By the way, did anyone else notice that today's Mini read out "DUH, VOTE TODAY, SIGH"? Quite apt, I thought!
I really liked the super hero theme and the alter egos. My favorites were STARK NAKED and NOSY PARKER. Those are so much more interesting than Tony STARK and Peter PARKER.
I had a bit of trouble with DUKE OF KENT wanting DEnY rather than DEFY in the cross. Finally got it and heard the happy music!
UPDATEs on voting have begun on tv. I’ve got my headphones on listening to a book. Hubby speaks out from time to time. It’ll be worse in an hour (he may be shouting at idiocy) when more results are coming in. IMO we should all be heartened at the volume of people who have and are still voting.
Great job for a first puzzle! I’m looking forward to more.
:-)
1
I didn't read all the comments. So I apologize if someone has already brought this up. But there's a big difference between a lectern and a podium. You stand behind the former but on the latter.
@LSR
Someone did and the dictionary says that ship sailed long ago.
LSR,
No need to apologize, but you're a few decades late. If you do read the comments, you'll see why.
@LSR
You don’t have to read all the comments, but before making corrections, you should do your due diligence and research the matter.
Better yet, read enough comments to see what has already been said. It’s a winning strategy ether way.
Found this a little difficult. The theme didn't help much since DUKE OF KENT didn't ring any bells and I never heard of FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE nor NOSY PARKER. The SW corner was toughest for me, initially having PASTA instead of BREAD and LASSI being a no-know. Also, UTEp instead of UTES.
Finished in a respectable time, but no happy music. Wasted about 10 mins. searching for the error. 'Twas the cross DUKEO_KENT/DE_Y, where I had an N (made sense at the time!).
Still struggling with my y, u, i, and o keys. And with my nerves today. I have a RAY of hope that this will be a BANNER (election) YEAR. If not, I shall WEEP.
Vote!
3
Lovely answers in NOUGAT and PASEOS -- don't see them regularly in puzzles -- and a mini-theme of double E's (5). One of those terrific low-hanging themes that no one saw until this dynamic duo, and high props for that. There are several superheroes that I would love to have as alter-egos, and certainly among them is Patrick Berry.
4
I really enjoy solving the puzzle with my family. So here’s a feature request: I wish there were an easier way to collaborate than sharing screen shots. My ideal would be to have the ability to view a collaborators puzzle on your device and have it display places where you don’t agree. The icing would be to be able to replace your answer with your collaborators with a simple tap.
3
@pmb
a REAL "words with friends"
Barry:
The comments section seems to be working pretty much okay now. Do we still have to reply only to the latest post in a thread?
Deadline,
For almost a week now, we've been able to reply to *any* post in a thread and (a) nothing disappears and (b) the reply appears in chronological order in the thread.
Now if voting goes as smoothly...
2
@Barry Ancona - I just got back from voting. I've worked the polls in town here many times. I've never seen anything like this today. Never.
Who knows how it will turn out?
Today is my 41st consecutive year exercising my constitutional right to vote. I have zero sympathy or understanding for anyone who doesn't exercise that right, every chance they get. Zero; I would go so far as to say I blame those who don't vote for the state of our nation. It's too bad that it took so much to get people to understand fundamental democracy. Vote for any idiot you like, but don't sit home twiddling your thumbs, folks.
I was not upset to take a few minutes finding a parking place today. I was gratified.
9
Lovely! Now if we can only get the links in the comments to work on the iOS app!
2
One good thing I've noticed about the comments section lately is that the infernal "Read more" that shows up after a chunk of comments are shown is gone.
That "Read more" business meant that all the comments were not opening at once, which rendered the progress bar at the right pointless, since it only showed how far it was to the bottom of the posted comments, not to the bottom of all comments.
Now, the progress bar is accurate, for the most part. And that's progress.
1
Deb—Though Bub and Mac were indeed used to get a man's attention, I'm pretty sure they both always carried a hostile, or at least an unfriendly, tone.
paulymath,
Informal, to be sure, but certainly *not* (necessarily) hostile or unfriendly in my personal experience and old movie watching, or in the dictionary.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/mac
1
@Barry Ancona
Whenever my dad had to get someone ‘s attention he always said “Mac” very respectfully.
I'm thinking over all these options and finding it an interesting byway today.
Bub, mac, pal, bud, buddy, guy, man, friend, dude, bro, brah, ... they all can go different ways, can't they?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRfKdNxIOcQ
Stayed with 'Duke on Kent' for too long, for some reason figuring the wording was similar to Hay on Wye, a town I'd like to visit someday - assuming it's still filled with used bookstores? Any of our UK people familiar with it and its book festival? In this post-Amazon world one never knows. If it was a town in America it would be a corporatized version of itself, living on past glory. The resulting cross would then be 'Deny' which wasn't too far from 'Defy'.
1
@K Barrett I don't feel so bad any more, as I was in the exact same boat!
1
I appreciate this fun solve on a day that will be giving me serious agita. Do the right thing, America.
Shout-out to all the journalists who have a long day ahead.
Onward and upward!
8
Thanks to the NYT Crossword, I was proud to have learned about Alfred the Great the other day. Last night on Jeopardy! one of the contestants lost everything on a Daily Double for not knowing Alfred the Great. I thought to myself, "Now if that had been me..."
5
@Andrew - And in what universe was Charlemagne ever a Brit? I’m thinking if I knew so little about British History, I would not have bet everything ...
2
@Andrew
I am so pleased to see King Alfred getting a little attention. I grew up in his capital (Winchester) and named my pet guinea pig Alfred after him... he was the scourge of the vegetable patch :)
@Kathryn, as long as you didn't ask he to watch your cakes baking.
I got the the theme quickly, with DUKE OF KENT verified by ALTER EGO, but it didn't help a lot. Maybe if I'd read more comic books when I was a kid ... ?
I saw the first "Superman" and the first "Batman" movies. I tried to watch "Spiderman" on TV once, but only got through about ten minutes.
Still, the themers were pretty easy to figure out. I did know Clark KENT and Bruce WAYNE. STARK, PARKER, and BANNER I got only because the phrases were familiar. FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE was pieced together more painfully, but successfully.
Who grills a BLT?
I'm very glad that the puzzle was pretty easy. My anxiety level on this election day is making it hard to concentrate.
Glad these two constructors teamed up and hope to see more of them.
If you haven't voted yet, do it now!
1
@Deadline Fountains of Wayne is also a band. They had quite a hit with "Stacy's Mom."
https://youtu.be/dZLfasMPOU4
2
@Deadline
What else do you do with the B in BLT?
1
Easy breezy and SUPERfun puzzle for this stressful day. Nice work Mr. Southworth! We look forward to more from you.
P.S. Am I the only one who hardly pays attention to what the grid looks like? I'm way more interested in cluing, even though I know there is an art to grids. So many years of loving Merl Reagle puzzles and his clever cluing. His grids might have been perfect, but I never noticed.
3
@Liane - taking the question seriously (perhaps it could be?) -
In teaching music, I often ask my students to hold the score much farther away than they are used to - farther away than any individual note(s) can have an impact. I do recommend the same with crosswords. Get a bead on the whole thing as a whole thing. Certain elements (busy here, constricted there, empty here) become clear instantly when you hold the (score)(grid), uninvestigated, at arm's length.
I think it's part of the process - when you enter the "next level" on solving puzzles, you just look at the big picture whether you understand it (yet) or not.
On the most basic level: there are three possibilities:
Normal crossword symmetry (upper left is mirrored in lower right) [the plane of symmetry is on a diagonal],
Mirror crossword symmetry (left mirrors right OR top mirrors bottom) [the plane of symmetry is a vertical or a horizontal],
Asymmetry [no plane of symmetry]. This last is really restricted to diagramless puzzles with grid art as their organizing principle.
2
@Liane
You are definitely not alone!
You and I are just part of a small and exclusive group.
4
@Liane—I'm with you and Deadline. The makeup of grids never enters my mind when I'm solving. In addition, I'm virtually blind to the images that allegedly show up in grids from time to time.
2
PASEO is not just a Spanish word; it's an English word, too, according to Merriam-Webster, as I noted a bit earlier.
PODIUM is now accepted as a synonym for lectern, much to the chagrin of purists and pedants the world over.
Language changes, and I'm sure Will, Joel and Sam research carefully before omitting the foreign language indicator or use a one-word clue like "lectern".
My father, of blessed memory, said in his later years was that he was taught such-and-such and the other thing, and I told him, Dad, that was 75 years ago. Language changes! Shakespeare sounds different from today's English; Chaucer is unrecognizable in its original English. Even 75 years makes a big difference.
I find myself at this point at least 50 years removed from my seminal English instruction. Back then, a lectern was something you stood at and a PODIUM was something you stood on. PASEO was a word covered in Spanish class; we learned "dar un PASEO" meant "to take a walk," and "dar un PASEO en coche" meant "to go for a ride." Now it's English, too.
As they sometimes say in English, "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."
8
@Steve L
Agree with everything you say, except that the last French statement is almost exclusively shortened to "Plus ça change", or maybe "Plus ça change..."
I am banned from singing, croaked Tom crossly.
Looks like Superman is wearing one of those things Deb wrote about yesterday on FB.
Off to vote.
Thanks Alan and Yacob.
1
SPELLING BEE 48 Words, 169 Points, 2 Pangrams
B-10 (4L-6, 5L-2, 6L-2)
H-7 (4L-3, 5L-1, 6L-3)
O-3 (4L-1, 5L-2)
P-9 (4L-5, 5L-2, 8L-1, 10L-1)
R-6 (4L-4, 5L-2)
T-13 (4L-6, 5L-5, 6L-2)
Comments: I actually find it easier to play on (and do counts off) my iPhone, but would swear words get rejected and then accepted randomly. That suggests mistyping, I guess.
Pangrams are related. One exotic animal, otherwise nothing regulars haven't seen before.
No HIPHOP, though I hope to hear lots tonight in Atlanta. Got to think positive. ( As if Brian Kemp were to lose, his office would certify an election confirming it . . .. grrrr. This is such a travesty down here.) Bad weather this morning but it will move out by early afternoon. Early voting paid off in terms of picking weather!
14
@LianeWords get rejected and later accepted on my phone vs desktop too.
No potto neither.
@Liane
Maybe you'll hear some BRITHOP tonight too, and rue another perfect proto-pangram.
Sneak, SNUCK, snook?
Great going guys! Fun, fun theme (dare I say even heroic?) expertly executed!
I love your enthusiasm and I enthusiastically look forward to your next.
Today you two are the super heroes... enjoy!
2
Congratulations on your NYT debut, Mr. Yonas. Loved the puzzle, especially DUKEOFKENT.
Could not, would not, let go of cbgb for COPA, which added a solid ten minutes to my solve time. For Talking Heads/Tom Tom Club fans, Tina Weymouth was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame last night. She's as cool as ever & gave a killer speech.
https://tonedeaf.com.au/tina-weymouth-hall-of-fame/
Sigh. It's going to be a long day. I might just hang out here, if that's okay. Thank you, thank you, thank you for voting.
6
Lizziefish,
I'm sure it has happened to all of us: we are so sure of an entry that we forget to read the clue.
CBGB's name did have "the" in it.
It was certainly a club, but I never heard anyone call it a "nightclub."
...did have...
...did *not* have...
I was happy to read the constructor notes, and to see that Mr. Yonas went from struggling with Mondays to his constructor debut. I will be retiring on Dec 31 this year, and have plans to try my hand at constructing. I've been solving for a solid year (and solved many puzzles prior, but only on a casual basis). I try to solve at least 5 puzzles every day from various sources and at various difficulties. I'm hoping that my career as a software developer and my love of the performing arts, especially music and movies, will yield good themes and tight fill. Even if I never get published, I'm looking forward to the challenge. Wish me luck!
11
@Steve Faiella I'm looking forward to solving your puzzles, Steve!
1
@Steve Faiella
Definitely do it, Steve! If you think solving is fun, wait until you start constructing!
2
@Deb Amlen Thank you Deb! Fingers Crossed!
1
Choose one:
A. She loved it because of the clever wordplay.
B. She hated it because of the comic book action hero theme.
C. She had a love/hate relationship to the puzzle.
If you chose A, dear blog friends, you are right. What a wonderfully painless and fun way to learn the last names of the ALTER EGOS of all the comic heroes I never watch or read about. Why I barely knew their first names -- and now I know their entire, full, real names!!! What a walking encyclopedia I shall be at the next cocktail party. Well, actually, probably not. I won't remember any of it by noon today, if not earlier; I can barely remember what I had for dinner last night. But for the moment, a big gap in my knowledge base has been filled, and I had a really entertaining time filling it. Enjoyed this a lot.
6
I started laughing with DUKE OF KENT and continued throughout. Congrats on the debut/second puzzle to the constructor team. Definitely a cut above an average Tuesday.
Mr. S is from Niagara Falls. If I had a nickel for every time that admission prompted someone to launch into the Stooges (also Abbott & Costello - I think) routine ... Of course, younger generations (yes, you kids!) are not familiar with it. Until now, perhaps. Oh well. Step by Step.
3
Today's constructor looks to me like an emerging major talent.
I really like what I see.
4
Very nice puzzle and a clever and amusing theme. Like others, I didn't know 40a, but it worked out easily from the crosses. Congratulations to our constructors; hoping to see more from both of you in the future.
With Georgia OKEEFFE and RAY in the puzzle, my music link today should be obvious: The best state song ever:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRgWBN8yt_E
It's certainly on my mind today; maybe it should be on yours too. With (some) apologies, I'm going OT and political. Stop reading if you don't care to hear this.
Believe it or not, minus voter suppression and gerrymandering, this is a blue state. We might be about to elect the first African-American female governor. I fear it won't happen (the republican candidate is the secretary of state and thus in charge of overseeing the election results), but I'll keep my hopes up.
But even if it's not this year, we'll get there. Some day. The republicans are using this line from a speech by Stacey Abrams (the democratic candidate I mentioned) in an attack ad. Keep it in mind; and someday remember that you heard it here first:
"When we change Georgia, we change the south. When we change the south, we change America."
Back to your regularly scheduled crossword comments.
25
Deep in my heart,
I do believe...
9
Rich, lotsa luck to candidate Abrams. That would surely be a plum for the Peach State...Is it too soon to pop the cork on the 2020 campaign? This 43 year slogan coined during the bi-centennial run by Hugh Romney is eerily crystal clear as to present day pertinence.
https://youtu.be/foWx42_1Loc
5
@Rich in Atlanta - what a great example of how the same exact, accurate quote from a person can motivate both sides! Good luck today to GA and to the USA. May the humans win!
12
Would you take a gander at the colorful pic atop the column depicting the ‘come at me bro,’ classic akimbo pose from the Man Of Steel? You go Clarky. One of the first of a bunch of words that I have annexed to my vocabulary since discovering this blogospheric meeting place of linguistic luxury was the more than a half-millennium old akimbo. My word of the day, however, was PASEOS from the Latin, passus...Spoken around here, in any educational setting, you drop the U is dropped. PENN, standing alone, will get your POINT home without exception. U Yale, U Brown or U prefacing any Ivy sounds equally awkward...Thanks are in order to the dynamic duo as they have drawn up a well planned and executed Super Tuesday puzzle; primarily in heroic fashion...Before I head pollside, a bit of traveling music. First off the griddle (not about any of those at WAYNE Manor) is “FOUNTAIN OF Sorrow,” the moving ballad from Jackson Browne. And without any further ADO, The Spin Doctors’ pick up the tempo with “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues” wrapping up the linkage for this Election Day. There are no IDS required to vote, a mere John Hancock of the Register will suffice, that & your pre-registration.
https://youtu.be/1OBYBsxDCzo
https://youtu.be/eu7TOncR7FU
Out To Exercise My Civic Duty,
Bru
1
@brutus Coming from Philly, I will say that UPenn is more common than you think. Because the word "Penn" is so ubiquitous around town, the "U" makes a difference in clarifying meaning. Also, the massive existence of Penn State University can also create confusion, especially for non-locals, so it is common to say UPenn or Penn State when uncertain of your audience knowing the difference. No aspersions are cast or meant to students and graduates of either institutions!
2
Another former Philadelphian here. The locals say "Penn," or "U of P." If you hear "UPenn," you know you aren't talking to a native.
1
@OTquilter
The awful UCAL (8 appearances in the Shortz era) is even worse. NOBODY says it. "Cal," "UC Berkeley," "Berkeley," even "California" are acceptable. A non-native might say "Cali," but nobody ever says "UCal."
Can you tell I don't like UCAL?
2
The theme would have done me in if this had not been a Tuesday puzzle. DUKE OF KENT I got immediately, and I knew WAYNE but not the rock group (I do recall the store, but without the rock group I don't think it makes the puzzle). I'm not familiar with Iron Man, nor did I ever now the Hulk's other name, and [Peter?] PARKER only stirred after being poured into the grid. Luckily, easy crosses and (mostly) common phrases let me speed along in blissful ignorance.
The puzzle gets my vote.
5
A recent visit to the most excellent Marvel Comics exhibit at Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture was a wonderful background for this fun puzzle! Am I alone in feeling like we are reentering an ERA that inspired the creation of these defenders of the downtrodden? Great theme for today.
4
Fun puzzle, but am I the only one who got a DNF with DENY/DUKEONKENT?
@Jim nope. Got me too. For ages!
Is ALEAST the opposite of AVAST?
4
CAL Ripkin's nickname was 'the Iron Man' according to Wikipedia, so there was a surreptitious fifth nod to the theme!
False friend today was smell for SCENT.
I struggled with EENSY (which I've heard used very little). I have never used A-SEA, T NUT or PASEOS. PODIA for the plural is new to me (neut. nom. pl.). DUKE OF KENT was very tricky to me, only seen dukes for fists a tiny number of times.
I used to work for ERNST & Young, and was pleased to see it. Do a lot of people in the US call it 'ErnEst' and Young by accident? I hear it occasionally in the UK.
2
@Kathryn
ERNST and Young do the accounting for at least one of the major award shows in the US (don't remember which) but their name is carefully enunciated to announce their representative when (s)he is recognized.
Other than that, I don't think many Americans give much thought to that firm. I've never heard anyone say it wrong, but on the other hand, I doubt I've ever heard anyone say it right either.
3
@Kathryn I hear mostly correctly here... often abbreviated to “EY”.
I haven't seen a single super hero film ( or read a comic) since the days of Christopher Reeve, but found this puzzle an absolute delight. Like others I didn't know the FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE, but that didn't matter. I'm quite a fan of the DUKE OF KENT as well as his wife who used to present the trophy to the winner of the Ladies Championship at Wimbledon.
I certainly hope we will see more of this partnership.
3
Congratulations Mr. Yonas on your NYT debut. Thanks, Deb, for the Niagara Falls Clip (I do love me some Three Stooges).
3
Started working in the first corner.
When I had filled in DUKEOF with only four spaces to go, I thought I'd have to fit the word "steel" in, crowding two letters into one box. Ii just don't enjoy that kind of puzzle!
But this construction was much more fun!
DUKEOFKENT
Ah! Now we were on to something!
My kind of Tuesday puzzle. Just a little tug or two (e.g., passeos), but then happy choices all the way!
Thanks for this fun diversion on an anxious eve!
I've never eaten or served a grilled BLT. Toasted, always. But I have bigger fish to fry. Is it time to vote yet?
16
Say cheese?
@Suzy M.
A flat top grill, such as the one seen here
https://www.campchef.com/flat-top-grill.html
is commonly found in most fast food restaurants and diners. It's more of a griddle than a grill, but it is called a grill nevertheless.
It is used to cook pancakes and hamburgers, eggs, and, yes, bacon.
Perhaps the whole sandwich isn't grilled, but at least the bacon is.
@Steve L
The clue says the BLT "might be" grilled. If it were just the bacon, I'd hope it was "always" grilled!
1
As a Marvel Universe fan, I loved the reference to Iron Man.
Perfect!
1
Now, this one I enjoyed a lot. The superhero wordplay gave me a fun “huh” moment - STARKNAKED esp. I’d like to see more from you both! Maybe I’ll try making a puzzle some day.
4
I got a kick out of this one! Great Tuesday puzzle, well done to Alan and Yacob.
3
It’s 8:00 Monday evening and I want to read about TODAY’s puzzle, not tomorrow’s. Is there someway to see that article?
1
@JF - it's a little ironic - but clicking on the TUESDAY PUZZLE at the top of the article will take you to the main page for the blog and you can get to the other puzzles from the past week (including today's) from that page.
5
Liked the puzzle, liked the themes; not familiar with either the store or the band, but I filled it in anyway and finally (after finding one error elsewhere) got it finished.
1
Paseo turns into Paseio when you are going for a stroll in Brasil!
Come on a little Paseio no Rio:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KM-fLOIcl0
2
@David Connell
It is well known that Paseo is a Spanish word.
Arthur,
You're missing the context for the comment. There was a discussion here yesterday about cluing an entry in the puzzle to Portuguese rather than to Spanish.
@David Connell
And here's the River Walk in San Antonio, otherwise known as Paseo del Rio:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTx_vEI9XNI
1
Nassoons respresent! Great puzzle gents - SFC
3
@Ryan M - huzzah huzzah huzzah
But this Ivy has the best song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27PSHASlGUU
1
With today's puzzle (Tuesday), my rebooted post-power-outage streak stands at 20. Had I not lost power and internet access for six days, it would have hit 500 today.
Interestingly, when I had last seen the old streak pre-outage, I think the special NASA puzzle was still being displayed where the Current / Longest streaks normally show up, so I had to actually look at the stats page to see keep track of my streak. Sometime during those outage days, new banners about the streak were put into place. So when I next finished the current puzzle, I got a banner telling me, "You're on a 1 day streak - Keep it going!" (sigh)
Anyway, nice puzzle today. Not much about the election, except an afterecho of 1996. I didn't know FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE, and didn't know Iron Man's alter ego name, but overall it all seemed like a good Tuesday outing.
3
UTAH before UTES messed up the West for a while....
3
@BK
I had UTEL for a while. That's a school, isn't it? In El Paso?
@Deadline—Close, but you're thinking of UTEP.
@Deadline
That's UTEP....(Univ Texas El Paso)
1
Come on, New York Times! A lectern and a podium are NOT the same thing!
You stand ON a podium.
You stand BEHIND or AT a lectern.
2
@Andy
You'd think.
Look at definition 2B:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/podium
6
@Steve L - and here's the article linked from that dictionary page:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/wait-are-you-saying-a-podium-is-the-same-thing-as-a-lectern
Non standard grid seemingly becoming more common. Nice touch.
1
Nice job! The theme entries and clues were witty and fun. I especially liked seeing FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE, but I think it will trip a lot of people up. (We'll see!)
I think SNUCK has won the formality battle with SNEAKED (which is what I was taught was correct). Every time I've seen this past tense in the past few years, it's been SNUCK. Every single time.
3
@Liz B - I didn't get stuck on Fountains of Wayne - but I certainly was relieved when I googled it post-solve and learned that it is indeed, a "thing." Never hoid of em.
5
@Liz B
FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE, the rock group, got its name from an iconic store in Wayne, NJ, which sold garden fountains and birdbaths and other such kitschy stuff, but sadly, went out of business a while back:
https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/10655
4
@Steve L, and there was an episode of “The Sopranos” where a cop pulls Tony over for a traffic violation. Tony tries the usual “can I make a contribution to the PBA?” to bribe the cop, who doesn’t play and Tony gets a ticket.
Later in the episode we see the cop working at the Fountains of Wayne store.
9