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Relative difficulty: Easy
Word of the Day: RENÉ Coty (20D: Former French president ___ Coty) —
Gustave Jules René Coty (French: [ʁəne kɔti]; 20 March 1882 – 22 November 1962) was President of France from 1954 to 1959. He was the second and last president of the Fourth French Republic. [...] As President of the Republic, Coty was even less active than his predecessor in trying to influence policy. His presidency was troubled by the political instability of the Fourth Republic and the Algerian question. With the deepening of the crisis in 1958, on 29 May of that year, President Coty appealed to Charles de Gaulle, the "most illustrious of Frenchmen" to become the last Prime Minister of the Fourth Republic. Coty had threatened to resign if de Gaulle's appointment was not approved by the National Assembly. // De Gaulle drafted a new constitution, and on 28 September, a referendum took place in which 79.2% of those who voted supported the proposals, which led to the Fifth Republic. De Gaulle was elected as president of the new republic by parliament in December, and succeeded Coty on 9 January 1959. Coty was a member of the Constitutional Council from 1959 until his death in 1962. (wikipedia)
• • •
This didn't start out terribly promising, as I struggled to get toeholds, which were all scattered and short and ineffective. The puzzle didn't feel like much of anything at this point ...
I think the SW corner was the pinnacle of the puzzle for me. I was having a decent time to that point, but was not yet feeling impressed. Usually, while I'm solving, I'm just thinking about solving—that is, I'm not really in "appreciation" mode, I'm in "get through it" mode. Power mode. Speedsolver mode. So if I actually feel impressed mid-solve, that means the puzzle has really broken through and penetrated my game-mode brain, and that is quite something. That's the high I'm chasing all the time. I love that moment when I say (often aloud) to myself, "oh, that's good." Sometimes happily, sometimes grudgingly (if it took me a while to get, for instance), but however I get there, it's always good to get there, and that SW corner really got me there. MEAT SWEATS in particular—that was the first of the long answers to fall down there, and I built the stack from there, ending with a very appropriate "HOLY SMOKES!" I like that "HOLY SMOKES!" conveys my feelings about the wonders of that corner, and also contains the word "smokes," which plays off of "MEAT" really nicely. The rest of the puzzle was solid—above average, for sure. But that SW corner ... I'll be feeling that SW corner all day. Not very often that one recollects MEAT SWEATS with any degree of fondness, but HOLY SMOKES, I gotta tell ya, CHUM, that was a good corner.
The puzzle could've stood to be harder. Quite a bit harder, actually. After I got going on this one, I didn't encounter any significant hold-ups on my way to the finish. I haven't read (or had read to me) The Wind in the Willows since I was a child, so Ratty ... (33D: Ratty is one in "The Wind in the Willows") ... I assumed (correctly) that he was rat-like, rattish, rodenticious, but that still didn't help me figure out exactly what word was supposed to follow WATER. When "mouse" and "rat" didn't fit, I was plum out of ideas. Actually, no—I remember now: I had WATERMOLE in there for a bit! Man, thank god MIBEY looked so terribly, awfully wrong at 49A: Having a good aura, in slang (VIBEY). Since the answer was "slang," it would've been easy enough to convince myself that I just didn't know the slang in question. "Oh, yeah, MIBEY, that's what middle-schoolers are saying now. 6-7 is out, MIBEY is in. Oxford's making it their Word of the Year, didn't you know?" [Oxford's actual Word of the Year this year: rage bait]. But thankfully my "check your damned crosses" instinct is pretty strong when something smells fishy, so the MOLE became a VOLE. I know what VOLEs are. When we had dogs, I would set them loose to chase the "VOLEs and stoats and weasels" (much more storybook-sounding than the banal reality of squirrels and chipmunks). But WATERVOLE, that's a new one to me. Or newish. Again, pretty sure I read The Wind in the Willows at some point. Just not recently.
Bullets:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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Bullets:
- 8D: Singer with the top 10 albums "Crash" and "Brat" (CHARLI XCX) — you are not allowed to say you've never heard of CHARLI XCX because if you have been solving regularly for more than a month or so, you definitely have heard of her. Here we go: October 17, 2025. She's a big pop star. If you go to the movies at all and have seen the trailers for next year's Wuthering Heights, you've seen her name—she's doing the music for that movie and boy do they want people to know it. Rare that you see a songwriter / composer / musician credited in the trailer. ("Original songs by CHARLI XCX")
- 34A: Director Jon M. ___ (CHU) — I'm not much for cross-referenced clues, but it's a little weird that he wasn't tied to the ARI clue (38A: Portrayer of Glinda in 2024's "Wicked," to fans), since he directed the dang movie in question. Also, weird that they didn't give CHU an identifying movie at all, or update the movie in the ARI clue to Wicked: For Good, which CHU also directed, and which is in theaters now, breaking all kinds of box office records.
- 56A: Warning preceding some "madness" during March Madness (UPSET ALERT) — this is very niche, but I still love it. And even if you don't pay attention to college basketball, the answer is ultimately inferable.
- 9D: Tennis duo? (ENS) — a very basic "letteral" clue. The "duo" are the pair of letters in the word "Tennis," i.e. the "n"s (ENS).
- 29D: Yoga pants and such (ACTIVEWEAR) — anyone write in ATHLEISURE there? It fits. I mean, it really fits. I had some crosses and so didn't make this particular mistake, but I sympathize with anyone who did.
That's all. See you next time. And keep those 🌲🐈Holiday Pet Pics🐕🌲 coming (rexparker at icloud dot com). I'll start the pet picture parade next Thursday. Here's a preview—a picture that seems particularly appropriate for today's puzzle:
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| [Eevee and Biscuit—looking nice, thinking naughty] [thanks, Linda!] |
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- Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)
ReplyDeleteEasy. Liked it a bit less than @Rex did, mainly because it's too easy for a Saturday: * * * _ _
Overwrites:
CHARLy XCX before CHARLI at 8D
For the umpteenth time I misspelled LEIF as LieF at 12D
Like OFL, I thought Ratty might be a WATER mOLE until VIBEY (49A) made him into a VOLE (31D)
tEnd before REST at 35A
UPSET AhEad and ALaRm before ALERT at 56A (not a basketball fan)
WOEs:
I didn't know RENE Coty (20D), but a four-letter French name is easy to guess.
Ratty the WATER VOLE at 33D
Really enjoyed this puzzle. Much original fill and impressive construction. Respectfully disagree with the “Q-criticism.” Made me smile.
ReplyDeleteI loved the Qs too! "De gustibus..."
DeleteI too was stunned by Rex's bizarre response to the Qs.
DeleteI loved the Qs! Especially because Q-Bert was at the bottom, and then the Qs hop up the hill, in the way that Q-Bert does in the game. It was cute and fun!
Delete18 minutes for me this morning--should have been "easy" but I'll call it "easy medium" because of the following write-overs:
ReplyDeleteAthleisure before ACTIVEWEAR (@REX)
NOTnow before NOTYET really slowed me down in the SW.
cougaRS before QUAKERS (Actually I thought they were Nitany Lions, but.... anyhoo
also, should have known CHARLIXCX but.... didn't remember it. I knew it was something strange at the end but still had to wait to fill those last 3 letters!
I heartily agree with @REX about the SW stack with the SMOKES floating above the BBQ MEATSWEATS. Nice.
THANK YOU to Marshal for a terrific and fun Satuday morning.
Penn state are the nittany lions. U of Penn are the Quakers.
DeleteQUAi. VIBE I sounded good but cost me about 5 minutes looking for the hangup. Thought it was more general spelling then just France
ReplyDeleteI was also impressed with the Qs. In addition to the Qs there were a few Vs and Xs hanging around the bottom half of the puzzle but they fit in effortlessly and so I stopped looking for Js and Ks.
ReplyDeleteI started with the Acrosses and had nothing until WHALE and ARI, which didn't help, but then got QUIVER and QUAKERS (Penn grad!), which gave me ACTIVEWEAR and then I was off to the races. SE to SW to NE (SPICED rums? nogs? ALES?) to NW--the E of TIRE/ELO was the last letter in for me. I completely agree with OFL about The Wind in the Willows--read it 50 years ago, but it was inferable, as was UPSET ALERT. I liked this one a lot.
Amazing grid with great answers (I quite enjoyed all of the Qs, particularly Qbert) but, as so often at the moment, it was far, far too easy for a Saturday. Under six minutes today, which is just not ok for a late week puzzle. I'm kind of disappointed when a Wednesday comes in under six minutes, but a Saturday?!
ReplyDeleteI will say: that's fast. You were flying through that puzzle.
DeleteThe Qs don’t hurt the puzzle but I understand what OFL means. The puzzle is definitely “doing a bit.” It’s kind of corny.
ReplyDeleteFelt more like Tuesday level difficulty than Saturday. A really good Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteRespectfully disagree with OFL on the Q run. I thought that was nifty.
CHARLIXCX is becoming the new AYOEDIBIRI in the puz.
Just to help people remember(mostly me), it’s edEbiri
Delete@burtonkd. Thanks for the kind correction. Ayo deserves to have her last name spelled correctly. Now if I can only remember it’s not CHARLYSEX. 😘
DeleteAgree with everything Rex said. Enjoyed the puzzle very much, just wish it was harder. Enjoyed the write-up tremendously.
ReplyDeleteHands up for ATHLEISURE.
I agree with all. Very fun puzzle, very easy. Could've switched with yesterday. The Q's felt weird to me. I noticed them, I think I slightly disliked them, but I didn't mind them to the extent that OFL did. Overall I had the most fun solving that I've had in a while! Short lived fun, but good fun!
ReplyDeleteRex struggled to get toeholds, yet still rated the puzzle "easy." For me, the SE was easy (I enjoyed the "Q" stack, which helped me get QUAY), the rest hard. I had "Charlotte" instead of CHARLIXCX, because I forgot her earlier NYTXW appearance. And at my age I'm slow to pick up language like IAMSOTHERE and VIBEY. I also misspelled LEIF (Ericsson) at first , which made the NE go slower.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI've always remembered the word "vole" because of the famous line in Evelyn Waugh's novel "Scoop."
ReplyDelete"Feather-footed through the plashy fen passes the questing vole."
Hey All !
ReplyDeleteNice VIBEY write-up today, Rex. I like when you get all odd-wordy.
Nice SatPuz. No too taxing on the ole brain. I liked the Q line! Fun to throw in a bit of a flourish. It didn't lead to ridiculous fill, so all is well in Crosslandia. Was expecting a Z line on the symmetric area, but alas, we get TESS instead.
Originally had CHARLIXCX as appoLoXCX. Maybe that's her brother. Har. LOOM went through hOOP, then LOOp. LEIF naturally spelled with the vowels reversed at first. Never get it right first time. Like Rex, also had mOLE/mIBEY, had to mentally do an alphabet run to get to VOLE.
Nice open corners, nice fill, very low glue/dreck. Everything one needs in a SatPuz. Thumbs up, Marshal!
Have a great Saturday!
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
The Q-Line is the name of the Detroit street car, so I liked it. Technobeat seems like a nonsense answer to 16A, that's more of a type of rhythm. A drum machine or synthesizer or sample is a source. Had athleisure and wildebeest in SE corner. Tried MeatComa for 58A but it didn't fit, fancy version is postprandial somnolence (can't wait to see THAT in a crossword)
DeleteIn his first two Times puzzles (today is his third) both Tuesdays, Marshal established himself as a masterful grid manipulator – stunt puzzles where the stunt made my jaw drop, made me want to do a standing-O rather than dismiss the puzzle as simply the constructor showing off.
ReplyDeleteMany Saturday puzzlers skip Tuesday puzzles; if you are one of them, I strongly suggest you put these on your to-do list: 1/16/24 and 9/9/25.
Some of that manipulation skill carried over into today’s Q-string, which was delivered so cleanly, even including the gorgeous word QUIVER, that I thought it boosted the puzzle’s quality, gave it a sparky ping.
That's on top of those four terrific stacks. Marshal’s notes indicate that he kept filling, erasing, and redoing them until they passed his bar. This doesn’t surprise me; according to his notes, he tooled around on his last Times puzzle for more than a year before he was satisfied with it.
The talent he’s shown in his trio of puzzles – what a start! – has me thirsting for more. Please, Marshal? And thank you for a terrific outing today!
Back in the day, I was a pretty accomplished carnivore, but I don’t believe that I ever consumed enough to suffer excessive diet-induced thermogenesis, although I gave it some pretty good efforts.
ReplyDeleteI had an almost comical struggle to finally end up at WATER VOLE. Not familiar with the book, and forgot what a VOLE is.
I enjoyed the cascading Q’s, probably because it didn’t feel forced. If you’re going to do something like that, that’s about as well as it can be done.
I thought the level of difficulty was spot on (for my tastes). I felt the same way about yesterday, so I won’t be surprised if there are a few easy-sayers who disagree with me.
I also went with WATER mOLE, and since I had no idea about the arcade game, the mI-EY crossing Q-ERT could have been any letter to me. I had to cheat and look up the game, and of course mIBEY felt totally wrong. I saw that a V would work both ways. But that finish left a bad taste (though not a MEAT SWEAT) for an otherwise good (but too easy for a Saturday) puzzle.
ReplyDeleteAs your resident alphadoppeltotter, a role I’ve inexplicably taken in the past eight years, it is my duty to inform you that this puzzle has an unusually low number of double letters, at four, where unusual is any number less than five. This is the fourth time this year that this has happened.
ReplyDeleteI remain your humble servant, ever on the alert.
I'm a huge fan of WitW--a comfort read if ever there was one. And the sadly neglected Terry Jones film is a delight in its own right. Whereas VOLEs are the bane of my rural existence. Not just for turning my lawn into mush but for (most recently) destroying my wife's crocuses. So I really really resisted WATERVOLE because dammit, Ratty is a water rat, not a VOLE!!! Except I hadda look it up and dammit, he actually is. Apparently no such thing as a water rat as such. I refuse to let this ruin WitW for me, but it was the one sour note. Also, hands up for never having heard of CHARLIXCX, but got it from crosses so ok. Biggest problem with pop-music PPP of the last couple decades is they're all so full of unpredictable "cute" misspellings and word mashups that even if I have heard of 'em half the time I have no idea how they're spelled. But ok, fair enough.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I guess I have heard of Charli XCX then. (I wanted to say I hadn’t but Rex wouldn’t let me.). I’ve got her firmly in my brain, now, thanks!
ReplyDeleteMaybe it was the pop culture and other stuff I didn’t know at all, but I found this one unusually hard. Enjoyed Rex’s write-up, though.
I didn't even notice the line of Q until Rex pointed it out, but it doesn't bother me. Great puzzle but maybe Friday level difficulty.
ReplyDeleteFelt quite hard while solving, but finished pretty quickly. Sometimes that happens. Looking back, I think it was hard to get going because all the difficulty was up top. SPICED ALES and TECHNOBEAT are new to me, and I really don’t like “No trouble” as a clue for EASE, though I can lawyer my way to it.
ReplyDeleteWhy would a WATER VOLE be called “Ratty”?
I’ve mentioned this before, but in college I got good enough at Q*bert to play for an infinite amount of time (in theory) for one quarter. Once you pass level 9, it never gets any harder, and you can accumulate an unlimited number of lives.
I’ve been doing the NYT puzzle for more than a month, actually 40 years, and I’ve never heard of Charlixcx. Am I a philistine?
ReplyDeleteNo, you're not a philistine. Or maybe you are a philistine, I don't know, but this doesn't make you one. Anyway, she's a pop music star who has some currency these days.
DeleteI was only able to get it because I remembered from that recent puzzle. But before that, no, I had never heard seen or heard of that name either.
DeleteChaflieXCX said Kamala Harris is "brat."
DeleteYeah she was in the news a TON during the summer of 2024.
DeleteOne quibble: Here courtroom phrase is ALL RISE. It’s an order, not a request. In 30 years of lawyering, I’ve never heard anything else. Maybe I’m misunderstanding the clue and “court” means something else. Or maybe there is some court somewhere that follows a different custom. But I think the answer today is just wrong. It should have been something about the announcement made before the anthem at a ballpark or something.
ReplyDeleteI'm not quite prepared to declare it outright wrong, but it didn't pass the sniff test with me either. Wonder what others will think.
DeleteI agree. I've been in court many times, mostly as a defendant after some demonstration back in the 1960s, and never heard PLEASE RISE.
DeleteIn addition to its practical inaccuracy, the clue was also theoretically inaccurate because while “all rise” is indeed an order PLEASE RISE is a *request*.
DeleteMaybe a basketball court? "Please rise for the playing of our national anthem?". Of course, that's still not an order.
DeleteAnonymous 8:31 AM
Deleteall RISE is definitely the most common expression. But it is a big country. one large Federal system with courts all over, 50 state system, plus county, municipal and specialized court systems every. Also thousands of judges a count officers with their own personalities. There is no legal requirement of any particular wording anywhere it is all custom. I appeared in court for forty years before I retired I would never say never about please rise but it is possible I heard it Anyway, what any one person knows doesn’t mean it is not a thing.
Another point, court officers routinely say please rise to defend ants and is most definitely an order!
"Please rise" is what the minister says in church when he wants everyone to stand up for the next hymn.
DeleteI initially misread the clue [Who’s asked the musical question “Do you want to build a snowman?”] I put ANNA, which messed me up for a little bit. Otherwise, fairly easy Saturday.
ReplyDelete(ELSA did in fact make Olaf the Snowman - an actual sentient being - making her the most powerful Disney character ever.)
I had a different confusion for a moment, where I parsed "musical question" as a question asked in a sing-songy way.
DeleteI said ANNA also. Elsa "made" the snowman, but Anna asked the musical question, which is what the clue asks. A rare editorial slip-up for the NYT Crossword team.
DeleteI noticed the Anna/Elsa mix up too. I wonder if the digital version will have the clue corrected.
DeleteDid you hear about the new Vatican-endorsed cigarette? HOLYSMOKES. Their slogan: Every puff gets you closer to heaven. Available now at STPATS and other authorized distributors.
ReplyDeleteI'd have to say that that line of Qs is an OK Q queue, but I'd like to ask you if the last Q is askew.
I thinK I'm going vegan. Chicken's foul, fish bites and MEATSWEATS.
The Chippendales got together with the Spice Girls and SPICEDALES were born.
When the administration bars hip hop broadcasts, we'll wonder who was the last person THATSAWRAP on TV.
I join the crowd of yea-sayers on this one. Really nice, well-constructed puzzle. Thanks, Marshal Herrmann.
Every one is A-one today. Bravo maestro !
Delete👍🤣 today @egs!!
DeleteRoo
I remember a SNL commercial with a priest pushing a certain brand of cigarettes. He ends by saying "I smoke them, (points skyward). He smokes them."
Delete@pabloinnh: Guido Sarducci?
DeleteVery good puzzle today. I liked the Qs. And like Rex commented, I did remember CHARLIXCX from the earlier puzzle.
ReplyDeleteWhite rhino - squareliped grazer
ReplyDeleteBlack rhino - pointed prehensile liped -browser
Embarrassingly easy.
ReplyDeleteUnder 11 minutes to solve.
What the heck is going on with Shortz??
Not easy but doable with my big biggest obstacle being in the northwest section. Had EDDY at 1A and LOOT below it which prevented me from getting a foothold in any of the three long downs. Complicated by drawing a blank on several of the crosses - SORBETS, ATHENS, WHALE and even ARI since I’m not a fan and no know nothing about that movie. The remainder of the grid though was very smooth and fine-tuned to perfection. I particularly enjoyed the cluster of Q’s. I like them because they nearly always give you the bonus U.
ReplyDeleteThe long entries were especially fun today with them being crosses and downs both. Although I never heard of MEAT SWEATS, they were all pretty straightforward. I tried DID YOU HEAR at 3D, SPICED NOGS for ales and (Yes, RP.) ATHLEISURE for activewear. In the last two cases, I should have gone with my initial instinct which was the correct one.
I will agree it's a good puzzle, but I did not find it Easy. It was a split experience, with about 3/5 (comprising the northern and center regions, with ODOR forming one boundary edge and the S in ABRAMS serving as a cork in the dam) just easyish, and then for the remaining 2/5, I was stymied for a while, making the rest of it north of Medium. I was actually grateful for the Qs; they helped a lot. (I don't agree with OFL about their being too much, although I find his position understandable.) Did not know QBERT. I am deeeefinitely not a gaming guy, not that kind of game.
ReplyDeleteParticularly the SW held me up. At some point I had Ctan instead of CNET, and MEAT SWEATS held me up (meal something? messy something?). Part of it is that MEAT SWEATS is a somewhat foreign concept to me. It seems to me you'd really have to gorge on the stuff before you entered that zone. I don't think I've even seen anyone in the throes of the MEAT SWEATS. It's not that I've never heard the expression. But when I hear it, I'm apt to think more of the salami that was left out for too long, to the point where the MEAT SWEATS.
UPSET ALERT is new to me. Because I don't follow March Madness, or much of basketball generally (it's basketball, right?). HOLY SMOKES only came at length ("hilarious!" didn't fit); I was questioning IKEA because I wasn't sure what to do with the K in the across direction. But really, all this means that that corner was Saturday-appropriate in my case.
Good stacks, good colonnades, some good cluing -- thumbs up from me. Thanks, Marshal Hermann!
I'don't remember my smoker priest as Fr. Sarducci. I think the ad predated him. But this is not my best day for remembering stuff, so entirely possible.
DeleteGoes to show that we all have unique tastes, because I rushed here to read Rex's screed, assuming he would have hated today's puzzle as much as I did. I also groaned at the Q cluster, but for me that was the fifth or sixth groan of the solve. I found the short crosswordese fill way more annoying today than yesterday, probably because none of the marquee answers felt strong enough to justify it. I can forgive quite a bit for treats like DON'T POKE THE BEAR and TODAY YEARS OLD, but none of the good-ish stuff today got more than a half smile which would immediately vanish when I got to the next ELO, ENS, OLEO, or OED. Oh well, not the first time I'm in the minority in a puzzle reaction.
ReplyDeleteNice puzzle, enjoyed the line of queues, a nice little flourish
ReplyDeleteCourt order...PLEASERISE (????) Orders don't include the word "please."
ReplyDelete"All rise!" would be an order, and is in fact how a judge is welcomed into court.
Anonymous. 8:50 AM
DeleteYou are being too literal about please. For example, when a court officer says to the defendant please rise, it is most definitely an order!
Another Q Line fan here. Thought it was impressive without compromising quality. Hard to pull off and a pleasant surprise. I love a puzzle that I pass through once and think "crap, don't know if I'm going to get this" only to find that I chip away slowly until done. No notes. 20:44
ReplyDeleteHand up for Athleisure, a better answer -- i.e., more colorful term--even if it wouldn't work with the crosses. and WATER VOLE was very hard to come up with. I, too, have not read The Wind in the Willows recently, but I'm pretty sure the book never calls him a vole, even though scientifically speaking, he has to be. But then what does science have to do with it? Are VOLEs known for their ability to use human speech? But maybe I just misremember the book.
ReplyDeleteI started with NOT YET, but it wasn't getting me anywhere, so I changed it to NOT now. I had to get all of HOLl_SMOKES to change it back. And I've never heard of MEAT SWEATS, so that didn't give me much help.
erik before LEIF, and, with a groan, TImE before TIRE (thinking of the hands on an analog clock, but still wrong). And the clue for TSO is annoying. The Chinese language has characters, which are not letters, so you can't transliterate them.TSO and zuo are just different ways of representing the sound of the same character.
I spiced some wine, and then some beEr before I got to ALES.
I actually liked the Qs, they certainly helped me get QBERT, which I only remembered after I looked it up.
OK, now I'll read the other comments.
That's LITERALLY what transliterate means!
DeleteJberg
DeleteI do agree the clue for TSO was very poorly worded. The constructor or the editors were trying to ccme up with a new clue for old crosswordese and failed!
However. the term transliteration is used when going from Chinese characters to Roman letters. But as you said, TSO is simply the older version of Zou
Other people commenting today said the character in WitW is referred to as a vole. Never read it myself
Also had a foothold problem, but for way longer than Rex. In retrospect see this as a very well constructed puzzle, including the “Q” flourish, but the brain was truly sluggish this morning. Worst example was that I fell completely for the tennis duo mislead. Eventually got PLEASERISE, but as noted earlier in this blog was misled by the clue suggesting it was an order. There is an IKEA near us so never think of it in terms of a catalogue. Little things like that….
ReplyDeleteI don’t think of IKEA and catalog together because I THINK I might’ve gotten ONE in the mail, and also, I tend to think of catalogs as something you order from, and unless things have changed, you have to GO to the store to get their “stuff.” But I guess if it lists all the items with a photo, it’s a catalog. I put BEAN (sans the LL)
DeleteI'd forgotten about ELO, and the ELO ratings are administered by the World Chess Federation, so I almost wen with WCF, except that it didn't work with any crosses. (It's also the wrong initialism, it's called FIDE.)
ReplyDeleteI considered WATER mOLE, but having read the book saved me -- the main character actually is a water mole, and he's called 'Mole.' I've thought it over some more, and to say he's a VOLE because water rats are really voles is like saying Smaug (in LOTR) is really an iguana.
My step-grandson is a QUAKER athlete, so that was easy. He plays baseball, so the question doesn't arise, but I always wonder if the football team is known as the "Fighting QUAKERS," which seems contradictory.
I grew up in a Scandinavian-American area, and actually knew people named LEIF, which helps me remember the spelling, and also taught me that it's pronounced "Life," which helps when that explorer comes up in conversation.
If your step-grandson plays for Penn, no. The red and blue are simply the Quakers.
DeleteWhen Mrs. Erikson filed for divorce, she explained to the judge that she was turning over a new Leif.
ReplyDeleteMaybe UPenn's football team would do better if the team name (The Quakers) wasn't based on Pacifism. What was the second choice: The Penn Marshmallows?
Mixed messages: At 18A, PLEASE RISE. At 35A (the clue), Sit.
Years ago I was on a committee at our Temple that was charged with conducting a Friday night service. During my small part I got to say "Please rise" and watch everyone in the room stand up. I couldn't resist ad-libbing and said "I've always wanted to do that."
Here's a pretty lame rabbi joke that's probably offensive in some way: Three mothers are talking. The first says, "I am so proud of my Sammy. He's a doctor, a big surgeon." The second says: "My Isaac is a lawyer. Very successful, handles all the big cases." They ask the third about her son and she says he's a rabbi. "A rabbi?" they ask. "What kind of job is that for a Jewish boy?"
On Jewish mothers bragging on their sons' accomplishments, here is Larry David on what it would be like as the neighbor of Jonas Salk's mother.
DeleteLove it!
DeleteNot easy at all but I finished it. Never heard of SPICE DALES. MEAT SWEATS, CHU were WOEs & I'll never ever, no matter how many times it appears, remember CHARLI XCX. All in all, a decent Saturday. Thank you, Marshal :)
ReplyDeleteThat’s SPICED ALES. As in that ancient microbrew sitting in the back of your fridge that came in the seasonal six pack. Still, I like your thought process - SPICE DALES could be nice alt boy band.
DeleteSpiced Ales...
DeleteSPICED ALES! 🙂 this year's Sam Adams had hints of banana, to me.
DeleteBut have you heard of spiced ales? :)
DeleteI have never had MEAT SWEATS as I keep to a pescatarian diet. It sounds like something Lady Gaga would have for ACTIVE WEAR.
ReplyDeleteI messed up the "Wind in the Willows" answer - I had WATER mOLE, totally forgetting one of the characters was already mOLE so it should have been obvious that it was VOLE. It sure made 49A impossible to guess because a) slang and b) only the vaguest idea of QBERT. So 49A was the cringe-y mItEY and only my post-solve look-up of QBERT got me to VIBEY, not cringe-y at all.
4D - I knew it was an answer that could be easily clued as non-chess related. First I put down CRU but that came out almost immediately. Then I threw in ABO because it worked with AMMO. It took all the crosses to fix that but I got 'er done.
All in all, I deem this medium for me for a Saturday. Thanks, Marshal Herrmann!
Seems like I’ve heard the term MEATSWEATS but truly had zero clue what it meant or why. I will say that I’ve had my face get a bit of a cold sweat when I have Thai food (no meat!). Well…I should say when I HAD Thai food. I no longer trust the “mild” designation on a menu OR other peoples’ opinion. Too bad. I like the taste, but it kind of explodes in my head.
DeleteSome days I breeze through a Saturday, but that day is not today. Too much stuff I didn't know, couldn't infer, or guessed wrong to start with, notably, WILDEBEEST, which fits perfectly and I even spelled it correctly and made every cross wrong except the W, which is where I started. That kind of morning.
ReplyDeleteAmong my WTF's today were WHALE, TSO, CHU, CNET ARI, VIBEY, and RENE. Hand up for LIEF, ELSA, and NOTNOW initially, I wasn't going to forget CHARLIXCX but of course I did. I know Ratty but WATERVOLE? Had to be VIBEY I guess but the V was the last letter I wrote down, quite some time after I started.
I did like the Q section. Very helpful.
Chewy Saturday for me, MH, Made Harder by the fact that so many of my compatriots seemed to have found it so easy. Thanks for lots of thorny fun.
I'm kind of confused by Rex's dislike of the Qs, since he agrees that that portion is well-made, and the constructor didn't need to make compromises to get the Qs in. So why is it bad to put in the puzzle? I didn't even notice the row of Qs, the area was that smooth.
ReplyDeleteI agree it was a very good puzzle, but I had to cheat to get the NW done. I had I'll Be There—and didn't know ELO, WHALE, AMMO BELT, RENE—so couldn't get to I AM SO THERE, and couldn't get THATS A WRAP either. Oh well, I feel good about getting the rest of the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to hate that Wuthering Heights. In fact, I'm not going to watch. It looks just awful.
Weird how I knew AMMO BELT. Picture a small purse with long thin straps. Some people call them “cross-body” or “bandolier/bandolero style” purses/bags. Then picture Pancho Villa. Oh. Then look up Pancho Villa. (I did) Talk about angel/demon depending on your perspective. I decided he was a very complicated historical figure and left it at that.
DeleteAs someone who spent a lot of his newspaper route money on qbert, I'm really glad to be reminded of those fun times!
ReplyDeleteI liked the Q waterfall and LOVED the early holiday pet pic!
ReplyDeleteSorbets was tres offputting. I would not consider it a "treat" but a larger problem is the use of it in plural form.
ReplyDeleteI had to work hard at this, set it aside, then return but I finally cracked it. I liked the array of Qs and the hardest part of the puzzle for me was the NW and the colloquialisms but I liked them once I figured it out.
ReplyDeleteI read (and loved) The Wind in the Willows as a kid and while solving, I thought, “How did I miss that Ratty was a WATERVOLE”? So, I looked it up and…the book does not say Ratty is a vole. So @Rex, I think that explains why VOLE didn’t come to mind.
Today it was 4 Q and the horse you rode in on to late week difficulty. The NE came together like an early week puzzle in spite of my LIEF/LEIF write over.
ReplyDeleteThere was some push back. I had a STPAUL/STPATS write over that blocked that neck of the grid until I backfilled it. I've never heard of QBERT, drew a blank on the clue for CNET and somehow I'm unfamiliar with this definition of ELO. These were all just speed bumps that kept the solve in Friday range.
I have heard of CHARLIXCX though I couldn't recall the last three letters other than at least one was an X. While it may not be what those Xs stand for WAXED and DETOXed does a celebrity VIBEYness to it.
This was a very flashy puzzle but as a solve just a flash in the pan.
Jon CHU is a local. He grew up in Los Altos, next to Palo Alto. His father owned a very successful Chinese restaurant there. Before making Wicked, he did Crazy Rich Asians. As a boy, he got a movie camera as a present and made home movies. He went to the USC film school.
ReplyDeleteOff topic, but “rage bait” may be the first self-referential “word of the year.” I can’t be the only one baited to rage by its appearance in that esteemed lexicon.
ReplyDeleteMind you, not half as enraged as I would have been had “six-seven” made the cut.
I'm genuinely curious. What would be so enraging about that? And how would it make the OED any less esteemed? My own opinion is that "rage bait" is QUITE apt for what it means, and common enough to be worthy of note in today's unabridged dictionaries (and the phenomenon it refers to will probably we with us for many years, unlike 6-7).
DeleteThe OED is esteemed because of the care of the research that goes into it, and because it is so encompassing. Not because of some starchy propriety. Being encompassing means being fairly inclusive, and not shrinking from describing accurately the language as it appears before us, "warts and all".
On the matter of 6-7, scholarship and research can be brought to bear on that as well. Here is a good video by Language Jones, a professional linguist with a YouTube channel (one of his specialties is African American English Vernacular).
Here is my personal (and crazy) take on the 4 Qs. I automatically associate the term SUPERSONIC with the song Don't Stop Me Now ("I wanna make a supersonic man outta you") by the 4-man band Queen (4 Qs). RUMOR HAS IT that Queen and Adam Lambert (a collaboration that some refer to as QBERT) are in talks to do a residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas. If true, HOLY SMOKES, I AM SO THERE!
ReplyDeleteWow. A lot to unpack there. I take it (please say if wrong) that you mean Adam Lambert would take Freddie Mercury’s place? I don’t know enough about Lambert to know if he has that kind of range…but if so…I’d be SO THERE with you.
Delete@Beezer I believe Adam Lambert would be fully capable of filling those shoes!
DeleteYou all are so speedy! This took me 41 minutes haha (not counting, I had to "sleep on it"). I had no idea what a bandolier was (except, probably wearable). Misfilled LOOT for HAUL, I'LL BE THERE for I AM SO THERE, and went back and forth between SHARK and WHALE. So my solving was a bit of a strugglebus but I liked the parade of Qs! Every time another Q presented I felt, oh there's *more*! Surely that's all . . . OH!! 😁
ReplyDelete@jb129; not sure if you were serious but 5across is SPICED ALES, not SPICE DALES.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the Qs and Xs and Ws but found the puzzle disappointingly easy. One of my fastest Saturdays ever.
ReplyDeleteWILDEBEEST has the same number of letters as WHITERHINO.
ReplyDeleteTried athleisure and gymclothes before I got to ACTIVEWEAR.
ReplyDeleteEasy.
ReplyDeleteI did not know WATER VOLE and TSO (as clued) and NOTnow before YET was it for costly erasures.
Not much junk, QUITE a bit of sparkle, liked it a bunch except for too easy.
I’m pretty sure it was Anna who asked the musical question “Do you want to build a snowman”! Any “Frozen” fans wanna back me up on this?
ReplyDeleteI stalled right there myself, and think you may be correct, but have to admit that I couldn’t remember the other female character’s name. Everything I know about “Frozen” I have learned through crosswords.
DeleteSin duda alguna.
ReplyDelete🦖🦖🦖 {shaking head} Those Qs are chef kiss MWAH.
EDM music dropping its VIBEY groove first thing this morning. Last year at one point I watched a video of the guys who wear cardboard TV sets on their heads and as far as I can tell one song lasted 45 minutes and it was great. Of course I won't be doing that ever again, but I definitely had a moment with TECHNOBEAT. I am reasonably certain it would help to take some mood altering chemicals to make the genre seem worth listening to and BEIN a second time.
[Bandolier] was the last to drop today. No idea. We have Bandelier National Monument up near Los Alamos and it's beautiful with all kinds of Native American mysteries about it and one time they were filming a movie there and I met an actress in the show. She was tall and nice, but I don't remember her name.
I think SORBET is derived from the English word "gross."
I suppose if you're on Instagram looking at fiber arts you're LOOM SCROLLING.
I use a photo of the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens as the cover for my ukulele arpeggio book which is the single greatest book ever written in the history of the world and that's why it's free.
I agree it's non-hairy legs that are waxed. And MEAT SWEATS, ew. Why are we talking about this stuff? It's private and weird.
I almost failed to count CHARLI XCX as she's starting to feel like NYTXW crosswordese. Every puzzle, there she is. She's the OREO of British pop.
People: 10 {ugh... and so close}
Places: 2
Products: 8
Partials: 4
Foreignisms: 2
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 26 of 72 (36%)
Funny Factor: 5 😄
Tee-Hee: [Booty].
Uniclues:
1 Beer that tastes like you're licking asphalt.
2 The web of deceit woven by the "it's healthier than ice cream" apologists.
3 Body gyrations of harumphing cruciverbalists when HON and BAE are correct.
4 Why Friends stink.
5 Puff on a peace pipe in a sweat lodge.
6 Alligator's awkward feeling after eating your sister.
7 Miranda rights paraphrased as, "It's over bub."
8 Viking attire suitable for rowing 5000 miles in the winter.
9 Galloping goulash.
1 TIRE-SPICED ALES
2 SORBET'S LOOM
3 PET NAMES QUIVER
4 QUAKERS' ODORS (~)
5 BE IN HOLY SMOKES (~)
6 CROC MEAT SWEATS (~)
7 THAT'S A WRAP CHUM
8 LEIF ACTIVEWEAR
9 SUPERSONIC STEW (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Bacchanalian bufonidae. WINE SNOB TOADS.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I love “loom scrolling.”
DeleteI think perhaps the diagonal line of Q’s wasn’t just a random trick but rather was in reference to the “qbert” answer (ie it resembles one side of a pyramid shape)?
ReplyDeleteHands up for WATER MOLE which gave me MI-EY crossing Q-ERT for ages. And no matter how many times I see CHARLIXCX I can't remember how it ends... CHARLI--- something with an X?? Damned arbitrary spellings.
ReplyDeleteAnd 41 across... who would name their pets Honey and Sugar? My neighbor's dogs are Kramer and Krypton (Cosmo died). She knows what she's doing.
@Okanaganer. You might just be kidding but honey and sugar might be pet names like babe or sweetheart or dear.
Delete@Les, yes I was joking. Not too cleverly, I guess.
DeleteM&A rates this one XCX-hard-ish. Great [and indubitably solvable] 1/2/3-Down stack, tho.
ReplyDeleteNice Quad Q Queue, too boot.
stafff weeject pick: CHU. Good name for a food taster, also.
Thanx, Mr. Herrmann dude. Wowzers ... a guy trifecta: Herr, man, dude. And very nice work, on the constructioneerin.
Masked & Anonymo6Us
... the runtpuz site server is back up, so I'll offer up yesterday's and today's installments...
"Leaping To Conclusions" - yesterday's 7x7 themed runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
"Wiener Dog Runt #82" - 16x3.5 12 min. themeless runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
Today I can get to and solve the puzzles, but not upload my solutions. Hopefully Ralph is still working on it.
Delete@kitshef: That’s odd, because I checked, and other solvers are uploadin their solutions fine.
DeleteM&A
The athleisure really upset me because I wrote it in and was like “yes!! That’s a great answer!” But I knew the Jon M. In question so Athleisure was immediately out and I was very disappointed. Athleisure has so much more sparkle than Activewear!
ReplyDeleteI agree @Kate. And…ok, I do yoga…I know @Lewis does yoga. Yoga is GREAT, and people who do/practice yoga are likely “active” peeps, but I don’t think of yoga pants as ACTIVEWEAR. With that said…not dissing the answer but I also thought ATHLEISURE.
DeleteMe too, @Kate Esq and @Beezer! My daughter’s yoga wardrobe introduced me to the word “athleisure,” and I was so proud to know it! Alas, my hopes were instantly dashed.
DeleteStrange solving experience but mostly good. I thought all those Qs made the SE easy because they are usually followed by Us. Had to look up ABRAMS but guessed at SORBETS and ATHENS and ARI.
ReplyDeleteI found SW tricky - I have never heard of UPSET ALERTS or MEAT SWEATS (yuk) or QBERT but gettable. And yes I did try Athleisure!
For "Source of rhythm in electronic music" I put ROLANDTR8S. Anyway. Qute puzzle
ReplyDeleteMy foothold mirrors @Rex’s today, but once I had that, I was slowed and moved over to have a SPICED ALE, and hedge my bets for imbibing by at least thinking about the last time I attended a glorious high mass at ST PAT’S. The NE quickly fell with a downs only romp across that section and then a quick cruise down the diagonal from NE to SW.
ReplyDeleteI disagree that the QUIVER full of QUs detracted from the quality or enjoyment of today’s solve. I rather think that OFL may be picking just to pick on something. And as soon as I read his clever comment “colonnade of colloquialness,” I jotted down “Pot-Kettle,” and was glad he noticed it himself.
The SW cheered me like a little sparkler on a birthday cupcake. I flirted with UPSET AhEad before ALERT, but knce Gain the balanced construction and very fair crosses steered me straight.
Coming to California as I do from Oklahoma (by way of Ohio) MEAT SWEATS is something I miss. Well, the eating way too much BBQ part of it anyway. All you Cali natives, please don’t want to have evicted from my new home state, but I long for some real Q. Preferably pig meat. I had some very decent smoked tri-tip at the county fair this year. Well smoked at least. And I admit to have become a tri-tip fan several years ago after a visit to my kids and granddaughter before my move. I started smoking them myself to raves from friends.
Although fairly easy this enjoyable solve puts Marshal Herrmann on my “watch list” of up-and-coming constructors whose next offering I eagerly anticipate. Thank you mr. Herrmann; keep ‘em coming!
5 star puzzle made you think in the best sense
ReplyDeleteKind of surprised no one has commented on Audubon's BIRDBRAIN answer being right below POOH, clued as 'A "bear of very little brain"'.
ReplyDeleteNever been a fan of clues including parts of other clue's answers.