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One who enjoys the high C's? / FRI 12-19-25 / Afirmativa enfática / Like He and Xe / 2023 musical with a Tony for Best Choreography / L.G.B.T.Q.+ rights activist Windsor / Fashion designer Schiaparelli / Silver of the Silver Bulletin / Prosecco relative / Source of motivation, informally
Friday, December 19, 2025
Constructor: Hemant Mehta
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Word of the Day: ILLINOISE (14A: 2023 musical with a Tony for Best Choreography) —
Illinoise is a 2023 dance revue musical with music and lyrics by Sufjan Stevens and an original story by Justin Peck and Jackie Sibblies Drury. The musical was inspired by Stevens' 2005 album Illinois. The musical follows a young man who joins a group of friends telling stories around a campfire about their childhoods and growing up in Illinois.
After a summer festival premiere, regional production and off-Broadway tryout, the show played on Broadway from April to August 2024 at the St. James Theatre; these productions have all been directed and choreographed by Peck. Reviews on Broadway were generally positive, and Illinoise was nominated for four Tony Awards, including Best Musical, winning one for Peck's choreography.
• • •
No struggles today except with ILLINOISE. Seems very NYC-centric, that one (ironically). Are we generally expected to know what musical wins Best Choreography at the Tonys every year??? Seems like a big ask (pretty sure "big ask" is on the "Banned Words" list, btw). I was lucky enough to be familiar with Sufjan Stevens' album Illinois, which I always thought was called ILLINOISE because this is the cover:
- 37A: L.G.B.T.Q.+ rights activist Windsor (EDIE) — remembered ELSA, forgot EDIE. A real win some/lose some crossword experience.
- 44A: ___ Hadley, "Clever Girl" novelist (TESSA) — absolutely no idea. INFERed it from crosses. Let's look at the book.
 |
| [my god this is the absolute worst cover design—white lady, standing, shot from behind—generic, ubiquitous; let's look at a better cover...] |
 |
| [ah, that's better] |
- 6D: Yard sale? (ALE) — ALE is (I'm told, by crosswords) sold in units called "yards." Actually, yard glasses—truly, the silliest-looking glasses known to man.
- 7D: Afirmativa enfática ("SI, SI!") — read "enfática" as "enfantica" and thought I was looking for a childish affirmative.
- 30D: Pitch catcher? (EAR) — if someone "pitches" an idea to you, you "catch" it ... with your EAR. Oh, actually, this probably refers to "pitch" in the musical sense. Either way.
- 33D: Like He and Xe (INERT) — this clue made me laugh, so bravo. I saw "He and Xe" and thought "oh, pronouns!" But no. Not "Xe" as in the neopronoun, but "Xe" as in Xenon (one of the noble gases, which are INERT).
- 53D: Half time? (TOCK) — the other half is TICK, presumably.
 |
| [Milo and TOCK] |
It's time for 🌲🐈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 Howdy—fierce in his tree-guarding, elegant in his white gloves.
Zoey and Malcolm say "thank you for making us this Christmas bed, you may go now,"
Heather couldn't get all three of her cats into one photo, and maybe the photos will give you some indication why. They seem to have ... personalities. Here's Nelson meeting Santa.
Here's Lester being Santa
And here's Linny, two seconds before going full Godzilla on the Christmas Village
Finally today, there's Nelly, who is now caught in an infinite blog photo loop. Here she is proudly admiring her photo from last year. Can't wait for next year ... and the year after that ... and the year after that ...
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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| [me, after fawning over the dog, zooming in on bookshelf: "Hey, they own Foucault's Pendulum, neat!"] [Thanks, Alix!] |
Zoey and Malcolm say "thank you for making us this Christmas bed, you may go now,"
 |
| [Thanks, Mara!] |
Heather couldn't get all three of her cats into one photo, and maybe the photos will give you some indication why. They seem to have ... personalities. Here's Nelson meeting Santa.
 |
| [Thanks, Heather!] |
Finally today, there's Nelly, who is now caught in an infinite blog photo loop. Here she is proudly admiring her photo from last year. Can't wait for next year ... and the year after that ... and the year after that ...
 |
| [Thanks, Ellen!] |
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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102 comments:
No stars today? Is this winter solstice commentary?
Medium Friday. Liked it. I don't love NEPOBABIES (54A), but I don't hate it as much as OFL does.
* * * * _
Overwrites:
ari before RIO for the Grande opening at 10D
frog before tOad before WORM for the dissection subject at 42A
ccS before MGs for the 50A dosages
WOEs:
ELSA Schiaparelli at 1A
The Cleveland Guardians' Larry DOLAN at 9D
EDIE Windsor at 37A
TESSA Hadley at 44A
Typical Friday slog. Had "NYMet" before KNICK, and needed a look-up to get CATINTHEHAT (I last read Dr. Seuss about 75 years ago). The clue for OPERAGOER is clever, but I wanted some kind of voice ('coloratura soprano?). I agree with Rex that the STUBBEDTOES clue is awkward; I thought they were going for some kind of fruit for jam.
17 minutes for me in the AM. So I think that's medium for me. Definitely doable--such a range of difficulty, right? I mean, BLENDEDFAMILIES as clued was almost a gimme. EDGAR and GOUT (for me as a doctor), and ASTI and INFER and FACET and CATINTHEHAT and KETO were all really, really easy. And with the center spanner filled in, it split my grid into 2 puzzles. I started on the Right/East half. Had some of those "I know the 1st half--but what's the end" situations today.... FREE..... BASS.... IDEAL.... Finally got back to the west side. Took me way to long to think of HOME .... DEPOT! . Finished in the SW with the NEPOBABIES and the WAGEGAPS and the OPERAGOERs were my last answer. Thanks, Hemant, for a well-balanced puzzle! And @REX, I think you forgot to give us your star rating today????? Please rate. Thanks.
One of my quickest Friday solves ever! Nothing gave me too much trouble. I started with BASS DRUM and I was off to the races, working my way from the NE to the SE to the SW to the NW. I got EDIE Windsor right away, but ELSA Schiaparelli eluded me until the end--it was the last answer I put in. I enjoyed LOOMED LARGE, CAT IN THE HAT (especially as clued), DROPS DEAD, BLENDED FAMILIES--NEPOBABIES doesn't bother me nearly as much as it does @Rex. A solid, albeit crunchless, Friday.
Not quite sure where that write up came from. And to top it off he throws a Reiner reference into the mix. This was an unusually-styled and well-crafted puzzle with some interesting twists.
Not much to really love or hate here - went quick for a late week grid. Tend to agree with the big guy on NEPOBABIES - it’s an ugly term but definitely a real thing - to cherry pick a few outliers doesn’t fully work. WAGE GAPS is more disheartening for me.
Liked the BLENDED FAMILIES spanner and SNORKEL. DROPS DEAD is a little startling first thing in the morning.
Enjoyable enough Friday morning solve.
Ho Ho Ho
With end of the week puzzles I need toe holds. I don’t have the experience (or knack, a la Rex) to be able to discern the grid-spanners without at least some help from the crosses. With this one for example, I bumped into a fashion designer, ILLINOISE and a rich dude from Cleveland right off the bat. So the north was a bit of a slog. Eventually I was able to get some momentum going and was able to enjoy some of the non-trivial entries, which were mostly clued fairly. So this was probably somewhat above average in terms of solve-ability (and enjoyment) for a solver of my caliber (which is a good thing).
Knick annoyed me today - the clue should have ended with “, informally” as it is still officially knickerbocker
I did an inner backflip when I saw Hemant’s name atop the grid, as he’s one of my “can’t miss” constructors after just nine puzzles in the Times.
His puzzles pulse with interest. He averages close to nine NYT debut answers per puzzle, which makes his puzzles anything but same-old-same-old. Today ten include the lovely FREE SOLOED, BLENDED FAMILIES, SWAG BAG, and can you believe CAT IN THE HAT has never appeared before?
Embiggening the interest are the longs – a soaring 15 answers of eight letters or more, including nine of the ten debuts. Wow!
I also love the flowy grid design, never seen before in the Times. I especially love that rectangular-ish white island in the middle formed by black squares. Look at how its four entrances connect it to the entire grid. Mwah!
Coincidence: EDGAR and INSPO were answers just on Jeopardy.
Sweet serendipity: Two rare-in-crosswords five-letter semordnilaps – TESSA and SPEED.
Once again, just a heap of loveliness, Hemant. Thank you for this gem!
It's a shame that [Old money, for short?] wasn't PENNY.
I agree! I found it smooth, smart and delightful.
Ale is indeed sold by the yard. In the foolish days of my youth, the test of real manhood was downing a full yard glass in one continuous drink while your mates cheered you on. Foolish indeed.
Only a couple of overwrites today: DREAM dATE (d’oh) and TiCK before TOCK.
One more great title with BABIES in it: “Cakewalking Babies from Home.” https://youtu.be/YtzhBT4ICNI?si=2IyVZUTkCfcMopGC
Correctly anticipated three stars, but the mostly unflattering write-up seems more like two. Or else two-and-a-half. If nothing else, to assess a penalty for NEPOBABIES.
Clued a bit easy for a Friday. Agree with Rick, BLENDED FAMILIES went in without crosses.
I've read the book The Golden Ratio (Nerd Alert), but forgot that the associated Greek letter was PHI, neither PHO (second try), nor RHO (first try). Finally, but nauseatingly, finished with INSPO.
Hey All !
Tough FriPuz here. Filled in in spurts and stops. (Is that the saying? Probably not ...)
Got it all correct with no cheats, so YAY ME!
Wanted REy or REx for REB, how many RE_ words are there for that clue?
ari for RIO first, thinking Arianna Grande. epic-SAGA, spelled LENGhtEN as such at first, so my 24D ended with tilt at first.
Nice Friday. Tougher than it's been.
Have a great Friday!
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Scarily similar solve experience, except I knew ELSA but not EDIE. Fast and enjoyable.
@Southside, look at the clue for ILLINOISE again…unless you were kidding (wink)
I’ve honestly never thought about it before, but while NEPOBABIES certainly seems inappropriate as a universal term of disdain for all those born to famous/rich parents, I think there are some who truly deserve it in a reasonably pejorative sense. Don’t ask me to name them.
I liked this puzzle despite some totally unknown names and trivia. It has some pleasant crunch for me.
Rex ultimately gave the puzzle 3 stars, even with the criticisms. I guess I was pleased with myself I knew NEPOBABIES but agree with the criticism. When a word creates an entire category of people I don’t think it’s good. Sometimes we just need to speak in complete sentences, ie. “Yes, Ben Stiller is the son of Ann Meara and Jerry Stiller, but he is hugely talented and very smart.” Or, “The daughter of the CEO got the promotion over several other more qualified candidates.”
@Rex, you MAY not like the clue or entry DROPSDEAD in 15-20 years. I don’t usually have much “reaction” to puzzle answers but that one made me kind of utter a tiny “ugh” (more like “ilh”) as I filled it in.
At any rate, I DID enjoy the puzzle overall and am pleased to report no cheat necessary!
When I first read Rex, his opening remarks were followed by two Google 502 error messages, inviting me to try again in 30 seconds. I spent about 5 minutes trying to figure out what Rex was trying to say in his wry manner; then I tried reloading the page and some of them turned into embedded videos. I guess I've got a slow connection this morning.
I was delighted to drop in LOOMED LARGE from the LO, but then I doubted it for a long time, especially since it worked with the suspicious ELDER--do young people trust us old-timers today? I think not, or Joe Biden would be in his second term, managing the national conversion to renewable energy.
Speaking of which, Donald Trump is a NEPOBABY, I guess. But in most cases, the offspring of famous people get the advantage of learning their trade from a very early age. They also get some introductions; but they have to have the skill, talent, and ability to work hard. That's why at least three of J.S. Bach's sons were successful composers.
No idea who Chris Hemsworth is, but once I got the TH he was either Vincent's brother or THOR.
I wanted the Windy City exchange to be CBOE, except I couldn't remember the exact letters, so I let the crosses help me, got the M, and put in MERC. Some days you get lucky.
Unlike Rex, I saw Xe and He and thought, "oh, Chinese people." The misdirection was just as good either way.
I also wrote ARI and mistyped LENGTHEN the same way!
Did not enjoy the puzzle thanks to ELSA, ILLINOISE, TESSA, EDIE (all WoEs).
We seem to have entered a period of more pop culture, fewer interesting words on themeless days. I'm hoping it is a temporary one.
Also, are PEEPs a 'treat'? More a punishment, I think.
Pop culture and social media ignorance mean that I miss things like ILLINOISE (??) but also am under-exposed to terms like NEPOBABIES, which apparently can irritate some people no end. Have also missed out on both ELSA and EDIE somehow, also INSPO, which is a least slightly cringey. And someday I will learn all the TESSAs, as I should, as a granddaughter.is a TESSA.
FREESOLOED of course made me think of the film "Free Solo", which ia amazing, but more than a few parts are definitely hard to watch. Yikes.
One answer which I will not reproduce was especially grating as the lovely woman in the condo next to ours "died unexpectedly" a week ago and no real details yet. She had many friends in the music and theater communities locally and we'll miss her a lot.
I liked your Friday very much, HM, especially those Happy Moments when I could fill in the long answers off a letter or two (BLENDEDFAMILIES, LOOMEDLARGE, THECATINTHEHAT). Thanks for all the fun.
Tough one for me. A lot of stuff I'd never heard of. But overall it was not bad.
Love the pet pics!
Rex, are you forgetting what the 'NEPO' stands for? It's Nepotism. It disadvantages/discriminates the rest of the general population. In fact, this is why judges cannot hold court over their relation: It would be UNFAIR. Nepotism is (by definition) unfair. But, hey, you can like whatever you want J.K. I mean...Rex.
I thought that that "Clever Girl" author was an asset, but I had it backward (hi @Lewis).
There are some big advantages to being NEPOBABIES. Recently I had to pay to rock climb while several of them FREESOLOED.
Tennis fans may remember how much ILLINOISE Nastase used to make. Our dear, departed @Nancy surely would.
Sailor: Let's play cards. Who will distribute them?
Captain: IDEALMATE.
As I age, I'm not the PEER I used to be. I just don't have a good pressure source anymore.
I thought this was a good tussle. Liked it a bunch. Thanks, Hemant Mehta.
This was 30 minutes which is my average for a Saturday so a little on the challenging side. I wasted a bit of time on the NW not being able to recall EDGAR and STUBBEDTOES was a mystery until the end.
As a Chicagoan Im afraid to say I was quite slow on ILLINOISE (never heard of it) and MERC. For the latter I was thrown off by a DATE/MATE write over. The C of FACET cleared that up.
Another write over was SCALED/SOLOED in the NE. SNORKEL fixed that.
My best section was the SW. I didn't have to read the clues for NOW, EPA and PEG. With the downs I already had the long crosses from NEPOBABIES on down went right in.
I finished in the NW. Besides from the troubles I had in the north of that section I was also held back by an UNDER/ENDAT write over in the south. Once I remembered EDGAR and recognized STUBBEDTOES it all came together.
While not exactly a " fun Friday " it was a very enjoyable solve.
Pretty straightforward; Easy-Medium seems about right.
I thought it decent in quality. NEPO BABIES doesn't really bother me, and I kind of feel that Rex's exhortation to constructors to purge their word-banks of this word is a case of throwing out the NEPO BABY with the bathwater. No doubt it can be and is used "casually and sneeringly and unthinkingly", but part of me thinks it can also be applied very deservedly, and the people I have in mind would richly deserve that slur, and much worse. Not the examples that Rex produces who are in show biz -- referring to Rob Reiner as a NEPO "BABY" is so outside my universe of thinkable thoughts that I have to wonder who Rex is reading that he has seen that *many* times this week -- egads! I would not spend a millisecond reading such people. Obviously those people are ridiculous. I would save the spleen for something else.
INSPO on the other hand -- I would warmly encourage you to purge your word-bank of that.
Misfires include gumpTION before AMBITION, and FREE-ScalED before FREE-SOLOED -- I knew something felt off with that one. [Words (like "OOHS") cannot capture the awe I feel toward Alex Honnold who FREE-SOLOED El Capitan.] I put in Ole before RIO, thinking of Grand(e) Ole Opry, but something felt off about the e in Grande in that phrase. I wondered about Mike (as in Magic Mike) for a character that one of those Hemsworth brothers played, before THOR became compelling. Marvel Comics. Never gets old.
"Are we generally expected to know what musical wins Best Choreography at the Tonys every year???" No, and that's why ILLINOISE appears toward the end of the week.
The long downs were pretty good, mostly. I agree with Rex that STUBBED TOES is an awkward plural (a POC), but then I remembered the one eventful time that I was walking in the dark through woods wearing only sandals on my feet, and boy did I bash the bejesus out of several of my poor tootsies on an unseen stone, a grand ole bloody mess it was on inspection after I got back to my apartment.
It dawned on me that GOUT really is a form of arthritis (-itis meaning inflammation, and arthr- or arthro- referring to joints). Normally when I think of GOUT (and thank goodness thinking is the only thing I have to do with it), I think of a typical root cause being an imbalanced diet, whereas this isn't true so much of arthritis generally, I don't think.
Okay, that'll be all for now. Happy Friday, everyone!
Nepobabies is and I think should be used to talk about people who owe their success to both the money and connections of their parents; especially those that don't acknowledge the role those connections have. The bottom line is there are many who are talented enough to be successful actors, for instance, but those with family connections are wildly overrepresented because they had a significant foot in the door and the resources to not have to have a "real" job. In that context I think it's a useful word.
Hah me too! I thought “Chinese surnames! But that doesn’t fit…”
I had a similar reaction to DROPS DEAD. I mean, it's inherently not a pleasant image, and saying to someone "why don't you just DROP DEAD?" would be at least as bad as calling them a NEPO BABY.
I don't think I've ever called anyone a NEPO BABY, but if ever I did, they would assuredly be deserving because they misused their privilege to grow up to be absolutely horrible people, more so than they would have been otherwise. Somehow I feel that examples ought to be superfluous here.
Fun puzzle if a bit easy for a Friday. No issues with NEPOBABY but I have never heard someone say “IDEALMATE”. I had idealDate which seems more reasonable. Especially crossing some Chicago nonsense. I will accept NYC and Philly only!
Sometimes it’s the little things…could not figure out PEG as part of the Battleships game. My brothers and I would just get a piece of paper and draw up the “board”. Never knew there was a high tech version! Took a bit of searching to get a foothold on this one beside the opening was something of a trivia test—didn’t know any of the names. However, like the rest of the puzzle and thought there were many first-rate clues. Was fun to see CATINTHEHAT appear, as if out of a poetic mist.
ILLINOISE played Chicago Shakespeare Theater before moving to Broadway. I saw it there and it was amazing. The clue is not quite as NYC-centric as its Best Choreography clue implies.
I suspect most Chicagoans would guess CBOE instead of MERC, because the city is identified in the abbreviation (Chicago Board Options Exchange), while MERC is short for "Mercantile."
Like it or not, NEPO BABIES is a common, in the language term. The idea that only pleasant things should be in a crossword puzzle is ridiculous.
I agree with Rex's comments today but am a little surprised he gave it three stars. It seemed too easy for a Friday; I couldn't believe we had the dull clue "Wrinkle remover" for IRON on a Friday. There were names I didn't know, but I got them all from the crosses.
Not a lot of sparkle in this puzzle, though KNICK crossing KNEED was kind of nice.
Got stuck for a few minutes with OPERAGEEK instead of OPERAGOER. Enjoyed the puzz though!
I agree with @Lewis 7:38 about the pleasures of filling in Hemant Mehta's grid, especially LOOMED LARGE, SWAG BAG, and [ducks] NEPOBABIES; BASS DRUM over ...NOISE; and the range of woes from STUBBED TOES to KNEED to DROP DEAD. I just wished the cluing hadn't been so (mostly) straightforward, to toughen things up a bit.
EDIE Windsor, besides being an activist was "the lead plaintiff in the 2013 Supreme Court of the United States case United States v. Windsor, which overturned Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act and was considered a landmark legal victory for the same-sex marriage movement in the United States." (Wikipedia) A ruling that LOOMED very LARGE for my family.
Help from being old: ELSA. Help from previous puzzles: TESSA. No idea: DOLAN.
I liked it especially 19A IRA. Was stuck forever on 53D TOCK, 33D INERT, spelled LENGTHEN wrong but all in all in decent Friday.
Thank you, Hermant :)
BTW For those that are following Robyn W. at the NYer (because she doesn't seem to appear at the NYT anymore, if you don't subscribe you won't be able to do her puzzles. I'll miss you Robyn!
All the same overwrites as above!
My sweet-one-and-only prints the puzzle for me and often keys in on a clue/answer, today was NEPO...which I confirmed so I solved from the bottom up for a change
I'm not mad at the term NEPO BABIES, possibly because one of my favorite "Please Don't Destroy" videos is with Dakota Johnson where they acknowledge their privilege without denigrating the talent every Nepo Baby needs to have if they're going to stick around. The skit was self-aware and hilarious, and a necessary "I get it" from those who wouldn't have achieved their success without the open door. The successful ones made the most of their opportunity, as would anyone in their position, but the world is full of talented people who never get a shot. Acknowledging that reality is an act of grace IMO.
Breezy Friday solve. 18:39
Fits and starts?
Not very hard and not much fun. The nice entries mentioned negated by IRA for "Old money," STUBBEDTOES, and TOCK for "Half time."
Surprised to see that INSPO is a dictionary word.
In baseball, if you’re at bat, an errant pitch could be in your ear.
On the easy side for me. No costly erasures but ILLINOISE, EDIE, TESSA, AGE, FINS, and DOLAN were WOEs. Pretty smooth solve in spite of the WOEs.
FREE SOLO is an excellent movie.
Plenty of sparkle, liked it.
The two point conversion in last night's NFL game is among the weirdest ever. The defensive lineman blocked the pass, usually a great play, and it ended up losing the game for his team.
Second straight day with one letter wrong and, today, it was the very last one! I went with INSPa, going with the way I felt it would be pronounced. KETO was no help. Nonetheless, enjoyed the puzzle greatly. Stay safe if the winds are howling in your neck of the woods, like here!
STUBBEDTOES - the “jam” referred to in the clue here is the door jam. The aggressor of indeed more than one toe at a time in my case in years gone by I’m sorry to say.
@Lewis. It’s hard to believe BLENDEDFAMILIES and SWAGBAG were debuts. Thanks for the research, Lewis.
For me, the puzzle was just fine. Fairly easy and unremarkable. I really enjoyed the write up, though, especially the pet pics. Lenny the cat made my day.
But that's spelled JAMB, even though pronounced "JAM." I don't think Will Shortz would make that mistake.
I'm a subscriber, but I think the NYer puzzles are available to nonsubscribers too. They feature a whole bunch of stellar constructors.
Nice to think of the peg as "high tech."
Dang, I was kinda hoping you would tie in Diktat somehow…
If so, then "jamb" is spelled incorrectly.
My solving route seemed to follow the same road map as yours today @Rick, except I was driving a bit slower. Got BLENDED FAMILIES from the EN and thought I would slay this thing. But no. It was, as you say, well balanced and some things were quite difficult for me - like that weird clue for STUBBED TOES.
Solvequested somewhat easy-ish at out house. Slight precious nanoseconds breech in the NE, I'd grant.
staff weeject pick: MGS. Plural abbreve meat.
some of the faves: LOOMEDLARGE. STUBBEDTOES & clue. SWAGBAG. CATINTHEHAT [kinda like Lester in the blog's pet gallery pics]. Jaws of Themelessness puzgrid blocks.
Thanx, Mr. Mehta dude. Nice job.
Masked & Anonymo2Us
... and now, for some Xmas desperation ...
"Desperate Holiday Xword Square" - 7x7 12 min. desperate:
**gruntz**
M&A
I looked up Larry Dolan because I knew the owner of the Knicks (and Rangers) is a Dolan too and didn't want to confuse them. So I learned two things: (1) Larry Dolan passed away last February at the age of 94, and (2) the Dolan who owns the Knicks and Rangers is his nephew James.
I know there have been discussions about the notion that the late week puzzles are getting easier and today seemed to provide the proof. The last three Fridays were record times for me, under 20 minutes, with almost no struggles. I wish they were as crunchy as they were a few years ago.
You can jam your fingers in the jamb of a door. (Jamming your toes there would be more unusual; why would you do that?)
You can jam your toe(s) into the leg of a chair, but when it comes to the verb "jamming" in this sense, I think the more commonly heard application would be to fingers. Someone asks what happened when they see your finger in a splint, and you say, "oh, I stupidly jammed my finger when I was trying to break my fall the other day".
I thought this was very easy for a Friday till I totally bombed in the NW. Thought it would have to be Larry Brown but it wasn't. Sports are definitely not my thing.
And what's with IRA being old money? Because you keep it till retirement or what?
I think "old money" is supposed to mean "money for oldsters".
It’s hard to keep straight all these legacy teams. I mean, even one I should arguably know…like Baltimore Colts owned by Robert Irsay, who moved “stuff”…don’t know what “stuff” via Mayflower moving semis under cover of night to Indianapolis…so the Indianapolis Colts…then eventually passed away, and ownership passed on to son Jim Irsay…who recently died…and now his DAUGHTER owns. Um. I’d have to do a search (at this point) to know HER name. So…no offense to Cleveland…but WHO keeps up with this stuff?
Solving last night, this went a bit fast for a Friday. As soon as I saw ILLINOISE it took me down a time vortex to when that Sufjan Stevens album came out. So right after finishing, I fired up Youtube on the TV and listened to it. Man what a great album. I forgot how lovely "Chicago" is, and how awfully sad are "Casimir Pulaski Day" and "John Wayne Gacy". I expected Rex to post one of those songs but "Come on... Illinoise" is fine enough. Sigh.
And what a finish to the Seahawks game last night. I watched the last few minutes and the overtime; the first NFL game I've watched at all this year and what a classic!! A bizarre two point conversion to force overtime, and another to win it.
Ok. Jam, jamb, stub. All I know is this. The whole thing threw me because….tada!…How many people stub (or jam) BOTH toes? Okay. I guess you could stub/jam the big toe/second toe(?) of one foot. IF you are like me (it’s okay to NOT to be like me)…the toe I stub is ONE…the big toe. To me, “jamming toes” makes me think…”the shoes were too small…my toes were jammed up against the tip of my shoes.” So…like many/all of us I GOT the answer, but it wasn’t perfect.
@mathgent…you prompted me to check out the Seahawks win. Btw. You still haven’t responded to my inquiry about the Colts’ grandpa. Perhaps you are just being kind.
🏆
@John P…I think maybe the point was that, while it is an “in the language” term, maybe it shouldn’t be. And…believe me…I’m okay with “unpleasant” answers (ok…above, I DID say DROPSDEAD made me go “ilh.” (Or ugh)) Nevertheless she persisted…and I only commented on it in response to Rex “liking it.”
I have to say @Carola…you had me with “I agree with Lewis.”
Great puzzle. Only clue I didn't like is 58A: OOHS. I hate this type of fill. But everything else was fantastic. Lots of fun answers that surprised me.
Correct.
I doubt that Rex doesn’t know that NEPO refers to nepotism. It’s the use of it in a way that…(ok…please look at my comment above). Can people have “ins” due to their parents…or maybe a pot of “seed money” for a project due to their parents? Sure. To me…that might be born into an economic advantage, but it isn’t “nepotistism.”
@tht. I like your take on NEPO BABY and some “absolutely horrible people”, but some of them have turned out OK. Commenters have cited Rob Reiner, Ben Stiller, and I’d add Sofia Coppola and even Paloma Picasso to the list. They are (or were) all undoubtedly talented but they are all products of nepotism. I can imagine Joe Schmo designing great jewelry in his one room apartment in Brooklyn and trying to get someone to look at it while Paloma asks her dad to see if his good friend Yves St. Laurent might take a look at her stuff. That’s privilege. It’s nepotism.
The problem with NEPO BABY is that the second part is infantilizing, demeaning and, while some of these people have taken advantage of their position, they don’t deserve to be called babies.
You may be able to detect that I am conflicted about this. I have no famous relatives or friends so I root for the Joe Schmos but I like the work of Reiner, Stiller, and Coppola. I don’t think nepotism will ever disappear but I hate the term NEPO BABY. The privilege seems inevitable but the misuse of it is deplorable.
I'm really on Rex's wavelength today. NEPOBABIES has a negative connotation to me, and I don't like it when it's used for talented people who benefited from having family in the business. I think it implies that their success is undeserved, which is not always true.
I also agree with Rex that INSPO should be banned from the face of the earth. And I also thought that Sufjan Stevens's album was titled, "ILLINOISE" until today.
I think the clue is referencing toe jam, the icky stuff that collects between your pedal digits if you don't shower often enough. I've been on enough back country outings with lots of bushwhacking and no showers that i know this vile stuff exists but I still think the clue stinks.
I thought it was a pleasant solve and I learned a few things along the way including what a diktat is. I see it even has a wiki page. Ah, from the German, similar to "dictate". Puts another spin on the Italian auto maker FIAT. Buy one, NOW!
As usual, I noticed several marqueeesque entries were short of the mark. Both BLENDED FAMILY/ WAGE GAP and NEPO BABY/FIN needed some letter count boosts from the ultra helpful two for one POC (plural of convenience).
Then there's the "sticks out like a sore thumb" STUBBED TOE. DROP DEAD gets a rare stealth internal POC.
Also of note were some entries that benefitted from another kind of LCI (letter count inflation) by shifting from the present to the past tense, to wit, LOOM LARGE, FREE SOLO and KNEE.
There was a constructioneering (™M&A) diktat common to all these: LENGTHEN!
I see three stars on my phone app
"Casimir Pulaski Day" and "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." are devastating songs.
Enjoyed this puzzle’s clever clues Worked SW first then NW, SE and finally NE. Got all the names from crosses so fair. As someone who recently seriously stubbed more than one toe on my left foot 3D came easily to me! I jammed my toes into a door at night.
Loved the long answers
Hey Beezer. My comment was in response to RP’s review. Never saw your original comment. Peace out.
@Anon 1:01. Too painful.
Anonymous 7:12 AM
You said “should have” included informally. in the clue for KNICK.
Shortz and company have no such rule. Especially when it involves common words and names which are almost always shortened. I can’t remember the last time I actually read or heard someone say Knickerbocker in reference to a player. In context, the answer is fine. If we were talking about Martin Van Buren maybe not.
I had DOUBLE DOORS instead of STUBBED TOES and felt so confident in it that it gave me real trouble in the NW. Otherwise easy.
Anonymous 8:13am
About NEPOBABIES
I agree with you. Nothing wrong with the word if used correctly.
Just because it was absurdly used by MAGA heads to criticize the highly regarded and talented director, Rob Reiner, doesn’t mean the term should be banned. When Ann Richards said about Bush that he was born on third base and thought he hit a triple she was making the same point as nepo baby does
Les S More
The misuse of nepotism baby is deplorable. In response
I just made a point. Just because a term is used incorrectly doesn’t mean it is a bad term. Ann Richard’s comment about Bush, born on third base and thought he hit a triple is very similar in meaning as nepo baby and is a classic put down in American politics. J
Is it true that ILLINOISE was a 2024 winner, not 2023?
Kitshef
FWIW
ELSA for a Disney princess is pop culture. ELSA Schiaparelli was a famous ( at one time anyway) Italian designer who was born in 1890 and died in 1973. Her designs were more famous as pieces of art but she was highly respected. These days she may be on the obscure side but she is in no way part of pop culture.
I
@RodeoToad, devastating is quite right.
In the mood for a relatively easy puzzle. Enjoyed this one.
Not big on banning terms like nepo baby. Used correctly nothing wrong with it. Term is insulting of course. Hence baby instead of say child.
But I think it’s fair to apply the term to George W. Bush and much more so to Jared Kushner son of a rich developer married into the Trump family who used those connections to make money from governments and rich people in the Middle Esst seeking to buy influence with Trump going back to 2017 and ongoing.
That’s like saying you say clue something like “Joe Biden” as “informally” because his legal name is Joseph
I have no issue with Nepobaby. Its meaning is for people who *only* have their position because of who their parents are. Using it towards legitimately talented people is incorrect (although it obviously happens).
Inspo is also pretty common slang on the internet, so I think it should absolutely be included as a valid word.
Si si.
Happy I survived this. My first pass through this was a nightmare and I kept thinking, "This is the kind of Friday I hate with so many names," but then things started to flow and I finished in short order and basically had a good time at the end despite another unnecessarily gunky themeless. Never judge a Friday by the first few minutes.
Don't know any of the people so it seemed like there were more than there were. You fill in the most likely vowels and hope for the best.
You have to say AGE is an opportunity, otherwise you'll be sadder with each passing day. And that seems to be happening anyway.
I really dislike the phrase NEPOBABIES. People sometimes hire their family. Nothing stopping anyone from getting a new job somewhere else. Should be easy if you've got such mad skills compared to the son-in-law.
People: 8
Places: 1
Products: 8
Partials: 7
Foreignisms: 3
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 27 of 72 (38%)
Funny Factor: 4 🙂
Uniclues:
1 Sugar daddy (or mama).
2 Result of a comedian killing.
3 Aria aficionado's aggravation in their drawers.
4 Really heavy toolbox.
5 The scent of an octopus.
1 ELDER IDEAL MATE
2 DROPS DEAD TREND
3 OPERA GOER CLAP
4 THOR SWAG BAG
5 SNORKEL TANG
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: A low Gunk puzzle helped me hit my stride last year: What you'll hear at a poetry slam in Nevada. SIN CITY BAD RAPS. What retail clerks give me when I'm trying to be funny at the checkout. TERMINAL SNEER. Catch phrase in a Sixth Sense remake starring worms. I SEE DIRT. Pleasant phrase in your living room and cruel phrase at a plane crash site in the Andes. LET'S EAT GRANDPA.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a puzzle this much ! Laugh out loud loved it ! The long answers were just fantastic THANK YOU !
Slow (and *very* late) start for me today. I don't think I had anything at all except for DOTS after my first pass. But then FREESOLOED somehow clicked for me with no letters at all and things started to come together.
Costly mistake as I had OLD for 12D (Kind of school) that I could not let go as the D was correct. But after some deep thought, SISI and SNORKEL came to me which got me to BASSDRUM and with some other crosses, I got ILLINOISE (MED school - DOH!). That was hard work but I loved every minute of it.
The long downs in the West gave me some trouble. I had the ST for 3D and kept trying to make STRAWBERRY fit in there somehow for the Jam in the clue, when that didn't work I was a little lost for a while. When AMBITION and REB fell, those two Bs got me the foothold I needed for STUBBEDTOES. LOOMEDLARGE took some time as well but I enjoyed the proper workout.
Not a fan of DROPSDEAD or NEPOBABIES. The latter for all the reasons @Rex gave but also because it's such an unimaginative use of words for a put down. Just ugly. On the other hand, I thought all the other long ones were lovely.
I also enjoyed the cluing for IRA and learned about ALE being sold in yards - cool!
Even with my couple of small hold ups, this ran with a little less resistance than a typical Friday but it was still very much a joy to solve. Thank you Hemant!
100% agree with penny for “old money.” IRA was just ok by comparison, but I agree with your affinity for Hemant Mehta’s puzzles. His knack for cleverness can always slow me down and make me smile.
Well said in your reply re NEPOBABIES @dgd 6:06PM. Would that we all tried as hard to be kind rather than clever.
Re NEPOBABIES and any “label” designed to put all of any group automatically in the same basket: We might have a chance at a kinder world without such overgeneralizations.
Like @Lewis, I’m a fan of our constructor. So many debut entries (thanks @Lewis), and some very clever - especially enjoyed “boomer” for BASS DRUM and the OPERA GOER enjoying the high c’s. A few too many names for my taste, and I could do without NEPOBABIES, but we don’t have to like all the entries in a puzzle for it to be enjoyable overall, and as Fridays go, this was solid.
Just came to say it’s “THE Home Depot” - the clue missed the THE. It’s rather unusual for the definite article. Only others I know of with THE are The Cheesecake Factory and The Children’s Place.
I love Heather’s three cats! They remind me of mine who also refuse to be in the same room 😸😸😸
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