"It was news to me," in online shorthand / FRI 10-25-24 / Another name for C## / Dog's post-surgery wear, familiarly / Timesaver for a breakfast chef / Nickname for an early 2000s governor of California / Flawless display of technique / Mount Rushmore's makeup / Closest confidant, informally / Misleading cognate, like the German "Gift" which actually means "poison" / Male protocol popularized by "How I Met Your Mother"
Friday, October 25, 2024
Constructor: Alex Murphy
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Word of the Day: piragua (46A: Main ingredient of the Puerto Rican dessert piragua) —
A piragua Spanish pronunciation: [piˈɾa.ɣwa] is a Puerto Rican shaved ice dessert, shaped like a cone, consisting of shaved ice and covered with fruit-flavored syrup. Piraguas are sold by vendors, known as piragüeros, from small, traditionally brightly-colored pushcarts offering a variety of flavors. Besides Puerto Rico, piraguas can be found in mainland areas of the United States with large Puerto Rican communities, such as New York and Central Florida.
• • •
Speaking of BESTIE, that was my first answer today. Got it off the "T" in INT, which was wrong, but just right enough (i.e. 1/3 right) to get me going (ATT = attempt, as in "attempted pass"; a QB's completion rate is "completed passes / ATTs"). BESTIE to LOIS to DREAM, and then I saw RIBALD, which changed INT to ATT, and off I went. The middle of this puzzle is nice, but it came together awfully easily. The front ends of those long Downs are not hard to pick up, and with the first few letters in place, both TEN OUT OF TEN and OVERSELLING were cinches. I had ... not trouble, but hesitation on FALSE FRIEND (17D: Misleading cognate, like the German "Gift" which actually means "poison"), as I know the term as FALSE COGNATE ... but then I learned just now (TIL!) that these are distinct terms:
False cognates are pairs of words that seem to be cognates because of similar sounds and meaning, but have different etymologies; they can be within the same language or from different languages, even within the same family. For example, the English word dog and the Mbabaram word dog have exactly the same meaning and very similar pronunciations, but by complete coincidence. [...] The term "false cognate" is sometimes misused to refer to false friends, but the two phenomena are distinct. False friends occur when two words in different languages or dialects look similar, but have different meanings. While some false friends are also false cognates, many are genuine cognates (see False friends § Causes). For example, English pretend and French prétendre are false friends, but not false cognates, as they have the same origin. (wikipedia)
So there you go. I thought it was FRIEND, but I wasn't sure, but then crosses confirmed it, ta da. The triple stack across the middle of the grid today is really lovely. It's weird that SHAME is attached to the cone (34A: Dog's post-surgery wear, familiarly). I guess the idea is that it must be humiliating for the dog to have to suffer the distinctly uncanine indignity of wearing such a thing. It's even worse on a cat, tbh. Our cats have so far avoided cone-dom, though the dogs both had injuries of one kind or another that necessitated preventing them from gnawing, licking, etc. So sad, so adorable. You can make up all kinds of "cone" nicknames for your poor animal. Like "CONE-an, the Barbarian" or "Mrs Conington" etc. May as well have fun with it (note: your animal will not see the humor).
[Couldn't find a cone pic, so here's a cast pic (Gabby, 2008-2020)] |
The SW corner was the hardest part of the grid for me, and also the least pleasant. Nothing like BROCODE to put me off my lunch (luckily, it's 5am and therefore not lunch time). Feels like the puzzle is overly fond of How I Met Your Mother, possibly as some kind of payback for having Will Shortz on the show once. Anyway, the very idea of a BROCODE is a hard pass for me (however hilarious it was on the show itself—I wouldn't know). The other off-putting thing down here was CREPE MIX (34D: Timesaver for a breakfast chef). I want to say "is that a thing?" but I suppose it is. I've just never seen or heard of it or seen anyone use it etc. so the only thing I'm thinking when I see CREPE is PAN. A CREPE PAN is very much a thing. A familiar thing that I have seen. I've never made crêpes, and when my mom made them she didn't use a mix (I don't think), so ... shrug. No idea about the Mozart opera (47D: "La Clemenza di ___" (Mozart opera) (TITO)), and no idea what was supposed to follow SEX at 56A: What might be included in an act of congress (SEX TOY). Ah, the old "congress" pun; an oldie but ... well, an oldie, for sure. Luckily, Lily TOMLIN was a gimme (god bless her), and she gave me the leverage I needed to pry that corner open.
D NATURAL is a funny one if you know nothing about music because you could easily find yourself wondering what the hell the clue has to do with DNA (that was certainly where I thought the answer was going before I looked at the clue, and even for a second or two afterwards, frankly) (52A: Another name for C##). C sharp sharp = D. Sharp the sharp and you're back at the natural. That SE corner was generally easy, though I definitely misspelled KRONER at my first pass (KRONOR!) (57A: Scandinavian capital) ("capital" as in money, another clue misdirection oldie). Hey wait, I didn't misspell it! KRONOR is the plural of "krona," the basic monetary unit of Sweden (and Iceland). What is KRONER, then? ... [looks it up] ... Aw jeez, what are you doing, Scandinavia? Why do Denmark and Norway spell it "krone / kroner"? That seems perverse. You all should get on the same page, because AS IT IS, it's unnecessarily confusing.
Bullets:
- 22A: Broadway's Salonga (LEA) — misspelled it LIA, the only trouble I had in that NE corner. Somehow, though, I couldn't drop down easily from that corner, as neither DRAMEDY (26D: It'll make you laugh, it'll make you cry) nor PLAZA (30D: Square) computed at first. Brutally vague clue on PLAZA. This is my preferred PLAZA clue at the moment:
- 7D: Suck up (ABSORB) — boo. You mean "Soak up." This is an awkward attempt at misdirection. Again I say, boo.
- 26A: Where the lions sleep tonight, presumably (DENS) — boo. Save this clue for singular DEN, so you can at least get the song phrasing right. It's "the lion sleeps tonight," not the "lions sleep tonight." Again I say, boo.
- 36A: Play place (ARENA) — I wanted not to like this, as I've never seen a play in an ARENA, but then I realized "play" is just a general term, not a theatrical performance. For instance, people "play" football in an ARENA. So it's fine.
- 7D: Nickname for an early 2000s governor of California (ARNIE) — as in Arnold, as in Schwarzenegger. Slightly hilarious at the time, but the dude looks positively presidential now.
- 41D: Like firstborn children vis-à-vis second-born children, statistically (TALLER) — I'm 6'3" and my sister is a mere 5'7", so this one checks out.
Thanks for reading. See you next time.
109 comments:
Fun! So hard at first, so satisfying to finish. First whoop when I got KRONER, best whoop when I got my last letter, the X in CREPEMIX/SEXTOY. The very first thing I got was MASTERCLASS, with zero crosses. That gave me hope, and the strength to carry on.
It *is* LEA, which you have in the grid. Might want to change that bullet. I had Tibia before TALUS, which caused me to rip out TEN OUT OF TEN the first time I put it in, but the CBE that made was clearly wrong and I figured that both TEN OUT OF TEN and SECT were right and eventually got it. The rest of the puzzle felt relatively easy, although I also had CREPE pan and even with CREPE MI_ I could figure it out until I read the clue for SE_ TOY and realized it had to be an X. Nice start to the weekend.
actually, it's LEA in the puzzle... Tough puzzle for me. Didn't know that Lily TOMLIN was in the SW corner and so had to google the opera in order to get any traction down there. Otherwise, a really enjoyable Friday. Thanks, Alex! : )
I'm 6'1" with a 5'2" older sister, so we bucked the trend!
Had an easier time today than yesterday. Overall a pretty tidy little Friday puzzle. SEXTOY threw me off and was the last one I got, which gave me a nice little "oh, ha ha!" to close things out.
Some parts were perplexing while others were humorous . I still don’t get the CONE OF SHAME connotation, although I will take a stab and posit that perhaps it is necessary because the dog is misbehaving (chewing up the furniture?) and not due to an injury? DRAMEDY looks kind of made-up as well.
I had no idea where the DNA clue was headed, or why (I could not have guessed what C## meant if my life depended on it). Post-solve it occurred to me that if it were NATURAL D instead, it would have gone nicely with BREAST, NIPPLE and SEX TOY to liven up @Gary’s day.
I have multiple degrees in classical music performance and have never once heard of La clemenza di Tito...
Not a good sign when the solving enjoyment peaked at the ROBUST x RIBALD cross. The majority of this felt too contrived. It’s a handsome grid layout but other than FALSE FRIEND - the other longs missed. I didn’t like CONE OF SHAME.
Winter Hours
Agree with the big guy on BROCODE. The SEX TOY and BREAST - NIPPLE combo was creepy - and I’m a big fan of all of them. TUNA OIL, BESTIE etc are just bad.
I’ll take a pass on this one.
You hurt the ones that I love best and cover up the truth with lies
Yes, my daughter (oldest) is about 5’5. Her brother is 6 feet. There’s gotta be some accounting for gender, as men tend to be taller.
BREAST, NIPPLE, and DNATURAL all in one puzzle. Good thing I don’t have lunch plans because I’m sick to my stomach.
Liked BASSCLEF, great clue!
I was thankful for Rex today bc I had trouble with SW corner too. More than he did. Even after Rexcheating I still didn’t understand SOP. I know SOP but concessions? Isn’t a concession (in this meaning) a place that has SOPs? I still don’t know if the word concessions also is used to mean SOP or if it’s a bad clue…?
Yes we know, the boy / girl comparisons are obviously jokes
Our 20-year old cat has decided that someone should be up at 5AM for no discernible reason, except he wants company, so I've been up for a while.
I was flying through this until I hit a stone wall in the SW. Didn't know the Mozart, didn't know BROCODE, didn't know Lily TOMLIN was in something I've never seen, and have spent quite a lot of time in Puerto Rico without encountering a piragua, which looks more like a refreshment than a dessert.
Also missed the alternate meaning of "congress". Come on man. Finally gave up and looked up Lily and that unlocked everything, but I hate to cheat like that.
TIL what TIL means. I prefer our Rexworld "I was today years old when I found out...".
As a former language teacher I'm very familiar with FALSEFRIENDS. My favorite Spanish amigo falso is "embarazada" which means "pregnant". I;ve seen that mistake lead to actual embarrassment.
Very nice Friday indeed, AM. An Absolute Mystery in the SW for me, but a lot of fun mostly, for which thanks.
Lotta creeps with weird breast issues today
I'm in my 70s and know TIL. I think I first learned it from a Diary of a Crossword Fiend post. I found the puzzle fairly easy but had one error. I didn't know La Clemenza di TITO and in my late-night solving, thought yo-yos might be IDIOmS.
I am the second of four and tallest of the litter. As did Anthony, we bucked that trend.
Just for the sake of nitpicking, I'll mention that there is no such thing on a music score as C##. A double sharp is actually a thing and has its own symbol. Now you can say TIL ….
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hLVb-DLSGao/maxresdefault.jpg
Entry today was CONE OF SHAME. Next came CHE, then FALSE FRIEND. At that point, I had a big cross smack in the middle of the puzzle, plus CHE.
Weird puzzle in that the central stacks were the easiest part. Then the corners were like standalone mini-puzzles.
I think the hardest things for me today were all the music references, none of which I would have had a chance at without crosses: TITO, DNATURAL, and BASSCLEF.
Rex, you want confusing? In the Faroe Islands they have two accepted currencies: Krone and krona. And the plural of THAT krona is kronur, rather than kronor.
This was a fantastic fun puzzle.
(One can definitely be over 60 and still know TIL -- if you're texting with kids in their 20s or 30s you'll have come across it.)
Finished it with two cheats, to get LEA and SEXTOY (once I realized they weren't referring to the U.S. Congress). I never heard of CONEOFSHAME, but I guess it's what they put over a dog's mouth after someone got bitten. Good puzzle, and a joy to solve after Thursday's wasted hours.
A very easy solve (for a Friday) until the NE and SW were left. After I figured out the NIPPLE/BREAST thing, the NE fell into place quickly. I totally guessed BROCODE when I felt stymied in the SW and that helped me complete this ahead of my average time. Also I think TIL is more commonly known than Rex thinks.
CONE OF SHAME is a joke that originated with the movie Up in 2009.
BASSCLEF (and for the record, also tenor and treble clefs) gives zero problems to a cellist. The wide range of the instrument lends itself to multiple clefs in order to avoid multiple ledger lines.
I have played the overture to La Clemenza di Tito, so it was also a gimme. Both are definitely kinda niche items for the average solver, I suppose.
Mi perro da clases magistrales sobre cómo llevar el cono de la vergüenza.
Maybe I'm weak from all the unpacking of boxes, and maybe I'm eager to be entertained in any possible way, and maybe this clean fall air has made me loopy, but I loved this puzzle despite it's themelessness. The longer answers dropped in one after the other with only a couple of crosses. I feel a bit smug right now, but it's 4:30 am and I have faith in dawn's ability to beat humility back into me.
Maybe the theme is tee-hee-ery with all the, uh, you know, naughty bits.
Didn't know: LEA, LOIS, PRATT, [Frank Oz], TITO.
Knew: ARNIE, TOMLIN, CHE. We've learned more than we'd ever want to know about the other famous ARNIE this week if you're not quick with the channel changer and willing to listen to an orange BRO CODER.
I learned the phrase TIL from @Lewis.
I don't understand why [Concessions] = SOPS and 🦖 didn't mention it so maybe it's too basic and I am too thick.
I added RIBALD to my favorite word list between AVARICE and WACKOS.
Propers: 8
Places: 0
Products: 4
Partials: 4
Foreignisms: 1
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 17 of 66 (26%)
Funnyisms: 5 😄
Tee-Hee: BREAST. NIPPLE. SEX TOY ... a bit RIBALD today.
Uniclues:
1 Me, quoting Dan.
2 One of two dots next to the swoosh.
3 Block heads.
4 Prayer to big pharma during a kidney stone incident.
5 What I use tongs to grab at the fried chicken buffet.
1 I REPEAT RATHER
2 BASS CLEF NIPPLE
3 GRANITE IDIOTS (~)
4 OH PLEASE MOTRIN
5 TALLER BREAST (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Percussive sound on the dining room table as the brisket is about to be unveiled. GRAMMA DRUMROLL.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I do feel better now!! Especially since we love Mozart operas over here.
I have lived in CA since 2003 and I have never heard anyone call Arnold S, anything but the Governator and AHnold. Weird. Arnie is not one that came to mind at all.
The star of this puzzle, IMO, is the crossing triple stacks. It takes moxie – especially on a debut puzzle -- to tackle today’s grid design, which has appeared six times in the Times. Moxie because:
• It is SO DIFFICULT to find six answers that will work at all, not to mention, work without creating ugly crosses.
• It is orders of magnitude more difficult to include even one or two lovely colorful answers in the mix.
• You are pitting yourself against some top-notch constructors who have tackled this grid design, names like Nosowsky and Pahk.
And today, Alex, on his debut, can stand tall. His MASTER CLASS / CONE OF SHAME / BRAIN FREEZE is, IMO, the best stack of any that have shown up so far, not only because the answers are colorful, but also super-fresh -- the first two are NYT puzzle answer debuts, and the third has shown up but three times before.
And, BTW, the crossing stack consists of three NYT debut answers.
Bravo, Alex!
Those stacks brought sheen to the solve. And what a lovely outing overall for me, with areas that felt like a gambol balanced by sticky areas. I also loved the echo of yesterday’s cone bra reference with today’s CONE over BRA.
All in all, a splendid fill-in experience. What a debut! Congratulations, Alex, and more please!
Really?
I'd ask for my money back.
It is not uncommon for cello parts to be written in tenor or treble clefs as well.
Hand up for over 70 and never seeing TIL ‘til today. Thank you Rex - TILT - Today I Learned TIL 😊
SOP: noun - a conciliatory or propitiatory bribe, gift, or gesture
Completely normal human body parts make you sick to your stomach? C’mon, grow up.
Standard Operating Procedures
Hey All !
Toughie for me today. Had to Goog in the SE corner, or never would've finished. Didn't know TITO, or PANSY as a type/class of Violets. Looked up TOMLIN (that particular TV show not on my radar)and even ICE. Sheesh, four look-ups in one corner. Demerits on my crossword solvers card. Plus CREPE MIX? Dang. And SEXTOY clued with congress. Small c congress, not Capital C Congress. Let that be a lesson.
Rest of puz was slow going, but ultimately gettable. 5D was arab, then SErb, then SECT.
A bit of a RIBALD puz today, with
BREAST/NIPPLE and SEXTOY. And DNATURAL. Har.
BRAIN FREEZE. I knew a guy once who never had one. Bizarre. Maybe if he ate more ICE.
Clean fill, fairly wide open grid. Nice one, Alex.
Happy Friday!
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Meant SW corner, as I'm sure y'all figured that out by now. And the Taller Older Sibling thing, was meant to be when you are younger (single digit age), standing next to each, naturally the older kid will be taller. Think family photos, where the kids are arranged by height.
And the Dog Cone is for post surgery, so the doggo can't lick the wound and reopen it.
RooMonster Look At Me, All Smart Guy 😁
Would you call the Lutheran or the Roman Catholic Church a sect (5D)?
Not as well known as Zauberflote or Figaro, but not exactly obscure either.
I found this incredibly hard and it took me forever, but I refused to DNF on a puzzle 2 days in a row. When, even though I've never heard the term, I finally guessed CONE OF SHAME (poor dog!!!) from CONE plus the SH, I realized that I might actually solve the thing.
Much perplexed me. Was "suck up" a verb or a noun and did it mean sopping up fluid or toadying? What kind of "chef" uses a "timesaver" and what would it be? And KRONEs instead of KRONER kept me from seeing TALLER.
A word about TALLER (41D). Someone failed to alert my gene pool. My 5-years-younger brother is 5' 11 and a half, whereas I'm only...
No. That's a state secret never to be revealed, not even if someone sends me to Guantanamo. Suffice it to say that I had a ridiculously hard time with TALLER.
Some wonderful clue/answers. My favorites were for SEX TOY and DRAMEDY -- both of which stumped me for the longest time. A tough, lively and involving puzzle that I thought was a very worthy Friday opponent.
I figured the clue and D NATURAL must’ve been referring to breast size. 🤣
TIL SOP & TIL, sop in the non-absorb sense.
Cx, the symbol for a double sharp, might be too obscure and actually looks weird not on a piece of music. C## is the same key on a piano as DNATURAL, but has a specific use, so only half accurate, but close enough for a crossword.
Opera clues used to be way more popular, with names of specific characters and arias from operas much more obscure than Clemenza di Tito. Happy to know a lot of those, but can't say I miss them.
There is clearly a “Friends with Benefits” sub-theme here. Puzzle of the year.
I looked up "cognate" and see the example of "gift" vis a vis German. Does "friend" mean something different in another language?
No idea on TIL, never really saw that. 65 here. Though I've seen "Today I learned" alot lately. DNATURAL was easy as I play the piano.BASSCLEF too. I did Google for TITO, on Fridays I allow myself a Google or two. Never really heard of CONEOFSHAME . Loved BROCODE, Sunny/Philly is such a great show. Nice to see Lily TOMLIN as well. Didnt get the SEXTOY/congress thing. And I had Prude before PLAZA. Is NIPPLE/BREAST/SEXTOY/RIBALD an omen for a great weekend? Hope so..... have to show the hubby. :)
It was cute how BREAST crossed NIPPLE. (only cuter thing would have been if NIPPLE appeared "atop" BREAST.) But what I enjoyed even more was the PLAZA crossed PRATT. (Audrey Plaza and Chris Pratt area actors who played a hilarious couple of 20-somethings in the TV comedy "Parks And Recreation." When Rex posted a photo of Audrey Plaza, I thought he would mention the cross, but it seems to have eluded him.
Also: SOPS? I came here to say "what does this mean, and why did Rex not explain it?" but I see someone explained above. Never heard of it.
It looks like the spelling of Aubrey Plaza’s name has eluded you. I’m surprised a big fan such as yourself would make such an error.
Speaking of FALSEFRIENDS, TALLER means workshop or repair shop en español.
What do you call sit-ins held outdoors in summer? TANNINS.
Concessions that continue unto your death = SOPS TIL ya drops. Or in Willie Loman's own last words, "I'm so OVERSELLING."
The Mount Rushmore clue was so easy that I took the answer for GRANITE.
Fun Friday. Thanks and congrats, Alex Murphy.
This meaning of SOP has been used in crossword clues forever. [Appeasement] [Conciliatory gesture] [Pacifier] and on and on
@Anonymous 9:32 AM
Byzantine history enthusiast here. Answer: Ab-so-freaking-lutely.
"My goodness, ROBUST, RIBALD, and risqué!" That was me clutching my pearls when I wrote in SEX TOY. Starting out, I'd thought that RIBALD x ROBUST made a great opener, little suspecting what a role the BUST part would play in the grid. So, laughing as well as clutching.
Do-overs: Aspire before ABSORB; Tibia before TALUS (put me in a CONE OF SHAME). Help from previous puzzles: BROCODE. Small moments of triumph - instant MASTER CLASS and BRAIN FREEZE - balanced out by dunce-cap worthy run-through of Oslo, Helsinki, Stockholm..none begin with K!
Julia Child's recipe for crepes calls for the mix to be refrigerated overnight. So I guess it is a timesaver in the sense, that if you don't have it, you can't make crepes? Could have been clued much better
Breezed through this one with nary a hiccup. I made a point of eye-rolling at people who complain about current cultural references yesterday, and TIL does not qualify as a current cultural reference. Never heard of it or seen it before. Not that I'm the arbiter of all things current, but I know IRL and IDK so I'm at least familiar. SZA is a huge pop star. TIL is the Addison Rae of text speak -Tik Tok famous to a young demographic but she hasn't yet broken through into popular consciousness. Not hating it, though. Cross was easy enough to get and I learned something new. Finished in 14:13
Really enjoyed this one. Had to come back twice but magically flowed after two breaks. Hardest was NE for me. Confident for NONSENSE in lieu of OHPLEASE and could not yet GOVERNATOR or TERMINATOR to find t into 4 boxes.
This was very easy for me in a big swath from the NW across to the SE. DNATURAL was a gimme, and I really liked the long stacks, all of which came pretty easily. But the NE and SW corners were super hard, impossible in fact. I have never heard of BROCODE ( that was not a show I ever watched) or piraguas, and even though TOMLIN was also a gimme, she didn’t help me. Also I think CREPEMIX was so random as a possible short cut for a breakfast chef that I couldn’t come up with it.
Then in the NE I wanted Jerry (Brown) and did come up with ARNIE when nothing would cross with Jerry (plus he was governor twice and I don’t quite remember the years) But my husband kept insisting that no one called the man ARNIE, which I see was corroborated by another commenter. The clue on ABSORB was terrible and I couldn’t come up with BREAST and NIPPLE because I don’t associate censorship with either. My daughter is currently a breastfeeding mom and both those words have become the stuff of ordinary conversation in our family.
So, kind of a schizophrenic solve for me.
Why do I feel that I’d heard CONEOFSHAME before UP? I’m willing to believe NJT, but that’s just my feeling…
I'm 45 and didn't know TIL 🙄
I'm 63 and have never seen TIL. But I'm glad that younger people continue to learn, contrary to certain news reports.
Count me in with the “loved this puzzle” commentariat. Especially nice since the puzzle yesterday kind of made me feel like an IDIOT(s). My feeling today was that the fill was mostly contemporary and fresh, but still solvable by folks who weren’t aware of things like texting initialisms, etc.
So yes, I am close to 70 and have known TIL for several years. However, in spite of an anonymous comment above, I did not know that SOPS meant anything other than Standard Operating Procedures (please don’t point out it is just SOP….I get that), or soaking up something like leftover gravy. So - TIL SOP(S).
This started off feeling really hard. About halfway through my solve, I only had UPS, STP, LEA, DENS, ----OIL, RELENTS, CHE, STAR, UNO and KRONES (almost right) filled in. Almost every clue I looked at (I didn't see them all at first) was either a piece of trivia I didn't know, or Stumper-level vague. [Hearty] and [Suck up] and [Square] and [Flake] and so on and so forth. I did try LOT at 51D on my first pass, but I couldn't get any of the crosses so I erased it. Then I went with END x CONDOM which also didn't work.
ONce I went back to the NW I saw BESTIE and proceeded to zoom through the entire northern half and the stacks. And then right on the homestretch I got stuck for a solid minute in the SE because of ADopT for ADMIT (killer kealoa) and me misinterpreting C## as the programming language C++, thinking that the music angle was just misdirection. (And I'm not the only one, go look at the Diary of a Crossword Fiend write-up)
Roo…that WOULD be a way of looking at it but I do think they mean same sex children at adulthood. Here is a blurb that Google AI found:
-Firstborns are generally taller than later-born children, but the difference in height depends on the spacing between siblings.-
It goes on to say that there is more difference when the children are closely spaced but less when there is a bigger gap in age. Haha! Maybe it reverses at some point because my sister is 11 years older than me (5’5”) and I am 5’8”
The grid and the fill were excellent, but some of the cluing really detracted from the feeling. The worst was, unfortunately, right in the center. MASTER CLASS does not mean "flawless display of technique." That would be MASTER piece (my first answer) or MASTERwork. A MASTER CLASS--I have been in several, and witnessed may more--is a class taught by a MASTER taught to a group of performers other than his or her regular students. Each member of the group plays a piece, then hears the master's comments on how to improve it. There is often, although not always, an audience. It is meant to be helpful, but that goal is not always attained. The play "The MASTER CLASS" By Terrence McNally, is a fictionalized account of such a class conducted by Maria Callas; she tends to reduce the students to tears. As I said, it's fiction--though one can imagine her doing that.
Aside from that, the clue for SECT has a bad feel -- how would people react if it was clued "Protestant or Catholic, e.g?" And while Daniel's lions were indeed in DENS, everything I've seen about lions today says they sleep out in the open, often on little hills where they can see the country around them. I'm no expert on this one, however.
I did somehow find the ROBUST/RIBALD cross enjoyable, and I was happy to learn that we first-borns tend to be taller. The correlation with age is even stronger, though.
I resisted ARENA because I was thinking of theatrical plays, but I can see that sports teams play in them. For that matter, there is--or used to be--an ARENA stage in Washington.
Does Flake equal BOIL? You can flake out or boil out, but they're not the same thing.
The SW was trouble for me-- I finally had to look up TOMLIN, since I had no idea about "Grace and Frankie." No idea about the BRO CODE, either, or what it might consist of. BRO COol first, but then I saw IDIOT. Only after filling in SEX TOY did I realize what kind of "Act of congress" we were talking about. The lower case C should have clued me in, but I missed it.
I have to eat lunch, pack up my instruments, and catch the subway in the next hour; I'll try to get back here about 4 or 5.
Easy-medium. I did not know FALSE FRIEND and TIL (totally inscrutable works for me) and the D part of NATURAL were also WOEs, so that was the last entry to fall. The NE also gave me some problems. ABSORB and RATHER had tricky clues and 19a/12d entries needed some crosses. The rest was pretty whooshy.
Low on junk, high on sparkle, and the center stack was worth the price of admission, liked it a bunch!
@Rex-- FWIW, I learned TIL from comments on this blog.
Much more solver-friendly than yesterday's puzzle.
I'll start with absolutely hating CONE OF SHAME for that - or any poor dog :(
Didn't know FALSE FRIEND, and today I learned TIL. As for SEX TOY, the clue totally threw me - would never have gotten that in a million years.
So - better than yesterday but I still miss
Robyn W. & Erik A.
TIL that many of you are missing out by not reading the delightful posts of @Lewis. SHAME on you. He is the ’TIL-MASTER’ - always pointing out something he learned from the puzzles. Thank you @Lewis for teaching me TIL, and also prompting me to look for semordnilaps - did you see the five-letter one today?
Lots to like, fun to SOLVE. Thank goodness I had heard of TITO, not that it came to mind easily. But that “-IN” gave me TOMLIN, though I had to put (CREPE) MIX in for pan to get there.
TIAL (today I also learned) that I haven’t completely ABSORBed the meaning of SOP. Must find some etymology for that to soak in. My concessions were pOPS, as in soda pops. That “S” was the last letter in, when I had to reject the nonsensical ApITIS.
Congrats to Alex Murphy on a fine debut!
Over two decades past 60 and I know what TIL means and I honestly don’t know whether to be proud or ashamed about that !
Tons of people called him Arnie well before he was the governator. “Let’s head to Blockbuster and rent some silly Arnie movies.”
…and just like that, etymonline.com to the rescue:
sop (n.)
Middle English soppe, "something soaked," from Old English sopp- "bread soaked in water, wine, milk, or some other liquid" (in soppcuppe "cup into which sops are put"), from Proto-Germanic *supp-, which is related to Old English verb suppan (see sup (v.2)) and probably reinforced by Old French soupe (see soup (n.)). The meaning "something given to appease" is from 1660s, a reference to the sops given by the Sibyl to distract Cerberus in the "Aeneid." Also "dull or foolish person" (1620s).
To “flake” on a plan is to “BAIL.”
People sure do turn into crybabies when they feel embarrassed to discover that they’re missing some piece of common knowledge.
I, too, struggled in the SW; figured it must be CREPE something or other once I had the CRE in place, but all I could think up was CREPE pan (hi, @Rex) or CREPE bar (like a salad bar?). Couldn't come up with that wonderful Lily lady, and TIL (look at this old septuagenarian dropping in that initialism like an old dog with a totally new trick) that SOPS means concessions. I wanted pOPS, as in soda pops at a concession stand in the ARENA.
But, as one who refuses to look up answers, my dnf came via the "Check Word" route, and checking the words helped me complete the solve without hitting "Reveal" or resorting to Google.
So call it whatever one calls something halfway between victory and defeat--a crossword DRAMEDY solve.
And, of course, Lewis' always cheery posts with positivity & gratitude to the constructor :)
I think the CONEOFSHAME term (at least for me) evokes the “doleful” look of the dog when it HAS to be put on. It’s as if they are aSHAMEd of chewing (or constantly licking) at their stitches, owie, or whatnot. All dog owners do not want to have to put the cone on, but unfortunately it is for their own good.
No. You misread Rex, who was telling us he initially put in Lia before correctly changing it to Lea.
Adam
Rex left out I.
(I) misspelled it LiA
He was trying to say.
An lsraeli variation on the the old congress joke: in the lsraeli film "Life According to Agfa" about an eventful night in a Tel Aviv pub in the 90s, the dashing policeman hero invites a woman patron (iconically) to "congress in Basel."
The point is that Basel Street, a high-life location in Tel Aviv, is named for the city of Basel, site of the first Zionist congess in 1897 at which the visionary Viennese journalist Theodor Herzl predicted "in Basel l founded the Jewish state; if not in 5 years then in 50."
Hi @Sallie (FullTime-Life) - nothing to be ashamed of, as I'm sure you know. ;-) Fun reminder to use each new day to learn a thing or two! Speaking of which, your blogger name is intriguing so I clicked on your avatar and then followed the link to your website. What marvelous photos of Oregon, one of my very favorite places I have visited (in our travel trailer, no less). Glad you posted today!
More "medium" than easy for me but it was enjoyable. Today I Learned: FALSE FRIEND and TIL.
False Friend is quite interesting... I've often noticed it in French, where "demand" means "ask", "attend" means "wait", but "assiste" can mean "assist" but also "attend". Hard to remember!
For the "act of congress", had SE---- and wondered if the Senate really was included in it? American politics is weird. Also, for "C##" I thought: that's a computer program from Microsoft; did they give it a nickname, like say NEW BASIC? Oh wait, that's "C#".
Never heard or read it ever, outside of the crossword. Sometimes it feels like this (crossword) arena is an echo chamber of the arcane.
Hah! I had mentioned that five-letter semordnilap in the first draft of my post, but it just didn't make the cut because I felt like the post was running long. Good catch! And thank you for those kind words...
Pabloinnh
About piragua
Dessert works for me. Never had a piragua but I would guess it’s super sweet. Anything like that is a dessert in my mind.
Shaun the Sheep maybe? Bitzer wore a cone of shame. Hilariously.
@jberg 11:55 AM
+1 Hope your gig was a success. My typical experience with MASTER CLASSES: Rehearse for weeks, show up, there's a technical problem with the microphone or video or computer system, the room is freezing, the "master" is someone you've never heard of being paid a nice sum to spend the afternoon with students and is really there to give a concert later in the day and get a free meal, sit in the audience barely listening as you await your turn, finally perform and botch it as if you'd never seen the material, listen to a few platitudes from the master, go home in humiliation. It's a flawless display of technique in bizarro world.
Gary Jugert
SOP as a noun can mean concession. Usually a minor concession to shut a complainer up
Interesting comment. I went through every single post today before this one and saw nothing that remotely sounded like “crybaby” talk.
Beezer interesting info about sibling height.
I am 15 months younger than my brother, and 3 inches shorter. 5’ 9’’
vs 5’6”.
Mathgent
False friend is a translation of a French term. faux ami. In the sense a word that looks helpful in learning another language but is the opposite. Like someone who
you thought was a friend who betrays you.
Anonymous 10:54 AM
I think you misunderstood the clue.
By mix the clue means a store bought package that saves steps, like a store bought pancake mix. It does not mean preparing from scratch the day before like Julia recommended.
There is nothing wrong with that clue
TIL WTF
Lots of things everybody knows about I don’t. Perhaps sop is one of those unknowns for Anonymous 2:08 pm
Sop as a minor concession to shut someone up etc I have read often and sometimes heard since I was young and I have seen it recently. It is most. definitely NOT crosswordese. It’s not obscure.
Don’t assume it’s obscure just because you don’t know it. We can’t know everything.
The full name is La Clemenza da Tito Francona.
Jberg
Good point about sects as others have also noted.
Sect can have a negative connotation.
https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/851351-dogs
A
Always enjoy your comments including today. there were a few comments from people who were very offended by sops implying that only crossword nerds would know the noun. I think that’s what Anonymous was (over) reacting to. But no need to get equally snippy.
Naticked by pervert robocop
We worked on most of this FriPuz while waitin in line to vote. And it was a reallllly long line. Must be havin a record turnout, in our neck of the woods. But ... still voted, before we finished it.
staff weeject pick: STP. Got this pup very first thing, while waitin for our restaurant breakfast to be served, before goin to the polls. But I crossed it at the "S" with YESMAN = {Suck up}. Fatal flaw, for tryin to solve that NE corner. Lost precious nanoseconds.
some faves: NIPPLE/BREAST/SEXTOY. Whoa, Murphy dude. Also: OHPLEASE. CREPEMIX and its clue. SEXTOY clue. BRAINFREEZE.
66-worder, with quad Jaws of Themelessness. And twirl-it symmetry. Got it all. TEN OUT OFTEN.
Thanx, Mr. Murphy dude. Nice debut!
Masked & Anonymo4Us
**gruntz**
Hope I am not repeating
Liked it DNA__RAL were my last 2 letters because of course DNA sidetracked me. C## I had no clue about. But got STAR and and finally saw it. A music almost theme. Along with a mini sex theme.
From what I hear Danish , Norwegian and Swedish are fairly similar and to an extent mutually intelligible. But they do have their differences! Being Friday I knew it wasn’t a city.
Not always! E## would be F#. B## would be C#. Sharp-sharp is two semi-tones up, which doesn’t always resolve to the natural. Yeah, I got “Clemenzo di Tito” right away, too. Good at music, chess, and old movies; terrible at sports and rappers.
Hey jberg, master class is clued one way it’s often used these days—“xxx is a master class in yyy,” where xxx is an amazing example of yyy.
Love this review. Thanks!
Well that certainly fits the clue and answer for 44D perfectly.
Cone of Shame predates Up by at least eight years (and likely more), though Up may have popularized it.
See, eg, https://groups.google.com/g/alt.fashion/c/_jhOe-QuUrg/m/OHxiny8Z8qEJ
i make crepes often, and the only dry ingredient in the mix is flour. it's literally just flour, milk, and eggs. so it makes no sense to me that "crepe mix" would even exist because it would just be...a bag of flour. i kept wondering for so long how a crepe pan would be a timesaver, and then [hi tom] i also thought of a crepe bar - like a buffet type thing that had pre-prepared components for guests to make their own so it was less for you to do in the kitchen during service. crepe mix is just such a made up, bad answer.
bro code is funny because the character that constantly talks about it is played by neil patrick harris, and his character's entire offputting persona is based on being a straight bachelor misogynist type and, as RP probably knows, NPH is, in real life, gay.
i know it's late but nobody mentioned either of these things which surprised me so i had to jot them down. have a nice weekend everyone :)
-stephanie.
I don't know if it's original to UP, but that's 100% where I know "cone of shame" from.
Good point!
Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish are all separate languages (if closely related), so different spellings for Krone/Kroner/Kronar/etc. is fair game. English is just one language (by most accounts), but we live with different spellings for US and UK usage.
I just had to think a moment when reading the clue which (if any) of the countries hasn't adopted the Euro (my original thought before I looked at how many letters). Turns out all three of them (possibly one reason I don't travel to Scandinavia all that often).
La clemenza di Tito is a lovely opera, definitely worth hearing.
The STANLEY CUP clue was brilliant. Anyone who knows a thing or two about NHL hockey (or even catches a glimpse of its championship celebration in the news) knows that the Stanley Cup trophy doubles as giant champagne vessel from which winning players sip. Even knowing this, I was deftly misdirected to come up with some obscure ship's name -- right up until that gratifying moment of recognition. Nicely done!
OH PLEASE
Great puzzle for libidinous musicians!
Is no one concerned about tuna oil? Tuna IS canned, but customarily not in TUNA OIL. Extra virgin or canola, perhaps, or (deplorably) water. For a healthy long life, run down to your nearest supermarket and grab yourself a tin of freshly canned tuna oil. This clueing had me concerned about the outcome of the breakfast chef clue and I was predictably distraught with CREPEMIX. Loved coneofshame and brainfreeze
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