I salute the Times and its puzzle creators and Puzzles Editor Will Shortz for generally impeccable fairness of clues day after day, month in and month out. Occasionally I will question a nuance the way a batter in a baseball game may question an umpire's call of a strike the batter thought was off the plate. But mostly I have been able to find the clues justified.
This puzzle (4/25/19, by Jon Olsen) stands as a rare exception. Not just one, but two of the clues, are in objective terms simply incorrect as clues to the word to be filled in.
The clue at 1-Across is the first of the two. "BAH", the answer required, does not conform to the clue "cry of disgust". "BAH" is a cry of disdain - - not of disgust.
The clue at 1-Down is also incorrect. The word "BRAVE", the answer required, is not the "end of every verse" of the Star-Spangled Banner: the word "brave" appears only at the end of the anthem.
It is "puzzling" - - pun intended - - to consider how these two erroneous and invalid clues made it past the usually flawless monitoring of Will Shortz. Explanation?
Here are the full Star-Spangled banner lyrics - there are four verses although only the first is typically sung: https://amhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/the-lyrics.aspx
Got everything but the middle word. Just went to reveal for that one. My reaction: “¯\_(ツ)_/¯“
Really great puzzle. Definitely tricky in spots but super creative. 👍
2
Looked in vain around the puzzle for Thursday tricks as I filled in the clues. And then, lo and behold, I was left with just three spaces! Changing WAIT to WHOA and SNEERS TO SNORTS left me with blank ORE. Oh, EYESORE! Then PIANOSEATS fell into place. Well, EARS must be next I initially thought, but before I could enter it, MOUTH came into mind and went into the third rebus. And voila! The punctuation marks popped up.
I had labored so long over that middle section and had been on the point of giving up. But what a laugh I had when I finished. The endorphins must have flowed because I felt such pleasure and achievement. A memorable Thursday!
5
I struggled hard with this one, finally went to Deb for answers, and felt like a real dummy for not being able to suss out the middle on my own. Ah well. Fun times!
2
Can anyone explain to be the Expo, today answer? NAT. I just can't find a connection and it is haunting me. Also does anyone have a good resource for understanding clues that aren't talked about in the comments or main wordplay article?
3
@Shannon
The Expos were the baseball team located in Montreal. Several years ago they moved to Washington D.C. and were renamed the Nationals, “Nats” for short. So, an “Expo” today is a NAT. If you read earlier comments, you’ll find some commenters took issue with the lack of parallelism between clue and entry, as “Expos” was not an abbreviated version of the team name, while “Nats” is.
For good puzzle analysis, see Jeff Chen and Jim Horne’s site Xwordinfo: https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=4/25/2019
Rex Parker also has a daily blog, but he tends to be pretty negative, IMO.
4
Apparently the sportsball team in Montreal once known as the Expos is now called the Nationals. A player was known as an Expo (with groovy uniforms, iirc), now as a Nat. I didn't get it either!
@Puzzlemucker
Thanks!
Interesting to note: I solved on the iOS app, and had to enter EYES, NOSE, MOUTH as rebuses because the app lacked the appropriate punctuation.
However, if I open the completed puzzle on the web page
https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords/game/daily/2019/04/25 I get the punctuation marks in the appropriate spaces.
So those of you who are complaining you didn't get the satisfaction of seeing a happy face, just open your completed puzzle on the web.
5
Noice! Just love the word :-)
The top left quadrant had me puzzled even after everything else was solved because I got completely hung up on my first (and mistaken) answer of "tsk" for 1-across which led to 3-down becoming, of course, "kissyface". And once I was down that garden path, it took forever to come back!
I loved this puzzle (I love most puzzles), but I had an issue with the clue to 21D (“Pi or phi in math”). The answer turned out to be RATIO. As a former math teacher and a lover of numbers (indeed, these are my two favorite numbers), i can tell you the pi and phi are irrational numbers which, as the term should tell you, cannot be reduced to a fraction (which is a ratio of two integers).
Scooter,
The entry is RATIO, not fraction. The clue does not suggest that pi and phi can be expressed as fractions. Our resident math PhD checked in earlier on the subject; you may want to look for his post.
5
Great puzzle. Never did figure out how to enter the : and ) on iPad AcrossLite. Finally gave up and entered on my Windows PC.
When the app keyboard on the iPhone wouldn’t let me enter a parentheses, I had to go with the rebus. Unfortunately, this kinda ruined the visual effect :-(
To be fair, having TAR instead of MAR for sully and not being able to find my error probably just put me in a bad mood. Should have known EMI.
Bring on Friday!
aww I really wish I were better at puzzles! I would have loved to have solved this one. I couldn't recover from some ne and se issues and just assumed that eyes nose mouth was wrong. Still, I enjoyed the struggle!
1
Can someone please help? What is a "pianat"?
if you use the rebus button at the "n" and type in "nose," you get "piano seat".
3
I found the very center to be a STRETCH, and unfortunately as I do the puzzle on my phone it was very buggy.
I ended with Plym Rock, Pianats, and had to ask the solver to show me the colon.
Elements of a Happy Face = ":NM"
I'm OK with stepping outside the box, but it was very frustrating.
1
Was it just “buggy” because you had Autocheck on, and once you entered “e” for the rebus “eye,” Autocheck accepted the letter, turned it blue, and then you couldn’t add the “ye”?
It’s because speed freaks like to indicate a rebus word with just the first letter, and the checking gods that be accepts that.
And I’m only a mere mortal....
First time through, I didn’t even think about putting punctuation marks into the squares, I just went with the full words (EYES, NOSE, MOUTH) as rebuses, it being a Thursday puzzle and all. That worked.
Then after reading the Comments, my curiosity got the best of me, and I made the Supreme Sacrifice for my fellow Wordplay cohorts. I cleared the puzzle and filled it all back in, this time using the character keyboard for the center.
Using the iOS app, I found that I could put in the colon (:) and hyphen (-), but not the parenthesis. I still had to put in MOUTH for that.
Two more things:
It shows my newer shorter time when I’m displaying the puzzle, but keeps the longer original time when I look at the stats for today.
It kept my streak intact, such as it is. I was pleasantly surprised.
1
I question the fairness of using the single letter n in place of the word and when such usage is not commonplace “Eyes n Mouth” (?!?), unless the clue indicates the answer is slang or not really a word.
1
@JR
There's no reason you can't enter the whole word NOSE using the rebus key if that avoids offending your sensibilities. However, the program allows one to enter only the first letter of a rebus word if one wants to. I personally don't because I like seeing how the word works in both directions.
So, here you can do one of six things:
1. Write in EYES, NOSE, MOUTH
2. Write in E, N, M
3. Write in COLON, HYPHEN, PARENTHESIS
4. Write in C, H, P
5. Write in : - ) if using a standard keyboard, and not a virtual one with limited characters.
6. Write in any combination of the above.
Do whichever you find the most satisfying.
Unless I'm reading your comment wrong, and think "EYES N MOUTH", short for "EYES AND MOUTH", is what they're looking for. It's not.
3
First time commenting on a puzzle to say this: Arggg! I loved this puzzle, but was so annoyed that it’s essentially unsolvable on the Crossword app for iOS. There is no option to insert a “)”, even with the rebus key. I couldn’t believe you’d set us up for failure like that.
How did others get around this?
7
From the article, down by the link to the answer key, there is a link that says: “Trying to get back to the puzzle page?”
If you log into your crossword account on the puzzle page, it will sync with your account in the iOS app - you can enter the parentheses there using the full keyboard (and either complete the puzzle from the web interface, or switch back to the app.)
It’s clunky, but it works, and will preserve your streak.
3
Too late now, sadly. That seems like something someone should have checked before this went live.
3
I solved it on my iPad by just entering the words as rebii. e.g., EYES
10
Lovely and clever. A wonderful debut puzzle. I hope there are many more to come. I got snagged until I replaced Adams with Obama. Incorporating more of the key board was a hoot ;-)
2
I really enjoyed this puzzle and thought the rebuses clever. It definitely gets a HAPPY FACE from me.
Slight hang ups with OBAMA and LEPERS. Neither came to me easily, and even with downs I was doubtful.
EXJETS reminded me of the West Side Story fill. Insert laughing EMOTICON.
Fun and Thursday appropriate puzzle!
:-)
:-D
1
Fabulous puzzle! Loved everything about it. ("Neat"does, I believe, mean 'no ice" here, esp. since there is no exclamation point in the clue.
2
After reading this and several other comment sections on today's grid, I hereby nominate NOICE for dook of the year (so far).
3
@Steve Faiella
I concur—NOICE is dook of the year so far.
2
"Neat"
2
A nit,
"Piano seat"really isn't a term in actual use. Pianists sit on benches or stools, depending on whether the shape is round or rectangular. Now I know there's a lot of latitude given in crossword puzzle cluing, but it seems to me that putting an awkward clue like this at the very heart of an unusually tricky rebus detracted from the puzzle's charm. Other than that, I thought it very clever.
10
The problems with "neat" as a clue for NOICE is that NOICE is vocalized with a great deal of enthusiasm. It's the whole point of the expression. It's almost impossible to utter the word "neat" excitedly. I've been trying to do it for the last 2 minutes. It cannot be done.
@Amir Flesher I took it to mean "no ice," as in a drink that is served neat. But I suppose the quotations around "neat" imply your interpretation is more correct.
2
Wonderful!
I did need help from Debs( even if I had COLONHYPHEN), but when I realized it was about emoticon the rest was exhilarating. I do like outsiders, people who dare to think the unexpected. And Jon a newbie!!!!!
I did not need to use the rebus key. Just entering the three symbols, each in one square, did the trick, happy music and all. ( on IPAD). Looking forward to the puzzle with emojis.
I didn’t get dovetail being a jibe? I only know dovetail as fitting woodwork, or just fitting to the shape, like the yin and yang symbol. I looked up in dictionaries but it did not help.
Anyway, wonderful!
@Laura Rodrigues In London
Perhaps you've only heard people misusing the word "jive" when they mean JIBE.
It's common, and it drives me nuts!
2
@Deadline/Laura
I believe the first definition of jibe fits in this case.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jibe#note-1
i see! thanks
Yikes -- 309 comments by 2:30????
Well, I'll put my 2¢ in anyway, and apologies to all whose comments I did not read. (Even if you have no way of knowing that....)
I loved this one!!!! Kudos to the constructor.
25D was pure genius.
Only two unavoidable lookups.
8
Oh, Brother!
(And now, I can’t fill in the rest of the rebus words because the darn Autocheck also accepts just the first letters of those words!)
Eye-Nose-Mouth, AYE??
I need an ENT!!
STAT!
3
Tricksy, they are, very tricksy, my precious. The little grey cells were a little under-caffeinated to keep up with their Thursday trickses, with nasty rebuses hidden in the middle. Tricksed us, they did.
12
Just for the record, "Jeeves" was not a butler, but a valet. This distinction is a significant point in Wodehouse.
5
WHOA, Nevada, you’ve grazed the paddock bare. Whinny to your handlers for a few flakes of hay...My earlier post went poof, off into the cloud or the ethernet or stalled out on some remote berm of the info hi-way...Offering congrats and thanks to Jon Olsen. Any relation to the emcee of yesteryear, Johnny Olsen?...I needed a mid-solve siesta but it was just what I needed to figure out the rebus and the application of the 3 punctuation marks...I’m off, now that I’ve “Put On A HAPPY FACE.”
https://youtu.be/9N-g9af6Gnc
SERENEly,
Bru
3
Why can’t my typos be toward the top of the puzzle instead of the bottom? (PARENTHESeS) I loved this puzzle. I did everything but the center last night and figured I’d sleep on it and all would become clear. Had SNeerS and didn’t know HORST, so HeRST could have been right. Was sure PIAno figured in there somewhere. Once I took out what I wasn’t sure of and tried again with SNORTS I was able to solve it. It certainly brought a HAPPYFACE to my face.
I saw a Tweet today that said “Crossword answers with 2+ words should either be specified as such or illegal”. It reminded me of solving a puzzle several weeks ago while we had houseguests. It was 10:30pm and I hadn’t even looked at the Thursday puzzle because my husband was horrified I tried to sneak a peek while we had guests. So I mentally waved good-bye to my 150+ day streak. After the men had gone to bed my female friend urged me to try. I explained that Thursdays were very hard and I was unlikely to be able to complete it before midnight. But I tried. She had never done a crossword puzzle and marveled at each entry. (I felt so smart.) In particular, she didn’t know an answer could be more than one word. Thanks to her prodding and admiration I managed to get it done.
@Alan J
I’ve always preferred “America the Beautiful” to our existing National Anthem. I sing it to myself whenever I fly across the country.
11
@Reedie1965
Wonderful!
3
My reaction when I finally figured out how to fill in the center answer, only after having to read the column (twice!) :-/
Didn’t help that I was quite stubborn about leaving ADAMS in there!
3
pretty much standard contrived thrusday puzzle
@david g sutliff
I agree, for a thrusday puzzle. that is. But for a Thursday puzzle I liked it!
6
@david g sutliff
But did you get thru it?
1
I need to coin a phrase that is akin to "Oh, cr*p! It's a Rebus!!". For me, sussing out a rebus is never a result of a targeted thought process. It's a realization that just pips into my head, usually when I've left that entry unfilled and am working on another part of the grid. This puzzle was great fun after equally great frustration, working on the middle section for 20 minutes after breezing through the rest. Very sneaky, Mr. Olsen, very sneaky.
Congrats on a fantastic debut!
1
Is it just me -or are you unable to get the full keyboard (with colons etc) on the crossword app?
3
@Jonathan Leal
On an iphone, there is a "more" button that gets you symbols and also reveals a "rebus" button
1
True for my iPhone and for the crossword puzzle in the online paper
But not so for the NYT crossword app!
3
@Jonathan Leal
What app/platform are you saying dowsn't have rebus or keyboard extension? I use the NYT crossword app on my iPhone and I have a more button and extended keyboard.
I had many of the same hold-ups others have mentioned (WAIT for WHOA, SNEERS for SNORTS, ADAMS instead of OBAMA), but then when I reached the middle I was thoroughly stuck. I waited overnight and tried again, but still no aha. I looked up a few things (yes, it had to be KAPPA; yes, SILVER was right) and got nowhere until I finally went to my last resort and read the first few sentences of Deb's column. That's when it dawned on me: Today is Thursday! I'd already wished for enough spaces for PLYMOUTH, and EYESORE confirmed it. I believe the expression I want at this point is "face palm" or possibly "facepalm." Great puzzle!
3
Wow! You got me Jon! And in a debut puzzle!
Like Deb and just about everyone else, I spiraled in on the center. How sure was I that I had figured out the Thursday trick by spelling out the "elements" etc. and getting all -- except 39A -- of the themers? And not even realizing 39A in fact was a themer!
My Aha! moment was spectacular -- truly satisfying on a grand scale!
So we have a whole new resident of the constructor stable. And he fooled me first time out of the gate. And got a POW! from Jeff. And on top of that he's a veterinarian!
Plus: I preferred Jon's original clues for TIP JAR and PLYMOUTH.
Yes, I'm definitely in love!
I'm using a lot of exclamation points today, something that shocks my editor head.
HORST was new to me. (I learned something new today, another plus for this puzzle.) And I loved the snappy nontheme stuff, like TIP JAR and VIP ROOM.
Please, Jon, come back soon. And often.
Thank you!
14
@Deadline
"grand scale" -- like a piano? :-D
I figured out the puzzle early, but unfortunately spent more time trying to input ) than anything else via the app.
Yes, I know one can rebus MOUTH into the square, but that just makes the solve less elegant, and the theme less clever.
5
The standard happy face doesn't have a nose.
@Dave Evans - smiley face no nose happy face yes nose
5
@David Connell - because if you didn't have a nose, you can still smile, but you wouldn't be happy?
2
@Wen,
You are almost too clever for this group. Almost. :-)
2
If 4D answer could also be SORRYFACE , then we have a schrodinger puzzle (of course Clues/answers for 1 A, 14 A and 17 A may need to be changed judiciously).
Good one :-)
1
I thought this was really clever. I did have a 'happy face' when I solved it.
1
A delightfully tricky puzzle! Once I got VIPROOM, that gave me a HAPPYFACE. From there, I was able to surmise EMOTICONS, COLONHYPHEN, and PARENTHESIS. What a fun theme!
I was misled by 15A, at first thinking it was ADAMS (anyone else make this error?), until I realized I was LOCO.
I was also on the wrong track for 12D, thinking of butler as a profession rather than as a name. Tricky!
Before I got the rebus of MOUTH, I was thinking along the lines of music for ___ rock.
Many clever misdirections and an outstanding theme! I enjoyed it.
2
Wait!
Pi is an irrational number. Which means that it is specifically NOT a ratio.
1
The ratio of circumference to diameter.
4
@Bill Howard - nope. Rational numbers mean numbers that are expressed by one integer to another integer; Ratio is any number expressed in relation to another. Pi over e is a ratio, though it is the ratio between two transcendentals; it is a ratio while not being a rational number.
6
But... it’s also the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. So in that sense, it definitely is a ratio. Interesting.
I am so sad I gave up on 39A before figuring out the trick! I was so close, as I struggled trying to fit "piano" into 25D somehow. The trick was so clever, and I deprived myself of the delicious "Aha!" that makes Thursdays my favorite puzzle. It was a great lesson in patience, and kudos to Jon Olsen for a great debut.
8
@ChiaviDiBasso - howdy, neighbor! Take the lesson to heart - more patience, less revealing or googling, results in two benefits: more pride in the solve, and more preparedness for "next time." Take heart! Be patient! and solve on!
7
Ok, real talk...who else had something like M_NET for the painter and immediately put in MoNET, then spent forever trying to find the one mistake stopping it from being solved?
4
@Smam
I did but since that happens so often, it is high on my list of things to check if I don't get the happy music.
1
@Robert Michael Panoff/smam
I guess this is a wheelhouse thing, but Manet's Olympia is a pretty famous and important painting. Maybe not as well-known say, as Picasso's Guernica, Monet's Water Lillies paintings or VanGogh's Starry Night, but up there.
1
@vaer
Must be a mental block. I can never remember who painted what between Monet, Manet, Monae, etc. Have to trust the crosses.
3
Great puzzle! I was very worried for a while this morning that my 564 day streak was going to come to an end. The central clue threw me. I was convinced 4-letter ____ Rock was Punk, but then I got the Argentia clue and I was stumped. Blot on a Canvas didn't help much either. I tried Sore and Pore but neither seemed quite right. Once I had the "PIA" for musicians perch, I knew I finally had to fit a Piano in there, and only then (yeah - I was a bit slow today) realized it was a rebus puzzle, at which point the other two became obvious. Thanks for the challenge!
6
@Jim
While I was trying everything except a rebus for 39A, I kept taking out AYES and putting it back in.
3
@Jim,
564 day streak! Awesome!
(We're not worthy, we're not worthy ...) :-)
Very clever and fun!, but I still don't get NEO con, help?
Mary,
Help: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/neocon
2
@David Connell and @Barry Ancona
Thank you!
Count me as one who was fooled by that center rebus - just wasn't expecting one after solving the rest, and thought PLYM was some crazy crossword slang I just wasn't hip to. Loved seeing it, though, very clever. And I'm on to these types of possibilities now!
Since Deb opened the door to Brooklyn 99 ("NOICE!"), I thought this was an absolutely side-splitting moment from last week's episode that this group will appreciate uniquely. Felt like the joke was written just for us (and I was away last week and didn't check the comments after this aired last Thursday - so apologies if this has already been brought up):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL4N08TKXrM
4
Perhaps this has been already stated, but isn’t it a drink order? No ice.
5
@Aaron
Thanks for the 99 link. It's too perfect. To my knowledge no one has posted or referenced it previously.
2
@Tom Wild I interpreted it as a drink order also, NO ICE. "Neat" always makes me think of the Friends episode "The One With Two Parties."
https://youtu.be/Hjc27OsE9-c
3
Boo.
David,
You're either six months early or late.
4
After 30-some years of crosswording, I still feel the element of guessing whether and where some rebus BS might appear makes the puzzle something other than a crossword. Grumble, grumble.
4
@macdane — Ever since I discovered how NOICE that Rebus button on my iPad is, I'm always looking for a chance to use it. Today, I'm :-)
Such a satisfying puzzle morning!
5
Help me understand the nice picture. I liked the picture. I just don't get why it is the picture today. WHOA crossing HORST? I know I am missing something, so here's your chance to help!
1
Bob,
WHOA; I didn't think it was anything more that "Hold your horses!"
3
@Barry Ancona
Missing comments. That horse looks like it was rode hard and put away wet. Remember Cat Ballou? The horse leaning up against a building?
1
@Robert Michael Panoff @Barry Ancona
Horses snort, don't they?
i should add that my computer and my phone make a happy face with just a colon and the close-paren
@jwd - maybe that's a smiley face rather than a happy face?
the iconic smiley face had two dots for eyes and a curve for a mouth
but a happy face emoticon has : eyes - nose and ) up-curved mouth
(and a frowny face emotican has :-(
you say you 'can get the rest'
i still don't get 'pia-ats' or the 'ply)' ??? neither makes any sense to me
@jwd- think of it this way:
in the emoticon :-)
what does the - picture?
what does the ) picture?
put that word into the square and see how it goes.
To put more than one letter into a square you use the "Rebus" button or (on a Mac) hit "escape".
1
Wait for WHOA, net for HEM & mesh for JIBE, carped Tom caustically.
No HAPPYFACE for me, only Captain Lightning and H. Pencil. Pencil is MIA these days no doubt waiting for Saturday to suck the wind out of my sails.
Nice debut Jon.
Anyone else using the app? Kind of difficult to finish when the keyboard doesn’t include a colon or parenthesis.
6
@Nathan Kohring
you can use the rebus function to enter the word "eyes". I think you can also enter the symbol from the rebus keyboard.
3
@Nathan Kohring
You must use the rebus key and write in the words eyes nose and mouth...otherwise the downs don’t work
Very impressive debut. As Deb pointed out, I had to spiral in to the center to finally get the trick. Maybe my dogs will get an extra treat today. Happy tails to you, Dr. Olsen.
3
Got everything outside of the middle chunk with the unexpected rebus, tried to fit in PIANOES and PLYS rock before checking this column. There was no indication of a rebus, and I think the 39 across clue could have used something else like "literally." The "elements of a" part threw me off because I consider :-) to be one thing. Good fill though! I like Thursdays' trickery, but couldn't get this one!
:-)
3
Ruh-roh. When I open up the comments now it defaults to NYT Replies again. This was not happening earlier.
2
@vaer - I've narrowed it down to: when you Refresh the page for replies, it defaults to NYT. The first time you open the comments, it defaults to All.
vaer,
They're keeping us on our toes.
@David Connell
The first time I opened the comments, it defaulted to Replies.
In keeping with the theme from a few days ago: GRRRR.
2
"Head, shoulders, knees and toes; knees and toes"
I got the 3D quickly, but spent way too much time thinking that the grid itself would have that shape. Plus I usually use the 2 symbol :) without the nose. SNEERS before SNORTS slowed me, too. But all the pieces finally fit. AYES above EYES was helpful to spark.
2
What a joy to find a Thursday puzzle worthy of its name!! I spent the first minutes grumbling to myself that the puzzle had been dumbed down to an early-weeker, then sat staring at the center for a long time, WTFing. Wondered if PLY_ Rock might be an abbreviation, then dawn broke over Marblehead. Thanks, Mr. Olsen!
9
Rather than reply to the various posters re: piano seats, I'll start a fresh post.
In the institution where I teach, we have piano benches, piano stools and piano chairs - the last of these being a wooden desk chair with an adjustable seat:
https://www.cpsimports.com/Adjustable_Piano_Chair.html
Piano chairs are very practical in a classroom/studio environment. I wouldn't have any trouble with referring to them as piano seats, but, more importantly, if we did a count of the benches, stools and chairs together, it would be a count of our available piano seats.
I thought it was a very clever idea, creditably executed, and add my congratulations to the debut constructor. He and I share another thing - we got hooked via Games Magazine. I had a puzzle published there long ago, though not a crossword. I can't imagine jumping into the crossword construction game, it's not for the faint of heart.
12
@David Connell,
Let me also use this opportunity to respond.
With themers there are invariably tradeoffs. I for one thought PIANO SEAT was worth a grumble or two to get the rebus NOSE in the center. Well worth the aha's.
4
Challenging Thursday; took some time to suss out the this very clever theme, until I said to myself, "WHOA! There could be a rebus around here!"
ENYA reminded me of that public radio show "Echoes." I never slept better than when I listened to that show.
2
First comment by an old guy. I kept thinking 39 across was the emoticon for groaning. My opinion of the puzzle is a loud groan.
1
This was a fun Thursday puzzle. As a Washingtonian I liked the clue "Expo, today" with NAT as the answer.
4
I have a small nit with this clue/answer.
Expo is the actual, full name of a Montreal player (even though expo is short for exposition).
NAT is short for National.
Isn't there a rule against this like the rules that the tenses or the singular/plural of the clue and answer must match?
2
@vaer - is someone who plays for the Nationals a "Nationals" or a "National"? If they are the "Nats", isn't he a "Nat"? Seems to be OK in my reading, though I have to confess I needed the sportsy folks to explain it - and it's another of the things about sports that grinds my teeth (moving teams and players all over for money's sake - L.A. Dodgers? puh-lease...).
2
@David Connell
Vaer's nit was that while the small-E expo is short for "exposition," as in "We were at the tech expo yesterday", the team's name was the Montreal Expos, not the Montreal Expositions. At the same time, the team they became is the Washington Nationals, who are called the Nats for short. Thus the perceived problem is that a full name in the clue leads to a shortened name in the answer. Not sure if there's a rule per se to cover that, but it's at least inelegant. However, there's no way to remedy this with Expo in the clue. You could say "rival of Phil," since the Phillies are often shortened to the Phils (and of course, Philly is itself short for Philadelphia outside the team context). And that would be a nicely misleading clue, given that people would start thinking of Dr. Phil and any other guy named Phil they could think of.
Interestingly, they couldn't have used "Met rival" either if they wanted to maintain the shortened-form consistency. Although many people, including their own announcers, believe that Mets is short for Metropolitans, and the team's original corporate name was the New York Metropolitan Baseball Club, Inc., the team name has never been anything but Mets.
4
To Jon Olsen: a resounding yes! This was a fun solve! Add that to the fact that you are a veterinarian who helps animals, I ended up with more than just a HAPPY FACE, I had a HAPPY feeling all over.
Congratulations on your POW! debut.
I look forward to your next puzzle!
5
This puzzle? :-(
So, I've commented about this before but the problem persists. Autocheck doesn't work on Rebuses. If I use autocheck and put an M instead of ) or Mouth its forever locked in as an M which is very frustrating. So on this puzzle EHM can be locked in as a valid part of the solved puzzle.
Wow, that was fantastic! One of the cleverest ever.
3
Couldn't work ESCUTCHEON into 39D, or PIANOBENCHES into 25D, although I tried. My EYES were getting SORE until I tried turning the finished puzzle 90 degrees to see the HAPPYFACE. I feel really sorry for those other-days-of-the-week solvers who abandon us on Thursdays. They're missing so much fun. Lastly, a hearty welcome to Jon. Great great puzzle, sir!
3
The first college greek letter fraternity,after Phi Beta Kappa, was Kappa Alpha, Union College, 1825.
3
@Robin jones
Are you saying it predates the sorority in the puzzle? Or are you just being informational, a la Factboy?
Deadline,
Both, I'd guess. Men went to college in the U.S. before women, so I trust it would be no surprise that there would be a fraternity before a sorority.
1
@Barry Ancona Isn't Phi Beta Kappa an honor society?
I am probably not the first to say this, but....ahem! EMORY is much more than a 'research center.' It is a University. YERKES Primate Center is a research institute, but YERKES wouldn't fit, and EMORY doubtless is the site of many other research institutes. I'm not even mentioning the seminary, the medical center, and the affiliation with the CDC. As a native Atlantan, I would like to see proper attribution.
Other than that (I blame Will) I really enjoyed this puzzle.
5
MOL,
The clue was "Research *Institution*..." not Center or Institute. I don't have a problem calling a fine university a research institution (and neither would family and friends who attend[ed] Emory).
7
I recently started working with crossword puzzles. By ‘recent’, I mean over the last month. I’m still learning the nuances. I thought this puzzle was an absolute joke. How is one supposed to deduce that “:ore” is a blot on a landscape? I think this puzzle was presumptuous and impertinent. I really don’t understand how other commenters thought this puzzle was so clever...
9
BooLoo,
I can understand your newbie puzzlement. (1) Thursday puzzles usually have a trick. (2) The trick is often the use of rebuses. (3) Rebuses have been used here for more than 50 years. (4) A link to a NYT XWP article on rebuses has already been posted in the comments. (5) You'll be fine for -- and should enjoy -- the next one.
15
@BooLoo With all due respect, I think you answered your question with your first three sentences.
13
@BooLoo
You're new here, and very welcome, too!....but this is just so sad. You are kind of missing out. The pair of dots (the COLON)....what would you say those dots stand for? Think it over, and remember all of us at some time or another have had to don a sheepish grin and retract heated words...
12
I'm bummed — I always look forward to Thursdays, but this was the first I couldn't complete in a log time. I had all the setup answers but the payoff rebus totally went by me, although that's what Thursdays are for, right? PIA had to involve a Piano, and PLY had to be Mouth, but I couldn't connect the dots.I had to check the solution this morning, and let out an "Ohhhhh . . ." and an appreciative chuckle at how I'd been bested.
:-)
25
@Another John
Thank you for coming here with a great attitude about it and not running down the puzzle or constructor as some stymied solvers do. Yours is the kind of reaction that keeps Wordplay comments a pleasure to visit.
21
@Hildy Johnson
Amen and ditto.
Thanks, Another.
1
is anyone using the leaderboards yet? I would like to but i dont really know anyone personally that does the mini regularly.
this is my link if anyone wants to add me...i'm really not sure how this works...
https://www.nytimes.com/puzzles/leaderboards/invite/e9d8af6b-de90-4d91-beea-2ac583a61ce0
@Patrick
I'll start! Let's get a bunch of us!
1
Got there in the end, but I'm still confused as to how ARTY = affected?
My lookups/help from Google/Wiki etc:
ERICA (I'm vaguely aware of the existence of a show called All My Children but I've never seen a single second of it)
EXJETS (I knew Namath was a Jet, was unsure about Vinny. Thought there may have been a college connection but had to google them.
OBAMA (After filling in 6D it's where my mind first went but I had a quick google of his parents to make sure I was right)
SILVER
RESIN
My "had to look up the actual answers":
RHETT (Having never seen Gone with the Wind, I was aware of a character called Rhett, but didn't know his surname was Butler)
ENM, followed by EORE/PIANATS/PLYM. Honestly, I forgot rebuses were a thing. I was initially struggling on ___ Rock but unable to find an answer quickly, so I changed tack and looked up the across, which many sites are listing as ENM. I then had to google what the resulting down clues were, and found no results except for sites listing these as an answer. A few minutes of headscratching later and I suddenly remembered about rebuses (rebii?) and it all made sense to me. I'm a bit MIFFed with myself that I couldn't figure it out alone.
I would contend that EMO isn't really an indy rock genre.
1
@Chris Finlay
Since no one has yet responded, ARTY (or “artsy”) typically describes (pejoratively) someone who “affects” a Bohemian sensibility, e.g., “After graduating with an MBA and having never once set foot in a museum, Chuck suddenly changed his named to Tristan and moved to Paris with his new girlfriend, Carmen. He’s now affecting a very arty sensibility, even though he wouldn’t know a MANET from a Monet.”
8
@Puzzlemucker
Just for the record, I use “arty” and “artsy” in almost exclusively a positive sense. I tend to love people who are “arty” or “artsy”. I find the pejorative use ridiculous and, quite frankly, an attempt to squelch and demean creativity. But, it exists.
3
@Puzzlemucker - interesting take on things there.
Artistic is the word I would use for something that artfully employs techniques and skill of the artist to make a credible work of art.
Arty & artsy are words I would use for something that an artificial person would use to make something intended to be taken as art.
Ars / art- is at the root of all of those English words, and the root-level meaning of it is "fitting, appropriate." What one person views as artful, another may see as artsy. De gustibus...
At any rate, I think the dictionaries and common usage will agree on the use of "arty" and "artsy" as pejoratives, not positives.
Another case: "He's an artist." vs. "He's an artiste." Discuss.
1
Had PUNK and PROG for ___ Rock for too long, so PLYMOUTH was nowhere in my thoughts. Figured it to be an obscure geological locale of which I hadn't been aware. The rebi were the very last to fall, but literally put a huge smile on my face, making 3D come true! [and become.. 3-D? :-)]
5
I am currently in (on?) a 403 day streak. I don’t really care about the streak, but I do enjoy completing the puzzle. I do the puzzle on my phone, and I am unable to type a ‘)’ using the app. I hate to see the streak end because the app doesn’t contain the symbol necessary. Any guidance?
3
@Frustrated?
Type in a rebus with the word MOUTH.
Congrats on your streak! That's impressive.
3
@Frustrated? Try typing the first letter of the word (P) and see if that works.
1
@Frustrated? Use the REBUS and enter eyes, nose, mouth
1
Once again I am just amazed at the ingenuity demonstrated by the constructors of our daily puzzles! This one was spectacular - - although I had to “research” ERICA - having never - EVER - watched the relevant TV show - - and had to read Deb’s comments in order to figure out the center.
Note to self:
REBUS! REBUS! REBUS! (How many times do I have to tell you?)
6
PeterW,
There are many crossword clues and entries with which I have no *first* hand experience. I, too, have never watched "All My Children," but ERICA was a gimme.
3
@Barry Ancona
It just wasn’t a gimme for ME.
I was trying to make sense out of NOISE for 53D.
Wasn’t sure about 60D.
Wasn’t sure whether 69A was MONET or MANET.
Still don’t understand the answer for 63D.
All that frivolling put me up near - but not equal to - my average time. I consider a puzzle “difficult” when I go OVER my average.
Just based on “getting better at it” my daily times are ALMOST always under.
1
@PeterW 63D= Detergent brands.
SPELLING BEE THREAD
43 words 194 Points 1 Pangram
4 5 6 7 8 9 TOTAL
A 1 4 1 6
C 7 3 2 2 14
E 2 2 1 5
F 2 2 1 1 6
L 1 2 3
P 2 2 1 1 6
T 2 1 3
// 43
25
@Liane
HINTS and NOTES
A couple of major omissions. What Tonto would call me, for one, and a long list of others not worth bothering to itemize.
HINTS: A chemical root -- think nails. Think mammary glands. A tree with heart shaped leaves. A musical term that is a homonym for a word you can nearly spell. Be tempted to put an "ee" after everything, but only expect to succeed once no matter how correct you are! Something smaller than the obvious to cover your shoulders.
Now off to dirty work on the roof!
11
Y’all, is this true? The Genius rank is 70% of the QB rank? If so, a person can figure out how far off QB is before Liane and David and Ron post the grid.
2
No lacelet, no acapella (yes, this is also a recognized spelling...)
How does the beekeeper choose the words that are accepted? Methinks he needs a course or two in music, literature, and generally to be more widely read...
3
To borrow a line from Spencer Tracy in "Pat and Mike": "Not much meat on her, but what's there is cherce." A delightful rebus -- even though it's just a single rebus answer. I loved it.
It wasn't a hard puzzle at all, though [EYES]ORE and PIA[NOSE]ATS were wonderfully well disguised. It was PLY[MOUTH] that gave the show away. If not for that, the puzzle might have been much more challenging. But COLON HYPHEN/PARENTHESIS/EMOTICONS would have provided the needed assist anyway. A clever idea, extremely well-executed, and with no junk fill. Kudos.
5
The EYES have it HYPHEN HYPHEN this was a super puzzle and a debut to boot. I made the usual false entries and absolutely loved the clue for NOICE. It wasn't until I was just about done that I turned to the rebus and everything fell into place. Thank you, Mr. Olsen. OXO
6
LETTER BOXED THREAD
Not an economical solution -- but it came within a few minutes at 5:30 a.m. I find I solve more quickly very early.
W-N (9) N-T (6)
I expect better of y'all!
HINT and ASIDE: Preposition and a wee taste. I was frustrated that I couldn't put together a whale term and verb describing it . . . so close!
1
@Liane
Struggled with this one!
But it came to me at last.
B-T(8),T-W(5).
Hint
A sporting event engaged in after one fires the architect.
Erratum!
Should be B-T(9),T-W(5).
@Liane
A little late, but one more solution: B-R(9) R-E(7) to describe Steve Irwin going native.
I got gently pummeled a couple weeks ago for taking issue with a musical clue about fl(a)utists and fifers, but apparently haven’t learned my lesson.
Piano benches I’ve seen. Piano stools as well, but a PIANO SEAT? I won’t go full grump on this one, but it does warrant a raised eyebrow. ;-|
2
Barb,
You will find a "full grump" on PIANO SEAT earlier in the comments. You're in good company on this one.
2
@Barb
As a pianist myself, I didn't really have a problem with this one, even though it did bother at least one other professional musician here. It might be because I had the PIA____ and I had figured out the rebus idea and squished NOSE in there. At that point PIANO SEATS became a gimme. While it is not the term I would normally use, hearing it said would not really disturb me at all.
7
Andrew,
1. I don't think anyone objecting to PIANO SEATS had trouble getting the entry.
2. I accept that it would not really disturb you to hear it, but have you ever actually heard it?
2
Since HORST is a raised piece of CRUST, if you put pate on it, does it become a HORST D'OEUVRE? Would the UMAMI taste be too rich for a continental PALATE?
11
@Henry Su
If you put pate on it, wouldn't it become a HORST of a different color?
7
@Rich in Atlanta
GROOOOOAN!!!
1
@Henry Su &Rich in Atlanta
You guys amaze me almost as much as the constructors.
Do you WORK at these puns - - or do they just COME to you??
Brilliant! Thanks for the entertainment.
2
Although I figured out the theme pretty quickly (or half of it), 39A was still a very accurate clue. :-c)€ !
Sometimes when I think I know a puzzle’s theme, I’ll deliberately save it for last, like dessert. In this puzzle I entered 39A pretty early and confidently but then studiously avoided its crossing downs, leaving them for last. Glad I did: I got to smile again not just one more but three more times.
Two more smiles for the clues at 20A (VIPROOM) & especially 19D (HEAVE... Ha!), both given shout-outs in Deb’s column.
Thanks for a great puzzle, Mr Olsen! I’m looking forward to your next one already!
Happy Thor’s Day, Everyone!
:-c)€
11
Fun fact: the Rebus button on iPhone XS DOESN'T HAVE ANY PARENTHESES. Found this out the hard way.
Way to go, NYT.
2
So apparently we are supposed to type the word mouth in the rebus.
5
No ) on the iPad either.
1
I didn't realize The Times developed the iPhone...
5
Bogus. I'll put up with a rebus now and then, but this is ridiculous, and too gimmicky to be dignified by being in the NYT. A true low point.
9
@BW
In other words : - (
23
One of my favorite things about Thursdays is coming to the comments section to see people getting all grumpy about the puzzle. Thanks for delivering. Bogus! Ridiculous! Undignified! You tell ‘em, gramps!
39
BW,
Gimmicky? Really? Punctuation marks have been used as rebus entries in the NYT Crossword since the 1950s.
(Nice debut, Jon Olsen: a fresh spin on an old trick.)
23
I see a couple of connections to a theme answer in yesterday's puzzle.
First : EXJET. No such thing. When you're a JET you're a JET all the way, from you're first cigarette to your last dyin' day.
And then there's the clue for 31d. Gee, officer Krupke - KRUPP YOU! (and I believe that's quite appropriate in regard to the gentleman referenced in the clue).
Nice puzzle. Wasn't a Thursday and then it was.
Like others, easy, easy, easy and then... what the? Spent a long time trying to figure out what I had wrong in that center section and what alternatives could possibly work. Long break; more staring; and it finally hit me. Great 'aha' moment, though it still took me a bit more time to figure out exactly what to put in the rebus squares (I used the words.).
One answer in the puzzle made me think of suejean again, though I don't trust my memory enough to be sure about that. suejean - ENYA? Am I remembering correctly?
17
@Rich in Atlanta
Your “West Side Story” connections are brilliant. I thought EX JETS was a weak entry until I read your post. Now. I see the light, and have the song burrowed into my auditory cortices.
Here’s a piece about Krupp:
https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/how-big-business-bailed-out-nazis
6
@Rich in Atlanta
Well, you remember the important things, Rich. My husband and I were both very fond of Enya, ( and I still like her) although I didn't remember this particular song for sure so googled "Enya songs" and it wasn't on a very long list. So that was not one of my early fills.
2
@Rich in Atlanta
Bravo!
Your analysis (if that's the word) is spot-on brilliant.
2
Deb, when you wrote your column yesterday noting that NAS/DRE were often either/or had you already solved today's puzzle and knew DRE was coming? I laughed when I saw the clue.
6
@vaer Honestly, I didn't. But it's always nice to be proven right. ;)
5
@vaer
I was convinced there was a rebus that would make today's Dr. "Seuss."
4
@FrankieHeck
I can see that.
1
Fun puzzle, really nice aha moments.
Great debut. Thanks.
2
Both pi and phi (1/Phi) are irrational. Perhaps a mathematician here could confirm that an irrational number can be a RATIO (21D), please?
1
Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.
7
Got it, thanks. And phi is the ‘ratio’ of two numbers where the ratio of the sum to the larger of the two equals the ratio of the larger to the smaller.
1
@WMY
& a rational number is one that can be expressed as a ratio of two integers, or whole numbers. (Incidentally, some people think pi equals 22/7, but that’s just a close approximation.)
1
Congratulations, Mr. Olsen! I definitely enjoyed solving this puzzle even though I have never used emoticons before today. :-)
2
To paraphrase those who said "this was easy until it wasn't", I found this a bit dull for a Thursday until it wasn't. What a great AHA moment when I finally got that terrific central rebus. I have become so used to people no longer using whole words ( adorbs being the most awful example) I just sort of accepted PLYM. As I'd virtually finished what seemed to be a non rebus Thursday puzzle, it was a long time before I got the EYES NOSE MOUTH. Brilliant!
Wonderful debut, come back soon, Jon.
25
@suejean
For me, this wasn't easy until it was, and then it wasn't again at the end. Had smilyFACE (misspelled, I know, but I thought maybe a variant) before HAPPYFACE, but that fixed itself pretty quickly. And took me overnight to get the rebus aspect. I'll second your brilliant.
4
60D, PSAT, happened to be the final clue I read as I finished the puzzle. I spent ~5 years with The Princeton Review developing/writing/editing their PSAT course materials. Related: Whenever I see ETS in a puzzle, I immediately think of Educational Testing Service, not space aliens or French "&"s.
8
@Morgan
Me too, similar reason: I helped write exam questions for several years.
I expect that during that period in my life I contributed to more person-hours of misery than during all the rest of my life combined... at least I hope so.
I want to correct for that someday by doing what Kermit wanted to do in The Muppet Movie: somehow make millions of people happy. (Imagine Kermit’s voice there.)
:-c)€
8
No doubt you will, Floyd.
3
@Floyd
Will you settle for 150?
1
It was an easy puzzle until it wasn’t. I raced through the outer puzzle, and came to a screeching halt in the center. Did not know HORST so was unsure of that. It took a long time to figure out that rebuses were needed in the center three squares. A big “Doh!” moment wondering “How could I be so dense?”
Filling in the rebuses gave the Happy Music to go along with the Happy Face. Cute puzzle with a devious twist in the middle.
9
WHOA that was fun! [SNORTS]
5
Montreal Expos moved to Washington DC and became the Nats (Nationals).
3
@Richard Derman Ah ha! Although I solved the puzzle, I could not figure out what that clue meant. I knew someone in the comments would tell me. Thanks!
1
Wonderful puzzle today! It's one of my recent favorites!
Can someone please explain "Expo, today" = "nat"?
Thank you!
4
@Viv
The Montreal Expos Major League baseball team moved to Washington D.C. and became the Washington Nationals in 2005.
Hence a former Expo is now a Nat.
9
@Ron O. Thank you for the thorough explanation! That one really went over my head!
1
@Ron O.
However, I doubt that any former Expo is anything but retired at this point.
2
Could someone please explain 63D?
1
@Diana Era and Gain are both laundry detergent brands
@Diana
Laundry detergent brand, at least in the States.
Thanks to you both. I actually make my own with soap flakes and washing soda. I don't even know if those brands are available here or not.
2
oh fun! easy thursday and a lot of pleasure!
1
My phone has no end parend ) to enter as mouth??
5
@Tracy McQueen
You can write in MOUTH
1
That should be you can write in MOUTH as a rebus.
4
Hi all! For those who are not sure how to enter a rebus on their devices, try this:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/crosswords/yes-you-can-write-more-than-one-letter-in-a-square.html
4
Love the puzzle, love the central rebus series even though there was no transformation in the iPad app. But. PIANOSEATS is just weak and unsatisfying. In my decades as a professional musician I have literally never encountered a pianist who used that term. Yes, pianists sit while they play, but they sit on benches (or stools, if they’re in a honky-tonk saloon in an oater).
8
@bratschegirl
I completely agree! Went through SNEERS and SNARLS ON 46a, trying to get PIANO BARS or PIANO STOOLS. Still a very good puzzle, but thumbs down for PIANO SEATS.
2
A really fun theme with a nice AHA moment at 39a.
I can just hear some genXer telling his grandchildren: "You kids have it so easy. In my day, we had to use something called a 'keyboard' and type out our emoticons." Yes, times have changed...
3
@Mike R
I haven’t found an emoji yet that I like as much as my emotion.
:-c)€
2
Nicely executed theme with an "aha" moment in the center after 26D. Other then HORST all accessible words but still challenging, with none of the overused fill we sometimes see. Very satisfying puzzle! Congrats!
3
Fun puzzle! Just the right crunchiness and twistiness for Thursday, IMO.
Clue 15-Across sent me looking things up, which surprised me a bit to learn that of our 45 Presidents (or actually 44 different Presidents, since Cleveland is numbered twice), a third of them, that's 15 of them, fit the clue (though mostly not the entry length), including BOTH ADAMS, both of whose fathers were named John Adams. And you can almost count Ford twice, since he was named the same as his birth father, and then renamed the same as his stepfather.
Bonus trivia question related to 1-Down: What punctuation mark goes after the word BRAVE at the very end of "The Star-Spangled Banner?" Careful, this is just slightly tricky.
2
?
1
@LisaMarie
A coda to your excellent bonus, Alan: ? after BRAVE at the end of the first verse, ! after BRAVE at the end of the second verse, and . after BRAVE at the end of the last two.
https://amhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/the-lyrics.aspx
If you click on the “19th century version” in the linked page you can hear the song as it would have been played in the 19th century. Sounds better to my ear than it typically does today.
@Alan J
I guess I should have just written:
.
Great puzzle Mr. Olsen. Well done! I liked how you had genX pop culture references (Enya!) mixed with genY and Z (the whole emoticon phenomenon.) I thought it was a perfect Thursday puzzle.
Thanks!
2
@Ms. Cat
I've never been able to figure out, or at least to remember, the various "gens" and who is X or Y or Z. I gather the difference is important to some members of those gens.
1
I got 68A by doing the downs, but I still can’t figure out why “Every good boy does fine” is a mnemonic for notes.
@Susan,
Those are the notes on the lines of a treble staff. The notes in the spaces spell the word FACE.
See https://method-behind-the-music.com/theory/notation/.
1
@Susan It's a music thing. Musical notes are written on clefs. There are three clefs: treble, alto, and base. ( Only violists use the alto clef.) Each clef has five lines and four spaces on which the notes are written. In the treble clef, the notes on the five lines are E, G, B, D, and F: hence the mnemonic Every Good Boy Does Fine. (The notes on the four treble clef spaces spell out FACE, so no mnemonic was needed there.) Back in my day, where we were less worried about sugar content, the mnemonic was Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge.
9
@Susan those from the UK might know it as Every Good Boy Deserves Favor, and a tilt of the hat to Deb's musical allusion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-iJ47in9YQ
3
I thought this was an excellent Thursday puzzle and terrific for a debut! I caught on with PLYMOUTH Rock, and PIANO SEAT came not long after. I put in the words as I had not cracked the EMOTICON idea yet, and I never thought of entering the symbols until I came here.
For 15A I kept coming back to George Bush. I was one letter short but details like that never bother me on a Thursday. I searched in vain for the sneaky trick on that one. Fool me once - shame on me...
3
@Andrew wrote: "For 15A I kept coming back to George Bush. I was one letter short but details like that never bother me on a Thursday. I searched in vain for the sneaky trick on that one."
Did you try entering "43" as a rebus in the last square?
1
Andrew (in Ottawa),
Thank you for actually explaining Plymouth Rock and Piano Seat. Even after reading Deb’s comment, I was still unable to get that until reading your comment!
Nevertheless, I really enjoyed doing this puzzle. In fact, despite my inability to complete that very last part, I still found myself doing a “Happy Face.” It was a challenging but fun puzzle!
@Henry Su
I actually was considering something along those lines for a while. Also wondered about a "W". In fact I saw that one commenter had tried DUBYA at some point. A lot of others got stuck on the ADAMS family.
1
Three interesting “ _o___” Downs in the bottom section: BORAT (pretty well known, though I had no idea he was connected to a mankini), HORST (huhst?), and NO ICE (“Not on the rocks” or “Neat”; thought at first that it was slang for NICE). Not sure if they were intentionally placed but they have a kind of symmetry.
3
@Puzzlemucker,
Interesting observation but I will quibble about 53-D. Since the clue is "Neat" in quotes, I think we're looking for an equivalent slangy expression -- NOICE.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3uBr0CCm58
I give you props for discerning NEAT in its sense as NO ICE, though.
4
@Puzzlemucker
I actually thought it was “noice” as one word. It’s a fairly new slangy version of “nice! Or in Fuddy Duddy “neato.” My teenage son says it ALL the time and I’ve been seeing it a lot in comments on sites like iFunny and Reddit.
Noice!
2
@Henry Su
Really? I think the quote marks are because one *says* “Neat” when ordering a drink with NO ICE. “Neat” is not an equivalent slang expression, IMO. Not sure what that would be, but it would be something from 2010s, not something pre-millennial.
5
I struggled mightily with this one. The center and middle top were where I had problems. Would've helped if I wasn't doing it while half-falling asleep.
Got HAPPY FACE easily enough. VIPR...sat for ages.
I had ADAMS too. Then I thought, well, there was BUSH too. But things needed to fit. Then after I finally got EBOOK and KAPPA, etc., finally things started to fall into place. But the center still eluded me, forgetting it was a Thursday.
With EBOOK, finally put in OBAMA, though I didn't know that about his name - and realizing that the clue didn't say the father was also a president (sigh).
Had WAIT before WHOA (with horses, it's gotta be WHOA, I thought). Had SNEER before SNORTS. 25D and 26D just didn't make sense. But with KAPPA and PLY_, the lightbulb slowly lit up. I put in the rebus words for the symbols to complete the puzzle.
Very clever and great debut! Just wish I had been more awake to get it sooner.
8
@Wen,
I too was fooled by 15-A until I worked some of the crossings. I had DUBYA before OBAMA.
2
@Henry Su, @Wen
ADAMS. Funny how we and LizB and probably others read into the clue “President” before “father”.
3
OT: Back on Jan 2 of this year, we had a Spelling Bee puzzle where the word UNMUTE wasn't accepted. At the time we checked m-w.com and it wasn't considered a word. https://nyti.ms/2W5CPWX#permid=29977118
But in this day and age, especially with the advent of the TV remote (though not exclusively related to it), we thought UNMUTE should be in the dictionary because modern usage validates it. I'd written m-w.com at the time and had gotten a reply from m-w.com where they basically said they agreed and would add it when they next added words. I thought that was kinda cool:
https://nyti.ms/2IGTvAQ#permid=30019293
m-w.com added new words yesterday - https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/new-words-in-the-dictionary
And now UNMUTE is in. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unmute
And I noticed as I scrolled down:
Statistics for unmute
Last Updated
23 Apr 2019
It doesn't appear on all word entries. But it appears that the new words they added yesterday have that "last updated" section.
So Sam, if you're reading this, it's time to add UNMUTE to the accepted word list for Spelling Bee! (I hope!)
14
Fell into a few traps. HAPPYFeet was the worst. After that got resolved all went well until the center where I tried to force the rebus idea to OPEN MOUTH and PIANOSTOOL. Glad that I wasn't doing this one with my trusty old pen.
Still managed to finish close to my Thurs avg.
A nice debut. Who was that masked man?
[A cry from the distance] Hi-yo, SILVER, away.
2
I entered the central answers as whole words. I was delighted to see how they transfromed when I finished the puzzle.
4
@Brian Abel Ragen
I solved on an iPhone with complete words. No transformation upon completion. I would have liked to see that!
2
@Andrew same no transform for me 😢
1
@Brian Abel Ragen
Me too! On my MacBook Pro.
"Delighted" is the perfect word to describe my reaction to seeing the punctuation marks suddenly appear after the acceptance screen.
1
It was super easy until it wasn't. Loved the goofy center rebuses. Yes, a couple of glasses of wine may have made me a little slow on the uptake, but after a week of exceedingly easy puzzles, I was thrilled to stumble before figuring it out.
Fresh and fun. : )
8
This was a relatively fast Thursday for me. Starting in the NW and working E as I usually, I got HAPPY FACE and COLON HYPHEN pretty early in the solve, which put me on the right track. When I arrived to the center, PLY(MOUTH) revealed the rebus trick.
HORST was a TIL but fortunately the crossings were gentle.
I was somewhat disappointed that 2-D was not EMU.
I loved all the theme fill. Congratulations on your debut and the POW, Mr. Olsen. I'm looking forward to many more submissions, including ones filled with PET SOUNDS (replacing the happy music).
6
Once again, composing and editing in a comment box creates problems for me. The first paragraph should read:
This was a relatively fast Thursday for me. Starting in the NW and working E as I usually do, I got HAPPY FACE and COLON HYPHEN pretty early in the solve, which put me on the right track. When I arrived at the center, PLY(MOUTH) revealed the rebus trick.
BAH.
@Henry Su
Is this a bonus puzzle to spot the difference?
“do” (?)
Fun bonus!
@Puzzlemucker,
Yeah, I left out a "do" and needed to switch "to" to "at."
This was the one to bet that at least one commenter would say it was difficult. It was for me even though I was under average Thursday time. Getting the theme after a full pass through the puzzle AMPed up my speed immensely. Till then it was stop and go with more stopping than going.
I felt like the recent puzzle with ARGENT for clue of SILVER helped me tonight with the Argentina clue. Nice when that happens.
Terrific Thursday!
7
@Puzzlemucker ARGENT definitely gave me the answer for this one. I made a Facebook post about learning "argent" and how a werewolf hunter in Teen Wolf was named Argent. A friend pointed out to me the periodic symbol and Argentina. Just one of the reasons I I've become hooked on crosswords, that I learn new things everyday!
4
struggled a bit in the center -- erasing AYE twice. finally cottoned on with EYESORES and then PIANO SEAT! very clever use of EMOTICON theme.
4
Love the puzzle but can’t find the colon or paren on my NYT crossword keyboard. Any suggestions?
@Ann W
You can write in the words instead of using symbols.
2
@Ann W
I used the rebus key and entered EYES NOSE MOUTH. Probably the COLON HYPHEN PARENTHESIS would also work.
1
Thank you for that. I was struggling with the symbols as well.
It felt like I fell for a lot of misdirects in this one. ADAMS before OBAMA, NY JETS before EX-JETS, etc.
As expected, the central area was the last to fill. I had WAIT and SNEERS for WHOA and SNORTS, which didn't help. Ripped them out and tried again with WHOA, which didn't help much, as HORST was a total unknown. But MOUTH and NOSE, and then EYES, suddenly made sense, and once I figured out SNORTS it all came together.
Nice debut!
16
@Liz B
Hand up for Adams, mistakenly thinking 2 presidents at first.
7
@suejean
I think that was supposed to be a trap, but I already had enough letters to see OBAMA. And I didn't read the idea of two presidents into the clue, anyway.
1
@Steve L
Yes, further comments indicate that the trap got a few of us.
3
Got through most of the puzzle, half suspecting a rebus, but not finding one. Nice misdirection, though, in the center.
3