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Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Word of the Day: MONEY TREES (29D: Tropical plants said to bring good fortune) —
Pachira aquatica is a species of tropical wetland tree in the mallow family Malvaceae, native to Central and South America where it grows in swamps. It is known by its common names Malabar chestnut, French peanut, Guiana chestnut, provision tree, Saba nut, Monguba (Brazil), Pumpo (Guatemala) and Jelinjoche (Costa Rica) and is commercially sold under the names money tree and money plant. This tree is sometimes sold with a braided trunk and is commonly grown as a houseplant, although more commonly what is sold as a "Pachira aquatica" houseplant is in fact a similar species, Pachira glabra. [...] The name "money tree" is believed to refer to a story of its origin, in which a poor man prayed for money, found this "odd" plant, took it home as an omen, and made money selling plants grown from its seeds. (wikipedia)
"Money Trees" is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar, taken from his major label debut studio album Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012). The song, which appears as the fifth track on the album, features a guest appearance from his Black Hippy cohort, fellow American rapper Jay Rock, and was produced by DJ Dahi. It entered the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart at number 19 due to high downloads, following the album's release. The song, mixed by Top Dawg engineer Derek "MixedByAIi" Ali, features background vocals from American singer Anna Wise of Sonnymoon. Money Trees samples the 2010 song "Silver Soul" by Beach House, as well as vocals from Lamar's "Cartoon and Cereal" and interpolates lyrics from E-40's "Big Ballin' With My Homies". (wikipedia)
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It originated as a low-budget attempt to cash in on the enormous success of FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, but VALLEY GIRL's genuine charm, perverse period flavor and breakout performance by Nicolas Cage ensured its enduring cult status. (AFI)
You know, Valley Girl! AS SEEN ON TV (if you have cable, probably). I'm gonna see how many times I can work Valley Girl into this write-up. . . nah, I think I'm done. Let's see, that's one two three ... four Valley Girls. Whoops, that's five. OK, now I'm done. Almost.
Do not put FONDANT on your APPLE SAUCE irl, it will turn out bad. Speaking of one answer on top of another, AS SEEN ON TV and "THERE'S MORE" pair very nicely. Unfortunately they both come from the world of adspeak, which I could always use less of, but I do like that the answers make sense together. Cohere as a corner unit. I doubt that RILKE is ever seen much on TV, but he is seen on AS SEEN ON TV today, so good for him. Sidenote: I don't think I've ever read a word by RILKE (50A: "Duino Elegies" poet). I associate his poetry with sallow romantic types. Wikipedia tells me: "In popular culture, RILKE is frequently quoted or referenced in television shows, motion pictures, music and other works when these works discuss the subject of love or angels. His work is often described as "mystical" and has been quoted and referenced by self-help authors." Gotta say, you're not really selling me on him, wikipedia.
OMG I only just noticed that this puzzle does CRISS CROSS / APPLESAUCE! And it literally crosses them. Amazing. Gimmicky, but sly. Clever.
My biggest TIE-UP today involved, yes, TIE-UP, which is to say it involved the latter part of WASH TUB and everything that ran through it (20A: Main component of a "gutbucket," a jug band instrument). I know the washboard is a "jug band instrument," but the WASH TUB, well, news to me. I feel like this isn't the first time I've been stumped by a "jug band instrument" this year. Oh yeah, here we go—had to know the whole gosh darn band for this puzzle back in September. That puzzle had WASHBOARD in it, as is right and true and good. This "gutbucket" stuff feels pretty Inside Jug Band to me. I don't dislike the answer WASH TUB though. Just ... when "board" wouldn't fit, I came to a stop. Not a T STOP, but ... actually, kind of a T STOP. A "Tub" STOP, anyway. I also had no idea what MONEY TREES were; or, rather, I had no idea that they were an actual non-metaphorical not-made-of-physical-money tree. I was gonna say that I only know MONEY TREE as a chain of dollar stores, but that's (more aptly) DOLLAR TREE. Lastly on the "I struggled with that" list is ERICA Banks. I know lots of ERICAs and a decent number of Bankses (Tyra, Ernie ... piggy?), but I do not know ERICA Banks. The title "Buss It" sounds promising, though. Let's find out.
[cw: profanity, booty, WASHTUB washboard abs]
"ASS!? E'EN ON TV!? 'Zounds!" — Shakespeare reacting to television nudity. Actually, more likely reacting to television donkeys. Actually, more likely reacting to television as a concept. Zombie Shakespeare would indeed be astounded by ass, or anything, on TV.
Bullets:
- 17A: Conspiracy theorist's accessory (TIN FOIL HAT) — conspiracy theorists are no longer funny to me in the least since they're currently busy at the HHS trying to kill everybody [I initially miswrote "DHS," but that's probably true too]
- 29A: What blue crabs do roughly 20 times in their lifetimes (MOLT) — look, I did not *know* this, but I was very proud to have gotten it off just the "O," which itself was, at that point, entirely theoretical (from "SHOOT!," which I wasn't sure of (21D: "Fiddlesticks!")).
- 34D: Hagfish lookalikes (EELS) — I kinda like the EEL clue arms race we're currently in the middle of. If I gotta see it every other day, then by all means, throw new stuff at me. Stuff like "HAGFISH" (NYTXW appearances to date: 0) (I was wrong! HAGFISH did appear once, back in 1966 [Cousins of eels]) (HAGFISH also appeared in A NYT acrostic from 2013). Why are they called HAGFISH? I guess eels do kind of (???) look like hags. HAGFISH are also known as "slime EELS." Are hags slimy?
- 36D: Company whose logo has a hidden arrow between its fourth and fifth letters (FEDEX) — is it "hidden" if it's in plain sight? Yeah, yeah, I read "The Purloined Letter," but still. Actually, you know what, I never noticed that arrow before, so I take it all back. Objection overruled!
- 40D: Word from the Greek for "folded paper" (DIPLOMA) — me: "ORIGAMI" also me: "That's not Greek, that's Japanese" further me: "ORIGAMI!!!!" Actually I had "DIP-" and thought to myself "DIP? Nothing starts with DIP-!" I was reading the "Di-" as a prefix, rhyming with the "Di" in "Lady Di." Whose DIPLOMA comes "folded?" Is rolling a kind of folding? Where am I? What are words?
- 55D: Whitehouse in D.C., e.g.: Abbr. (SEN.) — "Sheldon Whitehouse (born October 20, 1955) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Rhode Island, a seat he has held since 2007" (wikipedia).
- 56D: Physics unit equivalent to roughly 624 gigaelectronvolts (ERG) — pure crossword reflex. [Physics unit] three letters ERG. An electrical impulse at this point. I definitely knew what an ERG was at one point in my life (Physics being my only A+ in college—I know, right? stunning!). But whatever it means, the only thing it has meant to me since roughly 1991 is "a common three-letter crossword answer."
Time once again for 🌲🐈Holiday Pet Pics🐕🌲! Let's see who we've got today:
First there's Winnie, who's wondering "How in the world is this a 'holiday' picture? Are there presents? There better be presents, lady."
 |
| [Thanks, Gingy!] |
Not much that's "holiday" about this next one either, though if you've ever tried to lie down to read a book (perhaps as a break from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season), and you own a cat, you've probably experienced something like this.
 |
[Wesley cares not for Jane Austen. Stop reading this instant!] [Thanks, Laurie (and Cynthia, Laurie's daughter, to whom Wesley actually belongs)] |
Bochy here seems to have a toy in his mouth already but he's sure there are more toys under there. Quite sure.
 |
| [Thanks, Jim] |
Rebecca sent in not only her gorgeous Pete the Cat (R.I.P, Pete) ...
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... but also two views of Sunny, who is not going to miss a reason to celebrate this holiday season:
 |
| [Thanks, Rebecca] |
A different Rebekkah (the two-K variety) sent in her whippet Sparkie, seen here at 9 weeks old, chewing on some kind of elf larva:
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| [Thanks, Rebekkah] |
The next photo in the queue was also, improbably, sent in by a Rebecca, but we're gonna save that for next time ... nah, let's just do it now. Astrolabe here is being so dutiful and patient, I don't want to make him wait even one more day.
 |
| [Thanks, Rebecca] |
That's all. See you next time.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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Great write up. Shocked Rex made only one A+ in college. What was the reason? Clearly it wasn’t intelligence.
ReplyDeleteWell, I think that he's avowedly not into math or science, so the fact that the A+ was in physics sounds a little surprising. I'll go out on a limb and guess this was not calculus-based physics, but a general-audience physics course to fulfill a requirement. (He likes it! Hey, Mikey!)
DeleteI found the write-up unusual in places, but maybe more later.
Physics for Poets.
DeleteWow. The level of condescension here is disturbing, though i have to admit to liking @mathgents "Physics for Poets" line.
DeleteAs for the A+, I’m more hung up on whether it was the semester grade or a test/assignment. Like, when I was in college, you could get an A+ on a test (due to answering extra credit questions, usually in an objective subject like math/science) or a paper (because the prof thought it was A+ work) but you could NOT get more than A for the semester grade…which was 4.0 towards GPA. But @anon 6:17, if it WAS A+ on a specific assignment, I’m surprised/not surprised. I was a “good” undergrad student but didn’t take grades too seriously (or demonstrating my knowledge of a subject) until law school. And let’s just say I was lucky to get in (due to undergrad GPA) but didn’t take grades by the skin of my teeth. Then I decided I needed to pull any “brilliance” out of my back pocket. ;)
DeleteGah…in my comment above…I meant I got into law school by the skin of my teeth. Prior to that (unfortunately) I didn’t take grades seriously. Well. Not seriously enough.
DeleteThe Rex I know would have bemoaned how this played like a Wednesday puzzle, solid and clean but no effort, no stumpers, whoosh whoosh done. Maybe someone’s sliding into a mellow holiday mood? That said, “Ass!? E’en on TV!?” for the win.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteEasy Friday, pleasant solve.
* * * _ _
Overwrites:
My "grounds" were a bAsis before they were a CAUSE (5A)
inge before SHAW for the 8D playwright
For the "Sweet Sixteen" at 19A I had TEenS before TEAMS (bad, I know)
My non-recorded performance was a LIVE act before it was a SET (39D)
WOEs:
Journalist ANNE Applebaum (3D)
Disney princess TIANA at 23D, which I should have remembered
Rapper ERICA Banks at 45D
Skating term T-STOP (46A)
Poet RILKE at 50A
Those who were as mystified as I was yesterday by XKCD #2957 as recommended by @Anon 07:06 can check out the answer here. Every XKCD comic is explained at ExplainXKCD.com.
Not the most difficult Friday. But Hasps? Crisscross Applesauce? Fondant? Valencia? Sapid? I'll take all that you got. Very active words today. Love it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. And I liked having ASPHALT in there, too.
DeleteEasy overall but hard in places for me, because of things I’ve never heard of: CRISSCROSS APPLESAUCE for example. Also TINFOILHAT. TSTOP, and ERICA as clued. So, a little cheating was required. I’m probably really out of it in not knowing TINFOILHAT but I try to know as little as possible about conspiracy theorists.
ReplyDeleteI am with you on all five answers. Otherwise, it was pretty smooth
DeleteTrust me, you owe it to yourself to read some Rilke! Try The Panther https://allpoetry.com/The-Panther. The elegies are magnificent.
ReplyDeleteRilke is my favorite poet. I think to fully appreciate him, you’d have to read him in German. In my opinion, his poetic genius is lost in translation.
ReplyDeleteLovely moments.
ReplyDelete• That Shaw quote, which I haven’t thought about in ages.
• Filling in GOAT, which tripped off yesterday’s [Pan in the butt?].
• Inner smiles at uncovering: I KNOW, RIGHT? / AS SEEN ON TV / CRISSCROSS APPLESAUCE / CULT STATUS / SAPID.
Such moments add beauty and joy not only to the box, but to the entire day. This was more than just a fill-in.
I also loved being misdirected by [Doesn’t just talk], where I was thinking, “Yaks?” … “Gabs?” Not to mention the serendipity of a backward WAHS in the grid with SOB, clued [Waaaaah!].
Felt like a pre-holiday gift, for which I’m eminently grateful. I’m strongly hoping for more from the J&J team!
Mostly easy for a Friday, but I need an alphabet run for the SAPID/PINS cross. I also had "No lie" before FACTS. Never heard of CRISSCROSSAPPLESAUCE, but it rhymed and fit with the crosses.
ReplyDeleteFor JJK: In my book, "Conscience of a Conspiracy Theorist," I sought to distinguish between kooky TINFOILHAT--wearing conspiracy theorists and historians who read between the lines of establishmentarian sources, e.g., the Warren Commission vis a vis JFK's assassination. Several reviewers thought I had succeeded.
Thanks for mentioning the book. I do agree that there are some events that are probably not quite what they seem to be.
DeleteI’m going to look at your book Bob. I suspect my husband would really be interested in it since he doesn’t wear a TINFOILHAT but has always suspected that the Warren Commission report was um, inadequate.
DeleteWow Bob…I’m impressed! I ordered and will get it Dec 16 and it will be a “stocking stuffer” for my husband.
DeleteIf it wasn't so early in the day, I'd say this write-up was done under the influence... Though could also be that it's getting into punch drunk finals season
ReplyDeleteAm I the only one who noticed that 30 across today and 39 down yesterday are basically the same clue and same answer?
ReplyDelete30A: Jobs announcement of 2010
39D: Big Apple debut in 2010
IPAD answer for both.
🙋♂️Seems like there have been a few other “IPAD” debut clues fairly recently. Not gonna look, but pretty certain these weren’t the first.
DeleteYes I noticed that too. And both times, I hesitated for a moment because it seems like the iPad has been around so much longer.
DeleteYes! I was annoyed to get the same clue/answer two days in a row.
DeleteGlad I didn't stop reading before "elf larva."
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteUnsure how two people make a Themeless. Unless there are physically together, as in sitting next to each other tweaking the puz. Fill came out nice. Agree with Rex, kind of dull, but some highlights in I KNOW RIGHT, TIN FOIL HAT, AS SEEN ON TV, THERES MORE (Where's the BUT WAIT?)
Four Cheater Squares, I'll let you figure out which ones. Nothing inherently wrong with Cheaters, but in a Themeless, they seem inelegant. Especially with two constructors.
Enough bashing out of me. I guess I'm grumpy this morning. On a brighter side, it'll be in the 70's for highs out here for a bunch of days!
Have a great Friday!
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
I KNOW, RIGHT? and CRISS-CROSS/APPLESAUCE - great stuff. But the other long answers didn't really pop for me.
ReplyDelete56D - gigaelectronvolts? I hope I'll never ever see GEV used as glue in a grid. Or MEV (megaelectronvolt)
CRISSCROSS unlocked the NW, which was the only section that put up real resistance. I started with ICK for UGH. 19A was very likely to be TEAMS but YEARS was also a possibility, and I had to make more progress before deciding between the two, since I couldn't see SKIT and didn't know what NOW stands for.
Always a pleasure to have a colorful answer like I KNOW, RIGHT? gradually emerge from crosses.
Nice write-up today Rex. I thought you might be a little harsher on this one (for being on the easy side - no complaints though, I thought the difficulty level was just fine).
ReplyDeleteSAPID was new to me. It looks like one of those words that I have encountered in the wild, but never bothered to look up (back before I read everything digitally - now it’s so easy that I have no excuse).
I liked TIN FOIL HATS, CULT STATUS, and if we have to have a “logo” clue, the way they handled the clue for FED EX is at least tolerable. I don’t know if there is less junk in the grid, or if it’s a wheelhouse situation (I did get VALENCIA and it helped that the rapper had a mainstream name, and not something like CARDI??? - I think there is an X and a C in there, but that is one I have no interest in looking up - I’ll bank on crosses on her next visit). In any event, this was probably one of the more pleasant Fridays we’ve had in a while.
It's called a money tree b/c its silvery translucent seed pods look like coins.
ReplyDeleteThat one, that I am also familiar with, is not the same as a money tree. The one you mention is Lunaria Annua (also known as Honesty or Silver Dollar Plant). https://homesteadculture.com/lunaria/
Delete@ChrisS…that’s what I thought also. I grew it in my garden a couple of years. Then, it didn’t come back and I thought…ok…moving on…
DeleteIs Rex in Happy Friday/pre-holiday mode today, or had a double shot espresso? The write-up had a frenetic pace and reminded me of my non-stop chatterbox of a granddaughter who's about to turn four. Loved it!! Three stars did seem right to me; the write-up was more flattering than the vanilla (three) rating.
ReplyDeleteOnly A+ was in Physics is noteworthy, IMO. I've known bright kids who were intending to be Physics majors, but after taking one semester said "that's too hard" and opted for another line of education.
Maybe this devastating poem will sell you on Rilke, Rex.
ReplyDeleteThe Panther
His vision, from the constantly passing bars,
has grown so weary that it cannot hold
anything else. It seems to him there are
a thousand bars; and behind the bars, no world.
As he paces in cramped circles, over and over,
the movement of his powerful soft strides
is like a ritual dance around a center
in which a mighty will stands paralyzed.
Only at times, the curtain of the pupils
lifts, quietly--. An image enters in,
rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles,
plunges into the heart and is gone.
Rainer Maria Rilke translated by Stephen Mitchell
It is beautiful in English, divine in the original German. I learned it in high school and can still recite it 45 years later.
DeleteWow. Heartbreaking. Thanks for this.
DeleteAlso beautiful: "When called by a panther, don't anther." [Reaching for hankie.]
DeletePointless quibble: a DART is may need to be accurate, but it's the speed of the ball that makes is a DART, not the accuracy. DIMEs are impressively accurate.
ReplyDeleteI always assumed it had something to do with the spiral? A ball thrown with a good spiral will not wobble, but has enough angular momentum around its major axis that it sails smoothly through the air, with a linear motion similar to that of a dart. But this (the word origin, not the physics) is a guess on my part.
DeleteC’mon Rex, you knew that Rilke burn would bring on his fans to set you straight. But don’t include me in that group—I’ve never read him either. Let’s see how many more people today can convince us to dive in.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of the movie “Valley Girl,” but judging by the trailer, it seems firmly rooted in its era. I hope Frank Zappa got some royalties for this. Moon Unit too.
I was also today years old when I first heard of Senator Whitehouse. I see that he’s slightly younger than I am, in other words, too damn old to be a member of Congress. Time to hand the wheel over to the youngsters, Gramps.
"I hope Frank Zappa got some royalties for this. Moon Unit too." <-- More Moon Unit (now just Moon) than Zappa. Frank Zappa did just fine doing his own thing -- this was just a one-off for him, and any continuing royalties from the Valley Girl song will likely be going mostly to Gail, which isn't necessarily a great thing.
DeleteThe Frank-Moon collab, done while she was a teenager, was somewhat rooted in her desperation to connect with her dad, who was not what you would call a hands-on dad. A pretty neglectful father, in fact. A "professional genius", one could say. You get the picture.
@tht- recent doc on Zappa kind of took a little sheen off of him for me; but still a fan
DeleteAndy Freude & Burtonkd
DeleteI have lived in RI my whole life. Small state. ( I am about your age)So the fact I met him is not unusual. I actually volunteered on an early campaign of his for state Attorney General and his first senate race He is actually a decent man , as politicians go. Naturally, the MAGA propaganda machine goes after him with full force because he is constantly criticizing Trump and effectively. He often concentrates on legal and constitutional issues being a former AG. I don’t think it’s fair on age alone to say a senator has overstayed their welcome Anyway, Senators are on average significantly older than House members. There are many much older than him (see Grassley).
Needless to say a gimme for me.
Frank Zappa sounded like a very difficult person to live with. His music an acquired taste, some of which interested me. He was considered a relative rarity, an avant-garde rocker. He also died in his 50’s from cancer. I respect his fierce independent streak which led to experimentation as opposed to where the big money was.
Oh, holy heck, I missed the last part of Andy's comment, about Sheldon Whitehouse. Andy, sorry, but I think you're a little off base there. Whitehouse is one of the most effective Senators the Democrats have, in terms of demanding accountability, and he is super-smart and knowledgeable. Please don't demean him with "Gramps". He has vitality and is engaged, and he does the people's business as best he knows how.
DeleteCleopatra was getting the royal driveways paved when they came upon a sacred snake and had to call an ASPHALT.
ReplyDeleteThere has been a lot of study about the ancient ages of man (Bronze, Iron, etc). But little attention has been paid to the era when humans wore no shoes, otherwise known as the RAWFOOTAGE.
1930's travelogue report on a trip to Oklahoma: SAWDUST
If all of your pig slop is always gathering on one edge of the pen, perhaps your STYLISTS.
My marquee contribution today was preempted by @Rex. ASSEENONTV! Good job, @Rex. And good job on a smooth puzzle, Adrian Johnson and Jess Rucks.
@egsforbreakfast 8:37 AM
DeleteIKR?! The minute I saw 🦖 swiping your job -- ASS E'EN ON TV -- I was ready to file a complaint with the comedy authorities.
found this one to be super easy for a Friday, but fun - a good first puzzle to do with the teen home from college for winter break
ReplyDeleteMostly easy, but I really struggled with the SW corner. I had LIVEACT for a long time, had no idea about SAPID, DART, or ERICA as clued, and ARTEXPO felt like a real stretch.
ReplyDeleteBut I liked CRISSCROSS APPLESAUCE, and it made me smile that they were "crossing" in the grid.
Same—SW stumped me for a while!
DeleteI've rarely said it, if ever, and have not heard it all that much, but somehow still loved to see CRISS-CROSS APPLESAUCE! That's how folk culture works. I loved ASPHALT too, as clued, even though I overthought it--once you've put down asphalt, the road is no longer rocky, right? Well, it is once it starts breaking up.
ReplyDeleteI know I'd heard of Duino Elegies, and maybe even knew at some level that it was by RILKE. But I misread the clue as 'duo elegias,' which is half Italian, so I put in dantE at first. Quickly corrected by KNOB.
MONEY TREE made me think of this songwhich beat Kendrick Lamar by about 70 years.
Never going to quibble with a Cocteau Twins drop-in — I might have been tempted to drop a Hagfish song in, too, except their most popular song is very NSFW. (They did do a fun cover of They Might Be Giants’ “Twisting,” tho…)
ReplyDeleteOh, holy cow, completely missed this on my read-through of his column, and was completely unaware of this piece. I would have to look up the lyrics to make heads or tails of it, but it sounds like vintage Elizabeth Fraser with her voice that soars and swoops, coupled with those vintage guitar distortions that invariably sound RAW and gritty to my ear.
Delete(I wish I had paid attention back in the day; I barely know Cocteau Twins at all, but I probably would have gotten into them. One of the most shocking moments of my 2024 was rediscovering Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops (their biggest hit!) by accident. I had heard the song precisely once, in 1984, and it had haunted my brain ever since -- I had no idea who it was or any idea how to track it down; I vaguely thought maybe it was Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was like a strange, exotic bird, once seen and apparently forever gone -- but since that moment in 2024, I'll always know where I can find it again. Has this type of thing happened to anyone else here?)
Very much enjoyed phrases like TINFOILHAT ad ASSEENONTV, and Rex’s critique. But FONDANT and RILKE were woes, holes in my education. Speaking of which, it was fun to learn the etymology of DIPLOMA, mutating from a closed document to a very open one. Had no idea about what CRISSCROSS APPLESAUCE meant, but it just seemed to fit in once the crosses supplied the possibility of a rhyme.
ReplyDeleteCULT STATUS is a fine answer, but I had a hard time seeing it because I had convinced myself that, on a Friday, a "classic underground work" must be a famous tunnel, or the sewers of Rome, or something of that sort. That idea didn't get me anywhere, but it was hard to shake off.
ReplyDeleteIK, I have a lot of papers to grade, so that's it from me.
Fondant??!?
ReplyDeleteI got FEDEX from crosses (easily) but it took me a long time to see the arrow. Ha!
I am reminded of Gene Kelly singing “There never was a money tree” in the song “Dig Dig Dig for Your Dinner” from Summer Stock.
Rex write-up seems more positive than his three star rating. I liked it a lot except for FORDANT (?!?!?!).
Fondant is the white icing you've probably seen on a wedding cake. As for logos, if you've ever wondered why the symbol for PRIME is a curved arrow, it's because the full symbol for AMAZON has a curved arrow pointing from "A" to "Z" - because they sell everything.
Delete@mmorgan ( and lol B. Crocker)…I hadn’t heard of FONDANT either. With that said…I AM the type of person who looks for the least amount of icing on cake because…sugar is delicious but an enemy to my brain and gut. I add the delicious so no one thinks I’m a “diet freak.” I’m not. In fact, I had to get to about age 60 before I figured it out.
DeleteValley Girl also has one of the great soundtracks.
ReplyDeleteFine puzzle. Rex, I hope you read Rilke. His poetry is admired and revered for good reason. And, since origami is recognizably a Japanese word for a Japanese art form, dip definitely should lead to diploma. I did find Valencia a gimme.
ReplyDeleteRe: RP's A+
ReplyDeleteIn my tax class, when we got to capital gains and losses I would warn the class: "Don't take this topic lightly. It may seem clear, but I got the lowest grade in my entire academic career in the course in which this was taught." Then I'd pause and say: A minus.
It was actually three letteral steps down from there. I remember the prof too (from 1975). He was good. It was all on me.
So, RP, the next time you screw up and your wife says "Hey, Einstein, you screwed up!" she's not far off. (Einstein himself, btw, would get furious when his wife did that.)
Did your students appreciate that humblebrag?
DeleteI expect that Liveprof's students picked up that he could be a jokester, pretty early on in the semester. Maybe they even picked up on the fact that the A- wasn't a humblebrag and in FACT didn't even happen -- as he told us.
Delete@Anon 11:37. It always got a good laugh, and I always confessed it was actually much lower than A minus.
Delete@Liveprof…I WISH you had been my professor for Tax in law school! Ok. My actual professor was very nice (unlike some). But not funny. And that’s okay cuz you can’t have everything!
DeleteThere’s a very sweet photo of the tin foil hatted protagonists of M.Night Shyamalan’s movie “Signs”. Rex, if you can think of that instead of those HHS wackos it might help you smile through that clue.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the pet pics! They make a nice start to the day!
It's nearly Christmas, which means I think about WASHTUBs almost daily. If you aren't yet a fan of Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas (a Jim Henson classic), please consider this a holiday gift from a stranger: https://youtu.be/Q6trGocstHI?feature=shared
ReplyDelete15 down could have a another answer, if clued a different way:
ReplyDeleteWhat is MSNBC's new acronym? MS NOW, for "No One's Watching."
I hate it - my initial thought was "What is this new name? for a station I USED to like - Multiple Sclerosis? :(
DeleteI used to like MSNBC - no more.
A lot I didn't know TINFOIL HAT, TSTOP, MONEY TREES. I also thought 'I KNOW RIGHT" was a Brooklyn expression having never seen "Mean Girls" or appreciating the whole "Valley Girl" thing. But I did really like 62A ABET. An okay Friday but missed the 'zing' that other constructors give us on a Friday.
ReplyDeletePrescription for a good mood: a lively Friday puzzle, @Rex on a tear in his write-up, and (THERE'S MORE!) holiday pet photos. Highlights for me: TINFOIL HAT, VALENCIA, AS SEEN ON TV, and FONDANT x SAWDUST because of how unappealing both are to the palate.
ReplyDeleteRex, I'll pile on about RILKE - he's not nearly as sappy as that summary makes him sound. But I also agree with @Birgit Rosenberg 7:16 that many translations don't do him any favors.
I'm somewhat relieved to find that some other folks have not heard of CRISSCROSS APPLESAUCE, either. Not helpful, especially when it takes up so much real estate.
ReplyDeleteTrouble starting in the NW, went elsewhere, picked away, went back, saw PIT which begat PSAS and off to the races. My younger son has a friend who says IKNOWRIGHT all the time and my granddaughter loves cooking shows on tv which is where I learned FONDANT. Got RILKE off the KE. Thought the SHAW quote was Bobby Kennedy (the real one, not the idiot one), TIANA was a new Disney princess, and hello ERICA. Also, a TSTOP is where you get off the T in Boston. And the DI___ made me want a DIORAMA. Well, the MA was right.
Otherwise good stuff and lots of in-the-language longer answers. Nicely done, AJ and JR. Admirable Judgment in construction and Just Right for my Friday. Thanks for all the fun.
We're back to easy Friday puzzles, which FACT didn't keep me from a DNF at the cross of 32D and 46A. I considered FACTS for 32D but TS TOP didn't look right (yes, now I see it is T STOP, gah). As if FACTo/To TOP did look correct? Just thought "ipso FACTo" and went for it. Shrug.
ReplyDeleteI had to look up CRISSCROSS APPLESAUCE post-solve. It rings a bell as something I may have heard in the background, but it's never been said in real life in my hearing. Seems like a lot to say when telling children to sit down, as AI Google describes it. But it's a cute crossword entry.
I have taken to saying the word "Right?" as an answer all too often. It's not as cringe-y in my ears as saying "like" every other word but YMMV.
I was about to make fun of having a "hidden" arrow in a logo - how do you know it's there? But I Googled it first and I see it's less hidden than a negative space that can easily be overlooked but it's kind of cool. Something I enjoy learning today and now I won't be able to not see it, which is fine.
Lots of good stuff in this puzzle, thanks Adrian and Jess!
Okay, generally I liked this thing but here are a few things that drove me nuts. Firstly ASPHALT is not an ingredient of a rocky road. ASPHALT is a combination of crushed stone, sand, maybe gravel, and bitumen. It is not an “ingredient” of a rocky road. You might feebly argue that crushed stone and gravel are “rock” but, even then, they are ingredients of asphalt, not he other way around. Crummy clue. And, yes, I once worked for the Highways Department and have recently had to build my own roads on my my small farm.
ReplyDeleteAnd, secondly, what’s with CRISS CROSS/APPLE SAUCE? Looked it up post-solve and see it’s a pre-school thing. I took my kids to pre-school (and kindergarten) and sat in as a parent helper and I never heard this term. Why APPLE SAUCE? Because it rhymes and kids will fall for anything if it rhymes. Sheesh! That’s awful. Cynical and manipulative, even. (Just looked at the clip Rex provided; that’s one scary progaganda film designed to produce nice submissive youngsters!)
Thirdly, an ART EXPO has so little to do with a craft fair that it’s laughable. Look up Art Expo Miami and then check out your local craft fair. I KNOW, RIGHT? (I liked that answer. Also amused by TINFOIL HAT.)
Pleased to see VALENCIA oranges, which I like to eat over the kitchen sink because they are so sweet and juicy, unlike their cousins, Sevilles, which are quite bitter but make great marmalade, which is also a treat.
24D SAWDUST. Tell me about it. My two youngest sons have been working feverishly in the shop for the last few days trying to make Xmas deadlines. I’m the guy who comes in at the end of the day with the broom and dustpan.
As I said up top, I kind of liked it but …
CRISSCROSSAPPLESAUCE is "cynical and manipulative"? Hoo-boy, you must have a hard time getting along.
DeleteA very grumpy post. I liked CRISSCROSS APPLESAUCE, although I don’t remember hearing it before. But it’s cute. And I enjoyed all the long horizontal and vertical answers and got ‘em all! A fun Friday puzzle for me done in (my)
Deleterecord time.
Ouch. Must be early there. Pretty good puzzle I thought.
DeleteCriss Cross Apple Sauce was not part of my young school days, in the 60's. But my kids learned it in the 90's so I was familiar. It replaced the much less PC (in a good way, IKR) term we used.
DeleteI sentence you to an afterlife with 30 4 year olds in a class; and they have to accomplish something.
DeleteI would not have guessed that you would've liked IKR. Thanks for keeping me on my toes.
ReplyDeleteIt's nearly Christmas, which means I think about WASHTUBs almost daily. If you've never seen the Jim Henson classic Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas, please do yourself the favor of a viewing (or three).
ReplyDeleteEasy, another whooshy solve.
ReplyDeleteWOEs - TIANA, ANNE, ERICA, and SEN and RILKE (as clued).
Costly erasures - tAsty before SAPID and LIVEacT before SET.
I want to thank The Food Network for FONDAT.
Very low on junk and very high on sparkle, liked it a bunch!
The above is me. Somehow got logged off.
DeleteI needed four cheats to finish. In what context is CRISSCROSSAPPLESAUCE well known?
ReplyDeleteI’d not heard of it, but that doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.
Delete@Rex. I want whatever you’re having this morning.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 11:47 AM
DeleteGreat line about Rex. I had the thought
I had a heck of a time getting started, and this added a few minutes to an average Friday time, so I would call it slightly harder than Medium. Terrific assemblage of entries though, really zingy; I liked all of I KNOW, RIGHT?, TIN FOIL HAT, AS SEEN ON TV, THERE'S MORE, CULT STATUS, FONDANT, CRISS-CROSS APPLE SAUCE... and THERE'S MORE still that I didn't mention. Even some of the fill shined: for example, I liked T-STOP (and used to enjoy doing T-STOPs as a kid). Never knew the term TOE for a golf club part, so even the prosaic three-letter words taught me something new today.
ReplyDeleteI assumed MOLT, so I didn't need the O to get there, but the O did CAUSE me to think it could be "fooey" for "fiddlesticks". SHOOT had to wait for crosses (I'll avoid the temptation to insert CRISS-CROSS past this point, but the opportunities abound). ERG may have been instinctual for Rex, but of course there are a number of three-letter physics terms which are associated with electrical phenomena (amp, ohm, mho, ...), and it therefore seems to me it would have been very easy to be thrown off by "electron volt", which as it happens isn't a unit of voltage, but rather of energy. So I'll boldly assume it was a fortuitous guess on RP's part, his A+ in physics notwithstanding.
It wasn't a dig at RILKE precisely, just random associations from OFL, but that in itself is indicative of how his column read today: he was letting it all HANG loose. HANGS as in "floats" as in the flotsam and jetsam that floats around his brain (trust me: I can relate), manifest in bringing up and weirdly repeating the Valley Girl stuff, and the stuff about Shakespeare and ASS E'EN and whatnot. Stuff that could spring unbidden from the brain after drinking a lot of coffee (I didn't know his referent "The PurLOINed Letter", but here too I think I detect the neuronal firings of a coffee brain lit up and at work).
Turning though to his unbuttoned (perhaps mock?) bafflement over DIPLOMA, he did get me curious about that word. This is what I found. So today, DIPLOMA almost always has to do with a degree (see French diplôme) from an educational institution, or with a parchment that certifies a degree, but way back in the day it could mean (etymology.com) "a state letter of recommendation," given to persons traveling to the provinces -- and it's easy to imagine such a document being folded in half and tucked in someone's vest.
I thank Rex for reproducing the FEDEX logo. He's right: there's the arrow, hiding in plain sight! Well, I'll be.
Happy Friday, everyone!
Good comments! First, you introduced me to the concept that “phooey” could also be spelled “fooey.” Much good stuff in between, then ending with the FEDEX logo. As for THAT, I thought I had learned about the hidden arrow within the last 10 years from a crossword, but maybe it was from Jeopardy. All I know is, at the time I thought “how did I miss that”?
Deletetht
DeleteKnowledge of physics has little to do with why Rex went for ERG. I did the same thing It’s crosswordese. We were not lucky. The odds were very high ERGvwas the answer. Z, an always interesting former commander here used to say that sometimes knowing too much about a subject can hurt you in crossworld.
@dgd. I think Rex has seen these other words as well, so it's lucky he went with ERG. You're right about "too much" knowledge sometimes not working in one's favor in the Crossworld (too much but not enough!).
DeleteAgree with RP, a very solid Friday. On the easy side, but no slouch. I loved APPLESAUCE and the CRISS CROSS of the two parts, plus TINFOIL HAT next CULTS. Sadly, no shortage of either one these days.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was growing up, we had MONEY TREES but they were a variety of Poplar called Quaking Aspen. As the small round leaves shake - or quake - in the wind, the reflecting sun light makes them appear to be shiny coins.
Great FriPuz themeless fillins. And the CRISSCROSS crossin APPLESAUCE pair was almost puztheme-worthy.
ReplyDeleteNicely done, even tho by a committee of 2.
staff weeject picks [of a measly 8 choices]: AIL & UGH. Havin nice side-by-side "gross" clues.
other fave stuff: ASSEENONTV. TINFOILHAT. FEDEX clue. ABET clue [one of a mere 2 ?-marker clues].
Thanx for gangin up on us, Ms. Rucks darlin & Mr. Johnson dude. Good LABPARTNERship work.
Masked & Anonymo5Us
... but wait ... THERESMORE ...
"No U-Turn" 8x7 12 min. themed runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
Typical elements of a jug band are:
ReplyDelete-- The jug itself, which is blown across to produce a tuba-like sound,
-- A guitar or banjo,
-- A washboard, stroked for rhythm,
-- A WASHTUB bass. The tub is inverted on the floor and acts as a resonator. A string is connected between a stick or broom handle and the tub itself, and is plucked. The stick is stretched one way or the other to modify the pitch.
Great Friday, and great write-up! Loved this. Didn't know CrissCross AppleSauce and now I do, so that's good. Also never saw that arrow in the FedEx logo and now I have, also good. FedEx dropped off a package with my grandaughter's presents at the wrong house last night, and included a picture of where it was to prove I'd received it. Quite a time with them getting it back. Finally went out and found it myself, though now i'm probably on camera swiping a package from someone else's house.
ReplyDeleteLearned SAPID too. Got held up with a couple typos (like RILKe), and took me forever to see CULTSTATeS crossing DeAL was wrong, but thought this was a fun and challenging Friday, and loved the write-up.
Another embarrassingly easy puzzle.
ReplyDeleteAgain… seriously…
What the heck is going on with Shortz?
Tough puzzle for me; naticked at TIANA and FONDANT; never heard of either of them.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Bobby Kennedy the first did say at younger brother's funeral, "There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" Certainly influenced by GB Shaw, if not lifted. I just wish he were still here to rein in his son a little bit, the rest of the family tries but without much success.
Archaic Torso of Apollo
ReplyDelete—Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 –1926)
We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,
gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.
Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast’s fur:
would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.
One of my favorite poems. That startling last line gets you no matter how many times you read it. Thanks for posting.
DeleteA fine but not terribly difficult Friday, yet I still managed to finish with a big fat error in the dead center. My 36A "confection used for cake icing" was FOOD ART! All the crosses seemed perfectly plausible; I can't keep track of the damned Disney princesses so TIAOA?... why not. And my tropical plants were MOREY TREES... again, looks okay! Yeesh.
ReplyDeleteI had other typeovers but caught them in time. The poet at 50 across ending in ---KE just had to be BLAKE. And the Greek for "folded paper", looking at DI---MA was DIORAMA for a while until it made no sense. And BATHTUB before WASHTUB.
My first degree was in physics; we used electronvolts a lot, but I don't remember ever actually using ergs. (There are a LOT of energy units: Joules, Watt-hours, etc.) I got lots of A's and A+'es but when I tried doing a Master's I was in over my head as very bright people from all over the world were there (UBC, Vancouver).
I very much enjoyed the puzzle today and I’m sure (as usual) part of that is because I didn’t have to cheat plus I had areas of whooshiness.
ReplyDeleteThe part that was last to fall into place for me today was in the vicinity of RILKE and DIPLOMA. First, I’m embarrassed to say that even though I know “folding paper” has zero to do with dioramas, I nonetheless wanted it to be the answer. Second, I am a prose preferrer, so poetry and poets are an embarrassing weak point for me. Poetry is high art and many times I just wish I could get into it, but I just never can. To wit: I’ve read Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings…but MAYBE I’ve read ONE of her poems. Or is it “poetic pieces”? See…I’m not even sure what to call it…
You'll probably recognize her most famous poem.
DeleteStill I Rise
By Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Thanks Jnlzabeth…it certainly rings of “Caged Bird.” I’d LIKE to think if I had a quiz, I’d pick it, but…I’m a poetry failure. And it IS beautiful. Ok. Here is how I think/feel, and it’s not pretty. (For me) For SOME reason reading poetry is like a very difficult crossword puzzle cloned with a Rubik cube. I guess we all have our ”fails” and poetry is one of mine. Keep in mind…having read “Caged Bird” was a tremendous cheat sheet for me.
DeleteI was also poetry-unschooled so I signed up to receive a daily poem from The Poetry Foundation. Unfortunately, after several years, I unsubscribed because I found I was not interested in the works I was being exposed to. I usually like the poems in the New Yorker, but I often skip them, even so. I like rhyming poems and I've found that unless I memorize a poem and can then parse the meaning from each line, it never comes together for me. Sigh.
DeleteWhen I was a kid, we sat on the floor with our legs crosses “Indian Style”. By the time my daughter was in preschool it had been completely supplanted by “criss cross applesauce”, I assume for reasons of cultural sensitivity.
ReplyDeleteYes. Same here.
DeleteLove the holiday pics!
ReplyDeleteSo many names/ words new to me like SAPID DART RILKE TSTOP, and CRISSCROSS .. I too found SW tricky and had to look up ERICA. So not easy, but informative and fun. TIL the arrow! Nice
TINFOIL HAT made me growl. It used to be a very unflattering, rude sort of trying to be jokey comment about someone with serious mental illness who would use said hat (or put foil over all the windows) to keep the alien vibes from stealing their thoughts. Unfortunately, the comments still exist. I encountered this precise delusion many times as the State’s representative forcing someone with mental illness who was endangering him/herself or others into treatment for a period of time. Thinking of the decades of those Tuesday morning mandatory commitment hearings that I tried each week not to have depressed me right off the bat today. Why can’t we (meaning humans generally but American humans in particular) simply accept that mental illness is just illness and encourage, make easily available and for Pete’s sake fund treatment - she sId rhetorically! I’ve never heard this comment applied to a doomsday “Prepper,” but find that use equally offensive.
ReplyDeleteThat was the low moment today. The remainder of the puzzle flowed nicely with some pretty clever clues. I have no idea what planet I have lived on to have today be the first time I became aware that CRISSCROSS APPLESAUCE was a “way to sit.” Growing up, (remember, folks, I’m in my 70s) I occasionally heard sitting cross-legged described as a certain “style” which usage thankfully is no longer common. Having been raised by my Gran, the kindest woman I’ve ever known, I was trained to recognize when “common speech,” colloquialisms or slang might be offensive to someone, and to pick more neutral words. I’d heard CRISSCROSS but never with APPLESAUCE but mostly just cross-legged.
Loved the pairing of AS SEEN ON TV with BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE. That made me chuckle. My husband used to love to wind up our daughter by telling her he had some exciting news. Then he would tell her part -the less exciting part, and act like that was all. As she shrugged her shoulders and looked at him like “ok, I guess” and shrug, he’d wait until she was about to turn away and add “BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!” He could fool her with that until she was in college.
All in all a very enjoyable Friday.
Good comments in the opening paragraph, and it sounds like you have a lot of inside experience. My off-the-cuff reaction is that the problems are enormous and have to be triaged in one way or another. So for example, when you have the highest levels of the US representative governance under the spell of what I have to term "lunatic" levels of QAnon conspiracy theories, the virtual equivalent of TINFOIL HATS, but affecting their constituents' lives on a mass scale because they entertain these lunatic notions as individuals, one of the first emergency reactions ought to be ridicule and derision of their notions as indeed dangerously lunatic. Yes, such congressional representatives (or RFK Jr.) are very likely in need of medical intervention and compassionate care, but necessary triage reactions in such cases are of a different order.
DeleteSorry, I don't mean to take your comments out of context, and I think I absolutely agree with their spirit, but Rex in his review had this other aspect in mind, I believe.
@CDilly52 5:15 PM
DeleteGood stuff as always.
Friday Personal Best and my 3800th completion!
ReplyDeleteThe problem with the tin-foil-hat meme is that some conspiracies are NOT imaginary. The CIA murdered JFK (using a Mafia hitman), after JFK had (foolishly) said (assuming he was re-elected in 1964), he wanted to "tear (the CIA) to shreds and scatter the pieces to the winds." Calling all conspiracy theorists "tin-foil-hat wearers" serves the interests of conspiracists who hide behind public aegis.
ReplyDeleteI liked the puzzle but rare for me I did the whole puzzle except the SW box and then gave up.
ReplyDeleteSapid has appeared fairly often in the puzzle I usually remember words like that but not today! Also why didn’t I see ace= SERVE. I had the —rve. Who knows
Didn’t know DART but had rt. So a big dnf for me. Easy medium otherwise is accurate. .
Como lo viste en la televisión... ¡Lo sé, ¿verdad?! Esa es la verdad.
ReplyDeleteGood puzzle zipped by with my only slowdown at SAPID and ERICA. Lots of fun entries and a rational dispersion of gunk.
❤️ TIN FOIL HAT. And is it a conspiracy if it's true?
❤️ CRISS CROSS APPLESAUCE.
People: 6
Places: 1
Products: 3
Partials: 4
Foreignisms: 1
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 15 of 70 (21%)
Funny Factor: 4 🙂
Uniclues:
1 Where three men rub-a-dub-dub.
2 Promotes prettyification.
3 Phrase offering hope to the downtrodden.
4 Purpose of OnlyFans.
1 TEAM'S WASHTUB
2 AIDS STYLISTS
3 THERE'S MORE ICEE (~)
4 SOFABED LIVE SET
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Role of a kindergarten cop. SPOT STRANGERS.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I pad yesterday (39 down) and today (30 across.)
ReplyDeleteWhat's not to like today? Some great cluing and I thought all the long marquee answers popped just fine, add some very strategic and elegant positioning as @Rex mentioned, i.e. CRISSCROSS and APPLESAUCE actually *crossing*, and the whole southeast long stack of THERESMORE right under ASSEENONTV, and you've go some great stuff here!
ReplyDeleteI usually like a bit more resistance in a Friday but I'll take a grid and solve like this any day.
Regarding @Rex's A+ in physics - as an Undergrad at Binghamton University where @Rex now teaches, there was a physics class for non-majors called "The Physics of Sound" taught by wonderful, brilliant and nutty (I mean that in the best way) professor that we simply called "Doc". I needed a math course and this was a god send as long division still to this day stumps me. I didn't get an A+ but it was something semi-respectable. We talked a lot about physics as it pertains to music and I remember walking away having a vague understanding of why there is actually no E# or B# (or the corresponding F and C flats). That knowledge is now lost to me but Doc made physics fun and for that I am still grateful after 40 years.
Also grateful to Adrian and Jess for a Thursday that pleases - thank you!
Washtub bass; a washtub, a broomstick, and some rope connecting them.
ReplyDelete