I'm wondering if anyone else is having the same problem I'm having.
I finished the puzzle on my phone. no congratulations, no yellow box. then i checked the puzzle a couple of times. nothing, no response from the app. then I looked up the answers. everything is right but still nothing.
does anyone else have this problem? my phone is a pixel 2, never happened before. I'm bummed because it's broken my steak. ... on a Monday!
@Susan,
Have you checked to see if your crossword app is fully updated? I also have an Android phone and I have not experienced this issue. I would also report your problem to NYT crossword tech support; they have the ability to restore your streak if it is indeed a glitch in the software.
Generic if specific comment
@David Connell I truly enjoy your language asides! Reminds me of John Ciardi’s NPR (I think) commentary.
Anytime you are in the NC area I will buy you a cup of coffee.
Keep them coming!
5
@Kevin Sparks - well, thanks, Kevin. I am in NC every summer, teaching. I hope we'll have another Wordplay get together this summer. Did you ever see my question about if you are related to any Sparks from Asheboro? One of my former students.
@David
I am sorry I missed your question.
I suspect I am related to almost any Sparks in NC. My ancestors settled in the western part of the state a very long time ago. As a fairly recent transplant it has been a delight to learn of my roots.
I look forward to seeing you this summer then!
Somewhere in my past, I came across the altered phrase, that of 'alert' being 'on the quivy vivvy'. Does anyone out there know where that might have been the usage, or where I might have read it? Cockney, mayhap?
Sometimes people are beside themselves, but right now I'm behind myself, so I have no time like the present, and will have to return when I;m past due.
In the mean time, apparently there's a 'Close butt no cigar' BOX sign.
Shall return betimes, but currently am relegated to a TACT isle.
'Peter and Gordon', good eye for an early Easter egg
1
erm, Sorry, but no Love is coming between me and my LONI. Anderson it was, and Anderson it is, and Anderson it will be until the day that turkeys fly.
2
Leapy,
A quick Google check offers:
(1) The name of a song on indie Londoner William D. Drake's self-titled album from 2001 or 2003. (Can't find lyrics.)
(2) A description of excited prospective cattle buyers in the January 1, 1921, issue of the American weekly "Holstein-Friesian World."
@Leapfinger I have thoughts about this.... ;)
2
"Peter and Gordon, e.g." = shameless self promotion. I love it!
5
I had QUO vive crossed with ONHD and needed the lifeline to spot the error. But know I’ve learned a new expression: qui vive
If you know someone who's a bit intimidated by the thought of solving a NYT crossword puzzle, this puzzle would be a fun, confidence-building introduction
8
My five favorite clues from last week:
1. Producer of the Jacksons? (3)
2. Hidey-holes? (5)
3. Temple, for one (9)
4. Important word in both physics and religion (4)
5. Mob rule? (7)
ATM
PORES
CHILD STAR
MASS
RIOT ACT
17
@Lewis - as usual, thanks for the list.
Couple of comments -
#2 - the clue was "Hide-y holes?". The placement of the hyphen mattered and was highlighted by Deb.
#3 - Could've gone so many different ways - again referencing the Erik Agard championship solving in the ACPT last year, the commentators (Greg Pliska and Ophira Eisenberg) mentioned the vagueness of clues that can go so many different ways. Temple could have been anatomical, educational, religious, etc., but was ultimately theatrical/biographical.
3
@Wen
Thank you for that catch on #2.
1
@Lewis I got the answer PORES but would someone please explain the clue? TIA
First off, Deb, that beach scene is just plain cruel.
As to the puzzle, it's as easy as a Monday should be but it held my interest, too, from SWIMMING to CYCLING to RUNNING to the perfect reveal. Seems like a competition that could be competed on a warm, sunny beach. Deb!
I love it when a constructor sneaks their name into the puzzle but I can't remember when a constructor included there full name in a clue. Well played, Peter Gordon!
9
@Johanna, "their"
3
Very nice Monday puzzle. Cluing was straightforward enough that I didn’t need crosses to complete. I always go back and look at the down clues and fill. COEQUAL, though technically correct, just seems weird to my ear. Not as weird as MYEYE, when I read it as Mmm YEee YEee and thought we were losing control of language completely! Duh! That’s what I get for doing the puzzle before having enough caffeine...
;-)
4
@Just Carol,
Botswanese, pronounced M'yeh-yeh, and meaning 'honoured grandmother'
[Sourced from the Ladies' No. 1 Detective Agency, with apologies]
1
Solved in less than 10 minutes. Need to buy a lottery ticket
3
Spelling bee.
To start the daily buzz, justifiable chemophobia may explain a bee's dislike of MOLAL. On the other hand, it is folly for it to ignore POMOLOGY.
1
@speede
The daily buzz, she done been started earlier, inaccurately as per my usual.
@Liane
Buzzed in, I guess, while I was typing.
@speede
Since this is not the “official” Bee thread, and hopefully I will not be perceived as an intruder on the hive, my favorite Richard Thompson song of all time (and one of my favorite songs. Period) is “Beeswing.” It’s so melancholy, though lovely, that it might be best to wait until Friday to listen, but here it is:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HApy-Xoix-g
1
Mondays are Mondays, but today's puzzle at least offered a clever theme which I noticed mid-solve and actually used in the solve.
As Liz mentioned in the very first comment, I too always think of Peter & Gordon when I see Peter Gordon's byline and smiled at the clue for DUO.
5
There were some attempts to enliven this Monday-easy puzzle with clues that were more interesting, and I applaud them all. The Truman quote at 26D (who knew that HST, of all presidents, was such a wit?). The SOS clue (52A). And the GUS clue (41D), which could have been another boring proper name but, happily, wasn't. As for fill, I liked COLD FEET, AD NAUSEAM, and the aptly-clued COEQUAL (take that, President Trump!)
I did observe some green paint on my CD SINGLE. And there were names a-plenty, even though all were perfectly gettable from crosses. My solve therefore went SWIMMINGLY. A bit more CHARM and STYLE would have been nice, but, hey, it's Monday, and I know this constructor is perfectly capable of creating a fiendishly difficult late-week challenge whenever he wants to.
2
SPELLING BEE THREAD
55 Words, 211 points, 1 Pangram
# 4 5 6 7 8 9 TOT
A 2 1 3 1 5
G 4 5 7 16
L 6 3 1 1 1 12
M 2 3 1 6
O 1 1
P 8 3 2 1 `4
Y 1 1
5
@Liane
The Bee, despite being a pollinator, remains uninterested in the MAYPOP and POMOLOGY, the study of growing fruits. He also doesn't care for certain spellings of the 9 letter lickable candy, whether fruit or plant flavored.
I don't blame him for not caring about the study of muscles, bird eggs or algae (MYOLOGY, OOLOGY or ALGOLOGY). Though I like birds and their nests, I'm content to observe rather than study their eggs. I just had my deck pressure washed to remove a thick coating of that pesky algae and certainly have no desire to study it. Now, off to build the muscles hauling sticks and twigs to places where nature will enjoy them but I don't have to look at them.
HINTS: Today is "make an adverb day" with a lot of silly G words. Really, try anything, any variant spelling (which might not mean the same thing). Take good care of the girls. Talk some 1940's ganster lingo.
2
@Liane
Also, there is a CROSS-POLLINATOR alert today -- in a crossword clue, rather than the answer. Count on it, my friends.
@Liane - Thank you! Nice grid! Did you do this on the phone or on the PC?
This puzzle was perfectly enjoyable and a superswift sove, but like many others it was too easy even for a Monday. It seems to me that the bar has been lowered for Monday Tuesday and Wednesday puzzles. Am I just getting better at them?
1
@Skeptical1 I think you may be getting better. There was enough crunch in this puzzle, I thought, even though the majority fell without much resistance. Seemed an archetypical Monday puzzle in my view.
6
Was a bit surprised to see 68 comments before 6:00 a.m., but then saw that almost half of them were replies on extended discussions about STAIR(s) and Erik Agard (mostly).
As others have mentioned, was a bit surprised to see some 'easy even for a Monday' clues and yet a few unknowns as clued. In addition to those already mentioned, I wasn't familiar with CDSINGLE. And though I knew it, I wonder if anyone had to google googol. So overall a bit slower than a typical Monday for me, working those things out from the crosses.
Also somehow thought that 16a was ADNAUSEUM, but that didn't last too long.
Still a good Monday puzzle and theme; no real issues - just a bit of a raised eyebrow at the mix of clue choices.
Maybe something about the solving process in general in another comment.
1
@Rich in Atlanta
Likewise for ADNAUSEUM, Rich. I think our spelling is better.
2
@suejean - that kind of spelling gives me nauseu.
3
@Rich and @suejean The study of Latin would have saved you from that error. The preposition "ad" (to, toward, near...) takes the accusative case. "Nausea" is a first declension noun, and its accusative form is "nauseam".
I once tried to dissuade a person from printing a page headed "In Memorium" ("memoria" - also a first declension noun) to be handed out at a church service, but she was scornful of the advice.
2
Letter Box
I'll start out the day with one that should easily be beaten (if brevity is the goal) G-C(9), C-L(9)
Hint: I think it's what you call the nice regular straight lines you get on your steak when grilling.
@Phil P
B-H (5) H-L (8) after a lot of discards including a mellow tea.
TODAY'S HINT: collect the local women
@Liane
I had trouble. Of course I often do as I take a fairly random approach to looking for words. I finally came up with:
B-L (12) L-T (5)
HINT:
Not much pressure.
@Phil
Late to the party today.
I get M-C(9), C-E(6).
Hints
For me, it is a double espresso.
This puzzle was crisp and clean as a SOUSA march. And a probably unintended Easter egg in the puzzle is the Boggle-style IRON (beginning with the "i" in TRIATHLON) added to the Boggle-style MAN (beginning with either "m" in POMMEL.
Speaking of Boggle-style, you can eke out a Boggle-style SOUSA from either "s" of SOS, and the name John Phillips Sousa got me thinking about well-known people whose full middle names are always said as part of their names. In crossworld, of course, there is Brendan Emmett Quigley. In everyday life world, well, I'll start a list:
David Foster Wallace
J. Edgar Hoover
Martin Luther King
John Quincy Adams
Anyone care to add?
1
@Lewis
Writer Edgar Allan Poe and his near-soundalike songwriter and singer David Allan Coe.
3
@Steve L
Actually, there are tons of them.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
John Wilkes Booth
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
William Howard Taft
Sarah Jessica Parker
David Clayton Thomas
Billy Bob Thornton
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Billy Ray Cyrus
There are tons more; I came up with those without thinking hard. I'll let others find more.
3
@Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Francis Ford Coppola
James Earl Jones
Mary Tyler Moore
Billy Bob Thornton
I'll keep thinking.
1
What a charming, friendly pleasant puzzle! I liked the delicacy in clueing: HOOD is at its most inoffensive in Litle Red Riding Hood, and SIN less potentially chilling as seven deadly things... I was going to add SWIPE but I guess most of us are comfortable with the young ones swiping left, swiping right..
CDSINGLES bypassed me completely -was this a thing in the UK as well?
And I learned about Qui vive, and that the French sentinels used to ask “who would you prefer to live?” to find out if you one of us or the enemy? Qui voulez-vous qui vive? Vive Robert Muller!
And grateful as usual for the comments- today special thanks to David Cornell on the peculiarities of English language, and the struggle “ to retain historical spelling in the face of phonetic change”. Faerge!! ?
7
"HOOD is at its most inoffensive in Little Red Riding Hood..."
Laura,
In London, perhaps, where I hear an automobile HOOD is a bonnet, but here, today, "Little Red Riding HOOD" will certainly run afoul of #METOO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FA85RO89HA
1
@Barry Ancona
Oh dear I like the song but agree the whole concept of the little red riding hood is about predation. Angela Carter 's The Company of Wolves and all that. I was thinking of hoods as KKK, hooded prisioners, hooded before being torture, compared to which, the little red riding hood itself ( not the story) seemed inoffensive. ..
But you are right.
44A: A tribute to our constructor 69A :)
So oblivious was I to the theme I was trying to figure out what race, other than human, worked for 66A. H. Pencil swallowed an erasure in a fit of hysterical laughter.
Thanks Peter
2
As Mr. Mark pointed out there were some clues that seemed to be aimed for complete beginners, but I loved the extra long fills on a Monday. I got to the reveal before I tried to figure out the theme; the key words didn't leap out at me. Very impressive and good fun.
2
Regarding 1D on today's mini puzzle, how are 8**2 and 4**3 equal?
@Howard Schwartz
In the old Fortran programming language, ** was used to mean exponentiation. So 8**2 is 8 squared (16) and 4**3 is 4 cubed (also 16).
@Howard Schwartz
8**2 = 8*8 = 64
4**3 = 4*4*4 = 64
2
@Howard Schwartz
Just curious to know in which format you see 8**2 and 4**3? What I'm looking at shows normal exponents, with superscripts for the 2 and the 3.
The stair kerfuffle (in earlier comments) raised an etymological "oh, goody" for me, in that many English words used to have a -g- in them which is no longer pronounced, or even spelled. Stair is one of these, coming from the older stæger, a cousin of German Steiger (= step / climber).
The -i- in English diphthongs is quite often a remnant of what was once an -ege-.
stair, fair, gain, rain, wain, (chil)blain, daily, dairy - all used to have a weakly pronounced -ege- where the -i- now stands.
Other words (usually of one syllable) replaced the weak -ege with a final -y:
lay, slay, stay, clay, eye
The relation between wain and wagon, slay and slain, shows these vestiges of the old deleted G. All of the German cognates have kept the G in both spelling and pronunciation (Steiger, Regen, Auge, legen).
Many words that had a -gt or -gn in them have retained the g in their spellings, though it is so weakened as to be unpronounced:
eight, straight, light, right, tight, fight, ought, bought, sought, fraught, caught
sign, align, deign, reign, sovereign, campaign, design
All of those gh’s or g’s were given voice, once upon a time.
The challenge for English has long been the retention of historical spelling in the face of phonetic change.
20
@David Connell
That's the best explanation of the peculiarities of the English languages that I've seen, David, especially the OUGH trap so amusingly portrayed in the "I Love Lucy" episode in which Ricky is reading a story to little Ricky.
5
@suejean - Thanks for the reminder of that scene!
https://youtu.be/MAL9VD6Lz9Y?t=20
I forgot to mention that the silent G is kept in the spellings in part because it isn't silent in longer forms of the same word:
design - designate
resign - resignation
sign - signature
5
@David Connell
What a great clip! I never thought of how many different ways OUGH were pronounced! I took four years of high school Spanish and Ricky is right! No wonder English is so hard to learn!
and Elke
Besides the definition of TACT ascribed to HST, I also like the one ,reputedly by Winston Churchill, that "TACT is the ability to tell someone to go to h*ll in such a way that they look forward to the trip ".
Some TRIATHLONs would qualify being such a "trip".
10
@Robert and Elke
Excellent definition! The man surely had a way with words.
2
COEQUAL really frustrated me. I'm pretty sure "equal" does everything that word can do.
6
Took me past the 6-minute mark because of that. Unnecessary and unusual turn of phrase.
Coequal was imported into English some 700 years ago from medieval Latin, where "coequalis" was a term of law, philosophy, and theology.
Where equal implies sameness in every regard (usually comparing two things), coequal implies sameness despite differences (usually comparing more than two things).
In the Athanasian Creed, one of the three historical creeds of the western Christian tradition, it is an important word designating the equality in effect of the three different persons of the Trinity. In historical American political theory, coequal is an important descriptor for the three different, and differently empowered, branches of government. No comment on the current situation...
27
COEQUAL is on a lot of minds, a reminder for the times, I thought, that Congress is a co-equal branch of government and not a servant of the president.
13
Deb, just read that comment at the end of Wordplay about your belief that anyone can do the puzzles, even on Saturday. I started doing them regularly on -line two and a half years ago when I retired. I would take a look at Thursday, Friday, and Saturday; give a hopeless shrug; and mutter to myself, "You must be kidding." I am now on a 277-day streak. So, you are right!! Keep up the encouragement.
42
@Marcia Fidler
277 has a very nice ring to it. Here’s to 278!
3
Marcia's fiddlin' while the puzzles are burnin'.
Keep it up, Marcia!
6
@Marcia Fidler That’s wonderful! Look at you go!
4
Rather an easy Monday until I had a brain freeze at the cross of COE_UAL and _UI.
Canadian clue (besides 63D): 43A Montréal subway
Retro clue: 53D "Is not too into" - OUSTS
Hope springs eternal.
6
@Andrew,
And what about the crossing of OUSTS with OUT OF THE RUNNING?
Oh, wait, STAYS is right there too.
The Stars and Stripes Forever, I hope.
1
and Elke
Andrew- Besides the Lox and bagel option on the Metro, I was thinking of that other dominion ,besides Poseidon's domain. That dominion defined by 49A :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Mari_Usque_Ad_Mare
The WET weather leaves one often with COLD FEET.
@Andrew
The Q was my last entry.
2
Nice relaxing puzzle in spite of all the sports activity going on, although I did dash right through it.
3
A very sporty (and breezy) Monday puzzle. In addition to the themers and the revealer, the fill features gymnastics (KERRI, POMMEL), fencing (EPEE), and tennis (ILIE). What's more, DALEY (Thompson) and ASHTON (Eaton) could have been clued as Olympic decathletes and former world record holders, to boot.
Thank you, Mr. Gordon!
1
P.S., with the photo of swaying palm trees and the ocean in Deb's column, my mind was focused on summer sports. Hence I forgot to note SKI in the fill.
3
@Henry Su
I stared at that photo longer than it took me to finish the puzzle (and I didn’t finish under 5 minutes).
2
@Puzzlemucker It’s a nice view in February, isn’t it?
4
At first I was thinking okay, I know Mondays are supposed to be easy, but c’mon: Little Red Riding _______? Jack-in-The-_____? Clues that easy shouldn’t be used.
But I did like several things. HST’s quote on TACT is awesome. I loved that “Grammarian’s concern” was USAGE over STYLE.
On the three branches of government (COEQUAL), I thought the clue should have ended with “(quaint)”. But then I was happy to see OUSTS.
20
Stubby fingers and rushing kept me from a personal record time.
As Howlin Wolf sang, I am built for comfort, I ain’t built for speed...
Delightful puzzle.
10
Same here regarding the effect of fumble fingers.
2
@Kevin Sparks
I don’t have Lightnin’ Hopkins fingers either. But I was always a hunter and pecker, so I’m actually as fast on a touch screen keyboard as I am on a traditional one. At the risk of over-linking, here’s a great version of Built for Comfort:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GlBqo8Pco_A
3
5D: Light wordplay here. The “step” in “Step between two floors” is not a verb. It needs to be read as a noun, so the answer is STAIR, because a step is a STAIR.
Deb,
A STAIR is a *series of* steps; one step is *not* a stair. It's perfectly fine *light wordplay* and a cute crossword clue, but let's not get flighty.
7
I call pedantry misfire! A stair is either a set of steps or a single one. Per James Thurber (and Casey Stengel), “You could look it up.” Personally speaking, I think I’m much more likely to say I’ll take the “stairs” in lieu of the elevator, than the “stair”.
5
@Barry Ancona
It seems a DTAIR can be either the whole set of steps or just one step:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stair
https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/stair
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/stair
1
@Steve L
STAIR, not dTAIR, of course.
1
Nice puzzle. Tracy Chapman’s Cold Feet:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BfI1GFOYyb4
1
"...the entry would be S.O.S."
Deb,
It's SOS. No periods. It's not an abbreviation.
(If that's NYT Style, NYT Style is incorrect.)
1
@Barry Ancona That’s NYT style alright, and it’s not wrong inside this building.
2
Deb,
Yes, I appreciate that.
(Logic has left the building.)
3
@Deb Amlen
Don't you mean N.Y. T. style?
5
The week is off to a good start! Thanks to Mr. Gordon for this pleasant diversion. Fast and fun.
Loved COEQUAL USAGE and the theme flowed SWIMMINGLY.
2
Nice Monday puzzle. Liked the self-reference at DUO. I wonder if that's the original clue or did Will put that in.
Like @Liz B, I'm impressed with the theme entries - equal lengths, 15 characters each and related to each other in some way. The only theme that seems a little off is the middle one - it being part of a bigger word - RE-CYCLING, whereas the other two are standalone words that are part of a phrase. But hardly a deal breaker.
Lots of names, but mostly relatively well known - KERRI, LONI, HAWN, DANA, DALEY, ASHTON, ELBA, SOUSA, LISZT, GUS, ILIE, NOVA. All good.
2
You did say “mostly”, but LONI was a complete unknown for me.
1
@Wen - I was watching the ACPT video @David Connell posted yesterday of Erik Agard's sub-5 minutes solve that won him the championship. He paused and took his time. As fast as I can do it online with practically no pause, I have not been able to get better than 5 minutes. The online play must slow me down considerably or Erik Agard's traveling near the speed of light, because his (nearly) 5 minutes and my 5 minutes don't seem to be the same length of time.
1
@David Meyers,
Same here, although I take Deb's point about giving Ms. Anderson a break.
1
So glad to see the clue for 44A, as I always think of Peter and Gordon when I see Peter Gordon's byline. Maybe I can create a few pleasant earworms for the evening!
I'm always impressed when a constructor can find equal-length theme entries that sound natural. I wonder how difficult that was here?
8
Hand up for Peter and Gordon!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_lJPUKTchI
6
Liz, I didn't notice the connection of 44A with our distinguished constructor. Thanks for noting it, and bravo, Peter, for the clever plug.
2
@Barry Ancona
Great link. Great song.
2