EID just means “holiday” or “feast”. It could refer to either one of the Muslim holidays (Eid Al Fitr or Eid Al Adha), and it’s specifically in Arabic. Non-Arabic speaking Muslims may call it but a completely different name.
1
Ms. Amlen, Mr. Shortz, and male constructors: If you actually want to reverse the loss of women constructors, then stop creating/publishing puzzles with fill/clues that make them walk away early- or mid-solve.
1. No more models and "supermodels" (a loathsome term). It's bad enough that in 2019 girls and women are *still* being told that being pretty is our primary job; we don't need to have this reinforced when we unwind with a puzzle, especially one in the should-know-better NYT. EVA (3D) could have been clued to refer to Peron, Hesse (an artist) or Green (an actor).
2. Stop including so much fill that skews more male than female--sports, anime, movies that are heavy on action, adventure, fantasy, sci-fi.
3. Stop including so much you-know-it-or-you-don't trivia; instead, rely more on words or phrases that can be deduced by unwrapping a clever clue. Contempo trivia is just as exclusionary as was the erudite trivia of the Maleska era--and acquiring trivia is more a male pursuit than a female one.
Mr. Shortz, you purport to want to publish more women constructors--yet you publish, almost daily, puzzles with fill/clues that annoys them. How can you not have noticed the creep, over the past 5-10 years, toward fill/clues that skews male? If you want to return to the days when women were better represented, then before you publish any puzzle, run it by two or three very different women to get their takes on it; I think you'll be surprised by what you hear.
2
Excellent puzzle, but I have to quibble with the clue for 18A.
"Standard Deviation" does not mean something that's nonstandard. Rather it's a statistical measure of confidence in the stated result of a survey or experiment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_deviation
But no matter, I solved it anyway.
But the clue is saying that "deviation" means nonstandard.
3
Great puzzle! Luckily watched Crazy rich asians just last night and saw that odd name. I see some complaints but I liked PRECHEW :)
I got all six starred clues. But I couldn't figure out 131A, the key to the puzzle, even though I got the pattern of every-other-letter. I hate it when that happens. But a good puzzle.
1
Thoroughly enjoyed this Erik Agard creation. Caught onto the theme early and completed the grid over 7 minutes below my Sunday average. But . . . no Mr. Happy Pencil. Six painstaking reviews and 28 minutes later, I finally noticed that, inexplicably, I had typed an "[" in place of an "I". Whew, the streak survives! Special thanks to Mr. Agard for triggering my memory of seeing Allen Ginsberg read his "Wichita Vortex Sutra" at Vanderbilt U. in the late 1960s.
4
I'm REALLY surprised no one else seems to have noticed this, but according to Wikipedia and Britannica, the person indicated in the clue for 103 Across, "Spanish muralist José María ___" is actually listed in both as "Josep Maria Sert". Now the Britannica entry later says the Spanish form is "José", but the clue is written in English, so shouldn't it have used the English spelling? It may be a small nit to pick, but don't we crossword fans tend to be more precise than most people?
BW,
Somebody else did notice and posted about it. It is noticed and commented upon each time it appears in the crossword.
2
Erik Agard does a puzzle like no other! Wow!
I had an unfortunate time with SCREW and WAIST. The W was just not in sight for me. The cluing for both was so different and fresh, I wasn’t getting it.
I liked so many things about this puzzle, and his ability to take the even letters out and end up with the last word, WHAT ARE THE ODDS?!?!
Brilliant!
:-D
2
Like a few others, I grokked onto the theme after a couple of themers, before arriving at the revealer. I was puzzled, though, by the title: Why "Evens?" It wasn't till I finished that I made the connection: "Evens *Out*!" Actually, I think the title is a better "revealer" than the revealer itself.
Also like (many) others, I found this one easier than typical Sundays. In fact, I almost set a "PB" (seems more popular than PR), but had an error somewhere. I searched for probably 10 mins. till I found it: Im NOT TOO INTO. (SAILOR MOON was a no-know.)
Quite a few names for us older folks (AMECHE, BOLGER, GORDIE, NAGANO, TERESA, DARLA).
Hey "Mean Old Lady," nice to see you at 36A!
Another great Agard puzzle. I'm impressed how he was able to come up with reasonable phrases for the themers that satisfied the "trick." Kudos (again) Mr. Agard!
1
@Ron - sir, I must protest your usage of "grokked" and "onto" together in proximity like that. It's just not done.
@Wen
Actually, "grokked" was the wrong word to use anyway. Make it "caught." Better?
Very enjoyable puzzle and clever theme! Had a bit of a natick for me at 112A and 73D. Kept getting a busy signal at RENT-A-TEEN so manga was a mystery to both of us. Not a fan of pugilism so the cross didn’t help. Otherwise a treat. Thanks Erik! Be well all!
I almost forgot to provide my "retro" clue. This is where one of yesterday's entries becomes a clue for one of today's entries.
Today's retro clue:
64A Sex Tape - SWINGING SIGN
2
Did anyone notice that yesterday we had TWO AM and not 24 hours later we had TWO PM?
6
Anyone else notice that the links in comments don’t work on iOS devices? At least not on mine. Not sure if I should notify the app team or NYT....
1
@joekelly
I solve on iPad, and I go to read links and long chains of comments on my phone.
2
Thanks for your reply, Laura. Can you open the link below from you iPad and/or iPhone? Just curious.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GcKFU8BPJnc
2
@Joe Kelley’s
Worked on my iPad (WiFi).
1
I always feel unsatisfied when the theme of the puzzle depends on more or less abstract concepts like even/odd letter position rather than meaning or other linguistic aspects of words. The puzzle is undoubtedly very clever, but somehow bloodless.
1
More difficult than usual for me. Took 24:53. I didn’t figure out the theme even after getting all the starred answers, until I got the “What are the odds” answer, nearly at the end
1
oink-filled pen was super delightful
4
Filled out the entire puzzle but was stuck not knowing what was wrong. Had to look up all the proper nouns one by one and eventually found I had one letter wrong - I had "Calie" and "lai" instead of "Celie" and "lei". Wasn't familiar with either reference. Ugh.
Took the longest time to uncover my error, which was SuNG instead of SONG for 49A. RuLES at 43D didn’t jump out at me until I laboriously compared every answer to its clue and realized that however legit a word it is, it wasn’t the right one.
1
Had a strikeover at 56d with ARGOTS initially entered. What struck me after filling it correctly was which letters both words had in common.
I'm eagerly anticipating the sequel: WHAT ARE THE EVENS? :-)
Thanks for a great crossword, I can't imagine how difficult it must be to construct something like this ...
3
Today's puzzle was a rare treat -- no lookups and extremely witty; I found double meanings for several clues which slowed me down a bit but that's a small price to pay. The finale was a. headslapper: the 32D fill -- from the crosses.
I liked the juxtaposition of 29D and 72D.
Kept thinking of "Andalusian " for 93D.
But I do confess failing to grasp the advertised theme. Can someone provide a brief bon mot here? (I'm typing this before reading the blog.)
PS Finally read the blog, got the "theme". So ...the "odds" are every other letter? Or the odd-numbered letters? Hmmmm. OK -- but it IS a stretch. Or odd :-)
Never got the obscure theme. A nice solve overall, with some good stuff (SCREW, IVORY) but SWINGING SIGN, PRECHEW(?) meh.
super puzzle. it shows that if puzzle makers work to find a WORD that fits the layout, I can also work to find a word that fits the clue. I can't ever work to find RAPPERS name. so this puzzle had a lot of great clues and was fun to solve , and had few proper nouns to have to google.
2
I wonder if my iPad mini were to shrink, would become an iPod mini? The smaller iPods were termed "nanos", not minis.
Nonetheless, it was a fun solve!
@pjfin No, the iPod mini was on sale back in 2004-2005 before being replaced by the nano. It was my son's first Apple device, long before he was ready for an iPhone.
I remember Steve Jobs saying at a keynote, "The iPod mini is our best-selling model, and now we're replacing it."
3
I think there is an error, or at least a controversial clue, in the puzzle! 31 Down clue had the past tense in it, which should mean the answer would also be in the past tense. But the Across 63 clue's answer has to be "yessir." This makes the tense of 31 down in the present. It can be argued that "converted splits" are therefore spares. But "converted" is the verb and the answered should therefore have to be spared.
@JRI1951 Think of it a different way...what is the result of a converted split?
1
@JRI1951 "converted" in this case is an adjective, modifying the noun "spares." I believe the grammatical term is "past participle...."
1
"Converted" is modifying "Splits" which turns them into "spares." I wish I could edit my comments sometimes, especially when it is nearly midnight my time.
I wrote PRECHEW, then erased the last four letters because surely there wouldn't be another CHEW besides CHEWBACCA. But yes, northwest and southeast both chewy.
2
Overall a lovely Sunday puzzle even if the post-solve reveal didn't speak to me personally.
1
This is definitely a crossword setter's puzzle. I can imagine many erstwhile setters going - "gosh - a tour de force !. He/she must have spent hours finding no less than seven clues that fit this extraordinarily unexpected mold." For me as a common or garden cross-word solver, not so much.
1
I initially thought the long answers alliterated, until THEFARMTEAM put an end to that idea.
Cottoned on to the pattern around FOOTNOTEFONT (which is to say, too late for it to be much benefit).
The southwest corner was the only part of the puzzle that slowed me down as I had to piece together AWKWAFINA. Having precook instead of PRECHEW, misspelling Virginia Woolf's name (!!!! :O) and blanking for a bit on Mother TERESA (may I? Goose? Brain freeze there) did not help.
I enjoyed the puzzle and marveled at the wit and intelligence of the construction. As an aside, I would like to see a video of someone solving a Sunday puzzle in five minutes. I don't think I could type or write that fast even if I knew all the answers.....
1
South EAST corner. I'm evidently directionally challenged today as well.....
2
@Puzzledog - You asked for it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS-CwNniV_I
The young man in the middle crushing the competition is none other than Erik Agard.
3
@Puzzledog i AGREE. HOW CAN ONE EVEN READ THE CLUES IN FIVE MINUTES AND WRITE IN THE ANSWERS! FIVE MINUTES? HARD TO BELIEVE. PERHAPS RERAD FIRST AND THEN IN FIVE MINUTES WRITE IN ANSWERS.
2
Quick puzzle for me, but fun as always.
One nit at 79D: it's "oh la la". The answer "oo la la" doesn't capture the proper pronunciation.
https://www.thoughtco.com/oh-la-la-vocabulary-1371324
2
I have to say I didn't like this theme. I could only figure out the theme after I had finished the entire puzzle and investigated after-the-fact. A fun puzzle, otherwise.
1
Late, late, late! I'm afraid I got caught up in the excitement of cleaning the stove, prepping the floor for Roombie to sweep up, and doing last night's pots and pans...
It was a good while before I caught on, but I used the trick to finish the last two themers. Just when you think there can be no new things under the sun! Enjoyed it thoroughly!
1
Today's palindrome:
I'm Asian if Awkwafina is, am I?
45
Hands up for a stumble on 78D. So sure was I of my trusty iPad mini that I couldn’t see the error. I stared at SALAR for the longest time. Took a walk away, a few hours sleep, and a cross check of every single word before I received the congratulations that are certainly my just do.
4
@Babs
I was in your predicament exactly. I was so sure of iPad that I even tried changing SALAR to SALAD (Green, in a way). Somehow I think that Erik planned that whole thing to annoy us.
3
@Andrew
Same here iPad and salad...
This actually brought back a high school memory. One of the guys in our group had a name that created a rather rude phrase when the odd letters were removed, and after someone figured it out, we never let him forget it.
Tim, if you're out there somewhere, it wasn't me!
Absolutely true story.
DYT,
I'm sure it's a true story, but it would be a more interesting story if you shared his last name.
(Unless you have special rude phrases in Minnesota, removing the odd letters from TIM -- or TIMOTHY -- doesn't seem to do the trick.)
3
@Barry Ancona
Barry--
Think of it as a puzzle. It's definitely solvable.
This Sunday puzzle nearly drove me INSANE because
A) while most of the theme phrases I found relatively easy to get, I couldn’t get how they linked to the catch phrase “what are the odds”
B) the middle left of the crossword grid also sent me to a mental asylum.
It’s groovy???
Backpack filler?????
Part of a trunk (I was thinking elephant noses and travel trunks!!)
Source of call-ups in baseball lingo??
1400?????????????!!!
As it turns out the breakthrough moment for me was figuring out that 1400 meant 2pm in 24 hr time notation.
That then gradually lead to solving the rest of that absolutely insidious portion of the puzzle even including the answer for the baseball clue. (I am not really a sports fan)
I will say this though: today’s puzzle really made me work to maintain my current nearly 5 month streak and so for that I give kudos to Erik.
Incidentally, I struggle to see how a Sunday puzzle can be filled in 5 minutes on an iPhone app. Even with pencil and paper, that is an amazing feat. My hats off to anyone who can move their fingers that fast!
2
@Ian
Now that you remind me, I objected strongly to the SCREW's being called 'groovy.' A SCREW is an inclined plane (a simple machine) wrapped around a central core. Only the head might have a slit/groove (and it's the least important feature).... Kind of a stretch! We put up our drywall with screws--none of those nail-heads popping out in our house!
5
@Mean Old Lady,
My reaction to the cluing was, "hmm, well okay." I usually think of a SCREW as having a thread. But I suppose the valley between the crests of the helical thread could be called a groove. But it's the thread that makes a SCREW a fastener.
2
I'm with Henry. With a screw, It's just a spiral groove mapped 3D to a slightly tapering cylinder instead of to the usual 2D flat surfaces on which we are used to seeing what we might call a groove.
3
Error in the clue for 31 down, "converted splits" would be "spared" not the correct "spares"
@surfertom007 Spares are converted splits.
4
@surfertom007 - the SPARES is referring to the splits that are being converted, not the act of converting splits. The splits have have been converted are SPARES.
If "to convert a split" is defined as "to spare", then "spared" could be the right answer. I'm not a big bowling person so I can't say if spare is ever used as a verb. I've only ever seen it as a noun in the bowling sense.
4
@Wen thank you! I don't know why my brain was stuck in verb mode.
Just about did me in. I had 121A early but I had to solve each of the theme clues ponderously and didn't get it until I read the blog. Sigh. Thank goodness for teenage children though - at least the Manga clue came easily.
2
Sadly, the farm team refs fumbled an opportunity to earn their stripes with the 'non-call' @1A/97D.
3
I solved the theme backwards. After getting several of the theme entries, I saw the alternating letter idea and used that knowledge to get SMALL TOWN SALON. My final sticking point was the SE corner and I actually used what I had learned from the theme entries to solve the revealer instead of the contrary.
Two Canadian gimmes today: LEN Cariou and GORDIE Howe. WHAT ARE THE ODDS?
2
SPELLING BEE Grid
36/186, 1 Pangrams
By Start:
Ax7, Gx9, Lx1, Nx4, Rx4, Tx9, Yx2
By Length:
4x7, 5x14, 6x9, 7x2, 8x2, 9x2
∑ 4 5 6 7 8 9
A 7 2 3 1 - 1 -
G 9 1 1 4 1 - 2
L 1 - - - - 1 -
N 4 1 3 - - - -
R 4 - 3 1 - - -
T 9 1 4 3 1 - -
Y 2 2 - - - - -
∑ 36 7 14 9 2 2 2
15
@Evan --
Whew! Thanks for the grid.
Managed the G9s, but still missing odds & ends. I invented an L8, adjective about the voice box, but it turns out the word exists with a spelling unconducive to this Bee.
And to think I was dreading a Bee with 3 vowels... one is coming, I'm sure.
Thank you, Evan.
QB three days in a row! I am becoming insufferable. And/or we must be having a string of very pedestrian word lists.
1
@AudreyLm
I find I'm getting to QB more easily since the same words are repeated from puzzle to puzzle.
I've also learned to test variant spellings - 8 letter L word, I'm looking at you idly.
6
Bet you never thought about the fact that every other letter of Erik Agard's name is a vowel except for the final "d."
Just like I bet nobody else has ever thought of this idea for a crossword puzzle theme.
I mean, really, WHATARETHEODDS?!!
Thank you, Erik, for this totally original, fascinating, one-in-a-million idea!
7
Um, why is the Will Shortz introduction only in print? Am I missing something? Cause, just why?
6
@ad absurdum - Last week's Sunday puzzle had a blurb only in the Newspaper version that wasn't in other versions as well. I almost never look at the Newspaper version, so I'm no help in how long this has been happening or why.
3
ad absurdum,
I don't know why, but online solvers can see them by looking at the PDF.
(Will's "new" notes have been about the constructors, not about the puzzles. Puzzle notes, I trust, will still appear in the online formats.)
1
@Barry Ancona
Thank you, Barry. Might I ask for a little more guidance? What app do you use to open the pdf? "Just open it, you stupid computer!" doesn't seem to work.
2
Hard to construct and a real delight to solve. I loved this.
It took me a while to figure out the theme. There were a lot of repeated letters in the theme answers, but they weren't anagrams. What were they? Somewhere along the way I figured it out -- helped enormously by the title: EVERYTHING EVENS OUT IN THE END. And I figured it out just in the nick of time, because I needed the theme to solve in the SE, where three big mistakes almost made me crash and burn: SERa instead of SERT; PRoCess instead of PRECHEW; and WOLFF, then WOLFE, instead of WOOLF. (Yes, I know now, that's Tobias, not Virginia. There are just too many differently spelled wolf authors, if you ask me.)
I defended the truly disgusting PRECHEW (97D)because I thought of all those PBS Nature programs where Mamma Birds PRECHEW the worms before feeding them to their young. Baby birds are referred to as "infants" too, right? I certainly wasn't thinking of PRECHEWed food for human babies. I sure hope Erik wasn't either!
4
@Nancy Mamas have prechewed tough food for their babes for millennia. Amazingly, the human race persists.
@Nancy, after the debut, baby birds are first hatchlings, then nestlings, then fledglings (when they develop the feathers they need for flying).
Have read lots of manga and still couldn’t get SAILOR MOON til half the crosses were filled in. Sigh. Couldn’t get Inuyasha out of my head.
Hard one for me. Some of us wake up on Sunday am and do the puzzle blear-eyed with the first cup of coffee. But a little more fun than most Sundays.
I loved this theme . Best Sunday time in a while . After starting up top I solved the revealer at the bottom which really helped me finish the puzzle . PROTEST POET :) Fond memories of Alan Ginsberg and the sixties .
3
When I had only written in the first word of the revealer, I thought, briefly and against all odds and reason, that it would be "What is you doin' baby".
6
you know, folks, some of us do this puzzle on a Saturday night after a couple of Pinots...have a little mercy. I didnt understand this "theme" until this morning. I can do trivia at that point but counting is not on the menu.
4
From the department of "In other news..."
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/23/opinion/sunday/women-directors-quotas.html#commentsContainer
For those who are keeping track of how many constructors are male and how many are female.
I'm not taking a side here, just providing something to ponder.
The repeat letters jumped out, of course, but I couldn't spot the pattern until getting to the revealer, which created an immensely pleasurable aha moment. Now, if you tell me Erik created this masterpiece in 5 minutes, or 5 days, I'll faint. Five months I MIGHT believe. Hats off to this amazing piece of construction. And thanks for that delightful aha moment.
7
I was not too into the puzzle after finishing early this a.m., but then I read Caitlin’s column and the incisive comments from you all and, in both senses of the word, I was woke.
Barry A., I left a new use of OAR as a rebus at the end of yesterdays’s rebus-related thread started by @janinedc.
1
Well, I did not enjoy the theme so much but I DID enjoy
Some clues: the standard DEVIATION, GAOL (pronounced jail!), to be abroad as ETRE, BULLies as COWS , our IVORY tower.
Misdirection=MCCC for 1400;
Juxtapositions: AGRIculture next to THE FARM TEAM, NOT TO MUCH INTO ONIONS; LIES next to FIFA; TIES OFF and WHAP.
Just because I like resonances: PLUMB and LEAD; DEVIATION, DEN and LAIR; EID and sailor MOON.
3
@Laura Rodrigues in London
"Misdirection=MCCC for 1400"
You didn't do that well in math(s)?
2
@Steve L
I did not do well in typing!
5
@Laura Rodrigues in London
I believe that 1400=MCD.
1
Started off with Chewbacca and never looked back. Figured out the pattern for the thematic ones pretty quickly, so I just lucked out on this one. Streak is now at 77!
2
Not a fan of this one.
LETTER BOXED
Quick if clunky for me today.
C-E(8), E-Y(8).
I suspect there are many possibilities.
HINTS
Precision in mobile communications
X...E (9), E...E (8)
@Kevin Sparks
C-E (5), E-Y (11)
@Mr. Mark
Excellent find! My bet is that will be the NYT solution.
Loved this puzzle - very clever!
2
I knew the final word of each theme answer was embedded in what preceded it, but didn't make the every-other-letter connection, so getting the reveal was an "Oh wow!", combined with a "D'oh, should have seen that!", chased by a "How the heck did he come up with these?"
Regarding that last question -- Because I still like to believe in real life superheroes, I want to believe Erik came up with these answers to his highly creative theme without a computer.
Today, Erik, because you can work miracles with letters, I'm going to think of you as the ABCDEF ACE.
8
@Lewis -- I spent at least 5 minutes before posting -- originally on Rex, as you know -- trying to come up with a *praise phrase* in the form of the themers. I failed totally. So kudos to you for succeeding!
1
Wow. Quite a workout for me, but I managed to finish without any help, so I was sure it would be easy for most everyone else. There were a number of things I 'knew' but just couldn't recall early on - CHEWBACCA, CELIE and DARLA (even with the DA in place) - but they came to me eventually.
I had my best toeholds in the bottom so worked my up from there and thus had the reveal early on. And I did figure it out on my own, but not until after I completed the puzzle. It might have helped a lot if I'd bothered to pause and do that earlier, but I was too focused on working things out. I thought the theme was quite clever and made for a great 'aha' moment after the fact. Actually a number of good 'aha' moments during the solve when answers finally dawned on me.
OT: I know I've mentioned this before, but we have a lot of knew commenters here. I actually saw Allen Ginsberg and the band 'The Fugs' in performance in Appleton, Wis. in 1968 when I was in college there. Didn't find out until the next day that after the concert they went out to the local cemetery and exorcised the ghost of Joseph McCarthy. Wish I'd been able to see that.
Lastly, just in case there are any here who aren't familiar with the works of Ginsberg, I would encourage you to just go and at least read the first sentence of his poem 'Howl.'
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49303/howl
:)
5
@Rich in Atlanta
Loving this. If I ever finish before running off to church, that is a hope. I'm thinking Ginsburg is a weird opposite-mirror-reflection of Ayn Rand, who could write similarly breathless screeds.
2
@Rich in Atlanta
I think I had a similar solving experience. I didn't get the theme, though it would have helped. And it was quite a mental workout for me. I swear I could feel my brain's neurons firing and firing and trying so hard to meet up and give me the answers. Sometimes, in a puzzle full movies and actors, they just give up and die. But they worked hard for me here, and I also miraculously finished the puzzle with not lookups. I smiled so many times when I filled in a word, and felt incredibly intelligent when I got that little jingle. And then I came here to have my bubble burst. So I'm happy to see that someone else thought it was at least a bit challenging!
3
artist Josė Sert is from Catalan, Spain. His name should have been stated as Josep Sert, imho
6
@Ken G
I mentioned the same thing, especially since both Britannica and Wikipedia list it as "Josep", and the clue is written in English, not Spanish.
BTW
En passant is also a fencing term with feet passing- sort of similar to pawns passing in chess.
2
@Ruth
En Passant is also a term known to epicures. When eating shrimp salad, dinner partners will take a prawn from each other’s cup...
2
@Kevin Sparks Nice pawn/prawn play.
2
Off-topic, but I don't know where else to post this. After comments here last Sunday about David Kwong's off-off-broadway show in New York, The Enigmatist, I booked two seats for this evening and brought a long time puzzling friend. It was a wonderful show! Superior magic, but mostly puzzling, and when you thought you were moving fully into magic, he'd bring a past puzzle back in. If you're in the NYC area or coming here any weekend in March, make the effort to see his show. I guarantee you'll be delighted.
7
Just gorgeous the whole way through. Thanks for this gift of a puzzle, Erik!
5
Agard continues to be one of my favorite constructors. His clues are fresh and fun. The obvious to me is seldom correct! Enjoy!
8
Nice puzzle, but I'm not one to try to suss out tricky, subtle, complex, whatever themes. Even after getting Caitlin's somewhat convoluted explanation, I felt no urge to applaud. Some clever themes have it, some don't. IMO this one didn't. Just me, apparently.
16
Caitlin and Friends,
Y’all are missing another super groovy part of the theme! It’s a clever pseudo revealer right at 1A. Han Solo’s tagline is “Never tell me the odds!”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uYX-NSZMqt0
May the Force be With You!!!
16
Since a few commenters have mentioned The Man From Uncle, I'm going to use this as an excuse to toss out these facts: UNCLE stands for United Network Command for Law Enforcement and THRUSH, their nemesis, stands for Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity (THRUSH has since been renamed as Amazon).
8
@PaulSFO
I loved the Man from Uncle. I remember how a fifth grade classmate and I would talk about it the day after it aired. Neither one us ever knew h w it ended because we'd fall asleep while watching.
4
Unlike a bunch of commenters today the theme really helped me. Not sure I'd have been comfortable with a couple of the answers without it.
Always love an Agard puzzle, today was no different
3
Hi all! Apropos to nothing I have to share my joy and thrill to come home and find my daughter (3rd generation Crossword solver) reading the clues and answers of a midweek puzzle to my granddaughter aged 18 days thus making for a 4th generation of word nerds in our lineage!
The Bible says “Bring up a child in the way he should go...” and that quote along with a picture of said event is exactly what went on my Facebook page.
18
Oops forgot my own Grandmother. Make Miss Eowyn the fifth generation!
6
Don AMECHE was a gimme as he and his cousin (NFL player Alan) grew up here in Kenosha. A lot of the answers were pretty straightforward, and I got through the puzzle mostly left to right, top to bottom, so the themers came first, and I missed the revealer until almost the last (and didn't get the theme till Caitlin explained it).
2
Boldly entered CHEWBACCA and proceeded with the downs to see if it would work. Tada! (Briefly thought of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) Paused about halfway through the solve to look at the theme answers I had and saw the “odd” pattern for the last word. That helped me get the rest which is always very satisfying. Remembered AMECHE, BOLGER, and CELIE which was also very satisfying. Last to fill in was the reveal.
4
A fine Sunday from Mr. Agard. Simple enough theme and we'd seen something similar before. Like @David Connell - figured it out about a little past half way through. Looking at SMALL TOWN SALON and SWINGING SIGN made me realize what it was. Used that knowledge to get the rest, since in most cases, I had the first part of the theme entry. The exception being FOOTNOTE FONT - I had FONT first, which made making FOOTNOTE a lot simpler.
Although I went through the puzzle 3-4 passes, it was filling in gradually. In the end it was a fast one, especially once the theme was sussed out. I guess I was ATTUNED to it. It's NOT OFTEN that it happens on a Sunday puzzle.
I liked the clue for PIG STY, even though it wasn't that tricky.
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In case anyone wants to see the orchid https://www.marthastewart.com/1536830/new-york-botanical-garden-orchid-awkwafina-annual-show
Also FWIW the Chadwicks have been naming Cattleya hybrids (orchids) for the First Ladies for a few decades now. There should be a few stories and pics on their site. https://www.chadwickorchids.com
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This is probably a better link to the 1st Lady orchids. IMHO the Hillary Rodham Clinton is my fave, I've killed it 3x. Laura Bush is more forgiving of my neglect and poor care. https://www.chadwickorchids.com/content/celebrity-orchids
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also did puzzle without theme. some names in my wheelhouse (AMECHE), some not (AWKWAFINA). Never heard of her but the crosses helped.
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When I saw the clue for 1A, I really wanted the answer to be KURYAKIN! (Big David McCallum fan from way back).
Didn't get the theme until I read the column, although I did notice the repeated letters--but I didn't make any pattern out of them. Oh well. But I knew SAILOR MOON!
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@Liz B
I thought of KURYAKIN for a moment as well.
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@Liz B
Likewise for Kuryakin, Liz
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@Liz B
I even started to type it just for fun!
I have not finished but I must publish my horror at clue 63 across
Does anyone working or editing these crosswords have any idea, at all, of where this horrific vernacular came from?
It conjures up chain gangs, mine workers and plantation slaves. It is hideous.
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@L.A. Sunshine No; if anything, the term seems to far predate anything you've mentioned, with etymological origins possibly going back to 1522.
According to OED, bossman (or boss man, as a variant) simply means someone who is in charge, possibly used facetiously (the YES SIR fill feels slightly sarcastic, given the clue).
If the clue conjures those things in your mind, maybe it's just you.
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@L.A. Sunshine You're easily horrified. How about "surprise" or "disappointment" or even "irritation" as a way to characterize your disapproval of this clue. Reactions as over-the-top as "horror" and "horrific" mainly just serve to provoke snickering.
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@L.A. Sunshine I’m not sure why the responses to your comment are so hostile. Maybe you _did_ hit on something, despite the protestations.
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A lovely Sunday service at the Church of the Puzzerene. Kicked things off with a nice Star Wars clue and a good, graspable theme. Only complaint is the clue for and use of DRAGGY which was so bad it nearly soured our honeymoon. I took this to be a pointed and personal attack from our arch nemesis Mr. Shortz himself. Nobody ruins our vacations except me, and maybe the weather! You’ll have to try harder than that William.
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@Arielle and Jon
Maybe I am just "dreadfully slow" this morning, but I don't really understand your complaint about DRAGGY.
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It doesn't even sound like a word. Yes I looked it up. But what an awkward word. I resisted typing it until the very end. It just seemed like I was trying to force it with some made up word. Never heard it before.
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@Arielle and Jon
Congratulations! And don't forget the sunscreen! I learned this on my Jamaican honeymoon, many moons ago. (Unfortunately, that marriage didn't quite "take." On the bright side, we have remained friends.)
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I actually did use the theme to finish the solve - I figured it out about halfway through and that definitely helped me fill out the other half more easily.
Eid (34D) is a little off in my eye - Eid al-Fitr is the holiday/festival that marks the end of Ramadan, but Eid without further specification simply means holiday/festival. Eid mubarak, Happy Holiday.
I just saw "Crazy Rich Asians" last week, and Awkwafina was (for my money) the saving grace of that film. She's the bomb.
About the 15D column: Illuminati Oolala Opus Dei...the less said the better.
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I had the same experience as other commenters -- neither the revealer nor the themers had any factor in my solve. Note to self, though, if you have a puzzle where you need or want to see the revealer and the themers, don't solve on your smartphone, as I did tonight while re-watching "When Harry Met Sally" with my family. (Puzzlemucker, how much time do I get for that as a handicap?)
The Sunday grid is too small for me to make out comfortably when displayed in its entirety on my smartphone screen, and I'm therefore forced to pinch zoom, which leaves me seeing and solving only specific sections of the grid at any given time. (It also can be a bit annoying because the app automatically moves you to the next open across or down entry, which might not be in the same section of the grid that you are currently solving.) Anyway, the point here is that I never get a good look at the entire grid and the highlighted themers relative to the revealer when I'm solving in this mode.
Oh, and the puzzle itself? I thought it was ingenious, even if some of the themers were a bit forced, as Jeff and others have noted. And WHAT ARE THE ODDS that Mr. Agard lives in the same county as me? It was fun to read up on his chess, crossword, and Jeopardy exploits in WaPo, NYT, and Bethesda Magazine.
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@Henry Su
I print the puzzle every day (or evening) to solve since I stare at screens too much as it is, and I like being able to easily check the crossing clues before filling in answers. Of course, I'm getting to the age where the Sunday puzzle is almost too small to read when printed on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper.
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@Art Kraus,
Believe me, I know what you're saying. At the end of my work day, my eyes are also dead-tired from staring at screens. Still, the joy of being able to open and complete a crossword from the Archive on my subway ride home, and to do the next day's puzzle when it's released online in the evening, is too much for me to give up. And so far it's only the Sunday grid that I have trouble comfortably seeing on my smartphone screen. Knock on wood.
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@Art Kraus When I was printing the Sunday puzzle, I'd print the top half (with the grid) at 125% in landscape mode. Then use the 8.5x11 copy only for the bottom clues. Made it easier to enter and overwrite corrections. If reading is the problem, print the bottom the same way.
Out the theme early, made the rest much easier. But the “revealer” was close to my last entry. (I do have a lifelong habit of working top to bottom, left to right)
Delightful.
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Finished it without ever getting the theme - I did notice the repetition of the letters and the respective positions, but then the finish jingle popped.
It's one of those bizarre, limbo like "to do this puzzle you need to understand the title and theme, but then again, not really" fills.
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Setting aside the theme ...
I had SKYWALKER for CHEWBACCA. Not a Star Wars fan, and I thought that must be right. Solo being a last name made me even more sure. Lost some time on that. Still a much faster than average Sunday.
Well clever theme I guess, but like some other commenters I completed the puzzle before I figured out what the "reveal" meant. Fortunately fairly easy solve so I didn't really need it.
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What (s)he said.
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I grokked the theme from the first theme entry, and it was fun to try to get the others with only one or two letters filled in. (I couldn't get Ginsberg that way, alas.) Sunday PB, probably because I'm more alert on Saturday nights.
@Morgan
You must not have been Pb-brained to get a PB with this heavy-hitter.
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Theme seems forced, easy puzzle with generous crosses.
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Brian,
I think Erik included 18A just for you!
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I’m anything but standard !
You forgot to report your DEVIATION!
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Not having a clue about the theme made no difference to me in terms of difficulty solving this puzzle. True, there were some hard answers, but also many easy ones leading to enough crosses in the fill to complete the hard ones, too.
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MEM,
Likewise. The themers fell for me without seeing the theme, which I only noticed after the solve when I re-read the revealer clue and re-examined the puzzle.
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@MEM
I also solved without knowing the theme, but I was determined to figure it out before relying on Caitlin. They all work for me with the exception of 21A, but I won't LOSE SLEEP over that.
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Good puzzle, but there's something off about the reveal. As given, I'm looking at every other letter, and seeing SALONAO. Of course, I'm supposed to be seeing SALON SALON, but that's not how the reveal is worded. Since the reveal is the marquee answer, this should have been more accurate:
"How lucky was that?" ... or a hint to the the beginnings of the answers to the starred clues
or something like that.
Steve,
Sorry, but "HINT to the answers" seems vague enough to me to not require using every odd letter. It's a hint, not a formula.
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P. S. Note that the puzzle title suggests that "odd" should not go on indefinitely...
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The second word is formed from the odd letters of the first word: S-A-L-O-NSALON.
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