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Chinese instrument with two strings / SUN 7-5-26 / Folk religion akin to voodoo / Satirist Freberg / What has flatter feet? / Bygone N.Y.C. music venue with rhyming initials / Lingerie brand with a Slavic-sounding name / Longtime Tribeca restaurant where some say the Cosmopolitan was invented, with "the" / Product displays seen at entrances to store aisles / Jewish mysticism, in one spelling
Sunday, July 5, 2026
Constructor: Rich Katz
Relative difficulty: Very, very easy
THEME: "Boxed Sets" — familiar phrases are clued via "sets" of terms (listed inside the curly brackets that indicate mathematical sets) —the sequential arrangement of the terms in the sets indicates the phrases:
Theme answers:
- BABE IN THE WOODS (22A: {Elijah, Ruth, Natalie}) [BABE Ruth in [between] two WOODS]
- BEATS AROUND THE BUSH (28A: {Kerouac, Dubya, Ginsberg}) ["Beats" = Beat Generation writers]
- POWER BEHIND THE THRONE (41A: {WC, AC, DC}) [WC = water closet = toilet = "THRONE"]
- HONOR AMONG THIEVES (66A: {Bonnie, Oscar, Clyde}) ["Oscar" here is the Academy Award]
- TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE (88A: {Larry, Sue, Emma}) [Larry Bird, Sue Bird, Emma Stone]
- ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES (97A: {Cinnabon, Kool-Aid, Hi-C})
- DOWN IN THE DUMPS (113A: {Landfill, goose feathers, junkyard})
The Odeon is a restaurant in New York City. The restaurant opened in 1980, in space previously occupied by Towers Cafeteria. The restaurant was founded by Lynn Wagenknecht, Keith McNally, and Brian McNally. Wagenknecht continues to run the restaurant. Wagenknecht has characterized the restaurant as a brasserie. [...] The Odeon has been referred to as a "classic" New York City restaurant. In his 1989 review, Bryan Miller commented that the restaurant was already "called an institution" despite having been open for less than ten years. William Grimes referred to The Odeon as "ageless and definitively downtown" in a 2000 review of Village, a restaurant opened by former Odeon chef Stephen Lyle. Stephen Heyman, writing for Surface, described The Odeon and other restaurants operated by Keith McNally as gradually transitioning from a "forward operating bases of gentrification" to "important parts of the city's heritage". The restaurant has been credited with inspiring imitators hoping to mimic its ambience and success. // Scenes in Jay McInerney's novel Bright Lights, Big City take place at The Odeon, and the exterior was depicted on the book's first edition cover. McInerney has said that attorneys at his publishing house were concerned about depictions of drug use at the restaurant in the novel, so McInerney sought Keith McNally's permission to portray the restaurant in and on the book. McNally granted permission assuming the novel would not sell well. The exterior was also featured in the opening credits of Saturday Night Live. A celebration commemorating the 20th anniversary of the novel's publication was held at the restaurant. // The Odeon is known for its celebrity clientele. Regulars at the restaurant have at points included Jean-Michel Basquiat, John Belushi, and Andy Warhol. Lena Dunham has a tattoo of the restaurant's sign. In addition to its popularity with celebrities, the restaurant was at one point popular among Wall Street quants. (wikipedia)
• • •
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| [19D: Bygone N.Y.C. music venue with rhyming initials] |
If I could chuck one part of this puzzle into the sea and then shoot it into the moon and then detonate it, it would be that NE corner. Everything from ERHU EBSEN ESPNU all the way through to the improbably singular E-SPORT. Not sure why that answer hits my ear so wrong in the singular, but it does. But the real dealbreaker up there is SAIDSHH. I have "OOF" written in the margins next to that answer. The term is SHUSHED. If you can have SAIDSHH in your puzzle, then you can have SAIDanything in your puzzle. Total garbage. There are other parts of the puzzle that are less than lovely (HAREMS BRAE APRS LAB RATS, for instance), but nothing can compete, uglinesswise, with that NE corner. I liked that the puzzle was cocktail curious. Or, in the case of Angel's SHARE, cocktail adjacent (1D: Angel's ___ (distiller's term for the whiskey that evaporates during aging)). I heard a whole podcast episode once with the inventor of the Cosmopolitan, but I forgot his name, and I most definitely forgot the name of the bar where he worked. I was happy to (re-)learn these facts, as well as learn various things about the ODEON in general (see Word of the Day, above), including the fact that it is depicted on the cover of the Vintage Contemporaries edition of Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City, a book I definitely owned at one point in my life: those Vintage Contemporaries were a real feat of design, the first imprint (besides maybe Penguin) that I remember being able to recognize at sight.
Bullets:
- 21A: Kind of costume that includes a round hat and kerchief (SAILOR) — such a weird clue for SAILOR. I was like "'kerchief,' wtf?" but yeah, I guess ... conventionally, you've got the kerchief around the neck:
- 25A: "___ it and rip it!" (aggressive golfer's mantra) ("GRIP") — ugh, golf lingo. There are different "mantras" based on how "aggressive" you are?
- 27A: Product displays seen at entrances to store aisles (END CAPS) — not sure why this term came to me so easily. Seems pretty ... technical. I did do inventory work (with a ten-key on my hip!) one summer in college, so maybe store display terminology soaked in somehow.
- 75A: 30-ounce Starbucks size (TRENTA) — these feel mythical. Never seen this size on an actual Starbucks menu. Then again, I go into Starbucks as seldom as possible. It's usually an airport-type situation.
- 16D: Lingerie brand with a Slavic-sounding name (OLGA) — almost went with OLAF, which is more Scandinavian than Slavic.
- 32D: What has flatter feet? (ODE) — the best clue of the day. Kind of a thinker ... in that I had to think about it for a bit before I understood it. An ODE is a poem of praise, i.e. a poem intended to "flatter," and poetry is (frequently) composed of metrical units called "feet" (like iambs, for instance). So ... ODEs have "feet" that "flatter" ... or "flatter feet." It's ... a little awkward, but I admire the ambition.
- 75D: They might be up in arms (TATS) — LOL wish this clue had appeared yesterday (in case you missed it, yesterday I revealed that while on vacation, I got my first tattoo—and (up) on my (left) arm, no less:
- 87D: Satirist Freberg (STAN) — I know who this is. Unfortunately, I thought his name was SAUL. Also, now that I think of it, I have him confused with the cartoonist Saul Steinberg. So ... yeah, I have no idea who STAN Freberg is. Let's see ... OK, here we go. Happy 5th of July!
That's all for today. See you next time.
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33 comments:
Very Easy. Solved without reading the theme clues. Nice wordplay.
* * * _ _
Overwrites:
For eroded at 49D I had ATE away before INTO.
KILOByte before KILOBITS at 121A.
WOEs:
Lingerie brand OLGA (16D).
Two-stringed instrument ERHU at 34D.
Folk religion OBEAH at 42D (although I should have remembered it from past crosswords).
Didn't know the NOE (92D)
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - if I liked cryptics I would do the cryptic. Thursday and Friday were outstanding - yesterday was very good - regression was inevitable.
Let The Earth Bear Witness
Thanks for a great write-up this morning, Rex! Stan Freberg is hilarious! I grew up listening to him. Still enjoy those skits. I am the person who says "PINGME" all the time--"Hey, if you don't hear from me by, say, Tuesday, just ping me again, would you? Thanks". I thought the theme was really fun, especially @REX the POWERBEHIND THE THRONE one. Really nice theme. 5 days with no SW.... Forget LETT and spelled it LATT for a while, so I had to hunt around the grid for a while to find my mistake. So that made it easy-medium for me. Anyhow, great puzzle, I'd give it at least 3.5. Thanks, Rich, for a perfect Sunday grid!!!! : )
That Cathedral cover!
Easy it was indeed. Someone over there would have done well to STIFFEN the cluing just a bit; it was too straightforward all throughout the puzzle. I enjoyed figuring out the theme entries -- that's where the cleverness was concentrated.
TRENTA is not part of my vocabulary. I really can't be bothered with Starbucks lingo.
It was only yesterday I saw someone write "PING ME". The actual thing he said was "Don't worry about pinging me!", meaning in this case don't hesitate to ask if you need my assistance. I figure that's close enough to answer Rex's question. "PING ME when you're done" would also be plausible in this same context, where we're working on a paper together but asynchronously, so we're passing back and forth and alerting the other when work on a subsection is done for the moment.
Have a good day, everyone!
Two weeks in a row where the theme... and the puzzle overall... was incredibly easy and where you could fill in the themers before the fill. Disappointing.
{Chorus, orange, finish}
COLOR INSIDE THE LINES
Well, didn’t this just fit the bill perfectly.
It’s a holiday, I don’t want to grind too hard. I didn’t. Yet my brain got its quota of exercise.
It’s a holiday, I want to have fun, and I did as I guessed at the theme answers from their clues. I want to be kept in a good mood, and some of those answers made me smile, or even go “Hah!”.
This was not heavy and cumbersome. It was a guy with a good sense of humor throwing it into the box and saying, “Have a good time!”
And I did. Your puzzle, Rich, simply hit the spot. Oh, I would have loved it any Sunday, but I especially loved it today. Thank you!
A delight altogether. Easy fill, charming and whimsical theme, funny "grin" moments.
A fundamental property of mathematical sets is that the order of the elements doesn't matter -- {1, 2, 3} = {2, 1, 3} = ...-- so for me only two or maybe three of the theme entries worked in that sense. Arguably I'm being pedantic, but it bugged me.
I enjoyed this overall but agree it was pretty easy, like Monday easy. PINGME was OK, since I personally tell people to "ping" me when, but ESPORT (which I was pronouncing like "export"), ENDCAPS, and ERHU were... challenging. OTOH, Buddy EBSEN is a classic and a legend. Not only was he in "The Beverly Hillbillies", but remember "Breakfast at Tiffany's"? And the TV detective series "Barnaby Jones"?
I don't know if including both ODE and ODEON, and then BEATSAROUNDTHEBUSH and DRE ["Beats by ___" (audio brand)] would be considered sorta thematic vs a no-no...?
Of the themers, I agree that POWERBEHINDTHETHRONE was not quite there.
@Gary, from yesterday. (From our Dirty Old Man Dept.) "Just wear pants." Have you lost your mind?
******
Was Leda seduced by a gander?
No, ASWAN.
What Harris' hubby calls her during allergy season: KABALA
Latvian version of old Stones' hit: LETTs Spend the Night Together.
Have you decided on the party tonight?
IMAGO.
On SAIDSHH. My son worked in his college library one year, and when asked what his job was he'd say he was a shusher.
No Semisesquintennial theme? Another delicious opportunity like this won’t come around until the Tricentennial in 2076 when I’ll be long since gone.. C’mon constructors you’ve had years to work on this. 😞
I couldn’t make peace with the (lack of) the “boxed” component during the solve. I kept seeing the sets, and got the gist of the theme, but the fact that boxes seem to have had nothing to do with the grid but are the title of the puzzle created a dissonance that I couldn’t shake while solving. Strange how the human mind functions sometimes.
Back in my golfing days, I embraced John Daly’s preferred mantra (Tip it, Sip it, Grip it, Rip it). Other than that not much appealed to me (OBEAH comes quickly to mind), and even Rex called out the made up phrase today. I just couldn’t get over the math incongruity of including boxes with set notation, unless there is a component to the puzzle that I just flat out missed.
I agree with Rex’s “very, very easy,” but it was not an unpleasant solve. The things I didn’t know (TRENTA, END CAPS) came easily from crosses. ODE had a great clue. I don’t time myself, but wow, this didn’t take very long…
Very fun trying to figure out the themers. That's two really, really good puzzles in the last four days, which is a promising sign and a big upswing from the June doldrums.
Mostly very easy, but the NE corner was curiously difficult, not knowing OLGA or END CAPS and wanting something to do with chefs for the round hat and kerchief costume.
I know Stan Freberg as the voice of Pete Puma and all the voices in The Three Little Bops from Looney Tunes!
Hand up for ATE away. I also had ShuSHed before SAIDSHH.
Agree with you.🎈🎈🎊🎊
Just loved "honor among thieves". Thank you Rich for a clever and most enjoyable solve. And ref to a wonderful movie.
{Coliseum, Davis, Machu Picchu}
{Carton, Nicholson, Container}
{Hamlet, The Glass Menagerie, Sack}
answers below
I can't decide which team I like better. The LA Lakers or the LABRATS. Especially now that LeBron is done.
I once wrestled Sonny's ex and was able to PINCHER.
Beatles hit translated to Latvian: LETT itt bee.
What they call an overly dramatic lingerie model: ABRAHAM.
Fun and easy. Thanks, Rich Katz.
Love among the ruins
Jack in the boxes
Plays with fire
Smiled as I read the review, good to have you back, Rex! I did like the theme answers more than you, though.
Agree with the take on NE. Felt like just detouring around it, but eventually had to face it.Metaphor for work.
Great tattoo!!!
I only do Sunday puzzles to maintain my streak and am very happy when they'e fast and easy like today.
I thought the theme was clever and fun. ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES was the first themer I got, and it made me chuckle! I did find the puzzle pretty easy, but not so easy that I disliked it. Some of the fill was unfamiliar: ENDCAPS, ERHU, OBEAH, TRENTA, and also the phrase NOT ON A BET, which caused me to hesitate quite a bit. So I wouldn't call it "Monday easy."
Thanks for a fun ROMP, Rich Katz!
Where's the pleasure in solving without reading the theme clues? That's the fun part!
ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES makes the whole puzzle worthwhile. Love that "boxed set".
The NE corner was my hardest sector. That HH caused me to rethink those crosses multiple times, the gamer's pursuit I assumed would be a level to be reached, hence my toP that was in there for a while. No idea on the lingerie, and I really thought the 21A costume sounded like something a mime would wear. I ended up filling the NE somehow.
Anyway, Rich Katz, I admire your creativity on this puzzle, thanks!
SAYHI is borderline acceptable.
SAYAH is where it starts to look ridiculous.
SAYIDO is... already in "please remove from your wordlist" territory.
SAIDSHH is simply an abomination.
There was a corner worse than the NE corner, and that was the NW corner. *Bad* Natick in 1D and 19D -- not really a Natick because they don't cross, but having them immediately adjacent screwed up that whole corner for me. The rest was, yes, very easy. But placing an item from the argot of an obscure line of work next to a long-closed NYC boozery is just Not On, seems to me.
Probably too easy for most, but I loved it. Maybe because I frequented
The Odeon & CBGBs in my 'youth' so I appreciated the mention. Not too many WOES but there must be some b/c I'm off to find my typo. Thank you, Rich for a great Sunday & the walk down memory lane :)
I kind of wish the clue for ‘honor among thieves’ had been {Bonnie, Blackman, Clyde}
Enjoyed the easy Sunday with a fun theme. I’ll also point out that every theme answer is stellar on its own, a fun phrase that I’m happy to be reminded of in its own rite.
I wondered if the constructor is a reader of this blog with the clue on ELON. Rich avoided criticism for bringing Musk into the grid with a clue that mocked him (or at least mentioned bumper stickers that did). Well done.
I know any weekend puzzle in which I’m not reduced to a couple cheats will get labeled easy, and I made it through this one with only a few trouble spots. The crossing of ASWAN and ACCRA was a guess (no one mentioned it, so it must be crosswordese I haven’t learned yet), I needed every cross for OBEAH, and I don’t happen to know NOT ON A BET (briefly worried that it was going to be NOT ONe BiT, which would be a crime since KILOBITS was already in the puzzle), which crossed LETT which I also happened not to know. But all guesses ultimately hit gold, and I finished the puzzle happy.
Yes, very easy, an uninterrupted whoosh.
Breezy, fun, very clever and genuinely amusing, liked it.
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