TEA but then LEAVES! came in a satisfying flash. I'm glad I had "my" version of the puzzle...more to figure out and enjoy. Also liked EMPRESS AND TEMPTRESS, MARTINET, CALABRIA.

TEA LEAVES got an extra smile from me because that answer marked a moment of triumph for me in the first Puns and Anagrams puzzle I ever solved, some 50 years ago. The clue was "But you and 24 others stay?"

Do-overs: ryDer CUP. ibn before ABU. Help from previous puzzles: CEELO, MARON. No idea: MARVIN

Gary Jugert 10:57 AM  

Wow, I expected a chorus of "this broke the app!" and "how do you do the rebus?" because it broke my phone when I did the rebus!

So at the end of a surprisingly easy but somewhat fascinating puzzle, I dutifully went back and followed the directions on the put a blank rebus in each T. That caused about 10 other squares to erase. Weird. So I filled them back in and still no congrats. ALANIIS/MARIINE has an undeletable extra I. Visited the Wordplay blog and tried all five of the suggestions. Now I'm locked out, the puzzle timer is clicking away, and my sole remaining option is to reset the puzzle. So I sent a support ticket into central headquarters and hopefully they'll fix it. Or I end this stupid streak at 900 and move on with my life.

We called them RC CARS in Colorado probably because we didn't have RC Cola out here. We also have pickup mania out here so a lotta A ONE ONE TONS.

I hope @M&A picks SSS as the wee-ject.

Propers: 9
Places: 4
Products: 0
Partials: 7
Foreignisms: 5
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 25 (35%)

Uniclues:

1 Large layer of an alluring lady on cinder block.
2 How we've agreed to act when the boss comes around.
3 Nudist.
4 How to predict when it will land in a puddle and die.
5 Math teacher, no, not the new cute one.
6 Matterhorn on Ebay.
7 Grumpy Gaye.
8 The father of realism sending LOLCAT memes.
9 The chips.

1 TEMPTRESS MURAL
2 PEONS ICIER
3 TEXTILES AVERSE
4 RC CAR TEA LEAVES
5 TRIG MATRON
6 ALPS EPIC SALE
7 MARTINET MARVIN
8 EMAILER IBSEN
9 SALSAS' CUES

My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Famous cookie purveyor on weekends. DOMINATRIX AMOS.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Fun_CFO 11:10 AM  

It’s pretty bad when Wordplay has to explain different solving methods for iOS and Android because…oh, because to actually get music, what you do with the T/blank squares is actually handled differently on iOS and Android.

Then to read constructor notes and that puzzle was submitted with the “T” squares blank, but Ed’s thought that too hard /opaque and this is what we end up with. 2 solving methods for the two mobile platforms, and a Monday on a Thursday. Just great. bravo!

Masked and Anonymous 11:13 AM  

yep. One of them puzs that plays different, dependin on how U access it. M&A always uses a paper copy, so he can write notes in the margin. In my paper version, the T squares were light gray, with semi-visible white T's splatzed into em. But visible enough, that I caught onto the "skip it" puztheme mcguffin pronto.

Wasn't able to predict the loomin 56-A revealer in advance, tho. Thought maybe "strip tease", or somesuch. That woulda been extra cool. But, TEALEAVES is still pretty good.

This is the kinda puztheme that's mighty hard to pull off. I've sorta done this kinda thing in a coupla runtpuzs, but have been real hesitant to run em, cuz they became harder-than-snot biter solvequests.
Ain't got a way to put gray letters into my runtpuz grid, for one thing.

staff weeject pick: SSS. har. Almost as desperate as puttin a TTT in the middle of a tthemer.

Really liked: REDSEA clue. ONETON crossin UNUM [which was clued up with two "one" words]. FEDEXCUP. TEMPTRESS EMPRESS tthemer. RCCAR [whatever that is … seems to be missin somethin besides T's].

Thanx, Mr. Koppy dude. Hard one to construct, so congratz for hangin in there. Easy ThursPuz solvequest [with the T's visible] made it different and fun, at our house.

Masked & Anonymo5Us.

p.s. @Roo: 1 F. Maybe up next Thursday: An EFFINGGHOSTED or YOULEFTUS puztheme?

**gruntz**

Kate Esq 11:28 AM  

Nope, I did too. Which gave me a few aha moments which I think enhanced the solve for me. When I realized those squares were supposed to be blank, when I realized they could be filled with T, and when I got to the revealer. It wasn’t my favorite Thursday, but it was fine.

Mr. Grumpypants 11:42 AM  

If Joel is auditioning to succeed Will, he is failing. Abysmally.

Anonymous 11:49 AM  

Maron crossing RCCar stumped me... forced me on to Google, which I hate ...

Alice Pollard 12:08 PM  

Mr Grumpy Pants, I agree. Enough of this substitute teacher, we miss Will.
Today is one of those puzzles where the lion's share of comments have to do with the app, and not the actual puzzle.

jammon 12:14 PM  

These puzzles get goofier every day. This is junk.

Whatsername 12:15 PM  

Certainly an easy Thursday, but frustrating. I ignored the theme just to get the blanks filled in and didn’t understand it even after the reveal. Thank goodness for Rex, who helps me see the ins and out of such things. I had a few do overs. Misread the clue for 51 down as optimist instead of optometrist and stubbornly stuck with ROSY for the longest time. SLITS for OCULI. AND for ARE. IRON for EASE. WENT PRO before GONE. And couldn’t think of RON PAUL Eva use all O could see with the RO-P was Ross Perot, even though I knew it was wrong.

REBECCA. That ONE word alone might trigger cold chills in anyone familiar with either Hitchcock‘s gothic film or du Maurier’s classic novel. The book was one of my very first ventures into “adult” level reading as a young girl around my preteen years as I recall. If you’re not familiar, either one is worthy of your time, but I’d choose the book over the movie any day.

Tom P 12:15 PM  

I totally agree with Rex's critique. However, I must admit I'm one of those solvers who typically struggles on Thursdays and who found this one refreshingly easy.

jb129 12:38 PM  

Took me forever, but I thought this was fun & very clever. Thank you, Brandon - for a Friday that was enjoyable & made me want to think (as in not give up) & solve it.

BTW - there's a list of Will Shortz's 100 Favorite Puzzles out there. I found a name included on the list of 100 - I was first learning how to do puzzles & he was the best to cut my teeth on (2005) - usually on Fridays, of all days -
I loved his puzzles - MANNY NOSOWSKY!

Anonymous 12:52 PM  

I think it must have been a mistake that the Ts were visible.

Anonymous 12:58 PM  

I gobbled up every one of his books in college (and beyond). It would be amazing if there's an archivist out there that could find his posts.

...way down below the ocean

Anonymous 1:17 PM  

It is NOT a kealoa!!! Read Rex’s explanation the next time he prints it. (None of the letters in the three T-shirt sizes share the same space.)

MichaelJ 1:34 PM  

Meh… for all the reasons you stated, Rex. I was initially trying to work the Ts into the down answers as the T gimmick in the cross answers was almost instantly discernible. Quickly became obvious that Ts were just the same gimmick for the down answers. T leaves? Who cares?

Anonymous 1:37 PM  

Same. That probably merits a retraction/correction/apology, Joel.

Masked and Anonymous 1:41 PM  

@kitshef: Tootpaste. har. Just a typo [no refunds]. Not part of a GET THE H OUTTA HERE puztheme.

M&A Help Desk

Anonymous 1:41 PM  

I don’t think so. If that were the case then when removing center leafs you would push the remaining sections together. Which would be a much more challenging puzzle. Maybe even great.

EasyEd 1:42 PM  

Something of a masterpiece of construction, but the constructor could have used some help on clues or answers. For example, as mentioned earlier in this blog, GONEPRO was a clunker on more than one level. RCCAR another example. Also a victim of tech failure when one of phantom “T”’s was flagged as error even though I had left it blank. Didn’t mind some of the PPP as a problem with proper names and places is normal for me. Other than these caveats an easy puzzle for a Thursday with some decent memory joggers.

Anonymous 1:48 PM  

Same nit. Also the tense seems slightly mismatched.

johnk 1:57 PM  

TTTTTTTTTT too many.
I'm so (T)ired of these silly games that have replaced the NYTXW.

bookmark 2:04 PM  

@SunVolt @6:10AM: Thank you for the information about Paul Auster's being a commenter on this blog. I did not know that.

When I read of his death yesterday, I began rereading his The Invention of Solitude. In 2016 he spoke at the U of South Carolina, and I was impressed with his openness and kindness. I have 4 of his signed books and plan to read more of his others again. He was an inventive writer in many genres. He created beautiful literature in his life, which was also a sad one, too. RIP

LenFuego 2:15 PM  

As usual, I liked the theme a lot more than Rex. Even though, yes, I sussed out early to "ignore" the T's, the theme still came into play in filling in those answers in that the full entry with the T's also had to be a word, adding to the solve.

For instance, I originally had RYDERCUP for the PGA tour trophy, and mentally tried things like REGRESSES, RECESSES, REPRESSES for "Manages with delicacy", but all that I tried either did not fit, made no sense with the clue, or, importantly, did not create a viable entry with the T's included. Eventually I realized the 'R' did not work at the beginning, and moved along with the solve.

Hal B 2:50 PM  

Using the app, I mistyped when entering "exile" (or textile) and put an "I" in for one of the Ts, that I couldn't change and so was unable to finish. I just came back to it and was able to fix it by going to the website.

CDilly52 3:02 PM  

Wow. So today, I signed in to Blogger but still could not post any way but through the website by proving I’m not a robot and then reading the teeny tiny print! And my iPhone’s GPS won’t allow the voice to come through no matter what I do. Clearly, my technology is on revolt. So irritating. Even my super smart granddaughter can’t figure out my GPS problem. Oh well.

Today, @kitshef said exactly what I was thinking throughout my solve - clever idea that just could not carry the cleverness of the idea through to the remainder of the grid. I figured out the gimmick almost immediately since the “T” squares were “dim” for want of a better descriptor. Had a bit of a slowdown a couple places, but nothing close to a stumper. The idea is good, but the solve doesn’t live up to the idea. Easy, maybe a Tuesday or even Wednesday-ish? This was fun, just not Thursday fun, and I look forward to Thursdays. See y’all tomorrow.



Anonymous 4:03 PM  

Can someone explain 47 across? Is unum referring to a Latin phrase on a one dollar bill or something similar?

kitshef 5:41 PM  

The discussion between Paul Auster and Z was about the meaning of 'meta', and took place in the comments on 8-2-2021 (link below). Their exchange was awesome and radical.

https://rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com/2021/08/gripe-mon-8-2-2021-contacting-privately.html

Anonymous 6:15 PM  

Definitely not easy. I found the SE a slog — took me forever to see MARVIN and AVERSE. A few minutes over my Thursday average. Also, the cluing for GONEPRO makes no sense — minor leaguers are also paid, just way less.

jae 6:19 PM  

Easy. I realized early that I needed to skip the shaded squares in order for the clues to work, so that’s what I did. I planned to go back and fill them in after finishing but I got the happy music with the squares still blank. So, never mind.

I solved on my iPad using the NYT app and all I got were shaded squares…no faint Ts, no circles, and apparently no reason to do anything but ignore them.

I’m mostly with @Rex on this one.

dash riprock 6:51 PM  
This comment has been removed by the author.
SharonAK 6:57 PM  

@ Alex and Anonymous While doing th puzzle I thought "made it to the big leagues" would refer to someone who was already pro but in a minorr league. Forgot it quickly, but glad to see your comments.

Loved 37A Mobile home/shell an enjoyed seeing all the theme answers become other words with the Ts.

Particularly like TEMPTRESS, MARTINET and TEXTILES. Great words

dgd 7:12 PM  

I thought it was easy until I dnf’d, , because I went too fast, and left SHIn crossing UNUn. I didn’t get the UNUM trick. And was thinking of SHIM but left the n. Oh well.
In the dead tree edition, I missed the gray square T’s for a while- not enough contrast for my eyes- but otherwise the puzzle had no problems.
I disagree with Rex. The gimmick wasn’t totally useless. It helped me recall
MARON, wasn’t sure about the middle letter

Anonymous 7:17 PM  

Was just a week ago we had the HOLE puzzle where you had to skip over squares but then go back and fill them in. Silly and redundant. At least HOLE was circled. Shaded boxes on the phone when it already shades in the across/down you are on is maddening.

Anonymous 10:18 PM  

My squares didn’t have any Ts in them so I just solved around the blank squares and had no idea why they were there! It played incredibly easy without the Ts because there was no misdirection.

Anonymous 7:49 AM  

i liked the puzzle. but rccar and emailer were weak. i liked finesses and fitness tests. i appreciate the "T"s because they helped me solve some answers i was stuck on.

swac 10:05 AM  

Jeepers, feeling sad for all those folks who grew up without seeing any Marvin the Martian cartoons. Chuck Jones is one of the greatest American artists of the 20th century, and the encounters between Marvin and Bugs Bunny & Daffy Duck are some of his funniest work.

Anonymous 2:34 PM  

“e pluribus unum” on a one cent penny. This one confused me for a while.

Uncle Bob 9:31 AM  

No one calls a penny a "one". A "one" is a dollar bill. E pluribus unum does not appear on a one. I thought it did. Good catch.

Anonymous 10:25 AM  

The problem is not with the digital format or the dead-tree format. The problem is the theme idea is weak (tea?). When is Will Shortz coming back?

Anonymous 10:45 AM  

Some people have it wrong here. The word UNUM does in fact appear on the obverse side of the U.S. one-dollar bill.
From Wikipedia:
The eagle holds a ribbon in its beak reading "E PLURIBUS UNUM", a Latin phrase meaning "Out of many [states], one [nation]",

spacecraft 12:43 PM  

I solved without noticing--with my nearly 84-year-old eyes--those faint T outlines in the shaded squares. Looking back over, I can just barely make them out.

After being held up in the NW, I went searching for a revealer clue, found it in the SE, and went there. Soon had TEALEAVES, and now saw that TEMPTRESS - the Ts = EMPRESS, and the game was afoot. I've never been a fan of BAE, and never will. What, too lazy to pronounce the second B? Stupid.

Surprised no one gigged the dupe: AONE directly above ONETON--with two more ONEs in the crossing clue for UNUM! That's a TON of ONEs.

Hand up for believing that RCCAR was a moving ad for soda. Clever enough concept, but too many fill defects and too easy for Thursday. Bogey.

Wordle birdie.

Burma Shave 12:48 PM  

USERS’ CUES

ALANIS is A TEMPTRESS,
SHE’LL take ORDERS on down-LO,
no MATRON, but an EMPRESS,
not AVERSE to have GONEPRO.

--- REBECCA IBSEN

From yesterday:

WALLFLOWERS KARMA

HEIDI and ANA were NAIFs,
IN love, TADPOLES IN the SEA,
and ARTY WANTed SOME wifes,
so he ADMITS they are THREE.

--- KIRI MORSE

Anonymous 3:11 PM  

Despite my intention of skipping the aggravations of Thursday puzzles, I unfortunately started on this one. To my great regret. A joyless experience.

Anonymous 6:22 PM  

When I saw the answer rc car, I thought of radio controlled vehicles, like in the truck race in Ocean's Eleven. A hilarious scene. Not the little kids' remote control ones. Several models of the radio controlled cars can go faster than 60 mph.

rondo 9:54 PM  

I noticed the AONE ONETON dupe right away. Inelegant as some say.
Wordle par, didn't get the oTHER answer.

Anonymous 10:51 AM  

What threw my solving was the expanded version of 3D which had to be BATE. Now I know ABATE and BAIT but BATE is pretty obscure.

Anonymous 5:26 PM  

This puzzle was on par with Being Hit On The Head Lessons. "What a stupid concept."

  © Free Blogger Templates Columnus by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP