A munchkin is not an elf...
Inside Out grossed more than Minions per box office mojo.
For some reason my brain was stuck in the northeast. As I’ve said here before, my family and I are Cub fans. The clue of card letters stumped me... it was a real Duh moment when I realized it was Cardinals and STL was the obvious answer. Also, I had ebon rather than COAL for awhile, keeping the northeast unnecessarily skewed.
My own foibles aside, I thought this was a very clever puzzle. The cluing for TORTS and IDEAS, along with CONDO and AHAB and much of the other fill really was fresh.
Very cool puzzle. Thank you.
:-D
1
Question to Barry:
Are we still supposed to "Reply" only to the latest entry in a thread, or can we now go directly to the comment we're responding to?
I haven't seen complete evidence that stuff is still disappearing, but I'm not sure. Insights?
I'm still trying very hard to get this new computer set up to my liking -- and trying to reconstruct my contacts, bookmarks, and games, all of which are very tedious and time-consuming tasks -- so I'm taking shortcuts such as asking you directly rather than investigating myself.
Thanks.
1
Deadline,
Yes! Please click the reply button on the last visible reply on a thread (and adjust/replace the @ as needed). That way, your reply will not cause other replies to vanish, and your comment will appear in chronological order in the thread. Thanks!
1
@Barry Ancona
Oh, all right.
That's what I have been doing, but I was so hoping that I could cut it out.
Lemme know if and when I can just behave normally.
Thanks.
I hope that I shall never again see a clue as lame as the one today for MISERY: "Word that sounds like a state when accented on the second syllable rather than the first").
@polymath
I'm not sure why you find it so lame. If one takes the word MISERY, and with the same phonetics puts the accent on the second syllable, it does sound rather like the state. I rather liked it.
1
@Andrew
I liked it too! Kinda clever!
Well, @polym, colour me disappointed. MISERY (as clued) was one of my favourites.
I'm new to the NYT crossword, and am pleasantly surprised by the "culture" behind it! Very fun.
This puzzle was so clever -- I loved the visual cues, have never seen that in a crossword before. The question marked clues were especially cute; "Senate coverage" and "Service Games" were my favorite. I'm not sure about the "Moolah" clue...and some others I had to look at the comments to get context about. Otherwise I really enjoyed this.
4
Late to the party. I did this one this morning, but didn't have time to comment. Thought it was quite clever. Was kind of glad I did this in Across Lite, as I suspect I would have had trouble deciphering things from the grid art (not great at that). The AL hints were a bit more direct than just the visuals.
Didn't take all that long to get the general idea of what was going on and the theme answers mostly came with relatively few crosses.
In the end I was stuck for a while in the NW, because of a dumb typo. With BYEAR and some other crosses filled in, I somehow managed to type in FILLINTHEBBLANK, and it took me along time and much befuddlement before I finally noticed that error. SCIFI was never going to occur to me on its own either and I'm still a little dubious about that.
Looking at clue histories led me to an interesting puzzle. June 24, 1996. If you haven't done it, I'd encourage you to go give it a try. It was a Monday, so not terribly difficult - I just thought it was a quite original idea.
@Rich in Atlanta
Thanks for the heads up on a fun puzzle. Enjoyed the 1996 clues and the idea.
2
@Rich
How's Avatar?
I hope you both are well.
@Deadline Her appetite is declining, even with a daily appetite stimulant and a variety of foods (not just dog food). Took her to the vet today and he pretty much confirmed what we already suspected. It's just a matter of how long we want to wait and our judgment about her level of discomfort.
We're going to try to get her into next week at least unless she takes a significant turn for the worse. I really want to take her out to the island at Stone Mountain Park one last time; it was always her favorite place. She may not be able to walk very far or anything, but I'm hoping she may enjoy it at least a bit.
I was a little put off at first, when I read the Across Lite Notepad and looked at the PDF, but in fact the gimmick worked. The result was a puzzle that went quite quickly.
I didn't see the answers to the first couple of themers immediately, so I just proceeded down the puzzle until INSIDE THE BOX made it all clear. Very easy from then.
Overall, I pretty much agree with Daniel's remarks over at xwordinfo. In this case, making playing with the grid worked admirably. I question, however, how much can really be done and how well. I think it's a ploy that may be very quickly exhausted.
But no matter; it worked here.
For the rest of the puzzle, I very much enjoyed the clues. Is it my imagination, or clues of late becoming cleverer?
Add me to the list of those not understand NEO-Latin or what "Service Games" are.
The Senators (dressed in normal business attire) are about to come back from a break, so I'm back to the TV.
I am unable to print the entire puzzle, as the print version cuts out the left had margin, and part of the text.
@Nancy
If you are a NYT subscriber, go to
https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords
and invoke "The Crossword" by clicking there. You should get a .pdf of the puzzle downloaded. Printing it should then be easy.
Nancy - make sure, when printing .pdf files, to check either the "Fit to Margins" box or the box that lets you enter a percentage number for reduction or expansion of the image. If you save a .pdf, make to either check "for any printer" or "fit to margins." One way or the other will ensure that the .pdf is created without losing information.
(It just took me four tries to log into the account I have here even though there's no reason I wasn't logged in already. Yay, NYT tech, still up to your traditional standard.)
@David Connell
I got logged out today for no good reason also.
And here I thought my new computer might fix all that.
I loved the cluing in this puzzle. Just great.
I was also feeling great about setting a Thursday time record, with no lookups, until I saw everyone talking about how historically easy it was. Oh well; I’ll take it.
1
Could someone explain DEAR LAMBCHOP? A quick Google search didn't turn up anything obvious.
@Bob
Both terms of endearment?
4
In the old days, Rachel Maddow used to call Chris Hayes "Lambchop." You could tell from his tight smile that he did not like it at all, and some time before he got his show she abruptly stopped.
I still call him Lambchop.
@Martin
I never noticed that he seemed to object, but I guess he might get a little tired of his overall boyish cuteness being commented on.
And let's not forget Shari Lewis's sweet little friend!
I love the cluing of MISERY :) As a long-time resident of Missouri, I can confirm that we often refer to our state as MISERY!! I also really liked the clever cluing of IDEAS and AHAB.
4
@Kim - I'm glad you spoke up - my grandmother always call her native state "Misery" and I was beginning to think it was something unique to her.
She also famously returned north from Florida four years after retiring there, muttering, "If _one_ more lizard dropped out of a tree onto my car..."
1
Cute puzzle and I managed to get the non-clued answers. But zombies are definitely not SCI-FI.
5
Can anyone explain STL to me? As far as I know, it either stands for the St. Louis Cardinals or the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Thanks!
St. Louis Cardinals - "Card" is short for Cardinals
4
Looked at this last night. Thought better wait till morning. Thoroughly enjoyed and record Friday time. My learning styles are reading and visual, and this puzzle fit the bill.
More from Kantor. Please!
@Linda Grant, sorry to burst your bubble, but it's only a Thursday.
1
Very straightforward crossword. Some fun, but a less-than-challenging theme helped by easy-peasy perps for a Thursday. Also enjoyed the dearth of showbiz/sports clues.
On another note, I always thought that REAL Missourian pronounced their state "Muzoora", and that only outlanders or new arrivals said "Mizoory".
As to the theme, many of my "grays" came out as shades of blue – not nearly as erotic. And the 4th theme element surely could have had been indicated by vertical guidelines at the beginning and end of the clue, rather than another box, which made it seem like a repeat of the 3rd theme.
The "bean" clues are becoming has-beens in my mind. I thought cluing the slang MOOLAH for another even more obscure/dated term for cash was a bit off, but the perps nailed it (as they did with 60 Down). I thought one function of a bouncer was to spot fake IDs. And I had never heard "Scripts" as an abbreviation of Prescriptions.
1
@NICE CUPPA
To a physician, it's always a SCRIPT
3
@NICE CUPPA
Missourians say both "Muzoora" and "Mizoory." It's a regional difference - "Muzoora" is more common in the western part of the state and "Mizoory" in the east.
I've always heard the short form as "scrips." Maybe I know peopple who don't enunciate properly.
Also (as I said to Barry in an earlier reply), the clue refers to changing the stress in the second, not third syllable of MISERY.
I liked this puzzle, with its built-in graphical clues, very much. I got around to it later than usual, having been delayed by an enjoyable meeting with Viv: lunch cum Scrabble. (She won).
There is not much to add to what has already been posted, except that I agree with MOL that zombies are not SCI FI and, as for 67A, I would like to remind HALinNY that today is Thursday.
1
@Amitai Halevi
and Elke
Amitai- which Scrabble- English or Hebrew ? :))
1
@Robert
English, as I suspect you are aware.
If it were Hebrew Scrabble, I would have written Shabetz Na, which exists but has never caught on.
@Amitai Halevi
Just got home, did the puzzle, and endorse Amitai's adjective for our meeting.
I won by just a little, and he had a lead part of the time.
Today's puzzle, which I just solved after coming home from Nahariya, was quite easy. I followed the advice of the note and did not use Across Lite but the Times version and it went very quickly.
I haven't read the rest of the comments yet, so I may be back.
Further comment:
If you are using a HOE to 'Break ground,' you are in serious need of a basic gardening tutorial. I think I've said this before. Sheesh.
If you have ever sailed across an ocean (and I have--Atlantic twice, Pacific once,) you will learn that you need your SEA LEGS, and it does not necessarily have to do with mal de mer. On the heaving deck, one quickly adopts a 'rolling' gait in order to keep from staggering and/or falling. (Then, when you're back on dry land, you find yourself anticipating a roll that doesn't come. Funny feeling!).
@Mean Old Lady this is so right, the hoe is not practical at all for breaking ground, it is much much too delicate an implement. It is designed for weeding and the lightest movement of already broken and harrowed earth. That is not to say a hoe is not diabolical. My hands have suffered more from weeding than from other more physical gardening.
@mike
But don't you have to break up the little clods of earth while you're weeding?
I know I've seen people doing something like that with a hoe. (I've never had one in my hands.)
@Deadline breaking ground is a very specific term usually replying to the first effort to prepare land for planting, and involves using a plow to break the earth, or a roto-tiller in small garden plot. I have broken ground with a spade, but only the most minimal of spaces for three tomato plants when i moved into a small lot. Chopping weeds may involve breaking up a clod, but that is getting dirt off roots. I mean i took the ignorance of gardening into effect, in the cleverness of puzzle building. Sadly my English teacher wife learned the hard way that modern teens find the the phoneme "ho" hilarious no matter the usage.
Very nicely done. I thought for a moment the grid had an asymmetry but it doesn't -- the four special across lines are properly placed.
Also one of the easiest Thursdays ever.
And the puz has provided me with the right word at 67A: in the object of my disaffection at 9A the fill there is inappropriate. Horror yes, 9A no.
2
I love Thursday puzzles! There is usually a distinct pattern for me on a Thursday grid. When I begin solving, there is trepidation - will I be able to figure out the trick? Will my streak die? Then I dive in and fill in as much as possible, hoping that the trick reveals itself to me and I can finish the puzzle. Today, I clicked the "I'm ready" box (I solved on the web site), and when I saw the dashes, the grey squares, the grey boxes and lines, my first thought was "OMG, this is looking like it's going to be crazy!". I started filling in answers, and at some point I realized that the only trick was visual, and there were no other Hijinx. That doesn't mean that I did not enjoy the puzzle - I did! I just usually like my tricks a little trickier. TIL that the video game console SEGA was actually an acronym. Interesting, although what is a "Service Game"? A training sim used in the Military perhaps? I also didn't know that KALE was a euphemism for Money... Next time someone asks me if I would like some, I'll be sure to say Yes...Loved the clue for HABIT. Fun romp through the grid and finished in half my average time. Thank you Daniel Kantor!
4
@Steve Faiella
Hand up for not getting what a "service game" is.
I went to print my crossword but discovered that the newspaper version had been uploaded in place of the usual print version. I'm not ready for the answers to yesterday's puzzle yet!
A quick and enjoyable Thursday puzzle, with clever clueing and an original concept. I agree with others on the true domain of zombies, and am also puzzled by NEO-Latin, which I will now google.
You really don’t care about your e-solvers, do you?
@The Real Dr. Foo - I'm not sure what you mean by this--are you using AcrossLite? I solved the puzzle on the NY Times website, and I thought the tech team did an excellent job of displaying the unique thematic clues.
10
I have begun to start looking forward to Thursday puzzles before my feet hit the floor. This puzzle very much a reason why.
I had:
SITU for "place" (lieU)
STET for "[Just Like That]" (Snap)
CARDS for "Things suits are made of?" (toRtS)
Very fun!
2
Great puzzle! But one ISSUE I'd like to CARP on. Kept trying to put HAITI in LIEU of SCIFI (and PAGES instead of TOGAS). Zombies as SCIFI? Zombies are HORROR!
3
@A
Zombies are SCI-FI too if zombism is caused by a virus.
@Bill Shunn
That's a big "if".
1
@A Er, Zombie movies are HORROR-BLE
What happened to the constructor's notes? They're usually here at the end of the post. I see them at xwordinfo so it's confusing that it's not here.
Agree that this is a Monday or Tuesday-level puzzle. When your unclued phrases are as slam-dunk as FILL IN THE BLANKS; SHADES OF GRAY; INSIDE THE BOX and BETWEEN THE LINES, how much puzzlement can there possibly be? On the other hand, many clues are great: SCIFI; MISERY; TORTS; ACHES; and, best of all, SEALEGS. None but the last presented me with an actual challenge, though -- guess I've been doing crosswords for much too long. This leaves me with plenty of time on my hands -- and I have a Senate hearing to watch. So the ease of the puzzle may be a blessing in disguise.
2
Needed to start solving somehow. Missouri ended my misery. Favorite aha moment after that was getting SCIFI.
So, SEE NOTEPAD sent me to the print option for the PDF. Waaaay too tiny, so I used it as a guide to use the A-Lite printout. INSIDE THE BOX came first, after which the others fell quickly. 9D was my favorite groaner. The rest was actually easy.
LOVED it, in other words.
Now to try and find my way back to yesterday's Comments.
Wee Bee: 254 pts/ 54 words. GOOD GRIEF!
2
@Mean Old Lady
Oh geez! I'm that close to finishing? I pushed myself to reach Genius. I'm sitting at 240 pts/52 words, I was about to let myself give up. But with only two words and 14 points left...
@Mean Old Lady
Oh, unless you're not finished yet.
@Bill Shunn @Mean Old Lady
I'm at 58 words / 263 points and I'm not at Queen Bee yet.
My own laziness made me miss the great visuals today.
I printed out the puzzle and retreated to my cozy solving spot with a hot mug of coffee and got all settled in when I read SEE NOTEPAD. I decided to proceed without doing so. The solve was surprisingly easy. I got BETWEEN THE LINES first and finished with FILL IN THE BLANKS. I liked the phrases by themselves but didn't get the whole picture until I finally when back to see the grid as I was supposed to see it.
Moral of post: get up and SEE NOTEPAD!
Thank you, Daniel Kantor, I so appreciate new approaches to creating grids and yours was a doozy!
Loved it! Except for the servings of TOFU and KALE in the NW.
1
archaeoprof,
What's the ISSUE? You can just get them from the crosses and dig into the MEAT. Or have the CARP.
2
@archaeoprof
tofu, kale, sesame oil and soy sauce make a great salad .... chop first.
My favorite kale recipe used to be "place kale in garbage compactor," but I've started using it in saag paneer. One quarter kale and three quarters spinach, plus a small handful of fenugreek leaves, makes a really nice saag mix.
The magician in the picture is Robert Harbin. There was no magician named Jean Harbin. If you compare to pictures of Robert Harbin you will find that it is indeed him.
ex : https://www.gettyimages.ae/photos/robert-harbin
Getty picture seems to have the caption wrong on this one.
1
I should have seen that — I’m sure in retrospect that it’s a duplication of the girl’s name. Thank you — will fix.
My somber mood was brought about by the difficulty i had choosing an illustration today, as sometimes happens! I had coal miners for a minute, kale and tofu... lucky to stumble on mid air magic before I resorted to fake ids...
@Caitlin
You've just given me a headslap --It never occurred to me to identify who picks those pictures. But of course!!
Delightful puzzle although I didn't feel that way at the beginning. Silent groan when I saw there were no clues for the theme entries. With few answers filled in, my first break came with SHADES OF GRAY, though I initially entered an LS in the first square (for 50). My first stab at 17A was RUSH TO THE BOTTOM but that obviously didn't work.
It was the upper right corner that stymied me. I couldn't think of any domain for zombie except, perhaps, Haiti. For 9d, I thought of a business card. I tried TEL, then URL, and it was Caitlin's reveal of STL and TOGAS that allowed me to fill in the rest.
2
What ho! A pleasant Thursday.
Tot for ELF on the first pass was my only misstep. Always thought of Zombies as falling within the horror genre but I suppose they TEETER on the edge.
Daniel thanks for a rebus/trick free Thursday.
2
Smile producing puzzle for me, overall. Just looking at the grid made me smile. And as I solved, lots of clues made me smile: TORTS, IDEAS, ACHES, HABIT, AHAB, SEA LEGS.
We expect out-of-the-box INSIDE THE BOX on Thursday, but even on top of that, this puzzle felt fresh, and it's hard to deliver fresh after a century of crosswords. Props for that , Daniel, and thank you for a fun and zippy solve!
6
Fun puzzle. And nice change of pace.
1
An okay Thursday. Too bad SHADES OF GRAY wasn't at 50.
4
@CS
Well, you have a good argument for 15.
So fun ! Thankful we had TOGAS covering the Senate recently , and chuckled when NRA crossed ARMED. Very clever - keep 'em coming
1
Really enjoyed this one - well thought out, clever, humorous, even difficulty level in the clues throughout, good "flow" to it, and fun.
1
Still tripping on having to FILL in the blanks IN THE BLANKS. Way in and far out!
1
FYI. No clue given for #38 down
@Stephan Skettini
FYI. No 38 down.
2
In Stephan's solving format, the 33A box with the Y must have been a very, very dark shade of gray.
I enjoyed it, a fast Thurs for me to start (got FILL IN THE BLANKS almost straight away, so the themes came easily). Got stumped on others though! What does STL mean? No lookups, which is a real achievement for me.
4
@Sarah N
St Louis....as in the baseball's St Louis CARDinals...
1
@BK
Also the airport.
True, Dr W, but I've always called the airport "Lambert," not "Card" (the clue).
(TWA hub)
I'm surprised no one has mentioned this, but in the NYT Puzzle app on my iPhone (a 4S. and, yes, I need to upgrade my phone) there were no visible clues to the 4 theme answers (it's possible that's what HALinNY was referring to). Viewing the puzzle in Chrome on my PC, the underlines, gray-shaded boxes and gray outlines around the other two clues appear appropriately. As it was, my heart sank when all I saw were 4 empty clues thinking this was going to be a hard Thursday slog, but luckily the down clues were easy enough to eventually solve the puzzle (under my admittedly poor average, actually).
As a retired programmer I understand the challenge of presenting this type of puzzle across all the potential platforms, but given that, there should have been some sort of "explanation" as a clue instead of the complete nothing that appeared in the app.
As an aside, this is my first comment (except for a couple of replies). After lurking about on the comments page for several months I've gotten to "know" many of the regular posters - it's quite a varied and, dare I say, entertaining group! I look forward every day to a new puzzle challenge, followed by the post-game recap of Wordplay and comments. :)
7
LWK
Welcome! My iPhone 6 had no problem handling the unusual grid details. I suppose it must be a function of your old generation phone, or perhaps the app needs updating.
As you get to know posters here, you will learn that just about everything HALinNY writes is with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Although if you want to join his class-action lawsuit, go for it!
Hope to hear more from you!
1
@Andrew
"...old generation..." is being kind - it's ANCIENT!!! The wifi stopped working a while back, the battery runs down in just a couple of hours, it's not supported by newer apps and it's started heating up every now and then. But I'm a stubborn old cuss and I hate tossing it and spending $$$ on a new one so I limp along. The heating up does cause me some concern, though, so I may have no choice but to bite the bullet and replace it. :(
Get an Android. Worked fine for me! Apple has to be the most overrated company in history.
1
Full disclosure: I hate kale. My husband loves it. Apart from that we are twin flames. I do like tofu and tempeh though (tempeh chopped into tiny squares and baked at 375 for 55 minutes--spray oil below and above and add any spice before baking--is a yummy crunchy meat-free addition to salads (even maybe kale salad).
Fun easy puzzle for a Thursday.
And the Bee! Such riches! The addition of a "Y" in the seven letters made all the familiar A-C-I-L words way more fun. Will hover happily at Genius (51/241) till someone tells me what I'm missing.
2
@audreylm
Re wee bee, I’m at 52/248 and I have only one word with the sequence ACIL. Are you suggesting there are lots of such words?
I am mystified that twice Amazing no longer equals QB. I'm Genius plus (as ever) at 254 and 54 words. ARGH!
@David Meyers No, not the sequence. We've had those four letters together so many times that it feels like deja vu; the addition of the Y today made it a lot more creatively interesting. For moi, anyway :)
Nice day for the "Coverage of the Senate" clue.
6
@Lewis
Yeah. The mental picture of certain lawmakers in TOGAS is hard to resist.
1
@Lewis
Except all the OWGs were clueless!
I always do the puzzles in Across Lite, but when I read the note decided to try the NYT version, so the grid appeared properly. I caught on with the SHADES OF GRAY "clue", but that did take a while. From then on I needed much fewer letters to get the theme answers. Like others I enjoyed the various misdirectional clues like TOGAS and my favorite as well, STARBUCKS.
I can't seem to get back easily to the puzzle when reading Caitlin's column or the comments, and I also have trouble getting the whole puzzle and "keys" on my iPad screen, so will continue to use Across Lite in all but extreme cases. It was worth it today for the clever construction.
2
QB help!!!
Going crosseyed, can't do anymore tonight. Totally flummoxed at 63 words for 295 (genius is 232) points. Any help would be appreciated.
1 pangram
A - 5
C - 11
F -19
I - 6
L -12
T - 10
Y - 0
2
@BarbJ
I've gotten this far, if it helps - still no QB...
316/65 words
A - 7
C - 13
F - 19
I - 5
L - 11
T - 10
Y - 0
@Lorene Lavora
I have a different 65 words, for 322.
I'm missing an A and an T, but you should find another C (including a 13 letter word) and another I
@Phil P
Aargh. I got both of those, and I'm still short.
67 words for 330
Clueing excellent in this one. Is STL referring to the Cardinals?
@Austin
Yup....
@BK
Took me forever to figure that one out.
1
Lots of fun. It seemed light-hearted and different. Enjoyed the theme and the clueing. My favorite was Bean sprouts? = IDEAS.
4
Delightful from start to finish!
2
Those of you who know me know that I always try to be reasonable and fair. True, some times I fail but I am always trying, very trying.
Anyhow, today, the NYT has reached, IMHO, a new low. Those of us who pay for the privilege of seeing and solving the puzzle and, I might add (well actually I am adding) write comments here to increase readership. As opposed to those who have other types of subscriptions and get the puzzle regardless. Those of us who pay, pay for a complete puzzle with the appropriate number of clues necessary to complete the puzzle in a reasonable amount of time.
Today many of those clues are missing and we are being short-changed and dare I say, cheated, yes cheated, yes I did say cheated. My attorneys are being copied herewith with this message and have been instructed to follow-up with NYT customer service to arrange for appropriate remuneraion to those of us on the "short end of the stick." (Not really sure what that means and I hope it's not what I think it means.)
If you agree and would like to become part of a class action intent on recovering great sums of money for the attorneys and a few measly cents for the rest of us, put your name here on this list.
Protect what is rightfully yours, my friends!
11
@HALinNY I'm in!!! Sue the bums!! Or at least demand a two cent refund (.05 cents per missing letter clue, the rest for pain and suffering) since we've all been spending our two cents so recklessly.
1
@HALinNY
Excellent idea! But why limit ourselves to today's puzzle? Think of all the times that there have been required letters outside the grid, with no boxes printed. Or the cost-saving measures taken by forcing us to put multiple letters into one box. I agree that we are being cheated.
Now that we have access to the archives, one of us, (perhaps you, HAL?), could count up all the letters and boxes over the last twenty years or so, and compute the difference in numbers. Maybe check the clues too, as I think that there are many other puzzles that have had less than complete clues. We need to develop a system whereby we can determine the quantitative amount that we have been short changed. I daresay that this discrepancy may make us all quite rich!
I would also like to add, Hal, that your comments here do increase readership, at least my own personal readership. Thank you!
1
@Andrew .. I appreciate your extrapolative intent and I agree with you wholeheartedly. Butchano, I am a "big picture" guy. Counting all those squares and clues and such is a lot of work and many of them were free and there is still a slew of them that are unpublished here. It is much better to argue that we have a representative portion available and can calculate to total worth based on the sample. It's the way things are done in the 21st century.
Very cryptic clues in this Thursday puzzle. Enjoyable!
2
Very fun! So very clever! And it filled itself in, it was so simple and clear. But enjoyable!
3
Caitlin - Why would a reference to the NRA make you feel somber? The National Rifle Association is America's longest-standing civil rights organization, defender of patriots and diligent protector of the Second Amendment.
8
@Randall Clark Umm, no.
38
Randall,
Whether or not one considers the NRA a "civil rights" organization, the NRA website belies your timing assertion. It was founded in 1871 by former Civil War officers dismayed by the poor marksmanship of their troops. The Legislative Affairs division, to respond to "threats to the Second Amendment," was created in 1934, and direct lobbying did not start until 1975.
1
@Barry Ancona
Not to mention that it is a shill for firearms manufacturers who successfully lobbied their SCOTUS puppets to expand the 2nd Amendment to include personal rights - Scalia burns in Heller, a landmark decision that changed the landscape of gun control. Anyone who reads knows the NRA for what it really is. Not to try to being the real world into the puzzle column, but he started it. Kapow, over and out.
Caitlin,
"If you’re electronic and this mystifies, take a look at the puzzle notes, which will explain each of the visual cues in the grid."
Puzzle notes? Where?
2
I was under the impression that not every platform could show the details of the grid and that some people would have an explainer, which happens sometimes. I’m happy to be wrong though in a case like this!
@Caitlin
Usually when there are extra visual clues to a puzzle notes are given in the same app screen as the link to the blog & which shows the Sunday puzzle’s title, but today’ crossword didn’t have any. The notes can range from a general warning that there are visual clues in the print version that may not show up in the app to detailed descriptions of what exactly is missing. I use the app on my iPhone & didn’t get the visual clues today. I assumed that it was because I haven’t updated the app to the most recent version, although, I do usually see any shaded squares in the app (not today).
@Ron
In Across Lite there is a Notepad that reads:
Notepad: The print version of this puzzle contains visual elements that this software cannot reproduce. We recommend using the PDF, or alternatively one of the other available electronic versions.
For solving in this software, here are descriptions of what appears in the print version:
At 17-Across, each square in the answer has a thick underscore at the bottom.
At 33-Across, the squares in the answer have all been darkened to various degrees.
At 42-Across, the entire answer is surrounded by a thick bar on all four sides.
At 62-Across, there are thick bars running across the entire top and bottom of the answer.
Posting way earlier than usual. My wife and I are traveling to a cute little nearby town to celebrate our anniversary tomorrow. (Don't think my wife would approve of me doing a puzzle then!)
Started out *very* slowly (at the top) because of exceptionally tricky or obtuse clues (Gotta disagree, Caitlin!), in particular, those for ACHES, STL, SCIFI, LIEU, TIE, and ARMED. It took getting the top themer before the top came together.
Thereafter, I got on a roll, getting the remaining themers fairly quickly and the rest forthwith. (Thanks, Ali, for MYSELF!)
SOLI?
Can't say I enjoyed this one very much, although 'twas a relief compared to last Thursday!
2
@Ron
Wishing you and your wife a happy anniversary! Have fun on your getaway.
3
@Ron
Soli is the plural of solo (this, from a youth partially spent working tech with Tri-Cities Opera).
Happy anniversary!
@Ron
Happy birthday to you and your wife.
and Elke
Liked the novelty of this puzzle- had to think outSIDE THE BOX to 'get it'. The slightly thicker lines for 42A and 62A were difficult to be SEEN.
This not a CARP- just an observation.
Sneaky how ASS and ASSIGNS are linked (will this publish ?).
And if one does not have SEALEGS , one TEETERS and one may have a face in various SHADES OF GRAY.
TIL to be ready for the next IDEAS from Daniel K. This was interesting.
2
@Robert
Your outSIDE THE BOX reminds me of a New Yorker cartoon a few years ago in which a pet cat is standing next to its litter box and one of those stern old New Yorker toon types is telling the cat, "Don't you ever think outside the box!"
4
I remember that one -- it was drawn by Leo Cullum and published November 30, 1998. The caption was "Never, ever, think outside the box." Google on the caption to pull it up.
Panic at first, but as I started going through the clues I got one here, one there, and finally enough to put some other answers in. Liked the non-clue themers, although getting one pretty much led to getting the rest of them. Also liked the misdirection on a lot of the clues - "Break up a plot?" was my favorite. My first thought on Starbuck was Battlestar Galactica, but Adama obviously didn't fit.
1
Seasoned solvers salivate when an odd-looking grid like this appears on a Thursday. And although less experienced solvers, or those who just don't like " Tricks", may give pause, the solving process for everyone should be more or less the same: just go about your business and see what happens.
Today's "Trick", as it turns out , is that the theme clues are not in the margins but in the grid itself. With help from the crosses, and overall pretty straight ahead cluing, I'll bet most who initially doubt that they will be able to solve this puzzle find that they are, in the end, successful.
Besides just being fun, this puzzle should be a confidence builder for skeptics willing to take it on.
6
Fastest Thursday ever for me. It wasn’t as hard as I expected when I first looked at the grid, but that’s okay. I’m sure there’s a brain bender coming down the line. The Starbuck’s clue was pretty cute.
2
I have no paitience for this.
1
@tim carey And, fortunately, there is no gun to your head.
6
Extremely difficult start, but yielded quickly one I got going. Interesting and fun.
4
Fun theme. Zombies aren't scifi. I liked the AHAB clue.
5
@Benjamin Teral
D'accord on zombies. They aren't even science either.
Got the theme clues, and most of the rest. Only got stuck on four words in the northeast corner. Not too hard, and good fun.
4
Clever theme, but way too easy for a Thursday. There were a lot of clever clues, but when did “kale” come to mean cash? I live in Seattle and people grow kale in their curbside planting strips, so if it was going to get that meaning, it would have happened here first!
3
Kale is very old slang for cash.
2
@Rodzu
and Elke
KALE is a kind of ' cabbage'--another slang word for 'cash'.
1
@Robert
When I was growing up it was "lettuce".
The fast solve time on a puzzle like this makes me feel better about myself as a person (I have to take it wherever I can get it!). The great cluing held me up longer than the blank clues did. Those all came with only a very few crosses. Now, I’ll have to come up with some other path to self-worth!
9
I loved this interesting puzzle and found it a lot of fun. Like others, once I tried to FILL IN THE BLANKS, the across entries came easily. AHAB messed with me, but my crossword HABIT was IGNITEd by tonight’s offering.
2
I think it took me longer to understand the MISERY clue than it did to finish the puzzle.
3
@MeganThose of us who live in MO, as opposed to MA, got it immediately :-) No, seriously, MO is a fine place to live, the fact that it *almost* sounds like MISERY is purely coincidental.
2
mprogers,
"Show me" otherwise, but in my experience only St. Louis metro area natives end it with anything close to a long e; in the rest of the state, the final sound is more of an uh.
@Barry Ancona
But the clue isn't referring to Miz-oo-ree vs. Miz-oo-ruh.
It refers to placing the emphasis on the second syllable, and I don't think it works. I'd make changing the stress that way would change the pronunciation from MIZ-eh-ree to Miz-EH-ree, which i don't think anyone inside or out of that state has ever said!
I don't know I was necessarily impressed - though obviously the theme and clues were original and worked together. It is a fine puzzle even without the creative cluing.
After going through several passes, finally got enough crossings to make sense of where the clues were going. I got the SHADES OF GRAY first before FILL IN THE BLANKS. And the last two...I had to get enough crossings to get them because those lines were a little harder to make sense of.
Like Tyler, I really liked the clue for AHAB. Knew it wasn't going to be related to the coffee.
TIL about SEGA and that El Greco lived in TOLEDO. Agreed with Caitlin a missed opportunity to put the SHADES OF GRAY at 50A. I've never heard of KALE used as clued.
Finished less than half my average, so a bit on the easy side (for me).
4
@Wen and Caitlin,
Don't understand SHADES OF GRAY at 50A. Only three squares. ?
1
@Wen
Think of KALE as a species of lettuce.
"TIL ... that El Greco lived in TOLEDO."
Wen,
No school trip to the Met (to include seeing El Greco's "View of Toledo")?
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436575
The most original clueing I can remember in years! A blast!
13
@Nobis Miserere Couldn't agree more, Nobis. My fear is that everyone will be complaining about the format, and the clever cluing will not get its due.
2
went pretty fast because I got enough crossings to FILL IN THE BLANKS, literally -- LOL. Actually the long themes were straight-forward, with the Note Pad's clues. enjoyed it once I got my SEA LEGS!
5
I don’t think a zombie’s domain is sci-fi. I don’t think sci-fi is a domain. And zombies aren’t in it anyway!
11
Where would you put zombies if not in sci-fi? Fantasy? Modern zombies are generally in the sci-fi realm (domain).
Sci-fi "purists" may prefer their fiction to be in the realm of the possible. More often than not, I would place zombies in the same realm as vampires, and that realm is not science fiction. (I know, I'm asking for it. There are some who will be irked by placing zombies and vampires in the same genre.)
2
Zombies live on AMC.
8
I was somewhat aghast when I saw the grid and the lack of clues for the theme entries. But then I went through the Acrosses, and I went through the Downs, and by then I had enough letters that the theme entries filled in by themselves. So it was a little bit of a letdown.
I didn't at first notice the difference in how 42A and 62A were indicated (the four-sided box vs. the top and bottom lines). Didn't love the crossing of NRA and ARMED. For "Rocks on the edge" I spent some time trying to think of terms for ice cubes in odd positions. And has anyone anywhere actually ever called a $5 bill an ABE?
4
I’m sure someone somewhere has called a $5 bill an ABE, but I don’t know who or where. ;-)
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@Liz B
I didn't notice the difference between 42A and 62A either.
Only in crossword puzzles have I seen $5 called an ABE. An ABR times Jackson equals a Benjamin.
1
Lovely puzzle. Favorite clue was 58D "Starbuck's order giver". If I didn't know that answer it would have been quite difficult to figure out; I'd have doubted the crossings and overthought it.
4
@Tyler
I found it quite figure-outable (figureable out?) because the coffee shop company doesn't use the apostrophe, and the clue said "Starbuck's" and not "Starbucks's."
Hi hum.