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Relative difficulty: Easy
Word of the Day: MONT-Saint-Michel (21A: ___-Saint-Michel (French commune on a tiny island)) —
Mont-Saint-Michel (French pronunciation: [lə mɔ̃ sɛ̃ miʃɛl]; Norman: Mont Saint Miché; English: Saint Michael's Mount) is a tidal island and mainland commune in Normandy, France.
The island lies approximately one kilometre (half a nautical mile) off France's north-western coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches and is 7 hectares (17 acres) in area. The mainland part of the commune is 393 hectares (971 acres) in area so that the total surface of the commune is 400 hectares (990 acres). As of 2023, the island has a population of 23.
The commune's position—on an island just a few hundred metres from land—made it accessible at low tide to the many pilgrims to its abbey, and defensible as the incoming tide stranded, drove off, or drowned threats on foot. The island remained unconquered during the Hundred Years' War. A small garrison fended off a full attack by the English in 1433. Louis XI recognised the benefits of its natural defence and turned it into a prison. The abbey was used regularly as a prison during the Ancien Régime.
Mont-Saint-Michel and its surrounding bay were inscribed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1979 for its unique aesthetic and importance as a Catholic site. It is visited by more than three million people each year, and is the most-visited tourist attraction in France outside of Paris. Over 60 buildings within the commune are protected as historical monuments. (wikipedia)
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| [40A] |
[29A: Val who played Iceman in "Top Gun"]
ASKING FOR A FRIEND went in like whoooooosh, straight across the grid, after I got the "A" and "I" "N" "G" crosses sorted. A great way to zoom into the grid. That one answer made the whole top part of the puzzle easy to take down and then whoosh, off I shot again, down the length of the grid, all the way to the bottom on the back of MOONLIGHT SONATA! I was less lucky with neighboring EARTHLIKE PLANET—I got the EARTH part easily enough, but then ... those "planets" sounded like stars to me, somehow, so I was like "EARTH ... EARTHLESS STAR? No, too short ... I give up." So I just worked from SONATA and the bottom filled itself in pretty easily—no idea about FOOL'S MATE (61A: Infamous chess trap that ends the game in two moves) but crosses were easy, and then yet another whoooosh with ALL BARK AND NO BITE. With the back end now in place, I could see EARTHLIKE PLANET, and so back up I went to the center for whooosh number four, KILL WITH KINDNESS, which took me into the sides of the grid, which is where I finished. Again, really wish those sides (and all the edges of this grid) weren't so crud-laden—tough to end a largely enjoyable solve by stepping in ONED—but that's how things go some days. As I say, the overall experience was a positive one.
Was it too easy again today? Yes, pretty much, but the oversized grid at least gave me a little more to do. The only thing that really held me up in any discernible way today was EARTHLIKE PLANET, and as we've seen, it didn't hold me up much. Very workaroundable. I struggled a little with CAKESICLES (3D: "Sticky" birthday treats?) largely because those are relatively modern inventions—no birthday party I ever went to had them. Just serve cake! I know, forks, plates, whatever, but if you think the cake-on-a-stick thing is going to be any less messy, then ... you aren't familiar with the party-eating habits of small children. I can't imagine wanting to eat a cakesicle. Also, aren't they called CAKE POPs?? What is the difference? Hmm, looks like CAKE POPs imitate a lollipop and CAKESICLES are more like popsicles. The fact that both forms being imitated have "pop" in their names is not helping. Anyway, the distinction seems to be a matter of shape and stick type. And that's what the clue is trying to pun on, by the way—"sticky" refers to the "stick" through the center of the CAKESICLES, not the fact that CAKESICLES are "sticky" as in "gooey and messy," which may or may not be true.
Bullets:
- 33A: "Neato!" ("OH, COOL"!) — No. "Neato!" = "COOL!" There's nothing really cluing the "OH" part. Dislike.
- 44A: Place to get "pawmpered," say (PET SPA) — first of all, if crosswords didn't tell me so on a seemingly weekly basis, I'm not sure I'd know PET SPAs (or DOGSPAS or CATSPAWS or FERRETSPAS) existed (I made that last one up ... or did I?) (I did). Second, that's an awful pun. I don't mean "awful" as in "a groaner," I mean it doesn't work. It doesn't sound right. You're going to pawmper your dog? Sounds like you're going to beat it with some kind of miniature sledgehammer. "Come on, Fluffy, time to get pawmpered" [dog hides]. The vowel sound is so different that you lose the pun. I guess it's more of a visual pun? Those ... aren't as good.
- 6D: Symbol use in summation (SIGMA) — very mathy/chessy puzzle (SIGMA, UNSOLVED, FOOLSMATE). Not for me, but possibly for you.
- 65A: What some streakers are charged with? (TASERS) — I guess this is supposed to be funny, but somehow police using truly excessive violence on someone pulling an ultimately harmless prank doesn't make me chuckle. Real grim "joke" clue.
- 55A: Product of manscaping (NAIR) — really, really hate the "of" here. A product of manscaping is something created by manscaping. Like ... I dunno, what do they call that little hairway path running from your bellybutton ... downward? "Trail of Tears?" No, that's not it. "Glory ... path?" Gah. It has a name! Aha, found it: "happy trail!" LOL, Trail of Tears—I was close! Anyway, NAIR is a product for manscaping. It's a manscaping product. It is not a product "of manscaping." Boo. [Update: I have no idea how, but I misread the clue; my the clue is actually [Product for manscaping] and my printout actually reads [Product for manscaping] but somehow I read "for" as "of" and it stuck so bad that I continued to believe it was "of" even as I wrote about it ... sometimes I worry about myself. Anyway, boo to me, not the clue! And maybe you learned something about abdominal hair along the way!]
Happy trails, FOLKs. See you next time.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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ReplyDelete@Rex: I think there's a typo in your Word of the Day. The clue says "Tidal," not "Today."
Decent puzzle but Super Easy. Didn't need the clues for any of the grid-spanners and for about half the longer answers. Would have made a good Wednesday themeless.
* * * _ _
One overwrite:
At 49A, my peace-not-war suffix was nik before it was FUL.
One WOE:
Brooklyn Nine Nine character GINA Linetti (35A).
I agree with @Rex that the 65A image of streakers (who are, after all nonviolent), getting "charged" with TASERS flunks the breakfast test. And the lunch and dinner tests.
I wanted PATE, which I still think is a better answer, but it was instantly obvious that it wouldn't work.
DeleteHands up for nik!
DeleteBrie is a cheese, not a charcuterie spread, or so I thought.
ReplyDeleteBrie, especially out of the fridge a while, is soft enough to spread like cream cheese.
DeleteMe too. Brie might be part of the spread but not the whole thing. But maybe the clue is just referring to the fact that Brie is more spreadable than other cheeses.
DeleteIt’s a spreadable cheese.
DeleteBrie is a soft cheese that's often spread onto bread or a cracker rather than consumed as a chunk or slice,
DeleteI had to finally let go of "meat" there.
DeleteThat irked me as well. Charcuterie means cold cuts and has nothing to do with cheese.
DeleteAnon 1:45, that is the true meaning and original version. But most charcuterie boards I see nowadays are a blend of meat & cheeses. But I did start with patè (no idea which way accent should point) which is more accurate but not correct
DeleteChrisS
DeleteGood point. Chacuterie board spread would would work
As is, a bit sloppy.
Re: 55a, my app shows the clue as “product for manscaping,” not “of,” though I do remember misreading it as “of” the first time and not getting it.
ReplyDeleteRex's righteous anger at the TASER answer is misplaced. Yes, of course, shocking naked people is overkill, but in this case, the streaker is a speeding driver and the TASER is the device to clock its velocity.
ReplyDeleteSince when is a speed gun called a “taser”?
DeleteI really don't think so.
DeleteI think you’re confusing tases with lasers. Lasers can measure velocity and that’s called lidar.
DeleteMaybe it's a wave-length thing, but..
ReplyDeleteWhile he grid spanners may have been stunning, for me they were all pure and immediate gimmes - no hesitation, no down help needed or used. I'd be surprised if I were the only one with this experience.
Not a complaint or critique - just an observation.
Yeah it’s a wave length thing
Delete@Anon6:21, we (and obviously Rex) agree with your observation that the (remarkable, from a construction standpoint) were easily determined, with little resistance that often defines a Friday solve.
DeleteLoved Rex sharing his being "torn about that half star", though now I'm wondering whether his debate was 3 vs 3-1/2 or 3-1/2 vs 4 🤔. Did the (12 specifically mentioned) awFUL fill examples pull the rating down (from 4), or have him consider, but not implement, a downgrade (to 3)? I often imagine (obsess about?) Rex having a ratings rubric which, if ever uncovered, would be like unearthing the Dead Sea Scrolls. Kinda sorta.
Our daughter has pet ferrets; they have never been to a ferret SPA, but we all appreciated the concept.
Listened to MOONLIGHT SONATA and Mr. Ashkenazy performing Chopin while reading the commentary. Quite an enjoyable Friday; thanks!!
16 wide gorgeous grid - love the 5 spanners especially the double vertical stack. KILL WITH KINDNESS is the highlight.
ReplyDeleteSyd Straw
The grid is well filled for the most part - agree with the big guy that is trended easy for a late week puzzle but I had fun with it. ITS NOTHING, LOST LUSTER, CALL HOME are all solid. CALESICLES is unfortunate and OPEN OFFICE doesn’t hit. Limited trivia helps. The clue for 55a in the app included “for”.
Sturm and Drang, the LUSTER and the sheen
My baby's leaving on the 2: 19
A highly enjoyable Friday morning solve. 48 and rainy this morning - looks to be a rough weather weekend - hope the puzzles are good.
Laura Nyro
¡Te oí a la primera! ¡Caray!
ReplyDeleteFirst pass through was a little disheartening as I was staring at a big basket of nothing, but after a little patience the bottom spanner dropped and afterward I ran the table. Lots of awkwardness to enjoy and a few things I kinda doubt are things, but overall it's a wonderful Friday romp. And there's a mummy. I'm expecting a few "too easy" comments today (and hope they'll be creative), but for me it was a good balance.
Today, I'm sorta betting and sorta sad we won't have enough comments that begin with the phrase, "I was manscaping with my NAIR the other day, and...."
So, um, I will sheepishly admit I did not realize we've taken to TASERING naked runners. I've only seen the tackling videos. I'd imagine in the majority of situations, doing nothing would also work. Generally, in society, it seems like we've mostly agreed to put our clothes back on and go home, and TASERS seem like something we should keep over at my dominatrix's house.
When we're talking about deep-fried TOTS, are we talking potatoes or Hansel and Gretel?
😫 LOESS.
People: 7
Places: 2
Products: 5
Partials: 6
Foreignisms: 4
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 24 of 75 (32%)
Funny Factor: 5 😄
Tee-Hee: Woodpeckers' peckers. Streakers.
Uniclues:
1 What the clown's wife keeps in her rack.
2 What happened when I met AIN'T.
1 FOOL'S MATE SPICES
2 ISN'T LOST LUSTER
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Monogamy. CATER TO ONE LOVE.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
She was going to put H&G into the oven, so I imaging they were going for potatoes!
DeleteGary it was easily too easy.
DeleteDeep fried? Nah, not a deep fryer in sight. Hans and his sis were to be baked. That is so famous, a decade and half ago, they made a lampoon called Hansel and Gretel get baked.
Delete18 minutes for me last night (with the TV on), so medium. Liked the extra wide grid, all those awesome grid spanners, didn't notice the "glue" so much. Our old friend OCCAM seems popular these days. Enjoyed parsing "UNSOLVED" as clued. Bump on a lid was KNOB before STYE; So much nice in-the-language stuff--KPOP and IFSO and AVID. I liked this puzzle lots, Gene, thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteMy solve was made harder by two mistakes on my part. First, I wanted some PATE on my charcuterie board. And second, I read "more sizzle than steak," an expression I have not heard as used here, as a comparative--'Wow, he's got more sizzle than steak!" so that I couldn't see the answer until I had the BARK.
ReplyDeleteAs for OAK FOREST, who knew? The Merry Men's bows were made of yew, if I recall correctly, but once I saw the MOONLIGHT SONATA it was clear enough.
But those were my problems. I really enjoyed this one, mainly due to the spanners. No idea about some of the short stuff. TISH??? But it all filled itself in.
It refers to Morticia Addams from the Addams Family shows.
DeleteQuerida Mia. Cara Bella.
DeleteGomez: “TISH, I just love it when you speak French!”
DeleteI was a kid when this was on, but unlike The Munsters…it really was clever. And they had a great source of inspiration with the work of Chas Addams…
Gomez and Morticia had the healthiest, most truly satisfying (and eternally young!) relationship of any TV married couple of their time, bar none.
DeleteI agree about the original Addams Family TV show Great show and great source material. The tune is of course now in my head!
DeleteI know it wouldn't fit, but I REALLY wanted 57A to be ALL HAT AND NO CATTLE... 😁
ReplyDeleteLove that! A collection of sayings with that same drift would make a fun puzzle!
DeleteGene, you had me at Woodpecker's pecker.
ReplyDeletePretty hard for me by modern Friday standards (which is still easy-medium by historic standards).
ReplyDeleteSeemed like a lot of partials today (KAL, CHOW, FUL, MONT, MESO, APSO). One partial dog breed name per puzzle should be the max.
Kitshef
DeleteGood catch
I didn’t notice the fact there were 2 dog partials.
My favorite moment was when, while staring at the completed grid, my eyes fell on the abutting MOONLIGHT SONATA and EARTHLIKE PLANET, and for a moment I was whisked into “2001: A Space Odyssey”, specifically a segment where we, the viewers, are gliding through outer space to “The Blue Danube” waltz, and where stunningly, the splendor and majesty of the universe are viscerally felt in the bones.
ReplyDeleteWhere it’s clear that Earth, our home, and the focus of all our concerns, is but a speck in a vast universe, amidst a glorious and beautiful celestial dance. Magic, truth, and beauty intertwined.
Today, when I saw EARTHLIKE PLANET next to MOONLIGHT SONATA, there I was again, suddenly, gliding through space, dollying toward and around the planet, amidst a starry background, accompanied this time by Beethoven’s haunting sonata, and it worked perfectly. A wow moment indeed.
Gene, your puzzle was fun to uncover, but even more so, it markedly lifted the quality of my day. Thank you!
Very enjoyable for my 520th consecutive NYTXW puzzle. I’m starting to get the hang of it. I used to have to cheat quite a bit. I still do from time to time because it’s more important to me that I complete the grid than that I do it totally from my own knowledge. There are still many words that are completely foreign to me. But by completing the grid, I learn them. That’s how I was able to finish a Friday with no lookups!
ReplyDeleteAnd I learned something new today too. I learned the moonlight sonata freshman year in high school. I learned the Fantasie Impromptu in college. I never knew there was a connection between them. Heh. Even now it occurs to me that they’re both in C-sharp minor. Oh Cool!
Easy/medium, I'd say. Grid spanners were easier than usual, especially KILLWITHKINDNESS crossing MOONLIGHTSONATA. A well-constructed grid.
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteRemarkable puz, with 16's running wild throughout the grid. I forgive any entries that are deemed dreck, to be able to piece together this fine grid. Every puz has dreck, don't mind if it holds together 13(!) Long (and good) answers. [8 letters or more]
Ended up on the easy side, but wasn't a whoosh solve hear. Was stuck in various spots, but was able to persevere and figure everything out. Nice open grid, kind of a bummer that Gene couldn't get rid of the cheater squares. But, leaving them in led to better fill.
Great puz to start the day!
Hope y'all have a great Friday!
Six F's - OH COOL
RooMonster
DarrinV
Loved the long answers, and found the puzzle more medium than easy overall. But that’s good!
ReplyDeleteReally don’t particulatly want to know all those terms for the line of hair below the belly button. We never used to even talk about those parts of people’s anatomy!
Another pearl clutcher: most gays call it the Treasure Trail.
DeleteJJK —- you’re dead right. It’s hardly pearl clutching to find manscaping and body hair—especially that which leads to the genitals—out of bounds.
Deletelol… always knew it as Hairway to Heaven
DeleteVery easy Friday. I got hung up on ONE D and TISH, perhaps because I'm not into "boy bands" and only ever watched the Addams Family maybe twice, so there I had no idea. Wasted 2-3 minutes in that area but still finished in just 12 minutes and change.
ReplyDeleteWhenever Rex states that a puzzle “makes you want to barf at times”, you know it has the potential to be a long day, which this one was for me. Rex got excited about the longer answers, which were enough to carry the day for him. My experience was a little more tedious - things like ET ALII and LOESS had me believing I had typos or mistakes in there. Some of it is just a wheelhouse or knowledge gap effect (I don’t know what MESO-American is for example, and of course I don’t know what a lagomorpha is).
ReplyDeleteI won’t be complaining about this one being too easy - it was plenty tough enough for me. Not a bad way to ease us into a long weekend though.
Pet spas are pretty common where I live. However my daughter’s dog (RIP sweet Della) literally recognized those places as kennels and categorically rejected them. When her family went out of town she required either her dog grandparents or a vet tech that watched dogs in her spare time to take care of her. Anyway it’s a fair crossword entry.
ReplyDeleteHave a nice long weekend all!
Straightforward. But I thought it was very nice, those luscious spanners going across and the slim central colonnade coming down. Got some whoosh going on, always pleasant. The rest was a mixed bag. Mostly I remember the OH COOL parts though.
ReplyDeleteI never heard that about Fantaisie-Impromptu (MOONLIGHT SONATA). Oh, there's the weasel phrase "said to be" inspired by that Beethoven piece. The person saying it is apparently not Chopin himself, but a musicologist by the name of Oster, who wrote, "The Fantaisie-Impromptu is perhaps the only instance where one genius discloses to us—if only by means of a composition of his own—what he actually hears in the work of another genius." The only instance? That seems a stretch. Elsewhere, "some musicologists" suggest that
Chopin's "Waterfall" Etude (Etude Opus 10 No. 1; I'm sure you've heard it, those majestic sweeping arpeggios) was inspired by Bach's Prelude in C Major (from Book One of the Well-Tempered Clavier), so might that be another example of that same genius re-imagining the work of another genius? Here is Vladimir Ashkenazy in god-level mode performing that Chopin Etude as an encore, a piece that Vladimir Horowitz said he wouldn't dare attempt to perform in public.
TISH. Tish? I'm really not familiar with the Addams Family series, so I'd forgotten that Morticia is the name of the wife, but does he (Gomez I guess) really call her Tish at any point? Tish sounds like your friend from the book club who often puts her hair up in a messy bun before she goes about her business. Honestly, I was getting confused there, thinking at first Elvira and not Morticia (answer is "elvi"?), but that did lead me to some pretty delightful reading about the life of Cassandra Peterson who plays Elvira.
Despite some dissent from another comment, I think the clue for TASERS is just as bad as Rex says it is. Is it supposed to be funny? "Ha ha, I guess they got what was coming to them, those DOLTS!" It reminds me of what we're supposed to find funny about America's Funniest Home Videos, all those hilarious clips showing Dad getting beaned in the nuts. Really not my brand of humor. I blame the NYTXW editorial team.
But otherwise: thanks, Gene Louise De Vera, for some Friday fun!
Gomez called her TISH without fail. He is the only one that did. It really was a fairly brilliant take off of the original Addams Family comic panels. I say that in retrospect because I really wasn’t old enough to say that when it actually ran on TV. I do remember being astonished when one of my parents told me Uncle Fester (Jackie Coogan) had been a child actor!
DeleteThank you for that Ashkenazy clip!
Deletetht, I’m a retired musicologist and TIL that Chopin’s Fantaisie-Impromptu is “said to be” inspired by the Moonlight Sonata. I’ve never heard that before in all my years. Sure, there are some similarities, but that “inspired” bit appears to be pure speculation.
DeleteAs for Chopin and Bach, we’re on somewhat firmer ground. But it’s Chopin’s C major Prelude, not the C major Etude, that appears to be inspired by the first prelude in Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, music known to be of high personal and artistic value for Chopin. Like the Bach, Chopin’s set of preludes has 24 items, one in each key, and begins with C major. (Bach, of course, writes prelude-and-fugue pairs, Chopin just the preludes.) Both composers’ C major preludes have a continuous texture that moves through beautiful harmonies with little in the way of melody. Though there’s no proof, per se, the evidence points strongly toward an intentional homage. I can’t say the same about the Fantaisie-Impromptu and the Beethoven. But they’re both fantastic pieces!
A fun puzzle to solve. I llked it a lot. Never knew the term cakesicles until today: seems icky to me.🎈🎈🎊🎊
ReplyDeleteI have wondered for awhile what your baloon/jellyfish emojis are trying to communicate to me, so today I cut & pasted the set to Google. They are NOT jellyfish, but rather confetti balls, which even I understand.
DeleteMrs. Egs (a FOOLSMATE if there ever was one) hankered for that Lost show so much that I'd have to say she was a LOSTLUSTER.
ReplyDeleteHockey Coach: OKOK, guys. I brought a case of beer but I don't want to be finding bottle caps on the rink. Remember, OPENOFFICE.
I don't need NAIR. I simply use OCCAM's razor.
Hey, would you give me one of your best buddies.....ASKINGFORAFRIEND?
Before shooting Scene 3, the director had SEENTO Scene 2.
Awfully easy, but it made MESO happy for a few minutes. Thanks, Gene Louise De Vera.
Good stuff, @egs.
DeleteMan I had a good time with this one. Somehow 1A clicked immediately but on the rest of my first pass I had almost nothing other than the incorrect *pate* for 11A. I thought I'd be in for a long haul as two down spanners were nowhere in my wheelhouse. I do really need to bulk up on my classical music and I had a total brain freeze on whatever the heck a Kepler is...
ReplyDeleteBut working my way through each neighborhood, things fell into place. First spanner to fall across was ASKINGFORAGRIEND, finally changing ETaS to ETDs was the spark for that.
Each and every one of those spanners is a 100% knockout. They look so pretty in the grid and are so in the language that for me, it made up for any short fill that wasn't as exciting. I agree with @Rex, I winced at OKOK and OHCOOL, especially crossing each other, but a puzzle's gotta do what a puzzle's gotta do. And if the results are things like KILLWITHKINDNESS, I'll take whatever you gotta give.
NE was a little STICKY for me even with BICEP falling so quickly. CAKESICLES is new to me and ITSNOTHING took a little longer than it should have. It didn't help that I read 23A as Sign of *depression* rather than the correct Desperation. I'm thinking "sad", "sob" (??) That gummed up the works for me for a bit.
One other costly error was throwing in *sauces* for 62A (Contents of a kitchen rack). No idea why that came to me before SPICES but it did. It was quickly fixed when i realized IBIS ISNT spelled with a U.
Gene, this was a great start to my long weekend. Will you be making many more of these?? ASKINGFORAFRIEND.
An earlier version of O'Neill's play featuring the hilarious exploits of a bumbling CPA: The Importance of Being ERNST.
ReplyDeleteBefore adopting the hammer and sickle for its flag, the USSR considered using a hammer and CAKESICLE. Hard to imagine how different world history might have been.
Sooooo easy.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree any reference to police violence is an unnecessary blemish on a puzzle, I'll quibble with the assertion that streaking is harmless. Yes, we should all be fine with naked bodies. We've all got one. But as a woman, being confronted by a naked man in a place I'm not expecting one, I feel at least a brief jolt of fear. So, harmless intent, but not always harmless execution.
ReplyDeleteSo, harmless intent worthy of blast from a taser? Just because you feel a jolt of fear, some prankster should get a jolt of electricity? Nope.
DeleteWhoa, I didn't say, nor even imply, that my fear in that situation merited state-sanctioned violence. When I said "quibble with the assertion that streaking is harmless," I meant that I was quibbling...with the assertion...that streaking is harmless...by pointing out the harm it causes me (and probably a number of other people). Yours was an Olympic-caliber jump to a completely incorrect conclusion about my meaning here.
DeleteDid you see the part where I described any mention of police violence as a blemish on a puzzle? That's because I find police violence abhorrent.
Info on Zillow is RMS? What does that mean?
ReplyDeleteRooms
DeleteAgreeing with those who thought the grid-spanners more than made up for the bad fill. I did this puzzle in the morning in Europe so I didn’t get to read Rex’s post immediately post-solve as I do in the US, and as I walked to the library I smiled and basked in how wonderful the grid-spanners were. I normally don’t get excited about themeless puzzles, but this one made me get why people love them. I remember thinking, “Surely Rex will love it…unless it had a lot of junk fill.” I couldn’t remember whether or not it did because the long answers brought me so much joy.
ReplyDeleteOh well. I guess some of it was indeed pretty bad. Apparently it wasn’t bad enough to ruin my solving experience, and it entirely got erased in my memory by the excellent long answers.
Nair was one that bugged me…primarily because it is notably a terrible product for manscaping…or at least the bits most commonly associated with manscaping.
ReplyDeleteDo people still streak? I thought that fad ended well before tasers were invented. Considering the states of undress that hit the red carpet at various celebrity gatherings, I don't see what the big deal is. As Rex says, using a taser seems quite excessive.
ReplyDeleteI noticed the extra row today because after whooshing through ASKING FOR A FRIEND, I had to check if that phrase was an amazing 15 letters but I saw it needed the bigger grid. One extra row and look at the COOL phrases you can get into your puzzle.
I thought for sure 8D was going to be meteor-related rather than PLANETs. I didn't know we had named some of those planets that we've declared EARTH-LIKE. Though Kepler-random number isn't exactly a scintillating name. I suppose it indicates in what sector of the universe the planet was identified although my albeit brief search doesn't say - most of the hits are Reddit or Quora answers.
Gene Louise De Vera, nice puzzle!
The NW slowed me down with IT'S NOTHING which I just couldn't see (I wanted IT'S NO + a 5-letter word) and the unknown CAKESICLES, but easy everywhere else. Spanners go from solid to excellent.
ReplyDeleteFOOL'S MATE isn't really a "trap". It's the quickest way a game of chess can end, but it requires one player to play a dumb move followed by an even dumber one. The opponent just plays a very normal move that doesn't qualify as a "trap" at all, and checkmates on turn 2.
I echo @Hugh above…I REALLY enjoyed this puzzle and thought Rex MIGHT give it a 4.5 star rating. However, I’m not good at figuring out the type and nature of the “short fill” such that its status drops from the necessary glue for the great grid spanners to…I (Rex) still have to give it demerits.
ReplyDeleteI really liked ASKINGFORAFRIEND and KILLWITHKINDNESS. I also liked ALLBARKANDNOBITE, even though I can’t recall ever hearing “more sizzle than steak” but no matter.
Mont-Saint-Michel was my favorite thing to see in France…breath-taking. An interesting factoid…of course it’s prohibited to go into the area around it when the tide is out BUT certain trained instructors are allowed to go out with small groups to teach them how to get out of quicksand.
1D--BEAKS, I said, 18A-read clue, ASKINGFORAFRIEND I said, and so it went, as I experienced a severe case of gridspannerwhoosh, which I have translated from the original German. Never thought I'd have a need for it, but with the exception of EARTHLIKEPLANET (didn't get the Kepler reference) the others went in more or less immediately, And if that isn't nice I don't know what is.
ReplyDeleteMinor snags while I wondered what a CAKEBICLE might be and DULL before DEAD for the party but that was it. Enigmatic clue for UNSOLVED but easy crosses. Didn't know GINA but likewise. I guess there's no escaping neato, if it's not an answer it's a clue. I mean, really.
Today's where-have-you-been is LOESS, I word I learned in 9th grade Earth Science, which was the freshman science course in NYS way back when. Don't think I've seen it outside of crosswords since then.
I liked this one a lot, GLDV. Getting Lotsa Delightful Variations for spanners is no mean feat, and thanks for all the fun.
Medium for me, despite the whoosh of those great long phrases across and down the grid. I got bogged down for a long time in the CAKE...what? area. I knew there were things called CAKE balls, so I wrote in the "b" (giving me SOb, which I accepted as OK). Was the nickname maybe TaSH (Natasha)? And I had no idea about the band. Eventually I got suspicious of SOb and managed to figure it all out.
ReplyDeleteI thought MOON and EARTH as neighbors made a lovely pair, especially crossing CALL HOME. I also liked BRIE x BRIO and actually liked the enthusiastic OH, COOL! crossing the disgruntled OK OK!
i flew through the puzzle at perhaps record pace for me but confidently wrote in SOb rather than SOS and soCOOL rather than OHCOOL so couldn't see ITSNOTHING or CAKESICLES. oops.
ReplyDeleteDisappointingly easy for a Friday.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised that Rex didn't rate this higher. The double-stacked ten letter Downs in each corner with double-stacked grid spanning Downs in the middle were most impressive. And then having three grid spanning 16 letter Acrosses elevated this puzzle to another level. That's some amazing constructioneering (™M&A) if you ask me.
ReplyDeleteI especially liked those central stacked Downs starting with MOON and EARTH. It brought to mind Carl Sagan calling our own EARTHLIKE PLANET the Pale Blue Dot.
At that point I was completely won over. ET ALII (59 appearances in the NYTXW over the years, 51 of them in the Modern Era) was an old friend stopping by to help my solve. An OLA OPA APSO here and a KAL FUL RMS there didn't cause any LOST LUSTER on this gem of a puzzle for me. It wasn't just ALL BARK. It had plenty of BITE!
Easy-medium.
ReplyDeleteCostly erasures - OKay before OKOK and SOb before SOS.
I did not know OAK FOREST, MONT, GINA, CAKESICLES, and MOONLIGHT SONATA and EARTH LIKE PLANET (as clued).
I agree that the spanners more than made up for the fill problems, liked it a bunch!
MeLarky
ReplyDeleteWhy is everyone upset by loess? It's new to me today,.. seems to be a legit geological term; just obscure?
ReplyDeleteSign of desperation: initially I put SOB, and still got stuck on the cross as I was thinking "sticky cakes" and iCicles that stick to the roofline.
For the streakers I initially had LASERS, which was corrected with the CPAs but then I missed interpreting the entry meaning to tase pranksters,.. yeah, bummer
Unless I miscounted, the folks who want to see less of loess may be less than you think.
DeleteIf you’re like me you’ll eventually find out that people SEEM upset about a lot of things about the puzzles, but then you realize they really aren’t THAT upset. And btw, I also had SOb before SOS.
DeleteA 16-wide 75-worder Seinfeldpuz*. 45% of the words were 4 long, btw.
ReplyDeleteReally really liked the 3 16-long Across answers. Superb seedin, there.
staff weeject pick: FUL. yep ... there was indeed some pretty kalful short fill to be had, all over the puzplace.
fave ?-marker clue: TASERS clue.
Thanx, Mr. De Vera dude.
Masked & Anonymo2Us
p.s.
Runt puzzle, with 16-long Across answers!
**gruntz**
* Seinfeldpuz = about nothin, theme-wise.
M&A
ISNT! No comments on this all morning? If crosswords used 2-letter words, IS could be the answer to "___ fussy (not very flexible)", right? ASKING FOR A FRIEND.
ReplyDeleteWell, almost . . . blanked on the brand name NAIR and the very concept of "manscaping" (sorry, but I'm trendy-costmetics impaired), no idea who either "Young" or ERNST are/were, and alhough I've seen the word ZILLOW I actually have no idea what it means. Everyhing else went rather smoothly, though.
ReplyDeleteLoved! I'll take whatever fill was necessary to get those stunning long answers.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started this, I had a sense it was going to be hard… but it quickly became clear to me that it was extremely easy — maybe too easy for a Friday. I got KILL WITH KINDNESS just from the NESS. When a puzzle’s long answers are good like this, I barely notice the fill.
ReplyDeleteOkay, first things first: this puzzle was ruined for me by one hideously ugly answer: KGS. As many of us have said many times before, the plural of kg is kg. Same with cm, km, etc... you do not add an S! KGS is a reeking festering turd of an answer. Will & Co., please stop this idiocy!
ReplyDeleteBut it sucks to be me sometimes, because there are some great long answers today. It went by a bit quick in 16 minutes which is pretty close to my fastest Friday time. A few short Unknown Names: ELIE, TISH, GINA. And partial names: MONT, CHOW, APSO, and KAL.
For "Suffix with peace but not war" I put in NIK. And I had EARTHLIKE OBJECT.
I put in NIK at first also! Plus, you cracked me up with “it sucks to be me sometimes.” Well. Especially after the “festering turd of an answer” part. :D
DeleteOkanaganer
DeleteI understand your pain, but we talking about the American language
Since Reagan stopped the transition to the metric system ( yes it did become a political issue) if this country ever tries to adopt it again it will be after I am dead. My point is, most Americans look at the metric system as a foreign language. Since we frequently add an s to measurement abbreviations ( see lbs) we are going to do the same with this import. That’s language.
@dgd, but regardless of the US not "officially" using metric, there still must be a heck of a lot of people using it in the sciences, medicine, and other technical fields. And surely even "regular" people know many metric units like kHz for audio/radio and mg for medicine. My point is that the NYT is not some average guy on the street, and they should at least try to do better. KGS is just an ugly lazy answer.
Deletedhd— you’re cinfusing The Cold War with the metric system. Regan ended the Soviet Union, not the metric system.
DeleteFun fact it was his VP who in the early 1990s issued Executive Order 12770 which made the metric system the nation’s standard.
Yeah, no European ats an s to units or abbreviations of units in the metric system.
DeleteAs the clue qualifies, only *some* streakers, not all, deserve the TASER treatment. Will Ferrell et al in that dumb frat movie certainly do not, but in the middle of a baseball game, a naked idiot being chased down by security, no matter how well manscaped, sure. Since the 70s the practice has definitely LOST LUSTER.
ReplyDeleteA propos of nothing particularly, except the fact that I was googling the constructor's name and just found this: there's a YouTube series titled "Wine Down with Christopher & the NYT Crossword". The host, Christopher Combest, seems to be a very genial long-time solver of the NYTXW who enjoys sipping on a tasty drink as he solves in real time. No speed demon, just chill; seems like a nice channel perhaps especially for people relatively new to solving. The one I just watched from last year, perhaps it was De Vera's debut puzzle, is here; the drink for that day was a Millionaire Mojito.
ReplyDeleteI assume he posts most every day. Poking around, I learned he's a professional musician based in Germany, so he might have some tasty tidbits to add about MOONLIGHT SONATA, etc.
Wilde, not O’Neill
ReplyDeleteD'oh! Thanks!
DeleteOn the Chopin Beethoven Fantasie-Impromptu Moonlight Sonata speculation, I too have never heard this "said". I've noticed a bad habit among cluers when it comes to classical pieces. It's seems clear they usually know nothing about them, go to Wikipedia and pick a likely piece of trivia. I spent five minutes running my head through both pieces and came up empty beyond the key signatures, went to Wikipedia and found an (unconvincing) explanation. Invariably, the alleged fact about the classical piece is to be found almost nowhere except in the Wikipedia article, where having been plucked from obscurity by a plucky editor it ends up in the NYT. This is all well and good for musicologist Ernst Oster getting his moment in the Sun, but it is simply not a thing people who know about these pieces would say. It's an odd phenomenon: a piece of obscure trivia that actually demonstrates /ignorance/ of the subject matter.
ReplyDeleteReally loved this Friday puzzle! Not easy for me but fun. For new solvers the fill is not old, of course. TIL TISH, and was glad to be reminded of OCCAM and FOOLSMATE. The longs are lovely - Lewis is right about the MOONLIGHT and EARTHLIKE duo!
ReplyDeletethere's so many amazing clues/answers the 3 letter fill gets a pass this time I counted 10 clues/answers that were classics bravo
ReplyDeleteSimply too easy. Finished in one sitting. I prefer Friday puzzles that force me to put them down and come back later. This one was a breeze, alas.
ReplyDeleteToday’s Friday felt like one of those puzzles that wanted very badly to seem harder than it actually was. Big stacked answers, flashy long fill, lots of high-value Scrabble letters rattling around the grid like the constructor got paid by the K. But underneath all that? Pretty soft. More “pleasant late-week glide” than genuine Friday death march.
ReplyDeleteThat’s not necessarily a criticism. There’s a real pleasure in a smooth Friday solve. Once a couple of marquee entries fell, the whole thing opened up in satisfying waves. The long answers were unusually inferable, and the puzzle had that rare quality where momentum actually builds instead of constantly stalling out in little crossings-of-doom pockets.
Still, easy Fridays live or die on sparkle, and this one was uneven.
Some of the clueing had snap. There were moments where the language bent in clever directions without becoming precious about it. But every time the puzzle threatened to develop real personality, it backed off into safer territory. Too many clues felt a half-step too straightforward. A Friday should make you question your instincts. This one mostly rewarded first guesses.
The modern fill was also a mixed bag. There’s always a delicate balance between “contemporary” and “hyper-specific thing somebody saw online once,” and this puzzle wandered over that line a few times. Some entries had that unpleasantly provisional feeling where you can practically sense future solvers staring at them in 2034 wondering what civilization was doing.
On the other hand, there was some wonderfully odd vocabulary in here too—the kind of slightly antique or over-specific word that gives crosswords texture. That contrast helped keep the grid from flattening out entirely into app-store modernity.
The actual construction deserves credit. The grid had ambition. Multiple long answers stacked cleanly together without excessive glue holding things in place, and the short fill stayed remarkably tidy considering the architecture involved. You could feel the constructor pushing for openness and flow instead of just brute-filling around theme density.
Overall: enjoyable, fast-moving, technically impressive, but not especially memorable. The kind of Friday you finish with a satisfied nod rather than a triumphant fist pump. Good company for 20 minutes. Not one for the year-end highlights reel.
So this is what passes for a Friday now: a grid that spends the entire solve standing six inches from your face screaming “LOOK HOW MANY STACKED ANSWERS I HAVE” while clueing at approximately the difficulty level of the back of a cereal box. Enormous “themeless” answers everywhere, all of them arriving with the subtlety of a cruise ship entering harbor. You don’t solve this puzzle so much as wait for it to hand itself to you.
ReplyDeleteAnd the fill. Dear lord, the fill. Modern crosswords continue their relentless march toward becoming the textual equivalent of an HR department trying to seem “online.” Every other answer felt like it had been focus-grouped by a panel of brand strategists who own ring lights. There’s a specific kind of dead-eyed contemporary vocabulary that makes you feel your soul leaving your body one crossing at a time, and this puzzle was marinated in it.
But sure, there were technically impressive aspects to the construction, if your thing is standing around admiring girders. Lots of long entries stacked together cleanly. Very open grid. Very few ugly abbreviations. Congratulations on the engineering. The experience of solving it still felt like eating an entire sleeve of saltines.
The clueing oscillated between “obvious” and “aggressively trying to sound clever.” A classic modern-Friday move: clue something in an unnecessarily coy way so the solver can enjoy the sensation of briefly feeling confused before discovering the answer was exactly what they thought it was in the first place. Fake difficulty. Crossword LaCroix. “Hints of challenge.”
And then there’s that uniquely contemporary crossword phenomenon where an answer enters the grid carrying the unmistakable aura of “this will age like unrefrigerated yogurt.” Nothing dates faster than a puzzle desperately trying to sound current. Half this fill already felt exhausted on arrival.
Overall: smooth solve, technically polished, spiritually vacant. The kind of Friday that finishes in record time and leaves absolutely no residue in the brain whatsoever. By tomorrow morning I will remember exactly one thing about this puzzle: that it existed.
Spiritually vacant? What does that mean?
DeleteWhich answers exactly won’t age well?
For me a dnf on an easy puzzle. Neither cakesicle nor SOS crossed my mind And I didn’t go father than p for the cross in my letter run. Oh well. A bit lazy lately.
ReplyDeleteLiked the puzzle Especially since it had Mont St Michel as an answer. Was in Normandy for Junior Years Abroad in the early 70’s and hitchhiked to Mont St Michel with friends. Wonderful experience. Didn’t know it was the biggest tourist destination outside Paris though. Didn’t go at peak season and fewer tourists then anyway. Very dramatic setting. The land on shore is fairly low so the “mont” is visible from quite a distance., with the Abbey on top. Once across the causeway visitors go on a paved path that circles up the hill past shops, restaurants etc etc. Had crêpes which were wonderful. (I barely knew at the time what crêpes were.). I remember there’ were a lot of French tourists, which I liked to listen to.
You did a great job on saying how the “Mont” was visible. I was there in early to mid May.
DeleteYou hitch hiked to an island?!
ReplyDeleteTell me more!
Fun Friday. Coincidentally I started relearning/re-memorizing MOONLIGHT SONATA yesterday (1st movement). Not a fan of clues based on conjecture. The theory I heard was that Chopin didn't like Fantasy Impromptu because it was too similar to Moonlight. Nobody knows the real reason why Chopin didn't publish it, but he requested that all his unpublished works be destroyed after his death - thankfully his friend ignored the request.
ReplyDeleteWith construction software, sometimes the fill works out, sometimes it doesn't. I view it as more luck than skill, so I don't blame constructors for clunky fill. Just my opinion, man.
Gonna miss Stephen Colbert. I still miss The Colbert Report, a show that Republicans even liked (because they were too dumb to know it was satire).
2006 Merriam-Webster Word of the Year
truthiness: a truthful or seemingly truthful quality that is claimed for something not because of supporting facts or evidence but because of a feeling that it is true or a desire for it to be true
Time for NBA/NHL playoffs - happy weekend all :)
Yep, loved the long stuff. Difficulty-wise, I started at the top (as one does) and thought oh hell yeah, today is going to be a personal best for sure. I was solving as fast as I could read. Then about 40% of the way into it, this puzzle started making me actually think, check candidate answers with crosses, etc. Ended up being pretty average solve time. So kudos for not breaking the streak (2) of suitably engaging Fridays..
ReplyDeleteWhy did that clue have to single out streakers anyway? All kinds of criminals get the TASER. What’s so special about streakers?
ReplyDeletePsychotically easy- literally as easy as I have ever seen for a Friday- but a very pretty grid.
ReplyDeleteIt bothered me a lot that “saps” was used as a clue twice, and, despite “saps” having multiple possible meanings, the SAME meaning (dumb/foolish people) was used by both clues.
ReplyDelete