STOATS? I don’t get it.
This puzzle was as much fun AFTER solving it when I saw
the secondary symmetry of SPINDLY / SPINDRY etc. Terrific
Thanks to Wordplay or I would have missed it !
2
... really liked the clue Artless nickname and its answer, showing together how language makes such wonderful puzzles
1
DOH!!!
I *finally* (and just now) figured out “Artless Nickname”!!
STUART - - - less the ART!!
I have just awarded myself the “Flat Forehead Award” - - THIRD Degree.
7
@PeterW
This clue took me much longer than it should have, though in all fairness I'm rarely called "Stu". Still, given that these six letters have been with me for as many decades, well.....you think YOUR forehead got slapped.
I was so pleased to finally see it that I texted the clue to family members (but only the crossword players).
2
So clever, what a pleasure to have it take shape. Ended with a smile. Thank you.
4
I still can’t figure out ONEND or NYE. Definite Natick for me.
@Steve G NYE= "New Year's Eve". Not sure about the other... maybe from "days on end"?
5
Thanks for the NYE, that makes sense.. Not so sure about on end, or one ND, or O.N.E.N.D.
Had to cheat to finish. (I'm INAFUNK.) Problem was the Natick at BENIGNI/ARNICA, where I just assumed the cross was an O. (Guess I was thinking of Benigno Aquino ...) Like Caitlin, I also had to try both C and K at the SKOSH/KATANAS cross.
My biggest problem, though, was with the cross of ONEND and NYE. The former I kept parsing as ONE _D and nothing made sense for the latter until I grokked the acronym.
Got "part 2" (the left/right vertical entries being nearly identical) quickly, which helped with the solve. However, I didn't notice that all the circles were L's on the left and R's on the right until I finished. Also, I didn't realize there were no L's or R's elsewhere in the puzzle. Amazing job, Dr. Nediger!
1
I saw the Rs on the right and Ls on the left early on, but did not get the very clever pairings until I read the blog. Wish I had seen it on my own but I still enjoyed the solve. Nice job!
3
Made me GASP when Tiger went RIGHT off the tee on 11... sticky SITUATION. When he worked it back to the LEFT on 16, it was pure magic. WINSBIG without much FUSS!!! STUNS the sports world!!!
6
Nicely challenging overall, though the special theme wasn’t very interesting, and didn’t become apparent until near the end.
Finished in 25:07, a bit longer than my usual
This took a bit longer than my usual Sunday time, but in the end most of it fell together and the satisfaction was worth the wait. (I stumbled over SKOSH and ARNICA, which haven’t so far been part of my active vocabulary.) I thought the theme was truly inspired. As a linguist, Mr. Nediger could tell you that many DEN- IZENs of EASTASIA, including any who still wield KATANAs, make no distinction in their own languages between our two “liquid” sounds, l and r. The symmetrically paired entries at 1/18, 5 /14 , 81/83 and 86/91 Down would thus sound about the same for them even where the place of stress is different.
2
I had my first giggle at my NW start with the TOPLESS appearance. [No stories about that little resort in the Poconos right now...Maybe another time] The second one came with MOLASSES, thinking about Mean Old Lady 'burro'ing in her garden. My solve path after that was rather looked like a Jeffy in "Family Circus", so it was uite a while till I filled in MORASSES, but that was a big "Hey, hey!", and enough for me to look around and match up GO_TOPLESS with GO_TO_PRESS. You'd think that getting hit on your SPECS right between the eYES with a pair of bookends would do the trick, but you'd be wrong. I got as far as looking for paired entries on the sides, but when the excellent revealer RYES didn't have a pairing LYES, my brain started to loaf a little more. It wasn't till after finishing that my eyes went looking around in circles, and noticed ... all the Ls on the Left, and... all the Rs on the Right!! [ GASP!!] Only after that did I notice there were no other Ls or Rs, and floated right up to the highest peaks of admiration, since (as any Wheel of Fortune watcher will know) RSTLNE are the most common letters in the English language.
So I'm duly, and maybe even unduly, impressed.
No time now to discuss ITS ODD DADBOD now -- have an early preSeder to tend to
Thanks to the Gnädige Nädiger for all his time and trubble.
6
@Leapfinger
Just noticed that RYES is supposedly a homophone for what bread loaves do.
Well, not all bread loaves!
Happy Passover in a few days to those who celebrate!
3
Puzzle filled with pleasant surprises and straighforward yet clever clues. Thoroughly enjoyable.
1
Filling in the grid correctly was straight forward but upon examining the completed puzzle I couldn't get the theme until I read the blog. So to my mind, I didn't completely solve it.
I got MOLASSES and MORASSES right away (with a chuckle), then noted GOTOPLESS (again with a chuckle) and GOTOPRESS. At that point, I checked the theme (on my phone, the theme doesn't show up unless you ask for information about the puzzle), and filled in the rest of the Ls and Rs.
My aging eyes and fat fingers slowed me down a bit, as they always do on Sunday if I am solving on my phone, but the symmetry of the answers made it a romp--I just transferred letters in the themed answers from one side to the other.
Not over-challenging for me, but another construction tour-de-force. My hat is off to Dr. Nediger.
2
Was thinking about the L-R aspect, and it seems like a fair amount of similarly structured word pairs with one or more Ls and Rs in the strings could have qualified for inclusion.
TARRY - TALLY
ROAD - LOAD
DEAR - DEAL
GROAT - GLOAT
ALLOW - ARROW
And a few "hermaphrodites":
LEER - REEL
LEVER - REVEL
2
@Dr W
Can you come up with any that are seven letters or more?
1
Sigh, debunk BMI and related obesity at your peril. My current tour of duty as a research psychologist is in health care. Your bar chart risk increments for most major diseases and musculoskeletal injury is highly correlated with one’s BMI. Sermon over.
NETIZEN slowed me down along with felon for EXCON. Given that misery loves company I was pleased to read others met a similar fate.
Rained like heck here last night.
7
@dk
Speaking of BMI and obesity, I've been reading Rick Reilly's "Commander in Cheat," which I highly recommend even if, like me, you know/like nothing about golf. In it, he points out that Trump's physician listed the president at 6'3" and a weight that put him just a hair -- a skosh -- under the obesity threshold. Trump, Reilly says, is no more than 6'1".
@dk
I too started with FELON, and O-N was fine with the crosses, but the F didn't work as the end of AMAZE, so I changed it to the ever-popular ELTON (isn't he a person with a record? nice to have him clued as something other than a toilet, although that answer is usually LOO) and liking this solution so much, I fell into the classic hole of crossword solving and steadfastly refused (subconsciously) to change it again, thereby creating massive confusion re: EXAMINES and INCREMENTS. Thank goodness for this column when one gives up, but still cares.
I’m in AWE of the cleverness and difficulty of construction that went into this puzzle. That was a STAGGERING effort/product for any constructor. Mind boggling!!
Is a coincidence - - - or is there a reason we have a second black-square cross at bottom/center of this puzzle? Isn’t Easter about this time of year? If including the cross was intentional, that adds yet another factor of creativity.
BUT - - Mr. Nediger sir,
Casting the word OBESE on your word junk-heap is ill-advised - - IMHO - - unless you also want to scrap “fat”, “rotund”, “tubby”, “roly-poly”, “over-weight” and all the other terms that might be used to describe an excess avoirdupois. And, certainly, all of these words/terms *might* be used with an intentional, negative inference to a person - - but they all have *other* meanings and uses which do NOT imply such inferences - and some even apply to *things*.
OBESE is also a *medical* term to describe a physical condition which is hazardous to the long-term good health of the person to whom it applies. (At my workplace, we once watched a truly obese man in his twenties DIE before our eyes - of a massive heart attack - and the post-mortem examination revealed atherosclerosis *directly* related to his condition of obesity.)
So - once again - I have to suggest that we NOT discard all otherwise-legitimate words which become co-opted by some people and which may cause sensitivities in other people.
10
@PeterW
I had the same thought as you but was reluctant to open what I can only assume to be a delicate subject to some. To my mind, OBESE is a perfectly valid word with a long history and a specific non-judgmental meaning. Will seems to see it otherwise, but if not clued in a degrading way, I see no reason to purge it.
8
@PeterW
He didn't say he was dropping the word from the English language, just not including it future puzzles. There are a variety of words which have proper and neutral meanings and which are perfectly good workaday words, but which also can carry negative associations for some. Some puzzle constructors try to side-step bringing up such associations during what should be a fun diversion. They can't always, but I applaud the sensitivity.
8
@PeterW
I totally agree. I am 30 pounds overweight and have no problem with being characterized as OBESE. As you say, it's a valid, factual, medical term with no pejorative connotation. It surprises me that someone could be offended by this word, or that a puzzle-constructor would choose to stop using it. Some folks are way too sensitive these days.
9
I should have picked up on the lack of C in Japanese, but I didn't, so I finished with one wrong letter. I wondered about 'Peeples person,' which was a bit of a Natick, but that worked out for me. I didn't notice the parallel L/R words since I work more randomly, but now that I've seen Will's trick, I'll be on the lookout from now on.
Now back to sorting, packing, and other unSunday-like activities.
I read Jeff Chen's piece and have to say I agree.
I didn't have an "aha" moment with this puzzle because I saw the light right away, and that made it easy to fill in the second of each mirrored pair without having to work for it. I had to pray that it would still be fun to play.
This puzzle had to cover too much real estate, and it would have worked better as a 15×15. ECIG, SSTS, PTA, NSA... NEEDTO crossing ONPOINT crossing ONTOE... glue some, gruesome.
I almost forgot the third thing (because it was so forgettable): If nobody noticed that there were no other Ls or Rs in the puzzle, then that feature wasn't worth the price to be paid. When I read about this in the column, I didn't think "Wow!" I thought "Well, that was a silly constraint." Our opinions may clash, but this was a crash and burn for me.
1
Like the people before me who don’t like singular FAJITA, I don’t really like plural KATANAS. There aren’t plural forms in Japanese and my bet is that people who are delightfully enthusiastic about this specialist subject have enough of a smattering of Japanese to use that. Even in English, “ I have seven KATANA”, sounds better than “I have seven KATANAS”. The s makes it sound like a different language.
But this is a crossword puzzle.
4
"FAJITA" bothered me also. But this was a fun Sunday for me otherwise.
@Frances
Are you saying that we're not in KATANAS anymore?
4
@Andrew
(groan)
I have more in mind an image of the late John Belushi in robe and bun hair wielding a huge katana to chop up a fajiita.
3
Me, too, as in me too solved without getting the theme. My excuse: I've been on an unconscious vacation from puzzles for several weeks.
My life has been too busy lately to linger on the comments section. As I listen to "Greensleeves" (which was the theme tune, probably on WQXR, at 11 pm Sat. nights eons ago when I was happily deep into the NYT Sunday puzzle) I'm appreciating and am in awe at the variety of the responses.
Kudos to Alan J for for the link to "Greensleeves" and for coining tricentalivrian; Google hadn't defined it for me. I also read through more than half the comments before Wen's remarks clued me in on the "Artless" STU clue which had completely evaded me. I had vaguely noticed some of the symmetrical answers, but it was Caitlin who made it clear. Thanks also to David Connell's treasure trove of linguistic knowledge; it's always a pleasure to learn more about our language.
2
@Meg H. Good to see you.
Absolutely outstanding. I say, the quality of puzzles (while always high) has particularly excellent of late. I’ve so enjoyed the clever word play and innovative themes.
9
I had the same gradual sense of discovery. First of all the circled Ls and Rs helped me with some of the entries and I thought "hmm". I finally realized the bigger picture with INCLEMENT and INCREMENT. At first I thought "how strange" and then I thought "aha!".
We had two "R.T." names in two days. Yesterday was ERTÉ, and today was ARTIE.
I thought ON POINT crossing ON TOE was nicely choreographed, or am I totally inapt?
Finally guessed the wrong millennium, (Murphy's law), so MMI stood for too long and NMA made as much sense to me as NIA. As long as the middle letter is not an R I'm happy.
5
@Andrew
I saw ON TOE first and really wanted to enter ON POINT. :-)
I’m sure it is stating right at me but how is NIA a Peeples person?
1
@Marion Vermazen
I had no idea but here is your answer:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nia_Peeples
2
Originally ruled out FAJITA as have never seen it used in the singular. That’s a new one for me. Would have worn out my eraser on this puzzle in the pre-iPhone days. Had denizen and citizen before NETIZEN and felon before EXCON as well as pack up before TANKUP. Like others, definitely got a chuckle out of artless nickname and father figure? Great clues! Only noticed the symmetry of SPINDLY and SPINDRY and forgot about the circles altogether. Explains why I’m a poor chess player, just can’t keep track of the whole board. At least crosswords allow one to recover from their mistakes. Now, on to the Masters!
5
FAJITA in the singular bothered me, too. One fajita -- just one thin strip of steak -- would be a pretty meager meal, IMO.
1
Maybe we need to expand the tamale trap to include other Mexican foods.
1
Andrew,
Except that "fajita" is not incorrect and it is also not "Mexican" food. You could look it up.
1
Even though the “theme” was really no help in solving the puzzle, it was clever and I echo the general praise. However, one little caveat: no blogger would actually code in HTML (and probably wouldn’t even know what that is) and since that “L” is key to the theme, I found that a bit specious.
Roger,
Misdirection rather than speciousness, perhaps? I read "Blogger's code" to (also) mean something other than "how a blogger would code."
2
@Roger Foley, I write HTML code all the time in my WordPress blog: I'd say in at least 3 out of every 10 posts. So it's not true that "no blogger would actually code in HTML."
5
@Roger Foley
Theme awareness certainly did no harm to my solve. I saw that 86 & 91 down spoke to circled squares on the left side of the grid housing ‘L’s; ‘R’s on the right. Once I ADAPTED TO THIS as an ON POINT given, it INITIATED a sense of YES, I’ve got THIS!
1
I'm sick in bed so maybe my brain isn't functioning well but this puzzle seemed hard. anyone else? I had to read wordplay to get the theme and then thought wow!. loved dadbod, go topless. Stu took a while to figure out, eliciting a groan then a smile. I was happy to learn about arnica.
3
@Susan I got about halfway thru then just hit 'reveal' because I didn't know nor could I figure out the rest. I did get the L R symmetry tho'.
2
More symmetry abounds — look at the top stack, the far-left letter and the far-right are the same (Gasp/eciG). Then further down, the symmetry moves to home in on the center of the word. (SpecS, PinuP, then down to yuMMy etc). It’s not consistent throughout but surely deliberate! Loved today’s puzzle.
3
@Eltrick
I don't quite follow you here. The same letters that you mention have to be the same, as the entire down word is the same with the exception of the letter L/R. They are also symmetrically placed within the puzzle. I don't think the two Ms in YUMMY have anything to do with the symmetry here. They just happen to be a double consonant.
1
@Andrew
"A Beautiful Mind" comes to mind.
All I can say about this is *wow*. The three theme elements (and no, I didn't get all three) are amazing from a constructor standpoint, and also as a solver. BLACKISH and BRACKISH is was clued me in to the L/R part of the theme, since "KISH" is one of those letter combos that stand out (to me at least).
Big kudos to Will! These are the kinds of puzzles we come to the NYT for!
8
A first for me. The first time I've ever been completely wowed by an after-the-fact Aha Moment. Because this Aha Moment was big! Usually, if I can solve a themed puzzle as a themeless, and even more, if I have no idea that the theme is there at all, I'm not especially interested in the theme, feeling it doesn't have anything to do with me or my solving experience.
So the first thing I noticed after I finished was that there were symmetrically placed L's in the circles on the left side and R's in the circles on the right side and I said: Yawn. AND THEN I SAW IT!!!!!! I saw the absolutely delicious GO TOPLESS paired with GO TO PRESS. And I said: Wow! And I went back to check on all the others. SPINDLY/SPIN DRY! INCLEMENT/INCREMENT! MOLASSES/MORASSES! BLACKISH/BRACKISH! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow!
What a gorgeous puzzle and what a gorgeous puzzle idea. So clever. So original. Just delightful. The fact that I only saw it belatedly? Well that's completely on famously, woefully unobservant me.
23
@Nancy
PS You're not alone. One of my dubious pleasures is to read the commentary after doing a Sunday xwp and thinking I did good only to find out -- in my haste -- I messed up an entry or two. In today's case I had AN EON for 120A.
2
@Nancy
I trust that you also have realized the avoidance of the letters L and R everywhere else in the puzzle. For me that was the biggest wow! of all!
7
@Andrew
And THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is why we come to the comments section: I hadn't noticed that extra layer of brilliance until you pointed it out. Thank you!
And @Nancy, you are not the only one late to the party. I also have theme-myopia most days.
3
Soon be clear? Although it arrived in less than lickety-split fashion, the clever theme came to me well into the solve. The BLACKISH/BRACKISH answers the were the aha moment. Very well played piece of puzzling Mr. Nediger. I am impressed with your crafty, cruciverbial skill set...“Harlem Shuffle” is the Bob Relf and Earl Nelson signature single, released in 1963. The ‘17 action flick Baby Driver has the song on its soundtrack.
https://youtu.be/SSpVOZhDmvI
TA-TA & ADIOS,
Bru
2
LETTER BOXED Thread
I expect shorter solutions from you all today! It's my birthday and I'm stopping at the first answer found, having knocked out the Crossword and Bee before a full day of activity including going to see son perform in Gamelan ensemble in his tin foil hat at Swarthmore.
H-T (8) T-P (7) I may resort to wearing the latter word today!
SPELLING BEE'ers, sorry, no (darn!) grid getting posted by me this morning.
; )
2
@Liane
Happiest of birthdays!
I do love gamelan- tin hats, well, it’s all good.
I can knock it down a step:
H-S(7), S-D(7).
I will have time later to try for 13.
2
@Liane
Felicitous Natal Day
My solution K-P(6), P-S(8)
2
@Liane
As requested,
P-D(7), D-S(6).
Hint, sort of.
I am not going to comment on the unity of theme for this solution. That would be too indulgent.
It felt crunchier than it played. Enjoyed the quick diversion.
I attended a regular military academy and was definitely NOT a cadet. USNA students are Midshipmen, not cadets.
1
Edie,
Once I realized you were not critiquing the puzzle, I reread the column. While "real" might have been a better word than "regular," Caitlin wrote "a," not "every." The Corps of Cadets at West Point would be a reasonably "regular" example supporting her point.
2
This one felt smooth. No big ups or downs or fluctuations, just smooth as buttah. Maybe that's why I saw that big ol' avocado dominating the grid design.
The theme made me smile, especially GOTOPLESS/GOTOPRESS, where you went from two words to three, and SPINDLY/SPINDRY, going from one to two.
Eight clues STOKEd my happy place; my three favorites being [Artless nickname?] for STU, [Father figure?] for DADBOD, and [Some breads, or a homophone for what bread loaves do] for RYES. Regarding the latter, if you look at the 227 clues for the word in all the NYT puzzles, this is heads and shoulders above the others, IMO, which are some version of [Deli loaves] and [Bartender's stock].
Writers, note that somewhere there's a novel in the transition from SAY I DO to DADBOD.
I enjoyed the solve, and icing on the cake was that it featured my initials. Thank you, Will!
15
SPELLING BEE
Leiptvx
32 words, 124 points, 1 pangram
E x 6, L x 6, P x 7, T x 10, V x 3
4L x 15, 5L x 8, 6L x 5, 7L x 1, 8L x 2, 9L x 1
4 5 6 7 8 9 Tot
E 1 3 - - 1 1 6
L 3 2 1 - - - 6
P 5 1 1 - - - 7
T 4 2 2 1 1 - 10
V 2 - 1 - - - 3
Tot 15 8 5 1 2 1 32
20
@Ron O. --
Thank you for the chart, I don't have to keep looking for "I" words!
Took way long to see the pangram, My PET PEEVES were words that didn't include the center L. But it was nice to see some clothing-related words.
And I will grouse again about the unacceptable VITTLE.
2
@Ron O.
Wow it’s rare for nobody to have replied as yet. Still 3 words off but got there easily and now looking at the grid trying to figure out the E8. The pangram really jumped for me.
1
@Ron O.
And thanks!
1
Who or what is NIA??
2
TIL the word SKOSH, which I had never heard before. I found the word origin somewhat interesting. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/skosh
2
@Diana Me too, after a SKOSH of a Natick with KATANAS. Which makes its Japanese origin even more apt!
4
My advanced age helps me remember an old commercial for men's trousers that boasted of "a skosh more room".
My advanced age helps me forget which brand used the phrase.
The years giveth, and also they taketh away. Sigh.
4
Julia,
The internet can remind you: Levi's jeans.
1
I attempted to solve the puzzle as quickly as I could, and didn’t notice the circles. My blurry reading vision probably helped with that. So I solved the whole puzzle unaware of the circled letters or the words they were in.
Only after completing the puzzle, did I notice the L and R circled letters. “Oh, that’s nice,” I thought. “Is that all there is?” Only after reading Caitlin’s column did I learn that there was word symmetry as well. “Aha, so that’s it! Not bad!” “No other Ls or Rs! Neat job of construction!”
So a delayed “Aha” moment due to my quest for speed. I finished with almost my best Sunday time without having a clue about the theme.
Fun puzzle that would have benefited from harder clues.
2
I found out about the circles when i read Ron O's comment!
Fun cluing for STU, RYES, DADBOD. Liked the crossing of ON POINT/ON TOE. I spent too long wondering if men at the beach who GOTOPLESS are really all that carefree (but the clue did say “some”) that I missed half of the theme. Thanks for the head’s up, Caitlin.
I won’t admit how long it took me to parse SPINDRY. A spindry as a medieval laundromat? Plausible enough. That reminds me — off to tackle Mount Everwash!
3
ADAs is not a thing in the real world. Nobody says that.
1
@Michael Dawson Yes they do. Having been one many years ago .For example, the Judge will not say " Get an Assistant District Attorney up here now!" They will ,however , say 'Get the A. D. A. up here now!"
12
I'm currently serving jury duty in NY county and hear it used by the court personnel almost daily.
7
@Mike & mem
Agree. It's used all the time.
BUT: Presumably only in places where the chief lawyer is referred to as a district Attorney. In Chicago/Cook County, of course, it's State's Attorney.
2
I agree with a lot of you that the theme/gimmick really didn't affect the way the puzzle solved out. I managed to get through it in a reasonable time, except for a typo, and then noticed the theme answers were identical except for the Ls and Rs. Also did not notice that those were the only Ls and Rs until reading Caitlin's column.
There were several clues I liked due to their misdirection and/or cleverness: 7D, 20A, 61A, 84A.
Great fun for a very early Sunday morning! Thank you for the symmetry, including the first and last squares across in the top section... maybe that was just a coincidence, but it made for more fun. As a southpaw, I am always on the lookout for bilateral symmetry. :D
1
@Jeremiahfrog
Dear Jeremiahfrog,
So perhaps you also smiled at the right and left corner words at the bottom, 127A and 130A.
ADeNA
2
@ADeNA
Speaking of smiling -- "Say cheese!" -- look up a couple of rows from EACH HAND to see a cheesy favourite, AS[**]IAGO unfortunately spanning OBESE ON END
Help me please! It is taking me seemingly forever to get the countdown time, for short where clues 120A and 121D Natick for me? Can someone please explain?!
2
@Chuck Radlo - 121D sing "Auld Lang Syne"
1
@Chuck Radlo
Times Square celebration time
1
@Chuck Radlo
LOL, that what where I spent the last ten mins of the puzzle (ONE AM). It wasn't just you...
I thought this one was a beauty! Took ‘til BLACKISH and BRACKISH to catch on, and I needed it to change “spidery” to SPINDLY. Loved DADBOD, STU, and RYES.
3
Hey hey Cru, this is the big one. The one you and Hal have waited all week for. A neat feat of construction but not a particularly strong theme. By strong, Hal means you know when you're working a theme. Here the symmetrical words are pretty far apart and even with the circled L and R squares, when Hal was working one area, he never thought to look at the opposite side for help. So maybe instead of "aha," it's "oh, there it is."
All in all, though, it is still a very good puzzle and a real change of pace from what we've faced this past week. Hal got through it fairly quickly once he had his nap. Hal had to travel into the big apple on Saturday and spent 4 hours sitting in traffic. That really knocked him for a loop.
Now, what have we learned from this puzzle? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? OK. We learned you can have a mini Split Decisions puzzle inside a crossword if the constructor is top-notch and today he is.
Cru! Mission accomplished! As you were! Carry on! Dismissed!
3
@HALinNY
I'm sorry, but I have to ask: Why are we "Cru"? Are we followers of Bru? (Which would be fine, especially if he brings Avatar.)
1
@HALinNY
Aye, aye, Sir!
Steve,
Wrong branch.
There’s a story waiting to be written: find the young Iraqi ballerina in the 2006 photo at the top of Caitlin’s column and write about her life today.
10
@Puzzlemucker
I had exactly the same thought.
1
I had ELTON for EXCON in 95A and was so pleased with my cleverness I might have to wait until tomorrow to finish this one
6
With stunt puzzles, there is always the risk that they end up being more about the constructor's desire to brag, "hey, I did it!" and less about the solver's experience with the resulting creation. I thought Mr. Nediger did a creditable job addressing both goals with this Sunday puzzle.
Will's pairs of "left" and "right" entries carry off the theme in a workmanlike fashion (e.g., MOLASSES and MORASSES, BLACKISH and BRACKISH). He manages to delight solvers, however, by throwing in two, more playful pairs (i.e., GO TOPLESS and GO TO PRESS, SPINDLY and SPIN DRY). In my view, these latter pairs suggest that strict adherence to a rule that "left" and "right" entries should be mirror images of each other (as illustrated by the former examples) produces a much more ho-hum puzzle.
Will somehow manages to avoid using the letters "L" and "R" in the rest of the fill, a fact that I did not notice until I read Caitlin's column. (If I had, I would not have spun my wheels deciding between FUEL UP and TANK UP.) As others have noted, that's quite a feat, and perhaps too much of a sacrifice, considering that "L" and "R" are among the most commonly used consonants in English. However, Will finds a way to liven things up with entries like DAD BOD, NETIZEN, SKOSH, and SNOOD. I agree with others (hi, Barry A.!) that the cluing could have been trickier but the editors are as much to blame for the anemic wordplay as the constructor is.
All in all, I enjoyed this puzzle. Thanks, Will!
8
@Henry Su,
Anemic wordplay? I missed that. Either I hit the puzzle after it had a transfusion, or you got to it after it returned from TRANSYLVANIA.
SIEVES full of holes
Father figure
Peeples person
Artless nickname
Some breads...
Object of wishful thinking
Carefree beachgoers
Dark cloud (of gnats)
Stormy (without Daniels)
Sitcom about the Johnsons (and not the ones who are Rich in Atlanta)
A Chihuahua (that doesn't bark)
It all seems quite PASHA GNAT enough for me.
1
Fun puzzle. "Person with a record" started as FELON before I changed it to ELTON. Took a few more spins around the grid before I settled on EXCON. I guess that's why they call it the blues....
12
My experience was 3 steps. First realizing that Ls are on the left and the Rs on the right in mirror square - of course it's left-right symmetry. After solving, I realized the L and R downs were the same except for the Rs and Ls - after all, how often do you see MOLASSES and MORASSES in the same puzzle? BRACKISH and BLACKISH...sure. INCREMENT and INCLEMENT was good. The other entries are different because they are multiword and break at different points. And wasn't until I came to Wordplay that I knew there were no other Ls and Rs
Very clever and fun, though the gluey bits did stand out. ATE OF? Who says that? TANK UP?
My favorite clue was Artless nickname for STU.
4
@Wen - Re: ate of...
Adam and Eve say that...at least, in the King James version of the Bible.
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life...
(Gen. 3:17)
As for "tank up" - I do that in New Jersey and Virginia when I make my annual trek southward and back again. Best prices, time to tank up.
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@Wen I didn't grok the Artless nickname until reading your comment. I agree, it's a delightful clue.
3
@Megan and @Wen
I don’t get the Artless nickname clue. ?
L/R - what a neat idea! It only proves there couldn't be L without R and vice-versa.
My favorite pair was GO TOPLESS/GO TO PRESS, with SPINDLY/SPIN DRY coming in at close second. Ingenious!
When it comes to the L/R pair MOLASSES/MORASSES, MORASSES have a clear advantage.
4
I don't think we need MORASSES - I think we already have plenty.
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@Wen
If we needed MORASSES, we'd have to GO BOTTOMLESS!
3
@Andrew
GTYR
This one had a "doh!" moment for me rather than "aha!". I wondered about the circles early on, then put them out of my mind. I noticed and chuckled at the paired down entries - first SPINDLY/SPINDRY, then the others, as I solved, and enjoyed the puzzle overall, especially for the cleverness of all those symmetrically placed words with just one-letter difference.
Only when reading the column did I remember that there had been circles and looked back to see that in fact, those circles highlighted all the differences in those paired words, and that they were always "L" on the left and "R" on the right.
Doh! indeed.
1
Nice! I figured out the Ls and Rs pretty quickly and thought, "Is that all there is?" and then started comparing the down entries that contained them, and saw what was going on. Didn't realize there weren't any other Ls and Rs in the puzzle until I read the column. That's quite a feat!
I had BENIGNI as BENIGNO at first and had accidentally put down INCLEMENT twice, so ALNOCA was at first a mystery plant and then an obvious error. Seeing the misplaced R helped me fix that.
I liked the clue for AUNTS--will have to go back and reread (or re-watch) some Jeeves & Wooster.
5
Quite a workout! And a good one, took the taste of doing taxes out of my system. Had two unavoidable entertainer lookups (don't you just hate those?) but the rest of it went pretty well.
And now I have to think about naked linotype operators .... and insects in my underwear .... and yucky coffee. And it's only 9PM Saturday. Oyyyyy.....
2
Dr W,
(1) Which two "entertainers" (that I probably didn't know from the clues either) did you have to look up in order to solve the puzzle (because you couldn't get them from the crosses)?
(2) I know it was a while ago, but since this is a second reference, please recall that linotype operators operated linotypes, not presses (GO TO PRESS); pressmen (today, press operators) operate presses.
1
@Dr W
Personally I find KENYAN coffee rather good.
@Barry Ancona
(1) 22A and 54A. I didn't know 16D either and the entire three left columns was blank when I got to it.
(2) My association of press with lino is strong and indelible: the presses were located near the linotypers when I delivered our fresh copy at 2:30 AM in Brooklyn Boro Hall. Also it was Late Fall - Winter-Early spring so topless was not a paradigm there either. Spotless maybe.
Super cool puzzle!
4
Blown away! Both my (L)eft and (R)ight brain. Got the first part of the double “trick” (not an adequate descriptor) while solving, and loved it. Got the second part from reading Caitlin’s column. Wow! As I learned recently from a puzzle and Wordplay comments, RSTLNE are the most common crossword letters. To take away two of those from all non-themers in a Sunday puzzle is the kind of self-imposed restriction that can make great art. And I found this puzzle to be great art. Thank you, Will!
7
@Puzzlemucker
My Light brain is now beReft. This was a rot for my celeberrum to plocess.
3
@Andrew
My left brain has always been my light brain, at least after Geometry class.
I had a clue when I had MOLASSES and MORASSES, but I didn't think about again until I saw what Caitlin had to say. I was doing laundry at the time, so 42D was relevant.
2
An absolute blast! The first two steps in Deb's three-stage revelation happened early enough for me, and was helpful in making the puzzle go very quickly. It was only after reading her post that I saw that there are no other Ls or Rs in the puzzle. Wow!
Loved the cluing for DADBOD and STU. And having figured out the gimmick early and solved GOTOPRESS, I nevertheless spent a good long minute trying to parse "go to pless," before literally ROaRing. Perhaps my favorite Sunday of the year, thus far.
7
"...Deb's..."
(Please pass the chopped liver)
4
Does anyone have any insights into the disappearance of Jeff Chen? Could he have been beamed up to a UFO? His surroundings do not appear to have been disturbed, but there's not a trace of him.
Although I wasn't thinking about the circles, intending to go back to them after I had some substantial puzzle done, I got the theme/gimmick very quickly. MOLASSES/MORASSES leapt out at me, and only a half-beat later I saw the L/R part. Confirmed by GO TOPLESS and GO TO PRESS.
So I went and filled in the rest of the circles. And of course knowing the gimmick meant that if I got one of the "themers," the other was a gimme. So everything went very, very quickly.
Didn't know ARNICA, but I'm glad your scrapes are responding, Caitlin. I'm sure the pooches are sorry.
Also didn't know AIKMAN or DANO. OPIE before ODIE because I always get those mixed up.
Going for a cat cuddle, then on to the acrostic.
4
@Deadline
Was that intended to gently lead us to read his column about this puzzle? If so, it worked. If not, he’s there.
(I will say no more about the content of his column).
"Does anyone have any insights into the disappearance of Jeff Chen?"
Deadline,
Jeff Chen is front and center with a rather smashing commentary on this puzzle. Be sure to read it.
1
@Barry Ancona & PM - I visited Jeff's place just after DL posted and can assure you, there were no notes or comments posted, though the puzzle and data were there.
Now, as you note, they are there. But DL wasn't putting us on!
1
Welcome, DAD BOD. Nice clue (“Father figure?”) for a long-awaited début.
4
That was a nice puzzle!
I didn’t realize the puzzle theme until most of it was done. It happened in two steps:
At first, I thought all the circle-squares were “L”. But late in the game, I checked the puzzle title, and then realized it was L AND R.
Part two only happened AFTER I finished. But it gave me such a feeling of satisfaction to find the constructor’s tricky trick, and compliment him/her in my heart.
Great job, constructor!
4
@David Scott Pearce
Waitaminnit! There was a TITLE?
Apparently those of us who solve the puzzle online are not getting the full experience.
Could the puzzle editors maybe huddle with the IT folks and find a way to let us screen-pokers in on the full set of clues?
2
@Bob Buckley
The title is under the date when solving online
2
If solving on your phone, you have to press the "i" for information to see the author of the puzzle and the title if it's a Sunday.
I'm in the desired camp of those for whom the situation revealed itself late enough, yet before the end. Molasses was both the fill involved and the epitome of my feeling about grasping the trick, and understanding the pesky little circles.
Re: Thou dost vs. thou doest. For those who might care to fathom early modern English as found in the Bible and Shakespeare:
Thou dost make; thou dost eat... the "dost" is a helping verb, that is associated with the principal verb of action.
Thou doest... the "doest" is a principal verb of action.
Thou dost show mercy.
Whatsoever thou doest, do kindly.
The same applies to doth / doeth in the third person.
She doth protest...
What she doeth...
(I liked how most of the answers shifted their accentuation / parsing from L to R - but it made Black•ish and brackish stand out as not following that pattern...)
6
@David Connell - Again, on the history of language train of thought...
I have an orange.
I have to go.
The second "have" is nearly always adjusted as an auxiliary verb to "hafta" in real speech.
The spelling of "dost" versus "doest" was developed after the speech forms had already developed. In the centuries after, the "dictionary" and "correct spelling" were invented, making it an uphill battle for "hafta" versus "have", "gonna" versus "going", "wanna" versus "want". All three forms for the auxiliary are fighting their battles, but they have much stronger headwinds to fight than "dost"/"doth", ever did. Thanks, Mr. Webster.
4
That's enough, DavidC. Let's have HIM protesting a bit, for a change!!!
1
Fast and fun. I got the L-R level of the theme when the first L dropped into a circle. I got the near-duplicate-downs level when MORASSES went in, matching MOLASSES. So early Aha, then a quick and somewhat perfunctory road to the finish.
Thank you, Mr. Nediger, for dropping the O word from your list. This tricentalivrian, for one, appreciates the gesture.
3
@Alan J
Further on the subject of weightiness, here is Vaughan Williams's "Fantasia on 'Greensleeves,'" adapted from his opera Sir John in Love (a treatment of Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor").
https://youtu.be/6tOOs8tqJcI
Entry 1D reminds me that I was watching the Game of Thrones marathon. Back I go.
1
What the heck is a tricentalivrian? And what O word?
1
@Sue Koehler
Inspired by David Connell's recent observation that "all language is Before My Time, even the word I made up today," I thought I'd try my hand at making up a good-old-fashioned word for myself out of recycled parts:
Tri- and centa- should be easy in a numerical sense, and -ian is similar to its use in sexagenarian. The livr- comes from livre (pound). Put it all together, and it spells three-hundred-pound-person.
Or maybe it should be centi-?...(think music here)...Okay, I've reconsidered: tricentilivrian is better.
For the O word, see 118A, and constructor notes.
2
Fun puzzle! I didn't notice the theme, outside the L/R squares, until after filling everything in while hunting for the last incorrect squares. Once I noticed the vertical word symmetry, I saw my mistake: GeT a PRESS instead of GO TO PRESS. As in, "to start a printing press company, you must first GET A PRESS." Since I didn't know either Paul Dano or Mr. Moto, the names Paul Dane and Mr. Mota looked perfectly reasonable, and I -never- would have found my mistake without the symmetry.
4
@Tyler D. - For his roles in "Little Miss Sunshine", "There Will Be Blood", "12 Years a Slave" and "Escape at Dannemora" among many others, Paul Dano, young as he is (34 yrs. old now), is a talented film actor worth knowing.
Mr. Moto is rather the opposite, a "before my time" character that I know of from late-night black-and-white TV watching half a century ago...when the films were already decades old.
4
@David Connell
Moto was very big in paper pulp fiction before WWII.
1
These days I daresay Moto is better known as part of the nomenclature for Motorola cell phones. I don't recall ever seeing even a clip of a Mr. Moto movie, but I suspect a high cringe factor if watching today.
1
I hardly noticed the wordplay as I whizzed through this in under 17 minutes. Fun to have a really fast Sunday once in a while, though. I did note GOTOPRESS, being a publisher, though, and enjoyed the symmetry of GOTOPLESS!
1
@Lorne
Same here -- was Editor of college newspaper when linotypes were the norm, so I knew that idiom literally. The other idiom followed shortly thereafter. :-D
@ Lorne
Impressive! It took me 13 minutes once just to fill in the answers on my phone (to keep my streak going) after having done the puzzle in the magazine. To finish a puzzle only 4 minutes slower *without* already having sussed the answers seems incredible!
2
@Irene
I'm with you, except it would take me
30 minutes just to type it with the answers
3
OK, here's the "it's too easy" complaint, but with a very specific reason. I'm sure that as our constructor notes "this one was brutal to construct," but I wish the clues had been one or two standard deviations harder. I immediately saw "part one" of the L-R business, but I didn't need any of the L-R squares to check, much less solve, the entries. And while I saw SPINDLY SPINDRY quickly, the other pairs were so far apart and so easily guessed that I didn't use that either. If the clues had been tougher, I might have had to *use* the very, very clever construction to solve the puzzle and not simply note it in passing.
10