THEME: SAW A WOMAN IN HALF (58A: Perform a classic magic trick that's depicted figuratively in this grid?) — shaded squares contain slang names for "woman," divided in half (by a black square)
Theme answers:
ARTEMIS / SUSANNA (17A: Greek goddess whose namesake NASA mission plans to land the first female astronaut on the moon / 18A: Folk song figure who is implored not to cry)
ELPHABA / BEYONCÉ (32A: The Wicked Witch of the West, in "Wicked" / 35A: Grammy's Album of the Year winner for 2024's "Cowboy Carter")
MATILDA / MELANIE (52A: Kid-lit character with telekinetic abilities / 54A: "Brand New Key" singer, 1971)
Word of the Day: MELANIE (54A: "Brand New Key" singer, 1971) —
Melanie Anne Safka Schekeryk (February 3, 1947 – January 23, 2024), professionally known as Melanie or Melanie Safka, was an American singer-songwriter.
I assume this puzzle is supposed to be a nod to Women's History Month (i.e. this month, March). It's full of women, in the grid and in the clues, while being almost totally man-free—though not completely so: Gabriel Garcia Márquez manages to sneak his way in there in the clue for CHOLERA (15A: Gabriel Garcia Márquez's "Love in the Time of ___"). Oh, and I guess the "child" in "Mary and child" is also a dude, technically (8D: Part of the Hagia Sophia with a celebrated mosaic of Mary and child = APSE). And it's NBA JAM, not WNBA JAM—do they have that? they should have that ... looks like there are (or were) plans to add WNBA teams to NBA JAM '25. Not sure if that's still happening (30D: Classic arcade game in which characters can dunk at humanly impossible heights). Anyway, you get the picture: genderwise, today, the balance is decidedly distaff. The puzzle's made by women, it's full of women, cool cool. Conceptually, though, I found the puzzle a little confusing. I mean, at the most basic level, it's simple—those are names for "woman" and they are all, in fact, cut in two (by black squares). But those gray squares containing the names of sawn women are also found inside names of unsawn women. I would normally say that this gives the theme an extra level, an added tightness, but ... are you sawing or are you not sawing. There are two whole-ass women on either side of the saw, is what I'm saying, so the impression is at least as much "two women on either side of the aisle from each other" as it is "woman sawed in half." [update: apparently the trick is done using two whole women and that’s why there are uncut women on either side of the “blade”here—OK!] An other weird wrinkle: all the terms for "woman" in the shaded squares seem like condescending and (depending on context) at least vaguely sexist terms you'd hear from a man. Not SLURS, exactly, but ... yeah, I can definitely hear dudes saying all these things in a diminishing or objectifying way. Maybe the sawing of those terms in half is some kind of symbolic "f you" gesture, I dunno. This puzzle's got ambition and originality, I'm just not entirely sure about the rationale behind the specific execution of the theme. You're sawing general terms for "woman," but you're not sawing specific "women," merely showcasing them ... for some reason? OK. Whatever. I've got "Brand New Key" in my head, so whatever's going on, I'm pretty happy.
At first I thought that the grid wasn't really giving a very good visual of the magic trick in questions, but on closer inspection, I think that vertical line of black squares up top is a pretty good visual representation of that rectangular blade thingie that the magician sometimes drives between the two halves of the woman, either after sawing or in lieu of sawing? (sorry, not up on my magic trick equipment jargon). You don't get an actual toothed saw (how would you even render that in grid form?), but those black squares definitely seem like ... something about to be driven downward through the "women." Something like this Williams Sonoma pastry dough scraper:
Yes, the human pastry dough scraper, that's it. As for the rest of the puzzle, seemed like a mixed bag. Weirdly Italian, which was 2/3 fine (ITALY, SOTTO), and 1/3 "????" That first "A" in SALATA would've been an educated guess had the shaded word "BABE" not been there to make it crystal clear. Yeah, I probably should've remembered ELPHABA's name, but I absolutely did not. I know Wicked only as the movie, which is only "Part 1" and which I saw only once (enjoyable!). So for many her name will be a huge gimme, but not for me. ELPHABA SALATA sounds like a fancy dish though also possibly a scary dish because it maybe contains elephant? Also had trouble in that specific area because the puzzle decided to choose that exact spot to do that "identical clue" gimmick thingie that I hate because one of the two identical clues usually seems forced/off, and while [Uncomplicated] worked well for EASY, it wasn't so clear where CLEAR was concerned. I had CLEAN in there at one point. Throw in the fact that I had no idea what followed NO at 24D: Never ever ever (NO HOW) (NO WAY?), and the fact that I had SNEER before SCOWL (43A: Show visible disdain), and ... yeah, I've just described the entire area of difficulty in this puzzle, for me. All the ink on my print-out runs from from the west to the center, through all the answers mentioned. The rest of the grid was pretty EASY and carefree.
Bullets:
1A: Exclamation before the 10th inning ("IT'S A TIE!") — I've watched a lot of baseball in my time. No one exclaims this.
45A: Crazy, sexy or cool: Abbr. (ADJ.) — I see what you did there:
2D: Kinsey scale rating for someone equally attracted to men and women (THREE) — are younger people (under, uh, 50?) still familiar with the Kinsey scale? 0 for exclusively heterosexual, 6 for exclusively homosexual, and then a sliding scale in between. A Kinsey 3 is the perfect bi. I feel like modern categories of sexuality are a little (lot) less, uh, schematic. Or mathematical or whatever. Anyway, respect to this clue for being completely out of the past and out of left field and original and fun.
5D: Paint sometimes made with egg yolk (TEMPERA) — still have trouble spelling this. Get it confused with TEMPURA, both of which (it seems) are made with egg.
44D: TV series whose name is shown on a vanity license plate in its opening sequence (L.A. LAW) — for a brief period of time in college, this show was appointment television. Then it was The Simpsons and Twin Peaks.
50D: Freebie at most American diners (REFILL) — coffee? soda? what are we talking about here?
37D: Parodia and peyote, for two (CACTI) — "Parodia" is a new one on me. There are scores of species. They are frequently globular, and are native to the eastern slopes of the Andes and assorted other parts of South America:
Easy. No WOEs, two Overwrites: SUzANNA before SUSANNA at 18A sap before TAR for the sticky stuff at 56A (corrected before I encountered the real SAP at 58D)
Not sure whether this was a tribute or not - but it was as flat a Wednesday as I can remember. Oddball theme that felt like an afterthought - I did like ARTEMIS and MELANIE.
Overall fill was disjoint - the grid layout results in a load of mid length entries - some work some don’t. I liked SOTTO, PROST and SNARK. Trended stale with CD ROMS, LA LAW and NBA JAM.
Needed to cheat to get ELPHABA, because I've never heard of PROST as a drinking command. The NBAJAM/ADJ cross was a trial-and-error exercise, because I had no clue what ADJ stood for. The revealer is slightly misleading, because it suggests one woman's identity, not the names of two separate women.
Rex, I don't want to give anything away, but... think about what's actually happening when a magician "saws a woman in half." Then the full names in the grid may make more sense to you!
Stumbled badly today with the popular culture - just tough to parse together stuff like ELPHABA if you’ve never seen it even once in your life. The clue for IT’S A TIE is utter nonsense. I have no idea what ADJ stands for. So, pretty much a typical NYT grid - some stuff that sparkles but you have to watch your step as you wander around the grid.
Rex’s write-up made me appreciate the theme more than I did while solving, because I really disliked the sawn-in-half terms for a woman. But I guess there’s nuance here that makes it a pretty clever theme. Had sneer, then scoff, before SCOWL, did not remember ELPHABA, and ORS as clued - good grief! Does anyone who’s not an academic mathematician know this?
That's a mighty weak 1A. I can imagine someone saying ITS A TIE in response to a question, but not exclaiming it. Often that's a warning sign of things to come, but today it turned out to be an aberration in an otherwise pleasant solve.
Knew ELPHABA but I can see some of those crosses being tricky if you didn't.
Pretty cool puzzle, enjoyed the revealer immensely. You go, girls! If I'm being petty, the lower part of the puzzle suffered a bit in order to fit the revealer, but a minor nit. Fun solve MELANIE was an early crush for me. Like many performers, she was huge for 3-4 years, then disappeared
Hmmm, if the idea hit me to make a crossword out of sawing a woman in half, I’d probably dismiss it and move on, as taking a woman’s name and “sawing” it with a black square would seem too simplistic.
So, I greatly appreciate what Chandi and Kate did here, basically asking, “How can we keep this theme but make it worthy?” Maybe motivated by the fact that SAW A WOMAN IN HALF is 15 letters long, and has never appeared in any crossword in any of the major outlets.
Here, they didn’t just saw MISSUS, BABE, and DAME in half, but these women were drawn from other women. In three instances, not only did they saw a woman in half, but at the same time, they also sawed a pair of women in half.
Wow! Double brava, Kate and Chandi, for making that leap, and creating such a well-crafted result.
I liked the serendipitous theme echo, starting with the IN of NOT IN, where INA was sawed. I also liked seeing the rare-in-crosswords five-letter semordnilap SPOOL. In addition, I enjoyed seeing a puzzle based on the magician’s art – basically creating riddles – which is just what crosswords do.
Thank you, Chandi and Kate, for conjuring a splendid outing!
Had the terms for women sawed in half and that gave away the revealer. Unfortunately I neglected to check out the names on either side of the terms and so missed the redeeming aspect of this one. Oh well.
Major snag when I wanted DOME for APSE. Didn't help that I didn't know PASSKEY. Also the DIE/DER kealoa was a holdup. No real problems after that. Didn't know ELPHABA as clued but I know several women named ELPHABA so that was easy, Ha ha, just kidding.
There are lots of times when we have a choice between ORS and ERS. Today we get both, so equal time there.
Interesting Wednesday, CD and KH. Cutting Damsels in half is Kinda Hard on them, I realize, but this was neatly done. Thanks for all the fun.
I had a little bit of trouble in the center part of the puzzle as Rex described. Overall it was an entertaining puzzle. I thought the use of the words “babe” and “dame” was intentional. If you’re not a magician, how to you attempt to cut a woman down? You use demeaning words.
Hey All ! A puz for women, about women, and by women. The trifecta hits. (Well, the puz is also for men...)
Anyway, neat idea and concept for a Theme. Slicing WOMAN nicknames in half, while being in answers that are women's names.
Trouble area around and spelling of ELPHABA. Is it LEONE or LEONA? TEMPERA, or TEMPERO? SALATA or SELATA, or a myriad of other letters in all the unknown spots? Finally had to Goog for the good ole (bad ole?) Wicked Witch of the West.
Fun puz, thanks ladies
Happy Wednesday!
PS - SB says today's is # 2500. There is even an S! Holy Moly. And F as Central letter. Quite unusual with that S. Is this first time?
Cute puzzle but that whole section with ELPHABA, PROST, TEMPERA and PROST was a WOE. Rare Wednesday DNF. Happy Detransition Awareness Day to those who celebrate.
I was tripped up with ELPHABA as not only had I not hear it, but also impossible to parse out even with 6 of the 7 letters. I know the 'sound' PROST, but don't think I ever saw it in writing and only heard it yelled loudy in a noisy establishment while tipsy. Could have been bROST tROST gROST or any other similar sounding toasting.
And while I'm at it, despite being a native Italian speaker... SALATA tripped me up as it doesn't have anything to do with sprinkling seasoning. It simply means salty. And if you want to argue that salt is 'seasoning' (which in Italy, it is not), as a verb (She/He salted), it would always be the masculine form "ha SALATO". In the feminine, it's simply the adjective 'salty' as in "aqua SALATA"
I didn't appreciate the complexity of what was done with the theme until reading some of these posts, but what a great job they did! I will also have to say that you must be TRYING to find sexism if your first inclination is to make dame, missus, and babe derogatory. I find them to be in order a title of respect, a title when a name is unknown, and an affectionate name for a love.
You can't blame the robot, he'd rather look at the ladies than mince them.
Talk about commitment to a wackadoodle theme. I loved it. I guess if you're gonna do something weird in a grid, then you commit. Funny puzzle and plenty of fun to do, but holy moly, the whole thing felt like an out of control party and somehow I was dancing with somebody in a clown costume.
You could actually exclaim IT'S A TIE at any point in any game if the score is even, but I don't think I have ever heard it in baseball.
I'm staring at that clue for THREE feeling wine must have been involved.
Added DER to our German dictionary, but honestly it seems like a cheap entry when SNARK could've been SNACK and then we'd have had DEC, an abbreviation for December, an ordinary English word, and staved off threatening double digits in German vocabulary.
Tee-Hee: They called 'em DAMES and BABES. Is that why they voted the way they did? So we can go back to doing this?
Uniclues:
1 Two of the same thing and a hyphen. 2 Anti-vaxxers. 3 Schweddy Balls.
1 IT'S A TIE ASPECTS 2 CHOLERA PLATOON 3 NOEL ORBS (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: computers you fight / you can't type your password right / i mock you you blight TECH SAVVY HAIKU.
Mister X and his wife go to a party and walk up to a group. He says, “Have you met the MISSUS? Yeah, she’s a real BABE, but was just some DAME before I met her.” These are terms men have used when referring to women…so perhaps the “meta” here is that those terms need to be cut out?
Count me with hand up for cheating to finish the puzzle with ELPHABA and STILL being stymied as I put in the O for PROST. I have NOHOW seen or heard this word while toasting. Maybe I’ll try it at next celebratory event…
This was a clever concept somewhat tarnished by names and trivia. After gradually working my way through most of it, I had blank white space in the center west block. Why? Because ELPHABA for starters. Followed closely by PYRO. What on earth is that? Then I had no idea on the kid lit character or the Surrey town or the Boolean operator or the country with the female Prime Minister or the TV series or the Italian word (or for that matter, the “classic” arcade game). And smack in the middle of all that, a clue “drink up” which assumes I know the answer is actually in German. Did I mention the names and trivia were frustrating for me?
So, after finishing, I looked at the women who had gone under the SAW and had some thoughts about that. First of all, the effort to showcase women is laudable. That said, I would have preferred more respectful terms of address such as Miss/Mizz, Lady, Ma’am or even something as simple as Mother, Sister, Aunt. And while I suppose MISSUS is fairly innocuous, BABE and DAME just scream not only slang but - derogatory slang. I know, I know, it’s just a crossword. But really ladies, if we don’t emphatically eschew such boorish terms, then why would anyone else feel a need to?
Interesting approach, contrasting the names of four woman of notable power and attraction with three male kinda paternalistic references to women taken from parts of the full names and halved. A cutting comment? Quite a feat of construction and social commentary. Or maybe all just in good fun…
Appreciated the theme concept and construction - a puzzle by women, about women is a much needed enterprise at the NYTXW. But, like @Rex, I was a bit put off by the references to women that were cut in half, unless "DAME was meant to reference the kind of dame as is Dame Judi Dench, I'm a little uneasy with the term. AND - in my house, if I referred to my wife as "BABE" (or a dame, for that matter) I'd be finding another place to sleep for the night. MISSUS not as egregious but I grew up in a house where my Mom was "Ms." and she would make a point of it. So kinda rubs me the wrong way as well. Now that I'm writing this - I'm thinking that maybe cutting these terms in half was the whole point of the puzzle...hmmm... OK, maybe... While the solve was pleasant enough, nothing really popped for me today so the fun factor was not as high as I've experienced in other Wednesdays. Nothing at all to complain about, just fell a little flat. But a 15 letter revealer is always impressive - nice work there!
I think what I like best about my on again/off again searches for Hidden Diagonal Words (HDW) is coming up with clues for them. Here's a clue for a 4 letter HDW in today's grid:
Beef or GOAT? (answer below)
I struggled in the early going with this puzzle and thought it was playing hard for a Wednesday. I started at the top and moved down the West side and had almost no answers. Then I got to the revealer clue and wrote it in without a single cross. All the answers below it were super easy, and the puzzle itself worked out easily from the bottom up. The theme definitely helped me with a few answers.
Speaking of answers, here the answer to the HDW clue:
Beef or GOAT? KOBE (off the K in 10D, PASSKEY)
Can't decide if that clue/answer works, but I like it.
ITSATIE is about as likely to be exclaimed at the end of the ninth inning as NICEshot is after a PUTT. Either could happen, but neither does.
This certainly was a paean of sorts to feminism. Why, I I SAWAWOMANINHALF the answers or more! Some of it could be considered demeaning, of course, like including a female type who hangs around the gym looking for a guy with a perfect set of stomach muscles as an ABHOR. I probably deserve some criticism for that last joke, so go ahead, PYLON.
Landing a woman on the moon is now a DEI no-no, so they're sending a load of unfathomable (to Trump) modern paintings instead and relabeling the mission as ARTyMeSS.
The constructor's missed a chance to clue LEONE as a woman. Anyone Remember Mama LEONE's in Times Square? There used to be a billlboard by the entrance to the Midtown Tunnel that said something like "If you'd eaten at Mama LEONE's you wouldn't be able to fit in this tunnel." I did a quick Google search and can't find any reference to that billboard, so perhaps I fantasized it. Anyone else remember it?
Nice theme idea, and a bit of crunch for a Wednesday. Thanks, Chandi Deitmer and Kate Hawkins.
Amen to cutting out those terms. Another suggestion from @Diane Joan at 8:17 was that these terms may be used to cut down women. Both interesting interpretations.
A long time ago, I was solving this puzzle and got stuck at an unguessable (to me) crossing: N. C. WYETH crossing NATICK at the "N"—I knew WYETH but forgot his initials, and NATICK ... is a suburb of Boston that I had no hope of knowing. It was clued as someplace the Boston Marathon runs through (???). Anyway, NATICK— the more obscure name in that crossing—became shorthand for an unguessable cross, esp. where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known. NATICK took hold as crossword slang, and the term can now be both noun ("I had a NATICK in the SW corner...") or verb ("I got NATICKED by 50A / 34D!")
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49 comments:
Easy. No WOEs, two Overwrites:
SUzANNA before SUSANNA at 18A
sap before TAR for the sticky stuff at 56A (corrected before I encountered the real SAP at 58D)
Not sure whether this was a tribute or not - but it was as flat a Wednesday as I can remember. Oddball theme that felt like an afterthought - I did like ARTEMIS and MELANIE.
REM
Overall fill was disjoint - the grid layout results in a load of mid length entries - some work some don’t. I liked SOTTO, PROST and SNARK. Trended stale with CD ROMS, LA LAW and NBA JAM.
It was over quick - so there’s that.
REMs favorite band
The fact that there are two whole women on each side of the cut is a magic spoiler, but is thematically perfect.
While the three colloquial women are SAWED, the six other women are SEEN. Both past tenses of saw.
Needed to cheat to get ELPHABA, because I've never heard of PROST as a drinking command. The NBAJAM/ADJ cross was a trial-and-error exercise, because I had no clue what ADJ stood for.
The revealer is slightly misleading, because it suggests one woman's identity, not the names of two separate women.
Rex, I don't want to give anything away, but... think about what's actually happening when a magician "saws a woman in half." Then the full names in the grid may make more sense to you!
BABE? seriously? go back to the 1960s for that one
Thanks for noting that no one says “it’s a tie’ going into the 10th inning. I filled that out under protest!
Stumbled badly today with the popular culture - just tough to parse together stuff like ELPHABA if you’ve never seen it even once in your life. The clue for IT’S A TIE is utter nonsense. I have no idea what ADJ stands for. So, pretty much a typical NYT grid - some stuff that sparkles but you have to watch your step as you wander around the grid.
awful on many levels
Rex’s write-up made me appreciate the theme more than I did while solving, because I really disliked the sawn-in-half terms for a woman. But I guess there’s nuance here that makes it a pretty clever theme. Had sneer, then scoff, before SCOWL, did not remember ELPHABA, and ORS as clued - good grief! Does anyone who’s not an academic mathematician know this?
For me it was SUSANNe before SUSANNA and goo, gum before TAR.
That's a mighty weak 1A. I can imagine someone saying ITS A TIE in response to a question, but not exclaiming it. Often that's a warning sign of things to come, but today it turned out to be an aberration in an otherwise pleasant solve.
Knew ELPHABA but I can see some of those crosses being tricky if you didn't.
Great Wednesday puzzle with a little push back here and there. Really nice challenge at times.
What is ADJ?
Pretty cool puzzle, enjoyed the revealer immensely. You go, girls!
If I'm being petty, the lower part of the puzzle suffered a bit in order to fit the revealer, but a minor nit. Fun solve
MELANIE was an early crush for me. Like many performers, she was huge for 3-4 years, then disappeared
Hmmm, if the idea hit me to make a crossword out of sawing a woman in half, I’d probably dismiss it and move on, as taking a woman’s name and “sawing” it with a black square would seem too simplistic.
So, I greatly appreciate what Chandi and Kate did here, basically asking, “How can we keep this theme but make it worthy?” Maybe motivated by the fact that SAW A WOMAN IN HALF is 15 letters long, and has never appeared in any crossword in any of the major outlets.
Here, they didn’t just saw MISSUS, BABE, and DAME in half, but these women were drawn from other women. In three instances, not only did they saw a woman in half, but at the same time, they also sawed a pair of women in half.
Wow! Double brava, Kate and Chandi, for making that leap, and creating such a well-crafted result.
I liked the serendipitous theme echo, starting with the IN of NOT IN, where INA was sawed. I also liked seeing the rare-in-crosswords five-letter semordnilap SPOOL. In addition, I enjoyed seeing a puzzle based on the magician’s art – basically creating riddles – which is just what crosswords do.
Thank you, Chandi and Kate, for conjuring a splendid outing!
I was just disappointed “free baseball!” didn’t fit for 1A as it’s the only thing I’ve heard exclaimed before the 10th inning.
If a person wants to honor women, maybe don’t use retrograde terms like missus, babe and dame.
Had the terms for women sawed in half and that gave away the revealer. Unfortunately I neglected to check out the names on either side of the terms and so missed the redeeming aspect of this one. Oh well.
Major snag when I wanted DOME for APSE. Didn't help that I didn't know PASSKEY. Also the DIE/DER kealoa was a holdup. No real problems after that. Didn't know ELPHABA as clued but I know several women named ELPHABA so that was easy, Ha ha, just kidding.
There are lots of times when we have a choice between ORS and ERS. Today we get both, so equal time there.
Interesting Wednesday, CD and KH. Cutting Damsels in half is Kinda Hard on them, I realize, but this was neatly done. Thanks for all the fun.
Adjective! and watch Wicked, it's so fun!!
I had a little bit of trouble in the center part of the puzzle as Rex described. Overall it was an entertaining puzzle. I thought the use of the words “babe” and “dame” was intentional. If you’re not a magician, how to you attempt to cut a woman down? You use demeaning words.
Natick on the a in ELPHABa/SaLATA which I came here to see (I do it in ink so ELPHABY looked good enough to me).
Hey All !
A puz for women, about women, and by women. The trifecta hits. (Well, the puz is also for men...)
Anyway, neat idea and concept for a Theme. Slicing WOMAN nicknames in half, while being in answers that are women's names.
Trouble area around and spelling of ELPHABA. Is it LEONE or LEONA? TEMPERA, or TEMPERO? SALATA or SELATA, or a myriad of other letters in all the unknown spots? Finally had to Goog for the good ole (bad ole?) Wicked Witch of the West.
Fun puz, thanks ladies
Happy Wednesday!
PS - SB says today's is # 2500. There is even an S! Holy Moly. And F as Central letter. Quite unusual with that S. Is this first time?
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Adjective
They are all ADJectives
Cute puzzle but that whole section with ELPHABA, PROST, TEMPERA and PROST was a WOE. Rare Wednesday DNF. Happy Detransition Awareness Day to those who celebrate.
Adjective.
I was tripped up with ELPHABA as not only had I not hear it, but also impossible to parse out even with 6 of the 7 letters.
I know the 'sound' PROST, but don't think I ever saw it in writing and only heard it yelled loudy in a noisy establishment while tipsy. Could have been bROST tROST gROST or any other similar sounding toasting.
And while I'm at it, despite being a native Italian speaker... SALATA tripped me up as it doesn't have anything to do with sprinkling seasoning. It simply means salty. And if you want to argue that salt is 'seasoning' (which in Italy, it is not), as a verb (She/He salted), it would always be the masculine form "ha SALATO". In the feminine, it's simply the adjective 'salty' as in "aqua SALATA"
tldr: the clue for SALATA is wrong.
I’m still wondering the same thing.
adjective
I didn't appreciate the complexity of what was done with the theme until reading some of these posts, but what a great job they did! I will also have to say that you must be TRYING to find sexism if your first inclination is to make dame, missus, and babe derogatory. I find them to be in order a title of respect, a title when a name is unknown, and an affectionate name for a love.
Adjective
That’s an interesting take, and a good point - one I did not consider.
First attempt:
Vio a una mujer por la mitad.
Take two:
Cortar a una mujer por la mitad.
You can't blame the robot, he'd rather look at the ladies than mince them.
Talk about commitment to a wackadoodle theme. I loved it. I guess if you're gonna do something weird in a grid, then you commit. Funny puzzle and plenty of fun to do, but holy moly, the whole thing felt like an out of control party and somehow I was dancing with somebody in a clown costume.
You could actually exclaim IT'S A TIE at any point in any game if the score is even, but I don't think I have ever heard it in baseball.
I'm staring at that clue for THREE feeling wine must have been involved.
Added DER to our German dictionary, but honestly it seems like a cheap entry when SNARK could've been SNACK and then we'd have had DEC, an abbreviation for December, an ordinary English word, and staved off threatening double digits in German vocabulary.
Your face is globular regalia.
People: 7
Places: 5
Products: 6
Partials: 9
Foreignisms: 4
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 31 of 78 (40%) {A dubious distinction}
Funnyisms: 5 😄
Tee-Hee: They called 'em DAMES and BABES. Is that why they voted the way they did? So we can go back to doing this?
Uniclues:
1 Two of the same thing and a hyphen.
2 Anti-vaxxers.
3 Schweddy Balls.
1 IT'S A TIE ASPECTS
2 CHOLERA PLATOON
3 NOEL ORBS (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: computers you fight / you can't type your password right / i mock you you blight TECH SAVVY HAIKU.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Agreed on Italian knowledge causing me issues with that one. I was trying to fit "condito" or something like that for a while.
Mister X and his wife go to a party and walk up to a group. He says, “Have you met the MISSUS? Yeah, she’s a real BABE, but was just some DAME before I met her.” These are terms men have used when referring to women…so perhaps the “meta” here is that those terms need to be cut out?
Count me with hand up for cheating to finish the puzzle with ELPHABA and STILL being stymied as I put in the O for PROST. I have NOHOW seen or heard this word while toasting. Maybe I’ll try it at next celebratory event…
This was a clever concept somewhat tarnished by names and trivia. After gradually working my way through most of it, I had blank white space in the center west block. Why? Because ELPHABA for starters. Followed closely by PYRO. What on earth is that? Then I had no idea on the kid lit character or the Surrey town or the Boolean operator or the country with the female Prime Minister or the TV series or the Italian word (or for that matter, the “classic” arcade game). And smack in the middle of all that, a clue “drink up” which assumes I know the answer is actually in German. Did I mention the names and trivia were frustrating for me?
So, after finishing, I looked at the women who had gone under the SAW and had some thoughts about that. First of all, the effort to showcase women is laudable. That said, I would have preferred more respectful terms of address such as Miss/Mizz, Lady, Ma’am or even something as simple as Mother, Sister, Aunt. And while I suppose MISSUS is fairly innocuous, BABE and DAME just scream not only slang but - derogatory slang. I know, I know, it’s just a crossword. But really ladies, if we don’t emphatically eschew such boorish terms, then why would anyone else feel a need to?
Yes, first S ever in the Bee. And remember, you can’t spell “apocalypse” without an S, because this is clearly a sign of the End Times.
Nothing for me to figure out, theme-wise. The sawed ladies were just...there. So I was completely bored.
Interesting approach, contrasting the names of four woman of notable power and attraction with three male kinda paternalistic references to women taken from parts of the full names and halved. A cutting comment? Quite a feat of construction and social commentary. Or maybe all just in good fun…
They left out BROAD.
Prime Rex. So good. Much preferred the write up to the puzzle. ITSATIE!!? Getouttahere.
Baseball game going to extra innings: Tied up.
Appreciated the theme concept and construction - a puzzle by women, about women is a much needed enterprise at the NYTXW. But, like @Rex, I was a bit put off by the references to women that were cut in half, unless "DAME was meant to reference the kind of dame as is Dame Judi Dench, I'm a little uneasy with the term. AND - in my house, if I referred to my wife as "BABE" (or a dame, for that matter) I'd be finding another place to sleep for the night.
MISSUS not as egregious but I grew up in a house where my Mom was "Ms." and she would make a point of it. So kinda rubs me the wrong way as well. Now that I'm writing this - I'm thinking that maybe cutting these terms in half was the whole point of the puzzle...hmmm... OK, maybe...
While the solve was pleasant enough, nothing really popped for me today so the fun factor was not as high as I've experienced in other Wednesdays. Nothing at all to complain about, just fell a little flat. But a 15 letter revealer is always impressive - nice work there!
No idea. Is Shortz becoming a natick king? Salata and adj?
I think what I like best about my on again/off again searches for Hidden Diagonal Words (HDW) is coming up with clues for them. Here's a clue for a 4 letter HDW in today's grid:
Beef or GOAT? (answer below)
I struggled in the early going with this puzzle and thought it was playing hard for a Wednesday. I started at the top and moved down the West side and had almost no answers. Then I got to the revealer clue and wrote it in without a single cross. All the answers below it were super easy, and the puzzle itself worked out easily from the bottom up. The theme definitely helped me with a few answers.
Speaking of answers, here the answer to the HDW clue:
Beef or GOAT? KOBE (off the K in 10D, PASSKEY)
Can't decide if that clue/answer works, but I like it.
ITSATIE is about as likely to be exclaimed at the end of the ninth inning as NICEshot is after a PUTT. Either could happen, but neither does.
This certainly was a paean of sorts to feminism. Why, I
I SAWAWOMANINHALF the answers or more! Some of it could be considered demeaning, of course, like including a female type who hangs around the gym looking for a guy with a perfect set of stomach muscles as an ABHOR. I probably deserve some criticism for that last joke, so go ahead, PYLON.
Landing a woman on the moon is now a DEI no-no, so they're sending a load of unfathomable (to Trump) modern paintings instead and relabeling the mission as ARTyMeSS.
The constructor's missed a chance to clue LEONE as a woman. Anyone Remember Mama LEONE's in Times Square? There used to be a billlboard by the entrance to the Midtown Tunnel that said something like "If you'd eaten at Mama LEONE's you wouldn't be able to fit in this tunnel." I did a quick Google search and can't find any reference to that billboard, so perhaps I fantasized it. Anyone else remember it?
Nice theme idea, and a bit of crunch for a Wednesday. Thanks, Chandi Deitmer and Kate Hawkins.
Amen to cutting out those terms. Another suggestion from @Diane Joan at 8:17 was that these terms may be used to cut down women. Both interesting interpretations.
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