An impressively connected grid: the bridges between word stacks are all at least two words wide. By increasing the dependence between stacks, this cuts the constructor's freedom in building the stacks. Mr. Chen set a tough goal (or
goalpost) for himself and met it with style.
1
Uh, way to go guys, with 5 Down...haven’t you heard, the U-S-A didn’t qualify for the World Cup this year??
3
Had cussout rather than HATESON for awhile in the northwest. DEEPFAT kept me in the dark till near completion. I hate to admit it, but ANTINOVEL is a new one to me. Is it specific or just anything written that's not a novel. Sounds like something that doesn't need to be because it already was.
I had dada in the southwest but I blame that on my southern upbringing--never called pop SODA. Mine was Daddy.
Did like the Stones reference. And never was a fan of TED NUGENT.
Thought the clue for MOON was very cute! I really enjoyed the puzzle even though it took over an hour to complete. Thank you Mr. Chen.
5
Started last night and sped through the top half. Quit so I'd have something to do at the coffeehouse today. Well, the bottom half was a slog, especially the SW corner. Didn't get the clue fot ANDES, had QUESO for 44D, clueless again about 45D and 46D even though I had some of the crosses, and couldn't come up with AHBLISS. Finally, had the "Aha" moments that solved that corner so moved to the SE. After erasing DYLAN for 48D (Literature Nobel, not Peace) and getting 47A and 52A, refused to enter OBAMA for 48D (two grammys??) until the crosses made me. Was informed by an off-shift barista that the Grammy's were for spoken word. (Clearly, Xwords are educational!) Despite my struggles, finished well below average time. Verdict: Challenging, well-constructed puzzle!
2
Yes, sports fans, I glanced at the grid and thought "basketball hoop!"
I did not speed through it as so many of you did (I figured 36D must be THE PRICE, which held me up a while), but I did finish and had a good time doing it. Thanks, Jeff Chen!
3
Started with THEPRICE as well.
As usual with Jeff Chen, a tidy, economical, and clever puzzle.
All went pretty smoothly, although I started off with an awful lot of unpleasant associations in NW -- TED NUGENT, HATES ON, fighting, bugs. I can live with PORN as long as I don't actually have to look at the stuff.
Only real gimme was SEALE, since Newton didn't fit.
Never saw VROOM as a verb, but I like it.
Didn't know the term AD UNITS, but that was deducible. Likewise HOT ROCKS as clued. Only real no-know was D-LINE, but it's football so of course I wouldn't know. (Remembered football KNEELS from a recent XWP.) I'm not going to Google to learn what a D-LINE is, though. Even if I understood the explanation, I wouldn't remember it (that's what happened with football KNEELS too.)
Speaking of football, I didn't see goalposts. I though the thing in the middle was either a giant letter Y or a tuning fork.
Anotggher Jeff Chen gem. Thanks to all.
2
Streak broken. I put in FAIR SHARE and never got to FAIR SHAKE until I peeked. I knew THANRED was wrong but I could not find my mistake. All the crosses were perfect, I thought. Tomorrow we begin again.
4
Hand up for FAIR SHARE.
Also stared at THANRED (THAN RED?) for a ridiculously long time gbefore the penny dropped.
2
Me too
2
I had fleeting thoughts of A. A. Milne’s literal flip side to 43a, oh bother.
3
I took a spill in Penn Station yesterday and wound up in an emergency room for about 10 hours with two banged up knees. I did finish the Thursday puzzle but didn’t get around to commenting. Stayed home today but the pain medication is making me feel a little loopy. Ergo today’s solve took a bit longer than usual despite gimmes like TEDNUGENT and HOTROCKS. I also fell for the OLE/USA trap.
One-hit wonder R. Dean Taylor made the Top Ten in 1970 with “INDIANA WANTS ME, a tale of a fugitive on the lam:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fZL_tZxyBDo
8
Feel better soon, Jimbo.
I know commuting is rough, but...
1
The OLE USA trap is especially bitter this year since Team USA did not qualify for the World Cup.
1
Get well soon! I hear crosswords really help the healing process...
2
I was two minutes over my average on this one; the NE did not reveal itself easily. TEDNUGENT is new to me as is HATESON.
Otherwise, an interesting puzzle.
In a nod to Phillip Roth, we don't say AHBLISS, we say what the little boy in the library in Goodbye, Columbus said when he saw Gaugain's paintings for the first time: "Ain't that the life!"
2
OTq: It is particularly fitting that TED NUGENT crosses HATES ON.
omelet
4
In the SW I briefly thought IMSTUCK! But then 43D ANDES helped me UNSNARL the mess, and what followes was AH BLISS!
2
And just what the heck is DEEPFAT??? Sure you need a deep fat FRYER. But try going to your local grocer and asking for deep fat. Ya, good luck with that.
And phew, my knees were getting wobbly. It had been over 3 weeks since 48D appeared. (I need a tissue.)
2
Heh, well that mention of the Nobel prize is always good for a laugh!
1
Funny. Yesterday, some people assumed that "using" a spoon meant "eating" with it. Today, someone assumes that frying in DEEP FAT requires the purchase of something called deep fat. Oh, well.
The presidential reference and DEEP combined to remind me of the good old days of 1972, when pornography and presidential intrigue were separate topics.
5
That Fryer Took the long way round on my burner: DEEP_OIL/POT/ FAT
FAT just sounds too much a solid to be right for the clue.
Jumpin JehosoFAT
Great theme. Great clueing. Some minor nits: if you are copied on a mail it is "cc'd". So shouldn't a blind copy be "bcc'd" and not BCCED?
Which comes to the theme entry: NUCLEARFOOTBALL. Hmm.. how long will it take for righteous indignation on anything "nuclear"?
cc'd would appear in a Xword as CCED. That's just the way it's done.
I thought it was a half-hearted attempt at a wine glass.
6
May your wineglass never be empty, suejean!
7
It almost never is, Leapy. Oh, it's getting there, better fix that.
What an odd week I'm having crossword wise. M/T/W all seemed harder to me than they should have been (my solve times confirming that feeling), then Thursday came along and things seemed to be back to "normal". Now comes this Friday puzzle that I sped through like it was a Monday! Way below my average and only a few seconds off of a best. So many answers were in my wheelhouse and just flew from my fingers. Great example of when you're in sync with the constructor!
3
I see I am late to the party...already! This was pretty easy until I got to the SW, where I wavered between OH, BLISS! and AH, BLISS..... Since I had DADA for 'Pop' down at 60A, I had ONDED or ANDED for 'Long range.' There was no way to make sense of it! Finally the nickel dropped--HUEVO, not HUEVA--and of course the ANDES rose out of the mist.
Now, the thing is, we ourselves never, ever say SODA or POP. Well, we actually never indulge in SOFT DRINKS--why would we? Especially with wine around!--but if we did, we'd say COKE. Or maybe COLA. It's a regional thing. When I moved to Ohio I had to learn a whole new vocabulary list.
Jeff Chen always pleases.... (I am giving him credit for the clues I liked best, which seem a couple of bubbles off from the Shortz list.)
4
MOL: Today is National Wine Day.
(I'd direct this comment to suejean, but she's in the wrong nation to observe the day. I bet she will anyway though.)
No wine for me today. Alex is coming up from LA with his wife and her parents, sisters, their husbands and kids. 11 people and 2 dogs. Should be tons of fun with people sleeping all over the place, but sadly, no alcohol.
Surprised "Spanish omelet ingredient" didn't get a shout-out as a tricky clue. "Onion" seemed a little easy for a Friday, but I started there anyway until getting NUCLEARFOOTBALL (which was admittedly relatively early) and then stared at that U for a long time before it clicked.
2
Grow two of those omelet items and you've grown a pair in Spanish, due to the secondary slang meaning of the word.
3
On speed solving: in order that I might put a spin on the HARE and tortoise fable, I thought I might quote Kong Fu-Zi Confucius. It's not how slow you go as long as you don't stop. I restrained myself from leading off at 1a by filling 'I give up'. That answer simply felt like such a defeatist way to commence a solve. It turned out to be a wise decision when I'M STUCK came to light...I finally witnessed the yawning, mid-grid, prominent gridiron fixture post solve...Briefly considered nirvana for 43A...This from the home office of time worn cliches: "you can't make an omelet without breaking a few HUEVOs"..."Don't Stop" isn't cut from 37d; rather from the band's '03 effort, Forty Licks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fuf-XsniN8E
In A Decorative Mood,
Bru
4
I love that song Bru.
Ah, who am I kidding, I love every Rolling Stones song.
3
What’s not to love JB?
Yet another very enjoyable puzzle from the super-talented Jeff Chen. What I found most amazing about this one were Jeff's comments that this grid was a beast to fill. He struggled to get it right with many starts, stops and restarts. You would never know it as the end result is a smooth, smooth solve. That is the mark of a truly gifted constructor.
Thanks, Jeff!
8
I would have liked to see HARE cross with IHOP.
Today's picture raised a number of questions in my mind. Was this "lifelong Arizona Cardinals fan" just a fan since they moved to Arizona? Yet he lives in Massachusetts. The football pictured seemed to date from 1998 when the "Arizona" Cardinals had only been there a short while. I assumed therefore that by "lifelong" we were talking about a 70 or 80 year-old who had followed the Cardinals from Chicago to St. Louis to Phoenix, yet still this seemed to me a somewhat arbitrary picture for today's puzzle.
With the help of Google, I came upon this NYT story of Sean Murray, an unremarkable 42 year-old Cardinals fan with a fair bit of memorabilia. I don't see anything particularly noteworthy about this story or this person, except that he was a Cardinals fan in a part of the country where, I assume, there are not a lot of Cardinals fans. Or perhaps, as the story implies, there are not a lot of Cardinals fans anywhere.
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/sports/football/02fans.html
Often the picture has a very tenuous connection to the puzzle, it seems to me.
HARE/IHOP -- Hah! Good catch!
2
Nice! Thank you.
1
I think Cheeky was more than about sass... when you MOON someone, you're showing off two cheeks.
1
That's why the clue included a question mark.
(This is not sass)
1
Maybe it was about sass (without the s of course).
Though it seemed to take forever, I ended up a few minutes faster than my average Friday. It's so delicious to figure out an answer after wrestling with a clue. So now it's on to Saturday.
1
I was surprised at some of the clunkers (to my ears) like ADUNITS and AHBLISS, but Jeff Chen's description of the process helped me understand how hard it was to get solid fill in every corner.
Also not thrilled with the cluing for PORN. An exploitative and harmful answer should not have a light-hearted clue.
But otherwise, it was a fun puzzle to solve, sloshing from one section to the next in a continuous wave. I thought the vertical stack of PINESCENT, FAIRSHAKE, ANTINOVEL was particularly nice, even if it did give us DEEPFAT (ugh).
1
Not a complete success for me, but close, so I'm not surprised that most seemed to find this easy. I appear to be alone in not recalling NUCLEARFOOTBALL; that slowed me down for a while and even when I had enough crosses to force FOOTBALL, my brow remained furrowed.
Good puzzle overall and some really clever clues. The clue/answer combo for KNEELS seems off to me. I don't think I've ever heard that play called a 'KNEEL.'
I'll never see LETSROLL without thinking of Todd Beamer and flight 93. It's only appeared 4 times, but all since 9/11 and I'm a bit surprised it's never been clued that way.
7
That's always my first thought too, RiA.
1
I agree with the clue/answer for KNEELS. QBs kneel to kill a play, not the clock. I believe they SPIKE the ball, which is an incompletion, to kill the clock.
I think the issue Rich raised, Mike, was not about the play itself, but what it is called. Yes, the quarterback KNEELS to kill the play and run time off the clock, but have you ever heard it *called* anything other than "taking a knee?"
Just did the mini and may I say -- very cool construction. IMHO
4
EDU was my first gimme -- perhaps proximity to Brown U helped? Then the rest fell nicely. Saw the goal posts right away, but it still took a few seconds of looking at FOOTB_L_ before it hit me. SMUG and SHUN seem to belong together, as well as HATES ON and HOSTELS (in a punny sense). I hope I am not the only one who had 'ole' before USA.
5
Perhaps proximity did help. I saw the clue and immediately thought of UPS ("What can Brown do for you?") and entered BIZ, which worked with ADZONES. Until it didn't of course...
I'd be willing to bet that most fell into the "OLE" trap. I know I did! LOL
2
Steve, me too.
Didn’t like the clue for 5D since nobody will be cheering USA at next month’s World Cup.
9
My thoughts exactly. An uncharacteristically imprecise clue.
1
Funny, we were just discussing that last night.
(What's in *your* comments?)
1
It didn't say it would be heard at the coming World Cup. Also, knowing Americans, if there's a group of them at the games, the cheer will be heard regardless of who's playing. (No offense. Some of my best friends are Americans!)
2
TIL (Today I Learned) Spelling Bee version:
ENEMA is not a word.
3
Me too!
I wonder if it's a filter issue. Enema IS a word but not recognized here.
AFDAIL(A few days ago I learned) from the same place that ROOD is not a word. There was another crossword word that wasn't a word either there recently, but TILTIFMTILBBFAHTLA(Today I learned that I forget many things I've learned before but forgot and had to learn again).
Lovely Spanish second column all the way down, and sparkling wordplay clues for THE VOICE ("Reality show whose contestants must be good with numbers"), NUCLEAR FOOTBALL ("Important case for national security"), and especially ANDES ("Long range"). That last one brought a huge HAH and overall STARBURST.
After seeing this is by Jeff, I knew it would be spotless with well-thought-out clues, and, once again, it was. Burnished. May I never take for granted the effort that goes into making a puzzle with these qualities, and thank you over and over again, Jeff.
3
Guess I'm the lone voice in the wind....went to bed last night with most of the top quarter blank....took about three minutes this AM to finish it.....always amazed at the 'smarts' giving power of sleep....
With me, it was most of the left hand side. But yeah, I also find that a little sleep often unsnarls the synapses.
This went smoothly for me and was my fastest Friday ever! My favorite clue was "Important case for national security" and the aha moment it brought about.
3
I was sure I’ll be stuck multiple times with this one and indeed, I was. However, it all fell in place eventually and left me in a very good place. Thank you Jeff for a number of clever clues which I really enjoyed getting, and going easy with the pop names.
The trick is to not give up on the names and words in other languages, which are rarely gimmes for me. Guessing usually works, but where there are too many, I do find myself giving in to Mr. Google. But today, TED NUGENT and ANNE Rice and HOT ROCKS and SEALE all came up from some recess in my mind. AH BLISS!
3
Can anyone explain 23A. I got it from the crosses but have no idea what it means.
In Arabic names, ibn = son of, and abu = father of.
In Arabic, ibn means "son of" and abu means "father of".
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ab_(Semitic)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patronymic#Arabic
Hands up if you thought English John might be PRIVY! Fortunately that didn’t last long. UNSNARL was my key to the SE, where I thought I’d be STUCK, but ended up beating my average.
I never thought of PRIVY as being especially UK usage, and a quick peek in the online dictionaries supports me. Anyway, using a misdirect involving England and bathrooms is fairly common for the British singer, so put that in your storehouse (or outhouse).
2
Although it's NOT TRUE that I VROOMED through today's puzzle, I thought we got a FAIR SHAKE from Jeff Chen today.
Had Dada crossing LhaSA for a while until decoding the NUCLEAR FOOTBALL got me to DECO and LLOSA. Great clue there.
Hope that's one bomb that's never tossed Trump's way. SRSLY.
In the end, though, I had no solver's lament.
3
Gimmes:
SSN, SMUG, TSARS(?), HARE, ETC, TORIC(?), ACTI.
Then DIALER, EDU, ADA, SHUN, WEDS, RUNS A TAB, LETS ROLL, BCCED, LLOSA, OBAMA(?), FRAU.
Then just a matter of wandering around filling in things that then became clear from crosses. I did have a few false starts, though: EATS for CHOW, DADA before DECO, later DADA before SODA. OLE before USA. I guess I have DADA issues.
3
I’m writing this without having read other comments.
I quit halfway through tonight. I’m not having fun.
I’m angry at the clueing too often lately. When I get angry, I’m not having fun.
From the top of my head, cluing for porn, tonight. NRA, to name just two from this week. Fill: grow a pair, also this week.
I’m not going to look anything up to bolster my case. I have no case to prove.
I'm the customer, and I’m not going to pay the extra fee for the online crossword any more. Maybe I’ll read a book.
And now to distract myself with browsing the rest of the paper.
2
I think you are overreacting. They serve many customers with diverse interests and tastes. Chill and think of home ec. That's what I do..
3
What's wrong with the clue for PORN? Or is it that you just don't want PORN in your puzzle?
Ditto NRA. I don't care much for them myself, but I found it interesting that they run a museum, something that I learned with the puzzle. And the clue is factual, not editorial.
And if GROW A PAIR offends you, you probably should just...oh, well, I'm not going there.
But seriously, I'm in my 60s, and have been doing these puzzles for all my adult life. I think there's a huge effort being made to make the puzzles young-friendly to draw in a new crowd, and I think has been very successful. From what I hear, the puzzle is one of the most lucrative parts of the NYT business model. That's why the puzzle page is getting bigger, with Set, KenKen, Spelling Bee, and the like.
Without the young crowd, crosswords would go the way of the bridge column and polka dancing.
If you're easily offended, xwElaine, clearly you should find some other pastime or some other puzzle (but I think all crosswords are heading in the same direction).
As for me, I'll allow it. It's a small price to pay for the continued health of the genre.
19
Steve L, I appreciate your comments and agree with you. However, on the subject of 19A, I was planning to make the observation that the definition of "steamy" has certainly (d)evolved over the course of my lifetime. It seems that PORN has become just another genre, albeit a "steamy" one, regardless of the fact that its subject matter has become increasingly sick and twisted. It makes me shudder to think of what might be considered "steamy" in another 60 years.
pretty good puzzle. I would not want to eat bugs ON A DARE. It's simply NOT TRUE! Yuck!
Roasted crickets are addictively tasty. If you won't try them on a dare, will some cajolery do? Yum!
2
If you haven't tried them, don't knock 'em.
Ants used to kind of colonize my grand-dad's beehives, putting some 'volunteers' in the hive to eat honey and grow fat abdomens. They were intended as sort of milch cows to return to the anthill and share the sweets. Those ants made delicious, if tiny, snacks.
Time to reinstate the breakfast test perhaps?
Was a bit slow getting going, but once I hit ERIE, the right side filled very quickly. Then back up to the top. Easier for me than most Fridays. A fun puzzle.
I loved this puzzle, partly because I solved it in record time for a Friday and partly because it referenced my favorite Stones album, which I bought as a tween and still listen to, skips and all.
8
I spotted the uprights, *and* solved the puzzle 12 minutes faster than average, but still didn't make the connection to the NUCLEAR FOOTBALL.
And Deb, my first gimme was a four-letter word for "Get cheeky with?"... and *I'm* not even sorry. (Although after yesterday's covfefe with asterisks and MOONs, I shall tread lightly.)
2
Did you see P**N?
Mickey, I am a little concerned that, based on yesterday's post, you may feel inclined to explode! ;-)
At least quarterbacks can still take a knee, if they time it right.
27
Funny this should come up today, when there are four letters in The Times about the "crackdown" on pro football players.
I don't see how to link to a particular letter, so I'll paste this one here with its author's name. I think it's brilliant!
To the Editor:
Sports teams do not battle foreign or domestic enemies. Their play is not a test of patriotism. Playing the national anthem, an unfortunate holdover from World War II, is no true measure of our nation’s history, achievements or flaws.
Why not drop it altogether? But a lively tune before the game is always welcome. Let teams choose what to play. Maybe even let the players! How about “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Born to Run,” “Respect,” “Walk on the Wild Side” or even “This Land Is Our Land”? The audience sings along, the players get charged up and the game can begin.
BILL NICHOLS, SAN FRANCISCO
1
Easy puzzle today. Solved in Tuesday time. Some very clever clues, but none were stumpers for me.
I was pondering Jeff's new hair style (which I approve of, since it's like mine, though a different color and I don't have the goatee) while working my way quickly through this one. It was so quick that I missed some of the good clues in the SE that Deb pointed out, since I had it filled in with the down answers.
1
Same here.
But I miss the old picture where he's gazing at whatever he was holding in his hand...was it a bowl of something?
(It's my hairstyle, too, out of necessity.)
Wags, you made me look, you dirty crook! I went to Xword Info and there was Jeff with his new 'billiard ball' do.....
Regarding puzzlers, not the puzzle...
I haven't seen Amitai for a bit; I hope he is well.
7
I thought this was tricky while doing it, but my time was more than 15 minutes under my average for a Friday. My guesses all seemed to work. Either I'm more brilliant than I thought, or the puzzle wasn't that difficult. My brilliance should always remain in question.
5
Was this very easy Friday puzzle, or was I just locked in on Jeff Chen's wavelength? My water clock had just started dripping and I was done, without one slip of the chisel on the entries. i don't mean to be SMUG, but I VROOMED through this one, finding ALACK of trick clues to UNSNARL. It was ERIE. I seemed to know things I didn't know. Who gnu? U?
Better joke punchline (from camp 60+ years ago):
HARE today, goon tomorrow.
4
It was very easy.
I was far from Jeff's wavelength - had the right half filled in fairly well but the left half was full of stumpers. Prophetically, "I'm stuck" took as long as anything to come up with.
Ended up with a solid Sunday solve time, way over my Friday average.
Half my average time for a Friday puzzle. Not that I’m complaining.
5D: Sorry, not this time around.
(Next Women's World Cup, I certainly hope so)
7
Ditto. Made me wonder when the puzzle was written.
2