Great idea about this puzzle. I like it. But I a little bit confused, I need to find somebody who can help <a href=https://essays-service.com/write-my-annotated-bibliography.html>write my annotated bibliography for me</a>. If you have some ideas you can write me.
I loved the puzzle. As for me as a professional writer on highschoolgems.com, the theme construction was great and built in an interesting way!
Hated this puzzle. The most difficult answers weren’t clever, just odd.
3
Completed the puzzle without looking anything up and enjoyed it.
Kind of hated "Oh mama" and "yes yes" while figuring them out, but looking at them now, one above the other, tickles me.
I'll bet Tiny Fey wishes the definition for "FEY" had been "author of a musical about to open on Broadway." (Previews start next week.)
Cavils:
1. I would have added "in the UK" to the definition for "ashbin." It's legal, but...ever hear an American use that word? Verbally, in writing, on an embroidery sampler?
2. Like Deb, I dislike the use of three-letter abbreviations for months that need four (Sept) or have no abbreviation (March, April, [May]. June, July). This misuse has become rampant in puzzles and prose. Seems to me that has been the case only over the past decade or so, but I could be wrong.
3. "Cali"? Reali?
4. Oh Deb, please, no: "whomever is doing the LION TAMING isn’t exactly sitting down." No, no, no. This column if no other in the Times needs to get "who" and "whom" right every time. Bunch o' perfectionists. But no. Please fix. Thank you.
1
Oops--Tina Fey, of course--not Tiny.
Oops #2: should have said "Oh Caitlin," not "Oh Deb." Guessing you are younger?
Great puzzle! Just a friendly word from your California puzzlers - hearing our state referred to as CALI is like nails on a chalkboard for most of us. I know it's a common reference on the East Coast, but the sun clouds over for us when we hear it, just like calling San Francisco "San Fran" or, horrors, "Frisco" :-O
You are welcome :o)
2
HAT TIP to the constructor, I really enjoyed this. Didn't even have to Google the two names I didn't know. I'd like to point out that people use HAT TIP online all the time, they just abbreviate it #HT.
1
I’m missing reason for Joni link. Taxi, tree, ??
1
Me too, as in I don't get the Joni link.
I think it’s in the rest of the lyrics, “You pave Paradise, put up a parking lot …”
1
Referring to Bears Ears and the reclaiming of most of the land in the park for oil drilling.
2
Loved this puzzle! The theme construction was brilliant!
ERM, can someone explain PSHAWS to me? Pretty please?
PSHAW is an utterance like "BAH" that is used to express disbelief or disdain.
1
Jess, you were talking about puzzle deadlines yesterday. What I realized only lately is that there is some overlap - i.e. the deadline for solving is not necessarily the same time as the new puzzle's appearance. So on Saturday night we have until either 10 pm or midnight (Eastern time) to solve, even though the Sunday puzzle comes out at 6 pm (Eastern time). That means that on Saturdays you have until either 4 am or 6 am to complete the puzzle. (I hope that doesn't affect your sleep pattern too much!)
1
But don't forget that the USA changes our clock settings next weekend.
2
hard to believe i put in the time for such a pitiful outcome. i mean really, " in thought as much ' is the funny answer??
1
Pensive = "in thought"
Equally = "as much"
I thought it was clever and amusing, no?
4
If you didn't like the *first* themer, David (in Michigan), why did you put in the time to finish the puzzle?
2
My solving experience closely paralleled Caitlin's for this BALOO of a puzzle, especially with that extra N in the common phrase, I THOUGHT AS MUCH. After I had filled in almost all of SINSOMESMALLWAY from the crosses and finally realizing where the breaks came, I suspected from the puzzle title and the added initial S to IN that the theme answers would progressively build up the first word, perhaps to the name of a book or movie character. Even so, the rest of the puzzle was one long string of seesaws, up and down - back and forth to slowly fill in the next aha answer.
My one gimme was LION TAMER, remembering my boyhood days when the circus made its annual visit to downtown Oakland in the 1930s. Thanks, Caitlin, for the link to Clyde Beatty, a well-known name from that era.
2
Here's a suggestion. Deb and company, if you're reading maybe pass this on the the tech people. It would be nice to have a word lock feature so that solvers could lock down an entry in the app. I often have a problem I've read others talk about -- puzzle is completed but there are typos that must be hunted down. I'm forever doing something and putting the odd errant letter into a correct entry. A lockdown feature that could be turned on an off for each entry would permit freezing entries that you know or think are right. Thanks.
9
Fun! My first complete Sunday with no look ups! Got the letters been added and sort of repeating themselves but did not get the relationship
till reading the comment. Scarcity of sports clue was lucky, as son away for the weekend!
6
c o n g r a t u l a t i o n s ! !
: )
Just for the record, while 69D
Food truck menu item is correct since GYRO would be the spelling on the menu, the correct word is "gyros" (pl gyri)
The Tamale Trap!
(kalimera)
3
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gyro
(not the Lattimore translation)
1
Late to the party today, but count me among the enthusiastic fans of this rich puzzle, which held my interest all the way through, into every nook and corner. Saw the theme but didn't fully appreciate its complexity and sophistication until I came here.
BTW, speaking of complexity, sophistication, and enthusiastic fans, that was another Duke-UNC classic last night.
2
Dang that SE corner was murder. I wouldn't know a jungian word for soul if you gave me all but one letter. So for a yoga pose, or a small lean fillet.
1
In my neighborhood, most kids know all three words by pre-K!
3
Smart and fun theme. Often I have to look at the theme entries afterwards to make the connection but this time it clicked early, and helped me solve. NW was stubborn but doable.
Really enjoyed this Sunday, thank you for it!!
My first themer was at the bottom, STARTLINGLINEUP. I did pick up the idea, and it helped with my solve. Didn't hurt that two of them referenced pop music icons. Very impressive construction. HATTIP to Mr. Walden.
Animated rock band Gorillaz made a splash with their debut single "Clint EASTWOOD" in 2001. The lyrics have no apparent connection to the titular personality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UclCCFNG9q4
1
I'll say it again ICU is only the Post-op stop if something went horribly wrong or your horribly sick. Most go to the recovery room or out the door.
11
btw I do know the difference between your and you're. Unfortunately too often my fingers don't.
2
Yes, tensace, we all agree, we all remember the last time you made the same comment, and we all remember that these are clues, so it's legit even if it's not most likely. Can we move forward, and have you suggest the first one or two *better* clues for ICU?
Actually, I'll start. Hoe about:
"Peek-a-boo" response?
2
(I forgot how to spell how)
(You're move)
3
I had to do five lookups for clues I had no clue to, but even that peccadilo was well worth it. I had fun with it.
What was also amusing was the grid even looks like an evil eye.
3 down has a resonance for me: there was a cartoonist -- Jimmy Hatlo -- who did a wonderful bunch of factual and fanciful drawings for newspaper audiences in the first part of Century XX; often he would use contributed ideas mailed in by readers and acknowlidge them in a panel with the words "... and a tip of the Hatlo hat to _______". A lookup on his name is great fun.
2
I just know that Byron Walden is a guy who starts his entries and clues by thinking in this manner: "If I say 'Waste receptacle' and it starts with A, the fools will put in ASHCAN and it will mess up the solve wonderfully!"
Who says PAREN?? [Dead silence] Um-hm, just as I thought.
Who writes CALI?? [No hands go up.] Hah.
IN SHORT before IN A WORD
I put MARLIN in very reluctantly, because I am pretty sure The Old Man caught a BONITO.
So, the only thing that could make this better wd be if the letters spelt out a secret message; maybe next time, Byron?
1
Who says PAREN??
Hand up here on the copy desk.
(Also fingernail)
I saw that PARENthetICAL remark!
PAREN is used as shorthand in computer coding instructions...
CALI is used often enough for California in the NYTXWP that it seems to have eclipsed the citi in COLOMBIA.
1
STHELENA, ASHBIN and STIFFS. Horror GENRE in the Northwest.
1
"STHELENA, ASHBIN and STIFFS"
I believe that was the law office I hired many years ago...
15
Byron Walden = OH BABY, YES YES!!!
3
TMI
..
2
Whoops! OH MAMA (help! Byron's puzzles are so hard and YES YES entertaining and well put together as always. Loved it!
Visions of Johanna's comment's causing the Editor to be rushed to the ICU.
1
I was at first thrown off by the first theme answer, thinking it combined the phrases I THOUGHT AS MUCH and IN AS MUCH (as). Once I eliminated that issue, it flew by beautifully...lots of fun and wondrously creative.
1
You left out another feature of today's theme: the first word of "In Thought As Much" makes a common phrase with the ending part the next themed answer, "Sin Some Small Way." I.E.: "In some small way." The pattern follows all the way through the puzzle. The next themed answer is "Sing of Omission." I.E: "Sin of Omission." And so on all the way through. My only disappointment with this puzzle is that it wasn't circular, meaning that the last answer would connect with the first answer, but that is probably way too much to ask.
5
That’s how I saw the building feature, too. But Caitlin’s explanation also works. Got the theme without coming to Wordplay, but didn’t know EASTWOOd or THE PIANIST, so finally had to turn to Google to finish.
Can someone explain “HIPS” for “handholds while slow-dancing”?
Ummm... a handhold is something for a hand to grip. In certain slow dances that something would be a HIP. Two hands therefore HIPS.
No mystery: when you slow dance with someone, at least one hand is on your partner’s hip.
Maybe I'm still half-asleep, but I don't get it. Are the extra letters supposed to mean something? Thanks.
I was one of those who caught on to the theme in reverse. STARTLING was my first theme answer and I immediately realized the extra letter idea. I was then startled to see STARTING, but after STARING for a few minutes, I was able to grasp the entire brilliant idea. I was then able to fill in the whole STRING of theme entries upwards, (or at least their first words). The only STING was that I was convinced that 47A had to be SING confeSSION. Not realizing my SIN of not keeping an open mind, this made my whole center a mess. IN no way was I able to finish without a little help from Mr. Google.
2
Can someone explain 65-A ATOZ. I’m not getting it. Thanks!
Mark,
A to Z.
(OK?)
We've been watching reruns of the Original Star Trek, brought to us weekly by BBC America. The episode "All Our Yesterdays" (with Mariette Hartley) had a librarian named Mr. Atoz. It is so often a crossword puzzle entry I knew right away he was Mr. A to Z, even though they pronounced it A-toz.
6
I work with someone we called Atoz (pronounced A-to-Z). His original name is Andruszkiewicz. It makes a lot of sense.
6
I didn't get the today's theme until I had completed the whole puzzle using the crosses for the themed answers. When I read the title, I expected "special characters" (like the ones we're supposed to add to our passwords) but when I filled in STARTINGDAGGERS with all the crosses, I abandoned that idea. The rest was pretty smooth, working counter clockwise from SW to NE. And when I finally looked at all the themed answers, the "building" clicked. Thanks, Byron, for an enjoyable puzzle and an interesting theme.
1
Going from I to STARTLING doesn't seem that, well, STARTLING, but finding phrases that start with the last word, make some sense with the new word, don't seem forced, imo, and have the correct correct # of letters? Incredible.
O! Ow! Wow!
6
Oops. One correct was incorrect.
is your first name reductio?
2
I love, love, love ambiguity (as an object of fascination & study, that is):
"One correct was incorrect."
"Two corrects was incorrect."
"One correct was correct." (which one, though?)
Each of these is applicable (though punctuation might be used to make things clearer) to ad absurdum's situation.
3
At last I got the whole theme before coming to the blog. I've had a poor run recently. I began to suspect something with what was my favorite theme answer ( along with Beejay) SINGING IN THE SHOWER. Noticing the addition of one character each time did help with the rest of the theme answers.
This was really impressive construction, and amazingly smooth with such self imposed restrictions.
The long verticals were also great, especially EBENEZER SCROOGE, which had me guessing for a while.
I've been housebound because of the weather for a few days including today, so really appreciated this great puzzle.
5
Having trouble understanding 32 down - how does the clue get you “marm”?
Think of "closing" as *letters or word that could be added to* the end of "School."
(Very dated term for a female teacher)
5
Old westerns like Rifleman, Bonanza, Gunsmoke always had a schoolmarm...youtube even has an episode of Gunsmoke whose title is "The Schoolmarm" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcriTiLNP5U
1
More and more, "regular" crossword clues resemble the kind one used to see only in the Puns and Anagrams and Cryptic Crosswords types. They just sort of...morphed. Will Shortz wrote about them last year:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/28/crosswords/variety-puns-and-anagrams....
Tough puzzle and clever too, though I got the full picture on how clever, only after I read Wordplay. I didn’t know a bunch of names and titles, as usual, but barring RENEE and THE PIANIST, managed to guess the rest. (That was also because I put in SABRE as I am used to that spelling convention). Overall, good fun as the grid filled up, I did it top down, and so the last few theme entries came remarkably easily along with the crosses, compared to the slog at the beginning. I do believe I’m slowly getting a bit better at this thing!
4
Yes, I caught on to the trick (and especially the progression) after staring at some combination of the last three theme answers. And I absolutely needed it to finish this puzzle. Kind of didn't like it at first and then it grew on me. Thought I was doomed more than once, but something would pop into my head and I managed to work it out.
A little story regarding lion tamers. A little company I worked for at one time installed a sprinkler system at the home of Gunther Gebel-Williams somewhere in the Sarasota/Venice area (can't remember exactly) back in the 70's. My boss said that when he went to his home to give him an estimate, that there was a live lion laying on the floor in his living room.
Favorite themer had to be SINGOFOMISSION. On that note: Comment to Richard Harris after listening to his recording of Macarthur Park?
Go and SING no more.
4
I came into the puzzle with trepidation because Byron Walden. But I think the oft-vicious cluer was in a merciful mood, and my solve was relatively smooth for a Walden work. I caught onto the letter-ladder theme midway, and it helped my solve, where STRING gave me STARING, then STARTING and STARTLING. All in all, this puzzle gave me a keep-my-interest lovely experience, and had a stamp of quality. I found that OHMAMA lying atop YESYES to be a STARTLING LINEUP in a rather NEISSE (hi @leapy!) way, NO LIE.
1
and Elke
Had to look at title ('character building') to get the 'trick' . Liked especially STING IN THE SHOWER and STARTLING LINEUP, but really stared a long time at STARING QUARTET- really wanted another R...
Bottom line- while I am B NEG, I can't be NEGative about this puzzle.
1
Am surprised to hear that you B NEG, as you always have A POS comment.
NEISSE to see you back; I was getting ready to worry.
3
and Elke
Leapy- NEISSE of you to think of me ; except for Saturday's puzzle. I try to chime in daily.
My SING OF OMISSION would be Viv who seems to be AWOL....
PS- liked your reference to Costa Farms Orchids recently.
I think TEATIMES was my last fill, too. I got that the theme involved adding one letter (character) to a common phrase after getting the first two long across entries but didn't realize the cool additional feature until I'd finished the puzzle. Took almost exactly my average time for a Sunday. Very clever puzzle!
Off topic: some of my daily "best" stats are wrong because there was a bug for awhile where the app sometimes didn't recognize a correct finish and the only way to get credit was to erase and refill a square. Sometimes that resulted in an absurdly short solve time. Is there a way to reset ones "bests"?
3
I have that "bests" issue too; have emailed support about it three times, they say they will reset if I tell them which dates (which I do), but so far they haven't actually followed through.
I have the same issue, David. My Sunday "best" was absurdly short, so I never knew what my *true* best time was. I contacted support and they deleted that one, but the next "best" time was still absurdly short. I can't think of any way to know which scores to delete except by having them pop up as best time and then asking to have them deleted one by one until the best score seems accurate. So far I haven't bothered to do that, but I think it could be done.
Thanks. Probably not worth the trouble. I'd be happy to just clear my bests for certain days of the week. I think Saturday is the only unbelievable one for me.
Can someone explain 14d? Drama with many fans? NOH?
Thanks
1
Noh is a Japanese style of theater where handheld fans are used as props by each actor.
3
NOH is a type of Japanese theater. The fans would be of the paper, folding type.
3
Hah! I missed the add-a-letter thing and was ready to complain about 23A lacking an S at the beginning. Oh me of little faith... Hand up for PIT STOP. Also I wanted GRAMM with an H, as in the cracker. I don't mean anything by that. GOD NO. Good Sunday challenge.
2
Great theme and really enjoyable puzzle overall!
1
Just bought a new computer, with no NYT puzzle software for .puz files on it, and I can't find a link to it (AcrossLite?) anywhere on NYT website. Anybody have a suggestion?
http://www.litsoft.com/across/alite/download/
3
I visited bridge website Caitlin made link to and believe perhap it not was written by native English speak person. Also I suspect of sites that have no indication of where arisen from. Maybe be care fill with linkings.
Some of us certainly remember Sen. Frist - well, though not necessarily kindly.
I had a great, latish "aha" experience with the puzzle theme; after a few themers appeared, I got the "add a letter" idea - but seeing the whole picture took a bit longer. It did play in my favor, though - I filled the last themer in without crosses. Enjoyed "something completely different."
2
My usual MO for a Sunday puzzle is to wander around. So having no theme answers, it began to come to me at the bottom when I recognized the phrase STARTING LINEUP without the L needed for the clue. Confirmed with the next, heading up and the phrase STARING DAGGERS without the T. I headed up to the next and the next losing a letter as I went. So I worked it backwards. Seems Others did too. Very impressive, wow. My favorite is STING IN THE SHOWER. LOL.
A bit weird though, (ahem) I never heard my state called “CALI,” (and we don’t say “Frisco.”) :)
6
Maybe CALI is an exonym.
1
What do you call California in short form? It's a long state name, so there must be a way to shorten it?
I think Steve L is right that it's probably an exonym. After all, you are in California, how often do you need to refer to it in an informal abbreviated way?
I live in Massachusetts and we don't call it Mass except with something else (Mass state lottery; Boston, Mass; U Mass Amherst). Other times we would just say Massachusetts. We don't say, oh, when are you coming to Mass (notwithstanding the confusion with church service)
I think most people (not in SF) would say "San Fran" nowadays instead of Frisco. I've only heard of Frisco used in Frisco Bay and the Frisco Kid. I don't think anyone really refers to it as Frisco. I've never heard it myself.
1
I'm from California and use the term 'Cali' regularly. Not sure where I picked it up -- probably just linguistic laziness. I don't have any recollection of using it there, but I've also been outside the US for a dozen or so years -- so I'll go with exonym, too.
As for 'Frisco,' I only ever use it to push the buttons of people who get annoyed by its usage. It was always "The City" growing up in the East Bay.
1
Even after competing, I struggled for too long trying to make sense of 91D.
ON A UTO?
sometimes we must look a long time before we can see (Thoreau)
6
ON AUTO
BST, are you by any chance from Missouri?
1
AllanJ, I liked your Thoreau quote for a Walden puzzle.
3
best thing about this puzzle was the literary allusions with Hawthorne's Hester PRYNNE and Heminway's MARLIN!
1
I had HESTER in that slot until I saw the crosses didn’t work, then switched to PRYNNE.
With the puzzle nearly concluded, this came to mind: "Oh, mama, can this really be the end?"
8
PITSTOPS before TEATIMES for Pauses for service. But that fell quickly with crossings.
3
Very clever puzzle. I worked it from the bottom up and caught on to the theme early which set me looking for minus one letter lead words.as I worked my way up.
1
"...whose introduction of the use of a chair as a distraction device has inspired 21-century motivators who hope to improve our focus."
Caitlin,
Unless those motivators have been at it for a *really* long time, I think you'll to change it to "21st century..."
1
...you'll *want* to...
(copy desk calling copy desk)
2
hm! thank you Barry, fixed.
2
Another suggestion for change is from "whomever is doing" to "whoever is doing."
1
To answer Caitlin, I caught onto the additive letter chain before coming here, but it was late in the game. Too late to serve as a solving aid. But as I was looking back from the bottom region, I realized that the altered word in each theme entry became the unaltered (pre-altered?) word for the next theme entry. By that time, the theme entries were already filled in.
NOISETTE is new on me too (or forgotten maybe). But a recent binge-viewing of Game of Thrones gave me LENA Headey. I managed to reach back into a rusty back corner of memory for ARIZONA as the 48th state. SEGAL before SAGAL, but ARTOO quickly sorted that out. SAUTES finished off LOVATO for me.
My worst foul up was in the mid-east region, where I insisted on IN SHORT for far too long. That led to all kinds of variations for the German river that I've never heard of. Quite a few iterations later, I came on the combination that rang the bell (metaphorically) and finished the puzzle.
We can never have too many ALANS, can we? (Heh heh!)
5
Alans everywhere indeed.
I knew noisettes from a favorite recipe I make for special occasions - Noisettes de Porc Robert - nice oval slices of tenderloin in a brown sauce with white wine and onions. This puzzle may end up "forcing" me to make it again soon.
1
Yeah, I too hung with INSHORT for too long -- that OR is a real trap. And the trouble with German rivers is that just about anything seems equally likely. Never heard of this one.
1
"I’d be curious to see who grokked this without looking here, though!"
I did. Did anyone else notice that the inserted letters in order -- NSGTRATL -- make a terrific mnemonic?
Excellent offering. IMO. Enjoyable themer clues, glad it wasn't the same letter being added or letters being added in the same place in a word, and then the building. Non-theme clues and fill seemed more interesting and just a bit more challenging than recent Sundays. All good in my book.
9
Didn’t get the theme until after I had solved the puzzle and read the blog. Smooth sailing at 74% of average Sunday time. Pretty decent week in total at 19 minutes below par for the week.
I did try to make a word out of the added letters - NSGTRATL - figuring that it might spell the name of some character. But it didn't. Ah well.
3
What terrific mnemonic? I don't know. Would appreciate clarification. Thanks.
Such a pleasure to see a Walden Sunday puzzle. Beautifully crafted. Smooth as could be.
Something for everyone. ... well almost, I assume.
2
Baloo the Disney bear debuted on the silver screen in 1967; his earliest incarnation is in a book written by Rudyard Kipling published in 1894, 73 years earlier. Call me crazy, but it appears to me that the Kipling Baloo is canonical and the Disney Baloo derivative, so the clue ought to read "Kipling bear." The old joke seems to be coming true: Q. Do you like Kipling? A. I don't know. I've never Kipled.
11
I remember an entertainment character called Wally Ballou from a long time ago, but now no more than that. Does any one else?
1
The only Ballou I know is a Cat.
2
Wally Ballou, roving reporter. Character from Bob & Ray's routines.
5