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Reef predator with extendable pharyngeal jaws / WED 11-20-24 / Dapper sartorial choices / Coloring implement since 1903 / Makeshift shield during a food fight / Comic strip with a collection titled "Shoes: Chocolate for the Feet"
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Constructor: Robert S. Gard
Relative difficulty: Medium (Easy + whatever challenge is involved in discovering the gimmick)
Theme answers:
A rebus on Wednesday. Did not see that coming. But then I did see it coming. Pretty quickly. Had the MO- at 2D: Reef predator with extendable pharyngeal jaws and thought "well that's MORAY ... but MORAY won't fit. MORAYS fits, but it's not a plural clue ... [gets first "E" from O'ER] ... if it ends "EEL," then ... wait, is it a "RAY" rebus?" And it was.
The only questions now were "how many "RAY"s?" and "what's the revealer?" I guess there was some question about whether all the rebus squares would be "RAY," but since it's Wednesday (and not Thursday), I didn't think the puzzle had much trickiness or difficulty left to give. And it didn't. Just a bunch of scattered "RAY" squares, two thirds of which can be found in just two answers (CRAYOLA CRAYON and CRAY-CRAY). I wish the revealer had been more evocative or meaningful to me. I had RAY and no idea what could come before it. I haven't thought of a SHRINK RAY since ... I don't know when. Feels very mid-century comic book to me. How does Ant-Man shrink? I feel like it's not a RAY-based shrinkage, hang on ... oh right, Pym particles. According to an MCU fandom site, they're "subatomic particles that can increase or reduce mass as well as density and strength and are heavily used by Ant-Man and Wasp." When's the last time I saw anyone get shrunk with a ray? In The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981), it's exposure to chemicals in an experimental perfume. In The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), it's a "strange fog." I just went and looked up "SHRINK RAY" and it looks like it was popularized in the mid-20th century, primarily by the movie Fantastic Voyage, and then reiterated and parodied in various contexts over the years, including in Despicable Me and (multiple times?) in the Lilo & Stitch franchise. As I say, I'm familiar with the concept, but the phrase itself just didn't spring to mind. If you gave me "Shrink ___" (Password style), I'd say "WRAP." Anyway, yes, you shrink "RAY" in order to fill six squares—a very literal revealer.
Further reading:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
- CRAYOLA CRAYON // MORAY EEL / SPRAY TAN (17A: Coloring implement since 1903 // 2D: Reef predator with extendable pharyngeal jaws / 6D: Artificial bronze)
- PORTRAYALS // LUNCHTRAY (35A: Film representations // 10D: Makeshift shield during a food fight)
- CRAY-CRAY // STRAY / GRAY AREAS (47A: Totally bonkers // 38D: Potential rescue pet / They're open to interpretation)
- RAY-BAN // BRAYS (50A: Big name in sunglasses // 46D: Hee-haws)
Zhou Enlai (Chinese: 周恩来; pinyin: Zhōu Ēnlái; Wade–Giles: Chou Ên-lai; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman, diplomat, and revolutionary who served as the inaugural premier of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 1949 until his death in 1976, and concurrently as the inaugural Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1949 to 1958. Zhou was key figure in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and ally of Mao Zedong during the Chinese Civil War, later helping consolidate its control, form its foreign policy, and develop the economy. (wikipedia)
• • •
The resulting "RAY" answers weren't very interesting in and of themselves, though, and the rest of the grid doesn't have a lot to offer as far as entertaining fill. Things get very choppy toward the middle and we get subjected to a lot of gunk, a lot of ABU PDQ QUA UAE gunk, a lot of NSFW CFOS TSA gunk. Looking it over now, though, I'd say the grid comes in pretty solid overall, especially for a puzzle with so much theme density. Since I picked up the rebus easily, the only trouble came from finding the "RAY" squares (not much trouble at all, actually, despite their being unpredictably located), and then finishing off the puzzle—i.e. picking up SHRINK, which was made somewhat harder than it might've been by the terrible cluing on the adjacent CANE. No one puts CANEs on their Christmas tree. Way too heavy, and anyway grandpa needs his CANE to get around; seems cruel to put it on the tree. The things that are on the tree are candy CANEs. No one says "CANE" without the "candy" part when they are talking about "candy CANEs." The [Christmas tree decoration] is, iconically and only, "candy CANE." CANE alone is garbage. I was like "... CONE?" Little decorative pine CONEs? Seemed plausible. More plausible than (non-candy) CANEs. Bah. That clue is CHUM (61D: Shark bait).
- 25A: Comic strip with a collection titled "Shoes: Chocolate for the Feet" ("CATHY") — oh right, I forgot about her thing for chocolate. All I remember is her pathological obsession with her weight. And "ACK" (3), of course.
- 27A: "You should open this on a personal device" heads-up (NSFW) — this clue is just wrong. Plenty of people have "personal devices" on them at work. They might use them at work. NSFW stands for "not suitable for work." It's not the device, specifically, that's in question—it's where you're using it. Yes, don't open the porn site on a work computer, but mainly don't open it in a workplace environment.
- 43A: Parent working behind the scenes? (STAGE MOM) — this clue is extremely literal, so even though I see the "pun" you're trying to make there, with "scenes" being literal theater / movie "scenes," the clue really doesn't need a "?" at all.
- 56A: Move to the beat? (PULSATE) — I don't think of pulsation as "movement." The blood is moving, the thing that is doing the pulsating isn't going anywhere.
- 1D: Dapper sartorial choices (ASCOTS) — "Dapper," eh? I guess that's one word for it. Here's William Windom sporting an ascot in an episode of Love Boat that I watched recently—we're up to Season 6, and I said to my wife "we're gonna be done soon..." only to check and discover that it ran into a 10th season and there are actually close to 100 episodes left to go. I want to get off, I can't get off, I want to get off, I can't get off. The ship goes to Mazatlan, the ship returns to the Port of Los Angeles, the ship goes to Puerto Vallarta, the ship returns to the Port of Los Angeles. Like Gopher, Julie, Doc, Isaac, Merrill, and Vicki, I seem to be doomed to ride this thing forever (though if I remember correctly, I think Julie's time is gonna be up very shortly...). Sorry, here's the promised picture of William Windom in an ascot (of sorts):
- 2D: Reef predator with extendable pharyngeal jaws (MORAY EEL) — there is one entertaining aspect of this puzzle, which is—it's very fun to say "extendable pharyngeal" over and over again. It's like something out of Gilbert & Sullivan: "In short, in matters vegetable, extendable, pharyngeal, / I am the very model of a model Major-General!"
- 4D: Show on which Julia Louis-Dreyfus got her big break, in brief (S.N.L.) — Julia Louis-Dreyfus was one of two celebrity sightings I had this year (which I don't have a lot, as I live in Binghamton, NY). I stood behind her (and some of her family) in line for ice cream at an indoor food court in Santa Barbara this summer. That was in August. Earlier in the summer, on the way back from our Canadian vacation on the north shores of Lake ERIE, I saw Samantha Bee at a rest area in western New York. As you can see, I lead a thrilling life.
 |
| [Here's my ticket to the Binghamton Rumble Ponies' inaugural game against the ERIE SeaWolves (13D: Pennsylvania home of minor-league baseball's SeaWolves); see? thrilling life!] |
- 39D: Culture group (BACTERIA) — this clue is good. Nicely misdirective. Another highlight of the puzzle.
NOTE: the tenth annual edition of the NYT's Puzzle Mania comes out on December 1. If you're not a dead-tree newspaper subscriber, you can now pre-order a copy of the puzzle extravaganza for yourself (for $7 + shipping). This is the holiday supplement that has tons of different puzzles in it, including (in previous years) a truly giant crossword puzzle, which you have to put on a large table or the floor to solve. Anyway, it's an event. And now you know how to get it if you want it.
See you next time.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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71 comments:
Once I saw the gimmick, the puzzle played like a Monday. But I thought it was fun to have a rebus on a Wednesday.
"When the reef predator with extendable pharyngeal jaws hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a moray."
Aside from the Wednesday rebus, this puzzle was Monday easy. I got the rebus at 2D x 17A and it pretty much filled itself in from there. No overwrites, no WOEs.
CRAYCRAY seems like a bit of a stretch. I’m guessing that at one time it was moderately popular slang (I may have even uttered it myself), but it just doesn’t resonate with me. I’m probably an outlier.
A nice break from the barrage of PPP-laden grids we have had recently.
Wait! What? Is this Thursday? [Checks calendar.] Nope. It’s Wednesday. Okay.
Got the theme immediately (at 17A) and smooth sailing from there. Found it pretty easy, but fun!
When I was growingup my dad had a huge collection of salt water fish tanks, and we actually had a moray eel. He would mostly hide behind the coral, and when we dropped in live goldfish he would shoot out and eat them whole. It was a sight. I guess not too many kids grow up with a pet moray eel. I suppose I should feel privileged.
I enjoyed you comment much more than the puzzle. Thanks
When there's a rebus, I usually flail around and say to myself "there's a rebus here somewhere" like Elmer Fudd hunting rabbits. Or wabbits. Anyway. The rebus finally appears and hits me in the the head with an ACME-brand anvil that's been recently drop shipped from wherever the ACME anvil corporation is located. Today's rebus experience was exactly not that.
Got steamed = rAWRED? Totally legit, yeah?
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, nor a rebus on Wednesday. Indeed, not sure why this did not run on Thursday, perhaps with a little toughening up of some clues.
I did waste some time worrying over CANE. Was there another rebus hiding somewhere? Or one of those things where you re-use part of an entry (CANdy CANe)? But nope, just a bad clue.
Can't believe Rex forgot about Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, classic SHRINK RAY appearance.
A rebus puzzle on a Thursday I can tolerate, but please, no other days.
Too easy for a Thursday, too tricky (thanks to the rebuses) for a Monday or Tuesday, but rather than toss it, Joel stuck it in a Wednesday slot.
If we gat another rebus puzzle tomorrow, I’ll be seeing red.
As many years as I’ve been doing crosswords, I always feel an inner thrill when I figure out there’s a rebus going on, and an echo thrill when I figure out what it is. I’ve yet to respond with a flat, “Oh, hmm, it’s a rebus.”
Rebus themes often include punny revealers that justify them. I love the challenge of leaving the revealer blank in a rebus puzzle and trying to crack what it is. Today I was at wits end; nothing was coming to me that would justify stuffing RAY in the rebus squares.
Oh, I love when that happens because my brain revels in the workout of popping out with wild stabs. Eventually, though, I caved, resorted to crosses, uncovered the answer, nodded with respect, and sent a “Well played!” thought-a-gram to the constructor Robert.
I liked the abutting PuzzPair© of RULER and ENLAI. I also noticed what must be a high number – ten – of answers ending in N (n-ders?)
Robert, you’ve had three NYT puzzles – Saturday, Tuesday, and Wednesday – and only one constructor – Andrew Reis – has hit the cycle (a Times puzzle for every day of the week) in seven days. Go for it! And thank you for a most splendid outing today!
TAMED and "domesticated" are two different things. NYTimes repeatedly allows this erroneous conflation to appear in its Crossword. And, no, they are not "close enough" for a crossword. Persisting in this error just contributes to dumbing-down in general.
Had SPaTAN initially which made sense but once CRAYON became the obvious answer, I let the RAYs begin!
Fun, unexpected “rebuzzle” (did I just coin a portmanteau?). Now time to take my fun ex-STRAY shrink-rayed size Chihuahua out for her first enDIVA in the newly fallen Minnesota snow (at least with me as her caretaker - was going to say “owner” but in truth she owns me)…
Should have gotten the rebus earlier, but I’m a notoriously bad speller and I know it, so in the clue for MORAY EEL I wondered “Is it spelled MORray??? That doesn’t look right!” and then left it in my self-doubt. The rebus became undeniable at BRAYS (though it didn’t open that area up since I don’t know RAY-BAN), and then I could infer the revealer—sadly not familiar enough with SHRINK RAYs as a thing, as many times as I saw *Honey, I Shrunk the Kids* back in the 80s. All told, I enjoyed having a lighter Wednesday rebus.
Got it finished apart from 2 clues
Had to google W-9 to finish. Never heard of Jones as a verb either. Not reached UK yet afaik.
This was fun. I enjoyed searching for the shrunken RAYs.
Interesting that there were a few entries whose clues could have referenced one another: ABU (as clued) and UAE, ROW (as clued) and OARED, TEMPURA and MISO. Probably for the best that they didn't, given SOTU and UNION.
Among my college friends, a round of golf in which you play well on the front nine and poorly on the back nine (or vice versa) is known as a "RAY-RAY": RAY Floyd on the front, RAY Charles on the back.
Hey All !
Surprise! RebusWedPuz!
Suspicious of a rebus after reading the Revealer clue. Usually, when it says "a hint to (however many) squares", it's a rebus. First one I got was SP(RAY)TAN, but saw that the end of the crosser was ON, so at first I thought it would be a left-turn-continuation type thing, SPRAY ON TAN. Next, looked over to 2D, which I had ApPS at 1A, giving me PO(RAY)EEL, and looking at the OLA of the cross. Hmm, says I, PORAYOLA EEL? What in tarhooties is that? But then said, "Wait a minute, if 1A is AMPS, that would make it MORAY EEL, with no need for any extensions." So I looked back at SPRAY TAN to see it could stand alone without the ON.
Long winded way of saying I figured it out! Then the puz threw another curve ball, as I thought the other RAYs would be in the long Acrisses. Nope, they showed up randomly, with that cray cray CRAYCRAY. 😁
But amazingly, after all that, finished puz rather quickly. 14:29. Well, OK, just looked at my stats, and that's my average time. So seemed quick, but not really.
Anyway, liked it, wondering what's on tap for tomorrow. Hopefully not a letdown. Sometimes with RebusWednesday, you get RegularThursday with some minor trick. We'll see.
Happy Wednesday!
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
flare in clue >>GLARE?? Almost SPEWed my coffee.
Ridiculously easy rebus since 17A is completely obvious and if you have 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 18 D already in what's left is RAY RAY. Which gives MORAYEEL and SPRAYTAN. After that it's read clue, write answer.
Not very Wednesdayish, too easy for Thursday, maybe fun for new solvers?
SPRAY TAN was my in on the theme, I never know though if the rebus squares will all be the same, but CRAYOLA CRAYON erased any doubt.
I got a kick out this. I guess The Addams Family was privileged, though…
Just noticed this posted as anon (which, POOR ME, was also my first guess for “In a moment”)…
Happily, Diva noticed the BRR-ometer factor and made haste in making waste.
Like many, caught on right away but had a good time discovering the missing RAYS. Speaking of missing RAYS, any RAY puzzle without RAY Charles is not a great RAY puzzle.
Unlike OFL, I was delighted when I had enough of the revealer to see it was going to be SHRINKRAY. Summed up the rebus perfectly, and made me think of something I haven't thought of in a very long time.
I know OARED as a verb is technically correct, but I always enter any form of OAR as a verb under protest, and I wish the practice would be criminalized.
A breezy nearly name-fee Wenesdecito, RSG. Turns out a Ray Shrunk Grid is a lot of fun, for which thanks.
Well I thought this puzzle was charming and had elegant simplicity. It is perfect for a new solver to experience and grok the presence of rebus shenanigans AND had (I think) only two “people” names with OSCAR Hammerstein and LEN Deighton. For some reason I ALWAYS have to remind myself that UAE still exists…not the UAR.
Did anyone else enter “cRAYzy” and then got stuck on 39 down? I shamelessly wasted about 5 minutes at least there.
I figured out the rebus fairly quickly once entering “lunch”. It was obvious then this was going to be a rebus.
I’ve been putting candy canes on my Christmas trees for decades.
My paper was not delivered this morning, so I had to print out the grid in "newspaper edition." I think that gave me slightly bigger squares, which was nice--especially when I had to put 3 letters into each of six of them. It seems to me there was a non-Thursday rebus last week, maybe even on a Wednesday. I don't know if they are just shifting the gimmicks to a different day, or making them random. I hope it's the latter; as @Z pointed out years ago, it enhances the solving experience (i.e., makes it more of a challenge) if you are not expecting a rebus from the start.
That part was OK; having OARED again was less so -- though kind of cute for it to follow ROS in the list of across clues.
I think SOON/anON is a new (to me) kealoa; I waited for ASCOTs fefore filling it in.
I think the standard term is STAGE MOther, but then I turned 81 yesterday, and these are less formal times, so maybe the usage has evolved.
I see the distinction -- thanks! "Taming is conditioned behavioral modification of an individual; domestication is permanent genetic modification of a bred lineage that leads to, among other things, a heritable predisposition toward human association." Either the distinction is blurring in popular usage over time, as sometimes happens, or the NYT deems it close enough for Xwords, even if many of us don't. As for the "general dumbing down," we've passed this point long ago.
Always heard of NSFW as Not Safe For Work. A distinction without a difference, but just in case there are others out there wondering if they've had it wrong all this time. Google seems to agree with me, but who knows if the phrase has evolved for some reason. I played Pickleball yesterday and they split us up into "advanced" and "improvers" groups which I thought was hilarious. Perhaps "beginners" is not aspirational enough? Not inclusive enough of those who are more intermediate? I joked to the woman sitting next to me that they might as well say "head over there if you still suck" and it would have felt better.
Easy Wednesday for me. 10:02
Very easy, considering that I got a Tuesday time (faster than yesterday's) despite the extra bits of fiddling required to enter rebuses. I got the theme with C(RAY)OLA, and I didn't think of CRAYON since I wasn't expecting double-rebus answers, especially C(RAY) C(RAY). I also figured the rebuses would be placed somewhat symmetrically since the puzzle is supposed to be easier than a standard rebus Thursday (for instance, I looked for an answer with a hidden RAY for 40A, right in the middle). I appreciate the asymmetry in the rebus squares.
1A was probably the hardest clue for me. I wanted BOTS and then APPS (?) with some letters in place.
Yes. CANDY canes. Not just “canes.” Which is Rex’s point.
Do they still use RULERs in school? I remember we used to get a 'pencil case' in the beginning of September; the church ladies were still making them up to send to the missions within the last couple of years. A couple of pencils, an eraser, a notepad, a ruler. Maybe some paper clips? I somehow have the idea that we used the ruler to draw lines on paper that didn't come lined. Maybe people used to include a piece of slate, which you'd cover with mud and then write on with a twig. Somehow I think nowadays you get a smart phone. Which they try to confiscate at the door.
It’s both. “Safe” more often, but it’s both, for sure.
Desearía poder utilizar un rayo reductor para mi pereza.
I bought a coffee table unironically yesterday. When you compare its price to its function it seems like somebody somewhere is laughing their fanny off.
What a relief to find the RAYS when I knew in my heart it had to be CRAYONS but I wouldn't fit. SPRAY TAN helped tip me off it might be a squishy Wednesday.
I'm pretty sure the NYTXW team needs to cover what an AMP is and what it does in their next staff meeting. They've confused its function again today.
As a public service message, don't be confused by all the pro-oaringness of this paddle-forward puzzle. If you've forgotten what really happens on boats, go watch Titanic.
❤️ [Totally bonkers] = CRAYCRAY.
Switched from overloading us with names to overloading us with partials today. By the way, we had 57 names in the puzzles between Friday and Tuesday.
Propers: 5
Places: 6
Products: 3
Partials: 14 {ai yi yi}
Foreignisms: 2
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 30 of 80 (38%)
Funnyisms: 5 😄
Tee-Hee: SPEW. DAB.
Uniclues:
1 Fried ice cream lover.
2 Used a canoe to transport moon reducer to secret island lair.
3 New York Times Tech Guild checked their deposits earlier this month.
4 Best place to get an authentic margarita?
1 CATHY TEMPURA (~)
2 OARED SHRINK RAY
3 UNION SAW RED
4 BARRIO ALLEYWAY (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Pro-Pickleball area. ANTI-TENNIS COURT.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thanks Rex for the heads up on the Puzzlemania pre-order. I’m a digital subscriber to The NY Times and usually we have to go hunt down a paper copy on the exact Sunday that the Mega Puzzle appears. In our neck of the woods people have their Sunday paper reserved at our little town shop so it can be a challenge to get one.Our family does enjoy doing it over the holidays. Thanks again for your alerts when something is available in the crossword world!
As soon as I had some of the tiny little RAYs, I tried to think of a revealer and couldn't. But that's probably because I've never heard of a SHRINKRAY. Then the "Aha Moment" hit me. "I bet in some of those Marvel Universe flicks that I've never seen and never will they have some sort of RAYgun that SHRINKs people instead of vaporizing them." Why would you want to SHRINK them? Beats me.
This is the easier sort of rebus puzzle in which all the rebuses are the same. I picked it up quickly -- though SPA TAN seemed perfectly logical to me and I needed C[RAY]OLA C[RAY]ON to come up with SPRAY TAN. I learned CRAY-CRAY in some previous NYT puzzle or other, having never heard it in the wild. I found it quite enjoyable as I find pretty much all rebus-type puzzles.
BTW, I did want the answer to "Like a lime green suit" to be HIDEOUS.
Shrink ray was indeed a letdown revealer, but I did chuckle at cray-cray.
I am a big fan of the rebus so I really liked it. In particular, the double rebus entries were as Lewis said, a little thrill of discovery. CRAYOLA CRAYONS and CRAY CRAY. Perfect! I was not at all familiar with the revealer, but it seemed to make sense and I’ll take your word as to the origins of it.
Steady suss massively slowed by discrepant drop right outta across-attack. 1st/2nd rows filled, hung a right to downs, but with anON at 14a, plus the latent rebus, Rip skipped the inscrutable, reckoning SPaTAN at 6d, brows furrowed. And this launched me up a one-way the wrong way..
Figured a maneuver in opening minute, and with NW next and filled, except 35a and 10d, Rip's bulb lit.. 'lunch tray' is 10d, LUNCH Tr(11d)AY: that is, the answer would spill to the right above black cell, then straight down - as by chance, it worked here.
So time frittered (TEMPURA at 23a) trying to make sense at 24d of PRO (and continuing at 33d) NTO ('pronto').. It fitted. But what the hell is NTO. Rip, overthinking again.
The possibility of certain wrapping answers faded, returned again to NW at 35a, and ah, PORTRAYALS, rebus sussed. All rapidly fell in place, incl. CRAY CRAY, 47d.
And gUSh at 48a, lickety reapproached.. so, in retrospect, the death knell was anON at 14d and inability to see around it. Whenevah Rip flits 'round the game.. however snappy it feels, the time rolls away.
So.. cleanly concluded, but 23 and small change, bah. Good gamer, 8 to 12, with these Qs + As, seems on track.. am I rite? No one shares his time. And The Rex, 3 to 5 ? So Rip, still bibbed in his high chair, is seeing his time improve markedly ev. coupla months - though this, a slow Wednes.
Difficulty assessment on point, no head scratchers, except for me.. [Cyclops] / XMAN. Liked rebus on a Wednesday.. why does it need to be a Thursday ? Does your birthday need to be on a Thursday? No, it doesn't, is the answer.
Slower than y'day, yet obv. easier.. liked it better. Thumbs up.
Happy birthday, I wish you many more!
@conrad 😂😂😂
Easy, except for two do-overs and the reveal: I know SHRINK wrap but was unfamiliar with the RAY. The rebus on Wednesday was a surprise, but the it-had-to-be CRAYOLA helpfully solved the reef predator problem, and sent me on the further RAY hunt. My do-overs were CRAzy and BACcilli.
The Fantastic Voyage clip is a stitch - man, those were the days, when men were men and went to work, at complicated tasks and on daring endeavors, and women were....where?
I say hoo(ray) for this a(ray) of RAYs. I p(ray) it's true that the weekday puzzle norms have f(ray)ed. I'll toast it with some Vouv(ray)!
From the comments, I'm sensing that many solvers don't want any MORAY. In fact, if anything, they prefer less RAY.
From a recent puzzle we know that if you dined on legume seeds you PULSATE.
Can I BARRIO car? Sure, it's in the ALLEYWAY. But why don't you just borrow Jackie OSCAR? It's not sOSLO.
Fun to have a surprise rebus on Wednesday. Thanks for a swell puzzle, Robert S. Gard.
Yep, easy. Caught the rebus very quickly and whooshed through this one.
Something different on a Wednesday, liked it.
CRAzy fun in a find-the-rebus puzz today and CRAY CRAY, which appears twice, seems a fitting sub-theme. Chiming in: GLARE, RULER, NSFW, FUSS, UNION, SOTU, SPRAY TAN, ERIE (alternate spelling), SAW RED, TSA, STRAY, LOUD, BRAYS, COAL.
Favorite clue: 39D, “culture group” for BACTERIA.
So totally agree with Rex and others that no one ever says just CANE when referring to a red-and-white (in its classic form) Christmas edible on a tree.
@Conrad 6:15 – Hah! Clever use of “That’s Amore”!
@Anon 8:16 – Like your “rebuzzle.”
Thanks, Robert, for the rebus Wednesday.
It's a Wednesday Rebus Ambush / It's the very model of a model royal flush!
fave themer by far: The exquisitely compact C[RAY]C[RAY]. Which, of course, could also be the abbreviation for C[RAY]OLAC[RAY]ON. Primo stuff.
Figured out the rebus mcguffin, after I had built up a C?OLAC?ON partial 17-A entry. Then lost only a few nanoseconds, solvin for the two ?'s. Once I'd ruled out C[AN]OLA C[ARB]ON, of course.
staff weeject pick: RAY RAY.
some other fave stuff: SHRINKRAY [schlocky!]. BACTERIA & its clue. TEMPURA. NEWYOU.
Thanx, Mr. Gard dude. X-TRAY good.
Masked & Anonymo8Us
spamless runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
Lotsa fun. More like this. On Thursday I’m ready for anything. But today what a pleasant surprise.
Gee, I thought it was Wednesday. How did I miss a day? Must be getting old.
Or does this week have two Thursdays? I must take a look at the calendar.
My favorite shrink ray episodes:
Archer S06 E12-13: Drastic Voyage
SpongeBob S03 E05: Mermaidman and Barnacleboy IV
SPOILER BELOW
As always, the problem's not with the shrinking, it's with the unshrinking.
A rebus I liked! (Maybe they should all run on Wednesday?!). STRAY 38D gave it away for me. The only thing I didn't know was 25A CATHY but no big deal.
Thanks for making me enjoy a rebus, Robert :)
Speaking of inscrutable . . . is this a translation from the Chinese?
Thanks, Rex, for bringing back memories of The Incredible Shrinking Man. Loved it. Remember the scene toward the end, when he escaped the spider by shoving a needle up into its belly? That’s entertainment!
I had AT_AST at 52-Down, looked at the clue “wedding reception cry” and confidently threw in the L for ATLAST! (Good thing there’s no such thing as a RLW 😂). Anyone else?
I got the rebus trick right away thanks to CRAYOLA, but when it came to the revealer I put in SHRINK RAP and thought... wait, that's not right for a couple of reasons. But then SHRINK RAY doesn't seem to land quite right either.
But very few names today... Thank You Joel and Robert! It's so refreshing.
The most odious answer today is of course KMS which the NYTXword is
hopelessly addicted to even though it is really stupid. The plural of KM is of course KM. Along with KPH this is one of my pet peeves.
I'd forgotten Cyclops is an X-MAN. My go-to X-man is Wolverine, who actually made his first appearance in The Incredible Hulk comic #180, which I bought as a teenager for 20 cents and is now worth more than my car.
Your arteries pulsate (i.e., move to the beat of your heart), so it's a perfectly valid clue.
You made me laugh! I agree easy
A W-9 is a US employment form that contains your Social Security number (SSN). “Jones” as a verb is definitely an Americanism.
But there WAS a woman on that mission. Cora Peterson, played by Raquel Welch in the role that made her famous. Either for her splendid acting for for the scenes in a wet suit -- I forget which.
Anonymous 8:12 AM
To put it slightly differently from Liveprof, the Times decades ago under Shortz decided to to allow what people in general say (common usage) as opposed to what experts in a science etc write. Personally, I don’t think it’s dumbing down. What people say is also language. It’s just a different register, and complicated in its own way. It certainly adds variety.
About domesticated and tamed.
I think what you are also forgetting: clues are NOT definitions. The are hints.
Personally, I think domesticated is a valid hint for tamed. Hint to an answer, a word dealing with non wild animals.
Personally, I would not like a crossword with just definitions
Howard
A lot of traps that would not even occur to me. Interesting that jones is just an Americanism. Obviously put in to get a singular answer with an s ending clue.
W-9 would be considered an easy one for most Americans.
说到 “X Æ A-12” . . . 这是 fucking dweeb 的翻译吗？
I liked it too. Thanks for the giggle
@kitshef 3:16pm methinks you vividly remember the two remarkable aspects of Raquel that made her famous.
The movie "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" uses a ray gun, as I recall.
Anonymous 4:56 PM: About domesticated and tamed.
Agree with this, generally. But you needn't qualify the view by stating, "clues are NOT definitions," as both domesticate [v.t., 2] and tame [tr.v., 1] use the other word as one of several definitions. More to point, I could selectively and absurdly assert that sanction is not sanction and cleave is not cleave as each of these so-called Janus words have opposite meanings. "They're not the same!"
The casual usage of MIA or AWOL to reference, say, a friend who didn't make the party or dinner date as expected worked for me.
But are you going to argue with the half dozen gallery balkers who cannot see MIA beyond the military context and who associate it with a missing relative or friend?
And will you dismiss the perspective of a person who cannot reconcile using "they" in the singular?
Language does change but not by fiat. In the meantime, I'm down with prevailing usage.. so long as it's correct.
dgd, is that you? We need to fix you up with an easily accessible handle.
At Rex's suggestion, I thought I'd order the NYT Christmas crossword book. Turns out, shipping and handling and customs fees to my country amount to about a hundred dollars. Big nope.
Seeing the ticket stub, I first assumed it was a band I hadn’t heard of…. Eerie Sea Wolves should be a band obviously.
I got through the whole puzzle thinking the gimmick was “Words Where the ‘AY’ is Missing.” Then soured by ALLEY WAY not playing by the rules. I never caught they all had Rs and worked as crosses with a rebus RAY (forgotten Bozo Show cast member?) I was good with the PULSATE clue and am going to sneak in “extendable, pharyngeal" next time I karaoke The Logical Song by Supertramp.
anyone who thinks a rebus on a Wednesday is "fun" is not someone I want at my parties lol
when the jaws open wide
and there's more jaws inside
that's a MORAY(EEL)
this must have been what threw me off my days this week
I'm gonna sing this all day long!
Liked the puzzle well enough. I didn't like that 2 theme clues had a double rebus and 2 had one. IMO it should be even, unless it's part of the gimmick.
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