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Five-note jingle for "The Gift that Grows" / SAT 10-3-26 / Burkina Faso, before 1984 / Sword's alternative / Question in a stalemate / Sluglike creature known for its soft, water-repellent skin / Greek actress who brought Elektra, Penelope, Antigone and Helen of Troy to the screen / Outlet for the Jordan River
Saturday, October 3, 2026
Constructor: Kameron Austin Collins
Relative difficulty: Easy
Word of the Day: IRENE PAPAS (9D: Greek actress who brought Elektra, Penelope, Antigone and Helen of Troy to the screen) —
Irene Papas or Pappas (Greek: Ειρήνη Παππά, romanized: Eiríni Pappá, IPA: [iˈrini paˈpa]; born Eirini Lelekou [Ειρήνη Λελέκου]; 3 September 1929 – 14 September 2022) was a Greek actress and singer who starred in over 70 films in a career spanning more than 50 years. She gained international recognition through such popular award-winning films as The Guns of Navarone (1961), Zorba the Greek (1964) and Z (1969). She was a powerful protagonist in films including The Trojan Women (1971) and Iphigenia (1977). She played the title roles in Antigone (1961) and Electra (1962). She had a fine singing voice, on display in the 1968 recording Songs of Theodorakis.Papas won Best Actress awards at the Berlin International Film Festival for Antigone and from the National Board of Review for The Trojan Women. Her career awards include the Golden Arrow Award in 1993 at Hamptons International Film Festival, and the Golden Lion Award in 2009 at the Venice Biennale. (wikipedia)
• • •
1A: Five-note jingle for "The Gift that Grows"! I was so happy with the answer that I worried it was wrong. But then I checked the "A" cross and it all checked out (10D: Man who made animals talk = AESOP)—the gift that grows, the animals that talk. Again, a delightful way to start off. Then—more fun. I ran every single cross on CH-CH-CH-CHIA, left to right, one after the other, as fast as I could think of answers, not bothering to check if they "worked"—just bam bam bam, as fast as I could think of something to write in. With AESOP in place already, that makes nine answers that I rat-a-tatted, and despite a hit rate only just north of 50%, I still discern both of the longer Acrosses up there from inside the mess, and in getting those Acrosses, fixed my errant Downs, and there I was with a gorgeous NW corner in seemingly no time at all, not because every answer was a gimme, but because I just powered in there and stirred things up and then waited for patterns to emerge. And they did. Great feeling of satisfaction, great-looking corner. Only thing really holding me up was IRENE PAPAS—the IRENE part was easy enough, but her last name remained a mystery for a while. She was one of two names I absolutely did not know today (the other: VERE) (55A: Captain in Melville's "Billy Budd") (I know I've read Billy Budd, but ... not lately, apparently).
The puzzle remained entertaining throughout. Just when I'd think "well, I'm gonna get stuck here," something would click and I'd break right through. Do I know what a VELVET WORM is? (26D: Sluglike creature known for its soft, water-repellent skin). I do not. But I had the VEL- and it wasn't hard to get to WORM from "Sluglike" and after considering and immediately discarding VELCRO WORM (does VELCRO repel water?), I settled into VELVET, which gave me a "DV-" opener at 37A, which I knew was going to be DVD-something before I ever read the clue (37A: Supplementary materials accompanying a home movie purchase = DVD EXTRAS). And so I don't know if this one whoosh-whooshed, exactly, but it got close. Closer than most Saturdays get. This is the puzzle I wish I'd gotten yesterday. A puzzle I moved through happily, a puzzle that was more on my wavelength pop-culture-wise, a more cleverly clued puzzle overall. This puzzle made me remember UPPER VOLTA (last thought of in 7th-grade Geography, probably; hey, Mrs. Stevens, wherever you are) (53A: Burkina Faso, before 1984). It gave me a "texting" clue I didn't resent (because it wasn't about texting at all) (25D: Person who gets a lot of texts? = AVID READER). And it made me think of Little Richard (27D: Has no control = CAN'T HELP IT). Sadly, the puzzle also has barf in it (46D: Fails to keep things down). But happily, I somehow never saw that clue / answers, so it failed to sour my solve in any way. Everything broke my way today. Kam's puzzles are almost always a blast for me, but this one in particular felt like it came with a bow on it.
Only wrong answers today were the ones I rat-a-tatted into the grid up top when I was just getting started: HEDONIC (!) for 4D: Characterized by great happiness (HALCYON); "COME ON!" for "CRIKEY!" (5D: "Sheesh!"); HOT for HET (8D: All worked (up)). There were some tricky clues here and there, but momentum just kept carrying me through. Couldn't get my head around 43A: Ticket selector, for instance. Needed to get to -OTER before I saw it, but getting to -OTER was a cinch, so no real hold-up. VERE held me up, but again, I was able to swarm the answer from all sides and turn it up pretty easily. Knowing ERMA Franklin helped (57A: Singing sister of Aretha). Never entirely sure if she's an "E" ERMA or an "I" IRMA, just as I'm never entirely sure if Ingrid Bergman played an "E" ELSA or in "I" ILSA (49D: Classic film character who says "Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time"). IRMA La Douce, ERMA Franklin, ERMA Bombeck, ELSA the Lion from Born Free, ILSA from Casablanca. There's also an ILSA, She Wolf of the SS, a mid-'70s Canadian Nazisploitation film, but the less said about that the better. Just ask Gene Siskel: "the most degenerate picture I have seen to play downtown." (Believe me when I say you are never going to have to know this movie for a New York Times crossword puzzle. But maybe pub trivia, I don't know.)
Bullets:
- 28A: Did a boring job? (MINED) — because mining involves boring into the earth. I used to have an English teacher who, as he was about to unlock his classroom after lunch, would take the key, twist it (gently) into your shoulder, and ask "Am I boring you?" RIP Mr. Berglund. I still remember the John Donne you had us memorize.
 |
| [24D: "___ of Frankenstein (1939 movie sequel)] |
- 41A: Trap in the water (CREEL) — a crossword word that just floats to the surface whenever I need it and then floats back down again, never to be thought of until the next time a crossword forces the issue.
- 34A: Sword's alternative (PEN) — as in "the PEN is mightier than ..."
- 58A: Nervously inhales? (STRESS EATS) — both STRESS EATS and ESTATE SALE just look like an avalanche of the most common letters, but STRESS EATS is actually an interesting answer, and this clue is great—nice, unexpected meaning on "inhales."
- 36D: Abba's "___ Last Summer" ("OUR") — really though I knew all Abba's singles. One summer (not our last), my best friends and I sat around and listened to and ranked Every Abba Single. This song was not part of that list .... oh. I see that this was the B-side of "Thank You for the Music" (a song that was on the list ... low on the list). I also see that "OUR Last Summer" was featured in Mamma Mia, which probably accounts for its clue-worthiness. I know Mamma Mia is a beloved musical / movie, but you'd have to use violence to get me to watch it. I love Abba too much. Also, there's a reason this song was not a single. . . it's pretty ... limp.
- 21D: Maya Angelou's "Phenomenal ___" (WOMAN") — Not knowing the poem, I had "WOMEN" here for a bit. It is a poem, isn't it? Yep. Here you go, in its entirety (via poetryfoundation.org):
Phenomenal Woman
By Maya Angelou
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing,
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need for my care.
’Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
And that's me for today. See you next time.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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100 comments:
Medium. KAC and I are never on the same wavelength. Like all of his puzzles, good wordplay and not a lot of dreck.
* * * * _
Overwrites:
I thought 1A might be CHia(something) instead of (something)CHIA, so the 4-letter dominoes country at 3D had to be iran or Iraq (CUBA).
My man who made animals talk was seuss before he was AESOP (10D).
At 11D I tried CRash IN and CReep IN before CRAWL IN.
For the 16A love symbol, dOvE before ROSE.
Thought the 36D Abba song might be One Last Summer (OUR).
AT 58A, I wanted SkipS bEATS before STRESS EATS, but VOLVOS (43D) was solid.
WOEs:
Got the VELVET part of 26D from crosses.
Billy Budd's captain VERE (55A).
More than once while salving this puzzle, said to myself, "This is such a delightful puzzle"
And it is.
Thanks, @OFL, for the full Maya Angelou poem! That was great. This puzzle took me a little over 1/2 hour, last night. So challenging for me. CHCHCHCHIA is, completely, totally ridiculous. Had CYST but couldn't make it work so took it out... had PERU instead of CUBA for 3/4 of the time, finally took it out. Nice to see DIANFOSSEY in the grid today. To me, a creel is a baskety something a fisherman wears on their hip, right? (yes... but also can be a trap in the water). BATARANGS should actually have 2 Ts, but the rules of pronunciation, right? But.... such is the BAT world. Thanks so much, Kam, awesome amazing puzzle. I can agree with 4.5 stars. : )
Not at all easy for me! But I did solve it eventually.
Totally the opposite for me. Yesterday’s puzzle whizzed by—not today’s. Didn’t know the chia jingle, Captain VERE, BON Iver, or Aretha’s sister ERMA. I smiled at BARF when it popped into my head. SUBLIMATE and HALCYON made me dig deep, but it was well worth it. Great workout!
Excellent puzzle, great cluing, but easy? Not! Unlike Rex I got very little on the first pass through, had OHBEHAVE for BEPOLITE at 23A, finally got some traction in the SE corner and worked my way back to the top, finished when I backed into CHCHCHCHIA which was totally unfamiliar. A proper Saturday.
The SUBLIMATES x HALCYON cross is epic - on my all time list of greats especially bordered with the CHIA pet song and CRIKEY. The overall puzzle is wonderful too - but could have been a little less dependent on trivia.
SAVOY Brown
I knew most of the proper noun stuff - I could see some getting hung up on them. Needed the crosses for VELVET WORM and most of IRENE PAPPAS. FOSSEY went right in but that entire SE corner was a bear for me. Limited glue for a highly segmented grid. I used to get BAO at Mei Li only - now it’s the BAO Noodle House on Bowery.
It's all a dream we dreamed
One afternoon long ago
Highly enjoyable Saturday morning solve. Talk about segmented - our SB pal Joel has a ball buster of a Stumper today - strap in.
Let’s see if we can take that broom to Tampa now.
I’m Sticking With You
The joys of solving that go beyond just filling in boxes.
Long answers often bring that sterling moment where you’ve been stumped, but suddenly your brain sees the answer from the crosses. – basically a fist-pumping “Hah!” With 12 tens today, lots of these pings for me.
Beauteous answers warm the heart, make you feel good and provide calm through solving storms. Today: NOTHING BUT! SUBLIMATES, CHCHCHCHIA! HALCYON! BELIE!
The buzz of newness excites the brain. I’m not just talking about debut answers (eight today), but answers we’ve seen before clued differently, from a different angle or with new wordplay.
Then there are the memory triggers. I flashed on Little LULU, a comic book character I haven’t thought about in decades. Also the CHIA jingle and the Dead Sea, a magical place I visited long ago.
Your puzzles, Kameron, always bring these extras, and turn the solving experience from robotic, to an event. More please, and thank you once again for a splendid outing!
Excellent puzzle? Yes, a fine example of KAC’s craft. But easy? CRIKEY!
So, when I was in my early 20s, I visited the DEAD SEA. I was by myself at the time, and everyone said to go and see it. I really didn’t know anything about it.
When I arrived, I saw many people just standing in the water. Hardly anyone was moving. I just thought it was a stodgy crowd.
Back then, the way I liked to enter a lake or the ocean was to run full speed into the water, maybe even splash those nearby, and I was going to do that this time, and show these people what fun looks like.
What I didn’t know was that the water was so salty and mineral–rich, you could actually sit on top of it. That salt, if it splashes in your face, seriously sears the eyes.
So, as I began my run from a great distance from the sea’s lip, I could see the beginnings of looks of terror in the faces of those on the beach as well as in the water. As I got closer, I saw their arms flailing, heard shouts of “NOOOOOO”. It was like one of those slow motion sequences in a movie, where faces were zoomed in on, and the voices were slow motion slow.
The people in the water turned their backs to me and covered their eyes. People on the beach were running to stop my invasion of the water.
Oh, I got the message and stopped in time, but I will never forget that moment. Hadn’t thought about it in forever. But today when I uncovered DEAD SEA, it was as if I were there.
Enjoyed this puzzle but not so easy for me. Was stumped on CUBA, WOMAN, VERE, and DIANFOSSEY. Thought the cluing was fun and the jingle lead-in a lively start to the morning. There were other unknowns, such as the VELVETWORM, but they were inferable from the clues and crossses. CREEL as a trap threw me a bit because I associated it with holding trout after the catch. Felt good to fill in VOLVOS instinctively and find it to be correct. On the other hand, I hastily filled in Eire for CUBA—well, at least it was an island….
Hey All !
Not easy here. The ole brain is apparently not functioning at full capacity this morning, as I found puz impossible. Only way I finished was by constant (at least 9) lookups on Rex's grid. Ah, me.
Lots of pitfalls, DeluXecdS-DVDEXTRAS, , grEtagArbo- IRENEPAPAS (is Greta even Greek?), NeWgame-NOWWHAT, Berserk-BALDISH. And what is a C DRIVE? Heard of CD DRUVE.
CHCHCHCHIA didn't charm me like it did Rex. Seems like a RAW DEAL. Then there's the always breakfast friendly BARFS. I'm trying to BE POLITE with my nits.
A LULU of a puz for me today. Hope y'all liked it
Have a great Saturday!
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
A difficult and wonderful delight from start to finish. I literally said Aha! when I finally got the Chia pet jingle. Brilliant.
I have SOS as #1 on my Abba list. If you go to Stockholm I recommend the Abba museum. Unless you hate joy.
Wow, just wow! Not at all easy for me but tons of fun as I struggled to make sense throughout the puzzle having intermittent “ahas” and some short intervals of whooshing after the “ahas”!
I CONFESS, I was totally “fubarred” or stymied (take your pick) on CHCHCHCHIA, even though I should’ve been able to suss it out and THAT was my cheat. I KNOW that “five note” doesn’t mean “five different notes” and I doubt if I knew it was actually “three different notes” (five beats) would have helped me.
Southside…from your long post yesterday…this was pretty much the type of puzzle you love…so I look forward to your comments today.
Opposite experience to Rex - that first across was unknown random letters to me and it continued to play hard. Maybe this one appeals more to the US than the international audience as there were several unknowns for this Brit!
Struggled to get a foothold at first and thought, this is kinda hard, but enjoyed it along the way, and ended up finishing just 25 seconds slower than my Saturday average, so I’d say this is very much medium for a Saturday on balance. Loved the repetitive answer at the top left.
I’m glad Rex liked it so much and found it easy. Joy in Crossworld today! I liked it fine but really struggled in parts, especially (but not only) the NW.
Didn't enjoy the puzzle much -- too many lookups. But really liked the poem.
First off - mostly just what i want from a Saturday puzzle. I would almost say I loved it. But hats off to those who thought it was easy because the NW corner wore me out. South east took a little time also until I finally clicked on Ilsa which is a mystery because I have seen Casablanca at least 20 times. Never heard of Irene Papas but her pic looks familiar. Didn’t know that Burkina Fasa was Upper Volta but Ilsa saved the day for me. Here’s looking at you.
Very easy Saturday. Liked it, though.
Only two overwrites: CRIpEs before CRIKEY, alT before BOT.
Easy as quantum mechanics for me.
I wouldn't say it was easy, exactly, but it was easier than I expected, given who constructed it. And that was without ever having heard, or heard about, that opening jingle. I had to get CHCHCH__IA before I guessed it.
I got most of the unknowns, e.g. VERE, from crosses without ever seeing them. I had forgotten that Ms. FOSSEY was not DIANe, but noting else would fit. I did guess it might be jON Iver, checked with a search and found it was BON, so one cheat. (I looked up IRENE PAPAS too, but after guessing her name -- I allow myself that. I thought it should be Pappas, and apparently it sometimes is.
Lewis, that's quite a story!
Oh man, I was sure that country that loves dominos was the Dominocan Republic.
My Uncle Bob caught a lot of grief for his collection of exotic beers, but when he died we all fought over the ESTATESALE.
I asked the old cowboy if he could pull any proofreader commands out of his hat, and he said "STET, SON."
My good friend Etta Mology tells me the word HALCYON comes from Hal Cyon, a pitcher for the Braves in the '30s famed for remaining calm no matter how bad the ump's calls were.
*********
Great puzzle, even though it killed me in the NW and SW. IRENE PAPAS reminded me of the Orioles pitcher from my youth. Milt. No relation to Irene. Milt won over 200 games with a lifetime ERA of 3.40, and pitched a no-hitter. He was part of the trade that brought Frank Robinson to the Birds in '65.
This was like skiing down a hard trail where you have to make one good turn after another but when you get to the bottom you say--hey, that was fun!
Good start as I knew CUBA and the B gave me SUBLIMATES which is a word I haven't seen in a long time and remembering it made me think that my brain is still in good working order. Good thing I knew SUBLIMATES because CHCHCHCHIA was a total WTF and an unlikely string of letters. Also rewarding to drag up the names IRENEPAPAS and DIANFOSSEY, from somewhere although Ms. FOSSEY took a while as I had BURPS before BARFS, Guess I was trying to BEPOLITE.
Almost had a DNF with Capt. VERE. Mentally running the alphabet got me nearly to the end when DRIVE suddenly made sense.
I'm with @Rick Sacra in knowing his idea of a CREEL, never heard the fish trap description. Always good to learn something.
Always have a good workout with your stuff, KAC. I know I can look forward to a Kick Ass Crossword when I see your name, and thanks for all the fun.
PS--and thanks to OFL for the poem, which is, as we say in these parts, a pissahl.
Very enjoyable, but easy?!! No way.
Agree apart from finding the DIAN FOSSEY/BARFS cross a little unfair: I had DIANE OSSEY/BARES , "BARES" seeming plausible enough for "fails to keep down"
Great story! Thank you. It did not have the ending I anticipated, which is almost certainly for the best.
This puzzle kicked my butt. Being severely sleep deprived didn't help, but even so. Starting with 1A, I didn't recognize the tag line for Chia Pets, and I assumed the five notes would be actual notes somehow, like do re mi ... I thought, "Are you kidding me?"
I don't want to be BORING you with a catalog of my ignorance, so I'll just note that apparently HET is a word. I'm going to work "all het up" into daily speech until my kids pick it up. Sorry, kids.
Me too,never got past about half of this one..no fun
It’s not often we disagree with Rex but today was an exception as we found this one to be extremely annoying starting with the fact that we never heard anything about chia pets (we were probably living overseas during that craze).
A Grateful Dead reference is never a bad thing.
Difficult puzzle for me. A lot of look ups, unfortunately.
CRIKEY? Who says CRIKEY?
Did David Bowie write the Chia jingle? I'm not familiar with how it sounds, but I'm hearing it in my mind as being the same as CH CH CH CH Changes.....
As I once said to Kaczynski, I don't support terrorism, but your Manifesto's a TENTED.
Like @Rex, nobody much cared for ABBA's OUR Last Summer, so they finally decided to shelf the album that was to feature it. As their producer said, "CANTHELPIT sucks!"
My solve was slow...slow..slow...whoosh! Like a roller coaster. Loads of fun. Thanks, KAC.
Excellent Puzzle!
Despite having exactly the opposite experience as Rex (our last entry was CHCH...), NOTHING BUT 4-1/2 stars is appropriate for this LULU of a puzzle, and the write-up, too. I certainly remember Chia Pet (bought one once; it didn't grow) but didn't remember the jingle, even watching the ad.
Saw KAC as the constructor and expected a fun but fair challenge; not disappointed despite two minutes over average. We start with the Acrosses and for our efforts had Eros (coincidentally an anagram of ROSE), ATTN, YEN (which we erased and re-wrote several times), OVEN (though considered Hell), and the complete center row. That's it.
Saved by slowly getting footholds, aided by looking up the spelling before entering Diana Fosse (confused with Bob FOSSE).
Even (most of) the three-letter word clues were enjoyable and not stale. Needed two letters (and, as a golfer, face-palmed upon recognition) to see PAR as the Swinger's goal; brilliant. And loved the clue for IDOS, especially as it's our anniversary tomorrow.
An absolute joy, thanks KAC and RP!!
That was like in the 90s, yeah. I guessed it had something to do with chia pets but couldn't think of the jingle, though now I remember it.
This was a DNF for me. Too many obscure names like SAVOY, FOSSEY, VOLTA, HAYS, IRENE PAPPAS and stupid crosswordese like HET and YEN. Not sure how you get to calling this easy unless you know a good chunk of that stuff. The NW is what killed me. Also... BALDISH? Come on
I was enchanted with this puzzle. BARF aside, the cluing, the content and the tone were all fresh and playful. It left me with a big smile and an urge to read what you all thought! Happy Xworld.
A hardship medium for me. Yes, it would have really helped to have gotten 1A right off the bat, but alas. I did throw down 15A right away (though uncertainly). But that was not nearly as helpful. It all worked out in the end.
Enjoyed remembering Ms PAPAS (The Guns of Navarone was one of my earliest movie memories). As a youth staring at maps, UPPER VOLTA intrigued me both as a country name and as a mysterious place on the globe. And any puzzle with HALCYON is okay by me.
I really enjoyed this one. More medium for me, as it took a while for me to see CHCHCHCHIA at 1A. I had to fill in the rest of the puzzle first and come back to that corner, but when it finally clicked it was nice and the whole corner fell. I did think that if you’re under 40 (or 50), you might have no memory of Chia Pets and therefore no way of figuring out that clue. In fact the puzzle seemed to skew a bit older today, what with that, IRENE PAPAS, and HET up. But perfect for a Saturday for me.
You're not alone. The Chia slogan was a non-starter for me in so many ways. Worst of all, I've now got that jingle stuck in my ear.
I've never been that much of an Abba fan. While I tend to agree with @Rex's take on "Mamma Mia" (somewhat of a guilty pleasure that I never need to see again) I highly recommend "Muriels's Wedding" for an Abba-infused cinematic treat, starring a young Toni Collette (Oh, Muriel!).
Never heard of "het up"
Anyone else have Blanc before AESOP?
I didn't run in, but after being out there for a while decided to go under and see how fast my body would cork up to the surface. Eyes burned forever and no fresh water to be found:(
So funny that CHIA seeds are now a popular smoothie ingredient, people would have laughed at you for eating your toy back in the day.
May the puzzle would have been easier If I'd seen that immediately with no crosses - WOW! Rest of the puzzle was fun and didn't get too stuck ever, but CHCHCH was the last entry with a big smile.
I get Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey confused - both looked like they had too many letters, but learned DIAN spelling today
KAC puzzles always show the authors voice, even through the NYT editorial process. The ones at NYer have even more of his unique vision.
Thanks for Box of Rain, @Son!
Thanks for the great story! No matter how well-traveled you are, you always remember that first dip in the DEAD SEA. Of course, I'm so old, when I visited it was still alive.
Way, way, way too much trivia. Got fed up and quit.
Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia
Beautiful Chia
You're the only p-p-p-plant that I adore!
When the d-d-d-doggie knocked you off of the table
I just swept you from the k-k-k-kitchen floor.
Anonymous 6:39 AN
Exactly my reaction. (I am much slower than Rex of course). Yesterday was easy for me. A lot of what he stumbled on I had no problem with Today’s was straight out hard. 1A was immediate for him and was my last answer. Didn’t pay attention to the word grow.
Knowing my geography saved the day. A terrific puzzle.🎈🎈🎊🎊
I’ve always thought that Chia pets were ugly, and such a foolish concept - so it comes as no surprise (to me at least) that they were quite the fad in their day.
As I wandered into the SE section with its VOLVOS, ILSA, UPPER VOLTA, DIAN FOSSEY, and Fort HAYS, I wondered if anyone else has ever noticed that there seems to be a lot of proper nouns and other trivia questions in Crossword puzzles these days.
Same, today's was among the hardest Sundays I've done (mostly due to trivia I don't know) and yesterday's was an early week time
What a knockout of a puzzle, just wow! But to give you an idea of how difficult it was for me, I accidentally opened up the blog before I opened The Times to get to the puzzle and got a nanosecond of a glimpse at the completed grid and glanced 1A. I closed it up quickly enough to only have a couple of "Cs" etched into my brain but *it still took me 50:42 to complete!!!* Every minute, though, was a joy.
I really think I had to work at almost every entry. Of all things, I think it was SAVOY that started to get me going, albeit very slowly. Not knowing 90% or so of the propers held me up quite a bit: hello new knowledge of ERMA, IRENEPAPAS, UPPERVOLTA and BON. The latter caused some serious trouble as I could not get CANTHELPIT to fall and really needed that "N". Any time I see "T-H-E" in a long one, I'm just dead sure it's the word "the" and my brain tends to stall there for a long time. But that is the absolute beauty of a phrase like that and when it does fall, I'll say it again, "WOW"!
There was so much to love today. The long fill was 10 out of 10. I think my favorite was AVIDREADER, not only does it look great in the grid, but I had the same reaction as @Rex, very refreshing that it refers to actually reading books and not texting. Ace of a clue and ace of an answer.
1A was also a ton of fun, even though I saw some of it, it still took a while to parse and it's so ridiculous that I couldn't help but like it.
And there was so much more. YOUAREHERE, and STRESSEATS, great in-the-language stuff and I loved the cluing. I liked NOTINGBUT as well. VELVETWORM looks very pretty but I had absolutely no idea, like almost everything else, it was still so much fun figuring it out.
DVDEXTRAS is also nice but I was totally flummoxed. I took the clue "Home movie" to refer to the movies parents take of the family while on vacation or something like that. I'm picturing a reel to reel type enterprise shown on one of those screens that come on a tripod that roll out. I'm picturing the speed to be all kinds of funky, with people by a pool moving like Charlie Chaplin. So I'm thinking, why would you need to *purchase* your own movie??? I think it was BOX finally falling with the "X" that made my brain click. And that was very satisfying. It was also nice to think about those old fashioned home movies, they don't make 'em like that anymore.
Nice to see DEADSEA as it brought back some nice memories. I was there more than once in 100+ weather. It is *not* a refreshing dip. It's warm, thick and oily and you can literally lie back and float in the water and read a book. It also has some highly therapeutic qualities for the skin. Luckily there were fresh water showers right on the beach. First time there I actually hitch hiked with some friends from there to Masada. Some wonderful, and different times.
If I listed everything I liked about this one, I'd go on way too long to keep anybody's interest. Thank you Kameron! This one check every one of my happy boxes!
VELVETWORM? DVDEXTRAS? BATARANGS? IRENEPAPAS? CDRIVE? ... crimey! ... er ... cripes! ... er ... cr-cr-cr-CRIKEY!
Not so easy, at our house. But, hey -- SatPuz fare. Bring it, Shortzmeister.
staff weeject pick: BAO. We ain't got any Chinese restaurants in our parts, so not on M&A's menu.
fave thing: LULU. SON of Frankenstein. Startin the rodeo out with CHCHCHCHIA. BARFS debut [couldn't keep a good breakfast test-buster down, forever]. DIANFOSSEY.
Thanx for the fun themeless sufferin, Mr. Collins dude. Feisty good job. BALDISH? har
Masked & Anonymo5Us
p.s. The FriNite Movie Schlockfest was a festive "Classic Schlock Flicks" event. Bro-in-law picked "Terminator 2" and M&A picked "Plan 9 From Outer Space". A Friday night well-wasted.
Thought Rex and others would be interested in an article in Friday’s Times Arts Section
The article was about Winslow Homer, but also the Wyeth artist family including N. C. WYETH of n crossing Natick fame. N C was actually well known in his time.
S.O. Phocles
Great blog name. Took me a second look.
vtspeedy
About 1 Across An age thing in the era when people watched cable, we were bombarded with Chia Pet ads.
Wow, surprised Rex liked this so much! I nearly Natick’d in the SE with DIANFOSSEY, UPPERVOLTA, ELSA, and HAYS. I finally remembered ELSA and that led me to BALDISH (really???? I had the BALD, but ISH???) and it clicked from there. Tough one for me!
Easy-medium. Unlike @Rex the NW was the toughest section for me (It took some crosses to remember the CHIA pet song). Also unlike @Rex IRENE PAPAS was a gimme.
WOMeN before WOMAN was it for costly erasures and I did not know VELVET WORM, CUBA, VERE, OUR, and HAYS.
I’m with @Rex on this one, liked it a bunch!!
Fast and fun, a sweep from CYST x YOU ARE HERE to DIAN FOSSEY x HAYS. A combination of being lucky, old, and an AVID READER gave me all of the names. Favorite spots: HALCYON next to CRIKEY and AVID READER next to VELVET WORM: though I am the former, I've never seen the latter, in print or in real life. I also liked CRAWL IN x NOW WHAT. Such a lively puzzle, a real treat.
I enjoyed this puzzle but if I was too young to remember the chia jingle, that clue would have annoyed the hell out of me.
I had settled on “hunks” for too long, which slowed me in that quadrant. But He-Men also fit the retro vibe of the puzzle
VELour WORM before VELVET. Beautiful puzzle! Phenomenal poem!
@anonymous 10:04; I didn’t but wish I had thought of it. Absolutely the best answer for that clue!
Love BARFS crossing STRESSEATS!
Found the puzzle hard. Had to fight for almost everything but managed to finish without any help. (Held up quite a while by refusing to give up on BALDING (for BALDISH).
Had Cha Cha Chia for too long til I counter the syllables, glad the clue was so specific
Thank you, Rex, for sharing Maya Angelou's poem - I had never read it. I'm still recuperating with a smile on my face.
On to the puzzle - I was whooshing through it, in awe on a Saturday, until I got held up on VERE, DVD EXTRAS and CD DRIVE (of all things), CHCHCHCHIA as an opening word was a killer & I loved it.
Thank you, Kameron :)
Elsa is in Frozen, Ilsa is in Casablanca. E-F, I see. That’s how I keep them straight.
Tough but good. Despite not having read "Billy Budd" since Rex was in grade school I always remember the iconic line "God bless Captain Vere."
Elsa is in Frozen, Ilsa is in Casablanca. That’s how I try to keep them straight. “EF, I see”
Ditto on no idea about one across, but was delightful to infer it after working through the entire rest of the puzzle. I think perhaps OP's "easy" rating was more than usually influenced by that lucky start. As others have said, a delightful puzzle, always nice to see real words over whatever they call the morphemes on a Monday.
LOL at you going straight to Kaczynski as the TED to compliment!
Relieved to hear others also found this puzzle hard! CHCHCHCHIA was the last answer I filled in. Something about "five-note" threw me off, along with the (seeming) implausibility of a word with no vowels until the end. Fun struggle, though.
Boy is this weird, the Hal Cyon story made me think of another MLB pitcher, Milt Famey, then liveprof mentioned Milt Papas. Anycow, Milt Famey came into a game as a closer after drinking beer in the bullpen. Bases loaded, bottom of the ninth, tie score, four pitches, four balls, walk off walk!!! The other team ccelebrated their win with "the beer that made Milt Famey walk us!"
Add me to the chorus. The SE was impossible for me: didn’t know IRMA, STET, HAYS, DIANFOSSEY, or UPPERVOLTA. Had “BALDING” in there too so not even a chance at guessing them. Also liked yesterday’s, perfect amount of crunch for me.
Had the exact same experience in the SE. To me FOSSEY, VOLTA, ILSA, and HAYS constitute a classic natick.
@SouthsideJohnny: This puzzle was a prime example of the phenomenon you wrote about so eloquently just yesterday. Fill a puzzle with names and other niche trivia, and the solver's experience will depend in large part on one's familiarity with said trivia, rather than on deciphering "the elegant dance of witty wordplay." My sphere of knowledge appears to have very little overlap with KAC's, and as usual with his puzzles, I found this one supremely annoying.
Not easy for me! Took me way longer than a typical Saturday puzzle.
Never have I ever seen that CHIA pet ad. I don't think I've ever seen a chia pet. I did know what they are but the NW was my last area to fill today.
KAC did a great job with clues today, like "Nervously inhales?" for STRESS EATS and "Ticket selector" for VOTER. Nothing too hard or obscure (though I biffed on IRENE bAPAS. And PAPAS is not an uncommon Greek name so that's on me.)
Thanks, Kameron Austin Collins, for a fun Saturday.
Awesome solve. When I saw the constructors' name I knew this puzzle would make up for the completely disappointing puzzles of the last two days. It did that and then some. It started very hard. I had CYST and YOUAREHERE along with HEMEN and everything to the west of that and I still had to backfill the NW last to finish. I had no idea on the CHIA jingle and GUAM was blocking out CUBA.
AESOP and IRENEPAPAS opened up the rest of the puzzle nicely. In the SE I had a BALDING/BALDISH write over as well as FOSSIE/FOSSEY.
VERE was the most unknown entry and the only thing that had me worried about a dnf.
Fittingly HALCYON was my final entry try and a very apt descriptor for the entire puzzle.
Nice catch even this puzzle's worst entry has a silver lining.
OK, Tom T, you and I go wayyyyyyy back!
BTW, does anyone know why @Gary Jugert isn't blessing us with his wonderful commentary lately (and I mean that compliment sincerely)?
Anon. I had the same feeling about BALDIng/BALDISH. Then I realized that I stopped being BALDIng a number of years ago, i.e., the process of losing hair ceased and I was now mired in BALDISHness. The puzzle was great. That part was kind of depressing.
Brilliant mistake!!!
I got a lot of satisfaction from working this one out, but it wasn't easy. There were so many answers I wouldn't have gotten from their clues alone. Nothing came togethr in the NW corner until I got AESOP and took a chnace on CHAR and HET and started to get some CH's. BATARANGS crossing WOMAN might have done me in. VERE and ERMA were unnowns until I guessed at WORM. I just chipped, chipped, chipped away at it, for 45 minutes. Thanks for a good Saturday workout, Kameron Austin Collins!
This was just the right level of challenge for me. Seemed to take ages to finish but the timer says exactly 25 minutes. Unlike Rex, CHCHCHCHCHIA was the last long answer I got. That ad was a while ago!
I'm a bit surprised I enjoyed this, considering all the names, which I usually hate. VERE, ERMA, and HAYS were total Unknowns. And I fell into the ELSA / ILSA trap, finishing with BALDEST crossing Fort TAYS.
I was annoyed at the clue for C DRIVE, which should have said "Primary Windows PC storage". My first computers, at home and work, were Macintoshes, and the drives all had names.
@egs, Gary J has been commenting very late. On yesterday's Rex post, he didn't comment until 11 pm... I'm not sure why.
Props for the inclusion of the Angelou poem, but even that isn't enough to compensate for the spirit-killing 1-Across -- kicking things off with a nonsensical "lyric" from a mindless commercial earworm/ditty promoting a dumbed-down consumer fad. I don't argue that a crossword puzzle should have to adhere to any kind of cultural/intellectual elitism, but this kind of bottom-feeding is really beyond the pale.
Yeah, I thought a creel was something a fisherman (fisherperson?) carried to hold fish; didn''t know it was actually used to trap them in the water, as well.
@Anonymous 9:51 - Yes, that's a terrible earworm. I can't get rid of it, either!
No, Bob, you were probably too busy being intelligent.
ERMA Thoms recorded the original "Piece of my Heart," which was an R&B chart hit in 1967 and then became rock & roll classic after Janis Joplin released her overwrought cover version the following year.
YES! Love the poem. Just couldn't believe chchchchch... so it was not zingy for me, like it was for rex.
Is BALDISH even a word??
SAVOY is one of those classic examples of why "pop culture" references may be familiar to some, yet obscure to others. A person with a good perspective on 20th Century African-American music and entertainment would most likely be familiar with the name of that venue, along with the Apollo, the Regal, the Flame Show Bar, and others. In their heyday, in fact, they were probably as well known in the Black community as the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville (home of the Opry) was to most whites. But very few white folks knew much of anything about them (with the possible exception of the Apollo) or most of the artists who performed in them.
This puzzle had me briefly hating it when I saw the clue about the person who gets a lot of texts, figured out what the ? was doing, had enough crosses to get the READER part, and already had the V in place. This should have been a moment of delight, but rather than seeing the lovely answer, my brain looked at -V—READER and thought, “OVER READER?!?! That is not a thing, either as a phrase nor as a reality!!! I hate this puzzle! Rex better have blasted it!”
Of course, Rex did not blast it because in fact the answer was in fact both in-the-language and lovely. I guess I’ve been scarred by horrible crossword answers enough to imagine the worst. Even in this one, I hated TENTED. But AVID READER is solid and wonderful.
Both TENDED and BALDISH seemed questionable to me. I actually went with BALDING
But I’m thankful
Happy Anniversary you two crazy kids!
Loved Irene Papas. So charismatic! She was also in the movie Z, one of my favorites, with a magnificent soundtrack by Theodorakis (I’d like it played at my funeral).
Being fairly non-computer-y, I wanted CD something in place of CDRIVE, and almost naticked at VERE. I saw the opera a couple of years ago (excellent!), but I couldn’t remember the captain’s name.
The puzzle wasn’t easy for me, but it was doable, and it’s Saturday. It’s supposed to be hard, gosh darn it.
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