Those from Alabama are ALABAMIANS, with an “i.”
Thus my resistance to recognizing the answer. It was literally the last letter I filled on the grid.
Learned a lot this Saturday! Especially liked the clue for ALMA MATER. I still had a lot of blanks when I looked at the column, but the only one of those clues I didn’t have was DURANCE VILE. Caitlin IDK if you will read this after the fact, but you used cromulent in the column, & Deb used it in Thursday solve & I had the feeling I was missing a private joke..... I assumed since I only learned about wordplay a couple of months ago; I couldn’t find it in the dictionary....I thought maybe I was spelling it wrong when I heard it but you typed it so now I googled it & it all makes sense. 🤓
enjoyed this saturday. found myself trying and erasing and retrying entries (and a few times going back to my first hunch!) which to me is a sign of good cluing for a fri/sat. really like the vertical stack in the NE for some reason, just a nice collection of words. finished just slightly over my average so i’d say it’s on par.
3
I got walled by DURANCEVILE crosses with DEB and CBS. Had to guess DEB or JEB? JEB just sounded more Nebraskan and the JURA... start sounded like it could be a legal term. Wrong again with TBS over CBS figuring maybe it airs Lucy reruns these days. DONTJUDGEME!
Promising guess that went nowhere: YOGAPANTS in place of SPORTSBRA.
3
Yes on Jeb and yes on jura...
3
Are there any other Les Mis fans who only learned today what the line "What a PALAVER what an absolute treat to watch a cat and its father pick a bone in the street" means?
3
Not at all easy for me, but I kept plugging away, getting a foothold here and there, and eventually had enough crosses to complete it. Some really tough clueing I thought, but I am among those familiar with DURANCE VILE, perhaps from reading a lot of non-contemporary lit. However, when I was all finished I had to stare at ALMAMATER and its clue for a long time before I saw how it was parsed and how it fit the clue. Sneaky!😊🙌🏻
7
@Shari Coats
I had a hard time with ALMAMATER as well. The clue is confusing since it is a question. I tried to think of a similar phrase instead of the *answer* to the question. 😖
But as I understand it, Alma mater is the answer to “Where did you go?” As in “where did you go to college?”
2
I finished this puzzle in my average time and was lucky enough to guess answers from the crosses. My favorite answer was Peoria. Great clue!
Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I was natticked all over the place here, and generally irritated at the use of thoroughly obsolete, thoroughly nonsensical answers such as DURANCE VILE, GAMINS, and EVER AND ANON. Or maybe white people in the northeast still use these terms in everyday conversation?
9
I went way over my normal Saturday time, but enjoyed the puzzle. Favorite fill had to be ENDURANCE VILE. So poetically descriptive and rare. I’ll await an opportunity to use it, probably EVER AND ANON.
;-)
1
Oof, incorrect SRO instead of MGM had me in a bind for a long time. I was SO confident SRO was correct, and loved the cluing for it. Eventually I saw MAGNETISM and had to give up the SRO.
Overall enjoyable puzzle though the author and I were definitely not the same wavelength. It happens!
2
Not all that easy, and I feel fortunate to have finished this in less than my average (barely). Another one for EVE before NYE; had to research lemniscate; and had no clue about the actors since the TV show and movie were unfamiliar.
Like some of the other folks here, I remember seeing DURANCE VILE in the long ago past, but can't remember exactly where; and it took a while to get enough crossings to recognize it.
1
Lovely, lovely Saturday puzzle. Slightly faster than my Saturday average, but not by much. Of course it helps that I'm from Memphis. Thanks, Stella!
2
As one who got vaccinated, my comment for the day is FLU ME!
3
My bird puns can't be beak.
(And I don't want anyone robin them.)
5
@Mike
Toucan play this game.
6
@Mike
We'll put it on your bill. It'll be a feather in your cap.
And if you don't remember the lines, just wing it.
6
@Mike
What fowl puns these are.
4
Tough, but loved it. Great job! Northwest held it up for me. Also didn’t help that I don’t know SLAG or GAMINS.
3
'A sheep on the LAM', Caitlin? Really?
DON'T JUDGE ME if i kept it a RIMBALL right to the bitter end where I was trawling for Mr Happy Pencil. Sometimes a RIMBALL will circle the rim and then pop out, though that miss is nowhere as complete as an AIRBALL.
I spose that, after 20 years, a body might be excused thinking some summer Olympics were held in RUSsia instead of AUStria or AUStralia, esp if that body obviously had no clue at all. A little harder to explain the M, and I can't swear whether I read this or dreamt it, but it truly seemed I had might have seen something about someone in the NCAA being or going TRANSFEM.
Not a tooth-breaker, in that each quadrant (going clockwise) fell in about five minutes, but most uncommonly engrossing and entertaining. My fave might be DURAN DURANCE VILE, which just reeks of heraldic associations, with a shield of Honey Badgers Rampant. Just the thing for an old LAG...
So here's where DE FATuous and DE FAN Get to their collective feet in unison for a standing O, demanding encores with "Stella! STELLA!!"
All very Kowalski-esque, but that's how we do when we PIXAR favourites.
Hurry back, Ms Z.
6
@Leapfinger
I have to ask - Honey Badgets Rampant???
1
So yesterday for some reason, I started re-working a Christmas song, (The 12 Days of Christmas). Today the puzzle had me continuing the theme with this one:
(With apologies to anyone who might be offended.)
The first MOHEL, the ENGELS did say
Was to torment poor children in beds as they lay.
In beds where they lay, counting their sheep
So a long-standing promise to God they should keep.
MOHEL, MOHEL, MOHEL, MOHEL
Shorn is the King of Israel.
11
@Andrew, con grammar lations!!
Your oeuvre du jour works especially well for anyone who understands how well MO -YELL rhymes with Isra-YELL.
I sincerely hope those sheep being counted were not also 'on the LAM'
3
I've always heard the word pronounced like (the word) moil, so was rather surprised when I learned its spelling.
1
@polymath
As the word is not in my active repertoire, I consulted M-W:
According to M-W, there are two pronunciations, the first of which works with my lyrics, the second of which is in keeping with what you have heard.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mohel
Now though, I think you have inspired me to rewrite "Once in MOHEL David's City"! Look out!
1
Super hard puzzle. About ten minutes longer than average Saturday. Several clues I had to guess at.
3
Mostly I complain that the late week crosswords are too easy --- not today, however; this was suitably challenging for a Saturday, esp. the upper section. Clues like "levels" can have multiple answers e.g. tiers, evens, razes --- all of which I considered before TRUES --- that slowed me down a bit. Stellar work, Stella!
6
Quit with "Almost there!" last night. Took 1:29 to find the error this morning, not including research. I had thought perhaps the 2000 Summer Olympics took place in a city abbreviated AUb.
The app thinks I solved this puzzle, but I had to research _everything_, "lemniscate," "back-combs," "Cremona," "Bo, Sonny," and then get CBS and DURANCEVILE from the column. All I got on my own was NEE, DOWNS, LOOSEST, ROBIN, PIXAR, ASS, OVINE, DDE, AIRBALL, and GREET, giving me no hints at anything else. Fortunately I enjoy research too, but that is time in addition to the 1:14:29 it took to type everything in.
2
@kilaueabart
I had to figure out CBS also, but since Lucy was on network, the only choices were ABC, NBC and CBS.
It helped to think of BEALE STREET for Memphis night, and lucky only one had a final S.
Of course, then I had to figure out what was going to happen with that final --CEVILE
Woof! 45 minutes! I so wanted to hit Autocorrect but I have a 4-day streak that I didn't want to break. Ate up time reading Steve Jobs' wikepedia page, also trying to figure out what lemniscate means. Had TIERS before TRUES; DREG instead of SLAG screwed me up. Likewise EVE instead of NYE and SLIDE before FLUME. Fun And challenging! It's all a learning experience. Also enjoyed the constructor's backstory. Thank you.
4
Any puzzle that ends up on BEALE STREET is all right by me.
Stopped at 21D and tried to order a Maitai before realizing the only drink on the menu was a MIMOSA.
And I was totally unaware that there could be any such thing as DURANCE VILE, but all the crosses were solid, so I swallowed hard and stayed with it.
Thank you, Stella! I shall pop open a Stella in your honor.
11
I don't remember when or where I firsst heard/read the term DURANCE VILE, but I loved it then and now and it has stuck with me for at least half a century.
OTOH, TIL "lemniscate."
All told, I found this puzzle just challenging enough to be fun but not frustrating. I quite enjoyed the clues for ALMA MATER, ALABAMANS, OBAMAS, PEORIA, and EMILY BRONTE.
Where I did get hung up was with some of the shorties. That whole LUX/AUS/PIXAR area for example. LOB was another shortie in that general neighborhood that messed me up. Of course, all of that can be traced to my needing basically all of those answers before I got AIRBALL.
Don't understand the clue/entry connection for AM I.
I never had any particular interest in SPORTS BRAs or thought that there was anything I did or didn't need to know about them. Alas, I clicked on the link in the column, and now I know much more about them than I ever needed to. My word, they sound horrible!
I guess the clue for TRANSFER has something to do with teams trading players??? But NCAA is college, right? I thought they only did that in pro sports.
Thanks to all.
3
@Deadline
If you scroll down, you’ll find two gorgeous quotes with DURANCE VILE courtesy of @Al in Pittsburgh.
Transfers in college football and basketball are more common now than they used to be. For example, Joe Burrow, the QB of the LSU football champions, transferred from Ohio State in 2018. OSU probably wishes they had hung on to him, now...
LWK,
Even if it doesn't make the "news" of the clue, transfers for purely academic reasons by college students who play varsity sports must follow NCAA rules even in DIII.
After a long break I picked up this morning where I left off, after an hour’s worth of struggle.
17-Across, finally.
Then 15-Across, finally.
Except for the “A” of SLAG / GAMINS / PALAVER, and tripping over AUB and TBS.
How bad is my cable TV? SO BAD I thought I LOVE LUCY was in reruns on TBS.
ORWELL before ENGELS, SHAME before ANGER, ROILED before JARRED, WINNING before GAINING, TIERS before TRUES ... that NW corner really had me tied up.
Fantastically challenging, in my humble opinion.
Kudos!
2
1A is not CANYOUSEEME, which worked with a few downs and I was more and more convinced I was right. Laughs on me.
A very satisfying puzzle.
I'd still rather be in Durante Ville.
4
Same mistake here! Don’t judge me.
Jeez, and I can't even lift a toaster over my head. Well done, Stella. And not just your lifting, but today's puzzle.
It was just challenging enough ... definitely not easy ... to hold my attention from beginning to end.
To be honest, I wasn't crazy about DURANCE VILE, but it was fun to be able to get it.
So, thank you, Stella Zawistowski! I raise my MIMOSA to you. Congratulations on your return and your first solo puzzle!
5
How many boys are there in families that need a MOHEL EVER AND ANON? I FIGURE EIGHT, at least. Yeah, I know, but DON’T JUDGE ME.
Got snagged briefly in the NE corner when MAnNErISM looked like the answer to “attractive quality,” and I thought to myself that the constructor sure put a lot of stock in the average person’s familiarity with Tintoretto. Or El Greco. Don’t get me wrong, I like Toledo’s most famous son (sorry, Klinger) as much as the next guy, but does he play in PEORIA?
Luckily the crosses carried me (yeah, I know, El Greco is turning in his grave now).
On that bad pu... er... note, I’m off to slip into my SPORTSBRA and go RUN my A SS off on this fine Saturday morning.
5
@Sam Lyons - Here's a beautiful El Greco from the collection of the wonderful Toledo (Ohio) Museum of Art -
https://tinyurl.com/udcaw85
2
@Sam Lyons
That Klinger reference shows that you've internalized the M*A*S*H experience. Go Mudhens!
As a broken-down runner, I envy anyone who can still get out there. Brava.
1
@David Connell
Thank you for this. I never knew his first version of “The Agony In the Garden” resides this close to home. I thought maybe it was a new acquisition, but I see it’s not: it’s been in Ohio since 1946.
Easyish? But fun.
A tough puzzle with MAGNETISM. It took me a long time to DEFANG it.
DURANCEVILE was a huge "Huh?" for me, as I'm sure it was for everyone else. I've never seen it before and I suspect I'll never see it again. Which is fine with me.
Oh great. We've long had legalese and now we have mathese. Mathematicians call a FIGURE EIGHT a "lemniscate"??? C'mon, people, speak English, why don't you?
I'm trying to think of a poet who's ever said EVER AND ANON to mean "once in a while". Maybe Shakespeare? He's said everything else, after all.
I fell into the TIERS instead of TRUES trap and it therefore took me forever to complete the NW. It would have helped if I'd known NEGGA.
Don't even get me started on the spandex in a SPORTS BRA. In fact, don't get me started on spandex at all. The worst invention of my lifetime -- right after the nuclear bomb and the jackhammer. And because of the misery of the thing, I thought of SPORTS BRA right away -- before I had a single cross.
Fun puzzle.
5
@Nancy
You can go to Hathitrust.org and search for the phrase "ever and anon" in thousands of books. I turned up a Tennyson poem pretty quickly, and a poem commemorating Gettysburg.
2
@Nancy
"And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held/A pouncet-box, which ever and anon/He gave his nose, and took't away again."
Henry IV (act 1, scene 3)
2
@Nancy
One to add to your poet’s toolbox. Lots of rhyming potential, especially if you have a line ending Agamemnon (well, that would be a near rhyme, I suppose). How about: “Though a vegetarian, ever and anon / He dreamt of hot dogs, with Grey Poupon.”
6
Our clearly formidable and admirable puzzle maker's complaint about the too-easy Saturdays and Sundays seems akin to Miss America complaining about too many ugly competitors.
7
Stellaaaaaaa!
Um, no, not too easy at all.😅 But a lot of fun (emphasis on a lot—like an hour’s worth)!
10
(In response to the Constructor Notes)
I did not "find this puzzle particularly hard," but I will not razz the constructor because (a) I don't razz constructors and (b) I found this puzzle particularly enjoyable. Fresh entries, fun cluing, fine time. Stellar solo, Stella. Encore!
7
@Barry Ancona
I also didn't find it particularly hard, but wouldn't razz her on social media because (a) I don't razz constructors and (b) I don't do social media.
6
Deadline,
I left the "social media" part out of her note out of my comment because ... your (b).
2
The logic of the lemniscate clue seems reversed. I think a better clue would be "What non-mathematicians call a lemniscate". Or you could reverse the words and have "LEMNISCATE" in the grid, clued: "What mathematicians call a FIGURE EIGHT".
Standard disclaimer (abbreviated version): I'm not saying the clue is wrong for a crossword. Just that it is less accurate than it could be. I recognize that crosswords can take massive liberties with language, logic, reality, etc.
4
@Chief Quahog
Depends on what “What” is (“lemniscate” or FIGURE EIGHT), no? Admittedly ambiguous. I read (past tense) the “What” as FIGURE EIGHT, but after reading your post, I now read it both ways.
2
@Puzzlemucker OK, I see what you mean. Ambiguous it is!
1
@Chief Quahog - as a huge fan and student of linguistic ambiguity (especially unintended ambiguity), this is one of my favorite types.
"What mathematicians call a lemniscate (regular folks call this...)"
"What mathematicians call (the thing regular folks call) a lemniscate..."
It's a delicious ambiguity, and unresolvable.
2
Hey Mr. Connell! I saw Yale and ALMA MATER in the same puzzle today and immediately thought of you. In a good way. :-) You keep me honest when I over-bloviate and I try to do the same for you.If you are now thinking "When do I ever do that?" then I have mis-calculated. ;-)
2
@Michael Brothers - that's a kind shout out, MB. Thanks. I likewise rely on reining in when my outrage meter overshoots the mark.
Those of us who went to podunk colleges and then went on to graduate school at Yale were not ever, never, allowed to consider ourselves Yalies, we were not to call ourselves Elis and we were not allowed to join Mory's, and even if we were sponsored for membership we had to pay annual dues, unlike true Elis. Things have changed in recent decades, but I can assure you, as a holder of three degrees from that place, it is not my Alma Mater, because it told me so daily in big and small ways. Somehow, it doesn't keep them from sending me regular requests for money, but that's another story.
Similar things, I believe, go on at other prestige undergraduate institutions (are you a real Tarheel if you only went to UNC for grad school?).
2
David,
But you can use the Yale Club in New York, as my high school class has a number of times for reunions, thanks to a classmate with a Yale MD. Brooklyn College undergraduate.
3
I'd be interested to learn the year she or he became a member of YC NYC.
Ooooph!! Another Saturday. Another “completion”. (Nowhere close to a “solution” owing to way too many peeks at Caitlin’s WoW.)
In retrospect, this puzzle doesn’t seem so very tough though - - with the exception of DURANCE VILE and ALMA MATER . . . and NEGGA - which was a total no-know. The rest, I might have sussed out on my own with a little more time/patience than I seemed to have this morning.
ALMA MATER’s cluing was just a hair too clever for me and, in 77 years and sixty-some days, I have never, ever seen or heard the term DURANCE VILE. I can still recite, from memory, a large part of Chaucer’s intro to “The Miller’s Tale” - IN Olde English, (Bless you Mrs. Scharer, wherever you are.) - but this term was NOT in there anywhere.
I’m just going to resign myself to the notion that there are come constructors/puzzles that are going to be “beyond me”.
Come ON Sunday!!
1
@PeterW
I just took a look at the Milleres Tale; I've never even read that far, hardly getting beyond "Whan that Aprille with his shoures sot," or something like that. Sixty years ago I could recite the Mandarin translation of "The Walrus and the Carpenter," but now I get stuck after four lines.
1
I will not be razzing Stella for making the puzzle too easy as she suggests in her penultimate paragraph .
4
I hate to break it to you, Stella, but I solved this one pretty easily, whereas I'm not able to solve quite a few Saturday puzzles at all. Definitely not one of the more challenging Saturday puzzles. Sorry.
2
@taarheel Yes me too. I finished it in a time which I would normally consider quite respectable for a Thursday. The East side was relatively easy - even DURANCE VILE popped up from the cross letters quite quickly. The West side was, however, another story.
Andrew,
When you're a Jet....
3
Very nice puzzle. I think I might have had a shot at it if I'd been just a bit more patient, but I pretty much assume that I'm not going to complete a Saturday on my own, so I went way past my allowable number of look-ups early on. Highlight for me was getting DURANCEVILE with just a couple of crosses. Not sure why I know that.
I didn't start here until 2011, so I'd never done any of our constructor's earlier collaborations. I went and looked at a couple of them and I am so, so disappointed that I looked at the answer grid for her most recent Sunday puzzle. Oh, I wish I could have taken a stab at solving that one.
My clue history search today was inspired by the constructor, not the puzzle. I wondered how often DESIRE had been clued in a certain way - about a dozen times it appears. I will show some dignity and avoid linking a 15 second clip from the implied film. I'm sure Ms. Zawistowski has heard that way to many times.
Of course, if someone else feels so inclined.... go ahead.
2
@Rich in Atlanta
You are a true gentleman, Rich, and show great forbearance.
2
Caitlin, That's a geat photo with an even better caption. Made me laugh out loud.
6
@Kevin
Yes, I meant to mention how much I enjoyed, it, too.
2
Very enjoyable challenge! It was relatively smooth sailing for a Saturday, with figure-eight coming right away since I'm a lemniscate fan. (It's e.g. the locus of all points in the plane whose product of distances to two points (-1,0) and (1,0) equals 1.) Did not know Ruth Negga or durance vile, or that water parks have flumes. Liked many of the entries like ever and anon, figure-eight, palaver, Pixar*, defat/defang, and magnetism; and many of the clues like "Take a bite out of?" for defang and especially "Where did you go?" for alma mater. A really, really pleasant puzzle!
_____
*Have long wondered if I was instrumental in Steve Jobs's purchase of Pixar: At a 1985 S.F. conference I saw him milling about the Lucasfilm booth, so mentioned this to Alvy Ray Smith and Loren Carpenter. They went around to greet him and a few month later he had bought the company. Guess I'll never know.
10
Have noticed that recently a lot of the solving comes from imagining likely letters in empty squares based on I'm not sure what — never used to do that.
1
"Did not know ... that water parks have flumes."
polymath,
Did not know that water parks have slides/chutes with water in them, or that such may be called flumes?
2
That such may be called flumes.
3
I loved it, but did not find it easy, maybe because none of my prison sentences have been long(thank goodness for rigged juries!) and I don't think I own a single garment that isn't made with spandex.
11
TIL there is Hebrew on the Yale coat of arms. "Many colonial-era American Christians had a respect for -- even a fascination with -- the Hebrew language and Jewish religion." bit.ly/3aMEwjZ
2
@Sheri - Yale was founded originally for the education of "ministers of church and civil society" - essentially, ordination, education, political careers were the intentions of the founders.
As your link points out at the end, the seal has "Urim v Thummim", which are words of disputable meaning in the original Hebrew scriptures, but are written on the sacred garments of the old priests, and are usually translated as "Light and Truth" - and the Latin motto is indeed that: "Lux et Veritas".
Hebrew language and scriptures are still an integral part of the education both in the Department of Religious Studies (the academic division) and the Divinity School (the professional school) at Yale.
I will post elsewhere a less serious take on the motto...
Awesome puzzle. This is the kind I hope to manage to put together one day.
8
@Lorraine Yes, Lorraine! A woman's voice. Any puzzle that honors the Sister Trio of Brontes is all right with me.
2
Nothing vile accompanied my 'durance through this offering. It had a sense of permanence -- no flighty neo-pop culture references that will vanish in a puff of smoke in a trice, be gone anon. Terrific obscure terms that felt cool to me. On top of DURANCE VILE, LEMNISCATE, and GAMIN, I learned "tatterdemalion" when, after my solve, I looked at words related to GAMIN.
Then I had the image of the MOHEL facing an anti-circumcision group, waving his arms and shouting, "DON'T JUDGE ME!"
With sufficient Saturday struggle, plus some relieving splat-fills and those fun words, this was rollicksome, frolicsome, and toothsome. Effortsome but never cumbersome. That is, stellar, Stella. This is your first puzzle here in a dozen years -- please don't be such a stranger again!
9
@Lewis A bit of trivia for you. Tatterdemalion is used in the lyrics of The Fairy Feller’s Masterstroke by Queen. An unexpected word to hear in a song!
1
@Lewis the infant getting the Bris is also saying Don't Judge Me!
1
All of my knowledge of Jewish religious rites, including MOHEL, I learned from watching Seinfeld.
21
I knew the word but asked my husband to confirm the spelling before filling in. He went off on a dissertation of various spellings. I think he learned it all over a Seder table with his first wife’s family. Seinfeld would have been welcome.
Liked to see SCOTIA today --it's a nearby town to Albany and Troy where I grew up!
5
judy d,
No nova in that Scotia, though.
2
@Barry Ancona
That’s ‘cause all the salmon are loxed up.
6
Puzzlemucker,
While salmon are found in New York State rivers and lakes, I'm not aware of them being caught on the Mohawk or Hudson, lox or no lox. R U?
A very Saturday puzzle which I greatly enjoyed though got stuck at 55D/A.
In other news I find I apparently waded innocently into choppy seas yesterday by lauding a Patrick Blindauer puzzle (July 25 2013), a constructor who appears to be suffering a DURANCEVILE for his flagrant use of rebi over the years. I'm a relative noob at Wordplay (started reading/commenting around the time Spelling Bee was created so I could rail fervently against CLOTBUR) so I'm only getting to know the veteran constructors and their styles. Personally I like some rebus puzzles better than others, although I admire the construction of any puzzle that makes the NYTimes. But people, this was more than just a rebus, it was a stunning engineering feat IMHO. Rebi are not randomly strewn throughout the grid--the precision and planning almost short circuited my tiny brain. As I've said before I am two with sports (see Woody Allen and nature) and would rather undergo root canal than watch a golf tournament (or baseball, football or soccer) but if someone wants to show me a really spectacular moment in any sport I can summon appropriate awe. Also, DONTJUDGEME or I will LAM.
9
@AudreyLM
I will search out the 7/25/13 puzzle when my brain is at its apex today (which typically is 10:19 -10:21 a.m.). Thanks for the re-reco.
2
@AudreyLM you have my thanks for mentioning that puzzle yesterday. I went back and found it and agree it's amazing, and a very satisfying solve. As was today's, if i could just have remembered how MOHEL is spelled...
2
@AudreyLM , I went and did it . You’re right about the amazing construction. I got stuck for a long time trying to make the missing letters just be phantoms (like the recent one with all those T’s), instead of rebuses. Also I had a wrong movie for awhile. But it was fun, thanks for the tip!
1
I thought the water park feature was a slide then sluce (no, it’s not a word) til FLUME. For the Cremona name strad fit but it was AMATI. For a 3 letter Olympic locale, rio came to mind immediately but that’s the wrong year. It was AUS. Of a flock was laity til it was OVINE. Dec. 31 was eve then NYE.
5
LETTER BOXED THREAD
Jan 25th MMXX
M - E (9), E - P(5)
YESTERDAY:
FETCHING GANGPLANK (NYT)
5
I had Mercia for the longest time for north of Anglia, which I had assumed (perhaps wrongly) to mean East Anglia.
1
SPELLING BEE
Stuck at 31 words, 124 points, need 12 more points.
I’m bad at counting on a screen, but i think I have 3 guy words & 8 lady words, including 3 parent & 1 grandparent words (all feminine). Pangram is one of these words. Think the nun suffix that flummoxed some of us. There’s 2 of those. There are also crazy or angry people of each gender. There’s also:
Soon
Gadget
Surfing poseur
Saddle and canopy for an elephant (!)
Food in Exodus (it’s not matzoh this time)
Single-celled organism (anagram of the wanderer also on the list)
Bread
Spanish nothing
Variant of a search engine name (not Google) or exclamation, but definition says it’s a mackerel or elm or burning bush
George Michael band or a firm bang on something
Variant of above, also the company that makes Frisbees
5
@Kevin Davis I have a more complete list in Mari’s thread below
1
Did not know that word had a protozoan meaning — thanks!
1
SPELLING BEE GRID
Jan 25th MMXX
A D H M N O W
WORDS: 33, POINTS: 136, PANGRAMS: 1
Starting Letters-Frequencies:
A x 4
D x 3
H x 3
M x 11
N x 4
W x 8
Word Lengths -Frequencies:
4L x 13
5L x 11
6L x 5
7L x 2
8L x 1
9L x 1
Grid:
4 5 6 7 8 9 Tot
A 2 1 - 1 - - 4
D 2 - 1 - - - 3
H 1 1 1 - - - 3
M 2 5 2 1 1 - 11
N 3 1 - - - - 4
W 3 3 1 - - 1 8
Tot 13 11 5 2 1 1 33
(Y-Axis: Starting Letters, X-Axis: Word Lengths, X/Y Co-ordinates: Frequency/Number of Words for that letter and length)
53
@Mari still need 2 words but posted hints for the rest above yours. I’ll try to find the rest and repost.
1
@Mari found counterpart for 1 masc word (A7) but still missing W5, I have feminine noun plus the fish.
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@Kevin Davis It's a non-word of the 'DUNNO' variety.
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Fortuitous does not mean what your author and your editors apparently think it means. It means "happened by chance, rather than designed". It does not mean "fortunate", as your answer to 24Across (ill-timed) in the puzzle would suggest. It is a word that is often mis-used. The New York Times should not further this mis-use of the word.
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@Alan Heminger
Did you check a dictionary before making your statement? Here's Merriam-Webster on the subject:
fortuitous adjective
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for·tu·itous | \ fȯr-ˈtü-ə-təs , -ˈtyü-, fər- \
Definition of fortuitous
1: occurring by chance
2a: FORTUNATE, LUCKY
from a cost standpoint, the company's timing is fortuitous
— Business Week
b: coming or happening by a lucky chance
belted down the stairs, and there was a fortuitous train
— Doris Lessing
And American Heritage Dictionary says:
for·tu·i·tous (fôr-to͞o′ĭ-təs, -tyo͞o′-)
adj.
1. Happening by accident or chance. See Synonyms at accidental.
2. Resulting in good fortune; lucky.
If you are "of a certain age," the statement you made might have been true when you were in school, but language changes, and we can't remain stuck in the past.
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@Steve L Doesn't 'fortuitous' actually mean 'by happy chance' ... or 'by chance, resulting in a fortunate outcome'?
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Alan,
According to M-W, it's been *quite* a while since the usage to which you object has been standard, but your continuing objection is also noted therein:
"Sense 2a has been influenced in meaning by fortunate. It has been in standard if not elevated use for some 70 years, but is still disdained by some critics."
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Caption: “Policemen wrestle a sheep on the lam.” Groan! Thanks, Caitlin!
Well this must have been easy for me to be finished the night before. Usually I have to sleep on a Saturday puzzle, and even then... I was surprised how much French there was. Some might complain but it works in my FAVOR. Even GAMINS for urchins was easy thanks to the French. I don’t think I would have got it otherwise.
There was a lot of “removing” going on what no with DEFAT and DEFANG. I thought that MOHEL kept that theme going nicely.
I kept seeing SPORTS BAR at 29D and DURANCEVILLE at 55A. Lots of US geography: Memphis, PEORIA and ALABAMA. Altogether a very enjoyable experience.
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@Andrew
Judging by the big X on its back, I think that the sheep was a marked man.
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@Andrew
Caitlin beat Munster Mike to the pun[ch].
(YIL that punning is the lowest form of humor. And here I thought it was smashing watermelons and/or mooning).
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@Puzzlemucker
Is not. I don’t care that Oscar Wilde et legion think so. They can eat my BOAs. I can’t even read WP in public because I chuckle at the puns here so much.
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A few LOBs and plenty of AIRBALLs at first. Challenging, but fun.
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I enjoyed this one. Last entry required changing ANGst to ANGRY allowing JUDGE to replace my earlier bUDGE and nUDGE.
Reading all the comments on DURANCE VILE, I searched expecting to find some common quotes from Shakespeare or Gilbert & Sullivan. No hits. Now I'm wondering why it came to me immediately. For the record, here are two cases. The Burns is the one that comes up most often. (Joyce's Ulysses and Burton's Arabian Nights also came up with the term buried deep in prose passages.)
6 Arthurian Poems: THE SANCGREAL.
It chanced, when Lancelot du Lake
Had freed from durance vile
The fairest lady in the land,
He journeyed on awhile,
Robert Burns
A Workhouse! ah, that sound awakes my woes,
And pillows on the thorn my rack'd repose!
In durance vile here must I wake and weep,
And all my frowsy couch in sorrow steep;
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@Al in Pittsburgh I thought I remembered the phrase from Pogo - and I guess I did! https://whirledofkelly.blogspot.com/2011/11/in-durance-vile.html
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@Al in Pittsburgh
And coincidently, tonight is "Burns' Night" when most of the SCOTIAn race will be dispatching the ceremonial haggis with much merriment and not a little whisky.
Our beastie is awaiting its fate in the kitchen...
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@Alan Hunter
You beat me to it, Alan.
I've happily attended several Burns dinners, but never hosted one (or attended one in a private home). They are delightful, and haggis (for the uninformed) is perfectly delicious. Indeed, the chieftan o' the puddin' race.
I also note that you spelled whisky the Scottish way. Good for you. The Burns night reference to a "dram" makes it sound as if there's just a little bit of the stuff consumed. But there are several -- in fact a whole lotta -- drams in a proper Burns dinner.
And the column had a picture of that sheep! I assume that's not the one in your kitchen. Do you make your own haggis?
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Tough solve (for me), but I still enjoyed the challenge. My goal for the month will be to work durance-vile and lemniscate into casual conversation. I’m not sure how I knew PALAVER but somehow it arose from the inner recesses. I believe there was a MOHEL in a Seinfeld episode. Lots of fresh, imaginative cluing. The question is “Will it play in PEORIA?”
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“Will it play in PEORIA?”
That's an important consideration for a crossword in a national newspaper of record, unlike the puzzles in a certain magazine not edited for the lady in Dubuque.
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@Robert Kern
The timing of PEORIA for “Middle America” is uncanny in light of the death this week of Thomas Railsback, a longtime Republican Illinois Congressperson whose district included PEORIA. Although he thought very highly of Nixon, he helped craft and supported the obstruction of Congress article of impeachment against Nixon, whose administration/campaign often used the expression, “How will it play in PEORIA?” According to a story this morning on NPR, Railsback thought that would likely be the end of his political career, as most of his constituents still strongly supported Nixon. However, this constituents actually applauded his courage of his conviction even though they still did not want Nixon impeached and removed.
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Excellent chewy puzzle. Thank you!
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When Th-Fri-Sat are easier (aka faster) than Wednesday, something is amiss.
Did anyone else feel this was a weird week ... ?
Nice puzzles, nonetheless.
The SE corner had me lemniscating for a while. Expecting considerable PALAVER over DURANCEVILE, as I almost AIRBALLed that one.
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This just in:
The residents of Rockaway Beach can sleep easy tonight, a notorious rogue sheep has been taken into custody. The beast was known for its hit and run tactic of stealing sandwiches from picnic baskets along the beach while owners were in the surf, leaving only its trademark X scratched in the sand. It was indeed that X, which the ewe had defiantly tattooed on its back, that led to it being picked out of a police lineup. The Queens District Attorney's office says that to deter future OVINE criminality it plans to go for a maximum sentence, DURANCE VILE.
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@Wags
Thanks Wags. I was hoping someone would use DURANCE VILE in a long sentence.
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@Paul
Good one!
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@Wags
I loved that picture, but felt very uneasy about the possible meaning of that X on the poor thing's back.
I'm pretty sure I picked up DURANCE VILE from PG Wodehouse--Bertie Wooster's self-described stints in jail, seldom longer than overnight. *grin*
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OBAMA doesn’t appear as frequently as OREO, but it’s GAINING.
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@Lorenzo1249
You better believe it.
Some people prefer all-chocolate to even the Double-Stuf white.
Pretty tough for me. I read
"(en)DURANCVILLE" too, which is the state of mind I had to go to to finish!
Haha, ALMAMATER.
A good workout, although I am trying not to think about Republican senators too much this weekend, DEB Fischer notwithstanding.
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Oy... all I can say is that I appreciate it when a puzzle includes an answer that perfectly describes the experience of solving said puzzle (see 30D).
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@Raf
For a while there, I thought you were about to reference 10D.
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I got DURANCE VILE through the back door; it's a term I've never heard before. I assumed it was French, but apparently, it's actually an English phrase.
Agreed with @Puzzlemucker about @Liz B.
I will not say it was easy either. But I did finish it pretty quickly. - a bit more than 1/3 of average. How did I finish? Quite a lot of luck, a little persistence, and simply not overthinking it and let my mind fill it in for me (yeah, that sounds funny) instead of relying on actual knowledge.
Stuff that just came (with enough crossings): ENGEL, MOHEL, SCOTIA, NOLTE, FLUME. Vaguely recalled FIGURE EIGHT.
Gimmes (because Saturdays need toeholds) - AM I, RUN, LAG, TACO, ENT, DDE. Didn't know GAMINS, and certainly never heard of DURANCE VILE (and still don't get it, will need to look that up).
Lucky guesses: SPORTS BRA, LABORIOUS, ALABAMANS, BEALE STREET.
Did know that Steve Jobs headed Apple, Next and PIXAR.
Had RETURN before REVIEW before REVERT. Had EVE before NYE, GULPS before WOLFS before DOWNS. ARIES before ROBIN.
It's a great Saturday themeless. Learned a few things. Last letter was the G in GAMINS because I wasn't sure what to put there and mentally ran the letters and realize it's G. I have a feeling somewhere in the deep recess of my brain, I've see GAMINS and sorta knew what it meant.
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@Wen
“Quite a lot of luck, a little persistence, and simply not overthinking it and let my mind fill it in for me (yeah, that sounds funny) instead of relying on actual knowledge.”
Words to solve Saturdays by. There’s the Hal method. Now there’s also the Wen method.
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"Durance vile" was a fun one. And I have my love for old video games to thank for me being able to actually answer that. Specifically, Diablo 2, where the final dungeon in the third act was called the "Durance of Hate" (ie the place where Mephisto, the Lord of Hate was being imprisoned)
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@Ali
So many memories of grinding out high tier runes with MF builds into the wee hours of the morning as a teenager. Diablo will never be that good again.
@Ali
Same here! But my love for Diablo wasn't enough to help me recall SIMS
The "D" in DURANCEVILE is where I finished this one. Other than the SE, it was easier than the typical Saturday.
How about GREËT for a diacritical crossing, Emily?
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The only thing I’ve yet read about this puzzle is Liz’s first sentence.
Liz, you are amazing.
I scraped, scrapped, scrabbled, scrunched my way through this thing, especially the somewhat isolated SW. But finished. Did not find it easy for a Saturday. Loved it. Especially the top and bottom Across triple stacks. FIGURE EIGHT says it all. Graceful, joyous, gorgeous Saturday.
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I would never razz Stella (per her note) but I did find this puzzle extremely easy for a Saturday--less than two-thirds of my average time. But it was an interesting combination of words, so it was entertaining to do.
My problems came when I accidentally typed in TRANFSER for TRANSFER. So I tried SLIDE for the water park feature. And then I wondered which BRONTE sibling I didn't know.
DURANCE VILE is a great phrase. I accidentally read it as "Duranceville" after I had filled it in and thought, well okay, that's weird. Eventually my eyes cleared up. Welcome back, Stella!
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@Liz B
I'd rather razz Putin.
My time was better than my average--maybe about 3/4 of it--but these days, most of my solves beat my average, which goes way back.
Today, by the way, my streak reached 1500.
When, not if, these days. On a Saturday, it feels even more satisfying.
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Steve L,
Congratulations!! Very impressive, I haven’t heard of a streak that high!