"Oh no ew he is my ex" is the greatest crossword answer I've ever seen. I'm a little concerned about the "sis"/"sexy" cross, but we can unpack that later.
"Does your daughter greet you when she gets up?" "Yes, but the son also rises." (You'd bedder believe it!)
@Mike To have and have not? Which one said a farewell to Charms?
This was great - fresh and funny. I loved it.
This fun puzzle reminded me of a question ages ago to the "Straight Dope," a beloved know-it-all column in the Chicago Reader from the days before the Internet. People would write in with baffling questions, and "Cecil Adams" would answer them. Once someone asked if he could supply all the 2-letter Scrabble words. Cecil's reply: "Oh no, me no do it. If so, it do me in."
@Michael Weiland Stephin Merritt of the band the Magnetic Fields published a book called “101 Two-Letter Words.” It has a short poem for each two-letter word that’s acceptable in Scrabble, with illustrations by Roz Chast.
@Michael Weiland Cecil Adams was a genius! But I feel that little snippet does not do him justice. This response to a question written in verse asking him to explain Schroedinger’s Cat is a must read (especially if you already know anything about that thought experiment). You won’t regret it. 🤓 <a href="https://www.straightdope.com/21341296/the-story-of-schroedinger-s-cat-an-epic-poem" target="_blank">https://www.straightdope.com/21341296/the-story-of-schroedinger-s-cat-an-epic-poem</a>
It’s a good puzzle, maybe a tad crunchy for Tuesday but perhaps that’s just me. Hard to remember slang for US currency, I only know ABE from the Xword, unaware of FIN. Overall, while I definitely admire the constructors skill, it left me a little underwhelmed. Edit: it was only whilst writing my post that I realised why: the whole, two letter word response thing is how my SCREENAGE kids would speak. As a Boomer myself and a self confessed grammar pedant, it used to drive me insane. ‘FGS, Use words of more than one syllable when you speak to me’ was a common refrain in our household. I guess it’s a generation thing and I should consign myself to the scrap heap. There are times I find my dog’s non verbal head tilts more eloquent than what comes out of the mouths of today’s babes. I’m taking my grumpy, curmudgeonly self off for a dog walk. We may discuss Proust while we gaze at the orchards.
@Helen Wright Have a madeleine also and you're bound to feel better.
@Helen Wright --- I suggested a while ago you might feel more sanguine if you had a madeleine also, but it seems that les émeus are not in favour of baked goods.
As your resident alphadoppeltotter, a role I’ve inexplicably taken in the past seven years, it is my duty to inform you that this puzzle has an unusually low number of double letters, at three, where unusual is any number less than five. This is the second time this year that this has happened. I remain your humble servant, ever on the alert.
I love the concept. I don’t remember ever seeing this theme before – answers consisting of two-letter words. I also see a wink in this theme, as two-letter words are generally verboten as crossword answers. Original and a bit rebellious – my kind of theme! First thing I did, crossnerd that I am, was look for other answers in the grid that could be broken into two-letter-word sentences, and couldn’t find a one. So, more points here for elegance. OH NO EW HE IS MY EX is classic, worth the price of admission. The constructor says in her notes that she’s been avidly solving crosswords for more than 40 years, started making puzzles in 2020, and went through a number of rejections before this puzzle caught the editors’ eyes. That is a lovely story, and may this day be as marvelous as you envisioned, Judy. I loved your theme and am eager to see what you come up with next. Thank you for making this!
"I also see a wink in this theme, as two-letter words are generally verboten as crossword answers." Lewis, It's been quiet so far, but later in the day I'm sure we'll be hearing from the "two-letter word" deniers. emu is not a two-letter word
Congratulations on your NYT debut, Ms. Bowers! Thanks for a puzzle with a theme we haven’t seen before.
When people downplay their intelligence/acumen/skills, I often respond with, "I haven't noticed that I have to use only words of one or two syllables around you!" And then here's this puzzle.... (Only 48A has a word with three syllables...) Should we really label someone an EX if we only dated him? Hardest clue/answer: 21A. apparently I do not actually know what TikTok is/does/features..... and anyway, is it about to be gone? Today is DHubby's birthday: 83 is the new.....?? He's not sure, he says. "It doesn't get any better," was his comment, on his way to use the nebulizer. PhysicsDaughter is planning to drive up for lunch at a Greek place, followed by pecan pie with vanilla ice cream. (We're not Cake People.) Charlotte the Kitty got him a card, so that added some cheer. The sun's out, the sky's blue, the roses are blooming....Onward!
@Mean Old Lady Remind DHubby that one good thing about birthdays is that nobody sews the bottoms of your briefs together. Pecan pie is great (esp with a dash of bourbon), but just for once you might consider an APRICOT TORTE.
@Mean Old Lady Wising your DH a happy day. "Getting older is not for the faint of heart" Emus, on the other hand, live an average of 25 years but one was reported to near 60. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-22/pepe-the-very-old-emu-living-stress-free/12480752" target="_blank">https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-22/pepe-the-very-old-emu-living-stress-free/12480752</a>
@Mean Old Lady Happy birthday to your Dear Hubby! I took the EX in 16A to mean not “Somebody I hooked up with once on a dating app” but more of a real EX — someone the speaker once had a significant relationship with who’s now using the same dating app as the speaker. Speaking of 16A: I’m glad so many people found it amusing. Between my difficulty in parsing it (especially at NO EW) and the “robotic” syntax of “HE IS MY EX” (hi, John Ezra), I didn’t much care for that answer. Unfortunately, it set a bad tone for the rest of the grid. I’d have much preferred to see it lower in the grid, with the normal-sounding OK IF WE GO IN ON IT? up top. (For all I know, Judy Bowers tried that and couldn’t make it work.)
Not a bad Tuesday. Took me a while to understand the theme clue, despite there being no problem with it, maybe because I couldn't parse the EW part of the first theme answer. Slightly harder for a Tuesday for me, as I came in a bit slower than my average. But overall I think this had good fill and was quite enjoyable.
When Judy and I were constructing this, we* had an idea this could be a bigger Thursday or a smaller Tuesday. We* submitted the Tuesday for review but this is the note I sent her while awaiting feedback: UMSOIDBEOKIFWEDOMOOFITORUHNOISUPTOED cc: emu handler * “we” did no such thing
Ha! Just a good and clever puzzle. I adore the comedic element throughout this debut - stringing two letter words to make a coherent phrase or sentence isn't easy, and I spent the last half hour scrunching my eyebrows trying to respond to this puzzle in kind. No go! It jogged up an old memory, I must have been six and some older person, an aunt or one of my parents' friends, gave me a book called "Robinson Crusoe in Words of One Syllable." I'm ashamed to say that even at that age I was a bit of a purist, a grammar-prig, and I was outraged by this gift. "Will they abridge his name to Rob Cru for the duration of this book?" I exclaimed hot, hot, hotly. Actually, while the authors did endeavor to keep the words to one syllable, if forced to employ a polysyllabic word they'd hyphenate between each syllable. I considered that cheating. Luckily, my inner Jonathan Edwards has now entered his dotage and is much more relaxed about things, ever since he started listening to Jimmy Buffet. You should try his "hell & brimstone" ribs. Back to the puzzle. I particularly like the robotic quality of "Oh no, ew, he is my ex!" and the TASTY trio of torte, tier, icers, a noble profession which I hope will not be replaced by ice machines!
Really great concept. Very well executed. The best part is that there is very little chance of getting the long entries from knowing a couple letters. It makes you work a bit harder to get ask the jokes. SOISIT. “They don’t want me to stand” HIMAIMUP. “Greetings, feel free to injure each other” Too bad no constructor notes.
@Weak FYI, constructor notes are included at xwordinfo.com Please be kind, emus.
Enjoyed this puzzle immensely, much to my surprise. Am an old Times xword puzzler (started 50 yrs ago) and have not liked some of your recent innovations. Was wary when I figured out the 2 letters clue. However, actually doing the puzzle was a great deal of fun. Please publisher more by this person.
Unique. Very Creative. A nice change. I enjoyed the puzzle. Hoping Judy is going to submit more.
This took a bit longer than normal because I found the themers spmewhat hard to parse. This was very clever, though. I managed to finish before my plane takes off.
A nice Tuesday, though it took me longer than usual. I’m a GENX mom of GenZ kids so I usually get slang. However, I had not heard of ABE for $5 bill, though it makes sense. I had FIN there and couldn’t think of a second way to say $5 as the clocked ticked…. I also had never heard of AGER as part of a portmanteau with screen. I’m as guilty of this 📱 offense as my kids so the idea of such a term never occurred to me. I also never hear HIMAIMUP because, left to their devices, my kids and their friends would sleep until lunchtime! Too bad for them they have an early bird mom who makes a mean and odiferous breakfast 😈!
I noticed the grid was thinner than usual right away, 14 columns, and then after getting the theme it was clear why-the constructor needed an even number in order to fit in spanners consisting of two-letter words. Great theme idea. I love the first one especially, even though every time I look at the grid I see "MAO?! OH NO! EW!! HE IS MY EX!"
@ad absurdum Yep, as usual with a 14 wide grid, I had to shrink to 90% to get it to fit on my computer screen. I got MAO right away, because I've actually stood on top of Tienanmen Gate...which is redundant. (Men = gate.)
Every time I see the $5 dollar bill clue FIN is my first thought, until I remember that ABE is the current lingo. But when I read Sam Corbin’s opening comment about the Times puzzle being over 75 years old I realized that since I started doing the puzzle when I was in high school in the early 60’s (and the Times cost a nickel) I’ve been there for most of those years. Now I give a subscription to the games app to my grandson for his birthday and we talk about interesting puzzles.
Didn't enjoy this one, although it was perfectly reasonable in difficulty for a Tuesday. Uninteresting theme, supported by uninteresting thematic entries, and featuring generally uninteresting fill.
@Xword Junkie Same. Frustratingly repetitive.
"Oh no ew he is my ex" was very difficult and took me a while to get at. The fills were just very clunky.
Thanks for a fun puzzle! I finally got a chance to use my vast knowledge of two letter words in a crossword puzzle!
Travelled to Paris today to celebrate our one year streak of the daily crossword. What a journey its been, and no end in sight. Thank you Will Shortz and Joel Fagliano for the prime entertainment!
@Patrick + Sam What a glamorous way to celebrate the occasion! Congrats — and hope your trip doubles as an excuse to become experts at French clues. :)
@Patrick + Sam You traveled to Paris but you are FROM Paris? emu food more emu food
Fun little theme for a Tuesday! I can’t be the only one who was scratching their head after 55A right? I’ve never heard that in my life
@jork Very familiar to this boomer. But I worked in a dive bar back in the day so maybe that's why.
@jork I'm a native New Yorker born before WWII and FIN was a common term for a five when I was growing up. Fünf is five in German, the likely source of the Yiddish. I never hear ABE used that way until this century. A ten was a "sawbuck" presumably from the Roman X.
@jork I’m a boomer, never used it myself, but read a lot of comic books when I was young so I recognized it right away.
I dated a woman in Toronto years ago, and she said “have a bird”. A bird? I said “ you mean a cow?” And she laughed and asked how anyone could possibly have a cow! Any Canadians want to chime in?
@Bill Canadian here. Have a drink and try again.
@Bill That’s funny. I’ve never used “have a bird” but I’ve heard it, more so when I was younger. I’d say cow is way more common.
Ah, it is so ok to do it in nomorethanjustfewminutesofpuzzletimeandtotrytofigureoutifyoucancrowaboutyourswiftsolveofacleverconstructionandkeepitdowntoonytwoletterwords! Judy Bowers, we see you are a woman who succinctly says what she wants to say in just two letters at a time. Fun challenge for you and for us. Thank you, and congratulations on your de....!
Very silly, excellent puzzle! (I had hoped to convey this in words of two letters but can immediately see what a challenge it would be. Therefore, even more kudos to the setter!)
Judy Bowers, you rock. Brilliant. Congratulations on your debut and hope to see you again soon.
This was just plain fun. And KAPUT SAYSPRESTO SCREENAGER… fantastic debut! Terrific Twosday!
DOA SWE DO and and an Allemande right, Bow to your partner and skip away light! Nothing square about dancing to this delight Tuesday find, which SLEW me in multiple ways even before finding the theme was a two-fer all the way down. Unlike @suejean, however, I found a tiny grumble with the implied HIM AIM UP because (if it were UP TO ME) I'd make it a definite point that HER AIM UP as well We might spose that HER AIM UP includes the multi-talented Patti L. UPONE, who apparently celebrated a birthday two days ago, so Happy Commemorative 75, Patti L. UPONE Shan't worry about the TORTE that's only one layer because I find the alternative APRICOT so TASTY. SPAsibo for giving us your TWO bits, Ms Bowers
OH NO, EW! That was a silly theme, but not in a bad way.
IS IT EW? NO, IT IS OK OK OK BY ME. (EM US OK TO ME? NO!)
That was fun, and the constructor's originality is much appreciated. Thank you! It's not often a Tuesday puzzle induces concern ("...noewhe...? But APHID and these others must be right. What is going on?") resolving to delight. I'm pretty sure Ms. Bowers is going to give us an amazing Thursday at some point.
Congratulations on a terrific NYT debut, Judy. The theme was novel, and each one was fun to parse. Hopefully we'll see some of your other ideas showing up soon.
Not sure why some people didn't see the constructor notes here. Maybe they were just added? : "This theme came to me while considering that The New York Times basically excludes two-letter words as single entries (as do almost all other puzzles), and that using those “banned” individual words in a string of words might make for some interesting phrases. I started by finding a list of legal two-letter words in Scrabble — there are 107 of them — and then throwing out the abbreviations and obscurities. This left me with a set of 35-40 words to work with. After some brainstorming with my husband/mentor, Larry Lichens, I came up with a set of theme answers to use in my initial submission. Tracy Bennett, who was my editor, helped me to arrive at a final set of answers and to polish-up the grid and fill, to get the puzzle to what you see in print. Thanks much to everyone."
For some reason I thought the clue was "number of letters in every answer," which was six unique letters for almost every theme clue. Got messed up in the SE until I realized I read it wrong
A neat one, much fun. The "ew" must have been a reach but it works
I can’t imagine hoe difficult it must have been to make that theme work. I was getting nowhere until the very last entry at 54D, and then went back to see how that worked for the theme entries. It helped a lot but still quite challenging for a Tuesday. I think most solvers prefer more challenging puzzles, so mustn’t grumble.
@suejean, I can't remember when last you grumbled... . . . . . . . .
A really good twos day puzzle! do td ot do t.
This puzzle may be proof that there are actually an infinite number of new ideas for themes out there. Em us be go ne. !!!! !!!!
@Steve L Clues for above: Dorothy’s Auntie Not them Exist Change locations Je ___ sais pas (I don’t know in Paris)
Interesting, well made puzzle. A great Tuesday. I'm very happy to see RIP clued correctly as a current, rather than as the incorrect tide. Since EMUs don't swim, they don't know about RIP currents.
@CaptainQuahog Please, resident clam, sir, if you are so inclined... I know not (or naught) of nautical or fluid dynamic things so I am curious if you care to elaborate. Thinking on it, a RIP current makes more sense, like an undertow, where current refers to different sections of water move at different velocities due to... um... temperature and pressure? As opposed to a RIP tide, where tide refers to... um... relative sea level based on vagaries of gravitational effects on massive bodies of water? I wonder how a dangerous current came to be mislabeled as a tide.
SO.... IS IT UP TO ME?!?! I wish someone would let me know! Or maybe, it's UP TO ME if it is UP TO ME! In that case, I've decided—it's a fun puzzle!
I found it delightful, and made me wonder at the paucity of letters needed to convey meaning! But, might someone say, "uH, NO. EW!"? Yes, yes they might. Do I know how to spell the Chairman's name? No, no I do not. Will I remember it's an O not an U in future? Only time will tell ...
Also TYRO is a new one for me. n00b didn't last long (especially not with l33t zeros). . . . . I wonder if any 3MU5 have pondered the cringey l33t throwback of my handle...?
@MAR1 -- So you're still thinking of the Mau Mau instead of the Chairman? No question, you surely do go back quite a ways
I didn't love this one but credit where credit is due for a unique theme!
I don't know whether to feel embarrassed at how many answers I didn't know here. "Tyro", "screenager", "iroc"... I liked the theme a bit, though!
Very impressive construction, while also being fun to solve. Never heard FIN for a $5 bill. I tried to look it up and it sounds like maybe it's a Canadian thing?
@Kevin In the wordplay article, they mention Fin comes from "1920s slang and is related to “finif,” the Yiddish word for the number five." Hadn't heard it before too and it got me stumped!
@Kevin I remember my mother (born in 1929), in northern Illinois, called five dollar bills 'fins'. I didn't know until I read the Wordplay that this slang term has Yiddish roots. And, yes, this was a fun puzzle!
@Kevin I knew FIN from reading hardboiled detective stories from the 1940s and 1950s, but I doubt anyone has said it for decades.
Congratulations, Judy Bowers, for doing what so many hope to accomplish - getting your grid in the Times! Liked almost the whole shebang. Didn't sit comfortably in the SALA, clued as: Spanish for "room". Thought of a different word, but there was not enough "lugar" for it! SALA has been used 227 times in NYT puzzles, clued as "part of un casa," "Hacienda room," and "Spanish parlor." My disquietude is a bit moot, as there are not many common 4-letter words for cuartos in a CASA. Los emús viven en jaulas
@Whoa Nellie agreed, cluing SALA as "Spanish for 'room'" feels a bit like cluing KITCHEN as "'Cuarto' en ingles" imo
Fun puzzle and glad to see another new constructor. Looking forward to more from Ms. Bowers. And... another longer than average workout for me*, but catching on to the trick was a big turning point and that's always a nice touch. *Would note that EVERY solve for me in the Fagliano era has been above my average time. I'm starting to think that's not just a coincidence. Something about the cluing. And finally... I should probably play the lottery today. My answer history searches led me to stumble across a remarkable puzzle with a similar theme. I'll put that in a separate post. ..
@Rich in Atlanta hmmm Thank you for mentioning the possibility of a change in the Fagliano era. I've also felt lately that I wasn't quite at one with some of the cluing, and it's nice to think it isn't all due to gradual ossification of cognitive brain centers Nice to recall that 'our feet are stained'.
Followup note on yesterday's word ladder PPP (Post-puzzle puzzler). Well, that was fun! I didn't set out any rules; perhaps I should have. And if I did, I would have said that any word is in play if it has appeared a good number of times in the NYT puzzle, and I would have set that number at ten. Looking at all the replies, I declare Becca, who got it in four, the champion! (Insert trumpet salute.) (JADA has appeared 11 times.) Way to go Becca and all who participated!
@Lewis Yes, well done Becca. JADA would never have occurred to me.
@Lewis My heretofore unsubmitted entry, which by my count has three steps: Fava Lava Lada* Nada *Four NYT crossword appearance, clued as a Russian car. Seven additional appearances in which it’s clued to Albert Payson Terhune’s novel “Lad: A Dog.”