I’m happy to be instructed here: how is AMOR Latin for “beloved”?
1
@Nobis Miserere
Well, say Marcus Aurelius read these boards and had missed you, he might say: “Valebis, mihi Nobis Misere, ubiubi es, mellitissime, amor meus, mea voluptas.”
1
This one broke my 19 day streak... All for an A. I was certain that a cOp was the stopper, I never thought to try CAP. The French cross couldn't help.
1
A fun puzzle with a challenging (to construct) and useful theme. Once I finally got to the revealer in 109D (unfortunately I usually work puzzles from top to bottom if I can) it was a pleasure to fill in the PINs I hadn’t gotten to yet.
Not enough love has been expressed for the clever pun on two different kinds of SHINERs that are left by two different kinds of slugs.
My wife BURPed at the last minute and thus saved our streak. As for the PIN arrangement... one of our favorite unfavorite crosswords comes to mind: ADORBS. What a puzzle. I need a week of work to recover.
2
Tell mini-maker Joel Fagliano crocodiles aren’t scaly. They are leather. Thank you, Sandra from The Everglades
1
Obviously, Kingsley’s not a golfer. Not a single Lebowski reference. I bet he likes the Eagles too.
1
A terrific playful puzzle.
Took me 27:51, about five minutes longer than usual.
I was stuck st the end. Couldn’t think of anything that spiders have 8 of other than legs, and I kept thinking of PINE air freshener until finally PINY dawned on me.
2
@Bellevue Bob
Depending on how many crosses you’d already filled in, ugGS could have been a possibility 98A, too...
1
So I know I'm a little out of touch with recently published biographies, but I can't be the only one who had PUTIN before correcting it to LENIN, or who also briefly thought that another certain name would fit...
3
@Jen
Hand up for Putin.
1
@Jen
Hand up for Putin.
I put in PUTIN also. Srsly.
1
So what was supposed to be I the electronic version? I got the bowling puns, but didn’t notice the ‘pins.’
@CG ten of the words, starting from the bowling ball and going diagonally down either side, have the word PIN in them (UPPING, PINTA, PINOT, etc)
3
The answers NSFW and Word are inexplicable. Those were the only answers that I couldn't get, and would NEVER have gotten. I think this is lazy crossword construction. Obscure slang is inappropriate.
1
I’ve seen, and used, NSFW for over 20 years. Hardly obscure.
11
And I've heard WORD for over 30 years.
Plenty of info on both earlier in the comments for others not familiar with them.
7
@drladybug
Bottom line is every puzzle has individual clues that are inexplicably both utterly obscure and incredibly familiar, at the same time. We all have different life experiences that influence what is easy and what is challenging.
7
Even though I’m the worst bowler on the planet (my best score is around 50) I enjoyed the puzzle. If the actual game were only this easy for me to succeed at...
2
I did notice the obvious bowling ball at the top of the puzzle and that a lot of clues/fill were thematic. I didn’t see the PINS. Missed them completely. That said, I did enjoy the puzzle, except for VEINIER. Kidding are you?
:-/
2
@Just Carol
Just a little constructor license. Similar to poetic license. Yeah, they have to stretch the bounds on occaision. On a good day i dont mind. On a not so good day it feels like a personal insult.
1
I had one square to go: where NSF_ and _ORD crossed. I wouldn't expect to recognize the NSF_ thing, but I ran through the alphabet with _ORD, sure it would be a word I know. Gave up, went to Caitlin's column. What a weird use of the word WORD!
At least one square wrong. I do have guesses crossing guesses, but the results seem solid. Changing anything means tearing out a whole piece of the puzzle. I can't see ISE as a Suffolk suffix, but the I and the S and the E seem absolutely necessary to that part of the puzzle.
I'm not going to hit reveal yet; not sure when the deadline is. But I sense doom.
1
@kilaueabart
You are solid in Suffolk. There should also be a homophone for ISE in the lower left corner, which is the section that fell last for me. As for time, you have plenty (midnight Eastern time is the cutoff).
ISE is a real groaner, but this is how I think it goes: Suffolk is a place in Britain, and British English uses the suffix ISE where US English uses ize.
5
I've let a (phony) streak end once before for a mistake this obviously stupid, but caught this one. I had tested PRIMIERo in google, found it wasn't English, but needed the o for "buy NoW."
Ironically, I had tried NEW earlier, erased it when I couldn't imagine getting support for the N or W.
1
Re: the discussion of "WORD" being derived from "word up."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZjAantupsA
1
@Puzzledog
There’s a 1986 song by Cameo, “Word Up!” that was still playing in dance clubs when I started sneaking in with a fake ID a few years later. It’s based on the “Word” colloquialism (popular in NY in the mid-80’s, evidently, so it makes sense if didn’t trickle down to my very square hometown till years later). All the older kids were saying it. I tried it out on my mother once. She shut her “Annotated Milton,” gave me a long look, and took away my Jack London anthology for a week.
4
@Sam Lyons
That was cold.
1
Isn’t “chop-chop” a derogatory term? I was surprised to see that as a clue.
1
@Josephine. Not that I know of. I only know it to mean quickly, or a way to serve chicken. http://www.chickenkitchentx.com/menu
2
@Josephine
I could see how in an inappropriate ethnic context it could be intended as a slur, but I agree with Stephanie. I’d venture it’s derived from chefs yelling at sous chefs in busy kitchens.
2
Josephine,
It's not derogatory, and it has a long and international history.
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/chop-chop.html
4
My bowling league starts tonight! The bowling puns jumped right out at me.
4
For those who didn't know or had trouble remembering ALVY...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_5f9dAfPs8
2
At the risk of being overly pedantic, you need to be aware of the fact when doing mountain driving and you come to a STEEP downhill, you need to shift into low gear and use your brakes as little as possible. Most probably know this but I see many drivers with brake lights on the whole way down a 7 mile stretch of I-70 in Colorado.
4
@ColoradoZ,
SPARE yourself the experience of driving in Chapel Hill NC. Routinely, drivers doing 5 mph under the limit in the left lane will brake approaching an intersection that's giving them a green light. If all goes according to plan, the light will turn amber in the interim.
[That's me in the car following, mouthing GUTTERal imprecations.]
2
@Leapfinger. They need to get out of the way ASAP before they cause PILE UPS!
1
@ColoradoZ
Howsabout coming down from Pike’s Peak with their brakes ready to catch on fire? At least they have (used to have?) those brake check statiohns along the way. Driving down from the Salt Lake ski resorts after the lifts shut down on weekend afternoons, you can smell the burning brakes till you get to the city. The canyon walls trap the smell.
We mollusks have been getting our fair share of attention lately in the NYT crossword. I am very pleased to see my cousin, the LIMPET, in today's puzzle.
I am very disturbed, though (very!) to hear that anyone would mistake a perfectly fine LIMPET for one of the nasty, leggy bristly barnacle thingies. Seriously,? An arthropod?
Ew!
8
@Chief Quahog
We bipeds can be very insensitive, nay, phylumist. We’re downright boorish when we take time off from our day jobs and go vacationing in the marine realms. There are whole underwater blogs, I hear, detailing our tendency toward splashy behavior and splashy Hawaiian shirts.
3
@Sam Lyons
Woe betied the thoughtlessly phylumist, who will sea anemone behind every shellf and coral reef. Allow me to extend this tidal pool to my favourite echinodermatous SPINY sea urchin, as I've long had a weakness for anything that locomotes by a closed hydraulic system.
Not only energy-efficient, but Tasty, as well.
4
@Leapfinger
Another recent NPR story. Two different types of sea urchins, red and smaller purple. The purple ones have been eating up the kelp forests off the California Coast. Cal State University has been trying to address this by making the purple ones more viable for harvesting for food. So, eat a (purple) sea urchin and save the planet:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/09/09/756929657/saving-californias-kelp-forest-may-depend-on-eating-purple-sea-urchins
Even though it didn't help my solve, I'm very glad that Andrew put those pins in the puzzle. On XwordInfo, the grid just looks so lovely with the images of the pins inserted (Hi, @vaer and @Steve F!). It's just icing on a puzzle that provided a very nice solving experience for me.
Grateful for the sterile neutral clue for EL PASO so soon after the terrible event there. I liked seeing STIR in the grid, echoing yesterday's IN STIR, and there was another little find -- in the South, WII butting into a backward SEGA -- that I'm sure was there through pure serendipity; I just love when that happens.
Bowling made me think of Bowler hats, and I wondered if the two were somehow connected, but no, says Wiki, the hats were created by London hat-makers Thomas and William Bowler. Just a bit more icing, and thank you for today's sweet treat, Andrew.
3
@Lewis. The PINs did help me with a few of my answers.
I see the images of the pins in the puzzle on XWordInfo, but I don't see them on my puzzle in the NYT XWP app (for Android). I was kind of hoping they'd morph into pin images once the puzzle was completed, like when the tall letters morphed on a puzzle recently. I was a little disappointed when they didn't. Did they become pictures of pins on any other platform?
@Stephanie -- I don't know where, if anywhere besides XwordInfo they became pins, but that's a good point -- it would have been sweet if it happened on the NYT app!
2
FOIST of all, when Caitlin mentioned it, I realized I also couldn't necessarily pick a MASERATI out of a lineup. Once I pulled up their Images, I decided that MASERATIS are reminiscent of classic Jaguars, only substantially heavier on the pizzazz.
Given the partial similarity in names, I then pulled up the Images for BugATTI, and discovered where the Fords seem to have found their inspiration for the Edsel. I am, of course, not referring to the TAILFIN end.
https://images.app.goo.gl/ek5GQH5ijLBVdtLP6
Sometimes hard to PIN down the Auto Motive, isn't it?
3
@Leapfinger. I always enjoy your comments, Leapfinger.
I could definitely pick a MASERATI out of a lineup. I see a lot of then around here. I don't drive one though. I'm just a poor musician (not as popular as Joe Walsh).
3
@Stephanie
In case anyone doesn't get that reference, here's Joe at Daryl's House:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efB3aQkZS1g
1
I just did an internet search and am surprised there are still some DuckPIN and CandlePIN bowling alleys in existence.
1
@ColoradoZ Yes, here in New England they are the preferred genre of bowling. Duck pins more toward Connecticut, which may or may not still be considered New England by the rest of us (we ceded Connecticut to New York long ago), and candlepins in MA, NH, and ME.
A friend of mine was a candlepin champ a few decades back.
3
"(we ceded Connecticut to New York long ago)"
Chief Quahog,
Please don't tell David Connell!
3
Or me!
1
So clever! But I thought Obama’s mother’s name was Stanley Ann. I think that may have explained a lot about her unusual life. And changed the course of history!
1
@Melissa Just to be clear,ANN was not Obama’s mother’s name. Her name was STANLEY ANN Durham. It’s odd to see a factual error in the NYT puzzle. With so many other possible clues, why go with this?
1
WII bowling is being used as an activity in many senior living accommodations
https://www.wired.com/story/senior-wii-bowling-league/
2
@ColoradoZ. That looks fun. At least there's something to look forward to.
1
@Stephanie
Closer than I like to think for me
Congrats Andrew on your puzzle publication and it's pleasing construction. As a retired educator, I know that September can be a hectic time, so I hope all is going well for you.
I think I have only bowled twice in my life, but since the clues to the themed fills were phrases containing fairly common bowling terms, I was able to get them with the help of the crosses.
Glad to get back to the habit and simple pleasure of the morning paper delivery and my crossword time after a 2 week cruise of the Mediterranean.
3
@Ken s,
Welcome home, and congratulations on the 'simple pleasure' of a 2 week cruise of the Mediterranean!!
1
I just remembered the real reason I didn't see the PINS. It's not just that I was reading horizontally instead of vertically, though that was certainly a big part of it. But it's even more that I wasn't looking for PIN/PIN/PIN/PIN, etc. I was looking for ONE/TWO/THREE/FOUR...TEN. And they weren't there -- going in any direction.
So not just an inability to visualize, but also a most unhelpful idee fixe.
1
....and in the No Fool Like an Old Fool Department-- ROPING! One of these days I will learn to read the clues and check entries that were filled in via crosses. VEINED made sense as long as I failed to notice the extra I (though if anyone ever said< "This marble is VENIER," I'll send him/her a dollar.)...
Ah, well. I had already assigned myself the F for Fail.
1
@MOL. Hey there! I totally agree on VEINIER. My first thought was huh? my second was pffft!
1
@MOL, the backs of my hands are VEINIER than they used to be.
4
@Leapfinger
Same number of veins, just more prominent. Good thing I'm not vain.
I gave up on this one (the little cluster at 71-2-3D), having to be satisfied with the 10 PINs.
Where did Billy the Kid die? In the dust, at the hands of Pat Garret, Out West,.....Ft. SUMNER was just too obscure, as was FRAME RATE.
As a fan of the PBR (Still miss Little Yellow Jacket) I think 95D was kind of a low blow of a clue. Maybe 'horse-racing activity' or 'Olympic activity' would be more accurate? (See what I mean?)
So, I'll take the Fail and get on with my busy day.
2
Enjoyable Sunday morning fare, much more approachable fill than yesterday’s stumpers, with a lot of symmetry thrown in.
For my part the last clues were NEW and OAK, though TAILFIN and TIESIN had me looking for an eleventh frame.
Cheers
I worked as a PINsetter in high school. You worked two lanes at a time, always making sure that you weren't in the pit when some one was bowling. Every once in a while a PIN would fly into the other pit where you were setting the other lane but I never got hit.
Pay was 10 cents per game per bowler. In a league with 5 bowlers per team, total of 10 bowlers, three games each, pay was $3.00. Usually two and one-half hours, so a little more than $1 per hour. Big money
6
I was watching an episode of "Married...with Children" last night (if you want to understand how truly warped my sense of humor is, know that I *love* that show, and binge watch it on the weekends on the Logo channel), where the Bundy family got embroiled in a bowling tournament to settle a bet. Prior to that, I was "bowling" with an app on my tablet (game graphics have reached a point where it's almost scary how detailed and accurate they are!). Now today's bowling puzzle. I'm not sure how I can parlay that into some Lotto numbers, but there's got to be a connection there somewhere... :)
2
ALBY vs ALVY for way too long... missed a new personal best.
Fun puzzle and friendly theme!
2
Was stuck on Spam for the longest time. I enjoyed dredging up The Muffin Man in my memory banks. I’ll be humming that all day. It’s a LULU! Wasn’t that a line from an I Love Lucy episode?
3
@Elke
I also had SPAM before ALPO.
(BURP)
6
I had GOYA, also for too long
3
Amazing construction. Ten pin bowling ( as one calls it here) is one of the few athletic things I've done at all, so was familiar with all the lingo and had a lot of fun getting the theme answers.
I got the anagram EL PASO @46D ( as soon as I had 5 letters). As noted be another commenter, it was fun to see the clue for ODESSA after yesterday's discussion.
This was probably much trickier to construct than solve, thanks Andrew.
6
OK - - started reading comments - oldest first. Ran into SO many bowling groaner puns, I gave up.
Have to call this one a “Completion” - - sort of.
No Knows: NSFW, ANSE, ECKO, WIIG, WORD, ALVY & ASTIN.
No Likes: TREES, VEINIER & TIER (In particular. BAD CLUE - - NO BISQUIT!! - to stick with a theme from a few days ago.).
Mistakes: mussels for LIMPETS, riding for ROPING, eimtted for SENT OUT, misspelled MASaRATIS.
This was enough to take me back to the alleys on the basement level of the Student Union building at Michigan State University - where I spent many a pleasant evening in the 60’s- - and it wasn’t too far from the Billiards Room either but we didn’t tell Mom and Dad about that little detail. Makes me wish I did not have two “fake” knees or arthritis in my spine and thumbs.
Fortunately, those impediments don’t interfere with THIS diversion.
Very clever theme and implementation - themed answers and PINs. The latter didn’t help with solving - - and I kept looking for them with the “One Pin” at the bottom and four others in a row near the top of the puzzle. Liked Jeff Chen’s visual rendition. NYT should have done the same thing since the theme was so obvious so quickly in the solving process anyway.
4
Question for the constructor...
Andrew, did you use an automatic Pinspotter, or did you set the ten pins in the grid by hand?
7
What on earth is a FRAME RATE??? Boy, did I suffer in this section, because I knew neither CLAIRE, the Netflix lady, nor SUMNER, the Billy the Kid fort. The only fort I know is Fort SUMTER, and that's too close to this answer for comfort. And so the truly peculiar FRAME RATE in that same section nearly did me in.
NRA/UPRISE instead of WPA/UPPING almost did me in in the mid-section. But who was that dictator, --SIN? LENIN enabled me to straighten it all out.
I don't see the PINS (109D) that are supposedly "appropriately arranged" in this puzzle. I never seem to see anything that requires visualization. I'm sure you'll all point them out to me when I go back to read the blog.
Quite hard for me in two sections, but also pretty blah clues and answers. I never found it engrossing and didn't enjoy the puzzle at all.
@Nancy
Jeff Chen has a great visual on his blog today:
https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=9/15/2019
3
@Steve Faiella -- It's fabulous. Thanks so much, Steve! All is clear now! I actually see it!!!!
P.S. Why can't I visualize stuff like everyone else?
2
@Nancy
FRAME RATE refers to how many frames per second a motion picture is displayed at. At the slowest usable rate, 12 fps, motion appears very jerky. Below that, the human brain sees the frames as distinct stills, not as motion.
Live action movies are shown at a much higher FRAME RATE, at least 24 fps, and in some cases 48 fps; TV standards are even higher, at 60 fps.
4
A thing of beauty! Thank you so much. Glad to hear you are joining the esteemed profession of English teachers. The pins fell quickly for me on this one, but in real bowling I use bumpers. I find it’s more fun the way the kids play it.
4
@JR. Probably a lot of things would be more fun if we did them the way kids do them!
2
Everything I enjoy in a Sunday puzzle. Good long workout, clever theme answers and... I even used the theme to help with the solve - in this case by using the symmetrical placement of the pins to help with a few answers. Surprised myself by actually remembering a few things, like WIIG and WRAY. I think I had to look up 4 (maybe 5) things, but no checks or reveals. If my self-imposed 'rules' were different, I believe I would have a 7 day streak now.
Side note. My wife (Dr. J) is a natural athlete, though I don't think she really realizes that. When we were first together, I taught her to throw a baseball and she got very good at it very quickly. Some years later came a notable day at a park when she struck out the entire family (me and all four sons).
She had also never bowled (I had, as a youngster). But at some point early in our marriage we started bowling with another couple. She picked up on it pretty quickly. I believe it was our third time out with them when we decided to play a 'team' game where the wives threw the first ball and the husbands the second (if necessary). 'We' bowled a 210. I had never, ever come anywhere close to that before (or since).
Lastly - surprised no one has linked this yet. Always thought the title of this matched the music surprisingly well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_JZHfE8aYU
..
10
@Rich in Atlanta
That's a great Alley Cat... Extra charming with a window-sill full of violets and a whatnot full of figurines (Lladros?)
3
Enjoyable puzzle, Mr Kingsley! Congratulations on your masters from my undergrad alma mater. However, my sister went to your GSE at 3700 Locust Walk. I hope you enjoyed your time there.
Your DRURY Lane clue reminded me of the gingerbread man scene from Shrek, lol! I had Maya (Rudolph) before Kristin WIIG.
Just got back into bowling 🎳 but I was pleased that most of your clues were right in my STRIKEZONE. I hope the school year is going well.
4
@Pani
This seems a good place to mention that I was class of '55 at the Riverdale Country School for Girls ( as it was called then), so hope Mr. Kingsley is one of those who reads the comments.
2
Hi suejean,
Did you have mixers with the boys at Horace Mann? I had to remember that at that time Fieldston was the only co-ed hill school.
(Meanwhile, in the public schools, Stuyvesant boys and Hunter girls...)
2
@Barry Ancona,
Yes, I do remember Horace Mann.
Oh, for sure sure sure
Never got the WORD
Last I heard
Bird was a WORD
A well the bird bird bird
Bird is a WORD
Bird bird bird
Bird is a WORD
Everybody's talkin'
...
5
@Mike R Thank you Peter Griffin!
LETTER BOXED
Best I can find so far:
V-A(8), A-Y(8)
2
@Mari
M-S (10) S-Y (6)
Yesterday I had: FINALIZES 9 SHUNTER 7 and NATURALIZES 10 SHELF 5
I’m just getting into Letter Boxed and could use some tips! What a challenge. Any thoughts for a newbie?
@Mari
A-S(10), S-Y(6).
SPELLING BEE
O C I L M N T
Words: 65, Points 256, Pangrams: 1, Bingo: yes
C x 20
I x 4
L x 12
M x 12
N x 4
O x 6
T x 7
4L x 32
5L x 10
6L x 11
7L x 4
8L x 1
9L x 5
10L x 2
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Tot
C 6 5 4 2 - 2 1 20
I 2 1 1 - - - - 4
L 9 1 1 - - - 1 12
M 6 1 2 2 - 1 - 12
N 1 - 2 - - 1 - 4
O 3 1 - - 1 1 - 6
T 5 1 1 - - - - 7
Tot 32 10 11 4 1 5 2 65
39
@Mari thanks, just missing 1 C5. Got upset stomach, punctuation, performer, shape.
1
@Mari This Bee has many words in common with August 6th Bee ( C F I L N O T), which had 6 of the same letters. Today we have a little bird, 3 words for HUGE(!) numbers, an N6 that I tried randomly and is an informal military rank term, a dance, a desert plant and a moving Panagram.
6
@Kevin Davis Not sure what you mean by 'upset stomach', as 2 C5 words are implicated! One is a number of a type of bacterium, the other is a part of the intestine sometimes infected by said bugs.
4
SPELIING BEE
I’m at 63 words, no Queen Bee yet. I’m missing the pangram. It’s probably something obvious. I almost left out a word that means “to leave out”:)
@Kevin Davis
Come on, baby, you can do it.
4
@BM it’s probably a compound, slang, or onomatopoeic word. I’ll try a bit longer then I’m going to sleep.
The only unusual words I found so far are two huge numbers, a desert shrub that sounds similar to one of the numbers and has a Spanish/Aztec (I think) name, & a New Zealand robin whose name starts the same way as a handheld drum.
2
@Kevin Davis make that hand-played drum
I was sure a bottom across clue was faqs, but when I finished, something was wrong. The crosses led me to REGS. Earlier I had spam for ALPO, steno for NOTER, stat for ASAP, amtoo for CANSO.
I learned a new word with ERSE.
4
I dig the hypnotic spiral illusion. The after-effect reminded me of how things sometimes look on a mild mushroom trip.
1
@Bill in Yokohama
What platform are you using that you saw that? I feel robbed.
@Sam,
I simply watched the video on my iPad. I think it might work better if in full screen, and on a bigger screen. Also depends on where you turn your gaze when directed to look away. At first I looked at a blank wall and saw nothing. Then I looked at a more textured lampshade, and it started moving like a lava lamp, though the effect didn’t last long.
Cool, thanks, Bill. Nothing happens on the iPhone app, unfortunately. Next time I see what promises to be an “visually enhanced solve experience,” I’ll tackle it on my tablet instead.
The title takes my pun opportunity away, so I'm just going to SPLIT.
(I was on PINs and needles with this one!)
4
Remember Don Knotts? Remember "The Incredible Mr. LIMPET?"
https://youtu.be/4q2w1DDp66s
Talk about BiZARRe!
Enjoyed the puzzle, even after making some careless mistakes that I had to fix. SPARE me, you say? Oh, just beer me!
7
@Ann
I remember that movie clearly. "I wish, I wish, I wish I were a fish..."
Second day in a row the construction is a LULU. Finding ten words such that the PIN placement in the grid is the same as the actual PIN placement on the alley
6
Not a nit, just an observation. In Colorado, I have never seen a STEEP ROAD sign. A STEEP ROAD is identified by a sign depicting a truck at a 45 degree angle and text indicating" 8% Grade". Mileage may vary in other mountain areas
6
@ColoradoZ
I've seen STEEP GRADE a number of times, but never STEEP ROAD.
4
Agreed. I’ve never seen them in Utah and New Mexico either.
2
@ColoradoZ
It was a STEEP ROAD to set the No. 5 PIN. Still a GRADE A grid, IMO.
My dad and his brother worked as PINsetters at their local bowling alley when they were kids. (Hi Kids!).
2
I had to visit xwordinfo to check on whether "noter' had ever been clued to the way I actually use it.
Nope. The majority of the clues for it have been related to "perceiver" or "observer", which are fair synonyms for "noter" to my eye. Today's "memo writer" has only been used a few times, and is not as good - annotator or notator seems better than "noter" for that.
But...the "noter" that I use is the little slip of wood or bone that is held in the left hand and slid up and down the fretboard of a lap dulcimer to make the different notes. That's its technical name, for real.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAjOcTmH7u8
3
@David Connell
I found it a bit clunky too. “One who takes it down?” would share the same clunkiness but might compensate with some wordplay. Or it might lead to more Ughs.
1
@David Connell
You're a dulcimer player? I have a very good friend who's been a dulcimer player for many years... he plays both hammer and mountain varieties. You may know him. His name is Rob.
@Puzzlemucker and David Connell
I thought so, too. One notes things mentally, not on memos.
Maybe, “One who takes it in?”
Or, “One who duly observes?”
1
Got every thing but BURL and dont care for the clue for it either.
BURL?
@Frank
Do you mean BURP (81A)?
3
It was BURP
1
Would have been my first "clean" solve, except I had "premierO"/"nOw". So close.
3
Tough one for me: needed 7 entertainment and sports lookups, one historical item lookp, and *still* had a natick at square 8. I must confess to not knowing 5A and 8D. [Some amplification would be appreciated ... :-)...]
Amusing incidental: Slugs (re 6D) leave shiny trails.
PS Saw Steve L's explanation of "word" posted earlier for which I thank him. Still not satisfying, tho, etymologically speaking.
Word?
@Dr W - Think in terms of "do you give me your word?" "yes, I give you my word!"
"Word?" "Word!"
It is 100% descended from plain English idiom.
4
@David Connell
Thank you -- as this applies to 8D -- but I still don't see it. Word in the context of 'do you give me....' is an oath -- something to swear on or by.
There were two poets who enthralled my oldest brother, and my poetic hero, when he was in his early twenties and I in my early teens: Gary Snyder and EZRA Pound. A couple of days ago, Leapfinger mentioned RIPRAP in connection with the puzzle and earlier today I found a recording of Ian Dury (of the punk band Ian Dury and The Blockheads) reading Gary Snyder’s poem entitled RIPRAP, which I planned to post tonight. EZRA was always somewhat outside my grasp and taste (and it turned out he was an anti-Semite and fascist, which made me feel better about not being into him as a poet). But Gary Snyder was right up my ALLEY, and I was lucky enough to meet him and hear him read when I was in college; he even graciously critiqued one of my (not great) poems — the two lines he really liked I had shamelessly stolen from one of my brother’s poems.
So, after that LUMPy intro, here’s Gary Snyder’s RIPRAP for Leapy:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pPQ0NIdiK4w
2
@Puzzlemucker
RIPRAP for Leapy sounds like the title of a poem....
1
@vaer
Not sure if you knew Ian Dury and the Blockheads from the 70s but to discover that he recorded a Gary Snyder poem was *almost* as strange as the Mr. Limpet clip that Ann posted. Turns out, Ian does an excellent job. He was probably best known for Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WvWHQMH-G4A
@Puzzlemucker
Of course. But today wanted him to be Ian DRURY. I like Reasons to Be Cheerful Part 3.
1
It would be a nice visual effect in the app to highlight the PINs after the puzzle is completed. I was trying hard to make the single black squares into some kind of arrangement and it wasn’t making any sense to me. The strategically placed PINs on the other hand are very impressive but I totally missed it!
5
@JAC
If you want to see the pins go here.
https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=9/15/2019
11
@vaer
Oops! I posted that link on a newer comment (downside of reading newest first). GMTA!
@Steve Faiella
No worries.
My biggest Aha moment came when I realized that the PINS were assembled in a pyramid shape emblematic of the game.
Two days in a row seeing SPARE as a verb in the bowling context. Conicidence? Yesterday's SPARED had me wondering whether we might soon see STRUCK clued as "knocked down all ten pins".
In yesterday's conversation about place names in different countries, I almost mentioned ODESSA Ontario, Canada. Today Texas won centre stage honours.
I had SHRUG before VSIGN. Aside from the famous photograph, I don't really associate this gesture with Nixon.
What a difference a vowel can make. I had OVA instead of OVO, which gave me a quite different verb instead of ROPING. Of course, the poor animal involved in this "sport" probably doesn't make much distinction between the two.
And just to put it in black and white, I much prefer PINOT noir to PINOT blanc.
4
Further to the design of the puzzle the bowling ball at the top is directly in line with the lead PIN. Caitlin's enigmatic comment "there's supposed to be something in the electronic versions today" makes me wonder if I missed some sort of animated "strike" upon completion...
2
@Andrew
Behold the version Jeff Chen came up with:
https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=9/15/2019
3
@Steve L
Thanks for the link. That is sort of how I visualized portraying the PINS upon completion.
Just a thought: it might be nice to give feedback to constructors directly. Maybe there should be a Recommend button for the puzzle itself.
4
@Doug
They can come here and read our words if they want, and I know in the past some have.
11
It's good to keep in mind that the constructors very well may read our commentary on this blog. We should strive to be kind and sensitive, and if we have criticism, keep it constructive.
2
It was a STEEP ROAD but WE DID IT!
5
Nice relaxing puzzle with no stress. Best of all, no typos so no flyspecking at the end.
And here's to our pal GODZILLA, the original.
https://youtu.be/muUZjovOFRg
5
Rolled a 300, but I SPLIT a hair on one theme clue. LANE CLOSURE (14D) would not be "disappointing news for a bowler;" the bowler would simply move to another another lane. It *would* be a "Headache for a bowling league."
A headache?? A LANE CLOSURE can end a nascent bowling career.
My first Xmas party in Texas: hubby’s new company books a GODZILLA of a bowling alley for the night. No expense spared: open bar, shrimp cocktails; there’s even a dress code.
I haven’t been bowling since high school, barely remember my split from my spare. Still, there is SCORING in bowling and I don’t do that whole also-ran-but-had-fun thing. I’m loaded for bear.
I don’t know anybody so I use the cocktail hour to scout out guys with custom made bowling shoes and then mingle to suss our who’s boasting a 175+ average. I assemble my dream team. Hubby ambles over to Team Sam Lane only to find it’s — regrettably — full. After all, in a few hours only one person will get to chant “I RULE!” all the way to our driveway.
We’re out of the gate like the champs my teammates are. I rah-rah and pom-pom away while my new pals roll strikes. I do take the time to walk over to hubby’s lane to bask in glee.
I roll my first ball. 8 pins go down and... stay down. A kid bounces over & spends an eternity tinkering with the pin reset gizmo only to tell us it’s a LANE CLO... — I start moving us to the one unoccupied lane before he even finishes that sentence. The tension is palpable. OK, mine is; my new BFF’s are just getting more beer.
I get us situated. We get 2 ball-busting frames in before our monitor freezes. An hour of teenage furrowed brows later we find out it’s going to be a DNF for Team Sam.
I’m still in therapy.
10
Sam,
But you did just move to another lane...
3
@Sam Lyons
Great story!
3
WE DID IT. Google and me. Didn't know ECKO, ANSE,NSFW, WIIG - although she has appeared recently. Maybe for some of us who are retired, it means Not Safe For Wife. Speaking of being retired, when I was working it was a Steno, not a NOTER
6
@ColoradoZ
Still working, but agree it was a Steno. Do they still exist in the business world? They do in the courts, though that's somewhat different.
Microsoft has software called OneNote. Would someone using it be called a NOTER? Let the tech-savvy speak.
3
@ColoradoZ I had Ecco instead of ECKO (until I got the crossing). I guess I had wine on the brain!
Not Safe For Wife is fantastic! 🤣
2
@vaer
In court, the transcribers are called Court Reporters and most still use a stenograph machine.
After all the discussion on Saturday about Florence (Rome, Paris, etc.) I find it pretty funny to read the clue "City in Texas or Ukraine."
14
@Stephanie
The Ukrainian government has requested that the spelling ODESA be used rather than ODESSA, which is the transliteration of the Russian Одесса. The Ukrainian spelling is Одеса, so the one-s version matches.
Despite what happened in Crimea, the Ukrainians want people to know who is in charge.
The Texas city still goes with the two-s version.
10
@Stephanie
Yesterday I Google Mapped Florence, Nova Scotia, because I had never heard of it despite being quite familiar with the Canadian province.
My initial reaction was - "Wow! that looks beautiful". I quickly realized that I was in fact looking at a photo of Florence, Italy. After the first three photos, actual photos of Florence, Nova Scotia came up, and to put it mildly, the contrast was quite sad.
I understand Ukraine’s push that the international community render Одеса as Odesa in lieu of the original Russian Одесca (Odessa). It’s a valid reaction to its loss of Crimea.
But — doing so rewrites Odessa’s ancient history (yes, I’m still talking about Odessa, Ukr., and not Odessa, TX, whence hails one very special 4-legged Lyons). In the 18th c., modern-day Odessa was under the Ottoman rule till Catherine the Great wrested it from the Turks and, as the dernier cri of imperial expansionism then demanded, the Russian Academy of Sciences gave it a Greek name (think Sevastopol, Terespol,etc.) Plus, Greek settlements along the Black Sea go back 3,000 years.
By the 18th c., Ukrainian was already a distinct language — derived from the same ancestral Ruthenian as Russian, to which it remains phonologically close, but semantically and syntactically heavily influenced by Polish. It was spoken throughout the territories that comprise most of today’s Ukraine but, notably, not in Odessa: Odessa was part of the Russian Empire; the area where Ukrainian was spoken was primarily part of the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom.
More wars and foreign claims came and went in the next 200 years, but Odessa retained its cosmopolitan character as port cities are wont to do. I understand that the name ‘Odesa’ reaffirms its post-Soviet sovereignty and the ethnic Ukrainian claim on the city, but ‘Odessa’ echoes 3 millennia of its incredible, complex history. Why throw the baby out with the bath water?
3
Seems that 5 across could be NSFL (not safe for life), and 8 down could be LORD.
Not sure I get 8 down as WORD.
- Tom
Dude! Best clue ever! Word!
5
@Tom Martin
It’s because NSFW is a well-known abbreviation, used when someone sends you something that you wouldn’t want to view at work (or many other public places). NSFL is not a common abbreviation, even though there’s some internet attestation. Between the two, NSFW is the only one of the two used widely IRL (in real life). This is borne out by a quick look on Google Trends:
https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=Nsfw,Nsfl
NSFW shows steady usage, while NSFL basically flatlines.
“WORD!” is a slang expression of agreement (or, in the interrogative, a request for conformation) most common in African-American and hip-hop culture. LORD! doesn’t mean “You got that right!” but WORD! does.
5
“Word” was around late 2010s and a few years later. If someone said “man, it’s hot outside” the response, agreeing with you, was “word!” As in yep, I hear ya, or agreed. My kids used to say it a lot, but it seems to be old fashioned now. How do I know? When I say it they roll their eyes and say “jeez mom that was so last decade!” And I say, “Word!”
3
It looks like recent events appeared - ODESSA, EL PASO, and OHIO.
10
@Maria
Interesting until you realize he constructed this puzzle in early August!
So you figure out the conspiracy, I'll write the novel, and we'll make a fortune selling the movie rights!
6
Edits?
1
This was right up my alley.
18
I improved my AVERAGE with this puzzle (see what I did there)?
When I saw the clue at the end that said there were ten PINS arranged throughout the puzzle, I feared the appearance of the dreaded rebus. But it did not STRIKE.
I guess you could say this puzzle bowled me over.
8
I just opened the puzzle and between the title and the image, it STRUCK me that we would not be SPARED more bowling references today. Off to solve...
5
A turkey in the bowling sense.
4
And for those among us unfamiliar with bowling terms, an explanation of turkey.
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/03/three-strikes-row-bowling-called-turkey/
2
@vaer
Great article! Can't wait until this year when I ask my brothers and sisters-in-law who will be bringing the Guinea Fowl to our family Thanksgiving!
@Steve Faiella
lol. So how many strikes in a row for a Guinea Fowl, seven?
My cousin keeps some on her property out on Eastern Long Island to keep the ticks and other bugs under control. They're very effective.
1