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Ancient Greek tunic / SUN 10-26-25 / Difficulty, to Hamlet / Toy with "barista" and "dog trainer" versions / Sci-fi series with J, K and Zed / Recognition for an ardent fan? / One assessing the number of hotties at a party? / Breed of Smoky, the first known therapy dog, familiarly / Holiday celebrated with banh chung / "Frozen" character who says "I like warm hugs"
Sunday, October 26, 2025
Constructor: Gary Larson and Doug Peterson
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Theme answers:
- RIGHT ON TIME (23A: "Great job selecting a Person of the Year!"? (Boomer))
- CHILL IN THE AIR (32A: Relax on a plane? (Gen X))
- GHOSTBUSTERS (48A: Abruptly end all communications with D.E.A. agents? (Millennial))
- STAN LAUREL (68A: Recognition for an ardent fan? (Gen Z))
- FLY BY NIGHT (71A: Awesome after dark? (Gen X))
- SNACK COUNTER (87A: One assessing the number of hotties at a party? (Gen Z))
- SHIPPING LANES (104A: Promoting a romantic connection between characters played by actors Nathan and Diane? (Millennial))
- SPLIT SECOND (116A: Leave just after the first person? (Boomer))
A chiton (/ˈkaɪtɒn, -tən/; Ancient Greek: χιτών, romanized: khitṓn [kʰitɔ̌ːn]) is a form of tunic that fastens at the shoulder, worn by men and women of ancient Greece and Rome. There are two forms of chiton: the Doric and the later Ionic. According to Herodotus, popular legend was that Athenian women began to wear the chiton as opposed to the peplos after several women stabbed a messenger to death with the bronze pins characteristic of the peplos. [...] Herodotus states the dress of the women in Athens was changed from the Doric peplos to the Ionic chiton after the widows of the men killed on military expedition to Aegina stabbed and killed the sole survivor with their peplos pins, each demanding where their husband was. This lynching 'seemed a thing more terrible than the disaster'. Thereafter their chitons were held with buttons, often styled with the face of the Gorgon. (wikipedia)
• • •
The puzzle was easy enough to move through, though I got oddly hung up at a patch of squares right around the DEBT part of OLD DEBT (24D: Collector's item?). I was like "well, collectors collect lots of 'old' things, so ... this clue isn't helping. The adjacent RUEFUL also was not at all easy for me to get (42D: Shamefaced); and adjacent to that, I had TV HOST before I had TV STAR. So there was this weird hole in my grid for a bit until I was able to drive GHOSTBUSTERS through there, which gave me the "B" in OLD DEBT, and then I was good. Other mistakes included "AYE AYE" before "AYE SIR" and ELSA before OLAF (damned "L"!) (45A: "Frozen" character who says "I like warm hugs") and AMBIGUOUS before AMBIGUITY (46D: The headline "Kids Make Nutritious Meals," e.g.). I hesitated at NOM v. NOD, which is an AMBIGUITY (!) that feels like it's becoming more common (43A: Candidacy for an entertainment award, informally). That is, I feel like we've had both NOM and NOD clued as award recognitions in recent months, if not weeks. Yeah, we had NODS clued as [Award nominations, so to speak] earlier this month, though I guess there's no real AMBIGUITY there, as "nominations" is in the clue, so the answer would be NOMS. Anyway, you can get an Oscar NOM(ination) and you can get an Oscar NOD and they both mean the same thing. Which is why I left the last letter in NO_ blank today and just relied on the cross. I'm still not really sure how TIPS works as the answer to 12D: Tax code issues, annnnnnnd I think I just got it as I was typing this sentence. The TIPS are the income that servers make—like, how / whether to tax TIPS is a tax code issue. Got it.
The only thing in the grid that I've flat-out never heard of is CHITON, and I probably have heard of it. I've heard of lots of things that I promptly forget. CHITON has probably been in the puzzle before. . . wow, OK, yes, it has, but not since 2003, which is before my blogging days, so I don't feel so bad now. I thought that CHITON might be related to the letter CHI, which made me think CHIS (89D: X's, to Aphrodite) might be some kind of etymological dupe, but no, doesn't look like CHITON has anything to do with the letter "X."
Bullets:
- 40D: Head honcho (TOP BANANA) — here's a funny thing I probably would never have noticed if not for solving crosswords: if you have just the last two letters in place for this answer ("-NA"), then there are not just two viable answers, but two viable answers that fit the (3, 6) pattern—today's correct answer (TOP BANANA) and also BIG KAHUNA, which OED tells me jumped from surfing slang (for a skilled surfer or a big wave) to general slang sometime in the mid-60s. The term seems to have been popularized, in part, by the Gidget film and TV series. TOP BANANA, on the other hand, is originally a theatrical term referring to "the leading comedian in a variety show or cabaret" (1947).
- 73A: Toy with "barista" and "dog trainer" versions (KEN DOLL) — I forgot how hard this answer was for me to get. "Toy" was never going to lead me to a doll or action figure. A "toy" that starts with "K"? ... I was at a loss. Because you're curious, here you go:
 |
| [Man Bun Ken!] |
 |
| [Fanny Pack Ken!] |
- 21A: Bob or Helen in "The Incredibles" (PARR) — old movies I could not remember the details of, Part 1. Part 2 was MIB (aka Men in Black) (54A: Sci-fi series with J, K and Zed)
- 79A: Difficulty, to Hamlet (RUB) — aye ... there it is. First instinct, weirdly: RUE (from Ophelia, "O you must wear your RUE with a difference"). And then RUEFUL ended up being in the puzzle. As I say, weird all around.
- 32D: Jazz trumpeter Baker who was sometimes called the "Prince of Cool" (CHET) — yes, let's listen to some of that.
- 72D: Breed of Smoky, the first known therapy dog, familiarly (YORKIE) — Nearly made Smoky my word of the day. Let's see what we can find out about Smoky... rescued from a foxhole in New Guinea during WWII, she went on missions all over the South Pacific, and eventually became kind of famous. Seems like she was a therapy dog by accident, but whatever, it's a nice story. Look at this baby!
That's all. See you next time.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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11 comments:
Easy. I tried to solve without reading the theme clues and I was almost successful. I needed the clue for 48A.
Overwrites:
My 19A harem pants were puffy before they were LOOSE.
At 32D, I misremembered Mr. Baker’s name as CHad instead of CHET, which is why I needed the 48A clue.
At 36D, Oprah or Ellen was a TV host before she was a TV STAR.
46D: elope before FILCH.
My 118D PC connection was a usb before it was a LAN.
WOEs:
The 18D Asa Butterfield role ENDER.
No clue about The Incredibles PARRs at 21A.
The Greek tunic CHITON (95A).
The ELI Young Band at 115A.
DDR as anything other than the abbr. for East Germany (119D).
DNF due to Natick - IRR crossing PARR. I have no idea what "IRR' means, which meant that 'IIR' with "PAIR" (as in 'married pair') works just as well as the expected answer.
Does the STAN LAUREL come with a hardy handshake?
IRR is a very common abbreviation for “irregular” which has been in the NYTXW 80 times in the Shortz era alone. And PAIR can’t be right because the clue says “or” not “and”
Stan Newman has been running a Doug Monday fairly consistently recently so I’ve come to expect a maturely crafted puzzle whenever I see his name. This one is no different except for the absolutely inane ENISLE.
FLY BY NIGHT
As usual - Rex highlights most of the inflection points of the grid. It’s a cute theme but it trends a little musty - definitely been done before. STAN LAUREL and SNACK COUNTER are chuckle worthy - all the themes are clean enough.
NED
THERMO was the make or break for a lot of physics and engineering students I knew. I always liked it especially the higher level Maxwell relations. Very useful in everyday life.
PATTI
Enjoyable Sunday morning solve.
The Blue Nile
Puzzles have often been sparked before by generational patois as answers, but I don’t remember seeing an entire theme based on it, and what a splendid and original idea. A theme that makes solvers of all ages feel seen!
While it’s lovely to base a theme on words that echo generations, it’s a step up to hide them in common phrases that use them in their more-common non-generational meanings.
Bravo, gentlemen!
Beyond the theme, there were answers I loved: NIBBLE, AVARICE, FILCH, SCUFF, and the roll-off-the-tongue AMBIGUITY.
There was also a clue, [Green opening], that mightily misdirected me, where my face screwed up as I wondered, “What could that be besides ECO?”
There was the Boomer crossing of FAB FOUR and ARLO.
And there were sweet serendipities. A quartet of dog references: STAY, SITS, FLEAS, YORKIE. The rhyming ATRIA and ACACIA. No to mention SEE / PEE / LEE / the clue [Wee] / and wannabe KNEE.
A merry mix in the box today, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Groovy, phat, on fleek, and bussin’. Thank you, Doug and Gary!
Funny that I agreed with Rex on many things in this puzzle, including:
- 43A: I thought NOD at first.
- 10D: AYEAYE at first.
- 36D: I actually had TVSHOW, but same idea.
I didn't know CHITON, although I know chitin. Now, if I should ever see CHITON again, I'll think: "YEA, CHITON, YES." (93A+95A+96A)
There were some "linked" answers, to be sure, as pointed out by others. I liked 53D (ENVY) crossing with 67A (AVARICE). And 99A TEENIE wasn't too far from 126A EENSY. And, is BOOKI (17D) a bit of a link to last week's BOOKII?
I had to ask my wife about IRR (13D)... more often, we see "as is" or "sale" or some such.
Just saw The Incredibles this past week. Brilliant creation. LOL, I do not consider this an "old" movie! "Old movies" to me go back at least 50 years.
ENJOYED IT!
Not a bad theme but, as Rex points out, tricky to assign each term to a specific generation. For example, I was doing some research a while back and found instances of “fly” in the Gen X slang sense going back to the 1890s. I’ve since learned that etymologists have traced it back to 1811. The first instance of “fly girl” (remember them from “In Living Color”? Where J.Lo got her start?) I found was in 1916. And “Superfly” came out in 1972, when the oldest Gen Xer was seven years old. Those were Boomers buying tickets to that movie and dancing to Curtis Mayfield.
These slang terms seem to disappear and reappear over decades or even centuries.
Fairly easy, I thought. Needed only an alphabet run for the SPUME/MONS cross. Knew maybe half the generational words (from doing crosswords), but intuited the rest from crosses. STANLAUREL was a real highlight. Enjoyed it.
I started out like gang busters, thinking it’s either a very easy puzzle or I’m definitely on the right wavelength today. Of course, I’ve done enough NYT puzzles so I was keeping an eye out for the dreaded trivia or arcana that would be my downfall - and I did find some spots rough going.
A Shakespearean heroine crossing one of Chekhov’s Three Sisters is hardly a crime against humanity, but of course I had no idea what their names were. I think it’s weirdly ironic that there was a volcano from Mars in that same section to contribute to my downfall.
I’ll nominate SPUME, ENISLE and CHITON for today’s “only in the NYT” trifecta. On a more positive note - I just got acquainted with WICCA a week or so ago, so it was nice to welcome a new friend back so soon.
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