Very late today -- My laptop ran out of juice at the coffeehouse.
Loved that the circled letters accurately portrayed the chemical structure and that the chemical name was right next to the symbol.
How appropriate that METHANE appears at a time when the administration is loosening its emission restrictions on oil drillers.
Had a little trouble in the SW corner, mostly because of UHUH and OHO. Gotta say that I don't like such terms. (It's a cross*word* puzzle!). Not sure what getting DONHO right off the bat and JORDACHE with only the J says about me. ?
2
Ron,
Perhaps we're looking at it differently or using words differently, but I only see one of the three chemical names -- carbon dioxide -- "right next to the symbol."
@Barry Ancona
I should have said "a row above or below the symbol."
The app kept telling me I had an error. When I finally gave in to check the puzzle (destroying my streak) it said the o in John Hughes was wrong. But that is wrong. John Hughes directed 16 Candles. What gives?
Give me back my streak.
Chad,
Perhaps you entered 0 for O?
@Chad
If you email them and tell them your streak got broken in error, they will fix it. Happened to me a couple times during an updating period.
Happy 47th birthday to 10 Across ___ Pinkett Smith. I'm sure it's just a coincidence that her name appears in the NYT xword on her birthday.
4
Took me a while to get 'axe' as a synonym for 'fire', slow day for me today.
3
@Padraig
I didn't get it until I read your comment. I'd finished the puzzle, glad that axe fit, but still thinking of the physical object. Thanks for posting!
1
@akaGracie My god, this was bothering me. I also filled it correctly, but wondered why it worked. So obvious in hindsight.
Neat puzzle -- I was going to log on with a "what a gas" comment but I see I'm a little late with that.
I liked the neat way the chemical structures were limned.
When I was growing up we used to have some pretty awful chemistry poems. Here is one I remember:
Poor little Willy,poor little Willy,
We shall not see little Willy any more ...
For what he thought was H2O
Was H2SO4.
5
IPAD for a cash register? No. A credit card scanner, yes, but it neither holds nor dispenses cash.
2
@Philip
Think registering a transaction
It's almost time for "cash register" to join "dial tone," "next slide please," "CC me" and "don't touch that dial" in the anachronism section of the language. I suspect the usage will not go away soon.
2
@Martin
I first heard the term "anachronism" in a course discussing Shakespeare's Julius Caesar where the subject of the mention of a clock in the play came up. That term meant the temporal context in question was incorrect.
I don't think you want "anachronism section". "Obsolescence" would be better.
MALAR v. MOLAR?
"Molar" has a meaning in chemistry too (one mole per liter). A mole of a compound is its mass in grams that equals its atomic mass. (The atomic mass of sodium is 22.99 and the atomic mass of chlorine is 35.45 so a mole of table salt weighs 58.44 grams. Dissolve that in a liter of water and you have a 1 molar solution.)
A mole of anything (and thus a liter of a 1 molar solution of anything) has Avogadro's Number of molecules, or around 6 x 10 to the 23rd power, of solute. That's the basis of lots of nerdy cartoon involving tunneling moles and avocados.
If chemical molar isn't enough, there's also "molal." A one molal solution has a mole dissolved in a kilogram of solvent. If that's water, molal is the same as molar but for other solvents it differs by the specific gravity of the solvent. A one molar solution is abbreviated 1 M. A one molal solution is 1 m.
I wonder if Spelling Bee knows about molality.
3
@Martin - I believe SB is entirely immolal.
5
@Martin
Abogado's number is a lawyer's fee.
@Dr W
4225 is Avocado's number. I got it off the little sticker.
2
iMac is most certainly not a Chromebook competitor. That would be akin to saying Mini Cooper is a competitor of Range Rover.
14
This one threw me off, too. Laptops and desktops do not really compete.
2
@Philip and JK
Think commercial competition. Say you want to buy a computer but are not sure what brand or even what type. On that basis all devices are fair game.
Clue and entry definitely pass the Wordplay usage test. Just last night, Deadline reported that she was going to replace her desktop PC (with another desktop PC) and Wen suggested she consider an iPad instead.
My five favorite clues from two weeks ago:
1. Puzzle in which people take turns solving (4)
2. It takes time to sink in (9)
3. What goes after the wrong type (10)
4. Scratch on the table? (3)
5. III in Ithaca (5)
MAZE
QUICKSAND
SPELLCHECK
TIP
IOTAS
5
Lewis,
I think last week was a slow clues week. This collection from two weeks ago is (IMO) far superior to the five you posted earlier today from last week.
1
It's apt that the symbol for the especially potent greenhouse gas METHANE is hidden within WITH CHEESE and AH-CHOO. The production of dairy (which can clog sinuses and lead to sneezing) is a primary driver of the release of that gas into the atmosphere.
2
@pj and in the Lactose intolerant, also the consumption of said dairy...
N.B. It seems that posts that did not appear during the evening hiatus in yesterday's comments have now been approved.
Oh goody! Gases! What a divine subject!
The annoying tiny little circles were completely lost on me, since Chemistry was not exactly my favorite or best college course. (I took a combined Chemistry/Physics course to fulfill my Science requirement because my father would not hear of me taking Astronomy or Geology, reputed to be much easier. "You cannot call yourself an educated person without knowing some hard science," said Dad. "I am not paying all this money to send you to an expensive college so that you can avoid Science yet again. Bad enough you went to a high school that didn't even teach Physics or Chemistry.") Actually it did, but they were electives and I avoided them. Anyway, the only reason I passed the damn Freshman college course was that it was a course geared to non-scientists and graded on a curve. It also met at 9:00 in the morning! In fact, the less said about Physical Science 193 at Smith College, the better.
Back to the puzzle. Had big trouble in the SW where first I wanted URN and then MUG instead of HUG at 57D -- and also didn't know JOHN HUGHES or DON HO. Other than that, no real problems, but very slow for a Tuesday. Enjoyed the [relative] difficulty.
2
@Nancy Love the story about your dad! My folks pretty much left me to my own devices educationally. I loved the sciences and took both Chemistry and Physics in High School, and even took a college Chem class. Math, however, was an entirely different experience that I prefer not to talk about...
1
@Nancy, your comment made me laugh. I avoided all science and math courses if possible. At my college we could opt for Physical Geography where I learned such nifty stuff as the adiabatic lapse rate. I could calculate how the temperature would drop as I went up the hill on the ski lift. Heady stuff.
1
@Steve Faiella
Thanks for responding. I enjoyed your input. I was just the opposite -- did fine at Math and hated all Science.
Other than going with allege before ACCUSE overruled that miscue, I only had to endure a guess of the last letter of NGO and OMG insisted the big G was the only option...AMOCO whitegas was the fuel of choice for all my motorcycles. I traded in the thrill of the open air/road for the comfort of heated seats and neck rests...Hope DL’s back soon...”Classical Gas” is the front end of today’s twofer. Composed and performed by Mason Williams, he is joined by harpist Deborah Henson-Conant. The Alan Parsons Project’s “AMMONIA Avenue” wrap things up with the title track of their 80’s album...TA-TA.
https://youtu.be/0vXtywOlayc
https://youtu.be/NK-_2G7MMgc
1
Regarding the lament yesterday, continuing today, that great threads get destroyed by unwitting replies to the thread-starting comment, I repeat my band-aid suggestion:
Until NYT IT folk figure out how to have this comments system work properly, perhaps they could do a quick fix to the Reply buttons so they are good for only one use. Then commenters could *only* reply to the last visible post, and no reply would cause prior replies to vanish.
4
@Barry Ancona Enough with the whining about the comments already. There must be a better use for your time.
1
@Lorne Eckersley
Thanks to Barry’s efforts, most people have made the effort to do what is necessary to keep comments from disappearing.
So, no.
WITH CHEESE is especially apt as today is National Cheeseburger Day. Check your local restaurants for specials!
I never took chemistry but was still able to solve this puzzle, no problemo. I'd say that means Greg Johnson did a great job positioning his gas molecules.
"Hey, Doc, I've got a pain in my MALAR MOLAR!" Fun combo!
Thanks, Greg, for really raising a stink today! Well done.
3
@Johanna
N O might take the edge off the affected area, lol.
2
1
"I'd like a hamburger with cheese, please."
"Okay. Or you could order the thing beneath that ... a cheeseburger."
"Hmm. That does look good, but I'm kinda craving a hamburger with cheese."
I'm not saying the clue is wrong, but couldn't they have used something else that didn't have an actual, common name?
4
@ad absurdum
Well, to be fair there is a 'quarter-pounder with cheese.' Which in Paris would be a 'Royale with cheese,' at least according to Pulp Fiction.
3
I'm with AA on this one. Hamburger with cheese is definitely not kosher...
1
@Barry Ancona I see what you did there...
At the beginning, the north section was a sea of white, and I had to check the calendar to make sure that today was Tuesday. I also thought (along the way) that this puzzle was a little heavy on proper names and chemistry -- but it all came together quite smoothly with the crosses.
A good challenge, and not too tough.
1
Clever puzzle, but the chemistry was bad for me in the SW with a little too much weirdness: MALAR, JORDACHE, JOHNHUGHES, OHO, and ESTOP. Just didn't readily flow for a Tuesday.
7
Clever and original theme!
There was a time when my two daughters regarded JORDACHE jeans as one of life's absolute necessities.
1
@archaeoprof
The JORDACHE jeans were from the 80's, right? Aren't they really mom jeans now?
https://poshmark.com/browse/vintage-jordache-mom-jeans
3
Was it really that far back? So many things now seem so long ago...
3
Had MECHANICS before ORCHESTRA for those in a pit , but after that moved along smoothly .
As a former Chemistry major I loved this idea for a puzzle and actually used the themed gas structures to expedite the solve .
In general thought this Tuesday was a gas :)
2
Cathy P,
We just had PIT CREW in the puzzle, so it was time to move from motor sports to music.
@Barry Ancona
Barry,
I am sure it was because of PIT CREW that I thought of mechanics - not my forte at all !
Cathy P,
An inter-puzzle misdirection!
(And to a Tuesday, no less.)
UHoh. I remember JORDACHE jeans more than I remember chemistry. Chemistry?! Yeah, chemistry! {For you Guys & Dolls fans}. Lots of answers ending in O -- SHOO, NGO, AMOCO, ECONO, DONHO, GOGO, OHO, AHCHOO, and AERO. That's it.
2
@CS
Two jazz hands up for your Guys and Dolls reference. I say to myself fairly often “Daddy, I’ve got cider in my ear.” Best musical ever IMO.
Allege before ACCUSE was one of two problems. The other was having to guess NGO for the brief notation for CARE...AMOCO ‘whitegas’ was the only fuel I’d use during my motorcycle riding days...MOLAR trouble? Here, take a whiff of this N O & let’s
2
have a look...I am sure hoping to see DL back soon...Before we get to The Alan Parsons Project’s “AMMONIA Avenue,” Mason Williams duets with harpist Deborah Henson-Conant on his signature piece, “Classical Gas.”
https://youtu.be/0vXtywOlayc
https://youtu.be/NK-_2G7MMgc
TA-TA,
BRU
3
My five favorite clues from last week:
1. When repeated, gets specific, as an informer (5)
2. Pricey bar (5)
3. John of Cambridge (3)
4. Print source (8)
5. "Got milk?" (4)
NAMES
INGOT
LOO
FINGERTIP
MEOW
9
I would have liked more theme answers but kudos to the constructor for the graphical representation of the bonds that form the named gases. For this reason I would say the construction was quite solid.
6
...if formulaic.
4
Quite solid? Now that's cold.
@Guy Quay
Solid? I'd say gaseous.
One of those days. I completely bombed on the mini, managed to fail on a Tuesday puzzle and from a late comment yesterday it appears that Deadline is off the grid for a while. Has to get better from here, right?
Anyway, struggled in a few places but my failure was in the SW. I completely blanked on DONHO (still shaking my head over that), didn't know JOHNHUGHES and found a fair amount of ambiguity in the other short answers down there. I think JUG and HUG would have done it, but I was sort of circling the field - just trying to consider too many clues at once.
pjbraxton beat me to it, but I thought that there was a perfect reveal for this theme in line from a Rolling Stones song.
ITSAGASGASGAS.
3
Ditto, Rich. SW killed me (JAR instead of JUG) and then once I got it unlocked, it didn’t ding. I spent 15 minutes to figure out that it was SCOTSMEN and EMCEE and not SCOTSMAN/AMCEE. Such is life.
1
This is a good puzzle to show to someone just getting into crosswords, with five oft-used initialisms all solvers should know: NGO, ETO, OMG, EMT, OTC.
Trickiest clue/answer for me were those for MOODY (Hi, @CrystalA!). There was also a mini-theme of double-E's (5).
Happy to be back! But what a glorious week-and-a-half away for my son's Maine wedding, where he got hitched without a hitch, with tears and warm hearts all around.
9
And not a bad week-and-a-half to have not been in North Carolina. I trust you found everything at home more or less in order when you returned?
1
@Barry Ancona
Thank you for your concern! Asheville escaped with just some no-more-than-normal rain; my heart goes out to those who were hit hard...
1
@Lewis
I was worried; though you guys might have mudslides and houses floating downstream.
Glad to be wrong, and willkommen back!
Question for the editor:
Why can't 63 Across be uhOh and 59 down be hOg? Rather than uhuh and hug? In other words 2 alternative solutions?
@PDP
They could be, but not with the clues given.
UHUH means "no", as in "No way, Jose."
UHOH means "trouble ahead." The two are not synonyms.
HUG means "clasp." HOG means a large pig, or wanting everything to yourself. The two are definitely not synonyms.
2
@Steve L
I just caught up with yesterday's comments so want to thank you, Steve, for the link to the speed solving thread which was fun to read.
@suejean
You're welcome, but I'm sure that the entire thread was no longer there. I sent the link when there were 10 replies on it; when I opened it later, there were only 9, with my long one missing. Someone else said that originally, there were 12 replies, so two other good long contributions disappeared.
I got off to a slow start for a Tuesday, but when I had the OCO in 36A my mind immediately went to CARBON DIOXIDE, and entering that in the almost completely empty 38A was really satisfying. What a great theme. I also like clues like the one for SOFIA, and like Deb learned the correct pronunciation today.
I did have one look up, the director at 57A, John Huston just wasn't working, didn't know the film or the director. Other than that, smooth sailing, loved it.
2
@suejean
On first reading of your comment, I thought that you meant that you liked (the fact that) Deb learned the correct pronunciation today.
Being somewhat taken aback, I re-read it and realize that you, like Deb, learned the correct pronunciation today. Powerful things, those little commas!
2
@Andrew
I usually put in too many commas.
1
@suejean
I guess that makes you a comma chameleon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwjH16gGAuE
CO2 is odorless, (and CO is, too).... so much for the jokes. Now I wonder what natural gas is, symbolwise; an odorant is added to it in order to alert us to leaks. (Happened to us recently...). Not a joking matter in the Boston area.
It's not that I am being crabby, but I want to go back to sleep and can't.....sobering thoughts in the wee hours.
44/163 on Wee Bee. Argh (lacks the required O)
2
@Mean Old Lady
Mean old ladies are supposed to be crabby
3
@Mean Old Lady
The additive is isopropyl mercaptan, which would look like this:
H
H S H
H C C C H
H H H
I can see HIGHSCHOOL running down the middle but the rest is a mess.
In re WEE BEE, QB=49 words/187 points. There are least 4 further common WORTs that would fit (including HOGWORT, which Rowling deliberately misspelled) but are rejected. 1 is allowed. We have the collection of odd exclamations that we had a few weeks ago plus a new one (3 in W); that slangy contraction; one ETON rival – that inspires a link to The JAM playing live in 1979:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG0L86DRuC8
The rest is kosher/seen before; 1 pangram.
6xA; 9xG; 6xH; 2xO; 6xR; 13xT; 7xW.
9
@NICE CUPPA
This should give an indication of how the atoms of isopropyl mecaptan are bonded: (The numeral 3 should be a subscript):
(H3C)
\
(H3C)-–C—S –H
/
(H3C)
It may look different but the smell is the same.
The BEE
49/187 1 Pangram Bingo
A 6
G 9
H 6
O 2
R 6
T 13
W 7
4 21
5 15
6 9
7 3
8 0
9 1
This format may be a bit expansive, but copy/paste from my spreadsheet is safer wrt typos. If I have a bit of time I'll add the lengths within initial letter count things.
I'm getting ready for about a month of travel so no promises on quick enhancements.
3
@Martin. The Bee got stuck in my bonnet this morning. Break out the antihistamines. After a smooth and methodical passing of Genius, I swatted at her futilely when she rejected toothwort, groat and throatwort. Yet she takes a proper noun. In the end, I realize I’ve missed an easy variant of a word I had already. My shoulder ached as I swatted that finicky pest flat. I yelled several of the annoying onomatopoeic words accepted in delight.
2
@Liane I just checked--she accepted groat from me, although showed a limited knowledge of Shakespeare by denying wroth and trow. Capricious, I'd say, but then, today's retrospective does not include a word it accepted from me, yesterday. I'm going to have to go back to taking screen shots.
@Liane
Is the "proper noun" you're referring to a style of attire for a sullen teenager, which previously was only a proper noun?
Can’t get the visual of Deb duck taped out of mind....too funny. Enjoyed the MOLAR/MALAR cross as well as the TATA and the UHUH/GOGO stack in the SW corner. Been a while since I had to take care of an OWIE and the rest of the puzzle, well, basically just stinks ;-)
and Elke
What a gas of a puzzle.
Had to get IMAC and IPADS and MOLAR and MALAR positioned in their proper locations.
Can't get over seeing the hamburger WITH CHEESE crossed by an AHCHOO ...
METHANE itself is an odourless gas. For safety reasons- an odorant ( a sulfur compound ) is added.
I'll (E)STOP gassing now.
TA TA
4
Well, that was a stinker of a puzzle! Umm, I mean that in a good way?
5
@Mary
Hey, that's actually pretty good!
@Mary
Except for CO2 ...
@Mary
and CH4.
Farewell at long last to Not-In-Any-Hurry-Cane Florence!
Personally, I was not much impacted by the storm. No wind damage. No flooding...well, almost none (SEE BELOW*). Never lost power. My person is intact. My domicile is intact. My spirits are stressed but basically intact. My streak is intact. (Priorities, after all!)
But oh, the rest of the state! What a miserable mess! You've seen the news reports. I can't add anything to that.
*About that bit of flooding...After a weekend of modest but persistent rainfall, I thought we Durhamites were sneaking past it without any truly severe weather. But this morning (Monday), the last little trailing bands of storm cells slid through, bringing about fifteen minutes (?) of as heavy a downpour as I've ever seen. The front yard below my apartment slopes downward pretty steadily for about twenty feet, bottoming out at a tiny stream over which my landlady has built a couple of wooden footbridges. The land around the stream is shaped into something of a basin, and now I know why. As the downpour ended, I noticed that water had risen nearly to the waist-high handrails of one of the bridges. The basin area was pretty much full of water. I thought about calling my landlady to let her know, but by the time I decided to do so, about ten minutes had passed and I looked again. The stream had settled very nicely back into its banks, and the bridge was entirely out of the water. Drainage job well done here! (Flooding was worse elsewhere in town.)
9
@Alan J
and Elke
Alan- thanks for that report of your observations of how well-designed drainage basins can work.
Let's hope the worst is over now.
Feel like playing some of Handel's Water Music ?
4
"Easily changing emotions" - seems to correspond more to "moods" than "moody." Or am I missing something?
2
@Crystal A
Depends on how you use the words. A person who is "easily changing emotions" is moody.
1
@Crystal A
I believe the full wording would be that someone who has easily changing emotions is someone who is moody. That was my understanding, at least.
3
@Steve L ahh got it... when you put it that way it makes sense thanks!
I'm no chemistry wiz by any means but these gases weren't too intimidating. I work in the field of landfill gas so CH4 came easily.
Twas clever that the hamburger clue crossed the beef.
OHO, do I remember JORDACHE jeans. They were quite the required apparel for teenage girls back when.
Thanks for the memories and a fun Tuesday.
2
I have no idea what MALAR is. I submitted CABER in that spot. Thanks for solving.
1
Nice theme.
OMG! It was a gas -- Not! I finished puzzle okay, but I said TATA to high-school chemistry symbols eons ago!
1
Fun, fast Tuesday and I like how the circled letters represented not only the atoms that make up the molecules but also how the same that you would draw them.
TIL the word MALAR. Never heard of JORDACHE, but it came through in the crossings. Another peril of international solving.
3
Like it a lot that puzzle comes out at noon in your fair city. Seems much more civil than the 10 PM on the east coast of the US.
1
@Sarah N, I believe it's MOLAR...
2
Argh, just realized there's MOLAR and MALAR... Now that's a mouthful ;)
Two minutes under my average, but an enjoyable Tuesday puzzle. Had CHOP and then HEWN before SAWN. I liked it. Never would have gotten any help from the circled letters.
You're missing an H on METHANE. Traditionally written CH4 (and NH3 for AMMONIA).
Jumpin' Jack Flash, it's a....
1
@pjbraxton Thanks, I've fixed it in the column.
The hardest part about orienting yourself in Manhattan is when you get out of the subway and have to figure out which way you're facing. On a sunny day, the position of the sun is your best indicator.
But Manhattan is tilted about 20 degrees so that avenues run southwest to northeast. Luckily, the Earth's axis does much the same thing.
What? The puzzle?
Chemistry. More boring than fishing.
4
@Steve L
And on a cloudy day you look for which side of a building the moss is on? :-)
@Dr W
In Manhattan, more likely, it's grime, not moss.