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Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: BIG BOX STORE (61A: Large retail establishment ... and a hint to four squares in this puzzle) — big (slightly oversized) "boxes" hold the names of "stores" (I guess all the "stores" are themselves examples of "BIG BOX STOREs," though I've never thought of ALDI that way...)
Theme answers:
- LOCAL DIVE / VIVALDI (20A: Neighborhood watering hole / 4D: "The Four Seasons" composer)
- SLOWEST / LOW ESTIMATES (11A: Last over the line, say / 12D: Conservative guesses)
- YOGA POSES / MEGAPLEXES (47A: Downward dog and others / 39D: Movie theaters with many screens)
- LIKE A CHARM / STRIKE A POSE (50A: Exactly as desired / 36D: Fashion photographer's direction)
Grappa is an Italian alcoholic beverage: a fragrant, grape-based pomace brandy that contains 35 to 60 percent alcohol by volume (70 to 120 US proof). Grappa is a protected name in the European Union.Grappa is made by distilling the skins, pulp, seeds, and stems (i.e., the pomace) left over from winemaking after pressing the grapes. It was originally made to prevent waste by using these leftovers. A similar drink, known as acquavite d'uva, is made by distilling whole must. The original date grappa was created cannot be determined, but was likely first made pre-1300s as distillation arrived in Italy during the Middle Ages.
In Italy, grappa is primarily served as a digestivo or after-dinner drink. Its main purpose is to aid in the digestion of heavy meals. Grappa may also be added to espresso coffee to create a caffè corretto, meaning "corrected" coffee. Another variation of this is the ammazzacaffè: the espresso is drunk first, followed by a few ounces of grappa served in its own glass. In Veneto, there is resentin: after finishing a cup of espresso with sugar, a few drops of grappa are poured into the nearly empty cup, swirled and drunk down in one sip. (wikipedia)
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Uh ... sure. Those are big boxes, alright. And there are stores inside them. ALDI is just a supermarket to me, so I wouldn’t have put it in the BIG BOX STORE category, but it's a chain, and the stores are ... box-shaped, I guess, so shrug, why not? I think of GAP as more of a mall store than a BIG BOX STORE, but whatever. I can be a little flexible on this matter (as it's something I don't think about or care about at all). Because the rebus boxes are flagged today (by virtue of their bigness), the rebus was especially easy to pick up. There may as well have been arrows and flashing lights pointing at the relevant squares saying "Enter Rebus Here!" The first rebus square would've been a cinch without the big square telling us it's a rebus—I mean, ["The Four Seasons" composer]? Everyone's gonna know that's VIVALDI, see it doesn't fit, and go, "well, rebus square, I guess." But you can't very well have those rebus squares be normal sized, or your whole theme premise disappears. So extreme easiness is the price we pay for this concept. Oh well. It wasn't unfun. I like the rebus answers, for the most part, esp. LOCAL DIVE and YOGA POSES / MEGAPLEXES and LIKE A CHARM / STRIKE A POSE. You've also got some like eight 7+-letter non-theme answers livening up the grid. Pretty remedial rebus with an odd-man-out "box store," but still a pretty good time.
Bullets:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
I had exactly one problem area, and it was (briefly) a doozy. I just stared at S-T / -TIMATES and ... nothing. The only -TIMATES I could think of were "guesstimates" and "estimates" and neither of those yielded a box store (and neither worked with the cross). I wanted 11A: Last over the line, say to be LAST and 12D: Conservative guesses to be GUESSTIMATES, but as you can see both "Last" and "Guess" are in their respective clues, *and* they don't work both directions, so ... total failure. Total stoppage. Squinting. Head-tilting. Staring. Resigning myself to failure ... and then I start mulling 12D: Conservative guesses ... "'conservative' ... so, they're probably on the lo-" And that was that. Low. LOWES! SLOWEST / LOW ESTIMATES. The Down was not one word but two! Phew. That was a harrowing few seconds (5? 10? 15 seconds? Felt like forever). The rest of the puzzle basically filled itself in. Don't know what a "Shamash" is but managed to get MENORAH off just the "ME-" anyway (a MENORAH "holds" candles, and "Shamash" sounds Hebrew so ... ta da!) (the "Shamash" is the candle used to light the other eight candles of a MENORAH). Oh, and I needed a few crosses to get FAN EDITS. No good reason I didn't get that right away, I just didn't (5D: Altered excerpts of a film posted to social media, say).
Bullets:
- 1A: In "The Tempest," when Miranda says "O brave new world, That has such people in't!" (ACT V) — one of the first Shakespeare plays I ever read, along with Richard II (such a weird play for high schoolers to read, but we read whatever was going to be on at the Ashland (OR) Shakespeare Festival that year (we took a week-long trip there in both my junior and senior years), and The Tempest and RII were what was playing in '86 and '87, apparently)). The whole "Brave new world" speech comes late in the play, when Miranda sees actual people (besides her father Prospero and Caliban) for the first time. I don't know I could've told you with certainty it was ACT V, but I know it wasn't ACT I, and no other Acts fit, so ... success!
- 19A: "American ___" (PIE) — the preceding Across clue is 17A: Forbidden idol so my brain was like "American IDOL!? But they just used 'idol' in the cl- ... ah, I see, not IDOL. Doesn't fit."
- 34A: Bob who narrated "How I Met Your Mother" (SAGET) — perennial "what is Bob Sag-t's second vowel" problem.
- 35A: Historic Bulgarian ruler (TSAR) — "Bulgarian"!? What do I know about Bulgaria (almost zero). I guess not using "Russian" was a way to try to slow the solver down. Didn't work.
- 38A: Faux flattery (SMARM) — people say they hate the word "moist" but I think SMARM might beat "moist" on my ickword list. Somehow "smarmy" doesn't rankle, but SMARM, ew, get it off me!
- 41A: Broad-shouldered Titan (ATLAS) — me: "... all of them? Oh, right, it's the 'carries the world on his back' guy. Makes sense."
- 6D: Sons of ___, exemplars of biblical wickedness (ELI) — got this off the "I" but only because ELI is a biblical name I know. Wait, is ARI biblical? Of course it is. Means "lion." So I guessed right on the three-letter "I"-ending biblical man's name. If there's another example of such a name, do not tell me, this part of my brain is full up.
Not as short a write-up as I imagined. I'll try harder (less hard?) tomorrow. See you next time.
PS someone in the comments mentioned the POSE dupe (STRIKE A POSE, YOGA POSES) and yes that is pretty bad. Can’t believe I missed it.
PPS to people saying the stores in the boxes aren’t supposed to be BIG BOX STORES, just regular stores inside big (oversized) boxes … ok, but when two of your stores are indisputably BIG BOX STORES (IKEA, Lowe’s), you can see how people might wonder if we’re meant to see the other stores as BIG BOX STORES as well
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I found it harder than Rex did, but finished by detecting the rebus at the SLOWEST/(LOWES)TIMATES cross and going from there.
ReplyDeleteDon't know about other ALDI locations, but the one here in Sun City Center, FL is not a big box store by any definition.
Good to see you Bob at the top of the comments after the shellacking you took the other day.
DeleteSame here Bob, although I was even more focused on GAP. I didn’t get the “store in a big box” concept until I read Rex’s P.S.
DeleteBob had a suit if armor.
DeleteHe was correct.
Thanks, friends. Don't think I'll ever understand why admitting to homosexuality in A.D. 2026 means your crossword entry gets a 5-star rating.
DeleteHere to support Bob after bizarre anonymous presumptuous keyboard warrior ambush Monday
DeleteAldi is kind of the opposite of big box to me . . . the whole brand is sort of "in between a convenience store and a typical chain grocery store," let alone a monster like Costco or Ikea.
Delete
ReplyDeleteMedium-Challenging for me, but I have this "thing" about rebus puzzles.
* * _ _ _
Overwrites:
My last over the line at 11A was a l[ose]r before it was S[guess]T, which made no sense but [guess]TIMATES sorta worked for 12D.
jellO mold before SLIME mold at 25D, which led to ...
... oLDEST before ELDEST for the most senior 43A.
At 39D I wanted Mu[ltip]LEXES, but it was ME[GAP]lexes.
zen before TAO for the 56A spiritual path. That made 46D GRAPPo, 46D oozIER and 50A (something)CHAos.
Only one WOE, Sons of ELI at 6D.
Half the rebus squares aren't "big box" stores at all. To me, big box stores are places like Best Buy, CostCo and Walmart, where you buy things that come in big boxes (like refrigerators and TVs). IKEA and LOWE'S qualify because they sell furniture and kitchen appliances, but ALDI is a supermarket and GAP is a clothing store.
Agree, big box stores are BIG, Aldi & GAP aren't big. Average size of these about 15k-20k square feet. Ikeas are about 300k sqft, Lowes about 150k. Rest of the puzzle was fine, I'm a beer geek but Belgian IPA was a new one to me and that P was my last letter
DeleteEven sans-router Rex nailed it today. Fun theme - liked the two way rebus but the BIG BOXes were too much of a giveaway. Had guessTIMATES first.
ReplyDeleteBauhaus
The word of the day is CHASM. Overall fill is really nice - I typically like this constructor’s work. GRAPPA, ASSAILS, CORONA etc are all top notch. Can be easy to provide a smooth grid with the constraints of the theme.
antony and the johnsons
EAGLET, GO KARTS, SOIRÉE - this has some fun stuff. SUPER EGO x MENORAH is a doozy.
The Felice Brothers
I liked this one - enjoyable Thursday morning solve.
Wasn’t Born To Follow
What about the repeated use of POSE in 47A & 36D?
ReplyDeleteSo ridiculously easy, beat my Thursday average by 8 minutes.
ReplyDeleteI had POPUPSTORES for a while which made the southeast more challenging. Definitely an easier than usual Thursday.
ReplyDeleteI got my brain-loving work-hard moment trying to figure out the LOWES square.
ReplyDeleteThen came splendid moments of uncovering words and phrases that hit sweet spots – GRAVEN IMAGE, GRAPPA, LIKE A CHARM, ELICIT, TAG LINES, SERAPHS, CHASM, and SOIREE. That’s a load of lovely.
I appreciated the tightness of the theme – and thus Joe’s skill in coming up with the theme answers he did – when I struggled to come up with other rebus possibilities.
The only other store besides ULTA (which Joe mentioned in his notes) that hit me was UPS, which does have terrific answer possibilities, such as BACKUPSINGER and COUPSDETAT.
And, you know, it’s pretty silly – and I love silly – having a grid with goofy-looking oversized squares that pun on BIG BOX STORE in the first place.
So, your puzzle, Joe, put me in a great mood and sent me flying into my day. Thank you!
Loved it although I got hung up trying "Guesstimate." But Rex: Miranda doesn't just see "real people". She sees a gorgeous young guy and falls in love.
ReplyDeleteMy solving experience was similar to Rex’s this morning, with the only really tough spot being the last box filled, with LOWES. Even with that holdup, this was far from my SLOWEST Thursday.
ReplyDeleteWhen VIVALDI wouldn’t fit, for a moment I thought the Four Seasons composer might be Frankie Valli. But that name didn’t fit either. (JK)
Conrad’s definition of a big box store—a store where the products (e.g., appliances) come in big boxes—never occurred to me before. I have always thought of that term as a description of the building. In which case, ALDI doesn’t exactly qualify and the GAP definitely doesn’t. A fun puzzle nonetheless.
You described my experience almost exactly, down to squinting at the final LOWES square. I've heard of it I guess but I rarely leave my NYC bubble and have no idea about those suburban institutions, is it a hardware store?
ReplyDeleteCorrect, or basically correct. Anything to do with home improvement or home maintenance is there: tools, paints, gardening supplies, you name it. And not to be confused with LOEWS, which is a name attached to MEGAPLEXES, or multiplexes, or cineplexes, whichever plex as the case may be.
DeleteIt's like Home Depot.
DeleteThere are, or at least were, Lowe's stores in Manhattan, so I have to assume they are in the other boroughs as well. So that must be an extremely tiny bubble you are in.
DeleteThe stores are "big box" because of typography.
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteAfter getting LOWES, went looking for HOMEDEPOT. Har.
Wondering if 1) the Big Boxes worked on all platforms, and 2) if they were able to be filled in if Big.
Had ALB in to get LOCAL BAR first, but somehow the ole brain remembered VIVALDI. Amazing twice, once for just remembering, another for knowing a composers name.
Liked the concept, don't consider GAP to be a Big Box Store. Where's COSTCO? 😁
Had AtApricE for ALACARTE, leading to my DNF. Had to look at Rex's completed grid to finish. Fail! Couldn't figure out the SW without blatant cheating. So it goes.
Hope y'all have a great Thursday!
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
The four theme spaces aren’t supposed to be big box stores! They are just stores in big boxes, as described by the revealer.
ReplyDeletetwo of them are obviously big box stores so the puzzle has created confusion
DeleteHave to agree with Anon 7:51; at best there's confusion about the theme. "Big box store" is definitely a discrete thing; it even has its own Wikipedia entry ("...hyperstore, superstore... physically large retail establishment"). LOWE'S and IKEA? (*ding*) GAP and ALDI? (*buzzer*)
DeleteSolving on line, the rebus squares were what appeared to be raised; so... big boxes, got it. But was that really necessary to give that big of a hint? Come on, it's Thursday.
More annoying, like others our last entry was the SLOWEST/LOWE'S cross. We got the "happy music" by just entering the L. So our solved puzzle has rebuses for three of the four businesses, and an "L". Sloppy.
My biggest personal failure today was, in light of (1) the corporate theme (which we know Rex disfavors) and (2) the first-ever FIVE-star rating earlier this week, predicting to my wife "I'm guessing this might be the first ONE-star rating". (*buzzer*).
Had I read that his router had died (though the worst he had to say was "stupid" and "Bah"; nothing starting with the letter that @Roo counts), I'd have been even more confident.
And to know he hates the word SMARM even more than moist, and that it's centered in the puzzle, even more confident.
Objectively, the write-up justifies a "meh" rating; so the constructor was saved from ignominy.
say what you will about the "arty", but why is that an accepted synonym for "pretentious"??
ReplyDeleteThat's just how it turned out, according to how many people use it. "Artsy" (or "artsier") is more unmistakeable in getting across the pretentiousness. As in "artsy-fartsy".
DeleteI had fun with this. Similar experience to @Rex. I struggled mightily with the LOWES Rebus. Nothing would come for way too long and I started going into a million wrong places. I also wanted guessTIMATES there. I was thinking we already had GAP, so maybe Guess jeans(???) for those who remember those... and maybe Last over the line was some form of the word Segue (???) So like most of my life, I spent a *lot* of time in the NE. I'm not sure what finally made it click.
ReplyDeleteAll the others, while on the easy side, were fun to noodle.
We also had some really nice looking long ones today. GRAVENIMAGE, SUPEREGO, ALACARTE and FANEDITS really pop for me. TEESHOTS and TAGLINES get an honorable mention. The fill in general was very solid, not a groaner in the bunch.
Like someone mentioned, the POSE repeat was a bit odd to see but that stuff never bothers me all that much.
Joe - you offered up a tight and very clever theme that entertained. That along with squeaky clean fill and you have all that you can ask for in a solve. Thanks for this!
Am super-impressed by Rex’s recovery from the death of his router and deft use of hot-spot. There has to be the theme for a fun puzzle in there somewhere! Made a mess of this puzzle. Got ALDI quickly, then GAP, but the difference in type between those stores and LOWES was too great for my mind to make the leap this morning, even after the BIGBOXSTORES reveal. Enjoyed some of the nifty words and clues, but not so much the PPP that was not on my wavelength, so more difficult for me than for most I think.
ReplyDeleteEasy-Medium, I guess. The theme leaves me completely cold. Names of STOREs in BIG BOXES, yeah I get it, good one. Is it a big box store, or isn't it a big box store? I Just Don't Care. I mean, if you really want me to think about this dreary theme, then I suppose you can't blame me if I begin musing on corporate conglomeration and the ruination of small local businesses all across the USA, together with the utter homogeneity and mediocrity of the resultant business monoculture, etc. etc. etc. Ugh. Let's talk about something else, shall we?
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle looks sort of phoned in. Even putting aside the apparent inattention in having things like POSE twice, I'm looking it over and finding it hard to find to get excited about any of it. Well, okay. I like the word SERAPHS, even it's a plural of convenience. (And maybe a slightly questionable plural, now that I think about it. Isn't SERAPHIM the traditional plural?) SOIREE is fine, even if "foreign". FENCES isn't bad either, in the clued sense. Oh, I almost missed GRAPPA -- that has some flavor to it.
Some of the theme answers span more than one word in a mildly creative way, but frankly I think I see some unevenness, since it's two words in one direction and just one in the other, and which direction has the two words is a jumble between Across and Down -- except for the corner at STRIKEAPOSE and LIKEACHARM, which is problematic in a different way, as has been covered already. (Wow, that is really bad though.)
Is NOR and NORI an issue for anyone? Think I'll give that one a pass.
We have GRAVEN IMAGE and ELI and MENORAH and EDEN. (And SERAPHS.) Something going on here?
We've been on such a high this week, I suppose the roller coaster had to come down at some point. Fingers crossed for a good puzzle tomorrow and the next day.
Indeed, the plural of SERAPH is SERAPHIM—I affirm your discomfort there. I grew up in a religious tradition that geeked out over classic hymns, so the line from the second verse of "Holy, Holy, Holy" about "Cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee" still rolls trippingly off the tongue.
DeleteI was hoping to see a comment on the repugnance of the theme. The corporatization of the US has been our downfall, in all the ways. I'm grateful I didn't have to see [rhymes with pall shart].
DeleteI'm not steeped in it so I miss some scripture stuff. I had SERAPi cause that all that my mind could drudge up.
Guess Im the only one who had cRAVEN for the longest time. Is GRAVEN IMAGE a .. thing?
Seraphim is the plural used in the Bible and everywhere else
Delete"Short write-up today ... Oh, it wasn't a shirt-writeup" is on my Rex Parker bingo card. "Oh really?" I think whenever I read the the prediction of brevity.
ReplyDeleteAlso enjoyed figuring out the Golden Slumbers connection to ATLAS. I sing this song to my toddler to calm him down, and when he sings it on his own, it's always "Sleepy a darling do not cry!"
Good review. ****_
I usually get a burst of energy when a Thursday theme jumps right out me, so I don’t mind the giant square training wheels today. I had two very tough spots - the first was the same issue as Rex with LOWES. I considered something akin to “low” for a bit, but it was confusing as a low estimate is not necessarily conservative (say you are asked to estimate a project budget or cost for a client or potential customer).
ReplyDeleteI have also never encountered GRAVEN IMAGE as a stand-alone phrase, which must be a “me” issue as apparently it has biblical origins. It didn’t help that I don’t know how to spell AVAIAN and I never heard leaflets referred to as TRACTS.
In any event, I was for the most part making progress, which was enough to keep me cozy and comfortable on this chilly AM (as we prepare to transition into some much warmer weather).
It's in one of the Ten Commandments, according to some traditional translations. Here. I just about never see "graven" standing alone -- it's always followed by "image" -- but it means about the same thing as "engraved".
DeleteGood luck finding a definition of "big box store" that works the half of the theme answers that isn't Lowe's and IKEA. First of all, the outlet needs to physically look like a big box, like a large warehouse.
ReplyDeleteMost ALDIs look like much smaller boxes than their supermarket competitors like Albertson's or Safeway. One of ALDI's main appeals is that it's easy to get in and out for basic shopping items because of its manageable size (meaning, very specifically, THEY AREN'T BIG).
GAP resembles a big box store neither by its form factor (it's a smallish suite in a mall that shares walls with adjacent stores) nor its merchandise mix (you won't find cans of soup, or caulk, or Jitterbug phones there, it's nearly all just apparel, like the jeans that make me look like I have no ass).
Re SHAMASH: Literally ,Hebrew for "one that is used"; (also the title of of a beadle in a synagogue). The shamash is an extra candle which traditionally is used to light the other candles. However, that's not its original halachic purpose (halachah=Jewish law) because according to the Talmud (c. 200-500 CE) the Chanukah lights (at that time oil lamps: candles were a post-Talmudic invention) were not to be used for illumination, and therefore an extra light (the shamash) was lit for that purpose. This was important in ancient times when oil was expensive and you didn't go round switching lights on and off like today. The Chanukah liturgy after lighting the candles in fact includes the following statement: "During all the eight days of Chanukah these lights are sacred, and we are not allowed to use them; but only to look at them." (In contrast the Shabbat candles lit before sunset on Friday evening are are intended for illumination, and therefore do not need a "shamash").
ReplyDeleteRe the sons of ELI: Eli was the high priesr who trained Samuel, later judge , prophet and kingmaker of Israel. Eli's sons (Chofni and Pinchas) abused their high position as hereditary priests (see I Samuel 2:12-17) -and are described as being "base men." Still they were also important military leaders against the Philistines, but both were killed in a disastrous battle in which the holy ark was captured by the Philistines,. Thereafter Samuel assumed Eli's position afterthe 98-year-old Eli died on hearing the news of his sons' deaths and the captuere of the ark and also of his daughter-in-law's death in childbirth all on the same day (see I Samuel 4:15-22).
Re
Thanks for the education. I was hoping SHAMASH would be the word of the day, but your explanation works fine
DeleteOil menorah, eh? Cool. Is that what they used in the original story ;-)
DeleteThanks @Raymond, I was going to come here to explain shamash but you handled it way better than I would have.
Delete@melle - Yes oil in the original. The miracle was that a very small amount lasted for eight days. Many people today use oil as well.
Had an extremely hard time with this puzzle, things just didn't click for me today I guess.
ReplyDeleteFavorites today:
* Small square (62D) - ONE
* ___ mold (25D) - SLIME
* Broad-shouldered Titan (41A) - ATLAS
Hopefully Friday treats me better.
Mrs. Egs: Bae, I'm taking you to see an ORDOC.
ReplyDeleteEgs: Why? I just need an ENT or maybe I could OBIT.
Mrs. Egs: Well your ASSAILS and is SCALY
Egs: Did my brother come up with that diagnosis?
Mrs. Egs: NOME
I recently watched a television production of The Tempest on my ACTV as my DC one was broken.
It hadn't occurred to me until right now that Vivaldi is almost all roman numerals (5 1 5 A 50 501). Too bad his name wasn't VIViLDI.
Back in the olde days we were expected to say yeSMARM and no Marm to the Schoolmarm.
For those questioning whether ALDI and GAP are "Big Box" stores, I suggest you read the revealer clue very slowly and thoughtfully. I thought this was a semi-precious GEM. Thanks, Joe Deeney.
I read it slowly, 2 of the 4 answers are big box stores in one sense and two are big box stores in two senses. To me this is a flaw in the theme.
DeleteAnonymous 2:25 pm
DeletePerhaps you should be more curious why Egs said it
The stores are in BIG BOXRS. So they are all big box stores. Even the Gap. It’s part of the gimmick or the joke.
Rex’s valid complaint is that by having 2 actual big stores, it’s confusing. And it dI’d in fact confuse us , Rex and a lot of others.
Rex, thank you very much for posting that information about GRAPPA. I've always felt I should enjoy it, but every time I've tried it I'd end up asking why they couldn't make it smooth, like cognac or armagnac. I'd just assumed it was just what the Italians called their brandy, but now I know it's very different.
ReplyDeleteOh, the puzzle. I had to get the revealer before I could see LOWES. I wanted the down answer to be "underestimate," which left "sunderest" for the across. I tried to make a case that the last line crosser was the most sundered from the first, but even I was not convinced by that. But once I knew I was looking for a store, it got a lot easier.
The thing about themes is that there's always something else that one could do, in theory, to make them even more elegant. But it is not always possible to do that extra thing. Here, all the rebused words are stores, and they are in big boxes, so there you go. Two of the four are actually "big box stores," but I don't think one could come up with another that would work, so this is the practical best that could be done. Incidentally, they are big box stores not only because they are big, but because they are boxy. The old department stores were in buildings with lots of elegant architectural detail, meant to make shopping there seem more elegant.
For the past 30 years or so I've opened the Christmas season by going to a performance of "Messiah," so I remember a lot of the lyrics, and I'm pretty sure that there is one that goes, "For he has [three -syllable verb] the sons of Eli." That's how I got that answer, but I can't remember the verb--my search skills aren't up to it. Maybe I'll ask Claude.
I think you are mis-remembering "And He shall purify the sons of Levi"
Delete@jberg - it's "He shall purify the sons of Levi" in the Messiah.
DeleteI suspect you're thinking of "the sons of Levi" from "And he shall purify."
DeleteOh, one more thing. I think it was the long-missing commenter @Zed who argued that rebuses should not be symmetrical, as the symmetry made it too easy to find them. Well, today they are not symmetrical, but the big squares give them away anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe most disappointing thing about being among the many people who wanted GUESSTIMATE is that it is such a better answer (though the clue wouldn't make complete sense there—not sure that GUESSTIMATES are particularly conservative). Not knowing what BIG BOX STORES were anyway, all I noticed was that names of stores, and GUESS jeans was every bit as legit on that level as GAP. That corner was the very last place I filled in, and the disappointment when I realized the theme answer was just LOW ESTIMATE was a huge let-down for the end of the puzzle. Isn't that rather green-painty?
ReplyDeleteAll told, I think the puzzle needed a different revealer. The big boxes took away the fun of the rebus—even though the first rebus was clear with VIVALDI, we would have had to struggle to figure out where the four-letter rebus was. And the revealer itself produced a lot of confusion that we see on this comment thread about two of them being simply stores in big boxes and two of them being actual BIG BOX STORES. I don't know what that would be. STOREFRONTS? MINI MALLS? SQUARE DEALS? SHOP IN A BOX? I don't love any of these, but the existing revealer is already problematic, so maybe a little going back to the drawing board was in order.
(Some overlap with Egs' always fine work today (Hi Egs!), but what can you do?)
ReplyDeleteBar that serves only light beer: LOCALDIVE
Brat, after spanking: ASSAILS
How to keep your otolaryngologist chilled: ENTICE
What my wife's get-togethers with her five sisters will have, if I play my cards right: NOME
'SLEMON? No, 'SLIME
TAGLINE: You're it.
From yesterday:
Dentist: Everything looks fine.
Texan: Drill anyway Doc, I feel lucky.
My kind of rebus. Loved it. 🎈🎈🎊🎊
ReplyDeleteI for one was grateful for the big boxes as it made it easier to write in all the needed letters with my pencil, which thankfully I had sharpened recently. The VIVALDI answer was obvious but I hesitated to enter it because I wanted a LOCALBAR, but that became clear. Entering ALDI, however, was not much help as the only place I have ever seen an ALDI is in a crossword puzzle. No idea where the nearest one might be. The theme gave me LOWES, also not a local store (Home Depot) but they sure run a lot of ads on tv, so no problem there.
ReplyDeleteMostly whooshy although the SLIME / SMARM cross took a while. Same thought process as OFL to suss out MENORAH, thanks to @Raymond for the explanations o that and ELI. Two Bobs in this one which is good as three of my friends and I decided to call ourselves some kind of Bob back in our tennis doubles days. I was Coach Bob, FWIW.
I thought this Thursday was Just Delightful, JD. Thanks for all the fun.
I got stuck in the NE as well until Lowe’s came to mind
ReplyDeleteRenuncia a todas las imágenes impías.
ReplyDeleteI finished the puzzle except for the LOWES square and I stared at it for five minutes. Easy puzzle went to impossible puzzle real quick. Luckily I learned yesterday I'm a blowhard and ignoramus, and I cried and cried all day, and I had very low opinion of myself and my personal abilities as I tackled this through the tears, and that one square verified my dumbness.
Otherwise it was a fun solve.
Initially I wanted to stuff IGOR STRAVINSKY and LOCAL BAR into the first square, but no dice obviously, so I wandered off and the other squares were easier to put together -- until the end. We don't have ALDIs out here, but I heard about them from crosswords. The closest one to me is apparently in Phoenix.
I do not love the "which ACT is it in?" clues. I also did not know FENCES could be used as a crime-related noun.
I grew up in a wildly right-wing Christian nationalist church and GRAVEN IMAGES were a big topic. I think the main one was money, presumably so you wouldn't be too tight fisted when the plate came around.
And @tht is correct. It's SERAPHIM in the plural, but maybe not in downtown New York City (?).
People: 9
Places: 3
Products: 5
Partials: 5
Foreignisms: 4
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 26 of 74 (35%)
Funny Factor: 2 😕
Uniclues: Sponsored today by the SMARM TSAR (Bob) ROSS
1 Pastry Jesus.
2 Watch our milk delivery driver do his thing.
3 Latest ad campaign for beer featuring a dude sleeping in the gutter.
4 Where baby birds go to watch foreign film directors from the 50s do their thing.
1 GRAVEN IMAGE PIE
2 SEE CRATES MEET
3 CORONA! STRIKE A POSE!
4 EAGLET MEGAPLEXES
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Crime avenger in the morning, burro groom in the afternoon. HALF ASS DAY JOB.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The Times is located in midtown not downtown.
DeleteAnonymous's correction does remind me of a delightful little scene in Seinfeld where George has reason to believe that the instructions for an important job project he has (for the NYY) are cryptically ENCODEd in the lyrics to "Downtown" by Petula Clark. So he and Jerry are combing through the lyrics... they get to "where the neon lights are pretty" and George thinks it's a hint that the job project has something to do with a place like that, maybe the Broadway area? Jerry: "no, that's midtown". Refresher.
DeleteExcellent puzzle which I thoroughly enjoyed. A little bit of a challenge to figure out the theme until the first one emerged and then it got quite quite a bit easier. Really quite a delight. My only quibble is that neither ALDI nor GAP is what I would call a BIG BOX. Aldi stores in fact are significantly smaller than most supermarkets. Kinda left a bit of tarnish on an otherwise sterling Thursday.
ReplyDeleteYep, my hand is up at originally thinking “what? GAP is not a big box store and ALDI barely qualifies!” So d’oh was thought after reading the PS by Rex. Well. Not being a constructor or anyone that independently would try to figure out how to insert Costco, Walmart, Sam’s, or SuperTarget into a phrase (or anything) then the actual big boxes in the puzzle will just have to do.
ReplyDeleteHand up also for resisting SERAPHS at first due to SERAPHim…but I guess the plural cherubs is fine even though cherubim exists as a plural. (Maybe Latin?)
I’m also a little red-faced at putting in alterEGO at first, even knowing that an alterEGO has zero to do with Freud.
Was it easy? Well. My time was a little slower than my average Thursday but that can always just be a bout of morning cobwebs in my brain.
I solve on the IOS app, and the rebus boxes weren’t big. Probably made the puzzle a little more challenging. Or just less patronizing.
ReplyDeleteI do the puzzle in the REAL newspaper… how do you squeeze all those letters into those 4 tiny boxes..? Tee hee
ReplyDeleteYep, the Lowe's square. Brain wanted guesstimate & just couldn't see it.
ReplyDeleteHome for the summer, good to be back
good luck with the router set up. i have confidence in you.
ReplyDeleteEasy. Like @Rex the highlighted boxes and the VIVALDI gimmie made the theme pretty obvious, so it was just a matter of figuring out what stores. Also like @Rex LOWES was the hardest one for me.
ReplyDeleteNo costly erasures and ELI and MENORAH were it for WOEs.
Breezy and fun, liked it.
@Rex, I don't want to make it worse but did you notice SLIME crossed SMARM?
ReplyDeleteNit note: IKEA is the only one that did not bridge words. CHARM and POSE stand alone with no help.
1D ANGLE anagram is ANGEL (of undetermined wing count)
ReplyDelete“Lowes” was the very last square I completed just now, about 5 minutes after my brand new washing machine from Lowe’s was delivered. It’s a sign. Of what? I don’t know.
ReplyDeleteOf low prices, good service and very least. Maybe other signs as well. Mom and pop are overrated.
DeleteThey go out of business for more than uncompetitive prices. They’re often hoisted on their own petard: unreasonable policies, cranky employees. A slavish devotion ti their way.
My local hardware is typical. They open at 8:30 AM (pretty late in the day for a tradesman). I was parked in the doot directly in fromt of the door, when I saw the manager inlock the door, allow an enoloyee to enter then relock the door. At 8:28. He dutifully opened the door at 8:30. All the while looking at me.
Just a mouth breather flexing.
But emblematic of the mom and pop set.
Anon 1:42. You make a couple of good points. We have a small hardware store about 10 minutes away from our little farm. There are 2 Home Depots about half an hour away in different directions and a couple of Lowes about an hour's drive if traffic is light. If I need a roll of electrical tape or a small tub of drywall mud, where do you think I'm going to go? I've never found the employees at the local place to be cranky but, admittedly, I have never been there before 8:30 am. It's usually more like 2:30 in the afternoon when I think, "Oh, sh*t. I thought I had some 2 and a half inch nails. Where are they?" Half an hour and I'm back fixing the fence. Local hardware guys to the rescue.
DeleteThe big stores are great, but the little guys fill a void.
Yeah, they may not be for contractors, but for part time guys like me, they're great. And they're only a few hundred metres from the liquor store. Two birds, one stone.
I didnt think ALDI was a popular enough store to make the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteLOWES did me in - just when I thought I might finish this rebus without a cheat and actually like it. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteI tried. Thank you, Joe :)
Me, too, for finding the LOWES square a puzzler, but once I landed on the right kind of ESTIMATES I saw that we were heading for BIG BOX STORES in the reveal. Nice word play! Favorites: LIKE A CHARM, SERAPHS, GRAVEN IMAGE, and the cross of SLIME and SMARM.
ReplyDeleteI could have finished a lot faster if I hadn’t spaced on the Four Seasons. Of course that’s Vivaldi. My brain went to the Planets and I was trying to make Holst work. And I knew 1A had to be ACT_, so I was trying to think if it was one of those Thursday answers that bent around or something. Just a disaster for me up there. Only when I saw the big box revealer, and knew LOC__ had to be followed by “AL…,:” did it come together. Still an average Thursday time for me overall.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the solve today... because the interface I use didn't show the big boxes. I was mystified by the "BIG" part of the revealer, but now I see. (Got the trick right away with ACTV x VIVALDI, needed the start of LOCAL DIVE to see where the rebus was.
ReplyDeleteThe POSE dupe in the themers was disappointing. Could've kept the YOGA and GAP with YOGA PANTS, same length, but maybe the constructor tried that and the grid turned out really tough to fill?
Like Rex, I got stuck on the LOWES square. Doesn't help that 1) my brain wants to shut down and look at crosses whenever a clue has "line" in it, because that could mean a lot of things (and the crosses weren't exactly useful), and 2) themelesses (Stumper included) have trained me to look for multiple interpretations in clues, and I considered the possibility of "last" being a verb.
Re: The "Big Box" controversy:
ReplyDelete1. Looks like the definition of Big Box Store is sorta "physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain".
2. IKEA & LOWE'S totally fit that definition.
3. ALDI also comes pretty close. Plus, it has family-size Cheerios, which come in pretty big boxes.
4. GAP ... I dunno. Have never shopped at one of them. Do they sell suits of armor? That'd come in a pretty big box ...
@RP -- Sorry about yer router woes, dude. Computers can be such labor-savin devices, huh? Great blog job, considerin.
staff weeject pick: NOR. Clued as abbreve meat. Cousin of NORI, today. And primo weeject stacks, NE & SW, btw.
honrable mention to: GAP. Also to: EST, a definite LOW ESTimate.
some fave stuff: GRAVENIMAGE [Trump statue, e.g.]. SUPEREGO [ditto]. TEESHOTS clue.
Thanx for the cool boxin match, Mr. Deeney dude. It definitely put up a fight, at our house.
Masked & Anonymo1U (s)
p.s.
Runt puzzle [also a fighter]:
**gruntz**
M&A
I’m surprised this got three stars from Rex, I didn’t like it at all. Who wants big box stores in their puzzle? We all live with them, we use them, but they’re unpleasant places to be and half the time they don’t have what you’re looking for even though they’re “big.” And I get why there were big boxes on the rebus squares, to go with the theme, but the fun of a rebus is in figuring out where the rebus squares are and what goes in them!
ReplyDeleteNo ALDI stores here in northern California but it's been in previous puzzles.
ReplyDeleteGreat rebus. LOWES was a five-letter rebus entry. A near record, I would guess.
Happy to learn the definition of SMARM. I kind of knew what it meant.
Hope the NYTimes is getting money for the product placements. I didn't realize until I got to GAP, and then my heart sank. We're already inundated with TV morning "news" shows that are nothing more than hours long advertisements for their parent company's various other products.
ReplyDeleteFun story. The first "Big Box Store" allowed in NYC was the Home Depot on the North Shore of Staten Island. It was allowed in, over objections, because they promised to hire many cashiers at good wages 24/7. And, they did. Then the deluge came, then the "mom and pop" stores disappeared just as everyone had feared, and now we all have to work for them as our own cashiers without even an employee discount. Corporate grift, it'll get you every time. I understand Aldi actually has cashiers, maybe they should have worked "Whole Foods" into the puzzle instead.
Other than triggering such thoughts, it was a good puzzle.
I think of big box stores as chains that are ubiquitous… and usually have large boxy-like physical stores. So, as already stated, LOWES and IKEA fit no problem. The GAP is certainly ubiquitous (or at least it was) and there are (or used to be) large boxy GAP stores in big cities or large malls; they have closed many locations in the past few years so I’m not sure about now. I know ALDIS from western PA but it definitely not ubiquitous.
ReplyDeleteNot much of a consumer and have only been to one of the BIG BOX STOREs, LOWES, so this theme wasn't exactly exciting for me. All was not lost, though. The grid has a relatively low black square count of 32 (the average for Thursdays is 37, per xwordinfo.com) and this left lots of room for first rate fill to ENTICE me to continue on.
ReplyDeleteAll the theme answers themselves are interesting with LIKE A CHARM being the most charming for me. VIVALDI is my favorite composer so seeing him was nice.
The NYTXW reinforces its image as one of the last bastions of the Freudian mythology with 11D SUPEREGO. That's just Sigmund's gussied up term for the more mundane "conscience".
I always cringe when I see one of the "La Playa Awaits" ads for 2D CORONA. They always show a beach scene with a couple of bottles of CORONA on prominent display and I yell at the screen "No glass on the beach!". So far it's had no effect. Guess I need to yell louder.
Like @tht and maybe a couple of other commenters, I hated this theme. Names of stores? Yucch. The only one I've ever been in is IKEA, basically because they're international, I guess. I don't think we have the other 3 here in Canada, but don't quote me. If asked, I would have said ALDI is a brand of shoe? Guess not.
ReplyDeleteThere was nothing special about the rebus squares in Across Lite. However I did notice the warning note: "This puzzle uses features which are not supported in this file format" so I was wise to the trick. I don't know why they don't just use circles, guess there's nothing "big" about them.
Hands up for GUESSTIMATES. Is there a store called GUESS? Jeans maybe?
New LOWES in grid "art" today.
ReplyDeleteSEE CRATES MEET at big box conferences.
I was also stuck at the Lowes rebus, but it was because my brain had mentally filled in the S in estimates, so I thought I was looking for an -e word or phrase. Had to walk away and come back before I realized it. Surprised no one mentioned the plural soils as an answer as clued (I guess they didn't want to go the verb route). I guess there could be different types of soil, but you go to the store and pick up soil, singular
ReplyDeleteI was sure GUESS was right for 5 seconds until the Across didn't work. And of course guessTIMATES aren't really conservative guesses. And then of course there's the problem that guess can't be in the clue and the answer which escaped my notice. I had the same difficulty as Rex figuring out what could go in that box, but what took him seconds to figure out took me minutes. I knew the store ended in "es" so just started thinking about big chains that would work which is how I got to LOWES. Last answer in the grid. Otherwise fairly easy Thursday. 23:53
ReplyDeleteI liked this one a lot and that surprised me because I don’t remember liking many Joe Deeny puzzles in the past. Like a previous commenter, I confused The Four Seasons with The Planets for a while. I’m not very good with classical music clues but it didn’t take long to see that Holst wasn’t going to work.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I don’t think anyone has mentioned is that when you click on the rebus squares they light up in yellow, just like all the other squares do if you click on them, but the rebus ones don’t fill the “box”. They are approximately the same size as the regular highlights (I haven’t actually done a pixel count). I thought that was a nice touch; these stores are dwarfed in their big boxes.
A bit of difficulty with some of the store names. We have a few Lowes stores here but I would have to drive at least an hour each way to buy a box of drywall screws. Fortunately, there is a Home Depot on the way to the cigar shop.
Outside of this blog and its comments, I have never encountered Aldi but I think I might like them. I do most of the grocery shopping here and I prefer mid- to small-sized shops where you aren’t navigating something the size of 2 football fields just to find the pappardelle (if they have it, and if any of the shelf stockers actually know it’s a type of pasta). Small is good. So is local. So is knowledgeable.
Lots of sparkling and/or clever fill from LOCAL DIVE to SUPEREGO. And I love words like ELICIT. Just slides off the tongue.
Sorry @Rex, but I like SMARM, too.
For some reason neither SMARM NOR "moist" give me the shudders. I'm well familiar with the phenomenon (is it any surprise) of there being words out there inexplicably setting the teeth on edge, but these are not two of them. They seem like functional and handy words. ELICIT, too (I use that one all the time).
DeleteI'm very glad to have ALDI as a shopping option. There are some nits: they tend to be short on specialty items, they are constantly reorganizing their aisles, and it's somewhat hit or miss in terms of items they seemingly used to carry. But often the prices are unbeatable, and I find their quality quite decent. So for staples, I think they're great. Just make sure to bring your own bags, and a quarter coin to unlock the cart.
I came here hoping to see that Rex had hated this puzzle as much as I did and was disappointed. I blame the router problems. Aldi and the Gap aren't big box stores. Low estimates aren't necessarily conservative. Gross...
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed this! 12 minutes, so medium I guess. I think this was kind of a meta puzzle, you know? We all complain about boxes or shading, how it's more elegant without it. But this time the whole box conceit IS the theme! Clever, kind of a gotcha revealer. Nice....
ReplyDeleteI also expected more of a negative response from Rex, both for the crass commercial focus of the puzzle and the POSE dupe. Must be a case of Router Distraction. I was also totally perplexed by guessTIMATES.
ReplyDeleteHands up for Guess. Clever misdirect. I was so slow at LOWES that I had to come here for Rex’s excellent write-up. Very much enjoyed this puzzle and actually succeeded in entering the rebuses on my phone. And it turns out the rebuses were in big boxes - neat!
ReplyDeleteWe discovered when trying to buy sanders for our deck that big box store like LOWES suffer a great deal from theft. Our sanders should have been there but weren’t. The staff were unsurprised, sadly