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Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
Word of the Day: Shanghai's M50 district (35A: Cultural draw of Shanghai's M50 district = ART SCENE) —
50 Moganshan Road (Chinese: 莫干山路50号) or "M50" is a contemporary art district in Shanghai, China, that houses a community of more than a hundred artists whose studios are open to the public. It is often compared with New York's SoHo and Beijing's 798 Art Zone. The art quarter has become a popular cultural attraction for local and international visitors alike, and was named among the top ten things to do in Shanghai by Time Magazine. // 50 Moganshan Road was once the Chunming Slub Mill. The art scene was started in 2000 by local artist Xue Song who was initially attracted by the cheap rent of the disused industrial space. Other artists including Ding Yi, Qu Fengguo, and Wang Xingwei, soon followed. Today the quarter's former factories and warehouses have been converted into art galleries, artists’ studios, design agencies and other visual art and cultural businesses of various sizes. The land and buildings are still owned by Shangtex, the state-owned textile group that operated the now defunct factory. (wikipedia)
• • •
I got SMASH and NAH, but they didn't get me very far. Wanted SLEW (a real word) instead of SCAD (not so real) at 29D: Bucketful. Crosswords are the only medium that will force you to accept a singular SCAD. Annoying. Weird lot of "-ful"s in the clues today. "Mouthful" of SOAP, "Bucketful" = SCAD, "bowlful" of CLAM DIP (37D: Seafood cookout bowlful). The NW was a total wreck. Didn't really get any momentum at all until I drifted up to the NE corner via DRIFTS, guessed at AGER, and then wrote in FIRST- at 20A: Milestone for a baby and, more confidently, REGULAR JOE at 16A: Average guy. Puzzle suddenly suddenly went from Challenging to Easy. It never got as difficult again as it was at the start, but it stayed reasonably tough thanks to SCADs of "?" clues, stuff I didn't know (non-da Gama VASCOs (32A: ___ Núñez de Balboa, Isthmus of Panama explorer)? "Propels" = SHOVES (41D: Propels, like a shuffleboard disk)?), and a few sports things I half-forgot (ELSTON, BUCS-not-RAMS). So: Challenging in the NW, Easy in the NE, and sorta Medium-ish everywhere else, with the whole thing coming out on the harder side of Medium.
["Kissing the Lipless" ... seems like that might be a SLOPPY KISS]
I wish I'd found more delight in this puzzle, since the grid is very well-filled. I didn't groove on the cluing very much, but that's just bad luck, I guess. The highlight for me was SAD KEANU (30A: Meme of the star of "John Wick" looking downcast), both because SAD KEANU is inherently funny and because I imagined a SCAD (or more) of solvers getting very mad at that answer for the usual anti-pop culture reasons. You have to be fairly, if not extremely online to know SAD KEANU, though thankfully the clue helps you put it together even if you've never heard of such a thing. I also loved CALL IT A DAY and UP AND LEAVE, a fresh pair of "see you later!" answers. I liked INSIDE DOPE too, but that was mostly because it reminded me of the time (way back in 2010) that I made a puzzle called "Inside Dope, Part 2," which I wrote in response to an NYTXW called "Inside Dope"; the NYT puzzle had INFO hidden inside its themers (RAINFOREST, PLAINFOLKS, etc.). My response puzzle ... actually, I won't spoil it, in case you want to do it (PDF available here). Anyway, fond memories.
- 4A: Adviser to an acting president? (DRAMA COACH) — not sure why "president" is here? Is the idea that an actual president (of a company? a country?) would need a DRAMA COACH if they were going to be appearing in a TV show or film? Or is the student in question an actor who is going to play the role of a president? I get that you want to do a cute little misdirect with "acting," but "president" seems a bizarre word to throw in here.
- 31A: Row crosser: Abbr. (COL.) — an innocuous little answer that felt like a life raft today. Helped me change SLEW to (ugh) SCAD, which gave me my first real feeling of solidity under my feet today.
- 43A: Culture center? (LAB) — the cryptic solver in me was like, "well, the center of 'culture' is the letter "T" so ... is there a special name for the "T" when it stands for that "TCH" sound? A three-letter word?" But no. They mean actual cellular-growth culture. Like you might find in a LAB.
- 27D: Privileged figures, perhaps? (INSIDE DOPE) — "privileged" in the sense of "privileged information." "Privileged" = INSIDE, "information" = DOPE (a word with more meanings that I'd ever really considered before)
- 55A: Litter pickup area? (NAPE) — more fun with word ambiguity. "Litter" here = "of kittens" or "of puppies." Mothers might pick their babies up by their NAPEs.
- 28D: Sass, informally ('TUDE) — the "Atti-" has been excised to give you the colloquial 'TUDE.
- 47D: Milky resource found in the outback (OPAL) — four letters, "milky resource," I confess, the first thing I thought of was TEAT. But then "outback" ... how to account for "outback" ... what's the word for an emu TEAT? Oh dang, birds aren't mammals. Uh, Koala TEAT? Four letters? Anyone? What? No TEATs involved? It's a "milky" jewel, you say? Yeah, that's probably for the best.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
Yeah, this one was definitely Saturday level for me. Started it last night after the Pacers eked out that win against OKC.... that got me revved up a bit, so I wanted to do the puzzle to settle myself down so I could crash. But instead I probably hacked away at this thing for 45 minutes and didn't get anywhere. Resumed this morning and as usual for me, well rested brain worked much better. Got a few answers in (REGULARJOE, DRIFTS) in the NE but couldn't close it out, finally got a real foothold in the SE with TADA, ODOR, YES, finally NAPE helped me see INSIDEDOPE and I was off to the races. Those nice 4 x 10 stacks were great--CANTILEVERs and BONEMARROW, DRAMACOACH and FIRSTWORDS, all great, crisp, (and for some, trickily clued) answers. SAD KEANU was totally new for me but also inferable from the clue. Doable in the end... my timer read like an hour and 20 minutes today, but that's cuz of my late night dawdling so... anyway, definitely challenging for me, but no cheats : ) Thanks, Adrian, for a terrific Friday challenge!!!!
ReplyDeleteI was not at all on the constructor's (or editor's) wavelength. FIRST stepS before FIRST WORDS. And it took me forever to accept that the Culture center wasn't LTU (not just the T, @Rex). I found the SW to be the most difficult for me, especially because I thought that the Bucs won the 2021 Super Bowl--but they did that in 2022. Feh.
ReplyDeleteBasically perfect crunchy Friday! I led with LAB, but if you wanted the middle of culture why not go straight to TEE? REEK and ODOR are always gross (since NYT has decreed there are only bad odors) but Johnson made them fun. IVEGOTEARS hard to piece together, got lucky plopping in VASCO off ___C_ on the basis that it's a Spanish name, tuns for MUGS, sax for BOP, static for STOLID, media coach for DRAMACOACH, fish sauce didn't fit for BONEMARROW, rock for REEK, talc for OPAL, lovely!
ReplyDeleteNeeded two cheats...for the ATTA/ASADA and KEANU/TUDE crosses. Some of the cluing was clever (I liked the one for SILENTP), but I didn't care for the clue for DOIN. A much better clue might be "____what comes naturally," in song.
ReplyDeleteYou never heard of Keanu?
DeleteAnonymous 9:06 AM
DeleteMaybe think that Bob Mills doesn’t know John Wick movies before you act shocked. I know who Keanu is but had completely forgotten he starred in those movies. The U cross got me the answer
VERY hard Friday -- harder than most Saturdays and 20% of Croces. But the nice thing is that almost all of the difficulty was in the clues.
ReplyDeleteAfter a string of not-very-good themeless puzzles of late, it was nice to get something challenging and interesting.
And fair. For example, anything involving a meme is going to be a complete unknown to me - as it was today - but I know who played John Wick, and I know what ‘downcast’ means, so was able to ener that with no crosses. Indeed, that WoE was basically my entry. I had SMASH, NAH and COL in place but nothing building off those. Then along comes SAD KEANU and we’re off.
One thing I was set to object to is DEVILRY, which I would swear is only ever heard as DEVILTRY. However the internet disagrees.
I thought the same thing about *deviltry*.
DeleteSame, re DEVILRY/deviltry. Google Books ngram viewer shows DEVILRY peaked in 1797. "Deviltry" has been about twice as common since WWII.
DeleteDefinitely a Saturday vibe for me. Like @Adam, I let LTU obscure the cupboard cross, which actually was a letteral clue. A good challenge today!
ReplyDeleteYup - I wrote in the "obvious" TEE for the culTure center and racked my brain almost to death over the crossing SILENT P.
DeleteHand up for TEE. I thought I was being very clever. Sigh.
DeleteTough ....ended with SILENTP
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteMedium-Challenging here too, only unlike OFL, I didn't find any part of the puzzle particularly Easy.
Overwrites:
2D: NOT aNy MORE before ONE
4A: voice COACH before DRAMA (I guess I was thinking a radio show about a POTUS)
5D: RE-edit before REVISE
14A: cuss before SOAP
43A: @Rex tee before LAB for the culture center
49D: gEEK before REEK
WOEs:
Chapati in the clue for ATTA at 17A
At 30A, I'm not even semi-fairly online so I didn't know the meme. But I know SAD, and I know KEANU so it wasn't a huge challenge
Like @Rex, the only VASCO I know is da Gama (32A)
I've heard of Charles Mingus and I know he's a bassist but I didn't know his specialty was BOP (38D)
DEVILRY? I'm sure it's a word but I really wanted DEVIL[t]RY, which didn't fit (40A)
HOP STEP (44A) as well as most basketball terms beyond "ball" and "rim"
It wasn’t. Mingus was closer to avant garde.
DeleteRe Mingus, it depends on which decade you're thinking of, and who he was collaborating with. Wikipedia says "Mingus's work ranged from advanced bebop and avant-garde jazz with small and midsize ensembles to pioneering the post-bop style...and progressive big band experiments..."
DeleteIt’s a rare day indeed - I thought Rex was going to blast this thing for being too easy. It must be a wavelength thing, but I had an easy time with things like NATIONAL TV, SOAP, ASADA, and even DOIN and ENCASE pretty much just filling themselves in (DO IN from the crosses - I would not have gotten that one on my own). I’ve probably been reading OFL for about a decade now and this is no doubt the first Friday that I found on the easy side while Rex struggled a bit (for him).
ReplyDeleteI think one thing I had going for me today is that they went easy on the propers - VASCO was a struggle, but I was familiar with the other stuff like Ellie Howard and John Wick.
I couldn’t think of anything for Mr. Mingus, so I dropped back for a Hail Mary and lobbed SKA in there, but wasn’t feeling the love at all on that one and eventually tidied it up.
The general consensus when publishing recipes is that seasoning is not considered an ingredient (when calling a dish a 5 ingredient “anything” for example - however, one’s ROTI (aka CHAPATI) will be pretty bland if you don’t add a healthy pinch of salt to the dough. Nothing wrong with the clue or answer - just doing my part to increase the awareness of the chronic under-seasoning habit that most home cooks have.
I wasn’t gonna brag but man was I ever on AJs wavelength today! I too thought for sure Rex was going to call this easy. Feeling kinda bullish on me after reading Rex and some of the comments. Honestly, that was a breeze and I never say that on a Friday. Tomorrow I’ll probably get my butt kicked!
DeleteDitto, took me less than 19 without a hint and some days I struggle like crazy only to come here to figure out what a theme was and find everyone calling it a breeze.
DeleteIn early week puzzles, the leap from clue to answer is often instantaneous. Later in the week, you get The Gap, where the answers don’t slap down, where the art is in creating clues that don’t give the answer away but are close enough to where a cross or a riddle-crack will make them click.
ReplyDeleteAdrian is so good at making these type clues, clues that make a puzzle opaque at first, then openings start happening.
He is also so good at designing and filling a grid. Today we have a Times debut design that allows for 16 bigs, and man, does he take advantage of them – BONE MARROW, FIRST WORDS, I’VE GOT EARS, NOT ONE MORE, REGULAR JOE, SLOPPY KISS (all these are Times answer debuts!), not to mention UP AND LEAVE, and CALL IT A DAY.
And may I bring your attention to the four-stacks in the NE and SW. You almost always see junk in four-stack crosses – it is expected, actually. But today, not a tinge of ugliness. Actually, look at all the answers in this super-low 66-word grid – ugliness be gone. Wow!
Beauty in the box today, showcasing the art and science of puzzle-making, and creating, for me at least, a most splendid outing. Thank you so much for this, Adrian!
That's a really good write-up, and I agree with you.
DeleteThat's a GREAT write-up and I agree with you
DeleteI had INSIDEDATA for a minute, that plus having no clue on ELSTON made the SE difficult for me...also struggled entering the SW because I had PLACID instead of STOLID. Felt more Saturday-level, but ultimately doable.
ReplyDeleteYes, the SE is where I crashed and burned. NW got filled in first - saw NATIONALTV relatively early. But INSIDEDOPE was unguessable for me. INSIDEData was all I could come up with. CALLITADAY took me three reads after I saw the solution to figure out.
DeleteDefinitely more like a Saturday, given the sheer volume of more obscure stuff. In fact, even for a Saturday, I’d say this would be harder than average. For a Friday it‘s a bit ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteYep, one of those days for me. 50% over my average Friday time. I listen to 50's-60's jazz a LOT, including having it on softly as I fall asleep. Literally, last night I had the "This is Charles Mingus" playlist playing; and it STILL took me getting the P before I could parse BOP. Sheesh.
ReplyDeleteBOP was one the few gimmes for me. One of the reasons I hardly ever complain about PPP is that it often spurs me to put some music on. Today it's not a classic Mingus album, but Joni Mitchell's tribute to the great bassist. Haven't heard it in years. I prefer to drift off to Thelonious Monk.
DeleteI would definitely say I had scads of things to do before I said I have a slew of things to do. Surprised you didn’t call out NAH - for me that is certainly more of a ‘not this time’ than a ‘hard pass’
ReplyDeleteYou make Rex’s point for him. You would say SCADS, with an “S,” whereas neither you nor anyone would say SCAD.
DeleteHad a hard time in NE. 1 across was easy and my instinct for 1 down was asada, but the crosses weren't obvious, so I moved to SW and restarted there. I knew Elston and the rest of SW was straightforward. Not being up on pop culture, I struggled with Sad Keanu. I'm with Rex in that I disliked scad. But overall, not too hard.
ReplyDeleteI'd call this medium. There were mostly straightforward words with a few confusing ones thrown in. But most of them were fair so there wasn't much to roll my eyes at (the clue for DRAMA COACH notwithstanding). Two things that slowed me down were the phrases that could have multiple wordings: NOT ONE MORE and I'VE GOT EARS. It was tough figuring exactly what form they were looking for.
ReplyDeleteBut my main complain was SILENT P: I don't think the "P" in "cupboard" is silent. At least it doesn't sound like it to me. "cup-berd" How do other people say it? "cuh-berd"?
Yep, cubberd!
DeleteI'm one of those annoying people who voices the first "r"s in February and library and I always say Wed-nes-day not Wends-day so I was surprised to find, when I stopped and said it aloud, that I do say cuh-berd. Weird.
DeleteLes S. More
DeleteRe cupboard et al. I was shocked to find out how I said certain words. Other people gladly informed me. In your case inevitably, there are words you think you pronounce one way but, especially in the middle of an informal conversation you actually pronounce another. The only way to be sure, is for someone else to tell you or listen to a tape. But thinking of the issue beforehand will distort your speech.
dgd: I hate listening to recordings of myself. The sound of my voice is like nails on a blackboard and the number of words I mangle is startling. I'd like to imagine that I speak like a well trained actor in an Oscar Wilde play, but the tape says otherwise.
Delete@Les, for me February = "feb-rare-ee", Wednesday = "wens-day". However, same as your "cuh-berd".
DeleteSILENTP/LAB crossing was quite the killer today! (But fair)
ReplyDeleteI’m sure I’m just missing something obvious, but would someone explain COL.?
ReplyDeleterows and columns
DeleteSure. Think Xwords - columns cross the rows. The clue indicates that it is an abbreviation.
DeleteAh, of course. Thank you!
DeleteUnusually hard for me! Two min longer solve than my usual for a Friday.
ReplyDeleteTwo WHOLE minutes? Wow!
DeleteI’m always so glad to see other people struggled. I almost gave up on this one. If I hadn’t come her I never would have figured out what national tv meant because I was stuck on a different meaning of “game.”
ReplyDeleteI’m still confused as to the COL answer? Can anyone help me understand what that means?
ReplyDeleteAlso, maybe this is just a TX thing, but I’ve always definitely pronounced the P in “cupboard,” so that answer never occurred to me.
I found this tough, too, despite the initial euphoria of ANN Patchett (hi @Rex) and DRAMA COACH, which I got right off, and which led to the swift completion of the whole NE. After that coup, however, I struggled. But I had two other amazing successes with names. I stuck in VASCO without having heard of Señor Núñez de Balboa – I guess my subconscious thought VASCO was inherently an explorer’s name. And I dredged up ELSTON Howard from the very deepest recesses – my mother was a dyed-in-the-wool Yankees fan all her life. I was still quite a little kid in the early to mid-sixties when Howard played for them, but his name must have lodged in some memory engram because when I read “Howard” in conjunction with “Yankees,” the name ELSTON was immediately there. Wow, I impressed myself.
ReplyDeleteBut the struggly bits were plentiful. I had an ARTS ZONE in Shanghai, which really mucked up that area: I couldn’t make heads or tails of SILENT P, CLAM DIP or VERBALLY. I had Mingus playing SAX, which I had an inkling was wrong but didn’t know how to fix: I didn’t realize until today that you could use “BOP” without the opening “be.” I was looking for some plant with milky sap in the outback, so was surprised by OPAL. I had no idea how point guards’ craftiness would manifest – I finally had ___STEP and wondered “tOe STEP”? But that sounded too much like a ballerina.
Loved the SAD KEANU meme and had never seen it before. There’s something particularly funny about that pigeon strutting around in front of him. Apparently Reeves told Stephen Colbert, “I was just eating a sandwich, man!” That seems particularly appropriate for crosswords and this blog, given one of @Rex’s bugbears when it comes to unworthy crossword answers!
Anyway, I agree with those who laud this puzzle as a great Friday challenge. Thanks, Adrian Johnson!
Barbara, Keanu is actually pretty funny and is willing to take a self-effacing shot now and then. I've never seen a John Wick movie but I am presently fully engaged in the Stanley Cup playoffs and Rogers, the large Canadian internet provider, features him in their ubiquitous ads. In one sequence he is featured playing a video game. He gets destroyed, looks dismayed, and then a little girl's voice pops up and say, "Why don't you take up acting, Uncle Keanu?" I've seen it too many times, but it's still kind of funny.
DeleteBarbara S
DeleteI had similar reactions to many words you noted.
Being from New England, I was fixated on CHOWDER for clam dip. It took me forever to take it out. Don’t even know what clam dip is!
@Barbara S & Les S (replying). A fellow hockey lover and Canadian (now on the U of Montana faculty) sent me the “Uncle Keanu” ad that a friend actually in Canada sent him. It’s really clever.
Delete@Les and @CDilly. I just watched the Rogers ad and chuckled. That may be the most animated I've ever seen our KEANU!
DeleteOdd that Cultural center sent me looking for a letteral answer instantly, but not cupboard, until the very end.
ReplyDeleteTough but fair old school Friday.
HOPSTEP, formerly known as traveling.
Love The Roots song, Rex (though Questlove has said that's his least favorite album of theirs). They're my favorite music act.
ReplyDelete"Adviser to an acting president?' was one of my favorite clues
ReplyDeleteLeast favorite was probably the one for opal, since not opals are milky
Culture center got me too. I put in TEE
I had a rough time in the southeast. I had CALLI——- for a long time. When I finally saw CALL IT A DAY I finally filled in that segment. For some reason, the northeast wasn’t too tough for me. The south generally gave me more difficulty.
ReplyDeleteI've never gotten much of anywhere at anything cuz people are always giving me the outSIDE DOPE. It is notable, that INSIDEDOPE is crossing LSD at the (inside) "S".
ReplyDeleteAfter teaching my dog "down" and "stay", I taught him UPANDLEAVE. Haven't seen him since.
If you leave those little foil-wrapped Hershey things in the sun, you'll get a SLOPPYKISS.
Over-inquisitive Asst: Why should I put it in a glass box?
Frustrated Museum Director: Just ENCASE!
I thought this was Friday whooshy until the seafood cookout in the SW where I served up bowls of Chowder and Ceviche before the CLAMDIP. Excellent cluing today. Thanks, Adrian Johnson.
Old Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee said Kansas is so flat you can stand on a chair and watch your dog leave you for three days. (Something like that.)
DeleteHahahahaha!!!! re UP AND LEAVE. Laughing both at @egs and the dog as well as @Liveprof in Kansas.
DeleteThis played like a Saturday for me and I needed two cheats to finish it: BUCS and ATTA. I mean I already had ATTA from the crosses, but I had to look up "chapati" to know I was right. I was sure I was wrong.
ReplyDeleteTough, tough cluing -- some of it inspired and some of it unfair. Inspired: Oh, how I suffered to try to come up with some component of a cupboard. I mean they have doors and shelves and handles and not much else. Was something made out of SILver? I went to look at my kitchen cupboards. SILENT P????!!!! Oh, no -- they fooled me again!!!!!
CALL IT A DAY, SLOPPY KISS, REVISE, and INSIDE DOPE are also deviously clued. But DRAMA COACH is unfair because the word "president" is completely irrelevant. "A model way to work for CATWALK is borderline unfair; much fairer would have been "A model place to work."
I thought I was so smart in writing in TEE as my "culture center?" But it turned out to be LAB -- also clever.
Very challenging -- a challenge I mostly enjoyed. But there was suffering too. I always hate it when I have to cheat.
Right there with you as usual, even the TEE for LAB.
DeleteI got it done, mostly ending in the NE. Then I felt forced to write in OREOPIE and gave up in disgust. What in the world?
ReplyDeleteWell I'll be a monkey's uncle! jberg gave me a recipe. So maybe they exist. But I still wonder if anybody has actually made them or eaten them. It seems like a lot of work for something that is still going to taste like an oreo.
DeleteYeah, Saturday-tough here. NW started off easy, with ANN and SOAP and ASADA, which I wrote in as ASADO. Boy did that slow things down for a while. Looking for something else I was sure of led me to VASCO, and fiddling around int the middle and the SE and SW kept me from looking up and finding AVERAGEJOE, which mad the NE pretty easy. Finished with OPAL, which I still would not describe as a "milky resource".
ReplyDeleteThought OFL was talking to me when he commented on the 8-year old kid in the 50's knowing anything about a mouthful of SOAP. I had some rough neighbors and since language has always fascinated me learned some words that were better left away from the dinner table. Never used that remedy on our sons, as wasabi proved to be even more effective. Also needed every cross for SADKEANU, as I'm in that group knowing pretty much nothing about internet memes.
I liked your challenging Friday a lot, AJ. A Job well done, and thanks for all the fun.
Here's a recipe,but it doesn't fit the clue because the oreos are no longer black and white after they are blended.
DeleteDespite being about a decade younger than Rex, SOAP gimme for me in an otherwise challenging puzzle—though in my case it wasn’t for foul-mouth, just for perceived ‘TUDE.
DeleteSW took me forever because I started with PATS (2002 and 2019), then RAMS (2000 and 2022) and just couldn't make any headway.
ReplyDeleteRe SAD KEANU: The "meme" was Greek to me. But it's even worse than that. First of all, other than his name, I wouldn't know KEANU if I fell over him. Second: I've never been really sure what a "meme" is. Something that's gone viral on the internet? Is that it? Is that all of it? Are there any other requirements to becoming a meme?
ReplyDeleteThe always erudite and interesting @Barbara S sent me back to Stephen Colbert's interview with KEANU. I love Colbert. Surely he could make both the person and the meme as interesting to me as it seemed to be to Barbara. But he couldn't. I found KEANU handsome but profoundly uninteresting -- though he did seem to be quite enchanted with being KEANU. I found the meme, i.e. the photo, to be -- if possible -- even less interesting. The meme-consuming public seems to be awfully easily amused these days.
Stephen managed to look completely fascinated -- but I didn't believe him for a moment. Now that he's on NATIONAL TV rather than cable, I sort of think he panders a lot more than he used to. Maybe Bill Maher could make KEANU and his meme interesting. Maher never panders and he never fails to gain and hold my attention. Wonder if he's ever interviewed KEANU?
I haven’t watched that interview but my “take” on KEANU is that he is truly a nice guy that pretty much just lives his life. My guess is that KEANU is just as puzzled as to why that particular pic became a meme. I agree with what you said about Colbert since going mainstream network…but it’s no longer political commentary, and my guess is that Bill Maher would have zero interest in interviewing KEANU.
DeleteHi Nancy -- I think the meaning of MEME has changed over time. Merriam-Webster quotes Richard Dawkins, "Memes (discrete units of knowledge, gossip, jokes and so on) are to culture what genes are to life." In that sense, "we are the 99%" was a meme. But today the word seems to mean a picture which gets widely shared, and may not have a significant meaning. There's a 'grumpy cat' meme that is funny, but not significant. As far as I can tell, they are always still pictures; if they move, they're GIFs.
DeleteAlso, MEME actually is Greek, or at least Greek-derived.
DeleteMy God Maher is an unfunny loser—unfathomable what anyone sees in him. Keanu is great Maher is trash.
DeleteI was also unfamiliar with the meme, but since I kinda know the actor (never understood the hype, but I at least know it exists), I managed to piece it together.
DeleteSo many tough but apt clues! Was a good day to be a Yankee and John Wicks fan. But did miss the old girl/boy clue for ATTA. Getting the “in the language” phrases was hard but fun as the crosses slowly led one to see the end game.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely Saturday-ish. The NW was not fun. I like "hard but fun" but this was hard and not fun. ATTA??!! NATIONALTV??!! DOIN at least makes sense, though I had DO_N and could not figure it out. SOAP and ASADA were easy but I have not clue who ANN Patchett is/was. Ugh. The rest was ok, though HOPSTEP crossed by ELSTON was tough.
ReplyDeleteAlso - it should be noted that JAMES BAKER has the same number of letters as DRAMA COACH; if anyone was curious how mis-directed I ended up with that clue. Reagan was an "actor president" which I conflated with "acting president".
ReplyDeleteSame with BEEF TALLOW in first on BONE MARROW. Not knowing how pho is made, it seemed reasonable.
Challenging and delicious, particularly all of those long Acrosses and Downs, fine rewards for my struggles to understand them. I was hampered by making the same mistakes as others (tee and sax) as well as a few more: CAr WAsh, where (car) models are worked on; SAD KEvin; and keGS. I especially enjoyed writing in DEVILRY and appreciated the SAD SAC cross.
ReplyDeleteHad the exact opposite experience, as DRAMA COACH fell in early (I also side-eyed "president" there) and I was able to work backward to the NW. Then the whole south felt like a slog. Seeing SILENT P took forever, even when I had SI-ENTP, I had no clue on ELSTON or BOP, even convinced myself that STOLID had two Ls for a moment, leaving me with STO???. Had PATS before I caved and googled it to give me a prayer.
ReplyDeleteI generally enjoyed this puzzle, but A LOT TO DO is silly and NATIONAL TV is...also silly.
Tough one for me too mostly because of the NW which was the last to fall and where my problems mirrored @Rex’s. ATTA was a WOE and SOAP, PANICS, NOTONE, ENCASE, and DOIN didn’t come easily…tough corner.
ReplyDeleteOther WOEs - ART SCENE, HOP STEP, and VASCO.
Costly erasures - esso before HESS and SlidES before SHOVES.
Nice to have a crunchy Friday with a little bit of sparkle, liked it.
I'll agree on the challenging description but my challenge was somewhat self inflicted by a handwritten typo (oxymoron?) - where ANY was the answer for 33D, I wrote in AsY. Good luck getting ART SCENE from art_C_sE in place. And staring at that TP at the end of 36D and checking the crosses multiple times. It's been a long time since one of those kinds of SILENT answers caught me out but I blame AsY for causing a logjam in the area.
ReplyDeleteMy mental map of SD/IA directions should be better than it apparently is; I had eSE in place making Keanu's meme hard to see. I was possibly thinking of Swea City, IA because I once dated a guy from there. That fits the ESE direction much better.
I had to take on faith that I would be able to eventually fill in ELSTON, BUCS (as clued), VASCO (how many Vasco explorers were there?) and HOP STEP (have I mentioned how much I dislike basketball? Yes, I have).
So this was a fun Friday, thank you Adrian Johnson.
Was pleased when my JOESIXPACK morphed to REGULARJOE during my morning's first cup of Joe.
ReplyDeleteI’m a fan of the 4 A clue for the advisor to “an acting president.” It's the whole phrase that provides the humorous misdirection! I also guessed early that the answer which turned out to be CATWALK might refer to the model's style of movement. Fun clue!
ReplyDeleteI didn’t figure out COL. I wanted POL crossing the row. SCAD egad. Eventually ARTSCENE and DEVILRY forced their way in and everything untangled. HOPSTEP and ELSTON were solved with crosses.
This puzzle hit my solving sweet spot.
Well, I knew 1-A was ANN, so that was a good start. But my next entry was joe sixpack, oddly getting JOE right but in the wrong place. I also thought the big game medium might be a NescONsole, causing still more writeover pain. I finally worked out most of it, but was stuck on the SAD guy. Not KEnny, not KEith. KEANU is a pretty well-known actor, but somehow he never occurred to me, so I looked up the movie, figured out the point guard was doing a HOP STEP, whatever that is, and not a HOP Shot. (I'd wanted those FIRST stepS to be the baby's, but luckily knew enough to wait for the crosses to get the WORD part.)
ReplyDeleteThe hardest thing about the Sioux Falls to Sioux City clue is remembering which one is in Iowa and which in South Dakota; but I have a cousin in Sioux Falls, and once visited her, so I knew it was SS_ and waited for the cross for the E.
I'm less familiar with Shanghai, so I tried bar and then gay before I hit upon ART SCENE. And, trying to be trendy, I put in ghost LEAVE before UP AND.
I finished with so many writeovers that I had to write CATWALK in the margin to remind myself what the letters were.
Nice tricky clues, more of a Saturday feel for me. I don't think of BONE MARROW as a flavor enhancer, though, more as a main ingredient, so I spent a long time thinking it was some kind of yARROW.
You're right, it's a bone broth. The bones are the main ingredient here but I guess because the marrow of those bones contributes greatly to the flavour, you have to give "enhancer" a pass. But it's sort of like saying starch is an enhancer of risotto, starch is inherent in the arborio, it's not added. I used to make my own pho. Takes the better part of 2 days because you have to let that broth simmer at least overnight. Finally gave up and just searched out a good local Vietnamese place. Much easier and no worse than my laborious version.
Deleteyep. This FriPuz puppy definitely had TUDE. 66-worder, with quad 10-stacks, NE & SW. Only around 5 ?-marker clues, but it felt like there were about 20 or so of the lil devilries.
ReplyDeletestaff weeject pick: COL. The very first thing M&A was able to confidently enter into the puzgrid. That was followed by ANN, which I google researched [common M&A reaction to no-know names].
some fave things: SLOPPYKISS. INSIDEDOPE. DRAMACOACH clue. TUDE.
weirdest stuff: SADKEANU. DEVILRY. Not in M&A's M50 district.
Thanx for the feisty solvequest, Mr. Johnson dude. Amazin fill job.
Masked & Anonymo3Us
... and this one's kinda FriPuz hard, too ...
"Desperate Word Square #159" - 7x7 12 min. desperate:
**gruntz**
M&A
One of the great things about this blog and its comments is that it makes one realize that nothing is universally known. I knew Mingus and ELSTON Howard, but had no idea about the HOP STEP (which is also a move in Irish step dancing, it turns out); I still struggled to come up with BOP, but neither jazz nor bass nor piano was short enough.
ReplyDeleteAnd then at least one commenter found ANN Patchett to be a complete unknown. I've never read a single word she wrote, but if you browse an airport store for a book to read on the plane, you are likely to find at least five of her novels.
But the beautiful thing is that we can all solve the puzzle! At least, if it is well -constructed, and does not fall into a specialty niche.
Easyish Friday-level Friday. Started with ANN, of course, then headed south, which I found easy ish. Went back to the NE and fixed NOT ANY MORE, then finally SCAD (ah! DEVILRY!).
ReplyDeleteA medium-level Friday puzzle for me. I thought the clue for DO IN (neutralize, so to speak) was a bit weak, and I don't really understand how INSIDE DOPE would be "privileged figures"... but I guess if you're talking about betting or something. I had PLACID instead of STOLID; once I got that right I made progress in the SE corner.
ReplyDeleteThe clue for 20A "Milestone for a baby" seemed to call for a singular event so after crosses filled in FIRST, I confidently finished it with TOOTH and patted myself on the back. The ultra familiar (446 times over the years in the NYTXW) 11D AJAR for "Mostly closed", however, brought that mini-celebration to a JARring halt.
ReplyDeleteMy knowledge of all things KEANU is limited to his role NEO in "The Matrix" and I only know that from crosswords. Yes, I do live in a hole with a large stone over the top.
Enjoyable, crunchy puzzle overall and the "emu TEAT" for 47D "Milky resource found in the outback" was the highlight of Rex's blog write-up.
HOPSTEP isn't a common basketball term. I know basketball pretty well and I'm not really sure what it is.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes wonder why I read Rex. A lot of his material reminds me of what a critic once said about a novelist, "That's not writing, that's typing." But there is enough good stuff to keep me coming back. Like today, when he wrote that the foul-mouth was an 8-year old in the 1950's.
It’s what Capote said about Kerouac. You’re no Capote.
DeleteRex's last comment cracked me up.. Partly wondering "did he real go through all that before he thought of opal or is he just having fun with it now?"
ReplyDeleteI found this just the perfect amount of challenging; just under 20 minutes. Somehow got SAD KEANU just from the clue. And there is a kind of mini theme with NOT ONE MORE, CALL IT A DAY, UP AND LEAVE.
ReplyDeleteSome typeovers: BAR SCENE in Shanghai, STATIC for "Not very animated", CALL IN SICK at 26 down, CHOWDER for the seafood bowlful at 37 down. Two total Unknown Names with HESS (??!) and ELSTON.
Funny that OREO and ORCA are so often clued with "black and white".
@Egs, As usual I got a welcome chuckle from your comments Especially the dog who left.
ReplyDeleteAs to all the "scad" abjections. I agree that "scads" is more common, but I'm sure I've heard (or perhaps I've said) "I have a scad of..."
I don't think of clam dip as something to find a bowlful of at a seafood cookout. Didn't notice that "upon leave" and "cantilever" had filled that in for me.
Now I have to google "atta" Can't imagine what it is. Only Attas I
know are Attaturk and atta girl
Certainly not easy for me. I thought it might be after plopping in ANN at 1A and SOAP right under that. (Yes, my parents did that. Doesn't seem to have had any f***ing effect). And sometimes I wonder about my inability to see the obvious. At 31A "Row crosser: Abbr." I stared at that for far too long. Tried pOL because I thought politicians might cross the row. They don't. The cross aisles or floors. I mean I'm staring at a crossword grid full of rows and COLumns. What's wrong with me?
ReplyDeleteSE corner was the easiest, even though I had to guess at HOPSTEP. Sports clues don't usually faze me - I've played a lot and still watch hockey (religiously) and baseball (occasionally), but basketball exists in a different universe.
It was a good puzzle. I was just insufficiently prepared, after all the recent "easy" Fridays, for this worthy opponent.
Les S More
DeleteOne more comment Hope you don’t mind.
For me I knew it was in my brain what they wanted to go along with row. You know what accountants have rows and columns. . But I couldn’t retrieve it for a looong time Got it eventually.
just a heads up sat June 7 WSJ Gary Larsen and Amy Ensz is a just a joy
ReplyDelete55A: Litter pickup area? NOSE.
ReplyDeleteIt was under odor as well so kept it in for bit of sweat time.
46A. Pho flaver enhancer BONitA???? Like maybe Bonita flakes had another name???
Great puzzle but tough. Didn’t know the KEANU part so had to get those tough crosses
Similar problems as Rex but SOAP and. NATIONALTV went right in.
24A Keep from being touched oNbASE
Acting president made more sense to me than to Rex. An actor whose role is president would be such… in a way, no?
HooBOY! I did really well with the stacks and felt hopeful. Then came the ones for which our constructor aimed to DO IN any solver getting a bit too confident. I agree with @Rex about “incomplete clues” such as the one for SOAP (mouthful for the foulmouthed). Several places felt a little too cute in that way. As if the constructor is deliberately hiding something crucial. And, in my opinion is. And it appeared to me that Adrian Johnson knows the difference.
ReplyDeleteTake for example the clue for OPAL (milky resource found in the Outback). Loved that clue. Still tough but it wasn’t a “substance,” but a “resource,” a natural resource. I focused on resource and got OPAL, whereas a “mouthful” without an additional modifier leaned more toward foul words/language. I tried Smut that worked with ASADA (after I excised Adobo - knew it was one or the other). Anyway, the puzzle still would have leaned hard into Saturday with some editorial help on the incomplete clues. The MUGS as tavern vessels is another one that worked well with only two words in the clue. I tried keGs first which helped with I’VE GOT EARS but not much else in that area, so the MUGS won out. Point is, I didn’t have to think vats or an oast rather than MUGS because we were in a tavern not a brewery.
My toughest part was the SW corner. Even with BUCS, OPAL anD NANO, the rest of that chunk gave me some serious resistance.
Maybe we’ll get Friday tomorrow, although I really enjoyed the solve today.
Tough one today. Proudly popped in "lemon grass" for the flavor enhancer at 46A; almost went "TADA!"
ReplyDeleteVery challenging, especially for me in the northeast even though I had ann, soap and atta right away. “Bop” is not a very good answer for Charles Mingus speciality. And I think clam dip Needs a different clue as well.
ReplyDeleteMy solving experience was a lot like @Rex's today but I got a lot more joy out of it. What started out as nearly impossible in the NW opened up to a whole mess of fun in the other regions - I love when a puzzle does that.
ReplyDeleteI loved all the longs stacks and was equally pleased with the long downs, especially the cluing for INSIDEDOPE.
Learned about ATTA and SADKEANU today, along with the Nunez de Balboa guy - always nice to walk away with some cool nuggets like that.
I've commented before on the almost infinite clues offered up for LSD - I think today may be my favorite one yet, I don't think I've seen it before.
All in all a very nice Friday that gave me the workout I was expecting. Thanks Adrian!
Puedes contar conmigo.
ReplyDeleteWay too difficult for my brain. Very funny. The kind of gunk-free brutally challenging treat we should be getting weekly.
People: 6
Places: 1
Products: 2
Partials: 3
Foreignisms: 1
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 13 of 66 (20%)
Funnyisms: 11 🤣
Tee-Hee: INSIDE DOPE.
Uniclues:
1 Hose down hillbilly.
2 Ya know, like, initial, inaugural, original, foremost, earliest, and maiden.
3 Sits on the keg and says, "Wooo hoooo!"
4 Dance for those who didn't keep an eye on the bunsen burner.
5 Pride of a cannibal chef.
6 When it's not a whoopie cushion.
7 That moment in a Rom-Com when my wife seems surprised and happy and I start doing a crossword puzzle from the archive.
8 Dream of an elder-care assistant.
9 How annic begins if you are hard of hearing.
10 Goes on a wild tangent.
11 Say you didn't do it.
12 Old school inboxes.
13 Girl fight.
1 SOAP REGULAR JOE
2 DOIN' FIRST WORDS
3 ANOINTS TAP
4 LAB HOP STEP
5 BONE MARROW! TADA!
6 UP AND LEAVE ODOR
7 SLOPPY KISS ... YES!
8 NOT ONE MORE OPAL
9 PANIC'S SILENT P
10 DRIFTS VERBALLY
11 REVISE ANY REEK
12 A LOT TO DO TOWERS
13 CAT WALK BOP
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Kodachromes of big bird at the ball. EMU TUX SLIDES.¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Once again Rex gets it right...more like a Saturday for me, too. LOTS of stuff I didn't know so no real shot to finish even with crosses. Helluva clue for ART SCENE...NATIONAL TV was mid. I LOVE baseball and didn't remember ELSTON Howard (NY puzzle bias strikes again!) and HATE those SILENT P answers...actually had CLEAN TP (that's what's in my bathroom cupboard! JUST got the kitten reference for NAPE...OMH today!
ReplyDelete2 1/2 OPALs from me...NEXT!