.png)
Verdant privacy features / TUE 12-9-25 / Pigmented rings / Asahi Super Dry or Kirin Lager / Termites, for an aardwolf / Gossip, in slang / "Edie & ___: A Very Long Engagement" (2009 documentary) / Music app named for a figure in Greek myth
Tuesday, December 9, 2025
Constructor: Kate Hawkins
Relative difficulty: Medium
Theme answers:
- "AS FAR AS I CAN TELL..." (17A: "Judging from the information available to me ...")
- "JUST SPITBALLING..." (23A: "These are merely my spur-of-the-moment suggestions ...")
- "FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH..." (50A: "Here's my two cents, which might not amount to much ...")
- "ONLY A THOUGHT, BUT..." (57A: "Feel free to dismiss this idea — however ...")
Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement is a 2009 American documentary film directed and produced by Susan Muska and Gréta Ólafsdóttir for their company Bless Bless Productions, in association with Sundance Channel. The film tells the story of the long-term lesbian relationship between Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer, including their respective childhoods, their meeting in 1963, their lives and careers in New York City, Thea's diagnosis with multiple sclerosis and Edie's care for her partner, and their wedding in Toronto, Canada, in May 2007, because gay marriage was not then legal in their home state of New York.Upon its initial release, the film was screened primarily at LGBTQ film festivals in 2009 and 2010. The Edie in the film's title was Edith Windsor, who after the death of Thea Spyer on February 5, 2009,[1] was hit with an estate tax bill of $363,053 from the IRS. Had Thea been a man, Edie would have been exempt from this tax due to the marital exception. But the U.S. Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defined marriage as limited to a man and a woman, was in effect at the time. Windsor filed suit against the federal government on November 9, 2010, which ultimately made its way to the Supreme Court of the United States as United States v. Windsor. In June 2013, the Supreme Court upheld the lower court rulings in Windsor's favor and declared that DOMA was unconstitutional. (wikipedia)
• • •
I like the revealer, though the "ROWS" part doesn't ... add much. I mean, crossword answers are, by definition / design, linear, so any answer in any grid might be considered a "ROW." There's nothing especially "ROW"-y about these answers. I suppose you can say that in a crossword grid (or spreadsheet) situation, "ROW"s go Across, whereas columns go Down, and so the Acrossness of the answers matters. But then most theme answers do run Across, so again the "ROW"-iness isn't exactly an exceptional feature of the theme. But no other revealer will do. HEDGES would be anemic. The grid-spanning nature of the theme answers does give them a certain hedgerow quality, in that they seem to divide the grid into lots. If your hedgerow really is a "privacy feature," then I guess you might run it from one end of your property to the other I don't know. I've got sugar maples. I think the theme works. Not spectacularly, but it works.
The fill seems pretty average, though at parts it ran a little tough for me, for a Tuesday. Perhaps the most un-Tuesday moment of the solve was THEA (47D: "Edie & ___: A Very Long Engagement" (2009 documentary)). I'm not sure there's any THEA answer famous enough to qualify as a Tuesday answer, but this one was a real "????" to me. The documentary is about a very important U.S. Supreme Court case, and it sounds fascinating, but yeesh, as a piece of trivia, it's pretty Friday/Saturday. This could easily have been THEO as far as I, the ignorant solver, was concerned (of course if THEA had been THEO then the couple could've legally married in the U.S. and the documentary would never have existed). THEA is one of the few answers where I think I'd prefer the good old-fashioned partial over any one person's name. You can see that the NYTXW relies a lot less heavily on the Billy Strayhorn / Duke Ellington Orchestra song than it used to...
..but I say: "Take THE A Train" is way better known than any other THEA option, and any puzzle that reminds me of Ellington can't be all bad. If you must use THEA ... then by all means, take THE A Train:
I stumbled in a few non-THEA places as well. For some reason DIET was not a word that leapt to mind at 14A: Termites, for an aardwolf, so even though I had the "D" in place, I wrote in DISH (?). I was today years old when I learned RICE BEER existed (inferable, but ???) (8D: Asahi Super Dry or Kirin Lager). I hesitated at the final letter of AREOLAS ... then defiantly wrote in the "S," daring the puzzle to do the stupid Latin plural thing to me (which thankfully it didn't) (25D: Pigmented rings). The ZEE / ZED crossing was actually a teeny bit tricky, since there's nothing in either clue to indicate "letter" (33A: 33-Down, across the Atlantic / 33D: 33-Across, across the Atlantic).
Bullets:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Really loved the GAY / TEA / "Oh, MARY!" nexus. A dishily queer little cluster of words. My daughter did some work on the earliest, off-Broadway production of Oh, MARY! before it even opened (possibly carpentry, possibly something else having to do with production design), then was invited to work on the show once it moved to Broadway but already had other commitments. The show sounds hilarious but I've never seen it. I like that even if you've never heard of Oh, MARY!, you can infer the answer fairly easily because the clue gives you "Mrs. Lincoln."
Bullets:
- 48A: Sound from someone sitting down at the end of a long day ("AAH...") — still not sure how this differs from the sound you make at the dentist. AAH v. AHH is tricky for me. Also, I thought the "sound" here was going to be the sound of someone literally "sitting," like ... PLOP!
- 54A: "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a ___" (old maxim) ("FIRE") — ugh, this is awful. It's a weak maxim to begin with, but also ... I've never, ever heard this so-called "maxim." Why in the world would you use a quotation if you don't know where it comes from? If the "maxim" is universally familiar, great, but this one is not—too long, too fussy, too banal to be truly well known. So the clue is fussy, overly long, not well known, and not interesting. Four strikes.
- 6A: One who might ask "Fair dinkum?" (AUSSIE) — got this easily enough, but still have no idea what that question is supposed to mean. Merriam Webster dot com says it's a general expression of approval. Not sure why it's appearing here in interrogative form.
- 58D: "J to ___ L-O! The Remixes" (2002 Jennifer Lopez album) ("THA") — first remix album to reach #1 on the Billboard 200 chart (I just learned). I had "THE" here for a half second before realizing "oh, no, if they're going to pop music, that's gonna be a THA"—and so it was.
That's all, see you next time.
P.S. two more days to send in your 🌲🐈Holiday Pet Pics🐕🌲 by Thursday of this week. Expecting to see a whole lotta cats in trees, just like Calypso here. Don't disappoint me!
 |
| [Thanks, Andrea] |
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
=============================
❤️ Support this blog ❤️:
Venmo (@MichaelDavidSharp)] =============================
✏️ Upcoming Crossword Tournaments ✏️
📘 My other blog 📘:
=============================
❤️ Support this blog ❤️:
✏️ Upcoming Crossword Tournaments ✏️
- American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (Stamford, CT, Apr. 10-12, 2026) (registration opens January 8!)
📘 My other blog 📘:
- Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)
Save And Share :
21 comments:
Easy. My overwrites were mostly places where I made the wrong choice between two valid or near-valid answers.
* * * _ _
Overwrites:
prEy before DIET for the aardwolf-ant relationship at 14A
DIScUss before DISPUTE for Argue at 2D
AREOLAe before AREOLAS for the pigmented rings at 25D
DuH before D'OH at 45D
One WOE, Eddie and THEA at 47D.
My inner middle schooler chuckled at FOR WHA' TIT'S WORTH crossing AREOLAS
Finished it quickly, even though "spitballing" is a new word to me.
I'm surprised Rex wasn't critical of the redundant ZEE/ZED clue. (The letter) ZEE (33-Across) is ZED (34-Down) across the pond. As the clue is written, we get "ZED (34-Down) is ZED (34-Down) across the pond."
Last letter in today, appropriately: the Z in ZEE/ZED.
I'm with Andy!.....had to run the alphabet to "Get it"
Its 33 across and 33 down and it is very much standard crossword fare.
Fun fact: Lots of beers have rice in them. Most notably famous American beers such as Budweiser et al. The rice is used as an adjunct to the traditional barley malt, yeast and hops. They aren't considered "rice beers" in the same way, but indeed have rice as a significant ingredient
There, for a bit, I was thinking "verdant privacy features" were FIG LEAVES -- and it fit!
Hey All !
Nice 15 Themers. Nice handling of surrounding fill. With four 15's plus a Revealer in the center, that's a lot of trying to get real words/things in your puz. Handled quite nicely, as most Downs go through two and three Themers.
Liked it today. More puzzly than a regular TuesPuz. As in, Tuesdays seem to be the weakest puz day at the NYT, but this one holds its ground.
Have a great Tuesday!
Four F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
I enjoyed reading Rex today. Even though he does it pretty much daily, I am still occasionally surprised at level of analytical precision that he can bring to the dissection of the theme. I just don’t have the energy (or the intellectual curiosity, I suppose) to parse each theme clue / answer down to basically every syllable. They all sounded like common, reasonable phrases to me. OFL does provide a lot of insight into the construction process, and the associated constraints, which is interesting.
RICE BEER was definitely a head-scratcher. It gets two demerits for being kind of a niche term and for being clued with brand names. At least as egregious as the proper that Rex focused on (THEA).
I was disappointed when the crosses seemed to eliminate LAV / LOO as the “across the pond” alternative. I was hoping they wouldn’t go with ZED. I waited until I ran out of squares before entering that Z, but happy music it was - fortunately I didn’t have to live with it for long, as my solve was over, kaput, fini.
This is one of those days where I pity the long-time solvers who skip early week puzzles. What a gem this is on many levels.
The empty grid itself is calming to look at, IMO, making for a subtle-yet-lovely intro to the puzzle.
The theme answers, IMO, roll easily off the tongue, and it’s amazing that Kate found four at exactly 15 letters. They also pop with freshness – as three of them are NYT debuts, and the fourth has appeared in the Times puzzle but twice before.
It’s also amazing that the grid is filled as cleanly as it is, given the sky-high 69 theme squares (Hi, @Roo!).
Talk about LANDED – that revealer HEDGEROWS! How perfect is that? Descriptive, punny, and I never saw it coming. “Oh brava!” I shouted inwardly upon filling it in.
Then there was the sweet serendipity of LANDED, as a joke, crossed by a backward HAW HAW.
I came to the box today favorably disposed, Kate, because your puzzles exude quality. Once again, you delivered. Thank you!
Liked the theme. The ZEE/ZED thing wouldn’t come, even with EE and ED in place. Weird!
Surprised to see that (FAIR)DINKUM has never appeared in a NYT grid. It felt like prime themeless material. I bet that answer would trip up a lot of solvers.
I vaguely remember a puzzle where the revealer played on the word ACROSS, but that is so much more specific than ROWS, so I'm with Rex on that point. I tried to emulate @Lewis by not looking at the revealer until I had all the theme answers, but it snuck up on my, and I had too many crosses to make guessing necessary.
TIL that, being OLD, I am officially "historical." Come to think of it, my daughter gave me a subscription to something called "Storyworth" where I am supposed to write an essay about something in my life every week--so I guess that's history. I like doing it, but it's hard to find the time.
Never heard of OH MARY, but it sounds fascinating!
The term SPITBALLING took hold quite a few years before I retired in meetings at work. Its kind of like “brainstorming” but the idea is you throw all these “spitballs” (of ideas) against the wall and see which one sticks (to the wall). Clever, no?
The themers span the full width of their rows. Seems more row-ier than other across answers can be. I buy it.
My partner works for Kirin and he was very upset by this puzzle because Kirin Lager is not a rice beer. It is all malt (or so I am told).
Have to admire Rex’s attention to detail and how he brings out different looks at a puzzle, even when you disagree with him. This time around, I kinda agree with him that the last themer would have been more in the language if it read “itsONLYATHOUGHT” as opposed to ONLYATHOUHGHTBUT. However, both convey thought and I guess the puzzles author had quite a struggle with the crosses. Felt HEDGEROWS was great as “revealer”.
I liked this for a Tuesday just fine, though I've never heard of the j-Lo remix or the phrase JUST SPITBALLING, But it was still fun, and I like having HEDGEROW and ZED cross, for the full British effect. Thanks, Kate!
I use spreadsheets often so the row/column distinction is second nature to me. ONLY A THOUGHT, BUT the fact that the themers horizontally spanned the grid quite elegantly turned them into "rows" as opposed to ordinary "acrosses."
Quick comment before a busy day. Thought the puzzle was fun and whooshy. I’m not the best at going over all puzzle answers when finished, but am I correct that there are zero individual “male” propers in puzzle? The Padres are male, and a silverback is a male gorilla, but….
I asked our neighbor if he'd take my tiny, but valuable, idol for safekeeping while we were out of town. "Sure, Egs," he says. "ENTRUST wee god."
The PA (known as the EPA until D, E and I were officially removed from the government lexicon) is busy DLISTing everything it can by checking critters against the Extinct List. If you're not on that, you're probably ok. Which reminds me that I was once at a party where a woman introduced herself as "George Hamilton's Mother." No other name was imparted. Now that's taking your DLIST status seriously!
I guess the fact that the three letter Portuguese word for "hello" has appeared 362 times in the NYTXW answers the question AREOLAS ok? Yes, especially with a side of ASSES.
Doesn't the Australian national anthem begin "AUSSIE can you say, fair dinkum today"?
I think the fact that each themer takes up an entire row makes the revealer very good. I don't buy the statement from @Rex that " I mean, crossword answers are, by definition / design, linear, so any answer in any grid might be considered a "ROW." " That is a tortured critique. The answer "ATE" at 27A is part of a row, but you would never say it is a row. The themers, consisting of an entire row, would merit such a description. I thought this was a great puzzle. Thanks, Kate Hawkins. Put your earnings from the puzzle in a HEDGE Fund.
Post a Comment