Famous misquote of a James Cagney line from the 1932 film "Taxi!" / WED 7-9-25 / Squids' kin / Popular digital wallet service / California college where the writer David Foster Wallace taught English / Repeated sounds in "Hey Jude" / Redheaded boy of 1960s TV / 1970s space station

Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Constructor: Desirée Penner and Jeff Sinnock

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium


THEME: Positional wordplay — answers around the edges of the grid have clues that playfully ("?"-style) indicate that position:

Theme answers:
  • MUTT (1A: Top dog?) (a kind of "dog" located on the "top" of the grid)
  • LID (5A: Top hat?) (a word for "hat" located on the "top" of the grid)
  • PISTOL (8A: Top gun?) (a kind of "gun" located on the "top" of the grid)
  • MEMO (1D: Side note?) (a kind of "note" located on the "side" of the grid)
  • BOARD (27D: Side plank?) (a kind of "plank" located on the "side" of the grid)
  • PUNT (58D: Side kick?) (a kind of "kick" located on the "side" of the grid)
  • LIMB (13D: Side arm?) (a category that includes "arm" located on the "side" of the grid)
  • PLATE (34D: Side dish?) (a kind of "dish" located on the "side" of the grid)
  • TASK (65D: Side job?) (a word "job" located on the "side" of the grid)
  • TROUGH (73A: Bottom feeder?) (a kind of "feeder" located on the "bottom" of the grid)
  • RAY (74A: Bottom line?) (a type of "line" located on the "bottom" of the grid)
  • BUCK (75A: Bottom dollar?) (a slang word for "dollar" located on the "bottom" of the grid)
Word of the Day: Taxi! (61A: Famous misquote of a James Cagney line from the 1932 film "Taxi!" = "YOU DIRTY RAT!") —

Taxi! is a 1932 American pre-Code film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring James Cagney and Loretta Young.

The film includes a famous, and often misquoted, line with Cagney speaking to his brother's killer through a locked closet door: "Come out and take it, you dirty yellow-bellied rat, or I'll give it to you through the door!" This line has often been misquoted as "You dirty rat, you killed my brother".

To play his competitor in a ballroom dance contest, Cagney recommended his pal, fellow tough-guy-dancer George Raft, who was uncredited in the film. In a lengthy and memorable sequence, the scene culminates with Raft and his partner winning the dance contest against Cagney and Young, after which Cagney slugs Raft and knocks him down. As in The Public Enemy (1931), several scenes in Taxi! involved the use of live machine gun bullets. After a few of the bullets narrowly missed Cagney's head, he outlawed the practice in his future films.

• • •

Hard for a puzzle with short themers to be very interesting. Once you grasp the gimmick, then you're just going around the grid picking up fairly obvious synonyms or rough equivalents, all of them 3-4-5s. Then, because of the theme (that is, because of a preponderance of 3-4-5s), you end up with a very choppy grid without a hell of a lot of interesting things happening inside it. The NYTXW is supposed to max out at 78 words, but this one goes to 80. What that means, for practical purposes, is there's a whole lot of short stuff going on. The marquee answer here is "YOU DIRTY RAT!," which I enjoyed seeing, and learning about—I've seen imitations of Cagney that quote the line, but I didn't know where the line was from, or that it was a misquote. But for lots (and lots) of younger (than me) solvers, that answer is going to mean absolutely nothing. You're asking people to know an iconic misquoted line that hasn't really been iconic since Cagney himself was iconic (when I was a kid, yes, still, but now ... only to TCM fans like me) (note: I don't actually have TCM anymore since I cut cable and (eventually) its streaming replacements, but I still feel loyalty—it was my old-movie University for a long while). If I had to name five Cagney movies, Taxi! would not be among them. In fact, I have never seen the movie and if I've heard of it, I forgot it. This is all to say—"YOU DIRTY RAT!" a very deep cut for a Wednesday, and a highly anomalous answer in this puzzle for that reason. Generationally divisive for sure. I think it's the most interesting thing in the grid. Others ... are (maybe) not apt to feel that way.


All the plays-on-words in the theme clues are actual things, which is nice. Sometimes when you have to use repeated phrasing like this (top top top, side side side, etc.), you end up with at least a few clues that feel forced, but to me, only "side job" feels a little off, but it's not; not really. I think it's largely been replaced by "side hustle," and that's why it doesn't feel as solid (to my ears) as the others. But it's perfectly legitimate. It's possible "side plank" won't be well known to some people, but it's a pretty common core strengthening exercise (and, as vasisthasana, a staple of many yoga classes), so there's no reason to object to it. I didn't like how the relationship between clue word and answer word was not consistent. That is, the answer is an example of the word in the clue (e.g. PISTOL is a kind of "gun") ... but then, with LIMB / "arm," the category / example relationship gets reversed (e.g. "arm" is a kind of LIMB) ... and then a few other times, the answer is just a synonym of the clue (e.g. BUCK and "dollar," PLANK and "board"). The concept still works, but it keeps changing how it works, slightly, from answer to answer.


Because the fill is so frequently short, it ends up on the weak side. LOL at LALA *and* NANANA being in the same grid. NANANA has me saying "nah ... nah, nah" (70A: Repeated sounds in "Hey Jude").That's not an answer, that's a typo of "BANANA." If you replaced that first "NA" with SHA, you'd have a band. But otherwise, just say no no no to NANANA. There's scads of other short repeaters (ANODE ATO ETA EPEE ÉTÉ etc.) and a few words I only ever see in xwords (looking at you, GNAR ... also MISAIM). But there's nothing here to get particularly mad at. Oh, except ... I expect the OCTOPI-haters to be out in force once again (16A: Squids' kin). "That's not how you pluralize ... [sputter] ... Greek! ... [wheeze] ... not Latin! ... No!" Blah blah blah, I know, I know, I don't like it either, but it's in the dictionary, so please read this fantastic discussion of the Octopus Plural Dilemma at Merriam-Webster (dot com), and then get over it. Thank you. Actually, here—a little consolation for the OCTOPI-weary: if you're persnickety about these things, you'll love this 19th-century swipe at "modern" spellings:
But as the Octopus grew and multiplied, it became necessary to speak of him in the plural; and here a whole host of difficulties arose. Some daring spirits with little Latin and less Greek, rushed upon octopi; as for octopuses, a man would as soon think of swallowing one of the animals thus described as pronounce such a word at a respectable tea-table. In this condition of affairs, we are glad to know that a few resolute people have begun to talk about Octopods, which is, of course, the nearest English approach to the proper plural. (The Bradford Observer, 1873) (via merriam-webster.com)

Round-up:
  • 20A: Number with 12 zeros in the U.S. but 18 zeros in other parts of the world (ONE TRILLION) — I need to know what these "other parts of the world" are and what (in the world) they call the number with 12 zeros, then. I know that ONE BILLION, until fairly recently, had a different meaning in Britain (the "long scale" million million, or 10 to the 12th power, as opposed to the "short scale" 1,000 million, or 10 to the 9th, which is now the standard in all varieties of English). So a "long scale" billion is actually more than our standard trillion. It's absurd to me that these values weren't standardized across Englishes from the jump.  
  • 31A: Popular digital wallet service (CASH APP) — according to Pew Research in 2022, 26% of U.S. adults have used this app at least once. I am not one of those adults. But I somehow "knew" this answer. It sounds like a category of app and not an actual app ("hey, what CASH APP do you use?"), but nope, that's the name; CASH APP (formerly "Square Cash").
  • 8D: California college where the writer David Foster Wallace taught English (POMONA) — hey, it's the alma mater of ... me! And NYT Mini Crossword editor Joel Fagliano! I was too old (c/o '91) to have had Wallace (d. 2008) as my professor, and Joel (c/o '14) was too young.

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
=============================
❤️ Support this blog ❤️: =============================
✏️ Upcoming Crossword Tournaments ✏️
=============================
📘 My other blog 📘:

35 comments:

Anonymous 5:59 AM  

The numbers in the US/Canada are based on powers of 1000; every time you multiply by 1000, you get a new prefix. 1000^2 = 1 million, and you add another factor of 1000 to get 1000^3 = 10^9 = 1 billion, and another gives 1000^4 = 10^12 = 1 trillion and so on. The "problem" with this system is that the prefix tri means 3, but it's 1000^4, and bi means 2 but billion is 1000^3, so there's this "off by 1".

In contrast, the long scale is based on powers of 1,000,000 (1 million). So 1 billion is 1,000,000^2 = 10^12, what we in the US would call a trillion. 1 trillion would be 1,000,000^3 = 10^18, and this is 1000^6 so in the US it's a quintillion. The numbers in between get the same prefixes but with -ard instead of -on. So a US billion, 10^9 = 1000^3, in the long scale is called a milliard. 1000^4 = 1,000,000^2 is a billion, and 1000^5 is a billiard, then trillion, trilliard, etc.

Son Volt 6:03 AM  

Yup - a bit wonky working the short fill along the perimeter of the grid. Pretty straightforward for midweek - liked ONE TRILLION x LEVITATE and YOU DIRTY RAT.

It’s a shame about RAY

MISAIM is rough and although I’ve always loved the skit - BASEMEN is awkwardly used here. Didn’t we see MOOLAH this week already? Learned POMONA from Rex over the years.

A PISTOL shot, at five o'clock, the bells of heaven ring,

Pleasant enough Wednesday morning solve.

We’ll meet on EDGES soon said I

Bob Mills 6:05 AM  

Closer to a Tuesday in difficulty, I thought. Easy theme to pick up made it a fast solve, except I had "superdog" before SUPERBOY at first. Knew the Cagney quote (every impressionist in early TV used it), but didn't know the background (thanks, Rex).

Anonymous 6:29 AM  

The Beatles sing “da-da-da-da” in Hey Jude. Not “na-na-na-na.” Official lyrics have been available since 1968 or check the published sheet music.

Stuart 6:30 AM  

Pretty easy, yet still interesting. Got the theme immediately.

And I learned something: “The NYTXW is supposed to max out at 78 words.” Never knew that before. Where do constructors learn tidbits like that?

Conrad 6:43 AM  


Easy once I realized I could ignore the "directional" parts of the edge clues.

Overwrites:
MISs It before MISAIM at 19A
apu before NED at 30D
GrrR before GNAR at 59D

One WOE, Jason SEGEL at 38A. I probably know him, but I needed all the crosses.

Anonymous 6:45 AM  

Thank yoy!

Anonymous 6:47 AM  

NYT has an xword submission guide on their site.

Anonymous 6:55 AM  

annoying

Benbini 7:01 AM  

GNAR is a new one for this solver, sounds like something a dog would do to a bone on a pirate ship.

Lewis 7:13 AM  

Because the theme was clear after getting MUTT, my first answer, this was essentially for me a themeless mid-week puzzle (Hi, @mark!) – something different, and I like different.

[Repeated sounds in “Hey Jude”] can be, finally, a non-rapper clue for NAS!

I like the concept presented in row 10, of DAYTIME APOSTLE, one who, as the sun is up, is a strict religious adherent, but who, after the sun goes down, puts that all aside and wallows in iniquity.

GOB, STUB, NIT, BOLT (as clued) – little words with verve! And GNAR, pure loveliness.

Two theme echoes: [Inner city?] and [Inner child?], for POMONA and OPIE.

Do you pronounce YANG of YINYANG to rhyme with “thong” or “sang” or something different? Discuss.

Been a while, I think, since we’ve had a puzzle where the theme framed the puzzle – welcome back!

Fun outing today, Desirée and Jeff, got my mind bouncing all over the place. Thank you!

SouthsideJohnny 7:16 AM  

This was pretty much a textbook example of a puzzle I can handle. Once you grok the gimmick, you can ignore the directional part of the theme clues and it becomes a de facto themeless.

There wasn’t too much gunk, so for me it reduced to fighting my way through the mini trivia-test in the NE section where POMONA, Auntie ANNES, CASH APP and SEGEL were all hanging out together. It didn’t help that I forgot what a cotillion is as well. Anyway, I was able to persevere and weathered the storm.

I’m definitely in the cohort that remembers Jimmy Cagney (and has no clue what SUPERBOY’s secret identity is).

EasyEd 7:59 AM  

For some reason the Cagneyesque YOUDIRTYRAT was a staple of my younger years. Much fun to mimic or hear someone else mimic. Also popped up from time to time in the Bronx Brooklynese version—YOUDOITYRAT. a fun puzzle with a lot of old-timey references as well as a mathematical conversation piece. The proper names in the NE gave me some trouble.

Anonymous 8:02 AM  

Rex’s commemts on trillion and billion brought this to mind:
The media conflate millionaire and billionaire to define wealth. While there is some truth to that, in realty, $1M in $100 bills weighs 22 lbs; $1B in $100 bills weighs 11 TONS. Which is why, of course, the oligarchs need lower taxes.

Anonymous 8:12 AM  

Despite being somewhat famously difficult, he was a good professor ('06, here)! He also played a decent game of tennis

Whatsername 8:21 AM  

Thought this was a fun theme, nice to have something different, but awfully easy for a Wednesday. Those first three across entries left very little challenge at all in seeing the theme conceit, then the fill didn't take long.

Was never a fan of Cagney - he always seemed to play a character who was angry and pugnacious. Not sure I could name even a single one of his films, but the DIRTY RAT trivia was interesting. On the other hand I was a mega fan of The Beatles and the song but still had to stop and think if it was NA NA NA NA or SHA na na.

Anonymous 8:24 AM  

Didn't understand the theme but still finished this one in 5:47...

Dr. A 8:27 AM  

I am definitely learning today about these non standard number prefixes! And never heard GNAR or maybe I did and forgot it. But this was a fun one, also loved learning about OCTOPODS but I think this is one of those vernacular things that just get accepted over time. Octopi sounds good enough for most people.

kitshef 8:31 AM  

@Stuart - See this page https://www.nytimes.com/article/submit-crossword-puzzles-the-new-york-times.html#link-4e1276cf and scroll down to "Technical Specs" for the NYTXW guidance. I believe every guideline has been violated at least once.

kitshef 8:34 AM  

NANANA is not repeated. NA is repeated. They come in groups of eleven, a prime number, so you could answer NA or NANANANANANANANANANANA, but not NANANA.

MaxxPuzz 8:39 AM  

Exactly! French, Italian, and German, for only a few instances, follow the non-U.S. model for billion: milliard/miliardo/Milliarde versus billion/bilione/Billion for U.S. trillion.

Anonymous 8:41 AM  

It is definitely NA and not DA in Hey Jude.

pabloinnh 8:42 AM  

So the "top" answers are on the top and the "side" answers are on the side and the "bottom" answers are on the bottom. Got it. Actually thought this was well done, never heard of a "side plank", so thanks to OFL for the explanation, as that one felt off to me.

Very easy Wednesday, only no-knows were CASHAPP, which I have never used, and Mr. SEGEL, from something I have never seen.YOUDIRTYRAT was a gimme for someone of my age, nice to learn it's a misquote. My most-used Cagney quote is "Come and get me copper!". which I say to myself every time I m going 33 mph and trigger the "your speed" sign that says "Speed Limit 30".

Had E _ _ and wanted the state animal of Utah to be an EEL. Shucks.

Nice enough Wednesdecito, DP and JS. It Did Play Justa Smidge easy for me, but thanks for a fair amount of fun.

Anonymous 8:43 AM  

Oh how I loathe the expression “side hustle.” Perhaps due to this, “side job” still feels perfectly within the vernacular to me.

RooMonster 8:54 AM  

To continue with the USA -illion scale, the names go up to Vigintillion, which is 1 + 63 Zeros. (It's 1 + 120 Zeros in England/British). I will list them in progressing order.
Million, Billion, Trillion, Quadrillion, Quintillion, Sextillion, Septillion, Octillion, Nonillion, Decillion, Undecillion, Duodecillion, Tredecillion, Quattuordecillion, Quindecillion, Septemdecillion, Octodecillion, Novemdecillion, Vigintillion.
And that's from memory!

RooMonster Zero Guy

RooMonster 9:06 AM  

Hey All !
Got a chuckle out of seeing OCTOPI. "Here we go again!" was my first thought. Just accept it, anti-OCTOPI people. Like I have to accept the stupid spelling of WOAH, as apparently it's not going anywhere.

Was a Revealer really necessary today? It didn't mess up the fill having EDGES in the Center (well, except PGS), but feels superfluous.

Read my Number naming up above as a Reply to the first post. Educate yourself! 😁 Good party trick.

Have seen EDGE puzs like this before, am impressed by getting fill to work, as all the puzs edge answers/letters are locked in place. Plus, add in a Revealer, albeit away from the EDGES as is possible. Still a tough task.

Nice WedsPuz.

@Gary - Make it rain! - LEVITATE MOOLAH.

Have a great Wednesday!

No F'S - YOU DIRTY RAT!
RooMonster
DarrinV

Sohaib 9:10 AM  

Thought for a while that I might not get there. The south west corner (ARNO and GNAR crossing NANANA is terrible) and middle bottom section (had row instead of RAY for a while, and never heard of GOB) were the last to yield but got there eventually.

Overall, not the most pleasant solving experience with the short fill but I’ll take the gold star and hope for a tastier puzzle tomorrow!

mathgent 9:11 AM  

I'm old but I never saw that Cagney movie. But I have seen Abbot and Costello do who's on first a few times. I don't know is the second baseman and I don't care is the shortstop.

Anonymous 9:12 AM  

Maybe I’m slow or a grouch but most of the top/side/bottom don’t actually do anything, they just announce a thing that this already known visually. Yes those clues are on the top of the grid, but we can see that. They don’t have anything to do with the answer. A mutt is a dog. There is nothing in mutt that makes them top. An arm is a limb at your side, a buck is the bottom dollar (bill), but in the majority of the clues the geographic designstions don’t actually relate to the answer.

jb129 9:14 AM  

Looks like it's Na-na-na-na-na per Utube

egsforbreakfast 9:23 AM  

I chuckled at the idea of Superdog having a secret identity as Conner Kent.

Anonymous 9:30 AM  

Is YOU DIRTY RAT really an unknown to the young ‘uns these days? Seemed so pervasive in cartoons and pop culture generally. But I know that kind of thing certainly happens with time.

Anonymous 9:31 AM  

I remember when it came out. Never heard of da da etc.

Gary Jugert 9:45 AM  

@RooMonster 9:06 AM
Haha! Love it. Make it rain UP!

beverly c 9:53 AM  

Ha! Ha! Your “Come and get me copper!” Reminds me of The Detectorists scene where the pals are so thrilled to pass their rivals (riding a scooter) - maybe they got up to 33 mph in their car.

  © Free Blogger Templates Columnus by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP