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"Oh. Come. On!" / TUES 9-30-25 / Card game that involves shouting its name / Befitting a king or queen / Move like the Blob
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Hi, everyone, it’s Clare back for the last Tuesday of September. Hope the month treated everyone alright! My September was pretty packed with work and taking my puppy on hikes and becoming more obsessed with reality TV cooking shows. I even got to meet my all-time favorite from “Top Chef,” Melissa King, when she was in D.C. for a book signing. I went to a music festival last weekend, and it was incredible (Kesha performed my favorite new song of hers, “Red Flag,” and Doechii blew the whole place down), but now I feel like I need to catch up on sleep for this whole week. Sports have been just OK — Liverpool lost :( but are still top of the table, and the Steelers (who I’m sort of maybe rooting for despite Aaron Rodgers) have done pretty well. At least I’ve had the WNBA playoffs to watch — even if the teams I’ve wanted to win… haven’t.
Anywho, onto the puzzle…
Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: IT’S A DE LIGHT (59A: "I love this!" ... or, phonetically, remark about the answer to each of the starred clues) — Each theme answer has a dropped “d,” so it’s one “d” light
Theme answers:
- CROW CONTROL (17A: *What a straw man in a cornfield is for?)
- GARBAGE UMP (28A: *Ref who makes a ruling against your favored team?)
- ON KEY KONG (35A: *Primate with perfect pitch?)
- CAR CATALOG (47A: *Kelley Blue Book?)
Nunavut is the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, which provided this territory to the Inuit for self-government. The boundaries had been drawn in 1993. The creation of Nunavut resulted in the first major change to Canada's political map in half a century since the province of Newfoundland (now Newfoundland and Labrador) was admitted in 1949. Nunavut comprises a major portion of Northern Canada and most of the Arctic Archipelago. Its vast territory makes it the fifth-largest country subdivision in the world, as well as North America's second-largest (after Greenland). (Wiki)
• • •
For some reason, I wasn’t totally feeling this puzzle. Some of that can be attributed to some stilted clues/answers, but I think the main reason was that I didn’t connect much with the theme. Each of the theme answers didn’t make much sense to me without the “d” (even if they match up with what the clue is describing). Nobody would ever use the phrases CROW CONTROL (17A) or ON KEY KONG (35A) in real life. I suppose GARBAGE UMP (28A) is at least plausible, but…. What would be more common is saying the “ref” is GARBAGE. [See: recent refereeing in the WBNA playoffs, literally any game of the English Premier League, and probably the NFL any time we need to figure out what a catch is... As a Liverpool fan, I of course know the refs are GARBAGE and out to get my team on every occasion possible (my sister would say the same about Arsenal, but we know better, right?)]. CAR CATALOG (47A) is probably the only one of the four theme answers you might actually run across in real life. For that matter, when is the last time you heard someone say, “IT’S A DELIGHT” (59A)? “It’s delightful,” sure. But “IT’S A DELIGHT”? I realize the answers are supposed to be funny, not real life. I guess I just didn’t laugh. I do think the idea of being a “d” light is pretty cute, and ON KEY KONG (35A) is quite an image. But the other answers never clicked for me, and, to channel my inner Rex, I think the dropping the “d” theme would’ve worked better if the “d” was being removed from the same part of the word or phrase each time. As it is, the deletions just look random.
The southwest corner tripped me up for a long while and made this puzzle much harder for me. I didn’t know Jack LALANNE (40D: Fitness guru Jack). I’d only vaguely heard of FRANK OZ (41D: Puppeteer with "Sesame Street" and "The Muppet Show"). And ACACIAS (39D: Some pod-bearing trees) aren’t an especially common type of tree (at least, I wasn't familiar). I also had to rack my brain to come up with ALF (39A: Puppet alien of TV). I know now that it was a popular TV show, but it went off the air 35 years ago, so it was hard for me to get. Then, there was my biggest annoyance in the puzzle… SEZ (67A: Declares, informally)?! That may have been a thing in 1950s detective novels, but it’s just not part of any even semi-modern slang I know. That, combined with ALAS NO (52A: "Unfortunately that's wrong") and CAN IT (55A: "Shush!") (which could have been “zip it” or, just going off the T, “quiet”), caused me real problems.
There were too many “ ” clues today for me (I counted nine). I find that they’re usually overbroad and should be used sparingly. GET A LIFE (38D: "Oh. Come. On!") was my favorite of them, but the others — CAN IT (55A), ALAS NO (52A), IT’S A DELIGHT (59A), DONE IT (20A: "Already accomplished!"), I’M FULL (56A: "No more for me, thanks"), HOW’D IT GO (4D: "Was your performance a success?"), I FEAR (66A: "Unfortunately ..."), and GEE (61D: "Golly!") — were mostly meh.
I did think 37D: H for Homer was a clever clue to get to ETA. 57D: Planet whose name is also a candy company as MARS was also good. And I really liked ON A DIME (12D: One way to stop). The long downs of ALLERGENS (10D: Pollen, cat hair, etc.) and INFANTILE 32D: Babyish) were nice. And I learned about the region NUNAVUT (11D) today, which I’m finding out is vast and also really rolls off the tongue in a fun way.
I don’t mean to rag on the puzzle! It just wasn’t on my wavelength. And I’m tired. Maybe you liked it more. I hope you liked it more! But I’m ready for tomorrow’s puzzle now.
Misc:
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Misc:
- You might think that, as a rock climber, I would know that a 25D: Crag is TOR (a Google search isn’t telling me if you say it as just “tor” or “a tor” or what). You would be wrong. Maybe that’s because I only climb indoors. Or maybe it’s a relatively old-fashioned term. I would’ve clued that as related to the TOR anonymous web browser.
- I also would’ve clued FLEABAG (53A: Sleazy hotel) differently to refer to the amazing two-season British show created by Phoebe Waller Bridge that’s one of the greatest shows of all time. It only has two seasons, and the second one in particular is probably the most brilliant season of a show I’ve ever seen. I can’t recommend that show highly enough!
- When I saw EPCOT (5D: Disney park with Spaceship Earth), my first thought was about an episode of the TV show “The Americans” called “Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow.” That’s another amazing TV show that I’d highly recommend! It’s six seasons, so it’s a real time investment, but it’s fascinating throughout, and I’ve never seen a series stick the landing so well.
- I think the best film from Frank CAPRA (6A: Frank who directed "It's a Wonderful Life") was “It Happened One Night.” Fight me.
- My sister got my puppy a BOK Choy (30D) toy! Please now enjoy a picture of her with this toy — and also allow me to bombard you with a couple more pictures because I’m a proud puppy parent :)
And with that, I’ve run out of things to say (but never out of pictures of Red to show off). Hope everyone has a great (and spooky) October!
Signed, Clare Carroll, who's [d]one with the puzzle
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101 comments:
I pretty much agree with everything that Clare mentioned. I enjoyed the way that the reveal tied it all together and put a nice bow on it (even if the theme entries were pretty weak on a stand alone basis). So I would rate it a notch or two higher than our guest host.
I also hadn’t heard of NUNAVUT and went with EluDE instead of EVADE as the cross, which caused much angst (darn, I should have known better and scrutinized the crosses, so that one is on me).
Similar to Clare, I also made a mess of the SW. I couldn’t remember how to spell LALANNE, and wasn’t confident with ACACIAS. With the triple-stack in that segregated section, I really could have used some help with the crosses which didn’t want to cooperate much down there.
So a little tougher to close out the deal than a usual Tuesday for me, but an enjoyable excursion nonetheless.
Medium for me too.
Major WOE - NUNAVUT (thanks @Clare for the Word of the Day info)
Spelling problem - LALANNE
Costly erasure - CROp before CROW
Not much junk, DELIGHTful wacky/amusing theme, liked it quite a bit more than @Clare did.
Oh boy, what a mess. On my part, not the constructor’s. As a proud Canadian I should have been able to spell NUNAVUT correctly, but no, I didn’t and it cost me. First downs only Tuesday in years I have failed to solve. Hanging my head in shame.
And the 41D puppeteer … all I could think of was Henson. I watched enough Sesame Street with my kids that I should have known this OZ guy.
Oh well, suck it up, Les, you’re not as smart as you think you are.
Nice Tuesday puzzle. Just wish it hadn’t made me feel so stupid. Especially liked FLEABAG at 53A. I’ve stayed in a few of those. I used to go fishing in remote spots all by myself. Wasn’t much into camping, so I’d book myself into a room at the closest Econo motel. Bed, shower, TV with a Blue Jays game on, what more could a guy need? Maybe some decent take-out.
And the theme wasn’t bad either.
I really had a hard time with the theme. Doesn’t the clue usually indicate the other word too in these types of puzzles? CAR(D)CATALOG (also, isn’t it usually spelled “catalogue”?
All the theme answers have the “D” within the word, but (D)ONKEYKONG had it at the beginning, which was inconsistent and made it harder for me to cipher.
Easy, but I liked it better than @Clare did. Only one overwrite, Goop before GLop before GLUE for the sticky stuff at 50D.
i found it very easy until running up against the theme clues. "onkeykong" was obviously "donkey kong" in disguise, but I had "crop control" instead of CROWCONTROL at first, so the missing "d" wasn't obvious. Neat puzzle, I thought, just with very easy fill.
I liked it a lot more than @Clare did (or, I expect, than @Rex would have)--the wackiness made me smile, especially ON KEY KONG and GARBAGE UMP. FRANK OZ and Jack LALANNE and ALF were gimmes--I gather this puzzle skewed older, and not just for the bygone expressions. TOR was the only WOE, and I should have remembered it from the Maleska era. AzAlIAS before ACACIAS, but that was easily fixed with CAR CATALOG. I thought the revealer did a nice job tying it all together.
Thanks for hosting us today-- I did this one in two parts (a spell at 10 and again at midnight) and the timer stayed on, so it says it took me 2 hours! Which it didn't, but I'm struggling to rate the puzzle--I think it was medium. Most of it was easy, but a few entries stopped me and I had to go to one of those little 3 x 3 nooks to get me started again. Like SEEDY could have been SEamY. and IFEAR took me a while to see. ALASNO was also kind of arbitrary and not on the tip of my tongue. Also took me forevuh to grok this theme.... like why were these entries a D "light". Thanks Clare for helping me get that. I thought the theme answers were cute. We definitely put up straw guys in our garden when I was a kid--so CROWCONTROL made sense to me! Thanks, Justin! : )
Nice to have a write-up from you, Clare, and your puppy is so cute! Love the pics. But, hated the puzzle. I think Clare was too nice. The theme was inconsistent and some of the answers didn’t make much sense (CROWCONTROL, ONKEYKONG) GARBAGEUMP was the best one.
Jack LALANNE is from ancient times, meaning my childhood, and it really bothered me that LALANNE crossed ANO, the N of which is actually an N with a tilde and pronounced differently than a straight N.
NUNAVUT territory was nice to see. If you live in the Northeast and listen to WAMC from Albany, you hear mention of NUNAVUT often in the very comprehensive WAMC weather report, where the lowest temperature in North America is usually there.
Agree with everything Claire said, and I was particularly irked by the similar cluing on 52 and 66 across (two “unfortunatelys…” for two answers that could be interchangeable if not for the letter count, ugh). I also agree that “fleabag” could be much more creatively clued than it is here, especially since “seedy” is just a few rows down.
This played pretty easy for me though I've never heard of NUNAVUT. But Claire not knowing who Jack LaLanne was made me feel very old.
I say either go wacky or go normal with your themers. ON KEY KONG is wacky. CAR CATALOG is normal.
Hard for me today, though not in the areas that seem to be troubling others: NUNAVUT, LALANNE were gimmies. But it was cec after cec after cec and I always struggle with those (colloquial equivalency clue, or what Clare calls a " " clue).
Well, I liked this puzzle, despite what’s his name’s name in the SW. Not Jack’s, the other guy…anyway, thought it was a cute theme and revealer even with the missing “D’s” being random. Clare must have been pretty tired—we both liked FLEABAG so our basic tastes are not that far apart. NUNAVUT was new to me and interesting to learn. We have an ACACIA in the front yard and I’m all too familiar with those innumerable pesky pods.
Super easy, yet enjoyable. A Tuesday success.
Your sister is right, Clare.
When I came across ALF, I wondered how this puzzle could skew any older. Then came Jack LALANNE. How many people under 70 remember him?
Living in Vermont, a state with a lot of tourism, I regularly spot license plates from all over the continental U.S. and most of Canada. But last week for the first time I saw a NUNAVUT plate. Somebody had driven that van a lo-o-ong way!
@Clare, what have you got against Aaron Rodgers?
Hey All !
GARBAGE UMP! Awesome ...
Thought the "D"-less answers were comical. Revealer nailed the landing perfectly. Themers are a D-light. Good stuff.
NUNAVUT is indeed a large chunk of Canada, with (I think, without Googing it) the least populated Province. Too darn cold. Like Greenland amped.
Fill decent, considering all the Theme to work around. Good F count. A bit, though, change tha the ANO clue to Portugal. C'mon, this has been discussed here ad infinitum, and will be again today. Maybe they just needed to get an ASS in the puz today. Har.
Have a great Tuesday!
Five F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
"also, isn’t it usually spelled “catalogue”?" <-- Not really I don't think, at least not in the U.S. There's catalog, dialog, analog, all with their -ue counterparts. I didn't run the ngrams, but all of these are pretty common, I FEAR.
Delight indeed! This had so much fun built in.
First, figuring out what the deal was with CROW CONTROL, not a common phrase. That woke my brain up and when I cracked that riddle, it had a glee-burst.
Then, knowing a D would be missing, trying to guess the remaining theme answers with as few crosses as possible, fun in itself, and when they did fill in, not only getting a big aha, but wowing at the cleverness behind both clue and answer.
Finally, trying to guess the revealer, getting nowhere. After finally uncle-ing, uncovering it, and my jaw actually dropped with happy wonder at how funny and perfect it was.
What a theme! Standing O!
Along the way, lovely answers – LATHE, OOZE, FLEABAG, HOW’D IT GO, NUNAVUT. A PuzzPair© of I’M FULL and a backward ATE. Not to mention the sweet wordplay clue [Left of a ship ... or what a ship may have left].
Justin, I came to the box feeling decent and left it feeling exuberant. That is a gift. Thank you!
ELECTABLE PUZZLE!
Maybe about a Medium, and easier than yesterday's. I liked it a little more than Clare did, and I can really feel the generation gap when I read her write-ups (which is not to say I don't enjoy them). Anyway, I sort of liked the wackiness of the theme answers. For me, a bigger drawback was the revealer, which only makes sense as a homophone. If all the answers were "light" of a DE, not a D, then the revealer would have been perfect. Or, if it were "Deelight", i.e., if you had the letter D spelled out, then that would also have worked well. But there is no such word, and not even the 90s chick with groove in the heart spells it that way, so I can't figure out how to salvage the situation.
FRANK OZ is much more than a puppeteer: he acts, he directs, he produces, ... My first associations are in fact with these other activities, so while I plunked in the answer, there was a mild "huh" attached to it. The cross SEZ is very familiar, and I'm not in the habit of reading 50s detective novels -- nor do I know it frequently recurs there. Mostly I see it used humorously, and I think I've seen it in ad copy. I myself use it now and then.
Anyone who plays Spelling Bee will be on intimate terms with ACACIA.
I thought PORT was niftily clued.
The biggest surprise to me was LALANNE. I could have sworn it was pronounced La-laine (and hey, so it is; I just looked it up). So I really don't know what's up with that. Learn something new.
Have a nice day!
Nice, Lewis!
I knew a few things about NUNAVUT - the correct vowels was not one of them. NUNU led to ELUDE>EVADE in that KEALOA. Eventually worked out. I also had a GARBAGEIMP - which kind of makes sense as a ref making capricious calls against your team.
Agreed about FLEABAG: we could have used a Waller-Bridges clue on the Friends puzzle (PHOEBE). Probably better not to go with a proper name on a Tuesday. I wonder if FLEABAG hotels have been replaced with bedbug hotels in the public fear imagination. Phoebe seems to have fallen off the radar. She had those great TV series, wrote some script for a major motion picture then fell off the radar - classic meteor that burns really bright then burns out just as quickly. Probably off enjoying her life somewhere and I suspect she’ll be back.
Not sure what the SE corner is trying to tell us:
How was the hotel? GEE HAD a TRY, it was a SEEDY FLEABAG SEWER, or maybe just an OFFDAY. Need to GETALIFE, picked the wrong week to quit sniffing GLUE.
@Clare Families amaze me, how your sister could be so right (Arsenal) and you could be so wrong (Liverpool). Goes to show. Then again, I'm with you on Aaron Rodgers. And thanks for the write-up. Great job.
Clare, you are 100% right about It Happened One Night
Not on my wavelength either. Car Control doesn't make any sense with a D. The blue book literally is a car catalog. Card catalog has nothing to do with the clue and is something else entirely. I think Rex would have been very hard on this puzzle.
The puzzle skewed old for sure. I’m 70 years old and Jack Lalanne was at the height of his popularity when I was a child. Good write-up Clare. I agree with you about Aaron Rodgers as well. I was appalled by his behavior during the pandemic and I don’t think he embodies team building either.
Loved the revealer, clever and snappy. Otherwise breezy with an EENSY bit of challenge and on the same wavelength as Clare about the theme. Appreciated the NUNAVUT snippet, very informative. I was wondering why I didn’t remember that from geography class. Of course, I went to school back when JACK LALANNE was a household word. But sorry Clare, can’t get enthused about the alternate clue for FLEABAG. Never heard of the British show and thinking I’m probably not alone there. I am however, a huge fan of pups (“Puppies darling! I have no use for babies.” π) and your photo gallery was the best part of the puzzle today.
I rarely comment (but i learn from all of you almost every day!), but I must, must, MUST reinforce Clare’s TV recommendations: Fleabag (especially season two) and The Americans are truly as good as it gets (save anything Larry David touches).
Pretty much a routine Tuesday until I got to the SW corner, which, in contrast to the Tuesday-level difficulty of the rest of the puzzle, was a Saturday-level nightmare. Very bad editing, but what else is new?
For some reason I read the clue and wanted CROWCONTROL and there it was, so I started out feeling smart. Saw that we were doing a "missing letter" theme and got the others fairly easily but had to get all the way to the end to notice that the missing letter was always a D, so I ended feeling not so smart.
At any rate the puzzle played easy for me, no WOE's except for TAZO, which I never remember, and I even spelled LALANNE right on my first guess. Sort of knew NUNAVUT but haven't seen it in a long time. I learned TOR when I was reading Sherlock Holmes in high school and came across "The Man on the TOR". New words like that tend to stick.
Disagree with Clare that an answer like FLEABAG should be clued with a contemporary proper noun when it's a perfectly good in-the-language term already. That may just be my lack of pop culture knowledge though.
I had a good old time with this one, JW. Thought the themers were properly wacky and the revealer was Just Wonderful. Thanks for all the fun.
Hi all. Longtime reader —and deep fan of this comments section — but first-time contributor. I liked this puz fine, and maybe savored it more because today happens to be my birthday, BUT I have one nit — and kinda surprised no one has mentioned this: The clue for GARBAGE UMP mentions a “ref.” But the officials in baseball are umpires. They’re never referred to as referees. When I read the clue I mentally excluded the possibility of UMP as an answer and had to grit my teeth putting it in. I dunno, maybe tennis umpires are considered refs?
Anyway, keep up this lovely community. IT’S A DELIGHT.
Fun fact (which I actually learned at a Rolling Stones concert in Seattle last year): Mick Jagger's father was a fitness instructor who became known as the Jack LALANNE of England.
The INOIL/INOT dupe is INFANTILE. And how about the GONEAPE who can sing ONKEY and stop ONADIME? Maybe he had an OFFDAY.
Me: I like this refreshing drink. It's slightly lemony, but not a full lemonade. What is it?
Mrs. Egs: ITSADELIGHT.
Thanks for a wonderful write-up, Clare. I now consider myself well-Red. And thanks for a delightful, wacky theme with a wonderful revealer, Justin Werfel.
I couldn’t watch The Americans after they killed off my favorite character in Season 3.
maybe solving this puzzle at 5am helped, but I literally laughed out loud at the revealer. Also the picture of Red with his ears blowing is totes adorbs.
Clare, I'm guessing that you are 23 years old.
I came here to say that I LOVED your pics of Red, Clare & thank you for sharing :)
Don't have too much to say about the puzzle. "It was cute" I guess. Can imagine what Rex would've said.
I’m a fan of Capra's You Can’t Take it With You. And this puzzle.
ONKEYKONG made me think of Egs. Love the wacky.
Easy and fun, with a cute theme and a brilliant revealer -- I tried to think of one while solving, and the only thing I could come up with was "NOD." I wasn't sure if it was NUNAkUT or NUNAVUT, and I had to wait for crosses for the EVADE/EluDE kealoa, but it was a breeze. (I mean, I had and have no idea about the order of the zodiac signs or their corresponding constellations, but I had L_BR_ by the time I read the clue.
I grew up 70 miles from Fond du LAC, so if you didn't, unlucky you, and also you may have had a tad more difficulty with that one.
SEZ, LALANNE, ALF, and FRANK OZ crossing is unacceptable on a Tuesday.
1. All but one of them are completely uninferrable if you don’t happen to know them already
2. The one that *is* inferrable (SEZ) is awkward at best
3. The only really widely-known name (ALF) is extremely dated
4. The other two names are at best niche trivia
Just a terrible, terrible section. I have no idea how that made its way through editing.
As for the theme: I think it’s fun and cute, but agree that it would be better executed if the removals were all from the same place. Or even if they were all from different places! But one from the beginning, where the two words are split into three (dONKEY KONG -> ON KEY KONG) and three from between two words, where they remain two words, is a bit stilted.
Overall meh. Some fun but needs reworking.
agree, this one was trash. or garbage
I just returned from a cruise in the Canadian Maritimes, and to prepare for on-board trivia, I boned up on some Canadian facts. I was surprised to learn that Canada has the longest coastline of any country and also the most islands (I would have guessed Indonesia for the islands). It turns out the territory of NUNAVUT is a large reason for these records, because it contains the vast Arctic Archepelago.
But that's true of all the theme answers -- crowd control has nothing to do with the clue either, for example. They're consistent that way -- you get the correct answer by dropping a D from a common expression.
@clare if you haven’t already, you should give culinary class wars on netflix a try. it’s my current favorite cooking competition, and i believe they’re supposed to be dropping the new season in december! it’s a delight :)
Old San Franciscans like me know Jack LALANNE well. He was born here. He got a local TV station to give him fifteen minutes on one of their newscasts to plug his health club. It became popular, became a local show, and then a national show.
Car catalog, crow control…
Why would you guess that?
Just want to say that I always appreciate Clare’s writeups!
Roo, even though I misspelled it today, thereby proving I'm no expert, I need to point out that NUNAVUT is a territory, not a province. Canada now has, I think, 10 provinces and 3 territories: the Yukon, Northwest, and Nunavut.
I also need to point out that there is a show on Netflix called North of North, set in Nunavut. It's a charming, comical look at this frozen, unwelcoming place. It fluctuates between poignant and hilarious. Season 2 is "in production", as they say.
As the voice of Fozzy Bear, Miss Piggy, Yoda, and the director of some good movies ("What About Bob?" is great), Frank Oz is worth getting to know.
I’m guessing the word “Ref” in the clue is a concession to the conventions of cluing (you can’t have part of the answer in the clue), so with UMP off-limits, a synonym that is close enough for CrossWorld is desirable. They could have gone with “Individual who makes . . . “, but that would have amped up the difficulty level a bit. My theory on that one, but it seems plausible.
The ON KEY KONG/DONKEY KONG made me laugh actually! I thought it was a delight π€£ As I recently moved to Canada from the US, I’m learning loads about Canada right now. And the NUNAVUT timing is perfect (I was really glad it was chosen as your word of the day) because it is Truth and Reconciliation day here in Canada. From Wikipedia: “ The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation originally and still colloquially known as Orange Shirt Day is a Canadian day of memorial to recognize the atrocities and multi-generational effects of the Canadian Indian residential school system. It occurs every year on September 30.”
Red is a darling pup Clare!
I enjoyed this puzzle but when I saw JACKLALANNE fill in I kind of groaned and knew he would be likely unknown by many.
Here’s the deal. I was 4 years old when his show was syndicated nationally, and here is what I thought about him. First…I thought he was OLD then (of course he was not), and 2) his show annoyed me because I had to wait until HIS boring show was over before I could watch my beloved cartoons.
At any rate, in spite of my unjustified reasons for groaning at JACKLALANNE, I did enjoy the puzzle and thought it had a simple and somewhat elegant theme. Keep in mind, I never really get wildly amused at themes, I’m more of an “oh, that’s kind of cute” person with ANY theme.
I forgot to mention. I thought NUNAVUT had been in the puzzle at least once in the last few years…?
Haha! Yes, I am precisely 70 and wrote about him in my comment…
I grade this puzzle a D minus. Definitely an OFF DAY.
Easy for me, ok theme. Best themer right in the middle .
Some years ago I spent a fortune on TAZO tea for my wife's Xmas gift, only to find she prefers generic black or herbal!
I fully accepted CROW CONTROL as a normal phrase....until GARBAGE UMP clued me in to the missing Ds for CROWD and DUMP. And a good thing - otherwise I don't know how long I'd have struggled to get ON KEY KONG. Loved the reveal: the phrases are indeed A D LIGHT. Very cute.
I got a kick out of the initial Downs' international line-up of LAC, AER, and TSO, so I scanned the grid for other foreign language references (even if clued otherwise) and came up with Spanish: RIO, UNO, AΓO; Latin: HIC; Hawaiian: ONO; German:TOR (=gate); Cantonese(ish): BOK; French: VIE; Inuit: NUNAVUT; and the Greek cross of ETA and FETA.
Go Gooners! Nice write up Clare, nice puzzle Justin
That's me.
Tennis umpires are never refs, there is a tournament referee (whom is very rarely seen) who is in charge of the umpires (& line judges if they have them). In football (American version), the officials are generally referred to as refs but they have various official titles one of which is umpire. I believe on field cricket officials are umpires, IDK if they are ever referred to as refs.
I've always been interested in Canada's north, so I proposed we visit the Yukon, but my girlfriend wanted Nunavut.
@Andy Freude, you are lucky to have seen a Nunavut license plate. Driving from there to anywhere else is almost impossible; there are basically no roads to the rest of the world. I guess they probably came by ferry?
Clare is too critical today! I found the puzzle clever and perfect for a Tuesday.
Electable indeed!
Rex always says if you want to go whacky, go whacky. I think this puzzle met that criterion. Did not mind that the themers were basically nonsensical. ON KEY KONG was clever and made me at least grin.
Lots of baseball to watch. Good matchups. Hope the umpiring is not GARBAGE.
The word finder at xwordinfo.com shows that this is the first appearance of NUNAVUT in a NYT crossword puzzle. It appeared once in an Acrostic puzzle in 2010.
Les S More
As an American, I was more cautious about filling in Nunavut. Was ut or it? One of the occasions where knowing less helps!
I happen to be visiting New York City. I tend to be very cheap when looking for hotel rooms in NYC. It has got in trouble 16 years ago I stayed at a hotel with bedbugs, which can be worse than fleas! Only my bedroom got infected but the experience was quite expensive and itchy. (Took me a while to find out what the problem was. )
@Les
What channel? Is it a reality show, or scripted?
Roo
Todd
Feeling old reading the blog.
happens to me often! I am in my early 70’s. . I knew of LA-ANNE but I wasn’t sure of the spelling.
I quit the NYT xword years ago because I was fed up with all of the trivia. Now at 85, I find that I know a lot of trivia, so I’ve been trying a few puzzles along with the rest of the NYT brain games. I really liked this one, and had no problems with knowing all of the trivia except for the province. It reminded me that the U.S. cannot become a Canadian Province because most of our people can’t learn French.
Anonymous 7:37 AM
About Clare and Aaron Rodgers.
My guess is some of the stupid things he said not about football.
tht
I was surprised by Clare’s comment about sez. I immediately thought of sez who? which most definitely a thing. Like Todd who felt old learning Clare didn’t know Lalanne maybe it’s a n age issue?
Not sure I get the point about the revealer clue and answer. The clue does say phonetically.
Donna 33
Clare is a practicing lawyer in DC. I believe she is in her late 20’s.
jberg
I am a New Englander but while I have never been there the name Fond du Lac has always interested me. So if was a gimme for me.
I assume it means at the lower
( Southern) end of a lake, not at the bottom of it, but I never looked at up.
I always enjoy Clare’s posts. I even enjoy her comments about sports though I don’t follow sports much. . I think she has gotten more like Rex (more critical).
I thought the theme was fine.
I absolutely agree with Clare that It Happened One Night is a great movie. Have watched it many times! It came out in February 1934 , and the”Hollywood Code” went into effect on July 1, so it was allowed to be much looser and “realer” than under the code.
I did have trouble in the SW. where many did but I think it was okay for a Tuesday.
I realized after reading this comment that my grasp of Canadian geography was sorely in need of a major upgrade.
I very mistakenly thought Nunavut was a renaming of what was called the Yukon Territory when I was growing up. Here I was vaguely under the impression that the phrase "the Yukon" was disfavored, somewhat along the same lines that "the Ukraine" is disfavored and now is referred to just as "Ukraine", but that the renaming went even further than just dropping the "the".
I misunderstood. Reading Wikipedia, it seems the province of Nunavut was created in 1999, as a splitting off from the Northwest Territories in its eastern half. So the NT was much huger when I was growing up. The splitting off seems to have been the result of negotiations between Native American peoples and the Canadian federal government, to provide a separate territory for these peoples in recognition of and reparation for past misdeeds against them. Progress continues to be made: Wikipedia continues by saying "On January 18, 2024, the federal and territorial governments signed the Nunavut Lands and Resources Devolution Agreement; it gives the government of Nunavut control over the territory's land and resources".
My first time back in a number of years. Very enjoyable. Since I reached 85, I find that I know a lot of the trivia.
Is Frank Oz really *that* niche? The guy played Yoda.
Just here to say thanks for the cute pics of your pupper! I have two English Springer Spaniels. They’re not actually very good at solving crosswords, but they do offer snuggle support.
Lamentablemente no, eso estΓ‘ mal.
Very fun and very fast. Just a D-lite. Seemed like a lotta threes. But the longer stuff was fun. Tuesdays seem easier than Mondays lately.
Did Aesop get Tik-Tok or drop a new EP? He's getting some run.
And listen Canada, you need to talk to your marketing department. I am an old man and this is the first time I've ever heard of NUNAVUT. I am thankful I'm not the only one, but I did watch a little bit of North of North and conflated NUNAVUT with Northern Territories. I'm wondering if this where the aliens land their spaceships, and you're trying to keep it hush hush.
❤️ FLEA BAG. GARBAGE UMP.
People: 9
Places: 4
Products: 5
Partials: 3
Foreignisms: 2
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 23 of 76 (30%)
Funny Factor: 1 π€¨
Tee-Hee: Sleazy and SEEDY.
Uniclues:
1 Gramma with a broom and an attitude.
2 Feeling of disappointment when you're standing in the lobby of a Ritz Carlton.
3 Neckwear for protein fanatics on Earth.
4 Planet with no kings.
1 CROW CONTROL NAN
2 ALAS, NO FLEA BAG
3 ONE G KETO TIE
4 ANTI-ROYAL MARS
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Artist task for the Hall of Haters. ETCH BOOBIRDS.
¯\_(γ)_/¯
I searched him and THAT’s where I found out when he invaded my cartoon time in early morning…he went national in 1959! I now personally blame San Francisco… ;)
Oh to be young and not know the various answers …however as a Liverpool fan i guess Clare is only interested in their recent history and not the 30 years where they wandered like a lost hiker without a map
Easy by time, thanks to knowing the PPP in the SW. I was wondering what the revealer would be. Missing D... Lorena B***t theme?? (Sorry.)
I knew FRANK OZ as the voice of Yoda, but Today I Learned he also voiced Animal, Cookie Monster, Miss Piggy et al.
NUNAVUT = Noo-nuh-voot ("our land" in Inuktitut - Inuit language)
Capital Iqaluit = uh-Kah-loo-it ("place of many fish")
I don't mean to come across as smart (which I assure you I ain't), but I like looking up the etymology and pronunciation of words. I post what I find, in case anyone else was interested.
I was hoping Clare would mention soccer so I could mention how exciting it is to see Son Heung-min play in the MLS (LA Football Club) - 8 goals in 8 games! I'm only able to watch the YouTube highlights, but it's still very fun to watch. 2026 World Cup in US/Canada/Mexico!
I liked this more than @Claire did. Cute theme, maybe not executed perfectly but on the very good side. Some themers on the *very* wacky side, some less so, so just tad inconsistent but still fun.
Good to learn of a Canadian province and what TOR is. Knew Jack LALANNE but had no idea he spelled his name that way so that held me up for a very quick second.
Agree with @CLAIRE's TV recs - FLEABAG is a brilliant, brilliant show and The Americans is a must watch as well (two VERY different genres). Check them out, you'll be glad you did.
Thank you Justin for a solid Tuesday!
@Roo
It's a sitcom. I get on Netflix but it's also available on the CBC's streaming service called Gem. I'm told it is totally shot in Nunavut and written and produced mostly by Inuit people, so you get lots of insights, comic and otherwise, into the culture.
I miss Nancy.
@Gary
I was under the impression they landed just beyond your back fence. ;-)
Urgh, the comment I'm replying to now was meant to be a reply to @okanaganer 1:59 PM.
Aside from this being more like a Wednesday, it’s the best Tuesday I can remember.
Good to have you back. I had noticed you hadn’t been around in a while.
@tht, I have heard that many Yukoners don't like the "the" before Yukon. However my sister used to live there, and my only surviving cousin does now, and they both called it "the Yukon". As others have mentioned, it's a territory, not a province. Also-- interesting fact-- the Yukon and the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba also used to be part of the Northwest Territories! Boy, that was one BIG territory!
I miss her too.
I feel for you @dgd. Some close relatives of mine returned from a NY stay 10, maybe 15 years ago and apparently brought back some of the little critters with them. Ended up turfing all their mattresses and having all their sheets and other bedding professionally laundered. And they live in an old "mansion" with about 5 bedrooms. (I've never actually counted. I'm not sure I've ever seen the whole house.) Very costly and anxiety inducing, not to mention the itching. It's been 16 years for you. Are you able to sleep now?
Kudos to Justin Werfel for one of the cleverest theme reveals in a long, long time. His parsing his reveal to alert us that each (confusing) theme answer was one “d” “light,” made me smile.
Unfortunately, and as Clare points out, the theme answers left a bit to be desired. In a perfect puzzle, the “punny” theme answers would: 1. Be actual puns; 2. Represent “real things” (as we here in Crossworld mean when we say of a weird or wacky answer “at least it’s a ‘real thing’”); and 3. Be funny. I do give our able constructor partial credit for #3 because I, with my affinity for silliness chuckled at my aural and mental image of ON KEY KONG howling out “Nessun Dorma” as he scaled the Empire State Building. And I also give partial credit for #2 because the Kelly blue Book is a CAR CATALOG in a way. More credit could be given had, perhaps the clue for CROW CONTROL been crafted as “grade school playground rules against excessive bragging.” Super idea with a wonderful and necessary reveal, as Clare so ably points out. Nice job. Clare and Justin.
My only stall came when I plunked in RegAL rather than ROYAL at 29D. Because most of RegAL workeddΓ±fy
Kudos to Justin Werfel for one of the cleverest reveals in a long time. As our always welcome sports aficionado Clare points out (in addition to her favorite sports status recap), for her the theme answers left a bit to be desired. I agree.
To me, a theme will achieve full marks if in addition to a superbly clever and relevant to the answers reveal, the theme answers must: 1. Be “real things”, or clearly represent real things (as we here in Crossworld mean in reference to a weird answer when we say “at least it’s a ‘real thing’”); 2. Be explained or tied together by the reveal, and 3. Be funny or just ΓΌber clever.
I give full marks on #3 to ON KEY KONG for hilarity because upon filling in the squares, I had the image of the dreaded ape climbing the Empire State Building singing “Nessun Dorma.” But it is not a “thing.”
The Blue Book, on the other hand is a kind of CAR CATALOG. While a scarecrow does, we assume provide CROW CONTROL in a field, that particular answer described a real thing (the scarecrow) rather than being a real thing. Might the answer CROW CONTRO be improved by changing the clue to “stringent anti-bragging rules on the playground?”
I found GARBAGE UMP to be a tad mean, but ok, dissing the umpires is part of baseball fandom. Having been an ump for youth baseball snd softball though, the organizations for whom I umped vigorously enforced their “no mean or profane language” rules for spectators snd participants. As we train snd teach our kids, so shall they behave.
My real issue with the theme answers though, is that they all are a “d” light only if the lack of the d is necessary to understanding what the theme answers would be if the “d” were present. In that respect, none of the theme clues or their correct answers point to CROWd CONTROL, a GARBAGE dUMP, dONKEY KONG and a CARd CATALOG - something many folks will by now have never used.
And despite all that, I truly enjoyed my very whooshy Tuesday.
And Clare, I, too am disappointed that none of my favorite WNBA teams made it past the first round in the playoffs. However, the Valkyries in their inaugural year certainly turned lots of heads and have already built a very loyal fan base. The corporate connections between the Warriors and Valkyries teams and cooperation and personal enthusiasm among the personnel of the NBA’s Warriors and the WNBA’s Valkyries have, in my opinion strengthened pro basketball generally and continue to help promote women’s pro sports in particular. I played on the first Title IX mandated teams in high school (late 60s). It’s been a long hard road. America should be synonymous with opportunity. Let us not forget that, please, and continue to create and celebrate opportunities for every American.
@Les S. More 7:02 PM
π€£π½
They crash land down here, so we invite them in for tea while they wait for AAA. They don't want to be taken to our leader anymore. They just like a nice scone.
Me too.
What puzzle? All I see is a floof with floating ears.
COYG!
I think “official” would have been a better choice than “ref.” Seems to me an ump can be considered an official.
me, too.
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