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Relative difficulty: Hard (14:21)
THEME: Sunday in the Park with George — A BROADWAY MUSICAL composed by STEPHEN SONDHEIM
Letters spell out "Look, I made a hat" and also create the image of a hat-- that is.... they made a hat.
Word of the Day: STEPHEN SONDHEIM (Pulitzer-winning composer and lyricist of "Sunday in the Park With George") —
Sondheim was an avid fan of puzzles and games. He is credited with introducing cryptic crosswords, a British invention, to American audiences through a series of cryptic crossword puzzles he created for New York magazine in 1968 and 1969. Sondheim was "legendary" in theater circles for "concocting puzzles, scavenger hunts and murder-mystery games", inspiring the central character of Anthony Shaffer's 1970 play Sleuth. Sondheim's love of puzzles and mysteries is evident in The Last of Sheila, an intricate whodunit written with longtime friend Anthony Perkins.
• • •
On top of that, the fill and the clues felt a little dated to me. I wonder if the editors did this on purpose, given that the subject matter is from about forty years ago. It keeps things consistent.
A big part of being an editor is deciding if a theme is worth publishing, taking into account whether or not solvers will be familiar with it. In this case, I knew the musical, but didn't know the lyric-- but I can still appreciate the cute wordplay that comes from the letters doing exactly what they spell out. I associate puzzles where you have to "connect the dots" with the constructor Elizabeth Gorski, but this mechanism is a little different from hers.
 |
| This has always been my experience regarding an ENDIVE, btw. "Salad green" ????? |
The fill that I found hard was the short stuff, like GTOS, TEAT (not hard, but I couldn't believe that was real), ESSEN, PABA, ELA, UEY, and SOU. I was also really slow to get OKAY THEN, what with DID OK literally two blocks above it. I think I would have preferred to see two "OK"s in the grid (or two "OKAY"s) than to see one of each. It felt like pulling back the curtain on constructors! I don't want you guys to notice that I just spell things (omelette / omelet, okiedokie / okeydokey, etc) just based on whatever fits better!! I want things to seem 100% purposeful!!!
Bullets:
xoxo Malaika
Bullets:
- [Fashion name that's become slang for "excellent"] for GUCCI — The term "name" threw me off here (although of course it's correct!) since I think of it first as a brand. I don't know the exact etymology of it meaning "excellent" but Gucci Mane was making music in the early 2000s, so I'd guess this "slang" has been around over twenty years. The phrasing "that's become" made me think it was something much more recent.
- [Jerry's uncle on "Seinfeld"] for LEO — Jerry's uncle appeared in 15 episodes, or 8% of the episodes in Seinfeld. He last appeared on air in 1998, when I was not quite one year old.
- [Key's longtime partner in sketch comedy] for PEELE — Key & Peele did comedy together for over a decade, but it's also been about a decade since their sketch show aired. I'm leaving my favorite of theirs below.
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??Situationship?? Is this really a word? How is it used and by whom?
ReplyDeleteI thought play or movie for 17A and could not think what would fill that whole row until I had a lot of crosses.
It was fun to see 26D. Reminded me of my trip to Morocco, before which I had not heard storks clatter their beaks, nor heard that they did so.
Toetappers and Lookieloos were kind of fun.
18D was an entertaining clue.
Situationship is a very common current term (prob the most current in this puzzle) its when you are hooking up and going on dates with someone but there's no formal labels or commitment so you are sitting in limbo. See also f*ckboi
DeleteSituationship is Gen Z slang. Its something in between “friends with benefits” and an all out relationship.
DeleteIt's part of the vernacular, maybe within the past 5-10 years or so
DeleteSituationship is a real term! It means like a temporary relationship that works for the time being, it's kinda the new "it's complicated".
DeleteSituationship is definitely a thing. It’s a romantic/sexual relationship in which the parties do not have a formal commitment.
DeleteIt's a naval term describing the conditions on board the vessel. The captain will often ask his or her second in command to provide him or her with the situationship each morning.
DeletesharonAK, a quick Google can usually answer questions like this faster than a comment on a blog.
DeleteEasy-medium. No costly erasures and STORKS as clued was it for WOEs.
ReplyDeleteMy knowledge of SONDHEIM is somewhat superficial so I needed Wiki to make sense of the theme. It turns out that “Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981–2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Wafflings, Diversions and Anecdotes” was the second book of two covering SONDHEIM’s lyrics. The two volumes were packaged together as Hat Box: The Collected Lyrics of Stephen Sondheim. Spanning Sondheim's entire career in musical theater, film, and television, the collections detail the process of crafting these works alongside his opinion and self-critique. (Wiki).
Mostly smooth grid and a cute graphic, but kind of a niche choice for a puzzle theme as I suspect that many solvers will find it “totally out of my wheelhouse“ (hi @Malaika and @me).
Thanks for the info on Sondheim’s lyrics. I knew Sunday in the Park With George was a musical by him, but didn’t know about the hat. That makes me like the puzzle more than I initially did.
Delete"Look, I made a hat where there never was a hat" is also an actual lyric from the song "Finishing the Hat" from Sunday in the Park with George.
DeleteThis is why I check Rex Parker! If Rex/Malaika doesn't catch it, you wonderful commenters will see a puzzle feature that was over my head. Thank you!
DeleteYeah, I was not on the wavelength of this puzzle either--have never heard of Sunday in the Park with George. Also don't really dig connect the dot puzzles much.... I guess I should print them out so I can do the grid art in a more tactile way. I did it last night but couldn't figure out why I wasn't getting the happy music--figured out pretty quick this morning it was just a typo. (LEs for LEO, but I knew it was LEO). Enjoyed seeing the full "BROADWAYMUSICAL"
ReplyDeleteSorry clicked something too soon... also enjoyed "ENCORE" and "TOETAPPERS" as sort of bonus musical material in the grid today. LOOKIELOOS was a WOE. I guess I should go listen to "LOOKIMADEAHAT" now... thanks, Joseph!
ReplyDeleteFinished th puzzle okay but then spent a while trying to work out what the phrase "Look, I'm a DEA hat" meant. Google was no help.
ReplyDeleteThat's cute because I'm a pharmacist, but I didn't even see that! I finally saw I made a hat but I don't understand it. Could someone PLEASE explain it to me. I'll check back later. Thanks
DeleteHa! I also wondered a DEA hat must look like.
DeleteThank you, Joseph, for this puzzle! Such fun to start a Wednesday with this treat.
ReplyDeleteStephen Sondheim loved crosswords, especially cryptics! I’m sure he would’ve loved the puzzle (but also would’ve kindly aired whatever grievances he had).
George Seurat, the main character of the musical at hand, was a pointillist—so the dots/circles are incredibly apt! Nice touch.
I found it easier than Malaika did. Only uncertainty was in the NW...never heard of LOOKIELOOS and didn't know PABA, but nothing else fit and the music sounded. Never considered the circled letters; if I had, they'd have slowed me down. Agree with sharonAK that "situationship" can't be a word.
ReplyDeleteSituationship was a short-lived sitcom based on the French series Mon Amis. It didn’t last long but left a cultural presence.
DeleteAnd yet it's a term that's been in the vernacular for years.
DeleteHate to be that guy, but I found this so easy I almost beat my fastest Wed time. I have never seen Sunday in the Park and have no idea what "Look I Made a Hat" sounds like, so the theme didn't interfere for me at all. But I'm old enough to have watched Seinfeld first-run and Uncle LEO made me smile.
ReplyDeleteMy only real problem was with PETITE.. I was trying to come up with a hemline style, not a fit. Does a PETITE dress "fall short" if it's the right fit for the person? Who else is wearing PETITE dresses? That's like saying an XL is "oversized". Not for the person who needs it. 🤷🏻♂️
Same.
DeleteSame, this was a Monday time for me. Both Broadway musical, and Stephen Sondheim dropped right in with virtually no crosses. But since I’m probably twice Malika‘s age, it makes sense. Both endive , which is not green, and petite, which you should only wear if it fits, or misclued.
DeleteI agree with being less than satisfied with the clue for PETITE. I see the misdirect it was going for it, but the answer was off, as you describe. Ultimately, it is the clue that “falls short.”
Deletesame here, got it in 7:36, 4 seconds faster than my fastest wednesday.
DeleteI don't love that those who are younger are allowed to complain that the fill is old, but if older people complain we are said to be out of touch. Personally (as someone older) I like to learn new things so the only thing I complain about is others complaining lol (dated slang yes?)
DeleteAlthough the clue is a bit awkward, I interpreted this use of the term “falls” as simply describing the “drape” of the item of apparel.
DeleteI think the clue for PETITE is clever. A petite dress falls short compared to non-petite dresses.
DeleteDitto. I posted a Wednesday best (4:27) despite having to play hunt the error as I'd written in LOOKIE LOuS and then never had to look at the clue for the cross.
DeleteXW Stats has this puzzle rated as Easy with the average solving time 22% faster than an average Wednesday. Although I suspect that has wide variability driven by the fact that the spanners are either really easy or hard depending on preexisting knowledge.
PETITE is a category of women's clothing for women shorter than about 5 ft 2, i.e for short people. It comes in sizes , even XL, so the clue makes sense.
DeleteLikewise it was easy, except for “look i made a hat”. I few misspellings along the way “Lookie LoU” instead of LOO. I’m not a fan of words like “PSHAW” but that’s a me thing, love the reference to 60s cars GTO, even though we didn’t have them in England. As for Uncle Leo…who didn’t love Uncle Leo even if he did short change his sister after the racetrack bet.
DeleteAnd here's one more hand up for "so easy I almost beat my fastest Wed time." Also, the second puzzle this week that was easier than Monday's. Cute theme, though.
DeleteEasier than usual for me too. Never heard of the musical, never heard of -SHIP ending, ignored the hat, etc., but the fill just made it easy. I guess being old helps.
DeleteI call BS on the petite clue. If the dress is supposed to be knee length, then that is where is should fall regardless of the size. My first reaction to the animation was a big WTF does that mean. Thx to the explainer(s) of the related lyric
DeleteChris S
DeleteAs others said, it depends on how you look at it Petite dresses are shorter than the next size up so they fall short. The clue didn’t say they fall short on a person. Classic crossword clue. Nothing wrong with it.
Thanks, Malaika! I found it a bit easier than you did, but I agree that one's age may help determine familiarity with some of the fill. My beef? I'm tired of these clues that misrepresent 'NEE' [24D: Once called]. It literally means 'born', as in 'born as ....'. Sure, I got it, but still.
ReplyDeleteRight, but it also refers to one’s former name once a spouse that’s taken partner’s name, in common usage. Fairly clued
DeleteIf you were born with one name, and now you have a different name, then you were literally once called by another name.
Deletenée is French feminine form of né , born.
Deletenee is an English word used to refer to a woman’s last name before marriage. It doesn’t mean born (Try saying the baby was nee last night). When a word is borrowed from another language, the original meaning can become irrelevant I don’t see anything wrong with the clue and answer.
ReplyDeleteEasy. Very easy. Again. Cute hat. I love Sondheim; I've never seen Sunday in the Park with George but I'm familiar with the score and the significance of the hat.
No overwrites, no WOEs. Nifty STORK trivia at 26D
Found the fill to be easy and a lot of fun. I was not familiar with the terms Lookieloos or toetappers, but the lookieloos made me giggle. Although I had never heard of the anthology "Look I made a hat", it may be interesting to read. Lacking spacial awareness, connecting the letters was the most difficult part for me.
ReplyDelete@Carolbb I too finished the puzzle but had a lot of trouble knowing which way to go to connect the circled letters (straight ahead? up?). The fact that I had never seen the musical (though I had seen the Seurat painting) didn't prevent me from filling in all the right answers in the puzzle, but not the follow the dots part.
DeleteI liked this and it was definitely in my wheelhouse, since I’m old, but I thought it was too easy for a Wednesday. But I liked it and seeing the hat graphic pop up when I finished was fun.
ReplyDeleteThis is the kind of puzzle where being 79 comes in handy, LOL.
ReplyDeleteHi Malaika. Very fair review but for better or worse I am of the age for whom this puzzle was the sweet spot. Maybe my second fastest Wednesday time. I started on the downs and once BROA was entered BROADWAY MUSICAL was a gimme. GTO is very crossword-ese or should I say crossword easy ( sorry but if I am going to out my age I might was well own it and make dad pun while I am at it). Didn’t know that this was a Sondheim musical but again I was moving clockwise through the puzzler on the downs and nice EIM was entered in the southeast it was another gimme. In the grand scheme of dated vs puzzles that are filled with station-“SHIP” answers I try to take the long view and while an individual puzzle may lean one way or another over a week does everyone more or less have a fair shot. It’s not so current any more but unless the answer to a GOT clue is Anya or Stark, I’m never going to get it without solving the crosses.
ReplyDeleteHow in the world does one actually connect the dots in the app? Have clicked around the hat multiple times to no avail. Kind of frustrating!
ReplyDeleteFun otherwise though, I suspect for this one in particular that the ease in solving correlates quite well to how close in age to the constructor you are. For example I didn't have any issues with situationship, Peele, or Gucci but some of the older ones like PABA (which I suspect must be an acronym rather than initialism right?) and pshaw.
As soon as I finished the puzzle in the NYT games app, a line connecting the circled letters automatically appeared.
Delete@Oisín7:33 AM
DeleteIn your puzzle settings (the little gear icon), make sure "Show overlays" is ticked. It should connect the dots for you.
Anyone else finished the puzzle and wondered what “Look, I’m a DEA hat” was supposed to mean? I suppose I should wait for my second cup of coffee before partaking in mental games.
ReplyDeleteClose to that: At first I eye-skipped that final ‘a’ and reversed the other two (I think the animation had my brain panicking to make sense of it more quickly than my morning brain could muster), so I puzzled over LOOK, I’M A DEATH.
DeleteHahahaha
DeleteDitto! And I actually saw Sunday in the Park with George on Broadway, but like most Sondheim shows I’d forgotten most of it by the time I was on the subway. And I’m sure it’s over 30 years ago
DeleteAll I could think of was the scene from Airplane! when the guy is asked what he can make of something (meaning what the thing represents) and he makes a paper hat and says “I can make a hat!”
DeleteI’m clearly not on the Sondheim wavelength.
Another Wednesday In The Puzzle with Joseph, now with five of his six NYT puzzles appearing on that day.
ReplyDeleteAnd another Joseph puzzle with an accent on grid art. His first Times puzzle has the most adorable black-square crossword image I’ve ever seen (warning, the two following links show completed puzzle) -- https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/16/2022 -- and for his second, he actually made a hat! -- https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=10/18/2023 .
I love Sondheim’s originality, wordplay, and non-hackneyed melodies, so this puzzle kindled good feelings. I’m also a fan of impressive puzzle-making, and this junk-lite grid with its two spanners and incredibly constricting symmetrical hat is just that.
And thus, a happy-button puzzle for me, for which, Joseph, I’m highly grateful – thank you!
@Lewis... I remember that puzzle! (the first one).
DeleteSaw the original cast of Sunday in the Park with George and it was one of the most spectacular shows I’ve seen - and saw the revival a few years ago. Music and lyrics are amazing. Give it a listen, Malaika!
ReplyDeleteDitto. I even saw the original cast of Merrily!
DeleteI knew the clue indicated a BROADWAYMUSICAL and that it was a STEPHENSONDHEIM opus but as I am familiar with none of the songs from the show I didn't bother to connect the dots. Sounds like an interesting lyric but I'm having trouble coming up with a context for it.
ReplyDeletePlayed easy here, except for GUCCI as an adjective and situationSHIP?? Really? (Hi sharonAK) At least they spelled UEY right. And I guess two OKAYs are OKAY if they're spelled differently.
Hello to old friends SOU and especially the very crossword-friendly ESSEN. Long time no see.
Nice enough stunt-type puzz for a Wednesday, JG. Not exactly a Jolly Good time, but fun enough, for which thanks.
you must not be gen z or millennial! situationship is primarily gen z slang but gucci has been slang since millennials at least.
DeleteBingo, I am neither.
DeleteI'm with @Rick. Nee means born, that and only that.
ReplyDeleteIn wedding announcements the bride will be identified as "Mrs. (new surname)_____" and also by her maiden name, e.g. NEE (born) _____ _____.." So NEE has two meanings.
DeleteAgree with Bob Mills' two meanings, in that we (Americans) often mold French words to suit our needs. One example is "entrée", meaning "appetizer" (your entry into the meal), yet in the States it means "main dish".
DeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteStrange puz here. Not up on musicals, so the "Revealer" of I MADE A HAT means nothing. Sorry to all you BROADWAY lovers.
Puz easy, despite my ignorance. I Do know of the name STEPHEN SONDHEIM, so there's that at least. Oh, and have heard of said MUSICAL. Look at me go!
A good day for Hat makers, I guess. 😁
Bizarre clue on SHIP. How about 'She at sea?'
If you order tuna with garlic sauce, you get AIOLI REARM AHI.
I'd better leave the @Uniclues to @Gary!
Have a great Wednesday!
No F's - SAD
RooMonster
DarrinV
How many points for PABLO in SB? Yeah, didn't think so.
DeleteHa! If it was accepted, I'd give you 2! But, we'll make it a 1/2 point, so now we're all tied up at 1.
DeleteRoo
If you are in your seventies and grew up in NYC, the two long crosses, the Knicks, GTOs and maybe even PABA were gimmes. Drawing a hat with dots (points) at the end tied the puzzle’s subject matter all together and was brilliant.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I tried to enter HYPED for TYPEA. Today I tried to enter it for HYPER. In both cases they sort of worked, but the correct answer was indeed better for the clue. Apparently once my brain settled on that word, it won’t give up looking for it on the grid.
ReplyDeleteThis one had the potential to be enjoyable, even though I knew nothing about the theme content. Les Miz and The Phantom are about the extent of my BROADWAY MUSICAL repertoire.
ReplyDeleteI had nothing coming out of the gate in the NW. I got over to the east coast and did some damage, then circled back to the NW and TITT. LOOKIELOOS is just chicken scribble to me. I say Big ASK all the time but didn’t make the connection, I don’t know PABA and I don’t speak Spanish. So it turned out to be an “OKAY” experience, but LOOKIELOOS definitely spoiled it a bit for me.
FYI, Portuguese is the native language in Sao Paulo Brazil
DeleteNot sure if the puzzle is any good from a solving perspective, but as a rabid Sondheim devotee, thank you! Sorry more people didn’t get the “Dot” subtext. The entire musical is, in a sense, about dots, both in Seurat’s pointillism and a certain central character. Finishing the Hat is an astonishing song (one of many, many astonishingly powerful Sondheim songs) and using dots to make a hat is a wonderful multi-layered touch.
ReplyDeletePlayed like a Monday, with a letdown at the end-- waiting for more themers related to Sondheim, but instead got a cutesy hat. No idea how the hat relates to Sondheim, even though I'm of an age where shows from 30-50 years ago are familiar to me. Clever puzzle though, with nice long Downs and minimum of junk fill. Since Rex isn't here, I'll score it and give it 3 1/2 stars
ReplyDeleteSLOP (51 A) was the American Dialect Society’s word of the year for 2025. That just happened less than a week ago.
ReplyDeleteThe marble skit was delightful; I’d never seen that. Thanks for sharing!
Easy solve for the generation that grew up with Sondheim. The guy wrote a lot about hats, including a key song from SitPwG, and the name of his autobiography “Finishing the Hat.” Puzzle fill was spot on for a Wednesday (like others, I came near to beating my best Wed time). Gimmicks like the connecting dots can be a bit of a chore, but this one was fun!
ReplyDeleteI don't really think you have to have grown up with him. I mean, he's a huge name; if you haven't heard of him or his musicals then I think you just aren't into the arts scene at all.
DeleteI’m a Sondheim fan, I love Sunday in the Park with George, and I’ve heard that Sondheim was a puzzle guy and did some constructing, so I get the aptness of this very well-designed puzzle. But I just don’t like tribute puzzles on principle. They shut out too many people. (That said, I see here in the comments that some folks did just fine without knowing much about the theme, so maybe I’m wrong.)
ReplyDeleteI’m definitely surprised that some people are having heartburn regarding NEE. The first definition I looked up was “originally called; born”. If ever there was a textbook example of “close enough has a hint” this is it. I guess we can agree to disagree, but I really wish I understood the argument to the contrary. It seems so cut and dried to me that I almost feel as though I am missing something.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The clue was just fine.
DeleteI’m with you old long time clue over used for the most part. Do you actually use a dictionary to solve puzzles?
DeleteI don't mean to be That Guy™ and I know YMMV, but I was surprised to see this listed as Hard. It was a personal best for me for a Wednesday (3:49) and I've been solving for a decade. This was easy for a Monday, let alone a Wednesday. As a Gen Xer I admit I got hung up momentarily on GUCCI and TESSA but the rest was a breeze. (Had to come here to parse the image, though, which honestly I still don't get. Oh well.)
ReplyDeleteMalaika, does it matter that you were not born when Seinfeld first ran ? You never watched reruns of Seinfeld as an adult? Surely you would remember Uncle Leo? I wasn't alive during the first run of the Honeymooners or I Love Lucy but I can name the characters....
ReplyDeleteBelieve me…I GET where you’re coming from, BUT consider that we had few choices growing up in the past. There are SO many things to watch these days, and…putting myself in Malaika’s shoes…I’m not sure I’d watch the whole panoply of Seinfeld or even watch it at all. As a matter of fact, I DID watch Seinfeld when it was on, and these days I find it a bit annoying. And, don’t get me started on ILove Lucy and The Honeymooners…make America great “again”?
DeleteIn the olden days, when I was young, we had 3 major networks plus a few independents. So I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, The Dick VanDyke Show,... where on reruns for half the year and one of the few choices. So way, way more peole watched these shows (Gunsmoke watched by over 50% of households) as opposed to today when Netflix alone has more shows available immediately than all of broadcast TV had in the 50's + 60's
DeleteThis one was in my wheelhouse. I was fortunate enough to see the theme show on Broadway in its original run, so bit by bit putting it together wasn't too hard for me.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first saw the hat gimmick come up and flash very rapidly through the letters, I thought they spelled LOOKIMADEADHEAD, which I took to be an astonishingly swift but contextually inexplicable tribute to Bob Weir.
ReplyDeleteDear Egs,
Hee!
Yours truly,
Ass
PSHAW!
Why is actress Thompson like a liability? They're both reverse ASSETs.
Did you know that our @Lewis is a very mellow guy who loves to window shop but almost never buys anything? Yep, low-key Lew is a LOOKIELOO.
Nice showy puzzle, Joseph Gangi. Hope to see an ENCORE after you get some RESTSON.
I’m sure many who use the app will love this with the instant gratification of the animation stunt. For me as a paper solver, that part translates to drawing lines with a pencil and does not necessarily TEND to add more bang for your buck. I’ve heard of SONDHEIM of course, but wasn’t familiar with the song and thought maybe the grid art was supposed to be a “top hat.” And since I didn’t know the lyrics, the letters didn’t mean much either. LOOK! You MADE A HAT? Oh, OK. I SEE it. OKAY THEN. WHAT? You want an ENCORE or something?
ReplyDeleteNever heard of situationSHIP or GUCCI as meaning anything other than a designer label. Best part of the puzzle for me was 30D which reminded me of Timmy, a rabbit who lived with the family of an old boyfriend. He wasn’t anything exotic, just a baby cottontail they rescued after he got separated from his mother during a thunderstorm. He had the run of their entire house, used a litter box, ate ENDIVE and chewed Juicy Fruit gum. True story.
I know of Sondheim and the musical, though I had no idea what I MADE A HAT had to do with them. But I really enjoyed reading the blog and finding out what they had to do with them: Seurat, pointillism—Ah, neat! And I'm a little surprised that Malaika didn't take time to discover the connection and explain it in her comments. Sometimes those are the puzzles I like best—when I discover the connections and surprises after finishing.
DeleteI quite literally laughed out loud at the lyric Look I Made A Hat. Don't know the song, but I thought it was silly and fun! Agree with Malaika that OK + OKAY is lame.
ReplyDeleteFlew through this, too, so I just gave away my age range.
ReplyDeleteLove the whodunit "The Last of Sheila" but never knew of Sondheim's participation.
Super feat of construction and very much a generational/special interest challenge. PSHAW was my grandmother’s go-to word (so I’ve heard/read it) and SITUATIONSHIP is probably in my son’s vocabulary but I can’t recall hearing it before. However, TOETAPPING and LOOKIELOUS are familiar fun. Some songs from BROADWAYMUSICALS are among my favorites but even though I’m familiar with SONDHEIM’s name I don’t immediately recall any of his music. Kudos to those with the right background that found this easy!
ReplyDeleteIt’s my favourite musical ever, and I spent half an hour on a visit to the Art Institute of Chicago staring at the painting, once. So the theme is the best possible theme in the world for me, and I didn’t realize the creator had, well, made a hat until i finished the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteBut, uh, I kind of hated the fill, and so, I maybe wish the creator hadn’t made the hat after all.
(For the set who are younger than me: it’s worth knowing that there’s a My Little Pony version of “Putting it Together”, the other most famous song from that show: https://youtu.be/Z_V_niMzmM0?feature=shared)
@dan 9:45 am... oh that painting! One of the most famous; I went there too.
DeleteSaw the original Sunday in the Park with George during my two years as a resident of NYC. Bernadette Peters was so, so wonderful in it. I still know the music very well. "Finishing the Hat" is the song that the puzzle today is referencing; it expresses the inner conflict between Seurat's passion for his art on the one hand and for his lover on the other. Spoiler alert, the artist wins: "Look I made a hat where there never was a hat."
ReplyDeleteThe H in 63D, HAS, is also the H in a duplicate Hidden Diagonal Word (HAS), moving toward the NE. And continuing on that same diagonal, we get another S, producing a Hidden Diagonal avocado--HASS. The history of the Hass avocado is quite interesting, developed by a mail carrier in Southern California in the early 20th century. Hurray for Mr. Hass.
Today I realized that SONDHEIM and BROADWAY(aptly) have the same number of letters, as I confidently plopped in SONDHEIMMUSICAL for 17A.
ReplyDeleteThe first act of "Sunday in the Park..." is amazing. The second act less so. It thankfully was taped for PBS, so its original production can still be enjoyed today.
"The Last of Sheila" is a film I've only seen once. Directed by Herbert Ross with an A-list cast (Dyan Cannon, James Coburn, James Mason, Raquel Welch, Richard Benjamin), it's a movie about a bunch of creative types brought together on a yacht in the Mediterranean for a week-long game. But the game soon turns serious and deadly.
There are 2 kinds of endive. What’s pictured is also called chicory. The other is Belgian endive which is a frilly salad green.
ReplyDeleteIn my part of the Midwest, Belgian endive is what's pictured and chicory (aka curly endive) is the frilly salad green. Both are slightly bitter and used in salads. Belgian endive is also frequently used as an hors-d'oeuvre with a bit of some spread in the middle of each individual leaf.
DeleteThere are 3 types of endive: Belgian, a type of chicory, is pictured; curly endive is also known as frisee; escarole is sometimes called endive.
DeleteHmm, I'm not sure that's quite right. "Chicory" is a broad category that includes various bitter greens like endive (curly endive/frisée, escarole) and Belgian endive, along with radicchio and puntarelle. What's pictured is Belgian endive.
DeleteLuckily this theme was in my wheelhouse. Finished in record time. If it wasn’t in yours I feel your pain.
ReplyDeleteFairly easy for a Wednesday. I solved lying on my back, left hand propping up my head from behind, right index finger pecking, in no particular hurry, and it was still a relatively quick time. Just about zero hesitation anywhere. This despite BROADWAY MUSICALs not being my jam.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine this being a generational thing. My family had a GTO when I was growing up. We called it Great Torch Oven, as for some reason air conditioning didn't seem to be much of a consideration back in the day, and the vinyl upholstery (I think it was vinyl but I could be wrong; anyway, whatever it was) got blazingly hot in the summer sun, and the car never lost its new car smell so that we kept little packets of baby powder in the glove compartment, to be pinched a puff at a time, as needed to ward off the smell. All this reminds me of my age, to bring us back to the generational thing.
I'm kind of surprised by all the harrumphing over NEE. Jack Stefano's 7:30AM reply should have already sufficed, but sometimes it doesn't hurt to repeat things, slowly and tediously if need be.
Once again, it's the principle of substitutability in crosswords: a clue-answer pairing can be considered fair if there is a context in which the answer can be substituted for the clue without change in meaning. Let's go over it here. Yes, NEE is from the French, and there's supposed to be an accent over the first E. It means "born" or "born as", an adjectival form. The second E indicates the form when applied to feminine subjects. So with for example "Jackie Kennedy (née Bouvier)", you can smoothly translate that as "Jackie Kennedy (born Bouvier)", but the contextual meaning of that is the very same as "Jackie Kennedy (once called Bouvier)". The point is that in some contexts, "born", "born as", "once known as", "once called" all carry the same meaning -- you can swap out one for another, and that's all you need for the principle of substitutability to kick in. The French née for any one of them, within that understood context, is common (and as French is thought to do, it classes up the joint).
But enough of that. Happy Wednesday, all!
Insufferable, gratuitous bloviating.
DeleteHaha on your “one hand tied behind your back” AND NEE discussion! (without accent mark) Yes…sometimes we all seem to go on about crosswordy things, right?
DeleteUm, anon 1:20…I think he’s making fun of bloviating…
DeleteI caught a few scenes on TV of "Sunday in the Park With George" and all I remember is Bernadette Peters singing, "Sunday in the park with George." I've seen a Seurat painting in person so that's cool though not the famous one which is in Chicago.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Malaika on the ENDIVE clue which is not a salad green to me. I've seen recipes for appetizers in which a filling is dolloped into baby endive leaves but since the local grocers here never carry baby endive, I've never made said recipes.
Looking at the puzzle, I had to look up the clue for 15A because REARM suddenly looked very odd to me and I was trying to parse it as a single syllable word.
Thanks, Joseph Gangi!
SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE is on the news recently — they are reviving in London with WICKED’s Grande and Bailey. I like to think that still would have come to mind without that tidbit…
ReplyDeleteWell, I don't know the song, but I do know Sondheim and have heard of the musical, and I daresay that's not just because I'm a lot older than Malaika! I think a lot of yourger people have heard of both the composer and the musical. And after learning how the song and the musical are connected, and how "working with dots" even ties into the theme of the musical (Seurat and pointillism), I think this puzzle is pretty amazing! LOOKILOOS (a very common term) and TOETAPPING were fun, and all in all the puzzle was certainly not hard; I finished in 11 minutes, even though I didn't get certain answers (PABA, ELA, SOU) right away. So I say Bravo! to Joseph Gangi, and thanks for an innovative and fun puzzle!
ReplyDeleteExtremely easy camp. Only issue was NW. never heard of “Lookie Loos” so needed every cross.
ReplyDeleteSame. I saw a couple of Seinfelds, but remember a character name?
DeleteBefore I began the solve, I read the "Note", and wrote "Not if I can help it" in the space next to it. I really dislike these little games that Shorz gives us.
My parents loved the theater. Broadway, off Broadway, local productions. That meant my sister and I saw the shows. Sometimes in languages we did not know. Sometimes with adult themes we did not understand. My parents took us to the theatre often because at that time, it was cheaper than hiring a babysitter.
ReplyDeleteI found the SW most difficult, not knowing PEELE. PETITE should have dropped in easily but somehow i sat there quite awhile with PET not knowing what the rest of it was. I’d rate it hard side of medium for a Wednesday.
ReplyDelete@Oison 7.33 ParaAminoBenzoicAcid, a “sunblocker”, predominately UVB light.
ReplyDeleteThis was the easiest Wednesday puzzle I’ve done in a long time. Definitely in my wheelhouse as I’ve seen the musical on Broadway (although not the original). I’m personally not a huge Sondheim fan (prefer R&H) but he is a huge theatre icon (West Side Story, Company, Sweeney Todd).
ReplyDeleteM&A's Broadway shows experience is severely limited:
ReplyDelete1. Only one I've been to on Broadway was "The Lion King".
2. Only one I've seen on the tube is "Hamilton".
3. Only one I've seen performed locally is "Spamalot".
sooo ... Didn't quite connect with this musical, but was able to connect the circles ok.
(Right after I ruled out LOOT A DAM IKEA HAT.)
staff weeject pick: UEY.
some faves: LOOKIELOOS & clue. IMSCARED. OKAYTHEN. PSHAW. Mysterious SHIP clue [at our house].
Thanx for the nice connections puz, Mr. Gangi dude. Different; like different.
And thanx, as always, to Malaika Vulture darlin. Off now for "The Pierpoint Puzzle" Vulture solvequest ...
Masked & Anonymo4Us
... here's one that's almost equally dotty ...
"In the Long Run" - 9x7 12 min. themed runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
I wasn't alive during the Lincoln Administration so it's not fair to clue anything about it?
ReplyDeleteFrankly, most of popular culture trivia - names of TV actors, Disney princesses, anything to do with Star Wars, Star Trek - typically draw a blank for me. And Zi find them to be banal. So what? Everyone has a body of knowledge and hopefully it's expanding.
Familiarity with SONDHEIM and the BROADWAY MUSICAL in question made this a quick solve for me. But the comments have made me appreciate the puzzle so much more, especially the pointillist dots that make the hat! That really is a genius take on grid circles! I also enjoyed LOOKIELOOS and TOE TAPPERS and having my vocabulary expanded with new-to-me meanings of GUCCI and SHIP.
ReplyDeleteBelgian endive stuffed with roquefort cheese, walnuts, and dried cranberries makes a delcious appetizer.
ReplyDeleteThere's white Belgian endive and red Belgian endive. Both are salad greens.
ReplyDeleteEasy puzzle, despite my initial embarrassing confusion of STEPHEN SONDHEIM with Neil Simon! I don't think the latter even wrote musicals.
ReplyDeleteI never noticed the circles, though (and what's all this talk about "dots?"), and I don't know the song, so that part was completely lost on me.
The GUCCI thing is weird, though I believe it -- as far as I can tell the whole GUCCI thing is about the logo printed all over it so everyone knows you spent a lot of money; excellence is pretty much irrelevant. (I know, I'm speaking from ignorance, as many will no doubt inform me.)
The SLOP crossing is unfair to the LADLE; after all, you can just as easily LADLE out PHO.
Rats, I forgot to sign in. The comment about LADLE and PHO was from me.
ReplyDeleteHands up for not knowing the musical or even liking musicals, yet finding the puzzle very easy. I certainly know Sondheim's name, and Jerry Seinfeld's uncle was a gimme (he had the most memorable face). Also hands up for staring at "I'm a D.E.A. hat" briefly.
ReplyDeleteI've been wondering why the heck you are all talking about SITUATIONSHIP. I couldn't find it in the puzzle at all so I went to xwordinfo and searched for it... halfway through typing the word, it jumped to the clue. It turns out I didn't get SHIP from that (cuz I've never heard it) but it filled in from crosses and I totally missed it.
¡Uy! Me asustas.
ReplyDelete@Malaika I bought your little book of crosswords and it's a blast and a perfect gift for someone wanting to get started in this ridiculous activity. Definitely more engaging than the mini, but not as brain damaging as the big puzzle.
I like being reminded of the Georges Seurat painting. I remember seeing it in Chicago during spring break in 12th grade. It's enormous and you can look at it forever and it keeps showing you new ideas. I finally understood art isn't just pictures in a textbook. I think that's the day I fell in love with art museums. I suppose it helped that outside the wind and sleet and snow were howling horizontally and I wondered how in the heck people survive in Chicago. The weather seems like an emergency to me.
Uncle LEO was a gem.
These days our country seems like an ideal place to keep the voice of TS Eliot alive in crosswords.
I have a favorite word list, but I don't have a favorite phrase list, but if I did, "Wait, WHAT?" would be entry number one. I think I'm going to have that engraved on my tombstone.
❤️ PSHAW. Kinda interesting trivia about STORKS, eh?
People: 4
Places: 6
Products: 5
Partials: 5
Foreignisms: 4
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 24 of 78 (31%)
Funny Factor: 4 🙂
Tee-Hee: TEAT.
Uniclues:
1 Fish with a flavorful fanny.
2 Comment from one perusing a tourist hobby-farm website.
3 What I publish on the Rex Parker comment section.
1 AIOLI REAR MAHI
2 I SEE TEAT RATES
3 HYPER SLOP
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Where to find your honey at the beach. BEEKEEPER YACHT.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I’m a little saddened that the crossword aficionado world and the Sondheim obsessives world seems not to be intersecting today. As a member of both I was delighted by ‘look I made a hat’, and of course now have ‘Finishing the Hat’ stuck in my head. Sondheim was a word puzzle enthusiast and crossworder himself. More importantly (for me anyway) when he died it turned out he was beloved of everyone who knew him, and as kind and generous as he was brilliant.
ReplyDeletethere's so much that's wonderful about this puzzle The greatest musical theatre composer of all time a gay man to boot Stonewall Inn clue is there for a reason - listen to that song and all his compositions 5 star wed. period
ReplyDeleteLate to the party. I more than “skew old” so the puzzle went fast for me and, like @tht, I’m not up on BROADWAYMUSICALs but…it didn’t matter because Of crosses and also the fact I “know of” STEPHENSONDHEIM. I will say…I didn’t really care enough to figure out WHAT the “connect the circles” message said, even though the app showed it. But…just because musicals/plays aren’t MY thing, doesn’t mean diddly so I applaud the constructor’s idea and effort!
ReplyDeleteI knew Rex had the day off when I saw the Hard rating. Super easy. Got STEPHENSONDHEIM and BROADWAYMUSICAL right off the bat with nary a cross. Never heard of "SituationSHIP" - but it makes sense. I hate words like PSHAW. And the sunscreen PABA I never heard of. Liked the graphic at the end
ReplyDelete