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Walker who wrote "The Color Purple" / TUES 9-24-24 / [Not my typo] / "Bye-bye," to Bonaparte / Bread served with baba ghanouj
Tuesday, September 24, 2024
Hi, everyone! It’s Clare for the final Tuesday of September. Fall has officially started, and I for one am excited for (I hope) cooler weather and the spooky season. I’ve been going to a lot of concerts lately — it’s like all my favorite artists decided that coming to DC in the fall was a great plan. This is also an amazing time for sports, with the women’s basketball playoffs starting, the Premier League underway, the MLB playoffs about to start, and football kicking off. I, of course, cannot pass up a chance to mention that my Steelers have had a wonderful 3-0 start to this season! We’ll probably ruin that soon enough, but I’m gonna try to enjoy that for now.
Anywho, on to the puzzle…
Relative difficulty: On the easier side
THEME: Puns based on the names of big city newspapers
Theme answers:
- VALLEY FORGE (17A: Washington post?)
- FORTY NINER (31A: San Francisco examiner?)
- PAUL REVERE (49A: Boston herald?)
- TRAVIS KELCE (65A: Kansas City star?)
Petra, originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu, is a historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. Famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit systems, Petra is also called the "Rose City" because of the color of the sandstone from which it is carved. The city is one of the New 7 Wonders of the World and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The area around Petra has been inhabited from as early as 7000 BC, and was settled by the Nabataeans, a nomadic Arab people, in the 4th century BC. Petra would later become the capital city of the Nabataean Kingdom in the second century BC. (Wiki)
• • •
Well, that was fun! Quite a debut from constructor Kevin L. Shellito. The theme was clever, and some of the answers were fresh, while the unusual and trivia-filled clues were my favorite part of the puzzle. There was even a nice range to the theme answers. Two related to the Revolutionary War (VALLEY FORGE and PAUL REVERE). Then there were the FORTY NINERs, just predating the Civil War. And you get to the modern day with Taylor Swift’s boyfriend and Jason’s brother, TRAVIS KELCE (who’s sorta known for playing some football himself, too). I felt like I was learning something while solving the puzzle. I now know that there are approximately 20 quadrillion ANTs worldwide (which is mildly disturbing to think about) (64A). I learned that Ignacio Anaya invented NACHOs (33D). That EELs (18D) can swim backward. I was never a big science fair person, so I appreciated the reminder that baking soda and vinegar combine to create a LAVA effect (52D). And there were even more bits of trivia/facts for people — tahini is made from SESAME (38A); ELMS are the state tree of Massachusetts (23A); the Bosphorous is known for being NARROW (15A); etc. Basically, I’m ready to go crush it at trivia night right now.
The clues were also quite fun. My personal favorite being Personnel in vestments as CLERGY (72A). That got me chuckling. I also liked how ERRANT (8D: Like a drive in the woods?) tried to throw us for a bit of a loop. And we got to see Zorro and Dracula in a puzzle with CAPE (55D). I enjoyed the reference to a TV show I know — “Euphoria” — with RUE (16A: Zendaya's role on "Euphoria") even if I only watched one season.
I hit a couple of snags from trying “awake” instead of ARISE (22D: Greet the day); I first put “scar” instead of SCAB (73A: Evidence of healing); I tried making it “Neet” instead of NAIR (26A: Hair removal brand); and I first typed “MBA” instead of the actual MFA (24D: R.I.S.D. grad's degree) because I didn’t recognize the acronym R.I.S.D.
A few things didn’t quite work for me. In particular, a FORTY NINER (31A) was someone mining/panning for gold. Sure, they examined what they found, but they weren’t examiners. I also don’t know that I’ve ever seen a reference to a single FORTY NINER, unless you’re talking about a member of a certain football team. The people who descended on California in the mid-1800s were FORTY NINERs, plural. I also didn’t like SLEETS (44A: Comes down as a wintry mix) at all — even if it’s in the dictionary as a verb, it shouldn’t be. I think NACHO (33D) really needs to be plural. You don’t have a nacho. And NACHOs are a dish made of chips–and a whole lot of other goodies–not just a singular chip.
But it was overall a smooth and enjoyable puzzle for a Tuesday!
Misc.:
Signed, Clare Carroll, a Steeler fan for life who knows that TJ Watt should win DPOY every year
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Misc.:
- We could’ve had the Fever in the puzzle instead of the Indiana PACERS (51D: Hoosier hoopers). With the playoffs happening now, that would’ve been so timely. This season in the WNBA, we had the unanimous MVP A’ja Wilson (she’s legitimately incredible) and the unanimous rookie of the year Caitlin Clark, who plays for the Fever.
- I didn’t think I liked PECAN (43A: Pie variety whose pronunciation inspires debate) pie for a while, but it turns out I just hadn’t given it a chance. Now it’s my go-to every year for Thanksgiving, and my family has become known for our tried-and-true recipe.
- The New York Times agrees that it was a BRAT summer (11D). Charli XCX, anyone? Now what’s the fall going to be??
- While my Steelers have started strong, my mom’s poor FORTY NINERs have had a rough 1-2 start. My dad won my sister’s and my loyalty to his hometown Steelers when I was just 10 by buying us each a jersey. We haven’t looked back since!
- I’m hopeful the DOG DAYS (9D: Hot summer period named for the constellation Sirius) are actually behind us. And speaking of the DOG DAYS, I’m going to end with one of my favorite Florence + the Machine songs, which is undeniably fun and catchy.
And with that, have a great month of October!
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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78 comments:
Easy. No WOEs and CAsh before CARD and eMir before IMAM were it for erasures.
Newspaper puns work for me, liked it.
Peasy.
The tetrad.. perky? Fetching? Tempestuous? No, em.. Lew, help us.
Liked it. Huzzah.
Postscript:
Riprock doubles down.
2024-09-22 Anonymaus Sun 6:42 PM
Riprock: 103a - "Red side" lacked a '?' [in no context are Reps termed "Red side", even in a colored map the disputer envisions..]
Maus: "...that 'nobody'...is irrelevant...not a definition...reserved for trick clues. Nothing tricky about this. (blah.. blah..)
Riprock contests that last stmt. But nevah mind.
Travis Kelce is a Kansas City star. Verbatim/literatim. In this case, a definition. No tricky, no misdirection, because the minuscule landed outside the ambiguity of the first position. So any alternate reading, lost.
Post (minuscule), examiner, herald, same same and not different.
Ye cannae have it both ways. Apply it at 103d, Sun, where it's better positioned, or lose the four marks here.
Riprock could roll with the latter.
Thanks Clare! I also had SCAr — and as someone with quite a few of those, loved the cluing as “evidence of healing”…so thanks Kevin for that (even if the answer turned out to be SCAB).
In a cavern, in a canyon
Excavating for a mine
Dwelt a miner, forty-niner
And his daughter Clementine
Easy here too. I solved "Downs Only Lite," not looking at the theme clues, and enjoyed the newspaper puns all at once after I finished.
No WOEs, one overwrite (ACCEpt before ACCEDE at 5A) ... well, two overwrites if you count misspelling KELCE at 65A. Fun puzzle.
Can somebody explain the FORTY NINER? Why is that an examiner? And what the heck is "RUE with"? I've never heard that before.
Ignore my previous question about RUE - I read the clues backwards... :D
Liked it, but can someone explain the FORTYNINER answer? I get it that the word “miner” is in there, but what about the “exa” in front? Speaking as a 49er fan who saw my first game at Kezar Stadium back in the 60s when the Christopher Milk company, believe or not, printed free kids tickets on their milk cartons for kids accompanied by a paying adult.
I made the same SCAR/SCAB error. Otherwise I enjoyed the puzzle, especially the theme.
Thr 49ers are San Francisco's football team
A FORTYNINER was examining the riches he mined during the 1849 gold rush that put California on the map.
Cute - harmless little puzzle. Straightforward cluing - no issues anywhere in the grid.
The Wheel
Liked ERRANT, DOG DAYS and NACHO. I guess it’s not enough to see the KELCE brothers everywhere - let’s put them in the crossword now. Hard pass on that entry.
Corrido for PAPA Lalo
Pleasant enough Tuesday morning solve.
The BRAT x BAT cross is apt today
"Auric." "Scrutiny."
A decades-long Niners fan, but yuo had no idea what the number referenced? Say it isn't so.
The theme seemed a little forced, with the FORTY NINER clue being the most awkward of the bunch. Only slow down for me was the ALICE, HELLA and PETRA section. With PPP crossing slang and geography it can get a little dicey, but the crosses were fine and ALICE is easy to recognize/guess.
I assume San Francisco examiner was a play on the name of the newspaper and a reference to “examining” the ground for gold.
But while the forty niners may have come through San Francisco, that’s not where the looking for gold happened. So it left wondering if there’s a meaning I’m not getting.
Hi Clare, thanks for your lively review this morning. Re the 49ers, maybe we have a slightly different definition of the meaning of examiner, but if a 49er is panning for gold the close examination of the sand and dirt taken from a river bottom is a key activity. Thought this was a light and fun puzzle.
What kind of chips do you use to make your nachos?
Someone panning for gold would need to examine the pan to see what he found.
From starting-to-construct-crosswords to published-Times-puzzle in less than two years – impressive.
Also impressive – this theme, never done before, creative and playful. Born out of true constructor thinking, with Kevin looking at the terrific [Washington post?] for VALLEY FORGE, an answer in one of his rejected puzzles (according to his notes), and thinking, “What else can I do with this?”
A wordplay theme buttressed by non-theme wordplay clues/answers: [Like a drive through the woods?] for ERRANT. [Not my typo] for SIC, and the terrific [Personnel in vestments] for CLERGY.
There are puns that make my eyes roll, and puns that make me go “Hah!” and dwell for a moment in appreciation. These three are in the latter camp, and between them, the theme, and the interesting factoids Kevin threw in, I loved this puzzle!
Some lovely words sprinkled about as well – ERRANT, LATENT, VACATE – and I liked seeing ANT cross a backward ANTE.
Congratulations on your NYT debut, Kevin. I hope to see more from you – please? This one made me feel good all over – thank you!
Cute, but crazy easy for me, for some reason. I finally did have a little slowdown in the SE because I never heard of TRAVIS KELCE, but it came pretty easily from crosses.
Three historical references. And one celebrity. Doesn't work for me.
Hey All !
@Clare
Most definitely DPOY last year, talk about getting snubbed. Luckily, it didn't affect his playing this year. What a defense! Herbig, et. al. Held each team to 10 points or fewer so far.
Good theme, albeit sort of inconsistent. First one is a place, second one is (one in) a group, third and fourth are individuals. Agree as a Theme, they work together, just slightly odd.
Again, closed off NE/SW corners, as YesterPuz had.
Wonder if TRAVIS KELCE will be stoked to see his name in a puz. I would be! Twixt him and Taylor, imagine the money there! Goodness.
Anyway, not too shabby for a TuesPuz. Hardly a TSK.
Have a great Tuesday!
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Very clever and fun puzzle…more from this constructor please! I agree with Clare that this puzzle is full of “fun facts.” It took a few crosses to get NARROW because I was focused on the whole biz about the Bosporus separating Istanbul/Turkey into the European and Asian sides. Hah. I knew it was NARROW but didn’t realize it is the NARROWEST of “straits.” And yes, hand up for temporarily forgetting that TRAVIS’s last name is NOT spelled KELSY. Fair crosses so no problem!
ugh. Sirius is a star in the constellation Canus Major, the big dog, it is not a constellation or where them dog days come from.
HELLA clever theme idea and one that made me think a little bit. Some trivia but not overly much. A nice Tuesday and nice debut. I had no complaints to speak of but even if I did, all would be forgiven for any puzzle that has the great TRAVIS KELCE in it.
I happen to own my very own PECAN tree, several of them in fact. That would be pronounced peh-CAHN and absolutely no pee-can pies allowed where I come from.
These all worked well but it took some thought to see Washington as a person rather than a place. Oops.
Today's new-to-me's included PETRA and someone named RUE from something named "Euphoria". Fair crosses or no chance.
My best friend in Spain was named Ignacio, but was only ever called NACHO. He was very good at using Spanish that I could understand and I only found out years later that his English was actually pretty good, which I think is why he could understand the kinds of problems I could have. Gone now, and I miss him.
Those of us in this part of the country are used to SALT following SLEETS, so they appear in the proper order.
Hey @Roo- A PAUL sighting. Can't stop me now.
Clever Tuesdecito, KLS. Kinda Like Skiing down a nice easy blue run. Congrats on the debut, and thanks for all the fun.
I’m glad somebody else noticed this!
Wish Rex was blogging today, would have loved to see his thoughts on this grid loaded with extra black squares. Every non theme answer is 7 or shorter
Hi Clare :)
I haven't started the puzzle yet but people have posted jokes here before so I thought I'd post this (regardless of where anyone stands on the Presidential race - it's funny ...)
What's the best Donald Trump joke you have heard?
During a dull White House dinner, Melania Trump leaned over to chat with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.
"I bought Donald a parrot for his birthday. That bird is so smart, Donald has already taught him to say over two hundred words!"
“Very impressive," said Kelly, "but, you do realize he just speaks the words. He doesn't really understand what they all mean”
"Oh, I know,” replied Melania, “but neither does the parrot."
I really enjoyed this. Love the clever and interesting theme -- and I also applaud Kevin's cluing choices. So much thought was put into finding something a little different and fairly unknown about ordinary things. The number of ANTs, ye gods! That science fair experiment -- perhaps "classic" to you, but not to me. The chip named for its inventor (!) A new clue for EEL after all this time, and an interesting one. These clues do not fall off trees into a constructor's lap -- they have to be searched for in an effort to please and amuse us, the solvers. To be able to enjoy this kind of cluing on a Tuesday is a very nice surprise.
An imaginative, fun theme too. I sort of think that the FORTY NINERs did more panning and digging than they did examining -- but I could be wrong. Anyway, I wish that all Tuesdays could be like this.
Wikipedia would argue that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_days
To find a singular FORTY NINER, you need only to look at the classic song “My Darling Clementine,” in which her father is described as “a miner FORTY NINER.”
Didn't help I had errand not errant & didn't know who invented the nacho so, yes trouble there with
fordyni-er! (did get it sorted eventually)
What if the 20 quadrillion estimated number of ANTs was woefully wrong? Would it be an ERRANT guess?
I know an author who made so much money walking dogs that she expanded into numerous other species. Now she's even ALICE Walker.
Where does a Spanish backpacker sleep? LATENT.
I liked it. Thanks and congrats, Kevin L. Shellito.
Tres semanas más en esta casa de alquiler.
If you haven't bought a house lately, well, it's like a themed puzzle without a revealer. It's weird, and goes on and on, and you're pretty sure you're missing the point somewhere.
Kids, back in the olden times we had things called newspapers. A boy on a bike would come by the house, and throw one under your bushes, and you'd go dig it out. Then you'd bring the weird smelling thing into the house and it was designed in such a way to make everything it touched, especially your hands, black as a coal miner. In this biohazard were delights for the mind. National news, local news, sports, weather, politics, games, cartoons, a list of everybody who died, and lists of people looking for love, and advice on love doled out by sensible white ladies, and so many ads for jobs, and cars, and estate sales. It was all curated by old white men so it could be trusted. They even had a place where those same old white men shared their opinions and regular folks could send in a letter expressing their opinions. We'll explain what a letter is on another day. You'll need to have a pencil ready to fully understand how postage works. At the end of each day, you'd throw your newspaper away knowing tomorrow another one would arrive (late), and you'd start all over.
I don't know who is counting, but there's 20 quadrillion ants living in the crack of the sidewalk here in front of this house alone. I think they're friends with las cucarachas.
Propers: 3
Places: 3
Products: 2
Partials: 9
Foreignisms: 1
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 18 of 82 (22%)
Funnyisms: 7 😂
Tee-Hee: It's a HELLA good puzzle with a nice derrière.
Uniclues:
1 What Godzilla did while on vacation in Pennsylvania.
2 Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot.
3 What one does to the donkey at a kids party.
4 Why there's a drunken 17-year-old in the club.
1 ATE VALLEY FORGE (~)
2 LAVA DATA
3 PIN LATENT REAR
4 ERRANT CARDING
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Tweezie McTweezer. LITTLE SEIZER'S PET NAME.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Good one. 😄
You’re absolutely right about the clueing … but I hadn’t really thought of it until I read your post. Never attempted to construct a crossword, but I can see what you mean by how much thought went into these today.
Well, I know what I’ll be humming all day. Thanks a lot Ed. 🙄😁
OMG! I’m ROFL-ing.
Two Monday puzzles this week so far. Is that what Twosday means now?
If it's joke day ---
Back when there were orderly transitions of power, the Obama administration was turning things over to Trump’s and there was a meeting at the Vice Presidential level between Biden and Pence.
During a break, Biden said to Pence, Do you like riddles? Pence said, Sure, try me. So Biden said, “My mother has a son who is not my brother – who is it? How can that be?” And Pence said, That’s a good one. You’ve got me stumped. Who is it? And Biden said: It’s me!
Later that day, Pence was in the Oval Office with Trump and he says, Mr. President: Do you enjoy riddles? Trump says, I love ‘em! Fire away! So Pence says, Suppose your mother has a son who is not your brother – how can that be? Who is it?
And Trump says, Oooh, that’s a tough one, Mike. I’m going to take a walk around the White House grounds and give it some thought. You wait here.
So Trump is wandering around and he bumps into Obama who was cleaning some stuff out. They exchange greetings and Trump says, Tell me, Barack – if your mother had a son who was not your brother, who would that be? And Obama says, That’s easy --- it’s me.
So Trump bursts back into the Oval office and exclaims: I got it! I got it! It’s Obama!
And Pence says, That’s funny, I thought it was Biden.
Mostly very easy. I got the theme from the VA, put in FORTY-NINER after a few nanoseconds of thought (examiner=prospector is a stretch, though), PAUL REVERE without reading the clue -- but then hit the last one and blanked. A football player whose name I know because he is (or was?) dating Taylor Swift and the Trumpies decided that was election interference. I had no idea what team he played for, and would have guessed Denver if I'd had to. But TRAV turned out to be enough for that.
I ended up at 16-A, which seems to be RUE? Is Euphoria a TV program? I'm all at sea on that one, but the crosses seem OK.
Fun fact about ants, though!
Later
The clues are all the names of a local newspaper. The San Francisco Examiner.
82-worder ... unusual, for a 15x15 puzgrid.
And clever puztheme, btw. News-worthy.
In other news, the Georgia Board of Elections has just refused to certify that there worldwide ANT count.
staff weeject pick: ING. Has a nice Ow de Speration bouquet to it. Needs a spicier clue, to warrant forgiveness. Somethin like:
{How this thing has to end?} = ING, or somesuch.
other faves: ERRANT clue. DOGDAYS. NACHO clue [sooo ... coulda called the chips IGNACHOS.] ADIEU, part two.
After M&A got the first two puzthemers splatzed in there, started tryin to figure out the overall theme mcguffin. First reaction was to search for a theme revealer entry. Nope. Then looked at the clue for the mostly unfilled third themer, and suddenly had my ahar moment.
Kinda slow on the uptake, old M&A breath.
Thanx for the fun, Mr. Shellito dude. Great debut -- congratz. But, what? No Times themer?!? DOGDAYS = {New York Times?}, maybe? ... yeah, didn't think so.
Masked & Anonymo3Us
p.s. And thanx to Clare darlin, another fave of the sub-folks.
**gruntz**
Walking down memory lane! Thanks.
The problem is that the clue references "the constellation Sirius." That is a error, because the name of the constellation is Canis Major, from which we get "dog days." Sirius is Alpha Canis Majoris, the brightest star in the constellation (and in the night sky).
NACHO is short for Ignacio, so him being one person it’s ok to call him just Nacho. Of course, if you have a lot of nacho chips, then they would logically become NACHOS.
Khruangbin at the Anthem tonite??
Hands up for having SCArS before SCABS. I came up with RUE as a total guess, and think the resulting AUTO is just wrong. The Beetle was a nickname before VW decided to adopt it, for a small car (I picked up mine at the factory in Wolfsburg in 1966). But the Bronco is a light truck and not an AUTO at all.
As for the Forty NINERs, two of my great grandparents qualify. My namesake truly was a San Francisco examiner when he arrived by ship in 1850 since he landed there. The setttlement was called Yerba Buena, but everyone called it San Francisco, after the Bay and the Mission. My other ancestor came overland with his family and must have seen San Francisco at some point, but settled first in the East Bay and then Santa Clara, next to San Jose.
Neither found much gold, though both did pretty well out of buying land. Old OW Childs moved to Los Angeles because the SF Bay fog aggravated his asthma.
The origin story of the NACHO is fascinating and I suppose true. I only learned today that Nacho is a nickname for Ignacio, but it makes sense that a good fellow from a border town restaurant came up with the classic Nacho plate. As for the chips, probably all sorts of people tried cutting tortillas in eight pieces and frying them, but the tortilla chip we know today was pretty much the invention of Casa Sanchez, in the heart of the Mission District. My wife and I went there often, and to this day we use their chips for salsa and guac and such. The ones you get elsewhere in supermarkets are not nearly as good.
Ahem, excuse me, but as a lapsed myrmecologist, I take great umbrage at "I now know that there are approximately 20 quadrillion ANTs worldwide (which is mildly disturbing to think about) (64A)."
We should consider ourselves blessed to share God's green earth with so many six-legged sisters!
=Rolling on the Floor Laughing
is a.double verb verbose?
@Ed Rorie 3:38 AM & Whatsername 10:35 AM
I teach Clementine on a regular basis. Two chords, ya know? Here's what's troubling.
-Poverty leading to boxes being used for shoes
-Accidental drowning
-Narrator making no effort to save her
-Decaying body fertilizing posies
-Suicide
-Dead bodies rising from the brine
-Kissing the dead girl's sister
It's a joyous toe tapper.
Hah! I have a friend who is originally from Texas and he is always trying to correct my pee-can pronunciation. We stare each other down for a while and then chow down on the pie. Peh-cahn. Peh-CAHN, PECAHN! I know, Kyle, but it sure is fun trolling you.
Solved it down clues only and the theme was quite good, with one problem. I knew the first three themers but had never heard of TRAVIS KELCE. (I guess I don't know my American history that well?) As @S. Prescott said, 3 historical references and one modern celebrity... kind of sloppy.
For a nice change I won't complain about the names today; there didn't seem to be too many. Several in the themers don't bother me because theme answers get a pass. But it does amaze me how Joel / constructor will go out of their way to cram an Unknown Name into a clue for a perfectly normal English word. Today: RUE.
Typeover: LOTTA then LOTSA before HELLA.
This wasn't that difficult solving downs-only and even afforded a few lovely moments, especially 72A. Great clue. Another great clue at 8D. But working D-O I didn't get the theme until I had completed the puzzle and listened to the little theme music thingy. Then I went back to read the acrosses and suss out the theme and ... wow! ... newspapers, somewhere I toiled for a major portion of my life. How cool and how clever.
Nice Tuesday puzzle. Kinda feel sorry for Travis Kelce. He looked pretty sad on the sidelines during the Chief's / Bengals Sunday night game. His stats are way down so far this season. The talk in Kansas City is that we're wondering if everything is ok with him and Taylor Swift.
I think his numbers are down because our outside receivers are hurting. So, Travis is usually getting double or triple covered.
Might want to get that TALC out of the bathroom. It’s lost its good reputation. Just like asbestos did.
Where does the phrase “dog days” come from if not the star/constellation?
You know it’s a TV show from context, why make such an act of feigned confusion over 3 easy letters?
Not as much a fan of this one as most of y'all seem to be. VALLEY FORGE and PAUL REVERE are solidly and iconically connected to "Washington post" and "Boston herald" and stick the landing, so to speak, but the other two not so much.
A FORTY NINER was most likely looking for gold in the Sierra Nevada mountains of Northern California, not "San Francisco". And saying that a prospector is an "examiner" is way too tenuous and generic. A carpenter, a cook or a candle maker---along with a host of other workers---also could be thought of as an "examiner".
Even though TRAVIS KELCE plays for the K.C. Chiefs, he's not the only or even the biggest "star" on that team. He also is the only theme entry that is part of current sports pop culture whereas the other three all have a timeless part of American history quality. And for many, he's probably better known as Taylor Swift's latest beau and frequent sidekick of Patrick Mahomes in State Farm Insurance commercials.
Sirius is a binary star in the constellation Canis Major.
Yeah, in 50 years only a few die-hard KC fans/old-geezers will even recall the name Travis Kelce, much less remember much about him. And then not long after that: POOF. He'll be gone completely from the collective memory - despite the fact that football fans seem to think their stars become Gods for all eternity (or is that GOATS for all eternity?). People need to watch less football and read more books. And while they are at it, get off my lawn!
BTW, by tonight I'll probably have forgotten your login name!
Rip rock
In no context are reps termed red side.
The fact that reps are not called red side is irrelevant. They are on one side of the House and the seats are shown as red. It is a clue.
I assume the ye is directed at me. I have never criticized either way about the presence or lack of a ? I was reacting to a criticism of the editors/ constructor. I felt that it was not unfair to omit a? on that day. On the other hand itwouldn’t have bothered me if they put a? It is one way the editors adjust the degree of difficulty .
Today is the second easiest day of the week. The editors are much more likely to use?’s today. Maybe they figured they needed it for Forty-Niner and wanted to be consistent. And easier. Examiner is a lot more a stretch than the others. Again it wouldn’t have bothered me if they omitted them here.
Maus German. Mouse
Mouse Nickname (funny one and mildly disparaging)) for anonymous on this blog. Interesting choice of spelling. German doesn’t sound so funny. .
I am very bad with tech. When I post a blog name the post often rejected Should have added name as some othersdo now
dgd
To whom it may concern: Above comment was mine, but somehow lost its nametag.
M&Also
Good job with decent theme. Enjoyed the blog today as much as the puzzle - keep it up folks!
Yeah…I’ve had that happen also. I THINK the new format might be sensitive to computer/phone updates, shutdown/startup, etc. I TRY to remember to see if my avatar is showing, but then again, I ALSO try to remember to put moisturizer on my face before I go to bed…I’m a 60 percenter on THAT.
Hi everyone, it’s Cdilly52 back from the scariest weeks of my life. I contracted the latest Covid variant here in California (and I was fully vaccinated) it took over my body, almost killed me, and after getting off the vent, left me weak, confused and with every miserable symptom of my autoimmune disease playing havoc with me. But I am a tough old broad and am finally able to do puzzles again! And I’m thrilled that my return to this neighborhood is on a Clare day!! I love the Steelers and the Pirates (a close second though to my Cubbies), the Champions League with better tv access these days, and NWSL here in the US, and of course NCAA football. Great time for sports and I won’t lie, I’m not sad that I still need a lot of extra rest every day and spend some of it sports binging. Thank goodness for ESPN!
OK, this puzzle put a smile on my face. Clare’s analysis parallels mine in nearly every respect. Easy but fun with a clever theme. Seems like we would usually expect the newspapers to be an obvious choice for theme answers, but today they are the clues and they are clever and entertaining. Loved the “drive in the woods” clue for ERRANT. While I thought the “woods” might refer to golf, but it took me the thankfully easy crosses to get the answer.
Such a pleasant day. Congrats to our constructor on such a successful debut!!
The California gold rush took place in 1848. It took until the following year for the news to reach the east coast, at which time it became reality for the rest of the world.
@Cdilly52 5:28 PM
Yeeshk! So glad to hear you are mending. Sounds terrifying. Welcome back.
Welcome back!
Scary story. I am so happy that you're on the mend, but I recommend that you squeeze all the sympathy possible out of it while enjoying mindless game-playing.
YES when you think of the story it tells, the song is just awful! I had to stop in the middle of singing it to my granddaughter!
dgd -
Those are some mental gymnastics you're spinning.
To my assertion a question mark was missed in the Sunday 103a clue, you referenced trickery exception, definition/description irrelevancy and now you introduce a third parameter, day of the week.
First, I contested the lack of ambiguity in the Sunday 103a clue (whereas you wrote, "nothing tricky about this"): but "Red side" could have as easily referenced entries in a ledger, in contrast to the black.
Ready association with a political party (and not something else) suggests that this three-letter fill may have arisen on other occasions, that the answer is usually DEM, REP or GOP, and that you recognized this.
In fact, the answer is "tricky," your word, (unless you've seen a similar version of the clue before) and therefore the clue merits a question mark.
Furthermore, you state in your Sunday comment, "...they did that deliberately, as it was a relatively easy puzzle overall." Paraphrased: an easy puzzle, so thus the constructor decided to throw in one three-letter curve ball. This logic makes no sense. In fact, it seems incorrect. The clue is short the interrogative punctuation.
But let's say I concede the point to you (and in a way I did in my previous reply), your logic falls apart when applied to the marks in today's puzzle, and I've already explained why. I'll try another way.
A blank page with two words, "Washington post," and you ask me to guess the context. Me: "Consulate? Diplomatic assignment?" I'm not thinking our local paper, to which we subscribe.
Now, in the context of this puzzle, four question marks are appended. But none of the four can be a masthead, they are not properly capitalized. And this is readily apparent. So the marks imply ambiguity, or "trickiness" as you say, where there is none, and thus increase the difficulty of resolving the replies. So your argument is not sequitur. You contend exactly the opposite.
Or is it now your position that if run on a Monday, the "?" would then be dropped--the mental gymnastics I'm alluding to.
Additionally, you stated that "On the other hand itwouldn’t have bothered me if they put a?", implying that you're just playing devil's advocate, that you could accept my position. Perhaps you're conflicted.
Bottom line: 103a, Sunday (mind you, not a Saturday or a Friday), merited a mark. The four marks here, ending 17a, 31a, 49a and 65a should have been dropped.
- Riprock
P.S. For anyone reading this who finds the back and forth tedious, two points:
1. When and when not to "?" is solid ground for contention, even though Riprock is correct in all the assertions he makes. The Rex has vehemently objected to the use or absence of the same.
2. The observations that three of the themes were "historic" and one was not, or that San Francisco is "not where the looking for gold happened," is tedious. The themes worked for me, perfectly, including "examiner."
Disclaimer: tried panning, at some tourist spot, Estes Park, perhaps. 'Examining' described the activity to a tee, quickly replaced by mind-numbing boredom. Focused my attention.. for about 90 seconds.
And that's what it was, no dozers, no backhoes, no fracking, just, at the outset, picks, finger nails...
"At the beginning of the gold rush, there was no law regarding property rights in the goldfields and a system of 'staking claims' was developed. Prospectors retrieved the gold from streams and riverbeds using simple techniques, such as panning."
So, the puzzle, the aforementioned four extraneous marks aside: two thumbs up.
Cdilly52 5:28 PM:
"But I am a tough old broad..."
Hehe. Riprock sends you hugs plus wishes for a speedy convalescence.
"...and of course NCAA football."
Massive hallelujah to that.
Glad you're OK! Two things everyone should take away from this. Stay away from California, and realize all those shots are doing absolutely nothing. But, you all will still get them. SMH
Thanks! I knew the 49ers were the SF team. I just couldn't figure out why they were "examiners"... :D
I wish they would take out BRAT forever clued as a child that “misbehaves”. it’s such a derogatory word. Maybe the child is neurodivergent or just tired, or is in a situation that they should not be in, or hungry. I think that is just blaming a child for circumstances that are often outside of their control and a very nasty way to do it. Clue it as a sausage from Germany.
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