GRIP being the answer for “Purchase” is baffling and I think unacceptable. I didn’t look in the OED but the Merriam-Webster app shows no connection between the two words that I see.
Steve,
It is 100% correct. Please look in these comments for an explanation and a link to a dictionary citation.
3
@Steve
Yes, see BA's dictionary link earlier in the comments. As I noted, the def. is no. 10 in the list of nouns.
I appreciate the comments Barry and Ron. I should have made clear that I didn’t doubt the “correctness” but I do question whether it is fair if that meaning is not given in standard dictionaries. Not in my hardcover American Heritage Dictionary either. I think the best answers give you a feeling of “how clever” or “gee, should have thought of that” or “I just learned something.”
Is there more fun than picking up an almost-completed puzzle, and seeing words?, where before there were just disconnected letters!
I found it very challenging, and very fun.
3
Had SEA and MIAMI before OCT and APRIL. “Setting” is a devilishly good Saturday clue. Great fun with this one today.
2
Slower than my average time, but didn’t look at the hints or helps. Can I still be proud? ;-)
7
@MP If you can't, then lots of us can't! So, yes!
2
Disappointed that so many found this easy, as I thought I was getting better by finishing both today's and yesterday's puzzles in under an hour (fast for me).
Got the top spanner after getting all of 5D - 8D (spelling SEXM). Having TAE and successfully deciphering such, got 50D. Required quite a few crosses to come up with MIMEOGRAPH, though! Lucky guess with very few crosses gave me the bottom spanner.
Hung up for awhile spang in the middle: Couldn't decide between JPEG or mPEG, struggled with the spelling of RAGOUT, and YEOH and ERIK were unknowns (as so many names are ...).
35D was a gimme but had GoRE (?) at 38A for too long. Corrected that to give CLEArStATE which gave way to the correct entry when I flashed on what EWR stood for. (Have flown in and out of Newark many times to visit Princeton U).
Agree with Amitae that many of the clues were extreme misdirections. Or less-used definitions. MIMEOGRAPH, AGAIN, LIFT, AVENGES, and, most notably, GRIP (Note BA's observation that the dictionary def. is no. *10* (noun)!) Appropriate for a Saturday, I suppose.
TIL I can get one of my favorite foods at an "osteria" and wool from an "ovine!"
3
Ron,
Consider reconsidering your disappointment. "It was an easy puzzle" and "you are getting better at solving" need not be mutually exclusive.
3
I had several unknowns in this puzzle, QRCODE, AXING(as clued), and LGA. A couple of naticks, YEOH/RAGOUT, the worst.
That being said, I thought the cluing (in most cases) was refreshing. Loved MEOW, EYELASH, TOGA, and HIREES. GRIP was especially familiar to me. My daddy used the term “purchase” as clued here. If the path we were walking was icy, he’d tell me to be extra careful because it was hard to get a good purchase.
Very nice Saturday puzzle. Took a bit longer for me to solve, but fun nonetheless.
:-)
3
Ugh, this puzzle made me angry because I couldn't make any steady progress! 50% longer than my average for Saturday. Yesterday's puzzle was my fastest Friday ever and clocked in 3 times faster than average. Wild swing.
The only clue in this entire puzzle I was able to write in was ABE at 19A. The rest was a slog.
No idea for COSA, had to eventually get it from the crosses. Never heard of an osteria either.
I don't know a thing about american colleges, especially their football history so OHIOSTATE was nearly impossible and was so was AGGIE. College Station is the name of a city?! I think conference member is also a college reference too, isn't it?
I knew none of the 4 movie references. Old Star Wars trivia good, new Star Was trivia bad!
The puzzle was pretty naticky for me at JERUSALEM, ERIK and YEOH.
TIL EWR and LGA are airports near NYC. FIOS and USSTEEL were two more american brand names that gave me trouble. Yeah, yeah, it's an american newspaper so that's to be expected I suppose, but this one seemed more insular than usual.
It's only because I'm a stubborn perfectionist that I even finished this one without cheating.
1
@Stuart Sorry you didn't enjoy it. I found it quite pleasing. I first filled in REY for the Star Wars pilot, but fixed it when I saw __IE STATE and got OHIO. SAME SEX MARRIAGE and the rest of the NW corner fell quickly after that. Michelle Yeoh is a fine actress who has starred in myriad films besides the fun and recent "Crazy Rich Asians." Have you never seen "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"? "Memoirs of a Geisha"?
1
@Donna
I guess I would call this puzzle Type 2 fun. Something that you're glad you did after the fact but wasn't great as it was happening. Some are just like that for me, it's all good.
I looked up Michelle Yeoh and the only movie I've seen that she's been in was "Tomorrow Never Dies," but that was some time ago.
Michelle Yeoh was stunning in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. And, most recently Crazy Rich Asians.
I hope I succeed in posting this, since my Comments section is going crazy. Crazier than usual. In a variety of ways.
Loved the two grid-spanners. While I've attended several SAME-SEX MARRIAGE ceremonies, to the best of my knowledge I've never seen an actual SELF-DRIVING CAR in the flesh. Or STEEL.
Speaking of which, before I looked at the number of squares in the entry, my first thought for 5D was Lego.
Two near-naticks, in the 19 (COSA/ABE) and 29 (YEOH/ERIK) squares, but both ABE and ERIK seemed the likeliest names.
Like others, got STATE from just a couple of letters. OHIO took longer, but AHAB gave me the H and ruled out Utah, Iowa, and Penn.
After reading the column, I Googled QR CODE and I still don't get it. I doubt I would scan one with a smartphone even if I had one.
Loved EYELASH, JERUSALEM, PARIAHS, all for their own reasons, and FINGERTIP especially for its clue.
Enjoyed this. Thanks.
3
@Deadline, QRCODE was a new thing for me, too. I had no idea that’s what those speckled things are called.
Deadline - I wanted it to be “LEGO” too, before seeing the squares.
2
1A is an unreal coincidence on the day we are dropping off our younger son at University!
2
I'm puzzled. Although this puzzle felt challenging -- and I thoroughly enjoyed it too -- my time was more than 10 minutes below average. I view that as a win-win!
3
PIPSQUEAK was worth the price of admission.
Such interesting names in Michelle YEOH and YAO Ming. I'm always happy to see them show up in a puzzle.
Saturdays can be really fun and this puzzle proves it! Thank you, David, I am so glad you stuck with it and that Will published it.
5
As usual, I'll be bringing up the rear today. There are occasionally days when I can get tuned in to late-week cluing; this wasn't one of them.
Actually had a nice solid toehold with YEOH, JERUSALEM and GERE early on and did work out some things in that area. But I tried CLEANstart instead of SLATE and that helped grind me to a halt in the bottom section. I did guess that the inventor might be Edison and filled in TAE and ALVA but neither helped me a lot and I never got the invention.
Notable dim-witted moments: I flew in and out of Newark several times about 4 years ago and just blanked on what the heck EWR might mean. The O in COSA should have led me to at least take a guess at OHIOSTATE. It didn't. Have had conversations about Moby Dick with my wife and one of my sons in the last two weeks or so and AHAB never dawned on me.
As usual I see multiple other things that seem reasonably obvious in retrospect. Maybe this will be a learning experience. Probably not.
2
@Rich in Atlanta
I don't believe you "bring up the rear." I think that's my job. :)
@Ron We can take turns.
..
I refuse to feel guilty for happily enjoying the “easy” puzzles this week! The past couple of weekends raised many of my daily averages, so I’ll take a couple of easier puzzles. I liked the longer answers in the NW an SE corners; kept me guessing until enough downs revealed their logic. Fun puzzle that while easier, also ate up very little of my Saturday. Now back to the Bee, with thanks to Liane and Michael O for the hints and counts.
2
34A – Note that in the Koran, Muhammad's Night Journey (Isra) was to "the farthest mosque," and that Jerusalem is never mentioned in the account of the Isra (or anywhere else in the Koran).
It wasn't until at least decades after Muhammad's death that Jerusalem was suggested as the site for the Isra and Miraj (ascension). While it is possible that Jerusalem was in fact the location implied or intended in the Koran, it is a subject for interpretation and debate.
May all Saturday puzzles be this easy, Inshallah.
8
Ibn Fact Boy, is that you?
4
@Barry Ancona Nay, I am not he.
I found this puzzle beyond hard, was actually tempted to cheat (something I just about never do), didn't cheat, and ended up solving. But it was a struggle from beginning to end. Loved the challenge.
In the NW: Never would have guessed CAMPUS MAP in a million years. I got the 3D pun immediately, but XEROX MACHINE didn't fit. Wasn't sure enough of my guesses on AHAB and US STEEL to write them in, though perhaps I should have. I went elsewhere with only ATM filled in in the NW. Wasn't sure I'd ever finish that section.
Was flummoxed in the NE by having written in dOme instead of TOGA for "Senate coverage". Thought I was being so clever. Much later, RAINMAN straightened me out. That was one of the answers I was tempted to cheat on, along with OHIO STATE and the Star Wars answer. (What a way to clue POE -- the only thing in the puzzle I really didn't like. No, I take that back: I also didn't like QR CODES.)
Wonderful clues for AXIOM; SUITOR; MOVIE and FINGERTIP. Wonderful answers: PIPSQUEAK; CLEAN SLATE; and EYELASH. A really good workout. But disappointed to see how many of you found it easy.
2
@Nancy I did not. But I'm relatively new to this crossword so maybe that explains why I struggled all the way through.
1
Ole TAE was quite a guy, wasn't he? Dictaphone, lightbulb, MIMEOGRAPH (not the 'ditto' with the fluid)....
Started with 1A, trying to get an ID BRACELET on your wrist, but the ATM dissuaded me.
Got 37D instantly--One looking for a hand. [smirk]
DHubby gave me JPEG (in his role as Techie Advisor) but otherwise used his "I don't know" Standard Response. Had to get CRT on my own.
This seems like it should have been hard, what with YEOH and ERIK, but I'm not complaining! Off to do battle with the Saturday Stumper!
2
My fastest Saturday ever. I did think the puzzle was challenging. I just somehow knew where the misdirections were headed, and I guessed correctly a lot. MIMEOGRAPH, STAN, and SCHOOL were the last to fall.
1
Like many others, this was my fastest Saturday ever, beating my average by over an hour, and with no lookups. Nonetheless, I spent half of my time on the bottom third, and a quarter of it on the SW quadrant. GRIP as purchase makes no sense to me (feel free to explain) and then I stared at MEOW/ISMS/IMA forever.
Great puzzle, and a great week of puzzles.
2
Scott,
See noun def. 19 for the specific word [grip], and various verb and noun definitions of getting purchase as getting a grip on something.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/purchase
2
Thanks Barry. A totally new one for me.
It made me think of the line from “Raising Arizona”: “Her insides were a rocky place where my seed could find no purchase”
2
To achieve the QB you will need 29 words for 99 points.
F = 13
(4L X 6; 5L X 5; 7L X 1; 8L X 1)
G = 5
(4L X 4; 5L X 1)
L = 4
(4L X 3; 7L X 1)
N = 2
(4L X 2)
R = 2
(4L X 1; 7L X 1)
U = 3
(6L X 3)
If you get stuck, try putting on your dancing shoes and see what happens!
4
QB: 1 pangram, 29 words, 99 points
F-13 (4L -6, 5L -5, 7L-1, 8L-1)
G-5 (4L-4, 5L -1)
L -4 (4L -3, 7L-1)
N -2 (4L-2)
R -2 (4L-1, 6L-1)
U -3 (6L -3)
An easier Bee to end the week.
HINTS:
Throw any four letter combos together!! Don't forget that deadly fish. Otherwise,the remaining words are pretty common, even the 8 letter F word which is a wee French and just two fours repeated.
3
@Liane
I'm driving myself nuts with the 7-letter L.
Any hints?
@Scott
It's a 4-letter L plus a suffix.
@Scott
Calm down. Deep breaths.
SPELLING BEE
I propose that we nominate a daily "non-word" of the day. Today I nominate RUFF.
13
@Andrew
What about LUFF?
Those were my first two words into the puzzle, both rejected.
2
@Mean Old Lady glug
@Andrew
Seriously, is the NY Times ever going to address this? I mean RUFF is a pretty common word, we have a cat that has a pretty fine one. What do words do to merit exclusion from the "word list"?
Slow start, and then suddenly poof! it was done. Was it easy? Maybe, but I'd rather think that we are all getting better. Every day in every way...
And what's not to like about a puzzle with RUINS, JERUSALEM, and a TOGA??
4
Shucks! Here I thought I was getting smart in my dotage, blasting through Saturday in record time without any assist whatsoever. But seems I'm not the only one who thought in was relatively easy. Very entertaining, all the same.
I'm not surprised so many found this easy, not me however. I thought I was getting off to a great start as I was quite proud of remembering that Rutgers and Princeton had been opponents in the first college playoff, but Google checked it anyway, which at a quick glance seemed to confirm Princeton as a correct answer. When the downs just didn't work with that I got very discouraged. That sort of set the tone and I had one of those days when nothing seemed to come to me. Eventually coming back to it and some crucial look ups helped.
Favorite misdirection, Print source for FINGERTIP.
4
Suejean,
Rutgers beat Princeton in the first intercollegiate football game...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1869_New_Jersey_vs._Rutgers_football_game
...but College Football Playoff was capitalized in the clue, and it refers to specific and much more recent post-season playoff games:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_Football_Playoff
@Barry Ancona
Thanks, Barry. I figured it must be something like that. (I'm still sad though)!
@suejean
And you should be heartily congratulated for knowikng that Rutgers-Priinceton factlet.
My first sub-20-minute Saturday, yay.
Thought I was in trouble after my first across pass when ABE, GAG and YEOH were all I had to show for it, but the E in ABE gave me the inspiration to dredge up MIMEOGRAPH from God knows where and I was off and running. Got both the long entries with very little fill and that was more or less that. Although I'm still not entirely sure what an AGGIE is...
As for the SB, I'm stuck at 28 / 92, which must be very close...
3
@Scott
Queen Bee was at 29 / 99
1
@mikeq
Gaaah, now I must have another stare at it.
Thanks!
@Scott an AGGIE is a person (usually an American football player) who attends Texas A&M (Agricultural and Mechanical originally) University, located in the town of College Station Texas.
1
MEOW - don't give a cat milk, they're usually lactose intolerant and can get into trouble that way.
"Auto-mated", I get that it was hyphenated so we'd get the joke about SELF DRIVING CARS, but the "mated" part led me to snag on SPEED DATING BARS. Would have preferred this clue to not be hyphenated.
The NW had great neighbors. USSTEEL STEALS! CAMPUS MAP of OHIO STATE!
Also appreciated two Homer Simpson clues.
Fairly quick for a Saturday (about 2/3 normal time), but a good solid standard puzzle.
7
@Dan
SPEED DATING BARS was a great guess!
Achieved my first week-long streak along with my first Friday and Saturday gold stars. Having a streak going motivated me to stick with these last two even though I thought I was completely stuck many times.
I thought that "The Last Emperor 2" would be a hilarious answer to 21A. I was wondering how you'd make a sequel to something called "The Last Emperor" (having never seen it). Was the first last emperor not really the last? I suppose it'd have to be a prequel called "The Second to Last Emperor."
12
@Jeff Good for you! Congratulations on the week streak.
1
“The Very Last Emperor”?
@Jeff
Congratulations! Good luck next week.
I wished I had a SELF DRIVING CAR last week when going from VA to NJ in some heavy rain. Do they come with automated back-seat drivers--will my wife be obsolete, too?
The NE corner was a bit of a problem with PeSTo before PASTA.
3
After a long blank stare at the grid, I finally saw JERUSALEM, so – while ‘the solve was hardly a LIFT in a SELF DRIVING CAR – I worked my way through the puzzle with two look-ups: YEOH and the Home Depot lego.
Some of the misdirected clues were extreme for any day but Saturday: ASPS and garter snakes are not kissing cousins, and AVENGES is the last word I would have thought of as a synonym of requites.
TIL QR CODES.
As I expected, the experts who posted before me agree that it was easy. Not for me.
5
Question for *online* solvers:
Is your clue 55D "Kissing cousins of garters" or just "Cousins of garters" (the print clue)?
If it is, indeed, "Kissing..." I would share the objection raised by Amitai.
It was "Cousins of garters" online.
I think it was a fair clue, and not extreme. It may have been less than fair on a Monday or Tuesday, but other than that, it would be fine in my book.
Animal 'cousins' can cover a wide range of species, and the fact that in today's clue both are snakes...
@Amitai Halevi
I agree about the misdirected clues.
Very satisfying puzzle.Well clued,but not nearly as difficult as. most Saturdays. Thank you!
This is one of those SPELLING BEES that I stared at for a few seconds thinking, “There aren’t any words!” Then they started to come, painfully. I am counting on one of you Queen Bees to post a word count as soon as possible.
3
"But this technology is going to be a lot safer." This is a marketing slogan. Currently, they tend to kill people by running into large stationary objects, such as the sides of huge semi-trailers and highway barriers, or by running into a woman walking a bicycle without even braking, even *after* detecting her. So, at this point, most of the (sober) drivers I know are safer than these cars.
And that's when they are still doing their (sometimes-fatal) testing in places like Mesa, Arizona, which are flat and usually dry. If they can't handle these conditions, imagine how they're going to do on an icy snow-covered curvy driveway in Minnesota.
Sorry for the rant, but I couldn't let that comment just sit there.
10
To be fair, human beings cause fatal accidents too. Safer is a matter of degrees, not perfection. I don't know if they've achieved a better crash rate or fatality rate per mile with self driving cars compared to human drivers, but just saying, they very well could do it.
2
Dan,
To be fair, starting your reply with "To be fair" was inappropriate. Paul very clearly did not state or imply that human beings do not cause fatal accidents. If you want to advocate for self-driving cars, please do so without mischaracterizing the posts of others.
@Dan I can't wait for them to get here. I thought my next car would be self driving, but looks like I'll have to wait awhile. Grumble.
1
LGA dropped for me once I changed CLEAN Start to CLEAN SLATE. MOVIE was a gimme, as was JPEG. Some of the others took a bit more work, but I eventually discovered I was done and in about ¾ of my Sat. average.
We need a kinder and gentler edit of these puzzles. A few months ago I threw the puzzle down when the editor allowed pizza face as an answer involving acne. Today we have the horrid coupling of leprosy and pariah. We must move forward in our language sensitivity. The assumption in allowing answers like these is that people with disfiguring acne and Hansen’s Disease ( as leprosy is now called) are “others” to us. In fact, they may be NYTIMES crossword solvers!
4
@LA Sunshine
I certainly wouldn't argue with your opinions on language, but I do think you're missing some of its nuance.
"Leper" has two senses:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/leper
The second sense, outcast, may have originated with the first, someone with Hansen's disease, but it is quite distinct. You might take exception with use of the second sense, but to claim that it is a direct reference to one with that condition is just wrong. The speaker is not maligning the ill, but using a metaphorical meaning with centuries of history.
13
@LA Sunshine
Oh, I know! And somehow progress = takesteps, like people in wheelchairs can't make progress??! Horrid. Don't get me started on the night journey to Jerusalem - Muhammad rides a flying horse so now all the differently-abled non-flying horses are supposed to feel less-than??! Horrid. And how dare they mention campusmap, when everyone knows many college students these days cant read a map??! Horrid.
16
I understand the nuance. I just feel that it’s time to drop the metaphor.
We, in the WordPlay, world can be leaders in a more inclusive use of language. Particularly when the word use is unkind towards someone with a disability.
COSA got me going on my way to my fastest Saturday ever!
Many clever clues already mentioned by others. Had myself an “aha” moment when I got MOVIE.
2
SELFDRIVINGCARS and PIPSQUEAK fell right away and I was off and running. Only hiccup was in the NW, where I knew we were talking about colleges, but still couldn't quite get to CAMPUSMAP. A good Saturday run.
1
A very speedy Friday, somehow I was on wavelength with the clues. Lots of first-rate fill, glad it worked out in the end.
1
@Gary K
This is Saturday, Gary. :)
Ron,
He solved it on Friday.
Unlike first poster Brian, I think of it more like a easy Friday rather than a Thursday because Thursday puzzles are often tricky. But, it seemed to be on my wavelength, because while it took about 3 passes to go through, the progressive fill meant that I didn't have many wrong guesses that I had to go back and correct. The result was a personal best time for Saturday for me, and it's 1/4 my average for Saturdays.
There is a lot to like in this puzzle. The two very current topics that span (to borrow xwordinfo lingo) across the grid. The slight anachronistic MIMEOGRAPH that was mentioned yesterday that Deb loved to smell. New technologies continue with QR codes, JPEG. ATM CC skimming is really rather technical, as is the reference to FiOS. LEDs vs. CRTs.
Another late clue edit with YEOH that referred to a movie that just came out a few weeks ago (I think this is already either the second or third reference to Crazy Rich Asians)
Had JFK before changing to LGA - this is one of those NYC things that is a gimme but perhaps not so much to non-NYCers. OVINES - we just recently had some discussions about those in Wordplay.
TIL: PASTA and osteria. TAE invented MIMEOGRAPH, STAN , RAGOUT and fricassees - what they mean. Expected LIFT to have a Y in place of I.
Liked clues for TOGA, SIAM, ASPS, EYELASH, MEOW.
Clean grid. Tricky but fair clues, Learned a lot. Very satisfying.
4
After I posted my comment, I read Barry's reply to Brian, and Liz B's comment (good to see she's doing ok). Shaking my head at the MIMEOGRAPH comment and easy Friday comment. I wrote my comment before seeing theirs. So once again, #MeToo...Wait, that's not the hashtag I'm looking for...
4
One of the easier Saturdays in a while. I suspect that getting the two timely long answers was the primary driver of the grid, and not its difficulty. That said, an enjoyable solve.
4
pretty quick! I always TAKE STEPS to avoid LGA, always go VIA EWR. Not that either is the cat's MEOW nowadays!
5
If I lived in New Jersey, EWR would be my first choice too! I assume you take 78, Judy D; if you took 280, you would have noted that you went VIA ORANGE.
1
@Barry Ancona
HA HA! I do take 78 to EWR, but take 280 to NYC VIA ORANGE.
Checking in from the fringes of hurricane Florence--it seems to be raining steadily here, but not especially heavily. I'm very glad that the storm turned its path away from us--sorry to the people who are now in its midst. It's moving so slowly that I think it's going to be raining here for quite some time. Power supplies seem kind of iffy, with lots of downed trees, so if I disappear for days that'll be why. (I posted a late comment on the Friday puzzle in reply to Deadline with a little bit more information).
I thought this puzzle was chewy and challenging enough. I got SAME SEX MARRIAGE pretty quickly, but the bottom half of the puzzle took longer. It was fun seeing MIMEOGRAPH here after Deb's comments on yesterday's puzzle! Didn't know it was an Edison invention.
I had several sort-of lucky guesses that made this go faster than I first expected--JERUSALEM, STAN, AHAB. The NE corner filled in immediately, which gave me RAINMAN. I'm glad Mr Liben-Nowell was able to revise his puzzle and make it work out.
5
Stay dry!
2
Good to see you posting, Liz B. Stay safe.
@Barry Ancona
All is good here at the moment. We had a little more than an inch of rain overnight, and things are very lightly stormy. Not bad at all.
Nice puzzle, but more like a Thursday.
Brian,
I'm relieved to see you once again report a "nice puzzle;" I'd worried that all the nice ones had been taken. Since I know you know Thursdays are for tricks (Trix are for kids?), I assume your use here is a tricky way of saying this was easier than you'd expect from a Saturday or Friday? I'd just say an easier Friday.
2
Tough stretch last couple of weeks. Well above par. With relatively easy late week puzzles this week I’m 4 minutes below par going into Sunday.
1