How long?
On Peppa Pig, that answer is, ''It takes as long as it takes.''
Yes, there are young children in my house!
Welp, easiest Across-only solve that I can remember in a loooong time, hopefully some of the folks considering that method gave it a try this week.
I was on my way to my fastest ever solve but I one dumb mistake filling in an answer early that bit hard at the end, and read a couple of clues wrong and ended up with a good time for Monday instead.
Surprised no one has raised this, but I object to the theme clue. SCRAM, SCAT, SHOO, and LEAVE, mean GO FAST, not GO FIRST. You’re not necessarily the first to leave if someone tells you to leave, you might be the last to leave and the host is sick of you. :)
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The FIRST refers to the position of the words in the solutions.
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Solved today's puzzle on my flight back from Atlanta. Good to be back (both home and WP). Nice easy grid which helped keep my mind off other things (I'm not really a good flyer thankfully it's a short flight).
The Beatles' classic "Yesterday" famously carried the working title of "SCRAMBLED EGGS" when McCartney came up with the melody. Here's Sir Paul with Jimmy Fallon singing the "original" placeholder lyrics (though I'm skeptical past the first verse):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btC2_t8HZP4
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Update, for those who are following this saga:
My test worked. My comment appeared. As did a reply from Barry.
Part 2 of my test, wherein a replied to Barry's reply, failed. At least insofar as my reply is not visible to me. I recall that a few days ago I posted some stuff that others could see and I couldn't, so who knows?
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This is a test.
I've been locked out of participating in the Comments for the past couple of days, and I think I may have found the secret door back in.
Wish me luck!
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Welcome back, Deadline!
(You found the secret door.)
Yahoo! I'm back!
At least part way. This is a test, part 2, I'm trying to reply to a reply.
Crossed fingers. If this works, I'll go back and read the Comments that have accumulated since about noon, and maybe participate in the chat!
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OK, the reply to the reply worked.
Now, test part 3: Can you *see* the reply?
44A. Strictly speaking, the wrap is called a gyros. not a gyro.
Tamale Trap!
(In English, it's a gyro.)
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It's also pronounced "year-ose." "Jai-ro" sets my teeth on edge, and the final "s" is the least of the problem.
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You mean it's not short for gyroscope, Martin?
(Well bake my kibbee)
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Debit means nothing more than "left" in accounting. Someone's minus can be your plus and vice versa.
Absolutely correct! As someone who has worked on financial accounting systems for many, many years, that clue also made me go "no, no, no!" :-)
Fellas,
You're talking about def. 1; the puzzle clue is talking about def. 2. When I'm looking at financial statements on EDGAR, def. 1; when I'm looking at my check register, def. 2. OK?
Definition of debit
1 a : a record of an indebtedness; specifically : an entry on the left-hand side of an account constituting an addition to an expense or asset account or a deduction from a revenue, net worth, or liability account
b : the sum of the items entered as debits
2 : a charge against a bank deposit account
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/debit
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Isin't debit de component of deword in decomputer?
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Seeing Lynn's byline on the xwp always brings a smile.
No problems of any sort, but wondered why squares 38 and 39 didn't contain circles. Those would have fit in nicely.
I ran into a problem with 50A a few weeks ago: I was asked if I could do Mandelbrot (that's Jewish biscotti) for a Passover seder, and went shopping for the ingredients -- which included matzo cake flour. Couldn't find any, so I started looking for an appropriate substitute flour. Fortunately the ingredients of most of the ones available indicated leavening is indeed present -- so I was able to avoid those and find a commercial wheat flour that had none.
(PS: the non-passover version tastes a lot better.)
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"...wondered why squares 38 and 39 didn't contain circles."
I'd say it was because 38A was the reveal.
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Entries in the minus column are Credits, not debits.
This is another case where the technical sense, as used by accountants, isn't the same as common usage. In double-entry accounting, there is no minus column; both the debit and credit columns have positive entries, the sums of which must be equal.
If you combine them into a single column, with one listed as negative numbers, it depends on whose view you reflect. If you're a lender, the running balance is the amount lent, and payments are credited as negative numbers. If you're talking about your checkbook balance, deposits credited are positive numbers. From the double-entry perspective, debit and credit accounts are both comprised of pluses.
Since more solvers have checkbooks than provide mortgages, the clue's view makes sense.
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Since, as you note, Martin, there is no "minus column" on a balance sheet (or an income statement), the clue and entry have nothing to do with where an accountant would enter DEBITS.
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Right, it's in the idiomatic domain that credits are assets, gains, income and the like and are "plusses" while debits are expenses, losses, etc. and are "minuses."
SarahJ was speaking of credits and debits in certain accounting documents.
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My five favorite clues from last week:
1. Ming worth millions of dollars (3)
2. It's only half due (3)
3. Net sales (9)
4. Pocket of the Mideast (9)
5. Second hand (4)
YAO
UNO
ECOMMERCE
PITA BREAD
AIDE
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Oh Carrie Chapman, no matter how many times I see you in the Times crosswords, you will always be Watt to my brain.
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Fun puzzle. Loved the cross of NICE and INSIDIOUS.
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Recollect my little brother standing on top of the bomb shelter next to the front door of our Darmstadt 'quarters' (requisitioned house) and yelling at a stray dog: " 'Raus!" Our 3+ years there resulted in our famiily vocabulary's having a number of German phrases that persist to this day. We never said SHOO, SCRAM, or SCAT.
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My German grandfather shouted "Raus!" at us kids many a time. One of the few German words that a non-speaker will understand the first time she hears it.
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"Raus" was one of the vocab words from Hogan's Heroes. Along with Schnell, mach schnell, verboten. Sgt Schultz would roust the guys from the barracks by shouting, "Raus, Raus..."
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I do wish the Times would be more careful with the sea-going clues/answers. Anyone "asea" (another common answer I've never ever hoard outside of the crossword) would be unlikely to head "alee" to get "Toward shelter, at sea." A lee shore is the one place you really really don't want to be.
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You are assuming that the clue refers to (a) steering a vessel (b) to a shore. Absent those assumptions, do you see anything wrong with the clue and entry?
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Hard to ignore those assumptions. What else could the clue and answer possibly refer to? I just don't get the logic at all.
Well, for (a), sailors on deck might want to be in the lee of the deckhouse, and for (b), the skipper might want to shelter in the lee of (not on the lee shore of) an island.
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Thank you , Lynn and wow! In one hour! Welcome balm for my wounds from yesterdays puzzle. Soothing.
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Nice puzzle. I agree with the constructor that it would have better without the circles.
Interesting choice for down clues in the NE. I read '12 Years a Slave' some years ago and was aware that it had been made into a film, but clearly never registered the director's name (I would have remembered that, for obvious reasons). I know that I'm pretty much out of touch with current events, but I didn't realize I was THAT much out of touch. Made me grimace a bit. And then there's the Jackson song. I'm a huge fan of his but I can't remember the last time I heard that song on the radio and barely remembered it. Had to be an unknown to some of the population.
Anyway, that and the theme does give me the perfect excuse to re-link my all time favorite music video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRdxUFDoQe0
..
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Another week. I used to solve in the paper, with pen, till NYT canceled weekday delivery in my neck of the woods: Bitter table for one!
The shaming app tells me this is a faster than average solve but not my best. I shall time myself out and reflect on my solving speed.
Smooth puzzle. Thanks Lynn.
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You should be able to turn the timer display off if you don't like it tracking you. I'm not sure if it still logs the time somewhere, but I know that when I first started using the app the timer made me tense. I've turned it back on now, but appreciated having the choice.
Make yourself feel better by printing the grid. The NYT downloads the puzzle as a .pdf if you choose it.
If you solve in AcrossLite, the timer is optional. You can Just Say No.
Classic Lynn Lempel: Clean, bouncy, with beginner-friendly but not-insulting cluing. This product of LL's bean has a little animal thing going on (COHO, PIG, ABALONE, CATt, dRAT, asHEN, and a backward PETS), plus a couple of barely separated answers -- NUDE and PEEL. Any week in which Lynn can GO FIRST is off to a flying start. Truly, to me, she never WEARS THIN.
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Definitely my fastest solve ever, but as I never time myself I can't say how fast. I quite enjoyed it.
As so often, long forgotten memories are triggered, and today it was 61A. It must be about 70 years since I've played H-O-R-S-E. is that still a thing?
The queen of Monday's delivers again.
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I don't time myself either, suejean. I tried for speed on Mondays for a while, but finally abandoned that. Even though I solve in Across Lite and there is a timer, I usually don't even look at the timer when I'm done.
People were still playing H-O-R-S-E 15 or 20 years ago (the last time I played). I assume it's still a thing. Never would have pegged you for a basketball player; glad to hear it.
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Rich, I didn't mention how well I did, but do remember that it was a fun game.
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Too easy even for a Monday. There were no tricky clues.
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I think this is the fastest I've ever done. But I'm not sure it's the puzzle. I have changed my approach after seeing comments here and reading some of the articles. I used to just go down reading horizontally, then go down vertically. Pretty OCD, I guess. So now I just work where I am. If the first horizontal stumps me I waste no time. I just do the verticals and usually the horizontal reveals itself...and so on. I guess it's sort of free form. Much faster. I get so much enjoyment out of this. Why am I in a hurry? I have no idea. ..
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Timers inspire hurrying, methinks.
5
I used to do the puzzle with pen and paper, but I subscribed a few months ago and have been using the app since. I used to look at the clock when I started and finished so I had a rough idea how long I took.
I'm not sure but what the timer might be spoiling it for me a bit...
With pen and paper, I also did a lot of crosses in my head until I was fairly sure about an uncertain entry before I would commit to it.
That doesn't happen with the app - another thing that feels like it might be a loss...
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I was just thinking that! But you were faster than me ...:-D
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19D...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S94Bh3Qez9o
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Oops, make that 13D.
Michael Jackson plus “Pretty Young Thing” is a big yuck, given what he got up to.
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interesting to learn puzzle was constructed in an hour. And a good one too. Rex
Parker was just commenting that NYT constructors earn between $300 to $450 per accepted puzzle. Got Pretty YOUNG THING from the crosses -- I didn't know it either!
"This was an exceedingly rare, once-in-a-blue-moon puzzle for me ..."
I don't really have anything to say, except that those eggs look really good. Just had to chime in on cue.
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The eggs are being prepared by a food stylist; they better look really good! Whether they would taste good is another matter.
(Substance or style?)
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I didn't know it either, and it is pretty amazing that it was an accident!
Form or function?
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It's fun to hear about the constructor's creative process! Solving this one went very smoothly, so it was good to know that creating it also went very smoothly. Loved seeing INSIDIOUS and ABALONE on a Monday.
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"Those commands to GO FIRST are circled in the grid for easier identification."
Those are commands to GO, Deb, not to go first; the commands to go are the FIRST letters of the theme entries. But you knew that.
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This is how you do a Monday puzzle.
2
We were on the road with visiting family (Elaine's sister). Had a great time in Monterey and Carmel. I love the Aquarium. The otters were cuter than ever. At feeding time, one has learned to hand (flipper?) a toy to the feeder to get a squid (her favorite) in return. She came up from the depths with a clutch of rubber balls on her belly for squid-bartering.
People food in the average restaurant in Touristland is not as tasty, I'm afraid. I've never taken my food to a food stylist, but after seeing Deb's pic I think maybe a shampoo and blow dry wouldn't hurt some of those mediocre road meals.
Gotta scram. Time to start prepping tonight's salmon.
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"I thought the revealer would make everything obvious enough without them, and that people would have a nicer “Aha!” moment by seeing it on their own. But yeah, it’s Monday."
Even for a Monday, I'm with the constructor over the editors.
"Only a pair of clue changes to note — the Michael Jackson ones at 11- and 12-Down. I could never have written them, never having heard of the song. But then, you all probably knew that!"
What were *your* 11D and 12D clues, Ms. Lempel?
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10:28 !!! Wooohooooo ! My bestest ever. I know, I know, it’s Monday, but still, I’m really pleased with myself. Now for a cold shower before bed. What happened to spring ? We fell right into summer here.
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Woo hoo, indeed, Jess! Congratulations!
Jess,
I responded to your Sunday puzzle query re CIGS but it didn't appear. BUTT is the end of the cigarette, but it is also a slang term for cigarette, as is CIG, so it is a proper if slang word.
That's special. Even for a Monday. Excellent. Good job. I feel like James Comey urging on his staff...! Somehow I'm proud of you! Good job!
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