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Cooked rice, in Korean cuisine / WED 12-24-25 / Shrub that sounds regretful / Kosher barbecue option / Class where you learn how to get a tan? / Silly character on the "Sesame Street" segment "Elmo's World" / Keenan's partner in comedy / Free copy of a film sent to awards show voters / No-clothes college gathering / Pesky biter, informally
Wednesday, December 24, 2025
Constructor: Ella Dershowitz
Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- ITALIAN DRESSING (17A: Salad topping that's actually fromAmerican and is rarely consumed in its namesake land)
- ISAK DINESEN (27A: "Out of Africa" author actually named Karen Christentze von Blixen-Finecke)
- INDEPENDENCE DAY (44A: Observance celebrating a decision actually made on July 2—the date when John Adams predicted it would be celebrated)
A naked party, also known as nude party, is a party where the participants are required to be nude. The parties have become associated with college campuses and with college-aged people; they gained prominence after naked parties were organized at Brown University and Yale University. While the roots of naked parties come from the nudism movements and campus streaking, the modern "naked party" movement appears to have its roots at Brown University in the 1980s. Attendees of naked parties often report that they stop feeling awkward after just a few minutes since everyone has disrobed before entering the party and since everyone's nudity is accepted, regardless of body type. According to reports, most naked college parties are sex-free. At Brown University, the nakedness is "more of an experiment in social interaction than a sexual experience". (wikipedia)
• • •
But again, I think the theme is clever. I didn't bother reading all those long-ass clues, though. I'm here to solve, not read a damn novel. Also, I didn't need to do all that reading to get the answers. I stopped reading the ITALIAN DRESSING clue after two words ([Salad topping...]) because ... that was enough. Same with the clue for ISAK DINESEN, though I guess it was four words in that case (["Out of Africa" author]). For INDEPENDENCE DAY, I read [Observation celebrating blah blah blah] and just looked at the letters I had in place and pieced together the "Observation" from there. So really, only the revealer gave me any real solving pleasure, in that it explained why all that blah blah blah I didn't read was in the puzzle.
So the theme is solid. It's all the stuff besides the theme that wasn't really thrilling me today. That patch in the far north seems really rough, compared to the rest of the grid. APA next to MR. NOODLE (?) (6D: Silly character on the "Sesame Street" segment "Elmo's World") next to AIDY Bryant. A professional org. not everyone will know alongside two proper nouns not everyone will know (one of which I didn't know), all crossing OYE ... that bit feels held together with duct tape. The rest seems more soundly built. The long Downs are nice in the SW (ILL-ADVISED alongside CORNER PUB), but in the SE ... meh. I think NAKED PARTY is supposed to be a highlight, but that just got a shrug and "what?" from me. Never heard of such a thing, perhaps because it has the Blandest Name In The History of Parties. Are you really calling your party where guests are naked a "NAKED PARTY?" This seems like more Yale shit, honestly. I mean, it is more Yale shit. Brown and Yale apparently gave us whatever these parties are (see "Word of the Day," above), and the constructor went to Yale, so ... this answer is really just ELI in different clothes. Or no clothes, I guess. I have a Yale sticker on the rear window of my car and a Yale-attending daughter (home for the holidays as of yesterday!), so, uh, nothing against Yale. I just have Yale exhaustion where crosswords are concerned, and finding out the unimaginatively named NAKED PARTY started out as a Yale thing has reexhausted me.
Bullets:
- 36A: Shout at a Real Madrid game ("GOL!") — yes I wrote in "OLE!" A crossword reflex if there ever was one.
- 37A: Kosher barbecue option (BEEF RIB) — this is really just a "barbecue option." I mean, that would be enough. The "Kosher" part threw me, because I honestly didn't know that some cuts of beef are not kosher. Apparently, the hindquarters of a cow are not kosher. If you are Jewish, you likely know this. Not me, though. Somehow only learning this now. Sometimes I appreciate when the puzzle can teach me things. Thanks, puzzle. Don't care about NAKED PARTYs, but what parts of the cow are kosher, that seems like useful knowledge.
- 61A: Shrub that sounds regretful (RUE) — So ... just "regret," then. Six letters. That's all I need. That's all anyone needs. You wanna go "shrub," go full shrub, don't give me the crutch.
- 11D: Class where you learn how to get a tan? (TRIG) — hoo boy, best clue of the day, for sure. Absolutely stumped me. Needed all the crosses and then let out an audible "d'oh!" Just as TRIG is short for "trigonometry," "tan" here is short for "tangent" (something you might calculate in Trigonometry class). Read all about it.
- 37D: Cooked rice, in Korean cuisine (BAP) — BibimBAP is one of the most delicious dishes in all God's creation. There was a great Korean place on University Ave. in Ann Arbor where I first had it in the '90s. Since I now think of "bibimbap" as one word, I never thought about what the various parts of it meant. Which is to say, I had no idea BAP meant "cooked rice." But there's definitely cooked rice in "bibimbap," so ... it tracks!
Enough puzzle. Time for 🌲🐈Holiday Pet Pics🐕🌲! Note: PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME ANY MORE PET PICS, I'M ALL FULL UP FOR THIS YEAR, thank you.
Here's Bailey making the universal cat "Nope!" face. As you can see, she is having to be held in place for this photo, because otherwise she'd be tearing that thing off. At least they didn't try to put the hood all the way over her ears. Honestly looks more "Little Red Riding Bailey" than "Santa Bailey"
 |
| [Thanks, Helen!] |
Daisy's working here. Guarding the perimeter. Just waiting for something to bay or bark at. She's heard there might be reindeer afoot. Not on her watch!
 |
| [Thanks, Steve!] |
I'm getting vertigo just looking at this picture of Ketchup. Which way is up, Ketchup? Why aren't you red, Ketchup? What a great name. Gonna get a black lab and name it Mustard. Makes just as much sense.
 |
| [Thanks, Jaime!] |
Dave in Ithaca (on the radio!) has sent in pictures of his cats Tom and Felix. Actually, I'm not sure that Tom didn't send them himself—right after he took this selfie.
 |
| [Thanks, Dave!] |
Lastly, it's Georgie, who has the panicked look of a cat about to hijack a sleigh. "Get in, man, get in! Hurry! Before the fat man gets back. Hey, hey, you got any more catnip?" "Uh, no, not on me, man." "It'd be a lot cooler if you did ... oh well, let's ride!"
 |
| [Thanks, Anne!] |
See you next time.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
=============================
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74 comments:
I immediately typed “russiandressing” and it worked! (for a second). I wonder if Russians also pass on the “topper” we’ve named after them.
What Rex said. I typically get the same vibe with nearly all of her puzzles - conceptually fine but overall lacking. The cluing voice today was off - not difficult or tricky but flat.
Arbolito de Navidad
I liked the themers and the revealer was apt. The CORNER PUB - ILL ADVISED stack was the highlight. No clue with MR NOODLE and NAKED PARTY. Agree on the TRIG clue.
Pigpen
Pleasant enough - the potential is there - Christmas Eve morning solve.
Hey Charlie - Happy Xmas
Not a bad puzzle, but too easy for a Wednesday.
* * * _ _
Two overwrites: @Rex ole before GOL at 36A and I totally mangled ISAK DINESEN's name at 27A. My only WOE was MR. NOODLE at 6D.
I don't dislike AI as much as OFL does, but I still have a gripe with 1A: for several years, iPhone's default "wake word" has been just "Siri," without the "Hey." So yes, I talk to my phone. No, not every day. But when I talk to it I don't say "Hey".
Easy, fun. The NE corner held me up for a moment because I had confidently put RUSSIANDRESSING at 17A not yet sussing out the ID theme. Paused at 36A - OLE or GOL? A Wednesday puzzle, could have gone either way; decided to give the constructor the benefit of the doubt and went with GOL.
Unusual puzzle. The longer entries (ITALIANDRESSING, INDEPENDENCEDAY) were easier to get than the short ones (OYE, BAP, IVF, TRIG, RUE, AIDY). Never noticed the theme, and needed two cheats in the ISAKDINESEN area (Why would a female author ever adopt a name like that?)
A name like what? Women have been adopting male-sounding pseudonyms for a long time.
37A…. Pork is not Kosher… so you need a BEEFRIB for your Jewish guests.
Obviously pork is not kosher. I assumed the clue was suggesting the *cut* was what was relevant, not the meat type.
For Anonymous 6:27: She spelled "Isaac" ISAK and combined it with a Scandinavian-looking surname. Neither bears any resemblance to her birth name.
Since when do pseudonyms have to have resemblance to birth names? Most don’t.
A classic riddle theme – the theme answers have the same initials, but otherwise are so disparate. What ties them together? Is there a pun? And a Christmas present -- I figured it out before reading the revealer's clue, a rare event for me! And if you tell me that was easy to do LALALALALALA.
Observations:
• Who is BEE FRIB?
• RAMPS – I’ve recently been introduced to ramp salt, salt infused by the pungent flavor of ramps (wild leeks) with a garlicky-onion flavor. And I’m smitten!
• I liked the Britishisms – “Snogged” in a clue, and a backward PRAT.
• NAKED and NECKED. I believe the latter is close enough to NEKKID to declare these a PuzzPair©.
• Second day in a row with left/right symmetry.
• If ARARAT backwards, as the prelude to “boom-de-ay”, is considered a word, then we have a very-rare-in-crosswords six-letter semordnilap.
Lots of riddle, lots of play, I had a grand time with this. Thank you, Ella, for making it!
ELVES is the answer of the day, IMO, not only because they are so busy helping Santa today, but also, in the spirit of “Noel” (as two words), ELVES becomes EVES, of which today is one.
It's an invented name; why should it bear any resemblance to her real name? (If the object is to conceal who the author is, then that would make sense.)
A Google search on her pen name will produce some other possible reasons for her choice. Or maybe you can ask SIRI.
As a Jewish vegetarian I’m with you. I thought to myself, “damn, it’s not ‘brisket.’”
First guess was wrong on all three themers:
russIAN DRESSING
karen blixEN
the fourth of julY
For what it's worth, all three of my answers work with the clues (though not the revealer).
Brain somehow conflated the clues for 37A and 37D so I was looking for a Kosher Korean barbecue option – which seemed oddly specific, as clues go.
What happened to “Holiday Rex” ? Omg, what a classic rant, all over . . . SIRI ? They took the blinders off of OFL and he stormed back with a vengeance! Well done, my good man.
One thing I agree with, and this pretty much pertains to all puzzles, is the length of the clues. If it takes you a full paragraph to give us an idea what your answer is, either get another answer, or dumb down the clue and make peace with the fact someone will complain about the clue being “too easy for a Wednesday”.
I had no problem with the clue for TRIG. The abbreviation of TAN for tangent sealed the deal on what was the clue of the day for me.
I needed a lot of help to get to ISAK DINESEN, which seemed to be a tap-in putt for Rex. Not at all a surprise though, since I’m still trying to remember all three parts of Zora Neale Hurston’s name and she visits with a great deal of frequency.
Rex pointed out that the MR NOODLE.x OYE x AIDY section was a breeding ground for mischief. I also have trouble remembering the proper spelling of ARAFAT, and SKEETER wasn’t any help there (I don’t think I have ever said SKEETER in my life).
Good job by Rex, even though he blew a gasket about SIRI, he still gave the puzzle an objective three stars, which seems about right.
The laws of kashrut (keeping kosher) prohibit the consumption of pork & the loin of beef, among other foods. The idea that "some cuts of beef are not kosher," while true, is misleading; aside from the loin, only beef that has been "ritually slaughtered" & under rabbinic supervision is kosher. Additionally, there are several sets of rabbinic standards, meaning that not all meat that has been "kashered" is considered kosher by all Jews.
Why would you stop reading a clue if you know the answer ? What’s the rush ? It’s not a race. I guess to each his own but I enjoy the puzzles more when I read the whole clues.
Easy. As with yesterday's puzzle, I didn't find it all that entertaining.
I agree with Rex that BibimBAP is a wonderful dish. Veggies and a protein on a bed of rice, it comes out in a sizzling hot earthenware bowl (maybe 400 degrees F) that will crisp up the rice in very short order, so I'll spend a minute stirring the ingredients around in the bowl so that the rice doesn't actually char, and add some hot sauce. Definitely worth trying.
For what it's worth, Ella Dershowitz is the daughter of Alan Dershowitz. (One of the first hits from Google is a Page Six article that actually has the term NEPO BABY in the URL: https://pagesix.com/2024/10/28/society/alan-dershowitzs-daughter-has-the-weirdest-nepo-baby-tale/.) She's also an actress.
Never went to a NAKED PARTY. Closest I've come is clothing-optional beaches (e.g. in Germany); nudity is much more accepted there than here in the US. Mixed-sex showering, too. Maybe one day, but uptight American that I am, my general inclination is "I'LL PASS".
Happy Christmas Eve, all!
Russian or Italian dressing is not a “topping”. The salad is entirely dressed with these. Bacon bits or croutons might be a “topping”
Hey All !
Exactly Rex! Machines will be the downfall of humans! Once they become self aware, humans are doomed. And that's not Science Fiction.
Nice puz idea, although the Revealer isn't actually true in its sense. As in, the lD Themers aren't really fake, just different. The author name could make an argument, though.
Another left/right symmetry puz. Gifts for Christmas week, I guess. On that note, Happy Christmas Eve! Hopefully Santa will come by tonight with lots of presents.
Get out of work free reason? ILL PASS
Mansplaining? ILL ADVISED
NAKED PARTY, eh? Sounds like a @Gary tee-hee party. Non-sexual, according to Rex's WOTD blurb. Uh huh, sure. Any college party you go to, you're trying to hook up. Never mind being naked.
Anyway, hope y'all have a great Wednesday and great Christmas Eve!
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Authors use(d) male pseudonyms in order to increase their chances of getting published. Surprised to need to explain this…
I did fine with this puzzle until the end when I got stuck in the top center. Didn’t know MR NOODLE or AIDY Bryant. My crossword Spanish isn’t up to OYE, apparently. Wasn’t aware of the term SCREENER. And couldn’t fill in [Name your _______]. In fact, the only thing I could think of was Name your poison, which was too long. And anyway, that might be “pick your poison.” Or is it “choose your poison”? No, “pick” is better: alliteration. I think what finally broke the logjam was realizing from the letters I had that the silly character must be MR NOODLE. The last square I filled in was the Y in AIDY and OYE.
BEEFRIB keeps reminding me of “defib.” In the same way the word “hostages” always makes me think of “sausages.” Yeah, SIRI. I have a lot of sympathy with @Rex’s point of view. I’m not a SIRI (or ALEXA) user, and I have many reservations about AI taking over our lives. Loved the symmetry of ILL-ADVISED and NAKED PARTY. Thought ELVES and its clue were SO SWEET.
My husband and I are a little obsessed with ISAK DINESEN at the moment. We read aloud to each other every morning – it’s a lovely ritual we developed several years ago. After reading the entire Sherlock Homes canon, we moved on to DINESEN/Blixen and read both Out of Africa and Seven Gothic Tales. They lead us to a volume of Blixen’s letters, two biographies of her sometime lover, Denys Finch Hatton, Beryl Markham’s West with the Night, and a fascinating account of early British settlers in East Africa. To top it all off, I gave my husband a T-shirt with DINESEN/Blixen’s portrait on it. (My husband is an inveterate T-shirt wearer and I’ve discovered over the years that you can get just about anything on a T-shirt. You can, of course, design them yourself on several T-shirt-vending websites, but even if you don’t do that, you can find many unlikely things already made up and marketed.)
Thanks to Ella Dershowitz for our Christmas Eve diversion!
P.S. Re @Rex's suggestion (from a holiday pet pic) that he's going to get a black dog and call it Mustard, I once had a black cat named Ginger. This confused a lot of people until I told them that my other cat, who was ginger-colored, was named Fred. You know, Fred and Ginger? No? It still confused most people, who were convinced that the orange tabby must be Ginger. Work on your neuroplasticity, people!
Liked the theme and revealer, but found the puzzle slow going because there were too many names I didn’t know—among them MRNOODLE, CBD, NEVE, KEL, AIDY—and could not remember ISAKD’s name. And led with ole instead of GOL. Agree with @Bob Mills that the short stuff was the tougher part of the puzzle today.
Something commonly seen after a NAKEDPARTY in Rome?.......ITALIANDRESSSING
Just gimme some kinda sign girl? I'll give you two: ENSIGN and DESIGNS.
Some nice memories of my years using FAKEIDS. Thanks, Ella Dershowitz.
Aidy Bryant returned to SNL on Saturday night to appear with Bowen Yang in his last show. Both are crossword names.
Well, it's Alexa at our house so SIRI took some crosses, especially given the "whom" in the clue ( see Parker, R.). Otherwise pretty whooshy. Spelled ISAK with a C missed the BAP cluing entirely (crosses) and didn't know AIDY (AIDY???) NEVE, or MRNOODLE. how do you do? Also was today years old (hi LMS) when I heard of a NAKEDPARTY. Kids these days.
Nice set of themers, the ID part was obvious, but the revealer was not, so that was a nice aha!
But today's highlight for me has to be ARARAT which has been MIA for far too long . We veteran, experienced, seasoned, long-time solvers will have seen this mainstay often in the past, and it makes me happy to see it again. Merry Christmas to me.
Nice Wednesdecito, ED. Gracias por OYE and GOL , Easily Discerned, and thanks for all the fun.
¿En serio? ¿Todavía seguimos con esto?
Quite an impactful puzzle. OMG LOL. It's almost moist. And, literally the greatest thing ever. I was all like, irregardless of whatever 🦖 conversates on, imma author an awesome and totally unique post commentating on how bigly I digged this.
The fake-ness of these IDs is hilarious, especially the author. Nom de plumes, pseudonyms, and sobriquets, move over for FAKE IDS.
I'm imagining there's a term for a puzzle with way too easy mixed in with very unfortunate trivia. Hot and cold? Nancy's wall worthy? Maybe just deranged and unbalanced?
When the first person in the puzzle is a robot, you lose hope a little bit. Of course whoever MR. NOODLE is restores your faith. Then AIDY, then BAP, then a dead baby cow, then NAKED PARTY, then 11 partials ... bah ... alas.
The star on email as far as I can tell is only on spam and a clear indicator it's not important.
How you buzz a buzzer: BEE-FRIB-ulator.
Noah's ark did NOT land in ARARAT. It didn't land there because it didn't exist. It lands in children's stories and New Yorker cartoons.
People: 5
Places: 1
Products: 2
Partials: 11 {was it worth it?}
Foreignisms: 3
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 22 of 75 (29%)
Funny Factor: 3 😐
Uniclues:
1 Biography of a bot.
2 Teens.
3 Orzo osculated. {For the record, the correct clue here is "Noodle canoodled," but Mr. Noodle has a fake ID, and was born Señor Spaghetti, and as such the correct answer would have been SIR SPAGHETTI SNOGGED, but rewriting crossword history is a slippery slope best left to 🦖.
1 SIRI: A MASS STAR
2 ACNE RETAINERS
3 MR. NOODLE NECKED
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Croc with a schlock walk. STEP DANCE GATOR.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Dinesen was her birth name. Blixen was her married name.
Quick clarification - the gentleman in the picture with Elmo is not Mr. Noodle. That is Mr. Noodle's brother, Mr. Noodle.
What kind of salad dressing do you ask for if you’re in a hurry? Russian Dressing!
* sorry about the misspelling on ARARAT. I don’t think I can blame it on autoincorrect since he/she/it didn’t give me any grief about the spelling this time.
Egs, I’m right with you on the fake ID’s. They were so much easier way back when. My first one required a pencil with an eraser, a mild bleach solution and a friend with neat handwriting, and viola - I was on my way. I remember about half of my senior class frantically calling me one morning on a HS snow day to help them ensure they had enough antifreeze to survive a day in the elements (sledding I think, I was too hungover to participate).
This was a fine, whooshy Wednesday puzzle. Unlike Rex, I like taking the time to read the puzzle clues; I find it an enjoyable part of the whole solving process, and I don't feel the need to rush. So I liked the long explanation involving John Adams, and I liked "Shrub that sounds regretful." It was all fun!
C’mon Rex… right after thanking the puzzle for teaching you something (about kosher beef ribs or whatever), you yell at it for teaching us (well, me) that there’s a shrub called RUE. (RUE was clearly the answer, but I was glad to learn about the shrub.)
I’m a light/occasional user of SIRI but I don’t think of it as remotely AI-ish. It’s just a handy way to make a phone call or get a baseball score or some other type of online info without having to use your hands or type anything.
@Gary - do you keep a spreadsheet of PPPF Gunk Gauge numbers? It’d be interesting to see the distribution by day of week over the year.
@Keith - Thank you! It sounds as though many commenters aren't familiar with this very prominent DANISH author!
Not only that. I'll read the clues to answers I've completed with crosses just to see if there's anything clever in the clue. But I get why so many people focus instead on speed; just a different approach to enjoying a puzzle.
That's an interesting comment. I think most people are in your camp but I cannot stomach a salad swimming in dressing. I eat my salads plain or with a drib or drab of dressing on top.
Loved the depth, creativity and genuine passion of Rex's SIRI rant. Silver medal to NAKED PARTY. And bronze to Southside Johnny for his observation, noting that "Holiday Rex" was AWOL today. For me, all were early Christmas presents.
My kids grew up with Sesame Street, but MR NOODLE must have come along later. Never heard of him, but let out a satisfies "awww" when the crosses made the name obvious.
And I'm with the others who groan at paragraph-long clues for three-letter answers. I get that one's solving experience reflects personal taste; mine is "I'm solving a crossword puzzle, not reading a Wikipedia article".
I was recently reading an old RP blog (from 2011 or so) in which Rex had also included the link to the Martina McBride song. So I listened to it for the first time in years. What a great song!!!! Rolling Stone put it as #47 on their list of the all-time best country songs.
Another easy puzzle that I solved pretty quickly as a themeless & then came here for the theme. Regarding SIRI - (1A: Whom you might say "hey" to every day) - God, I hope not!
Thank you, Ella ("Alan Dershowitz's daughter??!)
What ties them together is the initials ID. As in the fake IDs mentioned in the revealer.
To be fair AIDY has appeared exactly once other than today. I agree with those who have chimed in to say that and MRNOODLE was a hard crossing with OYE.
I know of a woman who addresses her phone as "Alexa, darling". My husband drives me crazy by adding an S to SIRI, so he says, to ask a question, "Siries,...". Me, I like to type my questions and do not address my gadgets by name.
I knew AIDY and MR NOODLE filled in from crosses so the north posed no trouble, but that west-central ole instead of GOL and knee ACLS to capS back to ACLS created all problems for me today. My favorite moment of SNL with AIDY Bryant is when she's a waitress in a diner and she lists her pronouns as "She, ma'am". Great line.
My experience with salads and European countries is that their idea of dressing is a little oil, vinegar and that's it. I need swathes of blue cheese dressing to coat my greens.
Ella Dershowitz, thanks for a Wednesday puzzle with some interesting facts.
I think you meant to say Mr. Noodle's brother, Mister Noodle?
Hey @Barbara S, long time no see. In case you didn't know (which might be odd, as I mention it here quite a bit), there's a book for you and your husband authored by yours truly!
Changing Times by Darrin Vail. Get it wherever you get your books online.
I'd love to get your feedback! Even if it's unkind.
Roo
RE: 27D, ILL ADVISED
Driving through the backroads of heavily treed Oregon years ago, we passed many side roads with the sign "Truckers Not Advised." After an hour of seeing them, my wife and I had this brief conversation:
Me: What does that even mean?
Wife: It's telling truckers not to use that side road.
Me: It's advising them to avoid the road?
Wife: Yes.
Me: So the truckers are advised.
Wife: Yes.
Me: But it says Truckers Not Advised.
Wife: Don't do that.
@RP: SIRI = a "whom" ain't great, but better than this FAKEID of infamy:
STABLEGENIUS.
har [with a cringe]
OK by m&e WedPuztheme. Not real Christmassy, but did have the ELVES workin the central puzgrid.
staff weeject pick: CBD. This was a W.O.E.? at our house. Woulda got more recognition for us clued as {Current non-political-stance grade assigned to CBS News?} = CBD.
Primo weeject stacks, SW&SE, btw.
notes on M&A faves:
1. E/W symmetry. 2nd day in a row. Like. Allows for almost all kinds of puzthemer lengths.
2. ILLPASS & ILLADVISED. Covers the ILL mini-theme well.
3. NAKEDPARTY. In college? M&A went to college ... only naked parties he ever saw there were in the dorm showers. [That's MEN'S dorm, btw.]
4. TRIG clue. Only ?-marker clue today that I can recall, but it was a beaut.
5. SIRI is IRIS in reverse, so it kinda has a touch of humanity to it. My nephew is into buildin video clips online usin the AI. Fascinatingly scary, how real they look. Another scary thing M&A noticed lately: U can ask Google to come up with a xword puztheme idea for about any subject U choose. [So far, they ain't often real good ideas, tho.]
Thanx for the fun, you Wizard of Fake IDs Ms. Dershowitz darlin. Clever stuff.
Masked & Anonymo1U [s]
... An extra sprig of Christmassy stuff ...
"Bi-Polar Express" - 7x7 12 min. themed runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
p.s. @RP: Extra-cute-and-colorful pet pic collections, deckin yer halls each day. Thanx. And Merry CE Day, y'all.
And I'm pretty sure ISAK is the Danish spelling for Isaac.
Well, Karen Blixen is actually in the clue, with some other Danish syllables interspersed.
The hot stone bowl is supposed to cook the raw egg as you stir it in; but that's no longer legal, at least in Massachusetts, for fear that you will get salmonella.
North or South U in Ann Arbor? There are two on South U fwiw.
It was a stretch, but the constructor couldn't say "dressing" in the clue, since it was in the answer.
Naked party my @&$.
Egs, thought you might like this
I misheard my husband's toast as “Old time-share!”
Yule-tide cheer!
I found a recipe for brisket so easy that even I make it from time to time. Say you've got a brisket of around 4 pounds. Sear each side in a little oil for a few minutes, cut up some garlic, onions, potatoes, and carrots to dump in, add a 24 oz jar of salsa and a can of beer. That's it. Simmer for 3.5 to 4 hours. (Bigger brisket, simmer longer.) It's from Kosher by Design, Entertains, by Susie Fishbein.
@thebard doesn't seem to be posting here anymore, but I think there's a scene in Hamlet where Ophelia begins, "There's RUE; that's for remembrance," so I knew it was a flower, which made shrub understandable.
I think the point of the long clues was to make the theme answers easier to get . After seeing July 2 as the wrong day and John Adams as someone involved, INDEPENDENCE DAY became pretty much a gimme. With Dinesen, though, it doesn't quite work -- if you don't know the novel you won't know her true name, either.
I'm still solving on my laptop, I may just stay away for a few days --today as soon as I clicked in the space for the revealer the app highlighted all the theme answers, which was annoying, IMO.
Aside from being religiously controversial, to say the the Ark didn't land on ARARAT because it was mythological is about like saying that Arthur didn't pull the sword out of the stone, or don Quixote didn't tilt at windmills.
Easy. Very whooshy.
Me too for ole before GOL and I did not know MR NOODLE.
I did know ISAK DINESEN, a crossword favorite.
Interesting/informative theme with some fun long downs, liked it.,
I forgor to ask -- is CORNER PUB something people actually say? I put in CORNER bar despite the Englishness of "pint." In my experience, the term there is "the local" (or "my local").
This Tom had a good laugh out loud moment at Rex's caption for Tom, the cat, taking a selfie! Classic Rex humor!
@zhousephine10:09 AM
I've been counting them every day since April 2024. I used to do a monthly summary, but I think I was way more interested in it than anybody else so I haven't done a wrap up for a long time. The results were quite surprising! If I can find a few hours over Christmas I'll put a report together for 2025, but I'm not sure I'll find those hours. There's pie and ravioli to make. 🎅
A few Unknown Names -- KEL ALI MRNOODLE -- but I got through most of them pretty quickly. And then on the final offramp, I crashed into the concrete pillar of AIDY crossing OYE. I tried all five (!?) vowels, then grudgingly went through the alphabet. Oh yeah, Y is a vowel... sorta. Not a fun way to finish.
3 down ROVE / ROAM is a Kealoa. And a bit of a speed bump at 30 and 36 across, where I had CAPS and OLE for ages. And just above that, I had half of the letters in ISAK DINESEN wrong... something like IDA DENNISON? Yeesh.
I learned of Bibimbap from a crossword, so BAP came pretty fast.
@jberg 12:07 PM
🤣 If I'm not mistaken, I think that's the origin of three men walked into a bar. Noah, Arthur and Don. I don't remember how it went, but Don and Arthur wanted olives with those little swords and Noah just drank water.
I enjoyed this one. One of those solves where I really try to picture the constructor coming up with the theme and then executing - this was great stuff.
Some absolutely lovely long downs, a revealer that works and themers that were, while not terribly difficult, still a lot of fun.
I had a couple of small hold-ups; like others, I rushed to fill in RUSSIANDRESSING which slowed me down in the NW for just a bit and had speck instead of the correct PLAN at 54A in the SE - that one took a bit longer to fix up. BEEFRIB was a gimme as I'm kosher and somehow TRIG came easily to me - a guy who still can't do long division and actually failed his Trig regents!
100% agree with @Rex on the SIRI/AI subject - and eloquently and convincingly put by OFL. From a purely puzzle-enjoyment perspective, it didn't bother me quite as much. I will say if I ever find myself in a heated debate with someone over the perils of AI and what it is doing to humanity, I would direct my adversary right here to this blog as I don't think it can be expressed any better than @Rex did. THANK YOU @REX FOR THIS!
As a quick aside, I've mentioned that I've been going back to the archives to tackle some puzzles from 30 years ago - much different than they are today as some folks here have mentioned. I find some Mondays in '93 and "94 (that is the earliest the archives go back) to be on a Wednesday/Thursday difficulty level of today.
So... am I the only one who would be thrilled if @Rex picked a random one of those from way back when and did a write-up??
@Rex - I'm in no way assuming you have time for that or have any interest, but this Rex Parker community member would get an enormous kick out of it!
Thank you Ella for a great Wednesday and a very happy holiday to all!
Yes, but I left the revealer blank and didn't read its clue, and worked to figure the revealer itself out. Makes for good riddle-cracking puzzle work.
Mr. Noodle is a wonderful clown role originally created by the great Bill Irwin, Tony-award winning Broadway actor, choreographer, and renowned clown. His “family” has been played by a slew of other greats, including Michael Jeter, Kristen Chenoweth, Daveed Diggs, and Ilana Glazer.
No submissions for a Christmas Eve themed puzzle? Just "elves?"
Hey Rex I witnessed but did not participate in the last panty raid at the institution you mistakenly call Binghamton University which we called Harpur College in 1968. Are there nudes parties at BU?
As stated above, the Mr. Noodle in the picture is actually Mr. Noodle's brother Mr. Noodle, played by character actor Michael Jeter. (The original Mr. Noodle was played by professional clown Bill Irwin.) Jeter died in 2003, so I think being 20+ years old, the character is more than fair game for a crossword entry.
Very nice. Lively fill. Learned a little.
Old NYer cartoon. On Noah's ark. A lion is talking to Noah, and the caption is: "We need more gazelles."
@jberg. Where we go, they don't have the raw egg either, but as mentioned, the hot stone bowl also crisps up the rice.
well, as they say: "pie before numbers, but not before pi". 😆
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