I'm a bit behind but YEAY! I just love that painting and that artist and just amazed by that technique. One of my all-time faves so thanks! (Of course it didn't hurt my 'time' for a Tuesday puzzle, either!
I almost forgot! The twofer; first the Doobies.
https://youtu.be/Phwjxh_H-BY
2
The fat lady speaks!
https://youtu.be/jbqpVU6bo7A
2
@Alex Eaton-Salners,
For your next effort, I think you should try a Jackson Pollack.
4
Will be much easier to construct and much harder to solve.
Unless using the @HALinNY solving technique.
Back in 1995 a set for a scene in the move Die Hard with a Vengeance was created in lower Manhattan where I worked. They created a pretend park in a vacant lot, compete with pretend Louse Nevelson sculptures and a pretend subway station. Us worker bees got to spend our lunch hours in Chase Plaza watching it all take shape. For about a week we watched as a crew of scenics on a scaffold painted an enormous mural of this painting on the wall of a building. They got it done much faster than it took George to finish the hat.
1
@Margaret We worker bees of course. And Georges.
Well, silly on my part thinking there would be some sort of graphics representing the painting - like that pink butterfly. Still, a very enjoyable puzzle.
2
@Chat Cannelle. That would have been cool! Still, a fun puzzle.
1
Heads UP! - for everyone wanting to see the painting.
The DOTS give you only the NAME of the painting - - not an IMAGE of the painting.
If you want to view the painting itself, either use Google (and/or Wikipedia) - - or visit Chicago and the Art Institute thereof.
The “problem” is, one has to look at the note in “About this puzzle” to be set on the straight and narrow. I don’t know where that’s provided in the print version but, on an iPad, it’s in “Puzzle Info” - displayed by clicking on the “i” icon in the upper-right of one’s screen.
1
Ohhh they mark the name of the painting
I don't get it... Am I supposed to see something in the dots...? This feels like magic eye all over again.
Mr. E-S,
I have been thinking about your puzzle all day & it keeps growing on me. The fill was not extraordinary, but it is very understandable why. (To say the least!)
The theme, on the other hand, is splendid. Just splendid. What a great idea (& implementation)! PointilLism in a crossword puzzle. Splendid!
I’m among those who don’t consider this a stunt, but an invitation to join in the appreciation of wordplay. Bravo, & thank you! Looking forward to the next one!
:-c)€
8
That's all? I thought connecting the dots would reproduce the painting! 😀
2
@Ron
That seems over optimistic considering the painting!
:-c)€
2
I always thought "impart" means to give something whereas "lend" is to give with the expectation that it will be returned. But I suppose there is also the sense of lend that is the same as impart, alas. Close, but no cigar.....
1
@David/PK
His presence imparted/lent an element of "savor fare" to the proceedings that was that was there for ANI to see.
Just wait until AI can do all this *and* include part of the painting in the grid. Won't that be the day?
4
Fun theme! Once I I got most of the first three rows of answers in, I knew the theme answer, which made the difficulty more like a Monday puzzle, but I surely do not object to that.
4
Regarding my comment on the Leaderboards, it was “more in Seurat than in Ingres”!
2
No POINTS in AcrossLite -- Circles all the way down! John from Chicago would have Im. Plo. Ded.
By Universal Demand: Return of the Sewer Rat
Georges Seurat sums up Nilsson's Oblio: POINT Counter POINT
I shall now repair to the adjoining room to gaze upon this puzzle from a distance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSuB4t3q_dA
What with the TEDDY TED and TART TORT, I enjoyed how you eyed every T and crossed every dot. Wondered whether there was anything POINTED in revisiting my recent Rapa NUI, but thank you, irregardless.
POINT of No Return? SO VARY AFAR away!!
4
Puzzle was straightforward. The after-solve instructions not so much. I was hung up on the "read the dotted letters line by line.." What did line by line mean? This was my first guess, LINE BY LINE:
asunda
ya
ft
erno
on
on
the
isl
and
of
la
gra
nd
ja
tte
A little visual glue connected some of the words. Some made sense "line by line" as in ON THE and OF. But for the most part the "line by line" wasn't the clearest instruction? At least not imnsho.
3
Atob? What’s that?
4
@Jonathan Leal
A to B. The first small step in a series of steps. . . It's a DOOK.
8
@Jonathan Leal
Step A to Step B
1
Thanks
But what’s a dook?
4
“I do like these Leaderboards,
I do not like them, Sam I Am!”
But seriously, New York Times Wordplay, the Leaderboard thing doesn’t work! I try to get rid of it by following the instructions. I type in my name & press Next: I get a nice red ERROR in my face! And then I can go no further.
And besides, Leaderboards take away the recent puzzles calendar, which I used & want back!
And also besides, this “improvement”—so-called—is only for the Mini? Who cares?! Not only don’t I have friends I want to compete with, but competing on the Mini is trivial!
Useless!
I’m going to delete and re-download the app & see if that makes things better, but this “improvement” needs WORK!
David.
Out!
2
@David Scott Pearce
Leaderboard? I solve in the NYT app. What am I missing? (On three other hand maybe I don’t want to know.)
The powers that be have come up with a new feature, I guess to suck in more players by ‘sharing’.
You can ask friends of yours to race you on finishing the Mini.
I feel it’s ridiculous, and the Recent Puzzles list has moved to the bottom of the Stats page, and it’s now ACROSS, rather than DOWN, for whatever THAT’S worth!
Okay maybe looked up Pope with ST__O staring at me but overall a nice cool Tuesday Morning in the Tropical Island of Manhattan. Now to the 2 panagrams . . . maybe finish earlier & return to Sunday? Saturday?
Given that Joan Jett and The Jetsons are right in my pop-culture wheelhouse, the only thing that would have made this already delightful puzzle better is a reference to Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which is where I first encountered the Seurat work.
https://youtu.be/vBBOMLURSGA
12
@Roger
What a wonderful memory. Thanks for reminding me.
1
@Roger
Loved reading the John Hughes notes about that scene.
Excellent!!!
The word schmutz makes me happy. Also makes me miss my Grandma Betty.
2
@AudreyLM I had a Grandma Betty, too!
4
@Deb Amlen
Mine was Nana Betty!
1
Surprised myself by getting almost all of it but flopped at square 65. The comment reveal for it was a headlslapper.
3
Just in case there's anyone else out there using the NYT Crossword iPad app who was as confused as I was by all the talk about dots that didn't appear in the grid, go into Settings and turn on "Show Overlays." Thanks to Andrew who clued me in below.
12
If introducing a child to this magnificent painting, a more child-friendly title might be Find The Monkey (lower right):
https://www.artic.edu/artworks/27992/a-sunday-on-la-grande-jatte-1884
5
@Puzzlemucker
Haha! And if you want to keep said child busy for a couple of hours you could call it Where's Waldo?
3
@Andrew
You just have to make it very clear that it’s not a hands-on game, unless you have a few hundred million dollars to spare.
3
@Puzzlemucker
Give 'em a fine point sharpie and play connect the dots?
1
I can't get the print version of the puzzle. Only the newspaper version appears. Is it just me, or is it screwed up.
@rawebb1
I had to save it and print it with Acrobat. It was shifted and smaller in size for me.
@Alan B. Still only see the newspaper version after clicking everything I could find. Mine cut off the left line of clue numbers when I printed it. I need the regular print version that showed up every night til now.
@rawebb1
Not just you. But nothing got cut off in my print version. Anyhow, screwed up is right.
Letter Boxed
B-S(8),S-T(6)
2
Having missed the note, as usual, when done I looked at all of those dots (circles in my case) and said, "How in the h e double l am I supposed to connect the dots to form the painting!?"
When I realized that the dots represented letters I was blown away. Gobsmacked.
If it was Alex Eaton-Salners intention to point out how ridiculously talented he is, he most definitely made it for me.
Also I love Seurat. What a huge, beautiful bonus.
This was huge risk to represent POINTILLISM in a crossword but I'm happy to say, in my book anyway, Alex succeeded with flying colors.
11
Did anybody else think that today's photo almost seemed like an Impressionist painting?
8
@Andrew
I think you hit a Homer there, good eye.
6
Bru,
Did I see you at Winslow Junction?
1
@Andrew - after watching your Candle in the Wind link and then Elton John Carpool Karaoke, I watched My Mother, Diana, and at some point you see her in Niagara Falls blues with the boys, see google images.
So it's possible the xword is also the nexus of all event threads in the universe.
1
The printed version was the pdf file "newspaper version", which was fine for me- but I always print two copies, and the friend who receives the second copy hadn't had a chance yet to do Monday's, and there is the solution in the corner of the page. Oh, well. I mention this only because I am guessing that adding the dots messed up the normal printed version. Like, who cares, right? Not me!
But as to the puzzle, I loved it! So far, so good this week - fun and smooth and interesting!
At first I was feeling let down because the puzzle's theme was too simple (the 'technique' entry had to be either PENTiMENTO or POINTILLISM, and the former isn't exactly a 'technique' but rather an accidental effect.) But after I finished the puzzle, it occurred to me that, after all, it IS only Tuesday. The level of persistence required to spell out the title and include the artist and his signature technique is pretty impressive.
So, thanks, Alex! On with my Tuesday!
4
Deb wrote:
The first thing you might have noticed is that there are dots in some of the squares of the grid. I mention this because I wanted to let you know that they are supposed to be there and that it is not schmutz on your screen or your print copy.
My questions:
(1) Did the dots fail to appear in any format (with proper settings)?
(2) Was the editor's note about the dots not available in any format?
1
@Barry Ancona
Across Lite had circles and an explanatory note that the circles were supposed to be dots.
@Barry Ancona
I solve in the dedicated NYT Crossword app for iPad, and there are no dots visible for me at all.
@Barry Ancona
I had added a comment here about being unable to see the dots in the iPad app, but Andrew below very kindly alerted me to the need to turn on the "Show Overlays" setting, so never mind!
I think that Deb's "Hi, kids!" needs to be "Hi, kids and old folks!" Joan JETT was a complete unknown to me and I am not what you would call a kid!
The Constructor Notes today helped me appreciate what a tremendous feat of construction it must have been to design this puzzle, despite my initial skepticism at its contrived feel. Still whatever skill and ingenuity it required, it pales beside the genius of construction of the original painting!
1
@Andrew
Since this is "play", I think we old folks count as "kids" of any ages for purposes of the box cover!
6
@Liane
I'm assuming that Joan JETT had a short-lived popularity, and those of a particular age group will be quite familiar with her, while those who are younger or older than that age group will be clueless. Of course I could be wrong!
@Andrew
I’m not sure it this will ring any bells, but Joan Jett’s biggest hit was pretty well known: I Love Rock and Roll. Her other big hit, I Hate Myself for Loving You, was reworked for the Sunday Night Football theme song (I’ve Waited All week for Sunday Night).
I guess Joan had a love/hate relationship with lyrics.
6
The NYT Crossword is official becoming an eye test. Earlier this week, I saw double. Now I see DOTS. If I only see black squares next, it's off to the ER for me.
I found it tougher than the usual Tuesday and did like the content. However, I found the dots strained my eyes as I solved -- looking as though crumbs were scattered across my screen. Was I alone in this cross-eyed reaction?
3
Liane,
The dots *might* have been a distraction for me during the solve, but I followed the note's suggestion and waited until the puzzle was done to look at them.
3
@Barry Ancona
I followed the note's suggestion too, and still found the the effect of the dots to be hard on the eyes, so I am not clear what you are suggesting or saying to me.
Indeed, the visual effect was so bad on my eyes that even after the solve, I didn't read the dotted answers beyond the first three letters. I knew the answer by the time I saw the S-U-N, having seen the original painting more than once and done the jigsaw version a time or two as well.
Clever puzzle, but hard on my vision was all I was saying, as well as asking if others found it so. Just in case I really should go to the eye doctor . . ..
@Liane
I think the dots were probably harder on the eyes on a device than on paper. (I believe that Barry is a paper solver.)
Especially on my tiny iPhone, I found the dots to be slightly bothersome, but then again I have a cataract requiring surgery so...
I recall you seeing double the other day, and Thursday is coming so you may be seeing only black squares soon, but its safe to say that your visual problems are all crossword-related.
3
Now _that_ was something completely different. Light, smooth, fresh, and "very sparkly." Did not know that POINTILLISM has two L's. Not unTILL today.
15
A very imaginative puzzle - with, no doubt, substantial challenge involved in the construction.
Having spent no small amount of time standing before this painting in the Windy City, I caught on to the theme fairly quickly (which is not my usual luck). I had no idea there were THAT many letters in the English translation of the title of this painting!!
ELO and JENGA were not in my wheelhouse and I misspelled Willem’s name as DeFOE. But I coaxed out NOOR and ORY without difficulty. FOO and ASTRO came only from crosses.
Don’t know WHY we would put something in Plum Pudding that would otherwise be put out for the birds??
Can’t imagine why people found the dots “distracting”. I ignored them with ease - - until I wanted to confirm my conclusions about the two theme answers.
And - - sorry - - but I’d like to see any one of the people who describe this type of puzzle as being “cute” - or with other derogatory terms - produce just ONE puzzle with anywhere near the level of construction skill demonstrated with this one.
6
Re suet and plum pudding (which is not a custard): think Crisco instead of woodpecker food. I believe it was also used in minced pie, but I’m not positive. On one of the Great British Baking Show episodes, suet was used as an ingredient. It was in the form of tiny flakes and must be readily available as none of the contestants turned a hair.
1
@PeterW Your suet question led me to get out my mother's trusty Butterick Cookbook, c1924. There are a few recipes in a section called "steamed puddings" where a main ingredient is suet, finely chopped. There are date, plum, and carrot puddings, and one called "suet pudding." The ingredients are put in a mold or tied in a cloth and boiled for hours. And there are two recipes for mince meat pie, which contain beef and suet, and three for mock mince meat pies, which do not.
@Margaret
....All of which have been implicated in the fall of the British Empire.
Wow. A couple of Saturday-ish (or at least Friday-ish) clues on a Tuesday in "What's far from fair?" and "Cover of night?" Love when that happens. And I liked the theme, which reminded me of the wonderful Sondheim musical "Sunday in the Park with George." Go to YouTube, you unfortunate people who never saw it, and see if you can find a video of the title song "Sunday" and the haunting "Move On". You'll want to see a performance of the former, not just listen to an album.
Back to the puzzle: two big write-overs: ELOI before TROI at 38A (all these sci-fi races, creatures, persons and ETs melt into one giant blob); and ALL STAR before NFL STAR, which gave me that fearsome "harbor hazard" -- the dreaded LOG.
I loved the puzzle and I even forgave it the annoying tiny little dots. I knew someone else would do the grunt work and spell it all out for me, and, happily, someone did.
5
@Nancy
I had the same ALLSTAR/LOG problem. Was so proud of myself for coming up with a sports answer so quickly, too. Ah, well.
3
Hand up for ALL STAR and LOG, which created an impossible crossing.
When we had the little house on Lake Conway, LOGs were definitely navigation hazards, often floating in along our shoreline. I famously used a steel fence post to propel these out into the current when they were too large to pull out... and the last time I tried it, I followed the log right into the water, head first. Didn't we just have HEADER in a puzzle?
4
Nancy,
For small craft, a LOG *is* a "Harbor hazard," and is nothing to SNORT AT, which provides N not A to start Heisman winner, who should already be an ALLSTAR.
3
Techs: I can only print the newspaper version today.
1
Just a plug for the Khan Academy video linked in Deb’s column, a very accessible and fascinating 6-minute discussion and close-up study of the SUNDAY AFTERNOON painting, Seurat, Pointillism, Impressionism, French society in the late 1800s, light, color, and art in general.
7
@Puzzlemucker
That’s quite a handful to cover in 6 minutes
2
@Leapfinger
Lol. I think it was 6:47. They packed in quite a bit.
1
Impressive Feat Of Construction. Zipped through this one, getting both the theme answers with a minimum of crosses. Probably would have been one of my fastest solves ever except for 3 (ish) squares: The aforementioned ELO/LEND, PJS/JENGA (had to run the alphabet to finally get the J) and sort of the general SUET/TED area. Part of my problem theree was wondering if I might be wrong about Rapa NUI and if there was another French title other than STE. Guessed right on all three but only after considerable pondering.
Couldn't have told you the title of the painting beyond 'A Sunday afternoon,' but I've got it somewhere in one of the art books on a bookshelf next to my desk.
Forgot that it's in the Art Institute of Chicago, but that seems to suggest an obvious link. Let's go to the park one day earlier:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0HDsguQcsE
..
3
There is a topiary version of “Sunday in the Park” here in Columbus.
Let's hop in the Ferrari and go see!
https://youtu.be/vBBOMLURSGA
6
JENGA isn’t about building a tower. It starts out already built. It’s about removing pieces without having it crash down. It’s a lot more fun using the outdoor version, which starts out 6 feet tall. A very satisfying crash!
1
@Xwordgirl
But in the outdoor version, how do your opponents find a way to "accidentally" jiggle the table at the crucial moment?
JENGA wrecks my nerves.
4
It may not be "about" building a tower, but it is impossible to play without building a tower. Thus I think "tower-building game" is eminently fair word play.
6
@Liane
You have to build a baseball field before you can play any baseball. Does that make baseball a "diamond-cutting game"?
I agree with Xwordgirl.
I loved the theme-echoing BINDI.
I did not see the note, not because I purposely avoid puzzle notes, but I just must have zipped the image on my screen to a place where the note was hidden. Missing the note led to a lovely aha, which I'll explain.
I went into solving mode, not focusing on the dots so much because they didn't disturb my solve. When POINTILLISM appeared I figured the dots would make an after-puzzle picture meant to be drawn. The solve itself was relatively smooth, but not wham-bam-Tuesday smooth, due to six answers that were either out of or in the nether reaches of my wheelhouse. After the solve I looked at the dots, and intuitively started spelling words with the dotted letters horizontally, and with the lovely aforementioned aha, the painting title became clear. Had I read the note in the beginning, I believe the dots would have helped my solve.
Being that this was on the harder end of Tuesday, IMO, with a slight bump up in cluing difficulty, and with NO NOTE, this would have made for an excellent and fun Wednesday puzzle, with an aha-factor that the note obviates. In any case, wonderful idea and execution, Alex. For me, a very sweet solve, the icing being that I love Seurat. Thank you!
5
LETTER BOXED THREAD
Hyper fast solve for me today. P-E (8) E-W (5).
Yesterday, I had the awkward FLANKERS SMIDGE.
@Liane
Also hyper fast, just a smidge longer,
P-S(4), S-E(10).
Had the same answer yesterday.
1
@liane
Started with P-S(7),S-E(10) then saw your 13. Got it in a flash.
It seems that the emus must not have liked my first word because it started with a B and ended with an S (9 letters). My second word started with an S and ended with a T and was 6 letters. (I am not recommending this notational change!)
I also made the comment that yesterday I too had FLANKERS and SMIDGE, which sounds to me like some sort of nasty British Pub food!
Apologies if you read this twice.
1
I really had a lot of fun solving this clever puzzle. I got POINTILLISM quite quickly, but couldn't remember SEURAT or the title of the painting, so needed the crosses. In fact I didn't know the title so needed all the crosses and (in Across Lite) circled squares, but that was part of the fun. I googled the title after finishing and got a nice 5 minute video with an interesting lecture, not sure if it's what Deb posted, will check that. I certainly recognized the painting and envy those who have seen in the flesh, so to speak.
Great work, Alex!
3
Puzzle brought to mind Harvey Birdman, attorney who defends cartoon characters. It seems George Jetson was fired from Spacely Sprockets and Harvey took the case. Unfortunately there was no moving sidewalk from his door to his desk and most of the Jetsons perished before reaching said desk. Then of course there was Scooby and Shaggy's bust.... See on YouTube.
Art history, criminal justice and my high school chess club came to the rescue for this one.
Thanks Alex
2
SPELLING BEE
69 words, 326 points, 2 pangrams, bingo
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Tot
A 2 1 1 1 1 2 - 8
B 4 1 4 1 1 - - 11
E 1 2 1 1 - - - 5
L 3 2 2 - - - - 7
N 6 1 3 1 - - - 11
P 5 7 2 2 2 1 1 20
T 2 1 3 1 - - - 7
40
Many words repeated from the June 12 Bee (Naehlpt).
If you recall the words from that Bee, this one will go fairly quickly.
Many of the same words not allowed as in that Bee as well; at least 29 by my count. So many cries of outrage will be repeated here.
1
@Ron O. Got to QB quickly with reference to my screenshot of June 12th completed puzzle - so cheated a bit as I was feeling lazy. Some of the '-able' words are a bit of a stretch. Lenten still not allowed. Blent not allowed, but archaic, so that's probably OK.
2
@Ron O.
Rather than be outraged anymore, especially with these long Bees, I stop sometime after Genius. I've decided I have little to prove by matching Sam's brainwaves perfectly while dozens of perfectly fine words are omitted.
Just to start the list of omissions (with no upset on my part at them at this point), I'll take the botanical ones: LANTANA and NEPETA, NAPA (cabbage) along with the above noted LENTEN (rose).
8
After a record fast time for me Sunday, and an easy Monday, this one was a slog. Way, way over average for a Tuesday. Ended up with a misspelling of TROI, and thought the error was with ATOB, because until writing this I didn’t have a clue what that was. A to B. Ugh. Spent 10 minutes trying to figure what was wrong in that.
4
@Mark Josephson
Me too! Came to the comments to see if anyone knew what ATOB was.....got it, thanks!
2
@Mark Josephson Interesting, I thought today’s was easier than yesterday’s. I did have to use Autocheck today because something was amiss and I was convinced it was ATOB, but couldn’t find any errors on the crossing words. Turns out I spelled TEDDY as TEDDI. Didn’t get “A to B” until reading your comment!
Guys, you have to do a NYT crossword puzzle in a cottage on a hillside in County Kerry with a peat fire warming your toes and a hot cuppa in your hand as your partner is still sleeping in the next room. Seriously simple pleasure!
I enjoyed this puzzle, theme came to me early and I even spelled SEURRAT correctly (in the puzzle, though maybe not just now?). Have I mentioned my struggles with spelling? Constructor's notes were illuminating! Thanks for the glimpse inside!
17
@Ann
Sounds like good craic! :)
2
@Ann
Definitely not just now. 😸 But when it mattered.
1
@Ann Thanks for bringing us there with you...sounds lovely!
2
Fun, quick solve, and the design is impressive. A minor correction to Deb: the name is "a Sunday afternoon on the ISLAND of..."
Just checking comments to see if someone else caught that. TIL the painting’s true name but alas, Deb did not. I’ve visited it countless times and always, like Deb, thought it was “Sunday Afternoon on the Grande Jatte.”
@Nancy Myers/Gary
You could all be thinking that because both the Art Institute of Chicago and The Metropolitan Museum of Art refer to it by the shorter name on their websites. The Met has the final oil study for it in their collection.
2
@Nancy Myers/Gary
You could all be thinking that because both the Art Institute of Chicago and The Metropolitan Museum of Art refer to it by the shorter name on their websites. The Met has the final oil study for it in their collection.
Thanks to the constructor - enjoyed working on your puzzle. Pretty smooth progress. POINTILLISM became apparent early so I filled in M. Seurat‘s name. Had put in ALLSTAR first instead of NFLSTAR and wondered about that log in the harbor. Didn’t know JENGA but liked the clue for PJS, so that worked out. And the pop culture ones (JETT, FOO, TROI) were familiar to me. I hate when I haven’t a clue what they’re referring to! And thanks to the person who posted the link to the painting. A nice way to end the evening.
1
Fun, up to a POINT... the title of the painting and the painter's name filled in almost immediately. Some of the filler seemed a bit chilly, though - but this might have been intentional, given the very cool tones used in that painting; in fact, it's hard to imagine that any of those Sunday strollers is having a very good time, given their stiff POSEs and the coldish colors. Au contraire: I thoroughly enjoyed myself! Merci for the fun Tuesday puzzle, Alex Eaton-Salners!
3
I was also a bit over average. That's OK, Wordplay, I got it on crosses and now I'll just go google JENGA.
Possibly, I am just slowing down.
My personal bests for MTW all fell in April, starting with IRS Day, the Ides of April, then 4/24 and 4/30.
My Thursday was last 12/6 and Sunday on 12/9. Do I suffer from spurts of enthusiasm or do easier puzzles actually cluster?
Saturday best was last 11/10 but Friday from an anomalous solve on 12/1/17. I don't even remember 2017 any more.
Is there a correlation with sun spots? New episodes of beloved television programs? Or just a need to escape into a world of puns and new words which, having never encountered them before, I am unlikely to produce spontaneously in future?
I feel sure I only know the Koh-i-Noor from its previous appearance in the puzzle, but I'm willing to attempt to use it in a sentence. I mean besides this sentence.
The constructor notes went over my head as tl;dr but maybe I'll give them a closer read tomorrow while waiting for folks to comment.
1
Can anyone enlighten me as to what the answer for 54a signifies? I don't know what ATOB means.
3
@Dibson H
A to B is a small step.
2
@Martin
Or more relevant to this puzzle, *point* A to *point* B.
10
“Someone” described Katherine Hepburn’s acting as ‘running the gamut of emotions from A TO B”
Harrumph
It was DEJA vu to see DEJA in a puzzle again in such a short time
2
I enjoyed this one. I originally added a puzzle subscription for the Acrostic, so this felt like home.
Even though some of the fill was a little gluey, I thought there were some clever nods to the theme. BINDI at the center top and crossing POINTILLISM was brilliant, and I also liked PINTO (also called a "paint" horse due to its spotted coat). Maybe also EYE.
It's probably only me, but ANI also feels like a possible wink at the theme: I had a law professor who used it as a stealth insult for legal professionals because he said it was a Latin plural. I always get a chuckle when I see it in a puzzle.
3
What we need now is a sequel puzzle with CHROMALUME and SONDHEIM and PETERS and PATINKIN.
1
@David Dyte
I'm sure right now the constructor is FINISHING TH(E H)AT!*
*This is a reference for those familiar with the musical
1
and Elke
this was SWEET and SUET.
Fortunately the toner/ink saving feature seemed to auto-correct, as I think the dots would not have shown up if it had been on.
Like others I was looking for a picture, and I can see an ASTRO in the picture. And of course a TEDDY can be a platform for a bustle. Glad that fashion craze is over.
Keep thinking that EVEL is really "evil", and TIL of Joan JETT.
Saw Niagara Falls first in the early 50's. A neighbour took my newly arrived family (in Toronto, ONT) on a Sunday out to show the Falls. They were PROUD OF them. We appreciated their friendliness and of course we POSED for pictures.
2
I saw all the dots and my simple mind went to Dot-to-Dot pictures... I do have young grandkids and have been known to color with them. Anyway, I kept trying to see a picture within the puzzle. Didn’t happen. Obviously.
POINTILLISM is an interesting concept for a puzzle.
:-|
3
A Tuesday to savor. Big wow from me. Yes, the dots were distracting. Yes, it would have been cool had the grid somehow transformed into the painting in the end. Yes, I had to flyspeck and rely on the title of the painting to change SEND to LEND. But what a strange and wonderful idea that Alex had and was able to execute so well in a puzzle that was Tuesday-doable — I had that thought nearly throughout my entire solve EVEN MORE SO once I was done. BRAVO!
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@Puzzlemucker
A wee bit o' squintin,' and you can see a man wearing a tophat, with eyes, nose, beard, arms and legs in the grid.
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@Deb Amlem; you wrote “It might not be apparent at first, but we are gazing at the famous painting by GEORGES SEURAT called “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte.” I’m not sure if you mean that the painting shows up some how? I understand we are looking at the title, but I don’t quite know what you mean by looking at the painting itself. curious if I’m missing something by using the ipad app.
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Also using the dedicated NYT crossword app, and there are simply no dots anywhere to be seen.
@bratschegirl
Try going to settings and turning on Show Overlays.
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@Andrew
Thank you!! I had no idea that setting was lurking in there needing to be enabled. I've never had an experience like this one, where I wasn't seeing part of the puzzle, in 3-ish years of serious solving, and I was very sad to be missing the joke, but I haz no more sad now! Many thanks again.
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Anyone else having the newly updated app crash over and over? I deleted and reinstalled, and the app is still crashing on iPhone and iPad.
@Ross
I just updated the iPhone app to 3.0 and I didn't experience any problems. Didn't do the daily puzzle, but I'm working on one from the archives and no problems so far.
Attempting to print Tuesday puzzle but it’s only allowing me to print the newspaper version. I print the puzzle on a daily basis & have not encountered this problem before. Please assist.
@Sylvia
Most likely, the version you prefer cannot reproduce the dots that are part of the puzzle.
There needs to be a pretty huge payoff for stunt grids because the fill - like the fill in this puzzle - suffers as a price. But if stunt puzzles must run (and apparently they must) I'm glad when they run on a Monday or Tuesday so the late week offerings aren't saddled with the effort of trying to be overly cute.
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I solved on the iPad Air II. Pondered the theme after the solve, which I figured related to the monumental “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte”, by Seurat. But there were no dots, in my grid, so I couldn't figure out the theme. After reading Deb's column I pulled the puzzle up on my iPhone and, voila, dots. So it seemed something was missing from the iPad version.
Then it dawned on me to check the settings in the puzzle app. Sure enough, I had not turned on the "Show Overlays" button. Turned it on and got the dots. None of this prevented me from solving the puzzle, so no harm no foul.
Otherwise a pretty snappy Tuesday puzzle, many lively entries generously clues, but a few tricky ones too.
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Someone was sad when Metro Diary comments weren't posted yet. That's how I feel about Wordplay.
However, the reader objected to the depiction of a SHAM MARRIAGE. I don't remember which recent puzzle had that entry, but I'm pretty sure no one complained about it. I think there was a discussion about what constituted a sham marriage and maybe whether you can even have a marriage of any length without some sham. Here is the quote (since I can't linked to it?):
I was dismayed when I saw there was no comments section though. I'm glad I looked again today because I love the comments as much as the diary entries. This week I loved most of the stories. The one I was shocked by was the brazen woman writing of attempting a sham marriage.
I'm a big Joan Jett fan "one of the seminal female punk rockers" is probably not how I'd put it.
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@Noah S
;-)
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TIL Pointillism has 2 Ls in it. I never noticed before. Probably because whenever I see a painting using that technique I'm the guy with feet firmly on the proper side of the boundary line but leaning forward with my face 2 inches from the canvas looking at just how they did that.
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@K Barrett
Yeah, and crossing BINDI isn't exactly the pinnacle of construction.
@Dave isnt Steve Irwin's daughter named BINDI?
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@K Barrett
Yes.
And Bindi was also the name of a dog he had before his daughter was born.
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Took a little longer than the usual Tuesday.
Sounded like it was challenging to construct. Especially the constraint of the adjacency of the dotted squares. There are dots in every row, but one column is missing dots. Such even distribution wouldn't have been easy. Too bad about the column without dots.
I'm generally not a fan of the AN I, LONG E and INE (prefix/suffix) type entries, but I understand they can help the constructor tremendously.
Since it was a Tuesday, there really weren't many corrections - had CAN then USA then ONT. Half way through, it was pretty obvious it was POINTILLISM and SEURAT (I blanked on his first name). Also, while I knew the painting, I didn't know the name.
And...doily again!
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I suppose I feel somewhat disappointed that no dots appear for me in the app (haven’t updated as I have no interest in getting the weird “you’re halfway done!” pop-ups or whatever the new-fangled stuff is), but the hint to “read the dotted letters” made me enter POINTILLISM with certainty. That painting always makes me think of Ferris Bueller. (Hi, kids??)
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@Irene
In the options there is a "Show puzzle milestones" checkbox that can be deselected to disable those pop-ups, so I wouldn't let that particular quibble stop you from enjoying the most up-to-date version of the app.
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@Irene
If you're using the NYT Crossword app for iPad, there is a setting that needs to be enabled, called "Show Overlays." I didn't see the dots either until Andrew kindly clued me in about this setting elsewhere in the comments. I'd never known it was there, because I hadn't ever been aware of missing out on seeing some important aspect of a puzzle in all the years I've been doing it.
1
Good painting.
Good musical.
Good puzzle.
Good night!
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@Alan J
Good comment!
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I saw the musical version, "Sunday in the Park with George," on Broadway with Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters. As much as I love the two of them and usually Sondheim, I was underwhelmed. It won all kinds of awards, so I guess it was me.
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I really enjoyed the recent Broadway revival. Annaleigh Ashford was wonderful and Jake Gyllenhaal was surprisingly adequate. It was just announced that they are reprising their roles on the West End next year.
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@Jeff
"surprisingly adequate"
Ouch!
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@Martin
I've only seen the videorecording of it, but I liked it quite a lot. (And I thought of it immediately upon realizing what the them of this puzzle would be.) I don't think it (or many Sondheim shows) is supposed to overwhelm you, but more to charm you slowly, and it worked for me.
For those not in the know, the songs in Sondheim's show uses lots of staccato notes to create a musical interpretation of pointillistic painting, just as Mr E-S does with today's crossword.
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Um, the painting in question dates from 1884, so not exactly 200+ years ago.
Since I knew both the names of the painting and the painter, the theme became evident pretty quickly. I did find the dots to be quite distracting, though, and I felt like they slowed me down a lot. I'm impressed that Alex was able to construct this to get the whole title in. (But it would have been really cool if an image of the painting had popped up when it was done!).
And we had ELO not clued to the band, which was nice, but it was clued to a chess rating system that made it totally obscure to me. For a Tuesday? Didn't help that I had SEND for LEND until I had finished with an error and then had to flyspeck to find it. And that was some pretty detailed flyspecking.
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@Liz B
Had the same error. Kind of knew SEND was off, so I zeroed in there and played the alphabet game till I landed on L. "Oh! That fits!"
@Liz B
Not knowing ELO as a chess rating system, I was bet on sEND before LEND (and lost).
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good puzzle! Glad to be reminded of one of my favorites paintings by GEORGES SEURAT at the Art Institute of Chicago. It is truly unique -- EVEN MORE SO with all its dots!
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More than 200 years ago? I’d check that again. More like the 1880s if I remember my art history at all.
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[Checked as suggested, apparently.]
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For once, ELO is clued as something other than the rock band. This chess system might be a bit obscure for some (read: ME) and might pose a problem for those who think that to impart might be to SEND.
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@Steve L the sports writers at 538 also use ELO so there's 2 distinct waaay niche groups familiar with the term now.
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@Steve L
I was also not familiar with that usage for ELO, and I did have SEND at first, but thanks to the dotted squares, it soon became obvious that it was LEND.
Got to see the actual painting last year when the family went on an outing to the Chicago Art Institute.
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JayTee,
Nice constructor wordplay that the theme provided an additional "check" for a chess clue.
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Can’t see the painting on the iPhone app. Puzzle was fun anyway.
@Mr. Mark
That's because there's no painting. It's just a series of dots. The words in each dotted box spell the name of a famous painting.
But other than that, there's no point.
Somebody had to say it.
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@Mr. Mark
For anyone who wants to see the painting in question:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Seurat#/media/File:A_Sunday_on_La_Grande_Jatte,_Georges_Seurat,_1884.png
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