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Clothing chain that began as a surf shop / WED 9-24-25 / Dance craze named for a Southern city / Taunt that may follow a gullibility test / Future amaryllis, e.g. / Colorful ring-tailed mammals of Asia / Participate in a blindside on "Survivor," say / 2011 Peace Nobelist ___ Johnson Sirleaf
Wednesday, September 24, 2025
Constructor: Peter A. Collins
Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- "I HOPE SO" (20A: Possible meaning of 54-/57-Across)
- "I'M LYING" (22A: Possible meaning of 54-/57-Across)
Pacific Sunwear of California, LLC, commonly known as PacSun, is an American retail clothing brand. The company sells lifestyle apparel, along with swim, footwear and accessories designed for teens and young adults. As of 2022, the company operated 325 stores in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. PacSun is headquartered in Anaheim, California, and formerly operated a distribution center in Groveport, Ohio. The company's regional directors, district managers and store positions are located throughout the United States. The company went bankrupt in April 2016 and is now owned by Golden Gate Capital. (wikipedia)
• • •
 |
| [Mine might've had green laces] |
So I have actually been in a PACSUN, have actually purchased at least one item (two, if you count both shoes) from a PACSUN, and *I* needed several crosses to get it. It will shock no one to discover that PACSUN has never been in the NYTXW before today. So it's a safe bet that that answer will prove at least a minor struggle for a number of solvers. But I'm guessing only minor, as this puzzle is otherwise Monday-easy, with only one other proper noun— ELLEN Johnson Sirleaf—that's likely to impede anyone's progress very much (19D: 2011 Peace Nobelist ___ Johnson Sirleaf). I generally do not remember Nobel Peace Prize winners, no matter how worthy of admiration recipients might be. Sirleaf was president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018, the first elected female head of state in Africa. "She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011, in recognition of her efforts to bring women into the peacekeeping process" (wikipedia). She was imprisoned in the '80s for criticizing the government. Punished for criticizing the government!? Well, I never! That sounds terrible. So happy I live in a country where this could never ever (ever) happen. (FINGERS CROSSED!)
The one thing I like about this theme is that it's weird. It's got a wonky picture element, which looks far more like the cross Jesus bears than a pair of crossed fingers.
 |
| [Botticelli, 1490-91] |
It's got hardly any actual theme answers beyond the revealer. In fact, the revealer takes up as much space as all the other non-pictorial theme material combined. There are two long Acrosses that feel like they should be theme answers, but aren't (CHARLESTON, "MADE YA LOOK!"). But it's an original concept, and the execution is charming, in a rough kind of way.
 |
| [Ecce Homo, 2012 partial restoration] |
Just a few sticking points today. PACSUN, as I said, and then SIRI, which feels like a rookie mistake on my part. SIRI clues are frequently punny or otherwise misdirective, so I'm surprised I didn't see through that one faster (8D: One who's given many instructions nowadays). Did not know ELLEN Sirleaf, as I said, and then I had my ten thousand as TEN K, not TEN G (12D: 100 C-notes). TENK is exclusively a race length answer (sixteen NYTXW appearances all time). All that trouble and pseudo-trouble came in the N and NE. The only other place I sputtered a bit was at INTERNED / NARKED (man that "word" looks bad). Something about the clue on INTERNED made it tough for me to get ahold of (45A: Worked to learn); I thought "Worked" means simply "strove," not "did actual labor." And as for NARKED, I mean, look at it. Come on. It's like you typo'd MARKED. Or NAKED. The word is NARCED. I know English doesn't like a hard "C" preceding an "E," but too bad, you're gonna have to make an exception here, as NARKED just looks too silly. Bizarrely, NARKED has now appeared in the NYTXW two times, and NARCED ... zero. And yet the NARKED clue itself seems to know that it's the variant (47D: Squealed: Var.). I now demand that at least two constructors put NARCED in their upcoming puzzles. To even things out, at least. Also, still looking for OZU. NARCED and OZU, my White Whales.
[23A: Cannonball Adderley's musical instrument, informally]
- 17A: Participate in a blindside on "Survivor," say (VOTE) — how is this show still on the air? It's like a zombie, going on indefinitely. Seriously, I think it's on Season 47 or something like that ... Holy Crap, Survivor 49 (!!!!!!?) premieres literally tonight. Anyway, I watched many seasons of the show back in the aughts and then it got old and tiresome and reality TV in general began to feel like a soul-rotting scourge so I stopped. I do not recall anything called a "blindside."
- 59A: Taunt that may follow a gullibility test ("MADE YA LOOK!") — this is a fun answer, though I've never heard the phrase "gullibility test" before. A more specific context would've made for a more entertaining clue. I like that this answer is parallel with the CHARLESTON (18A: Dance craze named for a Southern city). If someone suddenly broke into the CHARLESTON, they would definitely make me look.
- 32D: Future amaryllis, e.g. (BULB) — brain got confused as to what exactly an "amaryllis" was. Briefly imagined it was a kind of butterfly and kinda wanted PUPA here.
- 34D: Colorful ring-tailed mammals of Asia (RED PANDA) — adorable. A nice way to end this write-up.
That's all. See you next time.
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71 comments:
Easy, solved without reading the theme clues.
Overwrites:
@Rex TEN k before TEN G at 12D. I agree that 10 G is for money and t0 K is for running
45A (prior to reading the clue): INTEndED before INTERNED
My 55D squealer was a pig before it was a RAT
One WOE, @Rex ELLEN Sirleaf at 19D.
I've seen PACSUN (5D) in malls, but the clue threw me a little because I thought it was still just a surf shop.
Easy puzzle but far too many proper nouns of true obscurity. Pacsun was actually a gimme (I thought at least). A few fun clever clues sprinkled in there. I wonder how many days we can go without dropping acid in our puzzles? Apparently very few.
Finished it after changing PINEY to "pined" and then back to PINEY (is that a real word?). That was the tough area for me, because I didn't know NARKED (same question as above). Otherwise, a fun puzzle with reasonable cluing.
DNF, never did get the A where LAA crosses AEROS. Ran the alphabet but for some reason never considered A. What's LAA stand for anyway? Otherwise fun.
Rex is too kind to this too-easy-for-a-Wednesday puzzle with a silly theme. I did get FINGERS CROSSED with no crosses, so there’s that. PACSUN came to me fairly easily, as I had two teenage boys in the early 2000s who liked to shop there.
My problems were all in the SE corner - LAA? I’m not a sports person but what on earth team is this? A candy bar I hardly ever see and can’t remember? A single WARE?
At least 3 more proper names:
Andie
Penelope
Aeros (some difficulty)
Fun one, I deliberately held off on looking at the reveal, but no luck guessing it. I thought the clue for INTERNED was exceptional, but what a bummer to have to stare at NARKED after such a nice clue/answer.
I’m old enough to have predated the “reality tv” era, although I don’t know if I have enough years left to outlast it. Fortunately, I have never seen even one episode of “Survivor” - their commercials alone were sufficient warning to avoid at all costs, which of course I did.
Funny, just yesterday a friend was telling me about seeing REDPANDAS at a high school zoo (possibly the only high school zoo in the US) in Millbrook NY. First filled in RAT, then tried pig, but the RAT was the real deal. Similarly in the NE went from DABS to tApS then back to DABS. Never heard of PACSUN so that was all on the crosses, and still don’t know what the circles spell out and brain refuses to even try to work them out…somehow overlooked whatever comment Rex had on that subject…liked the puzzle, especially MADEYALOOK a favorite of a younger brother when we were both a lot younger.
Major editing fail to run this puzzle today, when this past Saturday was International RED PANDA Day.
Hilarious obsession with Cannonball Adderley today.
I believe this is the first time I have ever known to put EIRE just from the first 'E', rather than needing to wait for a second cross. Only took a decade+ and a few thousand puzzles to get there.
Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Angels, a professional baseball team
It is to Bob Dylan ...
I'll remember you
When the wind blows through the piney wood
It was you who came right through
It was you who understood
Though I'd never say
That I done it the way
That you'd have liked me to
In the end
My dear sweet friend
I'll remember you
Same here, Bulgie. That A was the last letter in. Humbling, after running the entire alphabet starting with B.
With 104 themed NYT puzzles, Peter has an inventive mind, and it was out in full force today.
There were double-plays in the cluing: Two with rhymes (luck/struck, Maine/Spain), two with Cannonball Adderly, two with “squeal”, and a pair of Canadian provinces.
Also, he crafted a grid accommodating three elements -- The what-crossed-fingers-signify answers on top, the circled letters in the middle, and the two-answer revealer at the bottom. Wow!
And by the way, it would have been much easier to simply cross a horizontal and vertical MIDDLE and INDEX, but Peter crossed them diagonally, which, as Peter says in his notes, makes cleanly filling a grid much tougher. Yet he succeeded admirably.
Oh, and that magnificent riddle clue – [What’s heard exactly twice in a lifetime?]! Not only fooled me (Hi, Sotto Voce!), but gave me a glorious combo of “D’oh!” and standing O. All this plus brain-pleasing rub from a couple of no-knows and a handful of had-to-wait-for crosses.
Cleverness and mastery in the box today on top of a sweet solve. What a delight! Thank you, Peter.
BTW, The fingers-crossed theme has been done once before, best as I can tell, six years ago in the Times. But the theme in that puzzle was much more simply presented, nothing like Peter devised today.
Hey All !
Noticed (for some odd reason) ALOT of X's and B's. Odd what the ole brain points out. Six B's, three X's.
Different type of Theme. Don't think it's been done before, @Lewis?
Liked the puz, quick solve, another PIPS clue/answer.
Verbosity not strong with me today. It happens. Har.
Have a great Wednesday!
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
Hand up here as well. Natick for me; I never even heard of the Los Angeles Angels until today (Los Angeles Dodgers, yes). And I really don't spend much time in the candy bar section.
Hey NY Times, it’s football season. I had “LAR” first for LA Rams first but it didn’t work so A went in for the LA Angels.
Rex, I had to smile during your comments, because when Auntie Anne’s moved in our mall, it was directly upstairs from Hot Topic and Pacsun. You know your mall geography! Malls were fun back in the day!
I had just read a few minutes prior to puzzling that the founder of RonJon surf shops had died. (RIP Ron DiMenna) Six letters. Surf shop. Guess what my error was today?
I got hung up in the SE corner. I've heard of ZERO bars, but not AERO bars. Not knowing anything about A.L. West abbreviations and having all the other crosses confirmed, that had me stumped for a while.
In terms of time, it was more of a Medium for me today, but an Easy rating is also understandable. I don't think I've ever seen a PACSUN store. If you had asked me yesterday to guess what the word means, I might have said, "is that one of those sweetened juice drinks for kids that's put in a pouch, with one of those thin straws with a point on the end that you pierce the pouch with?". That would actually be a Capri-Sun, but PACSUN looks plausible here.
As I commented elsewhere, total Natick where LAA meets AEROS. I guess candy bars (who here remembers the CHARLESTON Chew?) serve as one of those common denominators that are de rigueur for crosswords, so I'll try to make a mental note of this one, and hopefully I'll remember. FINGERS CROSSED.
By the way, I thought Rex very cleverly slipped in the dual meanings of FINGERS CROSSED in his write-up. We live in dark times.
He did go on and on though about NARKED, which really didn't bother me at all. What bothered me a little is XOX, which looks to me like a clipping of XOXO in order to meet a crossword exigency. I'm used to seeing a balance between the hugs and kisses. While I'm on the topic: I like many others had always assumed that the X was a visual rendering of two pairs of lips meeting, and the O a rendering of two pairs of arms encircling, but this folk etymology seems not to be attested by the OED, and the whole matter is mired in speculations.
Total aside, but the Xs and Os reminds me of Tic-Tac-Toe and the following amusing fact. Have any of you played Number Scrabble, aka Pick15, with your kids or grandkids? Write the numbers 1 through 9 on slips of paper and pool them in the center. Players take turns drawing from the pool, and the first player able to make a sum of 15 with three of their drawings wins. Now, if you know your tic-tac-toe tactics, then you can put those to good use in Pick15, by referring back (on the sly, like a secret AGENT) to a magic 3 x 3 square where all the rows, columns, and the two diagonals sum to 15. (Mathematicians would say that Tic-Tac-Toe and Pick15 are isomorphic, or "cryptomorphic" which is their coinage for "secretly isomorphic".) So, have fun dominating the kiddos in play, before revealing the trick so they in turn can dominate their friends. (In case my explanation was unclear, it's all explained here.)
I had to interrupt my INHOME eldercare to go to the outhouse.
I had an advantage on this one because I'm always quick to get the MIDDLE FINGER. Like when I do the PSST....MADEYALOOK thing to Mrs. Egs. She's always ready with the one FINGER salute.
ATAN impasse must happen when you've both been arguing out in the hot sun all day.
PENELOPE, not being one of those DUMB BLONDES, used to tell he suitors "OMEN! I won't be LONGI just have to finish this doggone shroud."
The middle of the west side features a stack that encapsulates what many have reported about Trump's youngest at NYU: BARON USED LSD.
Kinda of a cool mix of theme elements. I liked this. Thanks, Peter A. Collins for bringing some PAC SUN into our lives.
That was my first thought too.
Seemed very odd to have only two themers. I even briefly looked around to see if I was missing something. Keeping with the trend of the week, extremely easy, with my only stumble being BRICK for STONE WORK. Never heard of PACSUN, likely because I’m not near a metropolitan area. Also never heard of Etnies or AERO bars and agree that NARCED is the proper spelling.
Enjoyed this one, but a minor cringe at the cluing of BLONDES.
"Easy"? PACSUN/ANDIE?! AEROS?! RICOLA?! NARKED?! Guess again . . .
OFL was correct in pointing out that PACSUN would be an unknown for some of us. Even when malls were more popular, I don't think there was ever a PACSUN anywhere near here. No great loss.
I avoided the TENG TENK dilemma by trying THOU, which didn't work at all. Easily fixed. YOU before YA in MADEYA, another easy fix. Had ___ MAJ and had to wait for crosses to see what the key was, that happens a lot. Something else that happens a lot is PSST, which made me think of its anagram TSPS, another crossword staple. Where would we be without them? See also LONG (insert vowel here).
LAA was no problem, just waited to see if it would be that or LAD. I actually have been to an Angels game and I congratulate them for finding a big enough parking lot in which to build a baseball stadium.
Thought this was an ingenious piece of constructing, PAC. Put A Constant smile on my face while solving, and thanks for all the fun.
On 7/3/2019 (a Wednesday) Evan Mahnken's puzzle had a fingers-crossed theme, with horizontal/vertical crosses of RING/LITTLE and INDEX/MIDDLE (each of those words part of longer answers). The revealer was FINGERS CROSSED.
So yes, the fingers-crossed theme has been done before, but today's treatment was completely different, and was original in that sense.
Never heard of PACSUN, NARK & had trouble with AEROS/LAA cross. Otherwise I liked it. Thank you, Peter.
(BTW - I forgot to mention that Paolo's puzzle was in the NYer yesterday :)
I liked this one and didn’t like it. What I liked was the I HOPE SO/I’M LYING row and its matching FINGERS CROSSED row below. Quite elegant, I thought. What I didn’t like was the circles. I do the puzzle on the NYT Games web page and I find that the circles are always a bit too light and I often miss a few when I’m checking back to see what meaning they carry. Scouring the busyness of a filled grid looking for the faint circles is annoying. Can’t believe I’m saying this but I’d probably prefer shaded squares. Might have made things too easy but it would spare me a lot of drudgery unearthing something that wasn’t really necessary to the solve. Or maybe just leave those squares unmarked and have them light up at the end. That might have been more fun.
Liked a lot of the longer answers. CHARLESTON, PENELOPE, INTERNED, and MADE YA LOOK. The four long downs in the NE and SW were OK too. Most of the fill was just fine, if not too exciting. Only big stumble was initially typing in titaN at 32A where BARON belonged.
A pretty solid Wednesday.
Genius clue for LONGI. I needed two or three crosses.
That A stymied me. Tried everything, except the right letter.
Agree, clever clues made this fun.
Incredible to have 104 puzzles total anywhere! Wonder what the record is?!
Hope Paolo does a I won on Jeopardy puzzle
Easy-medium for me.
I did not know VOTE (as clued), PENELOPE, and ELLEN.
I did know PACSUN.
Costly erasures - pAtS before DABS, me too forTENk before G, and ERin before EIRE.
Cute idea and a pretty smooth grid given the constraints, liked it.
This 79 year-old grandma knew PACSUN. Granddaughter sent me a link to a sweatshirt that she wanted for her birthday (yay I love it when they do that) but to get it in time, I had to pick it up in the store which was in a mall in New Jersey. Sigh. Over the bridge (the Tappan Zee forever, never the Mario, whatever-the-middle initial that his son spent millions to add to the signs, Cuomo) I went. To a massive mall. The map display wasn’t working and I simply couldn’t find the store. I approached a young fellow at a kiosk and asked him if by chance he knew where PACSUN was. He looked on his phone (duh even I could have thought to do that) and he kindly walked me right to it. I headed to the checkout desk and giuess what? My package was right there, bagged and ready to go. Good work PACSUN! Of course I still had to find my way back to my car, but on the whole a successful experience that gave me hope that sometimes things can go right - when people are kind and do their jobs well.
Pabloionnh, MME too. I tried thou for 12 D. I would like to ban all clues in the pattern of 51A. Even if I had any ida of, or interest in, what sports thing A.L.West referred to, aren't there a lot of teams in each of those ? Isn't like cluing "A city in California"?
Never seen Aeros. Granted, I'm picky about candy and only buy typical candy bars for Halloween hand-out.(Even then I look for dark chocolate for at least some.)
Back when Survivor was new and Big, I tried watching. They did noting exciting, dangerous, nothing about surviving in a wilderness situation. Just sat around moaning about each other and strategizing.
BOOOORINg. Never understood why anyone watched them.
The ads I've seen for recent "reality" shows are Unpleasant people, usually in flashy clothes, behaving obnoxiously. I channel flip to avoid the ads.
I never knew the Charleston - which had a major, if brief, comeback when I was a teen- was named for the city. Smiled to learn that. Also liked the two "meanings" I hope so, I'm lying.
That is a lovely lyric (?). Thanks for sharing.
They used to be the Anaheim Angels. A handful of years ago they wanted to get more street cred and became the LA Angels
I’m surprised nobody as mentioned LONGI
Easily and quickly solved as a themeless. Completely ignored those silly little bubbles that the NYTXW editors love so much. I also tried to avoid reading Rex's explanation about the contents of those circles, but -- cross my heart -- I don't skip anything he writes here.
The use of the spelling “NARK” is usually a British spelling, and not an American one. The use of this word as a verb, no matter how it’s spelled, is almost exclusively British.
I’ve tried but I just don’t know what LONGI means!!! Help!
I paid little to no attention to the circles so the whole theme and reveal were fun to find at the end. I do remember seeing a PACSUN store in the mall closest to me but one of those that I walk past with no interest in entering. I'm chagrined that I needed any crosses to see ANTE; its clue seems very straightforward.
I'm proud of knowing PENELOPE without checking crosses and catching the LONG I with only the L in place.
Peter Collins, this was an enjoyable Wednesday puzzle, thanks!
@Anon 12:06 Idea = Long I. Itch = Short I
I thought it would have been a C with K for the ING, like picnicking, not just K. It threw me for a sec. Did not know it was British spelling.
@Anonymous 9:44 am: I fell for that at first, but think again: blonde is a "light" color.
The verb is definitely not exclusively British. "Did anybody narc?" (verb) has the same meaning as "is anyone a narc?" (noun) - ie, "did anyone rat us out?"
I feel a bit silly; I solved last night and never noticed the circles, plus I must have not read all of the clue for 54 across which mentions them! Never saw the crossed fingers.
Hands up for TEN K but Rex is correct; that is a race. TEN GS would have been obvious; I think I've heard that about a hundred times more often with the S. "Ten gee"?... nope.
Re LAA: I have seen exactly two major league baseball games. The California Angels in Anaheim in 1973 (we were visiting Disneyland), and the Blue Jays visiting the Seattle Mariners in about 1977. Interesting to read that the Angels started as Los Angeles in 1961, renamed California in 1965, then Anaheim in 1997, then Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2015, then back to Los Angeles in 2016. Whew!
In a much younger day I USED to run TEN K races, so I plopped that in for 12D "100 C-notes". For the longest time that left me with IM_YINK at 22A. Thought I might have to drop another tab or two of LSD to figure that one out.
Speaking of which, I liked seeing LSD and STONE WORK together in the grid.
Further evidence of the efficacy of advertisement jingles; I haven't seen/heard one of theirs in ages but instantly remembered the Alpine call of "reeee koh lah" for 46D
"Swiss cough drop brand" RICOLA.
Gave the side eye to the "Hey!" clue for 67A PSST. The latter is a whisper, the former a shout, if you ask me.
For those who aren't familiar with the CHARLESTON, JazzyFeet will show you how it's done. She's very ADEPT at it.
Me too for tenK, made imlying hard to find. The LSD clue mentioned tabS so I was looking for a plural before crosses confirmed LSD. For non-sports people AL & NL (American & National Leagues) are baseball. AFC & NFC (... Football Conferences) are football.
Should have liked this one way more than I did - and there is LOT to like:
*The theme was very cool.
*The reveal was a true adventure - four pretty elegant long crosses.
*Some great cluing - loved "What's heard exactly twice in a lifetime?"
*The visual was very impressive - that diagonal cross could not have been easy to pull off as @Lewis pointed out. And I only noticed that they spelled out INDEX and MIDDLE after I completed the solve!
So a boatload of very good stuff here.
I think my problem was that one or two of the propers that I didn't know came in places in the grid that just ended up slogging my solve up a bit. That, along with my usual self inflicted silly goofs for whatever reason took the fun factor down a notch for me - PATS instead of the correct DABS at 1A made what should have been a gimmie with Viola DAVIS more of a chore than it should ever have been (I mean, what other crossword-worthy Violas are there??) This also held up the "I" in IHOPESO which made that part of the revealer a bumpy road. I also used the "T" in the incorrect PATS to put in TONER for Wrinkle remover (3D) which killed the entire NW for me for way too long.
Hereby admitting that 99% of this is all my bad, not the puzzles.
Agree with @Rex that NARKED just does not look right with a "K". Having the "C" there caused MADEYALOOK fall way too slowly and that was a *lot* of real estate in the SW to leave "hanging in the balance".
AEROS was new to me as well but the crosses were fair. Though even after finishing, I still winced at it with a cocked head and thought it must be wrong.
All in all, despite my somewhat less than joyful experience, a very solid Wednesday with impressive construction and a clever theme well executed. My lower score on the fun factor was pretty much all on me.
I'd like to try a lot more of Peter's work - please keep them coming!
Crossword makers often don’t have a good grasp on music genres. Most don’t even know what emo is. Most use ska incorrectly. And I often see “bop” used way too broadly. While Cannon indeed got his start in what could be considered the bebop era, his glory years with Miles were actually post-bop, and his solo (band) work in the 1960s paved the way for soul jazz. I wouldn’t ever consider Cannon a bop player. Let’s leave bop for true beboppers like Bird and Dizzy.
I married into Survivor fandom, so I can help out with "blindside". Note that on Survivor (and many other reality competition shows), contestants on teams that have lost a challenge of some kind have to vote out a fellow team member. There's a lot of cloak and dagger, and a "blindside" is when a (typically stronger) competitor is secretly ganged-up upon. They're led to believe that everyone is voting out a weaker patsy and only learn the truth when the votes are announced and they're out.
JFC! Don't you read the blog/comments before you post?!
Thanks, @Lewis!
Roo
You're welcome. It's from a song called "I'll Remember You." A live version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRb3KGsUKzY&list=RDoRb3KGsUKzY&start_radio=1
Agreed, it will always be the Tappan Zee for me as well. Was this the mall in Paramus, NJ? Anyway, it's a nice story, and it's heartening there is still plenty of kindness in the world.
Toby, there were a few references to it in the comments (from egsforbreakfast, pabloinnh, and mathgent), but maybe they didn't give you what you wanted. Did you need an explanation? If so, then it's LONG I: the two i's in "lifetime" have the long I pronunciation, the same pronunciation as "eye".
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing -- I'd call Cannon somewhere between postbop/hard bop and soul jazz (the distinction between the latter two being somewhat murky, anyway). But I decided it wasn't worth picking another nit. (On the other hand, you'll still get hard-core hardliners who''ll insist that as influential as he was in defining the genre early on, Monk wasn't truly a bopper either -- more a neo-traditionalist who grafted modernist rhythmic/chordal ideas and voicings onto a Harlem stride framework. Definitions and genre categories are often more trouble -- and much more misleading -- than they're worth.)
Toby
About the Angels
Very confusing history. I had to look it up. Started in LA (from which Angels) moved to Anaheim (Orange County) in 1965
At some point they were Anaheim Angels but for decades they were the California Angels, which may be more well known. You are right it’s a fairly recent name change and a marketing ploy but ironically it was the original name!
Southside Johnny
About Survivor
I actually watched the last fifteen minutes of the final show of a very early season. Maybe the first or second. I have en excuse though. A contender was from my home state (RI) and the local news was making a big deal of him and the show and I was curious to see who won. He did. He was nasty, scheming, duplicitous.etc. ( according to the local news) and that was an effective way to win. He later went to prison for tax evasion.
Of course, the Apprentice was much worse as it facilitated the political career of our current wannabe dictator in chief.
I'm getting to the puzzle later and later. I got a last minute assignment to teach a course that meets twice a week, plus my wife is recovering from toe surgery and needs help for some things-- so I've been busy! Three more weeks and she should be out of the boot.
Anyway, not only was PACSUN a Natick for me, but I HOPE SO was a kealoa-- I had I HOPE tO. Maybe that's a natick-loa. It was tough until I got XOX, and new that first X meant INDEX, then it all fell into place, except for the error I mentioned.
Adderly did not play bop.
Les S More
Nancy, who hopefully will be commenting again shortly, dislikes “tiny little circles “. I don’t usually mind them. But sometimes, like today, when I realized they were part of “puzzle art “ I just ignored them. Let Rex do the work for me! So I avoided getting annoyed.
Otherwise my reaction to the puzzle was similar to yours.
“Narced” is slang for someone who tells the authorities about drugs… They’re squealing to “narcotics” agents. Narked is not a word.
Z was once a frequent contributor here. One comment he often made is that is so true: Sometimes, knowing a lot about a subject can slow you down at crosswords (As a retired lawyer I run into that problem with legal related clues) Crosswords are puzzles with clues. They are not encyclopedias. One thing that constructors do often is use a secondary meaning of a word or in the case of well known people refer to a lesser part of their career as happened with Cannonball Atterley. The fact he started in bop is enough for a PUZZLE.
Nothing wrong with the clue/ answer here.
From 1966 when they moved to Anaheim until 1997 the team
was known as the California
Angels. That was when Gene Autry owned the team. In 1997 when Disney bought the Angels they changed the name to the Anaheim Angels no doubt to take advantage of the location and lure of Disneyland. Two years after current owner Ate Moreno bought the team he changed it back to its original Los Angeles Angels hoping to get more penetration in the LA market. Due to a lawsuit, the team is actually The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
This constructor has done well over 200 NYT puzzles. The puzzle was cute although I did not get the graphic payoff. Also, I always have trouble with his cluing and this puzzle was no different. I am sure that is my fault not his.
Never heard the term 10G. It's always 10K and that's not exclusive to running. That mistake (by the puzzle creator) hung me up for a long time; my eyes simply refused to see TENK as incorrect (because it's not). Anyway, after that realization - discovered when I came here - this was a fairly easy puzzle and I quite liked the theme. Surely there's another way to have clued TENG.
@Photomatte. TENG = Ten Grand
Oddly (sorta), "So long in Oahu" is ALOHA, but in Spanish it's just Adiós, so maybe a good reason not to translate a phrase.
I'm gonna put this in the cringy theme department. I thought it was bad until I'M LYING showed up and that's pretty funny so a bit of redemption. The whole puzzle is reasonably humorous -- frustratingly rare occurrence.
To DINK or to DUNK. That is the question. A TAN impasse happens right before the bathing beauties start pulling hair.
Cannonball Adderley singlehandedly amping the gunk score.
Really ugly clues for VOTE and OMEN.
❤️ MADE YA LOOK.
People: 7
Places: 3
Products: 4
Partials: 8
Foreignisms: 1
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 23 of 78 (29%)
Funny Factor: 6 😅
Tee-Hee: LSD.
Uniclues:
1 South Carolina slogan encouraging participation in local elections (among elderly tax-hating white Christian males only please).
2 Social media.
3 How to make a hairy Asian look surprised.
1 VOTE CHARLESTON!
2 MADE-YA-LOOK WARE
3 RED PANDA'S BOTOX
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: What Godzilla did while on vacation in Pennsylvania. ATE VALLEY FORGE.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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