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Canine that bites / WED 5-14-25 / Spin instructor? / "I Dreamed a Dream" musical, familiarly / "Come on, help me out" / Some Mexican Americans / Assembly of experts / Cherubic archer / Stay there! / Reduplicative nickname in pop music
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Constructor: Rebecca Goldstein and Adam Wagner
Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: Two-word phrases where the second word describes the shape of some highlighted letters in the first word
Theme answers:
Word of the Day: 41D: CORN BELT [Midwestern agricultural swath]—
Let's start with the theme! Every theme entry is a two-word phrase, and the second word describes the shape of some highlighted letters in the first word. So, in MOOD RINGS, the two Os are "rings" and they are in the word "mood" so they are ... mood rings. Notice how the second word is always plural and there are always at least 2 of the relevant letter in the first word, and how each phrase is totally real and in-the-language. Good stuff! My only nit: is an L an "elbow"? I leave that as an exercise to the reader.
Onto the fill! Funny how CORN BELT showed up two days in a row. Nothing much to nitpick ... we've got our classic GNU, as well as ARG (the country abbreviations always kinda bother me), but the rest of the short fill is super solid. I've never seen SOMM in a crossword before, and I would have instinctively spelled it "som" ... but the internet says "somm" and I believe the internet. I am only partially convinced that PR GURU and TSA BIN and LIGHT VERSE are Real Expressions™, but there was loads of fun (to me!) stuff like BODICE, AT RISK, AMEN SISTER, X-RAY CAMERA, SUPERNOVAE, CHICANOS. I really struggled to parse PR GURU at first. I muttered "WTF is a PRGU??" but eventually it all fell into place. But that area could be tricky if you are unfamiliar with AREPAS (something I recommend you rectify as soon as possible).
Bullets:
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
- 17A: MOOD RINGS [Color-changing fad jewelry ... or a description of this answer's shaded letters?]
- 24A: CHARACTER ARCS [Heroes' journeys, say ... or a description of this answers shaded letters?]
- 39A: REGRESSION CURVES [Visual aids on scatter plots ... or a description of this answers shaded letters?]
- 51A: DIVIDING LINES [Some painting in a parking lot ... or a description of this answers shaded letters?]
- 63A: ALL ELBOWS [Awkwardly lanky ... or a description of this answers shaded letters?]
Word of the Day: 41D: CORN BELT [Midwestern agricultural swath]—
The Corn Belt is a region of the Midwestern United States and part of the Southern United States that, since the 1850s, has dominated corn production in the United States. In North America, corn is the common word for maize. More generally, the concept of the Corn Belt connotes the area of the Midwest dominated by farming and agriculture, though it stretches down into the South as well reaching into Kentucky.[1][2]
• • •
Hello, friends! It's Rafa here subbing for Rex. Hope you all have been doing great since I've last been here in spite of *gestures vaguely at the state of the world*! Several exciting things have happened since I last wrote here ... most importantly ... I met Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld, in person (!) at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT) in Stamford, CT. So I can confirm that he is in fact a real person who is lovely and kind, in spite of the occasional curmudgeon accusations. (So is his wife Penelope, though I don't think I've seen any curmudgeon accusations levied against her.)
I'm excited to be blogging this puzzle by fellow Bay Areans (is this a thing? it should be a thing!) and crossword besties Rebecca and Adam. I don't think I've ever blogged a puzzle by a constructor I knew well. I confess I can't really claim impartiality, but luckily this puzzle was very clever and enjoyable so I don't need to do any gymnastics trying to be critical without hurting their feelings. (Phew!)
 |
| TIL they originated in Peru, but these are my favorite potatoes ever, from a brunch place in SF called Plow (run, don't walk!) |
 |
| The biggest IKEA store in the world is in the Philippines |
The clues were fun too, as I expect from these constructors. My favorite was 43A: UNHIP [Not hot or cool] ("hot" and "cool" here meaning "popular" and not anything temperature-related). Honorable mention for 1A: SWAB [Do a spit take?] (as in collecting saliva using a cotton swab) and 59D: LSAT [Exam whose score can't be argued, ironically] (though not to be an annoying pedant, it seems like you can request an audit / regrade?)
 |
| The iconic meme with corkboard and STRING connecting evidence |
Overall, a very solid and classic Wednesday puzzle. A clever theme that is not obvious from the outset, and a some tricky clues sprinkled around.
- 5A: CRAB [Sea creature whose name doesn't rhyme with a1-Across (SWAB), weirdly] — I got to this clue and thought ... ok, here's a fun animals / rhyme clue
- 9D: GRR [Sound from an annoyed samoyed]— Oh look ... it's another rhyming animal clue! Or rather, it doesn't rhyme and that's why it's fun.
- 53D: EEL [Prey for an orprey] — Ok why does this puzzle have so many clues about animals where the animal is spelled the same as another word and sometimes rhymes with it but sometimes does not rhyme with it?? What does it mean???
- 48D: GNU [Creature that stampeded in "The Lion King"] — Kinda sad they didn't commit to the bit with this other clue for an animal!
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
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97 comments:
Hi Rafa! Agree with much that you said. Nice catch on the 2 day CORN BELT streak. And the theme itself was pretty neat; the second word describing the shape of the letters in the first word. REGRESSION CURVES is a big... unknown to me. But Google likes it.
But today I was really annoyed with a lot of the abbrev's and partial names: SOMM, ARG, PR GURU, RIRI, ARI, ESE, TSA BIN, LES MIS. Yuck.
LIGHTVERSE sounds like some neat astronomy thing... the observable universe? I had LYRIC VERSE there for quite a while. (Speaking of astronomy: SUPERNOVAE... ugh, unexpected Latin plural.)
But: XRAY CAMERA? I think I've never seen that term. XRAY on its own, sure. On my dentist's bill, it's "radiograph" or something like that.
I was wondering if I'd missed sorting in the theme as it didn't quite land for me. I could see what it was doing, but ... particularly 63A as Raafa noted elbows was ?Huh? Maybe that soured me, because actually Mood rings and regressions curves (something I'd never heard of) work. I can only understand 24A a a literary hero and th clue doesn't say that. Oh well. Ok puzzle.
Was just reminded I got a chuckle out of thecae for 9D. Liked the way it "sounded" I think I mentally pronounced annoyed to rhyme with Samoyed.
Tough one for me. I had no idea what was going on until I engaged in several nanoseconds of staring post-solve. The NW was last to fall as SOMM was a WOE and SWAB wasn’t obvious to me from the clue.
Costly erasures - spelling NOOMI wrong and farmBELT before CORN.
Pretty smooth grid with some nice long downs, liked it.
@sharonak, I agree. The theme didn't quite land for me either.
Medium Wednesday.
Overwrites:
SUPERNOVAs before -AE at 11D
Oops before OH NO at 13A
ess before NON for the starter starter at 32A
Really wanted LES MIz at 66A but Stevie NICKz was clearly wrong. I've never seen the show written that way.
WOEs:
SOMM (1D)
NOOMI Rapace (37A)
Greta LEE (64D)
Disagree that "Bay areans" should be a thing. But if it were a thing, it would refer to people like Musk and Thiel, the so-called "Nerd Reich".
The capital letter "L" has a 90 degree angle in it, which is also called an elbow.
Hi Rafa, and thanks for the write up! Just a note: I'm not sure the term Bay Areans is going to resonate for all people in the same way... 🤔
Man, when a puzzle is not on my wavelength, it’s not on my wavelength. This was a real struggle for me today. That often happens on Thursdays but seldom on Wednesdays. Let’s see what tomorrow holds.
Clever idea for a theme, which mostly works - so props to the constructors. Was very reluctant to drop in PR GURU - but it’s definitely a fine clue/answer. Didn’t hesitate at all with the NOVAE plural - the NYT wore that trick out a long time ago.
No clue on NOOMI - one item of PPP that I am a big fan of is LES MIS (I’m neutral on the spelling when abbreviated - I believe some took objection last time).
Nice right up by our guest host today as well.
One big mystery was what is the theme? Took me a while post-solve to figure it out. Having done so, I’m not sure how I feel about it. Are 'Ss' really curves any more so than 'Cs' are curves? Are 'Is' really 'lines'? But the concept is so clever, I think I have to give it a pass.
Other mystery: I've never heard of NOOMI Rapace (or Rapace NOOMI - not sure which).
I didn’t enjoy this one. Many clues outside my wheelhouse and/or just unknown (NOOMI, MANIAC, SOMM). The theme answers were hard to get even with crosses. CHARACTERARCS? I was looking for something like crusades or oddesseys - which of course didn’t fit.
And do we still use the word CHICANOS for Mexican immigrants? I thought that was a pretty out of date term.
Short for Les Miserables. It’s a pretty famous book/play.
Just a blitz of creativity in this one!
First, the cluing. It felt as though Rebecca and Adam put in the time to make every single clue shine. Devilishness abounded in wordplay wit, and misdirection.
Then, coming up with this crackling theme, never done before. And delivering -- generating worthy theme answers plus having them fit the demands of symmetry. Wow!
Finally, plumping up that goodness with a remarkable level of freshness. Three of the four theme answers are NYT debuts. Three of the four vertical 10-letter longs are debuts. A grid with eleven debuts plus a pair of once-befores and another pair of twice-befores. Wow again!
Memorable moment: Putting in TEPID for [Not hot or cool], only to erase it ten seconds later and insert it for [Lukewarm].
Bonuses: Five double-Os, LEE and EEL in the SE, a backward ISIS to go with RIRI, and an extra column.
Humor, skill, and polish in the box today. This was one of those special ones. Thank you so much, Rebecca and Adam!
Maybe from my solving experience, I was a little disappointed at the end by dint of my first themer uncovered was DIVIDINGLINES. I thought, "Sure is. There are three lines (Is) being divided. Then as I filled in the rest of the puzzle, I was trying to figure out why my concept of the theme didn't match ("How are the Ss regressing?). Finally, I realized there was no clever conceit of a secondary theme, hence disappointed.
Hey All !
Rafa forgot ROOS! Why, I never ...
😁
16 wider, but at least it has a good reason why, as middle Themer is, obviously, 16 letters.
NE corner was interesting fill GASX and PRGURU.
Different kind of puz. Noticed a bunch of OO's. MOODRINGS, ROOS, NOOMI, TOOTH, STOOP.
Welp, have a great Wednesday.
No F's (OH NO!)
RooMonster
DarrinV
It was ok but I felt the theme fell kind of flat. There was never an "ah ha" moment. I too, had to finish then work it out. There was also some weak fill. I'm not convinced Rex would have been as charitable with his review.
Got the idea at MOOD RINGS. Yes, Os are rings. In a mood.
Wanted eros where AMOR went but didn't put it in, and I'm not happy about AMOR; his Roman name was Cupid. Feels like a game character has taken over.
No idea on NOOMI, started with NaOMI but AMaR had to be wrong. Again. For another reason.
The L thing is fine. It sounds like plumbing (an L joint). Or carpentry [an L bracket] (see what I did there?)
Liked it overall.
Agreement with Andy
Natick at NOOMI crossing AMOR. I'm sure one of you will tell me AMOR is basic crosswordese but I don't remember ever seeing it. How many names for Cupid is the average person expected to memorize?
Forgot to ask in my last post, does anybody understand what the blue note/SEXT clue is?
You speak for me. Toughest Wednesday in months, if not years, for me. Had to opt (to my shame) for autocheck, a move I try to reserve for Saturdays.
‘Light verse’ - definitely a thing – Google it! Question: why is 22D: One-time connection - ATA?
I understand the conceit....but man oh man....it just doesn't work. It's trying SO. DAMN. HARD. to be clever...but it really never achieves it.
I looked at the themed clues first and thought I was so smart for putting in LINEARREGRESSION and having the shaded squares be RR (representing the R^2 value)… oops.
this was a Challenging Wednesday for me. I even googled for NOOMI, something I never do on a Wednesday. had the eros /AMOR error . RUNUP I thought was clued badly. this one just didnt come together for me at all, a real struggle. PRGURU, SUPERNOVAE, XRAYCAMERA. yuck. On to Thursday
I'm with @Andy Freude on the lack of a wheelhouse. Thought of SWAB right away but didn't write it in, went elsewhere too soon, and missed the MOODRINGS clue which would have helped enormously. Instead went to the NE where the PRGURU was hiding and that was far from obvious. And so on.
Same unknown names as others have noted. Also an unknown clue --"scatter plots?"--for an unknown answer--REGRESSIOINCURVES? That was a lot of real estate that had to be filled in from crosses. At least the theme became apparent, eventually. Whew.
Clever construction, RG and AW, a Really Good example of self-referential themers and A Worthy opponent, but not enough flow to peg my fun meter. Thanks for a nice workout at least.
@Roo-I know the clue just says "hoppers" which means more than one but you only get credit for two as you have enough points already. New rule.
I see many loved this so RAH RAH where it’s due, but it was a complete slog for me. Unfamiliar trivia and a theme which was a total mystery. I don’t believe I’ve ever wadded up a puzzle so tightly or smacked the wall with it quite so enthusiastically as I did this one.
Boy: Hey Ma! Whose Colombian cakes are these?
Ma: Those AREPAS AREPAS.
Boy: At least it's not seaweed, cause I don't eat seaweed.
Ma: NORI NORI.
It feels a lot better to get Chica yesses than CHICANOS.
It's true, @Rafa, that CORNBELT has appeared twice in two days, but so has the African antelope and that is big GNUs.
Bad news if you're AMENSISTER. Trump has ordered that you go by you sex at birth.
Here's some LIGHTVERSE for you:
There was a young lady named Bright
Whose speed was far faster than light;
She set out one day
In a relative way
And returned on the previous night.
The theme grew on me as I went, and I ended up thinking it was really well conceived and executed. But the cluing is what really shone. Lot of spitting and polishing is evident. Great puzzle. Thanks, Rebecca Goldstein and Adam Wagner
Re: 5A: CRAB
The late, and much-missed (at least by me), WNYC radioman Steve Post used to conduct a Crabbiest New Yorker contest. Listeners would nominate friends, relatives, etc. I wish I remembered more about it.
Steve was very funny. His promos for his return to the air after a long absence due to illness started out with: "This is Steve Post -- forgotten but not gone."
Big fan of when the guest writer is overly complimentary and the commenters show up to say "no no no ...we are here for the GRIPES."
But seriously, this puzzle was just okay. Clever theme, but the fill suffered for it.
JAYSON TATUM ARE YOU OKAY
I really admire the careful -- indeed lovingly -- way this puzzle has been clued. You can just tell when constructors go out of their way to make a puzzle interesting to the solver. Lovely clues for POKE; LSAT; SEXT; HOTEL. And did you know that about PERU? As you can see, these answers themselves are short and ordinary -- but the cluing makes them interesting.
As for the theme -- not all that clear to me, though the fill was colorful. I have no idea what REGRESSION CURVES are and wouldn't know one if I fell over it.
All my problems were in the NE, where I had PR REPS. But sSES does not = "manipulates". USES finally got me to PR GURU. Whassat? Is that a term that's in the language like PR REPS? Must go to Google and find out. But don't love it.
Other than that, though, a really colorful puzzle that was entertaining and a bit of a challenge to solve. As far as the double-letters theme -- I'll go to the blog and find out what that's all about. It doesn't leap out at me right now.
A right angle fitting in plumbing is an ELL or an elbow
A little more LIGHT VERSE: this was written by Garrison Keillor in honor of one of his kid's teachers. They worked so hard and were insufficiently appreciated.
There once was a teacher named Dede
Who came home to her squeeze and said: Sweetie
I'm so tired I'm wobbly
So pour me some Chablis
And don't be emotionally needy.
"Write" on brotha!
"TSABIN" said no one ever. It's not like they are branded. They are just bins.
I had to finish the puzzle, put it aside for a moment, then come back and look at it before I understood the theme. With the revealer up on top, I'd been looking for other MOODs, and you could CHARACTER as meaning mood. REGRESSION, DIVIDING, ALL not so much, but I thought I was just missing something. And I couldn't make head or tail of the shaded letters. But with that short break, it came to me SS=CURVES, CC=ARCS, etc. I still think it was annoying puzzle, but that made it a little easier to take. I had SUPERNOVAs, of course, AMEN to that before SISTER, and then after carefully leaving out the O in CHICANOS, there it was all along. I've seen Flashdance, and didn't remember that song; never seen Les Mis, and always thought it was Les Miz (Wikipedia agrees with me)-- or was that singer named NICKZ? Seems unlikely.
Then the clue for STRING--are we really supposed to know that detectives use corkboards, and what they use them for? Neither Sherlock Holmes nor Hercule Poirot nor Nero Wolfe ever did anything of the kind. Never heard of NOOMI, either, but I probably should get to know her.
But I'm just noticing all the OOs in the puzzle, one set shaded, three not. If that was meant as a little deception about MOOD RINGS, I'll give the puzzle an extra point.
I did think "Where to get a shelf off the shelf" was pretty good, once I finally figured it out.
Tough here as well. Came in at my Friday average.
Finished it with one cheat, to change "Naomi" to NOOMI, because I foolishly didn't come up with the young archer. Never understood the theme; I'll have to read the column in detail.
It's a small question for a small word, but why is 22D One-time connection ATA?
I may know more about Peruvian potatoes than anyone here, having long ago written a thesis about new-world root crops. There are a lot of them, potatoes and sweet potatoes are but the tip of the iceberg. Oca Ulluco, Yaucon, Maca, Mashua....
It’s not a camera
I did wonder about REGRESSION CURVES, and I see from the comments that I was right. I'm a social scientist, and we have to know about them, but the other 98% of the American public, probably not. But that ust makes it a hard ppuzzle, which is fine with me.
LIGHT VERSE is a real genre. Here's a link for The New Oxford Book of English Light Verse, for example, just one of many such collections. I had the LI and started to write in LImericks, though.
My wife and I were once visiting South Africa on a Fulbright to Qwaqwa University; we spent a weekend on a game farm with our host department, and got to witness a GNU stampede crossing the road just in front of us. An amazing experience.
In an earlier comment I expressed annoyance at the puzzle, but I now realize it was just because it was Wednesday; I'd have loved it on a Friday.
There are several books of "Light Verse" in print - maybe more than I know. There is the old reliable 'Penguin Book of Light Verse" - a delightful anthology - and also W.H. Auden's book of Light Verse as well.
Mostly enjoyed this one. My only quibble is if you're going to use an extremely uncommon name like NOOMI that is *thisclose* to a much more common name (Naomi), you need to cue AMOR in a more straightforward way (it's the Latin word for "love," as well as being theorized as possibly the secret name for ancient Rome, because it's "ROMA" backwards). Or you could just come up with a NAOMI and use AMAR, which is the Spanish word for "to love."
Anyway, while I got there pretty quickly after being told my finished grid had an error, that felt like a Natick that could have been easily avoided.
Very enjoyable and tricky for me - especially in the NE. Finally filled it but didn’t figure out the theme. Liked it a lot nonetheless.
Easy to solve, but easy to dislike a Thursday puzzle on a Wednesday.
OK, there were some clever and enjoyable clues, but can we dispense with SEXT, please? There are so many alternatives in that 2x3 space.
One at a time. Clever clue!!
Same
I liked that UNHIP crossed with TEPID, but why not clue TEPID also as "Not hot or cool"?
Didn't get the theme - kinda staggered through this one. ARG, NOOMI, REGRESSIVE CURVES? I did like
PR GURU :)
I guess I was spoiled after the last 2 days :(
DDS here. It’s not a camera.
TSA BIN is about as lame an answer as I've ever encountered. Lamer even than GREEN PAINT.
Agree. Had the really ugly INABIN at first. TSABIN was only marginally better.
Thank you. I raised an eyebrow at that too.
TEPID was my first answer for “not hot or cool.”
Yes! :-)
Yes, and in plumbing, or laying pipe a 90 degree angle is referred to as an elbow bend—
I found there were too many short non-words: SOMM, ARG, GRR, ATA, ESE, IMS. Didn’t enjoy as much as usual but appreciate the effort.
There was a lot of clever stuff in this puzzle. There was also SUPERNOVAE.
One other gripe--IIRC, only the first of the very enjoyable SOMM docs involved studying for an exam.
16x15, interesting ..
Definitely the hardest Wednesday for me.. possibly ever (I'm new-ish to crosswording). I had hardly any of the factual knowledge, and I did not have my thinking cap on for some of the tougher clues. I needed all of the tricky clue aids on the wordplay blog for this one.
When I first started piecing the theme in CHARACTER ARCS, I was initially excited because the C’s are characters that arc, and I thought the theme was going to give me more of that punning. Then I saw that the second word was the only significant one to the shaded letters and was disappointed. But then after reading Rafa’s write-up, it was slightly redeemed (and explained why those shame letters weren’t highlighted in the second word. So once again, reading the blog increased my enjoyment of the puzzle; thank you Rafa!
BTW, I’m an English professor, and I was wracking my brain to try to remember if I had ever heard of LIGHT VERSE as a thing. @jberg above, I remembered that anthology after you mentioned it—it’s in fact on my shelf somewhere—and yet it never registered as a genre to me anymore than my anthology of North Carolinian literature. It smells of green paint to me, but I’d be happy if Rex or any literature folks want to convince me.
I thought X-RAY CAMERA was a bit of green paint too, as others have mentioned. Don’t all x-rays take pictures? I think if I was trying to refer to the x-ray specific to a dentist’s office, my knee-jerk would be “x-ray gun,” which is probably grossly incorrect and would be way cooler as a James Bond gadget.
Me too and TSA Bin, as mentioned below, is lame and was hard to parse for me from TS_B__. But mostly well done and fun. Thanks for the write-up Rafa.
Oh wow that is one word that seems a lot better when you write it than when you say it!!! Oops.
I love this one but I’m a huge Rebecca Goldstein fan so I’m probably biased.
Pretty late bein able to post here...
Was mindin own word business, about 10am, when heard a loud "bang" outside somewhere, coincidin with all the lights/power goin out.
But, I digress ...
The puztheme was kinda cute, but it of course sorely lacked the {Fancy prom hairdo features ...} = ?*
staff weeject pick: GRR. M&A's reaction to not bein able to post a timely comment. M&e and the PuzEatinSpouse did both have fun playin Scrabble in the well-sunlit dinin area, tho. [Other than she won and I didn't. Typical.]
fave stuff: ANON = {Ghost writer?}. SUPERNOVAE.
Also fascinatin debut stuff of mystery: SOMM. PRGURU. TSABIN. NOOMI.
PRGURU & AREPAS gobbled up extra nanoseconds, in the NE solvequest parts.
Thanx for gangin up on us, Ms. Goldstein darlin & Mr. Wagner dude. But still tryin to decode OOCCSSIILL. CCOOIILLSS? Double astatic coils?
Masked & Anonymo6Us
p.s. * = D(U)DED(U)PCURLS.
... the followin thing is, at least, real different ...
"Gobbledygook Blend" - 7x7 12 min. themed runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
I liked the theme, but NINE non-theme "?" clues in addition to the 5 theme clues? Come on. The NW was the hardest section, with two "?"s right off the bat (by the way, I wanted the "ghost writer" to be someone known for ghost/horror stories).
The grid would've probably turned out better overall with a couple extra black squares, over the final A in ALUMNA and the S in STRING. Double-stacks of long Downs are hard to pull off in puzzles with 5 theme answers, not to mention the two Downs that have to cross three themers.
Perry
I can understand why this type of answer can annoy people
But the way I look at it is:
They are BINS provided by the TSA. Ii think that’s close enough for crosswords. I don’t think there is a requirement that answers like this are always common expressions.
Seth
Cherubic archer as a clue for AMOR.
We all have are wheelhouses. Just because a person finds a clue impossible doesn’t mean it’s obscure enough to be part of a natick. The clue is a common description of the Greek and Roman live gods. Also the answer is quite common in crosswords and that another help.
Blue is a term for dirty or naughty. A text is a note. Hence blue note.
Same!
I was sure Rex would have shared my reaction to 66A, but he's not here so I'll never know. It's S in Les Miserables and Z in Les Miz. (It's not pronounced Lay Miss, so let Z do its job!)
Rafa, LIGHT VERSE is very much a real expression. It was one of the entries I enjoyed most in this one.
THAT explains my solve time :)
As a Stats PhD, I take major issue with "Regression Curves" as clued and also just in general. It's technically a thing but it's pretty awkward and not the first (or second) way you'd describe such a thing
Most of the themes are pretty lame - I would prefer not to have themes in the puzzles at all.
@@Egs, loved your whole post.
I am with the "theme did not land" group. I did not enjoy this puzzle.
Not only CORNBELT but also GNU here 2 days in a row. Maybe they should have postponed one of these for a week or two.
I was going to put tepid in for 43A but then noticed 35D so I didn’t.
I suppose it refers to the parallel cable coupler that is used for hard drives and the like. Wikipedia has an article about them under "Parallel ATA". Pretty obscure if you ask me!
I liked this one enough. Clever cluing and cute enough theme. Agree that XRAYCAMERA is a bit of a stretch but fair enough - constructors gotta do what they gotta do to make the grid work.
Had no clue on NOOMI and blanked on AMOR so like others, that was a tough spot for me. It also took me a long time to make SUPERNOVEA fall. The "V" from from REGRESSIONCURVES made me think that the clue must be a play on "stars" and the last part of the answer would be MOVIE. Then my wife - *who is a Barnard grad*, helped me out a bit and things fell into place.
I liked that the themers were also revealers - kinda/sorta. Made for a different type of solving experience for me and I enjoyed that.
I don't know anything about, nor have I ever heard of REGRESSIONCURVES but the crosses were all fair so I learned something new (again!)
A unique and interesting solve for me - nice work Rebecca and Adam!
@Sharonak, I totally agree that the clue for 24A needed to add the word “literary” before hero. That was early enough in my solve that even when I had enough letters to suspect CHARACTER it took me way too long to connect it to the ARCS. An editorial miss, I think.
Bravo on all fronts, eggs 😂
Any time I see these two constructors have teamed up, I know we are going to have some fun and some tough spots. This one had more crosswordese than many of their collaborations but I forgive them because of the cleverness of the theme.
Crosswords are all about words. Words are composed of letters. What an original idea to develop a theme playing on the shapes of letters. As a calligraphy hobbyist much of my study of letters has in fact been their shapes and how the shape relates to and helps to identify the letter family or “hand.” I really enjoyed the theme’s relationship to letter shapes and appreciate the effort expended in getting this puzzle put together. Fine effort and a welcome relief (for me anyway) after a few less exciting solves recently.
Can’t quit before I agree with Rafa about the potatoes (and everything else I ate) at Plow in SF. Spectacular breakfast. Go there.
Also, Rafa, since so many, many references are made to the Bay Area in a bazillion contexts, I don’t know why one could not be a self-proclaimed Bay Arean. @Les S More, among our neighborhood here recently commented about his enjoyment in making up words, something I am known to do as well. Having moved out to the Bay Area from Oklahoma a year ago, I am doing all I can to become a true NorCal gal familiar with al things Bay Area. I can asoire to become a true Bay Arean. Nice job today; thanks Rafa!
He cometido un gran error.
Holy moly that was brutal. About double my usual time. The entire east side would not cooperate and dropped me into tough Saturday territory. Not as enchanted with the theme as Rafa as C's aren't arcs and L's don't bow, but they tried.
The puzzle was trying really hard to amuse, so I give it high funnyism marks, and thank the lord, as it's been weeks since anybody made a noticeably hilarious effort.
I do wonder if those boards with strings are only used in crime movies and not in real life. And I wonder if I will die with people using Latin endings like NOVAE for no reason whatsoever except to try and sound smart.
People: 9
Places: 3
Products: 7
Partials: 4
Foreignisms: 1
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 24 of 79 (30%)
Funnyisms: 14 🤣
Tee-Hee: POT LEAVES. SEXT.
Uniclues:
1 Goth girl crashing the prom.
2 When Grande fell off the stage.
3 The joy of being old.
4 What I say when a goth girl crashes the prom.
5 Mellas.
6 A huge billboard informing the traveling public that Jesus Saves.
7 That stunning feeling of seeing a 3D rendering of your cavity.
1 PALE NON-ALUMNA
2 UNHIP ARI STOOP (~)
3 ALL ELBOWS AT RISK (~)
4 WHOA! AMEN SISTER!
5 CHICANO'S NICKS
6 CORN BELT PANEL (~)
7 X-RAY CAMERA AWES
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Eau de Five-Year-Old. BALL PIT AROMAS.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I was almost positive it was Les Miz, but Nicks seemed a more likely name than Nickz. But then I thought, maybe they're an American rapper. "Nick-zee" could be a rapper name. Must have swapped that square between S and Z at least half a dozen times.
What's with sometimes the clue not hinting that the answer is an abbreviation? Like PRGURU and TSABIN. Usually they put an abbreviation in the clue.
I love the Plow too - agree they have the best potatoes
@Dr Random: yes the dentist’s X-ray machine is in fact an X-ray gun, not a camera as others have also commented. Not usually called that for obvious reasons. X-ray cameras do exist. Several spacecraft have them for photographing astronomical objects that emit X-rays. They were invented by Albert Baez, father of singer Joan Baez. Based on grazing incidence on parabolic mirrors. A more accurate clue would be “Instrument on board NASA’s Chandra satellite.” But even there they are usually called telescopes not cameras.
Liked Rafa's observation about rhyme/no rhyme/same spelling with the animal clues. All they needed to do to complete it for the GNU clue (haha) was "Creature that featured in a stampede in "The Lion King." So close.
"One at a time" is a common expression, so "ATA" is a connector between the words"one" and "time."
Wow---and it's only Wednesday! Total, complete DNF! I found one--ONE thing I knew (RON Howard). That was it, and it wasn't any help. I fear for the weekend.
Wordle bogey. Not my best day, for sure.
One of the worst theme ideas in a long time. Challenging for a Wednesday and not much fun either.
X-rays are pictures, thus camera is close enough for Gas-Xwords! 😜
Les Mis is the proper shortening, except for the Broadway production, which is Les Miz. Coming again to a Xword puzzle (pussle?) near you.
Almost nobody says SUPERNOVAE. Almost everyone says Super Novas. This is the 21st century, I believe. Very difficult for a Wednesday. I hope I can spend less time on Thursday's puz. SOMM, GASX, HORA, AREPAS, MANIAC, NOOMI, RIRI. All unknown to me.
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