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Server's question after a drink order / FRI 8-2-24 / Stuff of substance? / Part of a violin quartet? / Classic poem whose subject is "a black ocean, leaping and wide" / Adornment for a kimono / Preference for long-legged types
Friday, August 2, 2024
Constructor: Kate Chin Park
Relative difficulty: Medium
Word of the Day: TAI (45D: Language group of Southeast Asia) —
The Tai, Zhuang–Tai, or Daic languages (Thai: ภาษาไท or ภาษาไต, transliteration: p̣hās̛̄āthay or p̣hās̛̄ātay, RTGS: phasa thai or phasa tai; Lao: ພາສາໄຕ, Phasa Tai) are a branch of the Kra–Dai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai–Kadai languages, including Standard Thai or Siamese, the national language of Thailand; Lao or Laotian, the national language of Laos; Myanmar's Shan language; and Zhuang, a major language in the Southwestern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, spoken by the Zhuang people (壯), the largest minority ethnic group in China, with a population of 15.55 million, living mainly in Guangxi, the rest scattered across Yunnan, Guangdong, Guizhou and Hunan provinces.
• • •
I love that the boldest answer of the day is sitting dead center. "IS PEPSI OK?" feels risky, somehow. It's so situation-specific, so on the edge of "is this a thing?" I'm glad she pulled the trigger on it, though, 'cause I think it's great. Like, when I imagine the situation (someone ordering a Coke at a non-Coke-having restaurant), that response from the waitress (or waiter, server, whatever ... in my head it's a waitress) is dead-on. Perfect. Exactly what she would say. And then the customer either says "sure," or sighs sadly and says "sure," or else makes a disgusted face and says "god no" and orders a Sprite. Some people are Very particular about Coca-Cola, what can I say? I don't get it, but I respect it. The colloquialness felt less apt at 20A: "I'll take the blame" ("IT'S ON ME"). The basic idea definitely tracks, but the phrase I hear in my head is "THAT'S ON ME." Whereas "IT'S ON ME" still feels like a treating phrase—something you say when you pick up the tab. Also, while I don't think it's wrong, I am unfamiliar with however ITERATE is being used today (42D: Develop through experimentation). ITERATE to me conveys repetition, not experimentation. I guess that you repeat ... experiments. And you bring out different iterations of products, presumably making them better as you develop them. But the connection between clue and word felt tenuous, or like a step was missing. ITERATE = repeat. If you don't have the idea of "repetition" somewhere in your ITERATE clue, I'm not gonna get it. I had ITER- and stared like "well, it can only be ITERATE but ... I better wait and see."
There was the usual handful of Things I Don't Know today. The only one of these I actively resented was 18A: Stanley Tucci's character in "The Devil Wears Prada" (NIGEL). A secondary character in an eighteen-year-old movie I never saw in the first place? Bah. TUCCI I know, NIGEL no. But at least it was a name I could infer (which I did, off of --G-L). Didn't know the ROSEN guy either (61A: Nathan ___, physicist who collaborated with Einstein on a theory of wormholes). Wanted to put BOSON in there, thinking of (maybe?) the Higgs-BOSON particle, is that a thing? ... Yes! Though it's just Higgs boson or Higgs particle, and BOSON is not a guy's name, sigh. I did not know Maya Angelou's "STILL I RISE" was a "classic poem," but I guess it fits. I know about the poem primarily from the Clinton inauguration, though maybe it's been featured in ads or other things I've seen on TV. The only Angelou I've ever read is I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. My ignorance of modern poetry, and "STILL I RISE" in particular—that's on me (!). Way more mad at NIGEL than I am at "STILL I RISE" (at which I'm not mad at all).
More:
- 4A: Stuff of substance? (ATOMS) — really hurt me. Just couldn't make anything out of it for a while. It's in a SUPER-important position—a short answer at the front ends of a bunch of other short answers that cross the longer answers in the NW—and getting it would've been huge. But nope. Locked out. For a while.
- 50A: Part of a violin quartet? (PEG) — not really sure why there's a "?" on this clue. There are four PEGs on a violin. A group of four is a quartet. I get that you're doing a misdirection thing (playing on the idea of a "quartet" as a piece of music), but you're going to misdirect a lot more effectively if you just leave the "?" off. The clue is literally accurate with it off, so leave it off.
- 55A: Preference for long-legged types, maybe (AISLE) — as a long-legged type myself, I have historically preferred the AISLE, it's true, but you have to have a pretty high tolerance for being run into by the drink cart etc. as well as a high tolerance for getting up and down as you let the other people in your row get up to use the bathroom. My general experience with airplane seats is that they're all uncomfortable so it doesn't really matter. I often sit in the middle seat because my wife prefers the window, and I have no real preference.
- 5D: 10-digit no. (TEL.) — anyone else want SSN and then count it out and realize you're off by one? No one? Oh well.
- 13D: Card letters (STL) — one of those old trick clues that I saw through instantly, which gave me a Desperately Needed toehold in the NE. The St. Louis Cardinals (also called "the Cards") have the letters STL on their (baseball) caps.
- 63A: Something made for a dinner, for short (RES) — short for "reservation." Seriously (if briefly) thought "What the hell kind of food is RES?"
- 8D: Decides to leave (STETS) — "STET" is an editorial mark, reversing a deletion. I like that STETS is alongside SIC (21D: Bracketed qualification). "Leave it as it was" alongside "I left this as it was, I know it's a mistake, don't blame me, it's the original author's error."
- 53D: Alt tab? (LSD) — is the idea that a "tab" of LSD alt...ers your perception? That LSD is a mind-"alt"ering drug? It's a stretch, but as with "IS PEPSI OK?," I have to admire the daring on this one. Nice surface level misdirection, clever wordplay. I'll take it.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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106 comments:
Made two near fatal mistakes, that I just would not let go. First, plopped in UPS straight away and didn’t look back. Moved east, could only get OBI, moved east again, and put IPASS right in which got STL and SNEERAT and ultimately let me close out NE. That led to finishing top middle, which took me back to NW, and I got the 2 long crosses, but still having issues with the long downs, because of that UPS, but more critically, I put in locO as in locomotive for half a train confirmed by ORO. Took forever to take out and put in the venerable XW train answer CHOO. Massive time kill. And I still didn’t change UPs to USS until grid was complete and didn’t get music, and saw pOTHERE.
Outside of that embossing exercise, rest of puzzle was a lot like Rex’s popcorn comparison. Ended up finishing a tad over Friday avg, but felt harder.
Overall, I liked it and felt a worthy Friday.
Surprised Rex hasn’t seen Devil Wears Prada. Or maybe not. “I’m not watching a movie on the fake, narcissistic, superficial high fashion industry”. Even that’s kinda the point of the movie - to show the absurdity.
Enjoyed this one a lot. Hope there are more medium-to-hard puzzles coming, at least on Thu-Fri-Sat.
Thank you for the STL explainer and for linking in XTC, the only proper way to clue “Nigel.” Loved the Pepsi clue and thought this one was a good deal of fun!
Except for my last entry - the completely dubious Tucci trivia - this was a wonderful puzzle. POINT TAKEN, WENT ROGUE, IS PEPSI OK etc are all solid. FIRST AND TEN is temporal as I read stories of football camps opening
ANGEL #9
Not sure I’ve ever been on a DREAM DATE - definitely never had a GAP YEAR but I do seek out an AISLE SEAT. Knew ROSEN cold and that quickly backed me into STILL I RISE.
PEG
Enjoyable Friday morning solve.
Somewhere near SALINAS
Absolutely brutal for me. Oof.
It took hours, but I finished it after changing UPS to USS (I mistakenly assumed "carrier" meant packages, not ships. I caught on to FIRSTANDTEN right away, which helped me in the SW, but the cluing was so tricky that the rest of the puzzle took forever.
IAMNOTAROBOT came very slowly, but made sense in the end. And ISPEPSIOK would be saying, "We're out of COKE." but the clue should have been qualified with "maybe."
USS, STL, RES, LSD. WTF?
All of Rex’s mistakes, plus many others of my own creation. Medium? No way.
My longest Friday solve time in ages, maybe ever.
But I loved I’M NOT A ROBOT.
The SW was brutal, not helped by inserting psy into 37D (___ OPS).
Like Rex, I loved 35A.
Rex, I also loved the audacity of IS PEPSI OK, and I can hear your script play out in my head - except that if the disappointed guy says “God no” and orders a Sprite, he’s going to be disappointed again; Coke owns Sprite, so they’re not going to have that either. Soda (or pop depending on where you live) is the only bad-for-you food or beverage I have ever successfully weaned myself from.
But I SUPER loved IM NOT A ROBOT for “testament to human nature?”
Yes to UpS before USS, yes to ssn before counting the numbers and switching to TEL. I wanted hOOk for the drum machine creation, but couldn’t come up with a flat state with an H in the middle of its abbreviation. I thought that was going to be KAN, then NEB, then DEL. I guess I’m not surprised that it’s FLA, but I never would have guessed that.
Good Friday.
"IS PEPSI OK" was wonderful (and so true to experience). Though one might that the grid had had room for "You want fries with that?"
No, Pepsi is NEVER OK. I'm already here and seated and I'm not going to leave the restaurant at this point, but neither am I going to drink your second-rate trash juice. Just bring me a water.
For me, the question on Friday is often "do the long answers justify the short fill". Today we had a lot of iffy short fill (USS, CHOO, FLA, RES, LTR, SYS, ORO, TEL, TAI, OBI, EMS), which would require the long answers to be stellar. But today we have NOT ONE BIT rather than the more common NOT A BIT, STOOD ON and both SNEER AT and YELL AT. And then IT'S ON ME, which is what you say when you are treating someone, is instead clued as if you are apologizing form someing. So while not an awful puzzle by any means, it really did not do much for me.
Imagine Rex staring at and wondering around a grid for a while and having a hard time finding a toehold - then contemplate what chance a mere mortal like myself will have. Fortunately, the popcorn effect finally found its way over to my grid for a short visit as well.
For the first time in recent memory, I actually knew one of the PPP entries that stumped OFL - I loved Stanley the T’s character in TDWP (NIGEL) - omg, what an ensemble cast if ever there was one (Meryl, Anne, Emily, Stanley . . .). I also disagree with Rex on ITERATE which is pretty much a one word definition of experiment - it was Edison, probably back in the early 1900’s who made the famous quote about genius being 99% perspiration.
I had a little more trouble with SUPER for “really” which seemed like a stretch. The best I could come up with was you could say something like “I think she’s really pretty” or “I think she’s SUPER pretty” - close enough for CrossWorld, especially on a Friday. Maybe someone has an even better example.
I also dug SUPER deep to remember that the Einstein–ROSEN bridge is the name of a wormhole, so I’m really proud of myself for going two-for-two on Friday trivia entries.
I think IS PEPSI OK is basically a perfect Friday clue as well. I don’t follow the constructors as closely as some of the rest of us do, so I don’t know how prolific Ms. Park has been in the past, but today she did herself proud.
Medium-Challenging, mostly because at 26A I booked aIr bnbS long before I booked SITTERS. Other than that, most of the same overwrites and WOEs as @Rex, including ssn before TEL at 5D.
4A reminded me of the phrase, "Never trust ATOMS. They make up everything."
I entered this puzzle in neutral-head, and left it high-fiving the world. This was SO ENTERTAINING! Clues that made my brain hustle as it loves to do, clues that made me “Hah!”, gorgeous answers, 13 bigs (answers of eight letters or more) that brought dash, and an emphasis on cracking riddles rather than scouring the memory for answers.
Wow!
When a puzzle satisfies my brain’s work ethic, brings giddiness from figuring out thorny wordplay clues, brings humor, and immerses me in beauty, it has royally delivered.
Beauty? AUGMENT, GAP YEAR, POINT TAKEN, WENT ROGUE, FIRST AND TEN, STILL I RISE.
Riddles? One of many:[Take off, as a cap] for UNSCREW, a lovely misdirect. Look at how this clue make a humdrum answer special.
Humor? [Testament to human nature] for I'M NOT A ROBOT. Hah!
Not to mention the craft behind this: a 30-block grid (translation: seas of white housing a mass of crossing answers), with hardly a whiff of junk.
Sparkling. Crackling good. Congratulations on your NYT debut, Kate. And thank you for a cut-above puzzle that has me hungry for more from you. Please!
Started by seeing 0 comments, was nearly done with mine, and everything disappeared and all the comments appeared, minus mine, and after reading what's been said I just have to say I agree with everyone. IMNOTAROBOT, please don't do that to me web site.
I'll just add that today I celebrate the return of long-lost Crossword Classic OBI. properly clued and not one of those Star Wars things.
And while I am definitely a Coke Guy I will settle for Pepsi, unlike @kitshef, who I think hates it with the fury of a thousand suns.
Nice crunchy Friday which had the feel of a Saturday Stumper for quite a while, but a very satisfying completion (eventually). Well done you, KCP. Pleas Keep Creating Puzzles like this, and thanks for all the fun.
Wonderful Friday puzzle. The best in some time. Also appropriately challenging for late in the week. SW slowed me down more than any other sector. Finally, all the sci-fi movies I’ve watched pay off with my knowledge of the term Einstein-ROSEN bridge. Loved this.
Enjoyed the toughness. A few write overs didn't bother me
I, too, wanted SSN but ended up having to count. OK, TEL it is.
Nice Friday diversion today!
Challenging (in a good way!) Lot of smiles during this one. Biggest misdirect was TAI instead of crosswordese LAO. Also TEL/SSN and USS (actually had RNA to start, as in code carrier). Enjoyed a lot of the longer entries. Thanks for the fun, Kate!
I laughed at the K-drama in the blog (the pic seems to be for the Chinese market). Reminds me of the K-drama that Subway created, as seen on John Oliver's show. Ridiculous.
IMNOTAROBOT: "A woman becomes entangled in a strange love triangle after pretending to be a robot that looks exactly like her." (The guy is allergic to human contact, so he has a robot built for him -- not *that* kind of robot, though.) Also liked the popcorn analogy. Not a huge fan of K-pop, but popcorn? Yes, please. Have a good weekend! :)
Very enjoyable. Smart and sparkly cluing.
Anne Hathaway is a goddess. I've seen Prada several times. (I also am a big admirer of Tucci but don't remember his being called by his first name in the movie). Hathaway became a star at 18 when she did Princess Diaries. Not much of a movie, but it was a huge hit. She was brilliant. I just saw it recently and was disappointed by the tepid performance by the marvelous Julie Andrews.
I had a friend who worked for Coke. They were maniacal in their hatred for Pepsi. The word couldn't even be uttered.
I agree with pretty much everything Rex says here - I even had the same initial wrong answers (UPS, SPA DAYS, SEEDY)...
The one thing I'll point out is that if the restaurant doesn't have Coke, they won't have Sprite (a Coca-Cola product) either. You'd be stuck with "Starry," Pepsi's lackluster equivalent of Sprite, which replaced "Sierra Mist."
Pepsi always playing second-fiddle (or "violin") to Coke... :)
I' surprised Rex didn't quibble with 59 across. Isn't THESE the plural of "this?" Which would make the appropriate clue, "This and this," not "This and that." "That" is the singular of "those." So how can "this and that" be THESE? Am I missing something?
RES as clued was bad, and I thought TAI was a cheat for Thai (thanks to Rex’ explanation, thatSONME) but everything else was great - a very Fresh and Fun Friday!
ISPEPSIOK - brilliant! I often order Diet Coke and get this line from the staff at restaurants offering Pepsi products. I don’t like Diet Pepsi so I may opt for Diet Mountain Dew - which I didn’t realize until yesterday is spelled MTNDEW. Looked at the can I was drinking in disbelief - I never saw the shortened brand name. Weird (as they say about the something-seems-off JD Vance who I want to like, but for various reasons don’t).
Speaking of alt-Tab, the previous diet cola from Coke was the god-awful TAB! An ex girlfriend from 40 years ago still gives me crap for ordering a Southern Comfort and Tab, but wanted to cut the calories. Was at the marketing debut of Diet Coke at a convention in Chicago (served up by local XFL cheerleaders - that league didn’t have many FIRSTANDTENS! - and thought it was AMAZING!
My feeling now is less euphoric but still, if they say NOCOKEPEPSI at my cheeburger cheeburger cheeburger dive (the wonderful Billy Goat Tavern below the el in Chi-town), IPASS…
Worst clue: 35 across. So stupidly random.
2nd worse: 19 across. Are you kidding?
Tougher than usual for a Friday for me--HOORAY! Worth every "erasure" (Yep--SSN, I CALL) and head scratching to get freshness like IM NO ROBOT, IS PEPSI OK (Genius!), and AISLE SEAT. Super-fresh, tough-but-fair, utterly delightful. I haven't had this much fun with a NYT crossword in ages!
More from Kate, please! I'm now going to check the box indicating a testament to my human nature!
Great fun - and being less expert than Rex, I found it quite hard; but because of that very enjoyable.
I too first thought of SSN - but then realized you can't have the same word "number/no" in the clue and answer - so telephone it is. Thanks for a good puzzle (and yep, loved the Pepsi clue when I figured it out).
Devil Wears Prada is Taylor Swift’s favorite movie; so it must be fair game.
Hm. I guess it was fine.
I'M NOT A ROBOT and IS PEPSI OK are wonderful.
Propers: 5
Places: 2
Products: 1
Partials: 10 (boo)
Foreignisms: 3
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 21 of 70 (30%)
Funnyisms: 3 😐
Tee-Hee: UNSCREW.
Uniclues:
1 The hill I climb to reach Am-I-Getting-Smarter-ville.
2 Rubber for a very short custodian.
3 Spend a semester in the basement playing video games after backpacking through Europe.
1 MOUNT NOT-ONE-BIT (~)
2 MINI-SUPER TIRE
3 AUGMENT GAP YEAR
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Adam's naive pronouncement after a few beers. I DO MOLLIFY EVE.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Hey All !
Short and sweet today.
Tough! Took me longer today than previous FriPuzs. Couldn't seem to get a toe-hold anywhere. Think I went to Goog three times!
Took too much of my morning. Ah, me, first world problems.
Enjoy your Friday.
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
As an ATLien who lives less than a mile away from Coke's HQ on North Ave and a mile and a half from Jacobs' Pharmacy where Pemberton first sold Coca-Cola syrup, the answer is decidedly no. Pepsi is never ok.
Loved this puzzle, just perfect.
I did get majorly delayed by filling LETSDIGIN before LETSBEGIN.
Finally, a puzzle with fun, fresh entries AUGMENTed with SCADS of fun, winky clues. Felt like the puzzle was giving me forty winks. I feel refreshed.
Two major obstructions were putting in UpS and loADS (before SCADS). HEAVE HO helped to dismiss loADS, as my “What’s the ___?” answer became V….oT. Failed to think of any possible words, so loADS had to be wrong. Saw it could be SCADS, then the VERDICT was in.
Then, with the grid completely filled in, I remembered there was one answer I couldn’t make sense of - pOT HERE. Went back and stared. I was never much of a pOT head. Is “In your face!” a secret signal you have pOT? Maybe it’s pO THERE? Nope, that’s dumb. Oh I SEE it now. SO THERE! Done!
Just a few things that irked a BIT. EROSIONS, STETS, EAT clue (“Absorb”), and ditto @Rex about ITERATE. Good thing LSD went in from crosses. STILL nothing SUPER RATTY, and when a puzzle is chock full of I’M NOT A ROBOT, POINT TAKEN, GAP YEAR, DREAM DATE, AISLE SEAT, and the ATE trio in the SE (DREAM DATE, ITERATE and NEGATE), IT’S nothing to SNEER AT.
I hope we SEE SCADS more from Kate Chin Park soon.
When I want to say "in your face!", I always say pOT HERE. But that's just me.
Seriously, I ran the alphabet trying to find a way to change the carrier "UpS" to something that would make 2D make sense. But I skipped right past "S" because I was definitely HERE and not THERE.
Despite my DNF, I adored this puzzle and was sorry when it was over. It's lively -- with some wonderful clues for STORY LINE; GAP YEAR; and I'M NOT A ROBOT. And I also really liked the answers DREAM DATE; POINT TAKEN and FIRST AND TEN. But the funniest -- and I would ALLEGE the most controversial -- clue/answer is: "IS PEPSI OK?" No it's not OK, you stupid server, I would think to myself -- not when I ordered Scotch!
Needless to say I had my hardest time in the puzzle with "IS PEPSI OK" -- which in addition to being counterintuitive for non-soda pop-drinking me is also a really, really DOOK-y phrase.
A perfect Friday. Plenty of thinking required but no suffering.
"Is Pepsi OK?" is so common they made a Super Bowl commercial out of it a few years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtmTX7jg0mM
To improve through repeating is a very common (if more modern) use of iterate. In fact, the "recent examples" section on M-W.com all has the definition in today's puzzle, even though the "definition" section only mentions repetition.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/iterate
It's definition #3 on dictionary.com: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/iterate
Also had a very popcorn-ish experience, although my first toehold was in the east and southeast, including ITERATE, which I knew instantly. It's a very tech-speak term that unfortunately has weaseled its way into my brain, part of that whole "fail faster"/agile mentality.
Agree that IT's ON ME is paying the tab and "that's on me" is "my bad." Also agreeing that IS PEPSI OK is an absolute delight.
As a lifelong East Coaster and non-Southeast Asian language speaker, SALINAS crossing TAI was a near-Natick, but I guessed right on the first try. It helped that SALINAS sounded vaguely familiar and TAI sounded vaguely Southeast Asian.
A delicious return to properly hard Friday puzzles!
When I see the degree of joy that this puzzle has evoked in just about everyone here in addition to the great pleasure it's given me, I'm thinking: Don't themeless puzzles have rights too? I'm therefore going to put this beauty into my running list for "Puzzle of the Year."
Wow, was this one a doozy. LSD and ISOEPSIOK were so far out there, I had to get every cross. The answer for "page layout option" was LTR, which really got me. Or should I say it SUPER got me? Another bizarre clue. But back to LTR as a page layout option: Letter is not a layout option; it's a size option. Once you've selected Letter as your size option, you then have the choice of page layout option: Landscape or Portrait (horizontal or vertical). That corner, due to the mistaken clue/answer entry by the constructor, really got me. Other than that (and the weird clue for SUPER), I thought it was very well done.
mint donuts?? mint fridges?? terrible clue.
I've got to raise my hand as an unabashed Diet Pepsi preferer. So yes, Pepsi is OK. An AISLESEAT with a Diet Pepsi may not be my DREAMDATE, but it's nothing to SNEERAT. Of course, as @Rex points out, the disadvantage of an AISLESEAT, particularly on a long flight, is that by the end you'll be muttering STILLIRISE as your seat mates make their umpteenth bathroom trip.
Really SUPER debut. Thanks, Kate Chin Park.
My, what a lovely Friday. Smooth flowing and interlocking exactly as it’s supposed to. Each time I thought I was stuck, I’d get one or two more letters and have another breakthrough. A little slowdown in the SW because I did not know SALINAS or ROSEN and wanted what’s the … BIG IDEA. Spent some time looking at 35A and wondering what kind of a word ends in SIOK before the IS PEP lit up. Then had to chuckle because that’s exactly what the server asked me at lunch yesterday when I ordered a Diet Coke.
@RP: The Devil Wears Prada is really fun and even okay for family night with just a touch of mild adult content. Tucci’s NIGEL is his usual brilliance, and it’s worth the time alone to watch Meryl Streep as the haughty fashion queen who can wither any underling with nothing more than an arched brow.
STETS struck me as pretty weird. I spent a decent amount of time in newsrooms back in the day, and I don't recall anyone ever turning the proofreader's mark into a verb in conversation. ("Yeah, the copyeditor didn't like it, but don't worry; the chief stets that sort of thing all the time.")
Maybe they just weren't cool enough newsrooms.
I had SSN, Rex. So yeah ...
You need to watch The Devil Wears Prada. Meryl Streep is great! I had SSN also, until I counted out.
As a 6' 5", Coke drinker, I loved two answers. "IS PEPSI OK?". "Water's fine." and "Do you have any AISLESEATs?"
Not bad, NE the hardest. Had "I pass", got "point taken" & then stupidly crossed that T with "abettor"
(they might get booked for getaways). Should have seen the tense was wrong & took a while to straighten out.
@Nancy (10:40) Good call on your POTY list.
@Photonatte (10:43) My FIRST response was to think how to abbreviate landscape or portrait in three letters. Nothing worked, but HOR and VER seemed like possibilities. Have to agree it’s not so much a “page layout” option as it is a “print” option.
I agree with Rex in that the puzzle felt hard just because it was harder than recent Fridays, when actually I got a pretty average time. The SW corner did seem tougher than anything else, though - I didn't know SALINAS, ROSEN, FIRST AND TEN and the vague clue on VERDICT didn't exactly help.
IS PEPSI OK felt like green paint but many of you agree that it's actually a thing and makes for fun fill. POINT TAKEN.
I also had SSN before TEL at 5D - then remembered seeing the clue [Nine-digit ID] a bajillion times, so clearly SSN was wrong.
I was sure that the state at 23A was Kansas, because of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNqNnUJVcVs
True, BOSON is not a name, but it is named after the Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose.
I guess I''m in the minority. This puzzle went totally over my head although having read Rex's write-up & the comments I'm sorry I couldn't appreciate IS PEPSI OK. My loss, I guess - I never liked Pepsi :(
For those too young to have seen this classic skit in season 2 of SNL, enjoy!
No Coke, PEPSI!
A treat to grapple with, though I went down to defeat with an uncorrected pOTHERE (hi, @Nancy). I found the top half SUPER hard, had to start at the bottom with SEEPS x LAP and EMS and work my way up, ending up in the briar patch of the NW, where I obviously didn't emerge unscathed. I was happy to read @Fun_CFO's first comment ending "a worthy Friday" - exactly!
Do-overs: rna (hi, @PH) before UpS; eke before SEE, ssn before TEL, dry before RED. Happy to know: SALINAS. No idea: what "In your face!" means; ROSEN; NIGEL. Favorite moment: discovering that an entry ending in SIOK which couldn't possibly be right was in fact right.
@Kate Chin Park - More, please!
Thanks to @Rex for the STILL I RISE link. I think it more than qualifies as a classic. Also to @Adrienne for the link to the Sunnie Giles article on ITERATION. Better watch for “adjacent possible” and “fail faster” to make appearances in a grid soon.
@Southside, you asked for a better example of SUPER for “really” and then immediately provided one - too funny!
@Nancy - I was thinking “not when I ordered Scotch!” might inspire a limerick. But it could get a little risqué.
@barbara, at first I had the same thought re THESE, but “This and that” taken as a unit (“various unspecified things”) can work. “THESE things bother me.” “What things?” “Oh, just this and that.” Happy Friday.
Re people mistakenly thinking an SSN has 10 digits, doesn’t anyone listen to old Husker Du?
“A nine-digit number for every living soul
That is all they talk about at Data Control”
Medium-tough. This was not a whooshy Friday for me with the east side tougher than the west. I had five erasures that I held on to for way too long:
ssn (Hi @Rex) before TEL
SlewS before SCADS
didst before SHALT
lAO before TAI
exits before STETS
Plus I did not know NIGEL, ROSEN, ANGEL, and TAI. Fortunately knowing SALINAS was very helpful.
Pretty smooth with more than a little sparkle (IS PEPSI OK was delightful), liked it.
Mini
Kate Chin Park has today's New Yorker Mini, too, so she's on a roll.
Neat puzzle. My biggest problem was 38-D, where I put in Hash out from the H. I finally saw the error with LEGIT, and once I knew those letters were wrong, I could get the rest of the corner. @Photomatte, you're correct, but it never occurred to me, and LTR helped break things open for me there.
My last answer was STL, and I didn't understand it until I wrote it in, when it suddenly revealed itself.
IS PEPSI OK took me a long time to see. A more likely response for me, would be IS vodka OK? To which I would reply, God no! Make it gin, preferably Tanqueray!
I think one of the great wrongs of our current time is that soft drink makers are allowed to force stores and restaurants to not carry their competitors' products. My father owned a drugstore with a soda fountain when I was growing up, and he served Coke, Pepsi, and RC, as did all the restaurants I ever went to. I think the FTC should go after these aspiring monopolists.
Well, it's getting late, I'd better post this.
Yes, @Rex. I did the 10 digit SSN count...I also had a TOE in there and my bidding round was HIT ME. An oof to start. And yes! what a final pop!. I loved this puzzle. Despite staring at IS PEPSI OK for like maybe an hour. I just couldn't figure this out. I wasn't sure about Jibril being an angel and I don't understand why SUPER translates to Really. I had the IOK. What could a pleasant smiling server ask me after I've ordered my mojito?
Some of the three letter clues really got me. TEL RED FLA SEE SYS. in no particular order. I also want to know why TIRE is the Flag answer. I haven't read anybody else yet so maybe it has been explained.
The long answers were primo. They took me a while to get but when I did, I clapped with glee. Fandango tango anyone? HEAVE HO SHALT YELL AT. Tango to be sure. DREA DATE was y last one in.
Loved all of it.
This seemed slow going last night (I did have to pause the timer to go move the sprinkler) but when it was over it was under 20 minutes. Quite enjoyable crunching my way through, waiting for Rex's pops to start happening.
Hands up for UPS and not noticing the actual (clever) "carrier" meaning until I was done. Also SCOWL and SMIRK before SNEER AT. And LET'S BE OFF for quite a while for 40 across.
I'm with Rex today on the difficulty. I had a few hold-ups but most of it was popcorn. Yes to sitting with pOTHE__ at 2D for a while, wanting a UpS carrier. 13D was a Ssn card first because NIGEL didn't come to me. I've seen the movie several times but that character's name didn't stick.
The worst was 47A. S_L___S is obviously StLouiS. I blame 13D for planting that in my head. Slowly, awareness of Steinbeck's California roots SEEPed into my brain and then all I had to do is fix my misspelling of SeLINAS and all fell into place.
Thanks, Kate Chin Park!
And thanks, @Roo Monster! I read your book, which made 61A a gimme, how nice. Interesting plot, I must say.
Great puzzle. Loved all of it despite (because of?) being tricked so thoroughly and cleverly. Outwitted, really. UPS before USS, SSN before TEL, ASLEEP before CATNAP, LAO before TAI, AKA before SIC. Surprised that Rex didn’t take away points for the double-AT (YELL AT and SNEER AT).
Great Friday puzzle!
@GILL I. 12:53
As my energy begins to flag, I TIRE.
I've visited the Steinbeck museum in Salinas. I love his poetic writing. The museum is an excellent representation of his career. It shows clips from the movies made from his works.
BOLINAS for SALINAS held me up for a long time (apparently my California geography needs work).
Kate is great!
Wonderful cluing got me at one across and didn’t letup NOT ONE BIT. Luckily I still have TEN fingers to save TEL from the ssn trap, but ESPN failed me miserably as I started my gridiron march with a FIRST AND one though any armchair QB knows better. Today’s solve certainly goes into the books as a DREAM DATE.
Nice Rex as well; the man is mortal after all.
ANON: thanks for the link to that Pepsi commercial - hilarious!
Yahoo. Mountain Dew. There’s a bang in every bottle. This surprised me too after what has to be at least 50 plus years buying and drinking it. Liked some of the longer fill but Nigel was just completely off my radar. Top was much harder than the bottom.
I was angry about I’M NOT A ROBOT, imagining it as a line of dialogue that No One Would Ever Say. Then I remembered how it’s a thing in Captchas and cooled off a bit.
DNF today. Some WOEs: TAI (as spelled, wanted Lao), forty winks, heave ho (have only heard it as sung by the Dwarves); and lots of tricky clues I couldn’t parse.
I have trouble agreeing with the clue “In your face!” I’m imagining a big muscular dude slam dunk over his opponent and scream “in your face!” The same guy yelling “SO THERE!” feels quite meek in comparison.
Letter and legal are the common paper sizes in North America. One is 8.5x11”, the other is 8.5x14”. Because they don’t have the same proportions, the same contents would need a different layout in order to fill each size properly, so it is correct—though not common—to say that legal and letter are page layout options.
great puzzle. nice job kate chin park. my main complaint was 59a. this and that = these? feels wrong but could just be me.
I am always slightly amazed that people get excited about whether it's Coke or Pepsi. There's one difference, however: a 12 oz. Pepsi has 41 grams of sugar, while a 12 oz. Coke only has 39! (Roughly 10 teaspoons in either case.) Maybe you could ask for a little bag of sugar with your Coke and that would kind of even things out. (Just trying to be helpful ...)
same. sitting here annoyed. but i got through it. after an hour
6’8” Coke drinker agrees with you. But now I cough up the extra bucks and book the emergency exit seats. Remember when they were free and the gate agents took pity on us and gave them out?
Loved this puzzle. Tough as nails (for me), 100% fair, IS PEPSI OK? is the best clue/answer of the year.
"Is Pepsi okay?"-- what a joke. You know it's not okay or else you wouldn't ask. Ironically, went out to brunch this morning and waitress asked. Not only did my drink have the lousy diet Pepsi taste, but it tasted flat. Restaurant needs to order Coke products and learn to balance the syrup and the fizz.
First world problem, I know, but it made the answer so topical.
Great puzzle.
Very late to the party today, but just as well, because it was a very lackluster Hidden Diagonal Word (HDW) day--lots and lots of boring, common crossword three-letter words (EEL,SEA, ATE, TEE, CEO, ERA, PEC ...).
Two quick HDW clues/answers:
1. What his wife tries to get Charlie off (Answer: MTA--M in 11D)
2. Message I needed to send 20 minutes into this puzzle (SOS, S in 3D)
Yep, this one was a struggle and I was running late. So I resorted to frequent Check Word use and actually finished without ever have to hit Reveal Word/Puzzle. Pyrrhic victory--actually just a loss.
Hand up for team kischef--PEPSI never OK
This puzzle beat me fair and square. I enjoyed the struggle; no need to give it the olde HEAVE HO
"Is Pepsi OK" is sooooo good! So relatable, because it's happened to me plenty of times over the course of my life, as I'm a coke drinker, but no pepsi. I also love that it's such a burn to Pepsi. Of course the person asked the waitress for coke! I just had a Mad Men moment--I can see a commercial for coke where a waitress asked someone at a table "Is Pepsi ok"? and the person makes a face or something.
Professor Rex doesn’t know “still I rise” ? That surprises me. Also loved the swagger of “Is Pepsi, OK?”
Good one @bigsteve46! To follow up, why not ask for unsweetened tea instead of a obeseity/diabetes contributing sugary beverage. Tea has almost no calories and is loaded with polyphenols that have documented health protective benefits. And recent reports suggest that artificial sweeteners are even more health harmful than sugar.
Love the nod to XTC, Rex!
Man, I’m so late to party it’s ridiculous! GREAT puzzle and just too many things to comment on!
LOVED ISPEPSIOK! First. No, no it’s NOT so let me change it to “I’ll just have water.” I don’t drink soft drinks much, but if I do…blech…Pepsi! @bigsteve46…reducing the sugar isn’t enough. Good ole Coca Cola had a trade secret. MAYBE peeps know what it is now, but it has a bit of a “bite” that doesn’t make you think you’re drinking pure sugar/corn syrup.
Good call @Nancy…on puzzle.
Just like to register some of my grossest mistakes. Stuff of substance could be AMMO, as in “Do you have the right ammo?” What really hurt me there was the “10-digit no.” Clue which was (obviously!) mil, as in “ earning your first cool mil.” It didn’t help that MINI (down) also worked with the AMMO answer. Double sabotage!. Another baddy was 26 across. Well, of course (I thought), “they might be booked for getaways” was ZIPCARS”. And oh wasn’t I clever for getting that one? (Not) Third big screw-up was 9 Down. Testament to human nature? I put down (confidently) I’m not perfect. And I guess this puzzle proves it (though I must admit it also proves I’m not a robot, esp one equipped with AI.)
Fun__CFO
Many hours after you I made the same mistake on the same clue, 1A the first one I looked at of course. UPS. (after I could see DHL wouldn’t work). I thought UpS was too easy for Friday, but left it in
It is the last cross I did
After 55 minutes working on the puzzle in the dead tree edition ( no music or lack thereof tipoff) I went back as pOTHERE obviously doesn’t work. Finally the light! Just escaped a dnf
@Anony 1:30.... AH! Thank you.
Sun Volt
At least NIGEL is a fairly common name as Rex noted. I do agree that the character’s name is ridiculously obscure, but also as Rex said, you get 2 letters you get the answer The Times does this type of thing often late week. Can be annoying but I think it’s okay.
Yes! "I was going to change the 2nd para, but I think i'll just stet it"? NO!
@Anoa Bob 5:50. So agree on any sugary beverage. My husband has a Bourbon and Coke every evening and I have to buy both for him. I, personally, can't stand any sugary drink. I love ice tea and Le Croix's Guava São Paulo sparkling water. No calories nor sweeteners..... I also don't wash my hair when I go camping! ;-)
I don't think so; I agree with you.
@Anoa & @GILL
How many calories in a Martini?
Anonymous 9:15
35 Across
It appears like I do almost everyone here loves it.
To each his own.
You can hate it but I don’t understand what you mean by random.
Great puzzle.
I see most agree.
Like most commenters, my favorite was 35 A.
I think Bob Mills, besides not drinking soda, doesn’t hang around people who do because he doesn’t know you can’t sell products from both companies at the same restaurant.
Personally, I can’t stand either sweetened or “diet” soda of any kind.
@JC66...Now we're talking! I believe there aren't any in my Talisker either!
@Southside: " it was Edison, probably back in the early 1900’s who made the famous quote about genius being 99% perspiration. "
moreover, it is well established that 99% of the perspiration fell from his worker bees, not he.
Late, but,
Thanks Teedmn!
Roo
The Devil Wears Prada is an epic masterpiece of a movie, and I can’t believe we’ve had to wait almost two decades for the forthcoming sequel. It’s also a gay camp classic, and it’s refreshing to have a bit of trivia that makes the puzzle more inclusive without mere superficial pandering (e.g., the colors of the rainbow). Considering how much Rex values broadening the audience, today’s rant feels off to me.
Oops. The Maya Angelou poem is entitled "*And* Still I Rise".
Don’t know if my comment will still register at this late date, but have to say the @Rex’s popcorn analogy was one of the best ever reviews I’ve ever read. For me suffering from a tough head-cold virus trying to think straight was a chore and getting through this puzzle was a perfect popcorn adventure. Tortuous cluing and zippy answers were great.
I finished the puzzle but got the “Almost there” pop-up. Little did I know that all I had to do was change UPS to USS. I began re-examining the puzzle, and, ultimately, inserted 7 two-letter rebus squares. One example: For 45D & 51A I changed TAI & VERDICT to TAI/O & VERDI/OCT. What a gigantic mess! Occam’s Razor indeed.
lol that the bros who never complain about obscure golf and football trivia in xwords are crying about Nigel
ITERATE is used to mean "develop through experimentation" in tech/software circles. Create a product, collect feedback, make changes, release a new version, repeat.
I know “iterate” from programming: iterative and incremental. In that sense it is a trial and error process (hopefully not much of the error part).
Hard. Not enjoyable. Too much junk fill and bad cluing. Too many to list. Corners spell out USSR.
I'm not saying this was easy; cluing ("Decides to leave," "Card letters," etc.) saw to that. But what struck me was the proliferation of common letters throughout. I noticed it with entries like ITERATE and ESTEE. And then more, even long ones: RESONATE, EROSIONS, AISLESEAT and, incredibly, STILLIRISE. All Scrabble one-pointers, 160 out of the 195. And of those, only 8 were 4+ count. It just seemed, I dunno, watered down.
Way in was SHALT. SALINAS was a big gimme help; soon I had the SW and those beautiful long downs. LYRA helped restart in the SE, and when I got LETSBEGIN the NE opened up, as well as the sticky center. OBI gave me NOTONEBIT, then I STOODON that to finish the NW. SOTHERE!
A fine Friday offering; birdie.
Wordle phew again, a rerun of yesterday's result.
Great commercial! Thanks for posting!
I absolutely did not have to count the numbers in an SSN before typing in TEL, whatever do you mean?
This was difficult but enjoyable. I, too, loved ISPEPSIOK and IAMNOTAROBOT, and it absolutely is "That's on me" instead of ITSONME, but I won't quibble. Thanks for the explanation on STL, since that was completely baffling. Also, the only reason I knew FIRSTANDTEN was because of a commercial for some sports tv show on HBO back in the 80s. It might have even been called First and Ten? (it was, just looked it up.) I can still hear the line "First and ten, let's do it again!"
If only most puzzles were this OK ! A treat.
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