I hated this puzzle. I made an account just to post this comment. It had way too many groaners “follower of mis” “FAS”. No. Boo. Bad clue. I never ever have issues with Tuesday puzzles and I gave up on this one maybe 2/3rds through. Doesn’t feel up to NYT standards. Too many stretches. What the H. is “ONEK”!? This cat ain’t ready for the big leagues.
6
Maybe it was the clueing, but I’ll dissent from the apparent consensus and say I hated that puzzle. The clueing was somehow both lazy and pompous, the theme was inconsistently applied, and the puzzle itself was heavy on crosswordese, esp on a Tuesday. It felt a bit like an indie band trying too hard to play to their dedicated fans only while making something totally inaccessible to the general public.
I would rather not see another like this.
10
Another (stellar) debut! We're going to have to add some new stalls -- perhaps a whole new extension -- to the constructors' stable.
Almost got the theme right away, with HOUSE PETES. Like others, though, I thought it was adding an E to a common phrase, thereby lengthening the vowel pronunciation. Then I got to FOR THE WINES, and thought that it was too much of a stretch just to get consistent plurals.
Then the penny dropped for a most satisfying Aha! Moment.
The themers and their clues were delightful. Favorites for me were HOUSE PETES, BABY SITES, and those adorable (_not_ "adorbs") BEAR CUBES.
I did like the suggestion (forget which poster) of [Vacuum cleaner saleswomen] for HOOVER DAMES.
I expected the revealer to be at 61A, but GUESS NOTES disabused me of that notion and I figured there was no revealer. The ANDES came along and thrilled me.
Didn't know BERNOULLI, "EAT IT," TROGGS, YAREN. I never remember those silly car model names that are just letters, so toyed with GTE and GTO before XKE. Also started FEMINIS... before I saw that wasn't gonna work. A little confused at 60D; is the "bygone" ABA some defunct basketball league or something.
OTOH, I remembered SELIG and ARNESS from XWPs! Yay me!
Come back soon, John. Glad you stuck to it. You're fun.
"is the "bygone" ABA some defunct basketball league"
Yes!
Nice puzzle Mr. Ciolfi!
BEARCUBES gave me the aha moment though FOR THE WINES and BABYSITES were in place.
Husband and I took a trip in 2014 to see Monument Valley. MESAS came to me quickly although the wind has carved the red sand hills into shapes that hardly would be described as “tables.” John Ford shot a few westerns in that valley and the formations are immediately recognizable. We stayed at the hotel in the valley that is run by the Navajo Nation. The view of the park from our room was stunning. Go if you’ve never been. It’s beautiful.
:-)
P.S. to MOL: I had an s... changed it to X to get the happy music!
2
Should have kept "from the heart" for AORTA. Great clue.
2
Before getting to the revealer, I had thought that the trick was simply changing the vowel sounds from long to short. And when I reached the revealer, I interpreted it as "and e's."
Only real hangup was caused by mispelling BERNOULLI. This "invalidated" my initial (correct) guess of GUIDO and, by extention, VIOLS. Since I knew Daniel quite well (his "principle" is well known in physics), I felt looking up the spelling wasn't too bad a cheat. :) My last fill was correcting EAUs instead of EAUX.
Much slower than my best Tuesday, but enjoyable. Thought the theme was very clever. Good debut, Mr Ciolfi!
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Welcome to the comments!
Loading...
Loading...
2
Deb -- You stlll have the Session's states backwards.
Ron,
Marcia pointed out much earlier that the "notes" had the Petes mixed up. and I pointed out it was Deb's column, not the (constructor) notes, that had the error. *You* have made three replies and posts following up on the subject, in the first telling me what Marcia was thinking and in the last two confusing what the error was. Who's trolling whom?
They're the Petes' states, for Pete's sake.
1
@Barry Ancona
Others have routinely pointed out mistakes Deb or Caitlin have made and were not attacked for it. I have a feelng I am being trolled ...
2
@Wen -- I'll answer you here, since I'm damned if I know how to reply to your reply. I've failed every time I've tried to reply to a reply. I type it up, hit "Submit" and I never lay eyes on it again.
I knew that Sessions was a PETE. But I didn't realize that Aguilar was also a PETE. Like you, I've been glued to the news since Trump's election, watching the daily developments with a sense of mounting horror and alarm and even dread. I have a friend who doesn't pay a great deal of attention to the news. She focuses on tennis, bridge, going to the theater, and reading novels. I suspect she's a much happier camper than I am.
5
@Nancy
The (need to know) news is addictive. But all it really is is a bunch of talking heads regurgitating a 22 minute cycle.....ad infinitum. You don’t seem like a one trick pony, maybe you ought to get out more; (insert grinning emoji). “That’s Why God Made The Movies” is a song I started humming before I finished reading your reply to Wen.
https://youtu.be/x_wySgfoZXQ
2
@Nancy
Horror, alarm and dread? Over what?
@Nancy
I do wonder how people make the decision to vote if they are not informed about current events and the news. But as you say, they might be happier as a result. The news is so often negative (Trump doesn't have exclusive claim to that). But once in a while, there are some silver linings.
Congrats and welcome to Mr. Ciolfi, I really enjoyed this one!
3
Alternate clue for 50A: vacuum salesladies.
On 38A, a jug of wine, a book of verse and one K.....
Historical note re 38A: 19 years ago the cyberworld was gearing up for a potential major disaster labeled "Y2K". The reason for that is all dates during the 20th century were generally logged in computers by just the last two digits of the year. The new millennium would signal the first instance where all four digits would be required to specify the date on any extant commercial system -- and very few commercial systems up until then were programmed for that eventuality. The implication was that machines that did not have that capability would cease normal record-keeping function. So, "Year 2000" -- or Y2K -- became the iconic symbol of such.
1
@Dr W
Every time I hear of the y2k fiasco, I’m reminded historically of a similar scientific faux pas. Phone numbers were briefly considered for reformatting to a pair of 4 digit numbers, permutations included. Had they gone ahead with that plan, the need for all these confounding area codes would have been a lot less necessary, if at all.....I miss Numberplay.
@brutus - this video was made for you!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsxRaFNropw
phone numbers!
@Dr W
You made me remember about the Y2K bug, and running an article about it in the magazine I was then editing. Our major concern was the effect on people with HIV, who already had a lot of problems handling the (then) new meds and their incredibly complicated regimens.
I couldn't remember whether I had written the article (I hadn't), so I looked it up and saw where we were then:
http://www.thebody.com/content/art31239.html
1
This puzzle theme was great, but the cluing was super obnoxious. So many lazy foreign words and highly vague, terse clues is not what I expect from a tuesday puzzle.
A thou - one k. Who EVER uses 'thou' to describe a thousand? Is this track slang? Similarly, 'lav' - John. Sure, I guess. Equally uncommon shortening.
Grebe AND Stoat. I guess I have to work on my weird crossword puzzle animals.
Capital of Nauru? I'd like to meet the geography buff that knows this one off hand.
Half of due - Uno. So, what language is due? I got Uno, but that's not how you spell 'two' in Spanish.
Guido de Pietro.. Bud Selig. Ugh.
All in all, I enjoyed the theme, but even after I got all the themed clues I still struggled to finish filling in the rest of the puzzle, and my motivation to do so was low.
9
Vrything that Alx/MN complained of is what I particularly enjoyed, although I'll admit that Tuesday had its boundaries stretched.
It truly GREBEs me that not everyone has STOAT quite clear in 'is or 'er mine as not being the same as a ShOAT, given that even a pig lets a ShOAT be what it is.
otoh, I'll admit that only short years ago, the Crossworld hadn't yet told me about Nauru, whERE Mr Ciolfi now spun us a capital YARN
4
@Alex I'd hold off even thinking "superobnoxious" until after doing a Thursday, Friday or Saturday NYT crossword. And even there the cluing there is not really that terrible -- just sufficiently cleverly worded to cause one to think harder. If you want to experience supremely convoluted cues, try the "Puns and Anagrams" crosswords that appear on some Sundays.
1
@Alex
Where to begin. There are other languages than Spanish. Italian is one. There are GREBEs in the Ottawa River (lucky me). I don't know STOATs but I am sure that they must exist and if weird crossword puzzle animals are the ones that I don't know then I guess there are lots. I'm sure that the next time GREBE or STOAT comes up, you will feel less angry and more proud of yourself.
When my son was 4 years old (he is 21 now) he learned every flag and capital of every country in the world. I asked him this morning what the capital of Nauru was, and while he could not quite remember, he did describe the flag to me in perfect detail.
6
Can someone explain 20A and 38A?
20A: When something costs a dollar A POP, it means a dollar EACH.
@Christy One K is a thousand. Peaches are $1 a pop or $1each.
38A: a thou is slang for one thousand, or 1K, or ONEK. I only saw it after I had all the crossings.
What language is due?
@pmb Italian: Uno, Due, Tre, Quattro
1
@pmb
Italian:
1=uno
2=due
3=tre
etc.
@pmb
Italian.
Nice work, John and editors. I liked the broad mix of answers and the few crunchy spots that made this more than an average Tuesday. Got me thinking about vapors and MISTS and the archaic uses of the clued word. Needed some VAPORub anyway; tis cold season.
1
If a bag of popcorn kernels cost $2, and a pan filled with hot oil can accommodate 200 of them in a single layer, is that a penny a pop?
Nice puzzle. Liked the juxtaposition of 6A, 8D and 9D.
And -- where in the world is Fort Hewines?
Finally -- I thought 34D was Hamlet having second thoughts....
2
My stats today showed the same solve time as my Tuesday best when in fact it was more than three times my record. Not that I'm complaining. Anyone else have that happen?
Dear John Ciolfi,
Please, sir, I want some more.
You had better sense with the AORTA, too. “Left ventricle” indeed.
Best,
A.
1
Very well done, Mr. Ciolfi. The theme was indeed very tight, and this was a challenging Tuesday puzzle. I didn't know what a GREBE was, hadn't heard of CIS as a modern gender prefix (anyone care to educate me?). Accidentally clued in Womans Lib instead of WOMENSLIB and couldn't locate my error, which killed my solve time. One nit: I say NO NO! to YESYES (or SI SI or OUI OUI or DA DA or double affirmatives in any other language).
1
@Jonathan
CIS is the "opposite" of TRANS; it basically means "same side of" rather than "other side of". (As a prefix, I believe it's more commonly used in chemistry to refer to different shapes of molecules.) CISGENDER was coined as the counterpart to TRANSGENDER, because it's a bit more respectful to talk about "transgender people and cisgender people" rather than "transgender people and normal people". :)
8
See also Transalpine and Cisalpine Gaul.
(You may need a map, not GPS.)
1
The principal origin is in Latin prefix cis- as opposed to trans-, as in George and Barry's responses. "This side of" and "That side of" - very standard Latin prefixes. The application to -gender is within the last half-century, but has the same meaning in effect. In geography, cis- and trans- have a river, an ocean, or a mountain range as the defining term; in gender studies, they have "normality" or "normalization" or simply "norms" as the defining term. It has come to mean: my gender expression and my biological sex are aligned (cis-) or are not (trans-). On the other side of that duality is trans-transgenderism (not being defined by gender normalism). The river (or mountain range) continues to migrate.
Straight boys wear dresses; gay boys don't; and straight boys don't wear dresses; and gay boys do; and all of the options in between on both of the spectra involved. We're waiting for the time when it doesn't matter enough to need words for it - or laws about it - against it.
2
Would someone explain 25-D? I got the answer but haven't a clue, so to speak.
@cipherdom The musical scale: Do re mi, etc. I'm in the same boat as you when it comes to 20 across. I got it, but I don't get it.
@cipherdom
Music scale! Do Re Mi etc.
@Amy - 20A - apples cost $1 a pop. Apples cost $1 each.
Stellar debut!
I especially appreciate the tightness of the theme answers all changing from short to long vowel sounds. Most of the time add a letter themes result in wacky answers which are just related in their wackiness. John really thought these answers through.
Congratulations, Mr. Ciolfi, enjoy your success at being published today in the NYT today, and please get started on your next puzzle!
2
Variation on a theme:
56D - Disappearing Monument Valley sights?
No mesas.
Very entertaining debut puzzle.
Congratulations on your accomplishments.
2
The cluing was mostly quite hard. The knowledge required was broad: not only pop culture, but math (33D), art (57A), Congress (17A), and Shakespeare (34D). Perhaps the hardest Tuesday I've ever done, and I enjoyed the challenge.
I had no idea what the theme was, though it seemed to have to do with long vowel sounds, as opposed to short vowel sounds. I wondered: What will the revealer be? ANDES was terrific -- and not exactly what I'd expected.
If only I'd known that Aguilar was a PETE (17A). I struggled with HOUSE-E--S for so long. Didn't know EAT IT, Weird Al's first song. And I couldn't remember if the classic Jag was an XKE or an XKG.
I would have settled for a mere TABLE as the counter alternative in 31D, but you gave me a BOOTH. That was very thoughtful. Thank you.
Both HOUSE PETES and HOOVER DAMES are inspired creations.
4
@Nancy
I don't think you really need to know Congress - maybe just pay attention to the news. I don't know about you, but I'd been glued to the news every day for the last 2.5 years thanks to the current occupant at the White House. I recall hearing of Pete Sessions in addition to Jeff Sessions and thought it interesting - didn't know how common Sessions was as a surname.
Agreed with you that both HOUSE PETES and HOOVER DAMES were fantastic. HOUSE PETES is what allowed me to get what the theme was.
As for BERNOULLI and GUIDO - I knew of BERNOULLI, but not his first name or from the clue, nor did I know GUIDO. With enough crossings, it really can't be anything else.
On the other hand, you and I and probably a few others now know a little bit more today than yesterday.
4
@Wen
I am in full aGREBEment with the last sentence of your reply.
Wen,
I'm just testing, after Nancy's comment that she couldn't reply to your reply, to be sure I can.
Q for the Spelling Bee overlords.
What is your problem with "raffia"? Really!
16
@jlib27
YES! And rarify. Really?
8
@jlib27
Definitely with you on RAFFIA!
And what about my FIGGY pudding?
And IFRIT?
7
Hand up for raffia. But not for rarify, cuz it's rarefy.
6
I visit NAPA not FOR THE WINES but rather for the car needs my 10 year old junker regularly requires. Last week, it was a complete set of rotors and pads. Gimme a brake! If only cars aged like wine...Ciofli shoots.......he scores! A constructor and a hockey fan merits a warm welcome to WP; game on JOHN. Coincidently or not, p. A3 of the NYT sports a player with a newspaper draped over HIS/her stick. I don’t get it; not unlike the SE corner of the puzzle...This 2 min. clip highlights the mating ritual of what was (to me at least) an unknown from the world of diving avians. Move over buffleheads (another duck I first heard about right here at WP) the GREBEs are cutting in.
https://youtu.be/ZbRrxw-H6xA
No solve today but the theme was duly sussed as was all the phrases truncated by the lopping off of the ‘ES.’...”Do Ya Think I’m SEXY” is one a host of TUNES to kickstart today’s music. After Rod’s song, I GUESS Georgie Fame’s signature oldie “YE(S)h YE(S)h” will wrap up the twin-pak. But wait; it’s a twofer within a twofer as Diana Krall joins Georgie for the jazzy ballad.
https://youtu.be/s-8QJXqjRng
https://youtu.be/r8EsaKqmnDA
My AORTA thanked me 14 years ago when I went in for an 32d and ended up with ANGIOplasty. The widow maker has been put on notice to cool it as the implant seems to be doing its job...I keep mixing up my Fibonaccs and BERNOULLIs. Sooner or later I’ll get all my ducks in a row.
Hasta la Vista BABY,
Bru
5
@brutus , that clip of grebes put a smile on my face, Bru. I hope everyone likes it as much as I did
4
@brutus
Thanks for the grebe clips!
You did well with the angio.
3
@brutus
Loved the grebes.
1
Lilliput newspaper?
TINY TIMES
10
SPELLING BEE THREAD
QB 31 Words, 123 points, 1 pangram
A-3 (4L-1, 6L-2)
F-13 (4L-6, 5L-4, 6L-2, 8L-1)
G-6 (4L-2, FL-2, 7L-1, 8L-1)
I-1 (4L-1)
R-5 (4L-3, 6L-1, 8L-1)
T-3 (4L-1, 5L-1, 6L-1)
What's missing and very annoying? Raffia, rarify and afrit.
Speaking of AFRITS, I highly recommend for pre-teens or young adults (or as a guilty pleasure for adults) the Bartimaeus series by Jonathan Stroud starting with The Amulet of Samarkind. Bartimaeus the genie is wickedly funny, as is the tone of the entire series; it appeals to both boys and girls. Although the lead protagonist is a boy, the female lead is as engaging and becomes ever more prominent in the series. A great read aloud book to your kids because of the mix of grown up humor and kids' fantasy aspects.
10
My last three words to find were all longish, one from Italian, one from Spanish, one from Trumpish.
This bee was in the sweet spot - not too many words, not too unusual, but still pushing the brain around from side to side.
1
Also, what about the FIGGY pudding?
6
Unless I miscounted, I am missing 3 words, but I have 29 listed, meaning 32.
This iPad is misbehaving, and the Comments are doing some duplicates.
I tried FIGGY as well as the ones you mention. Nope.
I even tried two i's for AFRIIT ....
Thrilled with our new constructor and his puzzling ways!
4
Glad to see another new constructor, and I really, really liked this theme. ANDES was my first thought for the reveal, but I was dissuaded by the clue for 54d. 'Less' in the clue made me think that it would end in 'er' (those usually do).
Kind of caught on with HOOVERDAMES and that helped with HOUSEPETES, BEARCUBES and BABYSITES. At that point I was thinking that it was just the 'E' that was added. Even though the plural DAMS in that context didn't make a lot of sense, the others were fine in the plural. Then I was so stuck on that that I was puzzled with GUESSNOTES and FORTHEWINES. Only then did I go back and realize that all of the seed phrases were fine in the singular and that we were adding ES. Duh.
Somewhere in the midst of all that I realized that ANDES would work and from that managed to finish that corner.
Lots of fun.
2
Excellent debut puzzle Mr. Ciolfi! And anyone who works for the NHL is good in my books! (Well... almost anybody.)
I only half grasped the theme. When I got the ANDES revealer, I interpreted it to mean that there were familiar phrases AND "E"S (the letter E pluralized). So while HOUSE PET_S, BABYSIT_S and BEAR CUB_S all worked well, the other three themers seemed slightly lame. I had to read the column to realize that it was in fact ES that was added to the end of the phrase. This and the fact that all five vowels were used, and that the vowel sound changed with each variant, elicited a very impressive sounding AHA! from me.
Bravo, Mr Ciolfi. Now can you do something about the Ottawa Senators?
4
I understand your plight, Andrew, but I'm more concerned about the Washington senators.
5
Andrew, I picked up Sens fandom when the North Stars left Minneapolis, and I randomly picked the Sens from the agate page of my sports section. It has been up and down over these 25 years for sure, but these last two years have been brutal. From one goal away from the Finals to total rebuild in 20 months is a tough pill to swallow. I hope to visit your lovely city soon to catch a Sens game in their home arena...bucket list type item. I think they are doing well this year in spite of everything.
@Michael Brothers
Wow! Great to meet a Sens fan even if it was a random pick! The team has been scandal-ridden ever since that "almost to the Stanley Cup finals" moment. One thing going for your trip to see the Sens at home is that tickets are plentiful and cheap - unheard of for a Canadian team. When they are playing Montreal or Toronto at home, the arena is overwhelmed by the other team's fans! Quite depressing really.
There is a black and white jacket, cooed Tom, crossly?
ONEg slowed me down.
Thanks John
This fine debut puzzle makes my heart sing. It makes everything groovy.
6
Everyone sing along with archaeoprof:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hce74cEAAaE
1
Ocarina solo!!
Nice debut. Took me a while to get the theme, but the aha brought a smile. Got BERNOULLI and ANGIOGRAM which helped a lot with the SW corner.
Wild Thing by The TROGGS always reminds me of Charlie Sheen walking in from the bullpen in Major League.
Hope to see more from Mr. Ciolfi.
1
I was able to solve the majority of this without copping onto the “AND - ES” theme, figuring the long answers were the usual punny Tuesday fare. I hit a major snag at NIX and EAUX, having forgotten my French 101.
After cross checking anything uncertain, eventually resorting to scouring the blog and spiraling into google queries, I needed to consult a finished grid to catch the faux pas.
Ugh.
1
Eau dear!
Terrific Tuesday and a debut to boot! I love a theme that lets me use it as I solve. John, you clearly have A HEAD for puzzles and
A WAY for constructing. And you put yourself in the grid. Love it!
1
Given his employer, I thought it rather puckish that John Ciolfi included baseball and football clues. A fine Tuesday offering; that it was a debut was icing on the cake. Let's see more from him over time.
2
'PUCKish', @Barry Ancona? 'ICING on the cake'? Unlike you to DEKEamp with that kind of comment. Let us hope there's no eXAM BOW KNEES are a penalty for the sieve.
'GOOOOOOL!'
Welcome to the NYT XWP constructor club, John! I enjoyed your puzzle very much! Theme entries were solid and amusing, fill was lively, and nothing that couldn't be worked out through the crosses. TIL that the plural of EAU is EAUX. My knowledge of French is limited to what I learn from XWPs! Only one small issue today that was totally my fault. I had WOMaNSLIB for 11D, and not knowing the capital of Nauru ( which I've also never heard of), I burned a good 15 minutes pouring through the grid until I slapped myself in the head and realized that the plural of woman is women! Sometimes I'm my own worst enemy. But I finally got the happy music and kept my streak going. Fun Tuesday morning solve!
2
Oh YES YES. A clever theme that eluded me until nearly the end. A moment of panic when I thought I was permanently stuck. A happy ending. And that huge anthem from my youth, "Wild Thing" by the Troggs!
These are the elements of a great solving experience. "Ciolfi" is etched in my brain. I will be looking for it.
5
Welcome to another new voice. An interesting theme that took me a long time to get.
Thanks to my Dad’s huge periodic table poster, TIN was easy. I love the TAB key. I don’t know how other computer users have the patience to mouse click on fields or buttons instead of tabbing to them.
I mistook the JOHN for JAKE (a jakes (pl) has the same meaning) and rather annoyed me until I got SHEBA and corrected.
The OED has 218 terms for a “privy or latrine”. My favourite slang for a toilet is “house of easement” or boggard - from which we must get the modern slang “bog” for loo in the UK.
2
Another debut!! Great job, Mr. Ciolfi. Perfect for a Tuesday.
2
Timer just wouldn't stop. Went through checking YAREN/GUIDO/XKE/WOMEN (woman)/VIOLS/TROGGS eventually to find my error when I initially filled in eaus for EAUX. NIX works better than nis anyway. EAUX well.
(And STOAT reminds me of "The Last Kingdom" if anybody else watches that.)
6
@Blue Moon me too on EAUX... last little error.
2
@Blue Moon
I filled in EAUX but half expected to have to change it to EAUS because, well, English.
Luckily, my faith was restored when I saw that NIX crossed it.
1
Loved this puzzle. Tuesday level clues, but still gave the gray matter a little romp. Bravo!
Easy Bee (though stalled at G as usual). However, on behalf of natural fiber everywhere (and particularly decorative fiber which has a much stronger lobby--parents selling giftwrap to keep the lights on in their kids' schools) I protest the consistent and arbitrary ineligibility of raffia.
3
I sentence Sam to a holiday with NO FIGGY pudding!
6
@Mean Old Lady And we may have to cut off his honey!
1
I completely agree that this fine debut puzzle was just right for a Tuesday.
I didn't see the theme at all until the reveal and then it seemed so obvious. I also didn't especially notice the ? after the theme clues except for the Napa one and wondered why on earth that had one.
I much prefer John's clue for AORTA.
( That is from the heart)
5
I honestly didn’t figure out the theme until after reading this article! Now I feel pretty foolish for not having seen it sooner!
I’m still a relative novice here, having only gone so far as Thursdays in terms of my completion of New York Times crossword puzzles.
That said, I really enjoyed completing this puzzle and I look forward to more from this debut creator!
Oh, before I forget, I honestly don’t recall ever completing a puzzle here with the name of a mink-like animal called a stoat — which is simply another way of admitting I hadn’t heard of this animal before today. But I looked up stoats on Google and they are absolutely adorable! So I feel fairly confident I’m not likely to ever forget them for purposes of New York Times crossword puzzles, or elsewhere for that matter.
3
There's no such animal as an "ermine." The fur of stoats (and other weasels -- yes weasels are adorable) turns white in winter, for obvious reasons. That's when the lowly stoat bears regal ermine.
They're much safer in summer.
2
@Diane Schaefer STOAT is definitely a bit of Crosswordese that you want to commit to memory. I had never known the word before picking up the XWP habit! If you're doing Thursdays you're not too far away from adding the weekend to your bag of tricks! Honestly, I find Thursday puzzles to be among the most difficult, because of the "tricky" aspect that most have. I always approach them with a mix of trepidation and excitement - I love the tricky wordplay but if you don't figure it out, it's bye bye streak.
1
All y'all who have never heard/seen the word STOAT have plainly missed one of the great reads: _Watership Down_ (R. Adams)
Highly recommended.
4
Was hoping for the reveal on the contest puzzle, one of my favorite NYT offerings next to the '"Think Outside the Box" puzzle a few years back. But this Tuesday debut was a nice one especially since Bernoulli and Cube appears in the same puzzle even if it were only a bear cube
2
mike,
The "reveal" was promised for 6:15 p.m. ET today.
Great debut, and a good Tuesday puzzle!
4
Fun puzzle. One note on the “Notes”:
The House’s Petes are switched - until January 3rd, Mr. Sessions represents Texas and Rep. Aguilar, who won re-election last week, represents California.
4
Marcia,
Just to clarify, the "Pete switch" you noticed is in Deb's "Column," not in the constructor's "Notes," right?
@Barry Ancona
Marcia's referring to Deb's column.
@Barry Ancona, Because it's always Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!
Let it bee
Another sterling debut! Congrats, looking forward to JC's next one.
2
Kudos to John Ciolfi. I see promise here. Clever clues, fun answers. Just right for a Tuesday too!
I had to ponder and cross for Yaren. I would would have finished faster if my bleary eyes hadn't read "Nepal" instead of "Napa'. My answer was head scratching until I reread the clue!
We are back on track this week. Hooray. Bravo.
3
@Liane Since Nepal doesn't actually have a capital city, I think you can plead punctiliousness rather than ignorance :)
1
@DJ
Everywhere I look, I find that Kathmandu is the capital of Nepal. Since the capital of a country is where the government is located, saying that Nepal doesn't have a capital is saying that it does not have a government.
If a country doesn't have an officially legislated capital, the city that functions as one is considered its capital nonetheless.
Or am I missing something?
I didn't think Liane mistook Nauru for Nepal.
Perfect Tuesday; I like the theme. Surprising that BERNOULLI was a debut. I look forward to your next.
Nice puzzle for a Tuesday.
Loved the answer for nurseries. When I was 5years old my mother would walk me to school and we would walk past the local nursery. And I always would say “there’s the place that babysits the plants” because I thought it was clever there was more than one meaning for nursery.
Thank you for the fun memory.
7
Nice and crunchy, especially for a Tuesday. Loved seeing ANGIOGRAM and BERNOULLI together, and was surprised to see that they're debuts. YAREN certainly seemed like a stretch! But at least it was gettable from the crosses.
I saw the theme early on with HOUSE PETES, but that didn't make it too easy to get the other theme answers. Didn't know Fra Angelico's real name, and probably won't remember it in a day or two. (I just learned Sandro Botticelli's real name earlier today, and I've forgotten it already).
Nice debut, and please make more!
10
Liz: Fra Angelico, besides his birth name Guido di Pietro, was also known as Fra Giovanni da Fiesole, since he was from Fiesole, and Fra Giovanni Angelico, but now in Italy he's usually referred to as Beato Angelico. He is said to have once told his abbot, "I don't care what name you give me, just don't call me late for vespers."
9
San Marco in Florence is my favorite place. Each cell has a Fra Angelico fresco. Beautiful.
1
I can't believe we fell for that. You rock! (You could even be stoned.)
2
Great for a Tuesday. I'm looking forward to a Thursday from Mr. Ciiolfi.
5