Popular pastime played with putters / MON 5-13-24 / Topic of a wistful breakup song / Bearded garden figurine / Washable diaper material / Cut of meat that lent its name to a facial hairstyle
Constructor: Jeremy Newton
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (*for a Monday* *solved Downs-only*)
THEME: HOLE-IN-ONE SHOT (??) (33A: With 34- and 35- Across, something made by following the path of O's in this puzzle's grid) — it's supposed to depict a HOLE-IN-ONE (SHOT) in MINIGOLF (18A: Popular pastime played with putters), which was apparently invented in SCOTLAND (46A: Country with the first 18-Across venue (for ladies only, 1867))
Word of the Day: Margaret CHO (53D: Stand-up comic Margaret) —
Margaret Moran Cho (born December 5, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian and actress. She is known for her stand-up routines, through which she critiques social and political problems, especially regarding race and sexuality. She rose to prominence after starring in the ABC sitcom All-American Girl (1994–95), and became an established stand-up comic in the subsequent years.
If I'd gone with LOAF instead of LOLL at 5D: Sit around doing nothing, things might've been much easier, but LOLL really felt right (and was, technically, half right), and so LOLL stayed in place and (consequently) both of the longer Across answers up top became much much harder to parse (when you solve Downs-only, parsing's all you have). At one point I wanted MINIGOLF to be MINIMALL and LOADS OF FUN to be HOLDS OFF ON (!?). Aside from that problem, the rest of the grid was much easier, though a few of the longer answers eluded me for a while, including the one that went right through the shaded square—26D: Site for skeletons (CLOSET). Really (really) could've used a "metaphorically speaking" there. It is Monday, after all. But it's OK. I got there. GROW ON and "I HOPE NOT" were also toughish to get without help from Acrosses. In the case of "I HOPE NOT," the equivalency is not ... not what I'd call airtight, and as for GROW ON, I think of that meaning not just that something is becoming more tolerable, but that you're actually growing to like it. Then I had problem parsing some of the unlikelier Acrosses, like "YO DOG" (woof) and NO HOW and especially "IT'S DOPE" (42A: "Highly recommend!," in slang). Oh, and DIET gave me a mini-fit as well (49D: Try to lighten up?). I wanted ... I dunno, something to do with hair dye, I think. Never saw the theme while solving. Finished with what seemed like a lot of awkward fill and a couple of mysterious "O" squares (shaded and circled, respectively). Didn't even notice the string of "O"s traversing the grid at ODD angles. I can't say I think much of this theme. The revealer feels bad. Who says "HOLE-IN-ONE SHOT?" That is, who says the SHOT part? It's a hole-in-one. That's the shot. Everyone knows a "hole-in-one" is a (golf) shot. A "million-to-one shot," that's a thing. A HOLE-IN-ONE SHOT feels ... well, as I say, bad. Like some forced garbage you make up to get symmetry to work out.
Don't love that the shortish (8-letter) Acrosses are thematic but the longer (10-letter) ones aren't. Seems ... again, bad. I guess you could try to lawyer your way into an argument that LOADS OF FUN is thematic ("MINIGOLF! It's LOADS OF FUN!"), but then you're gonna have to explain the dude with the single MUTTON CHOP on his face. What's he got to do with MINIGOLF? Or SCOTLAND? And where's his other chop? He needs another one to GROWN ON his face, just to even things out. Before I finished and read the revealer clue, I thought the theme must have something to do with the shaded/circled squares (correct!) but I didn't know what. Since one of the squares involved DEMONS (24D: Wicked spirits) and another involved a clue with "skeletons" (CLOSET), I thought something spooky was maybe supposed to be happening. I mean, there's a GHOST and everything (37A: Halloween cookie shape). But nope. It's putt-putt. Shrug.
Was surprised to see a review so early from Rex. I just moved to Portugal from the US so I'm now 5 hours ahead. Came to read the write-up for Sunday's puzzle and boom Rex had already written up today's commentary. Anyway...at first I thought the puzzle was a little tough for a Monday...had nine hole instead of mini golf...doing only accrosses first. Really liked the animation...Bom dia e feliz segunda-feira.
The animation at the end reminds me more of pinball than golf, but then I've never played golf. The lines of Os are cool, but didn't notice them during the solve. Had same thought as @Rex re "HOLE-IN-ONE SHOT" but I think the "shot" is implied. It isn't a hole-in-one cookie... Also, here's a shibboleth: in American we use "a" (schwa) for the indefinite, like "She left a book on my table" or "I'd like a cookie" but we use "one" as a kind of specific indefinite or expressing surprise, like "She left ONE book on my chair" (I was expecting more) or "I'd like ONE cookie" (not all of them that you're offering). It's very difficult for speakers of other languages to understand the difference, so you'll hear your German landlord say, "Ach, the cleaner left one rag here" or "I need one ladder". Shibboleth.
Medium for a Monday. In the NYT app and online the "hole" is marked with a tiny flag. I went @Rex one overwrite better and had idle before LOll before LOAF at 5D.
But my big mistake was reading the 21A clue ("Uncool person") and thinking "I wonder if it's nerd or geek?" I guessed neRd, confirmed by the R in LORE (16D). But then 12D, the yellow part of an egg, absolutely positively had to be YOLK, so I tore out neRd and put in geeK, which required removing the correct LORE. That took a bit to sort out. The rest was Monday-normal.
Super enjoyable. I LOLed when I caught on, and it actually helped in the solve. Not that there was any difficulty, it just let me fill in a bunch of Os without even looking at the clues. Swoosh!
Fun Puzzle! Loved i a bunch, just slightly above medium for me for Monday. Agree that "SHOT" was harder to see/get than "HOLEINONE". Enjoyed the string of Os especially, with all the right angles to make it. Great, imaginative visual puzzle. ! Thanks Jeremy!
The best part of the puzzle was the animation at the end. HOLE IN ONE SHOT is not a thing--it is, as @Rex says, a HOLE IN ONE. Period.
I solved in the NYT software. Once I got MINI GOLF, the flag appeared in the circled square, which obviously made that the CUP. I still wanted HOLE IN ONE and couldn't figure out the last four letters (HOLE IN ONE fit in 33A and 34A; no need for 35A) until I got them from the crosses. I didn't notice the line of Os until the animation at the end showed me the trajectory of the ball--appropriate for MINI GOLF.
Time to “lighten up”, Rex! I thought this was a fun Monday puzzle, clever theme, not-bad fill, and great way to start the week. I didn’t get the animation that others are alluding to (lighted O’s?) but the ball trajectory was obvious anyway. People don’t really say HOLE-INONE-SHOT, but who cares? It rounds out the theme path and it’s fine.
I liked the skeleton in the CLOSET, the GHOST cookies and the DEMONS.
I wonder if the gentleman with the impressive MUTTONCHOPs ever played MINIGOLF?
Cute theme - I’ll be more generous than Rex. They tried something a little unusual for a Monday and I think it landed. A simple, creative concept that is well-executed without a lot of gunk. Gosh, how I wish I could say that every day.
Sollved it without using the theme. Average difficulty for a Monday, I thought. ITSDOPE is a new phrase to me; I'd be curious to learn how many other solvers knew it.
If you choose to solve Downs only, a puzzle like this one is going to be much harder, obviously. For me, getting the theme early (silly as it was) allowed me to fill a lot of squares with "O"s, making things much easier. I think that’s one of the goals of a good revealer.
Agree with Rex about SHOT. Just, no. I disagree that MUTTONCHOP should have been plural. The clue refers to the "cut of meat", so the singular is legit.
Never heard of MINIGOLF. Growing up, we always called it "miniature golf".
Jeremy has an artistic background, having attended a magnet high school for the visual arts, the Art Institute of Dallas, and then an N.Y.U. grad program in code-driven art installations. Two thirds of his 27 NYT puzzles have fallen on Sundays, and most of them involve visual elements.
He also incorporates those elements in his 15 x 15 puzzles, such as his terrific WORK/LIFE puzzle (March 9, 2017).
His puzzles are technically superb, today’s no exception. I love that there are no O’s in the grid aside from the golf ball’s path, and that the path travels through all three words of HOLE INONE SHOT. But also, I love that the path that the golf ball takes is perfectly symmetrical!
In addition, the cluing kept my brain engaged, even on Easy Monday. Several times I filled in an answer only to have to erase it and put in another. That rarely happens to me on a Monday, and I love it!
Lovely serendipities as well. How the theme of O’s is echoed by OWE. Three palindromes (LOL, AMA, URU). How TEE and CUP together make “teacup” – it’s a silly coincidence, I know, but I love silly coincidences like this!
Anyway, Jeremy, you are a standout constructor in all aspects of puzzle-making, as today’s puzzle exhibits. Bravo, sir, and thank you for a puzzle that soared through my happy zone!
Played harder than the usual Monday here. One disadvantage of solving on paper is missing all the animation that (apparently) happens sometimes when the puzzle is successfully completed. Nothing happened on my printed version and I went back to look t what the O's were doing. Finally made the TEE to CUP connection but there were more directions than I wanted to follow on a Monday morning.
I don't have the addictive PHONE in my pocket, and would have preferred a clue like "Rotary ____". Wonder who many youngsters would get that one.
Nice Stunt Monday, JN. Just Not whooshy enough for me. Thanks for a fair amount of fun.
I really liked this puzzle for a couple fo reasons. First off, this was my first time to successfully complete a puzzle using only the down clues. The acrosses just seemed extra easy to suss out today. So Yay! And i thought that animation at the end was like a cherry on top of a fun solve - it made me laugh out loud.
The only big hurdle was “yo dog”. I had yoga in my head and it just would not leave.
This golf theme brings memories of my father on the links, where he cursed and spit, and often whacked his club against a tree after a bad shot. Hole after hole his anger would flare, his face redden, his arms flail.
Then, as he was walking to the car afterward, he would be beaming. “Best time ever,” he would exclaim, and he meant it.
I was really struggling doing Downs Only, with Crypts for 26D and many other problems, so I started looking at Across clues sooner than usual. Then it was fine, a reasonable Monday, but I agree that no one says “Hole-in-one shot” and I’ve had five of them (in real golf), so there.
Hey All ! That's a heckuva shot! The app did it's animation rhingie again, highlighting the O's in a quick succession from TEE to CUP. Neat path of O's.
Took puz A LOT of Blockers to get there. 46! Normal max is 38. But, having to have your O's lined up to zig-zag the grid, will put constraints on the fill. Another nice feature, no others extraneous O's floating about.
A neat MonPuz. Haven't MINIGOLFed here in ages. I did design a course when I was in high school. Nothing ever materialized with that beside the drawings. Still have the papers somewhere...
Anyway, another Monday. Ick. The day, not the puz. 😁
Oh, did I mention DOG? Enough of the review, you say, what about YODOG?
Well, thanks for your imaginary asking (and the actual nice comments in the past couple days!)
Been totally DORKing out over CUTE little Diva. Especially when she’s dreading something (bath, having velcro harness put on, riding in elevator), I start my atonal version of singing to distract her.
Bath - “Tiny bubbles, in the fur, makes you look decent, less like a cur…”
Harness - “you put the right paw in, you put the left paw out, you make the velcro mesh, then you buckle it about. Add the Leashie Weashie and we take a walk. That’s what it’s all about!”
Elevator (aka The Magic Bus) - she doesn’t like the “Too much, Magic Bus” part so much, but looks at me quizzically, like what kind of nutjob did they stick me with, when I get to the “I waaaaannnnt it, I waaaaannnnt it”. “You can’t have it!” Of course, other elevator riders are equally relieved to get off the “Magic Bus” by then as well. (Jk - I don’t subject human ears to my caterwauling - mine are mostly deaf so I’m mostly spared. But Diva seems to like/be distracted by the silliness)
Ok, enough silliness here. Back to playing with m-m-m-m-My Chihuahua (hey, I’m getting The Knack)….
So while the constructor is having LOADS OF FUN out on the mini golf course sinking all those putts, I'm still in the clubhouse cooling my heels because no one's let me even know that there's a putting contest going on.
Another meticulous piece of grid construction that leaves the solver entirely out of the process. Now, if we couldn't have solved any of the "O"-containing answers -- the "O" representing the golf ball, right? -- without first having to figure out the conceit, well that would have been exciting and challenging. This way, it was an "after the fact" realization that, at least for me, was more ho-hum than aha. Only because of my "Is this all there is?" response to the lone gray square and the lone tiny little circle, did I notice the "O"s at all.
Was positive it was "beam" instead of GRIN before I got the golf theme and figured out my mistake. The clue (Smiling from ear to ear) is way too emphatic for just a grin.
Another delightful day in puzzledom. I do wish the golf ball was moving a tiny bit slower in the final graphic and I wish there'd be an explosion when it goes into the cup and a firey succubus would rise up and rampage across the grid knocking over a windmill and giant plastic T-Rex, but what they did was fine too.
I don't know if I would have noticed all the Os unless they said something. That's tidy puzzle making.
Of all the cloths in all the world, they go with diaper? URU and IDAHOS are a wee bit cringey, but holy ACOW the rest of the grid is as clean as YO DOG.
1 Where my relatives all seem to live. 2 My curl up and weep move on the couch after getting dumped again. 3 The story developing in my head as the lackluster dinner party becomes insufferable. 4 Stance of the anti-Velcro-ians.
1 DORK, FLORIDA 2 LOST LOVE FLOP 3 GO HOME PLOT 4 FOR SHOELACE
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Reputation of one gah-gah to get guys gaga while grinding to Gaga. POLE DANCE BATTY.
Hand up for “creative” and “imaginative”, The final ball path was LOADSOFFUN, and those being the only O’s is genius. Adding SHOT to make all this work is small price to pay. NYT crossword animation adds a different twist to crosswords, not exactly classical in approach but adaptive to new tech. Artists need room to experiment. We may not all like it but how do you compare a Rembrandt with a Picasso? OK, getting carried away there…
As demonstrated by 33A and 30A, this theme is cut from HOLE CLOTH. I once got a HOLE INONE and had to buy everyone in the clubhouse a HOLE INONE SHOT. Most of them didn't drink it from a CUP. But maybe the traditions are different in MINIGOLF. I stick exclusively to Maxi Golf where ITSDOPE as often as drinks.
I've seen a few detective movies. In fact, I think I saw HOLMES INONE.
Aw shucks. The gadget solvers got animation of some sort at the end. Those who experienced it seemed to find it exciting and visually stimulating and emotionally gratifying.
Those of us who solved on paper, however, got zilch.
ANTI DOTE had a CUTE GRIN. She'd hide LOADS of NUTS in her CLOTH CUP and carry a LOAF of DIET YOLK CHOP for her DOG, YO. He was CUTE as well.
DOTE believed a GHOST lived on her FLORIDA LAND. There were DEMONS AQUI. Her MUTT, YO, who was a MINI CHO, was LOST in his own DEMONS. YO was no DOPE, but GOSH, ANTI was a bit of an ODD DORK. I don't NO HOW, but YO would PLOT with A COW named FLOSS (who liked to ROME in the CHILI GROVE) to CAST THE DEMONS out into the ASH LAND PLOT.
THO DOTE could be FUN, there was always some LOST SAGA in her PROSE of HOPE. She would PHONE guru URU (A PEN name) and ask HOW the GNOME on her LAND had a HOLE on his FRONT NUTS. URU would then CAST the DEMONS into the GOLF of FLORIDA . "ALOE" he'd cry and the NUTS would be gone!
YO decided to come out of the CLOSET. He was LOST in LOVE with A COW named FLOSS and this LOVE would not ABATE. He was a MUTT ON LOADS of CHOP CHILI and he needed A HOME free of any GHOST and DEMONS. ANTI DOTE was of NO USE so YO CHOSE to be up FRONT and head for the IDAHOS.
ANTI DOTE lost her GRIN and the LOADS of NUTS she carried in her CLOTH CUP. She finally CHOSE to take a SHOT of DOPE and let the GHOST who lived on her FLORIDA LAND just stay and have FUN and play some GOLF in MINI SCOTLAND. GOSH, she lost her LOL, her PROM GRIN was a FLOP and she was ALOE hope. She wanted YO and FLOSS back.
Well the IDAHOS, THO CUTE, were not AS FUN as it was CAST to be. It was time to GO HOME FOR real. Yo would PHONE DOTE and tell her. YO and FLOSS did GRIN and DOTE was LOST for words of PROSE.
This isn't a MINI SAGA FLOP and no need to EDIT. Everyone was finally LOST IN LOVE in the FLORIDA LAND and NO HOW would they PLOT to ROME anywhere else.
I really enjoyed this puzzle. The constructor is really talented. The animation at The end was a big plus. Maybe if Rex used the NYT app he'd have enjoyed it more.
Excellent Monday puzzle. Accessible to everyone (for the most part). Add in the novelty of the golf shot and it’s a winner! By the way, whenever I am with someone who gets a hole-in-one on a miniature golf course, I do say, “Nice shot!” It’s not that much of a reach to include “shot” in the revealer.
Really fun Monday! Once I caught on to the O thing, I had fun tracing the path around the grid. Agree that it’s a HOLE IN ONE, not a HOLE IN ONE SHOT. But whatever. Still fun.
Only major hang up for me was for some reason I thought it was ANTeDOTE and figured maybe MINe GOLF is a thing I was just unaware of. Didn’t figure it out til it told me to keep trying and realized my dumb mistake.
Yes, since Mondays are so easy the experts need the additional challenge of doing it downs only. Since they are so fortunate, and with obvious time on their hands, you’d think they might make better use of their time by volunteering for an organization that helps the less fortunate.
Bob Mills, here's why I knew IT'S DOPE: About 10 years ago, my wife and I were visiting our twenty-something (at the time) son in Seattle. I had taken to wearing a very wide-brimmed hat for sun protection, and one of my son's buddies said, "DOPE hat, Mr. T." I was mildly (and oddly) hurt by that remark, until my son explained to me that my hat had received a compliment!
I did the puzzle downs only and more easily than usual, but on the phone app, which did not produce the animation at the end. So I just went in on my computer and reworked the puzzle to see the animation. Kudos to the constructor. I thought the concept and execution (especially for a Monday) were LOADS OF FUN.
As a longtime solver and sometime constructor, I marveled at the complexity of lining up the “O”s. If I had thought of the theme I would have banished it from my mind. When did Jeremy start this puzzle - 1987?
My five favorite original clues from last week (in order of appearance):
1. Where F comes before E? (3) 2. One who can't handle their moonshine well? (8) 3. Evidence of a past personal connection? (5) 4. One with a short term in office? (6) 5. Pop back and forth? (3)
On the tough side for me. Clues referencing other clues tend to slow things down. Plus I never stop to figure out what’s going on with the theme in the middle of a solve, I just keep moving around the grid until it’s done.
Pretty, pretty clever. The O path could definitely be a MINI GOLF shot. Liked it.
Croce Solvers - Croce’s Freestyle #910 was again on the easy side for me for a Croce. No major problems or WOEs. Good luck!
Really? Medium/Challenging, Rex? Maybe because you do downs only - I dunno. I don't know a thing about golf, but this was very easy for me. And happy it was so easy so now I can go back to the NYT coverage of Michael Cohen's testimony. Yes, I'm obsessed with the whole thing :)
Nancy (9:30). Exactly. After the fact and more ho hum than aha.
I've been doing Mondays on my iPad, so I saw the animated hole in one. It located the hole-in-one which I probably would have missed doing it on paper. Still ho hum.
Liked the Jaws of golfball guidance. Also liked lotsa other stuff: ITSDOPE. YODOG. LOADSOFFUN. ANITIDOTE. AQUI/AQUA[CUTE]. GHOST/GNOME & DEMONS & skeletons.
staff weeject pick: CUP, cuz it has puztheme-respect for the wee words. honorable mention to URU, obvs. fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Miami's home} = FLORIDA. A true gimme putt.
I solved the puzzle but I don’t see the animation talked about - I don’t understand the shaded square and the square with the circle . I see there are lots of o’s in a line I’m probably being really dense but I don’t get it . Could someone explain ?
@Easy Ed: I've always argued for the much greater pleasantness of solving on paper to solving on a gadget. No tech-brained challenges to futz up what ought to be a single-minded focus on the word-brained challenges. But this seems to be the exception that proves the rule. The people who solved on an app and got the animation seem to have had a better, more exciting time than the rest of us.
BTW, there is something about the way I see -- or DON'T see -- that may be different from the way most of you see. Even knowing the "O" trick, a second perusal of the filled grid didn't make the "O"s pop out at me. Not one bit. Once again I didn't see them at all until I specifically went looking for them. And I had to look very hard, I might add.
I just don't see patterns or spatial relationships in designs -- ever. I'm sure that's why I've always been so completely hopeless at geography.
I print the puzzles out nd solve on paper. today after reading several comment about the animation I went back and filled it in on line. The animation was cute. And it showed that I had missed part oof at the balls path. I wondered why there was anO in a circle in "shot" when the ball ended down at "tow" Old eyes and weak pencil marks, oh well.
Most fun I've had on the crossword in some time. A visual mystery for a change instead of just punny too-clever clues. A breath of fresh air, because it wasn't chock full of traditional crossword conceits.
NEWS FLASH!!! The NYT is looking for a puzzle editor. Not the big one, but a nice $100k job.Qualifications • 3+ years editing puzzles for publication • An appreciation for word games and puzzles • Basic experience with web production, and basic knowledge of web tools and interfaces • Basic knowledge of journalism ethics and standards Responsibilities • You will report to the Editorial Director and are responsible for editing and creating and quality puzzles for New York Times Games • Duties may include working on the New York Times Crossword or a new beta game 13 more items Benefits • The annual base pay salary for this role is between $98,000.00 and $103,000.00
@egsforbreakfast 1:11 PM I would like to apply for that job. Here are my qualifications:
1. I am very good at complaining about puzzles.
2. I have been writing uniclues now for almost two years and only about 1000 people have complained about them.
3. I own a computer and I think it connects to something called an internet.
4. I work well with others as long as they agree with me.
5. My first career out of college I worked in journalism and we used to make fun of the puzzle because it clogged up valuable news space, but now the only news is about an orange man possibly wearing a striped suit, so there seems to be way less call for journalists generally and way more need for puzzles.
6. I would be more than happy to show up for work for half that fee IF I get to run the slush pile.
I found it a quick down clues only solve. Helped by the fact that I read the note, checked the web site and saw the little flag which screamed: GOLF! And the shaded square must be the tee. And maybe the black squares would be water hazards.
Then guessing the revealer had to be HOLE IN ONE SHOT had me thinking: well, that's that. But after the puzzle was successfully completed, I read the across clues and saw the "follow the path of Os"... really nice post solve bonus!
I would like to play a mini-golf hole that has this path... a quadruple bank. Wow that would be fun to ace it!
Sure, HOLE IN ONE SHOT is not much of a phrase in the language, almost always being replaced by the terser HOLE IN ONE, but it's also not wrong ... as a very regular golfer I can say that if I uttered that phrase to my regular golf foursome ("Hey, remember when I hit that HOLE IN ONE SHOT on number 5?"), none of them would balk at it or even bat an eye, they would just nod and say "yeah". If you google "hole-in-one shot", you will find tons of uses of that phrase. In this particular case, there is an outstanding reason not to dispense with the word SHOT -- the "shot" starts literally at the 'o' in HOLE, has its exact mid-point at the 'o' in IN-ONE and finishes at the 'o' in SHOT, making this construction marvelous.
Complaining about HOLE IN ONE SHOT in that context is just whiny and extraordinarily small-minded -- you really need to rethink your life if you jump in on that. Do you really want to stay the type of person that spreads dark clouds and large chunks of hail rather than sunshine?
♪ The "downs-only" Monday The antidote to solving the fun way ♪
I like this puzzle a lot but I think all of the O squares should have been gray for the print edition. It wouldn't really give anything extra away, and the path of the O's would be much clearer for solvers who can't see the animation.
For this missing the animation, it’s just a simple yellow ball following the O’s in the grid. Nothing overly exciting,
The primary advantage, for me at least, of going digital was my handwriting is TERRIBLE. Would have to go back to clue to see what letter I had entered. Since I did it in ink (not ‘cause I’m good, I just hate pencils), any overwrites were a WOE (or did I put in ALOE? With my penmanship, who knows?)
NYT has good basic settings, where you can skip over/go back to next open square. And now that I solve most puzzles with autocheck on - screw any streak, show me my error(s)! The time/frustration spared is worth the annual subscription!
Held out for years before making the switch, but as they (might) say, “Once app, never back!”
Andrew 2:32 PM Your description of your experience doing the puzzle on paper is what I still do (of course with ink for the same reason). I am possibly more messy than you and have the same problems you used to have. However, I continue to do it on paper. I simply can’t stand to do it on the phone ( and I find a computer only slightly better ) I was on a short trip over the weekend and I was literally swearing at my phone when I couldn’t either buy a paper or download the puzzle. I am a klutz ( related to my messy writing) but I am especially a klutz with anything computer related. What makes doing the crossword online easier for you makes things much harder for me. It took me 50% longer at least. Also , the way my mind works, writing things down on paper helps my mind process things better. I always have been that way. To each his own. (BTW you write so well about your rescue dog. I have really enjoyed your posts)
Once I got HOLE IN ONE SHOT I knew that there was going to be a line of Os going up to the top and back down to the CUP--but I avoided filling them all in in advance, and I kept forgetting that this was MINI GOLD; so as the path was starting to fill itself in I was complaining that this was more like billiards than golf. That increased my fun, somehow, because I eventually got to realize that it was MINI GOLF for a second time.
I've never been to a DEButante ball, so I don't know how they worked. Is it just one DEB per ball? I think you can only have one belle per ball, so that would make sense. But like I say, it's outside my experience.
Further explanation, for those asking: it's often called "downs only," but it's really "down clues only." People doing it (which I don't) do try to guess the across answers from the crosses they have. Otherwise it would be REALLY hard.
Croce Freestyle 910 was one of the hardest ever (very different experience to @jae's). The top two-thirds went fairly quickly, but the SW corner was almost impossible, and I finished with two errors, to boot (2D/17A cross and 37A/24D cross).
Also, (no spoiler) "newly-invented" was a real stretch in the clue for 65A -- the CD was invented four years earlier and they were already available in stores.
There was no animation in the NYT iPad app. I had to go to the website to see the ball travel the grid. Fortunately my iPad completed grid was also completed on the website.
@Kitshef - the SW was the toughest section for me too, 34d didn’t come easily. That said, not knowing about CD dates made 65a easier. The last square I filled was 37a/24d and I had to ponder it for a while…so while it seemed on the easy side to me overall, there were definitely some rough spots.
Not only did I know mini golf was started in Scotland, but I’ve played the course. It’s at St. Andrews. It’s on natural grass (unlike American carpet) and it’s called the “Ladies Course” because it was the only course women were allowed to play at St. Andrews for many years.
Thanks @DGD 6:50! I could go on about this incredible pup for hours - she’s doing SO well andI I love her so much even though I’m now on a 9-5 schedule (those are the hours she allows me to sleep before our first walk at 5:30 am).
Do you have a tablet? A phone is too small; a computer too big. An iPad or equivalent tablet is the Goldilocks’ status of just right.
BTW, the greatest present I got for my parents was an iPad (and a wifi device) about 14 years ago. They were in their late 80s and when in their Northern Minnesota cabin for the summer, still insisted on driving 10 miles to get a USA Today each morning, Both were far too old to drive (my dad agreed to quit driving after running into a golf course clubhouse - hey, that ties into today’s puzzle - thinking he was backing up).
They LOVED it. They fought over constantly over whose turn it was (but having grown up in the Depression, wouldn’t allow me to but a second one). It was so so SO fun to show them the wonders the ipad had in store. Showing Mom YouTube and that if she wanted to see an old Mitch Miller show, for instance, how to access it (her response after seeing two songs: “Does this only show Mitch Miller?”)
Dad loved reading the Sunday paper on Saturday night - especially the obituaries. Mom used to complain, “he’s always asking me late on Saturday,‘‘Guess who died?’”
Ok, this so off the subject, I have to remember my point. Guess I just miss them on the day after Mother’s Day.
My point, several paragraphs above, was: have you tried solving on a tablet?
As a golfer and a pedant, this puzzle bugged me. As Rex correctly said, it's a hole in one, not a hole in one shot. The "mini golf" course in Scotland isn't mini golf. It's not really mini golf - it's an 18 hole putting course. It's on real grass, not artificial turf. When I think of mini golf, I do not think of 18 holes on real grass. I think of windmills, multicolored balls, etc. The course actually has an interesting history and place in the golf world: https://www.standrewsputtingclub.com/history/ and is absolutely worthy of a clue in the NYT. It's not mini golf. These two answers made me cringe, and I don't remember anything else from the puzzle. Not what I'm looking for on a Monday.
Cool quadruple bank SHOT. No stray Os: like. Virtually the entire grid is slaved to the theme, so it's remarkable the fill isn't any worse than it is.
I grew up on MINIGOLF, during summers in Mount Gretna, PA. They had an awesome course there. For one HOLE, they provided a chipping iron to go over a sand pit (really!) onto the green. Loved that place. Fond memories. Eagle.
Wordle bogey, like Rory's most improbable one from 15 inches (!) to blow a playoff chance. Poor guy.
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ReplyDelete“Spine-cracking of the Britannica.” You mean open a book? Just asking.
Deleteduh
DeleteWas surprised to see a review so early from Rex. I just moved to Portugal from the US so I'm now 5 hours ahead. Came to read the write-up for Sunday's puzzle and boom Rex had already written up today's commentary. Anyway...at first I thought the puzzle was a little tough for a Monday...had nine hole instead of mini golf...doing only accrosses first. Really liked the animation...Bom dia e feliz segunda-feira.
ReplyDeleteThe animation at the end reminds me more of pinball than golf, but then I've never played golf. The lines of Os are cool, but didn't notice them during the solve. Had same thought as @Rex re "HOLE-IN-ONE SHOT" but I think the "shot" is implied. It isn't a hole-in-one cookie...
ReplyDeleteAlso, here's a shibboleth: in American we use "a" (schwa) for the indefinite, like "She left a book on my table" or "I'd like a cookie" but we use "one" as a kind of specific indefinite or expressing surprise, like "She left ONE book on my chair" (I was expecting more) or "I'd like ONE cookie" (not all of them that you're offering). It's very difficult for speakers of other languages to understand the difference, so you'll hear your German landlord say, "Ach, the cleaner left one rag here" or "I need one ladder". Shibboleth.
ReplyDeleteMedium for a Monday. In the NYT app and online the "hole" is marked with a tiny flag. I went @Rex one overwrite better and had idle before LOll before LOAF at 5D.
But my big mistake was reading the 21A clue ("Uncool person") and thinking "I wonder if it's nerd or geek?" I guessed neRd, confirmed by the R in LORE (16D). But then 12D, the yellow part of an egg, absolutely positively had to be YOLK, so I tore out neRd and put in geeK, which required removing the correct LORE. That took a bit to sort out. The rest was Monday-normal.
Not solving downs only, made this XW a snap, and fun. Enjoyed it a lot more than Rex, and found the lighted ball trajectory CUTE. — SoCal CP
ReplyDeleteSuper enjoyable. I LOLed when I caught on, and it actually helped in the solve. Not that there was any difficulty, it just let me fill in a bunch of Os without even looking at the clues. Swoosh!
ReplyDeleteFun Puzzle! Loved i a bunch, just slightly above medium for me for Monday. Agree that "SHOT" was harder to see/get than "HOLEINONE". Enjoyed the string of Os especially, with all the right angles to make it. Great, imaginative visual puzzle. ! Thanks Jeremy!
ReplyDeleteThe best part of the puzzle was the animation at the end. HOLE IN ONE SHOT is not a thing--it is, as @Rex says, a HOLE IN ONE. Period.
ReplyDeleteI solved in the NYT software. Once I got MINI GOLF, the flag appeared in the circled square, which obviously made that the CUP. I still wanted HOLE IN ONE and couldn't figure out the last four letters (HOLE IN ONE fit in 33A and 34A; no need for 35A) until I got them from the crosses. I didn't notice the line of Os until the animation at the end showed me the trajectory of the ball--appropriate for MINI GOLF.
Time to “lighten up”, Rex! I thought this was a fun Monday puzzle, clever theme, not-bad fill, and great way to start the week. I didn’t get the animation that others are alluding to (lighted O’s?) but the ball trajectory was obvious anyway. People don’t really say HOLE-INONE-SHOT, but who cares? It rounds out the theme path and it’s fine.
ReplyDeleteI liked the skeleton in the CLOSET, the GHOST cookies and the DEMONS.
I wonder if the gentleman with the impressive MUTTONCHOPs ever played MINIGOLF?
Cute theme - I’ll be more generous than Rex. They tried something a little unusual for a Monday and I think it landed. A simple, creative concept that is well-executed without a lot of gunk. Gosh, how I wish I could say that every day.
ReplyDeleteSollved it without using the theme. Average difficulty for a Monday, I thought. ITSDOPE is a new phrase to me; I'd be curious to learn how many other solvers knew it.
ReplyDeleteIf you choose to solve Downs only, a puzzle like this one is going to be much harder, obviously. For me, getting the theme early (silly as it was) allowed me to fill a lot of squares with "O"s, making things much easier. I think that’s one of the goals of a good revealer.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Rex about SHOT. Just, no. I disagree that MUTTONCHOP should have been plural. The clue refers to the "cut of meat", so the singular is legit.
Never heard of MINIGOLF. Growing up, we always called it "miniature golf".
Anyone else put devils in instead of DEMONS at 24D? In SHOT, it replaces the O with an I, which surprised me until I fixed it.
ReplyDeleteYup.
DeleteThis was pretty clever and enjoyable, and surprisingly low in junk considering the challenge presented by the theme. YO DOG and ITS DOPE aside.
ReplyDeleteAnd to beat a dead horse a bit, the absence of other Os in the grid shows proper attention to detail.
I had Laze before LOAF. So far, we have laze, loaf, loll, and idle. Any others?
Jeremy has an artistic background, having attended a magnet high school for the visual arts, the Art Institute of Dallas, and then an N.Y.U. grad program in code-driven art installations. Two thirds of his 27 NYT puzzles have fallen on Sundays, and most of them involve visual elements.
ReplyDeleteHe also incorporates those elements in his 15 x 15 puzzles, such as his terrific WORK/LIFE puzzle (March 9, 2017).
His puzzles are technically superb, today’s no exception. I love that there are no O’s in the grid aside from the golf ball’s path, and that the path travels through all three words of HOLE INONE SHOT. But also, I love that the path that the golf ball takes is perfectly symmetrical!
In addition, the cluing kept my brain engaged, even on Easy Monday. Several times I filled in an answer only to have to erase it and put in another. That rarely happens to me on a Monday, and I love it!
Lovely serendipities as well. How the theme of O’s is echoed by OWE. Three palindromes (LOL, AMA, URU). How TEE and CUP together make “teacup” – it’s a silly coincidence, I know, but I love silly coincidences like this!
Anyway, Jeremy, you are a standout constructor in all aspects of puzzle-making, as today’s puzzle exhibits. Bravo, sir, and thank you for a puzzle that soared through my happy zone!
Played harder than the usual Monday here. One disadvantage of solving on paper is missing all the animation that (apparently) happens sometimes when the puzzle is successfully completed. Nothing happened on my printed version and I went back to look t what the O's were doing. Finally made the TEE to CUP connection but there were more directions than I wanted to follow on a Monday morning.
ReplyDeleteI don't have the addictive PHONE in my pocket, and would have preferred a clue like "Rotary ____". Wonder who many youngsters would get that one.
Nice Stunt Monday, JN. Just Not whooshy enough for me. Thanks for a fair amount of fun.
I really liked this puzzle for a couple fo reasons. First off, this was my first time to successfully complete a puzzle using only the down clues. The acrosses just seemed extra easy to suss out today. So Yay! And i thought that animation at the end was like a cherry on top of a fun solve - it made me laugh out loud.
ReplyDeleteThe only big hurdle was “yo dog”. I had yoga in my head and it just would not leave.
Good start to the week!
I solve on paper so missed the animation which sounds like fun. I guess I'm old school.
ReplyDeleteThis golf theme brings memories of my father on the links, where he cursed and spit, and often whacked his club against a tree after a bad shot. Hole after hole his anger would flare, his face redden, his arms flail.
ReplyDeleteThen, as he was walking to the car afterward, he would be beaming. “Best time ever,” he would exclaim, and he meant it.
@Smith Mini golf is a lot like pinball, actually, with opportunities for banking shots like the one in the animation.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was cute, and forgave the constructor the extra word in the HOLE IN ONE SHOT.
After Sunday’s marathon, this was a relief.
A clever and entertaining Monday puzzle! I love the way the ball bounces off four boards on its way to the hole.
ReplyDeleteI was really struggling doing Downs Only, with Crypts for 26D and many other problems, so I started looking at Across clues sooner than usual. Then it was fine, a reasonable Monday, but I agree that no one says “Hole-in-one shot” and I’ve had five of them (in real golf), so there.
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteThat's a heckuva shot! The app did it's animation rhingie again, highlighting the O's in a quick succession from TEE to CUP. Neat path of O's.
Took puz A LOT of Blockers to get there. 46! Normal max is 38. But, having to have your O's lined up to zig-zag the grid, will put constraints on the fill. Another nice feature, no others extraneous O's floating about.
A neat MonPuz. Haven't MINIGOLFed here in ages. I did design a course when I was in high school. Nothing ever materialized with that beside the drawings. Still have the papers somewhere...
Anyway, another Monday. Ick. The day, not the puz. 😁
Four F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
A fun twist for a Monday. A double DOGleg of O’s.
ReplyDeleteOh, did I mention DOG? Enough of the review, you say, what about YODOG?
Well, thanks for your imaginary asking (and the actual nice comments in the past couple days!)
Been totally DORKing out over CUTE little Diva. Especially when she’s dreading something (bath, having velcro harness put on, riding in elevator), I start my atonal version of singing to distract her.
Bath - “Tiny bubbles, in the fur, makes you look decent, less like a cur…”
Harness - “you put the right paw in, you put the left paw out, you make the velcro mesh, then you buckle it about. Add the Leashie Weashie and we take a walk. That’s what it’s all about!”
Elevator (aka The Magic Bus) - she doesn’t like the “Too much, Magic Bus” part so much, but looks at me quizzically, like what kind of nutjob did they stick me with, when I get to the “I waaaaannnnt it, I waaaaannnnt it”. “You can’t have it!” Of course, other elevator riders are equally relieved to get off the “Magic Bus” by then as well. (Jk - I don’t subject human ears to my caterwauling - mine are mostly deaf so I’m mostly spared. But Diva seems to like/be distracted by the silliness)
Ok, enough silliness here. Back to playing with m-m-m-m-My Chihuahua (hey, I’m getting The Knack)….
So solving down only: 23D is idaHo, 24D is devIls, 25D abaTe (HIT) and when you get to 35D Shoelace........35 across becomes a hole lotta of no way!
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 9:09 AM--24D is DEMONS
DeleteSo while the constructor is having LOADS OF FUN out on the mini golf course sinking all those putts, I'm still in the clubhouse cooling my heels because no one's let me even know that there's a putting contest going on.
ReplyDeleteAnother meticulous piece of grid construction that leaves the solver entirely out of the process. Now, if we couldn't have solved any of the "O"-containing answers -- the "O" representing the golf ball, right? -- without first having to figure out the conceit, well that would have been exciting and challenging. This way, it was an "after the fact" realization that, at least for me, was more ho-hum than aha. Only because of my "Is this all there is?" response to the lone gray square and the lone tiny little circle, did I notice the "O"s at all.
Was positive it was "beam" instead of GRIN before I got the golf theme and figured out my mistake. The clue (Smiling from ear to ear) is way too emphatic for just a grin.
ReplyDeleteAnother delightful day in puzzledom. I do wish the golf ball was moving a tiny bit slower in the final graphic and I wish there'd be an explosion when it goes into the cup and a firey succubus would rise up and rampage across the grid knocking over a windmill and giant plastic T-Rex, but what they did was fine too.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I would have noticed all the Os unless they said something. That's tidy puzzle making.
Of all the cloths in all the world, they go with diaper? URU and IDAHOS are a wee bit cringey, but holy ACOW the rest of the grid is as clean as YO DOG.
Propers: 3
Places: 3
Products: 2
Partials: 6
Foreignisms: 1
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 15 (19%)
Tee-Hee: IT'S DOPE. It's really not.
Uniclues:
1 Where my relatives all seem to live.
2 My curl up and weep move on the couch after getting dumped again.
3 The story developing in my head as the lackluster dinner party becomes insufferable.
4 Stance of the anti-Velcro-ians.
1 DORK, FLORIDA
2 LOST LOVE FLOP
3 GO HOME PLOT
4 FOR SHOELACE
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Reputation of one gah-gah to get guys gaga while grinding to Gaga. POLE DANCE BATTY.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Hand up for “creative” and “imaginative”, The final ball path was LOADSOFFUN, and those being the only O’s is genius. Adding SHOT to make all this work is small price to pay. NYT crossword animation adds a different twist to crosswords, not exactly classical in approach but adaptive to new tech. Artists need room to experiment. We may not all like it but how do you compare a Rembrandt with a Picasso? OK, getting carried away there…
ReplyDeleteAs demonstrated by 33A and 30A, this theme is cut from HOLE CLOTH. I once got a HOLE INONE and had to buy everyone in the clubhouse a HOLE INONE SHOT. Most of them didn't drink it from a CUP. But maybe the traditions are different in MINIGOLF. I stick exclusively to Maxi Golf where ITSDOPE as often as drinks.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a few detective movies. In fact, I think I saw HOLMES INONE.
Very nice effort, TEE to green, Jeremy Newton.
Aw shucks. The gadget solvers got animation of some sort at the end. Those who experienced it seemed to find it exciting and visually stimulating and emotionally gratifying.
ReplyDeleteThose of us who solved on paper, however, got zilch.
ANTI DOTE had a CUTE GRIN. She'd hide LOADS of NUTS in her CLOTH CUP and carry a LOAF of DIET YOLK CHOP for her DOG, YO. He was CUTE as well.
ReplyDeleteDOTE believed a GHOST lived on her FLORIDA LAND. There were DEMONS AQUI. Her MUTT, YO, who was a MINI CHO, was LOST in his own DEMONS. YO was no DOPE, but GOSH, ANTI was a bit of an ODD DORK. I don't NO HOW, but YO would PLOT with A COW named FLOSS (who liked to ROME in the CHILI GROVE) to CAST THE DEMONS out into the ASH LAND PLOT.
THO DOTE could be FUN, there was always some LOST SAGA in her PROSE of HOPE. She would PHONE guru URU (A PEN name) and ask HOW the GNOME on her LAND had a HOLE on his FRONT NUTS. URU would then CAST the DEMONS into the GOLF of FLORIDA . "ALOE" he'd cry and the NUTS would be gone!
YO decided to come out of the CLOSET. He was LOST in LOVE with A COW named FLOSS and this LOVE would not ABATE. He was a MUTT ON LOADS of CHOP CHILI and he needed A HOME free of any GHOST and DEMONS. ANTI DOTE was of NO USE so YO CHOSE to be up FRONT and head for the IDAHOS.
ANTI DOTE lost her GRIN and the LOADS of NUTS she carried in her CLOTH CUP. She finally CHOSE to take a SHOT of DOPE and let the GHOST who lived on her FLORIDA LAND just stay and have FUN and play some GOLF in MINI SCOTLAND. GOSH, she lost her LOL, her PROM GRIN was a FLOP and she was ALOE hope. She wanted YO and FLOSS back.
Well the IDAHOS, THO CUTE, were not AS FUN as it was CAST to be. It was time to GO HOME FOR real. Yo would PHONE DOTE and tell her. YO and FLOSS did GRIN and DOTE was LOST for words of PROSE.
This isn't a MINI SAGA FLOP and no need to EDIT. Everyone was finally LOST IN LOVE in the FLORIDA LAND and NO HOW would they PLOT to ROME anywhere else.
And that's the truth!
@Nancy, you make a good point. Do we need a new class for puzzles that are bet done on tablets or computers?
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this puzzle. The constructor is really talented. The animation at The end was a big plus. Maybe if Rex used the NYT app he'd have enjoyed it more.
ReplyDeleteExcellent Monday puzzle. Accessible to everyone (for the most part). Add in the novelty of the golf shot and it’s a winner! By the way, whenever I am with someone who gets a hole-in-one on a miniature golf course, I do say, “Nice shot!” It’s not that much of a reach to include “shot” in the revealer.
ReplyDeleteReally fun Monday! Once I caught on to the O thing, I had fun tracing the path around the grid. Agree that it’s a HOLE IN ONE, not a HOLE IN ONE SHOT. But whatever. Still fun.
ReplyDeleteOnly major hang up for me was for some reason I thought it was ANTeDOTE and figured maybe MINe GOLF is a thing I was just unaware of. Didn’t figure it out til it told me to keep trying and realized my dumb mistake.
Not new to NYT crosswords, but new to Rex’s blog. Is “down only” solve a Monday thing?
ReplyDeleteYes, since Mondays are so easy the experts need the additional challenge of doing it downs only. Since they are so fortunate, and with obvious time on their hands, you’d think they might make better use of their time by volunteering for an organization that helps the less fortunate.
DeleteBob Mills, here's why I knew IT'S DOPE: About 10 years ago, my wife and I were visiting our twenty-something (at the time) son in Seattle. I had taken to wearing a very wide-brimmed hat for sun protection, and one of my son's buddies said, "DOPE hat, Mr. T." I was mildly (and oddly) hurt by that remark, until my son explained to me that my hat had received a compliment!
ReplyDeleteI did the puzzle downs only and more easily than usual, but on the phone app, which did not produce the animation at the end. So I just went in on my computer and reworked the puzzle to see the animation. Kudos to the constructor. I thought the concept and execution (especially for a Monday) were LOADS OF FUN.
As a longtime solver and sometime constructor, I marveled at the complexity of lining up the “O”s. If I had thought of the theme I would have banished it from my mind.
ReplyDeleteWhen did Jeremy start this puzzle - 1987?
My five favorite original clues from last week
ReplyDelete(in order of appearance):
1. Where F comes before E? (3)
2. One who can't handle their moonshine well? (8)
3. Evidence of a past personal connection? (5)
4. One with a short term in office? (6)
5. Pop back and forth? (3)
CAR
WEREWOLF
NAVEL
INTERN
DAD
Pretty sure it's "dawg" when used as slang for "bro" or w/e
ReplyDeleteOn the tough side for me. Clues referencing other clues tend to slow things down. Plus I never stop to figure out what’s going on with the theme in the middle of a solve, I just keep moving around the grid until it’s done.
ReplyDeletePretty, pretty clever. The O path could definitely be a MINI GOLF shot. Liked it.
Croce Solvers - Croce’s Freestyle #910 was again on the easy side for me for a Croce. No major problems or WOEs. Good luck!
Really? Medium/Challenging, Rex? Maybe because you do downs only - I dunno.
ReplyDeleteI don't know a thing about golf, but this was very easy for me.
And happy it was so easy so now I can go back to the NYT coverage of Michael Cohen's testimony. Yes, I'm obsessed with the whole thing :)
Nancy (9:30). Exactly. After the fact and more ho hum than aha.
ReplyDeleteI've been doing Mondays on my iPad, so I saw the animated hole in one. It located the hole-in-one which I probably would have missed doing it on paper. Still ho hum.
Cool O-fest solvequest to putter around in.
ReplyDeleteLiked the Jaws of golfball guidance.
Also liked lotsa other stuff: ITSDOPE. YODOG. LOADSOFFUN. ANITIDOTE. AQUI/AQUA[CUTE]. GHOST/GNOME & DEMONS & skeletons.
staff weeject pick: CUP, cuz it has puztheme-respect for the wee words. honorable mention to URU, obvs.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Miami's home} = FLORIDA. A true gimme putt.
Thanx, Mr. Newton dude. Nice shot.
Masked & Anonymo6Us
**gruntz**
I solved the puzzle but I don’t see the animation talked about - I don’t understand the shaded square and the square with the circle . I see there are lots of o’s in a line
ReplyDeleteI’m probably being really dense but I don’t get it . Could someone explain ?
@Easy Ed: I've always argued for the much greater pleasantness of solving on paper to solving on a gadget. No tech-brained challenges to futz up what ought to be a single-minded focus on the word-brained challenges. But this seems to be the exception that proves the rule. The people who solved on an app and got the animation seem to have had a better, more exciting time than the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteBTW, there is something about the way I see -- or DON'T see -- that may be different from the way most of you see. Even knowing the "O" trick, a second perusal of the filled grid didn't make the "O"s pop out at me. Not one bit. Once again I didn't see them at all until I specifically went looking for them. And I had to look very hard, I might add.
I just don't see patterns or spatial relationships in designs -- ever. I'm sure that's why I've always been so completely hopeless at geography.
I print the puzzles out nd solve on paper. today after reading several comment about the animation I went back and filled it in on line.
ReplyDeleteThe animation was cute.
And it showed that I had missed part oof at the balls path. I wondered why there was anO in a circle in "shot" when the ball ended down at "tow"
Old eyes and weak pencil marks, oh well.
LOll is what I put in first, like Rex, but unlike Rex, was not solving downs only so GOLF put an end to that.
ReplyDeleteBut LOve____ before LOST____ gave me eH_ for 20A. I thought the clue for 20A would be "Hesitations"; I was glad that didn't turn out to be "ehs".
Cute enough for Monday, thanks Jeremy Newton!
Most fun I've had on the crossword in some time. A visual mystery for a change instead of just punny too-clever clues. A breath of fresh air, because it wasn't chock full of traditional crossword conceits.
ReplyDeleteI’m LOLing for sure as I watch the ball go into the cup.
ReplyDeleteI know it’s stupid, and I love it.
NEWS FLASH!!! The NYT is looking for a puzzle editor. Not the big one, but a nice $100k job.Qualifications
ReplyDelete•
3+ years editing puzzles for publication
•
An appreciation for word games and puzzles
•
Basic experience with web production, and basic knowledge of web tools and interfaces
•
Basic knowledge of journalism ethics and standards
Responsibilities
•
You will report to the Editorial Director and are responsible for editing and creating and quality puzzles for New York Times Games
•
Duties may include working on the New York Times Crossword or a new beta game
13 more items
Benefits
•
The annual base pay salary for this role is between $98,000.00 and $103,000.00
@egsforbreakfast 1:11 PM
DeleteI would like to apply for that job. Here are my qualifications:
1. I am very good at complaining about puzzles.
2. I have been writing uniclues now for almost two years and only about 1000 people have complained about them.
3. I own a computer and I think it connects to something called an internet.
4. I work well with others as long as they agree with me.
5. My first career out of college I worked in journalism and we used to make fun of the puzzle because it clogged up valuable news space, but now the only news is about an orange man possibly wearing a striped suit, so there seems to be way less call for journalists generally and way more need for puzzles.
6. I would be more than happy to show up for work for half that fee IF I get to run the slush pile.
Hilarious!
DeleteI found it a quick down clues only solve. Helped by the fact that I read the note, checked the web site and saw the little flag which screamed: GOLF! And the shaded square must be the tee. And maybe the black squares would be water hazards.
ReplyDeleteThen guessing the revealer had to be HOLE IN ONE SHOT had me thinking: well, that's that. But after the puzzle was successfully completed, I read the across clues and saw the "follow the path of Os"... really nice post solve bonus!
I would like to play a mini-golf hole that has this path... a quadruple bank. Wow that would be fun to ace it!
[Spelling Bee: Sun 0, no goofy words, streak 5.]
Sure, HOLE IN ONE SHOT is not much of a phrase in the language, almost always being replaced by the terser HOLE IN ONE, but it's also not wrong ... as a very regular golfer I can say that if I uttered that phrase to my regular golf foursome ("Hey, remember when I hit that HOLE IN ONE SHOT on number 5?"), none of them would balk at it or even bat an eye, they would just nod and say "yeah". If you google "hole-in-one shot", you will find tons of uses of that phrase. In this particular case, there is an outstanding reason not to dispense with the word SHOT -- the "shot" starts literally at the 'o' in HOLE, has its exact mid-point at the 'o' in IN-ONE and finishes at the 'o' in SHOT, making this construction marvelous.
ReplyDeleteComplaining about HOLE IN ONE SHOT in that context is just whiny and extraordinarily small-minded -- you really need to rethink your life if you jump in on that. Do you really want to stay the type of person that spreads dark clouds and large chunks of hail rather than sunshine?
Aww. To the tune of the old Club Med jingle:
ReplyDelete♪ The "downs-only" Monday
The antidote to solving the fun way ♪
I like this puzzle a lot but I think all of the O squares should have been gray for the print edition. It wouldn't really give anything extra away, and the path of the O's would be much clearer for solvers who can't see the animation.
For this missing the animation, it’s just a simple yellow ball following the O’s in the grid. Nothing overly exciting,
ReplyDeleteThe primary advantage, for me at least, of going digital was my handwriting is TERRIBLE. Would have to go back to clue to see what letter I had entered. Since I did it in ink (not ‘cause I’m good, I just hate pencils), any overwrites were a WOE (or did I put in ALOE? With my penmanship, who knows?)
NYT has good basic settings, where you can skip over/go back to next open square. And now that I solve most puzzles with autocheck on - screw any streak, show me my error(s)! The time/frustration spared is worth the annual subscription!
Held out for years before making the switch, but as they (might) say, “Once app, never back!”
Andrew 2:32 PM
DeleteYour description of your experience doing the puzzle on paper is what I still do (of course with ink for the same reason). I am possibly more messy than you and have the same problems you used to have. However, I continue to do it on paper. I simply can’t stand to do it on the phone ( and I find a computer only slightly better ) I was on a short trip over the weekend and I was literally swearing at my phone when I couldn’t either buy a paper or download the puzzle. I am a klutz ( related to my messy writing) but I am especially a klutz with anything computer related.
What makes doing the crossword online easier for you makes things much harder for me. It took me 50% longer at least. Also , the way my mind works, writing things down on paper helps my mind process things better. I always have been that way.
To each his own.
(BTW you write so well about your rescue dog. I have really enjoyed your posts)
Once I got HOLE IN ONE SHOT I knew that there was going to be a line of Os going up to the top and back down to the CUP--but I avoided filling them all in in advance, and I kept forgetting that this was MINI GOLD; so as the path was starting to fill itself in I was complaining that this was more like billiards than golf. That increased my fun, somehow, because I eventually got to realize that it was MINI GOLF for a second time.
ReplyDeleteI've never been to a DEButante ball, so I don't know how they worked. Is it just one DEB per ball? I think you can only have one belle per ball, so that would make sense. But like I say, it's outside my experience.
Further explanation, for those asking: it's often called "downs only," but it's really "down clues only." People doing it (which I don't) do try to guess the across answers from the crosses they have. Otherwise it would be REALLY hard.
Croce Freestyle 910 was one of the hardest ever (very different experience to @jae's). The top two-thirds went fairly quickly, but the SW corner was almost impossible, and I finished with two errors, to boot (2D/17A cross and 37A/24D cross).
ReplyDeleteAlso, (no spoiler) "newly-invented" was a real stretch in the clue for 65A -- the CD was invented four years earlier and they were already available in stores.
I thought this was pretty good. Fun answers, I liked the theme, and the animation was cute. About as a good as a Monday gets in my book.
ReplyDeleteThere was no animation in the NYT iPad app. I had to go to the website to see the ball travel the grid. Fortunately my iPad completed grid was also completed on the website.
ReplyDelete@Kitshef - the SW was the toughest section for me too, 34d didn’t come easily. That said, not knowing about CD dates made 65a easier. The last square I filled was 37a/24d and I had to ponder it for a while…so while it seemed on the easy side to me overall, there were definitely some rough spots.
I thought this was splendid. What more could you ask for on a Monday?
ReplyDeleteNot only did I know mini golf was started in Scotland, but I’ve played the course. It’s at St. Andrews. It’s on natural grass (unlike American carpet) and it’s called the “Ladies Course” because it was the only course women were allowed to play at St. Andrews for many years.
ReplyDeletePar for a Monday. Not LOADS OF FUN, but not a total flop. I solved mostly downs-only so I could avoid the theme.
ReplyDeleteThanks @DGD 6:50! I could go on about this incredible pup for hours - she’s doing SO well andI I love her so much even though I’m now on a 9-5 schedule (those are the hours she allows me to sleep before our first walk at 5:30 am).
ReplyDeleteDo you have a tablet? A phone is too small; a computer too big. An iPad or equivalent tablet is the Goldilocks’ status of just right.
BTW, the greatest present I got for my parents was an iPad (and a wifi device) about 14 years ago. They were in their late 80s and when in their Northern Minnesota cabin for the summer, still insisted on driving 10 miles to get a USA Today each morning, Both were far too old to drive (my dad agreed to quit driving after running into a golf course clubhouse - hey, that ties into today’s puzzle - thinking he was backing up).
They LOVED it. They fought over constantly over whose turn it was (but having grown up in the Depression, wouldn’t allow me to but a second one). It was so so SO fun to show them the wonders the ipad had in store. Showing Mom YouTube and that if she wanted to see an old Mitch Miller show, for instance, how to access it (her response after seeing two songs: “Does this only show Mitch Miller?”)
Dad loved reading the Sunday paper on Saturday night - especially the obituaries. Mom used to complain, “he’s always asking me late on Saturday,‘‘Guess who died?’”
Ok, this so off the subject, I have to remember my point. Guess I just miss them on the day after Mother’s Day.
My point, several paragraphs above, was: have you tried solving on a tablet?
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I also thought the corners of the grid are perfect "traps" - the minigolf equivalent of the sand trap!
ReplyDeleteAs a golfer and a pedant, this puzzle bugged me. As Rex correctly said, it's a hole in one, not a hole in one shot. The "mini golf" course in Scotland isn't mini golf. It's not really mini golf - it's an 18 hole putting course. It's on real grass, not artificial turf. When I think of mini golf, I do not think of 18 holes on real grass. I think of windmills, multicolored balls, etc. The course actually has an interesting history and place in the golf world: https://www.standrewsputtingclub.com/history/ and is absolutely worthy of a clue in the NYT. It's not mini golf. These two answers made me cringe, and I don't remember anything else from the puzzle. Not what I'm looking for on a Monday.
ReplyDeleteCool quadruple bank SHOT. No stray Os: like. Virtually the entire grid is slaved to the theme, so it's remarkable the fill isn't any worse than it is.
ReplyDeleteI grew up on MINIGOLF, during summers in Mount Gretna, PA. They had an awesome course there. For one HOLE, they provided a chipping iron to go over a sand pit (really!) onto the green. Loved that place. Fond memories. Eagle.
Wordle bogey, like Rory's most improbable one from 15 inches (!) to blow a playoff chance. Poor guy.
A fun beginner-friendly Monday puzzle.
ReplyDeleteQ - Why did the GOLFer change his socks?
A - Because he had a HOLE INONE.
I CHOSE PROSE
ReplyDeleteDEB CHOSE to have LOADSOFFUN
with A LOSTLOVE as PROM date;
TURN ON A CUTE wrestler, FOR ONE,
and NOHOW to MAT ABATE.
--- LEE HOLMES