The perfect theme for the movie fan in me. I knew “Face/Off” instantly, but when it didn’t fit, I waited for a few crosses to help me figure out the trick. Well done, Mr. Adams!
This may not be appropriate because it is about yesterday’s puzzle and comments but I was baffled by @Lorne’s dismay with a “new solver” for having criticized the inclusion of a certain book title as an entry. As Andrew and David C pointed out in response there was no such comment in Wordplay. It mystified me. Then I read Rex Parker’s blog last night about the Weds puzzle (I do sometimes read him despite having denounced his negativity; I am a hypocrite). That solved the mystery, I think. A commenter took issue with LOLITA as an entry, among other criticisms of the puzzle.
Just reporting this in case anyone else was perplexed by this as I was. Not to stir up any new controversy but simply to report my find.
4
@Puzzlemucker
Thanks. That does explain it, but it would have been nice for @Lorne to explain it himself. I took a look over there, and sure enough there were a few complaints about LOLITA and IVANA, which clears up why Trump, Rex, and book titles were in @Lorne's post.
2
(eighteenth deleted response)
4
@Andrew
After I posted I actually flagged my own comment as Off Topic. Didn’t work. I don’t know how many Flags it takes to remove a comment or whether the emus ignore a commenter flagging their own comment. They probably just thought to themselves: This guy has issues. Ignore him.
3
Hmmmm??
Isn’t it a stretch to call three slashes and a revealer word a “theme”?
The intersection of 39 and 55 should be a slash. Auto check gives the letter “s” . Must be an error.
It's impossible to enter non-alpha characters from the limited keyboard of the Android app therefore it is impossible to solve this puzzle. Please keep that in mind in the future.
I thought the same at first, but if you hit the button to enter a rebus you can access the full regular keyboard
2
I entered slash as rebus on android app, no issues.
1
I was fairly confident with VICTOR VICTORIA and HE SHE, but was unsure of the slash mark. I was very energized to see SLASHER FILM and confirmation of the slash!
Wonderful Thursday puzzle and nicely tricked out!
:-)
6
I loved the movies answers and the revealer! And my fastest Thursday ever!
5
Timely: SXSW just ended (thankfully!) and the NIT just started ("My" team, not invited to the big dance, at least won its first game).
As many others, I stumbled on SAOIRSE, but "O" was the only sensible letter. (Afterwards, I flashed on a memory of it in an earlier puzzle.)
Was going to complain about 29D (Who buys golf tees at airports?!) until ... Doh!
Super -- HE/SHE crossing VICTOR/VICTORIA.
Experience with Xwords pays: AREOLAE, SAOIRSE, TATAMI, HRE OED, etc.
Nice *rebus* puzzle, Mr. Adams! Just wish there could've been more slashes.
3
3/21/19 puzzle: those are not dashes, they are hyphens!
1
Thursday is screwing me up. Hyphens, dashes, tomato, tomahto. I used mad dash rather than slasher as my clue. I misspoke AND mispuzzled
2
Semi-OT. A list of several answers in a Sunday puzzle from 1962. I suspect I wouldn't have successfully solved this one:
UCALEGON
SCHOENOBATIST
HYPOCORISMS
POGONOTROPHY
SKIAPOD
AICHMOPHOBIA
HANSWURST
CHICHEVACHE
DEIPNOSOPHIST
LULLILOO
(spellcheck doesn't seem to recognize any of those)
But at least they weren't pop culture.
10
@Rich in Atlanta - Fake words!
1
"But at least they weren't pop culture."
Rich,
Well, actually...
https://wepa.unima.org/en/hanswurst/
@Rich in Atlanta
That puzzle is a great rebuttal for those who complain that today's puzzles have too much pop culture.
I assume that these words were more commonly known 57 years ago...but perhaps not.
1
Not my fastest-ever Thursday, in part because I solved it on my phone, but very, very easy. VICTOR/VICTORIA was a dead giveaway. Hopefully we will get something more challenging this weekend.
That was pretty unsophisticated for a Thursday rebus puzzle. I started with ARI and ended with TEA ... the NE corner took awhile because of a Gaelic name, a Latin music notation and two separate arcane colloquialisms (TOT UP ... really?) were very tricky to tease out.
I liked the overall effect though, definitely a good puzzle.
Thanks!
3
Michael,
I’m guessing the “Latin music notation” that you mention is the answer for 12D, ARR. I took that to be the abbreviation for “Arranged by”, followed by the name of the arranger, often used when a difficult piece is rewritten into a simpler form for beginning students.
6
@NYC Traveler
Speaking of music, go play the Google Doodle for today. Give it a melody and it will use AI/Neural Nets to create Bach-like 4-part harmony. Kewl.
7
Michael,
You TEASED OUT TOT UP, didn't you, though? And if "Spill the TEA" was the other "arcane colloquialism," there's more to even Minneapolis than you know.
2
Loved this puzzle! I got the theme as soon as I got to FROST/NIXON and I was like oooh its gotta be about SLASHER FILMs. The only revealer I wasn't familiar with was VICTOR/VICTORIA, but the fill/cluing all around was generally good enough that I could easily get it in the crossings.
The only areas I really struggled with were the southwest corner and RETINA/NIT. I'm sports-illiterate so I have no idea what NIT is referring to and the clue for RETINA (while perfect valid for a Thursday) just wasn't clicking with me.
@Caitlin NIT is the National Invitational Tournament for college basketball. At one time, more known than the NCAA tournament, but now seen as a "consolation prize" for not getting in the NCAA.
4
@Caitlin
My DHubby had to help me with that one, as I had no clue (and knew NBA was NOT the answer.)
This was one of my fastest Thursdays. If I didn’t have to take the time to put in all those / it might have been a record.
2
As a former Austinite one thing I do not miss is working downtown during the insanity of SXSW. Good luck trying to make a MAD DASH to find a place to eat lunch.
Fun puzzle overall. I knew two of the films, but VICTOR/VICTORIA was new to me. Guess I'll have to add it to my list. HE/SHE seems perfectly fine to me, after all the clue doesn't imply that those are the only third person pronouns.
To paraphrase Bill Belichick, we're on to Friday.
1
Thomas,
Without respect to whether HE/SHE is "fine" or not, please note from the singular clue that the entry is the single word "he/she," not the offer of two (of several) third person pronouns "he" and "she."
2
@Barry Ancona
random memories of youthful indiscretions, I had a teacher who use s/he as her/his preferred pronoun. Yet s/he didn't like my use of huperchild instead of man (man--> human, human has man, --> huperson has son, --> huperchild).
3
Hilarious!!
1
I have a friend whose son is named Saoirse, so I got that right away and it really helped! (and I love Saoirse Ronan)
2
@Mary Beth - that's a little unusual, isn't it? It's not a unisex name. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saoirse_(given_name)
It's a grammatically feminine name because it is an abstract noun - all Indo-European abstract nouns are grammatically feminine. It doesn't keep the word from being used as a name for a male person.
Just go to "Liberty (disambiguation)" on Wikipedia to see that half of the Liberty's named there are male, half female, despite the fact that the word "liberty" is historically grammatically feminine, and equivalent to Saoirse.
3
@David Connell - Thanks for that explanation. I have no idea about how the name is normally given. But I wonder if it is generally predominantly given to one sex vs. the other.
okay, I get it, but what goes in the 3 rebus boxes? slasher, the back slash or forward slash symbol, the word slash? nothing's working...
Mike,
Depending upon format, apparently either the [forward] slash or the letter S or the rebus SLASH or...
1
@Mike
On my online solve, the rebus box was not needed. I actually entered three hyphens first (thinking hyphens were used in the film titles) but got no credit for solving with everything else right. Then I realized what SLASHERFILM was mandating--I know, duh. Typing the backslash into those three spaces over the hyphens without clicking REBUS first worked to get credit for a solve.
I liked this puzzle. I too struggled with the SAOIRSE corner of the puzzle and had to look that name up.
@Barry Ancona
Oh yeah, thanks, that punctuation is properly termed a forward slash, not a backslash.
What a difference a slash can make! Without it 39D would have led to this Canadian horror...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig9aeTrfZSQ
It was great to see RCA VICTOR/VICTORIA.
And TEA, TEES, and TEASED gave me an idea for a theme puzzle of my own...
Two minutes for SLASHING...
4
“Spill the tea” is a thing? “Spill the beans” I know, but “spill the tea” is a new one. Sounds like a waste of a good beverage to me.
8
It’s a phrase the kids are using these days. (I picked it up from the teenagers in my house.)
2
Louisa T,
And the teenagers in your house would have picked it up from television (if not directly from the gay and/or drag and/or black communities).
4
Certainly the teens heard it somewhere! I’m in a group that is among the last to know.
2
When a “-“ gets MAD, does is go askew, like a “/“? A pseudo revealer at 1A?
Good puzzle. Would have been great if the slash crosses were thematically parallel. Super great if all the films were actually slasher films.
:-/
5
@Jason - or if the Guns N Roses guitarists were in them.
1
:-)
J-J-J-JJason? Is that y-you, Jason?
Wow. Liked it a lot but did trip over a nut -- had kona and skip in lower left corner and couldn't remember the festival -- blame that on a senior moment.
I found myself not running with the herd this time -- had dash instead of slash. That works too.
I join the butterscotch crowd. If I ever saw it so colored I would alert the board of health and clear the diner. OMG.
8
We're coming up on the end of March, aren't we? Browsing SLASHer titles in Wiki, TIL:
In the Irish Calendar, THE OLD COW DAYS/THE DAYS OF THE BRIDLED COW are the last days of March and the first three days of April; in Irish: Laethanta na Bó Riabhaí.
The term comes from a folk tale, illustrating the unpredictability of the weather at this time of year in Ireland. The tale relates how the bó riabhach, "the brindled cow", complained at the beginning of April to her companions in the herd of the terrible harshness of the previous month of March. As the grumbling of the cow continued, the at first uninterested March began to take umbrage and decided to teach the speckled cow a lesson she would never forget. So March "borrowed" the first three days of April but made them so bitterly cold and miserable that before they were ended the unlucky bó riabhach had died. The purported lesson of the "days of the brindled cow" is that complaining about the harshness of the weather is done at one's peril.
The same story can be found in different versions all over Ireland and Europe in general. '
Someone should have told that Brindled Cow that LOESS is Mooer.
Thanks, Christopher Adams, there wasn't much in your puzzle to Nip/Tuck. If the choice was a doubly entitled grid either/or a rebus, I'd choose both 24/7. You know me, INFER a penny, INFER a pound.
Enjoy y'alls' Thursdays, TATA MI Amigos!!
9
@Leapfinger - All of your cows were properly brindled except the one at the head, in all caps! BRIDLED eeek, BRINDLED, that's the ticket.
1
@David Connell
I’m making an UNBRIDLED exception, hee hee!!
(Had to runoff for a dental date, which will remain enameless)
4
Had a blast with this puzzle, particularly since I’m a big horror film fan. (No, I’m not a serial killer.)
That said, is it me or have Thursdays for the past three or four months gotten markedly easier? I’ve been playing for about five years, so maybe I’ve just attained a higher state of crossword consciousness, but I don’t think so.
2
@A
Think so. It happens, but not just.
1
@A This one certainly seemed easier to me.
As the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament begins I am glad that you didn’t forget about the NIT. Go Wolfpack!
3
@Greg Melahn
Lots of local teams in both tournaments! Sorry to see NC Central fall so soon, but they'll be back!
3
The ASIDES, TACO, TOT UO trio suggested VICTORIA, and then I entered VICTOR and had a space left over.....hmm, cha-ching! And SLASHER FILM (I have NOT watched any of those) let me know that HUMUS is not "good earth" and LITHE for 35D had to go away as well.
I guess this felt a little flat for me because there were only 3 themers and the Reveal....which should be plenty, but we are used to being spoiled. After all, there might not be any other movie titles that include a SLASH.
Checked XwordInfo and Christopher Adams has a photo, which means extra points for making the effort. And, as Jane Austen observed, it is well for a young man to be handsome if he possibly can.
5
@Mean Old Lady I count six. : )
@Al in Pittsburgh
I tutor in remedial math sometimes...
As one of those people who did take issue with HE/SHE as clued, it gives me great pleasure to see the commentary in this post and to know it’s being thought about.
What a great cherry on top to a fantastic puzzle!
2
saoirse Ronan is an excellent actress and here on SNL she explains her name. https://youtu.be/9xCr6IQtYqk
3
Clever idea! This would have been easier for me if I'd remembered that these movies all had a slash. But I didn't, so all I knew was that VICTOR VICTORIA and FROST NIXON were one letter too short. I also didn't have a clue how Ronan's last name was spelled. And I was thinking of MOB RUSH before MAD DASH at 1A. But all of it got TEASED OUT eventually and I had a very good time.
No time to read y'all this a.m. Hopefully I'll catch up tonight. The workers are overhead right now -- no hammering yet, but a lot, a lot of thumping of furniture. Bye.
3
"...no hammering yet, but a lot, a lot of thumping of furniture."
Nancy,
Likely the old kitchen cabinets coming out. There will be a bit of sledge-hammering (and a sawzall, if your building permits it) for that new kitchen door, but with new kitchen and bath (tile?) floors and new cabinetry and fixtures, I wouldn't expect much hammering.
1
@Nancy
Ronan IS the last name; SAIORSE is the first name. It's sorta pronounced SIR-shuh.
It's actually a fairly common Irish name for girls. Another is SAOIRSE-Monica Jackson of the Netfix series, Derry Girls, which is quite funny, considering it's a sitcom set in Northern Ireland during the "troubles".
(Steve L, Nancy will have learned Ronan is the last name reading Deb's column post-post.)
Loved loved loved the slashes in films and crosses!
They gave me a delightfully naughty sense of breaking rules, safely.
Now, at the very start, before I cracked the SLASHes, I had The sound of Music instead of VICTOR /VICTORIA and not only did it fit the squares but also crossed with my two verticals, CSI and ALOES. The beauty of coincidences! ( or do they do it on purpose? ). Do they?
TIL só much:
That the KOLA nut, the source of Coca Cola name, and used initially in its production, originated in Africa, and is used now in the production of Cafeine.
That REFIS stands by refinance!
That HRE, the Holy Roman Empire, lasted until the Napoleônic wars ( I probably should have known that! But I guess not many of you know that the whole court of Portugal flee to Brasil to avoid the Napoleon and stayed from 1808 until 1872, and during that time Brasil was the seat of the Portuguese Empire? Ok, you did, sorry. )
SXSW: from their website it must be a very exciting festival!
8
Actually, I know very little of Portuguese history, so this was very edifying, thank you!
4
@Laura Rodrigues in London
Crosswords with multiply acceptable entries can indeed be devilish, so they do happen. OTOH it's a good thing those are not easy to buildup.
1
@Laura Rodrigues in London - the bit about Portugal reminds me that last year I learned that Queens, NY was named after Queen Catherine of Braganza, wife of King Charles II, was the daughter of the king of Portugal and was credited with bringing TEA-drinking to the British. Brits now rank among the top TEA drinkers per capita in the world (third after Turkey and Ireland, apparently). British love of TEA was a factor in the Opium wars, and also led to establishment of TEA plantations in Darjeeling.
2
Snailly and H. Pencil are starring in a low budget documentary: Yes You Err. They wanted to do a remake of 3 Faces of Err but no one will work with them.
Figured out the little trick early on. Had to check my spelling of Irish names but other than that a smooth solve.
1
The only sure thing I had at first was the Julie Andrews movie, and when I was one letter short, and knowing it to be Thursday, I knew that something was up.
By the end I was ready to join the "why doesn't the stupid app accept my forward slash?" crowd, and it took me forever to finally see that I had entered "SPOT" instead of "SLOT" at 63A. The 54D nut was unknown to me.
I am not at all a fan of so-called SLASHER FILMS. I have always found it strange that millions and millions of people seek out this sort of "entertainment" and then are shocked and outraged when this horrible stuff happens in the real world. Quite a disconnect.
6
@Andrew I think the link between violent movies and real world violence is EXTREMELY tenuous, considering violent crime is on the decline globally, and people have been absolutely horrible to each other since the dawn of time. I mean, we used to burn people at the stake because they were suspected of being witches. And have you SEEN medieval torture methods?
4
@Chris Finlay
I didn't intend to go to far down this road, and I know that there are all sorts of statistics to support whatever point one wishes to make. I do find it strange that Jack the Ripper was such an anomaly in his time that a whole legend was created around him. Now such behaviour has become so commonplace that it has become entertainment.
Whatever the statistics say, I don't think that giving a sick mind unfettered access to the most graphic and depraved media 24 hours a day should make us surprised or shocked when things happen in reality.
7
Truly awful puzzle today. Don’t like the slash. Puzzle accepted FacesOff instead of Face/Off. Normally I love the puzzle but today made me almost delete the app. One of the few Thursday’s where I actually got all the answers so it wasn’t about difficulty.
"Puzzle accepted FacesOff instead of Face/Off."
Lacey,
Presumably because the S of FacesOff is the first letter of SLASH, "the puzzle" accepted the word as well as the true rebus entry (/), and "the puzzle" accepts the first letter of a squish rebus for the full squish. If you solve on paper, S is not accepted.
5
@Barry Ancona
What?! If you solve on paper as long as you don’t show it to anyone else, everything’s accepted. Just depends on how open-hearted you are.
10
@Barry Ancona
You must have some of that new embedded chip AI-enabled "smart" paper. Coming soon.
2
Letter Boxed
Took longer than I wanted—head slap!
B - G 7
G - S 8
I found B - S (8) S - T (8)
A little less economical
@DH quick for me today.
C-S 5
S-E 9
I thought I could drop the last E on the second word for a pristine solve, but it wouldn't accept it. You might say I was S-T 8
I, too, thought the omission of S-T(7) was unfortunate. But my first solution was B-G(7), G-N(7)
I found this a rather enjoyable crossword, certainly with an engaging theme. My biggest speed bump was SAOIRSE, whom I've never heard of, and whose proximity to the theme entry VICTOR/VICTORIA convinced me for a while that it had something to do with the theme, but no: it's just an unusual name.
Likewise, I don't know who DR ROMANO is, but that came easily with the crossings. And although they often give me trouble, I'm always very happy to see such current pop culture in the puzzles--they're evidence that the crossword is very much alive and thriving in a changing world, and that it is itself meant for the masses.
I wish I could be at the crossword tournament this weekend! It sounds like an absolute blast and I hope someday I'll be able to make it there! Best of luck to everyone! I know I'll enjoy reading your posts, Deb.
Thanks for the nice Thursday crossword, Mr Adams! Happy Thor's Day, Everyone!
:-c)€
8
Highly recommend watching Lady Bird and Brooklyn. She’s a wonderful actor.
6
A clever theme idea, and I like the mini forward-slash/backslash made by the black squares in rows five and six. The grid is clean, and the cluing, as with yesterday's puzzle, easy for the day, IMO. I went bLUe➛GLUM, and shah➛AMIN, and didn't know the doctor, but otherwise, it was a smooth and fun ride, with a lovely happy-flash when the theme hit me.
The theme got me thinking about forward and backward slashes, which got me wondering when backslashes were used, which led me to finding out that back slashes are also called hacks, whacks and bashes. And here's a new fact of the day for me (but certainly not for @HAL and maybe many of you): Another word for forward slash is "virgule" (and a backslash is also called a reverse virgule). VIRGULE -- coming to a weekend crossword puzzle, no doubt, up the road.
3
@Lewis virgule = comma en français.
3
And now I see it did show up in 1989 and 1995 NYT puzzles.
The slash is also called a solidus, which is my favorite name for it.
3
Almost a new best, by 30 seconds. Luckily, my love of movies made this one easy for me. I knew the title of the Travolta/Cage movie FACE/OFF, and was puzzled when there was an extra box. I thought, "OK, I'll come back to this". When I saw the clue for 45A, I already had the two Ms. The a-ha came. It's a Thursday, I thought, so of course the Slash character should go there, as it fit both the D and A entries. Fun!
The grid must have been a bear to construct, finding phrases with slashes that would fit the crossings. I was totally cool with some of the odd fill, especially in the SW corner. On a final note, some day I will remember how to spell SAOIRSE Ronan's first name!
4
@Steve Faiella
Try this:
Speaking As One Irish Rose She's Emotive
or:
SAvOIR - v + SE
4
Alan J,
I just remember "You can't spell it."
6
@Alan J
OTOH she''ll never get a speeding ticket.
2
I was doubly surprised this morning. First, surprised that I was able to finish this and second, that so many folks found this one easy. I 'knew' all of the film titles, but none of them dawned on me just from the clues and after a first pass I didn't have a whole lot of anything filled in. Finally caught on with enough crosses to suggest 17a, but that didn't exactly open a floodgate for me.
There were at least three sections where I was thinking, "I'm never going to get this," and then I would just take a deep breath, think of possibilities for various short answers, see if they might work with the longer unknowns (at least as clued), try something else, etc. etc. and somehow I managed to work my way through.
Clever puzzle and a good workout.
8
Interesting week so far, Monday and Tuesday more difficult than usual, Wednesday and today easier, or at least not as tricky as Thursday's can be. Even with my poor film knowledge I got the theme at 17A. I was hoping my Across Lite rebus/symbols thingie would have a slash, but no such luck; however, as Deb suggested a single S worked as it turned out. Didn't get how the non film slashes worked until AC/DC.
Clever and fun theme and a nice change, so no complaints about the relative easiness.
4
Agree on the Monday/Tuesday vs. the Wednesday/Thursday comparison. Kind of an upside-down week. Tomorrow frightens me already!
1
@Tom Wild, I was thinking the same about Friday.
This puzzle reminded me of Kordell Stewart AKA SLASH:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kordell_Stewart
3
SPELLING BEE
Rdghloy
27 words, 116 points, 1 pangram
D x 8, G x 6, H x 4, L x 5, O x 2, R x 2
4L x 10, 5L x 9, 6L x 5, 7L x 1, 8L x 1, 9L x 1
4 5 6 7 8 9 Tot
D 2 4 2 - - - 8
G 3 2 1 - - - 6
H - 1 1 - 1 1 4
L 1 2 1 1 - - 5
O 2 - - - - - 2
R 2 - - - - - 2
Y - - - - - - -
Tot 10 9 5 1 1 1 27
Pts 10 45 30 7 8 9 +7 = 116
Insomnia + California time + fairly straightforward small Bee led to my posting the grid for the first time. Hopefully I haven't screwed up any of the counts.
26
Solvers will find it maddening that the Beekeeper knows about one state of matter but not another.
3
@Henry Su thanks for the grid! and so early too!
1
@Henry Su
...nor about the study of certain land forms.
1
Very quick--record Thursday time and less than half my average. Only had to change MADRUSH to MADDASH (and TOTUP was unfamiliar but I went with it). The theme clues came easily, and so did the fill.
5
@Steven T Same here! VICTOR/VICTORIA is what sealed it for me!
1
Oh my, very clever and a delight to solve! Bravo!
2
and Elke
Had to make a MAD DASH through this puzzle. Had just finished listening to a whole megillah about how a guy named Haman, sort of pronounced like AMIN, needed the RIOT ACT , and more, read to him.
One can drown out his name, whenever said aloud , with all sorts of noisemakers.
Time for Hamantaschen ; Sameach Purim.
4
Did anyone else have problems in terms of the puzzle signaling that it was solved? (The little time plays and the timer stops) I finally looked at the answer sheet to see if I have something wrong and nope, I don’t. I was on my longest streak too, so it’s disappointing. Any suggestions?
The little music plays and the timer stops
Never mind, I did have a typo after all.
3
@AM
Hope it was not at 55A. Glad you got it straightened out.
My fastest Thursday ever!
(Way faster than Tuesday which was more like a Wednesday... Are we supposed to experience, on either side of the first day of spring, “in like a lion/out like a lamb” ?)
2
For those who would like to pursue the theme further, I recommend Carol Clover's scholarly treatment of slasher films: Men, women, and chainsaws (Princeton University Press, 1992)
4
@Fact Boy
Chainsaws????
A fast Thursday solve. Because I didn't get to the SE until the end, I figured out the theme with FROST/NIXON and AC/DC. Like Jeff Chen, I didn't remember FACE/OFF having a slash, and I had VICTORIA but not VICTOR at that moment.
I had no trouble with SAOIRSE Ronan's name. I've been a big fan of hers since "The Lovely Bones" (2009), "Hanna" (2011), and "The Host" (2013). Because her name is so unusual, it's one that has stuck in my mind. Here's a clip of her explaining pub lock-ins to Jimmy Fallon, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=938Q8uBpR5k. Interestingly, she was born in the Bronx.
The crossings for the all of the film themers can be viewed as switches -- HE to SHE, AC to DC, AM to FM, and vice versa. I like the parallelism and I think it ameliorates the concern that the constructor expressed about 7D.
Nice job, Mr. Adam!
5
Edit: "Mr. Adams."
Maybe I’m more prudish than I like to admit, but “colorful circles”?
1
I think it’s a reference to eyes rather than nipples...
5
Butterscotch is not orange. Oranges are orange. Pumpkins are orange. Tangerines are orange. Soldiers of Orange are orange. The color of Northern Ireland is orange. Trump is orange. Butterscotch is butterscotch.
32
@Andrew Zucker
Couldn’t agree more. Also who says TOT UP to mean “do math”?
7
@Patrick Kelly I had TOTAL for the longest time
5
@Andrew Zucker
ORANGE butterscotch is for suckers.
7
Great puzzle! There wasn't really that much anxiety over he/she was there? There are a thousand ways to clue that without being insensitive. Hoping you included the discussion in the blog only to cover bases and head off comments...
4
John,
I would have preferred reading the editorial discussion of the cluing of yesterday's TRIBE...
3
A faster-than-usual Thursday solve for me as well. Caught onto the gimmick with AM/FM and AC/DC as did many others. I liked the crossing of VICTOR/VICTORIA with HE/SHE; clever!
Did not know SAOIRSE but got it from friendly crosses. Did not know the swimmer IAN, but figured the answer was THORPE after getting a few of the letters.
I agree that ORANGE for “Like butterscotch” is problematic
The only backtrack was changing LOAMS to LOESS.
Was I actually wishing for a harder Thursday puzzle? Never mind; I’ll take the gimmes when they present themselves.
5
I remembered Ian and that he had a clever nickname, but couldn’t think of his surname. Eventually, with a few crosses, I remembered he was known as the Thorpedo.
2
@Ron O. When 32A started to look like "Thorpe", I was resistant, thinking, "No, he was a decathelete and his first name was Jim." Sigh.
1
@Diana
THORPE is usually clued as a reference to Jim. First time I’ve seen it clued to someone else.
With THORPE as a gimme, W kind of came out, giving a straightforward run until : “Is that really her name?” in NE. That was a definite look-up.
1
Fun and quick. I started in the SE by chance so the theme revealed quickly and while I didn’t know V/V, crosses were easy and I knew the rest of the themers.
Deb—thanks for a nice talk at MPL yesterday evening. Although I think the class was perhaps geared towards folks who don’t frequent the blog or do the puzzle all too often at all, I enjoyed hearing your enthusiasm for puzzle doing, making, and critiqueing. A la “Ratatouille”: Anyone can cook—so anyone can crossword?
P.S. wonder what the class would think about the slashes... ;)
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Hi @Err! Thank you so much for coming, and for saying hi at the end. It's always nice to meet Wordplayers, because it really helps me feel like I'm not screaming into the void. :)
And yes, I believe that, any reading impairments aside, anyone can crossword.
1
Brexit was supposed to be this easy.
14
@Bruvver
Perhaps Christopher Adams and Will Shortz can help?
3
A fast Thursday! Not quite a mad dash, but you should've seen me, I was AGILE, navigating through the SLASHERs.
I was certain the movie was FACE OFF. I didn't remember it with a / between the two words. But when AM/FM made it inevitable, I TEASED OUT the theme is supposed to have the /. After that, VICTOR/VICTORIA came immediately. Everything after was history.
Looking at TATAMI, I wondered if the movie Kill Bill should be considered an actual SLASHER FILM? I mean, there was plenty of SLASHing.
I think Deb's right - butterscotch is more of a tan/light brown, not ORANGE. I don't wanted to be reminded of a small-handed individual when eating butterscotch in the future (drain the MIRE!).
Does anyone every really say TOT UP?
I loved the clue for RETINA.
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@Wen
Weird thing about FACE/OFF. When the movie came out, I remember thinking how odd it was that there was a slash. I thought about it for a while, and to this day, I still don't understand the significance. It stayed with me, though, so it was that and it's AM/FM crossing that gave me the a-ha.
1
@Wen
Does anyone really dish the TEA?
4
@Dag Ryen - no, they usually drink it or spill it.
1
My birthday is 3/21 and my name is in the puzzle! I was having a bad day until now.
46
@Victoria R
Happy birthday! Wishing you a beautiful year ahead!
5
@Victoria R
Happy Birthday, Victoria! I would think finding one's name in the puzzle would indeed lift one's spirits. I don't recall seeing FLOYD very often, but I'll keep looking.
:-c)€
7
@Victoria R Happy birthday! I'm glad your day got better.
3
Slash? How pedestrian! What happened to solidus and virgule? Tsk. Tsk.
Um, the rest of the puzzle was very nice and as always (almost) fun. :=)
@HALinNY
Be glad the puzzle doesn't feature "hashtag".
@Steve L - that would've made it an octoTHORP(e)
2
@Wen ... how did you get that word past the emus? Besides, there was only one so it would be a monoTHORPe or perhaps a uniTHORPe.
Nice to have a little echo of St. Patrick's day with the inclusion of a truly Irish name, Saoirse Ronan. Here's her opening monologue from Saturday Night Live, where she tries to help us with her name, which means "freedom" in Irish Gaelic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xCr6IQtYqk
I liked how another punctuation mark was hinted at with 1A.
Musical partners Mi-re and Re-my at 56D and 58D hit my ear, and I wouldn't mind thinking of 55D as A min(or), too.
10
I loved the /! It was driving me crazy at first, as I couldn't fit "VICTORVICTORIA" in, and I knew that was the movie. And same with "FACEOFF". Fun!
3
Mad rush then a MAD DASH through this puzzle for me. A new PB time for Thursday.
10
I was not as fast as Ian THORPE (or Jim) but i found it a quick, satisfying theme-aided Thursday.
Not sure if AM/FM is BMT for WFC, but for those for whom AM was more than just talk, here’s The Blasters with Border Radio (“50,000 watts out of Mexico”):
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kmaXdkC0zE4
1
@Puzzlemucker re border radio Wall of Voodoo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyCEexG9xjw
or possibly more BYT Steely Dan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1AnvM3udVs
1
@K Barrett
Almost went with Wall of Voodoo’s Mexican Radio. Lots of great radio songs.
I slept with my transistor next to me as a kid. I still associate Bridge Over Troubled Water with falling asleep.
1
@Puzzlemucker back when creating your own playlists in iTunes was a thing I tried making one themed with radio songs. Lots of great radio songs.
1
Fast and fun puzzle! Love when I figure out the trick for myself.
4
Fun puzzle! Cottoned on right away with AM/FM and AC/DC. Loved SAOIRSE Ronan in Brooklyn and Lady Bird -- first name hard to pronounce and harder to spell. Wonderful actress for someone so young.
6