Couldn't be EMOJIS. The clue clearly requires a singular answer
Sorry I’m late to the party, but on the crossword mobile app you can’t enter 3 letters in one grid? How do you deal with this in the app?
@Pork On the app, you tap the lower-left [or should I say "southwest"] shift key, the one wuth three dots. I don't know about other interfaces.
One of the most entertaining AHA! moments in my years of solving NYT crosswords. The unusual axis of symmetry to start with, then the dawning realization that this had a favorite feature (squares that contain something non-standard, tricky in a phone app) then at the end the discovery that these squares themselves completed the picture the grid painted - it dawned after I reread clue 40 down. Fun, fun, fun!
I'll look up others by Mary Lou and Jeff hoping for more at this level even if I've solved them earlier.
Loved this puzzle. :) Only after poring over a map of Brooklyn and realizing that there are no three-letter islands there ending with Y, did I realize it must be Coney and a rebus, and then all the other refuses followed. Nice job!
1
Could you possibly warn us that a given puzzle has ridiculous answers? For true puzzle enthusiasts, there is a loss of interest in trying to finish a puzzle that relies on putting 3 letters in a single box.
2
Rebuses are a fairly common feature of themed NYT puzzles, especially Wednesdays and Thursdays.
I respectfully dissent. Refuses and letter groups add to the challenge (especially when solving puzzles on an electronic device) and the pleasure of discovery when I discover the trick.
IF I were going to pick nits - - - and I’m not really because this was a delightful, ARISANal puzzle:
Both AERIAL RECON and TELECON might properly have been clued with abbreviations - - yes?
That’s just if one is a bit too serious about the “rules” associated with this passtime - - uh? pastime - - uh? pass time? - - DIVERSION already!!
1
i'd just been wondering if Erma Bombeck would ever show up in the crosswords again!
I’m so excited. Although I need some hints, I figured out the rebus(es) on my own!
How do u fill in a square with multiple letters like CON?
@Erin, hi. Several others today have also asked the same question and there are answers posted here but let me respond to you as well. A square that can be filled with multiple letters (and numbers as well) is called a rebus. Assuming you are not solving on paper, different electronic formats provide slightly different ways of entering a rebus. If you have opened the crossword on the NYT website using a computer, you should see the rebus button on the right hand side of the menu bar that also shows you the timer. If you are solving on an Android phone, the rebus key is the one denoted by "..." immediately to the left of the Z key. If you are solving on an iPhone, you need to hit the "More" key to the left of the Z key and then you should see a numbers keyboard with the rebus key on the lower left. When you click the rebus button or key, a box will pop up that allows you to enter as many letters (or numbers) as the answer requires.
2
@Henry Su - and if you're on a Mac, hit the escape key.
Thank you very much.
(CONtinued)
I spent more time in the NW and SE than I did CONstructing the CONtrail. (I'll forego further CONstructs in my comments. Others have beat me to it.) The NW was empty, save for AERIAL..., for far too long until I flashed on ROTATOR. The rest of the corner fell slowly. AHAB was a total guess and CATAWBA a total no-know. (Thanks to the crosses!)
Next, the SE: Had ARTISAN, DESTINY (a guess), and TILT, but went from ANNIE to JERRY before MONTY. ITALO (!?) and ALAIN were both no-knows. Somehow it came together.
Loved this one, in spite of the difficulties. Clever and fun. (Of course, I love rebuses.) A cruciverbal CONquest, Ms. Guizzo and Mr. Chen! (Sorry, couldn't resist ...) ;)
That was hard! That was fun!
The grid caught my eye. I thought I recognized a stealth fighter jet. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice the contrails, until I had several gaps in an almost completed puzzle. CONEYISLAND and CONES finally gave me the shove into the CONTRAILS path. When I got it, I felt very relieved. It was a toughie, and I usually catch on to a rebus sooner than I did today.
The names were there for me somehow, eclectic tho they were. I do miss ERMA Bombeck. What a treasure she was.
My goodness, this was a heck of a puzzle! I kept my bitty 4 day streak, but went about 30 minutes over my typical Thursday completion time.
:-D
2
One of the comments earlier reminded me of a nit I needed to pick. (No, not a zit. Those days are gone forever)
Seems like the Department of Energy and DARPA are more science-specific-oriented than any other parts of our cabinet, so I take -- with some hesitation -- a mild exception to picking on EPA as that choice. A lot of EPA matters are still fluid (no pun intended) in the information gathering and interpretation stage and way too vulnerable to political whims as we're currently finding out.
1
Rival of Cassio and Rival of Casio could have been an amusing crossing! A bit hard to complete the fill, even though the rebusi fell easily.
1
Pretty much said all I have to say in reply to other comments.
I do wish I had the gene that allows me to think about looking at the grid before I start.
Like others (at least unsportsed others), I stumbled at the crossing of no-knows STAGG and GIRARDI. But ERMA Bombeck, MONTY Hall, and ALAIN Locke were gimmes.
When I was a child my father bought a multi-game thing called a CAROM board. It did in fact have pockets, but I think that was for an actual pool-/pocket billiards-type game, in addition to the CAROM game for which the thing was named: https://www.target.com/p/carrom-board-game/-/A-10048879?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&fndsrc=tgtao&CPNG=PLA_Toys_Priority%2BShopping&adgroup=Toys_Priority_TCIN%2Btop%2Btoys&LID=700000001170770pgs&network=g&device=c&location=9067609&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrZq4tZDB3wIVggOGCh2aqQAJEAQYASABEgI2tvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
i think there was more stuff on the other side, but it's not pictured.
Looking forward to a weekend of some real brain-bending puzzles. I need it.
2
@Deadline
I had a Carom board as a kid, and about 20-something years ago purchased one for my family - still have it!
In a hurry to get outdoors into the beautiful sunshine this morning, I failed to see that I DNFed in two separate areas of this puzzle:
STArG/rIcARDI/MOLEcAT
sAW/sETSTREAM (!)
I forgive myself completely for the first, because of the crossing proper names.
The second is unforgivable, because SET STREAM is not a Thing. It bothered me at the time, but I was really in a hurry to get out of the house. We've had so little even remotely pleasant weather for months and months and months.
Now that I know how abjectly I failed to solve this marvelous puzzle, I find, miraculously, that I'm just as happy right now knowing it as I was earlier, not knowing it. That's what a good night's sleep and gorgeous winter weather can do for you. And so, I give you an EMOTICON-- :) Or is that an emoji?
4
Why beat yourself up over it, right?
That's an EMOTICON. Emoji's are not constructed from punctuation marks.
https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-the-difference-between-emoji-and-emoticons
1
Although somewhat comforted that my surgeon's nickname is "steady-hands", while I am not expecting to die tomorrow my streak definitely will ... so I can think of no better way to end it than with this one.
I was hopelessly, painfully lost in the bottom left corner, and while the notion of a rebus had crossed my mind, since I'd seen neither hide-nor-hair of it in any other quadrant, I was able to glibly ignore obvious solutions like CONTRAIL and CONES, until finally, in a desperate act of, well, desperation, I saw the light at EMOTICON, and the pieces then fell into place like the denouement of an Avengers movie. Ah, bliss.
8
@Michael Rogers - All the best for tomorrow - do come back as soon as you can!
4
@Michael Rogers
What D.C. said.
2
It's reassuring to learn that the EPA is a Federal *science* organization. Let's hope that it will apply this scientific knowledge in a responsible way under new leadership.
2
For more on that read The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis. Revealing.
1
@NICE CUPPA
Yes, may it continue after January 3.
Saw the grid and went "Whoa!" I thought they had to be up-down or left-right symmetric (or anti-symmetric). Now I realize it's symmetric about the SW-NE axis. Like Deb and others, I stumbled upon the rebus after thinking "EMOTICON doesn't fit!" and "CONTRAIL doesn't fit!" Duh -- rebus! The theme hit me when I grokked on "CON trail" and made out the B-2 bomber (Thanks, Wen!)
More later ...
1
@Ron
Most puzzles are not left-right or up-down symmetric. They are what's called rotational symmetric (looks the same if you turned it upside down).
See the paragraph describing the rotational symmetry by David Steinberg here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/crosswords/how-to-make-crossword-puzzle-grid.html
Here is a compilation of the puzzles with unusual symmetry or no symmetry:
https://www.xwordinfo.com/Thumbs?select=symmetry
Note that today's puzzle is only the 6th to feature diagonal symmetry since 1993 (the "Shortz Era"). It's only the second to have the plane of reflection go lower left to upper right, and the first to also feature a rebus element.
For those who might have seen a kite in today's puzzle, perhaps you might try the puzzle in the archives for March 4, 2014...
1
Isomorphic group ? Bringing back distant and blurry memories from decades ago.
I really need to learn to look at the blank grid and see whether it helps, but CONEYISLAND eventually clicked and I began seeing how a CON rebus could straighten out several confusions. The combination of STAGG and GIRARDI sent me back to Google, though I'm trying to make lookups a last resort. The southeast corner also gave me trouble, even though years of teaching American lit made Alain Locke's name a gimme. Since several people have said they hadn't heard of him, I thought I'd add a link:
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/interactives/harlem/faces/alain_locke.html
1
CONEY ISLAND was not the only Brooklyn attraction in the puzzle. 49A would qualify as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Academy_of_Music
3
35D Rods’ partners gave away the first of the five rebuses fairly easily but the northwest corner took the longest to break through. A more challenging Thursday puzzle than usual but rewarding. Kudos to the team.
@KC I finished the puzzle, but I am CONfounded by the connection between Rods' and Cones? Hellllllllllp!
John,
Look up "human eye" on the 'net.
@John Delery rods and cones are cellular shapes that make up the anatomy of an eye's retina. I don't remember which is which, but one type sees colors and one type sees black and white. However, IIRC, one provides the certain "something" that allows for peripheral vision in low light situations. Allowing an individual to survive in low light situstions. Or see comets at night. [wink]
The NE corner was my last fill. For some reason, I just got stuck. I actually had lAW before JAW, with some unprofitable fooling around with leTSTREAM, laTSTREAM,..... Sigh. And I never think to contemplate the empty grid for clues, although I did somewhat belatedly note the diagonal symmetry, without drawing any useful conclusions.
1
P.S., One last thing:
It must just be coincidence, but it’s cool to have a plane-themed puzzle intersect pretty closely with the President’s Super-Double-Dog-Dare-You-Top-Secret Christmas visit to our troops to IRAQ.
1
Great theme, I think! I realized before putting down a letter that the main image was a plane. Obviously, the one it resembles most is the B-2 Bomber (from below, of course, to go with the skywriting-contrails theme, ;-) ).
Or it could have been a kite, with its tails flying behind.
I get a little tenacious when I find the right meme for a puzzle. Once I corrected EMOJIS to EMOTI[CON], and got the hang of it, I never even saw SKYWRITER until DEB clued my rods and [CON]ES in.
Happy Puzzling to everyone here in 2019. And a big thank you to ALL the constructors and Will Shortz for keeping all these puzzle plates in the air and spinning like a fine Swiss cheese watch!
:-)>
4
Hard to pinpoint the exact moment when this puzzle ceased to CONfound me. Mostly, I find, the breakthroughs happen when I take a breather, maybe just look away from the grid for a second or two, and let the associative part of my brain work in the background. I needed the crosses to get STAGG, ALOHAOE, GIRARDI and ALAIN (Locke). And this is probably the first time I’ve come across the word CONTRAIL The latter sounds to me like it could be the code name for the Mueller investigation.
4
stray thought: Jeffs in the Congressional Record ? omg
Nice puzzle!
And ironically we did have a puzzle this past week mentioning CON Air with Nicolas Cage ... how's that for serendipity?
I have other sub-commentary elsewhere.
Thanks for the xwp-er pictures!! We ought to get the NYC (and environs) contingent together somewhere at least once ... I recall a previous attempt.
3
@Dr W
The Ottawa contingent gets together every day in my living room!
6
Super fun puzzle. BOO never clicked with me so I had to reveal to find my errors. Guess I don't know my Elvis or history.
What a great puzzle! Thanks Mary Lou and Jeff.
At first, I thought we were dealing with an asymmetrical grid that cleverly illustrated the theme. But, as Jeff noted, the grid is a rare example of diagonal symmetry. How cool is that.
I had all of the answers but couldn't put in the 'con's online. I got a message that I was wrong on my answers when I left the 'con' areas blank. Previously that was accepted for other multi-letter answers. How can I answer to get a correct puzzle response?
@SharonL
Depends on what format you’re using to solve, but most platforms allow the first letter of the rebus only to count, or if it helps you to keep track for the crosses, there’s some kind of rebus button, but it may need to be accessed via a “More” button or a “...” symbol.
@Steve L Thanks! I'll work on finding that. I still don't get why I was allowed to leave blanks on a previous puzzle that needed multi-letter answers and still get a OK for finishing correctly. Oh well, now I know I can actually leave multi-letters. I appreciate your help, Steve L.
This was a tough one - an asymmetrical rebus and some clues/answers that didn't click for me at all. Never heard of Monty Hall, never heard of Alain Locke, didn't know what the Catawba were about, never heard of Alohaoe. Got HRE by cross but didn't know the Holy Roman Empire had a Diet; was looking for something Japanese. Bunch of lovers is a stretch in terms of wording. View remotely is too clever by half. I thought gears usually use grease, not oil, but when I googled it, it appears that there's a hefty debate over this topic (of course there is).
Despite all that I got it finished without looking anything up until afterwards, probably a testament to the creator there.
1
@Dan Never heard of Monty Hall?? Ohhhh, the Humanity!
Dan,
Depending upon where you were directing the credit in your last sentence, usage calls for either making the penultimate word plural or capitalizing it.
4
@Dan
Not asymmetrical. Symmetrical on a diagonal axis.
Hesitate to quibble with The Boss, but the (?) as part of the 59A clue seems quite questionable.
2
@michael
Aren't question marks by definition questionable?
(I thought it was rather a crafty clue.)
1
@michael - you make a good point if, like me, your first thought of crafty is handiwork rather than sly. Pretty straightforward clue that doesn't warrant a ? IMO.
1
@Hildy Johnson
Aren't crosswords crafted by cruciverbal ARTISANs? They are some of the craftiest people we know, aren't they?
2
Canadian Corner Clues:
10A Moose follower
60D Ex-Ontario premier Bob
And of course:
51D Hall of fame
2
@Andrew, add 50D Caron of UZEB.
@Henry Su
Thanks! Even for a Canadian musician that's a tough one though.
@Andrew, I have various random Canadian facts and figures floating around in my head. I would have gotten "Moose follower." In high school, I had a "world studies" teacher who would have us neatly color paper maps and correctly label them with various points of interest. I still recall her asking us to place "Goose Bay" on a map of Canada and the whole class searching for an obscure body of water in the atlas. Even to this day, I remember it as a little town in Labrador.
1
A quibbling nit-pick: it is a lodge, not a club. Any person that is a B. P. O. E. member will politely inform you of that factoid...If my successful solve is any indication, today ought to be a great day. There is no guarantee that when this reader uncovers a rebus puzzle, said puzzler summarily NAILS IT! I did that today..The NW corner was the last to fall...This Lou Reed mini memoir might not meet the requirements that ELEGIES demand, but “CONEY ISLAND Baby” is, no doubt, an enchantingly sad song. YES, IT IS!
https://youtu.be/U4sHI8WWekI
AS EVER,
Bru
2
A tough one to get a foothold in, but wow, what an impressive grid. I finally figured out there must be a rebus when I had the __Y___AND of CONEY ISLAND, but at first because of the shape of the grid I was convinced the rebus had to be CONE. Er, not quite.
I had nothing but AHAB in the NW for the longest time. I left and came back abut 20 minutes later and it was no contest. Congratulations, Jeff and Mary Lou on a well constructed puzzle.
3
I had fun with this one! SO satisfying to start slow, that feeling of "oh god, I'll never get this..." and then a breakthrough -- for me, it started in the lower right with ARTISAN and MONTY Hall (haha)... then I was struggling with Brooklyn, got LAND, then figured ISLAND, and suddenly the trail of CONs fell into place and I was winging swiftly through the sky. The upper left quadrant was tricky; loved CAROM (never heard of it as billiards, but knew the game played on a smooth board with plastic rings and was able to make the leap.) Lots of leaps of faith in today's puzzle. Good work, thanks to Jeff, Mary and Will for their "CON do" attitude... (groan)
1
Mucho kudos to Mary Lou and Jeff for this supersonically clever and tricky Thursday feat of a treat! (Or should I say superCONically?)
I finally got it at EMOTICON. I did not know CONTRAIL but after filling it in a vague memory of the word was triggered. Didn't matter because it had to be right. Aha! A crossword puzzle working just as it should.
Loved the bonuses: SKYWRITER and JETSTREAM.
Brava! Bravo!
3
This one was hard work, but totally worth it! I caught the rebus element fairly early on, and things were going great until I had the NW corner left, and then BAM! I hit the wall! Had to do one of my "go away for a while" things and when I came back, it still seemed unfathomable. Then the lightbulb for BOO lit up, and the puzzle fell! Great grid for a rebus lover, and obly two "clunkers" (ARA and HRE). Thanks Jeff and Will!
1
@Steve Faiella
Hello Mary Lou? (Goodbye 22D)
2
@Steve Faiella I left out Mary Lou!! I am so sorry Mary Lou... Jeff's name just stuck in my head because I subscribe to a word list of his for XWP construction, so I didn't need to go back to the Wordplay post to get the aurhor name(s). Great puzzle!
@Andrew I realized from reading a post further down, but thanks! It would seem that my impending retirement is already affecting my brain!
2
Big fail for me today. Post-Christmas mental lethargy? Or just out-of-wheelhouse? I reluctantly resorted to a couple of look-ups and still no cigar. Not even close. Just about every initial guess was wrong. CREST for TOTEM, FUJI for ETNA, ("I burn"? Really?), SAW for JAW, (my final correction), OLD for AGE, and more... I always called those trails "jet" trails, so grokking the rebus was another lookup. Well, at least they weren't CHEM trails.
If this wasn't such an excellent puzzle, I would be inclined to call it a CON job. Crossing a college football coach with a former Yankees manager - crossing author Calvino and author Locke... In the inimitable words of Cosmo Kramer, "YO YO MA!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6FYbO-W0-c
3
@Andrew
Same. There were several naticks for me, and the grid was overall full of things I didn't know. And rebi. Sigh.
@Andrew
Add me to this short list. Clue me Italo and I know it's Calvino; the other way around, not so much. Didn't know Locke, Monty or Girardi. And what kind of Brooklynite am I if even Coney Island didn't cross my mind? This may have been my longest time Thursday ever.I really did like seeing Ambrose Bierce's name again so soon, though.
@Meg H.
But neither Camperdown Elm nor Williamsburg Savings Bank fit!
I saw the plane immediately, but couldn't twig the rebus for a bit, even though I had TRAIL, and most of "Island" and knew it had to be CONEY.... Had everything around the center well-solved before I recalled that such things as rebuses (rebi?) exist.
So, as usual for a puzzle that takes a slap upside the head, I was irritated, then amused.
Particularly liked ALOOF, TOTEM and AHAB (as clued).
A fine and challenging puzzle, IMHO.
2
@Puzzledog
Wonder how many people know what coneys were ...
2
Partial rebuses are the trickiest. When you're not in rebus territory, you have a false sense of mastery and [CON]TROL. And also I never heard of CONTRAIL, so the revealer didn't help me at all.
I finally figured it out at TELE[CON]/[CON]TROL. What I said to myself was not "Aha" but "Thank heaven! This bear finally makes some sense!"
The biggest nemesis was 38A. All I could think of was EMOJI, which didn't fit. I must have had a mental block about EMOTICON. If I'd thought of it, I would have gotten the gimmick much sooner.
A wonderful puzzle. So crunchy. So tricky. So playful. So well-executed. A real treat.
5
Etna does not mean 'I burn'. The name derives from the Greek verb αἴθω (aitho) which does mean 'I burn'. Similarly, a rotator is not a muscle. Please, fix your cluing for accuracy.
1
A rotator is not "a muscle", but any muscle that enables rotation of a joint is a rotator. It is a type of muscle. Any muscle that rotates a joint is a rotator.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomical_terms_of_motion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeletal_muscle
4
@David Connell
Are you trying to make us dizzy? (You're succeeding ...)
1
@Dr W
Rotator was the obvious answer, though, even if it isn't a muscle. Still, if it ever comes up in conversation, I'll be on the alert for its misuse.
Hmm....That looks like the Stealth (flying wing) spy plane, which--if it left a CONTRAIL--wouldn't be all that sneaky; more like trying to tiptoe over a squeaky floor, wouldn't you say?
CREST before TOTEM, PEW before BOO, COG before JAW, a stab at EMOJI?, and MENS before TOYS.
Dredged GIRARDI out of memory, but had to turn to DHubby for STAGG (which at first I entered as STAG in the Across boxes, tsk.)
Wanted GEAR BOX before OIL came along.
Onward! The Cook-a-thon is ending today; next comes the return to a diet less dedicated to caffeine, sugar, alcohol, and refined flour. Sigh.
5
@Mean Old Lady
A few people had CREST before TOTEM. I didn't mention it in my abridged post, but I did too. I count at least 3 others (Liane, Magpie, and Andrew). That makes at least 5 of us.
PEW - I thought about that, but resisted because I've never seen it spelled that way. Other than the church seats, PEW could also be the sound effect of a video game laser gun shooting, or more boringly in my company - "Production Events Weekend" (when we do maintenance on systems).
1
@MOL
Probably was the stealth before it went into beta ...
@Wen
We, too, had CREST before TOTEM.
This is a paradigm for a Thursday IMHO.
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle even though constant interruptions slowed me down and I had to keep pausing and coming back (Husband, sister, and cat . . . oh my!). Will survive inevitable swifter time of college boy once he wakes up.
I knew what to expect, more of less, from the arrow -- Yes, I did look at the grid first for a change, I'm learning -- but it still was a bit before I figured out the first rebus. CONEYISLAND was one key and I was ready for a CONTRAIL clue when I finally reached it. Then it was a matter of going backwards looking for the CON.
I misled myself with "crest" instead of "TOTEM" in the Northwest corner for quite a bit even though I doubted it from the start. AERIALRECON set me straight in that quadrant giving me ROTATOR and CAROM. I kept thinking massé, proving I don't know pool from billiards, even though my daddy once helped warm up Minnesota Fats and hustled a bit.
All in all, extremely satisfying as a puzzle, though I was personally frustrated by the lack of continuity I was able to give the solve. I like my XWD to be a single session. The BEEHIVE is designed for going in and out frequently!
3
"I like my XWD to be a single session. The BEEHIVE is designed for going in and out frequently!"
Same, though I think partly because the time it takes to task switch into an XWD is longer than into SB. Plus there is no timer for SB. You could just keep it open there throughout the day. But now that you're finished with both, what will you do for the rest of your day? :)
The crossings of STAGG/GIRARDI and CAROM/CATAWBA felt unfair to me. Never heard of any of them.
But there were so many clever things in this puzzle that I will shake off my minor irritation by listing a few of my favorites: the crossing of SKYWRITER and JETSTREAM, the crossing of SESSIONS and INTERIOR right near EPA, the clues for ONEBC and WATCHTV.
There! I feel better now.
5
@Bess
Hands up for CATALPA ... (it did fit 26A a lot better) then some erasing.
1
Eulogys for ELEGIES slowed me down. 44a revealed the little trick (aka theme). A few spelling challenges but I “got er” done.
Post Christmas gumbo fest (no okras were harmed.... just enjoyed) has me feeling a bit woozy. My days of rocus times with nieces, nephews and grand verions of same are over: sigh.
DESTINY and its related quote reminded me of he who must not be named or re-elected.
Thank you Mary and Jeff.
2
One of my first incorrect fills was EMOTER, giving me the R and the AIL of CONTRAIL, but with the R being in the wrong place. Correctly sensing the theme, and tinuing on in my fused state, I finally saw that the only word I coud think of that ended in TROL must signify a rebus square, and five or ten mysteries all cleared up at ONCe. Very satisfying to get one of these fabulous Thursdays without needing help from anyone or anything.
2
A bit longer solve for me than the usual Thursday. I got the SE corner fairly quickly but the top half was the last to fall.
Finally got the theme with CONEYISLAND. The other CONs in the CONTRAIL came fairly quickly after that. Did have to run error check a couple of times to root out bad fills.
A bit tougher (for me at least) than the usual Thursday but I enjoyed it.
And my comments on the commentary:
1. Contrails are normally a high altitude phenomenon, so it is more relevant that the aircraft approaches the JET STREAM than that it nears a SKYWRITER.
2. I can't get reach XWordInfo, but my recall is that I've seen ARA clued to the constellation as often as to the coach.
3. I think usage has progressed and etymology regressed to the point that the "?" in the clue for WATCHTV means that unlike *using* the remote control, you should think of seeing an event from afar.
3
@Barry Ancona
You are correct about ARA. It’s been clued as the constellation about half the time during the Shortz era, with the stars holing a slight 28-24 lead in the past ten years. A touchdown would beat that, but a field goal wouldn’t help.
Occasionally, sometimes the clue was something other than those two.
I stopped counting after that, because there have been 172 occurrences in the Shortz era, and 703 overall (of course, the first two decades preceded the coach’s tenure at Notre Dame).
https://www.xwordinfo.com/Finder?word=ARA
@Barry Ancona, I had the same reaction about comment no. 3. I suppose that was intentional misdirection because my mind was initially drawn to gadget-enabled answers like APPLE TV (which can be accessed on an iPhone). Part of the trouble I had in the NW.
@Barry Ancona, not sure about point 3. After all, television is derived from "distant viewing," hence WATCHTV. The "?" seems superfluous since the literal meaning of WATCHTV would thus be to "view remotely." If it were clued as simply "view remotely," I would have still thought of watching television. Of course, then we are still left with the problem of no hinting of the abbreviation ("TV" for "television")....
Once I realized it was Thursday (and not Tuesday) I was okay. Excellent rebus. Loved the grid immediately, but didn't know what to make of it. I kinda got it with CONEY ISLAND crossing CONES, but first thought the rebus square was "ONE". Of course I had sAW until the last few minutes. And BOO was the last to fall. I must admit I was thinking more along the lines of a literal odor than the way a team might be jeered.
Mary Lou and Jeff, I am a fan. AS EVER, CS
1
My reply to Liz B's party post showed up, but a subsequent comment on the puzzle and the column did not. Quick try this morning, first on the puzzle.
I was wondering if any of our regulars who say they do not notice variations in the grid will report not noticing anything on this one (whether or not they understood what it was right away, as Deb did not and I others have now reported).
I thought the entries and cluing were good enough for an easyish themeless Friday; with the grid art and rebuses, this was a spectacular Thursday.
4
@Barry Ancona, if I've understood your question correctly, what I would say is that I approach crosswords with the expectation that the grid pattern varies from day to day, both in the number of black squares and their placement. If I bother to stare at an empty grid, perhaps I can make out a picture, some symbols, etc., but to me the exercise is not much different from a Rorschach test, and I have little or no idea whether what I'm seeing will be significant to solving the puzzle.
So I focus on the white squares and set about figuring out what answers will go into them. It's only after the grid is completed, as today, that I will look at it and marvel at the ingenuity of the constructor(s), noticing the clever crossings, spotting theme fill, etc. In today's puzzle, as @Wen and @Dan Kocieniewski have noted, I also see a stealth bomber leaving a lovely trail of (con)s along the diagonal. Today the rebuses do double duty by being part of the puzzle art as well as the theme answers.
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All I noticed at the outset was that the grid was not symmetrical. As I thought that this was a sine qua non of crossword construction, I was very confused. I am not a very visual person, so I didn't make out any illustration until the puzzle was completed, at which point I appreciated the imaginative construction.
Henry,
You did not answer my question, since you did not say whether you noticed anything different about this grid (regardless of whether you made anything of the difference, and, if so, whether what you made of it was accurate).
Andrew,
The grid *is* symmetrical, it's just not the usual symmetry.
Very difficult solve for me. I still don’t get several things. BOO for you stink? HRE for a realm with an Imperial Diet? What does TOTEM have to do with family? AGE for gray?
I was hung up for a loooong time with PEACE instead of HEART and CREST instead of TOTEM. And I thought the film studio was ITT as the late 60s were a boom time for conglomerates. Doh!
I did like EPA for Federal science org., haha.
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@Magpie
BOO clue is in the context of a crowd heckling a performer. HRE is Holy Roman Empire. TOTEM is a symbol for a group such as a family. You turn gray as you AGE.
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@Evan
And "gray" is itself a verb synonymous in one of its senses with AGE.
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Thanks Evan and Joe. I see it now
It took me awhile to figure out the contrail theme. I too had seen the “plane” shape as an arrowhead. Once thought of as a plane (after finally solving the puzzle); the plane looked to me like a B2 bomber - or some other Stealth aircraft. Which made me wonder - how stealthy indeed could it be if it left evidence in the form of contrails?
Turns out this was a problem the planes designers struggled with and only partially solved.
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/stealth-aircraft-vulnerabilities-contrails.htm
Thanks for the puzzle - it was a fun one.
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@Dan Kocieniewski
Belatedly taking time to read the comments, and I see there are at least two of us...
@Mean Old Lady, count @Wen and me too. Your comment came in as I was composing my response to @Barry Ancona. Otherwise I would have mentioned you too.
Mary Lou I appreciate all your work in creating this grid. I think it's really clever. Like many people I usually just start filling before I look at the grid, if I ever look at it at all. Midway through this one jumped out at me. Not that getting the trick made solving the puzzle any easier, either. This might be my favorite of all time. Thanks.
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I started with my mind playing tricks on me at 12D, where I read the date English style so August, but then my mind saw 1945, so was thinking of the WAR being over and expecting trickery along those lines. I remember the day very well; I was staying with my grandparents on Cape Cod and everyone was going mad with excitement. ( It was actually the 15th, not the 12th).
I had virtually nothing in the top half, but did eventually get the CON trick, like some others, with CONTROL & TELECON. The rest fell very quickly. What a clever trick with that lovely CONTRAIL. It still took me quite a while to finish off the top half, and I did need some help.
I always love a rebus puzzle.
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Odd solve for me - as I was pretty much demolished by this one - but it wasn't the theme section. That I got and fairly early on, initially following the Emoji / EMOTICON route. My start in that corner was the STAGG / GIRARDI crossing. Then seeing the reveal and finally guess the strings of CON ascending (as opposed to an inmate walking downstairs) led me to fill in that whole corner.
But beyond that, all I had was some 3 letter answers in the NE corner and one of those was wrong (SAW instead of JAW). So my only hope was to work my way out from the SW corner and I just couldn't put it all together. Ended up with look-ups and failed checks all over the places.
ASEVER? No, that was never going to dawn on me. ERMA as clued? Nope. There was a billiard table in the pool hall I frequented as a kid, and I know what a CAROM is - just never heard that particular formulation. It was either just billiards or 'three-rail.' But the one that really kind of irked me was 9d. Everybody who pictures Aretha with a big AFRO please raise your hand. Anyone? Just seems like a bizarre choice for a simple answer with multiple good possibilities.
Ahhh... that's all on me. Just couldn't get a foothold in multiple places or enough to disambiguate possibilities and ended up frustrated. Nice puzzle and a clever theme. I will defer to the majority.
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@Rich in Atlanta
Hi Rich!
Well, Aretha with a big AFRO is not my first image of her, but if I think about her career, there were definitely years early on when she wore her hair that way. I just thought it was a more interesting clue for that word.
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@Liz B Of course, you're right, Liz. I went back and looked at some older pictures of her and now I recall that time fairly clearly.
I was probably just a bit grumpy this morning.
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QB
After four fun-filled family days, it’s back to the bee for me!
24/120 1 pangram, barely a bingo and only four of those pesky 4 letter words!
A - 3 - 2x4, 1x5
C - 5 - 3x5, 2x6
H - 4 - 4x5
M - 4 - 3x5, 1x7
P - 6 - 1x4, 2x5, 2x6, 1x8
R - 1 - 1x4
Y - 1 - 1x5
There are 13 double letter words - one of them different in form from the others.
Good luck.
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@BarbJ
Thank you for the grid! This was a good bee. Short and sweet. Alas, though center letter is Y, there were still two words that didn't end in Y. There were 4 words new to SB today.
Hints (as if you needed them):
ouch, on display, fish, poor. milky, gift of magi, wed, tropical fruit, cvs, a bit naughty, talky
Words new to SB in yesterday's puzzle:
ARCO, BARBACOA, BLOCK, ROBOCALL, ROLLBACK
BARBACOA is the word that gave rise to BARBECUE.
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@BarbJ
You chose a perfect time to take a holiday from the Bee! Several days of sloggy long ones with yesterday taking a group effort before any of us grasped the 67 word Queen.
Today's was a delightful bonbon whipped off in short order comparatively! Whew. I needed that. I think everyone will be appreciative of the shorter Bee, and those in need, will be grateful for your chart too.
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@BarbJ and everyone else who contributes to this string. I have just recently found it and it proves very helpful. Thanks to all and Happy New Year. I do have a question. What do you mean by bingo? Is that when you get to Queen Bee? Thanks.
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Hi all,
I'm new to crosswords. I've never seen or heard of a puzzle with more than one letter per square(con.) How does one know to consider such a possibility and also, how does the "rebus" function? When I pressed it the puzzle got much smaller and something was flashing. Please advise. Thanks!
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@Simcat
if you check out this column, it will explain about the rebus.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/crosswords/yes-you-can-write-more-than-one-letter-in-a-square.html?_r=0
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@BarbJ
Oops, sorry, I accidently deleted part of my own post before posting.
The above article is written by Deb, the Wordplay columnist and it explains a 'rebus' way better than I possibly could!
Hope the article helps.
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@BarbJ
Thank you Barb! That was great and easy to follow. Have a wonderful New Year.
As ever,
Simcat
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and Elke
When I looked at the puzzle fresh off the printer, I was sure I was looking at either a kite with a tail (like Liz B. did) or a stingray (yikes). CONfused 'Choctaw' with CATAWBA ,but CONceded my error when nothing else fit.
Liked the ''rod's'' vs. ''rods''' which gave me the rebus 'CONes' and the tip that it was a plane with a CONTRAIL , not a fish/kite. Was back in CONTROL .
Must have been a bear to construct, and was fun to solve despite the names .
This oyster found two OYs, one in T(OY)S ,the other in Y(OY)O MA.
And I'm not even on CONEY ISLAND (and have never been) :))
Anyway, TO ALL a good night, I HOPE.
AS EVER,
R/ELK(e)S
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Was stymied for a while, thinking that my first rebus was CONEYISLAND and CONES sharing a ONE. Was stuck on a few of the names, as well as LUBEOIL for GEAROIL. Very good Thursday puzzle!
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I am usually pretty good at rebus puzzles, but this one stymied me for longer than I care to admit. It was an immense relief to finally figure out the trick.
And, of course, I had SAW instead of JAW. Replacing the S with a J was the final thing I did to complete the puzzle.
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Had a problem with my earlier comment not accepted, like @Henry Su, not sure why.
I'll keep this one shorter.
Tough Thursday. Good puzzle.
Lots I didn't know - ERMA, ITALO, ALAIN, PALO, STAGG, ARA. Made it much harder for me.
Not sure I agree with DECON clue, and whether ROTATOR, without "cuff", could be muscle related. Other than that, a clever theme. I especially liked that the plane is very clearly a B-2 stealth bomber.
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@Wen, I had all of my uses of (con) in caps, and perhaps that (con)fused the emus.
DECON = decontamination, no?
@Henry Su - I don't generally talk about decontamination so I don't know if people really say that. I mean, we have D-CON and DEFCON, and I've seen people say that, because I WATCH TV. But I've never seen anyone say DECON, even if it sort of makes sense.
@Wen
I also very much liked this puzzle, but I must admit I’m not fond of proper names. If you don’t know them, there’s really no way to figure them out: I also had difficulty with ITALO, ALAIN, PALO, and STAGG.
Beautiful puzzle. So many great clues and a Wow of a theme/grid.
@LizB. Thanks for posting the photos. Nice to see the NC group, and the Turkish Bath sign made me smile. What better way to relax after solving a difficult puzzle!
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(Resubmitting since my comment seems not to have been accepted--perhaps because of my use of caps)
Clearly I did not listen to Deb's advice to (con)sider the visual arrangement of the grid before beginning the puzzle because I DOVE right into the puzzle as I usually do. Fortunately most of the clues did not give me much cause for (con)cern, and when I got to the clue for CONTRAIL, it was CLEAR SKIES and the other theme answers were easily (con)quered.
I did run into some TURBULENCE in the NW, however, where I experienced a (con)dition akin to what pilots call a STALL. TIL about the game of CAROM, which required a lookup even with CATAWBA at 1D. At that point, with the crosses now filled in, the timer stopped and the puzzle was (con)cluded.
Thank you, Ms. Guizzo and Mr. Chen. I enjoyed the flight!
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A good Thursday puzzle, which I luckily managed to do without any lookups. Remembered STAGG after a bit, then vaguely remembered CATAWBA as the tribe's name. I also considered EMOJIS, but realized that it wouldn't fit the crosses, tried GREASE_ before GEAR OIL; and yes, I had SAW before JAW. It got a lot easier once I realized there were rebuses.
Liked the dual "Rod's partner" clues.
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fun thursday. TELECON and CONTROL gave the theme away. Also liked STYLE ICON. BAM as she NAILS IT!
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An additional bit of theme is that JET STREAM crosses SKYWRITER in symmetry with the black squares of the 'airplane'!
I noticed the unusual grid design immediately, but first saw the rebuses at EMOTICON/CONTRAIL. At first I thought it looked kind of like a kite trailing the string. Many things here that I didn't know, but they filled in nicely with a combination of crosses and guesses. I had COG before SAW before JAW, so I added an extra step in there. Didn't know Joe GIRARDI, but I did know Amos Alonzo STAGG. TIL this particular fact about the CATAWBAs. Also ETNA.
Mary Lou & Jeff: it was worth the work!
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Also theme-related is the crossing of EPA with APE (just EPA spelled backwards), reminding us of accumulating scientific evidence linking air travel to an exacerbation of the greenhouse effect. See https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/content/do-contrails-affect-conditions-surface.
And although not theme-related, there is also the chance crossing of SESSIONS and INTERIOR, which makes me recall two recent Cabinet exits.
As Puzzlemucker has noted, this really is a beautiful puzzle.
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And to complete @Liz B's observation of the symmetry in the NE, the mass of air in front of the nose of the plane ... "Meeting JAW to JAW is better than WAR." Winston Churchill.
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Hee hee I have to add to the symmetry talk by pointing out the balance of "aloof" and "omega"
hee hee
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Wednesday morning 9 Wordplayers met up for brunch in Durham, NC. Carolina Jessamine, CatPet, Alex, Alan J, Leapfinger, Keith, Larry, Andrea, and Liz B got together for good food and conversation at Elmo’s Diner. Archaeoprof had been the one who first suggested this get-together—although he’s based in Florida, he has relatives and planned to be in town over the holidays—but he was unable to make it. We missed you, Archaeoprof! They came from as far away as Efland and Fuquay-Varina and Chapel Hill, and enjoyed wide-ranging conversation, which frequently came back to the question of why there was such a cluster of crossword puzzlers in Durham. No conclusions were reached; evidently we’ll have to convene again in the future for further discussion. Photos of the 9 of us are up at https://www.flickr.com/photos/bezera/ — the first 3 photos. Now it’s time to do the Thursday puzzle!
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Nice.
Liz B,
Thanks for the report and the photos. Only the first three photos? After the meal, I thought you were all off to the Turkish baths.
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@Liz B Thanks for posting, and it's so nice to see all of your faces after you staring at mine for so long!
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