Tolkien troll here--FYI It's Warg riders not Wolf--as to the Spelling B--don't get me started.
1
Loved it.
1
This puzzle is actually a paleontologist’s workplace. Archaeologists work in the remains and physical culture of human civilizations, both historical and prehistoric. They do not work with fossils, and as the Archaeosoup song notes, they don’t do dinosaurs.
3
Does anyone know how this can be solved with the app? I can’t put two letters in the same box in the app. I’m going to lose my streak if I can’t finish it!
1
@Alexis Whitehurst
You have to touch the More button, then the Rebus button to enter more than one letter into a square in the app.
3
I'm not sure I read all of the comments (some got a bit repetitive and/or argumentative), nor that I really understood anything.
I'm counting this puzzle as a DNF (perhaps my first in years?), although I did in fact finish without any Red Triangles of Shame or Black Triangles of Embarrrassment. No. I just didn't do a good job.
Didn't get the theme. The first of my circled/rebus squares was the AU, which sent me to gold or golden or something in all that chemical stuff that I don't know anyway.
So I got some stuff, with mistakes like BEAUTY SPOT instead of MARK and WITHIN instead of IN ARM'S REACH. Some work resulted in fixing most of that.
But still, two ways I fell on my face: OPEN NOTE; GYM BUNNIES; HOOBOY.
No. I did bad job.
No you did not. It was -- to use an old-fashioned term -- a stinker. A rare DNF for me too. Chalk it up as an occasional tough one. But not a bad job. Not here.
1
P.P.S. Another thing: My experience (since Aug., 2017) with rebuses is that they are always entire words (or acronyms like HBO). This puzzle has rebuses that, individually, are meaningless. Just saying ...
1
Ron,
You may wish to reconsider whether rebus puzzles you have seen here are "always entire words (or acronyms like HBO)."
https://www.xwordinfo.com/Rebus
1
@Barry Ancona
Touche, BA. Excellent research! I forgot about the ones with numbers, dashes, and double entries (e.g., E/A). Thanks for the edification!
1
Loved this puzzle! Perhaps I'm reaching, but there seemed to be an underlying theme related to recent events.
First, check out one of the most famous quotes by Cicero -
"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself."
Second, TYRANNOSAURUS REX is means "tyrant lizard king" in Greek.
Third, T rexes have SMALL HANDS! Anyone???
17
@Esther
Brilliant, I'm in!
1
That's fantastic Esther.
SMALL HANDS - reminds me of a clip in the Disney animated film Meet the Robinsons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93B072j-E3I
Has anyone finished Spelling Bee? I'm at 41 words and 151 points. How many to finish? Anyone?
1
@Mark D
I have not, but I am at 145 points with 41 words. That leads me to believe that we are each missing one word. If my math is correct, you need a 4-letter word and I need a 7-letter word.
That being said, I'm more of a word guy than a math guy, so who knows? Anyone else?
1
Thanks to hints from other commenters I reached Queen Bee status for the first time ever! I usually miss two or three words and I don’t care if they’re ones I wouldn’t know, but grrrrr if they are.
The QB score is double the Amazing score, so here it is 152 points, with 42 words.
Adding to Mary’s list of four letter words, there are two more starting with one of the heretofore unused consonants, and consisting of one with no vowels.
3
Thanks, then I would need one 4 letter word. I can't believe there is still one left!
1
Extra bonus. At the very heart (just one square away from the dead center of DIGSITE AND FOSSIL) is the central rebus, pointing at what you’ll uncover: OS. Your digsite fossils are of course “bones (FR)”.
2
Chungclan, I posted a little hint below, for you. Then, I took a last stab and found another 4-ltr word, this one starting with P!, but I don't think that my 151 points gave me QB. Or maybe I just got too excited and closed the screen too fast. Anyway, I am retiring from the field. :)
2
I was able until today to print the daily puzzles for the previous week. Today, I do not see this as an option. Was there a change in policy?
If you're referring to going to the CROSSWORDS & GAMES home page to print the last seven days' puzzles, I still see it as an option (and have verified that it is viable).
@Barry Ancona
Thanks. Wonder what changed that I can no longer see it?
@Barry Ancona
I decided to log out of my account and then log-in again. All is well. Traveled to somewhere with very iffy Wi-Fi. Now I wonder if the change is download is in the programming for when you are somewhere with more limited bandwidth
P.S. Is this a coincidence or what:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2018/07/17...
2
Rebuses on a Wednesday!? No fair! I was under the impression that they appeared only on Thursdays and Sundays. (I believe Deb even hinted as such in her "tutorial.") Never in my solving history (since Aug., 2017) do I recall encountering rebuses on a Wednesday.
Having said that ... Loved the puzzle, since I love rebuses! The first hint of trickery afoot was not being able to fit "radio" into the last part of 17A. The confirmation was knowing (thanks to my wife Ali!) the entry for 3D. That there were shaded squares hinted at the location of the rebuses.
Unlike others, I didn't interpret the rebuses as element symbols -- I just had no idea until I got the revealer and noticed that the first three rebuses read "TYRANN." Aha! I then filled in the remaining shaded cells (at first getting them out of order).
Struggled a bit with the SW where I was clueless about SKILLEX and PALLS. Overall, other unknowns were COTY, TURF (as clued), ONCD (too clever!), UVA (as clued), GYMBUNNIES (thanks again, Ali!), ENOKIS, and SHREK (as clued).
I'll now have a more healthy respect for shaded (or circled) cells!
1
I filled the entire grid but could not find my error. I was bamboozled by the upper left corner, where the scent led me to CoCO, as in Chanel. Then the EX at the bottom left made no sense to me. Why? Because as a chemist, every one of the other two-letter combinations matched an atomic symbol (even NN as a diatomic gas). Then, the theme of "fossil" made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Prehistoric elements? There is no EX-element to be had! I caved and checked the blog. T rex, oh yeah. Duh. But, who is Coty?
1
@Andy When I was a kid Coty made cheap perfume sold in five and dimes, stuff you bought before you knew any better. In googling the company I see they once were the standard in perfumes. Not in my lifetime. The company's history reads like what happened to a village after Ghenghis Khan was done with it. Since you're a chemist the NYT just ran an article on the differences between perfume, cologne, eau de perfume etc. These days any scent is verboten. Scents are sort of like cat hair, every one but you notices they're clinging to you.
@K Barrett
We lived in France before coming to the New World, so I was only familiar with the COTY of that distant time. Although Francois Coty was infamous even then for the Fascist groups he had started and supported, his early luxury perfumes were sold in Lalique and Baccarat bottles. I can't say I'm altogether pleased to discover how the brand has changed, but I spose business is business.
(The traditional family scents were Chanel No. 5, Guerlain's Mitsouko and Yardley's Lavender. Very traditional.)
I started in the SW corner, and after solving AUra (Gold), RUnin (Symbol for the chemical element, Ruthenium, derived from the Latin name for Russia, but let’s not go there) and inarmSReach, I was pretty certain this was headed to the Periodic Table...until moving over to essEX. Nobody else, huh? Forgot about the gray squares, other than that they each seemed to be a two letter rebus which made the solve pretty quick. I agree with those that would have dropped the gray and moved the puzzle to Thursday. I loved the comments on the distinction between archaeology and paleontology, well founded, and how civil the discourse. Kudos to Mr. Steinberg for yet another very enjoyable puzzle.
2
Didn't do at all well with this one -- thought like some others I was hunting elements, but nope. Had to go to the Wordplay blog to "get it". Not au courant with contemporary literature and entertainment, as usual.
However -- that did not prevent me from coming up with my minimum required quibbles:
-- The clue for 66a is redundant, is it not?
-- Why "Part of" in 58A? They are a long line in of themselves.
1
Fun puzzle, but I'm trained as an archaeologist, not a paleontologist. Archaeology is the study of the human past through material remains. The digs turn up artifacts. Paleontologists dig for fossils.
2
@Lou To be fair, 39A and 29D were two separate clues and I don't think anything from the puzzle suggested that fossils would be dug up at a DIG SITE.
2
I always expect something surprising from David Steinberg’s puzzles. I wasn’t disappointed! IMO Rebuses are fun, and finding a ferocious fossilized TYRANNOSAURUS REX hiding amongst CHOOSY GYMBUNNIES, TYLERPERRY, and SKRILLEX (whoever he is) was very, very cool.
It’s the PLAINTRUTH.
;)
6
Nice challenging Wednesday with a very fun theme! I especially enjoyed the punny clues for OWIE and RHO. And HOOBOY makes me smile :)
1
Because I am not proud, I am going to fess up here that I solved this puzzle and had to go to the crossword column to get an explanation of the theme. Because the AU rebus was the first one I solved, my initial thought was that we were looking at elements. When I solved it and saw that the rebuses were fossils, I assumed that either there was some common knowledge out there that I wasn’t privy to or that this was an example of some super insider knowledge available only to the cognoscenti. I guess in a sense it was insider knowledge and I will just have to look closer next time. Very fun and challenging Wednesday puzzle!
3
Came here presuming there would be comments about today's Spelling Bee.
'Dildo' yesterday (we're adults, so okay.) And today an interesting choice for inclusion of a certain 7-letter word. You'll know it when you see it.
Off to the airport for 28 hours of travel home [summer has come to an end. Sigh] -- I'll check back tomorrow to see if I'm the only prud(ish) one here.
1
Well, actually, audreylm did mention the exact same two words in her comment a bit earlier, but she kept only the first and last letters:
https://nyti.ms/2NYKuTf
@Brennan LIBIDO was also in yesterday's! But hey, words are words, right?
1
Off to the airport for 28 hours of travel home...
Brennan,
SGN to/from where takes 28 hours?
(or did you add ground travel to air time?)
I was aghast to think bad coverage was sh*tty until I got expo. Whew! It was spotty after all.
4
Either way it would've been true. That one just would not be suitable. Stay calm and carry on. Political incivility hasn't corrupted our favorite pastime (yet!?).
1
I am surprised that this was not the first time SKRILLEX was an answer, and the first time LINUX was.
3
@AL
Had no inkling about SKRILLEX, but with you on LINUX.
2
This was one of the rare times when the theme helped me solve the puzzle. I had AU-RU-SR-EX at the bottom and TY at the top. Easy to put together TYRANNOSAURUS REX from there and that made solving the rest of the puzzle a breeze. Thanks for a fun one!
2
Being one of several who never heard of OPENNOTE, am I the first to ask why, if it's a thing, it isn't OPENNOTES? None of this stopped me from enjoying the puzzle, as I've always been a rebus lover.
3
I'll step up on my three-feet ladder to get down a six-inches thick dictionary and look up why it's open-note test and not open notes...
three dogs night
2
maybe it's a music quiz?
@DavidC
Wow! You have a tripod ladder? Colour me impressed!
;D
Co-recto, however, as the tests I've taken that qualified as such were all 'open-book', despite the stacks of tomes involved. [I'm thinking of the Statistics portion of the Comps - omg - which was less fun than anything I've done in all my days.]
Despite his PLAINT, I'm glad the recognition winkled HALinNY out of his reclusitron.
I blocked on Mr. PERRY's first name for quite a while, although he has Madea huge name for himself. When [TY]LER/CO[TY] were finally brushed off, I could see what we were circling, and filled in all the rebi from CHO[OS}Y on. Have to say that I was totally enraptored.
Most of all, I was very happy for @Archaeoprof.
A final question for the very talented Mr Steinberg: Not sure if it apPLIES TO SCENic venes, but D'YOU RAZZ [SIC] parks? We should now all inveigh against the forests' prime evil.
2
@BarryA
Would you kindly put the "u" back in "venues" for me?
TYVM
Leapy,
Oh, U kid!
(I would if I could)
@Leapfinger
I can't do that, but I did put back the bop in the bop-sha-bop-sha-bop.
Hello all,
Just checking in to see how everyone is doing in the comments today. Anyone experiencing disappearing comments?
I haven't seen any of my comments disappear so far.
1
Yes, Deb, comments *are* still vanishing today, and they are vanishing for the same reason Rich described a week ago:
If people reply to a thread-starting post (rather than to the most recent reply on a thread), when a fourth person replies, it kicks off the first reply, the fifth person kicks off the second reply, and so on.
Go to the thread started by Barb McCaulay. You will see three replies to the initial post. If you look in the permalink, you will find the three first replies that got bounced by the second set of three (the last of which was my test to confirm).
Nothing has been remedied (except maybe more people are taking the hint and not replying to thread-starting posts).
@BarryA
By 'permalink' you mean....?
ps: I replied to Deb, and changed the @Deb to @Barry, so rest assured you have me trained.
What’s the difference between circled and shaded squares?
@Julian It's pretty much just wording. Either one can be used to indicate to solvers that they need to pay attention to those squares for some reason.
The only exception is if you are solving in Across Lite. That is a third party software, and they can only make circled squares, not shaded ones, so you will only see circled squares in that format.
1
Julian,
If you're talking about crossword puzzles, there is (usually) no difference. Some formats can't handle shading (at all or well), so they use circles instead.
And some can do colors! I'd like to seer that again. Really fun.
1
Such a clever puzzle. I was thrilled when I realized it was a rebus puzzle, by getting TY for the end of COTY.
2
@Barbara Metzinger Same! A rebus is a lot easier when you catch it in the first answer, lol.
This is Wednesday Dave c'mon. Whew=Hooboy and Shesh =enough already! Gimme a break. Whenever you write them I have more trouble than usual. I think it's our age differential.
Also I think you should note when two letters appear in one box.
1
That's a rebus; pretty standard fare in crosswords of the Times' and similar levels. If you don't know how to mechanically do them in the Times crossword app, fool around with those dots on the bottom left. If you have trouble with it, come back here and we can give you more detailed help.
My first two rebi were AU and RA, so I thought we might be back with the periodic element chart. I definitely got a rush when I saw them build up to good ole T. Rex. With FOSSIL right there in the middle ... Wow, David Steinberg, that was terrific! It was tough (took me longer than my average on all days but Sunday) but that made the reward even greater.
3
My first rebus was the AU in AURA. I had also thought it to be periodic element as well.
Make no bones about it; one has to marvel at such construction.
7
@Etaoin Shrdlu ho ho ... fossil ... bones ... i got it ... cute ... but what do I know, I am a villain and bad breath and some other kind of disease.
Thanks a lot! I finally get my name in a puzzle and I am characterized as a villain. Sheesh!
6
At least you're in the puzzle.
Why be CHOOSY about the clue?
Maybe next time you'll be a Prince, HAL.
2
It could have been worse.
___itosis
or
Anti-M in MITOSIS
1
@HALinNY
@Barry Ancona
See the XWORD for 7/19 (sort of). :)
That was delightful!!!!!
1
SMUG ALERT. I loved this puzzle, found it easy and fun (though never heard of Tyler Perry or Skillrex). Fair warning with the shaded squares, hat tip to Wednesday I presume. ALSO, while I am not and probably never will be a queen bee, I buzzed right past genius today and thus crown myself a PRINCESS BEE for the day.
AND two blue-tinged entries yesterday (d---o) and today (f-----e). Blush.
3
@audreylm
Yes, I was somewhat surprised by today's blue tinge – maybe the verbal (back-) form is rare enough to get past the PC sensor/censor, while the noun would not have made it.
On the other hand, PALEFACE was caught. It even allowed f------t, an outdated terms for cops, to sneak through, as well as a(n) (onomatopoeic) 4-letter word with no vowels.
A strange dictionary, to be sure.
3
@audreylm
Yes! Thank you, your hint for the "blue-tinged" one is what gave me QB for today.
2
Difficult but fun.
1
I did not find this the slightest bit amusing to do
3
My only hiccup was not knowing how to spell TYRANNOSAURUS REX without looking it up. I eventually figured it out, which helped the solve.
1
Hooray for a Wednesday rebus even though 17A and 3D were complete unknowns to me and OPEN NOTE was just plain mean. For a while before I had many of the Rebi I toyed with the idea that they might be chemical elements, gold and some obscure ones I'd never heard of, but that didn't last long. I was still not understanding it even after getting FOSSIL. The AHA moment came with the EX in ESSEX as I spotted T Rex. Great fun.
4
I have never been a fan of Mr. Steinberg's puzzles. This one, however, I liked very much. Challenging yet fair cluing, a clever-but-not-too-clever theme, etc. One minor nit--I wonder how many got the dubstep pioneer without crosses or look ups? I did because I am a fan of electronic dance music, but the inclusion of terribly obscure, painfully hip pop culture references in Mr. Steinberg's puzzles continues to be an issue for me.
4
@Michael Brothers, I certainly hadn't heard of SKRILLEX. For me, all the crosses were easy and in the end, it looked like it could be something
1
I did not know who or what SKRILLEX was/is, but I had heard the very odd name enough to stick it in the squares and see that it fit.
luckily for me, I'm familiar with TylerPerry, so the rebus nature of the puzzle revealed itself on the third clue I read! I love rebuses, BTW... It took a bit longer to grok the theme, though. At first I thought it might be elements on the periodic table (AU was the first rebus entry I made), but the others ruled that out. The revealer "FOSSIL" didn't help either at first... I couldn't figure out what those two letters in each rebus would have with fossils... then, I figured it out and smiled... Theme found! This is why I puzzle every day... :-)
3
@Steve Faiella, I just copied and pasted my comment before reading the most recent ones, and was pleased to see I wasn't the only one thinking chemistry at first.
1
@suejean LOL I was so proud of myself for having figured out the rebuses so early on... then I got to some that clearly weren't on the periodic table (NN) e.g. and I was crushed... Luckily for me, this time pride did not goeth before a fall!
Anyone else notice that the OS is Latin for bone? Nice revealer in the revealer :-)
6
Except fossils are not bone. I will let the Classicists explain where fossil comes from in Latin.
@Barry AnconaLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.... Fossils are not bone, but are created by bones. The bones buried in sand/rock eventually decay and form a "mold", which is then filled with sediment and makes an impression of the original... In et sollicitud in erat, quis pharetra nibh. Curabitur id mi velit.
1
@BarryA
What Steve Faiella said.
Res ipsa
Thank you for explaining ONCD for me! I stared at that for the longest time and couldn’t figure out how it worked.
And I think rebuses should always be shaded :)
5
@William - I hope you realize throwing shade at rebuses will not make them go away or make them easier.
3
@Wen - Shading revises makes the puzzle much easier for me, perhaps because my mind tends to the literal when it comes to the number of letters in an answer.
3
To me, David Steinberg is one of, if not "the" TY RA NN OS AU RU SR EX of CrossWorld. His talent just devours the most original, creative concepts and spits them out into the most perfectly constructed puzzles available today. The very idea that he figured out his dinosaur could be broken up into 8 perfect pieces and then had the chops to scatter them so beautifully around the grid is a thing of beauty. And the FOSSIL/DIGSITE cross perfectly positioned in the center is, well, perfect.
Bravo to the beast! David, I will always look forward to whatever you dig up!
14
I was proud of myself for the quick (for me) Wednesday finish but disheartened to learn that COLER PERRY wasn't just another actor I'd never heard of.
3
@Audiomagnate - hand up for COLER PERRY to go with COCO, of course (not the Disney movie, the French fashion icon)
1
Audiomagnate,
You are in Atlanta and you don't know Tyler Perry? Sorry, but I'm amazed. He's quite an industry there, and he recently bought most of one of my former duty stations:
In June 2015, 330 acres of Fort McPherson was purchased by actor/producer Tyler Perry to be the new home of Tyler Perry Studios.
This is one of those puzzles where I discovered early on that there were rebus squares, saw that they each took two letters that didn't seem to have any relationship to each other, and didn't help with the solve in any way through completion.
After completion, I looked at the letter pairs, saw what they spelled out, and said, "Big deal."
This one didn't do much for me.
1
One of the more intriguing puzzles in recent memory. Took me a while to figure out what the heck was going on with the rebus squares, as the 'each' in the reveal had me heading in the wrong direction for quite a while. I had all but one of them (the 'SR') filled in before it dawned on me to try connecting them. A wonderful 'aha' moment.
All in all a quite challenging and satisfying solve. Several unknowns had me doubting my chances for a successful solve, but in the end it all came together.
I can dig it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjYrski71II
..
1
"I can dig it"
<reco>
So can I, Rich!
(Knew it before clicking)
1
Results were SPOTTY at best as I sorted through several answers that had a slightly sordid vibe. Gym junkies, within reach, were two where where I CRIED uncle! My overall feel about the puzzle was that it seemed PRONE to being a little too SHOWY and forced; maybe even stretching the PLAIN TRUTH...To boot, I did not see the dinosaur interred in the protracted DIG SITE of all those gray squares... On a happy note our old friend 'OWIE made a cameo in the SE...Since I am not an I HEART RADIO listener, I do not know if they use this production ruse, RADIO EDIT; it's artistic blasphemy, imho...A Dylan cover from THEM, "It's All Over Now Baby Blue" will assuage some of my ACHEs and pains, to be sure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQiMxD4fvhw
RUN IN On Empty,
Bru
1
Hey Bru,
I'd been meaning to ask...
Did you see the photo story in The Times last week (in the World Cup coverage) about Tuckahoe Turf Farms?
Here's a link if you missed it:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/08/sports/world-cup/soccer-turf.html
Whew!
I love Deb's first sentence. After I finished this I wondered if I was in a coma through Wednesday and came to on a Thursday!
@Mark Yeah, I have some work due on Thursday and I was momentarily panicked that it was due today!
1
Geek alert: orcs do not ride wolves, they ride wargs which, while similar, are not the same animal. They were bred for evil by Sauron.
OPENNOTE sounds made up. Never heard of it. Not GYMBUNNIES. GYMrats, yes.
Didn't get the theme until I read Wordplay.
11
@Dan
GYMBUNNIES are creatures, specifically and stereotypically feminine, who prey upon the finest of the gym rat species.
Blech.
3
<reco>
Thanks for spotting Dan's gymnastics, Adeline. I refer him elsewhere in the comments for an OPEN NOTE test.
@Dan I agree on OPENNOTE. We always called them Open Book, but then again it's been 42 years since I graduated High School... OUCH!
I love David's original concept -- having this puzzle without the shaded squares -- with the rebus fossils showing up amidst the rubble. Clever clever theme, David!
As always with a Steinberg offering, this is clean and scrubbed. I also love the colloquial cross of SHEESH and HOOBOY, the SETS up, the STAY out, and the L-square in the SW. That clue for RHO -- playing with the sound of an answer -- is signature Steinberg. And I love when a clue/answer elicits a smile and you just know that when David thought of it he smiled as well, as with [Baby bump?]/OWIE.
This had the stamp of quality from CHIT to CHOY. I dig!
3
Usage; “Spang”is a great word, I agree, but I’ve generally heard it coupled with”right” in addition to “in the middle.” Like this: “right spang in the middle of the puzzle.” Use three times.
Having never heard of SPANG before the puzzle a few days ago, all of the uses I've seen have been by Deb. So Deb's way's the only right way (that I know of).
2
@Wen Spang is new to me too, so I’m more than willing to learn from those who know it better than I do.
Thanks, NMR!
I've never met @Wen Spang either, Deb. You must introduce us some time.
OPEN book before OPEN NOTE (which was new to me). The shaded square at 3D and knowing TYLER PERRY was one letter too long clued me into the rebus from the outset. Shading the rebus squares made a Thursday a Wednesday.
2
The puzzle and WordPlay updated, but not the WeeBee....
...and I am glad I solved with the PuzzAzz app because entering Rebi is so easy with the new version. I did briefly wonder if I had slept through Wednesday!
Neat puzzle!
2
The Wee Bee was there on my third visit...
This felt a bit like a rebus puzzle with training wheels. OK for a Wednesday, but I wouldn't like to see highlighted rebus squares extend any deeper into the week.
Overall, a great puzzle, as we have come to expect from D. Steinberg..
6
Nice first solve with my soon to be 18 year old ... going off to college this fall.
Hope I hooked him on to a new hobby ... he learnt today what a ‘rebus’ is!
11
@Xwordsolver Oh, I know this feeling! My son is going into his 2nd year of college, and I can tell you that it does get easier.
If you’ve gotten him into puzzles, you’ve given him a very big gift.
4
@Deb Amlen - even bigger gift - NYTimes crossword subscription. That was the perfect opportunity for a plug.
The shaded squares don't show up in a highlighted entry on the iPad (and I presume on the iPhone or computer as well). This little tidbit threw me for a little bit because I tend to concentrate on one entry at a time, and of course 1A was one of those entries.
Once I discovered that some squares were shaded, the light bulb came on and the rest of the puzzle wasn't that hard. Got the theme (and the remainder of the rebuses) as soon as I hit F(OS)SIL.
Favorite clues: 51D, 67A.
I've seen enough DVD covers that Madea wasn't a problem, and I'd at least heard of SCRILLEX, though I wasn't sure of the spelling. I've had both OPEN BOOK and OPEN NOTE tests, although I tried BOOK first like most of the rest of you.
2
@JayTee—The shaded squares showed up on my iMac.
Had this puzzle been saved until Thursday and run without the shaded squares, it would have been a fabulous rebus challenge. I even got a little taste of that feeling when I became aware that it was a rebus puzzle but had not yet tumbled to the giveaway shading—I did noodle out a few rebus placements before I woke up to the shadings.
1
They show up when you’re not looking at the word. When it’s selected, they disappear. Made it a bit trickier, I agree. I ended up toggling away from words I wasn’t getting, to see if they had a shaded square.
6
Reading the comments it's obviously just me but I didn't get that semi rush that usually accompanies the solve. But I did find the rebuses fun and a bit easy. I don't know what would have happened if they weren't shaded. Really don't know. A good puzzle.
The first hint of rebus for me came with the clue about Southend-on-Sea. A friend of mine spent her childhood there, and I knew it was Essex, but only Kent would fit...what to do? Then I noticed the shaded squares and cottoned to the rebus. That meant that when I started on the downs and saw Tyler Perry, the whole puzzle was laid out.
Orcs only _ride_ Wargs (wild wolves) in the Peter Jackson "interpretation" of Lord of the Rings. The DVD extras even have the digital artists talking about how it isn't possible to ride wolves, and how hard it was for them to depict impossible animal action in making the films.
35D - "Donald Trump" wouldn't fit, even with a rebus square, though, after the past weekend he seems to be the best answer to the clue.
11
35D - I think there was a collective SHEESH and HOOBOY after the LYIN' - by THE ONE who is PLAIN TRUTH challenged. CICERO he's not, and the day after he CRIED that he ERRed and was ENRAGEd by the RUN IN with the media coverage.
Good thing we have the crossword puzzles to help us forget the troubles in the world, right?
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Really dislike the rebus in crosswords...always have, always will.
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@Bill Petranoff Me too. No patience for them. As soon as I find the first one, I stop the puzzle. #boycottrebus
@Bill Petranoff and @Tim Carey... No! Embrace the rebus! Think of it as adding a third dimension to a puzzle... 3D crosswords... cool!
Seriously though.. I think to Rebus or Not To Rebus is one of the bigger bones of contention among puzzlers... People either seem to hate them or love them. It really does seem like a third dimension to me though... We always have the answers (A and D), the theme (sometimes) and with rebuses, the "Ah-ha, it's a Rebus!" moment... :-)
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Bone of contention? I like that!
It was my first time finishing a puzzle with rebuses! It is literally my 300th puzzle. Usually Mondays and Tuesdays are pretty easy, and Wednesday is usually doable. But this was the first time I figured out the rebuses. Yay!
I second the comment re Supreme Court Justices (not “Judges”). A few other minor things like that, but I got through it by filling in the nearby clues.
Thank you for a nice puzzle.
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@Scott F Congratulations!
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After I finished this puzzle, I still didn’t get the theme. And I never heard of an open note test. I guess they can’t all be gems.
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@Michele Topol Same here on the theme. Solved the whole puzzle, but was mystified as to why 29D "FOSSIL" was correct. I think that the clue for 29D: "What each shaded square in this puzzle represents" is misleading. It is not "each" shaded square that represents a fossil, but all of them. I got no sense out of looking at "each" one. Had the clue been instead "What the shaded squares in this puzzle represent" I might have figured it out without having to look it up here after I was done. Still, others managed to get it, and use that to help solve the rest.
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@Michael Halpin
Yes, Micheal and Michele, you are both right! The clue at 29D was extremely confusing because of that incorrect word, "each."
I am finding more and more instances of minor errors like this one in the clues to the NYT puzzles. Where are the editors?
Also, as others have noted, OPEN BOOK is a well-known phrase, and OPEN NOTEBOOK would make sense. But OPEN NOTE just ain't right!
All three of you ran into clues you found extremely confusing or thought were incorrect. Others *did* understand the clues and knew they *were* correct (and have presented testimony and evidence here in support). You might consider taking a look...
Time wise, this was closer to Thursday for me. The rebuses were a mystery to me until I’d finished the grid. I did figure it out without Deb’s blog though. All-in-all, a fun puzzle.
I definitely believe this was first a Thursday; Thursdays are the worst day of the week for me, much slower than even Saturdays.
Also, TIL I learned I knew absolutely nothing about Tyler Perry; someone could have conceivably told me he’s the twin brother of either William ‘Refrigerator’ Perry or Matthew Perry and I might have said, “oh, that’s nice.”
Kind of bizarre sometimes what a person knows or doesn’t.
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I learned this when I confessed to not knowing who he was to a group of my Afro American students. I was embarrassed. That must have been twenty years ago. It's hard to get out of your box but we all have to try.
I don’t know if it’s off brand to mention the mini, but members of the Supreme Court are Justices, not judges. Judges would apply to members of any inferior court but not the federal or most state Supreme Courts.
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Mmmmhhh... I know what you're saying but they are still judges.
Dan,
Two mini points to consider:
(1) The clue was Supreme Court member, not Supreme Court title.
(2) The clue didn't specify SCOTUS.
The revealer clue (29D) should be: "What the shaded squares, read from top to bottom, represent."
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Not so. Each “bone” is a FOSSIL. The collection of FOSSILized bones is used to reconstruct the TRex skeleton.
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@Barb McAulay—I'm mostly with you one this, though I think "read from top to bottom" would have been a bit too revealing. The word "each" in the clue is incorrect; the clue should have been "What all the shaded squares in this puzzle represent."
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@Barb McAulay
I'm also with you. "Each" threw me too. "What the shaded squares represent" might be sufficient; although even so, T. rex is not a fossil, per se.
39 A might have been a better place for the unifier clue: "One place you might find remnants of the shaded squares connected", or some such.
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Sheesh! Wasn't expecting a rebus on a Wednesday. A fun, challenging puzzle.
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Very creative puzzle. I loved the idea of the fossils scattered around making up a single skeleton, but it didn't occur to me to put them together until I read Deb's column. Until then I was thinking they must be some sort of Paleontology code for categorizing fossil types, and was thinking, "Wow, that's pretty obscure." It is obviously a lot more fun to reassemble the fossils to find a dinosaur!
I caught on to the fact that there were rebuses with BEAUTYMARK, but without the shaded squares, and without understanding any pattern in the rebuses themselves, finding those other apparently-random letter combinations would have been really tough. So, thank you to the editors for not letting Mr. Steinberg torture us that much.
But, I have to admit that it would have been fitting to have the fossils pop up without warning.
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@David
I did this puzzle kind of Top to Bottom, and after TY RR AN there grew in my mind an idea that a political statement was in the offing.....
Agree that this was refreshingly creative.
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I found the 18A clue strangely random and not terribly witty. Also, while Times style (no pun intended) may dictate otherwise, I thought Deb was discussing Black hair, not black hair.
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You mean 18D, I expect.
I think it’s past time for the editors to retire AFRO as answer. The clues are almost always an embarrassment.
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@Will Lingle
THANK YOU!!
I’ve been saying this for a while. It’s anachronistic at best and exoticism at worst—well next to win worst. But apparently no one on the editorial board wants to listen. Just keep pushing I guess.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/archeology
the scientific study of historic or prehistoric peoples and their cultures by analysis of their artifacts, inscriptions, monuments, and other such remains, especially those that have been excavated.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/paleontology
the science of the forms of life existing in former geologic periods, as represented by their fossils.
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@Barry Ancona
Thank you. If it’s about fossils it’s paleontology. As a former geology professor, I was disappointed that The Times didn’t get this right.
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@SarahUlerick archaeologists do work at DIG SITEs. There is no need for that clue to have anything to do with the theme.
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@David Meyers The creator and Deb in her column clearly confuse archaeology and paleontology. As a professional paleontologist, I would like the Times to use this opportunity to clear up confusion about these two disciplines.
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I generally complain about rebuses, but this was pretty good!
One nit to pick: Shouldn't 39A have been a PALEONTOLOGIST'S workplace?!
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The 39A clue is fine -- archaeologists do work at digs -- but, as noted above, if they come across a 29D it's time to call in a paleontologist.
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That would have made it mesh with the puzzle theme, but the clue and answer standing alone are not incorrect. It's like David was trying to throw us off track.
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@Wags The constructor notes make it clear he did not know if the distinction between the two disciplines. Perhaps the editors did, and reasoned as you have, that the clue is not incorrect and so can stand.
With such elegant theme work, I hate to nitpick, but ALTOS are only “low” in a children’s choir or girl group. The word actually means “high.”
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I agree.
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@Alan Young Agreed. I was thinking tenor for a while as nothing else that’s correct fit.
I'd *really* like to hear from David Connell regarding ALTOS = Low choir section!
(While waiting for the expert, may I hazard a guess that S and T are the high female and male voices and A and B the low?)
Fun puzzle. I felt it was easier than normal even for a Wednesday.
I thought it was paleontologists who dug up fossils... esp of a T..REX? @ArcheoProf?
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Correct, Rampiak. Archaeologists study human artifacts, paleontologists study fossils. If this had started as an archaeological dig, there would have been a quick call for a paleontologist.
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Barry, like they're waiting on call? An urgent care office for older Americans, or whatever continent or country they're in?
Mickey,
You may consider yourself a fossil, but the quick call for you would be for a gerontologist.
Yeah, it definitely felt more Thursday-ish than Wednesday-ish. My time was almost exactly my average Thursday time.
I don't have any real idea who SKRILLEX is, but with the S and K in place, his name popped into my mind, so that was good. The other names were all familiar, so that helped me get footholds in various parts of the grid.
OPEN NOTE was also not a phrase I've ever heard, and I spent some time trying to make it be OPEN BOOK.
I'm wondering how long that layover at JFK was! Although I will admit that I'm sure David Sternberg can build a grid pretty quickly.
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"OPEN NOTE was also not a phrase I've ever heard..."
Same here, Liz, but I didn't think the editors would let *that* slip by, so I went hunting and quickly found some:
http://edtheory.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-closer-look-at-open-note-cheat-sh...
OPEN NOTE was a new one on me, too.
1
Open book test = students are permitted to use the textbook for the course or a dictionary in language work while taking the test in a monitored situation.
Open note test = students are permitted to refer to their own notes while taking the exam but not to reference works or textbooks.
A real distinction, especially one that separates the students who bother to attend class / take notes from those who don't.
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Toughest Wednesday ever, I think. Great puzzle, well executed.
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Fun though the rebuses were tricky for a Wednesday! I loved the reveal OS in FOSSIL as it wasn't until I got that as a last square that the theme made sense and was a lovely "aha!" moment.
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