Great puzzle, though for me somehow this was the hardest Friday in a very long time. Once I had painstakingly gotten the southwest and southeast completed, there was still an error somewhere I needed to track down. Seems I had misspelled IGUANODON as IGUANADON, assuming that the test prep known as the SAT Blitz was what was being blitzed in the crossing. Oh, SOTS not SATS! Took me a hair over 40 minutes, to my shame.
I thought this was a fine puzzle, but I call Natick on SAGITTA and TERRI, and I definitely call B.S. on SLIEST. And don't tell me it can be done either way; there's a way that's obviously right, and it wasn't used here.
1
Didn't get to the puzzle until fairly late, and then there were so many comments that I didn't get through them all until after tomorrow's puzzle was already up.
So maybe nobody's here anymore.
Didn't know BETA DECAY, GREG as clued, IGUANODON, TEE SHOTS, TERRI Clark. Nice shout-out to the lovely DINA Merrill. KNARL before KNURL, although I knew better. SUTTER and CHOATE were gimmes.
Looking at 43D led me down a garden path musing about Supreme Court Justices' names: John Marshall, John Marshall HARLAN, John Marshall HARLAN II, HARLAN Stone ...
Anyway, nice puzzle. Thanks all.
3
Thanks for the Carl Sagan share. I remember hearing him speak years ago at Dartmouth College, but hadn't heard this always relevant talk about our little blue dot...
1
Tough, fun, clever puzzle. DNF because I wasted the cushy clue to be PASTA. Overthinking. Too clever by half.
1
David Connell: did you get my email? Would you please get in touch with me? Thanks!
Wordplay-related question!
1
@Liz B - nothing in my inbox but you might be using my account which had to be retired due to hacking. I'll see if I can dig up an email address to contact you!
1
When I saw who was the constructor, I went "Oh, no ..." As expected, after over 2 1/2 hours of torture, I again say "Curse you, Jeff Chen!" We are clearly not on the same wavelength (even though we are/were both engineers!).
First pass through the top yielded only ENACT, "teri" at 4D, BLEU, and TSKED. Finally got the top after correcting "teri" and wOrKEDIT at 31A. (Loved SHROOMS, btw!) In the bottom, SLIEST, ALE, AMES, BONO, and EASYA were the only gimmes. Big delay from misinterpreting "preserves" in the clue for 29D as a verb. After the "Aha!" moment, the SW came together slowly.
Through a desperate Google consultation, learned "kibbitz" can be spelled with either one or two "t's"! Another big delay was from resisting POISSONS for 36A and drawing a blank at 44A because I interpreted "court" only as a trial or tennis location.
The SE was the final battleground. First had ZeeFORZEBRA at 51A. Correcting that, got TERRI, SOBS, and the rest. (Kicked myself not getting BETADECAY right off the bat, or ORALEXAMS for that matter!) Never heard of CHOATE or HARLAN.
Whew! Really worried about tomorrow ...
1
I had MIXESITUP for "preserves variety" building on just MILO.
That'll make a KNURL of your SW....
1
@mjengling
Looks like you also interpreted "preserves" as a verb.
For those of us who were sad to see that GORN was not accepted by the Spelling Bee, I offer this memorable link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SK0cUNMnMM
Upon viewing, I think that the GORN is actually an IGUANODON!
3
@Andrew GORT was not accepted either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIaxSxEqKtA
2
@jma
I discovered a new alien. Thanks!
This one I was able to plug away at slowly and steadily until I got it down to just the NE corner. KNURL is what tripped me up. One of those words that I've seen and knew, but couldn't call up on my own. Still, very fun Friday!
This was a very fun puzzle! There were clues that were uncertain until they weren't, which I love. It is so fun to have all but one letter filled in, yet not really know until you run through the entire alphabet.
I never heard of the dinosaur before and had to look it up to confirm the answer. All I can picture now is a giant iguana that walks on two legs - and I happen to be acquainted with several people who match that description! I wish I had a delete button in my brain. :)
2
That was TOUGH but satisfying!
1
I had a really fun time solving this one. I agonized over "preserves variety" for a couple of minutes and audibly "ahaed" when I got it.
1
I haven't done the puzzle yet, so I don't want to read the comments or column - forgive me if this is already covered.
SB - I have 35/139, missing one word, I think.
7-G
5-O
8-R
9-T
2-U
4-W
Can anybody tell me which letter I am short on?
@Mary You're missing a G. Since it's a 4-letter, I'm guessing you might think about pirates.
1
@David Connell
Thank you! That was such an excellent clue! If it weren't so early, I might have a drink to celebrate! hahaha.
...or a wise guide.
3
Another great take on the Pale Blue Dot:
https://youtu.be/3i2y4sEQpRI
My favorite Jeff Chen puzzle ever. I knew enough going in (SUTTER, TARANTINO, HARLAN) that I imagined a breezy solve, but there were so many tricky clues that, no, not so easy. Luckily, there were just enough Z's, X's, G's, and U's as key crossing letters that let me figure out those aha answers that are so delightful to find, like PRMAN among others. And of course reading "Preserves" as a verb made finding MARMALADE tastier than usual. I hate marmalade. Hate those lumps.
1
@twoberry
Ditto "preserves" as a verb. When I had enough letter to be sure the entry was MARMALADE, I realized my error.
For those who bypass the main Wordplay page, Part 5 of the "How to Make a Crossword Puzzle" series was posted today. This one featuring Will and Joel in the editing process, which might be helpful for solvers when complaining about how/why the crosswords end up the way they do when they get to us to solve. I think it's a good read.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/17/crosswords/how-to-make-a-crossword-pu...
1
This time of year, Aquila, Cygnus, and Lyra in the Summer Triangle are setting just as the constellations of the Winter Hexagon are rising. Check it out around 3am.
1
Work nights, do you? Or I suppose you could be a musician. Who else is awake at 3am? ;-)
2
David Meyers,
I doubt I'm the only older male here who may well find himself awake at 3 a.m. (or thereabouts), but I suspect Blue Moon has a better view of the night sky in Old Pueblo than I do in New Amsterdam.
1
@Barry Ancona
It's a two-way street:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/seeing-stars-in-tucsons-...
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/34570624/dark-sky-dangers-are-tucson-...
Not a good idea to go AU NATUREL sporting a SPARE TIRE. Got a real kick out of that corner and join @judy d and @Wen in noting that cute pairing. You can also find FAT FREE in the grid which makes going naked perfectly acceptable. Well, I DUNNO ...
I also loved DECAY under ORAL EXAMS.
Z IS FOR ZEBRA but today Z is also for ZING which this puzzle is packed with.
Jeff Chen, thank you for yet another highly entertaining puzzle. You never disappoint. And this morning you actually prompted me to have MARMALADE on my toast!
10
I have only myself to blame for two speed bumps in an otherwise EASY A. Older opera lovers will not need to be quizzed to know why I first entered TEXACO at 6D. My error was pointed out by a shop steward. I also failed to take my own free advice to check crosses at 39A; this applies to first entering RATA.
So many happy afternoons listening to Texaco Star Operas....
@Barry Ancona Since I already had SCAB, SECT, and SHROOMS, I went with CONOCO. Understand TEXACO, though.
@jna
Yep I tried Texaco and Conoco before CRISCO, too.
I always laughed at “due diligence” when I worked in Corp America. It just never made sense to me! And we have do due diligence. And that made me laugh even harder.
3
Lisa,
While overused, "due diligence" didn't show up yesterday and it does mean something:
Due diligence has been used since at least the mid-fifteenth century in the literal sense “requisite effort.” Centuries later, the phrase developed a legal meaning, namely, “the care that a reasonable person takes to avoid harm to other persons or their property”; in this sense, it is synonymous with another legal term, ordinary care. More recently, due diligence has extended its reach into business contexts, signifying the research a company performs before engaging in a financial transaction. This meaning may also apply to individuals: people are often advised to perform their due diligence before buying a house, signing a loan, or making any important purchase.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/due%20diligence
1
@Barry Ancona As a sometime reader of 19th century literature, I find my perverse mind, upon hearing the term "due diligence" invariably pictures people waiting at an inn for the carriage.
@Barry
I'm with you. I always knew the term in its legal sense, and then all of a sudden a few years ago it come into more everyday speech.
Overused yes, but in many ways used constructively.
SECRETSAUCE, indeed. At times I grumbled, at times I laughed out loud. More than once I wanted to give up, more than once I said "Aha!" The rest of my day cannot possibly live up to this.
10
I DUNNO, if I was on Jeff's wave length exactly, but did end up enjoying this Friday puzzle eventually as I gradually got the clever answers. Z IS FOR ZEBRA was my favourite. A few unknown names, but I remembered Dina MERRILL as that was my maiden name.
We had 47d, ABACI and 54a, CANTI, the latter not being clued in a similar fashion however.
Thanks for the SAGAN clip, Deb, well worth watching.
To be honest, left to my own devices I would have misspelt AU NATUREL (by writing A instead of E) so it's just as well the crosses had already filled in with an AERATOR.
First into the grid:. MILO. Joseph Heller outdid himself with that novel.
With my parents, I attended a performance at the High Museum of "We Bombed In New Haven." As we left the stunned, silent crowd in the theater, my dad commented, "I wasn't expecting to have to think that hard." I promptly went out and found Heller's books....
SLYEST before SLIEST, which I frankly don't like...
Genius in the Wee Bee, but TRUG gets no love, I TROW. Sheesh.
Okeydoke, see you in the funny papers.
7
Agreed on SLIEST. Took me 10 minutes of reviewing all of my answers before I tried replacing Y with I. Bah!
6
@Mean Old Lady
MILO was a gimme for me too.
I remember when "Catch-22" first came out in paperback and I was reading it on the bus on my way to work and laughing out loud, then gulping and almost crying.
I had put in "Terry" instead of "Terri" and thus had ZYS_O starting the "End of a primer" answer and assumed it would be the last word of a dictionary (something similar to "zyzzogeton"). Finally figured it out, thankfully. Great puzzle.
Kibitzed? Offered unwanted advice????? Worst clue ever!!!!!
2
@Claudia Caine In a card game, that's exactly what it means. Another definition would be "chat"...maybe you think it's the only one.
3
@Claudia Caine
I had a vague idea that kibitz meant to kid, but according to Wikipedia, “A Kibitzer is a Yiddish term for a spectator, usually one who offers (often unwanted) advice or commentary.”
4
Des Moines schooling New York on Yiddish? Oy! And this after the Little League game yesterday.
3
I ruined my steak because I spelled it MARMELADE, crossed with TESTER instead of TASTER.
Great fun though, nice smart puzzle.
6
It was a medium steak, not a rare.
Sorry about your steak, Dan. I'm sure it was well done.
1
@Dan, yeah, made the same mistake, with similar results. Sigh.
1
This was great fun, peppered with treats. A basket of goodies. MARMELADE! KIBITZED! SECRET SAUCE! KNURL! Terrific smile-producing misdirects. Puller out of words I had no idea I knew yet dropped right in (DINA, HARLAN, CHOATE). And Z IS FOR ZEBRA is brilliant answer (also a NYT debut) with a brilliant clue.
You can take it to the bank that Jeff's puzzles will be laboratory clean, but this offering was anything but sterile. It wasn't easy (another good thing about it), and it wasn't quick, but with treat after treat, I felt like I was zip-lining through it.
6
Very clever puzzle today. Enjoyed CISCO and CRISCO; TERRI (even though it’s double R) and GARR; ORAL EXAMS crossing EASY A; and several small traps; IGUANaDON producing SaTS and my final correction; MARMeLADE (French spelling) producing TeSTERS. SUTTER is a famous Canadian hockey family name (much like ALOU is to baseball). I don’t expect to see it clued that way though. And finally, squinting slightly, I say ORAL DECAY in the lower corner which reminded me that it’s time to make a dentist appointment. Thanks, Jeff!
1
Perfect Friday though was double naticked (18A/11D and 33A/34D). Not gonna kibbitz--I learned some new words.
On to the BEE. Yesterday I got SOCLOSE to QB. But would never have come up with dooryard.
I had DOORYARD, but inexplicably ROaDWAY eluded me. I should have gone back, but the day was pretty busy.
1
@Mean Old Lady My missing word yesterday was YARROW and I grow it in my garden!
Yesterday I was missing three words for QB, two of which I had no business missing.
I got DOORYARD on a whim. I figured that door manufacturers must have somewhere to keep their overstock!
Today was my quickest trip to Genius ever. The words just kept coming and coming. Might not have time for the QB slog however.
This went pretty well for me except for the NE where I had nothing for quite a while and an otherwise completed grid. "I" v. "Y" on SLIEST and some agita over SAGITTA was a slight hold up.
4
Kibitz just means to chat with someone. Also it's time to retire the word "zine" unless it's referred to as quaint or archaic in the clue. And you can't just stick the letter E in front of a word to pretend it's an internet something. When did people actually use the term "e-zine"? Maybe for a few weeks in 1996?
11
There are still e-zines out today, looking for submissions, in several different genres. The Roomate occasionally submits her short stories out to. Just so you know. It's a wonderful, wide internet out there.
1
Kibitz comes from the name of a little bird - pewit or lapwing - and means to chirp and twitter (originally) and thus to chatter, usually casually or meaninglessly _in_Yiddish_. In English, the primary meaning of kibitz is to make unwelcome comments while observing but not playing in a card game (often, but not exclusively, bridge). It's an English-language crossword puzzle; kibitz was legitimately clued as an English word borrowed from Yiddish.
"Kibitz just means to chat with someone."
Really? Ever play any card games or board games with folks watching, Chester?
My first comment, which I feel is time, having completed my own 'primer finish' of 300 crosswords.
My TEESHOT went into Jeff Chen's well-laid trap with an erroneous PARMESAN.
Loved the Sagan quote - which I did recall - though my first thoughts were possible early twentieth century physicists / philosophers, which goes to show what a huge impact Cosmos had on my generation.
Agree with the earlier comment about ALE (they don't serve these), but kudos for the cluing double-bluff ("What's the German for gift/offering?").
Less fun were the alternate spellings of SLYEST, KIBBITZER and TYRE (which as a Brit, held me up at the end as I had no idea what CRISCO was. (TIL about vegetable oil!)
Overall, a lovely Friday puzzle with some fiendishly enjoyable clues.
5
@WMY
Welcome to Wordplay, hope to see more of your comments
1
I definitely agree about the spellings! Come back often, please!
@WMY
What suejean said.
I'll be looking forward.
Mr. Chen has applied his SECRET SAUCE to great effect today, revealing his TRUE SELF. Plenty of lively entries, not too KNURLy, and fun fun fun all the way home.
I've been following Jeff's Xwordinfo site for a while, and I think he might take issue with the clue/entry pairing for 54a if it were in another constructor's puzzle. When someone, let's say a four year old, says "Pretty, pretty please?", the answer sought is hardly ever "Okay, you CAN'T." The pleader means either "CAN I?" or "Why CANT I?" I speak from experience, since I was once a four year old myself and have asked this very question, or one of its sweetened variants, on many occasions. Tiny nit, I know, but it's so hard to find any to pick in Jeff's puzzles.
Overall, perfect Friday stuff.
1
Mike R, I don’t agree. As an example, if told he cannot have his favourite candy bar, a child might say one of two things: “Pretty, pretty please?” Or CAN’T I?
1
Not being from the US, I guessed most of you blitzed your SATS incorrectly spelling iguanAdon. Little did I realise like us Aussies you are all just SOTS...
Good Shabbes all.
8
What am I missing in 51A (Z IS FOR ZEBRA)? I don't get the clue or the answer, even though I got it right through downs...
A primer in this context is a reading book for early school years. It might contain things like “A is for apple”, “B is for boy”, ... , “Z is for zebra”. So “finish” in this context means last page of the primer. Incidentally, it’s pronounced like primmer for some reason.
5
@David Meyers Ah. Thank you so much. Totally missed that one. The perils of being ESL ;)
Marianna, you are quite welcome.
I’ve only seen it spelled kibbitz and I never thought of it as negatively as the clue implies but the Urban Dictionary agrees with Mr. Chen. All I can say is “oy vey.”
6
'Zackly. In language of origin, as I've heard it used, it means idle chatter or small talk, perhaps with a suggestion of gossip. In the wider society (largely in the WP comments, actually), I've noticed its being used with an advice/argument sense. I think I agree with the one-B spelling, and definitely with the accent being placed on the first syllable.
3
Leapy,
Hip hooray! Good to see you!
(Did you kibitz during surgery?)
Tough but fair. I will only quibble with ALE, since it's not traditionally a German style of beer.
11
@Matt I agree! Lots of clues here I could quibble with but this one bothered me the most.
Especially since BIER was clued as Oktoberfest fare earlier this week. But after mentally running through PRETZEL, SAUERKRAUT and FRANKFURTER as nonstarters, figured ALE would have to do.
@Matt
German Altbier is an a traditional dark ale, and there are many other German ales that are widely popular, such as Hefeweizen.
1
Who do I write to in order to find out why my puzzle, which HAS been filled in correctly, is still telling me (after 12-13 additional minutes) that I have at least one mistake?
@JayTee
Never mind, there was an error... Oops!
3
Here’s your sign.
4
@JayTee MARMeLADE? Or IGUANaDON?
We're coming right up to the most gorgeous time of year to visit Marshall Gold Discovery Park, which includes a replica of Sutter's Mill not far from the location of the original.
The park is a 45 minute drive from where I sit at home right now, up in the Sierra Foothills in the midst of a region known (especially right on and after Labor Day) as Apple Hill. Mmmm, those apple donuts. And pies. And there are a lot of great wineries nearby too.
I am originally from NY and part of my heart will always be there, but I really love where I live now.
5
Good puzzle. About average solve time for me. A couple of things: 1) Thanks Deb for the SAGAN speech. I miss him. I loved Cosmos (the PBS series, not the alcoholic concoctions). I first discovered him in 1967 or so when browsing at my college bookstore and happening upon “Intelligent Life in the Universe” which I’ve read three or four times over the years. It was quite the eye-opener for the young me. I guess it’s out-of-print now but I highly recommend it if you can find a copy. He co-wrote it with a Russian named Shklovskii. Given the subject matter, it’s not exactly a beach read, but Sagan was a master at making complex material accessible. 2) I was intimately involved with the SECRET SAUCE at the last startup I worked at. That was the term we used for it, too. We eventually went public and were subsequently acquired by IBM, but that’s another story.
3
SLIEST stumped me for a bit too, although SAGITTA quickly resolved the I/Y issue.
I must say, most of the STATE CARs I've seen in the several places I have lived have not been limos conveying big cheeses, but rather mid-sized sedans driven by mid-level functionaries.
5
liked it a lot. enjoyed seeing MARMALADE and IGUANODON. funny seeing AU NATUREL next to SPARE TIRE. Usually they don't go together! LOL
1
I've suspected that Jeff Chen and I share a wavelength for some time, and this puzzle surely proved it. Fastest legitimate Friday solve yet for me. Filling in Z is for Zebra, Shrooms, I dunno, and Sagitta with no crossings shows where my head was.
Sagitta is a delightful little set of four stars in a tiny part of the sky - among the smallest constellations - but one of the few that looks exactly like its namesake, the Arrow. Since it is set into the bright Summer Triangle it is easy to find, small and relatively dim though it may be. All around it are marvelous sky objects for either binoculars or telescope viewing. I was very happy to see it in the puzzle.
8
Good and proper Friday. No complaints.
But for heaven's sake, I don't need to see anyone's SPARE TIRE AU NATUREL, especially all of the KNURLly bits.
CRISCO and CISCO? What are the chances? Is that SHROOMS the TASTER tasted in the SECRET SAUCE? I GUESS NOT, I DUNNO.
Love the clue for STATE CAR - figured it wasn't going to be actual big cheese. Speaking of which, I think would the current big cheese be a cheddar, because of the MARMALADE orange hue of the spray on tan? Or would that big cheese be more like a BLEU cheese because of the magnitude of the stink?
10
Pretty sure he's Kraft American cheese food. Fake orange, salty, highly processed, not even real cheese when you look closely.
4
Tee-hee!
But BLEU cheese doesn't stink, IMHO. Life would be dull without some flavor!
3
I had SLYEST. And KNARL, then KNORL. And we had an IGUANA in Florida when I was a kid! Very cute, name was Oliver. He eventually escaped to the yard and lived on hibiscus. So anyhow, I should have figured that one out. Finished with 2 errors because... I DUNNO, I suppose I am a lazy TWIT.
3
SLIEST clueing I’ve seen in a while.
Couldn’t figure out if it was with an I or Y and had to use calculatus eliminatus.
Tough but fair. Nice job.
4
Same problem with SL(YI)EST.
1
@Brian Sliest foxed me!
1
Definitely full of personality! With entries like SECRET SAUCE and IGUANODON (which I misspelled with an extra A to start with) and BETA DECAY and SHROOMS. I didn't know a bunch of things, but with the crosses, they became evident. I'm glad I did remember MILO Minderbinder and CHOATE, since those sections would have been difficult to start into without them. And CRISCO was a wicked misdirect.
I feel like I've seen EASY A several times in puzzles. We always called them SLIDES.
1
Re EASY A, I don’t recall the concept coming up where I went to college. There may have been some but I never encountered any. ;-)
1
@David Meyers You did not learn the art of basket weaving?
Rocks for Jocks!
Oceans.
Stars.
And a music course that consisted of listening to The prof jam on his recorder for an hour.
All real courses at my Ivy alma mater.