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Symbols of love on some bridges / SAT 1-3-26 / Emoji indicating interest / Hairstyle associated with lesbian culture / Tech that records movement / Exaggerated speaking style that promotes language development / Corner piece / Part of a certain steering system / Start of a declaration of 47 B.C. / Where French fries are "frog sticks"
Saturday, January 3, 2026
Constructor: Hannah Slovut-Einertson
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Word of the Day: PARENTESE (58A: Exaggerated speaking style that promotes language development) —
Baby talk is a type of speech associated with an older person speaking to a child or infant. It is also called child-directed speech (CDS), [...] caregiver register/speech, [...] motherese, caretaker speech, infant-directed speech (IDS), nursery talk/language, or parentese.CDS is characterized by a "sing song" pattern of intonation that differentiates it from the more monotone style used with other adults e.g., CDS has higher and wider pitch, slower speech rate and shorter utterances. It can display vowel hyperarticulation (an increase in distance in the formant space of the peripheral vowels e.g., [i], [u], and [a]) and words tend to be shortened and simplified. There is evidence that the exaggerated pitch modifications are similar to the affectionate speech style employed when people speak to their pets (pet-directed speech). [...]
Child-directed speech (CDS) is the term preferred by researchers, psychologists and child development professionals. (wikipedia)
• • •
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| [5D: Symbols of love on some bridges] |
Some of the original-seeming answers today just rub me the wrong way a little. We've dealt with PARENTESE. There's also CLICK HERE, which is a fine, real directive, but evokes an awful online advertising environment that I take pains to avoid. As for DELETE THIS ... if you are ending your "incriminating emails" with DELETE THIS, allow me to suggest that you are not very good at crime and should maybe consider going straight. At this point in our surveillance society, I just assume that every single word I type into a computer leaves a trace that someone somewhere can find if they really want to. Deleting means I don't see it, but ... it's probably stored somewhere; some autosave or archiving feature will get you in the end. Or so you should assume, if you're doing crimes (esp. if you are planning them via emails). If one way someone might get caught is ON TAPE (44A: How someone might be caught), another is "by writing DELETE THIS in incriminating emails."
I liked LIKE LIKED (19A: Really went for). I LIKE LIKED it. No, I don't wanna marry it, don't be childish. I also liked RICE COOKER and PADLOCKS and PLANKTON and, strangely, BIBLE CAMP (29D: Place with a chapel and mess hall). I've never been to BIBLE CAMP. I can't say I'm pro- or anti-BIBLE CAMP. But I like the phrase. It's original. Can't remember seeing it in the grid before. Yep, looks like this is a debut. Some debuts are good! Alas, Not All Debuts Are Good™. Sorry, "OK. AND ..." (53A: "Your point being ...?"). Back to the Island of Malformed Colloquialisms with you! Sadly, "OK. AND..." will now enter the wordlist of every tom/dick/harry and proliferate like kudzu. Probably. Sigh. Oh well.
All difficulty today came from wrong answers that seemed like they occurred by design. I mean, the clue writer probably had a pretty good idea they were steering solvers a specific wrong way. The first and most punishing such clue was 1D: Unwanted mail (BILL), for which I naturally wrote in SPAM. Because that is actual "unwanted mail." BILLs may not be "wanted," but you expect them, they show up, whatever. That's life. SPAM is not life, or should not be life—nobody expects or wants it. So when I finally got BILL I was mildly resentful, mainly because the "wrong" answer was the better answer. I felt somewhat similarly about writing in CASTLE at 10D: Corner piece (STAPLE). You'd never call a STAPLE a "piece," boo. I see what you're doing, but boo. A CASTLE (or rook) in chess, now that's a piece! A corner piece! I had the -LE and so CASTLE went right in. Fortunately, TOBEY (16A: Actor Maguire) and PÈRES (20A: French fathers) were both gimmes, so CASTLE didn't last long. The last of these highly misdirective clues came at 27D: Part of a certain steering system. I had the "R" in place and so (again, naturally!) wrote in RACK (as in "RACK and pinion steering"). But apparently we're steering horses, so REIN. REIN fits the clue. Can't be mad at REIN.
Bullets:
- 22A: Hairstyle associated with lesbian culture (MULLET) — uh ... sure. I guess that tracks. For some lesbians. I associate the hairstyle more strongly with unfortunate trends in men's hairstyles, circa 1992. Here's a MULLET fact I'd like to share. You can decide if it's a "fun fact": "After the much-publicized 1992 DC Comics storyline in which Superman apparently died, the character returned to the 1993 follow-up storyline "Reign of the Supermen", in which he was depicted with a mullet. The cancelled Superman film project, Superman Lives, would have depicted Superman with a mullet" (wikipedia). Superman with a MULLET would truly be a Crisis on Infinite Earths.
- 31A: One in hand? (ACE) — think of a Blackjack "hand," where an ACE represents "one" (or "eleven").
- 25D: Performer who's juggling a lot? (ONE-MAN BAND) — I do not associate ONE-MAN BANDs with "juggling." Is it metaphorical? I mean, are they both metaphorical: ONE-MAN BAND and "juggling"? If you're doing everything yourself, you're a ONE-MAN BAND (of sorts), which means you're "juggling" lots of tasks. I was imagining a literal ONE-MAN BAND. I thought, "play all those instruments and juggle them too? Dang. That's talent."
- 26D: Tech that records movement (MOCAP) — "motion capture." Both MOCAP and MOCAP SUIT have appeared in the grid before, but both those appearances were just last year, so it's new to Crossworld, if not a particularly new technology.
- 45D: Where French fries are "frog sticks" (DINER) — please stop. It is not the 1930s and this is not a wacky comedy. I adore diners and I frequent diners and never, literally never, never in my entire life have I ever heard anyone use whatever "DINER slang" this is supposed to be.
- 46D: Start of a declaration of 47 B.C. ("I CAME") — you may know this declaration better as VENI, as in VENI, VIDI, VICI.
- 50D: Lake ___, body of water near London (ERIE) — a cheap and entirely unsuccessful bit of misdirection here. The London in question is London, Ontario.
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| [14D: Emoji indicating interest] |
Time for the very last of the 🌲🐈Holiday Pet Pics🐕🌲 now! (if I somehow forgot or missed your pet, please let me know—I'll do some kind of addendum feature later in the month)
Here's Kermit in his last happy moments before being absolutely shredded by Cleo. RIP, Kermit.
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| [Thanks, Jeannie and Michael!] |
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| [Thanks, Mark!] |
Here's Teaser, who is apparently allowed on the table, what the hell? "I'm a cat!" OK, Teaser, sure, for Christmas only, you are a cat.
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| [Thanks, Mitch!] |
And finally, we have Lincoln, who is not particularly "Lincolnesque" (7D: LANKY), but does have a certain somber formality about him. It's probably the tie.
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| [Thanks, Erin!] |
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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105 comments:
There’s an academic paper comparing child-directed speech and dog-directed speech with a great title: “Doggerel: Motherese in a new context” :)
Easy. The two Thursday holidays left me in a persistent state of not knowing what day it is, and a themeless Wednesday on a Saturday isn't helping.
* * * _ _
Overwrites:
@Rex spam before BILL for the unwanted mail at 1D
Actor TOBie Maguire before TOBEY at 16A
LET oN for admit at 39A before LET IN
One WOE, MOCAP at 26D, although I may dimly recall seeing it before. Or maybe I just inferred it.
Most of the difficulty came from SPAM at 1D. I'm used to the easier Saturdays of the post-Fagliano era and I let my guard down. Not sure I would've filled in SPAM instantly if the puzzle had run in the NYT a couple years ago.
20 minutes for me last night, so I guess that's medium on a saturday. spam then junk before BILL at 1D. Thanks for going through all the misdirects in detail--that explains a lot. Had no idea about frog sticks, but it made sense. I imagine vets who fought it WWII calling them that??? Enjoyed PADLOCKS as clued because if you travel you will definitely see that.... fences, gates, or bridges covered in little padlocks. I like the EYES looking right at DELETETHIS, I like how MINSK is spelled, and I enjoyed LIKELIKED. LASTDANCE was tough to come up with as clued.... Had ICANdoit before ICANHELP, and OhAND before OKAND, so had to play around with that SW corner for quite a while. I'm not Jewish but I've been privileged to join in a few Seders.... but had no idea that it meant ORDER. So that was new. Am I right that there are only 2 three-letter entries in this grid? Except for Liz Gorski's "no 3s" about 10 years ago, this is a pretty ultra-low number of 3s. So I think that shows some major constructor chops, Hannah! Thank you for a terrific saturday puzzle! : )
could someone explain like liked to me? thank you
Easy medium? When a DINER uses an unknown phrase, "frog sticks," to describe french fries? When a BILL is unwanted (if I don't get a bill, I worry) or when they use an invented word, PARENTESE, for a speaking style? When LIKELIKED means liked a lot? Where did anyone say that? Misdirects are fine, the one for LASTDANCE especially, but this puzzle turned them into misleads.
Hairstyle associated with junior hockey culture (MULLET). This.
The big guy seemed to dig this one - for me SO SO is a better descriptor. It’s a nice end of the week offering - I liked it fine but the overall cluing felt strained.
Walkinh around with your head in the clouds
Big corners today appeared daunting at first but there were footholds in each - ICE PALACE, ONE MAN BAND, AU NATUREL opened each quadrant up. Where’s my spanners? Some middling 4s and 5s. The BIBLE CAMP x PARENTESE cross was unfortunate.
ACE
Ruby, Teaser and Lincoln are so chill. I’m not a cat person but I love the puppy dogs.
LUNA
Enjoyable enough cold Saturday morning solve. I would suggest the actual Stan Stumper today.
Blake Mills and Derek Trucks
agreed. Chellenging
very challenging. cluing is strained, as noted. Not easy in the least
Hey All !
Wow. SatPuz record here today. Was geared up for a fight, as Saturdays are often tough. This one was blazed through in 16 and a half minutes. That Supersonic Transport speed. Ludicrous Speed, if you will. I've turned to plaid! (If you get that reference, you're a cool person!) And that was not trying to be speedy, just solving normally.
Granted, I like easier puzs, much better than wracking the ole brain first thing in the AM. I'm sure 94% of y'all will be saying it was too easy.
Always thought AU NATURAL was spelt thusly, with that third A for the E. Huh, learned something today. For a second, thought OK AND would be OKAYY, an exaggerated OK. Silly. MULLET clue was strange. I was thinking BOBCUT or somesuch. DELETE THIS sounds like an old time insult!
ON TAPE. Unsure if my book is ON TAPE, but you can still get it wherever you get your books from online!
Changing Times by Darrin Vail. Get it, read it, critique it, set it ablaze if no good. 😁
Have a great Saturday!
No F's - Nothing to LIKE LIKED about that
RooMonster
DarrinV
I enjoyed the clue for EBAY, but unfortunately, it looks like they should have left off the “ST” in the clue for PEEP (Soft, sticky treat).
I find some ironic humor in NYT’s penchant for delving into self-parody. They certainly gave it a good effort today (and saving the best for last). “Let’s see, what can we do to ensure that no one actually mistakes us for people who are serious about what we do - I know, we can include a section with FROG STICKS and PARENTESE ! ! “.
Nice job by Rex pretty much blasting PARENTESE right between the EyES. I’ll confess that I was even more amazed, surprised and horrified to learn that there is a similar concept that pertains to . . . your pets? OMG, so the language police are going to come after me for not speaking to my hamster properly (how do they know - do they have a hamster dictionary?).
Perhaps “diner” is not “diner” but “dîner”? Doesn’t make a *lot* more sense…
It's an expression used to distinguish between enjoying someone's company and being interested in someone romantically. I've heard it used (on TV) mostly as a question: "I mean, do you like him or do you 'like like' him?
I think like like is a step between like and love.
Twangster is absolutely correct
Yep, much easier than yesterday's. A gimme at 1A will do that.
Please do not put padlocks on bridges. Municipalities have to spend money to remove those - which makes them a very temporary symbol of love.
After an easy Friday, this one was a lot harder for me. The whole east side was slow going, not just because I was overly confident in bobcuts rather than mullets.
Had spam and then junk before bill. Agree completely with Rex on that. Had babytalk before parentese and somehow didn't grok that Caesar was speaking English today. Sigh.
24 minutes felt hard won.
Before I get to the most important part – how was the solve? – I have to comment on how artistically and technically-impressive this puzzle is.
At a very-low 66 words, look at how junk-free the grid is! But Hannah didn’t stop there; she zingafied the answer set. There are four stacks -- 12 long answers -- and, to my eyes, 11 of them have pop (all but ABBRREVIATE).
I not only LIKE LIKED that but was wow-wowed as well.
I also liked the paucity of three-letter answers (2), as well as the freshness, with 16 answers used only four times or less in the Times puzzle before, Remarkable.
Then came the cluing, where it seemed to me that every clue was made with care, using wordplay, wit, vagueness, and misdirection.
So, the box had great bones, but how was the solve? For me, most satisfying, with enough Saturday bite and interest in answer to make for a rich experience. “Oh, that was lovely,” is how I felt after filling in the last square.
Well-made and lovely, Hannah, the perfect Crosslandia recipe. Thank you!
- I think he's extra disappointed she moved away because he liked her.
- Well, lots of people liked her. She was a nice person.
- No no.. I mean he "LIKE"-liked her..
On Seinfeld, Elaine is in art class sitting next to a woman who has dated George, and wants to find out her level of interest: "do you like him, or like-like him?" "Like-like." And she adds: "Looks aren't that important to me." (The whole thing is acted out just as if they were in high school, even to the point where Elaine is ordered to spit out her gum the art teacher.) Later, Elaine happily reports to George that she really likes him, but unfortunately included what she said about looks, and George gets upset, "I'd rather she hate me and think I was good-looking!"
I too had a slow start but got my first toehold with TOBEY Maguire and the anonymous francophone PÈRES. I proceeded to do fine until I hit the SW quadrant and then went splat. The trouble really started with a bunch of downs in the center such as MOCAm (motion camera, I thought), not knowing what kind of CAMP we were talking about, and forgetting about PEEP, a candy which I’m not familiar with IRL but which was in a recent puzzle (Fri, 19 Dec.), so I should have been able to dredge it up. Once I finally tumbled to MOCAP and BIBLE, I was able to complete the rest.
• Liked AHI and MAHI in the same grid – two rhyming and one reduplicative fish.
• I figure I’m the only person on the planet who liked MULLET hairstyles. I didn’t know they were associated with lesbian culture, but always liked them when they proliferated in the 1980s, and still do.
• There’s a bridge near me that’s covered in PADLOCKS. It leads to one of the university campuses and I always thought the LOCKS represented graduation: no more need for lockers now that we’re done. Guess now I know better.
• ECCE Homo
Thanks for saying this. There's a beautiful bridge in my neighborhood here in New Orleans, and every few months I go out with a bolt cutter and remove the padlocks.
No fun. At all.
It was “motherese” when I learned the term, and that’s what I confidently filled in. It seems the term has been changed to be gender-neutral, but I can’t think of a single instance in my child-rearing career when I ever heard a father talking in this high-pitched, cooing way to a baby. Honestly, their vocal cords are wrong for it.
I didn't, like, like LIKELIKED like some probably did.
Teacher A: I need a really appropriate advanced placement exam.
Teacher B: Here are some of my APTEST APTESTS.
What did the pseudo-hippie use to secure his house? A PADLOCK (a real hippie would have trusted his karma).
It's a real shame how the grifter/moron has spoiled even a lovely serene word like "ice". When I saw ICEPALACE I couldn't stop myself from thinking Immigration & Customs Enforcement headquarters.
Dilemma for the Spider-Man casting director: TOBEY or not TOBEY.
Behold the rare-in-crosswords sticky treat: ECCE PEEP
I really like-liked this puzzle. A lot of crunch for me and lots of great cluing. Thanks, Hannah Slovut-Einertson.
There's a lesbian junior hockey league? Nice
Not bad overall but as Rex says, just a terrible clue for DINER. I can't believe that's the clue that was decided upon for the word DINER. There are so many options for this word! I have never heard the term 'frog sticks' in my life and I have been to many diners. At the very least perhaps a 'maybe' should have been added.
It is provable that recent NYT Saturday xwords have become much easier. Go back and do the 4 Saturday puzzles in September 2015 in the online archives and you can see for yourself. I’m ambivalent about that. I like a challenge, but I also like not straining myself. It’s a paradox.
How was LASTDANCE a misdirect?
As a speech therapist, I’m coming to the defense of “parentese”! (Formerly known as “motherese”) It’s a legitimate strategy we teach parents to increase a child’s expressive and receptive language. It’s different than “baby talk” and more of a focus on using concise and direct language with varying intonation. Most parents do this naturally! There have been plenty of studies on this and it genuinely helps babies and toddlers learn how to communicate. I’m sure it threw some people off, but I was very excited to see PARENTESE in today’s puzzle!
It seemed a good omen when I put in BAD APPLES immediately, followed very soon after by SEED MONEY, ECCE, LANKY, and PLAIN, but it wasn't long before things really slowed down. The eastern half came a lot easier than the western (and particularly the NW) part. I would have to rate it about a Medium for a Saturday, or perhaps slightly harder.
There were some annoyances. Totally agree with Rex about BILL. I mean, maybe you are actually glad to see the BILL because you're worried you might have missed it. The "unwanted" part strikes me as childish: I mean look, you entered into a contract with someone, which means you have agreed to pay for their services, etc. I know there may be many who wish they could live like Trump and simply stiff their contractors, but that brings me right back to childish, not to mention criminal. Please think about what you're doing and saying, NYTXW team.
So I internally resisted that, and even wondered whether I'd gotten BAD APPLES wrong. Over on the other side, I really got hung up over REIN (yes, I also was thinking Rack), and also I had LET oN (interpreting "admit" in the clue as "confess") before LET IN. Briefly had EarS before EYES. Alongside STAPLE (meh to how it's clued), ABBREVIATE and DELETE THIS took seemingly forever to come into view: I was thinking: "DEar" something? (I don't think anyone has ever asked me "DELETE THIS" in an email with criminal intent, but I was asked to do so recently because our group discussion touched upon sensitive details which, if leaked, would really be pretty awful (this was about who is to be invited to give the invited addresses at a conference).
Then down below, I somehow blanked on MNEMONICS, which should have been easy, but I had stuck in my head "aides-de-memoire" or "aides-memoire"; either being of course preposterous. (I'll blame PERES and AU NATUREL for that, although the blame isn't quite deserved.)
The answer DINER is somewhat preposterous: agree with Rex there as well. Even in some deep red pocket of the US, it would be seem very weird. I was thinking maybe some place in England like DovER, where there's a long-standing tradition between the English and French of lobbing persiflage back and forth ("persiflage", geez, what is it with me and Frenchy-sounding things this morning?). Anyway, it's kind of an obnoxious way to clue it. (Kind of?) Why, NYTXW, why?
MOCAP was entirely new to me; thank you Rex for explaining.
The grid is in fact quite nice (including PARENTESE, which was dimly in my memory). So I congratulate Hannah Slovut-Einertson on her effort. But the cluing needs rather more work IMO. I thought you guys were professionals!
I found this suspiciously easy for a Saturday until the SE slowed me down, and even then it was only a Friday level slowdown. Had EGG H_N_ for a while and just could not see HUNT, so my bad. herA before LUNA, and "and so" before OK AND. ArisE before AMBLE. Never heard of MOCAP. And DINER never occurred to me, for the reasons Rex stated. Otherwise breezy Friday-level puzzle. 19:09
@tht Get out!
Well golly, I'm sure as heck guilty of speaking to pets in a manner somewhat similar to one I might use speaking to a baby, and I'd be horrified if someone said I was wrong to do that!
Have you had many run-ins with the language police there, @Southside? ;-)
I must be turning dyslexic. I meant to say that the western half came a lot easier than the eastern half.
Cecilia Gimenez passed away last week at the age of 94. In attempting to restore a fresco of Christ in her local church in Borja Spain, she turned his face into a muddled mess. The fresco was called ECCE Homo. She was vilified for vandalism, but tourists started visiting the little town to see the fresco. They brought a lot of tourist money with them and the town prospered. By the time of her passing, Cecilia had become a beloved local hero.
Moving from Spain to France, if frog sticks is a term for French fries, is it not calling the French "frogs," which is derogatory (for the French; the frogs don't mind it)? I was surprised to see that in the NYT.
As usual this puzzle was a lot harder for me than most on this blog. Took me a while to recover from opening with “spam” and (showing my age I guess) had no feel for LIKELIKED. Also had no memory of MOCAP, and brain kept insisting that NATURaL was natural. What a waste of all those French classes! Luckily though the brain instinctively translated ICAME from the Latin, and did same in reverse for ECCE. For this of you who found this too easy, consider the alternative: you are getting smarter!
THANK YOU!! Also an slp, and I also got a little smile to see that answer today. It's such a fun word!
I still don’t understand how LASTDANCE means “Save me!” Is it just because of the song? Because I’ve never heard of someone saying “Last dance!” when asking to be saved from something.
Nice Saturday. I really liked LIKE LIKED (not to repeat). I think this was a first for the NYT ??? MOCAP was a woe, as well as BIBLE CAMP.
I never spoke to my dog, Cinnamon, in PARENTESE. She was my equal.
Thank you, Hannah:)
Dear Rex...next time you stop in for breakfast, try ordering: Adam and Eve on a raft wreck 'em.
I never knew that Billy Ray Yrus was a lesbian!
Three Stooges humor. Not judging.
They're also YOUNGER, so made-up words don't bother them.
Hey t - so far I have been able to avoid the cuffs and / or the dreaded perp-walk, though probably not for lack of trying (or perhaps more frequently, some out and out unintentional butchering).
I think the only word I can truly claim credit for coining (e.g. making up) is INCOF**KINGHERENT, although I will admit that I was absolutely INCOF**KINGHERENT when I spewed that one out.
You "like" a friend. You "LIKE like" someone you have a crush on.
That's because you can't say you love them, since they're not even your boyfriend or girlfriend yet. But it's a way to distinguish between mere friendship and romantic aspirations.
Impressive construction, but some head scratching clues, as noted by Rex and others.
Should "ICAME" have been clued as indicative of being a translation? Caesar VENI'd; he CAME in translation.
Wondering whether anyone else assumed Rex would include a wisecrack about whether any of a certain pedo's emails contained the phrase DELETE THIS.
This felt like a Friday to me (or was just all in my knowledge base). My new Saturday record
Puedo ayudar.
The puzzle seems fine. Kinda boring, but maybe I'm not awake yet. Clean, but not funny. Typical time so kind of hunt-and-peckish.
I have plenty of gay friends and this is the first I'm hearing of a hairstyle, so I'm assuming it's a horrible clue. I've also never heard the phrase PARENTESE or "frog sticks."
I did go to BIBLE CAMP every year (although we called it Vacation Bible School) and since we were poor it was on the back lawn of the church. I remember lots of kid games, and basketball, and probably some paper plate lunches, and I'm sure we prayed a lot, but oddly I don't remember much Bible study. We already had the important messages by the time we were 10 -- mostly we were all going to Hell -- so maybe no need to cover the details.
I liked ICE PALACE and ONE MAN BAND. And it's so charmingly weird that people put padlocks on bridges.
Surely nobody writes DELETE THIS on emails?! Nothing good or really bad is ever deleted on the internet.
@egs I ate lunch yesterday at The Shed in Santa Fe and they still have a persona non grata sign with your picture behind the front desk.
People: 2
Places: 2
Products: 3
Partials: 5
Foreignisms: 4
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 16 of 66 (24%)
Funny Factor: 1 🤨
Tee-Hee: VENI. Please leave this phrase in Latin. AU NATUREL.
Uniclues:
1 The long lonely walk across the bar to see if the last pretty girl will reject you or say she'll shake it with you.
2 "Log out."
3 Stop talking like an idiot!
4 What happens when I get squirmy at my dominatrix's.
5 Low-fat sugar-free gluten-free vegan bird.
6 E.?
1 LAST DANCE AMBLE
2 SOBER CLICK HERE
3 PARENTESE ORDER (~)
4 PADLOCKS HARDER
5 PLAIN PEEP
6 ABBREVIATE ERIE
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Result of the synthesizers becoming sentient, rising up, and doing comedy. MOOG'S PRANK CALL.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Me too for I CAN do it. That left me looking at P_oP for the soft sticky treat, which was not fun to think about.
Well, to quote my granddaughter (7 at the time) this one was "not my jam". LIKELIKED, PARENTESE, MOCAP? EGGROLL before EGGHUNT, which I have not heard, ICANDOIT before ICANHELP, no PADLOCKS on a bridge anywhere remotely near here, and it took forever to think of a word/term starting with AUNA, which eventually revealed itself (har). I even had P____P and you can imagine the first word I thought of to put in as something "soft and sticky". And who let the clue for DINER in? Yuck.
In short, for me a proper Saturday workout, and ICEPALACE had me remembering our night in the Ice Hotel in Quebec and having snow fall on us while sitting outside in a hot tub, so there's that.
Probably a wavelength (I hesitate to say age)thing HSE, but Happiness Seemed Elusive for this one. Thanks for some thorny fun.
Coulda been HARDER, but it was so satisfying to solve, from BAD APPLES all the way down to MNEMONICS. Me, too, for getting off to a slow start because of "spam" (which LAST DANCE eventually corrected) and wanting the NE's "Corner piece" to be some shorter word for etagere or highboy. But below the MULLET level, things sped up. Especially liked: PLANKTON, BIBLE CAMP, ONE MAN BAND, and the contrasting SO SO and LIKE LIKED. And about that "cheap" clue about the lake near London - Well, I had the E and it was four letters, so despite knowing about London, Ontario, I thought, "Huh, I didn't know Eton was also a lake," and wrote it in.
@Gary Jugert. I might have to pay those guys at the Shed another visit, just like Trump paid Maduro a visit. But I'm sure your meal was great. I really like the place.
A just-my-speed Saturday puzz with fun long answers. I lol’ed at BIBLECAMP, surprised to see it in any xword. My family called it church camp and in my Ohio girlhood I attended four summers in a row. Plenty of Bible but also kids my age (boys!), sports, a pristine lake to swim in. Camp generated mounds of letters during the off-season — penpals all looking forward to the next year.
Back to the solve, like others I tripped up at 1D spam, junk, then the correct answer which I never get in the mail anymore. Due to frequent travel I put everything on auto pay and like it for the late fee avoidance. And speaking of travel, it’s mostly to France where one would dare not utter les mots frog sticks or French fries. They’re frites for Pierre’s sake. Anyway, I had lots of overwrites but I don’t care. I entered and spelled correctly MNEMONIC, first time, early on. Happy.
It’s been “motherese” since the 1970s. Never heard of “parentese,” which may be a more modern, more politically correct descriptor but which just seems wrong. Also, never heard any fathers or men coo over babies the way mothers and other women often do.
I didn't give up, and would rest and go back and look and I finished , no cheating, on 58 minutes. I like these types of puzzles that strain my brain. I could not get ABBREVIATE even though I had Eviate and just doing one by one letter plug ins, I got it! That North East corner gave me Agita.
Good puzzle and cutest Xmas pets and Rex Commentary on them! I enjoy these a lot, thanks Rex
@dinerguy 10:13 Walk One Naked Dog (hotdogs with no toppings To Go) Varsity in the ATL
I got a really bad case of the flue yesterday, too sick to attempt the puzzle. I'm better now, thanks to tamiflu, but maybe not as mentally agile as usual, so I found this one tough. Up top, I had spam, and considered junk; only after I finally saw ICE PALACE (which definitely will have running water as the ice melts) did I consider BILL Down below ai had MNEMONICS but nothing else. My memories of BIBLE CAMP (which we Congregationalists called "church camp') did not include "mess hall" so I was looking for something more military there.
Best/worst part was seeing 35-A "Poke option" and telling myself "Hawaiian, 3 letters -- must be poI!"
Took me a long time to see AP TESTS-- I was considering AssiSTS, and I needed that to see MINSK. I kind of liked PARENTESE. I think it's not so much something you need training to do, as a description of what you do naturally.
@tht 8:30 AM
Love your retelling of the Seinfeld scene.
So Bono famously sported a mullet at Live Aid, which was viewed by over a billion people. I don’t know much about the puzzle constructor, but most of them are apparently either boomers or not much older than children these days. However, OFL is a fellow Gen X’er and it’s surprising that he’s referring to a time much later when Bono was already (hilariously) lamenting his younger hair choices.
In short, mullets are very mid-80’s, kids, unless you’re a hockey player.
Agreed. I think most people would associate mullets with hockey or 90s era bro dude culture (although it has made a comeback in recent years). Go to youtube and search for “minnesota hockey hair awards” and prepare to be entertained.
The early 90s is not “much later” than 1985 and the word “mullet” doesn’t even exist until the 90s. Billy Ray Cyrus had the iconic mullet. Early 90s. The fact that one pop star had a “mullet” one time means almost nothing in terms of general popularity
Late 80s/early 90s seems right. So OFL is basically right. Weird thing to quibble about.
Gotta say, same here with confidently putting in BADAPPLE then later doubting the B (because everyone thought spam). And yeah…pretty much the same here with the rest of puzzle. And of course there’s that thing where I filled in the last square and didn’t see my “congrats” (ugh, no obnoxious music…my settings on silent)…so, because I don’t care about “streaks” I hit “check puzzle.” Yeah….AUNATURaL. D’oh!
Another "celebratory" practice which drives me nuts is balloon releases, i.e. airborne litter! I have actually had to climb trees to remove them and there are some I could not reach with my ladders, my tree guy was amused that I asked him (and paid him!) to remove one.
The Tee-hee reminds me of an announcement of the next meeting of ED Anonymous: All those who can't come are invited to attend!
The words themselves weren't too bad but most of these clues were trying way too hard to be cutesy and clever and ended up just being frustrating. There was a lot groans and sighs than "aha"s for me, I didn't really find much satisfaction in finally parsing the bizarre clueing for some of these.
Loved Rex's comment that a criminal ought to go straight if he is relying on an accomplice to delete an incriminating email.
Only two Terrible Threes! Wonderful. Thanks Lewis.
I had enough gimme downs to see BADAPPLES at 1A, allowing me to get rid of SPAM at 1D.
Very nice puzzle.
Crunchy and fun (kinda like Doritos). I found this Saturday quite challenging but had a great time with the struggle.
Like many others, I plopped down spam for 1D and did not let it go for a very long time.
All I had on my first Across pass was ROTC, ORDER and MNEMONICS, all with no letters (not such an impressive feat, I realize). From there, is was a slow but fun haul for me.
When I finally DELETEd spam, the NW was the first to fall and I really LIKEDLIKED that stack. SEEDMONEY was the last to click in that space but really liked the cluing and how it looks in the grid.
The SE took me quite a while other than MNEMONICS as I mentioned, but even with that great bunch of letters the rest gave me a proper work out. When it all fell, I got a chuckle out of PARENTESE, first time I've heard it. And while I detest the practice, I love the word! I don't judge and I'm no expert, but I've always talked to my kids the same way I'd talk to anyone, even when they were newborns - they ended up just fine and I never had to revert back to my "adult voice" when speaking to folks my age. Saved me a ton of energy and angst. Again, disclaimer that I have no qualifications or expertise in this field, only experience as a parent so do what pleases you... and you'd have to ask my kids about the quality or lack thereof of my parenting skills :o)
The DINER experience was fun for me. Like @Rex, I LIKELIKE diners, OK I love diners! I grew up in New York City and at the time there were not many on the island of Manhattan, when I moved to the Land of Diners in the suburbs (New Jersey) the whole world of huge, 10 page menus opened up for me and I've never looked back. Anyway - agree that I have never, not once heard that sort of language come out of a waiter's/waitress' mouth when ordering into the kitchen. However, it brought back a fun memory - as a little kid when I was home sick from school, I Love Lucy played in reruns during the late morning. I remember seeing an episode when the foursome (Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel) opened a diner and they were excited as Fred used to work in one and knew all the diner lingo. I don't remember much, but there was one order that requested no onions. As Fred barked it into the kitchen, it ended with "and don't cry about it!" My memory is very clear that, even as a 6 year old, I thought, "isn't it easier just to say 'no onions??' Nice thing to think about for me on a weekend morning.
The NE gave me resistance simply because I could not think of TOBEY - that should have been a gimme. All sorts of other Y names were running through my head, Kelly, Jimmy and so on. I'm not sure how it clicked, but when it did, the rest came, not easily for me, but it came.
So great words, a great memory, some solid resistance, and very little short fill or junk. This is one of those puzzles where I can picture the constructors working very, very hard to keep the experience of the solver in mind. Thank you Hannah for a great start to the weekend!
This thing about the "frog sticks" refers, I think, to the term used in the diner kitchen, not at the table. Think "Adam and Eve on a raft" (poached eggs on toast) or "Trio and wreck 'em" (3 eggs scrambled). It's not what you say to the waiter, it's what she says to the cooks.
Glad you're feeling better -- that Tamiflu is amazing stuff.
BAD APPLES reminds me of Chris Rock's musings on how police shootings of Blacks are always ascribed to the "bad apples." He says there are some professions where there just can't be any bad apples. His eyes light up: Pilots.
After a challenging Thursday and Friday we're back to the an early week Saturday.
The SPAM/BILL write over was a brief waste of time but once PLAIN and ECCE dropped in ICEPALACE and ACAI popped up and the solve became an early week blur.
The only other part of the solve that stood out was the CASTLE/STAPLE write over. TOBEY and especially PERES forced the switch and lame as STAPLE was it worked.
Packing grids with debuts is often the cause of reduced resistance but that wasn't the case today. I'm struck by the youth of today's constructor and their short NYTXW history. There used to be a cadre of late week constructors who knew how to make their puzzles difficult to solve. They're a vanished breed and it seems to be a vanishing art.
From a solvers view point I put a lot of the blame on xwordinfo. I love reviewing puzzles with it but it teaches you in months what used to take years to learn. It's like having AI coaching you for the next solve.
Then you’ve never heard my son cooing over my granddaughter, probably much the way I spoke fluent parentese with him back in the day.
This SatPuz definitely begs the question: What is "frog sticks" in URDU ... and in PARENTESE?
Also, how does one say MOCAP in English.
LIKELIKEs: The impressive 4-stacks of 9ers in the NW & SE, with all quite reputable crossers --- RECS maybe bein the closest to Ow de Speration meat.
staff weeject picks: ACE & AHI. Th-th-that's all, folks!
Fairly easy solvequest for a 66-worder. Did lose some nanoseconds on 1-Down's big beautiful BILL: M&A had SPAM splatzed there for way too long.
Thanx for a primo SatPuz, Ms. Slovut-Einertson darlin. Great effort, for yer first crack at a themeless puz.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
p.s.
... ain't got no runtpuz server ... down for repairs.
I do have a little runt tribute to all of @RP's neat Holiday Pet Pics, whenever the server does gets back in action...
Coming to the defense of the MULLET clue- they are definitely in right now, although it's more a queer culture thing at large than lesbians specifically. They look a little different than the 80s ones, ftr, people don't do the front up they just wear it down.
I just ran out of patience with this due to a stubborn mess in the upper left. For the downs I had SPAM, PADLOCKS, PLAIN, ECCE, and SEED MONEY. So for 19 across, looking at M---LI-ED = "Really went for", it obviously had to be MAINLINED. Which made "Lincolnesque" = STONY. Oh, well.
I'm glad I'm not alone being annoyed at 46 down being in English... I kept thinking "how can it not be VENI?" And PARENTESE was a WOE... have not heard that.
And that goofy clue for MINSK... groan.
Glad I'm not the only one who felt that way about the clues, Mike. Some felt downright awkward. The satisfaction level was low.
I went to Bible Camp several times as a kid. We had a cafeteria and swimming pool. No chapel or mess hall.
Hah, you reminded me about Bono and his mullet! I watched the CNN documentary about Live Aid, in which Bono said he can't bring himself to watch the concert footage because the mullet makes him cringe. Here's an article about it.
Growing up in Brooklyn in the sixties it was pretty common. You'd be trapped in an alley with hoodlums and you'd run the hell out of there, yelling "Last dance! Last dance!" I think it goes back to late-17th-century France where dance troupes faced particularly perilous times.
AUNATUREL messed with my brain, but I got it in the end! Nice puzzle overall, but it was a bit bland — perhaps because only 20 of 26 letters were used. Just my two cents, but I think themeless puzzles should feature some unusual letters like J, Q and Z.
Yes, thank you for this clarification! I'm glad to learn that PARENTESE is not a new infant-rearing technique, but a new descriptive term for something that "most parents do...naturally."
Because it was about the song, "Save the Last Dance for Me," not a plea for help. That was AOK in my book. The others I cited were not OK (unless you like guessing sayings nobody ever said).
Concur that the clue was derogatory. Even if it was “diner-ese” I would expect the puzzle editor to know better.
Really enjoyed this relatively straightforward but interesting puzzle. The whole NW opened up with PADLOCKS and MINSK. The SW was nice and then I worked on the RHS . No lookups, yay, despite not knowing TOBEY or MOCAP. Loved Rex’s comment on DELETETHIS!
Please, in honor of the country’s 250th, one patriotic pet pic per day!
That MINSK clue was the worst of a hefty group of forced clues.
Easy-medium seems right with the bottom half easier than the top. In the NW me too for spam before BILL which i held on to for way too long. In the NE I wanted SetteE so STAPLE took a while.
I did not know that Seder meant ORDER and PARENTESE was also a WOE.
Solid and very smooth, liked it.
Anyone else put JALOPPIES for 1A? It just sounds like it would fit— bad cars (spoilers) ruining a car lot (whole lot).. ah well. Then again, bad cars wouldn’t really “spoil” a whole collection of cars just by being clunkers, the way spoiled apples would ruin other good apples. So.. Just was curious to see if anyone else made this mistake:)
Les, I think the clue is really forced and extremely unfamiliar. From the internet "Frog sticks" can refer to several things: musical instruments (wooden guiros that sound like frogs), spa water sanitizers (FROG brand mineral sticks), educational toys (puppets or sound makers), or slang for french fries in some contexts, as seen in crossword puzzles. "
Go to any lesbian bar nowadays and just about half of them are sporting a mullet. More of a gen z/millenial thing though.
Technically 17A was a fill-in. Just not clued that way (which would have made it easy).
Save - - - - me!
There are definitely not enough stereotypes about lesbians as it so, so thanks for hanging this one on us too.
Disappointed Rex didn’t call out the disgusting habit of padlocks on bridges. Once isolated to Paris, I’ve seen it all over Europe in recent years and this year I’ve started seeing it in the states. And every little souvenir shop sells cheap locks for the purpose. /rant mode off.
Worse than litter, deflated balloons are a threat to wildlife, when animals mistake their colorful remains for a yummy treat, and they wind up choking on them.
I'm 1/4 French, and 1/4 offended.
Bob Mills Too late to comment maybe but while I agree with you it was not an easy puzzle for me at all. I am not angry at parentese. It is a word. It was created to fit a need for a formal word to categorize how parents speak to their infant children Baby talk is too vague and informal for the purpose. I see nothing wrong about a Saturday puzzle having parentese as an answer
About like like(d) Look at the examples commenters give. It has been around for decades. Some people use it some don’t.But it is most definitely a thing. Not misleading at all
BILL. It is a very common joke that a BILL is unwarranted Mail along wit junk mail. All I got today are bills and junk (I just said that the other day). Yes many do worry about lost mail (like I do) but honestly bills are not exactly wanted. To me the clue was a fair misdirection for a Saturday. Yes I put in spam then bulk as in bulk Mail which made the puzzle harder for me. But when I saw bill I thought Good one!
BTW Last Dance was required by the crosses but it took me ages to figure out.why. That didn’t make me mad. It’s a Saturday after all.
Ah well, another instance where Michael can't take legitimate fact-based feedback, But it is his blog, so it's his choice.
ChrisS
I don’t think there is anything forced about the frog sticks clue. The only valid criticism I can see is that the clue /answer is too obscure even for a Saturday.
Les S More is entirely correct in saying diner food terms, a common category in crosswords are used by and among the staff and not used by the general public. So strange term for French fries that most people don’t know.
Where does it come from? DINER
Whether that’s too obscure is a matter of opinion. But the clue/answer makes sense after the fact. Yes I asked myself what English speaking country starts with a D none. If Sydney fit I would be in trouble. Eventually I saw diner Tough one but a good one I thought.
DAVinHOP
Not sure I understand your point
VENI means I came
VIDI I saw
VINCI I conquered
The Romans recorded this as a direct quote from Caesar.
In the first person singular.
It's a lot older than that, presumably from the days of minuets and waltzes, when you could not dance with the same partner more than twice in one evening. "Save the last dance" meant save the dance before supper, so the couple could spend the meal together.
Well, I am also today years old (and that’s 73) and learning that the way many (most?) people talk to babies (according to an official definition) now has an official name - PARENTESE. Fine, fair game for a crossword, but I think it’s extremely inapt. I’m weary of what I perceive as a tendency these days to label everything. Labels don’t always help clarify anything and are often harmful. Finally, not everyone - by a long stretch if including doctors, nurses, adjunct medical personnel such as respiratory therapists etc who employs this speech pattern is a parent. Ok, it’s a word, but it’s not necessary or very meaningful. When I figured it out, I thought it must refer to the way parents speak to screen-obsessed tweens and teens to encourage them to use grammatically correct full sentences containing complete words, no truncations or abbreviations. Oh well, live and learn.
I am really, really late today and absolutely nobody but me will read this anyway. Except for PARENTESE, this was a pretty good Saturday. Easy in some spots and pretty darned challenging for me in a couple spots - and PARENTESE being one if them.
I do not like "LIKE LIKED" - i have never heard anyone say it in real life, nor have I ever said it. Does OFL really hang out with people who say "like liked"? I doubt it. However, if George and Elaine used the expression on Seinfeld, then I must have heard it there since I have seen all of the episodes, and that gives it credibility even if that is the only place and time it has ever been used. The clue should have been: "Really went for, as per George and Elaine".
Stupid SE corner. I had the entire rest of the puzzle filled in about 9 minutes and then...ended up at 23:35. Stupid SE corner.
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