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Swim around, scare some people, ram a boat...? / WED 9-11-24 / Parks whose cookbook "BraveTart" won the James Beard Award / 1998 animated film set in Central Park / Angela's successor as German chancellor
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Constructor: Barbara Lin
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium to Medium
Theme answers:
This was slower-starting than it should've been. That's how it felt anyway. Completely broke down right out of the gate because of STELLA Parks (1D: Parks whose cookbook "BraveTart" won the James Beard Award), whose first name could've been any name in all of namedom as far as I was concerned. Looking her up just now, she seems to be known primarily for the one book (the title of which is only reminding me how much I hated Braveheart). I guess if you're a serious Serious Eats fan (where she wrote for a time), then her name may be quite familiar, but otherwise she seems kind of obscure, as crossword-famous people go. I mean, I don't know *lots* of names, but usually when I look them up, it seems like they're legit famous and I just missed them. Didn't quite seem that way with this name. And so my whole NW corner just caved in. Got SOB but then couldn't confirm it with any of the Downs and after a stab or two at some other things, I just abandoned the corner and went over to the adjacent section, where I got traction: TOO OAF OLE OLAF etc., but even there things were a little on the slow side, as it took me Every Single Letter to get that first theme. Nothing about the phrase seemed familiar. What is the pun? I wondered. I wanted, like, a Life of Pi pun, but no. Life of Riley? Sincerely, I had LIFE OF -AWS and thought maybe a giant tiger was ramming the boat (still on Life of Pi, I guess), and that the answer was going to be LIFE OF PAWS (!?!?!). Then IN JEST gave me LIFE OF JAWS and I just stared for a few seconds, not seeing it. Then I saw it—swap "LIFE" and "JAWS" and you get JAWS OF LIFE (a recognizable phrase!). So ... that's it. It's a word swap puzzle. Swap words, get wacky. Puzzle got a lot easier from there on out.
Bullet points:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
- LIFE OF JAWS (17A: Swim around, scare some people, ram a boat ...?)
- LOVE OF LABORS (22A: Good quality for a midwife?)
- FORTUNE OF CHANGE (37A: What the world's largest piggy bank holds?)
- LIONS OF PRIDE (51A: Heroes in L.G.B.T.Q.+ history?)
- ARMS OF COAT (59A: Jacket sleeves?)
Olaf Scholz (German: [ˈoːlaf ˈʃɔlts] ; born 14 June 1958) is a German politician who has been the chancellor of Germany since 8 December 2021. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice Chancellor in the fourth Merkel cabinet and as Federal Minister of Finance from 2018 to 2021. He was also First Mayor of Hamburg from 2011 to 2018, deputy leader of the SPD from 2009 to 2019, and Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs from 2007 to 2009. [...] After the Social Democratic Party entered the fourth Merkel government in 2018, Scholz was appointed as both Minister of Finance and Vice Chancellor of Germany. In 2020, he was nominated as the SPD's candidate for Chancellor of Germany for the 2021 federal election. The party won a plurality of seats in the Bundestag and formed a "traffic light coalition" with Alliance 90/The Greens and the Free Democratic Party. On 8 December 2021, Scholz was elected and sworn in as Chancellor by the Bundestag, succeeding Angela Merkel. (wikipedia)
• • •
But did it get more enjoyable? Yes and no. Yes, in that I knew what I was dealing with, and there was a lot less flailing, and there was nothing else in the puzzle that stumped me like STELLA. The theme, though, feels slight. Well, it's simple, for sure, but you can do big things with simple things if you really nail the execution. If every themer is a Truly Wacky banger, then who cares if the trick itself is rudimentary? But only two of these seem to rise to the appropriate wacky standards. The animal ones. I like both of those. LIFE OF JAWS (esp. its clue) is pretty funny, and LIONS OF PRIDE is pretty good too, though frankly I like it better (in my mind) if the LIONS are actual, feline lions and not just "lions" in the metaphorical "bigwig" sense. Queer lions, proudly marching in the parade, that is what I want to see (and am seeing, in my mind's eye, right now). The other themers are just OK. LOVE OF LABORS is weird with LABORS in the plural. FORTUNE OF CHANGE is kind of boring on its face, and anyway, it would be a fortune in change (not "of"). And ARMS OF COAT is ridiculous because it just gives you a literal ordinary thing, like "hem of dress" or "laces of shoe" or something. The "wackiness" just doesn't land with that one. So ... it's so-so, on the whole.
After I got LIFE OF JAWS worked out, as I say, the puzzle got a lot easier. No real hang-ups, and eventually backed my way into that initially disastrous NW corner, picking up THEN (12A: Not now) and "OH COOL" (2D: "That's pretty nifty!") and BEHAVIORAL (3D: Like problems a schoolteacher might deal with) and other things that had eluded me. Speaking of that corner, really loving the LOVE OF LABORS / COITUS / ALIBI, "laboring" being a common euphemism (at least in 17c. poetry) for COITUS, and ALIBI being something you'll need, maybe, if your COITUS is of the illicit kind. Gotta get that COITUS ALIBI straight, for sure. "Did you do the COITUS!?" "No, I have an ALIBI!" "Well ... good, then." But back to difficulty (if any). I tried to spell Whoopi Goldberg's Oscar-winning role like the nail polish brand—well, not OPI MAE, but ODI MAE, for sure (49D: Whoopi's Oscar-winning role in "Ghost" => ODA MAE). I also had FUSS before FUTZ (54D: Mess (with)), and took what felt like an awful long time to get TOMATO (47D: Part of a club) (the "club" is a sandwich, it turns out). Otherwise, any part of the puzzle I haven't mentioned—piece of cake. The whole thing came out feeling just about right, difficulty-wise, for a Wednesday.
Bullet points:
- 57D: Lazarus with a sonnet on the Statue of Liberty (EMMA) — had the "E" and wrote in ... EZRA. I think the "z" in Lazarus, coupled with certain crossword-name reflexes, just ... pushed me in the wrong direction. Of course it's EMMA. Of course of course. EMMA is ... better than EZRA. EMMA is ... good:
- 23D: Usually dry streambeds (ARROYOS) — not a fan of froyo, but I am a fan of ARROYOS, as a word as well as a geographical feature. Would I eat froyo in an arroyo? Well first, I have questions about how I got in the arroyo in the first place, and second, no, I would not eat froyo in an arroyo. Just ice cream for me, thanks. I would eat gelato in a grotto, though, in case you were wondering.
- 52D: Statement of defeat ("I LOST") — I don't really have anything here, but the "LOST" part reminded me of this performance, which I became aware of only yesterday—one of the most improbable, jaw-dropping cover songs I've ever heard (do not press play unless you've got the 8 minutes to spare, because it's an experience you can't really shortcut): it's Kasey Chambers covering the Eminem classic "Lose Yourself" (from the movie 8 Mile):
Enjoy your day. See you next time.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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74 comments:
Maude Lebowski:
Do you like sex, Mr. Lebowski?
The Dude:
'Scuse me?
Maude Lebowski:
Sex. The physical act of love. Coitus. Do you like it?
The Dude:
I was talking about my rug.
Maude Lebowski:
You're not interested in sex?
The Dude:
You mean coitus?
It took longer than it should have, because I never found a revealer for the inverted phrases. I knew COATOFARMS had to be right, but it didn't work with "fuss." Then I remembered hearing someone say "FUTZ around" a long time ago, and decided to try it. Bingo! Except for that it was quite easy, with some very nice fill...especially BEHAVIORAL.
Handsome grid - I really like all the long downs. Theme was cute and at times wacky enough. LIFE OF JAWS was tops for me.
UB40
Had no idea on STELLA - I would have gone with a Kerouac clue. Never saw Ghost so ODA MAE was complete backed into. Love how ARROYO sits in the center low point like it’s collecting all the storm water runoff from the rest of the grid - nice touch.
I Wanna Be ADORED
Enjoyable Wednesday morning solve. Dispirited after trying to watch some of that debacle last night. So many fine people in this country and we are left to choose from these two.
Hüsker Dü
Here to be an insufferable pedant and say that these # # # are not sharps, these ♯ ♯ ♯ are sharps. There's unicode for them and everything!
Ugh, agree with Rex that going with a virtually unknown STELLA out of the gate just gave off poor vibes - and it’s bookended by the equally distasteful ODAMAE and KINETIC ART in the SE. The theme was nothing special - and in fact the theme was a net negative if you didn’t get the “reverse the terms” construct.
I’m not a fan of gimmick Thursday bleeding over into Wednesdays, as seems to be the case recently. I wish they would get really good at at junk-free puzzles and then require themes that don’t put so much stress on the grid that they don’t have to resort to things like ANTZ, GILA and Lazarus and his/her poem.
Fun theme. The new administration seems to be relaxing, among other things, the requirement for theme ‘tightness’, I think in this case to the benefit of the solver.
STELLA is not in the top 50 celebrity chefs per Ranker, and I firmly believe we should not have to know more than three celebrity chefs (Graham Kerr, Julia Child, Ina Garten).
Really liked this one. Tough for me. Did not get theme until late, and then all the longs fell. That cascade of entries gave me a feeling of accomplishment. Good experience.
18D Or what McCartney said under his breath every time she crashed a recording session
Really did not like this puzzle. I needed every cross for the themers and didn’t get the theme until I read Rex. STELLA as clued was a WoE, BEHAVIORAL not obvious at all. Other problems: NEEDed before NEEDBE, OrAMAE before ODAMAE because I had no idea. COITUS, such an ugly clinical word. The whole thing was an unpleasant slog.
I CAN'T be the only one who had FU__ for "54D. Mess (with)" and thought of a less-than-crossword-friendly answer... :)
Almost DNFed at the OPI-GILA cross - I had no idea on the National Park, and I can never remember the nail polish brand.
@Chris 6:54, you’re not the only pedant here. I got to that spot and said to myself, “Those aren’t sharps. Hashtags, pound signs, call ‘em what you want. But they ain’t sharps.”
“Hah!” is how I reacted to LIFE OF JAWS, from the sweet ping at seeing the scheme, to the funny clue, to knowing what the other theme answers would do and knowing there would be fun ahead in trying to guess them with as few crosses as possible. Knowing that each would be a riddle to crack rather than a mindless slapdown.
I did love that huge piggy bank, the regal feel of LIONS OF PRIDE, and the sheer silliness of ARMS OF COAT.
Not to mention answers that added beauty to the solve: ARROYOS, NONE BUT, BEHAVIORAL and KINETIC ART. Add in three palindromes (ERE, TET, ONO) and a trio of longer semordnilaps (A TAD, DEFER, and G ILA). Sweetness all around in the box.
I’m still remembering the stellar wordplay of Barbara’s last solo puzzle (8/2/23), where the theme answers were, get this, syllable palindromes! For example, KAZOO BAZOOKA, which forward is KA ZOO BA ZOO KA, and backward is KA ZOO BA ZOO KA. Another answer was TIC TAC TOE TACTIC.
Wordplay like that and like in today’s puzzle tickles me top to bottom. More, please, Barbara, and thank you for today's stellar outing!
Rare Wednesday appearance for me...
Got hung up for a time in the NW corner, since I had ROT for "Break down" and didn't know STELLA... And then, I had RUT for "Turn for the worse" before figuring out that *this* was ROT!
I enjoyed the theme today! - Nice way to start a WFH day.
Didn't get the theme until LABORS, filled in top last.
Great analysis and comments today, enjoyed them more than the puzzle! Keep it up team
Okay, good, I wasn’t the only one either
No idea on STELLA, and I did see "Ghost", but that was a long time ago, and if you remembered ODAMAE, well good for you. That was an "every cross" answer for me, not helped by having GIGI instead of GRAN, which I did change. but not thanks to ODAMAE for that.
We talk to Alexa on a regular basis but Alexa has an ECHO feature? OHCOOL.
How did OLAF get into Germany? In Crosslandia he's always from Norway, so a little surprise there.
Hard to get into this one and I wound up in the SW corner where ARMSOFCOAT gave the game away, but today was anything but whooshy. Some nice misdirects-looking at you, TOMATO, and some hard to parse letter strings (BEHAVIORAL) made this one a harder than average Wednesday here, and that's fine.
I liked your phrase turns just fine, BL. Well done you, and I'll Be Looking for more like this. Thanks for all the fun.
On another note, I wonder if we'll hear someone say ILOST this morning. Not likely.
hashtag aigu
I tried two wrong answers for 12-Across (“Not now”): ONCE and SOON.
Wow!!! Thanks for that Kasey Chambers link. Amazing!!!!
Hey All !
Nice theme, tougher than average WedsPuz. Raises the F count because of the OF's, which is never a bad thing!
Figured out what in tarhooties was happening after finally figuring out the first Themer. Was still a bit challenging getting the others.
Neat idea. Good reimagining of regular phrases. I sure the clever bunch we have here will come up with more.
Hump day already, man, these weeks are starting to fly by faster and faster.
Happy Wednesday.
Seven F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Medium for a Wednesday, solved with (mostly) not reading the clues for the long acrosses.
2D: OH neat before COOL, quickly corrected by ECHO at 16A
21A: NEEDed before NEED BE
54D: @Rex FUss before FUTZ, confirmed because I keep forgetting that the 64A movie title is ANTZ, not ANTs
I hesitated for a long time at 10D because I've never seen NEWB in the wild. It's always NooB.
The last square I filled was at 38Dx44A because I wanted the nail polish to be OPo and I don't know New Mexico park names. But GILA makes sense.
ALIG?
stella who?
Like Conrad I blew the OPI/GILA crossing. Confidently wrote in OPA (oops) and since GALA is a word I never revisited.
I guess I’m all alone here, but I slapped STELLA Parks (she’s wonderful) in there immediately. I’m hopeless with names, so I got a thrill at knowing one. Also Emma Lazarus.
An element of the theme that Rex doesn’t mention is that all of the words that have been moved from first to last have different meanings than in the original expression. (E.g, Jaws the shark vs. Jaws the mechanism; etc.)
I liked the theme just fine and thought the puzzle had a reasonable amount of sparkle. I wonder if anyone put OrAclE before ODAMAE? Actually, I think Whoopi’s character was more like a “medium”, but it’s been years since I saw Ghost so “oracle” seemed possible.
As for STELLA, I am okay with names I don’t know if crosses are fair because sometimes they lead to interesting discoveries.
Part of a club? Tomato?
Part of a club? Tomato?
as in club sandwich
Imagine my surprise when today's theme ECHOed Will Nediger's and my TURNS OF PHRASE puzzle of Sunday, 1/23/22 in the NYT. But Barbara's themers are all different and I'm sure she had no idea of the similarity because absolutely no one can see every puzzle or remember every puzzle that has ever come down the pike.
Perhaps the NYT should have remembered though?
Anyway, I found it a very enjoyable puzzle -- and while "jaws of life" is not a phrase I'm familiar with, I did love the playful way it was clued. I thought the best clue/answer combo was LOVE OF LABORS. And I sort of imagine that even after combining this puzzle with my previous Sunday puzzle, the potential list of reversible "of" phrases has yet to be exhausted. Will we be seeing a third such puzzle in the not-too-distant future?
I guess last night's debate exposed some of the unsavory ways of right in this country. They'll prevaricate en masse, resulting in lies of pack. Meanwhile, Kamala demonstrated a welcome mind of state.
ROT and ROTOR standing end to end and both clues using "turn"?
Since several commenters didn't like the ### clue, maybe it should have been "Crossword blogger's family".
I liked this puzzle just fine. A humorous theme is always good by me. Thanks, Barbara Lin.
He literally explained this
Nadie se comió a mi perro anoche.
I had so much fun filling this out. Got dicey at the bottom, but I persisted. I don't pay much attention to constructors, but Barbara Lin keeps coming up as somebody I like. She SLAYS.
If there is a list of all time great clues, I would like to nominate [Swim around, scare some people, ram a boat] as number one ever. I would have added [Nibble on toes], but I always go too far.
Thank you NYTXW team for sending me this New Mexico themed puzzle. I appreciate it. Or are you mocking me?
Gila National Forest is north of Silver City, New Mexico, and Silver City is built squarely in the middle of nowhere. The first few paragraphs in their Wikipedia page reads like a spaghetti western. And, remember, I mentioned ARROYOS a few days back because they're notorious for sweeping away skateboarders who prioritize Ollies over personal safety.
NOOB vs NEWB continues to plague my soul. And I am worried we'll focus on "Lift off" vs. "Blast off" today.
❤️ Galoot. [For yuks.] FUTZ.
Propers: 7
Places: 1
Products: 5
Partials: 7
Foreignisms: 3
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 23 of 74 (31%)
Funnyisms: 7 😂
Tee-Hee: I can't write the uniclue for I LOST COITUS as I am on a watch list, but you can. Just sayin'.
Uniclues:
1 Fact checks cat-eating claim.
2 Go with flats.
3 What I suspect @Lewis is doing everyday, but I can't prove it.
1 OUTS REPS IRE
2 DEFER SHARPS
3 ADORING IN JEST (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: When the judge completes the sentencing phase with the phrase, "Good luck." SENDS UP EERILY.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Holy coitus, Batman! Did M&A ever misread the puztheme mcguffin, after splatzin in the LIFEOFJAWS themer. I thought it was surely a port-man-tow of movie flick titles. You know, as in: LIFE OF PI/JAWS.
The possibilities loomed endless, in the M&A mindpan:
* THE WIZARD OF E.T.
* LORD OF THE ANTZ.
* LAWRENCE OF CASABLANCA.
* GONE WITH THE ALIEN.
* IT HAPPENED ONE HIGH NOON.
* A FISTFUL OF X-MEN.
* SHAKESPEARE IN MASH.
* BRIDGE ON THE RIVER BARBIE.
* CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE WORDPLAY.
etc.
But, I digress...
Anyhoo, pretty good just-a-word-switch theme. And no flick name drops, sooo ... wrong again, M&A breath. "Stel-LA!"
staff weeject pick: OPI. [sigh] Impossible for M&A to remember it for more than 2.3 puzs into the future. Maybe if only there were to be a famous flick called Phantom of the Opi, or some such ...
some fave stuff, other than LIFEOFJAWS: KINETICART. FUTZ. ARROYOS. INJEST. TRIPLE clue.
Thanx, Ms. Lin darlin. Nice job.
Masked & Anonymo3Us
**gruntz**
Done in by fortune of coinage & fuss vs futz. Just couldn't get 47d & 35d to work
Um actually they’re called octothorps
@Chris 6:54 AM
Yes Chris. You are being an insufferable pedant. It's a crossword puzzle and this # is a clue, not a definition. What button on your keyboard do you push to create an sharp in every musical notation software? The # are sharps ... and flats are b. You can make the leap to accepting this unwashed-masses approach to music by having a cocktail. And more importantly, nobody on Earth cares except other college-trained musicians and most of them are working in other industries because knowing this stuff doesn't pay the bills. This is one of my hot button issues... music is an art form and it thrives when people aren't trying to force it into a box.
One of the best puzzles this year. Why does OFL's struggles devolve into niggling criticism? Didn't know EMM Lazarus!! State of Liberty. Good grief!
Never got the theme. I used to watch cooking shows but never heard of STELLA. Had Delay for DEFER. Came here to see what the puzzle was all about. Guess I didn't enjoy it :(
37D Let it be noted that Newton, Massachusetts, after which the confection was named, is the second town following Natick on the Boston Marathon route.
I’ll be happy to have a Mochi on a Mesa.
Am I the only one who has no idea what “Chicago” or “Oklahoma!” is? Apparently they’re “musicals,” oh great, more elitist trivia from the New York Times.
@Nancy-Just saw your question about wasabi from yesterday, and no we didn't wash their mouths out with it, a little taste was enough.
My older son is now 43 and believe it or not, I have never heard him swear. I'd be amazed if he never has, but not around Mom and Dad at least.
Looks like my nametag didn’t get attached to my comment, again. Still hard for m&e to get used to the weird new format, I reckon. Sorry.
M&Also
Sensational puzzle, medium challenging for a Wednesday, had FUSS for FUTZ and a couple other misses, but it was fair and very solid
Medium with the NW as the toughest section (Hi Folks) where STELLA was a WOE (Hi @Rex) and OH COOL and NONE BUT did not come easily.
Me too for FUss before FUTZ
The wackiness worked for me, fun puzzle, liked it.
I had to read 23 Substack posts on last night's debate before I could get to the puzzle, so I'm getting here very late, and will just comment on it all at once. I could tell from the clue that 17-A was about JAWS, but I needed most of the crosses to get the whole thing--after that it was a lot of fun trying to guess the other theme answers, none of which came all that easily. I agree with Rex that ARMS OF COAT is insufficiently wacky, but the others are good.
As for OLAF, I should have known him, but wanted him to be Otto, instead. Either way, he needs no Roman numeral, which is nice.
I didn't know STELLA either, but OPI seems to have stuck in my memory. I did know EMMA, of course, but only the last few lines of the poem. Hearing that it was a sonnet inspired me to look it up; I was glad I had.
p.s.
GONE WITH THE SHARKNADO.
BEN-HER.
DR JEKYLL AND MR MOTO.
CITIZEN KONG.
SOME LIKE IT COLD BLOOD.
A STREETCAR NAMED DJANGO.
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOLITA.
SILENCE OF THE BAMBI.
ALL THE PRESIDENTS SWIFTIES. (outlier, I’d grant. but couldn’t resist)
… har. day-um, cat ladies.
M&A of the Third Kind
I also thought "Love of labors" sounds odd being plural. It should have been "Love of labor." Also, the word "coitus" is just gross. I hate that word for sex, it makes me think of the writings of the traditional marriage advocates. They love that nasty word. Ick.
It took me a while to catch on to the theme but that made it better. I think it was at LIONS OF PRIDE perhaps. And Nancy, I remember your puzzle!
Thanks Sheldon Cooper, for giving me COITUS. Er, I mean, giving me the word coitus.
The only typeover I remember was MEMBER for "Part of a club" off the M from MUSICAL. It was just so perfect that it took me forever to realize it had to go!
[Spelling Bee: easy yesterday for QB streak of 10.]
Yeah, the unturned phrase for 22 Across is LABOR OF LOVE. Trouble is, it doesn't match the letter count of its symmetrically placed unturned PRIDE OF LIONS. There's an easy solution to that problem; just use a plural of convenience (POC) to boost its letter count.
Coming up with matching letter count theme entries, however, is one of the requirements that greatly increases the degree of difficulty of constructing a themed puzzle. Lowering that degree of difficulty then lowers the overall quality of the puzzle in my book. Think Olympic diving. Of two dives equally well executed, the one with the higher degree of difficulty will receive a higher overall score.
Jacques Pépin?
The clue for 17A was brilliant but, because I was thinking about the rogue orcas in the Strait if Gibraltar that were in the news in the last year for attacking sailboats, the movie shark never occurred to me. Big aha moment when the crossing downs filled me in. None of the other themers had the same kind of kick, but they were still pretty good.
NONEBUT and NEEDBE held me up for a bit but mostly a smooth solve. I liked it.
Maybe ARMSOFCOAT wasn’t the most elegant of the four themers but it was the one that made me laugh out loud.
As did @G Martin 7:32’s comment on ONO!
Yes, you’re probably the only one
Exact same thing I thought of as I entered the answer!
It has been 3 days since our last rap-themed clue.
Today's puzzle had 3 missed opportunities for fill-in-the-blanks rap clues:
TOO Short
DJ Kay SLAY
Krs-ONE
For the Brand NEWBians: BEEFs are about protecting REPS.
Gary Jugert
Your reply to the sharp criticism was perfect.
(Z way before he quit the blog made the comment that sometimes it knowing TOO much can slow you down doing crosswords!).
Kitshef
The NW was the hardest part for me. I can understand the criticism of STELLA. I just had to hope it was a relatively common name and it was. Really, for most, the clue = random male or female name of mid range popularity.
Did anyone else try to find a way to make Fort Knox fit in 37A?
i love stella's recipes, and her cookbook is on the shelf right next to me so that was a gimme, squarely in my wheelhouse. but i was surprised to see it, so i certainly agree it could be niche.
the theme was hit or miss for me. LIFE OF JAWS was funny, and good. i also thought ARMS OF COAT was funny and good! it is absolutely not "like "hem of dress" or "laces of shoe" or something" because coat of arms is a thing in the way shoelaces and dress hem (??) are absolutely not. LOVE OF LABORS is flawed, because the phrase is "labor of love." yes, you *could* pluralize it! certainly. but it loses it's snap immediately, to me. "change of fortune" and "pride of lions" are boring and less zippy as phrases compared to jaws of life and coat of arms, but the switcheroo made them slightly less boring, i guess. i have no qualms with fortune OF change because the fortune is comprised OF change, i.e., coins. so i disagree it should be "in" change.
i had one sticking spot today, ARROYOS crossing ROT. ARROYaS sounded just as plausible to me, and i thought RaT for "turn for the worse", as in ratting on someone. like spies who get turned and rat on their original allegiance.
-stephanie.
Anonymous 12:13
Apparently people can find ways to get their MAGA propaganda when talking about anything at all.
Oklahoma
Opened 81 years ago. Hugely popular An extremely middle American setting. Oklahoma farm county around 1905. Hugely popular songs like surprise Oklahoma! and O What a Beautiful Morning etc etc
Hugely popular mid fifties movie shown over and over again on TV since. Revived on Broadway and all around the country at least twice.
Don’t know the totals but in all formats hundreds of millions of people have seen the show, the film and/or heard the music.
Written etc by Rodgers and Hammerstein the most successful musical duo of the 20th Century Elitist?!! (BTW Chicago was also a big musical hit all around the country and a big movie hit).
Apparently, “elitist” in MAGA speak = I am ignorant of it.
STELLA’s name wrote itself into the puzzle. She is a supremely gifted creator of outstanding baking recipes. She is also a tremendous food historian. Her landmark book, Bravetart, should be in everyone’s library. The stories alone are riveting.
Unusual for me, I mostly had Rex’s experience -at a much slower pace- in the NW. I did get Life of Jaws but I still didn’t get the reversal aspect of it. I thought it was a mashup of movies like others here So took me a while to get the theme. Then I liked it.
Some parts of the puzzle were very easy. Others quite hard for me Emma and tomato filled themselves in while I dnf because I guessed running a turbine and didn’t correct the cross
@Gary J I took your advice, had a couple of cocktails and now I'm more worked up than ever about this INCORRECT use of the number sign which, by the way, can also be called a hashtag in the parlance of the washed and the unwashed. Now I'm gonna go have me a beer which is decidedly not a cocktail!
My turbine ran on steam and water before ROTOR.
@M and A 1:19 PM
I would see every movie on your list.
WHEN is a much funnier answer to 12A than THEN
Got wholly stuck at the end because I had never heard of DIANE Sawyer or ERSE, so I assumed ARSE and DIANA were close enough. Wasn’t sure how “talk of the Irish” fit, but it’s a British spelling, so I assumed I was missing some niche connotation. Alas.
"Jaws" is the name of a film. No one says "hey, remember when Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfus, and Robert Shaw are lookin' for Jaws? And then Jaws eats Robert Shaw?" Hmmm, on second thought, people probably do say that.
If this were a cryptic crossword, maybe # could stand in for ♯ - but it just looks like lazy editing (at least on my computer, maybe they got it right in print)
Aha! My new band name: ARMS OF COAT
This puzzle was both clever and amusing! The wordplay really stands out, especially with “Life of Jaws.” By the way, if you're on the Gold Coast and ever need reliable windscreen repairs, check out True Value Windscreens for fast and professional service!
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