Middling in rank, informally / SAT 11-23-24 / Restaurateur and humanitarian José / 1995 crime thriller named for a line in "Casablanca," with "The" / Full-body armor in science fiction stories / Disney Channel pal of Phineas / Common crab covering / Dangerous place for Indiana Jones / "Tropic Thunder" setting, for short / Nocturnal flier with a distinctive screech / Bootlicking sorts

Saturday, November 23, 2024

Constructor: Ryan McCarty

Relative difficulty: Easy


THEME: none 

Word of the Day: GREER Garson (39A: Actress Garson with seven Oscar nominations) —

[as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, 1940]

Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson CBE (29 September 1904 – 6 April 1996) was a British-American actress and singer. She was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer who became popular during the Second World War for her portrayal of strong women on the homefront; listed by the Motion Picture Herald as one of America's top-10 box office draws from 1942 to 1946.

The fourth most-nominated woman for the Best Actress Oscar, Garson received seven Academy Award nominations, including a record-tying (with Bette Davis) five consecutive nominations (1941–1945) in the best actress category, winning for her performance in the title role as the British housewife in the 1942 film Mrs. Miniver.

• • •

[15D: 1995 crime thriller
named for a line in
"Casablanca," with "The"
]
Another highly enjoyable themeless, though perhaps a little less enjoyable than yesterday's, if only because it was way, way too easy. Twelve marquee answers (of 8 or more letters) and I didn't struggle with any of them. I did hesitate at the front end of BATTLE SUITS ("do characters in science fiction wear ... LITTLE SUITS?"), but that's it for struggle. And I had SPEAK ON before SPEAK OF (12D: Talk about), which made "THAT'S A BIG IF" hard to see, for a few seconds. With every other longer answer, the first time I actually looked at the clue, I got it. This kind of success is made possible by working short crosses first, but also, the puzzle was just easy. I got every one of the first five marquee answers I encountered off of their first three letters alone: ILO-, TIB-, YOU-, USU-, TRE-. Those were all I needed. When I dropped those long answers down the center of the grid, 1-2-3, I got suspicious. Can't be this easy. But it was. Wednesday easy for me. But if the ride was over fast, at least it was (mostly) smooth and entertaining. 


There were only three things I visibly, physically, audibly didn't enjoy. One was POOL HUSTLER (31A: Bad person to take a cue from?). That phrase ... just misses the mark, colloquially. It's either simply "hustler" (as in the Paul Newman movie) or "pool shark." Something about POOL HUSTLER feels awkwardly redundant, like someone unfamiliar with the correct term trying to grope for the correct term and missing. Also didn't love BATTLE SUITS, which I'm sure are real things, but ... the phrase just didn't land (32A: Full-body armor in science fiction stories). Kind of flat. I can imagine such suits, but not vividly, not iconically, not like I can imagine Indy in the SNAKE PIT (49A: Dangerous place for Indiana Jones). The one other answer that bugged me today was B-TIER (30D: Middling in rank, informally). People say that? I've heard of B-TEAMS and B MOVIES and maybe B LIST (if there's an A LIST and a D LIST, there has to be a B LIST, right?). And I've heard of GOD-TIER, for sure (the highest level of any category in question). But B-TIER, that missed me. Consider me entirely unshocked to find out that it's a debut. Not Everything "Original" Is Good, I cry, for the umpteenth time.

[God-tier Intellivision game, which somehow does not feature SNAKE PITs]

Those three long center Downs really are impressive, and the whole fat, white, open center ended up being remarkably smooth and creamy. I'm mad at B TIER, but other than that, I'm not really mad at anything. None of it clanks. Ryan makes it look easy, but (as you probably know by now), it is Not.  The only actual resistance I got from this puzzle came in the NE, where I simply could not accept that Jay LENO had ever won the Mark Twain Prize (9D: Winner of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2014). At four letters and ending in "O," I thought, "LENO? ... NAH, that can't be right." But I floated his name anyway, and ... well initial results weren't great. I wrote in GLITZY before GLOSSY (8A: Superficially attractive), I couldn't get 16A: Something that may be passed down in a family from just RE-, and I forgot José ANDRÉS's name, despite being a monthly supporter of his World Central Kitchen organization (18A: Restaurateur and humanitarian José). I just blanked. It happens. Anyway, LENO's failure to immediately get me those Acrosses up there had me redoubting him, but then OCD gave me the "O" I needed for GLOSSY, and YES MEN confirmed that "Y" (13D: Bootlicking sorts). and so I guess LENO did win the Mark Twain. Huh. Before Dave won? Really?? Wow, OK ... OK. You live, you learn things. 


Notes:
  • 33A: Stories that can be read both forward and backward? (SAGAS) — that is, the word itself ("SAGAS") can be read both forward and backward, i.e. it's a palindrome.
  • 35D: Gives the quick and dirty (RECAPS) — "the quick and dirty" as in "the lowdown," "the deets" ... when you're filling someone in on the latest news / gossip.
  • 44A: Spot-checked? (DOG SAT) — an amazing clue that I never saw, so easy was that SW corner. I dove into that corner and whooshed through it so fast that I looked back and thought "DOGS AT, what the hell does that mean? Can you 'dog at' something? Or maybe it's a partial? "Where my DOGS AT!?"
  • 46A: Easily stacked pet food (TUNA CANS) — "pet food," you say? I've been eating "pet food" all these years?
  • 40D: Anchor, e.g. (RACER) — the “anchor” runs the last leg in a relay race.
  • 50A: Common crab covering (OLD BAY) — this is a proprietary herb & spice mixture made in Baltimore, MD, specifically for use on crab and other seafood (apparently meat and poultry as well, why not?).
  • 5D: Disney Channel pal of Phineas (FERB) — never seen an episode in my life, but the title is exceedingly familiar. I probably would've spelled it "PHERB" if you'd quizzed me, but in four letters, had to be FERB.
  • 25A: Alert to prejudice (WOKE) — I only ever hear this term pejoratively or ironically now. I have this cartoon hanging next to my desk, a parody of right-wing reaction to the Binghamton University campus under outgoing president, Harvey Stenger:
  • 38A: North ___ Sea, body of water since the late 1980s (ARAL) — if a sea shrinks for long enough, it eventually becomes multiple, smaller seas, apparently. The ARAL Sea has been shrinking in crosswords (and irl) for many years now. According to all the archived ARAL clues I read just now, Russian irrigation projects are apparently to blame. It's appeared in crosswords since 1942, but the first reference to its shrinking came in 1999: [Shrinking sea] (1/4/99).
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

80 comments:

Anonymous 6:02 AM  

In spite of this being one of the easiest Saturday puzzles I can remember, I need some help. Can someone explain the clue/answer for 40 down?

mathgent 6:22 AM  

Only two mystery clue/entries (OLDBAY and BTIER), Saturdays often have close to twenty. So it's officially easy. But it didn't feel that way. Good crunch.

Anonymous 6:23 AM  

An anchor runs the last leg of a relay race

Kent 6:25 AM  

A lot of fun, if a little easy for a Saturday. A long gimme like USUAL SUSPECTS right in the heart of the grid sure makes for less resistance.

Son Volt 6:57 AM  

High quality - elegantly built puzzle but misplaced. No issue with POOL HUSTLER - that entire central crossing tri-stack is solid. YOUNG AT HEART, BARN OWL, SWOONS etc are all top notch.

JASON

Knew of ANDRES but needed the crosses to identify him correctly. BUSS is meh but other than that this grid is squeaky clean and slick.

SCRUFFY the Cat

Highly enjoyable Saturday morning solve - even if a little on the gentle side. Matt Sewell’s Stumper will provide the missing heat today.

Stiff Little Fingers

Lewis 7:07 AM  

JOSÉ ANDRES's World Central Kitchen had a huge helpful presence here in Asheville, after Helene. Local chefs joined in their work. The organization stayed after many news organizations left. It's the real deal, and to me, and I'm sure many others, it will be remembered fondly for a long time.

Anonymous 7:27 AM  

Tier lists have been a thing among the younger (than me) for some time now. No “god tier” to be found.
S, A, B, C, D, E, F is the order

Anonymous 7:32 AM  

Dumb to say no god-tier. Please do your research. Or ask one of these young people you allegedly know.

SouthsideJohnny 7:33 AM  

A little something for everyone, and light on the propers. Toss in the pretty awesome grid-spanners and you have a very enjoyable Saturday romp. You can’t ask for much more than that.

Anonymous 8:00 AM  

I initially had "squib" instead of SQUAB, too much Harry Potter on the brain. But I thought surely I'm not the only person who will make this mistake....

Too easy for a Saturday but enjoyable nonetheless.

Lewis 8:00 AM  

Fun finds:
• Rare-in-crosswords six-letter semordnilap (RECAPS).
• EARN IT anagrams to TIN EAR in a cool way: Read it backwards for three letters, then read it forward for three letters.
• SCRUFFY, GLOSSY, THIRSTY, FROSTY, GUTSY – Sounds like the B-TIER of Snow White’s retinue.
• The cross of two very lovely words (ROBUST, SCRUFFY).

Once again, Ryan’s grid-building talent shines. Here’s an ultra-low-word-count grid (66) -- free of clunky answers. Look at the huge chunks of white in the grid and how so smoothly the letters fit in! This is craft and art. Ryan makes it look easy in his 24 Saturday puzzles, but trust me, it’s a mountain few can climb.

It’s fun to look at a long answer with just a few crosses and suddenly realize what it is. It’s also fun to take a stab at an answer from a vague clue and have it turn out right. I had a good number of these moments today, so lots of “Whee!”

Correctly filling in a puzzle is a happy ending, and better yet is when that happy ending is accompanied by a happy DURING, that is, many buoyant pings throughout the fill-in. You once again gave me one of those, Ryan. I had a great time with this, and thank you!

Anonymous 8:08 AM  

My fastest solve this week (I did the Monday downs-only and the Tuesday was tough) and easily my Saturday record. I was expecting a tough solve, given the first few clues I looked at. Then I filled in UVEAS, the V got me I LOVE YOU, and I breezed through the whole grid from there. I got the long Downs with just YOU-, USU- and TR-, and the long Acrosses followed, except the BIGIF part of 29A. I finished at RECAPS/REAR with the REAR clue baffling me because in my whooshing I misread it as [Seal filler].

FERB was a gimme for me, but FERB x SQUAB looks like a tricky crossing.

I'm not from the US, I didn't know OLD BAY. I had OLD and considered the possibility of the "crab" in the clue being a grouchy person and not a crab crab. I couldn't make sense of "covering" anyway.

Bob Mills 8:10 AM  

Had to cheat once, in the NE. Didn't know that ganja was GRASS, so GLOSSY came at the end. A very well constructed puzzle I thought; a bit easier than Friday's, but challenging enough. YESMEN was clued without reference to gender...is that because there are no such things as "yeswomen?"

Anonymous 8:13 AM  

I’ve been going through some of the old Saturday NY Times crossword puzzle books. 2008-2011. Wow were those hard. Today’s was not. This was in no way a Saturday puzzle,

Fun_CFO 8:13 AM  

Hard not to like. So polished. Didn’t care for BUSS, BTIER as fill. NAM and WOKE aren’t pleasant imagery. And unfortunately USUALSUSPECTS now just leads to sleazy Kevin Spacey and the sexual assault allegations.

Fortunately we have the wonderful José ANDRÉS erasing those negatives, and then some. Have eaten at many of his restaurants, support WCK.ORG.and just admire the person, his food and his mission.

A lovely Saturday solve, despite the relative ease.

mmorgan 8:15 AM  

Not as easy for me as for Rex. But yes, I guess, easier than the average Saturday. But so much fun, so smooth, so pleasant. Spot-checked is worth the price of admission.

B$ 8:19 AM  

Super easy, but for the cross of the Roman emperor (SIBELIUS ? was my first guess) and the cartoon character. Otherwise not much resistance. Loved the long downs.

Anonymous 8:20 AM  

Speak for yourself about USUAL SUSPECTS. Some of us can still enjoy movies even when one of their actors is accused of having done bad things. THE REF is great. SE7EN is great. Im not throwing those out just because of Spacey allegations.

Anonymous 8:35 AM  

Mix Old Bay into mayo to taste, add a pinch of brown sugar. Use it for sandwiches, fried chicken, French fries, etc. Thank me later

kitshef 8:38 AM  

Managed to make a mess of things initially in the SW with elder GOD, hoot OWL, and gusheS (before SWOONS), but all fixed reasonably quickly. Other than those, only overwrite was clauDIUS before TIBERIUS.

Pet food???

Anonymous 8:38 AM  

Phineas and Ferb are stepbrothers. They might be pals too, but that’s not how most people would describe a familial relationship.

Anonymous 8:46 AM  

J.O. Spice is actually the more commonly used crab seasoning - Old Bay just gets better marketing/brand recognition

Anonymous 8:49 AM  

Bob, aren't you like 70+ years old? You never heard of marijuana being referred to as grass??

puzzlehoarder 8:52 AM  

Despite the easiness of today's solve I came away with a double dnf. Maybe this OLDBAY thing is regional but either way I've never heard of it. I went with OLDBOY and DANO.

In the SE I entered NAW at 47D and wondered what what kind of twee-ified word would show up. When it turned out to be TWIRSTY I didn't even blink.

Those were easy mistakes to correct but the congrats just felt like mockery.Regarding that first gaffe if any cook tells you he put OLDBOY on your food don't eat it.

Anonymous 8:58 AM  

A snakepit is a DANGEROUS place for everyone; it's a FRIGHTENING place for Indiana Jones

Sam 9:00 AM  

“Story that can be read forward and backward” would be an excellent clue for LEVEL

mathgent 9:02 AM  

I agree with Anonymous 8:20. The artistic work of an actor is what counts. The first seasons of House of Cards were some of the best tv ever. I hadn't heard of The Ref. I'll try to find it on streaming.

Todd 9:12 AM  

In one of my favorite sci-fi books The Forever War they are called Fighting Suits not battle suits.

RooMonster 9:14 AM  

Hey All !
I usually solve the puz sitting at my desk, in front of a desktop computer, not on a tablet or phone. My REAR in my adjustable swivel chair. I'm usually in a slumped back position, ala like on the couch watching TV, and often on Themeless, it takes a while to solve. What's odd is if I decide to sit up straight, the puzs seem to get easier. Is it psychological, or am I paying more attention, or what?

All that to say, I sat up for a majority of this puz, and found it easy for a SatPuz. Now I'm not sure if it was actually easy, or not. Rex said so, I'll read y'all next and see.

Did have some writeovers, SQUiB-SQUAB, BUSk-BUSS, conkle-OLDBAY (not even sure if that's the correct spelling of the shell), rAise-WAGES, WisE-WOKE, NUTty-NUTSO.

The NUTty one held me up in the NE. I actually Googed to get LENO, as I was flailing up there, after completing the rest of the puz quickly. Once that came in, saw it was NUTSO, which got me GRASS, and the finish in 16:30, which is super fast for me on a SatPuz. One cheat doth not maketh a DNF! 😁 I SAID SO.

An X and a Z from a Pangram. Noticed a lot of words ending in Y. Wonder if @Lewis will point that out. SCRUFFY, SITSBY, GLOSSY, GUTSY, OLDBAY, THIRSTY, FROSTY OK, only seven. Seemed like more as I was solving!

Enough BTIER prattle outta me.

Happy Saturday!

Four F's
RooMonster
DarrinV

Adam T 9:39 AM  

Just a tip, a dash of OLD BAY can really take a hot dog to the next level sometimes

Lewis 9:44 AM  

Lewis did, obliquely.

Liveprof 9:46 AM  

Sorry I'm a day late with this. After 40 years of marriage to a woman who does her best to support the cosmetics industry, I was surprised I had not heard of NARS. So I visited their website. They have products called Orgasm, Take Me Home, Adults Only, Start Me Up, and No Shame.

I'm starting my own line too, with: Help Me Up, Take Me To The ER, Seniors Only, and No Prostate.

Niallhost 9:50 AM  

Had Octavian before TIBERIUS - not because I thought he was reclusive, just because I heard the name before and it fit. Also had SPEAK On before SPEAK OF. Knew that the cue clue was going to be pool related, but originally had romAN GOD before PAGAN GOD so couldn't figure out what pool thing started with R until HUSTLER became undeniable and I had to revisit what kind of gods I was dealing with (they're Greek, right? Or maybe both?). Figured out LENO right away (apparently some people think he's funny, maybe dad-jokers). Thought SIR NO SIR was clever. More of an easy Friday than the challenging Saturday that I look forward to, but enjoyed the short ride. Finished in 16:47

Anonymous 9:54 AM  

Loved this one. Even my 10 year old filled in a few answers. Lovely little Saturday puzzle!

Nancy 10:03 AM  

Immensely enjoyable. This was filled with clues that sparked real curiosity before I got the answer and provided nice Aha Moments once I did. Some of my favorite clue-answers: POOL HUSTLER; YOUNG AT HEART; SAGAS; and DOGSAT. USUAL SUSPECTS provoked a lot of curiosity in me since I couldn't come up with it, but afterwards I had the strong feeling: "Shoulda known it!!"

I see only now that I had a DNF. NUTSy instead of NUTSO (who says that?) gave me LE?Y for the Mark Twain prize winner. All I could think of was one of the LEVYs in "Schitt's Creek", and I know they're Canadian (!) -- but even so, they're really, really funny. I wanted ANDRES, not AvDRES for the restaurant guy, but who is LENY? I know LENNY, but not LENY. Shoulda seen my mistake, but it was yet again another idee fixe that I failed to correct.

Doesn't matter. I had so much fun with this that I was truly sorry when it was over.

Anonymous 10:10 AM  

Done in by the terminal B at the FERB-SQUAB intersection. Loved the puzzle.

Conrad 10:10 AM  


Easy-Peasy. I checked my calendar to make sure it was really Saturday. The NW corner was a breeze. I got FYI at 6D and from the F I was able to guess that the 7D square would be a Y. From that I filled in YOUNG AT HEART. Then the YO gave me the YOU part of I LOVE YOU at 14A, and the U led to USUAL SUSPECTS at 15D. It was Whoosh-whoosh from there. No WOEs and only one overwrite, claudIUS before TIBERIUS at 17A, which was quickly corrected by ROBUST at 3D.

Anonymous 10:13 AM  

Anon, I imagine it’s ganja that was unfamiliar, not GRASS.

Anonymous 10:18 AM  

I also had Claudius first…I’m not up on reclusive v. nonreclusive Roman emperors. Also, that is a cat living in the lap of luxury…right?

Teedmn 10:18 AM  

Like @Lewis, I noticed the many words ending in Y. Do we need to know Y there's a Y fest? SIR, NO SIR. And YET, I’m curious.

I entered FYI in first, decided 1A would end in Y and threw down YOUNG AT HEART. That's how this whole solve went. Very whooshy, no hold-ups, no write-overs. This is not the typical Ryan McCarty Saturday. Ryan's name among the usual suspects means hard Saturday fare. So did Ryan just serve us a soft ball or did the editing tone down the difficulty?

I had one misread of clue numbers, reading 49A's clue but filling in 48A. So Indy SWOONS? A second look put Indy in the snake pit, as expected.

Thanks Ryan, for a very smooth Saturday experience.

EasyEd 10:32 AM  

Really liked his puzzle. Filled in ILOVEYOU instinctively and kept on going. Snags were not knowing ANDRES, not thinking of TUNACANS as dogfood, and filling in DOGmat for Spot-checked. DOGgone it!

egsforbreakfast 10:39 AM  

Man: I asked you your sexual preference and you texted me a picture of a woman with both a man and another woman and it's in Graphics Interchange Format. What the hell is that?
Woman: THATSABIGIF.

I guess the guys saying SIRNOSIR are not YESMEN. Pete Hegseth (since we SPEAKOF bi-sexuals here) will drum them out of the corps tout suite.

And speaking of politics, I heard that, in addition to his brain worm, our incoming HHS Czar has an EARNIT.

In our household we somehow began decades ago referring to the crab seasoning as "Old Babe." It always makes me smile.

Super swooshy Saturday. Great fun. Thanks, Ryan McCarty.

Anonymous 10:41 AM  

Excellent Saturday puzzle! For me it, it was the perfect amount of crunch and sparkle. Always interesting to see those that weigh in that say it was “Wednesday level”… they are in a different TIER than me. I just knew that I was glad I knew SQUAB and MACRO from the getgo.

I looked up the Mark Twain Award and there are many people who have gotten the prize that are extremely humorous. Some even WRITE or wrote, but there are many on the list not known for this. (I get that comedians write their jokes). Anyway, if you want to read some books that are kind of sort of in the Twain-like genre, I recommend Nick Offerman.

Tom T 10:43 AM  

Even though (unlike yesterday) my first impulse at 1A was correct (SCRUFFY), it didn't help me crack the NW. As is usually the case, I found my toeholds in the lower half after staring too long at the upper half.
Once the answers fell quickly in the SE & SW, I was able to have the easy Saturday solve that others are SPEAKing OF.
Thought the clue for SITS BY (Remains unmoved) was a meh effort at misdirection.

Nancy 10:46 AM  

"• SCRUFFY, GLOSSY, THIRSTY, FROSTY, GUTSY – Sounds like the B-TIER of Snow White’s retinue." A really nice one, Lewis!! It was also extremely interesting to read a first-hand account of Jose ANDRES' humanitarian work in Asheville -- and it makes me feel even more guilty for not knowing/remembering his name.

jberg 10:48 AM  

Gah! I finished with an error --- NUTtY instead of NUTSY, and somehow even though I didn't understand GRAtS, the idea that it might be GRASS never crossed my mind. I think I was so happy that I'd finally remembered Carlos ANDRES of the World Central Kitchen that I wasn't paying attention.

Today's candidate for Worst Plural Ever: AGARS!

Anybody else want PRENUP for "subject of union negotiations?" I just now noticed that it doesn't fit, but the forces led me to WAGES anyway.

as for SHOTS, how quickly the round is finished can vary--I once spent a couple of weeks in Russia, and noticed that in restaurants people would have their drinks poured out and placed on the table, then talk, eat, or play chess for 5, 10, or 15 minutes-- then drink the whole thing at one gulp, whether it was a shot or a glass of wine.

I was very slow to get a start today -- I ran thourgh the whole Pacific Northwest and had only ROBUST filled in. All the other clues were either vague or didn't ring a bell (I thought TIBERIUS was 50-100 years later). But then it all fell together. I really enjoyed all the long colloquialisms in the center, and the puzzle overall. But by cat is complaining that she wants to eat the tuna, not the CANS.

jberg 11:03 AM  

Augustus and Octavian were the same person-- he took on a new name as emperor. This valuable knowledge will no doubt prove very useful to you as you go about your daily affairs.

Anonymous 11:06 AM  

Let me know if you are looking for investors.

dash riprock 11:08 AM  

Nearly eviscerated my Sat best. Quick hold in the NE dropping GLitzY at 8a, and though discrepant, the three overlapping rocketed the filling of entire NE to SW swath, bar four cells due E. Then the NW, the SE, WAGES at 25d, and the "I" in 32a to complete three of the open cells, and it seemed over before it began.

But one remaining cell at 29a x 30d and determined not to get the gong, I stared at it for four bluddy minutes, a massive bite of and dead weight added to the final time. I could not parse THATSA_IGIn, 29a, and made no sense of _TIER, 30d. Finally, ookay, SPEAK OF, n to F, 12d, then the B in 29a and.. Yahtzee.

Never encountered a B TIER, what the hell is that. Miserable wing-midget manlet, is what that is.. the ELHI left off the guest list to a party of all moneyed, society ELHIs. A cur.

Huzzah for the local, José Andrés - we've repeatedly patronized I believe all his area eateries going back 30 yrs, occasionally seeing him as he drops in to chat up the diners. He took a stance years ago, withdrawing from a commitment to open a high-end restaurant in the Old Post Office Pavilion, which cost him. The Demagogue had his hand in the historic site's renovation, so Andrés backed out. (You know I've apter epithets for The Demagogue, The Rex, which seem to have triggered your sensitivities for fairness for "both sides.. both sides," resulting in short approval then deletion. Pfft.)

Much more than the painless (for you), pointless union bidding charade, The Rex, you could do a little somethin' yourself by shutting down your Twitter account, entirely.

Disclaimer - I've been unable to persuade the missus to shutter hers.. or to jettison her Tesla stock, "Dash, it's tripled in value!" Like you, she's a lib, and like you, hangs onto the account, "so I can see what's going on with all my girlfriends.. I don't post!" Hopeless.

That's part of the issue with many of you dems, unwilling to make any personal sacrifices. The MAGAs? They'll vote against most of their best interests, to win.

"At least we have our games...!", as one regular flaccidly commented a couple weeks ago. Whee.

Purging the Twitter is a no-brainer, Bluesky is the way forward, as the li'l toe on your other foot has already determined.

Right, if it's Saturday an' fall season, it's all eyes on the collegiate gridiron. So mayhap back to bark at you peoples more in the later. Hence, don't rest easy just yet. Lessee how the games go..

Carola 11:25 AM  

Like @Teedmn 10:18, I associate Ryan McCarty's Saturday puzzles with a happy anticipation of a tough solve. Is it fair to be disappointed with this (relative) walk in the park? No, but I am, kinda. I'm happy to learn about José Andres, though - I'm not sure how he and his organization eluded me.

One do-over: THAT'S A mIGht (which no one has ever said). No idea: FERB.

@liveprof 9:45 - LOL!!

jae 11:35 AM  

Yep, Wednesday easy. 15d was a gimme and it was very whooshy from there on. The NE was the toughest section for me because it took me a while to see GRASS (which seems a bit retro (does anyone call it that these days?) and because RECIPE took some crosses.

Me too for SPEAK on before OF and wondering about B-TIER.

Not much junk but not as much sparkle as yesterday’s, liked it.

kitshef 11:42 AM  

We were closer than I thought ... Claudius's full name was TIBERIUS Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus

Anonymous 11:46 AM  

S-tier is basically god tier when doing ratings. B-tier is considered slightly above average though. Used for everything from ranking the best boxed mac and cheese to best large cat to best weapons in the new Call of Duty.

Newboy 11:54 AM  

Really nice way to start the weekend. Sorta a trampoline solve bouncing around the grid in a YOUNG AT HEART fashion today, but anything that puts a spring in one’s step after 80 is its own reward. Especially thought SAGAS justified the cost of admission. Thanks to Rex for sharing his WOKE art; having a sense of humor for the next several years should qualify all comers for a Mark Twain honorable mention.

JT 12:14 PM  

I've never heard of FERB and didn't know TIBERIUS, so I had Felb corssing Tibelius at first. Otherwise, I just kept chip-chip-chipping away at the puzzle and eventually got it. But is wasn't as easy for me as it seems to have been for others. I'm curious to know some of your times. I don't rush through puzzles—I take my time—but it took me an hour.

M and A 12:28 PM  

Agree - kinda easy-ish, for a SatPuz. Probably cuz there were fewer no-knows than the usual SatPuz suspects, at our house. [yo to MAKI, tho.]

staff weeject pick: Only 8 choices. M&A'll go with NAM, as it brings up lotsa memories of my tour of duty there once upon a time.

some fave stuff: USUALSUSPECTS. SCRUFFY & GLOSSY [possible code names for Taylor Swift & JASON Kelce's bro?] THATSABIGIF. SAGAS clue [it was almost a revealer for an upcomin runtpuz].

Good themeless puz, includin the traditional Jaws of .Themelessness. But M&A really craves a rare surprise *themed* SatPuz. We have, after all, had surprise themeless SunPuzs, rarely but far too often.

Thanx, Mr. McCarty dude. Primo U-count, btw.

Masked & Anonymo10Us

a nice, utterly spam-less runtpuz:
**gruntz**

Anonymous 12:32 PM  

There was a study years ago that found that people came up with more, but less developed ideas, when standing and fewer but better developed ideas when lying down. Sitting is apparently the perfect position for crosswords!

okanaganer 12:46 PM  

Agree a fun but quick Saturday; under 15 minutes for a not fast solver like me. Two clumps of too many names, eg ANDRES LENO NAM JASON and ARAL GREER DANA OLDBAY; however the bottom right was nicely clear. The nice long down USUAL SUSPECTS didn't have to be clued as the movie title but we know Joel loves namifying clues.

Speaking of OLD BAY... never heard of it, so I filled in the last letter with trepidation and was surprised to get the Happy Pencil. I'll try to remember to look for it at the grocery store.

Anonymous 12:48 PM  

thank you. you beat me too it.

Bob Mills 1:31 PM  

For Anonymous: I've definitely heard of marijuana as grass, but never heard of ganja in connection with anything. For the record, I'm 83.

jb129 2:13 PM  

Got a really late start today. I walk the track near my home daily (weather permitting) at dawn which I'm, thank God, able to do after the car accident that took my Cinnamon (pic above) & nearly me :(
(sorry to get personal). Always come home & hope that I'll fall back to sleep. Today I did. And WOKE up to find this really enjoyable Saturday puzzle. Didn't know OLD BAY OR WOKE (although I do know there's a new, hip?/slang for it - as in "Kamala"??) But I thankfully finished with no problem & enjoyed it a lot (either that or I was
well-rested). .
A very pleasant Saturday from a well-known & respected constructor. Thank you, Ryan :)

pabloinnh 2:29 PM  

Yep. easiest Saturday I can remember, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was that long ago. Only thing counting as a TIL was FERB, and the NUTTY/NUTSO conundrum slowed things down a skosh, but otherwise a big whoosh.

I used to do a Spanish food unit with my third-year students and one year we watched a Jose Andres series of the foods of different provinces of Spain. For a wrap up they made their own videos of themselves cooking something Spanish. The result were often hilarious, as every one of them tried to do a Jose Andres impersonation. Good Times.

Jose Andres himself has done more good for more people than any world leader I can think of. He deserves enormous recognition and support and definitely deserves a Nobel of some sort. I know there is no Nobel Food Prize but there should be just for him.

Great Saturday, RMC. A Really Marvelous Crossword, and thanks for all the fun.

Anonymous 2:59 PM  

As a one-time pool hustler, I have no problem with 31A. I made a living, such as it was, that way. I was not a shark. And there are numerous opportunities to hustle. I had a friend who hustled at bowling alleys. He had a very awkward approach, so no one thought he was any good. He cleaned up by betting with strangers as former marks stood by and winked.

GILL I. 3:07 PM  

I was hoping that just one person would rate this as hard so that I could feel brilliant.....Wow....a Saturday whoosh; and a fun one to boot!.

jazzmanchgo 3:13 PM  

Probably the first documented use of the phrase "Stay woke" in its original meaning -- "Keep your eyes open and be careful" -- was in folk/blues singer Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter's 1938 recording, "The Scottsboro Boys." I have no idea how to put a link in here, but if you cut-and-paste this URL into your friendly neighborhood search engine, it should come up. The entire recording is worth hearing (that's folklorist Bess Lomax interviewing him), but the phrase itself occurs in his closing narration at about 4:30.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncn_9VRTGu4

Anoa Bob 4:04 PM  

Nothing SCRUFFY about this beauty of a puzzle at all. That large central swath is constructioneering (™M&A) at its finest.

A HUSTLER is someone who's a con artist, who tries to get money from people through some kind of deception or shady practice, so POOL adds needed information on what kind of deception is involved. The full phrase POOL HUSTLER sounds legit and in the language to this old POOL player's ear.

The con job here is pretending to be a poor player ("hiding your speed") by missing a lot of SHOTS to lure an opponent into playing for higher and higher $take$ and then "dropping the hammer" and taking all the cash.

It's a very risky business. I know a couple of local players who learned that the hard way. One still has a scar on the side of his head after some of his victims waited until he came outside and knocked him unconscious and took their money back. That was the end of his career as a POOL HUSTLER.

KennyMitts 4:55 PM  

I find it incredibly odd that someone would choose to visit this blog in order to anonymously comment on it without having read it. Anon 6:02, please explain your life to me.

Anonymous 4:58 PM  

So. This is Beezer. Yikes! I got a new iPad and NOW I can’t access my “extry” Gmail address for this site. Boohoo…I’ll figure it out. In the mean time, my semi-lengthy positive post about today’s puzzle didn’t go thru BUT I am the person who opined that Bob Mills knew “grass” but not ganja.

dash riprock 5:26 PM  

Bwahaa.. unranked Minnesota just threw down a double reverse flea flicker for the score over the Nittany Lions, beautiful. Ring any bells?

Rip's noticing there's not much activity here for a Saturday and is looking to do something about that..

Lewis 9:44 AM: Lewis did, obliquely.

Hey! Only Riprock talks about himself in the third person. Don't do that.


Bob Mills 1:31 PM: For the record, I'm 83.

Rah! A little Mary Katherine Gallagher springs to mind. Make of it what you will.


Separately, Rip sees he neglected to grade the game: two thumbs up, bigly. Questions I already know the answer to: yes, more of that. Riprock, not here to learn.

Anonymous 5:44 PM  

@KennyMitts 4:55pm
RP sometimes sees questions early in the comments and then adds clarification to his writeup. It's possible he hadn't yet had the RACER explanation in there at 6:02am.

dash riprock 5:47 PM  

Accessing, unnecessary. Jus' sign into your Gmail. Hit The Rex blogspot page and click on the "Post a Comment" line, lower left, when yer feeling the urge.. to blab. This opens the blogger.com blabbing page. Right corner, top of page, the button may read "Sign In," so click on it. This will sign Beezer in, automagikly.

Dr J 5:49 PM  

As an Israeli, - Tiberius was easy as we have a city named after him: Tiberias, named by Herod for the reigning Roman emperor, and situated on the Sea of Galilee or Lake Tiberias (which BTW is known here as the Sea of Kinneret - see Numbers 34:11 in the KJV). Tiberias is near the northern end of the Great Rift Valley at 600 feet below sea level and is consquently quite earthquake prone.

Anonymous 5:59 PM  

Old Bay is awesome on corn on the cob as well as roasted potatoes!

Anonymous 6:00 PM  

12:28 pm "But M&A really craves a rare surprise *themed* SatPuz."

Anonymous 6:41 PM  

Many top tier stand up comedians, including Letterman himself, consider Leno the best to ever do it when he was starting out in the 70s, fyi.

Anonymous 8:48 PM  

As someone said yesterday…
Read. The. Blog.

Anonymous 9:43 AM  

Phineas and Ferb is one of those shows that I discovered was actually really good because the kids were watching it and I was doing dishes and overheard some of the jokes and songs.

They wrote 2 new songs for every episode!

And the characters are interesting and wacky. Not a silly inane kids show.

They do a parody of “a whole new world…on a magic carpet ride”. It goes: “vary your view of the area on your aerial area rug”.

And it has heart. And a platypus named Perry who’s actually a secret agent.

Dagwood 11:08 AM  

Great comment.

Gary Jugert 1:33 PM  

Eso es un gran si.

Very cute puzzle. Good sense of humor. Too tough for me in a number of spots, always the names, but overall just fun. Reminded me of the SQUAB episode on Two and a Half Men. A cinematic classic.

We're about to experience years of non-WOKE culture. Welcome to America.

😫 AGARS.

Propers: 10 {gosh}
Places: 2
Products: 2
Partials: 3
Foreignisms: 1
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 18 of 66 (27%)

Funnyisms: 9 🤣

Tee-Hee: REAR. GRASS.

Uniclues:

1 A dab of eye contact, a cup of belief, a bushel of patience, and a free-pour of listening.
2 What happens as the venom does its thing.
3 Midnight murderers club.
4 Those eager to meet the traffic cop on the streets of town.

1 I LOVE YOU RECIPE
2 SNAKE PIT SWOONS (~)
3 BARN OWL CLIQUE (~)
4 FROSTY YES MEN (~)

My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Breathtaking bestie in Besançon. JAW DROPPING AMI.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anonymous 3:52 PM  

KM brother, please.

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