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Relative difficulty: On the harder side, for a Monday (solved Downs-only)
Theme answers:
- CHESS PIECE (17A: *King or queen, but not prince) (chess board)
- WOOD GRAIN (10D: *Texture in a cross section of timber) (wood board)
- CHARCUTERIE (35A: *Artfully arranged meats) (also wood, but for eating off of: a serving board)
- THUMBTACK (32D: *Cousin of a pushpin) (bulletin board)
Samira Denise Wiley (born April 15, 1987) is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as Poussey Washington in the Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019) and as Moira in the Hulu dystopian drama series The Handmaid's Tale (2017–present), for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.Wiley also had starring roles in such films as The Sitter (2011), Nerve (2016), Detroit (2017), and Social Animals (2018). She also narrated the Netflix documentary Night on Earth (2020). (wikipedia)
• • •
The thing that made it harder than normal, at least from a Downs-only perspective was ... well, first, the fact that so many of the 7+-letter answers were Downs (when you can't work crosses, the longer an answer is, the harder it is to get if you don't know it right off the bat). But the bigger problem for me was the grid seemed kinda name-y. Pop culture name-y. These tend to have a heavy risk/reward component—if you know 'em, wheeee, if you don't, especially if the names aren't terribly common in the general population, yikes. My big yikes was SAMIRA Wiley. Now I kinda sorta knew the name, but the vowels, The Vowels! Sigh. I survived by the skin of my teeth, but *only* because ATE RAW was already in the grid, which allowed me to infer that (probably!) ATE was not the answer at 29A (-TE). My ear wanted something that sounded like SaMEERa as the name, but I was absolutely prepared to doubt my brain and go with SAMARA (which is not a thing, unless you are John O'Hara and you have an appointment there, in which case you'd have to add an "R").
Staring down SAM-RA / -TE, I was in guessing territory. After crossing "A" off the ... board ... I was left with "I" and "E" as plausible answers. Both ÉTÉ (French summer) and ITE ("meteor" suffix) are viable 3s, so I had to go with a hunch—which looked more namelike: SAMIRA or SAMERA. I chose the former. I had my reasons, but it was just dumb luck.
BATEMAN was right up my alley, but as I wrote it in I had this feeling that BATEMAN was gonna be somebody else's SAMIRA (i.e. a pop cultural blindspot, though with perhaps more familiar / inferable letter combinations) (25D: Patrick ___, villainous protagonist of "American Psycho"). Jason BATEMAN seems like the more Mondayish BATEMAN to me. But back to things I *didn't* know: ICE Spice! (9D: Rapper ___ Spice). I would like to confess my mistake and come clean about my membership in the LIL Spice fan club! I see we have other members here with us today (I see you). Welcome.
ATE RAW felt a little wobbly as a verb phrase (3D: Consumed uncooked). EAT RAW would be great, in the sense that it's a common fad diet slogan, but ATE RAW, while completely defensible, doesn't quite have the zip. UTERUS was hard as hell to parse because when POUCH wouldn't fit, I was out of ideas and not getting a ton of help from (inferred) crosses (44D: One of two for a female kangaroo, surprisingly). Once I got GOOFF (boom!) and committed to NEGATE and ROMEO in the crosses, I saw the second UTERUS, but that was a weird way to come at that answer. Cool, but not Monday-easy. I never ever want ANAL in my grid (despite having put it in a grid once—once!) so I had PRIM in there at first (50D: Fastidious to a fault). The SW corner bugged me—it's a throwaway little corner, just an innocuous stack of fours, so I shouldn't notice it at all, but AAH / ASEC had me like "aaaah, no." There's something ugly about having *two* strongly subpar answers in such a tight space. My printed-out grid has alternative after alternative scribbled in the margin (if you construct, you know that your brain can fall down an infinite rabbit hole trying to make a tiny section of grid come out "right"). Here are the versions I currently have written at the bottom of my print-out:
AGRA
SPEC
HAWK
MIRA
SPEC
GAWK
TARA
ALEC
GAWK
HERA
AVEC
HAWK
SARA
AVEC
GAWK
Clearly none of the above answers bothers me as much as AAH (-not-AHH) and the partial ASEC. Your irritation level may, and probably does, vary.
[I know the puzzle wants me to see HAWK as a bonus theme answer but I absolutely do not and would be willing to sacrifice him in a heartbeat to make this corner better (61A: Skater Tony who is also 56-Across?).]
See you later.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
SAMARA is definitely a thing. She's the villain/ghost girl from THE RING movies.
ReplyDeleteAnd Samarra (a la the O’Hara book) is a city in Iraq famous for its 9th century mosque and archaeological remains.
DeleteAnd as far as working actresses with that name — Samara Weaving (niece of Hugo)
DeleteI love the John O’Hara book, but the appointment in Samarra is hundreds of years older than O’Hara’s book!
DeleteFWIW, a samara is a "helicopter" seed from maples and several other trees
DeleteMy five favorite original clues from last week
ReplyDelete(In order of appearance):
1. Odd duck, maybe? (5)
2. Dessert that rarely lives up to its name (4)
3. Ones dealing with joint inflammation? (7)
4. Like many opera lovers (9)
5. Takes off (9)
DECOY
TART
STONERS
SERENADED
SUBTRACTS
ReplyDeleteOn the Challenging side of Medium for a Monday, mostly because of 1D and a couple of WOEs.
Put in DIAL at 1A and then confidently dropped in Drop IN at 1D. That made the NW corner a lot harder to deal with than it should have been. I hit the @Rex exacta in that I didn't know either SAMIRA Wiley (18D) or Patrick BATEMAN (25D).
Interesting that in the NYT Web interface, when you select 61A, HAWK, the revealer gets highlighted, but when you select the revealer (56A) HAWK isn't emphasized. The constructor or editor could have made HAWK a true themer by fixing the highlighting and deleting "who is also 56-Across" from the clue. None of the other themers have anything like that clause, and Tony Hawk is crossworthy in his own right.
This was a Tuesday puzzle jumping in on a Monday, I thought. Did not solve downs-only, but the cluing was more vague than the usual Monday.
ReplyDeleteI never heard of SAMIRA Wiley, Patrick BATEMAN or Tony HAWK - I’m so clueless when it comes to popular culture that it’s comical sometimes. Fortunately it’s aMonday so the crosses bailed me out. I thought the theme was strong and the reveal landed - a nice Monday which I found a touch more challenging than usual.
ReplyDeleteThought this was a “richer” than usual Monday puzzle. Like Southside Jonny and others did not know SAMIRA (tho I have a friend by that name) or BATEMAN, but worked with the crosses, and found them interesting to Google afterward. I think the length and introspection of @Rex’s review this morning reflects the quality of the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteMore like a Tuesday than a Monday.
ReplyDeleteSLOAN must have been up in the brain somewhere – I presume from crosswords.
Not sure why it's a 'non-profit' specifically in 56A's clue.
Crossing a BATEMAN that no one has heard of with RAV was a bad idea, but no letter besides A works there.
SAMARA is also a type of fruit. Maples produce samaras.
Plenty of people have heard of Patrick Bateman. I haven’t seen the movie nor read the book, and I knew it. Rex even mentioned it in the write-up.
DeleteOh, marvelous Monday!
ReplyDeleteOften, for me, an experienced solver, Mondays fill in on auto, one reason being that I’ve seen practically all the words in puzzles before, and many of them are clued as they’ve been clued before. But today, there are ten NYT answer debuts – Ten! – each by definition carrying never-before-used clues.
Those debuts are in every corner as well as the middle, transforming the grid into a sea of spark. Lovely debut answers too, like BIG TIP, CHARCUTERIE, DUCK IN, and WOOD GRAIN
Those debut answers plus a few I didn’t know kept me fully engaged throughout.
Adding more engagement was trying to figure out the theme before uncovering the reveal, something I’m weak at and working on. I did figure out that what connected the theme answers was BOARD (woo hoo!). No, I didn’t get the ON THE, and I feel like I should have, but hey, small steps.
Bonus in this grid: Three appearances of the unusual letter string UTER, in UTERUS, CUTER, and CHARCUTERIE, not to mention CUTER crossing itself, beautifully at the T!
In sum, this puzzle, with its terrific theme and its AURA of wit and skill, kept me involved and delighted. Congratulations on your NYT debut, and brava Alana – I am so hoping for more from you!
A great discussion of this one for people who solve downs-only. For those of us who do not, perhaps a little TMI.
ReplyDeleteI liked that this was on the tough side for a Monday. Proper names, of course, that were unfamiliar. Besides SAMIRA and BATEMAN, I didn't remember the SLOAN school. Fair crosses for everything though, and my highlight was getting CHARCUTERIE off the ___IE.
Also made me think of "Brothers INARMS, a great Dire Straits song.
An interesting and semi-challenging Monday offering, AP. Actually Prefer this kind of a Monday, and thanks for all the fun.
I agree that this was hard for a Monday...closer to a Wednesday in difficulty. Never heard of CHARCUTERIE, or SAMIRA, or OLDBAY, all of which were close to HAL, which was my biggest stumbling block because I was sure the sci-fi speaker was Han (Solo). I also thought the Maryland answer somehow pertained to seafood, which made me question every possibility, including OLDBAY.
ReplyDeleteThe fill was mostly Monday-level routine, I thought.
@DavidP - Also Samara Weaving, actress from a whole bunch of recent movies.
ReplyDeleteSolving downs-only was much harder for me than it’s been in recent weeks. I had quite a bit filled in, but many across answers just weren’t coming, so I gave in and looked at the across clues. Despite several (to me) unknown proper names, this puzzle had a lot of original zip and pizzazz!
ReplyDeleteSolving downs only, put in WOODGRAIN and never recovered.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't know SAMIRA if I fell over her, but all the famous minerals I know are "ITE"s. So no problem there.
ReplyDeleteA COLD BREW certainly sounds like a lot more fun than an iced coffee. Alternatives? Really?
I couldn't guess the revealer from the themers, but once I had the "B" from REVERB, I immediately knew, without looking at the clue, that ON THE BOARD would be the revealer.
More resistance than usual from a Monday puzzle, I thought, and I quite liked it.
@Nancy, just wishing you a belated Happy Birthday
DeleteThis is the first time I made the connection between Norman Bates ( Hitchcock’s “Psycho” character) and Bateman (from “American Psycho”). Aptly named I’d say! I found this puzzle to be a level of difficulty slightly higher than a typical Monday puzzle but easily completed nonetheless. It’s a good way to start the week!
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteGonna post a question/nit: Isn't the CHARCUTERIE "The" BOARD? It's not "ON" THE BOARD, it's the actual BOARD, no? If you put KALE upon it, then the KALE becomes ON THE BOARD. Pleas correct me if I'm wrong.
Anyway, interesting puz grid, in that the N and S Centers are sequestered. Just hanging out by their lonesomes. I do like that the Themers go Across and Down, and also intersect! Fortuitous find, there. Fill decent for the Theme workaround.
Slightly tougher than normal. I can usually do a MonPuz not trying to hurry in the 7 minute range (that clock is always there!), today came in at 9:21.
Well, Monday once more. Are weekends two days? They seem like two hours...
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
I’d be somewhat disappointed if I ordered charcuterie and received a board with nothing on it.
DeleteIt refers to the food itself.
From Wiktionary: “Compound of Old French char ("flesh", Modern French chair) + cuit (“cooked”) + -erie (suffix denoting a shop or vendor).”
DeleteIt’s definitely the stuff ON THE BOARD :)
CHARCUTERIE is the meat. It’s more specifically a French word for prepared meats like bacon, rillettes, pâté, sausage, cured meats, etc. It’s a modern and (to me) annoying trend to call anything arranged on a board “charcuterie.” It has nothing to do with the board itself. I was sort of annoyed at the clue in the puzzle today.
DeleteBob Mills: Old Bay seasoning is used on seafood.
ReplyDeleteMostly on hard crabs and crab cakes, though Utz now has it coating potato chips, at least here in Baltimore
DeleteHoly crud, I had fun doing this, but I never noticed the theme until 🦖 gushed over it, and at one point I checked the date on the puzzle because it played much tougher than most Mondays. I thought I might be doing something from the archive on accident.
ReplyDeleteMESSI crossing ICE at the I and cluing it as a rapper. (It appears she's way more popular than EARL from yesterday and she'd make a good slush pile editor and she could use her ARSE-forward dance moves on YouTube as her resumé.)
Never heard of Patrick BATEMAN, or American Psycho, but he looks like he might be portraying a white serial killer. There's an under used literary trope. He probably shops at WALMART.
OTTO crossing SLOAN crossing AOC. I think the editing staff is on vacation. Echo and REVERB aren't the same effect -- the clue is close enough, but some sound engineer is gonna come in hot over that one.
Brutal two word phrases I cringed over: BIG TIP, TRIP OUT, ATE RAW, OLD BAY, DUCK IN. Yeeshk.
If your software dumps out the phrase WALMART, just delete the whole puzzle, ask yourself when capitalism lost it's happy face, and go to a lovely local coffee place serving artisanal brews that require a half gallon of cream to stomach.
COLD BREW is way better than iced coffee, but most places use the wrong beans so tread warily.
Propers: 8
Places: 3
Products: 6
Partials: 4
Foreignisms: 1
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 22 (29%)
Tee-Hee: Two UTERUSipodes and ANAL in the bottom (of the puzzle).
Uniclues:
1 What a killer uses to mate.
2 You want strong ones.
3 Cork poker that eat lunch alone.
4 Wrapper in the slammer.
1 ORCA CHESS PIECE (~)
2 BIG TIP IN ARMS (~)
3 LOSER THUMBTACK
4 HARD TIME TAMALE
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Effort to become King of England by yanking and yanking. EXCALIBUR ABUSE.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I have a cousin named SAMaRA, it’s definitely a thing.
ReplyDelete"Trip out"?! Either I'm too old, too young or did too much acid. Never heard of it.
ReplyDeleteA SAMaRA is the fruit (seed) of the maple tree. I recently read an article about how they are an edible delicacy in the spring, if you have the patience to shuck a cup or so of them.
ReplyDeletelike lots of other people (thankfully) got tripped up by Samara, and was thinking of ATE (e.g. Agate) for the mineral suffix (though perhaps agate isn't a "mineral"); had to check squares which is very unusual for a Monday.
ReplyDeleteThis is so crazy. I have so many DNF’s throughout the weeks that most of you call easy or medium at best. Every time I blast through a puzzle (couple of times a month), I read her le that some of you struggle. The Venn diagram of our experience & knowledge has a minute middle section. I always learn from you all do thanks!
ReplyDeleteRooMonster, charcuterie is the cured meat appetizer not the board. It is derived from a French cuisine. You could just as easily serve charcuterie on a tray or plate as a board.
ReplyDeleteI’m old enough to listen to AM radio — a lot. I worked in radio for 10 years. But oddly got tripped up on 1A. Radio knobs include “volume,” “tune” and sometimes “tone.” But I don’t remember ever seeing a knob labeled DIAL. Yes, radios have dials and you “dial in” your station. But you do it using the “tuning” knob. (Yes, I eventually got it, but cringed when I did.)
ReplyDeleteEmbarrassingly, I couldn't see the BOARD connection until I got the revealer. In hindsight it's obvious, and a nifty theme. I don't mind the bonus HAWK, but it got me thinking. Tony Hawk is nearly 60, and made his first national public appearance as a skater in 1981 (on the Captain Kangaroo show, apparently). Why isn't there another crossworthy skater by now?
ReplyDeleteI'm with Rex - using "fastidious" to clue ANAL just seems off. I get the "to a fault" thing, though.
@Roo, you may have a point, but I dunno. There are cheese boards, and sometimes fruit boards--it's probably the same board, so the CHARCUTERIE is on it, I guess.
I don't know which is more annoying, the puzzle's expectation that I know model names like RAV4, or the fact that I actually did know it.
@Nancy, oddly, COLD BREW coffee exists. I think the idea is to make it cold in the first place, so you don't have to dilute it with ice. How one does that, I don't know.
As I understand it, the SAMARA is the whole thing--the seed and the little wings that help it flutter away--not just the seed. When I raised rabbits they loved them, so they probably are tasty.
OTOH, when two Egyptologists find statues of the sun god, it is probably the SAME RA.
Miffed enough to post because the singular of tamales is tamal.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Came to see if I was alone. For shame, NYT!
DeleteIt’s TAMALE in English here you go happy to help https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamale
DeleteVery nice Monday puzzle even when solved in the manner that most mere mortals use.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t immediately remember that the “American Psycho” last name was BATEMAN I HAVE seen the movie) but the reference prompted me to look at Christian Bale’s filmography. He was 13 in his first big movie, Empire Of the Sun. American Psycho (based on a novel) was (I think) his first starring role as a “full-blown” adult. He did a great job but the movie isn’t for everyone because there is an element of humor in it.
@Roo…yeah, I guess CHARCUTERIE is defined as “the array of meats” and not the board itself. Hah! I guess at some point it was decided that the array is on a “board” rather than a flat plate. Probably because cheese also included?
Am I the only one who had OReo before ORCA? That's what came to mind because of the classic "crossword-colored cookie" clue. My reasoning was that the "wet" part is the OREO getting dunked in milk but I still thought it was a dumb clue. Thankfully OREO was wrong.
ReplyDelete@jberg - although he's more famous as a snowboarder, Shaun White was also a great skateboarder.
ReplyDeleteAnd while I think Mike Smith may be crossworthy as the inventor of the Smith grind, there are such an abundance of Mikes and Smiths in the world that I doubt he'll ever be used.
Easy-medium for me but only because the crosses filled in WOEs like BATEMAN, ICE, and SAMIRA without me having to think about them. Also, spelling CHARCUTERIE was an adventure, the crosses helped again.
ReplyDeleteA novel and interesting theme, liked it.
Croce Solvers - Croce’s Freestyle #916 was again on the easy side for a Croce or about 2X to 3X last Saturday’s NYT. If you are looking for a challenge in these days of easier late week NYT puzzles, try a Croce themeless. Warning NYT rules/conventions do not always apply and there is no “breakfast test”. Good luck!
https://club72.wordpress.com/2024/05/
Test for being ONTHEBOARD of the National Proofreaders Association: If you can't spot the GOOFF in this sentence, you need to GOOFF the Board.
ReplyDeleteHey, @Roo. I've got a pizza pan that you might want to eat if you really think that CHARCUTERIE is the BOARD.
And now a question for @Nancy. How many of those 37 million daily Walmart shoppers likely have the same birthday?
Kristi Noem used to have a CHIA pet, but it turned out to be worthless for hunting so she shot it. You can bet that AOC gave her a HARDTIME over that one.
I once accidentally used Old Spice instead of OLDBAY on a TAMALE. That thing was the pits.
Really nice Monday puzzle. Congrats on the debut, Alana Platt.
@egs, a belated Happy Birthday to you too, I always enjoy your humor.
DeleteThis MonPuz gets the rare M&A harder-than-snot ratin, for a Monday...
ReplyDelete* no-knows [as clued]: CHARCUTERIE. RAV. OLDBAY. BTA. SAMIRA. SLOAN. SHES. ICE. BATEMAN. HAWK.
* Three ?-marker clues. Haven't seen that many on some Fri/SatPuzs, lately.
* Extended NW and SE corners @RP-qualified as isolated areas.
* Numerous interestin near-green-paint phrases: DUCKIN. BIGTIP. TRIPOUT. ATERAW. CARRIDE.
But, hey -- always nice to have a surprise challenge.
staff weeject pick: RAV. Debut word.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Opposite of subtract} = ADD. Math quizzer!
other fave stuff: DUCKIN. ORCA clue.
Thanx for the HARDTIME MonPuz, Ms. Platt darlin. And congratz on yer feisty debut. Lookin forward to one of yer ThursPuzs [gulp].
Masked & Anonym007Us
**gruntz**
As Michelle noted, CHARCUTERIE refers to a genre of meats - typically prosciutto, salami, capicola - when presented on a board. It is a charcuterie board. Of course there are usually cheeses, olives, veggies etc to complete the picture
ReplyDeleteMedium! (A week of Medium-Challenging puzzles would be nice, for a change.)
ReplyDeleteI've watched American Psycho and the first few seasons of OITNB, but didn't remember the names. (Sorry, SAMIRA Wiley!) Would have preferred to see Jason BATEMAN and an Arrested Development reference. (Anyong!) Such a great show.
Great puzzle (debut!) from Alana. CHARCUTERIE was perfect, and Tony HAWK as a bonus themer was the cherry on top (or the extra french fry at the bottom of a fast food bag). :)
I also found it a harder than usual Monday, and the more enjoyable for it. Nice array of BOARDs! Whose commonality completely escaped me until I got to the reveal.
ReplyDeleteDo-over: Drop IN. No idea: SAMIRA, BATEMAN, HAWK.
Well, this was a bit more difficult than the usual Monday - a good thing! And I liked it a lot. I didn't know SAMIRA or BATEMAN but figured it out. I don't think I've seen ORCA clued the way it was before so that was interesting.
ReplyDeleteA fun Monday, Alana. Thank you & congrats on your debut. Hope to see you again soon :)
Get high on acid = Trip out? Not really. But quite possibly a thing—if one’s constructing while tripping…and rocking out.
ReplyDeleteAgreed Croce’s Freestyle #916 was fairly easy (for a Croce; this still means harder than 95% of NYT Saturday puzzles).
ReplyDeleteCouldn’t get the I at SAMIRA/ITE with downs only. Not familiar with that actor so I guessed A and had to check the across to complete the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI DROPPED IN to the solve by dropping DROP IN in, but RPTO didn't drop, so I found a sitting DUCK.
ReplyDeleteWOOD GRAIN isn't ON THE BOARD, it's IN THE BOARD. So's a THUMBTACK.
I get so tired of gringos and TAMALE, which has even found it's way into our English dictionaries. It's two TAMALEs; one TAMAL, eh?
Still, a fairly easy and enjoyable solve.
RAV4 is the most sold SUV in the US and Canada, and has been for a while. While your mileage may vary on paying attention to car models, you can’t really complain that it’s unfair or be surprised that you know it somehow.
ReplyDelete@Nancy & egs , happy belated! @egs keep the home-(s)pun comments coming.
Nancy, while a cold brew(ski) may be preferable depending on the time of day, cold brew is a process of making coffee without using hot water. Basically put finely ground coffee in cold water and leave it in the fridge overnight. It makes for a very smooth, velvety and tasty coffee.
I enjoyed the slightly tougher and interesting Monday.
Usually solving down clues only makes it more fun, but this wasn't one of those times for me. Exactly as Rex said, just too many unknown names and multiply plausible acrosses to sort through. In fact, I didn't realize that I never actually succesfully finished... Rex went on about SAMARA and I thought: what's he talking about; that's the right answer... oh no!
ReplyDeleteBATEMEN was the other horrible Unknown Name for me. Also had much trouble getting to DUCK IN; not a phrase I've heard much.
[Spelling Bee: Sun 0, streak 8. puzzlehoarder, have you reached 50?]
To Ed Rorie: Thanks for the info. I guess I had the right instincts about the clue, even though I never lived on the Chesapeake.
ReplyDelete@johk-I share your pain on seeing TAMALE instead of TAMAL, and have posted my displeasure here numerous times, to no discernable effect, and I have given up. Fight the good fight and buena suerte.
ReplyDeleteDowns only solver here and this was a tough one for me. But engaging, and that's good. Had trouble with the revealer because I had GOape at 48D but knew it must be BOARD, so gambled and won.
ReplyDeleteAfter I get the happy tune I go back and read the across clues to see what I missed and was pleased to see the new clue (to me) for ORCA.
One of my sons was a a big Bret Easton Ellis fan so I managed to dredge up Bateman for 25D but couldn't commit because I thought 39A was going to be FOREMaN and I didn't think that would be allowed.Still a bit iffy. For all of you who had trouble with charcouterie, I'm waiting for some devious constructor to clue prosciutto, salami, and bresaola and you'll have to figure out salumi.
A fun Monday.
Samara Joy!!!
ReplyDelete@Johnk (12:23) I agree that the grain is in the wood but once that wood is sawn into BOARDs the grain pattern will be visible on ON THE BOARD.
ReplyDeleteI vaguely recognized CHARCUTERIE, could even spell it correctly, but I could not have told you what it is before this puzzle. And I stopped eating deli style meats decades ago when reports started coming out about a suspected link between preservatives in the meats and colorectal cancer, so my chances of encountering a CHARCUTERIE in the wild are slim to none.
50D ANAL is an xword regular because of its grid fill friendly vowel-consonant-vowel-consonant sequence. Per pi.math.cornell.edu, A is the third most common letter in standard English texts, N the sixth and L the eleventh, with a combined frequency of almost 20%. So, yeah, grid fill friendly.
I don't see any reason, however, why the NYT xword doesn't just do the adult thing and clue it straight up as being related to the lower end of the gastro-intestinal tract. Maybe it's still seen as fashionable in some circles to use ANAL for "Fastidious to a fault" but it can sound like something from the dark ages of psychology and psychiatry to many people (I'm one).
Well, someone did it again, they flung open the doors of hell and let the heat come into Tex-Mex Land. A COLD BREW of any kind these days is nice, cerveza being my favorite.
Thanks to all for the correction to my gaffe. Shows ya how unsophistication strikes. 😁
ReplyDelete@egs
LOL! Takes Pan Pizza to a whole new level.
RooMonster So Hungry I Could Eat A Board Guy
Unremarkable puzzle except for how bad TRIP OUT is…yeesh
ReplyDeleteWent astray right away with DropIN. Does anybody say "DUCK IN?" No, they say drop in. Bah.
ReplyDeleteMore bah: severely segmented NW & SE corners--and the ONLY way out of the former is via a PPP! And, for my money, an obscure one. Yeah, I was literally forced to pick up somewhere else to get a new start. If you're going to allow just one alley to get out of an area, at least don't throw a weird name like SAMIRA in there!
The theme itself is fine, with a wonderful centerPIECE, though I was taken aback by the "THE" of the revealer. ON BOARD, my mind wanted. Par.
Wordle par.
This one deserves a BIGTIP. Well done Alana Platt.
ReplyDeleteICE COLD TRIP
ReplyDeleteOUR SAMIRA can’t NEGATE
that CARRIDE SHE had WHEN
SHE was ON BOARD (not A date)
for A HARDTIME with FOREMEN.
--- ROMEO MESSI-BATEMAN
Hey, for anyone who cares, I'm back from a 3 week road trip to Maine and other places. E-biking, zip lines, mountain climbing, and more. Big cities like Toronto, Montreal (for Canda Day), Montpelier VT, Millanocket ME, and Binghamton NY where I had the pleasure to meet OFL and his wife. Really nice folks in person.
ReplyDeleteWow, 3 weeks without a puz! This one was OK.
Wordle birdie.