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Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- EYES OF BLUE (17A: Per_w_nkle?) (i.e. "i"s in a word meaning "blue")
- EASE OF OPERATION (34A: Proc_dur_?) (i.e. "e"s in a word meaning "operation")
- PEAS IN A POD (51A: Grou_ of _or_oises?) (i.e. "p"s in a phrase meaning "pod")
- USE IN A PINCH (11D: Min_sc_le q_antity?) (i.e. "u"s in a phrase meaning "pinch")
- SEES IN COURT (25D: Pla_e for a _ase?) (i.e. "c"s in a phrase meaning "court")
The greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), also known as the sagehen, is the largest grouse in North America. Its range is sagebrush country in the western United States and southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada. It was known as simply the sage grouse until the Gunnison sage-grouse was recognized as a separate species in 2000. The Mono Basin population of sage grouse may also be distinct.The greater sage-grouse is a permanent resident in its breeding grounds but may move short distances to lower elevations during winter. It makes use of a complex lek system in mating and nests on the ground under sagebrush or grass patches. It forages on the ground, mainly eating sagebrush but also other plants and insects. Greater sage-grouse do not have a muscular crop and are not able to digest hard seeds like other grouse.
The species is in decline across its range due to habitat loss, and has been recognized as threatened or near threatened by several national and international organizations. (wikipedia)
• • •
["I'll give you television / I'll give you EYES OF BLUE..."]
Besides that little WAVE TANK / USE IN A PINCH hiccup, I didn't get held up much today. DAY ONE instead of ONE ONE (which I guess is supposed to represent 1/1, calendar-wise) (27A: New Year's date, concisely). UNWISE before UNWARY (24D: Incautious). Took a bit of work to get POSE AS, since I was looking for a single word (23D: Represent). Also, the SW corner got a little stopped up for me because I couldn't remember the term OUTGAS (specifically the second part of it), and ... ECOTEUR???? Come on, no one says this. This is a term only crosswords could love. If you say ECOTEUR people are going to either say "huh?" or else think you are talking about going on an ECOTOUR, perhaps as an ECOTOURIST (ECOTOURISM being way way way more of a word than ECOTEUR). I watched an episode of "The X-Files" the other day that was all about radical environmentalists in the Pacific Northwest, and they must've said the phrase "environmental terrorist" like a dozen times, but no one said ECOTEUR, I assure you. It's a combination of "eco-" and "saboteur," I guess. Sometimes you have to tell your wordlist "no." Don't let it push you around.
Bullets:
- 10A: Shell in the water (HULL) — I thought the "shell" was a whole boat ... like a "racing shell." I guess the idea here is that the HULL is the ship's "shell?" The HULL is the "frame or body of a ship," so ... "Shell," OK.
- 41A: Abstract (SYNOPSIS) — this clue was troublesomely vague. Really wanted the adjectival meaning of "Abstract" here, but instead we get the noun: "a statement summarizing the important points of a text."
- 57A: Leaves for drinks (TEAS) — this just looks like a theme idea that didn't get used. [Un_es_ed?] = GREEN TEAS. Something like that.
- 45A: Bad spelling, perhaps (CURSE) — if there was one thing that was kind of tiresome about the cluing today, it was the repeated reliance on these old, worn-out misdirection chestnuts. "Bad spell" (or some other "spell" fakeout) meant to evoke either the spelling of a word, or, in other contexts, a period of time—a well-worn way of coming at HEX or CURSE or the like. The idea that you search for ORE "in vein," same thing (3D: Something you might search for in vein?)—pun as old as time. And in case you were looking for more of the Misdirection's Greatest Hits, we've also got one of the all-timers: "pitching" related to advertising (36D: Pitching staff? = AD AGENCY). Looks like baseball, actually about ADMEN. Ad infinitum. For as long as I've been solving.
- 13D: Pipe organ? (LUNG) — this is much more clever and original wordplay than anything I mentioned in the last bullet point. The "pipe" here is your trachea (or "windpipe"), and the "organ" that moves air through that "pipe" when you breathe is your LUNG (LUNGS, plural, if you're lucky). I also like that the clue here is (on a literal level) musical, considering that "pipes" is a term for a person's singing voice. Anatomical and musical resonance. Nice.
- 52D: Remote power source (AAA) — mild trickery. Seems like "remote" might mean "far away" but it's short for "remote control," which often takes AAA batteries (mine take AA, I think, but that's neither here nor there).
- 32D: Rotating feature at the cinema (MOVIE REEL) — not most cinemas, not any more. Most movies are now projected digitally. Some rep theaters show movies primarily or exclusively on film, which requires film reels, but that's certainly no longer the standard: "virtually all global movie theaters have converted their screens to digital cinemas" (wikipedia).
- 53D: Completely savage (PAN) — another part-of-speech misdirection. Did not expect "savage" to be a verb.
That's all for today. See you next time.
P.S. Alice Jane Morgan (a resident of Ann Arbor—Go Blue!) interviewed me recently for her newsletter, "Act III with Alice," which is all about "midlife reinvention." I haven't "reinvented" anything about myself in decades, lol, but I am, roughly, in the "midlife" stage of my life, so it's not a terrible fit. Anyway, the interview came out nice. You can read it here.
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ReplyDeleteEasy-Medium, a nice concept.
* * * * _
Overwrites:
At 27A, my concise New Year's date was jan. ONE before it was ONE/ONE.
Misspelled the 44A Brady sister as MARshA (MARCIA).
WOEs:
38A Horror director Aster, but ARI was easy enough to guess.
WEBER State University at 6D.
MAHI as clued at 44D.
SAGE HEN, the game bird at 46A.
I've probably heard of ECOTEUR (47A), but I needed every cross for the TEUR.
As a fellow Pomona Grad it took me waaaaay too long to get Sagehen.
ReplyDeleteGREEN TEAS!
ReplyDeleteSimilar inside rebus idea as Sunday’s picture clue mess - I liked this one for the most part. EYES OF BLUE and PEAS IN A POD were the highlights.
ReplyDeleteVagabond of the Western World
The overall fill was fine - Rex summarizes nicely and calls out some of the dusty stuff. KEEL OVER, FESS UP TO, MOVIE REEL are all top notch longs. The MARCIA - SAGE HEN pair is outstanding. Some glue here and there and I agree with the awkward ECOTEUR.
My Brother ESAU
Enjoyable Thursday morning solve.
SWEPT Away
Thanks for My Brother Esau, @Son Volt!
DeleteOk I am mad about the SEES IN COURT when the clue is clearly missing Cs not Ss - all the other answers start with the missing letter - if they couldn’t figure out what to do for this one they should have left it out!
ReplyDeleteIt's not the letter, it's the sound. You didn't complain about "eyes if blue" which doesn't begin with "I"
DeleteEYES OF BLUE does not start with I.
DeleteGood point! Ok now I’m mad about that one too
DeleteYes, I thought this one was a lot of fun. LOTS of long answers!!!! Lots of theme real estate--2 10s, 2 11s, and a 15, with the 15 intersecting the two 11s. And so many 8s! My one real gripe was the term OUTGAS. I'm pretty sure OffGAS is the much more common term. Didn't love ECOTEUR..... since it sounds like ECOTouR if you're speaking, right? Stories are there to be told... CAROL is FOGgedIN and is getting PUSHIER, BLAMING ARI who gave her a NOOGIE. As CAROL finally LOSEs HOPE, ARI, says "SEE you IN COURT". Nice. Took me over 25 minutes last night (watching TV) so at least medium from my end. Thanks, Simeon! Lotsa fun.
ReplyDeleteSame woe as Rex with TANK. WIPES is to me as moist is to Rex. Ick! OUTGAS made me giggle. KEEL OVER could have been in Thursday's puzzle. You need an ORE to move your HULL.
ReplyDeleteLoved write up of "Rex" in Act III with Alice more than the puzzle. Had never heard of ecotour. At 76, I'm way past the midlife reinvention.
ReplyDeleteI thought the themers were the easiest parts of this puzzle,, and fun. Woes were names: ARI and MARCIA, and ADAGENts instead of AGENCY. So even though I plunked in PEASINAPOD without a second thought I had a major problem in the SE. PAN came to mind as a possible answer to ‘completely savage” but not certain enough to build around. Similarly, LUNG initially came to mind as an answer for “pipe organ” and I rejected it first time around as too fanciful.
ReplyDelete"ecoteur" is not a word. Terrible
ReplyDeleteA portmanteau doesn't have to be an actual word.
DeleteBut it does have to be used to qualify as a word. No one ever has said or written ecoteur
DeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteNice easy trick today. The answers as literal explanations of the Themers. Nice also with both Across and Down Themers. Only 32 Blockers also. Low count.
Had to cheat to finish, however. The SYNOPSIS/OUTGAS/ECOTEUR trifecta stopped me dead in my tracks. I'd still be trying to figure that section out after work had I not looked at the answers here. Never heard of OUTGAS, was hoping it would've been PASS GAS. Har.
Neat puz, YKNOW?
Hope y'all have a great Thursday!
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
The reason you haven't heard of OUTGASsing is that it is the release of gasses in a high temperature vacuum, a term typically used in the context of space travel. "Offgass" on the other hand is the process of releasing volatile compounds into the air, for example when you unwrap a new memory foam mattress and it smells for a while. Lazy cluing.
DeleteYeah, I object to outgas! The proper word is offgas, which made it impossible for me to get ecoteur (never heard the term) and curse, thus an ignominious DNF.
DeleteI otherwise enjoyed the letter puns
of the puzzle.
Yep I went with offgas. Made it difficult to see the curse & ecoteur crosses.
DeleteOnly other nit pick "yknow". Quite pleasant otherwise
I've heard of offgas - something synthetic furnishings do - new carpets or vinyl upholstery. That new car smell is a product of offgassing, I think. OUTGAS contributed to a slightly slower finish for me.
DeleteFor 42 down, I immediately put in a C at the beginning and not an O. Happy for a moment
ReplyDeleteOnly a few real stinkers today, with ECOTEUR standing proudly at the top of the list. OUTGAS sounds like a technical/specialized term - but maybe I’ve just never encountered it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with a prior comment that they should have gone back to the drawing board with the SEES IN COURT situation or pitched it (into the trash can, not to Will - which they apparently did, successfully).
It seems like we have had a couple of straightforward Thursday themes recently. No complaints from me, but the rebus fans are probably chomping at the bit.
Alice here, so glad you liked the writeup of Our Fearless Leader! One of the people I profiled recently is well in her 70s. She volunteers as a “Tribute Rosie” educating people about Rosie the Riveter, although she has slowed down in the last few years. Thanks for reading and Michael thanks for linking the article.
ReplyDeleteEntering ADAGENTS for ADAGENCY totally threw me.
ReplyDeleteIt was the “misdirection chestnuts” today that made solving the puzzle a slog for me.
ReplyDeleteNice easy trick to catch onto and it made for a good time. Only a couple of unknown names--ARI and MARCIA, always thankful when that happens. I actually think I have seen ECOTEUR somewhere so it didn't bother me all that much. Liked seeing some things I haven't seen or heard in a while--KEELOVER and NOOGIE.
ReplyDeleteTIL that ESAU was a redhead and what MAHI means in Hawaiian. Good stuff.
Had trouble coming up with SYNOPIS and in fact had _UTGAS going down and like @Anon 7:47 wanted a C and was thinking, they put that in the NYT xword? Alas no.
A fine Wednesday indeed, SS. Some Scintillation which worked for me, and thanks for all the fun.
I solved it without enjoyment.No🎈for me.
ReplyDeleteHULL: missed the chance to give us a hockey Bobby other than Orr. The great Bobby HULL, who passed away just 3 years ago at age 84, was born in Point Ann, Ontario, not far from Lake America.
ReplyDeleteA pinhead Republican state legislator in my neck of the woods just introduced a bill to rename Lake Erie Lake Pennsylvania! 80% of the Great Lakes have "tribal" names predating the European "invasion"!
DeleteI grew up a Blackhawks fan. Back then there were only 6 teams in the league and I certainly wasn't going to cheer for Toronto. The Canadiens were OK, too, but there was nothing quite like watching Stan Mikita cue up a slapshot for Hull to scare the hell out of goalies.
DeleteYup. And Hull started playing before goalies wore masks.
DeletePretty good puzzle today, but the real highlight is Alice’s interview with Rex. Speaking as someone who reinvented himself midlife into an academic, then three years ago began the late-life reinvention that is retirement, let me tell you, Rex, you’re gonna love this next phase. Anyone with a broad range of interests like yourself will revel in the ability to spend your time pursuing those interests. Teaching was great, I loved it and was good at it, but now I’m back to my true self, a lifelong student.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have to get to a crossword tournament sometime. Your description of the people there fits me to a T. I’m not a speed solver, but I get the impression that most people are not there primarily to win.
At one time i would have plugged away at the crosses for ARI and MARCIA (for whom I had the RC and could only think of doRCas) and WEBER (you've got the composer Carl Maria, the sociologist Max, the grill) but as I get older I feel like I can't devote that much time to puzzles, so I looked them both up. But that's just me, I liked the puzzle fine in the end. It's just that almost all the joy came from working out the theme answers.
ReplyDeleteI had at least one of the last three crosses when I got to ECOTEUR, and ECO was the easy part, so it went right in. Seemed fine to me (the word, not the practice--the late Judi Bari makes the case against it in her book "Timber Wars." ) But after I read what Rex had to say, I realized that the more common term was "ecotage," meaning the act, not the actor.
'AD AGENCY doesn't quite fit the clue -- "staff" is a group of people, not an organization-- so I had AGENts at first. An easy fix, but I like my clues to be more precise.
Ever wonder why hens are female chickens, but SAGE HENs, moorhens and mudhens are apparently non-binary? Well, I have, but I don't know the reason.
_owler or _oater: BEES in your bonnet.
ReplyDeleteI had OFFGAS instead of OUTGAS at 42D (and according to this site, OFFGAS is probably the 'better' answer since it occurs under 'normal' conditions, while OUTGASSING occurs at high temperatures under vacuum: https://www.aac-research.at/understanding-the-difference-between-outgassing-and-offgassing/).
ReplyDelete2/3 of the letters in OFFGAS worked with the crossers, and the "Bad spelling, perhaps" clue lulled me into thinking the answer might itself be a clever misspelling, thus "explaining" the CF start to 45A. ECOTEUR was not in my brain before today's puzzle.
So, after getting no happy music, I spent at least a minute just trying to parse the two spaces in common to 42D and 45/47A. Finally got there, but it didn't leave me with a fond memory of this puzzle!
I am sincerely stunned that several longtime solvers have said they didn’t know ARI or MARCIA. This specific ARI has been I. The puzzle a million times. He’s probably the no 1 ARI these days. And MARCIA??? MARCIA MARCIA MARCIA! I suppose it’s my age but I don’t think I know anyone who can’t name all six Brady kids. And the parents. And Sam the Butcher. And Tiger. And Cousin Oliver. I would expect old dudes to know MARCIA. Iconic family, all names fair game.
ReplyDeleteShapiro and (nickname) Grande probably have him beat, but this is Aster’s 11th appearance since 2020, so yes, every regular solver has seen him many many times
DeleteThis old dudette didn't know them either.
DeleteThe problem I have with movie directors is that while I watch my fair share of movies I dont care or have any interest in knowing who the director was. Seems irrelevant to me.
DeleteAnonymous, I’m so old the Brady Bunch is a little after my time. I can name all the members of the Cleaver family and most of their friends, though. Still, I was feeling pretty Brady-savvy when I wrote in MARshA . . .
DeleteSaw the show a time or two as a kid. Couldn’t name anyone in it.
DeleteThe problem with Sees In Court is more the fact that it doesn’t grammatically answer the clue.
ReplyDeleteThe missing letters are Cs. The phrase “place for a case” is a synonym for “court”. What’s missing (ie the answer, to fill in the blanks) is “Cs in ‘court’”. The homophone answer is SEESINCOURT. Seems consistent with the others?
DeleteIf ARI has appeared 11 times since 2020, then I in fact have seen him 11 times, which is exactly 11 more times than I have ever seen The Brady Bunch.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed this one very much but did not find it easy. This had real Thursday bite for me. Looking back, the theme should have come to me much quicker, EYESOFBLUE was the first to *finally* fall, and I'm scratching my head a bit as to why it took so long. But it did and it was worth all the work.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed all the nice mis-directs, I seldom care whether or not they've been used before or how often, they always make me smile and often still make me work. CHOP and ADAGENCY put up a lot of fight for me today. I couldn't get little cubes with dots on them out of my brain for the former (clued as Dice) and the latter had me stuck on music or sound or some kind of a slope (clued as Pitching staff). Advertising for whatever reason did not come to me at all and when it did, I threw down *ADAGEnt*. That was some major time spent but it was good fun.
Always love a good spanner and EASEOFOPERATION as a themer was lovely.
Much I did not know, i.e. ECOTEUR, OUTGAS, and WEBER. Even HULL as clued was not front of brain.
All in all, this was much of what I like to get out of a good Thursday. Thank you Simeon, this was a fun workout!
My experience with WAVETANK was the opposite of @Rex's, I had TANK in there and WAVE took some time.
I knew what the “dice” clue was getting at, but I wanted PREP when I had just the P.
DeleteInteresting theme, a bit of a challenge...I liked it. Took me a while to realize Agents should be AGENCY, but once I got that, the SE corner solidified nicely. ECHO crossing ECOTEUR was nice. MOVIE REEL felt vintage and nostalgic and kind of fun.
ReplyDeleteI started out upbeat about all the long answers in the layout, then quickly felt bogged down. I thought it was because of alllllll the misdirect cluing but it was definitely what Rex pointed out… the multi word answers. Not enjoyable for me at all.
ReplyDeleteYou had me at PEASINAPOD.
ReplyDeleteFor me, an enjoyable combination of quick rewards in getting the clever theme answers quickly and a just-right workout in piecing together the rest.
ReplyDeleteRP: Wow, entire article about you! Impressive! Also entertaining and very well written. I’m happy to hear you’re going to take early retirement. I’ll soon be starting my 12th year and highly recommend it. However, I do hope you keep your resolution to continue writing the blog. I’d venture to say I speak for most of us here in saying that solving the NYT crossword would not be the same without you. No one does it better, and you would be sorely missed.
ReplyDeleteThe Puzzle: I perked up and my enthusiasm soared when I saw the constructor’s name, and he did not disappoint. Nor did I ever expect he would. Color me happy with a great puzzle mostly FREE of gunk and a very appealing theme concept. Not difficult but somewhat challenging until I figured out the trick. Can’t say I cared much for ECOTEUR or YKNOW but otherwise good fun and a nice Thursday experience. Thanks Simeon!
I took HULL as a verb. Shell, HULL, shuck an oyster or clam. Dunno, it made sense at the time.
ReplyDeleteRex think”pinch of salt”
ReplyDeleteNot for me :(
ReplyDeleteChallenging and fun. Had Psst before ahem and unwise before unwary
ReplyDeleteCool fill-in-the-blanks-variation puztheme. Was a fairly easy solvequest, except when it wasn't, due to some no-know names and the dreaded ECOTEUR/OUTGAS.
ReplyDeletefave themer: USEINAPINCH.
But, dang: ECOTEUR/OUTGAS. har. Talk about LOSEHOPE and KEELOVER time, at our house.
staff weeject pick: ARI. Member of the no-know name club.
fave stuff included: SYNOPSIS. KEELOVER. NOOGIE. PRE clue.
Thanx for the fun, Mr. Seigel dude. Nice blankety-blank job.
Masked & Anonym007Us
p.s.
Runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
Thanks for the nod to Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens! I love that for my daughter's alma mater (Pitzer) and for yours (Pomona)! So nice when colleges take their sports with a light touch!
ReplyDeleteEasy-medium. I tried to ignore the theme clues but I needed them to finish.
ReplyDeleteI did not know WEBER, ECOTEUR, and OUTGAS which is apparently a scientific term.
Costly erasures - SYmbolic before SYNOPSIS and AD AGENts before AGENCY.
A fun theme that was just about right for a Thursday, liked it.
I enjoyed the puzzle and found it much more fun than yesterday’s.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed the profile. It made me go back to the Guggenheim puzzle in the archives (10/18/2009) only to find I’d already solved it.
I thought this was just fine for a Thursday. Those clues were hard to grok until suddenly they weren't. Trying to fill in 11 down, I knew the first word had to sound like "U's": YOU'S? YOUSE? EWES? YEWS? Ahhh, USE!
ReplyDeleteA few typeovers: JAN ONE before ONE ONE, etc. The names weren't too bad today, ARI I can never remember, but MARICA is okay in my book. And I did wince at MOVIE REEL: surely the clue should have been "Bygone rotating cinema feature" or something.
I found this easy and lots of fun.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else confused because they thought "miniscule" was spelled with an "i"? Figured eventually it had to be a "u" but kept looking at the clue thinking that somebody made a terrible mistake. Turns out it was me.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I call baloney on YKNOW. It's "Ya know", ya know?
Otherwise enjoyed figuring this one out. 20:21
I found this hard and lots of fun.
ReplyDeleteIs ONEONE that concise? I mean, it’s shorter than JanuaryOne for sure, but if you want really concise, use 1/1… I know we don’t use numerals in crosswords, but that might be something fun for a Thursday trickery…
ReplyDeleteHas any heard from @egs? He hasn't posted in a long time. I miss him!
ReplyDeletewonderful to hear you'll be at wfmu with Evan Funk Davies! best station in the nation
ReplyDeletethe theme answers do in fact hold up under scrutiny - Thursday is suppose to be more of a brain buster and this fit the bill in my book. good job Simeon - love to see the constructors name mentioned it's such a rare event for many constructors to even get a ny times puzzle and as far as I know they still don't use a.i. as a 'house rule'. wish I could be there for the wfmu event Rex love that station!
ReplyDeleteEasy? Nope, definitely a challenge for me and well over my Thursday average. I wouldn’t call it a slog, because it was definitely an entertaining solve. But it felt like almost every clue was designed to confuse me. Adding Simeon Seigel to my mental list of crossword creators who just confound me with their cluing style.
ReplyDeleteEcotour? Outgas? This puzzle was a tedious slog.
ReplyDeleteIf you consider Thursday as the start of the late week the bar for the difficulty gradient is set low today. This was one of the easiest Thursdays in a long while. Im unfamiliar with the definition of "abstract " as a SYNOPSIS. I can't say I didn't learn anything.
ReplyDeleteI was plagued by bad spelling growing up (so yes, @Niallhost, I likewise wrote MINISCULE and refused to give up that ‘i’ for the quite a while). It still can be an Achilles heel for me, and when my students are mystified by my admission to being a bad speller as an English professor (as if I had written a dissertation on how to spell words), I explain that that is why I chose to study a period before spelling was standardized. Just yesterday I found myself surreptitiously (nope, didn’t know how to spell that one) double-checking whether “fallacy” had one ‘l’ or two after I had written it on the board.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, since I’m also a newer solver, I didn’t catch the “spelling” pun, and CURSE ended up being filled completely by crosses.
Me: “Is there some kind of idiom about bad spelling being curse? How have I not known this all these years?! I’m not alone after all!”
Alas, no. Rex’s blog always adds to my enjoyment of the puzzle, but today was one of the few days that getting the explanation behind a trick clue (old trick though it may be) was a tinge disappointing.
By the way, great article! I got into crosswords in a period of tremendous midlife flux—not quite “reinvention,” but it involved turning my life upside down and moving to another part of the country. The consistency of crosswords and the blog was the most stable in my daily life for a year there. Grateful to Rex/Michael and glad he’s getting the shout-out!