Today I hit a 1,000-day streak!
@Jonathan Calig, well done! I'm just under 100 days from 2000!
My five favorite original clues from last week (in order of appearance): 1. Able is he and he is Elba (5) 2. Now I remember who sang 'Take On Me'!" (3) 3. Wind up alone? (5)(4) 4. Pentagon figures (5) 5. You can trip on it in the desert (6) IDRIS AHA FLUTE SOLO AREAS PEYOTE
I was hung up for the longest time thinking the answer was "hot brownies." My thinking was totally dis-joint-ed.
@Michael Good heavens! You weren't smoking, were you?? ) ( ) ( ) 🚬
@Michael Yep, that was my mistake too. I was imagining eating them immediately after taking them out of the oven and wondering if that made the high more potent, LOL.
Thank you! I breezed thru this puzzle in minutes but came up short. After spending nearly half the time I spent completing the puzzle trying to find my error, I discovered your comment and realized that I was looking for PEAT not HEAT!
As your resident alphadoppeltotter, a role I’ve inexplicably taken on in the past seven years, it is my duty to inform you that this puzzle has an unusually low number of double letters, at four, where anything less than five is given that distinction. The last time a puzzle fell into this nether region was September of last year. I remain your humble servant, ever on the alert.
Just an off-subject note that might still appeal to all you logophiles I'm watching the Super Bowl and just heard Tony Romo, who's supplying color commentary on CBS, say about the SF quarterback, "He has a unique ability, which not everyone has..." Bartlett's material!
@john ezra I don't often laugh out loud at comments, but I did at this one. Thank you, John. 😂😂😂😂😂
@john ezra Ha! Romo is a tad goofy, but he knows the game. He can't beat Jason Witten for tossing out a headscratcher - <a href="https://youtu.be/FpWOwSy2H8w?si=HFrtHic68Pv33SIj" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/FpWOwSy2H8w?si=HFrtHic68Pv33SIj</a> Goodness knows how anyone handles the pressure of play-by-play commentary (nudge nudge wink wink, know what I mean 😉)
Regarding POT BROWNIES, there was that time in college when I made a batch. I didn’t remember if pot when baked was more or less potent than when smoked, I knew it was one or the other. Naturally, I erred on the side of biggest bang for the buck, so I threw in a ton. End result: There was that moment when I was lying in bed and somehow remembered that I left the kitchen light on. Turning it off involved what seemed like an overwhelming number of steps – walking through a hallway, flipping a switch, remembering how to get into the kitchen itself, for instance – and despite great efforts at figuring out how to complete this task, it was just too complicated to attempt. The light remained on. I lucidly remember this moment from many years ago, my brain shining a bright light on that point in time when it was a dim bulb.
I really hoped SAYNOMORE was going to be in there somewhere!
@Catherine A friend said he was monitoring the Temple of Aphrodite at a Pagan gathering. I asked, “And you’ll go, “Say no more? Say no more?’” To which he replied, “It’s definitely a ‘say no more’ type of situation.”
What a stellar language quirk find – repeated words that mean “Get it?”! These word pairs have been floating in the ether, clear as day, but it took Jess and Amie to pluck them out. Brava, you two! Innuendo always grabs my interest, and here is a whole puzzle based on it. This is why I don’t skip Monday puzzles – I would hate to have missed this marvelous theme. There were also some lovely answers: SO I HEAR, BEAT THE HEAT, CACHE, TOUSLE, ENSHROUD, and ENIGMA. Wow! It was also sweet to see a backward TUBA crossing the OBOE. Not to mention the BACK up and the side PATHS. This was a day brightener – always a gift – for me. Thank you, Jess and Amie, for making this!
Jess and Amie threw a Super Bowl party. Overheard at their luau line: ETA for hot male stags? They're late (so I hear). Don't let it slip, but the keg has run dry! UGG, there's a bone in my vegan pate. Since when are you such a tease? Don't make a scene, you ogre! Let me tousle your do. Yank my hair, and you'll need an OR doc! Psst . . .anybody got rolling paper? You won't cache me smoking! (Cough cough) Peace, bro. I'll use the other option .. .*Wink wink* AND Viola - Pot brownies! They're GIGANTIC!
Really enjoyed the puzzle! In case the constructors are reading and the puzzle pack for children's charities they mention was Grids for Kids, I'd also like to thank them for that! I've been quite disappointed in crosswords designed for kids, as they tend to be badly made crosswords with clues that are intended to be easy. The amount of crossing is often very limited, and not respective of the relative difficulty of the clue/answer pairs involved in each part of the grid. Grids for Kids, however, was *terrific*. My son has never clicked with kids crosswords, as they tend to have these dead regions that he can't solve, but he raced through the whole Grids for Kids pack. That it involved donating to children's charities made the whole thing a real feel good affair, so thank you, constructors!
Pot Brownies, what a great debut! And nice to see ENIGMA, such a good word with lots of angles to it. With ENSHROUD, it reminded me of Churchill's “It's a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma…” which is the oratory equivalent of a turducken. And kinda self referential in a puzzle about getting it. Likewise, ANYBODY when echoed makes me think of a standup comic who's just not clicking with the crowd and finally, after telling yet another bomb calls out into the silence, "Anybody? Anybody?" Pot Brownies: Psst psst -- baking a pan of brownies where half are pot brownies and half are not, is a bad idea. A no no. And if you try doing it, well, tsk tsk.
@john ezra I agree about ENIGMA. It has a lot of variations. No mugging, emus, please—or is it no mugging emus, please?
Always fascinating to learn something about the constructors. Jess Shulman has a degree in electrical engineering! Slid quite naturally into a career as a Certified Professional Editor — Who knew there was such a thing? — and, as she describes herself on her website, a writer, communicator, book lover and language nerd. Maybe there is hope yet that I may one day construct a crossword puzzle for the NYT.
@Strudel Dad Git to crafting clues, friend! There are software/apps to help you get started. Time's awasting - and you could be constructing a grid that we'd like to solve!
I brought this Monday in in just under an hour, a record, but in the wrong direction. You know what happens when you're working the puzzle while watching the Super Bowl, fail to hit the pause button, and just laissez le jeu rouler (NOD NOD). Jess Shulman and Amie Walker, you constructed a puzzle that bobs and weaves with very smart fills. Some clues were A TEASE and some were an ENIGMA—taken altogether you scored a GIGANTIC debut. Congratulations!
The OBOE is NOT cylindrical. It is conical. It may appear cylindrical from a distance, but it is in fact significantly narrower at the top than at the bottom. This is one of the things, in addition to the double reed, that makes the oboe's sound so distinctive from the clarinet, which is actually cylindrical. The conical bore is also one of the reasons the oboe is such an expensive instrument. The wood - usually grenadilla, sometimes rosewood - has to be especially hard and well-aged to withstand the conical boring process. Here is a fascinating video on how an oboe is made. <a href="https://youtu.be/_xOj9bLkYVQ?si=D7SCdfB_pn09XYP9" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/_xOj9bLkYVQ?si=D7SCdfB_pn09XYP9</a>
@OboeSteph Thanks for the link. It was really interesting. I had no idea that professional oboes have more keys than student models.
OK, OK; I can take a hint. I hope our newer solvers will be able to get through this one without autocheck. The only proper noun cross I see is the reasonably tame UGG/EDGAR (64D/70A). One note for the real world, not a correction for the puzzle: "Relax, soldier" is not AT EASE; it is FALL OUT. emus, parade REST
@Barry Ancona I agree, but... in training at least, FALL OUT didn't necessarily mean 'relax.' e.g. it might just imply... "and go clean up your barracks." I've always said that the only command in training that definitely meant relax was: "Smoke 'em if you got 'em." ...
My first puzzle completed without reading the article or extensive research! You seasoned crossworders probably though this was really easy but i think I’m actually getting better at these!!
@Kitty Congratulations! You are getting better at these. And the more you solve, the better you’ll get.
Kitty, What Eric said. Ignore the emus
@Kitty Congratulations! Everyone remembers their first! !!! !!! !!! !!!
There were some other possible hints hiding in the puzzle: BACK BACK “did you get my hint to step away from my freshly baked pie?” OUCH OUCH “did you get my hint to quit waltzing on my feet?” PSST PSST “did you get my hint to get my hint?” TROT TROT “did you get my hint to get going on these chores?” CODA CODA “did you get my hint to play the same part the entire rest of the orchestra is playing?”
"Can you help me get started on making these baked goods?" "Sure, here's a nudge brownie." ("You're such a sweet talker.")
@Mike A friend is learning UK languages. Her Irish is OK, butterscotch needs work. Next on her list is emuese. It will be emusing to see how that goes.
Fun puzzle and a mostly smooth Monday solve, except for... ... well, glad to see I'm not the only one who forgot about POTBROWNIES (even though I now vaguely recall those) and went with HOTBROWNIES instead. Took me a good long time reviewing all my answers and then going through a second time and finally realizing that HEAT didn't really make a lot of sense for 10 across. Not a problem. Really clever theme; looking forward to more from our collaborators.* *and... one answer history search today. Was quite surprised to see that COLLABORATE was only an answer in one puzzle. And no COLLABORATION(s) or COLLABORATOR(s) either). ..
As soon as I had NUDGE NUDGE and HINT HINT, I tried to guess the other two. I came up immediately with WINK WINK, but I couldn't come up with COUGH COUGH. What an adorable theme. We do have an awful lot of ways to let people in on the joke, don't we? Just in case they missed it on the first hearing. We would never want that. I thought this was a nicely conceived puzzle -- and admirably free of junk. Although I would never call my surgeon an OR DOC. It lacks dignity and I wouldn't want to make him mad and cause his hands to shake.
I thought hOTBROWNIES was strange phrasing, but, it worked. Until it didn't. Couldn't figure out what was holding up my happy music until I read Sam's column, and then the old slap on the noggin. Somehow I've gotten through life without ever having a A POTBROWNIE, which is strange when you realize I lived in a dorm in college, in the 70s, which translates to "stand in the stairwell for five minutes and you'll get high." I enjoyed the rest of the puzzle, which was a lovely Monday breeze, after having my hat handed to me in Connections.
@Marlene Wow, I'd almost forgotten that miserable Connections! I got a single set and then just sat there; I think the one I got was by accident. I had been feeling like this was not a sustainable puzzle design, and this may be an example of the desperate lengths to which the constructors are being driven. LetterBox in 3 didn't even make up for it.
@Mean Old Lady @Marlene Connections kicked my butt today too. I often get it with no mistakes, and it’s pretty rare for me to completely tank, but I did today. My lack of movie knowledge really did me in!
An oboe is not cylindrical. Only flutes and clarinets are cylindrical. All other wind instruments are conical.
@Virginia Scarfino - Yes, clarinets are cylindrical wind instruments, evidenced by the fact that they alone overblow at the twelfth instead of the octave, which is why their timbre is so different (closed tubes and cylindrical bodies lack even harmonics). Flutes may appear cylindrical but in physical reality they are not. Modern flutes are conical (especially the head joint); early flutes are inverted cones (tapering strongly to their feet). The reversal of the cone happened through the life and work of Theobald Boehm, who devised the keying system in use today.
Fun and quick, but my butterfingers will never let me get less than 10 min. on a Monday. I don't know how the faster solvers do it! It's a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Enjoyed the Super Bowl, was hoping for a 50 yard line proposal.
@lhwp If I were going for a personal speed record in solving, I would do it on a laptop with a keyboard. Solving on my phone I smash the wrong letters all the time, and sometimes in the wrong direction. 😄
@lhwp I work on a lap-top, and seldom break the eight-minute mark; today's time was 8.01. Perhaps we should try pencil on PAPER?
Two items related to 10D. A local restaurant yells out the names of waiting parties: We registered as "Pot." Snickers all around as they called out "Pot party for 2." Sister, head of Brownie Troupe 666 makes 10Ds often. One version uses a mini corn bread pan so they look like, well dog poop. Fun puzzle. Thank you Jess and Amie
Nice and easy solve, as befitting a Monday puzzle. Liked the theme as well.
More, more! Keep up the good work, Jess and Amie; nicely done.
Solved in 4:12, great gimmick, great clues
Well, since Sam asked and seems to be a Monty Python fan, I'll share where my mind wandered -- based on her commentary about swaths, more so than the puzzle itself... <a href="https://youtu.be/g3YiPC91QUk?si=uY_nNx_QUL4tChkF" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/g3YiPC91QUk?si=uY_nNx_QUL4tChkF</a> How I love the Holy Grail!! Fun puzzle! Loved the HUG ME on Valentine's week! Also, totally agree with Sam about Scotch and peat.... I know people who love it, and I always keep it on hand an hour spirits cabinet for them, but I just don't get it! Now, gin on the other hand, bring it on! 🍸🍸
@HeathieJ I like them both. I also believe that vodka martinis are an offense against the Lord. Gin martinis, on the other hand…😇
@Kris T Preach. Amen to the primacy of the gin martini. No vodka tonics either. And don’t get me started about appletinis or other such like.
@HeathieJ I seem to have remained immune to the charms of Scotch… but oh, POT BROWNIES: they once proved to be my nemesis 😵💫! The saga may seem amusing in the recounting, but at the time my first (and quite probably, only) experience with edibles left me feeling not merely baked, but skewered and grilled over hot embers until thoroughly charred. WINK WINK, NUDGE NUDGE, I’ll say no more…. As a longtime Monty Python fan, this puzzle was great fun— despite bringing to mind some of the least pleasant hours of my life!
Cute theme, a nice variety of entries, so a fun Monday solve. Definitely looking forward to more from Jess and Amie.
Simple, as the constructors say, but clever and fun to do. I had never noticed how many double word expressions there were. Very nice.
Oboes are conical, not cylindrical.
@Sal I don’t think of oboes as long either. Now a didgeridoo, that’s a long instrument. Has anyone ever seen an emu playing a didgeridoo.
@Sal Given the choice between calling the oboe a cone or a cylinder, cylinder seems the clear choice. The oboe flares out a little at one end, but is more a cylinder than a cone.
This is a perfect example of technical definitions being at odds with crossword definitions. Technically, @Sal is correct: organologists (yes, that's a word) categorize the oboe as a "double-reeded aerophone with a conical bore and keys", Hornbostel-Sachs classification 422.112-71. This is in distinction to the flute or clarinet, which have cylindrical bores. We're talking bores here, not the bells at the end; and it's the shape of the bore which affects the tone-color, or timbre, of the instrument. But in Real Life, I would describe the oboe as a cylinder. Here's a lovely composition for an oboe and a Composite chordophone sounded by a bow, 321.322–71, by Hilary Tann, one of two which I could find this morning on youtube: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MemkV_pi2A" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MemkV_pi2A</a>
Disappointed that POTBISCUITS are not a thing. They sound like a wholesome business concept with an added benefit of not rotting your teeth every time that you the munchies... Imagine drizzling gravy on some warm, fluffy pockets of mood enhancing paradise.
@Akin What makes POT BROWNIES work, I think, is that the chocolate overpowers the pot, so they taste like actual brownies. Not sure that that would happen with biscuits unless you use very spicy sausage gravy and smother them with it so that no part of it is eaten undrenched.
@Akin I think you could bake biscuits using infused butter.
My thanks to Sam Corbin for the Monty Python video. I love that sketch, but like so many things I’d forgotten how it ends. Nice puzzle today too!
WELL WELL, that was a nice diversion from all the expensive commercials this evening.
Nice puzzle and as usual for a monday, not that hard. I'm now on my first streak ever!
Not that there was anything wrong with the entry at 10D, but if memory serves, when I was a younger, hipper version of myself, we used to call them "hash brownies". !!! !!! !!!
@Steve L Wow, you could afford hash? Emus might be able to. I hear they're very well paid.
@Steve L Hash is a different thing from regular pot. It’s like a refined extract vs just a dried plant. We made brownies with hash once in college, but failed to evenly distribute the hash/butter compound in the pan. This resulted in most participants being at best mildly buzzed, and one poor (?) dude who spent the evening mute on the couch giggling. College!
There is a hilarious movie called,"Dick," about Watergate. And there are pot brownies called Hello Dollys, that have an important role in the Vietnam peace accord, <a href="http://tinyurl.com/3kcm8upk" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/3kcm8upk</a> The movie is built on a lot of innuendo, which makes it so watchable.
Saved this to enjoy at the end of a busy Monday, and it was perfect, fast but colorful ! Made those baked goods with friends in college; we had no idea what we were doing and dumped our little bag into the batter, stems leaves and all. Roughage, I guess. Fun memory 😊.
10D NUDGE NUDGE WINK WINK say no more, say no more! ................................................. *emu disclaimer- I've never had a 10D :)
@Janine Emus if you are looking for a high time we make 10ds all the time.
Easy breezy, and I always like seeing OBOE Reminds me of Peter & The Wolf
Since i shared a Classical youtube earlier, for balance, here's a favorite by the Pixies: <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xJncHEZ3URs" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xJncHEZ3URs</a> (Bonus points if you can identify the Classical composition it shares a bass line with.)
@Bill I love the Pixies, I play bass guitar, and I listen to classical music, but I'm not getting the bonus points. Hopefully, there will be a reveal later if nobody gets it.
For some reason the OLD brain froze up on Connections this morning so this was a welcome salve to the ego. Also cannot abide Scotch. One of my customers collects fancy brands which are quite expensive. They taste like a fireplace to me - an acquired taste to be sure.
@John Probably because on Facebook I follow RTE and other things Irish I'm always seeing pages advocating the burning of turf (PEAT). <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/04/world/europe/ireland-peat-burning-carbon.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/04/world/europe/ireland-peat-burning-carbon.html</a>
@John Connections was very challenging today. I completely blew it, and so did many people in my Connections Facebook group.
I didn’t get it. cc: emu handler
Long cylindrical instrument? Tire iron? Bassoon, flute, piccolo, tin whistle? Drinking straw? Pipette? All right, all right. I got it! I wanted WINK WINK NUDGE NUDGE right away upon seeing 17A, but I had to wait while Jess and Amie stretched it out in order to milk the theme to the last little bit. Solvers have few avenues for revenge in these circumstances.. Nice Monday (well, actually-- wet, windy and gray, but at least the heavy storms and tornado watches are over for now). But the PUZZLE made it a nice Monday. I'm going to see the dentist later, so it doesn't actually take much to improve on the day, does it? Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday... eat, drink, and be merry whilst ye may!
While wending my way through the puzzle, which I found delightful, since it alluded to my old and very dear friend Alice B. Toklas, I never would have predicted that a large plurality of comments today would be about the shape of an OBOE. More evidence that a lot of people, including me, don't read through the comments thoroughly before posting their own thoughts on things.
Ohhhh! A late puzzle find, completely unrelated to today's puzzle, but just one of the most amazing puzzles I can recall. I had actually done this one, but of course had completely forgotten it. Anyway... A Thursday puzzle from May 18, 2017 by Jacob Stulberg. In that one there were four rebus squares, but... it was a double rebus, with one part of it being used for the down answer and the other for the across answer. One example: 35across answers was PLAY(CHICKEN) and the 'CHICKEN' rebus became 'ROAD' for 36d; the answer to that being (ROAD)RUNNER. And... the 'reveal' for the puzzle: "Question raised by four squares in this puzzle?" WHY Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=5/18/2017&g=19&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=5/18/2017&g=19&d=A</a> ..
@Rich in Atlanta Ooohhh! again. One more puzzle find, inspired by the theme of the puzzle I just linked above. This was a Sunday puzzle from March 2, 2003 by Brendan Emmett Quigley, with the title: "Stop me if you've heard this one." Three 21 letter theme answers and two 20 letter ones, all of them clued as "Start of joke #1 (and then #2, #3, etc.). The answer that got me there: WHYDIDTHECHICKENCROSS And two more sample answers: APRIESTARABBIANDAMONK THREEGUYSWALKINTOABAR Here's the Xword Info link; <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/2/2003&g=23&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/2/2003&g=23&d=A</a> ..
I love it! Just shows me how influential movies and other variations of entertainment actually words to my problem solving process. I've answered almost every single one on the first try!
A quibble: a NOVA is not an exploding star. A supernova is an exploding star, but a supernova is not a type of nova -- it's a different kind of stellar event.
@Evan Romer From what I read, both are exploding stars; in the case of a supernova, the star is destroyed. Emus this is for you.
Yay Jess and Amie! What a fun Monday to kick off the week. The Little Red Hen brought back memories of the Little Golden Book hardcover from my childhood which I then read to Spencer. Will seek you out to say hi at ACPT in April! :)