.png)
Relative difficulty: Easy/Medium
THEME: None
Word of the Day: HASSOCKS (27D: Relatives of ottomans) —
An ottoman is a piece of furniture.[1] Generally, ottomans have neither backs nor arms. They may be an upholstered low couch or a smaller cushioned seat used as a table, stool or footstool. The seat may have hinges and a lid for the inside hollow, which can be used for storing linen, magazines, or other items, making it a form of storage furniture.[2][3] The smaller version is usually placed near to an armchair or sofa as part of living room decor, or may be used as a fireside seat.[4]
Ottoman footstools are often sold as coordinating furniture with armchairs, sofas, or gliders. Other names for this piece of furniture include footstool,[5] hassock,[6] and pouf[fe].[7][8]
• • •
Hi friends -- Rafa here as your Rexplacement! Hope you enjoyed Eli yesterday, but today you're stuck with me. (*shameless plug alert* I also hope you enjoyed my DOWN TO A T puzzle earlier this week. It was so much work to make, and it was lovely to see it out in the world *end shameless plug alert*)Anyways, it's the weekend, the weather is nice (where I live, at least!), and there are no themes in sight -- life is good! This was the kind of puzzle that I didn't love at the start, but grew on me so so so much during the solve and I was totally obsessed by the end. To be fair, the first two entries I put in were ATONERS and ARLES, which are arguably the weakest entries in the whole grid. So it really was all uphill from there. And wow, did we go uphill. CROCODILE TEARS and ROOKIE MISTAKE make an incredible stack, and there's so much delightful stuff woven in: POISON DART, FRIED EGG, WE HAD A DEAL, HANG TIGHT, BAREFOOT, SAFEWORD, I'M FOR IT, PET FOOD etc. etc. It felt like I was uncovering goodies everywhere I looked.
 |
| It's ELSA! |
Looking for something to nitpick ... but struggling to find anything to mention other than the two entries I talked about. (Okay, maybe I also don't love GEOS) I was very into the fresh angles for some stale pieces of fill. ORR as the Catch-22 character was particularly delightful, as I just read that relatively recently. I was always always always prefer a literature reference over a sports reference!!! ROI as return on investment was also great, but maybe I'm biased by living in Silicon Valley and being around people who use that term in conversation all the time. Oh, also, I realize I am very pro airport code as fill. DFW! Good! More airport codes please! Why do we only see LGA and ORD? Let's branch out!
 |
| It's a FRIED EGG! |
Let's talk about clues. Some clever clues here. [Cutting stuff] for satire felt very satisfying to figure out. I love clues where words change part of speech. (In this case the default interpretation is "cutting" as a verb, but the clue is actually using it as an adjective.) [Cause of amusement to a vet, maybe] was also cool because the correct "vet" interpretation was the third one that came to my mind (first army veteran, then veterinarian, and only then person with experience).
 |
| It's a RAMROD |
So, yeah, I really liked this. Just super solid stuff all-around, and fun vibes oozing out the grid. Could maybe have used a handful more clever clues, and this would have really been elevated. Oh, it also felt a tad too easy for a Saturday. I'd have appreciated a bit more resistance. Hope to be back soon!
Bullets:
- 18A MOD [New outfit or accessory for a character, in video game lingo] — I've been obsessively playing the beta version of Slay the Spire 2. Anyone else? Always fun to see video game lingo in a puzzle.
- 18D MALTESE [Silky-haired toy] — Took me a while to realize this meant a toy dog, and not a toy for kids to play with
- 38A MATS [Routine surfaces] — This is about gymnastics routines
- 8D BAREFOOT [How people get into a swimming pool, typically] — Such a weirdly specific clue for this ... it kinda made me giggle
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What is a SAFEWORD (21 Across)? Can someone please explain it and give me an example with context?
ReplyDeleteSearch engines exist! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safeword
DeleteDuring rough sex play ("in the bedroom") the safe word means I'm not comfortable and to stop now
DeleteHere you go: https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=safe+word
DeleteLOL. I suspect this guy is yanking our chain.
DeleteAsk your father
DeleteLOL
Delete
ReplyDeleteEasy-Medium. Enjoyed it.
* * * * _
Overwrites:
At 4D, I thought zinc might be the fifth-most abundant element before it turned out to be crossword standard NEON
My 17A treat was the noun DOg TOy before it was the verb DOCTOR
cOOKIE Monster before ROOKIE MISTAKE at 46A, before reading the clue (one of my all-time favorite errors).
WOEs:
I never heard of LAT pull-downs (13D)
MOD as clued at 18A
I’m an 83 year old woman, and I’ve done lat pulldowns in the gym for years. But MOD was a woe for me.
DeleteDid not find this easy, but figured it all out in the end.
ReplyDeleteThat misdirect on BAREFOOT is terrific.
ReplyDeleteFelt more like a Friday but really enjoyed this one. That vet clue got an audible ohhh from me
ReplyDeleteClue for MOD is insanely incorrect. Please, Mr. Shortz, if you're going to try to update the clues for a modern audience, at least have someone modern on the editorial team.
ReplyDeleteYeah, as clued it was SKIN not MOD.
Delete100% came to complain about this!
DeleteHmm, a quick search brings up accessories as types of MODS and even lists skins as subsets of MODifications.
DeleteSome mods are skins but definitely not all, and most skins aren’t mods
DeleteNot SKIN either. As clued would be best as GEAR, maybe ITEM, or DUDS as a stretch.
DeleteAnonymous various
DeleteAbout MOD.
One commenter actually googled, (thanks because now I don’t have to). We are talking about language here Millions of people are playing these games So over time, inevitably usage will vary. Just because you don’t use mod in this way doesn’t mean many other people don’t. It’s a big world and these games have been around a long time. Also saying that mod and skin do sometimes overlap is an admission that the answer is valid.
No, for the clue to be correct it would need to have the ", say" tag that appends clues which describe an instance of the answer. The answer is not a correct general 1:1 swap for the clue in general usage
DeleteYour TO A T offering was fantastic Rafa - you went a little easy on this one today as it was easier than your Thursday puzzle. It’s a nice puzzle but just not for Saturday. Purely on the editing - we’ve seen this quite often lately.
ReplyDeleteMARTIN’s Song
Flowing grid layout gives access to pretty much everything. I’m looking for some late week massive stacks - the short stuff here provides the Wednesday vibe. I liked CROCODILE TEARS and REST EASY.
She just wanted to ride in a Delahaye 135
She just wanted to ride in a HUDSON Commodore
No need to worry anymore
FRIED EGGS, CALIFORNIA ROLL, ROOKIE MISTAKE - all pedestrian. SAUCED is cute I guess for blitzed? WREAKS and HASSOCKS are pretty neat but the plural on ATONERS is unfortunate.
ABC
A nice clean themeless - I just need a little more bite to Saturday morning solve. Ben Zimmer’s Stumper today brings slightly more heat.
OCMS
Had SoUsED for SAUCED for BLITZED, ratz!
DeleteI'd have to rate this as EASY. As in, REST EASY, pay no attention to the blurb "Jesse Cohn delivers a coldblooded killer of a Saturday puzzle". Even had some relatively rare Saturday whoosh; for example, CALIFORNIA ROLL. Also really liked CROCODILE TEARS (zoom!) and ROOKIE MISTAKE (not as zoom/whoosh, but very fine in its cluing). Honestly, all the long acrosses were to my liking.
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget the longer downs! HASSOCKS is not a word you see all that much, I don't think, but luckily I was right on that wavelength. I liked POISON DART, UNDECIDED, WE HAD A DEAL, FRIED EGGS, and BAREFOOT. I'm also FOND OF fondue, and of MELTED cheese in general.
Ooh, the NYTXW getting a little risque with the bedroom play (SAFE WORD). Pineapple!
I agree with Rafa that ATONERS was something of a lowlight. But not that ARLES was also. What is wrong with that?
Will the people who had trouble with TAO the other day also have trouble with MARTIN? Hard to say. Gardner's long-running column in Scientific American, Mathematical Games I think it was called, was one of the most popular items of that era, but that era is getting a little long in the tooth by now (I think Douglas Hofstadter took over sometime in the early 80's; he titled his series by anagramming the earlier title into Metamagical Themas, something only a word nerd could love).
So this was fun! Looking forward to reading others' reactions.
Easier than yesterday for me. My dad was a fan of Gardner, so I got that one. Tao I had never heard of
DeleteI thought "pineapple" was another Company Retreat(Jury Duty) reference, but it apparently has a long history starting with Kevin Hart.
DeleteI’m new to crosswords. My question is: why is ATONERS so disliked ?
Delete@tht. You might be surprised to discover, after our previous discussions about my math aversion syndrome, that I knew MARTIN Gardner. Back in the late 60s, when I visited my girlfriend's family home, her father, a math and science aficionado (he was a doctor), would very often leave out a copy of Scientific American for me to read. Bookmarked. With my name on the bookmark. Most of these slips of paper located an MG page. I suspect he was trying to assess my suitability as a partner for his youngest daughter via my ability to solve these things. I probably managed a 10% success rate. But he kept on trying, sometimes sitting beside me and trying to guide me through the solving process. It was painful for both of us.
DeleteWanting it to stop, I came up with a counter-attack. I would arrive with a copy of Artforum under my arm, with the most convoluted article on the multiple functions of Prague school semiotics in conceptual art bookmarked for him. Soon we had a truce.
PS. I have been married to his daughter for over 50 years.
Funny Les! 🎵 The things we do for love 🎵
Delete@Les. LOL! Sounds like your father-in-law-to-be meant well, but youch. Congratulations on your successful counterattack.
DeleteIt's a little sad: the whole spirit of Gardner's column is that math can be glorious exploratory fun. Conquering problems in math can also be fun for some types of people, but that's not really in the same spirit, and it's absolutely not for everyone.
@Anon 11:21. It's just a matter of taste, really. There's nothing inherently wrong with ATONERS. It's just relatively weak as an entry: a little boring and of limited use. It would be entirely goofy to say, "Yeah, Mike is a real atoner" -- nobody is an atoner except in isolated moments when they are specifically atoning, so I find the range of sentences in which it can be plausibly used to be fairly narrow. Ask yourself when was the last time you used ATONERS in a sentence, and maybe you see what I mean. :-)
DeleteAnonymous 11:21 AM
DeleteMaybe too late. ATONERS
I knew it would be criticized. An unnecessary plural is often criticized here (Son Volt for example criticized the plural). But also some -er nouns from verbs sound forced and I think atoner is on of them
Personally, a few like that don’t bother me.
Let me say up front that I really enjoyed this puzzle. I guess it was relatively easy, but some great long answers, and lots of places I was fooled: DEicing before DETENTE, irON before NEON, RApier before RAMROD (totally forgetting that "musketeers" were soldiers armed with muskets!). Two car models was one too many (at least HUDSON was clued as the valley, not the car.--and why was it so much harder to think of the valley than it would have been if the clue was "New York river?")
ReplyDeleteIt was neat seeing DWADE adjacent to MARTIN Gardner. The latter was easy for me, the former completely unknown. And it didn't look like a name, so I had to get all the crosses. I'm thinking there was a big group for whom it was the other way around--knew the basketball player but not the math writer.
As for HASSOCKS, that's what we called them in our family, only we pronounced the word "hossick." But I learned that proper spelling from literature sometime in my 30s.
@Rafa, I did indeed enjoy your Thursday puzzle!
I put CASSOCKS and then couldn't get CAN?TIGHT. Definitely a DNF for me.
DeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteYou forgot to exclude Rex's signoff! ROOKIE MISTAKE. 🤣🤪
Nice SatPuz. Made the ole brain sit up and take notice. North half tougher for me than the South half. Did love the plethora of F's in the North half, though!
Timer says 27 minutes, so this falls at the edge of the easy side, trying to jut into medium territory. Not too shabby for me on a puz I got stuck at in a few places.
Lots of good @Gary Uniclue opportunities. Such as: Dog treats with gravy?
SAUCED PET FOOD
I'll leave the rest up to the professionals!
Good job, Jesse. IM FOR IT!
Got a nice ROO boggle bundle in SW. Not taking any points for it, but fun to see. 😁
Hope y'all have a great Saturday!
Seven F's - FOND OF that!
RooMonster
DarrinV
@RooMonster 7:35 AM
DeleteAlpo with alcohol?
Great write-up today, Rafa. You described this puzzle TO A T. Sounds like our solving experiences were similar, except I had some trouble getting a foothold in the top half (maybe because I wasn’t BAREFOOT), then whooshed through the bottom half, then came back up and found the top half much easier the second time around. Unusual for me, and kinda fun. Yes, a bit on the easy side, but so many colorful clues and answers, so no complaints here. Thanks, Jesse Cohn!
ReplyDeleteThis was a Saturday record for me, at 5:50. Aside from the layout, it played like a Tuesday/Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteA staccato of happy pings throughout. Entertainment in the box today:
ReplyDelete• It came from words and phrases I love, such as ROOKIE MISTAKE, WREAKS, HANG TIGHT.
• Also from misdirects and vagueness in cluing, so that when the answer came, it came with a “Hah!” Clues like [Thawing] for DÉTENTE, [Treat] for DOCTOR, and [Silky-haired toy] for MALTESE.
• More happiness when I laughed at myself after confidently throwing in ALLIGATOR TEARS.
• My heart melted when I uncovered HASSOCKS, a word my great-grandma Annie – who I revered – often used. Then another happy ping from seeing it as HAS SOCKS, and now I can’t un-see it.
• A wow and a bow at [It takes two hands to show] for TEN, a delightful clue I’d never seen before, and one that made a common answer special. (A post-solve search confirmed it was indeed original.)
You created more than a puzzle, Jesse. You created a generous helping of feel-good, and that is a gift. Thank you!
If you "HAS SOCKS" you isn't BAREFOOT
DeleteI Liked this a lot. It was a good workout. Re: SAFEWORD. It's fine for a puzzle but it's a dumb concept. Ever heard of "stop"?
ReplyDeleteGonna assume you’re ignorant and not stupid and explain to you that where BDSM is concerned resistance i.e. saying “stop!” may be PART OF THE ROLE-PLAYING and so you need an agreed-upon different word, something (often) completely unrelated to sex/the word “stop”
DeleteYikes. You’re name calling and defending the perversion of both language and intimacy. Been a while since I’ve seen three whiffs in a post that short.
Deletewe use 'natick'
DeletepErvErsioN oF inTimacy
DeleteThere's "don't stop", but that needs punctuation.
DeleteIs there a Paul Newman movie for us to watch tonight?
ReplyDeleteHUDSON
License plate on vehicle owned by Brooks and Danson: MELTED
Advice as the temperature drops: Whoever HASSOCKS shouldn't go BAREFOOT. (Hi @Lewis!)
Frequent complaint about the NYTXW lately: A couple of tricky clues but REST EASY.
Marina for the octogenarians: SAG Harbor
A DUI made me miss my ETD at DFW.
SAFEWORDS (at my age): CALL 911!
Hud was on TCM Thursday night.
DeleteRe safe word at your (my) age … LOL. I was thinking along the lines of “good night dear.” 🥱😑😴
DeleteOne early misstep, when I read the clue for 2D as "Old business with, in a way" and put in Scores.
ReplyDeleteOne late misstep, when with the S in place from HASSOCKS I figured that 34A would begin with eaSY.
But no other overwrites and ultimately easy, though very nice.
Did not enjoy the DWADE/MARTIN stack but otherwise thought it was pretty good.
ReplyDeleteMy last entry!
DeleteI can’t explain it but there was something off about the puzzle’s clues.Yet, I found it easy and fun to solve.🎈🎈🎊🎊
ReplyDeleteThe highlights for me were CROCODILE TEARS, ROOKIE MISTAKE and Rafa’s guest write-up today. It’s a nice change of pace to have someone with such unbridled enthusiasm in that chair for a day.
ReplyDeleteWe had some nice long downs today as well with POISON DART, FRIED EGGS and BAREFOOT. I’d love to see what would happen if Shortz gave Robyn W. a Sunday sized grid and told her to skip the theme and just have at it (it does seem like such a shame that she is wasting her talents over at PEOPLE magazine and creating Monday-level grids for the New Yorker).
Shortz…
ReplyDeleteJust stop.
Tuesday easy for a Saturday … AGAIN!
Great puzzle, great write up. A little on the easy side for a Saturday but still very fun and no crappy fill! Hope all enjoyed as much as I did!
ReplyDeleteMOD is 100% a video game related word, but I’ve never seen it used the way it’s clued here. A mod is a community built modification to a game that are usually made to alter gameplay or expand content. While sometimes the mods are for cosmetic purposes, it’s not in the way the clue implies. Rather than one new item upgrade, it would be more like changing it so that your character looks like something else entirely.
ReplyDeleteEasy, yes--even though the bottom half was more of a slog, took me about half the usually time for a Saturday
ReplyDeleteI didn’t find this too easy, although a few long words went in earlier than I would have expected (CROCODILE TEARS from the C, for example). And some were silly gotchas that fortunately didn’t get me too lost (COSSACKS for HASSOCKS‽‽).
ReplyDeleteI loved MARTIN Gardner’s columns (spent hours implementing the game of life on computers, and built dozens of hexaflexagons). Was introduced to Hoffstadter through his book Gödel, Escher, Bach but only read his column a few times because I was working on software 75-80 hours a week.
Loved DOWNTOAT, btw.
Rafa, I very much enjoyed the TO A T puzzle! Saw the Ts when I opened the puzzle and mirror symmetry, so knew something up, but didn't get the bit until half way through, then came back and raced through the Top half.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of mirrors, your write-up was the mirror image of what I expected from RP. He would have hated ROI and airport codes, then the answers just wouldn't amuse him enough, but would begrudge that the puzzle was solidly constructed.
huh? i was thinking an RP 3 to 3.5 stars
DeleteIn the tee-hee department, I learned ramrod in middle school as a metaphor. Only discovered it was an actual thing much later...
ReplyDeleteI didn't get here yesterday, but was happy to learn about the extra meaning of the KNEE answer. (I just figured there was no way to kick the ball with a straight leg:)
ReplyDeleteAlso, the movie "Blackberry" was a very funny docu-comedy about the rise and fall of that PDA.
Wow what a truly fantastic puzzle! Nary a complaint on this one. I was eager to see if this would be a five star on the Rex scale.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why that guy's BAREFOOT as I know he HASSOCKS.
ReplyDeleteFRIEDEGGS is what the Mrs. Calls me when I'm SAUCED. Kind of a cool coincidence that our SAFEWORD, DETENTE, is in the puzzle.
I'm not as bothered by dupes as some are, but having IMFORIT immediately adjacent to MADEIT screams for EDITS. But at least the FORs is with us regarding INFOR and IMFORIT.
I think I read somewhere that MARKWAYNE Mullin has a son named MELTED.
This one played way easier than yesterday, but I liked the whooshiness. Think I'll SPINOFF into Wordle now. Thanks for a fun one, Jesse Cohn. And thanks for the nice writeup and great DOWN TOAT puzzle, Rafa.
Chiming in only to say I have also been obsessively playing the Slay the Spire 2 beta. Also, cheers to Rafa on the "Down to a T" puzzle, I thought that was brilliantly executed
ReplyDeleteGreat Friday puzzle on a Saturday. Had oneida before HUDSON, and had T_KS at the bottom for the ROOKIE MISTAKES clue and put in tik ToKS for a while thinking the vets were veterinarians and they were enjoying cat videos or something.
ReplyDelete16:55
Very nice summation today, Rafa. I see you’re a crossword talents extend beyond brilliant construction. I liked today’s puzzle. Jesse MADE IT not too EASY and not too hard but just about right for me … which is no mean FEET. 😉
ReplyDeleteOther than DWADE, there wasn’t a lot I didn’t know or couldn’t get with crosses. The entire bottom half went in very smoothly. Up north was a different story. I only had the P and the F in SPINOFF and had RAMS at 8A which kept me from seeing quite a few of the downs and leaving those long grid spanners mostly blank . Like Rafa, I’m a whiz at airport codes so when DFW appeared, that got me those three crosses and got the ball rolling.
I was disappointed that the silky Toy turned out to be a MALTESE and not a TERRIER which was my first entry and triggered a few TEARS, remembering a sweet little one named BEAU.
Chilly and damp in the Midwest this morning. I’m going to have to get SOCKS out again.
I know what you mean @whatsername! Our beloved wheaten terrier/poodle mix Tess was not a toy BUT her hair (apparently NOT like most dog FUR) was VERY silky. And…”hypoallergenic” which important for our daughter’s allergies…
DeleteFYI: CALIFORNIAROLLs were not invented in LA, they were invented in Vancouver by chef Hidekazu Tojo. Took me forever to get that, because I knew they weren't invented in Little Tokyo.
ReplyDeleteThe last thing I need is to be embroiled (or embaked or emfried) in a sushi debate, but Wikipedia says "The identity of the creator of the California roll is disputed. Several chefs from LA have been cited as the originator, as well as one chef from Vancouver, BC."
DeleteHappily, there is no similar hoohah regarding the creator of the Gefilte roll, my grandmother Adele, of blessed memory.
Solid and entertaining puzzle Rafa…you have my sentiments DOWN TO A T.
ReplyDeleteWho says you can’t learn something new every day. I knew about SAFEWORD due to 50 Shades, but TODAY I also learned (a few minutes ago) about pineapple variations…rightside up v. upside down, and also learned that ottomans have storage while HASSOCKs do not.
I think Rex would’ve liked this a lot, while also saying it was a might too easy for a Saturday. He is very understanding of SOME weak short fill when the rest of the puzzle is entertaining enough, and I think this puzzle was entertaining.
Btw…in a past life my daughter’s job title, I kid you not, was “ROI maven.”
“Down to a T.” Oh that’s good.
DeleteI thought the cluing for today’s puzzle was exquisite. The only answer that put me off a bit was SAFEWORD for the bedroom. I am familiar with it as an alert to a third party, not to a partner, so learned something new today. Among temporary dead-ends I hit were SousED for SAUCED and UNcErtain for UNDECIDED. Unlike many in this blog, DWADE was a lot easier for me than MARTIN. Am amazed at the folks who raced through this one.
ReplyDeleteWhat a bag of treats! One fun-to-write-in entry after another, and some great clues, too. I especially liked "In time," which turned out not to mean "just under the wire." Really strong finish with CROCODILE TEARS and ROOKIE MISTAKE.
ReplyDeleteI got off to a slow start, with only ORR in the top three ROWS, but then HUDSON and FREON over on the left gave me the crosses I needed to get going. I liked HANG TIGHT (things are tense) soon followed by REST EASY (all is okay). I knew MARTIN Gardner from years of never being able to crack one of his Scientific American puzzles.
Nice write-up Rafa, the only difference in our experiences today is that I will never be able to come up with a gaming reference (other than, say Ms. Pacman) without every single cross :o)
ReplyDeleteA lot to like today, very satisfying long stacks and a couple of cute mis-directs. Maybe not as crunchy as I look for in a Saturday but it was fun.
For some reason DOCTOR took me quite a while to suss out today from the cluing, Treat. My mind only went to two places - paying for someone's dinner or something like ice cream. But when it finally clicked, it was a nice moment. No other real holdups but several other nice moments.
Thank you Jesse, this was a nice ride.
Put me in the "easy but fun" crowd. Very whooshy, as many long answers went in instantly, starting with SOONERORLATER. Do-overs were SAUCED for SOUSED and IMFORIT for ILOVE IT, but fixing those made other answers obvious. Didn't know MARTIN but did know DWADE, which took care of that little are.a Have been to ARLES and am happy to report that Van Gogh's yellow house is still kept yellow.
ReplyDelete"Catch 22" is one of my all-time favorites but I don't know how many times I read it before I thought about ORR and his escape plans being Yossarian's alternative, as he could stay OR try to skedaddle. Nothing so annoying as an obvious truth, as my good old best friend says.
Had a very good time with this one, JC. Just Cause it was easy didn't make it less enjoyable, was sorry when it was over, and thanks for all the fun.
Easier than yesterday's solve and below average on resistance. These Friday/Saturday reversals seem to be more frequent than ever.
ReplyDeleteEasy-medium with the bottom half a tad tougher than the top.
ReplyDeleteMARTIN, BAMA, and MOD were it for WOEs.
Costly erasures - ILu before ILY and irON before NEON.
Smooth, sparkly, and fun, liked it a bunch!
Like Rafa, I got my start in the NE, figuring Big Al would be associated with BAMA, confirmed with ATONERS, MELTED, ARLES, but what was that swimming pool entry going to be that started with B? Backwards? (Didn't fit). BAREFOOT, good one!
ReplyDeleteI had Spelling Bee's favorite enTENTE first. My text endearment was ILu and I thought the Nissan model was an ALterA but all of this was fixed and in a very short time, I was done with this puzzle. Sadly, another super easy Saturday solve.
One of my former co-workers named her younger daughter ELSA. I asked her, at the time, if she didn't think everyone was going to name their daughter ELSA but she was pretty sure that wouldn't happen. Maybe she thought so because the movie was 5 years old by the time ELSA was born. Perhaps she is at the end of the "spike" mentioned in the clue and there won't be 5 other girls named ELSA in her class. In my day, Lori and Cathy were the most common names.
Jesse Cohn, this was a fun puzzle to solve, thanks!
Whoa. SAFEWORDs, CALIFORNIA ROLLS and venture capitalists talking ROI? Sounds like we came for a simple crossword and ended up in an all-nerd swinger's club. All we're missing is the ecstasy! Who says IMFORIT, I wonder?
ReplyDeleteThis one played very easy for me -- my fastest Saturday ever, and that goes back over 10 years. Felt almost Tuesdayish. Not really sure why -- nothing seems in a particular wheelhouse of mine. I filled in barely anything on my Across pass, and what little I had in had a few mistakes -- PAYFOR for "Treat" and ILSA for ELSA -- but the Downs went in whoosh whoosh whoosh. I wish it was because I am getting smarter or better at crosswords, but I know it's not.
ReplyDeleteI’m not going to rule out a Vulcan mind-meld with Jesse Cohn ;)
DeleteWell, I particularly enjoyed today’s puzzle because I got a personal best time solving it, 12:39. Without googling anything, which is unusual for me on Saturdays. I know that’s probably not that impressive to the pro-level solvers here, but it has certainly made my day.
ReplyDeleteI’m impressed, and totally get why it made your day. And…lol…I’m NOT a pro level solver and my PB for Saturday is in the same vicinity. Hey. It takes TIME to cheat. Oh…I guess you COULD stop the timer, but who does THAT? Btw. I was more than that for me today. Let’s just say I bested Okanaganer today by a few…and he’s fast! Speed solving is not my jam at 71. Ok. When my brain was young enough and possibly capable of handling the anxiety of “speed solving” I was a crossword idiot.
Delete@Beezer... thanks for calling me fast! (I'm not really, but it's nice to hear.)
DeleteReally enjoyed your TO A T puzzle, Rafa! Great work!
ReplyDeleteReally solid fillins, in this 62-word SatPuz. Clues were semi-challengin, altho I only recall two ?-marker ones. No-knows were really limited, which always makes things seem easier [and fairer].
ReplyDeletestaff weeject pick: LIM. forever a fave, since I used to teach that mysterious calculus stuff.
Only real head-scratcher was GEOS = {Metros in the 1990s}. Is that a car brand ref, or somesuch?
hard to pick out faves, as I liked a ton of stuff, but ...
SOONERORLATER. CROCODILETEARS. BAREFOOT & clue. EDITS clue. FRIEDEGGS & clue. The 4 Jaws of Themelessness -- with 2 of them Jaws havin fangs, too boot. MATTE & MATS. WEHADADEAL. etc.
Thanx for the fun, Mr. Cohn dude. Real nice job.
Masked & Anonymo2Us
p.s.
dessert runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
Easy for a Saturday, but impeccable for a Friday - lots of fun in answers and cluing. Great fun!
ReplyDeleteI'm in on a 120 puzzle streak with no cheats. For whatever reason I found this in the top 10% of hardest, at least within the last 80-90 days. Lots of open ended generic full.
ReplyDeleteI also fully object to MOD as it is used. This is from a GenXer who was around since the dawn of video games. My teen and tween agree it's improperly clued.
That AI slop image is nothing close to a musket or rifle ramrod.
ReplyDeleteAwful clue for MOD. Could not be more wrong. Ugh. That’s like calling everything an EMO band. NYT needs to actually hire a young person.
ReplyDeleteNot overly quick for me at 21 minutes. (How some of you can do it in say 6 minutes... yikes.) The long answers are mostly fun and lively, especially CROCODILE TEARS.
ReplyDeleteRafa's picture of a FRIED EGG looks so yummy. However when I hear or read that term, I think of its use in golf to describe a shot that has landed hard and "plugged" in the bunker, so the top of the ball is just visible. (I love those sorts of sayings!)
A few Unknowns today: DWADE (or is it D-WADE?), HASSOCK (!), ROI ("French king"!!), and even LIM because though I took lots of calculus, it was about 50 years ago. My old friend LIMIT!
I've often thought a good SAFE WORD would be "uncle", because it can mean "I give in!" However, if part of the fantasy is that she is my niece, well... I think I'll stop typing now.
This cracked me up (well, mainly the “uncle thing.” And yes…DWADE is similar to AROD…except AROD has more than half of his last name cut out.
Delete9D was also the first thing I put in the grid, except I very confidently put fastERS, not ATONERS. That threw me off for a while.
ReplyDeleteEasy with lots of whoosh. Would have been better suited for a Friday, but really nice puzzle by Jesse Cohn. D-WADE tricked me into putting in TEe for "It takes two hands to show", as in a timeout signal (Martie for MARTIN seemed plausible). Speaking of T... top-tier Thursday puzzle, Rafa! POTY nominee IMO. Thanks for the write-up.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the puzzle and your writeup, @Eli! Loved your DOWNTOAT puzzle! I didn’t have time to read the comments Thursday so thanks for giving me the nudge to revisit. Lots of interesting stuff including the juniper/pine discussion by @Les S. More and a rare @Nancy sighting! In case you missed it she was joining @Lewis on a POY nomination. Two discerning xw constructor minds giving your and Sala’s work high marks!
ReplyDeleteHand up for liking this puzzle which could’ve also been a whooshy Friday. Treats everywhere I turned - I kept chuckling at misdirecting clues and fun entries. Guessed correctly pretty quickly on most, but I tried irON before NEON, and for the “Treat” clue had the D—TO_ wanted DOgTOy. Held off and let the crosses do their thing. Got my puppy fix later with PETFOOD.
Had a ridiculous mental lapse trying to come up with the name of the firearm that Musketeers use. D’oh! Musket-eer. Then of course it wasn’t the firearm itself but the accessory, the “tool.”
Thanks Jesse - hope to see more soon!
Mimi L
Sorry, @Rafa - meant to say I enjoyed *your* puzzle and writeup! Must’ve gotten mixed up after going back and reading Thursday’s comments! (though I enjoyed Eli’s writeup too)
DeleteThe clue for MOD is so bad... echoing others' sentiments please NYT hire some young people
ReplyDeleteCan someone please explain PARD (cowboy’s friend, informally)?
ReplyDeleteHowdy, pardner
DeleteI don't usually comment, and as a non-american completing an American crossword, I accept there will be american-specific answers, but today felt particularly US-heavy?
ReplyDeleteBAMA, CALIFORNIAROLL, HUDSON, GEOS, DWADE, CLE, MARTIN, DFW...
Oye, ya no hay vuelta atrás.
ReplyDeleteKind of a tough puzzle for me. Dunno why. MARTIN was a huge part of the problem. Add in some calculus and we're well beyond the four buttons I know how to use on my calculator.
Rare to find a four in one gunk entry, but BAMA as clued is a person, place, product and ultimately I just called it a partial.
Good weekend for PRONGs.
Doesn't the silky-hairedness depend somewhat on the likelihood of a recent dog bath? Those are rather few and far between with my admittedly non-MALTESE mutt.
❤️ CROCODILE TEARS. ROOKIE MISTAKE. DAMSELS. POISON DART.
😩 IN FOR. SOLD TO. FOND OF. ATONERS.
People: 4
Places: 2
Products: 4
Partials: 8
Foreignisms: 0
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 18 of 62 (29%)
Funny Factor: 2 😕
Tee-Hee: SAFE WORD: It seems like a good idea since "locking metal box in the wall behind the painting of a ship" is sorta long. Maybe use RAMROD?
Uniclues:
1 Be left with ALA.
2 Cost of seeing the cool new physician.
3 'tscold.
4 Married two dyslexics with big heads.
5 Likelihood kissing this frog will be the one.
6 In love with confusion around what an initialism means.
7 Tries to teach Lego a lesson.
8 Amusing play about office supplies.
9 Correcting your spelling errors with hot cheese.
1 SPIN OFF BAMA
2 DOCTOR MOD FEES
3 FREON SAFE WORD
4 WED DUAL GEOS
5 DAMSEL'S ODDS (~)
6 FOND OF ILY MESS
7 WREAKS BAREFOOT (~)
8 A TONER'S SATIRE
9 MELTED EDITS
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: How long you'll be grumbling about Barbiecore. DOLL EONS.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I have also been playing sts2, but I think the clue for mod is inaccurate. Mods are when the game play is modified. A new outfit or accessory is a skin.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle wasn't that easy for me, though I worked it out in the end. it took me a while to get traction, and I had several unknowns: MOD, GEOS, DWADE, MARTIN. But I thought the cluing was excellent: "Treat" for DOCTOR, "Thawing" for DETENTE, "Routine surfaces" for MATS, "Cause of amusement to a vet, maybe" for ROOKIEMISTAKE, "How people get into a swimming pool"" for BAREFOOT. In the end I thought it was a most satisfying Saturday Puzzle. Thanks, Jesse Cohn!
ReplyDeleteLots of fun. I used to read Martin Gardiner voraciously (in Scientific American, I think) and it was great to find his name. My only big mistake was I thought a silky haired toy might be a Ken Doll. (it fit!) That took me a while to sort out. Thanks for the great puzzle
ReplyDeleteI found this hard! DWADE, ALTIMA, MALTESE dog (thank you Rafa) FREON, SAUCE for blitz…and the idea that you put a list of CHOREs on the fridge!!
ReplyDeleteTIL that NEON is the fifth most abundant element - nice!
Thank you for this fine Saturday
Felt like a Tuesday. Got stuck in south east, but the rest was filling out a shopping list.
ReplyDelete