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Purple-hatted Nintendo character / SAT 8-9-25 / Little Italian toasts / Villainous group of science fiction / Series of mental blocks? / "The Ultimate Trivia Destination," per its website / People whose flag depicts the Lion of Judah / Actress Lombard of classic Hollywood
Saturday, August 9, 2025
Constructor: Aidan Deshong and Akshay Seetharam
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Word of the Day: WALUIGI (13A: Purple-hatted Nintendo character) —
Waluigi [...] is a character in the Mario franchise. He plays the role of Luigi's arch-rival and accompanies Wario in spin-offs from the main Mario series, often for the sake of causing mischief. He was created by Camelot employee Fumihide Aoki and was voiced from 2000 to 2022 by Charles Martinet, who described Waluigi as someone with a lot of self-pity. Waluigi's design is characterised by his tall stature, thin and lanky frame, and his purple and black outfit with a purple hat, which displays an inverted yellow "L".He was designed as Wario's tennis partner and sidekick, debuting in the 2000 Nintendo 64 game Mario Tennis. He has featured in over 50 video games, appearing in at least one game every year since his debut until 2022. He is a playable character in Mario sports games, most Mario Party games, and also in the Mario Kart series. He has also made cameo appearances in other video games, such as the Super Smash Bros. series.
Since his debut, Waluigi has received a polarised reception from the media, often being accused of having few defining characteristics and minimal backstory. He has attained a cult following, especially helped through his use as an Internet meme. Although he has never appeared in his own video game or any mainline Mario game, critics have described him as one of Nintendo's mascots and a cult hero.
• • •
[Florence Pugh sneaks a very dubious "Martini" demo into this CROSTINI demo]
- 25A: Windjammer, e.g. (SHIP) — I had SAIL. Then I had SHOE.
- 32A: Rabbit food? (EASTER CANDY) — the EASTER Rabbit (aka "Bunny") brings CANDY (which is, technically, "food") to good children, just like in the bible.
- 33D: Series of mental blocks? (TETRIS) — how are the blocks "mental?" I got this answer very easily, but ... I guess the idea is that you have to use your "mental" powers to arrange the blocks strategically.
- 49A: "The Ultimate Trivia Destination," per its website (SPORCLE) — are SPORCLE quizzes still a big deal? Seems like they had a moment and then I stopped hearing about them. Big overlap between crossword and trivia enthusiasts. I am not part of that overlap. I'll do a SPORCLE quiz if it's put in front of me, but I'm not "enthusiastic" about it. I just identified 20/20 "Popular People in 1987," though it did involve an absolute guess in putting the names with the faces of the last two. Never heard of Nelson Piquet or Ruud Gullit. Ruud!? RUUD?! Where has that name been all my life? If he were truly famous, you'd think he'd've made an appearance or two in the NYTXW by now.
[OK so he's widely considered one of the greatest football players of all time. Pardon my ignorance. You can put him in the puzzle now. I'm ready]
- 5D: Villainous group of science fiction (SITH) — first thought: BORG ("Resistance is futile"). Second thought: AXIS (that's a "villainous group" of non-fiction). KAOS? That's spy fiction. Eventually SITH just sort of filled itself in.
- 11D: #1 on BBC's list of greatest 21st-century TV series (THE WIRE) — the "BBC" part really threw me. Is it the Baltimore Broadcasting Corporation now?
- 42D: American in Paris? (YANK) — since it's an English word, I think of it being more of an American in London or American in Sydney situation. But then those aren't movie titles, are they? No funny misdirection there.
See you next time.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
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133 comments:
Uh, “heading to bed by 9pm … and then waking at 4am (which no one but me and professional bakers are doing) ….” Not true, mon ami. That’s my MO. So it’s now 5:05 AM and my puzzle is done (with medium difficulty, BTW).
Found it interesting that WWI got its name “almost two decades after it ended,” which was two years before WWII began. How could that be?
On the Easy side of Easy-Medium for a Saturday.
Overwrites:
1D: come ON before AW C'MON
7A: income before ASSETS
27A: hiD ON before LED ON
43D: lOOP before HOOP
45D: 'TIs before 'TIL
WOEs:
WALUIGI at 13A, although the LUIGI part was inferrable
The Balzac novel at 24D
SPORCLE at 49A
Rex, you’re not really an old man until you’ve experienced JAMAIS-VU. Me, I’m all the time doing something like coming across a scrap of paper with a note in my handwriting and having no recollection of when or why I wrote it. It feels like I’m seeing it for the first time, but that can’t be true. This never happened when I was younger, but now . . .
Mostly easy for a Saturday, but I had "tis" instead of TIL before finally recognizing SKULKS, a word I've never used and rarely seen. SPORCLE required an alphabet run. Now it's back to the (very hard) Spelling Bee.
There are going to be some pedants who claim Star Wars is fantasy, not science fiction. I’m not one of them, but I’ve heard the arguments plenty.
For some reason I found this ridiculously easy: a personal best for a Saturday at 6:40.
My only over-write on this very easy Saturday was a semi-malapop. I had Sass at 8D initially, only to run into SASSY at 25D later on.
Clue for Yank is terrible.
Some fun to be had in the center, with EASTER CANDY being pretty evident once a few crosses were in place. That helped in finally discerning the cleverly clued CUT and PASTE. Another positive note - I know Joy BEHAR so I batted .500 for the dreaded PPP-cross with BETTE (would have nailed it if the Divine Miss M were still in the neighborhood).
Q: Why include stuff like WALUIGI, JAMAISVU and SPORCLE in an otherwise pristine grid ?
A: JUST BECAUSE.
I thought the puzzle was too easy for a Saturday. It took me half the time that yesterday did. And was close to my fastest time ever.
And I often do the puzzle soon after it is posted because I spend a lot of time in China and it appears at 10 or 11am there.
And I particularly liked skulk as an answer, but nothing else stood out
Hey All !
I'm up at ungodly hours also, Rex! And I'm not a baker ... I used to start work at 8AM, would get up at 4:30 - 5AM, to do the puzzles and drink some coffee, but now I start work at 7AM, so now I get up at 3:30AM! It gets in all the necessary things needed to be done in the morning.
Had a tough time getting started today, but once I got an answer here or there, it started whooshing along. I actually got puz 3/4 finished in 20 minutes, which for me on a SatPuz, is flame trails behind the feet fast. But then the NW corner took me 10 minutes!
For SITH, had Rex BORG, then ELOI, and kept wanting 1A to end in AT. WALUIGI was new here. Wanted either MRLUIGI or DRLUIGI. AUDI before OLDS, before finally seeing "informally" in the clue. Plus Lombard, her name not in front of the ole brain, a Shakespeare quote, and wanting to shove CMONMAN in only six spaces.
Nice Center sextant of crossing 11's. Wide open grid, light junk. A lot of "S" enders. Wonder the rating @Anoa will give.
Have a great Saturday!
No F's - AW CMON!
RooMonster
DarrinV
I’m a nighttime solver. Too many other puzzles/games to get out of the way in the morning (including SPORCLE quizzes).
“Say but not really mean” feels like it should’ve been “mean but not really say”
I liked the puzzle overall though I did not find it easy. I agree Tetris blocks are not "mental," and also the game's platform was originally DOS. But I'm sure the NES was what made it popular.
Like Rex, I didn't find this puzzle particularly exciting.
Unlike Rex, I found it very easy, for a Saturday at least, judging by my solve time. I'm one of those solvers that does the puzzle the night before (because I just don't have any time during the day; also, why do you sound surprised that Gen Z would eat at 6:00? That's normal dinner time. Everyone I know -- boomer, X, millennial, Z, whatever -- eats dinner around that time, and always has), which means I'm often falling asleep as I do it. I don't always register how difficult a puzzle is so solve time is my best indicator, and this one was quite low for a Saturday.
There were a few spots that slowed me down (never heard of either CAROLE Lombard or Joy BEHAR) but the crosses took care of those.
I mostly commented just to post these songs:
Jamais Vu
Windjammer
NW corner was the toughest for me--the rest of the puzzle was easy-medium. Had no idea about WALUIGI and AWCMON could have been a lot of different things... And I thought Shakespeare was a hint to some alternative spelling, so I was reluctant to just put in plain old CLOUDS. Also, I feel like the clue for "MOUTH" was off--Say but not really mean? Mean but not really say is imply (I put that in first, but then took it out when I realized the clue said the opposite). But MOUTH is really also mean but not say out loud.... Say but not really mean is lie, or cover-up, or obfuscate, or something. So I got CROSTINI and used those end letters to get me into the middle, where EPSOM and ABHOR were gimmes and got me started. Liked the clues for SANDCASTLES and CUTANDPASTE. Finished the whole rest of the puzzle before returning to the NW, where I finally put in OUSTS and CLOUDS and saw AWCMON must be it.... Thanks, Aidan and Akshay, for a great Saturday morning challenge!!! : )
Why is 19A “mouth”? I don’t understand the clue. When you mouth something, you still mean it, no? Please, what am I missing?
Please, I’m confused about 19A. If you “mouth” something, you still mean it, no? What am I missing?
Agree with RP maybe not the most sparkling Saturday I’ve ever done but really no complaints. I only had to look up a name or two, the Nintendo character, the Italian toast and the French novel. Anytime I can do Saturday with such a minimal bit of help, I’m a happy solver. I admired the center of the grid in particular with the very pleasant and not-too-challenging horizontal and vertical stacks. The constructors, Aidan and Akshay, deserve another A for their efforts in putting this one together.
Looks like something weird going on with Blogger, at 8:45 Eastern, no comments posted. Maybe in his jet-lagged state, RP forgot to hit the reset button. Anyway, wishing everyone a pleasant and temperate weekend. We’re broiling in the Midwest but after today, at least a slight cooling trend in sight.
Wheelhouse city here, and my only question is fastest Saturday in a long time or fastest Saturday ever? Onlye WOEs were the W of WALUILGI, SPORCLE, and BETTE as clued. That's it , that's the list.
Patting self on back for getting JAMAISVU off the J. Besides deja vu, there's also presque vu for almost seen, and now I'm done showing off.
Today's highlight is of course SEAOTTER, although I prefer the river variety as I think they screw around more.
Speedy Saturday, AD and AS , A Delight for me as I was feeling Amazingly Smart, and thanks for all the fun.
Hey there, I get up at 4 and I’m not a baker, but I am on the W coast so it’s your 7am. Just want my “quiet time” before the circus starts over here. Anyhoo, I liked the puzzle, could have been a little harder. Hope you had a good vacay in my state!!
Was so so to me. Finished in record time. Never heard of sporcle so that gave me a pause. Had fat for cud and couldn’t remember hesse so that area held me back. The rest flowed pretty easily for me and I’ve only been solving for a few months. I didn’t hate this one but also didn’t love it. Nice 15 spent on a Saturday morning.
JAMAISVU: As a pianist who sight-reads well and often, I often have the experience of playing a piece I am unfamiliar with, only to recognize it a few pages later (sometimes when my own handwriting appears on the page).
1D: started with COMEON, AhCMON. I was waiting for more hate for WALUIGI. No way to intuit that name, at least not the start. I played the first 3 Mario Brothers games, then hung up my work boots with tan soles forever.
Climbing Mount Royal in Montreal, I passed by a 10 year old with a Natick tee shirt and smiled. Crowd too big and fast to get a pic along with an explanation to parents which might not be easily understood…
This seemed easier than yesterday. Both easier than the Fri/Sat combos of old, but not insultingly so.
Joy BEHAR has mixed feelings about rehab.
I still say that you can't get Too Much Information about Three Mile Island. I'm calling on Trump (LEDON to the French) to release the files now!
I'm surprised to learn that Balzac wrote a novel about what the divine Miss M eats. It's certainly among my JAMAISVU books to put on the must-read list. Oh, Cousine means cousin? Never mind.
We're sweating it out this summer 'cuz ACCOST too much to install.
Don't make your bartender mad or you might get a CROSTINI. Two parts gin, one part venom.
I am getting so smart! Finished a Saturday NYTXW in a Monday-ish time. Think I'll go work on some new mRNA vaccines. Thanks, Aidan Deshong and Akshay Seetharam.
Funny, Rex, you having to bounce Ida from your desk chair :).
On to the puzzle - easiest Saturday ever - under 15 minutes which never happens for me. That's not to say it wasn't enjoyable - thank you Aidan & Akshay :)
For Stuart: World War One wasn't called that until another world war happened. Before 1939 it was simply "The World War." Nobody wanted to assume another one was coming.
I only know JAMAIS VU because of a Widespread Panic song. But it really helped me out today.
Generally easy for me except the NW corner, because I don’t know what a WALUIGI is, couldn’t name CAROLE Lombard, and had convinced myself 1A had to be ____ AT (so I couldn’t see SITH, which I should have gotten).
“Almost two decades after it ended” would be 1937 at the latest. Stuart’s question is how it became WWI before there was a WWII.
Easier than yesterday's puzzle, for me. Had INCOME before ASSETS, TOUTS before LAUDS, FAT before CUD...and didn't know WALUIGI or SPORCLE...but none of these things really held me up for long. Doing a Saturday puzzle in under 30 minutes is somewhat unusual for me, so I'm pleased...and yet I kind of wish the puzzle had offered more of a challenge.
Strange puzzle, since almost everything was pretty easy for me except the NW. I even knew WALUIGI and NES, but everything else was just a blank. DNF
I've been wanting to ask for a while how some of you long-time solvers approach the puzzle. I approach it in a calm and steady manner, not dawdling, but not frantically rushing, either. I try to pay attention to filling in long answers when I can (to make the most progress and to save time), and to ascertaining what the theme is (if any), and so on. Occasionally I take a quick sip of coffee or pet the dog while solving. And I'm happy if I get the Saturday puzzle in 40-45-50-60 minutesa . Those of you who get it—and also the Sunday puzzle— in around 10 minutes: Do you purposely rush through each clue as fast as you can, i.e., is there a real intensity to your approach? I'm asking seriously. Even if all the esoterica came easily to me, I can't imagine I can't reading and typing fast enough to get the puzzle done so quickly. How do you do it?
En serio, basta, lo entendemos.
Intimidating grid, but it dropped into my wheelhouse after a duel with CAROLE. Zippy. The crossing triple stacks are dynamite. Well done puzzle for a themeless. Light on humor and high-ish on gunk, so let's work on this peeps.
Bracing for a day of waterworks from the Anony-moti. I will issue all of them a 🏆 for how much smarter they are than this puzzle, and then we'll see them again next Saturday.
People: 5
Places: 2
Products: 8
Partials: 5
Foreignisms: 2
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 22 of 66 (33%)
Funny Factor: 3 😐
Tee-Hee: LUSTS. YANK.
Uniclues:
1 What your elected representatives do.
2 My mouth.
3 Thought when you've needed the long red one for awhile.
4 Flirting with boys.
5 Prepares tractor for an undie run.
1 ACCOST ASSETS
2 CROSTINI HANGER
3 AW, C'MON TETRIS
4 SASSY RETRO SIN
5 STRIPS DEERE'S
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: When he can only eat one leg. SHARK'S DURESS.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
"Resistance is futile" group are the Vogons not the Borg
Didn't know the Nintendo character, went with "ah c'mon" nor the Balzac novel but correctly guessed the B.
Best two answers I thought were"earmarked" & "jamais vu"
Once again, too easy and kind of simplistic for a Saturday.
“The Borg have become a symbol in popular culture for any juggernaut against which "resistance is futile" – a common phrase uttered by the Borg.” —Wikipedia
@Anonymous 6:54 AM
It's a western. Every space movie is a cowboy movie.
Easy and enjoyable. For me SKULKS was the prize (hi, @Anonymous 8:09) but I also liked CROSTINI above MOUTH, BLIGHT, the children's joys of EASTER CANDY x SAND CASTLES ,and learning JAMAIS VU.
Thank you CAROLE Lombard! I needed you to get my start in the NW. that and TGI got all of the NW filled. WALUIGI?
I was seriously held up by my entering BEHAR into 27A instead of 24A. I could not come up with a word that started wit B for “Feels thirsty”. What a relief when I finally moved Joy to her proper place and things started moving again.
This was a bit harder than some of the recent Saturdays, for which I'm grateful. Thanks, Aidan and Akshay!
Not sure the gratuitous dig “…just like in the Bible.” is quite the
zinger you think it is Rex. I understand someone raised in the sola scriptura tradition might think so, but plenty of wonderful traditions aren’t in the Bible. That hardly makes them unworthy.
For Mr. Benson: We know it today as World War One, because there was a World War Two (1939-1945). But in 1937, the war that had ended in 1919 wasn't thought of as "World War One," because calling it that would be presuming a World War Two had already begun. It hadn't, obviously. It was simply "The World War."
M-W definition 1c for mouth as a verb: to repeat without comprehension or sincerity
I think the clue is incorrect. According to 'the internet', "World War I" was first used in 1939, more than two decades after it ended. It was also called the first world war as early as 1914(!).
No rushing; that takes some of the fun out of solving. I think this really shows in Rex's reviews. For a while, when he was going for raw speed, he hated just about every puzzle. Now his reviews are more mixed.
My system: start going through the across clues until you know something. Then do as many of the down clues that cross that word as you can. Then do as many of the across clues that cross any filled-in down as you can. And so on. If you get stuck, skip to the next across clue (or sometimes, down clue) that you haven't read yet. I'll think about the theme a little as a go, but not that much really, except on Thursdays where it is sometimes necessary. The theme is usually an after-dinner mint.
Borg: resistance is futile. Vogons: resistance is useless.
Maybe, like today, one could see it coming ?
Not a particularly scintillating puzzle, but not bad. Made a list of my favourite answers as I solved. Two short ones - 49A SPORCLE, just a fun word and 50A SKULKS because it just sounds so much like what it means - and two long ones, 29A CUTANDPASTE and 31A JUSTBECAUSE, well, just because. Unfortunately the other long across, EASTERCANDY, didn’t land for me because chocolate bunnies don’t say Easter to me. Jelly beans do. Easter = jelly beans here.
23A OLDS was nice because it’s summer and that means it’s time to get the 1970 OLDS Cutlass Supreme Convertible out for a few runs. Lovely old cruiser.
Forgot about WWI being the Great War until the atrocities of 1939-45.
Why have I never been asked to make a choice re: HANGERs at my dry cleaner’s? I just take what I get and try to figure out how to recycle them later. And why do I not recall 13A WALUIGI? I’m not a gamer but I did play Mario games with my kids. Why can’t I remember WALUIGI? Where are my meds?
Finally, Siddhartha and Herman HESSE at 43A. I’d love to reread it, or rather have it read to me because my eyes are failing me and I spend more time these days in my truck or on the seat of my tractor than I do on my couch with a printed book. I signed up for something called Audible but they seem to specialize in mysteries - about 45 or 50 new ones each week per their newsletter, but I don’t like mysteries much and want to revisit some classics from my “formative” years. HESSE, Beckett, Camus, Joyce Carey, Kingsley Amis (I have a weak spot for British “classist” stuff), even some warped Americans like Thomas Pynchon, Ken Kesey, and Thomas McGuane. I want to try to understand the stuff I didn’t get the first time through. Any chance any of you might know where I can find these kinds of audiobooks? You’re a smart group.
Gotta go.Like to sign off when a good song comes up on the playlist and Nina Simone’s version of “My Baby Just Cares for Me” is about as good as it gets.
Thanks Aidan and Akshay for an engaging and thought-provoking puzzle.
I didn't know if it was HALUIGI or WALUIGI and I didn't care.
At one point in my life I think I knew JAMAIS VU, but I didn't know it now. I wanted the much more familiar DEJA VU, which didn't fit. And I already had the J from JUST BECAUSE.
My earring was a STUD before it was a HOOP. But once I saw the HESSE cross, I changed it.
How is HANGER a "choice" at a dry cleaner?
Note: For those of you who get the NYT delivered, I invite you to look for my letter to the editor in the paper today. (It's always much more impressive seeing a letter in the paper rather than online.) For those who don't get the paper, look for it online in the letters section under the headline" "In search of a death with dignity."
Easy and only slightly tougher than yesterday’.
No costly erasures but I did not know WALUIGI, BETTE, and JAMAIS VU,
Solid and light on junk, but a tad meh (or what @Rex said), liked it.
I’ve watched THE WIRE twice so far and it richly deserves the accolades!
Nothing more boring than bloggers saying how easy a puzzle was. So I'll just say that it had seven mysteries, about half as many as the average Saturday.
Bring them back to the dry cleaners.
To start on the positive, I loved SAND CASTLE, as clued. I was thinking of all kinds of shanties and huts, as well as many tents I have slept in (OK maybe tents are not "buildings"), but eventually I had enough crosses to see that "water resistant" had a whole new meaning here. This is why I do puzzles!
And SPORCLE had its own charms -- not just a website that is the ultimate trivia destination, but my last entry, making it the ultimate trivia destination for this puzzle. I'd suggest that WALUIGI is an early trivia destination, but you're going to tell me that billions of people play those games, so I should know about it. Fair enough, if fairly crossed, but this one wasn't, since 1-A could start with either Ah or AW. I'll admit AW was a little fitter for the clue, but not enough so to eliminate the ambiguity.
I don't think that's what TMI means, but I'll let that go.
I've had CROSTINI, and eventually remembered the word-- but I have a bag in my pantry of something sold as 'bruschettini,' which made it hard for me to remember it.
As for JAMAIS VU, it's easy to deduce it logically (opposite of deja vu), but I'd never heard it -- but the Cleveland Clinic has a page for it, and I'll take their word on the subject.
@Gary Your comment
"Bracing for a day of waterworks from the
Anony-moti 🤣
Well, I can certainly say JAMAIS VU to SPORCLE.
Villager
Got stuck in the NW corner, but the rest was easy. Had crowds instead of CLOUDS, which didn’t help.
@Nancy - I tried but I couldn't open it with a Games subscription only :(
Solaris? 2001?
I've heard people say that someone is just "MOUTHing" the words in the sense clued here.
You can have your shirts folded or on hangers.
66-worder with quad Jaws of Themelessness. Off to a good start.
But at our house, NW corner was kinda feisty, and transitionin out, after solvin it, was not happenin -- due to not knowin what the ends of no-knows WALUIGI & CROSTINI were for sure. sooo ... had to do a restart solvequest, in the NE corner, which ended up bein much more friendly.
staff weeject pick [of only 8 choices]: WWI. Due mostly to its interestin clue.
some fave stuff: CAROLE Lombard [gimme gal that helped m&e solve most of the NW]. JUSTBECAUSE. CUTANDPASTE & its clue. IPHONECASES clue.
Also, learnin about JAMAISVU was kinda neat.
Thanx for gangin up on us, Mr. Deshong & Seetharam dudes. And congratz to Akshay S. on his half-debut. M&A suffered suitably, for a SatPuz.
Masked & Anonym007Us
... and now for the latest JAMAISVURUNT ...
"From the Heart" - 7x7 12 min. themed runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
Never heard of SPORCLE or WALUIGI, but the crosses saved me on both. If you need a laugh in these troubled times, look up John Stewart’s riff on Easter vs Passover in a segment he called “Faith Off.”
Most local libraries let you check our audiobooks just the way you'd check out printed books. Depending on what service (platform?) they use, you can download them to your laptop or mobile device or listen direcrly from the library site. Hope you have good luck finding some!
Yes that is essentially my approach as well. I also just let my eyes keep wandering over clues and give my brain a chance to percolate which is surprisingly effective. I solve on paper, so I also write in very lightly possible guesses to help move things along.
For me, the crossword is an experience to be enjoyed, not a contest to see how fast I can get it done. My approach very much mirrors yours with coffee and a pat for the dog or cat, using @kitshef’s method of navigating, except that I start with the downs.
I think it's dying out -- our current cleaners never asks how we want our clothes returned--but for shirts, at least, you used to be able to ask for them to be folded and put in baskets or hung on hangers.
Same, easy + p.b.
Thanks for a few good laughs this morning!
I’d love to read your letter, but the NYT won’t allow me beyond their pay wall. Is there any possibility you could post the text of your missive here?
Very perceptive comments in the Times, @Nancy.
no sir, you are not the only one (besides bakers) getting up at 4AM. my brain decided a couple of years ago that, i too, should be waking at 4AM. it's awful. i have no social life because i go to bed 'roung 8PM. started going to work at 7AM because i couldn't sit around the house any longer. but it does mean i have a slow morning for muy cuppa and puzzle. and i get most of my work done without annoying inturruptions.
For Stuart and Mr. Benson: Part of the confusion relates to the phrase "almost two decades." From Nov. 1919 (Armistice Day) to the onset of (what became) WW11 in (early) 1939 does meet that definition. So...immediately after early 1939, the earlier war could be called "World War One."
WALUIGI?! CROSTINI?! NES?! You must be kidding.
aHCMON wasn’t unlikely to me and it cost me a clean Saturday in good time. Totally ignorant on the Nintendo character, having outgrown Mario about, I’m guessing, 35 years ago. So it all came down to H or W and pfffft. I loved the rest of the puzzle - great connectivity throughout with crosses taking care of the rare SPORCLE. First fill-in was IRVINE. Gotta love the Anteaters (“Zot!”).
Sure, 'almost' commonly implies 'just short of,' but in some contexts it can mean an approximation. That's how I read it. This isn't calling White Black. It's close enough. At the least, call your issue what it is - I, Stuart, "have a Little problem with the modifier 'almost.' Why didn't the author, 'more or less two decades after..' or 'approximately two decades after..' or 'just beyond two decades after..' or 'two years more than two decades after..' How could that be?"
Record time. Bigly. Riprock approves.
The clue accords with one of the definitions of MOUTH as verb: to repeat without comprehension or sincerity, as in
"[he's] always mouthing platitudes", citing Merriam-Webster. Similar to "pay lip service".
Yes, in concert with the sentiment, totally. Recall my dad impressing on me the same, that of control in decision-making. Fortunately the palliative numbed what would otherwise have been a miserable end.
Nope, still boring
Really wanted “leafy greens” for rabbit food
For Stuart and Mr. Benson: Forgive my brain cramp. Armistice Day was Nov. 11, 1918...not 1919. So you are correct that "almost two decades" is inaccurate. "Slightly over two decades" would be correct.
The National Library Service for the blind and print disabled, part of the Library of Congress, distributes audio and braille books to people (maybe through your State. Library) and I think has downloads as well. https://www.loc.gov/nls/services-and-resources/catalog-and-bard/
WWI was also called "The Great War" before the advent of its successor, right?
@JT. I. like @Kitshef's description of the process. That's approximately what I do, too. No hurry. I change it up a bit when late week puzzles have intimidating triple stacks at top and bottom (and sometimes centre). That's when I use Rex's method of nailing down all the short downs and using them to suss out the long acrosses.
Once again, not the least bit challenging as Saturdays used to be, even in the recent past. I'd rate it closer to easy than to medium. Mostly filled it in by rote.
Minor gripe: IPHONE CASES is a pretty boring answer to have ripping right down through the middle. On the other hand, SAND CASTLES right next to it was nicely clued (Buildings that aren't water-resistant).
I'm surprised that the experience of JAMAIS VU hasn't registered with Rex. As when a very ordinary word suddenly appears strange. Nice loanphrase!
Thanks to Rex for including the video of Florence Pugh, who seems like a delightful soul, and I'd very happily accept one of her martinis, despite Rex's side-eye. Rubbing the inside of the glass with lemon seems like a nice touch, not to mention chilling the glass. Vermouth I can easily dispense with.
Those river otters are very fun to watch but they do have their negative side: they put the trout down.
I agree with you Mathgent.
What's wrong with CROSTINI? Sort of like a Bruschetta. Pop it in your MOUTH and enjoy. But the other two are arguably annoying PPP (and I'd say the same thing for DEERES).
SOMEBODY needs to work on mRNA, for crying out loud!!!
I'll try, @Whatsername:
To the Editor:
Louise Perry’s argument is both specious and very cruel. It throws a lot at the wall: falling birthrates, a dystopian novel, the practices of other countries. It expresses concern that governments will deprive old and sick people of agency — but in fact the only people denying old and sick people agency are those who would force them to stay alive against their will when their days have become too unbearable.
I was not put on this earth to solve the problem of low birthrates by agreeing to live out my days in perpetual torment should I be unlucky enough to contract some sort of long-term agonizing ailment in the future. And, for heaven’s sake, what’s the connection between these two things anyway?
There seems to be no shortage of self-righteous people who feel they somehow have the right to deny perfect strangers a peaceful way to end their suffering. People who know that they know what’s best for others. They come out of the woodwork any time a society seeks to approve an empathetic and compassionate solution. I have always felt that their unwanted interference in other people’s lives is barbaric.
Nancy Stark
New York
Yes, I don’t want solving a crossword to induce stress. For me, each day is different in terms of my mood, time available to spend on the puzzle, etc. For ME (I’m not sayin’ I’m special) I don’t get too hung up on the dull/not dull, easy/not easy stuff. But. I’m 70, so maybe I’ve become “easily pleased.” I do go into the archives and note the puzzles, in general, are easier. I’ve said before, and I’ll repeat…I think “the times” (as opposed to the Times) play in. When I was “young” we (family) had the Sunday NYT delivered. I kept the “Magazine” around for a week sometimes…I didn’t have TIME to work it in one sitting! In fact, I remember (around 2001) when my daughter (then in college) told me “actually Mom, the Friday and Saturday puzzles are harder than Sunday.” What!? 🤣 All I know is…I still love the NYT puzzles, warts and all.
WW1 officially ended in June 1919 with the signing of the Versailles Treaty. Although WW2 officially began Sept 1939 with Nazi invasion of Poland (20 years and a few months after Versailles), it was pretty obvious to many that a major global clash was coming, what with Japan’s military going nuts in Korea, China and Russia and Hitler’s expansion and military tone. So, many folks were anticipating another world war and thus, before hostilities broke out in Poland, The Great War (to end all wars) was probably first renamed World War 1 in 1938 or so (probably after Munich). Not an expert, just a hunch.
For Stuart, Mr. Benson and Bob Mills: Time Magazine first used the term WW2 in September of 1939, just shy of 21 years after the Armistice of 1918. So presumably that’s when The Great War was then termed WW1. The term WW2 wasn’t widely used until the USA entered the war in 1941.
I was able to post it here above.
My wife read your letter to me a moment ago, fraught with emotion and irony, she is in remission knowing what awaits her/us. She/we have explored the options, have plans for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID). My advice to those opposed is MYODB, do I need to spell that out? Thank you Nancy, lovely sentiments.
it's not that tetris is mental, but "mental tetris" is a phrase that is used when you're trying to fit things together in your head (or trying to visualize how to fit things together).
People should drink what they want, prepared however they like, but:
Shaken ❌
Vodka ❌
No vermouth at all ❌
Vermouth is good, people are so weird about vermouth. But again, god bless Florence Pugh for sneaking her own personal cocktail demo in there. That ain’t a martini, but if you like it, make it! Also, somebody get her an apron ‘cause the at dress *is* beautiful ~RP
I really enjoyed reading all your responses and am glad most people settle in for the enjoyment of the puzzle. Thanks for replying! @Beezer: I am working on the 2011 Thurday puzzles right now. Some are QUITE hard! The Fri-Sat ones must be real killers.
NES was the Tickle Me Elmo of its day, except for like 5 straight years.
@JT, I haven't had a library card for at least 15 years, mostly because I found it difficult to get books back in the required 3 weeks but also because I find them slightly depressing. Don't know why. May have to seek counselling to answer that one. Meanwhile, I'll check out online resources. Thanks.
@Tale Told By An Idiot, I'm in Canada so I don't know if I can access that service, but maybe there is a similar service offered up here. I"ll try to find out. Thanks for your response.
@Nancy, as Anonymous above mentions, in Canada we have had Medical Assistance in Dying for years now (previously known as Physician Assisted Death?). Quote: "a process that allows someone who is found eligible to be able to receive assistance from a medical practitioner in ending their life". Seems like a pretty reasonable option.
Not a lot of resistance; just over 15 minutes for me. There was an annoying surplus of names, many Unknown: WALUIGI SITH BEHAR BETTE IRVINE SPORCLE. Only CAROLE, HESSE, and DEERES were familiar.
I did like the clue for SAND CASTLES. As a former architect I was baffled by what type of building would not be water resistant.
Spelling Bee was brutal today!
To say nothing of BETTE (as clued) and SPORCLE . . .
If you have a library card you should be able to use Libbyapp.com on your computer or the Libby app on your phone. They can loan you any audiobooks your library has purchased and in my experience classics tend to be well represented in many collections. Librivox.org also offers a wide range of free audiobooks, although their readers/recordings are not always as slick as commercial publishers.
For a Saturday, a tad on the easy side for me but still put up enough fight for me to have a bit of a workout. I liked the marquees a bit more than @Rex did but agree they didn't have a whole lotta pop.
Learned several new things today like JAMAISVU... well, I think it's new... have I seen it before?? No... Oh wait, maybe...No, I guess not. What a weird feeling...
I also know next to nothing about the Mario Brothers (and can likely die happily that way) so WALUIGI was unknown to me but the crosses finally helped. The second day in a row where the NW proved the stickiest for me.
Appreciated the cluing for EASTERCANDY and IPHONECASE - good stuff both of those.
All in all very solid. Thanks Aidan and Akshay!
You’re a clear thinker and fine writer, Nancy.
That would work, except that armistice day was in 1918, rather than 1919. Not that I remember it personally...
Thanks, Nancy, for sharing that with us non-NYT readers. And thank you Anonymous 1:09 for your comment. My wife has recently been diagnosed with lung cancer (she has never been a smoker and though I am one I never smoke around her; I retreat to my sanctum sanctorum, my studio, to enjoy my cigars) and though her oncologist is very optimistic about her treatment program, we are taking steps to face a possible bleak future. MAID discussions are not pleasant but they are, to us, necessary. Consider also that I am a long-time alcoholic with significant liver damage and things get even more complicated. I don't want he kids to have to deal with this - they can get pretty emotional - I just want this to be a done deal, predetemined, legally sound, nobody's business but our own.
BTW, we remade our wills a couple of weeks ago. Bleak, I know, but shit happens. I'm hoping it's not as bad as it seems.
I'm in the same camp as @Whatsername, a puzzle is an experience that should be savored. I don't ever plan to time myself and unlike many, a quick finish detracts rather than enhances my enjoyment. Even early in the week, I take my sweet time. While I don't solve downs- only to intensify the challenge on Mondays, I may go through all the Acrosses and not even look at the downs until I've gone through each accross clue. By that time, sometimes the grid is almost full, sometimes not, I'm not that concerned with the speed of my progress. This strategy allow me to spend more time with the puzzle.
I see how a quick finish might be a thrill for some, I'm not putting it down, just not my cuppa.
@Rex. I don't always watch the videos you feature but I loved the Florence Pugh thing. Sort of the way I, and my family, cook. Food as recreation. Fun. But you are right about the martini. Gin and vermouth (about 3 ounces of gin to about 2 thirds of an ounce of vermouth), stirred, served with a twist of lemon, no olives. I make crostini all the time because I come in from working and look around the kitchen - there's bread, there's olive oil, there's crostini. And then I search the fridge for cheese. Port Salut is good, maybe some Chaorse. Glass of summery rose, all is good. Maybe a tomato on the side.
Yes, very much on-trend super easy. I can't get personal bests on my phone especially because I somehow filled in a Saturday in four minutes a couple years ago. My bests aren't like, very easy puzzles; they're all bizarre flukes where I just knew everything or every guess was straight lucky.
Is that the same as JAMAISVU though? I assume I've played everything in my collection so if a piece is unfamiliar my feeling is "I don't particularly remember this" rather than "how novel!"
Clever, fun, easy puzzle except for the NW where I drew a blank. I worked for Nintendo 30 years ago but never gotten into video games. Were Jedi the villains? Didn’t fit anyway.
I wondered if anyone would notice that this grid has an unusually high number of POCs (plurals of convenience). There are at least eight of the ultra useful two for one POCs, where a Down and an Across both share a final S. That's the most I recall ever seeing in a 15X15 grid.
An easy to spot example of a two-fer is where one is most likely to occur, in the lowest, right-most square. Both DEERE and SPOOL need some help filling their slots. See also OUST/OLD, STRIP/LAIR, LUST/TAMP, LAUD/EASE, PANE/LAST, CUSP/ERA and LOSE/SKULK. (Nota bene, POC is a crossword puzzle term, not a grammatical one)
Each of those eight Ss could be changed to a black square, its clue slightly tweaked, and nothing of value or interest would be lost. This grid would then have a virtual 44 black square count.
Even a couple of marquee longs, IPHONE CASE and SAND CASTLE, needed some POC letter count boosting.
The POC Committee was unanimous in giving this grid a POC Marked Rating (hi Roo @8:14).
While "World War I" was used unofficially before, the term became more official with the start of World War II.
I think the Rabbit clue is referring to chocolate bunnies that are themselves FOOD and popular Easter candy.
Jacke et al
I found the puzzle very easy also. I again filled in several words without seeing the clue (eg TIL and LOSES)
(Used to be rare but it happened both Friday and Saturday I think last weekend.). I am very slow but quicker on paper than on the phone.If I did it on paper it might have been a personal best.
Southside Johnny
Very funny Q& A last paragraph!
Mark
Carole Lombard
Another indicator that I am old
She died before I was born but she was a very famous actress in the thirties and early forties and she remained well known long after her death. Also enhancing her fame was the fact she was married to Clark Gable and the fact she died in a plane crash on a WWII “war bond tour” ( helping to sell bonds for the war effort) at age 33. Good actress in both dramas and comedies
Les S. More
Otters have to eat though!
Pabloinnh always mentions otters when they appear in crosswords. I think it’s his favorite wild animal.
One of my fastest Saturday solves ever. To me, the only thing particularly notable besides that was the magnificent debut of WALUIGI.
A building is "a structure with walls and a roof, such as a house or factory", according to the dictionary.
I looked for a definition that would simply correspond to something built. No such definition. A SAND CASTLE is not a building. You can build one, but again: Not a building.
Cute clue, albeit erroneous.
Not that I allowed that editing lapse to halt my progress through this pretty easy puzzle, even though I never heard of WALUIGI or SPORCLE -- or of Joy BEHAR, although the surname is familiar to me.
Rip through it, throttle on full, thruster lever bent toward max, hair straight back. If you're spending '40-45-50' or an hour on any game, speed is an unavailable option, so the question is moot.
But just because you make your way round the block, hairless tennis-ball booties scraped-through to walker legs, passing wind as you go, versus cleated, round the track, doesn't mean you aren't 'whoooshing' in your own way.
When I reach that three-minute mark.. or double or triple that consistently week's end, mayhap my perspective will shift. It's a game, and the time element is a crucial component. And, incidentally, I would never go back to paper-solving, for multiple reasons - but for all of you forward-thinking liberals looking to save the planet, 'but don't touch my game!' ?
@Les S. More 10:55 AM @Anonymous2:01 PM
Download Libby for your phone, put in your library card info, and the world is way better. I've been going through the classics and having a blast.
And I have to fish, damn it! But, really, it's OK. Most places where otters live are kinda nice. i just sit back and relax and think how hungry the trout will be when that cute marauder leaves the scene. ;-)
Nancy, thank you so much! Very eloquently stated as always, and I agree with you 100% on all points.
@Nancy, Thank you on behalf of the many of us who can't get around the paywall! Like you, I am a single woman who, when the time comes, wants to die as quickly and painlessly as possible. Compassionate medical help in doing that will be welcomed with open arms - metaphorically, anyway. At 75 there's nothing I can do about falling birthrates, so prolonging my death will serve no purpose.
Well, it's a pretend-building. It's a building in the context of a child's imagination. Similarly, a doll house isn't really a house, if you take things literally -- but you don't have to take things literally.
Amen!
I had a different thought about 32A’s clue, Rabbit food, probably because the puzzle was honestly neither very hard nor interesting. I spent way too much time trying to think of dishes made with rabbit, or methods of cooking rabbit like stew, sausage, southern fried or cacciatore (for which I had high hopes but one too few letters). Even after getting EASTER CANDY, the clue still failed to land. Too big a stretch for my brain or by then I had given up hope of some really tricky clues and challenging word play. I stead, I just kept solving and hoping and then I was done.
Hope springs eternal for next week.
I agree with @Rex that this wasn’t a vey challenging or memorable solve and its debut answers weren’t very sparkly either.
While I whooshed through most of this rather boring puzzle, I did take a bit of time at 32A trying to think of dishes made with rabbit. Went through a big bunch from stew, fricassee, southern fried, sausage and thought maybe I had it at cacciatore but ended up with a blank square.
When I saw CANDY, I made my “ick face” thinking that (at least for me) the clue didn’t land. EASTER CANDY just isn’t rabbit food. Food of rabbit? No. Food for rabbit? No. Food that in no way contains or tastes like but might possibly be molded in a shape that resembles a fictionalized rabbit? I guess. Just not “rabbit food.” But EASTER CANDY has a myriad of recognizable varieties and among that bountiful basket of sweets are some much better examples to provide creative clue fodder. Editors, where were you? Could have easily used “sweet little chicks” (I’m thinking “Peeps” here) and been just as cryptic. OK, that’s probably too picky. I apologize to EASTER CANDY lovers everywhere. I was always the kid trading anybody anything in my stash for their black jelly beans.
I am to this good day a licorice lover, and so happy that it’s now so easy quickly to get the best varieties from the Netherlands! And for several years (when the “good stuff” was hard to get) I used to tell Santa that he could skip leaving me a chocolate orange (back when the Terry’s of York was the iconic one, and a quality treat to be sure) and leave me any kind of Dutch licorice. I’m a die hard chocoholic, but also a “real” licorice lover and Christmas was the only time it was readily available - at least to me - until the internet.
There were two amazing places to buy candy in Columbus, OH: Anthony-Thomas and the Lazarus department store candy shop. There was also Faroh’s that everyone called “the fudge place” where the fudge was amazing, but the other two shops could not (in my opinion) be matched for variety and quality, especially of imported candies. Right before Thanksgiving week, both (actually all the larger downtown stores, just as depicted in the movie “Christmas Story”) started working on their gorgeous animated window displays. I really miss the pageantry of holiday shopping in a “downtown.” Back then, being a Commercial Window Dresser was a profession. I loved to watch them work! And every Christmas I still binge on licorice. Anybody else here in the neighborhood a licorice lover?
As for the puzzle, it was easy and much less challenging or remarkable that I hope for on Saturday. Guess I’ll hope for a better week ahead. Now I have to see if I have a couple pieces of Venco DubblZout salty licorice left. I had hidden the last few from myself after a dear friend in the UK sent me some a few months ago and I happily found the near-empty bag (in my cedar chest!) when I packed for my move two weeks ago. Yum. A bedtime treat followed by a serious tooth brushing. It’s well into Sunday most places. This is one I’m glad nobody will read. Some really good memories today, undoubtedly this blather will run from boring to “yuk!” for readers. On to Sunday.
Yes!
Toast and coffee and pencil and paper. It’s best when the last bit sip and letter all go in at the same time. On another note I bought a book of 500 Sunday puzzles of old. They are way harder than any of the current ones.
Finished in record time / personal best for a Saturday
Saturdays are like that. You get a couple lucky ones spanning the grid and the rest yields very quickly.
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