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Secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega / WED 12-10-25 / Final boss in the game God of War / Rapper who co-starred in 1994's "Above the Rim" / Several things in a pagoda / Ax, so to speak / First name in daring jumps / Iconic repeated Keanu Reeves role / "Community" character played by Donald Glover / Performer of the 1992 dance song "Supermodel (You Better Work)"
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
Constructor: Kareem Ayas
Relative difficulty: Medium
Theme answers:
- PRERECORDED (19A: Like voice mail messages, for example)
- PRINTER (23A: OUT OF ORDER! π«π«π« PAPER TRAY REQUIRES MAINTENANCE!)
- NATURERESERVE (42A: Protected lands for plants and animals)
- ESCALATOR (44A: OUT OF ORDER! π«π«π« USE STAIRS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!)
- ROSESARERED (63A: Love poem opener)
- TOILET (69A: OUT OF ORDER! π«π«π« USE SECOND-FLOOR BATHROOM INSTEAD!
A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves, common in Tibet, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist, but sometimes Taoist or Hindu, and were often in or near viharas. The pagoda traces its origins to the stupa, while its design was developed in ancient India.[1] Chinese pagodas (Chinese: ε‘; pinyin: TΗ) are a traditional part of Chinese architecture. In addition to religious use, since ancient times Chinese pagodas have been valued for the spectacular views they offer, and many classical poems attest to the joy of scaling pagodas. (wikipedia)
• • •
The fill started creaking real early, with the resurrected corpse of EVEL Knievel jumping into the grid right up top and the resurrected corpse of PEI joining him soon after—two crosswordese icons of yore, linked together by ... EVENER π I'm pretty sure I uttered many actual UHS today (including when I got the answer UHS). There's just a giant angry swirl of green ink on my puzzle print-out around the entire section that extends above and below RICE PADDY. The ugliness arguably stretches all the way to the bottom of the grid (down where ARLO DTS URSA live), but it's densest there around RICE PADDY, with ATMS MCS SEEDER DOER AVEC PROSIT SRI congealing into an unappetizing mass. As I said above, I know why the theme buckles like this—you don't have three themers today, you have six, and they come as conjoined pairs, and that much fixed theme material would be very, very hard to build a clean grid around. You too would find yourself resorting to clumps of ECO CFO NSFW and the like. The puzzle does manage to get off a couple of longer colorful answers, specifically RUPAUL strutting with VEGGIE BACON (PETA would be so happy). But overall, wading through this puzzle was often somewhat tedious (if not particularly difficult).
[Performer of the 1992 dance song "Supermodel (You Better Work)"]
I had trouble primarily with small stuff today. Stuff like END, what the hell is with that clue? (12D: Ax, so to speak). Is this like a program that you "END"—so "END" as in "cut"? And "Ax" as in "cut"? Is that it? OK. Not natural synonyms to my ear, but defensible, I guess. I thought the thunderbolt wielder was THOR (11A: Thunder bolt wielder => ZEUS). I forgot that the [Secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega] was ZORRO and thought maybe EL CID. I was convinced that Donald Glover played a TREY on Community (58D: "Community" character played by Donald Glover), which made the TOILET hard to find for a bit. No idea if the N.F.L. linemen were DTS (defensive tackles) or DES (defensive ends) (although DES is never clued that way, which I should've realized). Forgot there was a Matrix character called ORACLE. Two Matrix characters in this grid why?? There was a niche-iness to the pop culture answers that grated a little. Community character, "final boss" of some video game, multiple Matrix characters ... none of these had to be pop culturey at all. I think once or twice you can steer regular words and phrases into pop cultural territory if that floats your boat, but doing it again and again = π«π«π«.
Bullets:
- 29D: Trampoline mats (BEDS) — as with END, I just stared at this answer wondering "really?" Are the mats beside the trampoline? For when you ... dismount? Or in case you fall off. Because I've never seen a mat *on* a trampoline. This illustration says the thing you actually jump on is called a "jumping mat"—is that the BED? Words can't express how uninterested I am in trampolines.
- 33A: Green dispensaries? (ATMS) — I think this wants to be a (marijuana) dispensary joke, but if ATMS wants to hide from me, it's going to have to do a way better job than this.
- 34D: Several things in a pagoda (TIERS) — big vocabulary fail today. I looked at "pagoda" and all I could see in my mind's eye was one of those wooden structures ... you see them in backyards and parks ... open on the sides, covered, maybe domed? ... eventually I realized that my brain was stuck somewhere between "pergola" and "gazebo" (the latter of which was the more elusive of the pair—I literally googled "small covered structure in garden or park" in order to jog "gazebo" loose from my brain, ugh. Anyway, most gardens and parks don't have pagodas.
 |
| [not a pagoda] |
- 56A: Hole in the wall (RAT TRAP) — "Hole in the wall" suggests somewhere out of the way, undiscovered. "A small, very modest, often out-of-the-way place," says American Heritage Dictionary. Nothing in there about ****ing rats!? RAT TRAP is intensively negative in a way that "Hole in the wall" just isn't. I might eat at a hole in the wall. A RAT TRAP ... probably not.
That's all. See you next time. Remember, my annual π²πHoliday Pet Picsππ² extravaganza starts tomorrow, so if you want your pet to be part of the parade (which will likely extend into the new year), get that photo to me today (rexparker at icloud dot com). Many of the photos are memorial photos, which adds to the poignancy of the whole endeavor. Please feel free to send me holiday pics of your recently deceased buddies. Like Miley here, who died just after the holidays last year. What a sweetie. I miss her and I didn't even know her.
[Thanks, Michael and Lisa!]
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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99 comments:
Sorry but it’s a nature preserve… Nature reserve is a reach especially as one of the key answers.
Medium. Didn't like it as much as @Rex. Sloggier than a normal Wednesday.
* * _ _ _
Overwrites:
thor before ZEUS for the thunderbolt guy at 11A
Diva before DOER for the actor at 45A
WOEs:
BEDS as trampoline mats at 29D
ORACLE as a Matrix denizen (49D)
SRI Chinmoy at 54A
TROY and any "Community" character (58D). "Community" itself is also a WOE.
This was definitely challenging for me today, 15 minutes plus! Stared at that middle section--I was sure that _ _ RE must be fire--when there's a fire, you have to use the stairs, right! So I was trying to work around a fiRE for far too long. Finally figured out it was RERE. Also thought it was Der before getting DAS and so ROSESARERED took forever to take shape for me. Enjoyed the VEGGIEBACON, and especially the superheroes/gods on the R side of the grid--ZEUS and ARES in the top and bottom spots, with ZORRO along for the ride. A REDROSE TAT anyone? also, the puzzle was 16 wide, which might also help explain times that are a bit longer today. Thanks, Kareem, for finding a new theme I hadn't seen before! : )
With no idea what RERE could possibly mean, I found the revealer clever and delightful.
Clever puzzle with "RE(pair)" as a clever revealer. I needed one cheat, to get the ANGER/RUPAUL cross (the odd clue for ANGER stumped me). I had "elevators" before finding ESCALATOR. Like Rex, I didn't care for the clue for RATTRAP.
I found the puzzle clever and cute. Two silly mistakes. Instead if silo for corn container I had silk as in the silk threads the corn is under and are as the final boss until I realized it was wackos plural.
What Gandhi actually wrote was "Speed is not the end of life." (Nonviolence in Peace and War, 1942)
Gandhi shares a fate with Lincoln, Einstein and a few other luminaries for having sayings widely and "authoritatively" attributed to them whose only sources are the other people who widely attribute the sayings to them. You will find no verifiable primary source for the quote as presented in the puzzle - unless you consider the words embroidered on your great aunt's pillow a verifiable primary source.
In this regard, wiser words than these have never been spoken: "“Half the stuff on the Internet is incorrect”—Abraham Lincoln
3 stars, Rex? Really? I don't recall a puzzle as forced and tortured as this one. Not fun at all.
Agreed, that was a hangup for me as well!
I like that you can take the S away from WACKOS and it still fits the clue [Nuts].
Came here looking for Homer and his free tramampoline… bed and all.
Always interesting to come here and see the diversity of reactions among Rex’s readers. Today I’m pretty much with Rex, minus one star. For me, this was an unpleasant slog. I appreciate a harder-than-usual puzzle, but not when the difficulty comes from characters in video games I’ve never played or boring stuff like WEB APP. Yawn.
But if you enjoyed it, I’m happy for you. As my dad used to say, that’s why there are different-colored neckties.
All the elements of figuring out the punch line to this puzzle were there. Three defective items below RERE’s. A first-rate riddle that, believe me, I tried hard to crack before uncovering the revealer. I didn’t come close. After filling in that punch line I sat in amazement – it seemed so obvious. It was right in front of my eyes and I just didn’t see it.
I love when that happens. I want to shake the hand of the riddle-maker, who got me good.
Two more things. First, the difficulty of this grid-build, with its soaring 69 theme squares, compounded by three pairs of stacked theme answers. Constructing such a coherent result required singular skill and persistence.
And second, a remarkable serendipity in the grid: the answer TUPAC. For after all, is not a RERE a TUPAC of RE’s?
You kept me humble and smiling at the same time, Kareem. That’s one sweet combo. Thank you!
Hey All !
Puz is 16 wide today. Unsure if it needed that extra column or not. I believe it was probably easier to center the middle Themer, as Kareem didn't have another 14 to place symmetrically, so he opted to make that 14 the center Themer, ergo needing grid to be 16 wide. Or maybe take out the S of said Themer, thereby getting grid back to 15 wide. Thoughts?
Different kind of puz. Too bad the corresponding Down to the Revealer wasn't related. VEGGIE BACON, to some that might be something Out of Order!
Fill works enough, actually things, even if gunky. Lots of locked in letters to work around. My latest puz rejection ("theme felt a bit straightforward for a Sunday") was tough to fill cleanly, as I also had to work around a lot of fixed letters. But, you fill in stuff just to complete the filling (at least I do), then you go back and tweak some sections to get better fill.
Anyway, nice WedsPuz. The other days debut by the guy who went 20 years had me recently submitting a few puzs lately. All rejected, of course. But maybe I need to come up with one that has many different aspects happening at once. Unsure if the ole brain is up to that, however!
Have a great Wednesday!
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
I’m right on Rex’s wavelength today. I was hoping to get to the reveal as I slogged my way through this one, and what a letdown it was when I got there. That’s a long way to go for . . . not much.
I don’t know anything about “Inside Out” so I guessed a terminal “L” which gave me ANGE(L), which seemed plausible. And of course no idea about the Supermodel song, so RU PAUL wasn’t going to happen with that initial “L” in place. What a mess, all stemming from two trivia entries crossing.
Another “icky” area was that whole RAT TRAP situation. I just didn’t buy it. If that’s a regional phrase, or if it’s commonly used and just not in my vernacular, so be it, but coming in at the end of what was by then a pretty uninspiring solve - it seemed like the grid was just thumbing it’s nose at me and telling me to get lost.
You can blame crappy fill on theme constraints all that you want, but a series of cascading misfortune all due to cluing a common word like ANGER as PPP and crossing it with another PPP clue is a real downer.
Or "why they make chocolate and vanilla".
Lots of tortured cluing, much of which Rex noted. Presumably the third star, out of step with the critical nature of the write-up, was due to the great amount of theme answer material needed to be worked with.
Enjoyed RP revealing his struggle with PAGODA versus gazebo; misery does love company.
"Ax" meaning to kill, no? (In response to Rex.)
Maybe slightly easier than medium for me. I filled in answers without much trouble, albeit cluelessly with regard to RERE. The revealer was received with a half-groan. The fill was not so bad in my opinion, except that I don't like EVENER (a word I've neither used nor heard), and DOER is not great ("yeah, he's a real doer" says nobody that I know). Wasn't there an ad campaign for Dewar's, a brand of blended whisky, where they kept trying to play off this, people who did a lot of doing and drank Dewar's?
Der die DAS is the bane of my existence these days. The only real cure for which to use when is memorization and repeated exposure, although there are a few rules of thumb. I don't think I'll ever raise a stein and toast PROSIT to the German language!
SAW or SAWS is a curious word. According to etymology.com, "from Old English sagu "saying, discourse, speech, study, tradition, tale," from Proto-Germanic *saga-, *sagon-". In German there's sagen, to say. Anyway, the proverbial meaning of "saw" is attested in this late 13th century citation "[a] contemptuous term for an expression that is more common than wise". Which sounds about right. "A stitch in time saves nine" is not such a "pearl" in my estimation, so much as it is a commonplace with an old-fashioned ring to it. Darn it, that sock!
As noticed elsewhere, stumbled over NATURE RESERVES where "preserve" went in initially. But no serious reservations about that.
Have a good day, all!
I thought it was "Speed is not the axe of life" - Keanu Reeves
No abras esto en la oficina.
Another amusing romp. After an ugly northwest corner with WEBAPP and EVENER, the rest was a lotta fun. Thankfully I knew most of the many many many names in here. UNDER REPAIR is a wonderful visual pun. I kept wondering what those REREs were up to and delayed work on the reveal hoping I could guess, but I couldn't, and loved the surprise.
Two errors: UMS leading to the multi-headed MYDRAS. (Isn't there just one Hydra, so maybe multiple things called MYDRAS?) And PROSIT is an unpleasant addition to our now-14-word German crossword dictionary.
People: 16 {seriously? what're ya doin' here?}
Places: 1
Products: 3
Partials: 6
Foreignisms: 5
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 31 of 81 (38%)
Funny Factor: 3 π
Tee-Hee: ERECT RACK.
Uniclues:
1 Psychoses arising after decades of those damn things still not working right even though you spent all that money on the so-called "officially-licensed cartridges" and "the good paper" and still nothing happens when you hit the button, or worse, it starts and then jams and a half hour later you're still clawing out pieces of soot-covered shreds from the back panel.
2 Nonstairer.
3 Where we keep hacky Valentines jokes.
4 How to spice up a ho-hum love life with healthier breakfast side dishes.
5 Arse resuscitation.
1 PRINTER ANGER (~)
2 ESCALATOR DOER
3 ROSES ARE READ RACK
4 VEGGIE BACON SIN
5 END UNDER REPAIR
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Hide or dye for a bunny. EASTER EGG ETHIC.
¯\_(γ)_/¯
Just because a thing is broken doesn't mean it's under repair. It's awaiting repair. Or maybe it will never be repaired. The whole conceit is illogical.
Too many ATM and TAT entries in the daily puzzles.
The northeast stumped me and was last part I finished. Saw WEBAPP as a possibility but did not want to believe it. And like @Bob Mills could not get ANGER at all, and did not recognize RUPAUL until I looked up ANGER. Oh well….otherwise found this relatively easy and kinda fun. The Der/DAS uncertainty was resolved by the crossses, and can live with RATTRAP as an extreme Hole in the wall. Ghandi quotes are usually thought provoking but I’m never sure what the original language was.
Nobody's mad at PROSIT? Just me? You don't say PROSIT in Germany, you say PROST. PROSIT is what you say in Austria. If the clue had said "in German" instead of "in Germany", it would've been better, but as clued it was absolutely horrible.
An escalator that is out of order (unless it's been partially dismantled) is already just stairs....
I thought RERE was a zany backward spelling of ERROR as in PRINTER ERROR etc
And yet: A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for purposes of conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research.
Source:
Wikipedia
Yes, the clue is spot on. Keep in mind I also ignored the plural and plunked in “preserve” but I found the distinction after coming here:
A nature reserve focuses primarily on strict protection and conservation of ecosystems and species, often with limited human access, while a preserve (like a National Preserve) also protects nature but might allow for specific, regulated human activities like hunting, mining, or grazing, depending on its specific designation, balancing conservation with resource use or recreation. Essentially, reserves are often more restrictive for nature's sake, while preserves offer a managed middle ground.
My dog is PROSIT, but anti stay.
If you speak Latin, you've likely noticed that TUPAC has his head on backwards.
I have a terrible auto shop. They UNDERREPAIR everything.
Kinda got thrown off the scent by all the Matrix references. I guess it was a NEOcon.
True story: When we were young (like 4 & 6 maybe), my older brother and I got massively into ZORRO. In addition to fashioning capes and masks we, at some point, took to slashing Zorro's trademark "Z" on all sorts of things. My brother was careful to confine his Zs to disposable items, but I blithely slashed walls and furniture. The slashes were actually black crayon, but they made us mighty proud. Our parents eventually confronted us and we each denied doing the damage. Punishment was deemed to be necessary for both of us until my brother, who was in first grade, pointed out that all of the Zs that were on walls and furniture were made backwards, something he, as a somewhat educated person, would not do. I don't know what the moral is, but I'm sure @Z could tell us if he were here.
This puzzle is essentially one pun. Like many of my puns, it seems like a long journey to get to the (hopefully) unanticipated reveal. But I still liked the boldness of the idea and the perseverance likely necessary to make it work. Thanks, Kareem Ayas.
I agree with @Rex’s “medium” designation because the puzzle seemed to offer a little more resistance than most Wednesdays. I didn’t think the fill was bad, but I really didn’t use it to solve (ok, I DID stick in the last “rere”), but post-solve I looked and thought…”oh. Kind of cute.”
My only possible nit is VEGGIEBACON. Is faux bacon actually made from veggies? (I’ll look) Anyway, seems like not really bacon is called other things like “breakfast strips.” Even so, the answer was inferable.
Who bapps? We bapp.
*It’s “plant-based ingredients.” Fair enough, but that goes way beyond the is it a vegetable of a fruit biz….
I absolutely *loved* the cluing of the theme answers, and that's it. I finished in about my average time and had zero overwrites, so the difficulty was fine, but WEBAPP next to EVENER is so ugly, and crossing RICEPADDY with PROSIT with SRI on a Wednesday is insane. Huuuuuuge Natick vibes there.
Had two themers and then ran into the revealer, and suddenly the RERE made sense and I thought that was ingenious. Many of OFL:'s problems with the fill though, starting with the execrable EVENER for a "game-tying goal", which is, ahem, an equalizer. "And there's a rocket into the top corner for the EVENER! " said no one ever. I mean, really.
I'm with @Conrad in my total ignorance of both "Community" and TROY. I'm sure someone will say I should know this, but I don't feel left out.
I always wonder about PRERECORDED. Does this mean something has been recorded so it doesn't have to be recorded later? Seems redundant.
Hey @Roo--half a point each for RUPAUL.
I liked the concept very much, KA, my only Knock Against it is some tortured fill. Thanks for a fair amount of fun.
An average Wednesday if a bit easy. And with some stupid clues. And stupid answers. You can tell Marvel has rotted collective minds by how many people put THOR instead of ZEUS! Also, I did appreciate the few linked answers. ZEUS and ARES, two Matrix clues. I was a bit peeved because ironically ZEUS and THOR are also enemies in God of War and there are actually two video games called God of War and also three sequels with numbers and subtitles so bit of a guess as to which they meant.
Lastly, I love the word SYNOD. Just a great word.
19A ought to be OUTGOING voice mail msgs, VM messages are not prerecorded, if so they would not end up sounding stupid as often
A puzzle within a puzzle for me. Filled the grid and then figured out how RERE is repair. Enjoyed the twists in the theme.
No sparkle (except for cryptic clue for REIN) and some clunk. How is "Hole in the wall" a RATTRAP? "Trampoline mats" BEDS?
Got annoyed early thought game-tying goal was gonna be equalizer with a rebus of some sort- Evener blech really put me in a sour mood for rest of the solve
When I saw the whole of the theme, post-solve, I shook my head wondering where constructors get their ideas. Nice.
Earlier, while solving, I saw the start to 28D was UNDER and I looked at what the first RERE was under - ACOM didn't give me any hints as to the theme so I continued solving, semi-confident that I would figure it out at some point.
The central section gave me trouble - I had written NATURE preERVES down, leaving 33-, 34- and 35D impossible to get. Eventually I twigged to what 33A was, the ever popular ATM, and then saw my error at 42A.
Nice find on the RE PAIR, Kareem Ayas!
I thought some of the fill was very forced. EVENER? Does anyone say that? And surely there is a better clue for RACK than "Pool equipment" and a better clue for BEDS than "Trampoline mats." The whole SE corner held me up, with clues about a rapper, God of War, The Matrix, an Indian spiritual leader, and an [evidently incorrect] German toast. The payoff wasn't enough to make it seem fun.
Pleasant enough Wednesday. It took me a while to get the RE PAIR thing because I was reading it as re & re - remove and replace. Obviously I get too many repair invoices. But RE PAIR is good.
Like seeing TACOMA in the grid. If I have an extra bit of time when I’m I Seattle, I like to zip over to Tacoma for a visit to the Glass Museum. Besides the over-the-top Chihuly pieces (I love them because they are big and crazy and so fragile) there is lots of educational stuff about glass blowing and the Tacoma waterfront is a nice stroll. I’m fond of the industrial aesthetic. Usually take my camera.
ERIC Carle was always a favourite read with my kids.
Except for the fact that if you got the first RERE quartet, you got them all, this was a decent mid-week puzzle.
Am I alone in getting mired in “under review,” which works, gosh darn it.
"An escalator can never break. It can only become stairs. You should never see an 'Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order' sign, just 'Escalator Temporarily Stairs.' Sorry for the convenience. We apologize for the fact that you can still... get up there."
-Mitch Hedberg
They do say "evener," actually. But it miiiight be more common in England/Europe?
When I see RERE, I think of only one thing … a cat fight. So as I worked my way through the puzzle, seeing it repeated and with the out-of-order clues, I wasn’t getting the theme at all. Then when I at last entered the revealer, my niggling DOUBT turned into grudging admiration. As RP said, it was kind of a long way to go to get there but yes, I can see where that works.
I mostly forgave this puzzle since I thought the revealer was indeed cute, but the middle was pretty tortured for me. Two foreign words beside each other, one with questionable spelling, crossing with a DOER and a SEEDER and the misdirect on ATMS that took me longer than Rex, and SRI Chinmoy. I ended in that section, slowly chipping away, and it was a rather unfulfilling finish. I had enjoyed figuring out the theme during the solve, but that bit of joy got overshadowed by the slog to the finish.
Never heard of VEGGIE bacon, but I did try turkey bacon once at a Cracker Barrel. It may be a healthier choice but I think the placemat probably would’ve tasted better.
For trampoline beds https://www.reboundproducts.com/product-category/beds/
wow great to see a little makaya mccraven on the rex review!
Please, don't bring home any more old crutches.
Haha! Well. When we went to Alaska last time to visit our daughter/husband and at Sea-Tac (we had spent the night because it’s worse than flying to Europe for us) I had to shlep my big suitcase up those escalator “stairs” OR wait in a huge back up line for the elevator…at age 69 (then) and fairly fit…I didn’t see it as a “convenience” I admit.
Rex doesn't even mention the worst (to me) trivia clue, "Red 'Inside Out' character." Is that a TV show? A kid's book? Fortunately, the crosses worked, so it didn't matter.
I didn't know the Gandhi quote, and at one point considered "grEED" as an answer -- it seemed very Gandhian. (And as the occupant of what's left of the White House carries on about threats to Western civilization, it reminds me of the time Gandhi was asked what he thought of Western civilization and replied that it would be a good idea.)
TOILET was a bit jarring, just because it is rarely seen in crosswords. We get LOO and LAV a lot, so I'm not sure why.
@Elision…I’m sure some people do. I don’t know WHY because I forget many things about “proper” grammar (or whatever) but I say “more even” but I do say “straighter.” But, I guess you could call a shim an “evener”.
SYNOD is a great word, but I disliked the clue -- isn't a SYNOD a meeting of bishops, rather than a meeting within a particular diocese?
A rere 16x15 puzgrid. With a primo ahar moment puztheme rerealer. Different, and I like.
But, the SYNOD called -- they want that day-um leaky toilet upstairs fixed, ASAP.
staff weeject pick: DTS. Nice plural abbreve meat.
And WEVE got the always wee-refreshin weeject stacks, NE & SW.
some favest of stuff: ZORRO. WACKOS. RICEPADDY.
Betcha many a dog that BEGS would draw the line at VEGGIEBACON.
Thanx for re-pairin up a cool puztheme, Mr. Ayas dude.
Masked & Anonymo5Us
... and now for a short reresponse to VEGGIEBACON ...
"No Soap!" - 8x8 12 min. themed runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
Really loved "My dog is PROSIT, but anti stay" Glad you're feeling better :)
I REally didn't like this puzzle.
Absolutely dreadful. A real stinkeroo.
I’ll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours. I think Abraham Lincoln said that.
@Gary J 8:28 am, I was wondering how many names you would get. That is a crazy number!
@Elision... I once saw a guy in a wheelchair take the down escalator. He simply turned backwards, grabbed the handrails, did a wheelie, and wheeled back onto the top step. (Scary to watch but he knew what he was doing.) So for him, it wouldn't work at all...
I assume the clue refers to the German drinking song, “Ein Prosit”, an Oktoberfest favorite, with “prosit” meaning the noun “toast”. When clinking glasses, however, “prost” could be the preferred toast
Medium for me too.
I did not know SRI, SPEED, BEDS, ORACLE, TIERS, ERIC, ARES, RUPAUL…all as clued.
Costly erasures - DeS (Hi @Rex)before DTS and paDS before BEDS.
Cringy - EVENERS, SEEDER, and DOER
I’m pretty much with @Rex on this one, although I never got all the way to “just fine.”
There's some commentary about this over at German Language Stack Exchange. PROSIT actually comes from Latin ("may it be beneficial", i.e., your health), and was pronounced as such in earlier times, but you rarely hear it pronounced as such anymore. Maybe occasionally at formal gatherings where a higher register of language is in order, but otherwise it's Prost. PROSIT apparently survives in some other expressions like "Prosit Neujahr" (a variant of Happy New Year), from what I can make out, but that's not really a toast.
There's a downvoted answer over there which gets into the Austrian-German distinction, but without giving strong argumentation to back it up.
This would have been a pretty decent Monday except for all the names. Yikes, just the 4 letter ones: EVEL ACER TORI ZEUS PETA ERIC TROY ARLO ARES! At least it went by fairly fast.
' "Community" character'... I have no idea if that is a movie, a TV show, or a game (yuck too many games)?...
I too was lost for what a pagoda has several of, and also visualized a gazebo. I had PIERS which made no sense anyway.
And, of course, preserves such as peach or strawberry preserves are devoted to the protection of those particular fruits.
NEOcon! Egs, you’re the man.
@Beezer--Oh, I meant that they use it in the context of soccer, as suggested by the clue. I used to watch a lot of Premier League games (COYS!) and seem to remember it from there.
"Inside Out" is a kids' movie about emotions, so the clue wasn't quite as bad as it may have seemed. Anger is red, and the other characters/emotions have "matching" colors as well, so if you were like me and knew only a little about the movie, you might've still been able to suss it out!
I came to say exactly that. Although "prosit" is a German word, in Germany, when used as an expression, it would always be "prost!"
Yeah, I want to say that it's good to see you getting back to normal, egs, but I sort of suspect you've never really been normal. PROSIT, or maybe just Prost, like other commenters are saying. Anyway, here's to your health.
@egs 9:39 am, I remember Zorro being huge when I was in elementary school in the mid 1960s and we were making big Zs in the dirt. (I see that the TV series was actually late 1950s, so it must have been in repeats.) And about the same time, Star Trek came out and we were all running around giving each other Vulcan Nerve Pinches, which we called "Spocking".
Hello @Pablo. So I'm just here to be that someone. Community was highly amusing for its first 3 seasons and then, like most shows, began to lose any semblance of ambition and settled into desperation. Worth a watch. Really.
One of the most famous parks in the world, London’s Kew Gardens, has a lovely Pagoda.
I'm with you, I spent a semester in Germany (a long time ago), and everyone said prost. However there is the one drinking song that starts 'ein prosit, ein prosit,....". Also ax used in the past tense is pretty common synonym for ended e.g. the program was axed due to funding cuts
You probably don't care but Community was a pretty good sitcom from 15 years ago. Very good cast, decent writing and the episodes avoided formuliac plots. Some of the Xmas episodes are great.
Inside Out won an Oscar and made over 800 million dollars. Inside Out 2 came out last year and made 1.7 BILLION dollars globally. These are well reviewed, commercially successful, recently released movies. It's a fair clue.
RP: '"final boss" of some video game'
I've never played it, but if the game is called "God of War," I don't think it's a stretch to guess that the final boss is literally the God of War.
Har!
Roo
@Elision…I realized after I wrote it (d’oh!) that the clue was referring to soccer (football) ties. That makes sense.
Bart Lett
There are endless examples of famous people whose quotes, even written ones get changed over time. It is normal as play it again Sam. I just googled both and the puzzle’s version was the one that came up. If it’s wrong it’s taken over. No comment found about your version.
The two versions are not that far apart in meaning. If yours is the original it may have lost out because “end” is ambiguous in that sentence. Aim or death.
Maybe he wrote or said something in Hindi which led to varying translations. But this a crossword, not a scholarly text so a puzzle must rely on the commonly accepted version.
I agree on what was said about Community. What I did NOT realize then is that TROY was played by Donald Glover (I often pay zero attention to credits). He has done a lot of things and has won awards (one tv series I think he directed or something that you get an Emmy for) plus, he is the “DJ musician” Childish Gambino (I had HEARD of Childish Gambino but didn’t know he was Donald Glover).
I had Thor before ZEUS also. Somehow I convinced myself that his hammer hitting metal on an anvil produced sparks, thus “thunderbolts.”
Southside Johnny
RATTRAP
Is not regional. It is a general American informal expression for a run down building. Definition number 3. Just remember that none of us. know everything about American English.even fairly common expressions like spitballing the other day So just because you don’t know the expression doesn’t mean it’s obscure. Or regional. Or doesn’t exist. Rex recognized RATTRAP but complained about the clue. I disagree with him. The answer was close enough for crosswords.
Have to say I hated it. Very tortured cluing and some awful answers, like EVENER and DOER. Just not on my wavelength. RATTRAP did not fit the clue at all.
Andrew I think the point tht made sounds right. Prosit is the original borrowed from Latin term which over time gets simplified as often happens to borrowed words in any language. But to say prosit doesn’t exist at all in Germany but only in Austria is a bit of a stretch. Not a small country in population. Hard for one, or even one community, to know everything about a language. tht found prosit used in a fixed expression. A toast in a bar on New Year’s Eve.close enough for crosswords
I have seen many escalators blocked off when they are under repair.
This reaction from Nancy this morning (who gives her blessing posting it here; I've inserted some symbols in case the line breaks don't appear as intended):
I cannot solve this grid with ease. /
The shaded "RERE"s do not please! /
So how should I decipher these? /
Oh, now I see: a pair of "RE"s! /
@dgd: You argue like my former high school freshmen who tried desperately to make the case for their sloppiness and laziness and insist they be given a pass. They never succeeded, and neither do you.
A lot of very picky comments today. Like just because it’s broken it doesn’t mean it’s under repair. But it MAY be under repair. So it’s a valid theme and series of answers. with a good gimmick! Close enough for crosswords.
A lot of people dumped on evener. Someone said it is used in England for“football “ ie soccer. Maybe the word has seeped into the US as soccer has become more popular. Maybe Clare would have liked it! A bit niche but not an invented for the puzzle word.
Someone complained about rice paddy Sri & prosit area. Puzzled about rice paddy, not exactly obscure. Prosit finally came to me but I can see why SRI could be a problem on a Wednesday. Maybe the country would have been a better cross today. But personally I like puzzling out things. I don’t know
Enjoyed the fill more than most I guess.
That's no park but a nature reserve
Inside Out was a Pixar movie. Absolutely huge, in the pantheon. That one's on you.
SRI is such a common honorific in India, and has appeared many, many times in the NYTXW, so it doesn't seem like a big deal for a Wednesday.
Some of the nitpickiness seemed over the top. There was one at 8:34AM that I found incredible: "Just because a thing is broken doesn't mean it's under repair" (and it goes on to say how illogical it all is). Why people are under the spell of what is necessarily the case in all worlds, as opposed to possibility, i.e., what the puzzle invites to imagine for the theme, baffles me.
Nit picking while I am waiting at the bottom of a broken escalator trying to bring a malfunctioning printer up to the tech guys, and desperately needing to use the toilet, of which there are none functioning on this floor. Geeeeeez people
As a member of the Nature Friends, San Francisco branch I hear both a LOT. PROSIT is usually when there’s a larger group & singing (as at Maifest). Sitting at the bar with a friend it’s PROST. I had “Prost-blank-space” for a long time until crosses reminded me to add the IT at the END.
As a member of the Nature Friends, San Francisco branch I hear both PROSIT and prost a LOT. The former usually at gatherings with multiple people, and singing (such as Maifest.). When 2 friends are having a beer at the bar it’s “Prost.”
In the puzzle I had “Prost-blank-space for a while until the crosses reminded me about the IT at the END.
Clever, clever theme with a revealer that does its job admirably. While it took some good, hard work to figure things out at first, my experience was much like @Rex's - I just filled in the REREs and it kinda whooshed from there.
Before the theme came to me, I also wanted that P for NATURE*P*RESERVE but when the plural didn't fit, I realized what it was asking for and NATURERESERVE fell quickly.
Also had THOR rather than ZEUS for a bit.
Again, the less than stellar short stuff generally does not diminish my enjoyment, but today I felt there was a bit too much leaning on some rather forced "ER" words - DOER, EVENER SEEDER (well, that last one seems innocent enough). But all in all, very good theme and a good, proper Wednesday workout.
Very, very late again. Just going to say that I sincerely admire the way constructors’ minds work. To be sitting around needing a plumber with someone inconveniently dropping in, and having them ask directions to a bathroom, and the host realizing that she will have to send the inconvenient guest upstairs (where things are far from tidy) because the downstairs bathroom is UNDER REPAIR, and having that situation become a crossword theme blows my mind. I do not know if that’s how Kareem Ayas created this theme, but the way that constructors consider words in daily usage and that usage becoming a theme is marvelous.
That said, the concept made me smile. The REREs in their grey boxes not so much. In fact, not at all. This theme didn’t need the editors to best us about the head screaming “Here’s the theme!” That can (and did) ruin the effect of a decent theme.
And I agree with OFL that the fill was pretty lackluster. Kudos for the theme idea though.
In football (soccer) an "evener" is not a thing.
It's always an EQUALISER. (With an "s" and not a "z").
Give some credit to the English, for once. They invented the sport, after all.
REREaly?
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