.png)
Poke bowl condiment / FRI 3-28-25 / Oh, brothers, where art thou? / Hybrid team sport that uses kayaks / San Diego County beach town with a racetrack / Bundle in an office / Food specialty that might be topped with creole mustard / Nonsense word akin to "blah"
Friday, March 28, 2025
Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel
Relative difficulty: Medium
Word of the Day: DELMAR (50A: San Diego County beach town with a racetrack) —
Del Mar (Spanish pronunciation: [del ˈmaɾ]; Spanish for "Of the Sea") is a beach city in San Diego County, California, located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Established in 1885 as a seaside resort, the city incorporated in 1959. The population was 3,954 at the 2020 census, down from 4,161 at the 2010 census.The San Diego County Fair is an annual fair held at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Horse racing is hosted at the Del Mar Racetrack every summer. //
The horse racing track is exactly 1 mile (1.609 km) long, and races are run counter-clockwise. With a capacity of 44,000, it is the second largest horse-racing venue in the western United States, after the nearby Santa Anita Park. It is known for the slogans: "Where The Turf Meets The Surf" as well as "Cool as Ever." It was built by a partnership including Bing Crosby, actors Pat O'Brien, Gary Cooper, Joe E. Brown, Charles S. Howard and Oliver Hardy. A 100-mile AAA championship Indianapolis-type car race was held at Del Mar in November 1949, but the death of popular local driver Rex Mays in that event caused "big car" racing to disappear from Southern California circuits for 18 years. (In addition, the horse racing community was deeply resentful of oil-dripping cars being run on the horse-oriented dirt racing surface.) (wikipedia)
• • •
I have to ask, though ... what is SAWS UP? I cannot even imagine how to use that in a sentence. "I'm gonna go saw me up a mess of logs"? I knew the "teeth" was going to have to do with a saw, but how I was going to get a SAW- phrase to reach to six letters was beyond me. SAW ... SUP. Sounds like two actions you do in succession. "First we SAW! Then we SUP! A proper meal after a hard day of sawing!" Seriously, that phrase is baffling. So baffling, I almost didn't notice the duped "UP" (from SUN-UP) (I don't think it matters, but I did notice). Speaking of SUN-UP, lots (and lots) of dawn-related / sleep-related / waking-related answers today. If you AWOKE at SUN-UP, you might wish you were still ABED, and might even try to catch a little NAP later in the day (44D: Day break) (you know, a (sleep) "break" during the "day"). As someone who AWOKEs well before SUN-UP, I was feeling the sleepy / early-morning vibe of this puzzle, for sure.
Hard starting today, as nothing went into the NW corner on my first ... well, many attempts to get something to stick. No idea about the WASABI MAYO for a while. I guess I don't eat enough poke bowls, despite seeing them referred to often in crosswords—I'm familiar with wasabi as a condiment for sushi, but today when I got MAYO, I actually tried to make SPICY fit. I must've been feeling the effects of sleepiness, because I actually did put letters from SPICY in there, with a "C" at 5D: Sound relative, giving me CAY, and an "S" up front at 1D: Nashville-to-Memphis dir., giving me the seemingly plausible SSW. Only then did I notice that I could not fill all the remaining spaces in ------ MAYO with the letters in "SPICY," and so tore SPICY out. But back to the start: nothing at 1A: Poke bowl condiment, and then nothing nothing nothing nothing etc. on all the Downs I looked at at first. After all that whiffing, I then got every Down I looked at from MIMES on, giving me this very weird-looking opening gambit:
Bullets:
- 54A: ___ Blue (dandruff shampoo brand) (SELSUN) — like the ROLD in "ROLD Gold" (earlier this week), SELSUN is bad fill, in that it is a partial brand name of ridiculous spelling. It's like when you see STUF all on its own, without DOUBLE in front of it. In the case of ROLD, the matter was worse because a. it was a debut of such an answer, a new pollutant in an already polluted crossword database ecosystem, and b. it was patently unnecessary, in that it was a four-letter answer in an easy-to-fill grid, so there was no "desperation" excuse to fall back on. People seemed to think I was objecting to ROLD because I had never heard of it or thought it was hard. Neither is true. It just flat-out sucked as fill. Ugly dumb bad. No good constructor would choose to use it if they didn't have to. As for SELSUN ... yeah, don't love it, but it's holding a lot of pieces together in a late-week grid, so I object to it far less than I do to that stupid Monday ROLD.
- 4D: Oh, brothers, where art thou? (ABBEYS) — this is killer. Top notch. A1. Standing ovation. I would've liked the clue better on a singular ABBEY, maybe (since one ABBEY would also hold multiple brothers), but whatever. The clue is sensational. Outlandish and sensational. Sensational because outlandish. Nice work, everyone.
- 37D: Bundle in an office (REAM) — caused me more grief than it should've because of $%&^ing ANNEX (41A: Append), which I had as AFFIX (a much better answer for the clue!)
- 42D: Short day soon after the winter solstice? (XMAS) — XMAS is literally a short day (in that there is very little sunlight, compared to most other days of the year), but this clue is using "short" in reference to the fact that XMAS is ... an abbreviation.
I'm happy to announce (all this week) that a new edition of These Puzzles Fund Abortion is available now (These Puzzles Fund Abortion 5!). Donate to abortion funds, get a collection of 23 top-notch puzzles from some of the best constructors in the business—mostly standard U.S. crossword puzzles, but also some cryptic crosswords, variety puzzles, and even an acrostic. Rachel Fabi and C.L. Rimkus have done such a great job with these collections over the past few years, raising over $300,000 for abortion funds around the country. I support a number of charitable organizations, but hardly any of them give me crosswords in return. So I'm going to give TPFA5 my money today [update: done!], and I hope you do too. Here's the link.
See you next time.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
Save And Share :
113 comments:
A fun Friday puzzle from a top constructor! Woo-hoo!!
On the Easy side of Easy-Medium.
Overwrites:
Aloe before ACID at 2D
WIN BY A nosE before MILE at 17A, before reading the clue
Guessed river POLO before CANOE POLO at 31D.
Add on before ANNEX at 41A, corrected by the real ADD ON next door
Wanted some sort of seATS instead of YOGA MATS at 46A
ole before GOL for the 62D cheer
One WOE, the aforementioned CANOE POLO (31D)
Great Puzzle, ZB! Loved AWOKE right on top of ABED. Knew the condiment was going to be WASABI something but couldn't figure out what.... so went over to the NE which was easy for me... RBS, DEEP, DECO and OBIT dropped in, then TOPSPEEDS and BEERSNOBS keeping guard over their ICEBUCKETs. I knew the 28A would end in DANCE but was wondering.... what do they call that thing the BEEs do? Finally settled on the "BEEDANCE"! which was a lucky guess. AI says it's called the 'waggle DANCE'. SELSUN was a gimme and really helped open up the SE. Unlke @REX, no idea how to spell AFICIONADO so that had to be revised several times. 21:16 for me which is probably a medium or medium-challenging Friday for me. Lots of fun neighbors today!!! Just noticed the infants playing CANOEPOLO in the pool with their inflatable kayaks, on their PLAYDATES and being supervised by SINGLEMOMs! And the gossip is both JUICY and ROMANTIC. Nice. thanks for a fun friday morning solve! : )
One Natick...the ABBEYS/SAN cross. I was fixated on "Where art thou?" as calling for something ending in "YE" (Old English). Should have recognized "brothers" in a religious context. Good puzzle with a few juicy clues.
The reference to Nolan Ryan brought back memories of great Met teams which after yesterday’s game was a nice way to start my morning. Easy for a Friday puzzle. I believe if I could spell , I could solve substantially faster. I blame it all on Sister Christian who when I could not spell something , she always responded “look it up”. How can I look something up I cannot spell? But I did love her.
"no hit games"? The phrase for all baseball fans is 'no hitters'
Enjoyable Friday. I had trouble transitioning from the North-Northeast section across the diagonal to get over to the Southwestern section as I did not know that about Japan (my bad) and of course I don’t know anything about Lord Byron, so I had to beg the crosses for assistance. Once I got a foothold in each section I had a rare bit of the domino effect on a Friday, which was fun (in fact, I figured Rex might complain that the puzzle was too easy).
I did need a lot of crosses before AFICIONADO made itself clear to me, but that is a Friday-level clue/answer, so I’ll shut up and eat my peas. We need more Fridays like this one.
@rex -- regarding SAWS UP, from a commenter on another site: "Here's how it works. First, you saw down the tree. Then you saw it up. That's how we get our firewood around here."
Beekeeper here, we generally prefer the term "waggle dance". No issues with "bee dance", but getting "waggle dance" in the puzzle would have been a celebrated moment in our hobby/profession.
With all due respect, Rex, I’d rate this one much higher than average. It was just what I hope for on a Friday—just the right blend of crunch and whoosh. And topped with WASABI MAYO, yum! So much good fill, so many clever clues. I had trouble grokking the Spanish uncle, so much so that for a moment I said, “I give up.” (Lightbulb emoji here)
I never thought about it before, but the one-D YADA looks perfectly fine to me, maybe because it resembles Yoda. But either way it can be spelt.
I enjoyed the puzzle but 26D, as clued ("Water from a sippy cup"), sort have had the answer in the clue. WAWA could have been clued "Liquid in a sippy cup" or "American East Coast convenience store chain."
A perfectly enjoyable puzzle today. More of these, please!
I finished in 16 min which is well below my friday average. So I was expecting a very easy from Rex. I was pretty pleased he thought it was medium.
Cant you append an annex to a building?
I found this lively and entertaining, a satisfying Friday. My early grid looked a lot like @Rex’s, although for some reason, it took me a bit longer to get OR ELSE. My first word was 20A’s REALLY followed by YADA descending from the Y, then MIMES, AVIA and YELL. I also got I DARE NOT right away, which dropped me into the middle of the grid, where I got TONER, then its crosses BONDS, EYED and ROMANTIC and also ADD ON, the across answer directly below TONER. So, unusually, I didn’t start with one of the corners, but built out from the center.
@Rex points out all the sleeping/waking references. There was another mini-theme in sports and exercise: SCUBA DIVER, WIN BY A MILE, RBS, YOGA MATS, NO-HIT GAMES, CANOE POLO, BOAT, AVIA running shoes, GOL, and TOP SPEEDS in pitching and auto racing.
I, too, found a head-scratcher in SAWS UP, but I like the explanation posted by @Lewis (7:04). The “Oh, brothers” clue and answer were fantastic, and so was “Spanish uncle”/NO MAS. My sister used SELSUN for years, so I splatzed it in off the UN. Favorite entries were BEE DANCE and STAY CLASSY.
@Viewers of “Hunt for the Oldest DNA”
Oops, no Kennewick Man. I guess that was false advertising on my part. There are a few documentaries out there in TV-land that feature Eske and his work, so the whole Kennewick controversy must appear in one of the others. Nevertheless, the NOVA film is a good watch.
SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY
By Lord Byron (George Gordon)
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
The poem is about Anne Beatrix Wilmot-Horton, who was married to Byron’s cousin.
I read annex as a building annex - a structure which is appended to a main building
I like wasabi in very tiny amounts. So I loved the cross of “Wasabi mayo? I dare not!”. Fun Friday!
Have a great weekend all!
Oh, by the way, English is not CC’s* first language. I mention this to underscore my amazement over how well she has absorbed our language into her thinking, to the point where she has even mastered wordplay.
That mastery is on full display in this puzzle, and I, a lover of wordplay, was dazzled and delighted by its prevalence in the cluing. My favorite was [Oh, brothers, where art thou?] for ABBEYS – never used before in any of the major crossword outlets, and solid gold.
As always with CC, the grid is so clean that peacefulness and relaxation wash over me when I look over the completed grid.
The grid scintillates with spark as well. Of the 12 longest answers, seven are NYT answer debuts (including the entire NW stack), and three have only been used once previously. Wow! Those debuts include a trio of answers that I can’t believe haven’t appeared before: SCUBA DIVER, WIN BY A MILE, and SINGLE MOM.
Your puzzle, CC, which abounded in riddle-cracking – what my brain loves – popped with pleasure for me. Thank you so much for making it!
* CC is the name Zhouqin goes by. It's the name she took on soon after coming to the U.S. when she realized "Zhouqin" was hard for Americans to pronounce. It is short for Chou Chin, the Cantonese spelling of Zhouqin.
An almost Saturday level puzzle time wise. Surprising as it felt easier. Started the NW with ORELSE and backfilled it from there. I had to correct an ABBACY/ABBEYS write over. Too much SB.
SAWSUP was another speed bump. It was probably the most artificial part of the whole puzzle.
I've had family in San Diego for years so that gave me a leg up on DELMAR.
I've only ever heard a "no-hit game" referred to as a "no hitter." I guess it means the same thing but "no-hit game" feels like what someone that's trying really hard to chat about sports despite not actually liking sports would call it.
I was in full agreement about ANNEX, then looked it up to prove us right. Alas, the first definition is: “Append or add as an extra or subordinate part, especially to a document.” Who knew!?
I liked this one a lot. I had SAWS ON at first, which I think is a marginally better answer.
Nice and medium
Really enjoyed the puzzle! Very fun Friday. I live right next to Del Mar so I was happy to see it in there. Go there all the time. I never know with running shoe brand if it’s going to be AVÍA, or NIKE, or HOKA, there are a lot. Otherwise, similar early progression to Rex. Also did not love SAWS UP but hey, it’s tough to make a perfect puzzle.
Agree that the ABBEYS clue was excellent, but “Spanish uncle” for NO MAS was even better. What could it be other than “tio”? Nice. Also liked “People have a variety of positions on these” for YOGA MATS. No idea if those are original, though.
I thought FRIARY was a brilliant answer for 4D and it was very hard for me to give up.
Hey All !
Wasn't CC the Queen of MonPuzs for a while? She has now morphed into the Queen of FriPuzs. You go, girl! 😁
Along with the unheard of (ala Rex) SAWSUP and CANOEPOLO, I'll add BEEDANCE. Although, after reading the clue, I filled the answer in immediately, thinking what else might it be? Besides, I can always erase it if wrong. But, huh, it was correct.
In SW, immediately put in OLE for 62D, 'Cheer from a fútbol fan', as I'm betting 99.95% of y'all did. Had me stuck there for a while. Last section to fill, after figuring out CABANA, decided to erase that OLE, as the letters were clashing. Lo and behold, GOL. Sneaky, CC, sneaky.
Fine FriPuz, not too demanding, couple of holdups, but enough give to not have me stressing and struggling mightily.
@Gary
"Christmas in Hollis" playing in San Francisco?
BAY RAP XMAS
Made it to Friday. Have a good one!
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
No. Parts of speech must match. “Append” is a verb. Your version of “annex” is a noun.
Is anyone else having issues with the NYT's app? I have a 100% correct grid but it is telling me I have errors and won't let me complete it. I have checked it against Rex's answers and the one on Wordplay at least five times. No. Errors.
Streak on the line! WTF!
Medium Friday.
Would have finished it sooner but I thought there's no way 26: Water from a sippy cup would actually be WAWA. That's essentially giving you the answer in the clue. Surprised Rex didn't call that one out...
friary before ABBEYS. Like mine better. Initially got nowhere like @Rex. Finally got traction in SW and worked back up from there. Never heard of WASABI MAYO, just the wasabi that comes with sushi. If it's called CANOE POLO (news to me) why are they in kayaks?? And who REALLY says SUNUP? It's sunrise, I see it almost every day and not once have i thought, what a lovely SUNUP this morning. It sounds like time for a duel: pistols at SUNUP, mayhap.
But overall it was fun and just right for Friday, thx CC!
Overall a fun puzzle but I’ll be the pedantic schmuck: no one says no hit game. It is a no hitter. It was a fu easily inferred from the crosses but really sticks out. Tbh surprised Rex was ok with that. A blatantly incorrect term in an area he is passionate about. Not crazy about wawa as clued, too made up cutesy by half.
Really liked this one.. though I wish STAY CLASSY had been clued with an allusion to Ron Burgendy. Maybe "Anchorman's sign off"?
Maybe Rex should lead DOCE (Department of Crossword Excellence), chainsawing through the “polluted database ecosystem” to remove the ROLDs and SELSUNs and most importantly OMNOMNOMs of this cross world! (It’s only a matter of time before “Double Stuf mouthful” - OREOOMNOMNOM -appears).
Also, get rid of bad fill like WSW and ENE. West South West and East North East and never Mark Twain shall meet…
WTF is a BEEDANCE? The clues for BEERSNOBS and SCUBADIVER proved difficult for me. The whole north half - I needed help. I almost never finish Friday or Saturday but almost always every other day including Sunday’s special puzzles. Any advice for F/Sa?
How does BOAT = junk? Still baffled at that clue?
One way to totally stall your start today is to confidently enter WININAWALK, which will lead you to MAKEME for a threatening phrase. You can then stare at the rest of the NW and go nowhere. The rest of the grid was mostly smooth sailing, and I eventually reluctantly erased everything but WIN, and came the dawn, or SUNUP. Finally.
I bet at least one other person had to change OLE to GOL. And for those of you having trouble spelling AFICIONADO, it's spelled just like it sounds, the only confusion possible being and S for the C, as there are no double F's in Spanish. If you were in Spain the C would have a TH sound so no mistake possible there either. Full disclosure--it took me quite a while to get used to the TH thing, but it makes perfect sense, and no, it's no more of a lisp than saying "three". End of discourse. He dicho.
I'm with @Smith in thinking if it's CANOEPOLO there can be no kayaks.
Terrific Friday, CC. Classic Crossword for a Friday, blissfully name-free, and thanks for all the fun.
Grown-up fill and clever cluing. After two successive days of themes I really liked but clues and/or fill I hated, this was a welcome change. There just isn't any junk. A lovely clue for ABBEYS (this one fooled me from the get-go; I had "---EY-" and was thinking "comE Ye"??) and nice clues also for YOGA MATS (which I saw immediately); XMAS; AFICIONADA (I learned something) and JAPAN (I learned something). I couldn't for the life of me think of another term for "crack of dawn" -- turned out to be so obvious, but I was blocked -- and I actually was having enough trouble in the NW that i started in the SW.
I'm glad this constructor appears to have abandoned Mondays for late-week puzzles. Why create a bunch of boring slam-dunk clues-and-answers when you have the chops to construct a sophisticated puzzle like this? Nice Friday.
Happened to me a couple times in the past. Just retype all the letters. If that doesn’t work, restart your iPad if that’s what you’re using.
Another fine offering from C.C. As expected from and appropriate for the weekend some nice baseball references.
Never mind ... I found the error that was eluding me.
Well, I finally had a chance to answer a question that I know has been bugging many of you for ages: Do WASABIMAYO and seSAmeseed have the same number of letters? Yep. You bet. I sure felt smug for a few nanoseconds, though, plopping that down on 1A with no crosses.
But when I finally got the answer I said to myself "who knew that condiments were specialized to serve certain sexual proclivities? I guess if one penniless man's favorite hot dog topping was a straight ketchup and another's WASABIMAYO, they could still be friends as long as they were democrats. I'm sure those POBOYS would both be accepting of Creole mustard.
Contractor: Where should this new stuff be built?
Architect: I've put ANNEX on the spot where I want you to ADDON the bedroom.
Slugger Barry BONDS EYED a small tree at one point in JAPAN. Little known fact: He's tied for the all-time lead for batting average in NOHITGAMES.
How come no one's complaining about the crossing dupe of BEEDANCE and BEERSNOBS? And what are RSNOBS anyway?
My pleasure from this puzzle can be measured in gallons, rather than CCs. Thanks, Zhouqin Burnikel.
27A could have been clued as "314th digit of pi in Chinese" and the puzzle would not have changed difficulty for me.
Is it just me, or has the foreign language vocabulary been upped lately?
Favorites were SCUBADIVER and BEEDANCE. Had ---DANCE and it took me a long time to get BEE. I think I wanted something more complicated.
WASABIMAYO on a POBOY sounds really good.
TOPSPEEDS seems off for pitchers - I just don't think people use that term in baseball, even if it is clear what is meant. NOHITGAMES also seems off.
Overall, though, I agree with the others that this was a fun time.
Yes, this was my beef with it, too. Great puzzle otherwise.
I initially had WAGGLING, but it became clear quickly enough that it wasn’t correct.
Yes, thank you!
Great analogy.
Absolutely exquisite! Thanks for sharing.
I first tried WIN IN A ROMP which led me nowhere.
Noting CC's name at the top, I was eager to DIVE in and see what she had in store for us. It was harder to get going than I'd expected: like @Rex and some others, I had to back into the NW from MAYO, IVER and MILE. After that challenging start, things moved into medium territory. Loved the witty clueing.
I liked the "day in the life" elements for a SINGLE MOM: SUNUP, AWOKE, TONER for her and WAWA and maybe JUICY for the little one, PLAYDATES and NAP possibly allowing for time with YOGA MATS (might be tough to squeeze in CANOE POLO), ending with back ABED.
Funny, I also plunked in “sesame” based on the Ss from SUNUP and sSW and left the “seed” blank. I finally thought hmmmm maybe Memphis is more west than south (those directional designations always throw me).
Thank you for explaining "CC" - I'd always wondered!
I completely agree with RP that this is what a Friday should be. Really a wonderful combination of clever clues and shiny answers. My only big stumble was trying hard not to enter GAMES at 61A. I’m far from a baseball expert, but those are no hitters.
This puzzle was just so GOOD I could write a book about it, but I won’t…just take every positive comment above and that’s how I feel. To me, if you have to get in the woods to criticize/or heavily critique SAWSUP, SELSUN, and think you have to “lawyer” ANNEX (I do not think so), then you have an ABOVE average puzzle. The wordplay was great!
And count me in on learning what AFICIONADO actually means as well as the unbelievably high numbers of islands that comprise JAPAN!
Zhouqin’s last Times puzzle came a week after Helene hit. It was like the Twilight Zone here. And what do I remember most? Everybody was out of their homes helping everybody else. “What can I do for you?” “How can I help?” “What do you need?”
What I learned was that beneath a world that might feel dark at times, there lies a well of light that feels infinite.
This brings me solace and hope, and reminds me of Ghandi’s words: “When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it – always.”
I learned about the c = th from my daughter who spent a summer during high school in Ciudad Real and a semester in Logroño in college. If I remember…not really pronounced that way south of our border though…it is beautiful to listen to someone say gracias in Spain, but I have to say…it is hard for my tongue to quite get the beautiful softness of the Spanish th.
Easy for me and pretty whooshy. No costly erasures and CANOE POLO was it for WOEs.
Major gimme: DEL MAR. For years we celebrated our August wedding anniversary by going to the track at DEL MAR. For our 50th we checked our daughter and SIL and the grandkids into the DEL MAR Hilton for two days at the races.
Very smooth with more than a smattering of sparkle, liked it.
Thanks @Lewis for the background on CC’s name and for the eloquent reference from Ghandi. Thought the puzzle was excellent with some creative clues. I love Japanese food but went blank on WASABIMAYO, so was off to a tough start. I especially liked BEEDANCE which forced me to re-do my original take on that corner—I had been looking for something that described menacing words and not the words themselves…
Tough but fair…however…mayo!?!? Not on my poke bowl.
That would make it trivia. This is better!
One pet peeve is they teach poems such as this to teenagers, who don't have the life experience or vocabulary to fully appreciate them. After thinking poetry was too difficult for so long, I thank you for putting these gems up!
Don't spoil the complainers' fun with actual verifiable information;)
"O brothers, where art thou" makes zero sense. "Thou" is a singular pronoun, and "art" is are conjugated for the second person singular (not plural), so using it to refer to multiple brothers doesn't work and hurts my ears. Hate it.
A ship of eastern Asia with a high stern and four-cornered sails: The word "junk" also refers to a type of traditional Chinese ship.
Breezed through, start to finish-saw the first clue and immediately typed in "wasabi mayo", and the answers just kept falling into place. Wednesday easy-ish in my experience.
No hit games is acceptable
No. No hitter is much more commonly used, but no hit game is acceptable
Hand up for ole before GaL before GOL. Thank goodness GaL looked so wrong, as it showed me my wrong letter in AFICIaNADO. One more for your list, @pablo!
Hesitated at YADA because of the SINGLE D, and at WAWA because it was in the clue. But YADAWAWA is fun to say.
Loved learning the term waggle dance - thanks, @Anon 7:10. Maybe CC will use that one in a future offering.
Thank you, @Lewis for the uplifting thoughts. I needed that after my deliberate DNF at 64A. It would have been so easy to redo that corner: replace SINGLEMOM with SINGLEDAD, and ENE with ON A, a much more fun entry, if clued as “Bird__wire.”
ONA lighter note, it was cool to see TONER crossing it’s upside-down self at the end of IDARENOT.
Thanks for the mostly fun Friday, CC!
Public Service Announcement: HOKAs (at least the ones we bought) are so wide by the toes that the shoes get caught when switching feet from one pedal to another while driving. Anyone else have this problem?
Don't be so UPset about SAWS UP. The use of UP is common in certain dialects in the Midwest, where they say "wash up" (actually "warsh up"), "cook up", etc.
Otherwise, I'm not really UPset about today's easy puzzle, but I notice quite a few shortened "words": e.g., MAYO, OBIT, DECO, PCS, MAC.
The phrase no hit games is not as commonly used as no hitter, but it is by no means blatantly incorrect.
a junk is a flat-bottomed boat
This here solvequest was extra-interestin. It had lotsa no-knows that U could sorta decode, with the help of their crossers:
WASABIMAYO. SAWSUP. BEEDANCE. STAYCLASSY. CANOEPOLO. BEERSNOBS.
Plus, it had the beautiful SUNUP, right outta the chute.
Double plus, it had the Jaws of Themelessness in the puzgrid.
SAN-fold plus, it was by the luvly CC.
Liked.
staff weeject pick: GOL. Since it's a Down answer, better clue? ={Sawed timber up??}.
Thanx for the fun, Ms. Burnikel darlin. Nice job.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
... even more desperate than RBS & STS, we present below ...
"Desperate Word square #157" - 7x7 12 min. desperate runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
Agreed. Here in New England, this firewood user SAWS UP larger logs quite often.
Nice to see the name of a fine North Carolina university back in use rather than the first name of a fascist who moved from South Africa once Apartheid was dead.
I only just got it with your comment. Thanks!
Well, this had a little bit of this and a little bit of that as I made my way hither and yon. I liked a sprinkle of Spanish and food. I know nothing about BEER nor baseball and I am an AFICIIONADO when talking about most sports. So there!
Having said my mouthful, I will add that this was tres amusing and tres fun to figure out. My one look-UP was SAWS UP. Que pasa? I looked you up because I haven't the slightest idea what a Weisenbocks is/does. And I was doing so well.
Learned a few things today. Might I try some WASABI MAYO on a POBOY? I might. If it tastes good, then I'd do a BEE DANCE with a fandango tango partnered with a JUICY MAC. I would and I did.
Good job, CC. I needed an uplift today and you came through.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
In baseball, a no-hitter or no-hit game is a game...
Also Junk a traditional Chinese sailing ship
Please donate to Wikipedia
I had _ _GA_ATS for “a variety of positions and was like if this is those f#%king red hats I’m throwing this damn phone.
Surprised nobody’s talking about BEE DANCE. Made me do a google search after I got that and learned a legit fun fact.
A great Friday puzzle. Now in addition to Robynesque on Fridays, I hope we will have more CCesque on Fridays (missed you!). Thank you :)
No Mas recalls the famous words of Roberto Duran as he was getting pummeled in the ring by Sugar Ray Leonard
I sure hope Ghandi was right.
Per Wikipedia: A junk (Chinese: 船; pinyin: chuán) is a type of Chinese sailing ship characterized by a central rudder, an overhanging flat transom, watertight bulkheads, and a flat-bottomed design.
+1! I get that there are a lot of modern poke variations, but this is one I've never seen, and don't want to.
So nice to see a puzzle from Ms. Burnikel, or CC, again. It was a nice kinda challenging Friday.
I had a bunch of blanks in the upper left until the very end, because the answers I did have were wrong. That sure makes it hard to guess those crosses! I had EARLY before SUNUP... I always thought dawn occurred way before actual sunrise. And ABBEY for the brothers was too short, but MONASTERY was too long.
I too had NO HITTERS at first, but no objection to changing it to NO HIT GAMES which is definitely used. Also ADD ON before ANNEX... which to me does not sound good as a verb.
Loved to learn what AFICIONADO actually means! And was surprised that Chinese for "three" is SAN, cuz it's the same in Japanese! (Looked it up... it's the only one that's the same.)
Thank you for reminding me of Ghandi's words, Lewis. I will need to remember them when I watch the news.
Oh, thank you, Lewis. I needed those words. I am writing this quote down and sending to my postcard writing group. We do despair and so need consolation.
I think "annex" does not sound good as a verb to you because somebody wants to annex Canada. I doesn't sound good to me either.
@Lewis and @Rex. Another rural guy here with a related explanation. I am currently going around my farm and gathering up the winter's deadfall in order to chip or shred it all up to use as mulch or compost. A lot of stuff won't fit in the chipper so I SAWSitUP. The stuff that still won't fit becomes firewood.
I wanted waggle dance, too. A bunch of neighbouring farms keep bees and I love having them around to pollinate the veggie garden and orchard. BEEDANCE was a bit flat.
I also thought this was a very fine puzzle plus it had a few of those special clue/answer combos that sent me on a smile inducing trip down memory lane.
I learned about the BEE DANCE in a grad school course on ethology (the study of animal behavior in their natural habitat) . The more technical term is WAGGLE DANCE or CRICLE WAGGLE DANCE. Ethologist Karl von Frisch first decoded it; a scout BEE returns to the hive and communicates to the others via the DANCE both the direction and distance to a newly discovered source of nectar. Quite amazing, that. Von Frisch and fellow ethologists Nikolaas Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz were awarded the Nobel Price in Medicine or Physiology in 1973.
Used to live in San Diego so I knew 50A DEL MAR right away. The only time I ever bet on a horse race was there. I won a small amount and decided that I would never bet again so I could forever claim to be a winner in betting on the ponies.
The puzzle's overall rating did go down a notch or two in my book because several entries needed some letter count boosting to do their jobs. MIME, PYRE, BEER SNOB, TOP SPEED, ST, BOND, YOGA MAT, PLAY DATE, ARENA and NO HIT GAME all needed an assist from the plural of convenience (POC) to fill their slots.
It is a play on words with respect to a Coen brothers movie with George Clooney which is why the grammar gets a pass.
I always think Ms. Burnikel's early week puzzles are kind of dull (sorry, fans) so when I saw her name at the top of this Friday offering thought, "Oh, no, this is going to be boring." But it was not. I got fooled a lot and had to scramble to recover but, because everything was fair, I enjoyed reworking my screwed-up sections,* the NW in particular. As I mentioned in a comment above, BEEDANCE at 25A sounds a bit flat when you're used to saying waggle dance and the clue made it juist too, too obvious. But stuff like 4D ABBEYS and 52D NOMAS were great.
AFICIONADO is a great word and I'm glad @Rex included a cover pic of Cigar Aficionado, a magazine to which I subscribed for it's first year of publication, after which I got bored with pictures of celebs holding cigars and reviews of smokes I could not afford. Now I get most of my recommendations from Miguel in my local shop.
*@Lewis writes about this often - how getting flummoxed exercises his brain and brings him happiness. That's how I felt today. I mean ... not as happy as @Lewis. I'm never as happy as him. Is anybody?
A BEEDANCE is just what the clue says it is: a bee (worker) finds a good source of nectar (maybe your flower garden, maybe your fruit trees) and returns to the hive (colony) to inform the other bees (the colony) of the location of the nectar lode. Dancing is involved. More often called waggling because of the appearance of the dance.
Never heard of WASABI MAYO, and have no idea whether Memphis is SSW or WSW of Nashville (or even what the difference is), so that one stopped me cold.
I saw this movie about 20 or more years ago and assumed the title was referencing an old slave-era blues song but I was corrected by an old friend and movie AFICIONADO who pointed out it was a reference to an old Preston Sturges film.
And on opening day, with the sun shining (here in NorCal) my beloved Cubbies vanquish the DBacks and then there’s Teoscar Hernández and his towering three-run homer to centerfield off the reigning AL Cy Young winner! GO DODGERS!!! That was an exciting game. Sorry @Rex.
Because my son-in-law has graciously adopted not only my Sooner women’s softball and basketball teams but also cheers the Cubs on unless they are playing the Dodgers, I return the favor and support his Dodgers. Yesterday’s game was everything opening day dreams are made of. For what it’s worth, I think I heard that TEOSCAR is a family mashup of his relatives, Theo (or perhaps Teodóro?) and Oscar. Or I might have made it up. Love the name though.
Oh, was there a puzzle today? Oh, and was it a Burnikel Delight?!?! WoHOO! I was thrilled (not exaggerating) to see her byline this morning. It’s been too long for my liking since we’ve seen hers. This was everything I want in a Friday themeless. And more.
The only down side today was the 4-in-1 grid shape that I typically despise. However, in the hands of a genius, the fair but clever cluing saves it.
First off I got stuck at the top because my poke bowl has sesame seed as a garnish, never WAWABI MAYO. So, despite not being able to have more than one “seed” given the available space, I tried to soldier on and got exactly nowhere. I also had the Nashville to Memphis as SSW to support my 1A mistake and, well, y’all see my big ol’ mess. I also wanted to WIN BY A nose. Yikes. OR ELSE and YELL woke me up and I erased my mistakes and moved over to the NE where things became easier.
Hand way up for changing ole to GOL! Also agree that the clues for ABBOTS and NO MÁS absolutely sparkled - vintage Burkinel magic.
I truly hope STAY CLASSY makes it into the vernacular because it’s the best clever but not ugly comeback I’ve encountered in ages!!
What! A! Treat!
Bob Mills
Rex defines a natick as a square with crossing (& obscure) proper nouns. Neither San nor abbey is a proper noun
Barbara S
When you originally mentioned the PBS Nova episode, I was puzzled, because I didn’t remember Kennewick man being mentioned. I went to stream it (I am an annual contributor) and now I see why I couldn’t find the reference. But Nova has done earlier shows about “pre-Columbian” inhabitants of the Americas so I am sure the subject came up. I have no idea when though.
BTW when you posted your original comment, others complained about the lack of free access. I would like to remind people that the Republicans in Congress have every intention to cut off the remaining Federal support for PBS. Also member support has been decreasing. They really have no choice.
@pabloinnh... you're right! Annex is a scary verb in that sense.
When I read yr first comment, I was surprised you didn’t give us the lovely poem. But your second comment reaffirmed my faith. Remembering the excellent film 84 Nottingham Place where a rare bookseller falls in love with a client and beautifully recites this poem. A tender moment.
I probably watch 90% of Detroit Tigers games and the majority of the playoffs and have for the last 40 years and have never heard a no hitter referred to as a "no hit game".
Lewis
I may be wrong but I think Chou-Ch’in was the Wade-Gilles Mandarin transliteration of her given name. Zhouquin is also Mandarin but from a much newer transliteration system called Hanyu Pinyin that the whole world now uses. It is the reason for Peking changing to Beijing. I read here once that she prefers C. C. but that the Times insists on Zhouquin.
Yes, I agree! No hit games isn’t necessarily wrong. But I would never say it. They’re no hitters.
Smith
Don’t know if you are exaggerating for emphasis but I had no trouble finding recent ( including The NY Times) use of sunup. I was surprised by your comment because sunup is an everyday word to me.
@dgd -- I got that information, that Chou Chin is the Cantonese spelling of Zhouqin, from CC's constructor notes to one of her puzzles.
Gonna go against the grain here and say I really didn't like this one. No hit games over no hitters? Top speeds as a pitcher stat? Technically I guess but largely irrelevant and never a stat that would come to mind. Whatever saws up is? Canoe polo, but it used kayaks not canoes? Wikipedia says kayaks are canoes (in British English anyway ...) but I'm not buying it. Too many off-putting answers that caused me to whisper "wtaf" to myself to make today's puzzle feel good.
Gana el baile de las abejas por una milla.
I was unsure if I'd be beaten to a pulp, but eventually I whooped it. Took forever. A great duel. Pretty funny and gunk lite.
People: 0 {Nolan Ryan and Lord Byron were in the clues, but nothing in the answers so an exceedingly rare puzzle.}
Places: 3
Products: 2
Partials: 6
Foreignisms: 4
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 15 of 68 (24%)
Funnyisms: 6 😅
Uniclues:
1 Death by sushi.
2 Cheesy pasta for stretchingly inclined.
3 ... most do not.
4 Take an exhausted one to the beach.
5 My choice in movies, apparently, unless I want the silent treatment.
6 Elopes with champagne cooler.
1 WASABI MAYO OBIT
2 YOGAMATS MAC
3 SOME STAY CLASSY
4 SUN UP SINGLE MOM
5 ROMANTIC OR ELSE (~)
6 WEDS ICE BUCKET (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: The one you rode to the bottom of the lake. INERT CANOE.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@RooMonster 8:39 AM
Haha! That's how it's done.
Mostly agree, but when have ever heard a reference to a pitcher’s TOP SPEED? Or to speed in general? Max velocity, yes. Maaaaaybe top velocity? Never TOP SPEED. Speed is on the basepaths.
I started with “SALT” for the exfoliator ingredient, and as soon as I saw the Tennessee clue and filled in WSW, I knew I had to exchange salt for acid, and flew through relatively quickly after that, having the “WA” in wasabi mayo (yum). I also LOVED “Abbeys” and “Stay Classy,” and as it often does, being multilingual came through to help me finish with an 11:26 time. I’m a little scared because typically when I fly through a Friday, the Saturday is a bit menacing — but I dare not be fearful!
I have a 3 way at the top/bottom of a stairs and I sit there with a cat in the AM. The switch can either be up or down and it works on the weekend like this: Sat up or Sat down and Sun up or Sun down
Post a Comment