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Battle cry of the U.S. Marine Corps / MON 12-29-25 / 1996 #1 hit for the Spice Girls / Where Shrek lives / Tin Man's need
Monday, December 29, 2025
Constructor: Chase Dittrich
Relative difficulty: Challenging (solving Downs-only—a nearly impossible Downs-only solve for me, because of one "word")
Theme answers:
- WORKS FOR PEANUTS (17A: Is severely underpaid)
- RECORD LABEL (27A: Motown or RCA)
- JURY BOX (39A: Seating area for 12 peers)
- BOOKS ON TAPE (47A: Works that are heard rather than read)
Oorah is a battle cry common in the United States Marine Corps since the mid-20th century.Several anecdotes attributed the phrase to John R. Massaro's time as a gunnery sergeant in the Reconnaissance Company, 1st Marine Division, in the mid-1950s. Massaro (who later became sergeant major of the Marine Corps) and other Marines who trained aboard the submarine USS Perch, beginning in 1949, used oorah in imitation of the vessel's klaxon horn (which sounded like arrugha). Others have attributed the phrase's popularization to Massaro's subsequent time at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, where use of the word spread.
Massaro has said that he did not originate the word (saying in 2015: "It was a phrase or a term originally coming from boarding a ship") and that the word was already in use in 1949. (wikipedia)
• • •
I actually "got" OORAH, but only because I entered those "O"s as a kind of joke—I was guessing, going off of the OORAH's aural similarity to that other military exclamation, "HOO-AH" (or however you say it). Looking it up, it seems HOOAH is Army and OORAH is Marines and HOOYAH is Navy and it's all Greek to me. (You can read about the distinctions among those terms here.) Before today, literally none of these expressions had ever appeared in the NYTXW. Again, it is Monday. Just tear that whole corner out and start over. Resorting to OORAH is a massive distraction. I don't really remember anything else about this puzzle. If OORAH isn't a massive outlier today in terms of general solver familiarity, I'll be surprised. Stunned, in fact. You wanna get cute with OORAH, your puzzle's gotta be a hell of a lot better than this.
When I saw PEANUTS at the end of one of the themers, I was kinda hoping there'd be a comic strip theme today, but alas, no. Just ... parts of a package. It's a pretty dull concept, but it might've at least had some seasonal relevance if it had run before 12/25. Running it on the Monday after Christmas... again, inexplicable. OORAH wasn't my only struggle point today, just the most nearly fatal one. You can see from this snapshot of my Downs-only solve (taken mid-solve) that I was having real trouble getting the grid to coalesce:
- 9A: Where Shrek lives (SWAMP) — if I'd been looking at Across clues, I wouldn't have known what to do with this clue. I think I saw one of the Shrek movies once, whenever it originally came out. If I ever read the William Steig book, I forgot the plot. I would've been looking for a specific place here, like CAIRO or MIAMI or OWEGO (winking at my fellow central New Yorkers here).
- 35A: Stephen of "V for Vendetta" (REA) — crosswords have made this guy more famous than movies ever did. See also singer Chris REA (see video, above). I guess either one is better than [Mens ___], but not by much. Looks like REA also (rarely) gets clued as part of FDR's New Deal Alphabet Soup (in this case, the Rural Electrification Act). When you go back to pre-Shortz puzzles, REA clues descend into chaos. [Penn Station builder]? [John ___ Neill, "Oz" illustrator]!? At one point the most popular REA was [Cartoonist Gardner ___]. Looks like he was an "old New Yorker cartoonist," per the last time he was in the puzzle (1999). Wait, there's also [___ Irvin, who designed the first cover for the New Yorker] (what is with the name REA and cartoonist/illustrators!?!?). Also (once), [Peggy of "The Dukes of Hazzard"] (!??!?!). But mostly, since I've been solving, it's been Stephen ___ and Mens ___.
- 45A: Tin Man's need (OIL) — saw this just now for the first time (since it's an Across clue) and thought, "a HEART!"
- 10D: 1996 #1 hit for the Spice Girls ("WANNABE") — if OORAH didn't get you, Downs-only solvers, then "WANNABE" might have. I was humming the damn song in my head but couldn't remember the name. "Oh, yeah, it's the tell me what you want, what you really really want song! ... 'TELL ME?'"
Some more 🌲🐈Holiday Pet Pics🐕🌲 now! Note: PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME ANY MORE PET PICS, I'M ALL FULL UP FOR THIS YEAR, thank you.
Here's Buzz and Kirby, just chilling under the tree. Sorry, you can put your "presents" somewhere else, these seats are taken:
 |
| [Thanks, Graeme!] |
Doc the Jack Russell has moved on to Doggie Heaven. Here now is a live shot of Doggie Heaven. Seems pretty nice. They got martinis and everything.
 |
| [Thanks, Barb & Alan] |
Another memorial photo, this one of Perla, who is just as good as any "present," better even. Unwrap Perla next!
 |
| [Thanks, Steve!] |
Senior cat Georgette is enjoying her second Christmas in her new home. It's tough when your original owner dies, but Georgette seems to have gotten herself into a pretty sweet situation. Loving humans, tuna treats on demand. Could be worse.
 |
| [Thanks, John!] |
And finally Tostada, I repeat Tostada. Tostada, everybody. It's Tostada. How is this animal real!? A wide-faced puffy ball of sleep. Cuteness personified. Ailurophobe healer. Mythical miniature yeti cat of the central west mountainscape. Voracious hunter, lethal cuddler. Tostada!
 |
| [Thanks, Barbara!] |
That's it. See you next time.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
=============================
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111 comments:
Was surprised to see Michael's difficulty assessment as "challenging."
Different wheelhouses, I guess, because i was thinking it was an extremely easy Monday - almost pre-Monday.
And I solved diagonals-only beginning in the southeast corner and working my way backwards up to the northwest corner. ;)
Easy-peasy Monday. I also was surprised with OORAH, and was prepared to change it even though BIO was a must. Didn't use the theme; in fact, I can't connect the words to the revealer.
I'll agree with challenging for a Monday. It took me 11 minutes last night... but I was also half-watching football. I agree that OOYAH is a bit obscure for a Monday; it took me a while to accept it. I kind of just finished the puzzle with "Well, if that's it I'll get the happy music". I think part of the aggravation of it has to do with solving downs only. And the fact is that 98% of us solvers don't try to go downs only.... because for the rest of us, when we've tried it, we feel like every puzzle has an OOYAH or two in it. So for most of us, it won't be quite as jarring--BIO and ADO are pretty clearly clued. Anyhoo, I liked the theme, but I wanted more relationship answers in the grid, since we were looking for someone like my wife.... THETOTALPACKAGE !!!! : ). (I suppose STAG showed up at the party alone but on the lookout for The One...) Thanks for the puzzle, Chase, and not all of us hated learning OORAH even on a Monday.... ; )
Sorry, but you'll have to educate me about what solving "diagonals only" means.... does that mean you don't look at any clues????
Workmanlike early week puzzle. It did have a little more bite to it - no issue with OORAH since the clue is so forgiving. Liked the spanning revealer.
The GOURDs
Overall fill is meh - Rex highlights most of it. We lost Chris REA just before Christmas - RIP. Doc looks awfully comfortable by the fire and I love Perla.
Caamp
Pleasant enough Monday morning solve.
Perspective
Found the puzzle to be a very easy Monday. Had not heard of Oprah before or pitchy, but the fill was very easy.
Everything you'd need to send a package via mail i.e., packing peanuts, label, box and tape constitute the total package.
I guess as a Navy veteran, I assumed everybody knew oorah. If you've ever spent time with Marines, you'll find it to be one of the most annoying sounds on the planet. It's one of the very few "words" they seem to know.
Downs only. Second to last answer: WANNABE. (Getting that was like pulling teeth.) Last answer: I actually know the term but thought they were saying HOORAH. Took ten minutes to work that answer.
Elegant how the last words of the theme answers, in context, have a different meaning than their “package” meaning. With PEANUTS being an inexpensive food, LABEL being a brand, BOX being a court setting, and TAPE being audiotape. That was a very nice touch.
Got a great workout on the mental treadmill trying to guess the revealer without reading its clue. Never came close, though, as PEANUTS threw me off.
Then, looking at SPOT, I remembered that as a child I discovered with a big “Wow!” how many common words (6) could be made from those four letters (yes, I was a word nerd even back then).
This sent me down a little rabbit hole today, to see if there were more such letter combinations, and in that side trip, I came across an unrelated wordplay riddle that I liked:
What word can you take three letters away from, and it still holds the same meaning? (Answer in reply.)
Good to see you back, Chase, after a nearly two-year absence. Thank you for a fun outing!
The word is FIVE, as when you remove F, I, and E, it leaves you with the Roman numeral with the same meaning.
My five favorite original clues from last week
(in order of appearance):
1. Baby sitter? (8)
2. Life partner, perhaps? (4)(4)
3. Best performances by an actor in a short film? (4)(4)
4. Gets into a tight spot ((9)
5. Law, but not order (6)
STROLLER
CELL MATE
DEMO REEL
SHOEHORNS
CAREER
My favorite encore clues from last week:
[A person] (4)
[Gathering of moles] (5)
EACH
INTEL
I can see how solving downs-only would make this a harder puzzle, but I found it easy overall. I do agree that the NW was tricky. OORAH was an unknown and the clue for AGOG not really apt.
I can never remember if this Stephen’s name is spealled REA or Rae. Had ‘words’ before PAGES.
Solving normally, this was easy - even for a Monday. I do remember seeing the clue for OORAH (with the initial O in place from BIO), passing it by, and never having to think about it again as the crosses were all evident.
I know myself well enough by now to fill in OLA_ and wait for the cross to decide F or V. Whichever one I choose will turn out to be wrong. This also applies to Scandinavian kings.
Hey All !
I do the first Themer, but my book isn't the fourth Themer (although you can get it on Kindle, I believe.) And I'm definitely the Revealer. Har. (No, no im not 😁)
Nice MonPuz, have to agree with the RexRant of OORAH, although not so far as he went with it. But, if it was so easily changed to BIN/BIT, NORAH/TORAH, I do think it should've been.
Quick puz, non-Downs only here. I like to read all the clues to every puz, even if it auto-fills, I'll read the clue. FOMO? Maybe. Weird? Possibly.
Had yipS for ARFS, and last letter in was the changed P to F. Neat to end puz on an F!
Hope y'all have a great Monday!
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 1988. Every underpass had the Marines running along side shouting OORAH.
If the clue for 14A had been something about Automated Data Processing, then 3D would have been OPRAH, another way to avoid the unwelcome OORAH. But TORAH and NORAH are both more elegant fixes.
Trabajaba por una miseria.
Today's screed brought to you by OORAH. It's the PSST of the militaristic.
One of our beloved Anonymoti got a cocklebur under his blanket over the weekend over my meaningless propensity to count up proper nouns and call them gunk, so today I will call them Happy Bunnies and Kitties and see if it's better. Hold please for this brief interlude where I complain about something nobody else cares about before I reveal the report.
Cluing LOBSTER as [Seafood with claws] is like cluing TEENAGER as [Less fatty lunch] in Crosswords for Cannibals. Maybe we should try seeing our ecosystem as a bit more than what we can stuff into our faces?
All stringed instruments rest on the ground. It's called gravity. They rest in the ether if you take away Earth. They rest in the lake if you're sick of listening to me try and play one.
People: 11 {and thankfully, no BETTE DAVIS}
Places: 5
Products: 6
Partials: 5
Foreignisms: 1
--
Gary's Happy Bunny and Kitties Gauge: 28 of 78 (36%) {Better?}
Funny Factor: 0 😫
Uniclues:
1 "Everybody say cheese."
2 Wonderful accompaniment for gas station sushi.
3 Audience opinion of the bagel comedian's bit.
4 Title of Will Shortz treatise on colloquialisms in crosswords.
5 One saying meow wrong during a massage.
1 AIRED-TEETH CUE
2 K-MART LOBSTER
3 SESAME JOKE ODD
4 AGOG O'ER "OH RATS"
5 PITCHY SPA MANX (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Bad (?) advice to Indian potato salesman. LINE DANCES MOVES ALOO.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I know many Marines and they are fine people. I know a few Navy guys too and they're OK.
Rick Sacra: I think Alex is being sarcastic.....
SEC and TEED both endangered me.
Closest we have ever gotten to completion downs only. We grudgingly entered OORAH from the crosses. But tripped up on "gimme a SEC"; bah.
Agree with Rex's overall synopsis and rating. Maybe it earned the dreaded one star, but got a charity half-star for no Star Wars reference.
Oops, meant oorah not Oprah. Didn't notice the automatic "correct"
"Tiny canine pest:" my first thought was CHIHUAHUA but it wouldn't fit.
Excellent puzzle. On the easy side, even for a Monday. Barely saw OORAH, but I read across clues as well as downs, hence crossword puzzle. The theme was very cute. Not the fault of the puzzle that it doesn’t comport with someone’s vanity project. 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟.
For Carolbb: Thanks. "Peanuts" didn't seem to relate to any kind of packaging.
I dunno Rex, OORAH was a gimme today. Something I’ve always known.
Currently watching Boots on Netflix based on the memoir of a gay man's experience at boot camp in the Marine Corp so oorah was a gimme.
Got stuck in the exact same spot (downs only). Agree that clue and answer have no place in a Monday.
Different strokes for different folks! I, too, found this very easy for a Monday (3:01), but then again, I did just watch "Boots" on Netflix, so "Oorah" was at the forefront of my brain!
I thought this puzzle had a very quiet theme but well done and easy to finish in the regular way. Not to know OORAH indicates a certain leaning in TV watching—an avoidance of any show over the past 50 years or so that included action relating to the Marines. Awkward word for me in this puzzle is PITCHY—inferable but have never come across it before. Maybe indicates my TV bias?
I really wanted to guess the reveal. I had TAPE, BOX and LABEL and was thinking of the gift angle. Then I glanced northward and saw NUTS (instead of PEANUTS) and messed myself up. Oh, well - a noble and valiant effort.
Kind of interesting to read about Rex’s frustrations with OORAH, which is how I feel when the NYT throws made up words, random Roman numerals and non-mainstream foreign words at us. However, in Rex’s case, the wound is self-inflicted. The answer to his question about how/why you would include OORAH in a grid is “be damn sure the crosses are fair”, (see the definition of NATICK, authored, ironically by OFL himself). It’s a normal Monday, so that condition precedent for the inclusion of OORAH exists. It’s hard to believe that I’m basically defending a “look how smart I am clue“, hopefully I’m not coming down with something.
Oorah is like…commonly known.
I didn’t know from OORAH either, but I wasn’t solving downs-only and the crosses were so easy that it filled itself in. The only cross that might have caused any trouble before leaving the NW was the themer. As for the revealer, I hope that’s not THE TOTAL PACKAGE unless you’re mailing a box with no contents (Where’s my present!?).
Back-to-back appearances of ERMA Bombeck – you go, ERMA! I didn’t know PITCHY but like it: as a word, it’s punchy. I agree that a LAP is [Two lengths of a pool], but I know it’s controversial. Loved Stephen REA in The Crying Game. Think I’ve labored my whole life under too narrow a definition of AGOG – didn’t know about “eager,” thought it meant “amazed.”
Thanks for our Monday morning entertainment, Chase Dittrich!
39A: JURY BOX made me think of the time I served on a jury (Juror No. 8), deciding the case of someone who, under the influence of a mixture of allergy medication and alcohol, hit another car in an intersection, killing the passenger and injuring the driver. We found him guilty. I had ambivalent feelings about the whole experience: I learned a lot but was uncomfortable with the responsibility of deciding another’s fate (although sentencing was beyond our purview – that was up to the judge). But much of my two weeks in the courthouse was fascinating: seeing “backstage” in the labyrinthine halls of justice, including our jury room, which became our home-away-from-home, observing the presentation of evidence through witness testimony and the back-and-forth between prosecutor and defense attorney, and then participating in the dynamics of jury deliberation.
It was interesting to see how it was both like and unlike the countless courtroom scenes we’ve all watched in the movies and on TV. Many things surprised me, such as the strict instructions we were given not to discuss any aspect of the case until all the witnesses had been heard and our work had officially begun. The open hostility between the police and the defense attorney was palpable. Our judge looked like he’d stepped out of central casting – you can’t imagine a more judge-like judge (of the avuncular variety). And there were moments of high drama. The two people in the car that was hit were a mother (passenger) and her adult daughter (driver). The daughter testified, and at one point she stood up, stretched out her arm to point at the defendant and said in a clear voice, “That man killed my mother.” For a perceptible moment the whole room caught its breath – frozen tableau – and then an exhalation and regular business resumed.
Every X-Man's favorite cat? MANX
Animal seen backwards in a mall? LLAMA
I've watched the ESPYs every year since they became televised, but frankly I'm ESPIED out at this point.
Cleaning up a bit for @Lewis, I'll point out the rare-in-crosswords five letter palindrome: TENET.
Like other D.O. solvers, I ended up staring into the unwelcoming pit of _ _ RAH and wondering why the Marines are yelling Norah or Torah or Borah (highest peak in Idaho). Frankly, OORAH sounds to me like the awestruck but excited reaction to fireworks (OO! RAH!). Anyway, if you were solving normal style, OORAH is just a fleeting bit of previously unknown trivia, so I don't think it merited the interminable public flogging applied by @Rex. Thanks for a tidy PACKAGE, Chase Dittrich.
As a new-ish solver who still solves normally, I ended up getting close to my Monday record without particularly trying to solve quickly, so the “challenging” rating must apply only to downs-only. I think for what I understand that Mondays are supposed to be—approachable puzzles to start with if you’re new—this one hit the spot, and pretty close to 100% of the obscurities, whether things like OORAH that only marines know or crosswordese like REA and CERA that have inflated currency to solvers but not to the general population, were fairly crossed. So before looking at the blog, I thought, “Oh, this is pretty much exactly what a Monday is supposed to be, with a theme that harkens to Christmas and at least a couple nice themers” (I liked WORKS FOR PEANUTS and THE TOTAL PACKAGE at least—BOOKS ON TAPE made me squint and wonder if anyone still says that long after cassettes are gone). But I was in college when Shrek came out and in high school when WANNA BE was topping the charts, so that might have contributed to the sense of ease. I’d be curious if a genuinely new solver (I’m two-years in, so a toddler by now) happens upon the blog and wants to chime in on the puzzle’s relative approachability for them.
Hey, we saw that inferred Star Wars reference at 35A in your snapshot... :-)
I guess I’ve learned today that all new constructors need to keep in mind that they MIGHT be put in the Monday slot and that one word can make a good puzzle go down in star rating due to “downs-only” solving.
Yowza. I guess I don’t know nothing about birthin’ babies but I don’t see the big deal about OORAH. I mean, I think we all know every branch of the military has some kinda ridiculous shout/grunt the vaguely sounds like “hoorah.” Anyway, the good news is that Mr. and Mrs. Rex are a match made in crossword heaven since they apparently agree as to what constitutes crossword hell.
At any rate, I enjoyed the puzzle, didn’t detect that much gunk (although I’m not great at detecting it), and thought the theme was simple yet elegant. Thanks Chase D!
I thought the theme was cute enough for a Monday and I thought the themers and revealer landed just fine.
I agree with @Rex that OORAH is NOT great fill but it didn't irk me as much as it did him. I kinda knew it (oddly enough) from an episode of VEEP where Julia Louis-Dreyfus' character is addressing a Marine platoon and starts out with the greeting. I just thought she was saying "ooWah", I left that in for a bit too long as I just figured the first themer was a phrase that started with "WOW". It clicked pretty quickly for me though so not too much of a hold-up.
So while OORAH might not have been my first choice (assuming I would ever have the talent to construct a puzzle - I do not!) I see nothing wrong with throwing a bit of crunchiness into a Monday, so no harm no foul on my end.
The rest of the fill, while a bit vanilla, was perfectly serviceable and as always, the kind of beauty that @Lewis gleans from a grid makes me look back at it and like it more.
There is also something about EDGES nestled right under SPACE that I find elegant.
All in all, a fine Monday. Thank you CHASE.
And thank you @Rex for the Star Wars tallying!
lol no. Of course some people will know it (all of whom will brag about it today). But if it were “commonly known,” you’d have seen it in crosswords at least once by now. This puzzle was easy but that answer was meaningless to me and clearly many others.
Wow. So much for Nice Rex. I think he lost all perspective on this one because of his personal proclivity for solving Downs-only, which should not be the basis for judging any puzzle! OO-RAH was perfectly gettable if you solved this puzzle the normal way, which I did in 7 minutes, not rushing. The theme was just fine—related to this season of packages and packaging, kind of cut cute. And to me there was very little junk in the puzzle. I think one-and-a-half stars is an insult, and I appreciate Chase putting out a fine Monday puzzle!
I'm with the "normal solving was way easy" crowd, This ws my first encounter with the (apparently) execrable OORAH, but as others have said, it filled itself in. Likewise for WANNABE, which could have had more than one alternate clues, he suggested. And after sixty plus years of singing in choral groups, I have finally encountered PITCHY, a word that could have been useful many times.
Yesterday we had quite a discussion concerning PLENUM, which I didn't know as clued but sounded familiar enough that I was sure I'd heard it before. I spent quite a lot of time thinking about it and then remembered that years ago when helping a friend install duct work for a heating system he had referred to the junction box that all the ducts met up with at the furnace as the PLENUM, which was confirmed by looking it up. That made me feel like my memory still sort of works. I also learned how to make a plunge cut with a circular saw on the same job, but that's another story.
OK Mondecito, CD. You Certainly Discombobulated OF, but l thought it was about right for the day of the week. Thanks for a fair amount of fun.
Think styrofoam peanuts, Bob.
FedEX and UPS include the shipping fee on the address LABEL. If using USPS, one can create a LABEL with postage using USPS software, a printer and a home scale, but I suspect many, if not most, lay users do not create such labels.
Soooooo... be advised USPS users, without postage added to PEANUTS, LABEL, BOX and TAPE, your package is one item shy of being the TOTAL PACKAGE. And is going nowhere.
@Carolbb. I feel the pain. I finally got rid of auto-correct sometime this past year, because I really don't need the "help".
Rex was totally off-base in his comments today. He gave that one word way too much weight and lost sight of all the good that was in the puzzle. Not fair to the constructor.
Remembering your #5 from last week, I was bummed that I thought myself so clever for guessing DEGREE, which had the same amount of letters. I was in exactly the right wave length, but no cigar (obviously, not the clue’s fault). Since my career is in higher education, I guess that made sense. :)
Always a delight to read your cheerful comments, especially today when I likewise found the puzzle pleasant.
Heh. I predict that one of your biases is avoiding American Idol. :-)
Stephen Rea didn't deserve Rex's rant. He got a lot of attention for his Academy Award-nominated performance in The Crying Game, and continued to do lots of good work after that. He's a preeminent Irish actor.
@Gary - long time @Gary reader, first time @Gary commenter- just came to say you never disappoint! :o) I'm still laughing at your TEENAGER clue!
Well said. If you solve in the normal way but didn't know OORAH, then the worst that would have happened is that you learned a new word on a Monday.
@Rick Sacra 6:04 AM
It's a solving method pioneered by @Tom T here on the blog. You only read the last down clue on a Monday and then fill in the rest of the puzzle creating the longest diagonal words possible. When you finish with this solving approach, you're then entitled to complain about anything in the puzzle you don't like.
Loved your LLAMA clue, and your lovely r.i.c.5.l semordnilap catch!
aka auto-corrupt
I'm all in on Gunk. Screw the Bunnies and Kitties.
@Gary - funny that out of all the comments I’ve posted, screed got some traction:) By the definitions you posted:
@Whatsername 10:18 PM
a: a lengthy discourse
b: an informal piece of writing (such as a personal letter)
c: a ranting piece of writing
I was thinking more “A” bc, remembering some anonymice complaining about the length. If the Happy Bunnies and Kitties is a rant against said cuties, then perhaps also definition C. (Which was amply demonstrated by RP today - he has a talent for filling 4 iPad screens with a rant over one word, which while unusual for a Monday, is more than fairly crossed).
Downs-only solve. Only a couple of really difficult spots. Had no idea what the battle cry of the Marines was at 3D. Kill! Wasn’t gonna work. Eventually I managed to infer some crosses and was left with a bunch of choices: bORAH, gORAH, nORAH, OORAH, or tORAH. All based on the possibility that 1A could end in b, g, o, or t. That last one was unlikely unless we were talking about Israeli marines. Guessed OORAH because … I don’t really know. Must have been some sort of primordial memory thing.
The other tricky one was the crossing of PITCHY and FIRES. PITCHY is what the bottom of that fir tree was when I had to trim it before securing it in the stand for decorating. I had PaTCHY crossing FaRES because I’m not so good with musical terms and I would have let it remain if the software hadn’t told me I was an idiot. Had I been working on paper I would have just left it and failed. Instead, I got help and sort of succeeded. Not sure how I feel about that.
What good stuff there was seemed to be in the acrosses. I especially liked WORKS FOR PEANUTS and THE TOTAL PACKAGE.
Please don’t change (or even rename) your gunk gauge. I often consult it to either reinforce or temper my outrage at too many trivia clues. I look forward to it almost as much as my daily Spanish lesson.
I love “pitchy spa manx.” I can just imagine it.
Oh how I loved ERMA. I so miss her daily columns. Maybe I’ll pick up one of her books just for a walk down memory lane.
Barbara S: thank you for the excellent and succinct account of your jury experience.
Thank you Gary. My thoughts exactly. BTW, I dropped OORAH right in. Rex has obviously not spent time with any US Marines. OORAH! Not Norah, why use a name when a word will do!
As a USMC veteran I am proud to greet my fellow Marines with Oorah. It is certainly acceptable that Oorah is unfamiliar to those who have not served in the Marine Corps. It is not acceptable and unfortunate that this greeting is mocked by the Navy veteran who alludes to the non intellect of these women and men who defend our country. Semper Fi brothers and sisters.
I did Downs-Only for only a few weeks, and stopped because I didn't find it a lot of fun, and thought I was missing out on some of the fun of doing puzzles the ordinary way. Maybe I'll start up again one day. But if I *had* solved it Downs-Only, I think I might have gotten OORAH. I probably first picked it up from the movie Jarhead (with Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead role). Hope that didn't sound too braggy for the snarkmeisters who lurk in the shadows. (Oh what do I care, have all the fun you want within the scope of your mental horizons.)
And I picked up Hoo-ah from... ugh.. Scent of a Woman. Those battle cries seem to all sound alike -- even when you're Russian.
Anyhoo, I sometimes get a kick out of Rex's extended diatribes, as I get a kick out of all skilled writing, and also I sympathize. Here is an elite-class renowned XW puzzle solver getting stuck on a Monday, of all days! Scandalous. And maybe he's right, OORAH is not Monday-worthy, but it's sometimes hard to tell, because, you know, IYKYK. As @Southside said, the crosses were fair. And look on the bright side: no Star Wars references! I think you could grudgingly give an extra half-star for that alone.
ERMA Bombeck seems to be back with a vengeance these days.
It played about Medium for me. I thought the theme was kind of cute. Nothing to go gaga or get AGOG over. On the other hand, very little actual ugliness. No animals were harmed in the construction. I'm in a good mood; I'll give it three stars.
Before taking my leave here, I'll single out one of those Pet Pics. My daughter brought home her recently acquired kitty rescue, and my god, I never seem to get tired of saying to anyone who will listen how beautiful that creature is, but... that Tostada is putting up some mighty fierce competition. Holy smokes, Barbara. That is bananas. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and a toast to you, Tostada, and to beautiful cats everywhere.
I thought mean girls was clever
AverageJanes
Easy, no costly erasures and WANNA BE was it for WOEs.
I had no problems with OORAH but then I solved the regular way.
Reasonably smooth grid, a couple of sparkly theme answers, liked it quite a bit more than @Rex did.
Croce Solvers - Croce’s Freestyle #1074 was easy-medium for me or about 2X a pre 2015 NYT Saturday. Good luck!
And Erma
As a Navy Flight Surgeon I loved working with the US Marines and OORAH was music to my ears! It speaks to their enthusiasm and commitment. If you ever found yourself in big trouble overseas and you heard that musical word you would know salvation was at hand!
“Pitchy” is not a musical term.
I'm away from home, forced to solve online. If I could have thought of an alternative to BIO I would have changed it -- but I couldn't, so I left it in, figuring I'd come here afterward and find out what OORAH should have been. But since I was online, the software let me know that I had solved it. Go figure.
Aside from that, pretty un-noteworthy.
As someone almost exactly Rex’s age, I would have thought he’d recognize “OORAH” from Major Dad. My brain somehow reached back and found it almost immediately.
Guilty as charged, Sir Jugert! No Hidden Diagonal delights in this grid today, but I join Rex in complaining about OORAH! I seldom succeed at downs only solves, but today I fought and fought and got it down to only two letters--that damned double-O. Penalty flag out for late hit out of bounds by the constructor.
near record time for me on a monday
Agree re Tostado. One of the most gorgeous kitties I ever rescued came from a garbage dump. When I found her, she was filthy, stinky, starving, and pregnant. Some good food, several baths and a discreet trip to the vet later, she truly blossomed and what a personality! Beauty, of course, is always in the eye of the beholder.
Just came to say that I absolutely loved this review. Neve
Recently went on a cruise and they had a “thank” veterans thing. They called army vets and navy vets when they said marines they was a very loud “oorah” as they stood up!
I love how you obsess over a single word! 😅😅 I didn't give OORAH much thought because I was solving the Across clues, so it just fell into place. Then I looked at it, and thought "Yeah, OK. I think I've heard that word," and I moved on.
For me, Freestyle 1074 was exceedingly easy, about 20% faster than a pre 2015 NYT Saturday.
Boxing Day came slightly late, here at Puz Central. Probably ok, since they couldn't run this puppy on a Friday.
staff weeject pick: ETA. Had a temporarily mysterious Grubhub clue. Also, kinda neat that it crossed LATE at the T.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Norway's capital} = OSLO. honrable mention to: {Motown or RCA} = RECORDLABEL.
other fave stuff: WANNABE [but didn't know the song]. OHRATS. OORAH spellin challenge [have heard their battle cry in flicks, but they never offered to spell it]. ARFS/FLEA doggie mini-theme.
Thanx for wrappin up Monday for us, Mr. Dittrich dude.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
p.s. Runtpuz server is currently kaput. Worthy of an OHRATS battle cry.
I understand why a lot of people, including Rex like to do downs only. But Rex was very harsh, even for his Rex persona, though oorah was easy to get if you did the puzzle the way it was designed to be done. Inexcusable? Crazy overreaction In the context. I thought the etymology of oorah was interesting i knew it was not known in WW Ii but that was all
I had to do a letter run at Wannabe & swamp because never saw the movie and didn’t know the song. Made sense afterwards. Not a natick because Shrek was anything but obscure and Spice Girls were hugely popular at one time. Also the w was inferable.
Liked the puzzle more than Rex
Rarely agree with Rex's deep criticism of word selection but, as I also failed Downs Only at the first O in OORAH, agree 100%.
@Barbara S, I served on a jury once (assault, aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, and uttering threats) and fortunately no one died so not a lot of guilt or worry. The main thing I remember is how the system works the same as we see on (usually American) TV, but here in B.C. they use completely different terminology. Your Lordship (not Your Honor), the accused (not the defendant), Crown counsel (no D.A. or "prosecution"), Counsel for the accused (not "defense attorney"), etc. etc. Quite an interesting process.
(By the way: guilty of everything except uttering threats.)
@Les, hands up for PATCHY crossing FARES except I had it all the way to the end.
It was very challenging downs only; I eventually got there but finished with an error at FARES crossing PATCHY because I would swear there is no such word as PITCHY. As soon as I saw the word PACKAGE in the revealer I got the theme, which helped with getting the themers without their clues, which is one of the joys of downs only... when it works.
As for OORAH, I have not seen that spelling ever, so I had HOOAH until I realized 17 across was probably WORKSFOR..., and 1 across was probably BIO, so that really wasn't much of an issue for me.
Hands up for NYLON before RAYON and SEARS before KMART. (Is Sears totally gone?... they left Canada years ago.)
OORAH's pretty weak, but hey, no Star Wars today!
Ditto on Hoorah, and ditto @rex on it going in last—with disbelief—downs-only.
God bless, @Whatsername. In the case of "Poppy", she was a tiny kitten, a few weeks old, motherless, sick with pneumonia, picked up by a Good Samaritan from a construction site. The GS couldn't keep her, so she advertised, and my daughter's apartment-mate acquired her, but for various reasons my daughter has become the mom.
While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, there must be something deep-seated in the cuteness of the very young that the entire animal world responds to, at a neuronal level. (Or just take the class of mammals, if you want to narrow it down a bit.) "Cuteness" doesn't sound very scientific, but the quality might be capable of being objectively studied. Maybe?
Don't sweat those Anonymi, @Gary. What used to be handwaving references to PPP -- you've elevated that to something more rigorous, and it helps to keep things real. Thanks for doing a job that usually goes thankless. (And, let's make "gunk" Gunk again.)
Meanwhile, that Anon has forgotten all about it and is spreading his positive contributions to society elsewhere, as somewhere off in the distance, a bridge is calling him home.
So sorry for your loss. I hope the rest of your day isn’t tarnished by OORAH type events.
🥚zactly.
Dear Chase…wow. I vote you “steel-girdered” constructor of the year! OORAH!
Easy (for a Croce) here too, maybe slightly faster than a NYT Sat.
I LOVE the post and @whatsername replies. Yes. Rex is GREAT with kudos on pets and I love the pet photos and chatter. I know I’ve been “salty” today on review but hopefully Rex will forgive me. (Meow and Arf?)
Even though my brother, cousin and uncle were all marines, oorah was unknown to me. I first thought the theme was going to involve dropping letters (e.g. hOORAH) but forgot about that theory once I got far anough away from the NW.
Is THE TOTAL PACKAGE really such a well-known phrase? While it does a good job of tying the theme together, it isn’t something I remember hearing. But no other commenters have complained, that I’ve seen, so it must be me.
Thanks, Chase Dittrich!
Not sure if someone has already pointed this out but Dec 26th is Boxing day - which is a tradition of packaging up things post christmas in GB...perhaps why the theme
@Gary J…didn’t see comment you referred to but…the hell with it! I look at gunk gauge. Haha…I may not totally understand it but I appreciate it and keep up the good work cuz I know you’re getting paid for it! 🤣
Nothing wrong with OORAH in a crossword puzzle. My only comment is that when you actually hear OORAH shouted in situ, the sound seems like something that couldn't possibly be written out in letters and printed on paper. It's much more primal.
Kitshef
FWIw
Ola- v or F
Frozen is American which is almost always f like the college St Olaf.
F is also the spelling used for kings etc from the Viking era.
V any person, place etc from Scandinavia in the modern era. v is pronounced the same as f. It is just a spelling change
Yes @tht. Common cuteness signals include among other things relatively large (compared to the rest of the body) head and eyes. This seems to work for many species and elicits parenting responses essential for survival of vulnerable offspring. Plus "Ahhhh, soooo cute!" responses.
And I didn’t even notice OORAH was in the grid. Sped right through the crosses, never saw the word or the clue.
I thought the theme was about a product that consisted of PEANUTS in a BOX sealed with TAPE and a LABEL and called TOTAL.
Oh. Packing PEANUTS. Styrofoam. Environmentally unfriendly in the extreme. Happy to say I haven't seen any of those in ages. The most environmental friendly, GAIA approved packing these days seems to be easily biodegradable thin cardboard crinkly thingies.
I always think of 13D PSST as a sound directed to someone close by and made softly so as not to be overheard by others. The NYTXW seems to think the opposite. The clue "Over here!" is more like something one would shout across a room, no?
Well, I can’t profess to know whether it’s “a thing,” but the phrase “she/he/they’re the “total package” is “a thing” to me.
Enraged, you mean? That could be dangerous to the heart, absolutely. Or perhaps you mean end-angered: angered you to no end?
(Ah, I'm just "funnin' ya", as my dad used to say, which is not the same as making fun o' ya. I enjoy slips of the keyboard., whether my own or someone else's.)
@dgd…you have an excellent comment. You did SO much better than me…ex…”crazy overreaction was buried. I applaud you!
Well, PITCHY might not have landed in Grove's Dictionary (I actually don't know, but some here would). However, it is a term used by some musicians, especially applied to voice, and it's easy enough to understand. Both clue and answer are fine.
Ooh! Gary…you’ve been knighted! Lest you think I’m jesting (not jousting) I love the sentiment and agree. Thank you for your service (also not jesting) and OORAH! (Ok…now I’m jesting…well…not with respect to you)
I just heard on the radio the other day that we are down to three K-Marts in the world: One each in Guam, The US Virgin Islands, and Kendale Lakes, Florida.
@tht. I'm so glad you note Rex's skill as a writer. We may all disagree with his thesis on various days but I'm pretty sure most of us would agree that he can adeptly get a point across, sometimes with a great deal of humour. And he does this at 5 am. Sheesh, I'm AGOG.
Anonymous 8:54 AM
About Oorah But the puzzle wasn’t constructed for downs only
As everyone who did the puzzle the normal way said, the crosses made oorah easy to get. Rex was wrong also for complaining.
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