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Opera with a baritone Iago / WED 6-25-2025 / Rite place at the rite time? / 2008 romantic drama starring Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Constructor: Ben Zimmer and Zach Sherwin
Relative difficulty: Hard (21:46)
THEME: CENTRAL AC — Eight answers in the grid (four across, four down) have their central two letters, AC, in their own box
Theme answers:
Word of the Day: TETRA (Flashy fish) —
Good morning everyone, and welcome to another Malaika MWednesday!! (Although I am writing this at nighttime on Tuesday-- it's been a fantastic night in Brooklyn.) Zach Sherwin! He is a comedian / songwriter who does a show called "The Crossword Show" which I was lucky enough to contribute to back in 2023. I don't think I've ever solved one of his crosswords, but he has solved many of mine! So it's fun to have the tables a little bit turned.
- [Historic agreement of 1215] for MAGNA CARTA
- [Expansive parcels] for TRACTS
- ["Dream a Little Dream of Me" singer of 1968, familiarly] for MAMA CASS
- [Healthful snack brand] for TERRA CHIPS
- [Onomatopoetic breakfast trio] for SNAP CRACKLE POP
- [Source of prophecy] for ORACLE
- [907, for a high one] for AREA CODE
- [Popular stocking stuffer?] for SANTA CLAUS
Word of the Day: TETRA (Flashy fish) —
The Characidae and their allies are distinguished from other fish by the presence of a small adipose fin between the dorsal and caudal fins. Many of these, such as the neon tetra (Paracheirodon innesi), are brightly colored and easy to keep in captivity. Consequently, they are extremely popular for home aquaria. [wiki]
• • •
Incredibly apt puzzle today, as NYC is getting obliterated by a heatwave. I have a very high tolerance for heat (+ live in a very dense, cool, pre-war building with high ceilings and a courtyard) and have resisted installing my AC unit for soooo long... but today (or rather, Tuesday) was the day that I cracked. 105 degrees is simply too hot to tough it out!! (So maybe the puzzle wasn't quite apt for me personally, as I have had CENTRAL AC for exactly two years out of the past twelve.)
Very interesting to see a rebus puzzle on a Wednesday! I think on Wednesdays, the rebus squares should have circles. But I also think that generally every puzzle should be slightly easier than how it was published, so maybe ignore me. This played hard for me in terms of cluing though! I finished three-quarters of this puzzle in about ten minutes, and then used over ten minutes just aimlessly guessing in the top-left corner. Those two stacked long answers (MAGNA CARTA and ALBATROSS) both had trivia clues that just didn't click for me, plus Bobbsey Twins trivia (NAN), space trivia (PLASMA), and referring to a TAMALE as a treat which just felt weird. It's a food item! Would I call a sandwich a treat, or an empanada a treat?
The theme itself was executed well. It's interesting to see how an idea for a theme can get implemented in different ways-- I think that this could have very well been a Monday puzzle with four long across answers that had AC at their center and no rebus at all. Adding the rebus made it a Wednesday level. I wish there had been a bit more of a rationale for why they were squished together in a box (I was expecting a revealer like "AC unit"), but I guess we wouldn't have gotten the down answers if the AC's weren't rebusified.
The theme itself was executed well. It's interesting to see how an idea for a theme can get implemented in different ways-- I think that this could have very well been a Monday puzzle with four long across answers that had AC at their center and no rebus at all. Adding the rebus made it a Wednesday level. I wish there had been a bit more of a rationale for why they were squished together in a box (I was expecting a revealer like "AC unit"), but I guess we wouldn't have gotten the down answers if the AC's weren't rebusified.
Stay cool everyone!!!
Bullets:
Bullets:
- [Flanged girder] for IBEAM— I read this clue over and over again and thought "those can not possibly be words. Are those words." Well, let me tell you, they are words!! "Flanged" means that it has a ridge on the end, and a "girder" is a piece of a framework.
- [Miscellaneous collection] for RAGBAG — Really??? Not "ragtag"???? What on earth!!
- [Bit of gear for Vermeer] for PALETTE — Was so stuck here thinking that the entry would be something super-specific to Vermeer and my hours spent rereading the YA book Chasing Vermeer would finally pay off but alas no
- ["Quickest way to Harlem," in song] for A TRAIN — This is the best train in NYC, in my opinion (so fast!! Manhattan Brooklyn Queens!! Beach!! JFK!!!!) but this entry took a bit to click because I associate the A with Washington Heights
- [Rite place at the rite time?] for ALTAR — Very good clue
P.S. One of my crosswords was published today! It's small and themeless and you can solve it here.
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82 comments:
Another late night solve. I’ll get the hang of this yet. But tonight this was somewhat gruesome. I fell asleep in a nice comfy chair watching a nice comfy British mystery show and woke up feeling as groggy as I do most mornings. What to do? A crossword, of course. I’ll admit to certain masochistic tendencies. So it was tougher than it needed to be.
Of course I wanted MAGNACARTA at 17A but I was still too sleepy to see a rebus coming a day early. And I missed my next chance to catch the rebus at 23A MAMACASS because I was listening to a playlist of female vocalists on my ancient iPod and the clued tune, which I love, couldn’t fight its way through the wall of Carmen McRae, Betty Carter, Blossom Dearie, Nina Simone, Sarah Vaughn, and so many others.
Loved seeing IBEAM instead of the awful, and too often used, IBar. And California SOBER was a treat.
A few queries. Why does the NYTXW only recognize one Dadaist? Inasmuch as Monet has become the only answer for Impressionism clues, ARP personifies Dadaism. What about Richard Huelsenbeck or Hugo Ball, writer of the Dada Manifesto. What about Tristan Tzara, whose name screams for inclusion in a puzzle.
Why are BEADY eyes avaricious? And why, why, oh why is 6D UPROOTER in my puzzle? When I want to remove a tree - stump and all - I employ different devices depending on the size of said tree; a mattock and a shovel for the smaller ones (and a ton of sweat), a backhoe for the medium ones. Sometimes, if the job is too big for my small backhoe, I’ll contract someone with a bigger one to do the job. If the stump is truly huge, you just leave it in the ground and plant around it. I guess if you’re clearing a plot for new development you’d want to take all the stumps out but, still, you’d use a bigger backhoe. There is, as far as I know, no such tool as an UPROOTER. I’ve said it here before and I’ll say it again: these guys have got to get out of the city once in a while.
Kind of liked today…realised early on that there needed to be a rebus as Magna Carta had to be the answer for 17A, and wanted it to be AC because living in Germany I am wishing it was more common here right now! Got to Mama Cass and it clicked, so then was on the eye out for an AC rebus in the centre of answers, which made the rest of the puzzle slightly nicer.
Not sure metropolis is the word I’d use to describe Leeds - it’s a city, but it’s not the county town of historic Yorkshire or even West Yorkshire. But between Leeds and Ripon, there wasn’t much debate.
Nice to have a puzzle that was slightly easier to solve from this side of the pond today…even if the spelling of analogue threw me for a while!!
Hard! But so good.
Yep, on the tough side for a Wednesday. I caught the rebus with MAGNA CARTA but still struggled a bit. No costly erasures but I’ve never heard of TERRA CHIPS and I did not know SÃO PAULO as clued.
Fingernails on a chalkboard stuff - UPROOTER, KEEP ON IT, NINE FOLD, and RAG BAG (I too briefly had RAG tAG Hi @Malaika).
Clever idea, mostly liked it except (see above)…
Not hard, but I made it hard by foolishly entering "exiled" instead of EXILES after misreading the clue and not knowing SUS. Getting MAGNACARTA was easy from the date, and mandated the rebus theme. Good timing for the theme, considering the heat wave.
Crossword tip: cluers like to spice things up with wordplay -- rhyme, alliteration, et c. So when you see a clue like "Tex-Mex treat" or "gear for Vermeer", the wordplay can be a signal that the clue is not as specific as it seems. Not necessarily of course, but often! So yes, a TAMALE is only a treat to some, but the word treat is there for alliteration; PALETTEs are not Vermeer-specific, but Vermeer is there for rhyme. In my mind this wordplay amply justifies what would otherwise be slightly inapt cluing.
Between being in an NYC mood after A TRAIN and also being un-caffeinated while solving, I entered DUANE for the “rite place” answer, somehow combining “rite” and “reade” in my head. 😂
I thought it was easy. AC came fast but maybe because mine is broken and I won't get it till Friday. Don't know why anyone would think it was hard
Yeah, RAGBAG was more of a WTF than a WOE for me--never heard that until today. And I confidently wrote in mAR for "besmirch", so couldn't see TAMALE for the longest time. But once I got the AC rebus trick (MAMA CASS did it for me) the themers were thoughtfully symmetrical and it got easier. Overall enjoyable, but @Malaika, I agree that this should have been an early-week puzzle with the AC in separate squares--it still would have been central. I dunno, the two-letter rebus seemed a little cheap to me. :) And now I can't help but wonder what Thursday's puzzle will bring....
Oh my goodness, Malaika! It sounds like you're not familiar with the Duke Ellington / Billy Strahorn song --Take the A Train. Please rectify that, preferably sung by Crossworld favorite ELLA Fitzgerald.
Medium-Challenging Medium once I recognized the Wednesday rebus.
Overwrites:
3D: RAGtAG before RAG BAG
18D: anN before NAN
52D: unA before EVA
WOEs:
ANA Cabrera (14A)
I'd never heard of California SOBER (31A), but I like it.
Simu LIU (61A)
Totally agree with @Les S. More and @jae about UPROOTER.
I’m one of the multitudes of us who confidently dropped in RAG TAG before RAG BAG elbowed it out of the way - I can’t believe it got a no-call on that one. I had it has a Flagrant 1 (step up from a personal, but not ejection-warranting).
This is a nice way to do a rebus on a Wednesday - the fact that the rebus squares were all pretty obviously going to be AC helped keep things moving (and obviated the need for those goofy circles - just keep your mind’s eye on the lookout for AC’s).
It seemed like it was on the heavy side, trivia-wise. I’ll await the official scorer’s ruling on that one (Gary). Even if that’s the case, it was a fair, workman like puzzle with a very timely and appropriate theme. Well done.
Pretty easy, but emotionally hard, as we are currently math'ing out replacing our entire HVAC system. WEVE struck me as very boring fill, but otherwise about what I would expect from a Wednesday these days.
Of course, took me a while to grok the rebus... cuz it's WEDNESDAY. But did they wait until this week to pick this puzzle??? Wow, amazing timing as the heat wave just peaked yesterday evening! 12:30 for me, so definitely hard for wednesday, but not too bad in the end. Loved that the ACs were dead center going both directions, and split across 2 words on all the long entries. Fitting 4 rebuses and a revealer in a 15 x 15 grid is pretty impressive. BTW, Malaika, did your smaller puzzle--fantastic! Enjoyed it : ) . Ben and Zach--enjoyed this puzzle a bunch. The olympic "blades" were a nice touch too.
I agree with Anon. 6:19 AM. Not super easy, but certainly not hard. MAGN(AC)ARTA came easily with 1215 in the clue, although it took a few moments before I knew where the rebus was. Not sure I understand how the supposed rhyme and alliterate help at all or were intended, but whatever. All in all, I liked it.
907 is one of the greatest area codes (the greatest is 989, in Michigan). But I suppose it means the highest elevation in North America, Denali in Alaska. The AREACODE for all of Alaska is 907.
Overall, a fun solve with some good marquee words. But I have issues... :)
First, I (and my first-generation Mexican-American wife) don't believe that TAMALEs are "Tex-Mex." They're "Mex-Mex." They're found all over Mexico, and you can buy them on just about any street in Mexico City. And the singular of TAMALEs is TAMAL - not TAMALE. That'd be like saying the singular of "kisses" is "kisse."
Also BEADY eyes are certainly not necessarily "avaricious." I associate them more with malice than greed.
And an UPROOTER is definitely NOT a thing. Stump-puller? Sure. We just use natural herbicides. But never an "UPROOTER"... :D
Forcing yourself into using RAGBAG instead of RAGtAG is a rip-out-the-whole-damn-corner type of problem.
It was hard *for a Wednesday.*
If the stump is big we call for a stump grinder, a messy, but effective, solution.
While I think I understand the association of BEADY with greed, it isn't attested in OED or Webster. As to UPROOTER, agreed there too. There does seem to be such a tool, but it is for weeds and saplings; you'd be hard-pressed to get anything worth being called a stump out of the ground with it.
Such a simple, elegant and perfect-for-crosswords theme. Props to the constructors for plucking it out of the ether and so ably executing it.
The grid design allows for thirteen longs, and twelve of those were appealing, IMO, giving the box plenty of pop. Twelve of thirteen! Bolstered by beauty in short answers (THUMP, BEADY, PALETTE).
I also liked the unintended mini-theme of A TRAIN, with eight answer that have that letter as the caboose.
But what I loved most were the answers that warmed my HEART, reminders of two so dear to me. PET CAT and RESCUE brought my Wiley to mind – he is both – who I tremendously love despite being the hairball king of the world. And SOBER immediately had me thinking about one of my children who has been that for many years, who is courageous beyond measure, and who I am so proud of.
A puzzle that delighted my mind and melted my heart. That’s a wow. Thank you so much for this, Ben and Zach!
Thanks for sharing the link to your puzzle, Malaika. Quick and fun!
Here in Vermont we grind any tree stump that we don’t want to leave in place. An uprooter is for pulling up large-ish weeds and, I suppose, very young trees—but the whole thing, not just the stump.
For the first time ever, today I caught on to the rebus quickly. Maybe that’s because MAGNA CARTA is hardly trivia. With all due respect to our beloved Malaika, neither is ALBATROSS as clued. So that NW corner fell fast. My sticking point was SAO PAoLO, which made the crossing HUTI into HoTI. Tracking down that error took a while.
In recent months I’ve become a great fan of the A TRAIN, which is the quickest way to where my brand-new granddaughter lives with her wonderful parents.
Somehow this one was on my wave length, and MAMACASS got me looking for the rebus early. I think getting the AC’s all central to the answers is a pretty good job of construction. Like some others I was too confident in starting with mAR, but eventually saw TAMALE. Did feel that UPROOTER was kinda green paint, but at least it fit logically. Stump grinders may be a more common tool.
Your theory is that delay deciding, Tex-Mex treat, bad bug, flashy fish, cheers in Chiapas, tax prep pro, formally forces out, and avaricious eyes are accidentally alliterative? And I suppose gear and Vermeer, and Biles and Chiles, also lucky coincidences? The wordplay is most obvious in situations like cheers in Chiapas, where you can pick any Spanish-speaking place in the world, or the pair of athletes. These people are serious about word games and they do it on purpose. Try to appreciate the effort!
My hatred of "rebuses" continues unabated. Publishing one on Wednesday? STOP. A crossword puzzle uses one square per letter, PERIOD. Please make it to away. I am less thrilled by multiple words in an answer, but I can live with that, because it follows the rules of crosswords. Let's put three or four letters in a square! Yuck.
UPROOTER? RAGBAG? BCCED followed by XED? KEEPONIT, not KEEPatIT?
And CENTRALAC? WTF that? Maybe because I live in Atlanta where everyone has an HVAC unit. Maybe because I've heard of central air, but not CENTRALAC. But, what? That's not, like, a real term is it?
Oh, looks like Google really hasn't heard of CENTRALAC either. When you search, the first result is Home Depot, not, say Wikipedia. In fact, there is no Wiki page for CENTRALAC - not even a redirect. So I'm not the only one. Anyway, Home Depot. ATL represent. Now, Uncle Arthur, please do something about how bad your soccer team is.
FWIW My IPOD died years ago with a playlist including Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Diana Krall & (even) Bette Midler which I made with a lot of love :(
Cool
The rebus kicked in at MAGNACARTA . I suspect a lot of us have AC on our minds right now. We had 100 degrees in the shade here yesterday, not what we signed up for by living in NH. Fortunately we keep a lake close by.
Probably a wheelhouse thing but the only no-knows today were TERRACHIPS and Mr. LIU. RAGBAG made sense to me. My mother had a RAGBAG. I suspect many who grew up in the depression saved everything, and my wife still does the same thing. Reminds me of a character in a Russian novel who had a box marked "pieces of string too short to save".
Nice Wednesday indeed, BZ and ZS. Very close to my Bliss Zone, and a pleasant Zippy Solve. Thanks for all the fun.
Yes to a stump grinder, no to an uprooter.
Thanks for the link to your own puzzle, there were some nice misdirections.
I believe the reason it's "CENTRAL AC" is because the AC rebus square is in the middle of all of the answers. Very clever!
Played much easier for me, perhaps because I hit on MAMACASS and MAGNACARTA needing the rebus right away. Everything else came through the crosses. No WOEs and near record time.
Enjoyed learning the singular of TAMALES, but definitely not a treat as a child. We had them out of a can, and they were awful.
If the clue were “Mexican treat” then the answer might be tamal. But the clue was “Tex-Mex treat” so tamale makes sense. That’s what they’re called in Tex-Mex lingo, and they’re usually served with chili gravy and maybe cheese and onions.
For Malaika: Good puzzle you told us about, but don't understand clue for IMO.
Enjoyed Malika's write up much better than the puzzle. Did chuckle at California SOBER. though
Also interesting as Malaika said "I associate the A with Washington Heights," because Lin-Manuel Miranda quoted a bit of Ellington's "Take the A Train" in his opening number of the musical "In the Heights." It's especially noticeable because the song switches from rapping to singing for that bit and uses Ellington's melody.
Hey All !
Hah, twixt still not working and having a Rebus, I was thinking it was Thursday. Then I read Malaika, and she says, "Very interesting to see a Rebus puzzle on a Wednesday!", and I was like, wha? Good stuff.
Wondering what TomorrowPuz will bring if we have a Rebus today. Hmm ...
Liked this puz. The AC exactly in the center of both the Across and Down. Some times, the Across is centralized, but not the Down, so that was nice to see. And the Center AC is exactly Dead Center!
Not a big music-term knower, so SLUR as clued was strange.
Writeovers, RAGtAG-RAGBAG, KEEPatIT-KEEPONIT,.
Have a good (apparently) Wednesday!
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
as soon as I saw HARD I knew Rex was out today. Wasn't hard. Very well timed though. and I was impressed that CENTRAL AC meant that the AC rebus was right in the middle of all the themers. Well done.
"Second quickest way to Harlem"....ATAXI. But I certainly do like the subway. Every time I take the ATRAIN, IBEAM.
I told a camping story the other day in my comments. The veracity of this story was questioned by several Anonymice, but whatever. Doubters gonna doubt. But I didn't mention that while camping all you need is paper, a match, some kindling ANALOG and soon you'll be enjoying the SNAPCRACKLEPOP of the fire and munching on LORNA DOONEs and TAMALEs.
I think an appropriate clue for UPROOTER would be ICE.
Nice timing on the AC theme with the heat dome-pocalypse settling in on you right coasters. Real enjoyable. Thanks, Ben Zimmerman and Zach Sherwin.
Very smoooth WedPuz solvequest. Unusual [yet not unheard of] rebus puztheme, but it was the same two letters, always splatzed in the middle [both Across & Down!], sooo ... ok, no biggie.
staff weeject pick: OPI. I'm gettin this one down, now. Thought of it immediately. That there nail polish company must be extra-pleased.
honrable mention to: A/C.
fave thing: SANTACLAUS with central A/C. And its clue.
Also kinda amused by THUMP/UPROOTER.
Thanx for gangin up on us, Mr. Zimmer & Sherwin dudes. Good job.
Masked & Anonymo8Us
... and now, with apologies ...
"Pardon Our Reach" - 7x7 themed runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
Son of a gun -- I think ALL of the ACs are dead center in both the Acrosses and the Downs. At least in all the ones I took the trouble to check, they were. What an amazing construction coup that makes this -- though my solve wouldn't have been any different if the ACs hadn't been in the center.
A very appropriate puzzle for the weather most of the country is going through right now. I'm Exhibit A for staying home in AC: I had an important post-cataract operation check-up appt scheduled at Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital yesterday when the air quality was very bad, the humidity was off the charts and the temps were over 100. It was a NYC record. I cancelled it the day before. I didn't give them a choice and they didn't give me a hard time. But I couldn't get another appt for two weeks -- condemning me to two MORE weeks of eyedrops before (hopefully) then being tapered off (two more weeks after that?) I've now been on these drops and others since April 22.
But emergency situations call for drastic action. My philosophy: The best vision in the world won't do me any good if I'm dead of heat stroke. What's happening to the climate now is shudder-making. I just hope Iran doesn't decide to take down our power grid.
I thought this was a pretty easy rebus as rebuses go -- made immediately obvious by MAGN[AC]ARTA. But there was some challenge in the surrounding fill. I enjoyed it and appreciated the timeliness.
The singular of tamales is tamal.
Can't agree that it was hard or that the NW was partilarly difficult; "flanged" and "girder" are familiar words (Malaika's and my different perceptions on this may be a generational thing). And I thought putting the ACs as rebuses was what made them stand out, and was also entirely appropriate since room ACs are indeed "boxes." Moreover, the SNAP CRACKLE POP answer was obvious, so that answer was an easy way to tip us off that there would be rebuses. All in all, this puzzle was fun and pleasing and seemed right on the mark for a Wednesday. No complaints here.
I read "pre war building" and thought "which war?" This puzzle played hard for me but fun hard not slog hard.
Yes! I had the same thought immediately.
I, for one, found your explanation — above and here — to be both interesting and helpful. I had also missed the gear-Vermeer rhyme, which may have helped me get the answer more quickly. You’ve given me a new solving tool. And I don’t know that I caught a single one of the wordplay clues you list here. They seem so obvious now! Perhaps, now that I know to look for them, I’ll notice more and better appreciate the craft of cluing.
Hard *for a Wednesday.* It played just hard of average for me. And a rebus on a Wednesday already raises it a notch in difficulty simply because it’s so rare to see.
No puzzle comment, just a shout out for Carmen, Betty, Blossom, Nina, and Sarah.
My husband has made a sort of hobby of burning out a maple stump in our yard. I think he sits in the garage with the door open, looks over and sees the stump, thinks, Hey, I think I'll give burning this thing another try! Me, I'd just put a flower pot on it or something.
I realized some sort of rebus was going on with this puzzle at MAMACASS but misguessed where the AC was going because I didn't know TERRACHIPS. MAGNA CARTA crossing TRACTS (with an ACRES write-over first) gave me the AC tie-in so the 58A revealer was no surprise.
I love thinking of Rice Crispies mascots as an {Onomatopoetic breakfast trio}.
Nice surprise Wednesday rebus, aptly timed for the current heat wave. Thanks, Ben and Zach!
On Wednesday rebuses, I agree with Malaika in cases where the rebuses vary, like this David Steinberg puzzle from 2018 - https://crosswordfiend.com/2018/07/17/wednesday-july-18-2018/
However, when the rebus is repeated like today it makes it too easy. The solver will work it out no later than the second rebus (and will be looking for a repeat after the first), at which point being able to enter all the circled answers in one go will likely make completing the rest of the fill something of a slog. If you still have to hunt down the other rebus entries, it retains interest in the theme.
A tip for the future: When applied to buildings, "prewar" ALWAYS denotes pre-WWII. At least in NYC, and the NYT operates in that environment. This is not arbitrary: the methods of building construction changed drastically after WWII -- and for most of the 20th century, prewar buildings were considered far more desirable, much better built, using much better materials and were much more expensive.
This changed in recent years when architects began imitating some of the best features of prewar architecture: limestone; thicker walls; higher ceilings, larger closets, but also put in things that many modern buyers want: floor-to-ceiling windows (I would get vertigo and never go near them), open kitchens, wifi-compatible whatever. Their prices compete with prewar and are only found in high-luxury buildings. Most post-war construction remains shoddy compared to prewar. Smaller rooms. Thinner walls, ceilings and floors. Less closet space.
The broker I worked with when buying the my apartment said: "I have prewar-seeking clients and postwar-seeking clients and they are not the same people."
No te rindas. Sigue adelante.
Humans will make this planet uninhabitable due in large part to carbon emissions from eating mammals, transportation, and mechanical cooling devices. Central AC makes it hotter, so we need more central AC. Seems like the kind of racket we'd set up on the way to the end.
And apparently, when it's hot, the gunk editors go on vacation and leave us puzzles like this.
I have BEADY eyes and I am poor as a church mouse. I don't even want more money because then I spend it on burritos and I'm plenty burrito shaped already. How come avariciousness isn't being spawned by these eyes? What am I missing here?
I added ANALOG to my favorite word list between CAULDRON and LOLLYGAG.
I kinda doubt any of my PET CATS would've fared well against a mouse.
I re-read The Rime of the Ancient Mariner a few weeks back and if you want to experience the claustrophobia of being cornered by a chatty old man talking about their interest in birds while you're trying to chase a bride's maid, it's the poem for you.
SLURS in guitar music are not used to indicate legato playing, but rather hammer-ons and pull-offs. Usually I write "connected" for legato because English is mo' bettah than Italian.
❤️ California SOBER. SNAP CRACKLE AND POP.
People: 9
Places: 2
Products: 10 {sigh}
Partials: 4
Foreignisms: 3
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 28 of 72 (39%)
Funnyisms: 2 😕
Uniclues:
1 Sots snockered in a saloon.
2 How to look cool under water.
3 Prohibition against calling people stupid to their face.
4 My wardrobe as described by my wife.
5 Brazilian baritone with a bad boyfriend.
6 What happens when you don't mind the gap.
1 SOBER EXILES
2 U-BOAT CENTRAL A/C
3 ANALOG SLUR BAN
4 RAGBAG NINEFOLD
5 SãO PAULO OTELLO
6 A-TRAIN ODD STEP
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: You smoke dope? Me too! WEEDER? AS AM I!
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Love, love, love me a rebus on a Wednesday! This was loads of fun.
But … for the second day in a row, far too many names/trivia entries. And one major quibble: An UPROOTER is a garden tool used to dig up deep-rooted weeds and woody plants. It wouldn’t have a chance against a tree stump.
I'd buy you rebus justification for AC right up to the point the revealer is CENTRAL AC, which is precisely the kind that doesn't have boxes.
I get all the answers are dead center, but that seems to me to be adding an elegancy and an inelegancy at the same time.
I wonder if there are entries that would allow for adding AC in the middle of types of window?
The book "1066 and All That" is a humorous sendup of English history; the authors explain that they including only the "memorable" details--i.e., those that most people remember (and how they remember them, which may not be historically accurate.) The results are hilarious. In the introduction, they say that they have included only two dates -- they had planned on three, but the third proved not to be memorable. The two included were 1066 and 1588; the one they dropped is not identified, but has to have been 1215.
I owe my ability to solve this puzzle to that bit of literary trivia. 17-A had to be MAGNA CARTA, even though it was too long, so I started looking for a rebus on a Tuesday, and there it was--and how appropriate! The temperature topped 100 degrees yesterday, and I did indeed stay indoors all day (except for a brief excursion to retrieve the garbage/recycling/food composting bins from the curb).
My one big problem was 38-D, where I had KEEP it up, and then KEEP at IT before finally resigning myself to ON. Who says that? Well I guess people do sometimes, but both of my prior choices fit the sense better. I was even willing to accept TWa LOVERS as a rom-com title, similar to "Up in the Air." But I needed the N for the revealer.
Are TAMALEs Tex-Mex, or more generally meso-American? Remember when the first George Bush claimed that Omar Torrijos had a freezer filled with cocaine, which later turned out to be tamales? The only one I've ever eaten was in Belize. It's possible that they originated in Texas and spread South, but unlikely, I think.
Legato does not mean SLUR; on a wind instrument, it means to play with a soft tonguing with no space between the notes; slur means no tonguing at all. But it may be different for strings.
@SouthsideJohnny 6:49 AM
You are correct SSJ: 39% with surprisingly few partials.
When MAGNA CARTA was too long, I waited for the Downs to see where the squeeze would be - and really enjoyed the aha at TRACTS as "Expansive parcels," when I'd been imagining some sort of inflatable packaging. Nice also that the MAGNA CARTA could be considered a different sort of tract. After that, I knew I was looking for more ACs, but I missed their precise central placement until the reveal. Fantastic construction.
Do-over: RAGtAG. New to me: TERRA CHIPS and the phrase CENTRAL AC (around here, it's "central air"). Creature comment: I don't recall ever seeing an ALBATROSS in a grid before, so that was a treat to write in; on the other hand, I've seen many a crossword TETRA - the only way I know of their existence.
@David Fabish 7:07 AM
They have tamales in Texas so the clue is fine. I would recommend if you are white, sporting an NPR beard, wearing Radar O'Reilly glasses, and eligible for the senior discount, if those are all true and you come to New Mexico and try to educate your waitress that tamal is the singular, you might wanna be ready to pick yourself up off the parking lot afterward as your lesson won't be as well received outside the cruciverbalist world.
@Nancy 10:51 AM
Thank you for this Nancy. Knowing nothing about the subject, I would've assumed "pre-war" would've meant cold, cramped, and run down. A synonym for undesirable, but you're saying it's the opposite. Cool.
I put in RAG TAg too, but didn't like it--it's an adjective, and the clue calls for a noun. If it had just been "Miscellaneous," OK.
Wiki has an article on "air conditioning," which covers all types. As for Home Depot, they probably pay for the high placement. More generally, though, I think AC is used more in non-English speaking countries.
I volunteer at a botanical garden. We use a weed wrench to pull small saplings, tough weeds.
Donald Hall, String Too Short to be Saved.
are not tamales a huge christmas tradition ? i.e. treat.
Some people down the street from us have a big stump in their front yard--7 or 8 feet tall. They put a peaked roof on the top, attached a tiny stovepipe with a cap on it, and the whole think looks like a cabin in the woods.
My sister lives in Mt. Horeb, WI, where people use chainsaws to carve stumps into trolls. It's become a tourist attraction.
Zach sherwin is BIG into wordplay, rhymes, puns, etc so makes sense. See his show of it every comes near you!! I’ve seen it twice. So good.
It's now out in the open; I no longer know what day it is. My initial comment referred to a rebus on a Tuesday, which I thought it was until I read Malaika--so thanks for that, Malaika, as well as for the nifty mini puzzle.
I was flying early, thanks to MAMACASS unlocking CENTRALAC and would’ve had a really quick time, except for that dreadful NW corner. RAGBAG? BCCED? I ended up thinking that Coleridge had some German vessel plying the waters in his epic. You know, ALte something (I had Ned instead of NAN). Oh, well . . . on to Thursday.
This was an incredibly tough puzzle for a Wednesday. It felt Saturday hard with both words and cluing - but at least a Thursday because of the rebus. It was semi-easy to find the ACs after getting the first one - but still a very tough puzzle over all.
As if one rebus (Thursday) isn't enough - please don't tell me this is the start of a new trend :(
Yeah, ok. But it's still a TAMAL. ¡Coño!
I need the A/C this week, but not in my Wednesday puzzle. Every day is a Thursday now, apparently.
I’m unable to enter 2 letters into one square. Supposedly there should be a “Rebus” function to click on but it doesn’t appear on my screen. I also read that I can hit “escape” on the phone but I don’t see that either. Any advice? Thanks in advance!
I hate brand answers (like Terrachips) and always wonder if they pay to get a mention in the crossword.
I’m still unable to do rebuses on my phone iPhone 13). I’ve read that I can select the square and then click on “rebus” above the clue, but that doesn’t appear on my screen. I also read that I can also hit “escape” after selecting the square but there’s no Escape on my phone. What’s the trick? Thanks in advance!
I’m a creature of habit so I was put out at first to see a rebus on a Wednesday. But this was a good theme. I did have a few beefs with the puzzle though. The NE corner was hard for me because ITSON was hard to come up with (thought it should be Imin and couldn’t get past that) and I didn’t remember TERRACHIPS. There are so many healthful food brands out there, how was one to know which? This is why I dislike product names in the puzzle.
I agree with others about BEADY -not necessarily avaricious.
I must say that the Bobbsey Twins are a truly olden times reference, but since I did remember NAN, I guess I’m a truly old person.
I love TAMALEs but would not have called them a “treat”, and they are all over Latin America, but are also Tex-Mex.
The clue for 36D asked for the musical notation, or mark, used to indicate that you are to play with legato. That mark is called a SLUR.
I hear you. But the boxes still make me think of AC, and though the revealer is for Central AC, the two things are still related. I just liked it and found it fun; I'm surprised by so many complaints! But I do. think your idea for diffrent kinds of windows sounds fun.
@Nancy - That's a great explanation!
Nice post today @pablo. Keeping a lake close by is such a great idea! And the short string quote is so good. Can you recall the title of the novel, or even the author, so I can try to track it down. I'd definitely read that.
Never heard of an Uprooter, so I googled it. Max size "tree" it can deal with is 2.25 inches so not really a stump and more sapling than tree.
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