Gotta love those surfer boys! Intense fun.
1
Found pop culture pleasure in many of the clues. MATHLETES (can’t believe that wasn’t used before, for me it goes back to Freaks and Geeks), CHAIRYOGA (a favourite if you watch Better Call Saul), and of course TENNANT (one of my favourite actors, even beyond Dr. Who). Overall it took a long time to solve. My wife and I normally work on them together but she is in Denver at a conference so when I got stuck I had to wait until she was free. Early in the week I go for time. Late in the week I just try to survive.
1
Sub ten minute Friday - basically unheard of. I felt that were I to meet the constructors we'd complete each other's sentences.
1
What a satisfying puzzle that was! I'm amazed that I completed it, but I never felt really stuck. There was always a little opening for me to squeeze on through and find a path to completion. Very well constructed, I think with the intent of being fun to solve. Thanks!!!
2
Letter Box
Tough one today; first word fun, second unsatisfying. K-R(10), R-E (7) Just slightly easier than hours of pulling ivy off tree on slopes. First one brings up memories of FORTRAN.
@Liane
Mine was K-P(7), P-Y(9), not economical but an odd phrase.
Hint: Spoiler alert
tomato with child
@Liane I was on the verge of writing you and asking for hints.
Memories of decks of cards of FORTRAN indeed!
1
@Phil P
I had the second word more than once, but now am mystified why I never saw the first. One can crave many weird things during P-Y, but K-P was never one I cared for! Chili sauce, you betcha.
Fun puzzle! I only had to look up IMPRIM... I had a feeling that was the word but didn't know how to pronounce or spell it. (I love the stars, but also am amazed, "Halfway already? No way!") Maybe a neat way to tell us that we are halfway but there are wrong answers would be for the star to be Blue, then if the answers are correct up to that point the star could be Gold. Might be interesting.
1
@Jackson I typically find mistakes after receiving the "halfway" star -- so when I go back, delete, and re-enter answers, I get it again. And sometimes again!
2
With all the back and forth about the comments, I would just like to add my 2 cents. I am just grateful for the nyt puzzles, which I’ve been doing for years. Everyday a new one. If I hadn’t read this blog, which I only recently started following, it wouldn’t occur to me to criticize a puzzle. They’re just puzzles, and clever, and fun for me and relaxing. I’ve tried other papers, but I always prefer the Times. I don’t always get through the tough ones, but I enjoy the process of trying. I like the blog, and the comments, which are mostly interesting, but if they are negative, we’ll, I’m just surprised I guess.
20
@Susan most of us feel that way, I think. And perhaps the ones who don't just need something to complain about. :)
10
So if a left-handed pitcher is a southpaw, why isn't a right-handed pitcher called a north paw? Just asking'.
1
@David Wallace Here's what The History Channel thinks...
https://www.history.com/news/why-are-left-handers-called-southpaws
David Wallace,
Because right-handedness is normative. We southpaws are called out for our abnormality. What else is new?
(I trust everyone understands -- or can figure out -- why left-handed pitchers *are* southpaws?)
2
@Steve Faiella World Wide Words (http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sou3.htm) takes it even further back, to 1813. It may have been an expression in general use without a specific sporting application at that time.
1
Well, my PITFALLS start with spelling Abi for ABE, Emeril for EMERIL, and what are WADIS and RIMES. But what MIRTH it were gimmes EAROFCORN and DUNCAN. This is LOVELETTER to the writers, Guzzetta and Hawkins, and to the blog Wordplay.
Wow, what a CHOICE group of people!
1
@Louise
Emeril for EMERIL doesn't sound like much of a PITFALL to me!
2
@Andrew Spell check corrected it! I typed Emeral, until I goy KEYEDIN.
1
(First reply got stuck; trying again with a minor variation...)
Louise,
You have a Yiddish Spell check?
2
I started with BONHAM and ended with MATHLETE ... FUNEMPLOYER had me stumped on WARIS but then, yeah it clicked.
Good puzzle and yes, very crunchy clues.
Duncan and Not Cool really pulled the SW corner in nicely.
2
The appearance of MIRTH--a lovely word--made this puzzle particularly delightful, as well as the neat juxtaposition and clever cluing of WHETS and HONE.
The lark and its song are typically celebrated for their beauty and joy. For a different take (and a splendid example of Shakespeare's ability to turn things on their heads), see: https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=romeojuliet&Act=3&Scene=5&Scope=scene
1
Suggestion: would people please break up their monolithic blocks of text. For instance:
Pi, a MATHLETE'S LOVELETTER?
IMPRIMATUR: VIAGRA for SECTS
"The Violent BEARIT Away," by O'Conner is a RICHLY satiric look at fundamentalism.
See, much easier to read. Much better to STEM the flow of the unnecessary, unbroken mictural stream of sentences.
1
When it comes to the crossword puzzle blogs, I’m like Goldilocks. I find Rex’s blog excessively critical and his performative outrage over “offensive clueing” offputting. I check it only to see how it rates it: easy, medium, challenging etc. it’s humorous how, like a child, he always has an excuse for why his time was bad. (“ I drank too much; my kids were talking too loudly”).
On the other hand, I don’t think this one is honest about the poor quality of some of the puzzles.
If someone knows a “just right” one, please share.
2
Jersey Girl,
The puzzle criticism "just right" for you will be the puzzle criticism you write.
7
@Jersey Girl,
I wholeheartedly agree with Barry -- you should always feel free to be candid with your assessments. Don't worry about what others post here.
I will add, however, that part of the benefit of being in this community is the dialogue that then ensues. You may think that a puzzle wasn't particularly well-executed but others may ask you for your reasons and then do their best to persuade you otherwise.
What then unfolds is a learning process. To use fine wine as an analogy, I may not like a particular maker or vintage but maybe my palate isn't well-developed or sophisticated enough. Others with more experience with wines may be able to show me where I'm wrong in my evaluation.
That's the process I see here, for instance, with reactions to how certain entries are clued. I'm constantly learning how to evaluate puzzles from commenters who have solved many many more than I have and have seen the best (and worst) from a broader range of constructors and editors.
5
@Jersey Girl You know I can hear you, right? :)
If you ask 10 people their opinions about the puzzles, you are going to get 10 opinions.
I also happen to work for the company and many of the puzzle makers are my friends, so what you call dishonest, I call supportive. There have been times when a puzzle is not all it's cracked up to be, and when it isn't I say so. If a constructor needs to expand their word list, I mention it. Most recently, I stepped away when a puzzle about guns was run because I objected to the subject matter, and Will Shortz was kind enough to sit in for me.
But as you said, there are plenty of places to go for criticism. Criticism is easy. But there aren't that many places these days to go for support, and while I'm writing Wordplay, this column will be one of them.
35
Harder than usual for me, as well. And I smiled at seeing FUNEMPLOYED alongside FLATBROKE.
6
Oh my goodness, I get to be the person who says, "This Friday was much easier than usual."
That's far sweeter than completing the puzzle itself. :)
4
I get to be the one who says “This was harder than usual!”. Less sweet to say, but at least I get to be proud to have finished it! :)
9
@MJ
I have been that one many, many times.
1
Me, too! We need to start the “it’s harder than average, but we're still having fun” support group.
6
I fell into the CHAIR BOGA trap as others did.
But once I got that fixed, I came to the conclusion that the clue should have told me NBC was not correct (more on that below). My reasoning at this point: "Home of 30 Rock" can't be NBC, because 30 Rock is not contained within NBC. It's the other way around: NBC's headquarters are within (housed in) the building at 30 Rockefeller Center. But Rockefeller Center is contained within New York City. It was easy to mix up the container for the contents. Or so it seemed.
Then on looking up 30 Rockefeller Center, I found that NBC purchased the building in 1996. Then in 2015, NBC sold it to Comcast, of which NBC is a subsidiary. So it appears that from 1996-2015, 30 Rock WAS "in" NBC, in the sense that it was among the holdings of the company. But now both 30 Rock and NBC are "in" Comcast, side by side on some ledger sheet as it were. But NBC is still a tenant of 30 Rock.
So now I've come full circle back to my original thinking: the clue and the N_C letter pattern can only point to NYC, and can't legitimately point to NBC the way it could a few years ago.
5
@Alan J
And now I see that NBC was the home of the TV series 30 Rock. So, duh, yes, the clue could be legit if you think past tense.
2
Alan J,
I'm glad that's settled!
1
A nice, meaty puzzle, with only one groan for me: FORTHEWIN. Modern, really? Slowed by the NE corner, as I have never seen the term READYROOM, did not know the first name of "Joliet-Curie", never saw the expression "bushwa" and had USS for HMS given the vague cluing. Luckily the remaining crosses made it doable, finally.
2
TECH UPDATE:
I was just able to scroll/read from the newest comment to the oldest, and from the oldest to the newest.
4
Loved the puzzle. Found it delectable crunchy. Was surprised that it fell several minutes faster than usual because it didn't feel like it. A former MATHLETE and TENNANT as Dr. Who fan, I had those as gimmes.
Found FUNEMPLOYED next to FLATBROKE both funny and oxymoronic, whereas CLAIMOFFAME next to FORTHEWIN made total sense.
Cannot get Letterbox in 2 words so far; will try again later.
1
On my first pass I filled 23-Down as "COUP DE GRACE" without, in retrospect, knowing exactly what that means. I googled it after solving the puzzle - it is a "defining accomplishment" of sorts, I suppose.
1
For @David Connell, @Andrew from Ottawa and @Henry Su: I didn't see what happened yesterday re Deb -- but it sounds most unfortunate, since I know from non-Wordplay-blog-related personal experience that Deb is a lovely and thoughtful person who goes out of her way to be helpful. But as to the problems of the comments system you each reference today in both prose and poetry, let me simply say: Amen!! It's a system that can only have been invented by the Marquis de Sade. In fact, rumor has it that it's not really a "system" at all. This is why I'm posting in the general comments section and not trying to attach my comment to any of yours. (Whose would I choose anyway? David's? Andrew's? Henry's?) When I attach comments, they often disappear into the void, never to be seen or accessed again. Even by me.
To those of you who like to beat up on Rex and the Rexites, let me say this: THEY HAVE A COMMENTS SCROLLING SYSTEM THAT ACTUALLY WORKS! It's the utmost in simplicity. You can find whatever you're looking for in a nanosecond. Why, oh why can't the NYT adopt this system? A child could probably set it up. Then I could communicate with y'all as freely and easily as I do with many of the Rexites. Surely, some of you would become friends, as so many of them have. As it stands now, I usually post my comment and leave, not being able to deal with the tedium and utter dreariness of trying to read any of the comments on this blog. Deb? Can you help?
5
@Nancy - I visit Rex to read LMS, Nancy, M&A and a very few others. I read RP's posts so that I can understand the comments on that site. But the cumulative effect of that site is like crawling through a chimney as a chimney sweep in a chimney infested by bats and pigeons. I don't think you can gainsay that, can you? It's a very discouraging and negative experience, every day.
But I want to meet the ideas being brought by smart people who either can't stand the general positivity and chirpiness of this site or who can't stand navigating the difficulties of this site's comments system. So I do visit you (and others) there. And then I come back here, grateful that there is more to the world than "how horrible was today's puzzle? let us count the ways! Because all puzzles are horrible!, especially those edited by Will Shortz!"
5
@Nancy Wish I could, but I have no sway over the community (commenting) team. I've tried, and to be fair, the threading is a whole lot better than it used to be. So we've made some progress on that front.
And thank you for your kind words. There are always going to be people who post to public forums without thinking about what they're saying.
@Andrew: Thank you for your comment as well. Just FYI, the reason it didn't publish is because of a parenthetical remark which, while understandable, was not standards-friendly.
1
@David Connell -- FWIW, I never read Rex. Not ever. It's the way to enjoy the best of that blog without suffering the worst. What's more, I skip right past all the commenters commenting on the negativity of Rex's comments. I don't care about his comments nor what everyone thinks about his comments. Still, because one's eye usually catches stuff when when you scroll by, however quickly, I usually know what Rex's "Outrage of the Day" is in spite of myself. But I just soldier on -- focusing on the comments of those people who, like me are un-offended by the perceived "offense", impervious to Rex's criticism of the puzzle, and who choose to talk about other things. And, btw, thanks, David, for your kind words. Glad you do visit the site, at least from time to time.
4
I like "imprimatur" too, Deb. The passive subjunctive never fails to give me shivers of delight!
4
Nihil obstat
1
Over a year to wait for a puzzle to appear seems like a long time. I wonder if an author could submit it someplace else once a year had passed. Is there a rule about that? Also I didn't think using the same word twice in a puzzle was proper either. 'IT' shows twice, although in different phrases. A rule that's more like a guideline?
1
@K Barrett If it's a small word, like AN THE A (or IT) and it isn't the entire answer repeated, it's OK.
On your second point, from what I understand, you are usually notified within 2 months of submission if your puzzle will be published or not. The rest of the time is fixing/tweaking things the editors may not like, and waiting for an opening in the schedule to publish.
I actually thought "it" was going to lead to a whole diagonal of them, before that idea was quickly dashed.
@Steve Faiella and @Ryan, thank you for your comments/input. I appreciate it.
1
Wrote an entire comment complaining about not knowing what DHS was. My comment was lost, but it suddenly dawned on me what a D.H. was. I’m not into baseball.
So wasn’t fond of that or SAWII (also not into sadistic horror movies) but otherwise easy but fun Friday.
1
Frances,
Some of us *enjoy* solving crossword puzzles precisely because they force us to dredge up or figure out words or phrases that are not part of our everyday vocabulary or within our particular fields of interest.
12
@Frances Oooh, 12 hours after I did the puzzle, I just realized what a DH is!
1
@FrankieHeck
Sometimes it’s amazing what your brain will block, and then solve. I always feel silly after that but really I guess one shouldn’t.
Did the puzzle a couple of hours ago, accompanied by my cup of coffee. I wasn't terribly fast, given the names of the drummer and the actor, esp since I wanted KwHrs for the utility bill (and I am questioning the THERM as a unit for my utility bill)...but the crosses came through.
IRENE Joliot-Curie was a gimme-- that was quite a family, was it not? Another gimme was the softest mineral: TALC.
SAILS before SURFS.
I recall my first exposure to FTW! (Had to ask one of the offspring for a translation.)
Ready for Saturday!
Last week's Big Bee missed four words that I like. This week's is easier because there are two pangrams AND a rather short list.
Now for the WeeBee revisit...
1
MOL,
Do you get natural gas from your utility? If not, no therms. If so, please see:
https://www.scanaenergy.com/blog/blog/2016/11/21/how-to-read-your-natural-gas-bill-a-step-by-step-guide
Intrigued. A question re LAO for MATHletes (and linguists): roughly, how many words can one have in a monosyllabic language? Assuming that most “sylabs” are 2-3 letters and at the most , say, 5 letters?
@Laura Rodrigues in London -
a first stab at an answer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8niIHChc1Y
and a little more:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxARj07jFp0
(on this video, Lao is with Chinese and Vietnamese as an isolating language...)
@David Connell
Very interesting! Thank you and isn't great to enjoy solving AND being directed towards info like this!
6
One of those puzzles that ten years ago I would have just given up on. I found it really, really hard, and though I thought I'd finally solved it, I hadn't. MILES had an "I" -- he does have an "I", doesn't he????; HMS (12D) was written in as HsS (a boneheaded mishmash of HMS and USS) and so I ended up with READIROOS (14A) for the military pilot's waiting area. Don't ask.
But that's not all, folks. Not knowing zilch about yo-yos, I ended up with DUNgAN/ NOT gOOd (39D). Leading me to dAT for the muscle (60A). Once again, don't ask. All of the above was definitely NOT GOOD.
For "trap for the unwary" I had POTHOLE before PITFALL. Remember that I live in NYC. But that I did manage to correct. Yay, me.
I absolutely loved today's (new to me) portmanteaus: FUNEMPLOYED and MATHLETES. Keep these coming; I never met a portmanteau I didn't like.
Other than the unfair cross of DUNCAN/TENNANT, I thought this was a terrific puzzle. But it left me completely READIROOS, I'm afraid.
9
@Nancy,
I also had POTHOLE before PITFALL. It's not endemic to NYC; just think of what all that rock salt they throw on the roads during the winter is doing to the asphalt.
1
@Henry Su
Actually, from what I understand, it's the freezing and thawing cycles of the water trapped under and in the cracks of the asphalt that causes the potholes. And this year, there has been a lot of winter whiplash.
Steve,
Salt exacerbates the problem.
What fun!
I managed to complete the puzzle with only two scars. (I initially had EMILIO for EMERIL at 21D and AONE for HONE at 49A.)
I too liked (and put a smiley next to) the clue at 20A ("Metric unit"); I also liked 46A ("In the wings or in full swing") partly because it rolls off the tongue so well, but especially because clues like this are just rare enough that I almost always fall for them, thinking of the meanings of the phrases rather than thinking of them as examples of something.
I noticed two clues/entries that could be used in a Schrodinger puzzle. (That's one where there is deliberately more than one possible way to complete the puzzle legitimately.) 49A ("Perfect") was HONE, but I at first thought of it as an adjective and had aONE. And 56A ("Not out of it") was AWARE but it could have been AWAKE. (But that particular PITFALL didn't trap me.)
I suppose that constructors of such puzzles must keep a store of such possible entries for eventual use. I can't imagine coming up with a bunch of them at will.
Happy Friday, everyone!
1
TIL* that LAO is mostly monosyllabic. I don't think I've ever heard it spoken, but now I can cite this factoid with confidence.
*It took me a while after starting to read Wordplay to learn what TIL meant... I just keep picking up these little bits of knowledge here!
1
For me a more apt definition of FUNEMPLOYED would be the professional athlete who gets gazillions of dollars to go out and play.
3
@Andrew,
... Some of whom for various reasons, such as financial mismanagement, gambling, and lavish lifestyles, still end up FLAT BROKE, https://bit.ly/2ROs5Jz.
I assume MATHLETES would not have this problem (even if it were a problem that they could be so lucky and privileged to have).
1
In my experience often scientists also love their job so I’d say fun employed too!
5
So I made a late visit to yesterday's comments - there seemed to be technical issues with some of the posts. I was really distressed to read a late post from someone who took issue with Deb's column. As she claimed to hate it when people expressed their personal thoughts in this forum, she "considerately" left a link to her own blog, which was essentially a personal attack on Deb, interspersed with seeming adulation for Rex.
As she was unable to solve the puzzle unaided, she came to Wordplay for help, but then worked herself into a lather when she got too much help and it spoiled the fun for her. Her other specific complaints were all over issues already mentioned and dealt with in this forum. But to imply that a columnist should be fired over such things is way over the line.
Hopefully in future the poster will follow her own advice and keep such personal thoughts out of here and restrict them to the confines of her personal blog.
15
@Andrew - I went looking and couldn't find any such. The comments are (once again, always once again) royally messed up and disappearing like...let's just say, things that disappear.
I hope that Rex's people find their natural home, and stay there. I really do. H8rs gotta h8, but they don't have to do it here. There's a place specially set aside for it!
11
@David Connell
You're right. It has disappeared. In this case it is just as well. Maybe it was flagged.
What I couldn't fathom was her question "don't you just hate it when people express their personal thoughts here?" I thought that was the whole idea.
4
@Andrew Does anyone still have the URL for her blog? I'm in the mood for posting some personal thoughts there...
3
Fun, but too easy for a Friday!
2
Someone please clue me in - what on earth are knee pants???
2
@n duncan
My dad was born in 1912. His early boyhood photos (of which there were few) showed him wearing KNEE PANTS--pants that went just below the knee; one began to put on long pants as a sign of manhood--a rite of passage that was portrayed in "Life with Father."
I had SNOW pants in there first--once you've lived in the Snow Belt in the Cleveland area, you are marked forever....
6
I'm going to go out on a limb here
and posit
that the NYT team is required contractually
to introduce or reintroduce
problems with the comments system
at regular intervals
and furthermore
that they do it well
very well
indeed
5
@David Connell
Shorten it a little and you've got a great haiku!
3
@Steve L
Contractually,
To keep the emus busy
Problems must arise.
15
@David Connell,
The glitch is still there, I believe.
I have to sort newest
and oldest to read
all of the
posts and
replies.
1
In the column, I read "The trick in this clue is that capital C." Yet in the iOS app, the first word of every clue is capitalized. Is it different in print?
By the way I saw through the wordplay in that particular clue, but I have noticed this reasoning invoked before in similar circumstances and wondered about it.
@Mid America
The first letter is capitalized in every format. The tricky bit is they use the first word so you can't know for sure if it's a proper noun.
1
@Mid America
The first word of all clues is capitalized. This can make for misdirection. If the clue were worded "Purchaser of a Camel" it would be apparent to the solver that we are looking for a trademark. By wording it "Camel purchaser" It could still mean either "camel" or "Camel".
2
Just a few minutes ago, Deb popped in to note that she covers the "veiled capital" in her opus available on the Wordplay home page...
1
For a change I'm not feeling depressed by reading all the "so easy" comments. I wouldn't go quite that far, but found today's puzzle a smooth and enjoyable solve. A good example of lively fill. I was stuck on a few answers before leaving for my French class, but got them all as soon as I got back to it confirming that the oft offered advice really works. Of course I've already forgotten which ones they were. I liked seeing ENTRÉE clued as Primary course,@ 43D.
Thanks John and Michael for a themeless that I really enjoyed.
7
I filled in the whole puzzle and had an error. After fiddling with it for a while I finally told my husband that I couldn't find my mistake, but that I wasn't feeling good about "CHAIRBOGA." He looked at me like I was crazy and said "Could it be CHAIR YOGA?" I'm going to have to stop bragging to him about my NYT puzzle performance. He'll never let me forget that one.
25
@FrankieHeck - Mike can be such a sourpuss sometimes.
hee hee
3
@FrankieHeck
Made the same NBC/NYC error ,,, but I'm from Canada and they think I'm slow, eh?
2
After FUNEMPLOYMENT and MATHLETES, I thought we had a rare Friday theme, of modern portmanteau slang. Mildly disappointed that I was wrong, but a superior puzzle anyway!
I don't understand what's "modern" about FOR THE WIN. Hasn't that phrase been around forever?
My mind worked backwards at 51D, and I entered NBC. Only the -BOGA business (kept trying to make some variant on "chairobics") made me take a second look and realize that NBC is not the home of 30 Rock, but rather that 30 Rock is the home of NBC.
I needed almost all the letters before I remembered the yo-yo brand name, but WADI was a gimme with no letters at all. Maybe I've been doing puzzles for too long.
I'm still trying to figure out if I've ever heard the term READY ROOM, and if so if I knew what it means.
I hope Deb doesn't chuck an EAR OF CORN in my direction, but I struggled with TENNANT. Totally didn't know BONHAM, but ANNAN was a gimme.
Thanks to all concerned. I enjoyed this one.
3
@Deadline
30 Rock is the home of NBC, as you correctly stated. However, it is also true that NBC is the home of "30 Rock," with Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey.
NYC is also the home of 30 Rock, but that didn't prevent a lot of people from inventing CHAIR BOGA as a way to get fit while you sit.
6
@Steve L
You're right. I hadn't thought of that show, which I've never seen (can't bear Alec Baldwin).
@Steve L That comment really cracked me up while trying to think what CHAIR BOGA would look like...
TIL about FUNEMPLOYMENT. Since I just retired a month ago, does that make me permanently Funemployed?
Loved the puzzle. Great fill and great entries, like the aforementioned FUNEMPLOYED, MATHLETES, FORTHEWIN, CLAIMTOFAME, and IMPRIMATUR, which was not unfamiliar but definitely not what I was expecting. Great constructing feat (making those long stacks work and still having great crossings isn't easy!). Great job, co-constructors John and Michael!
1
Good Friday puzzle. Two Y's had me stumped for a while but I figured it out without resorting to word check. I had MILES instead of MYLES and NBC instead of NYC. The crossing word errors READIROOM and CHAIRBOGA tipped me off.
2
@jtmcg
It seems his name was spelled MYLES, but Longfellow rendered it as MILES.
Robert Frost, however, did not write "MYLES to go before I sleep."
1
IDIOMatically speaking, I played this one on a LARK...My days of being FUNEMPLOYED are history since I am currently freetired...What is a WADIS? Something viewed from a MESA I reckon; a gully by any other name......These Philly dogs, The Dovells, chime in with WAD (it) IS, ‘tis a 60’s line dance.
https://youtu.be/LNGUei3oR0Q
Major PITFALL (I can BEAR IT) swallowing sinker, line and hook while falling for 30 Rock’s lethal misdirection. Today NBC was not right as the usual late week complexities steered me awry. Frivolity, I hate you; or is it Qantas?
RICHLY,
Bru
7
Spelling Bee Thread
37 words, 135 points, 1 pangram, bingo
C (12) 6x4, 2x5, 2x7, 1x8, 1x10
D (4) 2x4, 2x5
G (6) 2x4, 2x6, 2x7
H (4) 2x4, 1x5, 1x6
I (3) 1x4, 1x5, 1x7
L (6) 5x4, 1x5
O (2) 2x4
7
@David - thanks for the grid - I'm two words short but believe you might have counted a C-9 as a C-8. Could you check that one?
2
@David Connell - Yes, I have a C9.
I also have a G8 not shown in the grid.
1
Smooth and pleasant solve last night, not rushing (so as to savor the clues and entries) but nonetheless finishing sooner than I might have liked. Brief TOE stub on Plymouth Rock -- but hardly a PITFALL -- (ROT!) with MATHteams (term from my high school days) before -LETES (not in use there then).
(IAMB AWARE of the entry.)
2
you're all way too chipper for a Friday morning...it's annoying
fun Friday puzzle!
5
Good puzzle and not too hard for a Thursday. I looked up three factual answers - decided to allow myself to do that and not worry about it. IMPRIMATUR was my favorite answer.
I (sort of) appear twice in the puzzle. As to the second occurrence, I wondered if SMOKER had ever been clued as a railroad car. Yep - several times, though not in the Shortz era. I'm guessing we'll never see that clue again.
And, on the same topic - I watched an old favorite on TCM last night. I realize that another way to clue that might be: "Almost every character in 'All About Eve,' for example." Or in just about every scene, for that matter.
Manana.
2
@Rich in Atlanta I did not post the above twice. I swear.
But I did post it on a Friday; not Thursday.
@Rich in Atlanta
I stumbled on TCM last night while searching for a basketball game, saw that All About Eve was about to begin, and never switched. I also was struck by all of the smoking and drinking. Wonder how much was a true reflection of the showbiz lifestyle of the times or if it was purchased by the purveyors.
2
@Al in Pittsburgh I don't think it has anything to do with 'showbiz' in particular.
If you watch any film made during that era (say 30's to early 50's, at least) which also takes place in a contemporary setting, you're likely to see a lot of smoking. All About Eve was just on the higher end of that spectrum. I usually don't particularly take note of it when watching 'classic' films (which I do a lot), but it kind of jumped out at me last night.
Hey, don't knock SAWII. That's the answer that helped me break into the NW of the puzzle. I didn't know the exact movie, but I made a guess that it would end in II, which led to IMPRIMATUR, which led to FLATBROKE, and so on.
The NE ended up being the hardest for me. "Nobelist Joliot-Curie", "One of four for an ostrich", "Naval inits.", "Bushwa" all lined up together -- Whew! I've never been a fan of the term MATHLETE but it certainly helped me up there.
Everything eventually came together FOR THE WIN. Fun puzzle!
2
@Bess
It turned out right for you, but you shouldn't have assumed II for the SAW franchise. It went up to SAW VI, and then was followed by two other non-Romanized movies, SAW 3D and JIGSAW. I actually considered VI but when I got the tricky IAMB, I knew the JIG was up.
Didn't Shakespeare say "To BE or not to BE? IAMB what IAMB."?
2
@Steve L
I'll add that I guess they figured the target audience would be confused with Roman numerals any higher...
@Steve L
No, no! “I am what I am” was that celebratory song from La Cage aux Folles ;-)
https://youtu.be/T4VMudwlVEU
Shakespeare ( via as Viola) said “I am not what I am”
2
This was a LARK and RICHLY colloquial. It was right in the pocket for me, and, looking at the other comments, I see I'm not alone. Still, it gave me enough of a tussle to satisfy the Friday fights I look for.
My favorite answers were FOR THE WIN, FLAT BROKE, and IMPRIMATUR (yes it is a great word, Deb!), and the trickiest clue for me was [Metric unit] for IAMB. That is one elegant misdirect.
So little junk, and lively as a Robyn Weintraub Friday, this was a CHOICE offering. Thank you, gents!
6
Deb, Deb, Deb (insert eye roll) - your comments on 34A - all the clues have a capital letter at the beginning. The constructors write the clues this way deliberately, and I suspect Will catches them if they don’t, so we don’t know if the first word of a clue is a proper noun or not. FWIW, I also thought BROKER before I got SMOKER, having given up the habit many, many years ago. Overall, a happy solve on a Friday morning!
2
Hi BST,
That's what's known as a veiled capital clue, which I cover in the "How to Solve" guide. It's deliberately hidden as the first word in a clue so that solvers can't tell if it is, indeed, a proper noun or not.
Hope your eyes recover soon. :)
5
Hi Deb,
As long as you're up, could you ask IT to get all of the comments to appear?
Thanks!
3
@Barry Ancona It's been reported, thanks.
Roman clue of the day:
13D What might a carpenter do with a pair of irregular studs?
1
@Puzzlemucker
I don't know. That might lead to a different sort of movie altogether...
1
Nice one. My favourite clue was metric measure ( IAMBIC indeed!), with Shakespearean resonances ( David Tennant, Duncan). As for ARMADAS, and EAT IT UP, permit me to show you a skit from Blackadder, with Queen Elizabeth, and the famous line (well, famous here): “your fiancé was only a third rate sailor, but a first rate second course”.
https://youtu.be/XfTdnWLMLDA
3
TIL a new response for retirees to the “what do you do?” question. I’m FUNEMPLOYED! Love it!
6
Once I got Viagra,it really fleshed out...
7
No surprise there, given the way VIAGRA points straight up at READY ROOM MATHLETES ARISEN
6
Don't make me separate you two.
11
CHAIRBOGA..... and I thought it was another form of Tae Bo....
6
I had previously asked about the cutoff for finishing a daily puzzle as it pertains to one's streak. My original query was if the cutoff for my streak was midnight EST or whether it was midnight PST. I just completed Thursday's puzzle at 12:40 AM and my streak is still intact. This would suggest that the 12 AM EST cutoff is not in effect. I would like to know the official rule. Thanks and blessings to you all!
1
My understanding is that the deadline was changed a few years ago to be fixed at midnight Pacific Time, and thus giving East Coast solvers until 3 a.m. to complete the puzzle.
2
@Joe Kelley,
I can't explain what you've described. Here is the official rule (#23 in the FAQs):
"Streaks reflect the number of consecutive Crossword puzzles solved before midnight on their publication dates (Eastern time) without using Check or Reveal."
FAQs, https://nyti.ms/2tdxtvQ
1
@Henry Su
My guess: The FAQS (which I never knew existed until you linked) are still living in 2016.
1
Despised David TENNANT's antic prince Hamlet and Patrick Stewart's smirking Claudius in the RSC production. HAMMY (from another puzzle) indeed.
1
@GrumbleGritz I was disappointed by Cumberbatch's Hamlet on the operatic set and Stewart's Macbeth in a modern dictatorship. Can't remember who played DUNCAN though. And I'm just going to cram BAKER in to all Doctor Who clues :-)
Surprisingly easy for a Friday, finishing at half my average time, and given that I struggled mightily on Thursday's puzzle (missing that "GO" in several answers really screwed up my line of thinking for a while). It's almost as if Will Shortz felt slightly bad about the trickier clues from Thursday's puzzle.
But I agree with Deb: it was a fun fill all the way through, with almost no awkwardness (SAWII was probably the only one, because the cluing was identical to when it showed up in older puzzles). One can hope Saturday's will be just as smooth.
Because I was thinking of a TV show rather than a building, my sticking point was "chair boga", which I figured was some exercise system I had never heard of.
2
@zzDoug
That kept me from finishing in close to record time.
@zzDoug
In Friday and Saturday puzzles, the trickiness and difficulty level is almost always in the cluing, not the entries. You may never have heard of CHAIR YOGA, but you've heard of CHAIR and you've heard of YOGA, and you can put the two together.
If you've never heard of BOGA, there's a reason for that. Either way, the crosses should help. Although I did put in NYC, gave some thought to NBC, decided to take out the center letter and see what developed. So, _OGA pointed to Y being better than B.
3
@Steve L
Although sometimes the reason for never having heard of something is . . . that I've never heard of that particular thing, which does actually exist!
I tried NBC, then thought, oh wait . . . and switched to NYC.
4
and Elke
Cannot say that this puzzle was NOT COOL.
Seems a mini theme is KEYED IN : LOVE LETTER, then TINY crosses VIAGRA and sure enough ARISEN provides the MIRTH.
Liked SOULS for 13A: subjects for saving, not LODES of gold. And parts of a leg :TOE KNEE ,IAMB and SOLE.
Andrew: Canajun clue 54D : HAT for Medicine Hat ,Alberta.
PS-wonder whether this post will disappear by tomorrow, like yesterday's.
4
@Robert, @Andrew and Elke,
Here is my Canadian corner clue submission:
8D - "Black Velvet" singer, 1989
2
@Robert and/or Elke
Thanks for the clue idea. I had three nominees otherwise:
50A Vancouver Island town
38D Toronto in mid-July
34A René Lévesque, e.g.
3
@Henry Su
Good one! I am ashamed to say that that one would have stumped me.
1
Unusually easy for a Friday. Two standard deviations below average solution time.
2
ABE was my ENTREE into this one. FUNEMPLOYED next to FLAT BROKE? NOT COOL...unless maybe if you were a Millennial and didn't really care. My version CHAIR YOGA is the kind that's in my mind (great for MATHLETES!) as I KEYED IN and EDITed the LOVE LETTERs to fill with great MIRTH this RICHLY constructed puzzle with its LODES of CHOICE IDIOM. This one SKEWed toward the easy side; I came well under my Friday average FOR THE WIN. The SOLE no-know was WADIS.
2
Got stuck on "perfect"--was pronouncing it like it was A(-)ONE, not per-FECT and HONE
1
I had AONE as well. One of many first-pass errors for me today.
1
@ImmodestyBlaise
Here's to aONE!
Funemployed & Mathletes were a lotta fun. Smiling here.
One clue seemed iffy - In full measure = richly? Even for a Friday, it seems too far afield.
PFA,
"In full measure" sounds like "abounding" to me, so I'd say RICHLY was fairly clued.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/richly
1
@PFA
For me, "full measure" evokes the phrase:
". . . the last full measure of devotion" from the Gettysburg Address.
I know cigarettes have gotten pretty expensive, but can a SMOKER walk into a convenience store and buy a Camel? Or does he have to go to a Camel auction?
Was this a puzzle, free association, or hebephrenic etymology?
Can anyone tell?
1
@Jeff Harris
Wasn’t “Hebephrenic Etymology” the sequel to SAW II?
But in answer to your question, are we allowed to choose (d)?
Finally (and in conclusion) to paraphrase the great mustachioed one (GM): The only association I’ll ever join is a free one.
Which reminds me of a story about Abbie Hoffman, back when he was a free radical ...
3
When I was in elementary school, older kids hired by DUNCAN would hang around the school yard showing off their yo-yo skills to get us to want to buy them. Kind of like drug dealers.
16
@Wags
"Kind of like drug dealers."
Kind of. But what a slippery slope we have descended. If only our kids were still getting addicted to yo-yos...
1
@Wags
My brother and I had a pretty decent Duncan Yoyo collection at one time. My yoyo skills were pretty
much: sleeping, walking the dog, around the world, over the falls, and rock the baby.
1
@Wags
Spent a few years in America as a kid, and today the word DUNCAN, that I thought I didn't know, suddenly brought an image of a red and yellow yo-yo to mind, with a golden butterfly on it, and the word Duncan. A strong association unconsciously retained from way back. Funny!
10
I agree with Deb; Messrs. Guzzetta and Hawkins did a great job packing this puzzle with high quality fill and very little glue.
And it would not be fair to call this a themeless Friday; I thought hard work, luck, and fortune were very much the theme here. Consider the vertical stacking of FUNEMPLOYED alongside FLAT BROKE in the NW and the vertical stacking of CLAIM TO FAME alongside FOR THE WIN in the SE.
Then you have CHAIR YOGA in the SW for those who have to spend a lot of time at the desk and a READY ROOM in the NE for those who are always on the GO (remnant of yesterday).
I also enjoyed the symmetrical placements of EMERIL and RICHLY (i.e., food), ARMADA and TENNANT (think Royal Navy Admiral William Tennant of Dunkirk fame), and the yin and yang of EAT IT UP and NOT COOL.
Bravo!
5
Edit: It should be ARMADAS (plural).
@Henry Su
A great example of flyspecking one's work. You know that the habit has become ingrained when used even here. Bravo.
1
@Al in Pittsburgh,
(Grin.)
1
meaty puzzle today -- I could EAT IT UP!
2
It felt like an odd solve to me--I felt like I wasn't accomplishing much, but then whole sections would fill in. The top half seemed to go faster, with BONHAM and ARMADAS and MYLES and IRENE and READY ROOM. But then the bottom half filled in pretty fast, too, with TENNANT and VIAGRA and SURFS and EAR OF CORN. Maybe it was all the bits in between that took longer! although IDIOM was my actual last fill (even though I suspected WADIS early on). Enjoyed it a lot.
3
@Liz B wrote: "It felt like an odd solve to me--I felt like I wasn't accomplishing much, but then whole sections would fill in."
I'm curious -- what do you think of the relatively recent feature in the online crossword -- the star that briefly pops up when you are a halfway and three-quarters done? How well does its appearance match your sense of progress?
I find that most of the time when the half-way star pops up, I don't feel like I'm really half done with the grid. There always seems to be too much white space left. Especially if I find I'm struggling a little with some of the clues.
Or maybe when it comes to crosswords, I'm just a grid half empty kind of guy.
7
@Henry Su
My sentiments exactly!!
I do appreciate the encouragement, though I feel somewhat abashed about it, like I’m solving with training wheels on. I am always surprised, often verging on startled disbelief, when the half-done star pops up. All in all, I’d rather have it than not.
1
@Henry Su
At first I found the stars annoying. Now I just ignore them.
1
Great words, but now I wish we could have gotten more of the original clues, per the constructors’ note. Played a bit too easy for a Friday, more than four minutes under my average.
5
I enjoyed my time as a Mathlete in high school competitions. Our school was city champions for a good stretch, thanks to a great teacher who prepared us well. I was happy to see Mathletes in the puzzle.
Lark took me a while but also gave me a smile --
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tovh5FpwAho
Aaron Copland wrote this in 1938 on a poem by Genevieve Taggard
http://www.umbrellajournal.com/spring2008/poetry/ChristinaPacosz.html
which for both poet and musician cast the potential of a new day into the darkness of the Great Depression and the storm clouds of gathering war.
7
@David Connell
Really lovely, David. Thank you.
Shock ears, and stun our eyes,
Singing the day-rise, the day-rise, the great day-rise...
1
@David Connell
I’ve quickly become obsessed with this poem, especially because of the historical backdrop that you provided, which adds such depth to its deceptively simple lines. Below is a link to a spoken reading, and the full poem written out. I don’t think the reader is Genevieve Taggard. I did find another site with a scratchy recording of her reading this and other poems, but it’s not as pleasing because it is scratchy. As I said, I’ve become quickly obsessed. If anyone cares to listen, once the page opens, hit the “Play” icon and wait a few moments for the spoken poem to load and begin:
http://voetica.com/voetica.php?collection=2&poet=682&poem=4802
Also, the line is:
Shock ears and stun our eyes,
(No comma after ears)
3
@Puzzlemucker - I have had the pleasure of teaching and conducting the Copland setting many, many times over the past thirty years or so. There's always a digging in on the part of the singers, who initially resist the very simplicity (not that the music is simple) of expression in it.
The solo part is sweetly sung in the linked recording by a tenor, which does not fully serve Copland's intention or Taggard's voice. He wrote the solo part for a baritone voice, which would be deeper and less lyrical, a voice that would be working much harder for those high f-sharps and would be warmly at home on the low Cs. I'm sure there are other recordings to listen to if you get a chance.
Both the poem and the music are essentially American, and come out of the 1930s like a freight train of promise. Add a reading of some Odets and you've captured an era as vividly as can be.
3
David TENNANT saved me. Without him, I was toast, as was my streak. Big Boardchurch fan, but never saw Dr. Who. But knew he was (a) Who because of Broadchurch.
“Millah!” Thank you, David!
6