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Relative difficulty: Medium
Word of the Day: LEDGER LINE (8D: Short addition above or below a musical staff) —
A ledger line or leger line is used in Western musical notation to notate pitches above or below the lines and spaces of the regular musical staff. A line slightly longer than the note head is drawn parallel to the staff, above or below, spaced at the same distance as the lines within the staff.The origin of the word is uncertain, but may have been borrowed attributively from the term for a horizontal timber in a scaffolding, lying parallel to the face of the building and supporting the putlogs. There is no basis to support the often-found claim that the word originates from the French léger, meaning "light" or "slight". The Oxford online dictionary describes the origin of the "leger" spelling as a "variant of ledger" that first appeared in the 19th century. (wikipedia)
• • •
For me, the hardest answer was also kinda dull—I simply had no idea about LEDGER LINE. Once I got it, at the very end, I thought "sounds kinda familiar," but while solving, oof, trouble. I got the LINE part OK, eventually, but the LEDGER part ... that turned out to be the heart of the hardest part of the grid for me: the LEDGER part of LEDGER LINE, the MEDIA part of MEDIA HYPE (18A: Amped-up coverage), GEN (21A: Bit of shorthand in some age cohorts), and OWIES (esp. OWIES) (9D: Targets of some kisses) combined to make my final few squares of the solve a real adventure. Before that, the one real trouble spot was TSA PRE across GRATER (26A: It has holes and cuts) and CRONIES (35A: Members of a kitchen cabinet). I simply didn't know what a "kitchen cabinet" was (or ... I had some vague idea, but not one that was going to get me to CRONIES any time soon). Outside those two sections, the puzzle wasn't too tough, but those two sections really gummed things up.
SNORLAX was seven random letters to me (51A: Pokémon that wakes only to eat). The Internet tells me there are over 1,000 Pokémon to date. Since I am an adult and have been an adult during the entire time Pokémon have existed and since my kid was never into Pokémon, that whole universe is terra incognita to me (and will remain so). Asking me to know SNORLAX seems about as absurd as asking me to know George Jetson's computer "friend" R.U.D.I. (see yesterday's puzzle). But, you know, the crosses are fair, so you just shrug and move on. I am grateful to the puzzle that it didn't make me spend a lot of time time struggling to get SNORLAX. Got a little dicey there when I couldn't remember the [Actor who played priests in "The Mission" (1986) and "Silence" (2016)], but I eventually got enough crosses to see Liam NEESON, and that final "N" was the last thing I needed for SNORLAX. I feel bad for the solver who knows nothing about Pokémon and knows nothing about Major League Baseball. That "X" (in EXPOS) is probably inferable, but still, that cross could be dicey for some subset of solvers. But in general I think the SNORLAX crosses are common knowledge. (That EXPOS clue was a gimme for me) (48D: Former M.L.B. team with the mascot Youppi!).
 |
| [SNORLAX] |
- 14A: Vessel often stored upside down (CANOE) — "Vessel" is what makes this a real Saturday clue. I was picturing some kind of pot or pan or ewer or cruet or ... something kitchen-y.
- 19A: Young in old Hollywood (LORETTA) — her fame has not endured the way some other old Hollywood actors' fame has. She was a major star, but sitting here right now, without looking her up, I don't think I could name one of her movies. I think she was in a western with Robert Mitchum that I liked ... something about "stars?" ... nope, no "stars"—it's called Rachel and the Stranger (RKO's most successful film of 1948). "Stranger" starts with the letters in "star" ... I wonder if that's what I was thinking. Anyway, LORETTA Young won an Academy Award for Best Actress (The Farmer's Daughter, 1947). She had a couple of TV shows, too, in the '50s and '60s, and worked well into the late 20th century, winning a Golden Globe for Best Actress—Miniseries or Television Movie for Lady in a Corner (1989).
- 57A: Letter after Sierra (TANGO) — had the "T" and wrote in TAHOE—still obviously under the influence of yesterday's Mac Operating System clue for TAHOE (Sierra was also a Mac O/S).
- 1D: Where locks are set (SCALP) — this one is trying maybe too hard. Yes, your hair ("locks") is "set" in your SCALP. Hard to deny, yet awkward on the page. Very awkward. I think I had CANAL here at first.
- 29A: Short-lived particle (PION) — I had MUON at first. I know particle names solely from crosswords. I don't really know anything about them.
- 24D: Producers of an annual light show (LEONIDS) — annual meteor shower
- 54D: Dominican poet Pedro (MIR) — this is the puzzle trying desperately to pretend that MIR isn't still crosswordese. It's still crosswordese. Once a space station, always a space station.
- 41A: Start of a Christmas carol in Latin (ADESTE) — speaking of crosswordese! Once again ... to the rescue! (“ADESTE Fideles” = “O Come, All Ye Faithful”). This was a gimme and was instrumental in my getting into the SE corner (via TROUTS ... a plural about which the less said the better)
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ReplyDeleteEasy-Medium. Found it a lot easier than @Rex did.
* * * _ _
Overwrites:
My 1D locks were set in a Salon before a SCALP
Totally missed that the words in the. 24A clue were French. Saw Offenbach, thought German and so had daS before LES.
@Rex muON before PION for the 29A particle
I had LAT in place before I read the clue for 36A but if I would’ve fallen right into the oAr trap
@Rex TAhoe before TANGO at 57A
WOEs:
The Hindu god KAMA at 6D, although once I got it, it made sense.
Musical LEDGER LINE at 8D.
Pokémon SNORLAX at 54A. The only Pokémon I know is Pikachu (and I had to look up how to spell that).
Poet Pedro MIR at 54D
I really resisted TROUTS (42D), but M-W.com says it’s acceptable. I still hate it.
I believe it's like fish vs fishes. Fishes would convey more than one species of fish together in the group
DeleteYes, I'd say "fishes" and "peoples" are similar examples. I once suggested to my students that "concrete" is a non-countable noun (no such thing as "concretes"), but a person who actually works with the stuff said that there actually are different kinds of "concretes" that might be used.
DeleteWonderful AHA! from TSAPre.
ReplyDeleteYes! That was my favorite clue.
DeleteGreat clue (despite newsworthiness of TSA). We had gobbledygook of TSxFxE; the T, S and E appeared solid. Wondered whether T Safre might be an app to reduce one's (kids?) computer screen time, but once Foam became POOL NOODLE, success ensued.
DeleteDo people actually call it “TSA pre”? I have TSA precheck and have never heard it call just pre…yes to dropping the TSA and saying “do you have pre-check”? But who calls it TSA pre? Honestly don’t think that is a thing and this clue didn’t work.
DeleteActually, we do.
DeleteFinished wiv an error, MaR vs. MIR. SWEAR ON aT looked amiss but cuddnt see the obv. Full minute to ferret the right vowel and what felt an eternity to drop the curtain. Order for me, SE -> NE -> SW -> NE -> center (clapping in LEONIDS early days off LES teed it up) -> NW (canal ? SCuLl? at 1d, and tho columbarium was clear, INter additionally misaligned the corner. TEETERS + PONIES finally reframed the false start.)
ReplyDeleteNot entertaining.
For all you cross nerds out there, not only does this grid have standard symmetry, it also has double-diagonal symmetry!
ReplyDeleteI missed that, thanks! And, in fact, double diagonal symmetry implies 180⁰ rotational symmetry (from group theory, for example).
Delete@David Upon reflection (twice!), I see what you mean.
Delete@tht Ha! This group is too clever.
DeleteFinished it by looking up PION and SNORLAX. Got TSAPRE from the crosses without understanding it (still don't). Otherwise I found it only moderately difficult for a Saturday, with clever but not unfair cluing.
ReplyDeleteIf you had to look up answers, then you failed. How does that equate to “moderately difficult?” Do you routinely fail Saturdays? People who look up answers have no basis for talking about a puzzle’s difficulty. All puzzles get easier when you look up the dang answers.
DeleteHey, calm down, Anonymous. It's just a blog comments section. I for one have no problem with someone filling in 99% of the puzzle and being Naticked by one or two letters. CLUNK might be CHUNK or some other onomatopoeia and if you don't know SNORLAX then SNORHAX sounds just as reasonable. PION could be MION or SION or some other thing, too.
DeleteBob has every right to comment.
Anonymous 7:32, let’s not be so SWIFT to judge how anyone chooses to solve a silly thing like a crossword puzzle. Me, I had one cheat today, which for me makes this an especially hard puzzle (he humble-bragged), but for some people maybe two cheats count as a medium Saturday. Cheat or no cheat, I had fun solving it, so in no way was that a “fail.”
DeleteNo one said Bob has no right to comment. Just not about difficulty. Also, puzzles aren’t “silly”—you wouldn’t do them or be here or bother to defend Bob if you thought that. The fact that puzzles aren’t life/death doesn’t mean anything, really. Most things aren’t life/death. It is strange to dismiss valid comment re difficulty by saying the puzzle is “silly”; if you cheat, you simply aren’t in the same position to judge difficulty as people who stick it out are. This seems like a neutral, obvious statement.
DeleteIs it cheating if you look up an answer after you've filled it in? For instance, i got SNORLAX from the crosses but I had no idea was snorlax was. So I looked it up afterwards. Is that a "cheat"?
DeleteFor my part I personally consider it a fail if I have to look anything up. Which can happen irrespective of overall difficulty, as in the case of a proper-noun Natick. Especially irksome in that case. I'll make a wild-ass guess first.
DeleteNoting for the benefit of Ted that Bob did limit qualify his difficulty comment "otherwise," as pertaining to the stuff he didn't have to resort to Googling.
DeleteAlso, PRE as in "pre-cleared."
Not sure anon was passing judgment. He was certainly offering an opinion. But one thing is beyond question: if you look up an answer you have failed to solve the puzzle.
DeleteMy 8 year old grandson provided the Pokémon answer. If that makes me a cheater, so be it.
DeleteBob, I understand and fully comprehend exactly what you meant. The puzzle was overall “moderately difficult.” However/otherwise, there were a few clues where you couldn’t be sure you had the right answer without looking them up. Makes perfect sense to me and has nothing to do with pass/fail, which you did not mention anyway. As Joaquin once said, let us all “enjoy these puzzles for what they are - entertainment and exercise for the brain.”
DeleteYep, that be cheating no matter how much you love your accomplice.
DeleteLike @Bob Mills 7:11 am said
Delete"Calm down" Anonymous. The whole idea behind doing the NYT puzzle, at least for me anyway, is to enjoy doing it - however you finish it.
BTW if you feel so strongly about things in this blog, why are you Anonymous?
I think it’s fine to comment on the difficulty even if you don’t get them all. A puzzle can be smooth except for 2 clues. That doesn’t automatically make it rate as difficult or impossible. The overall feel can still be moderate even if there are some misses.
DeleteHi all, people are anonymous for All Kinds of reasons. Attacking them for anonymity is not reasonable, it doesn’t constitute a real argument (ad hominem) and definitely does not make for interesting discourse. Thanks for listening! 👋
DeleteClearly only a cheater would attempt to spend quality time with their grandchildren solving puzzles together and instilling a love of knowledge. What a failure!
DeleteI jest.
I would opine that in competitive solving, looking up the answer is indeed cheating but for the average home solver you get to play as you please and if your goal is to have fun and learn then you can define your own success!
Easy, medium, hard I don't care.i enjoy doing them. If I get Friday or Saturday with only 2 or3 cheats I consider that a triumph!
DeleteWell, in terms of successfully completing this puzzle I’d have to say I failed big time! I found the NW easy but too much PPP in the rest for me. Enjoyed some of the twisty clues. Only the one for SCALP left me—scratching my head? No, I didn’t really mean that, just a bad pun. I felt the answer fitted the clue but the clue did not really lead to the answer.
DeleteI print and solve on paper. If "Bob" had not mentioned looking up "PION" I would not have noticed my "DNF" at 29A. I had "on the news" @ 30D and moved on leaving "POON" behind. Not sure but it sounds like it would elicit a snickers if "correct".
DeleteI’m always anonymous because I don’t want to log in to big brother google. My name is Yat, though. Maybe I’ll start always posting my name, to avoid the “anonymous” aspersions herein.
DeleteI loved this puzzle because of its crunch. I had to put it down last night (maybe my Friday night brain was just too exhausted to solve). I loved that. Like Saturday puzzles I remember from my youth. And yet I was able to solve it this morning.
Excellent Saturday puzzle!! The type I’ve been missing.
Well, most people here are anonymous to me since I don’t know them other than whatever name they choose to comment with - but it makes it easier to follow a train of thought to use a handle - for instance this thread has 7 anonymice, with some repeaters.
DeleteI’m fascinated by the multiple pronouncements (you might even call them judgements) as to what constitutes “cheating.” Is there an official rule book some of you are playing out of? Here I thought I was having fun doing the XWord with my family, only to find out I’ve been cheating and may not opine on the difficulty level of the puzzle. To add to the calm down sentiment, I’ll add, “lighten up Francis.”
DeleteFrankly, I am glad someone finally laid down the rules and spelled out in no uncertain terms the one - and only one - proper and permissible way to solve a puzzle and assess it. For too long people have been solving and assessing puzzles any which way they want, making a mockery of the puzzle while having a great old time doing it. It's like the wild west out there, completely out of control, where anything goes. And I don't like it. It's not safe for longtime law-abiding salvers - or for our children whom we are grooming to be future solvers. It's long past the time that someone cracked down on this anarchy and long past the time that we take back the grid. !Sí, se puede!
DeleteONE of the advantages of the old Blogger format was that you could reply and assign yourself a “name” for that comment or reply. I didn’t do the permanent Blogger name for a few years. I worked for state government and frankly was paranoid about stating my views. @burtonkd brings up a good point which is that many of us like to assign a name to a comment. (Like, oh…this person always has interesting comments…or…vice versa) On the other hand, the new Blogger really only lets you have two choices and I can understand why people remain anonymous (like Yat above). I never really liked the term anonymice because it lumps everyone into one category. I enjoy a lot of anonymous comments and of course, sometimes I think there are anons that just seem to be a bit mean for no particular reason.
DeleteI have to agree with Anonymous. I find it very unsatisfying to look anything up, but I'll do it every now and then when time drags on too much, but that means I failed
DeleteI agree anonymous always and with every comment anonymous has ever made in this blog from the very beginning - except for myself and my own comments, with whom and with which I am never in agreement.
DeleteI'm not from USA. Anytime there's an American politician or university in the puzzle, not only do I look it up, but I deduct one minute from my solve time ✌️😎
DeleteHandsome grid - the balance is striking and I’m sure tricky to deal with. Other than the nearly unforgivable TROUTS - this is well filled and fun. It trended more Fridayish for me with all the colloquial stuff but all good.
ReplyDeleteLORETTA’s Scars
Rex identifies most of the highlights - the TOY POODLE x POOL NOODLE cross is outstanding. Started with ARE WE GOOD. IT’LL BE FINE, IN THE NEWS, SWEAR ON IT, SAUNTERS are all top notch - really fun to encounter.
Neko
Was at a funeral over the summer when I learned the term columbarium - when Catholics are cremated it is one of the only two options available. The Pokémon trivia needed the crosses. Loved CRONIES dead center.
Me and LORETTA, we don't talk much more
Highly enjoyable Saturday morning solve. Trip Payne offers a more segmented Stumper today - high on the trivia but true to its name.
Townes
I do "Hello in There" at our hootenannies so I can have my friend who plays the cello accompany it, (beautiful) but lately she says it's too sad. Rats.
DeleteI’m stunned that both you and Rex missed a golden opportunity to post a link to Emmylou’s version of “Too Far Gone”.
DeleteThe onomatopoeia the other day called up the most delightful rest of that line — I don’t wanna see ya / speakin in a foreign tongue — Is this enough cause to call it John Prine Week?
DeleteThanks for this today and as always @Son Volt and @pabloinnnh for your tasty musical touches.
DeleteHey, you're welcome. Hope everything's OK on the Left Bank.
DeleteIt is, thanks!
DeleteI think Rex is not quite so recovered as he thinks, as this was significantly easier than yesterday's puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI am absolutely 100% against Pokemon starting to appear in my crosswords. Maybe OK with Pikachu, who has sort of seeped into popular culture. But no others, please.
Hah! Says you! Yesterday's for me took 50% longer than today's.
DeleteI’m with you on this. While SNOR- has an implication for sleeping, so is at least somewhat inferable, I just hope this isn’t the canary in the coal mine opening the door for the other 1,000 plus characters.
DeleteIt’s plain to see that Katie spends time with every clue, seeking fresh angles. I especially like how she zizzifies ordinary answers with out-of-the-ordinary clues, as she did with OWIES, MORN, PDA, HERS, GRATER and that terrific [Program for those trying to reduce screen time, familiarly?] for TSA PRE.
ReplyDeleteZizzification continued with the pop in the box from never-seen-before answers and their never-seen-before clues. Answer debuts aren’t guaranteed to be colorful, but Katie’s nine are today, including ARE WE COOL, MEDIA HYPE, SWEAR ON IT, YET TO COME, and TOO FAR GONE.
Not to mention non-debut answer loveliness (AZURE, POOF, DROLL, USURP, SAUNTERS, WAZOO, TEETER), and – ooh! – eight double O’s.
Total brain engagement and puzzjoy for me.
I expected it, though, after experiencing your six previous puzzles, Katie, with their riddles galore, crackling cluing, pop, and beauty. My heart did a little happy-leap when I saw your name atop the box, and it will next time too – thank you!
Stii have absolutely no idea what TSAPRE or TSA PRE (or whatever the hell it is) means.
DeleteTSA PRE does usually have shorter lines, but I think the clue leans more on the fact that travelers literally have less screening to do once they get to the front of that line. They don't have to take off shoes or remove laptops from bags, things like that. You literally walk through the screening area in less time. Good clue, good puzzle! :)
ReplyDeleteFor some reason the “kilo” part of KILOWATT eluded me for a long time as well as the “media” part of MEDIA HYPE, and if I’ve ever heard of a LEDGER LINE I’ve long since forgotten it, so that upper middle part of the puzzle was a bear. Enjoyable solve, though.
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteRemembering as a little kid when Mom would kiss an OWIE. It amazingly always made it hurt a little less!
Tough SatPuz here, failed at figuring out SAUNTERS (last answer in). Had the non-word SAntTEnS. But, the ole angstiness set in, and I said, "Whatevs, I'll look at Rex's grid!" Also discovered an N for the D in the LEONIDS/ADESTE cross. LEONInS/AnESTE. Ah, me.
Did enjoy the solve. Stuck on NortON for a bit for NEESON (Edward Norton). Thinking about not-too-good for TOO FAR GONE, but was too long. Also deciding twixt ITLL BE good, okay, fine. Thought Rex wouldn't like NOODLE crossing POODLE, but he said it was neat!
Welp, hope y'all have a great Saturday!
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
I liked this one. With EXPOS and CANOE, I'd call that an appropriate amount of Canadian content :-)
ReplyDeleteTIL two things: (1) LEDGER LINE is a perfectly acceptable spelling. I had a professor back in music school who drilled into us the idea that “leger” was the only correct spelling. I can’t remember now what other small-mindedness he probably imparted. (2) There’s a poet named after a space station.
ReplyDeleteI also learned of the poet today. He was the poet laureate of the Dominican Republic, so he was no MIR poet!
DeleteThe single biggest thing that held me up today was I had sLacK for the “hitting rock bottom” clue forever. As in, when one goes rock climbing, and hits the bottom, their rope has slack.
ReplyDeleteI loved that clue/answer so much I refused to consider anything else!
Medium-challenging or even challenging for me. Enjoyed the challenge. TSAPre was the last answer, completed only through the cross, and even then had to stare at it for a minute or two, parsing it differently until I saw it. T sapre? Some odd French phrase? Um, TS Apre, like apres ski? Then the light bulb turned on. Nicely done, Katie!
ReplyDeleteStarted with salon on 1 down. Took a while to fix that mistake. Muon instead of pion, inter instead of inurn, oar instead of lat, growlix instead of snorlax, lent instead of lend, and plenty of typos due to a very tired noggin and fat fingers. Those mistakes increased the challenge. Still, enjoyed this one.
SNORLAX had the potential to generate a laugh, but as Rex mentioned, when there are a thousand of those things one loses interest. Anyway, congrats if that one is in your wheelhouse.
ReplyDeletePION looks like they are running out of ways to name particles (unless by chance it’s a P-ION, I didn’t look it up). If Hindu deities are welcome, then subatomic particles can definitely pull up a chair as well.
I loved the whole TSA PRE situation, definitely had to stare at that one for a while (LEONIDS, on the other hand, was/is totally foreign to me - it actually sounds more like the brand name of a throat lozenge or a breath mint).
Hard for me to argue much with this one - a tough, fair, well-crafted puzzle with Saturday-appropriate clues. I can’t ask for much else.
I put Neesom for the priest and then had all sorts of permutations in the area where Ledgerline crossed Pool Noodle and TSA PRE. Finally threw in the towel. Such an unusual name for an Irishman.
ReplyDeleteCronies in the kitchen cabinet?
ReplyDeleteI don't get it either
DeleteA kitchen cabinet is an unofficial gathering of a prominent leader and his or her personal friends. For example, a president might discuss foreign policy with college classmates who have no elected or appointed standing in government.
DeleteIt's this kind of kitchen cabinet:
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_Cabinet
A Kitchen Cabinet is a group of unofficial or private advisers to a political leader.[1] The term was originally used by political opponents of President of the United States Andrew Jackson to describe his ginger group, the collection of unofficial advisors he consulted in parallel to the United States Cabinet (the "parlor cabinet") following his purge of the cabinet at the end of the Eaton affair and his break with Vice President John C. Calhoun in 1831.
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_Cabinet
A crony (plural CRONIES) is a type of bowl, or dishware. It would be stored in a cabinet in the kitchen as opposed to under the sink or in a pantry.
Delete@Liveprof 10:54. Yes, but I think the more familiar definition of CRONIES is what the constructor had in mind. Also, I Iooked online and asked ChatGPT but could not find crony being defined as a type of bowl.
DeleteTrouts is not the general plural for trout. That would be trout. However, when speaking of multiple species (flathead and brook) the plural would be trouts. As in "there were several brook trout in the stream" vs. "there were brook and flathead trouts in the stream". Totally fair.
ReplyDeleteFascinating. In the constructor’s notes on Wordplay, she apologized profusely for that S.
DeleteAs she should.
Delete@Anon 8:33. Pretty good explanation. Thanks. As an avid trout fisherman who has cast a ton of flies at them for over 50 years I found TROUTS a bit grating, until I started considering them as separate varieties of trout. OK, TROUTS. There are a few problems, though. Firstly, the Flathead trout is a rather esoteric breed, inhabiting only a few rivers in Turkey. And the good ole Brookie, staple of so much American trout fishing lit, is actually a char. Still a lovely fish, but not one of the TROUTS.
DeleteNo one has ever said there are three kinds of trouts in that stream.
Delete@Anon 12:24. But, of all the TROUTS, the cutthroat is the most fun to fish for.
DeleteI've stored CANOEs for years and always upside down but that was it for the NW so I started with something I was sure of, SYKES and went from there, rapidly, until I ran into SNORLAX. Mostly steady progress today with pauses for PION, MIR, KAMA and MORN as clued. LEDGERLINES I know from early piano lessons and years of singing, but I always have trouble trying to decipher them.
ReplyDeleteORACLE always reminds me of Moose's Bar in the far Upstate NY town where I went to college It was run by, well, Moose, of course a rough-looking older (to me) guy with a crew cut who looked like he deserved his nickname. One day a bunch of guys came in and yelled at him "Hey Moose! Who won the football game today?" To which he replied "What am I, the Delphic ORACLE?" Cracked me up.
Very nice Saturday with just the right amount of crunch, KH. Knowing Half the obscure ones made my morning, and thanks for all the fun.
Thanks to Ted, Andy Freude, and Anonymous for their supportive comments. We have a Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous who sees fit to take apart everything I post, always rudely (and sans attribution, of course). He or she should know I'm not in the least intimidated.
ReplyDeleteWow. What bravery. (You people and your persecution complexes istg)
DeleteWhat are yiu on about? Who was trying to intimidate you? Anon is right: yiu sound like you have a persecution complex, or maybe just paranoia. Either way, you sound nuts.
DeleteAnons, why do you feel the need to make comments just to be a jerk to another commenter? It’s not a “persecution complex” to point out that someone posted a rude and unnecessary response to your comment. Feel free to go be a troll literally anywhere else on the internet!
DeletePlease look up “troll”—sincerely engaging with someone’s ideas (even if you deem that engagement “rude”) is not trolling
DeleteIt is when Bob says he won’t be intimidated. I didn’t catch a whiff if anyone trying to intimidate him.
DeleteHe’s thin-skinned. All anyone did was assail his dubious posistion.
That’s not trolling, it’s discussion n. Or classically, argument.
Instead of defending his posistion Mr. Mills opted to nake a bogus claim, spuriously claiming victimhood.
Just like Joe, I had Neesom instead of Neeson.For 2 Down, I say up the… not out the…A good hard Saturday puzzle.🎈🎈🎊🎊
ReplyDeleteI had Neeson too. Influenced by the final 'm' in Liam? Per the earlier discussion about looking things up: I have a streak that began with the pandemic and doing the puzzle online and every day. For me it's about the routine and completing it. when I began 6 years ago I almost always had to look up an answer or two on Saturday. Now I rarely do but I am not cheating.
DeleteOld enough to remember Yupi which makes me too old to know SNORLAX. All in all a very Saturday puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI think the constructor threw all of us post-Pokemon oldsters a hint in the clue. SNOR[E], as in sleeps a lot, as in "wakes only to eat." Once I had that I reluctantly conceded TROUTS, though that kind of irked me. Yes you can put an "S" on it but that doesn't mean any actual human ever says "How many TROUTS did you catch? I caught two trouts!"
ReplyDelete• Being a choir singer and having just watched a Youtube on a nifty trick for reading LEDGER LINES I was all over that one.
• Hey 22A, 2004 is calling. They want their BlackBerry back. Does anyone use an actual PDA anymore?
• Had PERSEIDS before LEONIDS, but I knew it had to be -IDS. Because astronomy geek since forever.
DrBB…PDA refers to “public display of affection” when you give your loved one a kiss goodbye (or hello).
DeleteIf you caught two of the same species of trout, you would indeed say "I caught two trout". However, if you caught a flathead and a brook trout, you would say "I caught two trouts".
DeleteI think that ledger line trick video showed up on my feed once. I’d file that more in the fun facts than useful in real life. Just learn solidly 3 lines above and below the staffs solidly. Any more than that, they run together on the page for my eyes, and I have to count to make sure how many there are, even if I know what they are. Also, any more than that, and things will usually go into 8va territory
DeleteNope I would say I caught two trout. And those two fish do not occur in the same ecosystem
DeleteWow! What a treat of a puzzle, but I don't think I could handle this difficulty seven days a week. I love a puzzle where after ten minutes I think I'm cooked and will have to cheat; but then gradually things fall into place.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the shingles vaccine. No, I don't think it is more prevalent; just its name tells you it's been around forever.
But, to all, please, please get the Shingrex. It's not just a matter of preventing shingles; it has also been shown, in a very good study, to help prevent dementia (even more so than doing Xword puzzles). The study was out of the British National Health Service, well-controlled. No doubt in my mind (I am an MD).
It put up some nice resistance. May be a wee north of a Saturdaily Medium, but for me far less brutal than yesterday's buttkicking. It hit a sweet spot for me.
ReplyDeleteAnd, it's quite a handsome grid, as capably pointed out by Lewis (on the alert as ever!) and then expanded upon by @David Eisner.
I liked the longer entries (ARE WE COOL, POOL NOODLE, IT'LL BE FINE, YET TO COME, SWEAR ON IT, TOY POODLE, TOP DOLLAR, TOO FAR GONE, IN THE NEWS). LEONIDS was satisfyingly tricky to see.
If there's any vulgarity in the ass/anus family that nevertheless manages to be acceptable to me, it would have to be WAZOO. There's something breezily playful about it, that makes it the envy of all the rest of that family. I can't stay mad at it, I just can't.
SNORLAX I didn't know and didn't love. CRONIES I didn't get. But those were about my only nits.
Many thanks, Katie Hoody, for a very enjoyable puzzle!
I know! I love the term “Out the WAZOO.” Who knows….maybe even LORETTA Young said THAT. ;)
DeleteNo Way! Not the Bishop's Wife!
DeleteAgree this was a proper Saturday but not quite a stumper. I loved all the double O’s - COOL, POOF, OOLONG, WAZOO, TOO FAR and POOL NOODLE. crossing TOY POODLE. Did not know but learned KAMA, OPCOT and SNORLAX. This was just a very clean, very well clued themeless. Puzzles like this one or a few and far between. Well done, Katie!
ReplyDeleteI had a Poodle named Max who was one of the smartest dogs I’ve ever seen. He developed diabetes and for about the last five years of his life, I cooked all of his food and gave him insulin shots twice a day. In order to calculate the dosage, I had to test his urine several times a week. Let me tell you, there are few things quite so humbling as following a miniature dog around with a cup so you can hold it in the appropriate spot when he finally decides on just the right blade of grass to stop and to take a whiz.
When I saw the clue for 19A, I immediately wrote LORETTA, then briefly panicked when I couldn’t get SALON or INTER to work in the downs. Couldn’t think of another old-Hollywood YOUNG except Robert. While Marcus Welby was a little more recent, I barely remember The Loretta Young Show. It’s fuzzy but I seem to recall when the theme music started, she opened the front door and came sweeping in wearing a long flowing gown, and she was quite beautiful. But I have no memory at all of what the show was about or who else might’ve been in it. In some ways, I think TV was better then. Certainly more wholesome.
Loving all of your comment. Your Max reminds me of an old tabby we used to have named MacDuff, who also developed diabetes in his last years of life. Such a happy-go-lucky beefy lug of a cat; I would give him a shot twice a day, as he would snarf down his food like a SNORLAX (I guess!), and scarcely seemed to notice I was doing anything. He got in a lot of trouble as a kitten, but I came to love him more than any other cat we had. Probably not as bright as your Max though (good name!).
DeleteTV was more wholesome and more civil. You, me, so many people miss that.
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DeleteOh, for the good ole days, when TV was more wholesome, and women were stupid and Father knew Best. C'mon you guys.
DeleteBut I must agree with you that poodles are really smart and collecting pet piss is humbling. A note for any of you contemplating getting your first dog and wondering, "Do I really want to be collecting pet urine?" Get a female. They squat. It's so much easier.
How did Max become such a popular dog name? My son Maxwell would like to know.
Sorry, but the TSAPRE answer is bad! Why? The program is called "TSA PreCheck" not TSA Pre!!! (If you don't believe me, here is a link to the official website, if you go there, note that "TSA PreCheck" is a registered trademark, but "TSA Pre" is not!: https://www.tsa.gov/precheck). On some airport signs, the word 'Check' is replaced by a check mark, but the 'check' is obviously still part of the name (a different example, but I've never heard anyone refer to the streaming service "Paramount+" as 'Paramount'; everyone says "Paramount plus"!). Perhaps some people misinterpret the signs and say "TSA Pre" but that's a shortening, so the clue needs an abbreviation somewhere to be correct.
ReplyDeleteNW was brutal for me overall: I started with SALON for 'where locks are set,' then figured it was probably wrong when I saw 'salon' in one of the down clues, but by then I'd already spun my wheels for a while. I misinterpreted the wordplay for 26 across, and kept trying to figure out how to fit PGA Tour into the 'it has holes and cuts' space.
The clue says “familiarly,” so TSAPre is a legit answer.
DeleteOn boarding passes it says TSA Pre (plus a checkmark).
DeleteAgree with Rex on the less-than-excitingness and instances of ugly fill, but it was a nice challenge for a Saturday.
ReplyDeleteNo Kings rallies will be IN THE NEWS today and likely get some MEDIA HYPE. Here's hoping for a strong showing, peaceful demonstrations, and ultimately that better times are YET TO COME. Need to believe that the country is not TOO FAR GONE, and that ITLL BE FINE once the current gang of inept CRONIES goes POOF.
From your lips to God’s ears.
DeleteSilence (33D) is a theological meditation on God’s perceived absence in the midst of our human suffering… those ears might hear, but it’s up to us “to act as if” (Kierkegaard?) our faith will make a difference
DeleteAnd, I agree with your aptly Yiddish prayer @Whatsername
DeleteI fishes for TROUTS and also hunts deers.
ReplyDeleteMy undergrad alma mater was Johns Hopkins, which most people pronounce "John Hopkins". Back in that day, there was a graffito in the little bathroom next to the 24 hour reading room (Gilmer Hall, was it?) that read "John Hopkins Suck".
DeleteSay. Say. No one is mispronouncing Johns; they’re misunderstanding the name.
DeleteToo many particles today, but as a millennial I did rejoice to see SNORLAX! While Rex is correct that there are now over 1000 Pokemon, Snorlax is one of the original 150 and after thirty years of almost unending franchise cultural relevance I think any of those (plus #151, Mewtwo, of course) are fair game for the puzzle, especially late-week. Snorlax is also one of the highest profile 'mons, not as well known as poster child Pikachu, of course, but much more saturated than say Graveller or Doduo. (It has the "charismatic megafauna" boost.) Plus, the clue mentions its propensity for sleep, so people with only passing Poke-knowledge are more likely to think of the "snore" one! All in all it was a great inclusion and I hope to see more (Kanto region) 'mons in the future. Thank you for coming to my REXtalk.
ReplyDeleteBack home at last, but I decided I like solving online (I say sheepishly, after many scornful comments in the past). So I got the something is amiss message and finally decided that NEESOm must be wrong. Whether it's cheating to scrutinize the grid after being told it's wrong--that's a personal choice. I don't know actors, at least these days. LORETTA YOUNG was fine. My family finally got a TV in 1954, when I was 11, after which my motto was "if it's on the air, I'll watch it." So I saw her weekly one-hour drama; never saw any of her movies, though.
ReplyDeleteTSA PRE was pretty timely; I hope Speaker Johnson relents soon, so that they can be paid. And having ORACLE in the grid with CBS clued as part of Paramount, an acquisition funded by the revenues of Oracle, was unnerving.
As a political scientist, I know very well what a kitchen cabinet is; but I thought the clue was being tricksy, and put in "drawerS."
I know, right? The online solving kind of grows on you. With all of the fol-de-rol above…we are not “cheating” on an exam and I SOMETIMES actually will have typos in my puzzle (online). I’m a big advocate of hey…I’ll tell you what I did. If I say I “finished” a puzzle BUT looked something up to “finish”, or that I pressed “check puzzle” to find a real mistake or typo. But, when you check the puzzle because you didn’t get “happy music” (I mute that…lol…it ALWAYS startled me even when volume low)…I call that one of the perks of 21st century technology. :)
DeleteMissed opportunity at 24D. Could have clued LEONIDS with "Brezhnev, Radvinsky, et al."
ReplyDeleteI always tell the attendant I like my pool noodles al dente.
Went to an EXPOS game up in Montreal 25-30 years ago. Only my second time seeing baseball under a dome. (First was Seattle.) It had a nice intimate feel to it and the French baseball terminology was fun to hear. Not a very big crowd, though, so I wasn't surprised they moved. They are the Gnats now, of course. They opened at Wrigley on Thursday and scored ten runs for the win. The announcers were careful to note it was a "franchise" record for opening day runs scored, meaning it included the Expo years.
Why remind us of the Trump-supporting billionaire Larry Ellison in order to supply a clue to ORACLE?
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of alternatives.
Rex said "I feel bad for the solver who knows nothing about Pokémon and knows nothing about Major League Baseball." Well, you can feel bad for me. BUT! I really enjoyed this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteLoved PDA 22A. WOES = CRONIES, SNORLAX (wtf?), LEONIDS, TSA PRE, MIR, POOL NOODLE but all doable with a little patience (it IS Saturday, after all) & I thank you, Katie, for a great Saturday solve :)
Agree!!! I don’t do either but still knew the EXPOS, and she gave us enough in the clue to get SNORLAX even if you didn’t know it.
DeleteVery enjoyable Saturday puzzle and I think Rex wrote a good post-Shingrix review. Even though I gave TROUTS the side-eye…I accept what a commenter above said with respect to the pluralization in certain circumstances. I guess I fall into the “demographic” for SNORLAX because my son collected Pokemon cards but I think the “sleep” part of the clue made S inferable, and while I’m not (gasp) a baseball fan…somehow I know the names of baseball teams.
ReplyDeleteAll in all a fun Saturday morning!
Opposite of the "honor roll" at school. DROLL
ReplyDeleteProduct that restores your natural skin shade after a day at the beach. TANGO
Does anyone know the last time Rex ranked any late-week puzzle Hard or even Medium-Hard? I suspect in Rex's classroom, all students would receive Cs or Ds, because all the tests were rated easy.
ReplyDeleteHeading says: Difficulty medium. But the write up indicates that Rex found this at least challenging.
ReplyDeleteNo. Why do people refuse to understand the “relative” in “relative difficulty”??? Rex expects Saturdays to be hard. They haven’t been. This one was (to him). So as he says, the puzzle is doing just what a Saturday should—therefore its difficulty is normal, ie MEDIUM
DeletePretty tough for me with the east side a tad easier than the west. The NW was the last to succumb. WAZOO was extremely unexpected, I put in and took out PONIES at least three times, SWIFT meaning Hurried seems like a stretch, no idea on INURN, the AZURE clue was cute but obtuse….tough corner…fortunately knowing LORETTA gave me something to work with.
ReplyDeleteWOEs - MIR, LEDGER LINE, SNORLAX, PION, INURN (as clued - see above).
Costly erasures - PONIES (see above) and Loan before LEND
Parsing failure - TSA PRE
Nice to have some crunch on a Saturday coupled with a bit of sparkle, liked it a bunch!!
No hay de qué preocuparse por eso.
ReplyDeleteVery lovely puzzle for a themeless. Loved the TSAPRE clue and honestly I love SNORLAX even though he wiped me out. I could have sworn it's NEESOM and SMORLAX seemed plausible. Oh well. LORETTA wasn't happening as I'm pretty sure I've never heard of her, so the tough corner for me was northwest.
I wrote in SALON for where locks are set and was so proud of it. Didn't take long before it had to go.
I can sympathize with 🦖 on LEDGER LINES, as it's a long boring answer, but as a student of music it was my entry into the puzzle and the whole left side of the puzzle collapsed afterward. In fact I was sure we'd have another "too easy" day of waterworks. Thankfully other parts put up a good fuss.
My DROLLness got me axed yesterday. I have reread my post multiple times and all I can figure is the high-five scene at the slush pile editors desk was too high-fivey. I should have had them use POOL NOODLES. It was most likely a notable moderator suffering under a shingles vaccine reaction thinking, "I'm not reading his nonsense today."
The French language and the German language are having an ale on the Kurfürstendamm talking about American crosswords:
FRENCH: They use s'il vous plaît, and merci, and joie de vivre, and l'amour et l'amitié, and then they turn to you in desperation and use ACH.
GERMAN: ACH.
{Enter Latin}
LATIN: Hold my beer.
GERMAN: I wish they'd just use English.
{Enter English}
ENGLISH: Snorlax anyone?
❤️ MEDIA HYPE. PONIES. POOF. Out the WAZOO.
People: 5
Places: 0 {LEONIDS feels gunky and they only happen at a certain time and place, right (?) but I didn't count them as anything}
Products: 5
Partials: 7
Foreignisms: 3
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 20 of 70 (29%)
Funny Factor: 6 😅
Uniclues:
1 What lighted Gulliver's way.
2 A dual kayak.
3 French magician's way to make horses disappear.
4 Slash comedian.
5 Those who let you borrow their swami.
6 Dirty (mouthed) dancing.
7 Any Republican flapping his bleeder in front of a camera.
8 Those who are totally high.
9 Sound of a little ball of love when you accidentally kick it in the middle of the night returning from the loo.
1 SWIFT KILOWATT
2 "ARE WE COOL?" CANOE (~)
3 LES PONIES POOF (~)
4 DROLL GRATER (~)
5 ORACLE LENDERS (~)
6 SWEAR ON IT TANGO
7 WAZOO IN THE NEWS
8 LEDGER LINE SETS
9 TOY POODLE CLUNK
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Cheesy pasta for stretchingly inclined. YOGAMATS MAC.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Nice to know CRONIES dates from the early 1800s; no wonder I didn't see the relevance. Lots of "if you know, you know" fill today (LEDGERLINE and LORETTA being the two most obvious examples), where I needed every cross to figure them out.
ReplyDeleteI love the way crosswords play into our wheelhouses while exposing our boundaries, so that even Rex--and I--are clueless about the 151-1,000 Pokemon characters, but have no trouble with a Major League Baseball mascot who hasn't been around since the Fall of 1988! I will say, Aluriaphin, that knowing 151 Pokemon character names is asking solvers to delve a bit deeply into any single area of knowledge. It's not that there aren't people who could name hundreds of proper names from the Star Wars universe or dozens of characters from Game of Thrones (good old GoT). It's just that most of us can't retain that much information about every aspect of popular culture (or geography or foreign languages or ...). That being said, I loved learning SNOLAX today (cute guy), and I'm grateful for the CROSS in CROSSWORDS!
ReplyDeleteOk but the EXPOS as a team are roughly a million times better known, generally, than SNORLAX — and there are only 30-some odd baseball teams to keep track of!
DeleteIf my 6 1/2 year old, Pokémon obsessed, grandson didn’t know Snorlax, then it is indeed obscure. however this was perfect level of Saturday tough… Struggled but nailed it
ReplyDeleteI've spent many hours reading the Pokemon Dictionary with my 5 year old grandson and, while I didn't actually *know* SNORLAX, the naming patterns have impressed themselves firmly enough into my brain that I could infer it. Thanks, Eugene, for all that that wonderful shared time.
Delete… and I’ve been a professional musician for nearly 50 years so ledger line was doable but somewhat oddly clued as “short addition”. The “above or below the staff” was what opened the door.
ReplyDeleteThat was fun! As usual, I started out looking at the first few Acrosses - and got nothing. So, I just kept going, Across-wise, and ended up with a scattered LES, ANO, HERS, SHOES, ADESTE, and - at last! a real foothold at TANGO over SYKES. From there I was able to send out tendrils to the west and north and gradually build my way up to SWIFT x WAZOO. A lovely, challenging Saturday!
ReplyDeleteMoment of shame: writing in "robErTA" Young - How could I have forgotten LORETTA twirling her way through the door at the beginning of her TV show?
Moment of consternation: I thought a columbarium was a dove cote and tried to come up with a verb for "add a new bird" - I couldn't have been more confounded when it turned out to be INURN (I did confirm in the meantime the "dove cote" etymology).
Happy moments: remembering LEDGER LINE, getting LEONIDS from the L, writing in POODLE to cross NOODLE.
Probably the most noteworthy movie Loretta Young appeared in was “The Bishop’s Wife."
ReplyDeleteJudge: Guilty as charged. 30 days in the CLUNK or $300, whichever has GRATER appeal.
ReplyDeleteDefendant: ACH, I think you mean CLiNK. But I can't stand the thought of jail, so ITLLBEFINE, although it seems like TOPDOLLAR. AREWECOOL?
Judge: As soon AZURE done paying the fine, POOF! You're outta here.
Trump's faux reign is FO-REIGN to true patriots. See you out there today at No Kings Day.
I loved this puzzle, Katie Hoody, and I'm sure the best is YETTOCOME.
Was worried with a slow start and feeling a bit defeated still by yesterday's slog.
ReplyDeleteEnded up finishing in below average time for a Saturday. However I still feel this one was a much higher difficulty than recent months.
It, like yesterday wasn't enjoyable for me.
I can't quite out a reason to it, although I object to the mix of "puns" in clues and answers when mixed. You have to pick one or the other when cluing.
For instance this one was filled with puns" "They're typically around two feet.". Which is fine. But when you include that with" "Let use for a stretch.". It gets murky. When you are clued into puns, then you have to analyze why the word "stretch" was used here, when it could have easily been replaced with another word or omitted entirely when the answer was so literal.
Yes challenging, but I finished clean in just over 35 minutes. (Much longer would have been a slog.) Lots of Unknowns: KAMA, SNORLAX, EPCOT (as clued), MIR, and "columbarium".
ReplyDeleteIt was nice to see EXPOS after all these years. I was 10 years old when they started up, and I was a huuuuge fan. It broke my heart the year it looked like they might make it to the World Series, only to have the season cancelled by a baseball strike. And then they were gone!
Several typeovers: MEGAWATT before KILOWATT... hoo boy, that would be one powerful microwave oven. SWIM NOODLE before POOL. ITLL BE OKAY before FINE. SOCKS before SHOES, it was a tossup. And finally GOD particle before TAU!
This was truly a top notch Saturday for me. Proper late week difficulty and a ton of fun to solve. I love all the long ones and unlike @Rex, I kinda appreciate the tougher cluing for some of the fill that he considers ugly, that kind of stuff gives me some nice "aha" moments that you don't ordinarily get from that kind of fill. Just my humble... I also didn't think anything was on the ugly side today.
ReplyDeleteThe NW was what killed me today, I just couldn't get anything to fall. Like others, I had *salon* at 1D and that put a grinding halt for me in that neighborhood. For reasons unbeknownst to me, It took almost the whole solve for FOREIGN to fall, when that finally filled in, it was not quite a whoosh, but things started to come together. As @Rex pointed out, the cluing on CANOE was tricky and Saturday-level...and I loved it (when I finally got to it!)
I'm not ashamed to admit that I know nothing about Pokemon but the crosses for that were pretty fair - though a bit slow to come as I had Liam's name ending in M for a bit like some others.
At 32A I rushed to throw down *broomstick* as that made sense to me (as much as POOLNOODLE does) but all the crosses in the west made that goof short-lived.
I also totally Naticked on the LEONIDS/ADESTE crossing, I had to run the alphabet for the D - but I'm happy I learned those couple of nuggets along with what a "kitchen cabinet" is. Man, I love coming to this blog!
And, yet another puzzle which I looked at and, almost out loud, thought - "man, that's a neat looking grid." Thank you @Lewis for pointing out the symmetrical nuances with this one.
Thank you Katie, I hope The Times gave you TOPDOLLAR for this one, worth every penny!
Medium difficulty today. The NW opened easily due to my having two CANOEs in the backyard shed. Not only are they often stored upside down, they make for a great waterproof storage area underneath when camping.
ReplyDeleteI did have a DNF due to mis-remembering Liam NEESOm, so my Pokemon character, the SmORLAX, is probably likely to wake up because its marshmallow is on fire, not to eat.
Katie Hoody, thanks for a fun Saturday challenge!
They also make a great people shelter when caught in a rainstorm. (requires access to the shore-won't work in the middle of a lake)
DeleteTSAPRE?! SNORLAX?! ORACLE (as clued)?! Someone named SYKES?! You gotta be kidding!!
ReplyDeleteFlummox'd by PDA, too. I thought that was an autism diagnosis!
ReplyDeleteThis was a really good puzzle. Just as hard as a Saturday should be - for me, at least. Loved it. Thanks, Katie.
ReplyDeleteLoved the variety in the fill. Loved a lot of the long answers. POOL NOODLE, TOY POODLE, IN THE NEWS, and more. Yes, more. More like this, please.
That’s not to say I don’t have nits to pick. I am, after all, old and cranky … so, TROUTS; awkward but I managed to rationalize it because I love them. They are beautiful creatures and I have travelled all over the world to seek them out. So I’ll forgive you that one.
And, um … can’t really find much more. Maybe LES, but I’m going to leverage that to see if I can get a point from @Roo and @Pablo in the name game.
Not a nit. My oldest son has been an ER doc in Brisbane for the last five years or so and recently signed on to the Australian Royal Flying Doctor Service. They fly out to deal with (sometimes quite grisly) medical emergencies in the Northern Territory and Queensland, often touching down on gravel strips on remote sheep stations. It’s ER doctoring without the ERS. I’m quite proud of him for choosing to do this. ERS are for sissies.*
*Yes. I was trying to be humorous. I realize that all ER docs are heroes. Whether they are dealing with your daughter's sprained knee from a weekend soccer game or your spouse's heart attack, these people are terrific. And if I've offended any ER docs, please accept my apologies. I just think the RFDS thing is kind of above and beyond.
Les S. More: Unless I'm mistaken, MAX was the name of the Grinch's dog in the animated TV version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." I'm guessing some folks have named their dogs after that long-suffering beast.
ReplyDeleteHad a rehearsal for Dubois “Seven Last Words” so quite late today. Interesting piece but only one LEDGER LINE in the first horn part. Nice thing about early brass music - they transposed the part so it was always printed in C. Before the invention of valves they used crooks (varying lengths of tubing added to the body of the horn) to change to different keys. They longer the tube the lower the pitch. Nowadays we have to transpose those parts - not so nice. (Please hold questions until the end of the lecture.)
ReplyDeleteSparkly Friday-vibe. Loved the political commentary: TOP DOLLAR orange kitchen cabinet CRONIES IN THE NEWS. ORACLE, what’s YET TO COME? TOO FAR GONE? ARE WE COOL? IT'LL BE FINE in the MORN if I have enough OOLONG TEA. SWEAR ON IT?
I love Liam NEESON so I decided to turn him into a one-named star - NEESam. NEESam and "Living imaGE” obfuscated the ORACLE whilst I mined the smurf - oops, pokemon - clue for a toehold. SNORe me? Didn’t help that I’m also a bit behind on my MLB news - sorry to hear about the EXPOS.
Great puzzle, @Katie Hoody!
Late to comment, went to the Chicago rally. Thus was a little above average for Saturday but following yesterday it seemed easy. The colloquial phrases were very in the language and accessible. INURN and OOLONG are SB classics.
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle - best in a while for me. Being a classical music guy, "ledger lines" was a gimme ("so easy for a Saturday!" I thought) , and Loretta Young was sweetly nostalgic for me; my Mom used to watch the Loretta Young show whenever it was on and I think "The Bishop's Wife" is my all time favorite Christmas movie. And i somehow survived Snorlax (Pokeman creatures have names??) A good morning.
ReplyDeleteMIR is also the Russian word for world or peace.
ReplyDeleteMommy, my brain hurts.
ReplyDelete