OK, I know this is late, but if anyone's still reading, I don't get ESE. ?
3
I think there’s discussion below, but just in case: tongue in this case means language so as in JapanESE or ChinESE the tip of the language name is ESE.
Oh and crosswordESE for that matter. ERM, for example. ;-)
3
Thanks, David.
A better clue for 39A just hit me: "Dad helps kid get out of jail."
7
Ugh
3
I think I'll institute a "Dr. W Yikes!" award and start with this one. I did finish it but took most of two days (I had an event to help with on Saturday for Earth Day on Broadway), but the sense of accomplishment was real. Only one Natick which I didn't bother with -- where 120A crosses 117D, and some unknowns filled by crosses. (Now I'll go look up the answer.) Good one!
2
Maybe I'm just cranky from too many hours on I95 between NY and DC this weekend, but this was slow going with a disappointing theme.
5
I thought this was challenging, but worth getting up early for, as it was my 1000th NYT crossword solve. ( I can stop anytime, really I can). But I do feel like celebrating.
6
You might be amused to check out the puzzle count at
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/crosswords/daily-puzzle-2018-04-20.html
Pure torture! My first time since I started doing the NYT crosswords...... will I ever ever know enough to solve one like this?
I take notes as I solve (to remember for these comments): my first note was “The bubbles of laughter started at reading the clues for the long words: parent wearing your superman costume!!! Eye contact before undressing! This is going to be a very funny one.” Little did I know......
In spite of overwhelming fracas, I enjoyed the theme fills, and many of the clues.
Maybe one day!
5
If you're looking for suggestions:
Sometimes helpful check: 0 for O?
Read answers aloud (to yourself or someone else) to check against answer key. Start with mixed up theme answers, short "made up" answers like "erm."
Etc.
But you're keeping at it, that's great! One of the first bits of crosswordese I learned was "etui." It has come in handy innumerable times.
1
I sometimes ask my spouse, "Where is the etui?" -- and she looks at me as if I've lost my mind. Crosswordese meets non-crossword solver...
6
Thanks for the tips. I finally found my error (statis instead of stasis) albeit not in time to keep my streak alive.
I seem to have every answer correct (peeked at the answer link) but the puzzle won’t acknowledge my completion. Must be trying to break my current streak of 107 puzzles in a row.. Cheaters!!! No seriously, is there something wrong with the program. A few days ago, a completed puzzle was reversed and then put back.
1
Oops, I meant to reply to you, Dom, but replied to Laura. See that reply, above or below this area, close by!
ERM?
please.
3
Maybe if I write more unneeded words the emus will let my post appear sooner? Or not? Who knows. In any case,
"erm" is a British "um"
Here is a link for further study:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/erm
(Can you say verbose?)
1
verbois!
1
erm = um (in Britain)
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/erm
What I loved about this puzzle was that the theme answers weren't at all easy to get but when I did, all that effort was paid off in spades with the cleverness and true humor: bravo Ross Trudeau! (BTW you should run for office as you have immediate name recognition.)
I also find it amazing that "the most beautiful horse in the world" has six legs. :)
Thank you Mr. Trudeau for a most enjoyable
Sunday puzzle. My favorite was JETEPROPELLEDPLAN. Brilliant!
10
Thanks, Johanna, I thought that I was the only one who counted six legs!
Enjoyable but not easy, with theme answers that are laugh-out-loud funny, willfully and brazenly goofy. Who can keep a straight face at this kind of high-verbal silliness? Not me! Not even a line of SEAOOZE through the TORSO of this puzzle could dampen the mood.
12
Well, that was hard! It took me longer than usual, but I managed to get it solved without coming here and peeking at the column's little gifties.
2
Editing process re: 23A
1: Clue is a bit obscure.
2: We do obscure!
3: Potential for sexy with “strips,” no?
1, 2: Let’s see. Problem with “stares” though, doesn’t sound sexy. Gazes? Smiles? Oh, can’t change the fill.
3: Strips wallpaper? Strips rank? Strips sheets?
4: Constructor has concerns about clue reading “sex” rather than “sexy.”
1, 2, 3: Who asked the constructor?
2: Gazes long and longingly, then undresses?
1, 3: Too long.
2: Makes eye contact?
4: Not so sexy.
1: We’re on deadline. Eyes, take off clothes, make it work.
1
Yes, but will it play in Peoria?
(No Pekin at the answers)
2
I loved the recent "keep your hat on" Joe Cocker link. I think I saw (yes, I was close enough) and heard him at Woodstock! (I try to remember to qualify Woodstock memories . . .)
1
Too much help needed to allow myself a happy dance and a gold star. I took the fall with dignity, no SCAPEGOAT required. I must have brain fog from all the pollen in the air or the ping pong game the weather is playing with itself.
This one played hard to get. I flirted with it last night, slept with it beside me. When that didn’t work I loved on it twice this morning before I cheated on it with Dr Google, Caitlin and WP Friends. (Too much? If you are reading it I guess the editors didn’t think so.)
Wags, I got ESE but without you I would have gone to the grave not knowing why it was correct. (Isn’t the tip of something generally the top or front. Tip of the spear, Tip top shape, even Tipping Point. Well a Tip of the hat to those more clever than I.)
Barry A, how is ESE for Tip of the Tongue a pun? (Be kind, remember I have climate induced brain fog today.)
SMALLOJ? Where have you been all my life? (Hanging out with Caitlin I would guess.)
Due to a couple of typos, I finished with NOTe A MOMENT TO SPARe, literally.
2
Hi Babs,
The pun was the clue, not the entry.
(as in, the humorous use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different meanings or applications)
Gotcha!
I don't understand the discomfort with 23A, especially with such a clever resultant phrase. I would have been more disturbed with "Avoids eye contact before undressing" as a crossword clue. And just be thankful that TEST OF TIME did not become TESTE OF TIM.
I did manage to parse the title as plus Es and minus Es. Francine has already pointed this out, so I don't know if I can claim a FATHER IN MY CAPE or not.
8
Oh, and before ESE I had ESL. Anybody else?
1
Had "fags" (British term for cigarettes) instead of "cigs", and too many proper names. Never heard of Gere as DrT.
4
Hand up for FAGS, too. Perhaps too many British novels in my reading history?
2
I had it, then thought it probably would have been avoided, which helped me get to CIGS eventuality.
I had CIGS but assumed it was wrong as the clue didn’t indicate it was an abbreviation. Is cig a proper word then, or does BUTT indicate it’s only a bit of a word, like short or end?
Ah, the good ole STARS AND STRIPES (actually, where Bill Mauldin got his start with Willie and Joe)....that was my entry into the puzzle, but all the same it was a lot of work! Grabbing the HORSE's MANE is fair (even wise) and I keep wishing PhysicsDaughter had gotten a fistful of Chloe's after that little incident.... (She is trying out a new mount now.)
DR T making another appearance; I had never heard of this movie......Do I want to know?
LEAST satisfying themer was LEAST BUT NOT LAST....hardly worth the effort. However, I will keep my sense of HUMERI about it.
3
I engaged with the plus and minus with 9d, gleefully filling in POT PLOT. My, I thought I was clever.
Turned out though that this may have been my longest Sunday ever. I just wasn't hitting the necessary wavelength. There are days like that for all of us, aren't there? So - onward and upward.
2
A good old fashioned Sunday kind of puzzle. It 'pulses' with fun. I am a fan. Appreciate Francine's noting of the Es in the title. I also like the pluses and minuses created in the grid by the black squares. Got "it" right away with STARES AND STRIPS, and that's great cuz then I get to use the theme to solve. Favorite by far is JETE PROPELLED PLAN. My hold up was 'awry' before ALOP. Thank you M. Trudeau.
Perfect Sunday for me. It took a while to get enough crosses for my first theme which was 39A, and to work out the gimmick. Then I looked forward to getting all the rest, and they didn't disappoint.
I knew I was missing something in the title for the puzzle so was delighted to see Francine's explanation, so adding my congratulations to Viv's
My favorite non theme clue was for TEST OF TIME @5D.
My SON was in the puzzle today, nice to him there.
4
MeToo is not about sex, it's about coercion, violence and non-consensual acts. Eye contact is mutual, and vital to most healthy relationships. I pictured this scene with an exchange of sly, playful glances. Without eye contact it might seem troublesome.
Please, let's not do away with sex! At least not until I have a chance to cross it off my bucket list!
21
I could probably hook you up, ad ab!
So, yeah, I should have said "it creeped me out." YMMV.
Different strokes. To each(es) their own(s).
1
Anyone else have MIAMI before OCALA?
24
I might have gone that way with an open grid, but I'd already found a west TX town and a POT FARM, so I was mellow.
(Is a RAISIN part of a tamiami trail mix?)
4
If the MIAMI/OCALA overlap were intentional, fair enough — though that trick seems more Fri/Sat than Sunday. Maybe “Smallest Florida City...” would’ve been a bit more Sunday-level.
If it were unintentional, well, what an amazing coincidence. I love clues that require a puzzle to fill in the puzzle. What are the odds of there being two conforming answers here?
But here’s my main problem with OCALA. The latest U.S. school shooting — heck, the latest Florida school shooting — occurred there Friday morning. I know it was close to deadline, but seeing this reference in the weekend fun that’s supposed to erase the misery of the real world news for a bit... made me wish MIAMI had been correct after all.
2
Calvin, not just close to deadline. The Sunday magazine section, containing the puzzles, is already being delivered to stores and stands by Thursday.
4
Francine, plus1s (but no minus1s) on the compliment. I noticed that it was always an ‘e’ that moved but it never occurred to me to read the puzzle title that way. The plural needs to be taken as referring to the themers in toto.
3
For what was really a gimme, 14A was hard for me to fill in right away because of the puzzle's title. Duplication of words is unnerving. For that reason, I might have chosen a title other than "Pluses and Minuses."
You may have found it unnerving, but my understanding of the XWP rule is "no duplication of words in the grid." I'm quite sure I've seen the same words appear in clues and grid, and the title isn't even a (formal) clue.
4
When I saw 14A, I thought I had the theme...
Thanks for your thoughtful reply. While I was not at all confident that a rule was being broken, neither was I confident of the converse. Thus, my hesitation during the solve.
Kudos on the theme. Loved getting it on the first one and then working the others out. My favorite was JETÉ PROPELLED PLAN as one who still has ballet classes I found that most amusing. Had SEAweed before OOZE, which fit a lot better. Another fun word; CHURL.
2
Enjoyable for the most part, though not a complete success for me. Filled in STARESANDSTRIPS. Didn't get it but figured it would become evident with more themers. Then got FATHERINONESCAPE and still didn't see it. So I sounded that out in my head about 10 times before it finally dawned on me.
Thought these were generally in the 'so bad they're good' category - some real groaners. Did think that LEASTBUTNOTLAST was kind of an outlier. Yes, it follows the formula, but also just completely switches the first and last word. There was some kind of bad fill (I'm looking at you, SMALLOJ) but still an impressive feat of construction.
Ended up getting completely stuck in the general SW area with a couple of unknowns and not getting some clues, and had to cheat to finish. For no particular reason, here's a song that rhymes with 62a:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUSd_RYnxAY
..
2
I really enjoyed this one - the solving experience was a challenge but slow and steady got me to completion. Loved the word play, for sure!
4
Much cleverness in this puzzle. I marvel at these theme answers -- how did Ross come up with them? Write a computer program? These theme answers filled in very slowly, compared to the rest of the puzzle. I also loved the clever clue for LEAST BUT NOT LAST ("Like the digit "0" in 2018?").
There were some lovely answers as well: SCAPEGOAT, LA CUCARACHA, UPS AND DOWNS. For "Fall guy" I threw in SCARECROW, and kinda like it.
Dr. T two days in a row! ERM! And SEA OOZE, which Googles horribly (if you put it in quotes), but I don't care. I love it and I'm going to try to use it today, probably metaphorically describing my state of mind at various turns.
3
And PTSD in both the Mini and the Puzzle!
2
It seems that occasionally the same answers appear twice during the week. Notably, Saturday’s and Sunday’s crosswords both had “DrT” as an answer, though with different clues. How often does this occur? Is this mere coincidence or something the editor does intentionally? I was struck by this instance because in my experience “DrT” appears far less frequently than, for instance, “Etta.”
5
Actually I find that this happens a lot, that is, there are unusual answers that occur multiple times in a week, or even on consecutive days, and then not again for a while.
2
Someone do a statically analysis?
It was a long slog, but I finally made it with some help on the names from google and a final alphabet crawl to the X at the SIX/DMX crossing.
The amusing theme, migrant E’s, was deciphered with ease. I particularly enjoyed the clues to STARES AND STRIPS and LEAST BUT NOT LAST. The clues to the other themers struck me as strained. Nor was I ecstatic about much of the 3 letter fill, some of which I still don’t understand. Maybe reading the comments will clear it up.
1
Totally unsatisfying fill.
I got the theme, but some of the themers were such a stretch as to be off the wall. HAD LESS HORSE MANE. JETE PROPELLED PLAN. You must be kidding.
Even some of the fillers were goofy. I cant wait until next Sunday so that I can forget this one.
7
I agree. This slog was torture, and tortured.
3
HAD LESS HORSE MANE reminded me of a fruitless web search I made several years ago, trying to locate sheet music to the first musical I ever appeared in when I was an eighth grader. The title of the show was Mr. Crane of Sleepy Hollow, an updated adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The number I remember best came late in Act 2, titled "The HEADLESS HORSEMAN," whose lyrics started out:
'Twas the impression
He was a Hessian
With his head all shot away.
In that condition,
This apparition
Never showed his face by day.
That's about all I can remember verbatim. Apparently the show made the rounds of the high school market during the 1960's and has since disappeared. The only trace of it I have found on the internet (other than newspaper morgue articles about various high school productions from the '60's) was a Library of Congress listing, giving "Book by Al Simmons, lyrics by Elsie Simmons, music by Larry Wagner." The copyright is listed in the name of Lancer Productions, which doesn't seem to exist nowadays.
If anyone has any information that would help me track down this forgotten gem, I would be grateful. Mainly it's for the nostalgia of it, but I seem to remember the show being clever and engaging in an easy-going way. At least, it was to the eighth-grade me.
4
I really enjoyed the theme. I got it quickly with Stares and strips, and laughed out loud at Father in ones cape. The others were a bit more of a struggle, but the payoff was good on each of them.
The middle of the puzzle, with sea ooze, roz chast, and "ese" for "tip of the tongue?" was my nemesis. I guess I'm supposed to think of something like "Japanese" as a "tongue" (language), and "ese" is at the end (tip) of the word. If there is an easier way to get there, maybe someone will share. I scratched my head for a good while before making that connection, even after the puzzle was solved.
11
No I think that’s it as far as ese goes.
2
Yeah, that one took a while. ESEy does it.
Very fun! The puzzle, anyway.
I enjoyed all the themers and I initially had no issue with 23A. Even with the later clue on #metoo, I didn’t think anything of it until I came to the column, and still I’m not sure why it’s been pointed out at all.
I had my #metoo moment and I’m grateful to be a young woman in a time when so many voices are being heard and hopefully inspiring lasting change. I don’t see how 23A is relevant to that movement or worthy of comparison in its scope, especially when it was given no explicit context outside of a bit (and only a bit, since it was quite tame by my standard) of sexy wordplay.
I see nothing wrong, and I assure you my partner has seen something very right, with the very scenario. But perhaps I was supposed to imagine instead my boss fixing his lazy eye upon me and slowly loosening his cravat? Well, I wasn’t prompted by the clue but here I am...
Maybe I’m being too sensitive, but I don’t appreciate how some leery reading of the clue has been forced onto it. I was happy to see #metoo—and the only thing I find problematic is that, rather than a simple nod to its inclusion, I feel misdirected to some wholly inconsequential pun. Demeaners, indeed.
19
A GEM! A STAR! Excellent puzzle -- very funny!
1
I liked "Makes eye contact..."
Seems to me one would have to be rather thin skinned to take offense.
I was unaware that "pluses and minuses" was a thing, but I enjoyed it a lot.
7
On the chance that it wasn't clear, the title should be parsed as Plus E's and Minus E's since in every instance the letter E was removed from one word and added to another.
31
Francine, go to the head of the class. Best comment of the day. Nobody else (including myself) noticed this in the headline. A quantum increase in the quality of the puzzle.
15
"Pluses and minuses" is definitely a thing.
See def. 15: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/plusses
I hoped to find a "true rebus" with + and - signs, but adding and subtracting the "e's" was almost as fun.
2
SMALL OJ was almost too much for me, as was JETE PROPELLED PLAN. And I wasn't thrilled with the clue "Tip of the tongue?" for ESE. I found it a smidge too obscure.
The rest of the puzzle was fun, though I found it more challenging than usual for a Sunday.
2
More than a smidge...can someone explain?
1
JapanESE, ChinESE, etc. A bit of a stretch, I agree.
8
A most awfully wonderful stretch.
(The best puns are bad ones, IMO).
3
I enjoyed this "Pluses and Minuses" puzzle very much. Thank you, Mr. Trudeau. Also, TIL about the mass of ocean trash mass 150% the size of Texas. Thanks, Caitlin, for your consistently excellent commentary, although I fear there is a nightmare in my immediate future. Finally, has the same exact answer appeared before in both the Crossword and the Mini on the same day, as it did today?
4
Yep
1
Yes, that’s why I always start with the mini...
Enjoyed the puzzle. Tried a reply, but no appearance, so I'll reply all here.
1. No problem for me with the 23A entry or either clue.
2. Why should "boxcars half" need an apostrophe (and what more would one learn if it had one)?
3. I'm afraid 43D is clued correctly; OJ is a "word" in several dictionaries.
4. Agree with Deadline on 78A and 96A as best themers.
5
Got the theme right away, at STARES AND STRIPS, which I didn't even think of as offensive until I read the Notes. And I still don't think it is.
The whole puzzle was pretty easy. The only thing I had any problem with was SMALL OJ. Picture my surprise at the idea that this is overused. I'm sure I've never seen it.
Best themer: JETE-PROPELLED PLAN. Runner-up: HAD LESS HORSE MANE.
What I learned today was SEA OOZE.
Pleasant, but not particularly challenging.
14
Cute puzzle. However,
The answer to the clue Breakfast order at a diner is small orange juice.
The answer to the clue Breakfast order at a diner abbr. is small oj.
4
Responding to the constructor’s Stars and Stripes implicit inquiry, I would have nixed this crying even before #MeToo. I find it cringe-worthy.
1
*cluing
Yeah, it feels a bit salacious especially in the #MeToo context, but the problem itself obviously predates #MeToo. It's unfortunate the sequence of words leads such unpleasantries.
Well STARES AND STRIPS sounds like an act undertaken by the one undressing, no? Why is that offensive? No indication of coercion to my mind.
LEAST BUT NOT LAST cost me a few minutes when I was otherwise done because I had baLeEn before KILLER and didn’t notice that I neglected to change the first e to a second L so I had LAST BUT NOT eAST and hadn’t yet grokked the theme when I made that whale correction. Still it was 5 minutes below average. Liked the theme a lot, even so.
DRT of all things for the second time in two days!?
5
Are vowels in Polish names really a rarity? Here are the names of nine prominent Poles followed by their vowel content expressed as a percentage. Included for the sake of comparison are the names of two puzzle constructors who have used this or a similar clue (3/19/00 and 4/22/18) and the editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle. Mr. Trudeau compares favorably with the Poles, but Messrs. Staples and Shortz lag far behind the pack. Stereotypes can be treacherous.
ELIZA ORZESZKOWA (47)
JAN SOBIESKI (45)
MARIA SALOMEA SKLODOWSKA* (45)
ROSS TRUDEAU (45)
IGNACY PADEREWSKI (44)
TADEUSZ KOSCIUSZKO (41)
TEODOR JOZEF KONRAD KORZENIOWSKI** (41)
LECH WALESA (40)
ANDRZEJ WAJDA (33)
ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI (33)
GREG STAPLES (27)
WILL SHORTZ (20)
*a.k.a. Marie Curie
** a.k.a. Joseph Conrad
11
It’s more about the odd-seeming extra silent consonants. So I’d agree that vowels are not especially rare. But if you take coach K’s name as an example (Krzyzewski), the mysterious (to Anglo eyes) Kr at the beginning seem to be extra consonants.
2
As someone for whom Polish is an area of study, I was put off by the clue. To answer David Meyers, none of the "extra silent consonants" are extra, and none are silent. Polish is written as it is pronounced, though of course it has its own logic as for the pronunciation. The fact that Americans - including most Americans of Polish heritage - don't pronounce those names correctly cannot be faulted to the Polish language but must be credited to the linguistic laziness (nearly infinite) of Americans.
All slavic languages include words of one letter that are consonantal: /v/ means "in", /s/ means "with", /k/ means "to", /z/ means several different things; all of these consonants combine with the following word the way "de" combines in French/Italian/Spanish.
Czech has a much, much higher percentage of words of more than one letter with zero or only one vowel. There are whole sentences that can be written in Czech without vowels. There are none in Polish.
10
I didn’t mean to say that the consonants were extraneous, more that they seem so to us lazy English speakers. As I understand it, coach K’s name is pronounced something like “sh shef ski” and it’s hard to see how Krzy becomes “sh”. Where are the k and r sounds? I understand that the rules of any language that uses the Latin alphabet needn’t follow the pronunciation rules of English and that English has more than its share of oddities - as in, for example, the myriad pronunciations of “ough”. I guess one could ask where the g and h sounds are in any of them. Nonetheless, I’d love to be enlightened as to any pronunciation generalities about Slavic languages that DC would care to share. Not picking on Polish though. Gaelic is similarly mysterious to lazy old me.
2
Sorry about the lateness of the column everybody — there was a technical problem with an image that I had attached and it kept the whole thing from publishing. The moon is void of course for me today!
3
Fun puzzle. Shouldn't "boxcars half" have had an apostrophe? Puzzlers count on those sorts of details, yes?
1
Why, exactly, do you think "boxcars half" should have an apostrophe?
(And if it should have, what additional detail would it have provided?)
No. Boxcars is craps lingo for double sixes. Like snake eyes is lingo for double ones.
2
Boxcars is singular.