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Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Theme answers:
- ROAD RUNNER (91A: Target of 110-Across)
- WILE E. COYOTE (110A: Devious character who's the subject of this puzzle)
- ACME CORPORATION (26A: Supplier of 110-Across)
- MEL BLANC (52A: Voice of 110-Across)
- CHUCK JONES (54A: Artist and co-creator of 91- and 110-Across)
- "BEEP BEEP!" (88A: Signature sound of 91-Across)
- DODGE (63D: Avoid, as a falling anvil)
Word of the Day: GIO Ponti (108D: Italian architect Ponti) —
Giovanni "Gio" Ponti (Italian pronunciation: [ˌdʒo pˈponti]; 18 November 1891 – 16 September 1979) was an Italian architect, industrial designer, furniture designer, artist, teacher, writer and publisher.During his career, which spanned six decades, Ponti built more than a hundred buildings in Italy and in the rest of the world. He designed a considerable number of decorative art and design objects as well as furniture.Thanks to the magazine Domus, which he founded in 1928 and directed almost all his life, and thanks to his active participation in exhibitions such as the Milan Triennial, he was also an enthusiastic advocate of an Italian-style art of living and a major player in the renewal of Italian design after the Second World War. From 1936 to 1961, he taught at the Milan Polytechnic School and trained several generations of designers. Ponti also contributed to the creation in 1954 of one of the most important design awards: the Compasso d'Oro, and was himself awarded the prize in 1956. Ponti died on 16 September 1979.
His most famous works are the Pirelli Tower, built from 1956 to 1960 in Milan in collaboration with the engineer Pier Luigi Nervi, the Villa Planchart in Caracas and the Superleggera chair [pictured], produced by Cassina in 1957.
• • •
You'd think something moving as fast as a car might say "BEEP BEEP," but no, that is not the sound. It's just not. Verifiably not. Getting "B"s instead of "M"s there was incredibly disappointing. Thankfully, that was one of the only disappointing moments I had while solving this puzzle. I admit that I started in a very eye-roll-y place. Black squares, in the most horrendous-looking of formations, clearly trying to do some kind of pictorial something or other ... it all looked so ungainly and awkward. And then I hit the first themer (MEL BLANC) and literally shouted "Again!??!" Didn't we just do a MEL BLANC puzzle!? In fact, yes, we did. Very recently (Aug. 18). So recently that I have to wonder what the editorial team was thinking, scheduling these puzzles so close together. Anyway, like I said, not inclined to love this one early on.
But then something changed. There was a vibe shift. The first thing that happened was I noticed what the black squares were trying to do. Now that I was firmly anchored in the Looney-Tooniverse, I could see the anvil falling on WILE E. COYOTE's head. An absolutely gonzo idea. Huge, bizarre swing, trying to make that picture work. Though it's very pixelated and rough, I had to admire the effort. And the execution. Honestly, it's pretty good (better when the color kicks in at the end, but good even before that). And then the little "HELP!" caption—come on, that's nice. I wish the word "HELP" had been either standalone or buried inside an answer where it didn't mean "HELP" at all (like, I dunno, WHELPS?). But the caption is such a clever idea (the cherry on the sundae), that I can't quibble that much with the execution. The picture part of this, rather than being an annoying extraneous thing that compromises the fill, ends up revealing itself over time, unfolding in a really fun, entertaining, and ultimately charming way. I also love the funny punny rightly central cartoon title ("FAST AND FURRY-OUS"). The whole venture felt appropriately loon(e)y. Winning stuff, all around.
The fill was ... inventive. Mostly in good ways, although it is really loaded up with proper nouns, particularly people's names. ADOLPHE ALDO GIO LEIGH JOANN ALI ALEC IVANI GINZA YOSHI YEOH LOHAN ENO Q*BERT ... this is by no means a complete list. Add those (and others) to the names that are part of the theme, and, yeah, welcome to Name Town. Not everyone's favorite Town. Everything seemed pretty gettable to me, though I somehow blanked on the middle letter of AYO (again!) and definitely had a "???" moment at the LEIGH (Vivien!) / GIO (??) crossing. For me, the good outweighed the name-nameiness of it all. "I THINK NOT," MILD SALSA, the triple colonnade of AB ROLLER, MET OPERA, and SPEAK-SING, plus GULP DOWN, A LOT TO LIKE. I have no idea what a TEA PITCHER is, but I liked that I could really feel the constructor going to great lengths to just Make It Work. Like the ROAD RUNNER & WILE E. COYOTE cartoons, this puzzle entertained me. That's pretty rare for a Sunday, of late (sadly). So I'm grateful.
 |
| [AB ROLLER] |
What else?:
That's all. See you next time.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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- 63D: Avoid, as a falling anvil (DODGE) — you've already drastically broken the rules of symmetry, why not break some more rules while you're at it! The "G" and "E" in this answer are completely uncrossed. That is, they have no actual crosses, and the puzzle offers no other way of getting at them either (e.g. they aren't part of some longer word or phrase being spelled out across the puzzle grid). Unchecked squares are an out-and-out violation of protocol, but ... come on, what else are those letters gonna be? "DOD--" No other word in the English language could go there. So I'm fine with it, and especially fine with it because those letters go right into the top of the "coyote"'s head, precisely where the looming "anvil" is threatening to fall. Will he DODGE it? He will not.
- 95A: North Carolina college town (ELON) — I knew it was a college, I'm not sure I knew it was a town. Weird to add a completely extraneous "town," but I guess if it confuses the solver a little (as it did me), then why not. This answer crosses another proper noun, JOANN, which gave me more trouble. I think I had her as JOANA and maybe JOANE before ELON set me straight. JOANN Pflug was in Altman's M*A*S*H and then was all over TV in the '70s and '80s, particularly on the game show circuit—a frequent panelist on Match Game, for instance.
- 118A: Part of Wayne's world? (WESTERN) — Think John Wayne, star of countless WESTERNs
- 10D: Gucci who pioneered bamboo-handled handbags (ALDO) — can you really "pioneer" bamboo-handled handbags? Of all the things one might pioneer, bamboo-handled handbags ... I could list things from now til the day I die and never hit bamboo-handled handbags
- 17D: Wine also known as Primitivo, familiarly (ZIN) — as in "ZINfandel." I had no idea. Heard ZIN a lot. Never heard "Primitivo."
- 33D: Big ___ Burger, fictional Hawaiian fast-food chain in "Pulp Fiction" (KAHUNA) — wow, deep cut. But I've seen that movie a lot, so ... easy. The Big KAHUNA Burger features prominently in one scene. It's ... memorable. And pretty violent. It features Frank Whaley (the kid with the burger), and Phil LaMarr (backed against the door), who was, if I remember correctly (... does some mental math ...) my grad school girlfriend's college boyfriend's roommate at Yale. [don't worry, this clip cuts out before things get violent]
One last thing. Today's constructor has a really fun and informative podcast about crossword puzzles. It's called Crosstalk: A Crossword Construction Podcast. Each episode, Daniel has a long chat with an accomplished constructor, in which they talk about why and how they do what they do. He's done five episodes so far, all with excellent constructors (including Rafael Musa, who writes for this blog sometimes). Lots of nuts and bolts construction talk. Charming and, if you're an aspiring constructor, useful. Check it out (wherever you get your podcasts, presumably).
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- Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)
"Cream that's said to combat dark circles" = Eyegel
ReplyDeleteA cream is not a gel mate.
Product would have been better.
Delete
ReplyDeleteEasy, much like a lot of recent Sundays.
Overwrites:
RED ALDERS (24A) are trees. RED eLDERS are old communists.
When I run someone down I DEbasE them. But others may DEFAME them (29D)
It took a couple of tries to spell Michelle YEOH (40D) correctly.
I thought Mr. Sax was ADOLPHo instead of ADOLPHE (72A)
one EGG before ANT EGG at 84A
Prel before PERT for the 102D shampoo
cAp before MAX for the upper limit at 115A
WOEs:
Never heard of SPEAK-SING (78D), but it was easy to infer from the clue.
Didn't know GIO Ponti (108D)
As a side note, GREEN CAR (85D) seems an awful lot like GREEN PAINT
Agree with Rex, started off strange, but improved as it went on. Apart from Beep, which should be Meep. And "Activist movement" seems like a rather generous description of ANTIFA, particular in light of this week's events.
ReplyDeleteAgree - "domestic terror organization" is more APT.
DeleteSerious side-eye to the allegations that the suspect is ANTIFA -- all the sources I've seen for that have been pretty right-wing ones, and many of them arose during the histrionics before we even knew the name of Kirk's alleged assassin -- people (including the commander-in-chief) were jumping to conclusions about the motives very quickly. Other sources, looking into the suspect's identity after he was caught, suggest he may be politically to the right of Kirk (I've seen the term Groypers, a group associated with Nick Fuentes, used here), and it seems he comes generally from a MAGA background.
DeleteThe description "activist movement" is completely accurate. ANTIFA is not even an organization, although some will try to tell you it is. It (insofar as anything concrete can be said) is a loose array of many individual anti-fascism and anti-racism groups, varying quite widely in terms of the types of actions they engage in, and ideologies they subscribe to. Research suggests that most of the actions linked to ANTIFA groups have been nonviolent, even though some of the groups have indeed engaged in violence.
Not to get political here but it doesn’t seem that this guy was a leftist by any stretch of that term. He was terminally online and possibly, maybe part of a group that thought Charlie Kirk was not extreme right ENOUGH
Deletejust wanted to double down & say you’re correct here. the main suspect turned out to be from a conservative background and was more closely linked to incel and far right communities than the media was speculating before he was turned in by his own father. additionally, antifa is akin to saying something like feminist. there are varying degrees and sects of both, and they don’t all agree with each other. some choose more moderate courses of action, while those on the extreme end may opt for more violent outcomes. regardless, you can’t boil down the entire movement based on the actions of the few. thank you for your thoughtful response. the media these days is so quick to villainize both sides of political action, and it’s important we all do more thorough research before coming to conclusions about groups we aren’t members of.
DeleteWow, thanks for the round speech. I definitely know what you mean (sarcasm)
DeleteGood Grief!!!!! ANTIFA does not exist. If it did I would know somebody, anybody who had had any doings with it whatsoever. It is a creation of Donald Trump's deranged so-called mind. I got to that word and decided to stop solving and download the puzzle from the Washington Post site instead.
DeleteCould we please try to listen to one another and find common ground to move us forward or resolve something instead of putting a label on it to accomplish nothing positive?
DeleteHere’s what I discovered in four decades of listening to folks disagree vehemently but desperately need to make good decisions about The People’s money. We all have common problems, needs and wants, none of which can be resolved without compromise if we are to make positive decisions that overall benefit everyone. Listening is required.
For the record, the WaPo puzzle is the same as the LA Times puzzle and it was pretty good, by Andrea Carlo Michaels and Michael Torch, but the cluing is very straightforward and it went very fast. And there is a blog but it just gives you the answers and the dictionary or Wikipedia definitions, there is no discussion or critical thinking, at least on the one I found. It would be a pity to have to give up on the NYTimes (and this blog) because the Times insists on spouting Trumpian propaganda.
DeleteCDilly
DeleteI agree with you in normal circumstances. But the problem is that a major party has been captured by the extreme right, which by definition is anti democratic. There is little precedent in this country!s history that we can refer to ( Maybe when anti democratic extremists took over the South, which led to Succession.) We have a highly developed propaganda ecosystem which is extremely effective and essentially believed by about 40% of the voters. Note that yesterday. and today several people posted the party line produced by that propaganda machine about the murder which includes half truths and outright lies. It is almost impossible to carry on a debate in these circumstances. I have tried to talk to friends who are pro Trump but I mostly get a recitation of lies.they have heard over and over again. Hopefully we are not too far gone , but Hitler used precisely the same tactics to take over Germany.
People who oppose the extreme right have discovered how hard it is to deal with an utterly ruthless adversary. Certainly the Democratic Party has no solution so far. I certainly don’t. If reason were the solution, Trump would be long gone.
I didn't think Rex would like this one! I watched a ton of Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons in my youth, but anyone who is less familiar with this (or any other) Chuck Jones creation might get lost with all the PPP. I enjoyed this and polished it off pretty quickly.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to check out Daniel's podcast!
just under 30 minutes for me, so that's easy-medium. Took a while to see what the big black shapes were doing--loved the theme, and there was enough of it to fill the grid pretty well! Fantastic and creative puzzle, Daniel, thank you!!!
ReplyDeletePost-solve thoughts about Wilee:
ReplyDelete• I loved his falls down the canyon, often accompanied by the sound of a slide whistle, and often seen from above, where he got smaller and smaller until he was just a dot; then came the explosion, with clouds of dust, and afterward, a closeup of him dazed, determined to find a new way to get the Road Runner.
• I forgot that he never spoke, that when he had something to say he held up a sign, like the HELP in the grid.
• Most important, now that I think about him, I love his determination and hopeful outlook. There’s a bit of Thomas Edison in him. No matter how many times Wilee failed, he knew he’d succeed the next time. He never gave up. Determination like that often gets things done that have never been done before.
When a puzzle is a hoot and trigger of inspiration in addition to a fill-in, it’s a big winner in my book. Thank you for this, Daniel!
Some years ago I saw a wonderful Chuck Jones exhibit at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens. CJ determined that Wile E. Coyote's fall time was always a count of 13 because that was funniest.
Delete@Anonymous 10:25 AM
DeleteOMG, I hope this is true. Fall times of 13 seconds are the funniest. Genius.
wile e. mostly never speaks. in the short where bugs bunny fills in for the road runner he has the memorable lines of "my name is wile e. coyote, super-genius" and then later "my name is mud" ("remember kids, 'mud' spelled backward is 'dum'").
DeleteMy daughter lived a few blocks from the wonderful Museum of the Moving Image for years back in the 2010s I think, and I saw so many entertaining, educational and downright amazing exhibits there including “What’s Up Doc?” celebrating Chuck Jones. So memorable and fun! Love all the interactive exhibits there. Worth an easy trip on the subway if you are in NYC.
DeleteTribute puzzles never seem to land properly - this one achieves more than others we’ve seen but still comes up short. The central revealer is fine but the add-ons to the theme are pedestrian at best.
ReplyDeleteJonathan Richman
The grid art is so restrictive to the overall fill. Rex highlights the name trivia fest inside - it’s overwhelming for a trivia based theme and gives a TV Guide quality to the puzzle. I did like RED ALDERS and KAHUNA.
Richard Shindell
Fill in the blanks easy so it went quick - but there wasn’t A LOT TO LIKE in this Sunday morning solve.
Like WOW Wipeout
mEEP mEEP, and I'll die on that hill.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. I really liked this puzzle, but that mistake is unforgivable.
DeleteI thought the "3 black squares" under the HELP sign hint in the puzzle's description was confusing. I thought it meant there was a word (or at least 3 letters) that I should infer -- as opposed to those 3 squares just being the handle of the HELP sign.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing it's a stick holding up the HELP sign. Help! Save me from W.S.'s shaded squares!
DeleteAside from the BEEPBEEP, and yes, it’s definitely Meep Meep, I’ve had hens much of my life and never seen one build a NEST. Lastly, I’ve heard of the rod in hot rod be an abbreviation for roadster, refer to the piston rod, even to connecting rods. But never hear of rod referring to the AXLE. They’re just making things up here.
ReplyDeleteSide note… cars should have a meep meep button for situations where a horn is too aggressive. If I am distracted as a light turns green, hearing a meep meep from the car behind me would sent me on my way with a smile.
the "meep meep" button could change the entire tone of rush hour traffic—especially if it ended with the road runner tongue sound.
DeleteA couple of grid nerd-notes:
ReplyDelete• Sunday puzzles average 74 black squares; today’s had 100 due to the grid art. Before the puzzle I couldn’t figure out what those big blotches were. Now, to me, they are gorgeous. Not only do they capture the anvil and Wilee, but that anvil is so close to flattening Wilee, it feels to me as if it is moving.
• Because of the grid art, the puzzle is asymmetrical, but Daniel skillfully gave it a symmetrical echo, with many left-right black square symmetry.
3D has a glaring error that is sure to piss off the smeltig community - an ORE is a mineral, from which one extracts metal. I can't believe that made it past the lawyers! ;-P
ReplyDeleteHow could Mel Blanc do the voice of Wile E. Coyote if that character never uttered a sound?
ReplyDeleteOh, but he does speak on occasion! He identifies himself as Wile E. Coyote: Super-Genius! Here, check this out.
DeleteWile E. did speak, mainly when he appeared with Bugs Bunny. His famous phrase was “Wile E. Coyote, supergenius!”. Aside: grateful that Elon was not clued “former doge Musk.”
DeleteLove this clip – – thanks!
DeleteLove Roadrunner cartoons and his adventures with WEC! And BEEPBEEP is classic. Recently landed at JFK and wife had hard time walking the half-mile from plane to exit, so we hitched a ride on a small mobile bus that carried us and baggage through the crowds. The horn on the little bus was broken so the driver did a great BEEPBEEP imitation. It was universally recognized and instead of irritation at the bus working its way through the crowds everyone broke out laughing.
ReplyDeleteWas initially awed by the strange construction and odd long answers in this puzzle but it turned out to be my fastest Sunday ever.
Too many names. I was done except for the section that had Yoshi, Cho, Lohan, Chuck Jones, Yeoh, Eno, and Ayo after about 25 minutes, which is good for me on a Sunday. Played musical letters with it until I got the Congratulations. Not a fan of this one!
ReplyDeleteMostly easy, but I needed an alphabet run for the GINZA/ZIN cross (should have done it backwards). Didn't recognize the grid art construction, even while wondering why ITHELPS had a shaded background. Really, folks...words and clues are enough in a puzzle!
ReplyDeleteA fun one today - when I first saw the (segmented) grid layout, I was concerned that I would lose momentum and have difficulty traveling from one section to another, but the constructor kept the cluing lively and reasonable, so there were plenty of opportunities to transition without having to find additional footholds here and there.
ReplyDeleteI saw ACME CORPORATION and immediately went to the reveal, which pretty much opened the floodgates. That whole SE section was very straightforward and set the tone for the rest of the solve.
A couple of minor nits re the clues - “Run down” seems like a stretch for DEFAME. Sure, it’s legit, but there are so many better alternatives (cmon, Will !). I’m not used to seeing Allhallows as one word - that might just be me though. I had a slight cringe when the skeleton of SPEAKSING started to materialize. Has there ever been one of these trendy “quasi-words” that Will has said no to ? Anyway, they’re not for me, WS seems to adore them though, and for taste there is no argument.
This puzzle is a good example of integrating a robust theme into the grid while keeping an eye out on the ultimate solving experience. The constructor clearly knows is craft, and it shows today. Well done sir.
Team MEEP MEEP!!! I even cringed but overall pretty cute.
ReplyDeleteWho doesn't love a slog of names, Naticks, green paint and a marquee answer that is the punny name of a cartoon short from 1949? Me.
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteHmm, puz Blockers are symmetrical except for the Anvil and WILE E COYOTE in the middle. Interesting. 100 total Blockers, max is usually 78. Oops, double checking the symmetry , in SE, there's one extra Blocker twixt DSL/ELON, and one fewer after Down NOSAY. than in SW.
Interesting puz, was a fan of this cartoon when young, but now it just grates for some reason. Seeing someone fail at something one million times is not what I seem to find endearing anymore. Who knows why?
Is SPEAKSING a thing? Is it different from Rap?
Got yer Pangram today. Actually I believe it to be a Double -Pangram (two of all 26 Letters). There's two Q's, two Z's, two J's, three X's, a bunch of K's, even a few F's.
Stuck in West/North/Center section, having EvolED for EVENED (I realize that would be INVOLVE), and the generic EAT A SANDWICH of FEAST DAY (or is it an actual thing that I'm just oblivious to? [Probably]) Also, DEFAME tough as clued.
Neat idea, nice grid art, wondering if today is anything special for WILE E or the ROADRUNNER. Or just a cool puz.
Anyway, have a great Sunday y'all, and Go Favorite Football Team!
Seven F's (!)
RooMonster
DarrinV
Speaksing (better known as Sprechstimme) was invented by Arnold Schoenberg around the beginning of the 20th Century. Google Pierre Lunaire.
DeleteI’ve definitely heard “speak-sing”, (recently, mostly in the context of reddit criticisms of Taylor Swift, lol). In speak-singing, unlike rap there is indeed a melody and the voice is hitting specific pitches that are in tune with the instruments, but said melody is rather monotone or only has slight ups & downs that are reminiscent of the natural flow of speech. To pick a recent example, the first several lines of “Free” from Kpop Demon Hunters are speak-singing; the singer is not rapping, but not quite singing either until several lines in, when there’s an audible switch to full singing.
DeleteFeast Day is a thing - it refers specifically to the religious commemoration of a saint. So, like, what we think of colloquially as Valentine's Day is, for highly observant Catholics, the Feast of Saint Valentine.
DeleteThere is good grid art and bad grid art, and this falls solidly into the bad camp. Not the worst I've seen by any means, but even given the constraints of the medium the anvil does not look particularly anvil-like, and the bottom section looks as much like Roadrunner as it does like Wile E. Coyote.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Roadrunner says meepmeep. (Oh, good. I see this has been covered.)
I adored those cartoons, but I lost interest in the puzzle about ten minutes in.
I rebused "DO Diving and lunging" into 63D, which I could do with uncrossed squares.
Wile E. Coyote most certainly did speak. I remember him talking while clocking in and out of work. And, yeah, definitely ‘Meep-meep’ full stop, end of story.
ReplyDeleteIt's a nitpick, but I think you're actually referring to Ralph and Sam, a wolf and a sheepdog, who are natural antagonists during their work days but who drop their differences and get along quite affably during the lunch break and when the whistle blows at the beginning and end of the day.
DeleteRalph does look A LOT ALIKE Wile. E. Coyote; the differences are quite subtle. But it's a different cartoon.
Perhaps it should be MBEEP! With the MB standing for ... You know who! Or a Malaika MBEEP
ReplyDeleteThis one lined up pretty easy for me, as I seemed to know the proper names (except GIO, thanks for the intro Rex)
I'm usually pretty slow on the uptake with themes, but after getting ACME I recognized the picture and theme right away. Likely due to countless Saturday mornings watching "The Bugs Bunny Roadrunner Hour" as a child. The forlorn "HELP" on the side of the doomed Wile E was the icing on the cake!
Great job Daniel. And Rex, as far as I'm concerned NYT could served us up Mel Blanc puzzles every Sunday!
Doesn’t anyone remember the Plymouth Road Runner there is no way that the horn on that car went meep meep. On the other hand, the roadrunner did not have any lips and could not pronounce his “B’s”.
ReplyDeleteFirst thing on opening this puzzle, I noticed the lack of symmetry. Taking a closer look before proceeding -aha! the anvil and WILE E. COYOTE ! Delightful.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I usually enjoy a challenge, with so many names the fill-in-the-blank crosses were a gift.
Chuck Jones also animated The Grinch - surprised no cluing there...
ReplyDeleteWhere's the fun in MILD SALSA?
ReplyDelete...oh, I don't mean the crossword clue. I mean the condiment--if it doesn't burn, why even have it?
(I'm kidding, of course. Just love spicy food. And good crosswords.)
Any other classical music nerds out there want to take on Sprechstimme’s influence on vocal music post WWII?………..crickets echoing
ReplyDeleteSolved on a phone in the subway last night - not recommended for a Sunday puzzle.
I also always thought it was "meep meep" BUT the Road Runner from the Looney Tunes cartoons does not say "meep meep"; he actually says "beep beep". The sound was created by background artist Paul Julian, who was recorded making a car-horn-like sound, which was then sped up and used as the bird's signature call throughout the series. This iconic sound has become synonymous with the character, though many people misremember (or mishear) it as "meep meep". https://youtube.com/shorts/TEfuaRx63RE?si=BCXpgH5WdIQYDKbX
ReplyDeleteI'm a sucker for Looney Tunes generally, and wax nostalgic for the era of Saturday morning cartoons when there were only about three or four TV channels in all. So I welcomed the theme with a smile, and I thought the visual was super-cute. But my gosh, a lot of the cluing seemed very simplistic. So much to choose from here, but a few are "Reason to atone" [SIN], "Bert's best buddy" [ERNIE], and "Partner of a pestle" [MORTAR]. So I'm less enthusiastic than Rex about the puzzle overall. I was mildly surprised he didn't say anything about the green paint vibe of MILD SALSA.
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of brushes with fame: Frank Whaley (mentioned in Rex's write-up as the actor playing the character who has to fork over his Big KAHUNA Burger to Jules) lives in my town; he and his wife have kids (now young adults) who were contemporaries of my kids in the public schools. Good people, fine upstanding citizens.
Beautiful day here in my little hamlet. Hope you enjoy yours as well.
I cringed at clue for ANTIFA. Clue implies it is a centralized organizational movement as MAGA and Trump would like their supporters to believe. Promotes their propaganda. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteThe clue does not imply that. It says "left-wing activist movement". A movement does not by any means imply centralized organization. Indeed, you and I probably agree that ANTIFA has neither of those attributes, and we probably agree that Trump and MAGA want us to think otherwise.
DeleteJust so much fun !
ReplyDeleteThis was super easy today because so much territory was a gimme, but I had fun. My biggest hold-up was having put in DOlt for 8D which wasn't fixed until my random solve jumped to 26A. This made for some pretty strange trees at 24A.
ReplyDeleteI did not know SPEAK SING was a term. I thought talk and croon was just hip-hop.
I'm glad Rex explained the circled HELP in the SW because I didn't remember the COYOTE's sign.
Thanks, Daniel Grinberg, for an entertaining solve on Sunday!
Isn't IVANI Jared's pet name for his wife?
ReplyDeleteI like the HUGE KAHUNA crossing. Didn't their burger end up out-competing the Big Kauna Burger?
I had a big thrill the other day when I met Oprah at the METOPERA.
Advice to FROSH: If you SEXT and get a XOXO in reply, then GOFORIT, but use a TROJAN.
There's a LOTALIKE in this puzzle. Thanks for the hilarious trip down memory lane, Daniel Grinberg
I agree it sounds like meep meep. But remember the Plymouth I think road runner cars, their paint jobs said beep beep.
ReplyDeleteYadda yadda it's meep meep. Moving on.
ReplyDeleteOnce I got ROADRUNNER, I was laughing with the themers - I just went around and dashed them all off.
I even love that DODGE is breaking the rules - the GE has DODGEd out of the way of the crosses
Hate to tell you but the 2nd RR cartoon is titled “Beep Beep”.
ReplyDeleteYes! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beep,_Beep_(film)
DeleteName, name, name, brand name, brand name, name, brand name, name, name . . . UGH.
ReplyDelete25A FAWNS. A tip of the cap to Fawn Hall who just married Ollie North after all these years! Who (of a certain age) could forget Fawn's testimony about sneaking top secret docs out in her boots and clothing as every man in America drooled?
ReplyDelete115A: MAX. My grandson Leon (8) just attended his second ever Yankee game at the stadium and it was a battle of the Maxes: Scherzer vs Fried. A very good, tense game -- Yanks won.
78D: I'd sooner SPEAK SING than Sing Sing.
I was most thankful we did not have another US Grant moment.... For a moment I was worried the subject of this puzzle might be "Wile Coyote" !
Delete"Speak-sing" reminds me of the 1A entry at the crossword championship final puzzle where the answer was SHATNERESQUE.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea what the grid art represented and I had no idea what kind of pop culture character(s) we were looking for. Were they from video games and arcades? From cartoons? From action flicks? I knew that this seriously not-a-Nancy puzzle would all be Greek to me, but I decided to soldier on until I was forced to stop.
ReplyDeleteAnd guess what. I guessed right at the FAQ/QBERT cross. This left me with only two missing Natick letters: The E?EGEL/A?O cross and the ?OSHI/?EOH cross. (Now that I see the Y in the latter one...but I was thinking of a K.)
This was a huge moral victory for me. I felt I was solving it blindfolded from under a toadstool. The unexpected spelling of FAST AND FURRYOUS didn't help either. All I can say is: for those who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like. I suspect however, that those of us who don't like this sort of thing are legion.
No, Nancy, I'm betting most people liked this. You have to stop judging what you think the populace thinks based on your narrow views.
DeleteSheesh, Anonymous 11:30 AM, I think you're being super-harsh. The word "legion" here just means many, it doesn't mean most. It's just an innocuous and fairly non-judgmental opinion that it wasn't her cuppa, and she's probably right that she's not alone.
Delete(Although, I am surprised that she doesn't seem at all familiar with Looney Tunes cartoons!)
I'm no great fan of pop-culture trivia either, but there are some things technically classified as "pop culture" that also qualify as iconic facets of American culture, with the (already arbitrary) "high"/"low" art distinction pretty much erased. I'd say Roadrunner cartoons would qualify (as would Mickey Mouse, Popeye, and quite a few others).
DeleteEnjoyed the puzzle - though a couple of crosses were hard for me.
ReplyDeleteRex sent me down a rabbit hole. Lots out there about the "meep meep" vs. "beep beep" controversy.
Chuck Jones drew it with a B,
https://flickr.com/photos/91369018@N00/3238637962/
which is also how it appears in epside names:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044404/
Interestingly, Paul Julian (who made the sound) relates a story of the origin of the sound - and according to this clip, Paul insisted that the correct spelling is "HMEEP HMEEP".
http://www.dubtrain.com/roadrunner/clip3.mp3
(From the Golden Collection DVD according to this site:
https://ask.metafilter.com/112923/Its-Meep-Meep-dammit#1624096)
I enjoyed working through this puzzle and like WIle E. Coyote and Roadrunner as much as the next person, but the visual fell flat for me. I do the puzzle in the hard copy Sunday magazine and thought, "Well, there must be a lot more to the visual in the online version." But, no, it looks to be just big, ungainly solid black designs there, too. How is the top shape an anvil, and how is the bottom shape the coyote's head? Oh, maybe those are his ears sticking up? That's about all I can see it in.
ReplyDeleteA few weak entries, such as LEANLY ("With little excess"...???) and TEA PITCHER, which I've never, ever heard of and wonder about being a real thing.
Had FOLLOWING before SHADOWING, but that was about the only hitch.
As much as I agree with MEEP MEEP, the original Chuck Jones character sheet very clearly stipulates that the only words to be spoken by the roadrunner are BEEP BEEP. It would have been remiss of the constructor to ignore this rule. My guess is the voice actors chose what sounded better when it came time to record.
ReplyDeleteVery easy for me. I stumbled a bit at FURRYOUS but that was it for resistance.
ReplyDeleteCute theme/grid art and a fun breezy solve, liked it.
Pretty good, except for TEAPITCHER. Who says that?
ReplyDeleteAccording to Warner Brothers, mEEP mEEP and/or BEEP BEEP are interchangeable.
PS - Is anyone else following Paolo Pasco’s run on Jeopardy? He’s got three wins under his belt. Only two away from clinching an entry into the Tournament of Champions…
He's holding the sign. The black squares underneath it are part of the sign.
ReplyDeleteBut also yes, it's MEEP MEEP---that's an unforced error there.
I have a quibble with 119A. A BLT does not have to be nonkosher. There is such a thing as kosher beef bacon and kosher lamb bacon. I’ve seen it sold at kosher supermarkets as “beef fry” or “lamb fry”. The rest of the sandwich is pareve (neither meat nor dairy), so depending on how strict your standards are, you can easily make a kosher BLT. Heck, even if your standards are incredibly strict, if you’re already at the kosher supermarket buying “beef fry”, I’m sure you wouldn’t have too difficult a time finding bread and mayonnaise with your preferred hechsher (kosher certification).
ReplyDeleteIf I could, I'd sprinkle heart emojis all over this one. WILE E COYOTE is one of my favorite characters, in no small part due to his unflagging trust in the products of ACME CORPORATION, itself deserving a STAR on the Hollywood walk of fame. I had a very good time with this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteWell … what is there to say about this one except … it was awful. Sure, I liked the Roadrunner cartoons but that doesn’t mean I’m obliged to like this thing. Just a waste of time. Beep, meep, who cares?
ReplyDeleteEven though I am a sometimes tea drinker and was initially offended by TEA PITCHER, I have come to understand that it might refer to a pitcher of iced tea so I have to let that one pass. But LEANLY??? And GREEN CAR, really? A single ANT EGG? SPEAK SING? EYE GEL? You’re either a cream or you’re a gel. Make up your mind. Sheesh.
I’m no big fan of opera (tried, but it didn’t take) but I have never heard anyone say MET OPERA for METropolitan OPERA. Maybe some of the opera fans in this group can enlighten me. Is this a real thing?
And all this in order to stuff as much trivia as possible about an ancient cartoon series into the grid, complete with clunky grid art of an anvil dropping on a coyote’s head.
I despair.
Met Opera is a very common term.
DeleteWhat is "offensive" about a TEA PITCHER??
DeleteSure, LEANLY is a word, a very good word. This from Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville:
Delete" "I would prefer not to," said he.
"I looked at him steadfastly. His face was leanly composed; his gray eyes dimly calm. Not a wrinkle of agitation rippled him. Had there been the least uneasiness, anger, impatience or impertinence in his manner; in other words, had there been anything ordinarily human about him, doubtless I should have violently dismissed him from the premises. But as it was I should have as soon thought of turning my pale plaster-of-Paris bust of Cicero out of doors."
Green vehicle
No Met Opera is not a common term. I go to the opera in NYC usually I go to The Met. That’s what we call it.
Delete¿Tienes mis bendiciones? Creo que no.
ReplyDeleteQuite a KOOKY puzzle. Love the HELP sign, but I can't quite make out how the brown squares make up the coyote.
Fun roadrunner facts you probably already knew from my last pro-roadrunner post. One, in real life, they do not make the sound beep beep or meep meep. Two, they are all over the place in Albuquerque and essentially have no fear of humans and cruise through my yard like I'm the intruder. Three, they look kind of like miniature dinosaurs 🦖. Four, they can snatch hummingbirds out of the air and love to hang around hummingbird feeders. Five, they also, get this, eat rattlesnakes! They catch 'em, kill 'em, and gobble' em down venom and all. I think they make a nom nom yummy noise during the process. Six, I watched a lotta Looney Tunes after school in the 70s and it's probably why I am an anvil humorophile. Seven, and most importantly in New Mexico you're not required to have a front license plate, mostly because they know they're never going to catch you if you commit a crime anyway, so I have a roadrunner front license plate and on it he says beeeeeeep beep. It's my form of road rage.
RED CEDARS held me up a long time.
I think SIN, if you're embracing it properly, is a reason not to atone.
I love that Pulp Fiction scene. Positively hysterical.
People: 24 {goodness sakes}
Places: 8
Products: 8
Partials: 7
Foreignisms: 6
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 53 of 134 (40%) {We have a winner! The latest gunkapalooza award goes to today's constructor as an anvil of honor.}
Funny Factor: 3 😕 Oddly, not that funny of a puzzle?!
Tee-Hee: SEXT.
Uniclues:
1 Preferred vehicle for children who can predict the future in Greece.
2 One gossiping at the holy meal.
3 Comedians?
4 Body odor?
5 Deke made by an idol near the paparazzi.
6 Pickup owner's slogan.
7 Carpe diem in Cannes.
1 DELPHI TRIKES
2 FEAST DAY TEA PITCHER
3 KOOKY REPS
4 IT HELPS OPEN DATES
5 STAR DODGE
6 GREEN CAR? I THINK NOT. (~)
7 GO FOR IT! GULP DOWN JOUR. (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Gets dressed. HALTS ART STUDIO.
¯\_(ツ)_/
PPS - There is however an item for brewing iced (or ice) tea. So maybe 46A could have been re-clued as: Vessel that infuses and pour: Ice ______________.
ReplyDelete"MEEP MEEP" "BEEP BEEP" - whatever.
ReplyDeleteMy fastest Sunday ever with only 1 typo which I found right away,
Thank you, Daniel :)
I found this puzzle an example of a constructor trying way too hard, especially using black squares to depict a graphic image. I finished it because I’m compulsive but with the feeling that I couldn’t wait for it to be over.
ReplyDeleteMILD SALSA is just the thing to go with nachos Ned Flanders style (cucumber slices with cottage cheese).
ReplyDeleteThis solves the Beep Beep genesis: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/TEfuaRx63RE
ReplyDeletehttps://m.youtube.com/shorts/TEfuaRx63RE
ReplyDeleteI have a coyote living in my backyard, or in the woods adjacent to my backyard, I don't know. Wherever he lives, he's in my backyard quite a bit He meanders through to my front field on occasion, and he's quite cocky and full of himself. I don't call him (or her, I don't know) Wile. My wife and I were in Arizona once, decades ago, and we were driving from Scotsdale to Tuscon and she said she really wanted to see a roadrunner. Within 15 minutes the universe fulfilled her aspirations.
ReplyDeleteIn unrelated ornithological events, last evening I saw a half dozen Common Nighthawks, which are none of common, nocturnal, nor hawks, in a feeding frenzy over my recently harvested hay field. They were amazing, zooming around like swallows, chasing insects. Either they wasted a lot of energy or they caught a shit-ton of insects because they put on quite a spectacle.
Ohmigod the bloody names, names, names. They ruined it for me and I didn't see the anvil or any of the grid art and was totally baffled by the HELP. Plus I had a big mess of blank squares in the YOSHI YEON OAHU LOHAN CHUCKJONES ENO KAHUNA AYO area and I ended up quitting and hitting "Check all letters".
ReplyDeleteOn the bright side, the theme does remind me of the one time I saw a road runner in Texas or New Mexico? It was 30+ years ago and man, that bird was running fast!
Anyone else experience the puzzle crashing up on solve? I see the anvil + coyote squares, but they're tiny and pushed towards the NW corner. My timer is still ticking too. 😭
ReplyDeleteIn case anyone is wondering, the music in "Fast & Furry-ous" is the Dance of the Comedians from Smetana's opera "The Bartered Bride." In many productions I've seen the Dance is played at almost the same breakneck speed
ReplyDeleteas in the Cartoon.
I'm an opera fan and I love this kind of trivia. Thanks!
DeleteDeffo Meep Meep
ReplyDeleteHah! And this is true ... Chuck Jones' original name for the Road Runner's nemesis was Don Coyote.
ReplyDeleteStellar choice of videos in today's write-up.
ReplyDeletePPPS - I thought the title “Bird’s Eye View” was a bit flat. How about Loon E. Toons instead? As an echo for the E in WILEECOYOTE…
ReplyDeleteUncrossed “Dodge” is an unforced error, even if “necessary” to make the picture work. How about “FKA Department of War” or, perhaps soon, “NKA Department of War.”
ReplyDeleteI think all this BEEP MEEP controversy is a tempest in a TEA PITCHER.
ReplyDeleteI remembered most of the ROAD RUNNER and WILE E COYOTE stuff except the "co-creator" and the "1949 short". Filled in about 2/3 of the grid before all the names wore me down and I quit.
If I had to guess what that HUGE block of black squares represented, it would be a crane for unloading container ships. An anvil? Nope.
Think I'll go back to Rex's post and listen again to the beautiful Joni Mitchell song. I still have her "Court and Spark" vinyl LP. Here is a live performance of another song from that album Free Man in Paris.
@Lewis. It makes sense. Don Quixote chased windmills he could never catch. And Wile E. kept getting foisted by his own petard chasing the RR.
ReplyDeleteDo you mean "hoisted?"
DeleteOn the plus side, I am a huge Chuck Jones fan, and love WILEE COYOTE. I thought this one was better than the average tribute puzzle. However, for folks not well versed on the subject, it may be very difficult.
ReplyDeleteOn the “meh” scale, I still dislike grid art and will take a look at the grid on paper at the library tomorrow. I just cannot imagine that the art “works” in black and white. Had I not known what it was supposed to be, I couldn’t possibly have come up with the picture @Rex included - one that any fan of the cartoon would remember as iconic.
The ACME CORPORATION was real in my house, even Gran who secretly enjoyed the Roadrunner cartoons would say of something that wasn’t up to her demanding standards or was on the fritz, “Must be an ACME product.”
Also, as many have mentioned, it’s mEEP mEEP!!! No argument. Period.
Much better than most recent Sundays with the caveat “if you know the cartoon.”
"I just cannot imagine that the art “works” in black and white."
DeleteIt doesn't. My wife and I work from the print edition and we sort of figured out the anvil, but never realized that Wile E. was supposed to be sprawled out underneath.
Villager
I work from the print edition and had no idea what was being pictured.
DeleteAI Overview
ReplyDeleteThe Road Runner's iconic sound is both a "meep meep" and a "beep beep". While the sound was recorded by background artist Paul Julian, and his preferred spelling was often "meep meep", the official Warner Bros. listing includes both "beep, beep" and "meep, meep" as its signature sounds.
The Origin of the Sound
Paul Julian's "Meep Meep":
The sound's origin is attributed to Paul Julian, a background artist for Looney Tunes. He created the noise "meep meep" to clear a path while carrying paintings and was recorded doing so for the Road Runner character.
Official vs. Perceived Sound:
Although Julian's original vocal was a "meep meep," and some sources cite it as the only sound, Warner Bros. currently recognizes both "beep, beep" and "meep, meep" as the Road Runner's sounds.
Conclusion
The Road Runner says "Meep Meep," but it is often perceived and listed as "Beep Beep" by the public and even the trademark owners.
saw every cartoon ever made and always thought it was beep beep so this validates it - classic puzzle only kudos truly a GEM
Pete 1:28
ReplyDeleteAre you the smoke poster who spoke about leaving Tuckerton, NJ at 3 Am to duck hunt? The gent who claimed he couldn’t walk 25 yards without finding poached deer in the woods near his home?
Nighthawks are surely on the move now.
Have you logged them into Ebird? If not, consider doing so. It would help us.
Has the illegal deer slaughter continued?
Jo Ann Pflug was once married to game show host Chuck Woolery.
DeleteWatching "Fast and...". I definitely heard beep beep until the end when the bus was coming. Then I heard meep meep and thought that was intended as an auditory clue that a vehicle was coming.
ReplyDeleteQuite a fun puzzle but would have enjoyed it more with fewer names Didn't get the visual art utility i cam ever . Now I see it and like it.
I’m surprised that Rex and so many others liked this puzzle. I found it somewhat annoying. Way too many names. A queen lays an antegg really?
ReplyDeleteGary's Gunk Gauge tells the whole story.... this was a "cross-people" puzzle, not a crossWORD puzzle.... in a MONTH of Sundays I would never be able to navigate all the naticks in this one. Totally disgusted!
ReplyDeleteI do the puzzle in the NYT Magazine. Just black and white. Without the colors, I had no idea what was going on.
ReplyDeleteDSL hasn't been "broadband" in 20 years. When will it end?!
ReplyDeleteI have always been a “Beep Beep” believer, until today. This was without a doubt MEEP MEEP! I stand corrected, and I bow to those who always heard it right.
ReplyDelete