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British rowhouses / FRI 1-30-26 / Small branch of Marvel Comics? / Jalapeño topper / Call ahead, in a way / Mylar alternative / Switch to a shorter line, say / Leader of China? / Group of Alpha males? / Piedmont province with a namesake wine / Brand whose logo has an A-shaped caliper / Capture a moment, in fiction / Chaney of classic horror / Elicit the facepalm emoji, say
Friday, January 30, 2026
Constructor: Robyn Weintraub
Relative difficulty: Medium
Word of the Day: MEWS (31D: British rowhouses) —
A mews is a row or courtyard of stables and carriage houses with living quarters above them, built behind large city houses before motor vehicles replaced horses in the early twentieth century. Mews are usually located in desirable residential areas, having been built to cater for the horses, coachmen and stable-servants of prosperous residents.The word mews comes from the Royal Mews in London, England, a set of royal stables built 500 years ago on a former royal hawk mews. The term is now commonly used in English-speaking countries for city housing of a similar design. [...] Mews derives from the French muer, 'to moult', reflecting its original function to confine a hawk to a mews while it moulted. William Shakespeare deploys to mew up to mean confine, coop up, or shut up in The Taming of the Shrew: "What, will you mew her up, Signor Baptista?" and also Richard III: "This day should Clarence closely be mewed up".
The term mews is still used today in falconry circles in English-speaking countries to refer to the housing of the birds of prey used in falconry. (wikipedia)
• • •
The difficulty for me today was entirely in the short stuff. Luckily, the short stuff is mostly not ugly stuff, so I didn't mind the fight (I do resent fighting for what is ultimately a cruddy answer). Trouble with the short stuff started early, in NW, with both RADIO (2D: Call ahead, in a way) and EDIT (17A: Switch to a shorter line, say). In neither case was I imagining the correct context. I might "call ahead," but I would never RADIO anyone, as I am not a cop checking in with headquarters (or whoever else "radios" on a regular basis. Cabbies? Military personnel?). And the clue on EDIT had me thinking of checkout lines, obviously. I forgot that [British rowhouses] were called MEWS (at M-WS I actually thought "MOWS?"). A LOT was hardish to get to via 32D: Every day, say. And it went on like this, with the clues to the answers testing me, and then the long answers thrilling me. FRAT came as a total surprise (46D: Group of Alpha males?)—is there a FRAT that's abbreviated "Alpha"? I guess the Greek letter alone was supposed to tip me. I had NOTES before TONES (57A: Steps on a scale), which kept that FRAT corner tough. Without a "?" on [Jalapeño topper], the fact that it was a "letteral" clue (referring specifically to the TILDE on the letter Ñ) never occurred to me. In that same section, I wanted SINO- before INDO- (55A: Leader of China?). As for "DEEP," no way (58A: "Whoa ... that's too much for my brain to handle!"). No hope. I don't think the clue is very good. How do I know something's "DEEP" if it's "too much for my brain to handle"? Makes no sense. If my brain can't handle it, maybe it's just "CONFUSING" or "WRONG." Or maybe it's shallow and I'm just "STUPID." Is the tone of "DEEP" facetious? Mocking? Again, without crucial context, this clue did nothing for me. But it's the only toughish clue that I ended up booing at. The rest all seemed fair and fine.
Bullets:
- 5A: Piedmont province with a namesake wine (ASTI) — "Piedmont" = "wine" = four letters = ASTI. Reflex answer.
- 24A: It's -90º at the South Pole: Abbr. (LAT.) — yes I wrote in LOW and no I will not be taking any questions at this time.
- 36A: Brand whose logo has an A-shaped caliper (ACURA) — I never really thought about that logo as looking like anything in particular, but of course it's a caliper. Maybe if I worked with calipers more often (i.e. at all), that fact would've registered.
- 39A: Mylar alternative (LATEX) — again, need context! Looks like maybe ... balloons? Probably other stuff too, but there are definitely both LATEX and mylar balloons.
- 40A: Capture a moment, in fiction (STOP TIME) — "in fiction?" You "capture a moment" by ... depicting it. That's all fiction is. I don't really know what this clue is referring to, specifically. STOP-TIME is also a term from the jazz world: "a technique or effect in which the rhythm section stops playing for one or more beats each measure, usually for a chorus, while a soloist continues to play" (Collins). It's also the name of this song.
- 6D: Eggshell, for one (SHEEN) — another short one that flummoxed me. I knew it was a COLOR or a HUE, a SHADE of, say, stocking, but SHEEN, you got me there. I guess we're talking about paint.
- 28D: Florida setting for "The Birdcage" (SOUTH BEACH) — me: "ooh, I know this." me also: [writes in SOUTH MIAMI].
That's all. See you next time.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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118 comments:
It was fine - not as enamored as Rex and not one of RW’s finest but definitely solid all around. SPIRAL GALAXY and GHOST STORIES shine.
Less Than ZERO
Kind of like the LAT - LON pair - I’m assuming that was intentional? The majority short stuff was gluey - the entire SE corner fell flat. Maybe WEED KILLER provides the shade?
TONES On Tail
Overall enjoyable frigid Friday morning solve.
My Lonely Sad Eyes
]
Easy-Medium, but very enjoyable, for all the reasons @Rex cites.
* * * * *
Overwrites:
My 6D eggshell was a SHade before it was a SHEEN
9A: arose before goT UP before SAT UP
Plus before PERK at 13D after I fixed 9A
At 33D I had a grin before I BEAMed
Before reading either clue I had TAw (a type of marble?) for TAR at 53D and wHOS (characters in The Grinch) for RHOS at 59A
One WOE, BABY GROOT at 33A.
I had some trouble in the SE--you have to do more than just ERR to elicit the facepalm--you have to annoy or irk or say a pun or something. Hard for me to get a grip there, but I enjoyed the puzzle almost as much as @Rex and other than the SE found it easier than he implied.
Delightful puzzle as always from Robyn. I believe the Acura logo is basically the Honda logo with the top squished in, or at least it was originally?
Yes, yes, great puzzle! Robyn, you have quite a fan club here! 21 minutes for me, so medium or medium challenging--but right where it should be. Got ZERO but took forever to parse TMINUS.... It's hard to see "CMON" because your brain just rejects a word starting with 2 consonants like that, right? I thought a long time before WEEDKILLER came to mind... I kinda like Dandelions, they're a lovely shade of yellow.... I'm definitely not in the "my yard must be weed-free" category of people. I agree about REMAINing CALM while also FACing REALITY. A tough balancing act sometimes!!!!! Loved seeing BABYGROOT; SPIRALGALAXY was definitely the whooshy key to the SE. I was deceived by "enter here!" as a clue for far too long, thinking it was talking about someone walking, not someone typing. We've got FRAT on one end with Alpha and RHOS on the other end for a little greek minitheme. And always love me some STAX tracks... Promised Land and I've got a feelin' in my body or some of the classics of that album. Can't beat a little classic Elvis. Thanks, Robyn, for a wonderful Friday morning solve, as usual!!!!
Solid, clean but not very hard….except for confidently writing SPIRALNEBULA @9D which completely bollixed the SW. Ate up a couple of precious minutes while I stared blankly at the mess that created. As the sun rose and the stars went out my mistake dawned on me and everything else quickly fell into place.
Anyone else have dessert menu before CHECK PLEASE? No? Just me?
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has given me countless hours of joy over the past decade plus. So far, BABY GROOT is the only thing I have been unable to make it through.
Hard for me, with the NW being the problem area (once dessert menu was dealt with).
A top-notch RW Friday, for sure! More on the medium-difficult side for me, for which I’m grateful. Having just solved one of her “beginner friendly” puzzles in the New Yorker, I’m impressed by Robyn’s ability to construct such entertaining puzzles at all skill levels. Her work sets the standard for other constructors to aspire to, IMHO.
Oh yes, there are the big things in a RW puzzle, those fabulous long answers and the playground-in-a-box wordplay that excite the heart before filling in the first square.
But they can mask the little fabulous things, like:
• Beautiful short answers, such as PLEBE, TOUCH ON, ADEPT, SHEEN.
• Highly scrubbed grid. Look at this completed grid! As I gaze over the answers, I get zen and calm.
• Zing. Answers we’ve never seen before in a Times puzzle, such as ALL STAR CAST, REMAIN CALM, SOUTH BEACH, GOES BERZERK.
• The bar Robyn sets for herself. Almost not submitting this puzzle because BALLASTS seemed weak to her! (Per her notes.)
• Amazing grid design talent. Robyn did 35 NYT Fridays before this – so many designs to choose from – and yet debuted a new Times grid design for this puzzle.
What a pro you are, Robyn, not only an artist, not only a one-of-a-kind, not only down-to-earth relatable, but a stellar technician underneath it all. Thank you for all this, and for another splendid outing!
I'd say the logo has a caliper-shaped A. Fun puzzle, though.
I'm not a very positive guy and I'm working on that. But when I saw the clue "Product that might feature a dandelion on the label" I imagined a beautiful yellow dandelion flower, maybe in a big green field on a nice fall day. Very positive images. Then WEED KILLER filled itself in and back to my hole I went.
Rex’s sino (before leader of China) wouldn’t make sense since sino refers to something Chinese.
Hey All !
A definite RW FriPuz. After YesterPuzs discussion, unsure how many clues have been changed, but a majority seem like they'd be Robin's. You can hear her voice in here.
Started tough, got it section by section, ended in regular FriPuzTime for me. Liked the four long stacks in each area, 10, 11 top and bottom, 11, 12 left and right. And mostly cool things.
Got down to one letter, TA_/_HOS. Wanted a T first, but somehow the ole brain cottoned onto RHO, entered the R, and got the Happy Music. Did a fist pump!
Amazingly dreck free. How to get such cleanliness around all those Longs is remarkable. Of course, it is Robin. Too bad she didn't get MIC DROP in there!
Have a great Friday!
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
Do you think RW’s puzzles are so good because the NYT puzzle editors trust her so they don’t mess with them? She almost never disappoints.
I'll happily add to the accolades. T MINUS ZERO and SPIRAL GALAXY made this space nerd extremely happy, while FACE REALITY on top of REMAIN CALM had a Zen-like wisdom on this single-digit morning. All that said, this lovely puzzle offered almost no resistance and I finished in 6:03, more than a minute below my Friday average. Thought the difficulty could have been enhanced in a couple places; perhaps clue WORKS LATE as WORK SLATE and STOP TIME in a racing vein, but these are quibbles. Great start to the weekend!
I am BABY GROOT!
Welcome back Robyn. It’s been way too long. This has some really stellar clues and answers, but no surprise there. I think my two favorites are CHECK PLEASE and ALLSTAR CAST.
I liked the way you kept the difficulty level up via creative clues. The clues for FRAT, RHOS and even TILDE are good examples. Hopefully you’ll stop by on a regular basis throughout 2026 !
I wasn't insulted but I did find this easy.
Finished at first with one wrong letter, which I figured was in BABYGROOT somewhere (never heard of it). But it turned I had MHOS instead of RHOS.
Knew MEWS from the Kinks' Berkeley Mews.
I assumed that STOP TIME referred to sci-fi or fantasy where a character can literally stop time. Hence in fiction.
CHECK PLEASE made me think of the song Pass It On from the criminally underrated 90s/00s hip-hop group Ugly Duckling and brought a big smile to my face. The clue on WORKS LATE made me think of when I used to take the train to work, which made me think of 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton and also brought a big smile to my face.
Played myself for a bit assuming PLEBE week was NAVAL week and spelling BERZERK with its proper Z. For whatever reason could not penetrate the bottom quarter of the puzzle today.
Between it being fave constructor Robin W and really outstanding, virtually junk-free fill (only five 3-letter answers), this was going to be a stellar review and Rex didn't disappoint.
Maybe a little easier (than medium) solve, as the repeatedly whooshing longs filled in big swaths of territory.
Wasn't wild about chemically awful ORTHO WEED KILLER, but can't say I never used it.
And last entry was BABY GROO? and S?AX; not sure how embarrassed I should be for being unfamiliar with both.
This was quite whooshy for me, except for the GROOT/STAX cross, I did guess the "T" but that was just lucky; I know little about the Marvel universe.
I had a different take on the alpha clue for FRAT; I think it refers to frat boys being the big men on campus—the alpha males.
I loved that WASH, which came to mind as the most obvious answer for 41D (It might get put through the wringer) crossed the actual answer, WET MOP. All in all this was a fun and satisfying Robyn Weintraub puzzle. Yay!
Started out slowly with mistakes in NW and N, but then took off from the NE with serial whooshes, both down and across! GOESBERSERK is today's favorite. Thanks RW for another fun Friday!
Incorrect. SINO- is a “leader” (prefix) indicating something is of or related to China.
Nice to see a Robyn W. Puzzle. Very enjoyable
I can’t believe it.Two days in a row, the Times is on a roll!!! 🎈🎈🎊🎊
Beautiful Friday Puzzle! Hand up for escaping the Natick at GROO?/S?AX with an initial guess using T as my final entered letter.
Great write up, Rex. Fantastic entry today. Tough but fair. I loved the clue for PIN. It took me a second to zone in but a lol moment.
I just flew through until I hit the SW corner at which point I hit a brick wall. Also I spelled Berserk with a Z. I guess I had the Stern arcade classic on my mind.
I’m the right age (advanced) to have watched many televised NASA launches as a child. The countdown never ended with “T-minus zero,” or even with “zero.” It ended with “liftoff.”
If they completed all the courses then they had the dessert already.
The following is a better picture of an A-shaped caliper.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRghUE2Jq-F28r6RSdWUBAnvqd8OBeGMNKY0OHBP-JuHg&s=10
A good Laborite often GHOSTSTORIES when talking seems futile and his WORKSLATE is full.
It can't be mere coincidence that FACEREALITY REMAINCALM TATA is the exact phrase I use with our dog when we're leaving him alone for an hour or two.
Every time I look at TOUCHON I think that it must be a French word. Voila! TIL that "TOUCHONs du bois" means "knock on wood". And while we're ATWOOD, I've got a BEAM that I need to cover in LATEX paint with an eggshell SHEEN.
This puzzle was a B(AL)LAST. Pretty easy but smooth as silk and marvelous cluing. In other words, Weintraubian! Thanks so much, Robyn Weintraub.
What a breath of fresh air! After days of snow, sleet, freezing rain and brutal cold, the crossword gods AROSE and shined upon us the glowing SHEEN of a Friday from the lovely and capable Ms. Weintraub. It’s been far too long.
I loved everything about it - the long downs, the long crosses, the clever clues for SAT UP, PIN, CHECK PLEASE and reference to one of my favorite movies ever. I might have clued that one with a line from the film … “when they moved there, it was mostly sand.”
Finally, before you GO BERSERK with the WEED KILLER, try to REMAIN CALM and FACE the REALITY that those dandelions are a vital food source for bees and other pollinators, and that without them there would be no more plants of any kind to kill.
Right in my wheelhouse, this was fun and I finished it quickly. I don’t think the NASA announcer ever actually says T minus zero, though—they stop adding the T minus after ten and just recite the numbers plus ignition and liftoff. I think this was the fifth day without a Star Wars reference—will we make it a full week? 😌
Amateur radio operators also radio, though not always ahead.
I read the clue on DEEP as something a stoner would say like, “woah man, deeeeeeeep”. Which I liked crossing ACID, felt cute to me.
Haven't even started it yet! 👏🥰
Only after I finished did I appreciate the crossing of "ACID" with the "DEEP", which was clued as "Whoa...that's too much for my brain to handle". A very common comment from someone who is on an acid trip.
Very enjoyable puzzle!
Not embarrassed at all, that was how I ended up as well. I kinda knew STAX, but never heard of the sapling. I only know Marvel characters if they are Norse or Greek gods, or were major comic book figures in the 1950s.
Maybe I moved through the solve too fast, but I didn't enjoy it as much as many here. Too easy. I only hesitated at whether the wine was ASTI or gavI, so when barolo wouldn't fit I just put in the I and moved on.
MEWS was good, and deceptive, since the Brit word for rowhouses is "terraces." MEWS are much more specific, but the clue was fair, so I enjoyed that.
BALLASTS was worse than weak. If I had to use it, I think I'd clue it as a verb. Better not to use it, but sometimes one has to , I know.
OK, my meeting starts in 1 minute, so TATA.
To approach this in the tradition of @egs: Who doesn’t love it when BABYGROOT GOESBESERK in a faraway GALAXY after doing a REALITY CHECK in the FACE of a WEEDKILLER. Oh well, I tried…thought this a fun puzzle and was pecking along slowly but steadily until I filled in “egos” for FRAT…that really took a while to unravel…
Same. It was a bummer.
Love to see Robyn’s byline. Wasn’t disappointed. Great puzzle. Played medium-challenging for a Friday, for me. Not a lot of whoosh due to a bunch of tricky cluing. Agreed, DEEP is clued incorrectly. Just wrong. Had STOOD before SAT UP. Never heard of ORTHO and I don’t know what (a?) bitumen is, but I knew 59A had to be CHIS or RHOS, and RHOS seemed better, so that worked out in the end.
If I had known my LATEX was going to keel over like that, I wouldn't have blown all that money on the divorce.
After several sessions with a speech therapist, my cousin Louie doesn't lisp anymore. ORTHO he says.
Saw RW's name on this one, smiled a smile as I knew I was going to like this, and was not disappointed.
Good day for overwrites though. EXIT before EDIT, NOTES before TONES (is there a word for an anagram mistake?) SHADE before SHEEN, and best of all AROSE before GOTUP before SATUP. AROSE showed up later but it was AROSE by another name (sorry @Egs).
I sort of knew GROOT which led to BABYGROOT but had no idea they were Marvel characters. Live and learn.
Below zero here again this morning, but the good news is that my wife was going skiing yesterday afternoon. We went to a protest rally instead and it was too late for her to go, good thing,,, as the chair lift broke down and people had to be evacuated. Everyone got off OK.
Always a pleasure, RW. Rave Worthy? I'd say yes, and thanks for all the fun.
Because the Acura caliper logo is slightly open at the top, it represents both the A for Acura and a stylized H for parent company Honda.
Ok help me out on Spare Part? PIN?
There are so many things you can GO that start with B... BANANAS, BONKERS, BERSERK!
Bowling
Think bowling.
¡Guau, eso es demasiado para mi cerebro!
Good challenging puzzle with a winky sense of humor and well balanced gunk. Very colorful. I'll bet they didn't edit this as heavily as they did @kitshef's. You can hear a unique voice in these clues.
Ended with bitumen because I've never heard of it. MEWS was another major "what the heck."
❤️ GOES BERSERK. BABY GROOT. SPIRAL GALAXY. GHOST STORIES.
People: 4
Places: 3
Products: 6
Partials: 5
Foreignisms: 3
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 21 of 70 (30%)
Funny Factor: 5 😄
Uniclues:
1 Add the phrase, "Oh, and it murders you too," to the RoundUp label.
2 Bowling target strikes back.
3 What I'd pay Jason Momoa to let me do.
4 Stick puzzles.
5 Fashion choice for my dominatrix.
6 The ocean of crossword clues celebrating this long dead actor.
7 Imagination.
8 Those who are over it.
9 It's so pretty.
10 Roadworkers.
1 EDIT WEED KILLER
2 PIN GOES BERSERK
3 TOUCH ON LAT
4 BABY GROOT MAZES (~)
5 WORKS LATE LATEX
6 LON TEXTBOOK
7 FACE REALITY ERR
8 CHECK PLEASE SET (~)
9 ACID SHEEN BEAM
10 TAR ALL STAR CAST
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Lick a licorice statue. TASTE ANISE ART.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Nice to see @Robyn here! These days she's more likely to pop up in the New Yorker. Wonderful puzzle, no surprise there! Appreciated the ESL shout out. Liked TMINUSZERO with SPIRALGALAXY; maybe we should REMAINCALM and just B(AL)LAST off to a new REALITY on another, saner planet.
No idea on BABYGROO_, the rest of which filled in from crosses but STAX sounded like something and, yay, it was.
Happy Friday!
Definitely had DESERT MENU in there. Also SCARY STORIES instead of GHOST STORIES.
Exactly, so Sino-China is redundant.
Bowling pins are parts of a spare. For instance, the ten pin might be left standing and then you knock it down for a spare.
ORTHO 🤣
Bowling
This was right up my alley -- think bowling pin.
Think bowling
Bowling
This ain’t Nam Smokey there are rules
Bowling pin.
GOES Bonkers, GOES Bananas (that one I did enter in the grid), GOES Batsh*t, ahh, GOES BERSERK.
That and the far SE were the tough parts of this puzzle. FACE REALITY and REMAIN CALM seem an apt pair for the current goings-on.
I can't really picture a moment in fiction being to STOP TIME. Most fiction is about moving the plot forward, right?
I got a chuckle at the TMI of 3D not going in the direction I imagined.
Robyn, great puzzle as always, thanks!
Mostly easy for me except for the SW corner which took a little work. AERO as clued was a WOE, CMON and FACE REALITY required some staring, and I did get fooled by the TILDE clue (hi @Rex).
Extremely smooth grid with a more than dash of sparkle, i.e. vintage Robyn, liked it a bunch!
A ROBYN Friday done under the covers! Gotta say it took me longer than usual since I've gotten used to Robyn's easy New Yorker puzzles but none the less gratifying. Except for BABY GROOT, it was like the old Robyn days - CHECK PLEASE, SAT UP. Now I can handle the brutal cold with a :)
Thanks for coming back, Robyn!
Thanks for 'letting' her come back, Will! (& editors).
Why would you be insulted?
I don't understand what's wrong with including BALLASTS in the fill. Someone please explain.
SHEEN excellent short fill. tough but fair. And an aha moment.
Again you are wrong—nothing in the clue necessitates that the answer be a prefix *to* the word “China”. With that “?” It’s perfectly plausible to guess that the prefix (“leader”) will itself mean “of China.” Which is what SINO means. Although [Chinese leader?] would be a better SINO- clue.
Hmmm, I think this one was pretty damn easy. I finished in under 5 which for me is pushing personal best territory. It's probably my average Wednesday time. I had similar hang ups to Rex so I'm not sure what the difference is there, this played very very easy.
Also Bellyup
Sailors/boaters RADIO ahead (to the harbormaster or marina, for example, before coming into dock or moor,) also pilots RADIO ahead (before crossing certain international airspace boundaries, or to operations or Fixed Base Operators to give then a heads up that you will be arriving)
STOP TIME ... now, FACE REALITY ... but, REMAIN CALM ... okay, it's TMINUSZERO: Now everybody GOES BERSERK! har
Agree with the @RP's 4.5 stars ratin. Smoooth and feisty-fun, throughout.
staff weeject pick, of only 7 choices: LON Chaney. M&A is always into the schlock-related stuff.
some schlocky faves, along with LON: BABYGROOT passin thru the SPIRALGALAXY. GHOSTSTORIES.
fave clue: Hard to pick, but will go with: {Every day, say} = ALOT. Sneaky. And the clue has rhymes, too boot.
Thanx for the fun, Ms. Weintraub darlin. Great themeless job, as usual.
Masked & Anonymo3Us
Flummox'd in the SE -- pop culture reference (movie I know nothing about) next to a brand name. Made the entire section undoable. Also -- who or what the hell is BABY GROOT??!!
Odd in the plural.
My fastest Friday in a while, but it felt fun rather than too easy.
I’m pleased I thought of BABYGROOT on my first pass, but didn’t trust it would be the correct answer until I got some crosses.
The capital A in group of Alpha males is the hint. It’s not the Greek letter in a FRAT name, it’s a reference to Gen Alpha, who I guess are old enough now to be entering college
For an n of 1 - the ability to STOP TIME features in Rebecca Yarros's Empyrean series.
Good question. I'm not aware of a special term for an "anagram mistake" that isn't just transposing two letters. Let's make one up. Steamki? Maragan?
Robyn is my favorite constructor so I was very happy to see her name today. I did need to hit check puzzle towards the end because I just couldn’t get the last few letters in the east. Still loved it!
Very little whooshing for me on this one, more a stop-and-go solve, with an especially challenging SE corner. I enjoyed figuring out the tougher clues. Favorites: SPIRAL GLAXY and GHOST STORIES, FACE REALITY over REMAiN CALM, WASH x WET MOP.
Do-overs: Me, too, for arose before goT UP before SAT up; CHEese platE before CHECK PLEASE (ignoring the fact that it's a course). No idea - and couldn't believe it was correct when I wrote it in: BABY GROOT.
I rarely notice the constructor's name (yesterday excluded), and halfway through this puzzle I thought: it's pretty good, wonder who... oh, Robyn!
Never ever heard of BABY GROOT; like Rex I ignore Marvel characters and movies as much as possible. T MINUS ZERO is not a bad answer but the clue is pretty off. "End of a NASA countdown that is not spoken aloud", maybe?
Hands up for GOES BONKERS before BERSERK. And at 59 across I put TAUS which are also characters in Crete and Sparta.
STOPTIME in film: when a protagonist is just about to do something big and life-changing and life-fulfilling, and the frame freezes onn= their face just in the very moment before the big feat is accomplished, followed by a flashback through all the events and challenges and disappointments leading up to the that defining moment, followed by the frame unfreezing and the hero stepping on the stage or swinging the bat or madly kissing the destined loved one, followed by the credits and many tears in the eyes of those leaving the movie theater.
That's STOPTIME, folks!
Love guau. It's also what dogs say when they bark in Spanish.
@jb129, I think Twangster is alluding to RP's comment that the puzzle "somehow also manages not to be insultingly easy."
That was my reaction, too. I found it to be on the easy side for a Friday, but not so easy as to take the fun out of a very clever and entertaining puzzle.
Also tasty for humans who enjoy bitter flavors!
Exactly!!!
Robyn Weintraub comes through again!
Yes, plenty to like in this one. SPIRAL GALAXY was my favorite, closely followed by the FACE REALITY and REMAIN CALM pair. I think we all need to do that a lot these days, no?
I did notice some marquee entries needed help to do their job. GO BERSERK and GHOST STORY both got letter count, grid filling boosts from the POC (plural of convenience). See also BALLAST. And I always look at the bottom, rightmost square where a POC is most likely to show up, as happens today.
Love Robyn's puzzles we all do - weed killer and ortho? oh do leave the dandelions Be they're so vital to our ecosystem
That T was my last letter entered also, and I was delighted that GROOT and STAX were correct off of a "Ave Maria" guess.
I, too, think Robyn's puzzles are delightful. I think they play easier for me than other nyt puzzles because they rely more on clever clues and lively, "in the language" phrases, and less on proper nouns and pop trivia. (As noted, BABY GROOT was my last answer in.) A fun, Friday solve!
There was a TV show in the early 60's that was called "Make that spare" where bowlers attempted to make five spares of increasing difficulty. The 6-7-10 was the toughest. I saw the 7-10 made once or twice! A friend of mine made money in the 50's setting up pins (before it being automated) .. Mr. Mills might be the only one that concurs.
I had DUDE ("Duuuude......") before DEEP
I had cheese plate which fit and is sometimes available off-menu. Overall good puzzle required some thinking, erasing, and reflection. Also do not get StopTime.
Cheeseplate. 😂
My internet says it's berSerk. From Wikipedia "In the Old Norse written corpus, berserkers (Old Norse: berserkir) were Scandinavian warriors who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the modern English adjective berserk 'furiously violent or out of control'. The Old Norse form of the word was berserkr (plural berserkir), a compound word of ber and serkr"
I’m not a fully paid up member of the Robyn fan club. She usually makes a really solid puzzle but I don’t find them particularly exciting. This one met my expectations. It was well built and mostly well clued but it did have BABYGROOT and BALLASTS in it.
Don’t get me wrong; I thought it was a fine puzzle. I just get kind of cringey when people go all “fan girl” about her sudden appearance here in the NYTXW. “Oh, our goddess hasn’t forsaken us after all”. It seems a bit much.
I found the left side of the grid to be much easier than the right. I especially liked WORKS LATE at 37A because I did that so many times as a newspaper employee and a train commuter, but the clue was just fuzzy enough to throw me off. The right side was another story. I had WEEDwacker over GOES Bananas and a whole bunch of other mistakes which made the process more “interesting” than fun.
A couple of notes about the WEED KILLER thing. We are a small farm (5 acres) and we originally thought we might try to go totally organic but realized that, because the previous owner had used various nasty chemicals on the property, it would take us 5 to 10 years to get certified. BTW, that previous owner lied to us about the chemicals, and other things, which has taught me something: there is no such thing as a gentlemen’s agreement if one of the parties is only pretending to be a gentleman. So our present course is to use as few chemicals as possible.
I do not poison dandelions. Like the bees, I find them quite attractive and I let them grow in the orchard area in order to attract the bees to the apples and pears.
There is, however, one plant I poison. Ranunculus. Like dandelions, this plant has very attractive flowers. A whole field of this stuff is gorgeous, unless you have goats and llamas that need to graze that field. I’m going to try to state this as delicately as possible and just say it has a rather negative effect on their gastrointestinal systems. Not fun. So when I move them down to the north pasture, I immediately attack the ranunculus in the south one with an herbicide labelled MCPA-60 which does the job and disappears within 30 days. I have got advice on this from many people, including neighbouring farmers and the experts at the Co-op. It is the least harmful strategy.
Oh, and the point of this narrative is … Ranunculus = buttercups, those lovely yellow flowers you used to rub under your chin as kids in order to, well, I’ll defer to Google AI here: The buttercup ritual is a classic children’s folklore game used to determine if someone "likes butter". A person holds a yellow buttercup flower under another person's chin; if a yellow reflection appears on the skin, it indicates they love butter. The shining effect is caused by the flower's highly reflective, almost mirror-like petals.
But it’s toxic. I have no choice. Sorry.
Also sorry that I got off topic. Go Robyn!
I think liftoff is a description of what happens immediately after the countdown and separate from the countdown.
I said to myself, this is the best Friday puzzle in ages. Robyn was brilliant as she so often is. Say, maybe she should try out for Jeopardy. Our olds friend Paolo did pretty good!
Yes that's true. But how does it apply to the clue "captures a moment, in fiction"? Or are you saying the answer doesn't fit the clue?
I have been pining for a Robyn W. puzzle. Thank you, Robyn. One request: please don’t make us so long. Love your puzzles.
Same solving experience here, Tom T. I love Robyn’s puzzles, they always seem kind of difficult on the first pass and then the clever cluing gets the old brain going. Did not know BABYGROOT or STAX, but made a lucky guess. Lovely puzzle.
Wow! Robyn Weintraub does it again - just beautiful. Did not have to look up anything, a very satisfying solve. Finally remembered MEWS. So many thanks
Can't see MEWS without thinking of an old favorite Ray Davies tune on the Kink's album Village Green Preservation Society, "Berkley Mews." https://youtu.be/CvdGKxXdkmY?si=ff-eTwBKDdruG2W5
Thanks, @Carola, I’ll have to check that one out.
Except...she doesn't get to write the clues! Someone else is in charge of cluing.
@Kitshef, hearty and sincere congratulations on yesterday’s tour de force! Loved it. And the theme gave me a true “aha/haha” moment of bliss. I was unable to post due to a ridiculous menu of exhausting medical events, but the puzzle entertained and challenged me during a couple long waits. Getting older is not for sissies!
A very enjoyable puzzle, but I wish we could put ESL to bed. At least in the NYS public schools it is now phrased ELL (English Language Learner) or ENL (English as a New Language) since many students are arriving knowing more than one language, there for not a Second Language. Just a pet peeve of mine.
Berndo
I thought it was easy until the SW corner. Same brick wall. Had notes lost patience and looked up and face palmed oh tones! Only then could I fill in the rest of the puzzle
I'll admit it. You waited for just the right puzzle to drop a 4 1/2. Thank goodness for Robyn Weintraub.
What's better than Robyn Weintraub on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday?
I see you.
@Les S, I learned the proper name
for the Buttercup from my grandfather and have always thought it kind of sad that such glorious happy little blooms could have a name that sounds a bit like a noxious growth of some kind. “I can’t possibly leave the house today with this smelly, scaly Rununculus on my leg!” Thanks for sharing about goats and Rununculus; news to me. Mostly what I knew about goats is that they are very active, beautiful animals who (like the deer that visit our yard from the neighboring wildlife preserve) will eat anything. I had no idea their gastrointestinal systems could possibly be “upset.” And now I wonder if the upset caused by the plant would also negatively impact the flavor of the milk and cheese made from the milk. Fascinating stuff we learn from each other here.
So happy to see Ms. Weintraub back in fine fettle for a frolicking feisty Friday. Pure enjoyment.
Thanks for correcting ESL, @SarahK. My kids are both teachers out here in the Bay Area, and the schools here are making similar changes. With so many districts, it’s tough to get everybody singing from the same chart.
Not her best (see BALLASTS, WORKLATE and REMAINCALM as lackluster longs), but it's great to have Robin Weintraub back for the first time last spring.
Im late to the party but i have to pyt it on record that in Britain we certainly don’t say “Tata” unless being ironic or impersonating Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced bouquet) AND most definitely nobody who uses the word “luv” would ever ever ever say it. Perhaps “tara” but absolutely positively ever “Tata”
Think sinophile, one who loves China.
Hey back at you, @Teed and @Carola!
@Robyn...love all your puzzles in the New Yorker...niice to see you here too.
This one put a fight for me. A perfect Friday.
You got me with many of your misdirects, but not with Jalapeño topper...;)
I recently watched a clever youtuber linguist talking about dicritics. The TILDE was a kind of shorthand / space saving mechanism...a word like "ANNO" could occupy less space with the 2nd N written tinily atop the other N.
Thanks!
Way, way too easy for a Friday.
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