Spelling Bee -- I just did the Spelling Bee to try something new. Note that it did not accept TARN (a mountain lake).
3
@Henry Su - one more unaccepted good word - HAHA - a landscaping feature.
1
@Henry Su Welcome to the addictive world of the Spelling Bee! It's great to have you join the conversation.
Part of the fun and challenge of the Bee is to figure out what words will and won't be accepted. We are often surprised (e.g., TARN today and ADIT yesterday). However, that quirk gives us discussion points on which to comment.
To appease the Crossword only folks, we Bee'ers try to keep a separate thread daily -- usually there is a chart with the Queen Bee stats (all the words that the Beekeeper accepts that day) that a generous Bee'er posts -- and chatter underneath. The chart can help folks to the finish line if they wish to go that far.
You can do a search or find word "Bee" to get to that thread if going through 162 comments seems oppressive (as it well might). It helps us coexist peacefully with the XW only community for whom this blog was created. We look forward to hearing your voice in the conversation.
9
@Liane
Yes, we are separate but equal? equal but not welcome? It's a pain in the you know where.
A short quiz:
Frank Sinatra called Sylvia Syms Buddha because ...
A. She was green.
B. She was jaded.
C. She was pudgy.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.
F. Other.
2
@HALinNY
F. Other, HALin.
Because she was smooth as Buddah*. And always well bread.
I'll leave the part about 'Jam, liking for' to you.
*I'm just surprised that the creamery aspect of 'Buddah' slipped past a storied mind from Lawn Gkuyland....
In your notes, you write that the paper's style guide warns against "tsar," yet "tsar" is used far more often in the puzzle than the seemingly preferred "czar."
6
@Joe
Puzzle clues have to follow the style guide, so they will usually use "czar." But entries don't and a crossing Z is relatively rare, so you'll see TSAR more often in the grid.
3
@Joe
I say "tsar" is used far more often yet this is just in my years of experience with the puzzle. I don't have the stats in front of me to confirm my supposition.
Joe,
You have used the word "used" twice now without specifying whether you mean used in a clue or as an entry. I checked xwordinfo, and it really depends upon which you mean.
For Shortz era entries, it's 248 TSAR to 70 CZAR, but for clues, it's 8 tsar to 69 czar.
2
Nice puzzle.
I propose an alternative clue to 63A: "Christmas caros"
4
@Dr W
The first "punned" Christmas Card I remember from my days as a "yute" had on the cover:
ABCDEFG
HIJK MNO
PQRSTUV
WXYZ
and on the inside, well, you know....
4
On being a second-stringer: Can I ever forget my only T D ever? This is truly a right place, right time story. I was within an arm’s length of the coach on the sideline (usual SCRUB habitat) when I was hastily grabbed and sent in with a 4th & 1 goal-line play, a fullback dive. The AAHS I experienced hitting that paydirt at the bottom of the pile will live on forever. The only problem was, Coach never intended for me enter the game. “Nickerson, 34 ride” YELLS Coach, with an URGE that was not open for debate. A teammate, same height and weight, (I’m Nick, he’s Nickerson) the starting fullback was the intended messenger. Knowing the play I carried to the QB was my chance of a lifetime, I ran with it. Post score, on my jog back to the bench, Coach and I exchanged smiles of approval! As for Nickerson, well he wasn’t as amused.
13
Pet Peeve: If you don't particularly care for a puzzles theme, clueing, fill, etc., that's fine. Not all themes work for me either - however, there is a tactful way and a mean spirited way to express this. I've seen both in today's comments. These puzzles, regardless of the day that they run on, require a lot of thought, work and patience. How would you feel if someone dismissed your work in a mean spirited way? Something to think about..
29
@Steve Faiella
I agree with and applaud your sentiment.
However, I did think you were actually addressing another puzzler, with the screen name "Pet Peeve," and scrolled through the comments to find their mean-spirited comments... ;)
Spun my wheels for about 10 minutes because of sex. I knew that SEa couldn't be correct, since it already appeared in the puzzle at 57D, and the same word appearing twice in a puzzle is a no-no (at least in the non-theme fill). Also, the crosses worked! NEaT could be a request at a barbershop (granted, not a call, but still...) so I thought about rebuses, Thursday trickery, etc, until I finally accepted that SEa just didn't work with the clue. After wracking my brain for a lead in word to sells and cells, It hit me. Well played, Mr. Gordon, well played.
3
Although SEA SELLS and SEA CELLS would make for a nifty tongue-twister.
3
@Hildy Johnson
"Although SEA SELLS and SEA CELLS would make for a nifty tongue-twister. "
That's what SHE SAID (by the SEA SHED).
4
I did not like the clue for 14A. It struck me as quite insensitive.
1
@pmb
How about phrenologist?
2
This just isn't my kind of theme. Except when they involve a relative high level of actual wordplay, I usually don't even notice themes. Letterplay just doesn't do it for me.
When I had finished the puzzle, I remembered to look for the theme and saw the S/S. Didn't notice the vowel progression until Caitlin pointed it out.
That said, the two-level letterplay was an impressive construction feat. It just didn't add anything for this solver.
I did fall for the misdirection at 10D. I started off being proud of myself for remembering that the French Open was tennis and never got past that. After I had AUREV... I just assumed it was some tennis/French word that I didn't know and let the crosses fill it in.
Liked the clues for SEX and BRIAN.
Had never heard of either of the BANDs in the clue.
3
@Deadline
What Deadline said, except that tennis and French are in my wheelhouse. Au revoir!
Fun and appropriate to a Tuesday. BAND had me for a while until I learned that the lieutentant's name was Uhura, not Uhuru -- as I'd thought all these many years.
@Harry R.
Close. Uhura is apparently the Swahili word for freedom. The lieutenant’s name is apparently “derived” from it.
@Steve L - your post is ackwards - "uhuru" is "freedom" in Swahili - "Uhura" is the communications officer from the original "Star Trek."
1
@David Connell
Dammed ought tow corps wrecked.
2
Here's Brook Shields today (the dog steals the show!):
https://www.ispot.tv/ad/dVr0/la-z-boy-duo-surprise
Thank you Peter Gordon for this simple but extremely sophisticated Tuesday solve. Talk about making something difficult look easy! You are the master, my man!
3
@Johanna
Thanks for the link, but my ad-blocker seems to not be working... ;-)
I thought there was one playful and imaginative clue for BRIAN at 14A. Everything else, and especially the theme, I found a SOPORIFIC SNOOZEFEST.
1
@Nancy "Where the buoys are" was kinda cute
1
Hand up for red faced...I have never heard of ‘Buddah’ until today...The sit-com starring Brooke Sheilds was on the tip of my tongue, but buried in some inscrutable cavern of my recollective thought. Crosses jogged that particular onto the grid thankfully...First a cover from Suzy Bogguss of Ian & SYLVIA’s ‘64 classic; NEXT, catch the breathtaking run of the 4 year-old filly, UNI, as she competed in Sunday’s Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar.
https://youtu.be/0anqjYUD0D0
https://youtu.be/Ln12RP7NuFU
AU REVOIR,
Bru
1
@brutus
Your solid-capping NEXT (because of the entry) reminded me of this Jacques Brel song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcClfbutPZI&index=21&list=PL8lWg9mErWxOM4VUrwauo6FbZ9gICJAaH
1
@Deadline Aw, give me the real deal!!! I used to listen to Jacque Brel incessantly in the 80s. What a nice memory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNBzzjHs8vc
1
The reverse of 14-across happens to me disturbingly frequently.
2
Bottom of the puzzle was harder than the top. SCRUB/BAND was a little tricky. Didn't know SYLVIASYMS, but I came to realize MLK makes more sense than elk (MLK, Jr., that is). Always a learning experience ...
The WEE BEE numbers for today. Just a lot of old and a few more recent friends from Eastern spirituality/YOGA. Nothing clotburrish or otherwise notable today. One Pangram. No TARMACADAMS to vex us (actually, that was not a problem for me – it's called TARMAC where I come from and I knew its origin – but I had never heard MACADAM used in this sense. Incidentally, he ws McAdam, not MacAdam – that was the Aussie nutty doctor)
4 5 6 7
A 5 1 3 1
D 9 6 3
H 9 3 5 1
N 7 4 2 1
R 7 2 3 1 1
T 13 4 3 4 2
Y 2 2
52 22 19 7 4
4
@NICE CUPPA. I just found my missing word thanks to you. Looking at your chart, I only needed a millisecond to isolate. Thanks.
As usual, today I learned the meaning of a word after I typed it in. I have seen the term used as a substitute for a mild curse before, which is about as far from yoga and oriented meaning as you could get. The next question is why that yoga term is better than YANTRA, which was rejected?
@NICE CUPPA
Thanks for the grid. I'm at 42 words and didn't get the pangram or to genius yet! But thanks to the grid, I know what letter it starts with and how many letters.
One correction - I already have 4 4-letter H-words. Might one of the 5-letter ones actually be a 4-letter word?
@NICE CUPPA - the numbers don't work out - I haven't got QB but I do have all 52 words you cited. Plus 1 more 7-letter H...which puts me 1 4-letter word off from QB...
1
Pitch perfect for Tuesday, this surprisingly sophisticated gem was a pleasure throughout.
It seems fitting that SCRUB is located down in the corner where we could easily overlook it. Back in high school I was a SCRUB on the basketball team. We once won a game by 30 points, and Coach put me in for the last ten seconds.
7
Glad to see Light Years correctly used as a measure of DISTANCE.
I’m amazed at the number of people I’ve encountered who consistently use the unit as a measure of TIME. (What would that be??? A year that weighs less than most others? - - or has had less “substance” somehow??)
BTW - - how do “we” know that an entry has never been used in NYT puzzles?? Just curious?
PeterW,
"We" look such things up here:
https://www.xwordinfo.com/
4
@Barry Ancona
Yes, that's a pretty easy research task.
What I've always wondered, though, is how we know that no two snowflakes are alike. Has someone looked at every snowflake in the world? What about past, melted snowflakes? Is there a database?
Also fingerprints.
6
@Deadline
Re: snowflakes: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/23/science/who-ever-said-no-two-snowflakes-were-alike.html
1
SOMEDAY SOON, written by Ian Tyson and sung by Judy Collins, among others, is this morning ear worm.
Short solve delayed only by:
So this is how we spell CZAR today , DEIGNed Tom dictatorially?
2
@dk
Look down (or up, depending on how you read the comments) just a short bit (8 minutes earlier.)
Spelling Bee--
Does the Beekeeper have something against auto mechanics or the gender-fluid?
It won't accept TRANNY.
1
@Steve L. No, it would not, even when I changed out of a dress into pants.
I am five or six points away and at the end of my new stab at an hour limit. Grrr.
1
@Steve L That is considered an offensive term, so it would not be included. (Greetings from an undisclosed location and resubmerging into vacation mode).
7
@Deb Amlen
Amen!
And ditto (except everybody knows where I am and I'm not on vacation).
1
Kudos to you, Caitlin! I never take bows for subtlety, so I needed you to point out the nuances of this extraordinary constructor’s brain. Missed the vowel placement and theme elements while hurrying to beat my average, one of the downsides of competing, even if only with myself. (No, I don’t include the time I take noodling.) Also your clips were completely appropriate and entertaining. Too, I read the blog and comments to try to learn something, so the Sylvia Syms mononlog and song transformed what I saw as pretty good, though standard, blues song into something memorable.
1
And now for a musical interlude (and no, it's not SYLVIA SYMS):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIgnHPqp0Dk
The first 2/3 of the puzzle was like a Monday, (other than spending too much time trying to think of a strictly tennis related answer for 10 D) and the last bit more like Wednesday, so evened out for today.
Like Rich I got the progressive vowel part of the theme just at the end which certainly made the theme a whole lot more impressive as has been noted. Well done Peter.
1
Smiled when I saw LTYRS, having had Buzz Lightyear as a Jeopardy answer last night. Thought the puzzle was a fine Tuesday offering, with -- as Lewis said -- the vowel progression making the difference. Liked PAPA sitting atop APOP, especially because read backwards one is the homophone of the other.
As for the theme, I juMPed to conclusions after SAMPLE SALE, thinking the theme was an extra MP in the first word. LOL
The vowel progression lifted this puzzle out of the ordinary, for me. There are many two word phrases, with each word starting with S ("smooth sailing", "swan song", "set sail", et al), but the list narrows when the first two letters of the S-words are the same (I've got "slippery slope" and "short shrift" -- can you come up with any more?). And to do that with the five vowels plus Y, in lengths that work in a grid, that's a special construction.
6
@Lewis A quick search by letter patterns on Xword Info suggests that you are correct. Restricting it to two separate words and not having a second vowel after the 'key' vowel (e.g. SAINTSAENS would be disqualified) and listed in reverse order:
Y - Sylvia Syms is the only entry with that pattern.
U - Actually the most opportunities, though there are possible issues with a couple of these:
SUGARSUBSTITUTE, SUNRISESUNSET, SUPERBOWLSUNDAY, SURGESUPPRESSOR
O - SONIASOTOMAYOR (and that's never been in a puzzle). SOFTSOAP is close, but for the double vowel.
I - SINGLESIDED (and no, I wouldn't use that).
E - SELFSERVE (or SERVING). Eliminate the double vowel restriction and there are some more - SEASERPENT and SEVENSEAS, for example.
A - SABERSAW, SADSACK
Add in the requirement to have pairs of theme answers with matching lengths corresponding to the common sequence of the letters (i.e. A must match Y, E matches U, I matches O), and this gets pretty darn impressive.
3
@Rich in Atlanta
They could have used SY SYMS, who founded a men's clothing chain that existed in 16 states. It wouldn't have had total national--not to mention international--recognizability, but I doubt that a whole lot of people remember SYLVIA SYMS, either.
1
@Rich in Atlanta
Sufferin' Succotash!
Went for a shoe shine and was nearly star struck when I ran into Steve Stone at the Shake Shack.
2
Impressive feat of construction and a generally smooth solve, even though all but two of the theme answers (SIMPLESIMON / SECRETSERVICE) took a bit of work. Caught on to the S/S part of the theme pretty quickly but didn't note the vowel progression until I was almost done. More of an 'ah' than an 'aha' moment.
Interesting that only two of the theme answers have ever appeared in a puzzle before, and even SECRETSERVICE not since 1961.
SYLVIASYMS was vaguely familiar, but I ended up getting it mostly from the crosses. Would never have known it from the clue.
Brooke Shields is a very familiar name, of course, but I realize that from where I sit she is mostly famous for being famous. I couldn't pick her out of a lineup and after a quick review of her filmography, I realize that I have never seen a single movie or TV series in which she appeared.
2
@Rich in Atlanta
Her debut film, The Blue Lagoon, is borderline iconic.
I don't think you're being fair to her. I haven't seen a single film or wrestling match by the Rock, but I'd concede that he's famous for either or both of those careers.
1
@Steve L I was just referencing my field of knowledge.
Perhaps instead of 'from where I sit' I should have used, 'limited knowledge,' 'age,' or 'level of ignorance.'
I was just surprised to realize that despite her name being extremely familiar, I really knew absolutely nothing about her. I am in no position to judge and did not intend to imply any such judgment.
2
@Steve L
I believe her debut film was Pretty Baby, which I recall being very controversial as she was 12 years old and playing a child prostitute.
2
That was easy, but more importantly, it was very cleverly and carefully constructed. It is one thing to be able to fill in all the blanks, but quite another to see all the nuances of the theme. Go too fast, and you might miss it!
5
I’m so glad about the inclusion of one of my favorite singers in today’s puzzle. The clip of Sylvia Syms singing Mad About the Boy took me on a journey that was equally hypnotic and ecstatic. My NYT subscription is a blessing because of these moments.
12
@Peter Fitzgerald Adams
I'm on your wavelength, Peter. I'm a big fan of cabaret singing in general, and SYLVIA SYMS is truly one of the greats. Yet, I hadn't listened to her, or even thought of her, in years.
And it was a delight that the clip Caitlin posted was of one of my favorite songs ever.
I wonder how Peter/Will/others decided whether to clue that entry with the singer or with the same-named actress.
1
Just chiming in to say how much I enjoyed the SEX...clue.
I'll see myself out.
14
Hi Crysta !
You can see yourself out, so long as we get to see you back in.
NOEL for Crysta also, I see..
and Elke
I don't time myself- so I don't know how long it took me to come up with SYLVIA SYMS et al.
Besides the two 'wrinkles' noted by Caitlin, I think one could say the vowels are in syzygy--(the line connecting them is nearly straight ). Thus a third wrinkle- time to get out the iron.
Waiting with bated breath for mansplaining....Be nice ,have been longing to use that word.
Good puzzle.
1
I only got stuck in the cross of SYLVIASYMS and MLK. Never heard of the first (but glad this is rectified) and the second isn’t a holiday in Australia. I made a crosswordease assumption and turned _LK in to eLK. another thing I don’t think has made it across the water. Still after 2 double checks the help article set me right. Otherwise easy but enjoyable.
2
@Bml
I had the same experience with the SYLVIASYMS/MLK cross, even though I'm an American.
1
Finished today’s in 2:37 and I usually finish a Tuesday in 2:35.
(Is there an echo in here?)
7
@Barry Ancona
Barry, please accept my apologies for my earlier comments which were uncalled for. Mea Culpa.
4
@Arthur -- I feel more compassion for Barry than annoyance. It seems so sad to finish a crossword puzzle in two minutes and 35 seconds. Where's the fun in that?
Working a crossword puzzle is supposed to be fun. Will Shortz says so.
It seems such a shame to rush it.
8
@Pshaw . To each their own of course :) For me, the Mondays and Tuesdays are not (usually) challenging, so the fun is in trying to blaze through as rapidly as possible. I tend to savor (euphemism for "struggle with") the late week puzzles in a much more leisurely fashion.
2
This one felt more like an easier-than-usual Monday than any kind of Tuesday. I came in 45 seconds short of my Tuesday record, and did so while watching TV and fast-forwarding the program that was on through the commercials.
If I had been on the desktop without distractions, this one could have been at or closer to my Tuesday record.
@Steve L It's amazing how much faster solving on the desktop is versus the mobile phone. I suppose it's a combination of distraction versus input devices
@pmb
Actually I was on th iPad.
This was a quick one and I finished exactly 2 minutes faster than yesterday's puzzle and considerably under my average. I ended up doing mostly downs as I got lower in the puzzle so missed the BAND clue, not that I would have gotten it right away. Also missed out on the alphabet progression until Caitlin pointed it out.
A little relief after the last week.
"Suddenly Susan" is a meme around our house. Back when it was on we occasionally took Alex (age 11 or so then) to San Francisco Symphony concerts. There was a waiter at the small restaurant / bar at the Symphony Hall where we sometimes had a snack before the concert or at intermission, named Carlos, who made a small fuss over Alex.
One year, during the summer, Carlos changed genders. (She was quite stunning, by the way.) When we took Alex to the first concert of the season, Carlos told us he was now Susan.
Not sure how Alex was going to respond to this, while we were waiting for our food I asked him for his thoughts. "You mean 'suddenly Susan'? She is so cool!"
Elaine and I were so relieved. It was like, our job here is done.
29
Good puzzle. Except for 47D. I would never consider a second-stringer as a SCRUB. Seemed to be a stretch.
6
@John
So right. A SCRUB is a third-stringer, at least.
For example, an NBA team carries 13 active players per game. There are five in at a time, so that means there are three players who are neither the starters or the first subs in. So those are the scrubs.
SCRUB can be clued so many ways. I wonder if Mr. Gordon or the editors were deep into double S.
There's a little sub-theme that almost worked - the SaSa, SeSe, SiSi, SoSo, SuSu each have a completely different phoneme though the vowel is repeated - then, along comes Sylvia and spoils the pattern. Sometimes Y, I guess.
(Wow! I refreshed the page after checking that nobody else had commented on the constructor's name being misspelled and VOILA! it was already fixed. Somebody's on her toes tonight.)
3
@David Connell
Caitlyn referred to this in her column. Granted it is very near the bottom.
I wasn't referring to the alphabetic progression AEIOUY (which is what I think you thought I was mentioning) - but that there is a long and a short vowel in each of the first five, but not in the sixth.
sample sāle
sēcret service
simple sīmon
someday sōōn
suddenly Sūsan
but
Sylvia Syms has two of the same vowel
3
@David Connell
I think I'll chime in with a quibble: the "y" in Sylvia sounds more like a long e, while the one in Syms seems like a short e.
Didn't appreciate the AEIOU and Y until I read Caitlin's post. that's more impressive than I'd thought.
Wasn't hard at all, but very well constructed. Could've done without LT YRS, PPS. SSE, etc. Liked the clue for SEX. No complaints.
4
The only thing that slowed me down, besides entering RED FACED before REDDENED, was how fast I could write. Spotting the vowel chain early helped speed it along. That said, good puzzle.
1
@Wags Hand up here for "red faced" before REDDENED.
I flew through this puzzle. Loved the Suddenly Susan answer. This was a fun puzzle!
2
@Dana Scully
"Suddenly Susan" always reminds me of "Suddenly Seymour" from "Little Shop of Horrors".
5
Fast and smooth. Like Caitlin, the bottom third of the puzzle took longer for me--I basically had the top two-thirds filled in before I got much of anything in the south filled in (except ERLE). It looks odd. Didn't even notice some of the Down clues.
One of my favorites from Judy Collins: https://youtu.be/4Jn90y9H9S4
1
For this theme, there’s only one way to respond:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy1ztCTrBEU
4
@Steve L Wow. Thanks for pulling up that treasured memory. Stupendously silly Sullivan skit!
1
My favorite sibilance of all time, however, is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZY8jUuEzJQ
@Liane
si!
Today's puzzle was super fast - 3 minutes below my average - and well, just didn't hold my interest with the theme. Great for noobs, however.
I have no issues with Brooke Shields (enjoyed her recent Murphy Brown stint. I vaguely remembered the title involved "Susan", but if there is a show that is not memorable to reference except for sibilance, this would be high on my list.
1
I agree it was a great one for newbies! I’m relatively new to crosswords and I felt very proud of myself to finish this one without cheating!
8
I assume spoilers for yesterday's Bee are OK.
For this solver, TARMACADAM is as clotburish as they come. Sheesh.
1
@Martin
Technically, not until 3am, Martin. But I really doubt anyone's still really doing the Spelling Bee at this point.
I had said I didn't think there was anything cloburish in my comment, but I suppose you could be right. I assume most people have heard of the shortened form, and assume they know whence the short form came and that it is a short form. But maybe not.
1
@Martin If the shorter form that was accepted, MACADAM, had not been a word that came to mind more obviously, I would agree. The related word came as my last find. Often when stumped in the Bee you look to words you've found for variations, prefixes, suffixes. Whereas CLOTBUR, well, it just fell from nowhere. And it stuck in all our craws.
Another amazing fact: The MACADAMIA nut was named after John MacAdam. MACADAM, on the other hand, was named after John McAdam.
They were not the same person, and the paving material wound up being spelled "wrong," although I guess they figured a common noun would look funny starting with the "mc" combination.
Strangely, growing up, it never occurred to me that either word was an eponym.
I also never realized that macadam and blacktop were two different things. Or that TARMAC wasn't just another name for macadam, that TARMAC was short for anything, or that most of what we refer to as macadam isn't actually anything of the sort.
The details of road-paving materials are intricate and many, but I doubt most people don't have that much interest in learning about all of them.
6