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Drink akin to a Moscow mule / SAT 3-15-25 / Cozier alternatives to motels / Long, curved bike features / Prez in the '60s / Congolese neighbor to the south / Was eco-conscious with tech waste, in modern parlance / Texter's Wow ... just wow" / Slam-dancing locales
Saturday, March 15, 2025
Constructor: Ryan McCarty
Relative difficulty: Easy
Word of the Day: SICKO (16D: 2007 Michael Moore documentary with the tagline "This might hurt a little") —
Sicko is a 2007 American political documentary film by filmmaker Michael Moore. Investigating health care in the United States, the film focuses on the country's health insurance and the pharmaceutical industry. Moore compares the for-profit non-universal U.S. system with the non-profit universal health care systems of Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Cuba.Produced on a roughly $9 million budget, Sicko grossed $25 million theatrically in North America. This exceeded the official expectation of The Weinstein Company, which had hoped to be in line with Bowling for Columbine's $22 million U.S. box office gross. (wikipedia)
• • •
The puzzle was terribly easy today, largely because there wasn't a name it threw at me that I didn't know, starting with the very easy 1A: British celebrity chef Nigella (LAWSON). I don't give a dang about celebrity chefs, but I feel like her name is just everywhere, for decades, particularly in the cooking section of bookstores, so even though I spelled it LARSON on the first go, no problem there. The weirdest wtf [record scratch sound] "huh?" moment in the puzzle came with DARK [space] STORMY, where I sincerely thought "Are we doing an ampersand rebus today!?" (24A: Drink akin to a Moscow mule). I really wanted to shave a "&" in that square, but then the cross didn't look promising that way, and eventually I remembered "oh right you can spell 'and' with the 'a' and 'd' elided..." and that's what I did. Speaking of ampersands, this puzzle has a fine example of the type of answer called an "ampersandwich," where you have {letter + AND + letter}; today, it's B AND BS (more commonly spelled "B&Bs," i.e. "bed and breakfasts"). You see ampersandwiches less these days than you did 10-20 years ago, mainly because people have generally gotten better at filling grids and don't have to rely on things like BANDB and RANDD and RANDR and the like so much.
Mistakes were few today. LARSON for LAWSON, as I said, and then GAMBIAN (?) for ZAMBIAN (14A: Congolese neighbor to the south), and, probably most significant of all, PEER group before USER group (39A: ___ group). Once the "-ER" was confirmed, I felt pretty confident about PEER ... until I didn't. "What the hell kind of cheese starts 'AE-'? AENEID cheese?" I would've loved to discover that there was an AENEID cheese. But no, it's just plain old ASIAGO (36D: Parmesan alternative).
[7D: Much concert merch]
- 16A: Big name in electric toothbrushes (SONICARE) — needed a few crosses, but I know this name, how do I know this name? I still use an analog toothbrush. And then analog floss. And then these teeny tiny little bottle-brush dealies. And then Listerine. My tooth & gum game is very, very tight. Wish it had been that tight in my 20s, when it mattered much more. Mid-30s to mid-40s were some unpleasant dental years, but turns out rigorous tooth and gum care really pays off, kids, your parents aren't lying to you. I know there's more tooth disaster to come, inevitably, but the last ten years have been Great.
- 42A: Una hija de los abuelos (TIA) — a daughter of the grandparents. My eyes saw Spanish and didn't bother to read closely, so I wrote in DÍA here at first.
- 48D: Where snowboard cross debuted as an Olympic event (2006) (TORINO) — better known to English speakers as Turin. You know, the place with the Shroud. Strange that I can still remember Winter Olympics venues that aren't major cities, like NAGANO and ALBERTVILLE and LILLEHAMMER etc. Though TORINO does have close to a million people, so that's pretty major. Winter Olympics tend to be in smaller, less populated areas than the Summer Olympics. But sometimes major cities are involved. Oslo. Calgary. Salt Lake City in '02 ... and again in '34!
- 1D: Member of the only N.F.C. team never to have made the Super Bowl (LION) — so they're basically the Seattle Mariners of the N.F.C. Except that the Mariners are the only team in all of baseball not to have been to a World Series, whereas the LIONs have some A.F.C. company: namely, the Browns, the Jaguars, and the Texans.
- 18D: Something legally defined in the U.S. as affecting fewer than 200,000 people (RARE DISEASE) — not exactly uplifting Saturday morning fare, yeesh.
- 35A: Long, curved bike features (BANANA SEAT) — the one answer in the bottom half of the grid that I really loved. Reminded me of the bike I had in elementary school, a wheelie bike with ape hanger handlebars and a BANANA SEAT and everything. A blue Schwinn StingRay, I think it was. A real period piece. Wish it were still around.
- 35D: Whiny comeback to a certain parent ("BUT DAD...!") — ooh, I liked this too. Had to wait on crosses to see what parent was being whined to.
- 23D: Prez in the '60s (ABE) — LBJ? lol not those '60s
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
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112 comments:
Medium. I found it a lot more difficult than OFL did. Hand up for being one of those who's not into movies or cocktails and hasn't heard of BARRY KEOGHAN (26A). I also don't hang out in the cooking section of bookstores.
Overwrites:
trIo before AMIS at 8D (ignoring the French in the clue)
27D: eCart before RC CAR
39A: @Rex peER group before USER
WOEs:
Celebrity chef Nigella LAWSON at 1A
DARK 'N' STORMY (with that spelling) at 24A
The aforementioned BARRY KEOGHAN at 26A
I don’t watch movies. So, finishing today was more challenging than it should have been.
Similar experience as Rex - the high were great and the lows were meh. KEOGHAN was also wonderful in Dunkirk and with Banshees mate Colin Farrell in the Sacred Deer.
Shine like a SHARD of glass
Handsome grid layout with those three blacks in the east and west. Mules are with vodka - so I guess the ginger beer is the commonality - a little weak. WHY WORRY, MOSH PITS, SNEAKY all top notch. E-CYCLED, ARMY UNIT and RARE DISEASE not so much.
Enjoyable Saturday morning solve. Kate Chin Park’s Stumper is similarity pleasant today with another segmented grid lacking any spanners.
Richmond Fontaine
I finished without help but didn't enjoy any of it. So. Much. Trivia. I've never heard of any of the movies or names in the puzzle, which made it a total slog. Is it just me or does the puzzle feel especially trivia-heavy lately?
I found the clueing obtuse and in some cases probably outright incorrect as in the case of "casualty of file corruption" for DATALOSS. A "casualty" is someone/something that is adversely affected by an action or event; DATALOSS is a not something afflicted by file corruption, but is rather the result of file corruption. DATABASE would be a far more plausible "casualty" of file corruption or - synonymously - data loss.
Another week, another Saturday easier than Friday. Despite having no idea who this LAWSON person is. And although I've seen several things with BARRY KEOGHAN in it and know the face, the name needed every cross.
I made things a little tougher than they should have been by confidently plopping in angolAN at 14A. Only much later when BAND TSHIRTS came in could I see the error.
Despite what Rex's column would have you believe, Montreal has never hosted a winter olympics - but they have hosted a summer olympics.
2 corrections to the write-up:
1.RC car stands for “radio-controlled” car and is a longstanding term for those whizzers.
2. Montreal hosted the ‘76 Summer Games. They’ve never hosted the Winter counterpart.
This one felt like death by pop trivia for me.
I enjoyed Rex’s write-up today because it so vividly illustrates the different universes we live in. I couldn’t pick BARRY KEOGHAN out of a police lineup even if he were grouped with a bunch of toothless meth-heads, and even though BIRDMAN won an Oscar, today was the first I’ve heard of it. So the grid basically has a black hole in the center for me while Rex is sipping at his DARKNSTORMY and enjoying Happy Hour.
At least the crosses were pretty reasonable today - I know Rex thinks they are bland, but I desperately need a TAKES A PHOTO and a RARE DISEASE here and there to at least allow me to attempt to parse together the PPP which seems to be common knowledge for so many but doesn’t really exist once you travel through the wormhole to my space.
The clue for ZONING BOARD is Saturday All-Star quality, and we will give CASINO RESORT an honorable mention as well. There are a few nits along the way - the clue for AGE MATES seems questionable, and of course the obligatory clue and answer in Spanish still looks dumb to me even though they do it so regularly. It’s nice to have a fair, but still challenging Saturday - so no major complaints from me, other than lamenting the fact that I know so little about popular culture.
Gambian is legit, might have had a personal best without that mistake. The Gambia is a very unique country, basically just a river and the surrounding lands.
This had the marks of McCarty:
• Those six-black-square stairsteps in the grid (25 of his 31 Saturdays have at least a pair of them).
• Plenty of answers never seen in the NYT puzzle before, bringing newness into clue and answer (today there were 11).
• A polished, junk-free filled-in grid. I don’t take this for granted, because a junk-free 66-worder is a sign of master craftsmanship. Low-word grids fight a constructor every step of the way; it’s a hard-won battle to come up with an answer set like this, and Ryan does it again and again.
• Lovely quirks. Today, a seldom-seen-in-crosswords six-letter semordnilap (DIAPER). Also, BANANA SEATS, which triggered memories unvisited in decades. Not to mention [“If you squint, maybe …”] for SORTA, which had me imagining tilting my head and squinting to see something a different way – and that clue just came off as perfect.
Above all, a rewarding journey requiring sweet effort and bringing a sweet payoff. Just what I want in a Saturday puzzle. Thank you once again, Ryan!
I'd love to know how anyone over the age of 25 could call this puzzle "easy." Thanks to Conrad for supporting those of us who don't hang out in movie theaters or neighborhood bars and don't converse in cutesy-cute shorthand.
I knew Nigella LAWSON--put it in straight away--but never heard of (or couldn't remember) BARRY KEOGHAN and the only RC I know is the cola, so RC CAR didn't look right (thanks, @Rex, for the explanation). I had trouble with the middle, but the NW, SE, SW, and NE fell (roughly in that order) relatively easily. I also had gAMBIAN but couldn't parse gONING BOARD until I remembered Zambia. I found it a little more medium than easy, but enjoyed it overall more than @Rex.
Played hard here, and this will look like an @Conrad rerun. However
BARRYKEOGHAN took every cross and inspired guesswork on a first name, Had the B from LBJ (wrong) and ECYCLED eventually made sense which led to ABE. Doh!. Then there was Nigella who? and a DARKNSTORMY, of which I have never partaken. The NW corner was further slowed by IMHOME for IMHERE and a four-letter MAN movie became RAINMAN, which slowed things down on the east coast. Finished with a technical DNF as I never corrected G AMBIAN, (hello to OFL). By then I was happy to have a completed puzzle and was congratulating myself for some Acrostic-like code breaking.
In short, nowhere near "easy" here but satisfying to complete. Nice Saturday, RMC. I Rarely Make Complaints, but "elements of some still-life paintings" has to be among the vaguest clues ever. Thanks for some hard-earned fun.
There is absolutely nothing in this puzzle for people under 25 what in the world are you talking about? 😆
There is something distinctly unsatisfying about filling in the letters of actors, movies and cocktails you've never heard of.
Two crucial names that I never heard of (I’m sorry, zero interest in any celebrity chef) made more than half of my solve about working out the NW corner. ECYCLED I only figured out at the very end and was ??? looking at the finished puzzle. The rest was an absolute breeze.
Easy except the NE, which took me roughly half of my solve time. That corner is the reason why the NYT puzzle took me about a minute longer than the Stumper... yeah.
It was a brutal combination of:
1) the unknowns SONICARE and BARDEM
2) not seeing what came before T-SHIRTS and BOARD
3) the unexpected ampersandwich
4) misunderstanding the geography clue at first, and looking for a 7-letter country. NAMIBIA doesn't border Congo or the DRC, but it worked with the AMIS cross
5) getting instantly that "bum wrap" = some kind of underwear, but not thinking DIAPER at all.
ZAMBIAN and eventually PDA allowed me to crack the NE.
I'm not sure what your meaning of 'legit' is here, but no part of The Gambia is south of any part of either of the Congos (countries) nor The Congo (river).
Not knowing the Irish actor or the celebrity chef made this puzzle anything but easy. I got through three fourths of it smoothly then ran aground in the NW for quite awhile. Medium Challenging here
Agreed no idea of this Barry dude. Had to look it up as I had to look up the British chef
Beware the Ides of March, my friends!
I would not slap an “easy” designation on this puzzle. DARK N STORMY and BARRY KEOGHAN were both WOES – the cocktail I was able to get from crosses but the actor I had to look up – hate that. When I first encountered the KEOGHAN clue I confidently splatzed in “Colin Farrell,” my go-to Irish actor, whose name just happens to have the desired number of letters. Sheesh. Looking at KEOGHAN’s filmography I have seen him in one thing, Dunkirk, but his name didn’t register.
But it wasn’t just those two: few of the long answers came all that fast. In retrospect I realized that I’d heard of BIRDMAN, but I haven’t seen it and had trouble conjuring it. I had _AS at the start of the vacation destination (you bet!) and briefly tried LAS Vegas-something. Finally got CASINO but couldn’t for the life of me think of the second word. I thought RARE DISEASE was going to be something much more specific, got DISEASE and then wracked my fool brain for the exact type of DISEASE it was. I also made @Rex’s gAMBIAN/ZAMBIAN error (now that’s a kealoa and a half!) and wasted several precious nanoseconds wondering what a gONING BOARD was (Hi, @Adam).
In better news, I popped in WHY WORRY, BANANA SEATS and MOSH PITS right away. Is that because I’m just a happy-go-lucky, wheelie-bike-ridin’, slam-dancin’ gal? Uh, no – on all counts. It’s because I do crosswords.
Loved I’M HERE. It’s one of the things said by Alistair Sim’s Ebenezer Scrooge in a delighted, awestruck voice when he wakes up on Christmas morning and realizes that he hasn’t died in the night, despite having seen his gravestone.
RE The Olympics: Canada did host the Winter Olympics twice in Calgary and in Vancouver/Whistler. So @Rex's point about major cities sometimes (but less usually) being involved in Winter Olympics does hold, at least for Vancouver.
If you want an excellent, simple risotto, try Nigella Lawson's Ligurian Risotto recipe at NYT cooking. You won't be disappointed! See link below.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11306-ligurian-risotto?unlocked_article_code=1.4E4.JSOA.BuHYIIpmfpIG&smid=em-share
Hey All !
Good SatPuz, just tough enough to slow me down, but not impossible. Full confession, though, was stuck in the North Center area, had ___DISEASE, and was looking for a specific one, like LYME or somesuch. Couldn't think of SICKO off just the S, had BARRYK___HAN, not knowing that name, RINDS and TACIT difficulty clued. For the cocktail, had DA___STORMY, and was thinking about writing in DARK, just to see if I'd be able to get some crossers, but I didn't. I went to Goog instead to look up said cocktail. Once in, the K got me SICKO, and the rest fell in short order. Dang, if I had written in the DARK like I wanted to, I could've finished cheat-free. I coulda been a contender!
Finished on the R of RARE DISEASE/RINDS, while the ole brain was still looking for a specific disease. HARE DISEASE? Is that like bird flu? Good stuff.
Rest of puz slow, not too slow, and steady. Some writeovers I remember, eweRS-PEARS, DATALink-DATALOSS, PaPer-POPUP, Seeit-SORTA, ikE-ABE, trio-AMIS.
AGEMATE, is that something? Sounds made-up. Unless you're asking your Australian friend their age ...
Had ___P__ for DIAPER, and seriously considered putting in ASSPAD. You know, sometimes you just need to cushion your butt.
Happy Saturday!
No F's (Again! SMH)
RooMonster
DarrinV
Casualty can also mean disaster
I’m 54, oops no i am 55 and found it pretty breezy. And I don’t even watch a lot of movies. Had a very similar solve to Rex. Two thumbs up for BANANA SEAT.
A ding against for the plural on ONYXES - seems pretty made uo and never said.
I must admit, I was a bit dismayed at your labelling of Torino as a non major city. It is the industrial hub of Italy, its former capital city, home to Fiat, Piaggio, Ferrero (Nutella), and Olivetti, and four times the population of Salt Lake City (which you dubbed a major city).
Don’t know Barry or the precious cocktail. Also thought calling a banana seat a bicycle part is a bit of a stretch. Annoying puzzle.
“That’s pretty major” = direct quote from this write-up. Relax.
Another excellent solve from one of my favorite constructors. Challenging for me which was good. I've never heard of this LAWSON person and I wasn't even sure "Nigella" was a first name. I'm not at all familiar with the name BARRYKEOGHAN nor have I ever heard of a DARKNSTORMY drink. For that matter I couldn't tell you what a Moskow mule is either. Thank Ja for DYLAN otherwise I would have really tried to make RUSSIANARMY work at 24A
I'm familiar with BARDEM and DYLAN gave me BANANASEATS so I had two good starting points to smoke out those two long mystery answers.
Like many I was briefly held up by the GAMBIAN/ZAMBIAN kealoa. The 16A slot went from SANITARE to SANICARE and finally SONICARE when the Z light bulb went off.
Backfilling the NW was the biggest challenge. I got held up by an AXE/AIR write over. For a long time I wondered if 2D could be a something ___EXEC. Luckily the strength of SOS let me see the word WORRY and AIR, AMNESIAC and the rest of the NW fell into place.
While the southern half of the puzzle was more of a routine Saturday solve the northern half was top notch.
The biggest mistake was a pottery piece being a "shard". It's actually a sherd and as an archaeologist, it drives me crazy when I see this mistake!!
Asiento tipo banana para una bicicleta.
Nice puzzle. Didn't know the names but crosses to the rescue. Do people really sext? Asking for a friend. My first bike had a banana seat. Same exact bicycle as in Rex's photo except mine was red.
People: 6
Places: 2
Products: 6
Partials: 7
Foreignisms: 2
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 23 of 66 (35%)
Funnyisms: 5 😄
Tee-Hee: SEXTS.
Uniclues:
1 Central African uses an atlas to assist the geographically confused.
2 "I'm sure you'll be happier with somebody younger."
3 Advice from the rapacious.
4 Me knocking on your front door.
5 Day cares for the young and old.
1 ZAMBIAN: I'M HERE (~)
2 AGE MATE HOT TIP
3 DON'T GO CHASTE
4 SICKO NEARS
5 DIAPER MOSH PITS
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Don't worry, you'll never make any money doing this. POP ART TAX TIP.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You don’t watch movies?
- Unlike most, I started with ZAMBIA and figured it had to be wrong. ZONINGBOARD to the rescue.
- DARKNSTORMY one of my go to drinks, although I don’t do cocktails that often. That bottle of dark rum on the shelf bought only for that.
- RCCARS have been around forever. I raise an eyebrow at grown men playing with those in the park, but they seem to be having a good time.
- ECYCLing is definitely a thing, and a very important one at that, with EWASTE containing many rare earth metals, plus multiple toxins. I found out recently that those black plastic spatulas are made from recycled e-waste and contain fire retarding chemicals that can leach out into your food .
- Hey Rex, looks like you took my bike. Fond memories of biking around the neighborhood with other kids unsupervised and jumping off dirt mounds.
- ABE from the ‘60s an all-time great misdirect. What the heck was jWASTE? Japanese??? kWASTE?? Old BTS BANDTSHIRTS??
- Some fun answer juxtapositions: SICKO next to RAREDISEASE(next to TAKEAPHOTO-bleach), WHYWORRY next to SEXTS. I’m imagining Alfred E. Newman getting a SEXT now…
- Even though I knew the names well enough to get them with some crosses, I would put this in Satisfying MEDIUM Saturday territory, thus spake the Xword ZONINGBOARD.
Rex was OK with BANDBS (looks like it could have been clued “when rock band members sound in interviews like characters in Spinal Tap”) crossing BANDTSHIRTS? Surprising.
There is something distinctly perfect about the way you put that. Exactly how I felt but could never have said it that well.
Benbini is right— “disaster of file corruption” doesn’t work either (and casualty isn’t really interchangeable with disaster—would have to be “disastrous consequence”)
If BARRYKEOGHAN wasn't a gimme for you, and it sure wasn't for me, that threw a great big Jersey barrier (BARRY-er) across the whole middle that had me struggling the whole way. My "medium" target time for a Saturday is ~15 minutes; this one clocked in at 26:20.
Aaaarghs:
GAMBIAN for ZAMBIAN
RAINMAN for BIRDMAN
Hates:
TAKESAPHOTO
Meh:
ECYCLED
Loves:
MOSHPIT
BANANASEATS
SEXTS b/c it gave me ONYXES--oh right, *that* kind of "cameo" for once!--and finally cracked me into the NW.
My Mariners out here catching strays :'(
Mid-40s and did it in 12 minutes. Pay attention to the world and don’t be afraid to learn new things.
Barry Keoghan is one of the best actors to hit the A List in the past few years. He’s both Oscar nominated and has starred in Best Picture-nominated films.
Really sad how many people do the NYTXW and don’t watch movies. Barry Keoghan is a star and has been for a few years. Do people just stop experiencing new things at a certain age and expect the crossword puzzle to do the same?
Nigella I thought is pretty ubiquitous and the drink is a Dark And Stormy it is written and ordered that way. Struggled with this puzzle more than I should have as there was some fairly easy long fill for a Saturday. Agemate? No
Nothing to complain about today but also not too much to rave about. Enjoyed the long ones enough but no real "ahas" or "THAT'S cool" today.
I'm doing this more and more often - either misreading clues or knowing the correct answer and entering in a wrong letter (??!!) I had BANDBS but wrote in BANABS - looking at it now that was likely because I entered BANANASEATS a moment or two before and that must have stuck in my brain... With that - DIAPER would not fall so the NE was incomplete for a while. I also had ETHICSBOARD for 14D and absolutely refused to let that go, so that didn't help. Like @Rex - the "N" in DARKNSTORMY finally clicked and that took care of that. While not a rave - that was a fun mistake to catch and fix (man, ETHICS and ZONING only share one letter, so I was *way* off) This is the kind of work that I love to do on late week puzzles.
I don't know why, but m favorite answer today is WHYWORRY - looks nice in the grid and as I did not know LAWSON - it helped wrap up the NW for me.
Loved seeing DYLAN mentioned, would have liked it to be clued a bit differently - he's done so many cool things, do we have to go with him missing the Nobel ceremony?? I realize it's a Saturday, but I think I can even think of few obscure facts that would have been the appropriate difficulty... I'm reading this now and it sounds REALLY nitpicky...
Like @Rex - I had PEER for 39A and was convinced there was nothing else possible there, so that was also a bit of a hold up - then I had BADDAD for the down crossing which didn't work either. TIA finally came to me, so I sussed out BUTDAD and USER fell (finally).
RAREDISEASE and SICKO side by side was pretty interesting, so some sorta, kinda neat stuff today, but felt a little bland for me.
Have a great weekend all!
In all the years I've been doing puzzles, I don't remember ever finishing one where I was suffering so much or for so long. And, no, I'm not putting "suffering" into quotes today. It was real suffering. A ridiculous amount of stubbornness, plus one cheat, got me to the finish line. I had a mostly horrible time.
The cheat was BARRY KEONGHAN, who takes up a lot of real estate and is in a movie that I doubt many will have heard of. I did "know" LAWSON, sort of, but didn't have the confidence to write her in early -- and there wasn't a single cross I could figure out to confirm her.
I avoided the ATLANTIC CITY trap, when the "N" worked but nothing else seemed to. But I fell deep into the ROMANO trap, which I didn't change to ASIAGO until the absolute end when absolutely nothing in the SW was working.
Brutal -- everywhere! But, strangely, I'm not sure I blame the constructor. A huge problem in creating and cluing a puzzle is that you cannot then solve your own puzzle because you already know the answers. Did Ryan know how hard this is? Probably not -- or else he certainly would have found a fairer, clearer way to clue AMNESIAC than "One dealing with a certain absence." I mean, c'mon. And there are plenty of other examples where even one slightly easier and fairer clue in a section would have opened up possibilities. Yes, it is Saturday, but, sorry, I found this puzzle painful.
I definitely did not share RP’s enthusiasm, nor did I find any part of it easy. Beyond Detroit and Javier, felt like I was swimming in trivia while mostly drowning … the chef, the neighbor, the toothbrush, the cocktail, the actor, the Spanish, the Olympic event, the fantasy platform, the French, the poet, and so on.
Medium for me and fun to figure out (except for a couple of stall-outs at "Wait, another name?"). With several Nigella LAWSON recipes in my online file, I got off to a jackrabbit start in the NW but then hit the obstacle of the Irish actor. So I roamed from B AND Bs to BANANA SEATS to MOSHPITS, gradually picking up the unknowns and finishing at the CASINO RESORT.
Favorite answer: BUT DAD. Dopey mistake: DYLeN, which left me unable to parse _eSINOR... until I had the complete RESORT written in. Do-over: BARDEn. No idea: BARRY KEOGHAN. Inexplicable decision by the Academy: BIRDMAN.
@burtonkd 10:17 - Thank you for those juxtapositions!
Not a huge fan of the Winter Olympics, but I remember Lindsey Jacobellis' fall at the end when she tried to showboat with a board grab, costing her the gold. Oof.
The More You Know (if you didn't already know): There's a bad purple prose contest named after Edward Bulwer-Lytton, known for his opening line in the 1830 novel Paul Clifford: "It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals...." (It seems the contest is no longer running as of 2025. Alas, how tragically saddening.)
2024 Grand Prize: She had a body that reached out and slapped my face like a five-pound ham-hock tossed from a speeding truck.
2023 Grand Prize: She was a beautiful woman; more specifically she was the kind of beautiful woman who had an hourlong skincare routine that made her look either ethereal or like a glazed donut, depending on how attracted to her you were.
Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest archive
Lyttle Lytton Contest (similar contest but with shorter entries)
Nice puzzle. Thanks, Ryan.
I thought *I* had checked out of popular culture, but some of you people, SMH. And you’re so certain the problem is the puzzle and not you. Amazing.
Though I do see it written the other way online....hmmm
Medium. BARRY KEOGHAN was a WOE that ate a slew of nanoseconds (and I’ve seen the movie) plus I tried a couple of non-existent African countries before I stumbled on ZAMBIA, so that area was tough….
Solid with a tinge of sparkle, liked it.
Went through all the 1960s presidents - DDE and IKE, JFK, LBJ. Even RMN, though he's rarely referred to in that manner. Finally realized I was a century off.
I've known about TORINO since I was a kid. My uncle had a Ford TORINO back in the early 1970s. It was an unusual word to me, so I looked it up in the encyclopedia (remember those?)
Took a lot of knocks today on steep learning curve. Had to cheat to get BARRY, then could not understand why LBJ didn’t fit—well, what do you expect from a guy who mis-stated Charlemagne’s reign by 300 years on college history exam. This seemed a huge trivia fest that would make folks up on these things really happy, and the rest of us happy with the exceptions.
Oh, Gary. You missed such a big opportunity on the clue for #1. The clue should be "Ndipano". That's how you say I'M HERE in Bentu -- which is the main language of Zambia.
How do I know this? I looked it up, of course.
I know. Very odd. I never learned to appreciate the art form. Making it even stranger , I love broadway, ballet , and most of the other performance arts.
Easier than yesterday’s, but I knew BARRY KEOGHAN with zero crosses, so that helped. Only the NW gave me trouble, and otherwise very whoosh-y. I think just a lot of stuff in my wheelhouse.
Surprised RP didn’t mention the BAND dupe. They share the B! I get that one is B AND B and the other is BAND T-SHIRTS, but it still gave me pause because I figured one or the other must be wrong.
I always thought it was remote-controlled. Learn something new every day although my recollection is that you don’t talk to into them like a walkie-talkie.
Pun intended?
The Contest is no longer being run? Awww, @PH, please say it isn't so! Yes -- definitely a tragedy!!!!!
For Anonymous (re content): BANANASEATS, SMH, RCCAR, BANDTSHIRTS, MOSHPITS, DARKNSTORMY, SEXTS, NES, BUTDAD.
I was expecting a comment on ONYXES "not those cameos, the other ones" or some such
Late 60s - didn’t know a single name, I don’t drink, put in tire fenders (for banana seat), never heard of the movies…this was tough for me. But it could’ve been much worse.
Well, at least I knew Nigella LAWSON and how to spell her name. I only know her because I watch foodie shows and because a)...She always licked her fingers after trying her puddings and b)....her husband grabbed her throat in public and it was caught on camera. Such a life!
So I started off in the upstairs but boy did I run into trouble heading towards the living room. I'm glad @Rex got higher on this puzzle with the likes of BARRY KEOGHAN, BIRDMAN and whatshisname BARDEM. I had a DARK N STORMY experience with them. Not to mention everything else in the middle.
So I cheated on BARRY and BARDEM and also looked up BIRDMAN. I try to keep my Saturday cheats to no more than three. HAH! RC CAR....!!!! SICKO, I knew ye and I knew DYLAN and POPE. At least I got the names out of the way.
The rest?.....Took me a long time and I wasn't sure I wanted to finish. I did...So happy to get MOSH PITS....CHASTE is saving oneself? Oh, now I get it. Does anyone virgin ever admit to being CHASTE?
I flew through this one, unlike yesterday. I suppose I just knew the pop-culture references — and like Rex, I was elated to get Keoghan on the first go. Irish roots with the assist!
No, we don’t stop experiencing new things. I just refuse to pay the exorbitant price to see a movie (as a kid we paid 50 cents for a double feature), refuse to reserve a seat (I like to go on a whim), and too complicated to figure out how to watch at home. I have other interests, with deeper meanings, than contributing to the inflated egos of actors.
I’m 61 and nailed it.
Hey, don’t blame age, okay? I’m over 60 and wrote him right in. Excellent actor.
Same! Came here hoping someone had already lodged a complaint, hah.
Well, I missed out on commenting yesterday and was all set to say that “hurtles” should have been the answer instead of “hurdles.” But I found today’s puzzle to be more easy (they are never really “easy” for me) than yesterday’s and I’ll crack it up to being more on Ryan McCarty’s wavelength.
@kitshef…if some people who work the puzzle here are kind of like me…then let’s just say that often I am happy to know the names of countries in Africa. My African geography (actually knowing where the countries are on the map) has only improved by me “playing” Worldle…which I use as a learning tool. At any rate, five years ago, I wouldn’t have known that The Gambia was on the upper west coast and that left ZAMBIA as the only alternative.
As for comments about whether anyone over a certain age can solve this puzzle. As someone said in text-speak above…shaking my head. There is a huge swath of people that are what we used to call middle-aged, pretty knowledgeable about new things. As I get older, yes, it is hard to keep up with the new actors and films…and BOOKS, plus, so many fine actors from countries we never used to see. As for Irish…add Cillian Murphy. I didn’t try to plug that in because I already had some prohibitive crosses. The thing I thought after completion was “Oh yeah, Saltburn…that’s supposed to be good…and found I can stream it for free on a service that shall remain nameless. Anyway, I was finally able to get BARRYKEOGHAN from crosses. Again. The crossword can actually introduce us to SOME things worth knowing.
You SHeRDo go on about them SHARDs.
@Nancy 11:33 AM
So good Nancy! If you told me you were fluent in Zambian, I would believe you! I wonder if I could learn to pronounce Ndipano.
I once had a file that got corrupted, but I had to ask, ultimately, is DATALOSS? How did it get corrupted? My friend Opal consumed it. Or, put another way, AGEMATE it.
Whenever I'm in a BARDEM DARKNSTORMY's go down mighty easy.
Republicans on the fence about the current state of their party have to decide, TORINO or not to RINO?
Kid: BUTDAD, why are you making me brush my teeth?
Dad: SONICARE about your dental health.
I'm bemused and befuddled about the over/under 60 brouhaha. I'm 71 and nobody is stopping me from reading news, including movie and book reviews, food sections and current events. I would sincerely suggest that doing this will not only make crosswords easier, but will make you a more complete and attractive person.
I liked a good bit of the cluing today and thought this was an easy, but enjoyable, Saturday. Thanks, Ryan McCarty.
"Non-existent African countries" could be a theme, I think. Wakanda (Black Panther), Zamunda (Coming to America), Ishtar (Ishtar), Kambezi (MacGyver) ... I'm sure there are many more.
This “Saturday” grid was fun and easy, especially if you stay informed regarding TV, movies, sports, and enjoy nice cocktails! Maybe this has already been mentioned but I first noticed Barry Keoghan in “Dunkirk”, an awesome movie. He plays a small part but stood out as someone to keep an eye on. Since then he’s gone on to play some amazing roles, as Rex mentioned. Dates, or dated (depending on the week it seems) Sabrina Carpenter. Alas, I may be mentioning another name that means nothing to some.
Definitely and unequivocally a very sad tragedy
Since my movie buff days were long ago in the previous century and the only celebrity chef I know is Emeril "Bam! Kick it up a notch!" Lagasse, I got off to a rough start on this one. And stuff like TAKES A PHOTO (of some green paint), ARMY UNIT and RARE DISEASE at a CASINO RESORT did nothing to save the day.
It's always a demerit in my book when longer answers, especially in a themeless puzzle, need help doing their jobs as happens today when BAND T SHIRT, BANANA SEAT and MOSHPIT are all one letter short of their slots. POC (plural of convenience) to the rescue! (See also SEXT, ORE, ONYX, B AND B, RIND, POND, TARE, PEAR, and NEAR.)
Not much to add except that I'm 81 and are very familiar with Barry Keoghan (virtuoso performances in Saltburn and Banshees). Never go to the movies but stream all of those. Javier Bard has won and Oscar and been in many English language movies. This blog elicits much negativity, especially as to non American things. Makes me sad. Found the puzzle moderately easy.
@EasyEd 11:00 AM
I always felt the mysteries of the universe helpfully divided western civilization into three meaningful moments. The good stuff: Beginning of time until 800 when Charlemagne sells out. 800-1750 when Bach thankfully fixed music. And everything afterward which is a slow and purposeful plan for humanity to consume itself and turn the ship over to the roaches.
Oh, my poor, dear friend @Beezer -- DON'T!!!!! Don't stream "Saltburn" for free or any other way without first reading this NYT review!!!!!
I had been coming here to thank you for the recommendation. I was planning to ask you off-blog who was offering it for free. But I went to watch the trailer first. At first it looked intriguing. And then it started to look creepy. Very, very, very creepy! Much too creepy! "Is this horror"? I wondered. Off to check the review in the NYT. Yes -- and not only horror, but evidently the trashiest, the most over-the-top, the most thoroughly disturbing horror imaginable. Of course I am not going to watch this! And neither should anyone else without first reading this review -- which may be the most scathingly negative review I've ever read of anything: book, movie, play. Be careful, @Beezer. Be very careful.
Which brings me to Anon 10:34's lofty and superior putdown of everyone here who doesn't keep up with popular culture. I'm sure I'm one of the people on his list -- although I certainly have a lot of company today. But has it ever occurred to you, Anon 10:34, that maybe a great deal of pop culture isn't worth being kept up with? And that many of us feel that it is not the job of the NYTXW to force-feed it to us. BARRY KEOGHAN may be a fine actor and a really nice guy, but the film with which he's clued is evidently a real piece of exploitative garbage.
I would think that reading the rest of the newspaper, and being familiar with the PPP in there leads to better xword solving and life quality. It is the New York Times crossword, after all...
I thought Rex would be made at BANDBS spelling out the AND buy DARKNSTORMY not doing so - seemed inconsistent in the same puz.
BIRDMAN was a brilliant film.
Condemning a movie you haven’t seen. Based on a single review. Truly embarrassing behavior. “Evidently.”
Presidents of the ‘60’s- DDE, JFK, LBJ, RMN.
@burtonkd. My list wasn't meant to be exclusive, but I see now that it does kind of read that way.
I am so tired of textspeak.
I had IKE for 23D, "cleverly" thinking the trick was that his second term barely stretched into the 60s. That led to KERRY at 26A which seems like a better Irish name than BARRY.
@Nancy. After reading the review, I probably wouldn't pay to see Saltburn, but I probably will seek it out on free streaming. Thanks for stimulating my interest!
I noticed a TON of plurals. Also…I often “preach” on learning things, but I confess…I tend to have zero interest in cooking shows, or celebrity chefs. However…I’ve found many people love to watch these things and that’s okay. For me, it’s like watching paint dry.
You GO @egs! Yes to all of this. Plus. (Indulging in textspeak) OMG…I WISH I had your keen ability to come up with the “word” things you do!
Me too. In fact, I personally feel that you need to change your blog name because you are 11 years younger than me, and I aspire to be like you in 11 years!
Personal best for me. Like Monday easy. My only snag was Gambia even though I know exactly where it is on the map of Africa. But oddly all the crosses worked. Until they didn't. And I'm 60. And got KEOGHAN spelled correctly on first try. He was incredible in Banshees. And famously dated Sabrina Carpenter—who did a diss track video with Dolly Parton about him after they broke up. And, yes, I know that at 60.
Nancy…I dunno. I’m not saying I will definitely like it, BUT since I can stream it for free, I’ll check it out. You and I are totally simpatico on MANY things so I may not like it. But oddly, I can enjoy or…um…try to wrap my brain around things that can be considered creepy and other things. Like…I enjoyed Hot Tub Time Machine. Maybe crass comedy. I also read things like The Overstory, and James by Percival Everett, and Why Nothing Works by Marc Dunkelman. And YES, I found the Dr. Dre/Snoop Dogg song yesterday offensive…and I reject that. Still. I like to figure out why it was popular then. We will ALWAYS be friends…but I’ll still check out Saltburn (free for me) and I’ll give you my “low-down.”
I've dodged horror my whole life -- even the supposed good stuff. Never saw Psycho. ("You'll never take a shower again!" was the word on the street.) Never saw Diabolique. ("You'll never take a bath again!" was the word on the street.) Well, I can't stay unwashed my whole life, right? :) No Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman. No Craven or Tarantino. The Wizard of Oz and Snow White both gave me nightmares as a child -- and that was quite enough.
I understand that some people do like being scared out of their wits for "entertainment". It's the WHY that I don't get.
@Anonymous 10:36 am said "Do people just stop experiencing new things at a certain age..." Well, I'm with Nancy (1:54 pm). I've had Netflix for one year, and I've tried to watch some movies and new series, but mostly failed because I just don't like them. So many movies these days are overwrought and full of themselves, with annoyingly dramatic music, I just can't stand them. Marvel hero movies are the worst. And the series aren't any better (a welcome exception was A Man Inside with Ted Danson undercover at a senior's home).
That is a problem with aging: the world changes, and generally not for the better.
By the way, the puzzle had annoying clumps of names today. Bah!
SRSLY
Hey, Rex, thought I'd let you know I used my computer on today's puzzle so I guess I ESOLVED
All my errors today were on one word. For the African at 14A, I had the M from AMIS, so was confident in NAMIBIAN, but when that didn’t fit I thought it might be spelled NAMIBAN. Then when the IAN ending was confirmed I switched to GAMBIAN, before finally putting in ZAMBIAN. LOL.
You POOH POOH the Mariners but they won 116 games in 2001, nothing to be sneezed at.
I must start out by admitting that I am a 100% all-in fangirl of Ryan McCarty. Accordingly, I jumped into this one with an extra large pot of coffee because Mr. McC usually has me on the ropes somewhere early in the NE. I was pleasantly surprised to see one of my favorite cookbook authors Nigella LAWSON as the entry answer. And my good fortune continued.
So happy to see BARRY KEOGHAN (whose name I surprisingly - Hi @Rex! - spelled correctly first try) because I adored . . . “Ishernin.” Great film if you haven’t seen it. Don’t know “Saltburn.”
My only foray into politics was losing my mind and ending up on the City Council. I adore the clue for ZONING BOARD (Code group), especially after the tech and tech-adjacent stuff: ECYCLE, DATA LOSS that made me think of my husband’s decades of computer code groups from 1979 to 2018 as computers became necessities (or at least near-necessities).
Some of my favorite moments today were the some of the clues: seen on cameos for ONYXES; coats taken off (bit of a stretch but it made me smile) for RINDS; like some books and ads for POPUPS; and hard to pick out for ORES.
I remember the first - and insanely popular - “Stingray” bikes with the iconic BANANA SEAT. Ah, the ‘60s.
We had some creaky spots too, as OFL points out, but overall a very enjoyable McCarty Saturday. Kudos, Ryan and thank you!
I do NOT like being scared out of my wits. Hahaha. My 73 year old husband does. However, I think the creepiness of this isn’t your Nightmare on Elm St or Halloween OR Alien type. It might be a total bust…I’ll let you know!
Romano was my "parmesan alternative" until nothing worked over there.
Benbini
About data loss/ casualty.
We are not talking about technical definitions here. We are talking about a CLUE which is a type of hint. The clue is close enough for crosswords.
Pabloinnh
To be fair, still lives stereotypically have fruit in them. True they often have many other things but fruit is is standard. And pear is a common fruit after all.
For that reason I didn’t find it vague. ( I remember that the French call a still life “ dead nature”).
Anonymous 9:18 AM
Banana seat IS what is called!
Look ( it up) before you leap ( criticize.)The term has been around for decades
Anonymous 9:38 AM
Wow people are getting very technical today. We are not talking about an archeological textbook but a PUZZLE for the general public. Shard is absolutely positively fine for an answer. What people say is often different from what experts say but it doesn’t make it wrong
with the except of SMH there is really nothing here that skews young, certainly not under 25 young, and SMH has been making regular appearances in the crossword, and there is nothing "cutesy" about it. i'm 41 and i'm expected to know slang from long before i was born so it seems only fair it go the other way as well. PPP is often what makes puzzles feel either easy or impossible, that's for sure. and sometimes that can be because a puzzle skews heavily young or old. i just don't think that's the case today and can't find anything that suggests that, personally.
i also don't drink anymore and also don't watch movies [hi @anon 6:54am!] and can sometimes spend 1.5-2+ hours on a saturday puzzle. i rated this easy and completed it in twenty minutes. [my PB is 12 minutes, i would say my average is 40-60 minutes.]
-stephanie.
for me i just personally don't like watching movies. i really can't explain it, but i never have. it's just not my artform of choice. i love television though, music, comics/graphic novels and other short form writing (working my way back to books but my attention span is shot as i age i find), radio/podcasts, and 2d/3d art :)
[but all that said, yes, there are a few people who seem to want the PPP clues to end a certain year ;)]
-stephanie.
Benbeni I totally agree about casualty! DATA would have been correct. But you didn’t lose a loss. I have issue with a few others too. “Coats” often taken off. MAYBE I could be ok if the term were jackets but coats & rinds are not interchangeable terms. And ONYXES and ORES seemed cumbersome at best, possibly even improper usage, pluralized.
Stopped solving at 68D. Didn’t need to spoil a lovely Sunday.
Coming in a day late here, but Rex, if you do read this, do consider an electric toothbrush. The amount of strokes it achieves in 15 seconds would equate to about 10 minutes of brushing by hand. There is more hints of health information coming out that gum and mouth health equates to cardio health as well. Got an electric toothbrush maybe 20 years ago, have had only one small cavity in all that time whereas before I probably averaged one cavity every 2 years. Big believer in electric toothbrushes.
Yes - Angola has a much longer border with southern Congo than Zambia does.
Also a day late because I had to recover from a puzzle so wildly out of my wheelhouse. I found the northwest corner impenetrable for what seemed like HOURS (though it couldn't have been, since my time was 1:40:17).
Things I had never heard of: Lawson (Nigella), Dark n Stormy (drink), Barry Keoghan, Saltburn, ecycled, Birdman, agemate (WTH?), and RC car. Went through JFK, LBJ, RMN, and IKE before figuring out which '60s the "prez" was from. I had toads in the terrarium for a while, and Lawson went through many iterations before the unlovely "sexts" occurred to me. Plural "onyx" was awkward; my nfc guy was a "Colt" until "I'm here" came into focus. All this to say that for the record I DID finally finish with no cheating of any kind; just plugging away and trying every answer that came to me no matter how peculiar. (You can think of a LOT of Irish names when you are faced with ____y Keoghan.) Whew!
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