Quirky bit of running footwear / THU 5-23-24 / Fashionable look, in lingo / What a king might sit on? / Rugby equivalent of a touchdown / Initialism before an online summary / Platform whose exploitation is called "jailbreaking," for short

Thursday, May 23, 2024

Constructor: Adam Wagner

Relative difficulty: Medium (theme easy, other stuff hardish)


THEME: BOX BRAIDS (32A: Hairstyle worn by Janet Jackson in the 1993 film "Poetic Justice," with a hint to entering four pairs of answers in this puzzle) — four pairs of Down answers (made up of "box"es, obviously) are "braided"—that is, they appear side-by-side and intertwine (see shaded squares intertwined with white squares, above). You have to enter those Downs in braided fashion, though the unbraided (straight Down) answers also make coherent (and unclued) words and phrases:

Braided answers:
  • DEGREES / FORBIDS (2D: Academic achievements / 3D: Doesn't allow) (unbraided = DOG BEDS + FERRIES)
  • FOR RENT / TEEMING (9D: Available, as an apartment / 10D: Brimming (with)) (unbraided = FERMENT + TOE RING)
  • FORGONE / TIN CANS (35D: Chosen to do without / 36D: Ends of a homemade walkie-talkie) (unbraided = FIR CONE + TONGANS)
  • FLEECES / BRUSH ON (38D: Swindles / 39D: Add evenly, as a marinade) (unbraided = FRESCOES + BLUE HEN)
Word of the Day: "exploitation" (40D: Platform whose exploitation is called "jailbreaking," for short) —
An 
exploit (from the English verb to exploit, meaning "to use something to one’s own advantage") is a piece of software, a chunk of data, or a sequence of commands that takes advantage of a bug or vulnerability to cause unintended or unanticipated behavior to occur on computer software, hardware, or something electronic (usually computerized). Such behavior frequently includes gaining control of a computer system, allowing privilege escalation, or a denial-of-service (DoS or related DDoS) attack. In lay terms, some exploit is akin to a 'hack'. (wikipedia) // iOS jailbreaking is the use of a privilege escalation exploit to remove software restrictions imposed by Apple on devices running iOS and iOS-based operating systems. It is typically done through a series of kernel patches. A jailbroken device typically permits root access within the operating system and provides the right to install software unavailable through the App Store. Different devices and versions are exploited with a variety of tools. Apple views jailbreaking as a violation of the end-user license agreement and strongly cautions device owners not to try to achieve root access through the exploitation of vulnerabilities. // While sometimes compared to rooting an Android device, jailbreaking bypasses several types of Apple prohibitions for the end-user. Since it includes modifying the operating system (enforced by a "locked bootloader"), installing non-officially approved (not available on the App Store) applications via sideloading, and granting the user elevated administration-level privileges (rooting), the concepts of iOS jailbreaking are therefore technically different from Android device rooting.
• • •


See, you think I'm not gonna notice that you duped TOE because TOE RING is an unclued answer (10D), but no such luck. I see you trying to sneak a second TOE in there. Boo to TOE two! Also, a TOE SHOE is a ballet slipper, not those creepy running shoes with individual compartments for each of your toes, wtf (those are actually a variety of "barefoot running shoe") (11A: Quirky bit of running footwear). Just type [define toe shoe] into any search engine, you'll see. Ballet. The less we acknowledge the existence of those novelty foot-glove thingies, the better. Now that we've got that out of the way—this was a weird solve for me. Got the basic gimmick pretty quickly ...


... and hardly even noticed the theme after that. Had to remind myself that the theme was operative when I got a little stuck in the SW, but then literally didn't look at either themer in the SE, as that section just filled itself in, easily, from all the crosses and shorter stuff (wildly uneven difficulty in this grid). I *did* have to look at the theme clues in the NW, but I was actually trying not to at that point (since I'd had such luck in the SE). But I misspelled FEIG and so had to check the Downs there to see what was going on. The fact that I made a game of not looking at the theme answers tells you that the theme itself wasn't that interesting beyond the physical layout aspect—that part is cool, but there's no real thematic content here. Just a themeless puzzle with an unusual layout (plus the revealer, obviously). As often happens with "architectural feat" puzzles, I'm simultaneously impressed and underwhelmed. Like, nice architecture, but I guess architecture alone isn't that interesting to me. At least this architecture didn't make things weird or awkward or overly fussy. It is legitimately impressive that the unclued Down answers that cut through the braids are also viable crosswords answers. It's a very neat trick. But once I got the trick, shrug, that's it. I would've liked there to be more things to discover, more layers, something. But there's just the revealer—which is, admittedly, lovely, and, like good braids, tight (the boxes are indeed braided). But it turns out that simply braiding answers isn't inherently interesting. Once you see that that's what's happening, it's just one more thing you gotta do to get to the end.


The rest of the puzzle is fine. And even though parts were ridiculously easy, there were a few things that stalled me pretty badly. The worst was SLATS (18A: What a king might sit on?). Yeesh, tough. And right at a crucial (and narrow) connection point between different sections of the grid. Had the "S" but then ??? Dead stop. Had to go all the way around and come at the center from underneath, all because of that clue on SLATS. Also, the clue on DIMES, double yeesh! (30A: Tiniest change). Both SLATS and DIMES were plurals I did not see coming, and that "change" misdirect on DIMES, dear lord. I stared at DIM- for a bit then thought "how is DIMES metaphorical for a tiny change?" D'oh! Not metaphorical! Literally, the smallest (U.S.) coin. I had no idea what an "exploitation" was (see Word of the Day above) and I have never known the name of any of the roughly 2,000 Bachelors or Bachelorettes and you can't make me, nope, not now, not ever. But still neither IOS nor MATT held me up too much because crosses were fair, although you can see (by the placement of the cursor in the finished grid screenshot, above) that the SLATS / MATT square was the very last thing I got. Things looked dicey there for a bit, but "T" was the only thing that made a man's name (sorry to all the dudes named MART out there) and SLATS ended up (finally) making sense. The "king" is a mattress! I was thinking checkers, chess, crabs, god knows what else...


Short notes:
  • 1A: Many a download (PDF) — I had APP. Other wrong answers included EKG for ECG (48A: Heart test inits.) and CHARS for SEARS, obviously (12D: Gives a grilling). And the misspelled FEIG, which we've covered (he created, Freaks and Geeks, one of my favorite TV shows of all time; you'd think I could spell his name right by now, sorry, Paul)
  • 7A: Who said, of himself, in 1912, "No one candidate was ever elected ex-president by such a large majority (TAFT) — I swear to god I thought this was a fat joke at first. I saw that it was gonna be TAFT, and I saw the word "large" in the quote, and I thought the fact that TAFT said this quote "of himself" was supposed to act like some kind of disclaimer, i.e. "just to be clear, he made the joke about himself, so it's OK." But then none of that was going on. At all. Which is definitely for the best.
  • 20A: '80s celeb who aptly appeared on Letterman? (MR. T) — why is there a "?" here. Did he not appear on Letterman? I get that he is a "letter man" (the letter "T") so there's wordplay, OK, but if he actually did appear on Letterman, at any time, then this clue absolutely does not need a "?" The "aptly" does the winking for you.
  • 57A: Food brand with a rabbit mascot (ANNIE'S) — after TRIX, I was out of rabbit brands. First time I ever saw maggots was in a box of ANNIE'S macaroni + cheese, true story. 
  • 53D: Fashionable look, in lingo (FIT) — we've been over this bit of slang a few times recently ("FIT" short for "outfit"), so you should've been well prepared. I have to say that "in lingo" is a terrible qualifier. Tell me what kind of lingo or shut up. "In lingo?" Bah. Even "modern lingo" would've been better.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

113 comments:

king_yeti 6:05 AM  

briefly had LOVE ON and LATT
why not?

Son Volt 6:07 AM  

Some weird-ass puzzles coming through here lately. Cute theme - would have been trickier without the shaded squares. I liked the secondary themers - DOG BEDS, FERMENT, FRESCOES, BLUE HEN.

Soledad was your mother’s name

Overall fill was rough - if your revealer is somewhat obscure and you feel the need to use a random name from The Bachelor - all criticism is warranted. I did think mattress right away on the king misdirect. Don’t love THE EU or I’M BATMAN as fill. Spent far too much time years ago at Dowtown BEIRUT.

I Wanna ROO You

Pleasant enough Thursday solve.

Andy Pratt

Anonymous 6:18 AM  

I thought the down unclued answers were braided and the clued answers were straight. Of course, that made some across answers have swapped letters but I reasoned that was part of the trick. Spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I did wrong, decided it had something to do with SLATS and gave up.

Anonymous 6:44 AM  

Yep, me too!

SouthsideJohnny 6:46 AM  

I got the theme early enough, but that part of the puzzle was more of an annoyance than anything of value. Another grid that was obviously tough to construct but probably should have ended up in the reject pile.

The rest of it was passable but contained very little of interest - I definitely have product placement fatigue, but that’s apparently not going away anytime soon. Stuff like ABUELA crossing BIOTA crossing DORA Maar is all legitimate, and if you want to load up your grid with that stuff, fine - just not my cup of tea.

Still hoping to see Robyn make an (unfortunately) rare appearance some time soon.

Wanderlust 7:06 AM  

Well I did this all wrong and then had to unbraid and rebraid the themers. Long before I got the revealer, I put in the downs as clued, with every other across making no sense (such as TEOSHOE). I figured it would become apparent later why that was so. Once I got the revealer, I didn’t really know what BOX BRAIDS are, so I didn’t see that the down answers needed to zigzag. I didn’t get happy music, checked to make sure I didn’t have a typo, then figured I needed to switch the shaded areas so the across answers made sense. I almost decided it wasn’t worth it but I laboriously went through the puzzle switching and that worked. Then I googled Janet Jackson box braids - and they do kinda look like the ones in the puzzle. Nice that the unbraided answers were legit as well. Fun, except for the tedium of switching letters.

Lots of great clues in this one - the ones for SLATS and DIMES as Rex mentions plus “two in a row” for FOES and “light entertainment” for LASER SHOW. Also, funny quote from TAFT and hadn’t heard of Karl the Fog, but I like it.

How many damned heart test acronyms are there? Seems like ECG, EkG and EeG could have all worked there. OK I looked it up - ECG and EKG are interchangeable and EEG is a brain test.

Anonymous 7:08 AM  

I only hope we get to see Mr. T for the third day in a row tomorrow.

Anonymous 7:09 AM  

Box braids have 3 strands, not two!

Anonymous 7:24 AM  

Wasn’t familiar with Mr. Feig and never doubted “hOES” as the answer to “Two in a row?”

DeeJay 7:31 AM  

Yup, that made it a woe for me.

kitshef 7:31 AM  

In addition to Rex's TOE duplication, we have AGREE ON, MOVE ON, BRUSH ON.

Guessed right on two Naticky crosses: BOX BRAIDS/DORA, and ANNIES/FIT. But both were the most likely letters.

Rex seems to think we should know this meaning of FIT. It has never appeared in the Timex xword clued this way until today, but perhaps it was in a clue once?

heidi seitz 7:33 AM  

Does it bother anyone else that a braid has at least THREE strands?

Lewis 7:33 AM  

Well, this was a capital-P Puzzle for me. I was flummoxed for what felt like a very long time, because I entered the theme’s down answers as downs rather than being braided, which led to all kinds of theories as to what was going on, and many a “Huh?” and “Wha?”, and much gerrymandering among the across answers

Underneath, there was faith that things would eventually become clear. And they did. But this was as long of an “I don’t get it” stretch as I’ve experienced in memory, where my brain and I were desperately shouting “SAVE US!” (46A).

A Capital-P Puzzle. The kind that keeps my head small, that keeps me from being jaded about crosswords. And I’m grateful for that!

I loved [What a king might sit on?] for SLATS, which brought a huge “Hah!”. I loved [What banana bread is often baked in] because I haven’t thought about banana bread in ages, and what a divine flavor it has!

I also loved uncovering BOX BRAIDS and it not helping me figure out how the theme was supposed to work because I was so stubbornly set on the wrong direction I started out in. There’s something very funny in that, in how blind we can make ourselves!

So, much joy, with a heaping side of humility – and I loved it! Thank you, Adam!

ncmathsadist 7:34 AM  

Most hated clue: THEEU

Conrad 7:36 AM  


Medium for a Thursday. Overwrites included @Rex app before PDF and EkG before ECG. Didn't know the Bridesmaids director (24A) or Picasso's muse (30D - on a good day I might be able to come up with her last name, but the puzzle wanted her first name). I thought the revealer might involve DNA.

Anonymous 7:41 AM  

Me three

WinthorpeIII 7:44 AM  

I don't understand the theme even with Rex's explanation.

Anonymous 7:48 AM  

On the hard side of medium for me. Came here for an explanation for SLATS and got it.

pabloinnh 7:49 AM  

Saw what was going on right away in the NW corner and it was kind of fun seeing how the other corners followed along, but did I know what BOXBRAIDS are? I did not. Now I do, and life is that much better.

I know ANNIES mac and cheese, a granddaughter's favorite (not mine) but didn't know about the rabbit. SLATS supporting a king-sized bed took forever, and "Two in a row" made zero sense until I stopped pronouncing "row" incorrectly. Come on man.

Jeez, ROO, there you go again. Now you're just showing off.

Fun enough Thursdeciteo, AW. Actually Wound up being fun. (See what I did there?) Thanks for a good time.

Anonymous 7:55 AM  

Hello all,
I don’t understand why “ forgone and tin cans “ work with the 35D and 36D clues while the other three sets HAVE to twist in order to make sense with the clues. What am I missing?

MaxxPuzz 7:59 AM  

I got SLATS but thought of an actual king sitting on his buttocks! My dad used to talk about someone getting "a kick in the slats." So I guess I channeled him there. The mattress misdirection never occurred to me until I read the blog.

Anonymous 8:03 AM  

Same here. It wasn’t until I saw this grid that I went back and swapped them around to get to the solve.

Sutsy 8:10 AM  

@Wanderlust 7:06: I did the same thing. I thought there was going to be a revealer of a bunch of super chic hairstyles I'd never heard of.

Dr.A 8:10 AM  

I still don’t understand SLATS. I was hoping someone would explain that to me? Also did the braiding wrong at first and had to redo it all. Anyhoo, they tried, it was cute, not great execution as everyone has said.

Anonymous 8:12 AM  

When did we get rid of nickels and pennies to make DIMES the tiniest change?

Benbini 8:19 AM  

I'll gladly pile on to THEEU as being awful; I was more annoyed that BOB BRAIDS and BOX BRAIDS seem to be the same thing which turned the TRIX intersection into a rather unpleasant Natick.

Anonymous 8:33 AM  

Hello All,
I don’t understand why three of the four braided answers match the clues but the “forgone -tin cans” set are not braided. In order for that set to make sense with the clues you do NOT braid them. What am I missing? Thanks.

Doug 8:35 AM  

I don't know if this happen to anyone else, but last night at 10 pm when the new puzzle dropped I solved a completely different puzzle, which had now disappeared. It didn't seem like a Thursday puzzle at all and had one glaring error ("here here" instead of "hear hear"). Came here this morning to read about the puzzle I worked on the night before only to see that Rex solved a different puzzle. Went back to the app and my puzzle was gone, replaced by this one. I'm glad I saw this this morning: I could have lost my streak! A glitch in the games app?

Photomatte 8:39 AM  

Box braids? Nope, never heard of it. I have, however, heard of barefoot running shoes and they're not a novelty for me; they're a necessity. Neuropathy deadens the nerve endings in my feet and wearing regular shoes makes me feel like I'm walking on stilts, like I can't feel the ground beneath me. When I wear barefoot shoes, that numbness abates considerably.

J J J Schmidt 8:41 AM  

Way to get identity politics in the puzzle with the SNL clue. Well played.

RooMonster 8:56 AM  

Hey All !
So, the constructor must have asked himself, "How can I make filling a grid exponentially tougher?" Ye Gods, why do that to yourself? Har.

I'm guessing he wrote or had some type of program that allowed him to find words that could be BRAIDed while still allowing other words to exist. Or Adam is a genius. I'll believe either one. 😁

Real neat Theme idea. Translated well to the solve, IMO. Was impressed when the BRAIDS actually made other real words if you read them as regular answers.

Thanks for sacrificing your hair to get clean answers in here. Too bad @LMS isn't around these days, she would describe just how tough this was to fill. Four sets of 7 letter Downs locked in, twisted, with real things untwisted. I don't do it justice.

But, got in a ROO! YAY ME! (😁@pablo)

Happy Thursday.

Seven F's! If you count that there are Four in the Themers, which are kind of doubled, you get Eleven F's!! Are all you constructors paying attention? Har!

Seven/Eleven F's
RooMonster
DarrinV

Marissa 8:57 AM  

Why is “Two in a row?” FOES? I’m probably missing something obvious.

Rick K 8:58 AM  

I didn't get very far in this one... not that it was hard, but just ridiculous. In just the first three rows alone we have TOESHOE and TOERING as well as AGREEON and MOVEON.

If the Times editors have given up, I guess I must as well.

Sure hope Will Shortz is on his way back...

Anonymous 9:03 AM  

A row is an argument

Anonymous 9:04 AM  

Physical size

Anonymous 9:04 AM  

You have to twist all of them. You should double check your grid

EasyEd 9:10 AM  

Hand up for app and EkG…and no idea which foods were rabbit-endorsed. Wonder if I passed @Son Volt on streets of Beirut. On next-to-last visit flew from Beirut to Geneva where I turned on TV in hotel room and saw my prior hotel in Beirut going up in flames…Figured out the gimmick in theme answers but brain never made the visual connection to BRAIDS until I visited @Rex…thank you Rex!

BlueStater 9:11 AM  

What.in.the.actual.... oh, never mind,,,,

Burtonkd 9:13 AM  

Why do SLATS and DIMES get the yeesh/double yeesh treatment? Classic crossword misdirects.

I think it is interesting that running shoe trends have gone both directions at once in terms of thickness and cushioning. We get the basically barefoot treatment with the toe-shoes and the walking-on-a-bag-of-marshmallows-treatment with the popularity of Hokas (and all the other brands copying their huge cushion look). I enjoy both, the toe shoes more for hiking because it is less jarring and you get a really solid feel for the terrain.

I thought the braids answer might be some kind of weave (if I remember my 90s hairstyles remotely correctly), but the braids came into view easily enough.

I think this would have been much better to solve on paper - moving the cursor back and forth to enter the themes was pretty annoying (or trying to see both answers at once, which was almost equally time-consuming).

Raise your hand if you knew the that Blue Hen (un-clued down answer) is the state bird of Delaware and the official mascot the University…I knew it sounded vaguely familiar and googled it.

thfenn 9:20 AM  

Great Thursday. Some amusing misdirects, some do-overs (none to add to those mentioned) and some work sorting out how the braids worked. No idea what to do with the straight answers that didn't twist, but turns out the answer is 'nothing' so, LOL, was relieved I didnt miss anything.

Nancy 9:24 AM  

Oh, God. I know it's going to be BRAIDS of some sort. I know precious little about Janet Jackson, much less what hairstyle she wore in some movie I never saw, but I just know it's going to be BRAIDS of some sort. Those gray squares are just screaming BRAIDS at me.

And what I know is that I don't want to BRAID anything in this puzzle. Truly I don't.

I just about never do this, but I skip the entire NW and jump right to the revealer section. it could be a TWIST of some sort too.

I don't want to TWIST anything either.

Nope, it's BRAIDS. Just like I feared. What kind of BRAIDS? I have no idea, but it won't really make any difference, will it?

Lots of pop culture, it seems, in this puzzle. It's hard enough for me to cope with pop culture when I don't have to BRAID it. I could look up the answers and then BRAID them, but somehow I just don't want to. This feels too much like work to me.

Instead of braiding, I'm bailing. That's absolutely no reflection on the puzzle. It's a reflection on me. I'm pretty lazy and extremely hedonistic and this just seems like more trouble than it's worth.

Anonymous 9:26 AM  

A king size bed

Liveprof 9:36 AM  

There is also EMG -- electromyography. My brother the neurologist gave it. You insert very fine needles in the right places and measure responses to mild electric shocks. It reveals things like pinched nerves.

When a player for the NY Jets needed the test, they used him. He said these giant 320-pound guys would be scared of the needles. They'd ask him, "Will this hurt, doc?" and he always answered: "I don't feel a thing."

Sam 9:37 AM  

Impressive feat of construction that was fun to solve!

Anonymous 9:39 AM  

understood the braiding concept but could not execute.
did not enjoy this one at all.

Anonymous 9:42 AM  

no braiding here. braids use three strands, not two. so the theme answers are twists not braids...and the revealer is wrong...again not braids.

Anonymous 9:53 AM  

Ditto. Not a fan.

Anonymous 9:56 AM  

Read the blog

egsforbreakfast 10:00 AM  

Hi @ROO, you MOBster.

Liked the mini theme of youthful relationship stages: ASS SPAWN LETGO RISE MOVEON.

By and large, banks don't have BANKSAFES, but vaults. It could have been worse though. The clue might have said "Robes for a Japanese teller", with the answer being BANKsaris. I say better safe than sari.

Patient: Hey, Doc! Tell me exactly how the heck you are gonna remove my cataract?
Ophthalmologist: LASERSHOW.

I think the 58A clue would have benefited from being changed to "Ropes in, to Dan Quayle."

Welp, I bet not many commentators are gonna say that this would have been funner without the grey squares. It wasn't too hard once you got the braid gimmick, but the grey squares helped with that bigly. This was another example, IMO, of Joel Fagliano being willing to play along with oddball puzzles and see what happens. I really appreciate that and I liked the puzzle.

Gary Jugert 10:00 AM  

Engaging little bugger this one, but holy moly what a GunkFest. The first theme entry I finally assembled was in the southeast and I was all, "Whaaa?? ... Oh!! Neato." The un-clued words are better than the actual answers. I wish I could say the rest flopped together, but DORA wiped out BOX BRAIDS and BIOTA, and I had TEIG for FEIG. Alas, still fun.

MOVE / AGREE / BRUSH ON ON ON.

Propers: 8
Places: 3
Products: 7
Partials: 11
Foreignisms: 2
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 31 (41%)

Tee-Hee: Strike up the band, start the parade, tell the girls at the club to go heavy on the glitter, because ASS is back in town.

Uniclues:

1 For foggy foray.
2 Consent to cavity search.
3 Those times when you want to dress up, take the good car, go out at night, and punch some beyotches.
4 Enormous paintings of bedazzled one who went, "Wee! Wee! Wee!" all the way home.

1 AGREE ON BAY AREA
2 LET GO ASS DIMES (~)
3 I'M BATMAN YENS (~)
4 TOE RING FRESCOES

My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: "Actually, we're glad he's gone -- the creep." UNTAKEN EPITAPH.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Whatsername 10:06 AM  

Merriam-Webster defines BRAID as “to form (three or more strands) into a braid; to do up (the hair) by interweaving three or more strands.” American Heritage Dictionary: “To interweave three or more strands, strips, or lengths of in a diagonally overlapping pattern.”

Welp. It appears to me what we have here … the end result of TWO columns of BOXES intertwined … is not a braid but a twist … because if they were braids, there would be three of them. You can twist two strands and you can twist three strands, but you can only braid three, not two. Not two.

Would’ve been really fantastic if the revealer had been Chubby Checker’s famous Sixties song which ushered in a new way of dancing. Truly, I hate to be critical of ANY puzzle because I couldn’t produce a New York Times worthy crossword in my dreams but as a frustrated solver, IMO, this just didn’t work.

Chase 10:10 AM  

Bless all of you folks who enjoy things. This was one of my least favorite that I can recall in a very long time. Having to go back to a clue and "braid" it because the theme was an obscure reference was not a delight for me. The end result is clever, sure, but its about the journey, not the destination.

Bob Mills 10:17 AM  

An absolute waste of two hours time. I could have done something constructive, like brushing my teeth.

walrus 10:18 AM  

re: “in lingo” is the editors’ version of “as the kids say”. cue steve buscemi gif

Flybal 10:42 AM  

Anonymous @6:18 and others I did the same thing the NE corner was my for rent straight down ferment braided

jberg 10:43 AM  

A little too easy because of the shading. As soon as I tried to make FOR RENT cross MOVE ON (isn't that 2 days in a row for the latter) I could see that I had to zig zag. But without the shaded squares it would have been really hard to get, unless the clue for the revealer gave one the down numbers.

What was really tough was crossing a director I've never heard of (and with a surname I've never seen before) with a fiendishly hidden pun, or whatever you call it when the word changes both its meaning and its pronunciation. I almost gave up there.

Alntithetical to Rex, I knew ANNIES so well I tried to put it in at 22-D, but I needed the TRI- to get TRIX.

I think EkG is actually correct, but maybe ECG is an accepted variant.

I have to set up an online recorder lesson in 15 minutes, so that's all for now!

Anonymous 10:57 AM  

This took me a couple minutes longer than my average Thursday, but I liked it! Very clever construction and fun solve. I don’t understand all the whining here, but then I don’t understand a lot of things. Thanks for the puzzle, Adam!

GILL I. 11:19 AM  

Maggots in a box of ANNIE'S macaroni and cheese?????? Good gravy, my grandkids will only eat ANNIE'S and now I have to tell them they might be eating maggots!!!!

Oh, the puzzle. DOG BEDS... an academic achievement? Well I certainly stared at that one for a while. And, a TOE SHOE crosses it. What am I in for....I head for the East Coast and find a TOE RING that one is brimming with. Oh, wait....A zig zag puzzle. I go back West and see the DEGREE in the DOG BEDS and FORBIDS in FERRIES. Cool beans. BOX BRAIDS, indeed! My hair is long and I braid my hair using three strands. Thanks @Whatsername for clarifying. You need three to get the box look. Sometimes four strands are used as well.

I had a few "Yeesh, tough" moments surround the outer perimeters. I'm looking at 14D and my answer is NATUEO. Is FEIU a name? The other one involved Picasso's Maar lady. I had dona instead of DORA. We need an explorer for that one.

So I finished and it wasn't terribly hard to see what I needed to see to get a Thursday done without blowing my head off. Yes, constructing this was clever and interesting. I wonder if AI was of help...I hope not. I hope this was all done because of Adam's ingenuity and wit. One can hope.....Do any constructors out there just use their own clues and answers without any help? Bueller?



Anonymous 11:22 AM  

Trix is at least a nationally advertised and well known brand that’s been around (and remained popular) for many decades.

Anonymous 11:26 AM  

Too much for me

Anonymous 11:28 AM  

I thought I was having a stroke.

Anonymous 11:33 AM  

I had a typo at hOE SHOES and cracked up.

Carola 11:35 AM  

For me, this one hit the spot - where admiration for the construction feat perfectly overlaps with the fun of solving (hi, @Sam 9:37). Like @Wanderlust and others, I first braided the strands incorrectly, also thinking that the resulting gibberish Acrosses would be revealed as somehow part of the theme....but no, I had to unbraid and rebraid.

I think it's a marvel how many really good answers are involved in the theme sections - 4 in each, right? (e.g., DOG BEDS, DEGREES, FERRIES, FORBIDS). I see the point that the clued answers form twists rather than braids, but it seems to me that four strands are involved. So many treats: TONGANS, FLEECES, FRESCOES, BLUE HEN...

@Burtonkd - I'm raising my hand for BLUE HEN and Delaware...learned from a previous puzzle :)

Masked and Anonymous 11:36 AM  

M&A made the mistake of writin in DEGREES & FORBIDS (as straight Down answers) almost right out of the chute. Fortunately, I solve in pencil.
Nice theme idea. Reminds m&e slightly of a runtpuz I cranked out a couple days ago -- mine has some braidin, but with a different puztheme mcguffin idea.

Cool longballs down the middle, with: IMBATMAN. LASERSHOW. BANKSAFE. And all that crossin the puztheme revealer in the middle. Well-crafted.

staff weeject pick: ROO. So, @Roo … U joined the mob, huh?!

Brutally neat SLATS & DIMES clues. Always enjoy such ThursPuz sadism highlights.

Thanx for the fun, Mr. Wagner dude. Impressive that the resultin braided themers still spell out somethin. Musta given U an extra constructioneerin workout.

Masked & Anonymo3Us


**gruntz**

Anonymous 11:50 AM  

Exactly, I thought SLATS couldn’t be right

SusanA 11:54 AM  

As @mcmathsadist said, THEEU was annoying, when you look at it, and no correct answers fit. Oh yeah, stick a THE in front!
I don’t think a YEN is a strong desire, it’s just a desire, like I have a YEN for some Oreos.
I got the braided thing, didn’t notice the finished answers made another word, but cool, cool…
The rest of the puzzle gave me a lot of grief for some reason.
Gave up and started checking answers.
Is a mob of kangaroos called a ROO?

Anonymous 11:55 AM  

I got “box braids” immediately because I know what that hairstyle is and still would never have figured out that theme if I hadn’t come here. I spent the entire puzzle cursing at the theme clues.

Anonymous 12:02 PM  

Me too

Anonymous 12:12 PM  

I had a rough start with APP at 1A then PIC (?), but the solve as a whole was pretty smooth. I figured out the gimmick quickly and I didn't even notice the unclued but legit Down entries. In my head I just saw the other three pairs of Downs as braided and entered the answers accordingly.

I wanted CENTS for "tiniest change" based on value, but I already had LASERSHOW and BANKSAFE in place so that was clearly wrong. It took me a bit to remember (as a non-American) that DIMES are physically the smallest coins.

Anonymous 12:17 PM  

I like the concept. The film is atrocious

Anonymous 12:21 PM  

You do braid them. Just look at the grid.

Anonymous 12:24 PM  

The forgone/tincans set are indeed braided, the crosses are just not as clearly wrong when you write them unbraided. The acrosses should be BIOTA not BOITA and ECG not EGC. And then of course ANNIES has the double N there so the braiding doesn’t make a difference.

MetroGnome 12:25 PM  

Did Bruce Wayne ever actually say "I'M BATMAN"?? Seems to me that he worked pretty hard to keep his "secret" identity "secret" (from everyone except Robin and the redoubtable Alfred).

Diane Joan 12:26 PM  

I did appreciate the architecture of this puzzle. It took me a while to put the “braided” answers into their respective “boxes” though. It’s just the way my brain works I guess! I found that writing the word out on paper and then entering it digitally worked for me. Interesting Thursday!

jb129 12:37 PM  

Robyn W. - WHERE ARE YOU?

Alice Pollard 12:40 PM  

I graduated University of Delaware so I knew what a Blue Hen was. I thought somehow they would tie all the "non-clued" answers together. Didnt happen but I still liked the puzzle. I asked my son about the director of Bridesmakes and he didnt flinch when e said "FEIG, and his birthday is September 17th". Kid knows everything about movies...

jb129 12:48 PM  

I just read the comments - I'm so glad it wasn't just me...

andrew 12:55 PM  

Little Diva now has three DOGBEDS* but prefers the king on SLATS, a squared circle which she patrols/controls like MRT did as Clubber Lane in Rocky 3 (at least in the early going).

And in our two weeks of COSLEEPING, we’ve reached a mutually-agreeable pattern. In exchange for a morning walk no later than 7am (but no earlier than 5:15), and with the guarantee of resting on my left armpit with constant head stroking in between my intermittent IOS taps, she allows me to do the crossword in relative peace.

* along with a patch of balcony hydroponic grass she eschews in favor of real walks (we’re about to about 6 a day for 2.5 miles. Those little chihuahua legs can MOVE!) I may start PADIDDLing on the sod myself so I feel less of a chump for paying for a $35/month subscription (though it may make more sense if I just put the sub on “paws”).

jae 12:59 PM  

Tough for me because theme. Sorting this one out consumed a boat load of nanoseconds. Plus, my final (somewhat reluctant) entry was the F in FIEG who was a total WOE as was BOX BRAIDS and the film in the clue for them.

Me too for APP before PDF.

A clever and tricky Thursday worthy effort, liked it quite a bit more than @Rex did.

Anonymous 1:04 PM  

Thursdays I sit down with a beautiful sense of anticipation wondering what new twist I’ll find and will I get it. Today was quite fulfilling. Another novel idea, thank you Adam, certainly worth the time. I hope you had as much fun creating this puzzle as I had solving it.

Anoa Bob 1:23 PM  

That upper right section had me about ready to LET GO of this one. I didn't know who the two directors at 8 Down and 24 Across were nor the first name of some ABC "Bachelor" at 13 Down. At this point I was muttering under my breath "Are you kidding me?!"

I moved further toward the railing when 32 Across asked me about some hairstyle in a movie I never heard of that ran 31 years ago! I got it from crosses but thought "That can't be right". Like legions of others here, I thought the theme entries were twists or maybe weaves but that a BRAID is, at a minimum, made with three or more strands. So abandon ship it was at that point.

Even the prospect of some primo POC (plural of convenience) hunting with DOG BEDS, FERRIES, SEARS, ODES and YENS all crammed in the upper right section couldn't entice me to continue this one.

Teedmn 1:27 PM  

I fell for the TOE SHOE craze a while back. They're a pain to put on and your feet sweat in them but walking in them feels like being barefoot without the fear of stepping on gravel or other undesirables. I ran across my lawn wearing them and felt it when a dandelion got stuck between two toes, something that hadn't happened since I was a kid. And they're a conversation starter - I've had people ask me if I stuck my feet in blue paint! But they're pretty much gathering dust in my closet now; I never did get used to running in them.

I liked this puzzle, the braiding was fun to figure out and the unclued answers were mostly pleasing. Nice job, Alan Wagner!

Anonymous 1:32 PM  

I spent way too much time in the NW trying to figure out the trick, thinking that maybe the acrosses were all supposed to have flipped letters in them (after having OedS written in when the downs “worked”). Finally figured out the braiding thing, but then spent way too much time trying to figure out what the related unclued downs meant in relation to the theme! “What does DOGBEDS have to do with anything??” I was asking myself. Fine puzzle, but I kept feeling like I was missing a layer that apparently wasn’t there.

johnk 1:33 PM  

I disliked this as soon as I saw the shaded squares. I even thought of skipping it entirely. May as well have. Twisted theme and soooo many WTFs: TRY (and anything to do with rugby), TOE SHOE, FEIG/FIEG/FUUG, BOX BRAIDS (and Poetic Justice, for that matter), MATT...

BTW, I find that BUN BRAIDS and BOB BRAIDS are both a thing.

AS FOR THE EU, it should go the way of THE or A/AN anything. Just stop it! MOVE ON (or MOVOEN if you wish).

Anonymous 1:39 PM  

boy i miss margherita's pizza (on main st. when i was there),deer park tavern, stone balloon.... go bluehens!

okanaganer 1:53 PM  

I give this the thumbs up for a Thursday worthy gimmick. But once again I was mainly annoyed by Too Many Unknown Names: AVA MATT FEIG TRIX DORA ANNIES AVIAS NALA. Seriously, how many bloody Disney lions are there?

THEEU makes me think of the golfer Sahith THEEGALA.

[Spelling Bee: Wed 0; once again mystified why CAVITATE was not accepted, while one that was accepted is about 40 times rarer in print according to Google Ngram. Streak 11 days.]

Sailor 2:25 PM  

@RP wrote": "First time I ever saw maggots was in a box of ANNIE'S macaroni + cheese, true story."

Here's another true story: In a January 2024 article titled "The Plastic Chemicals Hiding in Your Food", Consumer Reports released the results of their testing for phthalates in common food products. Of 85 products tested, the highest level of phthalates per serving was found in Annie’s Organic canned cheesy ravioli (a General Mills brand). Caveat emptor.

Les S. More 2:44 PM  

Whoa! This was tough for me. I've worked for over 50 years as a visual artist (painter, graphic artist, designer) so you'd think I'd be able "see" things. Not so today. In my days as a newspaper designer my biggest goal was always readability. Yeah, you could do some unusual stuff, but it still had to be easily readable or what's the point. I had a lot of trouble with those twisted (not braided) verticals but stuck to it and prevailed. I hate not finishing.

Otherwise, as others have noted, some good clues, especially the king on SLATS and the ROWing foes.

As I was solving, I kept repeating, "Oh God, Nancy's gonna hate this".

Curmudgeonly Cur 3:02 PM  

I don't think a mattress "sits" on anything. "Rests," perhaps . . .

Gary Jugert 3:23 PM  

@okanaganer 1:53 PM
"Seriously, how many bloody Disney lions are there?"

Well, they did make one movie called Lion King about two generations in a pride of lions, so probably "a lot" is the easiest way to answer the question.

When doing the NYTXW, I often wonder how many baseball players there are, or how many actresses there are, or how many facts about WWII the average old white man knows.

Anonymous 3:51 PM  

Easy to get the "braid" gimmick but just tedious to fill them in. By the time I got to __xbraids, I just couldn't care less what those two letters were.

Smith 3:53 PM  

@Rex Dream Weaver!!!!!

That's my entire comment for today.

Nancy Anne in the Finger Lakes 3:53 PM  

#57A - TMI, Rex, TMI!

Anonymous 4:12 PM  

Same! Ugh!

Anonymous 4:28 PM  

Okay, I admit I must be dumber than dirt. I still do not understand "dogbeds" as a response to "Academic Achievements."

Anonymous 4:34 PM  

😹😹😹😹

Anonymous 4:35 PM  

😹😹😹

Fun_CFO 4:41 PM  

Should have been a “twist” theme, not a BRAID theme. Interlacing 2 strands of hair isn’t getting you a BOXBRAID. At least they did put the 4 twists in the corners (I.e boxes). I’m normally in, or at least have accepted, the “close enough for xwords” camp. But this is a miss and the revealer should been changed or the puzzle rejected. Also, should have done something with the unclued downs.

Rest of puzzle ok, if uninspired, I guess.

Anonymous 5:04 PM  

FEIG and MATT and DORA perfectly threaded through holes in my name trivia knowledge and they each had a tricky cross in SLATS, FOES and DIMES, so those all took some extra time and alphabet cycling for me.

I also had to re-braid to get the finishing chimes.

Didn’t love it!

puzzlehoarder 5:20 PM  

This was a fun solve. When I finished my first thought was this had to be made with a computer and sure enough the constructor mentions python in his comments at xwordinfo

I was surprised by how familiar I was with the clue for DORA. That's what years of solving does for you.

yd -0. QB39.

Anonymous 6:46 PM  

Read the blog

paige worthy 7:21 PM  

…………I still don't understand this.

Anonymous 7:28 PM  

Rick K
You and many others, including Rex, complain about dupes. Personally, they don’t bother me and I often don’t notice them. (I totally missed that TOE dupe with the unclued answer for example)
However, to each his own. I can understand that it bothers others.
But I just want to point out that Shortz was no slouch about dupes. At least according to the complaints I read here, I don’t see much difference.

Anonymous 9:21 PM  

yeesh! the braids weren't particularly difficult for me, but I felt super naticked by Feig - brae - Annies - AVA DuVernay - NatGeo - MATT James - DORA Maar - NALA.
As well, I resent being forced to fill in wrongly-clued TOESHOES and ATTACHES. More than one US political-appointee ambassador has had his knuckles sharply rapped for thinking that a fairly senior military officer was sent to the embassy to be his nibs' go-fer aide, never you mind the Legal, Commercial, Agricultural, Mining/Minerals, Science and Press, and Cultural (among others) attachés who have full-plate jobs of their own to perform. Military Attachés are intelligence officers and representatives to the local military establishments.

Also, Turkey and Israel are also Mediterranean countries that are geographically located in Asia.

JimG

Anonymous 9:29 PM  

lol same

Anonymous 9:31 PM  

p.s. @Rex: Maggots are fat worm-like fly larvae deposited on protein foods, not Weevils, the micro-sized infestors of cereal foods.
I dunno which might have been in a box of mac'n'cheese mix, but I suspect Weevils.

JimG

Anonymous 11:11 PM  

Biota???? Is that not going at least get an eye roll 🙄

Anonymous 6:33 AM  

Me too. Sigh.

Rachel 10:21 AM  

Can someone please explain the "Two in a row?" FOES answer? Is it that FOES kind of sounds like "four" and some people pronounce "four" without pronouncing the "r," hence the question mark in the clue? Or is it something else entirely (I hope), because that would be a bad clue/answer pair?

Anonymous 12:23 PM  

Good point—the constructor may have never actually braided hair before.

Anonymous 8:21 PM  

Yes, it’s that FOES kind of sounds like “four” and some people pronounce “four” without pronouncing the “r”

cwf 6:18 PM  

@Rachel & @Anonymous: "Row" as in "quarrel". FOES as in enemies.

Anonymous 8:11 PM  

Can someone explain why every puzzle has a seemingly random wird highlighted? I really don't get it.

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