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Warm drink served from a tokkuri / TUES 2-4-25 / Norse god capable of shape-shifting into animals / Chillax / Rock and roll, but not rhythm and blues
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Hi, everyone, it’s Clare coming to you a little late — for the first Tuesday of February! I had a big hearing last Tuesday, so I swapped weeks. (Then, the hearing was postponed after we were already at the court. Welcome to our immigration system.) I hope everyone has had a great start to their years and has stayed sane with all the madness going on.
My news is my puppy, Red, is getting big(ger)! She’s a handful, but she’s also adorable and loves to cuddle, so I can’t complain too much. That, along with Liverpool doing well — and Mo Salah continuing to be the best player in the world — are keeping me happy!
Anywho, on to the puzzle…
Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: BACKFLIPS (34A: Gymnastic feats ... or what the two halves of the answers to 17-, 25-, 49- and 58-Across do?) — The last two letters of each five-letter word of the theme answers are flipped.
Theme answers:
- QUITE QUIET (17A: Noiseless?)
- ANGEL ANGLE (25A: View of Earth from heaven?)
- EXITS EXIST (49A: "There are ways to leave"?)
- VENMO VENOM (58A: Spite over an incomplete mobile payment?)
Ke Huy Quan (Vietnamese: Quan Kế Huy; born August 20, 1971) is an American actor. As a child actor, Quan rose to fame playing Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Data in The Goonies (1985). Following a few roles as a young adult in the 1990s, he took a 19-year acting hiatus, during which he worked as a stunt choreographer and assistant director. Quan returned to acting with the family adventure Finding ʻOhana (2021), followed by the critically acclaimed Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), a performance that won him various accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He is the first Vietnam-born actor to win an Academy Award. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023. He has since starred in the second season of the Disney+ series LOKI in 2023. (Wiki)
• • •
I QUITE enjoyed that puzzle. It had some stellar clues and a well-executed theme. The theme of flipping two letters isn’t particularly novel, but I liked the symmetry of all of the theme answers being made up of two five-letter words, and working in the Qs and Xs of the theme answers was impressive. QUITE QUIET (17A) and EXITS EXIST (49A) were my favorites, as they seem like phrases that you’d hear outside of the puzzle. ANGEL ANGLE (25A) was fine. But VENMO VENOM (58A) felt contrived. Knowing the theme did help me with the solve and tipped this one closer to the easy-medium side for me. But some of the question-mark clues and long downs kept the puzzle more to the middle of the road for difficulty. Really, though, some of these clues were remarkably clever. I loved the clue for EQUINOX (43D: Start to fall?) because it’s such a good misdirection. And then the word itself is one you don’t often see in puzzles and even has another “Q” that the constructor managed to work into the puzzle. VERBS (22A: Rock and roll, but not rhythm and blues) might’ve been my favorite clue; I’m smiling thinking about it long after my solve. MAIL MEN (3D: Guys whose profession sounds redundant) is another cute clue and answer. ERASERS (13D: Writers' blocks?) and QUIP (15A: Little crack) were also fun.
In general, the long downs incorporated unusual words for a puzzle — such as: THE DUDE (38D), STIPEND (40D), EQUINOX (43D), GEORGIA (11D), RAMBLED (12D), and ERASERS (13D). I suppose VAPE PEN (22D: Puff piece?) would count as a long down, but I don’t like seeing vapes in a puzzle (even if the clue is also pretty clever). ISOMER (46D) is another interesting word. OSMENT (10D: Actress Emily of "Hannah Montana") is an answer I imagine some people struggled with, but I luckily watched a lot of “Hannah Montana” and Disney Channel growing up. (Conversely, I had no idea about JAKE (32A: Guy's name that's old slang for "OK").)
There wasn’t an overwhelming amount of crosswordese in the puzzle. And even then, some were clued in a decidedly not boring and obvious way, such as EWE (42A: Animal hidden in this clue, if you read it aloud), APT (9D: Like the names of the track athletes Usain Bolt and Lisa Lightfoot), ART (4D: "Making money is ___ and working is ___ and good business is the best ___": Andy Warhol), and IRA (56A: Good name for a long-term investor?).
My least favorite section was the area with CUKE (35D: Common crudités veggie), which is just an ugly slang word, and K’NEX (36D: Toy set that can be used to build roller coasters), which I’ve never heard of. Combine that with the fact that my dad has ingrained in me that ATL is the Delta hub so I just couldn’t wrap my brain around that answer being JFK (32D: One hub for Delta and American Airlines, in brief); that I put “on a diet” at first instead of ON A FAST (29D: Not eating anything) for some reason; and that I took a while to get 41A because I think a “blue feeling” is akin to sadness in a way that I wouldn’t say is synonymous with being in a FUNK. In other words, I took a bit to get going in the bottom half of the puzzle.
I liked the puzzle even more as I kept looking back at it. A nice Tuesday!
Misc.:
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
Misc.:
- “Dónde ESTÁ la biblioteca?”(6A) is fun to have in the puzzle. It’s one of those phrases that every beginner Spanish speaker learns, and it will always make me think of this incredible SNL skit. When my sister and I were in Mexico City last year for her 30th, we went to the incredible Biblioteca Vasconcelos and did a little TikTok skit with that line.
- We sold a “THE DUDE” (38D: Nickname for filmdom's Jeffrey Lebowski) pizza at the restaurant where I used to work; it had an amazing spicy vodka sauce. I’d add pepperoni to it and have that sometimes after work, and it was delicious. Great, now I’m hungry.
- As someone who rock climbs and boulders, I have to get in on the conversation about “boulderers” in the puzzle yesterday. I’d say I’m a “climber” because I primarily climb with a partner and use a rope, and I boulder less frequently. But it’s a legit term and something I’ve heard people refer to themselves as, though it’s definitely not something I’d heard much before I started climbing and doesn’t seem to be in the public lexicon.
- I got IONIQS (46A: Hyundai electric cars) easily thanks to BTS, which has a sponsorship with Hyundai and made a song specifically for an ad for IONIQS. (Also PSA: T-minus four months until they’re all back from the military!!!!)
- I CARE (14A: "Your concerns matter to me") sounds like something Mr. Milkshake (OK, Mr. Milchick) would say to the innies on “Severance.” Even if I’m wrong, I needed an excuse to tell you to watch it. Right now. It’s a phenomenal show on Apple TV+, and I genuinely cannot recommend it highly enough. We’re about to hit episode four of the second season, and the show just keeps getting better!
- As I was looking back at my finished puzzle, I discovered that EXITS / EXIST could instead be split as “EXIT, SEXIST,” which I like even better.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
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73 comments:
Maybe it’s because i’m doing this before bed, but this puzzle gave me a real hard time. There were a few too many stretches for me, at least on a tuesday! But still a fun challenge :)
Hi Clare! Yes I agree this is a pretty solid theme; I'm an anagram fan. It was a little spoiled for me by a bunch of Unknown Names at the top (OSMENT QUAN LOKI JAKE) and abbrev's (MOMA BAMA etc).
Hands up for never heard of KNEX; of course I put in LEGO without any hesitation. Other typeovers AUTHORS before BOXES IN for "Pens", PENSION before STIPEND for "fixed regular allowance".
I too liked "Start to fall" = EQUINOX.
Also liked EWE as clued... I often like to pose a brain teaser to people: give me any two English words that are pronounced exactly the same, yet do not share any letters. Two very common yet surprising ones: I and EYE. And, a common/uncommon pair: YOU and EWE. Gotta love English.
Tough one for me, more like a medium Wednesday.
Problems: Mixing up the spelling NIQAB with hijab, plus I did not know OGRE, OSMENT, QUAN, and IONIQS. In addition I had TAMps before TAMES and VAPE cig before PEN.
Cute/amusing theme, liked it or what @Clare said.
Harder than usual for me, for Tuesday. I also had trouble w/ JFK (which seems really odd—it’s a major airport near me!). Def thought ON A DIET but the clue said “no food” or something absolute like that, and … that’s not a “diet.” Still ON A FAST felt … odd. I was tentative there. I also have no idea who this non-Haley Joel OSMENT is, and always forget QUAN’s name. IONIQS in the plural = 🙁 but my neighbor has one so it wasn’t exactly hard. The theme was super-tight. Simple, perfectly executed, strong (precise) revealer. VENMO VENOM was actually my favorite 🤩
Also CUKE, while rhyming with PUKE, is also very close to CUTE, so … I choose to see the CUKE as half CUTE not half PUKE. I’m an optimist basically.
Thx, Clare ~RP
Very enjoyable puzzle that I somehow finished without cheating, even though it was full of stuff I didn't know (KNEX, QUAN, OSMENT, IONIQS). The theme helped the solve, which adds to the enjoyment. Once I got QUITEQUIET I was on the right track, though I first thought they were anagrams.
Definitely my toughest Tuesday in months! OSMENT was a WOE. And the theme took me a while to grok. But terrific puzzle, even if it felt like Wednesday to me. And loved all the scrabbly letters! EQUINOX was great--@clare totally agree that was a great clue. Thank you, Adam! : )
On the Easy side of Easy-Medium.
Overwrites:
I almost took NOMAD (1A) out to put in hIjAB at 1D
@Clare ON A diet before FAST at 29D even though it didn't fit the clue
The misspelled cNEX before the incorrect lego before the correct KNEX at 36D
WOEs:
Emily OSMENT at 10D
QUAN at 18D would have been a WOE but I had it filled in before I read the clue.
Ah, Two Boots Pizza, I ate a lot of Tony Clifton slices at the Ave. A spot in the 90s 😋
I didn’t get along with this one . From NIQAB to OSMENT, THE DUDE, KNEX, IONIQS, to theme entries like ANGEL ANGLE - there was just too much stuff that I either never heard of or don’t care about. The clues seemed off to me as well. Even the late lovely and talented Ms. Teri GARR could not rescue this one - I’m always glad when she makes an appearance though.
There isn’t “a” (or “the”) Delta hub. Delta has several hubs including ATL, DTW, MSP, SLC…
Two thumbs up, both for the puzzle and for Claire’s writeup! Total of 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻.
Lovely serendipitous BACKSKIP theme echo, as this puzzle uses every letter of the alphabet except Y and Z.
I took an Ambien after taking Advil PM last night so I was dozing big time as I completed this. Never heard of NIQAB or the Hyundai electric car. And OSMENT - isnt that the kids from the Sixth Sense? Never heard of Emily. HOTSAKE? not a fan. Good parsing for EXIT SEXIST
Got held up for a long time because DFW airport is actually the official hub for American Airlines, so I was ridiculously confident in that AND the F “confirmed” it for me. Never heard of JAKE meaning “OK” so I just figured DAKE must be some old timey name I’d never heard of. Once I got out of that bog though smooth sailing. Fun puzzle.
A fine example where theme and revealer go very well together. So many revealers are tortured, or at least stretched; it's nice to have one hit the spot.
Lots of imaginative cluing today, also. A really nice Tuesday. Although QUAN felt very un-Tuesdayish. And I never saw the clue for OSMENT so I just assumed it was referring to Haley Joel Osment. Never heard of this Emily.
A childhood without K'nex - Clare, you truly were deprived.
Definitely more of a Wednesday than a Tuesday. I was looking forward to Rex's comments, because I'm pretty sure he would have HATED this puzzle, with all the "IONIQS/KNEX/CUKE/other stuff that an experienced constructor like Adam Aaronson shouldn't be throwing into a puzzle." I was so sure that this was a debut constructor who was getting a free pass at first. Adam, you're great! I know you can construct a great puzzle without being so obscure.
And some of the clues were kind of convoluted, which also increased the solving time.
Nice write-up Clare, as always. I loved the SNL skit, which I had never seen, thanks for that! I thought this was a Wednesday puzzle masquerading as a Tuesday. Tricky cluing. NIQAB is a new spelling for me, and I was sure it was hIjAB, so I was briefly very confused about what possible word beginning with H could mean “wandering soul”. The theme is clever, but I enjoyed the puzzle more in retrospect than while actually solving.
Really enjoyed it, but it was on the tough side for a Tuesday. I’m sure I’ve heard of NIQAB, but with the _I__AB in place hijab was irresistible, and that slowed me down at the start. Throw in unfamiliar names like QUAN and OSMENT and the Spanish ESTA and I was bound to struggle through the top half. The south half was less tricky, but I needed all the crosses for IONIQS.
This one took me longer than last Friday. Had trouble getting any real traction till the southwest corner.
Hard!! Loved it.
I always say cukes when I’m ordering a salad, I think it’s so fun. I got that bit of “ugly slang” from my mom!
1. Raise the Doc Martens
2. California rain jackets
3. “Oh, celestial ram, come to us!”
4. Hex as panacea
5. Entourage displays themselves
I enjoyed this one, too, despite my slow time. It started out like a late-week solve, as I read through many clues with no idea about the answer until I got a few toeholds to work with. I’d call the theme not scintillating but serviceable, with all theme answers solid and the revealer right-on. My favorite was EXITS EXIST because it seemed so unapologetically goofy, with little application to any real-life situation.
My mother used to say JAKE with the meaning described here, but she used to say it ironically, e.g. searching the cupboards in vain for a crucial baking ingredient, she might turn to whoever was around and say, “There’s no icing sugar. Well, that’s just JAKE.”
It seems that “in a blue FUNK” has two meanings, depending on which side of the Atlantic you find yourself. In North America, it means a state of sadness or dejection, whereas in Britain it’s nervousness, panic or terror. Hmm. The puzzle contains two movies that I’ve been meaning to watch for a long time: The Big Lebowski and Everything Everywhere All at Once – thanks for the reminder. KNEX has been in the puzzle before and when I read the clue I thought, “Oh no, don’t tell it’s that Lego competitor that I can never remember the name of.” Answer: yup. BTW, Haley Joel and Emily are siblings. Enjoyed Warhol’s double appearance.
1. BOOST BOOTS
2. COAST COATS
3. ARIES ARISE
4. CURSE CURES
5. POSSE POSES
Same for me--much slower than a typical Tuesday.
Long time reader first time commenter here. A bit trickier than a typical Tuesday but it made me smile so many times I can't say I minded. K'nex was one of the easier clues for me as was Osment (thinking "Oh, that movie boy's sister"). Diet before fast, but held off on JFK thinking SFO at first. I'm working my way back in the archives and will look for Adam's puzzles.
Got the theme right away and the revealer showed up (too) early, but I don't remember reading this many clues on a Tuesday and thinking "no idea". A few were the clues for NIQAB,OGRE, IONIQS,OSMENT, and others that folks have mentioned. Also I don't use VENMO, so that took a while. Hand up for ONADIET which of course is wrong but who says ONAFAST instead of "fasting"? Nobody.
My childhood did not include KNEX, just Lincoln Logs and American Bricks. Too old for KNEX, but just right for JAKE.
Nice chewy Tuesday, AA. Always Appreciate a little more cogitation early in the week, and thanks for all the fun.
Hey All !
Clever puz. Good for a Tuesday, often the weakest of puzdays.
Little quirks my brain notices when Q's and X's and unusual letters like that show up, is looking for the Pangram and related stuff. Today's puz is missing the Y(odd) and Z for the Pangram. Also, almost every letter is used at least three times, except C(2), F(2), H(1), J(1), W(1), and the missing Y and Z, obviously.
Chuckled at VENMOVENOM, nice find. Good fill overall. Light on the dreck.
That's about it. Happy Tuesday!
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Great write up for an excellent puzzle. I confidently put in HIJAB, then didn't read the Warhol clue carefully which had to be ARC, so I was going with JUICE QUIET for a while so I didn't get the theme until later on. So many great clues and a beautifully executed theme. Wednesday medium level here, and big fun.
I lit up when I saw Adam’s name atop the grid, because his puzzles crackle with cleverness, and once again, he delivered.
Sure, hearing the phrase QUITE QUIET and thinking there might be a theme there – the genesis of this puzzle, according to Adam’s notes – that is lovely but standard constructor thinking. Finding four theme answers, each consisting of a pair of five-letter words, that’s a step up. Coming up with BACK FLIP – the perfect revealer – that’s top tier.
I don’t know if I’ve ever marked six clues on a Tuesday as candidates for my Clues of the Week list, as I did today. Sparkling wordplay clues. Overall, both the answer set and the cluing are vibrant, humming with energy.
And a junk-free grid of answers, the kind I look at and suddenly go calm and zen.
The solve? That is, the most important element? Well, for me, this was fun to untangle, capped by that stand-and-cheer revealer.
A jewel box today, primo quality abounding. I will light up once again, even brighter, Adam, next time I see your name gracing a grid. Thank you for a splendid outing!
I really mangled this one. No idea for NIQAB or KNEX, OR IONIQS—started with completely different guesses there and elsewhere. On the other hand, looking back think the puzzle is well done, and Clare’s write-up is much appreciated.
Totally agree! A great start to my day.
I forgot to give you my original reactions before reading everyone else, but I thought the puzzle was fine. I spent too much time on "Wandering soul," thinking I should take it literally. The characters in "Ghosts" were souls, but they didn't wander much, but maybe there is another term. I remember reading a book about meditation which advised beginners to be careful if they left their body, since another wandering soul might come along and occupy it. But the answer was just to take it metaphorically, as one often does with souls.
Yeah, VENMO VENOM was more than a stretch, but I'll take it for the sake of the theme.
The clue for EPEE continues the recent trend to find very elaborate clues for common answers. I don't think it's quite accurate--the epee detects contact with the other fencer's outfit, and only in the zone that counts as a touch, not just contact with any body. But hey, it's a crossword, close enough.
Thanks, Clare!
Like Clare, I QUITE liked this clever theme although the grid had a few too many rough spots for me to do any BACKFLIPS over it. A clue or three made me squint and say “huh?” I’m looking at EWE, GEORGIA, and ISOMER. I was slowed down by JFK for want of a more southern stopover like ATL or CLT, but that was on me of course. And am I the only one who calls the ENDS of the bread heels? But a little challenge is a very good thing on Tuesday and I had fun with it. Thanks, Adam.
Oh, what gorgeous cluing! So much thought has obviously gone into it -- just as much as if it were a late-week puzzle. Of course, Adam had no idea that it wouldn't be. If you're a constructor who cares about cluing, you just clue the puzzle in the most interesting way you can -- and then it's up to the puzzle department where to place it.
"Little crack" makes you think of a door that's ajar or a lovely piece of china that's damaged. But here it's a QUIP. The clue for TAMES usually has to do with animals, but here you're "toning down" loud colors. EVES is usually clued so boringly -- probably even by me, I think -- and look at what Adam's come up with at 55D. Wonderfully inventive way to clue VERBS (22A). Ditto EWE (42A). And I didn't know that about the EPEE (62A)! Did you? How interesting!
Oh, and by the way, I really liked the theme too.
Yesterday's puzzle was for solvers who prefer to not have to think too much. Today's puzzle is for solvers who LOVE to have to think -- not just from Thursday through Saturday, but on every day of the week. Delightful puzzle.
Emily is Haley Joel’s sister!
I always think of the Community rap for “Donde esta la biblioteca”. https://youtu.be/EEHJX05lTrU?si=bATcS_qYLSqnFD1_
"Dónde ESTÁ la biblioteca?" makes you think of SNL, but it makes me think of Community:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEHJX05lTrU
Seems like it never ends. EXITSEXIST, enter misogynist.
I'll tell you, when we spayed the sheep, that RAMBLED.
Cross an EQUINE with a bovine and you'll get an EQUINOX.
Itinerant Guest: Are all of your different colored bedrooms the same as when I was last here?
Hostess: No, we've REDONE the REDONE.
Guest: That's OK. I'm NOMAD NOMAD.
Interesting to note that puzzles by Adam Aaronson are generally some of the best bets, although some editing twits twist his clues. He's called his mama maam ever since she gave him the special Ralph Lauren Polo Pool Cue that helped him erase the lien line from his mortgage. Before that, he played so badly he had to live in Peru under an alias, and still, Lima Liam lost lots. Thanks for a really enjoyable puzzle, Adam. And thanks as well to Clare for a great write-up. I'll bet immigration law is becoming a more interesting, challenging and frustrating endeavor every day.
Venmo veneno.
MAILMEN and VAPEPEN caused me nothing but trouble today making the sweet agony of this puzzle last longer. It was a wonderfully challenging outing and well over my usual time.
I suspect most everybody ran into the HIJAB/NIQAB dilemma and I went with the former. My knowledge of women's fashion is a little iffy, ya know, outside of miniskirts and bikinis. Those I know.
We should use rhythm and blues as verbs. He rhythmed like a metronome with a bad spring. He blues today after breaking up with his sleezebag girlfriend. Verbifying nouns since 10th grade when I learned all language is made up.
I re-watched Teri Garr in After Hours just last week ironically (IONIQly). Scorsese directed it. I had fond memories, but it didn't age well. Teri's part is highly forgettable, but Rosanna Arquette is riveting.
People: 7
Places: 1
Products: 3
Partials: 6
Foreignisms: 2
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 19 of 74 (26%)
Funnyisms: 6 😅
Tee-Hee: [Little crack].
Uniclues:
1 What every rapper and liberal university linguistics professor does per their detractors.
2 Dieting doe.
3 Chemical sunsets.
4 I don't have a uniclue for this one, but I think the two words next to each other seem serene and would make a good title for something.
5 Typos successfully rent asunder.
1 ALL RUIN VERBS
2 DEER ON A FAST
3 VAPEPEN EVES
4 GEORGIA EQUINOX
5 ERASERS' TAMES
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Popeye quote while suffering a self-esteem crisis. "TELL ME I'M PRETTY OLIVE".
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
My last open square was F U _ K and yes, I tried it and yes, of course, it was wrong. When I didn't get the happy music that was also the area of my mistake after checking for a bit. Never heard of KNIX, but I certainly know its sak-e not sak-i. Fun puzzle! I liked it.
Like @Clare, I loved the double-fiver theme answers, especially EXITSEXIST, which made me smile. I agree with @Nancy that this was a puzzle where one has to think, especially with all the clever and tricky cluing. Fewer names would have been nice, but overall, great puzzle. Thanks Adam Aaronson!
Liverpool being the best team in the world is also keeping me happy! Up the Reds!
Of all days for Rex not to write it up…I was so looking forward to his hate-posting because this was the least enjoyable solving experience I’ve ever had. Started with NIQAB. Then there was KWAN or KUAN or QUAN or QWON…and if anyone says the word “CUKE” to me…boy I don’t know what to tell you.
If you started with the downs, you may have started to look for rebus squares as the clue for GEORGIA is incorrect. WASHINGTON also has a US State disambiguation and may be the more obvious answer.
For me, this was a difficult Tuesday. Hardest in a long time. Also, and maybe this is petty, but the state of Washington has a disambiguation page on Wikipedia. This could be pretty easily checked by editors.
I also wavered between ON A FAST and ON A DIET -- and decided I'd better wait for some crosses. But I was relieved when it was FAST and thought that FAST made the clue much fairer. After all, have you ever been on a DIET where you weren't allowed to eat anything at all? Me neither -- and you're never going to get me on one!
Washington does not have a (U.S. state) disambiguation. It has a (state) disambiguation. This could have been pretty easily checked by you.
Clare and Rex, this is in no way a scolding for tardiness, nor a comment on when you should solve the puzzle, it's a straight up question, which I'm curious about. Rex documents that he gets up at three to solve the puzzle, which I assumed was to have it done as early as possible, but (new NYT subscriber here) I discovered yesterday that it drops around 8 p.m. Pacific, so 11 p.m. Eastern, which seems like a more reasonable time for Rex to do the puzzle, four hours earlier.
Bit slow on time, but enjoyable with a nice diversity of entries. I was wondering when Ke Huy QUAN would make an appearance. (Turns out, he was in the NYT once before in 1996.) Very talented, passionate, and incredibly humble. Love that guy.
Knew KNEX from previous puzzles, learned IONIQS. Fun/interesting clues throughout, like oni instead of a Shrek reference. MAILMEN clue was amusing. PSA: the correct term is now "mail carrier."
NIQAB vs. hijab vs. burka (picture)
Thanks for the puzzle & write-up, Adam & Clare!
Do not cheat....Just don't! It's Tuesday, you CAN NOT . OK JAKE, I won't. This is too good, yes it tis. You wan't to know what held me up for over two drinks of coffee?... that FUNK/CUKE/KNEX section. Oh, and I've never heard of IONIQS!.
My how I felt Sisyphean this morning. I was in "the pursuit of perfection." That boulder was pretty heavy in parts, though, and I did have hefty struggles hither and yon.
I caught on to the theme early with that QUITE QUIET. And all because I actually knew NIQAB at 1D. Then I took some time and thought to myself that this was going to be QUITE clever. It was.
ON A Diet....Isn't that you? My blue feeling was Dark until it wasn't. I even toyed with some Corn crudités. K KAR? Can that be right? Ay dios mio. Get up and go walk the dogs; clear that head of yours and try to think outside the box. I did. You know what saved me? EXIT SEXIST. So I got the FAST CUKE KNEX section and I was halfway up the hill.
What, pray tell is that electric car. I wouldn't even know how to start one. Can you plug it in to your electric outlet in the garage so you can charge it? I can't even remember how to spell Hyundai....So....Little by little this DUDEtte got the unpronounceable IONIQS. My boulder reached the top of the mountain.
I really liked this puzzle. It was hard for a Tuesday but it was worth the sweat and a few tears tears. I'll take a lot more, please.....
Thanks for the SNL clip - very funny !
For me there was just one too many of the "sounds like"/part-of-speech clues: MAILMEN, APT, IRA, EWE, VERBS - it was having to find the animal in the read-aloud clue that pushed me over the edge. So, thank you to @Clare for pointing out the puzzle's strengths.
Do-over: TAMpS. Help from previous puzzles: JAKE, HOT SAKE as a "thing." No idea: OSMENT, ION IQS, QUAN.
@Aviatrix: the puzzle is available at 10pm Eastern time, except Saturday and Sunday it's a few hours earlier. Rex used to always do the puzzle and post his writeup in the evening, but a few years ago he switched to an earlier wake up, so now he rarely posts in the evening except on the weekend. But his guest bloggers often post in the evening, whatever the weekday.
My wife and I enjoy Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage, the sequel to Young Sheldon, currently appearing Thursday evenings on CBS at 8 PM. Emily OSMENT is Mandy in this excellent Chuck Lorre sitcom. She was less prominent but also good in The Kominsky Method, on Netflix.
I was relived to see in the early comments that I was not the only one who found it tough for a Tuesday. In fact i found it tougher than a lot of Wednesdays, despite having the theme pattern to help me
I agree with Clare re the clues she found clever , but some were also quite difficult.
Thank you! We share a time zone and a province, and some of the same crosswording sensibilities. Good to finally interact with you.
Great write-up, Clare & thank you. Kisses for little (or bigger) Red.
This was harder than the usual Tuesday, but I enjoyed it - EXCEPT for MUTT - they are
MIXED BREEDS, Mr. Aaronson!!!
“Comes the revolution! Everything is jake!
Comes the revolution! We'll be eating cake!”
- Ira Gershwin (music by George), “Let “Em Eat Cake,” 1933
Pretty neat TuesPuz-level puztheme.
Also kinda challengin due to numerous no-knows: NIQAB. KNEX. IONIQS. QUAN. OSMENT. VAPEPEN (sorta).
And kinda frisky cluin, with at least 9 ?-marker clues. Bring it, Shortzmeister.
staff weeject pick: ERA. Of EARERA fame.
some fave stuff: Weird-ish ERASERS clue. THEDUDE. EQUINE. All them Q's. The Jaws of Backflipedness.
Thanx, Mr. Aaronson dude. Nice job.
And thanx to Clare darlin, for a primo blog writeup. U are welcome here, any old Tuesday.
Masked & Anonym007Us
... and ...
"International Melting Pot" - 7x7 themed runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
I strongly disliked this puzzle. I was very curious to see Rex’s take on it. To me the whole puzzle felt off and I found it pretty challenging (not in a fun way). I thought the cluing was weird. I thought the theme dull and also weird. Yuck.
Me too
Both the puzzle and Clare’s peppy write-up made a lovely lunch break for me. I share some on the name-unfamiliarity already mentioned, but thought they were fairly crossed. My one gripe (for a Tuesday) is the crossing of IONIQS and ISOMER, which don’t feel common enough to be crossed in the early week. But that didn’t put a damper on the delight of the solving experience and Clare’s lovely enumeration of the many nuggets in the clueing. Bravo and brava!
@Aviatrix... this morning a character in a book I'm reading** said, quote: "So you're the aviatrix?" Coincidence!
** ("Saucer" by Stephen Coonts -- not the best book I've ever read.)
I noticed. Wonder Y.
We used to order from Two Boots at work on a Saturday. Larry Tate, Clifton, Mel Cooley were my faves.
More like Wednesday average time here. Took me far too long to figure out what was going on with the themers - that's on me, not the puzzle, which I enjoyed.
Jake was a gimme - there was a tire store in the city where I lived in the early 1970s - a slogan it used was, Everything's Jake at Jake's Tire & Recap.
Found this on the hard side for a Tuesday. Got bogged down in the center. I was not familiar with KNEX, but once that was in place, FUNK, JAKE and JFK followed easily. Liked the cleverness of the cluing!
Good thing we have a sub! ANGEL ANGLE is the stupidest thing I’ve seen in - well, days, since that’s the NYT these days…
Okanaganer
(BTW interesting info yesterday about the region name change when crossing the border. Okanogan. was it? I never heard the name until you mentioned the awful fires the the Canadian region experienced )
About today’s puzzle. The old expression was everything is jake or the like. Like john it was from a name but not a name.
I know nothing about KNEX other than from its previous appearances in the Times puzzle. The first time I came access it I almost dnf’d. This time I already had the kn so it was obvious to me. Apparently useful so if will appear again.
Jae
Same issue with hijab. But the theme helped. It had to be Q.
Whatsername
I have heard heels of bread, though I don’t use it.
My grandparents were Italian immigrants and my parents liked to use Italian words on occasion. Caducc’ (pronounced caduch) , meaning little tail was a Southern Italian dialect term for a heel of bread. I was a small boy and I was called that affectionately by my mother when I was little.
Dylan
True about Washington State disambiguation
Liked the puzzle.
Got the theme fairly quickly. so that took care of things like niqab. Made a good guess at OSMON
I liked this puzzle because I got half way and got stuck. When I came back an hour later I finished it. But what was really cool was that it had my son's first name (Jake) and my last in it (Garr). He's a hyphenate. BTW, Teri Garr's film "After Hours," was not a gimme. She's not even a star in one of Scorsese's lesser known movies. It's really a piece about NYC nightlife during that era. It's Griffin Dunne's only memorable performance.
I thought the puzzle was pretty tough for a Tuesday, but it also made the Tuesday puzzle worth doing ! Nice job !
Also, Welcome back Will ! A little late, I know... I haven't been doing these things live in a while and this is the first time I saw his name back in the editor line.
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