Wasn't Biden a 2016 (not 2017) recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom?
First time ever commenting and I am a novice solver so happy to have this fun and not too difficult Friday. Always amazed at the possible answers that fit- someone already mentioned SOMMELIER for Port Authority- amazingly, to me, BARTENDER works too! Cheers
10
Welcome!
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Hi Smokey,
Thanks for joining us! Welcome to Wordplay.
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Congratulations, Deb, on the belated and much-deserved promotion to having your comments be NYT Replies!
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Early PT appt allowed me to solve the puzzle but not to post. The whole thing fell quickly, though I had to give up WINE MAVEN when it was plain that it was "a clue, not a definition."
I don't remember much else about the puzzle, but I know I enjoyed solving it.
(Working through a book of '150 Challenging Puzzles' on PT days. I have solved 18....16 without help.)
2
while "mike" is an accepted abbreviation for microphone, as someone who actively performs in live music settings, it is much (much) more common to see the abbreviation as "mic." Definitely not a foul for a Friday - I wonder what SONDHEIM, LENO, and all the musicians on BEALE St would say? Would they MOAN, sit IDLE, or say, "THERE THERE, Jeff, you are being a bit DIM?" So many SOUNDBITES to NATTER about.
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Let's ask (cue drum roll) The New York Times!!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/magazine/01-onlanguage-t.html
this battle has been going on --and back and forth-- for a long while.
Here is an excerpt from the Grammarist:
http://grammarist.com/spelling/mic-mike/
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We who are in the biz call them mics. Those not in the biz are annoyed by that. Backing Jeff up, there.
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In the XWP's I work (mostly NYT), we've seen mic and mike and mics and mikes. Once you know how many letters and if it is singular or plural, kinda fills itself in. 5A. 30D. :)
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So we have a puzzle with WINE from WEINtraub! (from, in German, more or less grape used to make wine!! related to WINEMAKER). Cool! We've talked before about constructors "signing" their work! Wonderfully done!
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Is today Vice Presidents' Day in crossworld? "EFFETE" snobs and "NATTERing nabobs" for Agnew. "Duck" for Cheney. Where's the "potatoe"?
Well, on the plus side, we got BIDEN.
And SONDHEIM. Now I feel compelled to listen to the whole original cast album of "Sunday in the Park," which will lead inevitably to listening to some of his other wondeful works. Will it be "Funny Thing Happened" or "Sweeny Todd" or "Into the Woods" or ... So many riches!
Back to the puzzle: Kept trying to fit walkING DEAD where the LIVING DEAD belonged. Lancelot didn't fit either, so KING ARTHUR took a while.
So many long answers, and all of them wonderful! Bliss!
Deb: Thanks for posting the link to Queer Crosswords. I'm sending in my $10 and forwarding the information to a bunch of friends. Now, can you find our avatars?
What a lovely Friday. Thanks to all who helped make it so.
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Certainly enough stumbling blocks but I got through without help except for JEREMIAH. My one objection was its crosser SOUNDBITES. I was under the impression that little bits of audio were soundBYTES as in computer bites (although spellcheck is now correcting me). Perhaps a better clue would be "fish caught off the Connecticut shore". Also thought the authority on port and other vintages would be a WINE MAVEN as opposed to a WINEMAKER but that is just a matter of opinion.
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Given the crosses I had, NEHEMIAH occurred to me before it became clear that it must be JEREMIAH though I didn't know who the weeping prophet might be. SAD!
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BLT’s have three ingredients? what about the bread?
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The bread is an outgredient!
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MESON explanation, RM Panoff? Thank you
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I didn't know that mesons were accelerated. Here is one of the less dense definitions: meson - Wiktionary
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/meson
Noun. meson (plural mesons) (obsolete) A member of a group of subatomic particles having a mass intermediate between electrons and protons. (The most easily detected mesons fit this definition.) (now specifically, physics) An elementary particle that is composed of a quark and an antiquark, such as a kaon or pion.
Clear, huh? I would have gone for ion, or electron, or proton, but meson??? Well, if it quarks like a duck...
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One theory in physics is that things are made up of the reproducible parts you observe when you smash things together at different enrgies: the atomic, sub-atomic, nuclear, and subnuclear levels. There are different kinds of particles that are observed, lighter ones called LEPTONS and heavier ones called HADRONS which are divided into 3-quark BARYONS and 2-quark MESONS. There are in turn various kinds of mesons depending on how they are observed. Not sure this helps, but if you can give a name to something . . .
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As a child, R Feynman would go with his father on nature walks in the woods. [It seems there were woods in the general environs of Queens in those days.] Apparently little Richard would ask the names of birds or trees and such, and recalled his father telling him "Just because you know what to call something doesn't mean you know a dam thing about it".
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A lovely smooth solve, perfectly in tune with the puzzle. OK, so it trended EASY. I'll just say that constructor and solver meshed.
One problem area because I'm not a VEGETARIAN, so I made the [Menu heading] VEGETABLES. (Which is how Galatoire does it.) That had my moon be PHOBOS, with a quick relo from Pluto to Mars. En route to CHARON it was briefly CHIRON, but at that point I was just horsing around.
A very pleasant solve if you had your Friday hat on, but I'm BIDEN my time for a tough tomorrow.
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Had VEGETABLES too, but the LNG in 49A had me root around for something else.
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Exactly, jma! It was the LNG tipped me off also.
PS: I really enjoy roasted 'root' vegetables also.
;-D
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Warning: off-topic (almost) item ahead. (PS: Yes I've been talked into doing the Friday ad Saturday ones too .... :-0)
Here's a bonus puzzle for newsprint solvers who might also have been Numberplay addicts: Mrs W and I do the crossword puzzle separately, so one of us gets a copy. I don't clip the puzzle out; I fold the puzzle page to fit the copier. The resulting copy (8.5" x 5.75") has a blank section 8.5" x 5.25". These make great note sheets for math and physics and stuff. OTOH Mrs W's newsprint original has creases that weren't there when the paper was delivered.
Today's folding effort (puzzle is at lower left on page C16) seemed especially complex, for some reason. Which led me to propose this conundrum:
You have a copier with an 8.5" x 13" platen and a door hinged on one long side, and a NYT newsprint sheet with the puzzle. (Sometimes the puzzle appears on a filler half sheet.) What page corner choice should the NYT make to print the puzzle at so that the crossword can be placed atop the platen with door closed, and cleanly copied -- using the least number of print page folds and maximizing the uncopied space on the copy paper?
For convenience in discussion, use a single newsprint sheet with pages labeled 1, 2, 3 and 4, and denote the 8 possible puzzle positions at lower right and left parts of these pages by corner labels R1, R2, R3, R4 and L1, L2 , L3 and L4.
This week we have noted Pi Day on the 14th, the Ides of March on the 15th, and we still have St. Patrick's Day to look forward to on the 17th. This being the unheralded day between, I went looking for observances for today, and found a couple of interesting things. First of all, there are so many observances declared throughout the year that every day has some observance or another, often a long list, associated with it.
Among the observances noted for today, I found a couple of consecutive national days worth noting:
Yesterday, March 15 was Everything You Think Is Wrong Day. Not a good day to make decisions, so don't decide anything important. Don't use "I think," what you think is wrong. A good day to remember that nobody knows everything.
Today, March 16, on the other hand, is National Everything You Do Is Right Day. Observe it by doing things. It doesn't matter what, because everything you do is right.
Yesterday, I said a lot of things about Y'ALL. I think I may have been wrong. (But I don't really think so.) But that was yesterday.
Today I'm posting this comment. It's the right thing to do. It must be. Everything You (I) Do Is Right. today anyway.
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So yesterday was "people who know Trump" day and today is "people who are Trump" day?
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Everything you do is right so long as you don't think about it? I love the concept.
On this day in history, George Ohm and Rosa Bonheur were born, Tiberius died, and RGoddard launched the first liquid-fuel rocket. I believe it went up less than 50 feet.
http://www.historynet.com/today-in-history
I had my days reversed. I won't go into all the details, but on my way to the bank and grocery store this morning, I ended up going back into the house 4 times because I forgot something. And it got worse from there.
I commented to Dr. J a while ago that I'm just thankful I didn't have to go up on the roof today. Wouldn't have been a good day for it.
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My son and I did not find it easy (1:30) but a joy to do. All the very long words with clever clueing. Like the contrast of HEMOPHILIA and VEGETARIAN; and the resonance between JEREMIAH and LIVING DEAD. Good puzzle!
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Had a little trouble finding an opening, until I landed upon far-flung CHARON @44A. A couple other short gimmes/likelys (HENSON, HUME) helped things really get rolling, and finished without errors. Not easy in my book, but not the hardest Friday ever, either. The JEDI clue didn't play any mind tricks on me.
HILLY Michaels was the drummer for the quirky pop-rock band Sparks. He went solo in 1980, releasing a couple of new wave-influenced albums that went nowhere, before moving into the producing/promoting side of the music business. His records are now collector's items. In a different dimension, "Shake It and Dance" would've been a hit single.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVay4iEr0rE
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Hope you're getting home from work okay, Jimbo. The TV news makes the LIRR situation look pretty grim.
Hope you're not near the fire.
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Thanks DL. Met some friends, including one visiting from Alaska, and spent the afternoon/early evening in Brooklyn. By the time I got to Penn Station, the LIRR was back on schedule(at least on my line).
I've been doing NYT crosswords for many years but have just begun to read the comments. I get as much enjoyment from this as I do solving the puzzle. Thanks to all.
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Welcome socald4.
Hope to hear your comments soon.
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The "Station to Station" (38A) clue triggered memories of the DAVID BOWIE (RIP) album by that name, which was shortly followed by BAM (42A), which took me to one of his classic songs, SUFFRAGETTE CITY, with the (in)famous chorus/ending "Wham BAM Thank You Ma'am", whose meaning in British English was described in an earlier post (MOAN – 55A).
Go to the link below for a fabulous patched up live version from 1972. The audio ain't top-notch, but when he repeats the line "I can't afford a TICKET back to Suffragette City [San Francisco]" does he substitute the word TICKET with CHICKEN (apparently slang for a young gay man)? 54A-55A ??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED3SBJhawcA
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“Station To Station” is my favorite Bowie album.
Heading to the Brooklyn Museum this afternoon to check out the Bowie exhibition that just opened there.
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I'd prefer to describe Robyn's offering as smooth rather than easy. Yes, it went pretty quickly, but one "of course" followed by another " of course," and so on made for a fun solve.
Re the mini, what the heck is JENGA? OK, I'll look it up.
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Aha, the game I see folks playing at all the microbreweries.
Like others, I found this to be an enjoyable and easy puzzle for a Friday with lost of amusing cluing (TUNER, GARDEN, CHIP, FREE and EASY.) I was also happy to see SONDHEIM, one of my favorites, and MACINTOSH (typing this on my Macbook!)
And thanks for the link to Big Bird's appearance at Jim Henson's funeral. Very moving.
I was sorry to see HEROIN in the puzzle. We do puzzles for pleasure and because they are challenging and fun. Finding a reminder of the scourge facing our nation seems like a poor word choice. We see enough of it in the headlines. I don't know if it has ever appeared before, but I hope I won't see it in the puzzle again. My 24D, I guess.
Solved in half the time of a normal Friday, but very enjoyable feeling the long clues fall into place. Fun puzzle. Thanks for it!
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THERE THERE MIEN(sic) HERR. Thank you to Ms. Weintraub for a soft re-entry after almost a week of NYT puzzle withdrawal. I found myself tearing through it, but stayed ENGAGEd. IN ANY EVENT, even after a tropical paradise vacation, THERE's no place like home.
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Is it me or was this week easier than the last few? I sailed through Wednesday Thursday and today. Maybe that means tomorrow will be super hard?
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Just knowing it's a Friday makes for a hard start. Look at those first three words, CHIP, EASY, and KEPT. Not one came to mind as I began the puzzle. With LENO and SONDHEIM to start me off, I eventually made it through. I did have to look up Pluto's largest moon and wonder how long I'll remember it. Nice to think of HUME Cronyn again; spent many hours in the theater and movies enjoying him and his wife, Jessica Tandy.
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"To Dance With the White Dog". Lovely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2RviL6_yys
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Thank you, Leapfinger. Lovely
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I seldom say that I loved a Friday puzzle, but I can today. Mostly I loved those 10 ten letter answers, starting with a for sure @ 2d. I can thank Sheldon on Big Bang Theory for THERE THERE. ( not actually very consoling, but a fun clue).
I got a kick out of seeing both Maura Kea and Loa.
I'm glad I didn't think of sommelier or maven, but did have WINElover briefly. The Port would go better with Stilton than Chèvre IMHO. ( nice of you to think of me, Elke)
I really hope Robyn continues to do late week puzzles.
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Sheldon: THERE THERE and a hot beverage....
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Right you are, Laura. I'd accept a mulled wine perhaps.
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Beautiful clean grid with much brightness in the answers. I loved the debut FRESHENS UP and can't believe that this is SONDHEIM's first showing in a NYT puzzle! I came into this puzzle groggy, and it forced me to quickly shift into full-bore solving mode, and once I got there, BAM BAM BAM, things fell left and right. So, quick for me for Friday, but what a rush while it lasted, with the spark in the clues (HILLY, POND, GARDEN, i.e.) and aforementioned vibrant answers. Came into the puzzle groggy, and now dashing into the day.
My father was a steak man through and through. Once, when I was arguing the case for a VEGETARIAN diet, telling him that vegetarians live longer than meat eaters, he screwed up his face, imagining a life without meat, and said, "Maybe it just SEEMS longer."
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I was late yesterday, costing me a gold star and ending my streak. I just have to ask what’s with all the Yankeesplaining of our sacred Southern language. After all, God talks like we do. The rest of Y’ALL are the ones who talk funny.
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This didn't feel like an easy puzzle, but I did finish without any writeovers, so maybe it was. Or maybe I'm just getting better. Yes, let's go with that.
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I realize that I almost always end up doing late week puzzles from the bottom up, and it's because I end up going through the clues (both ways) quickly looking for some immediate gimme or something guessable, and it's only when I get to the bottom that I start slowing down and working a little harder at it. Two things jumped out at me today. 13a - I knew who that was going for - couldn't the name right away so moved on. 2d - I did extensive reading about HEMOPHILIA in the royal families of Europe at one time, but it didn't cross my mind right away so moved on.
Anyway, some cheating for me and a lot of working the crosses but it did all come together eventually. Really nice puzzle and an interesting grid. Ten 10-letter answers; I don't recall seeing that before.
Note on our constructor. She published 7 consecutive themed puzzles (all Monday through Wednesday) from 2011 to 2015. Now she's had 7 consecutive themeless puzzles in the last two years. I wonder why she made the switch.
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"I wonder why she made the switch."
No longer having to put up with comments about the themes?
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I am evidently not alone in rating this puzzle as SurPrisinglY EASY for Friday. That did not disturb me in the least. The clues are straightforward, with some mild misdirection and the fill is clean. What more can one ask for?
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Quite enjoyable. Just enough resistance for a Friday. WINE MAven before WINE MAKER slowed me down, but once that was corrected, BAM.
Me, too! It was my only correction.
That entry gave me an earworm that won't quit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzVXJPinUjs
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I enjoyed this Friday puzzle. I was surprised how quickly I finished it, though. I'm a fair-to-midlin' solver and would typically expect it to take me ~>30 min.
1
Well that was interesting. Not only a good puzzle (and a lack of hip-hop award winners, supporting actors in old TV series I never watched, mottoes of products I never heard of, etc. -- I mean et alii), but the reappearance of an old friend: "You have completed the puzzle but you have at least one error." Indeed! MACINTOSH was a nice retro bit, a reminder of the days when IBM seemed the overweening danger to competition. Simpler times.
One slight comment: I see "MIC" for microphone can revert to MIK[ED], which I remember as the older form.
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Very glad to see MIKE instead of "mic."
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Anyone else think a sore spot was an acher (acre)
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and Elke
Starting to like Friday's puzzles for the clever cluing.
Was helped by knowing HEMOPHILIA and the difference between 'herpetologist' and 'hepatologist'.
If I had FLOORed IT , I could have beaten Brian and Steve L to the NATTERing nabobs of negativity comment written by William Safire . Miss his column On Language .
Tried WINE MAven first- my mind was on suejean , I guess. The clues for 36A and 38A were quite sneaky/clever - 'Port Authority' makes you think of transportation which takes you from 'station to station'.
My REAR is glad that it is FREE of a GIRDLE nowadays . Can't work in BARING and MOAN into this sentence, somehow. Decently and emuproof.
POND and 'duck' in the clue reminds me. Years ago some new immigrants from Asia were seen catching the ducks from the Lost Lagoon POND near Stanley Park. They thought they were FREE and EASY (to catch). IN ANY EVENT, it was explained to them that those ducks were not for cooking and eating.
Enjoyed this , but I'll CLAM up now.
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"Duck!" brought to mind Dick Cheney with his functional shotgun, but dysfunctional aim.
3
I'm showing my age here, but wasn't the nattering nabobs comment Spiro Agnew?
And effete intellectuals! Both in one puzzle!
I guess I'm at least a little bit older than Deb because "You rang?" always makes me think of Maynard G Krebs from "The Many Loves of Dobie Gilliam".
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I guess I'm between the two of you because I remember it as "Dobie Gillis."
(Ducking,)
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Old enough to remember MGK as the original hipster doofus, but like Deb, Lurch is the one I think of when I hear that phrase.
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Same here.
I thought it was hard while I was doing it, but 22 minutes later (new word: MESONS) I was done. 22 minutes is fast for me for a late week puzzle (your mileage may vary... okay, y'all are quick). Agnew would have liked this one (2 SOUND BITES!), but he died 22 years ago. And now I'm (oddly) sad. "THERE, THERE."
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Fun Friday, or maybe I'm getting better at it. Particularly liked the clues for TUNER and CLASS CLOWN.
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I had MESON instead of BOSON which slowed me down.
Great to have BOSON crossed with CHARON.
and always appreciate MACINTOSH
In the end, I set a new Friday record.
After a full week of better than average times, i agree with some of the other’s comments...
I’m worried about the weekend...
Bring it on.
Um, it IS MESONS.
13
Hey, i’m still subconsciously fighting for BOSONS, I guess.
My mind just won’t give it up!
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They are difficult to identify those subatomic particles
Smooth Friday. Well executed.
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ETD as boarding pass info? The scheduled, not estimated, time of departure is on the boarding pass, no? The ETD is on the departure board. It may deviate from what's on the boarding pass, and is updated information by comparison.
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I dunno, I’ve flown enough times to consider the scheduled time nothing but an estimate. ETD works for me.
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Steve did write "scheduled," not "actual," Stu. I have shared your frustration many times, but even by "hint not definition" standards I think the clue should have been rewritten.
(We hope enjoyed your solve with us today)
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This is one of those weird days where I agree with both Steve L and Barry A - ETD is not on boarding passes. It rankled.
My very first international flight was the day uncle Ronnie fired hard-working government employees en masse just cause he could (he was Donnie's spiritual father after all). When the plane departed from JFK 40 hours after the time printed on our boarding passes, the information boards read "On Time." Welcome to the USA!
3
I did this one in good time, with only one look-up to confirm a word.
But I didn't understand the clues for 1A and 5A/14A until I read Deb's column. I never really paid attention to partner clues before, I guess.
1
Natter(ing nabobs of negativism) and effete (snobs) in the same puzzle. Some not so good memories of an elected official that played fast and loose with the public trust.
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And yet, who could have expected that it would get much worse and more dangerous in our lifetimes?
8
paulymath, I have something of a premonition that 'we ain't seen nuthin yet'. Anyone else?
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Had the same thought. William Safire actually wrote the "nattering nabobs" line as a Nixon speechwriter. The 45's "fake news" redux.
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EFFETE has meant ineffective for 300 years. Then in 1969, Richard Nixon's vice president, Spiro Agnew, made a speech, most likely written by the Times's own William Safire, in which he described liberal intellectuals as an "effete corps of impudent snobs."
Most people didn't understand the words that Agnew was using, so they imparted their own definitions. EFFETE sounded like "effeminate," so for the last 50 years, this definition has been moving towards full acceptability. But "worn out" is the real meaning of the word.
Agnew resigned in disgrace a few years later, because of a plea deal for his tax evasion, which kept him out of jail. A year later, of course, so did Nixon.
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And NATTERED reminds me of Agnew's (Safire's) other classic phrase, aimed at those same liberals: "nattering nabobs of negativity."
6
You beat me, Steve.
I thought it was "nattering nabobs of negativism." Now I have to go look up to see which it is. (Mustn't confuse the deathless words of Agnew, even when written by Safire.)
Then there's Gertrude Stein's take on Oakland: "There is no THERE THERE." This remark can be repurposed in countless oh-so-current ways.
Episcopal Jedi:
"May the Force be with you."
"And also with you."
"Sunday" (Act I Finale) from Sunday in the Park with George, Stephen SONDHEIM
https://youtu.be/YsHflVxyGKQ
4
That was an easy one! Must mean Saturday’s will be really difficult.
Has A MONTH OF SUNDAYS ever appeared in a puzzle? I ask because we seem to be on course fore a week of (pleasant) Wednesdays. DQ has me primed for a real average-raiser on the weekend.
Speede, 10 times! And MONTH OF SUNDAYS has appeared once.
This puzzle was challenging, but not overly so. I particularly liked I SMELL A RAT and THERE THERE.
2
The picture caption said, "Port wine was a specialty of the 21 Club in Manhattan." WAS? Didn't they just close to repair flood damage? I don't think it's out of business. Or did they stop specializing in port wine?
I certainly wouldn't know. I don't run in those circles.
1
They expect to reopen next month, Steve.
https://www.21club.com/web/onyc/closing.jsp
While you're waiting, here's the wine list.
http://belmondcdn.azureedge.net/pdfs/21Club_Wine_List.pdf
1
A freakin' 84-page wine list? They do seem to have a page of ports, but I don't know if that makes it a specialty. I'll have to ask someone who goes there.
Oh, right. I don't know anyone who goes there.
5
They once had many more ports but apparently the outlawing of the post-prandial cigar has killed the port trade in restaurants, "21" included. Still, a Cockburn '55 is not a bad choice.
1
Deb writes:
"...I have to say that while it was on the somewhat easy side for me, there were enough speed bumps in there to make this a very satisfying solve."
Same here, Deb, but without the speed bumps. Not complaining, though.
(And I'm glad you didn't find the wine [clue] bitter.)
4
not much resistance for a Friday. I like the SONDHEIM Sunday in the Park with George. Reminds me of the famous Seurat dotted painting at the Art Institute of Chicago -- A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte!
6
Because it's Georges Seurat?
2
Dots what you think, Leapy?
2
GTYR, Barry.
1
Enough of a workout, but not too tough. I briefly tried to make KING ARTHUR be SIR GALAHAD, but I had MACINTOSH and knew that was right, so it couldn't be. I didn't know that JEREMIAH had that particular epithet. MESONS was sort of a guess when all I had was the first S, and it worked out. IN ANY EVENT, it was an enjoyable solve.
2
I remember being awed by the "1984" ad, although I didn't get into the Mac world until several years later. Remembering the ad made that answer really easy.
1
Indeed, and the whole Apple shebang is going to POT with Steve Jobs gone. I'm still in the Apple ecosystem, but MOANing painfully over Apple's FADED quality control.
Can't say I know much a tall about the prophet JEREMIAH, but I have heard (or read, anyway) about someone launching into a veritable jeremiad of complaints and woe.
2