I may have missed it, but I didn't notice the constructor, the reviewer, or any of the commenters take note of the cleverness of the puzzle's title, with the "uh" referencing the schwa sound that must be deleted from each theme answer to get the punned-upon common phrase it sounds like.
2
MURSE is a pejorative. Should we call women judges "Your Hon-her"?
1
Never heard of FTERIE - Looks like someone punched a keyboard. Blue Man Group and the Smurfs share nothing in common except a color. It's like using "stockbroker" as a clue for White House.
Also when clues are as vague as "- - -" and end up with "ENDASHES" the first letter of each clues should also spell out GIVE UP NOW
1
Hey, 94A is wrong. The clue is “harmonized” and the answer is INUNISON (in unison). Problem is, unison singing is when a group or choir all sound the same notes, as in Gregorian chant; but harmony is defined, musically, as “the sound of two or more notes heard simultaneously that in a pleasing combination”.
9
How is a Hitchcock triple feature Cees?
3
@Stephanie Ladd hitChCoCk
2
Yeah, I hate those spelled-out-letter answers because there isn’t a standard way of spelling letters as “words”, and according to the rules of English orthography, CEES might not be pronounced like Cs or “sees” or in IPA, [sis]. I’m willing to go along with “ess” or “esses” for S or Ss, but not much more.
Personally, after I got the initial C, I rather hoped the answer would be CHIN.
3
Thanks for this enjoyable Sunday solve Joel. I did find it amusing and fresh and just the right difficulty for a Sunday. Your "provider of green juice"clue had me chuckling when I finally cracked it! Cheers
I'll SWEAR on a stack of BUYABLES that this was a thoroughly enjoyable Sunday solve and totally worth running down my cell phone hotspot for as the power came and went according to which trees brought down which power lines as the day wore on.
Can't really say which themer tickled me the most as all were inventive and unexpected. Will say I hope there'll be more than one SENATOR OF GRAVITY in the upcoming Cheery Heerings, and that I was pleased to see the makings of a twofer in the OREGON TRANSPLANET OF THE APES.
Also, since I quit smoking, that was my way to END ASHES. Would appreciate Deadline's input here, as I thought -- was ENDASHES and --- was EMDASHES, per an old tutorial of hers.
Thanks Joel, for a PHAntaBuLETS Sunday, which had me so pleased to remember ASPHODEL from some old Tennyson or Rosetti poem.
Bei EMIR bist du schoen.
6
On 17 Down, I first put in PITCHER, as pitchers often retire batters. It didn’t exactly line up with other clues, but it would be another applicable answer for the clue and nice to have a cross with 26 Across.
Nice puzzle overall, one of my first Sundays fully solved on the day it was published.
(And cool seeing the same clue used in the mini and the big puzzle at 105 Across)
1
Set a new record on the mini -- 18 secs!
@Ron
Wow! Are you bionic?
Anyone know why a puzzle would not be included in a streak? I didn’t use any “reveal” help, etc.
Never mind, updated the app, I’m good.
I'd like to share my thoughts on the Monday puzzle in the comments for the Monday Wordplay column. I hope those comments will open soon...
1
@Barry Ancona .. would this have anything to do with Deb taking off her spanx and "having it out" for Zac ever since the boat trip?
1
Monday comments opened around 7:15 p.m.
Patience, Grasshopper.
And! Under the category of Don't Say I Never Did Nuttin' For Ya here's a sampling of Trance music. Feel free to use the lower scroll bar - it all sounds the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHrFtRXJ66A
In Case You Wondered:
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-major-difference-between-EDM-and-tranc...
2
@K Barrett
Those young'uns! ;)
1
@K Barrett
Thank you. People dance to this? Please tell me I won't hear it at the bar mitzvah I'm going to soon. I might have to run outside.
No rebuses or direction changes, but enjoyed groaning to the theme entries and trying to guess them outright.
Got hung up from the start with wanting 27A to be "okie-dokie" ("okey-dokey?"), so I was sure there was a rebus involved. Fussed around with that idea for a while before realizing OKAYOKAY.
Next hiccup was the second theme entry at 48A. Had KINGJAMESB__ABLE and knew the closing had to approximate "bible" but just couldn't get it. Finally got 45D and it hit me. But "buyable?" Really? Looked it up, and sure enough, it's a legitimate word.
Rest of the puzzle went fairly smoothly.
Thanks to my wife for RORY, MARINARA, ARES, and the ABLETS part of 72A. Complete unknowns: UVEA, ARNETT, JAMIE, and ASPHODEL. Like Caitlin, had K instead of C leading off 93A for a while.
Interesting to have RAGU today, RAGOUT yesterday. Liked PROJECTRUNWAY, both the entry and the show.
About 15 mins. off my best time, but better than average.
Quoting Wen, "Good to see Joel doing a MAXI instead of a MINI!"
2
But "buyable?" Really? Looked it up, and sure enough, it's a legitimate word.
Ron,
As a general rule, words in the crossword are legitimate. You will notice exceptions: SRSLY
@Barry Ancona
Yes, I'm becoming aware of that. Your example of an exception I take personally, as it almost cost me a solve.
@Ron I think we'd all better get used to Internet slang; it's in the puzzles to stay. I'd rather get tripped up by SRSLY than by PROA.
Can someone please help?
What is OREGONTRANSPLANT a pun of? thanks
1
@LSR
Organ Transplant (like kidney, heart, liver...)
2
@LSR organ....
1
@LSR
organ transplant.
1
Wow, what an easy Sunday puzzle. Joel Fagliano's clues are so transparent that I finished in only 26 seconds over 2 hours and 12 minutes. That's just a little longer then my average for his daily Mini puzzle. If I could figure out an easier way to shift between his puzzles and Google, I could probably do them even faster.
Who said that you can't teach an old dog new tricks?
7
lol @hepcat8, I find your contributions to these boards most waggishly fetching. Nothing like an old hepdog, izzer?
Am I the only one who generally dont like to solve Sunday puzzles? They are not trivial enough to do flippantly yet not hard enough to warrant focused dedication, and the big grids are just a hassle to navigate on a small phone screen.
1
MP,
Perhaps you might try solving a Sunday on something other than a small phone screen.
3
@MP
Buy a pencil and you'll love it.
Mr. Fagliano,
You had me at "KINGJAMESBUYABLE". Loved it.
4
SB: Blimey no LIMEY? :)
CIC: Liked the puzzle with weak but clever theme, uh, adding to the phrases. "Follower of 'ah-ah-ah," "Case load," "Like more," "Tube tops," "Blue man group" were all clues that made me think.
TIL: word for 'hair net'.
Thanks!
Out of hospital, resting up for drive back to NC.
1
RMP,
1. I hope the second opinion will prove useful.
2. I trust you will not rush back to NC.
@Robert
No TELLY for the LIMEY either.
"buaa, buba, buca, buda, buea, budfa, buga, buha, buia, buja, buka, bula, buma, buna, buoa, bupa, buqa, bura, busa, buta, buua, buva, buxa, buya" Success!
6
Calculatus eliminatus. As the Cat in the Hat would say, it is the best thing that you’ve got.
I use it often.
There are only two reason I'm glad my mother is not alive: the way our federal government is currently being "run" and the number of pop culture references in some of the NYT puzzles. I liked today's puzzle, and finished it, but Mom would have struggled and given up. She used to a great crossword finisher.
7
@Lorel Oh, my mom too! She is still alive, but has dementia and the crossword was one of the last things to go. In fact even when she could no longer find the words she still wanted it every day and would just fill in letters. I love today's Mom but oh I miss the one I grew up with. Sigh.
6
@audreylm
My mom had dementia too, although she was never a crossword puzzler.
On a bright note, HALinNY has reported using a technique very similar to your Mom's. It seems to work for him! :-)
2
Please let me take this opportunity to address a question that has arisen from some of my earlier musings today.
The clue about workers retiring does, in fact, pertain to automobiles. However the answer, PIT CREW, could refer to a crew-cut hairstyle.
Going one step further, there are some who refer to the axilla as "pit" and there are some who prefer their axillas to be hair-free while others prefer to remain naturel. A compromise between the two might be a crew-cut.
If any of you, after reading this, believe that I am weird, well, all I can say is that you are most perceptive.
6
@HALinNY
For some odd and axillary reason, that reminds me of an Ogden Nash ditty:
I'm very fond of Barbara Frietchie;
She always scratched when she was itchy.
Choir director here. Musically, “in unison” is the actual opposite of “harmonized.” Aargh.
21
Diana,
Please check the posts last night from a choir director (and linguist) who has a different take on the subject.
2
@Diana Ott, yep. I started to enter IN UNISON, then stopped myself, remembering its definition. Then I wound up entering it after all—though I was mentally kicking an screaming.
1
@Lorel
What BA (just) said.
1
I really LOVEd last week’s Sunday puzzle, but I appreciate a more straight-forward puzzle like this one on a Sunday, too... Especially since after this solve, I’m one puzzle away from a 100-puzzle streak!
6
@Elyse
I crossed that threshold about a week ago. Good luck!
This one took me forever. Just not on the same wavelength as the good Mr. Joel. Didn't know PHABLET nor ASPHODEL. Not familiar with JAMIE or ARNETT. And to make matters worse, I had KISS before BUSS. So I was punished with twice my average Sunday time. Ah, well "..." Nevertheless, I appreciate a good challenge, but I'm still groaning about KINGJAMESBUYABLE. Not in any store I frequent.
2
@Dag Ryen
I thought an ASP HODEL is where a snake stays when it has a cold!
13
@Dag Ryen
I had all the same problems.
Several contributors here have mentioned some confusion over how CABALA should be spelled with a "K." Of kourse if you want to see MHP or hear the viktory sounds, you have to use the appropriate spelling even if you disagree.
However, I would like to point out that if you use my tekhnique for kompleting any puzzle, the use of "k" is totally akkeptable.
For those who are unfamiliar with my tekhnique, it is simply to plake any letter in any square and make anyone looking over your shoulder that you have even the hardest NYT puzzle whipped and that you are brilliant, whikh you would be bekause you are using my teknique.
6
@HALinNY
K.
2
@HalinNY. Your wonderful comment took me back almost fifty years when my Fairfield neighbor and I used to do the NYT Crossword on the New Haven RR while commuting into the city. He always finished first but would never show me his answers. At a dinner party, I mentioned what a quick solver he was. His wife replied, "Just because he filled in all the squares doesn't mean that he got them right."
Hal, you have made my day!
@hepcat8 ... was that you?? Seriously, I lived in Trumbull and rode in from Bridgeport. I did not open the paper until we were in the Bronx and proceeded to complete the puzzle by the time the doors opened at GCT. If I ever needed extra time, I would stab someone at 125 St and call the police. That would give me 3 or 4 minutes more (net).
1
When I see Joel Fagliano at the top I expect something really special and today's Sunday puzzle did not disappoint. He is heads above so many other constructors with the thought and care he pours into every detail. Today's theme answers were really funny (hard to pull off!) and the cluing was entertaining, too.
I've done add-a-letter puzzles but this one was a huge cut above the others. The answers were unexpected and unpredictable bringing a surprisingly genuine smile.
Bravo, Joel! Please come back to the "big time" again, soon!
6
"I've done add-a-letter puzzles but this one was a huge cut above the others."
Johanna,
Perhaps because this was not an add-a-letter puzzle?
2
@Barry Ancona
Excuse me. Add a sound (using letters).
Johanna,
I was serious. I thought this one was better than the more usual "add-a-letter" or "change one letter" puzzles *because* the theme entries were at greater variance to their base expressions.
I thought 'Phone brick' before PHABLET, so I was stuck with 'ph-' for a long time. 'Swiss chard' before SOLAR PANELS (Great clue!) just because it was recently used and I figured it might be "ready for recycling" as many answers are. (Ole!)
Fields of ASPHODEL bloom at the Carnac megalithic site in Brittany. The name tickled the back of my mind until I recalled it from the Potter books as an essential ingredient in the Draught of Living Death. I'm sure it's been done, but asphodel, wormwood and bezoar could make a themed crossword, no? One that would drive many wordplayers 'round the bend... LOL!
I finally understood "..." (another great clue!) from my time spent chatting with online tech support.
Thanks Joel! I like the way your mind works.
2
Loved the puzzle today. It was just the right amount of difficulty for me, I had to puzzle at it for just the right amount of time without ever having to give up in frustration... and when I finally cracked what was going on in the theme entries I was very happy and amused... thanks Joel!
I see lots of people play the spelling bee and are much better at it than me, I've only gotten to genius once... I was having a lot of trouble waiting for the next day to see how I did - I inevitably end up at the point where I think, well what other words could there possibly be??? which is a bad feeling to live with for a whole day! so now I open the spelling bee in a tab on my browser, and the next day I play it and immediately go check the answers :-) terrible I know!
1
Today's Spelling Bee was downright nasty. Took a bit longer than usual to get to genius. A couple of big words which sort of pop out (but invoke thoughts of others) will get you far.
Getting to Queen Bee was unrewarding for a few reasons and I seriously call into question the inclusion of 2 N words as within the vocabulary of all but a few (not mine, for certain). As usual, it took random word play to get there. I nearly abandoned the puzzle. I wasn't any happier for finishing either.
HINTS:
I tried one (N=5L) as a variation on that device my husband uses daily to unplug his sinuses. That isn't it's real meaning, but far closer to any meaning I would get or remember now that I looked it up.
I tried another (N=6L) word using a plant, which can be a skin irritant to some) which I know and fiddling with suffixes. "Ly" is your friend today.
A 4L "i" word brought to mind a brand of strong coffee, but no real English meaning for me. Not denying one, just not vaguely common. I tried all kinds of made up 4 letter words and it took it. Nuff' said on that.
Objections to inclusions of the above words to the exclusion of these made me grumpy: eyeline, limey, limy, leyline, littly, mitty, nelly, tenty, tilty. No excuse, Miss Bee, on limey. Puzzle made me want a limey gin and tonic, but it's way too early!!! Go Eagles!!!
4
The coffee brand is a regular word that might describe how you felt about the Bee.
1
@Liane
Add to your list of excluded: telly- you know, that thing we use to watch the E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES! Later on I can catch the Pats ( my brother's fav) and the Giants (my sister's team). Goeagles.
@MaggieT
TELLY - Britishism or Mr. Savalas, doesn't make it to the list, as much as we'd like it to. When you get down to the NITTY-gritty of the word list, such words are not simply added willy-NILLY.
I had the same issue as Caitlin with CABALA. I've always seen it with a leading "K". It didn't trip me up for too long though, because I looked at KEES and that didn't make sense. When I gave up on the idea of Hitchcock being a reference to some type of furniture, the three CEES popped into my head. I enjoy a pun themer, but as in the constructor notes they've been done A LOT. Mr. Fagliano's theme entries were, however, amusing enough and current enough in their references (Our President's proposed barrier, LeBron, A current TV show) that I enjoyed solving. Also, as Caitlin mentioned, some of the cluing was also smile inducing. An enjoyable Sunday for me (and 20 minutes faster than my average to boot!).
2
Thank you, Michael O, for your help on SB! I made QB! One word, I never heard before, so I also increased my vocabulary. It's nice when people are kind and easy-going; thank you!
Every theme answer brought a smile, and non-puzzle wife laughed at all of them. Now _that_ is a fine puzzle!
But TRANCE music and PHABLETS did stop me cold for awhile.
2
I know there are some of you out there who hate puns, but honestly -- aren't these just about the best puns you ever saw? I think this puzzle is adorable! I love all the theme answers -- every single one!
Some additional thoughts: On 32D: Of course there's NO STEP! Who expects to find a step on an airplane wing?? Do you think I'm an idiot?
On 72A: It must be a combo of phone and tablet. Yes? Another neologism I've never heard of.
On 63A: TRANCE is a dance? In which you don't move even a tiny muscle? Or is my answer wrong? I forgot to check.
On 31A: "Open" by AGASSI is the 2nd best memoir I've ever read. ("Act One" by Moss Hart is the first.) Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in tennis. And even to people with no interest in tennis.
A lively, amusing Sunday.
9
@Nancy
Actually, on many small (i.e. private) planes, you do step on the wing to get into the cabin, but you have to walk on a specific area known as the wing walk. If you step on other areas, you might damage moving parts of the wing, and they are marked as such because they are not to be used as a step.
Airplane wings are surprisingly strong, and generally can be walked on (in the right places) without damage to them.
7
Service and maintenance personnel walk on the wings of commercial and military aircraft, and are similarly reminded where no step should be taken.
@Barry Ancona
Thinking also of films made in the early days of filmdom when people walked on the wings for effect:
https://mashable.com/2015/10/03/wing-walkers/#5ILgbxxbmaqi
A Canadian woman still does it! (Scroll for video.) In the interview, she says she knew she didn't want to go to college and this appealed to her right away. One might offer this alternative to a kid who dismisses the prospect of higher education. She says it's the reason she gets up in the morning.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/suzannecope/up-in-the-air-with-carol-pilon-amer...
And guess what--anybody can do it for fun.
https://www.intotheblue.co.uk/flying-experiences/wing-walking/
What's more, you can buy a can of stuff that makes the wing less slippery. It is called Wing Walk Compound.
https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/randolphwingwalk.php
Who knew?
Haven't done a puzzle in weeks thanks to everyone's insistence on trying the bee. Came back today to an enjoyable showcase of all that language promises: newness (PHABLET), cleverness (BUYABLE, SENATOR), flexibility (READABLE), viscerality (SPITTLE), comfort (MARINARA)...
Fine puzzle.
2
Thank you for introducing us to the lovely aphodel, and to the WCW poem named for it. As I watch my father grieve the recent loss of his wife of 72 years, his words pay tribute to the epic nature of their love in such a wrenching and beautiful way.
When I speak
of flowers
it is to recall
that at one time
we were young.
All women are not Helen,
I know that,
but have Helen in their hearts.
My sweet,
you have it also, therefore
I love you
and could not love you otherwise.
Imagine you saw
a field made up of women
all silver-white.
What should you do
but love them?
7
sorry, typo: asphodel.
1
Oooooookay. The first themer just did not make any sense, though all of the others did. I even checked the answer grid to be sure I had it right. I read all of them to DHubby (he groaned) and kept saying OREGON TRANSPLANT, OREGON TRANSPLANT, until he finally said, "Well, there's ORGAN TRANSPLANT." And there's also FACE PLANT.
PHABLET is unknown to me, as are the TV shows 'Arrested Development' and 'Gilmore Girls,' so I had to take those entries on faith.
Very nice puzzle, quite enjoyable once you give up K for CABALA and re-parse END ASHES.
Have never heard MURSE, and if there IS a God, I won't hear it again. Man-PURSE, yes; MURSE, no.
On to the Bee!
4
When I heard MURSE for the first time, took me a moment but I knew immediately what it was. I'm just thankful it's for something trivial like Man-PURSE, and not something more significant like Male NURSE.
2
I was determined to be patient with this one and I think I was. I still couldn't quite get there. Ended up with a bunch of blanks scattered across the middle section before I resorted to cheating. Unknowns (or unknown as clued) included RORY, CONAGRA, DJSET, JAMIE, ARNETT, PHABLETS, ASPHODEL, TRANCE, SNOOD and... I'm done trying to find them.
Like others it took me a long time to parse the trick in OREGONTRANSPLANT even after I had it filled in. At one point I was expecting it to be some kind play on 'Oregon trail,' but couldn't see anything that worked.
Before I got any of the themers, when I read the clue for 69a my first thought was "Mr. Gorbachev..." and 'tear down this wall' actually fits. But I couldn't see how that made any sense so didn't fill it in.
Minor complaints (well, maybe not so minor): We have to clue MAPS to Google? And DRAMA to 'Desperate Housewives?" And SAM to the Muppets?
Sorry. Others found it easy; I guess I have no reason to complain.
2
@Rich in Atlanta
Ditto re OREGONTRANSPLANT including unsuccessfully trying to go down the TRAIL...
also, unrelated to the above, liked the common 'W' STOWing the garbage in the SCOW....
TodaY's QB is a doozY; a real Y-fest!
There are 29 words for 156 points, 2 pangrams and 24 words ending in Y.
E = 6 (4L X1; 5L X 1; 6L X 3; 9L X 1)
I = 4 (4L X 2; 8L X 1; 10L X1)
L = 4 (4L X 1; 5L X 1; 6L X 1; 9L X 1)
M = 3 (5L X 2; 6L X 1)
N = 4 (5L X 2; 6L X 2)
T = 5 (4L X 1; 5L X 2; 6L X 2)
Y = 3 (4L X 2; 5L X 1)
Happy SundaY and Happy solving!
5
@Michael O
Thanks for sharing this!
I'm so close to doing the alternate spelling bee instead - the one that just uses the letters around the outside and skips the required letter. There are so many words around the outside...
5
I generally quit once I reach Genius, which I generally do, but given your info I’ll keep at it awhile longer. I’ve got the two pangrams so it’s good to know there aren’t more. Today, I was surprised that EYELINE was rejected and that yesterday RUFF, LUFF, and GLUG were rejected but FRUG was accepted!? I’d bet RUFF and GLUG would be more widely recognized by the general population than FRUG would be.
8
@David Meyers
Like you, I got the pangrams, got genius, and planned to stop (@ 19/110), but given MichaelO's info, maybe I'll keep going - only, how can there be TEN more words, unbelievable - still, I always figure, if someone else does it, maybe so can I.
Thanks, Michael O, for your hints - and thanks to everyone who posts these every day - such a lot of effort, and very much appreciated.
1
Enjoyed the puzzle. For a moment there I had NTH for “Root Word” along with 31D and 35D which implied that “Staple of many a Real Housewives episode” would have been ENEMA. I was sad when it wasn’t.
3
@Adam
I've never seen a single episode of Real Housewives, but now, I'm curious, based on your comment. Really?
@Adam OK.. that remark and the ensuing imagery made me laugh so hard the dog had to come over and see what the matter was.
1
@Adam ... i don't know about the enemas, but there sure is a plethora of logorrhea.
I’m with Caitlin (or the NYT-preferred spelling Katelynn) on CABALA. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it spelled without a leading K, a double B, and a final H, i.e. KABBALAH. Of course that doesn’t fit in 6 cells, so...
Maybe the NYT xw preferrers are confusing it with CABELAs.
1
David Meyers,
I'm not sure they've even heard of Cabela's.
2
@David Meyers
Just Googled: There's even "Qabalah!"
Extremely well-crafted puzzle. Thank you!
2
I too really wanted the Hitchcock answer to be CHIN, but that just didn’t fit with KABALA now did it? Well over average time today, thanks partly to the above, but mostly because I couldn’t see past OREGON TRAIL (SOMETHING) for 23A, racking my brain for puns that would fit. Got a wry chuckle out of KING JAMES BUYABLE, but my personal favourite was PROJECT RUNAWAY because I love the show, and especially Tim Gunn. It’s always nice when the puzzle starts to come together and you make it work.
Today's Bee is absolutely kicking my rear end.
1
"I too really wanted the Hitchcock answer to be CHIN, but that just didn’t fit with KABALA now did it?"
I saw what you did there, Scott.
2
@Barry Ancona
Or did he?
Scott -- My wife and I also loved the show, esp. Tim Gunn, Heidi, and Michael Kors. (Not so much Nina ...)
A SNOOD was rather fetchingly worn by Linda Kozlowski in the 1986 film “Crocodile Dundee”.
2
@Zon ... Oh, yes! She is an attractive woman with or without but the snood definitely was an enhancement.
2
I just completed the Thursday puzzle - Where Work Piles Up. I don't get Deb's comment - It’s Thursday, so solvers lose the hockey hint that would have made this a no-brainer. When a player feints one way on the ice, it’s called a “deke.” Would there have been a reference to hockey in the clue if it was not Thursday? I just do the puzzles without spending much time thinking about them. (Sorry, Constructors.) Are clues, as well as answers, harder on Thursdays?
Yes.
1
@Peter Jackel
There are different ways that puzzle can increase in difficulty as the week progresses. Deb and others have sort of explained it before.
The main ways that the difficulty increases:
1. Answers/Entries - more obscure words/names (don't get started on names, that's another conversation).
2. Cluing - increases in non-straightforwardness, misdirections, vagueness, obscurity.
3. Gimmickiness. Thursdays we have come to expect gimmicks such as rebus. Most rebuses happen around Thursday. They occur on other days such as Sunday, I want to say maybe I've seen a rebus or two on a Wednesday or Friday too. I don't recall seeing them ever on other days.
4. Theme - themes often give you an extra hint to the theme entries. Lacking themes means lacking the extra help. Friday/Saturday tend to be themeless.
That's just off the top of my head and in limited form. What you really should do is consult the really excellent guide that Deb put together that explains in great detail and give plenty of examples the various devilish things that Will, Joel and the constructors will throw at you, while Deb assure you that yes, you can solve it all despite their attempts to do the opposite:
https://www.nytimes.com/guides/crosswords/how-to-solve-a-crossword-puzzle
6
I found Deb's comment a little strange too. A hockey reference would not have made the clue a no-brainer for me -- I'm not sure anything would have. "Deke" was simply not in my vocabulary at all, but perhaps now I'll remember it.
I didn't get the joke of OREGON TRANSPLANT until I said it out loud.
This was fun! And made my brain feel nice and full.
3
@Mary and I didn't get it till I read your comment and THEN said it out loud! :)
So it's getting late ... or early, depending on your circadianship, and my pea is restless in its pod and I am thinking about the two fills in today's puzzle about hair styles.
There's the one about mohawks and the one about pit crews. What do you think? Is it a coincidence or was it planned?
@HALinNY And a snood.
@Mary ... oh, I love snoods ... well some of them anyway. But is it really a style? I think of a style as being a cut and a snood as being a shape.
Of course what do I know? I've never had a mohawk or a pit crew or a snood. I'm clueless and far from stylish.
@HALinNY
Um...am I missing something? The PIT CREW clue is about auto racing, not hairstyles.
D’oh! Seems from reading Joel’s notes that Will may have changed the congressman clue from “fat” to “superserious”?
(I like it either way!)
3
@Irene
Yeah, I noticed that too. (More "PC.") :)
1
A lighthearted fun puzzle for which I am grateful. In this day and age, lighthearted fun can be hard to find. (Harder to find in The New Yorker, for instance.)
As texting etc. clues and answers become more and more prevalent, I wonder if the Times Crosswords will introduce an old fogey version for those of us who remember, and prefer, long form writing (and thinking.)
1
I also liked KING JAMES BUYABLE, but that doesn't really compensate for the dullness of the theme as a whole.
1
I really wanted the Hitchcock triple feature to be CHIN
15
Haha, that was my original answer too!
@Alan Young
That was the answer a while back for the same clue, but with a double feature instead of a triple.
1
That was what held me up at the end of my solve! Apologies Alfred!
Well that was about 3 times faster for me than Saturday's.
Fun theme and the unknowns like CABALA, ENDASHES, SNOOD and ASPHODEL were revealed easily enough by the other direction.
ISLE clue cay was interesting to see because I _just_ looked up the book "The Cay" which I read in school many years ago. I had to Google something about Timothy and a hurricane because I didn't remember the title and so I wouldn't have known it was another name for an Isle a few days ago.
Time for a case load!
I must be way too tired. It took me ages to get the joke in OREGONTRANSPLANT.
4
@Passion for Peaches
Perhaps you are in need of an OREGONTRANSPLANT ;-)
Fun puzzle, but what is a "pitcherw"? The clue is players who are always retiring. "pitcherw" isn't a word, or a term used in sports.
And no, harmonizing is completely different from singing in unison. Maybe as compared to singing in discord (some people singing an A, some singing an A#, some singing a C#, for example?), but no conductor would say, OK, you're singing discordantly, now sing in harmony, and everyone would sing one note and the conductor would say, great, now you're in harmony. Wouldn't happen unless maybe the conductor was The Maestro from Seinfeld.
3
@Carl, you mean PITCREW?
1
Carl,
Try PITCREW.
Look elsewhere in the comments for a music lesson.
1
94A was also my one nitpick: You can't harmonize in unison.
I liked it. I started on EMPTY and all of a sudden I've ARRIVED -- I'M HERE with Mr. Happy Pencil!
2
No, no, no and I mean NO! “Harmonized” cannot mean INUNISON. “Unison occurs when two or more people play or sing the same pitch or in octaves.” Whereas harmony is “the combination of simultaneously sounded musical notes to produce chords and chord progressions having a pleasing effect.”
14
Mona,
Please see prior discussion of this subject.
1
@Mona Butler
Harmonize 3. trans. To bring into harmony, agreement, or accord
Unison 4 d. in unison, in agreement or harmony
The Compact Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition.
8
@Ethan Good Point. Other comment writers are correct that musically speaking, “harmonized” never means “in unison”. As a musician, I neglected to think about this non-musically.
1
I really liked KING JAMES BUYABLE.
At one point I looked at the grid-in-progress and for 27A I had OKAYOKA_, so I then had trouble turning OKA YOKA into OKAY OKAY. I didn't "know" ASPHODEL, but somehow it popped into my head.
I had trouble in the TRANCE/I BET/PHABLETS section. I'd heard the term PHABLETS but sure couldn't think of it. And I had a W (for WRITING) stuck in my head for the start of RIOTING. . . . Didn't know TRANCE as a music genre, so that was just an empty hole for a long time. Eventually I tried the A and it worked with I BET.
I ate at JAMIE Oliver's restaurant in Covent Garden last year. And saw lots of his other restaurants around London.
OBOE? No, Bo!
It's still breezy here and raining occasionally, but nothing exciting. I'm just as glad to be on the outskirts of Florence!
1
Please keep it at "nothing exciting," Liz B.
And I'd certainly like it to pick up speed westward so the northeast quadrant moves onshore.
A very fun Sunday puzzle.
I liked all of the theme entries a lot. Especially KING JAMES BUYABLE.
Finished well less than half my average. My experience was very much like how @HALinNY described. Passes through, don't even think about it because there is no way to really know without enough crossings.
Like the very playful cluing which made for a lot of lighthearted fun, even with the reminder of the unpleasant RIOTING ON THE WALL and the semi-serious OREGON TRANSPLANT.
Liked the clues for ART, PIT CREW, CEES, RAH, NYET
SNOOD and SHPHODEL were new to me.
I feel PHABLET is already becoming obsolete especially because Apple got into the game a couple of years back and basically all new smart phones are PHABLETs. Pretty we'll have to create a retronym for non-tablet smartphone.
Good to see Joel doing a MAXI instead of a MINI.
Like Caitlin's write up quite a bit too, her joke of the three people on a windy day was new to me and I got a chuckle from that too. Caitlin can indeed be a bit dangerous indeed. She's like the change up to Deb's fastball.
FENESTRATED - people who buy PCs with Microsoft's OS preloaded.
3
Caitlin writes: "Because all our publishers are descendants of the last publisher."
Caitlin,
That is not correct. The current publisher replaced his father, and his father replaced his father, but there are a couple of sons-in-law back there.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/14/business/media/a-g-sulzberger-new-yor...
3
For those who don't do NYT links:
Publisher 1 in the dynasty was Adolph Ochs, who bought the Times.
Publisher 2 was his son-in-law, A H Sulzberger.
Publisher 3 was AHS's son-in-law Orville Dreyfoos (who died after only two years on the job).
Publisher 4 was AHS's son A O (Punch) Sulzberger, Publisher 5 was his son AOS Jr.
Publisher 6 is his son AGS.
It's all in the family, and the current publisher is a direct descendant of Adolph Ochs, but *not* all of the publishers are "descendants of the last publisher."
1
Does “ablush”, like the regular “asea” really occur anywhere outside NYT crosswords?
Try: https://tinyurl.com/y9vn2bal
Click from there to see where they are used.
ASEA has only shown up 5 times this year so far and uh...884 times in the NYT crosswords. So yeah, I guess it gets used a lot.
@Patrick Jordan - Yes. "Ablush" occurs in the dictionary and in numerous usage examples thereto on the internet.
Really enjoying the little treats of having become a regular solver, like seeing 'Hitchcock double feature?' evolve into 'Hitchcock triple feature?'
8
TIL the word SNOOD, which I had never heard before. My wife and I ate lunch in a JAMIE Oliver's restaurant in Oxford, ENGland last summer and found it to be perfectly fine.
My only quibble is with 94A. When music is harmonized, generally it isn't IN UNISON, but rather in several voices that combine to create sounds beyond the capability of unison voices.
But I enjoyed this one, and finished it faster than my average.
2
I am, however, trying to recall when the mini and the regular puzzle had two clues and entries that were basically exactly the same. The one letter difference in the clues seems insignificant.
(I won't say what it is, in case you're reading this before you've dune the mini.)
@Dave S - I thought there would be some comment on "in unison" for "harmonized." There's an interesting overlap between the musical and the non-musical uses of these words here, but there's also a root-level agreement:
"Harmony" in its original Greek sense means "in right relation" - it depends on two (or more) things meshing in a well-interrelated way.
In that sense, unison is the most perfect harmony, because the relation is literally one-to-one. Think of two people walking down the street; their steps can relate in any number of potentially harmonious ways, but the most basically harmonious way is if they step together, "in unison."
The hardest thing for two musicians to do is perfect unison, unforgiving as it is. There's an old saying in the orchestra: one is a solo, three is a section, two is an argument.
4
@David Connell: As much as I - a professional musician who came here just now to throw a fit about this very item - hate to admit it, you’re quite right. “Harmony” can absolutely be understood that way, and having done so the clue is no longer the opposite of the answer. You’re especially right about 2 being an argument! One of these days I will learn to re-examine my righteous indignation at moments like this...
5
A marvel of construction but that doesn't always make a great solving puzzle.
Some people solve by overthinking the fill and hoping to get it right. Others read the clue and either have the fill right away or move on to the next clue.
A puzzle like this one is a "thinking puzzle" because the theme answers are essentially off the wall; you really don't know what the constructor was thinking, especially when your are starting out.
After sixty years of solving, I've become a "hit and run" solver: read it, fill it if you can, move on. That makes a puzzle like this tedious because I need 4 trips (2 across, 2 down) to get all the quick fills. Then it's time to plug the holes. It's fun for a while but not forever.
A Sunday puzzle that takes more than 30 minutes using the web app wears thin.
YMMV.
6
Fun Sunday puzzle. Totally enjoyed groaning at the dad pun solutions. Fave was A bit of disputin’ from Putin?
8