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Set of notches in a dictionary / THU 10-23-25 / "Done!," in geometry class / Clay being of Jewish folklore / ___ Nicolas, remotest of California's Channel Islands / Genre for Blackpink and Stray Kids / 1887 drama on which a Puccini opera was based / Composers' rights org. / Units roughly equal to a quarter of a calorie
Thursday, October 23, 2025
Constructor: Aimee Lucido
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Theme answers:
- NIN[JA M]ASTERS / BA[JA, M]EXICO (17A: Stealthiest of stealthy warriors / 4D: Peninsula south of California, colloquially)
- CA[BIN D]OORS / THUM[B IND]EX (40A: Things opened before passengers exit an aircraft / 22D: Set of notches in a dictionary)
- JA[MES S]PADER / TI[MES S]QUARE (45A: Star of NBC's "The Blacklist" / 39D: Site of a huge annual crowd)
Alexandra Cooper (born August 21, 1994) is an American podcaster, who co-created and hosts Call Her Daddy, a weekly comedy and advice podcast on Spotify. In 2021, Time Magazine called her "arguably the most successful woman in podcasting" after she signed a three-year exclusive deal with Spotify worth $60 million. Making $20 million per year made her Spotify's highest earning female podcaster and the second-highest paid podcaster, behind only Joe Rogan. The show was also the second most popular podcast globally on Spotify for 2024 behind Rogan.Rolling Stone labeled her "the new generation's Barbara Walters" for frequently enlisting high-profile Hollywood talent and influential individuals in American popular culture to be guests on her podcast. In 2023, Cooper was named to the TIME100 Next list. In 2025, Cooper was named to Time magazine's inaugural "TIME100 Creators" list – appearing in the "Leaders" category – for her impact as the creator and host of the Call Her Daddy podcast. [...]
In August 2024, Cooper signed a $125 million, three-year deal with Sirius XM which is set to replace Spotify as her distribution and advertising partner beginning in 2025.(wikipedia)
• • •
Fill-wise, things look pretty good. You've got multiple "J"s and multiple "X"s and even a "Q" keeping the grid lively, and a lot of longer phrases giving the grid a certain level of interest and personality. There's something like eleven (11!) non-theme answers of 7 or more letters today—none of them are particularly loud or attention-getting, but they're all at least solid, and it was a pleasure not to feel like I was constantly mired in short stuff. There's just a lot of variety, and a lot of bounce, to the grid today. I was never not enjoying myself. No, wait, I take that back. I did not enjoy MINTER (3D: Money maker), which seems like a pretty contrived -ER word. The MINT makes money. Are the people who work at the mint "MINTER"s? Plausibly, I suppose, but I definitely looked sideways at that answer. But it's the only answer in the grid that made me react that way. The grid might be a little too proper noun-heavy for some, but all the names (except ALEX) were familiar to me, and the crosses all look fair. The only name that made me go "oh no, not you" was Lou BEGA, and my consternation there was mostly to do with the fact that I misremembered his name as VEGA, and only slightly to do with being reminded of That Song (already stuck in my head and I haven't even played it yet). What do you call a bad song that is somehow also terribly infectious such that your brain just keeps looping it like you're possessed? "Ear worm" hardly covers the perniciousness.
What else?:
- 10A: Genre for Blackpink and Stray Kids (KPOP) — Heard of Blackpink, have not heard of Stray Kids. Here we go...
- 38D: "I'll answer all your questions" session, online (AMA) — "Ask Me Anything." Been in the grid a lot now. I think "AMA" started on Reddit but now is used across platforms any time someone wants to offer their expertise or just invite their followers to ask questions.
- 49D: ___ Simpson, musical sister of Jessica (ASHLEE) — forgot she existed. Once flew on a flight where her sister Jessica was also a passenger. I have no good celebrity sighting stories. Walking past Jessica Simpson on an airplane on my way to my seat is like Top Ten in my celebrity sighting stories, just to give you an idea of how bad my celebrity sighting stories really are. I really wish they'd cross-referenced ASHLEE Simpson with SNL somehow, since her appearance on that show was infamously ... memorable.
- 53D: Where Rudolph could first be seen in 2000, for short (SNL) — the Rudolph in question is Maya Rudolph, who I only just learned is the partner of director Paul Thomas Anderson. Of course her mom was the great Minnie Riperton.
[This. Song.]
- 19A: Warren Beatty film based on "Ten Days That Shook the World" (REDS) — R.I.P. Diane Keaton
That's all. See you next time.
P.S. forgot to mention: today's constructor, Aimee Lucido, has a new kids' novel out called Words Apart! It's a verse novel (!) about sisters, one of whom is obsessed with words—poetry, dictionaries, crossword puzzles (!!!!)—and it's lovely. Extremely recommended for the young reader / puzzle solver in your life. You can read about it and order it here.
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85 comments:
Easy-Medium. Easy for a rebus (and made easier by the "balls" in the rebus squares), but my brain recoils at rebus puzzles.
Overwrites:
At 37A my opera-inspiring drama was LA [gioc]OndA before it was LA TOSCA
jfk before LBJ at 37D
ASHLEy Simpson before ASHLEE at 49D
WOEs:
SAN Nicholas Island at 18D
ALEX Cooper (23A) and her podcast
JA[MES S]PADER at 45D. I'd never even heard of "The Blacklist"
Lou BEGA and the Mambo No. 5 he rode in on
Another bizarre experience on a Thursday for me. Today I filled in the rebus squares, figured out the reveal, and finished the puzzle without realizing that they were all synonyms for PICKLE, which was then accompanied by a massive head-slap when I read OFL’s explanation. One of these days I’ll finish a Thursday without making things unduly difficult.
My last square to drop today was the G in BEGA/GOLEM. I don’t think that meets the technical definition of a Natick (and I do recall GOLEM from a prior puzzle or two), but that was certainly a tough cross for me.
I enjoyed parsing together TIMES SQUARE, and I thought the clue for COAT ROOM was kind of cute. I dropped OPERA BOX in without giving it much thought, but now that I think about it post-solve, what is an OPERA BOX anyway? It seems like it must be something in a dedicated OPERA “house”, is that right? It can’t just be a box at Carnegie Hall - suppose they are showing a ballet that night. Oh well, it’s no surprise that I needed every cross for LA TOSCA.
THUMB INDEX carried me back a few decades to my years as a copy editor back in the paper era, with my trusty M-W New Collegiate 9th ed., Chicago Manual 3d ed., and my shelf full of encyclopedias and almanacs. I thumbed through those references for many a productive hour.
Topping this fun puzzle’s musical references (two opera terms!) were Rex’s interesting choices. The K-pop song is weirdly American. Lou Bega isn’t exactly passing the test of time. “Monster Jam,” on the other hand, continues to delight. What a wonderful bit of paleo hip hop!
Anyone who also solves “Bracket City” over at the Atlantic will be amused by today’s coincidence. It’s a dilly!
(Not a spoiler!)
Simple no doubt with a fairly clean theme and revealer but didn’t enjoy the overall fill as much as the big guy. A little too much trivia for a late week grid.
I’m A MESS
The two-way rebus is exceptional - all the themers and placement of the PICKLES were spot on. The remaining fill is off. Rex highlights the truly horrible MINTER - other things such as the LBJ-AMA pair crossed with BMI are bad. ACAD, TVS. etc continue the slog - add some awkward trivia and the experience tails off.
This is the modern world
I know there’s plenty of critical debate - but I loved REDS.
The theme and trick carry this one. Cleaner fill could have raised it to POTY category.
Hello baby, I'm gone, goodbye
Half a cup of rock and rye
Agree with Rex’s kudos. I struggled to get a foothold. I knew there was a rebus, but couldn’t suss it out until I hit the revealer, then things got much easier.
2nd day in a row where I'm just way off the constructor's wavelength. That’s often the case with Aimiee.
WoEs:
ALDO
ALEX
BMI
SAN
The clue for SNL
The clue for JAMES SPADER
People really put TVS above the fireplace? That sounds really bad for electronics, and is certainly not something I've ever seen.
Well, if for some reason you need a bit of cheering up, try what I did.
When I look over a puzzle after solving, my brain inexplicably sees the answers backward as well as forward, and when I saw KAREEM, it shouted, “It’s almost MEERKAT!” I forgot what meetkats look like, and did what I suggest you do – I punched it into Google.
Oh, the happifying divine-cuteness images that came up – the beauty in this world!
Speaking of which, this quality puzzle, where:
• Each rebus connects both words of a two-word phrase in BOTH DIRECTIONS (Hi, @Rex!)!
• Lovely answers adorn the outing – NINJA MASTERS, COAT ROOM, JOULES, GOLEM, FRESCOS, OPERA BOX, THUMB INDEX, and even PICKLEBALL, a sport name so silly as to be endearing.
• A new and clever clue appeared for an answer – SNL – that has appeared more than 500 times in the major crossword outlets.
• You’ll find the lovely PuzzPair© of SUNBATHE and NO SHADE.
To start the day with beauty? That is a gift. Thank you so much for this, Aimee!
Don’t know if this is a comeback puzzle for Aimee but if so it’s a terrific one.
As someone who grew up playing pickleball in the late ‘70s to early ‘90s (it was part of PE rotation at school, park tennis courts were more used for it than tennis, and the University of Washington had a dozen courts in the rec center) and then moving away from Washington state to lands where people thought I was nuts and making things up if I mentioned it, it is so weird that it suddenly blew up into this huge thing 25 years later.
Hey All !
I've heard PICKLE BALL is loud. Apparently, it's tennis slightly tweaked with a different BALL, yes?
Nice Rebus puz, actually needing the circles for the Theme, not just there to show where the crammed words are. Fairly smooth and easy puz.
Missing letters 25 and 26, ala the Y and Z for the Pangram. Z is common enough to not have, but not having a Y is kind of odd.
For the Rudolph clue, I thought of Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph. Har. Don't know where he played Collegiately...
Neat, strange clue for COATROOM.
Have a great Thursday!
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Changing Times by Darrin Vail, get it wherever you get your books online!
Nice that pickle is crossed by CUKES at 52D.
The clue for LBJ is one of the worst ever in a NYTXW. Lyndon Johnson's presidency was from Nov. 1963- Jan.1969. Franklin Roosevelt served from Mar. 1933- Apr.1945. That is not two decades. Johnson took office more than THREE decades after Roosevelt did. I'm surprised this has gone unnoticed.
I can’t recall ever seeing a TV over a fireplace.
Get puzzle, great post.
By your own math, the gap between their presidencies is ~18 years, i.e. roughly two decades
Thanks for pointing out who the constructor is by shouting out the new book. I’ve read one of Aimee’s previous books, Emily in the Key of Code, which was an extremely creative mix of poetry, music and computer programming! Not surprised she’s also a creative constructor.
Has abusado de tu hospitalidad.
I don't love the circles because it's usually more fun to find the rebus squares on my own. They did make things super fast. I also don't love a puzzle with 45% gunk. That's a lot of niche knowledge infecting what could've been a much better puzzle. Today I knew the gunk, so Monday easy for me.
Those circles made me laugh when I learned they were PICKLEBALLS. I also laughed at WOMBS OOF KPOP.
I've seen Warren Beatty in Reds several times. I love the movie. It's one of my all-time favorites. I still play some of the parlor songs they used.
😩 MINTER.
People: 9
Places: 3
Products: 10 {pump the brakes speedster}
Partials: 9
Foreignisms: 2
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 33 of 74 (45%) {Goodness sakes I wish they'd stop reaching for the stars.}
Funny Factor: 3 😐
Tee-Hee: [Cook outside]. WOMBS.
Uniclues:
1 How Asian warriors get drunk.
2 Why your to-do list doesn't seem that bad.
3 Website dedicated to the best places for politicians to dilly-dally with interns.
4 Two kg⋅m2⋅s−2 getting a tan.
5 Paintings on the wall at Olive Garden.
6 Standing in front of it with the clicker in hand.
1 NINJA MASTERS' REDS
2 NOTE PAD'S AT EASE
3 COATROOM.GOV
4 JOULES SUNBATHE
5 ONE-STAR FRESCOS
6 TV HELMS POSE (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: An oud. MOOR STYLE AXE.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Imma just pass along as a PSA that my favorite earworm obliterater is "I Fought the Law," played loud, preferably the Bobby Fuller Four video with the go-go girls in cowgirl outfits. People often respond "Yeah but then you've got that stuck in your head," to which I respond "You say that like it's a bad thing."
It was a pleasant solve, somewhere between Easy and Medium for me (and closer to Medium), and moreover my pleasure was certainly enhanced by Rex's write-up, where he points out nuances in the construction that I probably wouldn't have noticed myself. The puzzle and his doctor seem to have put him in a fine mood.
OOF, yes, that execrable song by Lou BEGA. Hard agree about the earworm aspect which I am attempting to hold at bay, by replacing it with a visual memory of my little seven-year-old daughter in a dance class bopping her little booty out to the song and catching the attention of dance student moms who were practically falling all over each other, rollicking at my girl's irrepressible energy.
I'd always heard BAJA Califormia, not BAJA MEXICO. Seems a little funny, though, doesn't it? I just confirmed with my wife, who has been learning Spanish, the meaning of BAJA which is "below", which here would apply to the peninsula below California (with the usual orientation whereby "below" means "south of"), but not below Mexico.
All I have to do to cough up ASHLEE is remember her awkward dance on SNL during that humiliating moment, and then stare off into space for a few SECS. Some part of me felt bad for her; another says she ought to have known better.
Okay, let that be all for now. Hope you have a great Thursday!
@Bob Mills 8:13 AM
1963-1945 is 18 years.
All the same, two decades before LBJ's inauguration, FDR was president.
By no plausible metric is this grid 45% gunk.
As Roo pointed out, it's nice to have the circles be part of the theme, rather than just a locator guide. I loved the puzzle in general, maybe because I love TOSCA, and thinking about reporters with NOTE PADS. And TESS of the D'Urbervilles. Not everyone's cup of tea though, I guess.
I had NINJASTaRS before catching on to the theme--I thought it was a downs-only rebus-- and was wondering what kind of an Amazon rating was ON a STAR.
No idea about those groups, but K-POP just filled itself in; looking back I think I had heard of Blackpink, but I didn't remember it.
I think you have to think of 4-D as BAJA, MEXICO-- but no one would ever say that, so it's a little weird.
There are not 9 partials in this grid. What do you think a partial is? Why are all names “gunk?” KAREEM is not “gunk” and REDS is not “gunk”; meanwhile MINTER is definitely gunk but your gunk meter somehow doesn’t account for that?
The circles are vital to the theme, which makes no sense without them. If they were there solely to indicate rebus squares, I wouldn’t like them either, but they’re not, so I do (like them).
Three things to never do:
1. Drive a Tesla
2. Move back in with your parents
3. Look for a CABINDOORS.
If one must smoke, one should at least attempt to minimize ONESTAR intake.
Note that when you put the cursor on FDR, LBJ lights up. Therefore the theme must be "Series of increasingly divisive U.S. presidents who played PICKLEBALL (or PICK LE BALL to the French)." Or so I've learned from the discussion of yesterday's theme.
I like that the bottom row contains a POET and a POET TESS.
I believe an OUTDO is a hairstyle that results from sticking your finger in a hot light bulb socket.
I hear that they're doing a remake of one of Truffaut's best films. This time around, the friends are obsessed with weight loss and working out. It will be title "JOULES and Gym".
I'm an avid PICKLEBALL player but I don't have a ball getting pickled (for you pickle-noobs, getting pickled means losing 11-0). Thanks for a really enjoyable puzzle, Aimee Lucido.
I don’t know a single thing about Pickleball, but I loved this puzzle. My first rebus was JAM of course, which made me think who the heck would make PICKLE jam. I’ve got a jar of pepper jelly in my cabinet but never heard of anyone trying that with CUKES. There just wasn’t much not to like about this puzzle, a welcome and fun Thursday.
RP, sounds as though you are indeed blessed with a very caring physician. I feel the same way about my Dr. Guan who is a beaming, brilliant 5 foot nothing, 98-pound whirlwind of medical knowledge. Sadly, the good ones are becoming harder and harder to find.
Had the grid entirely filled correctly and just could not make sense of the rebus, because I was leaving out the final letter on BIND and MESS for some reason. BIN and MES ? So I missed the lovely synonyms for pickle and the fact that they were in a BALL. That whoosh you hear is everything going over my head.
Today's WOE;s were all names--ALEX, ASHLEE, ALDO, and even JAMESSPADER, whom I sort of knew.
OFL's musing in his family doctor reminded me of the relationship I have with our own. We've been seeing him for a long time and then a year ago or so a friend who occasionally plays driver for an older woman asked me if I could sub for him and I said sure and said lady turned out to be our doctor's mother, a delightful woman almost ninety and we got some wonderful stories about her son Michael when he was growing up. Small world around here.
This is a great Thursday, AL, Although Lost on me, at least partially. Well done you and thanks for all the fun.
Really liked all aspects of this puzzle, and equally thrilled that Rex concurred.
Only pitfall (thankfully avoided) was Rex's warning about That pernicious Lou BEGA Song; didn't play it, so hopefully ear worm free
Interesting (to me) to note that today is the 21st anniversary of Ashlee Simpson's SNL lip sync fiasco! https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0694900/
And I recall seeing them frequently.
YES! THANKS FOR POINTING THAT OUT. :-D
That's how I feel about my mom drinking LaCroix in the early '90s.
Where have you guys been living? Ever since big flat-screen TVS became available, people have been putting them over their fireplaces (which they don't use).
Lou Bega played at a music festival near me in the early 2000s. His set was 3 songs: "Mambo #5," some other song, and then "Mambo #5" AGAIN! The ultimate one-hit wonder.
FDR's presidency ended in '45. LBJ's started in '63. That's approximately two decades. The clue is absolutely fair.
Have to disagree with your analysis today, Gary: There's very little gunk in this puzzle. It's clean and tight and an excellent example of what a good rebus puzzle should be.
Agree! Excellent puzzle, excellent write-up.
For Anonymous, Gary Jugert and jberg: If FDR took office in March 1933, and LBJ took office in November 1963, over 30-1/2 years later, how can anyone call that two decades? They left office almost 24 years apart.
As a tennis dad, whose kid’s home court has been taken from 4 tennis courts two two tennis and 4 pickleball courts and thus unusable for practice or matches, I have to be honest. Not a fan of pickleball. But, hard to not be a fan of this puzzle.
I really liked this puzzle; it felt so clean, so tight. There were answers I had to work to get, like ALEX, JOULES, MINTER, IROC, but I got them all from the crosses. There was so little junk and the cluing was precise. I liked having OPERA, FRESCOES, POET, and PICKLEBALL in the same puzzle. What a fun way to start a Thursday. Thanks, Aimee!
Ended up DNFing at the crossing of NOT I / IROCS. I had “words of denial” as NOTs and I have no clue what an IROC is so sROCS looked as much like a car name as anything. Bummer way to end an otherwise super fun puzzle
Only troubles, never heard of James Spader or watched the show. Had the theme & saved by Times Square. Today's "insert random letter" square the ama/bmi cross.
Liked it
I’ve long been a fan of Aimee Lucido but this was a bit disappointing. Nice and light & bright, with a kind of pleasant flow but just too easy for a Thursday.
Saw the circles right away. I actually missed them in a puzzle recently and that caused me some mental anguish so now I’m on the lookout for them. (Yes, I have scheduled an eye exam, thank you.) Got 17A NIN(JAM)ASTERS easily and wondered why the rebus was in a circle. Why make it that easy? Maybe the circle represents something else. Maybe I’m looking down into an open jar of jam. 40A was obviously CA(BIND)OORS and I saw the connection was going to be between the words’ meanings (jam, bind) not the circles. Confirmed it with JA(MESS)PADER, an actor about whom I know little but the name.
PICKLE BALL straightened me out regarding the circles. Pickles in balls. Cute. And that was pretty well it.
As usual, there were a few nits:
Is there really an UNDO button on anyone’s computer?I have to depress 2 buttons (Command & Z) or use my mouse to find the menu option; decidedly not a button.
I haven’t worked for the newspaper for quite a few years now but even before I retired many reporters I knew were using the ‘record’ function on their phones for interviews, pressers, etc. NOTE PADS were what I used at my desk to try to keep my day organized.
Hoping Friday presents more of a challenge. (Be careful what you wish for, Les.)
The insidious "ear maggot'" perhaps?
That's where mine is. Wall-mounted above a small gas fireplace in the den. Those gas fireboxes are heavily insulated so, @litshef, no danger to the electonics.
Love your riff on OPERA BOX. Especially the last line.
Very cute! And correcting two misapprehensions along the way made it even more fun for me. First, after JAM, I felt resentful that the rebus squares were being identified for us - come on, it's Thursday! Second, like @pabloinnh, I had entered only BIN and MES, but thankfully another look at JAMESPADER made me realize my error, and, if a four-letter rebus was okay for MESS, I figured I'd better look again at BIN. So, I was able to solve the reveal clue as a riddle: What's another word for a tough spot that's in circle? PICKLEBALL! Loved it.
I also liked the opera outing, with COAT ROOM, OPERA BOX, and LA TOSCA, with a cast hopefully featuring more than ONE STAR. Help from previous puzzles: K-POP, ALDO. No idea: BEGA, ASHLEE.
Terrific! I love all rebuses but this one is outstanding.
Sorry that JAMESSPADER was clued as starring in The Blacklist. He was much better in Boston Legal. Written by David E. Kelley and with William Shatner. Most of the episodes ended with Spader and Shatner smoking a cigar and having a glass of Scotch on a balcony and wittily philosophising
Mediumish. I initially got nowhere in the NW so I solved this from the bottom up, which gave me the reveal fairly early, which really helped with the NW as BAJA MEXICO (which I can drive to in 20 minutes) was suddenly a gimme.
No costly erasures and ALEX, BEGA, HALF STEP, and ARIAL and SAN (as clued) were it for WOEs.
Cute and clever and just about right for a Thursday, liked it a bunch
Terrific! I love all rebuses, but this one was outstanding.
Sorry that JAMESSPADER was clued as starring in The Blacklist. He was much better in Boston Legal, written by David E. Kelley. Most episodes ended with Spader and William Shatner on a balcony, smoking cigars and drinking Scotch, wittily philosophizing. Classic!
Yes, that's right...a box at the Metropolitan Opera, for example.
Try looking at it a different way. LBJ TOOK office 18 yrs (2 decades) after FDR LEFT office. In other words, LBJ's term started 2 decades after FDR's ended. They were thus 2 decades apart.
I agree that the PICKLEBALL theme was fun and mostly well executed, but I really disliked both BAJA MEXICO and NINJA MASTERS as themers. I've heard the peninsula be called either Baja or Baja California (apparently that's the name of a state that's part of the peninsula) but never Baja, Mexico. That sounds like saying Midwest, USA to me, totally not a thing. And is a ninja master a thing??? Ninjas are a thing, and some of them I'm sure were masters at that, but I'm really not sold on either of these answers being real
Mambo #5 will always remind me of my first trip to New Zealand (well, my twin brother and I were conceived there but I have no memory of that, lol) back in 1999. That song, along with Livin' La Vida Loca, got constant radio play all over New Zealand. This was back in the day when you didn't bring all your music with you on a small Apple device; you had to physically turn dials and discover what was out there. Ahh, the good old days. Anyway, many memories of that song and I never, until today, knew who was singing it!
I'm with Gary on this one. The puzzle was heavily loaded with PPP (and RP has already commented on it being name-heavy). If you knew the names and other trivia, I'm sure it seemed smooth. If not (hand up!), it was an absolute slog.
Every rebus puzzle, I try to get the revealer first, because I need the help. So of course when I got PICKLEBALL, I’m thinking of sour, dill, kosher, lol. That would’ve been fun!
Fun and friendly ThursPuz. WedPuz is still the hardest one of the week, so far.
We once attended a hands-on demo of how to play pickleball. We soon after attended a session of a weekly pickleball league. Never got around to actually joinin up, tho. We were tennis-jammin addicts, I guess? Sooo ... maybe we was in a bind, and ergo a real mess. But content.
staff weeject picks: LBJ & JFK. With a GOV tossed in ... cuz the tearin down of the White House strikes M&A as mighty awful symbolic.
A fave thing or two: SUNBATHE & clue. WANNA. QED [but not quite a pangrammer puz]. COATROOM puzzle-like clue.
Thanx for the fun with messy-balls, Ms. Lucido darlin. Good job.
Masked & Anonymo5Us
... and now, for the frightenin sequel ...
"Boo Who?" - 7x7 themed runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
Spooky M&A
Found this an unusually difficult rebus; they always are when each rebus answer is different. And then the offbeat use of PICKLE as a synonym for a JAM. And then JAMES SPADER who I wouldn't know if I fell over him. And then ball to represent a square. I was pressed for time this morning and what I say is never do a tough rebus when you're racing against the clock. I was stumped in places that I don't want to admit to and didn't seem to bother anyone else. I'd like to save this puzzle long enough to completely forget the gimmick and then do it again on a day when I have nothing but time. I think I'd appreciate it much more -- it really is an excellent rebus, after all.
Good Thursday theme! I was a bit disappointed to realize that 22 down wasn't just THUMBEX which would be a great word!
But I have to agree with Gary's Gauge that there was a lot of gunk, especially names. That upper right corner has KPOP, ALDO, and REDS all crossed by KAREEM in a little 3 x 4 area. And more names sprinkled all over the place.
What is this, the pop culture puzzle? And where would the NYT crossword be without an Oreo to munch on?
I solved clean BUT until I came here I thought the rebus squares contained words that were peculiar to the game of pickleball, with which I am not at all familiar. A lifelong dictionary user, I had no idea that the thumb index was actually called THUMB INDEX. I didn't think it had any name at all. Fun puzzle.
I got a smile from noticing the pickle synonyms in the balls, and since I hadn't solved the revealer yet, it worked perfectly. I liked the way the theme answers all worked. That said, the puzzle gave me a lot of resistance due to the names, abbreviations and TV and music clues of people I did not know. (👍🏻 Gary Jugert). The crosses were helpful but not all clean.
One error I made was filling in ASHLEy. I had a few letters and assumed the clue referred to the perennial crossword TV show - does Bart even have a sister named Ashley? JAMES SPADER has been in the puzzle pretty often, at least in part, so that helped. My puzzle musician Lou is Reed, not BEGA…
You've given me a sudden hankering to watch Boston Legal! I didn't watch it then, but Spader and Shatner philosophizing over scotch sounds like it has potential.
My own personal PPP meter came out to 33% but my analysis is far less thorough than yours, I’m sure. In either case, more than necessary IMHO.
I'm looking directly at the clue: "Prez two decades after 8-Down". Who was in office two decades after FDR "left" (which is to say, died in) office? Well, that would be 20 years after April 1945, and LBJ was prez in April 1965.
I hope this is not seen as ganging up, but when someone says that the NYTXW is wrong about this or that, it often seems there was not much effort to give some benefit of the doubt, i.e., to see whether there is some way of looking at the clue whereby it makes sense. (It's one thing to say "I don't understand this clue" or "what am I missing?"; it's quite another to confidently declare it's wrong.)
What a great opportunity to be introduced to James Spader work! He’s a super fun weirdo of an actor, around since the 80s. Always brings something unexpected into a scene. He was also on The Office for a season with some corporate villain energy.
Conceptually, to me it doesn't seem all that different from the idea of a box seat at a baseball game. It's an upgrade from an ordinary seat. The Wikipedia article makes exactly the same point, that analogous to opera boxes, sports venues have luxury boxes, skyboxes, etc. that afford a more privatized viewing.
It's a newish (15-20 yrs) trend but a bad idea, it's too high for comfortable viewing. Don't Mount Your TV Above Your Fireplace: Here's Why - CNET https://share.google/3jVgaOT9p6MF3JCJW
Thanks for your concern about my mental health, but I'll pass. Glad it was only 2 and a quarter minutes long.
For once, a puzzle with clever, meaningful circles! So, so, SO well done, Aimee Lucido. Circles that either don’t matter or “dumb down” a theme and thereby its solve are (as a few of you might know from my comments - ok, a couple times they were rants - sorry ) a big ol’ nit for me.
Today though, as OFL pointed out, each circle (or BALL) with a homonym for a metaphorical PICKLE inside were nothing short of genius.
This was a stellar example of construction artistry. Out of the park, bottom of the ninth in game 7 World Series winning grand slam!! That’s how much this old baseball/crossword maniac loved this puzzle. Thanks Aimee; you made my day, that started in disaster.
It began with me oversleeping, being wakened by my granddaughter needing her ride to school and barely getting her there on time and returning to find that my cat (finally recovering from a small accident that scraped up her face and made eating a challenge) had inhaled her serving of soft food and kibble and promptly puked it all up on my bed’s fresh sheets that I had changed yesterday.
Not saying that my “elation bar” was low, rather being so very grateful that this Thursday puzzle was an absolute joy!
With the surprising response today {I'm always surprised to learn somebody read one of my posts} I thought I would check my work.
People 9: ALEX, ERIN, JAMES SPADER, XENA, TESS, SOSA, KAREEM, ASHLEE, BEGA.
Places 4: URAL, BAJA MEXICO, SAN [Nicolas], TIMES SQUARE.
Products 10: KPOP, ALDO, REDS, HE'S [Just Not That Into You], LA TOSCA, ORIOLE, [DraftKings or FanDuel], IROCS, OREO, SNL.
Partials 9: GOV, BMI, SECS, FDR, GOAT, ACAD, LBJ, AMA, CUKES.
Foreignisms 2: QED, ILE
Of note: I didn't count Times Square the first time, because I was so enchanted by the theme I missed it. QED and SNL could have been partials of course, but one is a Latin partial and the other is almost synonymous with the actual name of the show.
A final note to the Anonymoti: There are absolutely 9 partials in here (arguably 11) and just because you love Kareem, doesn't mean his name isn't a proper noun. I could take a picture of him out into my café right now and I'd bet plenty of people wouldn't be able to identify him. If you don't know him, imagine grokking a name like that into a puzzle. Four of the six crosses on his name are products. Generally, when people know the gunk, they're okay with the gunk, but when they don't, the sad posts begin. I add them up, you decide if you care.
Also, @🦖 you're absolutely right about the circles and it would've been wrong to have ball-less pickles.
I should mention I read a zillion web pages about frescoes after the solve mostly because I didn't like the spelling of the plural (but I guess it's OK) and I kinda wish I would have gone into that line of work. It would be nice to know my work would last for 3500 years and through a volcano eruption even if it stunk.
Baja clue including the colloquially modifier made that harder than it should be. I knew the peninsula is called Baja Califonia and assumed the modifier would make it something like IDK caboville?? I assume ninjas are/would have been taught by a senseiwhich I have seen translated as master.
The last time I went to the doctor, he said, "OK, take off all of your clothes and go stand by the window." I said "What for?" and he said "I'm mad at my neighbor."
I am in total agreement with having duties involving granddaughters and a deep and abiding love for baseball, but on the same day we changed our sheets recently, our very old cat barfed prodigiously, but not on the bed, so there the correlation ends.
@Gary, I always trust your Gunk Gauge. In fact, if it were I doing the calculation, I would count FDR and LBJ twice as they are not only partials, they are also people!
Ok. This fascinated me. I thought pickleball originated in Washington state. I totally did not know pickleball had been around that long!
Son Volt
About Reds
Never saw it. But Diane Keaton’s passing led me to read about her performance in it, mostly that she did a masterful job. I might give it a try.
Gary. You are the second to recommend REDS. Sun Volt liked the movie also. By sad coincidence, the movie was just in the news because of Diane Keaton’s passing.
Before he canceled his Times subscription, Z had a proper noun only %. ( Partials, foreignisms not included. ).
tht
One point. Baja California in context means Lower California. Remember before the “Mexican-American War” Baja was the southern end of one huge entity the Mexicans inherited from the Spanish who of course conquered it from the Indians. You are right that Baja Mexico only makes sense in English
I liked the concept and execution, but is NINJA MASTER really a thing? Karate master, sure, but I have never heard this as an expression. Coupled with the mildly dubious BAJA, MEXICO, I felt like this section maybe needed revision.
I should looked up that it actually means Lower California. But I never said that Baja Mexico makes sense in English, nor did I even think that. I'm not really clear on what is going on in that clue, since the name of the Mexican state is in fact Baja California.
I did see this in the Wikipedia article on the Baja California peninsula: "The peninsula is known colloquially as Baja by American and Canadian tourists". That's fine, but do they add "Mexico" as part of the colloquialism? (Let this be my last comment on the matter.)
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