Am I the only one that was convinced that ED NORTON should have been the hulk answer? If it hadn't been obvious that PASTY was correct that could have caused me real trouble.
SB: Damn that was tough. Probably the longest time it's taken me to get Genius. Gave up at 34 and googled. I was missing the K and three Bs, the tree, the baked treat and the one from a galaxy far, far away. Should have known the K from the crossword, but it's a spelling that's never used round these parts.
Phew!! Hardest danged puzzle I can remember!
Maybe it’s because I’m in Edinburgh and they don’t speak our language here?? Nah - that’ll never float as an excuse.
This was just plain HARD! No theme. Exotic personal names. Really “stretchy” clues.
And - - I thought OYEZ was just an attention getter - - not an “order”.
3
BEEkeepers, help! I'm one word away from what would be only my second QB and am stuck. Missing a 6-letter word that begins with B and isn't an exotic tree. Any clues?
@DavidC, 4th reply in response to yours of 3 hrs ago.
Sadly, I wrote prematurely after reading yesterday's comments on a tab left open from yesterday, where I saw a thread on MOL's comment with 6 replies, all showing.
Now, on today's comments, I see exactly what Barry had described, and after I refreshed yesterday's comments, MOL's thread also showed only 3 replies. I rather expected that, since a new avatar today will replace all previous avatars that individual ever used, to the dawn of time. I think it's safe to say that any new protocol will apply to all preceding blogs. I'll ASSUME the extra replies are just in hiding, and not actually finessed in perpetuity, so that when this current wrinkle is ironed out, the banished replies will re-appear in all their glory.
Being an extraordinarily perceptive sort of person, I gather that you're a bit frustrated by the status quo, but maybe you;ll take heart if I tell you that the very first round of improvements the NYT undertook made things *immeasurably* worse (trust me, it's possible), and after what was admittedly a strordinarily long period of time, the situation did finally return to a normal, user-friendly format.
I hope the thought will sustain you through your dark times. Clinging to hope isn't always unreasonable.
[In those first dark hours, filled with complaints, some NYT honcho was quoted as saying "They're just mad because we hid their cheese". I hope he was hung by the thumbs in some cold and windy spot.]
3
@Barry Ancona & Wen - No, it doesn't. Every single comment in my threads, yesterday and today, is either a single post or followed by 1-2-3 comments. No more than 3 on any post whatsoever. No sign of the old "read all" or "show more" or any such thing. Nothing at all.
David,
You're not reading carefully. I have posted three times today that there are no more than three replies on any thread. Clicking VIEW ALL REPLIES doesn't add anything to that count, it only reveals a third reply if there is one.
David,
At this moment, when I look at the recent thread you started, Wen's reply (#1) is visible and my reply (#2) is visible, and then there is a VIEW ALL REPLIES bar that I must click to reveal your reply (#3) to both of us.
This is my first ever comment and maybe it says something about me that I got ICE by thinking about cocktails. What do I use to cool my Old-fashioned? Why, ICE of course!
5
Joni,
Welcome to the comments! Don't be a stranger.
Some other folks got ICE from the cocktail, others got it from keeping things cold without electricity. But you and they got it; *that's* what it says about you.
Happy solving!
1
Beat my usual Friday time by 18 minutes! Surprising since I really didn’t find the puzzle particularly easy.
ERIC BANA, ALANIS, SHAW, and INTERNET RADIO were known. FETUS and GASSTOVE also fell quickly although the cross was a bit disconcerting. Biggest problem (other than the many unknown people) was OYEZ.
Really like cluing for FIREANTS. We currently have the colonial stingers in our backyard. Nasty little creatures.
:-)
2
@Just Carol
Would it be crazy if we found out we are neighbors?
I do recommend AMDRO for the Colonial stingers.
Any chance you are a quilter?
@mean old lady
I have wondered the same about you.
We put out granules that hubby got at a local store. Didn’t really take care of the problem. Since grandkids play there, we called in the experts. We’ll see. Come on hard freeze!
I’m a quilter!! (Also I haven’t been inspired to comment since over a year ago, but you gotta say hi to your people, ha!)
Leapy - I read with interest your assertion that there is a "view all replies" button on your screen. What system are you on (phone/computer/etc.)? There is nothing like that showing for me.
I have long wished that clicking on the "All" button at the top of the Comments box (I see three options: "Reader Picks", "NYT Replies", "All") would _actually_ render "all" comments readable. Alas, that has never been the case.
This website has diminished in user-friendliness steadily, furiously, ever since being given the "honor" of becoming a column instead of a blog. It was troubled before that, but now...now it has transmogrified into some kind of horror.
Before Deb or anyone suggests contacting the emus - I'll just ask, has that _ever_ done any good?
2
@David Connell
The View All Replies button is at the bottom of all comments that have more than 2 replies. The problem is that nowadays it only ever show you one more reply regardless of the number of actual replies.
David,
It follows two replies in a thread.
Sometimes it says
SEE ALL REPLIES
At the moment it says
VIEW ALL REPLIES
Clicking it reveals more replies than the first two on the thread; now it just reveals a third, since the system is now only showing three replies per thread.
Who knows what, if anything, will help. I would think after the story on the Wordplay Community on page 2, Will Shortz would not want to see it destroyed by IT.
@Barry Ancona & Wen - No, it doesn't. Every single comment in my threads, yesterday and today, is either a single post or followed by 1-2-3 comments. No more than 3 on any post whatsoever. No sign of the old "read all" or "show more" or any such thing. Nothing at all.
There used to be a View All Replies, or the like - which was frustrating enough, since my having clicked on "ALL" should have already accomplished that. Meanwhile, those little buttons are gone, along with all supernumerary comments.
We are _not_ amused.
1
Done in by a natik today. Never heard of TA-NEHISI COATES or Frank GEHRY. Streak counter back to 1.
2
@Steve Faiella
Those two I knew, but initially misspelled both. Had to look them up.
Steve,
You should take Deadline's advice to Ron and read Coates. You should also take a look at Gehry's buildings; you may recognize one or two.
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/best-of-frank-gehry-slideshow
1
Had “yeswe” for 17A which messed up the NW for a long time!
3
@RampiAK
Beautiful!
@RampiAK
I thought of that, but the crosses ruled it out. I originally had SUREI. :)
1
Great balls of tapioca, SB was a bear today!
Only got to QB thanks to Wen's detailed and accurate word count and a whole lot of guessing.
would have loved to see Dobro in there but I guess as a brand name (capitalized) it's excluded. Even so, I loved the previously mentioned Jerry/Allison clip...
I just read all the comments and found
NONE about the Spelling Bee.....are they being deleted?!?
@Chungclan I tried Dobro as well, not knowing it was a brand name rather than a type of retro-fitted guitar. Just another addition to the loud growl list, along with Carrack and Kraal. Alas.
1
@Sarah T.
Here's the Spelling Bee comment:
https://nyti.ms/2wt6Vcc#permid=28449473
1
I loved this, although there were a lot of references outside my wheelhouse: ALANIS (I've heard her name, but that's all); ERIC BANA (likewise); OBOE as clued; MTV as clued (heard of Downtown Julie Brown but didn't know who she was); LISA as clued.
SHAW was a gimme because I remember that line, and TA-NEHISI COATES was also because I'm a fan. So was OXFAM, which unlocked SPARE NO EXPENSE.
STAY-AT-HOME DAD took longer than it should have because I kept trying to find some kind of goatherd.
Loved the cluing, especially for SWISS WATCH, GAS STOVE, OTIS, WAR MOVIE, INTERNET RADIO, others.
Delightful. And nothing in the queue? Get to work Peter! We need you.
If the links were working, I'd post one to "Make It Anothere Old-Fashioned Please" (various artists) on YouTube. Worth looking up.
The weather turned bearable today, and is promised to be bearable tomorrow! Yay! Then the monstrous heat returns. Ugh!
Have a good weekend, all, including holiday if it applies to you.
3
@Deadline
Same here with OXFAM leading to SPARENOEXPENSE. Likewise goat herder for 12A. :)
Another slog ... *But*, an hour faster than last Friday! Was surprised by some of the ones I got quickly: CHINTZES, KTOSLIN (thanks to an earlier puzzle), ALANIS, MTV, FIREANTS (Why "Colonial?"), LISA, MOTIF, BRIS, GEHRY, and especially TANEHISICOATES. (I've been thinking about reading his book.) Must confess, though, that I had to look up the spelling of the last two. "Semi-cheat?"
Puzzled about OYEZ, but decided it looked familiar. Only total unknowns were HARTCRANE, STEVE, ERICBANA, PASTY, THEREF, and IKE (?). Very clever clues for OTIS, HARDC (deja-vu a recent Sunday?), and FIVEO! Thought 53A was apropos as I am listening to it as I type. :)
All in all, a tough but well-constructed puzzle. More, please, Mr. Wentz.
P.S. Why is SHE a tongue-twister? (Sorry if this was answered earlier. I haven't read all the comments yet. Gotta run.)
1
@Ron
I assumed the clue was referring to this: "She sells seashells by the seashore."
2
@Ron
SHE sells seashells down by the seashore (say it really fast)
1
@Ron
"(I've been thinking about reading his book.)"
Definitely do read "Between the World and Me." You will almost surely be inspired to go on to read "We Were Eight Years in Power" and some of his other writings, particularly in The Atlantic. He also makes occasional TV appearances discussing topics of importance with an intelligence rarely seen on the tube.
4
Most Fridays leave me desperate for help from the Wordplay column, but this one was a fun solve and ended up being my best Friday time.
For the sourpusses in the comments: What's obscure to one person is the "duh!" moment for someone else. That's kinda the point - you might learn something.
9
OT, but the NYT Crossword app on my iPad isn’t working: no puzzles appear on Play screen, Archive shows no solved puzzles, and Stats headings are gibberish. Any suggestions? Suppose I can delete app & reinstall but will lose my 70 day streak.
@Barbara Jones Your streak should be OK, provided you are connected to the Internet when solving with the app. Your stats are synced online so you can play from different platforms, which I often do. The only thing you’ll lose is any puzzles in the archive you may have downloaded. Good luck!
2
Thanks, Steve!
I don't know why people are so in love with this puzzle. So many obscure proper nouns, once again. Lazy editing. Someone ask Peter Wentz if he can make a puzzle without Google. Blech.
3
That was a blast!
1
I wonder if I’m around the same age as Peter Wentz, as the range of clues fit my memory/knowledge base quite well and finished with my second best Friday time. I found this Friday much easier than yesterday, even though I figured out the Thursday “trick” yesterday very quickly. I well remember Eric Bana when he was briefly the hot Hollywood actor, and Alanis and “Jagged Little Pill” was a fav in the 90s. I also luckily took a grad school poetry class with a Hart Crane biographer, and generally there were few obscure references for me.
Still trying to get to QB, but found Genius to be pretty easy today (which unlike some, I often don’t). Good puzzles all around today. I always appreciate Wen and others who share helpful hints for the Bee
4
About half of the puzzle filled in very quickly, and then it got progressively slower and slower until I didn't know whether I would finish. TA NEHISI COATES and ERIC BANA were way out of my wheelhouse, so that corner saw a lot of random guesswork. When my gold star appeared, I actually couldn't believe it.
SPARE NO EXPENSE gave me OXFAM, (just the opposite experience of several other posters). That was actually one of my first entries, and seemed very obvious based on the clue. I had entered BRAKES at 1A which really slowed me down, and the 7A clue "Bud" left me none the weiser.
The Hi Kids! section refers us today to MTV and the ICEman. I was under the impression that kids are still watching MTV (at least in Canada they are...). And as a soon to be Senior Citizen, even I had no first hand experience with the delivery of ICE. I guess that makes me a kid today!
3
Leapfinger
Durham NC1h ago
@Barry Ancona
I'm not sure what's happening with you, but I get the first three replies showing after a primary comment. (It used to be that only two replies showed.) If the count shows that more than three replies were logged, there's a 'View all replies' banner that, when clicked on, shows all that came after the first three. Unless, of course, some have been knocked off by replies that weren't made at queue's end.
I gather that your experience is different?
Hi Leapy,
I had to copy your comment and paste it here in a new thread to reply to it, because your comment was the third reply on a thread. Going through today's thread-starting comments, not one reports having more than 3 replies (although I can find more in some permalinks). Clicking SEE ALL REPLIES will reveal the third reply if only two are immediately visible.
Please advise if you are having a different experience today. I say today, because this newest twist is only a few days old.
@Barry
As you suggest, I had been reading yesterday's unrefreshed comments.
Backlash against the days of 3-9 replications?
To me, this felt less like a Friday and more like a Saturday. TA-NEHISI COATES and HART CRANE are "either you know it or you don't." And I... didn't. At least I managed to get STAY AT HOME DAD, SPARE NO EXPENSE, and INTERNET RADIO without cheating and coming here.
Re: BRIS. The news section is currently full of horrific stories of priests abusing little boys. If child molestation is too horrific to reference in the puzzle (and it is), then surely the grotesque sexual mutilation of boys doesn't belong in there either.
@Mango
Conversely, others might argue that your personal opinions on religious matters don't belong in a column on the NYTimes Crossword.
18
Writer TA-NEHISI COATES was my first entry, which proved fortunate, as some of the clues strike me as off-kilter.
We have BLINDS on all our windows; we close the blinds, but we draw curtains or drapes.
Candy duo? ?????
Early stage of development=FETAL fits better, and EMBRYO is earlier anyway.
I have some washtubs on my porch; BASINs are much smaller and more shallow.
Oh well.
Wee Bee is 29/141...a squidge past Genius. Meanwhile, the Big Bee has come out and I am stuck at 18 when I need 19 to be a Genius. Usually that is doable.....Oops, I just got to 19. Whew! Checked last week's Big Bee, and I see I mistakenly thought there were three pangrams. My bad! Just two.
Frank Longo omitted TUILLE, BLUET, UNBENT, BLUEBELL, LUTEIN, and BLUETIT.
3
@Mean Old Lady
Candy duo = Mike & Ike, a chewy fruity candy I mostly recall from movie theatres.
I tend to agree about washtubs vs. BASINs
@Mean Old Lady
Agreed, and had FETal there for quite a while... the presence of “early” in the clue had me thinking “adjective.”
1
@Diana Sandberg
Interesting.... I guess I am punished for not liking sweets! I need someone to clue popcorn and sea salt....
1
Typo alert. In Peter Wentz's Constructor Notes he references 14 Across. Methinks he meant 14 Down. Mind you, I'm not 'cross about this, but I am down.
4
A very nice puzzle. I really enjoyed the clue for FBI, which I guessed right away. It feels good to be on the same wavelength as the constructor! I also guessed the tricks for "box office bombs," "Pandora's domain," and "Plot element" pretty quick, but it took me some crossings to figure out exactly what answers they were looking for.
On the other hand, I had paisleys instead of CHINTZES (I can never think of that word for some reason) for a while which slowed me down in the north. I had to google some of the names and cultural references, as usual for later week puzzles, but I thought the cluing was really good; enough twists and turns to keep me on my toes, but easy enough to reason everything out with time.
2
Now all the avatars have disappeared; mine appears when I write a comment, but doesn't stay.
Suejean,
Wouldn't it be wonderful if disappearing avatars were the only problem with the comments?
@mBarry Ancona., yes, but I'm worried it's an omen of worse to come.
Worse is already here.
Good puzzle. I worked my way from the bottom up, but the top third took twice as long as the rest. I couldn't get STAY AT HOME DAD due to being stubborn about "Hyped" in stead of AMPED and "pi number" instead of ID NUMBER. Once I got over that it fell pretty smoothly
1
@Thom - I had the very same problems with 12A. Ha.
@Thom
Why "piNUMBER?"
@Ron
Must be Personal Identification (as in PIN)
Though I finally needed help to get the FIVE O and FBI solve, I managed to finish faster than my average time. Had to break off to get to my local DMV office where waits used to be five or ten minutes; I got there just before it opened & had to wait an hour and a half to be called. Warning to all, before you go for an enhanced license make sure you check the website so that you'll have all the documents required. Many horror stories abound.
Bit of a lightweight here, but how is SHE a tongue-twister? I had ZHE in there for a long time. Started with ZIR for a bit, too.
@Tom Wild Think "She sells seashells by the seashore."
3
@Tom Wild
I though it was referring to "SHE sells sea shells by the sea shore" I shopose I could be wrong.
1
Today was a bit tough for me but loved to see GB Shaw and Ta-Nehisi Coates share a grid. My one disappointment was the clue “Some hand signals”. How about “Nixon liked to throw these”... or “Goose flights”?
4
It took me almost half an hour, but I made it. Tell me one thing, though: What's with the garage installation (1 across)? I got it, but I don't get it.
@jane middleton
Garages install shock absorbers (SHOCKS) on cars.
3
@Andrew Doh. Of course. I started with "opener," and then made my way to "chocks," (to keep cars from rolling). I guess I was stuck on that. :-)
1
This is my first ever comment on here so bear with me! I'm fairly new to the crossword (currently rocking a 67-day streak!), so I'm still figuring out all of the tips and tricks. I would honestly be lost without Wordplay and all of your lovely comments, so thank you!
This grid was particularly difficult for me, considering that I'm only 20. I will say that Wentz didn't have very many gimmes for this Gen-Zer, but I did manage to make it below my average for a Friday, which is nice. My biggest hiccups came from confidently putting Ed Norton as the Hulk instead of the correct ERIC BANA. I mean, there have been way too many Hulk movies anyway (speaking of box office bombs). I also had SWISSarmy instead of SWISSmade.
This week, the some of the gimmes for me:
- No need for a "Hi Kids!" here since MTV's Downtown Julie Brown happened to be a guest judge on a former season of RuPaul's Drag Race
- I recalled learning about Dolly the EWE in my seventh-grade science class
- Marie Curie is a hero of mine, inspiring women in STEM fields everywhere with her RADIUM research
- Should I talk about Kenan Thompson's hilarious SNL impersonation or the Miss Universe fiasco to bring up STEVE Harvey?
- ALANIS Morrisette got me through much of my teen angst
- Fun fact: PASTIES are also a cult favorite in the northern parts of Michigan!
- How could I not know feminist-icon LISA Simpson?
- For the first time, a question mark clue came easy to me with ACRE!
23
@Em Hunt
Welcome! I enjoyed your excellent commentary, and I hope to see many more, (assuming that the Comment system gets back to some kind of order). ALANIS is from my home town of Ottawa, although like so many, she had to leave in order to be appreciated.
2
I enjoyed your comments, @em hunt, look forward to more. I'm guessing that with a 67-day streak, lots of those tips and tricks have taken hold.
1
@Em (M?) Hunt
I am overjoyed to be picturing Ed Norton as the Hulk.
Keep it up, Sweetheart!
3
Bovine for Bessie. For Dolly, I think you mean "ovine."
3
Megan,
EWE are not the first to point it out.
7
Why is that necessary?
@Megan
Elsie deserves a star on Hollywood and boVine.
7
Barry, as I don't seem to be "recco" challenged, I gave DC an extra recommend for you.
I feared I would get nowhere at the onset, but then opened with a HARD C, like my name, and that gave me CHE. The rest is history. I like a Friday like that. Had INTERNETmusic before RADIO so I was slowed down a bit in the South, and never heard of the author which didn't help. Can EWE believe that two-thirds of the year is behind us?!
1
Boy, do I feel dumb. Or mostly, just mad at myself.
I got all the hard parts but messed up with cuEs for "Some hand signals" crossing OBOu. Sloppy! But, then again, OBOu d'amore looked possible. I also convinced myself that MTc was just another channel I'd never heard of.
I love Peter Wentz puzzles and say the same for this one. Better get crackin,' Peter, don't leave us Wentzless!
3
@Johanna
Good King Wentzlessness, look out!
?
3
Please don't reply: just hit recco if you agree.
The NYT comments system is the worst thing on the internet.
16
(and I've met Logan Paul...)
@David Connell
As bad as the comments system is, today's spelling bee is a veritable snake pitt.
(Couldn't resist replying...sorry.)
2
Nice thought, David, but taking the last available reply slot I will point out that several of us cannot use the recco button.
Fourth reply to Ecomaniac regarding 42A (ICE) clue:
I'd have a drink too except for the hyphen...
This seemed uncrackable when I tried to get a toehold in the north, but thanks to TA-NEHISI COATES the south fell pretty quickly (a phrase that sounds like the plot of an alternate history novel I’d like to read).
8
These two replies are not appearing in the thread on long proper nouns in the puzzle started by Nobis...
A
Amitai Halevi
Naharia, Israel1h ago
@Wen
When the sprinkling becomes a deluge the solve becomes less lively, and the educational value of many of the names in this puzzzle is questionable. I agree, however that calling it "dreadful" is going much too far.
ReplyRecommendShareFlag
Barry Ancona commented 10 minutes ago
B
Barry Ancona
New York NY10m ago
Xwordsolver,
If the editors had crossed two actors playing comic book heroes or two MacArthur Fellowship-winning authors I could agree with the complaint, but I don't think it unreasonable to expect late week NYT solvers to know at least one of them.
ReplyRecommendShare
2
Smooth and complex, like a fine red wine. But unlike red wine, this puzzle is good with breakfast.
4
You aren’t going to believe this, but for a moment I actually thought you were suggesting that red wine is not good with breakfast.
5
Of course it depends upon _which_ red wine.
2
@Deb can you delete my comment with the inadvertent SB spoiler? It's still early . . .
Isn't there something about closing the barn door after the [animals of Deb's choice] are out?
Maybe she could just wave her magic wand...
1
@Andrew
While riding on her white unicorn (equine) flying over the rainbow? Wait, was it the unicorn that was in the barn?
1
A quick thank you to Barry Ancona for his clear explanation yesterday of how to reply to comments, which I have saved for future reference. It was precisely what I was looking for.
Gretchen,
You're welcome. The newest problem (among others), observed but not fully tested, is that the comments system will now not display more than three replies on a thread. Additional replies are "accepted" but they only appear in the permalink for the thread.
At this point, I suggest starting a new thread (referencing the old one) if there are three replies showing.
and as a most ironic P.S....
If we don't send a fourth reply to a thread because it won't appear, it makes no difference how the first three replies are made, because it was the fourth reply to the thread-start post that started knocking off earlier replies. That problem has been "solved" by not permitting more than three replies. Question: What does this IT crew do in real life?
I know you didn't do it, Deb, but could you find out what's going on before the cows (or sheep) come home?
2
@Barry Ancona
I'm not sure what's happening with you, but I get the first three replies showing after a primary comment. (It used to be that only two replies showed.) If the count shows that more than three replies were logged, there's a 'View all replies' banner that, when clicked on, shows all that came after the first three. Unless, of course, some have been knocked off by replies that weren't made at queue's end.
I gather that your experience is different?
1
SPELLING BEE:
I might be getting a little better at this.
For the longest time today I was stuck with missing one 4-letter B-word. When I got it, I felt like the word.
38 words, 184 points. 3 pangrams. No bingo.
4x15, 5x11, 6x4, 7x1, 8x3, 9x3, 11x1
Ax6, Cx7, Dx1, Kx1, Ox0, Rx0, Bx23
@audreylm - you must spell better in the comments than you do in Spelling Bee. Or something.
Couple of baked sweets, a popular Asian drink additive. A tree of unusual and impressive appearance. 6 compound words, 3 of which are the pangrams. 8 words end in B.
8
@Wen
Thanks for the breakdowns and clues. I was at 36/177 when the tree and additive (gotten by accident) gave me the QB. Felt like you, though, for forgetting the greenery!
1
@Wen I know, right??? I'm at Genius 29/129 but haven't found the third pangram/11 letter word. Am at work but will revisit compulsively till I get it.
1
@Wen OOPS!!!! Now I get it (face is very red and I feel like that four letter B word you mentioned).
Massive apology for inadvertent spoiler. Ugh.
2
Highlight for me was getting both STAYATHOMEDAD and TANEHISICOATES early on with just a couple of crosses. Helped a lot, but not quite enough. Still got stuck in a couple of places with unknowns (OBOE/OTIS, e.g.) and things not dawning on me, like the common misdirection of 'Can opener.' And had to go into what I call 'ignore the clue mode' more than once. I don't finish Fridays with no help very often so no biggie. Still thought it was a good puzzle.
My maternal grandfather was from Cornwall so we ate PASTYs frequently when I was growing up. Loved them and even had some shipped down here a couple of times.
Had some notable unpleasant experiences with FIREANTS during my years working outdoors in Florida; one of them ended with me diving into a pond.
I think I'm going to take a shot at the spelling bee today.
3
@Rich in Atlanta Go for it, Rich!
NO ABRACADABRA??!! And . . . and . . .where is Lincoln supposed to go?
In other news, I found the xword delightfully doable for a Friday. Love my mornings: physical workout, mental workout (this page), meditation, cat snuggles. And, off to work. Have a great long weekend everybody. Hope nobody has to labor on Monday.
2
@audreylm - not for the first time, a word that has been accepted on my Spelling Bee list appears here as a fail.
Could you try typing that once more, and clarify whether
a) it isn't accepted for you but is for me
or
b) some other option...
I mean it earnestly, by the way.
Again, at least I'd found that one before seeing it here in all caps...
@David Connell and once again, it turns out to be my error. Massive apologies.
1
@audreylm
I wish someone could wave their magic wand and make it disappear! :-)
(Like so many other comments around here!)
1
I had to put on my work boots for this. The grid is spiffy clean and though I can't put my finger on why, it just has the stamp of quality. The cluing and some of the names provided some fine resistance. Truly, had I known more of the names -- and, in retrospect, all the names in this puzzle are cross-worthy -- I might have been able to switch those boots for a pair of flip-flops.
3
@Lewis
I enjoyed your LA Times puzzle yesterday very much. Looking forward to more!
1
@Viv -- Thank you so much! I do have another in the queue there and one in the NYT queue at the moment...
1
I got off to a great start, saw that HARD C worked with CHE and SHAW. Like Elke the X from OXFAM gave me SPARE NO EXPENSE. After that I slowed down considerably, lots of unknowns require a bit of research. Maybe I'll remember some of it.
I do remember the ice man coming to make his deliveries and having to be careful about how to store food.
I too hope that Peter gets busy on his next puzzle.
2
Deb, the Acrostic loaded without the grid. I have emailed Feedback, but maybe you can nudge somebody.
I really enjoyed this Friday workout. It started very slowly and then came together nicely. Great cluing!
3
I’m not so good with recent actors. At one point in the puzzle I was faced with ERIC followed by four blank letters as the “Hulk” in 2003. The only actor I knew of that fit was ERIC IDLE and now I just can’t get that absurd image out of my mind!
17
Today's puzzle sparked a fond memory. I was working on a puzzle at a table in the Brooklyn College cafeteria (my favorite class) in the late '60s, on the cusp of the Farrar/Weng transition. This was, of course, way before the era of needing to think outside the box. The clue was the same then as 50D - bellow. My inital inclination was to fill in the answer that had become my very first aha! moment lo those many years ago. But I hesitated, and was glad I did. That answer was Saul.
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@Times Rita
Must be this one: https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=11/21/1969&g=5&d=A
That's some amazing memory.
4
@Times Rita Speaking of SAUL, that was my first thought for 50D, and it gibed with INTERNETAUDIO. Fortunately for me, I hesitated and waited for more crosses to set me right.
1
Early days then of the long great runs by Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Mordecai Richler...
4
(BEE comment)
Wished-for word of today: eyecanty
def: a lovely person who is way out of my league
14
Delightful sniglet!
1
and Elke
I share the enthusiasm that others have already expressed for this Friday puzzle.
To be sure, several of the names were unknowns ( to be filed in some braniac remote recess).
Fortunately, the 'X' from OXFAM led me straight to SPARE NO EXPENSE.
Am wondering whether a STAY AT HOME Mom is said to be 'working' with her kids ?..
Re FETUS- 'early stage of development' is all relative : to a gerontologist ,a 'FETUS' may be 'early'. But to an OB (who delivers BABES ), 'early' would be 'embryo' .
Speaking of 'age'- I do remember the ice-man delivering ice blocks for the icebox in the early 50's in Toronto.
Speaking of Toronto- it's the birthplace of Frank GEHRY. Some of his designs remind me of beautiful ice sculptures.
Will somebody remind us of the saying that ' he who LIES WITH dogs, may get up with fleas '? (Well, I just did )
Had fun with puzzle. Now to SB-- missed yesterday's QB, am not a CROOK.
2
Just one error tonight: Frank GEARY, and the author's first name was beyond me. What time do they change the spelling bee?
@Suzy M.
re: Spelling Bee - it's 3am Eastern Time.
I once thought myself clever and stayed up until 3am to figure that out and announced it to everyone. Then I found out that the information was in the How to Play/Help popup.
2
Enjoyed the puzzle, but regarding 35A: The title of Ms. Morissette's second album was Now Is the Time. ALANIS was her debut LP.
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@Jeff
Second album before JLP...means counting back from JLP, it’s the second one.
The second number before 3 is 1.
3, 2, 1. Got it?
Personally, I couldn’t stand anything that came out of her mouth, though.
1
Loved this puzzle - so fun! The top half was rough, but I got a foot in the door about halfway down - which was a LOAD off my mind - and the rest was smooth sailing. My only stumble was 17A - I'm so embarrassed, Deb! - but the joke was lost on me and I don't know HART CRANE (a cousin of Frasier?).
What on Earth is an oboe d'amour?
3
@Anne-Marie Don’t be embarrassed! These things take practice. Keep up the great solving!
2
The oboe d'amore is an alto oboe that's sort of been obsoleted by the English horn, the standard alto oboe of today's orchestra. It's a bit closer to the pitch of the standard soprano oboe than the English horn is.
It has a beautiful sound, I think. I'd post a link but they're not working, so search on youtube for some wonderful Bach.
Some twentieth-century composers rediscovered it, but it remains mainly a Baroque instrument in the repertory.
9
@Martin.
There’s BOVINE, and there’s OVINE, and there’s even CORVINE. In case anyone needs to eat crow.
2
Er, BOVINE is about cattle. OVINE is about sheep. I mention this only because I learned it in a previous Times crossword.
5
Tough (but fair) Friday, and a great deal of fun uncovering these long stacks and names I didn't know I knew.
As Deb mentioned in her post, I really liked the clues for CANE, ACRE, EWE, WAR MOVIE.
Knew Mr. COATES once I got his last name. ("Oh yeah, that was the name of his book" which was all over The Atlantic and NPR and NYT a while back). Hard to remember how to spell his first name, let along how to pronounce it. Knew ERIC BANA played the Hulk, but saw The Avengers movies more recently and thought this was referring to Mark Ruffalo (I didn't remember his name).
The way 35A was clued, even though I didn't know the name of the album, gave away immediately it was going to be her name, as I vaguely recalled she had an album with her name. Other gimmes included: OXFAM, STEVE, RADIUM, LISA, LIRA, PASTY (pronounced PAST-Y, not PASTE-Y). GATE (because there are lots of mentions of a certain hotel that inspired that suffix of late - you can't get away from it all)
Never heard of OBOE d'amore. Heard of OBOE, of course.
Puzzled over indoor cars a bit and then it was "of course! Not the kind you drive!"
Finish in nearly half the time of my Friday average. Maybe actually get to bed earlier today.
3
If you like long, intersecting proper nouns occupying key positions in a crossword, this one’s for you. And you can keep it. Dreadful.
4
@Nobis Miserere
It's cross-names-pop-culture-references-rap-artists-rebuses-oh-and-sometimes-words puzzles. What's not to like?
Honestly, though - sticking with only words/phrases, we won't be able to get these long stacks and it would quickly become stale and uninteresting under those very limiting constraints.
Learning about the same old words doesn't sound like it'd be much fun and you'd probably get a lot of crosswordese and really obscure terms that I won't get anything out of.
A sprinkling of names makes it more interesting, educational and lively.
I gathered that you don't have outright objection to proper nouns, even long ones, just not key intersections that makes it hard to solve? But does it really make the puzzle "dreadful?"
6
Decent puzzle ... except where the Hulk meets Coates. Editors need to cut these out.
1
@Nobis
Proper nouns have been part of the NYT crossword puzzle since literally Day 1. In fact, 1A on Day 1 was a proper name, now lost to the sands of time for most people:
https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=2/15/1942
6
The ice box did occur to me, but I thought it was an old fashioned on the rocks. I've never had one, but I'm sure I've read about them in a novel or two. Either way, probably shows my age.
9
@ecomaniac my mind went to Old Fashioneds, the beverage too. But maybe just because it's been a while since I made one, and it's my favorite cocktail! But I can assure you, it probably doesn't show your age... I'm a millennial (though on the senior side of the generation).
4
You’re not alone; I’m on the younger end of the millennials, and my mind went straight to Old Fashioned’s too
1
Whiskey cocktails are in these days. I'm sure that's what "old fashioned" meant.
I prefer Manhattans, which are also cooled with ice but are served without it.
38A: As Amelia Bedelia showed us, it's the drapes that are drawn. I've never "drawn" the answer.
I have to say that once I got some of the clues in the bottom half, the rest just started falling into place.
7
@Adrienne When I consider the drapes/blinds question, I find my memory dredging up the voice of my social studies teacher asking, as we prepared to watch some documentary film from the AV department, "Will someone on that side of the room please draw the blinds?"
@Diana Sandberg
I had SHADES at first, because I had OUTDID before OUTRAN.
Made a mess.
1
I threw SHADES in there also.
As an aside, looking at my records, it appears that for the first time in years I have no puzzles in the queue to be published. Need to get writing and push some fresh puzzles out the door!
Yes, yes, Peter Wentz. More of these reasonably tough but very fair puzzles, please!
14
tough puzzle. had to stare at it to come up with FBI at the end. didn't suss FIVE-O until just now. duh -- Hawaii with Dano and the squad.
3
Toughest week this year. Wonder what Saturday will bring ?
4
Brian,
You haven't said "nice puzzle" for at least three days now. That was your MOTIF. No longer AMPED?
The NYTXWP will humble us all.
7
@Brian
Agree that this was the toughest week. And, yes, we have tomorrow yet to go!
@Deb
You may be “thinking in bovine terms” but you should be thinking in ovine terms, as Dolly, as you correctly note is a EWE.
14
David Meyers,
I'm guessing Deb was out the door and offline before the Friday column went live. She'll have a cow when she checks back in.
5
@Barry Ancona
...followed by a sheepish apology?
9
@Andrew That's baa-a-a-a-d.
5