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Like the architecture of the Alhambra / THU 7-4-2024 / Belgian town known for its restorative mineral springs / Mediterranean appetizer
Thursday, July 4, 2024
Constructor: Adam Vincent
Relative difficulty: Easy (9:12)
THEME: "Oh say can you see..." — Entries that end with the sounds oh, say, can, you, see
Theme answers:
Word of the Day: MEZE (Mediterranean appetizer) —
Hi folks! I'm here for an off-schedule Malaika MWednesday, although you should know that I'm writing this on a Wednesday and scheduling it to post on a Thursday. So in a way, things feel correct. Happy July 4th to everyone! I love a holiday that revolves around hanging out with friends and cooking, so this is one of my faves. I'm at the Jersey Shore right now, feasting on watermelon and hotdogs and ice-cold seltzies and all that good stuff.
- ["Get ready!" ... or what to do upon hearing the ends of the answers to the starred clues?] for HOLD ONTO YOUR HAT
- [One of 32 in London] for BOROUGH ("ough" --> "oh")
- [Teacher in a dojo] for SENSEI ("sei" --> "say")
- [Home to Gonzaga University] for SPOKANE ("kane" --> "can")
- [Environs] for MILIEU ("ieu" --> "you")
- [Drawn-out story of travel woes?] for ODYSSEY ("ssey" --> "see")
Word of the Day: MEZE (Mediterranean appetizer) —
Meze (also spelled mezze or mezé) is a selection of small dishes served as appetizers in Levantine, Turkish, Balkan, Armenian, Kurdish, and Greek cuisines. It is similar to Spanish tapas and Italian antipasti. A meze may be served as a part of a multi-course meal or form a meal in itself. [wiki]
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| PSA: Put Tajín on your watermelon |
I really enjoyed this theme! There were a couple things that elevated it from good to great, in my mind. I liked how the revealer had a double meaning. It would have been totally valid to have a revealer as simple as "Star Spangled Banner" or "National Anthem," but here we got a little extra layer of wordplay. (As someone who does not wear hats, it took me a second to realize what it was referencing, but literally just one second.)
In fact, this puzzle kind of managed to combine two themes into one-- the double meaning + the "put all the ends of the words together." Putting on my Constructor Hat here (crossword constructor, not actual building constructor, although man, I wish I were better at carpentry!!), I think it was able to do this successfully because many of the theme answers were quite short. We often see theme entries that are 9-15 letters long, and these were 6-7.
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| This image is completely unrelated to the write-up, but I was desperate to show y'all that I harvested some of my tomatoes for the first time this season! These are Sungolds and Super Sweet 100s. |
Another thing I liked is how cleverly the themed entries hid the sounds. After "ough" and "sei" (and given the date), I knew immediately what was going on, but I wasn't able to jump around and fill in the shaded boxes like you sometimes can. Instead, I still had to puzzle out how the sounds would appear. I like when a puzzle makes me puzzle! And it also made me reflect on how complicated spelling can be in the English language. Linguists in the comments can correct me if I'm wrong, but this is something that actually works in our favor when it comes to making crosswords. For example, in a language like Italian, nearly every word ends in a vowel. So they couldn't put together a symmetrical crossword unless they also had words like AEEAIIA to intersect... and they don't! Since we have a lot more letter combos, our intersections are able to work out.
The final thing to discuss is the puzzle's layout. I don't know if there's an official name for it, but I call it up-down symmetry, and it's pretty rare in puzzles. I find it very aesthetic though. I would love to see a themeless puzzle with up-down symmetry. Do you think it was done on purpose to emulate the American flag, with stripes going across and a "flagpole" going down? Or do you think it was a coincidence?
Bullets:
- [One of 32 in London] for BOROUGH — That's so many! NYC is the same size but only has five!
- [Ladies who lunch, maybe] for GAL PALS — I don't really understand this clue. I know the term "ladies who lunch" to be a pretty specific thing (wealthy female friends who platonically have expensive meals together), and I also know GAL PALS to be a pretty specific thing (a term the media uses to describe lesbians, because they are unwilling to write about same-sex relationships). It doesn't seem like the clue is relating the entry properly.
- [___ Tam ("Australia's favorite cookie")] for TIM — (Pictured above) I went to school with an Australian girl and whenever she visited home, she'd bring these back. They're soooo tasty-- similar vibe to Oreos but a different texture. There's a whole thing where you bite off a corner on each end and then use it as a straw to slurp up some milk.
- [Like Red Delicious apples] for MEALY — This cracked me up. I am not a big participant in the apple community (I prefer tropical fruits), and I have known Red Delicious apples to be gross, but never really brought it up. I didn't realize this was like... a known thing we all agree on?? It was just so funny to see a negative adjective used to describe a varietal so objectively. I recently read the (YA) book Tangerine which is absolutely not non-fiction but still discusses (among a zillion other things) different varietals of citrus. If you have an 8 - 14 year old in your life, buy them this amazing book!
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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130 comments:
Plenty of people call their friends gal pals, it's really that simple.
MEALY cracked me up. Fun puzzle, terrific gimmick!
Easy for me too but the theme provided zero humanitarian support perhaps because I didn’t pause to suss out what was going on with the shaded squares. It took a wee bit of post solve staring for the penny to drop but when it did It reminded me of the delightful “Pearls before Swine” comic strip’s homophonic puns. All that’s missing here is Rat threatening Adam Vincent with a baseball bat. Gave me a chuckle, liked it a bunch!!
Have a happy 4th!
Erasures: tapa before MEZE.
WOEs: TIM (@Malaika thanks for the pics) and DIEGO
I think it's referred to as horizontal mirror symmetry.
I dropped in MEALY with no crosses and was delighted to have them confirm it. Nice to see Red "Delicious" acknowledged correctly.
I also quite liked the clue on SPOONFED, and liked the French loanword clue of environs for MILIEU. It was a clean grid overall!
I played this as a themeless, and it took me a minute to twig the meaning. Cute enough.
I loved this theme. I did the puzzle with my partner and she didn’t really understand the themer so she just kept sounding out “oh say cane you see” but having no idea what she was saying
Hi Malaika!
Okay, let's go ahead and fire up the warning flares now. The arms folded harumphers will be scurrying everywhere like roaches under flashlight beams after dealing with the comedy in this little gem. By the time I post I'm sure we'll have heard the heart rending strains in minor keys lamenting so many abuses of the need to live life with a frown firmly affixed to one's face.
Here's to another silly puzzle and the devastating impact of hilarity.
OUGH SEI KANE IEU SSEY ... is that five funnies or one giant funny? Six. Cinco + uno grande. (I'm getting into NYTXW foreign language mathematics.) Add on the tractor shaped ohio (wha?!). The quiet peeper. EGGIEST is so stupid it's a knee slapper. And they blew up a rubber glove!!
Name in an Oscars envelope is ... WRONG, probably. There's no stopping GAL PALS is there? I did not know the NAYS voted second. I also don't know why a Red Delicious is MEALY ... I assumed it was MEATY.
I like the word LIMBO.
Sometimes I only order SIDES at the BBQ place down the street to avoid the extensive murderiness of their mains. Are journos Spanish journs? I would think they report to EDOS. If someone in the mafia gets you in corpse pose, the answer is LAY.
Propers: 5
Places: 5
Products: 3
Partials: 8
Foreignisms: 3
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 24 (32%)
Foodish: 3 (beta)
Funnyisms: 10 🤣
Tee-Hee: When chefs get jiggy. CAST IRON TRYSTS (~).
Uniclues:
1 Hit on a homophonic donkey.
2 One living in a Wuthering Heights landscape with a trophy.
3 Hung out between Heaven and Hell.
4 Get started early complaining about sheep noise.
5 Gave the bull his applesauce.
6 How those attending the 30-year reunion ended up naked.
7 The Tao of the Drag Queen.
8 Friends character stole your panties.
9 Hungry baby moos in the distance.
10 Online hang out for crafty chickens.
1 CHAT UP BOROUGH
2 MOORISH AWARDEE
3 LIVED ON IN LIMBO
4 PRE-SCOLD BAA (~)
5 SPOON FED EL TORO (~)
6 ALUM SAID "SPA!"
7 STYLED ODYSSEY
8 PHOEBE RAIDED
9 FAR UDDER PLEAS (~)
10 ETSY HENS DEN (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Topic for a film by an aging Quentin Tarantino. DARK PICKLEBALL.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Nice puzzle! Didn't get held up anywhere for too long. And just to correct Malaika - London is twice the size (area-wise) of NYC. We do have a lot of boroughs, though :)
I found that pretty easy… but the theme, despite the date, was completely indecipherable to this non-USian…
I’m normally pretty good at putting my “American spelling” hat on (have to be) but I completely missed that you pronounce “Borough” completely different to we Brits (more like “buh-ruh”) and it being a London clue that give me completely the wrong syllable.
And I have absolutely no idea how the “revealer” leads to your national anthem… can someone explain as it seems it was self-evident to you?!
I don’t understand the double meaning of hold on to your hat. Can anyone fill me in?
Also, a few days ago someone asked about sources of American cryptics. I couldn’t post then because I read the question so late that people would have moved on to the next puzzle. Anyway, the Wall Street Journal publishes one a month on a Saturday and pdf downloads don’t need a paid subscription.
Found it pretty easy but didn’t particularly enjoy the theme. I figured it was going to be something do with the July 4th, but I didn’t piece it together until I came here. Holding onto hats during the national anthem isn’t a thing we do in the U.K.
EGGIEST made me roll my eyes and I’ve never heard of a PHOEBE in that context, but overall that was very easy for a Thursday.
As a brit, I wouldn't pronounce the "ough" of "borough" as "oh", but something like "ə" or "uh". If we're using british references in the clue, shouldn't we use british pronunciation?
Honestly, given how i had to come here to even find out what the apparent theme had been.... I could've done without it and enjoyed this puzzle just fine. the shaded squares did nothing for me, obviously, to the point where up until this very moment that's passing as we speak I hadn't put it together that "-KANE" actually would be okay to stand in for "can" in this particular instance. In my defense, i only end up having to say SPOKANE aloud to myself and remember how it's pronunciation rules-defying, like, 1-3 times a year, and then only in the context of crosswords. But anyway. Thanks for a more positive write-up of this one than I evidently would've been able to offer, Malaika! (Although OFL appears not to have enjoyed my last sub post enough to want to put me back on the roster 🙃🙃 ) (to which i say, fair.)
Easy once I got out of the NW, where I was my own worst enemy. Didn't get the theme until I came here. Thanks, Malaika!
1D: CONICAL was hard to see due to 3D and 18A
3D: Misspelled ARIEL as ARIAL for the umpteenth time
18A: My restaurant add-on was SoDa before it was a SIDE
Didn't know TIM Tam (4D), DIEGO Velazquez (50D) or MEZE (55D)
Happy 4th to the gang!
Writing from China, missing some things from home like the 4th of July festivities, although not the fireworks going off in my NYC neighborhood for a month prior, although this year seems to have been quieter. I finally figured out that the puzzles come out here at noon (when I can get the NYTimes to slip past the Great Firewall).
I probably won’t be posting that much with the screwy times, but wanted to point out how amazing it is that the puzzle always manages to be relevant: today I visited a TAOist temple. A few days ago, a cameraman here in a not very touristy town was wearing a THRASHER Magazine t-shirt and I about fell off my chair. Just learned about it on Saturday. Some people stare at me, having apparently not seen many Westerners.
Harper’s has a good one.
It’s that thing where when you learn a new word, you see it everywhere. THRASHER t-shirts are everywhere!
@Mark, "HOLD ON TO YOUR HAT!" figuratively means "Get ready" ("We're about to go fast very quickly" or "We're about to do something risky"), but it's also a tradition in the US to remove any headwear and hold it over one's heart (or just hold one's right hand over the left side of one's chest) when the Star Spangled Banner plays. So "HOLD ON TO YOUR HAT" is both figurative ("Get ready!") and literal ("take off your headpiece").
Fun puzzle.
Regarding 'Red Delicious' apples, a biologist friend once memorably commented: "It's a misnomer"...
What is the double meaning?
I also struggled with this - I think it’s referring to one taking one’s hat off when the national anthem is being sung
This one went right over my head until I got here to see the explanation. With the HAT-centric revealer I kept trying to see if there was some gimmick where the word “hat” or “head” or something was missing from the shaded squares? I think I would have caught on had the revealer been something like HAND TO YOUR HEART or something, cause that’s the gesture I immediately think of when I think of the national anthem. Not my hat (which admittedly I don’t really wear). So just solved it as a theme less. Also no one else found the clue for OHIO weird? How is that a tractor?
"I don’t understand the double meaning of hold on to your hat. Can anyone fill me in?"
The idiomatic meaning is '...so you don't lose it during the wild thing that is about to happen.' Apparently this may originate with a roller-coaster ride; I always thought of it as a gust of wind, which has much the same effect. "Hold my beer" isn't the same but shares some of the vibe.
The literal meaning is that people are supposed to stand and remove their hats during the national anthem. (You don't literally need to hold on to your hat, but the anthem isn't very long, and you're about to sit down again, so you might as well.)
--I immediately wanted the Red Delicious answer to be MEH, which obviously couldn't fit, so I also was delighted when it was MEALY.
Me neither
People will normally take off their hats during the singing of "The Star Spangled Banner".
My best guess is “ hold on to your hat” as in “ you won’t believe how obvious this is once you see it!
@jae, Now you have me trying to remember the Pearls Before Swine, "Mr. Gorba's Chef, tear down this wall" pun. For me this puzzle brought to mind the Ghoti/Fish puzzle.
Found it easy for a Thursday. The only hard part was figuring out the theme.. HOLDONTOYOURHAT suggested strong winds or other weather emergency. Since I never wear a hat, I wouldn't associate it with the Star Spangled Banner (maybe I should have realized it connected to July 4).
You're supposed to take off your hat out of respect when the national anthem is playing, and traditionally hold it over your heart. So when you hear the phrase, "OUGH SEI KANE IEU SSEY " (tee hee), it's a cue to HOLD ON TO YOUR HAT.
HOLD ON TO YOUR HAT is also a quaint way to say something like, "Get ready. This is going to be awesome." It's meant to convey that if you're not holding your hat, it will get blown off your head.
@Mark 4:05 and @Oliver: I take HOLD ONTO YOUR HATS to refer to removing your hat (should you be wearing one) to show respect when the anthem is played/sung.
Tried to discern the theme but it went right over my head - nice assist by Malaika with the explanation.
I made pretty good progress through the grid (had to make quite a few “leaps of faith” on answers like PHOEBE and MEZE) - and then I met the SE, which was my downfall. I didn’t know the painter and really hesitated with EGGIEST for some reason. The whole situation became comically stooge-like when I misspelled ODYSSEY and turned the whole section into an alphabet soup of gibberish. I stuck with it and finally squared it all away.
Nice way to start off the holiday morning. I wish I could have managed to get to the “aha moment” on the theme by myself for a change, but thanks to our gracious guest host for clearing that up today.
Loved the puzzle, loved the write-up!
Taking your hat off when the national anthem is played.
Taking your hat off when the national anthem is played.
Nice write-up as usual, Malaika! Hope you have a fun and delicious Fourth.
I thought this was very easy for a Thursday although I didn’t get the theme at all until I read the write-up. It is pretty clever and well executed.
I liked Malaika’s description of “ladies who lunch” and agree that GALPALS is much broader in scope.
A well-constructed puzzle. The themers worked phonetically and I'm impressed that the fill wasn't littered with crosswordese. The only negative is it was really too easy for a Thursday.
Had some slowdowns - one caused by favorite wrong answer of recent puzzles: (Baltimore) Oriole for Eastern flycatcher. After finishing, finally noticed the lyrics in the shaded areas. Nice.
Spokane reminds me of hearing something like, "Stephan Kaufman for CBS News Radio, Spokane."
Happy Fourth.
AVCX publishes a darned good cryptic twice a month. The Sunday NYT does it six time a year.
Cox and Rathvon have published all of their Atlantic and WSJ puzzles on the web.
@Mark "Hold on to your hat" = get ready for some excitement. Second meaning is to take off your hat and hold it in your hands because National Anthem is being played, traditionally done as sign of respect.
@Mark: It’s a sign of respect to remove one’s hat during the playing of the National Anthem. So, I suppose, after removing it, one must HOLD ONTO YOUR HAT to keep it from falling to the ground or blowing away. Also, some people will hold their hat over the heart.
I don't know, but to me HOLDONTOYOURHAT has always implied that something tumultuous is about to happen and you should jam your hat onto your head more tightly, not take it off. I get that when you take your hat off you have to hold onto it so I guess that's it, but the revealer still felt contradictory.
This is a puzzle for folks who liked the clue for Virginia on Sunday.
I did like seeing the MOORISH architecture of the Alhambra, which is amazing, and DIEGO Velazquez, who is my favorite Spanish artist. Hope @Roo doesn't get hung up too long OTRO/OTRA conundrum.
Nice enough Thursdecito, AV. Admirable Variety of answers today, and thanks for all the fun.
Yes! finally the fact that Red Delicious apples taste like wet cardboard is in print as the mealy things they are!
(someone who used to work as a teen in a vermont orchard, enjoying proper Macouns, Macs, and Cortlands)
happy 4th!
Mark said...
Hold on to your hat seems to have been replaced lately by hold my beer, and you take off your hat at the playing of the national anthem at sporting events, other occasions.
I guess "take off your hat and hold it" for the National Anthem. Not great, I think of the term "hold on to your hat" as holding it onto one's head.
One big “Hah!” after another. First, when with a flash, realizing after OUGH and SEI that we had the anthem opener, and second, when seeing the hat-holding connection.
That in itself was worth the price of admission.
But then to solve a very rare Times puzzle that has up-down mirror symmetry (Hi, @Malaika!), that is, if you fold the puzzle along the middle of the middle horizontal line, the black squares match. If I interpret XwordInfo correctly, this is only the fifth time in the 80+ years of the NYT crossword that this symmetry has been employed.
Well, for a crossnerd like me, that’s an ooh-la-la experience. Crosslandia gold.
Add the lovely IN LIMBO, SENSEI, SPOON FED, CAST IRON, MILIEU, MEZE, and, well, this was splendid all around.
From your notes, Adam, it sounds like a lot of think- and grunt-work went into this, and it sure paid off for me. Thank you, sir!
Really fun concept. I wish the themers were on the right and the revealer on the left.
But, I’m going to gripe about MILIEU because, while some people may pronounce it “mill-you,” many people don’t and go with the French way, even in English contexts.
Also, if we’re talking about London boroughs, they’d be pronounced “burr-uhs,” not “burr-ohs.”
@Malaika -- From Adam's notes: "I wanted the ends of the theme answers to be in proximity so that solvers could see the series of sounds more easily, which meant I needed to get inventive with horizontal symmetry. Out of the variations I tried, I liked this layout the best because it resulted in the cleanest fill and also (to my eyes) it sort of evokes a waving flag."
The theme took a while to register, mainly because being British originally I still pronounce borough with an uh rather than an o (and with the unnecessary London reference that's what it should be?), Spokane with a cane not a can, and milieu in the French way like French eyes. Uh say Kane yer see. Is that Harry Kane, the England captain? How timely with the Euros upon us. Will the Swiss roll over on Saturday? Holding on to ones hat feels a tad tenuous. What if you're not wearing one, or a baseball cap not a hat.
In what way does "ohio" or "OHIO" resemble a tractor?
I didn’t often like holiday puzzles but this one worked, with the right amounts of wackiness, quirks, and fun. I thought it was going to be take off or remove YOUR HAT, but HOLD ONTO is certainly livelier.
I knew someone who pronounced MILIEU as “miloo” so that’s always in my head and took me a minute to work around. Of course it’s not a “yoo” sound in French but that’s irrelevant.
I enjoyed the puzzle and learning some new things. I object to MEALY. The firm, dark-skinned Red Delicious apples are by far my favorite - crisp, flavorful, and definitely not mealy.
Referring to when folks take off their hats and hold them to their chests when singing/hearing the US national anthem. It took me far too long to figure this out, which is perhaps why I wasn’t a fan of the theme!
Our town fireworks display was on Tuesday, for some reason, with the whole associated music, food stands, and such. Does not leave much to do today.
I am very happy that so many people found humor in today's puzzle, but said humor eluded me. I think I am just opposed in general to sound-based themes, due to regional variations (e.g. in these parts we pronounce 'milieu' to rhyme with 'bleu', not 'you' and 'borough' to rhyme with 'uh', not 'oh'). 'Uh say can yeu see' doesn't have the same ring to it.
Tim Tams are the perfect cookie and should be sold everywhere! Just sayin…. Otherwise, I never got the “oh say can you see” reveal or how it related to “hold on to your hat “ theme until I came here, which is a shame because I love a good holiday puzzle and the Fourth is one of my favorites.
@Mark 4:05 am: Men remove their hats for the National Anthem and end up holding them.
I really liked this theme, and agree with Malaika that the revealer adds a nice extra layer.
You remove your hat when they play the National Anthem. And “Hold onto your hat!” is an expression from your Grandpa’s day.
You are supposed to remove (hold onto) your hat when the national anthem plays.
Hey All !
Took the ole brain a second or two to figure out the symmetry. Agree with Rex it's Up-Down symmetry. Picture the left/right symmetry we see a lot, and turn it 90 degrees. Pretty cool, can't be but a handful of this Up-Down symmetry. Also like Rex's Flagpole analogy, and agree!
Nice puz that actually corresponds to the day it is run. I have to go to work still, however. No rest for the weary. 😁
MILIEU pronunciation always waffles twixt MIL-YOU and MILLY-OO for me. Or am I thinking of some other word? Ah, the pitfalls of a silly brain.
Happy Fourth of July All! Keep those fireworks away from your fingers!
(The Great Yard Cleanup commences after the 372 neighbors who shoot off fireworks. I still find detritus all the way to Christmas.)
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
Understanding the shaded boxes wasn't required, or helpful, in solving the puzzle, and that makes it lame.
Once read a quote that Red Delicious are the silicone implants of the apple world. Will never forget it.
Happy Independence Day! 🇺🇸 💥 🍻 🌭
Well, dang. Apparently I missed the beginning of the write-up, not seeing it was done by Malaika! I just thought Rex enjoyed this puz!
Starting reading the comments, I was like "Malaika? Wha?" Then scrolled to the beginning to see a paragraph or two I missed.
Silly me, this time. 😁 So, I agree with Malaika on the Up-Down symmetry.
RooMonster Paying Close Attention? Guy
Mark @4:05 - “Hold onto your hat” is an idiom meaning to prepare for something jarring. Here it also means to take off your hat for the playing of the National Anthem, which is customary in America.
Well, after you remove your hat, yes, you'd better HOLD ON TO it so that you don't have to go down and hunt for it under the bleachers - but my image of the "Get ready!" meaning is having your hand clapped on top of the hat so that it won't fly off your head. Other than that....I liked the theme endings, especially the unlikely KANE for "can"! Not sure my most superlative quiche would be the EGGIEST one; I was hoping "cheesiest" (in a good way) would fit. Happy Fourth, everyone!
I've always heard of GAL PALS in the sense of "group of female friends" and haven't heard it in a "don't say the L word" sense. I'm sure it happens, though.
I was attending a minor league baseball game in Syracuse with my friend Ex about 20 years ago. We stood for the anthem but did not take off our baseball caps, not out of disrespect but merely thinking it was optional. All of a sudden, from pretty close behind us we heard a very gruff voice bark "Take your hats off!!" I can't imagine Guinness keeps records for such things, but we must have set one for quickest cap removal. To this day, whenever we hear the anthem played, Ex barks out gruffly: Take your hats off!
Easy for sure. Tied with Wednesday, faster than Tuesday. Sigh. Saw the theme at OUGH SEI. Guessed HOLDONTOYOURHAT from HOL...
Obviously the date today is a big (Yuuuge?) clue.
Did like the flagginess of it, even looks a little like it's waving, with the placement of the themers. I expected some color and/or animation upon solution (missed opportunity).
Going for a bike ride.
Happy 4th to all who celebrate!
Survived Diva’s first July 3rd (at least with me) last night.
Growled at first when she could only hear the distant booms. Took her to the balcony where we could have a clear view of the fireworks - the subsequent bangs after the flashes didn’t bother her. Sat with rapt visual attention throughout the show and then, when there was a long gap, turned to me as If asking, “is that ALL?” Yep, sorry!
First dog I’ve had that didn’t freak out over the virtual air raid. She continues to amaze…
Nice breezy puzzle for the Fourth of July. Happy 248th birthday, America!
Four Os in "soooo tasty", unexaggerated description of Tim Tam. Shame that Oreos are "America's favorite cookie." We can do better. We must do better. We can make a better cookie. (I think JFK said that.)
Tomato Gang! Growing tomatoes this year, or trying to. I blame the blossom drop on the heat wave and not at all on my lack of gardening experience. One plant has a lot of flower clusters, so we'll see how that goes. Gardening is pretty fun, anyhow.
Thanks for the puz, Adam!
Thanks for the Rexplanation Malaika!
Loved it! Absolutely loved it and it’s been a long time since I was able to say that about a crossword puzzle. Some really clever clues, an elegant grid layout and I appreciate that it celebrated Independence Day, as I happen to enjoy tribute puzzles. Solving it is going to put me in a good mood all day Thank you so much Adam and happy Fourth!
Thanks also Malaika, for pointing out the unique symmetry which I don’t recall ever seeing before. Probably have, but just didn’t REALIZE it. Your classic holiday meal, your adult beverage and your tomatoes all look delicious. I’ll also be feasting on the first of my crop (Large Red Cherry) later today. Enjoy!
Perhaps it has been noted already, but the grid - when turned 90° clockwise - does not resemble a flagpole as suggested, but a person "holding on to their hat", with the head at the top, feet at the bottom, and hat as a "T" in the middle. Eh.
You really are supposed to take your hat off BEFORE the anthem starts, and the announcers always ask this. So the theme clue, IMHO, should have read “what to do *before* hearing…”, not “upon.”
If you rotate the puzzle 90° clockwise, you'll see that the grid looks - very roughly - like a person "holding on to their hat" at about heart level. Eh.
Ditto and OHIO was a complete groaner.
A very fun Fourth puzzle. Some rough edges stood out in an otherwise smooth solving experience. The term GALPALS has never referred to in-the-closet lesbians, in my years of hearing the term. It's along the lines of "girl's night out." Also, I like red delicious apples and yes, they can be MEALY but so can any apple. Weird. Even when I finished the puzzle, I failed to see how HOLD ONTO YOUR HAT made any sense. Yes, I guess we're expected to remove our hats when hearing the national anthem, but the phrase we always hear is "ladies and gentlemen, please stand and remove your hats ..." Nobody says "please stand and hold onto your hats."
Never heard Hold on to your hat before the anthem is played; ever.
Thought MEALY for Delicious apple was edgy but absolutely true (assuming “mealy” is a synonym for “having the consistency of sawdust”.
Fun July 4 puzzle and commentary!
Great write up today Malaika!
Thanks everyone. I never go to baseball games and don’t wear hats much either so taking a hat off for the National anthem never occurred to me.
The theme reminded me of the old kids’ joke. A young Latino is asked how he likes the USA. “Everyone is so friendly. I went to a ballpark and before the game everyone stood up and asked ‘Jose can you see?’
Here in the United States, when you plug into USBS, you're likely watching Fox, the LIVEDON network.
The tale of Robin Hood and his merry men living in the woods and stealing from the rich is a classic COPSE and robbers story.
An interesting side note to the Star Spangled Banner is that the author broke both of his little fingers while writing it. The breaks were so bad that they had to pin Key's PINKIES before he could finish it.
I loved this easy but multi-faceted puzzle. Thanks, Adam Vincent. Happy 4th to all!
Well, let's see. OUGH and SEI and KANE, et al, are not kinds of hats.
Nor can they be turned into hats by adding or subtracting letters.
Nor are they sitting on top of hats in the grid. Or under them.
Nor is the other half -- the unshaded half of the word -- a hat.
I AM NOT READING THE BLOG UNTIL I FIGURE OUT THE TRICK!!! If I have to sit here all day until the cows, UDDERs and all, come home!!!
Got it! And it hasn't been all day.
OUGH SEI KANE IEU SSEY. "Oh say can you see." Homophones of the anthem as the theme syllables are pronounced in the words in which they appear.
Of course, holding on to your hat during the playing of the national anthem is really a guy thing. I often wear hats -- to protect my head from the sun in the summer and my head and ears from the cold in the winter. I doubt I would think of removing it during the anthem, but maybe I would? And if I didn't, would someone tap me on the shoulder to SCOLD me?
Anyway, theme aside, the puzzle was lively. Laughed out loud at MEALY, though I think Red Delicious should sue. Loved the answer SPOONFED which came in from word pattern recognition -- and now someone will tell me what "Here Comes the Airplane" is all about? Maybe someone already has; I'll go back and look.
An enjoyable, if odd, puzzle.
The puzzle was a lot of fun and easy as a themeless although it took a second glance at the revealer clue to register that OUGH was to be pronounced as heard in BOROUGH. (Taking aside other pronunciations)
Hand up for laughing at MEALY. To me, the Red Delicious is the prime example of plant/seed genetics gone awry. If anyone TRIED making an apple pie with those you would have pure mush inside. I know…they are marketed as the kind of apple you just bite into but I don’t find them particularly delicious and I hate the texture. They look good though!
Today I learned MEZE. The Z was the last letter I popped into the puzzle as I REALIZEd the cross was REALIZE.
Happy 4th Malaika!
Have to say this was very clever & enjoyable, Adam. First Sunday (rebus-less) that I've enjoyed in a while.
Thank you & Happy Holiday :)
Rather than HOLD ONTO YOUR HAT, I'd have preferred TAKE A KNEE.
Forgot to say that I MIGHT share Malaika’s feelings about GALPALS. I dunno, I’m old, but I have mixed (but mostly negative) feelings about the word “gal.” Is it the same as “guy” (?), I don’t know but something in the back of my mind makes me not like it and maybe someone can fill me in on why that might be.
Nice theme, with some nifty cluing. Just as a reminder, it's a feature not a bug when the meaning of the words in the theme change with the context. More elegant, IMO. By the way, I've always thought that HOLD ON TO YOUR HAT implied that you were in an open car, or on a horse, or something and were about to go very fast.
As I recall, we were taught about proper flag etiquette both in public school and in the Boy Scouts. I think such instruction must have fallen off in recent years.
Back in the 1950s red delicious apples were firm and juicy; then the marketers decided to breed them to be even bigger and redder, with a resulting lost of texture and flavor. More or less what happened to commercially grown tomatoes.
Happy Independence Day, everyone, dedicated to the principle of equality before the law!
Oh yeah, cryptics. Henry Picciotto and Joshua Kosman, who were the last editors of the cryptics in The Nation before the magazine terminated that feature, now publish cryptics every Thursday on their Substack blog. It's a paid subscription, but you might be able to get a free sample.
I found the puzzle amusing but Gary J had me ROFL!!!
@Andrew 9:38 Gotta say I've really come to love your posts especially since they're about little Miss Diva :). My dogs always hated the firecrackers that go on for 2 days before & after the 4th in NYC. I'm happy she enjoyed the show :)
For me the puzzle had some clever clueing (Group that votes second / Peeper that doesn't make a sound), but I didn't understand the theme until reading the write-up, which made it less fun than it might have been. The apple clue wasn't apt; a good red delicious apple is tasty, and a bad one is mealy,just as with any other variety. And usage of the term "gal pals" is certainly not restricted to that which Malaika describes.
Coming out of the NW I filled in SENSEI, which felt odd because I was expecting a Thursdayish gimmick. I only checked what the theme was at the end, solving as a (not Thursday-level) themeless down the west side following the spanner, then up the eastern half, so I didn't even get the theme answers in order.
@Andrew (9:38) -- It sounds like Diva the dog is a lot more laid back and well-adjusted than I am.
@burtonkd -- Off in China and far away from NYC, the Fireworks Capital of the World, are we? This New Yorker can only feel envy.
Handonyourheart would have been better - lots of people don’t wear hats these days. And yes, “hold onto your hat” as a phrase almost always means to keep it on your head and not let it get blown off.
@Nancy “here comes the airplane” is what we see to babies when we are “spoonfeeding” them.
Finished the puzzle and for the life of me couldn’t figure out the theme. “Kane” suggested “hurricane,” which would certainly blow your hat off, and most of the theme answers sounded like noises made by the wind, so spent some time trying to make that work out. Oh well.
There needs to be a term for these sorts of puzzles—perhaps there already is—especially puzzles as easily solved as this one, where there is no need at all to know the theme to solve it. Fun for some but not for this guy, to finish up, stare at the thing, and say that’s it? And that’s the other bit? Meh.
I think I’ll let my hat drop today during the anthem, in silent protest.
Amazing to see multiple people with "but 'hold onto your hat' means hold it on your head not hold it elsewhere!!" Recontextualizing a common phrase is wordplay 101. Here the phrase is given its normal sense in its clue, and a new skew sense in its rôle as revealer. Far from being some kind of flaw, this part of the joke /requires/ that the phrase be used with a different meaning from its usual meaning. That's literally how puns work.
Hear, hear!
@Jb129 11:16
Thanks for your kind words.
This is a symbiotic relationship. Pretty sure Diva knows I’m mostly deaf. Goes nuts when there’s a loud knock on the door that I don’t hear till I notice her antics and answer.
I mentioned before how she dramatically parked her 8 pound body when I was about to walk in front of a fast-moving electric car. She slows down to smell every dog scent on our walk but going total anchor mode was a first.
Then last night, wanted to alert me there were nearby explosions going on, which I heard but was ignoring, hoping she would too.. But changed my strategy to one of embracing them. Once she saw that I was aware and actually enjoyed watching them - with her on my lap on the balcony chaise, looking at me then at them a couple times for reassurance, she mellowed out. Amazing.
They say a dog needs to be socialized. In the 7 weeks I’ve had her, I’ve met 10x more people than in the two previous years. Since everyone young and old wants to pet/ask about her, I’ve been forced to wear my hearing aids (rather than walk around with headphones listening to music, and at most, nodding to neighbors.). So the loneliness of self-imposed isolation is way down. I’M the one socialized.
Between the 3-4 miles we walk every day and the gallons of blood I’ve lost from mosquitoes as she oh-so-carefully chooses the spot in the COPSE where she insists on pooping, I’m down a stone (14 pounds, not the 17 I mistakenly once posted). Still have a gut but my legs are almost back to my hockey days. And never have so noticed the beauty of the wildflowers and wildlife that surrounds me in our many walks in these woods by the lake.
Diva can be high maintenance, a ridiculously picky eater and is a Velcro dog - follows me to the bathroom (but I guess I watch her go, only fair she watches me.)
Still, all things considered, what a gift! I know it’s Independence Day but feels to me more like Thanksgiving.
She’s definitely a rescue. Just not sure which of us has been rescued more.
Cool N/S puzgrid symmetry. Luv Malaika's take on it bein a flag-symmetry design.
staff weeject pics: IEU & SEI. With honrable mention to EYE. As in "IEU SEI tomayto, EYE SEI tomawto".
Cute revealer. PuzEatinSpouse had an aunt that liked to say the HOLDONTOYOURHAT revealer, while she was drivin em around on some bumpy Texas streets.
other fave stuff: The BOROUGH, SENSEI, SPOKANE, MILIEU set of wild-bunch themers. REALIZE. SPOONFED & its clue. PINKIES & their clue. PHOEBE's fly-catchin skills.
Also: PuzEatinSpouse likes CASTIRON skillets -- great for cookin, but downside is they gotta be hand-washed.
Thanx for the nice 4th of July-ish puz, Mr. Vincent dude. AWARDEE gets the latest new M&A daily award: Best SUS Word.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
Happy Independence Day, y'all! [M&A put his flags out right-sides up, btw.]
easy-ish:
**gruntz**
biter-ish:
**gruntz**
I also believe GAL PALS is for general usage. I’ve never associated it with a code word for lesbians.
Fun puzz but I had to come here to “get” the conceit.
Happy Fourth y’all!
@ Andrew 12:12
What a beautiful post. Yes, they bring such joy into our lives (as Rex will agree) & makes us better 'people.'
I miss my Cinnamon. I wasn't an anchor when we were plowed down by an SUV 2 years ago who "didn't see us" (funny I waved "Thank you" to him because he was stopped.) I suffered near-fatal injuries - but my severest injury was losing my Cinnamon. I re-live that cold, early, dark January morning every day & every night.
Sorry everyone for posting this.
Again, congrats, Andrew & little Miss Diva on finding eachother :)
Gal Pal is certainly not always referring to lesbians
Meh
Hidden Diagonal Word (HDW) clue of the day:
Snail mail enc., perhaps (4 letters)
Checking out the HDWs today on my phone left me temporarily cross-eyed, and also called my attention to some UGLY crossword-ese in this grid. There's SOLD, which begins with the S in 42D, OHS (an awful POC). There's TALE, that begins with the T in 44A, OTRO (for the foreign language clue lovers). The L in UGLY, by the way, begins a Hidden Diagonal LIL, which duplicates the scintillating 61D vertical LIL.
As for the answer to the clue of the day:
SASE (self addressed stamped envelope) That HDW begins with the S in the UGLIEST crossword-ese answer of the day-- IPS.
Does anyone know how Ohio (oHIo)? looks like a tractor?
Danny
Many British commenters have noted their pronunciation of borough. The constructor and/or editors apparently felt that since this is an American puzzle, it was okay to go with the American pronunciation.
Didn’t bother me because I had no idea of the theme when I remembered London was a city of boroughs. It went in and it worked. I think it’s close enough for crosswords.
@jb129 (12:39)-- What a truly awful story. Surely no need to apologize for posting it -- you've shown remarkable restraint in not posting it for two years. What happened to Cinnamon is a tragedy and I'm truly sorry for your loss, but thank heavens that you survived.
I went to your profile to see where this horrible accident took place and was less than thrilled to see that you live in NYC. I assume that it happened here? The streets, crosswalks, and sidewalks of NYC have become a completely lawless and unpoliced free-for-all in recent years with imminent disaster by car, truck, bike, scooter, skateboard (all of them motorized now) and those round electronic single-wheel contraptions, whatever they're called, waiting at every corner. I'm really glad you're OK!!!
You're an anchor? How did I miss that, I wonder?
Beezer
Gal is an old variation of girl that in modern English became an informal version.
In the 20th Century it developed into a female equivalent of guy (it is certainly a lot better than doll!) I think it has lost its connection to girl though
The rhyme is a main reason gal pal became popular.
I think the fact that among men pal works alone, but you need another word among women may be what bothers you.
The overuse of girl for woman bothers me a lot more than gal.
LOL Mary in NE.
Was that meant to be a joke or do you get your "Red Delicious" apples from some other planet than the rest of us?
[Okay, I have commented 3 times, once as anonymous, and none have appeared. Trying now with a different browser; final attempt. Have I been blacklisted?]
Hi Malaika! Happy 4th to all you Americans. As I was trying to figure out the theme I forgot what day it was. Yes a nice twist on the homophone idea but I've gotta call out MILIEU because I always pronounce it the French way "meal-yuh" and not "meal-you". It seems to me most people pronounce it like I do but I could be wrong.
Our crazy language makes OUGH into "oh" a lot. But sometimes it's "uff" or "ow" or "aw" or "oo" or whatever. (I love that ROT and WROUGHT are homophones: take a 3 letter word and add 4 more letters and the pronunciation doesn't change.)
EGGIEST!... just no. Or maybe it's great, I dunno.
-- o k a n a g a n e r
Red Delicious are not mealy when in the prime of ripeness. They are deliciously CRISP.
The name “Red Delicious Apple” contains one too many words.
@cowdoc (7:39) Agree. Give me a nice crunchy Macintosh or even a Jonathan any day over a Red Delish.
@andrew (9:38) Great to hear LIL Diva stayed serene through the fireworks show. Obviously she already feels secure with you which makes a big difference. The puppy mill Yorkie I had was terrified of any loud noise and it took more than a year before she started to calm down, even during thunderstorms.
Happy Independence Day to all of you south of the 49th and north of the Rio Grande. 248 years is an impressive record of democratic government, but I worry ... yeah, I do. Presidential immunity???
@Gary Jugert 2:42 am. Thanks for laying out those parts of words in a line so I could finally “see” them.
@Conrad 5:02 am and @PH 9:49 am. One of the benefits of having relatives and friends in Australia is finding out about Tim Tams and then coming home and finding that, yes!, they’re here on the supermarket shelves in Canada. Have yet to use one as a straw!
MFA here. DIEGO was a gimme, as was MEZE because I have lived in Greece where I always spelled it double zed mezze. Somehow the term mezzethes keeps creeping into my mind.Is that sort of akin to octopodes? (Greek “d” is more often than not pronounced as “th”).
On the question of Red Delicious apples … We have started a small orchard on the farm: 5 apple trees, 4 pears, and 1 cherry. One of those apples is a Red Delicious, planted after heated arguments with my son who loves them. I think they’re crappy and agree with @jberg 11:07 am that this is due to commercialization. Make ‘em look good so they sell. Who cares about taste? But maybe growing our own will make them more palatable to me.
@andrew As a dog guy, I smiled, chuckled, and really enjoyed your post.
I was a bit dense today
I didn’t get the theme before the blog.
Decent puzzle I thought
It has been mentioned but
Spokane is pronounced Spoh can by locals. So it works.
@Nancy 2:37 pm
Thank you so much for your kind words. Yes, it happened to us in NYC. We were just crossing the street. I waved "Thank you." Now that I'm finally able to get around by myself, I freeze when I hear cars zooming down the street. It brings chills up my spine.
LOL - no, I'm not an anchor. I was referring to Andrew's post about little Diva -
"I mentioned before how she dramatically parked her 8 pound body when I was about to walk in front of a fast-moving electric car. She slows down to smell every dog scent on our walk but going total anchor mode was a first".
It means a lot to me that you responded in such a kind, caring way. I sometimes wish I'd of gone with Cinnamon. When I crawled to her, I screamed out her name. She wagged her tail in a pool of blood & then she was gone. My only comfort is that she HEARD me & knew I was with her before she went to the Bridge.
Thank you again, Nancy (love your posts). I hope you see this.
Janine & Cinnamon
@SHARONAK Not a joke. I get great Red Delicious apples in Lincoln NE.
@anon (1:44) I too wondered about how 38A OHIO could be a "Geographical locale whose name resembles a tractor when written in upper- and lowercase". I've tried several combinations of upper- and lower-case letters like Ohio, OhiO, OHio, oiHo, and so on, but none of them seem to say "tractor" to me.
I enjoyed the puzzle but thought the reveal was wide of the mark, I think TAKE OFF YOUR HAT would have stuck the landing but it is one letter short of that slot. A POC (plural of convenience) would have provided the needed letter count BOOST.
I thought all the theme entries, however, were top notch, ODYSSEY being my favorite. And the fill had some nice touches. I cook with a well seasoned CAST IRON skillet so its neighbor SPOON FED brought a smile. And who doesn't like TRYSTS?
I'm sure that many a SENSEI (Teacher in a dojo) will tell you that a breath slowly and methodically EXHALED RELAXES the body and mind.
No, because it’s in an American puzzle and there’s no indication to pronounce it with anything other than an American accent.
Yes, I think that’s why they said “maybe” in the clue
oHIo maybe?
In my opinion it means brace yourself, there’s some sort of shock or surprise coming. That’s what it meant in England anyway.
The first line of our national anthem is O say can you see by the dawn's early light
Here comes the airplane - feeding a baby. Getting them to open their mouth when the spoon flies in.
First time I’ve ever commented. The theme is nonsense. One does NOT hold on to their hat upon hearing the start of the national anthem you REMOVE your hat. Sheesh
Does everyone realize that Spokane, WA is pronounced
Spo-can?
If you wanted the clue to indicate a British pronunciation, it might read "One of 32 in London, in London?" - the latter part indicating the pronunciation, and the question mark... Well, I can't perfectly justify it, but I think it's needed given the playful construction of the clue.
The idea is that Ohio, when written as such (instead of in all-caps as is typical when solving a crossword), resembles a tractor viewed from the side. The first O resembles the large rear wheel, the last o resembles the small front wheel, and the hi resembles the body (the i possibly suggesting an exhaust stack in particular).
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