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Plunder, archaically / SUN 12-15-24 / Old-fashioned trinket shop vendors / ___ Clan, iconic hip-hop group of the 1990s / Fog and haze generated for a theatrical production / Opened or closed like an eye, in film lingo / Actress Creel of "Saved by the Bell" / "Penn & Teller: Fool Us" airer / Connecticut coastal town near Stamford / Popeye's witchy foe in early comics / Actress Creel of "Saved by the Bell" / Role for Jay Silverheels
Sunday, December 15, 2024
Constructor: David Kwong
Relative difficulty: Medium (if it takes longer than usual, it's because the puzzle has so many moving parts to keep track of, not because it's particularly hard)
- Max ERNST (54A: Painting stolen from 21-Across)
- Francisco GOYA (92A: Painting stolen from 33-Across)
- John Singer SARGENT (13D: Painting stolen from 35-Across)
- Edgar DEGAS (63D: Painting stolen from 53-Across)
- Frida KAHLO (20A: Painting stolen from 64-Across)
- Claude MONET (8A: Painting stolen from 71-Across)
- Georgia O'KEEFFE (94D: Painting stolen from 77-Across)
- TITIAN (4D: Painting stolen from (101-Across)
- Joan MIRÓ (93A: Painting stolen from 105-Across)
- Salvador DALÍ (110D: Painting stolen from 116-Across)
The answers from which the paintings were stolen:
Word of the Day: John Singer SARGENT (13D) —
- EASTERN STANDARD TIME (21A: Winter setting in New England)
- "GO, YANKEES!" (33A: Bronx cheer)
- BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (35A: Capital on the Rio de la Plata)
- BODEGAS (53A: Neighborhood grocery stores)
- HOOKAH LOUNGE (64A: Bar with hashish pipes)
- FROM ONE TO TEN (71A: Common scale range)
- SMOKE EFFECTS (77A: Fog and haze generated for a theatrical production)
- REGISTERED DIETITIAN (101A: Health professional focused on nutrition)
- STEAM IRON (105A: Household appliance that makes a hissing sound)
- "MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB" (118A: Classic nursery rhyme)
John Singer Sargent (/ˈsɑːrdʒənt/; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings. His oeuvre documents worldwide travel, from Venice to the Tyrol, Corfu, Capri, Spain, the Middle East, Montana, Maine, and Florida. [...] From the beginning, Sargent's work is characterized by remarkable technical facility, particularly in his ability to draw with a brush, which in later years inspired admiration as well as criticism for its supposed superficiality. His commissioned works were consistent with the grand manner of portraiture, while his informal studies and landscape paintings displayed a familiarity with Impressionism. In later life, Sargent expressed ambivalence about the restrictions of formal portrait work and devoted much of his energy to mural painting and working en plein air. Art historians generally ignored society artists such as Sargent until the late 20th century. [...] The exhibition in the 1980s of Sargent's previously hidden male nudes served to spark a reevaluation of his life and work, and its psychological complexity. In addition to the beauty, sensation and innovation of his oeuvre, his same-sex interests, unconventional friendships with women and engagement with race, gender nonconformity and emerging globalism are now viewed as socially and aesthetically progressive and radical.
• • •
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| [Here's today's constructor, David Kwong, taunting me w/ a Nighthawks selfie; I forget precisely why he sent me this, but he knows I love Hopper and have never seen Nighthawks (a perfect painting) up close, so ... taunting me, as I say. Kinda surprised that a HOPPER was not among the stolen art today] |
As flashy as the longer answers were, I also really admired the discreet three-letter hiding place for DEGAS. You usually go looking in the longer answers for theme elements, so it was a delightful surprise to find one hiding in such a small, seemingly out-of-the-way nook of the puzzle. It's also impressive how dense the theme gets in places. The missing DEGAS, KAHLO, O'KEEFFE and TITIAN squares are all clumped Really close to one another in the eastern part of the grid. The whole premise was KOOKy and zany enough to win me over. Yes, the grid was fussy, and yes, the fill gets a little strained in parts, but unlike most Sunday themes, this one never felt tedious, or thin, or like I just wanted it to be over already. Inventive and ambitious and kind of maniacal—it's so rare to get a theme worthy of Sunday's giant (I'm sorry) canvas. This puzzle reminded me of Liz Gorski's iconic Guggenheim puzzle, which is about as high a compliment as I can pay any Sunday puzzle. Was this my favorite Sunday of the year? The bar is low, it's true, but ... maybe. I'll have to check my spreadsheet, but maybe.
[35D: Motel proprietor in "Psycho"]
[59D: ___ Clan, iconic hip-hop group of the 1990s]
- 19A: Fertilizer compound (POTASH) — definitely a word that crosswords taught me. I remember getting it as an answer the first time and wondering what PO-tash was (it's POT-ash). This was back in 2008. At that time, I said that POTASH sounded like "some kind of Eastern European casserole," or else a contraction of the slur "poor white trash." But now I know better (I still don't really know what it is) (the clue back in 2008 said [White, granular powder], so I've at least got a visual)
- 50A: Role for Jay Silverheels (TONTO) — TONTO is also a giant synthesizer that played a really important role in music history. It's the instrument at the heart of Stevie Wonder's amazing string of solo albums in the '70s (credited with the amazing bass line on "Superstition"). Genuinely iconic. Also, literally massive. Still waiting on my synth clue for TONTO.
- 60A: Popeye's witchy foe in early comics (SEA HAG) — As with POTASH, I think I learned this from crosswords too. According to wikipedia, "because she is a woman, Popeye cannot physically attack her." Huh. OK. Can't really picture the SEA HAG. Hang on ... OK, here we go. Here she is, tormenting poor Wimpy:
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| [Alice is way scarier than her name sounds] |
- 95A: Opened or closed like an eye, in film lingo (IRISED) — I know "iris in" and "iris out" but don't think I've seen IRISED before. Still, not hard if you know those other terms.
- 7D: Title for Manchin or Murkowski: Abbr. (SEN.) — you know you're going too fast when you've got a three-letter answer starting "S," you see the clue starts with "Title...," and you just reflexively write in "SIR."
- 16D: Duffer's obstacle (POND) — so not TRAP, which was my first guess (a "duffer" is an inexperienced golfer)
- 18D: '60s campus activist grp. (SDS) — the farther we get from the '60s, the less likely these letters are to make immediate sense to solvers. If I google [SDS] now, I get something called a "Safety Data Sheet" for nearly all my hits (!?!). Students for a Democratic Society was a major political-activist student group that rose to national prominence in part for their organized opposition to the war in Vietnam.
- 24A: Like the Beatles' "Yesterday," key-wise (IN F) — that's "in the key of F," not "infinite," "information," or "infantry."
On now to Part II of the Holiday Gift Guide. Last week, I focused on physical gifts, such as Adam Aaronson's Crossword Calendar and Jeff Sinnock and Desirée Penner's crossword book, Name That Tune: A Year in Music—Crossword Puzzles for Music Lovers. This week, I just want to highlight some puzzle subscriptions for the puzzle-lover in your life (or yourself, why not?). These are all puzzles I subscribe to myself.
First is the AVCX (American Values Club Crossword), which has built itself into an indie puzzle juggernaut over the past few years, putting out six (6!) puzzles a week now, including two regular-sized crosswords, two smaller crosswords, a trivia puzzle, and (god bless them) a cryptic crossword, all while broadening and diversifying their editor and constructor roster and offering a tiered subscription pricing system, so that people without much disposable income can still afford to subscribe. These puzzles are consistently fresh and fun, and when people ask "what alternatives are there to the NYTXW?," this is always the first suggestion out of my mouth. Check out their sample puzzles here and subscribe here.
The Peter Gordon puzzle empire is also very much worth checking out. The weekly Fireball Crossword is especially great for those whose tastes run toward the more challenging puzzles. Imagine Thursday-level trickiness with Saturday-level difficulty. There are frequent meta-puzzles and puzzle contests as well. Fireball is a puzzle I've done consistently for ... yeesh, over a decade now? Very highly recommended for the experienced solver. 2025 subscriptions available now.
On the somewhat more accessible side (Tuesday/Wednesday level) is Peter's Newsflash Crossword—a remarkably up-to-date biweekly crossword focused on people in events in current headlines. These are a great way to brush up on or learn new names from the worlds of sports, politics, pop culture, etc., or (if you're like me) to find out what has been happening in the news since you stopped paying close attention in order to save your sanity. The Kickstarter for the 2025 Newsflash Crossword ends very soon, so subscribe today. Like, right now.
Lastly—I forgot last week to mention a really lovely puzzle store called Pavel's Puzzles, run by puzzle designer Pavel Curtis. This is more crossword adjacent than crossword specific—his store features puzzles of many different types—but they all look truly creative and beautifully crafted, and many of them run toward the kind of wordplay that I know you all love, so if you're looking for a unique and affordable gift for the puzzle-lover in your life, his site if very much worth checking out.
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| ["Punana Split"—come on, you know you pun weirdos are gonna love this] |
OK, that's all for gift suggestions. Let's do a few Holiday Pet Pics (you can still submit pics today, but after today, please, no more submissions—my Inbox is flooded!)
Again, I have to wonder what some of you all think I mean by Holiday Pet Pics. Navarre here is, what, possessed by the Christmas Demon?
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| [Thanks, Corinna] |
I mean, the least you could do is slap a Post-It Note on your cat. Look—instant "Holiday" relevance (this is Cherry):
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| [Thanks, Jenny] |
Or throw a hat on your dog... (this is Joy)
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| [Thanks, June] |
Here we have some proper Holiday pics, of the mischievous cat variety. Nessa, no! The YETI (4) is not a toy!
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| [Thanks, Isabel] |
Not sure what Leo got up to, but the damage appears to have been done, Merry Shredded Presents Day!
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| [Thanks, Brad] |
Finally, here's Donut, furry companion of crossword constructor Trent Evans, watching ("watching") a classic Christmas movie. Yippee Ki-Yay, Donut.
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31 comments:
[PART 1 OF 2]
Huzzah. Ingenious. And what a change from yesterday. This game felt mature, creative, substantive, and fully fleshed out. Two big thumbs up.
Finished without error including the suss of 'I WAS FRAMED' just before curtains.
And I anticipate from the peanut gallery no complaints, zero grousing over the lack of circles or shaded squares, including from The Rex whom I suspect will grade the entirety an 'Easy,' as this is what all the whingers have been clamoring after. And Joel Fagliano, if you decided in part to jettison the highlighting in response to these bellyachers, then well done.
For me, the play was neither easy overall nor a slog. It was more a crowded freeway occasional-stop-and-then-floor-it-for-long-stretches. (I started the game late and took one planned break to catch the SNL Cold Open and Weekend Update, totally not worth it.)
With perhaps a third of the letters filled, I understood the device but did not completely grasp how what would turn out to be a swapped letter would play out. And this was because the instructive Note seemed ambiguous - that is, there was more than one way to read, "Then identify the squares...": the squares, plural, in each relevant across.. huh? Or the 10 single squares collectively? So, it's the latter, and that was not clear to me at first. Also, "...has left behind...letters in the Downs" was confusingly worded. It all came into focus when I stopped to compare several pairs and saw the consistency, and I viewed it as a swap - single letters of a revealer exchanged for artists' names. Not as the addled "...letters in the Downs."
If you completed the game and sussed the revealer without error and without reading the introductory note, and I believe it can be done and that at least one commenter will claim it, then explain your process: How did you look at this gibberish, e.g., at 21a, EASTIANDARDTIME, and understand that the artist at 54a, ERNST, should plugged in for the I? Or that 92a should be plugged into this nonsense at 33a, WNKEES? And how did you come to the realization that something should be done with the swapped-out letters and that they should be interpreted - without reading the introductory note?
In hindsight, of course it's all patently clear. And with the introductory note, it became clear during the play.
There was little margin for error, as, for example, not knowing or sussing FEMS, 65d, left nothing to consult in this crossing gobbledygook, HOOFUNGE, 64a.
[MORE SCREED, CONTINUED ->]
[PART 2 OF 2]
The game would have been easier played on paper (Nancy-on-paper, thoughts?) by jotting some marginalia, and in fact, this was the first Times game during which I reached for a pencil and the back of an envelope, and this is what I jotted:
54a/21a/I
92a/33a/W
13d/35d/A
63d/53a/S
20a/64a/F
8a/71a/R
94d/77a/A
4d/101a/M
93a/105a/E
110d/118a/D
That is, ARTIST / GIBBERISH INTO WHICH THE ARTIST NAME IS PLUGGED TO RENDER THE RELEVANT ANSWER / A REVEALER LETTER, ordered by the second column, from top to bottom, which resolves the third column into 'I WAS FRAMED' (each of those letters having been exchanged for the artist which was plugged into the gibberish).
Visiting the gibberish entries was made additionally confusing because while clicking on an artist was paired to the associated gibberish via the clue (and online via a highlight), the reverse did not occur: the nonsense entries did not point back to the respective artist names.
The swaps aside, two areas drew some consideration: first, at 67d X 95a, did not know LEHÁR or the term IRISED, but 'R' seemed the likely letter, and it was. The other area involved several answers, REAVE, 76d, which I recognized after it was filled, and SNERD, 85d - though I recognized ventriloquist Bergen (father of Candice), the dummy's name escaped me, in addition to several other adjacent or crossing answers in that immediate area.
But they emerged, and the last letter to drop was the A in MODEL A'S after I changed it from an incorrect 't' before curtains - I had left one cell open to be sure the game would conclude error-free, and this was the lone point at which resolving 'I WAS FRAMED' in advance helped me to do that.
Massive flipping blah blah on my part, but I liked this one and wanted to explain my process. If you made it through that screed, consider it a victory greater than completing the game itself.
As to the game, well done. 10/10.
I still do not understand how painting and artist are exchanged for one another. A painting is not an artist, and an artist is not a painting.
tc
Slog. Awkward. Painful. Ambiguous instruction. Couldn’t wait for it to be finished. Sigh!
I learned something today. I learned that I'm "not a fan of paintings / artists / museums." I've spent some lovely time in a number of museums enjoying art works, but the puzzle "quickly gr[ew] tiresome." Didn't like it at all.
Solving on a tablet was irksome since the rebus function clearly wasn’t working.
I spent ten minutes floundering at the end (read: post solve) typing clue answers as follows:
49-down On dry ground
ASHO(MONET)E then
ASHO(RMONET)E before finally landing on a simple
ASHORE.
In other words, there was no joy in the solve unfortunately.
Perhaps the least enjoyable puzzle I’ve done in 5+ years of NYT crosswords. I would get an answer like Buenos Aires Argentina but have no idea what clue cross-referenced it, what part was “stolen”, and wtf with a random letter dropped in. Tedious. Plus I know next to nothing about art.
Well.... it was a bit of a slog for me. But I did finish it. Having the final answers where the paintings were removed become utter gibberish because of the "IWASFRAMED" letters being inserted was kind of inelegant--I want the final answers in the grid to make some sense even if they don't match the clues. But in the end, getting the magic music the first time when I finished this grid was pretty worth it, and having the IWASFRAMED message figured out by then made me feel pretty good. I did not remember KAHLO as a painter so that was my hardest area--and the southwest, where paintings and answers with missing letters were intersecting willy nilly. Anyway--got 'er done. Certainly would never have had a clue without the note. Thanks, David, for the challenge!
same unease, but I think it was legit. It's common to refer to a painting by its artist, as in, "I just spend $148,000,000 at auction for a Degas." (and, yeas, I surely did))
Reading the instructions gave me a headache.
Completing the puzzle gave me a smile.
Just missing the happy little trees.
The instructions should have included a brief apology for the fact that to make this puzzle concept “work”, non words sadly had to be created to sit inelegantly on the grid as you complete it.
The scope and magnitude of this one is epic. Like Rex - I’m typically not impressed by architectural feats - I’ll back off that today. Not perfect and at times a slog with the cross referencing - but he SARGENT find alone is classic.
SRV
Overall fill reached the awkward stage with AXLED and others but they were not the stars here. That huge center stack of 5s is wacky. Loved the artists.
IRIS
Enjoyable craziness on a Sunday morning. HOOFUNGE indeed.
Deer Tick
My favorite Sunday in a very long time!
This was one of the most enjoyable puzzles I've done in a long time. I love rebuses to begin with but this is a real tour-de-force. I don't think you have to be an art aficionado to know most of the painters and to shoehorn these into theme answers ...Go Yankees?! Are you kidding me?!...and finally to have the replaced letters spell out a double-entendre , "I was framed", my jaw still hurts from dropping. I printed a copy for my wife when I saw the write-up...she hasn't done a crossword for years...and when she finished, said, "I'm back!" Wow, David, just WOW!
Completely brilliant puzzle that absolutely required me to figure out the theme in order to finish the last three themers.
Sunday puzzle of the year, for me (noting that we have another couple of weeks to go in the year).
I knew all the artists but HATED this tedious, pedantic, boring, slog of a puzzle. Aside from the ambiguity of the instructions, the resulting word salads (EASTIANDARDTIME?!) were so UGLY, it should be a crime to have them in an art-themed puzzle.
I hated it so much! Just slogged through it, lots of googling. Eventually worked out the theme but was getting extra letters, before I finally saw the note (I don’t know how Rex gets a notification to look, is that a setting?) Didn’t get the music at the end after finally working out the F in fems and didn’t even search for the mistakes, just hit the check puzzle button.
I hated, hated, hated this puzzle. Just an unpleasant slog, constantly having to backtrack to figure what on earth was missing from which answer. When solving electronically you can’t easily find which artist goes with which janky answer. The center is a sea of boring 5-letter gunk. AXLED? Both OLLIE and OLIOS? There are unchecked letters like the secret “A” in MODELAS (could very plausibly be MODELTS — you can only figure this out at the very end with the hidden phrase). Also, the abbreviation isn’t “CRES”, it’s “CRESC”. I have been a musician for over 40 years and never once seen “CRES” in a score.
For me, it did that. It told you that something was being removed that properly belonged there to be replaced by something foreign that did not belong there (a piece of a clue)
This puzzle was great fun for me. Like Rex, my hopes were not high after reading the “about” note (more than once!) and still not understanding what was happening, but as muddy as the concept seemed to be the execution was a thing of beauty! There was one tiny imperfection - the stolen painting at 118A started with the same letter that was “left behind,” so the answer looked like it was just missing ALI instead of DALI. That’s not really even an imperfection, I guess, it follows the same rules as all of the others, just looks different and made me double-check for an error. When that’s your biggest complaint, and the theme is finding artists with weird letter combos like OKEEFE and KAHLO in legit longer answers, it’s a winner.
Maybe my least favorite puzzle I’ve ever done. I’m sure it was a feat to make, but I still don’t even understand why arbitrary letters are replacing certain ones (I know it spells I GOT FRAMED eventually but before you grok what it’s supposed to spell those are just random letters). I got frustrated even reading the fourteen pages of instructions and didn’t understand a word of it. I’m glad people liked it but man was this not on my wavelength at all. Oof
Did any one else think Hunter on high (5) was BIDEN?
This obviously wasn’t for me - I don’t enjoy the “sleuthing” aspect enough to offset the tediousness and unease at filling in a grid full of gibberish. I can see where some would be up for the challenge, but just not my cup of tea. So this one is easily in the top five of the least enjoyable grids of 2024 for me.
I solved it, but I didn’t like it. Disliked the ugly non-words in the grid, and had to keep notes on a piece of paper in order to find the ‘clues’ (added letters). Lots of tedious checking back and forth. Too fussy for me.
Finished it OK, but without enjoying it. The paintings haven't been stolen, the artists have. And even after getting the trick, I didn't know what to do with the extra letters in each theme answer. Now I realize they spell IWASFRAMED (like a painting, get it?). But the letters are so randomly placed in the grid that it doesn't make any real sense. A theme for the sake of a theme, I'd say.
This was an example of a puzzle that either shined or stunk depending on the solve setting. On the NYT subscription site, there were no instructions, so I spent a good amount of time figuring out the trick of taking out an artist and leaving a letter (which I could get by the cross). Plus, clicking on the clue for the artist lit up the trick answer, but not vice-versa. Plus, at the end I had a bunch of letters with no clear idea of how to connect them - should I try to connect them to make a picture? So ,not satisfactory for me despite an obviously stellar puzzle. Wonder if there's a way to include instructions as part of the puzzle grid, so the instructions shown up on any site.
RP, thanks for the tips on other subscription sites. Always looking for good puzzles
I love art and artists and couldn’t believe how much I hated this puzzle. It’s Sunday. I want a cup of coffee and sit down and just finish a well done puzzle. This isn’t it. Between having to keep track of multiple entries at once to nonsensical words to poor solves. Oh, and let’s not forget the helpful “hint” that made such little sense and was poorly written. This was miserable and zero fun at all. I pity a novice solver trying to get this one.
I just couldn't be bothered. Isn't a Bronx cheer a raspberry? This puzzle is for people who are really into constructing. For those of us who are not, it was a terrible choice. I saw what was going on with Titian, but I just didn't care. An absolutely joyless solve.
Wow. And the comments are wide-ranging, eh? I needed some help, plus I did this on my computer, which I do only rarely, being a pen & paper person. Thought I had everything but messed up SLOE with ALOE, and only figured this out with the "check puzzle" function. OKEEFFE was the hardest for me to squeeze in. I thought this was pretty impressive.
I've grown to appreciate art much more than I ever did as a kid. One of our favorite board games is Masterpiece, in which you roll dice, move around a board, get to bid for paintings, sell paintings, etc. But what we do is, we add to the collection of paintings in the game with postcards purchased at art museums.
Same!
I found this fairly easy and it was fun to find the painters (for a while, I was looking for actual paintings). But it was exhausting and when I was finished I didn’t have the energy to go back and find the hidden answers in the extra letters (and figured I’d find it here). I WAS FRAMED was indeed a nice extra touch! Unusual when an impressive architectural feat is also a fairly fun solve.
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