just to let you know side A and side B usually referred to singles. A side being the hit and the B-side being something that they wanted to try to promote and hope the DJs with turn it over and play it; really didn't refer to albums as you stated.
1
I couldn’t get 26A until I read all of the comments, even once u got the theme. If I’d been sure it was waterskiing I’d have gotten it, but for some reason I was imagining another type of skiing requiring a tow... maybe helicopter skiing?
Not even close to a PB, alas...
*sigh*
Poesy is standard English. Louden is not.
2
Isn't that the very point of crosswords?...to challenge us with uncommon - and plenty of - "nonstandard" English! I would also argue that LOUDEN is quite "standard" English. I use it often when commercials come on that LOUDEN vis-a-vis the show.
I had a few choice words for this puzzle, so you'll have to pardon my French.
2
NOD for NOM had me stuck for a while, as did AMAS for AMAT. I knew CRIS was wrong but couldn’t figure out how for the longest time.
No problem with the French or with POESY, a word often used evocatively in romantic and Elizabethan poetry.
Very enjoyable solve.
2
So are crossword puzzles in French full of English words? I prefer English language words in English language puzzles. Or maybe you need to run a separate multi-lingual puzzle? Why discriminate against Polish, Chinese and Icelandic? Using French is just snobbery.
@Doris Butler - Just taking your first question: the answer is yes. I've worked French, German, Dutch crosswords and they are peppered with English words.
2
Nicely understated snark, Deb!
2
I posted earlier in defense of "louden" - a perfectly normal English word that got some hate today. Now I feel called to defend the other word that has been despised...poesy.
Poesy was the original word used in English to name what we call poetry now. "Poetry" has basically replaced the older, more French-based word "poesy." Both come from the same Greek verb
ποιέω • (poiéō)
"I make" (something) / "I create" (something)
which gives us poem (a thing made), poet (a maker of things), poetry (things made), poesy (the art of making things), poetic (related to the art of making things with words) - which have all come to refer exclusively to word-making, but anciently meant more than that.
Hematopoiesis - the making of blood cells in the body.
Agathapoiesis - the making of good things for other people (being nice).
Mythopoeia (the making of mythical worlds) is the thing that Tolkien and Rowling, C.S. Lewis and George Lucas are involved in. Onomatopoeia (the making of names based on the sound of a thing) is fairly well known. The adjectival form is "onomatopoetic", the process noun "onomatopoesis." Maybe not in the top ten of anybody's word list - but these words are tied together by the idea that "stories make the world" : in making language, we make a way of understanding the world.
Poiesis. Not a bad thing to contemplate.
7
Poesy is a favorite word and this was a delightful lesson in its etymology. Thank you!
2
@David Connell
Honestly my problem with POESY was not the word itself, it was the, IMO, very questionable clue. Having it cross AYEAYE did us no favors as well. (Honestly who knows that?)
@Matt
I was away last week so just doing this puzzle now. Check out The Aye-Aye and I, by Gerald Durrell (A Rescue Journey to Save One of the World's Most Intriguing Creatures from Extinction). Gerald Durrell (British naturalist) is probably better known for My Family and Other Animals about his childhood on Corfu.
1
My first Thursday solve thanks to some intergenerational help with Missy Elliot and Eli Roth! My personal rule is that anyone who happens to be in the room can help.
6
Can someone explain POESY? I understand that the clue is about Robert Frost, but as far as I can tell from Google, he didn't write a poem with that title? Help!
Rrb,
I hope you've scrolled down through the comments to discover that POESY has been explained several times.
1
This was good fun - thanks Alex!
2
I am disappointed not to see Nadal and/or Bjorn as an answer to a clue with French Opens theme. Ce'st la vie!
1
@msk
Yes it was UNB(J)ORN.
Although the corresponding entry to Nadal would have been Borg.
1
Tres enjoyable theme. Deb, re kindness, je salue votre sagesse. ( Salon google translate). Merck.
3
Willd Aye Aye!!!!
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Wild_aye_aye.jpg/1920px-Wild_aye_aye.jpg
3
A Wednesday puzzle on Thurday and vice-versa!
Before groking the theme, I thought 17D was some kind of play on "AmeriQuest."
Completion was delayed by putting S at the end of 49A because of the plural nature of the clue. I wish I could stop this habit! 😖
1
For those unhappy with POESY, the word appears in written English five times more frequently than "iambic." Ten times "pentameter"
4
And three orders of magnitude more frequently than "iambic pentameter"
1
Oh, and thank you, Alex, for using 'grok' in your constructor notes!
2
As I'm fairly fluent in French, I of course love puzzles that utilize knowledge of this language. Also an English major, but simply could not get POESY for the longest time, even when I had one blank space - the P - left! Wonderful BIT of misdirection. PIANOS had a delightful clue also.
1
I’m sorry but Crossword constructors who assume we al, speak French is wrong. I speak some Arabic and Tagalog but would not dream of putting some of the more unknown words into an English puzzle.
4
Tom,
I agree it would be inappropriate to put some of the more unknown words of French in a NYT Crossword. But, of course, that did not happen today.
Salaam.
8
This feels like it was fairly easy for Thursday puzzle. I guess that’s partly because it wasn’t really themeless. The trick was both well thought out and well executed…my one gripe is POESY. Really?
Michael,
POESY. Really:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/poesy
1
Haven’t quite finished but Matt must be “derangeur.” P.s. not even sure about that spelling. Otherwise, a delightful puzzle.
well thank goodness I came and read this column, I got it from the crosses but I still couldn't figure out what a SIDEA was.
I was so delighted when I figured out the theme! It totally made up for the fact that I thought the epitome of easiness was a PEA (easy peasy) and ended up fumbling around for far too long.
2
TIL The Emus can't read German, so don't like German comments ("Schwieriger waere's, wenns auf deutsch waere"), and for some reason, they didn't like my picture of wild aye-aye....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aye-aye#/media/File:Wild_aye_aye.jpg
2
I'm with Matt.
1
Super fast Thursday, just 45 seconds behind my PB. Finding a flyspeck (OHYES to AHYES) probably took at least ten of those. So basically in my opinion this is Wednesday difficulty level.
1
I enjoy your columns, Deb, and was really excited to read this one once I caught on to the theme of the puzzle. It truly seemed like a gift and I was not disappointed. I would like to suggest a holiday gift for Mr. Bai to honor his eponymous gift to crossword lexicon.
Thanks for the laughs today.
https://society6.com/product/zut-alors486568_mug
1
On AMTRAK along the Hudson for the NYP- HUD run. Started at Yonkers and finished before Poughkeepsie and wondered where the "Thursday bite" was -- this one seemed easier than expected. Eh bien, c'est ... (well,nemmine...)
And yes, it was fun.
3
Tired of the French clues. Be original.
4
@Brandon I agree. Skillful creators should be able to do interesting puzzles in English. What? Not enough words to choose from?
1
Deb - Thank you for your comments about "PC." I agree completely. Using new terms to describe various groups is an act of respect and kindness.
The term political correctness did come from darker motives of enforcing the Party line, fascist or communist, but by the 1970s it was more of a joke. This from Wikipedia:
According to one version, political correctness actually began as an in-joke on the left: radical students on American campuses acting out an ironic replay of the Bad Old Days BS (Before the Sixties) when every revolutionary groupuscule had a party line about everything. They would address some glaring examples of sexist or racist behaviour by their fellow students in imitation of the tone of voice of the Red Guards or Cultural Revolution Commissar: "Not very 'politically correct', Comrade!"
Then the right decided to pick it up as a means of claiming the left was policing language, which is where "PC" earns its keep these days. Let's not fall into that trap.
8
I remember the term "Side A" referring to singles, not albums. The hit song was on side A and side B was a throw-away song.
4
@KMS
Je suis d'accord. I noted Deb's petite erreur, aussi.
@KMS Yes, albums had Side 1 and Side 2. Often side 2 had the more experimental, "trippier" music.
1
Very satisfying when the theme reveled itself. I’d heard of the AYEAYE, but didn’t remember it was a nocturnal lemur. It’s a great crossword name. Having NOD instead of NOM was the spot that slowed me down for a time. My French is fairly good, so I can’t explain not catching on to AMI in the crossing.
3
@Shari Coats I also got tripped up by NOd vs. NOM, but caught it once I saw the theme. I'm amused, however, because my French is non-existent, but I was pretty sure "friend" in French was a cognate of the Spanish "amigo." Your comment makes me feel better about the trouble I had with all the French (and Latin!) in this puzzle.
Today's theme was one of the better "aha!" moments in a while, and many of the clues were really fun (Musician's better half? I'm looking at you). The only thing that brought the puzzle down for me was leaning too much into Latin and obscura. Still, a solid Thursday.
3
I love that Alex Eaton-Salners, who doesn't speak French, created a puzzle using French words, having in mind that we solvers don't have to speak French to solve it.
This was totally delightful and unexpected on a Thursday, or on any day of the week for that matter.
It's difficult to come with themes that truly surprise and bring smiles and this is one.
Thank you, or should I say merci, Alex!
(Also until today the only lemur I knew was a loris. Now with the AYE AYE my total comes to two!)
14
Deb -- My feeling is that if you have kindness, you don't need political correctness. And I must say that I don't see them as the same thing at all. Kindness long preceded political correctness. It comes from having a good heart, not wanting to hurt other people, being tactful and considerate, and obeying the Golden Rule. Political correctness is too often motivated by assuming "offense" for other people who may not feel offended at all. And then by lambasting those people who have done the assumed offending or not offending as the case may be. The blogmeister of the Other Blog I am on is a perfect case study. There have been at least 200 occasions on which he has ranted that something that was or wasn't done in a puzzle disses or offends women. And yet I can't remember a single instance in which I felt the least bit dissed or offended by what he was fulminating about. I'm the woman. He's not. This is my quarrel with political correctness, Deb -- the sanctimony of it. Kindness, OTOH, is never sanctimonious or self-righteous.
9
@Nancy
However, kindness is sometimes ignorant. Good intentions can conceal a lot of biases that are hurtful to others.
9
Mary,
I agree, but I think ignorant kindness calls for education, not political correctness.
6
@Barry Ancona
To the extent that "political correctness" is a shorthand to learn to curtail speech and actions that hurt others, I see no harm in it. It's a shame that it smacks of Big Brother, but the concept that we should be more aware of who we are trampling is a good one. Because we all trample someone, and just sometimes we don't know it, I think so.
1
A moderately enjoyable puzzle. Pretty easy for Thursday. I thought 49A was kind of a stretch. Is "crit" short for critiques/
criticism? Constructing these puzzles seems very difficult, and the folks who construct them are so very clever. It must be difficult to suss out some of the minor clues.
3
Totally agree concerning CRIT for 49A. The only other answer that held me up was LOUDEN as I had LOUDER in its place. Loved the theme and got it early, which was a Gigi, indeed.
1
@Mark D
Lit Crit is a common phrase in university settings.
4
If I ever open a zoo, I will put the AYEAYE next to the NENE.
21
@Jamestown Ararat
DO DO.
5
@Etaoin Shrdlu I really OTTER
3
@Jamestown Ararat -- And across from the ARA RAT.
2
This was indeed the ultimate Bai. When I found out the trick, that was exactly the first thing that came to mind. Deb, I think we'd all really, really like to know what Mr. Bai thought of this one.
The only big event on clay court that came to mind was of course FRENCH OPEN. So in that way, the revealer may have been to easy, leading to the rest of the puzzle being a bit easier than would be expected. I figured out the gimmick on OUI IND__D.
But it wasn't a straight path as I was waylaid a few times.
I had NOD before NOM. ALI, then ALD then back to ALI, because I had ADD REQUEST before I figured out the gimmick. Also had SIGN UP before SIGN IN, OH YES before AH YES, DORIC before IONIC, AMAS before AMAT, EON before ERA, UH NO before UM NO.
SOFT G - how come we don't get more HARD [letter] entries? We get the SILENT [letter] entries as well, but what about uh...SPOKEN/HEARD/SOUNDED/PRONOUNCED [letter]?
Deb, your note about PC and UNPC is right on.
You know what's UNPC? All the LYES we'd seen/heard in the last few years. I really hope for PARTING WAYS next year. You all know WHO.
40
@Wen
Merci for restoring PC to its proper usage.
6
@Wen
There have been 13 instances of SOFT C and 16 of SOFT G; there have been 12 HARD C and 11 HARD G entries.
All of these have been in the Shortz era; it seems to be Will's innovation.
Twenty-nine as opposed to 23 doesn't seem like that big a difference to me.
(There have been 47 SILENT + letter entries, not counting SILENTS, the five entries of which are clued as movies without sound. The higher number makes sense since practically any letter can be silent.)
3
Très facile once I glommed onto the trick. The fun came to an end trop vite.
3
Since I can only evaluate this puzzle according to moi, without taking toi into full consideration, I will say to this puzzle: je t'aime, je t'aime, je t'aime! My "Aha Moment" was huge -- made all the more delicieuse by the tennis revealer. Since I both play tennis and studied French, this was as much in my wheelhouse as a puzzle this tricky can be. If the same stunt had been pulled in Spanish or Italian, much less in Hungarian or Chinese, I would have screamed foul. So opinions ici should vary greatly. I'll go back and read y'all now. But this is certainly one of my favorite puzzles d'annee. Merci, Alex!
5
Deb,
Your definition of PC is the best I’ve seen. I’m gonna steal it! My “kindness matters” car decal will have extra meaning today.
As a French speaker, this puzzle was a fairly easy solve for me once I stopped trying to use “Roland Garros” for the French Open.
It’s how they refer to it in France. Cheers!
5
@April
On a trip to Paris several years ago, we were on the RER train from the city out to the airport. A young man sitting across from us was wearing a lanyard with a card that said "Roland Garros." We struck up a conversation; he turned out to work for Fedex in Memphis and was in France for a meeting. One of his perks was to get to go to the French Open for a day. He had seen Venus Williams and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga play that day. (My friend did not know the name "Roland Garros" and thought the lanyard held his name tag.)
Almost forgot, the word LOUDEN seemed at first to be crosswordese. I remember, however, a few years ago when a tv chef used the word "densen" to describe a sauce. Although not a commonly used form of the word, it is correct, so why not LOUDEN? After all we do use "soften".
2
@Ken s
.....and harden ....
@Ken s I always thought Phil Plait's use of "embiggen" was not cromulent, but I discovered today that Lisa Simpson invented the word, so it's kosher.... PS. I did not like "louden," although I also discovered that it has been used at least since the early 20th C--1928, Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Penguin 2013, p. 167: The shouts of the bookies were now loudening outside in the sunlight, and when I'd slipped on my raincoat we went out to see what we could of the Light Weight Race. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/louden
As often with Thursday puzzles, too cute by half.
@MG
Which half? ;-)
6
@Steve Faiella
Side A
1
Geez.
That center grouping was challenging.
In fact pretty much all of this puzzle was challenging, except The BLAIR Witch Project.
There isn’t another Witch Project is there?
2
As a high school and undergraduate student who struggled through French (good pronunciation, poor comprehension), I should have at least recognized such simple words from the language. AMI, EAU, and ETE should have been gimmes after getting the revealer FRENCH OPEN. Alas, I was in a brain fog this morning and was wondering if emus do in fact ski.
As far as the supposed American expectation of English being spoken anywhere and everywhere, I do find it useful to try to speak the local language. My rudimentary French has opened doors in Paris and my woeful attempts at German have evoked smiles, but sparked conversations in Austria and Germany.
For a Thursday this was not so difficult, especially compared to last week.
1
I didn’t get “water” skiing until I read your comment — thanks!
I was done with the puzzle except for one letter: I had “E_USKIING,” for crying out loud.
*is embarrassed*
Thank goodness I've done enough XWPs that all of the French terms were very familiar to me. Due to the way I solve, the revealer came first, and once I saw FRENCH OPEN, I knew we were in for a real Bai Fest! Matt... you're famous now in the Wordplay pantheon of crossword slang! We already feel as though you are a friend... :)
TIL POESY and AYEAYE. I resisted putting in that last "E" since I had not heard of POESY before, but it was the only letter that made sense there so in it went! Fairly easy solve once you got the theme, but the phrases were fun.. especially EAU SKIING, which got a literal LOL when I figured it out. Many thanks to Alex, Will and team, and to our esteemed guide Deb. One more day until the weekend!
1
@Steve Faiella
French helped me again on POESY, since the French word for poetry is actually "poésie".
3
Loved the puzzle. It was easy for a Thursday. However, I strongly disagree with Ms. Amlen's assertion that political correctness is the same as kindness or that it doesn't exist. It's definitely a thing.
5
@Chris
Deb was not saying that PC doesn't exist, however, the term is generally used in a derogatory way to excuse unkind terms or observations. I would be willing to bet that the term was coined by Republicans.
6
@Steve Faiella
ah, but it was perfected by Democrats! (Ididnt star it)
Why?
1
Hmm...I NOM several clues and entries for Lamest Ever. TWO "Aladdin" clues? Nocturnal lemur? Some director? LOUDEN? UM, NO.
Toddlers say, "More!" Not AGAIN.
EON or ERA?
ABC or PIE?
SLUR or SLAM?
LAID or LAIN?
DORIC or IONIC?
Mostly I guessed correctly (or waited for a crossing.)
Cute idea for a puzzle, but at the cost of quality fill. MEH.
5
@Mean Old Lady Welllll, my three-year old granddaughter just yesterday cried "AGAIN" after I picked her up and twirled her around.
9
@Mean Old Lady
Take it from this gramps - "again" is for little kids (and in keeping with today's theme) un mot juste.
4
@Mean Old Lady
Even the best LAIN plaids....
2
Cute. Or should I say, mingonne? The only trouble I had was with LAIN, which I had LAID, which threw off PIANO, which through off OUI INDEED. I never could remember the declension of the verb to lay. It’s Greek to me.
2
@PK
They covered LIE and LAY extensively in 8th Grade. (I was 13 and innocent.)
After that, too dangerous.
1
Latin I & II went well, however, it did take 3 tries to pass French I.
Nuff said about this puzzle,
Thanks Alex.
4
it's like those French have a different word for everything
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_8amMzGAx4
9
@Chungclan
Or as another comedian said: The French are the smartest people in the world. I went to Paris and saw even 3 year old kids speaking French
9
There's a new extra Wordplay column by Sam Ezersky on 10 Cities You Should Know --
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/13/crosswords/crosswords-cities.html
I usually miss those extra columns because I just click the "Read about today's puzzle" link from the front page. In case others do the same, I thought I'd post a link here. None of the cities will likely be new to you, but there are some interesting facts about them.
6
This one vexed me until I revisited the theme revealer and thought for a moment. Smooth sailing after that, and I think I will pay more attention to the themes in future puzzles. This one was fun!
I love hearing and reading languages other than my own and I don't get the disdain for them in crossword puzzles. But I have my own quirk (pop culture and proper nouns irritate me) so I can sympathize.
6
You almost(almost!) have to admire the person who coined "PC". Politics has such negative connotations to so many of us, so calling it PC instead of respect makes it okay to keep using slurs and stereotypes.
A more recent example of this is people who don't want everyone to have equal rights and opportunities accusing those who do of playing identity Politics. Mon dieu!
15
@ad absurdum Or on the flip, throwing the "racist" term (or any "ist") onto anyone who sees the world differently from you.
2
Boyo somebody gotta vote for Trump
1
@David Connell
Well about 63,000,000 did
1
Rather a tough one, until I got the revealer. Smooth sailing from then on. I had NOd for NOM, making that AMI even more elusive. An Oscar nod, that's a thing, oui o non?
9
@Ann
Oui for me. I've heard the phrase many times over the years...
1
For what it's worth and thanks to xwordinfo:
NOM has been in the puzzle 70 times in the Shortz era. NOM standing in for nomination starts occurring only relatively recently, 5 times since June 2018. Before that it was generally clued as something to do with a French name. Nancy, in Nancy, for example. (Hi, Nancy.)
Nod has been in the puzzle 105 times in the Shortz era and only once clued to an Oscar, or any other award type, nomination in 2016.
@vaer
Interesting!Seems quite a few of us went for NOd first.
1
Though I'm not a tennis fan, I'm lucky to have a wife who is, allowing me to get FRENCHOPEN right off the bat. The rest of the puzzle came pretty easily after that, though I wasn't familiar with POESY.
I dont really understand the disdain for the French answers. Both Bon Ami and Eau de Toilette appear in pretty much every US supermarket.
And if someone cant handle a little French sprinkled in a puzzle, how can they handle one of the 20 European Rivers, Asian currencies, or 18th Century Inventors/Mathematicians which tend to appear?
It almost sounds like an anti-intellectual bias...so why do crossword puzzles in the first place? Perhaps Sudoku is more their speed.
17
@Paul
I'm cool with the basics. When I get (slightly) aggravated is when it goes beyond basic French. We've had such terms as VINGT ("French 20"), FOLIE A DEUX ("Shared delusion, from the French"), MESDAMES ("French ladies"), GATEAU ("French cake"), AVOIR ("French "to have""), and more. Those aren't in and of themselves frustrating, but when naticked with the opposite direction's clues, can turn a solve from fun to not so fun... :)
I tend to feel that way about lots of the obscure words that appear French or otherwise...And every week or two there is some puzzle which is so "impossible" that I think my streak is over....And then I put the puzzle down for a little bit and when i pick it up again I seem to rearranged my neurons and can then remember a hint of a word which gets me to a solution.
5
Very slow start for me. Wimbledon was the only thing that occurred to me for the reveal and it was a letter short. But eventually worked it out with some crosses and then this little PIGgie went OUI, OUI, OUI all the way home.
Well, some exaggeration. There were still some unknowns - AYEAYE notably - and it took a bit of work to get the rest of it filled in. Quite enjoyable puzzle and entertaining theme. I think ETECAMP is my favorite. Just so... something.
Now on a six day streak* going back to last Saturday. Have a shot at matching my all time record if I can manage to plow through a Friday. * Unofficial streak; I solve in Across Lite and play by my own rules.
4
Kept hoping for a fifth square to magically appear so I could answer UCONN as 11-time winners of women’s NCAA basketball championship. C’est la vie!
8
@Daisy Fuentes Me too!
@Daisy Fuentes
Me, too!
@Daisy Fuentes
As a CT resident, we hear about UCONn all the time, and when printed it always has the second "N". Even Google seems to agree, for when searching for UCON basketball, the return screen says "Searching for UCONN basketball instead".
This morning's dialog with my inner child:
HT: "E_U SKIING. I don't know what that is."
Inner child: "EMU! EMU!"
HT: "Emu skiing is not a thing. Maybe this is a rubric. I'll just have to wait and see what it looks like when I've finished more of the puzzle."
Inner child: "EMU! EMU!"
HT: "It's NOT emu. Emu skiing is not a thing."
Inner child: "Emu skiing could too be a thing! It could be some Australian thing you've never heard of! That happens all the time!"
HT: "Oh, it's EAU. It's word play."
Inner child: "Oh. Or should I say, eau. I'm disappointed that emu skiing is not a thing."
49
@HT
I love your inner child.
8
@HT
Lord, now I've got a mindworm for the rest of the day.
Emu skiing indeed.
(Trying to picture whether the emu is on snow or water. More likely water; snow skiing is more likely for llamas.)
2
I immediately went to EMU skiing as well. 😁
1
I speak French although I am American. So this was a snap for me. But since very few young people I know study French in school, (Young includes my own 60-year-old children) It might have been irritating for them. Sure, the words were very simple, but… it was Kinda clever, but an unfair reach.
3
Skeptical1,
Unfair reach in a late-in-the-week NYT Crossword? Please! Americans with absolutely no knowledge of French (or prior crosswords; see Steve L.'s post) see AMI and EAU on everyday products, hear OUI in everyday usage, and can get ETE from the crosses.
This is *supposed* to be a puzzle, not a gimme.
12
@Skeptical1
Aw, c'mon. I have knowledge of Spanish and German, but most of the French I know comes from CrossWorld. Totally fair, IMHO.
6
@Skeptical1
I learned French from a few songs and ballet study. In Sweden many foriegn words adapted were French. That's enough with crosswords for me to enjoy this challenge. BTW I learned German and Swedish.
Alex, the crossing SKIs were cool as a vin cellar (as well as the fact that the French words were all three letters), and given that constructing is practically a pas-for-profit endeavor, I appreciate your skill in and bon-heartedness in making this enjoyable puzzle!
4
@Lewis
I have such a hard time discerning vin from vingt from vent. IDUNNO why I felt the need to disclose that here, but there it is.
4
@Ann - FWIW, vin and vingt are identical in pronunciation, therefore only distinguishable in context. Vent is an entirely different vowel.
Of course, in Québec, all bets are off.
3
@Ann
If you really want to know, VIN and VINGT* are homophones. They are pronounced with the vowel sound of VAT or HAT, but with the vowel nasalized and no distinct N sound afterward.
https://translate.google.com/#view=home&op=translate&sl=en&tl=fr&text=wine
https://translate.google.com/#view=home&op=translate&sl=en&tl=fr&text=twenty
VENT is pronounced more like VON; similarly the vowel is nasalized and there is no distinct N sound afterward.
https://translate.google.com/#view=home&op=translate&sl=en&tl=fr&text=wind
* The T is pronounced in liaison, such as VINGT ORANGES.
1
Please help me understand the relationship between Flag and TIRE
1
Flag, as a verb, means to tire, or become fatigued.
3
Thank you! I was wondering this one too! I kept trying to write stop. I guess stopping is like tiring, but I've never heard it used that way before! I guess I was flagged of trying to figure that one out.
The sense of "flagging" as "tiring out", "going limp", is a very old usage in English, and tied to the image of a flag hanging limply in (too little) wind.
"I'm flagged" = "I'm spent" = "I have no more energy left" = "I'm tired"
2
I'm obviously very biased, but I'll nevertheless attribute lamentation about foreign words in crosswords to general grumpiness. Foreign words come not only from foreign languages, but also from foreign areas of expertise. To be fair, people complain about those, as well, but at a certain level, solving crosswords will necessarily involve learning new words. I haven't spent much time in the US education system, but enough to know that most of you haven't learned the names of Madagaskar's nocturnal lemurs in high school, for example.
You might say that learning a few basic words about how people communicate in foreign lands was not something on your bucket list. To which I'll reply that learning how sheep or doves communicate in America was not on mine, either, but here we are.
18
@Bojan
I blame other countries for speaking English to us when we are abroad. They are enablers! Even the sheep and the doves. They switch to “baa” and “coo” when we’re around.
7
@Puzzlemucker Which confuses you, so you say, "uh-uh", or "oh-oh", or "uh-oh"...
2
@Bojan
Uh-huh.
6
LETTER BOXED THREAD
Only solution I could find so far:
O-M(9), M-G(6)
1
@Mari
Adding 3 letters to your first word gives a 12 letter O-G. This leaves only one letter remaining. There is a 3 letter word in the dictionary that uses the other letter but it isn't accepted here. C'est la vie
@Mari
And likely the only one to be found today too.
I couldn't find anything to go with O-mixing, which oddly was rejected as a nonword. Guess Sam has never made muffins?
1
@ColoradoZ Yes I went through that frustrating experience too!
This was even better than a rebus ( well, just as good) . I didn't get the theme until the reveal but what a great AHA and what fun to study those half filled in theme answers and come up with the French words. I've already commented on my enjoyment of foreign language clues and fills, and enjoyed reading the comments on the subject.
Deb, I really liked your discussion of PC. When I first heard just the initials, I thought the P stood for polite.
10
@suejean
That makes me wonder whether “polite” and “political” are from the same root. If so, how did politics become the polar opposite of “polite”?
3
@Andrew No, they're not. Politic/-al/-s/-ian are from the same root as 'Police' - from the Greek 'Polis' - City. 'Polite' and 'Polished' are from the Latin root 'politus' - refined or elegant.
8
If I ever do publish a crossword, I'll make sure to clue BAI as "Yes, in Basque"
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@Bojan That will surely cause some A[POP]LEXY!
2
SPELLING BEE GRID
Nov 14 2019
T A E H N P Y
WORDS: 62, POINTS: 265, PANAGRAMS: 1, BINGO
A x 4
E x 5
H x 8
N x 7
P x 14
T x 22
Y x 2
4L x 22
5L x 21
6L x 8
7L x 6
8L x 4
9L x 1
4 5 6 7 8 9 Tot
A 1 - 1 1 1 - 4
E - 2 1 1 1 - 5
H 3 2 - 2 - 1 8
N 1 3 2 - 1 - 7
P 6 4 1 2 1 - 14
T 11 8 3 - - - 22
Y - 2 - - - - 2
Tot 22 21 8 6 4 1 62
50
@Mari A very familiar set of words today from very similar Bees in June and July. 3 Hydrocarbons, and a word for a numbing medicine for sorrow (fictional) that sounds like a hydrocarbon! Two alternate spellings of a yiddish 'Y'-word meaning a busybody or gossip. The Panagram verb refers to the connection of two words to form a compound word.
15
@Mari I note that a 5-carbon alkene and an adjective describing the taste of some Scotch Whiskys, not accepted on June 5th with the same 7 letters (omissions much complained about on this forum), are accepted today. Success!
7
@Mari This is a twin bee, from June. Same letter set, except that other puzzle had the E in the center. AND it had 68 words. Too large for a mid-week puzzle, IMHO.
5
My years of studying French (without a chance to use it daily) finally paid off! :-)
5
I don't care for Indian food, so I always get ROTIS mixed up with dosas and naans. My high school French was useful today for something other than menu-reading. TIL there is more than one definition of AYEAYE. Have to check for one next time I go to the zoo.
1
@MichelleB
“TIL there is more than one definition of AYEAYE”
OUI INDEED.
1
@Andrew "Aye Aye captain."
1
I really enjoyed the French theme. However my favorite clue was Frost bit. Unfortunately, I did not think of Robert until quite late. My least favorite clue was Musician's better half. I'm old enough to recall SIDEA, and maybe I'm too literal, but it should be a record's better half. Most troublesome clue was "take back". I had RETURN and RECIND (spelled wrong) before I finally got it. Finally, I never heard of Anthem insurance, but I figured it had to be. So I learned a few things. Fun puzzle.
2
@Robert Kern
Even thinking of Robert Frost early on did not help me, as I popped VERSE in the boxes without a second thought. It was only the impossible crosses that forced me to reconsider.
@Julia L. I put in VERSE also, having the S from LYES, because I think of POESY as artificial or sentimentalized poetic writing, which would not be at all fair to Robert Frost. However, it turns out that the dictionary definition is broader than I realized.
For this newbie, easy for a Thursday except 49across “reviews, collectively: abbr” Shouldn’t this abbreviation end with an S (CRIT) since the clue verb ends with an s? Woe is me, as the first and last letters of this entry were crossed by Latin clues, so I had no chance. That was mean.
I spent way too much time trying to figure out what error I made on OUI, as I had ADDREQUEST like most. I thought the FRENCHOPEN was a hint for tennis clues, thus the ADD. In retrospect, that would be AD (AD IN).
I think the “normal” clues were easier than a normal Thursday to account for this French-English bastardization...
7
@Newbie
I was about to post my comment right above yours, but your first three lines covered it. I had everything with full confidence except CRIs for what Reveal Puzzle told me is CRIT, whatever that means.
The French stuff was easy and fun for me, though. I had only the R of FRENCHOPEN, but E_USKIING gave the rest of it away.
1
The word CRITicism can refer to multiple reviews.
2
@Matt
I’m just sayin’ don’t ask for an abbreviation that is crossed by two Latin clues. Then use one of those singular/plural words like CRITicism. Cause CRITique is singular, right? Give the newbie a chance to get a gold star...
2
The Australian-born, eventually U.S. citizen, composer Percy Grainger was quite an eccentric in many ways, one of which was bypassing the usually Italian-language markings in his music in favor of plain English. He used "louden" and "louden lots" in place of "crescendo" and "cresc. molto," for example. This piece also uses "louden hugely" in the score:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFtM3AtgYj8
At any rate, quieten and louden are perfectly good English words. The -en verbal suffix is a good old friend: heighten, neaten, loosen, cheapen, broaden, quicken, roughen, sadden, harden, dampen, bolden, sharpen, smoothen... The suffix is normally fixed on single-syllable adjectives to produce a verb. The word gets enverbed (with nouns, the en- is fixed at the beginning to produce the verb: encode, enrobe, enlist).
I seem to remember a kerfuffle in these pages regarding "tauten" a while back.
15
@David Connell
Because many of these rules aren't tauten school.
28
@David Connell
I like the idea of louden in that context. Twyla Tharp used that same Grainger piece as part of the music for her dance, Brief Fling.
https://youtu.be/3ZIXc46dNM8
The costumes are by Isaac Mizrahi, who was in the puzzle on Sunday.
4
@David Connell
I have to believe that these usages harken back to German, where -en is the regular ending of the infinitive verb form.
2
I know some Russian, more Spanish, and six ways to say thank you in Japanese, but have never studied French. But eau, ami, ete, and oui are ubiquitous enough to get even without knowing French.
I figured sport requiring a tow was WATER SKIING even though it didn't fit the space, so waited for a rebus or a some other "trick" to reveal itself. Once I had E_USKIING it was pretty obvious.
8
@Adina
I taught college Japanese for 28 years but can't come up with six ways to say "thank you." I guess one of them would be "ookini"?
2
@kilaueabart - nihongo wa tottemo muzukashii desu neee?
Between the male/female speech, levels of tone and honorifics, etc., even a simple arigatoo can have four five six instances...
2
@David Connell
Mattaku sono toori desu yo! And I'm horrified to discover lately how much worse 20 years of retirement and a touch of AD can make it.
I cannot understand why people dislike French clues! Is it because you took German or Spanish? These clues pop up, too. Plus, as Puzzlemucker said, the words were very easy. In fact, this puzzle was a very straightforward Thursday.
Happy to see my girl MISSY Elliot getting some love in the NYT Crossword Puzzle! She’s amazing.
Bon nuit!
11
@Pani Korunova
It may be because we're a very self-centered nation, linguistically. We want our immigrants to come here already speaking English, and when we deign to visit a foreign country, we expect speakers of other languages to know English for our benefit. English is certainly the dominant language from I-5 to I-95, and internationally a major language of commerce and industry, but this world is made up of speakers of many languages. We're just so isolated by English for thousands of miles in any direction that we don't get how most of the world operates.
Oh, I forgot. We think we ARE most of the world.
Old joke: If someone who speaks two languages is bilingual, and someone who speaks many languages is multilingual, what do you call someone who speaks only one language?
An American.
Bonne nuit!
24
@Pani Korunova You’re exactly right! It’s because I took German and Spanish. I get those clues right off, and the spelling always makes sense to me. Sadly, I have a fear of French spelling, which probably means I just need to learn the language’s phonetic tricks.
1
As a frequent traveler that is thoroughly annoyed with French clues, your assumption is wrong and also (albeit unintentionally) insulting.
1
Did j’adore this puzzle? Oui indeed! My meilleur clue - Frost Bit?
9
I'd say that a Frost bit is a POEM while POESY is Frost schtick.
OTOH Frost bit might describe someone who went outside uncovered in upstate NY today.
4
Mostly good, but LOUDEN? UMNO? C'mon . . . .
12
Darken lighten
Soften LOUDEN
Not a fan. I don’t speak French and this isn’t a French paper. And c’mon, LOUDEN and POESY? Besides UCLA (go Bruins!) I thought this puzzle was MEH.
6
@Lisa G Couldn't agree more Lisa! How inconsiderate of them for assuming we all speak french. Shame on you ALEX EATON-SALNERS, SHAME
@Lisa G
It's OK not to like a puzzle; I've found a fair number of them to be MEH, myself, but:
(a) LOUDEN and POESY are both in the dictionary. No rule says entries have to be everyday words or familiar to every solver, and
(b) the three French words in the theme answers are all crosswordese, each one having appeared from 89 to 282 times in the Shortz era alone (i.e. the last quarter-century or so). So I think they're safe for consumption. (ETE has a grand total of 818 appearances altogether, always clued as summer in French, sometimes using other French words.)
By the way, do you know that 29% of English is derived from French? That's the same percentage as it is derived from Latin.
Geaux Bruins!
20
@Steve L
Hey, nobody said there'd be Cajun.
7
We always say that you've made it to the big time when your name comes up in the NYT crossword. Right up there is having your name as an answer (question) on Jeopardy! like Will tonight.
And while we're on it: wow, what a final we will get for the Tournament of Champions. I'm looking for Francois to upset James and Emma.
5
@Wags - I am beside myself with excitement for the Tournament finale! James up against Emma who knocked him off his perch, and Francois who is such a steady, solid presence. Couldn't ask for more, Torricelli!
3
@Wags
We here in the Hudson Valley are very proud of Francois. What a great representative of teachers. I met him shortly after he taped the Tournament of Champions - he generously volunteered to have lunch and share Jeopardy! tips with the winning bidder in our local library’s silent auction. A genuinely nice, humble man.
(he gave away nothing about the ToC it turns out).
5
@Wags
I am so torn! When I saw how the finals would be shaping up, I was excited but also sad. The three that made it through were among my favorite contestants of this season. I wish they could all win!!
P.S. my favorite moment from last night was the look on Francois' face when Alex reminded everyone that he was an 11th grade physics teacher. I'm tots jelly @Puzzlemucker, that you got to meet and chat with him!
1
We are not amused.
3
@Stephanie
Shouldn’t that be - Oui are not amused?
26
@Andrew 😝
1
@Andrew
Tres amusant!
1
Zut alors! This was great once I realized that _UIIN__ could be and indeed had to be "OUIINDEED", because yes indeed, I have quite enough French for the easy 3-letter words that then became obvious as the starts of the long answers. Ooh la la, the French Open! To the constructor, merci beaucoup!
10
I think of "Side A" and "Side B" more in terms of "singles" -- the 45 RPM records that had the hit song you were buying on Side A and something else on Side B.
11
@Michael - you're right. I glossed over that part of Deb's write up and didn't see she wrote SIDE A of their album. I would agree it is the singles.
While there is a SIDE B of cassette tapes...does anyone refer to it for anything? For that matter, does anyone refer to SIDE A of the cassette tape either? It's really the vinyl record where the SIDE A & B really matter. People probably just say the music is on the tape and don't care which side of the tape something is on.
5
@Michael
My thought exactly! Hi kids!
3
@Michael
You beat me to it, because I was watching the CMAs on TV and I'm at the table a little late. Sides A and B are singles; Sides 1 and 2 are albums. There were, of course, exceptions, but the clue clearly referred to singles.
7
OUIINDEED! Never saw Aladdin so I had pogo instead of POLO for a while although I couldn’t really remember seeing a pogo stick competition in the Olympics! But I’m tickled with the idea.
17
@Elke
I would *totally* watch Olympic Pogosticking!
2
I enjoyed the puzzle, and since the French words used as openers are pretty basic, I don't think there's any reason to gripe about their presence, especially in a Thursday puzzle.
I think a nice touch would have been to work NADAL into the puzzle, since he's won an incredible twelve French Opens, competes so fiercely on the court, and displays such genuine humility off the court.
12
But we have Steffi GRAF, who won six French Opens ;-)
16
@Virginia - Oops, I completely missed that. I also would have liked to see 44A (COCO) clued with a reference to Coco Gauff, the young American tennis star, instead of the somewhat musty clue used. But then I'm a tennis fan, if that's not already clear ;)
1
You can be sure it will be enjoyable when you see AES’s byline.
3
I feel much better about my French skills after this puzzle. This one may get some hate, but my guess is that the love (even from those of us who can’t put together a proper French sentence) will outweigh any negativity. AES is one of my favorite constructors and he came through once again with a novel and challenging but solvable puzzle.
15
Episode 2.5 in the Expanded Musical Links series:
Beausoleil avec Michael Doucet with “Carencro”:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=STjCxmzTB8A
@Puzzlemucker
Très noice.
1
@vaer
Merci vaèr. I fell in love with them when I first saw them play on the National Mall in the 1980s as part of a Smithsonian Folklife Festival. It was my introduction to Zydeco and it blew me away.
1
I mostly didn't feel like I was on Alex's wavelength at all during this solve. It didn't help that my laptop was being very cranky at first, and it took forever to get it up and going. Once I finally got to the puzzle, though, the laptop improved. Thank goodness.
I started out by putting NOD at 2D, which caused all sorts of problems. ADD REQUEST? But surely that was ALI at 3D. The word NOM bothers me a little bit because it's another common 3-letter French word like the theme openers.
The double I's in EAU SKIING and OUI INDEED certainly looked weird until I had the full words. I don't know that I would ever have thought of AETNA for "Anthem" if my mother-in-law didn't have insurance from Anthem. And LOUDEN certainly sounds made-up, although I've probably heard it used somewhere. Still, other things pleased me, like DEBT CEILING and PARTING WAYS. And the AYEAYE, of which there are some at the lemur center not far from here.
7
Hand up for ADD REQUEST!!
10
@Wen
I would REQUEST that you ADD my hand aussi.
2
@Wen Yup -- fixing that was the last bit of work.
1
c'est bon! ISN'T IT!
11