New word I learned-GAWP. I knew gape and gawk couldn't work and finally solved it from the crosses. New word I thought I learned-ARF. Head-slapping moment when I realized the "bark" in the clue was of the canine (not the tree) variety!
Is there now a requirement that ARAB be used in every crossword? Seems like it.
11 Down is diabolical. Even though I had most of the crosses, I couldn't figure it out. I resorted to sounding it out loud and finally heard the BEFORE. Just diabolical.
1
A little known fact about Victoria Regina, She of the Raj, Who until recently was longest reigning Monarch of British Empire, but that lady enjoyed some of the more creature of known comforts, dour as She may have been in regard to much else.
One incident illustrative of such redounds to her efforts to make the Royal vacation retreat more comfortable for her Royal Self and the Royal Consort, of whom she was fond enough to become uite silly at times. She thought Dear Albert (having spent enough time in the can) might enjoy a Royal Man Cave, while She Herself enjoyed the frequent pummeling of the Flesh that comes with a good Massage applied with much in the way of Scented Lotions.
The dour Scottish Bankers who held the Royal Pursestrings were not exactly forthcoming about this Royal extravaganza, however, and admonished her after counting the Royal Pence, "You must choose one but not both, Most Gracious Majesty: BALM OR AL."
2
Of course SERIFS had me think immediately of Deadline (with whom I agree on this, as I do so much else :)), but that wasn't all.
I think it's probably bec we've had SOT crop up so much recently that this musical number POPped to mind. Some may want to reggale themselves with the original Bob Marley:
I SOT the SERIF (but I didn't suit the deputy down)
1
OBOE? The O in the WWII phonetic alphabet was (and is) OSCAR. That area really held me up till I gave up and looked at the answer. Am I missing something?
@Patty
Check this out:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet
Scroll down to the "international Aviation" section.
@Dr W
OK... That took me to an interesting PDF about the history of the phonetic alphabet and I see that OBOE was, for a brief time near the end of WWII, the reference for the letter O. However, I believe there are much better (and less confusing) clues for that beautiful instrument.
Thanks for the link.
For me, this was the most enjoyable Thursday puzzle that I have been able to finish w/o any help.
3
After many years of doing the Times's puzzles, I recently subscribed.
As all of you know, it's a wonderful diversion. You're all way more advanced than I and that's fine.
I only just this moment came across this column and the comments. It's wonderful.
For the past two plus years, all my comments have been addressed to articles about trump.
This is such a pleasant change from all the angst, anger and divisiveness. Thanks to all of you.
19
Same with me! It’s making me very happy, though I’m really only comfortable so far with the Monday and Tuesday puzzles. I’m trying hard to improve and I’m thrilled to find another group of lovely NYT commenters besides the Met Diary folks!!
7
Welcome to you both!! I'm sure Deb and Will and others will be pleased to know they have provided an oasis of sanity (and other things) amongst the various topics covered by the NYT. (That's how I like to look at it.)
2
GAWP is now filed away for a future Spelling Bee whose panagram is SPAWNING
1
@RAH
and a second panagram WINGSPAN
1
@RAH
I don't understand your use of the word panagram; panagram is: sentence or expression that uses all the letters of the alphabet. It's not even actually an anagram.
In the context of the spelling bee game, a pangram is one that uses all 7 of the letters in the set. Check it out sometime.
3
I loved the moment when I figured out the theme, and thought it was really clever. However, DEFOE being called a "word" really threw me off. I wracked my brain on whether "defoe" had a definition or if it was just a person's last name.
If the phrasing was something like "It can complete CARE___R", "It can complete DE_____", and so on, I would have felt more complete.
@Clif
Gawp threw me for a loop. I was pretty sure none of the Greek letters started with ks, but i just couldnt let go of gawk
1
@Renegator
Yes. Gawkward, isn't it?
2
GAWP is the one that took me until the very end, because GAWK is actually the right word to use, and "ksi" is the phonetic version of a Greek letter.
Oh for Pete’s psakes.
Psi is the Latin alphabet rendition of the Greek letter ψ, which is the consonant sound of ’ps.’
I won’t even address the, “GAWK is the right word,” assertion.
2
@Sam Lyons
Nor will I; the thought of gawk never entered my brain, gawp came to me directly, but possibly because I had gape before I had any crosses so the 'p' was hovering waiting to be slotted in.
I had PSI at first and when the rest of that corner was filled I was confused, never heard of GAWP before and that wp diphthong does not look like English to me. So I changed it to ksi but that didn’t work obviously.
POPOFF?
Never heard that phrase. Is it regional?
@Cole
I've heard it, but I think it's from British TV and movies. Here's an example from a "Sword in the Stone":
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/2e8e517d-401a-43fb-8876-684d4fd4ad5c
The American usage would involve gun rounds and we know how well that subject went last week...
1
Cole,
I've heard it around, and this dictionary cite puts it in both the U.K. and the U.S.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/pop-off
@Cole It's a stretch, but I have heard popping off used as an expression meaning to talk wildly. Someone mad at someone else might be popping off, which might kind of also be described as running one's mouth, although I usually think of "running your mouth" meaning "talking a lot without saying anything" or saying things that you don't mean/can't back up.
2
A most absolute, and excellent, puz. Elegant.
4
Bit of a workout this one but finally got it -- with just one lookup -- on the shoe brand (which I don't keep up with).
62D is a clue-fill one does not see often. Kudos! For those not acquainted with this, the calculation referred to is to find the extreme values of a function -- the greatest or least -- which, if the function plots as a curved path, requires the mechanics of calculus.
And now a kvetch -- probably not justified -- but couldn't the key clues have started with "words" instead of "word"?
My nomination for the clue/fill of the day: 34A. And it's what I have to do to reach those things....
Suggested alternate clue for the 49A fill: device needed to punch a wall with.
@Dr W Initially I had the same reaction to "word vs. words" but I realized that "or" as a conjunction would require the singular rather than the plural. Not much gets past Will Shortz.
5
Bit of a workout this one but finally got it -- with just one lookup -- on the shoe brand (which I don't keep up with).
62D is a clue-fill one does not see often. Kudos! For those not acquainted with this, the calculation referred to is to find the extreme values of a function -- the greatest or least -- which, if the function plots as a curved path, requires the mechanics of calculus.
And now a kvetch -- probably not justified -- but couldn't the key clues have started with "words" instead of "word"?
My nomination for the clue/fill of the day: 34A. And it's what I have to do to reach those things....
Suggested alternate clue for the 49A fill: device needed to punch a wall with.
Maybe I haven't been solving crossword puzzles for long enough, but I'd never come across the word GAWP before. That said, I like it! And I'm sure I do a lot of it.
2
No plumber would install a UBEND. P-trap or S-trap, sure.
3
Tom,
The P-trap for my master bath vanity is two pieces: an elbow and a UBEND.
2
@Tom Wild I got this one, but it bugged me, because I've never heard those referred to as anything other than traps. "UBEND" seems like the kind of thing someone who was didn't know the term and was just trying to describe the piping would use.
1
Daniel,
Sure, plumbers call them traps. People who design and manufacture traps, as well as some plumbers from time to time, refer to their component parts. People who know "trap" *do* also say "U-bend."
I'm with Deb that the 23A/24A combo of FOR ONE was a delight, as was most of the rest of the puzzle. The "most" is because of 38A. I finished the puzzle, sussed out the word play, marveled at the cleverness of it all, came here to pick brains and I'm still uneasy about DEFRIEND. It just doesn't sit right, even if grammatically correct. I loved the off beat-ness of DEFOE but never once since the onset of social media have I heard any word other than UNfriend. Let Garrison Keillor tell you about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwT_RfgELXc
Speaking of grammatically correct, that first "rule" of 11D is anything but. Only 40-something words comply with I BEFORE E while more than 920 words don't. But because that mantra was beat into my head I still have to pause when spelling out certain words as it feels like I'm a scofflaw.
2
@Keta Hodgson
Not being a social media person I had never heard of "defriend", and DEFOE is just a famous author, so I was doubly baffled there.
The "I before E" ruled dogged me for a while too (arf!). Then I realized that it applies to words in which the overall vowel sound is the long "EE", as in RECEIPT and LIEN; and generally for a short e, as in FRIEND or a short I as in SIEVE. The opposite applies to "AY" sound such as WEIGHT, FREIGHT or REIN. Do you have an analysis based on the final vowel sound?
1
@Keta Hodgson The rule as I was taught it is a rhyming rule that reads: "I before E except after C or when sounded like A as in Neighbor or Weigh"
This is pretty much the way NICE CUPPA figured out all by herself (or himself). Kudos to NC!
2
What a delightful, fun puzzle - the only bummer is that it was over much too quickly. Kind of like eating a fried red bean bun.
4
TIL about ADZUKI beans and FOG OF WAR - In my work I have dealt with many concussions , battle fatigue and mental confusion but I guess not enough military folk to understand that term fully .
I am in the camp that thinks DEFOE just doesn't really fit since it's a proper name , but I thought the puzzle was fun .
Ariana Grande recently in the news for singing with Barbra Streisand in concert - some real GIVE and TAKE there !
1
"In my work I have dealt with many concussions , battle fatigue and mental confusion but I guess not enough military folk to understand that term fully."
Cathy,
The clue is a bit of a misdirection. The term is more general and less personal in nature.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fog_of_war
2
@Barry Ancona
Thanks !~
@Cathy P
It's also in the themes of many a current spy or military thriller.
1
Fun week so far.
We had a BAA-BOOm Monday, an anagrammy Tuesday, a tennis date yesterday, and Chen today. Looking forward to what Friday brings us.
Friday brings us to DEFOE. Of course Defoe is a name, but last I checked, all names are proper nouns. And nouns are words. Ask Friday. Actually he was born Daniel Foe. He added the "De" for effect later in life.
Here are 3 more examples of "Word that can complete..." [clues in brackets] :
1. ___ UP [M___ or B___]
2. AFTER ___ [L___ or D___]
3. ____ PIN [H___ or T___]
Can you guess?
I couldn't find usable "complete this" phrases for sink or swim, trick or treat, rain or shine, feast or famine, hit or miss, etc. It made me realize just how difficult it is, thus my appreciations for Jeff's work increased by a factor of two and a half.
Cheers!
3
Trying to figure out if I should post my guesses or would that ruin it for others.
Instead I'll just post the number of letters for each.
1. M4/B5
2. L5/D4??
3. H5/T5
2
@Wen
2. L4/D5, I think (you might have just transposed the numbers?)
3. Can't get (yet), even with your help ...
(Great challenge Laszlo, and great word-sleuthing Wen).
1
I just got No. 3, but am now having second thoughts about No. 2.
(I love No. 3 - Yay, Laszlo!)
"Word that completes __HOLE" is tantalizingly close for SINK OR SWIM.
"Word that completes ___PEAK" for HIT OR MISS? HIT PEAK is in use but not widely.
1
To keep my streak in tact, today was DO OR DIE.
SANTAS had me laugh out loud, DEA and SERIFS were great, and I couldn't get I BEFORE E for the life of me. (If you think I was silly to miss that one, you can go PISH on that.)
Lots of fun cluing, and the theme was great. Well done!
3
Loved it. Challenging. Clever cluing for some old staples (looking at you IKEA.)
Kudos
4
@Michael
You know you're really up there when someone refers to IKEA as an old staple....
1
@Dr W - your comment, which I understand and have some sympathy for, belies these facts:
the IKEA chain entered the U.S. market in 1985, yet the name didn't appear in NYT crosswords until 1999. Nonetheless it has had 76 appearances in these 20 past years, not quite an Oreo but no Gawp neither!
1
@David Connell
Thanks for those historical tidbits and the sympathetic remark. You now have me wondering if you have crossword history for "The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company"-- which became the A&P food store chain -- and whose current incarnation in NYC is Food Emporium. This goes back to the post-WWII years.
1
I love how Jeff's brilliantly twisted brain works! Even when he's sitting on the sidewalk in the midst of a bunch of candy-crazed grizzled ghosts and witches.
What a wonderful Thursday puzzle! My favorite was DEFRIEND OR DEFOE
Thank you, Mr. Chen, you've done it again!
3
@Barry Ancona
I did ask about reading wordplay before finishing the puzzle. I would love to know your thoughts on my question.
Thanks,
RoseAnn M.
RoseAnn,
I posted a reply on the (first) thread you started.
4
@Sam Lyons
I appreciate the time you and Steve took to answer something that I’ve been wondering about for a long time.
You brought a smile to my face with your
In-depth responses.
1
A Mr. Richard Feder from Fort Lee, New Jersey, writes:
"Is cheating when you read Wordplay or the blog before you complete the puzzle? I always wonder if I should give myself credit if I peek."
Mr. Feder, I know what you're talkin' about...
10
Random thoughts:
I really enjoyed this one and liked the theme a lot. There are words that I just love and GAWP is one of them. It’s one of those words that I always feel like using when my best friend and I goof around and fall into the valley girl English we’d’ve spoken had we dropped out of high school to run off with the circus (“You’s s’posably my BFF, dude, so quit yer GAWPing at my mismatched socks”). And yet, ODDLY, GAWP is more of a GRE than a GED word. Go figger.
DEFRIEND is a more palatable neologism to me than unFRIEND. No idea why, except that I refuse to fall prey to the FOG OF Facebook.
Ah, IBEFOREE... The rule that spawned so many red ink moments for ‘recieve’ on student papers prior to the birth of spellcheck.
2 minutes over my average, all of it spent scanning for that one mistyped letter. I had BOOnORBUST crossed with nIN and couldn’t see it because, once again, I was solving right before falling asleep and without glasses N’s and M’s look exactly the same to me.
4
@Sam Lyons Love the "more GRE than GED" phrase. I can think of many applications for this.
2
Challenging Thursday, even though I had only one writeover, at 52A: nfl/DEA.
Laughed out loud at "ones always wearing suits at work" = SANTAS.
The great ones make it look easy, and in my book, Mr. Chen is one of those.
3
@archaeoprof, a great SANTA?
3
@Steve Faiella
Thanks for your thoughtful and kind words.
My biggest problem was 'pish'. Never heard of pish tosh. Couldn't imagine it wasn't posh as in 'oh posh'. And defriend? Certainly odder.
2
Deb
Re 3D, Javier is first and foremost a Spanish name, why not just say so? Latino has a different, wider connotation. .
1
@Arthur
Well, for one thing, Pérez de Cuellar is Peruvian, not Spanish.
2
@Steve L, with Peru being a country where Spanish is the spoken language, as opposed to Peruvian.
Or English, among the ex-pats
1
DEFOE?
Am I missing something? Color me confused right now
Dan,
Not something, someone. Take your pick.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defoe_(surname)
N.B. Anybody know why the "close paren" visible in the link disappears when one clicks (and forces one to click again on the resulting landing page to get to the intended page)?
@ Dan
Psst... It rhymes with Crusoe...
2
UBENDS and ADZUKI were great big "Huhs?" for me and I have no idea who ARIANA Grande is.
Otherwise I found the puzzle on the easyish side for a Thursday. I also thought it was clever and imaginative and fun. Yes, deFOE is a proper name and not a word and is therefore a bit of a cheat, but if it's in the service of greater theme density, I'd give it a pass.
Some nice clues for SANTAS, SERIFS, TARZAN, BIPEDS, RINGTONE, ARGUED and TEA SET. Think the ARF clue (54A) is a bit of a stretch. If you've ever been the captive audience of a small dog who's ARFing, you won't think the bark is "thin" at all. You'll think it's loud as hell and extremely annoying. I much prefer the full-throated, good-natured bark of, say, a Golden Retriever.
Enjoyed the puzzle a lot.
6
@ Nancy
I, too, had never heard of ADZUKI before. As for UBENDS, I knew that there was a U-something contraption under my sink but still ended up needing all the crosses to get it.
I liked FRIENDORFOE because for some reason I pictured a beefy guard in one of the latest spate of pseudo-historical dramas — you know, the ones where the actors give their characters the oddest foreign accents for reasons that mystify me — thinking to himself, “Who goes there, I wonduh? DE FRIEND OR DE FOE?”
1
ADZUKI is often just passed over in favor of "red". i.e. red bean, red bean paste, instead of ADZUKI bean. There is similar issue with mung beans - they are mainly green. The problem is that string beans are also green beans.
Why do I bring up the green and red? because in Chinese, these are simply referred to in general as simply green beans (绿豆) and red beans (红豆). ADZUKI is the Japanese name, but both of these beans are widely used in Eastern Asia and probably elsewhere. ADZUKI is the more obscure name. Furthermore, when made into the paste, it's much more often referred to as simply red bean paste, not ADZUKI bean paste.
Red bean paste should be pretty familiar with kids who grew up with eating the stuff. It's stuffed in the dorayaki that the robot cat Doraemon (from the manga and anime of the same name) loves to eat.
Nowadays it's likely to see the beans packaged as ADZUKI as the name becomes better known in the English speaking markets, even when the beans don't originate in Japan or are not sold by Japanese brands, instead of simply translating it into "red", because there are other beans that are red (e.g. kidney beans), and companies push for better, more specific names that customers are starting to expect.
To confuse things more - soybeans in Chinese is often called the big bean (大豆) or yellow bean (黃豆), Black beans are black beans. But then...there are black soybeans, which are not black beans. ADZUKI in Japanese is 小豆 which is...small bean.
7
As others pointed out below, the pairing of GAWK/KSI at 59A/60D satisfies the clues just as well as the intended pairing of GAWP/PSI. And GAWK is probably a much more common word than GAWP. Awkward.
4
@Jon How does "ksi" satisfy the clue "fraternity letter?" I agree that "gawk" is more common than the chiefly British GAWP but both GAWP and PSI are actual words where "ksi" is not.
6
@Tony Santucci
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_(letter)
I was introduced to it in my dynamics class (engineering) last semester.
1
@Ryan Xi is definitely a Greek letter but "ksi" is not.
1
Deb's comment about the stethoscope / silence pairing, and Lewis' subsequent "Hah!" prompt me to retell this one:
At a friend's 90th birthday party, I met a neighbor of his who was 92 and had undergone a heart replacement of a strange kind - his blood was pumped continuously by an external electric motor. Due to this, he had no pulse. He got a twinkle in his eye as he told me that he loved when there was a new nurse in the VA hospital. He'd always ask her to take his pulse and delight in her concerned look...
3
@David Connell
"an external electric motor"
I hope there's a battery backup in case the power goes out! ;-)
@Steve Faiella - that was my first question! He rolls the battery around the way people who need oxygen roll that around with them. There's even a built-in alarm beeper for when the power goes out on the main one. If I remember correctly, there was a plug-in option for when he was in bed, too.
1
@David Connell
Wow! I would imagine that depending on an external, mechanical heart would give one quite a unique perspective on life... :)
1
RANI instead of RAJA, FOG OF SAR instead of FOG OF WAR (a beautifully poetic if horrific turn of phrase), and SIS instead of BFF.
Otherwise a fun, challenging but not difficult Thursday.
Shout out for Adzuki beans with Hawaiian shave ice. If asked, always say "yes" to the question "do you want beans with that ice?".
https://www.travelchannel.com/videos/adzuki-bowl-shave-ice-0248832
4
Well, wasn't that fun?! I did this with insouciance (as 5D gave me the tip-off) and except for a wee wince at ODDER it was a smooth solve.
Today marks the birth of Hoyle (the Englishman with a lot of rules) as I heard on NPR while driving to WalMart at 5:30 a.m. This caused me to think differently about 11D.... and reflect that in elementary school we called that area of study "Language" rather than "English." Hmm
On with the day!
4
@Rich from Atlanta
Is cheating when you read Wordplay or the blog before you complete the puzzle? I always wonder if I should give myself credit if I peek.
4
@RoseAnn M.
In my experience here, cheating is (or isn't) whatever "rules" you define for yourself. These can also change over time, e.g. as you become more comfortable solving, you may decide Googling is no longer acceptable and label it cheating.
The most important thing is that you have fun solving the puzzles within whatever framework you've set for yourself... :-)
21
@RoseAnn M.
In my experience here, cheating is (or isn't) whatever "rules" you define for yourself. These can also change over time, e.g. as you become more comfortable solving, you may decide Googling is no longer acceptable and label it cheating.
The most important thing is that you have fun solving the puzzles within whatever framework you've set for yourself... :-)
2
@ RoseAnn M.
I second what Steve Faiella said: rules are up to you (unless you’re a competitive crossword solver, that is, in which rules are made up for you). I would suggest always trying it without help first, walking away if you get stuck and coming back to it later (I was thrilled to find how much better that works than, say, swearing like a sailor at the puzzle...), and resorting to external help as a last resort. That’s how you get better.
My personal rule: it’s OK to ask my husband when I encounter sports trivia, but that’s only because, sports addict that he is, he never thinks of the answer before I’ve already got it from the crosses. My point here is that puzzle solving is more about “brain yoga” than being a giant trivia receptacle. I always read Wordplay after solving, though, because (a) Deb and Caitlin are hilarious, (b) the constructor’s notes fascinate me, and (c) their combined insight is like having a great yoga instructor come over to you when you’re pretzeled on your mat thinking you’re never getting out of there alive, and having her adjust one muscle in your body that suddenly gives you a huge aha! insight into what the asana is all about.
And then there is this comment section, which never disappoints in putting a smile on my face.
16
Here is one of my periodic PBS's (puzzle-based stumper):
40D, PRORATA, looks like a theme answer in that it takes the "_____ or _____" form. Of course, it could not be a theme answer because it is not a common phrase, but let's pretend, for the purposes of this problem, that PR OR ATA is. What is a clue you could give for it, like one of Jeff's "Word that can complete..." clues?
If you get the answer, don't spoil it for others by writing it down, but you can post the parts of speech of the two words formed. As an example, the two words formed from 38A are DEFRIEND and DEFOE, which are a verb and a noun.
Answer coming later this afternoon.
1
@Lewis
I’ll take a stab: Noun, Noun
@Lewis
I came up with a pair that are an adjective and a noun.
SOLUTION
There may be other answers, but the one I came up with was --
[Word that complete S_____Y]
Thus, PR OR ATA makes either SPRY or SATAY. (adjective, noun). Is that what you had, @Z? @Puzzlemucker, what did you get???
1
Once you get the "or," having tried to find one word -- clued, after all, "word" -- that works, it is perverse pleasure.
GAWP, argued Tom agape!
And I doubt Lord Greystroke would align himself with, gasp, Apes.
Fun solve, enjoyed the little trick.
Thanks Jeff
3
What am I missing? Why is there a picture of Einstein’s God Letter? What’s the association with this puzzle?
I agree with Deb. I thought the puzzle was delightful!
3
@Cindy
I BEFORE E.
SERIFS (read the clue).
1
@Steve L
“God” is also in the clue for ENOCH.
@Steve L and @Puzzlemucker Thank you. It seems a bigger stretch than usual to me.
Not sure where my brain was this morning, but I failed miserably on this puzzle. Just couldn't get a solid start anywhere, though I see a number of answers that seem simple and obvious after the fact. A few things I didn't know, but I just wasn't catching on to any of the mis-directions (even the mild ones) in the clues.
I didn't react well to the theme once I figured it out (after considerable cheating), but I'll defer to the majority on that - I think it was just my state of mind.
Just to give you an idea of exactly what state my mind was in: The last thing I filled in (again, with lots of cheating) was IBEFOREE and I just could not parse it. Didn't figure it out until I came here.
And tomorrow's Friday.
3
@deb -- Thinking [Bad stethoscope sound] might be SILENCE. Hah!
As for the puzzle, Jeff nicely balanced the common-sounding theme answers with interesting downs: MURMUR, POPOFF, REPOSE, SOJOURN, FOG OF WAR, and I even liked the playful I BEFORE E (which I was surprised to learn has been a NYT answer three times before). Then there was some smile-producing cluing (ARGUED, TARZAN, TEA, ARF, RINGTONE). On top of that was the clever not-done-before theme -- and constructors need to be given great credit coming up with such themes, IMO -- taking common _____ or _____ phrases to another level.
So, for me, there was a lot to like here and plenty of grit to satisfy my love of figuring things out. That grit ended after I filled out a theme answer, but it took me a very likable while to get to that point. Thank you, Jeff!
3
@Lewis
Simon and Garfunkel notwithstanding, SILENCE is the absence of sound, not a sound.
1
Sorry I disagree with that. One listens for silence, which is why the song is so compelling, memorable, beautiful.
I loved the outside the box thinking of this puzzle. It woke my old brain up in a happy challenging way.
5
@Skeptical1
Alternative “facts”?
https://www.google.com/search?q=silence+definition&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari
I suppose that if you wish hard enough, the dictionary is wrong, your opinions become “facts,” and February has 31 days.
I’m going to call this one a “Solve” (not just a “completion”) if only because, once again, I picked up on a theme and actually USED it to figure out four more answers.
I did have to peek to fill in I BEFORE E. That was one heck of a misdirect!! I kept trying to figure out what the initial phases of a RAJ might be. D’OH!!
UBENDS wasn’t really “fair” - - since DRAINS or RISERS fit so nicely.
Have never been in an IKEA store - - but, somehow, the word leaped from my fingertips.
Never heard of an ADZUKI bean. Thank heavens for crosses!
Clue for 35D could have been more devilish as “They walk an upright path”
Had NO idea that “maitre” had so many meanings. But I was pleasantly reminded of a Paris restaurant named “Chez Maitre Paul” (now closed) where I had a dozen escargot swimming in butter followed by a large serving of veal sweetbreads in a supremely rich sauce for dinner - - - TWO nights in a row. My wife claimed to be able to actually hear my arteries slamming closed but I insisted that it would have been worth it!!
Lovely puzzle Jeff. A clear nomination for POW!!
@Guess Who!
MAÎTRE means MASTER, and everything else flows from that. The circumflex accent on the I signifies the loss of an S at some point in the past.
Of course, renderings in English usually omit all accent marks.
2
Add maestro to the list and then stir the pot by the fact that none of the three mean quite the same things in each language on its own, and further that they each are used in the other languages as loan words. It's entirely appropriate to be impressed or confounded by the range of meanings and uses.
4
Jeff Chen humorously describes the process he used putting together the themers for this puzzle at Xwordinfo. Spoiler: Someone(thing) else might share the blame for DEFRIEND*
https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/29/2019
* I didn’t mind DEFRIEND. Not a Facebook user and I thought that was the FB term for removing someone as a friend.
** The best non-computer aided alternative themer I could come up with for DE ... well, I actually couldn’t come up with one.
1
LETTER BOXED
C-D(5), D-S(8)
Simple and crude today.
13 again!
Same here. Quick AND a 13 - rare for me!
@Mari
A little longer for me was:
C-T (12), T-B (3)
Yesterday I went extra long with METEOROLOGISTS SUASIVE.
My shorter solution was MORTGAGE ELUSIVE.
Does anyone else have a problem with the Delete and Submit buttons being partially off the screen when they play LETTER BOXED on their Android cell phones?
I sent an email to NYT tech support but I couldn't get their suggestion to work.
This was a puzzle of two halves for me difficulty wise. I sailed through the first half in Monday time, GIVE OR TAKE a few minutes, but found the bottom half much more difficult. I loved the theme, which also became trickier as I headed south.
I liked the French clues, including the one for the RHONE (Van Gogh) but am disappointed that the Monkey's uncle wasn't Darwin as I mentioned in a reply.
I'll give Jeff a POW.
5
SPELLING BEE
I D F L M N U
Words: 23, Points: 94, Pangrams: 2, Perfect: 1, No Bingo
D x 1
F x 5
I x 3
L x 1
M x 11
U x 2
4L x 12
5L x 4
6L x 3
7L x 3
9L x 1
4 5 6 7 9 Tot
D 1 - - - - 1
F 3 1 - 1 - 5
I - 1 2 - - 3
L 1 - - - - 1
M 7 1 1 2 - 11
U - 1 - - 1 2
Tot 12 4 3 3 1 23
45
@Mari Nothing too difficult today, as the combination of vowels I and U limit the options. A rare metal, a type of bond or holy man - and a lovely little word meaning to draw or highlight, are the only outliers today, I think.
6
@Mari thanks to you, when I woke at 3:40 am New York time with insomnia, the grid was out. I finally got Queen, but I can't find a word that means holy man (unless, as you imply, the type of bond can also be a holy man). It's not in my 10-year-old dictionary - it is a new meaning? or is it a British thing?
@Mari so far 22 on my own. I’ll see what I’m missing.
1
The three letter "Thin bark" had me foxed. I completely couldn't drag myself away from trees. Even when it was completed by crosses I had to stare at it for some time before the penny dropped.
I'd been had, and very nicely too.
A wry grin ensued.
5
Ja, it is hard to work two words ending in JA into a puzzle.
(RAJA, DEJA)
4
PoSH before PISH made it difficult for me to get the English rule for quite awhile. I've always heard PISH POSH and POSH alone for ridiculous-ness.
I loved figuring out the theme answers. Really cool that Jeff Chen could find those common phrases and make totally disparate words using the same added letters. It was startling and entertaining, but I didn't GAWP.
On a final note, I feel compelled to add...
R A G G M O P P, RAGMOP
:-D
6
@Just Carol
One rarely hears that song any more, but I did sing it a couple weeks ago.
2
@Just Carol
Isn’t it amazing how our grey matter can remain cluttered up with stuff like this - - - and we can’t find our car keys?!?!?
A friend of mine can remember who “sang” almost every pop music song from the late 50s through the early 70s.
I can’t remember what I had for lunch yesterday!!
2
@ Guess Who!
Too true. I belted out the entire Bohemian Rhapsody when it came on in my car this morning even though I was in diapers when it originally came out and have never seen “Wayne’s World.” I know every word.
Not only do I forget what I had for lunch yesterday, I couldn’t tell you whether I had lunch yesterday at all.
2
Clever theme and several good clues. Well done.
1
When I filled ADZUKI based on just the initial A, I deleted it thinking it too obscure. I was delighted to be able to put it back.
Mochi filled with sweetened ADZUKI paste is a rare treat for me because I need to limit carbs, but yum!
1
GAWP was easy for me because I remembered it from a previous puzzle (Sept 11, 2018). It flummoxed me then, but I think the fact that the clues are identical helped me remember it. Oh, also, I already had the W. That was probably key.
2
A couple of promising false starts (16A: ABLE, 57A: DARWIN) slowed me down a bit, but no permanent damage was done. A nice Thursday.
1
@Dave S.,
I was very proud of Darwin for the monkey's uncle clue, and was ready to praise it as one of the best.
4
I had GAPE GASP and GAWK. I never considered GAWP until it was the only possibility. I liked the themed answers and especially enjoyed the answers SERIFS and RINGTONES. My uncle often used the term PISH POSH but I never asked him where it came from.
3
Worse, KSI is a Greek letter though it’s more often transliterates as XI.
2
That was the crossing that kept the music from playing for me for a couple of minutes!
@Doug - if by more often one might mean always. The name of the letter is always xi in English.
Quite a few gimmes and the theme was easy to decipher after getting the first one with crosses, yet the rest was just hard enough to make it take a solid 15 minutes. Good puzzle.
Tho, I am slack-jawed at the answer to 59A. I don’t think I’m GAWPing, since I never heard the word GAWP.
3
For 1 Across I managed to combine RAJA and RAni to come up with RAnA, Unisex Indian Royal? That gave me nAVIER for the UN guy. Had to clear that up to get the happy music.
A very enjoyable puzzle. So many good clues.
4
@vaer I took the exact same journey, except I swapped the J for the N sooner.
BTW, Rana is a legitimate royal title.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rana_(title)
It's also a frog, but that's not important right now.
2
@LarryB
A royal frog?
2
@vaer
I think you have to kiss it first.
4
got my "aha" with BOOM OR BUST. After much GAWPing, was soon homeFREE!
Gawp?
3
@Steve Cohen indeed. Might have been a word once upon a time, but it isn't now.
2
@zzDoug/Steve Cohen
Merriam Webster definition:
"gawp verb
gawped; gawping; gawps
Definition of gawp
intransitive verb
chiefly British
: GAWK"
Note the "chiefly British"
This is when reading all those historical novels set in England comes in handy. GAWP did not seem far-fetched.
1
@vaer Yes I also looked it up. I'm no scholar but I never saw that word before. You know how Merriam Webster adds new words every year? "Gawp" is one that should be subtracted.
and Elke
I see that Albert Einstein avoided the "English" rule by writing his letter in German...
3
TIL the King of Clubs holds an ORB. Our family plays cards several nights a week and I never noticed.
I Googled but didn’t find a pedestrian explanation. Perhaps some like Barry Ancona or Factboy can educate me?
@Babs
I knew this mainly thanks to a scene from the movie Frozen!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globus_cruciger
@Babs
The orb is the spherical object with the cross on top. It is not actually held by the king but seems to be floating. One source says it is a symbol of Christian authority, but I am no expert. I never noticed that the other kings do not have it.
@Babs
The picture cards refer to actual kings and queens, or so the story has it.
I'll agree with earlier comments that this was somewhat less challenging than other Thursdays, but it was still interesting and fun. Picked up on the __OR__ pattern for the theme clues early, and that helped some. Had ONE almost filled in when I noticed the "See 23-Across", then "namely" jumped out right away, so 23A was an easy fill.
Liked the "__Grande" duo of clues, and I BEFORE E was a nice touch. Had to change GAPE to GAWP, though, to get the SW done, and I lived too long in Kansas City to not put NFL in for Raider's org. The D in DEA/ADZUKI was my last entry.
Finished in a bit over half my average Thursday time.
2
Ditto NFL
DEA last entry
1
I liked this one a bunch, but it was over too quickly. I started off with RANI, too (probably SERENA'S RANEES was still in my head from my silly comment the other day), but stayed open to the more likely RAJA and soon switched over. PISH tosh? I know PISH posh, but PISH was the last thing to go in for me. Didn't my kids have a picture book called, "PISH Posh, Hieronymous Bosch?"
For some reason, most the themers POPped right out to me tonight. Well, goodnight, I'm OFF.
1
@Ann
Why, yes they did have this book, "PISH Posh, Said Hieronymous Bosch," by Nancy Willard and Leo & Diane Dillon, and it was a charmer:
https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-15-262210-7
1
@Ann
And did he say Splish Splash when he was taking a bath? :)
4
or perhaps he was Slippin' and Slidin' apres bath?
https://youtu.be/w7141qQ1Mzo
I had DINGDONG at 39D before I realized that that was two notes, not a few. Clever theme. Very Thursdayish.
3
@Mitchell
One more thing I just noticed. I found the crossing of 52D and 59A to be very saucy.
2
@Mitchell
Sorry. 57A. No more posts tonight.
1
@Mitchell
Thank heavens you corrected yourself!!
I was going nuts trying to figure out how TAR and BOOM or BUST could be “saucy”.
But TARTAR - - - I get!
As I filled in the first themer, I saw that (1) the answer GIVE OR TAKE, is a set expression in English, (2) both words complete CARE_R, to form two good English words, and (3) both CARETAKER and CAREGIVER are both synonyms for CARER.
Fortunately, this last happy coincidence doesn’t carry through to the other themers. SHIED, SHINED, and SHOUTED don’t mean the same thing; ditto for the others.
Too bad. That would have been awesome.
1
Alternative clue for 1D: "Last chart topper to be released only in 78rpm format"
3
But it's funny that the hook line of the song spells is out as RAGG MOPP ragmop.
1
@Fact Boy This song is one of the first musical memories from my childhood. The other is Duke of Earl. Not the Eroica Symphony but a nice bit of nostalgia.
1
Deb says: 3D: Even if you don’t know the answer to the clue “___ Pérez de Cuéllar, former U.N. chief,” it’s not terribly hard to figure out from the crossings. It’s a six-letter entry, and the first letter is easy enough to get: The answer to 1A is RAJA, giving us the letter J at the first position.
The Indian royal can just as easily be RANI, so the J isn’t a given. In fact, it’s less likely.
However, I knew JAVIER and entered it first, so it was not an issue.
1
@Steve L
I actually had RANI for a bit, but then 4D had to be ABET, so that made it RAJA, and I already had GIVE__ so that made JAVIER the likely answer for me.
1
@Steve L
I had Javier because general knowledge.
However, I can easily trump facts with stupidity and spelled it with a z rather than an r.
3
@Nialler
There’s that WORD again!!
My “Sensitivity Meter” just pegged!!
Like yesterday, seemed hard but I finished several minutes faster than my Thurs average. Without help from the brilliant theme it would have taken twice as long. Thankful for the gentle French, as it always make me nervous when I see French clues. My favorite Jeff Chen puzzle in a while.
1
I found this a gentle and enjoyable Thursday, GIVE OR TAKE.
I hope nobody finds it DO OR DIE.
6
This felt like a good mid-week puzzle, but it wasn't befuddling, and sometimes I want the Thursday puzzle to befuddle me, at least for a while.
When I first saw "Word that can complete CARE____R," I thought TAKE or GIVE. Then I looked at the grid and saw that those didn't come close to filling the squares. It was delightful to see that the actual answer was GIVE OR TAKE. The other theme clues were less obvious and required some crosses to get. And I wasn't thrilled about DEFRIEND, although I know it's a thing (spellcheck here doesn't seem to like it either!).
And the clue for I BEFORE E was a nice misdirect.
5
Liz B,
Here is our friend DEFRIEND is the dictionary, which notes that it's already 15 years old.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/defriend
6
@Barry Ancona "unfriend" is much more commonly used. "Defriend" sounds off to me, regardless of what Webster's days.
Here's the Google Trends comparison.
https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=Unfriend,Defriend
@LarryB
Hard to defend defriend.
6
In my circles, PISH means something completely different.
2
Had the same thought.
1
and Elke
Steve L- would that be ONE or TWO ? :))
@Robert
Well, it would be NUMBER one.