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Teacher's pet, say, in slang / WED 10-21-26 / ___ saltado (Peruvian stir-fry dish) / Tender bend-er / Fabulous, in slang / Bird that gives pebbles as a courtship gesture / Crop whose trade contributed to the Opium Wars / Chemical suffix that indicates a double bond / Actress Dowd of "The Handmaid's Tale"
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
Constructor: Rebecca Goldstein
Relative difficulty: Medium
Theme answers:
- PARKING FINE (17A: Driver's Ed: B)
- MOVING AVERAGE (28A: Gym: B+)
- BUILDING SUPER (42A: Wood shop: A)
- PAST PERFECT (56A: History: A+)
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Lomo saltado is a traditional Peruvian dish, a stir-fry that typically combines marinated strips of sirloin (or other beef steak) with onions, tomatoes, french fries, and other ingredients, and is typically served with rice. The dish originated as part of the chifa tradition, the Chinese cuisine of Peru, though its popularity has made it part of the mainstream culture. (wikipedia)
• • •
I'm stuck on MOVING AVERAGE. Like, really stuck. First off, there's the "moving" part, which took me forever because I was looking for a gym activity, the way PARKING is a driver's ed activity, not an extremely vague general term for what one does in gym class. That was weird. But the real issue for me is the AVERAGE part. When did B+ become AVERAGE. I mean, let's all acknowledge that grade inflation is real, still, I have never seen any association between "B+" and AVERAGE. Even saying "B" is FINE is kinda weird and non-intuitive. But "B+" = average? There's no official or unofficial precedent for that, that I know of, and I've been putting grades on things for thirty years. Is there some kind of math in-joke here about grade inflation, i.e. that the "average" has "moved" over time from "C" (official "average") to B+ ("average" in practice)? I just can't square "B+ and AVERAGE. The latter two themers work much better than the first two. I believe that "A" = SUPER (despite the informality of that term) and "A+" = PERFECT, and BUILDING and PAST seem like very good descriptions of what one does in Wood shop and what one studies in History. But PARKING FINE is strange because PARKING is just one small element of Driver's Ed. The other themers have words that describe the totality of what's done or studied (MOVING, BUILDING, PAST), whereas PARKING is just a fragment. The theme seems half-busted to me today, despite the cleverness of the concept.
The puzzle was also way harder than I expected in parts. The entire NW was a bust for me at first. KISS-UP, yikes. I had -SUP at one point and still no idea. And KAPUT means "dead" to me. [Wrecked] is adjacent, but not really dead on, so those "K" crosses, oof. Killed me. Also, the cutesy injoke clue on IRATE meant nothing to me. Long clue that I didn't really understand (2D: Like a passionate solver discovering a filled-in airline magazine crossword, say). "Passionate" to IRATE, not a distance I was able to travel. IRATE seems insane, not "passionate." People solve the crosswords. That's what they're there fore. Yeesh. I always like finding a solve (or, more typically, partially solved) crossword in an in-flight magazine. You really learn ... a lot. About what people do ... and sometimes shockingly do not ... know. If not for the Münch painting up in that corner, I would've been really stuck. Another brutal clue: 26A: Tender bend-er (BUM KNEE). I am so confused about why there is a hyphen in "bend-er." Also, why there is no "?" on this clue, since it's clearly playing on "fender bender" (see how you don't hyphenate "bender"!!). I would not have minded this clue: [Tender bender?]. Still would've been tough, but at the least the punctuation would've made sense. I thought "Tender" was money, so I was quite lost. It's a cute clue, but confusing.
Another difficulty: LOMO, which is quickly becoming neo-crosswordese, though since I still can't remember it, ever, it clearly hasn't achieved that status yet (this is its third NYTXW appearance, all since 2023). Stop convincing yourself that a partial Peruvian dish is good fill (LOMO means "spine" (?)—it seems to refer to the cut of beef: loin or tenderloin). Also, UTA, which was already crosswordese (see UTA Hagen), now apparently has a new clue. If only I knew the Mammoth played in UTAh. What an awful way to abbr. that state. More trouble with "WANNA SEE?," which did not clearly match its clue (37D: "Are you ready for this?"). If those colloquial imagined-speech clues don't land perfectly, they get very tough. I had fewer problems with the equally hyper-colloquial "IT'S LEGIT" (12D: "That checks out"). The clue on ACED, also tough in this odd adjectival form (52A: Like a tennis player who didn't even swing). I had ACHY. Made sense at the time. My boat had a SEA DECK before it had a SUN DECK (41D: Open-air part of a cruise ship). Very hard for me to get from [Nutrition sources] to DIETS. It's accurate enough, but again, the phrasing just felt ... odd.
Bullets:
- 47A: Chemical suffix that indicates a double bond (ENE) — ugh, chemical suffixes. Bottom-rung fill. ENE is never going to be "good," so just make it a direction. Have fun with maps! [Memphis-to-Nashville dir.], something like that. Chemical suffix? Meh.
- 24A: Crop whose trade contributed to the Opium Wars (TEA) — one of those answers that I get in retrospect but that I absolutely did Not get during the solve. "Crop" "uh ... POPPIES? No? I'm out."
- 61A: Stephen King's telekinetic teen of horror (CARRIE) — easy, but again, I do not understand the clue-writing at all. There's absolutely no need for "of horror" here. It's Stephen King. His name already says "horror." If you know CARRIE at all, you know what genre you're in. [Stephen King's telekinetic teen] is concise and has a beautiful rhythm to it. "Of horror" kills that, and for no good reason. Nobody's in danger of thinking CARRIE is [Stephen King's telekinetic teen of romantic comedy]. Come on. This is a harmless issue, but come on.
- 6D: Bird that gives pebbles as a courtship gesture (PENGUIN) — I love bird clues but man this could've been anything as far as I was concerned. Luckily, by the time I saw the clue, I had the "-NGU-" in place, so no problem.
- 9D: Actress Dowd of "The Handmaid's Tale" (ANN) — actress I've never heard of on show I've never seen and have no desire to see (I read the book, I'm good). Crosses were easy, ANN was inferable. no harm no foul.
- 50D: Fellow crew member (MATEY) —a [Fellow crew member] is a MATE. "MATEY" is some pirate-y, Popeye-esque slang, isn't it? I've only heard it in fictional contexts. The dictionary (m-w) has MATEY as an adjective ("companionable, sociable"). Every MATEY clue before this seems to have understood and appreciated and *indicated* the slanginess:
 |
| [xwordinfo] |
- 38D: Fabulous, in slang (DOPE) — I went blank. With DO- staring at me, my brain completely emptied out. When I eventually got DOPE, I thought "... that's obvious. Why didn't you think of that immediately, you DOPE?" But I was talking to an empty brain, so ... no reply.
That's all for today. See you next time.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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95 comments:
Had "oNe" before "UNI" and "cAPUT" before "KAPUT" so cISSo_ for the teachers pet took me a while to fix. Also the center section in the north--that was the last for me. Had "callME" and ALEC before NEEDME and ALAN up there. Took me way too long to think of ALFA as what comes before BRAVO.... wanted ARIA, even though I knew that would be BRAVA. Anyhoo.... bottom half of the grid was easy. Couldn't think of FINE forever. 15 minutes for me this morning. Liked the theme, it was cute, but I agree about AVERAGE.... it's a sad day when you have to give AVERAGE a B+. There's definitely grade inflation in medical school. It's like Lake Wobegon, everyone is definitely way above average! : ) Have a blessed day :)
Isn’t to soak slowly to steep, not SEEP?
I tend to be a bit more optimistic/positive about puzzles than Rex usually, but for once I agree with him on all fronts, unsure why after all of that the puzzle still gets 2.5 stars, 1.5 or 2 max would’ve been more appropriate for me. Also unsure why it’s still rated “medium” difficulty since i struggled a ton with the same things Rex mentioned, including all the vague colloquialisms like KAPUT, WANNASEE, KISS-UP, BUM KNEE, etc.
Not a pleasant solving experience at all unfortunately.
I had PARKING and put in PASS, which seemed more appropriate for a D but I think works better than FINE. Agree with BenM--SEEP is to ooze, StEEP is to soak slowly. This took me way above my average Wednesday time; I just wasn't on the puzzle's wavelength at all. The top half was trouble for me. SuckUP before KISS UP, and I confused my Cabaret stars and put in Joel (Grey), which I finally corrected once I realized that 7D had to be ALFA. Oof. Brutal for me overall.
Oh yeah, I forgot about ALFA… I had nothing there for a long time since surely it’s spelled ALPHA, so that couldn’t be it… ugh
Right? Help?
I think the other problem with MOVINGAVERAGE is that the other three clues change the meaning of the word to something besides a descriptor (super as a person, etc), but here average means the same thing as expected, no twist.
The new 'Carrie' on Prime is spectacular. Terrific casting and relatable characters.
My hyphen issue is with MONO- as a clue for UNI. To me that hyphen suggests an unfinished word. The clue should be just MONO. In no universe is a B+ AVERAGE. Those two clues make me question whether the constructor ever solved a crossword. Two thumbs down for me.
Had the same reaction to MOVING AVERAGE and knew OFL wouldn’t let that one slide.
As crunchy a midweek puzzle as we’ve had in a while. Theme was a little off but simple enough to not warrant a revealer. My only issue is the relative scoring of the applied grades - B is FINE and B+ is AVERAGE for example - that was a side eye.
What’s on the telly?
I liked the overall fill better than Rex - especially the longish downs. BAD SEEDS, ITS LEGIT, TOUGH NUT are all top notch. The short stuff in that busy center doesn’t hurt much.
Great Lake Swimmers
My favorite clue - answer was BUM KNEE. Rex tried to sow the fear of doubt but I don’t see it. We get multiple bird clues. A couple of gimmes but the cluing trended late weekish.
A BAD SEED My Daddy Sowed
Highly enjoyable Wednesday morning solve.
CARRIE and Lowell
Medium, you say, Rex? Not for me. This was a TOUGH NUT for sure. I had trouble getting on the constructor’s wavelength but enjoyed the challenge. Wasn’t bothered by any of the things Rex calls out except for the hyphen in bend-er. And I have to admit that near the end of my teaching career I became a lenient grader. B+ wasn’t the average grade. More like A-. My excuse? I sure had a lot of smart students.
Agreed the puzzle is not well-written and if B+ were actually average we’d need more letters above A. Had PE——N for the weird bird & wrote in PELICAN. Why not? A pelican has a place to carry pebbles, right? Like Demosthenes.
Was positive the pebble-offering bird was a peacock, so the NE took me a long time to figure out. Also, surprised Rex didn’t ding the last themer for not following the same -ing form as the first 3.
I think they are going for seep as like ooze
I agree with most of Rex’s criticisms, especially the “moving average” clue. The puzzle maybe should have used C+ instead?
My two favorite parts:
• The theme concept itself. Original, fresh, out-of-the-box. Seeing the term “science fair” one day and visualizing this theme (per your notes) – that’s top notch constructor’s mind, and I who love crosswords am so grateful for people who think like this.
• The perfect-for-Wednesday difficulty level. This day is the bridge between easy and hard, and, IMO, Rebecca perfectly captured that not-too-easy and not-too-hard place. There were slippery but not opaque clues, some ARCANE answers but just the right amount of footholds. Neither a plod nor a dash. Wednesday.
Bolstering the above were lovely answers, such as ARCANE, KNOTTY, LAID BARE, KAPUT, and BUM KNEE (a debut). And I adored [First and last, say] for FULL NAME, which had me going in circles until it finally hit me with a splendorous kapow.
Rebecca, this was fun, satisfying, and lustrous. Thank you!
Malapop when I initially put in LegIT for 49D, only for it to appear as part of 12D.
Hated the clue for SEEP and the crossing of ANN with ALAN, but liked the theme. Crazy hard for a Wednesday puzzle.
B+ is actually reasonable as an average grade for gym class specifically, where just showing up and making an effort can earn an A.
It was quite difficult to solve for a Wednesday but enjoyable nonetheless. I really like the theme and it felt satisfying to finally get the answers. Once you've worked out a couple, it's not too hard to fill in the rest. I think this review is a bit harsh but everyone is, of course, entitled to their own opinion.
It seems they used the hyphen on purpose to suggest the answer should also be a prefix vs a stand-alone word.
Hey All !
LOL at Rex's "Stephen King's telekinetic teen of romantic comedy." Good stuff!
I can't seem to get the ole brain to make sense of MOVING AVERAGE. What in tarhooties does that mean?
Interesting Theme. The letter grades increase as you go down the puz. Nice open corners. Fill decent. A bit on the crunchy side, made me use my stubborn brain.
Writeovers: pEA-TEA, alum-GRAD, BadKNEE-BUMKNEE, inn-BAR, LegIT-LICIT, thought about PelicaN for PENGUIN for a second.
LOMO, Life Of Missing Out. What it feels like when you work for 50 years. Har.
Welp, hope y'all have a great Wednesday!
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Agree with all of this EXCEPT Ann Dowd is a national treasure!
Rex missed an opportunity to make Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds his musical reference.
I agree that "average" and "B+" don't (or at least shouldn't) match up.
However, I can tell you why it's there...note that every themer both describes the class/how the student is doing in it [I guess they're midterm grades, as they're all in present tense; if those were the final grades, it would be 'built super' etc.].
Every term is ~also~ an existing word pair with its own meaning. If you live in an apartment, you have a 'building super' [although you likely just say 'super']; if your meter runs out and you get a ticket, you have to pay a 'parking fine'; there is a language tense called the 'past perfect'; and, there is a statistical thing called the 'moving average' (just this past weekend I was revising lecture notes which included telling my geophysics class about the moving average!).
So, although the 'average' part doesn't match the B+, 'average' was used with 'moving' to make a two-word phrase that is used in a context other than what's given in the clue.
Rex, terrific write-up today! You read my mind.....
With LAIDBARE and SUNDECK, this would be a good puzzle for working on your tan.
"Bravo preceder" could also be ARIA.
KISSUP: Like MARRY UP but without the commitment or caterer.
"Pebbles as a courtship gesture" reminds me of when my brother-in-law was dating my sister. For the engagement ring, instead of a loupe, the jeweler used a microscope.
WANNASEE? reminded me of the "famous last words" -- WATCH THIS! "Last words" is a category of jokes, including, e.g., "I wonder where the mother bear is." I recently proposed adding "Laughter is the best medicine," which, clearly, was said by someone with no health insurance.
There are two different problems with the clues. First, B+ is too high foro AVERAGE. Second, the clues suggest that B (FINE) is better than B+ (AVERAGE.) I didn't like either, but the problem is entirely with the clue -- the grid itself is perfectly fine.
Same thing with the hyphen in bend-er. That one really threw me-- I figured tender was money, and bend-er was some illicit manipulation (as in "bent" meaning shady), and actually had jUnk fEE for a long time--which made it tough. I finally got LAID BARE from crosses, and it all fell into place.
Anyway, my point is that the editors really could and should have fixed these problems by changing the clues.
I didn't know Ohm's first name, or either of those actors, but the crosses were OK.
I did enjoy this one, including all those little struggles.
This constructor's puzzles always have clever clues and at least a little bite. Enjoyed this one, medium Wednesday. Lower half much easier than upper. Liked the long downs in the SW. Minimal dreck. Solid
I felt the same way.🎈🎈🎊🎊
Agree about the themers. Also, AVERAGE doesn’t improve on FINE to me (B to B+), and both words describe grades in the C range. Wanted either SUCKUP or KISSASS (too long) for 1A, KISSUP works as a phrase but not a word. And Tender bender would’ve been a great clue for billfold.
I agree! My solving experience was similar to Rex's, and I'd call this hard for a Wednesday, or at least medium-hard. Also would rate 2 stars, not 2.5. If 2.5 is average out of a 1-5 scale, this puzzle was below average for a Wednesday.
Expert review by Rex
¡Siga a ese coche!
Silly fun and I enjoyed the comedy. Plenty of ooh-la-la tee-hee-ery for my inner 5th grader. Took awhile to find my groove, but once I got on board with the author we zoomed to the end. Only real goof was ALUM for GRAD.
I think of ARCANE as specialist knowledge. It's something few people know, but for those who do, they know it really way too well.
I have felt derision at finding a completed crossword (I mean learn penmanship for god's sake), but I'm never IRATE.
Is there anything sweeter than penguins? Honestly, we don't deserve to be on this planet with some of these souls. Dogs, donkeys, otters, penguins. Pure perfection. I guess that's why cats hang out with us. They've got a nice evil streak keeping it real.
A few months back I attracted a Chihuahua by making fun of something to do with science and it turned into a whole GEORG Ohm-athon, so I was worried I forgot his first name today. Thankfully I had the terminal G and I was saved. I wonder how my little "arf-er" is doing. Maybe he found a girlfriend.
❤️ KISS UP. Tender bend-er. KAPUT. LICIT / LEGIT.
Gunkometer--
People: 4
Places: 1
Products: 5
Partials: 12 {Time to rethink our life choices}
Foreignisms: 2
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 24 of 74 (32%)
Funny Factor: 3 😐
🔥 Ooh-la-la! 🔥 ALAN (tee hee). LSD. Blunts. KNOTTY. LAID BARE. TOUGH NUT. DOPE. WANNA SEE.
Uniclues:
1 PR campaign rhyming poem encouraging those with mobility problems to go to cafés in Paris.
2 Aliens make a movie about trees, or homophonically, a space porno.
3 Bird couture.
1 TEA? OUI! BUM KNEE...
2 ETS REEL KNOTTY
3 ORIOLES' SAKS (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Block heads (who are passionate there is no S in the name). LEGO CULTS.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The MOVINGAVERAGE bothered me too. Only way I can have it make sense is with punctuation--MOVING : AVERAGE. Some F's, no ROOS, and of course no PABLOS.
Tried to get started on this and had SCREAM and PENGUIN up top and that was about it. I knew it was Wednesday because I put out the trash this morning, but it sure didn't feel like it. The bottom half was considerably easier , same reaction as OFL to the WANNASEE answer and MATEY. Took a while to get to BUMKNEE. KISSUP is LEGIT, but "suckup" is certainly more familiar, at least to me. I also thought that mono- was looking for the ending of a word.
Biggest nit (can that be a thing?) was the ALAN/ANN crossing, since I knew neither. If proper name crossings were disallowed that would be fine with me.
Pretty crunchy Wednesday, RG. I Rarely Got on your wavelength, but thanks for a fair amount of fun.
Kaput is German. In German it means "broken." So "wrecked" is at closer to the original meaning than "dead."
Good call on the ascending (descending?) order of the grades. I hadn’t noticed that. That must be the only explanation of why B+ = average.
I had a very compatible girl fiend in college. We got along great. I got LAIDBARE and clothed, but always with a smile. But when she moved in with me, she was IRATE at all times. I guess the MOVEINGAVERAGE. Her name then was Douya Dme, she's married now so i guess she's Douya NEEDME.
If you ever visit the Piedmont region of Italy, be sure to see the charming town of Alba. And while the outskirts are nice, you really need to see the ALBACORE.
Kind of a TOUGHNUT to crack today for a Wednesday. Great concept. Thanks, Rebecca Goldstein.
I'm sure some variation of "Average grade" has been a clue for CEE dozens upon dozens of times. Using a B+ there is beyond stupid, not to mention well-below-average clueing.
I’m picturing an IRATE passenger/solver ending up on the local news with video of said passenger duct taped to the chair ;)
Grade inflation.
I love your theory about cats associating with humans and suspect there is some real scientific basis to it. However, that made me immediately wonder then, why do dogs hang out with us? Likely because they are so genuinely good and loving that they will forgive us even our affinity with cats.
I expected to come here and see how easily Rex solved this. But I see he found it a bit KNOTTY.
Yet I found it quite easy, after fixing ALUM for GRAD and INN for BAR.
I get an A. Puzzle gets a C.
I was hoping for a Rex take-down of the grade inflation in this puzzle, and Rex did not disappoint. I’m sure I’m guilty of contributing to the phenomenon in some ways, but I do try to hold the line that A’s are reserved for advanced-level work. I guess in some of my honors classes, all of the students are submitting really strong work, so maybe B+ is average for them?
I knew the PENGUIN thing, and I assumed I was remembering that from an 80s cartoon called “Scamper the Penguin” (in English, at least—apparently it’s originally Russian) that I watched as a kid. My Google searches tell me I am incorrect and that Scamper never gives Snowflake a pebble, though the film does show the adult male penguins building nests with pebbles. My brain must have followed that association to the correct answer via an incorrect memory.
Interesting puzzle with a little bit of bite and fun to solve. I do agree with RP about MOVING AVERAGE; that one felt like kind of a clunker to me too. The others, however, were excellent, as was the overall surrounding fill. Had most of my difficulty in the north center and NE, primarily the three long downs. Finally, I started just guessing at the short crosses, and they started falling into place. BUM KNEE held me up for a while too - a clever, clue, with or without the hyphen.
LOMO was great for me, simply because I freaking love that dish and happened to make it just last week!
The grades are "moving" upward, the "average" could be ANY grade depending on the competence or incompetence of the class, all A's or all D's, see US DoD!
Just a word about that Genesis clip for "No Reply At All" that Rex posted. I really didn't need to see that. This horn-infused pop ditty was a chilling manifesto from the band, a blunt message to us old fans that the Genesis we knew and loved was gone.
ALFA is a car, ALPHA is before Bravo in NATO alphabet...
@Rick Sacra 6:09 AM
I think you can get college credit reading comic books in one of 🦖's classes. I got a degree after sitting on the quad in Boulder, Colorado reading Shakespeare and tanning. So who knows. Maybe life outside of academia is significantly below average.
My thoughts today very much align with @Rex but I think liked the puzzle a lot better. Very clever theme, along with some very nice long fill in the NE and SW corners. I especially liked the in-the-languageness of ITSLEGIT and TOUGHNUT.
I'm a huge fan of clever, tricky cluing but I share some of Rex's nits today on a couple. BUMKNEE is great fill and Tender bender with *no* dash is top notch cluing. That dash really threw me, unless I'm missing something, why is it there? I just ignored it for a while and I was mis-directed as I should have been, going with tender = money, etc... When I had B- - K, I went with BanKatm(??) It was UVA and the "U" that made it all click. So it was a fun ride, but it would have been an A+ without that dash.
I had the same reaction for B+ and "average"...man, if B+ was average in my day, I don't know...what's a word that means something worse than fail??? The crosses came to the rescue but that was the last of the themers to fall for me. The other themers were A's in my book.
On the other hand, *much* appreciation for the very fresh cluing for LSD! If Alt tab was used before, I don't remember it. Which actually sounds like someone who used LSD might say... I did not 😊
Having alum instead of the correct GRAD held me up more than it should have in the North, and ALAN crossing ANN was somewhat of a Natick for me but the names were so common I can't complain. As a whole, I found the North part of the grid much more challenging than the South.
I'm also gonna go and use KNOTTY to describe some problem today at work, what a great word!
Rebecca, thank you for this! It was a fun ride that had my brain working a bit more than most Wednesdays!
I'm with Rex in thinking "tender" in the 26A clue referred to dollars. I kept looking to see if "money clip" fit but nope.
This was a downright hard Wednesday for me. I'm not sure the clue for 8D, "Made public" = LAID BARE which seems like something more likely happened in a heart-to-heart talk, when one LAID BARE one's secret feelings.
I guess one could make the argument that MOVING AVERAGE moved the average from C to B+ but that's not what the answer is supposed to be doing for the theme.
Thanks, Rebecca Goldstein!
I am usually behind other solvers, but i did well on this one. I do think the clueing is really off base at times. ‘Lomo’ is completely out of my lexicon.
Heartily agree. Editing seems to be lacking.
I'm with Rex on this one. And having just read his Sunday (admittedly tepid) write-up for a two-star puzzle, today he was back to form, including a right-up-his-alley takedown of how the puzzle's "grading system" didn't comport with real academics.
"If those colloquially imagined-speech clues don't land perfectly, they get very tough." A-bloody-men. When we see a " " clue, we skip it without a thought. My wife is more tolerant than me about these clues (and about more than XW clues...ask her!). In my next life, if I'm the NYTXW editor, you'll get two such clues, max; one Across, one Down.
Speaking of NYTXW editing, is it likely that the needless verbosity of clues (e.g., adding "of horror" to the clue for 61A, as Rex points out) is on the editor, not the constructor? Brevity in clues can make them challenging, in a good way. The clues for 47A and 24A, in the write-up above the CARRIE harangue, both could have been much shorter to educe their three-letter answers. Or are we supposed to appreciate the clues as "fun facts"? Maybe so. I just wonder how much of this is the editing versus the constructing.
You got that cat thing right. My current one has a wide evil streak. But she knows when to turn on the charm, so we're still together
Vexed by moving average as well. Thanks for the great tunes!
Alt tab = LSD is the prizewinner for me! Fiendishly clever. Glad I had the crosses to solve it.
I liked it more than others seemed to. Agree grades assigned were a bit odd and NW was tough but bottom half was a joy and theme was really unique. Of the historic clues for MATEY I like “Ahoy recipient” the best.
Tough one for me. The clueing seemed a bit tricky for a Wednesday and coming up with the theme answers required more than a few crosses.
I did not know LOMO, UTA, PENGUIN, and ANN.
Costly erasure - atvS before UTES
Amusing theme, but I mostly agree with @Rex on this one.
@kitshef 7:30 AM
This. Maybe the stories are apocryphal, but athletes are alleged to have received their Bachelor's degrees without showing up to class simply because they can run real fast and catch a ball. Might be pure nonsense, but nothing in collegiate sports is "average" and a B+ might be bell curve adjacent.
Interestin puztheme idea, but M&A can only give it a C for originality. [See Sunday 17 Nov 2019 puz.]
And yep, that MOVINGAVERAGE themer really needs some help. I see a coupla approaches:
1. Switch the clue to somethin like: {Drama class: C}.
2. Switch the answer to the same-lengthed ONBASEAVERAGE, with a clue {Gym: C}.
3. Switch the answer to the same-lengthed ONBASEAVERAGE, with a clue {Making out behind the gym: C}. har
staff weeject pick: LSD. Nice sneaky keyboard clue: {Alt tab?}. With two weejects in the clue, no less.
primo weeject stacks, NE & SW, btw.
some fave stuff: PENGUIN & its clue. UKRAINE. TOUGHNUT. WANNASEE. Weird LANE clue [but, hey -- it did have a ? splatzed onto it].
Thanx for the report card [with a kinda padded GPA, on that there gym grade], Ms. Goldstein darlin. Slightly KNOTTY but nice.
Masked & Anonymo9Us
p.s.
Y'all VOTE! M&A voted yesterday. Pretended Trump was on the ballot -- for every office.
p.p.s.s.
Runt puzzle [caution: @#*%$* extreme biter, said the test solvers]:
**gruntz**
M&A
I found this one very easy which is unlike my usual take on puzzles. I wonder if it’s my left-handed brain in action, connecting things righties can’t see?
Interesting puzzle. A bit uneven with some great clues and some that just seemed awkward.
Is MOVING AVERAGE a familiar phrase? I think I can see what it means, but I’ve never said it. The grade inflation discussion that it sparked was interesting, though. B+ is average now?
Love the word LICIT and love the way it is stacked with IT’S LEGIT. BUM KNEE was great except for the hyphen in the clue.
Loved the long downs in the NE and SW. ALBACORE, by the way. Is the most common tuna where I live and I do like to shop local so it’s mostly what I buy. Pretty flavourless compared to ahi, but if you marinate it in a soy-based solution and grill it, it’s pretty good.
Entertaining, if a bit rough.
Very nice and informative write-up by Rex today. I’m very comfortable giving the constructor more leeway with the theme, as I’d rather have a theme that is more discernible rather than “technically” cohesive if it results in a better solving experience. Having said that, I do enjoy Rex’s comments and analysis regarding alternate approaches from a constructor’s perspective.
I enjoyed solving this one - just the right degree of difficulty for me. I had a definite head-scratcher with 5D - what the heck is a MONO-UNI ? I don’t understand the cluing construct at all. What is there a hyphen after MONO in the clue? So, still scratching my head on that one.
Oddly, I solved last evening and had no trouble getting the theme. Then this morning I looked at it and wondered: what the heck was the theme again? I had forgot all about the letter grades in the clues! Sheesh.
Quite a few typeovers; typical one: THORNY before KNOTTY for "Difficult as a problem".
Re 3 down, Edvard Munch's painting The SCREAM... I visited the Munch Museum in Oslo years ago, and was surprised that there were quite a few different versions of it! (By the way, his name is pronounced "Moonk".)
Okay now, time for Spelling Bee. It can't possibly be as easy as yesterday, with only 9 words and about 30 seconds to reach Genius. We'll see...
what airline are you flying that still has an in-flight magazine?
2D is not legit.
@whatsername 10:20. Is it all about the food with dogs? There's an old New Yorker cartoon with a genie (out of the lamp) explaining to a dog that once he uses one wish for food he doesn't need to use any others on food.
Years ago I printed out the NATO alphabet because I often needed it when trying to make myself clear on the telephone with agents whose English was not always stellar. The print out is pretty old and I'm not exactly sure where I got it. So I went yto the NATO site for clarification. It's ALFA. You can check here:
official nato phonetic alphabet
or here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet
Wrong puzzle??? No relation to paper. NYT!!
Another to add to Rex's list of poorly worded clues. If you stare it hard and sideways it might start to make sense
Hey, a fun puzzle today, loved it from KISSUP and KAPUT to CARRIE and KNOTTY. The B+ grade was a clue blooper even taking into account grade inflation but the answer is a phrase in good standing.
My default assumption is that bad clues are due to bad editors, and bad fill is due to bad constructing
Giskarrrd
Rex rates degree of difficulty solely from his own solving experience. He does not try to guess what other people’s experience will be.
What kind of a vehicle is a UTE??
You might want to do a brief search on that
Anonymous 7:01 AM
To be fair to constructors, do not assume they write a particular clue. Apparently, typically, 1/3 OR MORE of clues are written by editors.
Also uni in American English uni IS an unfinished word. Uni, short for university is mostly used outside the US.
I found this hard for a Wednesday but in a good way. Enjoyed the solve, did not get hung up on grade inflation! I liked the clever clues like the one for BUMKNEE
I agree with Rex about the clue for WANNASEE. ENE clue is informative - liked it, likewise TEA and PENGUIN. Did not know CARRIE so had to google that.
pabloinnh & Roo
I only time I have seen MOVING AVERAGE outside of today was as a statistics term. So the expression is a real thing ( not that I could understand it). But I guess punctuation is the only way to make sense of it in the puzzle.
You might want to Google "nato alphabet".
She is excellent in Hereditary, Handmaid's Tale and The Leftovers
jberg
Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought the clue had bend-er to differentiate from fender bender, but still sound similar
a gpa or grade of 2.0 or higher - C, C + B - B & B are all considered average or 'in the median'. puzzle wasn't all that bad it was needed right in the middle. have a good day
Southside
I took mono-/UNI to refer to prefixes mono-
and uni- both mean one as prefixes. Tricky clue. I got the answer from crosses and didn’t understand it till I saw a comment above.
I agree! I had ARia for the longest time because it didn’t occur to me that the crossword could be trying to spell ALphA with an F.
Penna Resident
I couldn’t resist looking it up At least according to the internet,
Domestically, Delta and Alaska Aurlines still have them. Internationally most major European airlines and many Asian ones.
I think that makes the clue okay.
Anonymous 3:25 pm
Sports Utility Vehicles are sometimes called UTEs.
Liked the puzzle. I rarely get hung up on alleged theme inconsistencies, but Rex’s comments were fun to read. I agree the puzzle was harder than most recent Wednesdays. I also most definitely did not get hung up on a hyphen! I actually liked the BUMKNEE clue
I've never heard of MOVING AVERAGE and I used to teach research statistics. Ah, I see IT'S LEGIT but is used mostly in business and finance.
Grade inflation really took of in the late 60s when the draft was enacted. There was a huge increase in the number of guys going to college because being a student in good standing could get you a deferment from the draft. From a teacher's point of view, this also meant that giving a student a D or F could jeopardize the student's standing and this could lead to a loss of deferment, being drafted and getting killed in the jungles of Vietnam. School got easier. Grades understandably went up.
Did not enjoy this in the least. The clueing was overly "cute" and "clever" by a wide margin, and some of the clues are just completely way off. I agree with Rex. As a "passionate solver" (between the print edition of the NYT and online Chicago Tribune, I solve about 9-10 puzzles a day, more on Sundays), and, when I fly (which isn't often), I sometimes checkout the puzzles in the inflight magazine. If they're solved, my usual reaction is mild disappointment, which fades within a minute or so as I turn back to the reading materials I've brought with me. But IRATE?? Are you kidding? Someone who gets "irate" at having no inflight magazine puzzle to solve is someone who might create an incident serious enough to force a premature landing and be removed from the plane by air marshals. Just one of a plethora of inapt and/or annoying clues in an unrewarding puzzle with a boring theme. And B+ is "average" in MOVINGAVERAGE? Am I missing something. Another NYT puzzle solved with no joy and no regret that it's over. Like far too many in recent years.
would be fun to know if people comment before or after their morning 'constitutional'. call it B.P or P.P analogous to B.E. D.C. todays puzzle was grade A. the themes were 'right in the middle'. that was the point. It's a really good puzzle if you think about it.
Agreed! It would be better if the clue read "Soak slowly (into)"
Not on any of my very recent delta flights
As OFL noted, "UTA" is a lousy abbr. for the U.S. state. It also fails in calling out the two clumpy UTAHs of cheater squares that flank the grid. Harumph. (Or perhaps "HARUMF" in the revised NATO alfabet?)
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