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Hamlet's ill-fated love interest / TUES 7-29-25 / What's touch and go? / Setting of Switzerland's Glacier Express / Golden fruit that started the Trojan War, in myth
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Hi, everyone! It’s Clare for the last Tuesday of the best month of the year (the one I was born in, of course!). Hope everyone is staying cool as the ridiculous heat and humidity get even more ridiculous (at least here in D.C.). My sister, dad, and I went to watch some tennis at the D.C. Open, which drew some pretty big names, and we thought we might melt, as we were sitting out there in the sun for several hours. My puppy, Red, went on her first hike, at Harper’s Ferry — as we all celebrated my dad’s birthday in the best month of the year — and she was a rock star. My Reds, Liverpool, return to action in just two weeks, so we can see if they defend their Premier League title. Life is good. Maybe even great.
Anywho, on to the puzzle…
Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: BEND OREGON (55A: Western city hinted at seven times in this puzzle's circled letters) — The circled letters each form the word “Oregon,” bent in different ways
Theme answers:
- OREGON (starting with the O in SALON (14A) and ending with the N in SNORT (17A))
- OREGON (starting with the O in AGO (18A) and ending with the N in ION (15A))
- OREGON (starting with the O in PORED (16A) and ending with the N in I’M ON (23A))
- OREGON (starting with the O in DORSALS (46A) and ending with the N in I CAN SO (35A))
- OREGON (starting with the O in RUSHMORE (37A) and ending with the N in PANINI (44A))
- OREGON (starting with the O in BRODY (64A) and ending with the N in AARON (60A))
- OREGON (starting with the O in ORE (65A) and ending with the N in NOG (68A))
The aegis, as stated in the Iliad, is a device carried by Athena and Zeus, variously interpreted as an animal skin or a shield and sometimes featuring the head of a Gorgon. The modern concept of doing something "under someone's aegis" means doing something under the protection of a powerful, knowledgeable, or benevolent source. The word aegis is identified with protection by a strong force with its roots in Greek mythology and adopted by the Romans; there are parallels in Norse mythology and in Egyptian mythology as well, where the Greek word aegis is applied by extension. (Wiki)
• • •
That was a fun, clever theme. I got BEND OREGON (55A) easily, and that helped me fill in the rest of the puzzle, so this was a fast Tuesday for me. It’s impressive construction to get seven bent OREGONs in the puzzle formed in all sorts of different ways. The puzzle itself looked a little ugly as I was solving, but I think the payoff was worth having so, so many circles. I had the darnedest time trying to describe the theme answers above, because bits of several different words form each OREGON, so I kind of punted. I enjoyed how there were similar words close to one another in the puzzle several times. APPLE (9A: Golden fruit that started the Trojan War, in myth) crossing EDEN (13D: Unspoiled paradise) is brilliant. NORSE GODS (36D: Thor and Odin) ran parallel to EROS (54D: Cupid's Greek counterpart). LOGIC (32D: "___ will get you from A to B. Imagination can take you everywhere" (statement attributed to Einstein)) and IRONY (33D: Humor with a twist) were side-by-side. This is a reach, but DIABLO (6D: El infierno figure) and ELMO (21D: Muppet who's made guest appearances on "Scrubs" and "The West Wing") were also next to each other, and they’re both… red. Not that I like red, or anything.
The construction smack dab in the center of the puzzle let me down, though. RAS (37D: Dorm aides, for short) crossing PAS (39A: Dads) just looks wrong. The words are almost identical. Then, also in that middle section, there’s GAS as part of INERT GAS (41A: Argon or neon) and PAS again as part of PASSED ON (39D: Forwent). And “forwent” is about as ugly a word as exists.
I’d also be a happier person if puzzles stopped incorporating phrases such as I CAN SO (35A: Rejoinder to a doubter) or the usual “Are too” or “Am so” or the other seemingly million ways these dumb phrases are clued.
I didn’t love GO GO (38A: Constantly pushing forward). DORSALS (46A: Some fins), as a plural, also doesn’t work for me. Dorsal fins, sure, but DORSALS on its own? The clue for GLOB (43D: Hunk of melted mozzarella, e.g.) seems randomly specific. Why call out mozzarella instead of referring to cheese in general? The clue for RUSHMORE (37A: Mount with four faces that all face southeast) also randomly specifies that the sculptures all face southeast. Who knew?
I got slowed down slightly with BAD LEG (47D: Reason to wear a knee brace, perhaps) because I thought it could be “bum leg.” And I tried both “stiff” and “solid” before realizing the answer was RIGID (27D: Inflexible). But I didn’t get tripped up with most proper names in the puzzle: Sophia LOREN (4D), ROGER EBERT (20A), Mary J. BLIGE (19A), AARON Burr (60A), Adrien BRODY (64A), or NEIL Patrick Harris (59D). Your mileage may vary.
ENORMOUS (8D: Huge) was my favorite down of the puzzle. I also liked the mini mythology theme with NORSE GODS (36D), EROS (54D), AEGIS (34D), and APPLE (9A). And I loved OPHELIA (31A: Hamlet's ill-fated love interest). I’ve had the song "OPHELIA" by The Lumineers stuck in my head for this entire write-up. Luckily, it’s an amazing song.
Misc.:
Misc.:
- If you’re looking for a BOP (48A: Catchy song, in modern lingo), look no further than any of the many songs from the movie “KPop Demon Hunters,” which came out last month. It’s about a K-pop girl group who are demon hunters (shocking, I know!) and have to face off against a boy group made up of, you guessed it, demons. It’s genuinely very good. For BOPs, I recommend starting with either “Your Idol” or “Golden” (which is No. 2 on Billboard right now).
- I don’t know why it hadn’t occurred to me earlier that, of course, Leonardo da VINCI (66A) was literally from VINCI. Leonardo of VINCI. Duh!
- With 57D: Options for martinis, for me, the answer is olives, olives, olive juice, olives, or more olives. I remember the time I had a sip of a martini for the first time. when I was in college. I tried my mom’s and nearly spit it out because it was just straight vodka. GINS is an ugly plural, but at least the answer wasn’t vodkas.
- The best sandwich I’ve ever had wasn’t grilled like a PANINI (44A: Grilled Italian sandwich) but was on a trip to Florence. It was made on the freshest bread, with pounds of delicious salami and soppressata, and miles of stringy, salty cheese (not GLOBs). Even better, I ate it sitting on the sidewalk with a glass of €2 wine.
- My sister and I were just singing along to “Hamilton” and specifically AARON Burr’s (60A) parts. We were either annoying or indoctrinating our dad, who just finished a Rick Atkinson book on the Revolutionary War.
- Maybe I got BEND OREGON (55A) quickly because I’ve actually been there — once for a soccer tournament and another time to watch my sister at a horse show. It’s quite beautiful.
See you next time (which will actually be in just a week)!
Signed, Clare Carroll, BEND-t out of shape by the USCIS scheduling
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104 comments:
Panino = sandwich
PANINI = sandwiches
That messed up my solving time.
goodness maybe i’m just too young but i struggled to get uncle as the first across…still doesn’t make sense but hey 🤷♀️
Hey Claire, from one attorney to another nice write up, As a life long Oregonian, got the Oregon spin right away but embarrassed how long it took me to tumble to Bend. Will b going there in two weeks. Great to see the great state of Oregon as the theme. Apparently from a someone from Hawaii. Thank u Peter Gorman
Easy.
I did not know APPLE, DOGE, and CYS.
Costly - erasure Armor before AEGIS.
Cute and a bit whimsical…I mean “how about a puzzle that riffs on BEND OREGON?” doesn’t sound like it would show up in a list of 500 possible puzzle ideas..Liked it.
Always enjoy your write ups!
Saw early n that the bubbles were filled with Oregon. Filled some in with just a couple of the letters in place, thus making the words they were in come faster. But I took a while getting "Bend Oregon"
Then big smile when I did. Very cute theme.
Can someone please explain "doge" coin?
Cancelling my request. I looked it up and wish I hadn't, although the dog is quite cute.
I also knew Bend, Oregon (without ever having been there), so the "bends" all figured in to the solve. Fun puzzle. Very easy...once the circles made sense.
I am sure that in Florence the grilled delicacy of the freshest bread, with pounds of delicious salami and soppressata, and miles of stringy, salty cheese was called there PANINO, not PANINI, Panini is a plural.
The answer for 7D was enough to make me hate this puzzle. Wasteful destruction and chaos in the name of “government efficiency”? Please, NYT, keep the reminders of the current administration’s reckless cruelty out of the crossword—it already fills the rest of the paper.
And now I have “Ophelia” by The Lumineers stuck in my head. Thanks Clare. It is a good song.
LOREN (4D) gets me thinking about Loren Muse Smith, one of the brightest lights this forum has ever had...
@Lewis. Agree absolutely. Miss LMS’s comments.
Fun puzzle.
The only remaining Blockbuster Video store is in Bend, Oregon.
Guessed right on PANINI (incorrect, but often used in the NYTXW) and PANINo (correct, but rarely used in the NYTXW). It would have been so easy to make the clue plural - sandwiches.
Yes, I miss her terribly too.
Happy Birthday, Clare! And to your Dad Too!!
Easy. I got the theme after the second OREGON and like @SharonAK filled in the rest of them as soon as I got a letter or two.
Overwrites:
Nora before NELL for the Eleanor nickname at 24A
I wore a knee brace for a Bum LEG before a BAD LEG (47D)
I thought the Colemans were sYS before they were CYS (48A)
Similarly, I thought Mr. Patrick Harris was NEaL before he was NEIL (59D)
No WOEs.
Yes! Just what I was going to say!
I ignored the circles and just cruised through it like a themeless, which was actually a bit refreshing for a change. Got the reveal solely from the crosses - in fact I didn’t even go back and investigate the circles when I finished and forgot about the theme until I read Clare‘s write-up. I still enjoyed it though.
This is a beautiful grid build. The answer set is remarkably smooth, considering the seven OREGONs plus a ten-letter revealer, which greatly constrict the answer possibilities.
Adding to the constriction is that the OREGONs are all in a specific order. That is, starting with one of the O’s, you can spell OREGON without having to skip a square. Thus, you can have
ORE
NOG
as in the lower middle of the grid, but you can’t have, say,
REO
GON
because in going from OREG to ON, you’d have to make a jump. If the circles had been allowed to simply be anagrams of OREGON in any order, the grid would have been easier to fill.
And, somehow, on top of all this, Peter was able to splash beauty into the grid, with OPHELIA, AGOG, DIABLO, PRIM, AEGIS, and IRONY.
Plus, for me, a pair of bonuses. There was a TIL that “chortle” is a combo of “chuckle” and “snort”. Hah! Plus, there was the lovely PuzzPair© of GOGO and RUSHMORE.
A nod of respect for your skill, Peter, not to mention gratitude for the fun solve and extras. Bravo!
I've never heard of Bend, Oregon. I was sure this was going to be the Oregon Trail. But then I guess all the Oregons would have to be connected someonehow.
A fun, quick solve, although I initially had GLOp rather than GLOB, and therefore was trying to decide whether pEND was actually a town in Oregon - then I remembered BEND (East Coaster here.) I also wouldn’t call melted mozzarella either a GLOB or GLOp. And yes, PANINI is plural, but is common usage in the US as a singular sandwich, so I would let that pass.
Happy Birthday, Clare! Stay cool!
Hey All !
Clare, I believe the RUSHMORE clue was meant as a misdirect, albeit not a very good one, to get you to say "How can a mountain with sides on the North, South, East and West have "four faces that all face southeast"?"
Is today BEND OREGON day? Was the city incorporated today? Seems odd to have a specific city/state as a theme, maybe constructors hometown? As Rex would say, why not RENO NEVADA? Or ERIE PENNSYLVANIA?
Did like the puz. Nice fill working around all those Bent OREGONs. Funnily, have an answer of EGOS which isn't part of any of the OREGONs. ROGER EBERT doing some heavy lifting in NW. Followed by NORSE GODS in SW.
Good TuesPuz. Wasn't an auto-fill, fun finding the twisty OREGONs, even with seven didn't seem repititious.But what happened in SE? All BEND out of shape there. 😁 (I realize the Revealer is there, but it's also in SCenter, and that still got one!)
Have a great Tuesday!
No F's (two days in a row! UNCLE!)
RooMonster
DarrinV
In America-right or wrong-it has been decided and widely accepted that panini is acceptable as the singular term.
Me too. I think of her often. Where did she go??
Same here.
May I also suggest Ophelia by The Band? Fun, bouncy song.
Clare, sorry
My estimate of the number of people here who failed to bend Oregon during their solve -- or even to notice Oregon, for that matter: 100%.
My estimate of the number of people who failed to look for a bent Oregon after their solve: 98%.
I do imagine that Lewis tried to figure out the theme before getting to the revealer -- but I'd bet the bank that he wasn't able to.
Why do constructors persist in doing these intricate, totally ignorable themes that are completely irrelevant to anyone's solve? And I do mean anyone. Maybe because software makes a difficult (if pointless) task much easier?
I didn't see BEND OREGON at first, because I had GLOP instead of GLOB for the melted mozzarella. But at least I've heard of it. II know someone who goes to BEND every summer. He says it's a sports lover and outdoorsman's paradise.
I thought the theme was going to be Oregon Trail. :-)
At first I though the theme was going to be movies (Roger Ebert, Sophia Loren) and I thought, fun! So maybe somebody do one...
Figured out the OREGONs right away and thought they were "Oregon trails," so the revealer was still a pleasant surprise.
I miss her insights too. What became of LMS? Why’d she stop commenting? Was there a formal goodbye that I missed?
Lot of ugly plurals in this one (DORSALS, PAS, RAS, GINS), not to mention RAS crossing PAS and ending at GAS.
Faster and breezier than yesterday's Monday, for me.Nice twist, with the "bendy" Oregons. I liked it but probably would have switched the puzzles for yesterday and today.
LOL I came here to post this. I know English regular usage trumps the real intended usage but it does kill me every time.
And you would be right on both counts.
Leonardo FROM Vinci
Definitely a facepalm moment on VINCI 🤣
Boise Idaho was the first Western city that came to mind and fit so that slowed me down a tad. All in all, a fun Tuesday!
@SharonAK, DOGEcoin is cryptocurrency. Some folks think it was a very cute “conincidence” that Trump’s Department Of Goverment Efficiency is “acronymed” to DOGE.
Oops. Sorry
It’s basically a cryptocurrency brand name - DOGECOIN and Bitcoin are two examples. As to what cryptocurrency actually is, that will need to be explained by someone more knowledgeable about the specifics than I am.
Really enjoyed this one (even if I hate seeing DOGEcoin and the con/schemes it represents get attention). Great theme, and if I didn't love the fill (PAS, DORSALS, etc), it was fine for a Tuesday. And seconding KPOP Demon Hunters. It's fun and the soundtrack is amazing.
P.S. I think the answer to, Why would anyone do a theme puzzle around Bend, Oregon, is, Because they can! I mean, it's the NYT crossword; to me, anything goes, as long as it's well done. I like the wackier theme puzzles. And this was very well done, in my estimation.
Not in Florence, Oregon.
One grilled Italian sandwich is a panino; two are panini
For Nancy @ 8:11 am...I was able to pick up both Bend and Oregon. The clue referred to a Western city, but the fill included enough letter/answers to infer the city in question was located in Oregon. Bend was the only city compatible with the arrangement of the letters. I personally liked it.
Leonardo lived around 1500, before surnames were widely used. He used "da Vinci" (from the town Vinci) and "di ser Piero" (meaning his father was Piero).
Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln all share in common the unfortunate distinction of having all sorts or cutesy and clever little sayings attributed to them for which there is no source evidence. The only "evidence" you find for these sayings and their unsubstantiated attributions are that they are repeated and multiplied so much (and appear in countless number of PowerPoint slides and motivational posters) that the verification is utterly self-referential: certainty of the attribution is established because, well, everybody says that they said it, so they must have said it.
One wishes the New York Times crossword editors would not contribute to the proliferation of such unsubstantiated and unsourced nonsense, even if it ever-so-slightly hedges the claim, as the clue for 32D tries to do.
Didn't notice GO-GO paired wirh RUSH MORE and love that!
Another supporter of proper Italian here! I entered panino hoping for the best....
Easy, clever puzzle. As Clare said, actually getting OREGON to appear in so many ways without clunky, repetitive fill is a feat.
It's definitely a bit old-fashioned, but bullies used to pin people down and hit them until they said the word "uncle." I'm not sure why, maybe it's like how when one athlete dominates an opponent people might say that athlete is the opponent's father? I'm not sure, I was born in 82 and I'm old enough to know the phrase but too young to have seen it anywhere other than books.
I wonder if BEND, OREGON ever dreamed it would star in a NYTimes crossword puzzle? Lucky for it (and happily noted by the constructor), its name functions both as a noun - the BEND in the river that gave the city its name - and a verb, giving us a roadmap for the circles. I spotted OREGON in its home NW corner, and got the reveal from the B, so a quick solve. Cute idea and a constructing marvel to get all those circles to work.
I knew PANININI would set people off. Also DOGE.
As for me, after a couple of OREGONs the rest were fill-in-the-blanks. Seemed like a lot of work to get to BENDOREGON.
Nothing to correct except for ITISSO instead of ICANSO which is to say I found this very (too?) easy. I liked the Einstein quote and the reference to Jabberwocky, but otherwise nothing really stood out.
Impressive construction, PG, and a Perfectly Good stunt puzzle, but just not my cuppa today. Thanks for a fair amount of fun.
After fillin in two OREGONs, I could see that the puz was off on a bit of a bender. [Especially after peekin way ahead at the revealer clue.] Wasn't real familiar with BENDOREGON, but it does sound ever so slightly like somethin I might have heard about, when we visited Oregon many years ago. I wonder if we stopped there?
But knowin that OREGON was in a twister party throughout did help some with the solvequest. Saved some precious nanoseconds, fillin in them partial Oregon donors.
fave stuff: RUSHMORE [Saw it on our way to Oregon]. ENORMOUS. ROGEREBERT and his clue. UNCLE [whose openin U promised a great count ...not.] SHH clue.
Least fave thing: DOGE. [Just don't say "invest in me", at our house.]
staff weeject pick: SHH, on account of that there {Quiet sound?} clue. Also got a kick out of PAS, as PA (and MA) is a runtpuz weeject regular.
Thanx for a neat bent puztheme, Mr. Gorman dude. And a fun TuesPuz.
Masked & Anonymo2Us
... this next pup just could not keep a secret for long -- sorta like the bent OREGONs ...
"Secret Rendezvousers" - 7x7 12 min. themed runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
Who invented the circling in crossword puzzles? Could he (probably a he) maybe not have?
Puzzles are much more fun when they’re…a puzzle.
The clue on RUSHMORE is not just a misdirect -- it's a direct! Mountain faces generally face different directions; four faces the same way specifies RUSHMORE. But yes, this is a play on "faces".
FWIW, Leonardo was born in Anchiano
To continue beating my drum, the mozzarella is melted because of alliteration -- same reason the EASEL is a plein air painter's prop.
I guess I was in such a hurry to finish this puzzle that I never went back to see what was in the circles. Filling in BEND, OREGON, I mentally figured that something was bending in them but post-solve, I got a chuckle to see that every single one of the circle areas held OREGON. Nice one! I guess I should have realized the reveal answer would be taken literally.
But I agree with Clare that all of those circles made for a messy grid.
Nice job, Peter Gorman.
Last week when I asked for favorite puzzles, you thoughtfully suggested one from from 2013, with the doubles theme. I did it over the weekend and absolutely loved it. Not an aha moment but a big wow! It is now also taped to my computer cabinet and a solid first runner-up to my all-time favorite. (April 28, 2016, also a Thursday with a unique and very cool trick.)
I did not notice OREGON during the solve, just some jumbled letters which, as you said, were completely irrelevant.Then I only looked after the fact out of curiosity and shrugged. I finally got that Tom McCoy puzzle done. Quite a workout for me to finish a Sunday, but it was a good one.
I eat my pasta one raviolo at a time.
A couple years ago my wife and I spent a week in BEND OREGON, visiting an old friend who had retired and bought a small ranch there. So if I had noticed the circles while solving, I'd have guessed it -- but I didn't look at the circles until I got to the revealer. Anyway, it was a nice gimmick, even if bent Oregon would have been more precise -- but c'mon, it's a clue!
Some other things irked me, however. I'd wear a knee brace for a bad knee. True, the knee is part of the leg, but no one would say it that way. As for PANINI, it's true that the word is singular in US English, but the clue specifies Italian, where it's the plural of panino. And I think SEPIA is the result of a printing technique-- an interaction between the photo paper and the developer fluid--not a filter.
Interesting to learn that Charlie Parker was known for catchy songs, and that there is a modern coin with a picture of the ruler of Renaissance Venice on it.
OTOH, I was proud of myself for getting SALON right off, and for knowing that the word chortle was coined by Lewis Carroll in Jabberwocky.
Easiest clue of the day--birthplace of Leonardo.
Same here, exactamente.
Well THAT was fun. Whooshed through it without looking at the circles & appreciated the theme when I came here :). The only thing I didn't get was PAGER. A very nice Tuesday that could've run on Monday but I'm glad it ran on any day. Thank you, Peter., And Clare, I enjoyed your write-up - kisses for Red :)
Mi piace!
I wish the evil, Musky DOGE could be as easily avoided as replacing ION with IAN and AGO with ADO, thus waking up in Miami-DADE county.
Born in 59, a gimme.
I’ve learned a lot on this blog, oh yes,
But I’ve learned the most from LMS
Linguistics and grammar and humor, oh my,
I was not ready to say good-bye.
And so I learned the best lesson, you see,
Life is not always all about me.
Yogi Berra said (and I heard him): "I never said most of the things I said."
Them KPop Demon Hunters are some Hep Cats with their Bop and all. For sure daddyo!
All those things were actually said by Yogi Berra, or so I've always believed.
Yes. This happened when "puzzles" became games so the NYT could say "Play the puzzle".
A hundred years ago when I was an undergrad, my Economics prof (Schwalberg) needed the name of a beautiful woman for an example in class, and he chose Sophia Loren. But he called her "Sophie" Loren. A kid in the back yelled out "Sophie?" And Schwalberg, not missing a beat, replied "Well, to her friends."
Thirty years later we connected again and the first thing he asked was if I remembered his Sophie Loren moment.
@egs Thanks from Eugene, OR, for mentioning a coastal town in our county where 'panini' is singular.
Interesting to have been here long enough to see a rotating cast with some stalwarts. Someone reported on having seen LMS at the tournament. I guessed that her mother’s health was becoming more absorbing and she got out of the habit of posting? Hopefully someone didn’t offend her away…
You know the scraaaaatch sound of a needle sliding across a record? That was my reaction when I filled in the reveal.
First, I'm sure it's a lovely city/town/village but I've never even heard of BEND, OREGON.
Second, only a couple of the distorted OREGONs look bent to me. The others I would describe as more twisted, folded, serpentine, sinuous or some such. Now if there was a SCRAMBLED, OREGON....
Oh well, there were a few nice touches here and there and, as usual, Clare's was in fine form, so all was not lost.
Correct! The reason I did not include Berra among these other notables is because he never did actually say all the things that he actually said, as well as actually saying other things that have never before been attributed to him, but attributed to others instead, that neither he nor these others actually ever said.
Note to @Ari Stotle -- and didn't you say a lot of great stuff too? -- If you want to someday attribute a quote as good as 32D to me, even if I didn't actually say it, I promise to be very, very pleased.
D'oh! jberg -- I shouldn't have said "most" for Yogi. I heard him on a late night show (maybe Johnny Carson?) and Yogi was noting that a good deal of the stuff attributed to him was not said by him. He put it Yogily by saying "I didn't say a lot of what I said." But, you're right -- he did say many of the classics.
I'm kind of late to the party today. Didn't do the puzzle last night - my usual routine - due to a medical emergency of the canine sort. Our oldest dog, Simon, collapsed on the floor and couldn't get up. Even after resting for an hour he wasn't gonna move. So the kids carried him to the car and drove him to the vet where they were informed that he had a "massive tumor". I didn't ask for more details, I was too busy hugging and consoling. The tumor was deemed "inoperable" and he was put down.
I know Rex and many commenters have railed against terms like "mutt" and "mongrel", but that's what he was, the most regal one imaginable. 80 pounds of nobility. He wasn't my dog exactly; he came to the farm with my son and daughter-in-law, but I loved it when he would walk in through our open door for a visit or saunter along with me while I carried out my chores. Great dog. I miss him already. I feel for the kids.
Got to the puzzle this morning. Downs only. Got the Oregon thing early and decided to go down to where I thought the revealer would be. Pleasantly surprised to see BENDOREGON there. I've always wanted to visit Bend, mostly to fish the Deschutes River but I'm old and walk with a cane now so the fabled steelhead of that river are probably safe from my predation. I'm fishing smaller streams these days.
Nice puzzle, and I admire the various ways the constructor bent Oregon.
Oh, yeah, for those of you wringing your hands over PANINI, how did 5D ENTREES morph from starters (entree de table) to main courses?
Thanks for that light moment, @egs. I have fond memories of Florence and, in fact, all of coastal Oregon.
Thank you for your kind words, Nancy. As to your request, you surely recall my remarks regarding misattribution, to wit: "to say of what is that it is not, or of what is not that it is, is false, while to say of what is that it is, and of what is not that it is not, is true.” - spoken in Greek, of course.
I would think by now people of all ages have been exposed to the annual 24 hours of A Christmas Story, in which bilious bully Scut Farkus terrorizes the local youth, pinning their arms behind their backs till they say uncle....
I noticed OREGON and the bent shapes pretty much immediately and actually used that to fill in a few spaces before reading some of the clues. Maybe I really was an outlier here, but I wouldn't assume so.
Speaking of 100%: while I'm aware that PANINI in Italian is a plural form, every time I'm in a sandwich shop where they make the things, the singular item is always listed on the menu as a PANINI, and that's 100% in my experience. I've never ordered one in Italy though.
This one got a big smile from me. My sister's family has lived in Bend for 20 years, and I was just there visiting in June. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys outdoor activities, no matter the season.
@Lewis is right -- given the theme constraints, this is an amazingly good grid. Very Tuesday-appropriate difficulty level as well. All in all, a job very well done.
I have visited Bend several times, and loved it. But on the most recent visit I was surprised at how much the town has grown, and how swamped it was with tourists like myself. Which reminded me of a saying attributed to Yogi Berra (referring to a popular NYC restaurant): "Nobody goes there any more. It's too crowded."
Born in 49. Had heard it many times in my youth, but it took a while to come up with the actual word due to my faulty memory.. I guess there is a sweet spot for old timey references, and age 76 is not it!
For Whatsername @ 11:00 a.m.: I'm glad you liked it! I just looked at the archives and I did do the 4/28/16 puzzle. Looks as though I had to cheat on 10A/10D in order to get it, but it is indeed a brilliant puzzle! I'm working through the 2012 Thursdays now....
Clue was Old-Timey Photo Filter, in other words a current digital filter that makes your photo look like those old printing techniques
49er again! Don’t know if previous comment got published or not. Sorry if this is a duplicate. But anyway, I thought I would share a trip down memory lane. In my youth, the bullies would not knock you down. They would apply what we then referred to as an “Indian sunburn” to the victim’s wrist until the victim cried, “Uncle!” And yes, “Cry uncle!” is what the bully always repeated during the event. Nobody got hurt. It was just a thing kids did back then. Probably because we didn’t have social media to distract us with real trauma inducing pastimes.
To some of us who remember the 2000 election, a reference to Miami Dade county might be even more triggering than DOGE
Sincere condolences. We've been through this too many times. Sometimes it's expected and sometimes not, but it's never easy.. Hang in there and cherish the memories.
LMS is a favorite. Like a little kid waiting for Christmas, I hope one day Loren returns to the blog to continue to teach us while making us laugh so much.
Anonymous 12:23 AM er al
I agree with those who say English is English and once a word is incorporated into it English speakers will do what they want with it. That is the way language works To try to stop it is like telling the tide not to come in
Other languages do the same to English. In a French university I was confused by a sign referring to footing. They borrowed a word but changed the meaning to hiking.
Kitshef
I think a more accurate statement is panini singular used almost universally in the US not just in the Times As I said above that’s the way language works We borrowed a word and do what we want with it. As they do with English words.
BTW the changing of Italian food words in English has been going on a long time. When is the last time you hear someone say raviolo?
Mathgent
Interesting point. Many last names derive from a place a person comes from or the father’s first name.
I also read that while Leonardo was “illegitimate” his father acknowledged him as his son The father was well off but he could not treat him the same as a legitimate child. His solution was to use his connections to arrange an apprenticeship with an artist in Florence.
FWIW
Mathgent
autocorrect didn’t want to accept raviolo.
Les S More
Sad story about a great dog.
Entrees. Yes we forgot about words like that which we have used for a long time and forget the mangling of the word’s original meaning. Panini is recent enough so complainers are aware of it.
I liked this a lot. Cute, clever theme and everything does what it's supposed to do. The few things that rubbed Clare the wrong way didn't bother me too much, but all the things she liked I got a big kick out of as well.
Not much in the clever cluing department other than Permanent location? for SALON (which I thought was brilliant) but the theme and the feat of construction made up for it.
Am I alone or are there others that, no matter how many times they appear, still get confused with ENO and EMO, one the genre and one the musician - I just cannot keep it straight and always have to wait for crosses for the M/N. Luckily the cross was easy today with ELMO.
A lot of fun this one. Thanks Peter!
Having only been to Portland, I was wondering why I knew of Bend. One early commenter supplied the answer. It was the location of the chain rental store about which many human interest stories were published. ( I think it finally closed). Anoa Bob I can see why the theme bothered you but the clue had to avoid naming the state and the place is more well known than you may think it is. Bend. Close enough for crosswords (for me).
Actually I didn’t look at the circles at. all. When I was finished with the puzzle I came right here to have the circles explained. (But one commenter vehemently objected to this type of gimmick They are fine by me) I do agree that Clare’s write up was entertaining.
Uncle appeared recently. That’s when I learned young people don’t know it. So a second reminder of my age!
Anyway I liked the puzzle and thought it was easier than yesterday’s puzzle.
The Blockbuster store is still here in Bend. I believe the t-shirt sales supply a lot more of the revenue than video rentals, but it still provides a great trip down memory lane for many of the tourists. It’s a great place to live.
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