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Relative difficulty: Medium (and then some?)
Theme answers:
I should probably start with the one thing about the theme that seems off. I don't talk on WALKIE-TALKIES much (or ever), but aren't "Roger!" and "Copy!" things you say at the *beginning* of your response? Like, you don't wait until after you say something to say "Roger!," do you? Is that ... realistic? "Over!" and "Out!" (and "Over and out!") are definitely response-ending bits of W-T speak, but somehow having "Roger!" and "Copy!" at the *ends* of their respective phrases feels less than authentic. But somehow I didn't need authenticity today because the power of wackiness compelled me. Like, the theme was just so cute and original that I managed not to care about a little syntactical strangeness here and there. The revealer was completely unnecessary, as I knew after the first, and certainly after the second, themer that I was dealing with radio lingo, but WALKIE-TALKIES is such a bouncy and bright and "K"-ful central answer that I didn't resent its presence. It's pleasantly decorative, even if it isn't (or wasn't, for me) necessary to figuring out the theme concept. I have often said about wackiness-based themes that they have to Go Big or Go Home, and I thought this one leaned into the silliness plenty. The fact that I start out this conversation talking to Santa puts things on real wacky ground right away. The remaining clues maybe could have been wackier, but if you imagine that you're talking to Santa the whole time, then wackiness abides. I totally believe that Santa wants a donut. I'm not sure I believe that he's in your Chemistry class, but I *want* to believe it. I absolutely don't believe you, or anyone, forgot which animal crosses the road, but again, the absurdity makes it work.
- "JOLLY, ROGER!" (17A: "Sleigh's loaded and ready! How are you feeling, Santa?")
- "GLAZED, OVER!" (25A: "I'm at the bakery—what kind of doughnut do you want?")
"CARBON, COPY!" (49A: "What's tomorrow's chemistry exam about again?") - "CHICKEN, OUT!" (60A: "Before you go, what animal crosses the road in that old joke?")
Ramona Leor Shelburne (born July 19, 1979) is an American sportswriter and NBA Insider for ESPN. She is also a former softball player; in high school, she was the 1997 L.A. City Softball Co-Player of the Year, and in college she played outfield for Stanford Cardinal for four years. [...] Prior to joining ESPN, Shelburne spent seven years at the Los Angeles Daily News as a reporter and columnist from 2002-2009. At ESPN, Ramona gained a national following writing about Frank and Jaime McCourt's divorce and the 2010-2011 Los Angeles Dodgers ownership dispute. On February 14, 2016, Shelburne made her radio debut in a national radio show called Beadle & Shelburne which she co-hosts with ESPN SportsNation host Michelle Beadle. // Since the mid 2010s, Shelburne has been a Senior Writer at ESPN. She also regularly contributes to the network’s NBA coverage on NBA Today, ESPN Radio and SportsCenter. (wikipedia)
• • •
I also appreciated how spicy the fill was. PICANTE, even. Lots of tastiness everywhere you turn, from SPUN cotton candy and LemonADE to OAT milk and TARTs and some kind of OLIVE + PECAN + CHICKEN + HAM + FAVA bean (+ PEPA!) concoction at the bottom of the grid—with PONZU sauce (65A: Citrus-based sauce in Japanese cuisine). PONZU!? Is that a debut? Yup, it sure is. We used to put that in / on lots of things. Not sure why we stopped. Maybe we're just on PONZU hiatus. It's tasty! NOM NOM NOM. Anyway, this is a real OMNIVORE's puzzle. GOOD EATS abound (12D: A satisfying meal, informally). I also liked the fact that I finished the puzzle on "WE MADE IT!" Couldn't have scripted it any better. The puzzle gets pretty name-y at times, esp. through the middle (ZARA / BTS / ERIC Carle / Paul SIMON / MRS. Brown and her lovely daughter). I think lots of people are going to blank on RAMONA Shelburne in the SE corner, which already has the never-before-seen PONZU, and the unexpected and weird-to-parse PRBUZZ in it (47D: Marketing team's goal with a new product launch, informally). I can see some solvers struggling there. But I didn't find the name-iness excessive today. But then again, there were no names I didn't know. Always easier to like names when you know them. Oh, NESS, I guess I didn't *really* know that name, but the "Van" part kind of gave me a boost ("Van NESS" just sounded familiar—I grew up in a city with a Van NESS Avenue, so maybe that helped).
I actually found the NW corner a little thorny. I accept Venmo (wink) and I've used Venmo to pay people but I guess I've never made (or accepted) a Venmo "request" for payment, so PAYS (5D: Approves a Venmo request, perhaps) ... seemed right, but I wasn't sure about it. I also wasn't sure about NO LESS, which fits the clue fine, it's just ... rarer than plain old [Equally], and seems more situation-specific (like something you say after you've added something to your previous statement—almost like an emphatic conclusion). So my brain just had some contextual trouble. The biggest problem up there, though, was that clue on PIN-UP (1A: Retro kind of hairstyle). What? There's a hair style called "PIN-UP?" Is pinning your hair up "retro?" That clue seemed like a desperate way to avoid the cheesecake angle. A PIN-UP is, of course, a picture of a sexy model featured in magazines and calendars. Men (typically) would pin these pictures up for display in various locker-room and bar and other male-dominated environments. Popularized sometime around WWII, I think. It's objectifying, the way most modeling is, but I really love good mid-century PIN-UP art. There's some in our downstairs bathroom! The art form has its Grand Masters (Vargas! Elvgren!). "Retro kind of hairstyle" evokes nothing for me. [Does some image searching] Oh, hey ... weird, apparently the hairstyle in question is actually related to PIN-UP models, in that everything I'm seeing online has a real throwback vibe—hair that a PIN-UP model might've had in the '40s. Unsurprisingly, modern trends in women's hair ... not on my radar.
 |
| [Betty Grable, the most famous PIN-UP girl] |
Bullets:
- 6A: Pinkglow pineapples and GloFish, for short (GMOS) — another reason the top of the puzzle was a little on the hard side for me. Shouldn't this clue have a "for instance" in it. Like, these are examples of GMOS. You wouldn't clue CAT as merely [Siamese]. You'd write [Siamese, for one]. But leaving that cluing convention nitpickery aside, I had no idea what I was looking at here. I thought maybe Pokémons. Or some kind of reward in some kind of game on some kind of app I'm never going to use.
- 44A: Fish with a Kohaku variety (KOI) — sticking with fish for a moment ... I had no idea there were varieties of KOI. I mean, of course there are, I'm not surprised, I've just never been required to think beyond the simple fact of KOI, crossworld's favorite fish (sorry, MAHI MAHI, you lose).
- 1D: Kind of pants worn on a rainy day, perhaps (PAJAMA) — ??? because you are staying inside, in your pajamas? I can tell you that my students will wear PAJAMA pants (as in pajama bottoms) in any weather. Just ... out and about. Regular-ass streetwear to them (well, some of them). They're probably least likely to wear them on rainy days, but that's because (unlike you, apparently) they are wearing them out of doors.
- 10D: Workout program that's a portmanteau of two different sports (TAE BO) — in the '90s, Billy Blanks made history by combining sports that scientists had previously thought uncombinable: Tae Kwon Do and Bowling. The rest is home exercise history.
- 39D: A little foxy? (KIT) — a baby fox is a kit. "Little foxy" is something I would call a fox if I saw one in the wild. "Oh, hello, little foxy, what are you up to? Killing rodents! Nice!" (really witnessed this once, very cool) (also witnessed fox kits once, even cooler).
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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- Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)
ReplyDeleteMedium. A nice Wednesday outing. Enjoyed the theme's wordplay.
* * * * _
Overwrites:
My 4D link letters were pga before they were URL.
My 21D cotton candy was Soft before it was SPUN.
For Not notice at 23A, I had omit before MISS.
My important Inuit creatures were bEArS before they were SEALS (24D).
For Glorify at 27D, I EXuLTed before I EXALTed.
rEvS before PEPS for Amps (up) at 46A.
I wanted TogaS for my 45A cover-ups, but it was already in the puzzld at 10A (TarpS).
Fpr the postseason impossibility at 63A I had a tie before TIES.
WOEs:
Fast-fashion brand ZARA at 25D.
Sportswriter RAMONA Shelburne at 46D.
Citrus-based Japanese sauce PONZU at 65A. I'm sure it's delicious.
"Flight two-zero niner, cleared for vector three-two-four."
"We have clearance, Clarence."
"Roger, Roger. What's our vector, Victor?"
-- Airplane
Agree with Rex's high rating. Fairly easy, but doable with a helpful revealer.
ReplyDeleteStarted an alphabet run at the top, then suddenly remembered GHOUL was a grave robber in some long-since-forgotten story from childhood (help!).
My only question regards CHICKENOUT...do people on walkie-talkies really use "out" in lieu of "over" or "copy"?
You use “over” when you’re done talking and want a response. You use “out” when you’re done talking altogether. “Over and out” is Hollywood redundant nonsense.
DeleteAnd "Roger" is an acknowledgment spoken at the end of the transmission. "I'll take out the garbage. Roger that." "We're on the way. Roger."
DeleteEspecially meaningful if you happen to be talking to a guy named Roger. ; - )
DeleteReminds me of the movie "Airplane" where the flight crew (named Roger and Oveur) keep saying phrases like "Roger, Roger" and "Over, Oveur".
DeleteI agree with Rex that you start a response with "Roger'" or "Copy" to indicate you understood the last message. Otherwise liked the puzzle. For 63A had ATIE, then TIED, finally got it right with TIES. Made that corner hard as that was my only entry their for awhile
Delete@Rex -- "Tae Kwon Do and Bowling" -- Hah!
ReplyDeleteAgreed! Hysterically - literal LOL!
DeleteA fine Wednesday puzzle and a fun Rexian write-up. In that Ed Sullivan show clip, I love how the Hermits are visible for about two seconds before the camera locks into a close-up of Peter Noone. I suppose that’s so you won’t notice that they are neither singing nor playing their instruments. They probably felt like idiots, just standing there watching Herman lip-sync their big hit.
ReplyDeleteVery fresh and fun.
ReplyDeleteQuite a few of the clues were ambiguous, if not downright questionable. PINUP for “hairstyle” (sure, I guess - seems pretty generic, but maybe I don’t hang out at enough salons), NO LESS somehow equals EQUALLY, AT SEA for “confused”, GHOUL for “graverobber”, and even ETSY as a “big name in e-commerce” (instead of say, Amazon, we get hand made arts and crafts?). Of course, these are all legit and close enough for a crossword puzzle, but to me it was an uninspired solving experience.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Rex that RAMONA, PR BUZZ and PONZU all in the same section don’t make for much of a fun time. On a positive note, it was enjoyable to read Rex praising a theme so enthusiastically - wow, what is that - maybe a once monthly occurrence?
My point of view is NO LESS valid than yours. (And this gives an example where it comes before the end of the sentence, NO LESS.)
DeleteAT SEA has been in the crossword a jillion times, with exactly this meaning. How is it ambiguous or questionable?
I don't understand your beef with ETSY ("we get hand made arts and crafts"). That has also appeared numerous times, and it's a big corporation. It has well-established crossworthiness.
Hey t, I wasn’t implying (at least not intentionally) that they are invalid or inappropriate. I felt that as a group they weren’t very interesting or inspiring.
DeleteHey there, SJ. You used the words "ambiguous" and "questionable", and that's what I was trying to understand. But it's no big deal. Sorry if it came off aggressive.
DeleteMedium difficulty. I wasn't as impressed as Rex was. It was fine, but to me four stars makes it seem like it was GLAZED OVER.
ReplyDeletePIN-UP: Rex's mention of the retro pin-up posters in his downstairs bathroom flashed me back to my own house growing up. But in our case, it wasn't Betty Grable, but Burt Reynolds, That Cosmopolitan Man. You may have seen it. Burt is posing stark naked lying on a bearskin rug, one arm artfully draped to cover his genitals, the other propping him up, big smile, big mustache, big cigar. Exactly the kind of thing my artist mom would hang in the bathroom. So you're sitting on the john, and you look up, and there he is, naked Burt Reynolds looking back at you and smiling. (Great.) Another thing I flashed back to: I didn't realize it then but I do on this day that my mother's mother posed once for a photo, at the age of eighty, so as to match the iconic Betty Grable photo to a tee, looking come hither at the camera, and no joke, her legs looked fabulous in that photo. She was a dancer earlier in life and had kept herself in shape. Really a surprising photo because she always looked old to me, and acted conservatively, but there was a whole other really sexy side to her, and rumor had it that my grandfather, also very conservative, to the point of stodginess even, maintained a pretty healthy appreciation of her all throughout life.
TMI? Well, I'll show myself out then. Have a good day, everyone.
The Burt Reynolds pic explains a lot.
DeleteRe 36A, no italics in NYT online print version, was it in the paper?
ReplyDeleteIt is the revealer, so doesn't need to be italicized.
DeleteI always print out the puzzle and fill it in with a pencil. I was surprised to see that there were NO italicised clues in this version.
DeleteHarder for me than the usual Wednesday but I enjoyed it. I found the themers confusing because I was trying to make the two halves have some relation to each other beyond WALKIETALKIE-speak. I was also really Naticked in the SE corner. No idea on RAMONA, didnn’t know the Japanese sauce, or that Galateia is a STATUE in Pygmalion. And PRBUZZ without crosses was not possible to see.
ReplyDeleteZhou and Kevin make puzzles, as they say in their notes, to spark joy. I get joy just seeing Zhou’s photo in XwordInfo, and so will you: https://www.xwordinfo.com/Author/Zhou_Zhang .
ReplyDeleteThis was a very clever idea for a theme, and so entertaining because it’s centered on wordplay and humor, on imagining these wacky conversations. High props for originality. Did I enjoy it? Affirmative!
Two serendipitous subthemes stood out:
• Food! – ATE, OMNIVORE, GOOD EATS, OAT, TART, CHICKEN, PONZU, PICANTE, HAM, OLIVE, FAVA, PECAN, ADE.
• Schwa enders! – TOGA, AGORA, FAVA, RAMONA, PEPA, ZARA, MAGNA, PAJAMA.
I also liked seeing LEAP, which echoed Monday’s TRIPLE JUMP puzzle.
Zhou and Kevin, I was won over by your fun theme; my brain was also happified by tangling with some sticking points. Your puzzles have a buoyant energy that launch me smiling into the day. Thank you for that, and for doing it once more today!
Lovely theme echo in HAM.
ReplyDeleteI am so bad at sussing out themes I overlooked Jolly, Copy, etc., and thought it had something to do with walking and talking.
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteLiked the progression, ROGER, OVER, COPY, OUT.
Running with the Rexology -
"Ready Santa?" - "JOLLY! ROGER. Would you elves like some donuts"
"Yes! GLAZED! OVER."
"Also, did we replace coal with CARBON? COPY."
"Yes, at least it wasn't raw CHICKEN. OUT"
Kind of fell apart at the end, there. 😁
SE corner was rather interesting. Thankfully had enough letters to see PRBUZZ, as PONZU and RAMONA were unknowns. Add in the STATUE clue, and difficulties ensued.
AMAZED I got it correct.
Still don't know what ZARA is, or what a fast-fashion is. You might say I'm AT SEA on that.
No Star Wars, but we do get the requisite ASS.
Uniclue: What the patient spider did?
ATE, SPUN, ABIDE ~
Hope y'all have a great Wednesday!
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
@Roo. When I lived in the city I used to shop at places like ZARA (Spanish fast fashion chain) and H&M (Swedish version). I used to go out dining and to the theatre, and such frivolous things. I needed to look stylish. They had some really cool, out there kind of stuff. Now I live out in the country and have found that that kind of apparel alarms people so I find myself shopping at The Gap, just to fit in. It's so sad.
DeleteThat was quite a bike ride.
ReplyDeleteYup. Five hours.
How are you feeling?
ASSERTS.
You come dressed for a workout like that?!
Your message said "bow tie."
No, you idiot -- I said TAE BO!
Plot to corner the market on Japanese citrus-based sauces: PONZU scheme.
Pygmalion (from bedroom, upon hearing the front door open downstairs): Honey, STATUE?
Galatea: Yes, darling. I'll be right up.
Brutus: Julie-babes. That gorgeous new TOGA is to die for! I'd kill for one like it. Let me take a stab at where you got it -- Target?
Caesar: ETSY Brutè.
Oh lord. These are so "bad" you had me laughing. PONZU scheme!
DeleteReminded me of the Frenchman who was showing the guy where he wanted the halo statue. Guy says "the what"? Frenchman says--"You know, the thing,, it makes a ringing noise and you pick it up and say Halo. Statue?"
DeleteFive for five, Liveprof!
Delete11:59 for me, so medium-ish for Wednesday--an interesting blend of outright gimmes with a few tough intersections thrown in for zip. I agree with OFL's assessment--loved the base phrases, all interesting, and all utterly repurposed--meaning completely changed in the theme uses. Jolly Roger is a flag.... Glazed over is talking about eyes, Carbon copy does have something to do with Carbon originally, but now we just use it to mean exact. And Chicken out has nothing to do with chickens. So it's really consistently whackifying phrases in which normal English has gone with the metaphor and this puzzle goes back to the OG. Nice. Thanks, Kevin and Zhou!!!!! Great puzzle! (3 days w/o SW!)
ReplyDeletedo you remember CARBON paper? you could put it in between two sheets and either write or trace on the top one and it would appear on the bottom.
DeleteYes, but now we might even say, look at him, he's a carbon copy of his dad at this age!
DeleteSpeaking of the oddness of wearing PAJAMA pants outdoors, I’m a regular swimmer and have begun to notice many young men wearing underwear boxer-briefs as their swim trunks—I suppose no more revealing than Speedos, but who wears those except competitive swimmers?
ReplyDeleteMost men in Europe…..
DeleteSurprised you didn't notice the major Natick!
ReplyDeleteTART/TORT crossing RAMONA/ROMONA
I guess Ramona is more common, but it got me!!
ROMONA? TORT? Not a name and not a dessert (a law thing)
DeleteYou may have been thinking "torte", which in fact is a cake.
DeleteTo be technical, they both need to be proper nouns to be a proper Natick, and unsurmisable.
DeleteA lot of fun except that I made it extra-hard for myself by missing the mark by a mile on some early entries—“Croft” for the grave robber, “werehome” for WEMADEIT are a couple of examples. Actually got started in the middle with WALKIETALKIES, and then CARBONCOPY gave me the theme. Love the different nuances of JOLLYROGER and GLAZEDOVER. Ambiguous cluing was great—really wanted “revs” up for PEPS up. And like @JJK, had a heck of a time in the SE corner.
ReplyDeleteWow, Shelly Sterling’s PR Rep made it in the puzzle!
ReplyDeletenice puzzle. was surprised it took me as long as it did to complete it, as it didn't seem that difficult. agree with the medium and then some assessment...especially the and then some!
ReplyDeleteVery easy until the SE corner, where the unknowns RAMONA and PONZU intersected. Worse, I had the wrong tense of "put" in mind which led to AMED, making TARTS impossible to see. Finally fixed that and decided it was actually not that hard. Come on man.
ReplyDeleteLearned a couple of GMOS I had never heard of and met Mr. Von NESS. Found out there is something called ZARA. Knew RPG from previous crosswords but I have yet to play one, thanks anyway.
Very nice Wednesday, KC and ZZ. A Kooky Crossword that had me Zig Zagging all over, which I always do for a ZZ puzzle so I can use the initials. Thanks for all the fun.
Recently heard this joke online. Why should I be the only one to suffer?
ReplyDeleteA man is walking in the forest and comes across three baby foxes in a suitcase. He takes out his cellphone and calls the animal rescue people. They ask him "Are they moving?" He says: "Well, that would explain the suitcase."
This theme makes me want to go watch some classic trucker/CB movies like Convoy or Smokey and the Bandit.
ReplyDeleteA PINUP featuring ASS and BRA generally has a certain TART NESS.
ReplyDelete@LesSMore will be along later. Right now he's checkin' out a CHICKENOUT in his coop.
The new marine handicrafts site is called ETSY ATSEA.
Billy Blanks, like his blood type, is TAEBO positive.
Fun, fun, fun. Loved it. Thanks, Kevin Curry and Zhou Zhang.
Appreciate the shout out, egs, but I don't think I'm going to get to commune with the poultry - CHICKEN OUT, so to speak - until I finish some long overdue grunt work on the compost.
DeleteI like this theme but the puzzle was definitely harder than an average Wednesday for me. One clue-answer pair that makes no sense to me is the clue for PAJAMA pants. I wear anything BUT pajama pants on a rainy day. It's so uncomfortable to have loose, long, pajama fabric all wet on you! On rainy days I wear shorts (if it's warm) or something quick-drying. Absolutely not pajama pants. I had no idea what the answer was supposed to be, and my first thought was rain pants, as that's what one wears when it's pouring while backpacking. But I knew it couldn't be rain pants because rainy was in the clue. So I was desperately trying to think of types of pants that are typically made of fabric that dries quickly. I even tried words that, if they worked, would be pants I've never heard of, like banana pants or Panama pants. But no. I finally realized that the word pajama fit in there, and I thought, please noooo. That would make no sense. But the answer was pajama. That almost ruined the puzzle for me.
ReplyDeleteHad the same initial reaction and then realized we're talking about hanging around the house on a rainy day and not going out at al..Problem solved.
DeleteHmm, I didn't experience a 4-star puzzle today, mostly due to many names I had no idea about. ERIC, RAMONA, NESS, ZARA. At least I knew Tori AMOS and am not likely to have forgotten the name of our governor, TIM Walz.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, there was always someone with WALKIE-TALKIES, kids' toys that had almost no range and whose batteries died quickly. I don't think we ever tried to use WALKIE-TALKIE-speak with them. We were just happy if we heard a voice on the other end.
GMOS was hard for me to grok. Pinkglow Pineapple and GloFish sound like gummy types, I was looking for a mad scientist's name for 5D and could only come up with summa cum laude. Other crosses were the reason I could fill that sector in.
Kevin Curry and Zhou Zhang, thanks!
Uf. Nuestro viaje ha terminado.
ReplyDeleteThis was a hoot. Clown award and a borderline Gunkfest. I've never used a WALKIE TALKIE, but I think everybody wants to try one at some point in their lives. Plus, my website for my ukulele program is Jolly Roger Ukulele so I was won over immediately. And every one of the thematic clues makes me laugh. So happy about this puzzle. And it has bears.
The two lower corners were tough spots for me. I had KID for KIT making DARPS as my cover-up and those are terrible at keeping the rain out. Just wear PAJAMAS. PONZU, RAMONA, and Galatea were all standing against me in the southeast, and I've never known PICANTE as a stand-alone phrase for "spicy," so crossing it with NESS was a bit of a guess. PICANTE is salsa from New York City.
I've heard GMOS referred to as Franken Food. I think that's funny. I'm not opposed to it on principle, but it doesn't seem great to let scientists and businessmen meddle in our nutrition. I do know a carrot from the farmer's market is better than one from the grocery, but that's about all I know about farming.
D&D or WoW ... hilarious this means RPG to me without thinking about it at all.
❤️ TOGA & AGORA.
People: 7
Places: 0
Products: 8
Partials: 8
Foreignisms: 4
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 27 of 78 (35%)
Funny Factor: 9 🤡
Tee-Hee: ASS. BRA. PIN-UP.
Uniclues:
1 Cannabis queen.
2 Specialty of the New York Times Crossword team.
3 One of the Doublemint twins.
4 When smart guys bet on dumb stocks and then get fired.
5 Salsa for the bedroom.
6 Sudden acceptance you're going to be parents.
7 http://barkbarkbark.edu
1 MISS GLAZED OVER
2 ASS BRA ARTS
3 CARBON COPY TART
4 MBA ADIOS LEAP (~)
5 PAJAMA PICANTE
6 I GOT IT. WE MADE IT.
7 BOSSY SEALS URL
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: One burning the village down all thanks to the diva's aria. OPERA FAN RIOTER.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I don’t want to brag, but it’s common knowledge thay I saved a billion people from starvation. And I’m here to tell you that GMOs are a fantasic idea. The only one that will feed humanity.
DeleteBut, hey, what do I know.
Signed,
Norman Bouralag
@Anonymous 11:52. Surprised that you could save a billion people but can't spell your name right, Mr. Borlaug.
DeleteToo busy winning Nobels to care about typos
DeleteThe Anonymous Norman Bouralag is just a troll. The real Nobel Laureat died in 2009. Today world hunger still threatens. Almost 30 countries’ food sources are still at risk from disease. Humans are so good at solving problems. Too bad they’re horrible at selfless sharing and true cooperation. The world does not have to be such a giant mess.
DeleteRex is correct. Former USAF officer here. Usually, the phrases are “Copy” or “Copy” or “Roger” to inform the other person you received and understand their message. If you add a reply, then it is followed by either “Over” or “Out.”
ReplyDeleteGreat puzzle & very deserving of 4 stars! I haven't enjoyed a puzzle so much in a while. Thanks to you both :)
ReplyDeleteThis one had everything for me - it was weird, clever, mischievous, funny and a load of fun.
ReplyDeleteThe themers were the wonderful kind of dialogue that you might find in the cockpit of the movie Airplane (for those who remember that) or in a scene from an old BBC sketch comedy series, The Two Ronnies (if anyone remembers *that* from channel 13 PBS on Sunday evenings, either before or after Monty Python's Flying Circus.) What I'm saying is that this was all lough out loud funny and joyous for me. I'm going to see if I can go Youtube some of this stuff after I write this!
Difficulty level was spot on for a Wednesday, enough fight but no real major hold-ups. Some neat cluing with things like Equally for NOLESS, that made my brain work in a whole bunch of ways even with most of the letters in. Like @Rex, I also loved the whole foodie vibe today.
Just a couple of self inflicted wounds today. Threw down IGOTya for 2D - "AHA" and then WErehere for 36D. That was a *lot* of wrong letters but the crosses were all fair so it didn't take terribly long to patch those up.
Kevin and Zhou, this really sparkled and popped. I had a ton of fun with it. Thank you!
@Hugh. I am a foodie. This puzzle was foody. Just a nit but the label foodie is often used in a derogatory sense and I wear it with pride. Think nerd. Lots of food references, for sure, but the only real foodie thing (though not as clued) was GOOD EATS, which was a great show on the Food Network for about 15 years. In it, host Alton Brown explained, often with graphics and silly props, how food and cooking worked. Why yeast makes your bread rise. How convection ovens work. What are the chemical reactions involved in marinating a flank steak. Just what is this stuff called PONZU. Stuff like that delivered in a humorous way for us food nerds but accessible to the rest of you.
DeleteGlad you, and others, enjoyed all the food references, but they weren’t foodie references. Just saying’. You want foodie stuff? Do an Eric Agard puzzle. He’s a foodie and isn’t afraid to show it.
I had I GeT IT at 2D and, inexplicably, decided PAnAMA pants were a thing, leaving me to wonder who the hell Nelly is and what she's doing posing as Santa. Sigh. Also had the AIMed issue @pabloinnh did and thought the puzzle was trying waaaay to hard to be clever with TemPS at 45A, because temp hires cover for people. Didn't know who RAMONA was but Salt N PEPA was sufficient to scrub "shoju" (it's actually "soju", dammit) from my brain and supply PONZU. Phew. Hardest I've worked on a Wednesday in a minute.
ReplyDeleteHere in the NY area, we have ZARA for fast fashion, and ZARO for fast food of the bakery kind, and I can't keep them straight enough to be 100% sure for a xword. It doesn't help that SBARROS is also here for pizza. (Oh, if it ends in -O, it is for food. AHA!) Can I tie ZARA to ZORBA somehow?
ReplyDeleteI wanted some kind of rain gear, or CAPRI to keep ankles dry for so long that I couldn't get to PAJAMA until the end.
Fun puzzle, with even funner review.
Is there a famous story about a GHOUL being a grave robber that I missed or forgot? I think of GHOULS as generic scary Halloween characters partnered with GOBLINS.
ReplyDeleteGood theme. I just wasn’t able to fill in the spaces around carbon copy. No 🎈for me.
ReplyDeleteBig wavelength discrepancy for me today. Didn't Wow or AMAZE me in the least. And editors should know Pandas are not bears.
ReplyDelete@Lynn 11:22 AM
DeleteThey didn't say they are bears.
Mostly easy except for the SW which pushed this into medium territory.
ReplyDeleteI did not know PINUP, GMOS, ERIC, ZARA, RAMONA, and PONZU.
Costly SW erasures - WEre home > WEre here > WE MADE IT and rEvs before PEPS…tough corner for me.
Smooth, amusing, and cute, liked it.
Four stars seems a bit generous, with the plethora of names and 22 three-letter answers.
ReplyDeleteBut Rex may have woken up starving, as his write-up featured all (or almost) of the food items. Hope he followed with a hearty breakfast, NO LESS.
No idea why D&D or WoW (heard of both) is (an?) RPG.
RPG is Role Playing Game
DeleteFor some reason I thought there was such as a thing as "Panama" pants, and when I missed "I Got It" for "I Get It," Santa is a "Nelly Roger?" That one threw me
ReplyDeletePretty good WedPuz. E-4 M&A once did solo night guard duty at some army office, and had to answer scheduled check-ins on a WALKIETALKIE. Didn't get to use any of the ROGER-COPY-OUT stuff ... don't think they cared. Maybe got to do an "OVER" or two, mainly cuz the dude on the other end did it.
ReplyDeleteAnyhoo ...
JOLLYROGER was sufficient for m&e to get the message, on the puztheme mcguffin.
staff weeject pick: KIT. Was kinda partial to its foxy ?-marker clue.
other faves: The SE's PONZU scheme to eat M&A's precious nanoseconds [NOM, NOM, ...]. OMNIVORE. WEMADEIT. BRA ?-marker clue. TARPS !-marker cue.
Thanx for gangin up on us, Ms. Zhang darlin & Mr. Curry dude. Good collabin, on this high-techy subject.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
p.s.
Runt Puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
I really enjoyed this one- fun theme, great fill. I found it easier than most because I knew all of the proper nouns, so I guess YMMV on difficulty.
ReplyDeleteTheme was okay for me; I wouldn't go all four stars either. And an annoying clump of names in the middle: SIMON ERIC BTS ZARA TIM all together. And several other Unknowns: NESS RAMONA PONZU.
ReplyDelete36 down "Whew, our journey is over" started with WE but after that... WE'RE HERE? WE'RE HOME? Lots of options there. And I finished with two errors at name crossings: TAIBO crossing INOS, and PICATTE crossing TESS.
I can see that this was a lot of fun for many people but just not my kind of humour.
ReplyDeleteMedium for me. Most of the short fill was clued well and I didn’t experience the difficulty some of you have noted in the SE. All the acrosses down there were in my wheelhouse so the unknown RAMONA and PRBUZZ just filled themselves in.
Quite fond of PONZU, both as an answer and a sauce.
Fun and a theme with puns that were more creative than in a typical crossword punfest. In fact, I was chuckling as I looked forward to each theme entry. They were all so well crafted and unforced. Of course this was excellent, these are two of my current favorite constructors - especially when they collaborate. Smooth, clever and a perfect collection and use of goofy puns.
ReplyDeleteI did keep harking back to “Airplane.” It was a favorite comedy of my husband’s. He was in the USAF during Viet Nam on B-52s and later the back seater on F4s. I couldn’t guess how many times in our 40+ years that I’d ask him to do something and he’d say “Roger Roger.” It turned into a running gag between the two of us. Continuing with the famous “Airplane” quips, I started replying “Don’t call me Shirley!” Such a happy solve today.
But . . .
I’m not sure we even needed the sledge hammer over the head reveal. It felt pretty clunky, or maybe it was just the clue that seemed a tad insulting. Kind of jumping up and down to call attention to the theme. “Hey there! Get it? We’re on a radio! Like in the movies or a tv show like M.A.S.H.” COPY, guys. Got it.
In fact, I got it at JOLLY, ROGER but enjoyed the entire solve. I just felt let down by both the clue and answer for the reveal. There’s zero indication our speakers are using WALKIE TALKIES (a/k/a “talking bricks” according to my husband when referring to any hand held two way radio). Hand held radio would fit, but then again, so what.
Great job Kevin and Zhou! I’m looking forward to your next one!
I did a hitch in the Navy and am familiar with radio speak. So I abandoned ship on this solve for the reasons that Rex mentions, that ROGER and COPY are used at the beginning of radio transmissions, not at their ends. Plus, I doubt that the typical users of WALKIE-TALKIES would even know how to use radio speak lingo. So the reveal and two themers didn't ring true for me and I was OUT.
ReplyDeleteAnoa Bob. Your comment about typical users of walkie-talkies resonated with me. My late fishing buddy, Bags, showed up streamside one year with these devices that would allow us to communicate within about a 2 kilometre range (on a good day). We tried all that ROGER and COPY stuff and finally just settled into regular conversation mode. I would be downsteam about a half a km and call him to say there were no fish. He might reply that he was casting to a 20 inch rainbow. OK, I'll meet you at the truck. Good. Don't drink all the beer. No military lingo at all. Worked fine.
DeleteThe time it worked the best was when I wandered upstream to see a back bear approaching Bags from behind and I called him and told him he had about 100 feet between him and the worst fight of his life. I told him to turn around and make himself as big as possible (standard procedure) and I would try to distract the bear. The river in that section had a rocky shore and I grabbed a softball sized boulder and hurled it towards the bear. It clattered off about 15 other boulders before coming to rest. The bear stopped, looked at Bags with his arms up, and me the same, and decided it wasn't worth it. He turned and lumbered off back into the trees.
Did that civilian walkie-talkie help us avert disaster? Yes. No military jargon needed.
Loved this Wednesday puzzle with its wackiness and great reveal. The reveal led me to OUT so I could then guess at PONZU and RAMONA. Clever clues, very nice. My wavelength it seems! Also enjoyed the write up and comments, thank you
ReplyDeleteI loved that you hated pinup. I am 80 years old and that was never the name of a. Style.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 3:39 pm
ReplyDeletePin up is definitely the name of the style NOW (google it) The clue asked for the name of a RETRO style. which means popular now based on an old hair style. Whether it was called that in the past is irrelevant. The answer is fine.
The last time I wore PAJAMAS (seersucker pajama bottoms) out and about was at Burningman in 2009 - looked like hell - shocked the church crowd at the Reno IHOP - looked like a raccoon because of the goggles and severe dust storm on the last night
ReplyDeleteFun theme, so-so fill, bad cluing.
ReplyDelete