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Nickname for Britain's King Edward VII / SUN 4-5-26 / Article of jewelry worn around the biceps / Alice of TV's "Queen of the South" / Sax player Clarence / Grande's perfume line / Showbiz "grand slam," familiarly / Our planes don't have seats! / Our soap is deadly! / Something well-taken? / Second first lady, after Martha / Japanese healing discipline / Hagar the Horrible's dog / First college in the modern era to boast a 15-0 football team
Sunday, April 5, 2026
Constructor: Samuel A. Donaldson
Relative difficulty: Medium
Theme answers:
- FREE ENTERPRISE (23A: We're literally giving away our rental cars!)
- NO PAIN NO GAIN (30A: It hurts how much we're overcharging for this detergent!)
- UNITED WE STAND (57A: Our planes don't have seats!)
- APPLE CRUMBLES (80A: Our tech products fall apart easily!)
- LIFETIME BANS (105A: Our cable channel is devoted to censorship!)
- JUST TAKE A GUESS (115A: Go ahead and shoplift one pair of our jeans!)
- DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL (2D: Our soap is deadly!)
- US AGAINST THE WORLD (34D: Our magazine hates everything and everyone!)
Alice Braga Moraes (Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: [aˈlisi ˈbɾaɡɐ moˈɾajs]; born April 15, 1983) is a Brazilian actress and producer. She gained international recognition for her role as Anna Montez in the American science fiction film I Am Legend (2007), opposite Will Smith. Braga has since built a successful career in Hollywood, appearing in films such as Blindness (2008), Predators (2010), Elysium (2013), and The Suicide Squad (2021). From 2016 to 2021, she starred as Teresa Mendoza in the American television series Queen of the South. In addition to her acting career, she has worked as a producer and remains an influential figure in both Brazilian and international cinema. In 2024, she starred in the Apple TV+ science fiction series Dark Matter. (wikipedia) // Queen of the South is an American crime drama television series developed by M.A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller. The series premiered on June 23, 2016, and concluded on June 9, 2021, with 62 episodes aired on USA Network. It is an adaptation of the Spanish-language telenovela La Reina del Sur which airs on USA's sister network Telemundo; both are adapted from the novel The Queen of the South by Spanish author Arturo Pérez-Reverte. (wikipedia)
• • •
The slow parts were all the parts I mentioned in the previous paragraph, plus ARMLET (whatever that is), plus AMF (bowling letters?) plus "I'M UP!," which is pretty clever, but that clue was an odd quotation + question mark format, and so I could process it until I had "I'M -P" (69D: "No cause for alarm!"?). I had "I'M OK" at first, and that would've been a fine answer for a non-question-marked version of this clue. But the "?" means some kind of wordplay is afoot, so rather than being an expression that means roughly the same thing as "No cause for alarm!" you get a phrase that means "I do not need an alarm to wake me up because I am already up." Of course, if you are indeed up, why would you say this, and to whom? Not clear. I might say it to myself as I turn off the alarm setting on my phone so as not to wake up my wife, I guess. Anyway, contrived, but clever. As for ARMLET ... how does that not mean "tiny arm?" (124A: Article of jewelry worn around the biceps). AMF stands for "American, Motherf*****!" It's what patriotic bowlers say whenever anyone asks them their nationality. Or, more prosaically, it stands (or stood, originally) for American Machine and Foundry.
Bullets:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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- 95A: Like a wrung-out mop (DAMPISH) — I'm dubious about this word. If I asked you for the quality of a wrung-out mop, I think it's safe to say you'd say "damp" well before you'd venture DAMPISH.
- 83D: Alice of TV's "Queen of the South" (BRAGA) — never heard of either one (the actress or the show). I thought the show was Ava DuVernay's show, but I remembered (just now) that that show was called Queen Sugar. The only BRAGA I know is Sônia BRAGA ... who, it turns out, is Alice BRAGA's aunt.
- 13D: Nickname for Britain's King Edward VII (BERTIE) — which one was he? EII's dad? Oof, no. It goes Victoria, Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, George VI (are you kidding me!? Pick one!) and finally Elizabeth II. Well, not finally. We're on to Charles III now. The first two Charleses, hoo boy, those guys I know. Not sure why you'd name your son after them (the first of whom was beheaded), but that's none of my business. As for BERTIE, there's BERTIE Wooster, of course, but for me, a kid who came of age during peak Yacht Rock, this is the only BERTIE for me:
- 26D: Creature with a signature whistle it can use to identify itself (DOLPHIN) — Me: "why would a DOLPHIN need to identify itself? Does it know itself?" Existential DOLPHIN questions. Eventually I realized that the clue meant "identify itself to other dolphins" (at least I assume).
- 59D: Something well-taken? (WATER) — pretty good "?" clue. You take WATER from a well, so ... can't argue with that!
- 60D: Chartreuse or brandy, e.g. (DIGESTIF) — love it. Any cocktail-related terms, I'm gonna love, the more specific the better (you see words like GIN a lot, but DIGESTIF? Rarely! In fact, before today, never! We use Chartreuse and brandy (incl. Cognac) in many of the cocktails we drink. One of my favorite drinks, the Diamondback, contains both (1.5 oz rye, .75 oz yellow Chartreuse, .75 oz Calvados (apple brandy)). Cheers.
That's all. See you next time.
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86 comments:
What a clunky puzzle today was
Easy-Medium. Enjoyable. The puns were outrageous, which is the best thing for puns to be.
* * * * _
Overwrites:
My 4D cosmetic surgery was tuck before it was LIPO
@Rex I'M ok before I'M up at 69D ("No cause for alarm")
I thought aLabama might have been the football college at 77A. Nah, it was CLEMSON.
At 121A, years ago I heard people saying SCARFS down. I only picked up SNARFS through crosswords.
WOEs:
DARIA, the spinoff at 7D.
I thought the astronaut lab might be jpl (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), but it was the ISS. JPL would have been bad due to "laboratory" in the clue.
I kinda knew BERTIE at 13D but still needed every cross.
OSTEOID (25A) is not part of my vocabulary.
I didn't know that Washington State University (WSU at 38D) is called WAZZU.
Sax player Clarence CLEMONS at 77D.
Alice BRAGA (83D) and her TV show, "Queen of the South".
Didn't know T-TEST at 103D, but the TEST part filled itself in and the T was easy to get because 101A was a superlative.
Agree with all the obscurities except "Bertie," which is used throughout The King's Speech, highly recommend this movie if you didn't know Bertie! (It won best picture and best actor for Colin Firth)
The Times suddenly decided I had to subscribe to the puzzles, even though I'm a longstanding subscriber to the newspaper itself. Thanks, (presumed) friends!
For what it is worth, I just read an article (I believe in the NYT) where they are making airplanes where the passengers stand, rather than sit. There are “saddles” where people are strapped in, but they are standing nonetheless. Check it out.
tc
All over the place - agree with the some good some bad slant. Definitely densely packed with themers - I liked UNITED WE STAND best.
PYLON
Overall fill was clunky - easy enough fly through the grid but just odd in some parts. Rex highlights most of the gunk - DAMPISH and OSTEOID stand out but I’ll also include ZIT and IT IS ON. Always love USURPED and the CLEMSON x CLEMONS anagrammatic like mashup is neat.
Wedding Present
My father’s family is from the ASSISI area so that was nice to see. Spent one Easter there in the 90s and fondly recall going to mass at a small cathedral outside the city.
Ferdinand the Imposter
A pleasant enough Easter morning solve - I’ll take it given the dearth of enjoyable Sundays lately.
ABIGAIL, Belle of Kilronan
After uncovering a couple of these theme answers, I found that I couldn’t wait to uncover more.
That doesn’t happen very often with me. Much of the time, after uncovering a couple of punny theme answers, I become involved in guessing each of the others as mainly a riddle-cracking exercise.
That is enjoyable in its own right, but when you add that extra layer of being so entertained by the answers that you can’t wait to see more, and you feel, while solving, like a kid on an Easter egg hunt, well, that is special.
It helped that the first one I got was DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL, where its moxie and humor, combined with the cleverness of the theme gimmick itself, practically made me stand up and applaud. I eagerly bounded on the hunt for more.
I stayed on that what-else-is-he-going-to-come-up-with pursuit through to the end, and what a rare and wonderful way to experience a crossword, especially a Sunday.
All the time and effort over those months that you put into this, Samuel, handsomely paid off for me, and surely many others. I loved this. Thank you!
p.s. – Two answer-related standouts. First, that gorgeous answer INPINGE. And second, CLEMONS and CLEMSON (Hi, @Rex!)– what are the chances these almost-dupe anagrams would appear in the same box, much less cross? Mwah!
Good fun Sunday. Light entertainment to start the day. A couple of clunker entries like BAAING and BRAGA, but that's to be expected on a Sunday-sized grid.
I actually liked this. Theme was cute and clever, and I didn't have as much of a problem with the fill as did Rex. Random other thoughts:
- As a New Yorker, I thought perhaps the US's most visited municipal zoo might be THE BRONX (11D, 44D), but saw quickly that would not work.
- ARMORY (74A) as a "Place to store magazines": Of course, I pictured those magazine... racks?... that sit next to your sofa or lounge chair. My father and my mother-in-law both have these, still. Two thumbs up on the cluing.
- 80A: Perhaps Rex would've preferred a clue such as "Our high-flying tech stock just took a nose dive!"
- 127A: I had a recent conversation with one of our young office staff, about a letter that had been returned... Led to my bringing up Elvis ("Return to sender, address unknown; no such number, no such zone..."). She did not know who Elvis was.
- 34D, USAGAINSTTHEWORLD: Feels like our current political situation, huh?
From time to time - I suspect because the NYTimes website is the subject of rather frequent cyberattacks - the site does some sort of reset or defensive maneuver that ends up signing everyone out so that when you try to access the site, it doesn't recognize you..
And other times it is just plain old-fashioned gremlins.
A real laugh out loud puzzle. Four terrific Sundays in a row.🎈🎈🎊🎊
Hey All !
Harkening back to YesterComments, I had a legitimate DNF today, in the fact I left one square empty before looking at Rex's completed grid. OTOH, I also had a FWE (Finished With Errors [although, like I said, I left one square blank, so Finished is a bit of a white lie]). Had lOOnIEST for GOOFIEST, getting me B_ALA for BRAGA. Not knowing what 88A clue Winnow was, that was the square I left blank. With the wrongness of my lOOnIEST, I could've plugged letters in til the cows came home, and never finished.
Apart from that, thought this a nice puz. Fun Theme, just goofy enough to satisfy. Wondering now if Apple will sue the NYT saying their products CRUMBLE. Watch out for Big Apple (and we ain't talkin' NYC.)
Liked the Themers in the Acrosses and Downs. Good way to get in your Themers without cramming them in just the Acrosses.
Not understanding why the clue for ANOS says "in Spain". C'mon now, we've been over this. It should say "in Portugal". ANO in Spanish is ASS, in Portuguese, it's YEAR. A sneaky way to get the required ASS in the puz? That's POMPOUS!
A ©Uniclue:
School pride blog requirement?
RAHRAH POSTING AGENDA
Welp, hope y'all have a great Sunday, and Happy Easter!
Five F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Rex covered my two head scratcher answers (ENTER ON and ARMLET) which seemed plausible but kind of off-putting (not at all an uncommon occurrence in the NYT, where no variant of a word or phrase is too arcane, and no repurposing is unwelcome).
Rex also pointed out that, as is usually the case, some of the theme answers landed nicely and some to a lesser extent (LIFETIME BANS sounded like kind of a dud to me). At least the fill was fair, if a little quirky, and the theme answers were well known enough so we didn’t have to venture into the dreaded SLOG territory. As usual, my preference would be to cut back on the theme answers and tighten up the fill a bit, but that’s probably not going to happen any time soon.
So, a pleasant enough excursion exploring the concept of BADVERTISING this morning.
Rex, if you like a Diamondback, you will love the Monte Cassino (winner of cocktail of the year award about ten years ago):
3/4 ounce American rye whiskey
3/4 ounce Benedictine
3/4 ounce Yellow Chartreuse
3/4 ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed
Rex...very surprised you're a proponent of the term 'yacht rock'...I would've thought you'd be against it (ie, the ugly term, not the music.)
Cruised through this one at my usual Sunday pace only to end with a mistake. I guessed that it involved the "Chartreuse or brandy" clue, because I had lOOnIEST for my answer, but DIGESTIn didn't seem right. I think of a "digestive" but not enough letters. And I had no idea who the "Queen of the South" lady was. Tried lOOPIEST which seemed possible, and only made headway when I got to GOOnIEST which also seemed plausible, but still no STOGIE. Eventually problem-solved my way to GOOFIEST but I'm sure there are others who are going to be flailing around in that section for a while. All in all a fun Sunday, average solving time even with the mistake. 28:02
If an anklet can be a bracelet that goes around the ankle, why wouldn’t an anklet do the same for an arm?
(I.e. the “let” is a part of a portmanteau from bracelet + body part, and not an indicator that it’s small)
Wikipedia entry for Bertie Higgins: In 2025, in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of then presidential candidate Donald Trump, Higgins voiced his support for his campaign, releasing his first dance song, "Do the Donald", and stating on his website that "I have always been a believer in Mr. Trump."
Dang, Bertie. Why? Why would you do this? We had it all!
Mostly clever, I liked it.
But I am with Colin on "USAGAINSTTHEWORD". While solving I actually interpreted it as "U.S. against the world", which could not be more timely. Ugh!
I dunno… I thought this was one of the better Sundays in a while and I enjoyed it a lot.
Michigan, holy heck. Annihilation. In the zone, totally in sync. That was.. riveting.
And this game, thumb up! All subject wordplay - coherent, light, playful. WE STAND, 57a, and THAT DIAL, 2d, highlights. No flops - though one or two of the clues, a bit wordy, might have shined after an Egs edit. The shorter hints land best, esp. the two cited.
And the remainder, Sunday spot-on. By the recurring grievances, the old timers will've found it lacking the required struggle, but for me, the thought-entertainment ratio clicked. Only the N/NE-most took a moment of sorting - vertically working right, AMF at 6d, DARIA, BERTIE (forgotten, then later recalled), ARI, ISS, unfamiliar. & IMMPINJJ, at 14d, solid werd, drew reconsideration. Fancied it, rah.
Notwithstanding the daily complaints, the game challenge has worked for me. It's eased, that's clear - relative to the additional weekly freebies I'm playing. I prefer the adjustment. Not here to learn, just for the accessible diversion and humor. Ask me what I already knoa.
Time is a significant element of the interest, I look for the Sacra/okanaganer and find I'm regularly just behind, one and four seconds on a couple occasions, sometimes _well_ behind.. and on three occasions recently, well ahead (aye, seldom enough I can recall them). My goal is a consistent (and modest) 10 to 15 min Fri/Sat game - not close to that yet. Frittering an hour or more on the game for me is not entertaining.
I play just the one game - daily for some time now - that's it. But through that, my long-ago 80/20 conjecture (practice vs. flotsam you ferry in), for me, borne out. At the outset, there was a six-hour (!), multi-day, cursed, Wed. game. Riprock, ELHI'd. Now, I'm confident in a consultation-free finish with every start.
This raises another observation regarding the recurring challenge complaint - one of The Blog subs recently graded one mid-week game as HARD and another, VERY HARD (appreciated the disclosures). Both accompanied times which were markedly longer than mine (and other commenters', I suspected). She's a constructor, a competitor, a speaker on the subject, a pro. Riprock, bush-league weekend warrior. Why the discrepancy. Answer, age. The game skews old. How many 20 & 30-something experienced gamers are daily whinging over the difficulty?
I had the exact same thought process as Rex on the dolphin clue! Several precious seconds were wasted thinking to myself: Wait, there's really a creature that doesn't know it's itself until it whistles, but upon hearing its own whistle, it says "Oh, okay, I'm me!"??????? Then I finally realized the clue meant that the creature used its whistle to identify itself to others!
DAMPISH said nobody ever!
Rex on fire 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Wish we could’ve had an Easter theme today.
Loved the Dial and the United clues, like Rex. HATED US against the world because of the current political situation.
"Armlet" is absolutely a word, but cheers to the T-Rex picture in the post that literally made me laugh out loud.
Overall fun for me today.
AMF = Always Means Fun
The movie The King's speech was actually referring to King George the VI(reigned 1936-1952), King Edward the VII(crossword clue)was the famous bertie
and reigned 1901-1910 known to be a gambler, glutton and womanizer before becoming King when he was surprisingly good.
Enjoyed this puzzle even though forced to do it on my phone ( much prefer paper!) I had to look up names though. The puns were fun! And clever
Actually, AMF is a thing. Took me back to a pleasant time in life, growing up in the 60’s &70’s. At first with my Dad and then birthday parties and eventually more rowdy nights out at the bowling alley. All the equipment, from pin setters to balls we’re made by AMF.
Easy-Medium. I thought Rex was a little harsh toward the theme answers. The phrases themselves are all solidly in the language, and they're all about equally contrived in their wackiness; I don't want to commit to saying which one was GOOFIEST. They're all pretty decent in my opinion.
Some interesting words in there too. DIGESTIF is one (but do they really aid in digestion?). OSTEOID is decidedly unusual, but I like it too. BAAING is almost always one of the last Spelling Bee words I'll get when it appears -- something about those three vowels makes it hard to see. The NAMEs ZORBA (hello Herb Alpert), BRAGA (Sonia in Kiss of the Spider Woman), BERTIE (what the friends of Bertrand Russell called him) are ones that for various reasons I enjoy seeing.
DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL! -- memories of Batman (I think), and golly I sometimes miss the simplicity of bygone TV-watching, with DIALs and all. (Oh yeah: when's the last time you literally dialed a phone number?) TV-watching has gotten a lot more cumbersome, as which streaming service owns which broadcast seems to change hands all the time; in our case, we can no longer watch Formula One (which used to be on ESPN, I believe) unless we add another subscription, which we will not.
Re OREOS: there was this twist-lick-dunk business from yesterday, and I'm still wondering who "licks" off the creme filling. Wouldn't most people instead sort of scrape it off with their teeth? The stuff is really thick and adhesive, so licking would take a while, wouldn't it, and the resultant saliva-laden mess -- WET, DAMPISH -- would all but forcibly EJECT me from wherever room it was being thus consumed. It would not be CLASSY.
But enough of that. Today's puzzle was fun, a pleasant diversion for this Easter morning. Hope you enjoy yours.
Enough with the Star Trek count. It’s way past time for an Oreo count.
Lots of average solving. DARIA was all from the crosses. It's one of those entries I've seen before but have completely forgotten.
I filled in UNITEDWESTAND without reading the clue because there were enough crosses in place to recognize the phrase.
Th"Q3" clue meant nothing to me but it made little difference. The fill in this puzzle never pushed the limits. I'm surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did. Another sign of how little the NYTXW is offering these days.
I thought Rex wrote a very good review, but I liked the puzzle (within the Sunday mode) more than he did and would’ve given it a higher rating.
The finish of my solve was the vicinity of IMUP and BRAGA. I figure many others had IMok, and I finally relented to put in the U, P, and B since I figured it HAD to be CRUMBLES, which finally led to PARE and the solve. And yes…I had a big internal D’OH when I finally realized the alarm was the clock variety. Conclusion…the puzzle was pretty easy (for me) until it wasn’t and I like it that way!
Thanks Mr. Donaldson
Yikes, an OREO count? That’s getting into big-time number crunching. Thought today’s puzzle was great fun, super-silly puns to work out with as few crosses as possible. Like @Colin and @Seastate5, was kinda surprised Rex didn’t pick up on the ambiguity of US AGAINSTTHEWORLD given the current world political situation. And ZORBA? A nostalgia blast!
I loved this puzzle. I always remember the constructor because of the same name as the News Reporter. And vaguely that "Don't I like his puzzles?"
This was the best Sunday in a very long time. Loved I'M UP. WOES= REIKI, DIGESTIF, CLEMONS/CLEMSON cross & thank God I didn't know DARIA (Beavis & Butthead not my thing).
Thank you Sam, for a very enjoyable Sunday :)
never liked the punny puzzle concept. this was easy medium as rex said. what liked was Alice, Sonia, and Gal together in one event. add gal costa and you have my personal final four!
zippy
I got the theme early and I only finished cuz I thought Rex would trash it deliciously. I was wrong, alas. Ha!
No hay motivo de alarma.
Delightfully typical Sunday with enormous overwrought puns, lots of weird fill, and one of the rare occasions when the title of the crossword is really hilarious. I had fun filling this out. It's got a good sense of humor.
Prepare for a joke. Skip this paragraph if you're not ready. Kinda wish REXBLOG had fit for [Competition with clowns]. 🤡 Badum dum. I was called parochial yesterday which I thought had something to do with Catholic school girls, but sadly no, after looking it up, turns out I'm a hillbilly. 🤠 Seems about right. Today,being a hillbilly, I didn't know what winnow meant, so BRAGA was many not-BRAGA things along the way.
❤️ OSTEOID. Monkey's place.
People: 14
Places: 9
Products: 11
Partials: 12
Foreignisms: 2
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 48 of 138 (35%)
Funny Factor: 11 😅
Tee-Hee: TATAS. Yank. TUG.
Uniclues:
1 Command to mufflers to be louder during pub trivia night.
2 What my hillbilly jacket with fringe is made from. {I actually had one as a kid.}
3 Telemundo reminder to the lady of the house during Hidden Passion.
1 JUST TAKE A GUESS SCARFS
2 LEARNED CLASSY SUEDE
3 DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL SRA
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Anywhere I try to be funny. DAFT CRASH SITES .
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I agree with several of our commentators that the puns were actually quite clever. I liked it!
Easy. The only place I needed to pause was in the CLEMONS/BRAGA/PARE/GOOFIEST section. The first two were WOEs and the other two took a bit of staring. I was also iffy about DAMPISH.
Mildly amusing and breezy, liked it a bit more than @Rex did.
Newspaper Goes Global: USA GAINS THE WORLD
You need a better dictionary. Patochial means limited view, not rustic or unrefined.
Hand UP for I'M ok as my first GUESS. I suppose with the quotation marks and the question mark, that is the explanation, the whole alarm clock thing, but actually I instead imagined someone taking what looked like a dangerous spill, but then leaping to one's feet in response to all the concerned looks. I'M UP! See, everything's okay!
DIEGO: The choices given to me when I overstayed my welcome.
NOMAD: The answer you do not want to the question Are you happy?
ARMLET: Along with Omelet, the names considered by Shakespeare for his play before wisely settling on Hamlet.
iMpinge
Yeah, the fill was pretty awful. BAH and BAAING? TATAS seem like posh goodbyes, and I don't think of Exeter as particularly posh? THO for "However, in texts"? Ugh. I was trying to think of a three-letter initialism, like BTW.
There was some good cluing, like "Second first lady, after Martha" for ABIGAIL. But there were also a lot of clues that felt really clunky.
I agree with Rex that "Lifetime ban" is very wea. But 115A worked well for those of us who've bought Guess jeans
In the Army in early 70s, AMF was a way of saying goodbye. Adios.....
Happy Easter, y'all.
Funny themers. My fave kind of SunPuz theme. thUmbsUp.
Hard to single out one fave themer, but DONTOUCHTHATDIAL was the first one I filled in, and its pun made my heart sing. [Needed a boost, after my Illini had a bad Final Four Saturday night.]
staff weeject pick: AMF. Lost some precious nanoseconds on it, as I thought of PBA, at first.
Nuthin stood out in the [overall, nice and smoooth] fillins, but that's maybe cuz I kept lookin for a timely Easter-ish reference. Did like GOOFIEST, tho. Also partial to the USURPED vowel choices.
Thanx for the fun, Mr. Donaldson dude. It was highly DIGESTIFable.
Masked & Anonymo12Us
p.s.
M&A decided last night to organize this runty Easter egg hunt, just in case the NYTPuz didn't:
**gruntz**
M&A
I’m surprised that so many people liked this. A lot of comments about the wackiness or cleverness of the themers; I found them to be forced and awkward. JUST TAKE A GUESS??
And the fill. Things like BAAING, OSTEOID, ENTER ON, and ARMLET were bad, but at least they weren’t boring like so much of the other fill. Just routine blah stuff. Glue. So much glue. Hardly a word I didn’t know from years of doing crosswords. It all seemed so old. Only thing I can remember having to fix (I did this late last night and neglected to make notes) was DARIA. Right off the D I dropped in DARLA and was proud of myself for remembering anything about Beavis and Butthead. Quickly corrected but still a memorable point in my solve. Perhaps the only one.
Enough said. Enjoy your Easter, everyone.
Not surprised they didn't know who Elvis was. Am surprised you'd expect them to know what a letter was.
Bertie Higgins always irritated me with his messed up lyrics. Bogie and Bacall did not sail to Key Largo, they were already in Key Largo. And here's looking at you, that's from Casablanca and directed to Ingrid Bergman! Come on, man!
The puzzle theme reminded me of many Sunday puzzles from the Maleska era. It was entertaining enough, but fairly easy.
Rex’s write-up, though, was his best of the year! Rollicking with free association and wit!! Loved it! Glad I worked the puzzle if only for the ability to understand the write-up.
Thanks to RooMonster for telling me how I could attach my name to a comment without having to log in to anything.
Lots of singing this morning so late again. I was hopeful early on after finding OGEE that this might be full of old-fashioned crosswordese but crosswordese there was in abundance but more of the modern sort. Oh well.
The themers worked OK for me, close enough for crosswords. DONTTOUCHTHATDIAL made me wonder what the cutoff point is for knowing what this refers to. The "bowling" clue made me immediately think of AMF for whatever reasons, probably seeing it on the pinsetters when bowling with my folks on Sundays years ago. The local lanes have mostly disappeared but one local newspaper columnist suggested that a now-empty JC Penney's in a local mall would make a fine place to remedy this situation, and I agree.
My nit today was connecting SUEDE with Elvis and not Carl Perkins.
Nice enough puzz, SD. A pleasant Sunday Diversion and thanks for all the fun.
I know it's only 3 letters, but one of the more interesting answers in this grid for me was AMF.
I don't bowl. Well, maybe once every 20 years or so, when somebody invites me to some theme party at a bowling alley. So I was puzzled as to why I dropped in AMF without really thinking. So I looked up the company and discovered it was founded as American Machine and Foundry and invented the first automated cigarette manufacturing machine (!) and later pivoted to sports equipment (among other things). I think I may have once owned a Head tennis raquet with their logo on it. This reminded me that when I played hockey a lot of my equipment was branded CCM. When I retired from the game a few years back, my skates, helmet, and sticks were all CCMs. That triggered a memory that CCM also began in a different manufacturing field as the Canadian Cycle and Motor company. These two brands tell me that some companies know how to adapt. Both companies have been around well over 100 years.
Surprised no one's mentioned OGEE / STOGIE yet - I've never heard of either of those, had to go through the alphabet on that G.
this was truly Bad Advertising the theme answers are a sweet easter treat it's very Madison Avenue this is NYC after all.. happy Easter!
American Machine & Foundry
methinks Rex only allows comments he approves of that suits his taste - this puzzle was ingenious and funny theme answer wise - we finally get something on Sunday with a real NYC sense of humor yay
Guessed PAlE instead of PARE... if the prospects were winnowed down they paled... had no way to correct because never heard of BRAGA. Just hate all this PPP crap!
@Beezer 10:24 AM @tht 11:39 AM
I was also at IMOK, but after I straightened it out, I appreciated the joke. No alarm clock necessary. It's a good bait and switch with an extra layer.
I've never heard of Alice BRAGA or the Queen of the South series, but I've read every Arturo Pérez-Reverte novel that has been translated into English.
Strongly recommendo!
Since Rex went on a long , long take down of the theme, I couldn’t keep myself from responding (sorry)
Free enterprise is an expression referring to privately owned( including corporations) businesses as against government owned businesses. Free as in freedom, not as in no charge. The themer was playing off these two meanings Economic terms often set off Rex but he apparently didn’t know this one. In very common use during the Cold War especially by Republicans. Maybe dying out? I thought this themer was very clever. I didn’t get the car rental company reference till later
LIFETIMEBANS
I googled it in the singular ( thinking the plural was odd) and the first item that came up was an article about Lifetime Bans in the NBA which are very rare but a thing I just realized this references the cable channel I never watched! Again very clever I thought.
I always bought PC’s. but this time I bought an Apple.I think Rex was too literal here. The company name is most definitely used for its products. With that in mind, this themer works.
No pain no gain. I don’t understand Rex’s point. The themer is bizarre as it is. It is riff on those ads which claim to cut prices till it hurts the seller. We can’t give you the soap unless we cause pain to ourselvesNot the best of the bunch but the answer is a good one.
Us against the World. After admitting it was a common expression, Rex still trashed this themer Since I am almost 2 decades older than Rex, I can say, it’s a joke son. Naming 2 magazines is all that is necessary for the play on words.
I think he went around corners to get his 250 average. He was technically right about the GUESS one. I would say close enough for crosswords, but give him that one, the puzzle is still battling.875!
@RooMonster 7:40 AM
Very nice. You win again. I had a hanging cheerleader but couldn't figure out her agenda. So I bailed.
I’m surprised Rex didn’t call out the CLASS duplication: it’s used in a clue (5D High class) and an answer (126A CLASSY).
Anonymous 8:34 AM
Exactly! Armlet from bracelet & anklet.
Rex was way too literal today.
I liked this puzzle. I liked all the themers; LIFETIME BANS was perhaps the weakest. The rest of the cluing was good; I liked "Something well taken?" (WATER) and "No cause for alarm!" (IMUP). Trickiest area for me was the central north: ARF (I had no idea) crossing ADOBOS (took awhile to think of it) crossing DARIA (again, no idea).
UCLA is ahead of SC by 13 at the half in the women's NCAA bb championship! .
Dash Rip Rock
Enjoyed your post and mostly agree with it. ( and actually understand it.). I am much slower than you and in my’70’s but I agree that the puzzles are sufficiently difficult, despite my 50 year history of doing this puzzle . I have one question. The source of of your British usage. Today whinge & spot on.
P.S. George VI (ELizabeth's fathr) was also known as Bertie to his family and friends. (Watch "The Crown." )
Too many !!! Also, I thought it was U.S. against the world….of late,, as we do weird things, might be true.
Couldn’t? Hmm, I’m certain you could, you’ve opted not to.
Beezer & tht
I eventually filled in IMUP but didn’t understand it till I read Rex. D’oh!
I had a similar reaction to the puzzle
Anonymous 12:29 AM
As Gary warned, best not to take him literally.
Fun puzzle
Liked it.
Bacall was already in Key Largo.
Bogart arrived on a bus.
I enjoyed the puzzle but Rex’s write up was the icing on the cake. You are in rare form today! I thought as Sundays go, it was fun. I generally don’t love Sundays because they are a lot of work and not hard enough but I like puns.
happy easter! l.a. times puzzle today 'make some noise' is a classic ny times today had some great theme answers happy solving
One of my sons in law is a huge WAZOO fan.
Any puzzle that has Clarence CLEMONS in it is OK in my book! I liked this puzzle alot, fun Sunday.
Loved the puns; laughed out loud at all but LIFETIME BANS, which wasn't bad, just the last one I entered and the comedy bar had been set too high.
Surprised, borderline shocked, that Rex only gave it 2-1/2 stars. Isn't his mantra "the wackier, the better" when a puzzle relies on puns? Disappointedly read the write-up; not persuaded...thought the puzzle was great, a few warts and all.
I'm recalling some years ago when the puzzle in the Sunday Boston Globe was often authored by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, and often contained marquee answers similar to today's NYT puzzle. Clever and hilarious wordplay. Miss them.
And it's been lauded above, but what a great clue for the otherwise uninspiring IM UP! Also like others, we had "IM ok" before having to change. Saw the ? In the clue and another laugh out loud moment.
Listen to the lyrics of the Roger Miller song “King of the Road.“
I also knew Bertie from the king speech
Finished this in about 73 percent of my average, so on the easy side of medium (my times are still on their way down).
The theme was dad-jokey and thus appropriately mostly in the light-chuckle zone—actually out loud on APPLE CRUMBLES, which I think made a later appearance a few days later in the singular as an iffier theme entry.
Otherwise, I don't remember anything standing out here. Had a little bit of trouble with AGENDA, as I subconsciously inserted an exclamation point for literal meaning. Also briefly confused Edward "BERTIE" VII with his grandson, George VI; I didn't know they had the same nickname. I get a little annoyed with the crosswordese ANO, since without the tilde, it means "anus" instead of "year." CIRRI is also a workhorse of Spelling Bee.
No initial mistakes that I can remember...
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