Let’s be honest here: this was easily the worst puzzle of the past several years. It wasn’t fun, many of the answers were iffy (MINER v NINER) or too British-y or arcane. Will Shortz, you messed up by letting this overly difficult, poorly constructed puzzle get published. There, I said it. No more dancing around the issue and assuming every NYT puzzle is great (or even good).
2
In the beginning you state don't walk away before your brain is warmed up and then shortly after you say I walked away. Now I understand what you're saying here but there are better ways to express that than walk away which could mean simply take a break. My suggestion would be quit, throw in the towel, give up; no room for mis-interpretation
I had SABRAS in kaffiyes before SAUDIS. Also RIVALS before ADWARS and MARTIN SHort before SHEEN, no kidding.
Was going to have Salman Rushdie SWIM UPSTREAM to where the RIVER (PO or ThAMES) has LESS SALT, but didn't want to risk a fatwa. So I'll just mention seeing a HIPPO (RIVER hOrse, that is) in my TUCKS last night. How that HIPPO got in my TUCKS I'll never know. (And may I suggest discretion from the Peanut Gallery, should any chance to read this).
Anyway this was a cracklin' good Friday which I enjoyed immensely and I also feel badly about the VIREOS but worse about the hummingbirds since they're so small and fly so far nonstop over the Gulf of Mexico.
Thank you, Andrew J, I'm glad you keep on Riesling and I really like your apt ETUDE
1
I was completely stumped at first but then walked away and when I came back the answers started falling in place. I got Drano right away(tells you how old my house’s plumbing is) and Vireo was pretty quick as well but Return gave me a run for my money...fun clues in this one!
Glad you got you know about VIREOs while there are still some left, @Deb. North American songbirds are being killed off at an APALing rate.
2
Rough NW for me: I'm terrible at rivers, didn't know that spelling of parve or that meaning of worst (so as verbs I guess BEST and WORST are synonyms! There's a Dickens joke here somewhere...)
A solid Friday overall, well constructed!
I go to the gym 4 times a week for an hour, using the exercise bike and then the elliptical. Does that make me a gym rat?
1
yes.good for you.
1
Miner, not Niner.
1
NW corner was rough. It didn't help that I had RIDDLEMETHIS, which I think is a much more common phrase than ANSWERMETHIS and fits just as well. But made it hard to do the downs. Finally I just looked up the river clue. Had to look up cleromancy and kind of pass as well (the latter is sad bc I should've/could've just iterated through the alphabet - I was only missing the V - but I was tired). Still, only 3 (small) lookups on a friday is significant improvement over the year prior. I need to remember that RIVERPO clue - I think I've seen it before.
5
@Jefferson
I was trying to make it LIVORNO which isn't even a river. I suspect a LOT of got got the cleromancy clue only with the crosses' help
Deb, in my first pass I had 32 a also. But I had TUCKS, NUN, NOB, BEN and KHAN. That made me happy.
Your Wordplay column, when I got stuck made a few more happen. That's the magic! Thanks!
5
Yay you, @Louise! Keep up the great solving!
1
Got it done. Twice my Friday best time but still below average. NW corner was the toughie for me, although the last square to fill in was the V in VIP, for which I had to resort to trial and error. Almost didn’t even try it, as I couldn’t imagine what a vip pass was (read vip to rhyme with rip). Only after I got the Congrats did I realize what it meant. I guess I’m not a VIP.
Cell 15 was a Natick for me. I'm not Jewish, so didn't know PAREVE and I'm not British, so didn't know APPAL. (Didn't help that I didn't know the spelling of APPALL either!)
DC -- Off to check my cupboards ... 😉
3
Thanks, Deb, for helping me feel less awful about my solve time nearly double my Friday average. Been trying to cut down on Googling but was a frequent flyer today. Learned a lot on this one. PAREVE. VIREO. RIVER PO. Didn't know hippos had ivory, or that Brits didn't know how to spell "appall." :)
Fun little misdirection cluster with the adjacent MINER and ETUDE entries.
3
@Brian Drumm Sometimes we forget that this is a game, and that it’s supposed to be fun. I’m glad you are having fun.
1
River Po: anyone remembers the amusing and moving Dom Camillo series, set by the river Po, just after the WW2? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/66878.The_Little_World_of_Don_Camillo
2
Anyone have NINER instead of MINER? (As in '49er.) To me forever to figure that one out.
5
I had Niner forever. In fact it was my final adjustment.
I was so sure NINER was right that I couldn’t get past it for at least 15 minutes. TANES? What is that? Is WANES an example of “breaks?” Nope. Left it twice and only got it on the third inspection. Yikes.
Deb, thank you so much for your constant humour, and your words of encouragement!
I too took time looking at an almost empty grid and made most my mistakes trying to break into that: poach instead of HYPPO, stethoscope instead of STEREOSCOPE,Michael Sheen instead of MARTIN SHEEN (well.he did play Hamlet, Caligula, Nero, aziraphele, Tony Blair and interviewed Nixon) some form of "vegan" before PAREVE, era (la habanERA) instead ITA , and cable instead of SINEW.
Also, Deb, how right you are, the delight when the fills start coming! Then we feel we know it all!
Finally, I wish oh I wish my MEMORY lasted a lifetime! What was I saying?
4
Deb says
19A. (Looks up “cleromancy,” which is totally fair and legal) Ah, yes, “cleromancy,” a form of divination by casting LOTS.
So, go ahead and google...but I suggest if you also post about your streak, you should put an asterisk to indicate you are working undder this ruling. For me, a streak ends if you consult the column or look up anything brfore finishing.
4
Another advantage of not counting strikes or times!
3
oops streaks of course . spelling was never my streghtn
3
@Kurt Mudgeon
Congrats on living up to your handle. :)
A streak is a streak as defined by the app. Consulting Word Play or Google does not enter into it as long as one does not use any “life preserver” functions or access the answer key.
No Barry Bonds-ian asterisks apply. (Unless there is some kind of brain steroid I’m not aware of.
I intentionally spiked my first streak because I cribbed multiple answers from Word Play and Word Play comments and didn’t feel I had “earned” a Sunday solve. I then spiked my second streak and started anew when I resolved to swear off Word Play before the solve was complete.
I may start over again by one day swearing off Google, but that is still in the distant future, especially after a puzzle like today‘s.
As has been pointed out before, it’s your puzzle. Solve it your way. Constraints self-imposed on using Word Play or Internet searching are between you and your cruciverbalist god.
8
GISH gave way to GYMRAT (which I am) and MISSAL that opened the entire right side for me. APPAL ended it a little bit later. Excellent Friday puzzle - thank you Andrew.
2
APPAL? Ouch! That one did me in. Even after filling it in, I didn't know what it meant. For the rest, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself for a Friday.
1
OOoofff ... what a sock in the gut this was. Worked at it and worked at it, got to PAPYAN tree, WORST and PAREVE before deciding to throw in the towel and have a look at the Wordplay blog. But there it was, all three were right the first time.
So, that leaves PLEAT and PLAIT.
Pretty clever.
Next time TRESS or TRUSS could cross "French plural 'be' or Summer."
I'd probably fill in ETU and spend half an hour reconsidering everything else before noticing.
Cheers.
1
Rich, complex, and surprising, this puzzle certainly does not LIE IDLE, but poses one interesting question after another. In the NW, I scratched my head over and over, until that happy moment when all at once it fell in rapid succession. Now that's what I call a good ol' good one!
3
Tough one, as befits a Friday. As with many others, it took me quite a while to see DRANO, and MINER, to name a couple, but I was pleased as punch to get other misdirections such as ETUDE and LABCOAT. Beautifully constructed!
3
Scary to think I was on the same wavelength as Mr. A! Haven’t read the commentary yet, but a great puzzle.
it was a struggle, and i solved it, but without the gleeful feeling i usually get from a challenge ~ no joy was sparked today ~ see you tomorrow!
NW was APPALling as I had RIVALS for ADWARS and DIE for lot, as “The die is cast”. But got all of the long downs in this without any help from Lord Google, so even though needed to come here for help with NW, I’m happy.
3
Can someone explain horrify in Hampshire/APPAL?
@lioncitysolver
The common spelling for the synonym for horrify in the USA is APPALL. To suggest the British/English spelling of APPAL, they pointed toward the UK with Hampshire.
So many really clever clues - I filled in TAMES by going through the alphabet, and got a chuckle from that, and was then forced into MINER by crosses, but it took reading the comments to get it. What I really most enjoyed was that all the long entries were so solvable! The only sticky one was MAKEUP ARTIST - the ARTIST part came pretty easily but MAKEUP, I had to grind that one out with crosses and guesses.
Such a pleasure!
2
There was a lot to like in Friday's puzzle but what made it even better is that I learned two new things --- that ivory can come from a HIPPO and that the BANYAN is the national tree of India. Any day that I learn new things before noon is off to a good start.
6
Does it seem to anyone else that more often than not on Fridays and Saturdays that the NW is the final frontier?
I was making progress and feeling warmed up until I reached that territory and then had to overcome both the UPPER and LOWER PO, survive the IT WARS and vanquish these:
https://www.amazon.com/Dills-Regular-Pipe-Cleaners-Cleaning/dp/B001D7VVE8
before finally coming out with an intact streak.
Bring on 10 EST!
@Guy Quay
For me, too, it was the NW corner today, for sure. I knew DRANO off the bat, but actually erased it for a while because I just couldn't get anything to come off it. But then I came back to the corner after getting 17A and things became clearer.
1
@Guy Quay
I think that is typical of Friday and Saturday puzzles. A constructor starts the puzzle with the most challenging entries and takes advantage of the solver naturally beginning in that corner. I try to make it a rule to not linger in that corner if something doesn't crack fast.
2
Funny how things work: I had a nearly identical experience to Deb. Last night I looked at this puzzle and concluded it was absolutely impossible. This morning I looked at it, went GYMRAT! and it all fell into place.
But yesterday was not a good day. My mother wound up in the emergency room because she was missing the piece of paper she normally carries that says "I have aphasia and cannot speak easily." The ER doctors suspected a stroke and they were right! Just 18 months after the fact. I had to go bail her out of j/a/i/l the hospital.
2
@Adina
Oh No! The indignities of aging! Glad you were able to rescue her!
1
New definition of "Too clever by half"
Feeling smug when you complete "Person in a rush" as NINER, since the participants in the Gold Rush were known as FORTY-NINERs
4
@RAH
Exactly my experience. You and I have been on the same wavelength for a couple of days now.
Hi Deb,
About that photo caption...
From the structures in the water I'm guessing that's the "Trabocchi Coast" of the Adriatic in the Abruzzo region, but I can't find a "Gulf of Venere" there or anywhere else (Porto Venere is in Liguria). Can you -- or Wags -- help locate it?
This puzzle was in my wheelhouse (in the pre-baseball sense): the port of Ancona is on the Adriatic about half-way between the location in the photo and the PO delta.
@Barry Ancona
I too did a little research on the photo partly because it appeared to be nowhere near the RIVER PO. It would seem that Abruzzo is the region so we would be in Abruzzo rather than near it. I could not find reference to a Gulf of Venere, but I did find the Abbey of San Giovanni in Venere, with a remarkably similar view.
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Abbey+of+San+Giovanni+in+Venere/@42.2547957,14.4986448,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipNfwrRnQX9EdOsE83ISEfoXbEqsBEZViIN4wOrE!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNfwrRnQX9EdOsE83ISEfoXbEqsBEZViIN4wOrE%3Dw203-h135-k-no!7i4752!8i3168!4m8!1m2!2m1!1svenere!3m4!1s0x0:0x9325439e2d88d4e6!8m2!3d42.2548237!4d14.4986057?hl=en&authuser=0
@Andrew
It's usually called "the Gulf of Venus" in English, and it's in the right place:
http://visitabruzzo.altervista.org/it/2011/07/fossacesia-marina/
2
@Martin
Thanks! I had actually Googled "Venus Bay Italy" but I got sent to Australia. *Gulf* of course!
This was a case of solving last night when sleepy, filling it all in, but not "getting" some of the entries until a 2nd (3rd?) cup of coffee. Examples:
DEFLEA?
Last night: as a physicist, a lab coat is a coat *I* would wear in a lab, and I never got fleas. Now: oh, Big dog LABrador gets fleas.
PROFIT?
Last night: PRO FIT? PROF IT? How does that relate to returns? Now: stop splitting hairs! PROFIT is one word, the returns on your investment
ANSWERMETHIS?
Last night: in Yoda's voice, ANSWER, METH IS. (Yes it is!) (and this was after changing STETHO to STEREO)
You get the idea! Fun Friday.
4
@Robert Michael Panoff
ANSWER, METH IS - that was South Dakota's precursor to their ad campaign?
5
I remembered cleromancy ( or something akin to it) was the answer to a clue that said something about casting LOTs in the recent past. I had never heard of a VIREO. And, thank heavens Lillian GISH came to mind so easily this morning, otherwise I may still be staring at a blank grid.
I am a novice solver - I can get through Monday - Thursday without having to use the "check" feature for the puzzle, one day I will add the rest of the week to my streaks.
Happy Friday, everyone!
2
I’m amazed at all the people who have never heard of VIREOs. Through much of eastern US, the red-eyed vireo is the only bird singing during hot midsummer days in the heat of the day. There are a ton of species across the Western Hemisphere.
4
@Frances
I am going to doubly expose my shame by saying that I figured it was one of those one-named pop stars!
1
OMG. Finished. Now I need a nap!!
5
I just read one of the comments and I see I have a DNF. It mentions VIP and I'm thinking: What VIP? I don't remember a VIP. It took me quite a while to check my own grid and see TIP(33D). Aha -- It's not a TIP pass (basketball; volleyball); it's a V.I.P pass, as in lucky-ducky, very important you. Therefore making the bird VIREO, not tIREO. Never heard of either one.
Oh well. If I have to have a DNF, it's okay to have it on such a terrific, well-clued and crunchy puzzle.
1
I had HIP pass. It's probably not a thing but it seemed that it could be.
2
@Nancy , if you see this, could you post a link or a date to any of your NYT puzzles? It’d be fun to do one. I tried researching on xwordinfo but there are a lot of Nancys.
@Margaret in Maine-- How nice of you to ask!! So far there are two that have appeared, although there will be (soon, I hope, please Will S., soon!) a third. That's all I'm saying for now.
The easiest site to find my (our, actually; both were co-constructed with Will Nediger) previously published puzzles is on xword.info. The publication dates are respectively March 14, 2019 and June 12, 2019.
I so appreciate your interest, Margaret. Thanks!
2
Pareve. Take down any six different cans, boxes or bags from your pantry or fridge. See if you did it without the word "pareve" appearing on at least one label.
7
@David Connell
That's a kind of kosha designation.
1
I started this mid-insomnia as usual, and finished it in the morning. I had mostly the same problem squares as others, namely VIREO/VIP, and I didn't know PAREVE. In fact working the NW in a semi-awake state, I momentarily confused the clues, and when I realized that DRANO contained neither meat nor dairy, I decided it was time to go back to sleep. (Glad I didn't get up for a snack...)
I have a self-imposed rule about Google, so I refused to look up "cleromancy". But perhaps Puzzlemucker could weigh in on the legality of doing so. I would hate to see Wordplayers get in trouble with the law, although Puzzlemucker's new motto is something to do with defending absurdity...
I rest my case.
2
@Andrew
"Tenacity in the service of a clearly absurd position" (© Puxzzlemucker Law, with thanks to @Bess)?
Here's my simple 5-part rule to stay out of trouble with the puzzle police (offered pro bono):
If you used Duck Duck Go, then you have not "Googled" anything.
If you asked a friend or loved one to Google something for you, then you have not Googled anything.
If you used your cell phone or tablet to Google something, then you have not used your computer to Google anything.
If you used your computer to Google something but would have recalled the answer anyway had you waited just a few seconds more, then Google has not given you the answer to anything.
Most Importantly: If Deb says something is OK, then it is OK.
13
@Puzzlemucker - there are these lovely quaint things on some shelves here and there called
"books"
they are lovely
and quaint
1
@David Connell
I have a separate 5-part rule for consulting books. But I will spare you.
HOIST on my own petard today. I clued a puzzle of mine a while back with WORST as the answer to "best", and boy did I hear about it! And hear about it! Y'all weren't too happy about that clue -- and now I know how the other half lives. Yes, it's a legit answer, but it's also very hard to see. It's also hard to see as an answer to "drub". Which proves that it is sometimes more blessed to invent clues than to solve them.
I should have known PAREVE from reading food packages, but I didn't. I wanted KOSHER -- not that I wrote it in or anything. PROFIT was deviously clued and after struggling through the rest of the grid, I found myself completely stuck in the NW and had to cheat.
I looked up "cleromancy (19A)." I tried my HOARY Webster's at first, but it wasn't there, It popped right up on Google, though. And once I wrote in LOT, everything else fell into place. DRANO had been right all along. Ditto AD WARS. I now saw RIVER PO and PROFIT and APPAL -- none of which had occurred to me earlier. And thus I finished this beautiful bear of a puzzle with only one cheat. It's one too many, of course, but still...
I do have one objection to the clue for MEMORY (39D): It's much too optimistic :)
4
I'm putting some healthy food baskets under the tree this year. Lettuce wrap them together!
(Don't mind me, I'm just Romaine around.)
7
@Mike
Or as my Anglican minister used to say, LETTUCE PREY.
(I was not a Romaine Catholic.)
5
I only now just realized the double entendre possible from my post. I really had meant it to prey on Mike's food baskets. But.. oh dear ...
@Mike
I'm going to vegetate on that thought for a while.
1
One of most enjoyable Friday puzzles of the year. Clever cluing and crisp fill. Loved it! Loved it! Loved it!
5
@Liane
"crisp fill"
LETTUCE WRAP in particular!
5
Wow, that NW corner was hell. I had RIDDLE ME THIS at 17 Across and was A TAD loath to give it up. PAREVE forced my hand.
The rest of the puzzle was comparatively TAME.
I protest 56A's clue because a LABrador retriever is always capitalized, aside from the fact that a Lab is likely to need more than DEFLEAing in order to be clean. (Dogs like to roll in some pretty icky stuff. Cat Person! here.)
Last week's Big Bee--No TOCCATA, No TACET (musical education neglected?) I also wanted COATCHECK and HATCHECK and (Aussie slang) CHOOK.
At present I am stuck on today's Wee Bee--Amazing at 38/144.
And the new weekly Big Bee is really tough. I have 9 words. Sheesh.
4
I questioned the non-capitalization of “lab”, as well. Seems like it certainly is capitalized when followed by “retriever”, but maybe not when preceded by the color, as “chocolate” or “yellow”. Thoughts, anyone?
1
Similar experience to some others on this one. Almost nothing on first pass and then chipped away and managed to complete the whole thing, except for the NW corner. Like others had DIE before LOT, but beyond that just couldn't settle on anything definitive enough in the other answers to let me work out from there.
Have heard of PAREVE, but it just wasn't coming to mind. In regard to the clue for 39d, I can testify that at my age, sometimes memories don't last 5 minutes. Also was thinking of the wrong kind of pipe at 2d; seems dumb in retrospect.
Clue history search today was for LOT. I wondered how often the clues might have mentioned 'Sodom' (18 times), 'pillar' (3 times) or 'salt' (7 times). Also found 'Abraham' and 'nephew' 23 times each though the wording of those clues varied a bit.
There goes my 4 day streak, but still an enjoyable workout.
1
@Rich in Atlanta Not much interest in the clue history today. I'll just add this - The clue for 1d immediately made me think of this scene from My Fair Lady:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUQpoyfbWJ0
My late father was a master of accents and frequently appeared in local productions of Broadway plays. The last time I ever saw him on stage was as Henry Higgins.
1
Very nice puzzle that resisted, but not unduly. By far the hardest letter was the last to go in, where "Breaks, in a way" TA_ES crosses "Person in a rush" _INER. Tricky!
5
@polymath
Went a bit too fast for me, but agree on that cross.
So near - - yet so far!! Gotta call this one a “solve”, (no capital ‘S’) The NW stymied me. All the rest gradually ooooozed out of my storage lockers.
But I had NO idea for PAREVE and don’t quite get the connection between “Drub” and WORST.
But WORST of all - - I had to “research” cleromancy and the first thing I found was that it involves casting dice - - so DIE went in at 19A.
And I got stuck on “pipe” being the kind that Santa holds “tight in his teeth”. You know - - the kind that, when you smoke it all day, you wake up the next morning feeling like a baby dragon has been using your mouth for potty training.
And I wasted a lot of time thinking there must be a theme in there somewhere. We have “UP” appearing in both 38A and 46A - right? And lots of U’s to work with in 25A, 14D & 16D - - right?
So I thought 17A must include some variant form of the expression, “UP yours” - - somehow made more polite. All to no avail.
But - eventually - I got it all except for the very NW corner. A satisfying experience
2
@PeterW
WORST is a transitive verb—it's not that common a usage, but means to get the better of; defeat (see https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/worst).
I remembered it as defined, my quibble was that to me it doesn't imply "drubbing", just defeating. My first thought was "whomp"; but I decided to let the crossings decide for me, and that was a good thing.
1
To worst someone in battle or in one-on-one combat is a very ancient usage in the English language. Rather than a (shudder) sportsy innovation, it is a remembrance of the old heritage of English as a language. And (answering JT) is means more than to win over them - it means to hand them the worst you are capable of, the worst they can experience, it means to defeat them soundly - to give them a drubbing.
1
Aha! Thanks! Related to “do your worst.”
I learned some of the same things as others today, VIREO & PAREVE for example. I never would have gotten cash ONLY, I've never seen that caveat in a restaurant, but oddly enough the sign in the deli where I bought my lunch today said "No cash". Never saw that before either.
I thought of MARTIN SHEEN straight away, but decided to Google check it to find out which real president he had played if any, scrolled through tons of roles on IMDb and couldn't find it so left that blank for quite a while which did not help my solve at all.
Never mind, kept coming back to it, and with a fair amount of help got the happy music.
Does everyone know which real president he played?
1
@suejean
JFK in a 1983 tv miniseries.
1
@suejean
JFK - in a TV mini-series from 1983
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085044/characters/nm0000640?ref_=tt_cl_t132
1
@Francine
Thanks Vaer and Francine.
1
I follow Deb's advice to walk away on the Friday and Saturday puzzles, but I don't get coffee. I try to do a bit at night and then I go to sleep. When I wake up the words seem to fall into place
5
Roll for WRAP and staring at IP and wondering: What kind of pass ends in IP?
Another delay was trying to recall a brand for pipe cleaners as opposed to a pipe cleaner.
Sigh, slow going for my gold star.
Thanks Andrew.... I think
This puzzle is the work of a talented constructor, what with five interesting NYT debut answers (ANSWER ME THIS, LECTURE TOUR, LETTUCE WRAP, SPORT UTILITY, SWIM UPSTREAM), three of these long answers crossing that vertical stack of 11's in the middle, not to mention some crackling cluing (DRANO, MINER, SINEW, OVA, DEFLEA).
But the bottom line is the experience of the solve, and for me, it was Friday Divine, where I have to elicit stragglers in the recesses of my MEMORY, work to determine alternatives to the obvious, risk guesses that have a vague shot at being right, leave and return to opaque areas, all the while experiencing sparks of satisfaction that build like bread rising in the oven, with its glorious aroma, to the finish, rife with revelation and resolution. Friday isn't always Divine, Andrew, but today it was, and I'm exceedingly grateful!
11
Friends, sorry to say I was casting a HEX, then a POX, before I cast LOTS with you all. And isn't a nINER a person in a rush?
Otherwise, I was in sync with this fun Friday.
Loved your column today, Deb!
4
@Ann
I cast a die.
3
@vaer
Sometimes it's those three-letter words that getcha.
@Ann
Only on the gridiron. I gave NINER some consideration, but it didn't really feel right to me. And TANES wasn't a word. So I cogitated for a while.
In a cavern, in a canyon...
3
I take issue with 39D. Mine only lasted the first half century.
12
@AudreyLM
Right?! I can't even remember the last time a memory lasted a lifetime!
2
@ad absurdum & Audrey - I don't disagree on the point that memory gets worser as time goes on...but
something from seventy years ago can come back, full-fledged, in an instant, unbidden, and you know it.
All it takes is a whiff of this, or a sight of that, or a person saying one single word, and...
full-fledged, in an instant, unbidden,
you are living in the deep, forgotten past.
And you are five again.
6
@David Connell FWIW I do remember every single lyric from every single song from the 1970s
3
LETTER BOXED THREAD
N - A (4), A - E (10)
Only one I could find today.
YESTERDAY:
SCROTUM MAWKISH
WRISTWATCH HOKUM
4
@Mari
I had the same. I agree that must be the only one.
"...as in the returns on an investment, and the answer is PROFITS."
13A answer is PROFIT (not PROFITS). It's the lack of an S at the end that threw me off for a long while.
SPELLING BEE GRID
Dec 6th 2019
T A E M N P V
WORDS: 51. POINTS: 214, PANAGRAMS: 1, BINGO
A x 4
E x 6
M x 10
N x 4
P x 9
T x 17
V x 1
4L x 22
5L x 9
6L x 6
7L x 8
8L x 6
4 5 6 7 8 Tot
A 1 - - 2 1 4
E - 3 - 3 - 6
M 5 3 1 1 - 10
N 1 - 2 - 1 4
P 4 - 1 2 2 9
T 10 3 2 - 2 17
V 1 - - - - 1
Tot 22 9 6 8 6 51
52
@Mari @Mari Hints for today: The ‘EE’ trick for an Object noun appears today - twice; 1 organic chemical; 2 8-letter compound words that often have a 4-4 form; the usual two spellings of a type of tent; a multi-occupant building; singular and plural forms of a sensory or wave-receiving appendage; a swimming adjective. Pangram starts with the 16th letter of the alphabet (again!).
14
@Mari I’m just 3 words away.
@Mari missing an E7 have send out & alliance, M6 & N8. Only have 1 compound word & 1 double e suffix on a noun (copyright).
1
I had to look up a thing or two and had to read the comments to “get” deflea but I’m on a streak so let’s HOIST AFEW! And putting the puzzle down does help the brain work on it. My first go was right after TRMS when the puzzle posts and I had but a few clues and came back when I wake up at 2 am and can’t get back to sleep. I find the mental effort often helps me get back to sleep. Night all!
1
I got deflea in the puzzle, but only upon reading your post did the "lab coats" finally make sense.
I hate when I can’t get the NW corner of a crossword (meaning I couldn’t get 1Across or 1Down). I had the rest of the puzzle completed. As I solved 90% of this puzzle without help, I’m shocked (actually pleased) there are not any “easiest Friday ever” comments, yet...
Can someone explain SINEW. I cannot figure that clue out. Is power supposed to be a euphemism for muscles?
@Newbie, it did not seem like an easy Friday to me.
A sinew is a tendon or a ligament, so it is the cord by which your muscles exert their power on something. At least that's how I saw it.
6
@Newbie...sinews are, as PaulSFO states, the tendons or ligaments, so sinews were used throughout history to make powerful connections in weapons (bows especially), in engineering (linkages of every kind), and they are very tough and durable yet flexible. So "sinew" means tough, durable, flexible strength both in the real and the metaphorical sense. It doesn't mean muscles or muscular strength at all, it means - capable of lasting, capable of being tough, capable of making it through. Sinew is all about the ability to survive when you have no muscularity. A survivor trait, not a ruler trait.
4
@Newbie
Longfellow gave us this image:
Under a spreading chestnut tree
The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawney arms
Are strong as iron bands.
Note the distinction between the sinewy hands and the muscular arms as David C explains. Nevertheless, there is a sense of inherent power present in the word.
1
What a timely article! I typically ignore the Friday puzzles but today I decided to give it a try. 31 minutes! Not bad (for me). My first pass was awful and I almost stopped. I had gym rat, totem, pareve (I’m Jewish clergy!) and a couple more. First pass down I had much more immediate success: Martin Sheen, nob, ova, Ben (another easy one for Jewish clergy!) and a few more. I had the exact same reactions as you for quite a few: dressing room attendant etc. By this time I thought “Hey, I can do this!” And I did! I’m shocked. But I really took each clue slowly and said to myself, “Think of it differently” and it all fell into place. Maybe tomorrow I will get really brave and try the (dare I say it?) Saturday puzzle!
Thanks for a really fun and encouraging article!
26
@Cheri
Mazel tov.
6
@vaer Thank you. :)
This took a long time. Very slow. The one that killed me with misdirection was CLEAN, AS A LAB COAT. I fell for it completely and never once thought of the dog's coat so it took me a minute when I filled in DEFLEA to figure out What??? Then, duh! I've been picturing the clean white laboratory coat of course.
I had mostly blanks in my first pass-through so Deb made me feel enormously better. Still, I found some of the clues and answers on the iffy side. I tend to be a real sucker for the misdirections but as long as they're good ones I really appreciate them in the end. But SPORT UTILITY for RUGGED CLASS and SINEW for POWER CORD? were reaches a little too far for me.
Still, I liked this puzzle overall even though it took me a long time to finish it. Much longer than the Thursday puzzle. That northwest corner really had me stumped and took forever to fill in but once I finally got some of it it finally began to yield. I hated to do it, but I had to look up cleomancy because I was really completely AT SEA and had no idea what it was let alone what it did. Was relieved to see that Deb said looking that up was OK!
2
@Lin Kaatz Chary
Regarding "lab coat": I said yesterday that the key to doing a Thursday puzzle is to realize that it is Thursday.
Same thing is true about a Friday puzzle. When you see "lab" in a Friday puzzle (or a Saturday puzzle, for that matter), you think dogs first, scientific research second.
1
@Steve L
Live and learn! I fell for the scientist hook, line and sinker.
1
@Steve L
Very true. I thought "bleach" for 56A, but did not fill it in because - Friday.
1
and Elke
Started out with only an ONLY, and was on the verge of saying "Do NOt BOTHER", but decided on a second look, and suddenly GISH, PAREVE, BEN, OVA, NOB and more opened up my eyes and the grid.
Here in BC one can watch (in the fall), salmon,having been AT SEA, returning to the RIVERs and lakes in the Interior where they spawned originally. To see the fish SWIM UPSTREAM , there are at times so many that the RIVERs are red. How they find their way back is truly amazing. The females deposit the OVA,( aka "roe"), the male does his thing, and then they both die and become food for the eagles waiting downSTREAM.
The RIVER PO floods occasionally. In the early 50's a particularly bad flood became a cause to raise European aid. For German speaking students this caused some merriment as PO(PO) is a kiddy word for "rear end".
TIL- that HIPPOs have teeth that can be carved like ivory and that LABCOATS need to be DEFLEAed .
That's the best WORST pun this year.Hope it stays in my MEMORY and is not quickly ERASED (or at least until Leapy's next LOT).
Time to be TUCKed in.
5
Elke,
Lab coats being DEFLEAed had me puzzled until another thread here clued me in to the fact that we were talking dogs and not scientists!
1
When was the last time two Italian rivers appeared in two consecutive NY Times puzzles?*
PO has the tremendous disadvantage of containing only two letters, RIVER must precede it to make the cut. Even with that, it only appeared twice before today, while TIBER 55 times before yesterday.
I must say however that to my eyes RIVERPO approaches the absurdity of EAPOE and ERIEPA. Its Italian version FIUMEPO wouldn't work too well either.
Perhaps with a little effort RIVERPO could've been reworked into picturesque LIVORNO to remain in Italy, but on the Ligurian coast of the boot leg [Bootleg? Hah!].
Happy Friday all.
*rhetorical question.
3
@Laszlo
"When was the last time two Italian rivers appeared in two consecutive NY Times puzzles?"
There ARNO records of this.
2
Deb, you didn't mention the toughest (and the last fill) for me: pareve. Never heard of that word before, and I have a vegan in the family.
So it's truly "totally fair and legal" to look up a clue term, eh? Good to know!
6
Looking up a word seems like cheating to me. Any time I get outside help, I do a "Check Puzzle" so that it breaks my win streak.
Steve,
Unless your vegan in the family is Jewish, PAREVE likely wouldn't have come up.
5
@Steve
As Barry said, the word comes from Jewish dietary law. I'm sure you've heard of the word KOSHER, which means acceptable according to Jewish law.
One of the tenets of keeping kosher is that meat and dairy may not be eaten together, so no cheeseburgers or chicken parmigiana. PAREVE foods contain neither meat nor dairy, so they can be eaten with either. If a product is kosher, it is labeled in various ways, according to the authority that certifies it, including a K or a U in a circle. If a kosher product is also PAREVE, the word PAREVE is often printed near the kosher symbol, to help observant Jews plan their meals.
This information might be somewhat helpful for vegans; however, fish is considered PAREVE, i.e., it is not regarded as meat by observant Jews, so vegans should not take PAREVE as a synonym for vegan.
BTW, the word PAREVE is pronounced PAR-va, and is occasionally found without the first E.
Hope this helps.
15
I cannot access the answer key from the app? Does anyone else have this problem.
blank screen for me
Got messed up by a couple V's: didn't know the words PAREVE or VIREO, couldn't parse RI_ERPO, and took a long time to grok VIP. I laughed out loud when I realized my two question squares were both V, my least favorite letter
1
I love the English language. Best and WORST can both be used as a synonym for drub
8
My first guess was “Waste”
Hand up for Waste
@ColoradoZ
AD WARS of two NY delis (non-PAREVE):
Deli 1: Our Wurst’s the Best!
Deli 2: Our Wurst’s Worsts Theirs!
2
I'm amazed that I finished with a good time on this puzzle, considering that I initially had the wrong first word for 3 of the 4 long across answers. It would be embarrassing to enumerate all of them :) but I did figure them out as the crosses became clearer. Sometimes you are your own worst enemy!
4
cleaning the lab coat - worst pun ever!
5
@Alan Lehotsky
I thought it was pretty clever. Hope that doesn’t cause a mass tiff between us.
17
@Puzzlemucker
Looks like this thread is going to the dogs.
11
@Alan Lehotsky
Ok, now I get it. Thanks!
1
Good and crunchy Friday! Had only three or four answers after the first pass through, but went steadily after that. Finished on the northwest corner (seems to be a habit). Felt inordinately proud of myself for PAREVE with only a couple vowels as help.
Puzzles light on the trivia and opaque on the cluing are always welcome.
7
Aaaannnnd I just now got an ad for E*TRADE on Twitter...
If what ever google evilware has infested my computer wants to sell me things, I'd appreciate it being slightly more subtle.
4
@Lewis
Try DuckDuckGo. Not as intuitive as Google, but also not intrusive. I stick to Google/Google Scholar for rabbit holes and such, but if I’m looking up anything commercial (restaurants, travel, shopping, etc.), I use DDG. No more pop-up ads for my favorite brand of boots, our cars, or flu remedies. It’s very liberating.
12
@Sam Lyons I do use it, actually. I didn't look up E*TRADE at all, which is the spooky part.
2
I alternately hated and loved this puzzle. I’m easily frustrated when a clue does tickle some note of familiarity, but appreciate it when it reconnects synapses that had grown estranged. I like learning new stuff but don’t like feeling manipulated. Overall I’d like to feel I have a puncher’s chance but have to remind myself that you win some and you lose some.
2
I tried to fill in a word related to law suits for Samsung vs Apple. My son spent 5 years as outside counsel to Samsung in various patent disputes between the companies.
3
@ColoradoZ
Me, too. Tried IP at first.
1
One of the most interesting folks I ever worked with said "Riddle me this" in place of "Answer me this". It fits and I wondered if this construct was a lot more popular than I imagined it to be. Well, no, but it was pleasant to remember the co-worker and those days.
19
@Barry - I had "riddle me this" for a good while before it had to go!
7
@Barry
I also had Riddle which added to my solve time. I spent more than 70% of my solve time in the NW.
6
“Riddle me this,” was my first choice, too. My dad used to violate Pictionary rules by always starting off with Moore’s, “Come, riddle-me-ree, come, riddle-me-ree, and tell me what my name may be.”
I’d say I hear, ”Riddle me this,” more often than, “Answer me this.” It’s only recently that someone explained to me that it’s not (lamentably) due to the wild popularity of 18th c. Irish playwrights in modern day America, but rather a Batman reference.
5
That was not easy! Went through 4-5 passes.
Having said that, though, still came in well under my Friday average.
AD WARS - although I did think that at first, I didn't put it in until at least halfway through, because the NW came last (except for the V in VIREO, because VIP).
Gimmes: GYMRAT, NUN, ITA, REDO, E*TRADE (not many companies with asterisks in their logo, and I saw it just this week), TET, RDA, TIDAL, KHAN (because of the London stabbing, he was in the news), SAUDIS.
Had ____THAT for some reason, and that slowed me down until I changed it after getting the front part, to end at ANSWER ME THIS. MINER...I was thinking of other rushes - the plant, the college Greeks, DINER (because they are often in a rush?).
Had SIT IDLE before LIE IDLE. LETTUCE WRAP came after I realized it could not be bread made from LENTIL. Had thought to put PO RIVER until HIPPO made it RIVER PO. Speaking of which...HIPPO? I did not get that one. Someone explain please?
I have never seen this meaning for WORST, but TILed, as well as VIREO.
Lillian GISH - I don't know where I'd seen her name before, but with the G, I immediately thought of her name. The only GISH I consciously remembered was the Smashing Pumpkins album.
Pretty satisfying to complete this one.
5
@Wen - hippo is short for hippopotamus (that accounts for the "informally") and their canine teeth provide a source of ivory which is bad for them and for the world but good for poachers.
2
@David Connell - thanks for the explanation. I figured it was for hippopotamus, but didn't realize their teeth would be considered "ivory" like elephant tusks.
I had RHINO, but it didn’t last.
@Deb
". . . fair and legal . . ". Like a certain network's "Fair and Balanced"?
It still seems like looking in the back of the workbook to finish one's homework. Then again, publishers print the answers there for learners to use however they see fit, so it is perfectly acceptable.
2
@Al in Pittsburgh
But they usually only publish the odd-numbered (or the even-numbered) answers, so the teachers can assign the other problems.
I wonder why it's almost always the odd-numbered ones that they publish.
2
This is the puzzle I’ve waited all week for! Brilliant clueing. I had to tear down and rebuild the NW corner a few times and almost said, “LETTUCEWRAP this for now and take a fresh look tomorrow,” but then I finally parsed RI_ERPO as the river Po (thank you, cobwebby recesses of the mind). I plugged in the elusive last V square, relished the happy music, and rushed off to google PAREVE. “TIL a new word” moments are the best.
9
Alphabet run for VIREO/VIP. Great puzzle. Thought it might get a POW! from Jeff Chen but a quick look there says otherwise, which bodes well for Sat. and/or Sun.
“Talking Hard Work” by Woody Guthrie fits this puzzle, even if our PAY RATE for being a puzzle-MINER is merely self-satisfaction.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=waQOS3hKIa8
(Oh, I fell in love with Lillian GISH in college when I took a silent film class).
3
Deb,
What a great column! You are the anti-Rex—humble, funny, inclusive—and we love you for it.
36
@Puzzlemucker
Ditto on a GISH fetISH (ok, admiration... just couldn’t resist...) I had so balked at having to choose something outside of my major, pish-poshed Self-Expression Through Dance 101 or some such (the world did *not* need another Elaine), and settled on silent film. What a fantastic journey through the art of cinematography.
Btw, OT, I’m watching the 1972 M*A*S*H pilot as you (and @Deadline) had suggested. Not too shabby so far...
6
@Sam Lyons
Hope you enjoy it. After recommending it, I wondered how it has aged. Very cool that you also took a silent film class. It was one of my favorites.
2
Definitely in my wheelhouse. Probably record time for a Friday puzzle with no outside help needed. Appreciated the clever clues.
2
@Fran Conaway Definitely NOT in my wheelhouse! I thought I was never going to finish it.
Even after I had completed the puzzle, I still had to squint at a couple of answers to see how they fit the clues.
None of this is intended as a criticism. Sometimes it's good to encounter a puzzle that pushes me out of my comfort zone.
13
I had very little after a first pass through the Acrosses (PAREVE, ONLY, TUCKS, NUN) so this promised to be quite difficult. But there were enough Downs that I could fill in, so they helped me start to fill in some areas. The threesome in the middle (I can't call it a stack!) of MARTIN SHEEN, LECTURE TOUR, and LETTUCE WRAP came together very nicely. And now I'm admiring the way those three intersect with the longer Acrosses of ANSWER ME THIS, SPORT UTILITY, SWIM UPSTREAM, and MAKEUP ARTIST. It's a very nice design!
5
19A Looks like it might also be singular; LOT fits, but LOTS doesn't
2
@Deb 13 across has no room for PROFITS. Singulsr, maybe?
Agreed, I think 13a is just PROFIT :)
1
Yes, happy music played with PROFIT.
1
@Kevin Davis with the clues in the column and a couple Google lookups (RAM, TURF) I solved this over 5 min. faster than average. I only had to change fly to SPY and squat to ETUDE.