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Body of water north of Siberia / TUE 7-9-24 / Sting operation at a senior center? / Competitor of LIV Golf / Busy "season" for limo drivers / Doomed from the start, for short
Tuesday, July 9, 2024
Constructor: Gary Larson and Amy Ensz
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (two toughish answers, else Easy)
Theme answers:
- BOOMER BUST (17A: Sting operation at a senior center?)
- FIGHTER FLIGHT (26A: Mission for an F-16?)
- FORMER FASHION (45A: Powdered wigs, petticoats, etc.?)
- PASSER FAIL (61A: Quarterback's interception?)
The Kara Sea is a marginal sea, separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and from the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. Ultimately the Kara, Barents and Laptev Seas are all extensions of the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia. [...]The Kara Sea is roughly 1,450 km (900 mi) long and 970 km (600 mi) wide with an area of around 880,000 km2 (339,770 sq mi) and a mean depth of 110 metres (360 ft).
Its main ports are Novy Port and Dikson and it is important as a fishing ground although the sea is ice-bound for all but two months of the year. The Kara Sea contains the East-Prinovozemelsky field (an extension of the West Siberian Oil Basin), containing significant undeveloped petroleum and natural gas. In 2014, US government sanctions resulted in Exxon having until 26 September to discontinue its operations in the Kara Sea. (wikipedia)
• • •
More bust than boom today, I think. The concept just doesn't have enough juice. Simple concepts *can* yield snappy results, but these are all pretty limp. BOOMER BUST is probably the best, since the imagined context is mildly amusing and more than sufficiently Wacky, but the rest of these just kinda lie there. "OR" to "ER," as a concept, just doesn't have that many interesting places to go. And there aren't enough *good* "___ OR ___" phrases to choose from. Some of the ones we get today feel slightly fudged. "Boom or bust" is real enough, but "Boom *and* bust" is possibly more common (describing economic cycles). Merriam-webster dot com has "Boom-and-bust" but not "Boom-or-bust," and the first def. at the top of a google search for "Boom-or-bust" gives you the definition for "Boom-*and*-bust," and lists "Boom-or-bust" as a variant. Further, "form or fashion" doesn't really stand on its own very well. "In some form or fashion" is the full phrase. As for "Pass or fail," I've been on university campuses ... well, too long ... and while that phrasing is absolutely recognizable and acceptable, the common expression is "Pass/fail," like it's one word. "I'm taking it pass/fail." So the themer set as a whole is acceptable, but only just, and, well, it's hard to get excited about "acceptable."
Overall the puzzle played very easy, but there were two answers that slowed me down considerably (on Tuesday, any amount of slowing down beyond 5 seconds or so = "considerably"). The first, and most annoying, was PROLIFIC (40D: Like Stephen King and Isaac Asimov). I say "annoying," but that's just my speed-solver frustration talking. The clue is fine. It's just far more enigmatic than every other clue in the grid, and that answer appears at a very crucial point in the grid: the (extremely narrow) passageway from east to southeast, so while I expected to get the first letter or two and go plunging right down into the southeast, I ... did not. For all I know, Stephen King and Isaac Asimov went to the same university, or are both Pisces, or left-handed, or ... PR-, PR- ... PROFITABLE? PRINTERS? PRUDENT? For whatever reason, PROLIFIC just wouldn't come. And I'm not sure I knew that about Asimov. King, yes, for sure, I was talking about his prolificness with my wife this past weekend as we wandered some bookstore or other. I don't know Asimov's work nearly as well, and certainly don't see his stuff on bookstore shelves in anything like the numbers that I see King's books. Again, not questioning the clue, the clue is fine. Just didn't click for me.
The bigger non-click today, however, was KARA SEA (!?!?!?). Thank god all the crosses in KARA are fair because the very existence of this sea is News To Me. As near-polar seas go, I know the Antarctic ROSS SEA (a crossword "favorite" of old), but if I've ever seen KARA SEA in crosswords before, I've plum forgotten about it. Looks like its last appearance in the NYTXW was 25 years ago (May 6, 1999). And that was a Thursday. Doubt I saw KARA SEA then, as I was probably preoccupied that week with my job interview (for the English Dept. job I still have). Not sure why they flew me back for an interview so late in the annual interview process ... (actually I do know—they wanted someone else, but that person had put her foot in her mouth somehow, or otherwise made a "bad" impression, and so I got the call) (that other person was almost certainly the better candidate; she probably "offended" someone without knowing how or why; stepped on a toe, name-dropped an unfavorable name, who knows?; faculty can be, let's say, touchy. And capricious. And cruel.). Anyway, KARA SEA, yikes, infinitely more obscure than anything else in the grid. But easily gettable from crosses, so I learn something new without shedding too much blood, hurrah.
Notes:
- 14A: Thrice-repeated words in one of Gertrude Stein's truisms ("A ROSE") — when I search [Gertrude Stein's truisms] the first hit I get is for a crossword answer site. Referring to this crossword specifically. I had no idea Stein was famous for a set of "truisms," though I do know the phrase "A ROSE is A ROSE is A ROSE..."* (how many "A ROSE"s do we ultimately get? With Stein, it seems like the answer might possibly be "infinite"). We had to read Stein's Tender Buttons in my senior seminar at college. It was a good lesson—some writing doesn't *want* to be "interpreted." From wikipedia:
Tender Buttons has provoked divided critical responses since its publication. It is renowned for its Modernist approach to portraying the everyday object and has been lauded as a "masterpiece of verbal Cubism". Its first poem, "A Carafe, That Is a Blind Glass", is arguably its most famous, and is often cited as one of the quintessential works of Cubist literature. The book has also been, however, criticized as "a modernist triumph, a spectacular failure, a collection of confusing gibberish, and an intentional hoax".
- 35A: What the first call to a receptionist might come in on (LINE ONE) — there's something quaint about this that I love. Receptionist / telephone line humor was a staple of old comedies, and by "old" I mean "from the time before email." I know telephones still exist, but for some reason LINE ONE gives off beautiful last-century vibes.
- 19A: English playwright Coward (NOEL) — NO "EL" being a delightfully ironic answer for a puzzle that has ELF and ELK and ELL.
- 56A: SEP and Roth, for two (IRAS) — "SEP" = Simplified Employee Pension. LOL I thought it stood for "Self-Employed Person" (because that's who they're for).
*the actual phrase is "Rose is A ROSE is A ROSE is A ROSE” and it's from the poem "Sacred Emily," from Stein's 1922 collection Geography and Plays. Whereas "A ROSE by any other name would smell as sweet," is, of course, from Danielle Steel's Daddy (1989).
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73 comments:
Kara sea? Not a Tuesday. It’s a Thursday. As to cruel , I think petty should also be in that description.
The theme felt a little forced, but I would rather have that be the situation rather than a let’s double the letters in half the words type of stunt or gimmick. So, ok.
The only real speed bump was the KARA SEA crossing the weakest themer in my opinion (FORMER FASHION) which bumped into APIA.
I haven’t had a BAHN MI yet, but I hear they are quite popular - whenever I check a recipe I usually don’t recognize many of the ingredients - may have to seek out a Vietnamese restaurant on a rainy day sometime.
Agree entirely with Kara. As for Gertrude Stein I originally had "there" as in there's no there there re Oakland.
I thought it odd that the first 3 answers were alliterative, but not the 4th.
Although it doesn't fit, for FORMERFASHION l first thought of FORMERFUNCTION evoked by that sacred first principle of plastic surgery: "Function over form"
I am itching to read You Like it Darker by Stephen King , his new one that just came out. it is a collection of short stories and scored a 4.36/5 on Goodreads. Anyone read it? King has been hit or miss for me of late, I thought Holly was good, FairyTale not so much. One of my favorite of King's is Different Seasons....a collection of 4 stories; all great.
Puzzle was good, I thought it was easy and I may have broke my Tuesday record if not for a typo on EDDY that took almost a minute to find
Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.
Monday-easy, except for KARA SEA, which ... might be OK on Saturday, I'm not sure.
Also, I've never heard of 'form or fashion' as a standalone phrase.
I really liked the reinterpretation of the first themer. It is, as Rex would say, wacky. But the other three are pretty much straightforward definitions. I'd've preferred four 'wacky's, and been OK with four straightforward definitions, but this mix and match I didn't like so much.
Between BANHMI, KARASEA, APIA and PROLIFIC, would have been a tough down only solve.
Had ATOM for ATAD and DAZE for HAZE - mine are better than theirs, IMO (In My Opinion, or is that TMI - Too Much Information? AR AR AR- A Rose is A Rose is A Rose).
Good to have the Rex of nitpickers back!
I had trouble coming up with FORMERFASHION, because I didn't know OLAF or MOUSSE. I caught on to the rhetorical trick at PASSERFAIL, but FORMERFASHION (form or fashion?) was an unfamiliar phrase.
Otherwise I found the puzzle easy, but enjoyable.
When I saw constructor Larson’s name, my whole being brightened, because he brings humor and wordplay into his puzzles. How can you not like a constructor who, in a former puzzle, came up with [Two things associated with Gene Simmons] for KISSANDMAKEUP?
I liked the breezy feel of filling this in. In addition, I enjoyed the double-letter fest dominating column five (SEE, EGGO, ELL), the PuzzPair© of PROM and BASH, and the lovely answers BÁNH MI, PREEN, MOUSSE, and PROLIFIC.
Plus, I liked ORING as an echo of the theme, as the makers were playing around with the word OR in the theme, or OR-ing.
ERUPTED crossing ALPS made me wonder if there are any volcanos in the Alps, and after a shallow dive into that question, I found that the answer is no, and for that matter, neither are there any in the Himalayas. You’re welcome.
Congratulations, Amy, on your debut, and thank you once again, Gary, for your engaging cleverness. This put me in a good mood and was a lovely springboard for the day!
As stand alones form or fashion is the outlier for me- you need the ‘in some…’ before it to land. The others worked on their own. I was sure it had to be ‘form or function’
Somehow I've lived this long without ever hearing of the KARASEA, but I see that I have company and feel better. On the other hand, I got PROLIFIC off the P, so nyah nyah to OFL.
Didn't know OLAF as clued but everything else was easy breezy.
LINEONE being described as "quaint" had me thinking of a video I just watched where two folks were discussing Jim Croce's "Operator"--a great song, BTW--and were saying that many listeners today would have to be told what an operator is and what "you can keep the dime" might mean. Like I need more help to feel ancient.
We do have an EMMA, the granddaughter (6) who is in our care all this week while Mom and Dad are working. Much fun to be had there.
I liked your Tuesdectio just fine, GL and AE. Got Lots of Actual Enjoyment from speeding through this one, and thanks for all the fun.
I frequently hear, while shopping, that there is a call waiting for the [insert department name] department on line one.
I don’t really disagree with Rex (welcome back, it’s never the same without you, no offense to the subs!). But I found the themers just a tad cuter. Thanks for correcting the Gertrude Stein quote — people always add that erroneous initial “A.”
Delighted to see The Master in the puzzle, any time, any day, though I admit I am not loving the massive new biography by Oliver Soden.
Danielle Steele! Now we’re talking prolific. Looked her up just the other day: 149 novels in fifty years, ALL of them best sellers.
Shout out from another academic (now retired) who was his department’s second choice. I think it’s much more common than you might think, Rex. I take some consolation in the fact that when J. S. Bach got his gig directing music in Leipzig, he was the hiring committee’s third choice, after Telemann and Graun. Telemann I can see, but Graun? C’mon. Instead, they had to settle for the greatest musical genius of all time.
TIL that there’s such a thing as the Kara Sea. And on a Tuesday!
I was annoyed by the last theme answer because the first three had alliteration and that one did not. Anyhoo, not a bad puzzle, I like them slightly more difficult.
Biggest issue for me was KARA SEA (never heard of it) next door to SOUSED (never heard that word before) next to APIA (never heard of it). All the other crosses were fair enough to get me most of the words, but I incorrectly guessed KAvA SEA and so had v - Y - L for 51A and it totally wrecked my game. I then figured SaUSED (cause I’ve heard of someone being sauced so thought “maybe this is some archaic spelling?), giving me vaY-L and I was lost. Had to check the word.
Hey All !
Hmm, the last Themer didn't follow the "same first letter" trope as the other three. I had gotten FAIL, so naturally put an F at the beginning of that answer. Not getting anywhere, I erased it, to see PASS, and Harrumphed.
I did like the Theme, especially since it was F-full. 41 Blockers, but there is 13 letter Themers, and nine out of ten times, you end up with a block of 5 Blockers needed to go around them. So that where the extra ones came from.
Join Rex about the KARA SEA. How hasn't that been heard of? Strange. Crossing SAUD will be a Natick to some, I'm sure.
Hey, we gat our OCTET of hot dog buns again today. Har. Side question: Why do got dog buns come in packs of eight, and hot dogs come in packs of ten?
Anyway, Happy Tuesday!
Five F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
I enjoyed the puzzle a lot. Thought it was fun and whooshy. Themers were not forced, they were cute.
Had no idea there was anything *north* of Siberia, so thanks for the map!
Good to have OFL back. After hearing about people’s new land speed records for solving in the last few days I almost stopped reading this blog, because I need more than a stopwatch to time my late week solves. OTOH, i get more minutes of entertainment value from the games ;-)
Easy. Solving without reading the themer clues I stumbled at BOOMER BUST, but got FIGHTER FLIGHT at 26A when 7D had to end in -ED. That gave me the theme and 17A.
Overwrites:
29D: dAZE before HAZE
45A: Wanted FORMER FunctION but it didn't fit
67A: ATom before A TAD
Only one WOE for me (and many others, apparently): the KARA SEA at 43D.
On the plus side of "meh" - started out slowish but got better as it went along.
Impressive that there are 2 Gary Larsons with creative chops!
The idea that Kara would elicit the sea and not the kpop group, at least after the late 2010s in the US, is a lot of choices... I actually could name two other minor seas north of Russia and this baffled me.
I liked it. Didn’t recognize “form or fashion” but the clue was funny.
Loved LINEONE, SOUSED, BANHMI.
If Asimov isn’t prolific, I don’t know who is. He wrote books in nine of the ten categories of the Dewey Decimal System (not all ten, though many people believe so). According to Wikipedia, he wrote or edited over 500 books and 380 short stories. Stephen King has a lot of catching up to do to reach Asimov levels.
Oh, goody! I was slapping myself on the wrist for not knowing KARA Sea (doesn't that sound like something every educated person should know?) and now I find that lots of other people never heard of it either. Which makes me feel a lot better.
Was the punning brilliant today? Not especially, but it WAS punning. It's always nice to see wordplay on a Tuesday. I also appreciated the lack of pop culture names. Easy and pleasant.
Fortunately, no puzzle is like the situation where a guy permanently in prison without the possibility of parole succumbs to a heart attack. (Lifer death).
Shouldn't the anti-abortion crowd be called PROLIFIC?
An ensemble of eight Germans in the NYTXW would be an achtet.
Wasn't there a Robert Ludlum book called The KARASEA Heresy?
Interesting that BOOMERBUST could have been clued the same as PASSERFAIL if it was in reference to an interception thrown by Boomer Esiason.
Fun Tuesday. Thanks, Gary Larson.
I enjoyed the puzzle warts and all (i.e. FORMERFASHION instead of “function”) and like many, TIL about the KARASEA. It must be pretty arcane because he didn’t know it but after I mentioned it was next to the Barents, he said, “Is that where Novaya Zemlya is”? Sheesh. Smart aleck.
Good joke on Danielle Steele @Rex…
I saw Asimov and King and thought, “Those two write a lot of books.” So, prolific came easy for me. I remember their books being in the checkout lines at grocery stores. Do they still have books in the checkout lines?
ALOE, my friends!
Clues for four 4-letter Hidden Diagonal Words (HDW) in today's grid:
1. “______ who did steps” (Danny Kaye, White Christmas)
2. Something Jagger doesn’t gather?
3. “Confound it!”
Answers below
Puzzle breezed by with little resistance, except of course for that SEA. I liked the West to East alliteration of A ROSE ARIA, ALTO. (Brought to mind the Tampa baseball player Randy Arozarena.) Overall, a Tuesday puzzle worth its SALT.
Answers to HDW clues
1. HEPS (starts with the H from 18D, RASH, moves to NE)
2. MOSS (Jagger--Rolling Stone--Moss, from the M in 2D, PROM)
3. DRAT (D from 7D, ERUPTED)
Time for this OLD HDW BOOMER NERD to skedaddle, TIL we meet again.
Do go get your first Bahn Mi at a Vietnamese place. You don’t want to play with the ingredients.
Same! Being from Oakland …
Hm. Well. Okay. I think the theme is trying to amuse on this snoozefest so "YAY."
Thanks 🦖 for clarifying it's A ROSE not AROSE as I couldn't imagine a reason to do all that arising unless it's to retrieve Danielle Steel's Daddy.
Propers: 6
Places: 6
Products: 4
Partials: 3
Foreignisms: 1
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 20 (26%)
Recipes: 1 (beta)
Funnyisms: 5 😄
Tee-Hee: [Flushes and screw ups.]
Uniclues:
1 Going away party for pretty all right intern.
2 When a taxi suddenly, mysteriously, suspiciously runs down the soprano.
3 The Hills are Alive with Stone.
4 Shout from the receptionist to the upstairs workroom at the circus.
5 100% if you're employed by the Denver Broncos.
6 Yeehaws at an Indian hitchin'.
7 Dippity-Doo.
8 That itchy feeling you get whenever a crossword constructor decides we need more sports-related privilege in a puzzle.
9 Aid in maintaining the electrolyte balance in a toy manufacturing sweat shop.
10 Cheap gin enthusiast being the best she can be.
11 Rage against tinted lotion.
12 Summary of the stocking's short life.
1 B-PLUS TEMP BASH
2 ALTO ARIA AROSE (~)
3 EMMA ALPS THEME
4 TRAPEZE! LINE ONE! (~)
5 PASSER FAIL ODDS (~)
6 HINDI IDOS GLEE (~)
7 US MARINE MOUSSE
8 PGA NERD RASH (~)
9 ELF SALT TABLET (~)
10 MISS ROT SOUSED
11 GREEN ALOE RANT (~)
12 HOLE THEN SLIT
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Zombie's murderous menu for the potluck. VEAL PARM DEAD GIVEAWAY.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Unlike others I loved “FormerFashion”. It does play off shop til you drop…get it, buying new clothes. And i’m smarter for now knowing the capital of Samoa and that is something north of Siberia
Very little pop culture, which I appreciated very much, but plenty of other names and trivia. Yikes! Gary’s Gunk Gauge will be interesting today. I too hit a brick wall with KARA SEA, especially with it crossing SAUD and I bet I’m not the only one whose margarita was garnished with LIME before SALT. Plus, even though PGA seemed logical for 61D, I kept thinking 61A should start with an F since the other three THEME answers were alliterations. BB, FF, FF and then, PF. WTH?
Complain, complain! I also never heard of Kara Sea. But so what? We're looking at _ARA SEA. Does a mountain lion enjoy an ELA, ELB, ELC, ELD, ELE, ELG, ELH ... How about an ELZ?
One day, I'll try to remember how to spell SEOUL.
So...the puzzle. Can someone tell me why we have a BB then an FF followed by another FF and ending with a BF? I missed the OR concept and I had a misfortunate little error....My Vietnamese sandwich was a BANI MI. Yes. 22A Uniting idea was TIE ME. I liked TIE ME That sounds like something uniting. At least I learned there is something called the KARA SEA. I'm pretty good at Geography and all that but KARA was never my dancing partner.
Because of the "trope" conundrum (Hi @Roo) I had no smiley face. I did wonder, though, about how many words there are to tell someone they are three sheets to the wind. Blotto fit.
@Gary J from last night. I wrote a thank you "notita" last night. I hope you saw it. I always wonder if any commentators here ever read the blog in the late afternoon. Probably busy with dinner prep, watching the depressing news or just not interested any more. My mind does wander a bit after 6.
Medium mostly because Ball before BASH and multiple guesses at spelling BAHN MI.
I too did not know KARA SEA.
I believe LIV and the PGA signed some sort of intent to merge but the details are still being negotiated…so are they still rivals?
Smooth and cute, liked it but I kinda agree with @Rex’s take on the theme answers.
Fun puzzle! I didn't know BANH MI & usually don't eat things I can't spell but will have to try to remember it since it will surely turn up again, KARA (Sea) & I laughed at BOOMER BUST :)
Welcome back, Rex.
Thanks for the fun Tuesday Amy (nice debut) & Gary :)
A contribution to the Uniclues (hi, Gary J) for today:
The only Middle Eastern dorm mentors on campus.
SEOUL SAUDI RAS
Simple but satisfactory puztheme, with many other possibilities:
* LIFER DEATH. Grim. Glad it was passed on.
* MAKER BREAK. Boeing is relieved this one weren't used, due to an obvious cluin choice.
* RHYMER REASON. Woulda tied in pretty nicely with AROSE.
* TRICKER TREAT. Like the rush one gets for writin up a really sneaky ?-marker clue, or somesuch.
* DEADER ALIVE. Almost as tricky to clue as PASSER FAIL.
* PAPERER OR PLASTIC. Even worser.
* SINKER SWIM. Doughnut stubbornly floatin atop the frier oil?
etc.
staff weeject picks: DOA/ROT combo. Really brightens up the middle, a la LIFERDEATH.
fave stuff included: PROLIFIC. TRAPEZE. Decodin the mysterious BANHMI, usin every one of its crossers.
best SUSword: KARASEA. Kinda obscure, for TuesPuzville.
Thanx for gangin up on us, Larson dude and Ensz darlin. And congratsz to Amy Ensz on her half-debut.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
illustrated:
**gruntz**
Cute enough Tuesday theme. For 45 across with FORM in place I tried to type in the homophone of FORM OR FUNCTION which I remember from Architecture school. Here is a Google Ngram which indicates FORM AND FUNCTION is probably what I remember.
I actually finished with two wrong squares: MESO crossing AREA and ALPO. (Meso America is a thing, right?) Note to self: after filling in a down answer, check the across clues, not just the answers!
Yes Isaac Asimov was prolific and then some. Please check out this remarkable list of his writings in many different categories. Seriously: science fiction, physics, chemistry, biology, the Bible, literature, history, biography, humor (limericks!!).
@Allice Pollard 7:03 am: yes Stephen King's Holly was a good book. Odd villians, to be sure.
Exactly my response. That tripped me up from getting the fourth one easily.
@GILL I. 10:55 AM
I did see your notita! And was planning on replying today, so thank you for reminding me.
Here's my well-researched opinion on blog readers here. I've read almost every comment almost every single day for years now and to my mind there are lots of writers doing great thinking in these comments. Your Monday story is Exhibit A and I hope to heck you're planning a book of those. They're hilariously mind bending and you rattle the cages conventional language like a cat playing with a doomed mouse. I've tried writing poetry with the words in a crossword and it's crazy how challenging I found it, so I'm envious at your skill.
And there are plenty of other interesting thinkers and writers I will not list so as not to forget anyone. But to appreciate them, you have to be curious and stop, read, think, and ultimately care about what others have to say. Definitely uncommon on the internet.
As for readers, here's the crazy number: This blog on an essentially abandoned platform of Google gets 15 to 20 thousand hits a day. It's the internet, so lots of that traffic isn't real, but it still is a respectable number in which Rex can take some pride. Of that multitude only 80 or so elect to comment unless the puzzle is ghastly, and probably less than a dozen bother to read any of the comments.
It's a huge drop off, and there's clear reasons why. Each day we're awash (ASEA?) in "this was easy/hard" comments. Rex's Bizarro-Land ratings encourage this meaningless prattle.
-Challenging ***DOWNS ONLY!!!***
-Challenging ***for a Tuesday***
-Easy ***except for one word***
-Easy (basically every Friday and Saturday)
Seriously, every puzzle is easy for him. This purposely weird rating thing he does leads to way more of it in the comments. But you can see why he does it. He's an academic and in acedemia, credibility is everything. He needs to make sure all 20,000 visitors see him as an authority. (He does this with good humor and curmudgeonliness.) This leads to respect among the mucky-mucks of crosswording (the same as being king of the nerd table). He is sitting on a way to quit his day job by moving this to a less-horrible platform, interacting more meaningfully with subscribers, and doing a bit of promotions, but that's not his jam.
I suspect he doesn't really care about our blog comments since we're just adoring fans carping on him. I think he does quite a bit of the moderating himself and after all these years, I am sure he couldn't care less. But twelve of us DO care what is written here. And so I thank y'all for writing in and I will meet you at the end of the day at the bottom of this long list of complaints about KARA SEA.
KARA Sea. Terrible!
@Huh? 7:12. Lovely stuff. That Shakespeare guy’s pretty good.
Agree with @kitshef and @Rex that “form or fashion” is only part of the phrase “in some form or fashion”. Like others, I tried to make FORMERFunctION squeeze its way in.
@Roo 8:49. I always get my hot dogs in six-packs, my buns in 10s, or is it he other way around. Or maybe it’s 4 and 6. It’s never 6 and 6 or 8 and 8. It’s a pain.
@Gill I. Re: Late afternoon posts. A lot of you guys get up really early and post while I’m just opening my eyes. Wake up, read the paper, start the crossword, start coffee and toast while doing the puzzle, pack up and head out to the farm, finish puzzle, formulate comment and, geez, it’s 11:;35. No chance anyone will read my stuff but, what the hell, I can practise my typing.
Oh yeah, as a downs only Tueday, this wasn't too tough. Couldn't remember how to spell BANHMI even though there's a Vietnamese lunch place just up and around the corner from my condo. And KARA!
I've read it and, as with all of King's short stories, a mixed bag ... some brilliant (Rattlesnakes), some okay (Two Talented Bastids), some just plain bad (The Dreamers). Bottom line tho' ... worth it!
@Gary J 2:08....What an interesting and fun to read post. 20,000 visitors!!!! Yikes.
I've been on this blog for a long time. I've watched commentators come and go and I miss many of them. @LMS comes to mind and I really miss @Leapster and many more. I usually read all the comments before I post which is around 8 or 9 am Sacramento time. By then, just about anything I thought to say has already been mentioned about 500 times. There are a few I skip over because of predictability, but the rest usually make me smile....
Thanks for the boost of confidence on my whimsical little Monday stories. I suspect a lot skim over them and I don't mind but I really have fun imploding into bizzaro world and forgetting about depressing news! I download them and read them to my daughter and some friends - usually over a drink or two - and even I laugh at the absurdity......Try it...it's fun!
And...@Rex rocks. I try to guess how he'll rate a puzzle and I'm usually wrong...! But, I really enjoy his sense of humor when he's in a good mood....
Fun but imperfect theme. I don't really agree with the 'incomplete phrase' of FORMER FASHION; FIGHTER FLIGHT is related to the FIGHT oR FLIGHT response, after all. But I do think it's an outlier, because it's an intensifier rather than an opposition--i.e., the two words are vaguely synonymous in this context, but they are both used in order to make the statement sound stronger. The others are all choices between different things. That's why so many of us first thought of form or function, I suspect.
I had the KA from crosses, and did vaguely remember that there was a KARA SEA; however, my associative brain figured that such a sea must be near KARelia, rather than Siberia, so I waited for all the crosses.
@Gary J., I don't know how to get this data, but can you really tell whether someone who posts a comment has also read the other comments? 16 seems awfully low.
Every once in a while @Rex drops a joke like that Danielle Steele attribution; usually he gets all kinds of righteous connections, but today only one mild one. Are we all getting softer?
@Tom T 12:09 PM
👍 Hilariously homophonic.
@GILL I AND Gary J…gah! I THINK I sent a response accidentally on yesterday's blog, but forgive me if it shows up twice. GILL I ALWAYS look for your Monday stories ((haha…I commented on yours yesterday but no “pat” on MY back)…no prob. Anyway, I am ALWAYS amazed at YOU, Gary J, and Tom T for the “product” put out, whether daily OR weekly. Kudos should go out to (of course) Lewis, and I’m also amazed @Egs daily word play funnies.
@Gary J…your last comment is truth! Ooh. I hope I am one of the 12. I will pretend I am…
I always read and enjoy @Gill's MondayStories! I also try reading every comment every day. When I wake up in the morning (maybe TMI upcoming...), I take the phone into the bathroom, and finish reading the previous days comments. So I catch the late ones.
Also for me, being in the Pacific Time Zone, I don't get home from work (after all the crazy traffic, yes, we have rush hours in Las Vegas) until about 6pm, which is 9 pm Eastern Time. So if I want to comment to someone, it's too late. (I'm on Lunch right now at work. Sometimes I don't get a lunch, but that's a story for another blog).
@Gary J
Holy moly, I did read your opus in response to @Gill. Very well said. I still think Rex cares! I've bashed him in the past, but now I appreciate him and this blog, so now I just opine about my solve, and try not to name-call. 😁
Me, not a PROLIFIC author, but I did write one book! Coming soon to Amazon. (I know, I've said this before, but hey, if it helps to get my book out there...). It'll be a quick read, as it is only 125 pages. Apparently, I didn't have a huge story to tell. Har.
Changing Times by
Darrin Vail
(Which is the V in my signoff)(A commenter named @Z, some of us remember him, once asked if DarrinV meant Darrin the 5th. I still get a chuckle out of that!)
RooMonster Trying To Catch Up To Danielle Steel Guy 😜
A late post that probably will go unread but ...
This is addressed to people in my time zone, Particularly @Gill I. and @Okanaganer, both of whom I have identified qs being on Pacific time. How do you do it? How do you get your comments published so early? Do you solve at night and publish in the morning or do you actually get up at 4 am to solve? Enquiring minds need to know.
BTW, I never get up before 7 and rarely hit the publish button before 11. There's breakfast, there's chores, there's usually a commute to the farm and a session of listening to the morning round of birdsong before I get going. Do I havve to become a "morning oerson"?
My old tax professor used to say Gertrude Stein wrote Section 61 of the Internal Revenue Code, defining gross income: Income is income is income.
Here on the West Coast I always tackle SB first and only get to the pub late, even for me. But I always read the blog and the comments! Enjoy you all hugely, thanks for doing it.
@Les S. More…I ALSO wonder how peeps on Pacific time post so early because I’m on Eastern AND also am not a “morning person.”
@Les, personally I am in Pacific time zone and I am a late riser, so the only way my comment gets published early is if the Rex blog was posted on the previous evening and I read it and commented before bed.
The NYT puzzle is realeased at 7pm Pacific time on weekdays, so the blog can appear as early as 9pm Pacific time and in his early years Rex would post it at that time every night. But now he doesn't usually stay up late so he only does that on Sat or Sun evening because then the puzzle is released hours earlier so he can write it up earlier. It can also appear in the evening with guest bloggers who are in a different zone or just stay up later.
(Wow, simple question, long answer!)
LOL!!! I cackled at Danielle Steel!
Roo Monster
About 8 hot dog bun packages but 6 hot dog packages. I have noticed that problem and heard other people mention it for years.
To get them to even out you need to buy 3 packs of buns and 4 of hotdogs. So maybe a way to sell more?
@dgd
Or adopt a dog. 😂
@Les S. More - The puzzle shows up on my iPad app at 7pm west coast time (San Diego). I solve it shortly after it drops and jot down some comments on the Notes app. The next morning I read @Rex and the comments, finish writing my comments (which have grown more succinct over the last decade or so) and post around lunch time on the east coast. However, unlike your situation no farming is involved.
@Gary - I for one don’t consider information about puzzle difficulty “meaningless prattle.” I like knowing how my solve compares with others and today it was nice knowing that I was not alone in my ignorance of the KARA SEA.
@Okanaganer
Not really a simple question and not an overly long answer, but very useful. Thanks.
@Beezer
Just read @Okanaganer (next comment after you). He seems very organized and I'm betting that, unlike me, he doesn't piss away his whole evening streaming British cop shows.
Hmmm... 'round here, hot dogs are sold in packs of ten, rather than six. I don't think I've ever seen a pack of six. So we have to buy four packs of dogs and five of buns.
@Roo. That's why Mrs. Egs and I invite guests in multiples of 24 to our famous dog-a-cues.
Great Natick story (about the town, not the crossword phenomenon) -- There's a new children's book, released today, called Rainbow Allies https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/rainbow-allies-the-true-story-of-kids-who-stood-against-hate-9781506488448
It tells the story of a group of children who helped support a neighboring lesbian couple after the couple's pride flag was defaced and their home vandalized. Great inspiring (and true!) story
@Les... British cop shows are great! And Brit home shows like George Clarke's Amazing Spaces, and Phil Spencer Secret Agent / Love it or List it. And so is PGA golf!
@Gary, @Beezer, @Les, et al, re hours of posting:
I, too, am most definitely not a morning person -- but I am a mid-morning solver -- so I'm exceedingly happy to live on the East Coast, where I have a sporting chance that my comment will actually be read. I feel your pain, @Les.
If you ever see a comment of mine appearing before 8:30 a.m., you can rest assured that I was in a terrible mood as I wrote it. It means I woke up at the crack of dawn or earlier and failed to go back to sleep. And waking up early in the morning does not make you a morning person; it just makes you a failed late-ish sleeper.
I cannot even look at a puzzle before I've had breakfast and coffee. From the time I get out of bed until the time I start the puzzle will be at least an hour. So on a morning where I had a decent night's sleep, 9 a.m. would be the absolute earliest I would be able to post a comment. But if I lived on the West Coast it would be high noon! Too late to have any confidence that anyone would read it.
On most days I try to read all of the comments. But if it's a gorgeous day and I got up late, I may not get to them until the evening. If I read them in the morning, I read them only after doing Connections and Phrazle.
I NEVER read the comments before writing my first comment. I may be the 30th or even 40th person to post that day -- and I don't want to have to jettison what I most want to say because one or more people have already said it. There wouldn't be much point in commenting at all.
I often have most of my comment written in my head before I even sit down at the computer and sometimes even before I've completely finished the puzzle. (The more interesting the puzzle, the more true that tends to be.) But then I was a writer long before I was a crossword puzzle solver.
@GILL I. - Definitely share more of yer fun stories. They're a cool part of the ambience at this here Comment Gallery. Keep it up.
Like U, I miss @LMS darlin. Here avatars alone were worth the price of admission. Used to also get a kick out of that @Evil Doug dude, even tho he would go after the fur on just about anybody's hide, M&A included. But he was kinda different. Like different.
Also miss the @Z dude [I think he maybe got busy with that there proposed pub with the weird but cool {Placebo?] name.
And a whole lot more fine folks have come and gone. @SanFranMan dude was great for puz stats info. @Chefwen and @Foodie would keep us all up to date on tasty chow picks. And on and on...
M&Also
@Masked and Anonymous - SanFranMan still posts the stats and his comments every day over at puzzlecrowd.
Theme was not my cup of tea. ER is not pronounced the same way as OR. Why was this one even accepted?
When OFNP said easy except for two answers, I was certain he meant BANHMI and KARASEA. He never even MENTIONED the first one! IMHO, neither belongs on a Tuesday grid.
I do agree that PROLIFIC was hard to see at first, but perfectly fair.
The theme is somewhat simplistic, subbing -ER for OR and giving semi-wacky clues. A no-revealer one, always less fun.
Nothing to howl about in the fill, other than those two WOEs. Par.
Wordle eagle: boy, did I pick the right one!
To RooMonster 8:49 AM, and Les S. More 2:38 PM, and kitshef 7:15 PM, re: the hot dog packages with more dogs than in the bun packages. I think it allows for the barbecuist to eat two of the dogs with no-one the wiser. Or maybe the extra dogs are for the next day's casserole.
And thanks to the people who mentioned Monday's puzzle without including a spoiler. I didn't do yesterday's (yesterday for the syndi folks), will go back to get it now.
‘TIL THEN, RESET
So, it’s BOOMERBUST for NOEL,
he’s ONE PROLIFIC OLD SEOUL,
against ODDS AROSE GLEE,
A ROYAL flush NOEL did SEE,
with AIDE from an ACE in the HOLE.
--- MISS EMMA HYDE
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