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Whom "video killed," in a 1979 hit / MON 8-19-24 / Explosive block in Minecraft / One of four for a square / Hoops player / "Here's a shorter summary," on internet forums / Poorly drawn circle, perhaps / Fern's reproductive cell
Monday, August 19, 2024
Constructor: Kenneth Cortes
Relative difficulty: Well, for me, solving Downs-only, it was Challenging (for a Monday, obviously)
Theme answers:
- TOP SIRLOIN (17A: Prime cut of beef ... or 5-Across, literally?) / 5A: Texas Roadhouse specialty (STEAK) ["STEAK" is "SIRLOIN," and it is "literally" at the "TOP" of the grid]
- BOTTOM LINE (62A: Balance sheet total ... or 68-Across, literally?) / 68A: D.C.'s subway system (METRO) ["METRO" is a "LINE," and it is "literally" at the "BOTTOM" of the grid]
- LEFT BEHIND (27D: Abandoned ... or 25-Down, literally?) / 25D: Tush (BOOTY) ["BOOTY" means "BEHIND," and it is "literally" on the "LEFT" side of the grid]
- RIGHT ANGLE (11D: One of four for a square ... or 32-Down, literally?) / 32D: Biased point of view (SLANT) ["SLANT" is an "ANGLE," and it is "literally" on the "RIGHT" side of the grid]
Originally Australian.
• • •
For the last three NYTXW appearances of YABBER (i.e. the only other appearances in the Modern Era—a Wednesday (2011), Sunday (2007), and Sunday (2002), respectively), the clues all indicated the answer's Australian-ness ("to an Aussie," "Down Under," "to an Aussie"). So this answer (which, again, is YABBER) has never (before today) appeared in an easy, early-week puzzle, and has never been clued without its Aussie indicator. Even in the pre-Shortz era (where the answer appeared only twice (Sun. 1988, Thu. 1979)), YABBER never showed up on a Mon or Tue, and never lacked its Aussie indicator ("in Queensland," "in Sydney"). The Aussie indicator tells American solvers "this is gonna be off" and so your solving brain can loosen up and accept weirdness. Without it, you're looking for a regular word that is used in this country, which YABBER ... isn't. This is bafflingly poor editing. I know it's no big deal because the puzzle is ultimately easy yabba yabba yabba, but it's still bad.
Notes:
Because of the Downs-only thing, I could only really see half the themers. Even though I had STEAK / TOP SIRLOIN, and BOTTOM LINE / METRO filled in, I had no idea how they were thematic (or even that they were thematic). The only themers I could see were the "LEFT" and "RIGHT" ones, and neither one of them—neither the long answers, nor the short answers they referred to, were clear to me at first pass. [One of four for a square] was *particularly* hard, since I wanted something having to do with "SIDES." I eventually figured out LEFT BEHIND, but even then I was like "how is your BOOTY 'literally' your LEFT BEHIND? I thought it referred to your *whole* behind..." It just took a while for the gimmick to register. I'm honestly surprised that I managed to finish without cheating (i.e. looking at Acrosses). I had "I BUY IT" before "I SEE IT" (10D: "Yeah, that seems plausible to me"), because "I BUY IT" is obviously better, as well as just more interesting, so ... yeah, that didn't help with my RIGHT ANGLE / SLANT problems in the NE and E. It took some Doing to infer STEFANI, which is the only way I managed to see BY FAR (29D: Without question). I had ESTEEM (?) before ASSESS (34D: Judge the value of). I absolutely (!) blanked on ABSOLUT (after STOLI and SKYY I was out of ideas) (Did I mention I hate vodka and don't understand why anyone drinks it? True story). And while I wanted BALLER fairly early, I had trouble committing to it (47D: Hoops player), mostly because BALLER has come to have meaning far beyond the basketball court. As I say, I feel lucky to have finished clean.
But OK, putting aside the Downs-only shenanigans, what about this theme? I dunno. Top bottom left right. It's kind of fussy, esp. for a Monday. I mean, there's some cleverness there, but you could do this theme with all kinds of TOP, BOTTOM, LEFT, and RIGHT-starting answers. The themer set feels arbitrary, not particularly tight. Overall, the puzzle's fine, but it doesn't have the perfect snap and the elegant simplicity that I crave in a Monday.
Notes:
- 10D: "Yeah, that seems plausible to me" ("I SEE IT") — did anyone else initially read this sarcastically and want to write in "I'LL BET"? Something about the "Yeah..."
- 20A: Tongue-tingling taco topping (HOT SALSA) — I would not call the mouth sensation that I get from truly HOT SALSA a "tingle." That is too weak and vaguely pleasant a word to describe it. If the salsa is merely "tongue-tingling," it's mild. Tongue-searing, tongue-scorching ... if you absolutely must have your four-part alliteration, maybe "tongue-torturing"? "Tongue-torching"?
- 36D: Whom "video killed," in a 1979 hit (RADIO STAR) — love remembering this song, but hate this phrase as a standalone answer. It doesn't have enough standalone power, not enough currency or meaning outside of this song.
- 13D: Through which we sniff, snort and sneeze (NOSE) — what kind of quaint-ass phrasing is this? There are rules about clue and answer being the same part of speech. A prepositional phrase should not be able to clue a noun. And again with the alliteration? A little goes a long way, I swear. [Singer Simone], [Soothing succulent], [Sign for the superstitious] ... maybe tap the brakes.
P.S. The OED is full of gems...
- 1969
Few Australians can speak English. Most have learnt from disc jockeys and yabber in an odd language called Strine.
Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) No. 69. 1/2
STRINE (6) actually made an NYTXW appearance on a Sunday back in 2019, when I called it "the most obscure thing I've ever seen in the puzzle"
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80 comments:
Medium-Challenging for a Monday, mostly because of YABBER (46A) and me never having heard of the song that involves a RADIO STAR (36D) killed by video.
/@rex -- "Yabber dabber ... don't." (with a Flintstone picture): "Hah!"
YABBER? YABBER!!?!?!?
Classic bit of TV trivia: "Video Killed the Radio Star" was the first-ever video played on MTV.
Weird theme. I don’t solve downs only, so I discerned the theme gimmick right off the bat with TOP SIRLOIN and from there it was pretty smooth sailing. It’s interesting to see Rex complain about a foreign word or phrase, even though they appear on pretty much a daily basis - even today, I would argue that ESOS is no less egregious than YABBER (although the point he is making is that the clue didn’t indicate the Aussie origin, which is a valid point).
I never heard of NINA Simone, which is an indication of just how much I struggle with PPP - it did get me to wondering if the “count the NINAs” guy (Hershfield, maybe?) still does illustrations for the NYT? I stopped getting the hard copy about a decade ago, and don’t recall seeing anything on line.
A complex Monday—a contradiction in terms? I only wish I could say I caught all the inferences before reading @Rex. I love his discussion of YABBER, but to me it was just another form of YAmmER, appearing in books and article from time to time. Nice to learn the history. Maybe not a catchy puzzle but I feel it has unusual depth.
Hah! I loved this theme. I especially loved the paired theme answers in the east, south, and west, where the long phrases directionally describe the one-word partner on the edge of the grid, and yet those long phrases also stand alone with a meaning that has nothing to do with that one-word partner.
That is, say, BOTTOM LINE by itself refers to the gist of something or to something financial, and nowhere does it suggest METRO.
Well, that is some first-class “Hah!”-inducing wordplay, and to have it happen three times in a grid brought me great pleasure.
The exception, of course, was TOP SIRLOIN, which does suggest STEAK. There are those who would say that this exception makes the theme inelegant. But I, who tend to see the glass half full, am grateful for the pleasure I’ve triply received.
I also had the pleasure of learning about two things. One, YABBER, which looks and sounds terrific, and I hope to get it in my rotation. And two, the song “Video Killed the Radio Star”, which never rose above #40 in the U.S., but was number one in many other countries, and whose video was the first video ever played on MTV. Truly, the Wikipedia article on the song plunged me into a fascinating world, and I highly recommend it.
Wit and spark in the box, on a day where there is no tough cluing to dilute it – Monday at its best. Thank you so much for this, KC!
It was the very first song played on MTV
I really like this theme. I see Rex's point about the tightness, but I don't care (note: I have had a fair few puzzles rejected because of insufficient theme tightness, so apparently it's something I don't care about).
The fill suffered a bit (TEHEE, GMA, YABBER, KOHLS, CST, ISO, AT IT, NINA, ETA, ALOE and such), but it was worth it. I will say this was a Tuesday puzzle, not a Monday, but that is not the constructor’s fault.
I had my fingers crossed for a Buggles video from Rex. Now I'll need to YouTube it myself.
My biggest complaint by far is the ridiculous and unnecessary clue for TNT.
I agree with Rex and others that YABBER crossing BOOTY is awful. Why clue BOOTY as a part of the body when it isn't necessary? Otherwise a nice easy Monday, albeit I hd "ohoh" for a long time instead of UHOH.
For Lewis: It's the BOTTOM LINE of the grid.
I just never like clues that refer to other clues, probably because I have some trouble reading the numbers on my print out, even with my reading glasses. For instance, I was wondering how a BOTTOMLINE could be a TATA. Turns out it couldn't.
Strangely enough, when YAMMER wouldn't work I thought, oh, it's YABBER. I must have read it somewhere. Bruce Chatwin?
Off to a bad start with COIL, fixed that, and no other major snags.
@Gary J-Hope you saw an @Anon correction to my confusion with OLEO yesterday, and I was happy to see that a reasonably intelligent person had made the same mistake.
Keen Construction, KC, but otherwise not many OOHS, Thanks for a reasonable amount of fun.
Didn’t get the theme, and didn’t like YABBER but Nina Simone always warms my heart.
Al Hirschfeld died in 2003.
hot sauce! who calls it hot salsa?
My wife and I decided YABBER must be some unholy portmanteau of JABBER and YAMMER; good to know its backstory. I spent an embarrassing amount of time (for a Monday) flailing around with BOOTJ or MALLERS until I finally gave up, filled in an unknown-to-me word, and got the piano music. Overall I would have described this as Tuesday level difficulty, easy.
Something I’ve learned in the comments today is that one of the answers has struck many as a real bubber.
Am I the only one who stumbled with TOLLbooth instead of TOLLGATE?
OKSURE
LMAO when I got to BOOTY/LEFT BEHIND. I'd take every nickel I have in the bank and bet that that pair had to be the original impulse behind the puzzle. Really great!
By comparison, STEAK/TOP SIRLOIN was amusing, but not quite as rare a delight.
The problem with the others was that you were presented with the joke in the wrong order -- that is you wouldn't see the referred-to answer first. And that was sort of a shame.
Still, I really liked the concept of the puzzle, which was fun and playful. And I really appreciated the lack of junk in the grid. Very nice Monday.
Hey All !
Those wacky Australians! YABBERing incessantly, with nary a word understood. Right, mate?
I thought this Theme was rather neat. Literal interpretations of the meanings. There's your ANGLE (SLANT) on the RIGHT , your BEHIND (BOOTY) on the LEFT, your SIRLOIN (STEAK) on the TOP, your LINE (METRO) on the BOTTOM. Simple, nicely executed.
ASSESS in the grid only enabling one POC. That's gotta be a rarity, eh @Anoa Bob? As a matter of fact, I don't see any two-for-one POCs. (As an aside, I made a puz once without any S's, the theme was a statement regarding such. Not accepted.)
Quite nice MonPuz, Kenneth. With an F dead center. And you snuck your name in.
Happy Monday (if that makes sense. Har)
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Very new crossworder here (less than a year into it, I think?), chiming in to say that despite YABBER (which I got immediately, but—not solving downs-only—I had the assistance of crosses) this puzzle played easy for a newbie. First time I didn’t have to come back to a single clue. It’ll be a while before I graduate to the challenge of downs-only, but I’m grateful for the confidence boost on the Monday that is for me the first day of class. Off to teach!
But it is necessary. Otherwise the pun with "left behind" doesn't work.
TOLLbooth for me. TOLLGATES? who says that. No one I know. I was in KOHLS yesterday.... such an exciting life :)
TOLLGATE - How quaint can a newspaper be?
Often miss the theme until I read Rex, especially when I solve downs only. Today downs only LEFT me BEHIND without peeking at a few of the acrosses. SO SAD, but that was the BOTOOM LINE.
@Southside Johnny, I recommend “Summer of Soul” and “What Happened Miss Simone” to get a great view of Nina’s Simone’s place (and a host of others’) in the cultural pantheon of the 20th Century.
YABBER.... {Sigh.}
Helpful to learn where right, left, top, and bottom are, and to have alternate examples as way to remember them. In this topsy-turvy world we inhabit, sometimes we might take solace in knowing our LEFT BEHIND is still our BOOTY and unlike our keys, and our phones, and our sunglasses, it can't be LEFT BEHIND. I bet most people are concerned their RIGHT BEHIND got LEFT out of the puzzle, and were hoping the BOTTOM LINE would include their BOOTY counterpart, but the editors went with METRO after realizing it's all related to the British TUBE. It's a long way to go for non-ARSE related ARSERY, but if anybody can pull it off, we know the NYTXW is the team to do it.
Who is signing off emails with BEST? YABBERERS?
Propers: 5
Places: 2
Products: 4
Partials: 6
Foreignisms: 3
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 20 of 76 (26%)
Funnyisms: 7 😂
Tee-Hee: TEHEE (misspelled) and BOOTY.
Uniclues:
1 Alpha cows.
2 Starts using OHOS.
3 Tube socks.
4 One meeeeeelion dollars.
1 TOP SIRLOIN EGOS
2 EASES OOHS
3 KOHL'S PASSIONS
4 EVIL BOTTOM LINE
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: When you're orange. TOO BAD SPRAY TAN.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
A little tough for a Monday, but still a quick fun puzzle. Rex getting mad at a puzzle cracks me up: He’s trying a stunt version of solving and one word throws him off. Solving normally, first thought was YAmmER, but every single cross insisted on YABBER as the only possibility. Looks like a cross between Yammer and Gab, so “plausible, moving on” was my response.
Fun, easy Monday. Clever theme. Enjoyed it!
Once crosses finally wrested YAmmER from my grid, I sat and stared at YABBER wondering what in the world? Had to briefly entertain the possibility of BOOTj being a thing...then shrugged and moved on.
American- have always heard “yabber”. Didn’t know it was Australian. Always suspected I was supposed to have been born in Australia. Have older parents though, so maybe it was more common here years ago? Dunno, don’t actually care. Yabber dabber don’t was clever though!
Clever Monday! Rex’ harrumphing about YABBER reminds me of Shelley Berman as the curmudgeonly judge on Boston Legal.
I will not tolerate Yibber YABBER
You’re doing crosswords as they were intended - the clue is in the name (cross words). Never mind the jibber jabber of downs only smarty pants, you’’ll miss the wordplay!
Good luck for the school year!
YABBER???
It’s a classic piece of pop culture
@pabloinnh 7:45 AM
Well, suggesting I'm reasonably intelligent is a bit of a stretch as I have ample evidence the opposite is true, but I did see you and I faced the same OLEO/ELIN problem. We watch a lot of cooking shows in our house because my wife has a crush on Bobby Flay and while I am not exactly sure where the kitchen is in our house, I have become aware chefs do all kinda crazy toppings on things -- so why not crumbly OLEO?! Might be delicious. It's probably blow-torched and zested. But the real culprit here is parents who name their daughters ELIN and bring the easy-to-love universe of ERINs into doubt.
Who ends an email with “Tata”?
YABBER is NOT a word!
From Joseph Michael:
A bit of Monday morning irony: The answer to 46A causing Rex to YABBER about it for most of his review.
Oh I get that -- I tried to explain that in the previous paragraph. What I love is that BOTTOM LINE *by itself* is a lovely in-the-language phrase that has nothing to do with METRO, and yet in this puzzle it has been crafted to be very connected to it, through wordplay.
Medium-tough. Cross referencing puzzles are not my favorites and this was not an exception and YABBER just added to my irritation. That said, the theme was interesting and the grid was pretty clean (except….) so…didn’t hate it.
Croce Solvers - Croce’s Freestyle #935 was pretty easy for a Croce with the east side a tad easier than the west for me. Good luck!
Is the wife of an ass an ASSESS?
I was wondering what brand of steel wool pads to buy and then I saw an SOSAD. Enough said.
Sorry to YABBER on like this, but I've been drinking and I'm kinda habbered. So throw me in the slabber!
Very fun theme idea. Thanks, Kenneth Cortes.
I thought of Foggy Bottom, a stop on the DC Metro, but would never refer to it as the “Bottom Line.” Brought a smile though.
it should be illegal to have SNIT and ATIT on the same puzzle
A ridiculous clue for the only 5-letter HDW* I saw in this grid: "Knot" heads?
You'll find the answer if you go to the square in the extreme SW corner and move diagonally in the only way possible.
Nice to see my initials once again gracing a nyt puzzle (hello, TNT)
TNT says, "TA-TA"
Butt the LEFT ME HIND + the RIGHT ME HIND = ME BOOTY. So actually, YAMMER is correct. It's a BOTTOM ANGLE. How about ASSESSing a nice RUMP STEAK?
Hot sauce and salsa are two different things for me, even if "salsa" means "sauce" in English. A hot sauce would be something like Valentina, Cholula, El Yucateco -- something runny-ish and pourable that comes in a small bottle, typically. Salsa comes in little plastic cups filled by the tacqueria, or in a jar. It has more texture to it. That said, I wouldn't probably say "hot salsa," but rather specify, like "do you have any green/red/black salsa?" and the heat is whatever the heat is.
A bit of Monday morning irony: The answer to 46A causing Rex to YABBER about it for most of his review.
Accountant nit incoming - the term ‘bottom line’ is almost universally understood to mean net income/loss which is not a balance sheet total. Totals on the balance sheet are total assets ans also liabilities and equity. Just change out balance sheet for income statement. How did this pass the editorial process?
The poor decision (who edits these things now?) to include “yabber” (a word used in a corner of the English-speaking world, but importantly not the world of NYT’s readership), is probably the result of what seems an accepted thing, with many internet era constructors. Namely, if you can search for and find a synonym for a word in some corner of the language world, no matter how archaic, no matter in what culture it is/was relevant to, then it is fair game for the NYT crossword. It’s a slippery slope, this kind of arbitrariness, if it goes unquestioned. I think It’s well worth pushing back.
At first I thought the theme was about giving different meanings to common terms, like RIGHT ANGLE being a political SLANT, and BOTTOM LINE being a subway route than ran underneath the city. This made STEAK/TOP SIRLOIN an outlier, since they're the second is just an example of the first. But then I got BOOTY/LEFT BEHIND, and went back to see where the other literal interpretations were place in the grid. Ah! I liked it. I just wished there could have been a theme answer in the center--or maybe just above and below the center, to make the pair symmetrical. But then the term being defined wouldn't have been in the center, so I guess that would not have worked.
We take long motor trips a couple of times a year, and TOLL GATES are few and far between -- we have none at all here in Massachusetts. But I guess they're more current than dial phones or CD-ROMs.
A sincere question: is ARIAL really "popular," or do people just use it because it is often the default? For all I know I'm using it now, but I don't know how to change it!
OK, I'll go read Rex and the rest of you.
KOHL’s is a department store, not a ‘big box’ store (at least by the normal definition of big box = major appliance store). Best Buy, P.C. Richard’s, etc. are big box stores.
This and the YABBER/BOOTY cross annoyed me today….
Actually, I thought that pair at the top was pretty well done.
KOHL'S isn't really a POC, in that a) it's the name of the store, and b) if you leave the S off it's no longer a correct answer; you'd have to clue it as the former Senator from Wisconsin. Or you could make it even more so, and clue Walter Kohler, plumbing manufacturer and former Governor of the same.
Who ends an email with "Bye for now?" It's said IRL, though.
Explain to me why YABBER is not OK but ESOS (Spanish "those") is. Or any other non-cognate word in Spanish or French, for that matter. I don't like any of them. Why no German words, which I'd have a shot at? Oh, right, this puzzle is in American English. So how about English words and not Spanish/French verb tenses and pronouns.
Easiest Monday ever. I didn't pause for a second which made me think I'd have to search for typos. Nope. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it. Getting a late start day, I was relieved to whoosh through it.
Thanks Kenneth :)
YABBER didn't particularly bother me-- I just chalked it up as another of those slang words that the kids these days (broadly defined) are saying. But I'm amazed that Rex let it deter him from putting in BOOTY, and all the other crosses were really clear. I mean, I thought it was B-BALLER, but close enough.
Rather than write a long comment reacting to many other comments, I'm trying out the "Reply" button in the new format. I gather it's supposed to put my reply right below the comment I'm responding to, but none of them have posted yet--so I'll check back later.
Croce 935 was medium. Scored as a two-square DNF at the crosses of 48A and 59A with 49D, but I think all three of my answers are also correct so I'm counting it as correctly solved.
I gave up trying down clues only today because I just didn't have the patience. For one thing I could not think of a five letter word for "Tush". But then, seeing the clue for 46 across didn't help either because JABBER! (What word for tush ends in J?)
Typeovers: HOME LEG before LAST LEG, I GUESS before I SEE IT, and BAP before BAM because downs only PETRO seemed plausible.
I agree with @kitshef about the unnecessary TNT clue.
Now let's see if it will let me comment as myself today...
When I think Big Box store I think Costco, not Kohls. Wouldn't that be more a department store?
I first heard of "Strine" when reading a book by Robert McNeil, "The Story of English". He wrote a chapter about the different dialects of English and in it cited the book "Let Stalk Strine" by Afferbeck Lauder. I remember saying out loud the title many times until it seemed I could hear Crocodile Dundee eliding the word Australian into Strine. Fun stuff.
As usual, I missed the extra element of today's theme, the literally parts. I got the STEAK, nearly hit me in the chin, but the BOOTY, the METRO and the SLANT, no.
Thanks, Kenneth Cortes.
I misread pay as "play" so put I in toll plaza. Booth seems more obvious than gate but both are disappearing as automatic/photo methods take over.
It delights me that you had a Boston Legal moment thanks to YABBER. I’m not the only one! I love that show.
Hand up for tollBOOTH.. Tried "jabber" and "yammer". That left me with either BOOTJ or LEFTMEHIND and MALLER. I told my wife this is going to be the first Monday Puzzle I couldn't finish. But with YABBER in place I did get it finished.
I don't think it should be TEHEE. That would be pronounced tuh-HEE. It has to be TEEHEE.
Loved Rex's write-up. When he's on a roll, he's hilarious--as he was today. I laughed out loud all the way through, which got me some aggravated looks.
Nina Simone's biggest hit, I believe, was "I loves you, Porgy," from "Porgy and Bess." There have been several songs like the Buggles "Video Killed the Radio Star," where it seems as if they have no place to take a breath and the lyrics are done so fast the words are unintelligible. Try Neil Diamond's "Done too Soon," Hank Snow's "I've Been Everywhere, " and Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire."
Solving downs-only and got off to a great start with the first four answers. Was feeling pretty good. Felt even better when I entered SPRANG. What a great word. Sounds so energetic. Of course I stalled for a while at the BOOTY/JABBER cross even though I have spent some time down under (have family there) and have definitely heard the term.
TOLLGATES was weird and it was only after I erased booth that I was able to navigate that middle section.
Had to look up KOHLS post-solve because I've never seen one. Seems like the closest one to me is in Bellingham, Washington. Not being a fan of big box stores or big malls, I can't say I really care, but I might remember it next time it shows up in the puzzle.
An OK Monday, I guess.
Loved being reminded that "Video Killed the Radio Star" was the first song played on MTV. Thank you early posters Anthony in TX and Anonymous x 2.
Now see, that's reasonably intelligent comment. Since we made identical mistakes yesterday I was implying that I am at least reasonably intelligent too, which is about the best I can hope for.
I came here just to say this.
@foxaroni- I think you may be confusing The Buggles' Video Killed the Radio Star with Reunion's Life is a Rock but the Radio Rolled Me The former's lyrics are neither particularly fast nor unintelligible.
I had the same trouble and because it seemed it had to be plural I needed crosses to get the GATES part.
Masked and Anonymous hasn't been around for a few days. I hope he's OK. He's posted almost every day for as long as I've been here.
Come on NYT! A balance sheet doesn't have a bottom line. The bottom line is the net profit on an income statement. A balance sheet "balances" assets with liabilities + owner's equity. Finance 101!
Never heard of Nina Simone? You're in for a treat. Take a look at her wiki entry, then head for youtube and take a listen - "Feeling Good," "I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to Be Free," "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood." Save the best for last: "Mississippi Goddam."
Ha ha
He is on vacation. I think he has another week-and-a-half left.
Right you are, @ kitshef...I did conflate the two. I never liked either song, really, but loved to join in on "Life is a rock" chorus.
Rare? Well done!
I would not call the gift of GAB "eloquence." BYFAR more often than not, it's the opposite: YABBER. Sounds like a Swede trying to say "jabber." But there it is: a real word. YAMMER, I'd buy. ISEEIT. It's when you're in a SNIT and go ATIT. (Dupe on the IT)
Simple theme, a little different, and for not being that much of a strain on the fill, could have used better fill. Plenty of crossword Good Ol' Boys: ALOE, ARIAL, ESOS, OOHS...TATA. DOD: Gwen STEFANI, BYFAR. Par.
Wordle birdie.
ASSESS IT RIGHT
LONG LEGs from TOP to BOTTOM,
BYFAR the BEST to find,
ISEEIT, NINA’s got ‘em,
and A well KEPT HOT BEHIND.
--- KEN STEFANI
I have no idea about other states, but in Illinois, it's either toll gates or auto pay device. The booths have been abandoned.
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