Ok embarrassing confession here. I convinced myself that the grid art was an anatomical reference to recent news. Spent quite some time trying to shoehorn in ‘toadstool.’
I feel soiled by current events. Sigh.
2
On the spelling bee: No "catarrh" was a big disappointment!
3
@Ann Young
Agreed!! [Esp since that was the first word come to mind, and the source of some significant smugNESS.
2
6:00 am finding neighbors tree on my lawn, blocking street thanks to Michael blowing through yesterday. No power now for 24 hours.
7:00 am arrive Duke for PET/CT scan
10:00 am injected with radioactive sugar. Yum!
11:30 am scan inconclusive. . . .
4:30 pm finally get to puzzle. Immediate "POP" for NESS as being a bitter end. QED. Day made!
8
RMP,
Have you ever considered taking a pet along with you for that scan?
2
On day 22 of 43 days of IMRT last year, after I was asked the usual questions to confirm my identity, I asked the treatment team members if they knew what day it was. When they offered the day of the week or the date, I said no, and handed them each a piece of paper with a picture of the Geico camel.
@Barry Ancona You'll probably never see this, Barry, because I imagine I'm part of a very small (and possibly obsessive) group of folks who go back to previous Wordplay columns, but I loved this comment. My hubby went through that process a few years back and the most effective way we found of dealing with the indignities was a robust sense of humor, and yours is clearly intact. Hope you are doing very well now.
BID for "Tender" and OAT (milk): Very obscure IMHO.
1
Ron,
I can (but rarely do) drink MOO milk, but if I or a family member could not, I'm sure I'd know OAT milk as well as I do soy milk and coconut milk.
If you find BID for "Tender" very obscure, I hope you have a trustworthy financial adviser.
@Barry Ancona
I would just stress that I included the qualification IMHO. My point: I have never heard of oat milk and the definition of "tender" as "bid" is number three in the *second* definition of "tender" according to Merriam-Webster.
Ron,
Please don't misunderstand:
1. I only got OAT milk from the crosses.
2. It's fine if you didn't connect BID with tender, as long as you don't handle your own investments.
Me: “I was Jabbering on like a prat before I realized Megadeth might spell their name with only one “a”, then I asked myself, tenderly, if I could bid an echo-boomer for...”
Google: “Alright what’s the big idea here? You think it’s bad ass to nae-nae around the set like it’s as easy as abc?”
Me: “No I only meant to ... that is to say, let me see, avenge Eros and proclaim my robust joy at the lightbulb this crossword elicited.”
Google: “Oh, well alright then, carry on.”
Oh so close for me today, to abandon google. JABBER before YABBER and RAGNOLD before BAGNOLD. I tried switching them around before ceding to a title search on “National Velvet.”
Fun puzzle!
5
I thought 7D was a delightful clue and answer. Thanks for a fun puzzle!
@Anne-Marie Agree about 7-Down. Great combo.
I am usually terrible at figuring out grid art -- or even recognizing it after I'm told what it is -- but I saw this one on only one try. Of course, that may be because I already had the LB ending of LIGHTBULB, whichnarrowed the possibilities down quite a bit.
The inside of the BULB scared me, and held me up for quite a bit, until I took a chance on the spelling of MEGADETH. I didn't know that Enid BAGNOLD had written "National Velvet."
Another MOO clue fan here.
Never sure whether it's TUPAC or TUPAk. (I learned something I'd never known about him just the other day, and now I've forgotten it. Maybe I have a block about him.) Didn't know MESSI. Knew NAE NAE only from previous XWP appearances. Someday maybe I'll look it up in YouTube and see what it looks like.
Anyway, nice puzzle, with enough challenge to make it interesting, but didn't leave me feeling like a PRAT.
1
Tough one to get started on, at least for me. Not a whole lot of obvious starters. I thought MESSI was a sure thing but also was near certain a group of whales was called a POD so second guessed myself there.
Being a millennial myself I have never heard of ECHOBOOMERS and am also embarrassed how long it took me to get NAENAE.
Liked the clue for 31A (MOO) and also liked the SELINA and "Veep" references, I believe that's even how she spells her name in the show.
New philia and agape meant love but had no idea the right way to say that in Greek. Now that I see EROS it looks familiar though.
Had a few Googles that were necessary but then the rest fell into place: RHYS, BAGNOLD, MEGADETH, EBERT, SELINA
2
@Matt Dodge
Cheers for "pod" before GAM.
It's rare that a clue/ answer has me bursting out in laughter, but 31 across - Don't you think you're milking it a bit too much- did it. Love that bovine input.
4
@Bruce D
My first read of the clue and entry was a human asking the question in the clue by sarcastically saying MOO.
I figured it was millennial slang that didn't get to me yet, even though I know NAE NAE and from recent puzzles, DAP.
1
@BruceD, 'Love that bovine input', heh heh
[on a related note] A few years before Moby Dick, Melville wrote OMOO, which some say was typeecast. Others say that's an udderly pointless critique, and find it quite mooving.
Half-calf coffee
Comment invitation beta testing:
For me, yesterday's box at the bottom of the column advising that Deb will reply *and* highlighting an actual comment has vanished. Today "Deb will reply" and current count of comments (without the highlighted comment) has moved to the top right of the column, next to the comment counter bubble that's already there.
(Your experience may vary, likely based on browser.)
@Barry Ancona
Neither the box at the bottom nor "Deb will reply" at the top right.
Windows 10 with Edge or Chrome.
Steve,
The "Deb will reply" top right I described seeing earlier has now vanished.
(Is this a SATIRE?)
Steve,
Look quickly -- it's back!
Needed 6 lookups for obvious reasons and still couldn't fill the columns for 1D, 2D, 3D and 4D until I took a peek at one of the answers. Oh well. At least I got the rest.
Unusual to have a themed Friday. And I didn't see anyone else catch on to 17A being a theme fill as well .... what does a 49A usually stand for? :-)
3
Dr W,
Going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing nobody mentioned in the comments that 17A was a theme fill because Deb mentioned it in the column.
@Barry Ancona
That's my woooops! -- thanks for mentioning. I sometimes go straight to the reader commentary forgetting to read the blog.
Limb?
@Dr W
*Mini* theme (only two themers). One could argue there's another: NOWLETMESEE.
1
This one was tough. Got most all, though I had to look up NAE NAE to make sure that I got it right...phew! Stupidly got a brain block on the "J" in JUBA/JABBER. And, though I knew what was needed for 41A (love of some kind), I got stuck on AMOR which I knew was Latin, and just blanked on EROS, and had to look it up (thanks, Google Assistant). Many other words clicked in when I ceased to perseverate on obviously incorrect answers (e.g., 20A was LOTION and not TOWEL). "If it don't work, erase it!"
2
I've not a drop of Scottish blood, but I say NAE NAE to any kind of reduplicative dance.
2
@Dag Ryen
Even the cha-cha?
1
@Dag
So no CAN CAN do?
1
Had a GAS with the puzzle at 10 p.m., but too busy with real life to get to the column and comments until now. Loved (not EROS) being repeatedly but fairly misdirected and knew just enough to avoid Naticks.
JUBA has a link to DEERE and MOO; John Garang, the First Vice President of newly independent South Sudan, who died in a [suspicious] helicopter crash just after independence, had a PhD in agricultural development from Iowa State.
(John was a 1969 graduate of Grinnell College, with a B.A. in econ. I was a 1968 graduate. We took one class together before I switched majors from econ to theatre.)
3
@Barry Ancona
Arent you sorry now you didn't stay with Econ?
(How many do SO TIRE of Theatre?)
1
My streak has ended. I was done in by EASY AS pie. Also GpS not GAS and gABBER not JABBER. Why couldn’t gUiA be the capitol of South Sudan, I surely didn’t know it was JUBA.
The Southeast got me after struggling mightily in the center.
:-(
3
Great puzzle, but I wasn't enough of a crossword BADASS (that was awesome, by the way) to solve it. Had "Easy as Pie" for "EASY AS ABC", "Serina" for "SELINA" (thanks Williams sisters), "Slurp" for "FLOAT" and so the SE and SW quadrants needed some cleaning up. My only consolation was correctly solving Deb's Tricky Clues, so I guess I'll give myself a Friday Honorable Mention and call it a day!
2
Feeling proud because there were lots of clues I didn’t get but I continued filling in until i could use crossings to help. No reading this column or looking authors or artists. Recognizing the light bulb half way through helped too. Shaved 8 minutes off average time too!
2
I have sworn not to ever Google but I bow my head in shame today.
My funniest mistake was spelling it PhIZER ending up with hISH. I thought hISH must be a new term I haven't yet learned. DUH.
I did get the whole middle section after changing rEDUCeS to DEDUCTS. And most of the rest of the puzzle.
But the SW bottom corner and ECHOBOOMERS did me in. ECHOBOOMERS sound more like group of loud yodelers.
Ah well. My thanks to Erik and Bruce for a daunting challenge and great puzzle!
(@Lewis, your comment on MOO today made my day!)
7
Hand up for REDUCES, which I was reluctant to change. I had not heard the term ECHO BOOMERS, but as I am on the cutting edge of Baby BOOMERS (b. 1947) and had our two children in the 80's (by which time I was dubbed 'An elderly first-time parent,') it makes sense to me. When I say our babies were born when I was 33 and 36, it doesn't sound out of sync NOW, because many of the great wave of Boomers followed suit. We got educations, started careers, married later, and all in all, it wasn't a bad way to go.
7
@Johanna
Same here with PhIZER and rEDUCeS.
I used to live very close to the Pfizer headquarters in Montreal. Couldn't miss that one.
The Crossword was a breeze compared to the Spelling Bee! I am seriously behind on the day. Enjoyed theme and long answers of Crossword.
As to the SPELLING BEE,I got to Genius unassisted, but stalled hopelessly at 320 points. With a little scrolling through the dictionary, I hit the end. I'm a stubborn cuss. QB is 66 Words with 337 points, 2 pangrams.
Breakdown: A - 7 (1-4L, 2-5L, 2-6L, 1-7L, 1-8L)
C-29 (11-4L, 10-5L, 4-6L, 1-7L, 3-8L)
H-3 (2-5L, 1-6L)
M-11 (6-5L, 2-6L, 1-7L, 1-8L, 1-10L)
O-1 (4L)
R-3 (1-5L, 2-6L)
T-12 (3-4L, 2-5L, 3-6L, 3-7L, 1-8L)
A couple of alternate spellings, a couple of words from the other day to remember, a whole lot of expected words not taken as mentioned below by others (including "attaca" while a dissimilar musical term from the other day is accepted). No excuses for not taking "corm"!!! This gardener protests. Lots of forms of transportation . . ..
I would ask the Beekeeper to avoid puzzles this long except on the weekend, please!!
12
@Liane AMENDMENT - there are 3 Pangrams, the 7L T being a medical one. Sorry. I was bound to make one or more mistakes. I will eat more Cara Cara oranges to help my jet lagged brain. Forget the bird; the bee avoids that bird!!
3
The medical one is 8-letter. The A is used twice.
@Liane
I’m stuck at 60/295 and I’m just flabbergasted and so impressed that you got them all!!
Okay that was hard. I had to google-cheat several times. I'm learning I'm much more of a M-T-W (and sometimes Th) guy.
1
I have felt the same way, but with time MTW guy becomes TWT and eventually WTF. I don’t know if TFS ever happens to mere mortals
1
re: MOO, I expect more of those to come for other animals.
ARF [get your own damn paper]
MEOW [you there, my food servant, I'm hungry]
MAA [these yoga human pedestals are so soft to stand on]
7
@Wen
A month ago we did have something similar. We had "Got milk?" as a clue for MEOW.
2
@Lewis
That's some great memory you got. I only have the vaguest recollection of something like that.
TSO how many (fill in your choice of profession) does it take to screw in a LIGHTBULB? ‘Discuss’.
2
I came here to concede utter defeat, thanks to the SE corner--and then, just as I was sitting down, the LIGHT BULB went off in my head. I was too fond of the TIGHT BELT which was my first guess, and ROTUND made sense at 55A, as did FLOAT at 48D and STRODE at 62A.....I kept taking words and letters out and putting them back, but the Unknowns (Catwoman, the heavy metal band, the capital of South Sudan,) and NATTER for 44D had me painted into a corner....
Yay!
For those of you Of a Certain Age, be aware that the high-dose flu vaccine is getting more scarce (at least it is around here) ....I am having my usual reaction (hugely swollen, hot arm from shoulder to elbow) but this, too, shall pass.
As for the Wee Bee today, I'm Genius+ with 48/239. BUT!!! the absence of CORM, TROCHAR, CATARRH, ARCO, and less-distressingly COMMO, CHACHA, and ACTA does make me feel slightly pouty.
4
@Mean Old Lady
Quite right on QB. Just how many decades or centuries has corm been used? Add caracara, a bird often sought after by birders. It is not capitalized. And, bulbul - no capital needed - for those past frustrating days. My brother had one in his Northridge, CA yard a few weeks ago for an NYB - the red-whiskered one.
@Mean Old Lady
TIGHT BELT- pretty funny! It does sort of look like someone trying to pull on some too tight trousers!
2
@MOL
Re QB, I’d add ACHROMAT and TRACH. For the moment, I’m stuck at 53/251 with 2 pangrams. I have only 2 As and am amazed to see that there are 5 more, some quite lengthy.
This was crazy difficult, but so satisfying to finish. I was so fully committed to Vanquish vs. CONQUEST that the LIGHTBULB didn't illuminate until very late. Also completely paralyzed by the whole east coast/west coast rap debate, so TUPAC had to fill in his own self. Tea vs. TEE time was my last correction. And now I know that OATs make milk, until the FDA says otherwise.
4
Welcome to Lizziefish (there has to be a story there!)
And seeing 'illuminate' in your post reminds me that the Big Bee from last week (solution now available) omitted MULLEIN and ILLUMINE. I find that inexplicable.
@Mean Old Lady
Thank you! We are insufferable nicknamers in our house, although Lizziefish is an oldie.
Working on the Bee for too long begins to feel like a bad version of Gaslight. Is that really a word? Did I imagine the NEPETA or LENTEN Rose growing outside, which may no longer exist? Is this desk real? I'm in awe of the amazing folks here who get to the bottom of it every day.
@Lizziefish
Thought of "vanquish" as well, but it's a verb, not a noun.
1
I appreciate one of the best aha laughing moments I've had in a long time, even if I had to come to the blog to get it. (MOO!)
2
Wanted Felina for SELINA but needed the EROS cross. Didn't know BAGNOLD, but only the "B" made sense for BID. Timer didn't stop. Did a scan and realized PRAT sounded better than prit and ASEASY sounded better than iseasy, and ... voila.
Seemed like a solid Tuesday. Er, Friday. And thank you, Erik Agard, for the puzzles in the local Tucson paper.
A "Q" in the middle? For "Question"?
Ah, Felina, the “wicked and evil” woman, with eyes “blacker than night”, in Marty Robbins’s classic “El Paso” (also famously covered by the Grateful Dead). Now *that* would be a great crossword entry!
4
Unlike anyone here so far, Rex today had a MOO clue guy pan.
18
Lol, Clever, Lewis, very clever.
1
@Lewis
That is interesting because half way through my solve the grid resembled a pupu platter.
1
@Lewis If you say TSO.
4
It looked like a racquetball racquet to me, but what do I know from grid art?
Some definitions I'd like to provide for some of the (for me) tougher clues:
NAE NAE -- Scottish dance which never happens because all prospective dance partners are turned down flat.
MEGADETH -- Heavy metal band in which all members go extinct prior to the countdown.
TUPAC -- Rapper who smokes too much and who drinks much too much beer.
Actually, despite the pop music PPP and the why-on-earth-did-you-draw-this? grid art, I quite enjoyed the puzzle. I was sorely tempted to cheat on several proper name answers, didn't, and was rewarded with a puzzle CONQUEST. An entertaining Friday.
6
Cute! Right up until I got to MEGADETH and realized I had SSA at 47A, meaning I earn a Fail despite my epiphany! Sob.
Now Eric and Bruce get to dance around the campfire and hang my silvery head on the trophy wall. Dang.
@Nancy Tupac smokes and drinks no longer. He was gunned down in a 1996 drive-by in Vegas, by an unknown member of the Crips gang. R.I.P., Tupac.
1
I am a fan. THATISTOSAY I enjoyed this puzzle's consistent level of challenge, with surprises sprinkled here and there. 12 writeovers, now that's a workout. Yes, this puzzle is BADASS.
5
I didn't think I would finish this one. I'm always in awe of those who complain that a puzzle is too easy after I have finished slogging through. I even resumed in the night during a bout of insomnia, and was actually back asleep before I could get even one entry.
Part of my problem finishing up was that, for the first time I actually studied the partially filled grid and discovered that every letter except K was present. I thought AHA it will be one of those (pangram?) puzzles, and I confidently filled in NOW LOOK HERE at 1 Down. I put my brain in overdrive to try to make that work but to no avail. I was very glad to eventually finish although my final guess was kAGNOLD/kID still hoping for a pangram puzzle.
My timer registered 2 hours and 8 minutes. I will rationalize that by assuming that I slept through some of that time.
2
@Andrew My initial Friday/Saturday solves were overnighters too. It just gets easier over time--your neural pathways get cruciverabalized, leading to spontaneous light bulb activation.
10
@audreylm
Love that sentence. Must put it away for future use!
Anyone else have economy for 36A first? Fits nicely—thought i had a sure anchor for the middle...
@El Jay
Hand up for ECONOMY. It was my only entry in the centre and it sure didn't help things...
Fly Swatter: Nope?
Lollypop: Nope?
Stop sign: Nope
NOWLETMESEE.... Ping pong paddle: Nope?
Thanks Erik and Bruce
3
@dk i thought it was a microphone at first :)
Maybe I'd had too much wine but all I could see was a sort of cartoonish face. Two eyes at the top, a big white nose in the middle and a black block mouth at the bottom. Couldn't put a name to it though.
1
@dk
I thought it was a bolt with a circular top - but didn't remember what it was called. Definitely said DUH! to myself when I filled in JABBER and saw BULB LIGHT up.
Dear Thursday and Friday puzzle constructors: Excellent and enjoyable puzzles. But I want to suffer more with late week puzzles! These were too benignly solvable.
As for the Bee: A rich assortment of possibilities today but I haven't gotten the pangram yet . . . I keep wanting an "I". Vanna?
Hints??
2
@audreylm there are THREE pangrams!!
1
@pjmcgovern
Besides the massive size of today's Bee, what's going to be particularly frustrating are the words it's not accepting: CATARRH, for example, and HORCHATA (even though another international drink is accepted today).
1
I only got one pangram so far. I can't imagine 2 more. On the other hand, I'm at 61/296, so two more pangrams and a couple of small words should probably cover it.
But I'm completely stuck now. The pangram I got is the compound word that was popularized by AOL (yes, they existed before AOL). I imagine the other 2 pangrams must be compounds too.
1
great puzzle!! i finished in about my average for a Friday but it felt harder. I always find I learn something useful in these puzzles, for example, i never new South Sudan was even a country in itself or that it's capitol was Juba. Geography not being a strong suit of mine.
good stuff, thanks. now the "wee bee" is a slog today with a genius level of 236!! I much prefer the lower scoring ones just because my train ride is only about an hour!
2
@pjmcgovern - Don’t feel badly about not knowing South Sudan. It’s the world’s newest country, only becoming independent a few years ago, so you didn’t study it in school (unless you’re pretty young).
1
I had a few misdirections in solving this puzzle. Started with SERIES for 4D instead of SATIRE. I had filled in the top middle and 1D so I knew I had 4D wrong. Liked MOO. Started with CHACHA for NAENAE which I wasn't familiar with. Knew 40A Boyle's law was GAS so PIE wasn't going to work for 12D. How many times has General TSO made an appearance in crossword puzzles over the years?
Enjoyed working through this one and only a bit more than my average time for a Friday.
1
Such a satisfying puzzle to finally wrestle to the ground! Two of the sticking points for me were 27A, where I ran through BOOK and RARE before settling on TOME. And I am chagrined at how long it took me to fill in 43A, given my home of the last 16 years. I guess you can put the New Yorker into Iowa, but you can't put Iowa into the New Yorker.
2
I don't know about that, Julia. My older daughter wears a John DEERE cap.
1
@Barry Ancona - Clearly she has done a much better job than I of assimilating, Barry! I do have a respectable number of caps and clothing items with various iterations of the tigerhawk and Herky on them, so I can't be marked as a complete outsider.
@Barry Ancona
She could wear worse headgear.
What is the difference between reduplicate and duplicate? I'm still wondering after some initial lookups.
This solve was a steady but guarded trek that stalled in the Upper West, despite all the juice I was pumping into my LIGHT BULB. The out-loud-"Hah!"-producing MOO is what finally broke it open just as the need-to-look-something-up urge was peaking, making for a most satisfying CONQUEST. And, by the way, I loved the clue and NYT debut answer for 1D. Thank you, Gents!
3
Well that was a doozy of a Friday for me! Lots of names I didn’t know, and a real snag in the SE section where I’d misfilled 12D. Fun cluing, though!! A nice way to end the weekday run.
Umm ... pardon me, but didn’t Shira Nayman write “Awake in the Dark”?
@Chris P
Different book; same title.
Seems that Eric Agard and Bruce Haight conspired to construct the toughest puzzle that Will Shortz would allow accept for a Friday. It certainly took a long time for the LIGHT BULB to come on, and even then it didn't illuminate very much. TO ME, it seemed like one of the hardest puzzles of the year, period.
Got the north and WHATS THE BIG DEAL pretty quickly then slowed to a crawl. Didn't know any of the three authors, but "Enid" had been clued as "Author BAGNOLD" pretty often in the pre-Shortz era, almost to the point of being crosswordese.
The long verticals were more helpful in finding some of the tricky crosses than the vise versa. OAT, UNO, MOO, SET, TEE and LAB demonstrate that three letter entries are not always gimmies. General TSO to the rescue today, no chicken he.
"Takes off" had me thinking of increases, not DEDUCTS. The last thing I had to figure out was that bABBEl doesn't go on and on; JABBER does.
The most valuable asset in achieving the solve today was not brilliance but tenacity, as it took me an hour over my average Friday time. UNO BADASS puzzle, to be sure. Better get a good night's sleep before tomorrow's anticipated ego crusher.
3
@Mike R Ahh, but then there will be Monday,, when are egos are restored, am I right?
@Mike R
bABBEl (even if misspelled) before JABBER as well.
This one took me quite a bit longer than usual because of the disjointed nature of the various areas of the puzzle. Almost 50% longer than Friday average.
I don't like to think of myself as a prude, but BADASS does not seem to belong in the NYT Crossword puzzle. But I liked this puzzle a lot. TWIT before PRAT, SELENA before SELINA. Best cluing of 41A ever. The clues were all around great. I always am glad to see puzzles from Mr. Agard and Mr. Haight.
1
Great clue for MOO. This one took me a while.
1
and Elke
This was one deLIGHTful, enLIGHTening puzzle .
Comment: Erik A. in his notes says that he can't spell 'Bruce Haight without 'bright'. Of course not, he still needs 'uce Ha'...:))
Hey! as the clue for WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA ?! reminds me of a certain LAB TA (on his way to become one of the DRS and doing the prof's work). Whenever he heard that exclamation (i.e. 'hey'), would answer that Hay is for horses and to make love (EROS) on.
Don't know if anybody called him on that...
Green/yellow colour reminds me of a Subway shop sign. It seems to be as ubiquitous as the golden arches.
Time to turn on TV and off the LIGHTs.
Fun puzzle- now one with LED or CFL lamps ?
Hope that everybody in Michael's path is OK.
2
Wow, found this one a bit challenging. Had to ask the Husband for MEGADETH, although I guessed at the "correct" spelling. Was stuck at the end in the SE corner. Didn't help I had AS EASY AS PIE instead of ABC (cocky filling without double-checking the crosses). Turns out, I didn't know the capital of South Sudan no matter which letters I had.
Loved the look of the puzzle when I opened it, and I'll always take theme over themeless.
4
@Crysta I did the same thinf with PIE/ABC!
Also wanted the PIE.
(We had just been singing our ABC's.)
Wow, that was fantastic!
Improved my mood tonight, thanks Erik.
2
Felt like t was pretty tough, but did it in half my average time.
The shape was a little disconcerting, especially the inside of the LIGHTBULB as Liz B mentioned. But LIGHTBULB itself was an obvious early fill. Those long down entries on either side and the middle were both a bit tough, taking several passes.
If it's not rap, it's heavy metal. When I previously said I avoided country and rap when I was young, that was just something I said. I avoided a lot of other things too, thinking about it - opera and heavy metal too. Luckily, TUPAC is well known, and I've heard of MEGADETH (I had plenty of friends who were metal heads).
Didn't know BAGNOLD, ECHO BOOMER, SELINA. Had COMEDY before SATIRE. I've never watched VEEP, so I couldn't be sure.
NOW LET ME SEE...AS EASY AS ABC? DUH! THAT IS TO SAY, it was ROBUST and BADASS. But in the end, CONQUEST mine! FANCY grid art to boot!
Liked the clue for MOO.
Great collaboration from two great constructors, as I GAZE AT the completed puzzle in wonder.
4
@Wen
For me it was SITCOM before SATIRE.
8
I had both COMEDY and SITCOM in that order?!
@Wags same here.
Always love seeing the bylines of Erik Agard and Bruce Haight so was pleased entering this puzzle.
I love fun & original grids like this. Like Liz B I was afraid the isolation of the lightbulb itself would make it hard to get, but DEERE, MEGADETH, IRAQWAR, and SNOWCRAB let me get the rest.
A bunch of names in this one that I didn't know, but nothing I couldn't get via crosses. When I filled out 52A I left the final letter blank, LATIN_, and was hoping to see LATINX as the answer. Maybe another puzzle in the future will have this one!
1
Tyler,
Same wish for LATIN_. Come on, Erik!
1
@Barry Ancona
Same here.
It’s “pedant.”
Meta, huh?
1
Sorry if this is REDUPLICATIVE, but a later reply has shown up before my earlier reply here:
Copy editors should identify the copy they are editing. In the case cited here, from the column, I'd say irony (and mega), not meta.
Copy editors should identify the copy being edited. In this case, NMRN, I'd say more mega than meta.
I wonder if the emu filter grabbed the earlier post that showed up later out of concern that my abbreviation of the commenter's screen name was something possibly objectionable.
Or was the emu going editor to get me to clarify the reply to specifically mention irony? Would that would be mega, meta, pedantry or irony? (No Oxford comma, thanks.)
-30-
I thought WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA? And then I get it -- the LIGHT BULB appears! Cute puzzle.
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Another puzzle that solved right to left--that's happened several times to me lately. The vertical NE corner filled in first, although I started out with TWIT instead of PRAT. And WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL instead of BIG IDEA. So PFIZER looked funny at first. Also, I couldn't remember the capital of South Sudan, and that J was my last fill.
The inside of the LIGHT BULB was so isolated I was afraid it would not be doable. I did know BAGNOLD and DEERE, guessed BID but thought DRS was a little strange, but then guessing IRAQ WAR and CONQUEST finished it off.
I tried CANCAN before NAENAE (at least I didn't try CHACHA, which is usually my first guess). Over in the SW, I had SELENA before SELINA. Never heard the term ECHO BOOMERS, so I was happy that STATE MOTTOS turned out to be right.
I always enjoy seeing a little bit of grid art, and trying to figure out what it represents. And I've had a couple of cranky light bulbs today, so I should have gotten this one faster than I did.
Hurricane Michael came through this afternoon--power out for 3 hours, extremely very windy for a while--I moved to the side of the house that doesn't have the forest of tall pine trees right next to it. But now all is calm, albeit very very wet.
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Glad to hear you are not aFLOAT.
Cha Chaed before I NAE NAED.
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Cancan before NAENAE as well.
One BADASS puzzle, I really liked it. Unusually easy mini.
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