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Film producer Ponti / TUE 2-11-25 / 2007 quadruple-platinum Alicia Keys album / Title setting for a Christie mystery / Betting setting / Good standing for a sailor? / Best-selling pop group that includes the members V, RM and Suga
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Constructor: Paul Coulter
Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
Well there's one obvious problem, which is that you can point to your heart, eyes, mouth, head, hands and back—those are specific, unmistakable things—but if I ask you to point at your ORGAN ... Actually, scratch that. I absolutely do not want you to point at your ORGAN. This is a family blog. Anyway, since I assume the puzzle is not using ORGAN as a euphemism, it's weird for it to be here, since it's a category of body part, and not a specific thing. Ditto MUSCLE, though somehow MUSCLE feels less out of step with the theme than ORGAN does. ORGAN is just ??? especially since you already have a couple of ORGANs in your themer set (namely HEART and EYES). Yeah, ORGAN is a real sour note today. Other things make the theme not so shiny. I think the ideal theme answer today is HANDS BACK, since the meaning of both HANDS and BACK are changed by the theme (i.e. neither word is a body part in the phrase HANDS BACK). Whereas MOUTH is the body part in its base phrase, and HEARTEYES couldn't mean (body part) HEART and EYES more if it tried, since that's practically all the emoji is composed of. HANDS BACK is the only answer that seems to be really trying to get into the whole spirit of a theme like this. The others feel a little slapdash and halfass.
- HEARTEYES (17A: Emoji that means "I'm crazy about you") 😍
- MOUTH ORGAN (30A: Harmonica)
- MUSCLEHEAD (47A: Obsessive bodybuilder)
- HANDS BACK (59A: Returns, as graded papers)
Carlo Fortunato Pietro Ponti Sr. OMRI (11 December 1912 – 10 January 2007) was an Italian film producer with more than 140 productions to his credit. Along with Dino De Laurentiis, he is credited with reinvigorating and popularizing Italian cinema post-World War II, producing some of the country's most acclaimed and financially-successful films of the 1950s and 1960s.Ponti worked with many of the most important directors of Italian cinema of the era, including Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Vittorio De Sica, as well as many international directors such as Agnès Varda and David Lean. He helped launch the career of his wife, international film star Sophia Loren. He won the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film for La Strada (1954) and was nominated for Best Picture for producing Doctor Zhivago (1965). In 1996, he was appointed as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. (wikipedia)
• • •
The revealer also feels like it's missing something. Namely HARMONY. TWO-PART on its own feels sad. Insufficient. Abbreviated. Yes, you're supposed to reimagine the "part" as a "body part," but the phrase still doesn't feel punchy enough without the HARMONY. I guess a 14-letter revealer is too much to ask, or was too much to handle, but I think you can make a case that HARMONY belongs in the revealer. You are taking two (body) parts and bringing them into one harmonious phrase. And there you go. But instead we just have this truncated TWO-PART. Meh. What else? I have never heard the term MUSCLEHEAD in the wild. I'm sure it's a thing, but it feels forced, and possibly dated, to my ear, so I didn't love that one. But the thing that clunked worst is definitely ORGAN. The rest of the grid was plain as plain can be. Nothing exciting going on at all, in part because the grid is built without the two (or more) marquee long Down answers that early-week themed grids often have. We get banks of 7s, but those banks yield very little in the way of interesting fill. In fact, outside the theme, only SEND HELP and ICES OVER even reach to 8 letters (. Everything else is short short short, which means (largely) dull dull dull. I'd list it all (ACAI ORALB AGAME etc) but why, you can see it, it's right there.
I like AHH under BTS, but only if you reimagine AHH as not a sigh but a scream, as in "AHH! Not BTS again! Make it stop!" (I'm sure they're lovely, but wow are they in the grid a lot). There were not many places to get stuck in this one. If you didn't know the names of the BTS guys, then it's also possible you didn't know the name of the Alicia Keys album AS I AM—I certainly forgot it (38A: 2007 quadruple-platinum Alicia Keys album) (she also has a song called "NO ONE," which I also know from crosswords). I thought the PARER (57A: Kitchen cutter) was a DICER and so had ISSAC someone as the [Player of one of the Barbies in "Barbie"] at first (ISSA RAE). Wondered briefly if there was a cross-dressing Barbie in that movie that I'd missed (obviously failing to notice that ISSAC is not spelled that way). Thought the [Betting setting] was a RACE well before I could see it was RENO (stupid deceptive "R"). And I wobbled a little (aptly) while struggling to find my SEA LEGS (11D: Good standing for a sailor?). Blame the "?" clue. There's nothing else of note in the grid, difficulty-wise or interest-wise, that I can see, but let's do a few Additional Notes anyway.
Additional notes:
- 2D: Title setting for a Christie mystery (THE NILE) — was flipping around Hulu just last night and saw the recent Branagh version of Death on THE NILE there. Thought about adding it to "My Stuff" (I love all, yes all, filmed Christie, with the Ustinov-as-Poirot, Maggie Smith-starring Evil Under the Sun being my childhood favorite). Then remembered I had already seen it and let it drift by. Only to have it drift straight into my next morning's grid. Weird.
- 30D: Sound from a litter box (MEW) — there are lots of places you could've put your MEWing cat. Also, my cats don't generally MEW in the litter box. I can only imagine that the editor / clue writer wanted to echo the "litter" in 25D: Some littermates (PUPPIES). Me, I'd like to spend as little time with the litter box as possible. Kitties MEW for all kinds of nice reasons. Use one of those.
- 39D: ___ generis (SUI) — as you get older, do you find yourself using phrases that you would never have used as a younger person, even if you (mostly) understood them? Like, under-50 me would never have used the phrase SUI generis, except maybe in a college paper where I was trying to sound smarter than I really am. But lately, it keeps popping into my mouth. I used it once while talking to my wife recently and she just looked at me like "who are you?" (btw it means "constituting a class alone; unique; peculiar" (m-w))
- 53A: Film producer Ponti (CARLO) — such a familiar name, which is strange, as it's rare for a person to become household-name famous for movie production alone. But Ponti's career is legendary, from Fellini (La Strada) to Varda (Cleo from 5 to 7) to Lean (Dr. Zhivago) and on and on. Oh, and he was married to Sophia Loren for five years in the late 50s / early 60s. That probably didn't hurt his fame. Sidenote: CARLO hasn't been clued via Ponti since '04 ([Monte ___] is the more popular option), and PONTI last made the grid nine years ago, Feb. 2016 ([Carlo in the film business]).
See you next time.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
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54 comments:
Found it very easy (like a Monday) except for the TEES/LAY/HEARTEYES cross. Didn't know a ballad could be a LAY, and wasn't sure about SESTET. I didn't consider the theme...if I had, HEARTEYES might have come sooner.
The big guy was a little rough on this one. Agree that it’s a loose implementation of a nifty little theme - but overall resulted in a slick grid. The opening NW corner is fantastic. Liked that harmony was in the revealer clue and TWO PART stands alone.
LAY of the Sunflower
Rex highlights most of the short gluey stuff - could have used better editing. The entire Tatum/TERI quadrant is wonderful. TAMIL x ACH is interesting.
The Dream ACADEMY
Enjoyable Tuesday morning solve.
So I walked as the day was dawning
Where small birds sang and leaves were falling
Where we once watched the row boats landing
By the broad majestic SHANNON
Easy.
Two Overwrites:
At 8D, my poem was a SonnET before it was a SESTET
My 34A assignments were teSTS before they were POSTS
One WOE, AS I AM, the Alicia Keys album at 38A
Ditto. I’ve never heard of LAY as a synonym for ballad and since I had SEpTET in there, the EYES part of HEARTEYES wasn’t obvious.
Names of emoji’s? I don’t know what 90% of them even mean - never mind that they have names. Hard to believe that those things haven’t gone the way of Cabbage Patch Dolls by now.
The constructor dug deep for that clue on LAY - that one would feel right at home here on a Saturday. SESTET, TAMIL, and OVATE added a little difficulty up there in the NW as well.
If someone sings a ballad in your honor, does that mean you got LAYED?
Felt like a lot of non-Tuesday material today, including;
HEART EYES emoji. Never heard of it. But I don’t speak emoji, so I’ve never heard of any of them.
The Alicia Keys album
CARLO Ponti
But most of all, that clue for LAY. Spent probably a couple of minutes trying to figure out whether I had an error in ATLAS or in HEART EYES, before giving up and submitting. I was quite surprised not to have an error.
Unusually weak revealer on a day that didn’t need one.
For your future reference: SESTET is a poem. SExTET and SEpTET are groups of things or musical compositions, but not poems.
Well, my brain likes to crack riddles, and because I often don’t catch on to things quickly, it had a good workout trying to figure out why TWO PART hinted toward the theme answers. Finally, finally, came “Oh! PART as in body part!”
I am an enigma unto myself. I often without effort crack deviously misdirecting and arcane clues, while the obvious often soars over my head.
I loved the clue [Add years to one’s life] for AGE, as well as the triple-long-O northeast and southeast corners. I popped MOUTH ORGAN in, a term I haven’t come across or thought about in decades. MUSCLEHEAD triggered lovely images of Caroll O’Connor as Archie Bunker, who constantly called Rob Reiner’s character (Michael Stivic) “meathead”.
It was sweet to see AHH PEACE in row two; my whole body relaxes every time I look at that.
So, Paul, I left the box with a lot more than I came into it with – a gift. Thank you so much for making this!
A WordPlay commenter suggested BODY DOUBLE as a possible revealer. Clever!
I HOPE I can remember the SESTET v. Sextet deal for future reference. Hand up with some others on being totally flummoxed by ballad = LAY so I stared at 17A at the end, thinking it MIGHT be HEARTEd Ex (like an X for kiss comprised of hearts). Crazy thing is, I’ve seen the HEARTEYES emoji…I just don’t know the names…
Agreed. Lay was totally misclued.
I only knew the name because I saw it in another puzzle very recently! If only my memory were better, I’d tell you exactly where.
Isn’t HANDS BACK called that because you use your hand to give it back to the person? I mean…. That was my interpretation on that one.
I learned the phrase "sui generis" in a college class many years ago discussing Huey Long. He was asked by a congressional committee whether the United States would ever become a fascist country. He replied that if it comes, it will be sui generis. How prescient.
Found this to be extremely easy if a bit perplexing. Came here to see if there was something I was missing, an additional trick or some implied meaning, but apparently not. Glad to see I was not the only person who wondered how a ballad could be called a LAY, tucking that one away in my personal crossword vocabulary. I liked the themers, particularly ❤️ EYES, but kinda agree with RP about ORGAN and MUSCLE HEAD, which also triggered that same Archie Bunker memory of Meathead … a term which cries out for an emoji.
Hey All !
Your skin is an ORGAN, you can point to that. 😁 Did get a chuckle out of Rex's "I absolutely do not want you to point at your ORGAN."
Good puz for a Tuesday. TWO PARTs of ones body, coming together to form a different thing. Although, MOUTH ORGAN sounds like something naughty. Har
Three days in a row now without F's. This is my crusade. Seems odd that a fairly normal letter gets left behind so often in these crosswords. "Gimme an F! Gimme an F! Gimme an F! Gimme an F! What's that spell? FFFF!" 😁
Liked it. That's it. Have a great Tuesday.
No F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
@Rex complains about ORGAN not being a good fit for a distinct body part, but MUSCLE is equally vague. Lots of those, none truly visible since we have skin. And EYES are plural, so HEART EYES is THREE parts, isn't it? I mean, still a fun little Tuesday, but if we want to pick apart the theme there are several issues. :)
Same problem for me, except I had SExTET, and had no idea that a LAY could be a ballad. Stared at that empty square far too long.
Had a good chuckle over MOUTH ORGAN because it took me back to a Little Rascals episode where Old Cap the teacher asks Stymie to play a tune on his "mouth organ"
Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti were married for over 40 years, only ending with his death in 2007.
Actually, Ponti and Loren were married twice, for a total of 41 years, until his death. Their first marriage was annulled because Italy, at that time, didn’t recognize his divorce from his first wife.
Ahh, back to usual this morning with a (mildish) Rexrant on a fine puzzle. Nice downs, in particular. I had no problem with MOUTHORGAN, it's a cool sounding phrase (no X-rated comments please). I believe that skin is considered an organ, so point to that if you feel the need to point to something.Thought Rex would focus on the revealer, which was a little underwhelming
Easy medium Tuesday for me, got slowed down by VERSACE- I started out wanting VERAWANG until I saw it didn't fit, and got thrown off. And of course puzzled over LAY for a while, still have to google that to understand the ballad connection
Overall one thumb up and the other in a neutral position
Always fun to start off with unknown pop singers and the name of an emoji. No clue on either, but crosses to the rescue.
I knew LAY because of "The LAY of the Last Minstrel", but I'd be hard pressed to come up with another LAY ballad, unless you count LAY Lady LAY.
Didn't know ASIAM and it was interesting to fill in ISSA which led to ISSARAE, as I'm used to seeing just the surname That at least is familiar from many previous puzzles.
Thought your Tuesday was fine, PC, except the revealer showed up early, which is a Poor Choice. Thanks for a fair amount of fun.
@Roo-Don't know if I can, but I'm claiming a half point for a constructor's name. OK for you to do the same when you can.
Simple theme, which is fine on a Tuesday. Only HANDS BACK has both parts with non-body-part meanings; MOUTH ORGAN gets halfway there, and I guess one could argue that the Valentine's HEART is not the same as the one in your chest. But that's a very minor point.
I do admire the audacity of putting both AHH and ACH in the same puzzle; also TEES and CEE.
The clue for RENO makes me feel my age; certainly there has always been gambling there, but in my youth all anyone outside of Nevada knew about RENO is that you could go there for a quickie divorce. Despite their nostalgic appeal, those were not the golden days.
I agree!! Where do you get LAY for ballad????
Quick! Which one does not belong? I skimmed Rex immediately to see if he'd already pointed out the ORGAN mistake -- and he had: right at the top of his column. So there's no point in my piling on. And that's all I got, everyone.
Well, I do have one reply to Southside Johnny. He says he can't name or recognize 90% of emojis. I can beat you there, SJ. I can't name or recognize 100% of emojis -- hell, I can't even make out what's on their tiny, ugly scrunched-up faces -- and I do wish people would stop sending them to me.
Had sextet before sestet and wondering what body part ended in x. Sigh
Can someone explain how you get LAY from BALLAD ?
Pablo beat me to it, but here for you doubters is a link to the text of The LAT of the Last Minstrel, by Walter Scott. I think that use of the word mostly went out with the Renaissance, if not the Middle Ages--Scott was deliberately being archaic to fit the poem.
While the verb "hand" does derive from the use of the hand, I think it has evolved beyond that. E.g., Trump is demanding that Panama HAND over the Canal Zone.
For RooMonster: Feel fine, fella. Fortunately, fast friends find friendly friendships fortuitously fascinating.
That would have been SO much better!!!
I think it was the Sunday NYT crossword.
55 down
@pablo
Har! Constructors name! Nice...
RooMonster I Believe You're Leading So Far This Year Guy
Good one
My problem entirely. And I never solved it. A dnf on a Tuesday, very odd.
Sorry, but if you don’t know 3 letter pop band is BTS by now, that’s on you. One guest blogger mentions them every time she posts.
Hands up for not knowing that sense of LAY
I often love words for the beauty of their sound as much as for their meaning. SHANNON is one of those words. But in addition, I can't hear the word SHANNON without hearing traditional Irish and Scottish folk music in my head. And that sad, yearning pentatonic scale -- it has a profound emotional effect on me that's, well, different from the emotional effect that other types of music have on me. Anyone else?
Yes, but she had a long affair with Cary Grant.
Easy. No erasures and BTS as clued was it for WOEs.
I’m with @Rex on this one.
Same for me. I came here to figure out why BALLAD could be LAY. Like @Cliff, I had SEXTET first. And had only HEART??EX. Even though I could see the emoji in my mind, I kept wanting to write in HEARTFLEX, which made no sense. It was a DNF for me.
Just wanted to say that of course BTS is familiar, thanks to Clare, but as far as naming individual performers, can't do it.
Me too.
Pleasant - even easier than yesterday.
Agree with @Nancy on Irish ballads—Oh Danny Boy has been with me since childhood. Re the puzzle, the theme was kinda loose but all the combinations were easy so no harm no foul. Was held up in the end by careless nEeDHELP instead of SENDHELP because it seemed so obvious I didn’t immediately check the crosses. LAY came somewhere from the deep recesses on my mind.
Thanks for talking about Carlo Ponti, and I had never heard of a musclehead.
I’m guessing that the constructor ment “a box full of newborn kittens”, i.e., a litter.
sui crossing with an albums i've never heard of was a woe
Same problem here. Never heard of BALLAD as LAY and couldn’t parse put eyes …
On my last birthday, a lot of people sent me birthday wishes, and most of them stuck some emoji at the end. I did not know what any of them were supposed to mean, and of course they are so small I would not recognize them if I had known them.
I made sure to reply to each person, and at the end of the reply I put two or three randomly selected emoji. I really hoped someone would come back and ask my why I was posting - I don't know - 'moose lady bemused' on my reply, but no one questioned it. I conclude that no one else knows what they mean, either.
Who wouldn’t?!
LAY- never heard of it. Some clues were misleading. Finished the puzzle but didn’t enjoy it.
LAY and BALLAD are synonyms. Open a dictionary before whining.
LAY Noun (2) a simple narrative poem: BALLAD (m-w)
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