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Beatles sobriquet / WED 9-17-25 / Ditto, in footnotes / Like some short tennis matches / Sorcerous elder of folklore / Anime style involving giant robots / Rocksteady precursor / Vodka cocktails with orange liqueur and lime juice / State trees of North Dakota / Brand whose name is derived from the French phrase "sans caféine" / "Shreds," in winter sports lingo
Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Constructor: Jackson Matz
Relative difficulty: Medium
Theme answers:
- 43D: Like some short tennis matches (2-SET)
- 26D: Beatles sobriquet (FAB 4)
- anything with a "K"?
In science fiction, mecha (Japanese: メカ, Hepburn: meka) or mechs are giant robots or machines, typically depicted as piloted, humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese after shortening the English loanword 'mechanism' (メカニズム, mekanizumu) or 'mechanical' (メカニカル, mekanikaru), but the meaning in Japanese is more inclusive, and 'robot' (ロボット, robotto) or 'giant robot' is the narrower term.Real mechs vary greatly in size and shape, but are distinguished from vehicles by their biomorphic appearance, and are often much larger than human beings. Different subgenres exist, with varying connotations of realism. The concept of Super Robot and Real Robot are two such examples found in Japanese anime and manga.
Real-world piloted robots or non-robots robotic platforms, existing or planned, may also be called "mechs". In Japanese, "mechs" may refer to mobile machinery or vehicles (not including aircraft, cars, motorcycles and HGV) in general, piloted or otherwise. (wikipedia)
• • •
 |
| [Bizarrely, LEOI seems to have gotten more popular in the Shortz Era; would not have guessed that] |
No real struggle points today. Always unsure about the exact spelling of "kamikaze" so I left the second and third vowels blank and let the crosses do the work (27A: Vodka cocktails with orange liqueur and lime juice). Also never sure of the last letter on KRONA (71A: Swedish coin), because the Norwegian coin is, in fact, a KRONE, so I waited for the cross there as well. Went looking for a sobriquet (i.e. nickname) for *individual* Beatles before I realized it was going to be a "sobriquet" for the whole band (FAB 4). Pretty sure I had AGAR before AGER. Both answers are regrettable crosswordese, but AGAR is a thickener, not a ripening agent. Really enjoyed seeing AKIRA Kurosawa, as he's among the greatest directors of all time, up there with Hitchcock and Varda and Kurosawa's own countryman, OZU, who (as I apparently do not tire of pointing out) has somehow still never appeared in the NYTXW. It's weird to me that the puzzle has used UZO (Aduba) nine times, but has never once used the legendary Japanese director whose name is just the same letters in reverse.
What else?:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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- 1A: State trees of North Dakota (ELMS) — no idea. I thought "probably ELMS" because, well, four letters, trees ... why not? But then I thought of OAKS, and YEWS, and the fact that I know nothing about the flora of North Dakota, so I waited for crosses to help me out. Sadly, the first cross was no help, as I wanted the Club to be SAMS Club (1D: ___ Club).
- 21A: Brand whose name is derived from the French phrase "sans caféine" (SANKA) — most facts that are billed as "fun facts" are not in fact "fun," but this one is. Do people under 45 even know what SANKA is? Is it still around? I feel like it was a staple of 1970s-80s cupboards, but that's probably just because that's when I was watching a lot of TV and saw the ad campaigns.
[alternate clue for 2-Down: [Former 21-Down pitchwoman Horne]]
- 12D: Sorcerous elder of folklore (CRONE) — wow, "sorcerous," You don't see that word very often. This is its first use in a NYTXW clue. (Never appeared as an answer, unsurprisingly)
- 44D: Contrite answer to "Who put the empty ice cream carton back in the freezer?" ("I DID") — I'll have you know that I was not contrite.
- 58D: Outie's counterpart (INNIE) — Severance clue when!?!
That's all. See you next time.
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109 comments:
I thought it was Easy while solving, but I probably had enough Overwrites and WOEs to get it to Easy-Medium.
Overwrites:'
Ibid before IDEM at 5A
loCKOUT before SICKOUT at 4D.
The incorrect o in loCKOUT (14A) made me remove the correct LEO I and substitute ottO. Until crosses forced LEO I back.
Wasn't sure if Ms. Strug (17A) was KEllI or KERRY.
Misspelled 47D as KRAcken, figuring the singular and plural might be the same
WOEs:
Didn't know the Bruno Mars album at 43A, but I did know the Beatles (26D) and tennis (43D) so it didn't cause any issues
Jo KOY at 70D
Crossword superstar Paolo Pasco Jeopardy watch, day five.
Five days, five victories. Last night he led throughout, and his breadth of knowledge continues to impress, and he's quick with that buzzer.
Winnings to date: $134,516. Go Paolo!
Neat puzzle. Hardest part was the NE corner. Started out wrong with Sams (Club) instead of ELKS at 1-Down. Fixed that with the crosses, but foolishly entered "14" instead of 24, even though I had figured out the "K" trick and had counted more than 14 in the grid. Enjoyed it despite my carelessness.
Really disliked this one. Too many names and the unexpected (to me) use of a number with all of the “k” fill and the dreck OFL pointed out made this more work than the payoff.
I was excited about the Severance reference, but it could just as well be about belly buttons. Sigh.
My solving route went as follows.
Early: Hmmm, quite a few K’s.
Middle: Okay, the theme is about cramming as many K’s in as possible. But why?
Two-thirds the way through – What can that reveal in the middle be?
At the end – Ah, 24 K’s, perfecto!
Also perfecto … 24K MAGIC was one of my last answers to fill in because I don’t know the song, and right at the end is the perfect time to uncover a reveal, which ties the whole thing together like a bow.
My favorite answer/clue combo was SICK OUT (a NYT answer debut, and it just sounds so right for what it means), and “Alternative to a strike [cough cough]” which was delightfully vexing as well as funny.
Got a KicK out of this, Jackson – thank you!
Surprised Rex didn’t mention the Crone/Krona near-audio dupe.
The record number of a certain letter is a feat done before – notably, Clive Probert did it with B in 2010 and with M in 2017.
David Steinberg did it with 49 R's in 2015 with the terrific revealer FORTYNINERS.
In 1994, Cathy Millhauser made a Sunday puzzle with E as the only vowel (and it holds the "most E's" record). Its title was ELAND. Mwah!
Never heard of this song and wasn't thinking of numbers as a possibilty, and FABS and ASET seemed plausible, so I went with ASK MAGIC.
Sad to see KINKS as an answer not clued to the legendary band.
Too many names. And the parallels Dunn? and Mecha? made Nohit impossible for me. Not quite a Nadick, but close.
Who won the showcase showdown? That’s the best part of the show IMO.
DNF. Stopped when I figured out I had to put numbers in the grid. Not interested.
Rex nails it this morning. Finishing with 1 > 2 > TWO is not my cup of SANKA.
But TIL what Rex and Lena Horne have in common: a mug with their name on it.
Ugh! This was stuffed with names I didn’t know, or didn’t know as clued (so RIHANNA is from Barbados then?) Brooks and DUNN sounds like a men’s clothing store. Did know LENA and AKIRA, but not KERRI, KEKE, or KOY. I of course did know the FAB 4, but not the Bruno Mars album, in addition to which having actual numbers in the grid is so unusual that I didn’t trust that could be the trick. And anyway, I would have been wrong because I thought 1 SET would be a short tennis match, not 2 SET.
I hate Bruno Mars, and I hate the Beatles. No small surprise, then, that I hated this puzzle.
I give it 2 thumbs-down & 4 “Booooooooo!”s.
Amen @twangster, on KINKS. If ur gonna have to POC kink for your puzzle, rule should be….the band.must be clued.
Ks llare kool, and Bruno is kool, the puzzle overall, not very.
Funny, I thought that the revealer was referring to the 2 answers containing 4 K's (KNOCKKNOCK and KNICKKNACK). Thankfully, I never thought to count all the K's in the puzzle.
Hey All !
I noticed getting K after K in the puz, wondering why are there so many? Was going to count them at the end, but after reading Rex, he tells me that the 24K means there are, in fact, 24 K's in the grid. Good for the K, now if only someone did this for the F ...
I cry Shenanigans! at the C of the ends of 24KMAGIC/KROC. Naturally, I had a K there. Regardless if you realized that 24K meant there were 24 K's in the grid, you're not going to count them to see that having another K at that spot was too many. With the Theme going all K-crazy, why would that not be a K?
Grid is 16 wide, the Revealer in the center is 8 letters, if an answer is even numbered in the exact center, your puz can't be 15 wide. It either needs to be 14 or 16 wide. I guess Jackson chose 16 to get in all the K's.
Two Themers are one worders, KNICKKNACK and KAMIKAZES, two are two worders, KNOCK KNOCK and KARATE KID. EDGY. Har.
Nice puz, different, wondering if it's National K Day or something. Does F have a day?
Oh, get my book as an EBOOK if you'd like. Changing Times by Darrin Vail. Amazon or barnesandnoble.com, or wherever you like to get your EBOOKs from!
Have a great Wednesday!
Two F's (one hidden in 4)
RooMonster
DarrinV
Noticed a lot of K's, never heard of the album, wanted OFL's ONE for the number of sets, and K for Karat never occurred to me. Learned what a KAMIKAZE as a drink is, met KEKE , and now I know what MECHA is, and the next time I see it will probably be in a crossword.
Impressive stunt, JM, Just Make my K's related to baseball and not pop culture, thank you. Thanks for some fun at least.
I had to use an Autocheck on this one because I had two wrong answers and struggled with the theme answer. I have put numbers into puzzles from other sources but I didn’t know it was legitimate for a NY Times crossword. I learned that today. Otherwise the puzzle was fine. It made me think of the Kay Jewelers commercial: “Every kiss begins with…”!
Miserable experience. Anime, numbers, a slog of names. Nothing against Bruno Mars but there was no way I was getting the name of one of his albums. Especially when it had numbers in the title. A massive thumbs down from me.
It is a sign of my age that my first thought for “ear covering” was ‘hair’.
I once submitted a puzzle with 21 ‘F’s. I guess I just needed three more.
I noticed all of the K’s no problem. I also noticed the fill was not going to be in my wheelhouse, which can put a damper on things - I’ve long forgotten what IDEM means, and never heard of MECHA for example. Similar to OFL, I debated the spelling of KAMIKAZES and was hoping for some help from the crosses, but unfortunately I’m not sure what a “Sorcerous elder” even is (another word for “witch”, perhaps ?) - never mind trying to figure out who or what CRONE is/was (except maybe for Julie KRONE, which would have upset the apple cart regarding the K-count).
Obviously, I have no idea regarding a Bruno Mars album but was able to discern from context that we were dealing with a rebus situation over there, but by that time the whole thing had turned into a big yawner.
I probably solve about a half-dozen puzzles a day now, and have noticed that most of the outlets I visit are “consistent” in terms of their offerings. I would characterize the LAT has workmanlike, professional, and rarely “edgy” - although they can and do have a Jekyll and Hyde situation where they will throw some really bizarre stuff at you on Saturdays. The WSJ and New Yorker can vary from easy to difficult, but thankfully avoid the gimmicks and stunts that are pretty much overwhelming the NYT. Evan Birnholz will mix up his offerings over at the WaPo on Sundays (and is no stranger to Meta puzzles, if you enjoy those - one thing that I appreciate about Evan’s grids are the crosses always seem to be fair when he delves into proper nouns and popular culture).
None of the above is meant to be a criticism, just some random observations - I don’t know if it’s a blessing or a curse that the NYT has embraced technology, and other experimental approaches that I refer to as stunts or gimmicks, probably because I have a limited vocabulary and can’t think of a better way of summarizing it. But today is a pretty good example - building a theme around a 10 year old album title (with a rebus) and a grid chock full of K’s is something that, in my limited experience at least, is just not that common elsewhere.
Agree with Rex. The K’s were neat I guess. But not enough to overcome one of the most boring fills in a while.
Grump/yelling at clouds incoming: One of my least favorite puzzles of all time. Just not for me. Contorting the grid and clues to all sorts of ugliness for the sake of a Bruno Mars album just isn’t my idea of fun or a good challenge.
NE corner was impossible for me, I got everything else but the __KMAGIC and figured I’d reveal that word for a minimal cheat, maybe it’s a clue. Freaking numbers? Screw it, reveal all. No chance I’d have gotten NE.
I agree pretty much with OFL. Why on Earth would you waste an opportunity to make an interesting clue about the Kinks and instead talk about garden hoses??
I'm inclined to agree with Rex: not great. ACTI and LEOI, the P.O.C. DASANIS, but worst of all were those numerals. I see that in Rex's displayed solution, the 2 going down is spelled out, but then logically you'd get "two four K MAGIC" going across, and that ain't right. Meanwhile, a twenty-set tennis match would not be short, so there's really no way to make that right. In my own solution, which the software accepted, I had 24K MAGIC, which is how I think the album title is spelled out, but then you get the truly awful FAB4 going down. Dudes. It's FAB Four, come on, don't be ridiculous.
And 2SET going down looks just as awful. ACK, ARG, what a mess.
Pit-a-pat (an SB stalwart if ever there was one): that means RACE, really? I thought it had something to do with the pitapat of small feet. So then: a specific type of "race" pertaining to toddlers? (Looking it up, I see it's short for "pitter patter". OK, OK, anyway, this is not a hill I planned on dying on. Still I find the cluing clunky as all get out.)
Jo KOY: complete unknown to me. That's probably more on me than on him (his first name is Joseph, his last name Herbert). I was mildly curious about this bombing at a Golden Globes ceremony, in a rubbernecking way, and discovered from this article that it was pretty egregious even by bombing standards, with Mr. Herbert throwing his joke writers under the bus at one point, and with the audience staring on in mute horror (I presume; some celebrity reactions included head-shaking expressions of disgust, and maybe I'm wrong that the attendees were all that mute). That write-up was enough to satisfy my curiosity.
Never a good thing when at some point of life, an INNIE herniates out to an outie, like a turkey thermometer popping out. Here I want a sound effect, something like "bing!". Certainly not a BONK; if my experience is any guide, it's much more subtle and stealthy than that -- it just sort of catches you unawares and you think, "well now, that sucks".
Thanks for keeping us posted!
A good enough Wednesday but I would have liked it better with fewer proper names, and some of them seemed A TAD obscure for a Wednesday. I’m looking at you, AKIRA, KERRI, MECHA. Even the revealer, while not obscure, was completely unknown to me - both the album and the artist
Interesting that RP used elm/oak/yew in his tree discussion. If you’ve been following Paolo on Jeopardy, one of the questions last night featured a tree. The first wrong answer was ELM, then oak, and the correct answer was yew.
The name of the album is 24K Magic. It's not Two4Kmagic. If you're going to use actual numbers in your puzzle (FAB4), at least be consistent with it, especially when it's the CENTRAL TENET OF YOUR THEME! I had it figured out when I got FAB4 and knew 2 sets of tennis was the answer. Why on earth did the constructor think using TWO4 was defendable? Unbelievable
This puzzle's proliferation of Ks immediately made me think of last week's major event. It's weird how many Ks there are in the name eriKa KirK
Glad he had a laugher after Monday's squeaker.
I put a “2” instead of “two” and the site accepted it as correct, presumably the puzzle accepts either the numbers themselves or the spelled out words as rebuses
Numbers turned me off
You stopped 2 squares away from completion?
BONK ARG ACK! OKOK.
Need I say more?
If you have a gimmicky puzzle it better be in service of something worthwhile.
At least EIEIO is there - phew! That really raises bar.
Very irritating…
There's something kinda theme adjacent in NOHIT being the answer for [Perfectly pitched?]. A "perfect game" is a no hitter wherein no batter reaches base. There have been 326 no-hitters in MLB history, of which 24 (glances at Bruno Mars) have been perfect games. Of course the symbol for strikeout is "K", so a more literally perfect game would be a 27K outing. Alas, the record is 21 Ks by Tom Seaver and it was in an imperfect game of 16 innings.
None of this is meant to put down Bruno, and I really think Mars is cool, but the MOONROCKS.
Trump's instructions to Hegseth in prepping for the Great Memphis War: THINKTANK. It makes me SICKOUT of my mind.
Nice to start the day with some Special K. Thanks, Jackson Matz.
Shredders are snowboards, not skis.
Good one. And then two more when you consider her uncanny resemblance to Tammy Faye Bakker.
You can put numbers in??
So the theme is a constant stream of weak to bad fill to force 24 of a somewhat uncommon letter into the grid?
'K.
Lewis is a treasure. Wonderful recounting of previous similar puzzles.
I also went with MAGIK/KROK and I couldn’t find the error.
I had no chance with this puzzle. Never dreaming that numbers would be accepted in the grid and the no-know-ness of 43A means that I failed to solve this with no errors.
Of course the abundance of K's was obvious from the KNOCK KNOCK joke. And the revealer certainly does a great job of explaining the theme. It's cute.
Thanks, Jackson Matz, for an interesting Wednesday puzzle.
At this rate, Paolo maybe able to put on the American Xword Tournament instead of winning it again!
My brother's favorite knock-knock joke:
Knock Knock
Who's there?
Sam and Janet
Sam and Janet who?
Then he belts out "Sam and Janet Evening" to the tune of Some Enchanted Evening.
I often have the following exchange with my grandson Leon (8).
Leon: Knock Knock
Me: Who's there?
Leon: Who's there?
Me: Hey, that's my line!!
I'm 40 and only knew what SANKA was from being in a production of "Kiss Me, Kate" in high school. One of the characters sings a song to his girlfriend Bianca and it includes the line, "I would rather give up coffee for SANKA...even SANKA, Bianca, for you!" Our teacher had to explain the joke.
both clue and answer are verbs. one shreds while skiing. one can also shred whilst snowboarding.
Because Kinks is a Proper noun and the puzzle already has way too many.
Can't imagine newer solvers enjoying this one, but most of the Propers have appeared numerous times in previous puzzles. I watched KEKE Palmer's 3rd appearance on Hot Ones yesterday - she's awesome. Idk much about Bruno Mars (besides his stellar 2014 Super Bowl halftime show), so the revealer didn't do much for me. I liked the theme concept, though. Solid puzzle overall. GL Mr. Matz (and Bill Belichick) at UNC.
A lock on the tournament of champions too, as I understand.
A 24K Wednesday puzzle, in my view. Loved the theme and the revealer. Most of it was fast and swishy, but I didn't finish perfectly because I hady CRONY and then CRONI rather than CRONE. Wanted IBID and couldn't move to IDEM since I had no idea about MECHA. Oh well, still lots of fun!
Yes, it's not just that he knows so many answers, across such a wide range of subjects, but that he answers SO FAST! He is a super-smart guy.
Hmm Since I put ibid at 5 across- couldn’t that be reasonable? And no idea about country duo and 8 down had some trouble up there! Kind of fun having so many Ks
I was disappointed Paolo didn't get it. Ken even asked, "Paolo, crossword guy... 3-letter tree?" Happy to see him qualify for the Champions tourney. His mid-game interviews are great. Hope the win-streak continues!
One set wouldn't ever be a match. You have to win 2 sets out of 3 in women's tennis to complete a match, and 3 sets out of 5 in men's tennis to complete a match. That's why the answer couldn't be 14K and instead had to be 24K.
So surprised to read all the criticism of the numerals. The numerals are what gave me a big smile! Fab 4 is commonly known, and and if you undertstood the tennis clue, 2 set was clear, and then you knew that 24K stood for 24karat. Perfectly gettable, if you ask me!
Also, someone mentioned AKIRA KURASAWA as being obscure. Foremost Japanese filmmaker: Seven Samurai, Rashoman, Ran...NOT obscure, and often featured in the XW.
I had a problem with the clue ”perfectly pitched” and the answer NOHIT. No hitters are far from perfect- they often contain walks, errors, batters hit by pitches, and occasionally runs are scored. They are typically well pitched games but they are never perfect.
Easy- medium. The album was a WOE and I initially made the same error that @Rex did with 1 SET. I finally did a rough count of the Ks to rule out 14.
KOY was the only other WOE and I had no costly erasures.
All the Ks were fun but @Rex is right about the fill. I liked it a tad more than he did.
Thanks Egs. for your last two comments with got me chuckling.
And Lewis for reminding me of the 4D clue answer which I did enjoy while solving
What I d id not enjoy were all the pop culture names.
And it's been so many deade since I learned to do a research
papaer, that I could ot remember5A, quite I thought it was id something and idet and tech seemed to work.
I 1,000% disagree that a reference to the Kinks whoever, or whatever they are would have been better than a garden hose. I would think just for variety, after all the other pop culture references that the hose would be referable..
Ken is now his rival as well as his host
Didn't care for this one. The sudden appearance of numbers/rebuses (rebi?) in the middle of the puzzle struck me as arbitrary, and like Rex I liked ONE/1SET far more than TWOSET as a "short tennis match." Not knowing the Bruno Mars album, I don't feel particularly guilty about having to correct from 14K to 24K after a frustrated Google search.
Tough ending. I had KROK so I ended up with 25 K's (I actually counted them). Had a ONE set tennis match for a long time. And I was stupidly distracted by the FAB FIVE which of course is a nickname for the 1990s Michigan basketball team, not the Beatles.
How can you hate the Beatles???
I don't know a thing about Bruno Mars soTWO as a rebus threw me. But then I'm in a bad mood after searching for my typo for almost an hour. Makes me miss the hard copy days when I wouldn't know - or care - if I had a typo or lost my streak.
To the poster who hates the Beatles - how can you hate the Beatles???
Está bien ya lo haré.
One set or two set? That is the question.
The other question is why why why would you fill the puzzle with Ks when the magic isn't the Ks, but quite clearly the bling and the callous notion so oft repeated in pop songs written by twenty-something boys to woo other twenty-something girls into opening the doors to her vault using shiny baubles. Gross intentions aside, where's the jewelry? The rocks? The ice? Where's the love? The magic? The precious metal turning KNICK-KNACKS into keys to her smooches?
Pretty funny puzzle and of course super gunky because, well, nobody in the realms of power ask for a higher level of accountability.
There are ELMS being stately literally everywhere. Why single out North Dakota?
The best Sanka scene in history is the library cop chastising Seinfeld for not having any in his cupboard.
Peg tuners are mostly on historic guitars. They are a pain. Very fiddly unpleasant things. Geared tuners are responsible, in part, for the rising popularity of the instrument in the early 19th century.
❤️ KOOKS.
People: 11 {14 K boo}
Places: 0
Products: 12 {24K boo}
Partials: 5
Foreignisms: 1
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 29 of 83 (35%)
Funny Factor: 7 😂
Tee-Hee: {Ever wonder how to get a puzzle published in the New York Times?} LEO I LUBES KERRI. AROUSAL. TEA BAGS. KINKS.
Uniclues:
1 Those learning to fly by flapping their arms and taking a leap.
2 The sound of love.
3 Girl gone bad in congress.
4 A beer koozie.
5 Sea monster electing to take the day off monstering.
6 Phrase from one delighted to find a digital story about the best kind of navel.
1 ROOF KAMIKAZES
2 AROUSAL ARG
3 REP. RIHANNA
4 OILER KNICK-KNACK
5 KRAKEN'S SICK-OUT (~)
6 OMG, INNIE E-BOOK! (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Total amount of tough guy stuff I've lifted in my life. ONE-ISH BARBELLS.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I was surprised to fill in a numerical 24, not knowing the Bruno Mars album. But I sure did notice all the K’s early on and thought, if only they were F’s for @Roo!
And yes I counted the K’s because there were, as I thought, two squares I could not fill in last night, DEC_A crossing _O_IT, but all K’s accounted for. Even looking at it this morning with sleep-recharged brain could not help, so I asked the puzzle to fill those in for me.
NO MUSIC! [puzzle, please check grid]
Turned out it’s MECHA, DUNN, and NO HIT, so more than two squares were wrong. Counting didn’t help because there was no K there, and my insisting on 5A staying “ibid.” (as well as 7D staying iBook; it’s a thing but an old one) meant I wouldn’t finish without help.
Ah well. Made me think of something a friend used to say when she had a setback: sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes the bug. [Checking phrase origin...] Oh! There’s a song called “The Bug” with the lines “Sometimes you’re the windshield/Sometimes you’re the bug”! Originally performed by Dire Straits, then covered by Mary Chapin Carpenter.
@CDilly from Friday: Thanks for the note! Arizona has it A TAD easier when daylight saving time departs (November 2 this year) because it’ll be 2 hours behind the East Coast and its assumption of California time (as my NY friends and I call it) for the summer is only because there’s no DST in AZ.
Thanks for the puzzle, Jackson Matz, more devious than I’d thought but engrossing and edifying, even though I doubt I’ll remember DUNN or MECHA!
Will read everyone when I get back but here was a chance to post relatively early in the day, EDT!
My granddaughter, now 68 days away from being a teenager (there’s been a sign on her bedroom door much like “x shopping days until Christmas”) is my television mentor. She has me all in on “Severance,” and when we hit the stock crosswordese INNIE this morning, like @Rex, that’s where I went too. Might have given the belly button a pass if there had been much to rave about this morning.
I didn’t dislike it as much as OFL, simply because of the challenge for our constructor, but first to get 24 Ks in an early week puzzle and second, to make the theme idea work. Full marks for 24 Ks, but the theme didn’t work smoothly for me. If it’s going to be a play on 24K, the 24 needs to be numerals. I think that would have looked much less awkward than two 4 K MAGIC which is not the title of the. Bruno Mars album. I would much rather see the answer 2 SET than TWO 4 KARAT . . .
When I got down to the reveal, I was looking forward to seeing what it was and I’m guessing like many of you, especially after plopping in FAB 4 (rather than a rebus “four” ) and knowing the answer to the album, I was stunned at the end of my solve to get “almost there” rather than the happy music. What?!
Took me three passes through looking for typos and finding none before I decided to rebus. First try at correction I rebused (?) both FOUR and TWO. Nope. Then I did 2 FOUR. Wrong again. Third time was the charm. And it just looked ugly. Still does.
The solve was definitely not totally in my wheelhouse. What I know about Anime is because of crosswords, and today I added MECHA to my Anime vocabulary. Excellent; love to learn things.
A few tough names, but not KERRI Strug. For some reason, I remember her because she sustained a serious ankle sprain, did her second vault anyway, landed on one leg and got enough to win the US its first olympic gold in women’s gymnastics. They practically had to carry her to the podium. What a competitor.
Got it done, credit for a good theme idea, but I really wish the editors offered some ideas to cut down on the crosswordese that seriously detracted from the theme and the solve.
@jb129 It's simple: I just do.
I listened to their whole discography when I was young (in the 1990s), and over time they began to annoy me. Years passed, and every time I heard the Beatles it annoyed me more and more. Now whenever I hear the Beatles I experience a vehement distaste that borders on revulsion.
It's not a choice — it's involuntary: I just hate the Beatles. It's been that way for a few decades now, so I don't see it changing anytime soon.
I am a musician myself. I studied composition and theory in college, I have a record collection that cost nearly $10K to amass, and I spend a good deal of my time and money playing music live, seeing live music and engaging with musicians, record stores, radio stations and recording studios. So it's not like my feelings about the Beatles are uninformed in any way. They are, nevertheless, viscerally unambiguous: I hate the Beatles.
I'm also not alone — based on your apparent incredulity, I can say this sentiment is a lot more common than you think.
I even like music from the same time period. Give me Link Wray, the Kinks, the Monkees or 60s-era Pink Floyd any day. Or, even better yet, anything Krautrock. But leave the Beatles out of my life, please and thank you.
It was a fairly easy puzzle for me until the 24 part. It simply didn’t occur to me that numerals were allowed (I had never seen it come up before and came to assume it was illegal), so I kept trying to make it work with letters: FABS (kinda works) ASET (ditto), ASKMAGIC (no knowledge of Bruno Mars songs). I ended up telling the app to show the solution and was shocked to see that my longstanding assumption was wrong.
Had IBID instead of IDEM and with those crosses, I couldn't even tell it was wrong.
Thanks for the updates, Lewis, although I make sure not to miss it. Tournament of Champions would be great - he's a really smart, NICE guy :)
Frustrating... I can't remember what all combinations I tried last night but none of them were accepted. I think I tried 1 and 4, then ONE and FOUR, then TWO and FOUR, and gave up in disgust. Never heard of the album and didn't get the "24 karat" idea so it was "Twofourk Magic"? Didn't even notice all the Ks.
Go Paolo!
I did a M&A nanosecond "Say what!!?" at your first few words "My granddaughter, now 68..." thinking that would make you around 108! Oh, "68 days away from being a teenager..." K.
@JT. "One set wouldn’t ever be a match". Not according to Rex, or the NYTXW crew, or me. I haven’t played in a number of years but when I did it was usually with a friend or one of my kids. Not particularly competitive. Not rigorously defined. Usually just a matter of walking to the local park courts, warming up for fifteen minutes and getting in one set before having to vacate the court for the next group. I see nothing in the clue that references professional or even strictly regulated amateur tennis.
Match is a pretty loose term.
I kroozed akross the top, 18A and 27A have 4 Ks kuddling up to the NOHIT at 22A, I jumped to the konklusion there would be 27 Ks, i.e. 27 Ks (strike outs) would be a no hitter, I'm kurious if that has ever been akkomplished...hmmm
jb129 - Don't you wish you hadn't asked? Unbelieveable that anyone supposedly this "learned" in music would prefer a manufactured boy group like the Monkees to the Beatles. To not recognize the songwriting prowess of Lennon/McCarney? Just...no. I don't believe it.
@tht. I think there's a "fairly" common phrase about one's heart going pit-a-pat when one is confronted with something desirable or exciting. In other words, racing. At least that's what I dredged out of my rat's nest of a brain late last night.
For anyone who misses him, today's puzzle in The New Yorker is by Patrick Berry.
Yeah, how can you hate the Beatles?! And I don’t know much Bruno Mars music, but I think he’s super cool looking.
Several of the Special K entries needed some help filling their slots from the POC (plural of convenience) starting right out of the gate when ELK and MOON ROCK came up short. This pattern continued with KINK, KAMIKAZE, DESK, KRAKEN, KOOK, TKO and SKI. With the K-less ELM, LUBE, TEA BAG, DASANI and ROLO joining the parade, the Committee gave the grid a POC Marked rating.
Yikes. OSTER is still in business? I worked a summer gig mowing the lawn and cutting weeds at the local OSTER plant when I was in high school. That was a very long time ago around the same time I tried my first cup of SANKA. It was my last.
The 24 DID work as numerals in the online version.
Some truly lame clue-answer combos this puzzle. SICKOUT SKA CRONE had terrible clues, and as usual a mess of proper nouns that will never be relevant. Not my favorite.
I was going to say that the clue was wrong, but I would have been wrong myself. While a NO-HITter might not be perfectly pitched, a perfectly pitched game will always be NO HIT.
Me too for 14K and IBID. I've probably written thousands of footnotes, and never used IDEM, I don't see why you would.
An amusing variation is to say to someone that you have a different kind of knock-knock joke. After they say"ok" you tell them that they start it. They then say "Knock knock" and you say "Who's there?" Only a very quick thinker is not flummoxed at that point.
@anonymous ok then, what are your credentials?
I think Lennon and McCartney's songwriting is self-congratulatory hogwash that gets worse and worse the later in their career you get, when they both turn down the stinking alley of "Look at me I'm oh so deep" Street. The lyrical content is the main thing I hate about the band. I'd personally rather listen to recordings of violent diarrhea and vomiting than anything by the Beatles, so however you want to denigrate the Monkees doesn't really impact the fact that *I* *hate* *the* *Beatles*.
You are aware that musical taste is subjective, right?
Are you really so cloistered as to think that no one in the world could have an educated opinion about something that differs from your own — when it comes to music?
Way to go @kitshef!
Way to represent! 😁
RooMonster Fella Who Gives An F Guy
@Anonymous 2:17 - YES, I AM!
If he is "a musician myself. I studied composition and theory in college" - well, that was in COLLEGE. He should be able to appreciate the talent & forward thinking - to say the least - that the Beatles provided all of us. Don't know where this guy is coming from - I hope it's not Mark David Chapman's prison cell ...
@jb129 The more educated a person is about music, the more they realize that musical taste is subjective and they allow others to have those opinions.
I have never said you were wrong to like the Beatles, only that I hate them.
So the more you rail against this, the more it shows that you truly don't know what you're talking about.
I have a very wide ear! There's not a musical genre in the world that I don't appreciate at least some corner of. I've never met anyone whose taste I can't agree with somewhere. And I'm educated enough on the subject that I know better than to crap on other people for what they like or dislike.
That latter point appears to be where you and I differ.
The state tree of North Dakota is the telephone pole.
Generally pros play best of 3 sets, so win 2 sets. In the majors (Wimbledon, French , US, Australian) men play best of 5, so win 3 sets. There are many instances where you play 1 "pro-set" to 8 games win by 2 games. Many recreation leagues I have played in also just use 1 set matches. USTA league is 2 sets with a tiebreaker if sets are split, and with the time limit you sometimes only play 1 set plus a few games. Also playing with friends we usually play 1 set then mix up teams. So one set is also correct, and I had ASET and a DNF. Did not like this one at all, for the rebus/number revealer and crappy fill.
@Rex I apologize for my post.
@Jeremy Ocean - Wow, to be filled with so much hate :(
Ha. I put in "Wonderkid" at 54 A and praised the Times for running the puzzle today. 55 D told me I was wrong.
@Les Ah, that hadn't occurred to me; thanks. That could well be what was intended.
Agree, which is why they have a term for that "perfect game"!
Agree, which is why they have a term for that "perfect game"!
There's a Seinfeld where the gang is in trouble with the owner of their usual hangout, Monk's Cafe, so they have to abscond to the much inferior diner called Reggie's, where Elaine attempts to order her usual "big salad" from the super-surly waitress who is Kramer's current girlfriend. (The scene sort of recollects the famous diner scene from Five Easy Pieces, where Jack Nicholson cannot order toast on the side to save his life.) Elaine finally says forget it, and just asks for a cup of decaf. She can't get that either. "We have SANKA", delivered in the same "tough toenails" tone.
jb129 Come on, filled with hate?! I dislike the silly music of a silly little British band — I don't hate the people in it, and I don't hate the people who listen to them. The music of The Beatles is about the least consequential thing one could care about when we're surrounded by so much literal hate in the world right now — hate and violence and genocide. Can I please ask for some perspective here?!
You and anonymouse come out of the gates swinging with personal insults at me and my background, when I didn't make any personal attacks on anyone. Songs are inanimate and can't have their feelings hurt, whereas I am a human being with a real and beating heart. I voiced an opinion about music and you asked why — and I answered earnestly and sincerely and in good faith.
Where is the hate here?!
It certainly is not coming from me!
Hate to be that guy, but: I think the library cop berates Jerry for not keeping Folger's freeze-dried crystals in the cupboard. (God, the actor of "Bookman" is fantastic. Philip Baker Hall.)
There is a SANKA scene in another episode where they go to Reggie's diner, and Elaine cannot order anything to her liking, not even a proper cup of decaf.
I agree!
@okanaganer1:33 PM
Weird. I wrote TWO FOUR and the puzzle said it was happy.
Familiarity breeds contempt, people will say. I love The Beatles myself, find their songwriting extraordinarily witty at times, and was also taken aback by @oceanjeremy's opinion.
But I can relate on some level. Growing up, I used to really like The Eagles, but I've heard it all so many times that now I pretty much switch the XM dial away as soon as I hear a single note. (Even Hotel California, which would be my favorite from their canon.) I won't say I "hate" them, but some level of contempt has been brewing for a while now. So safe, so middle of the road...
Off-topic, but the one pop song that is absolute poison to my ears is Eric Clapton's I Shot The Sheriff, and particularly the vocals that open the song. There is not one millisecond's opportunity to switch away before my aural nerves have suffered grievous assault. (And I've since come to despise Eric Clapton for his bigotry and MAGA-like opinions, but that's another story.)
@tht Thanks for at least empathizing :)
Personally I have no problem with The Eagles, though my wife despises them — along with, famously, The Dude from The Big Lebowski. The Cohen Brothers could have easily made him an Eagles fan and it would have been on-brand for the character, but instead he loves Credence and hates The Eagles — hates them enough to get himself thrown out of a cab on an L.A. freeway.
Now "L.A. Freeway" by Guy Clark — that's a song I can get behind. But I digress.
I'm very much feeling thrown out of the cab today, so let's all just have a drink to the infinite variety of music out there — and the infinite kinds it takes to fill the world, and how, to each, is theirs.
To quote Horatius Montanus, de gustibus non disputandum est.
Somewhat surprised to not see Rex comment on the fact that in a puzzle that ask you to put numbers that are part of answers in as either numbers or rebuses, it’s really quite sloppy to also have to other answers that have numbers where it’s just the good old Roman numeral. That really threw me off for a bit since I had come across LEO I first (and then ACT I followed at the end).
I still haven’t been able to get the puzzle to finish, despite triple checking all answers and trying all combos of either rebus or number…
@tht 4:48 PM
Well, I thought I had every moment of Seinfeld memorized, but obviously conflated the two fake coffee episodes.
WTF? When is the last time they put numbers into the grid!? I'm crying foul. It's a cross*word* not a cross*number*
@Gary... I use Across Lite, and TWO FOUR wasn't accepted. There are often differences between it and other apps / web pages.
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