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Like the gods Inti and Viracocha / SAT 4-5-25 / Protofeminist poet Juana ___ de la Cruz / Label for a pile of submissions / Event whose winner is awarded the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy
Saturday, April 5, 2025
Constructor: RAFAEL MUSA
Relative difficulty: MEDIUM
THEME: Nope
Word of the Day: RANDOM WALK (9D: Mathematical process used to model unpredictable phenomena) —
In mathematics, a random walk, sometimes known as a drunkard's walk, is a stochastic process that describes a path that consists of a succession of random steps on some mathematical space.
An elementary example of a random walk is the random walk on the integer number line which starts at 0, and at each step moves +1 or −1 with equal probability. Other examples include the path traced by a molecule as it travels in a liquid or a gas (see Brownian motion), the search path of a foraging animal, or the price of a fluctuating stock and the financial status of a gambler. Random walks have applications to engineering and many scientific fields including ecology, psychology, computer science, physics, chemistry, biology, economics, and sociology. The term random walk was first introduced by Karl Pearson in 1905.[1]
Realizations of random walks can be obtained by Monte Carlo simulation.
Ok, about half of that makes sense to me. I'm just going to picture the sandwalk from Dune.
• • •
Hey everyone, it's Eli, filling in while Rex attends the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. And look at this, I once again get to blog a puzzle by fellow Rexplacement Rafa Musa! I don't know if he's at ACPT, as well, but now my paranoia is assuming he is, and I only got the assignment to blog this weekend because I was the only one who's not there. Hopefully next year. On to the puzzle!.jpg) |
| Drag Queen JAN SPORT (4D - World's largest maker of backpacks), maybe about to spill some TEA (48A - Juicy news to share, so to speak) |
This was a solid puzzle, if not overly flashy. I'm just starting to learn constructing, but it feels like 4 stacks of 9/10 Letter answers (2 across, 2 down) might make for a tricky grid to fill. But it doesn't strain all that much from the pressure. I didn't like the plural abbreviations of OJS (14D - Some breakfast orders, informally) or APS (23A - Human Geography and Calculus BC, for short). I'm also not quite sure what the clue for TROJAN WAR is saying, exactly (17A - Old story coming straight from the horse's mouth?). I mean, old story - yes. And I know about the Trojan Horse. But what does his mouth have to do with it? Did it vomit out the Greeks inside? Was The Iliad told by Mr. Ed? Maybe I'm just missing something.
Not gonna PHONE IT IN (58A) tonight...
I never really got a good footing on this puzzle, but I also never got fully stuck solving. Way more jumping around than usual, but ended up with a pretty normal time for a Saturday. Right off the bat at 4A (Actor Hutcherson who played 59-Across), I was able to plonk JOSH up top and PEETA down south, so I had multiple places to start. Not quite proud to know Hunger Games that well, but not embarrassed, either. I had dropped MPH in at 1A instead of LBS (Between 75 and 140, for an adult cheetah, Abbr.), and I have to think that was an intentional misdirect. I'm also never sure whether the Norwegian king/saint is going to be OLAV or OLAF (30D), but today the F won. Then there's those clumps of long answers. In general, they work, though I think the downs are stronger than the acrosses. I especially liked AFTER PARTY and its fantastic clue (26D - Ball two?) and HELL HOLES (31D - Absolutely awful places). I was going to put a clip of Spinal Tap's Hell Hole, but realized all I was hearing in my head was Corky St. Clair saying "don't want to live in this 'ell 'ole" while practicing his Cockney accent in Waiting for Guffman.
My biggest beef is with OH I FORGOT (30A - "Oops, that slipped my mind"). That "oh" feels really tacked on. I just winced a little filling that in. "I forgot" works fine on it's own. Why not "Gee, I forgot" or "Oops, I forgot"? Oddly, OK WISE GUY (5D - "Hey, dude, enough with the jokes") doesn't bother me. Feels more natural. Also makes me think of Stooges. That's about it. Overall, a solid Saturday.
Quick Hits:
- 5A - Like some who take testosterone (TRANS) - This is as good a reason as any to plug the upcoming A Trans Person Made Your Puzzle pack. Started by constructor Ada Nicolle in support of US-based transgender charities, it releases in June and I'll definitely be supporting it.
- 45A - Film character with obsessive fans called "brogres" (SHREK) — I'd never heard this term and it made me laugh. But being a big fan of the cartoon The Great North, I was familiar with the term Group Shrek.
 |
| It's what you think it is (but not what Wolf and Honeybee thought). |
- 32D - Unable now to back out (IN TOO DEEP) — Because I graduated high school in the year 2000, I'm afraid I'm required to subject you to Sum 41:
- 40D - Bygone car manufactured in Lansing, Mich (REO) — Fine, a little Speedwagon to cleanse the pallet (or punish you further; I don't know your taste).
And with that I bid... oh crap, I forgot to include a Simpsons reference! Thank you, Rafa, for making it easy for me:
- 10D - Expression of surprise ... or dismay (AY CARAMBA)
Phew! That was close. Good luck and have fun to everyone at APCT this weekend! I'll be back tomorrow.
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68 comments:
Corky from "Waiting for Guffman" came straight to mind for me on the "Hell holes" answer, too! One of my fave comedies of all time. It was a pretty smooth solve except for the NW. Put down "crop circles" pretty confidently at 19A and that gunged things up for a while. Over all a very pleasant Saturday puzzle.
Easy except for a Challenging NW, where I wanted MPH (hi, @Eli!) instead of LBS for the cheetah stat at 1A, pintO instead of BURRO for the Tex-Mex order at 2D, Sable instead of STOAT for the white animal at 3D, CRop circle instead of CRASH SITES for the evidence at 19A, and I had no clue about the three-letter breakfast orders at 14D.
Other overwrites:
HR pro before REP at 7D
PRevia before PRIORI at 24A
TIGHT spot before ROPE at 33D (before realizing that my answer wasn't metaphorical)
WOEs:
Both Hunger Games clues, JOSH Hutcherson at 4A and his character PEETA at 59A
Didn't know Uncle PHIL (54D) but got it easily from crosses
I think the old story clue is referring to the warning to “never look a gift horse in the mouth” that originated from The Iliad / hence the clue. Great write-up!
Terrific Saturday, thanks RAFA! I enjoyed this puzzle and it was manageable... 18 minutes for me. writeovers--SaNyo before SONOS; AhMAN before AWMAN. Loved the PHONEITIN/PIPEDREAM corner, and INTOODEEP. Getting ready to visit Hawaii for the 1st time soon, so MAHALO was a gimme--would have been a WOE a year ago! There are 4, 5, and 6 letter weasel family members, right? Mink, Stoat and Ermine. and Weasel I guess. I need a filing system. YOGACLASS was my last entry, for some reason couldn't see it even though I was thinking about it... oh yeah, SaNyo screwed it up for me for a while. Thanks, Rafa!
¡Ay caramba!
While I'm old, I'm not wooden stallion old, and I can't say my almost-Bachelor's in music makes me a giant pony engineer, but I'm pretty sure the physics of your basic gift horse filled with villainy requires the warriors to exit from the back or the bottom and not the mouth, and I'm pretty sure the horse didn't talk, so what are they teaching the kids these days to lead to this TROJAN WAR comedic (?) clue?
One letter downfall. AH for AW MAN.
I think Ball 2 for AFTER PARTY has some caché. I haven't been to a party in years (being a pooper), but if I was planning on a second party in the same night, I'd RSVP to a Ball Two invitation, or a Fiesta Dos down here in the outpost.
I'd be curious what makes one a protofeminist instead of a feminist. Neo Girl Power? Nueva Chica-ness? I am woman hear me mew. (Mews come before roars, right?)
❤️ DAFT.
People: 7 {ogres are people too}
Places: 0
Products: 11 {enough already}
Partials: 6
Foreignisms: 4
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 28 of 70 (40%) {Gunkapalooza achieved on the ACPT weekend! Do you think they talk about us there? I hope they talk about @Lewis and @Nancy.}
Funnyisms: 6 😅
Tee-Hee: HELL HOLES.
Uniclues:
1 Anywhere I try to be funny.
2 Lotion for your brain to help relieve the itching after paying that much money for a suit.
3 Try to remain completely stiff.
4 What my co-workers think when I walk in the door.
5 Against her better judgment, Edna Mode helps The Stout One get dressed at the airport.
6 Instagram. {What happened to posting cats?}
7 Minx in the miasma.
8 Murder 2?
9 Where teasing becomes harassment, at-will becomes sayonara, and non-exempt means get it done and quit yer crying.
10 Dottering knight.
11 Two-month long test of my wife's patience.
12 Dispatched protomoney to protofeminist.
1 DAFT CRASH SITES (~)
2 ARMANI ALOES (~)
3 ALTER YOGA CLASS
4 PHONE IT IN ALERT (~)
5 LATCH OLAF CAPE
6 BURRO HELL HOLE
7 STOAT IN TOO DEEP
8 OJ'S AFTER PARTY
9 HR REP TIGHT ROPE
10 SIR RANDOM WALK {~)
11 NBA FINALS TRIAL
12 SENT INES VENMO
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Quiet place to snort cocaine in England. SILENT DISCO LOO.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
i graduated high school in 2004, and i think we might close-to-bookend the age range of people who sing sum 41 in our heads when we see the phrase "in too deep"
Definitely some 'trying too hard' clues (17A for example) and iffy fill (APS and OJS, for example), but overall a solid puzzle, and a fair one.
Good puzzle, Rafa. Good write-up, Eli. MAHALO!
Decent puzzle, clever cluing. My brain's not real ABLE today: I finished the puzzle at 4A, where it took me about 15 seconds to get the name when I already had _OSH! Slogged through NW and SW, but found NE and SW quick and easy
Clever post too Eli - thanks for hanging out with us crossword mortals today
I loved this puzzle. Hard enough to keep me on my toes, but I could still solve it. Not ever having read or watched The Hunger Games, I did no know JOSH or PEETA but managed to get them from crosses. And as someone who forgets frequently, there is definitely an OH!! In front of I FORGOT. “Did you buy the thing I asked for?” What psychopath would just say “I forgot”.? There may be an expletive after “OH” but i’s definitely there! thanks for filling in today!!
HRREP? Employee who assists other employees? Ha. Constructor and WS clearly have never worked in the modern office world.
I thought it was fun. Plenty of open space for the long answers which really shined today. It made it a little tough to transition from one section of the grid to another - but having to struggle a bit on a Saturday is to be expected.
I knew PRIORI so I passed the Latin test today ! I’m assuming FLORES is Spanish - in any event, I crashed and burned on that one and needed all of the crosses.
I’m not sure about the clue for TROJAN WAR - which looked like a swing and a miss in real time. I’m guessing that the replay booth ruled that Rafa checked his swing and actually got hit by the pitch - so the clue/answer made it to first base. It definitely was not a hard-hit double off of the right field wall though.
It was fun to see my friend SHREK join the party. Thanks to Rafa for not calling him an OGRE - which happens quite a bit but somehow seems inappropriate (to me) in his case.
"Oh I forgot" is what someone might say when they realize they have made a careless or silly error and are slightly embarrassed; in my experience, is commonly used in such situations (i.e., at least I hear it a lot). The "oh' makes it reactive. But "I forgot" on its own carries no such connotation or reactive sense, but is merely a declarative statement of fact. In my reading the clue calls for the former.
I put in Monte Carlo on just the L. Eventually figured out that wasn’t going to work. After I put in trans random walk made sense
Hey All !
NO PRESSURE, but MAYBE we can ALERT a Mod or two to get some posts up? 😁
Steady solve throughout, but hit NE corner, and skidded to a halt. Was finally able to get AY CARAMBA there, which opened it up. Also, a good ole F to help things along. DAFT is such a neat word. It helped me with the finish/win.
Did you know CROPCIRCLE fits where CRASHSITES is? See also YOGA POSES.
Also had taN-SUN, mph-LBS, alohas-MAHALO, inbox-MAYBE, and always want to spell CAREENED as CARRENED. Much wrongness to work around.
Nice puz overall. Not too SatPuz tough. Some neat entries, light on dreck.
Hope y'all have fun at ACPT! One of these years I'll get there! If anyone has an @LMS sighting, please let us know!
Happy Saturday!
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
crazy easy for a saturday no?? i clocked in under 7 minutes - faster than this week's friday AND wednesday!
Sor Juana was proto because no one used the word "feminist" back in the 17th century.
I started with BPM rather than LBS. MPH wasn’t considered as 140 mph is ridiculously fast
Actually, there were some comments up when I posted earlier -- it's just that the link at the end of Eli's post had 0 as the number. It still does.
OK, now it says "12."
A Rafa puzzle! What a treat.
And @Eli, when I entered RANDOM WALK I knew it would be the word(s) of the day. Back in 1973 (when I was in hs, since that seems to be the admission of the day) there was a very popular book called A RANDOM WALK Down Wall Street. Kinda relevant to what's happening today. 😕
Fun puzzle, good start to the weekend, just under average time even tho no clue on the Hunger Games clue. I read the books when I was teaching the relevant age group but, boy, that seems like a long time ago, and the only other character I remember was Rue, actually a good name for crossworld. But I guessed JOSH from the J, huh, and PEETA filled in from crosses, so, fair.
Thx, Rafael and Eli!
OH, AY, AW, OK did I struggle!
There is such a difference between satisfying in-the-language phrases that roll trippingly off the tongue like NO PRESSURE, PHONE IT IN, and IN TOO DEEP and awkward made-up-type phrases like OK WISE GUY, AW MAN, AY CARAMBA and OH I FORGOT. The latter feel sloppy and lazy. They're also a real pain in the neck to try to guess.
So this puzzle was a mixed bag for me as far as the fill was concerned. But I did like the cluing. I expected those on testosterone to be either angry or violent in some way or over-muscled in some way. TRANS never occurred to me. The only pile I could think of as a former publishing person was a SLUSH pile -- which didn't work. I've never seen or had a MAYBE file: I don't think I'm well-organized enough to have a file for MAYBEs. Nice clues also for AFTERPARTY; TROJAN WAR (though a bit unfair since the Trojan horse doesn't tell the story); SEAT; YOGA CLASS (though not hard to guess).
Unknowns: MAHALO; RANDOM WALK; SONOS (any relation to SONY?); PEETA.
Overall -- an enjoyable Saturday solve marred by some unfortunate phrases.
Thanks RAFA and Eli. I don’t always listen to the video links. Too old and kids too young to hit Sum 41, never even heard them mentioned, but really enjoyed it! Kind of embarrassing that this REO Speedwagon song is the rep for my junior high experience - so much great stuff from then.
75 to 140 way too big a range and too fast to be MPH despite that being my first thought.
Thanks for the pic of the Group Shreks, teehee.
I disagree on a couple of nits: I think OHIFORGOT is absolutely in the language and just as likely as any other formulation of that. Also, working in HS education, I hear the plural APS all the time, e.g.“Gotta study for my APS”, “I keep telling my over-achievers not to sign up for 6 APS in one semester”.
I knew I would know JANSPORT, but couldn’t think of it without some crosses.
I love the Dune reference for the RANDOMsandWALK!! Kind of like the explanation of random steps forward and back - absolutely wore myself out trying to walk up a big sand dune this summer.
Same experience as Eli of having to jump around a lot, but steady satisfying progress. NE last to fall, but all clues were fun and fair in the end. Some vowel uncertainty on AYCARAMBA.
Surprised PEETA jumped into my head so quickly. Unfortunately, I got mixed up on the cross reference and thought it had to be 4 letters at 5A, and was wondering why they didn’t go with the ethical treatment people.
Nice misdirect on the “Italian house” - I put in CASITA and waited for this Spanish word to morph into Italian. OHIFORGOT about Italian Fashion houses.
ARMANI over AWMAN is my experience going into the Saks 5th avenue outlet, seeing a nice jacket, trying it on, then checking the price tag and discovering that AWMANI can’t pay that much for a sport coat.
I seemed to be on the same page with Eli as I solved today…difference was, I “plonked” in PEETA but had to wait for crosses and JOSH to reveal itself. Bottom line, Rafa produced a very fun puzzle that had a little bit of everything to please everyone.
As for the TROJANHORSE biz…yeah…I got to thinking about this (possibly a dangerous thing) and I confess I have never read The Iliad. There have been many interpretations on film about the soldiers getting in/out through the HORSE. I have always thought…these Trojans weren’t stupid, seems like they might look for a trap door…right? However, the HORSE could have been constructed with his mouth slightly open…crawl up the neck, and slide out the mouth. Ok. I’m glad I’ve solved that…
Good choice on REO Speedwagon Eli. Some folks here might have not been awake enough to survive the opening “siren” wail in Ridin’ The Storm Out.
AW MAN and AY CARAMBA, Gary. What a nice thing to say! Thank you!
Though you may not be familiar with “ay, caramba,” it doesn’t belong in the latter category. It’s a well known phrase to many. As for the others, to varying degrees, it may be fair to make a case for their being somewhat forced. “Oh, I forgot” is the only one that felt particularly forced to me.
I'm hoping for more of your play-by-play on clues and answers. That was awesome TROJAN WAR commentary. Which I totally agree with.
When I saw 16A (Label for a pile of submissions), I says to myself, "@Gary Jugert finally has his day in the sun. I know he's had it hard with the move, the Tex-Mex BURROs and the new job, but at least the "slush" pile, right here in the NYTXW will put a bounce in his step." But wait! WTF? MAYBE? MAYBE? AWMAN, I guess Shortz just decided to PHONEITIN today. Probably tryin' to catch the train to the big crossword tourney in Stamford. So sorry, @Gary.
What did the Hawaiian angel say after someone unexpectedly showed up with the symbol of holiness that he'd absentmindedly left in a restaurant? MAHALO, MAHALO.
I believe that @Lewis said he'd be gone for a few days, so I'll express stereophonic delight at the rare-in-crosswords five letter palindrome - - SONOS.
This seemed hard, but my time says average. Anyway, I liked it. Thanks, RAFAEL and also ELI.
P.S. I hope many of you will be at today's nationwide HANDS OFF! rallies.
Me too! The cross with Incan and Yoga Class got me…
@Beezer 10:08 AM
"I confess I have never read The Iliad." OK WISE GUY, either stop tryna be funny, or, well, I s'pose we can still be friends, but conversations are gonna be real awkward goin' forward.
Fun to solve, with an exceptional number of real treats, while also inducing some proper Saturday-puzzle fears of a DNF. Below ALOE, things slid right into place so satisfyingly - PHONE IT IN, HELL HOLES, PIPE DREAM, IN TOO DEEP, NO PRESSURE.... But above YOGA CLASS - yikes! Math? Some RANDOM award? Unknown to me deities. Plus a dunce cap moment of having no idea about PRIORI, wanting a "slush" pile (hi, @Nancy), and trying to make ARMANI and AW MAN work with "o mamma mia." After "hindu" and "mayan," I finally guessed INCAN and saw AY CARAMBA (which, never having watched The Simpsons, I know only from crosswords) - and that opened the doors to finishing.
I had fun with this one, played relatively easy for me for a Saturday. No complaints - while, like Eli and others, some of the plurals didn't thrill me (ALOES, for some reason thrills me less than the rest) they didn't bother me too much either - you gotta do what you gotta do for the fill, and if it means a couple of "S" entries here and there, so be it.
I got a bit kick out of the long ones, especially AFTERPARTY - falls nicely in the grid and great cluing. But also very honorable mentions to YOGACLASS (cute clue as well), AYCARAMBA, PHONEITIN AND NOPRESSURE. I also thought that OHIFORGOT was just fine.
I was not immediately familiar with some of the propers but the crosses made them all fair game.
NE was probably the toughest for me - I was waffling between SSH and SHH for 8D (Gag order) and held onto it for way too long (the H gave me Hindu for the gods in 18A - I'm not as up on them as some, I guess) so that whole area was kinda slow for me until RANDOMWALK fell - never heard of this but crosses finally gave me the last seven letters so in that went and the N gave me INCAN. Then things fell into place.
More great cluing with 35A - LENT (Time to give up?)
So this checked all my fun boxes and gave my brain enough of a workout for a Saturday. Nice puzzle Rafa and nice write-up Eli!
59A LoL thanks to this memorable quip from the Rifftrax crew...
[after Effie reads out Peeta's name at the reaping] Bill Corbett (as Peeta): "Oh, sorry, that should say Pe-TER. Sorry, it's my handwriting. Ha ha. I've always had lousy handwriting. PeeTA is obviously not a name, that's ridiculous. My name is Pe-TER. Sorry for the mix-up. It's, it's Pe-TER. [beat] I'll go die in the Hunger Games now."
Loved this puzzle even tho it was tough for me. AYCARAMBA has been my favorite Spanish saying since I first heard it. The other in-the-language phrases in the puzzle also had easy, comfortable resonance. Key difficulties were not knowing JOSH or PEETA or JANSPORT, and having trouble with the clues for AUTOMAKER and TROJANWAR. Other answers for the most part were fun to work out.
Gary, I bet that people HAVE read it! I mean…I like my “maybe” Greek history dumbed down a bit.
@egsforbreakfast 10:34 AM
I can't blame the endless wind and dirt sandblasting me daily, or the eau de BURRO of my new digs, or the rivers of red chile I'm consuming for this slush pile gaffe ... I just know they were talking about somebody else's slush pile, because at the NYTXW headquarters, the trays are labeled ARSE and NO ARSE.
Nancy, I think you and I both conflated the effects of steroids and testosterone. Well, I did…then I “got it” and cried AYCARAMBA!
AY CARAMBA - not something I'd know even though I should by now. And I had a tough time with RANDOM WALK. But I really liked TMI for Gag Order so a fun Saturday without the usual 'stumbles" (& searching for typos :(
Thank you, Rafa, & Eli for the
write-up :)
I came up with "lame" before DAFT. To me, DAFT does not equal "inane". When I see DAFT, I think of Hugh Grant in "Notting Hill" being called a DAFT prick because he has turned down Julia Roberts. That is not inane, that's crazy!
I knew that cheetahs can reach 50 to 80 mph so LBS is what it had to be.
PRIORy held me up in the NE for a while until I dug out my memory of my college Logic class and remembered a priori.
Thanks, Rafael Musa, nice Saturday puzzle.
Mostly easy again except for the North Central. JAN SPORTS was a WOE (I have zero familiarity with back packs) as was JOSH, plus OK, SEAT, and AUTO MAKER took some staring. Tough section for me. The bottom third on the other hand was pretty whooshy even though PHIL and SHRECK (as clued) were also WOEs.
Solid with more than a soupçon of sparkle (especially the long downs), liked it.
Sorry, but I graduated in 1979 and I, too, immediately went to Sum 41.
Always nice to be able to point out a rare 6 letter Hidden Diagonal Word (HDW), which appears in the grid today, beginning with the S in 45A (SHREK). It does feature a POC (plural of convenience), but it also presents the possibility of a great NBA related misdirection clue that's right up @GaryJugert's teehee alley: Bulls without balls.
The word is STEERS
Also of note that 38A, ABLE, is crossed (at the B) by a Hidden Diagonal ABLE; and that the L & E of the Hidden Diagonal ABLE are part of a Hidden Diagonal semordnilap (LEER & REEL).
Also, there are 2 Hidden Diagonal ROOs in today's grid--can you find them, @RooMonster?
Though I don't watch the Simpsons, I spelled Ay Carumba their way. Foiled by one vowel.
Done and dusted free of error just under my v. high avg. Rumble-stripped northern reaches interjaculated some head-scratching - NW (penultimate to wrap), clapped in MPH, but short roids, 140 seemed outta bounds, so fast swapped for FPS.. which nearly worx.. and that lingered til near curtains, then over to NE and bow tied it at the M in TMI, smartly cloo'd.
Not much on which to reflect, and tomorrow, the entirely, a haze.
So, The Fearless, break a leg.. or a finger, as the gamer well-wishes may go. Bring back hardware, the big one, I'll come drive the semi to ferry it home.
Also, full chronicle expected, the whos hows whats plus whatnots. Rip watched the Wordplay a lifetime ago, vivid image of the final three at the game boards, earmuff'd.. but how's the lead-up, how many still alive in the two or three rounds closing in on climax. Were you in your zone, numbers comparable to the ones you used to post. Games/clues overall, quality, memorable. Et cetera, etc. and a hella more et cetera.
Could Riprock just search the answers, sure, but how much more current, penetrating, entertaining, would your account be. Plenty.
What does making a run for it have to do with “SEAT?” I went with a JOhH because “hEAT” made/makes more sense for the clue to me.
I don't have experience with backpacks either. If I have to shlep stuff on my back to go somewhere, I decide not to go there. (See my blog profile.)
Like Eli and many of you I winced at the contrived clue for TROJAN WAR. However most of the longer answers were pretty good, and there weren't a ton of Unknown Names (HOSH INES PEETA PHIL) so a good day for me.
For the backpack maker, looking at ----PORT I filled in ROCKPORT, not having shopped for one recently. And Latin for "before" just had to be ANTE which didn't fit. (Say... this is interesting: if I go to Google and type in "Latin for", the list of suggestions starts with "latin for before", and #3 is "latin for before nyt". Eerie!)
And for the cheetah clue, I briefly considered KMH which is pretty plausible.
I had no problem with Jansport having recently read the obit of the company founder. He named the company after his girlfriend and co-founder Jan. As a retired actuary I was happy to see Priori cross Random Walk (not really a process more of a descriptor) brought back happy memories of my stochastic modeling work and less happy memories of my actuarial exams. Also put in WGT instead of LBS at 1A, slowing the process a bit.
To quote @Roo 8:53, "much wrongness to work around" this morning. A nice enough puzzle, I guess, but 17A TROJANWAR clue put me off so much - this is the Iliad, not an episode of Mr. Ed! - that I was bummed for the rest of the solve. There has to be a better way to clue that.
And JOSH and PEETA? Really? And a backpack brand. I hate back packs. If I'm going out on the street I put on a nice pair of Allen Edmonds brogues, a knee length DKNY wool coat, one of the lovely scarves I bought at an open air market in Florence a number of years back, a fine dove-grey Borsalino and my black cane with the nickel plated artichoke grip. You can't spoil that with a backpack. It's unconscionable. Having moved full-time to the farm, one of the things i really appreciate is never having to see people sporting slippers and pyjama bottoms walking down my street having slung backpacks over their hoodies. I'm not saying rural folk dress well but I'll take flannel shirts and jeans over that.
Did I mention that I thought it was a pretty good puzzle, just not my cup of tea.
Felt like a Friday, whooshy with many great entries (TROJAN WAR, AY CARAMBA, HELLHOLES, IN TOO DEEP, PHONE IT IN, PIPE DREAM, and RANDOM WALK. Always glad to see a math gimme, as a math student.
The only real struggle was the NW, where I had MPH/KPH before LBS and couldn't get any Downs. Turns out that a cheetah's top speed is around 75 mph.
Calling TMI an "order" just for the "gag order" pun feels like a stretch. The forced "horse" pun in the TROJAN WAR clue IS a stretch.
Nancy, Where can I find your blog?
Back from joining the resistance and holding up my sign. There's a lot of that going on around here today.
No trouble with 140 as being a possible MPH for a cheetah, and I think folks who tried it really didn't stop to think about it very much. BURRO gave me LBS, which made more sense.
You'll see lots of JANSPORTs if you're a teacher, which I was.
Of course I entered SLUSH. Thanks, GJ..My tee-hee for today was having _ _ _ _ HOLES and thinking, they put THAT in the NYT?? Really? Never been so happy to see HELLHOLES.
Didn't know JOSH, but was happy to see him, as he's my younger son. So @Roo, I'm claiming 1/2 a point. I need everything I can get.
Like Eli, I didn't rush through this but I didn't really get stuck either. Overall I really liked it and learned what a RANDOMWALK might be--never see tnat one.
Very nice Saturday, RM. Right Mix of knows and should-have-knowns, and thanks for all the fun.
Now off to help plan music for the next big demo on May 1. Workers of the world, unite.
P.S. nice puzzle Rafa, enjoyable write-up Eli!
Hey @Gary, I laughed at your Trojan War thoughts. As usual your post nails it, especially the Ay caramba! You always make me smile.
As usual, Rafa delivers a very fine puzzle, and Thanks Eli for your excellent analysis. Rafa also nearly delivered me a big ol’ DNF with the NE corner.
I got no foothold - zero - until I finally found the right radio dial for a bit of the Rafa wavelength at OB I FORGOT. That gave me enough to go diagonally down to the SE where that corner and its classy stack fell so nicely.
Then there was still the SW corner where I was only certain of ESPYS because I have been so busy rearranging my entire life for the past two years that I haven’t kept up with film. But when I had C_ _ A at 52A, my musician brain automatically filled in CODA without actually reading the clue. Fortunately it was the right answer. I looked at the clue, and the trailer for the film and now I am excited to see it. I love learning stuff through crosswords!
Yep, the TROJAN WAR clue is beyond a stretch, but especially after thinking about it and reading the various comments, I see a ginormous clunky wooden barrel on spindly legs with roller skates for for easy movement, a big, toothy horsey grin and a giant red button that says “Patiste” (my best Greek equivalent of “press here” from my dear friend, Joan who hails from a gigantic Greek family) The button triggers a hidden door that opens at the back allowing the Greek hoards to exit. All this to say that the goofy clue made me think of everything BUT the right answer until the bitter end.
And on to The Hunger Games. Really, truly not my jam. I tried, because all my friends loved it but no. Anything I do know comes from crosswords and in the case of JOSH Katniss, and especially PEETA (not the usual crossword PETA) I thank Rafa for his skill in creating crosses that at least gave me a fighting chance.
I fought through three of four corners today, as should be the norm for a Saturday. This was tough and fun as one always expects from the inimitable Rafael Musa.
@Beezer 10:08 AM The Trojan Horse features in the Aeneid, so no Greek is needed :)
Nancy
Ay Caramba
It is not a made up expression
The last time it was in the puzzle, I got a dnf because I always thought it had a u instead of a second a. No problem this time. I remember it as a child when Americans used it when affecting a Mexican accent. I never watch the cartoon. series, the Simpsons but the boy character Bart apparently uses it routinely.
Aw man is most definitely a common expression., becoming very popular during the sixties but persisting ( not that I ever used it)
Ok wise guy actually sounds like an old expression to me, certainly used before I was born ( I am in my seventies).
Thought it was a decent puzzle. Parts of it were hard for me other areas very easy. Most of the names I didn’t know but I got them from crosses. Fortunately, after I got PORT, and Rock didn’t work JANS- appeared.
Liked the expressions
I had dnf because I didn’t go back to check 1 across and 1 down!
Sometimes an early clue/answer combo can set the tone for some or even all of my solve. Today it was 1 Across and a frowny face emoji would suggest the tone. The clue "Between 75 and 140, for an adult cheetah: Abbr." seems to indicate those numbers would be something noteworthy or unique to cheetahs. Why else would you use that particular animal?
But the answer LBS has no particular significance vis a vis cheetahs. It could have as well been kangaroos or capybaras. It seems RANDOM. Maybe a LBS clue for elephants or whales would have worked better since both are known for their size and (i)weight(/i).
Since LBS is just crosswordese glue and fills in easily from crossing LATCH, BURRO and STOAT, I say own it, clue it straight up and move on. How about "Scale divs."?
Nor knowing JOSH, JANS PORT, RANDOM WALK, SONOS, TOPPS, PEETA and PHIL and a there being passel of POCs didn't help either. There's some good stuff in this one but not enough to replace the frowny face with a smile.
@Roo - Well, I can at least confirm that LMS is completin at the ACPT.
M&A
Anyone who reads the New Yorker would get a chuckle at the Trojan War tie-in with Shouts and Murmurs in the April 5th issue. I don't know if everyone can access but here's a link I hope works
Found it harder than our emcee / 16A had INBOX for a while; 33D toyed with KNIFEDGE and CLIFFEDGE for a while.
2008 here. Great band.
Murder 2 got me good ;D
A good way to judge the health and age of a horse is to look at its teeth, if someone is giving you a horse keep its and your own mouth shut.
1971 here, gonna look 'em up
Is/are "careeNed" and "careeRed" a "kea/loa"?
Agree: Grandiloquent not the same as epic; got stumped in southeast when I had dry” instead of “wry” humor… clever puz.
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