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NYT Tech Guild Strike (no puzzle write-up today)
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Dear readers,
The NYT Tech Guild is on strike.
From The Guardian:
The Guild is asking that readers honor their picket line by boycotting the Times’ selection of games, including Wordle and the daily digital crossword, and to avoid other digital extensions such as the Cooking app.
Annie Shields, a campaign lead for the News Guild of New York, encouraged people to sacrifice their streaks in the wildly popular Wordle and Connections games in order to support the strike.
You can read more about the strike here (nyguild.org).
Since the picket line is "digital," it would appear to apply only to Games solved in the NYT digital environment—basically anything you solve on your phone or on the NYT website per se. If you get the puzzle in an actual dead-tree newspaper, or if you solve it outside the NYT's proprietary environment (via a third-party app, as I do), then technically you're not crossing the picket line by solving. Still, my blog is going dark today, in solidarity with the striking workers, and I'm asking readers to consider honoring the digital picket line by not using the Games app (or the Cooking app) at all until the strike is resolved. No Spelling Bee, no Connections ... none of it. My morning Wordle ritual is very important to me, but ... I'll survive, I assume.
Maybe the strike will be resolved today in time for Election Night coverage. Let's hope. At any rate, this blog will return to normal operations tomorrow, though with daily reminders about the Tech Guild strike and the digital picket line.
Feel free to discuss the puzzle in the Comments. Take care, and ... well, vote, obviously.
See you tomorrow,
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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103 comments:
I’m a union member and I fully support both the workers and Rex’s stance.
Thanks so much for this, RP. Glad the strike is getting attention. Sad to see my streak broken, but saddened even more by exploitative labor practices. In solidarity!
Sunday's theme "Can I Get A Raise" just got a lot more context!
Right on Rex! I’ve been through a few of these over the years and stand with the Guild.
Good man, Michael!!!
Thanks Rex!
In full support of the right to collective bargaining. I stand with the union... another right in a precarious position.
Doesn’t matter we paid in advance management could care less the apps are the only thing keeping the paper afloat
I stood with the Guild last time and will again.
Cupertino seems like an outlier. Cute puzzle. 👍
I’ll do it. Decision made easier by losing my Wordle streak 2 days ago, so I’ll happily sacrifice my current 1 day streak.
!!!
All I can say is poor Evan Kalish … this was his day to appear on the NYT and no one’s gonna see it 😂
I didn’t pay for it I just come here to see what the crossword was today 🧠🧠 (smart)
I will honor the strike by forgoing the NYT puzzle app, and continuing to solve the puzzle either in the hard copy or a third-party app. That would mean busting my 3,047-puzzle streak, so I’m hoping the strike gets resolved today.
In any case, I’ll be back to comment as usual tomorrow, and may this Election Day turn out as it should!
In solidarity.
KUDOS, Michael. The puzzel sucked anyway
Another weird, useless, but easily ignored theme.
I have no opinion on the strike. I don't know anything about it. I support unions generally (a union once saved my job when I was wrongfully accused of misconduct). I do puzzles from website via an e-subscription. I will consider cessation.
Alas I only ever come here after I’ve finished the games
Sorry I did the puzzle before I saw this 😒 as I fully support the union.
I printed the puzzle last night and solved before reading this. Didn’t really have much to say other than I did not attempt to understand what was going on with the theme because the thought of [the theme subject] before breakfast is vomitous. Happy election day to all, and may the best woman win.
it felt like a southern california roll.
didn't know about the strike until after i solved the puzzles.
will support the strike tomorrow.
didn't know about the strike until after i solved the puzzles. will honor the strike tomorrow and going forward.
I come to read this blog after I finish the puzzle so I did not know about the strike. The puzzle was terrible so there’s nothing lost if you haven’t done it.
I've been receiving Home Delivery of the dead tree edition of the NYT almost since before the beginning of recorded history -- so I will not beat myself up for having solved the puzzle. But the world is not waiting on tenterhooks for me to discuss it on today's blog -- so I won't.
Same here.
CUPERTINO??
Roo
At least I can keep my Queens (LinkedIn) streak alive. (And this is ok. I was trying to cut back from these addiction games… Already shed Quordle and the solitaire thing.)
Wordle word today: UNION.
Well, OK. The Puzzle, and this blog, are one of the ways I like to take a break from what's going on in the rest of the world - a fun safe place where I can enjoy a game and be among a group of wildly divergent people that share something in common. And today, of all days, that turns out to not be the case. But all read and understood and agreed. Just wish the case was otherwise.
No problem. I solve on newsprint with a fountain pen.
I came here fully expecting Rex to obliterate the theme. It’s interesting that many of us (myself included) complain about the stunts and gimmicks that the tech team incorporates into the puzzles (blinking squares, shaded squares, cutesy circles in the squares and other forms of grid “art”) and so far the vast majority of us are standing united with the union. Hopefully they will resolve their differences soon.
Seriously? Among their demands are trigger warnings in news meeting. You can't make that stuff up. It's a bad idea for college freshman. But news professionals, it is beyond theater of the absurd. So much for the paper of record. I support unions that make stuff and mine stuff. Reporters unions not at all.
Wish I'd seen this before solving. The NYT appears to me to be in a stage of advanced collapse. Their "coverage" of the election has been unbelievably bad.
I once went to a conference on Hymns at U Cal Berkeley. I got up the first morning and there was a picket line in front of the dining hall. I don't cross picket lines, so I went over to talk to the strikers, find out what their grievances were. The grievances sounded pretty good, so I told them I'd join them after I found some breakfast somewhere -- and they said 'You don't have to do that, we'll feed you!!' And they did, splendidly. 'Those people inside, crossing our picket line, they're drinking coffee made by management, trying to figure out how to run the x%$&^%^ coffee machine!' They all whooped and hollered. I gathered it was a pretty complicated coffee machine. I led them in a round or two of Solidarity Forever, which they sang with at least the same gusto the Hymn society brought to their sings. The conference, organized by the Berkeley chapter, preached all sorts of liberal causes; they had us singing in Nahuatl at one point. But it all rang a little hollow: I kept thinking, 'How come they all crossed the picket line?' It took me 10 years to again feel inspired to go back to the Hymn Society. Where I told them why I'd been missing, and they a acted shocked! Shocked!
From the Not-All-Strikes-Are-Created-Equal Department. Also known as How-to-Make-a-Lifelong-Liberal -Democrat-Wince Department. I read @Todd's 9:18 comment and took a look for myself. I was appalled. Here's what I found:
"The Guild proposed a ban on scented products in break rooms, unlimited break time, and accommodations for pet bereavement, as well as mandatory trigger warnings in company meetings discussing events in the news."
This is the nonsense they're demanding on the eve of the most consequential U.S. election since the Civil War? This ranks more highly in their lists of concerns than the future of democracy and the rule of law, the solidarity of our alliances, the reproductive freedom of women and the separation of church and state? Wow! Grow up, NYT union, and focus on the matters that truly matter, why don't you?
Well, when I go to a sushi bar all I want is the nigiri -- hunks of raw fish tied with nori to a base of Japanese-type rice. You can keep your maki -- but for a puzzle, it's a nice concept, and it was fun to see how many letters I would need to get each of the rolled-up cities. PASADENA is an outlier, one letter short so it won't fit into 3X3 square, but you can't have everything (or at least I can't -- maybe you can, who am I to say?)
What I really admired was having ELI and YALE right there next to each other but rejecting the cliched cross-reference. That's just admirable.
I'd be curious to know how many solvers couldn't get Ludwig Mies van der ROHE without knowing that he was a leading mid(20th) century architect. But one never knows.
And to conclude with an ontological wuestion, what is the Milky Way, exactly? Is it the image that inspired its name, which is not a spiral at all? Or is it the physical entity, a spiral galaxy, of which we see one particular projection against the sky? Or to put it differently, is is like Orion, somethig we see that is made up of stars with no particular relation to each other? Of like the Solar system, something whose shape we cannot see at all?
I had no doubt as to what I'd find on your blog today, and you delivered.
What's wrong with Cupertino? It's a city, it's in California, and as the location of Apple, Inc. headquarters, it's pretty well known.
I don't cross the picket lines, and solve in the physical paper, delivered to my front porch -- or, with increasing frequency, to the sidewalk in front of our house, to the bushes nearby, etc. -- but that's a different story. I'll have to quit Wordle, though, and to back to doing the Mini in the actual paper.
Do you have source for that claim? Or is it the case that you actually can, and do, make that stuff up. I couldn't find anything about trigger warnings in any of the news accounts of the strike -- including that in the NYT.
Thank you for this, Michael.
Thank you all for so many kind birthday greetings yesterday. I ate everything in sight. The weather turned and snow covered the high mountain ranges making for a picturesque beginning of a new decade.
Hoping for a peaceful day today. And wow I hope we are smarter than we seem to be on the nightly news.
Well, my order of operations is wordle, spelling bee, connections, crossword, blog, so I learned about the strike too late. Oops. At least I voted!
Thanks for letting us know. I am old school and solve on paper but I will avoid wordle today thanks to your heads up.
@Nancy. To be fair, the Tech Guild's primary demands appear to be about pay increases, pay equity , a "just cause" provision and back to work policies. The things you cited may just be throw away bargaining chips. I don't know this for sure, but I wouldn't just dismiss it all with a curt "grow up."
I'll skip my puzzles in solidarity for now. Don't know how long I can keep it up, so I hope they settle soon.
My instincts are to support the strikers but I also like to learn the facts. In this case the Guild is asking for unlimited break time, accommodations for pet bereavement (no joke), and trigger warnings in company meetings discussing events in the news. Hard pass. I think I’ll buy a subscription to NYT Games for my daughter today since I already have one.
@Todd, and esp @Nancy
These are the union’s “key” concerns: “Despite the risk of a Tech Guild ULP strike disrupting access to news during the presidential election, management has failed to meaningfully address tech workers’ key concerns such as remote/hybrid work protections; “just cause” job protections, which the newsroom union has had for decades; limits on subcontracting; and pay equity/fair pay.” Your caricature of their concerns is dishonest. Shameful, even.
I MISSED @GARY J's BIRTHDAY PARTY??????? There's a ULP Strike?????? Has Kamala won yet?????? Ay dios Mio. Wake me up when it's over.
Well … M&A NYTPuz comment: striking!
Masked & Anonymo?us
sooo… are runtpuzs then more not-ok than usual?
If the issues cited by Nancy et. al. are not of major concern to the Guild members then they should drop them ASAP. They’re furnishing their enemies with ammunition.
I once worked in a "yooj" industrial plant, had a beef with a supervisor, was called to the front office, explained my position, the head of personnel agreed with me and kinda apologized and said "I am trying to run a non-union plant so keep me posted". The "threat" of a union keeps management "fair and honest". The union movement led to benefits like 5 day weeks, overtime and vacation pay, etc. for everyone
Washington post it is.
Had no idea they were striking before working on today's puzzle. I'll pause until the strike is over
Thanks, Rex. Can we check back on your site to see if the strike is over (have not seen news of it anywhere else) . .. . .
As the proud father of a Teacher’s Union Vice President I fully support the Tech Guild. Hopefully the issues will be resolved soon.
Also, it is not uncommon to include bargains chips in a list of demands.
+1
Relief for wordle addicts can be found at Strikle.org. or try Quordle. Solidarity!
Union strong!!!
As a classic crossword solver, I neither use nor desire to use, any of these games. As I sit here looking at my quickly-and-themelessly-solved paper grid, I still don't know or care what the theme was or the bold lines mean.
26 A …Aretha Franklin never recorded for Motown.
I had bad personal experiences with power mad labor unions in my youth so I am not inclined to automatically boycott a business because of a job action. I've never crossed a physical picket line but this seems a bit silly to me, as I've already paid for the games. But I think Rex did the right thing by deciding to not solve and post a writeup, yet still allowing us to comment today.
Anyway, another cute little theme. My first "roll" to be decoded turned out to be "Sandie Go" and I thought: who?
It seems funny to see NED BEATTY suddenly pop up from a 50 year old movie. And why did they have to clue ROAN and SPADE as two people I've never heard of?
Today I Learned: PIPING BAG! Nothing to do with bagpipes.
Scented products mean a lot of people can’t enter certain areas for health reasons. A ban on scented products is something more workplaces should implement. Trigger warnings - they don’t hurt anyone so what is the problem with them? (Also there is little evidence they accomplish what they aim to accomplish. So they will probably go away on their own.)
Solidarity with you Rex
Lewis since you solve on paper as I do you might as well talk about today’s puzzle.
This old timer looks forward to your almost dsily comments. And if they are still on strike you can explain tomorrow why you support the union—or perhaps don’t. I know nothing about this strike or the reasons for it.
Saw this news after already doing the xword and wordle. Now standing in solidarity with the union, as a union member myself. Thanks for bringing this up, Rex!
And by the way, according to WSJ reporting, those "ridiculous" demands about pet bereavement and trigger warning were actually withdrawn, so some of your criticism of them are...let's be charitable and say misguided. But also, if you only support unions when you personally find their demands agreeable, then you don't actually support unions. Also also, I bet none of these commenters are members of the tech union, so...who cares if you don't find some of their (again, proposed and removed) demands agreeable?
Sorry missed the news. So my streak ends tomorrow. Support the strikers.
You have my support!
Damnit! I saw this only after I'd finished my puzzles... I'm a union member and support the striking tech workers. I will definitely honor tomorrow (though I hope the first unattended tech glitch in the election coverage forces the Times to recognize the value of their employees and cave.)
Sorry, but lol at scents, fragrances, pet-loss time off, trigger warnings, etc, in a bargained labor agreement. But whatever. fair pay, hybrid work environments, pensions and the like, sure. I just find it funny, the most economically damaging strike in our lifetime just ended today when Boeing workers accepted the latest management offer. Didn’t see anyone postponing air travel, trips to see loved ones, accepting packages, etc. I support the Guild’s right to strike and hopefully NYT mgmt and the union get to the table. In the mean time, I’ll solve how I like.
As for the puzzle, a run of the mill Tuesday with basically no theme. After yesterday, pretty flimsy start to the week, theme-wise.
I support strike 100%. I finished puzzle and came here because I can’t make sense out of the rolls and y’all always explain so well.
Probably no sense to management withholding decent treatment of Guild either.
What a day.
A lot of you sound like you were probably the same people who complained about millennials and avocado toast in 2017.
Oops! Several puzzles done ... I'll skip Tiles.
Count me as another old timer who always looks forward to reading your opinions, partly because they are frequently very closely in line with my own. I hope you had a lovely day.
I too was wondering what Sandie Go washing in a spiral. Or was it Sandi ego When I got to 36A and had enough crosses to see California roll I Got It. Then cupertino helped me finish the north eat corner Pasadena and long Beach helped with there areas.
I thought it was clever and fun tho I did not like tht it would ot print in ink aver mode.
Re the union demands. some of them sound ludicrous though I'm with them on the ban of fragrances They all give me headaches and I know people who asthma is severely impacted.
Since I'd done all the puzzled and goes before I read the blog I'll try to hold off tomorrow.
What is a trigger alert? Was hoping someone's comment would clarify that.
Ha!
Solidarity!
Oh honey. If you haven't heard of Chappell Roan yet, you don't know anyone under 25.
It’s a nickname for Detroit. Where she spent much of her life.
Retired American Postal Workers's Union (APWU) member here, standing in solidarity with the NYT Tech workers. Breaking my streak (403!) is a small sacrifice to support the empowerment of the American work force. In unity is strength!
True, thank you. That’s what I was looking for here today
I'd rather solve on recyclable paper from sustainably logged forests than on a machine made of strip mined rare earth metals which needs dirty electricity to use and is connected to an unstable electric grid at the point of collapse thanks to AI and "the cloud," myself. Also, my computers will wind up in a huge dump somewhere in Asia where they will poison people. So: harvested trees or dead Earth Rex? It's a false dichotomy, ain't it? Perhaps you should steer clear of meme-think.
Side note: Unfortunately loggers have dangerous jobs but don't have a union, although the do have the American Loggers Council, which I guess is a start.
I am breaking my 277 day streak to support the striking workers. I was feeling bummed about it and your column gave me a lift!
About the election coverage. Anonymous 9:25 AM
Matter of opinion I found it depressing but well done.
Ok. I am staying out of the apps until the strike is settled. Good luck workers! Not that anyone cares, but that means I’m loosing my Tuesday streak of more than a year. That’s nothing compared to Lewis’ 3K-plus streak. There’s more important things in life! Thanks Rex!
NOEL = Number of carolers? I don't get it.
@7:24 Think of a number as a synonym for song.
I just uninstalled the app and updated my review to 1 star. UnionStrong .. I'm not union, but I'd never cross a picket line, ever
Number as in a song - caroler would sing Noel
Aretha was born in Tennessee. She was discovered in Detroit. No big deal as I got the answer easily.
It’s a number that they sing. “Hey, do you know that number Sinatra sang?”
Ah, got it. A song sung by carolers. Noel
Story of my life nowadays, I don't get it. Stupid brain doesn't work right
Number as in slang for a song... What number do you wanna sing? Deck the halls! Carolers typically sing Christmas songs.
Solidarity
Noel is a song that carolers sing.
A number, as in a song, a piece of music, for people singing Christmas carols. Like “Noel”.
Number as in the phrase "let's play another musical number, this time with a Christmas theme"
Pity there is no writeup today, as I have no clue what the theme is. But I'm afraid to go to WordPlay in case that's part of the boycott area.
Me, too! Thanks for that reminder
Now that the strike is over will you be publishing your work on your blog? https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/new-york-times-tech-guild-return-work-negotiations-will-go-2024-11-11/
Would posting a comment here be an act of retroactively crossing a picket line since the guild stirke at the NY Times is over now?
Presuming the labor issues are settled:
ROLLS REPS?
I INSIST I heard MARIA
SAID she HAS CALIFORNIA toys,
AND HAS cars from PASADENA
DO to SALES from LONGBEACH BUOYS.
--- NOEL AGEE SR.
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