“Dont” is two wordS.
Surprised that no-one has yet mentioned the Once Upon a Tine juxtaposition.
Hello! Fodder for the next installment of RT puzzles!!
Rabindranath Tagore
Rachel Ticotin
Rafael Trujillo
Randy Travis
Raquel Torres
Rip Torn
Robert Taylor
Renata Tebaldi
Rex Tillerson
Richard Threlkeld
Rita Tushingham
Ronnie Turcotte
Rumiko Takahashi
Russ Tamblyn
Really tacky run through randomly that-a-way, but it seems right after I woke up this morning, someone hit me with an RT stick
All I can say in my defense is that I didn't spend all day waiting to unload that one.
Humbly acknowledging Peter Gordon could've made this a lot ORNE -ERRIER than it was. Getting the ARTI ness of it gave me the sense to rip RIHANNA out of RITA_ORA's spot, at least.
Must find where that RT stick has wound up now. Would be a nice addition to any day of NYT puzzles
3
@Leapfinger
Must admit I was somewhat confused by the caption under today's blog photo. Couldn't quite follow the ownership/ living arrangement, nor how the rubber duckie qualified as part of the remodel. Which by no means indicates that I -- nor any of the many participants to follow -- mean in the slightest way to Put Down the Duckie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiQsaEdJ1aI
2
First time in a long time that Monday caused a problem; with a 1930’s clarinet player crossing a TV show star for a show I don’t follow, that seems a little excessively specific for a Monday. Nice theme, but caused too many name fills, which, for me, is always the sign of a weaker puzzle.
2
@Graham Wills I just remember him from reading the biographies of Lana Turner and Ava Gardner. Both were married to him (as were six others.)
1
@Mike Flaherty Here’s to your next 400 day streak. Keep it going!
1
Newish puzzle solver here: I thought the grid was clever, but it felt a bit challenging for a Monday. A lot of the trivia was out of my wheelhouse. In particular, I've never heard of ROTO ROOTER, RITA ORA or TORA TORA TORA til today. Since they crossed each other in the SW corner, that section took a fair bit of guessing. I eventually got everything but it took longer than my Wednesday average!
6
I agree that it felt tougher than the average Monday. Congrats on working it through!
2
@EW I always thought Ernest Borgnine was in Tora! Tora! Tora! but just double checking and no, it was Martin Balsam. I guess I got the Admiral uniform mixed up with the Captain uniform.
1
I really loved this Monday puzzle! I think the theme added a lot to what is sometimes a little bit of a yawn.
2
A little difficult for me for a Monday.
2
The lead photograph, while spot on for the puzzle, does not do justice to the bathroom remodel, which may be seen here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/garden/21location.html
4
N.B. After reading the article, more photos are in the "Related Coverage."
4
@Barry Ancona
Slide show, worth 12,000 words
https://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/04/21/garden/20110421-location/s/20110421-location-slide-G6R3.html?action=click&contentCollection=Home%20%26%20Garden&module=RelatedCoverage®ion=EndOfArticle&pgtype=article
[oops] most of which appear in the url...
i thought today's puzzle was a brilliant construction
~ it made me smile to complete
4
@artlife
It was real without being "r-t-ficial"!!
8
Got this one pretty quickly. (Of course, it's Monday.) LOVED the theme, which I picked up right away and was amazed by... really? Just two consonants? So I had to solve all of those first. I learn something in every puzzle... Nice to make your acquaintance, Rita!
4
@Marlene Heller
I was "getting" the words fast enough I wasn't looking for the connective tissue. But for me, post-completion inspection and appreciation is always fun!
3
@Marlene Heller
My very thoughts!
i RATE today’s crossword 💯 — truly high ART.
3
Artie Shaw was married to Ava Gardner, also one of the clues.
8
Small picky point: as a Chipotle addict, I have never seen an actual “taco” of any kind (as opposed to burrito etc) at one
John,
If the link works, you'll see the menu from the Chipotle I can see from my bedroom window:
https://order.chipotle.com/Meal/Index/1631?showloc=1&utm_source=locationpage&utm_medium=yext&utm_campaign=yext_location_page
3
I usually get tacos at Chipotle. You have a choice of soft or crunchy.
1
Quick and easy Monday for me. The only one I didn't know was RITA ORA, but it filled easily with its crosses.
Nice start to the week!
1
My five favorite clues from last week
(In order of appearance):
1. Halfway home (2)(6)
2. Sign with the times (4)
3. Something scratched (4)
4. Garden item that sounds like the plural of another garden item (4)
5. It charges to do some cleaning (6)
ON SECOND
OPEN
NOGO
HOSE
ROOMBA
9
@Lewis
I enjoy your favorites lists. Thanks for posting them!
5
@Lewis You missed my fave for the entire summer: "One who might get you into hot water? (8)"
CANNIBAL
2
@Kyle -- I loved, nay, ADORED the wordplay, but the accompanying stereotype, not so much.
2
Quite a sophisticated theme for a new solver. Plus some difficult non-Monday words: RITA ORA? I wish a newbie would chime in.
Peter Gordon is also a most intelligent and sophisticated constructor. If today's puzzle is an example of him "dumbing it down" he doesn't do a very good job. That's a compliment, Peter!
I thought today's puzzle was an interesting and intriguing Monday solve. But then I'm not a newbie, I'm an oldie.
6
@Johanna I would describe myself as a newer solver, I started doing crosswords in the last year and have just recently began to be able to solve most Mondays, about half of the Tuesday’s, then the occasional Wednesday or later without help or looking up the answers (though I will often look at the answers when I am finished and have made a spelling error).
Today’s Monday was difficult for me, I checked here for hints and still had to look a few up. I am happy for a challenging one though. I think the ones I can’t solve on my own help me improve.
6
@Roman, great insight, thank you!
3
I was thinking that unless it gets a more appealing name, the RAT TERRIER will always be the last dog rescued from the pound. And that it will never be a movie star like Lassie or Asta or Toto or Rin Tin Tin. And that I'm pretty sure no one in the park has ever said to me: "I want you to meet [fill in dog's name], my wonderful RAT TERRIER. But I looked it up and the RAT TERRIER was named by Teddy Roosevelt, so what do I know?
Considering the letter limitations that the theme forced upon this puzzle, the result wasn't half bad. Not that it was hard, but I think I had to do more thinking today than I did in last week's Mon, Tue and Wed puzzles combined. I had to, for example, come up with PIETA, when I initially wanted either DAVID or MOSES.
Yesterday we had TURN TURN TURN. Today we have TORA TORA TORA. Is there a pattern developing?
4
@Nancy
Tell me quando quando quando.
3
@Nancy
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps
@Thomas - or as they say:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B07BfLDsB0Q
It was a bit of a struggle making the connection between today’s forum photo and the puzzle - - but I finally got it.
Let’s hope “Ducky” did NOT go “down the drain”.
And let’s hope Ms. Loebe eventually did (or had done) a decent job of caulking around her tub. Ewwwww!!
1
@Guess Who!
Why a duck, you ask? If you want to cut to the chase, start about 3:20 in.
@vaer
Not sure why the link didn't copy.
@Guess Who!
Ugh, I saw the same thing. Remodel all you want; if you won't clean it up, it's still a mess.
Wow, that's a lot of RT words! I didn't get the connection the theme words had to each other until the revealed made it plain.Took a little longer than average.
Thanks for the river guide - I could use a tutorial on rivers across the globe!
4
A definite “Solve” (not just a “Completion”). Needed no “research” or other assistance.
Saw the PIETA at the NY World’s Fair in 1964-65.
First pet was a RAT TERRIER.
Favorite restaurant up here is TRATTORIA FUNISTRADA.
Have visited the Leaning Tower of PISA - in ITALY.
Have read TORA TORA TORA - and the story of tracking and killing Yamamoto - “Lightning Strike” I think was the title.
EULER was a gimmee - having taught H.S. Mathematics.
EVEL, ARTIE, ODIN, PLATO and ARAMIS (and other “old” people) were easy.
Even RITA ORA and LEONI (which were no-knows) filled in with crosses.
Other than trying to make “TZATZIKI” fit in for TAHINI (and having to flyspeck for the resulting mis-spelled TAN at 30D), I might have had a new PB for Monday.
Every once in a while, I ponder on the creativity that goes into constructing puzzles like this one and I think, “I ought to try that sometime.” Thank heavens I always re-think and come back to “NAHHHH! I’ll just SOLVE them.”
3
Spent the last several minutes thinking up alternative themers (e.g., “Snappy comeback” / TART RETORT) and hit upon this one, which I kind of like: “Critic” / ART RETREAT TERROR.
Also, “Sad cafe” / TEARY EATERY.
(Once you get started, it’s hard to RETREAT).
3
Smooth solve despite my memory and a nice puzzle.
A bit of post-solve analysis considerably elevated my esteem for the feat of construction.
Every answer of 7 letters or longer fits the theme. The only one shorter than that that does is the reveal (ARTIE). Of all the answers of 6 letters or shorter the ONLY ones that don't contain at least one consonant other than R or T are RARA, EURO and ATE, and of course those don't actually fit the requirement of having both an R and a T.
And that leaves 70 answers with at least one non-theme consonant, all somehow mixed in there with all those longer theme answers. Not a constructor, so I'm really not sure how amazing that is, but it seems well up there to me.
6
Definitely in my wheelhouse today with lots of interesting fill and a lot of theme answers. I do agree with Jeff though that it might be a bit discouraging for a newbie. I knew the name RITA ORA just from watching British quiz shows, but knew all the other names and was pleased with remembering EULER from a few puzzles ago. TAHINI is delicious.
5
@suejean
I knew RITA ORA from watching the Graham Norton Show on BBCA.
1
LETTER BOXED
First attempt:
P-C(6), C-Y(9)
3
@Mari
I went a little longer. Makes me think of Frankenstein's birth.
H-E (7) E-Y (11)
1
@Mari
I think I would have struck out without your posting
1
@Mari
Yup, same for me.
Hint: Not-so-silent movie star.
1
Spelling Bee
H A E L T W Y
Words: 43, Points: 165 ,Pangrams: 1,Perfect: 1,Bingo: yes
A x 1
E x 2
H x 16
L x 4
T x 8
W x 10
Y x 2
4L x 20
5L x 10
6L x 6
7L x 4
8L x 3
4 5 6 7 8 Tot
A - - - 1 - 1
E - 1 - - 1 2
H 9 3 2 2 - 16
L 1 1 1 - 1 4
T 4 2 1 - 1 8
W 5 3 1 1 - 10
Y 1 - 1 - - 2
Tot 20 10 6 4 3 43
48
@Mari Quite a few (!) exclamation words today - of both man and beast. Our old yoga friend and type of alcohol (or chemical compound) are back, as are a few words concerning parts of the mouth. AYAH and HAHA still disallowed. The companions of 'wise' as signs of a good life feature too.
11
@Mari
Since Her Beeness is not accepting ETHYLATE (GRRR), the E8 is vexing. Hint hint?
@Carl Adler Think dental.
8
I have a question about the Saturday puzzle. 45A is "Something scratched", with the answer NOGO. I do not understand the puzzle and Googling it isn't helping. Can anyone explain it to me? Thanks!
1
@Tyler D.
Scratch, as in cancel
3
@Tyler D.
A “scratched” satellite launch is a NO GO.
2
Scratched = scrapped
1
Mr Gordon managed to sneak in one of Artie Shaw's eight wives, the lovely AVA Gardner.
9
I think I've been a half hour trying to find the "at least one" error in my solution. Everything seems perfect. I'll look again in the morning.
1
Same for me and it’s already morning here :)
@kilaueabart, there is always the possibility that you have a zero 0 instead of an O somewhere.
You could also double-check the name spellings like RitaOro, Orne, Starr, Ani, Erno and Evel
2
@Laurie A.
Or - - - you could decide you’ve spent ENOUGH time on the exercise and use the CHECK PUZZLE function.
I guess this is one of the beauties of solving on paper. If you THINK you have it right - - then you DO have it right - - - and you don’t have to worry about some !@#$ “streak”.
8
Not a nit or complaint, just an observation. 19 names of people, gods and places seems like a high percentage of the total grid answers compared to most puzzles. Requires a range of knowledge.
In addition, there are three answers that could have been clued as people: ROVE (Karl), TAN (Amy) and, of course, Honey Boo BOO
3
@ColoradoZ
One more, just in case you want to make it unsolvable: ANTE (Rebic)
2
@ColoradoZ
Or TAN (France) if you want to go the pop culture route.
2
@Bojan - Ajde Hrvatska!
and Elke
There's the R/T theme, but I detect another one , to wit:as noted by others -
both ADAM and EVE are in the puzzle. so I think there's a bit of a bible BIO story :
In the TORA (h)(1)or TORA(h)(2) or TORA(h)3 versions, EVE ATE of the fruit and SHE gave to ADAM and as a result they both knew EV(i)EL and then both felt cold ,BRRR, and put on a TOGA .
Should have stuck to the BAGEL with TAHINI (or DOVES bars) and we would all be living happily ever after.
The End.
The puzzle was nice,too.
11
@Robert
That story sounds all TOO TRUE.
1
@Robert
A BAGEL - - - with TAHINI?!?!
Anything other than CREAM CHEESE (with LOX, ONIONS, CAPERS, etc. as optional decorations) is schlecht!!
1
@Guess Who! 🍅!
ADAM and EVEN appear in the crossword together for the 8th time since Will Shortz became editor.
I cross referenced these two lists: https://www.xwordinfo.com/Finder?word=ADAM https://www.xwordinfo.com/Finder?word=EVE
A little cut and paste and spreadsheet action did the trick. Here's the list of times:
Today,
Sat Nov 18, 2017
Tue Jan 6, 2015
Tue Jul 9, 2013
Tue Jul 13, 2010
Mon Aug 18, 2008
Sun Mar 30, 2008
Sun Jul 13, 2003
3
Oops! EVE, not EVEN! (Wish I could edit my post!)
2
Fallen prey to autocomplete?
1
@Denn
WHY???
That's some real theme density! Nice work by the constructor, I think! I got the theme very early on via the revealer, and it helped speed up my solve big time -- making for a very enjoyable solve!
3
Great early bonus with PLATO above DIALOG.
Rest of puzzle lived up to that early promise.
4
ORNE did trip me up so thank you for the article on European rivers.
Clever, quick and crunchier-than-most-Mondays. ARTIESHAW was a very helpful revealer.
4
TORTURE!
Worse than a ROTATOR TEAR!
Just kidding. Actually more like ART. I counted 85 theme squares which, even with a 16-wide grid, is crazy crazy high, and look at how those theme answers cross! This is the product of a master puzzle builder. A TREAT to behold.
It felt like it had more resistance than a typical Monday, but my time was Monday-normal.
Just for fun, I tried writing down a bunch of words with just Ts and Rs, and in no time, I had a sizable collection, far more than I would have culled three weeks ago. What did I begin three weeks ago that bolstered this ability?
Spelling Bee.
16
Just Ts and Rs as consonants in the words, that is.
1
@Lewis
Here’s to RATATAT!
9
@John S.
RETREAT!!!
2
TIL RITA ORA exists. Apparently she did a song for the Detective Pikachu movie. I'm intrigued and will now play some YouTube videos.
@LarryB. I had never heard of RITA ORA either. I looked her up, and it turns out I wasn't missing much. I'd rather listen to ARTIE Shaw.
4
A nice, relatively easy Monday puzzle. There were a few entries where I had to rely on crosses, but most of the rest were familiar and went in easily. Was wondering at first if the theme was going to involve double letters, but that didn't last long. Did notice a preponderance of Ts and Rs, but not that they were the only theme consonants until I finally read the clue for the revealer about three-fourths of the way through the puzzle.
It was a pretty fun Monday. I liked the theme - straightforward, not too tricky. Entries are a little bit like Tuesday-level.
Yesterday in the SW we had TURN TURN TURN. Today we have TORA TORA TORA. Names/phrases that are threepeats are a little unusual to begin with, but having both be four lettered and starting with T running back to back....did I ever say I don't believe in coincidences?
Quite a few O- entries, which is also a little unusual - OMNI, OMEN, OGRE, ODOR, ODIN. Or that ERNO and ORNE were anagrams.
I keep wanting to pronounce BAD PR as BADPUR (you know, a little like Tumblr, or if your cat has a cold and wheezes when purring. When cats are really cold, do their purrs turn into BRRR?
TIL RITA ORA. Should the ORNE be added to the 12 European Rivers to know guide? https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/07/12/crosswords/CROSSWORDS-rivers.html
8
My only gripe is I pronounce “Artie” as R-D. Is that just my Philly accent?
10
@JAC
Probably is the Philly coming thru. Do you also say "Dem Guys" even when you're not speaking of Biden and Beto?? :)
2
@JAC
I can't imagine an American devoicing the "t" in that name but I assumed he meant RT, not RD, anyway.
@kilaueabart
There are numerous regional accents in the US and the people who speak with those accents are still considered Americans. I am sure he means some people in Philadelphia say Ardee Shaw.
I have a tendency to slip back into saying I am going to "warsh the car".
For elucidation, you might want to read any one of a number of books discussing dialects in the US.
2
I reached a streak of 400 today! It started the day I began cancer treatment last year. Doing the Crossword and Spelling Bee are an essential part of each day for me; both for enjoyment and to reassure me that my brain is still functioning well. I seem to be cancer-free now but I have one more treatment scheduled for later this year. I read the column and comments most everyday and I feel like a part of this community, even though I rarely comment myself. Happy solving everyone!
108
Awesome Mike! 40,000 more.
9
It’ll be 400 months before you know it.
6
Mike,
Great to have you in the N.E.D. solvers circle.
10
Fourth appearance of BADPR since mid-June.
1
It got less since Sarah Huckabee Sanders quit.
17
@Mr. Mark
Not so. Only 6 appearances ever.
1
A most elegant and satisfying Monday puzzle. Thank you!
1
Interesting that PISA was linked to ITALY, but "trick or..." TREATER wasn't linked to BOO. Also, ADAM and EVE were clued similarly, but not linked. I wonder how often they've appeared in the same puzzle.
1
@Scott Yates Cross reference these two lists and let us know!
https://www.xwordinfo.com/Finder?word=ADAM
https://www.xwordinfo.com/Finder?word=EVE
(a little cut and paste and spreadsheet action should do the trick. ;-)
@Scott Yates I cross referenced these two lists:
https://www.xwordinfo.com/Finder?word=ADAM
https://www.xwordinfo.com/Finder?word=EVE
A little cut and paste and spreadsheet action did the trick. Since Will Shortz took over, ADAM and EVE have been together 8 times.
Today
Sat Nov 18, 2017
Tue Jan 6, 2015
Tue Jul 9, 2013
Tue Jul 13, 2010
Mon Aug 18, 2008
Sun Mar 30, 2008
Sun Jul 13, 2003
2
How nice for Mr. Gordon to masterfully slap together two of my favorite things! It reminds me of that OBI puzzle a while ago. It was to my advantage that I was familiar with Artie Shaw despite not being on the younger side, and not just from crosswords.
On the solving side, the theme was simple enough. I have never heard TROT OUT and every time I look back at the puzzle I see another theme answer. But the rest are fine and didn't seemed that forced.
I might be forgetting past answers but it was nice to see a new, witty clue for ATE (Took in take out)
Reading his biography was a little disappointing considering all his marriages and problems, but I do still enjoy his music, and I eagerly await other commenters to post youtube links!
2
@John S.
Make that "...despite being on the younger side..."
1
@John S. - here's one I always dropped a quarter on in the jukebox:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNcPnEc99UE
This was in the 1980s, by the way! That jukebox featured a wild array of stuff from every decade and it wasn't segregated.
5
@John S.
Not having heard TROT OUT is evidence of your being on the younger side. I hereby TROT OUT a link for your edification
https://www.merriam webster.com/dictionary/trot%20out
1
My, that's a lot of theme entries! And an interesting pattern when they're highlighted. MOL could make a quilt based on that pattern.
Deb commented on lots of short entries, but I only really notice if there are lots and lots of 3-letter words, and they didn't jump out at me in this puzzle.
Happy Monday, everyone!
3
@Liz B
Well, there are 36 four-letter words, which is a bit on the high side. But the average word length is slightly below the Monday average.
Don't think I've ever seen more T&A in a NYT Xword puzzle. Positively lewdicrous. Should be rated ARTY.
And I loved it.
8
@Mike R
Agreed, especially since I originally had PASTIE for 10D ("Stickie").
2
@Deb I’m pretty sure references to Rita Ora have appeared before though likely not all spelled out. I think I learned of her from a crossword puzzle.
Doug,
RITA was clued as Singer Ora for the first and only time in May. Perhaps you remember her from that one appearance. ORA has never been clued to Rita.
3
@Doug I haven't looked it up, but I wonder if Charli XCX has been in the puzzle. Lots of attractive consonants in her name. I first heard this at my niece's Bat Mitzvah. I was slightly scandalized but I love the song. https://youtu.be/UxxajLWwzqY
1
@LarryB
That was fun!
This felt slow at the top but filled in pretty easily after working the bottom.
Cute theme. ARTIE was too easy then it fell into place. Some clues I had to look up. Norse Gods, for instance.
@cmb13 I only knew the Norse god because my neighbor's dog is named ODIN.
@cmb13 ODIN is also WOTAN if you're listening to Wagner. He's a bit of a jerk.
@LarryB I'll keep my distance! lol
ARTIE Shaw's BIO lists 8 marriages: one was to AVA Gardner and another to EVELyn Keyes
16
@ColoradoZ. 😮
1
@ColoradoZ
My mom always used to say "keep trying until you get it right". Apparently ARTIE felt the same way...
2
@ColoradoZ
AVA had just three, but they were doozies: Mickey Rooney, ARTIE and Frank Sinatra. She once said, "I always loved too well, but never wisely."
She also has a quote that would make Yogi Berra proud, "Deep down, I'm pretty superficial"
5
Interesting to see DIALOG right beneath PLATO!
25
Great catch, Judy. Also, ColoradoZ above.
3