Dishy rumors, in slang / SAT 6-8-24 / Coins in a biblical parable / Curmudgeon of children's TV / Digital collectible, for short / Misleading market downturns, in financial lingo / Booker's workplace / Irish girl's name that's one letter off from a shade of purple /

Saturday, June 8, 2024

Constructor: Daniel Sheremeta

Relative difficulty: Easy


THEME: none—there's a dumb little ABC/XYZ thing (see below), but I don't think that constitutes a "theme"

Word of the Day: UTHER Pendragon (29D: King Arthur's father) —

[Anthony Head as King UTHER Pendragon in the BBC TV series Merlin]

Uther Pendragon
 (Brittonic) (/ˈjθər pɛnˈdræɡən, ˈθər/WelshYthyr Ben Dragwn, Uthyr Pendragon, Uthyr Bendragon), also known as King Uther, was a legendary King of the Britons and father of King Arthur.

A few minor references to Uther appear in Old Welsh poems, but his biography was first written down in the 12th century by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), and Geoffrey's account of the character was used in most later versions. He is a fairly ambiguous individual throughout the literature, but is described as a strong king and a defender of his people.

According to Arthurian legendMerlin magically disguises Uther to look like his enemy Gorlois, enabling Uther to sleep with Gorlois' wife Lady Igraine. Thus Arthur, "the once and future king", is an illegitimate child (though later legend, as found in Malory, emphasises that the conception occurred after Gorlois's death and that he was legitimated by Uther's subsequent marriage to Igraine). This act of conception occurs the very night that Uther's troops dispatch Gorlois. The theme of illegitimate conception is repeated in Arthur's siring of Mordred by his own half-sister Morgause in the 13th century French prose cycles, which was invented by them; it is Mordred who mortally wounds King Arthur in the Battle of Camlann. (wikipedia)

• • •

Well, they can't all be ME DAYS. After yesterday's gorgeous thriller, I expected maybe a bit of a come-down, but nothing this precipitous. This is admittedly a personal-taste thing (For The Most Part), but this grid was just crammed with unappealing things, and often *gratuitously* unappealing clues, starting from literally square one. I didn't know there even was an AGE OF MAMMALS (presumably still ongoing?), but leaving the validity of the term aside, the clue ... why would you steer directly into the slaughter of animals solely for the attractiveness of their fur, when the actual answer has nothing to do with the fur industry? Farming animals for their fur … you want to not only bring that up, but make a cutesy joke about it? I mean, that is *a* choice, certainly your prerogative, but that cluing decision put me off the puzzle right away. But things would quickly get somehow worse. After getting traction at the back ends of the longer answers up top. I whipped back across the grid and right into a pile of answers that seemed designed to disappeal to me, personally. It's like the grid was actively hostile. "Hey, I hear you hate this, have some." Let's start with GOSS, which takes us full circle from the abomination that is SESH through the epically cloying GOSSIP SESH (which was in a puzzle earlier this week) to end finally in the puddle of muck that is the alleged abbrev. GOSS. Who says this, and are they related to the people who (somehow, still) say TRUE DAT (28A: "You said it!," informally)? Oof. Then we get more animal torture with BEAR TRAPS, which, yes, I see, is clued as "financial lingo," but for me "financial lingo" is really only one step up from animal torture in terms of appeal, so no joy there (13D: Misleading market downturns, in financial lingo). And then, for a little added flourish of ugh, there was NFT, the absurd fad that every bitcoin blockchain bro in the world is currently trying to memory-hole because it was just a pile of fraud and embarrassment and idiocy. You can tell how generally unappealing NFT is to constructors by how *in*frequently it has been in puzzles—this is just the second appearance, and the last one was in late 2022. Some answers are just inherent cringe, and NFT is one of them. GEO / OFT > GEN / NFT Every Single Day of the Week. See also GPA / AFT.


So things were very much not to my taste, very early on, but at that point, the most objectively bad thing hadn't even come up. Beyond all that fur and goss and nft stuff, beyond the apparently unkillable BATED, beyond the Johnny DEPP content, beyond the absurd plural MEDAYS and the absurder plural ACELAS, beyond the awkwardly truncated PUT ON THE RITZ (it's "PUTTIN'" and only "PUTTIN'," come on), we get a dupe so egregious, so startling that I thought I must be missing a theme. Like ... how in the world do you justify putting TRAPDOOR in the same grid with BEARTRAPS?!? I have to assume that there's some kind of in-joke or hidden theme, something that would make sense of that kind of flagrant word repetition. I know the editor doesn't care much about dupes, that's clear, but I didn't realize he cared This little. If there is a trap theme here somewhere—if the puzzle itself is a trap of some kind—I apologize for missing it. As of now, I can't find any clear justification for the double-trap. I don't understand caring so little about basic construction protocol. Meanwhile, the puzzle has decided that "hiding" little ABC / XYZ bookends in the grid is important (first letters of long answers up top / last letters of long answers down below). I do not understand the puzzle priorities on display here today. 


At least it was all very easy, so I didn't have to linger over any of the unpleasantness. After changing DHS to TSA (17A: Org. created on Nov. 19, 2001—because why not add a 9/11 reference to this funfest?!), LESS ATIT SRTA got me going today, and there wasn't much after that to stop or even slow me. I wrote in NIEVE instead of MAEVE because I had gotten so complacent by that point I didn't even bother to read the clue fully (30D: Irish girl's name that's one letter off from a shade of purple) (NIEVE is an Anglicized version of the Irish name NIAMH—which was the name of one of my Kiwi relatives' dogs, which is the only reason I know it). That error caused some trouble around the trickily clued METEOR (30A: What creates a line for the shower?) (a meteor shower) and the ambiguously clued ERS (27D: Ventilator settings, for short) (I thought the settings were part of the ventilator itself, and I was like "how do I know what the settings on a ventilator are!?" But no, it's the settings where one would find the ventilator itself). Otherwise, the puzzle was so easy that I was able to no-look not only short stuff like SANAA (filled in almost entirely from crosses) but also ELECTRA COMPLEX *and* PORT AUTHORITY *and* PUT ON THE RITZ. That's right, I didn't bother to read a single one of those long Across clues because I didn't have to. Worked the short stuff (as I always do) and when the time came to check the long stuff, the answers were all obvious—no clue-reading required. That ... shouldn't happen on a Saturday. I should say at this point that if you take out AGE OF MAMMALS and PUT ON THE RITZ and BEAR TRAPS, the longer answers in this grid are quite good. RENT MONEY / TO THE MAX was probably my favorite juxtaposition, but BROWNIE BATTER / CEASE AND DESIST is also strong (I like the idea of the baker shouting "CEASE AND DESIST!" at you as you try to surreptitiously shove BROWNIE BATTER into your face).


Bullets:
  • 33A: Harry Potter, e.g. (ORPHAN) — ah, gratuitous JK Rowling content. Le coup de grâce! This puzzle really knows how to please.
  • 7D: Singer whose debut 1988 album had a record four #1 hits (ABDUL) — don't know if I'm ashamed it took me so long to remember her name, even with the "A" in place, or ashamed to admit I loved that album and bought the remix album when it came out. I think I'm done with shame. Love you, Paula.
  • 23D: Booker's workplace (SENATE) — in case it wasn't clear, the "Booker" here is NJ senator Cory.
  • 44D: Curmudgeon of children's TV (BERT) — this is a great clue. BERT is underrated. He gets upstaged in his own apartment by the ever-chipper ERNIE, and even as a curmudgeon, he gets upstaged by Oscar (is a grouch the same thing as a curmudgeon?—you'd think I'd know).
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

106 comments:

Anonymous 6:25 AM  

I didn’t see the fur clue as being about the fur industry. The question mark made me think that’s the misdirect, that the clue is actually referencing when mammals appeared (thus, fur being “in fashion”). So a clue for Cretaceous Period might be “when the dinosaur craze began?” or something like that. Bad example and still a bad clue, but I don’t think they were going for skinning animals.

Anonymous 6:35 AM  

??? The clue deliberately makes you think of fur as fashion even though the answer is (obviously) not about fashion. The puzzle brings it up needlessly, for the sake of a jokey “?” clue.

Tom F 6:43 AM  

Have to agree - brutal content and super easy. Record time for a Saturday!
That made it more forgettable :)

pabloinnh 6:57 AM  

Somehow I wrote in the execrable GOSS without even thinking of GOSSip. How does that happen? Had OFL's problem with an "ventilator setting", never remember SANAA--maybe next time, but probably not, and couldn't see the X in XRAY without running the alphabet. Come on man.

This was way too easy for a Saturday but it had the feel-good moments of getting CEASEAND DESIST from the final ST, ELECTRACOMPLEX from the initial EL, and PORTAUTHORITY from reading the clue. Who's a good solver? Now to give myself a treat.

At least it was nice to see the ALOU family make an appearance. Haven't seen any of them in a while.

A Decent Saturday, DS, but it only lasted half a cup of coffee. I'll try my luck on the Stumper for my second cup. Thanks for a fair amount of whooshy fun.

mathgent 7:21 AM  

My kind of puzzle. Crunchy, awash with sparkle (19 red plus signs in the margins -- the most in months), no junk, minimal pesky threes. Absolutely loved it.

Anonymous 7:29 AM  

Dire. Absolutely dire. I can’t even manage the words. I think I need to take a break from the Times’ puzzles. The highs aren’t all that high, and the lows seem bottomless.

Much respect to the people who can still derive enjoyment from this dross, but puzzles like this could be constructed straight in software without the intervention of a constructor or an editor.

D 7:30 AM  

The misdirect really got you, I guess. The Age of Mammals is simply when, well, mammals got to rule the earth, and thus fur became more ubiquitous. One might even say it was (and is) in fashion.

Anonymous 7:31 AM  

A particularly ungenerous review today. I think the constructor can count himself unlucky that you found a few of the answers personally triggering.

I thought it played well for the most part, and had a good amount of bite. Is the repetition of trap really that upsetting?

SouthsideJohnny 7:33 AM  

Agree with Rex that the fur clue is a stinker - not for the reason he elaborated, just because it totally misses the mark even though the misdirection sticks out like a sore thumb. I occasionally volunteer to teach grade schoolers and they could have come up with something better than that.

I hope at least a few of us will raise our hands (it won’t include me) for actually hearing, or better yet, saying GOSS or TRUE DAT in the wild. Else we are coming dangerously close to the NYT just making stuff up again.

I generally avoid the whole “Rebus” has multiple definitions discussions that pop up from time to time and just assume a REBUS refers to puzzles with more than one letter in some squares - if anyone can educate me as to how/why the clue for EWE works, it would be appreciated.

I tried pancake before brownies, but I’d prefer the latter anyway, so other than making me hungry, no harm there. I thought the south opened up quite a bit with two strong but discernible grid spanners in PORT AUTHORITY and PUT ON THE RITZ - e.g. phrases that people actually use in real life instead of just making things up like AGE OF MAMMALS (note: there may well be a geologist, archeologist or some type of historical biologist out there who points out that it is in fact a scientific term of some merit, in which case we can move it over to the arcane trivia column, where it will have plenty of company at the NYT).

Hal9000 7:33 AM  

I dunno: Rex is getting curmudgeony in his old age. I personally don’t judge puzzles on the basis of their political correctness if they’re well constructed. Thus, fur, finance, Depp don’t press any buttons for this old Lib.

Unfortunately, this is NOT a well constructed puzzle, for all the reasons Bert, I mean Rex describes. GOSS is horrendous, as are plural ACELAS, PUT (Nooo!) ON THE RITZ, and the double-TRAP protocol breach. But yes, mercifully easy, at least.

fgillis 7:36 AM  

Thought Rex would blow a fuse with "xedin", the answer to 19D: "Marked, in a way". Having the same word in the clue AND answer? Never seen that before.

Son Volt 7:44 AM  

TRUE DAT - I’m down with Rex’s take today. A couple of decent entries here and there but overall a reach. It’s always been PUTtin’. Totally backed into ELECTRA COMPLEX with crosses. Liked the misdirect on the METEOR x RENT MONEY cross.

Gillian

PORT AUTHORITY is temporal with the congestion pricing debate. Some oddball plurals - ACELAS standing out. Drew a blank on ABDUL. UTHER + SANAA = crossword royalty.

The BEAU Brummels

Pleasant enough Saturday morning solve. Matt Sewell’s Stumper shines over this one today.

WALTZ About Whiskey

Lewis 7:45 AM  

Those stacks on top and bottom frame this puzzle with freshness. All three answers of the upper stack are NYT debut answers, and of the bottom stack, one is a debut (PUT ON THE RITZ), and the other two have only appeared in the Times puzzle once.

I don’t know about you, but fresh answers like this delight my brain, giving it new riddles to crack, including clues it has never seen. My brain comes to crosswords hungering to figure things out. It likes riddle-cracking so much more than simply recalling clues and answers it’s seen before.

Speaking of freshness, Daniel put in new and terrific clues for a couple of answers that have appeared numerous times – [Ventilator settings, for short] for ERS, and [Booker’s workplace?] for SENATE.

I do like how TRAP DOOR goes downward. And BROWNIE BATTER, well, when I look at that answer, I can just smell the dough as if it is actually under my nose, and, to me, it’s one of those life-enriching smells, like fresh-baked bread.

So, Daniel, you’ve happified my brain and mood with your lovely puzzle. What a gift! Thank you so much for making this!

Donna Abandando 7:56 AM  

Great puzzle. As for PUT ON THE RITZ, the Wikipedia article about the song linked to in the review confirms it is a phrase: The title derives from the slang expression "to put on the Ritz", meaning to dress very fashionably.

Jim in Canada 7:58 AM  

Did anyone else extend their solving time by a huge margin because you stared at ----DOOR and absolutely refused to believe it could be a second TRAP?

Todd 8:01 AM  

I loved the bear trap answer coming from that world. Also while I do like the Taco version of the Ritz he really should have put up the one from Young Frankenstein.

Ride the Reading 8:04 AM  

Found this to be roughly medium - about average time for a recent Saturday. Took me longer, in retrospect, than it should have to get certain answers - had IE BATTER and couldn't think of anything but cookIE BATTER, which didn't fit. Used to live in Brooklyn, and still couldn't come up with Port Authority for a long time, even with the recent news about Manhattan tolls.

Alternate areas for clues/answers:
GOSS - what is used to print the NYT for readers in the NYC area (Goss Colorliner presses).
The clue for WOMB - First thought for Starter home? was engine bay, but of course that didn't fit.

Whatever the reason for my struggles with it, glad for a Saturday puzzle that wasn't over quickly.

kitshef 8:18 AM  

Yes, I have definitely heard TRUE DAT many times in the wild, although its heyday has passed.

If you read about prehistoric animals a lot (and who doesn't?), AGE OF MAMMALS is familiar as a layman's way to refer to the Cenozoic era - basically from the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs to the present. I could have lived without the faux fur clue, but it's not a big deal.

Following a period of wild inconsistency on puzzle difficulty, Joel Fagliano seems to have found something resembling a groove. Puzzles are now generally at least close the right day. But his cavalier attitude toward duplications in the grid quite irks me.

andrew 8:20 AM  

Have you not HEARD it was not DEPP but psycho AMBER who was the abuser?

And Diva asks have you HEARD the good news of the GOSSpel? A Jehovah’s Witness stopped by yesterday and now, whelp, she’s trying to save me! (See photo)

I thought ABC/XYZ were nice touches. And seeing two TRAPs, a mention of Harry P and (the admittedly useless) TSA made me smile, knowing it would set off the PPP (Prickly Pomona Pontificator)…

Anonymous 8:22 AM  

LOVED all three Ritz inserts; best part of today’s experience. Thanks, Rex!

Anonymous 8:25 AM  

Not nearly enough references and misdirects to unpleasantness for me. BROWNIE BATTER? ME DAYS? FINE ART? Get this twee nonsense out of my chamber of horrors

Conrad 8:29 AM  


I agree with those who said it was Easy, disagree with those who said too easy. Liked it a lot better than @Rex did.

Overwrites:
you before EWE at 3D
Thought Brad pitt, not Johnny DEPP (42D) played Jack Sparrow.
My excuse for that is pAt before DAB at 42A
CiO before CTO at 48D

WOEs:
GOSS (2D), Rita MAE Brown (8D), UTHER (29D)

Anonymous 8:44 AM  

it fully seems like an editorial decission took this away from an intended pangram. only missing Q and J. Quito fully hits the elevation requirement but i cant figure out the J, having never constructed a puz myself.

Eh Steve! 9:01 AM  

Didn't find it quite as distasteful as Rex, but also read the fashion clue as the rise of mammals and not as cutting them up to wear their skin. Oh well. Not a record time, but close to it.

I was also perplexed by the PUTONTHERITZ answer, but if that gets us Peter Boyle as the Monster, I'm OK with it.

puzzlehoarder 9:09 AM  

Overall I found this to be medium to slightly challenging. The top stack was much more difficult than the bottom one. Almost all the heavy lifting for me was in that northwestern half of the puzzle. A big reason for this was my severe mental block on ABDUL. Not only could I not see it off the A even with AB I was still baffled. I recall being very slow on BEAU and CRAFTERS as well. I couldn't get CEASEANDDESIST to drop until I put in BOA and it's 3 crosses. That easy chunk allowed me to clear up all my confusion up north.

The contrast with the southeastern half was like night and day. Other than a bit of confusion over a BASED/BATED write over and really falling for the METEOR clue it was all easy pickings.

I didn't mind the dupes and never noticed the mini alphabet theme. Stunts like that always require sacrifices and today's were minimal.

yd -0. QB55 @Okanaganer and @Roo, thanks for the shout outs yesterday and good luck with those QBs

Anonymous 9:14 AM  

GOSS and TRUEDAT are, though unlovely, indeed real things that people say.

Anonymous 9:16 AM  

Ah, and in the type of rebus the puzzle is referring to a picture of a ewe might stand in for the letter u, as an eye might be the letter i, a bee the letter b, etc.

Bob Mills 9:37 AM  

Finished it without cheating after a long struggle (of course, it's Saturday). I had "Bart" instead of BERT in the SW, which made it tough to come up with ELECTRACOMPLEX, something I've never heard of (albeit I have three daughters).

I also had "Adele" instead of ABDUL for the singer, and resisted EWE for the pronoun because I didn't understand how it could be a pronoun anywhere. I had the letter "Z" from WALTZ, but assumed the cross was either JAZZ or PIZZAZZ. I guessed at DEPP, and that led me to PUTONTHERITZ.

I hope XEDIN will disappear from the crosswordese dictionary.

RooMonster 9:46 AM  

Hey All !
Saw the ABC/XYZ thingie. Was looking at the Center Diagonals for mre alphabet runs, but none to be found.

Was stuck in West/Center area, had to Goog for both UTHER (somehow know the neme, but not when needed, or who he was, hopefully now I can remember it) and SENATE. Wanted BEARTRendS, and couldn't come up with anything else. After my two Googs, was able to complete that section, only to have one square left, _RAYLABS/_EDIN, and the ole brain boycotting me in seeing the X. All I could imagine was a G. Silly brain. I hit Reveal Square, and the X popped in, and I let out a "Ugh! Really?!" X. Dang.

Timer says 55:55, couldn't have done that if I tried. Longer than I like to spend on a puz, but I was trying to finish cheat-free. Alas, angstness set in, and I said Screw It!

Whatever happened to our Diagonal word finder person that was here for a bit? I see a BROS from the B of XRAYLAB. And a remake of LES MUZ in a downbeat way of SAD MIZ. Har.

Anyway, Happy Saturday. TRUE DAT.

Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV

Gary Jugert 9:53 AM  

Super easy on the bottom and super difficult on the top and I loved every minute of this one. A lotta names, but I knew most of them.

Despite the glaring 1988 yelling at me, I was so positive it was ADELE. Learned the word GOSS, and will promptly forget it. I hope the crossword rebus haters feel vindication as rebuses must have female sheep in them, right? I don't think XED IN is a real phrase. I could not remember Arthur's father probably because they're both fake. I needed five crosses for ORPHAN and I have all eight Harry Potter films memorized. I've mentioned it before but HARRY POTTER IS #1!

I say TRUE DAT, often. I find using English properly rather dull.

Propers: 10
Places: 2
Products: 1
Partials: 8
Foreignisms: 1
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 22 (33%)

Purposeful Funnyisms: 8 🤣

Tee-Hee: BEAR TRAPS (!) Oh, wait, not that kind of bear trap.

Uniclues:

1 Moment the honeymoon becomes a whole lot funnier.
2 Wearing berets and smoking clove cigarettes.
3 Get pregnant.
4 Sesame Street hero known for hosting parties.
5 Painting of DuBois on a streetcar.
6 My daily ambition.

1 TSA GRABS BEAU (~)
2 BEATNIK TALENTS
3 RESHAPE WOMB
4 BEAR TRAPS BERT
5 FINE ART BLANCHE
6 LESS TO THE MAX

My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Artistic beachside tools for those attending a weight-reduction summer camp. LOSERS' EASELS.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Nancy 9:56 AM  

A lovely grid filled with colorful long answers and almost no names. It started out somewhat challenging for me and then got whooshier as it went along. It was the long answers that helped me most -- and I'm especially grateful to you, ELECTRA COMPLEX. I got you just off your "L" and then the whole bottom came in quickly.

3D was tricky. The answer could be EYE or EWE and I had EYE. So BROWNIE BATTER took a long time to see. Don't get me started on GOSS, which is truly awful, but it's the only bad answer in the puzzle, so I'll forgive it.

The hardest answer for me was for the clue "One might get a meal wrapped up." I had the "B". BUN? But I was pretty sure that Harry Potter is an ORPHAN. So then BO-what? BOW? Would you wrap a meal in a BOW? Does a BOT ever wrap a meal? A BOY? So confusing. I finally realized that it was BOA, giving me the opening vowel I needed at 37A, "what you will." Oh, it's an ASSET. I was expecting an ESTATE, but, hey, easy come, easy go.

Love CARTE BLANCHE; CEASE AND DESIST; PUT ON THE RITZ. Love the clue for WOMB. Never heard of BEARTRAPS in that sense. All in all, I found this a very entertaining puzzle.

Merlin 10:00 AM  

I can personally attest that UTHER Pendragon never once in his life pursed his lips like that simp portraying him in that picture. He sneered, roared in rage, roared in laughter, and occasionally screamed in ecstasy, but never pursed his lips.

jock spit 10:03 AM  

Anytime a puzzle contains the last name of a great Dominican family, it’s a good day. This is NOT only a great crossword but a baseball HOF story. Three brothers ALL played for the San Francisco Giants. Felipe, the oldest, was the first Dominican in MLB. I saw him play in historic Seals Stadium in 1958. He had a cannon of an arm in right field. He was joined by his brothers, Matty in 1960, and Jesús in 1963. All three formed the first and only all-brother outfield in MLB history in the last two innings of a 13–5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field on September 15, 1963. Any baseball fan should search the internet for the stories of how things were and how well they performed. And by the way, when Felipe was called up, ONLY ENGLISH was allowed in the Clubhouse….1958.

Anonymous 10:04 AM  

I did like BATED crossing BREADTH

Anonymous 10:13 AM  

age of mammals is a thing and is fine. i liked the puzzle. my one beef was with "XED in"- i have clues and answers like that.

Anonymous 10:20 AM  

EYE was so obviously correct that I focused for a very long time trying to figure out what the BATTER was.

Teedmn 10:39 AM  

I was mentally creating a new metaphor for 13D’s financial downturn, BEAR TRAck because I imagined the bears following a false trail into the…anyway, the C of TRAck had me go back and forth as to whether Harry Potter could be considered an uRcHiN when he was safely ensconced at Hogwarts rather than on the street, homeless, and urchin was reinforced by wanting a Bun to wrap up 31D’s meal. Thanks, Cory Booker, for that A in SENATE!

So that little section elevated this puzzle to a DAB over easy but that's what Saturdays are for.

Thanks, Daniel Sheremeta!

Anonymous 10:42 AM  

Weren’t Ross and Rachel ON A BREAK during “Friends”?

Greg Chavez 10:46 AM  

Anon 6:25am, I understand why you might think RP is off the mark here, but the word “fashion” in the clue immediately brings to mind fur as a style of clothing. Styles tend to have a clear inception that can be winnowed down to a decade slice. E.g. bell bottoms first came into fashion in the mid-to-late 1960s.

It is a purposeful misdirection that immediately raised my hackles (bunched up folds of skin and fur) and primed me to follow the logic that you otherwise well describe.

Lastly, Rex is off the mark, just in a different way. Whether or not THE AGE OF MAMMALS is a common descriptor like the Meghalayan Age or the Holocene Epoch or the Quaternary Period or the Cenozoic Era is entirely besides the point. “This is / It was the Age of ” absolutely is a thing. Also, this is a Saturday crossword puzzle.

In other words, per usual, RP is allowing his custom set of dislikes to determine whether a clue/answer is legit whilst virtue-signaling to the rest of us. It is both annoying and endearing which I suspect he knows quite well.

Mary Jean Babic 10:48 AM  

I actually didn't write TRAPDOOR because I was certain, just certain, there wouldn't be two TRAPs in a puzzle. I changed it to PROPDOOR. There are props on a stage, right? SLOVS is an acceptable alternate spelling for SLAVS, right? Next time, I won't place so much faith in the editing.

Greg Chavez 10:52 AM  

@mathgent I agree! But for the top third, I wooshed through this guy with pleasure (I had AfterMAMMALS, teaS, dhs instead of tsa, and main (squeeze) instead of BEAU.

Yesterday, however, was miserable for me. Don’t know why, but I couldn’t deal and DNF’d, wrecking my streak. But it wasn’t the puzzle’s fault. Just wasn’t on my wavelength.

EasyEd 10:58 AM  

Somehow to me the essence of Friday and Saturday puzzles are contorted clues, so this puzzle met my expectations, but was still a BEAR to finish.

Rich Glauber 11:03 AM  

If a Harry Potter clue is somehow upsetting because of JK Rowling, that's on you. Really. I liked the puzzle, wasn't familiar with the Electra Complex, so that's a nice bit of trivia. I got slowed down thinking that EYE was the answer to the rebus clue. Weird how both eye and ewe work perfectly there. Good stacks top and bottom, a fine puzzle from where I solve.

Carola 11:04 AM  

I'm with @Nancy 9:56 in spirit and in much of the detail. For me, this was a properly challenging Saturday, admittedly easing up on the difficulty in the bottom three rows. Special pleasures: CEASE AND DESIST, CARTE BLANCHE, BROWNIE BATTER.

Do-overs: BRioche before BROWNIE (I know, it would be a dough, not a BATTER, but with the off-center clues lately....); Sleeve before SHEATH; shekels before TALENTS; Sucre before SANAA; and for the line for the shower and for wrongest answer of the day, Mildew before METEOR. Help from previous puzzles: TRUE DAT. No idea: BEARTRAPS.

jae 11:29 AM  

Easy and easier than yesterday’s for me. No WOEs and rimS before EARS and hEs before MEN were it for erasures. Trickiest part was the west coast where BOA and ORPHAN were my last entries.

Solid but not quite as interesting as yesterday’s. Liked it more than @Rex did but he’s right about stuff like GOSS and NFT.

kitshef 11:30 AM  

You never know from where knowledge will come. I knew UTHER thanks to Monty Python and the Holy Grail: "It is I, Arthur, Son of Uther Pendragon, from the castle of Camelot. King of the Britons, defeater of the Saxons, sovereign of all England."

mathgent 11:33 AM  

Isn't it clear that the NYT puzzle is now allowing a certain amount of duping? It seems to annoy only a few of us. There are better things to write about.

SusanA 11:37 AM  

I may be the only one here who found the top properly challenging. Had a fun sail through the SE, and enjoyed the longs a lot.

The North was another BEARTRAP entirely. Kept looking for something specific /unique to Quinceanera, so the crosses were not much help. Had ARTFORM and ROCKART before FINEART. Even after Googling ACELAS I still don’t know what it is. Kept trying for some kind of ticket promoter, scalper or box office thing for BOOKER (I’m in Toronto). So it was tough for sure, the BOA had me in its grip.

Also just want to say, JK Rowling has never said a hateful thing, and has dealt with non-stop death threats for several years. Maybe question the popular narrative a little? Start here. https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/jk-rowling-transphobic-how-i-went-from-spreading-this-false-narrative-to-seeing-right-through-it-ej-rosetta-3961211

Joey 11:56 AM  

The highs were considerable in the long answers. Sounds like you could use a you day.

Anonymous 11:56 AM  

I had a whole screed written up about how I like the flexibility in clueing, how “puttin” is not necessary in the 52A answer, about how a bear trap causes some speculators to lose some money and is a good clue. Also how I didn’t know of goss, liked “ers” and Electra Complex, don’t like obscure tv trivia, etc, etc.

It was a difficult puzzle for me, but I finished it without a cheat. I could have dropped it if it offended or excessively frustrated me. All in all l agree with @lewis’s assessment. Interesting and over all fair.

Bottom line it’s just a puzzle and excessive negativity just spoils the experience for others.

Tom T 11:58 AM  

@RooMonster: I am the former HDW ("Hidden Diagonal Word") guy, and I CEASEd AND DESISTed because my move from Florida to Washington 2 years ago put me in a time warp. It felt like my posts were always destined to be at the end of the line--the timeline, that is, so why bother. Also, I didn't know you cared. lol. Or that anyone else did either.

Anyhoo, I'm still around, doing the puzzles and reading Rex every day. You posts are among my favorites each day, so keep 'em coming.

GILL I. 12:05 PM  

Ay frijoles! Where to start....Well, I will say I enjoyed this little struggle, a few romps and many huh's better than yesterday's puzzle.

So 1A was more of a big struggle. I stared at that one for an AGE. What kind of age has a fur fashion...Hmmm. ME DAY (I say that all the time...mine is Saturday and I do what I want when I want and if I want) gave me the M and Rita MAE Brown gave me the other M I needed for the MAMMALS.

CEASE AnD DESIST was my first romp and thanks to you, I got some BROWNIE BATTER for my kitchen mix.

My huh's were many. Can some kind soul explain to me 32A TALENTS? Coins in a biblical parable? Why did you make me look up that answer when I was doing so well? Then you made me look up another one (looking at you ACELAS) and it began to take my BREADTH away. Oof. Is this going to be another dreadful Friday? No. I got traction again in the middle. TRUE DAT? Is that really you? You fit. Move on.

Did anyone else ink in (like I did) TOTAL FREEDOM for that full license clue? I finally got CARTE BLANCE all because of that BREADTH and SLAVS clue. Smart me.

Last to go in was the end. Three doovers....I had Penn before DEPP and Bart instead of BERT and a CEO instead of a CTO. Because I had the ends of those longies....COMPLEX AUTHORITY and RITZ (sounds like a good name for a law firm) I was able to figure out the beginnings. So yay me. PUT ON THE RITZ is so wrong, it's funny.

So in the end of my struggles, romps and huh's, I decided that I liked this Saturday just fine. Even two TRAPS didn't seem to bother. I will say, though, that I've never used a trap on anything. My grandmother used to put them out all over the place because there were a zillion field mice that would come to visit her. The thought of that poor little critter trying to eat some cheese and then getting his head squished gave me the squirms. I'd set them off before they could do the death deed. Nana told me that one little mother mouse could have about 20 babies and those babies could each have 20 more and that's where my story ends.

Anonymous 12:21 PM  

Interestingly, I was thinking of that same Ritz cracker commercial last night!

johnk 12:23 PM  

MAE I BLANCHE AT IT LESS. EARS LESS METEOR TALENTS, TRUE DAT.
MAEVE, EWE MAE SPIT GOSS TO THE MAX.
CEASE AND DESIST ALOU ME DAYS.

Jim Finder 12:25 PM  

Kerouac:beatnik::Jon Stewart:Randy Rainbow. That BEATNIK clue is really off.

Paul in NYC 12:29 PM  

Am I the only person who practically dislocates a shoulder patting myself on the back when I accurately finish a Saturday in pen and with no corrections, only to have their bubble deflated when I come to Rex Parker and see he rated it as ‘easy’?

Anonymous 12:31 PM  

True dat - and as is the way with things whose heyday has passed, people continue to say it ironically.

jb129 12:38 PM  

A lot I didn't know - or like, specifically AGE OF MAMMALS.
And TRAP 2x in one puzzle? Didn't know TALENTS 32A, NFT 22A, King Arthur's Father UTHER, 31D BOA?, I had STEAKS for STEALTH & DEFINITELY should have been PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ. Shall I go on? No, that's about all I have to say.

Anonymous 12:45 PM  

Did anyone else put Adele (instead of Abdul) since her debut album is called “1988”?

Bob Mills 12:55 PM  

For GILL I.: Yes, I had "total freedom" instead of CARTEBLANCHE. That's a big reason the solve took me so long.

Masked and Anonymous 1:05 PM  

Feisty puz, but it is a SatPuz, after all. A mere 66-worder. And two of the longballs in the upper stack had ?-marker clues, to get the feistiness rollin, f'rinstance.

staff weeject picks: ABC & XYZ. Ah, at least a SatPuz mini-puztheme, after that E-Z ThursPuz theme. And they were lurkin on them nice Jaws of Themelessness, too boot.

Some fave stuff: CEASEANDDESIST [One of my first entries into the puzgrid, after the famed rebus EWE and the NE corner were taken care of]. XRAYLAB and clue. RENTMONEY clue [which M&A saw thru, almost immediately]. BEATNIK. ONABREAK. BEARTRAPS & its clue. TOTHEMAX [which managed to gobble up my precious nanoseconds, for some reason].

Thanx, Mr. Sheremeta dude. Had good stuff from A(BC) to (XY)Z. Electrically complex.

Masked & Anonymo4Us


**gruntz**

egsforbreakfast 1:12 PM  

I'd have to say that people who can't BEAR a TRAPDOOR are the kinds who can't adore a BEARTRAP.

I'm sitting up and taking nourishment after the near-death experience of moving, but the doctors have limited my comments to whatever is funny or 50 words, whichever come first. So......

johnk 1:19 PM  

@Paul in NYC: Nope

Anonymous 1:21 PM  

But the EWE answer in this case is referring to a “pronoun” per the clue, hence “you”.

okanaganer 1:28 PM  

I found it quite smooth but not super easy, and was surprised when my time was under 16 minutes. I didn't object to any of the answers except GOSS of which I have never heard. And I didn't notice the ABC / XYZ thing until Rex mentioned it.

I also don't think of BEAR TRAPS as involving torture; they are usually used to humanely relocate the critters these days, right? I live in the midst of a mid sized city/town and we get tons of deer, marmots, raccoons etc but have never yet seen a bear. So I was quite startled one evening to encounter a loaded bear trap (with signs warning "Keep away... live bear trap") right beside my favorite walking trail.

As for the TRAP dupe, it's gotten so I barely even notice any duplication of words any more.

[Spelling Bee: Fri 0 and also got the final word from Thurs which has stung me before, so streak 13.]

Alanna Dunlap 1:28 PM  

Loved the puzzle . Love JK Rowling. Last night on Real Time with Bill Maher Abigail Shrier was asked why England has taken a global lead when it comes to banning puberty blockers for gender confused youths. She said there are two main reasons: A centralized NHS and "They had something really special in England: JK Rowling. She helped gender critical feminists pry away from the progressive left on this issue and stand up for the bodily integrity of girls and for the integrity of medicine.”
She was referring to the UK's progressive stance on banning puberty blockers and gender reassignment surgeries for minors, which she attributes partly to JK Rowling's support for gender critical feminists. JK is on the right side of history and Harry Potter is welcome in my puzzle any time, Daniel Radcliffe’s ignorance notwithstanding.

Burtonkd 1:39 PM  

Puzzle deserves better than the vitriol on the blog today from RP and anon acolytes. A quick google search shows that “Put on the Ritz” is perfectly legitimate unless we want to throw out the Oxford Dictionary et al. Sure, puttin’ is more famous because of the song, but the song is based on an already existing phrase.

Virtue signaling over the top, also. A bit much to get the vapors over anything in this puzzle.

siehomme 1:44 PM  

Problematic subjects aside, I found this puzzle exhilarating because never before have I been able to get every long cross with so few letters filled in. Aside from the temporary PANCAKE BATTER (doing it at breakfast so that's probably why it sprang to mind) turning into BROWNIEs, I got the crosses from the clues alone. Close to record time, which is always thrilling on a Saturday.

Anoa Bob 1:52 PM  

@Southside (7:33), I guess it's ironic that the NYTXW seems to always use "rebus" differently in actual puzzles than how they used it to describe a kind of puzzle. REBUS has appeared in the NYTXW grid 97 times overall (xwordinfo.com) and has always been clued as a type of puzzle with pictures. "A ewe for you" was a clue for REBUS in 2019, for example. Today that gets flipped where "rebus" is in the clue for 3D EWE. If you do a search for "rebus puzzle", that's the kind of answer you will find, often referencing the classic old school TV game show "Concentration".

When it comes to "rebus" describing a type of puzzle, however, the picture (heh heh) changes. The NYTXW uses that for puzzles that have multiple letters in single grid squares. Complete disconnect. I have no idea how the train ran off the tracks so completely on that account. More on this at The Rebus Principle.

The NYTXW also seems to be the last bastion of 19th century Freudian psychoanalytic theory, today with 47A ELECTRA COMPLEX. Mainstream psychiatry and psychology long ago jettisoned Freud's cocaine fueled ramblings as having no more scientific validity than the ancient Greek plays some of his ideas were based on.

If you have taken a psychology course in the last, say fifty years, and Freud's theory was taught as being legitimate, you should ask for your money back. It would be like taking a course in astronomy and being taught the signs of the zodiac or taking a course in geography and being taught that the Earth is flat.

Sailor 1:58 PM  

@Jim Finder, I agree. None of the major Beat Generation writers considered themselves to be part of the Beatnik subculture, and in fact were often critical of it. The literary movement and the social subculture that popularized it, while related, are not at all the same thing.

Anonymous 2:21 PM  

Hey Rex,

I enjoy reading your blog, but this week has let me know that it's not a safe space for me. You already complained about the inclusion of gay slang earlier this week with ATE and now you are once again freaking out over the inclusion of GOSS which is a very popular gay abbreviation. I would hope that you could google these phrases before spewing homophobic rants at your gay readership. Please apologize!

Signed,
A gay former fan

Les S. More 2:33 PM  

Because I am not versed in archaeology or paleontology, or whatever it may be, I thought AGEOFMAMMALS was kind of awkward, but previous posts have defended it so I will go with it. I will not, however, go with GOSS.

Had kEN before MEN, REmodel before RESHAPE, and shekels before TALENTS. All easily fixed.

Surprisingly had no trouble with UTHER. My wife used to be an avid reader of historical fiction based on Arthurian legend and I would occasionally make the mistake of asking her what she was reading. This would elicit a lengthy lecture detailing the relationships of every Camelot character. I guess it was time well spent.

So as much as I hated the execrable GOSS, I kind of liked this puzzle.

ghostoflectricity 2:43 PM  

Rex blew a beautiful opportunity to include the "Puttin' On the Ritz" sequence in one of Mel Brooks's best movies, "Young Frankenstein" (1974), featuring Gene Wilder as Dr. (Frederick) Frankenstein and Peter Boyle as the monster, both dressed in tops hats and tails.

ghostoflectricity 2:44 PM  

Sorry; reread it and now I see it. Still hilarious.

Eniale 2:56 PM  

@Tom T I post very infrequently too, for the same reason - who's still reading posts by the time I get to it? Unlike some others, I don't post till I've finished (or more often dnfed) AND read the blog and other posts.

JJK 3:02 PM  

This was two puzzles for me - the bottom half being relatively easy and the top half being very hard. On the bottom the three long answers came to me quickly - in the north, two of those three long answers were impenetrable to me and I had to ask the software for them. I hate having to do that. I had “artform” before FINEART, part of my problem up there, and I object to the term FINEART anyway - art is art, why talk about FINE or ?not FINE? I also had ADELE at first up there, just plain wrong and ignorant I know, but there you go…it fit so that was my guess.

Lots to like in the bottom half too, but lots I didn’t like in the top: ATIT (dreadful), MEDAYS yuck! Can we stop seeing this idiotic term? I did like CRAFTERS, and I think Rex is off the mark on AGEOFMAMMALS. As others have pointed out, this is entirely a term that’s used and it was a clever misdirecting clue.

Les S. More 3:21 PM  

@Okanagener

I think the problem is that most really urban people (as in New York City crossworders), when and if they think of animal traps, envision leg hold traps - the kind of old-school metal trap with a big spring that closes violently on the animal's leg, often causing grisly injuries.

You didn’t describe the traps, so I will try.

Think of the pet carrier your neighbour uses to get her little dog to the vet. Now imagine it fortified and large enough to contain a 400 pound black bear. Door is open, trap is baited, bear enters, door closes. No physical injury to bear, though she’s probably really aggravated. Conservation officers are called and arrive with a truck upon which they load the trapped bear. Then they drive it out to the wilderness and release it. This is a common occurrence where I live (about 4 hours west of you, Okanaganer) where people continue to leave their garbage out to tempt the bears.

Anonymous 4:00 PM  

I was thrown on rebus clue too I thought it was HER because that would make sense as a rebus crossword fill that could make the most words. Google rebus puzzles they’re totally different thing.

BobL 4:13 PM  

Nice puzzle, Daniel. Typical hogwash from Rex.

okanaganer 4:17 PM  

@Les S. More: yes exactly like the world's hugest dog carrier with a bunch of warning signs on it. If it wasn't for the signs, I might not even have paid attention to it!

We occasionally get bears near our cabin at Shuswap Lake, but it's getting so busy now I think they stay away. Pretty much everyone knows about the garbage... we always lock it inside the workshop at night. Once I arrived to discover that a bear had ripped the door off our outdoor beer frig -- from the hinge side, unfortunately -- and eaten about ten pounds of frozen meat. Just a mental error leaving the meat in the outdoor frig; easy mistake to make... once! Sealed beer / pop only now.

Anonymous 4:39 PM  

ASSET was poorly clued. You don’t will a single asset, you will your assets.

RooMonster 5:35 PM  

@Tom T
I do care! 😁
I am also a Left Coaster (well, not on the Coast, but in Pacific Time), and I post usually around the 6am PST time, as I like to get up early to do the various puzs before I shower and go to work at 8. But, anytime you post, I'm sure it'll get read by someone. /i> 😁

Whether they like it or not us another story ..

RooMonster I'll Post When I Want Guy
Har

Anonymous 5:39 PM  

Did anybody notice that DAB spelled backwards is BAD? How did the editor(s) let that pass ? Just asking.

Anonymous 5:54 PM  

Thank you Lewis. A fine puzzle. I struggled in the west because muggle fit. Had to come back to it after lunch before it fell in place.

Billie aka Bobby 7:10 PM  

Great puzzle and thanks for the blog Rex. Nice to deal with people who don’t mind contrary opinions. God Bless JK Rowling. Tomboys are going extinct due to gender ideology making young girls who aren’t overly feminine think that they’re actually meant to be boys. It’s evil. There is no wrong way to be a boy or a girl. Cheers !

Chris 7:18 PM  

This needs to be memorialized as peak Rex stupidity for all the reasons noted above. Once a pretty faithful reader, I now barely skim most days just to see the bullet points.
But yes, pretty easy puzzle.

Anonymous 7:43 PM  

Wasted five minutes searching for an alternative to “trapdoor”, knowing it couldn’t possibly be a dupe. NYT doesn’t do dupes, right? Sheesh

dgd 7:55 PM  

Andrew
About Depp
I usually ignore celebrity trials but I did read about the CIVIL defamation trial. It was a mess. Money wise he just outspent her and won the case. That does happen. There is ample evidence that he has had a serious drinking problem and that he has been an abuser. She too had a drinking problem, but Depp does sound like someone who could drive one to drink.
Still Rex does go overboard. But that’s Rex.
I thought it was a decent clue
But Depp is a piece of work. .

Anonymous 8:22 PM  

Anonymous 4:39
Singular of convenience maybe but ASSET is fine This is a puzzle with all its tricks we are dealing with. Not a dissertation on probate law
In any event, logically, an asset makes up part of an estate and you can will one asset to a particular person. So even on your very restricted terms the answer works

Anonymous 8:31 PM  

I find that “hot goss” is actually a pretty common phrase among urban online liberals. I’m surprised Rex reacted the way he did.

okanaganer 8:43 PM  

It's that italics bug again.

RooMonster 9:23 PM  

@okanaganer
😁

Roo

GILL I. 9:51 PM  

Well I was looking for a kind soul to explain TALENTS but I got none. [sigh]. I looked it up and it didn't tell me anything about coins in a parable. Instead we get italics and a fight....another sigh.

JC66 10:04 PM  

@Gill

TALENTS

Anonymous 10:06 PM  

WTF, Bert, I mean Oscar, I mean Rex. Now you say you really liked yesterday’s puzzle when you spent the first half of your column screaming about how much you hated ‘Obamania’? How’s anyone supposed to know whether Rex likes a puzzle or not, when he spends so much real estate bashing puzzles that he later says he liked?

GILL I. 11:04 PM  

My kind soul to the rescue! When I Googled it, well, I didn't want to know about all the talented people in the world. I raise a martini glass to you.....

A 3:03 AM  

Loved it! Solved late (because I was out of town playing Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde) but had to come and give two thumbs up for this one! Who doesn't love a puzzle that calls out the non-rebus "rebus" puzzles? I'm looking at [EWE] kid.

PUT ONT THE RITZ tickled my fancy. Clever clue for RENT MONEY. Always up for a DAB or DEPP.

PORT AUTHORITY out of the wheelhouse for this deep south resident but got it off only three letters after some wrestling, if I do STRUT my own stuff.

Two of my favorite CRAFTERS are bassoonists who share a birthday (different years though). They make great cakes, too. Bet they could CRAFT a mean BROWNIE BATTER.

@Tom T - I sometimes check for diagonals because of your posts - glad you're still around.

@kitshef - UTHER helped me get started with this one, and I also remembered it from Monty Python!

@egs - sorry for your relocation ordeal. Hurry back to your witty DOOKisms! It adds to the fun of solving to anticipate which entries and clues will inspire you and other creative regulars to gooff on a TANgent.

My last entries were the opaque XRAYLAB and the xwordese xedin - ordinarily might get a side eye but it's such an audacious crossing I'm willing to forgive and almost admire it. Use your ASS(ET) TALENTS TOTHEMAX. Now if they could only figure out how to rebus ELECTRA COMPLEX....

Anonymous 6:38 AM  

You could read past the first paragraph 🤷🏻

Anonymous 3:02 PM  

On the other hand, look at any of her many tweets in which she says hateful things.

Anonymous 9:00 AM  

Error in 37A: The clue is singular and the answer is plural.

Yes, I realize people casually say "none are men", but I assumed rules of grammar are required in NYT puzzles.








Anonymous 11:13 AM  

Rex is putting us on. This one was far from easy. Medium-challenging at least. Quite hard for me.

Anonymous 1:52 PM  

Why are all the messages posted in italics?

Anonymous 4:37 PM  

Yet another boring slog. Geezus, put on the Ritz, so timely NOT!

Burma Shave 5:28 PM  

GRAB A DAB

THE BEATNIK’s TALENTS were COMPLEX,
A FINEART CRAFTER ONABREAK from meth,
IT’s TRUEDAT he took IT TOTHEMAX
IN BROWNIEBATTER with BATED BREADTH.

--- BLANCHE “ELECTRA” RITZ

spacecraft 7:43 PM  

My eyes fell on the long clue for 47a--and it was a "flat" gimme. The ending X gave me TOTHEMAX...in less than 5 minutes I had the whole area SE of the center diagonal. They just popped in. Then I had to go NW of it. Ahem.

But, after some study, that came whooshimg in as well. Glad I met UTHER in these pages before. But GOSS? What if we deleted -IP from the language? Go ahead, shoot from the h, but don't give me any of your l. That's my t for the day, you little whpersnapper.

Wordle eagle with the new "flat" stick! Think I'll keep it.

rondo 9:14 PM  

No write-overs today, things just fell in, though not that quickly. Thought I might be the only one to see the abc/xyz thing.
Wordle birdie, something like 4 of the last 5.

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