.png)
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (***for a Tuesday***)
Theme answers:
- LEONARDO DA VINCI (17A: "The Last Supper" painter)
- CLAUDE MONET (27A: "The Luncheon" painter)
- PAUL CÉZANNE (48A: "The Buffet" painter)
Oneil Cruz (born October 4, 1998) is a Dominican professional baseball center fielder and shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2021 and led the National League (NL) in stolen bases in 2025.
• • •
 |
| [The Last Supper] |
 |
| [The Luncheon] |
 |
| [The Buffet] |
And it wasn't just the themers that slowed me down (slightly). I got held up by ordinary clues, repeatedly, starting in the NW, where FILL as [Permeate] just did not click for me at all. Permeate implies something more ... liquid? ... so I had SEEP there. And the FISH clue was definitely late-week stuff (1A: It may be found at the end of the line) (why is a FISH calling me???)*. So I was slow out of the gate, and then very slow in the dead center, where two things I've never heard of (MUD RUN? ONEIL Cruz?) stood side-by-side. ONEIL (no apostrophe) was particularly "O"nerous because that answer was the only way I was going to be able to differentiate MANET from MONET ("The Luncheon"? Honestly sounds more MANET than MONET to me...) (in fact ... hey, didn't MANET paint Déjuener sur l'herbe ("Luncheon on the Grass")??? He did! No wonder "Luncheon" gave me MANET vibes.
 |
| [Déjeuner sur l'herbe, Edouard Manet, 1863] |
If you wanted a baseball ONEIL, I mean, Buck O'NEIL is right there.** Negro Leagues superstar. First African-American coach in M.L.B. history. Hall of Famer. Whereas all ONEIL Cruz has done so far is lead the league in stolen bases once (which I know only because I looked it up). So, yeah, the middle was a mess for me. Beyond MUD RUN (29D: Race that no one can win cleanly) and ONEIL, there was also the somewhat vaguely clued MYRIAD, which crossed YAY, which I thought might be RAH (44D: "Hurray!"). I also totally forgot CÉZANNE's first name. That's a me problem, for sure, but it compounded the slowness in an already slow section.
The fill was MEH. The long Downs are OK. DARK WEB is kinda nice as an answer (I have no idea what it's like as a place—seems bad) (5D: Hidden area of the internet). Maybe a few too many olden repeaters today (MRE, ATTA (as clued), AGAR, ESPY, DES, URAL). Don't have much more to say about this one. Well, a little more...
Bullets:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Bullets:
- 51A: "There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one's ___": Poor Richard's Almanack ("SELF") — ugh, fill-in-the-blank quote clues. I cannot understand giving this much cluing real estate over to a quote this banal.
- 28D: "Love," euphemistically ("L" WORD) — pfft, this did not compute. I had -W-RD and was like "... is love a SWORD? Is it an AWARD?" To me, The "L" WORD is "lesbian."
- 56D: Grammy alternative (NANA) — yet another example of late-week cluing. Not the musical Grammy, but the "nickname for grandma" grammy. I wanted to say "no one calls their grandma that" but it is in fact exactly what my daughter has always called my stepmother, so ... touché, puzzle!
OK, off to sleep now. For 3-ish hours. Assuming I fall asleep quickly (ha).
See you next time.
*please, no letters, I'm joking
**there's also Paul O'NEILL, but as you can see, he spells his last name with two "L"s
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
=============================
❤️ Support this blog ❤️:
Venmo (@MichaelDavidSharp)] =============================
✏️ Upcoming Crossword Tournaments ✏️
📘 My other blog 📘:
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
=============================
❤️ Support this blog ❤️:
✏️ Upcoming Crossword Tournaments ✏️
- American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (Stamford, CT, Apr. 10-12, 2026) (registration closed!)
📘 My other blog 📘:
- Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)
ReplyDeleteMedium. Normal Tuesday difficulty. Not a bad puzzle.
* * * _ _
One overwrite, MUDder before MUDRUN for the unclean race at 29D. A mudder is a racehorse that runs well on muddy tracks, not the muddy race itself.
WOEs:
Shortstop ONEIL Cruz at 30D
I resisted MOCHI at 37A because I think of it as ice cream, which is how it's marketed in the US. I didn't know it's a rice cake.
No me encanta; no lo odio.
ReplyDeleteMostly proud of spelling each artist's name correctly the first time.
I wonder how many episodes on how many sit-coms have been based around someone using the L-WORD at the wrong moment. I wonder if I ever did it. Knowing me, I'm probably always behind recognizing feelings of love. I mean I love 🦖, but I've never brought it up.
Did you know dudgeon means a fit or state of indignation? Did you know I've never used it to tease anybody on this comment section for having a meltdown over some meaningless nonsense in the grid? Did you know I'm now planning for the day to drop in that four-dollar word. Commenter: "Alas, and woe is me, this Friday puzzle was blasphemously easy and a clear indication the unwashed masses are creeping zombie-like into my hallowed super-smart-guy domain." Me: "I love you in your dudgeon."
❤️ MYRIAD.
People: 1 {Plus three in the theme}
Places: 3
Products: 5
Partials: 5
Foreignisms: 1
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 15 of 78 (19%) {Whoa! Note: Mayor Gunkophilia of Gunkopolis issued this dudgeonistic screed today. "Celebrations for the Gunk Festival have been canceled due to a lack of interest from yesterday's and today's constructors."}
Funny Factor: 0 😫
Tee-Hee: STUD.
Uniclues:
1 Where to buy pescatarian pistols.
2 Why my liberal goddaughter looks like a walking clip art book.
3 Took angry octogenarian octopus from the party after spitting on everyone.
4 Nickname for the unconsecrated wine on Friday afternoons.
1 FISH DUELS SHOP
2 STRAY EDGY TATS
3 LED "INKSAC" NANA
4 VESTRY ZEST
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Folded fare for Frank (Sinatra). CROONER GYRO.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I think I've always heard "dudgeon" preceded by "high", He's in a state of high dudgeon. Almost never me, however.
DeleteIt’s so sweet that you love Rex.
DeleteI think Rex might have over-thought the theme here...for me, it was simply, "If you're starving, here's a meal for you." (These painters certainly didn't starve)
ReplyDeleteI liked the puzzle. ONEIL made more sense than "Aneil," so the MANET/MONET confusion wasn't a problem.
One minor nit...a DRAW is a boxing outcome without a winner. The word isn't typically used to describe equal numeric scores, especially not in mid-game.
There’s nothing about “you” in the clues. It’s the artists who are starving.
Delete"If you're starving, here's a meal for you"? You've under-thought it if you think that makes any sort of sense.
DeleteIn soccer, an outcome with equal numeric scores is called a DRAW. A team's record is reported as Wins-DRAWs-Losses
DeleteThis was a great puzzle, could’ve easily run on a Monday… Enjoyed some of the word pairings in this one…. FISHing during some IDLE time; DUELS over ANGER, a few answers above “DRAW”(!), and just around the corner from PAIR; EDGY on the edge (!); MOCHI and YUCCA across from each other; the MUDRUN parallel to the INKSAC… I thought this puzzle was TAUT! Very little gunk. I loved the theme… I’m writing this before reading @REX… hoping he posts the paintings… : ) We used to eat at a little restaurant in SW Virginia called The Starving Artist that had paintings for sale on the walls all around the place… and great food. So it brings back fond memories. 4.5 stars from me! Thanks, Killian! : )
ReplyDeleteI was on the right wavelength for 1A (my first thought was HOOK, but HEN was easy). I don't mind a few "tricky" clues like that in an early-week puzzle. It helps beginners question the (surprisingly common) assumption that crossword clues have to be straightforward, otherwise they're not "playing fair".
ReplyDeleteThe clue on MUD RUN is prime late-week material as well, with that sneaky pun and no "?".
I didn't take the bait (HAR) for 1A but I also went with hook.
DeleteRead the “Luncheon” clue, saw “Luncheon on the Grass” in my mind’s eye, dropped in MaNET, then saw that Edouard wouldn’t fit in front of it. Thought I probably had his hard-to-spell first name wrong and kept going, solving mostly Downs. Sensed something wrong about aNIEL but still kept going. Got to the end then had to go back and change that A to an O.
ReplyDeleteNot a perfect theme but a pretty darn good one, and a pleasingly crunchy Tuesday. Thanks, KO!
And welcome home, Mrs. Parker.
Yes - welcome Mrs. Rex :)
DeleteLiked this one - offbeat theme and overall well filled with just enough bite. The spanning revealer was the highlight.
ReplyDeleteJonathon Richman
SLOWDANCED, IM CONFUSED, DARK WEB - there’s a lot of wonderful mids and longs here. As Rex added - the grid trends more late than early week. Grammy alternative was cute. The MOCHI x L WORD cross is unfortunate. DES dead center is a letdown.
SLOW DANCING swaying to the music
Enjoyable Tuesday morning solve.
Some people say that it was Picasso
Other people claim it was DeChirico
Some people think it was Modigliani
But they're all crazy, it was PAUL CEZANNE
Fortunately the artists were (are) very famous, as I was not familiar with the same two paintings that Rex mentioned. I stubbed my toe in the same places that others have mentioned (MUD RUN, the baseball dude) as well as VESTRY, which I encountered today for the first time.
ReplyDeleteStill, an interesting and enjoyable way to get the day started, and I’m definitely supportive of a puzzle that contributes to the demise of the Gunk Festival due to a lack of interest.
Here's my big issue: eduard MaNET has a painting called "Luncheon in the Studio", which is very commonly just called "The Luncheon". And jean Chardin has a painting called "The Buffet". And both of those answers fit. Weird.
ReplyDeleteKnown only from crosswords: MOCHI, ATTA. Not known at all: MUD RUN.
Hey…I thought of Salvador Dali for a nanosecond…;)
DeleteI believe Manet is Edouard
DeleteAnon 9:18. You are correct.
Delete@kitshef. Here's the real big issue: less than 10 percent of Crossworld residents have ever seen "Luncheon in the Studio" and probably 90 percent have never heard of Jean Simeon Chardin. It's Tuesday. Let's go with Manet and Cezanne. Oh, and that Italian guy. What's his name?
DeleteBuehler? Anybody, anybody on my Dali reference? Okay then.
DeleteOh, that’s an elegant theme.
ReplyDeleteSure, it seems like an obvious conceit in retrospect, but consider that it's never been done before -- luscious low-hanging fruit just waiting over the decades to be noticed. Heck, neither the gorgeous STARVING ARTISTS nor its singular has appeared in a puzzle in any of the major outlets ever.
Enter Killian, and high props to him for seeing it and giving its puzzle the quality it deserves:
• Finding not only well-known artists with mealtime-titled works, but whose names are of lengths that fit grid symmetry.
• Including a pair of lovely vertical longs, I’M CONFUSED and SLOW DANCED (both NYT debuts), as well as a pair of lovely shorts in MYRIAD and VESTRY.
• Nailing the Tuesday cluing difficulty level, where the brain has to jump in rather than nap through. Yet well short of late-week opacity.
Plus, an answer that made my mouth water (MOCHI) and made it smile at seeing EDGY on the bottom border.
Primo, Killian. Thank you for a splendid outing!
Agreed 100%! This was great. Great job Killian.
DeleteSo, is DRAW an Easter egg theme echo?
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a very nice TuesPuz. Three ARTISTS who painted foodstuff related thingies. Revealer did say "punnily call", so all's well in puzzledom.
Got an F right out of the gate, which is nice. Nothing too tough, although I was slowed in the center a bit. Had MOCHa for MOCHI, making IMPROV tough to see, thereby making MYRIAD tough to see, plus VESTRY a word not on the tip of the ole brain. And the unknown ONEIL. All the crossers played nicely, however, letting me get a smooth solve.
Hope y'all have a great Tuesday!
Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
A PAUL sighting, but I'm reluctant to award myself points as you're being strict about an actual ROO (no RU, no RUE) .
DeleteWe can go 1/2 point. 😁
DeleteRoo
So … Picasso called him "the father of us all". I'm guessing he might have also called him Pablo. Give yourself the point.
Delete
DeleteThanks guys. I am whelmed.
T
Thought of you @Roo with the F in the number 1 spot!
DeleteMust have been one in my ambit, zipped through In fact up to MOCHI I just typed (thumbed) answers in . Came back to IMPROV and MYRIAD after a few more lines and filled in again right till the finish. Agree with 3 star- decent theme, decent fill . Monday for me
ReplyDeleteO’Neil Cruz is not so obscure. He just played in the World Baseball Championship for the DR.
ReplyDeleteBaseball fans really should be familiar with Oneil Cruz. In addition to his height and base stealing ability, he is one of the hardest hitters. From MLB.com—“Oneil Cruz holds the record for the hardest-hit ball in the Statcast era (since 2015), with a 122.9 mph home run on May 25, 2025, against the Milwaukee Brewers. This surpassed his own previous record of 122.4 mph set in 2022, solidifying him as the leader in maximum exit velocity.”
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 7:57 AM
DeleteI know very few of the names in contemporary baseball. But ONEIL Cruz has an unusual first name so when I got the O I remembered But that has nothing to with baseball, just my interest in names from 2 nationalities. Any way, I think Rex’s reaction is much more typical than yours.
Put me with the "why are they starving with all that food in front of them?" crowd. No way I could come up with the revealer.
ReplyDeleteNothing more to say--we have to get an early start today so I can teach my online class from Savannah at 5 PM. See you all tomorrow!
Maybe they can't touch the food because they need it to finish the paintings? (Yeah, the revealer didn't entirely work for me either, but I thought it was a fun puzzle.)
Deletejberg
DeleteI knew when I saw the revealer clue that there would be a lot complaints. Punningly as someone said hints that there was a trick involved. so it didn’t bother me and I found the revealer easy to get, but I do admit I didn’t quite grasp it either
I’m one of the few people who solved the puzzle and had no joy doing so.It seem hard and off kiltered to me for a Tuesday. I did like the misdirects of 56 and 59 down. No🎈for me today.
ReplyDeleteI’m with you. Most clues just felt slightly off to me. I think it’s interesting how different brains work. I solved it, but had my arms crossed most of the time.
DeleteAlso, Oneil Cruz was named after former player Paul O'Neill.
ReplyDeleteToo bad women can’t paint as well 🤷♀️
ReplyDeleteIt’s tough. Maybe women artists exist but no one will have heard of them! (Or at least that’s the complaint that would be lodged in these here comments)
DeleteI would have rated this Easy-Medium. LEONARDO DA VINCI couldn't be any whooshier if it tried, and the downs crossing that practically FILLed themselves in. You only need a few of the letters of CLAUDE, et voilà, MONET writes itself in. PAUL last name with seven letters, how many Tuesday choices are there? Just CEZANNE. You don't have to mentally summon the paintings themselves to solve the theme entries; it's more just connect-the-dots. And you don't need to be a super-smart guy to do that.
ReplyDeleteI'm imagining to myself that the ARTISTS are "STARVING" in the quotidian sense that a teenager uses when he bounds into the kitchen and asks "What's for dinner? I'm starving!". Paraphrasing Seinfeld, "These paintings are making me hungry!"
The FILL was not at all bad in my opinion. Decent Tuesday offering. Thanks for some minutes of fun, Killian Olsen.
I thoroughly enjoyed this, and STARVING ARTISTS definitely provoked a chuckle. I, too, was about to fall into the MaNET-for-MONET trap, but fortunately Edouard is one letter longer than CLAUDE. There are several MONET paintings with the title or partial title The Luncheon. There’s this indoor version. And also MONET’s own Luncheon on the Grass, inspired by but intended to outdo Manet.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t find the puzzle particularly hard, although there were many things I didn’t know right off. But crosses handily took care of everything, including MUD RUN, ONEIL, MRE, MYRIAD and YUCCA. I knew MOCHI for some reason, even though I’m not up on Japanese cuisine. I had a little trouble in the pantry. My pantry problem was mice before it was rats (when I got the TS at the end) before it was ANTS. I breathed a sigh of relief at ANTS. They seem more manageable than rodents of any size. Oh, and my singalong instrument was banjO for a while – I was thinking portable rather than rooted.
Loved SLOWDANCED as the symmetrical counterpart of IM CONFUSED. I think I experienced the two simultaneously many times in high school when I found surprising enjoyment in the arms of someone other than my date. Oh dear. I had the feeling I kept running into wildlife in this grid: FISH, ROOK, ANTS, STUD (horse), HEN, BIRDS, squid’s INKSAC, SPINY hedgehog and STAG.
Thanks for the Tuesday amusement, Killian Olson.
Man, I thought my puns were bad (and they are), but calling LEONARDO a STARVINGARTIST because he painted The Last Supper? That's some kind of pun.
ReplyDeleteI could say something hilarious about 62D but that would be a joke for a NIT wit.
Funny to see DES Moines and the lesser-known DES TROY (a suburb of Troy) in the same puzzle. And with two CONs appearing side-by-side some one should write Shortz a memo RE:CONs.
I remember that after seeing the movie "V" Mrs. Egs was very anti-V but I said "IMPROV".
Why was CLAUDEMONET considered devilish? Because there's a DEMON lurking inside.
Really fun puzzle. Don't think I didn't notice your initials in TKOS, Killian Olson.
Breezy here with lots of stuff I knew--the artists, if not all the paintings. Wondered what the revealer was going to be and would not have connected STARVING with that abundance of food, so a surprise there.
ReplyDeleteFinally remembered MOCHI, my grandparents on my father's side were NANA and Pop, a local church has an area always referred to as the VESTRY, and only had to change AWORD TO LWORD (love is just AWORD). I knew Mr. Cruz for reasons others have pointed out . He's fun to watch, but now I have to remember that it's ONEIL and not ONEAL, as in Shaq, which I always guess wrong on.
My mom used to say "That's for the BIRDS." Can't remember the last time I heard anyone else say that. Also, nice of the constructor to include an INKSAC for the TATS.
Very nice Tuesday, KO. I Kept On Keeping On with not much resistance, so done too soon, as I was having a bunch of fun, for which thanks.
My mom used to say, "pro avibus" but she was a classics major.
DeleteIf you can see the amount of spaces for the full name, Manet vs. Monet shouldn't be a problem. (Claude vs. Edouard).
ReplyDeleteAlso, Oneil Cruz isn't just some stolen base guy. He's one of the most exciting players in MLB, and has been for multiple years. He hits AND throws the ball harder than pretty much any other fielder.
He is an absolutely average starter. Check the stats.
DeleteSame as Rex, I blanked on CEZANNE's first name , 59 Down I thought could have been TONY 44 Down I thought could have been RAH, 37A I thought may have been MOCHA,. I liked the puzzle, had a bit of bite in it for a Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteLearning that ONEIL Cruz is the tallest SS in MLB history (thanks Killian!) made me wonder who was the shortest. Freddie Patek and the Scooter (Rizzuto) came to mind but they would tower over these guys, who were both 5'3": Stubby Magner played 13 games for the NY Highlanders in 1911, and Pompayo "Yo-Yo" Davalillo played 19 games for the Washington Senators in 1953. Yo-Yo's younger brother was Vic Davalillo who had a substantial MLB career. Vic was once traded for "a player to be named later," who, it turned out, was Vic himself. He was shipped back (yo-yo-ed?).
ReplyDeleteNot much off a buffet if you ask me. Just a few pieces of bread and fruit. Also what's with the naked woman and the fully dressed guys? Is it hot or cold out? Decide!
ReplyDeleteSolid Tuesday puzzle, clever theme, and very little “gunk.” Not much to say except I was amused with myself for a hot second when (having the O in place) I thought “banjo”? as the instrument for singalongs. D’oh!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a top tier Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteMedium-tough for me too.
ReplyDeleteCostly erasures - seep before FILL (which took a while to get - hi @Rex) and Isp before IPS.
WOE - ONEIL
Costly clue misreading - 16a Escape…don’t ask.
Hi-brow theme, cute reveal, not much junk, a couple of nice long downs, liked it.
Very easy & very enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Killian :)
Thought this a fun theme and revealer. After getting LEONARDO, the titles of the other paintings didn’t really matter, it was just a matter of getting enough crosses to reveal another famous painter. A coincidence: my son had just sent me a video of the world’s tallest basketball player ever, a 7’9” center for one of the Florida teams. There are some big guys out there in all sports!
ReplyDeleteAs per usual, I really enjoyed it, thought the theme was good for a Tuesday and I said to my husband "that means Rex is going to hate it" and indeed it was so.
ReplyDeletePaintings good enough to eat. Nice, artsy puztheme.
ReplyDeleteBiggest challenge: CLAUDEM[A/O]NET indecision, crossin no-know ONEIL. But guessed right, so many lost nanoseconds and DNF-outcome were eluded.
staff weeject pick: DES. Clue is rated 4 moo-cows.
some faves: IMCONFUSED. MYRIAD. MUDRUN & its clue. FISH clue.
Thanx for the art tour, Mr. Olson dude. Brutal COMMA clue, btw. har
Masked & Annym007Us
p.s.
feisty-ish runtpuz:
**gruntz**
guaranteed easiest runtpuz of all time:
**gruntz**
M&A
There's a lot of nudity in art. [THIRSTY] ARTISTS?
ReplyDeleteManet vs Monet: MANet drew people/urban life. MONet drew landscapes... like uh, a freshly mown lawn. Or a moon, I guess. (The mnemonic helps sometimes in xwords.)
Nice puzzle, thanks Killian Olson.
Very helpful to have married an art history major, who is my co-solver. Even I had da Vinci as a gimme, but she got the others.
ReplyDeleteWhen we finished I asked, "is it Tuesday or Wednesday?" as the puzzle seemed a bit on the latter side. Anyway, it was entertaining, even if the theme ("starving" >> meals in painting titles) was a stretch. Enjoyed it more than Rex, which I think puts me in the majority here.
I think it's very odd--and pretty lazy--for"Hurray!" to be the clue for YAY. But the theme of this puzzle did make me smile.
ReplyDeleteThis was a pretty fine Tuesday, although I agree the revealer is not quite dead on. But it's fine.
ReplyDeleteI initially tried for a down clues only solve, but gave up when I had too many blanks. And it cost me a bit in the end, because I've never heard of ONEIL or a MUD RUN, so I guessed at OREIL and MAD RUN from the down clues. I got all the way to the end without remembering to check out the 35 across clue which does not fit BARKER. Took a couple of minutes to track down that problem!
Weather alert: a bit of rain this morning! We'll see how much it amounts to; we sure need it.
EGS, LOl "des moines/des troy" "improv"
ReplyDeleteSurprised by Your "demon inside" sounding like a riddle from a kid's book. Cute.
I was stuck a bit on vestry as at first I put vespry - confusing vespers and vestry, boohoo which I know from movies and books rather than life. Actually, never knew a vestry was a storage area.
Lots of nice word in the puzzle "Myriad","bunker" "spiny" "zest".
Had a slightly scary brain fog at 17A when I was trying to remember how to spell "Michael DeAngelo". A few crosses clued me in to Davinci. I didn't understand "espy" for 59D until a commenter here referred to it as a misdirect. "Oh, those kind of 'plays'"
"Several famous artists experienced severe poverty or died penniless while their work went unappreciated during their lifetimes. Key examples include Vincent van Gogh, who lived on charity and sold only one painting, Johannes Vermeer, who died in debt, and Claude Monet, who struggled in poverty early in his career. "
ReplyDelete@McD. Your comment is enclosed in quotes. Could you provide a source?
DeleteI'M CONFUSED. The reveal didn't work for me. With all that food right there in front of them, how could the ARTISTS be STARVING?
ReplyDeleteThe question I had the first time I saw LEONARDO's "The Last Supper" was why are all the people sitting on just one side of the table. WEIRD VIBE that, no?
PSST (52D) has appeared in the NYTXW 241 times in what xwordinfo.com calls the Modern Era (since 1993). The most frequent clue has been some variation of today's "Hey, you!", all punctuated with an exclamation point. Don't recall ever using PSST but if I were to, it would be more of a whisper than an exclamation. I like Manny Nosowsky's 2006 clue "Sound before 'Your fly's open'" and, especially, one from back in the day (1995) when clues were trickier, Norma Steinberg's "Fences's opening, perhaps".
Nah. How else would an artist best represent all tge apostles?
DeleteThe back of James the Greater?
Andrew in semi profile?
Ever seen tge movie Witness?
Lots of folks eating side by side at long table.
Get a fresher and better take.
Just really enjoyed this straightforward Tuesday puzzle with its artists and art. Thank you! NW was hardest part but all the crosses revealed all. I don’t know much about baseball but again the crosses helped.
ReplyDeleteWelcome home from New Zealand, Mrs Rex!
Very, very nice Tuesday with just a bit more crunch than usual which is always welcome. Like @Rex, I can only picture (or to be honest, have ever heard of) the LEONARDODAVINCI work, but all crosses were fair and I was able to get the other artists to fall fairly quickly. Also like @Rex, I desperately needed ONEIL for the O in MONET and Cruz was not front of brain for me today. Learning the other paintings was cool and I can see the knowledge coming in handy in some of my more sophisticated gatherings (but, if I continue to be honest here, are all but non-existent)
ReplyDeleteI thought the theme was close to brilliant and a revealer and a themer that were spanners were icing on the cake.
I had just a couple of small hiccups: I threw down *start* instead of the correct ENTER for 22A (Sign at the *start* of a maze) *even though "start" was in the darn clue!* That was a minute of head scratching for the NW. For 50D (For the ____) I had the "B" and "I" and had golf on my mind and put down Birdy
(I KNOW, that's not how you spell it!). As in a sportscaster saying: "and now Scottie Scheffler for the birdy". I must have been very distracted today... TATS fell quickly after, so that boondoggle didn't last long.
Some nice long downs and nice cluing right out of the gate for FISH, so this one had me at hello.
Thank you Killian - I enjoyed this.
Didn’t have the problems Rex had so I, at my slow pace, found the puzzle easy. Rex had other things on his mind and rightly so. (Thought just occurred he & his wife are both good writers, in their own way).
ReplyDeleteI got the F and FISH was the obvious answer. Ditto F for FILL, n for NANA and others that bothered Rex but not me, including the artists Lucky day.
VESTRY. is maybe more known to Catholics and members of more formal Protestant denominations. Vestry started as a place for priests’ vestments. But later also used as a meeting room .
The revealer was a bit of a puzzle. Maybe tht has the best explanation
I had a similar reaction as Roo to the puzzle
A
After adding a MINT garnish to my drink, I needed the ANNE in place before replacing it with ZEST. AD LIBS in place of IMPROV looked okay with MOCHa but created havoc with MYRIAD. I took OWNS out when it came up next to the L in L-WORD. Yes, this puzzle was much harder than the usual Tuesday puzzle. But time isn't everything in a crossword (in fact, not much at all unless you're at a tourney) so I quite enjoyed placing the artists' names, not all known as clued, and I loved the reveal though it is slightly ambiguous as to how the STARVING and the paintings go together. Perhaps painting is equivalent to grocery shopping when hungry - it's not recommended unless you want a lot of unplanned purchases or a painting of food.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Killian Olson, for a challenging Tuesday puzzle.
Had MUDder for MUDRUN becuase of the Tough Mudder mud runs - something a friend kept trying to get me to enter. Did a bit a googling and found reports of participants getting sick - including fever, vomiting, and skin rashes/boils. No thank you! And yes, generally tougher than a typical Tuesday, but didn't hate it.
ReplyDeleteWeird day yesterday (more on that below), leading to a weird solving experience last night, which is unfortunate because I should have loved this puzzle. I know these artists. I know these paintings. But I was not in a good state for puzzling. My apologies to the constructor.
ReplyDeleteSo, yesterday about noon my wife calls me to tell me that T&J, California cousins, would be arriving at 4 pm. Sh*t, are you kidding? These, by the way, are her cousins, not mine. Couldn’t they give us some warning? A few days, maybe? And now, instead of just preparing a nice risotto and chicken for the two of us I have to think about dinner for 6, because my son and DIL love visiting with T&J.
So, suddenly, I’m out shopping and there’s some mushrooms and the risotto becomes a side dish and there’s some really good looking steelhead that I can grill and, whoa!, they have octopus and we can grill this and put it in a salad and holy sh*t, I’m tired out already.
But it sort of worked out. Much fun and laughter and 2 litres of Sauvignon Blanc. Just wish they’d learn to use their calendar apps.
So I approached this puzzle in a rather frazzled state. I think it was pretty good except for the starving part. Just because you choose to paint food items doesn’t mean you’re starving. Could be that you just appreciate good food.
Les…I feel for you, yet was very amused at your post, because I’ve been there/done that with my in-laws for years. Well…in similar, but different ways. And…similarly…we ALL have fun. Getting to the fun part can be challenging sometimes.
DeleteAesthetically, as well as all the other reasons. Tell me if you can look at a peach and not think it's gorgeous.
DeleteStressful and a bit annoying, I'm sure. Love your food-related posts. I'm not a foodie, but I do like to cook. It's always satisfying in the end when everyone has a good a time/meal.
DeleteA riddle from the original Scrubs series: "What two coins make 30 cents, and one of them isn't a nickel?"
Answer: a quarter and a nickel. (The quarter is not a nickel.) Food for thought?
I do hope your wife returned safely and on time, @Rex. Traveling has been difficult since, well, since a lot of things, and I know you will rest more easily with her home.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm, my favorite part of today’s solve and post-solve review here in RexRealm is how much over-, under-, different- thinking is going on as we all (including OFL) react to this puzzle. My take on the theme was not as literal as some, and I sussed out the reveal from “The Buffet.”
At “The Luncheon” since I already had thought about “The Last Supper,” and since MONET and DAVINCI were not contemporaries, I thought, “Hmmm, what connects these guys must be the subject matter.” Accordingly, I was looking for a food related work with the final theme clue, and was not disappointed.
Although (according to my college Art History prof) the title “The Buffet” refers to the piece of furniture (also called a sideboard) not the food thereon, the painting still fits the theme as it makes sense to me. Left myself open there for whatever cheap shots are headed my way.
At any rate, it was that work that put it all together for me, and I had a silly stream of consciousness moment that went something like this: “Well, wouldn’t this be an auspicious dinner table group. I wonder if they were all hungry when they created these works. Maybe they were literally starving artists thinking of food all the time. Wouldn’t it be funny if that’s the reveal?” Ta-Da!
Speaking of being in high dudgeon, I guess that’s been me lately about a whole lot of things. Hoping the turnout in the protests this weekend will help dial down my angst-o-meter. Actually, the closer to “old-style Tuesday” difficulty today made me wonder if perhaps all of us who have been calling attention to the issue may have made a difference. Hope springs eternal.
I enjoyed this solve primarily because I remembered the paintings and the artists. Alas, I always have trouble remembering MONET and MaNET’s most famous works, or rather I always have to think “which one is it?” and I almost always misspell CZANNE (one N or two?) on the first try. Solid Tuesday.
Fun puzzle with an apt set of themes and “ food” clues.
ReplyDeleteBuck O’Neil was the person most responsible for Negro League players finally being admitted to the Baseball HOF. He worked incessantly to promote the talents of the Negro League greats and finally persevered, aided by his infectious enthusiasm and his wonderful role in Ken Burns’ documentary on Baseball. Sadly he was not elected in the initial induction of Negro League players but was inducted posthumously in 2021. A true legend.
@Anon 12:12AM. Loved your mention of Buck O’Neil. Opening Day is here! My husband and I bonded over music and baseball, among other things. We had a whole ritual that began every year the day pitchers and catchers reported to Spring Training and ended on Opening Day watching the Cubs.
DeleteEach year we watched the whole Ken Burns Baseball documentary while anticipated Opening Day. Every week we picked a ballpark city and I cooked summer dishes popular in that locale. The documentary is superb. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys baseball even a little bit.
As Cubs fans, we were fortunate to be at Wrigley for one of Mr. O’Neil’s appearances. ⚾️ TODAY!!!