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Sits legs akimbo, pejoratively / FRI 11-21-25 / Japanese ogre / "Fellow traveler," in Russian / Anne's best friend in "Anne of Green Gables" / Popular perfume named after a singing star / Shakespearean "Hush!" / Juana ___ de la Cruz, classic Mexican writer known as "The Tenth Muse" / Symbol of fertility in ancient Egypt / Certain marketing deluge / Hits up online in a way / Sydney Adamu portrayer on "The Bear"
Friday, November 21, 2025
Constructor: Joyce Keller
Relative difficulty: Easy
Word of the Day: ONI (54D: Japanese ogre) —
An oni (鬼) (/ˈoʊniː/ OH-nee) is a kind of yōkai, demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. They are believed to live in caves or deep in the mountains or in hell. Oni are known for their superhuman strength and have been associated with powers like thunder and lightning, along with their evil nature manifesting in their propensity for murder and cannibalism. They are typically portrayed as hulking figures with one or more horns growing out of their heads, massive teeth, and occasionally a third eye in the center of the forehead. They are typically depicted with red, blue, black, or yellow colored skin, wearing loincloths of tiger pelt, and carrying iron kanabō clubs. They also have three to six digits on each hand and foot tipped with claw-like nails. Oni are able to change their looks to fool their victims into trusting them. Oni can be male or female, but have been predominantly male throughout history. Female oni are sometimes referred to by the name Yamauba. When in disguise, oni are capable of appearing as a man or woman, regardless of their gender. As monstrous as oni are, they have been linked to bringing good fortune and wealth. [...] They are popular characters in Japanese art, literature, and theater and appear as stock villains in the well-known fairytales of Momotarō (Peach Boy), Issun-bōshi, and Kobutori Jīsan. Although oni have been described as frightening creatures, they have become tamer in modern culture as people tell less frightening stories about them like Oni Mask and Red Oni Who Cried.(wikipedia)
• • •
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| [52A: Insomniac's aid] |
This had a decent amount of whoosh, but I wouldn't call it HEART-STOPPING. It started soft, with a name I haven't thought about for years—except when her first name shows up in crosswords (LEA MICHELE)—sitting on top of a slang term that is no longer novel and that I also haven't thought about for years (MANSPREADS) (17A: Sits legs akimbo, pejoratively). But then I came out of that corner with a dramatic zing-zing, as ROCKET SCIENCE shot across the grid in one direction and CHEAT SHEET barreled across it in the other—a moment so nice I took a picture to commemorate the occasion:
Not sure why HOLE-IN-ONE is fine but HOLES-IN-ONE feels awk. It's a legitimate plural, I just don't like golf in the first place and the "attorneys general" pluralizing of it all doesn't help. I don't really buy "HERE'S WHY..." as a standalone phrase (35D: Lead-in to clarification). Can't say it's not original, but I had "HERE'S HOW..." which also doesn't feel great but feels stronger and more in-the-language (maybe from advertising?) than "HERE'S WHY..." Speaking of advertising and adspeak (one of my least favorite crossword things) ... actually let's not speak about E-BLAST (41D: Certain marketing deluge). The less said the better. As for FIRESTARTER, here is a rare case where I wish the puzzle had opted for the proper noun cluing. [Barbecuer's aid], meh—FIRESTARTER is a Stephen King novel-turned-1980s Drew Barrymore movie. It's been clued that way three of its four earlier appearances, but that's fine. I enjoy remembering 80s movies more than I enjoy thinking about something that literally starts a fire.
Bullets:
- 21A: Settled down (ATREST) — that's AT [space] REST. Hardest thing for me to parse in the whole dang grid. I wanted ALIT and obviously that wouldn't fit and so I just filled the answer from crosses. It took way more crosses than it should have to realize the answer was two words.
- 39D: "Fellow traveler," in Russian (SPUTNIK) — this puzzle was so easy that I didn't even see two clues with interesting bits of trivia in them: this one and the clue on BEES (50D: They have five eyes and communicate by dancing).
- 9D: It may bring out the kid in you (CESAREAN) — never loved the cutesiness of this particular clue (I say "never" because I've seen this exact clue before). Yes, a C-section will get the child out of your uterus, it's true. The wordplay is not unclever. I guess I just find the whimsy unfit for the topic.
- 20A: Symbol of fertility in ancient Egypt (TOAD) — speaking of interesting bits of trivia. TOAD would not have been on my guess list.
- 23A: Shakespearean "Hush!" ("SOFT!") — the "Shakespearean" part had me looking for something British and/or olde-tymey. I had the "F" and thought, "... TOFF? Is that a thing?" before remembering the line, "But SOFT, what light through yonder window breaks? etc."
- 36A: Popular perfume named after a singing star (RIRI) — Rihanna. Back-to-back days for RIRI.
- 33D: Find fault with, informally (DING) — I wanted DISS. Actually, I wanted DIS and thought maybe DISS was going to be an alt-spelling.
- 4D: Hits up online, in a way (IMS) — do people still "IM" each other? It's not just called "texting?" IM apps are exceedingly popular, but my question is more about the verb. "I'll IM you!" Really? You "text" or "message" someone. Gonna ask my students about this one.
[probably not a great idea to I.M. every woman]
That's all for today. See you next time.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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107 comments:
Any pluralization like “HOLES IN ONE” immediately reminds me of the headline, “William Safire orders three Whoppers Junior at Burger King” from the Onion, with the picture of him standing in front of the cashier, pondering the menu.
Lea Michele is currently starring on broadway in Chess so we might want to keep her front of mind
"Hitting someone up" online is DMing, not IMing, as anyone under the age of 50 can tell you.
I didn't like this puzzle at all. Too many people, too many clues trying to throw you off, too many weird answers. Oh well. Here's hoping for a delightful, challenging Saturday.
Recent 25th anniversary of this classic got some notice.
26:30 for me this morning, which I would say is definitely medium. EYRE is probably a gimme for those of you who are Austenites or who have better name retention skills than I do. I have no idea how to spell AYOEDEBIRI's name so it's probably good for me to see a couple more times this year, so I can remember it! Proud of myself for getting IRAN from scratch. Loved all the longs today--CHEATSHEETS crossing ROCKETSCIENCE and HEARTSTOPPING. Great to learn more about SPUTNIK and BEES! Fresh grid, fun cluing, unlike @REX I loved the clue for CESAREAN (took me forever to see it, also unlike @rex). Thanks, Joyce, for a perfect Friday challenge!
What do MACS have to do with Tahoe?
It seems to me that HOLESINONE requires the ball to drop into the hole from an initial tee shot, then immediately bounce out of the hole (with great vigor) and travel on its own power all the way down to the next green and drop into that hole, as well. One shot, two holes. Or did I miss something?
Operating system
Always annoyed when Caesarean is spelled without the Caesar a-before-e. We don't call him Julius Cesar. I think that cost me two minutes today.
Finished it with several cheats in the top half. For a long time I rejected CESARIAN because any procedure named for Julius Caesar should be spelled "Caesarian." Some medical student must have misspelled it on an exam, and it stuck. Does anyone have a better reason?
DM refers to sending a private message within an APP that circumvents its more public side (e.g. instagram), whereas IM has come to mean messages sent in public forum conversations or in a dedicated messaging app (e.g., WhatsApp, Telegram, Messages). They are different. Both would be legitimate answers to this clue.
You mean Brontë-ites.
HOLESINONE can refer to multiple rounds of golf. My late father-in-law, an excellent golfer, had several holes-in-one (but never on successive holes).
Felt like I couldn't turn around without hitting an unknown name, but it turns out there were just four (LEAMICHELE, AYOEDEBIRI, INES, DIANA), plus one non-name WoE in ONI.
[Contrary to what Rex says, clearly AYO EDEBIRI has not appeared in the puzzle enough, as that name is still unfamiliar to me. I even remember thinking that we just had an actor from The Bear recently, and how many actors from The Bear are we expected to know? Turns out it was the same actor both times.]
The overwhelming majority of bee species do not dance. A few do, but cluing at as creatures with five eyes that do NOT dance to communicate would be a better description of almost all BEES.
Thank you! That was the last answer to fall for me, and I had no idea why Macs was right, and no idea about Ayo’s name. Had confidently put SKIS in on my first pass through the puzzle, only to have that duped a few clues later. Also couldn’t parse ATREST in that corner. Was heading for a Friday PR until I spent 5 minutes staring at that damn NE corner. (It was my second NYT puzzle frustration of the morning, after the Wordle Bot told me that one of my guesses was “valid”, but “unlikely to be the answer” based on its experience. wtf?)
I knew it was gonna be AYOEDIBIRI as soon as I saw it, yet, in spite of all of the appearances of late, I still have not committed it to memory. Probably in protest because of how much of a brat I thought her character in The Bear was, and how much all the other characters seem to let her get away with it. But I presume the frequency of appearances of the full name is due to the alternating vowel/consonants. Anywho, I thought this was kinda hard as I have no effing clue who LEAMICHELE is/was, and various other answers were *just* out of reach enough and piled up to make me have to go through various times in order to get everything filled in. I know, boohoo. CESAREAN got me for sure, though I did enjoy the cluing on that one. But I *did* guess SPUTNIK right off, which was fun to learn.
More than just a fill-in:
WHITE NOISE – as soon as I placed this answer down, I heard it as if it were actually being produced close to me.
COME HITHER – Always loved this gorgeous phrase, haven’t thought about it in forever, and when it showed itself I glowed as I do when I run into an old friend.
LEA MICHELE – Unfamiliar with this name; when I learned about her afterward and saw how wow-worthy she is, was grateful for the TIL, and I’ll remember her. Part of my learning was hearing her lovely voice here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7K-NtCoYIo&list=RDw7K-NtCoYIo&start_radio=1 .
I also liked TIPTOED crossing SOFT, the rhyming and crossing IRAN and SARAN, and the onomatopoeic DING, TOOT, and HAHA.
Most important of all was the overall feeling of loveliness in answer and clue, leaving me hopeful to experience more from you, Joyce, up the road. What a promising debut – thank you for this, and congratulations!
I’m catching up on old crosswords, and the one I just did (October 18), like a number of recent puzzles, had ASS in an answer (in this case, HAULED ASS). I fear that in the next year or two, a clue will be “Expression of shock,” and the answer will be WHAT THE F*** (with letters instead of asterisks, of course). I guess that’s when I’ll stop doing the NYT puzzle.
I don’t know who Lea Michele is, even though she is obviously pretty famous. I wasted a bit of time trying to fit something related to Babs in Funny Girl up there. I didn’t fare much better in the rest of the north. Fortunately AYO and ROCKET SCIENCE came to the rescue and things opened up a touch south of the equator.
Rex made a good point about AYO - she stars in one of the few TV shows that I actually watch, so I have a selfish reason for welcoming her, but agree we may be getting to the point of saturation/overexposure.
I’m wondering who this mysterious HELEN is and what her connection to Paris is. I’ve heard of HELEN of Troy, but that seems like a stretch. I know Ilsa will always have Paris, at least in the movie - no help there. Oh well, at least it’s a common name and the crosses were fair.
Why is modern art "are?"
Hey All !
Welp, not an easy solve here. I guess the ole brain is having another off morning. After staring at too much white space for too long, the ole antsiness sets in, and I go fleeing to Goog. Ah, me. Looked up LEA MICHELE, because although I've heard of her, never would've gotten that by the clue.
Next looked up AYO EDEBIRI, got a chuckle, because I did say, "Oh, her again?" ala Rex. Again, unknown by clue.
Last one was for INES, had ETHos for ETHIC, knew something was amiss, and found it out to be that error.
RIRI, twice twice. Some nice entries and clues, but it didn't hit for me today, as I was in Flummoxville too long. Hey, you can't be a winner everyday...
Have a great Friday!
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
I don’t know who Ayo Edebiri is and I don’t know what The Bear is and I don’t care. Why not clue 2nd baseman for the Houston Astros if you want to exclude large sections of the crossword population?
This played like a challenging Saturday for me. I was just slow on things I shouldn't have been. . The CESAREAN clue was in poor taste.
Jane Eyre is by Charlotte Brontë, not Jane Austen.
Nothing makes you feel good about yourself like struggling through a puzzle then coming here to Rex call it easy. Oof!
Enjoyed the aslant punchiness on this one, and the tone was just right, felt like a good Friday to me. Particularly enjoyed HELEN, ROCKET SCIENCE and COME HITHER, and groaned out loud at CESAREAN. Thank you Joyce!
She must be pretty accomplished. They clued her as playing a character in “Glee” (Broadway? Tv?) as well in today’s easy mode grid.
Shakespeare: “thou art” You: “You ARE”
I’ve heard the expression “horny toad”. Little Richard became a preacher when he learned of Sputnik and thought this was the end of the world.
“Wherefore art thou?” “Where are you?”
Yeah this was a long, hard slog for me. Double my usual time.
Paris’ abduction of Helen of Troy sparked the Trojan War. Greek mythology.
There are 18 holes in a round of golf. In the 19th hole [club] later, "I got two holes in one today! Drinks are on me."
In Greek mythology, Paris, a prince of Troy, abducted Helen, the wife of Spartan king Menelaus, sparking the legendary Trojan War.
I loved the clue for CESAREAN. Also the "Modern art?" cluing.
Her debut?! Wow!! Keep ‘em coming! Loved it.
I knew that reminded me of something. The article is short enough to post here:
Stopping for lunch at a Manhattan Burger King, New York Times ’On Language’ columnist William Safire ordered two “Whoppers Junior” Monday. “A majority of Burger King patrons operate under the fallacious assumption that the plural is ’Whopper Juniors,’” Safire told a woman standing in line behind him. “This, of course, is a grievous grammatical blunder, akin to saying ’passerbys’ or, worse yet, the dreaded ’attorney generals.’” Last week, Safire patronized a midtown Taco Bell, ordering “two Big Beef Burritos Supreme.”
I hope someone mansplains what MANSPREADS means. Somehow this subject got me to thinking about the lesbian/trans bar where I play trivia once a month. The two bathrooms are labeled "Standing Up" and "Sitting Down". Does away with a lot of conventional worries about the unconventional.
I once had the pleasure of shepherding three members of the Los Alamos, NM City Council, who all worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, to meet with the municipal bond rating agencies in NYC. One of them got a childish delight out of explaining things by starting with "You don't have to be a ROCKETSCIENtist to understand this ......although of course we all are." It was so corny that everyone just loved it.
I adored that episode of The Bear where Sydney Adamu fails to repay some fruit she had borrowed from Ed at the farmer's market. After suffering in silence for what seems like an eternity, AYOEDIBIRI wails "I owe Ed a berry, plus I should give a TIPTOED for his trouble."
I didn't recall seeing Cesarean for [It may bring out the kid in you] . I went through a joyful "it can't be.....it is!" thinking process to get there. Thanks for that and for a high quality debut puzzle, Joyce Keller.
The clue needed a "?" A goat births a "kid." Referring to a newborn baby as a kid - yuck.
Thought Rex would give this puzzle way more props than he did. I thought it was very whooshy with little ‘bad fill’. And: manspreading is still everywhere on the NYC subway!
Why are Tahoe runners (that is, pickup trucks) MACs? They aren’t—or at least mine wasn’t. It was a Chevy. Presumably someone believes a GMC is a Mac, and perhaps GM threw all the Tahoe badges to GMC, but this clue still sucks swamp water.
Tahoe is one of those fancy-schmancy names that marketers give Operating Systems these days?? Or is it something else?
Brontë-sauruses?
Paris was a mythological prince of Troy, who kidnapped Helen of Troy
HELEN is indeed Helen of Troy, and Paris was one of her husbands.
Same as Glen for me. More tech speak, unfortunately. Had this pegged as three stars, some good stuff and some yuk.
I was unfamiliar with the adjectival use of COME HITHER, and for a brief horrible moment I thought the answer for [flirtatious] was COME HIT HER as three words, which sounds like something that, were it ever in the language, should be excited from it. But indeed, now that I have learned the term, I like it.
Can we all agree that the kealoa of IMS / DMS / PMS should be banned from the puzzle?
I love LEAMICHELLE. First saw her on Glee. Great performer. Very sexy. Would have loved to have seen her in Funny Girl.
Helen of Troy, from Greek mythology. Paris was the herdsman whose judgment (The Judgment of Paris) ended with him receiving Helen as a bribe and started the Trojan War. Loved this clue.
I can see that happening in miniature golf.
I think what distinguishes your "miracle" shot from the plural of the traditional hole in one are hyphens. Wikipedia says the traditional hole in one can either contain hyphens or not. And dictionaries seem to vary on the matter. Assuming the hyphens, a plural of the traditional hole-in-one would be holes-in-one, as in the puzzle today, with invisible hyphens. And the plural of your miracle shot would be holes in one, sans hyphens. (But since hyphens are not required for the traditional hole in one, there are obvious holes in my theory.)
I'm sure OFL is accurate with his AYOEDEBIRI count. but I'm with @kitshef in never remembering her. Don't even remember her in previous puzzles. This may have to do with never having seen The Bear or possibly refusing to believe that such a name can exist. Didn't know LEAMICHELE , two long answers that had to be filled in by crosses with no aha! of recognition even after they were filled in. Oh well.
I must have run into ONI in the thousands of crosswords I've done, but it looked brand new to me. NIce of. OFL to explain that one, learned something. I am wondering if younger solvers have ever heard the phrase a "COMEHITHER look". Maybe someone says it in The Bear. Also learned MACS as clued. Thought they were British raincoats.
Hand up for the CESAREAN clue being too cutesy. No thanks.
NIce debut with some good long answers, JK. Just Keep the lesser-known celebs out and I'll be a happy man. Thanks for a fair amount of fun.
Fine enough puzzle with some tricksy cluing that was a little fun. However, it also makes use of the one type of cluing I absolutely despise:
Exclamation clues. That's a wrap!
While it actually works here, please don't use this stupid device in your cluing. It's as annoying as people who use LOL as punctuation, and I loathe it.
Thank you for coming to my rant.
Same experience, Glen
Two Trew!
Operating system?
“Wherefore” does not mean “where”!
No one uses LOL as “punctuation”
If you don’t know what an operating system is you are either a troll or you should just learn to google things. Whatever you typed your comment on runs on an operating system.
Not a fan of the puzzle today. Weird one.
LEAMICHELE / CROFT; AYOEDEBIRI (?!); "Grown-up gummies" (??!!) -- PFFFT!
I don't think that's really that big a deal
@anon 8:56…I think the point @puzzlehoarder is making is that it is in poor taste to “cutesy-fy” a clue that has to do with a c-section. My niece-in-law had to have one (scheduled) and had some complications after. (She and baby fine now) She said that she had gotten pretty unbelievable comments such as “wow, you didn’t have to go through labor.” It is surgery that no one opts for, so I think putting a question mark would actually make it worse.
I lived in Los Alamos temporarily for about a year while installing a supercomputer at the lab, back when the University of California still ran the lab. Interesting place.
Too many cooks may spoil the broth, but too many Ph. D.s can derail civic meetings. Everyone's an expert.
They kinda do lol
It’s official: I will never remember AYOEDIBIRI’s spelling. After all the appearances here this year, I was just catching up on Season 4 this week and noted that I should probably remember the spelling when it came up on the screen…
The word "punctuation" refers specifically to periods, commas, colons, etc. It's therefore incorrect to say "LOL" is used as punctuation. It's an abbreviation.
The Hora is part of the post ritual celebration not part of the ritual wedding ceremony.
When in cattle class on an airplane and the man next to you sits with both knees wide apart to the sides like he's trying like heck to avoid having a cesarian, that's MANSPREADING. It's also common on buses and in theaters.
Speaking as someone who had two of them, I didn’t find the cesarean clue amusing. And the word “kid” is a (literally) huge misdirect.
Thank you for putting the question in my mind about wherefore, which always puzzled me in R&J, but not enough to look it up. Why are you Romeo (the Montague)?
Whoever wrote the book gave her two names of the same length, so it could have been JANE.
I had a brief hold-up in the NE due to having no idea about MAC software. I figured 12D's clue was too soft, "peeved", to mean irate, but that didn't stop me from putting it in at first. Finally EYRE's R and FRAID SO's S gave me CROSS. At least I knew how to spell AYO's full name this time!
My experience with the SW was similar to Rex's. Luckily INES is inferable. E-BLAST, not so much.
Will I remember ONI next time I see it? Perhaps, now that Rex has provided such a great picture of one.
I had a Rat in a cage, 48A, and started pondering the fate of lab animals. I'm glad it was a RIB instead.
Thanks, Joyce Keller, for a Friday so chock-full of long answers!
I’m guessing you’re not interested in fifteen minute long modern culture fads, same as me. Gets harder and harder and less and less interesting doing NYT crosswords
That kept me from putting it in right away
I heard that same joke from a man from NASA giving a talk. I'm not sure it was an intentional joke; he was explaining some simple procedure and said "it's not rocket science" -- then stopped short and said, 'well, actually I guess it is.' If he was acting, he's got a promising second career when he gets tired of NASA.
Mostly easy-medium for me except for the NE corner which gave me quite a bit of trouble. I had skiS (which showed up later) before MACS, spelling AYO’s name is always a challenge, and METRIC and AT REST took a while to emerge…tough corner.
TOAD, SOFT, INES, ONI, and DIANA were WOEs.
Smooth with a bit of crunch, liked it.
Thank you, guys. Somehow I'd missed the Onion GEM.
Growing up in a Midwestern small town, I thought of Italian and Polish names as obscure and hard to remember. Today, nobody has any trouble with them. We are now in a breakthrough moment for Africans or the descendants of Africans are becoming more prominent while using their original names, rather than taking anglicized ones. I think in ten years those names will all seem ordinary.
I had to look her up, though, as well as LEA MICHELE. I mean, everyone knows it was Barbara Streisand! But OK.
If I understand it right, Apple gives those funny names to new versions of its OS as they are in development; but unless you're reading the computer magazines, I don't know how the general public knows them. In my case, I had iRate confirmed by EYRE, which was really hard to let go of. But it had to be FRAID SO, and once I actually wrote it in I somehow saw the rest.
An enjoyable romp except for the briar patch in the NE, where skis x irked snagged me. So, I was grateful when the correct SKIS further down pointed me to my mistake. Then, working my way back up from -BIRI, I got the rest - after the last appearance of AYO EDEBIRI, I'd resolved to remember her name.and it came to my rescue today.
Except for ONI, AYO EDEBIRI (please make it GO AWAY!) this was a solid, enjoyable gratifying Friday.
Thank you, Joyce & congrats on your debut. Hope to see many more :)
And the one thing that stood out in my mind which I forgot to mention ... anyone who has ever taken the subway in NYC is familiar with MANSPREADS - especially the women who have to sit next to them :(
As someone who recently gave birth and realized the extent to which the side effects and potential complications of pregnancy and labor are societally downplayed, joining Rex and other commenters that disliked the ~whimsical~ clue on CESAREAN.
shows how much I (don't) know!!!! : )
Who doesn't know Jose Altuve?
Was stuck at 27D (flirtatious) with just the C-O.
Thought for sure it was COCKTEASER.
@Sam S., if the shot goes into the hole and then bounces back out, it doesn't count and you have to play it from where it ends up. If it somehow went into another hole, you would have to play it from there back towards the first hole, I guess? So neither would count as a hole in one. It would be neat to see, though.
9 down was my last word, and as I realized it was indeed CESAREAN I just about fell off my chair. Is that in horrible taste, or is it funny? or... I can't decide.
Once again, a lotta names, and a lotta women's names, but they seemed to get filled in okay. Even Ms EDEBIRI whose spelling I can never remember.
I also had two caesareans and found the clue hilarious. Then again, it’s pretty easy to make me laugh.
This wasn't whooshy for me, but I found it very satisfying to be able to work it out. I thought the fill was solid and the cluing well done. I loved the clue for Shakespeare's "Hush." Agree AYO is being overused but that's my only quibble, except...I do wish someone would come up with a new and different clue for AINT.
Thanks for a well-done Friday puzzle, Joyce!
The New Yorker uses the F word. The sky hasn't fallen.
"...possibly refusing to believe that such a name can exist" . . . Really? Ugh.
They don't WANT anyone to sit next to them, hence the manspreading. Makes me so mad—it's so rude.
Hear, hear! It's time to put an end to the Honey Bee Hegemony! It's time the other 90% stepped up an learned to dance. Sweat bees, mason bees, leafcutters, don your tap shoes and take to the streets!
I just read your Constructor's Notes, Joyce & wanted to mention to you
"It was kinda ROBYNESQUE" FOR ME 👏
M&A does have this inner sentiment that the number of stars in a puz "ratin" can't be any higher than the number of U's in the puzgrid.
This here rodeo had a TOAD-like fertile no-knows list, at our house: LEAMICHELE. AYOEDEBIRI. EBLAST. DIANA. RIRI. INES. DIANA. ONI.
But, then, it also had a TOAD-ishly fertile list of fave stuff: CHEATSHEETS. ROCKETSCIENCE & clue. FRAIDSO. HERESWHY & clue. CESAREAN & clue. HELEN clue.
staff weeject pick: ONI. The Ogre of Onions, in Japan.
Only 8 weeject choices today, btw.
Thanx for the barrel of themelessness, Ms. Keller darlin. Pretty good job, but can only spare one betelgeUse.
Masked & Anonymo1U [s]
... and now, to decidedly SARAN things up ...
"Put a Fork in It" - 7x7 themed runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
I rode transit - buses and trains - to and from work here in Vancouver for about 20 years. In all that time I don't think I experienced more than a handful of obvious manspreading incidents. Perhaps that's because I'm male. I don't think it's because commuters here are more polite than elsewhere. A more common practise for making room for themselves was to park their overloaded backpacks on the seats beside them. Very rude, I thought, but it never deterred me; I would just reach in as if I was going to pick up said baggage and they would usually snatch it up quickly and either glare at me or mouth an insincere apology. And when I did have a manspreader beside me I just copied his bad behaviour. Usually, as soon as our knees touched, he would shrink back.
I did this puzzle last night after watching my fave hockey team get out played and cough up the game I the third period. I was, to put it mildly, not in a good mood.
I disliked the solve so much that I decided not to write a comment at the time but, looking at it again this morning, I realized just how much good stuff there is in there. The long crosses - MANSPREADS, ROCKET SCIENCE, HEART STOPPING, COME HITHER, and mid length stuff like FRAID SO. Even some of the shorter stuff like the Shakespeare clue for SOFT. Nice. I even recalled that I had dropped in AYO EDEBIRI with no crosses and correctly spelled it. I must have had some fun.
I know who LEA MICHELE is but do not associate her with Fanny Bryce nor, at my age, do I associate WHITE NOISE with anything but tinnitus.
Some devious clueing and a lot of hard work but a worthy and, in retrospect, fun struggle. Thanks, Joyce Keller.
p.s.
And congratz to Ms. Keller on her nice, tho U-shy, debut.
M&A
Didn't know most of the names but it wasn't a major DING because I pieced them together with crosses. Will I remember them the next time? FRAID not.
I remember the SPUTNIKs. When SPUTNIK 2 launched in November, 1957, we heard on the radio that it would be passing overhead that night. A bunch of us gathered outside to watch. This was out in the Tennessee countryside and there was no light pollution at all. The sky was crystal clear and moonless and filled with a bazillion stars. I thought there was no way we would be able to see one teeny tiny light against that background. And then---I still remember the HEART STOPPING thrill---there it was! It was moving and all the other lights were relatively still. Everyone saw it immediately. We learned first hand what I studied years later in grad school. Our visual system is ultra sensitive to detecting motion, even of the smallest objects, and especially in our peripheral vision.
In 1973 the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was jointly awarded to Karl von Frisch, Konrad Lorenz and Kikolaas Tinbergen. Von Frisch won for his study of the "waggle dance" of honey BEES that communicates to other BEES in the hive the direction and distance of food sources. Here's a 2:38 YouTube video of how that works.
Von Frisch made his discoveries in the 1920s. He ultimately had to stop his research with BEES. He had been stung so many times that he developed a hypersensitivity and even one more sting could have been lethal.
So excited that LEA MICHELE is back. We are all planning to try to see ”Chess” when we are in NYC over New Years. Excellent time to bring that one back!
Super happy some of the other “grammar (or many just William Safire) fans” commented on the correctly set out HOLES IN ONE. Soon as I put that one in my grid, I too thought about the Whoppers Junior. I’m a Safire superfan.
Talking about usage, COME HITHER as a noun was just awful. Would anyone ever say I’m just so COME HITHER” meaning flirtatious? No. As @Rex points out, the phrase is COME HITHER look. Sheesh. But that’s my one and only real wince today.
As Fridays go, this was pretty good. Congratulations on the debut, Joyce Keller. This one played much more smoothly than yesterday’s from a very, very well known constructor. I look forward to your next offering.
My Name is Barbra
Was Barbra on stage with it? I truly do not know. But I DID first think of that.
Yes. I think of having been next to MANSPREADers on flights when I’ve been by myself AND in the middle seat. It hasn’t happened that often, but the two words that come to me are “oblivious” and “rude.” With that said…I have been seated next to VERY tall young men who try like heck to NOT impinge into my personal space.
I had two births that were NOT by c-section. @JB, I’m glad you didn’t have any difficulties (maybe I’m wrong, and you did) but I found it a bit off-putting. And…I know c-sections save the lives of babies and mothers…but…the clue phrasing makes it seems like it’s an “option.”
You rock Mathgent.
This cracks me up! And…@Les…oh, the bees you picked out…especially the sweat bees. I think a discussion should begin as to whether sweat bees are bees. Just kidding. I just know “yellow jackets” aren’t bees.
Lamento decirte que no es ciencia espacial.
Definitely not my kind of fun even though it's a pretty funny puzzle with only one partial. When you're staring with a 10 letter actress name, it's going to be a struggle for the puzzle to apologize for that.
LEA MICHELE, DIANA, INES, and AYO EDEBIRI (again), MAN SPREAD, E-BLAST, and then mix in some general grossness with CESAREAN, EDIBLES, and HOLES IN ONE. This filled up quick with a boatload of ugliness. I'd add HELEN and RIRI in there, but I have a crush on them. They're GEMS.
Short stuff felt awkwardly off too often, but that's a me thing.
I liked 'FRAID SO, ROCKET SCIENCE, HEART STOPPING, TIPTOED, and SPUTNIK. The rest of it was typical dreary themelessness waiting for it to be over. Typical Friday time.
People: 8
Places: 2
Products: 3
Partials: 1
Foreignisms: 3
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Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 17 of 72 (24%)
Funny Factor: 7 😂
Tee-Hee: EDIBLES. TOOT.
Uniclues:
1 He passes gas in the elevator.
2 Kermit napping after a masquerade ball.
3 Why I have a job in the Red Light district.
4 Price reduction at the ballet school.
5 Punny name for a band of plagiaristic farmers from the Red Light district.
6 Aging arsonist.
7 Melee led by Rex Parker if her name shows up one more damn time this year.
8 Prepared to swat some queens.
1 MAN SPREADS TOOT
2 SLY TOAD AT REST
3 MANY COME HITHER
4 TIPTOED SALE
5 CHEATSHEET HOES
6 OLD FIRE STARTER
7 AYO EDEBIRI RIOT
8 SET TO DING BEES
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: "There's no crying in dodgeball." GYM CLASS "C'MON"
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I thought that clue was repulsive.
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